//------------------------------// // The Ditzy Disillusion // Story: Trickery Through Time // by Silvermyr //------------------------------// Ditzy bit her lip and peeked around a corner when she heard Trixie shout her challenge. She sat hidden a little while more just to be certain her colleagues lured any would-be guardians away from the museum. Once the street was silent save for the occasional carriage, Ditzy went up to the museum entrance. She banged on the door, but the massive oaken door did not open. Ditzy bit her lip again and looked up at the door. She may or may not have forgotten that it could be locked; doors in Ponyville were never locked. Besides, how was she supposed to get the Electro Orb if the door was closed? She was not Trixie; she could not pick locks. This was no fair! ”Dumb door!” Ditzy shouted and hit the door in a fit of righteous anger. Alas, it only made Ditzy’s hoof hurt while the door remained closed. ”Catmare?” a surprised, and somewhat nervous voice came from behind her. Ditzy looked over her shoulder and spotted the small form of Hum-Drum down on the staircase. The color rose in Ditzy’s cheeks. Catmare and Hum-Drum were, according to official PowerPony lore, quite smitten by one another. Ditzy, on the other hoof, had never cared much for that part of the comics, and mostly glanced over them before getting to the interesting scenes. But now what could she do? She was Catmare now, and this was the real Hum-Drum in front of her. Did he expect her to kiss him or something? Interestingly enough, Hum-Drum seemed less than thrilled about that notion too. He scratched his head and looked everywhere but at her. She poked the ground with her hoof. He coughed. ”So… why are you here?” she asked, hopefully in a carefree way. ”Uh… would you believe me if I said Twil- The Masked Matterhorn told me to get the Electro Orb?” Hum-Drum asked. ”Since when do you steal?” Ditzy asked, quite pointedly. She did not like Hum-Drum out of character like this, even if he only was a background character. ”You are supposed to be one of the good guys!” ”Yea,” Spike mumbled awkwardly. ”We really just want the orb to prevent Neighvar and Four-Leaf Clover from getting it. So are you gonna help?” Ditzy thought for a moment. She did not like tricking Hum-Drum, but the fact remained; she had no clue how to get into the museum. She needed help. ”Sure, if you can get the front door open.” Hum-Drum looked at her quizzically. ”Why can’t you just climb up there and enter through the front windows? They are always open.” Hum-Drum pointed at the half a dozen windows just above the museum mane gate. ”Like they were in issue 14687 when Four-Leaf Clover tried to get the Roamanian Laurel Wreath?” Ditzy asked. It was fun to discuss the PowerPonies with somepony who obviously knew everything perfectly well. ”How do you know what issue that was in?” Hum-Drum asked. His eyes narrowed. ”Are you from the outside too?” Ditzy balked. She had said too much. ”Y-yes,” she mumbled. Her eyes darted left and right. Then, fast as possible, she extended the claws from her suit and climbed the facade as quick as a cat climbs a tree. She could get in via the roof, and from there she should be able to get the orb even if she now had Hum-Drum after her. But if she could not get in through the door, the he could not either. ”Hey, get back down here!” Hum-Drum called after her. She ignored him and instead slipped through the open windows. Once inside she tapped down in the vestibule and tried to orient herself. There were four ways to go; two exhibits to her left and right, and the same on top floor. Ditzy, when she made the comic, had placed the orb on the top floor. She ran up the staircase when something caught her eye. The front door swung open before a green tinted flame. The lock melted to a molten pile of metal at the floor. Hum-Drum rushed in as fast as his legs would carry him. Ditzy swallowed and continued into the natural historical exhibition. In the midst of the many preserved animals stood the largest skeleton Ditzy had ever seen. So large in fact, now that she saw it for real, that she stopped to admire it for just a moment. Two legs, a long tail, oversized skull filled with even more oversized, pointy teeth and the tinniest forelegs imaginable, barely more than two appendages on the chest. Her awe was brought to a swift end when Hum-Drum rushed through the doorway behind her, panting. ”Rexy! Stop her!” Memories from issue 9640 sprang to her mind, about the same millisecond as the skeleton leaped from the pedestal and, with what once would have been a mighty roar, charged the petrified pony. Ditzy squeaked, stunned by the attack. Hum-Drum, Ditzy and Rexy were all shocked to see how the skeleton stepped on a dropped muffin, slipped and fell. With a dry smash, bones scattered and slid all over the room. After just a moment, a dark green sheen encased them and the bones began to re-affix themselves. Ditzy, however, did not stay to watch