After the bridgekeeper made his way across the bridge, aided by an airlift from a hungry and impatient Long Shot, he introduced himself as Turnstile, a retired toll booth operator. "The problem was that I had gotten too old to handle a fast paced toll booth anymore, but I couldn't just retire completely and twiddle my hooves 'till I died. My darling wife, Scratched Notes, she was the one who came up with the idea for me keeping a bridge, so now I still get to meet ponies, but I can actually keep up with the work."

"But why the whole bridge of death and gorge of eternal peril thing?" Spleens asked between nibbles on a jalapeno.

He shrugged as he finished his sandwich, "I think it's kinda funny. That said though, I should be getting back to my post, looks like more ponies approaching."

After bidding Turnstile farewell and packing up after lunch, Near Miss, Long Shot, and Spleens got moving again, eager to see the gorges behind them.

The second gorge was just over 500 trots past the first, and had a new looking wooden bridge spanning it which was crossed without trouble or toll. The next two gorges themselves were similarly equipped, although the switchbacks leading down to the third gorge and back up to the fourth were, according to Long Shot, "Worse than King Sombra."

The walk to the fifth gorge was easy enough, but upon reaching it, the three girls released a collective groan. There was a toll bridge, along with pegasus nets to keep ponies from flying across. As they approached the toll booth, Near thought the unicorn asleep at his post inside looked familiar. "Hey Long Shot, is that one of the unicorns we saw being chased by an angry mob a while back?" Near asked quietly.

"What?" Spleens asked.

"It was before we met you," Long explained, "We saw two unicorns fleeing an angry mob, a guardspony following them said they had stolen and then broken something valuable."

"That gives me an idea, what kind of guard was it?" Spleens asked.

"It was a pegasus from the day guard," Long Shot answered.

"A mare," Near added.

Stepping behind the caravan, Spleens transformed into a guard with a brief flash of green light. "Like this?" She asked Near, who had followed her behind the caravan.

Looking her up and down, Near nodded, "Looks about right."

Stepping up to where Long Shot was waiting, Spleens quietly told her traveling companions to follow her lead.

Flying up to the toll booth, Spleens knocked loudly on the glass with her hoof, almost startling the unicorn inside off of his chair. "Do you have a permit for these nets and this booth?"

The unicorn inside stammered briefly before responding, "No ma'am, I mean yes ma'am, it's in the back, I'll go get it."

Near Miss and Long Shot struggled to keep a straight face as the unicorn went to the back of the booth where they heard a brief commotion followed by a minute or so of quiet before the unicorn returned carrying a paper in his magic, which he promptly floated over to Spleens.

In her hoof Spleens held the saddest excuse for a forgery she had ever seen. It was obvious that it had just been written in pencil while the stallion had pretended to look for it. It read:

Permit for these nets and toll booth
Issued to: Flim and Flam
Issued by Nota Fakename

Spleens pretended to spend a moment looking over the 'permit' as she tried and failed to keep a straight face. By the time she looked back up, the unicorn inside the booth was gone.

Stepping back and looking across the bridge, Spleens saw the unicorn and what looked like his twin or something both pulling a hastily loaded cart away from the bridge as fast as they could. Changing back to her normal form, Spleens looked over to her friends before saying, "Well, that was easy."

Author's Note

Comments, questions and discussion are welcome as always.