Trickery Through Time

by Silvermyr

Comic Calamity

With a jerk and puff, the train stopped by Ponyville station. Suri looked up from her shallow slumber and took a moment to figure out where she was. When she saw Trixie sleeping in the seat across her, she remembered.

Somepony knocked on the door. ”Arrival at Ponyville now, Mr. Filthy,” the conductor called.

”Rich,” Filthy Rich replied through a yawn.

Suri looked out on the darkened railway station. The clock showed a few minutes past eleven, and it was completely dark aside from the cozy light of the lampposts that lined Ponyville Mane Street. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when she saw a certain pony with her typically impatient look keeping vigil under the closest lamppost.

”So, shall we?” Filthy asked. He looked relaxed as can be from only one and half hours sleep.

”Coming,” Suri said with a distinct feeling of dread. If there was anything that would make Spoiled even more hostile it was her seeing Suri and Filthy leaving the train from a city like Vanhoover. It was not exactly known for being the most… innocent of cities, one might say.

The three ponies left their first class cart, Suri coming last, and met up with Flim and Flam by the exit. Both of their saddlebags were considerably heavier now than when they had boarded the train. Based on that, and the glares they both received, it was easy to figure out how their Blackjack games had gone.

The brothers both hopped off the train first, and Filthy threw his suitcase to Flam who caught it. In Ponyville they were supposed to be Filthy’s accountants, so they had to look the part. Filthy went down after them, and up to his wife. ”Good evening,” he said, surprised by her presence. ”I did not expect you to come and meet me.”

”No, that was the point,” Spoiled said bitingly without looking away from the train. Filthy blinked at the chilly and unusual answer, but decided not to ask anything else.

Suri, meanwhile contemplated just waiting on the train until it left and take the next train back tomorrow, but that would only delay the inevitable, as well as raising uncomfortable questions from Filthy himself. Suri shook her head at that. If there was one pony Suri did not want to involve it was him. She swallowed and went out together with Trixie, and could practically feel the blazing anger from Spoiled’s baleful gaze. She bit her lip and looked up at Filthy’s wife. She only saw the tail as Spoiled dragged a highly confused Filthy with her, leaving two equally confused Flim and Flam behind, one of them still holding the suitcase.

”Okay?” Flim said flatly after a few seconds of perplexed silence.

”Indeed,” Flam agreed. ”Soo…I guess we should get some sleep…?”

”Sure,” Trixie said, looking at Suri with a consoling expression. ”Trixie will see you tomorrow.” The azure mare began making her way to the stagecoach she spent her nights in. The other three started towards Filthy’s mansion. Suri hung her head and her ears were flat. Any hope of making up with Spoiled, make her understand that she was not interested in Filthy, had now gone down in flames. Spoiled would never believe they just worked together now. Suri would definitely not have believed it if she were in Spoiled’s horseshoes.

”Wonder why she was so mad,” Flim said to no pony in particular. ”I know she is horribly bossy, but even she must have a reason before she gets angry… I think?” Flim looked rather uncertain about his own statement.

”I doubt it,” Flam answered dourly. ”But do not doubt that The Wizard will sleep on the couch tonight again. Did you order a new one for him, by the way?”

”I may or may not have forgotten about that,” Flim said sheepishly.

”Hey, Flim?” Suri said in a subdued, resigned voice.

”Hmm? You’ve got something to say? Something on your mind?” Flim’s voice turned stiff and cold, an uncomfortable difference to his usual charismatic, warm vocabulary. He had not forgotten.

”I’m sorry. Sorry for snapping at you earlier, Equilibrist,” Suri said tiredly, but no less truthful. ”I was stressed about and… yea, sorry.”

”What’s with you anyway?” Flim asked with his normal, peppy tone. ”I never thought I’d see you down like this. It doesn’t suit you in the slightest; you are one of those mares who ponies turn around and look after, who trots through life with a spring in her step and charms stallions left, right, up and down. Buck up already.”

Suri did not know weather to laugh or cry at that. She sighed instead. ”Can I ask you something, Flam?”

