G5 Adventures in The Bad Guys

Chapters

Allura and Twitch's First Visit to the Isle of Scaly
Mr. Snake's Birthday at the Diner/Meeting the Bad Guys in Los Angeles
Returning to the Dragons and Alterro Looks On
The Car Chase and Inside the Bad Guys' Hideout
Tales of Safira and the Mythix Tigers
A Theft at the Good Samaritan Awards Gone Wrong
Bad Guys Going Good?/Safira Watches It All
The Bad Guys and their Good Training... Goes Horribly Wrong
Changes of Heart Begin to Occur
The Gala for Goodness/The Love Crater Meteorite Disappears and Our Heroes are Blamed
Professor Marmalade's Betrayal, The Crimson Paw's True Identity and Friendships Broke Apart
Story of the Crimson Paw/Gearing Up and Realizations Come to Mind
Recovering the Meteorite, Reunions and Finding Out the Truth
The Car Chase and the Final Battle Begins
All Is Well That Ends Well/An Emotional Farewell

Allura and Twitch's First Visit to the Isle of Scaly

It had been about a week since the Mane 6 returned from their latest Unity Quest in Egypt, where they worked together with Mystery Inc and a bunch of new friends in order to solve the mystery surrounding a curse within Cleopatra’s tomb that a bunch of treasure hunters accidentally released.

But fortunately, everything worked out in the end, like it was supposed to, and Sunny and her friends now had the first of a few pieces to a map that would lead to the alicorn realm of Skyros... and Sunny's long-lost mother, Velvet Starscout, who Sunny longed to have back more than anything in the world.

Unfortunately, there was another thing that concerned the Mane 6, other than when their next Unity Quest might be and if it might be with Alterro.

It was... Allura.

Ever since she found out her brother was responsible for igniting the next Unity Quests for her newfound friends, Allura had been feeling pretty down. Not even Twitch could cheer her up.

Izzy came down almost every day to bring her some fruit and tell her stories to cheer her up, and while Allura appreciated this, she couldn't get rid of the Alterro sized hole left in her heart.

That was when Sunny got an idea.

She and her friends still needed to tell Spike, Blaize and the rest of the dragons on the Isle of Scaly that Allura and Twitch had been reformed, and about their most recent findings on their Unity Quests, and then she thought... what better way to do that then to bring Allura and Twitch to the Isle of Scaly so they could prove it?

Hitch, Izzy, Pipp, Zipp and Misty personally loved the idea, and when they ran it past Allura, she and Twitch talked it over (well, she talked-- Twitch more or less chirped) and they agreed.

So it was settled-- the next day, they would head out to the Isle of Scaly for a weekend visit, and hopefully... Allura might feel better about the only family she's ever known wanting revenge on her.

XXXXXXXX

Allura was silent during most of the flight to the Isle of Scaly, simply fiddling with a ball of ice she had made in her paws, and Twitch lay curled up sleeping underneath her wing, even snoring a little bit.

The fact that Twitch was sleeping was a relief to Allura, but... there were still a lot of lingering thoughts left in her mind.

Alterro was the only family she had left. If she lost him...

“Allura?”

Allura snapped out of her thoughts when she felt some gentle hooves on her shoulders, and when she looked up, she looked to see Izzy and Misty glancing at her in concern. “You okay, Allura-Bura?” Izzy asked softly. “You seemed kinda out of it for a second.”

However, Misty seemed to sense what the true reason behind Allura’s distance. “Is it Alterro?”

“Well, to be quite honest... yes. I just... can't believe my own brother wants revenge on me, after all that we've been through,” Allura shook her head in sadness. “When we were cubs, we were the best of friends. We were supposed to rule Leopardia together because neither one of us wanted to feel superior to the other. To see him act... even worse than I did...”

Sunny, who was coming into the lounge area from the main cab, frowned when Allura said that before she trotted over at sat in front of Allura, a gentle and supporting smile on her face. “You know we don't blame you for all the things you did before, right?”

“I know you don't, but... others might not be so forgiving,” Allura said cautiously. “What about your dragon friends? They must think I'm the worst being in the realms for what I've done.”

“Okay... Blaize and Lava might think that at first,” Hitch said slowly, “but their leader, Spike? He's pretty chill when it comes to these things-- we should know. He's went through a ton of battles similar to what we did with Alterro and Opaline. If anyone understands what it's like for a villain to reform...”

“It’s Spike,” Pipp finished. “And if Spike is okay with you being on our side...”

“The other dragons will be too,” Zipp said from where she was driving. “Count on it.”

Allura sighed sadly as she nodded in response to the ponies' reassurance. “I sure hope you're right about this...”

XXXXXXXX

It didn’t take much longer for the Mane 6, Allura, Twitch and Sparky to get to the Isle of Scaly, and not long after the Marestream landed and they all got out, they saw the figure of the Dragon Lord came flying into sight.

Spike had the appearance having four legs and a pair of wings and horns. On the sides of his head are fins, purple with green membranes, and he had green tinted horns, alongside some purple dots below the horns as well, tan underbelly and purple scales.

Spike smiled as he landed in front of the group, happy to see them after a long time of being apart. “Sunny, ponies. Welcome back. I see you've brought guests.”

“We have,” Sunny nodded politely. “Dragon Lord Spike, I'd like for you to meet Allura and Twitch... the newest residents in Equestria.”

Allura bowed first, and Twitch immediately followed after, both of them being a bit intimidated. “It’s... a pleasure to meet you, Dragon Lord,” Allura said politely. “A real honor, actually.”

Spike chuckled warmly at this. “No need to bow to me. I've heard quite a bit about you both, and I can tell that you two have come seeking forgiveness from me and my fellow dragons.”

Twitch nodded nervously in response to this claim. “Um... uh-huh.”

“Well, then let’s see if I can get the rest of my dragon friends here to meet you,” Spike said politely. “I'm sure they would be eager to put the last behind us. At least... a majority of them would.”

Spike then lifted his head and blew out a beacon of green firs into the sky, hoping his fellow dragons would see it and come to their location.

And then, after a few moments, that's exactly what they did.

The first to fly into sight was Luxxe, who had scales that were a gold color with a lighter yellow underbelly and with red claws. There are purple and pinkish shading on her wing membranes, along with her horn having similar color. Her hair is a gradient of red to orange. Her cutie mark is a dark red spiral on a red base.

The second to fly in was Leaf, who had scales that were a shimmering green with a pink underbelly and shading on his wing membranes. He does not have hair and his horns are tinted with the similar pink. His cutie mark is a green and yellow leaf.

The third to fly in was Fountain, who had scales that were blue with a light green underbelly and shading on her wing membranes. Her hair is a mix of blue with lines of light purple within it. Her horns are tinted with the same light purple. Her cutie mark is two waves.

The fourth to fly in was Tumble, who had scales that were light orange with blue tinted horns and pink eyes. His wings are blue, turquoise and orange and he has turquoise blue claws. His cutie mark is three gusts of wind.

The fifth one to fly in was Jade, who had scales that were mostly pink with blue spikes and claws and tinted horns while her hair is purple. Her wing membranes are pink with white and blue edges on them, and her cutie mark is a blue diamond surrounded by purple and white diamonds.

The sixth one to fly in with Lava, who had scales that were burgundy, along with orange eyes and a dark blueish underbelly while his horns are shaded with grey. His wing membranes have the same color in the middle and on the edges. His dragon fire is a very dark red color. His cutie mark is a paw print.

And last, but certainly not least, was Blaize Skysong, who was hot pink tinted horns, underbelly and scales and a short aquamarine mane. Her wing membranes have stripes of orange and aquamarine as well, and her cutie mark were four differently sized diamonds.

“Blaize! Dragons! It's so good to see you again!” Misty said warmly as they all landed. “It sure seems like it's been a while.”

“Good to see all of you too,” Tumble said warmly before his eyes fell on the nervous Allura and Twitch. “Oh! And... I can only assume this is...”

Blaize immediately snarled and got her wings flared up, to protect the other dragons in case things went south. “Leave the Isle of Scaly at once, snow leopard! For the crimes you've committed, you'll know no--”

“Blaize, Blaize, calm down!” Jade said soothingly, trying to get Blaize to settle down some before she did something irrational. “Let’s just hear the snow leopard out before anyone does anything... erratic.”

Blaize snorted in displeasure, but ultimately did as Jade asked, settling down slightly and giving Allura and Twitch some space.

Fountain then decided to speak up. “So... why are you and your bunny friend here, Allura?”

“Well... thanks to Sunny and her friends, Twitch and I have seen the error in our ways,” Allura began to explain. “And... while I apologized to the ponies of Equestria, I felt the need to apologize to you, their dragon friends, as well. So... I'm truly, truly truly sorry for all the crimes I've committed to these six ponies and the friends that they've met on their missions. I hope you could find it in your hearts to forgive me.”

The dragons seemed to glance at each other and then at Allura for a few moments, unsure of what to believe, and wondering which one of them was going to make the first move.

But ultimately, it was Luxxe who came forward and looked down at Allura and Twitch with compassion on her gaze. “If Sunny and the others believe that you've changed, then... I'm willing to give the two of you the shadow of a doubt. Who else is with me?”

The other dragons spared glances at each other before Jade decided to raise a paw. “I will.”

“...me too,” Tumble said after a moment. “As will I,” Spike added with compassion, prompting Fountain to nod in agreement before they turned their heads to Lava, Blaize and Leaf, who still seemed a tad reluctant to say if they trusted Allura and Twitch fully or not.

However, after a moment, Allura sighed dejectefly and hung her head low. “That's all right, I understand. It'll take some time to regain some trust, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes.”

“Uh, speaking of time, and whatever it takes,” Zipp said uneasily, “you guys meeting Allura isn't the only reason we're here. We have another villain to deal with... Allura’s twin brother, Alterro, and he's looking for the lost alicorn realm of Skyros, hoping to take it over.”

Leaf's eyes widened in surprise when he heard this. “Seriously?!”

“Oh, you've got to be kidding me...” Blaize scoffed under her breath. “Another furball you ponies have to deal with!”

“Dragons, dragons, please!” Spike tried to calm the dragons down before things could escalate. “No one needs to panic-- I'm sure that Sunny and her friends already have a plan in place to defend Equestria and Skyros from this Alterro character, right?”

Hitch nodded in confirmation. “We do. Sunny has been given one piece of a map that will lead us to Skyros. All we have to do is find the rest of the pieces before Alterro does, and we should be able to get to Skyros and warn the alicorns, and... potentially Sunny’s mother, about Alterro's incoming threat before it's too late.”

“Not to mention the citizens of Equestria still have their training worked out,” Misty added. “...I honestly never thought that the ponies of Equestria would have to use their training, but... you can never be too sure about these things, right?”

“Right,” Sunny nodded. “All we have to do is wait for another sign from the Unity Crystals, and then we can go from there.”

Suddenly, Luxxe gasped as she suddenly pointed something out. “I don’t think that’s gonna be too long of a wait-- look!”

Truth be told, the Mane 6’s cutie marks were glowing once again, and that meant the portal could be opening up any minute… and that also meant Allura and Twitch might be stuck with the untrusting dragons until they got back.

Nevertheless, Allura was willing to do whatever it took to be forgiven for her mistakes, so she cleared her throat and looked to the Mane 6. “Well… you ponies have fun. We’ll be waiting right here and ready for updates when you get back.”

“Uh… Allura? You might wanna look at your own cutie mark before you say something like that,” Pipp advised with a little smirk. “It’s glowing too! And so is Twitch!”

Allura looked down at Twitch and her cutie mark to discover Pipp was right-- both of them were glowing, and that was when the portal chose to appear not too far away. “So… Allura and Twitch are going to be going on their first Unity Quest ever?” Jade looked at her fellow dragons in surprise. “This has to be a moment of truth! Maybe if Allura and Twitch do good on this mission, we’ll know that we can trust them!”

Blaize hummed in suspicion before sighing reluctantly. “Okay, okay… I guess that is a good way to see if they’re trustworthy or not. But if they aren’t, I have full permission to light their tails on fire!”

“We’ll see who’s gonna be on fire after this is over, Blaize,” Fountain said with a bit of a cheeky look. “Count on it.”

“Good luck, ponies,” Spike said warmly. “And be safe out there, all of you.”

“Don’t worry, Spike. I think we’ll be fine,” Izzy smiled. “So… let’s go?”

“Let’s go!” Sunny cheered, and the rest of the ponies followed her into the portal, with Allura and Twitch hesitating before following them inside.

Allura knew that this Unity Quest could be the start of her internal reformation, and she knew that she and Twitch couldn’t mess this up…

…otherwise, they would never be able to forgive themselves.

Author's Note

Happy New Year's Eve, everybody! This is the last chapter I'll probably ever post before the beginning of the year, so be ready for some brand new chapters in the new year!

Mr. Snake's Birthday at the Diner/Meeting the Bad Guys in Los Angeles

Allura and Twitch’s first encounter with the dragons that lived on the Isle of Scaly… could have gone better.

While Spike, Luxxe, Tumble, Jade and Fountain were willing to trust the Mane 6’s newfound allies after Allura profoundly apologized to them, there were still SOME dragons who weren’t as willing to trust-- namely Blaize, Lava and Leaf.

Allura knew it would take some time to gain their trust, so when the Unity Crystals called her and Twitch for their first mission, she knew that they couldn’t mess this up.

And so, after leaving Sparky with the dragons, they were off through the portal system and into worlds unknown, hoping this mission wouldn't bring anything risky into their path... all while hoping that a second piece of the map to Skyros would fall into their laps.

XXXXXXXX

Little did the ponies, Allura and Twitch know it right away, but their mission was going to take place in the bustling city of Los Angeles, California, home to many different good things…

…and one very bad problem. Namely, a group of criminals known as the Bad Guys and their very special tiger trainees.

And what do you know? We’re going to meet a few of their members right now.

Mr. Wolf (otherwise known as the leader of the group) was a slim, rather handsome anthropomorphic gray wolf with the basic wolf traits (gray fur, yellow eyes, a large black nose and paws with claws) who wore a casual cream-white suit over an untucked, bright white dress-shirt, a brown belt with a silver buckle, gray socks, and light brown dress shoes with black laces.

Sitting on his side of the booth was a young Mythix Tiger (which was a special and rare breed of tiger that could only be found in a beautiful, forgotten valley and had magical powers related to certain elements and skills they had) named Reva, who had light blue fur and darker blue stripes, light brown eyes, a black nose with whiskers and a cutie mark of a trident with tiger stripes, showcasing her rebellious spirit and her water magic.

Both of them were incredible leaders of their respective groups, and that's why Mr. Wolf chose to take her under his wing, so to speak.

Now, Mr. Snake was an anthropomorphic Burmese python with its species basic traits - such as a snake's tail, a forked tongue, fangs sticking out of his mouth, and the skin-pattern which are colored in various shades of brown with a yellow underside, and he wore a tan bucket hat with a darker-colored band and two emoji pins on each side (sad right and angry left), and a red Hawaiian button-up shirt with a white Hibiscus pattern.

Mr. Snake's trainee was one of Reva's cousins, named Gretchen, who had bright purple fur, darker purple stripes, green eyes, a black nose with whiskers and a cutie mark of three fortune-telling cards, demonstrating her mysterious shadow magic. Mr. Snake chose Gretchen as his apprentice because she took after his sneaky and clinical nature when the time came for it, and for some reason... Gretchen wasn't afraid of him, which was honestly very surprising.

Now, to catch you up on events on the Bad Guys' end, it is Mr. Snake's birthday, and Mr. Wolf wanted to take him, Gretchen and Reva out to a cafe right across from the local bank to celebrate. But for some reason... Mr. Snake refused to discuss birthdays in general, let alone his own birthday. “Stop.”

“I’ll stop,” Mr. Wolf said with a smirk, “if you just explain it to me, because I don’t…”

“Would you please just stop it?” Mr. Snake retorted while Mr. Wolf jiggled the spoon in the coffee cup and took it out. “Alright, alright, fine, fine, fine,” Mr. Wolf finally relented. “Consider it dropped. It’s dropped. It’s on the ground.”

“Good,” Gretchen nodded before licking her paw and swiping her paw across her ears to groom them. “Now, can we just enjoy the rest of our quiet afternoon in peace?”

“Sure, cuz,” Reva said calmly. “Whatever you say.”

Mr. Snake then proceeded to pour some creamer into his coffee mug during the moment of silence, which unfortunately, didn’t last long, cause Mr. Wolf couldn’t seem to shake the subject at hand. “But I mean come on… everybody loves birthdays.”

“Ugh…” Gretchen and Mr. Snake groaned in unison. “You’ve got decorations,” Mr. Wolf named off the various things that made birthdays so special. “You’ve got balloons. You got parties… and CAKE.”

“Look,” Mr. Snake felt the need to repeat himself for the hundredth time. “I don’t need presents, I don’t want decorations, and I’m not a cake guy.”

Reva stared in shock at this. “Seriously, though, you don’t like cake?” she asked, looking utterly confused by such a claim. “Name one food better than cake.”

And it didn’t seem to take long for Mr. Snake to guarantee an answer. “Guinea pig.”

“Ugh!” Reva groaned in disgust. “Again with the guinea pig!”

For some reason, to Reva and her cousins, they just couldn't understand what was so delicious about a cute, fuzzy rodent that people loved to have as pets.

Mr. Wolf suddenly laughed at a thought as Mr. Snake poured some sugar into his mug. “I bet if I blind folded you, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a skunk and a guinea pig.”

“Wrong!” Mr. Snake retorted as he set the sugar down with a smirk. “Snakes have impeccable taste buds. I can taste air.”

This time, Mr. Wolf and both Mythix Tiger cubs stared at Mr. Snake quizzically, trying their hardest to try and believe him. “Air?”

“Yes! Air!” Mr. Snake responded before tasting the air with his forked tongue. “Mmm… nice.”

“I don’t know,” Mr. Wolf sat back in the booth, letting Reva curl up and lay on his legs. “They’re a little, uh, they’re a little cute for my taste.”

“That what makes them so delicious!” Mr. Snake told his friend with a smile, holding a piece of steak on his fork that he held with his tail. “You’re not just eating food; you’re eating pure goodness.”

And with that, he threw the piece of steak that he had on his fork up into the air, with Gretchen catching it in one bite before he continued explaining. “It’s not about the pig, it’s about what it symbolizes on a deeper level!”

“...uh-huh,” Reva said slowly, eyeing Mr. Snake with suspicion before wanting to confirm something he had just said. “So, you can… you can taste air?”

Mr. Snake’s smile immediately fell at this. “Ugh… forget about it.”

“What else you got? Can you also hear color?” Mr. Wolf laughed at the thought before looking around. “Can you see sound?”

“Ha ha, laugh it up, the both of you,” Gretchen said sarcastically. “Laugh it up.”

“Come on, Gretchen, lighten up!” Reva said with a smirk. “We just really need to be capitalizing on these skills that Snake claims to have.”

“Okay, all right,” Mr. Snake said sarcastically. “Fine, get it all out. Get it all out now.”

“Okay, okay,” Mr. Wolf couldn’t help but chuckle once more and high-five Reva just as Mr. Snake spit out a clock and read the time on it. “Look at that, 4 PM. Now I know the exact moment our friendship died.”

Mr. Wolf only chuckled before picking Reva up in his paws before he set her on the ground again. “Let’s bounce.”

“Good idea,” Gretchen nodded before jumping down from the booth as Mr. Snake put the clock back into his mouth. But as they prepared to leave, the two cubs couldn’t help but notice that the people in the restaurant seemed terrified of the four as they prepared to leave.

However, while Mr. Wolf and Mr. Snake didn’t seem too bothered by the event, the cubs were secretly bothered by the frightened looks. Of course, they would never tell their mentors they were bothered-- what would they think of the cubs if that were to happen?

Soon, they were driven from their thoughts when Mr. Wolf turned to look at Mr. Snake again. “Tastes like... you’re going to stick me with the bill… again.”

“Well,” Mr. Snake smirked, “it IS my birthday.”

Gretchen scrunched up her face in confusion as they neared the seats at the bar. “So NOW you play the birthday card? That’s interesting.”

That was when Reva hopped up onto the barstool in order to try and get someone’s attention. “Excuse me? Hello? Can we get the check please when you get the chance?”

However, there wasn't any response from this, except for a worker hiding behind the door in terror. “Hello?” Reva looked around for any other workers. “Checkity check check?”

It was then that another server began to come out of the kitchen, only to see the group before screaming and retreating back into the kitchen again. “You know what, we’re just gonna leave the money right here, okay?” Mr. Wolf put some money on the counter and then in the tip jar before beginning to walk away.

And as they began to head toward the doors, Mr. Snake turned to his friend and their apprentices again. “You know the one good thing about this place?”

Reva shook her head in response. “What?”

“We never have to wait for a table.”

Mr. Wolf smirked at this, not noticing the crowd of people backed up against the wall. “Isn’t that every place?”

Mr. Snake then turned his attention to the people hiding in the corner of the restaurant, a pleasant smile on his face. “Hey man how have you been I haven’t seen you in… SNAKE ATTACK!!!”

The people screamed and cowered in fear just before Mr. Snake spotted a jar of mints on the counter nearby. “Ooh, mints,” he said before swallowing the entire jar whole.“Sorry, folks,” Mr. Wolf apologized. “Me and the girls are trying to switch him to decaf.”

Then, when Mr. Snake slithered back over to the others, they turned to each other and nodded with confidence. “Let's do this!”

That was when the two criminals and their young tiger apprentices left the restaurant as citizens screamed out of fright and ran away as cars stopped rather abruptly.

But as they walked across the street, Gretchen to look up at her mentor. “Guinea pigs, huh?”

“It’s the Rolls Royce of rodents, kid,” Mr. Snake answered with a smile. “When ya get older, maybe your taste buds will change and we can go on a guinea pig eating spree.”

“Maybe,” Gretchen answered with a shrug. “But until then, it's still a rodent.”

But, as they prepared to enter the bank itself, the four of them had no idea they would meet a crew so tight-knit and respected...

...they might be able to change these criminals' and their apprentices lives forever.

XXXXXXXX

A multi-colored, swirling portal soon appeared inside the main room of a busy bank in Los Angeles, California, and out from that portal emerged the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch, the latter two trying to shake off the weird feeling that the portal gave them after passing through.

Twitch babbled out of concern as to where they were, and Hitch merely shrugged as an answer. “I'm not sure where we are, Twitch... but I do know that the ones we're supposed to help have to be around here somewhere. We just have to keep a sharp eye out.”

Suddenly, a bunch of the people in the bank screamed and ran for cover as an anthropomorphic wolf, an anthropomorphic snake and two brightly-colored tiger cubs came into the building. “Don’t mind us!” the wolf called out to the people in the building. “We’re just robbing this place.”

“Wait,” Zipp held up a hoof in surprise as the two criminals and their apprentices disappeared into the back of the bank. “Did that wolf say that he, the snake and those two tiger cubs are getting ready to rob this place?!”

“Uh, that's what he just said, Zipperoni,” Izzy told the white pegasus with the playful roll of her eyes before suddenly realizing what they were talking about. “Wait... that's a bad thing, isn't it?”

“Allura, Twitch! Try to block the doors so the criminals can't get away!” Sunny told the snow leopard and rabbit before turning to her pony friends. “The rest of us are gonna try and make sure the criminals are distracted so we can grab the money from them!”

“Whoo-hoo!” Reva cheered as she, Gretchen, Mr. Wolf and Mr. Snake emerged from the back room, wielding a safe and bags of money within their grasps/magic auras. “This was so much easier than it was our first two rounds! Hey, maybe we need to go bigger the next time. Try a bigger bank or something.”

“There isn't gonna be a next time,” Hitch said as Sunny shifted into her alicorn form, “by the time we're done with you guys!”

Hitch and Sunny slammed their hooves against the ground, activating their earth pony powers and creating vines that wrapped around Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake and the tiger cubs, preventing them from moving. “Whoa, hey!” Mr. Snake cried out as the vines began to tighten. “Who called the prissy pony brigade?!”

“Well, at least he didn't call us horses like some people do,” Pipp whispered to her friends. “I hate when that happens!”

Luckily… Reva had a way for her, Gretchen and their mentors to get out of this. After a moment, she made her brown eyes glow bright blue and then she waved her front paws, getting ready to aim right at Pipp and Zipp to get their wings to stop working. “Ocean blast!”

A spray of water immediately came from her paws and hit Zipp when she least expected it, causing her to scream and Pipp to gasp. “Hey! Don’t mess with my sister like that, you-- AGH!!!”

And with that, Reva sprayed Pipp with the same spell, rendering her wings completely useless. “Nice shot, kid,” Mr. Wolf praised. “Any idea how to get us outta these vines, though?”

“Don’t worry,” Reva smirked. “I have a little trick for that too. Water whirlwind!”

Upon spinning her paws around in circles before slamming them together, a tornado of water that had appeared in her paws exploded, diminishing the vines and freeing Mr. Wolf and herself. “What in the world?!” Hitch looked stunned. “That cub is more powerful than I thought!”

“You’re telling me,” Pipp whimpered. “My mane is gonna be ruined by the time we’re done with this mission!”

“I’ve got the doors blocked!” Allura said as she finished making a wall of ice with Twitch supervising. “Let’s see them try and escape now!”

“Oh, don’t worry, pussycat,” Mr. Snake said as he slid out of the vines, leaving Gretchen to free herself from them. “We’ve got another way of escaping-- taking you with us!”

“Oh, well, that’s nice--” Izzy began to say before she suddenly paused, turning back to the four as her friends took ready stances. “Wait, who to the what now?”

Mr. Snake looked down at Gretchen with a smirk. “Show ‘em your stuff, kid.”

Gretchen’s eyes began to glow a dark purple before she reared up on her hind legs to cast another spell. “Shadow cages!”

“Everyone, split up!” Sunny shouted to her friends. “Don’t let those cages catch you!”

The second Gretchen slammed her front paws on the ground again, wisps of shadow magic began to zoom after every member of the group, who did their best to avoid them-- Sunny, Twitch and Hitch did a series of complex moves, Izzy and Misty did their best to blast the wisps with their magic, Zipp and Pipp tried to fly away from them, and Allura created an ice dome to protect herself.

However, Gretchen was far more in control of these dark magic wisps than they thought she would be (since she was a cub and all), and soon, the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch were trapped in the cages, unable to use their magic and escape. “Ha ha, yes!” Gretchen pumped a paw. “That new control technique Oran taught me works!”

“Nice one, cuz!” Reva said, high-pawing her cousin before turning to their mentors. “Wolf? Snake? Gretchen will handle the cages if you guys take care of the money-- let’s bounce.”

“Ohhh you guys are never gonna get away with this!” Hitch grumbled as the cages were lifted off the ground thanks to Allura’s magic. “The door is blocked-- you’ll never get out that way!”

“Oh-ho, you guys are so naive,” Mr. Wolf chuckled at the ponies. “The way us Bad Guys are trained… we don’t always have to use doors.”

And what did Mr. Wolf mean by that, you ask?

Well, the next thing the ponies, Allura and Twitch knew, the two Bad Guys and the two tiger cubs had burst right through a window, shattering it and Gretchen forced the shadow cages she had made right behind her, causing them to scream.

And after getting out of the bank successfully, they ran toward a nearby alley, threw the money into the car and then, Gretchen used her shadow magic to make the car grow slightly bigger so she could toss the cages inside, causing the ponies, Allura and Twitch to groan in pain. “All right, they’re in!” she spoke. “Let’s go!”

And with that, the two criminals and their apprentices got in the car and drove down the highway, not even bothering to look back. “Whoo! Yeah!” Mr. Wolf cheered before offering his fist to Mr. Snake and the cubs. “Go bad…”

“Or go home!” the cubs and Mr. Snake chorused, with Mr. Snake bumping his head against Mr. Wolf's fist while the cubs bumped their paws. “Oh, and they even have a cool catchphrase?!” Izzy whined from where she and her friends were trapped in their shadow cages in the very back seat. “I want a cool catchphrase!!”

“Hey!” Zipp shouted to the four up front. “Who do you guys think you are, robbing a bank and then kidnapping us like that?”

“Uh-huh!” Twitch said sassily, crossing his paws in distaste. “Oh, right…” Reva winced. “You guys must not be from around here, otherwise you would know who we are right now.”

“The name is Mr. Wolf,” Mr. Wolf said with a smirk. “Leader of a crew so dangerous and foot-loose, even the cops can’t catch us. Why, you may ask?”

Allura scoffed from the back seat. “We didn’t ask.”

“You’re afraid because I’m the… Big Bad Wolf!” Mr. Wolf continued speaking before shrugging. “Well, I’m not surprised. I am the villain in every story. Isn’t that right, Mr. Snake?”

Mr. Snake chuckled as he messed with the dial on the safe. “Yep.”

“You don’t know me yet, but I’m Reva,” Reva introduced sassily. “And now, say hello to my cousin Gretchen and Mr. Snake!”

Gretchen gave the group in back a little salute. “Sup.”

“Mr. Snake here is a serpentine, safe-cracking machine,” Mr. Wolf explained rather casually. “Imagine Houdini but with no arms. Kind of guy who’d tell you the glass is half empty, then steal it from you. He’s also my best bud.”

“Today’s his birthday…!!” Reva singsonged. “Not relevant,” Mr. Snake informed, but then Gretchen purred against him as he was trying to work. “He’s a sweetheart,” she said sweetly before turning to Mr. Snake again. “You’re a sweetheart!”

“Oh… um… happy birthday, Mr. Snake,” Misty said, trying not to sound terrified. “A-And it’s nice to meet all of you, despite us being in a hostage situation. Um, I-I’m Misty, and… this is Sunny, Hitch, Zipp, Pipp, Twitch, Izzy and Allura.”

“Misty, what are you doing?!” Pipp looked at Misty as if she was crazy. “Hostages don’t associate with their kidnappers!”

“Hey, but we’re not just any kidnappers, are we?” Mr. Snake smirked before looking in the rearview mirror and seeing a bunch of police cars gaining on them. “Well, look who’s here.”

“Took ‘em long enough,” Mr. Wolf said before lurching the car into high-gear and speeding off with the police in pursuit. But it wasn't long after that they came to a row of stoplights, and they were all red. “Uh, I don’t think this car chase is gonna last very long,” Hitch told Mr. Wolf. “All the stoplights are red, meaning they’re gonna catch you guys in seconds!”

“Oh, no, they’re not,” Reva said, holding up a paw. “Watch this.”

It was at that moment that another member of the Bad Guys was waiting for the perfect opportunity, with her own Mythix Tiger right beside her.

Ms. Tarantula was an anthropomorphic redknee tarantula with its species basic traits - such as eight legs and the hair being colored in shades of orange with red and maroon-purple accents. However, she has a pair of arms in total of ten legs, and the tuft on her hair is styled to resemble a pixie cut. She also sported slightly thick black eyebrows, buck teeth, eyes that are a wide almond shape with thick eyelashes, eyelids colored in a darker shade of her hair color, two tribal tattoos and an outfit consisting of a black hoodie-sweatshirt with turquoise vertical stripes on the arms and 8-bit blocky logo, a black back harness, and a pair of headphones with the same color scheme as her sweatshirt, albeit the black is bolder.

And her Mythix Tiger apprentice was named Oran, another one of Reva's cousins, who had bright green fur, darker green stripes, brown eyes, a black nose with whiskers and a cutie mark of two snakes wrapped around each other, representing one half of his special powers-- hypnotism and invisibility.

At the moment, Ms. Tarantula was hacking right into the system that controlled the stoplights, and was waiting for the perfect moment to turn the lights from red to green.

XXXXXXXX

Mr. Wolf was expecting the same thing too, and steadily counted down until it was gonna happen. “Three. Two. One.”

Oran then tapped a key on Ms. Tarantula’s keyboard, and all the lights down that street turned green, much to the Mane 6’s surprise. “Whoa,” Sunny blinked. “Uh… how did you do that?”

“It wasn’t us,” Reva smiled as Ms. Tarantula and Oran turned the red lights back on before jumping down to the car with them. “Say hello to my cousin Oran and Ms. Tarantula.”

“Our in-house hacker, our pocket search engine, our traveling tech wizard,” Mr. Wolf added as they climbed into the car from the open moonroof. “We call her Webs.”

Pipp shrieked as she saw Ms. Tarantula was a spider, clinging to the side of her shadow cage in terror. “SPIDER!!”

“Yeah, she gets that a lot,” Reva rolled her eyes, but then turned to her only male cousin and Ms. Tarantula with a smile. “Very slick, though, you guys.”

Ms. Tarantula smiled before pulling out her computer again. “I also took over the police dispatch, blurred their satellite imaging system, grounded their chopper,” she bragged before closing it and turning to Mr. Snake. “And one more thing…”

Mr. Snake shot her a dirty look. “You didn’t…”

That was when a delivery man showed up right next to their car, much to the others’ surprise. “I got a special delivery for…” he said before seeing the Bad Guys and shrieking, causing him to drop the cake into Mr. Wolf’s paw and spun away, leaving some police cars to crash. “Ah! Ooh! Don’t eat me! Please! Don’t eat me!”

Oran smiled over at Mr. Snake, knowing he and his best friend/mentor Webs had done good. “Happy birthday, Mr. Grumpy-Pants.”

“I think I hate the two of you,” Mr. Snake quickly deadpanned. “Uh, this has all been really fun and all,” Sunny said with a nervous giggle, “but... is there any chance that you can let us out of this car before we crash?!”

Oran looked at her as if she were crazy. “Are you kidding?! The car chases are the best part of what we do! Also... who are you weirdos?”

“Oh, they're our first hostages!” Reva said in delight. “Gretchen captured them using those shadow cages and that technique you taught her!”

“Nice move, cuz!” Oran congratulated. “I told you it would work in one of these assignments!”

That was when the car made a swift left turn and drove right toward a nearby construction site, just as a worker directed a crane to lower some port-a-potties. As the car drove by, he ordered the crane to drop them, and once they were dropped, the police cars crashed right into them.

Little did the police realize it, but this was another member of the Bad Guys doing his best work.

Mr. Shark was a large, anthropomorphic great white shark with its species' basic traits - such as a mouth with 300 sharp teeth inside, and blue gray cartilage with a white underbelly. He also sports narrow black eyebrows, eyes with noticeable gray irises, and a tattoo of a heart reading "Mom" on his left shoulder, along with an outfit consisting of a red tank top under a very dark grey blazer with rolled-up sleeves, sepia grey pants, dark brown motorcycle boots, and a shark tooth necklace underneath his construction worker outfit.

And Mr. Shark had two Mythix Tiger cubs with him, but only one of them was his personal apprentice.

Carmine was another one of Reva's cousins, plus Mr. Shark's apprentice, and she had bright pink fur, darker pink stripes, dark blue eyes, a black nose with whiskers and a cutie mark of a perfume bottle.

And then, there was Zari, the youngest of Reva's cousins, who had golden-colored fur, darker gold-colored stripes, brown eyes and a cutie mark of two crossed swords with a lightning bolt between them.

Now, we only have one more member of the crew to meet, so stay tuned.

As the police stared in astonishment, Mr. Shark jumped out of his disguise as Zari and Carmine ran out of hiding, and all three of them jumped onto the car as it spun around and headed in a different direction. “Guys, it’s me!” Mr. Shark chuckled. “I was the construction worker!”

Pipp shrieked in terror again at this. “SHARK!!”

“Yep. This is Carmine, Zari and Mr. Shark,” Mr. Wolf introduced as the three climbed inside. “Master of disguise, apex predator of a thousand faces. His greatest trick: stealing the Mona Lisa disguised as the Mona Lisa.”

Misty blinked in confusion to this. “How does that work exactly?”

“Eh, we never knew ourselves,” shrugged Carmine, “but I wouldn’t have my mentor any other way.”

“Watch it, big tuna! I’m trying to work here!” Mr. Snake pushed Mr. Shark off of him as he tried to get the safe open, but Mr. Shark merely placed a birthday hat on Mr. Snake's head. “Keep it cool, baby. Birthdays should be chill.”

“Wait a second...” Sunny realized after a moment. “There are five tiger cubs but only four of you. Shouldn’t there be the same number for each of the five cubs?”

“Oh, you haven’t seen him yet,” Zari said with a smirk, “but you will soon enough.”

XXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, in one of the police cars pursuing after the Bad Guys, the glove compartment thumps next to a cop and the cop noticed in confusion before the last member of the Bad Guys popped out of it. “Surprise!”

Mr. Piranha was a small, stocky-yet-muscular anthropomorphic red-bellied piranha with its species basic traits, such as sharp teeth and the signature orange gradient that colors under his mouth and arms. His skin is colored in three shades of green, with his fins mimicking a mohawk that ends with a ponytail, and he also had yellowish-green eyes and an outfit that consisted of a white shirt, black trousers held by red suspenders, and black-and-white canvas shoes with white laces.

The cop screamed as Mr. Piranha attacked him, and Mr. Wolf merely smiled as he kept his eyes on the road. “And who you see back there is Mr. Piranha. He’s a loose cannon with a short fuse, willing to scrap with anyone, or anything. He’s brave, he’s fearless--”

“Ah, who are we kidding?” Reva scoffed as the cop cars tumbled on the road behind the group as Mr. Piranha flew through the air. “He's crazy!”

And then, Mr. Piranha landed right between Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake and their apprentices, and right in front of his own apprentice, Zari. “Ha ha! Santo cielo, that’s a lot of popo!”

“Um... does anyone have the slightest clue as to what he just said?” Allura whispered to the others, who merely shrugged out of confusion. That left Zari to raise an eyebrow at her mentor with suspicion written all over her face. “Uh... Piranha, did we forget something?”

Mr. Piranha wasn’t really paying attention, but that was sort of the usual thing. “What?”

“The present!” Mr. Shark whispered, earning Mr. Piranha's attention. “You know?”

“Oh... um, of course I didn’t forget...” Mr. Piranha fibbed before he suddenly tooted, causing Ms. Tarantula to fan the air slightly. “You know, you fart when you lie, right?”

“What? No!” Mr. Piranha denied. “I fart when I'm nervous!”

“Yeah!” Oran glared over at him. “Nervous about lying!”

Zari turned back to look at their hostages, a clearly distressed look on her face. “Cover your noses, cover your noses now!!”

“Really?” Izzy looked curious. “Why do you need us to--?”

That was when the entire inside of the car was drenched inside a humongous fart cloud that smelled absolutely horrendous.

“Piranha!!”

“Eww eww eww eww!!”

“Get me out of this thing!”

“Don’t breathe it in!!”

The fart cloud trailed out of the Bad Guys' car to the police cars, obscuring their vision and causing them to crash while gagging.

Zipp and Pipp finally managed to flap their wings enough to clear the fart cloud away, but that didn't stop Misty from coughing slightly. “Wow, Mr. Wolf, you have, uh... quite the crew on your hooves here.”

“Yeah, they’re a bit eccentric, but when you’re born us, you don’t exactly win many popularity contests,” Mr. Wolf said with a slight nod. “Do I wish people didn’t see us as monsters? Sure, I do. But these are the cards we’ve been dealt, so we might as well play ‘em.”

It was then that Mr. Snake finally managed to crack the code to the safe. “Ha-ha! Jackpot!”

As Mr. Snake opened the safe and let out a ton of money, the car quickly made a right turn, going down a nearby alley. And once they were out of that alley, they stopped right in front of the police station, where the door opened, and the safe flew out, opening up to let one dollar out.

The cops quickly took notice just before Gretchen chuckled nervously and closed the door, causing the other Bad Guys and apprentices to turn to Mr. Wolf with eyes wide in shock.

“What the thorax?!”

“Are you crazy?!”

“Wolf, are you serious right now?”

“We're totally gonna get caught!”

“What? I just wanted a longer car chase,” Mr. Wolf said rather calmly. “Like Oran said, it's the best part.”

“Don’t worry, guys,” Sunny whispered to her friends. “As soon as these police officers realize we're in here, we'll be able to find our mission. At least... I hope that's what happens.”

