Zapfilly

Chapters

Great Responsibility
Zapfilly Begins
Scouting with a Gator
A Step Closer
Not a Sidekick
A Mansion by Any Other Name...
Sneaksies

Great Responsibility

Edited on November 13, 2012 for continuity errors.

"Rarity, I don't feel so good."

"Oh, hush now, Sweetie. You've been saying that all day and I've already taken your temperature. You're completely fine. Now go out crusading or whatever it is you and your friends do."

"But, Rarity, I'm serious! I don't feel good at all!"

"Well, perhaps I shouldn't dismiss this so easily, so let's do it the way Doctor Stable does." Rarity cleared her throat. "Have you had any previous incidents which ended in physical injury or trauma?"

"Huh?" Sweetie Belle squeaked.

"Have you gotten hurt recently?"

"Well... I kicked one of the apple trees during the Zap Apple harvest last week, and I haven't been feeling good since then."

"I'm sure it will subside, Sweetie. If it worsens, please come tell me so I can take you to the hospital. I don't want you to get sick, especially in the middle of the week. Think of all the classes you'll miss!" Rarity patted Sweetie Bell on the head before trotting back over to her fabrics, perusing them with a critical eye to bring about winter's fashion line-up.

Sweetie Belle sighed and walked back over to her coloring books, raising a blue crayon with her hoof and shading in her Rarity drawing's mane. The last week had been very odd for her, particularly after kicking "that dumb tree", as she so eloquently put it in her mind. What had the tree done to her? Was the shock something more than... well, a shock? She know there was only one pony in town who could help her, but she hadn't enough evidence to help research it, other than an ill-fated kick to an apple tree.

"Ugh!" She tossed her crayon onto the table before laying her head on the ground and using her hind legs to push her across the boutique's flooring, continuing her inquisitive thought process. What would she need to do in order to solve this ailment plaguing her? At least, she thought it was an ailment; she actually had only one clue to support her argument, and that was a "weird, icky feeling inside."

As she tottered across the floor lost in her mind, she careened straight into one of Rarity's pony mannequins, sending a tuft of dust into the air. The filly poked her head out from below a pile of the mannequins, where the dusts settled straight onto her little nose, causing her to sneeze.

However, as she did so, Sweetie Belle felt a spark of magic leave her horn, followed by a sense of relief similar to a receding cold. She was happy that whatever had happened relieved her of the ailment and its associated head pressure, although to where it went, she was not sure.

That question was consequently solved as she laid her eyes on all the mannequins covered in Rarity's clothing line... or rather, what was Rarity's clothing line. She almost had an urge to scream when she saw what she had done, but thought better of it and walked over to Rarity's inspiration room, gently knocking on the door.

"Yes, Sweetie?" Rarity called from inside.

"Um... I think something happened to your mannequins out here. I don't know what happened."

The door opened suddenly, causing the filly to move backwards in surprise as she looked up at her sister. "Well, Sweetie Belle. I suppose it can't be that bad." She began to trot back into the boutique proper. "It's not like you could have—"

"Um..." Sweetie Belle stood next to her sister, the latter's mouth open in shock, looking at the pile of mannequins.

The pile of rainbow-colored mannequins.

"W-w-w-what have you done?" Rarity managed to speak.

"I don't know! I just sneezed and then all of... this," she said as she waved a hoof at the pile, "happened."

"That doesn't even make any sense! All of these—oh my. I think I have an idea! Thank you for this opportunity, Sweetie Belle, but I must... create!" Rarity levitated the mannequins into her room and shut the door swiftly, leaving the little filly alone yet again.

"Dumb sneezing," Sweetie Belle muttered.

"So, why do we need all of this stuff?"

"I already told you, Scootaloo. We're trying to figure out how my magic turned all the mannequins into... rainbow stuff!"

"Your magic? Rainbow stuff? I thought you couldn't even do basic levitation yet?" Scootaloo arched a brow in confusion.

Sweetie Belle dumped the contents of the wagon onto the table inside the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse. The group was sans one Apple Bloom, who was busy with chores on the farm, but promised to show up later in the day. Today was a most unusual endeavor: to find the source of Sweetie Belle's unusual disturbances, and figure out why they cause things to spontaneously turn rainbow colored.

"I don't know, Scoots. That's why I'm trying to figure this out! It doesn't seem like I'm sick, and I managed to sneak out while Rarity was doing her fashion-y things." Sweetie rolled her eyes at Scootaloo. "I can do some stuff with levitation, by the way. It's not like I'm totally inept at this age, you know."

"Hey, do you think you could turn my mane into rainbow colors? It'll be just like Rainbow Dash!"

"Scoots, how about we try to find out how this works, first?" Sweetie Belle picked up a jar of pepper and placed it onto the wagon, motioning Scootaloo to move it outside the clubhouse, where they had assembled a temporary shooting range. "Alright. So here's the deal: we're going to keep track of this stuff here, and see which one works and which doesn't. I know sneezing causes the magic to work up, and we'll see if anything else can, too."

"Sure, but..." Scootaloo picked up a muffin. "Why a muffin?"

"I brought it along in case we get hungry."

"Didn't you say you knew how to cook? What happened to that?"

"I burnt toast, Scoots. Turned it into a fine paste."

"Eugh. Forget I ever asked," Scootaloo said as she picked up the notepad in her hooves and the pencil in her mouth. "H'okay, let 'er rip!"

Sweetie Belle meticulously measured out a minute portion of the pepper, placing it on her hoof and bringing it up to her face. She eyed the small black pile on her hoof uneasily. "I don't know if this is safe or not..."

"Since when has anything we've done ever been safe?"

"You have a point. Okay, here goes..." Sweetie sprinkled the pepper onto her nose, and she could feel the familiar sensations of an oncoming sneeze... and something else. Whatever the other sensation was, it went straight to her forehead and she could feel her horn emanate with energy.

And then the sneeze happened.

The test object in question, Scootaloo's helmet, was shrouded by what appeared to be a bright, semi-transparent aura that periodically reflected the colors of the rainbow. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stared on in wonder as the aura worked, changing the shades on the helmet into a uniform rainbow shift of colors, before it fizzed out and dropped the helmet back onto stool with a soft thud.

"No WAY!" Scootaloo immediately dashed forward, snatching the helmet from its perch and placing it on her head. "This is perfect! The colors don't even bleed, it's like somepony custom-made it for me!"

"Huh... so that's what it does... I guess that's... neat?" Sweetie Belle took up the notepad and pencil Scootaloo had dropped and jotted down some notes. "It looks like sneezing can trigger it, but I think that's purely coincidental."

"Coincidental?"

"Happened by chance, Scoots."

"No, I mean how is it coincidental?"

"Well..." Sweetie tapped the pencil on her chin. "it's obviously some form of magic. It uses my horn to shoot out, and I could feel it working like the magic when I levitate things. So it has to be a type of magic!"

"Wow. Think you can control it? Think of all the bits we can make if we could change the colors on anything we wanted!"

"Hey, that sounds pretty cool! Maybe I can get my cutie mark from this!"

"And maybe I can get my scooter a new paint job!"

"Scoots, I think we're thinking too far ahead. Now help me get this book out!" Sweetie attempt to heft a thick book onto the small table outside their clubhouse, straining from the weight. "Some... help... here!"

Scootaloo laughed and grabbed the other side of the book with her hooves, dropping it with a loud thud that echoed through the treeline. "Yeesh, where'd you get this book for? And why is it so big?"

"It's a book on magical energies. I was hoping that maybe my stupid spell thingy was mentioned somewhere in here." Sweetie Belle started flipping through the pages until she landed on the table of contents. "Wow. This must be one big book if the table of contents is eleven pages long."

"How'd you find out about your rainbow-magic thing anyways?" Scootaloo split the muffin in half and started nibbling on it, sitting down across from Sweetie Belle with an interested look on her face.

"Remember when we went to Sweet Apple Acres last week, during the Zap Apple harvest?"

Scootaloo snorted. "Oh, yeah. I remember that. It was so funny when you kicked that tree!"

"Well, I think that's the reason why I got my rainbow powers. I guess I'll call it... Zapping. With a capital 'Z'! It only make sense to name it after the Zap Apples, since... well, rainbow colors."

"I would have named it after Rainbow Dash! It would be called..." Scootaloo brought a hoof to her chin as she contemplated various naming schemes. "Uh... I got nothing."

"So Zapping it is, then. Hmm... it looks like we might need to do some research on Zap Apples, Scoots. I'm gonna go ask Applejack. Want to come along?"

Scootaloo smacked her lips as she finished her half of the muffin. "Nah, I'm fine. I guess I'll wait here and check out my awesome new helmet!" She patted the aforementioned object with a hoof, brushing muffin crumbs off her cheeks. "Oh, tell Apple Bloom I said hi. I'm going to see what else we can drum up for our experiments."

"Somehow, I really don't like this place anymore," Sweetie Belle muttered to herself.

She approached the barn on Sweet Apple Acres, determined to find the truth. One of the older Apple siblings was bound to be working right now, especially since Apple Bloom mentioned that she was doing her chores. If there was a pony in Ponyville who could help her out with this conundrum, they would be here.

"Hello? Anypony here?" Sweetie peeked inside the barn, only to find it deserted. "Apple Bloom? Where are you?"

"Lookin' for somethin', sugarcube?"

Sweetie Belle let out a squeak as she jumped into the air, landing with a thud on her belly. That familiar sensation was building up in her horn again, and she desperately looked around for an object to direct the Zap at. Luckily, a lone broom stood out in her vision and she attempted to focus her magic on it, turning it into a pattern she so quickly loathed.

"Whoa! Boy howdy, that's some fancy magic there. Never seen anythin' like that!"

"Sorry, Applejack. It's a recent thing." Sweetie Belle stood up and patted herself off, before looking at the cowpony. "I was afraid I'd accidentally Zap your hat, and I'm not sure what else would happen if I hit you by accident."

"Zappin'? You mean like Zap Apples?" Applejack raised a brow.

"Yeah, um... funny story about that, Applejack... it turns out kicking that tree last week wasn't such a good idea."

"Oh, y'all mean when ya got shocked by the tree? I saw that. Couldn't help but laugh, but you really need to be a bit more careful. I don't think that's what ya came here to ask, though... am I right?" Applejack turned her gaze toward the Zapped broom, smiling at it. "Well, I reckon it needed a fresh coat of paint anyhow. And look at it, it's so smooth! No flecks anywhere."

"You're not angry about it?"

"Why would I be angry about it, sugarcube? It's just a little harmless thing. As long as you keep it under control, that is!"

"Well, that's the reason why I'm here. I don't know what's causing it, and I think learning about Zap Apples might help. I was hoping you or Big Macintosh would be able to explain it to me."

"Is Sweetie Belle here?" Apple Bloom jumped into the barn. "Oh, hey, Sweetie! Y'all here to help with the chores again?"

The filly only pointed at the broom, eliciting a gasp from Apple Bloom. "I got some stupid magic, Apple Bloom."

"Ain't this some pretty advanced magic for a filly? How come y'all can do this now?" Apple Bloom tentatively poked the broom with a hoof. "It's safe, right?"

"Yeah, it's pretty safe. Just some aesthetic differences, that's all."

"Huh?"

"A different look, Apple Bloom."

"Well, Sweetie Belle, I can tell ya about the Zap Apples, but it'll take a while."

"Sure, why not? Scootaloo's probably busy chatting up Rainbow Dash, anyways."

"That was kind of cool, but I don't think that really answered any of my questions." Sweetie Belle idly pushed a rock around with her hooves as she stood at the gate to Sweet Apple Acres with Apple Bloom.

"So what now? I guess ya ain't just gonna sit on it," Apple Bloom chimed up.

"Nope! It's obviously magic, and I figure if I practice enough with it I might be able to control it. It's going to be so cool!"

"Where's Scootaloo? Didn't you say she was helpin' ya with your experiments?"

"Oh! I totally forgot about her. Let's head on back to the treehouse, I bet she's got a few more things to Zap while I was gone."

"Hehe, 'Zap.' Y'all know it's safe, right? This whole Zappin' thing?" Apple Bloom increased her pace to match Sweetie Belle's trotting as they headed back to the forest.

"Absolutely. It looks like it only changes the colors on stuff."

Apple Bloom admired the red and orange leaves of the autumn trees. "Ya reckon this should be somethin' we could show to Miss Cheerilee?"

"Maybe. I think it'd be pretty cool if we could give her a rainbow apple. She'd think it was a Zap Apple!" Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shared a few giggles as they arrived back at the treehouse. A disappointed Scootaloo sat at the table outside, gloomily looking down at her helmet, which had restored its original colors.

"Oh, hey girls. The Zap wore off. Now I got my crummy purple helmet back."

"Oh, don't worry, Scoots! We'll figure out a way to replicate it, I promise!" Sweetie Belle put an assuring hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder, and Apple Bloom did the same on the other.

"Got anythin' new to check out?" Apple Bloom looked around, only to find their surroundings devoid of any new objects. "How come there ain't anythin' here?"

"I went back to Ponyville to find something to use, but I ended up bumping into Twilight. Now she wants to check out your Zaps for herself." Scootaloo pointed at the clubhouse. "She's inside right now, trying to organize our clubhouse. Did you know we had a whole can of glitter behind the drawers?"

As soon as Scootaloo finished talking, Twilight Sparkle exited the clubhouse with parchment and a quill following not too far behind her. "Oh, hello, Sweetie Belle! Scootaloo told me you were having some magic problems?"

"Yep. I have some sort of weird magic that makes things turn rainbow."

"Yes, I saw Scootaloo's helmet! It was a very excellent example of rainbow coloring. I suspect it's actually a variation of alteration magic, the same kind Rarity uses on her fabrics to give them different tones and shades."

"Wow! You mean this is magic that my sister uses?" Sweetie's eyes lit up with excitement.

"It certainly is! And I think I can help you with controlling it. It appears the shock you received during the Zap Apple harvest—Scootaloo told me about it—apparently super-charged your ability in alteration magic, so to speak. So for now, you won't need to focus on how it works, but rather on controlling it, so you can choose when to use it."

"Sounds like you're a special filly, Sweets." Apple Bloom smirked as she took a bite out of the half-muffin left from earlier in the day. "I always knew ya had it in ya, dictionary."

"Now, Sweetie Belle. I'll have you know that the magic you're about to use is far beyond the knowledge you know now. Without a doubt, there is great responsibility in using magic, which I'm sure Rarity taught you. Am I correct?" Twilight put on her reading glasses as she smiled over the parchment at the unicorn filly.

"Yep! Rarity told me about how all unicorns are expected to act in a safe manner, so that no pony gets harmed."

"Great! Now, let me tell you how to get started..."

Sweetie Belle had never really considered anypony other than Cheerilee as a teacher, but in the few hours that Twilight tutored her, she quickly added the Element of Magic to the list. It was awkward for all parties involved at first, but eventually Twilight learned that Canterlotian vocabulary wasn't exactly appropriate when speaking to a schoolfilly with basic knowledge in unicorn magic.

To Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, however, it quickly turned into "the egghead hour," as Scootaloo had borrowed from Rainbow Dash. With nothing to do, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo began coloring on spare parchment with crayons, and eventually dozed off in the comfort of the autumn sun, dreaming the dreams of innocent and playful foals.

"Buh!? What?" Scootaloo was nudged away by Apple Bloom's left hoof colliding with her face as she moved about. "Hey, Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom!" She shook the other filly awake.

"Huh? Wuz goin' on?" Apple Bloom groggily sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"I think we fell asleep, Bloom." Scootaloo looked back over to find Sweetie Belle still practicing magic with Twilight. It was clearly visible that Sweetie Belle had managed to grasp the finer points of magic control, as Scootaloo could see a multitude of rainbow-colored objects adorning the fields outside the clubhouse.

"Excellent, excellent work Sweetie Belle! Oh, I can't wait to tell Rarity. She'll be so glad you can cast this magic!"

"You think so, Twilight?" Sweetie Belle's hopeful expression brought a smile to Twilight's face.

"I know so. I think you've got your magic control down very well, so you can feel free to use it whenever you want. Just remember, this is a fairly advanced spell for a filly your age, so don't go around casting it too much! It might exhaust you. I'll see you girls later, okay?" Twilight packed her things back into her saddlebags and trotted down the path towards Ponyville.

Sweetie Belle looked around at all the objects she had casted on, proud of her new ability. As she did so, an idea popped into her head: this was an immense gift she was given. Not any filly would be able to handle such power, yet she was granted it so easily, even if it was by chance. It was up to her to use her gift, and she knew just how.

She jumped onto the table, bewildering Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who looked up at their friend with confused glances. Their confusion was promptly answered as Sweetie Belle cried forth an oath of justice.

"I must only use these powers for good!"

Zapfilly Begins

In the minds of certain ponies, a mark of an established hero would be a base of sorts—a secret lair from which to prepare and plot to thwart the dastardly plans of those who would prey on the weak or cause chaos. Unfortunately, all of these things are associated with both wealth and a taste for justice... neither of which a certain young unicorn filly had, nor desired. Indeed, their lack of plans drew them to their clubhouse the day after Sweetie Belle's successful mastery of the Zap.

"So, what do we do now?" Scootaloo asked, tipping a pencil on her hoof.

"Well, obviously, we go show it off! As far as I can, anyways. I want to try it out and see if I get my cutie mark!"

"Well, what about us? We can't just go around helpin' ya out! How are we gonna get our cutie marks?" Apple Bloom put down her juice box. "And I think that Zap o' yours could be used to help pretty up the town. We should go talk to Mayor Mare!"

"And get stuck Zapping a bunch of old fences? No way! I say we Zap our equipment, and ride around in it! It'll be totally awesome!" Scootaloo slammed a hoof down onto the table. "We'll be the talk of the town! Imagine the look on everypony at school when we get there with our awesome rainbow stuff!"

