The Griffonstonian Job

Author's Note:

Based on the TV show Leverage. You can watch all five original seasons on ElectricNow and probably other places. There's a revival called Leverage: Redemption being released on IMDB TV on July 8. It's a great show: every episode is like a mini-Ocean's 11.

This was an idea I had tooling around in the back of my head for years, and I wanted to get at least this iteration of it out before the revival started. Hope everypony here enjoys!

She glared at the mare across the table. "I know exactly who you are," she said with a sneer. "You're the Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon."

"And I know who you are, Twilight Sparkle" Nightmare Moon said, her wings twitching in agitation. "So you know I wouldn't be coming to you unless I needed help."

"I'm listening."

Nightmare slid the blueprints across the table. "To challenge my sister directly would be lunacy, no pun intended." She tapped the blueprints. "So I've been spending the years since my release designing this. Drained some old holdings that Celestia didn't seize herself–the foal–and funded all the research. I'm about to enter production of the prototype."

"But?"

Nightmare fumed. "Two days ago, my headquarters was raided. It had to have been private contractors; she wouldn't have risked the Solar Guard on this. They stole all the research. Our diagrams, frames, everything."

Twilight looked over the blueprints. "But you still have the blueprints. Can't you work from that?"

Nightmare Moon shook her head. "It'd take another year for us to get back to where we are. I was counting on this prototype to solicit investors."

Twilight nodded. "A new magitec generator design would certainly get you that." She looked up. "How do you know it was Celestia?"

Nightmare grimaced. "Oh, it wasn't her directly. But one of my competitors just announced a major breakthrough to be detailed next week. Sunny Skies Power ring a bell?"

"Publicly traded utility company. What of it?"

Nightmare narrowed her eyes and smiled. "Ignorance does not become you, favored investigator of Princess Celestia."

Twilight's glare returned in full force. "Former investigator," she forced out between clenched teeth. "And certainly not favored."

Nightmare's smile grew. "The crown underwrites Sunny Skies Power. A significant loss will directly affect the treasury."

She leaned in. "How badly do you want to stick it to the mare that cost you your little brother?"

Twilight stared down Nightmare Moon. "You said you have a team assembled already?" she said.

There was an abandoned warehouse a block away from Sunny Skies' headquarters. An orange earth pony walked in. "I still can't believe y'all roped me into this, Rainbow Dash."

She was followed in by a blue pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane. "What's not to love, Applejack? Two hours of work to make what? More than what Flim and Flam would pay you in a year, that's for sure!"

Applejack shook her head. "Ain't honest work."

Rainbow bumped shoulders with her. "What's not honest about it? Someone hits you, you hit back, you get paid. You're not stealing or anything."

"Nope! That's my job!"

A pink earth pony with an even pinker mane landed between them. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie!"

Rainbow gawked. "The Pinkie Pie? The one that stole the Golden Gryphon from the Canterlot Museum vault?"

"Yeppers!" Pinkie said. "We're going to have so much fun!"

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "Huh. Always figured you'd be a unicorn."

Pinkie turned to Applejack, a sultry look in her eyes. "Who says I'm not?"

"Me," Twilight said, walking past the group. "Fluttershy's already set up. We're on the clock, ponies!"

Now it was Pinkie's turn to gawk. "Fluttershy's here? The mare that cracked the alicorn-tier encryption in the Manehatten Central Bank?"

A yellow pegasus peeked out from behind her pink mane and muttered something inaudible.

Twilight sighed. "Yes, that Fluttershy. How much longer until we're in?"

"Oh!" She turned back to her laptop. "Payload is almost uploaded. That'll disable the security system enough for us to get inside and move around, but I'll need physical access to the system to actually get the files." She shrugged her wings. "It's on an airgapped system."

Rainbow gawked. "Did you learn how to do that on your own, or did you have to go to egghead school?"

Fluttershy blushed, ducked her head behind her wing, and mumbled.

"Alright, mares," Twilight said, getting everypony's attention. "Here's the plan:"

Applejack bucked the anchor into the concrete roof of the parking garage across the street from the target. "Launch ready," she said into her radio.

On Sunny Skies' roof, Rainbow Dash tied off the other end of the zipline. "Land ready," she said. Applejack and Pinkie Pie quickly zipped over while Fluttershy silently landed next to them.

"Door's still locked," Dash said, pointing with a wing at the roof access door and its red light.

Fluttershy checked her watch. "Nope," she said.

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow hissed, "the light's–"

"Green," Applejack interrupted.

Rainbow turned to confirm, then looked back to see Fluttershy smirking at her.

"Oh," Rainbow said with a smile. "Oh, you're good."

"You're all good," Twilight added from the warehouse. "Pinkie, Rainbow?"

"Right, right," Rainbow muttered, following Pinkie into the building. "We're headed to the R-and-D room."

Fluttershy led Applejack down two flights of stairs to the server room and started wiring a gadget into the electronic lock.

"How long is that going to take?" Applejack said, eyeing the hallway nervously.

"Depends," Fluttershy said as her gadget started cracking the lock.

"On what? We're kinda exposed out here."

Fluttershy held up her gadget. "On whether the code is closer to zero than one million."

Applejack snorted in frustration. "It's too quiet here," she muttered.

"We've checked the rounds for the security guards," Twilight chimed in. "It's supposed to be quiet in your area for another twenty minutes."

Fluttershy muttered something quietly.

Applejack flicked an ear. "What was that, now?"

