Spike chuckled to himself as he walked the corridors of the WBE’s stadium. He was wearing his black top hat and cape. Every so often, he twirled his fake mustache. He carried with him a toolbox, some lumber, and a length of rope. It was amazing how often rope came in handy. Those fake announcers wouldn’t know what hit them. Actually, they probably would know what hit them, but not until after it hit them. That was the key.

Spike chuckled again. Pinkie was also coming up with a plan but, knowing her, it would likely be too soft to have any real effect. Not like a good, old-fashioned rope trap. Spike began to talk to himself out loud about his plan. It seemed the appropriate thing to do, given the circumstances.

Unbeknownst to Spike, a masked unicorn walking the same halls also thought that way.

“So,” Spike said, twirling his mustache again. “They think they can just waltz right in and take our jobs, huh? I’ll show him that—”

“—it was a mistake to mess with me,” the masked unicorn said with a snarl. “Such foolish mares. Thinking they could stop me? The great—”

“—Spike and Pinkie Pie, they’ll shout. We’ll be so popular, they’ll be asking us to announce events all over Equestria. I’ll bet—”

“—they’ll be shaking in their little horseshoes once my plan is complete. Then all of Equestria will bow before me. Yes. Bow and—”

“—be giving me gemstone after gemstone. Oh. And Pinkie will get cupcakes, of course. Ah, I can’t wait to hear—”

“—them begging for mercy. Once the royal sisters are out of the way, the rest of Equestria will be easy. It’s only a matter of time until—”

“—my plan is put into action. I’ll show Pinkie the proper way to do this. It won’t be long before—”

“—all of Equestria will know my name!” Spike and the unicorn said together.

Spike and the masked unicorn stopped talking to themselves and blinked. They looked at each other and said nothing for a while.

“So... uh...” Spike ventured.

“Yeah...” the masked unicorn agreed.

“I like your mask?”

“Oh... thanks. I like your... mustache?”

“Thanks, it’s a number twenty-five.”

Spike scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment while the unicorn scraped his hoof on the floor and looked around the room.

“So... what are you doing back here?” Spike asked.

“Me? Well... I... I can tell you what I’m not doing. I’m not setting traps to capture ponies.”

“Oh! Me neither. I am definitely not setting up a trap. Because that would be wrong... trapping ponies.”

“Yes.”

The unicorn scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment while Spike scraped his foot on the floor and looked around the room.

“Well...” the unicorn said. “I should probably get going.”

“Uh, yeah! Me too.”

“I have a lot of traps to not set up.”

“Yeah. I have a big trap I really need to make sure doesn’t get set up.”

The two grinned sheepishly at each other and walked away.

Once they were out of earshot of each other, they both shook their heads and muttered, “What a weirdo.”

Spike approached the dressing room doors and stopped. Pinkie Pie was there pushing a large wooden crate that had clumps of dirt falling off of it. Her front hooves were placed on the box’s side, and her back hooves slowly took steps forward as the box scraped along the floor. She grunted wordlessly as she strained with all her might to move the box a few inches. She then stopped and panted, sweat pouring from her face. She looked at Spike and her face instantly brightened up.

“Hi, Spike!” Pinkie said with a raised hoof, then went back to grunting as she struggled to move the box.

“Pinkie? What is all this?”

Pinkie dropped down to all fours and smiled, her earlier exhaustion forgotten. “This is my Emergency Party Kit number one-four-three.”

“You have one-hundred-and-forty-three party kits?”

“Oh, Spike... don’t be silly. I have four-hundred-and-seventy-eight Emergency Party Kits buried all over Equestria. For emergencies!”

Pinkie pulled out a crowbar and stuck it in the crate. With a twist of her mouth, the wooden sides of the crate fell away and clattered loudly on the floor. Regal’s door opened. The brown earth pony stuck his head out, looked nervously at the two of them, then shut his door.

Pinkie dug happily through her party supplies, then gasped. “Oh no! This EPK is missing its piñata! I have to rectify this!”

Pinkie stood in a dramatic pose then began bouncing away, humming to herself. Spike sighed and began assembling his trap.