The mustached unicorn did not answer, but his ears peaked up and turned in Suri’s direction. She hesitated for a moment. She did not like going behind Filthy’s back like this. It felt wrong. She liked him a lot. He was one of the few friends she had ever had, and she did not want to meddle in his marriage without his blessing. But still, she had to know, right? How else could she convince Spoiled that she was not after Filthy’s affections? ”Do you know anything about Spoiled and Filthy’s relationship?”

”Most of it, I like to think.” Flam confirmed. ”But secrets are meant to remain secret.”

”Please. I need to know this,” Suri insisted. ”It’s important, m’kay.”

”Why?”

Suri cursed silently. That was the one question she did not want to answer. Like Flam had said, secrets should be secret, and this was something between her and Spoiled. Nopony else should have to be involved. ”I’d rather not say…”

”Me neither,” Flam replied shortly.

”I don’t want to use this for anything, I just…” Suri stopped, not sure what she was saying. ”Please?” she finished awkwardly. A bitterness flared in her heart. She hated begging like this. She was a better pony than that. Prouder, bigger, more dignified than that. A few months ago she would never had even thought about this humiliation.

”Give me one good reason as to why I should share my friend’s secrets with you?” Flam said cooly. He turned around and looked Suri in the eyes. ”Because I can’t help but notice that you are not asking Filthy himself about this. Instead you come to me. Why?”

”Can’t you just trust me on this? Trust that I don’t want to hurt Filthy in any way?” Suri asked. She kept her annoyance out of her voice.

”So you ask me behind his back?” Flam replied with a bemused expression. ”That is not something that instills a lot of trust.”

”You don’t seem to trust me very much either,” Suri replied bitingly, letting just a little of her annoyance sneak into her voice. ”Perhaps you could trust me when I say I care about Filthy, and then I will show you that you can trust me? Or is that to much to ask that you show some faith in me outside our work as well as in it?”

Flim whistled. ”I think you just got out dueled, brother. Nice one, Suri.”

Flam contemplated for a moment. ”If I find out you double-cross me, I will be most… displeased,” Flam said icily. ”What do you want to know?”

”How did those two even meet in the first place? I don’t see very much love in their relationship.”

”No, I can vouch for that,” Flam replied. ”I don’t the think there ever was any.”

”What? Then why the hay did they marry? And how did they become parents?”

”Because they both had something the other one wanted,” Flam answered simply. ”In case you have missed it, Filthy is a pony with a business mind, and Spoiled is a pony with… a lavish lifestyle. How they came to marry is a pretty long story.”

”I have the time, or do you have a meeting?” Suri asked rhetorically. She caught Flim’s approving look.

”The Tiara line, Spoiled’s family, is an old earth pony clan. Once wealthy too, but thanks to some not-very-clever investments, they fell on hard times. Spoiled’s inheritance would not be able to keep up with her way of living for very long. She tried to charm some other noble whose name I do not know, but that prospect went south after just a few months. Do you see where I am going with this?”

”So she married Filthy Rich.” Suri nodded. ”But why would Filthy agree to that?”

”Two reasons,” Flam answered. The three ponies went past Town Hall and started up the street that would take them up to Filthy’s mansion. ”Partly out of compassion, I imagine, but even more for Spoiled’s title.”

”Wait, what?” Suri nearly tripped when she heard. ”Would Filthy marry somepony just for… just to be able to call himself Earl Rich, or whatever? I don’t believe it; it doesn’t sound like him at all.”

Flam chuckled. ”I told you he had a business mind. The nobles of Equestria are the wealthiest, and most stuck up ponies in our land. Many of them would never socialize with us commoners, no matter how rich they were. However, by marrying a noblemare, Filthy could tap into a market most other ponies could only dream of; with a title he got their attention, and that was all he needed. The marriage with Spoiled is why he was one of the wealthiest ponies in Equestria even before he became The Wizard.”

Suri was silent. ”It… really doesn’t sound like him.” Though, on a more pragmatic, calculating level, it did seem like something a wealthy, ambitious pony like Filthy would do.

Flim answered. ”Keep in mind that this was decades ago. Ponies change.”

