Trickery Through Time

by Silvermyr

The Quarry Quandary

The ponies looked at one another. Somepony coughed. Ditzy fluffed up her wings a little and looked around, expectantly. Her expression dropped as she realized there would be no flashing lights and dazzling effects this time.

”Well that was… unceremonious,” Trixie was the first to speak after the loud sound. Nothing else had happened; just a loud ”vapp!”, and then nothing more. ”The Great and Powerful Trixie seriously wonders if she has been duped.”

”Only one way to find out,” Flam said in a somewhat cautious voice. He looked just as puzzled as Trixie sounded. ”You open that door now, Great and Powerful Trixie. I’m sure you could take on any monster that might be out there in the Hyperborean Mountains.”

Trixie swallowed and looked at the door. ”Nono, The Great and Powerful Trixie is far too great and powerful to do that. She might frighten the griffons with her awe-inspiring presence. Filthy should open it.”

”I keep you covered,” Filthy said evenly. ”You open.”

Trixie suddenly realized that everypony (and parrot) had backed away a little, leaving her closest to the door. If she didn’t want to look like a coward, there was only one thing to do. She put on her game face and trotted up to the door with a lot more moxie than she felt. She swallowed once, yanked it open and then dodged backwards.

Trixie looked out through the same cave as she had entered last evening, only that the tents and doctor were gone. She felt the worries melt away. She hopped outside with a spring in her step and casually strolled to the cave exit. She heard the rest of her friends follow her out.

She stepped outside and basked in the clear sunlight. She looked up and was greeted by the light blue sky and crisp mountain air. A few large black, vulture-like birds soared through the sky. Trixie took a deep breath and let a wide smile spread over her lips.

”Well I’ll be…” an awestruck Filthy Rich said beside Trixie.

”Trixie is sorry if she has blinded you with her beauty, she can’t help it,” Trixie said softly. ”She apologizes and-”

When Trixie turned to look at her friends, she found they all turned away from her, facing the sunrise. Trixie felt her ears twitch as she recognized the sound of jaws hitting the ground. That sound often accompanied her shows. She followed her friends’ looks, and her own jaw joined theirs at the ground. On a mountaintop a while away, sat Griffonstone.

Trixie now understood why the city was also named ”The Mountain Crown”. It was much larger than she had imagined, and built atop and into the sides of a lonesome mountain. Even from this distance, she could see the gleaming rooftops and snow-white buildings. The most commanding sight however, was the giant tree-like formation that rose on one side of the city. It seemed to hold up the most striking buildings, lifting them out of the city like a gargantuan talon and present them to the sky above.

”Beautiful,” Topsy said in a soft, revering voice that Trixie had never heard before.

”I can only agree,” Flam said. ”Wonder… what happened to it?”

”This cannot be because some lost chunk of gold, can it?” Suri asked. ”Like, the place we saw in our time looked like Rarity had planned it. Must be something more to it, m’kay. I’d never guess they were even the same place.”

”And wasn’t the mountain cracked back home?” Ditzy asked tentatively.

Trixie started at Ditzy’s comment and looked again. The mountain was whole. She recalled the Griffonstone she had seen when they went up the mountain yesterday, or rather, when she had gone up the mountain hundreds of years minus one day in the future ago.

She could still see the tree shaped whatever-it-was, but in her time there had not been any city worth mentioning below it and, as Ditzy said, the whole mountain had been cracked in two back in her time. Here it was whole.

”Come on,” Trixie said. ”Trixie wants to see this city up close. Maybe even put on a show here.”

”Do recall that we are working,” Flam reminded lightly.

Trixie humphed. ”Shows are Trixie’s work; she would be working much harder than any of you.”

Suri shook her head and started up the path. The others followed. Strangely, the road up to the city was in worse condition now than it was in the time they came from. In fact, to call it a road was far to generous. It was more of a natural, narrow path. The griffons evidently had not made much use of it. In fact, its only travelers seemed to be the mountain goats that prowled the mountainsides.

It was also a stressful road to walk, narrow and steep with a steep fall on one side. Topsy and Ditzy could fly, but the others had to walk in a line.

”SCREEEECH!” The deafening cry of an eagle came from above the seven ponies. Before anypony had the chance to react, a large feathered mass had fallen from the sky and nailed Ditzy down on the ground.