XXXXXXXX

Inside the police station, the chief's office had a board full of papers on the Bad Guys, and Chief Luggins stared deeply at it until another officer entered her office. “Chief!” he cried out. “It’s...”

The chief looked at him with a steely gaze. “...them!”

Without another word, the chief burst out of the building, knocking away the two cops, and stepped away the building to confront the Bad Guys, not noticing the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch right away.

However, Mr. Wolf had the entire thing under control. “Webs... hit it.”

Ms. Tarantula pulled out her phone, which began to play “Stop, Drop, Roll” by Can’t Stop Won’t Stop as the Bad Guys and their apprentices put on sunglasses and bopped their heads to the music...

...something that drove Chief Luggins crazy. “GET THEM!!!”

“Oh, brother!” Hitch yelped as he clung to the side of his cage in terror. “Here we go again!!!”

The Bad Guys and their Mythix Tiger apprentices laughed and drove down the road, prompting the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch to hang onto the sides of their cages for dear life...

...and causing them to wonder how in the world they would be able to find their next mission if they were being held hostages by these...

...so-called Bad Guys.

Returning to the Dragons and Alterro Looks On

The Unity Quest with the Bad Guys was finally over, and the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch were free to return to Equestria and tell Spike and the other dragons about their adventure…

…and how big a help that Allura and Twitch were to the success of the mission.

But the important thing was one final question… would the dragons believe the story for themselves?

XXXXXXXX

“Whoa whoa whoa, hold on a sec,” Blaize Skysong lifted a paw to stop the ponies and their story as they were reaching the end. “So… Allura and Twitch decided to face that Dark Dragon in order to protect you guys and your friends while you rescued Snake from the guinea pig?”

“Is that true?” Leaf looked toward Allura and Twitch, who nodded. “Then… maybe we judged you a little too harshly.”

Allura blinked at this. “You mean that?”

“Sure we do,” Lava said with a smile. “We’re sorry if we never gave you a chance at the beginning. I guess we wanted to protect our friends, and… we really didn’t let you try to explain yourself freely.”

“As far as we’re concerned, Allura,” Luxxe said, “you’re always welcome in the Isle of Scaly, right, Dragon Lord?”

“Absolutely,” Spike nodded. “I know a thing or two about giving ponies a second chance, and I would love to do the same for you.”

“And no matter what,” Jade added, “we’re going to help you figure out how to get through to your brother… no matter how long it takes.”

XXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location, Alterro was repeatedly watching Safira's defeat through a ball of fire, scoffing to himself as he made it disappear. “I can’t believe Safira failed… she has NEVER failed to accomplish a task, not even with the death of her own sisters.”

Alterro sighed to himself before regaining his composure, turning to look at the starry sky above him. “No matter… I’ll be sure to send a villain so powerful next time, not even those ponies and my sister will be able to stop it. Just five more pieces of the map to Skyros to go… and then… Equestria will belong to ME.”

The Car Chase and Inside the Bad Guys' Hideout

If you previously thought that the Mane 6 had gotten themselves into some wild situations before, you better think again.

The six ponies, Allura and Twitch had been sent to the city of Los Angeles, California, where they had been captured by five ravenous animal criminals, known as the Bad Guys (Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Ms. Tarantula, Mr. Shark and Mr. Piranha) and their five Mythix Tiger cub apprentices (Reva, Gretchen, Oran, Carmine and Zari), who were in the middle of a wild police chase with the entire Los Angeles police department on their tails.

If they didn't find their mission soon, who knows what might happen?

All they could do now was sit back quietly and wait for this car chase to be over so they could escape

XXXXXXXX

But as the music blared from the speakers, our heroes found it to be ANYTHING but quiet… especially when the Bad Guys and their apprentices started singing/rapping along to the music.

Bad Guys and Mythix Tigers: Hooked on hip-hop phonics

Yeah, it works for me
So jump aboard, yeah, this train is free
The conductor, let me toot my whistle
The instructor of the funky uncle fizzle

We be dancin’ on a lake when it ain’t froze over
We be walkin’ on water while you’re sinkin’ your rover.
If you step any closer, you’ll be eatin’ some teeth.
So please step back…

Izzy couldn’t help but laugh at how catchy the music was, but then noticed her friends looking at her with disappointment. “What? You can’t help that their music is catchy! Even if they are criminals!”

“You don’t think they’re the people we’re supposed to help, do you?” Allura asked. “I mean, I was a criminal once, and then you ponies helped me and Twitch, so…”

“Maybe, Allura, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up just yet,” said Zipp with a bit of caution. “We need to get out of this car chase first!”

“And I think we better hurry!” Pipp said as she watched out the back window. “Those officers do NOT mess around!”

At the same time, Chief Luggins was at the head of the pack of police officers, laughing in happiness at being close to catching the Bad Guys and their little feline companions once and for all. “I’m gonna put you guys away for so long, your fleas will have fleas!”

The chief quickly put her nightstick on the pedal and carefully climbed out of the car before she leaned out and grabbed the Bad Guys' car, pulling them close and causing those inside to scream. “Carmine!” Reva cried out. “Do your thing!”

“One little potion spritz, coming right up!” Carmine said, getting out a bottle and spraying the contents into the chief’s face. “AGH!!! My eyes!”

“Oooh…” Misty groaned under her breath. “That’s gonna sting in the morning.”

“Chief. You want some cake?” Mr. Shark asked, offering the chief some cake that they had gotten for Mr. Snake’s birthday. “You seem a little hangry.”

While Allura and Zipp groaned under their breath at the cheesiness of Mr. Shark's statement, Twitch and Izzy merely giggled at this joke. “Hangry… I get it!” Izzy giggled. “Hungry and angry!”

The chief, however, was not amused. “Get that thing out of my face before I…”

“Um, excuse me?” Oran tried to get the chief’s attention. “Chief?”

“What?!”

That was when Mr. Wolf pointed to a bus that they were heading for, causing the chief to scream and get back to her car, narrowly avoiding the bus as it passed by. Chief Luggins nearly fell out but scrambled back into her car, drifting a bit in the process. “Phew…” Zari sighed in relief. “That was close.”

“So… how often does THIS happen?” Pipp asked the Bad Guys sarcastically as they continued to jam out. “Oh, just about every week, posey pink,” Ms. Tarantula said, booping Pipp on the nose. “We kinda like to rile the chief up before things get serious.”

“And you bring cubs into this without telling their parents?!” Hitch practically shrieked. “Oh, when I get out of this, you’re gonna be in the hot seat with some very angry mom and dad tigers!”

“Uh, there’s no need to tell the folks, Mr. Earth Pony,” Zari said politely before looking at the floor, a bit downcast. “Cause, uh… t-t-that’s a sensitive subject.”

Mr. Piranha rubbed her head a little bit as the crew moved along in their car, jamming to the same song until Misty yelped upon seeing something dead ahead. “Guys! More police cars heading your way!”

“Uh, isn’t that a good thing?” Izzy asked. “We do want them to get us out of here, right?”

“Not yet, Izzy-- we still have no idea what our exact mission is or why the Unity Crystals wanted us to meet these... unique characters,” Sunny whispered to the lavender unicorn. “We’re just gonna have to hold on for the ride until we know for sure!”

At the same time, Chief Luggins saw the other police cars in front of the Bad Guys’ car, causing her to chuckle wickedly. “You’re mine.”

Then, to the surprise of the others, Mr. Wolf slammed right onto the pedal, speeding up toward the cars and making Reva a bit nervous. “Uh… Wolfie? W-What are you doing…?!”

But before Reva could get her answer, Mr. Wolf pulled on the stick and the car drifts away before going down some stairs, causing the chief and some other officers to scream before colliding into each other, making a pile of crashed police cars with a few cops flying out.

Meanwhile, the Bad Guys, the Mane 6, Allura, Twitch and the Mythix Tigers soared down the stairs, with a few of the Bad Guys flying out of their seats before the car landed on the stairs and proceeded to drive down as they all screamed... even when the cake landed back in their car, they screamed once again.

Soon enough, they made it off of the stairs and back into the city streets, knocking over two trash cans in the process. And after all that, the Mythix Tiger cubs panted out of terror, causing them and their mentors to put on their seatbelts. “So… this is what it’s like for you guys all the time?” Sunny asked in confusion, slight admiration and slight fear. “Being bad and doing stuff like this around the clock?”

“Well, yeah,” Mr. Shark responded, looking at them as if they were crazy. “What did you think we did all day? Drink tea and ride on rainbows?”

Pipp gasped deeply at this, her eyes narrowing. “I take TOTAL offense to that! We only have tea on Thursdays at Mane Melody.”

Mr. Wolf chuckled and turned to look at the captured ones in the backseat. “One thing you guys need to learn quick-- we may be bad, but we’re so good at it.”

“Um… quick question, though. You’re not gonna be able to outrun the police forever,” said Misty, “especially with us as hostages, so… where are you guys gonna take us?”

“Trust me,” said Reva with a smile. “We have a place in mind.”

And so, the Bad Guys’ car sped away once again, but back with the police officers, Chief Luggins kicked down the door only to see them getting away. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” she cried out, throwing down and stomping on her hat before calling out to the fearless leader of the crew. “Keep running, Wolf! One of these days, your luck is gonna run out!”

XXXXXXXX

The Bad Guys and their apprentices then proceeded to take the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch through the outskirts of the city, trying their best not to be seen by any law enforcement along the way, and after a little while, Gretchen even decided to let them out of the cages, knowing that, for some reason, they could trust their new… associates.

And after a little bit of silence, Mr. Snake turned to those in the very back of the car with an unreadable expression. “So… you guys new to L.A or somethin’? Don’t see many creatures like you in these parts.”

“Oh, we’re just… visiting,” Sunny said after a bit of hesitation. “We’re actually from a world called Equestria, where unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies work together to maintain unity and harmony so our magic flows freely.”

“But… we’ve never seen tigers like your little friends before,” Hitch said, overcoming his unease enough to pet Carmine, who happily purred at the touch. “How long have you guys been able to cast magic like that?”

“We’re Mythix Tigers-- rare tigers that originated in the Valley of Mythix over 1000 years ago,” Oran explained. “When a Mythix Tiger realizes their special magic, that’s when we get these fancy-schmancy cutie marks. See?”

“Ohhh, just like ours!” Izzy said, showing off her cutie mark. “But our cutie marks light up when our sparkle really starts to shine. Do yours do that too?”

“Huh?” Gretchen looked down at her cutie mark before humming. “Not really sure… if it has, I’ve never felt it.”

“Butt marks that light up?” Mr. Piranha looked skeptical at such a claim. “You know how crazy that sounds, right, hermana?”

“I dunno,” Mr. Shark shrugged innocently. “I think it sounds kinda cool.”

“It is,” Misty nodded. “Hopefully, if we stick around Los Angeles, you’ll be able to see it for yourselves.”

There was a brief moment of silence before Allura finally spoke up, clearing her throat. “Listen… I know we tried to stop you back at the bank, but… is there a possibility that we can stay with you all until we find our… reason for being in town?”

“Huh?!” all the Mane 6 members looked at Allura as if she were crazy-- even Twitch seemed a little stunned. “Whoa whoa whoa, hold up,” Ms. Tarantula stopped Allura right there. “You wanna stay… with us? In our hideout?”

“Yeah… I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Mr. Wolf said uneasily. “No one’s ever been in it except us, and how are we supposed to know if you out-of-towners can keep your lips zipped?”

“Oh, please, Wolf?” Reva begged. “We’ve never had guests stay with us before! It could be really fun! Besides… if we let them stay, they won’t say anything about us, kinda… kidnapping them. So… that works out too, doesn’t it?”

Mr. Snake looked at his friend skeptically, unsure of what to say or think. “Wolf?”

Mr. Wolf thought long and hard about this. Sure, bringing a bunch of outsiders into their lair was something they had never done before, but… something about them made Mr. Wolf think that the newcomers could be trusted.

Besides… the cubs sure seemed to be growing fond of them, and that was always a good sign.

Also, there was the fact that if the newcomers were allowed to stay, the part about the Bad Guys kidnapping them would fade away, leaving them to go off of just the robbery charges if they WERE caught.

So, finally, Mr. Wolf let out a sigh and rubbed the top of Reva’s head. “All right, kid, you and your cousins win the cuteness round. They can stay, but they can’t tell anybody about where we’re hiding.”

“We promise,” said Allura, “your secret lair’s location is safe with us.”

But once they started moving again, Hitch turned to Allura in worry. “Are you sure we can trust them, Allura? I mean, once again, they ARE called the Bad Guys for a reason.”

“And sure, the cubs may be cute,” Pipp added, “but they seem to be taking off with the Bad Guys’ habits.”

“Look… I was a lot like them once,” Allura whispered, “so maybe if we stay with them and keep their secret, we can shed a bit more light on their situation and maybe find a way to help them. Please… let me do something for someone else the way you have done something similar for me and Twitch.”

The Mane 6 spared each other a worried glance before they decided to trust Allura and Twitch’s instincts.

They did have a point.

This could be their chance to help someone else turn to the good side like Allura and Twitch did a little while back.

If they could help the Bad Guys do that in some way, shape or form... that would be a mission well accomplished in their opinion.

XXXXXXXX

Later, the Bad Guys' car drove under a Sixth Street bridge sign and entered a dark tunnel, where Mr. Wolf turned on the headlights and Misty and Izzy helped light up the tunnel further with their unicorn magic. Inside that tunnel was a small elevator, and once the car drove inside, everyone got out of it as the elevator began to rise. It wasn't long after that until they got to the floor where the Bad Guys' lair was...

...and it was filled with more money, jewels, gold and other valuables than the Mane 6 would ever dare to count.

The second the group got to the hideout, our heroes' eyes went wide at all the stolen items around them. “Whoa, would you look at all this stuff?” Misty said as she lifted up a large bag of money with her magic. “It kind of makes you wonder how long the Bad Guys have been doing this sort of thing.”

“From what Wolf’s told us in his stories,” Gretchen said as she stretched, “he and the others have been doing this for years-- long before they took us under their wings.”

Sunny tilted her head curiously to this. “How long ago was that?”

“About a year and a half if I remember right,” Oran yawned. “We were brought to Los Angeles after…”

It was at this that Oran trailed off, looking down at the floor and causing his cousins to look at each other in concern… but it didn’t last long until Carmine let out a soft sigh. “Ever since the Valley of Mythix was destroyed. And with it… all of our parents.”

The Mane 6, Allura and Twitch froze in their tracks when they heard this. “Your valley and families… were destroyed?” Zipp said in sympathy. “How?”

“We… don’t really remember. Pieces of it are kinda fuzzy,” Zari admitted. “But… I guess the less we know, the better… right?”

Allura wished she could tell the cubs what all she had went through when she was their age, but… she was honestly afraid to mention her brother and break down.

What would the cubs and Bad Guys think of the group then? What if they were kicked out?

But before anything else could be said about the matter, Mr. Wolf picked Reva up in his arms and carried her toward the table. “Hey, come on, guys. The party’s just getting started.”

“Well, a party is a party,” Izzy shrugged innocently before prancing over to the table. “Let me at it!”

Mr. Wolf and Mr. Shark cleared off some space on the table to put the cake on top, prompting everyone to gather around before Zari turned to her mentor. “All right, Piranha,” she said as she used her lightning magic to light the birthday candles, “you’re up.”

“Oooh…” Mr. Piranha began to softly vocalize to a very grumpy-looking Mr. Snake before he started to sing the traditional ‘Happy Birthday’ song. “Happy birth…”

But unfortunately. Mr. Snake blew out the candles before Mr. Piranha could finish, causing him to gasp in dismay while Oran and Ms. Tarantula glared over at Mr. Snake, appalled by the action. “Seriously?!”

“Snake, come on,” Mr. Wolf tried to encourage as he lifted a glass. “At least make a toast.”

“Yeah, a toast!”

“Come on, Snake!”

“Toast us with your best shot!”

“Please?”

Everyone seemingly begging Mr. Snake to make a toast finally made him relent and grab a glass with his tail. “Fine,” he said, raising the glass slightly before starting his toast. “I’ve made a lot of enemies in my time… I mean, a lot… but out of all the people in the world, I hate you guys the least.”

“Aww...” Ms. Tarantula said, feeling touched by Mr. Snake's words as Mr. Piranha wiped a tear from his eye. “That was actually kind of beautiful.”

“If given the chance,” said Izzy, “you could be a poet!”

Mr. Wolf lifted his glass a bit to toast Mr. Snake once more. “To Mr. Snake and his strange dislike of birthdays.”

This prompted the others to cheer in response before clinking their glasses together, and the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch watched as Mr. Wolf pulled out a camera to take a quick selfie of him and his crew. “Everyone say robbery!”

“Robbery!” the apprentices and the rest of the Bad Guys chorused before the picture was taken and developed from the camera. “Oh. Look at those dimples,” Mr. Wolf gushed before Mr. Snake took the photo. “Happy birthday, buddy.”

“So… is it cake time yet?” Zari asked, causing Carmine to nudge her. “What? I was asking for the new guys’ sake!”

“Okay, okay,” Mr. Snake chuckled. “Now, dig in, fellas.”

“YES!!” Mr. Piranha said before cackling and diving right into the cake, scattering icing and cake crumbs all over the place. “Piranha!” Ms. Tarantula scolded. “Eww, eww, eww! Watch the fur!” Carmine said as she tried to avoid the crumbs and icing. “It’ll take forever to get it out of my fur!”

“I got the clean-up under control!” Reva said, splashing a little bit of water here and there to protect her cousins and friends from the mess. “It’s a good think water is definitely my thing!”

As the others were trying to stop Mr. Piranha from devouring the whole cake, Mr. Snake slithered over to the fridge with the photo Mr. Wolf took and stuck it onto the fridge with a magnet, just like all the other photos they had taken together.

It was a good reminder of their friendship... something that we all know that Sunny and her friends value.

Even if it is a strong friendship between criminals and their apprentices.

As the others were continuing to scold and clean up after Piranha, Mr. Snake opened the freezer and found a single orange push-pop laying in the bottom of it, causing him to smile greedily. “Nice.”

Mr. Snake quickly got the push-pop out of the freezer and shut the door, only to turn around and find Mr. Shark eyeing the push-pop hungrily. “Ooh, wow. I forgot we had those Push Pops!” he spoke up as Mr. Snake tried to move the push-pop away. “Man... my tummy is rumbling like a kraken right now.”

“...yeah,” Mr. Snake smirked and held it out to him. “You want it?”

“Aww,” Izzy smiled at the sight. “That’s so nice of Mr. Snake to wanna share!”

“Uh, don’t get too used to it, Izzy,” Oran said with a sigh as he tried to remove some cake crumbs from Carmine’s fur. “He usually tries to dupe Shark with this on a weekly basis.”

“Shark, come on,” Ms. Tarantula tried to persuade. “You know he’s not going to give it to you.”

“No,” Mr. Shark denied the statement. “I believe that deep down, Snake is a kind and generous soul.”

“...why?” Oran questioned in confusion, causing Pipp to shush him so that way she could watch the potential moment. “Here,” Mr. Snake held the push-pop out further. “Take it.”

“Oh yeah!! Pop me, please!” Mr. Shark said excitedly before holding his mouth open. “Ahh…”

Mr. Snake quickly moved the push-pop in the direction of Mr. Shark's mouth, but with the others watching in anticipation, as he slowly put the push-pop to his tongue, and at the very last second... Mr. Snake threw the push-pop into his mouth with a wicked sneer at seeing Mr. Shark's heartbroken face. “Sucker.”

“Come on, dude!” Reva groaned. “Now you’re gonna make Shark go all aggressive again!”

“A-Aggressive?” Misty seemed a bit nervous when Reva said this. “How aggressive are we talking about here?”

But before anyone could respond to this, Mr. Shark lunged at Mr. Snake and started a really intense fight that soon involved Mr. Piranha and Ms. Tarantula, all of them rolling on the floor while Allura used her magic to create an ice dome of protection around the group so they wouldn’t get too involved.

Mr. Wolf, on the other hand, merely walked past his fighting teammates over to the couch, smiling and shaking his head slightly. “Animals.”

“Mythix Tigers, retreat to the couch with Wolf!” Reva shouted to her cousins. “Try and avoid the thrashing around as best you can!”

“Excuse me!” Zari called politely as she started in between the fighting with her cousins right behind. “Coming through! Watch it now! Careful with the teeth, Piranha! I don’t wanna have bite marks in me by the time this is over!”

However, while her cousins dodged the fighting with their regular feline instincts, Reva summoned a small wave of water and leapt right over the fighting, landing beside Wolf on the couch. “Phew… I’ve been working on that one in case we need a beachside getaway.”

“Heh heh, nice one, kid,” Mr. Wolf praised as Reva’s cousins joined quickly them on the couch. “You know, if you guys keep at it, you might be as good as me and my crew one day.”

“What, are you kidding?” Gretchen scoffed. “No one can be better criminals than the Bad Guys.”

At the same time, the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch were watching the others intently, trying to see what they could learn from a distance. “Huh… their relationships are kinda confusing me,” Zipp said as she took down notes on her FlyPad. “On the one hoof, they seem as close as friends, maybe even family. But… on the other hoof… the Bad Guys are criminals, and they're leading those poor tiger cubs into a life of being just as sneaky and devious as they are.”

“But you gotta admit… they know how to look after each other,” Hitch voiced his opinion. “That’s gotta count for something, right?”

“Uh-huh,” Twitch nodded in agreement. “Look… the Unity Crystals do work in mysterious ways sometimes,” Misty argued. “They sent us to where the Bad Guys and those cubs were for a reason, and it’s up to us to figure it out and figure out how to help them before something drastic happens.”

“I agree,” Sunny said, nodding in agreement before turning back to the group's impending task. “Let’s just keep a close eye on them for a while... see how things are working and what we can do to help.”

At the same time, Oran tossed Mr. Wolf the TV remote, which he immediately used to turn on the news. “Let’s see what they’re saying about us today.”

It was then that an image of a black-haired human woman appeared on the TV screen, at the bank where the Bad Guys' latest heist had occurred. “What up? It’s Tiffany Fluffit, Channel 6 Action News. The Bad Guys have struck again…”

“Hey, you guys! Stop it!” Reva cried to the other Bad Guys in excitement. “We’re on TV!”

This caused the fighting to stop immediately, and everyone, even the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch approached to watch the news with Mr. Wolf and the cubs as Tiffany Bluffit continued speaking. “…proving once more that they are the most diabolical criminals of our time.”

“Ooh, diabolical,” Ms. Tarantula commented, seemingly impressed with Tiffany’s choice of words. “That’s a new one.”

“Know what it sounds like? A cologne,” Mr. Shark voiced his opinion. “Diabolical.”

“Ooh, not a bad name, Shark!” Pipp said as she eagerly typed it down on her phone. “I gotta save that for a new Pipp scent line for stallions.”

That was when the news broadcast shifted over to some sort of press conference, and at the head of the conference was a tall, beautiful and pear-shaped anthropomorphic red fox with the basic fox traits (pointed-ears, a pointed muzzle with black inner lip-liner and a dusty-pink nose paws with dark auburn claws, and a bushy tail). Her rather thick fur was a ginger color with fluffy-tufts located and the sides of her face, with pale-apricot patches which are lightly placed around her eyes, muzzle to her chest, insides of her ears, the front of her paws and the tip of her tail. She also had sharp black eyebrows with the left sporting two small round silver piercings, oval-shaped eyes with noticeable green irises and small, yet fluttery-like lashes protruding from them.

In terms of outfits, she wore an elegant business attire which consists of a set of silver thin oval-framed glasses, a gray business pantsuit with the jacket being worn over a white dress-shirt with a skinny dark navy silk necktie, a pair of dark navy high-heels, a diamond necklace and a diamond bracelet that she wore around her right wrist.

And with her appeared to be a young gray cheetah cub with grayish-brown fur with darker grayish-brown spots on his body with a matching tail tip. He has stormy blue eyes, a black nose with whiskers and a cutie mark of a tornado.

As the fox stepped up to the podium, Tiffany finally began speaking again. “To address this heinous crime spree is the newly elected governor, Diane Foxington and her Dark Cheetah assistant, Rogue.”

Mr. Wolf seemed to perk up at this. “Governor?”

“Hey, check it out, cubs,” Hitch said. “Rogue looks like he’s about your age.”

“Oh, uh… yeah,” Reva nodded, her fascinated brown eyes on Rogue. “Totally.”

Pipp could immediately sense what Reva was thinking-- it was the same look Jazz had whenever she tried to deny that she had feelings for Rocky back home. But before she could call Reva out on this, Rogue handed the governor a piece of paper he had in his mouth. “Here you go, governor.”

“Thank you, Rogue,” Diane smiled and patted the cub on the head before turning her attention back to the upset crowd waiting for the press conference. “Okay. Yeah. I hear you. I hear you. Listen, listen. We all know how dastardly the Bad Guys are.”

Mr. Wolf smirked at this. “You bet we are.”

“Um, Mr. Wolf?” Misty whispered with a frown. “I don’t think that was a compliment.”

“But more than anything,” Diane continued with a slight chuckle, “I feel sorry for them and those poor tiger cubs.”

“Wait,” Carmine sat up, not expecting this response whatsoever. “Say what now?”

“These so-called Bad Guys,” Diane continued, “are really just second-rate has-beens. Behind their amateurish antics and, frankly, unoriginal capers… I mean, really, another bank? …is nothing but a deep well of anger…”

“I ain’t angry!” Mr. Piranha said angrily. “You’re angry!”

“...denial…”

Ms. Tarantula crossed her arms at this remark. “Not true!”

“...and,” Rogue added, “don’t forget the self-loathing.”

“The only one I self-loathe is you,” Mr. Snake sneered at the TV. “Besides,” Rogue added, “the fact they drag those five Mythix Tiger cubs into their crimes speaks a lot about their character.”

“Hey! We’re perfectly happy with learning from these guys,” Gretchen growled at the TV, “thank you very much!”

“And,” Diane spoke up again, “those are holes that no amount of cash or priceless art can ever fill.”

Sunny could tell that the Bad Guys and the cubs (all except Reva, who had a look of mixed emotions on her face) were getting a bit riled up, and chuckled nervously before moving a hoof toward the remote. “So, what’s on the Food Network?”

“Who is she to judge us?!” Mr. Wolf growled in anger as Diane started speaking again. “So, can we just forget about the Bad Guys for once and focus on more positive things? And what could be more positive than the annual Good Samaritan Awards, where tomorrow night I will present the Golden Dolphin to this year’s ‘Goodest Citizen’…”

But before Diane could finish, Twitch hopped over and pressed a button on the remote, turning the TV off before things could get even more heated. “I can’t believe I voted for her!” Ms. Tarantula said in annoyance, causing Zari to look at her strangely. “You voted for her?”

“What?” Oran shrugged. “Webs told me she’s good on climate change. The polar ice caps are melting, you know.”

“Well… her cub seemed awful nice,” Reva said quietly. “He… seems to care about the world around him, you know?”

“Ooooh… she is smitten like a kitten!” Pipp whispered to Zipp with a giggle. “I wonder how long it’ll take for the two of them to hit up.”

However, as the others were discussing the press conference amongst themselves, Mr. Wolf seemed to smirk as he got a wicked idea, and Sunny immediately caught onto this, a slightly bad feeling rising out of her stomach. “Wolf, what’s going on?” she asked the leader of the Bad Guys rather cautiously. “You look like you’ve got some sort of twinkle in your eye-- the same one I see in Izzy’s eyes as soon as she gets an idea for a new project.”

“Guys, who’s up for another job?” Mr. Wolf asked his friends, ignoring Sunny as he got up. “A big one.”

That was when Mr. Wolf went up to the window and opened the shutters to show a billboard of the Good Samaritan Awards with a picture of the Golden Dolphin award on it, and the other Bad Guys and their apprentices looked shocked. “The Golden Dolphin?” Gretchen asked in surprise. “Seriously?”

“Ohhh…” Mr. Piranha winced. “I thought I was the crazy one.”

“Excuse me for interrupting, everyone,” Allura said cautiously, “but… what’s so wrong with Wolf’s idea? I thought you’ve stolen statues before.”

“We have,” Mr. Snake quipped, “but that job has broken every criminal who’s tried it. The Bucharest Bandits, Lucky Jim.”

“Ooh!” Carmine pushed a newspaper over to the table. “And don’t forget about the Crimson Paw!”

“Actually,” Oran interrupted, “the Crimson Paw was never actually arrested.”

“Yeah, but he never stole anything again,” Mr. Snake pointed out. “Oof… I don’t wanna admit it, but I think your friends might be onto something, Wolf,” Zipp frowned. “If securing the Golden Dolphin really is as dangerous as they say it is, you guys could be treading on thin ice.”

“Snake, Zipp, come on,” Mr. Wolf brushed off the danger with a smile. “What better way to wipe that smirk off the governor’s fuzzy face than stealing the Golden Dolphin from right under her whiskers? This is the Holy Grail of thievery. If we pull this off, we’ll cement our legacy as the greatest criminals of all time.”

“Oh man…” Zari muttered. “I never thought about actually leaving a legacy with our work before.”

“Whoa, whoa, buddy. I thought we weren’t supposed to make things personal,” Mr. Snake still seemed a bit unsure. “Besides, we’ve got a good thing going here. Friends, freedom, and just look at this loot.”

“All right, you’re right. Forget it. The Dolphin job is off,” Mr. Wolf immediately dismissed, and Mr. Snake seemed satisfied with this answer. But as he turned to go back to the couch, Mr. Wolf spoke up again. “I guess the pig will get his trophy after all.”

“Yeah, I guess he would…” Mr. Snake began to say before he suddenly stopped, realizing what Wolf said. “What do you mean, pig?”

“Oh, yes, did I not mention that? That’s weird,” Mr. Wolf said with a slight grin. “I thought I mentioned that it was, uh…”

That was when Mr. Wolf pulled down the rest of the shudders, revealing that the receiver of the Golden Dolphin was an anthropomorphic guinea pig, much to Mr. Snake’s shock…

…and the confusion of the others, with Mr. Shark finally speaking up. “The Good Samaritan is…”

“A guinea pig?” Misty tilted her head, causing Mr. Snake to slurp excitedly, his craving for guinea pigs taking over. “What do you say, Snakey?” Mr. Wolf asked his best friend. “Better than cake.”

The other Bad Guys and their apprentices laughed at this while the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch seemed a bit concerned with the fact Mr. Wolf was still thinking about doing this.

But after a moment, Mr. Snake finally made his decision known. “Okay. Fine. But he better be delicious.”

Mr. Wolf held out his hand to his crew. “Are we all in this together?”

“You bet!”

“Of course we are!”

“I’m in if you’re in, Wolfie!”

The Bad Guys and their apprentices put their hands/fins/paws/tail on top of each other before Mr. Wolf spared a glance at their guests. “You know… I’ll make you guys a deal. If you cooky kids just help keep an eye out for us tomorrow night at the gala, you won’t be involved with the heist at all.”

“Really?” Hitch raised an eyebrow. “It’s gonna be that simple?”

“Yeah, baby,” Mr. Shark nodded. “Leave the real heist to the professionals.”

“And, once we get the Golden Dolphin,” Carmine added onto Shark's statement, “you guys can stay with us for as long as you want… until that mission of yours is worked out and you can go home.”

Allura spared a glance over at the Mane 6’s leader. “What do you think, Sunny? Do you think we can do that?”

Sunny wasn’t exactly sure what to do-- sure, the Bad Guys and the cubs were actually pretty cool once you got to know them, and Mr. Wolf did guarantee that they wouldn’t be part of the actual heist if they kept an eye out for any trouble, but then again…

…they were still criminals.

It was then that Sunny finally began to piece together an answer.

The Unity Crystals worked in mysterious ways sometimes, and if the crystals really believed it was their mission to help the Bad Guys and the cubs in some way… they had to at least give the crystals the benefit of the doubt.

So, finally… Sunny let out a deep sigh. “Okay… we’ll keep an eye out for you during the award ceremony tomorrow night, but you gotta keep your word and not mention us.”

“Deal,” Mr. Wolf said to the group confidently. “Now, all paws and hooves in here, all right?”

And so, reluctantly, the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch put their hooves/paws into the mix, and once they were all there, the Bad Guys and their apprentices let out a cheer, welcoming the newcomers into their circle.

But… unfortunately… the happiness didn’t last very long.

As Reva glanced away from her friends toward the window, she saw a dark shadow flying toward their secret lair, causing her eyes to widen. “No… no no no no no no no no!!! She’s here already?! I thought we had another day!”

“Who’s here?” Sunny asked in confusion. “What’s going on?”

“You guys gotta get outta here!” Ms. Tarantula warned. “She won’t like it if she finds out you’re here!”

“She?” Zipp questioned. “She who?”

“No time to explain! Just stay out of sight!” Gretchen pleaded. “We’ll tell you when it’s safe to come out again!”

And so, the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch quickly ran into a large closet and Mr. Snake locked the door from the outside.

From the inside of the closet, Misty turned to her friends in concern. “Did anypony else find the way they acted… weird, just now?”

“They looked… terrified,” Allura muttered, her face falling. “Almost as afraid as the auroricorns were of me…”

“Do you think they’re in trouble?” Hitch asked in concern. “Maybe,” Sunny nodded. “We need to get a good look.”

“But we’re locked in the closet!” Pipp argued. “How are we gonna see through a solid wood door?”

“...I have a spell that might be able to help,” Misty said before finding an old mirror in the storage closet, getting it out and setting it in front of her before closing her eyes. “I might seem a little quiet, but my strength is very real. When my cutie mark comes to life, my heart helps me feel!”

Misty then proceeded to send some cutie mark magic to the mirror, and its magic sparkles scaled along the reflective surface before it turned into an image of the Bad Guys’ hideout again. “Nice going, Misty!” Sunny praised as Twitch rubbed the mirror’s surface with his paw. “It’ll be like we can see everything going on from in here!”

“Now, we just sit and wait,” Hitch said, sitting down on the floor, prompting the others to do the same as they waited for something to occur.

XXXXXXXX

Back in the main part of the Bad Guys' hideout, the Bad Guys and their apprentices scrambled to attention, standing in a straight line and trying not to look nervous as the elevator doors slowly opened to reveal another figure, standing and staring ominously at them from the shadows.

The figure finally stepped out into view, revealing herself to be... a dragon, just like those on the Isle of Scaly, but... somehow... she was different.

She was a typical European styled dragon with four legs, wings and horns, but unlike any other dragons that they had met, this dragon had gray skin with purple claws and horns, purple spikes on her back and a purple tail tip, along with blue eyes and a cutie mark of three dark magic wisps.

The dragon stalked into the hideout, looking around suspiciously before Reva gulped nervously and tried to greet her. “H-Hi, Safira. W-We… didn’t expect you until the end of the week.”

The dragon, now known as Safira, let out a scoff after glancing around again. “I saw your little escapade on the news. Another bank robbery, cubs? I'm so disappointed.”

“Oh…” Reva muttered and looked down at the ground sadly, causing Mr. Wolf to rub her head reassuringly. “It’s the deets, kids, that make the difference between mean and truly evil,” Safira said sinisterly, pacing in front of the group. “See, I'm just, just trying to teach you the thing that really counts... how to be me.”

“W-We’ll try and do better,” Zari said softly. “We promise.”

Safira glared down at the youngest of the cousins with a stern expression, causing her to hunker down in fright. “Did I ask for your input, you little runt?”

“Hey, you big scaly lizard!” Mr. Piranha suddenly snapped in Zari’s defense, only for Safira to roar in his face. “Say one more word to me,” she threatened, “and I won’t hesitate to turn you to stone!”

Mr. Piranha and Zari gulped nervously and backed up behind Mr. Shark and Carmine, obviously intimidated. “So… tell me of the cubs’ training,” Safira said, turning her attention to Mr. Wolf. “Have they been excelling their spell-casting lessons?”

Mr. Wolf nodded stiffly. “Yep. All of them have gotten As all week.”

“Good. Carmine’s potion creation sessions?”

Mr. Wolf nodded stiffly once more. “She’s been making new potions she would like to show you, if--”

“No time for that. She already knows being beautiful is the only thing that should matter to her. Now… the most important question of all,” Safira said, getting right in Mr. Wolf’s face. “Have there been any… outsiders in the city here recently?”

Mr. Wolf’s ears folded back, hesitating to this question as his gaze trailed toward the closet. He couldn't give Sunny and her friends away... they just couldn't. Not after they had been so friendly.

But then again... Safira was going to destroy them if she had found out otherwise.

Finally, Mr. Wolf gained a bit of courage and took a deep breath. “No-- not that we’ve seen. But if we do, you’ll be the first to know.”

“...very well,” Safira said slowly. “Now… what heist are you planning next?”

“Well… this is a bit of a stretch,” said Oran, “but… Wolf actually wanted us to try and steal the Golden Dolphin tomorrow night.”

Safira stopped in her tracks, her blue eyes flickering dangerously at this. “What did you just say…?”

“He wants to put the governor in her place,” Gretchen added timidly. “And he promised Snake that he would get to eat Professor Marmalade, the guinea pig that is supposed to get--”

“The Golden Dolphin, yes, I’m aware,” Safira rolled her eyes. “Hmm… this might be a good chance to put the cubs’ skills to the test. A good suggestion from you, Wolf.”

The cubs sighed in relief as Safira gave them her next batch of instructions. “You ten are to work together and steal the Golden Dolphin from the Good Samaritan Awards ceremony tomorrow night, and I can see so much more in all of our futures. With my dark magic and all of you bending your backs to my will, I will be able to bond both good and evil to my will!”

However, her sadistic smile turned into a serious frown as she faced the five cubs again. “And if you kids refuse, you're grounded for the rest of your lives.”

“What?!” Reva looked stunned and angered. “No, Safira, that’s not--!”

Suddenly, Safira got down to Reva's level, and the two began an intense staring contest, which began to make their eyes glow bright blue, neither one of them refusing to blink... until Reva sighed heavily and backed out, making her eyes stop their glow. “Fine. Whatever.”

“I win!” Safira chirped sadistically. “The future of the free world rests on your shoulders, my darling little cubs. Don’t mess it up.”

The cubs nodded reluctantly before bowing. “Yes… mistress.”

Safira sighed as she opened up a nearby window in order to fly out. “That’s music to my ears, little ones. Music to my ears.”

And with that, she unfurled her wings and flew off, leaving the Bad Guys and the cubs to sigh in relief. “Sheesh,” Mr. Snake shuddered. “I hate to admit it, but that dragon scares me.”

“I guess there’s another reason we can’t mess this up tomorrow night,” Carmine sighed in worry. “If we do… we’ll never hear the end of it.”

XXXXXXXX

Back in the closet, the others had seen everything through the mirror Misty had enchanted, their eyes wide in tension and terror. “Did you see that?!” Izzy told her friends. “That dragon, she was just…”

“Being a cold and terrifying tyrant,” Allura sighed. “She… she reminds me so much of my father… and who I used to be.”

Twitch sighed sadly and hugged against Allura’s leg, but Sunny was the first pony to come to Allura’s aid. “Allura, you’re not like that anymore. You’re a better creature now, and it shows.”

“But, what are we gonna do about the Bad Guys and cubs having to deal with this Safira character?” Zipp asked. “She’s obviously really powerful, and pretty intimidating.”

“And if she finds out that outsiders, AKA us, are in the area…” Pipp shuddered out of fright. “I don’t wanna think about it.”

“I’m not sure what we’re gonna do about Safira yet. But what I do know… is that, as much as we don’t want to, we HAVE to help keep an eye on things at the awards ceremony so the heist goes off without a hitch,” Sunny said seriously. “For our sake, the Bad Guys’ sake… and the sake of those five cubs.”

Tales of Safira and the Mythix Tigers

It was clear that the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch had stumbled into a much bigger plot than they had realized.

