19: Dungeon Break

CORONA, AESTAS

"We should be home in about an hour," Rapunzel announced.

"Hopefully we beat Chrysalis to the punch," Rainbow Dash sighed. "We need a plan of action to protect you from her."

"Shape shifter or no," Eugene reminded Rainbow Dash, "there's nothing Maximus can't take. On the off chance he should fail, which, despite his smug attitude, he definitely does—"

Maximus gave a disapproving snort.

"—I can handle any bad guy that breaks in," Eugene continued. "But most importantly, your Chrysalis isn't going to be able to lay a finger on Rapunzel without getting a blow to the face."

"You fight?" Rainbow Dash asked Rapunzel.

"Not as well as Eugene makes out," Rapunzel said humbly.

Rainbow Dash picked up a stick from the ground. "I wanna see how well you can spar," she said. "You game?"

Rapunzel reached into her rucksack, drawing a cast-iron frying pan. "Well, I suppose I could indulge a little bit…"

"A frying pan?" Rainbow Dash burst into laughter.

"And there's her big mistake," Eugene sighed. "Rainbow Dash…do not mock the frying pan. It happens to be the royal weapon of Corona."

Rainbow Dash took a battle stance, copying a grip she'd learned from the Mukhtar. "Let's see your little frying pan beat me," she challenged.

"Well…okay…" Rapunzel also took a stance, holding up the frying pan.

The two women flew at each other. Rainbow Dash swung lightly with the stick, not wanting to hurt Rapunzel, but she was countered by the frying pan every single time. The pan lightly tapped each of her shoulders, then her stomach.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash complained. "How are you doing that?"

"I practice," Rapunzel admitted. "Had enough?"

"Yeah…" Rainbow Dash growled. "So you're good."

Rainbow Dash and Rapunzel each lowered her weapon; the stick was cast aside.

"Frying pans," Rarity remarked. "Who knew?"

"And imagine if she was actually aiming for your face," Eugene emphasized. "I've been on the wrong end of that pan more than once."

"I thought you were going to kill me!" Rapunzel protested. "I didn't know who you were yet!"

"Hey," Eugene reminded Rapunzel, "I love a woman who knows her way around kitchen supplies!" He stopped himself. "That…didn't come out right. Not that I'm saying you're a bad cook, 'cause you're not, I meant fighting with…the thing…and…"

"I knew what you meant," Rapunzel replied with a smile.

---

Within an hour, the group had crossed the bridge back into Corona. The sun was setting. "Looks like it's time to split up again," Twilight remarked.

"Hold on," Applejack interrupted. "We've gone too long without seein' Chrysalis around. I ain't too keen on lettin' Rapunzel go back into that castle alone. The weddin's in two days! I say we gotta set up some kinda defense for her. Twilight, ya think ya can put the whole castle in a shield—"

"No way," Twilight answered. "It's too big!"

"No bigger than Canterlot," Rainbow Dash pointed out, "and Shining Armor shielded all of that."

"Shining Armor's strength is shield magic," Twilight retorted. "I'm trying to become skilled in all magic. I've put my energy into all sorts of spells; he's put all his energy into that one. My shields can get about as big as the library back home, and that's it."

"Maybe you could stay in the palace with me," Rapunzel suggested. "That way, you can watch me if anything goes wrong."

Maximus immediately whinnied a protest and shook his head.

"Look, Maximus," Rapunzel said, "I know their story is hard to believe, but—"

Maximus held his glare of disapproval.

"If he doesn't even let me stay in the palace," Eugene sighed, "he's not going to bend the rules for six newcomers. Just sayin'. By the way, Maximus, haven't you trusted by NOW that I'm not going to steal anything?"

"Please?" Rapunzel begged Maximus, giving him her best puppy-eyes. "They know Chrysalis better than anyone else."

Maximus looked toward the six Equestrians. He stuck out a hoof, shoving Pinkie Pie aside. Looking at the other five, he shook his head. Moving his gaze to Pinkie Pie, he paused before reluctantly nodding, deciding that allowing just one of the newcomers into the palace couldn't cause any disasters he couldn't handle.

"Me?" Pinkie responded. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She threw her arms around Maximus' neck.

Maximus began to wonder if he had cause to regret his decision.

