Hoax-Ed!

Foreword from the author: To clear things up a bit, everything mentioned to happen in the town square in this fanfiction, takes place only in the back area of the square, behind the town hall.

Chapter I – One stubborn trio

        It was a warm, summer morning in Ponyville. The town was slowly preparing to host the long-anticipated concert by 4Hooves – a famous rock band from Canterlot. Twilight Sparkle was on her way to the marketplace, when she heard an unusual commotion around the town square. Somepony was shouting, some others were running around. Not that she was eager to find out what it was, but she had to go through there anyway - the road to the marketplace led through the square. And so, Twilight witnessed a rather peculiar sight. Three young stallions were running what appeared to be some kind of a quickly put together stand on the side of the square. It wouldn’t be that unusual, if not the way they were doing this – trotting around frantically and trying to reel in customers as if their life depended on it.        The three were all Earth ponies. One of them was rather tall, with a yellow coat and a short, black mane. He seemed the least upset, however, he also seemed the least dedicated – in fact, all he did was move some boxes back and forth with a rather bliss expression. He was wearing a red and white striped jumper and a dark green coat. The other one was of medium height, with a beige coat and a black mane as well. He stood out quite though, because of the strange, black, sock-like hat he was wearing. Aside from that, he also wore a red T-shirt. He looked as if he was about to faint – he was all wobbly and his muzzle was dead-pale. He was trying to do some of the advertising as well, but most of his shouts went out as mere squeaks. The last one looked like the leader of the three. He had a pink coat and a pointy black mane. He was quite short, but still he was the loudest of them all. He wasn’t quite relaxed, but he kept his cool as far as to talk (relatively) consistently. He jumped around as if after a double-caffeine coffee and shouted his advertisements at everypony around. Not that it helped in any way – the customers were rather driven away than in with his frantic behavior. This one was wearing a yellow T-shirt with a vertical red stripe.        Twilight tried to scoot slowly through the other side of the square, in hopes they wouldn’t notice her - she had enough excitement for the past few days, and all she wanted was to get to the marketplace with her mind in one piece. Halfway through the square, she started feeling a little nervous – the tall stallion was peeking at her every now and then. What if he alarms the others? And so Twilight had to take more precautionary measures. At first she tried to hide behind some crates, fences, and even other ponies, much to their annoyance. However, seeing that even this didn’t work and the yellow-coated pony continued to look at her, she lost her cool and simply teleported to the other side of the square. She was about to run away, but first she took a look at the “villainous” stand. Much to her horror, she saw the tall stallion holding a telescope – and looking straight at her! Before she knew, he yelled:-Customer on the port bow, with some sparkly stuff, Eddy!-Good one, Ed! Trying to sneak behind, is she? – the short stallion reacted quite excitedly – Megaphone, Double D, quick!        When the beige-coated pony stopped quivering and handed “Eddy” a huge megaphone, Twilight knew it was too late for her.-HEY, YOU!!! – everypony in the town square froze as Eddy began yelling into the megaphone – YES, YOU, IN THE BACK, WITH THE SPARKLY STUFF!!! COME HERE QUICK!!!        Everypony looked at Twilight. At first she wasn’t sure if she should listen to Eddy or just run away before they know what’s going on, but she decided to go to the stand. After they made such a big show out of it, it would have been rude to refuse. As she came closer to the stand, however, she started having second thoughts, especially judging from the ridiculously overjoyed expressions of the “Eds”, as she called them in her thoughts. It was too late, though. The instant moment she got to the stand Eddy began shouting:-Hey there, my dear whatsyourname…-Twilight Sparkle. – Twilight cut in, but Eddy continued:-That’s what I said! Anyway, even from the other end of the square we saw how tired and misappreciated you look, and we thought…-Tired and WHAT? – said Twilight-You know what I mean: you look exactly like you could use some of our newest services, that’s how you look, and it doesn’t matter how it’s spelled! – Eddy was talking so fast, that Twilight hardly understood him; when she got a closer look of him, she noticed that his cutie mark was a green dollar sign-This is one of our finest… Uhh… - Ed tried to say something smart too, but apparently he hadn’t the capability; his strange cutie mark pictured a buttered toast – Doohickey things with…-What Ed here is trying to say, is that we offer the highest available quality in our field of services. – Edd made up for him; the last of the Eds’ cutie mark portrayed an opened book – And I can assure you, no customer has ever been displeased by our doings.