//------------------------------//
// 3 The Stowaway 
// Story: HorkosWorks 
// by Brass Polish 
//------------------------------//

“Man, you could build an entire new fleet of engines with all these spare parts,” said Rainbow Dash, observing at all the crates of coupling rods, brake pipes, fire bars, brake cylinders, brick arches, shock absorbers, and injector taps in the shed. “And you couldn’t get a replacement when that train to Appaloosa broke down?”
“Ya can’t build a whole steam engine in one hour, Dash,” Applejack sighed.
Rarity’s horn started glowing. “Are there gemstones buried in this shed?”
“I think it’s some of our crisis funds you’re detecting,” said Brass Polish.
He walked to a row of coal bunkers covered in tarpaulins, in front of which no 2003 was idling. He uncovered one of the bunkers.
“Wowee!” exclaimed Rarity, gaping at all the jewels and bits in the bunker. “What’s all that for?”
“Damages and vandalism and stuff,” said Brass. “One in case of smashed property, one in case of train wreck, one in case of erosion wrecking permanent way, one in case someone sends a fake order to a pizza joint and some hapless delivery colt shows up with a stack of medium black olives…”
“You are one paranoid dude,” said Rainbow Dash.
“They’ve all happened several times,” insisted Brass Polish. “You can’t let up for one second. That’s the big problem me and all my employees are having. The stress of working on the railway really comes across, and so it doesn’t appeal to anyone anymore. It’s been so long since we hired somepony new.”
“What about Trailblazer?” asked Applejack. “He’s only a stationmaster voluntarily, right?”
“He’s pretty much the only real volunteer we’ve got right now. We need more hooves. But no one who sees us working wants to join us,” Brass explained. “And we haven’t time to spare to make appealing posters or brochures or anything advertising our railway and calling for help. The best we can do these days is catch out vandals and strike deals with them. That’s what we did with Strongheart. She works for us for free for about a week per month now.”
Applejack nodded stiffly.
“But we don’t always catch the vandals and protesters. It’s gone from a hobby to a chore for us. We’re all constantly working. This is no way to run a railway,” sighed Brass. “Having to practically dominate my workers’ lives to ensure the survival and well-being of my property. If we had more hooves, we’d all be able to take a lot more time off to be with our friends and family.”

2003 hissed a little.
“Uh, hold on a minute,” said Brass, stepping towards his main goods engine. “I gotta wind the grate down.”
He caught the perplexed look on Rainbow’s face.
“It means drop the fire,” he explained. “She’s pretty much still in steam.”
He jumped up onto the hoofplate and disappeared into the cab. Applejack beckoned Rainbow Dash and Rarity over to her.
“I guess this is it, gals,” she said quietly. “We should volunteer some of our time on the railway so the workers can take time off and nopony feels the need to sabotage it in protest.”
“And we should encourage others to do the same,” added Rarity.
“Then ponies will be able to enjoy working on the railway again,” agreed Rainbow Dash. “I mean, as much as someone can enjoy working on a railway. I still don’t get the appeal. But if it means fixing the problem the Map called us to tackle, I could deal with it.”
Brass Polish stepped down from the cab.
“Hey Brass, we’ll get the ball rolling to get you the volunteers you need,” said Applejack. “We’ll take some of the grunt work off your hooves.”
“And lend a hoof with repairs wherever we can,” put in Rarity.
“And catch as many vandals as we can get a hold of,” added Rainbow Dash.
“Oh, and we’ll be discrete about it all, of course,” Rarity smiled.
Brass Polish looked very pleased. “Huh. Can we consider this a verbal contract?”
“Y--”

CRASH!

