Chapter 8:

'Every Stallion for himself'

Things were surprisingly quiet as both groups merely continued to glare at each other. Shining Armor couldn't take his eyes off of his unconscious sister, fearing that the stallions may have done something very awful to her.

A long moment of silence went by, and Rainbow Dash was the one to finally break it. "YOU! BLITZ BOLT! WHAT DID YOU DO TO TWILIGHT?!"

Blitz Bolt chuckled. "Oh don't worry about your friend Rainbow Dash, she's perfectly fine. She's just resting for the moment."

Pinkie Pie jumped forward until she was mere inches away from Blitz Bolt's face. "So I take you all know each other?! Because if you do then that's really awesome but I think it'd be even more awesome if WE could get to know each other too! Because I know everypony that steps into Ponyville and since I heard you stepped into Ponyville I was hoping I could get to meet you but I didn't get to meet you but now that you're here we can finally get to know each other!"

Blitz Bolt, aswell as the rest of the Iron Five, minus Vanisher, merely exchanged confused glances before turning back to Pinkie Pie. "...What?"

Before Pinkie Pie could continue, Celestia used her magic to bring her back over to the others. "Pinkie Pie, please."

Pinkie Pie's smile lowered. "Sorry Princess..."

Celestia nodded before turning back to the Iron Five. "Who are you and what are you doing here? And what have you done to Princess Twilight Sparkle?" She said, trying to keep her tone as calm as possible.

Cloud Hunter stepped forward. "I assure you Celestia that Twilight Sparkle is perfectly fine, we merely used a spell on her to see into her memories, nothing more. It took quite a toll on her and put her into the unconscious state that she is in right now."

Celestia looked at Cloud Hunter and was beyond surprised when she noticed he was wearing her royal guards armour. "You...you're not a member of my royal guard..."

Cloud Hunter raised a brow. "So you've noticed..." Within a few short seconds, Cloud Hunter quickly removed all of the armour from his body. Celestia noted his large white hoofs and his sharp blade looking mane that she wasn't able to make out before. "I am Cloud Hunter...loyal officer to lord Metal Wing." He turned to the rest of the Iron Five. "As are the others..." He gestured towards each of them with his hoof. "Blitz Bolt...Kickback...Air Break...and Vanisher."

Celestia took a longer look at Vanisher and noticed he was looking at her from behind the blindfold he was wearing. The expression on his face was completely blank and emotionless. "So...you are all officers of the Iron Empire. Metal Wing's followers."

Cloud Hunter nodded. "Indeed."

Luna stepped forward. "Then perhaps you could spare the time to tell us why you have assaulted a Princess of Canterlot."

Kickback laughed. "HAHAHA! Assault?" His words got all of their attention. "No assault here Luna. We were just having a nice friendly conversation with Twilight Sparkle, that's all, no harm was done if that's what you were wondering."

Luna narrowed her eyes at him before using her magic to levitate the unconscious Twilight towards the other Element wielders.

"Twilight!"

"Are you okay?!"

"Say something!"

"Please wake up!"

Shining Armor held his unconscious sister in his forelegs for a good long moment before glaring at the Iron Five. "You...you did this to my sister...YOU WILL PAY!" He picked up his spear and rushed towards them, but before he could land a hit, he ended up running into a blue light instead...and found himself running right into Rainbow Dash.

"OW!"

Surprised by this, Celestia and Luna turned and noticed the blue glow around Vanisher's horn. "Thank you Vanisher." Blitz Bolt said with a smirk.

Vanisher said nothing.

Applejack pointed at the silent Unicorn. "That's the same Unicorn from before too! He did the exact same thing ta Rainbow Dash!"

Celestia, curiosity piqued, turned to Vanisher again and said, "Your name is Vanisher?"

Vanisher just stared and remained silent.

"Do you not speak Unicorn?" Luna asked.

Once again, Vanisher said nothing, even when he faced the dark Alicorn.

"You'll have to excuse Vanisher, he's not really the talking type." Blitz Bolt said with a chuckle.

Celestia narrowed her eyes at the silent Unicorn. 'I feel a very powerful aura coming from this Unicorn. It's the same as...it's the same as when I first discovered Twilight Sparkle's power. Only, this one seems to be more powerful, yet, even by just looking at him, I cannot figure out anything about him. He's a complete mystery.'