”What in-” Flim began, but silenced as another griffon swept from the sky and viciously tackled him straight into the mountain wall. The hard rock knocked the wind from him and he fell down on the ground, still processing what had happened. A large talon drew him up and pinned him to the wall. He looked into the regal, golden eye of a rust red and white griffon. It had an elaborate armor and held a spear in the other talon. He looked to his right and saw that another ambusher had pinned Topsy down as well, even if the griffon had to struggle to keep him down.

”BROTHER!” Flam screamed in utter panic. Before he had taken one step, two more griffons had appeared and hovered with spears pointed at the four remaining ponies.

”Give in, lesser creatures,” one of the griffons said with a foreboding tone. The four free ponies looked around with varying degrees of fear and surprise, from Trixie and Suri’s quivering to Ditzy’s sobbing and squirming. Flam hyperventilated and stood completely still with a dumb look on his face.

They were standing on a narrow cliff edge, and they had four griffons against them. Even factoring out that the griffons had hostages, Suri could do anything against enemies that could fly, and all Flam could do was energy beams, which were probably blocked by the griffons armor anyway. ”L-look,” he said slowly, several octaves above his normal pitch. ”W-we… we are just on our way up to Griffonstone. We haven’t done anything.”

The griffon ringleader laughed. ”Haven't done anything? Your very existence is a crime. Your kind is a blight upon our beautiful land of Griffrik. Had menial labor not been below the grandeur of us griffons, I would have you all fed to the vultures immediately.”

”W-what?” Ditzy peeped from under one of the griffon talons that held her. ”But we haven’t done anything!” The cloud gray pegasus wriggled under the talon, trying desperately to get loose. The griffon did not budge an inch.

The griffon leader laughed again. ”This is a slow one. And stupid looking too,” the rest of the griffons laughed. It was not lost on Flim that the few of his friends he could see had some of their fear replaced by anger.

”You know what I hate more than ponies?” The griffon leader said as he stalked up to Ditzy. The pegasus seemed more and more terrified for each step the imposing creature took. ”Stupid ponies, ponies who can’t even serve the glorious griffon race.” He pointed his spear at Ditzy’s veering eyes. ”I should kill you right now. Do Griffrik a favor…”

”YOU WON’T-T-TUOUCH HER!” Topsy screamed with a voice so sharp Flim was surprised his mane wasn’t cut by it. He looked away from the spear pointed at the shaking and praying Ditzy and over to the other pegasus. He immediately wished he hadn’t. Topsy never looked perfectly stable, but now he looked far worse than Flim had ever seen him. Everything about him seemed hellbent on hurting the griffon; hurting him badly. His eyes looked like they would plop out of their sockets, and his mouth was contorted in a twisted, frothing and downright unequestrian grimace. The griffin who held him visibly struggled.

”And what happens if I do?” the griffon said. Flim was stunned by his stupidity. He was pretty sure there were rodents clever enough to figure out that you should not anger Topsy, but apparently this griffon was not that clever. ”What are you going to do about it, huh, lesser creature?”

”R-rip your w-wings off and m-m-make you e-eat them. He-he,” Topsy responded, and his face settled into a look of eerie calm, even if he had a twisted type of smile on his lips. ”C-Crush the b-bone in your b-beak and m-m-make you s-suck out the m-mar-row.”

Flam felt sick. He knew Topsy was extremely protective of Ditzy, and if he was turned loose right now, he probably would do exactly what he said. Based on the expressions of his friends, Flim was not alone in this insight.

”Vermin,” one of the griffons said, a female, by the voice. ”Let’s kill them and get back to Griffonstone.”

”No, I’d rather cash in the payment,” the ringleader said with an amused voice. ”Some of these look strong for being lesser. Might fetch a nice price.”

The female looked at them with malice, but shrugged. ”Don’t try anything stupid, or I won’t be so nice,” she said as she stalked up to a terrified Suri. The fuchsia mare backpedaled, but with a graceful leap the female griffon captured her and flew up. The other griffons picked up (or, in the case of Topsy, wrestled) the other ponies into the air and carried them towards Griffonstone.

They all held very still, and clung to the griffons for dear life. It was very rare for unicorns and earth ponies to experience something like this, so acrophobia was not uncommon for those two races. The griffon leader snorted, and Flam had a feeling his dislike towards ponies just got a little worse.

