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(A lot of you wanted to see the next part. And here it is. The least I can do after so long. Also in case anyone wanted to know, this is set before the season two finale.)

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Part 1 in chapter 87
Part 2 in chapter 92
Part 3 in chapter 93
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Stuck in a Shed (4/5)

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Rainbow Dash's POV

"Ugh...What happened?..." My head was throbbing. Feeling as if Applejack had kicked my head off of my neck. Only, that wasn't all.

I looked up and saw a roof only a wing flap above me. And along the sides, I saw that the walls...We're right beside me. Giving me no space at all to move from the corner of the small room I was in.

Small room...Oh, we're still in this shed!

"You knocked me against the wall, then knocked yourself unconscious with a potted plant." A voice had told me from merely a few hooves in front of me. Sounding very tired right now.

I managed to turn my head towards his voice and saw Blitz's face. Except in a few ways it looked...Different.

Like I can actually see his face!

"Huh?!" I sprang up, banging my still ringing head against the wall of the shed I was closest to. "OW!" I yelped in pain as I brought a hoof to my head to care for my injury. That's when I noticed the lantern in between us. Flickering on the ground from me shaking the shed around. "When did this lantern get…?"

"After you knocked the pot down, I carefully got the shards off of you and tried propping you up on that mop to use as a pillow. I couldn't see it well enough though and gave up. But after moving back to my side, I felt the lantern behind me and lit it." He explained, pointing towards it while it flickered again. "Pretty lucky, huh?"

"Yeah, guess so." I
nodded, glad to get some better light in here. Before, we only had the small sliver of light coming in through the cracks of the door. Which wasn't helping me sit in here for so long.

"Is that lantern flickering a different…?" I looked at that weird oil lantern again, and saw as it flickered just like every other time. And now that I got a better look at it, I could tell that it was flickering some color before quickly going back to a normal light.

Seeing that, I looked back at Blitz. Wondering if he knew why AJ had this weird lantern like that anyway. Only, after I did, everything got fuzzy for a few seconds. It was kinda familiar, but I couldn't tell how.

That's when I noticed something else. "Blitz. You're cut." I said worriedly, seeing how I was the reason for it.

"Huh?" He looked up at his good ear, where it was still cut. "Oh, don't worry about that." He smiled. "It'll be fine."

And again, the lantern flickered the same pinkish color before I smiled sadly to him return. Unable to look away from him.

---

Applejack's POV

"Alright girls, the shed that Blitz and Rainbow are locked up in should be in- Dear Princess Celestia!"

"They can't be in Princess Celestia, silly! They're too big for that!" Pinkie said as she rolled her eyes with a happy-go-lucky smile on her face. Walking up to me while the others were in awe next to me. "Woah! I didn't know you had so many sheds Applejack!"

"Pinkie Pie, Applejack only has one…" Rarity explained, standing next to me with her jaw hitting the dirt below.

The five of us were looking over the empty field ahead of us. Filled with the exact same looking sheds that were all over. With not one splinter of a difference between them.

"Look, up there!" Spike announced as he pointed to the only shed that was floating in mid-air. With a very relaxed looking Discord sunbathing on top of it.

"Discord!" Fluttershy said out loud, flying up to 'greet' him. "Did you do any of this?" She asked with a confused glance.

"Of course he did somethin'!" I yelled out. "But what I wanna know is what he did ta Rainbow Dash and Blitz!"

"Who now?" Discord asked me before snapping his fingers and disappearing. Followed by the shed he was on to just fall straight to the ground. Landing in front of all of us before he immediately opened the door and came out of the shed on some fancy green chariot that moved on its own.

"Rainbow and Blitz! They were stuck in one of these sheds!" I told him, knowing he was lying through that stupid tooth of his.

"Were they now?" He asked as the door to the shed he was in closed. He then pressed a button, pulled a lever, and stepped on a pedal that was on his green chariot. Making it back up and run over the shed he was in. Reducing it to mulch under him.

"Come now Discord, we all know you did something to them." Rarity said with a frown.

"Wait a minute, there's Blitz's tail!" Twilight said happily as she ran over to the shed it was propped up against. "This must be the real shed!" Unfolding the blueprints with her magic, she quickly figured out how to unjam it and immediately swung open the door to find-

"BWAH!" Twilight screamed out as a bunch of rubber snakes sprung out of the empty shed. Scaring her senseless as one got caught on her horn. Making her run around and slam into another shed's wall.

Discord turned the wheel on his chariot and took off towards the shed Twilight opened. Picking up Blitz's tail, running over the shed and destroying it like the other one. "Well, that's two sheds down. Only ninety-eight more to go!" He cheered happily.

"What shed are they really in?!" Spike asked with a frown as he and RJ glared at Discord. Both of them holding out their claws to look scarier.

"Now, why would I know something like that?" Discord asked us as he made a halo appear above him.

"Are you saying that you don't know what shed they're in?" Fluttershy asked as she flew over to help Twilight up.

"Sadly, dearest Fluttershy, I don't. I see that you're all worried about your friends, so I'll tell you what I know." Discord snapped his fingers, making the chariot disappear under him. He then appeared behind us all. Blitz's tail replacing his lizard one now.

"I thought it would be fun to make a game out of this. So I made a hundred sheds and switched them around. One has your friends, and the others have…" He appeared next to a random shed and snapped his fingers. Unjamming it before opening it to reveal a big gush of water that launched out from the shed and soaked us all, save for Twilight and Fluttershy.

"Some pranks." He answered as his halo turned red and separated into some devil horns. He then took Blitz's tail and pointed it at the shed he opened. A lightning bolt firing from it as the shed just turned to dust.

