The convoy of engines roared down the line, each carrying a grim or glum expression.

In their cabs where their drivers, looking edgy and feeling worried.

A turmoil had begun in the country's capital, and it seemed to involve them. Too much for their taste, even.

The cavalcade rumbled down the tracks, their goal clear ahead: the ivory towers of Canterlot.

However, as they approached the bend at the bottom of the mountain, they were in for a surprise:

The city had been substructured!

Originally, Canterlot was built on a small ledge on the side of the mountain's back, no bigger than Ponyville itself. But as it's importance (and, subsequently, it's population) grew, the city, and the plateau that held it grew larger as well, with the use of magic and cleverly designed architecture.

However, it's stability had always been an aching question.

Many events held there had guest number restriction, so as to avoid overloading the "foundation" of the city, which would certainly make it fall down into the depths below.

It was said that the Princesses' biggest fear used to be an earthquake strong enough to dethrone the beautiful capital from it's centuries-old position.

You can probably guess how surprised the engines and their drivers were, upon seeing the great, pile-like rock formation holding Canterlot from underneath, covered in a web of roller-coaster-like train tracks, with the original, subtle tunnel - which opened to the serpentine running up the mountainside, and into the city, being the only quick entrance for heavy-weight freight and passenger trains - gone.

In case you CAN'T imagine how surprised they were, here's a hint:

"WHUUUAAAAT THE FACK?!"

...That surprised.

"'o' th' blu'y 'ell a' we s'ppos'd t' ge' up dere?!" 'Arry snapped.

"We COULD fly..." Rainbow muttered, but upon noticing the disappointed looks on the faces of her friends, she corrected herself "I mean, I could fly up there... But..."

She flew close to new mountains, only to nearly plummet to the ground - she pulled back in the last second, a flew back to the others.

"There are some heavy upper drafts here..." she explained "They keep pushing me down. So, flying's out as well."

Ponies and engines exchanged looks.

"Well, I guess have no choice..." Diesel uttered "We'll hate to climb this hill..."

"Climb?" Rarity asked.

"Oh, not you, you oversized marshmallow!" the shunter snapped "I meant US. The tracks seem to run up the side of the hill, all the way..."

"All we have to do is avoid the impossible bits." Derek added, looking at the loops and sharp bends on the lines above.

"I' won' be easy..." Spamcan muttered, now sobered up "Hope ya gals ar' rea'y, cuz we 'ave a feelin' 'ho's behin' all o' dis."

The mares, the dragonling and the griffon gazed up at the twisty tracks leading up to the castle.

"It's Discord, isn't it?" Rarity asked.

"We're pretty sure..." Derek replied.

The drivers shuddered.

Twilight shut her eyes, and sighed.

"OK..." she uttered, finally "Let's do this."

Several tracks ran up the newly formed mountain side, but all three of the original main line tracks ran into a bottleneck at the very bottom, which meant that they could only go one by one after each other.

The tracks ascended roughly, and the rails were slippery.

Thanks to his strong traction rods and wheel tires, Diesel could handle the incline with ease. Spamcan and Derek, who came after him, had a low-leveled points of gravity, and thus, managed with little effort as well.

But Old Stuck-Up found the task harder than he expected: his wheels kept slipping at every half meters, and with every inch he gained, he lost ten. In short, he was falling behind.

"What the...?! What's with these soddy rails?!" he snapped "I can't get a bloody grip!"

"Same here!" BoZo growled at the end of the line "Someone had botched them up!"

"How can you mess up railway tracks?" Pinkie Pie muttered "They're just pieces of metal!"

"Yes, but if done WRONG, like in this case, their surface becomes too smooth!" Steamie explained. He himself was having trouble moving forward. The incline got steeper with every turn of the wheel, and the engines were loosing their grip.

"We have to link together!" CoBo exclaimed.

"Wha' fo'?" 'Arry asked. He and Bert, (with Rainbow Dash in the latter's cab) were doing fine, even though they had to wait behind Stuck-Up, who had came to a complete stop, struggling not to slip back.