"But then the Elements of Harmony are separated," Twilight pointed out. "We won't be able to—"

Maximus cut her off with a grunt and a glare.

"Oh, Twilight," Rarity told her friend, "I'm sure that Rapunzel, Maximus, and Pinkie will be able to manage. Besides, they've got the royal guard! And Chrysalis probably won't even show up until the actual wedding day."

"All right…" Twilight said reluctantly.

"This is going to be the best slumber party EVER!" Pinkie squealed.

Pinkie followed Rapunzel, Maximus, and Pascal—now on the princess' shoulder—up to the castle, while Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy walked Eugene home.

---

"And so begins the first phase of the plan," Chrysalis muttered from an alleyway. She looked toward Gothel. "You are ready?"

"Well, as much as I'll ever be," Gothel replied.

It hadn't been hard to find the required amount of civilians that adored their princess. The love built up inside Chrysalis, bolstering her strength, but more importantly, giving her the shape, the form. She shifted easily into the frame of the short brunette princess, purple dress and all.

"A spitting image," Gothel complimented.

With a cold laugh, Chrysalis set out.

---

When the sky was dark, Rapunzel settled into her bed. Pinkie Pie had been given the bedroom next to her—the guards, still suspicious, wanted at least a wall's thickness between Rapunzel and the stranger. Rapunzel still didn't have any real proof that Pinkie was on her side, but deep in her heart, she felt as though the young woman—or mare, she supposed—could in fact be trusted.

If nothing else, they'd had much fun together before Rapunzel had retired to bed. They'd played board games, sang songs and danced, and even made a batch of cupcakes in the royal kitchens. Rapunzel realized that Pinkie was probably the first real female friend she'd had that wasn't a parental figure, or the pretense of one.

With those thoughts in mind, she drifted off to sleep.

At midnight, a soft green glow filled the room; Rapunzel, not waking, just turned over in her sleep. Had she woken, she would have seen her exact double materialize in the room. She would have known right away that this was the infamous Chrysalis.

As it were, Chrysalis approached Rapunzel's bed silently, smiling at the sight of the innocent, slumbering princess. Her eyes adjusted almost instantly to the darkness, and she picked up on the colors of the bedspread. Chrysalis reached out, delicately pulled back the bedspread to reveal Rapunzel's body and nightgown. To complete the ruse, she had to be dressed appropriately; Chrysalis changed her gown to one matching Rapunzel's.

Now for the delicate part. Chrysalis extracted from her sash a knife, one that Gothel had lent her for this purpose. She dangled it over Rapunzel's prone form. Remembering Maleficent's instructions, she bypassed the stomach, the heart, the vitals. She stopped at the head, pressing the blade flat against the base of Rapunzel's hair. This brown hair, she remembered Gothel telling her with a smile, would never grow again once it was cut. All Chrysalis needed was two days—the rest was a bonus.

She smoothly slid the knife against Rapunzel's scalp, and the short brown hair fell away. As each lock was sliced, Chrysalis caught the hairs, making sure no evidence would be left. When she'd gathered all of Rapunzel's hair, she moved to the window, letting the brown hair fly into the midnight breeze.

All this and the princess still hadn't woken up.

Chrysalis turned her attention to Rapunzel's nightgown, the one she'd copied, next. It needed to be unrecognizable. She used the knife to slash at the skirt and sleeves, causing rifts.

Rapunzel dreamed of icy wastelands, her skin brushing against icicles. A harsh winter wind blew against her head.

Finally, Chrysalis moved to the rucksacks of possessions from the tower. As she'd expected, one contained a case full of paints. She dripped a little of each color over Rapunzel's nightgown. Now the princess was bald, and her clothes resembled nothing close to what she'd gone to bed in.

Rapunzel's dream continued; the icicles dripped cold water down onto her, making her shiver.

Her hand reached for the bedcovers out of instinct. It was about time she found out something was amiss anyway. Chrysalis' work was done.

She shoved Rapunzel out of bed and screamed at the top of her lungs.

Pinkie Pie sat up in bed. "RAPUNZEL!" she cried.

By the time Pinkie reached the doorway that led to Rapunzel's bedroom, many of the royal guards posted had already arrived, ready for action at the slightest sign of distress from the royal family. The guards threw the door open, thrusting torches inside.