for longer than to grieve the muffin for a moment; she dashed in between the two half-reanimated legs. One of the bones sailed over her head and landed in front of her, evidently sent by Hum-Drum. The shimmer engulfed it and made it slide back to the reassembling dinosaur. Ditzy ran straight into it, tangled up her legs and fell. Hum-Drum ran past her into the Neighyptian exhibition. ”Dragon!” she screamed from the ground and pointed at Hum-Drum. ”A dragon is trying to steal your treasure!” A low, dry moaning sounded from one of the sarcophagi that stood leaned against the wall. A mummified hoof reached out and pushed the lid off. Gold bands and jewels hung from the ancient Pharaoh, and over his head he wore a mask of purest gold and glass. With surprising speed, the mummy lunged at Hum-Drum and wrestled him to the ground. ”Cursed be those who disturb the rest of a Pharaoh,” the mummy mumbled in a cracked, dry voice that seemed to come from the chest rather than behind the elaborate death mask. ”Grave robber, heathen, lost to all redemption!” Ditzy, in the meantime, made a dash for the next room, after which she should find the tantalizing orb, but a nasty heat and nastier smell made her skid to a halt just in front of the mummy. It burnt like a bonfire in a radiant green flame. In a moment the mummy was gone, and only the jewels were left on the floor. Both Hum-Drum and Ditzy caught up to the situation at the same time and continued their race for the orb. ***** Celestia sat on her throne in Canterlot eating another one of the especially ordered cakes. She was almost able to feel bad for the taxpayers whose money had gone into it, but the wonderful taste of chocolate overpowered any such discomfort. A small spark of green magic caught her eye. She reached out her hoof to take the letter. Instead a mummy appeared out of thin air and moaned in her face. While she was still stunned by the fact that she suddenly had a dead pony in her lap, said mummy took the opportunity to snatch her cake and devour it whole. Celestia blinked a few times, lit up her horn and returned the undead to Twilight. With a hollow look she scrutinized the platter where the cake had been, hoping that maybe just a little crumb might be left. She slumped down on the throne and sniffled a little once she was certain that the cake was indeed quite gone. ***** ”Just… stop!” Ditzy called to Hum-Drum. ”They trust me, I can’t fail again!” ”I don’t know who you are, but Twilight told me to get the orb, and I will!” Hum-Drum called back and snatched a spear with a few feathers tied to the handle. He threw it as far as he could, not at Ditzy, but through the door to the other room. With a loud ”BAMF!” Hum-Drum disappeared and reappeared where the spear had landed. He readied another throw. Ditzy stopped and looked around. She could not outrun The Windblown Spear from issue 7,154; she needed something of her own and a quick scan of the room showed her what. She quickly climbed up to the paw of Ramareses III’s guardian sphinx and the gleaming necklace it held in its extended paw. ”A riddle from the sphinx might the mystery thicken. Something that cannot fly even when fear-stricken. Instead but two legs an escape must quicken. That which I look for is clearly a…” ”Scootaloo!” Ditzy screamed to the Sphinx and grabbed the necklace as soon as the sphinx began to loosen its grip. Good thing she knew the riddle from issue 5365. She threw the necklace around her neck and focused on the wall. A fireball later the wall was largely gone. The Necklace of the Pure had evaporated it, and behind it sat the Electro Orb on its podium. Hum-Drum appeared inside the room with The Windblown Spear in his hand. They looked at each other, both of them rather surprised to see the other one there so fast. Ditzy galloped towards the podium and Spike threw his spear. ”No fair!” Ditzy exclaimed lamely. Nopony could match that speed; how was it fair to use the Windblown Spear? The spear landed, and Spike reached for the Elector Orb. Ditzy had lost. Spike suddenly clutched his stomach, as if he had a very bad ache. With a queasy sound and a burp, a long dead Pharaoh flew forward from his jaw, hit the orb and knocked it away. With a few light thuds, it bounced over the floor and stopped just in front of Ditzy. She looked at it, without quite understanding what had happened. Evidently, neither Hum-Drum nor the mummy understood this either. Without a word, Spike threw himself after the orb, and got his claws around it the very same moment Ditzy put her hooves on it. A bright light shone over the two of them. ***** Flim hopped up on his hooves with a start. The comic book began to shine again and slowly rise upwards. Topsy spread his wings and stood at the ready. ”Here it comes…” Flim thought. Flam and Suri both came into the room. ”We have company,” Suri reported. ”The orange country pony, the timid pegasus and… sigh, Rarity is coming back.” Her expression betrayed her worry. ”Now?” Flim moaned. ”Now of all times?” Flam seemed to agree with his brother’s annoyance when he saw the comic. However, when he spoke his voice was calm. ”Then let’s hope they do not come in here. Everypony, stand ready.” With a strong gust of wind that sent every book off the bookshelves and a swooshing sound, six ponies and a dragon fell out from the comic, all in a varying degree of daze. Rarity opened the door to Twilight’s bedroom. Flim and Flam both stared quite surprised at the pile of ponies on the mat. Suri glared directly at her, even if she could see the fuchsia mare’s eyes darting left and right. Topsy seemed unfazed by the confusion around him; he kept his eyes on the pile of ponies. Rarity was not sure what to think. