Two days had passed since Goggles had Applejack and Spike locked up in the basement of Sugarcube Corner, and during that entire time, Goggles had made sure that everything went according to his plan. As expected Twilight Sparkle fell for his false letter, Hook, Line and Sinker, as did the rest of the Apple Family, with the added help of Apple Bloom. She may not have liked the idea of lying to her family about Applejack’s whereabouts since her big sister had always tried to teach her to be honest, but Goggles told her that it was for a good cause and that she will be forgiven if the family did find out, with this information in mind, Apple Bloom tried her best to keep calm and follow Goggles’ plan through. As part of the plan, Goggles had instructed that each of his helpers to take shifts in guarding Applejack and Spike while they were locked in the basement, and to be sure that they kept listening with Goggles’ microphones, that way there would be less suspicion as to where each individual had disappeared to. It was the afternoon of the second day and it was Trixie’s turn to guard the door, after a single hour she instantly grew bored. As the minutes dragged on, Trixie hoped that the meal time would come soon, at least then she would have been able to do something rather than just sit on her rump and listen to a metal box. Meal times were of course a necessity since both Spike and Applejack needed to eat as much as anyone else, and not only that but there were other necessities that needed to be taken into consideration. Luckily Goggles was prepared for everything, before the two were locked in, Goggles didn’t just take the opportunity to hide a few of his microphones, but also install a secret hatch, which had remained unseen by the two captives, which allowed food and other priority items that Spike and Applejack needed to be dropped in at any given time. And just to make sure that the basement remained sanitary, Goggles had also installed a small, makeshift bathroom that Applejack eventually found whilst she and Spike were pulling back the shelves, looking for a way out. It may have been difficult, especially when he had to attach everything to the Cakes’ already existing plumbing, but it was worth it, and Goggles was able to finish everything just in time using his Gizmonk speed and intelligence. As Trixie continued to sit against the basement door, almost wanting to bang her head against it, her train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the ring of the front door, followed by Goggles entering the kitchen.
“What are you doing here Goggles?” Trixie asked enquiringly. “Your shift doesn’t start until later.”
“I was worried about how things were getting on so I told the Apples that I needed to see a client,” Goggles explained as he leaned his head against the basement door “Anything new?”
“Not unless you count more of Spike’s constant complaining about the lack of writing material,” Trixie answered, rolling her eyes.
Goggles groaned at that, from the very beginning of their captivity, Applejack and Spike had done nothing but try to figure out any means of escape, with the conversations all leading up to the same boring result. One particular subject of these conversations was how Spike could figure out a way to send a cry for help into the outside world. But thanks to Goggles’ careful planning, Spike was unable to gain any means of sending such a letter, no paper, no quills, nothing. At one point Applejack even suggested that he just carved a message onto a broken piece of wood or even her hat and send that through his flames, however that idea was shot down due to the fact that Spike had pointed out that the magic of his fire wasn’t strong enough to send anything other than paper scrolls at his age. Needless to say, both Goggles and Trixie were REALLY beginning to get annoyed with this, they thought that the two would at least be comfortable enough to talk about personal stuff by now. They may have had five more days to make the plan work, but the sooner it does then the easier it will be to hide whatever they were doing from the Cakes when they get back, along with any other pony who asked where Spike and Applejack were.
“So now what?” Trixie asked, hoping that her supposed genius of an employer.
At those words Goggles began to scratch his chin with thought, he needed to do something big if he was going to get Spike and Applejack together. Suddenly a smile appeared on his face and his tail lit up.
“Now we crank things up a bit,” he said, seizing the recording box from Trixie. “Let’s see how well the voice-changer-function on this thing works.”
#
Meanwhile, inside the basement, Applejack and Spike both laid on their individual beds looking up at the ceiling. For the last two days all that had been going through Applejack’s mind was how in Celestia’s name, why she wasn’t able to speak to Spike properly, here she was, stuck in the same room with the dragon that captured her heart and all either of them ever talked about was how they could escape. And as much as she wanted to get out of here, she personally felt the need to talk about something else, however due to her fear and stubbornness she wasn’t able to find the right words to say. Spike was of course no help either, whenever they weren’t speaking about means of escape, all he ever talked about was whether or not ponies were missing them, what made it worse was when he mentioned rarity’s name several times, which unknown to the dragon, really irritated her. After a long few minutes of silence, Applejack finally spoke.
