The Life and Times of the Equestrian Dragon

.

A cold wind blew as the Equestrian Dragon flew through the night sky high above the streets of New Canterlot City. A purple and green blur, he was on his way back to his lair from the Landfill Trailer Park south of the suburbs on the lower West Side.

He had just come from meeting up with two blonde wood nymphs who told him that Legerdemain has been using the trailer park to develop his product for the past five years.

“If you can figure out what trailers he’s using for drug labs, you should have no problem making them go ‘boom,’” they had said.

The Equestrian Dragon was going to enjoy dismantling the Raven Cartel’s operation... brick by literal brick--cut off their income first then go for the head.

Finding a map of the trailer park was easy enough; there was one tacked up on the wall of the laundry mat in the main office. Then the Equestrian Dragon’s gaze focused on seven Raven thugs on the other side of the building.

The Equestrian Dragon burst from the laundry mat as one thug pulled a gun. He grabbed the guy’s arm and beat him as the remaining Ravens drew their own guns and took aim. They opened fired and their bullets bounced off the Dragon’s armored skin. Spinning in a circle, the Dragon knocked the other Ravens aside with his tail, swatting them as if they were flies. He then found their drug labs hidden inside five different mobile homes, as well as five lab technicians cooking up a fine white powder that made people do funny things... like freak out in the middle of very public places.

“Legerdemain’s on our asses, guys,” the head technician said to the others. “We gotta get this shipment done tonight.”

The Equestrian Dragon tore through the side of one of the trailers housing a drug lab, scaring the lab technicians away, and he found several square, tightly wrapped cellophane packages about the size of a carry-on bag—about 20 keys, tightly wrapped with waterproof tape—a professional wrapping job.

Using one of his claws, the Dragon made a little slit in one of the packages, stuck the tip of his talon in, and withdrew with some of the flakey, pearlescent white powder on it. No. Not powder, more like a metallic pastry crust. He touched the flakes to his tongue, tasting the bitterness then felt a light numbness.

It was the real McColt, 400 large wholesale.

And not just crack coke, but stashes of crystal meth and even Witchweed.

The lab technicians, meth heads, crack-heads, and other druggies all ran... except for one.

The Dragon’s gaze caught on the man’s inner arm where track marks and fresh punctures marred his skin.

Then a knife appeared in the man’s hand.

Their eyes locked. The Equestrian Dragon had no compassion for this being, because what he saw in this creature’s eyes was anything but humane.

One thing the Dragon had learned living in Equestria for so many centuries was how to handle drug addicts, alcoholics, and idiots who simply didn’t take no for an answer. He had dealt with his share of threatening situations. The key was to remain calm.

But then his primitive survival instincts kicked in and his eyes narrowed as he flashed his darkest, most practiced, fanged snarl.

The blade moved a fraction of an inch and the Dragon thrust the druggie’s knife-holding arm up against the guy’s throat. Warm blood dribbled along the junkie’s neck, but he didn’t wipe it away. The Dragon’s fist barreled into the addict’s chest with every pound of force the Dragon could produce. Then the Equestrian Dragon slammed the junkie in the head with his tail, and the junkie’s body, and the knife, fell to the ground.

The Equestrian Dragon had been flying around a little over seventeen minutes since then... until he landed outside a little jazz club called The Blue Room, which was owned and operated by a couple of ex-soldiers who had come into money after their honorable discharges.

Now, as Spike Zenith sat alone inside the nightclub, trying (and failing) to drown his sorrows in red wine, Fleur de Lis, wearing a low-cut red dress and matching high heels, walked in and approached his table.

“I thought I would find you here,” she said.

“Sit down. Pull up a memory or two,” he replied.

“Celestia and Luna have been worried about you,” she told him. “And so am I.”

“Fleur, is it just me or is the whole world going crazy? It’s just that... I don’t know if I fit in anymore. I’m lost...”

“You’re still thinking about your parents, aren’t you?” she asked.

“I think about them constantly,” Spike said honestly. “They’re a part of me, they always will be. You know, sometimes I think about Fancy Pants and his late wife, that’s when I envy him, because he had someone... the same person every day for thirty years. He woke up next to her, he ate with her, made love to her... while I’m out running around with 20-somethings who just want to have a good time, sex, sex, sex--girls who just can’t say no, who can’t get enough, it’s always, ‘more, more, more!’”

In her own unique way, Fleur understood.

She had done her fair share of partying over the centuries, experimented with all kinds of substances... the wildest she got now was the whole bottle of Champagne or a couple of ales.

Now, she believed that one would have to be an insult to stupid to even consider messing with drugs. She would never do anything to disgrace herself or her friendship with Spike... and she knew that these had not been easy things for him to say.

“Well, just don’t forget, you’ve got the Haywaiian Tropical Illustrated photo shoot at 2:00 tomorrow, and then at 4:00, they’re dedicating a statue at Beaumount Park,” she told him after he’d calmed down. She gave him a gentle kiss and said, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

As she left, Spike gazed at the pictures up on the walls. And while he stared at one of the paintings by Pinto Paintcaster, Spike growled as he heard the voice of his father in his head.

“Now, focus! Straighten up! Chin up! Wider stance, steady, strong... Hold your ground!”

Standing side by side, there were times that even Spike’s mother couldn’t tell them apart.

“Come on, let’s try it again. Ready? Son, if you want to grow up and be like me someday, you have to learn how to fight,” Locke said. “Let me show you something. You see this mark?” The same shape marked their arms. “You, and I, and your mother, are the same, and when you’re bigger, you’re going to be Dragon Lord just like I was. Now let me see you fight.”

