Trickery Through Time

by Silvermyr

Trickery Through Time

Flam sighed as he looked out from a window at the second floor from Filthy’s mansion. It was evening, and in the golden streetlight he could see Applejack keeping vigil in front of Filthy’s gate. Since they had acquired the Electro Orb ten something days ago, Twilight and her friends had kept Filthy’s mansion under close watch, with at least one for them around every waking hour. For the most part it did not cause any problems, since they were just waiting for Doctor Whooves to complete his device. However, the doctor had told Ditzy earlier today that the machine was ready, so now they had to visit him -without anypony knowing it.

Flam turned from the window and wrote a hasty note on some paper. He then unlocked Prankster’s cage and tied the small roll to one of his legs. ”Deliver this to Trixie’s wagon, won’t you?” he asked the parrot.

Prankster looked at him with a contemplating expression. ”RRRRAK!” he rasped and took wing. He flew about the room in a circle and then out a window. Flam returned to his position by the window and kept monitoring Applejack; the mare who's family had dared to foil not one, but two of his plans. A glint of cold fury passed over his face as he thought about it, before disappearing a moment later.

Flam kept watch undisturbed for another fifteen minutes before he spotted Mayor Mare casually coming up the road to the mansion. Applejack turned to greet her and the two talked for a little while. Flam could not see what happened from his vantage point, but Applejack slumped to the ground and Mayor Mare brought her up to the mansion. Flam left his post to alert the others.

They met up by Filthy’s gazebo, just as Mayor Mare and threw the unconscious earth pony on the table. She went out and locked the door. ”You know, it would be easier if you would just lived here as usual, right?” Flam remarked. ”I don’t want to send Prankster every time I need you and Trixie.”

”I live where I want, thank you very much, Equilibrist,” Mayor Mare answered in Suri’s voice. ”M’kay?”

”Just thought you should know,” Flam shrugged. ”Masterful disguise as usual, by the way. Ditzy and I will go visit the good doctor. Perhaps think you can have the others assembled here when we return?”

”Sure,” Suri answered.

Flam went to Ditzy’s combined post office and home and was greeted by The mailmare's daughter, Dinky. ”Good day, little miss,” he said politely. ”I was looking for your mother. Is she here by any chance?”

”Are you Flim or Flam?” Dinky asked. ”She said she was waiting for Flim or Flam.”

”Yes, I’m Flam,” Flam replied with a relaxed tone and tipped his boater hat.

”I think my mother is working to much,” the foal said with a stern voice. ”She never worked this much before she met you and the others. She is almost never home anymore, always working and always tired when she comes home.” Flam, for once, was speechless. He had not expected Dinky, of all ponies, to berate him like that. ”I never see her anymore.” Dinky mumbled and poked the floor with her hoof. ”She comes home after I goes to bed and rises earlier than me.”

Flam kept silent, his preferred method for dealing with uncomfortable subjects. He would have liked to offer the foal an excuse, but he had none. He could not lie to a foal; adults had to look out for them. One should always look out for foals.

”I will go and find her,” Dinky said when he did not make any attempt of explaining himself. She turned her back on him.

”I shall take that into account,” Flam said stilly to himself. He saw on Dinky’s ears that she heard him. For now, that was all he could do for Dinky.

Soon he and Ditzy casually went to Doctor Whooves house. Ditzy’s typical happiness told Flam that she did not know what had just transpired in her hallway. Flam eyed Ditzy as they went. ”I shall indeed take your words into account, little Dinky,” he thought. The doctor opened the door before Flam could knock as usual.

”Mr. Flam,” Doctor Whooves said curtly once the three pines were inside the doctor’s kitchen. ”I hope nothing have come up?”

Flam banished his rumination about Dinky. Right now, he was working and his brother was counting on him. Nothing else mattered. ”Of course not,” Flam replied, equally curt. ”In fact, things are going so well, we want to use… that thing we commissioned.”

”We’re going tomorrow, Doc,” Ditzy said, happier than a filly at Heartswarming. ”We are actually going back in time tomorrow, and it was my idea!” Ditzy’s smile was brighter than the sun. ”I-it was my idea!” she said again, as if she could not quite believe it herself.

”I see,” Doctor Whooves said with a sheepish grin, no knowing exactly how to react to the bundle of skips, giggles and blushes named Ditzy Doo. ”And… you want to know how to use… the time machine?”

”Exactly,” Flam said.

”Now, mister Flam, first and foremost; that machine makes time come forward, but does not alter your spacial placement,” Doctor Whooves said with a serious voice. Flam and Ditzy listened carefully. ”In other words, you need to transport my machine to approximately the place you want to be at once time comes forward to you.”

”That’s the griffon empire in our case,” Flam said. ”Pack your bags, good doctor. I assume you will come with us to actually run your device.”