The door to 2003’s road in the shed burst open, and in came a pump trolley driven by the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Don’t agree to anything he tells you!” cried Apple Bloom.
“What in tarnation are y’all doin?!” demanded Applejack.
“We know why everyone who works on the railway’s so stressed. Brass Polish makes everyone swear to work for him in front of that emblem.” Sweetie Belle pointed to the wall at the back of the shed.
Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash saw that amongst the splasher nameplates and express headboards decorating the back wall was a shiny emblem that looked somewhat like a pig’s head.
“It punishes anyone who makes a promise they don’t keep in front of it,” warned Scootaloo.
Rarity was the first to notice that Brass Polish had disappeared from view. “Where’s Brass?”
2003’s wheels spun furiously for a second, and then the engine jerked forward and bumped the pump trolley. From the cab, Brass threw the tarpaulin that he’d taken off the bunker over the trolley, trapping the fillies underneath it.
“Hey!” barked Rainbow Dash. “He was feeding the fire!”
She propelled herself up towards the cab.
“Yeah!” said Brass, pulling his shovel out of the firebox. “Have some!”
He flung the shovel’s contents of burning hot coal at Rainbow Dash, who dodged in time to avoid facial burns, but took a lot of damage to her right wing. Applejack and Rarity gasped as Rainbow Dash fell into an inspection pit and 2003 left the shed pushing the covered pump trolley with her.
"He's takin off with our sisters!” shouted Applejack. “Get im!”
Rainbow climbed out of the pit, but couldn’t beat her wings effectively. So she, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash ran out of the shed after the locomotive, shouting loudly “Stop that engine!” But their shouts were barely audible over 2003’s barking exhaust.
“Line should be clear for the next ten minutes,” Brass said calmly to himself. “So, get through Steeds Central and over the bridge to the blockpost, keep the foals in there, strike a deal with their sisters, bish-bash-bosh, railway’s safe. Just like all those other times some poor shmucks threatened my life.”

There were no trains in the station. Some porters were carrying mail bags for the TPO due at Platform 1 in ten minutes. And only three foals stood on Platform 2.
“What are you here for?” groaned Diamond Tiara. “If you couldn’t stand our guide’s ghost stories, what makes you think you’d want to hear their guide’s ghost stories?”
“I didn’t want to leave because I was scared of the stories,” objected Nyx. “Didn’t you see? Everypony was looking at me funny. They thought I was part of the tour or something. I should have brought my jinxed glasses.”
“Well when Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle’s train comes back from the castle, we’ll get our money’s worth,” said Lazybug.
A roaring noise filled the station as the massive red goods engine rushed into view.
“Yeesh! That thing’s loud!” Diamond Tiara held her ears.
“What’s it pushing?” wondered Lazybug.
None of them could hear the muffled yelling from beneath the tarpaulin, but Apple Bloom had managed to find a tiny hole in the tarp. Diamond Tiara, Nyx, and Lazybug gasped when they saw Apple Bloom’s hoof waving frantically.
“Quick!” Diamond barked to Lazybug. “Tilt your head!”
Lazybug did so. Diamond Tiara yanked Nyx’s tail and swung her towards Lazybug. Her horn jabbed him in the neck, and his eyes glowed all the colours of the rainbow. Diamond Tiara ducked as Nyx shot backwards and sailed screaming after 2003 as she sped out of the station.

Nyx was terrified as she soared over 2003’s tender and hit the back of Brass Polish’s head.
“Ow!” they both yelled as Brass overbalanced and nudged the regulator shut with his neck.
2003 slowed down, and the pump trolley rolled ahead of it. Brass picked the quivering Nyx up off the hoofplate, but before he could express his anger, Diamond Tiara soared into the cab and smacked him in the face with her hoof. Nyx went flying out of his grasp and out of the cab. As she landed on the lineside, a loud bang pierced her ears.
“W-what was that?!” she screamed.
Diamond Tiara had heard it too, but carried on covering Brass’ eyes with her hooves, refusing to let go as he swatted at her. Meanwhile, the trolley was slowing down. The entire time they’d been stuck under the tarp, the CMCs had been trying to bring the trolley to a stop by holding down one end of the lever. No that 2003 wasn’t pushing them, they managed to brake the trolley. 2003 rolled to a stop as well close to Finetooth’s signalbox. Brass stopped trying to pry Diamond Tiara off of his head.
“Hey, miss let’s-squash-my-eyeballs,” he grunted, “I swear I heard a detonator go off. Is there something on the bridge?”
He leaned out of the cab so Diamond Tiara could have a clear view of the bridge.
“Uh… what bridge?” she asked.
Brass swiftly flung Diamond Tiara off of his head and looked towards the gorge beyond the signalbox. Diamond was right. Most of the bridge was gone. And the trolley had stopped on the only part of it left.