“How much longer do I have to keep this up, Father?” Spike had asked.

“Patience, Spike. The fool chases his prey, but the wise one waits for it to come to him,”

Unfortunately, Spike had been struggling to keep his natural instincts at bay in combat.

“I’m sorry, Father. I don’t know what came over me. I won’t let it happen again,”

“I wish I could believe that. Tend to the sheep,” Locke said before turning to his wife.

“Yes, Father,” Spike replied.

“Go easy on the lad, Locke,” Barb had said. “Give him time to adjust.”

“He’s old enough to watch the sheep,” he replied. “Work will take his mind off things.”

“Only time can mend a broken heart,” she’d told him.

“I watched the sheep at his age,”

“Aye and ye left home as soon as ye were old enough. Didn’t ye? He just wants to make you proud,”

“I could be... if he had the proper technique,”

“Your technique,” Barb corrected him.

“Is there another kind?”

“Locke, an acorn can only become a mighty oak and nothing else. You must let Spike grow into the man that he will be,” she’d said.

.

The following day at New Canterlot University, Rainbow Dash was trying to take a nap while Sunset Shimmer was reading, doing a little quick research; Applejack was working out on a resistance machine, and Fluttershy was playing her new flute.

Fluttershy had been reluctant to take up learning a different instrument—at least at first—especially since she had become so attached to her tambourine, but then she remembered something her grandmother once said: “Music is powerful. It’s the universal language; one of our best hopes for the eventual realization of the unity of the human race.”

So she continued to practice, knowing that someday it would pay off.

Her playing started out calm then gradually became more majestic.

“Hey, Fluttershy, I got a request,” Rainbow Dash said.

“You do?” she asked.

“Yeah, can you play So Low I Can’t Hear You?” Dash retorted.

Dash couldn’t nap with all the noise, so she decided to make her favorite sandwich: pasta and potato on sourdough. All the while, Pinkie Pie was devouring several different kinds of juice, ice cream, cake, cookies, candy and frozen yogurt.

“Keep it coming,” she said. “Now what was I saying? Oh, yeah. So they told me, ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees.’ And I told them, ‘Money’s made of paper and paper comes from trees so, technically, money does grow on trees.’”

That’s when Rarity walked in and said (more like announced), “Guess who’s on a photo shoot in the park right now.”

Fluttershy gasped. “Spike? Spike is in the park right now?”

“As we speak,” Rarity practically sang.

And before she could say anymore, the other girls rushed around to get ready.

Sunset snapped her books shut, Applejack took a short shower and changed clothes, Rainbow Dash took a hairbrush from Rarity’s purse and quickly combed through her ruffled hair, Pinkie Pie finished her “light snack” and Fluttershy disassembled her flute and carefully placed its pieces into its small, protective case... then they headed off to the park.

As they walked to the bus stop nearby, Sunset asked Rarity, “So, have you got a date for the Founders’ Day Festival next year?”

“I’m not going,” Rarity answered.

“Well, I happen to know that Spike’s still available,” Sunset said. “Now, he is older and very sophisticated, but he’s cute. Besides, he’s very intelligent.”

“Oh, he’s handsome, all right, and rude and conceited,” Rarity replied. “Come on, Sunset, I may be desperate, but I’m not that desperate.”

When the girls rounded the corner, Fluttershy bumped into a tall, thin man carrying a small, black, protective flute and piccolo all-in-one case, and it and hers both fell to the sidewalk.

“Watch it!” he exclaimed.

“I’m sorry. I am so sorry. I’m in a hurry!” Fluttershy said as she bent down to retrieve one of the flute cases.

“What are you, a damn idiot?” he shouted.

“Well, that is uncalled for!” Rarity replied.

“She barely bumped ya,” Applejack said.

“And she said sorry,” Sunset Shimmer added.

As the man picked the other flute case up from the ground and walked away, he said, “Pray that our paths never cross again. Next time, I will not be in such a forgiving mood.”

“Why you--” Rainbow Dash began.

She was about to chase after him when a silver shuttle bus pulled up to the curb. The door opened and the driver tipped his hat to the girls.

“Next stop, Beaumount Park,” he said.

And the girls boarded the bus, not giving the rude man a second thought.

.

A short drive from New Canterlot University, the posh Beaumount Hotel was a favorite amongst photographers. And its manmade fountains had their own merits as prime photo locations. Photo Finish, famous photographer for Zenith Industries, was there with her entire entourage: Soigné Folio, High Style, Powder Rouge, Pixel Pizzazz and Violet Blurr. And they were guarded by a hulking bruiser with a black buzz cut and matching goatee.

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate zis, Spike,” Photo Finish said. “After the way you saved my business... and my life... it’s the least I can do to thank you.”

“No problem,” Spike replied.

Then they got down to business: where they tried to capture lightning in a bottle.

The second the cameras came on, all of the models knew that they could be shooting all day. That meant hours and hours of footage, hundreds upon hundreds of photos just for that one shot that captured the look and feel of the whole photo shoot.

Of course, the location was only as good as the talent.

The Haywaiian Tropical International bikini models were gorgeous women who had seen the beaches of the Bahaymas, the jungles of South Equestria, and beyond. Forty-five women from all over the world—from Flankfurt, Germaney to Mountreal, Caneighada—these swimsuit models came from near and far to flaunt their endowments... all while striking carnal poses.

“Magnificent, super!” Photo Finish exclaimed. “Come on, now! I want to see hunger in your eyes. Beautiful, beautiful! Slice of Elysium! Wunderbar! That’s it! Oh, yes, you’re angry. Show me angry... Yes, yes! No, no! We need more energy, more romance. We need... Her!”