”Indeed,” The doctor confirmed. ”But I won’t join you in your time traveling. I shall stay behind to observe and record the results.”

”Can we alter history now?” Ditzy asked, suddenly with a look of realization and uneasiness on in her veering eyes. ”What if we prevent the discovery of muffins? I’m not sure I like this idea anymore…”

Doctor Whooves chuckled softly. ”You don’t have to worry. Whatever you do have already happened.”

”It has?” Ditzy asked with her head slightly tilted.

”Of course,” Doctor Whooves explained with a kind smile. ”You have already been back in time, according to the history books.”

”I’m confused,” Ditzy said, but that did not seem to bother the pegasus for very long. ”But if the muffins are safe, then I like this idea again.”

”Very well then, that should be all for now, don’t you agree?” Flam asked.

”Indeed,” the Doctor said again. ”So, the train station tomorrow?”

”In Manehattan,” Flam proceeded. ”My friends and I have a few preparations to make… and problems to feint away, so we will meet up there, on the train station. Be seeing you.”

Ditzy and Flam started back to the mansion slowly, in order to enjoy the crisp evening air. As soon as they came back, they could see the rest of their friends, Topsy included, standing outside the gazebo. Prankster was flying above them impatiently.

”All taken care of,” Flam said silently when he came up to the collected ponies. ”Step two in Princess Persuasion can begin as planned.”

”So then we shall leave tonight?” Trixie asked with a hopeful voice. ”Trixie is not sure she can wait much longer.”

”Trixie won’t have to,” Flam said with a smirk. ”Pack your bags everypony, we are leaving via the three A.M train, first class, as usual.”

”In just two hours?” Suri asked, ”how is anypony supposed to pack in that time?”

”Two whole hours?” Filthy Rich asked, ”what Am I to do all that time?”

There was a moment of silence, before the two earth ponies turned to one another and stared as if the other one was completely daft.

”Two hours indeed,” Flam said with a professional voice. ”Topsy…”

”I am aware,” Topsy said with his slithering voice. ”I f-follow you from above and sneak abroad later.”

”Ooh, Applejack!” Flim called loudly to the closed gazebo door. ”I know you are eavesdropping, but I’m so confident that you won’t hold an apple to our wits that I will save you the trouble! Listen good now: We are headed for the Griffon Kingdom on the next train, where out next coup will take place. I hope to see you there, so that I can outwit you personally!” Flim smiled as he heard a tirade of muffled words stream from the behind the door. They were probably not safe for foals to hear.

”What was that?” Flam asked in the uncommunicative tone that meant he was displeased.

”It will impress Sparkle even more if she tries to stop us, but can’t,” Flim said with certainty. ”Besides, picture her waiting at Griffonstone for days without even catching the sight of us. Somehow I don’t think she will be there during the right days.”

Flam cracked a smile at that.

*****

Spoiled Rich wanted to gallop down to the gazebo and bash Suri’s head in with any arbitrary blunt object. She glared down at the assembled ponies from her mansion with hatred in her eyes. To think that Filthy Rich dared to cross her. HER! That he dared to pick that lowly parasite of a mare over herself!

There was no longer a doubt. Spoiled had gone to Canterlot the other day to give the headmaster of Diamond’s future school a piece of her mind with their late replies. That was when she found out; no letter had come, and now the class was already full.

So the five letters Spoiled had sent had all been lost somehow. Of course, it could be that inept mailmare who had lost them, but Spoiled doubted even she could be incompetent enough to lose five letters by accident. If so, then it must have been done deliberately, and the only pony who knew about her plans for Diamond was Filthy.

So her husband had gone behind her back with Diamond Tiara, and now he was leaving town in the middle of the night with that mare. It was not hard to figure out the rest.

Spoiled once again fought down the urge to strangle the wretched mare. Just seeing her gave Spoiled a bitter taste in her mouth. She had made up her mind; Suri would have to disappear. Problem was that it had to be Suri’s own decision as Spoiled did not want Filthy to figure out it was her behind it. Their relationship was already tense; she could not afford to anger Filthy further for a while. Spoiled went from the window and penned a letter and put it in an envelope.

This would solve all her problems.

*****

”It’s muffin time!” Ditzy said happily and opened the duffel bag she had brought. It was filled to the brim with muffins. Muffins in all sizes and tastes. She passed some of them around to her friends. When they all had one each, she heightened hers in a cheer and began to eat. Mere moments later, the muffin was gone and Ditzy had picked up another one. The others ate at a slower pace. They were sitting in a large cave in the Hyperborean Mountains with four tents around them and the doctor’s time machine.

”So, tomorrow?” Doctor Whooves asked, looking at Flam.

”First thing in the morning, yes,” Flam answered. ”No point in waiting around any longer.”

”I must say I like your design on the… time machine, m’kay,” Suri said with an approving nod towards the tall, blue and black colored police box. ”It’s quite… original.”