Fluttershy ducked her head. Her mouth was moving, but no one, not even on the comms, could hear her.

"Welp," Applejack said with a flick of her tail, "I'm going to check around the corner right quick."

Fluttershy tried to protest as she trotted away but settled for looking back at her screen.

Rainbow and Pinkie had found a wiring closet and were keeping an eye on the camera feeds. "AJ, what are you doing?" Rainbow said.

"Just taking a look around," Applejack said.

Pinkie tapped through the different cameras. "Well, you've got some party poopers on their way. Four of them."

"Two air, two ground," Rainbow added, pointing out the mix of pegasi and earth ponies. "No mares."

"Any apples?"

"No Apples," Rainbow answered. "They're all half Mac's size."

"Applejack, wait," Twilight said.

"Wha–" Rainbow yelled before Pinkie stuffed a cupcake–a cupcake?!–in her mouth.

While Pinkie shushed Rainbow, Twilight continued. "Hide out for a few seconds and come up behind them," she said. "Fluttershy, I need you to hold their attention when they get there."

"Freeze!" the first guard yelled, aiming his stunner at her.

With a quiet "Meep!" Fluttershy backed away from her gadget–still cracking the lock–and lowered her head in surrender.

"Don't move!" the guard said, approaching slowly. The other three took up supporting positions behind him. All of them were focused on Fluttershy.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

Fluttershy mumbled something barely audible.

"Speak up!" They all inched closer.

Fluttershy said something even quieter.

The guards glanced at each other.

"What was that?" the second one said.

Fluttershy looked him in the eye and grinned. "Get wrecked."

Applejack bucked one pegasus into the other, and they both went down in a tangle of legs and wings. The second guard met the back of her hoof, and while he shook off the blow the first guard took a buck to the side. Applejack and the second guard traded block and blows for a beat before he took one final blow that knocked him out.

Applejack turned back to Fluttershy and offered her a hoof. "Y'all all right there?"

Fluttershy nodded. "Thank you," she said quietly, though loud enough to be heard this time. With a glance back at her gadget–still cracking–she went to the nearest knocked-out guard.

"You don't need to check him," Applejack said, not a little defensively. "I know he's out."

Fluttershy just turned him onto his side and repositioned his head into a less-awkward position. "He won't have as stiff a neck when he wakes up now," she explained.

Applejack blinked. Then blinked again. Then, with a sigh, she walked over to check the other earth pony.

Fluttershy pulled her storage device out of the server. "Got the files."

"Good. Now drop the spike," Twilight said.

Fluttershy cackled and hooked a different storage device–this one with a white bunny sticker on it–into the server. One by one, the different connected servers winked out. Applejack swore she smelt the ozone that usually comes from burnt electronics.

"Y'all give them a virus?" she asked as they left the room.

"Angel Bunny," Fluttershy said with a smirk. "Machine learning algo that causes as much damage as possible."

"Well, can you turn it on the alarms?" Pinkie said over the radio. "Because they all just reactivated. We can't leave by the roof."

Applejack looked enviously at Fluttershy's wings. "Anypony got any bright ideas that don't involve flying?" she snarked.

"I have a few," Twilight answered.

The ground floor security guard looked suspiciously at the moving elevator. No pony had come in the building since his shift started at midnight, three hours ago. He held one hoof back on his stunner, ready for anything.

Anything, that is, except three mares escorting a fourth, pink mare with bandages covering two legs and what looked like a significant burn covering the side of her face.

"I'm telling you, it's not my fault!" the blue pegasus said.

"No, of course not," the orange earth pony replied. "It was just your mess we had to clean up before we could get anything done. And now all her pain pills have worn off."

"It's fine, girls," the pink pony said with a very obvious wince as she hobbled with the rest of them to the lobby doors.

The security guard rolled his eyes internally and just held the door open for them.

"No, it's not," the yellow pegasus said. "You need to take care of yourself, especially now."

The guard walked back to his post and sighed. Stupid workaholics.

"C'mon, c'mon, hurry up," Rainbow said, forelegs crossed as she hovered upright.

"I am doing what I can," Fluttershy ground out. "Covering our tracks isn't easy, especially when half these wifi hotspots are just cell phones." She tapped one final key. "But we're done."

"Great," Twilight said. "The money should be in your accounts later today. Good work, everypony."

"Great," Applejack said, turning to leave. "Let's go."

"I don't know," Pinkie said with a grin. "I thought we worked pretty well together."

"Uh-uh," Rainbow said, following Applejack. "One-and-done, no encores."

Fluttershy muttered something softly and started walking in a different direction.

Pinkie looked at Twilight. "It was fun being on the same side, though," she offered.

"No," Twilight said with a glare. "I am not a thief."

Pinkie chuckled as she walked away. "If you say so."

It took at least three rings for Twilight to realize that the phone was ringing in real life and not her dreams.

It took another two for her to roll over. "Spike," she groaned, "can you..."

She blinked. With a muttered curse she fumbled for the phone and answered. "What."

"WHERE ARE MY FILES?"

Twilight sat up. "What?"

"My files, Twilight Sparkle! They were supposed to be uploaded to our secure server!"

Twilight's blood ran cold. Had they been double-crossed? She had triple-checked everything before closing up...

"Fluttershy sent them," she said, doing her best to be articulate after being woken up.

"Well, obviously she didn't," Nightmare moon said. "You've got two hours or you can forget about getting paid!"

"Okay, okay. I'll check with her and be at your office I–"

"YOU WILL NOT!" A breath. "Don't come to the office. Don't be seen with me in public, understand? I've got a warehouse near the Ponyville district; we'll meet there."