"I don't know, Scoots. Seems kind of like asking for attention. It'd be like if Diamond Tiara got snooty over some new gold thingy her father gave her." Sweetie Belle idly pushed around a pencil. "There's gotta be something we can do with the Zap."

"Well, obviously it changes appearances. Maybe we could do something like... like..." Sweetie Belle sighed. "I got nothing. Again. Let's just do our usual stuff, and I'll try to think about it at school."

"Okay! Today on the list is this here box." Apple Bloom dropped a box onto the table, landing with a suspiciously light thud. "Applejack says she needs it opened. I dunno what's inside, but I figure that maybe we can try openin' it. O' course, I don't think any of us are good with pickin' locks..."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Scootaloo looked at the other two fillies at the table, before their chorus rang out.

"Cutie Mark Crusader Box Smashers!"

"Well, that could have gone better."

Scootaloo dragged herself out of the mud puddle, bits of wood among the wreck that was the wooden box. It had started out innocently enough; three little fillies kicking a wooden box in an attempt to obtain whatever was within, to accomplish a task for the Apple family. Hooves, unfortunately, were not enough to break the sturdy receptacle, which led to a rapid escalation of tactics.

"Remind me to never try this again." Sweetie Belle pulled herself out, covered from head to hoof in mud. "Why do we still have that catapult? It does the strangest things sometimes, like throwing us up, too!"

"Remember when I asked if we had a cannon? That was the reason why." Scootaloo grabbed a towel off the little cart and dried herself off. "I'm really getting tired of landing in mud, or trees, or more mud."

"Seems all we ever end up landin' in is mud," Apple Bloom observed. She was the only one of the trio that elected to stand a safe distance away from the catapult, although the bizarre "magic" that surrounded the catapult meant that the safe distance was, unfortunately, highly variable. "I think maybe we should just give this thing to Pinkie Pie or somethin'. She'll probably find a way to launch cupcakes across the town, or somethin'."

"Well, at least we broke the box open. Let's see what's in here." Scootaloo picked up an odd purple garb on the ground, holding it up into the light. "Hey, this looks kind of familiar."

"Yeah, it does. I remember Rarity was making a bunch of fabric that looked just like this. Dark purple-y, and stuff. Hey, look at this hat!" Sweetie Belle placed the headwear on her mane. "I say, Jeeves, this mud is awfully unsophisticated. Take us away, so that we may enjoy the more cultured mud near the spa."

"Imitating your sister now, Sweets?" Scootaloo chuckled.

"You should have seen when she was reading about that Fancy Pants guy," Sweetie Belle moaned. "Oh, Fancy Pants! So handsome! The star of Canterlot, the pony that everypony knows!"

Apple Bloom giggled. "That sure sounds like your sister! Anyways, Applejack said she needed this here fancy watch, so I'm gonna go give it back to her. I'll see y'all at school!"

A short scooter trip later, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo arrived at the Ponyville schoolhouse. Snips and Snails were up to their usual shenanigans as usual, which apparently attracted the attention of one Diamond Tiara as she stomped her way across the schoolyard to the two oblivious colts.

"What in the world are you two doing?! You got mud in my mane!"

"Really sorry about that, Diamond. You know how it is, right? Wait, Snails! Stop! Don't—"

A sudden explosion of mud sent bits of debris flying all over the the schoolyard, causing general pandemonium and panic as foals took cover behind anything they could. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stood far away enough to avoid most of the mud, but Diamond Tiara ended up covered from head to hoof. If it weren't for the fact she was covered in brown mud, she would have been red with rage.

"Argh! You stupid, simple-minded, idiotic colt! Look at what you've done! I have to wash this all out now, out of my pristine coat! Is this a bug? A bug?! Ahhh!"

Sweetie Belle giggled as she saw Diamond Tiara run for Cheerilee, who had just emerged from the schoolhouse to address the panic and confusion. Scootaloo nudged her companion and pointed a hoof towards the babbling and sobbing Diamond Tiara, hiding her own laughter with a hoof to the mouth.

"Scoots, I think I have an idea," Sweetie whispered conspiratorially.

"What's that? I bet it has something to do with D-T, right?"

"I have a plan. After school, we'll go talk to Snips and Snails to set up a distraction, and when she's not paying attention, I'm gonna Zap her tiara!"

"Oh, that's good. Really good! Totally harmless, too."

"I think Diamond Tiara needs to get brought down a notch. Wait, who's that?"

A small dark blue colt walked up to Diamond Tiara and tapper her shoulder. Diamond Tiara turned to the new colt and stared at him for a while, before flamboyantly falling into his hooves and crying. The colt turned his snout up with an air of arrogance before trotting away with Diamond Tiara in tow.

"Whoa. Who's the new colt?" Scootaloo watched the duo sit down on the far side of the schoolyard.

"That's Monocle." Snips walked up next to Sweetie and Scootaloo. "He's some new guy from Canterlot. As if his gold monocle wasn't enough of a clue, pfft."

"Yeah, and it's not much of a surprise that Diamond Tiara tried to befriend him." Snails walked up next to Snips, covered in mud. "His Pa just moved into town, right next to Sugarcube Corner. Really wealthy and stuff."

"So that's who that was!" Scootaloo said. "When I went to get Twilight yesterday, there were so many ponies in town moving boxes. I thought Mayor Mare had us stocking up for stallion week again."

"Nope! Was that nice stallion and his son who moved in?" Snails wiped a bunch of mud off of his face. "Top Hat's his name. Said he moved here to enjoy the scenery and to find somepony for his job."

"Gosh, we're early." Scootaloo looked up at the sky. "I think we're almost fifteen minutes early."

"Where's Apple Bloom?" Snails looked around, sending bits of mud all over Snips. "Doesn't she usually get here with ya?"

"I'm right here, you know." Apple Bloom was beside Scootaloo in an instant. "Hi, girls! And Snips. And Snails. Did I miss somethin'?"

"Yeah, Diamond Tiara totally got covered in mud. She's over there." Sweetie Belle raised a hoof to Apple Bloom's ear as she whispered. "And we're gonna need your help to pull off a prank."

"All set?"

"All set!" Snips hung by a rope around his barrel from the ceiling of the now-empty schoolhouse, and waved a hoof in readiness.

Scootaloo waved back, before she looked at the window and nodded to Apple Bloom outside, who in turn waved a hoof to Sweetie Belle. The plan was simple—to lure Diamond Tiara into the schoolhouse, and have Snips redirect Sweetie Belle's Zap with a magical reflection mirror, and Diamond Tiara's namesake on her head. A rainbow-colored tiara would be sure to freak the filly out!

"Diamond Tiara!" Sweetie Belle began to act on their plan.

"Hmm? Oh, it's you. What do you want, blank flank?" Diamond Tiara threw a haughty glance at Sweetie Belle before passing a grin to Silver Spoon, who snickered. "Don't you have blank flank things to do?"

"Snails said he wanted to apologize to you for the mud thing this morning." Sweetie batted her eyelids in an attempt to look more innocent.

"Hmph. About time he decided to! Come along, Silver Spoon. Let's see what that idiot colt has to say to me."

Sweetie Belle joined Apple Bloom next to the window, giving a glance to Snips inside, who was holding the mirror in his two hooves. They had rehearsed this beforehand, and knew exactly where to position Diamond Tiara to engage in their surgical strike. The door burst open as Scootaloo trotted out and the pink and grey fillies entered.

"This is going to be good." Scootaloo brought out a bag of popcorn and sat next to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom as they observed the conversation inside.

"So, what do you have to say to me, hmm?" Diamond Tiara turned her snout up in pride as Snails kept his head level. He angled his head just enough to see where Diamond Tiara stood, and smiled as he saw her hooves on top of the taped 'X' on the floor.

"I really like your tiara." Snails smiled dumbly.

"I certainly am the most— wait, what?"

"Your tiara. It looks really nice." Above him, Snips bit his lower lip to prevent himself from laughing.

"Sweetie Belle told me you wanted to apologize! Is this a joke?" Diamond Tiara nearly growled at Snails.

"Uh, kinda?" Snails smiled again, this time out of nervousness.

Snips held the mirror steady as a rainbow beam bounced off the glass surface and zoomed straight for Diamond Tiara. The pink filly noticed too late and attempted to shield her head, and waited several seconds before bringing her hooves back down.

"What in the world was that? Did you just attempt to assault me?"

Snails was guffawing, as was Snips above him. Diamond Tiara's face froze in shock when she realized what had happened. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had set her up to get pranked, although she wasn't sure of what they pranked her with—

"Nice tiara, D-T!" Snails resumed his laughter, and Diamond Tiara could hear the laugh of three fillies from outside.

She brought her hooves above her head and hesitated for a second, before bringing her tiara down slowly. As it entered her vision, the bright colors of the spectrum met her gaze, and she looked upon her newly rainbow tiara with a mix of horror and disgust.

"Y-you!"

"Got you good, Diamond Tiara!" Scootaloo was in the doorway, wearing a triumphant grin on her face. "It's just an alteration spell, it'll wear off eventually. You literally walked right into that one, though!"

"UGH!" Diamond Tiara grabbed Silver Spoon and ran out of the schoolhouse. The latter wore an expression of slight confusion, and a hint of amusement. She couldn't help but smile at Snails as she followed her friend back to Ponyville.

"That was awesome!" Scootaloo dumped the empty popcorn bag into the trash bin next to Cheerilee's desk. "I wish I had a camera, the look on her face was priceless! Next time, we should totally do that!"

"Well, I say there shouldn't be a next time, Scoots. We only need to do it once. Any more than that is just... petty." Sweetie frowned as she looked upon the four foals with her. "I felt a bit bad for doing this, but Diamond Tiara needed to get knocked down a notch."

"I'll say. She hasn't been that angry since... just now!" Snails lowered Snips from the ceiling, as the rotund pony levitated the mirror onto Cheerilee's desk gently. "I hope she'll be a bit nicer from now on. When she gets all shouty, it makes me uncomfortable."

"What in the blazes was that?"

The foals turned their heads toward the newcomer, Monocle. He stood in the doorway with a piqued expression, and looked towards Sweetie Belle. "I assume that she is the cause of this ruckus?"

"Uh, yeah. That's me. My name's Sweetie Belle! You're Monocle, right? Snails told me a bit about you."

"Ah, Snails. Greetings, fellow unicorn." Snails merely nodded his head in return. "Indeed, I am the one known as Monocle. I'm rather new in town! Just arrived yesterday, as a matter of fact."

"Where'd you move from?" Sweetie Belle motioned for them to move outside, as their business in the schoolhouse was concluded.

The six foals moved outside to one of the tables, and Snips and Snails took the opportunity to begin drawing the playground. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom sat and listened attentively to Monocle's recent happenings.

"I moved here from Canterlot, actually. Father needed to move to Ponyville due to his job, which leads me to why I'm here. You see, Sweetie Belle, we are looking for somepony who has talents. Specifically, your talents."

"My talents? What can I do that makes me special?"

"Indeed, I wonder. Are you capable of producing a magical beam that can change the color of objects?'

"W-well, yeah."

"Then I do believe my father would like to speak to you."

"Sweetie Belle, what's going on?" Rarity sat in the living room of Top Hat's residence as the six foals entered the building. "Did you get into trouble again, with this Mister Top Hat? Honestly, he hasn't even been in town a day and you've already broken something?"

"Rarity, I don't know why I'm here either, but I'm not in trouble. That much I know for sure." Sweetie Belle looked to Monocle for assistance.

"Indeed, Miss Rarity. My name is Monocle. Top Hat is my father, and I hope you will at least hear him out."

"Well, where is your father then? I must return to my work, since the rainbow ensemble did not turn out the way I hoped it would." Rarity huffed as she looked at Sweetie Belle. "Perhaps it wasn't prudent of me to take it for granted."

"Sorry, Rarity. It was an accident, but Twilight helped me control my magic!" Sweetie Belle beamed at Rarity, who returned a smile.

"Oh, I know, darling. Twilight told me all about it yesterday over tea. I'm so very proud of you, and I'm sure mother and father will be as well!"

"Excuse me? Miss Rarity?" A gruff voice from down the hall caused everyone to turn their heads. "If you could bring your little sister in here, that'd be great. Monocle, take all my mail, and tell Jeeves to stop putting cream in my coffee!"

Rarity and Sweetie exchanged unsure looks as they trotted down the hall towards an open door at the end, surrounded by blue banners with a rainbow circle on them. The filly looked back at her friends, and they all gave her encouraging smiles and waves, with the exception of Snails, who was busy observing a spider that was suspended in front of him.

The two entered the darkened room, and the door shut behind them. A single light illuminated what appeared to be an office, with a trail of cigar smoke coming up from the tall wooden chair in front of them. Two cushions laid on the ground before the desk, each with its own spotlight above them, and they took that as a cue to take a seat.

"I'm sure you're both wonderin' why I called ya here." The gruff voice spoke up from behind the chair. It swung around to reveal a massive stallion, almost as big as Macintosh. He wore a white collar and blue tie in a style similar to Filthy Rich, but also wore a beret and sported the aforementioned cigar.

Rarity cleared her throat. "I assume that you are Mister Top Hat?"

"That'd be me, and don't call me mister. That's for professionals and nobility."

"Well, Top Hat. What have you called us here for?"

"I'm glad you asked, Miss Rarity." He inhaled the smoke and puffed it into the air above him. "I work for an organization called the Chromatic Coalition. Ever heard of us?"

"Well, no."

"Of course ya haven't. We're a pretty low-key organization that deals with certain things that the Princesses don't really need to be bothered with. Ya see, we deal with... dealing with things. Deal with 'em good." He narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, deal with 'em real good."

"And what threats may these things be that you required the services of Sweetie Belle, of all ponies?"

"I didn't say 'threat', Miss Rarity. The nature of our job is actually quite safe, despite my demeanor. Bet you expected some sorta noblepony sittin' on this chair? Well, yer wrong. I'm here 'cause I can get things done, and Sweetie Belle just so happens to be the right filly for the job."

"What in the world can she do that falls within your requirements?" Rarity couldn't help but raise a brow in skepticism. "She's just a foal, for Celestia's sake!"

"She just so happens to have a certain alteration ability obtained from one Zap Apple harvest not too long ago. Aside from the fact that I absolutely love the jam, I moved here because I have been tasked to investigate a recent incursion of... the Grey."

"The Grey?" Rarity looked over at Sweetie Belle, who fell asleep on the cushion. "What in the world is the Grey?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like, Miss Rarity. It's an unexplained magical phenomenon that can be caused by ponies and we have reason to believe that somepony in Ponyville is causing the Grey to happen, intentionally or unintentionally."

"So, why do you need Sweetie Belle?"

"She'll be acting as a temporary agent for the Chromatic Coaltion in Ponyville. We've got operatives working 'round the world to stem the tide of the Grey, but with this small incident her abilities will prove enough to stop it from spreading."

"What does the Grey do, exactly?"

"Nothing, really. It's perfectly harmless! However, if you let it sit unopposed it turns everything around it into monochrome, and Princess Celestia thinks that would clash with the royal banners."

"So that's where Sweetie Belle comes in? Sweetie, wake up. I think you should hear this!" Rarity nudged Sweetie Belle in the barrel, stirring the filly.

"I'm awake, I'm awake. I sorta heard a bit of everything." She rubbed her eyes with her hooves and yawned. "So what you're saying is, I'm going to go around fighting this Grey thing?"

"Indeed, little missy."

"Like a superhero?"

"Uh, sure. Somethin' like that." Top Hat reclined in his chair. "Since we are a royal organization, we actually have a base and everything under this building. It's like a hideout, almost. Our local agent graciously provided it when we moved in. The agent is actually right next door, actually."

"You mean Pinkie Pie is the agent?"

"Hmm? Who's that? No, Agent Gummy is the one provided this home and tipped us off to the Grey here."

"... Gummy?" Rarity exchanged another look of skepticism with Sweetie.

"Indeed. He'll handle all of your assignments, should you choose to accept them."

"Totally!" Sweetie Belle bounced up and down from her cushion. "I'll be Zapfilly, defender of Ponyville!"

"Naturally, we'll need to work around your school schedule. I'll have somethin' next week, Jeeves is still scouting around with Agent Gummy. We'll have intel by the end of today."

"I do have a question, Top Hat. Why are you named 'Top Hat' if you're so, well..."

"Uncultured? Uncouth? Gruff? Rough? Down in the mud?" He cackled. "Let's just say my cutie mark being a top hat refers to organizational things. Now git, you're disturbin' my zen time."

"Well, that was strange." Sweetie sat in the foyer of Carousel Boutique, across a table from Rarity. "Do you think he'll let me have my own costume? I'm going to be Grey fighting! Woohoo!"

"Now, darling, let's not get too ahead of ourselves. We've not any real evidence of this 'Grey' yet, and it's quite possible it could turn out dangerous! Remember when I told you about my fight with Discord?"

"Oh, yeah. I guess it could get pretty dangerous."

"We'll have to just trust this Top Hat and his Coalition, and hope everything turns out alright."

"Doesn't that seem kind of dangerous, Rarity?"

"What harm is there in trying this out? He certainly made no move to conceal his presence, and I've already notified Twilight and the rest of my friends about him. If anything happens, we'll be ready."

"Well, I just have one more question, Rarity..."

"Yes, darling?" Rarity smiled at her sister, ready to respond.

"Do you still have that Mare Do Well costume around? I want to see if you could adjust it for me..."

Scouting with a Gator

Edited on November 28th, 2012. Because Fancypants is one word, not two.

"Rarity, the belt is too tight."

"Hush, Sweetie. It needs to be tight otherwise your costume would fall apart! Or even worse, tear! There is no way I'm going to let you do whatever that Top Hat wants you to do without some form of protection."

"He just wants me to Zap some stuff. How hard can it be?"

Rarity gasped. "Sweetie! Remember the unicorn safety oath? 'A unicorn must, at all times, treat their magic as if it is dangerous and volatile magic.' Magic is highly unpredictable, and there is no way to determine what a spell might do."