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie both held Filthy Rich, even if they both looked quite surprised with their situation. Twilight and Trixie seemed to have frozen in the middle of a pretty heated moment. Trixie held her hoof gently against Twilight’s belly. Now they both looked pretty disgusted. In the bottom of the pile, Ditzy frantically wrestled Spike for what seemed to be The Electro Orb. … ”DON’T LET THEM GET AWAY!” Twilight screamed as she tried to get on her hooves. Trixie found her composure and pushed her rival before she could find her balance. Rarity leaped at Topsy, who was the first pony she reached, only to have her tail grabbed by Suri. Flam and Applejack both tried to get into the fray at the same time, and had thereby gone in fierce close combat with one another. Applejack’s superior strength gave her a clear advantage and she already had almost caught the perplexed Flam who did his best to back away. ”Topsy!” Ditzy yelled from the bottom of the pile. She held the Electro Orb tight against her chest as Spike tried to take it from her. ”Help!” ”No, you don- ouch!” Rainbow called and leaped into the air, or, she would have leaped into the air if not for the hoofcuffs that suddenly linked her with Twilight. The alicorn had just gotten on her hooves, and was now felled again as her right front leg shoot up in the air together with Rainbow Dash. Topsy, however, did not have any such problems. He kicked Spike away without a moment’s hesitation, reached Ditzy and snatched the orb. With a combined twist and dodge of an errant grope from Rarity, he faced the window again and took off as if launched from a cannon. ”Cloudcover!” Flam shouted after him. He ended his cryptical shout with a whimper as Applejack struck him right over the eye. ”Come on Twi!” Rainbow shouted and took of again, only to be held back by Twilight, who in turn, was held back by her own bed. Another pair of hoofcuffs had appeared between Twilight’s left hind leg and her bed leg. Rainbow fell back on her stomach and saw Topsy disappear into the sky. ”Oopsie, my bad,” Trixie said with a mischievous grin. She conjured up a new set of hoofcuffs from inside her cape. Quick as can be, she somersaulted straight through the pile of still fighting ponies, fastened one of the cuffs around Rainbow’s right front hoof, kicked Twilight on her horn as she spotted the glimmer around it, and leaped away, pulling the pegasus with her. She appeared in a blue and lilac blur in front of Pinkie and locked her left hoof with the other cuff. ”Tangle Trap…” Flim, who had backed out of the brawl, said lightly. He dashed over the floor just beside Applejack and conjured up a rope from inside his jacket. He turned and kicked Applejack in her right back kneel joint, causing her to fall with a surprised grunt. ”…Backwards!” Still turned, he sent his ropes over his back and got them around one of Applejack’s forelegs. He pulled and sent her sprawling on the ground, long enough for his badly beaten brother to get well out of reach. ”Now hold your breath!” Trixie called, reached into her cape and threw a small glass sphere into the ground. It scattered and a thick, billowing cloud filled the room. She used her magic to lightly tug at the tails of her friends and pull them towards where she stood, nearby the exit. ”Bat id dis?” somepony asked with a very thick voice. ”Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!” Whoever it was soon joined by a few other ponies sneezing their lungs out. ”Wad dat thneezin bowder?” Trixie managed to get her friend out of the cloud and together they stumbled out of the room. Filthy quickly pushed a nearby pedestal to the door handle, locking Twilight and her friends in. Ditzy laid in a wheezing, sneezing pile on the floor. ”I told you to hold your breath,” Trixie said with a slightly scolding voice. ”Bud I-achoo -wahs- achoo!