Luna saw that Blitz Bolt was holding Twilight Sparkle's crown and immediately spoke up. "What are you doing with her crown? Return it this instant!"

Blitz Bolt chuckled. "I don't think so Princess...we need this crown." He turned to the other Element wielders. "In fact...we need ALL of the Elements."

Spike, who was by Twilight's side, heard the silver Pegasus's words and tightened his grip around the bag that contained the other Elements.

Vanisher noticed this and, within the blink of an eye, the bag disappeared from Spike's arms, and ended up at Vanisher's hoofs. "THE ELEMENTS!" Spike yelled.

"Good job Vanisher." Cloud Hunter said before turning back to the Princesses. "Now that we have what we came for, we will take our leave."

Rainbow Dash growled. "YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" She jumped into the air and flew towards him. But just as she was about to land a hit on Cloud Hunter, she ended up falling for Vanisher's trick again, flying into a blue light and suddenly finding herself flying into Applejack.

"That's gettin' real old real fast." Applejack muttered as she tried to stand back up.

Celestia stepped forward. "We will not allow you to leave here with the Elements of Harmony. Return them this instant!"

Air Break chuckled. "Return 'em? Sorry, but we went through a lot of trouble just to get in here and find the darn things."

Kickback nodded. "That's right, we're not leaving here empty-hoofed so if you want them back, you'll have to take them!"

Celestia sighed. She took a moment to study the five Ponies before them. These were officers of the Iron Empire? They looked just like ordinary Ponies, it was hard to imagine how they could possibly be a threat when they looked just like everypony else. Cloud Hunter, the tallest of the five, almost as tall as herself, seemed to be the oldest, that much was obvious, he didn't exactly give off any evil aura as far as she could tell.

Blitz Bolt looked like he was the same age as Twilight Sparkle herself, he looked just slightly taller than Rainbow Dash and the other Element wielders, and while he looked normal, his red eyes said otherwise. Kickback looked about the same age, and he was slightly shorter than Blitz Bolt, that and he didn't even look like the fighting type. Air Break, who was slightly bigger than Blitz Bolt, seemed to be around the same age as them too, and his muscular appearance was enough to tell her that he was definitely the type that loves to fight.

Then there was Vanisher himself, the only one of the five who was a Unicorn. He was a complete mystery, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that the blind and silent Unicorn was very, very powerful and dangerous. His magic alone was proof enough of that.

"I don't wish to resort to violence, please, just return the Elements to us." Celestia said softly.

Cloud Hunter sighed. He hated it when she sounded like that, it made him want to comply with her request, but he just couldn't. "Sorry Princess Celestia, but we were given specific orders to retrieve the Elements, those orders still stand."

Air Break chuckled. "Yeah, so you're all better off just staying out of our way." He turned to Applejack. "I'm sure the little fillies we were chasing not too long ago have already told you how dangerous we are, am I right?"

Luna and Celestia narrowed their eyes at them. Before either could speak up however, Rarity beat them to it. "So it WAS you!"

All eyes were on the white Unicorn mare as she slowly approached the five of them. "You were the ruffians who were picking on my little sister and her friends! How dare you! How DARE you do such a thing! Were it not for the fact that the Princesses were standing amongst us right now, I WOULD RIP YOU ALL TO PIECES!"

Blitz Bolt and Kickback were shaking a little at Rarity's tone, Air Break just stared, his eyes widened with surprise. Vanisher just stared blankly while Cloud Hunter himself had a surprised but confused look on his face.

A look of anger slightly made its way onto Celestia's face. "How can you possibly threaten the lives of three young fillies the way you did?"

"It's one thing alone to threaten a life, or to even attempt to take one. But the lives of three young fillies?!" Luna added.

Cloud Hunter let out a low sigh. He knew that whatever Blitz Bolt and the others did, it only gave the Princesses more than enough reason to annihilate them, and he was unfortunately dragged into it even when he wasn't involved. Then, he was surprised when he heard Applejack's next words.

"Well...the tall blue fella wasn't there when it happened Princesses, an' the Unicorn only showed up after it was over." Applejack said.

