The city of Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. Home to the royal pony sisters, numerous nobles, and even a superhero. However, there are dangerous ponies there as well. Such as a crime lord that was leading a small but dangerous criminal ring within Canterlot. This crime lord went by the name of Scar Flank.
"Hurry up you 3!" Scar Flank ordered as his group was sneaking into a warehouse. "We don't have all night."
"We're coming," a blue stallion that was carrying in equipment who went by Decepticolt said.
"Are you sure about this?" another stallion that went by Goldcap asked. "It's risky enough that we're doing this under the noses of the princesses and the royal guard, but what about Super Stallion? I hear he lives around here."
"I heard he lives in a large isolated fortress far up north," a female pony that went by Zappityhoof said. "He's right, this is risky."
"This job will be worth the risk," Scar Flank answered. " We may be able to retire after this. Now come on all of you, we're burning the night light."
***
Squeaky Clean as usual was hard at work, at least until he fell asleep at work again. Princess Celestia found Squeaky sleeping with his head on the top of the mop and seeing him like this, she approached him and gently pushed him. "Squeaky. Squeaky wake up," she whispered. When that didn't work she shook him by the neck with her hoof. "Come on, wake up!"
"Huh? What's going on?" Squeaky asked as he woke up and quickly realized that the hoof of Princess Celestia was around his neck. Squeaky looked and saw Princess Celestia’s beautiful smile. "Hello."
"Hello," Princess Celestia replied.
Squeaky then put 2 and 2 together. "I fell asleep again!"
"Again?" The princess asked as Squeaky quickly grabbed the mop and cleaned the rest of the floor in a manner of seconds. "I've seen Wonderbolts move slower." She said impressed.
"I'm so sorry that I fell asleep princess," Squeaky said, hoping that the princess wouldn't be mad.
"It's all right," the princess replied as she approached him. "I myself have been known to rest my eyes on the throne once in a blue moon."
"Really?"
"Yes so I understand, but let's not make this too much of a habit shall we."
"Yes your highness, Also I need to finish mopping the floor."
"You haven't finished?" The princess asked. "You moved so fast and moped so much did you miss a spot?"
"Yes, the one you're standing on," Squeaky answered.
"Oh, sorry." Princess Celestia then used her wings to lift herself up allowing Squeaky to mop the spot she was standing on. She then landed on the opposite side of Squeaky.
"It's okay," Squeaky replied. "It must be really nice being an alicorn, being able to fly and use magic."
"You think so?"
"Plus you have earth pony strength, you're a full package, uh so to speak," Squeaky said with a blush.
"Thank you Squeaky. It does have its advantages."
"Such as being able to fight a dragon," Stone Wall said, getting the attention of Squeaky Clean and Princess Celestia who turned to face him.
"What's this about a dragon?" Squeaky asked. "Also how long have you been there?"
"Long enough, and there's a dragon that's causing smoke to spread rapidly."
"Oh yes I'm aware of that. I've already sent word to my student Twilight Sparkle," the princess explained to her captain.
"Wait, you want Twilight to deal with a dragon, isn't that dangerous?" Squeaky asked.
"You don't have to worry Squeaky, I'm sure that Twilight and her friends will be able to solve this problem."
***
Twilight and her friends were preparing for the rather long journey up the mountain to awaken the dragon and persuade him to rest somewhere else. However, before going, they had a slight problem. Fluttershy, the animal expert, had revealed she was afraid of dragons.
"What?" Twilight asked as the others who heard as well gathered around to listen. "I don't get it, you get along with all kinds of animals, why are you afraid of dragons?"
"Because they're huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth smashing, sharp scale having, horn wearing, smoke snoring, could eat a pony in 1 bite monsters."
"HEY! I TAKE OFFENSE TO THAT!"
"Oh, but you're okay Spike," Fluttershy added.
***
"Perhaps," Stone Wall replied. "But perhaps I should get a group of guards together just in case they can't stop the dragon."
"If you feel you should then go ahead, but please wait until Twilight reports back before you do anything," Princess Celestia said, trying to reason with her captain.
"Very well," Stone Wall replied in a stoic yet annoyed tone. "I don't completely agree with what you're doing but I'll put my faith in you."
