Sweetie Belle couldn't believe that they'd gotten Silver Horizon to give them money for transporting her father's party powder. Sweetie was certain that once Silver Zephyr got back from the Griffon Empire, he'd put an end to it. But for the time being, they got half a bit for every bag that they delivered around Ponyville. They were supposed to pick up six bags from Silver Zephyr's shop, which is where they were heading now.
That meant they'd each get hummm, she wasn't quite sure. Trixie also got twenty percent of what they made, and well numbers weren't Sweetie's thing. Apple Bloom had worked out the numbers on paper. They'd make some bits, more than any of their allowances, but unless Silver Zephyr increased his customers drastically, they weren't getting many bits.
They entered the store through the back door. After Twilight had seen them entering the store yesterday, Apple Bloom was paranoid. They left the scooter at the tree house, and walked back into town. They'd also taken a few time outs to crusade along the way. If they suddenly stopped crusading, ponies were bound to get suspicious.
The back of Silver Zephyr's shop was filled with a large machine, with tubes and smokestacks and wires sticking out at odd angles. Two cream colored Unicorns, in straw hats and striped shirts were studying the machine.
"I thought my sister ran you two outta town!" Apple Bloom said.
"Yes she did little lady, and your folks even ruined our cider business. But, Mr. Silver Zephyr convinced us to turn our machine to a new purpose. One where quality doesn't matter so much." Flim said.
"We're Flim and Flam" Flam said.
"Methamphetamine cooks extraordinaire!" the two said together.
They took up a jaunty pose in front of the machine, which hissed and sparked as if on cue. The sparks were followed by a cloud of foul smelling steam, which sent the Crusaders retreating back into the alley. A few minutes later, the steam had cleared and the Crusaders headed back inside.
Silver Horizons popped her head into the back room.
"Can you try to avoid the bad smells? We just lost two customers up here." She said.
She disappeared.
The brothers returned to the machine, ignoring the Crusaders.
"Aren't we supposed to be selling some powder?" Scootaloo asked.
"Here take it!" Flim said as he levitated six large bags of blue crystals, and a customer list into the Crusaders saddle bags.
The brothers returned to the machine, and the Crusaders left out the back door.
"Let's see, the first name is Vinyl Scratch. Anyone know where she lives?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Shouldn't we say Cutie Mark Crusaders Party Powder Sellers?" Sweetie Belle said.
"Maybe saying that actually scares away Cutie Marks. After all, I didn't say it, and I have my Cutie Mark." Scootaloo said.
"Nonsense. You can't scare away a Cutie Mark." Apple Bloom said.
Sweetie Belle decided that she didn't want to take any chances. If her Cutie Mark was in selling party powder, then she didn't want to run the risk of scaring it away. Maybe there was something to Scootaloo's idea. After all, whenever they shouted Cutie Mark Crusaders, activity of the day, the townsponies ran.
Vinyl Scratch's house was easier to find then they had thought. All they had to do in the end was simply follow the sounds of loud music through the streets of Ponyville, and soon enough they were in front of a modest cottage near the library. Sweetie checked her flank. Nope, still blank.
Scootaloo knocked on the door, and a creature that might have at one time been a Unicorn mare answered. It's green fur was matted and streaked with what Sweetie Belle hoped was dirt and ketchup. It smelled foul, and it seemed to be eyeing the crusaders with a hungry look.
"What you want?" the Creature asked.
"We're looking for Vinly Scratch." Apple Bloom said.
The creature's voice was familiar.
"Miss Lyra?" Sweetie Belle said.
"Yeah! What do you want!" Lyra replied, as she turned to go back inside.
"We want Vinyl Scratch." Scootaloo repeated.
"She's like laying down the beats. You can talk to her when the party is over." Lyra replied.
"When will that be?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Let's see, it started on Tuesday, so I don't know. Buzz off." Lyra said.
"But it's like Sunday." Sweetie Belle said.
"I know. It's a cool party." Lyra replied.
The Crusaders pushed their way inside past Lyra. She tried to stop them, but for some reason, she just wasn't coordinated enough. Inside, the entire house was in as bad shape as Lyra. The room was dark, and the curtains were drawn.The floor was covered with the forms of collapsed ponies, and pools of liquids that Sweetie didn't want to identify. Luckily, it was dark enough that she didn't have to. There were cider kegs and a snack table by the wall. Apple Bloom headed towards the table.
