Filthy Rich sat outside the master bedroom as the door opened and Nurse Red Heart stepped out, “Mr. Rich… He’s asking for you.”
Filthy stood up and slowly entered the bedroom where his grandfather Stinkin Rich was lying on his bed. Stinkin looked at his grandson and spoke, “I think, that my time in this world is almost over… so I must tell you about the family secret. Do you know how we got our fortune?”
Filthy smiled as he replied, “Of course I do grand-pappy, we received it through our many years of hard work and dedication in our business of fine retail.”
Stinkin smiled, “That’s right, we earned our fortune doing some of the most honest work that anypony could ever think of… but…”
“But?”
“We weren’t always trying to make it big in the world… there was a time long ago when our family was one of the richest ponies in Equestria. Nobility ran in our blood but though we were noble, we were dishonest. The family name wasn’t anything to be proud of… but that was a different name, so nopony knows the secret of that life."
Filthy Rich was confused, “I don’t understand grand-pappy, what do you mean by, different name?”
“Before we got our fortune in Ponyville, our family traveled the land trading goods to shops in every corner of Equestria, one shop would sell in item for dirt cheap, while another shop on the other side of the kingdom would pay out the hindquarters for the same item. I remember following my papa all over the place. But I also remember him telling me the story of the first pony in our family who started this life style. I also remember him telling me that this same pony was even richer than we are today, but he took his whole fortune and gave it away more than a thousand years ago.”
Filthy thought to himself for a few seconds, “So… this pony was the one who had a different name? Why would he give away his entire fortune?”
Stinkin smiled, “It was because of what he did when Nightmare Moon tried to bring her eternal night. You see, his name was Captain Frances Snow the Third. He was a skilled swords pony who valued his heritage above all else. He knew that years before our family were great soldiers when Equestria was first founded. But he let it go to his head. He sought power above all else. However, in pursuit of this power he only restricted himself from climbing higher in his perfusion. You see, he was a skilled soldier, but he refused to follow orders properly so it held him back. And with a leader like Commander Bolt he would never amount to anything if he continued down this path.”
Filthy thought to himself for a second, Both Bolt, and Snow sounded familiar to him but he still didn’t understand a few things, “Did Mr. Snow kill anypony important or did something else happen to make him give up his fortune.”
Stinkin replied, “Nopony, not even his own sons knew the real reason why he gave up everything he had…. well actually there are probably two ponies in all Equestria who know why, but you will only be able to ask one of them the real reason.”
“Really? Who?”
“Princess Celestia, I reckon she knows the real reason why, but I don’t think getting an audience with her is as easy as it sounds.”
Filthy asked, “Ok so who else could I ask, didn’t you say there was another pony who knew?”
Stinkin smiled, “Forget it, and chances are you will never meet that pony in your entire life. Especially if the rumors are true and he is dead.”
“Rumors? Exactly who is this pony?”
Stinkin shook his head, “This pony is the one who commanded the very soldier himself. He is Commander Bolt of the Nightmare Legion. The royal guards have been searching for him since Nightmare Moon returned but it is said that he is already dead, and if he isn’t than he is probably plotting his revenge on Equestria so it’s unlikely that you will ever meet him.”
Filthy Rich was shocked, “Commander Bolt? I heard the name before but I don’t reckon I know who he was or what it was he did.”
Stinkin got annoyed, “You and that daughter of yours are just alike. You don’t listen worth a sack of potatoes when you should. Commander Bolt was the leader of the Nightmare Legion. You know the old stories right. The pony who fought for Nightmare Moon, the one who nearly overran Canterlot with an army. The only pony to ever successfully use the Lightning Orb and survive since Commander Hurricane.”
Filthy answered, “So if I can’t ask anypony then how am I support to discover where the old fortune went. It’s impossible without guidance or at least a clue.”
Stinkin smiled, “Well there is one clue. And I waited all these years to pass it down to you as my grandfather did to me. Look under the bed.”
Filthy looked under the bed and pulled a long thin case. When he pulled, this case out, he noticed that on the outside of the case was a crescent moon. The same moon as on Princess Luna’s cutie mark… and the same as Nightmare Moon’s cutie mark too.
Filthy looked back at his grandfather who smiled, “Well… don’t just sit there gawkin at it… open it up.”
Filthy slowly unclipped the locks and opened the case to see a sheathed fencing sword. On the outside of the sheath, was another crescent moon and an emblem that resembled a war medal. Then Filthy pulled the sword from its sheath to reveal a pristine blade that was easy to tell that plenty of money went down in keeping this blade in its current condition. As Filthy admired the sword Stinkin spoke, “That sword belonged to Captain Snow himself. It was recovered on the streets of Canterlot after the last battle of the war. Then it was given to his children shortly after his death by Princess Celestia herself. Since then it has been passed down through our family for over one thousand years. So now I'll pass it onto you. Your father would have passed it down… but he died before he had the chance.”