Finetooth Comb rushed out onto the signalbox gantry. “What’s going on, Brass?!”
“What happened to the bridge?” Brass asked.
“Melted arctic show turned the river into a torrent, and a tree got washed away and slammed into the bridge. But don’t worry,” said Finetooth, seeing Brass shaking. “All traffic’s halted from both sides and we’ve got a crisis fund for…”
Brass pointed to the edge of the cliff. “Look what I almost just dumped into the ravine.”
Finetooth’s eyes widened when she saw what 2003 had been pushing. At that moment, the Crusaders had managed to crawl out from under the tarpaulin. They all gasped when they realised they were feet from the edge of a broken bridge, and promptly ran away from the ravine.
“There’s the engine! They stopped it!” came Lazybug’s voice.
Brass Polish and Finetooth Comb looked back towards the station, and beyond Diamond Tiara trying to cajole Nyx to stop covering her head with her hooves and open her eyes, they could see Lazybug leading Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity towards 2003.
“Are these ponies saboteurs, Brass?” asked Finetooth. “Do we need to deal with them?”
“That’d be ideal, but…” Brass looked at the pump trolley. “Plainly I can’t avoid disaster no matter what precautions I take. I nearly drove us all over a cliff there!”
Finetooth hadn’t really comprehended what Brass was talking about. “If you need to get those foals to the blockpost, you could carry them over the ravine in the storm sheet. I’ll hold off…”
A rock flew by, missing both Finetooth Comb and her signalbox. She turned to see Sweetie Belle levitating several more rocks.
“If either of you come near us, we’ll smash your signalbox!” she warned.
Finetooth subsided at once.

Lazybug, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash caught up to 2003.
“I swear I didn’t know the bridge was out,” said Brass quickly.
Rarity gasped when they saw where the trolley had stopped.
“I’ve never gone that far to keep ponies from destroying my railway,” insisted Brass.
“So you admit you’ve wrecked ponies’ lives to keep your job secure?” Applejack scowled.
“Of course he has! Look what he did to me!” Rainbow waved her burnt wing.
“Do they know?” Finetooth Comb was talking to Brass Polish, but she didn’t take her eyes off of the CMC and their rocks. “About… the conditions of my contract?”
“Yeah, they know about Horkos’ emblem. We can talk about it,” sighed Brass. “And those fillies burst into the shed and warned these three before I could conscribe them.”
“What emblem is this?” asked Nyx, who’d come around by now.
“It punishes ponies who make promises in front of it and don’t keep them,” explained Scootaloo. “That’s how he gets ponies to work with him non-stop.”
“That’s one in the eye for the Pinkie Promise,” said Diamond Tiara.
“Now that we’re free to talk about it,” said Finetooth, still keeping a fixated stare at the Sweetie Belle’s ammunition, “can any of you find a loophole? I swore on my signalbox that I’d do everything in my power to make sure no trains were endangered and no vandals got off, and I’ve been run ragged ever since.”
“Look, I’m sorry, but I needed an ironclad guarantee,” insisted Brass. “It was the only way I could actually do my job without worry.”
“You couldn’t have just taken my word for it?” groaned Finetooth.
“NO!” Brass bellowed louder than 2003’s bark. “NEVER! Never in all my life!”

The general manager paced furiously. “Everypony I’ve ever known always said they’d do everything they can, or they’d help me at some point. But no one ever stuck to it! They were always no-shows, or sick, or having family emergencies. I couldn’t trust anyone! I couldn’t rely on anyone! I couldn’t enjoy or look forward to anything for fear of someone or something ruining it! Not until I found that emblem in the castle.”
“OK, now I’m getting the picture,” Applejack nodded. “You got scared that ponies wouldn’t come through for you while you ran the railway, so…”
“Oh, this goes back way before I ran the railway,” Brass hissed, the corner of his mouth twitching.
“He was just a cleaner when he started working for the railway,” Finetooth Comb still hadn’t stopped watching Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo.”
“I’ve always had a knack for making things presentable. See my cutie mark?” Brass indicated the token on his flank that shone like gold. “My family told me all the time I had a real gift here. Something so vague that I could apply it to anything in the world.”
Diamond Tiara shuffled her hooves a bit.
“And silly me, I picked railway life. I grew up loving the railway and got into it professionally right after I left school. Then, boom! Hated it,” Brass Polish grumbled. “But I was too afraid ponies would think I couldn’t commit to my lifelong ambition that I stuck with it even though I was living in constant fear. And I had plenty of good friends on the railway who liked having me around.”
“We sure did,” said Finetooth. “That’s why we were so keen to agree to what you asked of us that night. I have to admit…”
She turned to look at Brass.
“We were essentially humouring you.”
Brass sighed. “I knew you were.”