"Discord, no messing with Blitz's tail. Hand it over." She said like a disappointed mother talking to a rebellious child. To which Discord passed it along without a word, but a frown instead.

"Ugh." Twilight growled in annoyance. "Well girls, it looks like we have no choice. Let's split up and try going through all these sheds."

"And there's only sixteen for each of us!" Pinkie called out with a smile. Seeing us all look at her in surprise. "What?" She asked cluelessly. "Okay, fine. Sixteen point one six-six-six-six-six-six-six-six-six-six-"

"We-We got it Pinkie Pie." I told her with a shake of my head before walking over in a random direction to try and get the shed open. All of us, even RJ, were walking off to open some sheds.

"I'll help too. After all, Rainbow Dash is my friend as well." Discord said, probably just wanting a reason to stay and watch us punish ourselves with those pranks.

"Thank you Discord. You can get rid of the sheds we open." Fluttershy offered him before flying off to a shed of her own to figure out how to unjam it.

RJ ran over to his first shed. Pulling out one of his claws to use as a lockpick as he stuck his little paw in there to unlock it. But the second he did, the door swung open from a gust of wind. Sending him flying into a nearby apple tree.

Discord then poofed beside the shed and lightly kicked the side of it. Causing it to fall over and poof away.

Spike got to his next. Just burning the lock off with his fire breath. But after he did, the door again swung open. A filing cabinet drawer shot out from inside. Pushing Spike along the front of it as it just kept going, and going, and going.

"Ugh…" Spike climbed on top of the impossibly long drawer, only to be pulled under the papers that were inside. That is, until the papers started going upwards and back towards the shed like a wave from the ocean. With Spike tumbling along at the top of the wave.

Discord then appeared under him on a surfboard and in swimming trunks and sunglasses. "I love a good swim! Just the thing to stretch the scales, right Spike?"

"AHHHH!" Spike yelled out as the paper wave pulled him inside.

"A simple no would've been sufficed." Discord frowned as he snapped his fingers, the shed that was ahead of them disappearing as well as the filing cabinet drawer. But the papers kept sending them flying into the same tree RJ landed in.

"This is gonna take a while y'all…" I sighed as I looked at the three of them poke their heads out of the tree they landed in before turning towards the lock I was at. Bucking it off its hinges as it creaked open and had some fruit bats fly out of it and into the sky.

"...Wait a second, that's all this lock takes?!" I yelled out in anger. "Blitz, why did ya tell me ta get them blueprints?" Sighing, I walked off to find another shed.

Disclaimer: I do not own MLP. All I own is Blitz, Joe, Big Mike, Morgue, and this idea.

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ACT I

Enter the Mane Humans!

AND

Introducing: The Honorable Thieves!

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Rarity's POV

"So this is the mall?" I asked out loud as all six of us looked around as we followed Joe through the large building. And when I say large I meant it! This building had to be as big as Princess Celestia's castle!

As we walked through the right of the hallway, other people walked by our group. Looking at us like we were the weirdest things they had ever seen! Truly, had they not seen such beauty before?!

"Why are there so many of them?..." Fluttershy whispered as she ducked in between Applejack and Twilight.

"Now, now Fluttershy, it ain't so bad. 'Sides, they ain't starin' at ya, are they?" Applejack comforted her as she looked around. Noticing how they weren't staring at Fluttershy, or herself for that matter.

In fact, most eyes were on Pinkie. Which I suppose I couldn't blame them for doing so. After all, Pinkie Pie is definitely the odd one of our group with her bright colors. Too much pink can be an eyesore at times.

Joe, upon hearing Applejack's concern over Fluttershy, sighed. "I assure you, it'll pass. If you'll look a few seconds longer, you'll notice that they aren't looking that long. Besides, it's best everyone take notice of you now than later."

"And why exactly?" Rainbow frowned. "Cause you still never told us what we have to do."

"I thought you said that a test with no questions was your kind of test." Joe remarked, adjusting his glasses just out of habit. "Besides, if everyone sees you now, they'll be aware of you and therefore not have a reason to look at you."

"Ya hear that Fluttershy? They won't bother you none after seein' ya." Applejack told her, trying to make the best out of Joe's ominous words.

"Humans don't exactly sound too friendly." Twilight remarked as she looked around.

"Well, humans tend to group up by what they most appreciate. Because unless they're forced to introduce themselves to new people, they usually stick to their friends or family in public places. Take a closer look." Joe instructed.

And as he said, we looked over towards the people that weren't staring at us too much and noticed that he had a point. No so many people were so much as giving a friendly smile towards one another. It was as if they didn't even notice that they existed at all.

As I watched a few of them out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a few of the stores that we passed by. Some having something that looked trivial such as game-like stores, restaurants, some stores for kids, and other such things.

Above us looked like a walkway that went along the edge of the space we were in. People were walking along up there with shopping bags. Some with very elegant designs. Of course, they were obviously too far for me to read just what the names of the stores were, but at the very least I could tell where the better stores were for a pony of refined taste such as myself.

"Thank you Applejack. I just wish I wasn't this noticeable." She told us as she cheered up a little, standing up a little straighter. Meaning that we were about four inches shorter than her.

"You said that Blitz and Spike were already here, right? Because I don't see them anywhere." Pinkie told Joe as she looked around, not even batting an eye at all the people looking at her and her bright pink hair.

"They'll be meeting up with us soon. They're just finishing up their own test right now." Joe explained, still avoiding just what this 'test' was. "Ah, we're here."

"Here?" Rainbow looked around at the open area ahead of us which had been filled with tables that scattered about with people sitting at most of them. Surrounding the area were smaller looking booths for food. With the people making and serving the food on the other side of a counter with a crowded line.

"What is this place anyway?" Twilight asked as we all looked around.