“Two days,” she sighed. “Two long days and still nothing.”
Upon hearing this, Spike couldn’t help but sigh too.
“What I want to know is why we’ve been kidnapped in the first place,” he said. “They probably think that by kidnapping me, Twilight would probably give them a large ransom or something.”
Applejack rolled her eyes at that, it was a valid theory but Applejack still had her own ideas as to who was behind this, nevertheless she decided to play along.
“That wouldn’t explain why they wanted ME though,” she said. “It’s not like my family has…”
Suddenly Applejack was cut off by the loud, booming sound of an eerie laughter.
“What was that!?!” Spike squealed, jumping from his bed and into Applejack’s chest.
As much as she liked having Spike so close to her, Applejack’s mind was too focused on the laughter, if they’re kidnappers were trying to scare them then it worked. Suddenly the laughter faded and was replaced by a deep, raspy voice that echoed throughout the entire room.
“Hello my guests,” it said. “Do not bother trying to speak to me, this is merely a recording I have prepared in advance. If you are hearing this then you have had plenty of time to get settled in, so allow me to make this simple, I want to play a game.”
Neither Spike not Applejack liked the sound of that, as they both looked at each other with fear and confusion the voice continued.
“Win my game and you shall win your freedom, fail and you will remain here forever. So listen carefully…
Thou ask who I am but I have no name,
And thou shall remain trapped unless thou play my game,
Only be finding the answers to these riddles three,
Shall the truth allow thee, to wonder free.
Riddle 1:
I am something that would make many a stallion fall,
Had by few but treasured by all,
I'm inside and outside too,
But only when I am seen by the one can it really be true.
Riddle 2:
When I am broken, I can still work,
When I am touched, I am free,
I can be stolen and you will live,
Yet you cannot live without me.
Riddle 3:
I am of no use to one,
Yet absolute bliss to two,
I can be given, I can be stolen,
And I can also be needed too.”
As Spike and Applejack listened to each riddle, they began to feel deep chills down their spines, was it really so simple? All they had to do was answer these riddles and they would be set free? Or was this some kind of trick for their captors’ amusement? Before they could think on that question, the voice spoke again.
“I shall replay these riddles every few hours to make sure you are reminded of their details, think carefully, and good luck... You’ll need it.”
And with that the voice stopped talking and the room was silent once again, leaving Spike and Applejack to gulp with anticipation.
“So…” Spike said awkwardly. “Riddles huh?”
“Sure seems like it,” Applejack liked, no less awkwardly.
“So what do you think?” Spike asked.
Applejack remained silent for a moment at that question, what she really thought was how much she was going to make Goggles pay for adding to the already awkward situation that he had put them in, however once again she decided to play along.
“Ah think that it’s the best chance we got of getting out of here,” she said, almost believing it herself. “It’s not like we have much of a choice anyway.”
“Good point,” Spike sighed admittedly. “So you remember what the first riddle was?”
#
Back upstairs, Goggles chuckled as he turned off the two-way-Voice-Changer on the recording box, now things were sure to get interesting.
“The cards are set,” he said, turning towards Trixie. “Now we wait for them to cut the deck.”
Trixie couldn’t help but smile at this, as much as she didn’t understand why Goggles had decided to challenge Spike and Applejack with riddles, she was glad that there was at least some kind of change in their conversations.
“So why are we going this direction?” she asked.
“Simple,” Goggles replied. “All three riddles all have a certain subject in common, and as much as I would prefer those two to talk things out on their own accord, it’s obvious that the riddles are what we need to give them the right push they need.”
Trixie nodded at that, she still didn’t really understand but at least Goggles made some sort of sense with his explanation.
“Where did you come up with them anyway?” she asked inquisitively. “Trixie knows that you’re a genius and everything but she doubts that even you can come up with three riddles on the spot just like that.”
Goggles couldn’t help but face-palm at that, granted Trixie had gotten better with speaking in the third person as of late, but there were instances where she couldn’t help herself.