Twilight walked into the warehouse to find an already-deteriorated situation. Rainbow was brandishing a personal defense device–a lethal one–at Fluttershy with Applejack standing to the side.

"It was your job to do it!" Rainbow shrieked, waving the device at her.

"I did. Everything. I was supposed to," Fluttershy said back. "Don't point that at me."

"I do what I want!" Rainbow yelled.

"The safety's on," Applejack said.

"Right," Rainbow snarked. "Pull the other one."

Twilight glanced at the device. "No, she's right; the safety's on."

"What?" Rainbow turned to look at the device, but the momentary distraction was enough for Applejack to wrestle it off of her and crack it in two.

She cuffed Rainbow in the back of the head. "Don't do that. Ain't honest."

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head and glowered at Applejack. "What we do isn't honest."

"I do my job," Applejack answered, "I get paid." She turned to glare at Twilight. "Except now."

"Yeah, what gives?" Pinkie said, dropping down from the rafters. "We didn't even get paid in exposure!"

Twilight sat down. "None of you got paid?"

The other four mares looked among each other and shook their heads.

Twilight chuckled. Then started laughing.

"Uh, Twilight?" Pinkie said with a frown. "What's with the sad angry laughing instead of the happy funny laughing?"

"I mean," Twilight wheezed, "the only way to get us all back in the same place is to say we aren't..."

She sobered up quickly. "We're all in the same place."

A beat.

All five mares scrambled toward the exit. Twilight, despite starting closest to the exit, started lagging behind the others. On top of that, she stumbled over a loose pipe and went down hard.

"Stupid unicorns," Rainbow yelled, flying back to Twilight and picking her up as best she could. "Come on!"

As the two of them crossed the threshold of the doorway, an explosion rocked the warehouse. The shockwave blew out all the windows and threw Twilight and Rainbow away from the building. They landed in a heap not too far from the other girls.

They sat for a moment getting their bearings and waiting for the ringing in their ears to die off.

"Well," Applejack said quietly, "what now?"

Pinkie rolled the warehouse door shut behind the rest of the mares. They were left in pitch darkness for a moment until the electric lights finally warmed up.

"We're lucky you had this place, Pinkie," Twilight said, looking around at the spartan space.

"Luck nothing," Pinkie said with a wave of her hoof. "I keep a number of warehouses around for warehouse emergencies."

"You got internet down here?" Fluttershy yelled from the other end of the warehouse.

Pinkie narrowed her eyes and stalked towards Fluttershy. "Why does Equestria's greatest hacker want to know?"

Fluttershy met Pinkie's stare. "You want me to get you all tickets out of town? Kinda need internet for that."

Pinkie stared for a moment before sticking her hoof in the mouth of a gigantic stuffed alligator and pulling out a laptop. "No funny business," she said.

Fluttershy mumbled a reply as she started tapping away.

"Like to rearrange her face," Rainbow muttered. "Leave her with more craters than the moon she fell out of."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Applejack snarked back. "She knows your face. She knows all our faces."

"We really should have told her to stuff it," Fluttershy said from behind the laptop. When everypony looked her way, she turned it around to show a news article about a break-in at Sunny Skies power. The president of the company was describing how designs for a new generator they'd spent five years developing had been stolen.

"Could be a cover story," Twilight ventured.

Fluttershy shook her head. "I cross-checked with the data dump from last night. It's too intricate to fake."

Twilight sighed. "So we didn't steal it back," she said.

"Naw," Applejack finished with a glower. "We just stole it."

Fluttershy turned the laptop back to herself. "Five tickets out of town," she said.

"Why would you do that?" Twilight said absently.

The rest looked at her incredulously.

"Because she tried to kill us?" Rainbow yelled.

"Because she didn't pay us?" Pinkie yelled.

They looked at each other. "How is that more important?" they said at the same time.

"Not you!" Twilight yelled. She looked at the ground. "She needed something flashy. She obviously didn't have anything of her own or she would have just used it. So she's desperate enough to try stealing something." She looked up and smiled. "She's in trouble."

"And we're not?" Applejack answered.

Twilight looked straight at Applejack. "All the stories of Nightmare Moon talked about her wanting adoration. She wants to be loved. Something tells me that killing five ponies wouldn't be worth it to her unless the payoff was incredible–"

"Or she was in trouble," Applejack finished.

Twilight grinned. "She thinks she's the smartest mare in the room. So she pretends to be honest, enough that all of us trust her. None of us see the double-cross coming. The truth might come out, but she's got all the evidence. She thinks she's home free. Which makes her the perfect mark."

"What?" Fluttershy squeaked. "She... she tried to kill us, and you want to run a job on her?"

"Exactly," Twilight said. She turned to Rainbow. "What better way to get payback?" She turned to Pinkie. "What better way to get paid?"

Fluttershy slowly closed the laptop. "You think you can do it?"

Twilight looked around her. "You all know what each of you can do," she said. "I know what all of you can do."

Fluttershy smiled. "You have a plan?"

Twilight smiled back. "I have a plan."

"Yeah, that's great and all," Applejack said, "but did y'all forget the part where she knows our faces?"

Twilight just calmly walked toward the exit. "Let's go get Rarity," she said.

One by one, the other mares followed her. Applejack was last to leave, muttering, "And what the hay-bales is a 'Rarity' anyway?"

The five mares stood casually in the alley outside the theater.