Filthy continued looking at the blade, “I'll be sure to treasure it… but this doesn’t tell me anything about our past. Exactly how is this, a clue?”
Stinkin closed his eyes and replied, “That is what you must discover on your own.”
And with that said. Stinkin gave a deep breath and rolled his head to the side. Filthy nudged him, “Grand-pappy? Grand-pappy!”
Stinkin didn’t respond, he only lay there silently, so Filthy sheathed the sword, put it back in its case then left the room. Outside the room Filthy looked at Nurse Red Heart and spoke, “I think… his time has passed.”
Nurse Red Heart trotted back into the room and felt Stinkin’s pulse. After checking his pulse, she shook her head and sighed, then using the back of her hoof she popped him on his muzzle and spoke, “Ya can’t full me you old coot! Quit fakein it!”
Stinkin looked at the nurse and yelled, “Dag nabit mare! Can’t ya just let an old fool like me go in a dramatic effect!”
The nurse put her hoof on her forehead, “Not if it means telling somepony that you’re dead when you’re not! I got a reputation to keep you know!”
Filthy shook his head as he continued into his study with the case, “Grandpa Rich is just as crazy as ever… but I'm curious… could this old sword really hold some kind of secret to our family’s heritage?”
Filthy entered his study, opened the case and sat the sword down on his desk. Using a magnifying glass he studied every inch of the weapon, from the scuffs on the guard, to the repaired scratched on the blade all the way to the fading paint on the emblems, but his search came up with no results. He found out that the blade had been refurbished a number of times with its original blade, leather, and Bronze but there was nothing about any part of the weapon that gave any hint of any clue.
Finally, Filthy sat the sword on top of his desk and started looking through the books in his personal library. He was able to find historical references, along with old pony tales about Commander Bolt, the Nightmare Legion and the Nightmare Crusade. But there were very few mentioning of his soldiers except for an old painting that showed a large group of soldiers involved. In it, there were three pegasus, two stallions and a mare, one unicorn a mare. two earth ponies, one stallion and one mare, A male zebra and a male griffon. This painting took place next to a bonfire under Cloudsdale.
As Filthy schemed through the painting, he immediately recognized Commander Bolt and Commander Orem from other historic painting but of the rest, he could only recognize one, and the only reason for this was that this stallion has the very sword that was sitting in Filthy’s desk, strapped to his side. He knew that this had to be Captain Frances Snow the third; this was the stallion who gave his entire fortune away for some unknown reason, and the one who changed his name and became the first recorded Rich in their family. Filthy read the book from cover to cover but despite all the reading, it told him nothing about the stallion in the picture. Finally, after going through every book he had in his personal library he just gave up on the search. There was no lead, clues, or even hints about this stallion and his past. All he had was an ancient sword, its sheath, and a wooden case that carried it so Filthy started pacing back and forth thinking to himself.
While his mind cycled through the only clues he could find, being the sword and the picture, His daughter Diamond Tiara entered the room, “Daddy… Mrs. Cheerilee kicked me off the newspaper club… isn’t there something you can do to get me put back on it?”
Filthy was too focused on his goal to deal with his daughters concern so he just replied, “Not now Diamond Tiara, I'm trying to find out what it was that made this sword so special.”
Diamond Tiara trotted to the desk and sat down looking at the old sword, “Well for one it is shoddy workmanship. Second it looks like it had been used and isn’t new. and look at this, the fabric lining on the case is even fraying away. All in all, this is a hunk of junk.”
Filthy knew that Diamond Tiara couldn’t understand the true value of this sword and its heritage but that didn’t stop him from getting irritated that her attitude, “Now Diamond Tiara, I know that you’re young and you don’t know much about how things work, but this matter goes beyond the flaws of this sword or its ca…”
When Filthy looked at the fraying fabric on the swords case, he noticed that the fabric didn’t fray naturally, there was something hidden that the fabric was rubbing against. Upon searching the lining of the case he found a small clasp on the top of the inside lining where the swords guard rested against. When he unhooked the clasp, a small compartment opened up on the top of case. Inside was an empty bottle for anti-rust lubricant, an old rage, and an envelope.
Filthy grew excited as he slowly opened the envelope, inside where two photographs. One was the exact same photo that he found in the history book of Commander Bolt and his officers. But the second was a much later photo. This time Commander Bolt, the female pegasus, the zebra, the female earth pony and the griffon weren’t there. It was only Frances Snow, one of the pegasus, and the unicorn. Filthy tried all he could to make out the image in the background but the photo was so old and so worn that it was impossible to properly identify where they were. Then Filthy looked at the back of the photo and found a series of numbers, “N, 45, 56, 34.7545. E, 92, 60, 45.9878.”