*****

Suri hissed in pain as the griffon roughly threw her on the ground. She rose slowly and was met with disdainful glares from every direction; she had an involuntary flashback to when she was walking out on the runway to fashion week, only now her audience hated her.

Despite the situation, she could not help but to be stunned by the grandeur of the city. Each and every house, down to the humblest hovel, was built of blinding white marble with ornaments of gold. They were even marched past a large pool, half the size of Ponyville. A few fledging griffons were bathing in the crystal clear water. ”The Griffons have literarily built the world’s largest birdbath,” Suri thought absently.

”Move, supplicants,” The griffon leader rumbled. Suri kept her head low and ears flat as she went through the hateful city. She cast a look at her companions. Flam, Ditzy, Trixie looked downright terrified, Only Flim and Filthy looked somewhat calm. Topsy did not look very scared either, albeit for a whole other reason than the others. He looked like he wanted to snap the griffon’s neck. Suddenly they came up to the mountain edge.

”Griffon greatness,” another griffon with a spear said without taking notice of the ponies.

”Griffon glory,” The griffon leader answered. ”I bring Taskmaster Gamon more quarry slaves. Interested?”

”You are lucky,” The guard said with a loud voice. ”A cave-in just killed twenty of them, so I imagine Gamon will want every filthy little slave he can get.” The griffon guard took off. Suri’s heart hammered painfully hard in her chest. When did it all go so wrong? What did she do to deserve this?

”How much do you think we will even get for these?” The griffon female sneered. ”They look too weak to last an hour.”

”Of course they look weak, they are,” the leader replied superiorly. ”But at least now they can serve Griffonstone.” He turned to the ponies. ”You hear that, vermin? Now I’m kind, am I not? You get to die serving the great griffon race.”

”I-I-I don’t want to die!” Ditzy whimpered. ”I-I have a-a foal…”

The griffon leader chuckled darkly. ”Then you shouldn’t have been born a lowly pony.”

A loud thud made the earth shake a little. Another griffon, larger than the guards, had just landed and were striding slowly up to the captive ponies. Suri looked at him, quite surprised. While the new griffon was large, he really did not seem strong at all. He was just large because he was fat. His feathers were dirt-white and (of all colors) glaring pink. He also had an ugly scar over his right eye and the base of his beak. In the leather belt around his barrel, the griffon has stuck a short chisel like object. Suri moaned lowly when she noted that the tip of the chisel had the unmistakable color of dried blood. The guards all stood at attention. ”Griffon Greatness, Taskmaster Gamon, sir. We bring you fresh quarry slaves.”

”Gwiffin Glowy. Thlaveth you thay?” The large griffon said with sloppy, and surprisingly squeaky voice. His small, peering eyes looked to the ponies from under innumerable calluses. He got a foul(er) look in his face. ”Well, let’th thee then.” The taskmaster unslung his chisel and went up to Suri who stood closest to him. He examined her body quickly, but thankfully did not touch her. She nearly threw up when he came closer and his putrid smell intensified. It reminded of rotten leek and mold. ”Beh, weak,” the taskmaster said demeaningly and struck her roughly with the shaft of the chisel. Suri squeaked, mostly because the filth she knew she got on herself with that hit. Gamon sneered a vile sort of smile at her misery. ”Thwow them in!”

*****

Flim looked glumly around the quarry he had been dumped into. Three sides were glaring white marble, and scores of ponies were hacking out large chunks of stone. Griffon guards patrolled the upper parts of the quarry, lazily keeping track of the slaves. The final side of the quarry lacked wall altogether; there was a plummeting precipice instead. Around the walls were wooden, crane-like structures for lifting out the blocks of stone. Flim made a mental note about the cranes. Maybe he could get some rope from them, seeing how all their equipment had been taken.

”You four newcomers, get to work!” An earth pony with stark orange coat and softer orange mane said sharply. She had, of all things, a jar of some sort for a cutie mark. ”You don’t fill your quotas, you won’t eat, understood?”

”Really, now?” Flim responded with sarcastic merriment. ”Well, we can’t have that now, can we? Come on, you guys!” The unicorn smiled wistfully and trotted of to the edge of the quarry, heightened the small pickaxe in his magic and began hacking away. His still jumpy friends followed tentatively.

”What are you doing?” Filthy whispered, angry and uneasy. ”We can’t stay here and hack stone, we must find Suri, Ditzy and Trixie.”