-What customer? – Twilight, getting more and more annoyed, tried to cut in, but the Eds didn’t even hear her. They all started talking at once, louder and louder, faster and faster, until she finally lost it and yelled – STOP! For goodness sake, tell me what are you selling already!-Ah, what we are selling! – said Eddy        He was quite surprised by the question. He tried to explain, and muttered something, but seeing Twilight look at him with a “stop-wasting-my-time” expression, he just stood there, sweating and looking more and more nervous. Finally, he shouted “ ‘Scuse me for a sec! “ and jumped back, dragging the other Eds with him. They started conferring. After almost two minutes of watching them whisper to each other, Twilight was about to leave quietly, but Eddy, seeing her scoot away, screamed “NOOO!!!” and made a huge jump, almost landing on her.-Please don’t go! – he said – We have just decided on what we’re selling!-All right, but this better be good. – agreed Twilight – I bet those tomatoes I ordered at the marketplace have wilted, anyway.-AHEM!– Eddy cleared his throat really loud – What we are selling here is… - he made a dramatic pause, then the other Eds jumped to him and they all shouted:-Ed’s Lightning Quick Roof Tile Refurbishing Service!!!-Even better than double-buttered toast! – Ed completed with a huge grin        Twilight stood amazed. Roof tiles? Was this all? Was this the thing they kept her waiting for all this time? Was THIS why dinner will be late today? She was sure this was the lamest, most useless and random thing to sell she had ever seen!-Now then, my dear Twilight Whatshername, how many roof tiles will it be? – said Eddy most sincerely-Roof tiles! I don’t even HAVE roof tiles! I live in a TREE!!! – Twilight yelled with anger – What were you thinking, anyway! I bet you were up all night making up that plan. Why didn’t you tell me earlier!-Not all night, just this minute. – said Ed, happy to be able to clear things up, but Eddy elbowed him-So that means… No roof tiles…? – muttered Edd nervously-Forget about the roof tiles, what’s more important is, why are you doing this? – asked Twilight – I mean, look at you, this stand looks like it was made in ten minutes…-Just five… - Ed tried to be “helpful” again, but Eddy gave him a wrestling hold to finally stop him from talking-You lure customers by force, and now you can’t even decide on what are you selling. – Twilight continued – Is there something wrong? Do you need money that badly?-You betcha! – Eddy finally confessed – You know about 4Hooves, right?-Oh, 4Hooves!!! – Ed cried and fell on the ground weeping loudly-The concert… right? – said Twilight, surprised with the Eds’ dramatic reaction-That’s correct! – replied Edd – We absolutely adore that band! That’s why we’re really quite obliged to go on that concert. But alas, the tickets seem to be ridiculously overpriced, and after carefully counting, counting and counting our budget, we found ourselves unable to afford to attend the said happening…-And now we’re trying to scam the money as fast as we can! – finished Eddy – There’s only two days left to buy the tickets, so we came up with a theory: the more scams we can do in this time, the bigger the possibility that we will get the money in at least one of them.-Ah, so that’s what it’s all about… - Twilight, although still quite annoyed, began to understand the Eds – But can’t you get a job or something?-I’m afraid not. – said Edd – We are unfortunately still in the age of studying…-Okay. Let me get this straight. Concert soon. Need money. No job. Speed scams. – Ed, Edd and Eddy all nodded simultaneously after each of Twilight’s words – That’s quite a problem you’ve got there. I think I’d better be going now, but let me just give you a hint: go for quality, not quantity. Unless your “scams” are well thought of, it doesn’t matter how many of them you’ll make. Got it?-Sure, got it! – Eddy exclaimed happily        At first Twilight was happy to have helped, but, seeing how Eddy ordered Ed to “pack up and start in a different place” and how Ed momentarily wrapped up the whole stand, she completely lost her hopes about those three. The tomatoes she ordered haven’t wilted, but that’s only because they were already sold to somepony else by the time she got to the marketplace. She bought something else instead and hurried home. On the way back she saw the Eds again – and again they were in the same trashy stand, but in a different street. For fear that they might want to seize her again, she chose a shortcut to the library. Even when she got home, she kept thinking about those ponies – and how to help them. She was finally knocked out of her thoughts by Spike’s voice. And it seemed to be saying:-Twilight… Twilight? Hello? Anypony there?