"I can't call that acting," Applejack spat. "Her form was overdone, she forgot half her lines; I've seen better performances from my little sister!"

Twilight shook her head. "That was not her stage."

"Still," Rainbow said from Twilight's other side, "you sure we need her?"

"Applejack's right; Nightmare Moon knows who we are. We need another player."

A lone unicorn in a dark trench coat stumbled out of the theater side door.

Twilight walked slowly towards her. "An impeccable performance, as always," she called.

The unicorn looked up, a rich violet mane framing her white face. "My only fan," she answered in a cultured accent.

Twilight smiled. "Rarity."

Rarity smiled back. "What's Celestia's top investigator doing here?" She rubbed a hoof on her jacket. "I'm a citizen now, honest."

Twilight's smile fell. "I'm not."

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Playing my side, then?"

"For now." She took a breath and straightened her posture. "Are you in?"

Rarity smiled and batted her eyelashes. "Darling," she said, "I couldn't miss this."

Nightmare Moon strode toward her office. Sunny Skies power was scrambling, and her chief engineer was confident he could talk confidently about the blueprints at the shareholders' meeting. Finally, she would have the recognition she deserv—

"Your nine o'clock is here," her secretary called to her.

Nightmare stopped. She turned her head and glared at the secretary. "I don't have a nine o'clock."

The secretary, a pale yellow earth pony, glared back. "It's on your schedule, and she's in your office."

Nightmare turned to see a smartly dressed pony in her office. She turned back to her secretary and growled.

"Why," she seethed, "did you put her on my schedule?"

The secretary was unmoved. "I didn't." She clicked a few times. "You did."

Nightmare closed her eyes, breathed deep, and let it out very slowly. She straightened her posture, held her head high, and trotted calmly into her office.

"I'm terribly sorry, miss..." she began.

"Ground Floor," Rarity said, holding out her hoof. "Griffinstone Development Initiative. We encourage trade, create jobs, and... bring new business opportunities to Griffinstone."

Nightmare Moon scoffed. "That's a foal's errand if I've ever heard one," she said, "and I am much more than a foal."

"Of course," Rarity said with a smile. "Let's talk somewhere less formal, shall we?"

With a smoldering smile, she turned and sauntered out of the office.

The secretary just stared as the smartly dressed white unicorn strode by, her boss trailing behind her looking confused.

"How did she do that?" Pinkie said over the comms.

Twilight smiled. "Rarity is the finest actress in Equestria... when she's on the con. Fluttershy, you're up."

Fluttershy smirked and typed a few commands.

The secretary shook off the odd events and got back to her computer. She was halfway though cleaning up her to-do list when her monitor suddenly flickered, reversed color, and finally simply displayed a blue screen with incomprehensible gibberish on it.

The secretary looked at the blue screen, looked up at the ceiling, took a deep breath, and screamed.

For ten whole seconds.

Then she abruptly stopped, picked up her phone, and dialed.

"Hello, IT," a cheerful voice said on the other end. "Have you tried tuning it off and on again?"

"Yes," the secretary deadpanned, staring at the untouched power button. "This is Nightmare Moon's office; I need somepony up here stat." And she hung up.

Pinkie glared at her headset. "Wow, rude," she muttered. "And a liar." With a shrug, she pulled up the ceiling tile in front of her and silently fell down into Nightmare Moon's office. She flicked one ear back towards the door for anyone coming and heard nothing. With a smile, she pulled a piece of bubble gum out of her mane and started chewing.

She tiptoed over to Nightmare Moon's desk and dove underneath. "Okay, Blinky," she whispered, pulling out a small transmitter with a blinking red light, "do your stuff!" She stuck the transmitter to the bottom of the desk with the chewing gum.

Pinkie poked her head out from underneath the desk and looked around the office: still empty. She darted over to the door and looked back at the secretary.

Applejack, in a pale blue shirt and thick-rimmed black glasses, casually walked up to the secretary. "Did'ja call IT?" she drawled with a faint smile.

The secretary turned to Applejack with a bored expression. She looked her up and down, and she cracked a small smile.

"Tell me again why Applejack is down there pushing buttons?" Fluttershy said with a glare at Twilight.

"Applejack is pretending to push buttons," Twilight said. "I need you here actually pushing buttons. Rainbow, do you have eyes on Rarity?"

"Copy that," Rainbow said over the comms. "They're at the park a block away."

"You're aware of the efforts to invigorate Griffinstone's economy?" Rarity said.

"I'd be a foal not to," Nightmare said, still on edge. "Are you going to get to your business?"

Rarity inclined her head with a smile. "Eager, that's good." She straightened her posture. "There's a particular need for magitech generators. Particularly ones that can power factories."

"Naturally," Nightmare said. "What's the catch?"

"No catch, just opportunity," Rarity said with a smirk. "Though it does help to have an... initial upfront investment to grease the skids, as it were."

Nightmare smiled. "A bribe."

"A finder's fee," Rarity countered.

"Not interested," Nightmare said. "I don't pay for sales." She turned and started walking away.

"Not a problem," Rarity said. "I'll just go to Sunny Skies then."

There was an audible snap as the sidewalk cracked beneath Nightmare Moon's hoof. She whirled around, ice blue slitted eyes incandescent with rage.

"Sunny Skies?" she snarled. "Sunny Skies has everything handed to them on a golden sun-shaped platter. They grow fat with government contracts and sanctioned monopolies. They wouldn't know ambition if it bucked them in the face."

Rarity held up a business card in her magic. "10 AM at our office."