The torch fire illuminated the scene: the princess sat up in bed, clutching the bedclothes to her chest, while a stranger, a bald woman in tattered rags, staggered confusedly into a standing position.

"She tried to murder me!" the princess cried, pointing down to the floor by the stranger; a knife gleamed. "She's an assassin!"

"N-no!" the stranger cried, taking in the scene. "I…" Looking at the woman in the bed, she realized what the guards thought. She knew who had come for her. "CHRYSALIS! Listen, everyone! She's not Rapunzel! She's a shape-shifter!"

"Nice try," one of the guards said, moving toward the bald stranger. "Shape-shifters? What made you think THAT would work?"

"NO!" the stranger cried, backing toward the wall. "It's me!"

The guards moved toward her; with one Rapunzel already in the room, their vision didn't register that this other woman, had she hair and different clothes, could also easily be the princess.

Pinkie, however, knew exactly what was going on. "STOP!" she shrieked. "That IS Rapunzel! She's telling the truth! The person in the bed is a fake! She—"

Chrysalis, now very much enjoying the form of Rapunzel, pointed at Pinkie in mock horror. "She's the one that let the assassin in!" she wailed. "I never should have trusted her! Arrest her!"

"WHAT?" Pinkie was immediately seized by the guards, who held her in an iron grip. They forced her wrists into iron cuffs, as they were doing to the real Rapunzel, the bald Rapunzel in rags. "NO!"

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" the real Rapunzel shrieked.

"Take them to the dungeons!" Chrysalis ordered. "NOW! Before they scare me any more!"

"This one came with five others," the guard nearest Pinkie recalled. "Should we arrest them?"

"I don't know," Chrysalis replied. "This one might just be a traitor! When she was helping the assassin into the room, she said…she said…it's too much to even bear!"

"Too much to bear?" Rapunzel snapped. "I don't even TALK like that!"

"She said, 'Down with Corona and all of Canterlot!'" Chrysalis finished. "She's probably a traitor! Please, don't arrest the others yet…they're innocent until proven guilty."

"Your kindness is astounding as always," a guard remarked.

"THAT ISN'T ME!" the real Rapunzel screamed.

"Quiet, you!" A guard elbowed Rapunzel in the stomach. "Your story is really getting old!"

"Shall we do the usual with them, Princess?" another guard asked.

"Please," Chrysalis said, hugging the blankets again for good measure. "I'm just so scared…"

"It shall be done in the morning," the guard promised. "Sleep well, princess."

"I'll try," Chrysalis squeaked.

The guards then forcibly dragged Pinkie and Rapunzel down the hallway, headed for the dungeon.

"What's the usual?" Pinkie asked Rapunzel.

Rapunzel swallowed hard. "Death by hanging," she answered.

In Rapunzel's bed, Chrysalis smirked. "I'll wait a little longer to have some fun with the rest of you, my little ponies," she muttered to herself. Then she lay down and went to sleep in her stolen bed.

---

It was as though a star had fallen, though no one noticed it. No one was awake, save for the guards and prisoners that were entrenched within the castle walls. No one saw the glowing crystal sphere that shot down out of the sky, landing hard in the ground out back of the castle.

About twenty feet in diameter, the sphere glittered in the moonlight and starlight. Then it parted in half, revealing itself to be hollow. Two living beings exited it as though hatching from a crystal egg.

The larger of the two surveyed the castle. It was certainly an elegant structure, no doubt the sign of a prosperous kingdom. It also probably had deep dungeons…dungeons where the most dangerous of the kingdom were kept. That, for now, was of more interest.

---

The guards had locked Pinkie Pie and Rapunzel up in a cell, adding some extra chains to their ankles and binding the two sets of chains together, then left them alone. Only one guard remained on post for the rest of the night, holding the keys to the cells and surveying the hallway filled with cell doors to make sure no one escaped. He paid no attention to the conversation between the two newest convicts, though he wouldn't have believed it or tried to make sense of it anyway.

"You were right," Rapunzel sighed. "Chrysalis really is trying to take over my kingdom by turning into me. And now she's going to have us killed." She sighed. "I'm sorry, Pinkie. You shouldn't be involved in this."