"That's the only way we can get up easily!" Derek reasoned "Well... Unless you two wanna push Stuck-Up."

"Loi'e 'ELL we want!" 'Arry growled "C'mon, Ber'! Cou'le u'!"

Soon enough, all the engines were coupled together.

Those who struggled to move could now advance, helping out the others who provided the traction.

Still, the real obstacle was just ahead:

The lines looked like the lovechild of roller coaster and maze - twists and turns on every corner, loops and bumps, with random launch ramps and fire rings to top it off - and God knows what else!

"This'll be a long one!" Twilight sighed.

"You bet." her engine growled.

"What. The. BUCK?!"

A set of dark blue hooves rammed at the wooden wall that was once a door.

"Luna, CALM DOWN!" the older alicorn shouted "Brute force clearly won't help us right now! We have to find a way to open it!"

"But HOW?!" the younger princess snapped "The bucking GOD of CHAOS is roaming out there, doing Faust-knows-what, and all we're gonna do is sit here and play puzzles?! Buck that! I'm gonna knock this manure to the ground, even if it KILLS me!"

"It probably will..." Alexei muttered. He had been observing the door-turned-blockade for some time by now.

Celestia said nothing.

She was too shocked to see her sister so unrobed of herself - she was usually the more calm and collected, always trying the authoritative, logical approach first, unlike her, who was always more emotional, cathartic, even, but authoritative as well.

Alexei, on the other hoof, avoided all excess reminder of his rank, position and overall control, and instead relied purely on logic, instinct, imagination and cognitive skills, applying a certain quick-witted creativity to hard tasks that both princesses (along with Prince Blueblood, and vast amount of the Canterlot upperclass (once the aristocracy), capitalist and industrial magnates) yearned to learn.

Right now, her sister was fuming with an impotent rage, while her brain raced like the Wonderbolts, but with the usefulness of an ancient, clockwork machinery: the smaller, ineffectual gears spinning fast, while the bigger cogs barely moved.

She glanced at the Wanderer-turned-Controller.

He once showed them what he described as "a basic, cheap computer". It was sizable, compound device with many parts that hogged over an entire tabletop - a big, boxy thing with a black window described as a "monitor", a set of lettered and numbered buttons, like the keyboard of a typewriter, conveniently named as a "keyboard", a small, oviform piece of plastic with flat bottom (with a ball on it's center), and two streamlined buttons on top, called a "mouse", all of which devices were connected via cable to a big, oblong box with many dial-powered slots and two big buttons, called the "power unit and motherboard with driver, CD and DVD-ROM players".

At first, it made no sense. It looked like some bleak toy for foals...

But then, Alexei turned it on...

And did one month's worth of paperwork in one hour - no officialism, no delay, no red-tape, just pure, streamlined, made-for-the-customers, "ergonomic" bureaucracy.

The machine, described as "Home computer system", enabled the tall figure to do ALL of the Royal Court's paperwork that had been waiting completion for years. It took him two hours.

The Princesses could only stare with awe - along with a couple dozen of office workers and onlooking maids and soldiers.

The machine could play music - with two speakers attached, play motion picture, had it's own drawing, animating, music and film producing board (all part of a certain "multimedia port"), and had several small games on it - the most popular being the games of Solitaire and Chess, the latter played against the computer itself.

But the most important part was the writer and document creating "programs", which enabled the creation of such rapid work Alexei produced.

Now, he did explained that he was "very skilled with the creation and handling of such machinery", and that "he had a great amount of experience", not to mention that he BUILT the thing from scratch (summoning the ready-to-use parts out of thin air), under the course of a minute.

He tried to explain how the miraculous machine worked - the bottom line is, it was far more advanced than ANYTHING on presumably the entire planet.

A cheap, out-of-date, very basic computer!

It didn't even had Internet connection - whatever that was - installed, according to the Traveler.