Nightmare snatched it away. "Don't waste my time." She turned and walked away.

Rarity watched her walk away with a smile.

“Great, we’ve got her hooked,” Twilight said. “Now we just need to reel her in.”

“I know some griffons if you need contacts,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Darling,” Rarity purred over the comms, “I’ve got this sorted.”

“Right,” Twilight said. “Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie: let’s go steal an office.”

The next morning found the crew scrambling to fix up the office.

"It's only staying up for an hour," Rainbow yelled at Applejack. "Why does it need to be triple bolted?"

"Because it needs to look like it's been there for years," Applejack countered. She looked at the other "Griffinstone Development Initiative" signs posted. "How long did you spend on these?"

"Ten. Seconds. Flat."

Applejack thrust the drill back at Rainbow. "Fast is slow; do it right. I've got the other signs to put up."

Rainbow growled. "Slow is slow," she muttered under her breath as she went to double-check her work. "Fast is fast."

"Do what you can, Rainbow," Twilight said over the comms. "We're on the clock."

Rarity led Nightmare into the stately conference room. A delegation of five griffons, smartly dressed, waited there with neutral faces. No one was there that didn't want to be, but no one wanted to give anything away. Rarity—as Ground Floor—introduced everyone and got the discussions started. For all the griffons' bluster, they had a need. And while Nightmare Moon was no pushover, she also knew exactly how far along to take discussions.

"Before we continue," Rarity said, catching both parties' eyes, "there is the matter that we discussed previously."

The griffons' faces fell back to neutral. The lead—clearly the oldest with grey in his gold feathers—reached into his suit and pulled out a plain white envelope. Rarity sauntered over to him and took it, then turned around to Nightmare Moon's side. She walked up and discreetly passed the envelope to Nightmare.

Nightmare opened the envelope to find a plain white piece of paper with "250,000 Bits" written on it.

"I think we can make this work," she said with a smile. "We'll meet at my office tomorrow to finalize," she said cordially. "The shareholders will understand the need to make sales."

Nightmare Moon strode back into her office, accompanied by her chief engineer, a pink pegasus with a yellow mane. "I don't understand why this has to be done right now," he said. "We're walking a thin enough line as it is wi—"

Nightmare held up her wing to his face. "Quiet," she snapped and motioned toward her desk. They both looked at the small transmitter with the blinking red light.

Wide-eyed, the engineer slowly backed out of the room, followed quickly by Nightmare.

"Relax," Nightmare said with a snide grin. "It's just a transmitter, not a bomb."

"Right, of course," the engineer breathed. "But who would have left it?"

Nightmare grabbed a printout from her secretary's desk and showed the engineer. "Who do you think?"

The printout was of a photograph showing Rarity and Twilight Sparkle hoof bumping.

"That is why we're doing this now," Nightmare said with a malevolent grin. "Because the best time to spring a trap is when they think they're leaving one. Call the Crown; maybe they can actually be worth our tax dollars this time."

That night found the crew holed up in Pinkie's warehouse, doing their best to calm their nerves before the big day tomorrow. While Rainbow was just fine with Pinkie's stash of energy drinks, Applejack had stormed out to get some hard cider. Fluttershy and Rarity were bonding over a shared interest in shopping (though for entirely different reasons).

Twilight had noticed a small, wooden, ornate chest sitting off to the side, an ancient Equestrian seal on the top. "What's this, Pinkie?"

Pinkie popped up next to her. "Oh, that? Found it yesterday while we were sneaking around Moony's headquarters. Had a hunch it'd be useful."

Twilight bit her lip. "Maybe." She lit her horn and opened the chest to see five dull, cracked gems.

Applejack chose that moment to come back with the cider. The slam of the warehouse door sent a tremor through the room; barely noticeable, except that it was enough to jostle the chest. In an instant the gems inside crumbled to dust.

Pinkie gasped. "Appleja—" she started before Twilight cut her off with a silencing spell.

"They're nothing, Pinkie," Twilight said bitterly. "Less than useless." She walked over to Applejack and took an offered cider.

"Cheers," Applejack said as they clinked bottles. She took a small sip from hers and saw, out of the corner of her eye, Twilight take a particularly long pull from hers.

"Y'know," she drawled, "it ain't right, what she did to ya."

Twilight flinched but pretended not to notice. "What's that?"

Applejack just took another drink. "A mare like you, as good as you; we all feared you at one point or another. And then one day you just disappeared." She saw Twilight take another long pull and pressed on. "Doesn't take much to connect the dots: a new law in parliament, Princess says nothing as usual, and suddenly no one sees you anymore; if they do, it's without that little—"

"What are you saying," Twilight said with an edge.

Applejack turned to make eye contact. "Mare can move the sun, but can't find some way for you to keep that dragon by your side? Anypony'd feel betrayed after that."

Twilight glared at Applejack. She drained the rest of her cider and said gruffly, "Applejack, we're not friends. Let's just finish the job."

Nightmare Moon's shareholders' meeting went off without a hitch. The engineer was calm and composed, the news was good, and, by the time she was bumping shoulders with the upper crust afterwards, the stock was twenty percent higher.

"It's a good day," the engineer said when he and Nightmare had a spare moment at the reception.

"It'll be a better night," Nightmare said with a smile, taking a sip of her champagne. (Actual Prench champagne, to be clear.) "When those ponies find out just who they're dealing with..."

The engineer smiled uneasily. "You're sure you know what their game is?"