Hearing those words, Cloud Hunter was able to relax a little, Applejack practically just saved him from suffering extra wrath from the Princesses.

Deciding they had been on the topic long enough, Cloud Hunter said, "I apologize for what Blitz Bolt and the others did, or tried to do, I assure you, they will be punished for it..." Blitz Bolt, Kickback and Air Break winced a little upon hearing that. "That said, we will take our leave now."

"You're not going anywhere! Not with those Elements anyway!" Rainbow Dash said as she stepped forward. She stopped however when she noticed Vanisher charging up his horn, ready to use another one of his teleportation tricks on her.

Luna spoke up again. "Enough is enough! Return the Elements immediately and face judgement for the crimes you have committed!"

The Iron Five all exchanged looks before turning back to Luna.

Then, without hesitation, Blitz Bolt put Twilight's crown into the bag with the other Elements, picked it up and unfurled his wings. "EVERY STALLION FOR HIMSELF!" The silver Pegasus bolted right out through balcony.

Cloud Hunter then followed. Vanisher used his magic and teleported himself, Kickback and Air Break out of the room.

"ALERT THE GUARDS! WE HAVE INTRUDERS WANDERING THE CASTLE! SEARCH THE ENTIRE AREA AND MAKE SURE THOSE PONIES ARE APPREHENDED!" Luna shouted as she took off down the hallway with Shining Armor.

Rainbow Dash however flew out through the balcony to go after Blitz Bolt.

"Ah think it'd be a good idea if ah helped the guards look for 'em. Don't worry Princess Celestia, we'll find 'em!" Applejack said before running off to catch up with Luna.

Celestia sighed and turned to Spike, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity, who were busy tending to the unconscious Twilight Sparkle. Her thoughts then drifted back to Cloud Hunter, the tall blue Pegasus who was, not long ago, wearing her royal guards armour. How could she have not noticed him before? All of her guards had white coats, well, almost all of them, but he should have been easy to spot. She didn't understand how she did not notice how different he was from the rest of her guards, that, and she would have met him. She could only conclude that he somehow managed to sneak his way into Canterlot and managed to get a hold of a set of armour that allowed him to pass off as guard. "He's good..." She muttered quietly.

She couldn't stop thinking about the five Ponies that just escaped them. How could five ordinary looking Ponies like them possibly be officers of the Iron Empire? Cloud Hunter looked like he was perfectly fit for the role of course, and Air Break wasn't too far off, but Blitz Bolt, Kickback and Vanisher, they looked...normal. In fact, Celestia even went so far as to think that when she looked at the five of them, something about them reminded her of Twilight Sparkle and her friends, no matter different they were.

Finally making himself known, Magister Sky Shadow entered the room. "Apologies Princess Celestia...I should have stepped in when I had the chance."

Celestia shook her head. "It's ok, Magister. The Unicorn would have stopped you even if you tried."

Sky Shadow narrowed his eyes at her behind his helmet before looking at the other Element wielders. His eyes then went to the unconscious Twilight Sparkle. "...Twilight..."

"Hm?" Celestia faced him. "Did you say something?"

Sky Shadow shook his head. "No...nothing." He turned to Rarity. "Put the Princess on the bed. I'll stay here and guard her while the rest of you look for those stallions."

"Good idea." Rarity said as she used her magic to levitate Twilight onto the bed. She put the unconscious Princess under the covers and made sure she was comfortable before making her way for the door. "I will spare those brutes no mercy when I find them!"

Celestia raised her hoof. "Please Rarity...despite their recent actions, I do not wish to see them harmed, only apprehended. I want to speak with them."

"But Princess Celestia! Look at what they did to dear Twilight! They are beyond reason!" Rarity said loudly.

Celestia sighed. "I know how you feel, but please understand. Those stallions, neither of them gave off an evil aura, I don't think they're as bad as they make themselves out to be. We simply need to apprehend them so we can speak with them."

While Pinkie Pie sat by the unconscious Twilight, Fluttershy decided to speak up. "Umm...Princess Celestia...I don't really understand but...are you saying that you want to try and reform them?"