”Isn’t it though?” Doctor Whooves said with a proud voice. ”I was originally thinking about another design, with wheels, but your fellow friend convinced me to go with something else.” The doctor nodded towards Trixie. The other ponies looked at her with puzzled looks.

”The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t trust wheels,” the azure unicorn said with a haughty voice. ”Besides, what would we need wheels for?”

”I don’t know what most stuff in that machine is used for, but that doesn’t mean I ask him to remove it,” Filthy Rich said patiently. ”We commissioned the good doctor to build the machine for us, so we should just let him do that.”

”A lit-tle late for that n-now, don’t you think?” Topsy asked shortly.

”As long as it works,” Flam said with a composed voice.

”It works,” Doctor Whooves said simply. ”Provided you assemble it correctly.”

”I did! I’m sure of it!” Ditzy said happily and swallowed her fifth muffin whole. ”I put the dingus in the doohickey and then with the thingy with the stuff!” Ditzy beamed proudly. The rest of the gathered ponies got something uncertain over their looks all of a sudden.

”Perhaps you could double check the machine a few times before tomorrow, right? Just in case?” Flim whispered to the doctor when Ditzy’s head was deep in the duffel bag, searching for a particular muffin. The brown earth pony nodded.

”Well then,” Flam said. ”Just so that we all know, what are you all bringing with you?”

”Ropes and Prankster,” Flim responded immediately. The parrot looked up from his muffin when he heard his name.

”RRRRAK!” he said in his raspy voice and picked out the seeds Ditzy had baked into his muffin, a sunflower-pumpkin-hemp-oat-seed muffin, made especially for the parrot.

”The Great and Powerful Trixie is bringing her invaluable intellect, superior looks, great and powerful magic, masterful showmareship, spellbinding radiance, wonderful mind for trickery and overall pony perfection.”

”Nothing else?” Suri asked sarcastically.

”Trixie will also bring her lock picks, not that they can do anything Trixie can’t already do,” the blue unicorn said with a huff.

”Muffin!” Ditzy said and devoured another one of said treat. ”I have more muffin.”

” A boomerang,” Filthy Rich said shortly. ”I don’t want to carry around a heap of bolts and an arbalest wherever I go, and there will be no use for bits, I presume?”

”I b-bring only me,” Topsy said. Doctor Whooves had been more than a little surprised when he first saw Topsy, but Flam’s demands had ensured his silence. He would gladly keep silent about Topsy for this opportunity. Still, the pegasus was mighty unsettling.

”M’kay, and I will bring with me my superior looks, great beauty, generally nice personality and wonderful mind for fashion. Oh, and my mane pin, and some sewing supplies,” Suri said and let her hoof slide through her silken mane. When she removed it, her orchid pin sat by her right ear.

”And I bring some magnesium,” Flam said shortly. ”So that is all. Think we should go to sleep? We can’t be tired tomorrow.”

”Doesn’t matter if we sleep now,” Flim quipped. ”No matter when we sleep, we will still have been awake for centuries tomorrow, a few hours won’t really matter.”

The ponies laughed at that.

”Trixie has something she wants to say, if you are done, Equilibrist,” Trixie said. ”She has been skimming through Bygone Griffons of Greatness, and she though she ought to give you a summary of her summary.”

”That might be useful, yes,” Flam said with approval. ”Tell us.”

”Well then,” Trixie said with a radiant smile. ”Come one, come all, and bask in the ingenuity of the Great and Powerful Trixie. Listen, and be humbled by her every word.”

Trixie reared up on her hind hooves and channeled her stage persona. With a lightning fast flick of her cape, a blue cloud concealed her. When she spoke, her voice was dampened and conspiratorial. The listeners edged closer.

”In ancient times, before the rise of ponykind, before Equestria as we know it, there was still a power in our word. A majestic species, powerful and proud, glorious and valorous, masters of the sky and winds. In ancient times, there were only the griffons.” The cloud parted and the illusion of a griffon dove out behind it, talons wide open. Ditzy squeaked and ducked under the illusionary talons. A light, like a sunset, rose up behind the griffon, and the silhouette of a grand city could be seen.

”Their capital was named Griffonstone, or The Mountain Crown. Before Canterlot, this was the capital of the world. It has been said that every house was built of gold and marble, and that the northern wind itself had shaped the mountain with the griffons need in mind. Within the sacred Ironfeather Citadel, resided the Griffon King, Commander of the Areal Legions, Subduer of the Four Winds and Monarch of the Sky and Clouds.”

Ditzy sat with wide open, veering eyes and looked as Trixie conjured up building after building, each more beautiful than the last. A library, a statue, a monument, a bazaar, and lastly a palace.