After the car chase with the police department and getting back to the hideout with all the loot the Bad Guys had taken over the years, the Bad Guys and their apprentices finally agreed on stealing the coveted Golden Dolphin award, and Mr. Wolf had promised our heroes that if they helped keep watch and make sure the plan went smoothly, the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch's involvement would be kept a secret.

So even if they WERE caught, they would be off the hook.

But not long after this pact was made, the ponies, Allura and Twitch were rushed into hiding before the arrival of a fearsome new foe-- a dragon named Safira, who was informed of the cubs' training and the plan to steal the Golden Dolphin by the Bad Guys, and Safira warned them that if the plan didn't go AS planned, there would be severe consequences.

Allura knew that was how she treated the auroricorns and many of her subjects in Leopardia throughout her life, and it was scary to think of how much Safira reminded Allura of her father, King Nekro.

Our heroes had to make sure their new… acquaintances were protected from Safira’s rage any way they could, even if it meant being involved in a plan that they honestly hated.

Now… let’s get back to the story and see how things shape up from there, shall we?

XXXXXXXX

Reva woke up from her sleep with a gasp of horror, having another nightmare of the night her valley was attacked and destroyed by intruders, and with it… her parents, aunts and uncles.

She had nightmares like that for the past few years, but they hadn't gotten this bad before.

It was like she was reliving the whole night all over again.

She looked over at Mr. Wolf, her cousins and the rest of the Bad Guys, who were all still asleep, causing her to sigh to herself. “Maybe I need a snack to try and help me go back to sleep. I'm sure there are some extra cake crumbs left from where Piranha devoured it earlier.”

And so, Reva slowly climbed out of bed toward the door, and once she looked back at her friends and cousins, she sighed once again before heading toward the kitchen to grab herself a midnight snack.

XXXXXXXX

Little did Reva know it, but Allura and Sunny were up as well (with their friends sleeping in the living room in front of the couch, deciding they would be more comfortable there when they were not taking up as much room). “Thank you for making me some tea, Sunny,” Allura said as Sunny poured some tea into a bowl that she had found in the kitchen cabinets. “I’m not normally this sleep deprived.”

Sunny smiled warmly as she put the tea kettle back on the stove. “It’s no problem at all. My dad used to make me a blend similar to this when I couldn’t sleep-- I thought maybe it could help you.”

Allura took delicate little sips out of the bowl, feeling more comfortable using that than a teacup, due to how big her paws were. “Ah… that is nice.”

“I sure hope the plan goes like it’s supposed to tomorrow,” Sunny sighed as she walked around the kitchen in order to sit next to Allura at the dining table. “I don’t wanna know what evil things Safira has in mind for the Bad Guys and the cubs if it doesn’t.”

“Believe me, I don’t either,” Allura shook her head. “They may be… doing the wrong things, but… I feel like they’re… a lot like me.”

Sunny looked at her in surprise. “Because they’re feared and they feel like there’s no other way to live their lives?”

“That’s… part of it,” Allura said with some hesitation, taking a sip of tea before looking at her reflection. “And… the part of being manipulated by someone with a higher power and authority than you. Like… me and Alterro were with--”

“E-Excuse me…?”

Sunny and Allura looked up from their conversation to see innocent little Reva standing in the doorway, looking a bit sleep deprived herself. “Oh… hi, Reva,” Sunny said gently. “Do you want some tea?”

“Um… no thank you,” Reva said quietly, trying to be polite. “I guess I’m just… a little outta sorts due to a nightmare I had.”

“Ohhh… you poor cub,” Allura frowned and began to approach. “Can I ask what it was about?”

“...it was about the night our valley was attacked and… destroyed,” Reva said quietly. “The night we lost everything, and I… I can’t get it out of my head. It's like I have to relieve everything about that night all over again.”

Allura's frown seemed to deepen when Reva said this, and she was able to get close to the cub to nuzzle her, and Reva happily nuzzled back, grateful to have someone who sort of understood where she was coming from.

Then, after a few moments of nuzzling, Allura turned her head to Sunny with a calm look. “Sunny, if any of the others wake up and notice we’re gone, tell them I took Reva out for a little flight,” she said. “A little flight always used to cheer me up when I was sad, and I think it might help Reva too.”

“Sure thing, Allura. Be safe out there,” Sunny said to the tiger cub and snow leopard gently. “It’s a little nippy outside.”

Allura lowered onto her haunches to let Reva onto her back, and once Reva was safe and secure, Allura flew out of the open window into the night, leaving Sunny to look on.

XXXXXXXX

“WHOO-HOOO!!!” Reva cheered as she and Allura flew through the night sky, over the town of Los Angeles. “This is incredible! I’ve never gone this high before!”

Allura laughed slightly at this. “It really helps when you have wings to carry you along. I’ve… actually never given anyone except Twitch a ride before.”

Reva seemed genuinely surprised when Allura said this. “Really? Then… why did you wanna give me a ride when you only gave rides to Twitch?”

“...to be quite honest, Reva, I… I see a lot of myself in you and your cousins,” Allura admitted. “When I was your age, I lost my mother to sickness, leaving my father Nekro in charge of not only me and my twin brother Alterro, but the entire kingdom of Leopardia. But… my father abused his power over me, my brother and our kingdom, and… for a while… me and my brother turned almost as heartless as him.”

Reva’s eyes went wide in surprise. “You did?”

“Yes… and as punishment for abusing our power, me and my brother were separated in different worlds, and… I was so angry for so many years. I committed a lot of crimes of my own, and a lot of them were committed against the ponies that I arrived with,” Allura explained. “It… wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I finally saw the era of my ways.”

“But… what about Sunny and her friends?” Reva seemed confused. “Didn’t it take a long time for them to forgive you?”

“Well… Misty, the blue unicorn? She used her magic to see everything I had gone through, and she being the empathetic soul she is, easily forgave me and wanted to give me a second chance,” Allura went on. “Sunny too. The others… took a minute, but they eventually found a way to forgive me. But… there was someone that I don’t think will ever forgive me.”

“Really?” Reva tilted her head. “Who?”

“...Alterro.”

“Why would your own brother not forgive you?” Reva asked the snow leopard in surprise. “He’s your family!”

“Yes, but… he still respects my father’s laws and decisions from our kingdom,” Allura said, “and he was furious with me for not finding the star and setting him free from his own prison. And now… he wants revenge on not only those ponies… but on me and Twitch as well.”

There was a deep moment of silence after that as Reva tried to take this information in, and while Allura sighed deeply at the thought of her own brother wanting revenge against her. Then, when she was finally ready, Reva began to tell her own story. “A few years ago, I lived with my cousins, my parents and my aunts and uncles in a special, enchanted valley called the Valley of Mythix. It was beautiful… full of food, water and life. But… Dad always told me that there were creatures who wanted the valley and its splendor for themselves, and the grown-up tigers, including our moms and dads would always try and defend the valley from them. Me and my cousins always wanted to help defend the valley, but our parents always told us we were too young.”

Allura nodded slowly. “That must’ve been hard to hear.”

“It was. Then… one day… these… creatures attacked the valley. Me and my cousins were rushed into hiding so fast, we couldn’t see who they were,” Reva said as her breathing began to get shaky. “The next thing we saw from our cave was… fire. A whole bunch of it, in different colors, and our parents tried to put them out, but the flames were too fast. Mom screamed at me to get my siblings through the tunnels and outside the valley, where we would be safe.”

“And… did you?” Allura hesitated. “Yeah, of course,” Reva nodded, trying to wipe her eyes with her paw. “But then… as we escaped through the tunnels, we… blacked out for some reason and woke up in the suburbs around Los Angeles, and… we were with Safira. She looked after us and taught us all we needed to know until we were placed with the Bad Guys. She… she saved us. We owe her everything.”

Allura nodded slowly, trying to comprehend this information before a thought came into her mind. “And… your parents…?”

“As far as we know, they died in the flames with my aunts, uncles and the valley’s attackers,” Reva sniffled. “I… I never got to tell them I loved them…”

Allura felt her heart break when she heard this, and she sighed and let the cub bury her face into Allura’s plush purple fur. “It’s all right, little one. I know how sad you must be. But... there's something you must understand. Safira... she seems like she uses fear to manipulate you, your cousins and your mentors into doing whatever she wants you to.”

Reva nodded sadly, bringing her face out of Allura’s fur. “I know, but... she's really powerful. If me and my cousins ever tried to stand up to her, who knows what she might do to us? So... what can we really do?”

“I promise, me and Twitch and the ponies are going to help you all find a way to get away from her... you have my word,” Allura said with a gentle and reassuring smile. “Now come on... let's get you back to the hideout before it gets too cold-- otherwise your water powers might freeze up.”

Reva nodded slowly and held onto Allura again, slightly sniffling as she did so. “Yeah... o-okay.”

And so, with a heavy heart, Allura flew back toward the hideout to get Reva back to her friends before it got too late for either of them to be out.

XXXXXXXX

It was about 30 minutes later when Allura and Reva returned, but the cub was so tired, she couldn't see straight to get back to bed. So, Allura let her curl up with her and the others in the living room, tucking Reva under her wing before Allura retired to sleep herself.

However, about an hour later, Mr. Wolf was getting up to use the bathroom when he noticed that Reva was missing and began to panic-- if Safira found out that he had lost one of the cubs, who knows what she might do?

So on his way to the bathroom, Mr. Wolf searched the hideout for her, but when he came to the living room, he paused and eventually smiled as he saw Reva curled up under a sleeping Allura’s wing, with Twitch and the Mane 6 sleeping not too far away from them.

Mr. Wolf knew that losing a parent was never easy, but when it came to losing five pairs of parents and a valley you called home... he couldn't imagine what Reva and her cousins must have been feeling that night.

He may have been a Bad Guy, but... somewhere deep inside of him, he did have a heart.

Mr. Wolf then made sure the blankets were snug over the sleeping ponies before going over and rubbing the top of Reva’s head before heading to the bathroom.

The heist they would pull off the next day may have been one of the hardest things the Bad Guys had ever tried to pull off, but if they succeeded...

...they would be able to make a better life for the five cubs and themselves.

And hopefully... it would be a life far away from Safira and all the deviousness she had up her scales.

Little did Mr. Wolf or any of the others realize it right away, but they would have to go to to great lengths in order to keep their freedom... even doing the unthinkable

A Theft at the Good Samaritan Awards Gone Wrong

Allura could easily feel herself getting attached to Reva and her cousins the longer she, Twitch and the Mane 6 were around them.

The five cubs reminded Allura so much of herself when she was a young cub, and if she, Twitch and the ponies could do something to get the cubs and the Bad Guys out of the dangerous reaches of Safira, a feared Dark Dragon, she knew that they would do it in a heartbeat.

But our heroes ultimately knew that they had to get some rest if they were going to help the Bad Guys and their apprentices with their biggest heist of the century the next day-- stealing the coveted Golden Dolphin before it could be given to a guinea pig known as Professor Marmalade (who Izzy and Hitch had to admit was pretty darn cute, but they would never say that to Mr. Snake's face) at the Good Samaritan Awards that night.

And if the heroes helped with the heist, Mr. Wolf promised them that the police wouldn't have any idea of their involvement, just in case the Bad Guys were caught.

It was now or never... for all their sakes.

XXXXXXXX

“Okie-dokie, everypony, rise and shine!” came the voice of Zipp Storm as she flew through the hideout, trying to get everyone up for breakfast, which was being cooked by the one and only Sunny Starscout. “Sunny’s fixing a huge breakfast spread and we’d hate for anyone to miss out on it!”

“Breakfast buffet?!” Mr. Piranha was up immediately at the sound of this, laughing like a maniac. “Come on, amigos! Otherwise I’m gonna eat it all before Sunny gets done cookin’ it!”

“Oh no you’re not!” Zari challenged her mentor with a smirk on her face. “Race you to the dinner table!”

And so, Zari and Mr. Piranha charged right out of the bedroom, nearly trampling Ms. Tarantula and knocking over Oran in the process. “Piranha! Zari! Watch it!” Ms. Tarantula scolded. “Small and delicate soul coming through!”

“Better stick with me, Webs,” Oran said as she climbed onto his back. “I'll keep you safe from all sources of feet in a five-mile radius.”

And so, all of the Bad Guys and their apprentices slowly woke up and ensured that they made it to the kitchen without getting trampled on. And what they saw being prepared in the kitchen took their breath away.

Sunny had prepared a breakfast spread full of pancakes, fruit, cereal, smoothies of every variety and special cupcakes that Misty helped her make for dessert.

Mr. Wolf couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of all the food laying before them. “Whoa-ho, Sunny! How did you have time to cook all of this? You were sound asleep around 3 o'clock this morning!”

“Well, yeah, I was,” Sunny said as she blended a couple more smoothies. “But, I woke up around 4 and headed to the nearby mini mart while everyone was still asleep to get all the ingredients I needed, plus a small grocery run of all the necessities.”

“You call this small?” Gretchen asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at the fully stocked refrigerator. “I see at least four different kinds of peppers in here!”

Sunny blushed nervously at the cub's remark, giggling slightly. “I may have gone a little overboard, but at least I have plenty of ingredients to make some of my famous smoothies from back home! Here, Snake, try one!”

Mr. Snake grabbed a smoothie with his tail, sniffing it slightly before he used his forked tongue to taste it, his eyes immediately going wide once he registered the taste. “Holy barracuda, this is incredible! Sunny, how much does that smoothie job pay ya? I'll pay you double if you can make me a guinea pig flavored smoothie.”

Sunny seemed a bit flustered as the others sat down to their breakfast, gulping with a nervous look. “Uh, I'll see what I can do, but... wouldn’t that mean the smoothie is full of blood?”

“Yeah!” Mr. Snake smirked. “That's the whole point-- the guinea pig's blood compliments the raw flavor of the--”

“Oh-ho-ho, okay!” Hitch said, clearly disgusted. “Can we skip the blood and grow and just enjoy our breakfast please?”

“Good idea,” said Reva. “We’ve still got to pick out out outfits so we can blend in with the crowd while we’re at the award ceremony.”

Pipp’s eyes went wide as she heard this part. “Pick out outfits?! Ooh, guys, you came to the right pegasus for the job! Just leave everything to me-- I’ll have you looking spiffy in time for the big heist tonight.”

However, as she said this, she secretly shuddered to herself. “Never thought I’d have to hear those words coming out of my mouth.”

XXXXXXXX

Later that night, at the Museum of Fine Arts, it was nearly time for the awards ceremony to start, and thanks to Pipp, the Bad Guys, their apprentices and their newfound acquaintances were wearing their best clothing for the event.

Zipp's outfit consisted of a black dress and light gray lace stockings on her back legs.
Misty’s outfit consisted of a dark blue dress with flowers and vine-like designs all over it.
Sunny's outfit consisted of a dark red frilly dress with red rose designs all over it.
Hitch's outfit consisted of a white shirt, black pants and black shoes on his back hooves.
Pipp's outfit consisted of dark red shoes and a flowery white dress.
Izzy's outfit consisted of a long-sleeved light blue and white dress with light blue roses on the skirt portion.
Twitch wore a mini tuxedo with a red bow tie.
Allura wore an elegant white dress that went perfectly with her purple fur and the colors in her wings.

And as for the Bad Guys and their apprentices, their outfits went as followed:

Mr. Wolf wore a a black-banded white fedora, a white suit over a matching double-breasted vest, which itself is worn over a black dress-shirt with a silver purple necktie, a fake mustache, brown-rimmed sunglasses over his eyes and white shoes while Reva wore a simple, yet elegant, red party dress with short sleeves.
Mr. Snake wore a wig and fake bushy mustache, a monocle on his right eye, and a fancy costume that features a maroon top hat, and a matching suit-jacket with bright red lapels and buttons, worn over a white collared shirt with a large bright red bowtie, along with gloves on the sleeves while Gretchen wore bright yellow party dress.
Mr. Shark, being the disguise expert of the group, wore a more feminine disguise, which consisted of a pair of sparkly red-framed glasses, a short blonde wig with a small decorative red pillbox hat, a pearl choker around his neck, a strapless red sequined dress, pantyhose and red high-heels. To complete the look, he also wore makeup that consists of pink blush, red lipstick, and fake eyelashes with mascara and eyeliner, while Carmine decided to wear a deep purple party dress to go along with his look.
Ms. Tarantula wore a black zip-up latex stealth-suit with a hood since she was going to be in hiding doing the stealth work, but Oran decided to wear a red tuxedo with a black bowtie, in case he wanted to be at the party with his cousins.
And lastly, Mr. Piranha wore a small fake mustache, a pair of round gold-framed glasses, a black top hat, a matching suit with a white handkerchief over a white collared shirt with a black necktie, and black dress shoes, while Zari wore a deep, ocean blue party dress to fit in with her female cousins.

And once they were all dressed, Mr. Wolf decided to go over the plan with everyone one final time before they went inside the building. “So here’s the plan. Like every year, the ceremony will be held at the Museum of Fine Arts, where the Golden Dolphin will be positioned just beyond the backstage curtain.”

Oran let out a slight scoff as Ms. Tarantula straightened up his tie. “That sounds easy.”

“Sounds easy, hermano,” Mr. Wolf said, straightening his hat, “but to get there, we’ll need to bypass three levels of security. So, step one... we blend in.”

“Well, that step is achieved,” Pipp said, twirling around. “I knew these tango outfits from Fun Fest weren't gonna come in handy again!”

“Professor Marmalade, this year’s recipient of the Golden Dolphin, the most annoying good creature on the planet,” Mr. Wolf said with the roll of his eyes. “Once inside, there are two armored doors. The first can only be opened by a special key card that is carried by our dear friend, the chief of police.”

“The second,” Reva added, “is outfitted with a retinal scanner and guarded by an elite special ops unit trained to strike first and ask questions later. Governor Foxington is the only one who has clearance to open the second door.”

“So, step two,” Mr. Wolf quickly interrupted, “she and I will need to get up close and personal. Once we’re in, it’s on to step three; we split up and we take our positions.”

“And while Allura and Twitch will be keeping an eye on things from a higher perspective, we'll be around acting like everything is natural,” Zipp added, “so nobody will suspect anything strange happening.”

“Wolf... promise us you guys will be careful,” Misty said sincerely. “If at least one thing goes wrong, you have to pull out before you get too far in.”

“Hey hey, you ponies have nothing to worry about, really,” Mr. Wolf said reassuringly. “Once the dolphin is in our possession, everything is gonna be fine and dandy again... trust me.”

The Mane 6, Allura and Twitch slowly nodded, deciding to trust their new acquaintances for now... at least until this Golden Dolphin thing was over.

And once Mr. Wolf had seen their nods of approval, he tilted his hat one final time before smiling again. “Phase one is officially a go.”

Immediately after this, the group began to move toward the building with cameras flashing as they began to cross the road. At first, the Mane 6 thought someone had recognized them from one of their previous Unity Quests, but they realized that it wasn't them the people wanted to take pictures of...

...but it was someone else instead.

A fancy limousine pulled up in front of the museum, and a man opened the door to reveal Professor Marmalade stepping out of the car, to be met by a bunch of adoring fans, and Tiffany Fluffit, who wanted to get an interview with the Golden Dolphin recipient before anyone else. “Professor, in the past year, you’ve stopped wars, fed the hungry and saved countless pandas. Some have described your goodness as second only to Mother Teresa.”

“Oh, Tiffany, it’s not a competition. And if it were, it would really be more of a tie,” Professor Marmalade responded, signing a few autographs as he spoke. “But we can all agree that there is a flower of goodness inside all of us, just waiting to blossom.”

“Flower of goodness? Hmm... I never thought about it in that light before,” Reva muttered to herself before shaking the thought out of her head. She couldn't fill her head with thoughts like this before what could be the biggest heist of their lives...

...her life, her cousins' lives and the Bad Guys' reputations could be put on the line if she did.

After the limo had driven off, the group made their way across the street once again, with Mr. Wolf spotting Diane Foxington (who wore a beautiful pink dress) and her Dark Cheetah assistant Rogue (wearing a dark blue tuxedo) talking with some guests not too far away. But while Mr. Wolf was eyeing Diane with interest ad part of the plan...

...Reva’s gaze fell on Rogue for a different reason.

Admiration.

He seemed so... gentle, so... carefree.

He probably didn't have to live with the same kind of pressure that she did.

Sunny leaned down to speak to the cub on a more personal level. “You wanna go over there and talk to him, don't you?”

Reva’s face heated up in embarrassment. “W-What?! No! I-I mean... nothing casual. We're only talking to him and the governor for the sake of the heist going as planned. And if I take one step out of line...”

“Hey hey hey, forget about that blow hard dragon for one night,” Pipp said with a smile. “You deserve to be happy just as much as the next pony-- er, tiger cub.”

Reva glanced around at her friends and cousins with a bit of a disheartened sigh. “Yeah, I know thar, but... I've spent so long doing whatever my friends and cousins and... Safira... wanted me to, that I... don't really know what makes me happy other than our villain training and usual heists.”

“...well… now’s your chance to find out,” Pipp said, nudging the cub with her hoof. “Now get over there and get this heist on already.”

That was when Reva took a deep breath and walked toward Diane and Rogue with Mr. Wolf, ready to get what they needed in order to get to the Golden Dolphin award.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Diane was shaking the ambassador’s hand while his wife rubbed up against Rogue, as a way of welcoming them to the event. “Enjoy your evening, Mr. Ambassador.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” the ambassador said before he and his wife walked away. That was when Rogue looked around a bit, wanting to explore a bit since this was his first Good Samaritan awards as the governor’s assistant. “Diane, is it okay if I go play? I wanna get a good layout for the place.”

“Sure, Rogue, go ahead,” Diane told the cheetah cub, rubbing his head. “But stay within range-- the ceremony is gonna start in half an hour.”

Rogue nodded before running off, and once he ran past her hiding place, Reva built up her nerve and secretly followed after him.

And once the cubs were gone, Mr. Wolf, who had been inspecting a strange piece of artwork made from garbage, finally spoke up to attract Diane’s attention. “Interesting piece. Trashy, pointless and pretentious.”

“Hmm…” Diane looked to the disguised Mr. Wolf after looking at the artwork herself. “They say that art reveals more about the viewer than the artist. Mister…”

“Poodleton. Oliver Poodleton,” Mr. Wolf said, kissing the governor’s paw as he slipped off her ring and put it in his pocket without her noticing. “ It’s about time someone stood up to those diabolical Bad Guys. Though, I’ve got to say, no one’s succeeded yet.”

“Eh,” Diane shrugged. “I don’t think it’ll be that hard.”

“I have a feeling,” said Mr. Wolf with a smile, “it’ll be harder than you think. I’d say they’re one epic job away from cementing their legacy.”

Diane tried her best not to laugh at this, playfully nudging Mr. Wolf on his shoulder. “Mr. Poodleton, you’re-- you’re funny.”

“I… I am?” Mr. Wolf asked, trying to keep his composure, though he was a bit confused. “The only legacy they’re cementing is life in prison,” Diane told him. “Did you see their last job? Ugh. Unsecured exits, crude disguises, compulsive showboating. I mean, it was a mess. All the classic signs of a crew in decline. Next, they’re gonna make it personal. That’s when you know they’re toast.”

Mr. Wolf chuckled nervously as she said this, realizing that Diane did have a slight point. “Uh, well, that’s your opinion.”

“It is, and I’m the governor. As for the sculpture, I think it’s about perspective,” Diane continued, turning Mr. Wolf around so they could see the rotating shadow of the piece. “If you look closely enough, even trash can be recycled into something beautiful.”

Mr. Wolf glanced up at the shadow for a moment, and for a brief moment in time, he discovered that the rotating sculpture’s absract shadow had actually become a beautiful swan... something he thought Izzy would really like. “How about that? I guess some things aren’t always as they appear,” he said, genuinely impressed before he remembered that he had a mission to get back to and got out his phone. “That reminds me, may I? I can’t miss a photo op with the governor and a pile of garbage.”

Diane merely smiled and posed for the selfie. “Oh, Mr. Poodleton, you’re too hard on yourself.”

“Hey…” Mr. Wolf began to say before he took the picture. Now all he needed to do was find Reva so they could get on with the plan. But then he wondered... where did that little tiger cub get off to in the first place?

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Reva had found Rogue sniffing around the snack table, and tried to build up enough courage to go over and talk to him, to give Wolf a little more time with Diane if he needed it.

But she felt a sinking feeling rising into her stomach as she thought about it. What was this emotion, guilt?

She had never felt this much guilt before in her life. Here she was, standing close to one of the most amazing cubs she had ever seen and after they might potentially become friends, she was gonna use him to get the Golden Dolphin.

But before she could try and push this guilt down into her stomach, Rogue approached with a tray of salmon sushi rolls. “Here… you want some of these? They’re my favorite, and I thought you might like one.”

Reva blinked in surprise. “Oh, um… me? T-Thank you,” she said, taking one into her mouth before chewing it and swallowing it. “W-Wow. That’s really good. Hey… aren’t you the assistant to Governor Foxington?”

“Yep, that’s me,” Rogue said, wiping his mouth with his paw. “I’m Rogue. What’s your name?”

“M-Me? Oh, um… Raindrop,” Reva decided to use the nickname that her mother gave her when she was a baby. “I’m Raindrop.”

“Nice to meet you, Raindrop,” Rogue said before he looked around. “Wow, this is quite the event, huh? But it’s only gonna get better from here-- the governor and I are gonna get to go to the Gala for Goodness coming up. I’ve never been to a gala before, have you?”

“Oh, no. I’ve never really been to… any parties,” Reva admitted, trying to hide her blushing face. “I’m not exactly what you would call… a social butterfly.”

Little did she know it, but Pipp, Sunny and Izzy had snuck around the snack tables around the same time as the cubs were there, and they had been watching the whole encounter from afar, trying not to attract unwanted attention. “...well, you could’ve fooled me,” Rogue said with a gentle smile, causing Reva to look up at him. “You in that dress, you could easily be the belle of the ball.”

Reva’s blush seemed to harden at this. “Y-You really think?”

“Sure I do,” Rogue nodded as he finished up the last of the salmon rolls. “Well, I better go wash my paws before I go back to Diane. The award ceremony is gonna be starting soon. Hey… who did you come here with?”

“Um… a man named Oliver Poodleton,” Reva stuck to what she and Wolf had discussed. “He took me in a few years ago during a… really tough time.”

“Aww, that’s really nice,” Rogue smiled. “Well, it was nice meeting you. See ya!”

And with that, Rogue ran off, leaving Reva by herself for a few moments before she stood up and began to walk off… only to feel a strange sensation coming from her tail.

When she looked behind her, she saw that her tail was… wagging! Much like a dog’s would. And that wasn't the weirdest thing-- her cutie mark was glowing too, and it was glowing really brightly!

Reva gasped when she saw this and sat on her tail to stop the wagging, and when the wagging and the glowing from her cutie mark finally stopped, she sat up and went off to rejoin her friends.

XXXXXXXX

Allura looked at the clock on Zipp's phone with a heavy sigh-- Mr. Wolf and Reva should have been done with their part by now, and they needed to get the plan underway before it was too late. “Do you think Wolf and Reva are alright? They have been gone for a good while.”

“I'm here!” said a voice as Reva ran over to her friends. “I'm here, I'm here...”

“Where did you go, chica?” Mr. Piranha asked quietly. “We've been waiting on you and Wolf for, basically, like... forever!”

“Yeah, you usually never take this long to carry out an assignment,” Carmine agreed. “Everything okay?”

“Uh, yeah, yeah. Just waiting on Wolf to do his part of the plan and stuff,” Reva lied as Pipp, Sunny and Izzy joined the group. “He should be done by now, shouldn’t he?”

That was when Mr. Wolf walked up behind her, still having Diane's ring in his possession as he smirked. “Okay, friends. It’s showtime.”

That was when the Bad Guys, their apprentices and their new Equestrian acquaintances walked inside the museum, ready as they would ever be to pull this off.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Chief Luggins was giving a pep-talk to her officers as they awaited to protect the Golden Dolphin from any thieves. “Officers, if the Bad Guys crash this event, I am definitely going to lose my job, and I will not hesitate to take you down with me. Now, move out!”

“Yes, ma’am!” the officers shouted in unison before marching off in different directions. “Hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut…”

XXXXXXXX

Down below, the others walked around the museum before splitting up, in order to not attract attention. Mr. Shark set Ms. Tarantula down on the floor and she scurried off, and Oran used his invisibility magic in order to quickly pursue her.

Mr. Piranha went into the fountain and began to swim through a series of pipes while Zari joined Gretchen and Snake into climbing up into the vent systems, with Zari hoping to meet Piranha in the same place at the same time. Mr. Wolf and Reva went up the stairs with Allura and Twitch and Mr. Shark, Carmine and the Mane 6 ventured deeper into the auditorium.

Ms. Tarantula had given everyone communication devices to put in their ears for such a situation as this, and as they all split up, they turned their mics on before Ms. Tarantula began to speak again. “Mic’s on. Everyone on comms, do you copy?”

Everyone soon responded with a quiet copy as they went on their way, though Mr. Shark’s voice was higher pitched in order to avoid his cover being blown.

Everyone seemed to be in the perfect position, and as the Mane 6 walked around, admiring the museum, Carmine hid under a table as a waiter approached Mr. Shark with a couple of drinks in hand. “A drink for the pretty lady?”

“No thank you,” Mr. Shark said, although taking two drinks. “My life is too complicated right now.”

Carmine sighed to herself as she tried to make herself scarce, waiting for the rest of the plan to resume.

XXXXXXXX

Up in the vents, Gretchen, Zari and Mr. Snake were sneaking around when Mr. Snake suddenly shed his skin and into his black latex uniform, causing Zari to shudder to herself. “So gross…”

“Quick,” Gretchen whispered, pointing down another set of vents. “That vent will take you toward the bathroom-- Piranha will be waiting for you there.”

“Got it. Good luck,” Zari whispered before crawling off in that direction.

XXXXXXXX

In the bathroom in question, one of the waiters was getting ready to use the bathroom before he had to rejoin the others…

…completely unaware that Mr. Piranha was waiting for him in the toilet, just waiting for the right opportunity to pounce.

XXXXXXXX

In the museum's security office, Ms. Tarantula and Oran had already taken care of the guard who was supposed to be on duty, with Ms. Tarantula plugging in the USB, activating her computer and beginning to type at a rapid pace before an image of the Golden Dolphin appeared on the screen. “Boys… it’s dolphin season.”

“Eww!” Izzy whispered over the coms. “Can you say it a different way? I don’t wanna make it seem like we’re hunting dolphins!”

“Just a figure of speech, Iz,” Oran whispered back. “Just keep an eye on the situation and everything is gonna go as planned, promise.”

XXXXXXXX

In the bathroom, Mr. Piranha disguised himself as a waiter while the real one had been knocked out. “Copy that. I’m waiting for Zari and I’ll be on the move.”

Zari meowed as she suddenly fell through the vent system and landed right in front of Mr. Piranha, groaning in pain. “Hey, amigo… what’s shaking?”

“Us in prison if we don’t move it! Come on, chica!” Mr. Piranha whispered, and Zari immediately began to follow him out of the bathroom...

...right near where Hitch was waiting. And once Hitch had seen them go by, he put a hoof up to his communication device and spoke into it. “Guys, Piranha and Zari are heading out-- Wolf, I think you and Reva are up.”

XXXXXXXX

Back on the upper floor, Chief Luggins was keeping a firm eye on the situation before speaking into her radio. “Unit two, is the backstage area still secure?”

“Unit two,” said another officer, “all clear.”

Chief Luggins smiled to herself. “This is where all the training pays off.”

Suddenly, Mr. Wolf (in his Poodleton disguise) accidentally bumped into her, with Reva waiting behind a nearby corner. “Oh, pardon me. Terribly sorry.”

“Not a problem, sir,” the chief said to the disguised Wolf as he walked off. “Keep your eyes open, boys. They could be anywhere, just waiting to humiliate us.”

But as Mr. Wolf reached the corner that Reva was hiding behind, he pulled out the card and showed it to her, causing her to laugh and high-five him before they went on their way.

At the same time, Sunny was watching this before speaking into her own communication device. “Wolf is in position with Reva close behind. Piranha, you all penguin-suited and booted?”

XXXXXXXX

“Affirmative,” Mr. Piranha said quietly as he pushed a waiter’s cart with Zari hiding inside. “I’m a clean, mean, Dolphin-stealing machine. What's going on, guys?”

As Mr. Piranha and Zari got close enough to a nearby closet door that Zipp was standing near, Zipp slightly opened it, allowing her just enough space to push the cart, Mr. Piranha and Zari inside without anyone else noticing.

On the upper floor again, Reva stuck close to Mr. Wolf as he walked past the guests, stealing jewelry and wallets from them. Both of them witnessed Zipp letting Mr. Piranha and Zari into the closet as they began to walk downstairs, and the plan seemed to be going fairly well so far.

As he and Reva walked down the stairs, Wolf noticed he was right near an old woman with a purse loaded with cash and pearls. He was about to steal the purse from the old lady until she tripped, and Wolf grabbed hold of the purse to keep her steady.

Reva’s breathing hitched nervously, wondering what Wolf would do until he finally sighed and pulled on the purse a bit. “Here, let me help you.”

That was when Mr. Wolf set the old woman down, and Reva approached in concern. “Are you okay, ma’am?”

“Oh, my gracious, yes,” the old woman said while panting and adjusting her glasses. “I may be dizzy, but I’m alive, thanks to you.”

“What are you…?” Mr. Wolf began to say when the old woman suddenly hugged him, catching him offguard and making him a bit uncomfortable. After finishing the hug, the old woman held Mr. Wolf’s paws in her hands with a caring smile. “Thank you, dear. You’re such a good boy.”

And that was when she finally left, leaving Mr. Wolf and Reva staring at her as she left. That was when Reva noticed something very off about Wolf’s tail-- it was wagging just as hers had a little while ago when she first encountered Rogue. “Uh… Wolf? Y-Your tail is…”

Mr. Wolf then noticed his tail wagging and immediately held it in place to stop it, not wanting his cover to be blown. “Come on, kid. We gotta go.”

“Wait up!” Reva whispered as she chased after him, feeling a bit confused about this whole wagging thing, but decided to put it off until further notice.

XXXXXXXX

Zipp had joined Mr. Piranha and Zari in the closet not long after Wolf and Reva started heading downstairs, but as Mr. Piranha had been chopping veggies, Zipp noticed Zari looking a little down and out. “Is… everything okay, Zari?”

“Oh, well… I guess I’m just a little embarrassed,” Zari said with a bit of a frown. “I chose to go up into the vents with Gretchen and Snake because I… I was too afraid to go into the water.”

Zipp looked at the cub in surprise. “You’re scared of the water?”

“I always have been,” Zari admitted. “When I was little, my father warned me that getting too close to the water was a sign of a lightning tiger’s death. Ever since then, I… I’ve been trying to stay away from it. It’s pretty pathetic, a tiger being scared of water, among… other things.”

“...I don’t think you being scared is something to be afraid of,” Zipp told the young tiger with a caring look. “Actually, you telling me you were scared was pretty brave.”

Zari looked up at the white pegasus in surprise. “You think so?”

“Sure,” Zipp nodded. “Real courage isn’t not being scared. Real courage is bravely moving forward, even when you’re scared. And admitting something you’re scared of is pretty courageous in itself.”

“...Safira doesn’t seem to think so,” Zari said quietly. “She thinks me being scared of water is weak.”

“Then she doesn’t know what the heck she’s talking about,” Zipp frowned sternly. “You don’t have to believe everything she tells you, you know.”

“I know… it’s just hard to have my own opinions with her around and looming over,” Zari shrugged. “Especially since I’m the youngest.”

However, before Zipp could say another word, the door to the closet opened and Reva and Mr. Wolf entered the closet, with Mr. Wolf still being a bit shocked-- even his fur seemed a bit tingled up, and a smile eventually crossed his muzzle.

Zipp seemed to notice the change in demeanor and tilted her head curiously. “Is… everything okay, Wolf?”

“ Yeah, all… a-all good. Yeah, yeah. Um…” Mr. Wolf stammered before turning on his communicator again. “Webs, what do you say about moving on to step four?”

XXXXXXXX

“Copy that,” Ms. Tarantula said from back in the office before turning her attention to Mr. Shark, Misty, Carmine and Pipp on one of the security cameras. “Shark, you’re up. Do your thing.”

Mr. Shark immediately became excited when he heard this. “Do I get to improvise?”

“Yes, fine,” Oran rolled his eyes. “Improvise. But please be subtle! Girls, please help him stay subtle.”

XXXXXXXX

Pipp, Misty and Carmine watched from nearby as Mr. Shark spilled his drink, threw a nearby table away and got down on the floor as part of his little routine. “I’M HAVING A BABY!!!!” he wailed in a high-pitched voice, causing many to immediately gasp and turn their attention to what they thought was an elegant woman. “Is there a doctor?! Or perhaps several security guards that could leave their post and help me?!”

Two security guards immediately ran from their post to help Mr. Shark, and Carmine sighed and put a paw on her face. “If this goes wrong, we are SO busted.”

“True, but you have to admit, he’s got a lot of confidence to even try that stunt,” Pipp said with a bit of admiration in her voice. “I oughta see if we can get him in a theater troupe when this is all over.”

However, Misty saw that Carmine looked a bit down and out. “Hey… looks like you need some confidence yourself, Carmine. Everything okay?”

“It’s just… everything Shark does is with so much passion and confidence,” Carmine admitted, glancing over at her mentor. “I’m just… me. I’d love to create my own line of perfumes and potions for others, but… with Safira looming over our heads, it’s kinda hard to find the right opportunity.”

“Hey, I never thought I could open up my salon, Mane Melody, after magic returned to Equestria,” Pipp told her. “If I can do it, you can too. Hey, why don’t I give you a few pointers when this is all over?”

“Really? I-I’d love that, Pipp!” Carmine smiled gratefully at the pink pegasus in question. “Thanks.”

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, once the guards had left their post, Mr. Piranha pushed the cart with Mr. Wolf, Zari and Reva hidden inside over to the door, which Mr. Wolf opened with the help of the chief’s security card. Then, once they were inside, Mr. Wolf, Zari and Reva climbed off the cart and pushed it to the end of the hallway where two guards were waiting.

Needless to say, the guards were confused when they saw a platter of food rolling to them and even more confused when they saw what was on the note. “Fish surprise…?”

Then, out of their curiosity getting the better of them, they lifted the lid to reveal Mr. Piranha underneath. “SURPRISE!!!” he said before leaping to attack the guards.

And once they had been knocked out, Reva kicked the cart back the other way while Mr. Wolf pulled out his phone and zoomed in on the picture he had taken with Diane, to where her eye could be seen before he sent it to Ms. Tarantula. “Hey, Webs, can you enhance this…”

“Done. Eight steps ahead of you, Wolf.”

Within seconds, the image was enhanced so it could be more clear, and Mr. Wolf held the photo up to the scanner, and once it had turned green, the four of them made their way inside.

XXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, back in the main auditorium, Allura and Twitch flew down to the Mane 6, who had all been gathered to discuss what to do while the Bad Guys and their apprentices did their thing. “The ceremony is about to start!” Sunny whispered. “Has anyone heard from Wolf?”

“Not since a few minutes ago,” Izzy shook her head. “But Mr. Shark is playing a very convincing routine, so that might buy us some time.”

It was then that an announcer on a microphone began to echo through the auditorium, signaling the start of the award ceremony. “Ladies and gentlemen, your MC for the Good Samaritan Awards…”

Mr. Shark breathed heavily during his routine, to try and really play the part that he was in labor, when Reva suddenly spoke into the com system. “All right, Shark-- we’re in.”

“Oops, I forgot, I’m not pregnant,” Mr. Shark told the crowd before slipping away, causing them to react with confusion before the announcer continued speaking. “...president of the committee, Governor Diane Foxington.”

“WHOO-HOO!!!” Rogue cheered and excitedly clapped his paws together as Diane walked onstage, and the rest of the auditorium applauded as well.