Nightmare scoffed. "They want to get me back, I supposed. Can't see why," she added sarcastically. "But seriously, Griffonstonians? That's like those scam emails. And I checked, that 'initiative' doesn't exist."

She glanced across the promenade and saw Rarity who waved subtly.

"Speaking of Discord," she said. "Wait for my signal to bring in the Crown."

She left her engineer to set up the ambush while she strode over to Rarity. "We're all ready?"

Rarity smiled back. "Of course. You do have the..." She rolled her hoof.

"The fee, yes," Nightmare said breezily. She looked over Rarity's shoulder to see the griffons stiffly socializing. "Why don't all of you come inside, away from all this. We can wrap this up quickly."

"After you," Rarity motioned as she signaled to the griffons to come along.

They filed into a conference room, Nightmare Moon taking position at the head of the table. Rarity ushered the last griffon in and announced to the room, "Everything is in order?"

"Almost everything," Nightmare said, her voice decidedly chiller. She pressed the intercom button on the table's phone and said, "Send them in."

Doors at both ends of the conference room swung open and a dozen ponies in Crown Investigative Services jackets walked in.

"They're all yours, gentleponies," Nightmare said with a grin before realizing the the officers were walking towards her.

"Nightmare Moon," the lead officer—a well-built tan earth pony—said while flashing his badge, "you are under arrest for soliciting a bribe from foreign nationals."

"What are you talking about?" Nightmare thundered. "These aren't real Griffonstonians—"

The griffons all pulled out their very real passports.

Nightmare sputtered. "But we met at their office!"

"We don't have an office," the lead griffon said calmly. "We met your assistant, Ground Floor, at your other office."

"You know," the lead officer said, "this would be a different conversation if you hadn't cashed that check."

"What check? I never..." Nightmare trailed off.

"No," she whispered, and darted back to the reception.

Back at the shareholders' reception, the crowd was getting noticeably more anxious. The sudden influx of several squads of Crown officers tended to do that.

Nightmare put on her best smile and strode out. "Keep calm, everypony," she said, "this is just a small misunderstanding."

"What kind of misunderstanding is this," one shouted out.

"It's absolutely nothing to be con—"

The lead officer shoved in front of her. "Anyone else here know about a bribe?"

The murmurs in the crowd got louder. And even though they were silent, Nightmare swore she could hear the news cameras mocking her. The officer continued to yell at her shareholders, kept telling lies about her, saying she was the criminal here when she was the one being lied to—

Her phone rang. The shrill tone cut through her growing rage. With a snarl, she answered the call. "What."

"You know," Twilight Sparkle said from the other end, "it's amazing just how many shoes a quarter million bits can buy."

"You."

Twilight pressed on. "And to think, all we had to do was get a fake office that looked like ours at one end, yours at the other. A little slight-of-horn with the envelope."

"Well, congratulations," Nightmare said, oblivious to anything around her. "You're a few hundred bits richer, and you've made an enemy for life."

"You really think I only wanted the bits?" Twilight said with a laugh. "No, I wanted news cameras. Crown investigators. Panicked shareholders."

Nightmare Moon's blood turned to ice. She looked around herself, almost seeing the unfolding pandemonium for the first time.

"At this point," Twilight goaded, "even Celestia's more popular than you."

Nightmare's eyes locked onto a purple pony across the street from the plaza. A purple unicorn who made eye contact back and snapped a phone shut.

The phone call went dead.

And Nightmare Moon screeched.

Twilight Sparkle saw the growing darkness on the plaza, with ponies of all types running away.

"No, Mrs. Therapist," she muttered to herself as she dropped the burner phone on the ground. "I have no idea why you'd think I have a death wish."

A dark, winged shape burst straight up out of the dark miasma. Twilight didn't wait to figure out what it was; she knew. As quick as she could she bolted down the street. Her lungs were already burning by the end of the first block, but the heat of a magic blast passing too close overhead kept her moving.

"STAND STILL AND FACE YOUR DEATH WITH DIGNITY!" Nightmare Moon bellowed before launching another magic blast at Twilight.

"I'm Celestia's student, remember?" Twilight yelled back as she flung some weak magic back. "Of course I'm a coward!"

She dodged another of Nightmare's blasts and ran down a side alley. With a toss of her head, she magically pulled off the sewer cover at the end of the alley and dove in, practically falling into the sewer. With a groan, she picked herself up onto four legs and started running in what she hoped was the right direction. She opened her eyes slowly and gradually came to a stop in surprise.

Standing in front of her were the other mares.

"I thought..." she breathed, "the plan was for you to get out?"

"Yeah," Rainbow said, "not leaving a friend behind."

"We're not friends," Twilight said reflexively, though her heart wasn't in it.

"See..." Pinkie chimed in, "that's the thing."

"I'll admit I like working with y'all," Applejack said.

"You're not so bad," Fluttershy said, not as quietly as she was known to.

"Face it, darling," Rarity said.

Twilight looked among them. "We're friends..." she said. She smiled briefly–the most genuine smile they had seen from her yet–before quickly turning to Pinkie. "Do you still have the box?"

Pinkie pulled the ornate chest out of her mane and set it before Twilight. "But they're still–"

She was interrupted by an enormous crash. Nightmare Moon, being slightly larger than a normal pony, had elected to simply destroy the roadway to get down to the sewer.

Twilight straightened her posture, not turning around. "You really should have just paid us," she said.

"Oh, my little sun-lover," Nightmare snarled, "you will beg for death before I'm through with you."