”Yea, right, because they will definitely let us stroll around as we please,” Flim hissed back. ”Wait until tonight, then we will see what we can do.”

”I wo-won’t leave D-Ditzy in their c-clawsss,” Topsy said with a voice that foretold murder most grisly.

”You will if I say so,” Flim said with a sharp voice. Topsy snapped towards Flim with a not-at-all controlled expression on his face. Flim remained unfazed. ”I am not going to let your impatience get us in trouble, or worse, killed,” Flim said and swung the pickaxe down in the stone again, sending splinters flying. ”Do you understand what I’m saying, Tamer? You do as I say, or we will all pay for it.”

Topsy got a look of realization on his face, but the anger did not go away. ”Get me a p-pickaxe,” he mumbled. Before anypony had said anything, be had picked up an axe and bashed it so hard in the wall the blade disappeared into the stone. Flim had a feeling Topsy envisioned bashing it into something else.

”Any ideas, Flam?” Filthy asked the mustached unicorn, who was standing by the wall with a sullen, confused look.

Flam gave a sigh. ”No. No, I haven’t got a plan. Not a clue.”

”What do you mean, ’no clue’? You always have a plan, get planning.” Filthy hissed impatiently.

”Well I don’t have any plan, that’s what I mean,” Flam said impatiently before he turned away from Filthy and began to hack at the wall with angry, cleaving sweeps.

”Leave my brother be for a while,” Flim mumbled. ”He is not good at adapting to unexpected situations very quick. Let him work things out in his own pace and he will have a plan cooked up soon. And I have a feeling the griffons are going to get the blunt end of it.”

”Stop with your rambling, newcomers!” the harsh voice from the orange mare came again. "You only speak when spoken to, understood?" She held a whip in her mouth. Flim looked over it quickly. It was long and slim, but without the metal tip that would make it a real weapon. It was just meant to dish out pain, not create severe injuries. Flim hatched a plan over the course of the next two seconds.

”No!” Flim said and turned on the taskmaster. ”Get picking yourself!”

The orang pony stood paralyzed for a moment. ”How dare you! I WILL WHIP YOU BLOODY!” she screamed and made a circular motion with her head. The whip snapped once and darted toward’s Flim’s smug face. The other ponies in the quarry turned to watch, alerted by the taskmaster’s scream. They saw her whip fly at the cocky newcomer, and expected him to fall to his hooves screaming and bleeding.

”Aaaand it’s The Equilibrist!” Flim called in a flamboyant voice as he brought up his hoof and caught the whiplash with it. He was sure to suppress the whimper of pain. It felt like she had hammered a red hot nail through his fetlock. Flim forced some magic into his horn and wrapped it around the part of the whip that had struck him. With practiced ease, he pulled the leash and tied it around his hoof. The mare got a startled look in her eyes.

”Perhaps you are more used to prisoners than fighters?” Flim said and yanked hard with his hoof. The mare bit down on the shaft of the whip, but it was made of lacquered wood and slid out between her teeth. Without missing a beat, Flim threw the slim leash at the mare. ”Tangletrap,” he said with a grin as both her front legs were tangled together.

”GUARDS!!!!” The mare screamed as she fell. ”SLAVE IS ESCAPING!”

A thunderous sound made Flim aware that at least one griffon had landed. ”Okay, so improvisation didn’t work. Crap,” he thought before an eagle claw hit him across the face and muzzle.

*****

Ditzy quivered in fear and she felt her eyes tear up as she looked back on the light behind the cave bend. She whimpered miserably and trotted up to Suri. The fuchsia earth pony let her press close. ”How long you think they want us down here?” she asked anxiously. ”I don’t like being underground.”

Suri was about to give an annoyed reply, but stopped herself when she saw Ditzy’s frightened look. ”I don’t know, m’kay, but the others are still in the quarry just outside. We are all in this together, and Flam certainly has got a plan.”

The three ponies shuffled hesitantly through the narrow crack in the quarry wall. It was just barely wide enough for them to squeeze through, and the air was hot and damp. The only light came from some very spares lanterns that seemed to glow not by fireflies but fire. With one last squeeze, Suri pressed herself out of the narrow tunnel and got out into a larger cavern. Ten-something ponies all stood by the walls and hacked at them. In the middle of the cavern was a pile of rocks. Every now and again one of the slaves threw a chunk of stone on it.