”And… Diamond Tiara?” Suri asked. ”How could they have a foal if they did not love each other?”

”That,” Flam said with an intrigued voice, ”is the one detail I don’t know. Based on her birth certificate and the date of their wedding, she was born soon after their marriage, earlier than for her to be sired after they got married. Maybe the two met at some earlier point that I don’t know, but that is a guess.”

Suri nodded. While it was a little strange that Flam had not managed to figure out such an important detail, it was nothing Suri really needed to know for her own sake.

”Well, now you know,” Flam said when it was apparent that Suri’s curiosity had been satisfied. The shaven brother pushed open the front door to Filth’s mansion and they scattered to their different bedrooms. Flim and Flam slept in the attic, while Suri’s room was on the ground floor.

”Good night,” she called to the brothers as they split up. Flim waved back. Suri made her way to her small room absently, mulling over all that she had heard.

At least now she knew why Suri was so hostile, and why she and Filthy were even together. It was not helping her very much though. If the relationship had been built on love, then maybe Spoiled could have been convinced that Suri did not feel like that towards Filthy, but now, when Spoiled considered her marriage more like a business deal, that would be impossible. They were both just another contract in the other one’s eyes, and like any contract it would be terminated if better opportunities arose. She opened her door and entered the darkened room. She needed sleep. She could think further tomorrow.

”No, I don’t think so, nasty little mare,” an acrid voice spat just as she entered. Suri started and fumbled for the light. She did not even have the time to find it before Spoiled was right in front of her and made her back out of her room. Spoiled followed. ”You will not stay in my house any longer. You will never look to my husband again, and I will never see you in Ponyville again.”

”I don-” Suri began.

Spoiled struck her on the side of her left cheek. Suri stared at the other mare with wide eyes.

Spoiled Rich had struck her?

Spoiled Rich had struck her.

”Don’t interrupt me, vermin,” Spoiled hissed. Suri found herself looking at the other mare in a new light. Spoiled had, in every sense of the word, physically hurt her. In one stroke Spoiled went from troublesome to downright dangerous. ”Now get out of here before I STRANGLE YOU!”

Suri bolted for the door, out of the house and did not stop until she was a few blocks away from the mansion. She thought she could see the silhouette of a lone pony standing in the golden rectangle of the entrance. She swallowed.

Suri was not a stranger to having enemies. With her shifty ways of dealing with opposition that was to be expected. This was, however, the first time anypony had deliberately hurt her, and that scared her. Spoiled had been furious in that room, and Suri had been all alone. Spoiled could have done much worse than this.

Suri’s logical side told her that she was being ridiculous; that the hit stemmed from powerlessness and fear more than a will to hurt her. The primal part of her mind, however, did not listen to reason. All that she knew was that Spoiled had hurt her and that, in her fury, she could have done much more.

Suri stopped in the middle of the street and bit her lip. She shoved the multitude of feelings into the back of her mind and considered her situation.

For now she needed someplace to sleep. Ponyville had an inn, but Suri had no money on her person. She whimpered and began trotting out of town with only her many depressing thoughts to keep her company. After ten minutes of looking over her shoulder she came up to the one place in Ponyville she might be tolerated besides Filthy’s mansion.

She knocked a few times and an Annoyed and Sleepy Trixie opened.

”Can I spend the night? Please?”

*****

”I’ve got it!” Ditzy screamed happily and barraged through Filthy Rich’s door, collided with Flim, tackled him to the floor and landed on top of him. They both looked quite confused at each other, before Ditzy realized what had happened. ”Sorrysorrysorry!” she said slightly panicked and blushing. She hopped off him and reached out a hoof to help Flim stand up. The unicorn stared dumbly for a few seconds before he took the hoof.

”Look, Ditzy,” he said in a calm, somewhat slow voice. ”Perhaps you could be a little bit more careful when you fly, alright?”

Ditzy nodded energetically and Flim got a feeling she had already forgotten what he had asked. ”I got it! I just got the comic book. We can start now! Let’s go, let’s go now!” Flim had a hard time to suppress a laugh. Ditzy was happier than a filly at nightmare night. She practically skipped about in joy.