Celestia nodded. "Indeed. Remember Fluttershy, you managed to reform Discord did you not? These five stallions don't even come close to being as evil as Discord once was, therefor, I believe reforming them won't take as much effort as he did. There is clear hope for them, I know there is, the last thing I want is for any lives to be taken."

Fluttershy became nervous. "S-So...you...you want...umm...you want me to...try and reform the five of them?"

"Not you dear Fluttershy, though I'm sure you would succeed, it is best that we focus on catching them first. Once we do, Luna and I will deal with reforming them ourselves." Celestia explained.

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Blitz Bolt laughed like a maniac as he looked at the bag in his hoofs. "YES! THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY ARE OURS!" He took a deep breath and chuckled. "Wow...I can't believe that plan actually worked."

Cloud Hunter flew by his side. "Keep a hold of those, we can't afford to lose them now. Lord Metal Wing will be furious if we return empty-hoofed."

"Relax Cloud Hunter." Blitz Bolt said with a smug grin. "There's no way I'm going to drop them."

"BLITZ BOLT!"

Turning around to the source of who called his name, Blitz Bolt was immediately rammed by Rainbow Dash, forcing him to lose his grip and drop the Elements.

The three stopped flying and watched as the bag with the Elements fell towards the city below them.

Cloud Hunter glared at Blitz Bolt, who in turn, pointed at Rainbow Dash. "DARN IT!" Cloud Hunter shouted before bolting after the bag, Rainbow Dash in hot pursuit, with Blitz Bolt right behind her.

"JUST GIVE IT UP RAINBOW DASH! WE GOT YOU BEAT!" Blitz Bolt shouted as he grabbed a hold of Rainbow Dash's tail and threw her aside.

Recovering from his throw, Rainbow glared at the laughing Blitz Bolt as he flew on ahead before going after him. "I AM SO GONNA GET YOU FOR THAT!" She shouted over the sound of the wind blowing against her.

Blitz Bolt grinned. "WELL THEN! TRY AND GET ME!" He increased his speed.

Rainbow Dash then grinned herself and started to speed up too.

Cloud Hunter landed in the city and saw the bag just outside the castle gates. At the same time, guards rushed out to stop him. "I don't have time for this." He muttered before zooming by all of them at a near impossible speed. He picked up the bag and flew off again.

"AFTER HIM!" One of the guards shouted.

A few Pegasus guards then flew off after Cloud Hunter, the others stayed on the ground and aimed their bows at him.

Blitz Bolt noticed Rainbow Dash had just about caught up to him. Thinking quickly, he surprised her when he suddenly back-flipped while in mid-air, forcing her to fly right under him, and then past him, and right into a group of guards.

"Wow...maybe you should change your name from Rainbow Dash...to Rainbow CRASH! HAHAHAHAHA!" Blitz Bolt taunted loudly before flying off.

Those words however, really made Rainbow mad, so much so that she didn't waste a single second getting back to her hoofs before flying after the silver Pegasus.

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"THE THREE OF THEM WENT THIS WAY! HURRY!" A large group of guards rushed down the hallways in pursuit of Vanisher, Kickback and Air Break.

However, as soon as they were gone, the three Ponies appeared in a flash of blue light. "Once again, your invisibility spell is absolutely astounding Vanisher!" Kickback said with a smirk.

Vanisher merely stared blankly at him for a moment before walking on.

"Why are we hidin' from those guards? We should be crushin' every last one of 'em, you know we can!" Air Break said as he stomped his hoofs hard on the floor.

Kickback rolled his eyes. "Because I'd rather not get my wonderful coat all ruined."

"YOU AND YOUR-"

"THERE THEY ARE!"

The three turned and saw a group of guards rushing towards them from behind.

With a loud roar, Air Break leaped forward with his forelegs open, swinging them into the heads of two guards, knocking right to the floor. "COME ON! I'LL SMASH EVERY LAST ONE OF YA!"

The guards aimed their spears at the blue Earth Pony, but before they could attempt to strike him, all of their weapons were suddenly yanked out of their hoofs by a large blue aura.

They all turned to Vanisher, who used his magic to levitate the spears into the air, aiming them right at the guards who just previously wielded them.