"I don't know, Rarity. It sounds like Top Hat really knows what he's doing. And did you see his office? He's obviously really influential."

"Well, until Twilight can verify the authenticity of this Chromatic Coalition, I'm afraid I will have to accompany you on this little outing." Rarity levitated a pale blue hat onto her head, and stepped in front of a mirror with a pose. "Tell me, darling. Does this hat look good with the colors of the night sky?"

Sweetie Belle responded by Zapping Rarity's hat, turning the various purples and blues into the familiar bright colors. Rarity stomped a hoof and turned to face her sister, steaming in the face. "Honestly, Sweetie Belle! What did I just say?!"

"Sorry, Rarity! I couldn't resist. The hat looks way better now, by the way!" Sweetie Belle donned her dark blue domino mask and hopped off for the kitchen. Her first assignment had been delivered the day before via an unmarked manila envelope. Inside was a dossier containing Gummy's agent information, as well as several photos depicting their first area of operation: the Ponyville Hospital.

Sweetie Belle swept her gaze across the various photos. Most of them were fairly mundane, and looked as if they were shot from the outside. She took a long drought from her juice box as she moved the pictures aside one by one, until she came across a plain white letter addressed to her. Did Rarity notice this? Sweetie picked it up with her hooves and flapped the paper a few times to straighten it out.

Dear Sweetie Belle,

Congratulations on your (temporary) status as an agent of the Chromatic Coalition. Gummy has notified me that you went to the Element of Magic to try to verify the existence of our organization (emphasis on "our", because your welcoming package of rainbow jelly beans comes next week). That is admirable of you, and very forward. I appreciate a little initiative from you; treating the job so seriously is something anypony can appreciate.

Your first assignment should be a simple one. Agent Gummy has identified an object infected by the Grey within the confines of the Ponyville Hospital. I'm not sure if you're familiar with it, but you shouldn't be! Fillies should be outside doing fun things, like pirouetting or jumping off of cliffs or whatever Monocle says you kids do these days. Being stuck in a hospital is one of the worst things a pony can experience!

Unfortunately, we're actually sending you into the hospital, and there won't be any lollipop from the doctor this time. There might be one from me once you finish this mission, but they're the low-sugar kind. Sorry. Anyways, one of the doctor's utensils is the object in question. Clever, huh? Stainless steel is grey all the time, but if you're looking for the Grey, it takes a skilled eye to point it out. Luckily, Gummy's been doing this for years, and he'll be going in with you to identify the object.

I should also mention that we'd really appreciate it if you stayed silent about this. Like, nonchalantly point it out to friends sort of silent. We want to create that mysterious air of secrecy around our organization. Helps morale and all that, and it gives us an excuse to wear spy equipment. I'm a bit too fat to fit into any of that anymore, but I still like to wear the goggles.

Also unfortunately, none of our equipment comes in filly size. You're quite lucky Rarity offered to make you a costume. Ironically enough, no one in the Coalition knows how to sew. Regardless, I believe it is very important that you adopt stealth on your operations. It's not the Coalition's business to let everypony on about the Grey, and you seem like a very trustworthy filly.

Good luck out there! Gummy will meet you behind the hospital in the treeline.

-TH

PS: Don't try to eat all the jelly beans to try to get your cutie mark. Monocle tried it once and it gave him some pretty bad stomachaches.

"I'm ready to go!" Rarity bounced out in a heavy coat and matching hat set. "Sweetie, darling. We should set out at once! I've already contacted mother and father as well, to make sure they know too. Celestia forbid a filly run around by herself doing all manners of dangerous things!"

"Are you trying to blow my cover, Rarity? I'm supposed to be super-secret! See, it even says right here in the letter Top Hat wrote me!" Sweetie Belle levitated the parchment into Rarity's hooves, and she gave it a brief look.

"My goodness, dear. Jelly beans? Oh no, that simply will not do. I hardly think such an amount of sweets is good for you anyhow. Now come along, dear!" Rarity folded up the letter and tidied up all the documents, placing them into a nearby cabinet. "We shouldn't keep your partner waiting."

"Oh, good heavens. I totally forgot who your partner was."

Rarity and Sweetie Belle stood in the forest behind Ponyville hospital, the cover of night aiding their movements behind the building. As was befitting of a small town, only a security guard and a few staff were on duty during the nights, which Rarity noticed would make getting in and out easy.

Gummy sat on the ground, as silent as ever. He wore a beret similar in style to Top Hat's, except his was adorned with various battle honors and a six-pronged medal as the centerpiece of the hat. Rarity raised a suspicious brow as she leaned in to get a closer look at it.

"The Elements of Harmony! What in the world are you doing with a medal showing those?"

Gummy opened his mouth to reveal a small blue stone sitting in between his gums. The stone began to glow and vibrate for several seconds, intensifying until it shot out a small magical projection in the shape of Top Hat. The projection stood still for several seconds before it tapped on something outside of the scope of view, and promptly cleared its throat.

"Ahem. Is this thing on? Hello?"

"Good evening, Top Hat. We are at the location you mentioned in the file. Your task certainly sounds easy enough, but I elected to come along anyways to make sure nothing happens."

"Don't worry, Miss Rarity. Agent Gummy is trained in triage and field medicine. Your sister has nothing to fear."

"Field medicine?" She glanced upward into Gummy's purple eyes. "What in the world does your job entail to be trained in field medicine?"

"Now, now, Miss Rarity. We all have our ups and downs on the job, and it just so happens that we literally go up and down quite often. Gummy has grapplin' equipment to get through one of the second story windows; the map should have outlined an empty room to get in from. Agent Gummy will take care of the rest, so I'll leave you to it. This is an easy operation, so please don't get caught or anything."

"Roger that, Mister Top Hat!" Sweetie saluted the hovering projection before Gummy spat out the rock onto the ground, nodding his head slightly at the filly and crept along the open grass towards the wall. Sweetie followed in his steps and crouched to lower her profile, joining the alligator as Rarity look on with skepticism.

The projection flickered the stone landed next to Rarity, and both she and Top Hat watched as Gummy procured the grappling equipment and propped himself up on two legs, executing a perfect throw into the open window above. As Sweetie Belle followed Gummy inside the hospital, she turned back to the still-active projection rock.

"So... Gummy."

"Indeed. He's been here longer than I have. Even I don't know much about him. He's been very helpful thus far, and last I talked to him he was very enthusiastic about helping Sweetie Belle with her first mission."

"Enthusiastic? Goodness, you must be able to read him quite well. Normally any other pony who sees that little reptile would be hard-pressed to find any lick of emotion in his face."

"Actually, he's rather easy to read. The key is to watch his eyes."

"And you say he talked to you?"

"Yes, indeed. He's the chattiest alligator I've ever come across, and that's quite a feat. Anyways, the movement plan is behind that bush over there." Top Hat pointed to the bush Gummy was hiding in earlier. "And there's also a pair of binoculars. You should be able to track their movements accordingly. I'll be off now, so good evenin' to ya Miss Rarity."

Rarity picked up a dark green pair of binoculars and tilted her head back, raising the device up to eye level. She could see Sweetie open the door of the room she had entered, and lost track of her after that.

"Gummy, I'm kind of scared." The hallways were illuminated with a candle at intervals, giving the building an eerie and dark atmosphere. Only the quiet pattering of Gummy's feet and Sweetie's hooves along the tiled floors echoed through the area as the two moved towards the front of the hospital.

Gummy stopped walking and turned around to face Sweetie. He blinked once as he stared at the filly, which confused her. Was Gummy trying to talk to her? Was this actually Gummy's method of talking? Was he actually trying to calm her down?

"Uh..." Sweetie Belle glanced around, trying to find a distraction. In a way, his stare was working wonders in calming her down... by making her feel really awkward.

Gummy tapped the floor twice with his right foot and motioned towards a nearby door. The two stood side by side as Sweetie Belle used her magic to open the door, revealing a very empty surgery room with a single light from the ceiling bearing down on the operating table. A gleam from the trolley next to the table attracted Sweetie's attention, and she followed Gummy towards the center of the room.

The alligator hopped onto the table without care, turning around to face the trolley. Turning his head backwards, he procured a pair of tongs, with rubber handles and a rainbow crest emblazoned on its base. Taking the tongs in his mouth, he picked up a syringe and dropped it unceremoniously on the floor with a clack, before storing away the tongs in some unseen pocket dimension.

Sweetie Belle eyed the syringe, looking for a difference. Surely this was not the Grey she was tasked to look for? Was it something that had to be coaxed out? She took a hoof and brought it closer to the syringe, before a green claw wrapped itself around the hoof, stopping her from getting any closer.

Gummy shook his head, pushing Sweetie Belle farther away from the syringe until she reached the door. He made a flamboyant gesture, pointing to her horn, then to a gem that he had placed on the ground, finishing off with his attempt at emulating an explosion.

"You want me to Zap the syringe?"

Gummy shook his head again, pointing at the gem on the ground with two pronounced movements.

"The gem? Why do you want me to shoot the gem?"

He brought a claw up to his face, and tapped the location of the wrist as if he were wearing a watch.

"Oh, right." She had forgotten that her usual Zap only worked for a limited duration, and wondered as to how the Coalition dealt with the Grey. Did they combat it with skilled unicorns? How widespread was the Grey that it necessitated the creation of the Coalition? And how in the world did Gummy get this job?

Those questions could be answered later. Sweetie focused her inner magic towards her horn, feeling the familiar sensation of electricity run through her veins. She felt the weight of responsibility on her shoulders, and focused her vision on the gem. In only a few seconds, she would Zap the beam, which would presumably Zap the syringe!

"Ahh!" The rainbow aura forming about her horn sputtered out, lighting the room up with various colors. Sweetie Belle turned her head to the door, hearing the sound of hoofsteps from down the hallway. She had to finish this, and quick!

As Sweetie Belle attempted to focus her magic once again, Gummy sat near the door observing the filly. She was young; indeed, she was too young to properly control magic, even with the guidance of Twilight Sparkle. There was a chance that she would be able to Zap the syringe in time, but to a seasoned veteran like Gummy, it just wasn't enough. He lived life fast and loose, always on the edge, and there was no space in his schedule to leave things to chance.

He hid his beret and walked out into the hallway, and saw the security pony waving his flashlight around at the end of the hall. Just as he suspected. He put on his best stupid face and walked forward into the light, causing the security pony to stop in his tracks. The stallion raised a brow, and in response Gummy blinked. His distraction was working, and he could feel his sense of pride emerging. All those years in the espionage academy did him well, if his previous operations were any indication.

A loud blast rang out from behind Gummy, and he took that as a cue to chomp onto the stallion's tail. As the pony thrashed about, Gummy could see Sweetie Belle, out of the corner of his eye, sprint back to the room they came from. He promptly detached himself from the security pony, who continued to thrash about unaware that Gummy had left.

Sweetie Belle waited by the window as Gummy ran in and slammed the door, waiting for instructions. He balled up his right claw and smacked it into his left claw twice, then pointed at the window. The security pony wouldn't be distracted for long, and they had to double-time it!

Rarity gasped as she saw the two jump out from the window, with Gummy holding the rope in tow. How incredibly dangerous! She turned to shout at Top Hat, but realized the stone had went inactive. Oh well, she thought. The next time Rarity would see Top Hat, she would just have to give him a piece of her mind in a manner befitting of a sophisticated mare.

Gummy pulled the rope off its perch and followed Sweetie Belle back into the treeline as a beam of light emerged from the window they had escaped from. Rarity looked over at Sweetie Belle to find her sheepishly grinning, and Gummy placing his beret back on his head.

"Honestly, Sweetie Belle. What in the world did you do in there?"

"I had to Zap one of the syringes in an operating room. It didn't seem too serious."

Rarity pointed a hoof at the guard, still looking about, and whispered to Sweetie in a hushed tone. "You alerted him, didn't you?! I knew this was too dangerous for you!"

"But Rarityyyy! This could be a way I could get my cutie mark!"

"Perhaps so, but I will have to discuss safety options with Top Hat. I do not want you getting injured, Sweetie."

"Ugh. Fine." Sweetie knew better than to argue about safety, of all things, with Rarity. Since it was an issue that directly affected her well-being, her parents would be notified about any concerns this occupation might cause.

"Antics aside, how did you enjoy it, darling? Was it as adrenaline-filled as expected?"

"Totally! My Zap didn't work right the first time, and Gummy had to run distraction outside! I bet he used some special alligator martial art to totally fight that guard! I know I heard him screaming, so Gummy must have done some sort of super-special move, like an uppercut!"

Gummy maintained direct eye contact with Rarity, who raised a brow. Somehow, she could tell he was saying "that's not how it went, at all."

"... yes. Well, if our business is concluded here, perhaps it would be wise to return home before the ponies inside come looking for us?"

"Are you insane?"

"Please, Miss Rarity! It was never my intention to—"

"Your intentions are irrelevant! Sweetie Belle could have been hurt in there, you know that? Not to mention she was trespassing! I should have known better than to trust the likes of you, having a filly go around breaking the law just to fight something that probably doesn't even exist!"

"I understand your concerns, but we—"

"Let me tell you something, Top Hat. Sweetie Belle and I may not see eye-to-eye sometimes, but that does not change the fact that she is my sister. And since she is my sister, she is my responsibility, and as her older sister, I will not simply stand by while you put her in these situations." Rarity took a deep breath and closed the distance between her and Top Hat, glaring straight into his pupils. "And with Celestia as my witness, if any harm comes to her, I will end you. Do you understand?"

"Crystal clear, ma'am." Top Hat nervously chuckled.

"Good." Rarity brushed off her mane and moved back to her cushion. "Now, I hope whatever else you're planning on having Sweetie Belle do doesn't involve breaking and entering, or anything of the sort."

"Well, this one should also be fairly easy. It won't involve any trespassing, and it's entirely outside. However, it is quite a distance away, and I know Sweetie is probably still recovering from her most recent mission."

"How far away would it have to be that it requires Sweetie to rest?"

"I guess it's not too far, and you'll be able to travel during the day. Nopony goes out there anyways, so Gummy will easily be able to meet you there with the rappelling equipment."

"Rappelling? Are you having her jump off a building again?"

"Hmm? The next mission isn't in a town. The location of the next object is in Ghastly Gorge."

Rarity's eye twitched.

"More tea?"

"Uh, sure. I guess." Sweetie Belle watched Monocle's light blue aura lift the teapot and pour more tea into her small cup, only half-empty. "How come you're so different from your dad, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Father was always a bit eccentric in Canterlot. Mother usually had to take care of me whenever he was out completing missions, so I guess her mannerisms rubbed off on me."

"So he was pretty busy all the time?"

"He's quite busy even now. Of course, his company is far more favorable than the upstarts in Canterlot." Monocle rolled his eyes and took a sip from his own cup. "Quite elitist, even the foals."

"So how come you were hanging out with Diamond Tiara during school?"

"I think it must be the monocle. It makes all the fillies think I'm from some rich family, which I'm actually not. We're just a bit more well-off than others, and just happen to live in Canterlot. And know a lot of nobility. And work for the Princesses."

"Rarity is always talking about how she wants to make it big in Canterlot."

"Your sister is a wise mare. Canterlot is the center of Equestria, in more than one way. It is the place to gain recognition and favor across the entire nation, if not only for all the traffic that moves through there."

"I guess that makes sense." Sweetie rolled around the projection stone in her hooves. "I guess since you guys work for the Princesses, you get all the fancy new stuff to use, too."

"That is indeed correct. Fancypants is actually the one in charge of funding a lot of Equestria's magical research ventures, and even some outside of the border. I hear the griffons are working on new safety equipment for use by both nations."

"You sound a lot like an egghead, you know that?"

"I'll let you know I actually take pride in that."

The door to Top Hat's office burst open as Rarity stomped through a storm of papers, marching straight up to Sweetie Belle and giving a loud "hmph" as she turned away from Top Hat. "Come now, Sweetie. We must be leaving."

"Uh, okay?" Sweetie Belle hopped off her cushion and followed Rarity to the door. "Thanks for the tea, Monocle!"

"You're quite welcome! Feel free to come back any time!"

Rarity closed the door to the Hat residence and motioned for Sweetie Belle to follow her. The older mare had been quite insistent on visiting Top Hat the next day, to discuss Sweetie Belle's "occupation" in the Chromatic Coalition. Sweetie could tell from Rarity's body language that there was an argument of some sort, or at least some form of disagreement.

"Is something wrong, Rarity?"

"Everything is quite fine, darling. Top Hat and I merely discussed a few safety concerns regarding your next mission. As well as, uh... payment."

"Payment? Payment for what?"

"Payment for your work, darling. I must say, it's strange having your little sister earn more bits than you do in a whole week."

"Wow, that must be a lot! I'm going to spend it all on candy! Or, no, wait! You can use the bits, Rarity!"

"Whatever for, darling? It is your money, after all, although I'll have to discuss it with our parents first."

"You can totally use it to buy more gems and stuff, to use for your dresses! I don't think I can really use that much money, and I really want your next fashion show to do well."

"Oh, Sweetie! How nice of you!" Rarity wrapped a hoof around Sweetie, and hugged her. "But perhaps we should let our parents decide, hmm?"

"But the last time I saw mom and dad handle money they went out and bought that vacation package during Sisterhooves Social!"

Rarity deviously smiled and whispered in Sweetie Belle's ear, "Then perhaps we could take a small part of that money and do something fun, like make a quiche?"

"A quiche? Well, I am kind of hungry."

"Then let us be off!" Rarity whisked Sweetie Belle away towards the market to seek fresh ingredients for a day with her little sister.

A Step Closer

"Hey, girls." Sweetie Belle pushed her desk over the floor of the classroom with a loud screech, until she aligned it with the side of Scootaloo's desk. It was Arts and Crafts time in the Ponyville schoolhouse, and to many students that also meant free time to talk and joke around.