-Yes, here I am. What is it? – replied Twilight-Not much… Except you’ve been trying to walk into this wall for the past ten minutes!        Twilight jumped back. The wall indeed had a mark of her face engraved into it. Was she really that deep into thought?-I’m sorry, Spike, I was just thinking…-What! No tomatoes? You promised soup today. You’d better be “thinking” of some decent explanation for this.-That’s what I’ve been thinking about! On my way to the market I met those weird colt-stallions, who held me by their “nothing stand” for so long, that I missed the tomatoes.-Missed? Did they fly away? – Spike was quite suspicious-No, I was late. And what were their names…-The tomatoes? They had names?-No, the ponies I met! – replied Twilight-Flying tomatoes with names… That’s weird… Pretty shifty explanation you’ve got there, miss Sparkle! Next thing you’re gonna tell me they talked.-Forget the tomatoes! We’re talking about ponies! I remember now, their names were Ed, Edd and Eddy.-Ed, Edd and Eddy? You mean “the” Eds? Then why didn’t you say sooner? – Spike didn’t even wait for an answer – They’ve been around for, like, forever! Everypony knows them. Didn’t you ever hear of the Eds earlier? They keep haunting Ponyville with their senseless scams, for reasons unknown. Once they’ve even tried to… Oh, no, that was downright too awful.-That’s strange, I’ve never seen them before. Maybe it’s just now that they intensified their actions. They told me they desperately need money for that 4Hooves concert, and I thought I could help them.-4Hooves? Who in Equestria would listen to that stuff? They play worse than I play “MegaMare 9”! – Spike shuddered at the very memory – But if you want my advice, you should keep away from the Eds. I mean, they aren’t far from getting chased out of town with pitchforks and torches! It wouldn’t be pretty if you joined them…        The rest of the day flew through quite peacefully. In the afternoon, however, Twilight saw the Eds again. They were in a completely different street, this time selling “Home-made turpentine”. Twilight hid behind a big crate and just listened.-Turpentine! Real cheap! Incredibly useful for household chores, both small and big! – shouted Eddy; he sounded a lot less confident, though-Eddy, really! – Edd cut in - Don’t you think we may be really going a little too far with the “speed scamming” idea? Maybe we should have listened to Twilight after all…-Can it, sockhead, I’m trying to work here! – replied Eddy – I ain’t gonna listen to some egghead Whatshername!-That’s “am not going to”, Eddy… - Edd corrected him – And don’t you think we should have made more than one barrel of Turpentine, Ed?-Shush! I know what I’m doing… I think… - said Ed        And so, even more concerned, Twilight walked away quietly. Much to her surprise, she met them yet another time – in the evening. As it could’ve been anticipated, they were in a different side of the town, selling “Slightly used cardboard boxes”, still in the same stall. This time, everypony just ignored them. And they ignored everypony. They didn’t even advertise in any way, they just put up a sign and sat there, all grumpy. They didn’t even notice Twilight looking at them from the distance.-Cardboard boxes. We’re selling cardboard boxes. Used cardboard boxes. – said Edd – I don’t know about you, gentlecolts, but I haven’t stooped this low in a while.-What do you mean? It was your idea, wasn’t it? – argued Eddy-I beg to differ. This and all the earlier ones were your fault!-Were not! Those are all my ideas! – shouted Ed-That was quite a mediation. Not that it solved our problems, of course! – said Edd – We’re still sitting here like idiots, and to me it doesn’t seem at all as if funds for us are going to descend from the sky!-Like you would know anything about it! I’m the money guy here! – exclaimed Eddy        That was well enough for Twilight. Hearing that, and seeing that Ed is taking out his telescope again, she ran away once more. It was late, but she didn’t go to sleep – instead, she sat down and started writing a list – a list of scams that could actually work. After some time, Spike, who was already in bed, suddenly shouted:-Twilight!!! Can you call it a night already? I can’t sleep because of your scribbling – and even I need my beauty rest. What are you doing there, anyway? Perhaps some list on how to help those three random freaks with their scams, eh?        As Spike giggled, Twilight denied nervously and hid the list behind her back. This, however, led to an opposite reaction.