Of all the girls Photo Finish had photographed, few could so naturally raise the room temperature like sweet Vivacious Stokes. She would shoot her for half an hour then go back to the studio and argue with her staff about which were the best shots, and they realized that every shot was as good as the next and they were all smokin’! So, she simply ran the footage and marveled... then snuck off and sat on a block of ice for a few hours.

Vivacious Stokes gave Photo Finish a couple of different looks from smiling, to being happy, to the more sensual look, but not so much as “come and get me” sexy. But they were all tasteful and exciting.

Meanwhile, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Sunset Shimmer stood under a tree, off to the side, watching Spike. Fluttershy could not stop smiling, her mouth dropping open even after Sunset reached over and closed it... and Fluttershy sighed when Spike waved at her.

“That’s it! Work it! Own it! Now pout for me! Pout! Pout! Oh, no, he’s pouting more than the girls... No! I can work with this!” Photo Finish shouted.

They took a fifteen minute break and Vivacious Stokes asked, “Spike, what’s wrong? I thought a photo shoot with the Haywaiian Tropical bikini models was a lifelong dream?”

“It was, it was, it’s just... there’s something vaguely torturous about beholding these beautiful women,” he said.

The modeling world was very tough, they both knew that.

Spike’s ultimate goal here was to give back to these girls who wanted to be models and to help them to obtain careers in modeling. He took the seedy part out of it, gave the girls a hard education on the reality of what it was all about, and gave them the chance to interview with some of the real people that would be able to help those girls further their careers. People they would never have a chance to meet in the legitimate modeling world.

With his help, they made a lot of good connections, met a lot of good people, got jobs through different agencies, they were able to travel all over the world--from Prance to Tahayiti--and he helped them improve their own self-esteem... and they appreciated him for that.

“Spike, you’re doing a good thing here,” Vivacious Stokes said. “You’re a great guy.”

“Yeah, well, being me isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” he replied.

Spike Zenith wasn’t just a model himself, he was a force of nature; the kind that could launch a thousand ships, 200 kayaks, eight paddleboats and a canoe.

But there were times he wished he could pass his duties as the Equestrian Dragon on to the next dragon and be done with it... but those were his responsibilities; they belonged to him and only him.

.

In the meantime, Mayor Strider was having a meeting with Councilwoman Vignette Valencia in his office at City Hall. He had been declining comments to the press all morning regarding the Equestrian Dragon.

“You write anything in that newspaper of yours that sends my city into a panic, they’ll be lookin’ for you at the bottom of the river! You can quote me on that!” Strider shouted.

And he slammed the phone down onto the receiver on his desk.

“Can someone please explain to me why the local gossip has to be breathing down my neck?” he asked the councilwoman. “There’s enough going on around here without having to deal with those morons.”

“That wasn’t a footprint, but there’s no animal in the world that makes tracks like that,” Vignette stated.

Strider gnashed his teeth. “Whatever it was that attacked the trailer park last night, and I refuse to use the word ‘dragon,’ I want it forgotten! It’s history, over and done with!”

“It’s far from over,” Cream Heart, the mayor’s assistant, replied. “We’ve been receiving reports of odd occurrences from all over the city.”

“Shall I contact the Flimflam Brothers?” Vignette suggested.

“I wouldn’t hire those scam artists to shine my shoes!” Strider yelled.

“Well, then, maybe I can help,” said a voice.

A tall, thin, mysterious, sophisticated man with sharp blue eyes, and a small, black case in his hands, stood up from an armchair in the corner of the room.

“Excuse me, Your Honor. My name is Forest, Black-Forest. I understand you’re a busy man, so I’ll make this short. You have a problem, and I’m the man to take care of it. I can drive it out of town, and out of your hair... for a price,” he offered.

The mayor and councilwoman studied the man holding the instrument case.

In that suit—which consisting of a white collared shirt, torch red necktie, black slacks, a dark green jacket with golden yellow buttons, an orange handkerchief in the jacket’s breast pocket, and a royal purple cloak—he didn’t look much like an exterminator, or even a scientist for that matter.

“And what is the right price?” Vignette Valencia inquired as Strider rose from his chair.

“One hundred gold sovereigns,” Black-Forest said, “which, judging by your dinnerware, you can easily afford.”

“The Mayor will never meet such a demand,” Cream Heart thought.

Then she said, “I’ll call security and have him thrown out.”

“Are you stupid?” Strider asked. He pulled her and the councilwoman aside and whispered, “He won’t be able to rid us of one pest, let alone all of them. But it will give us someone else to blame for our failure. When the monsters aren’t gone, I can say he didn’t keep his promise... and buy ourselves more time without spending a haypenny.”

Strider turned back toward Black-Forest and said, “I agree to your bargain. If you can do what you claim, we have a deal. Cream Heart, go draw up a contract!”

“Yes, Cream Heart,” Black-Forest smiled. “Do that.”

So the deal was confirmed.

.

An hour later, Fluttershy sighed as she sat on a rock near a pond at the edge of the forest.

She couldn’t stop thinking about Spike.

She’d been so obsessed over him lately she couldn’t even think about other boys.

All she could focus on were those gorgeous green eyes.

And every word out of his mouth was like a glimpse into his soul.

She just wanted to wrap her arms around him... which led to her fantasizing about what her future with Spike would be like: first love, then marriage, and finally... children.

But she had come here to practice, which she thought would take her mind off of him, and when she tried to open the instrument case, the catches would not budge.

“I never lock my flute case,” she thought out loud.

Thinking back to earlier that day, Fluttershy recalled that the man she collided with at the bus stop had been holding the exact same small, black, protective flute and piccolo all-in-one case... exactly like hers!