But even such "simple" machine seemed like something out of a science-fiction novel, which reflected Alexei's state as well - he was unreasonably sapient, and as such, his logic, ideas, general way of thinking, and his mind was far beyond the capabilities of the Princesses, let alone the common equine.

If Celestia's brain ran on clockwork, then his probably used integrated circuits, microchips, and whatnot - he did mentioned a lot of things (most of which only Luna was able to understand in the first case, so everyone asked her to explain the figure's words later on) for comparison.

And if Celestia had clockwork, Alexei had electronics and integrated circuits, then Luna probably had electric circuits and cathode tubes - most of which seemed to be close to bursting right now.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" she roared, running at the door with her horn fizzing with dark magic.

"Sister? Luna... Lulu, STAPH!" the white mare had to use both her wings to stop her maddened sibling.

As her wings folded out, Alexei's eyes lit up.

He walked up to the door, and, as silence fell upon them once the Princesses stopped bickering, he uttered a phrase:

"Open, Sesame!"

The door vanished into thin air. The dark, cloudy sky was revealed beyond the door frame.

As the two regal sisters collected their jaws from the floor, Alexei smirked.

"Old-school, eh? This should be entertaining..".

A smaller plateau came into view after the last turn.

The city itself was a few more levels above.

"Well, ah hav' ta admit... He did a mighty fine job raising this hill..." Applejack muttered "Every time Ah look'd at Canterlot from th' orchard, Ah was 'fraid tha' it'll come tumblin' down th' mountainside th' next second."

"You too?" Fluttershy asked "I thought I was the only one bothered about this."

"Half of Equestria has the same fear, girls..." Twilight explained, matter-of-factly.

"...ANYWAYS." Spamcan interrupted "As goo' as he was wi'h th' hill, he's STILL pre'y much a fookin' noob wi'h th' rails..."

"I think he made them this way on purpose..." Derek muttered.

"...I 'no', ya twit, I was jus' tryin' t' insul' him..."

"Oh."

"We can stop on that small plain, guys!" Twilight exclaimed "It even has multiple sidings!"

She suddenly found herself being thrown towards the back of the cab - the idea of a rest WITHOUT having to watch each others' ass (with neither Pip or Emma present) was too great for the engines to resist.

A few minutes later - once their motors cooled down - they were ready to depart once again, when...

"Guys... Isn't that... Bowler?"

"Oh my gosh... Where's his face?!"

"...Dat's his arse..."

"Oh."

Sure enough, Bowler came, running "rear" cab first, stopping conveniently in an empty siding, with Trixie jumping out of his cab as soon as he came to a complete halt.

"Girls!" she exclaimed, as she galloped towards the others.

"Trixie! You're alright!" Rainbow Dash smiled, while thinking to herself "Now, why does that dissatisfy me?"

"Girls, I gotta tell you something!" Trixie explained.

But then, Diesel suddenly smiled.

"Well, we got them, safe and sound..."

His smile melted...

"CAN WE GO NOW?!"

"Obviously not!" Twilight declared.

"BUT WHYYYYYYYYY?!" Nearly EVERYONE asked.

"BECAUSE we're the Elements of Harmony." she reminded her friends "Thus, WE'RE the only ones who could stop Discord!"

"Really?" Bowler asked "Then how come he's free again? The Elements didn't stopped him the first time, when the Princesses used them, it only encased him in stone, and put him on hold. Then you performed the same thing, and now, he remained stoned for an even shorter time!"

Worried expressions spread on the mares' faces. Spike and Gilda exchanged looks.

"Your point?" Twilight asked.

"The Elements won't work!" Diesel declared "We'll have to think of something else."

"Oh, glad you realized that! I shouldn't waste time with explanation, then!"

The mares span around, and the engines gazed up.

"Speaking of devil..." Stuck-Up muttered.

Floating near above them was the draconequus.

He smirked, amused by the sight:

A group of frowning living machines and cross little ponies.