-So it IS a list, huh? – said Spike exasperatedly – Didn’t I tell you what I think about all this? Just imagine: Ed, Edd, Eddy and… EdLight Sparkle? This doesn’t even sound good.-Listen Spike, this is my final word. – replied Twilight – They may be not so liked around, but this will change if they make a scam that’s actually reasonable! And they’ll only be grateful. Isn’t it worth a try?-Okay, okay, do as you wish. Just keep it down, please! Use a computer, I don’t know, just stop with the scribbling, it’s really driving me crazy.        The following morning, when Twilight woke up, the first thing she thought about was the list. She must take it to the Eds – and quick. She passed Spike, who was wide awake, with a dazzled expression, repeating “typetypetypetypetype” like a mantra. Twilight ran out of her house. It was another nice morning, the town was already awake. Ed, Edd and Eddy could be anywhere, but she knew where to look for them – along with making the list, she calculated all the previous positions of their “nothing stand”, and went right for the place opposite to their last location. Much to her surprise, she met Eddy even earlier on her way. What’s more interesting, he wasn’t with Ed or Edd. Twilight, however, ignored this and went straight to the list.-Hi, Eddy! – she exclaimed-Hello, Whatshername. – replied Eddy-Seeing your yesterday’s behavior, I have decided to use my knowledge to help you with your endeavors. You see, I have prepared this list…-Geez, slow down, you’re talking just like Double D! – Eddy cut in-Here I enlisted several really good ideas of… Wait a minute… Speaking of Edd, where is he? And Ed? I can’t see them! – Twilight finally noticed the absence of the other Eds-What, those two? I ditched them. – said Eddy as it would be something perfectly normal-Ditched? What do you mean? What does IT mean, anyway?-I told them to take a hike, that’s what it means!-A hike? I must admit, the weather is good today, but what does it have to do with… - Twilight wasn’t really into modern slang-Gah! – Eddy shouted with exasperation – They were cramping my style, so we split up. Surely I can do a much better scam without them.-You WHAT? – exclaimed Twilight-Still don’t understand?-No, I do understand, but… Why did you do this? If you couldn’t succeed with a scam together, what makes you think you’ll cope on your own?-I know what I’m doing! They’re both jerks, just slowing down my genius. So sorry, but no time to talk. There are scams to be done! – Eddy was quite confident this time-But that means… I’ve prepared the list… - Twilight tried to say something, but Eddy ignored her and just started walking away – With ideas… There’s lawn mowing, and… - she tried to continue, but Eddy was already far away – Ooh, he’s so stubborn! But that’s just his problem, I bet Ed and Edd will be more than eager to listen to me.        Unfortunately, the situation was much worse than Twilight imagined. She did meet with Ed and Edd, but they weren’t even together. They both told her about the same thing as Eddy – that they all had split up and are doing scams on their own. They even made a bet on who will be the most successful. None of them even wanted to peek on Twilight’s list – and so she returned home in a pretty lousy mood. By the library she met Rarity.-Hello, Twilight! – she greeted her – I’ve been waiting for you almost the whole morning. Where were you this whole time, darling! I tried to ask Spike, but he is… Well, a bit unconscious.-Nothing special. – replied Twilight – Let’s just go in.        And so Twilight Sparkle hoped that the whole “Ed” affair would just end this way. By this time she wished she had just listened to Spike in the first place – Ed, Edd and Eddy indeed seemed utterly ignorant. She stifled Spike’s snoring with a spell and started a nice chat with Rarity, slowly forgetting about the Eds. Unfortunately, about just when she thought she had completely thrown away the past, the library’s doors burst open – literally. They flew out of the hinges, swooped through the whole room and squeezed Rarity to the wall. And entering the house was none other than Ed. He didn’t even say “hello” – the first thing he’d done was gallop to the other side of the room, knock on the out-of-hinge door and open it. Seeing Rarity behind them, he asked:-Excuse me, ma’am, is uh…  the Vile Light… Sparkly… home!?! – he seemed really nervous        Rarity’s reaction was not much less strange. She made a frightened expression, shouted “NO!” and shut the door, slamming herself into the wall yet again. Ed was about to leave, despite Twilight was just beside him, but she stopped him, saying:-I’m right here, Ed. What is it?-Oh! Hello, Lime Fight Lark-el!