"What's the plan, Twi," Rainbow whispered, getting ready to spring into action.

"Hold here," Twilight whispered back. She theatrically kicked the chest. "You know, while we were fishing around your HQ, we found this interesting box."

"A historical curiosity, and nothing more," Nightmare snarled.

Twilight pushed the chest behind her and turned around. "Yeah, that's what we found out." She opened the chest with a quick spell. "Five gems, faded and dull; crumbled to dust as soon as we touched them."

"Princess Celestia herself cannot save you," Nightmare said. "Now will you cease your blubbering and accept your fate with honor?"

"I don't think so," Twilight said. "See, I make connections. Put things together. It's what I do, and I'm pretty good at it."

"So you know what sort of troub–"

"A thief is a thief," Twilight interrupted, speaking louder and standing taller. "But honesty? That's deeper than any surface-level action. And I've never met anypony more honest than Applejack."

Some of the dust fragments in the chest began to glow a dull yellow and float towards and around Applejack. Nightmare Moon's eyes widened in shock for half a moment before her rage returned.

"And who made sure we were taken care of with kindness, even when we were running for our lives? Fluttershy." More fragments glowed, this time surrounding Fluttershy.

"Sharing love and support has more to do with generosity than money does, and Rarity is no exception.

"I've laughed harder this week than I have in a long time, and it's all thanks to Pinkie Pie.

"And Rainbow Dash refused to leave anypony behind, which is the definition of loyalty."

Twilight smirked defiantly up at Nightmare Moon as the five ponies with her were surrounded by the glowing fragments of the treasure.

Nightmare Moon tapped one forehoof against the ground, making a dark parody of a pony's applause. "Oh dear," she said sarcastically, "you've assembled the Elements of Harmony! Whatever shall I do since–" Her full glower returned. "–you only have five."

"Oh, right," Twilight said. "That spark that's supposed to show the sixth element. Like when I got down here and realized, despite my best efforts..." She glanced back at the others and smiled. "...that I care for them, and they care for me in turn. Which sparks the sixth element: Friendship!"

A small bit of glowing dust from each of the others moved to Twilight. In a flash, the dust coalesced into five necklaces for each of the other mares, each emblazoned with said mare's cutie mark. Twilight's became a crown with her purple spark cutie mark shining in the middle.

Nightmare's rage was replaced by real fear in an instant. "No, this cannot be!"

Twilight didn't even dignify that with a response. The glow intensified, all six mares rising into the air, before a rainbow beam shot out from them and enveloped Nightmare Moon in its power. After a moment, the glow faded and the six mares floated gently to the ground. Nightmare Moon was gone, leaving only a small alicorn pony unconscious on the ground.

"That..." Rainbow Dash said, "...was AWESOME!"

"That was something for sure," Applejack said. "Any id–"

A bright flash signaled Princess Celestia's arrival by teleport. She appeared near the hole in the roof on the other side of the unconscious pony.

"Okay," Twilight said quickly, "now we run."

The other ponies didn't think twice. As the six of them fled into the sewers, Applejack pulled next to Twilight and said, "How do y'all know she ain't following us?"

"Because that's her sister," Twilight said, trying hard not to lose momentum. "Princess Luna, a.k.a. Nightmare Moon, instigator of the Lunar Rebellion."

There was a secluded corner of the Royal Library with a particularly comfortable shag carpet, nestled behind a shelf of early census records. Not many knew about it, but Princess Celestia made it a habit to check every night for a particular purple pony prone to late nights. Even after she and her student parted ways, she would continue to check the corner. She would say it was out of habit, and with so many of her habits being born out of guilt, it wasn't completely a lie.

So when she saw her former student standing there, gazing out the window into the Canterlot night, she had to do a subtle magic check to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

"I'm real," Twilight said. "Don't get used to it."

Celestia walked up and stood next to Twilight.

"Thank you," she said after a moment.

"I didn't do it for you," Twilight said.

Celestia shook her head. "No, of course not. For your new friends?"

"They're not my—" Twilight bit off the rest of the reflexive statement, knowing the folly of it at this point.

Celestia smiled but did her best not to laugh.

Twilight pulled a set of computer disks out of her saddlebag. "Here's the original data from Sunny Skies Power," she said, "along with proof of the theft."

Celestia took them gently. "I see no need to press charges, then," she said simply. "I can set up a reward la—"

"We don't need a reward," Twilight snapped. She took a breath, and continued. "It's amazing what shorting the right stock can do."

Celestia did laugh that time: a low chuckle much more bitter than she was known for.

There was a beat of silence.

"I'm sorry, Twilight."

Twilight blinked. "You'll have to be more specific," she said.

Celestia nodded. "I'm sorry for believing that I was as perfect as everypony said I was. And I'm even more sorry for letting you believe it."

Twilight shook her head. "I never thought you were perfect," she said in a harsh whisper, too aware of her voice cracking. "I just thought you were good. That you wouldn't let bad things happen to good ponies if you could help it." She turned to face Celestia. "Horseapples, all of it," she spat.

Celestia flinched, barely noticeable, but Twilight pressed the attack.

"Do you know what I saw out there while I was working for you? Do you know what I still see out there? Ponies crushed by forces too big for them to comprehend wielded by ponies with more money than you! Ponies that get taken advantage of down to their last bit, and somehow more than that! Ponies that keep getting sold a dream that will never happen to them because the ones selling it to them lie to their faces. Ponies that grift and hustle all the way to the top, then change the rules so no one else gets there. And the one pony that moves the sun every day doesn't lift a hoof to stop it.