Hearing that she placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Thank you Stone Wall, that's all I ask." Stone Wall then quickly made his way out of the room.
"You really think Twilight and her friends can handle a dragon?" Squeaky asked with concern for Twilight. "They can be really nasty."
"Yes, yes they can," the princess replied. "But I've known Twilight for many years so I'd like to think I have a pretty good idea of what she's capable of."
"I see, well I have more cleaning to do." Squeaky then left the room to clean a different floor but he continued to worry about Twilight. He hardly knew Twilight but he liked her.
***
"If the princess thinks Twilight should be okay I'm sure she is. I'll just fly by and see if she needs Super Stallion's help,” Super Stallion said as he was flying towards Ponyville after Squeaky got his break.
"HELP! HELP!" A pony known as Moon Dancer called out as if right on cue. Super Stallion quickly flew down to see what was the matter. "Oh, Super Stallion, thanks Celestia. I was going to take some bits out of the bank but a couple ponies are robbing the bank."
"Bank robbery, how clique can you get?" Quick to act, Super Stallion flew in the bank and upon entering, stomped his hooves, getting the attention of the 4 ponies robbing the bank.
"Well, well Super Stallion what an honor," Scar Flank said, dropping the bag of bits he was carrying with his magic. "To think you would take time out of your day to stop humble bank robbers."
"Oh you know, never forget the little thugs. What are you, a crazy fan that just did this to get my attention?"
"No, I'm somepony that's going to finally get his fair dues." Scar Flank then moved his back leg to signal the other 3 ponies to continue the job.
"Fair dues?" Super Stallion asked.
"Yes, my fair dues!" Scar Flank said, almost screaming. "It's about time I got them even if I have to take them."
"If you take it from somepony else, how is it fair dues?"
"Oh really, then explain something to me. I doubt those powers of yours like flying without wings are natural abilities. How did you come across them, because I doubt you just bought them at a store or something?"
"Well I didn't steal them," Super Stallion said.
"Well good for you," Scar Flank retorted. "Why don't you try this on for size!" Scar Flank then charged up his horn and attacked Super Stallion with a series of spells. However, Super Stallion barely had any trouble deflecting the spells one after another. Scar Flank continued to use spell after spell but eventually he tired out his horn by using too many spells at once.
"I'll admit you have skills for a unicorn," Super Stallion added. "It's a good thing I got here before the royal guard did."
"HA! Yeah right," Scar Flank said.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"The royal guard isn't going to show up long after we're gone, Princess Celestial doesn't care about regular ponies. She made the royal guard to protect her and her alone; she'll only send them here to save appearances."
"You don't know what you're talking about.The princess is the most compassionate pony in Equestria, she does everything she can to help her subjects!"
"Then why didn't she defeat Nightmare Moon? You read or heard about it, didn't you? That Twilight Sparkle and her friends did that instead. She just sends other ponies to do her dirty work."
“You're wrong!" Super Stallion jumped at Scar Flank ready to attack. But as he jumped, Scar Flank lit up his horn making a flare spell blinding Super Stallion and forcing him to hit the floor. By the time his eyesight returned, Scar Flank was gone.
***
Super Stallion wasted no time leaving the bank. He still had to check on Twilight. Super Stallion followed the trail of smoke and to his surprise, he found that there were rocks falling where Twilight and her friends were.
"Oh no help!" Twilight said as Applejack pushed her out of the way of a boulder. Quick to act Super Stallion used magic on all the falling rocks stopping them in their place and allowing the mane 6 to get to safety. Without questioning it they ran past the rocks and Super Stallion unfroze them and flew towards them.
"We've got to stop meeting like this," Super Stallion said to Twilight.
"Super Stallion! Thank you so much," Twilight said.
"It's what I do. So what happened to make those rocks fall?"
"Ask her!" Rainbow Dash said, pointing to Fluttershy, clearly mad. "Figures, the 1 time you aren't quiet."
"Rainbow!"
"Don't Rainbow me Applejack, she almost got us killed."
"How many times have ah heard y'all say almost only counts in horseshoes?"
"Oh, so I’m only allowed to get mad at her if one of us does get killed?!"
"Would you like some help?" Super Stallion asked getting the attention of the mane 6 causing Applejack and Rainbow Dash to stop arguing.