"I don't know, but all I care about is riding that carousel!" Pinkie yelled out in utmost joy as she pointed towards the center of the court where a large, brightly lit carousel was stationed. With tons of people either standing in line or watching some friends or family ride around on it.

"Here." Joe pulled out a small foldable object and pulled out some green pieces of paper. "Wait in line, give this money to the operator when it's your turn, and enjoy."

"YAY! Hey, Ashley, take some pictures of me when I get on!" Pinkie yelled out as she played along with the names, running off with a visible smoke cloud behind her.

"Wait, how am I even supposed to do that?!" Twilight asked with a shocked expression. Not understanding Pinkie's random act of fun.

I guess it was never possible to really adjust to a pony like Pinkie Pie.

"Your phone has a built in camera app to it. Open that app up and press the grey button on the screen when you wish to take the picture." Joe explained absent-mindedly as he turned to walk the opposite direction. "Everyone else, please follow me to our seats."

"Joe, ya don't gotta go reminded us every chance ya get that we're huma-"

"I know that I keep complaining about your mistakes, you're only human, I heard you the first twenty times, but would you refrain from making that a public problem?" Joe interrupted with a strong frown. "We'd hate making a scene, wouldn't we?"

"Err...Yeah. Sorry 'bout that." Applejack apologized, looking around to see that only a few people had looked our way. Whether it was from how different we looked as a group or the small disagreement, I had no idea.

"Not a problem." He adjusted his glasses as he pulled out some more paper from the foldable object. "Excuse me, sir?" He called out as he walked towards one of the booths that were along the sides of the store. "I made an order half an hour ago. Three large cheese pizzas. Are they ready yet?"

"Oh. Joe, right? Yeah, they're right here." The man behind the, for the moment, vacant booth told Joe as he turned behind him and opened a small compartment from a metal box. Pulling out three slender cardboard boxes that had some patterns on them. "That'll be...Thirty-eight seventy-two." He told Joe as he looked at a white piece of paper that was on the boxes he place on the counter.

Joe handed him the two green pieces of paper and picked up the boxes. "Keep the change. Come on girls, the tables over this way." He told us, carrying the boxes a bit awkwardly considering how wide they were.

"Here, lemme help ya with them." Applejack offered as she took a box to help lighten Joe's load a little. Then after sniffing the box, her face had lit up in awe. "Hooey, whatever's in here smells downright amazin'! What is it?!"

"Pizza. They're not the most refined foods, but they'll easily hold us over during our short stay here. There's a total of twenty-four slices and there's ten of us, so they'll be two slices for each of us."

"Alright, well I suppose it is the only thing we can get without wait. Thank you for the generosity Joe." I complimented, unable to help myself from giggling at the irony of my statement. "But what did you mean by not refined?"

"They're a bit greasy, but nothing a few napkins can't fix. And speaking of napkins, here's our table." He told us as he and Applejack put the boxes down carefully. The large circular table having a few chairs around it, but not enough for all ten of us.

It was thankfully just cleaned and had some of the usual restaurant condiments like ketchup, radish sauce, salt, pepper, the usual, as well as napkins just like Joe had told us.

He then opened up the boxes, revealing to us the three circular meals that were packed away inside. Cut perfectly into sections of eight. They each looked primarily made out of cheese and dough with sauce in between of it. And it smelled simply divine compared to its...Odd look of texture.

"They've cooled down, so you should be able to pick them up without much issue. But Ms. Rarity, I'd advise you not to eat it with your magic. At least, not too obviously anyway." Joe explained, picked up a slice carefully by the edge of it as he sat down and began eating it from the center inwards towards the crust that he was holding.

He had given us a table that was as secluded as it could possibly be with this many people, so we were safe from anyone really overhearing anything.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash took no time at all at reaching for a slice themselves and as they bit into the gooey looking food, their eyes went wide in surprise. "Woah, this stuff's really good!" Rainbow complimented.

"Yer tellin' me! It's almost as good as it smells!" Applejack added with her mouth full of the stuff. Nearly driving me into not being hungry at all for it.

"Um, what's in it?" Fluttershy asked as Rainbow and Applejack immediately froze in place. Not thinking about that little piece of information before eating the pizza.

"Not meat, if that's what you were wondering." Joe quickly explained, making Applejack and Rainbow Dash sigh in immense relief after swallowing the food that was still in their mouths. "Just simple cheese, dough, tomato sauce, maybe some light spices, but not much else. It's safe to eat."

"Fluttershy, don't do that! I was about ready to freak out for a second!" Rainbow scolded with a frown as she just went to take another bite.

"Ah, don't be pinnin' anythin' on Fluttershy Rainbow. It wasn't her fault that she asked before takin' a slice." Applejack said, admitting her own mistake as she took another bite with a frown.

Knowing the pizza was safe to eat now, I subtly levitated a piece just above my hand to make it appear as if I was holding it. No way was I about to let this food touch my freshly-done nails.

Still, the intensified smell almost made me just quit my level of which I was keeping myself. But I didn't falter. There were foods just like this in Equestria. Convenient, inviting, a wonderful smell, and what would always seem like a large amount when really it barely felt like you ate a portion of a meal. This was simply a fancier comfort food, and I was not about to object to letting my guard down to something like this.

"Um, Rarity?...You're drooling." Fluttershy said shyly as she starting reaching for a piece herself. Rainbow and Applejack having already scarfing down half of their first slice.

Quickly getting a napkin and clearing the embarrassment away, I frowned towards the two. "Now really you two, is that the kind of ill-mannered ladies you want to act as?"

Rainbow quickly swallowed, having a bit more manners than Applejack, and defended herself. "If it means eating more of this, I don't care how 'ill mannered' I get!" And with that, she bit back into her slice. Applejack freely belching happily.