“Let’s just say an old friend of mine used to love coming up with riddles and it sort of rubbed off on me,” Goggles said, answering Trixie’s question.
“Really?” Trixie asked, raising and eyebrow “Who?”
Trixie couldn’t tell for sure, but she could have sworn that she noticed Goggles’ face fall when she asked that.
“I’ll tell you some other time,” he replied, almost as though he were avoiding the question, Trixie had to try again at some other point in the future. “Right now we have got to make sure that…”
Suddenly Goggles found himself interrupted by the sound of the front door ringing, someone had just came into Sugarcube corner, seconds later he and Trixie were met with the faces on Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Silver Spoon.
“Oh hey girls,” Goggles said, greeting them. “School over already?”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo answered. “We came by as soon as we could, anything new yet?”
“Oh wait till you hear this…” Trixie chuckled as she proceeded to tell the girls of the situation.
#
Back in the Basement, Applejack and spike were going over the details of the riddles they had been given, and while he may not have been able to write a letter, Spike was easily able to remember every word after spending for many years writing checklists with Twilight.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s start off with the first one, something that would make any stallion fall… Gravity?”
“Nah, ah don’t think so,” Applejack said tapping her chin. “It also said that it was had by few…”
“…but treasured by all,” Spike said, finishing her sentence. “Yeah, I guess gravity wouldn’t make much sense. Darn it! Why do we have to solve these riddles anyway!?!”
That was a question that even Applejack didn’t know the answer to, she may have suspected that Goggles was behind the whole scenario but that didn’t explain why he would ask a bunch of riddles. Either way her only option now was to play along and try to figure out the answer to the riddles”
“Inside and outside too?” she pondered, scratching her head. “But only when seen by the one… the one?”
There was something about that particular line of the riddle that Applejack found intriguing, what did it mean by ‘the one’? Suddenly her eyes widened with realisation, piecing every word from the riddle together again in her head, she began to figure it out.”
“Ah think I got it!” she stated.
“Really?” Spike asked excitedly “What is it?”
“Well ah can’t say for sure,” Applejack answered. “But ah think the answer might be… Beauty.”
Spike raised an eyebrow at that.
“Beauty?” he said confusingly
“Yeah, think about it,” Applejack said, proceeding to explain her answer. “Inside and outside must mean inner and outer beauty right? And the whole notion about making stallions fall must refer to a mare being a knockout, you following me?”
Spike tried his best to follow what the Earth Pony was saying, and the more he thought about it, the more her answer made sense.
“Yeah that must be it!” he said happily. “And ‘the one’ must mean the one who loves you, meaning that they’ll think you’re beautiful no matter what! Kind of like how I look at Rarity.”
Applejack swallowed hard at that, Spike just HAD to bring that particular subject up again, at this point the Earth Pony was on the verge of snapping like a twig and lashing out at the dragon for it. However, once again Applejack breathed deep and forced herself to calm down, only this time there was going to be a change in her routine. Normally she would have just found an excuse to walk away and be on her own after hearing Spike talk about Rarity AGAIN, however in this situation there was nowhere for her to walk to, and she wouldn’t have been able to anyway due to the fact that she and Spike needed to figure out the riddles ASAP. So instead she did what she had been avoiding to do for months, she talked to Spike with her heart.
“You really think she’s that beautiful, spike?” she asked almost brokenheartedly, but still trying to keep up a brave face.
“The most beautiful in Ponyville!” Spike stated, causing Applejack to frown slightly, which didn’t go unnoticed by the dragon. “Uh… not that you’re not pretty, of course. Heck, you’re gorgeous even”
Applejack blushed at that, the very fact that her crush had just complimented her was almost painting the obvious smile on her face.
“Oh stop,” she said, slightly embarrassed.
But Spike didn’t stop.
“No I’m serious,” he continued with a smile. “Any stallion would be an idiot not to think so.”
At those words Applejack blushed even harder, within seconds her freckled cheeks turned as red as ripened tomatoes. This had been the most attentive Spike had been with her since the Timberwolf incident, granted he had given her complements before but never about her looks, that was usually reserved for Rarity.