"No thank you," Twilight answered right away.
"Twilight, what are you doing? It's Super Stallion," Rarity said, trying to reason with her friend.
"H-He could probably stop the dragon all by himself," Fluttershy added.
"He probably could but the princess asked us to do something about that dragon so it has to be us," Twilight responded to her friends.
"Are you sure? I can help, it's no problem," Super Stallion said almost with a tone saying he insisted on helping Twilight.
"I'm sure, I have faith in the princess that she knows what my friends and I can do."
"Well, all right then." And with that Super Stallion flew off. "I just hope you know what you're doing." Super Stallion quickly made it back to the castle and became Squeaky Clean again. With 1 or 2 minutes of his break left he tried to think where Scar Flank would appear next. However as he was thinking, Stone Wall came into the room and was surprised to see Squeaky Clean was in there.
"Squeaky? What are you doing in here?"
"Nothing, I'm on my break."
"Well it's just about over and I'm taking these supplies somewhere that need cleaning so why don't you come with me?"
"Okay." Squeaky Clean followed his old friend and couldn't help but notice that he was even quieter than usual. "Something on your mind old buddy?"
"Just trying to deal with this new crime wave. There have been numerous robberies in Canterlot lately and now a bank was robbed."
"Yeah I know about the bank already."
"Wait the bank was robbed today, how did you know it was robbed?"
Thinking quickly Squeaky blurted out. "You just told me."
After a brief pause Stone Wall retorted. "I'm not in the mood for your jokes, Squeaky. It's bad enough that Princess Celestia wouldn't let me go and look for them."
"So how many bits were taken from the bank?"
"I don't know the exact number but it was a lot, along with an old drill."
"A drill?"
"Yeah for some reason the owner of the bank was using it as a display but it was still in working order. Strong but easy to carry. When the warehouse was investigated it looked like there was digging recently done there but there were no tunnels to be found."
"Wow weird," Squeaky replied, trying to process all that Stone Wall informed him. Squeaky Clean and Super Stallion quickly made their way to the lower levels of the castle, there Stone Wall dropped the supplies.
"All right, that's probably enough spears for the training exercise tomorrow."
"Uh, Stone Wall, didn't you give the royal guard a rather serious training exercise just yesterday?"
"What's your point?" Before Squeaky Clean could respond he and Stone Wall heard a strange noise coming a floor or 2 below. "What in Equestria is that? It sounds like...A drill?" Squeaky and Stone Wall saying the last part in unison. They followed the sound and saw a hole was being made in the floor by the drill and eventually Scar Flank and his 3 goons crawled out.
"I don't think I've been to this part of the castle before," Squeaky whispered as he and Stone Wall continued to watch.
"It’s where the royal treasury is," Stone Wall answered, also in a whisper. "It's where the tax bits are collected and later used to pay the guards and help rebuild or repair things. They must plan on robbing the treasury and escaping through the tunnel."
"What do we do?"
"The treasury is protected by a powerful spell so It'll take them a while to get through it. I'll stay here and keep an eye on them. You go find the royal guards and bring them here to back me up."
"No problem," Squeaky replied. And I might turn into Super Stallion to back them up. But before he could run off he and Stone Wall were encased by a magical aura and were teleported to the floor that Scar Flank and the others were on.
"Thought I heard whispering," Scar Flank said. "I always did have sharp hearing."
"Wait Scar Flank I know that pony!" Zappityhoof said with fear in her voice. "That's Stone Wall, he's the captain of the royal guard!"
"Captain!" Goldcap said just as scared as Zappityhoof. "You said we might have to take a guard or 2 down but not the captain."
"If he's the captain then I know which one to take down first." Scar Flank then blasted Stone Wall into a box of spears with a magic beam. "1 down, 1 to go." Squeaky suddenly started laughing, confusing Scar Flank. "What's so funny?"
"That you think 1 attack is enough to take down Stone Wall." Suddenly Scar Flank was hit by a powerful spell that knocked him to the ground and made him roll a couple times before he got back up.
"I'm surprised that you can get back up after taking a hit like that," Stone Wall said.
"I could say the same thing for you," Scar Flank replied.
"How could you possibly take a direct hit from the boss and then just get right back up like it was nothing?" Decepticolt asked.