- surbrized- achoo,” Ditzy responded through a cascade of sneezes. ”Let’s just get out of here,” Flam mumbled with a groan. He held one of his hooves over the eye where Applejack had hit him. ”But slowly if we can. We don’t want anypony to see us leave here all at the same time. Trixie, how long will that sneezing powder affect them?” ”Ten or so minutes,” Trixie responded. She looked at the sneezing Ditzy with pity in her face. ”And Trixie is pretty confident they won’t be able to do much during that time.” ”Good,” Flam nodded. Flim and Suri, in the meantime, helped Ditzy up and placed her on Filthy’s back. She could hardly even walk for her sneezes and watery eyes. ”What a beauty,” Suri remarked when Flam removed the hoof from his eye to walk. The bruise was well on the way to hold every color of Rainbow Dash’s mane, missing only orange. Flam opened the castle front door and peeked out. He could hardly see the hoof in front of him. The entire world was covered in a thick white mist, almost like snow. They could clearly hear the confused voiced of townsponies around them, but they saw nopony. ”C-cloudcover,” Topsy’s slithering whisper came from their left. ”Follow-w me…” Flam felt Topsy’s tail hit him in the face. Even the glaring red color was hard to make out. Flam closed his eyes and bit the hair in Topsy’s tail. He felt somepony bite lightly in his. The Circus proceeded to make their way back to Filthy’s mansion, guided by Topsy’s impeccable sense of hearing. It took them almost ten minutes of violent sneezes and general nerve wrecking anxiety. The all sighed with relief when they closed Filthy’s massive doors behind them. Without a word, the seven ponies went up to the second floor and out on the balcony overlooking Ponyville. Most of the town was still covered in the thick mist of what once had been a cloud, but it was starting to drift away thanks to the work of the weatherponies. Ponyville would probably be back to normality in about fifteen minutes. ”Masterful cloudcover there, as always, Topsy,” Flim said. Topsy nodded with a jerky motion. ”How are you, Ditzy?” The cloud gray pegasus still sniffled a little but her trademark aura of happiness and joy had returned. ”I’m fine,” she answered. Suddenly, she got a smile as bright as the sun on her face. ”We did it! We got the Electro Orb!” ”You did,” Filthy corrected. ”We just helped a little.” ”Quite a bit, actually,” Trixie mumbled quietly. Ditzy was unfazed by the comment. She blushed deeper than ever before. She even had a clear look of pride on her face, something the clumsy mailmare rarely indulged. ”Topsy, may I have the orb?” Flam asked. ”The Clown and I are going to visit the Mr. Whooves and convince him to build a time machine. Since he has no connection with us, it would be the best if he takes care of the orb until it is needed. We can’t afford to have it here, after all.” ”Trixie agrees,” Trixie said. ”She thinks it will be hard to explain why we have the Electro Orb when Twilight Sparkle brings the guard here. Also, The Confident and Spirited Trixie has something else she want to look into…” Trixie levitated out a thick book from her cape. "Bygone Griffons of Greatness" stood with squiggly letters. ”Trixie thought she needed this more than Twilight, so the Princess of Friendship surely won’t object to her borrowing this.” Flam nodded. ”So you read up on that for a while. Come Ditzy, let’s not waste any time.” Topsy went inside the house and Flam followed, along with Ditzy. ”Topsy, perhaps you should get out of here too, in case Twilight get some bright ideas?” The pegasus nodded, handed Flam the orb, which he had temporarily stored behind a sofa, and went down the staircase and out the back door. ”Stay close,” Ditzy called hastily. ”I will come and get you once we are safe again.” ”I s-shall listen c-closely,” Topsy stammered and departed. Ditzy and Flam went out into the lingering cloud. They could still not see very well, but they were able to make out contours of the houses at the side of the streets. They went towards the doctor’s small, one story house at the outskirts of the town via the less-used paths. They could not afford to run into anypony right now, not when they were carrying the orb. Flam waited in a deserted alleyway as Ditzy went up to the doctor’s door and raised her hoof to knock. The door once again opened before she touched it. The doctor had a serious look in his sapphire eyes. ”I have been expecting you,” he said. Ditzy blinked at the sudden change in character. The doctor usually was not at all like this. The stallion broke out in a smile. ”You fell for it.” Ditzy giggled. ”Well, I really have been expecting you,” The doctor said lightly. ”I have fine tuned my newsflash goggles to see further into the future, so I knew you would come. With company, yes?” ”With company indeed,” Flam said cooly. ”Maybe then you already know why I am here… and who I am?” ”I don’t know why you are here,” Doctor Whooves said, somewhat uncertain by Flam’s chilly greeting, ”but you are Flam, yes? You made cider with that splendid machine?” ”I am Flam,” Flam said with a considerably kinder voice. Most ponies could not keep him and his brother apart, but they were not identical. This doctor, however had really put in an effort to learn their names. A small plus in Flam’s book. ”I have made cider, among many