"Do you get it, Princess? Letting me down hurt. But seeing all the other ponies you've let down? That broke me."

Twilight stood there, catching her breath. She watched Celestia stand there, not moving.

"You're right, of course," Celestia said quietly, barely above a whisper. "I knew, in my grief, over a thousand years ago, that I was in no shape to lead this country. So I ceded some power to the council. When that became Parliament, I ceded more. And when they asked for more, I gave it to them. 'How wonderful,' I thought, 'for my little ponies to be leading themselves.'

"Until the longest day of the thousandth year came, and I made ready to do battle with Nightmare Moon... and she laughed at me, and told me I was already deposed and to watch as she stole my ponies out from under me while I watched helpless to do anything.

"And I believed then that I was helpless," Celestia said, making eye contact with Twilight. "So much so that when my—" Her voice cracked. "When the closest I had to a friend begged me to stop a law... I didn't. I chose not to."

Twilight stared back. "Well," she said, turning to leave, "I'm glad you learned your lesson." As she left the alcove, she shot back, "Enjoy having your sister back."

Twilight slunk back to Pinkie's warehouse and let herself in. The other five ponies were dancing around a jukebox and enjoying more of Applejack's cider.

"Twilight!" Pinkie yelled and darted over to her. "Didja see what Fluttershy got us?"

Twilight forced a smile. "Yes, I know she was playing some stock games."

Pinkie thrust a check into Twilight’s face, Fluttershy behind her with a smug grin.

Twilight just gaped at the check. “What?”

Fluttershy shrugged. “Yeah, you told me to short it. I just did that across three different exchanges.”

Twilight kept gaping at the check.

Pinkie hopped in place. “It’s a lot of money, right? Like, a lot lot lot lot lot lot lot lot lot lot lot of money?”

“Like ‘buy an island and retire’ money, right?” Rainbow said as she sauntered up with the other mares.

“Not ‘til after the next job, mind you,” Applejack added.

That was enough to catch Twilight’s attention. “Wait, what next job?” She looked around at the hopeful faces around her. “No,” she said quietly. “I find bad guys.”

“Then find us some bad guys,” Rarity said.

“Bad guys have good money,” Pinkie added.

Any further conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door.

They all looked at each other.

“Were y’all expecting…?” Applejack trailed off.

“Wait here,” Pinkie whispered. She tip-toed on her back two hooves over to the door, stopped just in front of it, and did a series of complex, elaborate gestures before finally yelling back “We’re clear!” She opened the door and drug in a large crate that was about half as big as she was with LIVE ANIMAL stenciled in red on the side.

“Yeah,” Rainbow drawled, “I didn’t order a pet.”

There was a muffled yell from inside the crate and it shook slightly.

“Oh, you poor thing!” Fluttershy said as she ran over to the crate and stroked it slightly. “Twilight,” she said, “can you open this?”

“Right,” Twilight shook herself out of her daze and trotted over to the crate. She levitated one corner up but jumped back when a purple claw poked out of the crate.

“Finally!” the young voice said from inside. “Princess Luna swore there were air holes in this thing, but I don’t think she really…” He trailed off, having pried the top off enough to poke his head out.

He was a small, purple dragon with green scales on his front and palms. “Twilight?” he whispered.

Twilight’s horn flashed. When the light cleared, the crate was in pieces and she was hugging the dragon for all she was worth. “Oh Spike,” she whispered, “you’re here.”

“Yeah,” he said, hugging her back. “I’m here.”

They hugged for another second or two before Spike pulled back. “Okay, before this gets any more sappy,” he said with a cough, “you have a letter.” He fished through the rubble of the crate and pulled out a small scroll.

Twilight scanned over the letter, then looked up with a malevolent grin.

“We did everything right,” the mare said, still holding on to her husband for support. “We worked hard, we followed the rules…” She broke down crying again.

Her husband held her a little tighter. “We went to the Crown,” he said stoically. “They said they’d look into it, but that was months ago.”

Twilight shook her head. “They’re getting stonewalled. It’s not their fault per se; the rules are stacked against them just like they’re stacked against you, and the ponies you’re fighting are the ones that wrote the rules. Don’t worry, we’ll make this right.”

The stallion looked at the other mares in the room: the blue pegasus and orange earth pony closest to the door, guarding it almost; the yellow pegasus reaching over to give his wife another hoof to hold; the white unicorn and pink earth pony off to the sides offering their silent support; and finally the purple unicorn in the middle of it all, her dragon next to her taking notes.

“How,” he asked. “How can you make this right?”

Twilight smiled. “Ponies like this, with all the money and power, hiding behind corporations: they do what they want, when they want, and they don’t care about who they step on along the way. And right now, you’re under an enormous weight, one that no two ponies can lift on their own.

“We provide… leverage.”

Celestia walked into the dim office, her two guards waiting outside the door.

“And what I can I do for the Unconquered Sun herself?” a rich woman’s voice said from the shadows at the other end.

Celestia dropped a thick folder on the desk. “These six ponies have the potential to completely unmake our way of life,” she said.

A shimmer of teal magic opened the file, glancing over the pictures of the thieves from the recent Nightmare Moon incident. It stopped when it reached the picture of Twilight Sparkle.

“Is that going to be a problem?” the voice asked.

Celestia didn’t flinch. “The Crown must be impartial.”

A yellow unicorn with red and gold hair leaned out of the shadows to make eye contact with Celestia and simply smiled

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