“But it didn’t matter. I had Horkos’ magic to bind you to your promises,” Brass continued as Finetooth returned her attention to the fillies threatening her signalbox. “I could rely on you all at last. I knew no one would ever let me down and I could get on with my job… my hobby. But it wasn’t over there. I still had to deal with vandalism, even before my friends’ families started throwing up about never seeing them. Stupid teenagers spray painting engines and pulling communication cords and dropping stones on trains from bridges… but since I made Finetooth, Beanie, and TB promise to do everything they could to put a stop to sabotage, we started duffing them up. I got a promotion and got into other areas, but then I had another problem. Mechanical failures. So we started robbing ponies who protested and sabotaged our railway as well.”
“You did steal my money!” barked Rainbow Dash to Finetooth Comb.
“No I didn’t. Trailblazer did,” Finetooth groaned.
“Of course!” exclaimed Rarity. “He manages the hotel at night. He took a spare key, snuck into our room, and took your money.”
“So that’s how you afford all those spare parts and build your crisis funds,” frowned Applejack.
“Yeah, you caught me out,” sighed Brass, how hadn’t stopped wandering around while he’d been talking. “But I gotta tell you, I don’t think there’s anything you can do about it. Once you make a vow in front of Horkos’ emblem, you can’t break it. The only way you can get out of a promise Horkos’ emblem was there to witness is letting something you swore on get destroyed. And if you let that happen, Horkos’ spirit will come for you and take you away. It, uh…”

2003 was rolling forward. Finetooth Comb was looking at the Crusaders, and vice versa. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Diamond Tiara, Lazybug, and Nyx were all watching Brass. Brass was the only one who noticed the engine inching away towards the collapsed bridge.
“Uh, it won’t let you come back after it takes you,” Brass went on, stopping where he was and looking straight at the Friendship Council members and their young friends. “You’ll never see your friends or family again if you break a promise Horkos’ spirit…”
“We get it. Everypony who works on the railway is at Horkos’ mercy,” Lazybug waved an impatient hoof.
“That’s right,” said Brass calmly. “Anyway, I never intended to become a dictator. I just couldn’t deal with constantly worrying that something bad will happen. That ponies would let me down over and over again.”
Now it was Apple Bloom who shuffled her hooves a bit. But not for long.
“The engine’s moving!” she exclaimed, pointing to 2003 as she was picking up speed.
Everypony turned to see the large red locomotive crawling away from them.
“You left the brakes off!” shouted Finetooth, jumping down from the gantry towards the engine. “The atomizer’s…!”
Sweetie Belle panicked when she saw Finetooth jumping towards her, and fired the rocks she was levitating hard at the signalbox, smashing windows, scratching the handsome paintwork, and bending gantry balusters.
“Hey!” Finetooth roared as she turned tail and headed back to repair the damage.
“Sorry,” Sweetie Belle blushed. “I thought you were coming for us.”

Brass didn’t move as 2003 reached the edge of the cliff.
“You saw that and you didn’t do anything?!” exclaimed Rarity. “Why on earth would you let…?”
Both Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara gasped.
“He made a vow too!” cried Apple Bloom. “On that engine!”
“He wants to let 2003 get destroyed!” Diamond exclaimed.
“Really, Brass?!” Finetooth Comb cried as she replaced the signalbox windows.
“It’ll cancel out all the contracts I made with my workers,” said Brass, turning to face the station.
“We can’t let it go over!” shouted Applejack as she, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash ran to catch 2003, which was now pushing the pump trolley on the remains of the trestle bridge.
“The brake’s the screw on the right of the red lever!” Finetooth called as she replaced the balusters.
Rainbow Dash’s wing may have been damaged, but she didn’t need it to reach 2003’s cab first. She jumped up onto the hoofplate, quickly located the brake, and screwed it hard on. Just as the pump trolley was pushed off the bridge, 2003 came to a grinding halt.
“Well done, Rainbow!” congratulated Rarity.
“What were you thinking, Brass?!” exclaimed Applejack.
“I thought you lot wanted the friendship problem I caused to be resolved,” shrugged Brass.
“Not like this,” insisted Rarity. “You may have caused the problem, but we know you…”
Something beneath 2003 snapped.
“Uh, oh!” cried Rainbow.
The damaged remains of the bridge were giving way under 2003’s weight. The engine began to lean downwards towards the ravine.
“No!” gasped Rarity, her horn lighting up.
Rarity had repaired small things like tree branches and taxi wheels before, but trying to seal cracks in a collapsing bridge instantly proved a challenge.