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you,” Diane said politely before the screen behind her began to show a video from one year ago, and her expression turned to deep concern. “Last year, we faced our biggest test when a meteorite crashed into our dear city. That meteorite didn’t just make a hole in our city. It made a hole in our hearts.”

“Aww…” most of the crowd said sympathetically, and Mr. Shark even had to wipe a few tears away. Then, the footage showed Professor Marmalade coming up to some people looking at the crater the meteorite had created. A crane slowly lifted up the meteorite and Professor Marmalade tilted his head in curiosity, as did the people, and seeing it's shaped like a heart, they smiled warmly.

That was when Diane felt the urge to continue her speech. “But even in tragedy, Professor Marmalade, he did what he does so well. He made us look at things differently. And thanks to you, Marmalade, the Love Crater Meteorite will forever serve as a symbol of how there is good even in the worst places.”

XXXXXXXX

Back behind the curtain, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Piranha and their apprentices soon removed their disguises and revealed their black latex suits, with Mr. Piranha cheering in excitement.

They quickly dodged all the lasers in the room just as Mr. Snake and Gretchen appeared from the vents, and the four immediately grabbed onto him with Gretchen waiting for the right moment to move down.

Mr. Snake groaned as Mr. Piranha and Zari climbed up his long body toward the vent. “Hurry up!”

Once Gretchen saw that Zari and Mr. Piranha had Mr. Snake covered, she slid down Mr. Snake’s body to reach the others while Zari and her mentor began to lower them toward the Golden Dolphin. “This is going surprisingly smoothly,” Mr. Wolf said, but little did he know it, but a lot of things were about to start going wrong.

Suddenly, the ring he had stolen from Diane slipped from Mr. Wolf’s sleeve, fell toward the ground and bounced off the trophy. As Reva tried to grab it, the security system activates laser guns while Mr. Wolf scrambled to grab the ring with his feet and the lasers destroyed a statue not too far away.

Needless to say, Gretchen was a bit more than nervous by this point. “What the molt is that?!”

That was when Mr. Wolf saw a sign nearby and scoffed in disbelief. “The Wolf Piranha Snake Shark Tarantula Protection System!”

“I’m sorry,” Zipp whispered on the communication system, “but isn’t the acronym for that the WPSST?”

“Oh, no no no,” Reva muttered to herself, going into panic. “This was NOT supposed to happen!”

XXXXXXXX

“Guys, calm down. I’m on it,” Ms. Tarantula reassured before getting out another USB drive. “Initiating WPSST override protocol!”

“Whoo-hoo!” Oran cheered as Ms. Tarantula inserted the drive into her laptop. “Get it, queen!”

But as Ms. Tarantula began hacking, an error appeared on her laptop's screen, causing Oran to pause his cheering in confusion. “Huh?”

“Well?” Hitch whispered over the com. “Did it work?”

Ms. Tarantula groaned in exasperation. “Just give me five minutes!”

XXXXXXXX

“And now,” Diane said from the stage, continuing her speech, “please join me in welcoming to the stage…”

XXXXXXXX

“We don’t have five minutes!” Mr. Snake exclaimed in panic. “Can’t you ponies use your fancy-schmancy magic to work somethin’ out?!”

“Sorry, Snake, but there’s only so much we can do from where we are right now,” Misty whispered. “I’m sure Webs can work something out in time, though.”

XXXXXXXX

“...Professor Marmalade!”

As Diane called out the professor’s name, the guinea pig got down from his table toward the stage, with several fans calling out to him. “The pig is on the move!” Mr. Shark whispered. “I repeat, the pig is on the move!”

XXXXXXXX

“Webs, Webs!” Mr. Wolf was in full-blown panic. “The curtain’s going up any minute.”

XXXXXXXX

“We’re trying!” Oran said as he tried to help Ms. Tarantula with her hacking. “It’s not letting us in!”

XXXXXXXX

“Check your system preferences!” Mr. Wolf said desperately just as Mr. Snake came up with his own suggestion. “You probably need to download a driver!”

XXXXXXXX

“Try rebooting!” Pipp whispered, causing the Mane 6 to glare at her. “What? It always helps when my phone is slow!”

XXXXXXXX

“Oh my gosh,” Ms. Tarantula said sarcastically, “you fixed it!”

The Mane 6, Allura and Twitch seemed surprised at this. “Really?”

“NO!!” Oran and Ms. Tarantula shouted at once. Suddenly, the fur on Oran’s body rose up in panic as he heard the door rattle and the chief’s voice coming from the other side. “Hey, Larry. Come on, open up. What did we say about locking doors?”

“Oh no no no no no!!” Oran whispered. “Guys, we have a situation here! The chief’s trying to get inside the office!”

XXXXXXXX

“Stay right there-- me and Twitch are on the way,” Allura said, inviting the rabbit onto her back. “We’re going to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.”

And with that, Allura flew off with Twitch on her back, and the Mane 6 couldn't help but wonder what that meant.

XXXXXXXX

Backstage, Mr. Piranha was becoming so nervous, his stomach was starting to churn. “Hurry up, guys!”

“Ugh, we’re trying here, teethy tuna!” Gretchen hissed. “But we still have a serious situation on our paws here!”

XXXXXXXX

Back in the office, Oran watched as Ms. Tarantula cracked her neck slightly. “Time to turn this baby on beast mode!”

And after cracking her knuckles, Ms. Tarantula deployed several more keyboards and began to type using her other legs at lightning speed, smiling confidently. “Eat it, WPSST!”

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Zari sniffed the air and noticed a bad smell starting to form, and she instantly knew what it was and tried to warn the others. “Wolf… Wolf!”

Mr. Wolf seemed to sense that Mr. Piranha was getting a bit too nervous for comfort, and he immediately began to panic more. “Wait, wait, wait. No, no, Piranha!”

XXXXXXXX

On the stage, Professor Marmalade was getting ready to accept his award, but was now giving the speech he had rehearsed in his honor. “This award is for…”

Suddenly, Mr. Piranha’s fight was heard behind the stage, making everyone confused, except for the Mane 6, who gagged in disgust.

Why did Piranha have to be nervous NOW of all times?

But after the fart had passed, Professor Marmalade cleared his throat again. “As I was saying…”

XXXXXXXX

The horrendous cloud of gas from Mr. Piranha’s fart pours down the vents and into the computer room. Ms. Tarantula and Oran immediately noticed the smell and the fart cloud, leaving both of them angry and irritated. “Piranha, are you kidding us?!”

“Sorry!”

XXXXXXXX

“And that is why,” Professor Marmalade continued, “my Gala for Goodness will raise all the money needed for those less fortunate.”

XXXXXXXX

The chief’s knocking began to get more and more frantic as Ms. Tarantula and Oran had to hold their breath, and Ms. Tarantula typed as fast as she could, even though she felt like she was going to pass out.

“I’m starting to get mad here, Larry!” the chief called out, and began to search through her keys for the right one.

XXXXXXXX

“Webs! Webs!” Izzy whispered nervously as the Mane 6 tried to listen in. “You can do this!”

“And now,” said Diane, “the moment we’ve all been waiting for.”

XXXXXXXX

Backstage, the curtains began to open, causing Gretchen and Reva to yowl in surprise as the lasers began to inch closer and closer toward them, knowing in just a few seconds, they would be dead.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Chief Luggins had found her keys and was about to enter the office when suddenly, she heard a voice behind her. “Excuse me.”

The chief quickly turned around to find Allura standing behind her, with Twitch on her back, the little rabbit looking like he was about to burst. “Is the bathroom anywhere around here?” Allura asked curiously. “My little bunny here can’t seem to hold it any longer.”

Chief Luggins blinked in surprise as the fart cloud began to disappear from the computer room, thanks to the open door. “ Oh, uh, y-you need to take a right at the end of the hall, ma’am.”

XXXXXXXX

Once the gas was released, Ms. Tarantula and Oran gasped for air just as Ms. Tarantula finally finished the hacking. “Yes! Whoop-bam!”

That was when she noticed a weGOTCHA ad, asking if she's not a tarantula, and this got Oran very aggravated. “Oh, come on! Just click it and let’s go!”

And within seconds, the X was clicked and the security system was disarmed, allowing Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha and their apprentices to quickly try and make their move.

XXXXXXXX

“And now,” Diane said as the curtain began to rise further and further, “it is my honor to award Professor Marmalade with the Golden Dolphin!”

But as the curtain rose completely, everyone stood in horror as the Golden Dolphin was… gone!

Rogue was the first to gasp when he saw this. “No!”

And at the same time, Professor Marmalade was also terrified at what had become of his award. “No!”

The Mane 6 sighed in relief.

XXXXXXXX

“Oh, thank goodness,” Allura said to herself before smiling at Chief Luggins and right before she and Twitch left the scene.

Of course, the chief was confused, so she went inside the computer room to find it completely empty (Oran and Webs managed to use Oran’s cloaking magic to get out safely without her noticing), but when she looked on the computer screen, she saw that the Golden Dolphin had disappeared, causing her to shriek and run out of the room, leaving the guard that Ms. Tarantula had tied up still... well, tied up.

XXXXXXXX

Back on the stage, Rogue had run up to the stage to join Diane and the professor while Diane tried to calm the crowd. “Everyone, everyone, uh, please don’t panic. Just stay calm. I’m-I’m sure there’s an explanation for this. I repeat, uh, please do not panic.”

That was when the Bad Guys, their apprentices, Allura, Twitch and the Mane 6 soon reunited not too far away, with Mr. Shark stuffing the Golden Dolphin inside his dress. “Nice work, everybody,” Mr. Wolf praised with a smile. “Now, let’s make like a wolf and get the pack out of here.”

“Ohhhh, wordplay, funny!” Izzy said with a laugh before stopping and realizing. “I don’t get it.”

“We’ll wait for you outside-- I don’t think Allura was kidding when Twitch had to use the bathroom!” Zipp said, gesturing to the still squirming bunny before she, the rest of the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch ran outside.

That was when Professor Marmalade immediately grabbed the mic from Diane, causing the spotlight to fall on him. “Diane, Diane, if I may…” he said, getting up onto the stand to address the people. “You have to understand, I didn’t bring hope back to the city for an award. I did these good things because of how they made me feel. That tingly feeling I get. That shiver up my spine. The wag in my tiny tail. Because, you see, being good just feels so good. And when you’re good, you’re loved.”

Hearing the professor’s speech seemed to resonate with Mr. Wolf in ways that he didn’t even realize were possible, and as he stopped to smile and listen, the unthinkable happened-- his tail started to wag again, causing him to yelp and try to hide it…

…causing Reva to yelp and turn back to him. “Not this again!”

“Wolf? Reva?” Gretchen looked confused. “What are you doing?”

However, as Reva and Mr. Wolf tried to stop Mr. Wolf’s tail from wagging, the mustache of Mr. Wolf’s disguise fell off, and one of the men in the audience seemed to recognize the Bad Guys and immediately became horrified. “It’s the Bad Guys!”

Upon hearing the Bad Guys’ name being called from outside, the Mane 6 immediately stopped in their tracks while Allura tended to Twitch. “Uh-oh…”

XXXXXXXX

“Arrest them!” Chief Luggins shouted, and officers appeared from all sorts of angles, trapping the Bad Guys and the cubs in a tight-knit circle, frightening the cubs further as Chief Luggins made a rigorous accusation. “They stole the Golden Dolphin!”

“Come on,” Mr. Wolf scoffed. “You can’t prove that.”

Suddenly, the Golden Dolphin fell from Mr. Shark’s dress, causing him to shriek and grab it again. “My baby!!”

“Oh brother…” Carmine rolled her eyes. “What did I tell you?”

“On your knees, Bad Guys!” the chief then barked, cracking her knuckles with a victorious smirk. “With your hands up!”

“Never!” Mr. Snake hissed with rebellion in his tone. “We’re out of here!”

That was when Mr. Wolf fired a grappling hook at the ceiling, and the other Bad Guys and apprentices quickly grabbed onto him, ready to make their escape worthwhile. “So long, suckers!”

But unfortunately, as Mr. Wolf retracted the grappling hook, the hook took off Mr. Wolf’s pants, causing all eyes to fall on the scene in front of them.

And after a moment, Reva chuckled nervously, a blush coming onto her face. “Well, this just got a little weird.”

XXXXXXXX

The Mane 6, Allura and Twitch felt powerless as soon as they saw the officers surround their acquaintances… friends… whatever they wanted to call them.

If our heroes didn't come up with a solution to help the gang fast... this would probably be the last time anyone would ever see them, and their quest would be incomplete for as long as they were in prison.

This couldn't be the way things had to end... could it?

Bad Guys Going Good?/Safira Watches It All

If you haven't read the most recent chapter of this story, let me fill you in on the details.

The Bad Guys and their five Mythix Tiger apprentices had recruited the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch to help them steal a coveted award called the Golden Dolphin, who was supposed to be given by guinea pig philanthropist Professor Rupert Marmalade IV, who has helped rebuild the city from damage by a meteorite.

Infiltrating the awards ceremony, Wolf felt... really good after he and Reva inadvertently helped an elderly woman, and his conflicted feelings and his wagging tail delayed the gang's escape, resulting in their arrest while the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch managed to slip away without noticing.

Of course, our heroes felt worried about these guys-- I mean, they had started to bond. How in the world were they gonna get them out of this mess?

Well, that's what we're going to find out very shortly.

XXXXXXXX

Within just 10 minutes of the Bad Guys and the cubs being caught with the Golden Dolphin, there were reporters all over the place, along with many police officers and civilians, including the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch, who were all anxious to try and see their acquaintances/friends before it was too late to do anything else.

Izzy whimpered worriedly at the thought of how frightened the cubs must've been. “Can anypony see them yet?”

“I was just about to ask the same thing,” Allura said as she got down from a higher perch. “Twitch and I tried our best from the higher perspective, but we can't see through all the civilians and officers around.”

“Ohhh... maybe we should have stayed with them while they were in there,” Misty said as she nervously paced around. “Maybe we could have provided some sort of distraction to let them get away!”

“Hey hey, it's not anypony's fault, Misty,” Zipp said, trying to be sympathetic despite the circumstances. “If we were in there at the exact same time as the Bad Guys, the chief could have suspected us to be some sort of new partners and we could be in handcuffs just as quickly as fi they were working alone.”

“Zipp has a point,” Sunny tried to reason. “Wolf promised us that he and the others wouldn't mention that we were even connected with the Bad Guys or the cubs if they were ever caught, and... though it may be really hard, I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt... don't you think?”

But before anyone had the chance to respond to Sunny’s speech, Pipp let out a gasp as she peeked through the crowd. “Oh my hoofness, I think I can see them! Look!”

It was at that moment that a horde of officers came out with the Bad Guys and their apprentices restrained with handcuffs and ropes around the cubs’ necks, and Tiffany Fluffit turned to the camera for a brief introduction to what was happening at the gala. “The Bad Guys go bust. The nefarious fivesome and their devious tiger sidekicks have finally been captured. And I, Tiffany Fluffit, am first on the scene.”

But out of all the Bad Guys and the tiger cubs, no one looked more worried and fearful than Mr. Wolf and Reva, who were being escorted to the SUCM truck by none other than Chief Luggins. “Wow. You know, I-I just realized that I have devoted my entire adult life to putting you in jail. You are my purpose. Without you, who am I?” she said worriedly before suddenly regaining her confidence. “Ah, I’m just kidding. This is the best moment of my life!”

“YEOW!!!” Reva meowed in complete pain as the chief stepped on her low-dragging tail. “It’s the end of the Bad Guys!”

“...come on,” Hitch said to his friends after a moment. “We’ll try and get as close as we can and see what we can do.”

And that’s just what the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch did-- they moved a bit through the crowd so they could get a better angle, and as they did, Carmine and Mr. Shark were being pushed into the nearby truck. “NO!!”

“Get your hands off of me!” Mr. Piranha said through the mask he was wearing before he and Zari were thrown into the truck. At the same time, Oran was pushed into the truck while Ms. Tarantula was trapped in a glass box, being put in there by a very scared officer. “Ooh, you’re begging for a biting right now.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Snake and Gretchen were grabbed by grabber devices, and they turned back to Mr. Wolf and Reva before they were thrown in.

“Reva!!”

“Wolf!”

Reva sniffled in shame as Mr. Wolf glanced down at his non-wagging tail. This heist was such a stupid idea-- if he had heeded Snake’s warning from the beginning, none of this would be happening right now.

Mr. Wolf had to think of a way to fix this… to give him, his friends and their apprentices some time to recalculate the heist.

As he tried to think, he noticed Professor Marmalade, Rogue and Diane being interviewed by a bunch of reporters, who were eager for their statement. “Professor Marmalade! Madam Governor! Ooh, Professor Marmalade! Madam Governor! Madam Governor!”

“Please, please!” Rogue said to the reporters desperately, not liking all the chaos being around him. “One at a time. One at a time!”

Suddenly, one look at Professor Marmalade gave Mr. Wolf an idea, and he quickly slipped from the chief’s reach and turned in their direction. “Excuse me.”

“Hey!” the chief said angrily as she tried to grab him, and all attention turned to Mr. Wolf again. “Sorry to interrupt,” Mr. Wolf spoke, confusing Reva slightly. “I just wanted to congratulate the governor here. I got to say, you really got us pegged. We’re just a deep well of anger and self-loathing.”

Diane gave him a look at this. “Denial.”

“Sure. That, too.”

“Narcissism.”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

“Oh!” Rogue spoke up. “Don’t forget emotional emptiness.”

“So we’re on the same page,” Mr. Wolf chimed in again, causing Rogue and Diane to glance at each other.

At the same time, the other Bad Guys and apprentices watched the interaction, unsure of what to think. “What is he doing?” Zari asked in confusion. “I’m not sure,” Reva tilted her head, “but if it’s Wolf, he’s gonna save our necks.”

“Sadly, we were never given a chance to be anything more than second-rate criminals,” Mr. Wolf added with a sad look on his face… something that the Mane 6’s hearts seemed to sense. “If only there was someone who could help the flower of goodness inside us blossom. Some icon of love and forgiveness, like, uh, I don’t know, Mother Teresa. Best thing is to just throw us and our tiger friends, who have no family except for themselves, in jail for the rest of our hopeless lives.”

“Yeah,” Chief Luggins said with a look, “that’s the plan.”

“Wait, hey!” Reva struggled in the chief’s grip as the chief lifted her off the ground. “Let me go! Wolf!!”

“Oh, I don’t think I wanna watch anymore!!” Izzy said, covering her eyes with her hoof. “Just tell me when it’s over!”

“I don’t know, Izzy,” Sunny said, trying to read Mr. Wolf’s thoughts as he and Reva were about to be thrown into the truck. “Something tells me that what Mr. Wolf said might get to someone.”

“WAIT!!”

Suddenly, Professor Marmalade’s voice cut through the chaos, and even Chief Luggins turned to him in surprise. “Beg pardon?”

“Mr. Wolf may be a savage beast. Basically walking garbage,” Professor Marmalade said, walking down the red carpet before turning to Mr. Wolf and Reva. “Sorry, I’m making a point.”

“Do what you need to do, pal,” Mr. Wolf smirked. “But how can we say they’re hopeless if they’ve never been given a chance? What if… what if we tried a little experiment, Diane?” Professor Marmalade asked Diane, turning to her and Rogue with a genuine smile. “As you know, my Gala for Goodness, the ‘hashtag charity event of the year’ is coming up. If I can prove to everyone at that gala that the Bad Guys have changed, will you set them free and give them a clean start?”

“Wait, is he serious?” Pipp asked, recording the entire thing on her phone. “Do you think he really wants to?”

“Hey, if it gives the Bad Guys and those cubs a chance at a new life, I’m all for trying anything. And maybe… this… this is what the Unity Crystals wanted us to do by sending us to meet them!” Zipp realized. “They want us to help reform those guys into better beings!”

“I think you’re right, Zipp. Come on,” Misty said to her friends urgingly. “Let’s get closer to Professor Marmalade and ask if we can help.”

“What?! Professor Marmalade!” Chief Luggins dropped Reva and Mr. Wolf as the Mane 6 tried to sneak closer. “No, no, no, no, no. Don’t you see what he’s doing? He’s playing you.”

“But,” Professor Marmalade argued, “it was my idea.”

“It was his idea,” said Reva with an innocent shrug. “But only because your mentor made him have it!” the chief barked at her before turning back to Diane and Rogue. “Madam Governor, you can’t just let them go.”

“Diane?” Rogue looked to Diane with uncertainty. “Professor, I’m not about to put the safety of the city on the line for an experiment,” Diane began to say, just when Mr. Wolf decided to chime in again. “Excuse me, Madam Governor. I seem to remember that a wise person once said, ‘Even trash can be recycled into something beautiful’.”

Diane seemed to be surprised that Mr. Wolf even remembered her words through his Poodleton disguise, and after a look from Rogue that told her that it was worth a try, she finally agreed. “Okay. I’m game. But only because it’s you, professor.”

“No!!” Chief Luggins wailed in frustration. “We’ll hold on to the Dolphin until the gala. Just to remove any unnecessary temptation,” Diane then added. “And… you’re going to need some help with these guys to make sure they don’t go out of control.”

“We’ll do it!”

Gasps emerged from the crowd, the Bad Guys and their apprentices as they turned to see the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch coming out from the gathering crowd. “Allow us to introduce ourselves, Governor Foxington,” Sunny said respectfully. “My name is Sunny Starscout, and these are my friends. We come from a world known as Equestria where unity and friendship is as common as the air we breathe.”

“Oh… oh, yes! I do remember seeing you all on the news a few times,” Diane nodded slowly, causing the Bad Guys and their apprentices to look at each other, but remained silent. “What can I do for you?”

“Well, we were on our way through the city when we saw what was going on, and… we think we may be able to help,” Sunny offered. “We’ve had a fair share of reforming villains on our missions-- in fact, Allura and Twitch here have been our biggest success story.”

“It’s true, governor,” Allura said thoughtfully. “These ponies have changed mine and Twitch’s lives for the better. If we can recreate that experience for these Bad Guys and their apprentices, we would be so grateful. Plus, we have magic that could come in handy if we needed it.”

“...we captured the guardians of Equestria yesterday?!” Carmine whispered to her friends and cousins. “Why didn’t they say anything?!”

“They’re probably trying to save our necks like they are now, so hush up!” Oran whispered harshly. “We have no reason to not trust them.”

“...what do you think, Diane? From what we’ve seen on news stories in the past,” Rogue admitted, “they always have a way of saving the day when it counts the most.”

Diane seemed to consider this, glancing at the Mane 6, then at Allura and Twitch, for a few moments, before sighing and nodding in compliance. “Okay, Miss Starscout. If you and your friends can really help keep the Bad Guys in line during this experiment, then you’re more than welcome to help.”

“You won’t regret this, governor,” Misty said with a grin as she shook Diane’s paw. “But we’re gonna need a place to stay while we’re in town.”

“Oh, they’re more than happy to stay with me,” Professor Marmalade offered. “There’s too much room in my big compound for just me, anyway.”

“Perfect! We’ll take you up on your offer, professor,” said Hitch, “and we’ll be there first thing in the morning.”

“Good thinking,” Professor Marmalade patted Hitch’s leg before turning to the crowd again. “Now that everyone’s happy…”

“NOT happy,” Chief Luggins muttered, but Professor Marmalade paid her no mind as he continued. “…I, Rupert Marmalade the Fourth, will turn the Bad Guys into… the Good Guys!”

The people gasped and muttered in confusion while photographers took pictures of the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch with Professor Marmalade. And seemingly satisfied, Mr. Wolf winked at his confused crew before uncuffing himself and handing the handcuffs back to the chief. “I think these belong to you.”

“Hey!” the chief quipped before Mr. Wolf helped Reva into the truck. “Not everyone gets a second chance,” Diane told Mr. Wolf with a stern expression. “Make the most of it, Mr. Poodleton.”

Mr. Wolf mimicked a hat tipping to Diane before closing the truck door and letting the truck drive away as the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch looked on.

Allura looked to the Mane 6 with a grateful smile on her face. “Thank you... for wanting to help them the same way you helped me.”

“We would do anything to help you and those who matter closest to you, Allura,” Sunny said sincerely. “Always. Now, come on-- the reformation of the Bad Guys starts first thing tomorrow morning and we need our rest for the big day.”

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, as the SUCM truck was driving down the road, the other Bad Guys and apprentices turned to Mr. Wolf, seemingly very confused about what just happened. “Wolf?” Reva finally spoke. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, that,” Mr. Wolf seemed to realize what the crew was talking about after a moment. “I-I-I’m sorry. I thought it was, uh, obvious. We’re gonna go good.”

Oran tilted his head in confusion. “Uh, you totally lost me.”

“I told him to stop drinking out of the toilet,” Mr. Piranha nudged Zari in confusion. “Hey, did you get hit on the head?” Mr. Shark asked before turning to the others. “My cousin got hit on the head with an anchor, and after that, he only swam in a circle.”

“Oof,” Carmine winced. “That doesn’t sound too good...”

“No, no, g-guys, guys, you’re not following me. We’re gonna pretend to go good,” Mr. Wolf tried to explain again. “Just a few days with Marmalade and those Equestrians. And then we roll into the gala as Good Guys and roll out scot-free with…”

That was when the others seemed to realize what Mr. Wolf was trying to say. “The Golden Dolphin!”

“You got it,” Mr. Wolf nodded with a smirk. “Since when do we not finish a job? The Bad Guys become the Good Guys so we can stay the Bad Guys. You know what I’m saying?”

The other Bad Guys laughed in the pleasure of the plan, and Mr. Snake got closer to Mr. Wolf with a smile on his face. “Bad Guys acting good? It’s the ultimate Bad Guy thing. It’s fantastic. Wolf, you’re a genius.”

“It’s gonna be, like, the most relaxing con ever, like a vacation,” Mr. Wolf added. “Oh! A con-cation!” Mr. Piranha added, causing the Bad Guys to laugh once more. “Uh, guys? Just one thing wrong with that,” Gretchen said cautiously. “Other than our new friends figuring out our plan and then abandoning us, what about Safira? If she figures out our plan to go good, she'll be furious!”

“Hey, hey, hey, you cubs worry too much,” Mr. Wolf brushed the thought away. “That compound is gonna be so secure, even that crusty old dragon won't be able to get into it. You'll be safe and protected from her while we complete our plan, we promise.”

Reva sighed and nuzzled up to Mr. Wolf, hoping to be reassured. “I sure hope you're right...”

XXXXXXXX

At the same time as the SUCM truck was driving through the city, Safira stood at the top of a nearby building, looking furious. “So... they plan to go good, do they? Abandon all that I've given them, do they?! I GAVE THOSE BRATS MEANING TO THEIR LIGES AGAIN, AND THIS IS HOW THEY WANT TO REPAY ME?!!!”

It took a minute for the dragoness to calm down some, but as she did, her blue eyes turned cold and heartless. “No matter,” she sneered. “Not even the Bad Guys and those Equestrians will be able to see what's coming next. Cause when I'm done with my own plan... none of them will live to tell the tale.”

And with that, the dragon unfurled her wings and flew off into the sky, ready to complete her master plan and fulfill a couple of goals.

One of them being getting revenge for those she lost a long time ago.

And the other one being...

...the ultimate revenge for her master.

The Bad Guys and their Good Training... Goes Horribly Wrong

The Mane 6 had been in a bunch of tight situations before, but this was probably one of the tightest situations that they had ever been in.

After getting caught trying to steal the Golden Dolphin from the Good Samaritan Awards, the Bad Guys and their apprentices were surely going to be sent to prison, but Mr. Wolf... being the leader that he was, he had an idea that just might work.

To avoid prison and steal the award again, Mr. Wolf persuaded Governor Diane Foxington to let Professor Marmalade, the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch change the Bad Guys' criminal ways...

...unaware that the evil dragon mistress of the five Mythix Tiger cubs, Safira, was watching everything before flying off and swearing her part in a plan of ultimate revenge.

Allura was so sure that the Bad Guys and the cubs deserved the same second chance that she and Twitch had gotten, so the Mane 6 knew that they couldn’t let her or their new acquaintances down.

So, let's get onto the story and see what happens next, shall we?

XXXXXXXX

The next morning, the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch set out for Professor Marmalade’s compound where the Bad Guys and the tiger cubs would be doing their goodness training until the gala.

And upon passing through the gates at the front and walking down the path, the group was enamoured by the breathtaking scenery before them. “Wow… compared to the Crystal Brighthouse and all its splendor,” said Hitch with admiration in his voice, “this place isn’t half bad!”

“I can’t believe one lone guinea pig lives in this big estate all by himself,” Misty said before frowning slightly. “He must get lonely.”

“Psh, are you kidding, Misty? Look at this guy-- he’s one of the goodest people on the planet!” Pipp brushed off with a smirk. “He probably gets dozens of visitors here by the day, and we’re probably the first Equestrians who have ever showed up on his doorstep!”

“According to the text I got from Governor Foxington this morning,” said Sunny as she pulled out her phone to read the text in question, “we’re supposed to meet the Bad Guys and the cubs at the front door, and we’re all supposed to go in together. Sort of like… bodyguards for the wrong doers, if you catch my drift.”

Zipp sighed as they started getting closer to the house. “I just hope Wolf and the others aren’t too mad at us.”

“Mad at us?” Hitch looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Well… they protected us when we were involved with the heist last night,” Zipp admitted, “and they found out that we’re the protectors of Equestria when we introduced ourselves to the governor and Rogue. I don’t think they’ll be too happy knowing we didn’t tell them the truth.”

“We’ll try and explain it to them, won’t we?” Allura asked as Twitch bounced around in front of them. “I mean, it WAS for everyone’s safety that we kept it to ourselves.”

“Of course it was,” Sunny agreed as they finally got to the front steps. “And that’s exactly what we’ll tell them when they get here.”

Izzy gulped nervously as she saw a SUCM truck begin to drive toward the house. “Well, we better get ready, cause here they come…”

Soon, the truck pulled up to the front steps of the house, with officers opening the back of the truck to let the Bad Guys and their apprentices (donning their normal appearances) to step out and take a good look around. “Wow…” Zari muttered. “This place looks almost as big as our hideout!”

“Yeah, almost,” Mr. Snake agreed before he spotted the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch waiting on them, and his brow furrowed. “Well, well, look who’s here-- the guardians of Pony Land.”

“Uh… it’s Equestria, Mr. Snake,” Sunny said with a polite smile. “Equestria, not Pony Land. Those are two totally different places.”

Mr. Snake merely scoffed at this, completely in denial. “Whatever.”

“Look, guys, we’re really really sorry we never told you about our true identities,” Zipp apologized sincerely. “We were just worried that if you found out the truth, it would put all of us at risk.”

“Well, I can see that,” Ms. Tarantula quipped, “but how could it put YOU in danger if you’re not the criminals?”

“Well… that’s sort of complicated to explain,” Misty admitted. “You see… we’re not just here to help you. We’re also trying to find pieces to a magical map that will lead to the legendary realm of Skyros, so we can find Skyros and protect it from Alterro.”

“Alterro?” Reva tilted her head before looking at Allura, her eyes going wide. “W-Wait… isn’t Alterro your…?”

“Yes,” Allura sighed. “Alterro is my twin brother. He wants revenge on the ponies and me for betraying him, and he’s willing to kill anyone who gets in his way.”

Zari gulped nervously, ducking behind Mr. Piranha at this. “E-Even cubs?”

“ESPECIALLY cubs,” Sunny nodded. “So, we figured if word doesn’t spread about us too much, Alterro won’t come after us. So… that’s why we never told you. I hope you’re still not too mad.”

“Oh, I’m still mad,” Mr. Snake glared at the ponies. “VERY mad, in fact.”

“But… I kinda understand why you did it too,” Gretchen said, cutting her mentor off before he could get too far. “And if you’re serious about this Alterro guy, then… I guess you’re more like us than we thought, with our Safira situation.”

“Yeah,” Mr. Shark sighed. “Nobody can be mad at y’all for long.”

Pipp sighed in relief at this. “Thanks, guys. That means a lot to hear that.”

“So… I guess we just go inside and get this whole thing started?” Mr. Wolf asked unsurely. “That’s what Diane assigned us to do, Wolfie-Poo, and that’s what we’re gonna do!” Izzy said, patting Mr. Wolf on the head with her hoof before bouncing over to the doors in front of them. “Come on!”

And so, Izzy opened the doors with her magic, and the group quickly filed inside, trying to stay orderly as they looked around the elegant household.

“Whoa…”

“Look at this place!”

“So cool!”

“Big and fancy!”

“Rodent’s got taste. Okay!”

“Huh. Almost makes me want to be cute.”

Suddenly, Professor Marmalade’s voice echoed through the room, causing the group to look around and see where it was coming from. “They say experience is the best teacher. And they are wrong. I am.”

That was when everyone turned and quickly saw Professor Marmalade and his human assistant Cuddles standing beside a statue of the professor holding a lamp that looked just like the Love Crater meteorite, and Professor Marmalade smiled down at the group. “Good morning, students of goodness. And welcome to the first day of the rest of your best life.”

“Thanks, professor, for letting us be a part of this,” Zipp said politely. “We’re gonna do you and the governor proud, aren’t we…?”

“A giant butt!” Mr. Piranha said innocently, looking at the lamp in question. “What?” Professor Marmalade looked at the lamp before turning back to Mr. Piranha to explain. “Uh, it’s-it’s not a butt. It’s a lamp.”

And with the swift clap of his hands, the lamp turned on. “In the shape of the Love Crater Meteorite, my greatest…”

“I wonder whose butt it is,” Mr. Piranha kept saying, causing Carmine to groan to herself. “Oh boy…”

“Once again, it’s not a butt. Thank you,” the professor said before clapping to turn the lamp off. “It’s a heart. Now, as I was saying…”

“Then why does it have cheeks?” Mr. Piranha asked, causing the tiger cubs to shush him and causing Professor Marmalade to scoff. ‘It’s not a…”

“Booty!”

“It’s not a butt!” Professor Marmalade enunciated. “Not a butt!”

“Does he know what a butt is?” Mr. Piranha whispered to Izzy before Twitch covered his mouth with his paw. “Sorry, professor,” Allura apologized. “Please continue with what you were saying.”

“Thank you,” Professor Marmalade said before clearing his throat. “As I was saying, the five of you and your budding apprentices are villains, predators, remorseless sociopaths.”

“Whoa,” Oran blinked. “That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”

“Oh, stop,” Mr. Shark said while he blushed heavily at this. “You’re making me blush!”

“But inside, there’s a flower… the flower of goodness,” Professor Marmalade continued. “And when it blooms and you feel that tingle of positivity radiating through your body, you’re going to want to feel it all the time.”

Mr. Wolf and Reva looked down at their tails and Reva's cutie mark, feeling that Professor Marmalade was speaking to them personally. And all this talk of goodness and positivity... they honestly didn't mind it.

In fact, they kinda liked it.

However, Ms. Tarantula was a bit confused. “So we’re going for a tingle?”

“Not any tingle,” the professor told her. “The tingle of goodness, which you’ll feel in my state-of-the-art Sharing Laboratory!”

The ponies then led their friends up the stairs to an upper level of the house, where a table and two chairs sat. “Okay, Mr. Snake,” Professor Marmalade pulled a push-pop out from out of nowhere.”I’m going to give you a push-pop.”

“Great!” Mr. Snake grabbed the frozen treat without a second thought. “A push-pop all for me!”

“Well, no…” Sunny said slowly. “You’re gonna share it.”

Mr. Snake shot her a look at this. “Why?”

“Well,” Professor Marmalade explained, “on a fundamental level, it’s about putting someone else’s needs ahead of your own.”

Mr. Shark sat at that very same table with a little chuckle building its way up, and Mr. Snake immediately liked where this was going. “Oh, no. No way!”

“Snake…” Reva began to scold, crossing her paws before Mr. Snake sighed reluctantly and slithered over to the table. “All right, all right.”

“This is going to taste extra sweet, cause I know how bad you want it,” Mr. Shark smirked just before Mr. Snake hovered the push-pop in front of his mouth. “Pop me, please.”

Mr. Snake looked as if he was finally going to turn over the push-pop to Mr. Shark, but all of a sudden, he changed direction and put the push-pop into his own mouth. “Sucker.”

“That’s it!” Mr. Shark finally snapped, grabbing Mr. Snake. “I’ll teach you to share!”

That was when Mr. Shark swallowed Mr. Snake whole, causing the others to gasp and causing Hitch to try and not puke. “Mm, I like sharing,” Mr. Shark smiled. “It’s yummy. Mmm…”

“Totally worth it!” Mr. Snake called from inside Mr. Shark, causing Professor Marmalade the slightest bit of discomfort. “Well, that’s terrifying.”

“You know what, professor?” Allura cleared her throat. “Maybe we should try something a bit simpler.”

XXXXXXXX

A few minutes later, the group moved to a sidewalk beside a busy road for the next part of goodness training. “A good person always pays attention to the needs of others,” Sunny said, taking the lead on this exercise as she gestured to Mr. Wolf, dressed as a grandmother with a scowl on his face. “Now, here’s a kindly, frail grandma.”

The other Bad Guys and the apprentices tried their best not to laugh, but eventually, laughter took over, and even the Mane 6 tried to hold their laughter back so they could keep things civil.

Zipp finally cleared her throat once the laughter died down. “Okay, Piranha, we’re gonna need you to take… heh heh… Grandma here across the street, like a good person would.”

“Psh, sure sure sure. I do this all the time,” Mr. Piranha brushed off before taking Mr. Wolf by the paw and leading him out into the street. “Here you go, ma’am.”

“Looking good, guys!” Pipp said as she videoed the entire thing on her phone. “Keep it up!”

However, while the apprentices stood, taking silent notes, the other Bad Guys couldn’t help but laugh right before Ms. Tarantula shook her head. “Oh, he is totally gonna blow it.”

That was when Mr. Piranha turned around, having heard what she said and becoming increasingly irritated as he let go of Wolf and marched toward them. “What was that? What did you say? You think I can’t do this?”

“No, no, no, Piranha!” Mr. Wolf tried to say, but before he could finish, a truck drove by and ran right into him, sending him flying before falling down to the street, only to be caught by Zipp.

Izzy winced at this. “So much for the grandma disguise I was working on…”

“Maybe,” Hitch tried to reason with a nervous grin, “we need something WAY simpler.”

XXXXXXXX

Back at Professor Marmalade’s estate, the guinea pig led the group over to a tall palm tree, where a small kitten was clinging for dear life. “Hey, look!” Mr. Wolf said to the others. “It’s a cat stuck in a tree.”

“It doesn’t get much simpler than this,” Misty said. “Now, what in this scenario would give you that good tingle?”

“Eating it?” Mr. Snake asked. “This is why I always carry two pieces of bread with me.”

“Okay… weird, and no,” Pipp dismissed bluntly. “We want you to… s…”

However, instead of saying the one word Pipp wanted, the Bad Guys came up with a multitude of different ideas.

“Smack it?”

“Skin it?”

“Stab it!”

“Saute it.”

“Sing to it?”

Pipp sighed in frustration, leading Professor Marmalade to step in. “Save it. I want you to sa… that’s obv… it’s so obvi… we want you to save it!”

“Ohhhhh…” Carmine nodded slowly. “Well, why didn’t you just say so? The Bad Guys can do that, right, guys?”

“Right, right,” the Bad Guys seemed to nod at once before they looked up at the frightened cat before sporting fangs and scary looks. “HERE, KITTY KITTY KITTY!!!”

Scared, the cat ran up to the top of the tree, yowling in fright. “Whoa,” Mr. Snake commented. “That cat is obviously defective.”

“What is wrong with you?!” Zari then scolded, looking at the Bad Guys with a look of shock and disgust. “You’re gonna give the poor thing a heart attack! That could our long lost brethren!!”

The Bad Guys and other apprentices stared at Zari in surprise, never hearing her snap like that before. And after a moment, Zari seemed to realize this herself and chuckled nervously. “Sorry… I kinda got carried away.”