After a bit of tampering with the locks, she managed to open the case. And when she did, she saw a flute... but it was very different from her own. At first glance, it looked like her flute, but this one had symbols along the side--silhouettes of a rat, a fox, a duck, a parrot, an owl, a pelican, a lobster, a witch, a unicorn, an ogre, and a dragon... among many others.

As well as the flute, the case contained five hundred and twenty gold coins and a note. But not just any note, it was orders for an assassination.

Greetings, Piper,

This time your mission is to take out a certain individual.

His name is Street Rat.

His employer, Flintlock Firepower is supplying guns illegally to the Brotherhood of White Wolves in New Canterlot City. Their rival group, the Raven Cartel, is very upset over this.

In order to receive payment, Street Rat stays at the Beaumount Hotel near Beaumount Park near the end of each month. That’s where you come in. We have already arranged a room for you. You stay at the hotel, and check out after you take care of the Rat.

That’s when Fluttershy realized she had picked up the wrong case!

But as she held the smooth metal of this flute in her hands, she started to feel like she was capable of just about anything. Terrified (she was mostly afraid of the flute’s original owner), but still attracted to the instrument, Fluttershy decided to try and play it. She moved her fingers into position, covered one of the holes, and played a single, shrill note.

Back in Beaumount Park, after the photo shoot was over, Spike felt himself falling under the sway of a musical emanation. It rode on the wind; a thin, high-pitched song with no real pattern to it. It came from a long way away, and it was pleasant to his ears. He stared off for so long, his eyes moving very gradually along the mountains and back again. And as he listened to the refrain, it held him transfixed, so enthralled that had no choice but to follow it.

Ducking into a nearby alley, Spike transformed into his dragon form and took to the sky. Then the Equestrian Dragon spotted the shape of a young woman in the distance. The scaly, hulking monster soared over the forest until he came to the clearing... and Fluttershy shrieked when she saw the Dragon flying overhead and she tumbled from the rock she was sitting on.

Fluttershy’s first impulse was to get up and run—the Dragon was so huge he looked like he could eat her in one bite—but her natural infatuation with nature overpowered her fear. Her blue eyes widened as she gazed at the Equestrian Dragon.

And when the Dragon roared, she listened.

“He sounds just like my flute,” she said.

Was he trying to communicate with her?

The music seemed to have a strange effect on him... as if he was entranced by the sound.

She blew into the flute without covering any of the holes, and the Dragon did loops in the air. She covered a different hole and blew a melancholy tune. When she did, the Dragon landed on the ground in front of her.

“Wow,” was all she could say.

She played a more dramatic tune, and the Equestrian Dragon breathed fire at one of the nearby boulders, melting it into a puddle of molten rock. She tried a more energetic tune and the Dragon flapped his wings so hard that he created a gust of wind so strong that nearly blew the trees over.

Offering his claw to her, Fluttershy cautiously climbed onto the Equestrian Dragon’ back and started playing an elaborate flurry of notes, from tense to whimsical, and then playful. As she played the latter, the Equestrian Dragon started to fly again, and he took her over the forest then the snow-covered peaks of the mountains.

“Well, after this I don’t think I’ll be afraid of falling down the stairs,” she thought.

For a moment, Fluttershy thought she was dreaming. But this was real—and even if she wasn’t, she didn’t want this to end—but she quickly decided that enough was enough and played the melancholy tune again, causing the Dragon to land and let her down on the outskirts of town.

When the Equestrian Dragon flew off, he felt as if he had been in a trance, while the sweet, strange music went on and on, and then suddenly it stopped... and he was left flying dazed with his mind reeling at this new, peculiar feeling.

.

At the same time, New Canterlot City was being attacked by an army of gigantic black, winged, moth-like bug monsters that began devouring everything in sight--and not just food--buckets, signs, lampposts, the metal support beams of suspension bridges... everything.

Max Raid, the head of New Canterlot City’s pest control squad, had dealt with everything from twittermites to parasprites, but he had never seen anything like this. In the butcher shop, one bug monster gnawed on a wheel of cheese while several others swarmed over sausages and the different varieties of meat on display. Max began to panic, fearing the worst if he couldn’t get these things under control. But no matter how many of them they zapped, capped and trapped, more and more came up in their place. Pretty soon, he and the other exterminators found themselves helpless against the swarm.

Just as they were about to turn and run, they saw someone marching straight toward the mass of monster bugs, and he started to play a few notes as he made a strange adjustment to the valves upon the instrument he was holding.

Black-Forest turned a knob on the end of his flute, lining up a picture of an insect with an arrow on his flute’s shaft. As Black-Forest played an ostinato, the big, black monster bugs started to bounce and sway to the music.

Then as Black-Forest turned and pranced across the bridge, piping an uncanny tune, the bugs followed him in droves, and he led them all out of New Canterlot.

“Didn’t see that comin’,” Applejack said.

“Incredible,” Rarity added.

“Um, what just happened?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Black-Forest dusted his hands and sauntered back to the Mayor’s office.

“I’ve done my job, I have held up my end of the bargain, and now I would like my reward,” he said.

“I don’t remember anything about a reward,” Strider replied.

“My gold,” Black-Forest stated.

The mayor dipped a hand into the money bag that was on his desk and pulled out a handful of shining gold coins, then let them drop back in before taking a single coin, and threw it at Black-Forest, telling him that he would not meet the man’s price.

“Our bargain was for one hundred gold sovereigns,” Black-Forest stated.

“You were serious? All you did was pipe a tune!” Strider replied. “What kind of mayor would I be if I paid you something like that?”