other things. However, I have need of another kind of machine this time around.” ”Ooh?” Doctor Whooves replied curiously. ”Perhaps we could go inside? I will catch a cold if I stay in this fog much longer,” Flam said. ”And the guard will likely catch me,” he added stilly in his thought. ”Ah, yes. Do come in,” Doctor Whooves said and made an inviting gesture. ”Sorry about the mess.” Flam nodded and went in. The room was larger on the inside than it seemed on the outside and filled with so much machinery Flam hardly knew where to look first. It was complex stuff too. He was a pretty decent engineer himself, having built The Super-Speedy-Cider-Squeezy-6000 from scratch, but he could not even begin to guess what most of the things he saw were supposed to be. ”Seems I have come to the right place,” he remarked. ”Doc can build anything,” Ditzy said happily. ”Like this here.” She fluttered up to something that looked like a miniature spaceship, put a colander with some chopsticks through random holes on her head and pretended to fly. ”Aaah-ha,” Flam said, clearly not too impressed with that particular machine. ”Well, Mr. Flam, what do you need,” Doctor Whooves said as he lowered Ditzy’s little spaceship down. ”We need to go back in time,” Ditzy said without hesitating. ”You can do that, yes?” ”Ah, please miss Doo, I have already clarified that such a thing is impossible,” Doctor Whooves said with a snicker. ”Wrong,” Flam said matter-of-factly. ”You said you needed a power source greater than what you had. Well, we just so happen to stumble across something that might serve adequately.” He flung the Electro Orb towards Doctor Whooves, who caught it easily. ”What do you think?” The doctor looked at the crackling orb with an interested look. ”Now, I have never seen anything like this. Hang on, I should have a voltmeter somewhere around here…” He placed the orb on a cluttered desk and then began to sift through a large pile of everything and nothing. Among the things Flam saw two flawless sapphires, a mammoth tusk, and a chunk of gold ore. ”Ah, here it is,” Doctor Whooves said and pulled out a measuring devise and some cables. He connected the cables to the voltmeter, and motioned to Flam. The unicorn took the hint and magicked the other ends of the cables up and put them to the orb’s surface. A thunderclap later, three dazed ponies looked at a smoldering pile of metal and plastic. It had not lasted a millisecond. ”That voltmeter was the strongest one I had” Doctor Whooves said with a shocked voice. He continued to stare at the voltmeter, as if he did not quite believe what had just happened. ”What does that mean?” Ditzy asked. She looked at the fried voltmeter again. ”Is that good?” ”It means that there is a chance to make time come forward to you,” Doctor Whooves said with a voice that gradually became more and more excited. ”Mr. Flam, I beg of you, let me do this for you. I never though I should be able to get enough power to even try something like this. It is like a dream come true. Please, you must let me do this, I have wanted this my whole life, I-” ”I could let you do this…” Flam interrupted smugly as he studied his hoof. ”But then you will work by my rules, understood?” ”Just name them,” Doctor Whooves said with a breathless voice. ”I’d do anything to work with this.” ”Just what I wanted to hear, my good doctor,” Flam said contently. ”Here are the rules: first of all, you will not ask what me and my friends are doing with your time-travel device, nor will you care. Second, If anypony comes asking, you are not going to tell them what you are building. Absolute secrecy.” Flam emphasized the two words. ”Third, I was never here, and neither you or me have ever had, or even heard of that power source. Understood?” ”Done,” Doctor Whooves said without a moment’s hesitation. ”How many ponies do you need time to come forward for?” ”Seven, or eight if you must come as well, and a parrot,” Flam answered. ”This is going to be great!” Ditzy and the doctor said in perfect unison, both with a very giddy voice. ”Then I shall take my leave,” Flam said lightly. ”I will return in a few days to check on you. I will expect a rough draft for how long time you will need.” ”You will have it,” Doctor Whooves said obligingly. Flam trotted up through the door. ”Good luck with your wibbly wobbly timey wimey… stuff,” Ditzy said, slightly confused at her own sentence. She shook her head, smiled, and followed Flam out the door. Doctor Whooves stared after them. Then back to the single most precious item in Equestria. Whatever the orb was, it could be the answer to all his dreams. He had spent longer than he remembered on his time travel theories. Research, experimentation, sleepless night, tears and sweat had all gone down in that project, only for him to have it thrown back in his face. There was a spell for it? With a wave of their horns some ponies could do what he had tried for so long? Some ponies could bypass the extreme energy barrier