How delightful it is to have an audience for chaos!

Of course, he was extra careful not to make eye contact with either Trixie or the green diesel. Mostly because the two were glaring daggers at him in way that just... Disturbed him.

"Discord!" Twilight snapped.

"Yeeees?" he grinned "Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Oh, we WERE." Rarity growled "When you were no more than a garish lawn ornament!"

"Oh." the spirit pretended to be hurt "Is that soooo? You rather see me as a statue, unable to move, unable to scratch myself, and suffering for an eternity, for a wittle bit of chaos?"

The mares took aback, but the diesels just scoffed.

"Well, God sends you to Hell for an eternity, if you commit sin in that, let's say, eighty years of your life..." Cromwell muttered.

"Life's unfair to us, so why should we be fair to anyone else?" BoZo asked.

Discord sighed. He expected the rest of the machines to be just as bitter and snooty as the green one, but THIS much? And... While the mares were visibly angry about his presence, the engines just looked... Unimpressed...

Not sniffy, just...

They didn't find him much of an issue.

That's usually a good thing, but now...

He had to think of something.

"Perhaps a bit of rain would lighten your mood." He smirked, snapping his fingers.

Soon enough, the clouds turned pink, and chocolate rain began to fall.

Instantly, Pinkie smiled and opened her mouth, trying to catch as much of the brown drops as possible. The others just kept glowering at him, the diesels remaining unimpressed.

Then one by one, they started their engines.

Diesel glanced at Pinkie.

"Had your fill, Pink?"

Pinkie raised a hoof, and after a few seconds, she finished, licking her mouth.

"Yep!"

"Then get inside the cabs. All of you." the shunter declared. The mares proceeded.

The spirit was wondering - what were they up to?

Suddenly, the diesels' motors revved up, and backfired - in some cases, actual fire came out as well.

Dark, murky smoke rose from their exhausts, reaching up into the clouds, turning them gray, then black. Soon enough, the rain changed color - it became black as well, and more dense.

Spamcan stuck out his tongue.

"Oi! Che' ou' dis shi', guys!" he exclaimed "We ma'e i' rai' grade-A hea'in' oil!"

Stuck-Up stuck out his tongue as well.

"You know what? He's right!"

Soon, all engines were sticking their tongues out, trying to catch the now "ideal" rain.

Discord stood in the downpour, looking positively dreary, his fur soaked with the falling petrochemical, as he frowned.

Begrudgingly, he snapped his fingers again, and the clouds vanished.

Diesel smirked, as the drivers exit their cabs once more.

"Not so funny if it happens to you, isn't it?" Derek asked with a guileful smile.

A low growl came from the draconequus in reply, which made the jet black shunter raise an eyebrow - but just slightly.

"What's the matter, o lord of Chaos?" he muttered "Can't stand a bit of... Disorder?"

"Sum' Chaos Go'..." Bert grumbled "Ca' eve' man u' t' face his own creasun'..."

They chuckled about that for a bit.

Meanwhile, Diesel eyed up the spirit.

"So... THIS is what you were afraid of?" he asked, sounding very unimpressed indeed "A freak of nature that looks like the result of having the remainder of a bunch of animals put in a blender?"

His eyes darted from Twilight to Discord and back.

"Really?"

"Well, he IS the Spirit of Chaos." Rarity muttered.

"More like the Spirit of Mindfuckery..." CoBo uttered "We've seen what you did back there, lad, and THAT'S NOT Chaos!"

"Just the the demented brainfarts of a sick mind..." Stuck-Up declared.

By now, the draconequus was snarling mad.

"Hrrrrr..." he growled "What do a few deformed metal boxes on wheels know about chaos?! All YOU can do is roll around on the rails and release noxious fumes!"

"You got THAT right." Cromwell smirked "And even though we're nothing more than machines, we still tower over you!"

"What?!"

"Yeeees..." Diesel smirked "For a supposed God of Chaos, you sure are pathetic, aren't you?"