“No no no, you’re fine,” Zipp said, approaching her. “Letting out your bad emotions, such as anger, is a good way of becoming good. We’re just gonna need to help you let ‘em out in a more… positive way.”

“But first things first,” Misty said, pointing to the top of the tree, “we need to get that cat down.”

“I’ll handle this,” Mr. Piranha said before walking over and beginning to climb the tree to reach the cat. “What’s up, papa?!”

Frightened, the cat yowled and leapt right from the tree and onto Mr. Wolf's head before attacking him, causing Mr. Wolf to scream in panic. “Get him off my face! He’s on my face!”

“No, no, no, no, no, listen!” Professor Marmalade said as the others tried to keep away from the frightened cat. “W-What are you doing?!”

The kitten eventually got off Mr. Wolf’s face and climbed up the tree again, leaving Mr. Wolf to stagger, in pain after just being attacked. “Easy, easy, Wolf, you’re fine,” Allura said, trying to be comforting while Twitch patted Mr. Wolf's leg reassuringly. “Maybe… let someone else take a stab at it.”

“We’re on it,” Reva rolled her eyes before she and her cousins approached the tree. “It’s okay, little kitty,” Oran said, trying to be gentle. “We’re not gonna hurt you. We’re kitty cats, just like you. See? We have paws with claws, and whiskers, and long tails we use for balance.”

The kitty seemed to see that from its perch at the top of the tree, tilting its head curiously. “That’s a good reason to trust us, right?” Carmine asked. “We’re the same species… sort of, so we could be… distant cousins?”

“Come on down and say hello,” Reva called up to the cat sweetly. “No one’s gonna hurt you… we promise.”

“We’ll catch you,” Zari added, holding up her paws. “Don’t worry.”

The kitty still seemed a bit wary of the Bad Guys, but seeing as it had no reason to not trust the cubs, it thought for a moment more about what it could do before it jumped down from the tree and into the cubs’ paws. “There you go, little guy,” Oran said with a smile, rubbing against the cat. “Not so scary now, are we?”

“Wha… they did it!” Ms. Tarantula whispered as Pipp took a picture of the event. “They actually did it!”

Sunny quickly gasped as she saw a miraculous sight. “And that’s not the only thing they did right! Look!”

As the Bad Guys suddenly looked down at the cubs (who were still playing with the kitten), they saw the cubs’ cutie marks beginning to light up, dimly at first, but it was still progress. “Huh?” Gretchen stopped playing with the kitten and looked at the others in confusion. “Why is everyone staring at us like that?”

“Cubs, look!” Allura said with pride in her voice. “Your cutie marks!”

“Huh? Wow…” Carmine commented, seeing her cutie mark glow for the first time. “I don’t think my cutie mark has ever lit up before…”

“See? That’s what doing something good can do for you. That’s what I need the rest of you to get good at,” Professor Marmalade said, turning to the Bad Guys. “Curious, what ARE you all good at?”

“Stealing stuff,” Mr. Piranha answered. “Oh, yeah,” Mr. Shark nodded. “We’re great at that.”

“Robbery.”

“Larceny.”

“Wire fraud.”

“Extortion.”

“Tax evasion.”

“Heists.”

“Mail fraud.”

“Wait. Heists, you say?” Professor Marmalade asked, causing Mr. Wolf to smile. “Well, that’s… yeah, that’s kind of our specialty.”

Professor Marmalade suddenly thought about something that he had heard about on the news recently, causing a smile to grace his face. “I might just have an idea.”

XXXXXXXX

It was a few minutes later before Professor Marmalade’s limo pulled up behind a building called Sunnyside Laboratories, where a large crowd was protesting at the front entrance. And once the limo had gone out of the crowd’s sight behind the building, Professor Marmalade took the chance to explain. “That is an animal testing lab. Within, 200,000 helpless guinea pigs, all being poked and prodded by sadistic scientists.”

“Guinea pigs, you say?” Mr. Snake asked hungrily, leaving Mr. Wolf to look at him scoldingly. “Snake…”

“Our job is to help you rescue them,” Misty said to the Bad Guys and their apprentices. “But this is a heist for good, so Izzy made you guys something more friendly to wear.”

XXXXXXXX

Within just a few minutes, the limo had driven off, and while the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch stood ready to make their move, the Bad Guys each stood in a different animal onesie-- Mr. Wolf in a sheep onesie, Mr. Snake in a unicorn onesie, Mr. Piranha in a bear onesie, Ms. Tarantula in a lemur onesie and Mr. Shark in a walrus onesie-- and the apprentices were in their own outfits... fairy outfits, to be exact-- all with sparkly fake fairy wings.

Reva wore a red fairy outfit, Gretchen wore a white fairy outfit, Oran wore a brown fairy outfit, Zari wore a blue fairy outfit and Carmine wore a dark purple fairy outfit.

Once the limo had disappeared from their sight, Ms. Tarantula sighed at how ridiculously they had been dressed. “Well, there goes our street cred.”

“I dunno,” Oran said to his mentor, brushing off his new outfit. “At least they’re comfortable.”

“Come on, guys, hurry,” Sunny whispered to the others. “Let’s get closer to the building and see how we can get inside.”

The others nodded and quickly followed after Sunny and the others, eventually reaching a spot where they could see a scientist through one of the many windows on the side of the building. “All right, we need to distract that scientist,” Mr. Wolf said before turning to a few members of the group. “Izzy, Pipp, Carmine and Shark, you’re up.”

“And be sure,” said Misty, “to use that invisibility spell I taught Izzy so those of you who aren’t in disguise stay hidden.”

“Copy that,” Izzy said with a salute before she activated the spell, causing the four of them to disappear from sight before heading toward the building. “Okay… I’m not exactly sure a vine can reach that far,” Sunny muttered, “so we’re gonna need some sort of rope and hook.”

“I got this one,” Mr. Snake immediately volunteered, causing the others to turn to him in surprise. “What?!”

“You’re volunteering?” Mr. Piranha asked in confusion. “You’ve never volunteered for anything,” Gretchen raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “Sure, I did,” Mr. Snake told his apprentice. “Right now. Throw me up there. Giddyap!”

“You sure?” Mr. Wolf asked quizzically. “Yep,” Mr. Snake nodded. “I’m 99% sure you can make it.”

“Okay… then let’s do it!” Reva said with a determined smile.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, while Carmine, Izzy and Pipp were under the invisibility spell and watching from nearby, Mr. Shark approached the scientist Mr. Wolf had spotted, disguised as his father while having a baseball and a mitt. “Hey there, son.”

The scientist gasped, wide eyed as he saw the disguised Shark in front of him. “Dad?!”

“I know you’ve got an important job,” Mr. Shark said, “but I hope you still have time for a catch with your old man.”

THUMP!

Mr. Snake missed the window all together after Mr. Wolf tried to throw him up to it. The scientist was just about to turn but Shark turned his attention to him. “Hey, kiddo.”

“96% sure,” Mr. Snake groaned from outside. “You’ll always be my special boy,” Mr. Shark continued just as Mr. Snake hit the window again. “Maybe 90%...”

“I’ve been waiting my entire life for this moment,” the scientist said before hugging Mr. Shark, causing Carmine and Izzy to coo in awe, only for Pipp to shush them before their cover was blown. “Okay,” Mr. Shark said before tossing the ball in another direction. “Now, go long!”

“Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy!” the scientist leapt for joy in that moment. “Thank you, Daddy!”

And with that, the scientist ran off after the ball, leaving Mr. Shark and the others enough time to sneak over and open the window to grab Mr. Snake, allowing the others to get in. “50…” Mr. Snake weakly groaned. “What day is it? Who am I?”

“Good job, Snake,” Allura said as she quickly pulled Mr. Snake inside before calling Professor Marmalade to get their next instructions. “Okay, professor, what next?”

“Right,” said Professor Marmalade. “The guinea pigs are locked behind a three-foot-thick steel door. The only way in is through the vents.”

“Hang on,” Sunny said, shifting into her alicorn form. “I’ve been learning a spell from Misty that might be able to get these vents open.”

Pointing her horn at the screws holding the vent in place, Sunny activated her magic and the screws virtually disappeared, leaving Mr. Wolf to grab the vent cover and put it aside. “Way to go, Sunny!” Oran said with a smile. “Now we just need to get someone to crawl through the vents and open--”

“I got it,” Mr. Snake interrupted before slithering into the vents with Gretchen stealthily following behind, with Mr. Snake singing a happy tune under his breath. “Over the filters and through the vents…”

“I’ve never seen Snake so chipper!” Carmine said with a stunned expression. “Has he been meditating?”

“Something like that,” Hitch nodded slowly. “Come on, we need to wait for Snake and Gretchen to get inside.”

XXXXXXXX

“Over the filters and through the vents,” Mr. Snake sang to himself as he and Gretchen continued through the vents, “to Guinea Pig Land we--”

“WHOA!!” Gretchen shrieked as she and Mr. Snake suddenly fell through the vent system and into the room, which was filled to the brim with guinea pigs, which caused Mr. Snake’s hunger to begin to take over. “Ohhh… snake attack…”

“Snake… Snake, no! Heel! Sit!” Gretchen said as she tried to keep Mr. Snake at bay. “We’re on a heist for good, remember? Good! No eating! Are you listening to me?! SNAKE!!!”

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, a protestor saw Professor Marmalade's limo coming into sight, and then saw Professor Marmalade getting out of it. “Oh. Hey, look, it’s Professor Marmalade!”

The protestors cheered as they turned and saw the same thing, causing Professor Marmalade to smile. “Yes, that’s right. It’s me. Help has arrived. Just keep your eyes glued to that door.”

XXXXXXXX

Reva tried to paw at the doorknob to try and get it open, since Gretchen and Mr. Snake were taking a ridiculously long time, but she wasn’t getting anywhere quickly. “Something doesn’t feel right-- Snake and Gretchen should’ve opened the door by now.”

Mr. Wolf then began to knock on the door. “Snake. Come on, Snake. Open up.”

“Just relax,” said Gretchen as the door slowly began to open. “These doors are… kinda complicated.”

“Hey… where’s Snake?” Zipp asked suspiciously, and Twitch raised an eyebrow at the sudden disappearance. “Yeah,” Izzy nodded. “I thought he went in with you.”

“He did, and before you say a word, I tried to stop him,” Gretchen said with a nervous look. “But… you know how he gets when it comes to food.”

When the door fully opened all the way, the others tried not to gag when they discovered that Mr. Snake’s stomach was filled to the brim with guinea pigs. “Are you kidding me?!” Pipp and Ms. Tarantula shouted at once, causing Gretchen to chuckle nervously. “Oopsie…?”

“What is wrong with you?” Mr. Wolf quickly scolded Mr. Snake, letting Reva lead Gretchen off to the side. “We’re supposed to save them, not eat them!”

“Well, I’d say they’ve gone to a better place,” Mr. Snake chuckled before belching. “All right, that’s it,” Allura sighed before placing her paws on Mr. Snake’s back while Mr. Wolf grabbed Mr. Snake’s tail. “Spit them out!”

Working together, Allura and Mr. Wolf spun Mr. Snake around and around in a circle multiple times, forcing the python to spit out the guinea pigs while the others tried to round them up. “We gonna save you whether you like it or not!” Mr. Shark whispered while Ms. Tarantula rode one of the guinea pigs that Oran was chasing. “We’re saving you, you stupid hair balls!”

“Not that door!” Zari said quietly, pointing the other way. “The other door! Hitch, can’t you use that fancy understanding animal gig of yours to tell them they’re going the wrong way?!”

“I’m trying!” Hitch said as he tried to dodge some guinea pigs flying out of Mr. Snake’s mouth. “But they’re too in panic to listen!”

It was then that one of the guinea pigs flew right into a large red button, which began to lift the door up. “Uh-oh! The door’s going up!” Misty said as she used her magic to make herself, the rest of the ponies, Allura and Twitch invisible. “This is your time to shine, guys-- we’ll be hiding if you need us!”

XXXXXXXX

Outside, Marmalade got his phone ready to film the Bad Guys' and their apprentices' good deed. “Any second…”

That was when the door opened to let out the captured guinea pigs, and Professor Marmalade immediately got run over in the stampede. Then, the crowd saw the Bad Guys and their apprentices with Mr. Shark having some in his mouth and Mr. Snake spitting out a few more, causing them to stop and notice. “Uh-oh,” Carmine gulped. “We’re dead.”

“Everyone, please!” Reva tried to explain. “It-- it’s not what it looks like.”

Suddenly, an alarm began to blare, and Mr. Snake spit out one more guinea pig before they ran off, causing the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch to gulp nervously. “Uh-oh…”

“The governor isn’t gonna be happy about this,” Izzy said in a nervous tone, and Twitch nodded in agreement. “Come on, guys, we better go get them out of this situation before we head back to Professor Marmalade,” Sunny said before they secretly ran out of the building to follow after the Bad Guys and the tiger cubs. “We’re gonna get the governor’s lecture anyway, so we better be with the guys before she lays it out on them.”

Changes of Heart Begin to Occur

The Bad Guys’ and their apprentices’ goodness training, run by Professor Marmalade, the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch, had been a complete disaster, and it was only the first day.

Professor Marmalade had the idea for them to do a heist for good to rescue 200,000 guinea pigs from a testing lab, but Mr. Snake’s hunger for guinea pigs got in the way, resulting in a full blown disaster.

Needless to say, our heroes from Equestria knew that Governor Foxington and Rogue wouldn’t be too happy to hear this, so they decided that no matter what happened, they would keep trying…

…no matter how long it would take for the Bad Guys to reform.

XXXXXXXX

As the Mane 6 expected, Diane and Rogue were already at Professor Marmalade’s house when they arrived, and Diane was holding a newspaper in her paw with a furious look on her face. “Trespassing, burglary, mayhem, assault with a deadly reptile? As if those poor rodents haven’t been through enough already!”

“Governor Foxington, this isn’t how it looks,” Sunny said, getting in front of the Bad Guys and tiger cubs to try and explain. “Uh, I… I mean, uh… what I’m trying to say is…”

“Come on, Diane, at least they were trying to SAVE the guinea pigs,” Rogue tried to point out. “Just… in a really bad way.”

“Whoo… I’m sorry, professor,” Diane said as she swiftly began to walk away. “But I’m calling the chief. This experiment is over.”

“Please. Come on,” Professor Marmalade exclaimed as he and Rogue tried to follow her. “Experiments take time!”

“Way to go, guys. Not only did you screw this up,” Zipp snapped at the Bad Guys and their apprentices, making the cubs more nervous than before, “but you got US in trouble with the governor! …maybe the Unity Crystals made a mistake with us trying to help you.”

“Zipp… Zipp, come on!” Sunny cried out as she and the rest of the Mane 6 followed behind her, trying to get Zipp to calm down enough to understand. Once they were gone, Mr. Wolf turned to Mr. Snake with an accusing frown. “You couldn’t help yourself.”

“So I had a moment of weakness,” Mr. Snake rolled his eyes. “Sue me.”

“Well,” Gretchen hissed, “it’s gonna be difficult to do from prison!”

“Guys…?” Oran looked nervous at this. “What are we gonna do now? We have to let the governor see we’re worthy of another chance! And… if Safira finds out about this…”

Zari gulped nervously. “We’re toast.”

“Hmm. Time to launch a charm offensive,” Mr. Wolf said before walking off, with Reva on his heels. “Oh, yeah,” Gretchen rolled her eyes sarcastically. “The full Clooney.”

“Kid, why don’t you try and take the governor’s kitty cat while I take her?” Mr. Wolf suggested to Reva. “Kill two birds with one stone… er, so to speak.”

“You got it, Wolfie,” Reva said with a wink before rushing off to catch up to Rogue, who was going up the stairs to try and calm himself down. “Rogue, Rogue! Wait up!”

Once Reva had disappeared up the stairs, Mr. Wolf ran after Diane and eventually caught up with her. “Madam Governor. Diane.”

“Do not Clooney me, Wolf,” Diane said sternly as she still walked toward the exit. “Oh, I see what’s going on. You think I’m still a Bad Guy, trying to bamboozle my way to freedom,” Mr. Wolf said nonchalantly. “But we’ve changed. That flower of goodness is blossoming all over the place.”

Diane let out a heavy sigh at this. “Don’t you ever get tired of lying?”

“No, I mean… fudge,” Mr. Wolf sighed in frustration. “That was… that was a trick question, right?”

“I gave you an opportunity… a chance to show the world that you’re more than just a scary stereotype,” Diane said in a betrayed tone, pushing on Wolf slightly. “But you’re too proud or too gutless to take advantage of it.”

“Gutless? I’m gutless?” Mr. Wolf asked before chuckling in anger. “Oh. I’m sorry, have we met? I’m the villain of every story. Guilty until proven innocent. Even if by some miracle we did change, who’s gonna believe us, huh?”

This caused Diane to look at him for a moment before Mr. Wolf rolled his eyes, unsure if she would even understand what he was saying. “Of course you wouldn’t know anything about that, with your adoring little cheetah super fan and your Little Miss Perfect power suits.”

“Is that so?”

Without a second of hesitation, Diane pulled out the ring Mr. Wolf had taken from her the night before, causing Mr. Wolf to search his onesie out of surprise. “Wait a second. What did… how did you…?”

“A wolf and a fox are not so different,” Diane said, flicking the ring to Mr. Wolf, which he immediately caught. “Maybe they will believe you, maybe they won’t, but it doesn’t matter. Don’t do it for them. Do it for you. This is a chance to write your own story. To find a better life for you… your friends… and those cubs. They look up to you.”

Mr. Wolf hesitated at this, suddenly remembering that the cubs had been more than apprentices to him and his friends… they were starting to become members of the team, whether they had been recruited by Safira or not. “Come on,” Diane then said. “What have you got to lose?”

“...my dignity?” Mr. Wolf said with an uneasy shrug. “Yeah, well, that ship has already sailed,” Diane said with a little laugh before looking straight into Mr. Wolf’s eyes. “Believe it or not, I’m rooting for you, Wolf.”

“...so, you’re not going to call the chief?” Mr. Wolf asked her quizzically. “...not now, anyway,” Diane shook her head. “Rogue… he’s taught me everyone deserves a chance at a happy life.”

“Rogue?” Mr. Wolf questioned, unaware that the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch were watching everything from their bedroom balcony. “The cheetah cub?”

“...I found him as a cub two years ago on my doorstep, along with a note,” Diane explained, looking a bit sad. “It said to take good care of him and help his weather magic to grow, and… I wasn’t sure if I was ready to raise him. But, the more time I spent with him, the stronger his powers became, until… he was afraid he might hurt me. Rogue loved me that much.”

Mr. Wolf realized how similar Rogue’s story sounded to the Mythix Tiger cubs, and a pang of sympathy entered his heart as he and Diane sat down on the front steps. “...so… what did you do?”

“Well… the first thing I did was remind myself to not give up on him,” Diane explained as the Equestrian heroes listened closer. “The second thing was… I took my time with him, telling him it’s okay to make mistakes and the most important thing was to learn from them. Soon enough, Rogue got better at controlling his magic, and he even taught me a few things. Fast forward to today… he’s my little helper and friend in everything I do.”

Mr. Wolf paused, thinking about what Diane had told him. Sure, the circumstance with him and the Bad Guys going good while trying to raise those cubs was a bit different from Diane's circumstance, but then again... she seemed to trust him enough to tell him all this.

And in a way... Mr. Wolf felt that he needed to tell her what Reva and her cousins went through a few years ago. So, he sighed and began to tell the whole story. “Reva and her cousins lived in this mythical valley a long way from here, but… about two years ago, it was attacked by these… monsters. She never got a good look at them, but… Reva and her cousins were the only survivors that they know of.”

Izzy whimpered and hugged into Sunny from the balcony when they heard this, and Diane even let out a gasp herself. “Oh, no…”

“They were taken in by this… dragon,” Mr. Wolf continued. “And let me be honest-- she’s scary. The cubs are terrified of her, and they basically do what she wants out of fear and…”

“Wondering what everyone will think of them?” Diane finished. “...they’re a lot more like you and your friends than you think. This experience will be good for them, Wolf. Professor Marmalade already told me how they saved that cat this morning, and their cutie marks lighting up.”

“Yeah…” Mr. Wolf nodded with a chuckle. “I-It was… pretty magical.”

“And with a little bit of good in their hearts… maybe that magical feeling will stick around,” Diane nodded slowly before clearing her throat. “Well, I better wait for Rogue to get done in the house, and then we have to go.”

“Oh, uh… yeah, right,” Mr. Wolf said as he stood up. Reva should’ve been done talking to Rogue by now… what was keeping his apprentice, anyway?

XXXXXXXX

“Rogue! Rogue, please wait!”

Rogue sighed as he heard Reva’s voice coming up behind him. “What do you want?”

“Please… you have to convince the governor to give me and my friends another chance,” Reva pleaded as she and the cheetah cub walked side by side, unaware that Allura had sent Twitch to go and check on the two. “Me, my cousins and my friends, we really wanna…”

“Look, it’s not my decision,” Rogue interrupted stiffly. “It’s Diane’s. I’m her assistant, that’s it.”

“Please… the night we met,” Reva tried her best to plead again, “you treated me with more kindness than… anyone else I’ve ever known. You barely knew me, and yet you wanted to give me a snack anyway. Anyone else who knew me for who I was friends with… would have run away.”

“...that’s true, I guess,” Rogue said after a moment of silence. “But you went by a different name at the time.”

“No… Raindrop is a nickname my parents had for me, cause of my water magic,” Reva explained. “In a way, I’m still the cub you met that night, but… different, I guess.”

However… Rogue still seemed a bit reluctant to believe Reva’s words, so… Reva decided to express her feelings for Rogue the only way she knew how.

By singing.

Reva: Ever since you appeared
I've been running from something deep inside
And it's worse than I feared
Cause I look in your eyes, and I can't hide

I push you away

Rogue: Don’t push me away

Reva: But the feelings come back, just twice as strong
I don't know what to say

Rogue: You know just what to say

Reva: But I know that I'm right where I belong

Now, to Rogue… he was starting to piece things together about Reva that he had never noticed before, and… he was honestly starting to get fascinated with her.

Rogue: The way you know just where to be

Reva: I don’t know

Rogue: The way you move, the way you see

Reva: You see me…

Rogue: The way you feel when you're with me

Both: Beside me

Rogue: Don't hide from me anymore
Tell me it's you
I know it's you

Reva: What do I say?
Where do I go?
How do I know you feel the same?

Rogue: Tell me it’s you
I know it’s you

Reva: Quiet and low
Letting it go
Letting you know what's in me

Everywhere that I roam

Both: I remind myself not to overstay

Reva: Every time I find home

Both: Something happens to take that home away

Reva: But you’ve seen what I’ve seen

Rogue: I see you

Both: As you lead with a strength that shines right through

Rogue: You move like a queen, a true queen

Both: Don't let anything take me away from you

It was clear for Twitch to see the more he watched the two interact that they were falling in love... something that would make Allura and the ponies very happy to hear.

Rogue: Tell me it's you
I know it's you

Reva: Say it again
Say it again
Tell me I'll always be with you

Rogue: Tell me it’s you
I know it’s you

Reva: Say it again
Say it again
Tell me you're always with me

Rogue: The way you know just where to be

Reva: Now I know

Rogue: The way you move, the way you see

Reva: I see you

Rogue: The love I feel when you're with me

Both: Beside me, beside me

Reva: Say it again
Say it again
Tell me the world won't interfere
Say it again

Rogue: Say it again
Say it again
Tell me the words I want to hear

Both: Say it again
Say it again
Open your eyes
And here we go...!!!

I know it's you
I know it's you...

And by the end of the song, Reva and Rogue were nuzzling like they had known each other for years.

This brought a rare smile to Twitch's face before he hopped off to tell Allura of what he had just seen.

Once Twitch was gone, Rogue smiled at Reva kindly. “I guess cheetahs and tigers are just as similar as wolves and foxes, aren’t they?”

“Wait,” Reva paused in surprise. “You knew Wolf and Diane had feelings for each other?”

“It’s… sort of something you learn to catch over time,” Rogue admitted with a chuckle. “Come on… Diane’s probably waiting for me outside.”

XXXXXXXX

“Hey, there you two are,” Diane said as she scratched Rogue on the head. “Where did the two of you run off to?”

“We just… needed a minute to see things from each other’s perspective,” Rogue said, glancing at Reva before looking up at Diane again. “You ready to go?”

“Sure,” Diane said, picking him up and placing him in the back seat of her car. “Hey…” Reva called out to him with a blush on her face. “See you at the gala?”

Rogue nodded sincerely at this. “Only if I see you there.”

Diane got into the backseat after Rogue, and once the car door closed, it drove off, and the gate opened, allowing the car to leave the premises. Mr. Wolf and Reva stared for a few moments after they had disappeared, wondering if a happy life really could be in their future.

XXXXXXXX

“So, Twitch told you that Reva and Rogue are falling in love?! BAH!!!” Pipp squealed in excitement as Allura recounted Twitch’s story later that night. “It’s too precious!!”

“It is… maybe they’ll see that a life of good is really the best thing for them,” Misty added with a smile. “Maybe this will convince the other Bad Guys and apprentices to do the same!”

“I hope so,” Sunny nodded hopefully. “And I just hope that Safira doesn’t find out, and…”

“Find out what?”

The Mane 6, Allura and Twitch gasped as they saw Safira standing near the doorway of their bedroom, having appeared from thin air, her blue eyes glaring dangerously at the group. “Find out about Wolf and Reva succumbing to good? Oh… I already know about that.”

“Leave them alone! Leave us alone!” Izzy pleaded, obviously frightened like her friends were, though she showed it a little more than the others. “We don’t have anything you want!”

“Oh, I’m not going to hurt you, little unicorn… at least, not yet,” Safira warned the Equestrian group with a sickeningly sweet tone. “I just want to let you know what’s coming… a big dose of pain and betrayal.”

“...what are you talking about?” Allura asked dangerously, hunched and ready to pounce. “From the cubs? Or the Bad Guys?”

“No! They wouldn’t do that!” Sunny argued as Safira began to pace around in front of them. “They may be criminals, but every creature has some form of good in them. I believe it!”

“I’m with Sunny,” Hitch nodded firmly to this. “We’ve earned their trust.”

“Maybe I’m talking about them, maybe I’m not. That’s for YOU to figure out,” Safira pointed a claw at the group. “But mark my words. When that betrayal comes… you’d better be ready.”

And in an instant, she had disappeared into the shadows, leaving the ponies, Allura and Twitch alone once again. “Phew…” Misty sighed in relief. “That was close. I thought she was gonna kill us there for a sec!”

“Should we tell the others she was here?” Hitch asked the others with worry. “Maybe we can ask the professor to hire tougher security in case she decides to come back.”

“...no, let’s not tell anyone right now. The cubs are already terrified of her enough as it is,” Sunny said with a soft sigh. “But just in case… let’s split up into groups and make sure everyone is safe.”

And so, the others nodded and split off to cover each of the Bad Guys and their tiger apprentices:

Sunny and Allura would go check on Mr. Wolf and Reva.
Zipp would go check on Mr. Piranha and Zari.
Pipp would go check on Mr. Shark and Carmine.
Hitch and Izzy would go check on Ms. Tarantula and Oran.
Misty would go off and check on Mr. Snake and Gretchen.

And with Twitch deciding to stay behind and keep an eye out for Safira in case she decided to come back, the groups went their separate ways, hoping to find the others before Safira got to them first.

XXXXXXXX

The full moon hung over the ocean, creating beautiful patterns of light on the waves below. Mr. Wolf had taken Reva out for a bit of fresh air after a bit of water magic practice, so they could both settle down before it was time to retire for the night.

The Gala for Goodness was the next night... what if they weren't ready?

What if society only saw them as the monsters they were always told they were?

Reva leaned into Mr. Wolf's leg, purring gently, and Mr. Wolf patted her on the head in thanks, but... it was going to take a lot more than simple purrs to cheer them up.

“You guys couldn’t sleep much either?”

Mr. Wolf and Reva turned to see Sunny and Allura approaching them, causing Mr. Wolf to sigh. “Nah, not really.”

“We understand… all of this is a lot to take in,” Allura said as she and Sunny sat down close to them. “And… we know that changing your ways overnight isn’t as easy as people think it is.”

“Yeah, it isn’t… and practicing magic and expecting to be good at it overnight isn’t easy either,” Reva sighed irritably. “Man… I am SO weak…”

Sunny glanced at Mr. Wolf with a sad look. “What’s wrong with Reva?”

“She’s been puttin’ a lot of pressure on herself to master this one spell with her cousins, and they’ve been building strength for it,” Mr. Wolf explained, “but… it’s never enough to please the dragon.”

“It’s called the Roar of Mythix… something Mythix Tigers are supposed to do,” Reva said, her fur getting more and more floofed the more agitated she got. “If we don’t get this right or do whatever Safira wants us to do, she’s gonna kill us, I know it. And… I don’t wanna…”

Allura could sense that Reva was getting really upset the more and more she spoke, and that was when Allura thought of something her mother, Queen Felicia, did for her as a cub that always helped her calm down.

So, without a second thought, Allura began to groom Reva’s fur with her tongue, surprising the tiger cub greatly. “Uh… Allura? Are you… grooming me?”

“My mother always did it to calm me down when I was your age,” Allura said between licks. “If… you don’t like it…”

“No… it’s what my mom used to do, actually,” Reva said, laying down to let the snow leopard continue her grooming. “I know that this is probably hard for you guys,” Sunny said to both Reva and Mr. Wolf. “But… sometimes… in order to accomplish a hard goal, you need to take the first step, and do something simple, yet meaningful. Just to get that good tingle that Professor Marmalade mentioned.”

“Okay…” Reva nodded slowly, trying to comprehend this information. “L-Like what?”

Suddenly, there came a meow from the nearby tree… the very same tree that the kitten was stuck in a few hours before.

Mr. Wolf lowered the hood on his onesie as he and Reva looked toward the tree, then back at Sunny and Allura for confirmation. And instead of saying anything, Sunny only nodded while Allura nudged Reva forward with her paw, causing Reva and Mr. Wolf to head over to the tree to try and coax the kitten down.

Once he had spotted the kitten, Mr. Wolf got closer to the tree with a soft smile. “I think we got off to a bad start,” he said, putting his paws on the tree. “The name’s Wolf.”

But as Mr. Wolf began to climb the tree, the kitten meowed cautiously, still looking frightened. “...yep…” Mr. Wolf sighed. “I get that a lot. First impressions and all.”

The kitten, still a bit wary, tried to jump to another palm leaf, but Mr. Wolf could easily see that leaf wouldn’t hold the kitten’s weight. “No no no no no!”

The leaf quickly snapped, and Allura and Sunny gasped and Reva covered her eyes as the kitten began to fall… only for Mr. Wolf to grab him just in the nick of time. And once the kitten was safe and secure, Mr. Wolf put it back in the tree, only for it to resume its scared behavior…

…something that Mr. Wolf intended to fix. “Uh, it’s okay. It’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you,” Mr. Wolf said to the kitten kindly. “I know you’re scared. I would be, too, if I were you. …just give me a chance.”

As Mr. Wolf spoke again, the kitten began to peak out from where it was hiding in the leaves, and this gave Mr. Wolf the signal to keep going. “Truth is we actually have a lot in common. Don’t tell anyone, but I love a little scratch on the spot behind my ears. You know, right there?” Mr. Wolf said, scratching himself behind the ear with his paw before reaching it closer toward the kitten. “The best.”

However, the kitten still seemed a little bit wary, even with Mr. Wolf’s now gentle nature. But Mr. Wolf wasn’t one to give up-- he owed it to himself and his friends to at least try. “Come on, kitty…”

Slowly, the kitten began to sniff Mr. Wolf’s paw before rubbing up against it, letting Mr. Wolf petted the kitten as it purred. Then, being as gentle as he could, Mr. Wolf held both paws up, and slowly, but surely… the kitten jumped into his paws.

Reva gasped softly as she watched this with wide eyes, and as the kitten purred in Mr. Wolf's paws, his fur bristled up, and a smile graced his face once again. “Wolf… you did it!” Reva cheered. “You actually did it!”

“We knew you could do it, Wolf,” Sunny praised as Allura flew up to his height. “We’re so proud of you.”

“Here,” Allura said as she reached toward Mr. Wolf. “Let me lower you back down, so the kitten still feels secure.”

Mr. Wolf complied and let Allura grab him around his waist, slowly lowering him and the kitten to the ground, and once they were safely on the ground, Mr. Wolf continued to pet the kitten with his tail wagging. “Yeah… who’s a good kitty? Who’s a good kitty?”

“Uh… Wolf?”

The others turned to see the other Bad Guys, Reva’s cousins, the rest of the Mane 6 and Twitch coming outside, seeing the encounter with wide eyes. “Am I seeing this right?” Carmine tilted her head. “Did you… really save him?”

“Yes!” said a voice, and Professor Marmalade appeared from the bushes, having gotten the whole thing on video. “Yes! It’s working!”

“You… you filmed that?” Reva asked in surprise. “Yes,” the professor nodded, showing them the video while looking at Mr. Wolf, “and they’re starting to like you.”

This caused the others to cheer excitedly as Pipp looked the video over for herself. “You know, with all these likes, shares and comments, this might just be enough to win over the guests at the gala!”

“Now we’re talking!” Mr. Piranha said, fist-bumping Zipp. “All right!” Oran cheered, pumping a paw. “Yeah, we did it!” Ms. Tarantula cheered as Izzy gave her a ride back toward the house. “All right!”

However, as the others were heading back into the house, Mr. Wolf fell behind, causing Professor Marmalade to approach him with an enthusiastic smile. “Uh, Wolf? I must say, you’ve really turned a corner,” he said. “You’re really getting it.”

“Oh, uh… thanks,” Mr. Wolf said as the kitten meowed in his arms. “No, I mean it. And I can see it from tip to tail,” the professor said before his smile returned to a frown of thought. “It’s just a shame that you have to carry all that baggage.”

Mr. Wolf frowned in confusion. “What are you talk… you mean the guys? The ponies? T-The cubs?”

Suddenly, Mr. Snake and Gretchen turned back to eavesdrop on the topic, both of them looking confused but not wanting to alert Reva. “What do you mean?” Mr. Wolf asked Professor Marmalade, confused. “You have great potential, Wolf,” Professor Marmalade explained, unaware of Mr. Snake and Gretchen listening in. “But at some point, you're going to have to choose between your friends, or the good life you can provide to those cubs.”

Mr. Wolf stood there in surprise, unsure of what to do, while Mr. Snake glared at this and wrapped his tail around Gretchen, who seemed heartbroken at the thought of leaving Snake and the rest of the Bad Guys behind.

Would Wolf… really consider something like this?

XXXXXXXX

Later, as the group decided to retire for the night so they could get ready for the gala the next evening, Mr. Snake found himself awake, just like Mr. Wolf, who slept on the bed under him. “Hey,” Mr. Snake whispered. “Are you still awake?”

That was when Mr. Snake heard the slightest meow… and it wasn’t from Reva or her cousins-- they were still fast asleep. “You-- you brought the cat in?”

“Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I’m just… I’m just saving it up for later,” Mr. Wolf tried to be casual about wanting the cat to sleep with him. “Why? What’s up?”

“I was just getting a little worried,” Mr. Snake admitted quietly, “since you’ve kind of become a…”

Mr. Wolf became quizzical as he listened to Mr. Snake talking. “Become a what?”

“You know, teacher’s pet. Getting all cozy with Marmalade,” Mr. Snake shrugged. “Your tail wagging and everything.”

“Well, yeah,” Mr. Wolf nodded. “Because it has to be believable.”

“Uh-huh. Yeah, I guess so. As long as it’s all part of the plan,” Mr. Snake shrugged, slithering down so he could look at his best friend. “ It is all part of the plan, isn’t it?”

Mr. Wolf smiled reassuringly at this. “Snake, buddy, who made the plan to begin with?”

“...you did,” Mr. Snake answered. “So I’m the one who sticks to the plan the most, right?” Mr. Wolf asked again. “Yeah, ri… uh, yeah, okay… I guess that makes sense, yeah,” Mr. Snake nodded in compliance. “But if the plan were ever to change, you’d-- you’d tell me, right?”

“You have my word. This is our chance to make our mark on history, Snake… and get the cubs away from Safira’s tyranny for good. Trust me on this,” Mr. Wolf said confidently, taking down the hood of his onesie before he held up his fist. “Go bad…”

“...or go home,” Mr. Snake smiled and bumped his head with Mr. Wolf’s fist before slithering back up into bed. But as the kitten snuggled next to him, Mr. Wolf glanced over in the direction of the sleeping cubs, then at the stairs that led to the Equestrians’ quarters upstairs when a sudden thought came into his mind. “Hey, Snake?”

“Yeah?” Mr. Snake answered, just as Mr. Wolf finally had the nerve to ask his question. “You ever wonder what it’d be like? The world loving us instead of being scared of us? You ever… you ever think about that?”

“Loving us? Psh… yeah, right. I don’t waste time thinking about stuff that’s never gonna happen,” Mr. Snake brushed it off before yawning and getting comfortable under the covers. “I can’t wait for things to get back to normal.”

Mr. Wolf, while his best friend was retiring to sleep for the night, took out Diane’s ring, looking at it for a moment before glancing at Reva, who seemed so satisfied and happy with the idea of being away from being bad and being… good. To be honest, the idea didn’t sound so bad to him either.

But he couldn’t tell Mr. Snake that… it would destroy their friendship.

Eventually, Mr. Wolf tucked the ring away before deciding to get to sleep himself. “Yeah. Back to normal, back to normal…”

And so, everyone in the compound retired to sleep for the night, ready for the gala that next evening…

…but as he slept soundly, Wolf’s heart remained heavy with doubt about what he should convince his friends to do.

Should they go bad… or should they go good?

The Gala for Goodness/The Love Crater Meteorite Disappears and Our Heroes are Blamed

Mr. Wolf had never felt so conflicted in his entire life.

His feelings for Diane, being the role model the cubs needed, being there for his friends, including Allura, Twitch and the ponies... they were all getting jumbled up in one laundry pile of madness that he couldn't sort out no matter how hard he tried.

The Gala for Goodness was less than 24 hours away, and so was the plan to seize the Golden Dolphin and this time, the Bad Guys weren't going to let it slip away again.

But the thing was... Mr. Wolf wasn't even sure he wanted to go through with the plan anymore. But he couldn't tell his friends about it-- what would they think of him if he did?

No... the best thing he could do right now was to go to the gala and get the plan over with like he and the other Bad Guys had discussed.

Then... all of their problems would be over before they knew it.

XXXXXXXX

“Wolf? Wolf, wake up! You gotta see this!”

Mr. Wolf’s eyes snapped open as he looked around, seeing Misty and Sunny at the end of his bed, and Mr. Wolf sat up in concern. “Misty? Sunny? W-What is it? What's going on? Are the cubs okay?”

“They’re fine. Actually, more than fine,” Sunny admitted with a truthful grin. “But... you have to get downstairs and watch the news with us. Pipp and the cubs paused the TV on a story you gotta see in order to believe.”

XXXXXXXX

Mr. Wolf followed the two ponies downstairs to see the rest of the Bad Guys, the other ponies, Allura, Twitch and Reva's cousins gathered in the living room, with Pipp holding the remote with a giddy smile. “Oh, good! Wolf’s here!”

“There’s something on TV that you gotta see,” Reva said as Mr. Wolf sat beside her, Shark and Carmine on the couch. “Turn the TV on again, Pipp.”

Pipp pressed the play button on the remote, revealing a story by none other than Tiffany Fluffit about the Bad Guys... but not the usual kind of story. “What up? We are just 12 hours away from Professor Marmalade’s Gala for Goodness, where the legendary Love Crater Meteorite will be on display for the first time ever. But what everyone is really buzzing about is the Bad Guys, whose heart-melting rescue video has made them an overnight viral sensation.”

