The girls arrive in Canterlot at a little past noon. Twilight was determined to play her part as a princess in Equestria. If that meant interrogating criminals, than she would do it without hesitation. Although, interrogation wasn't exactly her forte, she knew that her friends would be right there behind her if she needed them. Besides, how hard could it possibly be?
They approached the big door to Canterlot Castle, after practically swimming through swarms of royal guards. They bowed as the purple alicorn passed by each of them. Twilight blushed slightly. She has been a princess for quite some time now, and she still could not get used to ponies kneeling before her. To her, she was just a pony. No more special than any of her friends or any other pony for that matter. She actually missed how things used to be. Back when ponies treated her as an equal, rather than showering her with unwanted attention. But she is a princess now, and she must maintain her composure and be willing to accept a bit of praise every now and then.
The door opens and Twilight and her friends enter the castle. Celestia's home was breathtakingly gorgeous from its stain glass windows, highlighting historical feats, to its choice his elegant tapestry. The princess of the sun was sitting upon her throne looking at a scroll of some sort, probably something very regal and important.
"Your majesty," One of the guards proclaimed as he knelt before her, "Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends are here to see you."
Princess Celestia immediately looked up from her scroll at the mention of her pupil's name. She couldn't help but smile at the purple pony and her friends. Her most faithful student, who at first knew next to nothing about friendship, was now the shining example on which the term is based upon. She could not be more proud to have been her mentor. Even more so, she was proud to be able to call Twilight her friend. "Twilight. It's so lovely to see you and your friends again. I apologize that it is under such circumstances." Celestia stated pulling her student in for a warm hug.
Twilight embraced her teacher. It had become a tradition for them to greet each other in such a manner. After all they had been through, they were practically family now. "It's alright. We are here to help in any way we can!" she reassured her mentor.
Rainbow Dash flew down beside her smart friend. "Besides, it just wouldn't feel the same if we weren't gearing up to kick evil butt during our visits!" the athlete teased. This remark earned her a giggle from the sun princess.
"Perhaps, but it would still be nice to meet up at a time when something isn't going wrong." Celestia responded. Her expression went from one of joy to one of business in nearly an instant. "Now then, time is of the essence. If you are ready, I will take you all to the holding cell where the two thieves are being contained. You can speak to them in there." the royal pony looked to her former protégé and her friends with a look of genuine confidence. She truly believed in them, and that faith has never steered her wrong.
"You can count on us, Princess!" Applejack interjected tipping her hat to the royal pony.
Celestia grinned slightly and nodded in assurance. Then she turned and motioned for the group of friends to follow her. Twilight and her friends followed her instruction with not even an ounce of hesitation.
They walked down countless hallways. Some familiar, due to past visits to the castle, and some they had never seen before. Not that it seemed to matter, they all looked just about the same. That is until they came to a giant metal door. Celestia ordered the guards to open it. In a matter of seconds, it swings open revealing a dark stairway leading downwards. "They will be in the cell at the end of the room on the right." She states sternly. "Good luck girls." Twilight looks back at her friends, who look just as nervous as she does, except for Fluttershy, who is shaking like a scared puppy. The alicorn gulps, but puts on a brave face for her friends. She must be strong. For their sake. Twilight then begins the trek down.
"Oh.... I think I might have left my oven on in my cottage. I should probably run back home and turn it off. You girls go ahead without me." Fluttershy said sheepishly.
None of the girls were buying her sad attempt to get out of talking to the criminals. "Come on, Fluttershy! We don't have time to fool around! We have to find out what they know, otherwise more ponies could get hurt!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed trying to talk some sense into her timid friend.
Starlight places her hoof on the shoulder of the yellow pegasus. "We can do this, Fluttershy. But we have to do it together." she replied trying to lift the shy pony's spirits.
Fluttershy shakily looked at her friends, then let out a long sigh. "Okay." she muttered quietly.
Twilight had already made it to the bottom of the staircase. She looked around the poorly lit room. The room was lit by torches, but clearly not enough of them. Not to mention, the room wreaked of rust. Yep, there was no doubt about it. This was definitely a dungeon. There were at least twenty cells, but only one of them appeared to be occupied. Which was of no surprise, considering Equestria doesn't normally have enough crime to even need a dungeon. There were three guards watching the single occupied prison.
The other six finally make it to the bottom to join Twilight. The princess points to the cage that holds the two crooks and whispers for her friends to follow her lead. She slowly approached the small confined imprisonment and stopped directly in front of it. Twilight relieved the guards leaving her and her friends alone with the two pony prisoners. Well, here goes nothing!
"Hello there. My name is Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends." she tells the duo. She decided to be kind to them, so that maybe they would be more open about why they committed the crime. "We are here to listen, not to prosecute. And we certainly don't want any trouble with you. So if you wouldn't mind--"
"Who are you working for?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed interrupting the alicorn. "Come on! Spill it!"
Twilight smacked herself in the forehead. "Rainbow Dash." She muttered trying to get the rainbow haired pony's attention.
Of course, Dash was too busy to hear her. She was in her own world right now. "You think you're in a bad way now? Wait until we're done with you! Now start talking! Don't make me come in there and--"
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight interjected with force. The athletic pony looked over stunned by her friend's sudden change in tone. "A word, please?!"
Rainbow nodded and walked towards her friend, but not before glaring at the two prisoners making them both flinch. "What is it? Can't you see I'm cracking these guys?" the pegasus questioned irritably.
