As soon as she walked close, two of the stallions shifted out of their seats and walked out of the bar, glaring at her with suspicious eyes. Geez, what’s up with them? she pondered. Her attention was brought back to the remaining four stallions at the table.

"Alright, first things first. You're not pulling that move on us again, Rainbow Dash," the stallion seated to her close right spoke accusingly at their prismatic guest. He had a dirty brown coat with blond hair, with a patchy but noticeable stubble growing around his chin. At a glance, the stallions all had brown coats and blond manes. The only differences were their facial hair and their eyes. The one on the right had blue eyes.

“What move?” She asked.

“You put yourself against us! We could have completely lost our operation here! We can’t have breaches like yours again!”

"Well, you won't have to worry. I think I'm going to get a few more games in before I quit out," she responded.

"What? Why ya quittin' out?" The stallion on the left questioned. He had brown eyes and was clean shaven.

"I went real high for Gigan. Like, really high," she remarked casually, looking at her hoof with a small and smug smile.

"H-h-h-how high, Rainb-b-b-bow Dash?" The stallion in the middle stuttered. He had bright green eyes, and a scraggly beard growing along his chin and neck.

"Two hundred–" Rainbow stated.

"Two hundred? That's not high Rain–"

"Million."

"Tuh-tuh-two hundred muh-muh-million!" The stallion in the middle stuttered astonished. "You're s-s-s-set for life!"

"I know. That's why I'm calling it quits now before I get too deep into it. Ya saw what happened to Goose and his friend, right?" Rainbow asked.

"Ah don't know, ah heard they gots some jobs up at the stadium. Regular workers seems like. Don't think you can get out without us ya Pegasus!" The left stallion stood up and leaned dangerously close with his legs towards Rainbow. She stood up as well.

"Ya wanna say that again, Buster? I can take you out and your brothers Bud and Bull too, right here. Heck, I'll take out all your hick friends and get out on my own!" she threatened.

"Hey! We ain't having any more fights here! Rainbow, Buster, sit your flanks down!" a harsh and demanding voice echoed throughout the bar. The voice was strong enough to have all four ponies sit down in fear, slightly cowering in their seats.

A stallion trotted through the back door of the bar, surprising even the bartender, who glanced fearfully at his keys laying next to the register. The stallion had a coat as light as sand, with an unusually jet black mane that was cut short to the forehead of the stallion and combed back. He had golden eyes as bright as clean Bits, but with age they only glowed dimmer each day.

"S-s-s-sorry mister T-Tax Check sir," the middle stallion apologized.

"It's alright Bud, it weren't your fault. However..." The stallion quickly marched up in front of Rainbow Dash, causing her to yelp and lean back in surprise.

"Heh-heh, hey Tack. Long time no see huh?" Rainbow tried to casually smile, but it was more forced than she wanted.

"Rainbow, I need you to do one last job for me before I let you go. Think you can handle that?"

“Wha-wait...really? You’re gonna let me out scot-free?” she asked incredulously.

“You’re actually too much of a liability now. Betting on Gigan for that much money could have ruined us. I know I told you to go on Anguirus. If we lost, I could have collected the revenue at the office. We would have easily four times as much money if you had betted on Anguirus and lost. The revenue from yours and other betters goes into our pockets if we win or lose. That’s how this system works!” Tack stomped the ground in indignation. “But no. You saw a chance to gain money for yourself, and sent about everything on Gigan. You were the only one on his side, you know. Blaze said it was a 52 to 48 chance, but we in the business know Gigan wasn't even supposed to function, much less win. Yet you decided to put two hundred thousand for the million to one chance he would win by a large margin. If Gigan had lost, the office would have known something was wrong, and I would have lost my job and our operation would be up! How would little Scootaloo look up to her guardian after she gets thrown in jail!?”

“Hey! Leave Scoots out of this!” Rainbow stomped her hoof in annoyance.

Tack sighed. “Look, Rainbow. I was already thinking of letting you go tonight, but something’s come up and I need you to do this. If you do, you get away, I’ll clean your record, and you can use the two hundred mil’ whatever you like.”

“And if I don’t?” Rainbow asked.

“The police are informed of your dealings, but before they do we make sure that money goes to some hefty hospital bills, if you catch my drift,” Tack spoke with an threatening gaze, not daring to look anywhere else but Rainbow in the eye. For her part, she glared right back.

“Fine. I’ll do it. What do you need me to do?” Rainbow spoke, with hesitance in her voice. She never liked to do Tack’s field work. Tack eased his gaze, looking towards a window, one specifically looking at Canterlot.

