As word spread that The Foal Free Press had managed to sang an interview with Equestria's newest savior (who called himself Super Dragon) ponies raced to scoop up a copy. The edition containing the interview sold like hot cakes, and it wasn't long before every major newstands in Ponyville was selling it.
Some began to speculate, that word of the interview would spread to all of Equestria, and demands would be made for copies of the interview transcripts to be published in major newspapers, such as Manehattan Times and The Los Pegasus Journal.
But for one pony, other matters took priority. Urgent business matters concerning recent finanical transcations.
Filthy Rich was attending an annual meeting of stock brokers and investors of his company, Barnyard Bargains. Usually, meetings such as these ran smoothly. But today was different, the stock brokers and investors were angry with Filthy Rich. And they let him know in no unclear terms.
"So, you took some of the money we've invested in your company, and used it to pay for new playground equipment at Ponyville Elementary?" The chief stock broker, Jet Set asked.
"Please, you must understand! My wife convinced the school board to not foot the bill for the equipment!" Filthy Rich pleaded "When I found out what was happenin', I knew I had to do somethin'!"
"You didn't have to use the money we lent you to as investments," Upper Crust said in a snooty voice, she was one of the highest contributing investors "If your wife and the school board didn't want to pay for the equipment, you should've demanded they reconsider, and started exploring other options. Maybe they saw the writing on the wall, and knew that the equipment was too expensive."
"If I had done nothin', my little Diamond Tiara would've hated me for the rest of my life!" Filthy Rich insisted "I couldn't just let my wife and the school board crush the dreams of all the colts and fillies. Please, I can pay you all back, I promise!"
"You're on borrowed time, Filthy Rich! You can't just make idle promises and expect us to believe them," Jet Set threatened ominously "If this keeps up, you'll leave us no choice but to withdraw our finanical support. You'll be on your own. And don't expect anymore support from Mayor Mare, you know how she feels about sending out loans to companies unlikely to pay them off."
"I'm enterin' into an exclusive contract with some new clients, they've promsied me huge amounts of money if I give them what they want," Filthy Rich told the stock brokers and investors "Just give me a little more time, I'll get all the money back and then some!"
"Very well, you have two weeks to come up with the money, or you can consider yourself without our support!" Upper Crust warned, and the meeting was adjourned without further ado.
Filthy Rich angrily returned to his home and retreated to his office. He slammed his hooves down on his desk and angrily shouted to himself "I turned this company into an empire with my bare hooves, how dare they threaten to back out on me! It's my wife and the school board they should be angry with, not me! Well, they'll all see it my way soon enough!"
Realizing how much he was getting worked up, Filthy Rich took some deep breaths, and sank into his chair. "Take it easy, Filthy Rich," he thought to himself "Remember what the doctor said about your blood pressure."
Then, Filthy Rich spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Rising from his desk, he trotted over to where he had spotted the object, and picked it up. It was a copy of The Foal Free Press, and on the front page was a picture of a tall figure (who seemed rather dragon like in appearance) dressed in a dark blue suit, with a red cape. In the chest area of the suit was a yellow diamond logo with the capital letter "R" printed in the center in red. Around the figure's neck, hung a necklace that seemed to house some sort of gemstone. The headline read "Exclusive Interview with Super Dragon: Equestria's Newest and Greatest Superhero!"
Filthy Rich took one look at the picture, and immediately felt his anger rising once again. In fact, he got so mad, that he could feel his face turning red. "Diamond Dazzle Tiara! Get in here, now!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
Reluctantly, Diamond Tiara entered her father's office, despite looking like her body was ready to leap out of her coat in fright. "Y-yes Daddy?" she stuttered. In her mind, she was wondering just what she had done to make her father so unhappy. It was bad enough her mom was always yelling at her, she really didn't want to get on her father's bad side as well.
"What is this?!" Filthy Rich demanded, slamming the newspaper on the floor.
Diamond Tiara picked it up, silently read the headline, and reluctantly said "It's a copy of the latest edition of The Foal Free Press. It's become a big seller, everypony who's anypony is reading it. I brought this copy home so that you and Mother wouldn't be out of the loop."