"Don't say that!" Pinkie protested. "Of course I should be involved! Chrysalis is my nemesis! Well, mine and my friends'. But more importantly, you're my friend! I HAVE to try and save you!" She struggled against the iron bonds. "If I could just get my hands free, I could get to my party cannon!"

"Your what?"

"It's a cannon that turns a room into an instant party. It also kinda works as a blaster sometimes! I take it everywhere!"

"You can't possibly have a cannon on you right now."

"That's what EVERYPONY says! Ohhh, but it wouldn't work on these bars anyway! It WOULD turn this cell into a cool place to have a birthday party, but we don't need that right now! Don't worry, Rapunzel! I'm not going to give up! I'm going to find us a way out of this before morning!"

"I'll keep thinking too," Rapunzel vowed. "If they hadn't just judged right away because of how she looked and how I look, they might have noticed that she didn't act like me at all! I haven't ordered any prisoners to die since I came to the palace. I even argued for some of our worst criminals, Stabbington brothers included, to be spared from the hanging and just locked up forever. I don't like having that blood on my hands. Besides, Eugene was almost killed that way because of a false accusation. I'm not having that happen to anyone ever again. I was hoping to make a law against punishing criminals by death, but…it's just not the way Coronan law does things. I was scared to push it. Maybe I should've. Then we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Don't beat yourself up!" Pinkie told Rapunzel. "After all, you didn't know that a shapeshifter would sneak into your room, cut off all your hair, wreck your pajamas, and have the guards chain you up and throw you in a dungeon to die in the morning along with me! I don't think ANYPONY could have guessed that!"

"Well…at least not that exactly."

"And you did already save some prisoners! Like those stabby guys! Who are they, anyway?"

"The Stabbington brothers," Rapunzel explained, "are two thieves that used to work with Eugene. Eugene wasn't anything like them, though. He was into crime for adventure and money. They were in it because they liked the violence. They were the ones who set it up so that Eugene was framed for the theft of the royal crown. Well, okay, he did steal it, but he was going to give it back! Then they tried to kidnap me because they knew about my powers. My moth—the woman pretending to be my mother 'rescued' me so she could have my powers to herself. The important thing is, they were wanted for a lot of thefts and a couple murders. Everyone else thought they should die, but I just couldn't bring myself to pass the sentence."

"I get it!" Pinkie cried. "My friends and I can't kill anyone either. We just don't think it's right! Our powers as the Elements of Harmony defeat bad guys by doing other things! Like turning them back to stone, or putting them in a lamp for a while, or sometimes even bringing out the good that was in them! Hey, maybe that would work on the stabby guys!"

"I doubt they have any good to bring out," Rapunzel admitted.

"Shhh!" Pinkie suddenly cried. "Do you hear that?"

What they'd heard was the thud of a thick plank of wood connecting with the skull of the one guard on duty, knocking him to the floor. The intruder had broken in stealthily, with no assistance from any magical allies—she prided herself on her ability to sneak. She had even, she admitted to herself, borrowed some techniques from the famous Flynn Rider. She knelt to gather the keys from the guard's belt, striding down the hall with a candle in hand.

Rapunzel and Pinkie watched the light grow closer to them until it illuminated the face of the woman who held the keys: a woman with dark, wavy hair, wearing a cloak of black over her gown of red.

The woman was very obviously not Queen Barbara; Pinkie knew this. However, when Rapunzel saw this woman, the first word she uttered was: "Mother?"

"Oh, Rapunzel, my dear!" Gothel replied dramatically. "It pains me to see you locked up in the dungeons of this nasty place! And to think you actually called it home."

"You can't be here," Rapunzel said in disbelief. "You're dead…"

"Oh, a minor trifle," Gothel replied with a shrug. "After all, you've just been taken over by a shapeshifter, and your friend there is a pony in a human body. A little resurrection shouldn't strike you as too odd by this point."

"How…how did you know about…?"

"Oh, I have my ways," Gothel replied with a smirk.

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Pinkie cried. "You're…you're that fake mom that locked Rapunzel up in the tower so you could use her hair!"

"Such accusations!" Gothel gasped.

"But you did," Rapunzel snapped. "You just wanted to use my powers to make yourself young again."