And Black-Forest, who wasn’t too surprised, glowered at him and said, “An honest one!”

“Which you clearly are not,” he added in thought.

“You think you can come in here and bully me?” Strider asked. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with!”

“No, it is you who doesn’t know who he’s dealing with,” Black-Forest replied in kind. “You’re dishonest, you’re ungrateful, and it’s a shame that the youth of this city should grow up to be the same. If I don’t leave here with my money, friend, then I will leave with something else. You will pay me what I am owed or face the consequences.”

Strider thought Black-Forest was bluffing.

In fact, he outright dared the piper to do his worst.

Then he said, “Get out!”

“Very well,” Black-Forest said as he left, while making another adjustment to his flute.

Those who tried to weasel out of their deals with him eventually found his instrument used in another fashion.

Strider would rue the day he refused to pay the Piper.

.

Later that night, at Sweet Apple Acres, while Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were having their movie club meeting, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Sunset Shimmer were discussing what they had seen back on the bridge.

“No one gets paid in gold for an hour’s worth of work!” Dash exclaimed. “It’s not fair!”

“That’s what the Mayor of Haymelin thought about the deal he made with the Pied Piper,” Sunset told them. “Here, let me show you.”

She showed them the book she had been studying out of earlier that day: a leather-bound tome with the year 1284 etched on the cover.

As she opened the book to a picture of a brightly-dressed man and a horde of thousands of rats scurrying across a bridge leading out of a fortified city, Sunset Shimmer began to tell them a tearful tale of woe.

“In 1284, the town of Haymelin, Germaney had a serious rat problem,” she said. “They fought the dogs and killed the cats. But the real rats weren’t the vermin; they were town officials wearing ermine.”

“What’s ermine?” Pinkie inquired.

“A special kind of fur,” Rarity replied. “In the old countries, hundreds of years ago, it was used to trim fancy robes, like the ones the mayor and the town council wore.”

“You mean those officials wore fur?” Fluttershy asked.

“That’s not all they did,” Sunset Shimmer said. “They also made lots of promises... and broke them all.”

“What kinds of promises?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“They promised to repair the broken cobblestones on the streets, plant flowers in the town square, buy books for the schoolhouse, and build a bridge over the river,” Sunset told them. “Of course, to do these things would require a lot of money. But the fat cat politicians spent so much on themselves that there was nothing left to spend on the town. So they raised the taxes... but they raised their own salaries, too. Soon, there was no more money to keep their promises. But that didn’t stop them from making more promises than ever. And those promises sounded so good that the townsfolk never quite caught on.”

Haymelin had been a lovely city by the bay--the food was especially great because it had the finest, very best Germane cuisine cooks--but the mayor and city council were the only ones who thrived... until the day, one summer, when the rats arrived.

To this day, it was still unknown exactly what caused the sudden rodent boom, but soon the town was overrun with rats. They were everywhere: in the houses, in the churches, and the schools, they filled the local marketplace and even private rooms. Open the cupboards, and they would clean them out, eating everything in sight; try to take a bath and the rats would share the tub, they even nested in people’s hats and beds. But the worst of it was that the chefs could not make food to please... because the rodents had eaten all the cheese. When the people tried to chase the rats, the rodents just chased them back. And when they tried to set up traps to catch the rats, they mocked the sad attempts.

Finally, the citizens of Haymelin had had enough.

Frantic with despair that the pests would eventually take over, the people stormed the castle and cried out, “We’ve got to get rid of the rats!”

But alas, the city of Haymelin had a mayor as craven as could be, one who would never, ever accept responsibility. He was more evasive than a bird and, as with any problem, his reaction was the same: “You needn’t find solutions if you find someone to blame.”

The mayor called his advisors as well as the city council, and they huddled to determine just whom to hold responsible for getting rid of the vermin. The mayor explained his goal was not to stop the rats’ assault; instead he needed someone that he could hold completely at fault.

And then one day, a handsome young stranger ventured into the town and decreed that he would get rid of the rats.

No one knew where this man came from, but his glory and fame preceded him. He was a master mercenary and ruthless bounty hunter that had freed many a town by driving out many a pest, but he was also strong and resourceful, not to mention honorable and trustworthy.

The mayor supported the man’s plan, thus putting him in the hot seat... and getting himself off the hook.

Without a single ally, no assistance nor advice, the one called “the Piper” set out to rid the village of the rats. He went to work and the rodents became victims of his musical harangue. He danced around town as he played his catchy tune, and the rats danced from their holes and fell in step behind the Piper.

He led the vermin right out of town, into the river where they drowned, and the people cheered after he had solved their dilemma. But when he returned to the mayor to collect what he had been owed, he found the mayor not inclined to honor any deal. The Piper had been promised gold, but the mayor would not pay his fee... and the other adults laughed at the Piper.

While Sunset Shimmer spoke, the other girls had a scary thought, which led to the story’s startling conclusion: for when the Piper played his Forbidden Concerto he took away the beings that the town would miss the most.

“The Pied Piper went to Haymelin and led the rats away with his magic flute,” Sunset concluded. “But when the mayor wouldn’t pay him, he used the same magic to lure away the children, never to be seen again... and to leave the mayor in horror to face the wrath of the parents for the loss of their children. They were so angry that they ran the mayor out of town, the only time he’d ever taken blame for anything.”

“They never saw their children again?” Fluttershy asked, trying hard to not sob.

“Only three remained: one who was blind, and couldn’t see which way they were going; one who was deaf, and couldn’t hear the music; and one who was lame, and could not keep up,” Sunset stated. “As for what happened to the other children, no one really knows. Some say the Piper drowned them in the river like he did the rats, others believe that he led the children to a wonderful place where the breeze is always gentle, the flowers are always in bloom, and no one is sick, or sad, or hurt anymore.”