”Excellent news, as usual,” Filthy Rich, dressed in his bathrobe, said from on top of the wide staircase. ”So, Equilibrist, tell me when.”

”Soon,” Flim answered. ”We just need to track down The Bearded Mare and The Escape Artist first. Any clue where they are?”

”Probably at Trixie’s stagecoach,” Filthy shrugged. ”By the way, don’t you too find it strange that Suri suddenly felt ill the day after we returned? And why would she want to stay with Trixie for that?”

”Very strange,” Flim answered. ”But we have enough to think about without trying to understand mares right now.” While he had a feeling it had something to do with Suri’s questions of the night, he was still not sure how it all fit together. Flim and his brother had decided to monitor the situation until they had more information about it. ”Ditzy, could you find The Tamer and get him back here? I will find the others.”

At twelve o’clock, all seven ponies of The Circus sat in Filthy’s gazebo. The air was heavy with expectations and everypony’s expression, even Trixie’s, was a mixture of excitement and nervousness of varying degree.

”Alright, here goes…” Ditzy squeed and opened the small package with the comic. She picked it up and opened the last page, where the incantation was written. She was silent for a few moments, closed the comic and opened it again.

More silence.

Without a word, Ditzy turned the comic face up. The seven members of The Circus were greeted by the words ”Mane-iac and the Grand Slam Scam”.

More silence.

The seven ponies looked uncomprehendingly at the comic. Flim leaned back in his chair and got a strained smile on his lips. ”Well, Ditzy.” His voice was strangely happy. ”Do you know anything about this, eh?”

”It’s not our comic, this is one of the originals,” Filthy said with a tired voice. ”Where has ours gone? I ordered it and it should have been mailed-” Filthy stopped talking and turned his look to Ditzy. ”Say… there weren’t any other comics in today’s mail, were there?”

Ditzy got a sheepish and somewhat scared look on her face. ”W-well… Spike had one too… ehm, maybe I mixed the two deliveries up…?”

”You mixed them up?” Flim said with the same strained smile. ”You gave Spike our comic? The one which allows the reader to enter Maretropolis? Spike has it?”

”Yes,” Ditzy peeped. She writhed under Flim’s strange face. Ditzy was more used to see that face on Topsy. Flim’s creepy smile seemed plastered on his face. He took a series of deep breaths, but his smile remained in place.

”Well then,” he said with a stifled laugh, ”brother?” The last word was almost to high pitched to hear.

”We will have to steal the comic back,” Flam said calmly. ”Preferably fast, before Spike reads it.”

”Riiiight!” Flim exclaimed. ”Yes. Of course. We steal it back. Haha, why didn’t I think of that. Okay. No problem. Come on everypony, let’s go.”

Flim rose up and pulled at the door. It didn’t open. Flim did not seem to understand this fundamental fact, but continued to pull the door harder and harder.

”It opens outward,” Ditzy reminded quietly, now legitimately worried about Flim’s mental health.

”Haha, of course,” Flim snickered. ”How stupid of me…” He let go of the door, turned around and violently kicked it open. ”Okay, it’s open now,” he said and went through the door. The rest of the ponies followed tentatively.
”Three months ago we stole Celestia’s regalia. Now we are stealing comics,” Trixie said. ”Trixie just thought she should point this out…”

*****

”Hmm…” Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she locked on the pile of colorful comics in Spike’s arms. The tiny dragon held more than fifty comics in one large, winding tower that completely blocked his line of sight. ”Spike, those are not what I think they are, are they?”

”What?” the dragon asked. ”You know I don’t order them from The House of Enchanted Comics anymore. These are just regular old comic books, okay?”

”I sure hope so,” Twilight replied suspiciously. ”I don’t want any more trouble with those things.” Twilight turned around and levitated up a set of cups and a steaming jug of tea.

”No trouble here,” Spike said assertively. ”Only high quality literature as far as they eyes can see.”

”Which is not very far in your case,” Twilight pointed out with warmth. ”Come on. The others are waiting.”

Twilight and the overencumbered Spike went through the one of the doors and entered Twilight’s bedroom where Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie waited.