-That’s Twilight Sparkle, Ed. But close enough. – Twilight cut in-Did I say something wrong? – said Ed, surprisedTwilight wasn’t quite eager on continuing this topic, so she asked:-What is it anyway, Ed? – she said, although she had already guessed it from the start-Big trouble! My scam isn’t working! – Ed shouted – You must help me quick!-Calm down! First tell me, what kind of scam you’re doing, then I can give you advice. – said Twilight, very slowly-What scam? Uh… I don’t know!-Okay, then here’s your first problem, and it seems like a rather important case. To make a scam, first you’ve got to think of what you want to do. But more importantly, I wanted to say…-Think! That’s right! Thank you, Fire Sight Hark-el! – Ed wanted to run away, but Twilight used magic to teleport him back in front of her.-Ed! What I wanted to tell you is that now, that the scams you’re making on your own aren’t working out, don’t you think it would be a good idea to return to your friends and make something together again? – she said and quickly whispered to herself – Oh brother, there goes my inner peace again…-No! Edd and Eddy bad for Ed! I will stay away from them, as long as gravy is… uh… gravy! What I need is to think. You told me to think! – said Ed and prepared to run away yet again-But Ed, you must… - started TwilightShe tried to stop Ed from running away again, but, seeing Rarity lean out from behind the door and whisper nervously “Let him go! Let him go!” she stopped talking and just watched Ed open the out-of-hinge door and run through the empty door frame, shouting:-Thanks for the advice, Twine Flight Mark-el! If you’re looking for me, I’ll be thinking!        The instant moment Ed got out of the room, Rarity jumped out from behind the door, shouting:-Is he there? IS HE STILL THERE???-No, he isn’t. What’s wrong with you, Rarity? – Twilight asked, putting the door back in hinges with magic-Phew! – Rarity sighed with relief – I’m glad that’s over. Since when have you been inviting those Eds to your place?-I didn’t invite him! You’ve seen how he busted the door. Do you know them that… well?-Oh, I don’t even know where to start telling what I had to go through because of them! You see, I’ve lived in Ponyville since I was born, and about since then…        Rarity was interrupted by somepony knocking on the door. Anticipating the incoming Ed contact, she jumped into a potted plant and hid herself in its leaves completely. Twilight, annoyed by such overreacting behavior, said:-Come on, Rarity! It’s just somepony knocking on the door! Nothing to be afraid of…        And that’s about when the door she was fixing fell out of the hinges again and crushed her. Rarity’s predictions were right – into the room stepped none other than Edd.-Oh dear, was I knocking that hard? – he said stepping onto the door – But there seems to be nopony there… I’d better leave before I get accused of burglary.        He was about to go out, when Twilight Sparkle started yelling from underneath the door. Unfortunately, the sound was very muffled, so Edd didn’t understand anything out of her demands to step off the door.-What’s that sound? Why, it sounds like some kind of a ghostly moan… Twilight didn’t mention that her house was haunted! – as Edd was getting more and more anxious, Twilight decided to use magic to lift the door (and Edd with it) – Oh no! It IS haunted! I’ve read about these encounters… I must retreat without further delay!        He was about to jump out of the room, when Twilight knocked over the door.-I implore you not to possess me! I’m too fragile for a host!!! – cried Edd lying on the floor-Stop it, Edd! I am not a ghost. – said Twilight, getting out from under the door – Although I would be, if you stayed on that door for any longer.-Twilight! – exclaimed Edd – It’s you! Oh dear, what a relief. But then I was indeed crushing you the whole time! How can I ever make it up for you… I’d better leave right now.-Stop! At least tell me, why are you here? Oh, no, wait, I think I already know that. You’ve come to ask for help with your scam, right?-Yes… Yes, indeed! – confirmed Edd – But how did you know?-Trust me, I have my ways. So what is it?-Nothing, nothing, really… It’s just… EVERYTHING!!! – shouted Edd – I know how to build a radio, design a slot machine, infuse sulfuric acid, repair kitchen appliances, even balance a checkbook! But that’s just the easy part. The question is, “so what”? I’ve planned and planned, and I just don’t seem to be capable of arranging this all into a worthwhile scam!!! You know what I mean?-Frankly, no. – replied Twilight – But if you have trouble planning, you should build some matching-theme appliances, and then see what you can do with them. But that too doesn’t always work. I think what would be best for you would be to return to Ed and Eddy. Wasn’t Eddy the one who always made all the plans for you? I know that you’re smart, Double D, so why don’t you, for one, listen to my advice and pull your friends back together?