”Alright, you three, front and center!” a cream white foal with light green mane said with a commanding look. He had a short crop and a pickaxe in his in a belt around his body. Suri and Trixie stopped more in because it was a colt than because of what he had said, but Ditzy stiffened immediately, looking at the crop. ”Name’s Gneiss Pick, overseer of this mineshaft. So you guys answer to me and do exactly as you are told, and no one gets in trouble. You want to hack out the gold ore, so keep your eyes peeled for that.”

”So you are the boss?” Ditzy asked. She ruffled her wings and looked around the cramped space of the mine. ”When can we get out? I don’t like this.”

”And how come you are the overseer anyway?” Suri asked with a bumptious voice. Trixie and Ditzy looked at her, quite confident that she just had said the least clever thing she could.

”Trixie requests that you do not upset the little despot within the first two minutes of arrival,” Trixie whispered to Suri.

The colt eyed Suri with a contemplating look for a moment, and then turned to Ditzy. ”You get out in the quarry again at sundown, and if you have filled your quota, that’s when you will be fed.” Gneiss Pick paused expectantly. ”And you are not going to fill anything unless you get picking. Grab a pickaxe and get to it.” The colt motioned towards a rack of tools. Nopony moved. Gneiss frowned impatiently. ”Get to it already, or you'll taste the crop. I’m not going to let you nincompoops get me in trouble.”

That was all persuasion Ditzy needed. She grabbed one of the pickaxes in her mouth and proceeded to swing it at the wall where she could see a faint glimmer of metal. The reverberating vibration through the pick made her think her teeth would splinter, but she did not stop. Suri and Trixie came up beside her and started working. Gneiss looked at them and took the crop in his mouth.

After a few minutes, Gneiss Pick seemed convinced that they had understood and turned around to a small hole in the wall. Suri glanced as the colt got down on his belly and nimbly slid into the hole.

”That explains why he is the overseer, Trixie guesses,” Trixie said as she swung the pickaxe with her magic. ”They need a foal to reach some parts of the mine.”

”That’s got to be why they picked us for this,” Suri said as she loosened a large chunk of rock. ”We three are the smallest ones, m’kay. The stallions would likely hit their heads in the ceiling.”

Ditzy hacked as if her life depended on it, swinging the pickaxe again and again, oblivious and uncaring to the splinters that flew through the air and stung her upper body. Her eyes were wide open and her mouth were locked in a meek grimace. Trixie set down her pickaxe and gently patted Ditzy on the back. ”It’s alright,” she mumbled to the terrified pegasus. ”It’s just for a few hours. Trixie is certain the others already have found away out.”

”I don’t like underground,” Ditzy said unhappily again. ”I can’t fly here. Defenseless, captured, trapped, r-ripe for the picking…”

”Shut it,” Suri said glumly. ”Not helping, m’kay.”

Ditzy did not seemed much calmer at that comment. She took up the pickaxe again, but Trixie stopped it with her magic.

”At least listen to Trixie for a moment,” Trixie said with a soft voice Ditzy had never heard before. It was kind. Not Trixie’s normal haughty, superior type of kind, but genuinely, honest-to-Celestia kind. ”Close your eyes when you swing the pick, else you will get splinters in your eyes.” Trixie reached out a hoof and turned Ditzy’s face to her. ”Alright? And try to hit a little higher up on the wall. It’s better for your neck.”

”Hw tho you mow?” Ditzy asked through the shaft of the pickaxe. Trixie crooked an eyebrow. Ditzy spit out the pickaxe. ”How do you know all that?”

Trixie chuckled despite everything. ”Would you believe The Great and Powerful Trixie if she said she was once a rock farmer?”

In image of Trixie rolling a rock in front of her over a stony field, all the while explaining her greatness to the rocks, flashed over Ditzy’s mind. She couldn’t help but to giggle a little. She got perplexed looks from some of the other slaves around the small cave, but most of them seemed to absorbed in by their work to pay much attention.

”Quiet you two,” Suri hissed quickly. ”The little tyrant is coming back.”

Trixie hugged Ditzy very quick and gave a reassuring smile before she got back to work. Ditzy took up the pickaxe again and closed her eyes before she struck the rock.