“While Gigan is a welcome addition to the Royale, Blueblood is becoming too much of a competitor to Fancy Pants and his King Ghidorah. Anguirus was considered the biggest contender to the three-headed lizard, despite the stupidity of Rich, and yet Gigan beat him, and it wasn’t by a close margin either. If Gigan wins the championship, the royalties, heh, goes to the royalty. And since the champion can determine some rules and matches, Blueblood can make sure he keeps the championship forever, and the government can start controlling the Royale. They can end all bookies’ careers anytime afterwards.”

“What does this have to do with me? Once I’m done with what favor you need me to do, I’m leaving out of this business, and focusing on my ward,” Rainbow said.

“The rule change, Rainbow. Cybernetics. If Gigan can get cybernetics, so can Ghidorah. You go meet up with some colleagues of mine that will convince Fancy Pants to implement enhancements on his kaiju so he can fight off Gigan... and do it in a Mortal Wound match.”

“Mortal Wound?!” Rainbow gasped. Despite her lack of enthusiasm to join in circles to talk about Kaiju Royale, she knew like anypony else that a Mortal Wound match was when the kaiju would win by delivering a killing blow. It was very risky to engage in one, as even if you win, your monster can also be taken out of commission for a long time.

And if you lose, you get sent into government-mandated exile, never to return to your shame.

“Okay...okay, yeah, now I see what you’re getting. We can’t have Gigan out in the field even if Ghidorah wins. We need to take Gigan out. So, you want me to go to Canterlot with your pals, which I’m going to stay suspicious of since they’re your friends, and convince Ghidorah’s owner to put cybernetic enhancements and call out Blueblood on a Mortal Wound match. We’re likely going to need him to give up the title as a reward to goad Blueblood into taking the match. Am I getting this right?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes. Once you get the match set up, than you can go. But one more thing. I don’t want to hear or see mention or tail of you near my business. We’re the ones gaming the system, Rainbow, not you-”

Suddenly, the bar rumbled and shook. An ear-splitting roar echoed throughout the building, all of its occupants holding their ears as they went underneath the nearest open table, as they were told by the bartender Swirl.

The earthquake lasted for several seconds before abruptly stopping, leaving relative silence. Many birds chirping and cawing in fear soon filled the skies as they flew from the Everfree forest to other parts farther away.

The group burst out of the bar to see many ponies filing out of their homes and businesses, shaken, but eager for information.

"What in Equestria was that!" cried a mare.

"Help! Heeeelp!" an older and croaked voice came from a nearby building.

"Bull, go and check what happened. Buster, Bud, go check on the elderly home. Make sure they're all safe," Tack ordered.

"No worries, they are safe," a light brown mare with a grayed mane came up to the group.

"How do ya know, Mayor Mare?" Swirl asked.

"I was overseeing a bingo night when that dreadful earthquake hit. After a quick check all were accounted for and relatively healthy," Mayor Mare stated. She glanced at Tack with a harsh glare. "Tax Check, a pleasure to meet you here."

"Mayor, a surprise for me as well. Now isn't the time for us to argue though," Tack replied.

"What? We never argue!" the Mayor replied.

"Every time ya meet each other ears fly off. That's not the point though, as Tack said," Swirl stepped in between the two ponies. "I don't know know much 'bout animals, but I do know not even an Ursa Major could make that roar, nor even that much of an earthquake unless it really tried."

"Was it something in the Everfree then?" Rainbow asked. The group all glanced to the forest in question, where they could see birds still flying away.

"Maybe that purple girl knows what that was! She was asking 'bout all that Doctor Toland or sumthin' and going to the mountains up in there Can'rlot!" Bud remarked.

"Doctor Torend! He might know about this earthquake! It was what he studied for, after all," Swirl said.

"Wait a minute. That girl had a blue nametag. You know what that means. If there's something happening in those caves, I doubt they'll be willing to tell us. I can tail them tomorrow before I head to Canterlot for some, er..." Rainbow glanced from Tack to the Mayor, "...business, and see if I can find anything."

"I'll stick close to Rainbow, in case she needs an escape," Buster stepped up.

"I can handle myself, Buster," Rainbow growled.

"No you will not. Buster, you go. Dash, you need to get to Canterlot as quickly as possible. You can relay everything to Buster before you leave. Got it?" Tack ordered.

Rainbow sighed. "Yes, Mr. Tax Check, sir."

"Good. Now, I gather we need to clean up any more of the mess the earthquake might have made. Celestia knows whatever that thing might be," Tack started to trot down the street with Bud and the Mayor. Rainbow and Buster walked behind.

"Rainbow?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that thing out there could be..." Buster leaned closer to Rainbow, "a kaiju?"

"I don't know, Buster. But one thing's for sure."

"What's that?"

"I don't want to know, and I hope when I go out there that I won't find it."

Author's Notes:

Oh, hey, it actually updated.

Weird.

Thank you VampDash for pre-reading.