“You really think ah’m pretty, Spike?” Applejack asked anxiously, trying desperately to fight the urge to turn away out of embarrassment.
“Well, yeah I guess…” Spike answered sheepishly, placing his claws behind his back and receiving another smile from Applejack.
There was a few moments of silence after that, at that point neither Pony nor dragon had any clue as to what to say next. Finally, after what felt like ages, Spike broke the awkward silence and spoke.
“Well uh, shall we continue?” he asked.
At first Applejack didn’t respond, she simply stood there trying to absorb what had just happened within the last few minutes, finally she shook her head and regained control of her senses.
“Uh… yeah, lets.” She answered awkwardly, her eyes remaining fixated on the young dragon.
#
Little did they realise at the time, every single word that Applejack and Spike had just said had been recorded and listened to by Goggles and the rest of his partners in crime, all of which had an inane grin across their faces and giggling uncontrollably.
“And they’re off!” Goggles announced happily, turning of the recording box. “See girls? I told you this would work!”
“Well I’ll be darned,” Trixie giggled. “We might just be able to pull this off.”
“Ah can just see it now,” Apple Bloom added. “My sister and Spike together as a couple, ooh I can just picture the wedding!”
Goggles and Trixie couldn’t help but chuckle at Apple bloom’s enthusiasm, it may have been simply the overactive imagination of a filly but it was a lovely idea regardless. Silver Spoon on the other hand turned to Sweetie Belle with a concerned look upon her face, she may have been excited about the whole idea at first but there was something about what Spike said that concerned her.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this, Sweetie Belle?” she asked. “I mean Spike does have a crush on YOUR sister after all.”
Sweetie Belle understood her friend’s concern but wasn’t too worried about it, in fact she simply smiled and shrugged her shoulders in response.
“True, but Rarity told me that she always viewed Spike as a little brother rather than a Special Some-pony,” she explained.
“So she knows about Spike’s crush on her?” Scootaloo asked. “But if she really feels that way then why didn’t she just let Spike down already?”
Sweetie Belle cringed at that.
“She has known about Spike’s crush on her since the whole incident when he grew into that giant dragon,” she admitted. “But she just didn’t know how to break it to the little guy.”
“Well then, it’s a good thing we’re here,” Goggles said with a smile. “By the time this is all over she wouldn’t have to worry about…”
“But before Goggles could finish his sentence, he was cut off by the ring of the front door, someone else had just entered Sugarcube Corner.
“Who’s that?” Sweetie Belle asked.
That was a question was on everyone’s mind, after all everyone who was in on the plan was already here, and Pinkie Pie wasn’t due back for a little while yet. Realising that this had to be a customer everyone walked over towards the kitchen doorway as peered around the corner, who they saw was certainly not someone they not someone they even remotely wanted to see at this point.
“Oh great!” Goggles moaned, keeping his voice down so that the filly couldn’t hear him. “Diamond Tiara.”
Indeed it was Diamond Tiara, the same spiteful bully who had bullied the Cutie Mark Crusaders and sabotaged Goggles’ machine on Nightmare Night. Needless to say, not one member of the group was happy to see her.
“I thought she was still grounded,” Scootaloo growled angrily.
“Her mother must have let her off the hook early,” Silver Spoon responded, rolling her eyes.
“Typical!” Goggles moaned with a face-palm. “And it’s also typical of Pinkie Pie to go out on an errand just when SHE of all ponies shows up.”
“Hello!” Diamond Tiara called out from behind the counter. “Is there any pony in service in this dump!?!”
Of course Diamond Tiara still had her bratty attitude, evidently her punishment for Nightmare Night was not severe enough.
“What are we gonna do?” Trixie asked nervously. “If she finds about what’s going here, then she’ll tell everyone what we’ve been doing! And I am NOT going to jail for this Goggles!”
That last part she practically snapped with anger as she glared down at Goggles, who only snapped back.
“Oh will you stop being so dramatic!” he retorted, pointing a finger at her. “No pony is going to jail, understand!?!”
At first the initial reaction to the situation from everyone, was to stay in the kitchen and hope that Diamond Tiara would eventually give up and leave, however if there was one thing that this filly was, it was stubborn.