*****

Ditzy took a breath as deep as she could manage when she was let out of the sweltering gloom of the mine. The sun was setting and colored the sky in golden indigo. Even such dim light was enough to make her squint, but the air was like freshly baked muffins in her mouth. The other ponies from the cave scuffed around her with annoyed mumbles. Suri and Trixie came up, both considerably more miserable than Ditzy.

It was clear that Trixie was not used to levitating anything for too long. She had been sweating after just a few minutes, and had to pick like an earth pony after just an hour. After that, she had used her magic to rest her neck, and vice versa, tiering more and more.Now she was stumbling out panting. The light made her close her cover her eyes with one hoof, and she would have fallen if Ditzy had not caught her with her wing.

”T..Trixie is… thankful for that.” Trixie said as she caught her breath.

”Come on, let’s find the others,” Suri said sharply. ”We need something to eat, like now.”

Trixie nodded and looked out over the quarry. Hunger had indeed been a scourge to their moods and spirits, and Suri had been stingy for hours now.

”Why?” A soft and sinister voice that reminded of Flam’s came from behind a few stone chunks. ”We don’t need no why; might makes right, in’t that right, eh?”

”Right,” Filthy’s voice joined Flam’s.

”Does it now?” A gruff voice that Ditzy did not recognize asked. ”Well, in that case, you newcomers have better move out, or you won’t move at all after I’m done.”

The sounds of hooves hitting hooves and cries of pain that followed made Ditzy run the last part and peek carefully behind the rocks. Three of her friends stood in a half circle around Topsy and a burly looking earth pony. Topsy stood still with his back against Ditzy, and the earth pony laid in a lump in front of him, evidently sent there by Topsy. Flim or Flam went up to the earth pony.

”See, might does indeed make us right. Now you go and find someplace else to rest. This is our place now.”

”You bastards! Do you think you can just come in here and-” Topsy shot from standstill and smacked the earth pony with dashing speed behind him. The blow lifted his enemy from the ground and sent him flying backwards into the stone wall. He fell down limp.

”Yep, we think,” Flim or Flam said merrily.

”NO! TOPSY!” Ditzy screamed and bolted up to the stallion and stopped to look for a moment, then she turned to Topsy, ”Oh, how could you? He was here first. We can’t just gang up on somepony like this, it’s mean and wrong and-”

”Ditzy?”

”We are better ponies than that! This… this is just bullying.” Ditzy’s face radiated disappointment and sadness, but no anger. ”You must keep yourself in check, Topsy, you must! Not for me, or our friends, but for everypony!”

”Ditzy?”

”Now you are going to help me get him up again and then we will apologize with muffins and apologies, you hear me? And then-”

Trixie gasped and took a terrified hoof step back. Suri looked like she had seen a ghost.

”That bad huh?” Flim said with wry smile that immediately turned to a grimace. ”I haven’t been able to check yet.”

Ditzy took her veering eyes off Topsy and looked at the twins. She let out a squeak and stared, the earth pony all but forgotten.

It looked like some giant bird had slashed one of the twins right over his face. The blood had coagulated into a mask over his still mirthful smile. Combined with his peppermint mane and smiling, grass green, eyes, it all had a horrifying comedic tone, like a dark parody of a clown.

”I told you to clean that off,” Filthy said with a shake of his head.

”So that it can bleed again? No thanks,” Flim responded dourly. ”And clean with what for that matter?”

”What happened to you?” Suri asked in a puzzled voice. She tentatively reached out a hoof and touched Flim’s mauled face as if to confirm that it was indeed for real. Flim winced at the touch.

”I may or may not have pissed somepony off,” he said sheepishly.

”That didn’t take long,” Trixie said, doing her best to speak in a collected voice. ”Trixie guesses she should not be surprised, but still…”

”He tangled up the taskmaster with her own whip, after which some griffon guard did… that,” Filthy clarified.

”It could have worked…” Flim defended. ”Okay, no it couldn’t. No more split-second plans, I promise.”

”That must be washed,” Ditzy said with a lot of worry and even more authority. ”Lay down.”

”N-no w-water,” Topsy pointed out. He had subtly moved to stand by the unconscious earth pony with one hoof firmly on the neck.

”Then get some,” Ditzy said.

”And bring some food too,” Suri added under her breath.

”Or picture this,” Flim said. ”We wait until we have gotten food and hopefully water. Somepony said that we were supposed to be fed at sundown. I don’t want anypony to walk around alone here.”