"But that doesn't mean I didn't love you, my flower," Gothel replied. "So I lied to you about one little thing for eighteen years. Didn't I also give you the best of everything you could ask for? Build you a paradise? Protect you from—"

"Keep me away from my real family," Rapunzel argued. "Set it up so I would never find my true love! Send the one I loved to his death!"

"I thought the stabby guys did that," Pinkie interrupted.

"But she set it up," Rapunzel growled.

"You needed to be safe," Gothel replied coldly. "I was only doing what I thought best. If I'd killed that Flynn Rider the first time, you wouldn't be in this mess, now, would you?"

"If he knew where I was," Rapunzel shot back, "I wouldn't be in this mess."

"But he doesn't," Gothel told her. "And with that fake running around, well, how will he tell the difference? How will anyone be able to tell the difference?"

"HE'LL KNOW!" Rapunzel shouted.

"Actually, Chrysalis can hypnotize princes into thinking she's the real thing," Pinkie pointed out. "Oops! I shouldn't have said that, should I?"

"I'm the only one that will know the truth," Gothel said. "Me and your little friend there."

"And Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash!" Rapunzel attempted to argue.

"Or will they?" Gothel posed. "If that shape-shifter can fool hubby dearest, she can fool a lot of people and ponies. But you don't have to worry about her anymore, my flower! There's only one way for you to survive this, and that's to escape this dungeon. You couldn't possibly hope to convince anyone in the castle that you're the real Rapunzel…but at the very least, you can be safe." Gothel held the keys up to the candlelight, jingling them softly. "Safe with me, where you belong."

"I don't trust you," Rapunzel said.

"My flower," Gothel replied, "all I've ever wanted for you was to be safe. And, well, to help me be immortal, but you don't have any hair anymore to give me that, now, do you? Come with me, and I'll protect you. I'll even let you bring your little friend."

Rapunzel bit her lip.

"Are you really gonna do it?" Pinkie asked.

"If we don't go with her," Rapunzel pointed out, "we'll die. And I…I really don't have my hair anymore, so I can't…" She stared directly into Gothel's eyes.

Gothel was already undoing the lock. "Soon this nightmare will be over," Gothel promised.

"But Chrysalis-!" Pinkie tried to interrupt.

"Either way, there's nothing we can do about that," Rapunzel sighed.

"But if we could get to the others!" Pinkie looked up to Gothel. "Um, Ms…"

"Gothel," Gothel introduced, swinging open the cell door and tossing the key to it on the floor.

"Ms. Gothel?" Pinkie asked. "Can you let us go to see my other five friends? We can stop Chrysalis and convince everyone that this is the real Rapunzel!"

"I'm afraid not," Gothel said. "After all, I couldn't let you go out where it's unsafe…and I hold the only keys to your chains. You'll have to come with me on my terms."

"Well, that doesn't sound very trustworthy!" Pinkie snapped.

"Pinkie," Rapunzel said sternly. "We have to go with her."

"Rapunzel?" Pinkie asked. "Are you…do you really believe her?"

"We have to go," Rapunzel insisted.

The two staggered out of the cell, and Gothel took hold of the chains on Rapunzel's wrists to lead them out. "I've got a cart waiting," she explained. "We're going somewhere the guards and the shape-shifter will never find you." Or anyone else, she added mentally. She then kissed the top of Rapunzel's now-bald head. "I've missed you, my flower. I love you."

"I love you mo—" Rapunzel caught herself before she could finish the old exchange of sentences.

Gothel finished it anyway: "I love you most."

Pinkie could only follow in horror, watching Rapunzel become a slave to memory.

---

One cell over from where Pinkie and Rapunzel had just been liberated, Ethan Stabbington yawned and stretched into wakefulness. "Hey," he grunted.

His twin brother Corey blinked his two eyes—a stark contrast to Ethan's one, the other covered by a patch—open. The missing eye was the only way to tell the two apart; both were muscular redheads with almost permanent scowls. "What is it?" Corey snarled.

"Somebody left a key," Ethan observed.

The key Gothel had cast aside, the master key that could unlock all the cell doors, glittered in the faint light from the dungeon torches.

"So can you get it?" Corey asked. He knew that even if they did get the key to the cell, they'd still have to work out a way to undo their chains.

Ethan couldn't reach one hand through the bars; the chains on his wrists stopped that. He then tried both hands; his arms weren't long enough.