“Well, I think it was mean for the Piper to take revenge like that,” Rarity said.

“The townsfolk weren’t too honest, either,” Applejack put in. “They could have made the mayor pay the Piper, but they didn’t.”

The other girls agreed; because of their dishonesty, those people lost something far more valuable than gold: they lost their children and their integrity.

“Either way, it’s a scary thing when kids are led astray by powerful forces,” Pinkie said.

“And now, after 700 years, that evil flute has reappeared once again,” Sunset told them, which led to her telling them another terrifying legend.

She turned the page of the book to the next entry: the Flute of Enchantment.

“Centuries ago, an evil wizard crafted a flute infused with dark magic. Originally a tool for simple extermination, its music caused those unfortunate enough to hear it to fall under the player’s control,” Sunset went on. “It made them do whatever the Piper wanted. And they never knew it. It was useful, but its power was limited... until some sought to use it as a weapon. The Pied Piper’s pipe works on more than just rats or children. With the right tune, one could control almost any animal or thing. Thus, the war for possession of the instrument has raged on.”

“That man at the bus stop, the flute case... it belongs to him,” Fluttershy breathed. “I have one just like it and I picked up his by mistake.”

“That flute... is the very same as the one that belonged to the Pied Piper,” Sunset stated.

“That’s just a fairytale,” Rarity replied dismissively. “Besides, Black-Forest was the one leading those demon insects out of town,” she said. “Why would he offer to help if he was responsible for it in the first place?”

“It’s a scam,” Applejack told her. “His own goons attack then he comes along and pretends to fix the problem.”

“And gets the mayor to pay him off for the trouble he caused,” Rainbow Dash added.

Sure, it sounded like a grand scheme... but it was not true.

It was someone else who had unleashed those insects on New Canterlot City.

Then Dash said, “Wait. If Fluttershy has the Piper’s pipe, then how was he able to control the bugs using Fluttershy’s flute?”

Sunset turned the page again, and showed them another picture of no less than three enchanted wind instruments: a flute, a recorder, and a piccolo.

“There’s more than one...” the girls breathed.

Elsewhere in the city, the Equestrian Dragon frowned as he looked down from the moonlit sky, watching a cloaked figure in the city street below.

Black-Forest’s deep purple cloak billowed as he played “Come Little Children” on his flute. And as he played, several children dropped whatever it was they were doing and turned their heads, while many others stopped doing their evening chores and converged on the streets.

“Don’t listen to him!” the Dragon roared.

But it was no use.

Soon, Black-Forest had gathered up all the children, who danced as they followed him, skipping along an unpaved road into the countryside. So, the Piper played his song, and took the children--each little boy and girl who was younger than twenty--who fell in behind the man, and he led them off to somewhere in the mountains far away. A young woman in a wheelchair, Jinx, lagged behind the others.

Applejack and Rarity stared wide-eyed as their sisters turned as well, before walking off into the dark, with bright, beaming smiles on their faces.

“They’re done for,” Rarity said.

“Not yet!” Applejack replied. “We’re goin’ after ‘em! Come on!”

“We’d need a miracle,” said Sunset.

“We’re in luck,” Fluttershy said. “I just happen know someone who knows a thing or two about getting rid of pests.”

“A thing or two?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Don’t be modest. I know at least a thing or three. Just let us go with you, please-weasie,” she added. “Fear not, dear friends, our pest problems will soon be vanquished!”

.

The next morning, several police officers responded to a residential burglary call at Cream Heart’s house. She reported that a burglar had broken into her home and stolen quite a few items, including $5,623 in cash and her son’s beeper... not to mention her son, Button Mash, who had also disappeared. All the while, the police dispatcher was getting reports from all over the city of children leaving their homes and following Black-Forest... and Mayor Strider found a ransom note pinned to his office wall with a knife.

“If you want the children back, bring $1,290,000.00 in unmarked bills to Crown Butte.”

They had been abducted.

“That might explain the empty suitcase,” Officer Windstorm said.

“Empty?” Strider exclaimed. “See? That proves it!”

“It does?” Cream Heart asked.

“It does?” Captain Shining Armor repeated.

“It could,” Sergeant Spearhead replied. “You said this suitcase was full with the ransom money before you went to bed last night?” he asked Strider. “And if neither of you took the money... someone else must have.”

Strider groaned while the officers took down the list of stolen items. As they did, Cream Heart jokingly suggested that she call the thief on her son’s beeper and see if he calls back.

“It can’t hurt,” Officer Windstorm said.

“Sure,” Cream Heart, who had nothing to lose by paging the robber, replied.

And six minutes later, her phone started ringing.

Cream Heart looked at the phone, then at Captain Shining Armor and the other officers, and she answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Yeah, somebody paged me to this number,”

Cream Heart, recognizing the voice on the other end as Black-Forest’s, looked towards the police and mouthed, “It’s him!”

“Um, somebody paged you from this number. My son must have called. And, uh, he’s in the shower right now. Could you call back in a few minutes? Thank you.” Cream Heart laughed after she hung up and said, “That was him!”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a caller ID by any chance, would you?” Spearhead asked.

“Yes!” Cream Heart proclaimed.

The police looked at the caller ID device, and the crook’s number came up. They relayed the information to the dispatcher, who got an address on the phone number, and sent units to the robber’s location: a payphone near Crown Butte.

“I feel better already,” Strider remarked as he walked out to his car.

“Why didn’t you just pay him like you said you would?” Vignette asked him.