"I'll just be...Forgetting that I had heard any of that." I said depressed that I was the only one that had to keep the standards of a lady. If only the smell of this meal hadn't been so potent.

Not to mention, the more that I studied the simple slice, the more I grew to live with it. Not being repulsed really, more so I was actually fine with how it looked. It by no means was going to be any inspiration for a new dress, but still...It looked so delicious…

"Hey everypo-ow. Pinkie-Ow!...Diane, did you really have to slap me?"

As I debated just how I wanted to approach this food, Twilight and Pinkie were walking over to our table. Pinkie jumping in place with happiness, looking at Twilight's phone where she was probably looking at her pictures, while Twilight was massaging her cheek from the two slaps she just got.

"Thank you Ms. Pie. I didn't have a second paper towel tube with." Joe noted as he took another bite of his slice of pizza.

"No problamo! Just lookin' out for my BHFFALAWH's!" Pinkie said without missing a beat as she grabbed two extra chairs from a nearby table. Making us have just enough for the seven of us at least. She then looked at me. "You gonna eat that?" She pointed to the piece of pizza I was levitating just a hair above my hand.

"I...I...I don't know!" I said with just a hint of drama.

"Rarity, please don't start cryin'. It's just a piece a food." Applejack assured me as she started chewing on the crust.

I snatched up a new napkin to wipe my tears before my make-up could begin running, but Pinkie took that opportunity to snatch my piece of pizza. Taking a huge bite out of it. "Uh! Pinkie Pi-ow!"

After lightly swatting my head, Pinkie kept chewing on the piece of pizza innocently. As if she had done nothing wrong...Well apart from swat at my forehead just under my hat.

"Diane, why did you steal my pizza? I was going to eat that." I said, knowing that it was hopeless at this point to get it back.

"Pizza?" She tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Oopsy! I thought this was a piece of pie! They look so similar!" She gasped. "Is this human pie?!" She asked, turning to Joe with a shocked look on her face. "Because it tastes a lot like cooked cheesecake with ketchup as the frosting!"

"...Sure." Joe said, just going with that. "I've heard weirder food combinations. But yes, this is similar to a pie. It's just less dessert-based."

"Well it is amazing!" Pinkie complimented. "But it's missing something...Oh yeah!" She reached for where the condiments were and pulled out some small packets with a red design on them. And after ripping the tops off all at once with her teeth, she sprinkled five bags worth of hot chili flakes all over the pizza.

"There it is." She said in accomplishment before jamming the whole thing in her mouth without fail.

"...You know what, may I just have a glass of water or something? I don't think I'll be able to eat anything at this rate." I said pitifully, sitting back in my seat.

"I'll have Big Mike get you some afterwards." Joe offered. "For now, we have more important problems to deal with." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small black eyeglass case.

"Allow me to remind you all about just what the three of us are. We're what we like to refer to as Honorable Thieves." He began, making us all calm down, but the other still kept enjoying the food. Albeit less so than before.

"And as such, we hold ourselves very strictly to a stiff set of rules and regulations that keeps everything in order. The three of us made them eight years ago and never once have we broken them. Even if the situation would be easily solved without them." He opened the case and inside was a pair of very clean and well maintained sunglasses.

The sunglasses weren't like the kind Rainbow Dash always wore. They were slim, and the slim was nearly as thin as string. To me they looked much more fashionable, but as Joe put them on over top his regular glasses, they seemed like they gave off a sense of authority. Making Joe's calm expression look even more serious than before.

"Now, Ms. Sparkle has already seen the small cheat sheet that Big Mike carries around, but the five of you have yet to see them yourselves." He explained further.

"Wait a second, is this what the test's about? All of your rules?" Rainbow Dash asked after swallowing a bite of the pizza crust she was just chewing on absentmindedly.

"In a way, yes." Joe sighed. "You see, these glasses are a symbol to our gang. They represent who the leader is at the moment. And whenever Morgue's at a moment where he can't be in charge, he delegates them to me. Making me the temporary leader until he can re-obtain his title. And that being said...If we're to get him out of jail, then I'll have to put that title to some use."

"You know, you still haven't said just why he's in jail to us anyway." Twilight said as she looked away and took a bite of her own slice. Not trusting any of this.

"Twilight, I'm surprised at you!" I said with a gasp. "We're not even sure if he even did anything."

"As a matter of fact, he didn't." Joe added with a nod. "Big Mike and I were originally framed, but Morgue stopped the police and said that he did everything we were charged for. Meaning that he's in Juvenile Hall for something he not only didn't commit, but for something he wasn't even suspected of doing."

"And what was that?" Rainbow asked.

"Stealing a car, rampaging through the city, destruction of public property, and resisting arrest. All enough to put him in jail for quite a while." Joe told us with a frown. "But he's not going to finish that sentence."

The way Joe said that wasn't simply hopeful thinking. It was fact to him.

"And with the six of you and your 'unworldly' abilities, it'll be accomplished." He concluded.

"But…" Pinkie Pie said expectantly. All of us knowing that there was a 'but' to be mentioned.

"But…" Joe sighed. "The rules state that helping a fellow Honorable Thief does not permit outside help. Meaning that if we're to get him free with any of your help…" He trailed off. His head turning away as he reached for a second slice of pizza.

"You need us ta join, don't ya?" Applejack asked rhetorically, falling back in her seat since she knew that was it.

"..." Joe didn't say anything.

"Wait, really? You want us to be thieves too?" Twilight asked, genuinely shocked.