Discord glared as the engine went on:

"You claim chaos and disharmony as your weapon, yet you're unable to use it: you change the idle landscape and mess with the minds of sentient beings. But that's all. No world burning away in flames, no new, revolutionary society living peacefully without central control, and no haphazardly coexistence of all things! Just some cheap visual effects and disturbed ponies. THAT is your chaos?"

"All you do is make a mess of things." CoBo declared "You bring excess surreality and tasteless dadaism into the world of physics, and bend the psyche of great minds, so that they may jump as you whistle. Calculating, self-seeking demagogy, dementia and hedonistic ignorance of common sense and decency - that's what you are all about!" he finished, sourly.

"No majestic monumentality despite the metaphoric and literal vastness of your talent, no grace from a being who's expected to be the wisest of all, wielding the oldest order in existence as a tool." Derek uttered "HOW can you expect us to respect you, when you live with no reason to provide it with?"

"Ya fail." Spamcan explained, as simple as harsh "A' life, fo' ya hav' none, a' chaos, fo' ya mess i' up, an' a' relationships, 'cuz, as fa' as WE 'no', ya fail'd t' score..."

The spirits eyes widened for a moment, before an even more ferocious glare appeared on his face.

The engines smirked.

"So much fo' a GO' o' Chaos..." Bert snickered "Ya're jus' a massive gi', loi'e any o' us!"

"Worse, even..." BoZo chuckled "He's as selfish as redundant. WE, at least, have SOME use."

"Use? YOU?!" Discord had to laugh.

"We brought this falling kingdom back on top of the world economy in a matter of months." the black Class 08 smirked "And it'll stay like that for a long, long time. How long did it took you to loose it all? A few seconds? A minute, perhaps?"

"Easy com's, easy goes, I guess..." Spamcan put in, smirking as well.

Discord just glowered.

The engines' smirk grew even wider, as they exchanged looks with each other, and their confused drivers.

"Say... How 'bout a song?" Bowler asked, his voice slick with glee.

"A song?" Trixie WAS puzzled.

"Yeah! A song!" BoZo added "Like the songs you sing on every other event, for no apparent reason other than to set the mood: all cheery and vigorous."

"Well, they DO give our work a pace..." Applejack pondered.

"Yes, well, how about we sing one. Right now!" Cromwell smiled. All the engines seemed excited.

"Right now?" Twilight asked "What for?"

"You'll see!" Diesel grinned, before looking to the side "Maestro!"

"Maestro?" the ponies thought, looking around "Who is he talking to?"

Suddenly, a tune started to play. It was loud and obnoxious, yet catchy. Trumpets, clarinets, saxophones, drums...

It sounded just like a parody!

"But... We don't know the lyrics!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Don't worry. Just sing along." Bowler smiled, as the drivers went to their respective engines (with Spike going to BoZo).

"I think I just know what to sing..." Diesel smirked "Don't you, guys?"

"Oh, we can probably guess..." Stuck-Up snorted.

"Well, shut up, I'm telling you anyway!" the shunter replied, then cleared his throat:

"You're a mean one, Mister Git!
You're su~u~u~uch a ma~a~a~assive so~o~o~od!
You're as likable as scurvy,
As attractive as accord,
Mister Gi~i~i~IT!"

Twilight joined in, mimicking the words of her engine:

"I'd rather be ran over by
Mister Personal's qua~a~a~ad!"

"You still can't sing, I see..." the express engine muttered.

"Up yours, you posh twat!"

"Who's Mr. Personal?" Rarity asked.

"Later, dear..." Stuck-Up replied "For now, it is our turn!"

"You're a master,
Mister Git,
(Yes, you are!)
Of grubby little runts!
You're as ancient as the dinosaurs,
Yet go on bargain hunt,
Mr. Gi~i~i~it...

I've never seen a more
magnificent CU--!"

He was cut off by a backfire, as smoke rose from his exhausts.

"Oh, not again!"