"Oh, hey, Sweetie. Heard you were pretty busy lately with that Zapping. Got any useful advice for us?" Scootaloo dumped a glob of red paint onto a palette, mixing it around with her hoof. "Like how to jump out of a building properly, or how to avoid a security pony?"

"How'd you know about that?!"

"Monocle told us, obviously. He told everypony at school before you got here."

"Well, so much for that approach. I was going to keep it a secret until lunch!"

Sweetie Belle sat down next to Scootaloo and dumped a bunch of blue paint onto her own parchment, splattering it all over nearby students. "Oops, hehe."

"Y'all got a fancy costume too, I heard. Rarity gave you some nice duds, at least." Apple Bloom, unsurprisingly, was painting an apple tree on her own paper. "And I also heard ya got some really nice 'allowance', too."

"Oh, yeah, heh." Scootaloo moved closer to Sweetie Belle and lowered her tone. "Maybe now we can buy that cannon we always keep talking about."

"Really? I thought that was a joke." Sweetie had no idea what she was going to paint right now, and settled for a multicolored mess in the form of a house.

"No, no. You see, I've actually got this really cool idea for the cannon, okay? You remember how I can't fly? Well, I think maybe if I launch things into the air, maybe I can watch how they fly, and see if I can improve my own form for flying." Scootaloo shook her hooves in front of her face. "Flying! It's so simple! There's gotta be something to it!"

"Sounds like something Rainbow Dash would say."

"Of course it's something she would say. She's the one that flies all the time. I mean, have you ever remembered a time when she was on the ground?" Scootaloo rolled her eyes and sandwiched her paint with another paper, hoping to create a replica of her magnum opus.

"Well, there was that one time I was tryin' to earn my cutie mark, before I met y'all. Rainbow Dash tried everythin' she could to help me, but none o' them really worked. Spent a lot of time on the ground just to get me my cutie mark."

"See? Rainbow Dash is awesome! She'd never let anypony down, even fillies like us."

"So how're things goin' with Rarity, Sweets?" Apple Bloom began moving around a red and an orange blotch on her paper into two distinct pony shapes.

"Yesterday was actually really nice. Rarity actually spent some more time with me! We went playing in the park, and then we played chess afterwards in the boutique. She says she's not that good at it, but I think she's lying."

"Wow. I never thought I'd see the day Rarity would make time just for you." Scootaloo peeled her papers apart and grimaced at the results. "So much for a double rainbow."

"So Monocle also said you're goin' on another mission today. Any idea where to?" Apple Bloom finished painting on Applejack's mane on her simple family portrait, and started working on Big Mac's mane.

"I believe I can answer that," Monocle interrupted. His paper was completely bare save for a rough sketch with a stick of charcoal, and he continued sketching downwards with his magic. "Your next assignment is at Ghastly Gorge."

"Ghastly Gorge?! But that's where the Quarray eels are!" Scootaloo grabbed Sweetie Belle and shook her from side to side, disorienting the unicorn. "It's too dangerous! You have to abort! Abort!"

"On the contrary, Miss Scootaloo. The Quarray eels only make their homes towards the top of the gorge, so it should be safe to move downwards, toward the ground." Monocle turned his attention to Sweetie Belle. "I'm afraid to say that your sister will not be joining us this time. She has a very urgent request from Canterlot to finish four dresses, and she's behind schedule."

"Yeah, I heard her talking about that when we were eating. I'm not sure if I want to go without Rarity."

"Worry not, Sweetie Belle. My father and I, as well as Gummy, will be accompanying you personally on this mission. Your safety is our foremost priority right now."

"But I thought your priority was getting rid of the Grey?" Sweetie Belle couldn't help but raise a brow at Monocle's passivity. "Your bosses gave me a lot of bits for doing such a simple thing."

"And that is where you're wrong, Miss Belle." Monocle let out a quiet chuckle as he levitated his namesake in front of him, wiping it clean with a cloth. "Despite the infancy of your Zapping ability, simply being able to Zap is a feat in itself. Tell me, do you think we'd put you in slightly dangerous and mostly harmless situations if there were another pony who could do the job just as well, and with ten times the danger?"

"Well... no." Sweetie's paper looked awfully empty, and she began idly pushing around purple paint on the side.

"Worry not, worry not." Monocle patted Sweetie Belle's hoof, and smiled at her. "The funding for our organization is actually quite large, and we're not taking any chances today."

"Well, what did you have in mind?"

"Hmm, I wonder." Monocle smirked, and Sweetie Belle felt that maybe, just maybe, the colt wasn't telling the whole truth.

"Whoa, that's a long way down." Monocle quickly took a few steps back from the end of the cliff, and stood beside Top Hat. "What exactly did you have in mind, father?"

"The same thing we did when we were in the jungly south, Monocle!" He brandished a variety of safety equipment, hooks, and rope, before tossing them onto the ground in front of him with gusto. "Abseilin'!"

"Abseiling... that's rappeling, right?" Sweetie Belle had donned her costume nary an hour before arriving, and rendezvoused with Gummy before joining the Hat family at Ghastly Gorge. Gummy knew the way, even without a map, and Sweetie Belle theorized that Gummy was actually far more intelligent than he was letting on.

"Yup. Oh, hold on. Safety first." He dropped a helmet onto Monocle's head, and replaced his own hat with a helmet emblazoned with a top hat insignia. "Gummy, you got the goods?"

The alligator dumped the box on his back, where it shattered on the ground and exposed a black suitcase and a pair of binoculars. Top Hat grabbed the latter in his hooves and took a sweep down their area of the gorge, examining every detail he could. Gummy quickly fitted Sweetie Belle with the approprite safety equipment and double-checked their safety harnesses, before driving a bolt securely into the ground and securing it with a few rocks.

"Hmm. He's still around here, somewhere." Top Hat lowered the binoculars and sniffed.

"He? Did you find the pony responsible for causing the Grey?" Sweetie Belle tugged at her harness a bit to loosen it up, and watched Gummy do a variety of stretching exercises completely uncharacteristic of his body.

"We believe he's still around, yes. So to that end, Monocle will be assisting you in subduing this pony, alongside Agent Gummy, while you deal with whatever was affected by the Grey." He slapped a projection stone into a necklace, and placed it on himself. "Ahem. Testing, testing." He tapped the stone, and it sparkled a light blue. "Is this thing on?"

"Here you go, Sweetie." Sweetie turned around to find Monocle in a quadruped contraption twice her height, humming with magical pulses and glowing a gentle light blue. Monocle handled the controls so the left hoof held out a similar necklace, which Sweetie took and placed on herself.

"What in the world is that thing?" She trotted around the suit, taking in its odd nature. Was the Chromatic Coalition this advanced? What other things could they be hiding?

"I assure you, Miss Belle, this suit is not anything of note. I am powering the movement with my own magic, using a variation of localized levitation. This is a suit that has a net thrower on the back, which is manually powered. We'll be using this as the primary means of catching our suspect, and if not, well..." Monocle turned to look at Gummy, who stared blankly at the horizon. "I'd hate to see what sort of devious things he would do."

"Gummy? Hurt a pony? I don't think that's very likely, Monocle." It was ridiculous! Sweetie Belle had seen the way the alligator usually acted, and his behavior was very benign. Other than his tendency to latch onto ponies using his mouth, Sweetie Belle had not observed any outward hostility to anyone, even when he was pestered by a group of Fluttershy's birds.

"Oh, I am quite certain. He's our most experienced agent, and I am actually quite humbled to be in his presence." Monocle nodded as if to cement his opinion, and trotted off with a clunk to join his father.

Sweetie Belle put on her own helmet and watched Gummy behaving like his usual self next to Top Hat and Monocle. And to think just a few days ago she was living a simple life, attempting to find her cutie mark alongside her friends! The situation she was in now was so absurdly far-fetched that any sane pony would question what they were doing with their lives.

And yet, here she stood. At least she was getting paid to do this Zapping. That's what adults do, right? They get paid for doing a job?

"Aha! Right there!" Top Hat tossed the binoculars to Gummy and pointed his hoof down the gorge. "See? Right there! I see a bunch of grey on that tree, and it looks like a big splotch. Better break out the bigger stone."

Gummy tossed a shiny boulder on top of Monocle's suit, causing it to nearly lose balance until the colt yanked it in the other direction. "Hey, watch it!"

"Alright, enough burnin' daylight. Everythin' is set up, so get down there!" Top Hat threw a camouflage tarp over his head and laid at an angle so he could observe the entirety of the gorge. He huffed and blew a bit of grass out of the tarp, before pulling a thermos close to his form.

Sweetie Belle heard a bunch of loud clanging and turned around to see Gummy sitting on the back of Monocle's suit with the stone. The alligator patted the spot next to him, which sported a small seat and a few latches for safety harnesses on either side. The alligator's face didn't change, but Sweetie could feel an aura coming off of him that said "let's get going, you slow filly!"

After securing herself properly, Sweetie sat for a few seconds before pondering why they had all the safety equipment. "Hey, Monocle, are we going to go down now? Is there a path on the side of the cliff?"

"Path? On the side of the cliff? I'm afraid that is a negative, Sweetie. You see, we're going to be taking the express route down! Gummy, is everything good to go?" Monocle arced his head backwards to look at Gummy, who gave him a thumbs-up and patted the suit's head twice.

"Express route?" Sweetie was starting to piece two and two together, and she did not like where this was going. "Wait, guys, I don't think I—"

Monocle leapt off the side of the cliff, and for several seconds the air was filled with the screams of a terrified filly.

"Does everypony in your organization have a knack for crazy stunts?!" Sweetie Belle took a minute to calm her breathing after landing at the bottom of the ravine. The height looked so simple from the top of the cliff, but actually falling down it at Celestia knows what speed causes a pony to reconsider that very quickly.

"Actually, you'll find that we're quite sensible ponies... most of the time." Monocle righted his namesake on his right eye, tapping it with a hoof to secure it on his nose. "It just so happens that going down is faster than going around."

"Ugh. Let's just get this over with." Sweetie walked past the clunker that Monocle sat in and caught up with Gummy, who had somehow obtained his standard beret. As the filly slowed her steps to match pace with him, her eyes widened as they entered the clearing that Top Hat had mentioned earlier.

There were various bushes spread throughout the area, and it was oddly verdant for such a barren gorge. However, it was plainly obvious to any pony passing by why such a location would be strange—the colors had been sapped from the plant life, rendering much of the surroundings in grey. Sweetie Belle sighed as she rubbed her head between two hooves. This one would definitely be a doozy, as Pinkie Pie would put it.

Sweetie was startled when the boulder on Monocle's suit catapulted straight into the center of the clearing, making a crater in the dirt. The sparkly surface of the rock reflected light into Sweetie's eyes, causing her to turn away and glare at Monocle.

"Alrighty, Sweetie. You get to Zapping that rock, while Gummy and I look around for our suspect." Monocle nodded to Gummy from within the frame, and the two went in opposite directions, circling the clearing, eyes scanning every object for discrepancies... or at least Monocle was. Gummy walked in a straight line, heading straight for the other side of the clearing.

"It's not working!" Sweetie turned to look at Monocle, who clumsily turned around in his suit. "I keep Zapping the rock, but it just fizzes out, and the magic disappears!"

"Try charging your spell, Sweetie! Let it build up within your horn before letting it all go at once!" Monocle's voice echoed through the suit, and reverberated through the gorge. "Argh, curse these acoustics! It's giving me feedback on my speakers!"

"Alright, I'll give that a try then!" She closed her eyes and scrunched her face in concentration as Monocle continued eyeing the grey bushes in his path. He switched the catapult's safety off with his magic, and the contraption clacked into place as he noticed Gummy laying on his belly on the far side, staring at a suspiciously large bush.

Gummy slapped a claw into the ground twice, and pointed from Monocle to the bush. The colt got the clue, as his suit moved into place on the other side, and brought up the targeting reticle. "Attention, scoundrel within the shrubbery! We are agents working with royal authority! Submit yourself to capture, or face the wrath of Equestria's law!"

The bush shuddered violently, causing Monocle to shift his suit into a battle stance, lowering his head to allow the catapult to get a clear shot. Clearly, there was somepony—or something—in the bush that Top Hat had identified earlier. After a few tense seconds, a blur shot out from the foliage, heading straight for Sweetie Belle.

"Drat!" The movement was too fast for him to react to, and he barely managed to turn in the suspect's direction when a flying green blur collided with the attacker. A cloud of dust was thrown up in the ensuing struggle, and as it cleared, Monocle stood ready to launch the net in case his reptilian ally lost. An unlikely case, but a gentlecolt is prepared for all possible probabilities, or so he was told by Fancypants.

Gummy stood victorious over a strange stallion, who bore a cloak with a rather uninteresting 'G' on the back. His hooves were wrapped into a single bundle with rope, and bore multiple spots of scuffles on his body, most of all on his hooves. Monocle knew that the alligator went straight for the legs to immobilize his target, and approached the inert pony on the ground with a steely gaze.

He placed a metal hoof to the stallion's chest, and applied pressure. "A good effort, sir, but if I may make a suggestion... running is not the best thing you can do against an alligator."

The stallion coughed under the weight of Monocle's iron hoof. "You're one of them color ponies, huh? Well you got here too late! The damage has been done, and—"

An explosion from the other side of the clearing interrupted him, sending a colorful cloud into the sky, followed by a bunch of coughing and approaching hoofsteps. Sweetie emerged from the dust covered in dirt, and smiled toothily at Monocle. "All done!"

"Done? Done what?" The stallion looked dumbly between Sweetie and Monocle, as the latter pony activated his projection stone.

"Operation completed, clean sweep. We have apprehended the pony responsible for this incident, as well. Gummy and I will bring him back to base for interrogation."

"Roger that, operative Phantom Mime. Packing up now."

The stone clicked off with a flash, and Monocle sighed as he rubbed a hoof down his face. "Phantom Mime? Seriously?"

"Hey, who's this pony? Did he cause the Grey?"

"Stand back, Sweetie Belle. Gummy and I shall handle this." Monocle smirked at the bound pony and threw a glance at Gummy. "If you would do the honors?"

Gummy reared up on his back legs, flailing his arms about in orchestrated movement. Sweetie Belle looked between the three in confusion as Gummy continually move his arms about in a fashion reminiscent of kung-fu movies popular in the east. She rolled her eyes and trotted over to Monocle, who was simply staring at the alligator with glee.

"Hey, can we go home now? Or are you just going to watch Gummy do his 'hee-hoo-ha-ha' moves all day?"

"Certainly, Sweetie. Gummy and I will take care of this ruffian. Ah, look!" The suit whirred as Monocle pointed a hoof at Gummy, who jumped high in the sky and rocketed down onto the stallions neck with an arm, knocking the pony unconscious. "Hah, get it? Judo chop, since he took his arm and..." Sweetie was glaring daggers at him, and he conceded defeat. "Alright, fine."

"Okay. So how are we going to get back up? We're in the middle of the gorge, remember?"

"And that is no problem, Sweetie! Let me just calibrate this catapult, take off the net, and..." A loud clunk and sputter came out of the machine on his back, and jettisoned the net onto a nearby rock face. "Okay! That should do it. Please get into the seat, Sweetie Belle."

"Uh, is this safe? Are you going to fly back up to the top?" There was a distinct lack of safety harnesses on the catapult as compared to the suit itself, and she couldn't help but worry.

"Oh, heavens no. What do I look like, a pegasus? No, we're going to do the right, safe thing to do. We'll shoot you back to Ponyville."

"What?!" Monocle had totally lost it! The Gorge was in no way near Ponyville, and it would take a very powerful spell (or contraption) to get her back to town... not accounting safety, of course.

"Go, Sweetie Belle! Fly like the wind!"

And again, the skies of Equestria were filled with the screams of a filly.

Rarity hummed a catchy little tune she heard Pinkie singing earlier in the week. She could not understand the party pony's ability to create incredibly catchy songs in the blink of an eye, but that didn't bother her any. Pinkie was a friend, and friends should appreciate each others eccentricities. Celestia knows that Rarity wasn't without any herself.

She felt a pang of regret as she turned her thoughts to Sweetie Belle. As much as she would love to watch Sweetie Belle's antics with the Chromatic Coalition, she had a business to run. It was best that she finish up her orders as soon as possible, before Top Hat would inevitably escalate the missions to something even pegasi daredevils wouldn't dream of doing. Rarity knew she was probably overreacting, but there was a small part of her that believed the stallion was absolutely crazy.

And that was disregarding her other appointments as well—her spa meetings with Fluttershy, helping Mayor Mare with holiday costumes, and having tea with Twilight, as well as her current project. It was necessary to nip the problem in the bud before it worsened, or at the very least maintain watch over Sweetie Belle whenever she went on these missions.

Rarity pursed her lips as she levitated the purple hat onto the set of clothing she had been working on. Twilight had intercepted her as she was shopping for new fabrics, as the librarian had finally received word from Princess Celestia regarding the authenticity of the Chromatic Coalition. It was an entirely legal, but very psuedo-secretive organization established by royal order for the reasons Top Hat had previously mentioned.

She paused her humming for a moment, her ears perking up. There was a distant whistling sound from outside, and she strode over to the window to find the source. Ponies went about their daily lives, completely oblivious to the whistling. Was it another elaborate prank by Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash again? Rarity rubbed her ears a few times to check if it was some errant anomaly.

Her eyes were drawn to a figure sailing high in the sky, headed straight for Ponyville. Rarity moved closer to the window and squinted, following the figure. There was a very familiar shape about it, and as it neared she could make out some details about the flying object. It was a unicorn soaring through the air, with a distinct curly mane and tail. It wore a dashing cape, a rainbow-themed costume, and a domino mask.

And as such, Rarity screamed.

She burst out of the window, nearly taking it off at the hinges, and landed outside of Carousel Boutique completely unharmed. Completely disregarding any semblance of fanciness, she dashed straight through the middle of Ponyville with her eyes locked on Sweetie Belle's fall, before she collided with something pink and poofy.