"Now. Twilight…" I said, thinking of how to calm her down. She definitely wasn't behind any of what Joe said to begin with, and now that he was basically asking us to become thieves ourselves…

"No. I'm sorry Rarity, but I don't see how we being thieves will be any help at all! It's wrong! It's wrong, and I don't want any part of it!" She argued.

"Yeah, I'm with Twilight on this one. Stealing's messed up!" Rainbow agreed with a glare.

"Now Rainbow Dash, that's not a very fair thing to say. Must I remind you of that incident with that Daring Do novel?" I rose my eyebrow.

"Uh-Well...I-I learned my lesson after that." Rainbow crossed her arms. "And I don't want to do something like that again. Especially when it makes no sense. Right Fluttershy?" She turned all attention towards her. Not by accident I'm sure, but she just didn't want to have to remember what happened in the past.

"Oh, um, well, I-I'm not too sure either." She admitted. Trying her best to respond on the spot like that. "It's just that...I don't want to have to steal things from people. What if they want their stuff?"

As the three of them seemed pretty firm on their decision, I was at an impasse. I already knew that stealing was wrong, and if this was any ordinary issue, I'd say no straight away. But this wasn't.

I knew who this 'Morgue' meant to Joe and Big Mike. And if one of my friends or family were taken away, I wouldn't hesitate to steal my way to save them. And now that we were here, I think Joe was actually overjoyed.

He more than likely had this all planned out, but it seemed that going through with this plan was more than troubling him. And I couldn't simply sit by and let another's friends and family stay locked away for an unfair reason.

"I will help." I spoke up, shocking the others. "Joe, I don't know who this Morgue really is, and I'm not sure whether I want to know him too much or not. But I do know that he means a lot to you and Big Mike. And while I don't like the idea of stealing, I'll respect the rules of your group."

"Count me in!" Pinkie cheered out without a care in the world.

…

"Um...Why?" Fluttershy asked, none of us knowing why Pinkie wants to help.

"Morgue's just as big a party-pony as I am! Well, almost as much as a party-pony as I am! He's not really a pony! Besides, you heard what Dissy said! This place is already really chaotic! If he plays in this world for fun, than what are we supposed to do anyway?! Why not just get the stealing part over with and help Joey out?!"

"Please don't call me that." Joe said quickly, rubbing his temples after Pinkie finished.

"Whoops! Sorry Joe! It's just so fun to say!" She said, her smile not faltering.

"Well...Guess I don't got a choice neither. I'll help ya too, Joe." Applejack said, joining me and Pinkie's side of thinking. "After all, it ain't fair that we ask ya ta just change yer rules. This is yer world and we came ta help ya. And if the Princess trusts ya this much ta put you in charge, then I guess I gotta agree with her. But that don't mean that I appreciate it.

"Thank you." Joe nodded, thinking very carefully about what to say next since the six of us were split in half. "Now before we continue, perhaps we should wait for Big Mike and the others to meet us here."

"Oh, we're already here." Blitz told us, walking over towards us with the other two coming along with him.

Blitz was carrying a chair with him in one hand to sit down at our table, and a plastic bag in his other hand that was pretty well sized. But as he came over, I noticed something that I don't think the others had noticed right away.

"Zeke? Where on Earth did you get that hat?" I asked him with a smile, not minding using his real name.

"Huh?" He looked up, and broke into a grin. "Oh yeah, my 'hat'. Well I don't think you'll get it anywhere around here. It's a bit...Out of this world." He joked as his brown and black hat had a small little paw come out and slap him on the forehead.

He was wearing RJ on his head, hiding most of his bright yellow hair so no one could notice it. Of course, his hat only seemed even more odd to be quite honest. Not to mention, it was a tad unfashionable with the current shirt he was wearing.

As he sat down, Big Mike, who was bringing two more chairs over, set one down for Spike before sitting down himself. As he sat down, he set down a plastic bag of his own.

Finally, there was Spike who wasn't carrying anything except a small stash of rock candy that he was eating.

"Spike, where did you get that candy?" Twilight asked with a confused expression.

"Oh, well Big Mike got it for me after I passed." He said with a smile. "Joe told you about the test thing, right?"

"Yeah, he was just telling us…" Twilight started glaring at Joe. "What did you make Spike do?"

"I don't think you understand just what the test is about." Joe said with a frown. "You see, to join the Honorable Thieves, you must take a test. And the requirements you've yet to hear."

"Fine then. What are they exactly?" Twilight asked, crossing her arms and intensifying her glare.

"They go as follows," Joe started, clearing his throat, adjusting his sunglasses, and sitting up. Getting some more confidence in all of what was going on. He may have shielded his emotions very well, and his glasses helped him even more than before, but I still saw a disheveled mind on some ponies, or some person's in this case, actions and looks.

"In order to successfully join the Honorable Thieves you must, in one hour, steal, earn, or in any way obtain one-hundred dollars, in what your world would be 10 gold bits as Mr. Zeke has informed me. Whether that be regular money or objects that add up to one-hundred dollars doesn't matter."

"Yep! They both made over a hundred dollars! I made sure!" Big Mike told us with a smile.

"Wait a second, you two actually made twenty gold bits worth a stuff in one hour?" Applejack asked with a shocked sideways glance towards them. "How in Equestria did y'all pull that off?" She asked in suspicion.

"Well, we didn't really steal something valuable." Blitz informed us as he shook his head. "Me and Spike decided to order some food from an expensive restaurant, and that was about fifty dollars right there."

"But we still felt really bad about that." Spike cut in, not wanting the others to get mad at them. "So we put that food to good use."

"Good use? What could you possibly do that makes stealing right?" Rainbow Dash asked, frowning at them.

"We gave it away." Blitz said with a nod. "There was a homeless guy in the parking lot, so we gave him all of that food. You should've seen the look on his face too. He was so grateful."