that kept him from time travel? And he was not one such pony, he would never enjoy the fruits of his lifelong quest? Doctor Whooves had always envied the unicorn race; their magic was such a wondrous thing, so powerful, yet so enigmatic. It was a sweet fruit his scientific mind had always yearned to taste and always been locked out from. When he discovered that they could travel through time too, his envy had morphed into pure jealousy. Not only were they free to study their wonderful magic, but they had stolen this dream as well? It just was not fair. But now in his hooves he held the key to his lifelong dream. In his hooves he held the key to a time machine. Doctor Whooves put his forehead to the orb and let a few tears of joy fall from his eyes. His life’s quest was possible. ”For you Mr. Flam and Ditzy, and for me, I shall build you a time machine,” he mumbled. He sat down by his desk, grabbed a pencil in his mouth and began to sketch his heart out. ”TAR…DIS… or maybe De…Lorean…?” ***** Twilight laid on the cold floor and panted, breathless from her sneezes. Most of her friends did not seem to be in a much better state. While Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy had captured Trixie’s warning and held their breaths, the cloud was so thick it was impossible to see the locked windows or door. In time, they had all succumbed to the reflex of breathing, and since then pretty much been stuck. Only when Applejack accidentally had found a window and broken it did the sneezing powder begin to lighten. Twilight was now trying to unlock the hoofcuffs that bound her together with the bed leg. ”What was that?” Rainbow Dash asked in a tired voice. ”Why where Filthy Rich, Trixie and Ditzy in our comic? Where did the others come from? Suri, Flim and… eh?” Rainbow felt like she had a thousand more questions, but she could not find the words for them. She had hit her quota of random when she first saw Filthy. The other stuff had to be filed away and dealt with later, right now her brains felt like scrambled eggs. ”They were after the Electro Orb,” Twilight answered, resigned. She and Rarity had agreed to keep The Canterlot Caper a secret, as neither of them wanted their friends roped into something so dangerous. But now it seemed like The Circus might actually be serious about coming after Twilight. She had to tell her friends what was going on. They deserved to know. ”Ya don’t say, Sugarcube,” Applejack asked with a relived voice as Pinkie freed her from the constricting ropes. ”Ah knew Flim an’ Flam would be trouble, but why where Ditzy an’ Filthy with them? An’ where did Trixie come from? A’n Suri?” ”And that strange pegasus,” Fluttershy added with a timid voice. ”Look, everypony… Rarity and I have to tell you something,” Twilight began hesitantly. She glanced at her unicorn friend, who nodded. ”About that night some time ago… when Celestia lost her regalia and the airship crashed in Sweet Apple Acres.” The two ponies recounted their story of The Canterlot Caper for their friends, from the day Coco Pommel knocked on Rarity’s door to the catastrophic trial. Their friends sat silent and their jaws fell lower and lower as the story went on. Twilight and Rarity took turns to tell from their different perspectives, and interjected when the other forgot something. When they silenced, Rainbow was the first to speak. ” So… hey, wait a minute, you mean that it was Topsy? Like… Topsy the Skytamer?” Her voice began as confused, but gradually turned more and more excited. ”Why are you so happy about that, darling?” Rarity asked curiously. ”I assure you, he is just as nasty as his reputation suggests.” ”Just as awesome, you mean?” Rainbow corrected. Pinkie Pie, Rarity Applejack and Twilight all stared at her with puzzled looks. ”Ehm, you see,” Fluttershy explained, ”among pegasus ponies Topsy is not really thought of as a criminal…” ”WHAT!?” four ponies yelled. ”Well, he is, but he is more often thought of as the greatest weather master the Wonderbolts have had in generations,” Rainbow Dash clarified. ”Hey, come on, don’t you remember that heartswarming play? Pegasi have always been a very proud pony race,” Rainbow Dash continued as she looked at the shocked eyes of her friends. ”Pegasus mentality has been like that since the days of Commander Hurricane. Topsy was a Wonderbolt, the awesomest of all awesome jobs a pegasus can hope for. A Wonderbolt will pretty much always be a hero to most Pegasi.” ”But… but what…?” Twilight tried to say something. ”But he… ponies could have died, he went berserk with a tornado during a stunt show. How can anypony consider that… good?” Rainbow Dash shrugged. ”Not good, but… well, no pony died, and to actually make a tornado from scratch like that… it was kinda awesome. Many pegasi prefer to remember what he did as a Wonderbolt rather than when he snapped. And he is believed dead anyway, so… yea, doesn’t really matter what one think.” ”An’ what do you think, Rainbow?” Applejack asked