"Ow, Rarity! That really hurt!" Pinkie Pie rubbed her head with a hoof, before laughing. "You were going really fast! Even faster than Applejack during the Running of the Leaves!"

"No time!" Rarity rebounded quickly and continued galloping down the street, but noticed she was being followed by Pinkie Pie. This was no time for games!

"Wow, Rarity! You're in such a hurry today! What's the dealio?" She cartwheeled alongside Rarity, before the unicorn grabbed her with both hooves and pointed into the sky.

"Sweetie. Belle. Is. In. DANGER!" Rarity shook Pinkie with each word, before tossing her aside and resuming her chase.

"Oh my gosh! That filly is in danger!" The pink pony procured her signature cannon from under a nearby table, before putting on goggles and jumping into the barrel. "I'm coming, you silly filly!"

With a bang of confetti, Pinkie sped over the rooftops of Ponyville, sailing in a direct intercept course for Sweetie Belle, who was still screaming. Pinkie lifted up her hooves as she got close, and snatched Sweetie Belle out of the air and descended straight into a large pile of hay just as Rarity came to a stop nearby.

"Got her! Do I win anything?" Pinkie handed Sweetie Belle over, and beamed at Rarity.

"There are no words to express my gratitude, Pinkie. I suppose I owe you now, don't I?" Rarity patted Sweetie Belle, who stood stock still and silent. "Sweetie, what in the world happened?"

"C-catapult. So high. So very high."

"Who did this to you?"

"M-Monocle did. He said it was safe. I don't think that was very safe."

Rarity's gears worked for a minute before she put on an expression of angelic tranquility, and hugged her little sister. "Now, dear, everything is fine now. You're safe."

"I don't think I want to do this anymore, Rarity."

"It's your decision, Sweetie. You should go back to the Boutique with Pinkie, okay? She'll find something to help you calm down, like some tea. We can talk about this later."

"I sure can! And I'll even bring a cupcake or two!" Pinkie bounced around the hugging sisters before she halted, waiting for Sweetie.

"Are you going somewhere, Rarity?" Sweetie looked up at her, eyes wet with tears.

Rarity smiled deviously. "Oh, I'm just going to pay a visit to Top Hat. I do believe I saw him returning but a moment ago. Pinkie, I'll leave her in your care. I won't be long."

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie scooped up Sweetie Belle on her back and trotted away, as Rarity turned to look at the Hat residence.

She was starting to really hate that building.

Not a Sidekick

"Feeling better? Hmm?" Rarity patted the filly in her lap, surrounded by a sea of phlegm-filled tissues.

"I-I think so. Sorry, Rarity. I'm not really used to flying." Sweetie grabbed a hoofful of tissues and dumped them into an already-overflowing waste bin. "And I had no idea I could cry this much, either."

"Well, you are a filly. I suppose the younger the pony, the higher the capacity for crying." Rarity let out a little laugh as she tried to brighten Sweetie Belle's mood.

"I guess. I fell through a tree a few weeks ago, and that didn't hurt that bad. Why is everything so weird this week?"

"I suspect that has everything to do with your new-found occupation, dear Sweetie. Goodness, it's only been around two weeks and you're already suffering from work-related stress!" Rarity whipped out a comb from underneath the mess, and proceeded to tame Sweetie Belle's disheveled mane. "And you're even looking the part, too."

"But Rarityyyyy! I'm fine!" Sweetie shifted uncomfortably in Rarity's lap as the elder sister made strokes through her mane. The comb wasn't exactly beautifying it, but Sweetie Belle was certain that she was capable of doing it herself, at least.

"After everything that happened yesterday, I'd be surprised if you were able to attend school tomorrow. I managed to finish most of my orders as well, so perhaps we should do something today?"

"Well, okay. I guess." Sweetie sniffed. "I think I should go to Monocle and tell him that launching other ponies isn't very nice!"

"That's my girl," Rarity said as she raised Sweetie onto her hooves and nudged her towards the door. "A lady should always know when to speak her mind, especially in matters concerning her own well-being!"

"There he is! Now go, my little pony! Tell him what for!" Rarity swept a hoof to emphasize her gusto as Sweetie Belle walked across the schoolyard towards a totally oblivious Monocle. The colt had his back turned to Sweetie Belle and was engaging in conversation with another filly in class when Sweetie tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh, Sweetie Belle! How are you today?" His grin almost caused Sweetie to sock him in the face.

"How am I feeling today? How am I feeling today? Well, why didn't you ask me that when I was flying faster than Rainbow Dash over Ponyville!"

"Beg pardon?" The colt's eyes darted left and right, utterly clueless and ignorant of the topic.

"Don't 'beg pardon' me, mister! You launched me that far on purpose, didn't you? I could have been hurt!"

His eyes widened in realization, as he brought out a small paper and handed it to Sweetie Belle. "I am so, so sorry, Sweetie. That catapult was actually brand-new, one of the experimental versions that Fancypants shipped to us a week ago. It's... far too powerful, as my father and I realized too late. I never intended to hurt you, or anything of the sort!"

"Then what's this paper for?" Sweetie looked at the paper in her hooves. The light brown paper denoted a transaction of some sort, to the tune of a large amount of bits.

"That's the receipt. We sold it to a few enterprising stallions who watched father sling a rock straight through our roof." He furrowed his brow, and his mouth turned downward. "Now there's a hole in our roof, the size of a full-grown pony. At least we have the money to cover for repairs..."

"Oh," Sweetie said dumbly. Her anger had subsided, and now she sat in front of Monocle, who was awkwardly rubbing his hoof on the back of his neck.

"I'm terribly, terribly sorry for everything, Sweetie. I thought it was going to land you straight into Gummy's safety harness!"

"Safety harness?"

"The roof of Sugarcube Corner isn't the way it is simply because of looks, dear."

"Oh. And the catapult was sold off?"

"Indeed, indeed." He peeked around Sweetie, noticing Rarity standing at the edge of the schoolyard. "Your sister appears to be waiting for something."

"Oh, right. She was pretty convinced that you tried to hurt me, so..."

"I would really appreciate it if you cleared that up. I'd rather not live my life knowing your sister thinks I wronged you."

Rarity wore an overbearing grin as Sweetie made her way back to her, but it lessened in intensity when she saw the filly shyly greet her. "Oh, dear. Is something wrong?"

"Actually, Rarity. It was faulty equipment. I mean, even despite the fact that he was aiming for Sugarcube Corner, he still missed."

"Missed? Well, I suppose Gummy would have something set up..." Rarity cleared her throat. "Aside from the fact that his position as a secret agent is dubious enough, I would assume that he had something set up for you. Goodness knows that he is more competent than that oaf of a stallion."

"You mean Top Hat?"

Rarity waved a hoof dismissively. "Top Hat, oaf. Perhaps the same thing, from my experience."

"At least I still managed to get my homework done. I totally forgot that I had math homework due today!"

"And what a studious little filly you are, Sweetie. I'm rather proud that you took on the responsibility of keeping a schedule. It does wonders for busy ponies, you know."

Sweetie looked at her quizzically. "But you helped me with half of my homework."

"Oh, don't be so modest, Sweetie. We both know that you tackled the harder problems."

"Well, if you say so..." The schoolhouse bell rang, and the fillies and colts prancing about the playground rushed to the door, walking in single file as Cheerilee came out to greet them. "Oh, school's starting! I'll see you later, Rarity!"

"Have fun, dear!" Rarity waved at Sweetie as she dashed in behind Rumble, and gave a rushed salutation to the schoolteacher as the door closed behind her.

"Hah! Take that!" Sweetie gingerly levitated a skip card onto the pile, smirking at the pegasus filly who was next in line.

"Nooooooo!" Scootaloo slammed her cards onto the table face down, falling back into her chair with a huff. "This is the last time I play Rainbow with you guys."

"Don't be such a sore loser, Scoots." Apple Bloom took one card out of her hoof and slapped it onto the stack in the center of the table. "Rainbow!" She flaunted around her single remaining card as Sweetie looked over at Snails, who was the next player to go.

"Ehh..." He scrutinized his hoof, looking through the cards, until his eyes gleamed with decisiveness. "Aha! There we go! Plus four on you, Snips!"

"Aw, come on!" The pudgy pony levitated over another four cards from the deck into his hoof, which already held too many cards to count. "How do you keep getting those plus fours?!"

"I dunno, heh. But you need to get your hooves down soon, heheh!"

"And now it's back to me." Sweetie shuffled through her own cards, glancing furtively at Scootaloo. Would she be nice and give her a chance, by dropping down a number, or a new color? The decisions played through her mind as she weighed the options open to her, before taking a card menacingly and inching her hoof to the stack. Scootaloo's eyes followed her hoof, waiting for the verdict.

"Wanna bet, Scoots?"

The pegasus looked at the twenty-odd cards in her hooves. “I'm not so sure I'm a betting type.”

“Hmm... okay. Here's a two for you.”

“I’m going to get back at you for this, you know.” Scootaloo dropped a reverse card, and turned her attention to Apple Bloom. “You better let me get back at Sweets.”

“I’m going to win, remember?” Apple Bloom waved around her single card again.

“A riveting game of Rainbow, if I do say so myself.” Monocle sat off to the side, perusing a copy of the Foal Free Press with a grimace. “Looks like carrot cakes aren’t as popular this week. I’ll have to start bringing more chocolate to make up for the lack of trade.”

“Is that why I got so much carrot cake today?” Snips hoofed out a lunch box full of carrot cakes, and stared at them with a crestfallen gaze. “I traded all my sandwiches for carrot cake! The Press said it would be the next big thing!”

“Well, I suppose that teaches you not to take schoolyard economics seriously, especially when the writer of the schoolyard stocks section is a colt who couldn’t tell hay chips from hay fries.”

“That... is a crime unto itself.” Snips brought a hoof to his forehead in mock suspense as Apple Bloom tossed her last card onto the Rainbow stack with glee.

“Finally! I won!” The earth pony folded her hooves with smug superiority and took a look at her competitors. Snails and Snips were busy arguing over the shares of carrot cake they would eat after forfeiting from the game. Scootaloo refused to meet Apple Bloom’s eyes and held her head high in mock indignation, while Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes playfully.

“Cheerilee said we’d have the day off tomorrow, right? What do you girls want to do today?” Sweetie grabbed Apple Bloom’s winning card and grumbled. “A red four. I knew I should have put down a green.”

“Wait, we have the day off tomorrow? When did she say that?” Scootaloo gathered all the cards on the table into her hooves and deftly reorganized them into a deck, throwing a glance at Snips and Snails as they continued to bicker over the bag of cake.

“She said it during class today when you were sleeping, remember? Cheerilee has to catch up on some of the schoolwork that somepony turned in.”

“Oh right, Diamond Tiara.” Scootaloo snickered as she noticed the large stack of papers on Cheerilee’s desk. “Guess she’s using up all the late homework passes, huh?”

“All at once.” Sweetie sighed as she picked up an errant paper on the ground and laid it on the desk. “Looks like Miss Cheerilee’s swamped this week.”

“I dunno about tomorrow. Applejack’s gettin’ a new load of crates this week for organizin’ in the barn, so I wanna help her out.” Apple Bloom patted Sweetie and Scootaloo on the back, before bouncing out of the door. “And it starts in a few minutes! I’ll see y’all later!”

“Well that leaves two of us. What do you want to do, Scootaloo?” Sweetie frowned as Snails and Snips escalated their disagreements into a shouting match, a sentiment that even Monocle shared as he began to pack his own things up. “Ugh, take it outside, you two!”

“Or rather, perhaps we should speak outside, Sweetie. You and I.” Monocle motioned for Sweetie to follow him as he exited the schoolhouse, taking a seat at one of the table outside and relishing in the idyllic and calm outdoors.

Scootaloo buzzed past them on her scooter as they sat down. “See ya later, Sweets! Dash is going to practice soon, and I’m not going to miss out on her routines!”

“Well, that leaves... me. Alone on a day off. Again.” Sweetie lowered her head onto the table. This wasn’t the first time Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had run off on their own errands, but the loneliness was always there every time it happened. She disliked being left behind, but she also knew that she had an errand to finish on more than one occasion. Sulking about would do her no good.

Monocle cleared his throat, drawing Sweetie’s attention back to him. “Well, aside from the fact that you have a new mission, I believe I have some good news regarding your Zapping ability.”

“You’re not going to have me Zap more rocks, are you? The last one sort of blew up into a big magical dust cloud.”

Monocle laughed, a strange combination of high-class chuckling and guffawing. “Oh, no. Goodness, no. Wouldn’t you think it disappointing that your sole occupation in our organization is to Zap rocks? I suppose you could say you ‘blast’ rocks with your magic. Then perhaps ponies will think a little filly like you specializes in explosive demolition, despite the fact that you don’t have a cutie mark yet.”

“Oh. Right.” She turned to look glumly at her own blank flank.

“Anyways, we have a certain individual coming in to help you with magic. He usually works with the Royal Guard’s unicorns, but he’s made time to come down here to teach you.”

“Oh, really? Who is it?”

“He’s actually waiting for us at my home right now. Care to take a walk?”

“What kind of tea is this? It’s the only kind you ever drink.” Sweetie picked up her cup, steam rising over its top. As a filly, she preferred milkshakes to tea—really, any sugary beverage was preferable to boring, tasteless tea.

“To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what kind of tea it is, myself. Mother gave it to me one year, and I decided to just stick with it. ‘Don’t fix what ain’t broke,’ as the saying goes.” He took a long sip from his tea, before blowing air out of his mouth. “And I always drink it too early, as usual.”

“Hmm.” The taste of this particular tea didn’t bother her very much, so she decided to take dainty sips, making sure to minimize her slurping. Really wish this was a milkshake right now...

“Oh, the little missy is here!” Top Hat poked his head out from the office doorway, before turning back and nodding at someone inside. “Right.” Top Hat trotted out into the living room, and cleared his throat. “Sweetie Belle, I would like to introduce to you Equestria’s top trainer.”

A large, lumbering figure appeared in the doorway, twice as tall as a normal pony. As he walked into the light, Sweetie Belle could see that it wasn’t a pony—it was a minotaur, wearing a heavily stylized pair of sunglasses. He leaned on the doorway and snapped his fingers at Sweetie. “Yo.”

“You’re a minotaur. How are you going to help me with my magic?”

“Not about the magic, little lady.” He leapt over Top Hat and took the empty seat across from Sweetie, deftly pouring himself a cup of tea while throwing in a few sugar cubes. “It’s about control.”

“Control? But Twilight already taught me how to control my magic!”

“Nah, little lady. I’m not talking about control, I’m talking about control. Ya dig?” He held up his hands, miming a rectangle. “It’s like... like tea, ‘kay? You can learn how to control your tea drinking, but you can extend that control over things like how much you tilt your cup, so you can down the whole cup—” He raised his own cup high above his head and poured the tea into his mouth. “—or you can drink really slow-like. Not as fast, but you get a steady flow of tea.”

“Oh, I get it. It’s like that stuff I read in the schoolbooks! Is that really all you get paid to do?”

The minotaur let out a loud, hearty laugh that shook the walls of the Hat residence. “No way, little lady! You think I’d get paid for something any random schmuck off the street could tell you? What I get paid for isn’t telling you all these wise tales, little lady. It’s translating them into the real world, into practical things. I’m going to teach you how to focus your magical energy so you don’t have to use something like a dumb rock to reach your true power!”

“This sounds like something really exhausting.” Sweetie Belle was quite dubious of the minotaur’s enthusiasm. Monocle paid their conversation no heed as continued consuming his cookies; Top Hat had retreated into his office yet again, not too unlike a spider with a beret on his head, and a distaste for tacky house furniture.

“Nah. It’s not exhausting at all, little lady. It’s mostly meditative stuff, and things like that. That’s what focus is all about, and by the time today is over you’ll be in tip-top shape, or my name isn’t Battle Ready! Huh! Yeah!” He struck a few dramatic poses with his arm muscles, before jumping to the living room window. “Come on, Sweetie Belle! First test is right here! I want you to Zap the daylights out of this window, yeah!”

“That was pretty cool, little lady.” Battle Ready sat in the living room, which was now devoid of any furniture. The two sat on cushions in the center of the room to make way for Sweetie’s Zapping meditation. Four portraits leaned against the corners of the room, each of them a black-and-white rendition of famous paintings.

“Okay, little lady. Last test is right here. Remember what you learned the past few hours, and you’ll turn these things into true knock-offs in no time flat!”

“Right, right. Well, here goes.” Sweetie took a deep breath, clearing her mind and focusing on the painting in front of her. When in doubt, clear it out...

Being a filly, concentrating was a particularly hard task for Sweetie Belle to handle. Battle Ready spent much time getting her to sit still, which was vitally important when sneaking around trying to lay down the “hoo-hah-hee-hah-hoo” on unsuspecting enemies, as the minotaur had put it.

Visualize the target, and maintain your focus... A real warrior is always situationally aware, Battle Ready said. To assume the worst in battle would mean to expect an attack from any direction, and a good warrior knows how to dodge, at least. Advanced techniques like blocking didn’t apply to Sweetie, so it allowed him to concentrate on more important things.

Like the aforementioned dodging.

“Rocks ahoy!” Battle Ready hefted an armful of stones and flung them haphazardly at the filly. “Stay frosty, little lady! Sometimes ponies might decide to throw things randomly at you!”

“What?!” With her concentration split between focusing on dancing around and focusing her magic, the glow on her horn stuttered a bit and threw a few errant sparks around the room.

“Focus, little lady!” Battle Ready leveled his arm awkwardly and threw another rock, sending it straight into a window. “Oops. Uh, no one saw that, right?”

“Gah!” Sweetie dodged a rock that flew past her mane. “This is really getting crazy!”

“It ain’t crazy until the pies start flying, little lady! That’s when it gets real serious!” The glow from Sweetie’s horn was glaringly bright now, casting a light green glow around the room. “Almost there, missy! Just keep at it, and remember to Zap-zing-za-zow the daylights out of the paintings!”