"Now you know why they call me Stone Wall."
"Oh yeah," Decepticolt replied as charged his horn. "I have a spell that'll make sure even you don't get back up." Suddenly Decepticolt found himself surrounded with Stone Wall's magical aura and he was pulled over to Stone Wall who gave him a mean left hook, knocking him out cold.
"If you have a spell you can use, don't blah, blah, blah, just use it."
"Impressive you're strong magically and physically," Scar Flank said. Scar Flank then noticed Zappityhoof got behind Stone Wall and was slowly making her way to the spears on the ground. "Tell you what why don't you join our side?" Asking that nearly made every other pony drop their jaw, Zappityhoof even stopped in her tracks for a minute. "Help us get into that treasury and get a share of the profits."
"Not interested," Stone Wall answered quickly and bluntly as he made a quick glance at Squeaky Clean, both of them seemingly not noticing Zappityhoof was getting closer and closer to the spears.
"Oh come now you could make in a day what you probably make in a year," Scar Flank said, still trying to reason with Stone Wall. "You could help all of us deal a serious blow to that overgrown, do nothing, lazy, blowhard, Celestia."
There was silence for a second before Stone Wall stomped his hoof making Zappityhoof who was just about to grab a spear stop again for a second and gave Scar Flank a look that said he wanted to bite his head off.
Scar Flank even backed up a bit.
"I was holding back on you and your stooges but no pony, NO PONY insults Princess Celestia in front of me and gets away with it!"
"All right then if that's how you feel about," Scar Flank said which was his way of signaling Zappityhoof. She grabbed a spear but right before she could hit Stone Wall he blocked her attack, flipped up, and pinned her to the ground.
"WHAT!" Zappityhoof said, shocked and confused. "When did you- "
"Whole time," Stone Wall answered. "Squeaky now!" Stone Wall then did a sideways flip off Zappityhoof allowing Squeaky to hit her with a paralysis spell that Stone Wall taught him in their younger days to make sure she would stay put. When Stone Wall landed on all 4 feet he hit Decepticolt with the same spell holding them both in place.
"What the? But how?" Scar Flank asked.
"We've been friends for so long sometimes we don't even to speak to one another to know what the other is saying," Squeaky answered.
"Well let's see how your friend handles this!" Scar Flank then fired a spell twice as big as his last one. Stone Wall was hit dead on and blasted into a rather large box. "HA! I dare you to get right back up after- " Scar Flank was cut off when Stone Wall jumped out and landed right on Scar Flank. The second he landed Stone Wall began pummeling him.
"Be careful what you wish for," Stone Wall said after he stopped attacking. "You might get it."
"Duly...Noted," Scar Flank manages to spit out.
"Still conscience huh? You had enough?"
"Yeah I think I'll cut my losses and move on." Scar Flank then used the flash spell from before to blind Stone Wall. Squeaky tried to run over and help but he had trouble seeing as well. When their sight returned there was no sign of Scar Flank or the drill.
"He must have jumped back in the hole he made." Squeaky and Stone Wall were quick to jump in and go after him. However, when they jumped down they were surprised to find a series of tunnels that connected to the one that led to the castle. "He could have taken any one of these," Squeaky said.
"There's no way we'll be able to figure out which one he took," Stone Wall added. "Plus if we follow one of these we might run into a trap."
"So there's nothing we can do?"
"He may be able to run, he may be able to hide, but we will meet again," Stone Wall said with sheer certainty in his voice.
"O-okay," Squeaky said, not sure what else to say. "We should probably tell the princess about all this."
"Yes Squeaky, we should do that," Stone Wall replied, whose serious tone was replaced with a rather sarcastic tone.
***
Squeaky Clean and Stone Wall were quick to get the princess and explain what happened. Having learned what almost happened she brought numerous guards to the hole just outside the treasury to follow Stone Wall and investigate. No sign of Scar Flank, Just several hideouts, the bank, and several other places in Canterlot Scar Flank was most likely going to rob next. Decepticolt, Goldcap, and Zappityhoof were taken into custody to await questioning from Stone Wall. Meanwhile, Princess Celestia was checking the treasury making sure nothing was taken and Squeaky Clean was helping her.
"Well it seems nothing was taken," Princess Celestia said.