"Wait, there was a person that was homeless?!" Fluttershy asked with a shocked expression.

"Yeah, I know. It's pretty messed up, but he was smiling anyway. Guess it didn't bother him too much. But since we had to split up how much that food costs, we had each stolen about twenty-six dollars of food." Blitz continued, not wanting to dwell on that too long. "So me and Spike split up from there to earn the rest."

"I didn't know what else to do, so I snuck by and got some lava rocks and some stuff called hematite when this guy at some small stand wasn't looking. But after I got a good look at them, I noticed how they weren't lava rocks at all!" Spike took out some gorgeous looking stones. He also took out a small well designed bag that made some tapping sounds inside. Which was most likely the hematite he was talking about.

"Not to mention, that's not even real hematite. Hematite should work like magnets, but these are just polished rocks." Blitz explained, taking out a bag of his own and pulling out two of the rocks. But just like he said, they didn't come together like magnets. But they sure looked convincing.

"After Spike took it all, I made sure that it was all one hundred dollars like you said Joe." Big Mike said with a big grin. "The lava stuff was ten dollars for two small rocks, and Spike took a lot of those!"

"I think I got a few handfuls. Definitely more than ten." Spike told him with a nod. "And the small bags were fifteen dollars each."

Good. Then that means that Spike passed with even more than the required amount." Joe nodded, enjoying his pizza while the rest of us went on.

"Twilight, Spike is right." I told her as I took a 'lava rock' from Spike's hand. Which he was more than happy to let me have. "These are just well disguised fake stones. And certainly overpriced ones if two tiny pieces such as this were supposed to be one gold bit a piece."

Lava rocks were extremely hard to obtain in Equestria since no volcano was entirely void of dragons. But with the few lava rocks I've seen over the years, I had made sure I could tell the difference between such rare stones and cheap copies. Mostly because two unrefined fakes such as these were barely worth more than a silver bit.

"She's right! Whoever sold this stuff was trying to pull a fast one! But Spike was faster-er with taking them!" Pinkie cheered, congratulating Spike.

Spike blushed a bit, but tried to ignore it to the best of his abilities. "At the booth, he had a few of those rocks made into necklaces, and I think those were real. And I know the magnet rocks that weren't in these bags were real too since Blitz was making towers with them."

"Wha- Dude?!" Blitz said, noticing how all of us were smiling towards Blitz, about ready to start laughing. Just the thought of him playing with hematite like a little colt seemed hilarious. "You didn't have to tell them that…"

"Pfft, hahaha…" Applejack shook the feeling of laughter away. "Anyway, I guess y'all had some good reasons. After all, that guy lied and cheated ta try an' get some money off'a them rocks. An' that's even worse than what those FlimFlam Brothers did."

"I gotta hand it to you Spike, you had a good reason for taking that stuff." Rainbow Dash said. "That jerk had it coming if he was going to do something like that."

"Of course." I agreed, taking the rest of the fake lava rocks that Spike held out, plus the rest of them. But oddly enough, I was met with frowns by everypony else. "What? Is it wrong to make jewelry out of rocks such as these? It wouldn't be wrong if I admitted they were fakes after all."

I had no intention of relying on myself to make dresses out of fake material, but while I'm in the human world with nothing to afford some satisfactory outfits, I'll be more than willing to make some sacrifices.

"Um, Blitz? What did you do for the rest of the money?" Fluttershy asked, turning the attention back on him.

"Well, I made forty-one dollars with the food and bag of fake rocks, so I needed some more. So I took fifteen of the real hematite rocks. But these are only worth ten cents apiece, so that made forty-two dollars. Meaning that I needed something else." He explained before holding up the bag he had before.

After he set it down on the table, he pulled out something that was kind of surprising. "A scabbard?" I asked, surprised that this is something Blitz would want, let alone steal.

"Scabby? Why would Blitz steal a scab?" Pinkie asked, really confused.

"Not a scab Pinkie, a scabbard." Twilight corrected. Just confusing half of our friends.

"Scab beard? I don't think that's a beard Flylight." Big Mike corrected her, being the most confused of them all.

"Twilight." She corrected.

"Sorry Twi, but I don't gotta hint ta what a scabbard is." Applejack said, getting right to the point.

"Yeah, I'm lost." Rainbow agreed.

"Uh-huh." Pinkie and Big Mike hummed along as they nodded in sync.

"Well, um, a scabbard is something that can hold a knife without it hurting anypony." Fluttershy told them matter-of-factly.

"That's right. But interesting that you're the one that knows just what that even is." Joe pointed out as he finished his slice.

"Yeah. How'd ya know that anyway?" Applejack asked, all of us turning towards Fluttershy in surprise.

"Well…" Fluttershy said, shrinking in her seat with all the faces looking at her. "Since a lot of my animals, especially Angel, loves salad, I need to chop vegetables. So I always put those knives safely away with scabbards so none of the animals hurt themselves with the knives by accident."

"So that's what those knives are for! I always thought they were for when the Everfree Forest vines started getting in your yard." Rainbow said, not seeing the confused looks we were giving her.

"Rainbow Dash, you do realize that measly kitchen knives won't cut vines such as those, right?" I asked her.

"Yeah. Usually it's Big Mac or me that chop down those vines." Blitz admitted.

"Uh...Yeah, duh! Hehehe. I was just joking around about that!" Rainbow Dash chuckled a little bit more before shrinking in her seat along with Fluttershy in embarrassment.

"Blitz, why would you choose to steal this? I mean, it's not like any human would want something like this...Right?" I asked him.