"Tough lu', Stu'-Up!" Spamcan smirked.

"Well, it's YOUR turn, anyway..." the Class 40 replied.

"Oh? Sweet."

"Wait, whut?" Applejack muttered...

"Ya're a BASTARD, Mistah Gi'!
Yer head's an em'ty HOLE!
Ya revel i' ev'ry stupid shi',
Then giv' us thei' hundre'fol',
Mister Gi~i~i~it...

"No point tryin' ta speak ta yer soul,
'cuz i's alrea'y so~o~o~old!"

"Nice singing, but the lyrics flopped a bit..."

"Well, i's yer tu'n no'..."

"Right, ehhem!"

"Wait... I can't sing!"

"So much for "Great and Powerful"!"

"...Shut up..."

"You're a monster,
Mister Git...
Your mi~i~i~nd is fi~i~i~illed with go~o~o~ore!
You deal with the dirty deed,
While we're left to do your chores,
Mister Gi~i~i~iT!"

Hope you wake up with a pressure mine
in front of your do~o~o~or!"

"No' DA'S sum lyri's fo' ya..."

"Yeah, you're pretty good at this, guys!"

"Okay, ou' tu'n..."

"Is it?"

"Yeah..."

"...So AWESOME!"

"Ye're a miser, Mista' Gi'!
O'ly do~o~u~ugh ca' ma~a~a'e ya ke~e~e~en!
You lead the lane in crooked games,
and your ways are beyond mean,
Mister Gi~i~i~it!

The only thing I yearn to see now:
a silva' pla'e wi'h ye' sple~e~e~en!"

"Ouch."

"This is getting a bit out of hand."

"Are we gonna do something 'bout it?"

"..."

"CoBo?"

"...Sure, why not?"

"You're a blaster, Mister Git!
Your lo~o~o~oks are bu~u~u~rned and tho~o~o~orn!
You slack away the dull day,
Yet, you end up gray and worn,
Mister Gi~i~i~it...

The only solution we could think of:
Make yourself never-bo~o~o~orn!"

"Ummm... That's not... Exactly nice..."

"No, it certainly isn't..."

"Well, we didn't accomplish THAT, but hey, the songs still going!"

"Yeah, and it's time to her you two!"

"Oh, super!"

"Oh... My..."

"You're an angel,
Mister Git...
You're bri~i~i~ighter tha~a~a~an the su~u~u~un!
Long since you have lost your wings,
and your lumen's less than one,
Mister Gi~i~i~it...

You're still painful to look at,
No surprise that you're shu~u~u~unned!"

"A bit mild. You got me surprised in the beginning there..."

"Oh, did we?"

"Well, I wasn't surprised by Fluttershy, but when you started..."

"Oh well. I think... It's your turn, Steamie!"

"Yipee! This is going to be soooo much fun!"

"Oh, God..."

"OK, here we go!"

"You're a caster, Mister Git!
Your ha~a~a~nds; A pa~a~i~ir of sieves!
Our efforts matter not to you,
you nick our every piece,
Mr. Gi~i~i~IT!

The only thing we can compare you with
is a ragtag of thi~i~e~eves!"

"Well... That wasn't that bad..."

"Yeah, but no thanks to Steamie! You haven't heard him sing on his own, right?"

"Unfortunately, I did... Uuuugh!"

"Anyways... Isn't it your turn, BoZo?"

"...I think it is! Ready, kid?"

"Sure am!"

"You're a lean one,
Mister Git...
You're li~i~i~imbs are thi~i~i~in as twi~i~i~igs!
Your heart is dark and hairy,
And your manners are those of pigs,
Mister Gi~i~i~iT!

We can tell you're not enjoying this,
yet, you provoke out these gi~i~i~igs!"

As the music kicked full notch, as the engines fell about laughing. The mares, the griffon and the dragon couldn't help it either.

Even though the song was about a completely different person, it fit Discord to a tee.