“And according to a vast source known as the internet,” Zipp said, showing her FlyPad to the others, “the video Professor Marmalade shot last night has over 950,000 views worldwide! And it keeps growing!”

“It’s like the whole world knows who we are now,” Mr. Piranha said after watching the video again. “But... I'm not sure how much I want these people to know about my sensitive soul.”

“Hey, don't worry,” Carmine said, bumping him with her paw. “We can tell people as much as we want to about us when we're at the gala tonight.”

“Oooh this is gonna be so fun!” Zari said, bouncing up and down excitedly. “I've never been to a big party like that before. But... what are we gonna wear? We don't have a lot of fancy fancy party clothes.”

“...actually, Carmine and I have been working together on a little passion project,” Pipp said with a smile. “A passion project that you guys might like.”

Pipp flew over to the hall closet not too far away and pulled out a rack of clothes, including tuxedoes and dresses, of all different varieties, waiting to be tried on.

And needless to say, the others were very impressed with the sight.

“Whoa-ho!”

“So pretty!”

“Look at all of these outfits!”

“These things are incredible!”

“Carmine, Pipp, you girls are incredible!”

Carmine giggled as she hopped down from the couch. “Pipp and I have been working with each other ever since we found out we were going to the gala, and we enchanted them with magic to make them more... us. Do you like them?”

“I'll give you this, kid. You and the pink one sure know how to make some mean disguises,” Mr. Snake commented with a grin. “I'm impressed.”

“Yeah,” Gretchen nodded. “Nice work, cuz.”

“Thanks,” Carmine said with a blush. “That means a lot coming from you two.”

“Well, what are we waiting for, then?” Allura asked, setting Twitch off her back. “I’d say we have a party to get ready for!”

And what better way to handle the fur/hair brushing, baths (except for Zari, who used wet wipes), outfit fitting and final touches than with a song that Pipp herself came up with to use for special parties back home?

Mane 6: This is our big night
We're getting ready
And we're doing it up right

This is our big night
Friendship survived
Now we'll start it out right

The time's right, gonna make it last 'cause it's the first night
That we're ever gonna start to just have fun together
We're so glad, so happy we could never be mad
Did it right now, this is our big night now

Six friends on the way up now
Six friends here to show you how

This is our big night
We're getting ready
And we're doing it up right

This is our big night
We made it happen
Now let's party all night

We're here now and we worked so hard to make it come around
To tonight so let's try to make it last forever
The school lights so bright, beat is pumping through the night
Party's starting, DJ's got the music just right!
Six friends on the way up now
Six friends here to show you how
This is our big night
We're getting ready
And we're doing it up right
This is our big night
We made it happen
Now let's party all night
This is our big night
This is our big night
This is our big night
This is our big night

And by the time the song was over... they were all ready for the gala. Let's all go over the Equestrians' looks first, shall we?

Sunny's dress was modeled after Princess Twilight Sparkle's coronation dress many moons ago, with a yellow and white skirt, a gray collar with Twilight's cutie mark on it and gray straps around her legs to go with it.
Zipp's outfit was more or less a fancy white dress shirt with a black shirt underneath it, and a golden pin was attacked to the collar of the black shirt.
Izzy’s gala outfit was a white long-sleeve shirt with a black bow on the collar and a skirt consisting of three different shades of blue-- a light blue, a medium blue and a dark royal blue.
Hitch's gala outfit was a fancy tuxedo with a red bowtie.
Pipp's outfit was a very fancy cape-like dress that was black with golden shoes that complimented her tiara, and her hair was being a bit... poofier than usual.
Twitch was in a tuxedo that was very similar to the one Hitch was wearing.
Allura wore a long, flowing white dress with short sleeves.
And last but not least, Misty’s gala outfit was a stunning dress with a white top, a white to blue ombre skirt and her mane was pulled up into a bun... or at least, a style similar to it.

Now, let's focus on the looks of the Bad Guys and their tiger pals.

Mr. Wolf was dressed in a dark royal-blue suit over a tucked white dress-shirt with a large cobalt-blue bowtie, a black belt with a silver buckle, and black dress shoes.
Reva was dressed in a long, elegant red fairy styled dress with a black collar with a diamond on the tag around her neck.
Mr. Snake was dressed in a dark royal-blue, no-sleeved buttoned blazer over a cropped white collared shirt.
Gretchen was dressed in a long, golden-yellow fairy styled dress with a black collar with a diamond on the tag around her neck.
Mr. Shark was dressed in a dark royal-blue suit over a tucked white dress-shirt with a cobalt-blue bowtie, a black belt with a silver buckle, and black dress shoes.
Carmine was dressed in a long, deep purple fairy styled dress with a black collar with a diamond on the tag around her neck.
Ms. Tarantula was dressed in a dark royal-blue suit-jacket over a white collared shirt.
Oran was dressed in a fancy black tuxedo with a dark green bowtie.
Mr. Piranha was dressed in a white collared shirt, dark royal-blue dress pants held by a black belt with a silver buckle, and black dress shoes.
And last, but certainly not least, Zari wore a long, elegant light blue fairy styled dress with a black collar with a diamond on the tag around her neck.

Allura had thought of the collars with the diamond tags herself, to make the female cubs look like they were sophisticated and classy... even if it was just for one night.

Carmine giggled as she twirled around in her dress in front of the mirror nearby. “I don’t wanna brag on myself right now, but… we look good!”

“Gotta admit, we do look pretty sharp,” Ms. Tarantula said, also admiring herself in the mirror. “You and Pipp did pretty good work.”

“And these clothes will be perfect for looking classy,” Izzy added, “while also getting down on the dance floor!”

Allura licked the top of Reva’s head to get rid of the little bit of fur sticking up before nuzzling the cub’s head. “I’m so proud of all of us for getting this far-- this is surely a night none of us will ever forget.”

“Oh, yeah… definitely,” Mr. Snake with a smirk, looking to the other Bad Guys, but not exactly ready to reveal their hidden agenda just yet.

It had to be at just the right time.

XXXXXXXX

Later that night, Professor Marmalade revealed that he had ordered two limos to take them all to the gala-- one for him, the Mane 6, Twitch and Allura to ride in, and one for the Bad Guys and the cubs to ride in alone.

But during the ride, Mr. Wolf decided to crack down on the heist plan one final time, to make sure everything was straight. “All right, guys, this is the big one,” he said, and the crew gathered around to listen close. “The Golden Dolphin is inside a titanium case controlled by a randomly generated five-digit code, a code kept safe and secure inside a briefcase handcuffed to the chief of police.”

“Yikes…” Zari groaned slightly, her ears pinning at the sound of this. “She doesn’t mess around.”

“The code is only accessible with her authorized fingerprints,” Mr. Wolf continued, but Mr. Snake only smirked. “Leave that to me.”

“While Snake gets the code,” Reva continued explaining, “Shark will secure the fake Dolphin.”

“I like the sound of that,” Mr. Shark said with a smile. “Meanwhile, the rest of us plant circuit jammers,” Mr. Wolf continued before looking to Ms. Tarantula, who nodded. “Allowing me to hack into the power grid.”

“At the end of the night,” Mr. Wolf began to conclude, “we toast the professor, ‘blah-blah-blah, yada-yada’. And when I say the word Marmalade… lights go out, and we’ll have exactly four seconds to make our move.”

“The old switcheroo,” Gretchen nodded with a smirk of her very own. “Classic heist move.”

“Chief hands Marmalade the fake Dolphin, we get our pardon, applause, applause, exit stage right,” Mr. Wolf finally concluded, “and by the time they realize what happened… we’ll be driving off into the sunset, legacy cemented.”

The Bad Guys laughed at this foolproof plan, while the cubs remained stone silent, unsure of what to say. “Got to hand it to you, buddy,” Mr. Snake told Mr. Wolf. “You’re a real artist.”

“...Wolf?” Reva spoke up cautiously after a moment. “What about the ponies, Twitch and Allura? Do you think… they would be mad at us after we did the heist? Do you think... they would still be friends with us, despite everything?”

Mr. Wolf sighed and rubbed the cub’s head at this. “Aw, Reva… I-I wanna say no, but…”

“Kid, what they don’t know won’t hurt them,” Mr. Snake immediately dismissed. “Besides, we’ll be livin’ the good life and you cubs will be away from that overgrown gecko. Isn’t that enough?”

The cubs spared glances at each other, unsure of what to say for a moment, but after realizing there was no point in arguing, simply sighed and nodded. “Yes, Mr. Snake.”

That was when the limo finally stopped, causing Carmine to gasp and rush to the window, placing her front paws on the edge of it. “Guys, I think we’re here!”

Truth be told, the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch were waving at them from outside the limo, and after a moment, Professor Marmalade (who was dressed in a red with the jacket sporting gold-trimmed lapels and the dress-shirt sporting a large, silk gold bowtie, and he also wore simple white shoes) opening the door to let them out. “Well, Good Guys, this is it. Good luck out there. Remember, all eyes will be on you tonight, not me.”

“Uh, yeah,” Oran said with a nod, gulping in a nervous fashion. “N-No pressure or anything.”

“You guys are gonna do great,” Sunny said as she and Hitch helped the cubs out of the car one by one. “We know it.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages,” Pipp said, flying up with her phone in hoof to broadcast everything, “we proudly present to all of you… the Good Guys!”

The Bad Guys and their apprentices stepped out of the limo, looking entirely too nervous for comfort, expecting rejection from the crowd. Then... all of a sudden... the crowd began cheering for them!

Needless to say, no one expected this and were really stunned. “Uh, this is different,” Gretchen voiced her opinion, just as Mr. Piranha turned to Zipp. “Is this a prank?”

“What’s that sound?” Zari asked. “Yeah,” Reva nodded in confusion. “Like screaming but not terrified.”

“It’s called cheering,” Misty giggled. “It’s what people do when they’re happy to see someone… and they’re happy to see all of you!”

“Us?” Carmine looked a bit surprised at this. “Wow… no one’s ever been happy to see us before.”

“Come on,” Hitch offered with a smile. “We’ll take you around so you can mingle a little.”

But as the group began to enter the gala, Allura and Twitch stopped Sunny and Zipp from entering behind their friends. “Despite knowing the gala will have the full police force here,” said Allura, “I want the cubs and their friends to be fully safe, so… Twitch and I are gonna do a routine flybys during the party, just to ensure Safira doesn’t make a movement.”

“Good idea,” Zipp nodded. “It’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to that dragon. We’ll need to tell Dragon Lord Spike about her in case she ever appeared on the Isle of Scaly.”

“I agree. Do your flybys, you two,” Sunny said as Twitch climbed onto Allura's back, “but be careful. We don’t know what exactly that dragon is capable of.”

Allura and Twitch nodded before Allura flapped her wings and immediately took off into the sky, leaving Sunny and Zipp to enter the party after their friends.

XXXXXXXX

The song "Fly Me to the Moon" by Julie London with a woman singing was playing as the Bad Guys, their apprentices and the Mane 6 walked around the gala, where people was giving out money to help with Professor Marmalade's many charities in Los Angeles... a truly noble cause.

At the same time as many people were having a good time, Mr. Shark and Carmine snuck through the crowd, looking for the fake Golden Dolphin to use in their upcoming heist. “Okay, fake Dolphin, fake Dolphin, fake Dolphin…” Mr. Shark muttered before spotting it on a nearby table. “Bingo.”

“Great,” Carmine whispered urgently, glancing around. “Let’s get it and go before anyone sees what we’re up to.”

However, as they approached, some excited people surrounded them, stopping them in their tracks. “Mr. Shark, Mr. Shark!” a woman exclaimed before a man beside her wanted to ask a question. “Is it true sharks can smell blood a mile away?”

“What?!” Mr. Shark questioned in surprise. “No. That’s freaky!”

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Mr. Snake saw the case with the code nearby, guarded by Chief Luggins as she closed it and got out her binoculars to keep watch. Seeing this, Mr. Snake snickered and turned to Gretchen. “You stay outta sight, kid. Time for this snake to slither into action.”

“Be careful,” Gretchen said gently. “Who knows what’ll happen if the chief catches you.”

“Psh… she hasn’t caught me yet. Trust me,” Mr. Snake brushed off before slithering away, leaving Gretchen to sigh and head toward the stage to blend in.

XXXXXXXX

Mr. Wolf and Reva were near some tables with Izzy and Sunny, getting ready to get some snacks when a few women caught Mr. Wolf and Reva offguard, practically shoving Izzy and Sunny aside. “Oh, Mr. Wolf! Mr. Wolf!”

“Hey, whoa,” Mr. Wolf chuckled as they approached, and Reva, not used to all this sort of attention, really wasn’t sure what to say. “It is a pleasure to meet you,” one of the women said, and Mr. Wolf smiled warmly at her. “Pleasure is all mine.”

“I loved your video,” the woman then added. “Can I get a picture with you and your tiger cub for my kids?”

“A-A picture? Ohh… that’s so sweet,” Reva smiled. “Sure, we’d love to!”

However, as the picture was being taken, Mr. Wolf spotted Diane (wearing a strapless, open-front, royal-blue split maxi dress with attached pants, and a set of ankle strap sparkly-white high-heels) and Rogue (who wore a dark green tuxedo with a black bowtie) not too far away and felt the need for him and Reva to get away from them. “Uh, hey, just a minute, guys. Let me… let me, uh… I got… we’ll be right back.”

“Wolf! Wait for me!” Reva said before she quickly ran after him, causing Izzy and Sunny to frown at each other-- those two were really falling head over paws for the governor and her little cheetah friend…

…and it was truly a wonderful sight to behold, so... why was Wolf wanting to avoid Diane and Rogue altogether?

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Chief Luggins was keeping a firm eye on the situation, not knowing that Mr. Snake was sneaking up from behind to get the code from the case. “Okay, Wolf, what are you up to?”

As she spied on Wolf, she put her sunglasses on top of the briefcase, and Mr. Snake came up from behind while the chief kept talking to herself. “Yeah, with criminals like this, you got to be crafty, subtle, invisible.”

Mr. Snake quickly took the glasses, breathed on it to show fingerprints, and scanned them on the case. It beeped and the briefcase opens, making Mr. Snake prepare to grab the code. “And then the moment they let their guard down…” the chief muttered, slamming the case down, “...whammo!”

The slamming of the case then crushed Mr. Snake’s tail, causing him to try and hold back a scream. “You gotta spring the trap! Always one step ahead. I think I’ve earned a tonic water,” the chief said as the waiter brought her a tall glass with the drink inside. “Put it in a fun glass, huh? Ooh, nice.”

Unfortunately, she grabbed Mr. Snake instead, thinking him to be the drink, causing Gretchen to gasp in panic as the other Bad Guys and her cousins took notice. “Oh, no…”

The others began to run toward Mr. Snake to help him, but with the chief around, they had to find a way to act casual. “Uh… h-hey, chief!” Reva said nervously. “W-What’s shaking?”

“That’s right,” Chief Luggins smirked, stirring Mr. Snake’s tongue. “Be intimidated.”

The chief moved Mr. Snake over to her mouth to drink, and the others began to panic… until Mr. Piranha had an idea, rushing over to the stage and over to the microphone.

Mr. Piranha: Loooook at me…

“Huh?” Hitch looked confused as several gala-goers began to murmur. “What’s Piranha doing?”

“Ooh, maybe he’s doing an act for the gala!” Izzy said with delight. “Such a sweet thing.”

However, Chief Luggins was still about to drink from Mr. Snake, making Mr. Piranha realize he needed to keep singing in order for all eyes to be on him.

Mr. Piranha: Tell me what… you see

Mr. Shark, Carmine and Zari immediately joined Mr. Piranha on the stage, and Carmine nervously began to play the cowbell, causing one of the band members that was originally on the stage to nod at her.

Mr. Piranha: Am I good… or bad?

Reva and Gretchen giggled at the sound of this and urged Mr. Piranha to keep going as Oran and Ms. Tarantula crept onstage, with Webs getting to the turntable, scratching the record a bit.

Mr. Piranha: Don’t you judge… so fast

That was when the crowd, including the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch (the latter two still on the lookout for Safira) truly began to get interested, prompting Mr. Piranha to continue the song, this time, accompanied by Mr. Shark, Carmine, Zari and the rest of the band.

Mr. Piranha: Hey, hey, hey

I know you think you know me
You made your own conclusion
You think that I look scary
Well, that's your own delusion

Zari: Listen when I tell you
There's more than meets the eye
So take a closer look to find a real good guy

At seeing the crowd starting to have a good time, Chief Luggins groaned and put Mr. Snake down with a huff. Once he was safe, he got the letter out to reveal the password to the safe (which was 1-2-3-4-5, surprisingly) before he groaned, put the letter back, shut the case and gave the signal to Mr. Wolf, who gave a thumbs up to Mr. Piranha, who winked in return.

Mr. Piranha: We're not the bad guys
We're the good guys…

“Mr. Wolf. Reva.”

“Rogue! Diane!” Reva yelped in surprise as she and Mr. Wolf turned to face them. “W-What a surprise!”

“You know, if I didn’t know better,” Diane said suspiciously, “I’d think that you were avoiding us.”

“Avoiding you?” Mr. Wolf questioned nervously. “W-Why would I do that?”

“...okay,” Diane nodded, deciding to believe this for now. “But I have to say, I’m a little disappointed.”

“Yeah,” Rogue said, slyly rubbing up against Reva as he walked past. “We were hoping you two would ask us to dance?”

“Oh…” Reva seemed to get the message immediately, and once getting the confirmation from Mr. Wolf, the four of them began to dance in the middle of the crowd, with the Mane 6 joining in and Chief Luggins glancing around as the song continued.

Zari: …get up on the floor!

Zari Mr. Piranha: We're gonna be good tonight
Wanna get you feeling right
We're gonna be good tonight
We're the good, good guys

We're gonna be good tonight
Wanna get you feeling right
We're gonna be good tonight
We're the good, good guys

Mr. Piranha: Come on!

By the end of the chorus, Gretchen and Mr. Snake were already up on stage with their friends, with Mr. Snake playing the guitar with his long body as the dancing continued.

Mr. Piranha: Oooh!

“I see. You lost the sheep’s clothing,” Diane said as she and Mr. Wolf continued to dance. “Yeah,” Mr. Wolf shrugged as he spun Diane around. “Yeah. Figured it was time I got comfortable in my own fur.”

It was then that people began to donate generous amounts of money as Mr. Piranha continued singing.

Mr. Piranha: If you’re feeling good in here…
I said, if you’re feeling good in here…
Oh, yeah!

Rogue chuckled as he and Reva continued to dance right near Mr. Wolf and Diane. “I think I like the new Wolf.”

Reva giggled at the remark. “Well, that makes two of us.”

Deciding that she and her friends had to get in on this part of the song, Pipp and her friends got closer to the stage, leaving Mr. Wolf, Diane, Reva and Rogue to dance... unaware that as they were partying, Mr. Snake, Mr. Shark and Mr. Piranha were planting the circuit jammers around so Ms. Tarantula could hack into the power grid from the laptop near the turntable.

Pipp: We're all here to have a good, good time

Zari: Let the rhythm move you and open up your mind!

Mr. Piranha: Next time you see me in your neighborhood
Don't you be thinking that I'm up to no good

Pipp: I just want you to give me a chance
I know your body really wants to dance

Mr. Piranha: So leave your judgement at the door...

“Break out the umbrellas,” Tiffany Fluffit said to her viewers as the party and the Bad Guys’ plan continued as it should, “because it’s raining money. All because of… I can’t even believe I’m saying this… all because of the Bad Guys!”

Mane 6: Wanna get you feeling right!

Mythix Tigers, Mane 6, Mr. Piranha: We're gonna be good tonight
We're the good, good guys

We're gonna be good tonight
Wanna get you feeling right
We're gonna be good tonight
We're the good, good guys

Whoo!

Diane and Rogue laughed as they continued to dance with Mr. Wolf and Reva, feeling on top of the world in that one moment. Then, after a moment, the whole world seemed to muffle out so the four of them could have some time together. “So,” Diane asked Mr. Wolf as she was in his arms, “how does it feel to have everyone not fear you for a change?”

Mr. Wolf and Reva took a moment to glance at the crowd around them cheering for them, and they glanced down at their wagging tails and Reva's glowing cutie mark before Mr. Wolf found the right words to add with his smile. “It feels… good.”

“Yeah…” Reva nodded slowly. “Real good.”

“Diane…” Mr. Wolf began to say before handing her the ring he had taken from her, causing Diane to gasp softly. “It belongs to you.”

Diane and Rogue softly smiled at this, and once the music unmuffled, the four of them headed toward the stage as Allura and Twitch finally touched down after their flyby, seeing no sign of Safira and deciding to join their friends for the last verse.

Practically, everyone was dancing at that point… even Chief Luggins.

It was then that, as Ms. Tarantula finally managed to hack into the power grid, that the Bad Guys, the cubs, the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch sang the final verse all as one while Mr. Wolf and Diane took their final dance up on that stage.

Oran: One, two, three!

All: We’re the good, good guys

We're gonna be good tonight
Wanna get you feeling right
We're gonna be good tonight
We're the good, good guys!

Mr. Piranha: Oh, yeah…!!!!!!

And by that time, the song was finally over, and the crowd cheered wildly as Mr. Wolf and Diane smiled at each other, making it clear to each other about their true feelings.

Rogue and Reva happily laughed and nuzzled each other as the music finally stopped, and the other Mythix Tiger cubs couldn't help but gush over how happy their cousin looked.

By the time that Professor Marmalade had gotten onstage, the gala had raised $999,999,992 for all sorts of charities across Los Angeles. “Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wolf,” Professor Marmalade began his speech. “As you know, the money raised tonight will be delivered tomorrow to schools, hospitals and other worthy causes across the city.”

The crowd once again cheered at this, and Izzy levitated the microphone from Professor Marmalade and over to Mr. Wolf. “Here, Wolfie-- say something!”

Mr. Wolf cautiously took the microphone and began speaking into it, wanting to address the crowd personally. “I just want to take a moment to recognize the one responsible for our new outlook. Our brilliant mentor, a paragon of enlightenment…”

“Do it,” Ms. Tarantula whispered to Mr. Wolf excitedly. “Come on,” Mr. Piranha urged, just before Mr. Wolf slowly found the words to continue. “…the one and only Professor…”

“Oh…” Carmine covered her eyes in worry. “I can’t look…!!”

“…uh, Professor…” Mr. Wolf tried to continue, but his hands were shaking nervously with the detonator behind his back. Mr. Snake hissed in anticipation, but Mr. Wolf, upon seeing how proud the Equestrians were, how happy Reva and her cousins were and seeing Diane and Rogue glancing at them… just couldn’t do it.

So, instead of pushing the button, Mr. Wolf stood up proudly. “Professor Marmalade!”

The crowd applauded in delight, along with the Mane 6, Twitch and Allura, and while Reva and the cubs seemed somewhat relieved, but somewhat shocked, all in one, the rest of the Bad Guys were stunned beyond measure.

Chief Luggins quickly entered thecombination to open the safe and got the Golden Dolphin out. “Chief,” Reva held up her paws, “may I do the honors?”

The chief nodded and handed the award to the small cub, who then handed it to Professor Marmalade, causing the crowd to cheer much louder.

Suddenly, Mr. Piranha finally spoke up after a moment of shock. “That’s not the plan.”

“W-What’s happening?” Oran whispered in confusion, but also amazement. “Wolf and Reva are going rogue,” Carmine whispered back. “They’re… doing the right thing.”

However, while the others still seemed shocked/amazed (more the cubs than anyone), Mr. Snake glared at Mr. Wolf and Reva in utter betrayal. “Well, governor,” Misty smiled at Diane and Rogue as the cheetah cub nuzzled against Reva. “A deal’s a deal.”

Diane nodded at this claim before turning to the crowd. “By the power vested in me, it is a pleasure to grant the Bad Guys a full par…”

Suddenly, the lights went out and some people in the crowd screamed in surprise. But as Misty and Izzy were ready to light their horns and provide some light, the lights came back on, causing Reva to hum in surprise. “That was kinda weird…”

Suddenly, a couple of cries from the audience immediately got their attention.

“The meteorite is gone!”

“Somebody stole it!”

“Wait, what?!” the Mane 6 looked behind them and realized the crowd was right-- the Love Crater meteorite was gone! But it couldn’t have been the Bad Guys or the cubs… they had been standing right beside them the whole time!

However… the crowd seemed to think that the Bad Guys, their apprentices and their so-called new friends were responsible, no matter what the circumstances.

Chief Luggins growled in anger as she approached Mr. Wolf, who backed up nervously in response. “Chief…”

“Wolf…” the chief growled in anger. “Come on, chief, this is crazy!” Zipp protested as the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch stepped up to protect their friends. “You can’t possibly think we all had something to do with this! We were standing right next to the Bad Guys and the cubs when it happened!”

Suddenly, the screen turned on, showing Mr. Wolf putting on sunglasses. “So long, suckers!!”

Pipp gulped nervously as she stood next to her older sister, chuckling slightly. “I-Is it too late to retract a statement…?”

That left Mr. Snake and Gretchen with only one thing to say in order to protect all their necks at once. “RUUUUUUUN!!!!”

The Bad Guys and their cubs immediately took the lead as they leapt off the stage with the Mane 6 running after them and Allura (with Twitch on her back) getting into the air. Chief Luggins tried to grab Mr. Wolf, but barely missed before shouting out to her fellow officers. “GET THEM!!!”

“GO GO GO!!” Sunny cried out to her friends, unsure of what was going on, but knew that they needed to get to someplace safer. “Head for the gates!!”

The officers immediately raced after the group, but Mr. Wolf immediately split off from his friends and grabbed a charity map as he did so. Mr. Wolf rushed right over to the bar, held the map with his mouth, grabbed two bottles before shaking them, and opened them to knock some officers out with the corks and the drinks. However, when the drinks ran out of power, Mr. Wolf dodged more officers before scribbling something on the charity map and giving it to Diane and Rogue. “Here!”

“What are you doing?!” Diane asked in surprise as Mr. Wolf handed the map to her. “I’m giving it all back!” Mr. Wolf shouted before running off and leaping over a bunch of officers, including Chief Luggins, nearly stumbling at the drinks but scrambled up to join the others.

Once Mr. Wolf had rejoined them, Gretchen looked at her water-controlling cousin and Mr. Wolf in shock. “What happened back there?”

“Couldn’t you tell, cuz?!” Reva panted. “We couldn’t do it!”

“What do you mean, you couldn’t do it?!” Mr. Snake questioned, and Mr. Wolf struggled to find the words to explain. “I-I-I just… I…”

“Sunny!” Allura shouted as she tried to blast ice at the officers to hold them back. “My ice can’t hold them off forever! We need to go before it’s too late for any of us!”

Suddenly, Mr. Piranha stopped right in the group’s path, causing them to stop as well. “No! I do not run,” he said, marching forward as the officers gained on them. “That is not how I roll.”

“Piranha!” Zipp cried out in concern. “Don’t do anything crazy!”

Mr. Piranha only laughed as he brought out Zipp’s grappling hook. “Crazy is what I bring to the party, chica!”

That was when Mr. Piranha fired the grappling hook into the sky, only for the hook to fall down and bonk off Mr. Shark's head, which caused Mr. Shark to groan and fall to the ground, completely unconscious.

The ponies, Allura and Twitch groaned nervously as the other Bad Guys and the apprentices stared at Mr. Piranha in dismay.

Who knows what was gonna happen next? Everyone thought that the Bad Guys and the cubs were guilty of a crime they didn't commit, and since the Equestrians were so close to them, they immediately thought that they had something to do with the theft.

The only question left was... how were they gonna clear their names and get out of this one?

Professor Marmalade's Betrayal, The Crimson Paw's True Identity and Friendships Broke Apart

Things couldn't get much worse from where the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch were standing.

Right now, they were being handcuffed, tied up and accused of stealing the Love Crater meteortite along with the Bad Guys and the Mythix Tiger cubs.

But we all know the Mane 6 wouldn't actually do this, nor would the others for that matter.

Someone had to be framing them-- the Equestrians were standing right with their new friends when it all happened!

One thing was for sure... our heroes knew they had to figure out what was going on and make sure they didn't take the fall for someone else's crime... before it's too late.

XXXXXXXX

Tiffany Fluffit was one of the first reporters on the scene as the Bad Guys, the cubs and their new friends were dragged into a SUCM truck that was twice the size as the first one, in order to hold everyone who they thought was accountable for the theft.

The poor cubs looked just as frightened as Twitch was, and Mr. Wolf was trying to help Sunny plead their case. “Hey, you’re making a mistake. We didn’t do it!” Mr. Wolf protested. “I know we always say that, but this time it’s actually true!”

“A-la-la-la-la. Can’t hear you,” Chief Luggins singsonged to taunt them. “Guilty, guilty, guilty…”

“Talk to Marmalade-- they’re really good now!” Sunny protested as she was shoved into the truck with her friends. “He’ll tell you! Professor!”

But Sunny never got a word in edge-wise... the door slammed before she could see the professor, leading to next-to-near darkness within the back of the truck. “Tonight’s headline; change is impossible,” Tiffany Fluffit told her viewers. “You should always judge a book by its cover, and all stereotypes have been affirmed.”

Rogue’s ears lowered in heartache as Diane shook her head suspiciously… she felt that something wasn’t right about all this, and she had a feeling that someone wanted the others to fall…

…but who?

Suddenly, Professor Marmalade barged through the crowd, looking just as worried and concerned as Diane and Rogue were. “Stop, for goodness’ sake! Let me speak to them!” he pleaded. “I’m-I’m sure there’s been some misunderstanding.”

XXXXXXXX

Izzy sniffled in terror as she and her friends were thrown into the truck like animals, more scared than she had ever been in her entire life. “We didn’t do anything wrong… why are they doing this to us?”

“I wish I knew what to tell you, Izzy…” Sunny said, looking just as tired and defeated as her friends, new and old, looked. “But… we don’t have the evidence to say it wasn’t us.”

“We can’t give up that easily, Sunny,” Allura said softly, placing a paw on Sunny’s shoulder reassuringly. “There’s got to be something we’re missing.”

Suddenly, the door opened, and everyone turned to see Professor Marmalade entering the truck, much to Reva’s relief. “Professor Marmalade!”

“You’ve got five minutes. No deals this time,” Chief Luggins said to the guinea pig before the truck door slammed shut. “Y-You have to help us,” Mr. Wolf pleaded. “Tell em. Tell em we didn’t do it.”

“There, there. Of course you didn’t do it,” Professor Marmalade said sympathetically, patting Mr. Wolf’s paw. “How could you? After all, you’re such a good boy.”

Hearing this, Mr. Wolf suddenly remembered the old lady that he had helped at the Good Samaritan Awards… those exact words that she had said were the same words the professor had just said.

How could he know?

Suddenly… more memories began flashing into Mr. Wolf’s mind.

“That shiver up my spine. The wag in my tiny tail.”

“ARREST THEM!!!”

“What if we tried a little experiment, Diane? As you know, my Gala for Goodness…”

“...where the legendary Love Crater Meteorite will be on display for the first time ever.”

“All eyes will be on you tonight, not me.”

“You’re such a… good boy…”

Suddenly, Mr. Wolf snapped out of his thoughts once he began piecing things together, his eyes slowly widening in realization. “You… it was all you…”

“What?” Misty questioned and immediately looked at him, confused, and Ms. Tarantula was honestly on the same confusing page that Misty was on. “What are you talking about, Wolf?”

“The old lady, the Golden Dolphin, good training,” Mr. Wolf looked at the others. “It was all to get us here-- so he could steal the meteorite and let us take the fall.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Mr. Snake stopped the explanation in confusion. “What old lady?”

“Yeah,” Gretchen nodded. “A-And why would a guinea pig want a meteorite anyway?”

“I’m not sure,” Reva muttered, “but… something tells me…”

Suddenly, they saw Professor Marmalade laughing quietly, but sadistically, with his back turned and hair frazzled, scratching the door with his tiny claws. “Uh… guys?” Mr. Shark looked nervous as Carmine, Zari and Pipp hugged each other in terror. “He's creeping me out.”

Mr. Piranha, who was hanging from the ceiling by handcuffs, much like Twitch, struggled to turn around and see what was happening. “Wait, what? What's going on?! Someone turn me around!”

“Well, well…” Professor Marmalade said rather sadistically before turning around and sporting an evil look. “So, you finally get it.”

“WHAT?!” the others screeched out in shock, their eyes wide and their jaws going to the floor. “Wait wait wait, hold on,” Hitch spoke up as Allura gently closed Twitch’s mouth with her wing. “You stole the meteorite?!”

“Oh, it’s not just a meteorite,” the professor told the earth pony stallion before Mr. Piranha looked at Twitch with a smile. “I told you guys it’s a butt, but Twitch didn't--”

“It’s not a butt!!” Professor Marmalade snapped, silencing all of them before he took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking again. “It’s the ultimate power source. You see, when it struck, scientists found that it emitted an electromagnetic frequency unlike anything else on Earth. I’m going to harness its power to pull off the greatest heist the world has ever seen.”

“...okay, even I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Pipp said, glancing at Mr. Snake, “but you should’ve eaten him when you had the chance.”

Mr. Snake, who was glaring at the professor in anger while the others remained stone silent, nodded to the pink pegasus’ remark. “Yep.”

“But… I don’t understand,” Oran muttered in disbelief, breaking the silence amongst his cousins. “Why us?”

“Because you’re the perfect patsies,” Professor Marmalade explained. “Come on, when people look up “bad” in the dictionary, do they see a sweet, adorable guinea pig? No. They see you. And they always will. As for your little darling Equestrian friends, people will lose faith in their dear heroes coming to save the day… and once they’re gone, no one will DARE try and stop me.”

The cubs looked at the ground in shame and heartbreak, causing Zipp to snarl. “Okay… fine. You’re the villain in this situation. We get it.”

“But you set all of us up!” Allura accused with fangs bared. “Oh, pish-pish. Let’s be honest… evolution set your little friends up. You Equestrians were just little pawns in the plan,” Professor Marmalade scoffed before looking at Reva and Mr. Wolf, the little tiger cub looking absolutely terrified in Mr. Wolf’s arms. “But Wolfie here really clinched it. He and the water cub fell for every one of my traps, starting with saving a helpless little old lady.”

“...Reeves? Wolf?” Gretchen looked at her cousin and Mr. Wolf, confused. “What’s he talking about?”

“We… um…” Reva tried to find the words to explain, but nothing came to her mind… and that silently confirmed Mr. Snake’s suspicions, and he looked at Mr. Wolf and Reva in betrayal. “Oops… did I say too much?” Professor Marmalade asked coyly. “Anyhoo, looks like yet again, the Big Bad Wolf got outsmarted by a Little Piggy.”

“You leave Wolf alone!” Reva snapped, although terrified of this situation and of Professor Marmalade. “He only got outsmarted cause you betrayed us!”

“Oh, sweet innocent naive little Reva. You know, Safira is going to be very unhappy when she learns you’ve failed yet again,” Professor Marmalade said with a sadistic little smirk. “And when you see her next… you can guarantee it’ll be the last time. And your little friends will be sure to follow.”

Then… that one threat to the cubs he had come to care for caused Mr. Wolf to immediately growl and snap within his restraints. “You little pouchy-cheeked RAAAATTTT!!!!”

As he lunged and snarled at Professor Marmalade, the guinea pig kicked the door open to make it look like Mr. Wolf was attacking him, while everyone else around looked horrified. “I'LL KILL YOU!! YOU HEAR ME?!?! YOU'RE DEAD!!! YOU'RE DEA--”

“WOLF!!” Sunny shrieked. “STOP!!”

Upon hearing Sunny’s voice and realizing what had happened, Mr. Wolf stopped in his tracks, noticing the scared looks on the peoples' faces. “Help!” Professor Marmalade cried out, playing innocent to the attack. “The Big Bad Wolf is attacking me!”

The crowd screamed in terror as Diane and Rogue looked at Mr. Wolf in shock, and Reva tried to hold back a sob as Chief Luggins marched angrily over to the truck. “Oh, now you are done forever, Wolf!”

“NO!!” Reva shrieked as the door quickly slammed shut, and the truck drove off, leaving Rogue and Diane to look on sadly before Tiffany Fluffit spoke to the seemingly-shaken Professor Marmalade. “Professor, Professor, any thoughts on how the Bad Guys and their allies managed to steal the meteorite in plain sight?”

“Well,” Professor Marmalade spoke up innocently, “off the top of my head, perhaps they accessed the site previously and set up an intricate system of tunnels and trapdoors…”

As the professor continued to chat with Tiffany, Diane and Rogue walked away from the rest of the scene and reached into her purse, checking in the charity map and finding the spot that Mr. Wolf had marked. She and Rogue had to check it out… they had to.

XXXXXXXX

Later at the Sixth Street bridge, Diane drove a yellow FIAT 500 car to the spot Mr. Wolf had marked on the map, and Rogue was in the back seat as they drove into the tunnel and entered the elevator.

And once the elevator had stopped moving, they saw the hideout loaded with goods and realized that Mr. Wolf wanted them to find this… he wanted to give it all back.

They had to figure out what was going on with Professor Marmalade… for the sakes of everyone involved.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, a boat was traveling across the ocean to take the Bad Guys, the cubs and the Equestrians to a very high-security, Super Ultra Crazy Max prison (which is what SUCM stood for).

Mr. Wolf had been trying to comfort a crying Reva the entire way while the others comforted his friends and their apprentices, but none of it seemed to do any good.

They were scared… HE was scared.

But, even with the Mane 6 and Allura's magic (which was restrained thanks to special cuffs on their hooves, legs and wings), they would never be able to escape from this place... not while they were alive, anyway.

XXXXXXXX

Later, the group were led into the main part of the prison, each one of them looking defeated and hopeless. “Aw, man…” Mr. Shark groaned. “I can’t believe we got double-crossed by a tiny rodent.”

“Oh, we got double-crossed by a rodent all right,” Mr. Snake quipped, “but, uh, not a tiny one.”

“Wait, what?” Carmine looked confused. “This was supposed to be us conning Marmalade,” Gretchen clarified with a glare, “but as it turns out it was Reva and Wolf conning us.”

A guard wrung his hands around Mr. Snake's neck, making him spew out stuff including a clock on the desk just before Mr. Snake turned to Mr. Wolf, who was being searched. “Does that sound familiar to you, Wolf?”

“Why-- why would you think that?” Mr. Wolf asked as he got searched. “Oh, I don’t know,” Mr. Snake said sarcastically. “Maybe because you just sabotaged the biggest heist of our lives. I think you owe us an explanation, buddy.”

“Yeah,” Gretchen snarled at Reva. “ALL of us.”

“Guys, hold on,” Zipp said gently. “I know everyone’s scared and mad and confused right now, but… come on… this isn’t gonna help.”

“No… they’re right, Zipp,” Reva sighed sadly. “We do owe them an explanation.”

“Okay. You’re right. This is what happened. Back in the museum, I just tried to steal an old lady’s purse,” Mr. Wolf said, smiling as he got his mugshot taken. “ Classic snatch and grab.”

“Tried to?” Ms. Tarantula said while putting her legs in ink and before a cop stamped her legs onto a piece of paper to get the ink prints. “Since when do you try to steal something and not just steal it?”

“I was trying to steal the purse when the old lady fell and…” Mr. Wolf hesitated slightly as he and Reva were handed two orange prison outfits. “...me and Reva kinda helped her.”

“What?!” Mr. Snake hissed before his mugshot was taken. “...we… we helped her,” Reva said quietly, trying to get changed. “But then you stole her purse,” Mr. Piranha assumed before his mugshot was taken, causing him to blink. “No, I didn’t. We saved the old lady, and she hugged me, and our tails wagged and Reva’s cutie mark glowed, and… I didn’t know what it was, but it felt, uh, you know… good.”

The others gasped in shock while Mr. Snake just glared at Mr. Wolf and Reva, causing Mr. Piranha to nod slowly. “Ah. But then you stole the purse.”