"Nope. No one wanted this. For some reason the store put it on clearance. And after I asked, the clerk said the company was going out of business since their stuff was defective. If no one bought it, they would've just thrown it out. So I took it while it was still being sold. Meaning I stole a one-hundred and twenty-nine dollar scabbard, plus a forty-two dollars of other stuff."

"Which means Mr. Zeke passed the test. And with much more money than Mr. Spike." Joe announced. "That only leaves you six."

"I don't know. I mean, it's not like all of us can find something to steal for a good reason." Twilight admitted, unsure as what to do. What Spike and Blitz had done something that made it more reasonable to steal something, but I still couldn't blame her for being hesitant.

"So what kind of other stores are there?" Applejack asked, thinking of how to figure out a way to think of some way to steal and have a good reason for it.

"Well, you probably saw most of them, but there's those booths that any random person can sign up for, some clothing stores, kid stores, restaurants…" Blitz paused, thinking of what else there was.

"There's a glow in the dark golf course!" Spike suddenly remembered.

"Really?!" Pinkie asked with an excited look on her face. "I know what I'm doing for the next hour!"

"Wouldn't cut it. It's only twelve dollars per admission I'm afraid." Joe explained to her with disinterest.

"Darn it! Why does the golf course have to be so cheap?!" Pinkie asked, saying the most ironic thing all day.

"There's some sports stores. Their stuff was pretty pricy." Spike remembered.

"On the top floor they have some pretty expensive stuff like shoe stores, makeup stores, a Bath and Body works, and some other pointless stores."

"Body works? Like, shampoo you mean?" Rainbow asked. "Come on, shampoo can't be that expensive."

"You'd be surprised." Joe told her. "They've had sales at the windows that say some soaps and shampoo are over fifteen dollars. And even so, those are small enough to fit in your hand."

"Ugh, I remember my Mom spending hours in there when I was like six." Blitz put his head on the table. "It didn't help that the place smelled so much like perfume and candles."

"Big Mike thinks that there's a bookstore!" Big Mike said suddenly. "And that Joe always took books because of how much money it costs."

"Nowadays I don't need any more books." Joe recalled.

"Don't need any more books?" Twilight asked, acting like the thought was completely foreign to her. "How do you think you don't need any more books? I barely saw any in the 'collection' you had at your house."

"That's because most of my books are in my room. But even then, most of those are psychology, anatomy, or encyclopedia sets." Joe said.

"What? No classical writing?" Twilight asked, more shocked at that than anything else. "Don't humans collect famous pieces of writing from the past?"

"I know what classical writing is, I don't need a lecture on it from what should be a mythical species." Joe frowned. "But no, I don't have classical writing. I've read it enough times, I might as well recite it to myself. Not to mention, that's the most expensive genre of book at the only bookstore in this place." Joe muttered, letting a bit of anger reveal itself from his usual tone.

"What else is there?" I asked, hoping to hear more about the clothing stores besides the fact that there were multiple stores.

"Well...There's a Pet shop." Blitz blurted out. "But that's about it really. Nowhere else that interesting that any of you could go."

"What's a pet shop?" Fluttershy asked, confused about just what that was.

Spike went wide eyed. Turning towards Blitz, who looked equally as terrified now. "What did you just DO?!" Spike asked, sounding scared out of his human scales right now.

"I-I don't know! I wasn't thinking!" Blitz replied pathetically.

"Yeah, I know that much!" Spike yelled out.

"What are you two so upset about?" Joe asked, raising his eyebrow. "It's a pet store, what's so troubling about that?"

"No, you don't understand!" Blitz turned towards him. "There aren't any pet stores in Equestria! And definitely no stray animals in Ponyville!"

"So the pound throws parties every day." Joe rolled his eyes. "What of it?"

"Spike? Blitz? What's wrong? What's a pet store?" Fluttershy asked, looking between the two with a very confused look on her face.

"Oh, I know what a pet store is!" Big Mike said, glad to answer the question for them.

As this went on, I turned towards the other girls. Noticeably looking away from Fluttershy on purpose. For the rest of us, we were able to put two and two together and figure out what a pet store is. A store that sold pets. Obviously.

But for Fluttershy, when it came to animals her mind was nothing but innocent. She always saw animals as part of a family. As in, a creature that shouldn't be priced at anything. They should simply love and be loved. Which was the very reason why she made sure there were no stray animals wandering the town. To which the town paid her for her work as The Animal Caretaker.

Also like they had said, there were no pet stores in Equestria. Sure there were some very ruthless Poachers, but they usually sold endangered animals or dangerous animals for pets. Something that Fluttershy very much hated.

So much so that when a Poacher had come to Ponyville trying to sell a Timberwolf...Let us just say that the Timberwolf was set free and ran away with its tail between its legs after Fluttershy was done.

The five of us girls, Spike, and Blitz all gulped in fear as we waited for Big Mike to say the inevitable.

"A pet store is a place that sells pets like puppies or kittens, and fish!" He said, Fluttershy freezing in place with her jaw landing in her lap. "Big Mike sometimes goes there to say hi to the lizards! Sometimes when they're standing on the side of the cage, they look like Spike! They're like Little Spikes!"

As Big Mike started laughing at his joke, all of us, even Joe as he felt the tension between the rest of us, slowly turned towards Fluttershy.

"...Cages?...Little puppies and kittens are locked away...In cages?" She said, recovering from her shocked expression and just looking at Big Mike with a frown.

"Yeah! Not big dogs though! After the puppies get too big, they send them somewhere else! Right Joe?" Big Mike asked, being completely oblivious to Fluttershy's expression.

Joe quickly turned towards him. "Big Mike, please stop talk-"

"Oh yeah! They go to the pound, right?" Big Mike suddenly remembered. And while none of us quite knew what a pound was, we figured out very quickly that it wasn't any desirable location.