"If you can't reach it," Corey complained, "why'd you wake me up?"

Suddenly, a shape passed through the darkness, quickly past the torches. Neither Stabbington brother could see the face of this person—just a silhouette. Another silhouette, some sort of flying animal, passed just behind it. This pair had come from the glittering sphere outside, though the brothers had no way of knowing that.

Staying just out of the light, the figure planted one foot, in a black shoe, down on the key. "So let me see if I've got this right," he said—his voice was obviously male. "You two are this kingdom's most wanted."

"Yeah," Ethan Stabbington grunted. "Why do you want to know?"

"Tell me something," the figure continued. "Are you in this cell because you had what it takes to actually kill someone? Or are you just in here for petty thievery?"

"We're thieves and murderers," Corey answered. "We do pretty much anything for the right pay."

"What are you doing?" Ethan snarled at his twin.

"Seeing if he wants to make us an offer," Corey answered. "That's the vibe I'm getting."

"I'm considering it," the figure said. "After all, I could use a couple hired hands for what I'm planning. And money isn't an object. But I do have to know: have you ever tried to usurp the throne of this kingdom?"

"Nah," Corey answered. "Wouldn't know what to do with it anyway."

"Good," the figure answered, the shoe moving off the key. "Then you won't be in my way when I take it over. This seems like a nice place, after all. I've decided I want it."

The key was surrounded in blue light, then lifted off the ground of its own accord. Ethan and Corey were both stunned.

"How…how are you doing that?" Ethan asked.

"Magic," the figure answered. "Don't tell me. This is one of those kingdoms WITHOUT any known sources of magic."

"Magic ain't real," Ethan said, "except for the girl with the magic hair. And all that hair's been cut off."

"Pity," the figure said, and the key moved ever upward until it was suddenly clenched in his shadowy hand. "That sounds like something I could have used to my advantage. Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers, after all." He reached out, unlocking the cell door.

"That key ain't gonna do anything about the chains," Corey pointed out.

When the cell door was open, blasts of blue energy rocked the room. The chains were severed; both Stabbingtons stood.

"The key was just for show," the figure admitted. "I'm a bit of a fan of dramatic effect."

"What…" Ethan moved closer, trying to make out the face of his rescuer. "What kinda person are you?"

The figure stepped forward, now illuminated by a nearby torch. It was a young man, dressed in royal blue clothing the likes of which neither brother had ever seen before. Dark curls slithered around his face, which was held in an arrogant smirk. The flying creature was also visible now; to the Stabbingtons' disgust, it was an eel, one that somehow was able to survive out of water.

"No one special," Mozenrath told the brothers. "Just the future ruler of this kingdom and the one who's going to lead you to glory…if you do what I say. But from what I've heard, we're going to get along just fine."

"Just fine!" Xerxes echoed.

---

Chapter 19

· I'm pretty sure that Zel's brown hair NEVER grows. The one lock she has hasn't grown since she was a baby. The idea of bald Rapunzel was something I have wanted to play with for a while because of this.

· You have to admit a couple things: people look INCREDIBLY different with hair than bald. And if you saw two identical copies of your best friend standing next to each other, but one didn't have hair, you'd probably assume the one with hair was your real friend. Unless your real friend is usually bald; then it's the other way around. It's kinda the same principle as glasses. People look SO DIFFERENT with glasses on/off.

· It's struck the fandom before that Corona has a harsh justice system. They were going to kill Eugene for STEALING THE TIARA THAT THEY DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WOULD HAVE A PRINCESS TO GO WITH IT. I can't imagine Zel was too big a fan of this policy, hence her debate over it. And in Tangled Ever After, the Stabbington brothers DO turn up in chains, so obviously they haven't been executed.

· I fully believe Gothel could break into a heavily guarded castle. In fact, thinking about it now, she canonically DID it once to steal Zel in the first place. Nonmagical badassery. That's where she shines.

· You might have noticed that Gothel keeps calling him "Flynn." IMPORTANT. MAKE A NOTE OF THAT. She has NEVER heard the name "Eugene Fitzherbert."

· My fanon names for the Stabbington brothers have always been "Corey" and "Ethan". Dunno why. They just look like a Corey and an Ethan.