bluntly. ”Well…” Rainbow Dash hesitated for a moment. ”I don’t like what he is doing, and no pony can be allowed to hurt ponies like he does… but he is still kinda awesome.” ”Hmm,” Twilight contemplated. ”I know how you feel, Rainbow,” she admitted. ”On a strictly academic standpoint, I can respect Sombra and Tirek too. They were both insane and evil, but their magic was…” ”Just magic,” Rainbow filled in. ”And that is not good or bad.” ”I never knew you was such a philosopher, miss Dash,” Rarity said with a smirk. ”I’m not a philosopher!” Rainbow exclaimed with a horrified expression. ”I’m a Wonderbolt, I’m awesome and cool! Philosophers are as lame and uncool as they come!” ”Well, whatever,” Applejack said. ”Ah’d like ta know what happens now. Ah mean, apparently our neighbors are wanted criminals…” ”We catch them of course,” Rainbow said with certainty. ”After all, they just broke in here. No biggie.” ”And threw sneezing powder at us,” Rarity reminded, dejected. ”Do forgive me, but I hardly think that will be enough to lock them up. I somehow doubt that Maretropolis is within Equestrain jurisdiction, so stealing the Electro Orb is probably not even a crime…” ”Then let’s go visit them with some cake,” Pinkie suggested. ”I’m sure we can find some proof in their house, right?” ”I don’t know,” Twilight said. ”But I have nothing better… Fluttershy?” ”Oh, ehm,” the timid pegasus looked about. ”Well, I guess we should do something. We can't let them get away with hurting anypony more than they already have.” It took only a few minutes for the six friends to run to Filthy’s mansion through the residue cloud. Twilight went up and knocked decisively on the door. ”I’m not home right now,” Filthy’s voice came from inside. ”Come back tomorrow.” ”You are home,” Twilight responded indignantly. She was too frustrated to play along The Circus’s mindgames. She pulled open the door. Filthy stood on in the staircase right in front of them, dressed in a crimson bathrobe with a heavily stylized F and R embodied with gold. Beside him, with a newspaper and a tray with coffee on his back, stood Filthy’s butler Randolph. ”Those must be among the worst manners I have ever seen,” Filthy pointed out coldly. ”Don’t make me come down there and throw you out.” ”Stop it, ’Wizard’,” Twilight said venomously. ”As Princess, I demand to search through your property.” ”On what bases?” A very annoying voice came from the walkway around the second floor of the foyer. Applejack looked up and saw Flim watch them with a superior smile. ”Not even the Princess can just waltz into somepony’s home and demand to search it. Or did you somehow conjure up a search warrant in ten minutes?” ”I demand to search through this property on suspicion that you are hiding the wanted ex-Wonderbolt Topsy Twitchy here!” Twilight growled back. ”And why, pray tell, would you suspect that?” Filthy Rich said from the staircase. ”Don’t even try!” Rainbow Dash said and flew up to Filthy Rich so that her face just was a hooflength from his. ”Twilight told us everything about you, criminal.” ”Did she now?” Flim said with an interested voice. ”Well, then we should get properly acquainted, shouldn’t we?” A silent fluttering sound came from behind the six friends. As they turned to see what it was, a black bird flew over their heads and landed on the wooden railing beside Flim. ”This, for starters, is Prankster.” ”Ohh, a Glossy Black Cockatoo,” Fluttershy said with a dreamy voice. ”How beautiful!” ”Isn’t he?” Flim said with apparent pride. ”Come here little birdie,” Fluttershy said softly and flew up to the parrot. ”Let me look at you.” ”Now, be careful,” Flim said uncertainly. ”Prankster doesn't like ponies he doesn’t knooookay…?” Flim was forced to say when Fluttershy gently extended a hoof and brushed it over Prankster’s wing. The parrot croaked approvingly and then affectionately bit lightly in Fluttershy’s ear. The pegasus giggled softly. ”I say, miss,” Flim said. ”I have never seen anypony but me and my brother get that close to Prankster without being clawed before.” ”Ooh, it’s not hard,” Fluttershy mumbled. ”You just have to know how to treat him, is all.” ”Care to give me some advice?” Flim mumbled. ”He is eating away a lot of our profits… what seeds do you recommend?” Applejack gave an annoyed scoff and went forward. ”This is a clear violation of privacy,” Filthy said coldly. ”Unless you want to spend the night under arrest, back off.” ”Ah Ain’t one ta back down ta the likes of you,” she answered without slowing down. ”Allow me, sir,” Randolph said professionally and descended the staircase. He stopped on the lowest step and blocked Applejack. When she tried to walk around he stepped with her, still balancing the coffee tray on his back. Prankster lifted from the railing, flew in an indolent circle once before he plummeted towards Applejack with talons wide open. Before anypony could react, he had ripped Applejack’s hat off her head and flown out through the door. ”Ooh