Though it had been many years since Filthy used trading routes, he still knew longitude and latitude when he saw it. As Filthy rushed to his closest map in the study, Diamond Tiara looked at the photos and asked, “Daddy? Who are these ponies supposed to be?”
Filthy completely ignored Diamond Tiara, as he pulled out his map of Equestria, laid it on his Desk and began plotting the location the photograph had written on its back. After a few minutes, he finally located the place. It was an empty area next to Dragon Mountain. Filthy looked at his daughter and spoke. “Diamond Tiara, I'm going to take a business trip tomorrow so I'll expect you to be on you best behavior while I'm gone.”
With that said, Filthy left his study without waiting for a response, and spent the rest of his evening helping his butler pack him a saddlebag for his travels.
The next morning, Filthy Rich left on his journey, with the sword on his side, and a simple saddlebag of food, water, clothing, the envelope from the sword’s case, and a map. Though he rarely traveled anywhere without his servants, he felt it was better that he tackled this quest alone so that if he were to discover any lost family secrets he wouldn’t have anypony to pass the secret along and curse his name. As Filthy got closer and closer to his destination, he noticed that the condition of the road he was traveling got worse and worse until he was traveling on a small dirt trail through the forest that surrounded the mountain. Not long after that, he came across a small rusty metal fence with the old gate lying on the ground in rusty pieces.
Filthy continued down the trail until he found a small clearing with a large statue sitting in the middle. At first sight, this statue seemed as if it were some historic landmark. However, he quickly realized that the statue looked exactly like one of the mare’s in the earlier photo of his ancestor so this wasn’t just a statue… it was a tombstone. Filthy looked at the base of the statue and read the inscription, “Here lies, Captain Gem Stone, The last soldier to fall during the Nightmare Crusade at the Battle of Canterlot. She was born into a tragedy and lived in misery, but despite all she lived through, she still found reason to smile. She was proof that every Gem Stone shines its brightest, when it’s in the light of a Star. A good friend, a wonderful sister, and the love of her commander’s life. She, her arrows and her loyalty will shine forever, as her memory will never fade. The loyal, the beautiful, the strong, the Gem of the Nightmare Legion.”
Filthy couldn’t help but feel sorry for this mare after reading the touching inscription that placed everyponies feelings in the loss of this mare’s life. Filthy started trotting around the statue studying every part of it looking for some kind of clues to his families past but it seemed like a simple statue, nothing more. Filthy took a step back from the statue and thought to himself, “This has to be the place on the photo, but it doesn’t explain wh…”
“DON’T MOVE!!! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!!”
Filthy quickly turned around as a large number of royal guards and pegasi rushed out of the woods and quickly surrounded him. the pike soldiers pointed their spears at Filthy while the archers all aimed their bows as one of the soldiers spoke to another, “Is this him? he doesn’t look like a skilled soldier to me?”
Another replied, “I heard he doesn’t look like a soldier, that’s why ponies underestimate him.”
A third soldier stepped in, “You idiots that can’t be him, Commander Bolt is a pegasus.”
“It could be one of his followers.”
All of a sudden, a royal guard who was a unicorn stepped out of the woods, and looked at Filthy carefully.
Finally after studying him for a second the unicorn spoke, “You don’t look like the old paintings, but I'm not taking any chances. Who are you? and don’t even think about trying anything funny. These archers aren’t as good a shot as yours was… but they don’t need to be at this range.”
Filthy spoke as respectfully as possible, “My, my, this seems like a little much for a simple sales pony like mysel…”
Before he could finish his sentence, three royal guards Pegasus flew in from behind him, tackled him the ground, and put his hooves in chains.
“What is the meaning of this? You have no right chaining me up like this.”
One of the pegasus started searching through his thing and pulled out the envelope with the old photographs, “Captain Armor, his sword bares the insignia of the Nightmare Legion, and this photo has nightmare soldiers in it.”
Shining Armor approached Filthy and spoke, “I don’t think you’re Commander Bolt, Who are you, and why are you here! are you expecting to pass on some items to Commander Bolt? Or is it just coincidence that you’re carrying such incriminating evidence?”
Filthy replied, “My name is Filthy Jebediah Rich! I'm the Owner of Rich’s Barnyard Bargains, I believe you have the wrong pony and you are making a terrible mistake!”
As the soldiers led Filthy onto a carriage that was pulled by pegasi, Shining Armor replied, “If this is a mistake than Princess Celestia will sort it out herself.”