“Lesson number one: if you want to make it in this cutthroat world, don’t ever keep your word,” Strider stated.

.

Vehicles carrying Mayor Strider, Vignette Valencia, Cream Heart, Captain Shining Armor, Sergeant Spearhead, Officer Windstorm, and the parents and older siblings of the kidnapped teenagers and preteens zoomed along the empty road. All they had to do was follow the flute music. And they did... all the way to the deserted citadel ruins at Crown Butte.

Ducking under low branches, the mob, led by the police officers, approached the murky clearing, where they found Black-Forest standing, leaning against a hollow oak tree.

“Well, do you have my money?” he asked.

“Where are the children?” Shining Armor demanded.

Black-Forest looked back toward the citadel ruins behind him and the children emerged, completely unharmed. Shining Armor then nodded to Vignette Valencia, who slowly carried the mayor’s suitcase to Black-Forest, who opened it.

“Empty,” he said.

“There’s been a change in plans,” Mayor Strider replied.

“Black-Forest, you are under arrest for kidnapping and racketeering,” Spearhead said.

“I just want what I am owed,” Black-Forest stated.

“You scoundrel!” the Mayor shouted.

“Better to be a scoundrel than a cheat!” Black-Forest countered.

“You were overcharging!” the Mayor told him. Strider turned toward the crowd of parents and police officers and asked them, “Is it honest for someone to expect one hundred gold pieces for an hour’s worth of work?”

Most of them didn’t think so.

“Is it honest for this man to make a promise and then break it?” Black-Forest asked.

“No,” Cream Heart replied, “but he always does that.”

It was true. Strider never once kept his word, and it didn’t hurt him one bit... until now.

The people glared at their mayor, who looked away worriedly.

“It is up to you, the people who elect your leaders, to make sure that they keep their word,” Black-Forest told them, “or it is you who will face the consequences.”

But even now, Strider refused to pay Black-Forest what he had promised because the mayor assumed that getting rid of monsters would be a difficult job, but Black-Forest did it with almost no effort at all... thanks to a magic that Strider didn’t know the man possessed. Then Strider claimed that Black-Forest tricked him into agreeing to pay a disproportionate amount for something that it turned out took very little effort.

And Black-Forest said, “Regardless, we had a deal and I lived up to my end. Highly qualified specialists are expensive for a reason. If you don’t pay one way, you’ll pay another.”

Black-Forest’s purple cloak billowed as the children he had “kidnapped”, mostly young girls--including Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo--stood between him and the police.

That’s when everyone realized that this wasn’t just simple mind control – these children had not been robbed of their free will – they had simply gathered around to listen. The Pied Piper grew stronger as more individuals gathered around him, which supercharged his power to near unstoppable levels... and that made him even more dangerous.

As the last child, the girl in the wheelchair, positioned herself directly in front of Black-Forest, while the other children stood at his sides, and some even shielded him from potential attackers that thought they could sneak up from behind him, Rainbow Dash forced her way to the front of the crowd and shouted, “You think you’re tough hiding behind a bunch of kids?”

“I don’t need the children,” Black-Forest replied. “I’m not a monster. Go.”

Reluctantly, the children returned to their parents.

“For the last time, will you honor our agreement?” Black-Forest asked Strider.

“No,” the Mayor answered.

“Then we’re done talking,” Black-Forest stated.

He wasn’t leaving without his payment, and it was painfully obvious that was willing to fight for it. So, Fluttershy rose to meet his challenge.

Smiling, Black-Forest watched as Fluttershy stepped forward, lifted his flute to her lips and blew into it as hard as she could, playing the energetic tune from before, and the Equestrian Dragon suddenly appeared from the clouds and landed between her and Black-Forest.

Then the Equestrian Dragon opened one of his claws and dropped several wads of cash bundled up in rubber bands in front of the man.

“What’s all that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It looks to me like exactly one million two-hundred ninety thousand dollars in unmarked bills,” said Pinkie Pie.

“The ransom money,” Cream Heart thought. “He took it.”

“Did you see that?” Strider asked the police. “She’s controlling that beast!”

Oh, they were seeing it... but they did not believe it.

“Get me that flute!” Strider shouted.

Fluttershy quickly played the dramatic tune again, and the Equestrian Dragon breathed fire at the police officers, forcing them to scatter, and causing Mayor Strider’s pants to fall down as he tumbled into a heap of dry leaves.

“Hers is bigger,” Rarity told Black-Forest.

“You fools, even after all these centuries, you still don’t get it,” Black-Forest snarled. “It’s not the pipe, it’s the piper!”

Furious, Black-Forest pulled the two halves of his backup flute, the size of a piccolo, from the holsters on his hips and assembled the instrument. Brandishing it menacingly, he lined up a picture of a dog with the arrow on the miniature flute’s shaft, raised it to his lips, and started to play his own lively melody.

It became a duel!

He started out with the classic children’s folksong, “Bingo Was His Name-O”, which gave him control of the police department’s K-9 units, causing them to fight the Equestrian Dragon for him; while Fluttershy played “Mary Had A Little Lamb”, and Black-Forest answered with “Turkey In The Straw”, and then “Home On The Range”.

“Now, what tune controls dragons?” Black-Forest thought.

He started to play “I Wish It Would Rain Down”, which summoned clouds and literally brought lightning down on the Equestrian Dragon, and said, “That’s not it.”

While Black-Forest played, Rainbow Dash ran and leaped at him, Black-Forest kept on playing. He played a brand-new tune, which caused Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Sunset Shimmer to break dance—they only stopped dancing when Black-Forest stopped playing—and he only stopped playing to dodge Pinkie Pie, who assaulted him with bagels, pies, cupcakes and rolls, which she pulled from her hair... but they had absolutely no effect on him.