"And now the floor of it is spotless," Squeaky added.
"Huh?" Princess Celestia then looked down and saw how clean the floor was. "I didn't even ask you to do that."
"Just doing my job."
"I'm impressed we weren't even in here long but you cleaned the whole floor, you work fast."
"Well, not the entire floor," Squeaky replied as he looked below the princess. Princess Celestia flapped her wings and hovered above the area Squeaky needed to clean. The princess then flew behind Squeaky after seeing that part of the floor was dry.
"Deja vu,” the princess said.
"What?" Squeaky asked.
"It means a feeling of having already experienced the present situation," Stone Wall said, answering Squeaky's question and making him jump a little.
"Seriously, how do you do that? I didn't even hear you."
"Did you just get back from investigating the tunnels?" Princess Celestia asked.
"Yes and we were able to find and collect the stolen bits that will be quickly returned to the bank."
"Wow that was lucky huh Stone Wall?" Squeaky Clean asked.
"Luck had nothing to do with it," Stone Wall replied. "Before we investigated the tunnels I interrogated those 3 stooges we took down."
"We?" The princess asked.
"Squeaky lent a hoof in taking them down," Stone Wall answered.
"Well I really didn't do all that much Stone Wall did most of the work," Squeaky replied in a modest tone.
"Is that true?" Princess Celestia asked as she approached her captain of the royal guard. Stone Wall who was quick to put 2 and 2 together, tried to back away then run out of the treasury. But the princess was too fast and grabbed him by the neck then pulled him in for a kiss right on the cheek. "My hero."
"Ugh!" Stone Wall said as he rubbed his hoof on the cheek that the princess kissed. "Don't do that!"
What are you complaining about? Squeaky thought to himself who would trade places with his old friend in an instant.
"You said you interrogated the ponies taken into custody?" Princess Celestia asked.
"Yes, I could tell from the start they weren't really hardened criminals, just weak minded ponies that were recruited by somepony that wanted expendable cronies. When I told them they would get immunity from prosecution in exchange for where the stolen bits were, they sang like canaries."
"And the leader?"
"He flew the coop."
"I see."
"But it's like I told Squeaky, we will meet again. Sooner or later a criminal always makes a mistake."
"Then I guess it's a good thing you stayed at the castle after all is it?"
"Hold on a minute, did you know this would happen?" Squeaky asked.
"Not quite, I suspected it would happen. After I heard about the stolen drill I had a strong feeling the criminals would target the treasury," Princess Celestia answered.
"So that's why you didn't let Stone Wall leave the castle," Squeaky said, getting a clear idea of the princess's plan. "If he left and they showed up he wouldn't have taken them down like he did."
"Exactly."
"Well I guess you called this one right huh princess," Stone Wall replied who was surprised that the princess was able to predict Scar Flank's plan.
"Yes I guess I did, which reminds me I received a letter from Twilight she and her friends were able to get the dragon to sleep somewhere else."
"Wow! Really that's great!" Squeaky said happy to know that Twilight and her friends were all right.
"How in Equestria was she able to do that?"
"The magic of friendship, Stone Wall, It's an amazing source of power."
"I guess that makes her 2 for 2 huh Stone Wall?"
"Yeah I guess she is," Stone Wall said.
"I'll admit that some of my choices of late have been a little strange but now you see the full picture of things," Princess Celestia said. "Sometimes I and other ponies for that matter ask others to do things that may not make sense but in the long run it's all for best as you've seen today. It's important to have faith in others now if you'll excuse me. I have a few other things to take care of." Princess Celestia then made her way out of the treasury.
"I hate it when she gets all preachy," Stone Wall said. "I get it she was right I was wrong, but she doesn't have to rub my face in it."
***
Back in Ponyville the mane 6 returned having accomplished their mission.
"Hey Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said to her old friend. "I'm sorry for giving you so much of a hard time earlier. You were really great, amazing actually."
"It's okay Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy responded. "I did slow everypony down for pretty much the whole trip. I was surprised that I was brave enough to stand up to that dragon. And thank you, I've decided I shouldn't be so afraid all the time, I'm going to be a much braver pony from now on." Suddenly a leaf landed on top of Fluttershy making her so scared she flipped and landed on her back. "Starting tomorrow."