”Heya, Twi!” Rainbow Dash looked up from her Daring Doo book and over to the Princess, who laid down on the soft mat. ”So what did you have planned for today? Just reading and chilling, or something else?”

”Well, since the others are at the spa for another hour, I thought we could just read something and have a cup of tea. Sounds good?” Twilight asked.

”And candy!” Pinkie Pie squeaked in her giddy way. ”Everything becomes better with candy, so we should get some. Oh, wait, no need.” Pinkie picked out a large bag of sweets from Bon-bon’s confectionery and took a hooffull. ”But Dashie, don’t you too want to be at the spa?”

”No!” Rainbow replied immediately. ”I’m way to awesome to sit still and let them do weird stuff with my mane!”

”But my pinkie-sense-” Pinkie began before Rainbow shoved a hoof in her mouth. Luckily Twilight was already completely absorbed in her book to hear. Rainbow decided not to ask why she read the complete equestrian dictionary as if it was a novel.

Spike put his comics down and took the one he just received today; ”Neighvar Kreuger and the Museum Momentum”. He smiled as he saw his favorite villain on the cover. This was going to be a good one.

”Hey, Spike, is that one of those Power Ponies?” Rainbow asked. ”I mean, I did kick some major tail last time, you know, with my tornadoes and all, but I’d rather not do it again. Poor Mane-iac would probably not take it so well.”

”Not to worry,” Spike replied with a certain tone. He took a sapphire from a nearby bowl and plopped it in his mouth. ”See, there is no incant- huh? What is this?” Spike opened the last page and stared at the small words written there. It looked a lot like the comic he had been sucked into.

”What?” Pinkie asked with her mouth full of candy. ”You mean this here? It says-”

”Pinkie, NO!” two ponies and a dragon screamed.

”Come past, present or then,
I open many doors.
You can get back here only when
the Electro Orb is yours,” Pinkie read out loud.

With a blinding flash, the comic book started to hover in midair. Spike and Pinkie, who had been the closest to it, immediately felt as if Rainbow Dash had thrown a tornado on their faces, so strong was the sucking feeling. Spike grabbed Pinkie’s tail and held on for dear life. The pink pony grabbed the carpet on the floor, but to no avail. She slid towards the comic. Her hooves scraped against the crystal floor without getting a grip. She lost contact with the ground and was flung towards the blinding flash. She leaped in a direction no pony could quite name, but still only managed to reach Twilight. The alicorn fell out of balance and was sucked towards the ravenous vortex of light, Pinkie holding her tail. Twilight tried to fly, but Pinkie had knocked her onto her back, making flying awkward.

”NO, YOU DON’T!” Rainbow Dash said and took Twilight’s hooves and began to fly as fast as she could against the flow. She was a strong flyer, not many was able to outfly her, but even she could not hold back the sucking flow when she had two other ponies and a dragon on her tail. The three ponies and baby dragon all fell straight into the light.

Spike felt the familiar weightlessness for a second before he fell face down onto something hard. ”Ouch!” he yelped and climbed up to his feet. The sight stunned him for a moment, even if he had seen the same sight every time he opened his comics. But seeing something and experiencing it was two very different things.

The sky had a twisted, purple color and the skyscrapers looked darker than their real-life counterparts in Manehattan. An airship glided lazily over the sky, just in front of a bleak crescent moon. Too well did he recognize this place.

Maretropolis.

”Pinkie, was that really necessary?” Twilight asked in an indignant voice. Spike turned around, and once again the Power Ponies stood before him. Or at least half of them did. Twilight as Masked Matter-Horn, Pinkie as Filli Second, and Rainbow Dash as Zap… and of course he was once again dressed in Hum-Drum’s flamboyant costume. Not even now could he get some useful character. He grumbled as his misfortune.

”Well duh,” Pinkie responded happily as she trotted in place. ”Spike wanted to know what it said on the cover, so I said it.”

”Was it really necessary?” Twilight repeated tiredly.

”Look,” Spike said. ”Now that we are here we should just try to get out. Bickering won’t help us.”