Vinyl Scratch was standing at her turntable, surrounded by dancing ponies. Most of the dancers looked like they had no idea where they were, or what they were doing. Sweetie Belle wasn't sure, but this might be more terrible than what they'd turned Sugar Cube Corner into. They'd at least had a purpose behind what they'd done, sick and perverted as it might have been. This was purposeless, madness solely for the sake of madness.
Sweetie Belle pushed her way through the dancers towards Vinyl Scratch. She had to talk to the pony, and get out of here. Vinyl looked as bad as the rest of the house. Her coat was dirty, although Sweetie knew from experience how quickly white fur could collect dirt. Her eyes were almost completely red, and the veins were visible.
"If you're like selling Filly Scout cookies, we ain't interested." Vinyl Scratch said.
"No, we're selling party powder." Scootaloo replied.
Vinyl's eyes lit up, and a smile appeared on her face. For a few seconds, Sweetie thought that she'd recovered from had caused her to act like this. But when she started salivating, and she knocked over her turntable in her haste to get to them, Sweetie was forced to accept that this was something different.
"If you two are pulling some kind of prank I'll kill you." Vinyl said.
Scootaloo used her mouth to pull the bag out of her saddle bags. Vinyl's eyes lit up. Not just Vinyl. Every pony in the room's eyes lit up. Even some of the ponies passed out on the floor were eyeing Scootaloo. A blue aura surround the bag, and Vinyl levitated it up into the air.
"Where are the other two bags I ordered?" Vinyl asked.
She reared up menacingly. Sweetie Belle took a step back, and she tripped on the unconscious form of Caramel. She muttered a quick apology, and backed up again, this time uneventfully. Meanwhile, Scootaloo was checking the list. She quickly pulled another bag out of her saddle bags, and a third one out of Sweetie Belle's.
Vinyl handed over a massive bag of bits, more bits than Sweetie had ever seen in one place before. There had to be at least five hundred. No, maybe there was even a thousand. Were there even a thousand bits in all of Equestria?
Apple Bloom came back over, with a mug of cider in her hooves.
"This cider tastes funny." Apple Bloom said.
"Hands off my cider." Vinyl said.
She levitated the cup out of Apple Bloom's hooves, drinking it all in one gulp. With nothing more to do, and a desire to be out of there as soon as possible, the crusaders navigated their way through the mess of ponies to the door.
The rest of their deliveries went well. There weren't any more insane parties. They gave the money they'd collected to Silver Horizon, and she paid them two and a half bits. Scootaloo had been happy with the amount of money that they'd received, but Sweetie wasn't so sure. Her parents gave her three bits a week in allowance. At this rate, she'd have to work five days a week just to cover her allowance. She also knew that Appple Bloom didn't get her allowance if she didn't do chores around the farm, so presumably, they could be getting less money for all of their hard work.
"Why don't we go to the library." Apple Bloom said.
"Why would we want to go there?" Scootaloo asked.
Sweetie Belle agreed with Scootaloo. Books were totally for egg heads. Besides, she'd moved into Rarity's boutique yesterday, and that meant Rarity would have to spend time with her, and do all kinds of sisterly activities with her, didn't it? Maybe she should go over there, and see if Rarity wanted to do something with her.
"To spy on Twilight Sparkle, of course. She's investigating the death of Babs. We may need to do something to divert attention from us." Apple Bloom said.
That kind of made sense. Sweetie Belle guessed that she'd be willing to go along with all this, provided that doing something didn't involve hurting anypony.
The library was dark, and the curtains had been drawn. Sweetie even thought that she saw boards behind the curtains on one of the windows, but that might just have been from Rainbow Dash making an unexpected visit. Scootaloo knocked on the door.
There was a noise of multiple bolts and chains being withdrawn, and then Twilight appeared on the other side. She was wearing a metal colander on her head, and her muzzle was wrapped with a dripping wet towel.
"Did you just get out of the shower? Because we can come back later." Sweetie Belle said.
She really would rather come back later. She did want to talk to Rarity, and she was sure that Apple Bloom had chores that she had to do. It's not like Twilight would automatically suspect the Crusaders of having murdered Babs.