“Here goes!” Sweetie recalled her lessons with Twilight, and how she focused her own magic. The Element of Magic was very erudite, and her experience with saving Equestria gave more than enough material on how to cast properly, safely, and efficiently. Twilight Sparkle had passed on these lessons to Sweetie Belle, and the filly emulated what she envisioned in her mind.

A beam of light shot out from her horn, smashing into the painting and splitting off to hit the other three paintings. This was beyond expectations! Granted, the beam splitting off was a bit unexpected, but she was happy with the result. Could the Zap possibly read her intent, and act accordingly? The utility of such an ability was quite convenient!

The paintings absorbed the magic like a sponge, until the room was again bathed in the colors of the afternoon sun. Sweetie Belle fell back onto her haunches and took a breather while Battle Ready picked up the nearest painting, examining it with a squint.

“Hmm... oh, yeah. Yeah. That’s awesome. Yeah.” He took off his shades with his left hand, and moved the painting away from him with his right. “Oh, yeah! That’s definitely how it looked, I think. Well, before I totally ruined it.”

“Ruined it?” Sweetie looked at the painting as Battle Ready placed it on the ground. “Are you saying that you actually ruined some art?”

“I was a loose cannon back in the day. Let’s just say if it wasn’t for that one thing, I wouldn’t be helping train the Equestrian guards. Either way, little lady, you are totally ready. As much as I’d like to help you a bit more, I’m afraid that’s some stuff a filly shouldn’t know.”

“Stuff like what?”

“Oh, you know...” He put his shades back on, and held up a hand. “The Zebrican-style hand chop... of death.”

“But zebras have hooves, not hands.”

“Aside from the point, little lady. What I’m getting at here is... you’re ready.” He brought out a strange, ornate magnifying glass and held it up to the painting. “Oh, yeah. That’s definitely permanent, yep. Now you got your staying power, and your stopping power! Huh! Yeah!” He dramatically struck a few poses as he put the glass away in a backpack.

“So this is it? I can finally Zap things permanently now, without using a dumb rock?”

“That’s right. And my job here is done. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a cadre of guards up in Trottingham that needs to shape up! Battle Ready, out!”

Sweetie could only watch on, partly out of amazement and partly out of horror, as he smashed through the already damaged window onto some sort of motorized bike. The engine whirred to life with magical energies, before propelling the vehicle down the road and over the horizon in less than a few seconds.

“We’ll be doing this operation at night, Sweetie Belle. Gummy will be supportin’ you again, as he has on the previous operations. Monocle and I, unfortunately, must remain in our homes in order to give the impression that we’re actually a family and totally not secret agents or anythin’ like that.” Top Hat slid a folder across the table into Sweetie’s hooves.

“So I’ll be able to spend my day off with Rarity?”

“That was the intent, yes. I understand that our previous outing may have given you the wrong impression, so this one should be relatively easy. The target is a house on the south side of Ponyville, near Quills and Sofas. Gummy will be using a zipline to get you and himself into the second story of the building. Beyond that, we don’t have any intelligence, so just keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”

“Okie dokie lokie, sir!” Her domino mask was slightly damaged after sailing out of the sky a few days ago, but Rarity had quickly patched it up.

Sweetie bounced out of the front door, finding Gummy waiting outside with a crossbow and a matte-black bag on his back. He also sported a black jumpsuit very similar to Pinkie Pie’s, complete with goggles, and awkwardly tugged on the straps hefting the load to his back.

“You know, Gummy, sometimes I wonder if you get your fashion sense from Pinkie Pie, or if she gets it from you.”

The alligator simply shrugged and trotted down the mostly empty streets of Ponyville as the sun dipped below the horizon. It was the perfect time to strike, since everypony was either eating or enjoying their evening, as evidenced by the multitude of homes they passed. Ponies within were settling down and unwinding after a busy day, with the exception of the foals.

A day off from school was not something a foal wasted away.

Within a few minutes, Gummy and Sweetie found themselves outside of Quills and Sofas, now dark and devoid of the sole employee who worked there. Inside was not where they needed to go, as Gummy continued moving along the silent streets towards another building a block down.

Sweetie waited in the bushes as Gummy hopped up to the front window of a seemingly random house, peeking inside with little care for his appearance. After staring inside for a few seconds, he leapt off his perch and dashed for an alley on the other side of the road, before climbing a tower of crates onto the roof next to the alley, perfectly situated to secure a zipline.

The filly also maintained operational silence—Top Hat had told her that sometimes it was better to just not talk—and watched as her partner pulled out his crossbow and aimed it for the window of their target home, before pulling it up a few degrees and landing a shot above the glass.

After making sure the rope was secure, Gummy pointed to Sweetie Belle, then the roof they stood on. Sweetie nodded hesitantly; reading Gummy’s visual cues was difficult at first, but they were very simple and generally easy to deduce, like holding a position.

Following some strange tussling with a slightly loose rope, Gummy inched his way across the line, and found a way to open the window without breaking it, allowing the duo to get inside the house to find its interior dimly lit. A candle here and there were their only companions, and the home was strangely silent despite the fact it resided in the more lively part of Ponyville.

“Shh. Do you hear that, Gummy?” Sweetie whispered.

The alligator stopped, hearing Sweetie’s inquiry, and waited for any nuance of noise to present itself in the silence. Sure enough, there was muted chatter coming through the floorboards, followed by a series of banging noises.

Reaching the bottom of the stairwell, the two could see the front door was blocked off with a dresser, an armoire, and a flowerpot. To the side, there were two closed doors, both of which had sounds coming from within. Gummy motioned Sweetie Belle to take the door on the left, while he took the one on the right.

“I’m telling you, this is dumb. You’re dumb.” Voices came through Sweetie’s door.

“I’m dumb? Who was the guy who said that the wallpaper was too garish for him?”

“I am. I’m not an idiot, but I didn’t expect you go and do this!”

“Uh, do we really have to fight?” a third voice chimed up.

“Fight? This is fighting? I’ve gotten into scuffles worse than this.”

“Scuffles are the worst you can handle. Remember last month at the bar?”

“Don’t remind me.” The original two resumed their feuding as a sigh escaped the third.

Sweetie heard a crash coming from the other door. Gummy had bashed the door off its hinges, sending a few wood splinters around the doorway and dashed inside. There was much yelling and evidence of a scuffle, so she turned back to the door and gave it a strong buck.

The door swung open to reveal three confused looking stallions, one of which was holding a strange wand in his mouth. The room had lost most of its color, and only a few ornaments maintained their coloring.

“Hold it right there!” Sweetie shouted at the three stallions, which only confused them even more.

“Is this that filly the others were talking about?” one muttered to the wand holder.

“I don’t care what they say, dude. I’m not going to hit a filly,” the third stallion replied.

“Well, I’m not going to hit a filly either!”

The wand holder spat out his instrument. “Look, we’re not going to hit a filly, okay?” He turned to Sweetie with a smile, and leaned down to look at her eye-to-eye. “Look, we’d really appreciate it if you could like, leave. Or something. Pretty, pretty please?”

“You’re using that wand to Grey-ify the whole room!”

“Well, yeah. On top of the fact that it looks pretty nice, the Grey will eventually dominate Equestria! Mwahahahaha!” A light bulb outside the window popped in response to his cheesy evilness.

“You monster!” Sweetie Belle started to charge her beam, until she was interrupted by a hoof the shoulder. She turned around and saw a stallion and two mares giving her a level expression. The sounds of fighting were still coming from the other room... was this house actually the headquarters?!

“Little filly, I don’t think you should be in here.”

“I know what I’m doing here!” She really, really hoped that Gummy would finish his fight and help her out... very soon.

“Look, there’s a door in the back, okay?” A chime sound rang out as the wand pony resumed his actions, hitting a rainbow pot with its magic.

Sweetie dashed between the stallion’s legs, hoping to edge her way to the other room, but one of the mares caught her. “Hey, let me go!”

“You really shouldn’t be here, filly.” Adult ponies had never looked so menacing to her in her life! Gummy was busy, and now she was going to get thrown out! Or worse, busted!

Just as the mare started down the hallway of the dim home, the window in the room smashed open. The sudden influx of air snuffed out the candles in the hallway, leaving the home in darkness. A figure flew into the room and threw a haymaker at the closest stallion’s face, sending him careening into a pile of boxes.

“Who the hay is this?!” The other two ponies in the room turned to face this new figure, unsure of their strength. The two others that came with the mare carrying Sweetie Belle joined the fight, throwing punches and attempting to buck the stranger, which ultimately proved futile as the newcomer was far more agile than any of them thought.

Sweetie’s vision was again filled with the darkened hallway as the mare tried to get away from the fight. The filly could see that the mare’s friends didn’t stand up very well to the stranger, who was obviously proficient in martial arts, and decided to flee instead. As they passed by Gummy’s room, Sweetie could see a stallion on the ground out cold, with one standing off to the side horrified out of his wits as his compatriot fought Gummy’s grip on his mane with an iron jaw.

Gummy was very good at fighting dirty, it seemed.

The mare reached the back door, Sweetie held by the cape in her mouth. The door swung open, and the chilly night’s air flowed past them, eliciting a shudder from them both. Sweetie struggled helplessly, as the mare made off with her through the backyard garden. Oh Celestia, she’d heard about something like this before. She was getting foalnapped!

“Let me go, you big dummy!” Sweetie swung her hooves around, hoping to land a hit hard enough to get released.

“Calm down, will you?!” the mare muttered through her teeth.

A loud swooshing sound echoed from the alley behind them, and an impact knocked the mare off her hooves. Sweetie Belle stood back up after tumbling a bit, and looked down the alley. Gummy stood at the backyard gate and gave her a thumbs up before heading back into the home, leaving Sweetie alone with the stranger, who was standing over the fleeing mare.

“I don’t know who you are, but you’re going to pay for this! You and the alligator!”

She was met with a swift punch from the stranger to the face, knocking her unconscious. Sweetie froze when the stranger turned to face her, and trotted out into the moonlight of the alley. The figured was covered from head to hoof in a stylized dark purple outfit, complete with mask over the face and signature hat, which Sweetie Belle recognized as...

“Y-you’re Mare Do Well.” She remembered what had happened a while back with Rainbow Dash’s showboating, but this was impossible! She knew that her sister had discarded all of costumes, so how could there be one here? Or perhaps... was Mare Do Well an actual pony all along, and it was entirely coincidental that Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her friends dressed up as her?

Was Mare Do Well actually part of the Chromatic Coalition? Gummy didn’t seem to mind her at all.

Mare Do Well patted Sweetie on the head, nudging the filly with her muzzle to move back to the house and join Gummy, who was again standing outside. He had a length of rope around his shoulder, as well as the bound and unconscious forms of the ponies in the house next to him.

Sweetie wordlessly obliged, and watched as Mare Do Well dashed out of the alley across the street, and leapt gracefully onto the rooftop of a nearby home, before vanishing into the night. Gummy clapped his claws together, as if to say “job well done,” before tapping Sweetie on the shoulder and pointing back inside the house.

She simply nodded and walked back into the grey room, brow furrowing in thought as she began charging her Zap. This job was getting weirder and weirder for her. Why was Mare Do Well here? Who was the pony underneath the mask?

And most importantly of all, how could she get awesome fighting moves like Mare Do Well?

A Mansion by Any Other Name...

“Darling, are you sure you weren’t... oh, goodness, what do you foals usually drink at Sugarcube Corner these days?”

“I’m telling you, Rarity! It was Mare Do Well!”

“Did Pinkie give you one of her new recipes? I’ll have to talk with her about this!” Rarity levitated an ornate sky blue scarf onto the mannequin, appraising it with a critical eye before taking it off. “No, this won’t do at all. Between my deadlines and what Pinkie Pie has been giving you, today may classify as one of the worst. Possible. Days!”

“Why didn’t you come along last time, Rarity? I was almost foalnapped!” Sweetie Belle hopped onto a spare cushion in Rarity’s inspiration room, careful not to trip over any loose cloth or spare threads.

“I have spent much time talking with Gummy, dear. Although our conversation didn’t exactly go as planned, I know that he has your safety in mind.”

“But Gummy doesn’t talk. How can you tell?”

“Let’s just say I have ways of making sure, darling.” Sweetie noticed a devious glint in Rarity’s eyes, and decided it was best to not pursue that choice of conversation.

“Well, if you say so. Are you going to finish the dresses soon? Will we have time to spend together?”

“Sweetie, I am absolutely swamped today trying to finish my orders. However, the reason why I am doing this is because I have arranged a spot in my schedule to spend with you. Currently, it’s sitting at two days, but I may be able to add another day or two if I can finish quickly enough.”

“Really, Rarity? That’s awesome!”

“Awesome, darling? Has little Scootaloo been rubbing off on you?” Rarity smirked at her little sister, and turned back to her levitating fabrics.

Sweetie Belle narrowed her eyes as she approached her sister. “You’ve been acting a bit strange recently, Rarity.”

“Hmm? Strange how?”

“Well, you seem like you’re more sisterly, or something.” Sweetie idly started to roll around a ball of yarn.

“Sisterly? Whatever does that mean?” Rarity was a bit confused, but continued on anyways. “I did promise you this month that I would put aside time for you, after all.”

“Yeah, but... ugh, whatever.” She tossed the yarn ball into the string receptacle next to Rarity’s desk, and frowned in annoyance. “I know I saw Mare Do Well, Rarity. It was, for sure, one hundred percent Mare Do Well! I read the newspaper when she first showed up, and I know what she looks like.”

“Sweetie, I made the costume myself. I know for certain that I took them apart. There is no sense in wasting perfectly good fabric.” Sweetie almost cried out in irritation, but Rarity did have a point. Some cloths were fairly expensive, if the prices at the market were any indication.

“Then maybe next time I’ll take a picture! Then you can see for yourself!”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea, Sweetie. And—wait. Did you say something about getting foalnapped, earlier?” Rarity’s expression turned severe, and she walked straight up to Sweetie. “I did have Gummy give me his word, in so far as he can speak, but that is far too dangerous for a filly like you.”

“I think I kind of agree with you. This sounds like something an adult should do.”

“Indeed. I’ll speak to Top Hat as soon as possible, dear. Goodness knows what else may happen, without a real pony. Or perhaps I should make him go with you! I know where he lives, and if he moves, I’ll just simply ask Twilight to send a letter to the princesses.” Rarity rubbed a hoof against her chest and extended it, looking at it nonchalantly. “And no matter where he goes, I will know. I will trail him, I will close the distance, and I will... hmm, end him.”

“You’re taking this a bit personally, Rarity.”

Rarity laughed, and patted Sweetie on the head. “You’re my sister. That’s about as personal as it can get, darling.”

“Sisters, yay!” Sweetie rolled around on the cushion for a silent minute before Rarity hesitantly spoke up.

“So, this... Mare Do Well... what do you know of her so far?”

“Well, she was pretty cool. She came in and sort of kicked everypony’s butt, then just ran away. Superhero-like stuff.”

“Hmm, whoever it is clearly has experience with martial arts...” Rarity tapped her hooves together in contemplation. “I suppose I shall have to discuss this with Top Hat... and Gummy, in particular. You said he was there when Mare Do Well showed up? He saw her, as well?”

“Yep! I think Mare Do Well’s working with Gummy. They didn’t even look at each other the whole time, like in an action hero movie!” Scootaloo had access to seemingly endless amounts of comic books, Rarity realized. It didn’t particularly help that Twilight had quite a few of them sitting in the library, either.

“Hmm... that is quite peculiar. I shall ask around later today, but right now, I must finish my work! Time is of the essence, and the sooner I can finish these orders, the sooner I can get back to keeping an eye on you, Sweetie.”

“But I have all of today off, Rarity! What am I going to do?”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find something.” Rarity brought a scarf up to eye level with a hoof, comparing it to the fabrics already on her model. “I feel absolutely terrible about leaving you all by yourself, especially with this Mare Do Well running around, but priorities must be kept!”

Sweetie Belle fidgeted at a table outside a cafe Rarity frequented. Since Rarity was one of the regular customers, that meant Sweetie Belle had—on more than one occasion—dined there as well, so all the staff were familiar with her. She pushed around a few bits sitting on the table, bits that she had earned from her “occupation.” A few servings of hay fries and ketchup would be today’s snack.

“Here you go, Sweetie.” The stallion waiter dropped a plate with a tall stack of hay fries onto her table, with a bottle of ketchup. “Sure you don’t need a drink with that?”

“That sounds like a good idea, actually.” She tossed over a few more bits into the stallion’s outstretched hoof, and he pocketed them in his apron.

“The usual?”

“Yep. Iced tea, easy on the sugar.” Sweetie didn’t like sweet drinks to go with a meal, since it both made her hyper, and killed some of the taste in her food. She suspected that Rarity may have played a role in that, but Fluttershy also contributed when she slept over at her cottage.

“I’ll be back in a flash!” The waiter walked back into the cafe, leaving Sweetie alone with the noise of a busy, noon-time Ponyville.

She reached a hoof out for the ketchup bottle, but stopped. Perhaps her new magical ability extended to actual magic? She focused on the bottle and channeled her energy like she would with the Zap, holding her breath and focusing. If she could just lift it up, no matter the distance, it would prove that she was getting better.

The waiter came back to find Sweetie Belle red-faced and grimacing, as she stared at the ketchup bottle with a gaze that would melt ice. He stood there for a minute, balancing the tray on his back, before speaking up.

“Uh... are you okay?”

“Guh!” Sweetie Belle took a gasp of air and huffed. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just fine.”

“Pardon me for asking, but were you trying to will that ketchup into nonexistence?” The waiter took the bottle with a hoof and examined it up close.

“No, I wasn’t. Sorry, mister, I was just trying to levitate it.”

“That’s no problem, Sweetie Belle.” He ruffled her mane with a hoof, causing her to laugh. “Every unicorn’s went through that phase, although since I’m an earth pony that’s kind of strange... but, uh, my mom’s a unicorn, and that’s what she told me.”