-I’m smart, you say? Well, If you claim so, can you say the same about Ed and Eddy? Well? Those two always ruined our scams! Wasted my ideas! I don’t know why do you insist on me retaking cooperation with…-That’s it! – Twilight shouted – Out of my house, NOW!-But about that list…-OUT!!! – yelled Twilight teleporting Edd somewhere far away – They’re unbelievable! I’ve got to repair this door quick, before they get in again. And yes, Rarity, you can go out now.-Are you sure? – said Rarity peeking out of the potted plant with one eye-Yes, I’m sure. No Ed within sight radius.-Phew. Again!Rarity jumped out of the pot. Her mane and tail were covered in leaves, as if made of foliage. She shook them off and continued her story:-As I was saying earlier, the Eds always had been choosing me as the primary target for their scams. Do you imagine how frightful it had been? Each and every time I walked past any of their stands, they all tried to draw me near with their noisy advertisements, COMPLETELY disturbing the peace of my innocent strolls.-But they do that to everypony! – said Twilight, surprised-They do? Well then, that only doubles their malice. And don’t even get me started on that one time when… when… when…        She froze in horror as Eddy walked quickly into the room through the empty door frame (Twilight was still holding the door in mid-air). There was no time left to hide. Rarity stood there for a while, then she faked fainting and started playing dead.-Who’s that? – asked Eddy pointing at Rarity lying on the floor-Nopony you’d know… - said Twilight exasperatedly-Anyway, never mind that! I need you to…-Don’t say anything! You need me to figure out some way for you to get ponies who could execute the scams that you planned, am I right?-Well, actually, what I wanted was to ask YOU to help me with my scam. You see, what you need to do is simply…        Twilight didn’t even answer – she put the door she was holding with magic between her and Eddy and started walking toward the exit.-What did I do wrong? – said Eddy, being pushed back by the door-I’ll tell you what you’re doing wrong! – shouted Twilight – Ed and Edd came here before showing similar symptoms of scam failure. I think you can connect this fact to your split-up yourself and admit  your mistake, can’t you?-But it wasn’t my fault! – yelled Eddy trying to shove the door back – Those two goofs can’t do anything right!-Maybe it is so, but for now don’t you all expect any help from me until you show up united!!!        Eddy, pushed further back, tried to hold to the door frame with all four hooves.-Not even a cupful of help? – he muttered, struggling against the door        That’s about when the door, not able to withstand the pressure, bounced off Eddy, flew through the room and landed straight on Spike, waking him up.-Not even a thimbleful. – said Twilight firmly as Eddy ran away-My head… What did I miss… - muttered Spike, getting out of his bed-Nothing, just an Ed invasion on this very house. – said Twilight, putting the door in hinges yet again – I guess it was your turn to get smashed by the door, anyway.-An Ed invasion… I don’t even want to know… WHAT? – Spike noticed Rarity lying on the floor – Rarity? Is she… dead…?-“ED”? WHERE??? – Rarity instantly got up, knocking Spike over, and prepared to fight-Nowhere, Eddy just left. – Twilight calmed her down-Rarity! You’re alive! – exclaimed Spike-Was I ever! Now, to make sure I won’t get interrupted again, please bar the door so we’ll be safe in case any other Eds try to break in.-There are only three of them. – said Twilight-So what? Nopony can guess their sneaky ways! And this reminds me of the time I wanted to tell you about. – Rarity continued her story – One day, when we were just foals, they set up a stand selling some kitchen appliances in front of our school…-Kitchen appliance! – Spike exclaimed anxiously-Our toaster was broken at that time, so I decided to buy one of theirs…-Broken toaster! – gasped Spike- I spent my pocket money on it, and when I got home, guess what…-Tell me what! – squeaked Spike-It didn’t work! It was a prop! A cardboard cut-out! – Rarity finished-A prop toaster… - muttered Spike and fainted-Wait a minute, Rarity, how bad is that? – asked Twilight-How BAD is THAT? Darling, I don’t think you appreciate the value of toasters and the lack of said in one’s life. You really should think about that.-Okay, that got me off guard. – laughed Twilight – But seriously, now I see how right Spike was. For now I won’t bother with what those Eds do; they wouldn’t listen, anyway. I’ll just wait until their scams fail ultimately. I’m sure that then they’ll understand their mistakes.-Wicked plan! – said Spike, who already came round – Learning through failure… Interesting… I must use that on somepony sometime.