“NO!!” the Mane 6 said to Mr. Piranha sternly as they got changed. “Wolf… you started feeling the essence of good before you even started the training,” Hitch said gently. “That proves you and Reva have got good in you, even if no one else sees it.”

“...really?” Reva looked a bit reluctant to believe it. “Cause it just seemed like Marmalade was using all that training against us.”

“You know,” Mr. Snake quipped again, “Gretchen and I heard what the pig said to you about cutting us loose.”

“Wait,” Zari paused. “Like… us us?!”

“But I never thought you’d actually do it, man,” Mr. Snake glared at Mr. Wolf, causing Mr. Wolf to try and explain himself. “Hey, hey, hey, hey. I-I would never… I was trying to… I was trying to find us a better life.”

“Our life was perfect until you decided to ruin it!” Mr. Snake said angrily. “Snake, calm down,” Sunny said, pushing Mr. Snake back. “I’m sure Wolf had a good explanation for saying it, if you just give him a chance.”

“Sunny’s right… Wolf didn’t mean to ruin anything,” Reva protested. “You guys felt it at the gala. The clapping, the cheering. We were more than… than just scary villains. They loved us.”

“...it did feel kinda nice,” Oran muttered, “not having to worry about people being scared of us.”

“Yeah…” Carmine sighed. “It made me feel like I could do anything.”

“Yeah, right,” Gretchen snarled. “If they loved us so much, how come we’re in prison for a crime we didn’t commit?”

“...” Reva remained silent at this, not wanting to look her cousin in the eye. “You know what? I’ll give Marmalade this,” Mr. Snake sneered. “At least he sees the world for what it is: a place where some people are scary and some people are scared.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, I’m tired of being scary. I’m-I’m tired of being an outcast,” Mr. Wolf said, starting to get angry himself. “Maybe I don’t want the cubs to live in this life anymore. Maybe I don’t want to be a…”

“What? A Bad Guy? Don’t want to be a Bad Guy anymore, huh? You wanna take the cubs away from the only family they have left, huh? Go ahead. Say it, Wolf,” Mr. Snake challenged, but Mr. Wolf didn’t say anything, confirming Mr. Snake's silent theories. “Yeah, I thought so. And us, your lifelong friends? We’re just holding you back?”

“Yeah, maybe you are!”

The others were stunned into silence at Mr. Wolf's response to this… even the ponies, Allura and Twitch.

Sure, Mr. Wolf was angry, but he had a good reason for being angry. He didn’t wanna live this life anymore and he just wanted to bring his friends into the life of good too… especially the cubs. To get them away from Safira and the hard past.

Maybe Mr. Wolf didn’t mean what he said.

No… our heroes KNEW he didn’t mean what he said.

But unfortunately, Mr. Snake was so filled with rage, he leapt right onto Mr. Wolf and attacked him, causing Reva and Gretchen to shriek while the others froze in terror. “TAKE IT BACK!” Mr. Snake shrieked. “TAKE IT BACK! APOLOGIZE!!”

That was when two guards came in to help Allura and Sunny break up the fight. “Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!” the female guard shouted, holding Mr. Snake back as best she could. “Prison is no place for fighting.”

Suddenly, another male guard dropped down to them from the upper floors, stopping everyone in their tracks. “Tell that to him.”

“Huh?” Allura looked up and saw a lone figure up in the upper levels, and this lone figure leapt down and landed right near them, as if challenging the guards. “I’m sorry,” Carmine lifted a paw. “W-W-What’s happening right now?”

“I don’t know, but we better get off to the side!” Misty said as she gathered Oran onto her back. “Now!”

More and more guards rushed in as the group moved off to the side to get out of the way. But, miraculously, the strange figure kicked and punched the guards, throwing them aside and kicking them down. The figure grabbed a shoe and kicked it at the two guards, knocking them both unconscious before the strange figure dragged all of the guards into a cell and locked them up before approaching the group, with Allura and the Mane 6 trying to activate their magic, but to no avail.

However, as the figure removed their hood, they could instantly see who it was… and boy, did it surprise them. “DIANE?!”

“But how do you know how to do all of that kick-kick-punch-punch?” Izzy asked right out of the blue. “Okay, when I thought you were cool before, this made you 10 times as cool!” Zipp said with a bright smile. “How did you do all that?”

Suddenly, Mr. Wolf began to piece things together, a smile of recognition coming onto his face. “Wait a sec, you’re the Crimson Paw?” he asked, and Diane smiled innocently at this. “The queen of cons, acrobatic Swiss Army knife. Stole the Zumpango diamond twice. Once for profit, second time just for fun. Never identified, never caught!”

“Guess I’m still the best bad guy the world has ever seen,” Diane said with a smile before seeing a small blood cut on her suit, causing her to sigh. “Ugh, at least I used to be.”

“Man, are we ever glad to see you, Diane,” Reva said as she hugged the governor-turned thief. “We need to talk to you about…”

It was then that an alarm went off, and many more guards came into the main part of the prison and surrounded them as Diane put her disguise back on.

Needless to say... this was definitely gonna be a fight for the ages.

XXXXXXXX

Within just 10 minutes, the Bad Guys, their apprentices and the Equestrians were riding across the water on a boat being piloted by Diane and Rogue, who had snuck along at the last minute, just as the prison exploded behind them, much to the Mane 6’s complete surprise.

First, Diane defeated all those guards and saved their necks and then she set the prison to blow?

What wasn't she capable of?

However, Diane played the situation out rather calmly. “Nope, I’m still the best. Just like riding a stolen bicycle,” she said before noticing a bit of fire on Hitch’s mane. “Oh, uh, you got a little…”

With that, she pinched the fire, making it go out, causing Hitch to sigh in relief. “Thanks.”

“Hang on a second… why did you guys save us?” Misty asked. “Not that we aren’t grateful for it… it’s just… surprising, that’s all.”

“After the gala, Diane knew something wasn’t right,” Rogue explained, “so we did some investigating, and that meteor…”

“I know, I know,” Mr. Wolf interrupted. “Some kind of cosmic mega-super-antennae thing.”

““Right. If conducted through an array of ionized crystals, it will generate a massive psychokinetic field the size of a city,” Diane concluded before blinking in realization. “Oh, my gosh. Did I interrupt you? Were you gonna say that?”

“Uh…” Mr. Wolf glanced at the others before trying to act cool about the situation. “I-I-I was gonna be a little more technical, but you got the gist of it.”

“And that’s not even the worst part,” Sunny frowned. “For some reason, Marmalade’s teamed up with Safira, the dragon with dark magic that the cubs are so terrified of!”

“What?!” Rogue looked stunned at this piece of information. “Ohhh boy, this is a lot worse than we thought.”

“Gee,” Gretchen rolled her eyes bitterly. “You think?”

Soon, they make it back to shore, where they got off the boat and Diane and Rogue both ran to their car parked nearby. “Marmalade and Safira both need to be stopped. But Rogue and I can’t do it alone,” Diane said. “You guys know his compound better than anyone.”

“Don’t worry about a thing, Diane,” Zipp said with a firm smile. “You can count on us to help.”

“All of us,” Mr. Wolf agreed, holding her paw with Reva nodding in agreement before turning back to his friends and the other apprentices. “Right, guys?”

“There is no us,” Mr. Snake said bitterly. “We’re through with you, Wolf. With the Equestrians too. Done. Finito.”

“Because of that little tiff back there?” Pipp asked as she looked at him, appalled. “Come on, dude, that’s what you and Wolfie do! You serve, he volleys. That’s your little dance.”

“...no. Not this time,” Gretchen said, shooting her cousin a dirty look before she and Mr. Snake began to go off in a different direction. Mr. Wolf turned to Zari and Mr. Piranha, hoping that he would have some backup from some of the others. “Zari? Piranha?”

However, Mr. Piranha seemed just as bitter, walking away and pulling Zari behind him by the collar of her shirt. Mr. Wolf turned to Ms. Tarantula and Oran, hoping to get some sort of reaction from them. “Oran? Webs…?”

“Sorry, Wolfie…” Oran muttered before walking after his cousins with Ms. Tarantula on his back. “Shark… Carmine, come on!” Sunny tried to plead with the remaining members of the crew. “These… these are your friends. You can’t just abandon them cause you want different things in life. You have to give it another chance.”

Carmine and Mr. Shark looked like they wanted to join the cause, but then again… looking at the other crew members made them slowly begin to follow. “Guys…?” Reva looked like she was about ready to cry. “Guys?!”

It was then that Mr. Snake finally stopped, turning to look at his former best friend and his apprentice with a bitter expression. “Do you want to know why I hate birthdays, Wolf? Do you?”

“Huh?” Zipp looked at Allura and Twitch in confusion before Mr. Snake continued. “When you grow up a snake, nobody shows up to your party. Birthdays are a constant reminder that out there I’m just a scary, good-for-nothing monster.”

Allura gasped softly as she heard this word, reminding herself of how she once thought of herself as a monster, and felt a pang of guilt for how Mr. Snake was treated in his life. “Yeah. But nothing compares to having the one guy… the one guy,” Mr. Snake continued, obviously hurt, “I thought I could trust stab me in the back.”

“...no one meant to stab anyone in the back. We always looked out for each other, even if we made a mistake,” Reva sniffled. “Come on, Gretch… we’re a family. We’re… we’re all we have left of each other.”

“...you obviously don’t understand family,” Gretchen turned to her cousin again. “Family means looking out for each other and being HONEST with each other. You honestly can’t see that by you and Wolf going good… you’re abandoning us?”

“I…” Reva tried to find the words to continue, but her voice seemed… stuck in her cub-sized throat. “I didn’t…”

“So, no. We’re not family… I don’t think we ever were,” Gretchen interrupted bitterly, watching her cousin's eyes widen and become filled with tears before sighing and turning around. “Come on, guys… let’s get out of here.”

And so, the other Bad Guys and Reva's cousins began to walk down the beach, not bothering to look back... and this broke Mr. Wolf and Reva's hearts.

Their only friends... their only family... were gone in an instant.

The Mane 6, Allura and Twitch tried to fight the urge to cry themselves, but it was so hard. Despite knowing that their main mission now was to stop whatever Marmalade and Safira had planned...

...they couldn't help but feel that part of this whole mess was their fault.

Story of the Crimson Paw/Gearing Up and Realizations Come to Mind

If you thought that things couldn't get any worse... it got worse.

After finding out that Mr. Wolf and Reva both wanted to go good, the other Bad Guys and Reva's cousins felt so betrayed, Mr. Snake and Gretchen denounced their friendship and their family-ship before leading the others away, leaving only the Mane 6, Allura, Twitch, Mr. Wolf and Reva to help Diane (who had been revealed as the Crimson Paw when she saved them from the prison) and Rogue help Safira and Marmalade's wicked plan.

Of course, Mr. Wolf and Reva were both heartbroken... they didn't say a word as they slowly climbed into Diane's car to head to her house for cover.

Zipp got the address to Diane and Rogue's house in her FlyPad and promised that she and her friends would meet them there as fast as they were able to.

But for right now... our heroes needed time to process this heaping dose of heartbreaking information.

XXXXXXXX

Sunny sighed as she and her friends sat beside the side of the road. “It just doesn't add up… why would Marmalade and Safira team up like this? And why would Snake, Gretchen and the others completely abandon Wolf and Reva? Couldn’t they see how heartbroken those two were?”

“I don’t know… but it hurts to think about it,” Izzy said rather miserably, shaking her head sadly. “What are we gonna do now?”

“Well... let's think about it for a minute. If we go back with Snake and the others, Wolf and Reva are gonna be beyond hurt,” Zipp argued. “But if we go with Wolf and Reva, the others are gonna be beyond hurt, so… there’s no win-win in this situation.”

“But… then again, we promised Diane and Rogue that we would help them stop Marmalade and Safira,” Pipp nervously shrugged, “and we’ve never broken a promise before… not one this scale, anyway.”

“...I understood Snake better than before when he said that his birthdays were a reminder that he was a monster,” Allura muttered, completely disheartened. “I felt the same way, after all those years being separated from Alterro... even before I got sent to Starlight Ridge. If only I had seen it earlier… I wouldn’t have focused just on Wolf and Reva… maybe their friendship and the cubs' essence of family would be all right.”

“Allura, you can’t possibly blame yourself,” Zipp said comfortingly. “Sure, things got a little… heated, to put it lightly, but we’ve been in a lot of situations like this, and we’ve always managed to find our way out of them somehow. We’ll find our way out of this one too.”

“...we need some of us to go after Wolf and the others,” Misty said after a moment, “and the rest of us need to go after Snake and his group, just to keep both sides of the situation under control.”

“Good idea, Misty,” Zipp nodded. “Who wants to do what?”

“Twitch and I can go after Snake and the others,” Allura volunteered. “And... perhaps Zipp and Hitch can come with us too?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Zipp nodded. “And Pipp, Misty, Izzy and Sunny can go after Wolf, Diane and their cubs for the time being.”

“Perfect. We’ll text each other with any updates,” Sunny said before the groups parted ways, hoping to catch up to their friends before it was too late.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time as this, Safira was flying through the skies of Los Angeles to reach Professor Marmalade’s compound, where his assistant Cuddles was piloting a helicopter above the house and flipped a switch. The roof opened up as the meteorite was lowered down, with Safira entering the house before the roof closed.

Three mechanical arms linked the meteorite to a machine, siphoning energy from it as Professor Marmalade, now in a golden jumpsuit, turns on his mind control helmet. “Now,” said Professor Marmalade, putting the helmet on, “this is what a true bad guy looks like.”

“Oh, I should say so, professor,” Safira said as she strutted over, earning Professor Marmalade's attention. “A villain with as much deviousness as you should never try to be outmatched.”

“Normally, Safira, flattery would get you nowhere, but… if it’s you complimenting me… I could take it,” Professor Marmalade smirked before turning away from her. “Now… what of the weak links?”

“From what I saw last, the Bad Guys, those ignorant cubs and their friends were being dropped off at the prison, just as we expected,” Safira reported the last news she had of them, not knowing they had escaped and separated. “They’ll never be able to get out and stop us. Even if they did get out, they would never be able to stop feuding.”

“Excellent,” the professor praised the dragon before eyeing a nearby guinea pig. “Now, let’s see if this device truly works.”

That was when he used the frequency of the helmet to take control of the guinea pig’s mind, moving it around like a puppet, causing Safira to grin sadistically. “It works like a charm, professor! Now… what do you say we have some fun?”

“Oh, Safira…” Professor Marmalade smirked. “I like the way you think.”

The professor then proceeded to move the switch on the machine to a higher setting, and laughed evilly as the meteorite surges and unleashes a shockwave that spreads across the land. In a house, two guinea pigs seemed affected, with one knocking the bowl of carrots off a little girl's hand, causing her to scream while they escaped.

Another guinea pig was brainwashed, riding off on a boy's skateboard, and then, two more emerged from the sewer, followed by tons more climbing down an apartment building and leaving their cages in the pet store.

And this was only the beginning of the biggest heist known to history... by the time they were through, Professor Marmalade and his new dragon partner would have everything they ever wanted... and much, much more.

XXXXXXXX

Misty quickly teleported herself, Izzy, Pipp and Sunny to the address that Zipp had given them before they had separated, appearing right in front of a house that seemed right within the limits of the city. “This is the right house,” Pipp said, putting her hooves on the window and peering inside, “but… I don’t see Wolf, Diane, Rogue or Reva yet.”

“Oh no…” Izzy looked worried. “Do you think Safira or the meanie professor got them?”

“We can’t think like that yet, Izzy,” Sunny tried to be comforting. “Maybe they’re just… running a little late?”

“Look!” Misty pointed down the street to see Diane’s car approaching. “Here they come!”

Diane’s car was just pulling up to the house as they approached, and Sunny let out a sigh of relief. “We’re glad you guys made it here safely,” she said as the windows were rolled down. “With Safira and the professor planning this big heist of theirs, we were worried they might do something to you.”

“We’re fine, Sunny,” Diane reassured gently. “But… Reva and Wolf, on the other hand…”

It was then that Misty noticed that Mr. Wolf and Reva were completely silent and looking downtrodden with themselves. “Hey…” she said gently. “Are you guys okay?”

“No, we’re not okay. We’re very, very un-okay,” Mr. Wolf said with a disheartened grumble. “Just left the only friends I have ever had, and Reva’s only family she had, so what am I… what am I getting us into?”

“...it’s not your fault, Wolf,” Reva said softly. “I was the one who betrayed my family, so… I guess I kinda deserve it.”

The ponies honestly felt their hearts breaking at how disheartened both of them sound, but none of their experiences compared to this. How could they cheer them up if they had no idea what to say?

But luckily for them… Diane knew just what Mr. Wolf and Reva (to a point) were going through. “I know this isn’t easy, leaving everything behind.”

Mr. Wolf looked at her skeptically. “Do you?”

“Yeah. I was the best thief in the world,” Diane continued. “Fast, fearless, inventive. I just had one thing left to steal.”

“The Golden Dolphin,” Reva realized. “So you went after it.”

“She didn’t just go after it,” Rogue told her, having heard this story before. “She had it, and a clear escape route.”

“So… what happened?” Izzy asked. “Why didn’t you steal the Golden Dolphin before now?”

“Well, Izzy… after looking at my reflection for a moment,” Diane explained with a hint of sadness in her voice, “all I saw in the end was the tricky fox that they always told me I was. And once I put the trophy back and left, it… it changed everything. So, now, instead of hurting people, I’m helping them. I’m still me, I’m just… me on the right side.”

“You’re both doing the right thing… even though you’re really hurting right now,” Misty said to Mr. Wolf and his apprentice gently. “And someday Reva’s family and… your friends, if they’re real friends… I think they’ll understand.”

Mr. Wolf and Reva slowly began to smile at this, and Rogue purred against Reva, loving to see that smile grace her muzzle. “Now come on,” Diane urged with a smile of her own. “Let’s get inside. You guys look like you just busted out of a prison.”

“Heh, yeah,” Pipp looked down at her orange suit. “Not exactly the best color for me.”

Suddenly, a guinea pig came down onto the car’s windshield, causing the group to yelp startled before the tiny rodent scurried off. “A guinea pig?” Izzy looked confused before humming in thought. “Where have I seen that before…?”

Suddenly, the others gasped in realization and looked at each other with wide eyes. “Marmalade!”

“Let’s bounce,” Reva said to Rogue with a determined tone in her voice, causing Rogue to nod before the cubs jumped out of the car, causing Mr. Wolf to sigh in satisfaction. “They grow up so fast…”

XXXXXXXX

Diane and Rogue led their remaining friends inside their house, which was actually a lot smaller than the others thought it would be. “So, this is the hideout of the great Crimson Paw,” Mr. Wolf commented as Diane headed into the kitchen and started typing on the microwave control panel. “Snack break?” Misty tilted her head. “Okay, oddly timed, but you do you.”

However, as Misty leaned against the fridge, a secret door opened, and Misty would have fallen if Rogue hadn’t caught her. “Identity verified,” a robotic voice spoke up. “Welcome, Diane.”

“What…?!” Reva and Mr. Wolf spoke up and looked at each other before Rogue and Diane dragged them into the elevator after the ponies, and soon, it descended deeper into the house.

It wasn't but a moment or two later when they finally arrived in a hidden room filled with all sorts of spy equipment-- zip lines, grappling hooks, lasers, computer screens... the whole nine yards. “Whoa-ho!!” Sunny couldn’t help but stare alongside her friends. “Holy moly!”

Diane laughed and sighed as she went further into the room with Rogue by her side. “It’s so good to be home.”

“Are you kidding me? Laser-sighted zip line?” Mr. Wolf asked, holding the said item up before tossing it, causing Pipp to quickly catch it in mid-air as Reva deeply gasped upon seeing another item in particular. “The XM-2400 radar jammer?! No way!!”

“I actually prefer the earlier model,” Diane said with a shrug, causing Reva to laugh. “Agree to disagree.”

“Oh, this stuff is nice, too,” Mr. Wolf twisted some lipstick he found, only for the lipstick to ignite like a blowtorch, causing him to yelp. “Yeah, that’s a blowtorch,” Pipp said, grabbing the lipstick from Mr. Wolf and putting it under her wing. “Also, so not your color.”

Diane then turned to her computer before typing on the keyboard, producing several satellite imaging systems. “All righty, Marmalade. What are you up to, you fuzzy little weirdo? We need eyes on the city. Let’s see if we can’t hack into the government’s surveillance satellite.”

“But, you’re the governor,” Sunny frowned. “Couldn’t you just ask?”

“Well, yeah,” Rogue said with a slight nod of confirmation, “but… pfft… paperwork.”

“I am definitely picking up on suspicious activity here,” Diane said as she pulled up a map of the city with heat signatures all over the place. “Those are guinea pig heat signatures.”

“Safira and Marmalade must be using the meteorite to control them,” Rogue added, “but… to do what?”

“Yeah. I’ve seen enough heist movies to know,” said Misty, “that there aren’t any specific targets.”

That was when Mr. Wolf unfolded the charity map from the gala, looking at it before putting it on the map on the computer screen. “That’s because they’re moving targets.”

“Wolf is right!” Sunny realized. “The locations given on the map match the same locations to where the guinea pigs are!”

“That means the guinea pigs are gonna steal the money from the charity fundraiser!” Reva said with wide eyes. “Raised in his own name?”

“It’s the greatest heist the world’s ever seen,” Mr. Wolf told her. “$1 billion inside trucks, on their way to charities all over the city.”

“But what’s Safira’s role in all this?” Misty asked. “She couldn’t know how to use the meteorite to take over minds!”

“No… but I think I know what her role is. During all our time with her, me and my cousins learned that she’s obsessed with her powers growing,” Reva said. “Once Marmalade completes the heist, she’ll wanna use the meteorite to boost her own energy! And if she does, she would never be stopped!”

“Oh, woof,” Rogue winced. “That does NOT sound good.”

“We need to cut off Marmalade’s communication with his guinea pig army,” Diane said firmly. “Right…” Sunny nodded slowly. “Cause if there’s no signal…”

“There’s no heist!” Reva realized. “And Safira wouldn’t be able to gain any extra power!”

“We have to steal the meteorite!” all eight of them shouted at once, wide smiles imprinted on their faces. “That was cute,” Mr. Wolf told the others with a smirk. “That thing we just did there.”

“All right,” Diane told the others confidently, tossing them some black latex suits. “Put on your big-girl pants. We’re gearing up.”

And once the others put on their suits, they grabbed a variety of gadgets from the walls, one of them being a grappling hook that Diane grabbed.

However, Mr. Wolf looked a little nervous upon seeing it. “I wouldn’t take that. Those things rip your pants right off.”

“Huh…” Diane blinked before pressing a button on the wall. “Try wearing clean underwear. Just in case.”

Just then, the nearby wall lowered, and the others gasped upon seeing Mr. Wolf’s car waiting for them to ride into the compound. “Wha… you stole my car?!” Mr. Wolf asked, hugging the car while looking back at Diane and Rogue. “Respect.”

“Eh,” Rogue shrugged with an innocent look on his face. “It helps when you have a really good teacher.”

“All right then,” Reva said to her friends with a confident smile. “Let’s do this!”

And once they had climbed into the car, they sped out of Diane’s garage and further into the city to stop Professor Marmalade and Safira’s plan once and for all.

XXXXXXXX

While the others were on their way to stop the real villains in this story, the rest of the Bad Guys and their apprentices were on their way to their hidden lair, still feeling hurt by their so-called friends’ betrayal.

But while her friends and cousins sat in silence, Gretchen sat in the corner, thinking hard about what she had said to Reva before they left… how they weren’t family anymore.

Suddenly, a memory of her and Reva spending some time together in the Valley of Mythix, on an annual with their parents (Gretchen’s mother and father, Perali and Oriko, and Reva’s parents, Neven and Sakira) came out of the back of her mind, and these two quotes stuck out to her more than anything else.

“Gretchen? We’ll always be cousins, no matter what happens… won’t we?”

“Of course we will, Reeves. Nothing can ever stop a family. As Daddy always says… family never gives up on each other, no matter what problems come our way.”

Gretchen gasped as she suddenly remembered saying this, beginning to realize what she had done to Reva to make her hurt so badly…

…without really meaning to, of course.

She wiped the tears from her eyes without the others seeing, of course, just as the elevator arrived in the secret lair.

Unfortunately, when they got there, they gasped upon seeing that all of their things had vanished! “What?!” Carmine gasped while Oran stared wide eyed. “No!”

“All our stuff?!” Mr. Piranha gawked, wide eyed.

That was when the group ran into the lair, trying to search for anything left behind, and their speech began to overlap on top of each other a bit.

“Where is everything?!”

“No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!”

“All our stuff!”

“It’s… it’s all gone!”

“My disguise closet!”

“Where’s my things?!”

As Mr. Shark moved through the coat hangers to try and find at least one of his disguises, Mr. Snake growled as he suddenly realized what happened. “Wolf and his goody-goody gang gave away all our loot!” We stole it fair and square!”

“Come on, Snake, we don’t know if this was their doing!” Zari tried to argue as Mr. Snake slithered into the kitchen to check everything out there. “It could’ve been Marmalade for all we know!”

“Now I understand what it feels like to have things stolen from you!” Mr. Piranha said, trying not to blow a gasket while trying to control his breathing. “I don’t like it! I really don’t like it!”

As Snake checked around the kitchen, he saw the photos on the fridge that the group had taken over the past while, showing good times with Wolf and Reva. He groaned before opening the fridge door to find a push-pop, to his surprise, wondering how it got there before clutching it in anger.

However… his anger was diverted when he heard Mr. Snake begin to panic. “We got no food, we got no money, we got no money we could use to buy food, no food we can sell for money…!!!”

And finally, Mr. Shark’s panic culminated into the form of sobbing his head off, causing Mr. Snake to sigh under his breath and slither over. “All right, okay, okay. Here… take it,” he said, giving Mr. Shark the push-pop, which he immediately began to suck on as Mr. Snake slithered off. “Now, stop crying, buddy.”

But while Mr. Shark sighed in relief, the others seemed quite surprised at what Mr. Snake just did. “Uh… Snake?” Oran asked cautiously. “What did you just do?”

“What?” Mr. Snake seemed oblivious as he checked the fridge. “My friend was sad. I was just cheering him up.”

“You… you did a good thing!” Mr. Shark realized. “For me!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Mr. Snake dismissed. “I just put your needs before my own.”

“Yeah,” Ms. Tarantula nodded. “You’re being good.”

“I’m not,” Mr. Snake dismissed once more. “I was simply making a sacrifice so Shark could be happy.”

“That is the actual definition,” Carmine said, “of being good!”

“Snake! You!” Mr. Shark said. “The worst one of us! The most selfish…”

“Spiteful…”

“Terrible…”

“Sneaky…”

“Dishonest…”

“Insensitive...”

“Manipulative…”

“Snake-like…”

“Stanky…”

Mr. Snake raised an eyebrow quizzically at their insults. “And your point is?”

“...this may not be what you wanna hear, Snakey, but… I think Wolf, Reva and our friends were right,” Gretchen said to her mentor slowly, and this caused Mr. Snake to turn to her in complete surprise. “W-What did you say?”

“She said that our friends were right,” Ms. Tarantula repeated as Gretchen stood completely motionless. “Maybe we could be more than just scary villains.”

Suddenly, Ms. Tarantula’s abdomen, Mr. Shark and Mr. Piranha’s fins and the cub’s tails began to wag, and the cubs’ cutie marks began to glow as they gasped in surprise. “Is this…?” Ms. Tarantula stammered. “Is this wagging?”

Mr. Snake looked down at his now-wagging tail, causing Gretchen to laugh happily, her first TRUE happy laugh, in what seemed like forever. “W-We’re wagging!”

“Hey, it’s actually kinda fun!” Zari said as she laughed. “Like your happiness is being expressed through your rear!”

However, Mr. Snake quickly tried to stop his tail from wagging with any means possible, and his anger slowly began to rise as his friends and even his own apprentice were choosing to abandon their criminal lives. “No, no, no!” he screamed, causing the others to freeze in their tracks as he turned back to the fridge. “We’ll… always… be… Bad Guys!”

He quickly slammed the fridge door shut, knocking down all but one photo, causing Gretchen to gasp out of fear, her eyes going wide as Mr. Snake slithered off. “Snake… Snake, wait! Please… we don’t have to worry about people being scared of us anymore,” she said, trying to follow him. “We… we can start over! Have the lives we always wanted!”

“...I can’t believe you would betray me too, Gretchen. I’ve been your support system ever since you lost your parents,” Mr. Snake said bitterly as he entered the elevator. “Go join Wolf and Reva if you want… but just know… I’ll never forget this.”

And before she could stop Snake from leaving, the elevator closed up and descended, leaving the other Bad Guys and the four tiger cubs alone. “Oh, Gretchie…” Carmine whispered. “I’m so sorry…”

“...I feel so bad about doing that to him, but… if it was for us to be happy, there was no other choice,” Gretchen said softly before turning to her friends. “We have to find our friends and help them stop Marmalade and Safira, before it’s too late.”

“That’s exactly why we’re here.”

The group immediately turned to see Hitch, Zipp, Allura and Twitch entering the lair through the nearby window, causing Mr. Piranha to become confused as Allura purred up against the cubs. “What’re you all doing here?”

“I know you guys are pretty mad at us right now,” Zipp said, “but you gotta listen to us for a second. Wolf… Reva… they…”

“We know… they were right,” Carmine said gently. “We wanna be good now too.”

“...wow. That was anticlimactic,” Hitch said rather bluntly before shaking his head and pulling out his phone. “We just got this text from Sunny-- she and the others are gonna try and get the meteorite back from Marmalade and Safira to stop their plans, but… they need our help, big time.”

“So, listen up, everyone,” Allura said as she gathered the group together. “Here’s the plan we’ve come up with… and with some sheer teamwork and luck... this plan is bound to work in our favor.”

Recovering the Meteorite, Reunions and Finding Out the Truth

The other Bad Guys and Reva's cousins had finally turned a corner, and realized that Mr. Wolf and Reva may be right-- maybe they could have a better life on the side of good.

Well... almost everyone seemed to realize this.

Mr. Snake was heartbroken and betrayed when he discovered his friends, and even Gretchen, wanted to be good, and stormed out, leaving Gretchen deeply hurt herself, but... also proud of finally choosing the right thing.

But now, they had a bigger mission ahead-- they had to work with Zipp, Allura, Hitch and Twitch to get to Professor Marmalade's compound and help their friends get the meteorite back, so the heist and whatever Safira was planning can't happen.

But will they succeed in time?

That's exactly what we're gonna find out.

XXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, the mind-controlled guinea pigs ran down the street, all being controlled by Professor Marmalade to go after the charity trucks heading all over the city, causing the guinea pig to laugh maniacally. “Faster, faster, my little pigs!”

One truck was about to reach a children's hospital with a man cutting the red ribbon with scissors. Suddenly, the truck thumped, and the driver looked back to discover that he had run over one of the guinea pigs, causing the kids outside the hospital to gasp in horror. At that moment, the guinea pig appeared to be fine, jumping up before being joined by others. And once there were more than one, all the guinea pigs present swarmed into the truck and kicked the driver out before driving away, leaving the children to cry instantly.

The same thing happened with several more trucks, one of those drivers going to a school when it happened, unable to stop the guinea pigs from stealing the truck and the money inside.

But, Professor Marmalade and Safira somehow knew that there would be those who would try and stop their plans. And when they did come... they would be ready.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time as this was all going down, Mr. Wolf’s car pulled up to the gate outside of the penthouse, where Diane gave Mr. Wolf, Reva, Rogue, Misty, Sunny, Izzy and Pipp a few instructions on what to do after they had secured the space rock in question. “Once we steal the meteorite, we take it straight to the police.”

“And all will be forgiven,” Mr. Wolf chimed in with a cheerful smile. “I don’t know about all, Wolfie,” Misty said slowly before patting him with her hoof, “but… it’s a start.”

“I guess this is gonna be using your maximum sneaky skills you showed with Opaline to good use, isn’t it, Misty-Twisty?” Izzy said, nudging Misty slightly and causing her to chuckle nervously. “I had a feeling that they would someday.”

“Uh… maximum sneaky skills? What does she mean, Misty?” Rogue tilted his head. “And who’s Opaline?”

“Story for another time,” Reva told the cheetah cub as they swiftly got out of the car. “Right now, we have a space rock to snag.”

XXXXXXXX

And so, with Mr. Wolf and Diane taking the lead, the group managed to get over the fence, ducking through the yard and over to the side of the building, where Misty and Izzy used their magic to make their hooves, feet and paws stick to the side of the wall while Pipp used her wings to silently fly to the top and help them up.

Once they were at the top of the building, Mr. Wolf and Diane secured ropes for them to use to lower themselves inside the room where the meteorite was, with Reva and Rogue riding on Misty and Izzy’s backs.

And once they had made it down to the ground again, Diane, Rogue and the ponies began searching for a way to get the meteorite away from those mechanical arms when suddenly, Mr. Wolf and Reva spotted the Golden Dolphin statue just sitting on a pedestal, no security measures around it whatsoever.

Reva tilted her head curiously at this. “That’s strange. Why would Marmalade leave the Golden Dolphin unprotected?”

“Have you not seen any heist movies?” Pipp asked with the roll of her eyes. “The Golden Dolphin is obviously unprotected because it’s a trap.”

“Or maybe…” Mr. Wolf said, preparing to grab the award, only for Diane to break away from the others to stop him. “Wait, wait, wait!”

But the second Mr. Wolf touched it, they all received an electrical zap before falling to the ground unconscious, allowing a hidden Safira to smirk wickedly and slowly try to make her next move.

XXXXXXXX

When Reva and her friends woke up, they discovered they had been tied up with ropes hooked to the ceiling, with the ponies' hooves, horns and wings restrained. “Yep…” she deadpanned, glancing over at Mr. Wolf scoldingly. “It was definitely a trap.”

“Told you!” Pipp strained as she tried to get her wings to move. “Heist movies are NEVER wrong! Well… they’re only wrong on very slim occasions.”

“Well, well, well… if it isn’t my prize pupil, his pet and their little horsey friends?” Professor Marmalade chimed as he and Safira strutted in, wicked smirks imprinted on their smug little faces. “And, you’ve brought along Rogue and the governor!”

“Or should we say,” Safira added as she quickly shot Diane a dirty look, “the Crimson Paw!”

Diane growled in anger, her eyes narrowing while Rogue looked a bit nervous hanging in front of the giant dragon. Then, Professor Marmalade pulled out Diane’s ring and plucked the diamond right off of it. “Mm, what an ingenious way to disguise the Zumpango Diamond-- hiding it in plain sight.”

Sunny looked over at Diane with wide eyes. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

“What?” Diane smirked a bit. “I’m sentimental.”

“You always did have panache,” Professor Marmalade said as he tucked the diamond into his pocket. “And yet, you still fell right into my trap.”

“But one thing doesn’t make any sense,” Misty said with a confused look. “How did you guys know we would be here? Even Safira can’t read minds.”

“Oh, I can’t,” Safira responded to the blue unicorn with a bit of a proud smirk. “We got a little tip… from a dear, dear friend of yours.”

Suddenly, the door opened to let in a figure that the group immediately recognized... Mr. Snake himself. “Hey, buddy. How’s it hanging?”

“...Snake?!” Rogue, Reva and the four ponies exclaimed with wide eyes of shock and betrayal, while Mr. Snake merely chuckled and approached Professor Marmalade and Safira, wrapping his tail around the professor. “What can I say? The three of us just clicked.”

“Oh, yeah?” Mr. Wolf challenged while Reva tried her best not to look hurt. “How’s it feel to be working for your favorite food?”

“Ah, you’re just jealous to be missing out on the heist of the century. It’s got everything: betrayal, a meteor, mind control…” Mr. Snake quipped before turning back to Professor Marmalade, who was now holding the mind control helmet. “Can I try it on?”

“Of course… partner,” Professor Marmalade put the helmet on Mr. Snake’s head, which he smirked at. “Nice,” he said as he began to use the helmet. “All the crime with none of the exercise.”

“What about all that flower of goodness talk?” Mr. Wolf then questioned. “Was it all just a lie?”

“Uh, pretty much, yeah. You see, I never cared about what's good. Only what's good for me! Like, say, a billion dollars!” Professor Marmalade said just before he felt a tingle run across his entire body. “Oh, I just got a tingle.”

“Ugh… you’re never gonna get away with this!” Reva snarled. “We’re gonna stop you, just you wait!”

“Oh, really?” Safira raised an eyebrow. “Well, I severely doubt that… since you couldn’t stop me and my brethren from killing your parents.”

Reva’s eyes went wide at this, and the others looked at each other with wide eyes as the poor tiger cub tried to process this news. “No… no, that’s not possible!”

“Oh, it is,” Safira said deviously. “You see, the Dark Dragons and Mythix Tigers have been enemies for longer than we care to admit. One day, me and my two sisters, Brunnera and Midori decided to attack the valley without mercy, and destroy it just as they had destroyed our peaceful ways many years prior. But unfortunately… your parents allowed you the opportunity to escape.”

Suddenly… Reva began to remember it all as if it happened yesterday.

XXXXXXXX

The Valley of Mythix was burning with all sorts of shade of blue, green and violet fire, and most of the adult tigers, including Oran’s parents (Gabriel and Asaka), Zari’s parents (Takia and Morto) and Carmine’s parents (Ellian and Arian) tried to put out the fire while Gretchen’s parents (Perali and Oriko) and Reva’s parents (Neven and Sakira) tried to get the cubs out of the valley using a hidden, cub-sized tunnel.

Oriko nudged Zari’s rear to push her closer to the tunnel. “Go, kids! Go and get as far away from the valley as you can! We’ll take care of the fire and find you as soon as we can!”

“Daddy, please!” Gretchen sobbed in fear. “I want you and Mama to come with us!”

“I’m sorry, baby, but we can’t! You’re the future of our kind,” Perali sniffled, “and we can’t risk losing you!”

“Promise us you’ll be okay, Mom!” Reva pleaded as her cousins began to crawl through the tunnel as their parents instructed them to do. “We can’t lose you either!”

“We promise, baby!” Sakira sobbed as the cubs ran through the tunnel as the fires engulfed the valley whole. “Run! RUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!”

XXXXXXXX

“...after you five cubs escaped from the valley, I figured your parents' plan out first and went out to find you while my sisters went out to battle the tigers and ensure they fell to their deaths that day,” Safira said, continuing the story wickedly, not bothering to look at the others. “...my sisters died that day as well. And once I found you cubs in your exhausted state, I vowed to get the ultimate revenge for my sisters' fate. So, I’ve been using you idiots ever since I found you to regain my strength and ensure another Mythix Tiger would never bother me or cause me harm again. There-- now… you know the whole story.”

No one said not a word for a moment.

Not even Professor Marmalade.

Not even Mr. Snake.

Then, after a moment, Reva sniffled back her tears and looked away from the dragon, trying not to show how hurt she was in the end. “I guess I should’ve predicted it from the beginning. You obviously never wanted anything to do with us… why would you ever want to now?”

“The first rule of being a TRUE villain,” Safira told her, “is to NEVER trust anyone.”

With that, she, Professor Marmalade and Mr. Snake began to leave the room, with Mr. Snake smiling and using his tail to bump Professor Marmalade’s fist. “Go bad…”

“...or go home,” Professor Marmalade finished, but before he left, he peeked his head back into the room to speak to his assistant. “Cuddles! Finish them.”

The door immediately closed after that, and once they were finally gone, Cuddles pushed a lever down, lowering Mr. Wolf, Diane, the cubs and the four ponies present toward the floor, and a hatch underneath the opened to reveal tons of sharp, spinning blades, ready to slice and dice them to a bitter end.

This caused the group to scream and try and wiggle free, but at that moment, some green mist began come in through the nearby vents. “Poison gas!” Diane shrieked. “Don’t breathe it in!”

Izzy gasped deeply and held her breath with her friends, but Reva sniffed the air and looked at Mr. Wolf with wide eyes. “Wolf, do you recognize that?”