Blitz stood up and put his metal hand over Big Mike's mouth. "Fluttershy?" He looked over towards her as she slowly stood to her feet. Her hair hiding her face from the rest of us as she stayed entirely quiet.

"..." She said nothing in response as she simply walked over to where Blitz and the rest of the boys were. And taking Blitz's right wrist in her hand, she started dragging him along. Tugging him so suddenly that RJ had nearly fallen off of his head.

"Woah, Fluttershy slow down! What are you even doing?" Blitz tried to take his arm back, but Fluttershy's grip was tighter than Blitz's own grip. He was able to hold place, but just barely without his bionics.

"You need to show me where that pet shop is." She said, visibly tightening her grip on Blitz's wrist even more. Almost making him wince in pain. "Now."

"Mr. Zeke, it might be in your best interest to simply show her. Because if you don't, we're going to have a repeat of that fight yesterday. And that wouldn't be a good idea considering that we're in a public area this time." Joe told him, calming down once more.

"You're not going to help me?!" He asked, trying to turn and look at him, but Fluttershy jerked at his arm again. Nearly causing him to fall forward on his face.

"'Heaven hath no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.' -William Congreve, The Mourning Bride." Joe quoted, sighing. "Translation: You're doomed. Good luck you poor soul."

"You jerk-Woah!" Blitz called out as Fluttershy yanked him forward one more time. Forcing him to follow Fluttershy and help her.

"Well, it seems that Fluttershy's made up her mind." Joe said, ignoring the now raging Fluttershy and worried Blitz walking off. "Well, that's sure to end well. Now all that remains is you five. So, you ready to try and take the test yourselves?"

"Well, I certainly am ready to get this over with." I nodded. "Besides, I just have to see what warrants such an expensive shampoo line. Seeing as how RJ and the other pets had removed my cosmetics to make space for themselves."

"I think I'm gonna go to the kid stores! There's gotta be some fun party stuff there! And if we're gonna set Morgue free, then we'll definitely need a big Welcome Home party for him!" Pinkie said with a smile.

"I think I'm gonna catch up with Fluttershy. She's gonna need more than just one of her friends to calm her down." She stood up, but before running off she turned to Joe. "Don't think I'm gonna like stealing anything. I'm just doing this since the Princess wants us to help you all." She then ran off to catch up to the rampaging timid human.

"Of course you are." Joe said, a hint of sarcasm coming from his voice. "That was obvious seeing as how this is the first time she's even mentioned that."

"Well, I ain't gonna figure somethin' out jus' sittin' here. Guess I'll wander a bit till I think of somethin' ta do." Applejack said, shaking her head with a stumped expression.

"And that just leaves you Ms. Sparkle." Joe said with a frown. "I know you don't want to do anything like this, but I'm afraid that you need to-"

"Don't." Twilight interrupted. "I already know. I'll go." She said, glaring at Joe all the while. She stood up, snatched the very last piece of pizza left, and walked off. Not even daring to look back.

"Then it seems that we're all in agreement. Let it be known that you may call either me, Mr. Spike, Big Mike, or Mr. Zeke for backup or assistance, but you must be the one that goes forward with the plan. Speaking of which, Mr. Spike? Can you go and stay with Ms. Sparkle? I have a feeling that while she is certainly aware of just how difficult this is actually going to be, she'll need some help. And since she doesn't want to see me, and Big Mike will stick out like a sore thumb, you're the only one left."

"I know what you mean. Don't worry, I'll make sure Twilight's okay." Spike said, running ahead to catch up with her.

"As for the rest of you, your hour begins now. May the odds be ever in your favor." He said, straightening his glasses once more before sitting back down. Leaving me, Applejack, and Pinkie to look back and forth between each other.

This was going to be a long hour.

---

And now, we begin the test. If any of you have seen the movie Tower Heist, I applaud you, that movie's hilarious! Also, I'd like to thank everyone who helped me test out the new way I use those QotCs. As you saw, the second story part of the mall was what most of you picked, and even though it may not've been such an impact, it was very helpful. So that in mind, be sure that some QotC's are going to be a little more implemented than before.

Another thing is, I've got something to say. I'm sorry. You see, I've been messing up lately. With how much stuff I've been doing lately, I've spread myself so thin and actually thought I could pull off working on everything. And because of that, not only did I get a swelled head, but all of my stuff's gotten worse as a result. And the worse part was that I was so egotistical that I could do something like this, that a good friend of mine needed to point out just how bad everything's been lately.

I need to focus more. No amount of excuses, schedules, or anything's going to fix that. Especially since that's not who I am. I've never worked with schedules, I always hated excuses, and now suddenly I'm using them all the time. And while all of that should help a person work more efficiently, it's only making me lose sight of what was really important. The work itself.

Doing the work the right way. With Heart. Not forcing myself to write in order to meet some deadline. You can't force imagination. True writing can only come if you let it come to you. To some that might mean taking your time, but at the same time it'll be faster than slaving over something that makes you the slave in the end.

To that friend I say thanks. And I hope that my writing gets better like it used to be.

QotC

---

As of right now, I have six stories to tell. Six heroes on their way to proving themselves. The Question of the Chapter? How do we go about this? The order of their stories are already set up, but just how are they gonna pass this test?

Well, as a famous Albert Einstein bobble head once said, the questions in the answer! And first one up on our story list is everyone's, sort of, favorite Roaming Farmer Applejack!

Here's the question? How should Applejack get one-hundred dollars? Should she try and get something from a store or booth? Maybe she could try what Blitz and Spike did? Or should she try to get it from other mall goers? The answer I'll leave to all of you!

Goodbye everypony! Until next chapter!