my,” Fluttershy mumbled uncertainly. ”What got into him?” ”Oh, Prankster has always had a sixth sense about ponies,” Flim shrugged. ”Of course he would pick up on Applejack’s nasty character.” ”Hey, that’s mean!” Pinkie said with a high pitched voice and appeared beside Flim and glared him down. ”Applejack isn’t mean. I mean, she can get a little grumpy sometimes, but she is not mean, you know what I mean?” Pinkie sat down with a thoughtful expression. Randolph looked at her and tried to figure out how she had gotten past him. ”What is the meaning of all this commotion!? Can’t a mare have her beauty sleep around here?” An angry and somewhat drawling voice came from one of the many doors to the foyer. Rarity immediately got a guarded look in her eyes. Suri Polomare opened the door and looked with a surprised and annoyed glare at the guests. ”And what might you want?” she asked, keeping her eyes on Rarity. ”We have come to search this property since you are hiding a dangerous criminal,” Rarity replied coldly. ”Ah,” Suri said with a sarcastic voice. ”So you are hear to steal my work then. Well dream on, little filly.” ”Why, I’d never!” Rarity screamed indigently. ”I would never stoop that low, unlike somepony else I could name!” ”A lady shouldn’t scream like that, m’kay,” Suri said with a forgiving smirk. ”But please share. Who would have such a… let’s say strange, m’kay, taste as to steal your designs?” Rarity took a few sharp breaths and glared at Suri with a gaze that should have killed the fuchsia mare. Rarity’s cheeks were red and her eyes practically screamed bloody murder. ”You did, miss Polomare.” Suri chuckled, earning her an, if possible, even more murderous glare. ”I didn’t, m’kay. I used your fabric, which you so naïve-kindly gave to me, and then improved your designs a little with my own genius.” ”You mean you forced Coco to!” Twilight said sharply. ”She sewed everything for you!” Suri scoffed. ”I was the brains, she was my right… left hoof. All she did was to follow my lead, m’kay, and the only thing she did satisfactory was bringing me coffee.” Rarity was shaking in anger. It took all her willpower not to charge at Suri and slap her with all her might. How could anypony say such things about sweet and innocent Coco Pommel? Was this mare not the least bit ashamed of what she had done to Coco, even after nearly sending her into ruin? ”Filthy,” Flim said without taking notice about Rarity, ”would you go and find Miss Lulamoon?” ”Randolph, and then leave us alone please,” Filthy commanded casually. ”But of course,” Randolph said with a stiff, formal voice. The butler immediately went past Applejack and disappeared through the same door Suri still stood in without taking any notice of the guests. ”Oh, you are mistaken, Equilibrist,” a soft and confident voice came from behind Twilight and her friends as soon as Randolph had left. Twilight started and spun around, coming face to face with Trixie. Twilight and her friend kept looking at the azure mare as she passed them slowly, as if to really soak up the attention she received. ”I know I shouldn’t be surprised,” Flim said with an approving grin. Pinkie’s laudatory clopped her hooves. ”But I am.” ”Again! Again!” Pinkie shouted. ”Now listen well,” Flim said with a somewhat more serious voice. ”We here, along with my brother, Topsy Twitchy, and Ditzy Doo, are indeed the inner circle of what you call The Circus. And everything miss Sparkle told you is probably true.” ”And since we lost our illusionist, we need a new secretkeeper,” Filthy Rich elaborated in a factual voice, as if he was talking about the weather. ”That is, somepony with enough authority to get in everywhere and bribe the right officials, make evidence go away, lose investigations in the bureaucracy, that sort of ting.” ”Being you, Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie said softly. ”And with our most recent success, Trixie and her friends are off to a fine way to get you on our side…” ”I have told you already,” Twilight said harshly. ”You won’t.” ”And we have told you already, you don’t have to believe us,” Flim said with an earnest voice. Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself. She had to be rational and reasonable. This was not the time to be tardy. Time to do what she came for and get out. ”Stand aside Filthy Rich,” Twilight said with emphasis. ”The Princess of Friendship demands to search your property. I issue a search warrant hear and now, as Princess.” ”Seems I have no choice,” Filthy Rich said cooly. ”Go ahead, Sparkle. Turn my mansion upside down if you want to. You will find nothing. And be assured the mayor will hear about this misuse of your title.” ”Celestia will be very proud indeed,” Flim remarked venomously. ”She keeps our land together, and you harass innocent citizens.” ”Come with me, little filly,” Suri said with a foalish voice to Rarity, who’s cheeks became redder again. ”I’ll keep you company, m’kay, so you don’t try anything funny in my room.”