Frozen with fear, the guards just watched and waited for the silent Unicorn to throw the spears at them. Fortunately, they caught a lucky break when Princess Luna herself suddenly teleported between them all. "PRINCESS LUNA!"

"Uh-oh." Kickback quickly turned and ran off. Air Break just growled before following him.

Luna turned to the guards. "Go after those two. I'll deal with this one." She said as she set her eyes on Vanisher.

The guards nodded and rushed on ahead, they sent a few glances at Vanisher as they ran by him.

"I suppose I would be wasting my breath if I asked you to come quietly?" Luna said.

Vanisher merely stared at her, his lips didn't move, his face didn't even twitch. He was completely blank.

Luna narrowed her eyes at him. "I must say, you are an odd one. Never have I met a Pony like you before."

Again, Vanisher said nothing and stared blankly behind his blindfold.

"Can you speak Unicorn? Or do you choose to just not to speak?" Luna asked.

No reply came from Vanisher.

Luna knew she wasn't getting anywhere but continued to try. "Do you even understand me?"

This time, she was met with a reply, however, it wasn't the kind of reply she was expecting. One of the spears that Vanisher had in his magic hold shot towards the Princess of the Night.

Luna however jumped to the side, barely dodging it. She glared at him. "I swore I would take you all alive and that's exactly what I'll do..." She started to float into the air, her eyes then started to glow a bright white colour. "PREPARE THYSELF SILENT ONE! THOU SHALL FACE THY PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT HERSELF!" Her Royal Canterlot Voice boomed in the air, echoing down the hallways of the castle.

Surprisingly, Vanisher still remained where he stood, face blank and completely unfazed by Luna's power. Luna fired a beam of energy from her horn. Vanisher teleported back a few steps, dodging it. He then retaliated by shooting several spears from his magic hold towards her.

Luna, still floating in the air, used her magic to stop the spears and turned them around. She then fired them back at the silent Unicorn.

Knowing the number of spears they had were equal, Vanisher used his magic to throw the spears towards the ones that Luna fired back at him. Each spear collided with the other, the sound of metal clanging and breaking echoed down the hallways of the castle as pieces of metal fell to the floor.

By the time the last of the spears collided, Vanisher charged up his horn and fired a beam at the Princess. Luna copied his move and did the same, both beams collided and the two began a struggle to overpower the other with their magic.

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Cloud Hunter growled as continued to fly in a zigzag pattern in attempt to dodge all of the arrows that were being shot at him. At least eight Pegasus guards were on his tail and they didn't seem to be halting their pursuit anytime soon.

Acting quick, Cloud Hunter slowed his pace and sped back towards the Pegasi, delivering a kick to one of them which caused him to fall. Another guard flew down to help the guard, which lowered their numbers a little.

Flying off again, the blue Pegasus noticed a rainbow and silver trail not far ahead at his left. It didn't take long to identify that it was Rainbow Dash chasing Blitz Bolt.

A Pegasus guard fired one of his arrows again. Hearing it, Cloud Hunter quickly shifted to his right, but that only made the arrow rip through the bag. "Oh no..."

Cloud Hunter noticed too late that two of the Elements slipped out of the opening, one fell down into the Everfree Forest below, while the other fell into the nearby river. "NO!" He was about to go after them but quickly refrained from doing so when he had to dodge two more arrows.

Growling out loud, he increased his speed and rushed on...only to be stopped by Blitz Bolt and Rainbow Dash who zoomed right in front of him.

This gave the guards a chance to catch up, and one immediately grabbed a hold of Cloud Hunter. "GET OFF OF ME!" Cloud Hunter yelled as he smacked his hoof right across the guards face, knocking him out instantly.

Knowing he wouldn't survive the fall, another Pegasus guard flew down to help his ally and drag him back to the castle.

Cloud Hunter floated in the air and glared at the four remaining Pegasus guards, who had their bows trained on him.

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"COME ON! STEP IT UP RAINBOW DASH! YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO DO A LOT BETTER THAN THAT IF YOU WANNA CATCH ME!" Blitz Bolt shouted.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at him and tried to fly faster, but Blitz Bolt was surprisingly fast himself. And this time, he wasn't using hit and run tactics like he did last time.