“You can’t hold that! It weighs tons!” shouted Lazybug.
Rarity ignored him and kept her spell going as she began to sweat.
“How do I back it up, Comb?!” Rainbow called to the signalmare.
Finetooth Comb glanced at Brass Polish as she was tending to the dents in the outside walls.
“Pull the lever on the bottom right corner towards you!” she replied. “And pull of the big lever in the middle!”
But she didn’t mention that the brakes had to come off first. Rainbow followed her instructions, and when it yielded no results, she and Applejack began to panic. Especially as Rarity was now hunched over panting and moaning as her spell went on preventing the cracks in the bridge from getting bigger.
“They need help, Brass!” called Scootaloo. “You don’t have to let your engine go! There has to be another way!”
“Forget it!” snapped Brass, watching the sky over the station. “If I can’t rely on anyone in the world, if I have to spend every second of my life fretting, then I’m done.”
“Rarity, his mind’s mad up!” shouted Sweetie Belle. “Let go of the bridge before you hurt yourself!”
“I won’t!” wheezed Rarity, her horn sparking. “I won’t… let Horkos… taking anypony!”
Rainbow Dash realised she hadn’t taken the brakes off, but by the time she released them, the rails on the bridge had buckled and the engine’s wheels couldn’t negotiate the bump. Now the force of the pistons pounding back and forth caused the unstable bridge to shudder, intensifying Rarity’s burden. Applejack lassoed the rear coupling and tried in vain to pull the locomotive backwards so she could go over the bump in the rails. Rainbow would have tried to prop up the sleepers, but she knew she couldn’t fly in her state.

Nyx lit her own horn.
“What are you doing?!” exclaimed Diamond Tiara as Nyx strained with her eyes shut. “What can you do?!”
A turquoise beam of light shot up from Nyx’s horn, and a large circle with a shield in the center formed in the sky.
“You did it!” shouted Lazybug with delight.
Brass looked up at Nyx’s pony signal.
“I don’t know who you’re trying to call,” he said, “but whoever it is, they better stay outta the way. If you get in Horkos’ way when he comes for someone, he’ll take you as well.”
“Agh! Rope burn!” cried Applejack, letting go of her rope.
At last, Rarity couldn’t carry on. With a wheeze, her horn light died and she passed out with a thud on the lineside. Rainbow Dash leapt from the cab to the edge of the cliff just in time. The bridge section crumpled and fell into the ravine, taking 2003 with it. They all heard a crash, a bang, and a series of splashes. Right away, the sky above the station seemed to glow white.
“He’s coming,” shuddered Apple Bloom.
Brass eyed the glowing eagerly.
“Come get me, Horkos!” he shouted. “Get me outta here!”

Two figures emerged. The first was a shimmering outline of a stallion, which soared over the roof of Steeds Central, and shot towards Brass Polish, who was standing defiantly still. The second was a cockatrice with purple eyes, brown down, and a cream comb.
“Scavenger made it!” exclaimed Nyx.
Brass Polish looked down in surprise as Lazybug’s pet stared him down. As Horkos sped towards them, Brass was turned to stone. Scavenger ducked. Horkos swooped over him and passed right through Brass’ statue. Now Applejack and Rainbow Dash ducked as Horkos soared in their direction, spun around, and made another attempt to capture Brass. But again, he couldn’t not touch the tall statue. Diamond Tiara, Lazybug, and Nyx were now lying flat on the ground in case they got in Horkos’ way. The guardian of promises tired for a third time to claim his victim, but Brass Polish’s statue would not be moved. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle managed to stay out of Horkos’ way, and the luminous outline hovered threateningly over them as it seemed to consider its next move. No one moved for a few seconds. Then at last, Horkos’ spirit flew away back over the station roof and towards the works shed. Scavenger and the ponies stood up, Rarity helped by Sweetie Belle. Then there was a tinkling. Everypony turned towards the signalbox to see that Finetooth Comb had punched a hole in one of the windows she’s just repaired. They all looked back at the sky over Steeds Central. They waited for several minutes. Nothing happened. Horkos’ glowing white outline did not return.