Mr. Wolf sniffed the air as well, slowly coming to the same realization. “Wait a second. That’s not poison gas.”

Suddenly, Cuddles began to retch from the smell and passed out, followed by the sound of a familiar voice. “Sorry!”

Sunny gasped in delight. “Could it really be…?”

Suddenly, the other cubs, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Shark, Ms. Tarantula, Allura, Twitch, Hitch and Zipp came out of the vents, everyone except Mr. Piranha gasping for breath. That was when Carmine brought out a perfume bottle that, with a simple spritz, caused the bad smell of the fart to go away. “Never leave home without Carmine’s Fart Desensitizer!”

“Oh, guys!” Mr. Wolf cried out in relief. “I can’t believe it’s you!”

“You were right, Wolfie!” Ms. Tarantula said as Mr. Shark’s fin began to wag. “We felt the wag, man!”

“And,” Oran added, “we felt the tingle!”

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Izzy asked with a smile, just as Rogue began to chuckle nervously. “This is super moving, but can we do this later?”

“Feels like I got a rhythm section in my fin,” Mr. Shark said before beginning to beatbox. “Oh, yeah, baby!” Zari said as she began to dance in place. “I like the sound of this beat!”

“Hello?!” Zipp tried to get the others’ attention as she tried to keep her friends away from the blades. “Spinning blades over here!!”

“Oh, right!” Gretchen realized. “Allura, help Zipp keep the others away from the blades while we figure out how to shut them down!”

“Of course,” Allura nodded before flying up and helping Zipp pull the ropes away from the blades. At the same time, Ms. Tarantula pushed the lever up in order to get the floor hatch to close. “Sorry. I got it.”

The ropes were then lifted away from the hatch as it closed, causing the others to drop to the floor. “Guys!” Sunny exclaimed as she, the unicorns, Pipp and Mr. Wolf scrambled from their ropes to hug their friends. “Are we glad to see you!”

“Same here,” Hitch sighed in relief, a smile beginning to form. “We were so worried!”

Reva approached her cousins, still a bit surprised. “You… you guys came?”

“...someone told me once that family doesn’t quit on each other, even in the worst circumstances. Someone… I should really listen to more often,” Gretchen said slowly as she approached. “Reeves, I’m SO sorry about the things I said. I didn’t really believe them when I said them. I guess… we lost so much already, and I couldn’t bear to lose another member of the family.”

“It’s okay… no harm done, right?” Reva stuck out her paw to her cousin for her to shake, but instead… Gretchen hugged Reva around the neck tight, sniffling and sobbing to herself. “I’m so sorry, cuz… I love you more than anything.”

“...I love you too,” Reva said, trying to contain her own tears. “And I’m sorry too. I should’ve been honest with all of you about how I was feeling.”

“And we shouldn’t have been such jerks and walked away from you when you needed us,” Oran added as he, Zari and Carmine got closer. “We’ll never do it again, we promise.”

“...okay, okay…” Carmine sniffled back her tears as the cousins hugged. “My makeup is basically ruined, but surprisingly, I don’t care! This is WAY better than looking pretty!”

“I, uh… I hate to break up the joyous reunion, but… has anyone seen Snake?” Allura asked. “You’re right! When the others realized that they wanted to be good,” Zipp told her sister and friends, “Snake got really ticked off and stormed out. We haven’t been able to find him anywhere.”

“We know where he is,” Diane sighed heavily. “He’s working with Marmalade and Safira.”

“What?!” Zari asked, looking stunned. “Are you guys sure?”

“More sure than anything,” Reva answered solemnly before looking at her cousins. “And… you guys should know… it was Safira and her sisters who attacked the valley and killed our parents.”

“It’s true,” Rogue nodded. “She’s been using you five so she could get her strength back and swear the ultimate revenge on the Mythix Tigers for making her lose her sisters in the battle.”

“No no no no no no no no no!!” Carmine yelped, her eyes growing wide and teary. “That can’t be true!”

“As much as we wanna deny it, it’s true,” Misty said gently. “The whole story sounds completely plausible, and… well… I wouldn’t trust Safira if she said she had nothing to do with it.”

“...we’re so sorry,” Ms. Tarantula said to Oran as she climbed up on his back. “Yeah, chica,” Mr. Piranha comforted Zari as she rubbed up against him. “That little scaled lizard crossed the wrong tiger cubs.”

“She sure did, but… what can we do now?” Gretchen asked. “I’ll tell you what we’re going to do,” Mr. Wolf said confidently. “I think it’s time to huff and puff and blow this little piggy’s heist down!”

“Game over, guinea pig!” Pipp said confidently, and the group rushed over to the meteor, using Reva’s water magic to lift it off the mechanical arms so they could get it into the trunk of Mr. Wolf’s car.

It actually seemed like they were gonna pull this off!

And in doing so, clear their names and set things… some-what straight again.

The Car Chase and the Final Battle Begins

Mr. Snake had just committed what was considered the ultimate betrayal, teaming up with Professor Marmalade and Safira, even though he had just heard that Safira and her deceased sisters had killed Reva and her cousins’ parents and destroyed the Valley of Mythix.

Naturally, the cubs were heartbroken at the sound of this news, but realizing that they had more important things to worry about right now (like stopping the heist and the villains' plans once and for all), they pushed their own personal feelings aside to try and help their friends in any way they could.

But little did they realize that their attempts to save the day were going to end in a battle and several twists that no one else saw coming.

Now, let's get back to the story and see what exactly we're dealing with, shall we?

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Professor Marmalade, Mr. Snake and Safira were walking down the hall, discussing their excitement about how their plans were finally going to come to fruition. “With this meteorite,” Professor Marmalade said with a sadistically evil smirk, “we will be able to commit crimes people have only dreamed about.”

“Not bad for a butt rock,” Mr. Snake commented, causing Safira to sigh and rubbed a clawed paw across her face. “Once again, it’s not a…”

However, when Professor Marmalade pushed a button on the wall, the three of them saw the remaining Bad Guys, the cubs, Diane, Allura, Twitch and the Mane 6 gathered around Mr. Wolf's car, with the meteorite in the back seat! “Don’t mind us,” Allura purred. “Just robbing this place!”

“Wow… she does it good!” Zari whispered, causing Carmine to nod in agreement. “Come on, guys!” Misty shouted. “Let’s get out of here!”

And so, Mr. Wolf stepped on the gas, causing Safira to shriek with rage as they drove away. “NO NO NO!!! I MUST HAVE MY REVENGE!!!”

XXXXXXXX

The others quickly drove out of the garage and into the open, only for Mr. Wolf to stop and drive backwards to park at the palm tree where the Bad Guys' kitty friend was hiding. “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!”

The kitten jumped down from the tree, landing in Mr. Wolf’s arms just before Izzy pulled out a pair of kitten sized sunglasses and put them on the kitten’s face. “There you go, cutie-patootie.”

“Okay, Wolf, step on it!” Sunny declared. “We gotta go before Safira gets on our tail!”

Mr. Wolf slammed on the gas at this, driving out of the gate and into the city, causing the group to ditch their black latex suits (don’t worry, they had their normal clothes on underneath) and cheered for their apparent success. “Now,” said Hitch, “to get this thing to the chief and clear our names!”

“Huh, weird,” Carmine looked up at Mr. Shark. “Usually, we drive away from the police.”

Suddenly, Mr. Piranha saw something that made him frown out of confusion. “Hey, chico, are you sure we stopped the heist?”

“Yeah,” Mr. Wolf nodded. “Relax,” Diane reassured. “Marmalade can’t control them if he doesn’t have the meteorite, and Safira won’t be able to gain power from the meteorite either.”

Suddenly, Rogue pointed his paw at some trucks driving on the road above them. “Then… who’s driving those trucks?”

“What?!” Zipp immediately pulled out her visor and zoomed in on the trucks. “The drivers are guinea pigs, guys! But that means…”

“The meteorite is still transmitting!” Reva realized. “Uh-oh…” Mr. Shark and Twitch muttered in worry. “The charity money. Change of plan, guys,” Mr. Wolf said before turning to the tech member of the Bad Guys for insight. “Webs, is there some way to override the truck’s navigation system?”

“Good thinking!” Oran nodded, realizing the plan with a grin on his face. “If we reroute their systems, they won’t be able to deliver the money to Marmalade!”

“Well, yeah,” Ms. Tarantula added, opening her computer, “ we’d need some kind of magnetized cross-circuit interceptor.”

“You mean this?” Diane asked, getting a small, circular device out from her pocket. “Ooh-hoo!” Zari squealed. “She just keeps getting cooler!”

“And we can all help!” Sunny declared. “Me and the rest of the flyers can zoom ahead and stick some of those devices on the trucks!”

“Oh, yeah!” Reva cheered just as Mr. Wolf turned the car around to follow after the trucks, with Sunny (in her alicorn form) taking the lead, with Zipp, Pipp and Allura right behind her. They got between two trucks and Zipp tried to plant the device on one, but it rammed into her, causing her and Pipp to fall back into the car with a shriek.

“Guys, look!” Gretchen pointed at some of the trucks going another direction. “The trucks are splitting up!”

“Then we’ve gotta split up, too,” Diane said before turning to Ms. Tarantula. “Webs, you feel like a girl’s trip?”

Ms. Tarantula closed her laptop in excitement at this. “Um… yes!”

“Here, take this!” Zipp said as she tossed Diane a briefcase. “Misty helped me enchant this so it turns into a motorcycle for you, Webs, Oran and Rogue to all ride on together, in case you need some extra paws.”

“Good thinking, Zipp,” Diane smiled and bumped her hoof. “Come on, cubs, we’ve got some devices to plant!”

“Later, boys!” Ms. Tarantula called out, perched on Diane’s shoulder as she, Rogue and Oran leapt out of the car, with Diane turning the briefcase into a motorcycle before the four of them sped off.

However, Mr. Piranha sighed as he watched them go. “I want to go on the girls’ trip.”

“Maybe next time, Piranha!” Allura said reassuringly as she and the flyers took off into the air again. “Follow us, everyone! It’s time we put this guinea pig on ice!”

Mr. Wolf then swiftly turned after the other trucks, with the flyers taking the lead to put more of the devices on the trucks.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Rogue and Oran clung for dear life on the back of Diane’s new motorbike as Ms. Tarantula fired up her laptop, keeping progress of how many trucks had the devices on them and which ones they still needed to hit.

Rogue and Oran helped out by handing the girls the devices, which Diane stuck onto the sides, front windows and the undersides of the trucks, and in the boys' expert opinion... it was actually really fun!

All the sliding and cool moves, I mean.

XXXXXXXX

As for the others, Sunny, Zipp, Pipp and Allura managed to fly above the trucks and stick the devices on the top of them without the guinea pigs realizing it, but there were still a lot more trucks to hit.

But seeing as the flyers could only do so much, Hitch knew that they needed to take things up a notch. “Hey, Wolf? You’re insured, right?”

“Yeah,” Mr. Wolf nodded. “Why?”

“Dark sword!” Gretchen used her dark magic to slice the roof off of Mr. Wolf’s car, causing the other cubs to shriek in surprise. “Hey!” Mr. Wolf shouted in shock. “That’s my car!”

“It’s ceviche, baby!” Mr. Piranha exclaimed with a laugh. That was when Zari and Mr. Piranha were thrown by Hitch and Mr. Shark onto the road, and together, Zari and her mentor used their lightning-fast speed (to Zari, it was quite literal) to put each device on the trucks as Diane and her group did their job. They dodged and managed to get onto the front of one of the last two buses, where Zari placed the device on the windshield.

And seeing that there was one final device left, Mr. Wolf decided to take the lead on this one. “So long, suckers!”

He flicked the final device onto the final truck’s windshield, prompting Ms. Tarantula to smile and immediately get to work. “Whoop-bam!”

Then, the single tap of a button caused all of the trucks to stop. Then the trucks started to move by themselves, all in different directions so that way they all didn’t head back to Professor Marmalade’s compound.

Needless to say, Rogue and Diane were impressed. “Whoa!” Rogue blinked. “Where did you learn to do that?”

“Oh, you know. I'm kind of a natural…” Ms. Tarantula began to brag before Oran shot her a bit of a scolding look. “...mostly YouTube.”

The flyers immediately descended back into the car as Diane and Rogue dropped off Ms. Tarantula and Oran, causing Sunny to smile at them. “Nice work, you guys.”

“Meet us at the police station. Don’t be late…” Diane singsonged before she and Rogue drove off on the motorbike. “All right, everyone,” Allura smirked. “What do you say we deliver this butt rock to the chief?”

“Best words I’ve heard all day!” cheered Gretchen before the group cheered and drove off down the road to get to the police station and return the meteorite to clear their names.

XXXXXXXX

Professor Marmalade and Mr. Snake had been trying to follow the heroes in Professor Marmalade's helicopter, and you can probably guess that Professor Marmalade was not happy when he discovered that the trucks had all been hacked to go in different directions, all while returning throwing the money out of the trucks. “No, no, no, no! That’s my stolen money!” he growled before turning to look at Mr. Snake. “What good are you if you can’t even anticipate their next move?!”

“Oh,” Mr. Snake turned to him in anger, “so it’s my fault?!”

“Yes!” Professor Marmalade shouted with just as much anger. “And if Safira were here and not going off on some wild goose chase for a way to power herself further, she would agree with me!”

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, on her ride to the police station, Diane changed back to her business attire, got her and Rogue off the motorbike, which turned back into a briefcase for her to grab, and they approached Chief Luggins, who was with Tiffany Fluffit and the news crew. “Chief Luggins!” Rogue greeted optimistically, but Chief Luggins didn’t exactly seem pleased with the sudden call to meet up. “This better be good.”

“Trust me,” said Diane. “You don’t want to miss this.”

Suddenly, Tiffany let out a stunned gasp and pointed toward the road. “Look!”

That was when they saw the Bad Guys’ car with our heroes and their friends inside, driving toward the station with the meteorite. “Well… butter my crumpets…” Chief Luggins said with wide eyes as Tiffany turned to her viewers. “Can it be?? The Bad Guys and their supposed new allies are returning the meteorite! Perhaps this is the feel-good story we all need!”

“Whoo-hoo! This is gonna feel so good!” Izzy chirped. “We’re gonna get to be in the city’s good side again!”

“You know, I think you might be right, Iz,” Carmine nodded. “Do you guys think they’ll throw us a party?”

“Yeah!” Mr. Piranha nodded. “With fireworks, piñatas and cake!”

However, upon hearing the word 'cake', the Bad Guys and the tiger cubs stopped to notice the empty seat with the birthday hat lying there before they all became a bit sad. The car stopped near the police station, where Mr. Wolf shot Diane a regretful glance before he sighed, eventually making a decision. “We can’t do this without him.”

“You mean… Snake?” Zipp seemed concerned. “Wolf, are you sure? You’re so close to clearing your names.”

“Come on, Zipp-- y’all would do the same thing for each other,” Mr. Shark told her before smiling again. “Besides, he might be a Mr. Grumpy-Pants…”

“But he’s our Mr. Grumpy-Pants,” Ms. Tarantula added. “And… he’s been the second closest thing to a father since the fire,” Gretchen said softly. “...we can’t give up on him.”

“You ponies didn’t give up on me and Twitch,” Allura added, “so we’re not going to give up on Snake either.”

“...you’re right, guys,” Sunny smiled before becoming quite serious again. “We need to find Snake, and fast.”

Zipp pulled out her visor and scanned the skies, eventually settling on Marmalade’s helicopter in the distance. “That’s the professor’s helicopter over there! Step on it, Wolf, before they get too far out!”

And so, Mr. Wolf slammed on the gas and sped off, past the police station, causing Diane and Rogue to sigh just as Chief Luggins growled in anger. “Wolf!!”

XXXXXXXX

Professor Marmalade was still busy reprimanding Mr. Snake on his foolishness, not noticing that the Bad Guys, cubs and Equestrian heroes were in hot pursuit. “I’m starting to see why your friends dumped you!”

“I don’t have any friends!” Mr. Snake shouted, getting in his face before he heard a familiar voice shout. “Snake! Snake!”

Mr. Snake finally looked down to see his friends, old and new, chasing after the helicopter with the meteorite in the trunk, honestly a bit surprised. “Gretchen? Wolf?”

“Snake!” Mr. Wolf shouted. “Come back!”

“We need you, baby!” Mr. Shark shouted. “And you need us!” Zari shouted, just as Professor Marmalade began to fake sympathy once again. “Oh, there you go again, making it personal. I'LL GIVE YOU ONE LAST CHANCE TO GIVE ME THE METEORITE!!!”

“Oh, yeah?” Mr. Piranha challenged. “What’cha gonna do, Whiskers?”

Upon seeing he needed to make one final statement, Professor Marmalade snatched the mind control helmet from Mr. Snake, put it on and smirked. “This.”

“AFTER THEEEEEEEEEEEM!!!!!”

The group gasped and looked around upon hearing the shrill shout. “What in Equestria was that?!” Zipp shouted, glancing around just as Misty yelped and looked back. Chasing them was a giant horde of guinea pigs, with Safira flying overhead, her blue eyes filled with rage. “GET THEEEEEEEEEM!!!!!”

Mr. Shark gasped in horror at this. “We’ve got adorable and angry company!”

“RUUUUUUUUN!!!” Pipp and Izzy shrieked as Mr. Wolf slammed on the gas to get away from the giant guinea pig horde. But the more she thought about it, Allura knew that she needed to give the others some time to rescue Mr. Snake before it was too late…

…and she instantly thought of the perfect plan. “Sunny, you and the ponies help the others get to Snake! Twitch and I will get Safira off of your tails to give you more time!”

“Allura, what?! No!” Reva shouted. “You know what she did to our families! She’s too dangerous!”

“I have to do this,” Allura vowed as Twitch got on her back. “For all of you.”

And with that, she flew up toward Safira and flew in front of her to get her attention. “Safira, stop this! None of this is the right answer to get what you really want!”

“How do you know what I want, furball?!” Safira growled in anger, blasting a few fireballs at her, which Allura dodged. “You hold still! Right now!”

“No! I’m not going to let you hurt them,” Allura vowed. “And if you want me, you’ll have to catch me first!”

“GET BACK HERE!!!” Safira shrieked as she gave chase, abandoning the guinea pig chase to assume her revenge on Twitch and Allura instead of the cubs.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, the Bad Guys’ car zoomed down the highway while the guinea pig swarm tried to slam down on the group, causing them to shriek. “Maybe I shouldn’t have called him Whiskers!” Mr. Piranha shouted. “Gee,” Hitch said sarcastically, “you think?!”

They quickly made it out of the tunnel, but the swarm kept chasing them, causing Pipp to pant in terror. “When I woke up this morning, this is not where I saw the day going!!”

XXXXXXXX

Mr. Snake watched as Mr. Wolf did his best to pilot the car away from the guinea pig swarm, and all of a sudden, a feeling of guilt and regret entering his stomach. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, let’s dial this down a notch, huh?” he suggested. “Besides, you’ll never get him. He’s too good a driver.”

“Hmm… you’re right,” Professor Marmalade said as he slowly began to get an idea. “But now that I think of it, maybe it would be better to exploit his greatest weakness.”

“Exactly!” Mr. Snake agreed, but suddenly began to realize what this meant. “Wait…”

Suddenly, the professor threw Mr. Snake out of the helicopter, causing Mr. Snake to scream while hanging onto the landing gear with his teeth.

The others gasped in terror as they saw Mr. Snake hanging from the helicopter for dear life, and they immediately panicked as they saw Professor Marmalade preparing to stomp Mr. Snake’s face and kick him off. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Hold it, hold it, hold it!” Mr. Wolf tried to stop the professor before finally relenting. “Okay, okay. You win. You can have the space rock.”

Professor Marmalade smirked at this. “Good boy, Wolf.”

With the helmet, the professor made the guinea pig swarm back off, just as Cuddles lowered a hook down to snag the meteorite. Misty looked over at Mr. Wolf in worry. “Wolf, what are we gonna do? We can’t give him the meteorite, but Snake’s life is literally hanging in the balance!”

“...I got an idea for that,” Reva said before whispering a plan into Mr. Wolf’s ear, causing him to nod and climb over the others to the back of the car. “Take the wheel, Zipp.”

“Uh, okay,” Zipp nodded and did as told as Mr. Wolf, Reva and Gretchen reached the back of the car, just as the hook grabbed onto the giant space rock. “Not so fast! Pull him up first!” Mr. Wolf shouted before pulling out the lipstick/blow torch he got from Diane’s secret room. “Or I'll use this!”

“Lipstick?” Gretchen looked confused. “Seriously, Wolf?”

“You’ll see,” Reva told her cousin. “Things aren’t always as they appear to be, remember?”

Mr. Wolf then ignited the blowtorch and used it to begin to cut off the chain holding the hook. Mr. Snake saw this and chuckled while Professor Marmalade glared down at Mr. Wolf and the two cubs. “Do it!” Reva shouted. “Or you’ll lose the rock!”

“...if you insist,” the professor relented with a glare. “Cuddles!”

Cuddles quickly piloted the chopper to the edge of the bridge, where a giant crater sat from the impact of the meteorite crash a year prior. The perfect place for the professor to do the unthinkable. “You want him? He's yours.”

And with that, he stomped on Mr. Snake’s head, causing him to scream and suddenly begin to fall out of the sky. “AAAAAAAAAAGH!!!”

“SNAKE!!!” Mr. Wolf, the cubs and the Mane 6 shouted at once, their eyes wide in terror. And as soon as Mr. Wolf got off the meteorite, the chopper hoisted it into the air before making off with it. “Hurry, Wolf!” Gretchen pleaded. “We have to save him!”

Mr. Wolf pulled back the lever and slammed on the gas, driving through the guinea pigs to try and get to Snake before he fell too far. “What are we gonna do?!” Sunny asked. “I can turn into an alicorn and fly fast, but he’ll already be too far into the crater before I can get to him!”

Hitch then spotted Mr. Snake screaming and falling down into the crater before seeing the other side of the bridge, suddenly getting the riskiest idea he had ever thought of, “Guys, I know it’s crazy,” he said, “but we’ve gotta jump it!”

“Crazy?!” Mr. Piranha scoffed. “You’re finally speaking my language, chico!”

Mr. Wolf brought the car to accelerate even further, flying through the air off a ramp of guinea pigs, right in Mr. Snake’s direction. “WE’RE GONNA MAKE IT!!!!” Mr. Piranha cheered, but the second he said that…

…the car began to fall.

The group screamed as they flew out of the car, with Mr. Wolf watching his car fall into the crater before he noticed Mr. Snake falling nearby… and Mr. Snake himself looked surprised. “You came back!”

Mr. Wolf then paddled as best he could toward Snake, a regretful look on his face. “Snake… I should’ve been honest with you,” he admitted. “ I was afraid that if you knew Reva and I wanted to be good that you’d…”

“Act like a jerk,” Mr. Snake asked, “and never talk to you again?”

“Yeah,” Mr. Wolf chuckled nervously. “Point is I… I-I-I, you know…”

“Yeah,” Mr. Snake nodded, knowing what he was going to say. “I love you too, buddy.”

Mr. Wolf smiled at this before he and Mr. Snake pulled each other in for the biggest, warmest hug they ever shared with each other.

Even the Mane 6 could feel the friendship radiating between them.

The other Bad Guys and their apprentices, along with the Mane 6, quickly paddled over with Mr. Shark sniffling, tears in his own eyes. “This-- this is so beautiful. Do you know how beautiful this is, you guys?”

Pipp sniffled back her own tears at this, trying to be strong and supportive. “Now… now you’re gonna make me cry!”

“I know!” Ms. Tarantula sobbed. “So pathetic, right?”

“Come on, guys,” Mr. Wolf smiled at his friends and pulled out the grappling hook he got from Diane’s secret room. “Who said it was the end?”

The others gasped in delight as Mr. Wolf fired the grappling hook, letting the non-flyers escape with Sunny, Pipp and Zipp flying beside them as the car exploded at the bottom of the crater.

The explosion shockwave flicked the helmet off Professor Marmalade's head and into the propellers of the chopper, destroying the helmet. This snaps the guinea pigs back to normal and causing them to scurry away as the helicopter began to descend, which caused Professor Marmalade to panic. “No, no, no, don’t… no, no. Cuddles! We’re losing altitude! We’re losing altitude! We’re going down!”

The Bad Guys, the cubs and the flightless ponies hung onto the grappling hook as they dangled with Sunny and the pegasus sisters hovering beside them. “What happened? Did we blow up?” Mr. Piranha asked, opening his eyes slowly. “Is this heaven?”

“No, not quite, Piranha,” Sunny chuckled. “Come on, let's get you all out of here before that grappling hook lines snaps off.”

The flyers helped lift their friends up onto solid ground, and once they had, Mr. Snake kissed the pavement underneath his scales. “Oh, pavement... safe, safe, solid pavement. I missed you so much!”

“Now you know how I felt when I flew for the first time,” Hitch chuckled. “But what matters is... we're safe and sound.”

“...not all of us,” Reva looked to the distance with wide eyes. “Everyone, look over there!”

Flying toward them was a tired and weary Allura with a terrified Twitch on her back, and the two collapsed onto the ground, causing Reva and her cousins to gasp and run toward them. “Allura! Twitch!”

“Oh, thank... thank goodness you're all okay,” Allura panted as the cubs purred up against her. “But she's coming... she's coming and she's looking to kill!”

Safira slammed down into the pavement behind Allura and Twitch, her eyes blazing with fury. “Did you really think you could escape me so easily, snow leopard? Wrong... I always win. And I will finally take what is rightfully mine.”

Naturally, the cubs' first instinct was to run away in fear, but then again... they couldn’t be cowards and run away again.

Not after knowing that Safira was the one who killed their families all that time ago.

There had to be something that could stop her from hurting their friends... but what could it be?

Suddenly, Reva’s eyes lit up with an idea, turning to her cousins with a strong smile. “Guys... remember when we each tried to do the Mythix Roar on our own but it never seemed to work?”

“Yeah, and keyword-- it didn’t work,” Oran deadpanned. “What are you trying to say?”

“What if it never worked because we tried to do it on our own?” Reva asked her cousins with a cheerful smile. “Maybe if we try it together, we might generate enough of a wind blast to...”

Suddenly, she whispered her plan into her cousins' ears, and once they heard this plan, their eyes widened as they smiled and nodded, ready to give this a try.

But before they could, Gretchen turned her head back to give the others some last-minute instructions. “Allura, Twitch? Keep everyone a good distance behind us,” she said quietly enough so Safira wouldn’t hear. “Sunny, ponies? When we start doing the roar, use your unity magic to make a portal behind us. We only have one shot at this, so we have to make this count.”

The Mane 6 nodded as Allura and Twitch kept the Bad Guys a safe distance away while the cubs stepped forward. And seeing this, Safira slightly let down her guard and chuckled. “What? You cubs think you can stop me by yourselves? Look at me… I should be considered your mother.”

“You will NEVER be considered our mother,” Carmine hissed. “Allura’s been more of a mother to us in the past few days than you have the whole time you’ve known us?”

“And to think you can just get off easy after killing our parents?” Zari scoffed. “You’ve got another thing coming.”

The cubs’ cutie marks began to glow with a bright white light, and it seemed to be sucking in whatever energy that Safira had taken in, making her weaker and more vulnerable. “W-What?!” she screeched. “How are you…?”

“One thing you taught us, Safira?” Reva said as the wind began to blow rather harshly. “Someone always gets hurt. And it’s time for you to leave Los Angeles and never… come… back!”

Then, as the wind reached its harshest, all five cubs let out a unified roar… louder than any ordinary tiger could perform. And as they roared, ten tigers made from clouds roared alongside them.

Their parents.

Safira’s eyes went as wide as saucers as she saw this. “W-What?!” she stammered as she stumbled backward, trying to keep her footing. “T-T-This is impossible!”

“Quick, ponies, get ready!” Sunny shouted to her friends, waiting for the right moment to create the portal. “And… now!”

Then, as their magic began to activate, they each shouted their cutie mark mantra.

“I sparkle like the stars, cause I'm always super glittery. My cutie mark comes to life, watch this brilliant creativity!”

“I'm a stylish pop star princess. My voice makes me strong. When my cutie mark comes to life, confidence is my song!”

“I'm a princess of a different kind. Always trying to figure out why. When my cutie mark comes to life, I blast bravely across the sky!”

“I might seem a little quiet, but my strength is very real. When my cutie mark comes to life, my heart helps me feel!”

“I'm the pony of the law. Coolest dragon dad you know. My cutie mark comes to life, and my kindness overflows!”

“I am all three pony kinds wrapped up into one. My cutie mark comes to life with hope bright as the sun!”

And the magic of the ponies’ cutie marks was so strong, it created a portal behind Safira just as her grip against the ground began to loosen, which caused her to fly right into it. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

And within just a few seconds, the dreaded dragon was gone and the portal was closed, leaving Los Angeles, the Bad Guys and their cubs free from her at long last.

All Is Well That Ends Well/An Emotional Farewell

It didn’t seem like it was over, but… it finally was.

Professor Marmalade’s plan had failed, and thanks to the cubs’ Mythix Roar, along with the Mane 6 opening a portal behind Safira, she was now gone from Los Angeles forever.

The city was safe, but… is this really the end of our story?

Well… that’s exactly what we’re about to find out.

XXXXXXXX

Reva and her cousins stood panting for a few moments, trying to comprehend what they had done before Gretchen finally spoke, a smile coming onto her face. “We… we did it… we did it!!”

Oran laughed in delight, nearly jumping a foot in the air. “I can’t believe that it finally worked!”

Mr. Wolf and the rest of the Bad Guys rushed forward to greet the cubs, and the cubs happy ran over to meet them, loving the embraces and praise they were getting from their mentors.

Allura internally sighed in relief at this. The cubs were finally free of that evil dragon and were finally able to be themselves... something she wished that her father allowed her and Alterro to do when they were young, but... it didn’t exactly turn out that way, did it?

Mr. Wolf sighed and rubbed up against Reva, who was happily purring in his arms. “I'm proud of you and your cousins, kiddo. You may have just showed me up as a leader, you know that?”

Reva blushed slightly. “Thanks, Wolfie... that really means a lot coming from you. Hey... what do you say we get out of here and go celebrate?”

However, within seconds, the entire police force came and surrounded the group against the end of the bridge, causing Misty to gulp rather nervously. “Maybe it's a little early for a celebration meal...”

“This is it...” Chief Luggins said as she grabbed Mr. Wolf by the collar of his shirt. “There is absolutely no way you’re getting away this time.”

“Wait, chief!” Rogue called out as he and Diane rushed forward, with the kitten Mr. Wolf saved on Rogue's back, causing Chief Luggins to become confused. “Governor? Rogue?”

“Don’t do it,” Diane pleaded as the chief dropped Mr. Wolf and Reva. “They didn’t steal the meteorite. They were bringing it back, in order to help clear the Equestrians' names, not just their own.”

“Ha!” Chief Luggins scoffed at the mere thought. “How could you know that? Unless… unless you were conspiring with a bunch of known criminals.”

Diane slowly removed her glasses and cleared her throat a bit. “Well... ahem... as a matter of fact, it’s time I came clean about something.”

The Mane 6 gasped and looked at Allura and Twitch with wide eyes-- Diane was willing to give up her secret identity and the Crimson Paw in order to prove the Bad Guys' innocence?

She was brave... a lot braver than Zipp could ever be in this circumstance.

Diane continued to speak, a bit nervous about telling the chief the truth. “The truth is I’m really… ahem... really...”

“Really a big fan of redemption arcs. Yeah, we know,” Mr. Wolf said before looking at his friends and the cubs, who nodded before moving forward, just as Mr. Wolf faced the chief, holding his arms up while his friends did the same. “The Equestrians are innocent, but... we're done running away.”

“Sure are.”

“Done and done.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Yeah.”

“Yep.”

Mr. Wolf turned to the baffled chief with a gentle smile. “Chief, do what you need to do.”

“What?” Izzy spoke up in shock. “You guys are turning yourselves in?”

“Wolf... are you guys sure you wanna do this?” Allura asked unsurely. “You probably won't get out for a really long time.”

“We might not have stolen the meteorite,” Mr. Wolf told her, “but we did steal a lot of other things.”

Reva nodded to this, flashing a smile at Diane and Rogue. “It’s time we took some responsibility. Start a clean state,” she said before holding up her front paws. “Take us in, chief.”

The chief still seemed completely stunned by the selfless act the Bad Guys and the cubs were doing to protect their Equestrian friends. “Wow, really?”

Mr. Wolf nodded and proceeded to put the handcuffs on himself. “You finally did it. This is your moment, chief. Drink it in.”

The chief gasped seemed to finally snap out of her shock with a gentle gasp. “Wow. You know, I should… I should give a speech. I… Well, I-I should, shouldn’t I?”

Zipp winced at this. “Uh, well...”

“When I was six years old,” the chief proceeded to tell her fellow officers, “I decided that I wanted to play the piccolo, only to find that my fingers were just too powerful for that fragile little instrument. And that’s when I discovered law enforcement.”

As the chief continued her speech, Diane and Rogue smiled at Mr. Wolf and Reva. “We’re proud of you, Wolf,” Diane said with a gentle smile. “We all are,” Sunny added as her group came forward. “This is just the first step to a better life for yourself.”

Mr. Wolf smiled and merely shrugged as the cubs purred against Allura one final time. “You know, a fox and a wolf are not that different. You got a good thing going here, governor.”

“U-Uh, Reva? Before you go, I-I wanted to tell you something before you left,” Rogue began to tell the blue tiger cub as she and her friends and family began to walk off. “I-I mean... I... I lo... oh, what am I trying to say...?”

Reva instead licked the side of his face, cutting Rogue off with wide eyes. “Yeah... I get what you're saying, Casanova. Come and sew us in the big house, okay?”

And so, as the Bad Guys and their cubs were led away by the police, Tiffany Fluffit turned back to her viewers. “So, it turns out the saga of the Bad Guys has come to a simple and totally satisfying conclusion. Though I wonder, what happened to the meteorite?”

The Equestrian heroes felt like they could slap their fafes at this-- how were they gonna admit they lost the meteorite during the race to rescue Mr. Snake from his fall?

That’s when everyone saw Professor Marmalade trying to get Cuddles to control the helicopter, and Tiffany Fluffit immediately saw the meteorite and assumed what the professor was doing. “It’s Professor Marmalade! He’s bringing the meteorite back.”

“Huh? Uh, yes, yes. Bringing… bringing it back. That’s precisely what I am doing,” Professor Marmalade said as the helicopter touched down, allowing him to get off. “Look no further. Your hero has arrived.”

“Professor, care to comment?” Tiffany asked, and the professor continued to play innocent in his comments. “I tried to help them, Tiffany, but in the end, it’s the same old story. Bad guys bad, good guys good.”

“So true,” Tiffany nodded. “So wise.”

“Furthermore,” Professor Marmalade continued, “for the good of the city, I have generously decided to take the meteorite back to my compound for safekeeping.”

The crowd of police officers cheered at this, while the Bad Guys, the cubs and the Equestrians looked at the sight in anger. “Is he seriously gonna get away with this?!” Pipp looked enraged. “Oh, if I had been streaming that car chase, I would have…”

“No need, princess,” Mr. Snake calmly told her. “The rodent’ll get what he deserves.”

“Thank you. Gosh, you’re kind. Give it up for me!” Professor Marmalade clapped for himself, just as the chief noticed the meteorite flipping on and off with every clap. “Wait a second… this isn’t the meteorite!” she said, showing them. “It’s a lamp!”

“Huh?!” the others chorused, just as Mr. Snake wickedly chuckled, causing them all to turn to him. “WHAT?!”

“Listen… I figured Marmalade might try and double cross me, so I decided to play through with the plan to get his trust,” Mr. Snake explained. “So, when I had the helmet, I used it to get those guinea pigs to paint over the lamp to look like the real thing, setting it to the highest power it could go. But it was you guys who took the lamp instead of the hunk of rock.”

“Wow… even I couldn’t come up with a plan that good,” Hitch whispered to Misty, who nodded, a bit impressed. “But,” Professor Marmalade stammered, “if that’s a lamp, where is the…”

Mr. Snake merely chuckled to this. “The old switcheroo.”

The fake meteorite was about to overload back in the lab, and when Mr. Snake snapped his tail, an explosion occurred in the distance, destroying Marmalade's place and unleashing a glowing beam into the sky. It fizzes out, blowing the hats off the cops.

Professor Marmalade looked shocked at this, but Twitch merely patted his head with his paw as the Bad Guys got into the car while the Equestrians went over to the window to say goodbye. “You know, we’re really gonna miss you,” Misty said to the group. “Despite being the Bad Guys… you’ll always be good guys to us.”

“Aw, thanks, Misty,” Ms. Tarantula smiled. “Thanks for helping us through all this… even during the parts that weren’t so great.”

“So… what’s gonna happen to you guys now?” Mr. Piranha asked, but before anyone could respond, a shimmering portal opened up nearby. “Well, I may be new to this,” Allura said, “but that looks like our portal back home.”

“You catch on pretty fast for a newbie,” Pipp said, nudging her slightly. “Oh, but before we go, I made you all something!” Izzy said, getting several brightly colored friendship bracelets out of her mane and putting them on their new friends. “So you’ll have something to remember us by.”

“And they have your names on them!” Zari said with a smile as she looked at her bracelet. “Do you think, if we ever see you guys again after we get out of prison… you can teach me how to make some?”

“It’s a date, Zari-Bari,” Izzy said, and with that, the car began to drive off, with Mr. Wolf pretending to tip his hat to Diane and Rogue while Mr. Piranha whispered to Professor Marmalade. “It’s a butt!”

Suddenly, as the Mane 6 were about to leave through the portal with Allura and Twitch, the Golden Dolphin fell down and dropped on the meteorite, which landed on Marmalade. Out dropped the Zumpango Diamond from the villain’s pocket, to which Chief Luggins picked up to inspect. “Hold on. This is the Zumpango diamond. But this was stolen by the…”

Suddenly, the chief gasped and pointed at Professor Marmalade. “...by the Crimson Paw!”

“Me?” the professor tried to clear things up. “Oh, oh, no, no, no.”

“OMG,” Tiffany told her viewers as Professor Marmalade was picked up and thrown into a SUCM truck. “In a shocking twist, the notorious bandit known as the Crimson Paw has been revealed to be none other than… Professor Marmalade!”

“No, no!! I'm not the Crimson Paw!” Professor Marmalade tried to plead as the truck drove away. “S-She's the Crimson Paw! She's the Paw! I'M THE FLOWER OF GOODNESS!!! NOOOO!!!!”

“And bye-bye, rodent,” Zipp saluted off to Professor Marmalade before turning toward Diane and Rogue. “Keep an eye on those Good Guys and their cubs, would you? We’ll be back sometime soon.”

“You can count on us,” Diane said sincerely. “Thank you for everything.”

“Till we meet again!” Izzy chirped before the Mane 6, Allura and Twitch set forth into the portal before it closed.

XXXXXXXX

Back in the police car where the Bad Guys were sitting with their cubs, Mr. Shark noogied Mr. Snake on the head for the amazing switch he had pulled. “Ooh, that’s my reptile right there!”

“That’s what I’m talking about! All right!” Mr. Piranha cheered as Gretchen purred against her mentor. “Come on, somebody had to destroy that meteorite,” Mr. Snake said. “That thing was dangerous.”

“That was pretty good there, Snakey,” Reva said with a smile. “Good? It was genius. Not only did I foil the pig,” Mr. Snake turned to Wolf, “I got you to admit how much you care about me.”

“Sure, yeah,” Mr. Wolf nodded before smirking to himself. “I just wonder about one little thing.”

“Oh, yeah?” Gretchen tilted her head in confusion. “What’s that, Wolf?”

Mr. Wolf put on his pair of sunglasses on his face as he asked one final question. “...who do you think put that one push-pop in the fridge?”