Filthy was surprised with the mess he was literally dragged into but he knew that there was nothing he could do about it until he spoke with the princess so he just decided to wait until he was in front of the princess.
After about an hour of flying Filthy was escorted into Canterlot's conference room so he wouldn’t attract any attention from Canterlot’s residence or Princess Luna. Finally, Princess Celestia entered the room and spoke, “Shining Armor, this pony doesn’t need to be chained up here. besides I'm certain he has a reasonable reason for being where he was and why he was carrying a sword of the Nightmare Legion.”
As soon as the chains were taken off his hooves, Filthy bowed respectfully and replied, “Indeed I do your majesty. The sword belonged to my great ancestor, Captain Frances Snow the third, and I recently came upon those photographs you also took from me so I followed the clues that were left behind by my family to see how it was that one as rich as he was, came to give away his entire fortune. You wouldn’t happen to know yourself do you your majesty?”
Princess Celestia could help but laugh at the rich pony’s misfortunes before replaying, “Now I recognize you Mr. Rich, you were at the last grand galloping gala right? My apologies for the misunderstanding, I'll gladly tell you why your ancestor gave away his fortune and where it went. You see, your ancestor Frances Snow or Rich as he was known when he passed away. gave his fortune to his family.”
“Family? But our family was scarcely getting by until my grand-pappy gained his fortune through Rich’s Barnyard Bargains.”
Princess Celestia continued, “Not all family is through blood. Captain Snow fought in the Nightmare Legion with a number of Officers with whom he considered his family. But when his manor burned down during the Battle of Canterlot, he gave his remaining fortune to the surviving members of those he considered family. Leaving only enough to take care of himself before changing his name to Rich and beginning his life as Fencing teacher, then later becoming a merchant. But one by one the soldiers he fought with passed away leaving his fortune to be left in the managed hooves of one other pony.”
“One other pony? Who?”
Princess Celestia couldn’t help but smile at the irony, “Commander Bolt…”
“COMMANDER BOLT!!!”
“Yes,… it was left for two things alone, as requested in his will. The fortune will be placed in a savings account and be passed down to Commander Bolt upon his return. However, until he returns, the money will be used to preserve the statue of Captain Gem Stone, AKA The Gem of the Nightmare Legion.”
Filthy had to ask, “So there is no way it can be retrieved by my family… is there?”
Princess Celestia replied, “There is no money to retrieve. It has been more than one thousand years since that was stated in his will, and the continuous preservation of the statue took every bit of that money more than two hundred years ago. So there is nothing left.”
Filthy sighed, “Well I suppose it isn’t that big a deal anymore anyway, I never saw one bit of that money, so it would be as if it never existed. Still, I thank you for clearing it up for me your majesty, I guess that’s one family mystery that can be laid to rest with Frances Snow the third.”
“Family Mystery? I told your grandfather Stinkin Rich the same thing about forty years ago… then your father about twenty-five years ago. I thought one of them would tell you.”
Filthy put his hoof on his forehead, “Daddy is gone, rest his soul. But grand-pappy could have at least told me instead of sending me on this wild goose chase. Sometimes I think he needs to be put into the crazy stables.”
Princess Celestia smiled at the comment then replied, “Well since we are the reason you’re in Canterlot now, I'll be more than happy to have a carriage take you wherever you like. We can drop you back at Captain Stone’s statue or we can take you back to Ponyville. It’s the least we can do for putting you through this mess.”
Filthy bowed in respect, “Thank you your majesty, I would appreciate a lift home that is if I could retrieve my belongings… to include my family’s sword and those photographs.”
Princess Celestia smiled “Done, I hope you will have a relaxing ride home.”
Filthy nodded his head, “Thank you your majesty.”
As Filthy turned to leave the room, Princess Celestia stopped him, “One more thing, have you seen or heard anything that could lead me to the whereabouts of Commander Bolt?”
Filthy turned and replied, “No your majesty I haven’t… so… he really is alive?”
Princess Celestia replied, “That’s what I'm hoping to find out.”
“So why are you so determined to capture him your majesty?”
Princess Celestia lowered her head, “It’s a royal matter… there is something I must discuss with him.”
Filthy nodded his head, “A royal matter… I suppose it isn’t my place to get involved then. Thank you kindly your majesty I'll be on my way now.”
On the whole ride back to Ponyville, Filthy though about the stern talking to, that he was going to give his grandfather but as he climbed off the carriage at his manor, Nurse Red Hear approached him, “Mr. Rich… I have some troubling news. It seems that just a few hours ago, your grandfather passed away peacefully in his sleep. I'm sorry to give you such terrible news.”
Filthy was sad to hear that his grandfather was gone, but he couldn’t help but smile, “So the old coot got the last laugh after all. Well now he can be at peace… at least until I see him again.”