”We will have to use that water for drinking, m’kay.” Suri pointed out. ”else we will faint from thirst tomorrow.”

”One does not exclude the other,” Flam interjected with a shrug. Suri and Filthy both looked ready to throw up at that statement.

”You mean that we will have to… drink that water? The same used to clean his wounds?” Suri said with a part worried part you-are-kidding-me voice. ”No! I won’t! We are ponies of Equestria, not…” Suri hesitated as she tried to come up with a fitting word, ”vile animals!”

”We are in fact, we are pretty much animals. We are slaves,” Flam replied callously. ”Equestria as we know it doesn’t even exist yet.”

”You can’t be serious!” Suri screamed, now more angry than anything else. ”You… We…NO!” She stomped.

”Yesss,” Topsy hissed with an annoyed glare that caused Suri to instinctively take a step back. ”I won’t-t let your p-pride and cowardice hurt-t any of us-s.”

”I am a mare of principles,” Suri said sharply. ”I can’t, m’kay? I will throw up if I try.”

”To Tartarus with your principles,” Flam said icily. ”I’m not goning to let your cowardice hurt my brother; either you do as I say right now, or immediately.”

Suri was about to give an angry reply, but Filthy stopped her with a motion of his hoof. ”Suri,” he said softly. ”I know how you feel. I… I am not sure I can do that either, in all honesty.” He bent his head in shame. ”I have eaten off gold plates all my life. Everything I pointed at has always been given to me on a silver platter, with two extra copies to spare. I’m… not sure I can… can drink unclean water without throwing it up afterwards.”

He looked Suri in the eyes. ”But that won’t stop me from trying, okay? We must do the best in this bad situation, we must help one another. If I do it, won’t you too? ’joy shared, joy doubled…’?”

”Sorrow shared, sorrow halved.” Suri finished with a grumble. She looked around at her friends. ”We will see,” she said.

Filthy nodded. ”Excellent news.”

Flam gritted his teeth. ”I’m sorry, Suri. I… should not have snapped at you.” Suri believed Flam was truly sorry, even if he was awkward when he said it. He was probably not used to being wrong very often.

”Awww, how adorable.”

The seven ponies turned around and saw the orange mare who Flim had tied up grinning at them. At her side stood Quarry Master Gamon. The foul, onion like stench that surrounded the fat griffon was discernible even a few ponylengths away. ”I think I’m getting all misty eyed here.”

”Me too,” Flim said casually. ”It’s sad really, that a taskmaster can’t even keep her enslaved and unarmed supplicants in check. It kinda defeats the purpose of you, doesn't it?”

Flam shot an angry glare at his brother.

The orange mare turned slightly red. She took a deep breath and gave a strained smile. ”Didn’t you learn what happened to you last time you crossed me?”

”As I recall, my brother tied you up,” Flam reminded bitingly.

”He surprised me,” The mare responded. ”Won’t happen again, I assure you.”

”No, I thertainly hope tho,” Gamon slurred.

”Yea… sure,” Flim said to the orange mare with a roll of his eyes.

”Did you actually want something?” Flam asked quickly, throwing another angry look at his sibling.

”No, nothing,” the fat griffon said. The orange mare looked at him with a shocked expression. ”Jutht wanted to know who downed Marmalade with such eathe.”

”H-he did not down me!” the mare, evidently named Marmalade, exclaimed and gave Flim a withering glare.

”Thut up,” Gamon said with a disdainful look to Marmalade. ”Go away, filthy pony.”

”But… but you…” Marmalade opened and closed her mouth a few times. She pointed to Flim and Flam. ”They opposed me! They disturb the work. They must be punished.”

Gamon didn’t answer, but snorted dismissively. ”I will punith you for incompetenthe,” he said shortly and tapped his chisel. The anger in Marmalade’s eyes was replaced with fear. She gave a weak whimper and backed away. Gamon came forward and studied Flim and Flam with his peering eyes. He looked back to where the earth pony stallion was still knocked out.

”You two theem to have a talent for violenthe,” Gamon said approvingly. ”I like that…” The massive griffon turned away and flew off with visible effort. Marmalade scampered after him with a hateful and teary glare at Flim and Flam.