As Blitz Bolt started getting further ahead of her, she found herself...grinning. "Heh...funny enough...I like the challenge." She said to herself before flying after the silver Pegasus.

Taking one quick look behind him, Blitz Bolt was surprised when he saw Rainbow Dash catching up to him, and quickly. "Well, it looks like things are about to get interesting." He turned back around and flew faster.

"NOW I'LL SHOW YOU WHY I'M THE BESTEST FLIER IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA!" Rainbow shouted as she caught up to the silver Pegasus.

Blitz Bolt laughed. "HAHAHA! WELL THEN RAINBOW DASH, YOU BETTER BE READY TO LOSE THAT TITLE BECAUSE IT'LL BE MINE WHEN I OUTFLY YOU!"

"IN YOUR DREAMS!" She replied before getting ahead of him.

What she didn't expect however, was Blitz Bolt grabbing onto her tail yet again before throwing her back and flying on ahead.

Rainbow quickly recovered from his cheap tactic and glared with rage-filled eyes. "YOU BUCKING CHEATER!" She shouted before flying after him.

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Making it outside, Kickback and Air Break were met with quite a surprise when they found that the castle gardens were empty. Which was probably only because the guards may not have expected them to run to the garden of all places.

"Well, I say we just relax here for a little bit until Vanisher catches up, then we can get out of here." Kickback said as he sat down to catch his breath.

Air Break looked around. "There's somepony here."

"WHAT?!" Kickback jumped to his hoofs and looked around. "WHERE?!"

A voice spoke up. "Very perceptive."

The two turned to see Shining Armor emerging from the corner of a bush. "I had a hunch you two would be making a run for the garden, looks like I was right."

"Heh, the Captain of the guard himself. This'll be fun." Air Break said as he stomped his hoofs onto the ground.

Kickback raised a brow. "You do realise he has a spear right? And you're going to fight him with just your hoofs?"

"CAPTAIN!"

The two Iron Empire officers looked behind them to see three guards exiting through the doors. With a loud battle cry, Air Break lunged at one of them and hammered his hoof across his face, knocking him out cold.

The other went to impale Kickback with his spear, but Kickback dodged it. "WATCH MY COAT! WATCH MY COAT!"

Unfortunately, the guard cut off a single strand of hair from Kickback's coat. With a loud growl, Kickback jumped forward and slammed his hoof right into the guards face. "HOW DARE YOU DAMAGE MY COAT!"

Seeing his ally get knocked out by the short red Pony, the other guard was about to make his move, but was stopped when he was impaled by a spear from behind.

"NO!" Shining Armor watched in horror as Air Break removed the spear from the guards body.

As soon as the guard fell to the ground, Air Break turned back to Shining Armor. "You know...I happen to be a Captain of the Iron Empires forces...and let me tell ya, nopony can beat me in a one on one fight."

Shining Armor merely growled as he watched the guard bleeding to death. "You'll pay for that...I swear you will."

Air Break laughed. "HAHA! MAKE ME PAY THEN!" He jumped forward, spear in hoof, and immediately started exchanging blows with the Captain of the guard.

Kickback looked at his coat and sighed with relief. "Phew...no marks, no scratches, atleast fur grows back." He turned his attention back to Shining Armor and Air Break and noticed that Air Break seemed to be overpowering the Captain of the guard.

"Keep it up Air Break! You have him right where you want him!" Kickback cheered.

Unfortunately, his cheering immediately stopped when Shining Armor kicked Air Break away with one of his rear hoofs.

"Uh-oh." Wasting no time, Kickback picked up one of the other spears.

Shining Armor and Air Break circled each other. "You're pretty quick, I gotta admit. But surely you don't think you stand a chance against me do ya?" Air Break said in a confident tone.

"I'm the Captain of the guard, I got that position for a REASON!" Shining went to impale the blue Pony but Air Break jumped to the side.

Seeing an opening, Shining went to swing his spear sideways, only for it to collide with another spear. He turned and glared at Kickback, who smirked at him. "Not so fast my friend."

Shining Armor quickly jumped back and narrowed his eyes as Kickback and Air Break both entered into fighting stances with their spears. "Two on one huh?" Shining said with a disappointed look, which quickly turned into a confident one. "I can go with that."