The rest of the weekend was somewhat uneventful. The staff and volunteers stuck to the schedule, but the atmosphere wasn’t as volatile as it had been on Thursday and Friday. When Sunday evening came around, after two passengers trains had left Steeds Central taking gala guests from out of town with them, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Lazybug, Diamond Tiara, Nyx, and Scavenger were all cleaning up the decorations and snack tables from the station. They were visited by Finetooth Comb, Jumping Bean, and Trailblazer.
“Thanks for giving us a hoof, ladies,” said Jumping Bean. “I thought this gala was gonna be a total drag.”
“Oh my. I remember him being more eloquent than this,” remarked Rarity, her eyes still a little bloodshot from her ordeal by the bridge.
“He’s back on coffee now,” said Finetooth.
“Now that I don’t have to play by Polly’s rules,” grinned Jumping Bean, “I can go back on coffee and get back off it my own way.”
“You can’t beat logic,” grunted Rainbow Dash.
“Show of hooves,” said Jumping Bean. “Who’s quitting the railway tomorrow?”
He, Finetooth Comb, and Trailblazer all raised their hooves.
“Won’t the railway be shorthooved?” asked Applejack.
“Don’t care,” shrugged Jumping Bean and Finetooth.

“I thought perhaps…” said Trailblazer, “we could send out an ad calling for railway workers with a promise of higher wages. For my last act as a railway worker, I’ll be returning money to everypony I can recall we stole some from. Starting with you, Rainbow Dash. Plus a little extra for your wounds.”
He magiced a bag of money towards Rainbow Dash, whose wing was still blackened with burns.
“Thanks, TB,” smiled Rainbow.
“We never kept records of the ponies we took revenge on for obstruction or stole money from,” Trailblazer went on, “so there’s bound to be an awful lot of money left over. So with that, perhaps the railway board can pay new employees. That should attract a number of resumes.”
“You know what? I’ll give you a hoof with your little project,” Finetooth offered.
“Me too,” agreed Jumping Bean. “I haven’t gotten sick of the sight of any of you just yet.”
“That’s good to hear,” chuckled Trailblazer. “Thank you all for coming to our rescue. Brass Polish had turned our hobby into a nightmare. Speaking of which, what have you done with his statue?”
“They chartered a flatbed for their train back to Ponyville,” said Finetooth Comb. “He’ll be riding on that.”
“Our friend Princess Twilight Sparkle will keep him in her castle until we can sort out what to do with him,” smiled Rarity.
“If I were you, I’d cover him up with a sheet,” suggested Jumping Bean. “If one of his enemies sees him from the lineside, they’ll probably try to jump on the train and smash him.”
“Thanks for the tip,” said Applejack. “Oh, and we’ll find a good place to hide Horkos’ emblem so nopony makes a promise in front of it anymore.”
“Looks like that wraps everything up,” said Trailblazer. “So, friends, how about we head to the shed and sort out the crisis fund situation?”
Finetooth Comb and Jumping Bean nodded enthusiastically and joined Trailblazer as he left the station.

Applejack’s, Rainbow Dash’s, and Rarity’s cutie marks glowed.
“Huh, look at that. We’re done,” remarked Applejack.
“Hm,” breathed Rarity. “It feels like we haven’t really done anything.”
“Sure you have,” said Sweetie Belle. “You got here when everypony who works on the railway was on the verge of hating each other. Thanks to you, they can go back to their families and friends, and get jobs that aren’t so demanding. Brass Polish may be a statue, but Starlight Glimmer wasn’t reformed when your first Map mission was done, was she?”
“I wish we had an enchanted map like yours in our clubhouse,” sighed Apple Bloom. “It could show us where there are cutie mark problems anywhere in Equestria.”
There was silence for a moment as the ponies carried on cleaning up the station.
“How do you know that wasn’t a cutie mark problem?” ventured Diamond Tiara.
They all turned to look at her.
“Yeah. Brass Polish had such a non-specific cutie mark, he wasn’t sure what to do with his talents and got stubborn when his first choice wasn’t going well,” said Lazybug.
“And I didn’t see anypony working on this railway with a train cutie mark, or a whistle cutie mark,” added Nyx. “They were all different.”
Rarity nodded. “You three were the ones who found what the friendship problem in this town was.”
“You three were the ones who found out what Brass Polish was up to,” put in Applejack.
“You three were the reason Brass Polish decided he was fed up with dominating everypony’s lives,” grinned Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were lost in thought, but Apple Bloom just grumbled “That Map is a colossal timewaster!”