”Eh, lighten up already?” Rainbow Dash said with moxie. ”While it was not what I had planned, I’m sure I will enjoy it. Now where is the Mane-iac? I have a tornado with her name on it!”

”But we can’t stay here forever,” Twilight said practically. ”Spike, what is the problem this time? Mane-iac again?”

”No clue,” Spike shook his head. ”I hadn’t read this issue yet, only the name.”

”And that is…?” Twilight asked.

”Neighvar Kreuger and the Museum Momentum,” Spike answered. ”I guess we should get to the museum, where we first encountered the Mane-iac last time. And keep an eye out for Neighvar Kreuger, if he is the villain.”

”And how does he look,” Twilight asked. She scrunched up her face in concentration and a snowball flew from her horn. She sighed. It would take her some time to get used to this again.

”He is… kinda hard to describe,” Spike said pensively. ”You will know him when you see him.”

”Come on then,” Twilight said to her friends. ”To the museum!” Together the friends followed Spike down the street they had landed on, as he was the only one who knew the way around the city.

*****

”Hmm.” Trixie inspected the castle lock. It looked like a sturdy one, and probably magical in its construction. This would take all her greatness and lock-picking power to crack it. ”Trixie is certain she can do this. Just give her a few minutes, and she will have it all figured out. You are lucky to have her on your side for this, else you would never get in.”

”We know.” Flam cut her bragging sharply. ”Now get it open before the royal guard comes and lock us all up.”

”Ehm,” Ditzy peeped meekly. ”I don’t think-”

”If we are in such a hurry, then you should let Trixie work her magic in peace,” the azure unicorn said snootily.

”Hello?” Ditzy tried again.

”Just get it open,” Flam mumbled.

Ditzy went forward, up to Trixie and pushed the door open. ”Twilight never locks her door,” she explained. The gathered ponies were silent for a moment.

”Good thing we have Trixie here,” Flim said dryly. ”Else we would be stuck here until the end of days.”

Trixie shot Flim a glare and went into the crystalline castle while the others kept watch. There shouldn't be any more problems. She just had to find the comic and swipe it before Twilight found her. Trixie’s heart began to beat faster and her breathing became a little heavier. She licked her lips in anticipation and began to scale the staircase directly behind the doors. Time to battle wits with Twilight again.

The castle was silent as the grave. ”Maybe she is out?” Trixie thought. ”Hope not. That would make this way too easy.”

But, despite her wishes, Trixie did not encounter any alicorn or annoying dragon. She soon understood that nopony was home and trotted around in the castle without trying to be quiet. She found the kitchen and took some grapes from a bowl. No comic though.

She tried another door and found a room dominated by six thrones and a large crystal slab in the middle of them. She clearly recognized Twilight’s cutie mark on one of the thrones. ”This must be the friendship map… should have been Trixie…” The azure unicorn went up to the map and around it once. Much to her disappointment, she found it was integrated with the castle, so it could not be stolen. Trixie had entertained herself the last few weeks with imagining stealing the map. Alas, that seemed impossible.

Trixie shook her head. She could muse some other time. For now, all that mattered was the comic. She tried another door.

The room behind it was eerily quiet. A jug of hot tea stood on the floor beside an overturned bag of candy. And in the middle the room laid a comic. She trotted up to it and looked. She had not seen the comic she was looking for, but the title was the same. She reached out her hoof, but stopped herself.

”Hang on there, Trixie,” she thought. ”You are smarter than that. Why would Twilight just leave some newly brewed tea here? Where is she anyway?”

Trixie went around the room and looked around a little. An encyclopedia, a large pile of comics and the candy. There was even some wrapping paper. It was just like somepony had just sat here and then suddenly… vanished.

Trixie’s eyes got at least fifty percent larger when the realization struck. ”Everypony come!” she screamed and bolted for the door. She met her six colleagues in the staircase.

”You took longer than expected, so we decided to check on you,” Flam said before Trixie asked. ”What is it?”

Trixie opened her mouth and closed it a few times. ”We might have a complication or… seven…” she said glumly.

”What now?” Flim said with a voice on the verge of tears. ”I’m tired of this mess… this was supposed to be the easy part.”