”Have you learnt nothing, brother of mine? Don’t anger them!” Flam said sharply to his brother, who flinched at the brother’s anger. ”This is not the time to work on your snappy comebacks or to run heedlessly into whatever half formed plan you can cook up; THINK FOR ONCE!”

”Come!” Ditzy interrupted urgently and pushed on Topsy and Filthy. ”We must go after them. He is going to do something horrible to her, I just know it. Flim, please tell me you have a plan?”

”I’m not the planner here,” Flim said with a neutral look towards where Gamon had flown off too. ”But… ” Flim glanced to his brother. ”…whatever plan we cook up, leave me out of it.”

”Better,” Flam said shortly. ”Now… weren’t we supposed to have food about now? I’m starving.”

The others looked with uncertain glances towards the two unicorn brothers. ”Soo…” Filthy began tentatively, ”you are not gonna help her?”

Flim did not answer but once again glanced to his brother.

”Oh, I’m not a vengeful type of stallion,” Flam said with shrug. ”But those who dare to even crook a hair on my brother I might just make exceptions for. Let’s just say I won’t lose sleep if Marmalade suffers a little for touching him.”

”But… you can’t do that!” Ditzy exclaimed, more confused than anything else. ”She will be hurt! We must help her, we simply must.”

”Why would I?” Flam asked with a businesslike tone.

”Because it’s the right thing to do!” Ditzy responded instantly. ”You are better ponies than to just leave somepony like that. I know you, I know you are kind at heart.”

”I can be kind when I want to,” Flam said. ”But if you hurt my brother then I often don’t feel too inclined to be.”

”I agree,” Suri interjected. ”We have enough problems on our own, without having to worry about complete strangers who would try to beat us up.”

”MEANIES!” Ditzy screamed defiantly. ”HOW CAN YOU BE SO… SO BAD!? THAT MARE WILL BE HURT AND YOU WILL JUST STAND BY?” Ditzy glared, her golden eyes filled with hurt and disappointment.

”Ditzy, look-” Flam began with a calming tone, but was interrupted.

”No, you look! Look up from your plans and see what is happening around you, Flim!” Ditzy continued. She looked back at the six other ponies. Only Flam and Topsy met her gaze, the others looked down on the ground. ”I thought you were better than that,” she mumbled sadly and turned away.

”Where are you going?” Trixie asked hesitantly.

”I’m going to get Marmalade out of there,” Ditzy said.

Ditzy heard a light tap and a flutter just behind her, and immediately afterwards felt something hit her hard, yet gently in between her wings. Before she had realized what had happened, the world spun around and for a moment, up was down. When she stabilized, Topsy was beneath her; somehow he had tackled her, gone into a somersault and landed on the ground with Ditzy on top of him. She had not suffered the slightest scratch, but was now caught in Topsy’s iron hard grip.

”Let me go!” Ditzy shouted as she tried to pull herself free. Topsy’s grip did not budge an inch.

”I cannot,” Topsy said repentantly. ”I’m not going to let you hurt yourself for that mare, nor anypony else.”

”I decide what I will do!” Ditzy screamed down as she redoubled her effort. ”You can’t just stop me like this! I’m my own pony!”

”I won’t let you do this,” Topsy said evenly.

”LET ME GO!” Ditzy screamed at the top of her lungs. ”LET ME GO! LET ME GO!”

Topsy shook his head. ”You s-stay here with us. I’m n-not going to let you out of sight. I will keep you… s-safe, always. Even from yourself.”

Ditzy choked on a sob, lifted a shaking hoof and struck Topsy over his muzzle. The other pegasus didn’t react. ”A-Always,” he said. Ditzy struck him again, the chest this time. He didn’t move. Tears began to pool in her eyes. She tried again and again, on his wings, his legs and his belly, but she felt like she was hitting a rock. He didn’t move a muscle, and every hit made another tear run down her face. After an undefined timespan she had stopped fighting back. She just stood and cried bitter tears. She felt Topsy’s iron grip loosen up.

”Always,” he mumbled and guided the sobbing and sniffling Ditzy back to the others.

Flam took a deep breath. ”Alright, now that that’s decided, let’s try to find something to eat.” He let an evaluating look sweep over the his friends. ”Filthy, Suri and Trixie, come with me.” They seemed to be the least tired ones aside from Topsy and Flim, but his brother shouldn’t move too much with those wounds, and Topsy would never leave Ditzy now.