Apple Bloom looked up with a smile as Jackie and Jade arrived back in the hotel room from the pyramid. "So how'd it go?" she asked curiously. "Did ya find a Talisman?"
"No," Jackie murmured softly, sitting down with a groan. "I found where it was stored, but there was no Talisman there. Someone else must have gotten to it first."
"Not the Dark Hand, though!" Jade crowed out. "They were trying to get it away from Uncle Jackie, and I got there just in time to scare them off with a mummy!"
"At least one of you stayed in the hotel doing homework as instructed," Jackie grumbled. "Where are Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo?"
"Scootaloo's racing Cumulo," Apple Bloom explained. "She loves the thermals down here...but ah don't really like the look of all this desert from so high. Mexico ain't agreein' with me or Audrey..." She looked over to where Audrey III was slumped over in a shady corner looking wilted. "Guess he ain't no succulent..." She shrugged her shoulders. "Anyway, Sweetie decided to go look fer some souvenirs."
"How come you didn't go with her?" Jade asked curiously.
"Without Audrey, every step out here in the dust has a cactus shootin' up mah tail," Apple Bloom grumbled. "Not exactly comfertable..."
Jackie stroked her mane sympathetically. "I'm sorry to hear that, Apple Bloom. How about I give you a lift and we can go meet Sweetie and Scootaloo outside to look for clues?"
"Well...ah guess..." Apple Bloom muttered. "But...ah don't really like bein' carried. Ridin's one thing, but bein' carried makes me feel like a foal, and I've outgrown that..."
Smiling, Jackie picked Apple Bloom up and set her on his head. "How's that?" he asked affectionately. "I know Sweetie still likes riding on Uncle's head when he's up to it..."
Smiling, Apple Bloom curled up so she could look forward with Jackie. "This works," she confirmed.
"Just beware of low branches and door frames," Jade teased with a giggle.
Sweetie Belle smiled to herself as she settled yet another gift into her saddle bags, this one to give to Captain Black when she get back to San Fransisco. She'd managed to collect a souvenir gift for everyone while staying in budget, and was quite proud of herself because of it. She made her way back towards the hotel to check in on Apple Bloom, hoping Scootaloo and the others would be back by now.
Before she made it there, however, she saw Jade in a heated debate of some sort with a local boy in green over a flyer. As she got close, she was able to make out what they were saying.
"Can not!"
"Can too!"
"Can not!"
"Can too!"
"What are you two arguing about?" Sweetie Belle asked as she got close.
"This guy thinks some wrestler can beat Jackie," Jade spoke up. "As if."
"Then the two best should meet, don't you think?" the boy suggested. "I will see you, and your mouse man, tonight, Senoritas!" With that, he turned and left.
Sweetie glanced back and forth between Jade and the boy as he left. "So...no Talisman?" she asked, hoping to drag things back onto important matters.
"No luck," Jackie admitted, coming out of the nearby nick-knack shop with Apple Bloom now riding in the sombrero he was wearing, a matching one on her head. "Only sombreros...but in everyone's size." He placed one each on Jade and Sweetie's heads.
"Jackie!" Jade spoke up. "I told this boy you were the best wrestler in the world, and you have to prove it-"
"But Jackie doesn't know a thing about wrestlin!" Apple Bloom complained. "Just kung fu!"
"...there's a difference?" Jade asked, plainly confused.
"Besides, Jade, one should not fight for the sake of fighting," Jackie pointed out sagely. "Only when there is no other choice."
Jade was about to respond, but Scootaloo buzzed down, settling on Cumulo as he came up beside her. "Hey, how come I'm seeing the Ox Talisman on posters of some masked wrestler all over town?" she demanded irritably. "I thought it was going to be in the pyramid?"
Blinking in surprise, Jackie and Jade examined the poster the boy had given her closely, where they saw the Ox Talisman in the wrestler's mask. "Guess you'll be fighting him after all?" Jade asked hopefully.
"Only if there is no other way," Jackie corrected.
"Well how else are you going to do it?" Sweetie demanded. "Mexican wrestlers never remove their masks unless they're defeated in the ring, because removing the mask is a huge dishonor! Unless you can figure out a way to get the Talisman out of his mask without taking it off..." Her voice trailed off as she noticed the others staring at her. "...what?"
"And you know all that...how?" Jade inquired pointedly.
Sweetie Belle tossed her head, putting her nose in the air. "Everyone has hobbies," she admitted with aplomb.
"Alright," Jackie spoke up, focusing the attention back on the matter at hand. "We need to get the Talisman off this El Toro Fuerte's mask, preferably without letting him or anyone else know our intentions. If we can't find another way, I will enter the ring against him and remove his mask after beating him. Can anyone think of any other possible approaches before that?"
"Nope, no ideas!" Jade spoke up quickly. "Guess you'll have to fight him!" She grinned widely, only to chuckle innocently as all eyes were locked on her.
"If'n we wait till night, ah could maybe sic Audrey on him," Apple Bloom offered.
"No!" Sweetie Belle insisted. "You are not feeding El Toro Fuerte to Audrey until after I get his autograph!"
"In that case, why don't you sneak into his dressing room to get his autograph, and sneak the Talisman out with magic somehow?" Scootaloo suggested.
"When a Talisman's magic is inactive, I can't touch it with my telekinesis," Sweetie Belle countered pointedly.
"Then why not use it on the stitches holding it in place?" Jade concluded logically.
Sweetie Belle paused thoughtfully. "I...guess that could work...and I get an autograph in the process!" She bounced happily. "Ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo! I can hardly wait!"