”Deal with it,” Suri said cuttingly. ”Quit your whining.”

”But I though you wanted whin-” Flim began before Topsy forcefully shut his mouth.

”Thanks,” Trixie said with an approving nod to the multicolored pegasus.

”Anypony mind filling me in here?” Suri asked. The six ponies listened as Trixie told them what she had discovered and of her conclusion. They gathered around the comic.

”Soo… what do we do now?” Ditzy asked meekly. She felt like an idiot for botching up like this. She had one job, the easiest one by far, and yet she couldn’t even do that right. Why was she so clumsy? Anypony could have done this right, why not her? She had not been part of breaking into the print works, she had not had to tie up Printing Types without being seen or herd. All she had to do was to take a delivery to a house, and she had even failed that!

”Well, it will disappear once they get out of it, and we can’t have that happen,” Flam said flatly. ”I guess we should enter?”

”We don’t know how many are in there though, or if they are even in there at all,” Trixie interjected. ”Maybe we should just move it out of here first?”

”No time,” Flam replied. ”For all we know it can disappear any second. But it is true that we don’t know they are in there at all. Some of us will have to stay behind and guard it.”

”How many?” Flim asked. ”Everypony who remain is one less who can do anything inside the comic.”

”I know,” Flam nodded. ”But we don’t have an Illusionist. Whatever we do inside some comic book world is not illegal, while being caught here draws unwanted attention, at the least. Our first priority is therefore to make sure we stay well away from trouble.” Flim let his eyes sweep over the gathered ponies. "There are seven of us here; I think four of us should stay behind."

”That many?” Suri asked doubtfully.

”Worst case scenario is that we fail to get the orb, in which case we can always make a new comic, even though it is annoying.” Flam shrugged. ”If we get caught here we will be in a much worse position.”

”I guess that makes sense,” Suri agreed. The plan was very careful, but without the Illusionist they had no choice. ”So, who should stay behind? Or rather, who should get in?”

”Not me,” Flam said quickly. ”I can’t plan something I have no clue about, especially since we don’t know how much time there is, and there are other ponies more fitting fr this than me.”

”I w-will remain here too,” Topsy hissed. ”I’m the f-fastest one here, so I can escape quickly o-once you get out-t. S-secure the orb, yes?” Flam nodded.

”Well, Trixie shall definitely get in,” Trixie said. ”She will get her much needed exercise now, and she has as good chance in there as anypony else, at least.” Trixie did not mention that the prospect of again outwitting her rival already made her giddy with anticipation.

”I will stay here too,” Ditzy mumbled sadly. ”At least here I won’t get in the way… maybe I can even help keep watch…”

”Ditzy,” Flam said sternly. ”Don’t do that attitude again, okay?”

”But it’s thanks to me we are even here,” Ditzy said somberly. ”because I botched up… again.”

”So?” Flim said. My brother and I have had our fair share of mistakes too. Actually I seem to recall that we created The Circus just because we realized that everypony has strengths and weaknesses. Only together can we cover all weak points. ”

”But I-” Ditzy began.

”Can it,” Flam interrupted. ”If you want to be all sad, I won’t stop you, but do it later. Actually, scratch that, don’t be sad later either.”

Ditzy nodded, still dejected. Flim sighed. ”Suri, what do you want?”

”I’d rather stay. There are others more suitable for this than me,” she answered.

”You up for this, Filthy?” Flim asked.

”Sure,” Filthy replied. "What colt has never wished he was a superhero?"

”True,” Flim said with a sidelong glance to Ditzy. ”I guess you four should leave,” Flim proposed with a look to his brother. Flam nodded and led the others from the room, Ditzy still with a hanging head. ”So, take it away, Wizard, whenever you are ready.”

Filthy picked up the comic.

”Come past, present or then,
I open many doors.”

As if shot from a cannon Flim bolted to the door, yanked it open, rushed out, snatched Ditzy and pulled her in. ”Surely you too have wanted to be a superhero some time, Ditzy?” he grinned before he closed the door on the disoriented pegasus.

”You can get back here only when”
the Electro Orb is yours.” The comic glowed bright.