And the feeling of fear escaping in the form of jeer was most relieving.

"Alright, let's wrap this up!" Diesel announced, and his peers paid attention (for once).

"If you ask the other engines,
there's no denia~a~a~a~a~a~a~a~a~a~a~a~a~a~a~a~a~a~A~A~A~A~A~A~A~A~A~A--!"

"About WHAT?!" Discord interrupted.

The record scratched, and the engines and their drivers all gazed at him, looking bemused.

"Don't be more of an idiot than you already are!" that's what Diesel wanted to say, but he was surprised to hear his driver, Twilight say the necessary sentence. It made him smile inwards - all that obnoxiousness-, and gritty realism-coated wisdom he tried to pass on had finally made it's way into the mare's thick head - she was actually disrespecting the Saturday morning villain!

That's already a huge leap forward!

"It IS quite obvious..." the shunter smirked "That we all think that..."

And the others took a breath as well..

You're
a
massive big
SO~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~OD!

As the tune ended, an even bigger roar of laughter escaped the diesels, and the drivers as well.

Ponies fell to the ground.

Gilda had to grab hold of CoBo's frame to avoid landing on the ground.

The engines themselves shook slightly in their guffaw, their horns involuntarily going off.

Discord snarled, a low growl rising from the back of his throat.

"Git, ey?!" he retorted "Fancy coming from line of scrapheap and glue factory refugees!"

He gravely underestimated the diesels' gall.

"Ah, smag off, you botched up Chinese Dragon! You had your fun 'till now, but it's time to face reality: you've proven to be subpar!"

"S-Subpar?"

"Well, if a bunch of "scrapheap and glue factory refugees" can beat you in a battle of wits with a song...!"

And with that, they continued laughing, as the draconequus glowered at them, before teleporting away to sulk in the palace.

As he disappeared, slowly but surely, the laughter died down.

After a breather, the mares turned to their engines.

"You never told us that you guys could sing!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"We can." CoBo acknowledged "But not too well. Anyways, I think we should be going."

"Where?" Spike asked "Home?"

"Obviously not!" Diesel declared "Think clearly, you dolt! We're heading for the castle!"

"But you said..."

"That was BEFORE I realized that you actually stand a chance against that mutagen-tester."

"Mutagen-what?!"

"Discord!"

"Oh. Ooooh."

"And what makes you so sure about that, darling?" Rarity asked.

"He came to us, head on. We had no defense. He was on the top of the world." the Class 08 uttered "Yet, we managed to bring him down. You managed to bring him down! The gloves are off now!"

"How did we defeat him?"

"Oh! Oh! I know!" Pinkie smiled, flailing her front leg "We've laughed at him!"

"More than that." Stuck-Up smirked "You went beyond laughter. You were jeering at him, fighting fire with fire."

"His constant teasing and trolling couldn't be ignored." CoBo explained "He has too much power that can gather your attention, so your only option was to fight back, his way: be disorienting, disrespect the authority of the obvious, and be harsh and vulgar."

"Wait a minute! He's not vulgar." Twilight exclaimed "In fact, he has a pretty refined dictionary..."

"Yeah, he may do." BoZo hissed "But we don't. And still, we defeated him!"

"...You? I'm getting confused."

Diesel rolled his eyes, then gazed at the mare once more.

"Look, Sparkle... Consider this a test, a live test if you prefer. Under the last few months, you have been training for this event, this final exam of your skills, wit, and obscenity. Time for you to take the test."

"...What sort of test?" the mare asked, after a bit of silence.

Diesel put on his typical, nefarious grin.

"We wanna see..." he muttered "If you're Other Railway enough to deal with that messed-up git."

"I'd say she's ready..." Cromwell grinned.

"Wait!" Bowler called out. The other's froze.

"Wha' i' i'?"

"I've something important to say!"

"About what?" Derek asked.

"Discord!" Trixie exclaimed "He revealed one of his schemes to us!"

NOW the others were paying attention.

To be Continued...