He was nearly invulnerable.

“Just give up,” Black-Forest said to Fluttershy.

Running out of edible ammo, Pinkie reached into her hair and pulled out kazoo and an accordion... and she started to play a polka.

That’s when Black-Forest recoiled and held his ears in pain.

However, when Black-Forest’s music-controlled animal minions attacked the Equestrian Dragon, the fight quickly became one-sided, as the Dragon easily broke through any attack Black-Forest used, utilizing his own powers while also roaring like a wild animal to scare him, which succeeded. The Equestrian Dragon’s lungs could breathe fire, his scales dissolved flames, and the angrier the Dragon got, the more intense his own fire became. His fire was becoming so strong that it was superheating the air around him.

“Impossible!” Black-Forest shouted. “How are you even standing?”

“A dragon has many fangs,” the Dragon replied.

Using his tail, the Dragon knocked Black-Forest’s piccolo from his hand, and it rolled until it stopped at Rainbow Dash’s feet.

“Dude, you’ve piped your last tune,” she stated.

Dash and Applejack were about to play Black-Forest a final concerto with their fists when he reached into his cloak and pulled out a handheld crossbow. One that, instead of arrows, shot sharp knives shaped like boomerangs.

But he didn’t point at them. Instead, he fired behind them, and the curved blade pierced the ground close to Mayor Strider, who had crawled over to the pile of ransom money in a vain attempt to retrieve it.

“Go ahead... take my pay,” Black-Forest dared him.

Strider slowly crawled away, his pants still around his ankles.

Black-Forest collected the money then he gave Fluttershy her flute... and she gave his flutes back to him. It was a civil exchange, now they both had their original instruments back.

“The mayor hired me to get rid of one pest,” he said. “He didn’t say which pest.”

Using his dragon fist, the Equestrian Dragon squeezed Black-Forest, hoisted him up so that he was level with the Dragon’s eyes, and the Dragon growled, “Take the money. But understand this: if you mess with me or this city again, you’re gonna get burned.”

Black-Forest nodded and the Equestrian Dragon, using his dragon breath, blew the man formerly known as the Pied Piper of Haymelin far away into the distance... and the money he was owed right along with him.

Then the Equestrian Dragon, his claws wrapped in flames, took Fluttershy’s flute, bent it, and shoved it up Mayor Strider’s ass!

The Equestrian Dragon turned toward the crowd and roared, “Let this be a reminder to all of you: those who don’t keep their promises usually end up paying a higher price for dishonor than they would otherwise!”

And he flew away in a cloud of black smoke before the police could apprehend him.

Later, the police department tried to make sense of the whole situation, but the mayor’s office had it chucked up to the people suffering from “some sort of mass hysteria”.

As for Mayor Strider himself, Nurse Redheart, Nurse Tenderheart, Nurse Snowheart, and no less than three doctors—basically, the senior medical staff members at the New Canterlot City Hospital that were on Spike Zenith’s payroll—all attempted to remove Fluttershy’s flute from Strider’s ass. They tried for hours... but to no avail.

Never has a man had so much trouble sitting down... or using a toilet.

And as for the parents of the children who had followed the Pied Piper, they said that if they listened carefully, they could still hear the Black-Forest’s flute music in the wind... especially at night.

.

Clouds roiled around the body of the sleek twin-engine jet as it swooped down through the skies over Equestria. Below, a sprawl of miniature buildings caught in a web of thread-sized highways had begun to grow into an imposing cityscape as the airplane started its slow approach to the Kenneighdy International Airport. Inside, a man in a first-class seat spoke on a cellular phone as he gazed out the small window then absently thumbed through the latest issue of Fortune & Success magazine, the one with strikingly attractive Spike Zenith on the cover. Unlike Spike, this man appeared to be in his late twenties, smartly dressed, ruggedly handsome, with compelling brown eyes, dark hair and beard, a silver watch on his left wrist.

But it wasn’t Spike’s cover shot the man was looking at. He was more taken by the bikini photo shoot in the newest issue of Equestria Weekly, of a young woman named Fluttershy... and comparing it to the sketch he had of a woman who looked very similar to her: Bella Breeze.

“We should be touching down any minute now,” he said. “It’ll be good to see you again.”

On the other end of the connection, Lepiota preened before a small mirror.

“You too,” she answered. “And don’t worry about a thing. We’ll clear up these old problems. Don’t forget... you’ve got a big, important underworld sorceress on your side.”

The man on the plane stared at the sketch of Bella Breeze and Fluttershy’s pictures and touched them gently with the tips of his fingers as he spoke.

“I can’t believe it’s been over a thousand years,” he murmured with a sigh.

“So... thinking of looking up some old friends?” she asked suspiciously after a moment of silence. The heartiness in her voice sounded forced. “Or their possible descendants...?”

The man frowned as he tilted his head, gazing raptly down at the city swelling beneath him. Then he shook his head as if coming out of a nightmare.

“Lepiota, don’t start that again,” he said, dropping the magazines into the pocket of the seat in front of him. “She’s... ancient history.”

“That’s encouraging,” Lepiota replied, relaxed and happy again. “I’ll see you soon.”

She hung up the phone, blew herself a kiss in the mirror, and went off to prepare for the man’s arrival. Meanwhile, the man pocketed the sketch and his portable phone and raised his head when the stewardess appeared at the front of the cabin.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the young woman said, including the man in question, with her professional smile. “Please fasten your seat belts. We are beginning our descent into Equestria.”

The man obediently checked his seat belt then turned back to the window and watched as the great city rose to meet him.