I thought of many 'get-rich-quick' schemes, but all of them were looking bleak. None of them would have succeeded, and not to mention any repercussions I would have had to endure afterward.

I pondered about my options.

Building Excalibur was not going to be easy, or cheap for that matter. And yeah, I called my puddle jumper Excalibur. At least I didn't call it Reginald or something stupid like that...

I could always try and do some spivers on the side and get some Bits that way. That does actually sound best. Although illegal, considering that I think all ponies paid some sort of tax, or at least some percentage of their income goes to funding whatever firm or business they worked for. How else could Celestia live in a giant castle in Canterlot?

But then, if they do not know, how could they prosecute me? By the time they try and investigate me, I will have laundered it by purchasing items necessary for Excalibur's construction.

That was it then.

If any other ponies needed electrical jobs or needed a invention on the side, I was the pony to contact. Better keep it on the down-low though. By the time I had finished scratching up a shopping list, which hangs in my project room, Ryan and Damon returned from work.

"Afternoon, fuckers." I shouted from my project room.

I knew that I would get either a comeback, or a sneering remark.

"You gonna stop jacking off or come down and see us? I want a sandwich!" Ryan yelled back.

I chuckled. I dropped all my stuff onto my table and trotted down the stairs to see Damon slouched all over our couch. He looked exhausted.

"Wow, you look like you had a long day. Boyfriend not let you out early?" I joked to him, knowing full well that he had been working for Applejack the entire day.

"If I had fingers... I would be... Giving you... The finger right now..." He muttered between gasps.

Applejack sure pushed him hard today. But then I wondered where Ryan has walked off to. I walked into the kitchen and saw him where I usually saw him. In the damn fridge.

"You paying for that, bitch?" I taunt him, making him turn around.

"Oh piss off man, I feel like shit today." He replied.

"Sorry I hit a nerve. Just come and sit down when you are feeling better?" I contented to him.

We always did share banter. But it really was painful to see when you got on somebody's nerves by doing so. I walked back into the living room where Damon had been joined by Ollie and were just guessing what their Cutie Marks might be.

"I hope mine is something to do with Yugi!" Ollie squeed. He really did love his Yu-Gi-Oh.

"Mate, mine may be related to apples, the point that Applejack keeps pushing me to." Damon replied.

"Loving your job then buddy?" I joked as I sat opposite them.

"Not really. It's becoming a piss-take. I am seriously asking about overtime rates tomorrow. I want better pay if I am busting my pony ass like this." Damon replied, getting more frustrated.

"Yeah man. If you are not satisfied with it, have a word with Applejack about it." I replied, trying to give him the best advice I could.

"Mario, you coming in here? I got something to tell you guys, and I'd prefer if you were in here and not sticking carrots up your arse." I shouted to the kitchen.

Ryan returned with a crudely made coffee and took a seat beside me.

"What's so important then?" Ryan asked bluntly.

He was not having a good day. Hopefully what I was about to tell him was going to make his day.

Hopefully.

"Lads, I know we have gotten nowhere with our Cutie Mark situation, and it is fucking annoying. But ever since we got back from that library, I have watched each of us and took notes. Mostly about how good Mario's ass looks in the air." I joked as I said the last section.

I jokingly click my tongue at him and raised my brow in a sexual way. That put a smile on his face.

"But for real, I have watched all of us, and I have drawn us up some plans. Of what our Cutie Marks could be, and how we get hold of them."I said as I walked over to my project desk, picked up our portfolios of all four of us and gave them out to each pony appropriately.

"I know they are crude descriptions, don't rip my dick off. But I honestly think that this is what we are destined for!"

I told them as I let them skim through my evaluations of them and waited in silence for one of them to respond, as I had already memorised mine.

"Sooooo, basically I can fly through anything? Flames, tornadoes, storms and Hell itself?" Ryan questioned, giving me a look of uncertainty.

"At least, that's what I think you can do. I've only seen you go through tornadoes and storms. And you worked like a badass when we had that heat wave." I smirked back to him.

"Hmm. Sound logic there." He quipped as he returned to reading his portfolio.

"How can I get a Cutie Mark in guns? They haven't even been invented over here." Damon said, more sceptical than Ryan.

"I really don't know man. But I have a feeling that you'll come into it. You can build a crossbow outta cow shit for god's sake." I returned back, trying to make my point clear.

"Alright, say all of these assumptions are true. How do we go about earning them? There isn't exactly may 'victory opportunities' around here, is there?" Ollie said as he shared his two cents.

Things were not looking good. They didn't really believe me, and they don't think that we can succeed in getting our Marks.

"You guys may think I am crazy. But you know those weird trances that helped me build that automated plough that got us this place? I had another earlier, as Ollie and The Crusaders wanted me to try and figure something out. And here's what came out of it." I told them as I walked over to my desk and grabbed the blueprints and the plan of action.

"We build our ship; The Excalibur. We fly into orbit, Mario explores using his high resistance, Damon will protect him from external debris with a energy or projectile weapon that we shall help him build, and finally Ollie shall use his powerful magic abilities to shield the ship. Unless you want a micro-meteorite in the ass." I explained to them.

They just sat there.

Complete silence.