Twilight pulled them inside, slammed the door, and only then removed the towel.
"Uhm, well, uhm, Err." Twilight stammered.
Sweetie Belle looked around the room. The windows had been boarded up, and the bookcases had been rearranged in a square, leaving a small open space in the center of the room. It was almost like Twilight was trying to fortify herself against some kind of impending attack.
Twilight was still stammering and stuttering, and she hadn't said a coherent word yet. Maybe she had somehow found them out. That could be the answer that they were looking for. But wouldn't she have sent a letter to Celestia to help her. Maybe the Royal Guard were already surrounding the building. Twilight's attempts to fortify the place could help them hold out for a while, but there wasn't much that they could do.
"Well, I was doing some studying. Of Changelings. I was studying Changlings, and I guess I got scared and sort of carried away." Twilight said. "It's not like Sarin and VX can't be absorbed through the skin."
That last part had been much quieter, almost whispered. Twilight removed the colander from her head. Sarin and VX must have been some form of Changeling magic. She wrapped the towel around her neck, and turned to face the Crusaders.
"Well, if this is a bad time we can leave." Apple Bloom said. "But, you said to come over anytime, so we did."
"Uh, well that's great. Let's talk." Twilight said.
She levitated some pillows into the area in the center of the bookcases. The Crusaders sat down on the pillows.
"Do you want some tea? Cookies? I have fudge?" Twilight asked.
"I want a cookie!" Scootaloo said.
"Me too!" Sweetie Belle shouted.
"Me three!" Apple Bloom added.
"Spike!" Twilight said.
When nothing happened, she called for Spike again. When nothing happened after that, Twilight got up and headed upstairs.
"Should we tell her that Spike is dead?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"She's bound to figure it out herself." Scootaloo replied.
"Spike!" Twilight shouted one more time.
This time, her voice was pitiful and desperate, and tinged with fear. Despite Twilight's position as their enemy, Sweetie Belle felt bad for her. It was after all their fault that Spike was dead. Twilight returned looking badly shaken, tears running down her face.
Scootaloo had gotten up. Sweetie Belle knew that she didn't like all of this mushy stuff. The Pegasus made her way to one of the tables that had been placed behind the bookshelves.
"What's this?" Scootaloo asked.
"Uh, nothing. Tell you what, why don't you get rid of it for me." Twilight said. "I have enough on my mind without worrying about things that might not even exist."
"Get rid of it?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"It's an evil book, filled with evil things, but I still can't hurt a book. Maybe if I check it out to you, and you accidentally lose it, I'd still be able to sleep at night." Twilight said.
"I guess we could do that." Apple Bloom said.
Twilight looked troubled. At first, Sweetie Belle was sure that she was going to decide against letting them lose the book, but she had already started checking it out.
"Is there any reason that somepony might have wanted to hurt your little friend?" Twilight asked Apple Bloom.
"Our little friend?" Scootaloo said.
"Babs Seed." Twilight answered.
"Why would you say something silly like that? Ponies don't hurt each other." Sweetie Belle replied.
"It might not have been a pony. It could have been a Changeling. It has to be the Changelings. That would explain why Vinyl and Lyra are acting so strangely. It all makes perfect sense now." Twilight said. "Ooh, I have to write a letter to Princess Celestia. Spike!"
The Crusaders ran out of the library at that point. They didn't want to see a repeat of Twilight's reaction to remembering that Spike was dead.
"I think we are okay as far as Twilight is concerned." Sweetie Belle said.
"For now." Apple Bloom replied.
"I really feel bad about Spike. We should have been more careful." Sweetie Belle said.
"How was I supposed to know what I was doing? I had no idea that stuff was that poisonous." Scootaloo said.
She flicked her tail over to cover her Cutie Mark. This made Sweetie Belle uncomfortable. That was what Babs had done to hide that she didn't have a Cutie Mark. It somehow felt disrespectful to the dead for Scootaloo to do it.
"What's in the book?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Oh, it looks boring. It's titled The Illustrated Guide to Changeling Weapons so you know it's bound to be boring." Scootaloo said.
"Well, it may be boring, but it might have useful information in it. Maybe there is some kinds of Changeling weapons that we could use if we had too." Apple Bloom said.
The hurried to the club house to take a look at the book before it got dark.