Twilight shook her head. "And what kind of approach would you call that?"
"It's the good cop, bad cop routine. It works every time. Daring Do does it all the time in her books. It's a classic move." Rainbow retorts with a smug confidence.
"This isn't a book, Rainbow." Twilight explains. "We are trying to get these ponies to trust us. And that isn't going to happen if you keep threatening them."
Dash pouted like a child with a temper. "Ugh! Fine! We'll do it your way." She musters disappointed. Twilight could hear the blue pony mumble under her breath, "Way to kill the fun."
The princess turns back to the encaged ponies. "Heh. Sorry about that." She apologizes, rubbing the back of her neck. " What my friend was trying to say was that we would like to know why you ponies did what you did."
"All you had to do was ask!" Mortar said still shooken up by the rainbow pony. "You didn't need to scare the piss out of us! We've had a bad day already, and Celestia sends that crazy broad to bark at us?! Does she have any mercy?"
"Hey! You want crazy?! I'll show you crazy!" Rainbow scorns as she tries to jump at him. Luckily, Applejack and Starlight were there to hold her back. The criminal might have had worse problems than anything he had ever endured if that angry pegasus had managed to get to him first. Fluttershy and Rarity spent the next few moments trying to calm her down.
Twilight turned back to Mortar uneasily. "Sooo.... anyway. Why did you try to rob the Rich family?" she asked trying to change the direction of the conversation.
"We didn't try to rob those wealthy snobs! We did rob them!" Mortar corrected the alicorn princess. "And we would have gotten away with it, too!"
"What happened?" Twilight asked puzzled.
"We were betrayed!" the blue thief scowled. "By our so-called boss!" He turned to his partner and sighed. "That punk left us out to dry."
Twilight wanted to feel sorry for the two thieves. To have put their faith in somepony, only to have it returned with a knife to the back? That had to feel terrible. But then she remembered the situation. She was talking to criminals, who just tried.... err... did rob a family of innocent ponies. There could be no sympathy for their crimes.
"Who is your boss? We have to find him!" Twilight interrogated.
Mortar began pacing in back and forth in the tiny cell. Then he sighs. He looks to the princess with shameful eyes. "I don't know his name. We met a few times, but never exchanged names. He came to us, after overhearing me and Pestle talking about--" the pony stopped dead in his tracks. Tears began forming in his eyes. "We were talking about our family. Pestle over here is my step-brother. He is married to my sister." Mortar winced when he mentioned his sister. "The thing is, she isn't doing so good. She has ovarian cancer. The doctors said he could help her.... but the cost for surgery is more than we could ever afford."
Twilight begins to choke up a little. "I'm so sorry to hear all that." She manages to say, while trying not to cry herself.
Tears continue to stream down Mortar's cheeks. "Anyhow, this gray pony comes up to us and says that he knows where we can get the money. But we had to be willing to break a few laws in the process. How could I refuse? She's my sister! I would take her place in a heartbeat." He rubbed his eyes and tried to calm himself down for a moment before speaking again. "He told us exactly what to do and what time would be best to do it."
A single tear fell down Twilight's face, which she quickly wiped away in a feeble attempt at hiding her emotions. She looked back to her friends, who were also trying to hide their sorrow for the prisoner. By the looks of it, Rarity was having the most difficult time, due to her masquera running down her cheeks.
Twilight regained her composure. "So you really have no clue who this stallion is, huh? What did he ask for in return for your service to him?"
"You probably won't believe me when I say this, but it's the truth." Mortar says shakily. "A favor. He asked for nothing else. Not a single bit. Not even a thank-you card. Just a favor." He looks to Pestle who is laying on his bed, crying to himself. "We thought that there had to be a catch. There was, but it didn't seem to be major at the time. The catch was that he could cash in the favor whenever he wanted to and that we would have to oblige."
"What was the favor?" Twilight asked feeling unsettled.
Mortar just shook his head in disgust. "If I told you, I would be doing exactly what he asked for."
"You need to tell us. We can help catch him, but we need your help to put the pieces together." Twilight responded. "If you don't tell us, he wins. You do understand that right?"
Her last question sent a chill down Mortar's spine. That could not be allowed to happen. He approached the bars of his cell door and stood face to face with the princess of friendship. "Alright, I'll tell you. But I need you to promise me one thing."
"What would that be?" Twilight inquired.
"Catch that son of a bitch." the blue stallion asserted bluntly.
Twilight was caught off guard by the sudden profanity, but she nodded back at him. "You have my word as the princess of friendship. Now what did he ask for?"
Mortar smirked for a moment at the alicorn's promise, then it was replaced by a look of sheer hatred. "Before we were captured, he asked me to deliver a message. He said to tell Celestia and I quote: Anarchy is here."
There was a cold chill in the air that followed the cryptic message. Twilight and her friends looked at each other, each pony looking startled by such an eerie pairing of words. Twilight stepped toward the girls with a determined look on her face. "We better go inform the princess of what we have learned." She stated trying to rally her friends.
They began walking away, but before Twilight could follow, she was stopped. "Oh and one more thing, princess!" Mortar shouted catching her attention.
Twilight approached the cage once again. "What is it?"
"Tell that family, I'm sorry.... for everything." Mortar added shamefully.
Twilight no longer felt bad for sympathizing with these ponies. With proper incentive, anyone could be forced into doing something like this. They had their reason. A valid one. Family. What kind of monster would possess ponies into becoming criminals all just to send a message? She looked back up at the blue stallion. "You got it."