“Well, I guess that’s true. I’m working on it, but it seems to be coming along a lot slower than I thought.”

“Can’t rush these things, little filly. You’ll figure it out eventually!” He took out a small bag of candies and placed them on the table. “Oh, here’s a little something for you, courtesy of the staff. We miss you and your sister eating here weekly, you know. We can tell when she has a bunch of orders in the Boutique when she’s absent on the usual day.”

“I’m not sure how Rarity would take that. I mean, a pony telling her to come out and eat more?” She snickered.

He chuckled with her. “Well, I should get back to work. And you should eat your hay fries before they get cold.” Before the waiter dashed back to the kitchen, he snatched a few fries off of the stack and threw them into his mouth.

“Hey!” Sweetie bumped a hoof on his shoulder playfully.

“I’ll just take that as a tip!” The stallion walked back inside the bustling cafe, packed with foals on this fine day. It was a good opportunity to see who was in what group, and Sweetie predictably saw Rumble and his cohorts sitting at the corner table outside, bickering about comic books.

“Awesome, hay fries!”

Sweetie turned back around to see Scootaloo sitting down on the opposite side of the table, squeezing a bunch of ketchup onto the plate before swabbing a few hay fries in the condiment and dropping it into her mouth.

“You know, I totally forgot you earn bits now. Imagine all the stuff we could buy! We could buy, like... Wonderbolts stuff! Or maybe we could buy some tickets to Wonderbolts shows, so we can go see them with Rainbow Dash, or maybe we could—”

“Scoots, do you even know how much a Wonderbolts ticket costs? I’m earning bits now, yeah, but there’s no way I’m going to get one this soon! Not to mention mom got wind about all of this and opened up a bank account for me, so most of the bits I probably shouldn’t use.”

“Yeah? And why not?”

“The account is under my name, but mom is still my guardian. If I withdraw any bits, she’ll notice right away thanks to that fancy new magical report system.”

“Then how’d you get the bits to pay for the hay fries?” Scootaloo munched on a few more, after hosing the plate down with more ketchup.

“I asked mom for them before I left. You ever notice that bits kind of smell funny?”

“Uh, yeah? Kinda. So, I heard from Monocle that you went on another totally secret mission last night. How’d it go?” The pegasus filly popped a few more fries into her mouth, eager to enjoy the free snack.

“It was horrifying. There were other ponies there, and they were about to throw me out of the house, and Gummy was busy, and I totally thought I was going to get foalnapped—”

“Sounds like you had a pretty crazy night, Sw—”

“And then Mare Do Well showed up!”

Scootaloo stopped chewing and stared at Sweetie Belle for a few seconds before swallowing her food and laughing. “What? Mare Do Well was just some stunt thing going on in Ponyville a few days ago. Rainbow Dash told me that it was some promo for a comic series or something.”

Sweetie said nothing, barely suppressing a laugh. Obviously, poor Scootaloo was woefully misinformed... on purpose, it seemed.

“What? That’s totally what it was, right?”

“Uh... well... what actually happened was that my sister and her friends did it as a prank on Rainbow to, um... ‘knock her down a notch’, I think Rarity said. I’m not sure if it was the best thing to do, but they went and did it using Mare Do Well costumes, which Rarity made.”

“What?! It was a lie?!”

“Well, that’s what it is. Anyways, these fries are mine, and I paid for them, so I’m going to enjoy them.” Sweetie picked up a fry covered in ketchup and popped it in her mouth, and grimaced. “Yuck! The fries are all floppy because you put too much ketchup on them!”

“So, you ran into Mare Do Well. What about it?” Scootaloo asked, pointedly ignoring Sweetie Belle’s protestation.

“Mare Do Well was supposed to be something my sister and her friends came up with, so why is she showing up now?” Sweetie circled the ketchup with a fry, running through the possibilities in her head. “Could it be Mare Do Well is real? I think the chances of that are really slim, which leads me to believe that Mare Do Well is probably just a cover for somepony who works for the Coalition... or somepony who knows what I’m doing.”

“But everypony knows what you’re doing,” Scootaloo bluntly pointed out.

“Exactly! But it’s an adult who’s doing it, so that limits my options. When I get my next mission, I’m going to bring a camera!”

“Okay, snap some photos of her. Good luck with that.”

“But the most important part, Scoots, is one big thing...”

“Yeah...?” The pegasus filly leaned closer to emphasize her interest.

“I need to figure out if she has wings, or a horn. The costume hides them both with the hat and the cape, so I just gotta see if she has either of those and we can narrow down our mystery mare!”

“That actually sounds pretty exciting!” Scootaloo took a peek around the crowded cafe to make sure no one was looking, then whispered to Sweetie. “Can you tell me first, when you figure out who it is?”

“Oh, sure thing, Scootaloo! You’ll be the first pony to get all the nice, juicy, positively scrumptious details, on a silver platter.” Sweetie Belle folded her hooves with finality, and nodded.

Scootaloo’s brain sputtered for a few seconds before she caught on. “You know, I really hate it when you use sarcasm like that.”

The rest of the week, surprisingly enough, went by without a hitch. Sweetie Belle visited Top Hat every day, hoping for an assignment to complete. Her only way of luring out the mysterious Mare Do Well was to head out with Gummy, who was permanently assigned as her operations handler. The alligator was apparently capable of paperwork, as there were always papers on Top Hat’s desk from Gummy.

Any attempts at gathering information always led to a dead end. Either Mare Do Well was so firmly entrenched in the Coalition that plausible deniability was at an all-time high, or Mare Do Well actually was an outsider who happened to be in the vicinity. Sweetie Belle had a hunch that what happened on the last assignment was far too lucky to be mere happenstance, and resolved to get to the bottom of this once and for all and learn her true identity.

Or to see if she could thank her, at least.

It was the next weekend, and Sweetie Belle had planned ahead. She had finished all of her homework in advance after asking Cheerilee for future assignments, which left her schedule clear for anything that may come up, should the need arise.

Ponyville was a very basic town, which meant that finding a camera would be rather difficult. Fortunately for Sweetie Belle, the Foal Free Press had a camera to use, but it was kept inside the office where the newspaper was stationed.

“Hello? Anypony here?” She pushed the door open, the creaking sound resonating through the office. A few foals stood off to the side, chatting amongst themselves while sharing a file of papers and pictures, while the rest were busy typing away on the strange, two-key typewriters situated in the middle of the press room.

“Oh, Sweetie Belle! What are you doing back here? Ooh, are you going to start up the Gabby Gums column again?” Featherweight’s head poked out of a pile of scrolls, situated on the editor-in-chief’s desk. He grabbed the scroll sitting on his head, and unraveled it with a smirk. “I told you, Truffle! Next batch of paper comes in tomorrow!”

“Hey, Featherweight. I was actually here to ask if you had a spare camera I can use...”

“A camera, huh? Hey, Shady!” Featherweight shouted at a door towards the back of the room which swung open, revealing a small pale blue colt with a camera around his neck.

“Ya rang?” He trotted over to the desk, shifting the camera hung around his neck.

“Sweetie Belle here wants to know if you got a spare camera to use. I have to get back to looking through these scrolls, Miss Cheerilee wants to know how much more ink we need. It’s the most expensive liquid known to ponykind!”

A few scrolls tumbled off the table as Featherweight dived in again, leaving Sweetie Belle with the colt. He raised a brow as he noticed Sweetie’s silence, before smiling and beckoning her towards the darkroom.

“Ah, I remember you. You were that filly that ran the Gabby Gums column, along with your friends. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, right?”

“Yep, that’s us. The column wasn’t our greatest idea.”

“We all make mistakes, Sweetie Belle.” He brushed a layer of dust off a cardboard box in the back of the room, and opened it gently with his hooves. Shady lifted a camera up to eye level, and shook it twice. “Hmm, no loose parts. I guess that means it’s still in good shape!”

Sweetie Belle held out her hooves as Shady Daze dropped the camera into her hold, as well as a roll of film. “Wow, I didn’t think you’d have a spare! Thanks a lot!”

“Well, it’s yours if you’ll tell me what it’s for.” Shady leaned against a cabinet, trying to look nonchalant. “It’s not everyday a pony walks in here wanting to borrow a camera.”

Sweetie Belle couldn’t see any harm in telling the colt, and shrugged. What harm could there be in telling another pony?

“Well, you didn’t hear it from me, but...” She leaned in and whispered. “Mare Do Well’s back in town!”

“Pfft, what? Mare Do Well? My dad’s part of the Ponyville Gazette, and he told me that Mare Do Well was nothing but a hoax!”

“Well, that may be the case, but she showed up again! And since my sister doesn’t believe me, I’ll just have to prove her wrong by getting pictures.” She rotated the camera in her grip, taking in its design. “A bit different than what I’m used to...”

“Well, good luck with that. Just remember that I want the camera back later, in the same condition!” He trotted out of the darkroom, looking back at Sweetie as he went. “Just don’t let Scootaloo get her hooves on the camera. Cameras aren’t meant to go fast.”

The “smoke” in Top Hat’s office rose above the idle ceiling fan, giving the room an air of Manehatten detective noir. However, since Top Hat was very averse to the idea of smoke inside a building, they’d had to settle for a kettle boiling in the corner of the room, which made a quiet whistling noise as Sweetie Belle slowly hoofed her way through the folder of papers on the desk.

“So... the next target is... Diamond Tiara’s house.” She brought up a picture of a fairly luxurious estate, which she didn’t recognize. Filthy Rich’s estate was situated a distance from the side of town opposite the Everfree, probably for safety reasons.

“Mansion,” Top Hat corrected. “Those hoity-toity rich ponies like to use that term, or ‘estate’. And don’t even get me started on the real Hoity Toity!” The stallion coughed several times, causing his chair to rock back and forth before he finished with a sigh. “Sorry. Have to lose the accent for a day or two since I have to go back up to HQ to... file a report. Heh.”

“Okay, some big dumb dollhouse-looking thing, then.” Her eyes flickered between the incredulously long descriptions of the floor plan and the pictures of all the staff in the Rich estate. “Mister Rich sure likes having a lot of ponies at his house...”

“And that’s the problem!” Top Hat took a sip of tea from his cup, and placed it daintily back onto its saucer. “One of those ponies is connected to those crazy kooks spreading around the Grey, and we don’t know which one!” He ruffled his mane as he took a bunch of pictures in his hooves and eyed them all closely. “It could be this one, or this one... maybe this one! And this one looks perfectly fine, but it could also be her! Or him! Or him!”

“Mister Hat, that one’s Filthy Rich.” The legitimacy of the Chromatic Coalition was called into question far too many times to suit Sweetie Belle, but Princess Celestia had given Top Hat’s presence in Ponyville the green light... which meant that he was, in all honesty, serious about his mission.

“Is it? Hmm.” He reclined in his chair as he studied Filthy Rich’s picture. “Yeah, I remember now. He was in the town hall the day I finalized all the paperwork for this house.”

“So do we actually have a plan this time, or are there going to be a bunch of ponies waiting for us... again?”

“Actually, due to the, um... obstacles from the last mission, HQ up in Canterlot has dispatched an additional agent to help us. She’s recently returned from Neighpon, and with her help, you should sail through this mission real smooth-like.”

“Okay... so where is she, then?” Sweetie Belle looked around the room expectantly. Perhaps she would pop up from the floorboards, or fall from the ceiling?

“She’s settling back into Ponyville, so she won’t be visiting us quite yet. Also, we’re changing how things work this time around. We’ll fit the mission in the first free day you have, since Princess Celestia has made it painfully obvious to us that a filly like you shouldn’t be missing out on your education.”

“To be honest, I think I’d rather have a week off to relax. It’s been a really busy week for me.” Sweetie could imagine Rarity standing behind her, nodding fervently in agreement. Celestia knows that she, of all ponies, needed a break—both from the crazy shenanigans, and from Top Hat’s eccentricity.

“If I had a bit every time I threw that at the boss, hehe.” Top Hat cleared his throat, and took a long drink from his cup of tea, finishing it with a smack of his lips. “Now, I’m sure you want to enjoy your day, so shoo. Leave this paperwork to me.”

Sweetie Belle left the office just as a knock resonated through the house, which was followed by the sound of the front door opening. A mulberry mare with a purple-blue mane poked her head inside, looking around for a moment before locking eyes with the filly.

“Hello! Is there a ‘Top Hat’ in here?” The mare squinted at Sweetie, and realization dawned on her face. “Oh, you’re Rarity’s little sister! What are you doing in here?”

“Miss Swirl?” Sweetie recognized the mare by her colors. She was one of Rarity’s regulars, and dropped by often to chat with the fashionista. “Well, if you’re looking for Mister Hat, he’s in his office at the end of the hall.”

“Well, if you don’t mind, I’ll probably just be a minute. There’s a few things I want to talk to you about!” With that, Sea Swirl dashed down the hallway and entered the office, leaving Sweetie Belle alone outside the house. She rubbed her forehead with her hoof and sighed with exasperation.

She promised herself that she wouldn’t try to understand this weird, bizarre world of ponies, and so far it was working out fairly well.

“So you’re the agent Mister Hat was talking about?” Sweetie Belle sat at one of Rarity’s worktables in foyer of Carousel Boutique, with Sea Swirl across the table from her. Rarity had gone off to the kitchen to make some tea, leaving the two alone.

“Sure am! I’m surprised you were the little filly I’m working with. I thought it was some sort of joke at first, but I guess he was right.” Swirl smiled, and levitated a stack of papers onto the table. Attending one of the many parties that Fancy Pants hosted was part of her job, and reading documents on other agents was something she did often in her downtime. “Let’s see... ‘Sweetie Belle: a filly from Ponyville. Shows great promise, and is very intelligent for a filly her age’. Any of this ring a bell to you?”

“Well, Miss Cheerilee says that I’m the smartest filly in the class. Sometimes.” Apple Bloom was quickly catching up to her when it came to quizzes and homework. Not that there was anything wrong with that, of course.

“Sometimes, hmm?” Rarity placed a tray of teacups on the table and sat next to Sweetie, giving her a playful nudge with a hoof. “On the contrary, dear. You’ve been at the top of the class since you first started attending! Why, I remember the very first quiz you brought home to our parents!”

“Ahahaha, Rarity, we have a guest here, you know,” Sweetie muttered through her teeth. She cringed inwardly as she recalled the last family gathering during Hearth’s Warming Eve, and it had started off quite like this.

“Ah, yes. I apologize.” Rarity swirled around the tea in her cup, looking at it in contemplation. “It’s been quite a while, Sea Swirl.”

“Indeed it has, Rarity.” Sea Swirl took her own cup in her hooves, staring at Rarity for a few silent seconds before the two burst out in laughter.

“Did you hear about Prince Blueblood’s slip-up last week?” Sea Swirl asked between bouts of giggling.

“Oh, yes, I certainly have! It was quite literal, if I do recall.”

Sweetie Belle groaned and backed away from the table as the two began chatting in earnest. Rarity had apparently met Sea Swirl when she had gone to Canterlot a few months back, which just so happened to be on Twilight’s birthday. Many of the specifics had been left out when Rarity recounted the story, but she didn’t mention meeting any new ponies.

Well, now was as good a time as any to familiarize herself with the mission plan. She flipped the “instruction” packet to the second page, and began reading down the flowing, cursive text that lined the paper.

Phase One: Entry. Agents will use the rear chimney to access the second-story guest bedroom, and proceed towards the entrance to gain access to the basement...

Sneaksies

“Woooooow. I had no idea Diamond Tiara lived in such a huge house!” Sweetie bounced in place as she gazed at the decorated walls, surrounded by an expensive, but not intimidating fence around the exterior gardens. It was like something out of a book, except it was here, standing in front of her. She had no idea that such a place was near Ponyville!

“Mansion,” Top Hat corrected. He pulled out a pair of binoculars and grunted in annoyance as Sweetie Belle bumped into his front legs. “Anyways, I’m sure you’ve heard the plan already, right?”

“Yep! We’re going to sneak in through the roof, right?” Sweetie Belle’s green eyes peered at Top Hat through her domino mask, full of innocence and hyperactivity, thanks to the two milkshakes she ingested not even an hour before.

“Yes, yes. That’s exactly what we’re going to do.” Sea Swirl hopped down from a tree branch above them, shrouded in black cloth all over her form, leaving only her eyes exposed. “And by that, Zapfilly, I mean we’re going through the chimney.”

“The chimney? We’re like Santa Colt then, during Hearth’s Warming Eve! Except it’s in the middle of spring, and there’s three of us going down the chimney, and the only gifts we have is a can of butt-whoop!”

“Alright, enough dallying around.” Top Hat put on a fake mustache, and pulled out a gardener’s uniform from a sack. “I’ll be going in through the front door. You still have the stone I gave you?”

“The talky stone? It’s right here.” Sweetie tapped the stone attached to a necklace around her neck.

“If I ever say ‘It would appear the trees require a trimming’, then it means I’m compromised. Understood?”

“Boss, I don’t think you’re going to get compromised.” Sea Swirl pointed a hoof at the mansion. “Do you realize how far we are? We could probably start shouting and no pony will notice.”

“You need to cover all the bases, Swirl! That’s how the big agents get taken down!” Top Hat put on a pair of cheap sunglasses, and rummaged through his saddlebag. “Well, none of us have been taken down yet, but you’ve seen those secret agent movies! We’re taking no chances.”

“Well... you’re the boss.” Sea Swirl pulled out a map of the mansion, secured with quick hooves when she met Mayor Mare the day before. It had taken her several hours to put together a plan, but she was often sidetracked with helping Rarity move around bundles of cloth for what appeared to be her largest project yet. Seriously, what was she trying to make out of all that cloth, for a single project?

She unrolled the map and waved a hoof over at Gummy and Sweetie Belle, motioning for them to come closer. Top Hat was grunting loudly as he tried to squeeze into the gardener’s uniform, and she pointedly ignored the stallion as she looked down at the map. The layout was very simple by Canterlotian standards, as the Rich estate was built decades ago, several years after the founding of Ponyville.