”But still,” Trixie said with a grave voice. ”There was one thing and one thing only, that the griffons held in higher regard than all marble, all gold, and all gems in the world. The treasure that bound their kind together in pride and ambition. An artifact known as…”

The cloud closed over the magnificent buildings, and seemed to wrap itself around something. The blue mass pulsed once and the broke up like a rosebud spreading to reveal the pristine flower.

”The Idol of Boreas.” A collective gasp went through the gathered ponies. A golden idol, in the shape of a griffon claw and wing, hovered in midair. Set in it was a blood red orb that seemed to pulse with a light of its own.

”This great and powerful artifact is said to have been formed by the dust of golden sunsets, blown across the mountains by the North winds. The idol was never crafted. It was found, residing deep within a volcano. According to griffon legend, the gold it is made from represents earth, the wing represents air, and the orb represents fire, the three elements in griffon mythology. The idol was the very world bowing down to the greatness of the griffon race.”

With a flick of her cape, Trixie scattered the cloud and hid the idol. ”This, my friends, is what we are after. This is what will buy Twilight Sparkle.”

Trixie silenced. Ditzy clopped her hooves and fluttered excitedly with her wings. Her smile was that of a filly who just had heard the happy ending of an adventure story. ”Yay! Griffons are great! I like them already! Go Griffonstone! WOOO!”

”Wait a moment, m’kay!” Suri said with a look of realization. ”Where did you get that idol?”

Trixie smiled and picked out her Idol of Boreas from the cape. ”A certain Wizard had it made, and Trixie picked it up at a jeweler in Manehattan yesterday.”

”We will switch them,” Flam explained. ”Get into the city, switch the two, and get out. When the griffons notice our ruse, we will already be centuries away.”

”Perfect, now can I go to sleep?” Flim said with a yawn. ”After all, we will need all the sleep we can get if we are going to be awake for centuries.”

”But you just said-” Ditzy began. She silenced when Flim held out a muffin to Ditzy. The gray pegasus smiled and began to munch at her fifteenth muffin for the night.

*****

The next morning, eight ponies and a parrot, all in various degrees of excitement, entered the blue police box. They were all surprised when they came inside; it seemed much than it looked from the outside. In fact, they could all stand in it without any problem, even if it was somewhat cramped. ”Now,” Doctor Whooves said as he scuffed past Suri and Filthy to get to the control panel. Just above it sat the Electro Orb like a blue eye staring down on them. ”When do you want to travel to?”

”The Great and Powerful Trixie has calculated that King Guto was crowned around thousand-six-hundred and seventy-five years ago,” Trixie said proudly. ”We will strike then, as that is the last time the idol is mentioned in Trixie’s book.”

Doctor Whooves nodded and turned a multitude of levers and knobs. Two slim metal rods whirred on either side of the electro orb and locked it in a vice grip. A small light on the control flashed from red to green. Doctor Whooves nodded at the light and pushed a lever upwards.

”All set, my friends,” he said proudly. ”Everything is set just as it shall. Make sure no pony touches anything in this room for the reminder of the travel. When you arrive, switch this,” he pointed at a gauge beside a couple of knobs, ”to today’s date. That will make time backtrack, so that you end up a few minutes from now. Just don’t touch anything else, or I don’t know when you will end up.”

The ponies in the police box all scuffed closer to each other. The scene could probably qualify as somewhat immoral, but not even Suri cared. She looked at the walls as if they might burn her, and scuffed even closer to Filthy. Prankster was the only one who seemed unfazed. He flew lazily in the air and landed on a lever, enacting a panicked gasp from most ponies in the room.

”Hey, look, old pal,” Flim said with his most persuasive voice, ”would you come here, eh?”

The parrot looked back, unimpressed. He bent down and bit the lever handle.

”Seeds!” Flim yelled in panic and threw some up in the air. Prankster took wing and landed on the floor, munching up his booty.

”I… guess that’s it,” Doctor Whooves said with a deadpan look. ”I will see you in a few minutes. Or centuries, in your case.” The earth pony trotted out of the door.

”Bye, Doc!” Ditzy said, happy as ever. She fluttered out of the crowd and waved at the doctor.

”Allonz-y!” Doctor Whooves said with a wave and closed the door. He went a few ponylengths back to watch. He knew it would work, of course, but still, to see it. To see his dream come true. His heart began to beat a little faster.

Inside the time machine, the ponies had loosened up a bit, but they were still careful not to get close to the walls, or Prankster.

”Well, seeing how this was your idea Ditzy,” Flam said with an exhilarated voice. ”Perhaps you should begin it?”

”Pull the lever, Kronk!” Suri shouted. Six pairs of pony eyes and one pair of parrot eyes stared at her. ”Sorry, I don’t now why I said that, m’kay,” she said earnestly, looking a little surprised herself.

Ditzy giggled and pulled the lever down hard.

VAPP!