“She’s not going away,” Sweetie Belle said fearfully after five minutes of waiting.
That was when every pony began to panic, however before they could start spurting out random fearful comments that would have drawn Diamond Tiara’s attention, Goggles spoke.
“Every pony calm down!” he snapped, rubbing his temples. “I need to think.”
Goggles then began to pace across the room with a look upon his face that Trixie and Apple bloom recognised immediately, it was a look he always had whenever he was in deep thought, a look that he only ever had whenever he was trying to figure out the best of his ideas. Suddenly the Gizmonk smiled and his tail lit up.
“You got something Goggles?” Apple bloom asked hopefully.
“I have,” Goggles answered simply before turning towards the doorway. “Everyone stay in the kitchen, I shall handle this personally.”
Upon hearing this everyone couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, but before any pony could ask Goggles what he was planning, he had walked out of the kitchen and behind service counter.
“Well, look who’s here,” he said, jumping up onto the counter and grabbing Diamond Tiara’s attention.
As soon as her eyes fell upon the Gizmonk, Diamond Tiara’s gaze narrowed into a glare of spite.
“What are YOU doing here?” she huffed.
As Trixie and the CMC watched with anticipation from the kitchen doorway, they noticed that Goggles didn’t snap back or even growl in anger in retaliation, in fact they noticed that Goggles seemed unnaturally calm.
“Oh Pinkie Pie asked me to look after the shop while she ran a quick errand,” Goggles lied, answering Diamond Tiara’s question before narrowing his eyes. “I see your attitude hasn’t changed much.”
“Bite me Gizmonk!” Diamond Tiara snapped.
As his friends watched on from the kitchen, they saw Goggles’ eye twitch with fury, while he mostly tried to keep up his calm demeanour, in his mind he wanted to give this filly a good slug across the head with his hammer. However he still had a job to do so he kept up his restraint.
“Look you and I got off to a bad start,” he said calmly. “So how about we wipe the slate clean eh?”
That last sentence came as a surprise to both Diamond Tiara and everyone watching from the kitchen, as his comrades gasped in shock, Diamond Tiara looked upon the Gizmonk with a raised eyebrow.
“And why would I want to do that?” she asked suspiciously.
Goggles grinned at that.
“Because if you do, I’ll share some of my new tea with you,” he answered. “It’s a special blend that I am particularly fond of, always gives me a nice relaxing feel of delight.”
Neither Diamond Tiara nor those who were listening from the kitchen could believe what they were hearing, what could possibly be going through Goggles’ head? Whatever it was, no pony seemed to like it. After a few moments of staring down the Gizmonk, wondering what he was up to, Diamond Tiara finally broke the silence.
“Well…” she said. “As long as you’re willing to share.”
It wasn’t literal, but Goggles received her answer as a yes regardless.
“Great!” he said, jumping down from the counter. “I’ll go put the kettle on, why don’t you take a seat and I’ll be right back.”
With that final word, Goggles then left Diamond Tiara where she was and once again entered the kitchen, receiving many angry glares from the Cutie Mark Crusaders upon arrival.
“What do y’all think you’re doing Goggles!?!” Apple Bloom snapped angrily.
“Yeah, what’s the big deal!?!” Scootaloo added. “Why are you being so nice to her after all she’s done!?!”
But Goggles didn’t answer, in fact he simply walked by the two fillies and proceeded to jump up onto the kitchen counter and put the kettle on.
“Have you forgotten what she did to me!?!” Silver Spoon asked angrily as Goggles took two teacups out of the cupboard. “And everything she did on Nightmare Night!?!
At those words, Goggles slammed the teapot down and looked at her with a fierce glare.
“Of course I haven’t forgotten!” he snapped, before taking a deep breath to calm down. “And that is why I’m brewing up my SPECIAL tea.”
Everyone instantly grew nervous at that statement, what was the Gizmonk thinking?
“Special, how?” Trixie asked uncertainly.
The second that question left Trixie’s lips, a large sinister grin spread across Goggles’ face as he pulled out a tiny bag out of his vest pocket.
“Oh, you’ll see,” he chuckled, pouring the contents of the bag into one of the teacups.