“Okay, so we’re going in through the chimney of one of the guest bedrooms,” Sea Swirl said as she pointed a hoof at the rearmost room on the left side, highlighted in red. “The design’s really simple since, you know, the estate is really old. However, there’s a basement in there, which means it’s probably the best bet for whatever those bad guys are hiding.”

Sweetie quickly raised a hoof into the air, and waved it around like an anxious schoolfilly. Sea Swirl smirked, and looked towards Gummy, who was blankly staring at the air in front of him. “Gummy, what do you think?” she said, hoping he was paying attention.

As Sweetie Belle continued to wave her hoof fervently, Gummy moved forward and poked a claw at the guest bedroom, and snaked around the various hallways on the map before tapping the kitchen. Sea Swirl raised a brow as she followed the path on the map, and looked back up to Gummy. Did he know something she didn’t? What was so special about the kitchen?

“Ooh, Miss Swirl! Miss Swirl!” Sweetie held up her already poised hoof with her other one, tired from waving it around so much. Sea Swirl smiled and nodded, giving the filly a chance to ask whatever question popped into her head. “What are we going to do if we run into bad guys? Is Gummy going to use his super awesome martial arts again?”

“Well, actually, we have a few new things to try out, courtesy of a few eggheads and a lot of hoofwork!” Sea Swirl pulled Gummy over to her and rummaged around on the large sack on his back, and pulled out various garishly colored spheres, and placed them on the ground with a dull thud. “Here we are! Glitter bombs, sure to distract and annoy anypony who gets any funny ideas.”

Sweetie picked one up and eyed it suspiciously. The patterns on the orbs reminded her of Scootaloo’s many failed attempts with painting, which did little to assuage her suspicions that these were nothing more than vibrantly colored rocks. She turned it around in her hooves, looking for the priming mechanism, and poked it for several seconds before she noticed Sea Swirl’s equally suspicious smile.

“Hey. Are we supposed to throw these really hard at the ground or something? I don’t see any button to make it go boom,” Sweetie said.

“Well, that’s because you have to use magic to get it to detonate. It’s specifically attuned to my magical signature so nopony else can use it against us,” Sea Swirl replied, taking back the glitter bomb and stuffing it into her a pouch on her tactical vest. “These things aren’t so strong that they’ll throw you into a wall, but it’ll definitely leave you dazed. So in such a case where I have to use them, please don’t run in front of me,” she finished with a wink.

“Okay! I’ll make myself useful!” Sweetie scrutinized the map and the path they were supposed to take, marked in yellow. It went for the roundabout approach as it avoided the foyer, where most of the servants would be. A sensible decision, but the kitchen was adjacent to the foyer! She looked over at Gummy, who was “animatedly” having a conversation with Sea Swirl, and pondered the significance of the kitchen. A secret door was too cliche, wasn’t it?

“Miss Swirl, it’s too dark in here! Don’t you have a flashlight or something?” Sweetie whispered.

Somewhere along the line of many Chromatic Coalition agents, a standard was enforced to switch from bright lights to sneaky night vision goggles. The device was firmly secured on to Sea Swirl’s face, and she quietly moved down the rope upside down, so as to peek her head out of the fireplace at the end of the vertical tunnel.

“Shh!” Sea Swirl turned her head downward to look at Sweetie Belle above her. “We don’t know if anypony’s in the room, so keep it down!”

Adjusting her goggles, she continued to ease herself down the rope until the edge of the fireplace came into view. She pulled herself down just enough to get a peek into the guest bedroom. It was dark enough to hide her form in the shadows, but there was a stretch of moonlight from the parted velvet curtains to her right, which stretched across the marble flooring all the way to the large wooden doors. Luckily, there was no one in the room, and Sea Swirl let out a sigh of relief.

“Okay. Coast is clear!” She flipped herself right side up and touched down on the floor, tapping a hoof several times to make sure her rubberized horseshoes were up to par. Sweetie Belle landed next to her with a dull thud, and Gummy climbed around the lip of the fireplace with his suction cups, making small popping noises as he went.

“Wow, look at this place! Everything looks really expensive!” The portrait on the wall above the fireplace glowered down at her with piercing eyes, and it gave her the feeling of being watched. It was right on top of the fireplace, however, so she knew she was safe from the ponies who spied from the painting’s eyeholes! Just like in the movies.

A slight shuttering sound startled Sweetie Belle, and she jumped around to see Sea Swirl closing the open curtains with magic, peeking out of the window to make sure no one was watching. The mission had barely started, and yet she was already shaking in her proverbial boots! She looked up at Gummy, hanging off of the ceiling, and resolved to act like him: stone-faced against everything, even Pinkie Pie’s antics, or Diamond Tiara’s teasing, or Twilight Sparkle’s many explosive experiments. It was a very important aspect to living in Ponyville, after all.

“Okay, Gummy! Time to go silent!” Sea Swirl lowered her goggles in front of her eyes, and pressed the red button on the side, waiting as her eyes adjusted to the grainy quality of her visual feed. She could see Sweetie Belle’s outline next to the fireplace, as well as a blue indicator pointing upwards to show Gummy’s position. Everything was working according to plan so far, but the hardest part was just about to start.

The alligator peeled himself off of the ceiling and gracefully landed on the floor without a sound. He stuffed his suction cups away and brought out a black beanie, placing it on his tiny head. Sweetie fought back the urge to laugh at him. There was a unique sense of humor in seeing an alligator bundled in a black wool beanie, and if Gummy was aware of it, he paid it no heed.

“Ooh, that looks really bad.” Sea Swirl peeked through the slim opening of the guest bedroom door,and bit her lower lip. The hallways were illuminated with chandeliers, and every item in sight was devoid of color. The walls, paintings, and even the assorted trinkets laid out on tables for show were all in various shades of grey. If the Grey was this pervasive, there was no telling what happened to the Rich family!

“Whooooooa. That’s so creepy,” Sea Swirl heard Sweetie whisper from her left. “And it’s so quiet, too. Makes it super-duper creepy.”

“Yeah, and we’re not even at the kitchen yet. Gummy seems to think there’s something important in there, so we’re following his lead.” The mare poked her head slowly out of the doorway, and seeing that there was no one around, slipped out of the door and closed it after Gummy and Sweetie had slinked behind one of the statues further down the hall.

As Sea Swirl neared the corner that turned into the atrium, she held up a hoof to signal her compatriots to stop. Voices resonated from below, and she inched her head out just enough to see two maids and a stocky stallion chatting. The stocky stallion, she realized, was actually Top Hat, and his disguise was actually decent. She turned her ears towards the ponies below and tried to listen in.

“What’s with the decor? Some sort of new Canterlot craze?” Top Hat said with a low, guttural tone. He aimed to appear as a dimwit gardener, and made sure he looked as unkempt as possible. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand what goes on with this art.”

“Actually, we’re partly responsible for the decor. It’s our crowning achievement, so to speak!” one of the maids piped up.

“Eh? What do you mean? Did you paint all this or something?” Top Hat waved a hoof around at the black-and-white decorations, and whistled in feigned awe. “That’s a loooooot of paint, I’ll give ya that.”

“It’s not paint,” the other maid replied. “It’s a very special magic that the head maid used after she convinced Mr. Rich to follow the style of Canterlot. It’s all the rage with nobility, I hear.”

“Fah! I don’t even know why I’m talking about this. I should be outside.” Top Hat turned towards the great front doors, and was able to place his hoof on the knob when the first maid called out to him.

“Why are you going outside? It’s in the middle of the evening!”

“Eh? I thought I was getting paid by the hour?” Sea Swirl wrinkled her nose as she let out a quiet scoff. Top Hat was notorious for being a klutz, but there was a reason he climbed up the Coalition ladder so quickly. There were many rumors that he used to be a con stallion who quickly turned over a new leaf for his son, but whether or not those were true were superfluous.

Top Hat idly scratched his chest as he awaited a reply from the two maid ponies, and coughed into a dirt-covered hoof. If need be, he would go out and actually begin gardening, but he would rather scope out the place by “looking for a bathroom”. Unlike Sea Swirl, he had absolutely no fancy devices to defend himself with, and his wit was the only thing left.

“Ugh, fine. Go find the head maid or something, and stop wasting our time.” The two maids walked into a doorway under the stairs, and Sea Swirl could see Top Hat visibly relax. He swung his head around quickly, scanning the area for any ponies before sneaking his way up the stairs and turning for the corner to his left, until Sea Swirl leaned her head out.

“I thought you said you were going incognito!” Sea Swirl angrily whispered.

“I am incognito. I’m so incognito that I got in by only saying a few lines. That’s a new record, by the way. New spy academy record.” He wrinkled his nose to ease the itch on his fake mustache, and looked back at the atrium. “No sign of the Riches yet. I’m starting to think they’ve either retired to their bedrooms, or they’re probably in the basement.”

“Fine. You lead the way, and we’ll trail at a distance. Gummy, keep an eye for anypony behind us. And Zapfilly...” Sea Swirl put a hoof on the filly’s mouth. “No loud noises. I know how you foals can get, and I’d really rather not have to use the glitter bombs.”

Sweetie mimed the movements to the Pinkie Promise and drew a hoof over her lips without saying a single word. If anything, Sweetie was an honest filly, and Swirl nodded in affirmation as she turned back to Top Hat, only to find him already halfway down the stairs, to the first floor of the mansion. With the top floor completely devoid of servants, it was very likely the bottom floor was going to be a bit more crowded.

The Riches seemed to invest heavily in the arts, as there were many statues of ponies to hide behind. Sea Swirl recognized some of them as smaller versions of the sculptures in Canterlot, but there were a few that didn’t stand out in her mind. They were probably commissioned by Filthy Rich himself, much like the paintings that lay before them, drained of all color.

“I guess there’s a reason those Classical era painters liked color. These portraits look ugly without any vibrance.” Sea Swirl narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the painting at the top of the stack. “Looks like it’s fairly recent, too. I can still detect magical essences flowing off the paint.”

Gummy flicked out a butter knife and scraped off bits of the hardened paint on the surface, depositing them into a glowing vial as he worked. Knowing was half the battle, and continued research into the magical powers that caused the Grey would help future efforts to build bigger and better glitter bombs and the other crazy contraptions that the Coalition used.

“Where is everypony? Other than the two maids at the front, the whole place is empty.” Sea Swirl pulled down her mask to expose her face, and prodded Top Hat gently. “You think it might be a trap?”

“It might be, yeah. But this is our only lead, and there’s obviously something goin’ down.” He cleared his throat with a cough, and sniffed. “Going down. Yeah. Between you and me, Swirl, I don’t think my disguise is going to get us down into the evil fortress-basement, which, might I add, we still don’t know how to break into.”

Sweetie Belle hopped onto one of the sparkling clean counters in the kitchen where they stood, also completely devoid of any ponies. It had been over half an hour since they had snuck in, and the maids she saw earlier had basically disappeared, leaving them as the only ponies on the first floor. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to check the second floor. Diamond Tiara might still be in her room, and even wearing her own little costume Sweetie wasn’t sure if she had the fortitude to face her.

A deep rumble from below shook the entire mansion, displacing clouds of dust in a telling square pattern among the tiles on the ground. Sweetie gasped, and dashed out into the hallway where Sea Swirl and Top Hat were still examining the artwork.

“Guys, guys! There’s a secret door in the ground!” Sweetie cried.

“A secret door, of course!” Sea Swirl facehoofed, before she sighed and smiled at the filly before her. “Sorry. In Neighpon, the bad guys usually like to use the secret bookshelf with the book switch.”

“Well, what are we waiting for? I’ve been raring for a fight since I got here! These hooves are crusin’ for a bruisin’!” Top Hat said, and nodded his head back at the kitchen door.

Gummy had already mounted a giant plunger to the ceiling, and lowered it onto the suspect tile with a loud pop, and switched the crank to lift until the tile was clear. Below it was a long, narrow tunnel going into the earth at a slant, with bits of wood wedged into the dirt as a makeshift staircase.

“Oh, it’s dark. How typical.” Top Hat bent his head down and nosed through the pouch on the side of his uniform, and brought out a flashlight in his mouth. With a bit of pressure applied at the right spot, he activated the device. “H’okay. Lesh go.”

The members of their little group followed after Top Hat starting with Sweetie, then Sea Swirl, with Gummy forming up at the rear. The passageway narrowed more and more as they ventured further into the depths, hoofstep by hoofstep. Eventually, a dim light caught their attention, and they made sure to quiet down their movement.

Light poured a break in the stone walls, rendering a jagged shadow on the wall to their right. Top Hat switched his flashlight off as he squeezed himself against the left wall and edged closer to the opening, until he was able to make out a large, ominous looking room with a few stallions standing on guard below them. Sea Swirl leaned her head on top of Top Hat’s to get a better view, and Sweetie did the same with Swirl.

“Check it out, huh? Evil den of evil, am I right?” The two stallions closest to the group’s position were idly chatting it up over a few mugs of cider, and the one wearing a frowning mask on his head waved a hoof around the room. “Might I say, it was my idea.”

“Your idea? Yeah, right. Let me guess, you paid for all of this with your own bits too, right?” The other stallion, wearing a tacky black and grey beanie, threw back his mug and smacked his lips. “Well, as long as somepony’s paying for the cider. I really shouldn’t be complaining.”

“Yeah, it was! Well, I didn’t pay for it, but the boss—sorry, the Supreme and Strict Overlord—really liked the whole aesthetic of it.” The masked stallion threw back his own cider, and chortled. “And I can’t believe we’ve got Filthy Rich! Who knows how many bits we can ransom him for?”

The other stallion socked his compatriot in the shoulder, who yelped in response. “Shut it! Remember what Miss Overlord said about the plans? No. Talking. Out. Loud.” He accentuated every word with a jab at the masked stallion’s chest.

“Why does it matter?! They’re literally right there!” The masked stallion pointed at the far wall, which held a steel cage with a stallion and a filly inside. The filly, with a bright pink coat, huddled against the stallion with her, who had a swept-back dark gray mane cut.

“Now, gentlecolts, I’m sure we can work something out!” Filthy Rich called out from across the room, catching the attention of all the guards. “I am Filthy Rich, after all, the wealthiest stallion in Ponyville.”

“Shut it, bit-pincher!” A helmeted mare next to the cage slammed the bars with a rear hoof. “We’ll have nothing out of you, and don’t you think for a minute we won’t subject you to tickle torture!”

“Well, since you’ve literally destroyed all the decor in my home with your drab ‘style’...” Filthy Rich emphasized it with air quotes with his hooves. “... I do believe that I am hardy enough to withstand even the most ruthless of your assaults.”

“That’s it! I’m getting the Overlord!” The mare stomped off into a connecting hallway with a huff.

“There, there, Diamond. It’ll be okay.” Filthy Rich patted Diamond Tiara’s head, which was devoid of her namesake.

“They’re both here?!” Sweetie Belle whispered, a squeak still evident in her voice. “Diamond Tiara’s just a filly!”

“Dang it! How are we going to bust them out of there?” Sea Swirl hurriedly whispered into Top Hat’s ear.

“We’ll have to see what else is in the room, first... I can’t tell where I’ve seen this design before, though.” Top Hat eyed the suspiciously familiar white-light disco globe hanging from the ceiling, remembering his action movie marathons he had watched so often as “practice.” Could it be? No pony could have possibly seen that movie! It was—

“Dastardly Do and the Explosive Orange! That was the movie!” The masked stallion slammed his hooves into the table, sending the cider mugs flying into the air straight into the beanie stallion’s face.

“Gah!” Cider soaked his beanie, and he shot an angry glare at the stallion across from him. “What are you going on about now?”

“Yeah, that was the movie. Dastardly Do and the Explosive Orange. That’s where that disco ball came from, you see? It was the evil lair of the villain, and it’s almost foolproof! We had to come up with a plan on the cheap because we’re running out of bits in the budget.”

“Well, where did the rest of the budget go?” The beanie stallion dried himself off and placed the mugs back onto the table, in a position that Sea Swirl noted would be advantageous if they ever decided to get into a fight. Not that fighting was good or an acceptable means of resolution, of course!

“We spent it all on cider! Isn’t it great, being so close to Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Oh boy.”

Top Hat heard enough, and moved to the other side of the gap. There was a set of wooden stairs that led straight into the center of the evil, evil room. Sea Swirl caught up to him as he leaned around the corner, and noticed that the two guards were now in a heated discussion over the financial constraints of building a villain’s lair.

“What are you doing, Top Hat? Aren’t we supposed to come up with a plan before we move in?!” Sea Swirl angrily whispered at the back of his head.

“But that’s just it, Swirl. We do have a plan. And I’ll explain it to y’all in a minute.” He pulled out a glitter bomb and rolled one over to Gummy. “Let me just make sure this really is what I think it is...”

He again peeked around the corner, and noticed the patterns laying on the ground. No villain lair was completely without traps, and he knew full well that there were traps in this room. It was the reason why the cage was on one side and the two stallions were on the other, who bickered over the tax returns one could get if you claimed “villain construction” as an expense.

As he was about to turn back around, he met the stare of Filthy Rich. The caged stallion sat stock still, never blinking, and Top Hat merely nodded slowly before turning back to his group. He hoped that Filthy Rich wouldn’t make any noise, because... well, there was no reason for him to throw in his lot with the bad guys, right?

“So, mind explaining your ‘plan’, boss?” Sea Swirl looked none too pleased as Top Hat turned back to her, and he smirked. All those long hours of watching subpar action movies had finally paid off, and it was his time to shine!

“I know the plan, because I watched that movie those stallions were talking about.”

“Oh... kay? So how does that help us?” She was wearing her frustration on her sleeve, if such a thing was possible at this point.

“This rooms full o’ traps, but those two arguing stallions are our key to success here. The traps are our ticket to knock out those two dimwits, ‘cause this room is full of sleeping darts!”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Sea Swirl moaned.