Regaining his composure a little, Filthy Rich smiled and said to Diamond Tiara "Oh, is that all? Well in that case, you may go. Sorry if I yelled at you."
"That's alright, Daddy. But please don't do that again." Diamond Tiara pleaded, and left the study as fast as her legs could carry her.
"Oh, and would you mind tellin' Randolph to meet me here?" Filthy Rich asked "There's a little somethin' I need to discuss with him."
"Okay Daddy, will do." Diamond Tiara nodded.
Randolph was usually quite stoic. After all, it was a butler's job to do whatever his master and/or mistress requested of him. And that creed had served him faithfully in the Tiara family household for many years.
But considering what Diamond Tiara had just told him about Filthy Rich's behavior, he couldn't help but worry about why he'd been called into his master's office on such short notice.
Clearing his throat, Randolph tried his best to put on a smile as he asked Filthy Rich "You wished to speak with me, sir?"
"Indeed I did, Randolph. Please, have a seat if you don't mind," Filthy Rich instructed cheerfully. Randolph did so, and that was when Filthy Rich's behavior changed "Do you mind tellin' me what's all this I'm hearin' about a hero called Super Dragon?"
"Oh, so you've heard the news?" Randolph asked "I must say, I'm quite surprised that there's someone out there, besides Princess Twilight and her friends, who's interested in protecting Equestria."
"Well, it's an abomination if you ask me!" Filthy Rich complained "Already, ponies are fawnin' over him like he's the greatest thing since sliced bread! And do you wanna know why that's so wrong?"
Randolph reluctantly nodded his head, he was too afraid to speak.
"It's because they're gonna start dependin' on him to come and save them whenever they get into trouble," Filthy Rich explained "You all saw how helpless everypony was in that shared dream, until Princess Twilight told them they could do anythin' in a dream."
"Forgive me if I sound rude," Randolph interrupted "But where exactly are you going with this, Master Rich?"
"Super Dragon weilds nothin' but raw muscle and power," Filthy Rich explained "And that's what ponies are goin' to think they'll need to solve their problems. Unfortunately, that logic is doomed to failure. Brain triumphs over brawn, and the average citizen doesn't need superheroes like this runnin' around and confusin' the issue. With brain, anythin' becomes possible. Brawn may get you somewhere at first, but eventually it just leaves you stuck in a rut with no way out."
"What are you proposing to do about this 'problem'?" Randolph reluctantly asked Filthy Rich.
"I'm very glad you asked me, Randolph," Filthy Rich smiled, as he went over to one of the bookshelves in his office "I intend to arrange a meetin' with this so called Super Dragon, and expose him for the public meance that he really is. All I have to do, is discover a weakness, and then I can use that weakness to my advantage."
"But Super Dragon doesn't have any weaknesses, he's invincible!" Randolph protested.
Filthy Rich simply shook his head "Nonsense, everyone's gotta have a weakness. Some have more noticeable weaknesses than others, but no one is ever invincible. I know this all too well."
"And how do you intend to discover Super Dragon's weakness, assuming he has one?" Randolph asked.
"Oh, that's easy. My brain will find a way," Filthy Rich smirked "It's like I always say, some ponies could read all of Starswirl The Bearded's master spells, and think they're just great pieces of literature. Whereas others could read the ingredients for chewin' gum, and unlock the answers to life's great mysteries. It all comes down to intellect. And coincidentally, my super sharp brain has already come up with the perfect solution to my problem."
"Dare I ask what you are planning to do, master?" Randolph asked nervously.
"It says here, that the pony responsible for this interview, was none other than Sweetie Belle," Filthy Rich told Randolph, holding up the paper "And I know for a fact, that Sweetie Belle frequently visits her sister at Carousel Boutique. I already know who that so called 'Super Dragon' is, and I know for a fact, that he has a huge crush on Rarity."
"Are you proposing we abduct Miss. Rarity and hold her hostage?" Randolph exclaimed, horrified at such a possibility.
"Only if she refuses to co-operate, and tell us everythin' she knows about 'Super Dragon' and his secret identity." Filthy Rich explained.