The plainest facial expressions I have ever seen.

If there was a insane asylum in Ponyville, I'm sure the guys in white coats will be coming in any minute to drag me away and drug me up. Ryan then just burst into laughter. Not casual laughter. Hysterics. Tears in the eyes and everything. The rest of us just stared at him until he finished.

"Did I miss the punch line?" I say to Ryan, my voice full of sarcasm.

"You seriously expect me to believe, that we are going to build a spaceship, fly away, come back and we'll have Cutie Marks? Be real man, for fuck sake." Ryan snapped.

"I'm dead serious man. I have even drawn up materials needed and the templates required. I have even calculated how much this project will cost us." I replied.

"How much then?" Damon questioned immediately after I spoke.

I hesitated. It was a lot of money.

"Seven thousand Bits." I muttered.

Ryan proceeded to spit-take his coffee all over the living room.

"How much!?" Ryan shouted, coffee still dripping from his mouth.

"That is a lot of fucking money man. Even for us here." Damon replied to me.

"I can try and do some spivers to gain a bit of money. Perhaps you two can work a bit of overtime? And even maybe, Ollie can find a fucking job..." I said to them.

"Spivers? What are they?" Damon asked.

"Odd jobs. private jobs. 'Cash in hand' if you know what I mean." I said discreetly, hoping to get the reference that back on Earth, undeclared income is illegal. It was in the UK anyways.

"Huh. Alright then. I'm not sure if I will succeed in getting overtime from AJ, but I will try." Damon said.

"You up for it then man?" I asked Damon, as he was the only one that talking to me directly.

"We haven't got anything else that we can achieve in the meantime." Damon said, reluctantly.

I looked over at Ollie and Ryan, who looked like I asked the impossible of them.

"Come on guys. We can do this if we put our heads together. We'll look fucking good with a Cutie Mark." I said.

I needed to convince them. If they refused, we would be stuck. No Cutie Mark, no achievements, and a much slimmer chance of us finding a way home.

"Alright, I'll help." Ollie said, plainly.

I suppose they don't really have a choice.

"Mario? I know you're in a bad mood, but come on. It's fucking orbit. Nearly outer space." I said as I faced Ryan.

He smirked at that. I knew we both loved the thought of space exploration.

"Space does sound awesome. Let's do this." Ryan said, with a determined face.

"First though, money. We have a high target to reach if we want this to succeed." I said, pointing to the schematics on the coffee table.

We all looked at the materials needed.

"A lot of this shit has not even been invented or discovered yet." Ollie said.

"We can always go looking for what hasn't been discovered. And we have 4 humans in the bodies of ponies. I'm pretty sure we have a good idea of how things are supposed to look." I replied, assuring Ollie and the other Lads.

"I'll try and find a job somewhere then. Guess I'll just go looking around." Ollie replied.

"It sounds like we have got that sorted then. We'll start saving from tomorrow. But right now, shall we try and find the closest thing to a bar?" I smirked, as we were long overdue for a alcoholic drink of some sort.

We all showered, freshened up, and all four of us headed out.

We started in the middle of Ponyville and all we saw was Sugarcube Corner and Town Hall. Both without a single drop of booze. It really was not looking good. After an hour of walking around without any sign of any bar, we stopped looking. We decided to rest and sat down on a patch of grass near to the Library Tree.

"This is shit man! All I wanted was a fucking cider!" Damon shouted, kicking the ground.

"We all did man. I kinda wanted to get slaughtered, but looks like that isn't a option anymore." Ollie replied.

"If there is such thing as booze here, it is nowhere to be seen in Ponyville. I bet Canterlot has a few bars or at least some sort of formal thing. And I think the only way to get some decent cider is from Apple Family during the Cider Festival." I said, as I looked around Ponyville for a bar for the final time.

No dice. I was quite pissed off.

"Fuck this, let's head home." Ryan said as he got up and started to walk home.

"Aww come on babe, come and enjoy the stars. If you're lucky, you can get a snog." I joked.

Ryan chuckled to himself, and came and sat back down.

"Agh, I can't seem to get comfy." Ryan mumbled as he tried to get comfortable.

"I know, sitting in these bodies are fucking shit." Damon replied, as he was still stood up.

"Then that's why we get The Cutie Mark Quest done as soon as possible, and get home." I added.

"Anyway, I got more sorting machinery to construct by tomorrow, so I should get home." I told the Lads, as I got up to go home.

They all said goodbye and good luck of all sorts. I began the lone walk back to our house.

10 minutes later, I got home and unlocked the door. I looked behind the door to see a letter had been pushed underneath. I picked it up and opened it. It was quite thick so I was surprised that it got through the crack under the door. I read the letter it contained:

"Dear Circuit Boost,

Thank you for your continued support in advancing our projects.

You are a great asset in our company.

We look forward to do more business with you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Ponyville Recycling Co."

I opened the rest of the envelope and saw notes. Currency notes. I picked one up and it had 100 Bits written on it with what looked like Luna's head on the front. I counted how many I had and the total was ten.

One thousand Bits.

I was ecstatic, as this was a long awaited payment.

We were one seventh of the way complete.

Next Chapter: Old Habits Die Hard Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 30 Minutes