Mayor Mare sat in her office along with Twilight, who had come down to talk with her about Vinyl's admittance to the hospital the night before. The last few weeks had been stressful beyond all belief for the mayor, who was still dealing with an unbelievable amount of backlash from the events of the trial over a week ago. Neither she nor anypony else could have guessed that that trial would have ended the way it did, and if she had to be honest with herself, Mayor wished that she had put a stop to all the insanity that had occurred in the last few weeks. Now, however, she could do nothing more than live with the regret of not acting when the moment was right and merely standing idly by as things took turn after turn for the worse.

She had been very worried about Vinyl in the time since the trial, and had even stopped by several times to check on her and make sure she was alright. When Twilight had come into her office and told her about the producer's attempt at suicide, she was going to make sure the first thing she did when her meeting was over was to go down to the hospital and visit with Vinyl to make sure she was alright. With as shocked as she'd been to hear about the mare's attempt to take her own life, what Twilight revealed to her next was the most unexpected thing she could have imagined to come out of the whole mess of a situation.

"She's pregnant? With his child?"

"That's what Tavi told me." Twilight said, nodding, "Apparently, the doctor was able to run a few tests, and the fetus is a match. It’s Josh’s."

"Is that even possible?" Mayor Mare inquired, still somewhat reeling from what Twilight had told her prior.

"Apparently so." Twilight responded, clearly giving the matter some thought of her own, "The odds are that, since Vinyl is a unicorn, she could have used her magic to match his chromosome count to hers. If that's the case, then it would be no different than if a stallion were to have impregnated her."

"I didn't know unicorns had that much power." Mayor stated, her face the picture of awe, "So, what is she going to do? She doesn’t strike me as the kind of mare who would want to raise a foal on her own."

"I was wondering that myself..." Twilight responded, trailing off as she thought on the matter for a moment, "I mean, to have a foal of her own would be such a blessing, but, with as emotionally unstable as she is, I don't know that she could handle having to raise the baby on her own."

"She won’t be truly alone, so long as she has friends like you to help her, I think she can make it through this."

Twilight smiled warmly at Mayor as silence fell. Mayor stood up from her seat and walked over to the nearby window, peering out of it to the bustling city center below. Twilight followed her, taking her place beside the mare and mimicking her actions.

"I don't know what you'll do about Filthy Rich, though." Mayor said after a short time, turning to look at Twilight, "If he hears about this, there's no way he won’t try to make a go at the foal."

"Octavia said that she's going to talk to some of us about that tomorrow." the lavender mare responded, "She asked the doctor not to tell anypony else about this, and he assured her that only he had known anything about it before he'd told them."

"Good. Secrecy is an absolute necessity at this point." Mayor Mare said.

As the two mares stood in front of the window, a knock sounded from the door, causing them both to turn their attention towards it.

"Am I interrupting another appointment of yours?" Twilight asked as Mayor Mare made her way back over to her desk.

"I wasn't supposed to have anypony else in here for another hour." Mayor said as she took her seat once more, "Who could that possibly-"

Just as Mayor Mare was about to finish her thought, the door swung open and in sauntered Filthy Rich, his usual smug look firmly in place. Upon realizing who was entering, Twilight rushed over to stand in front of Mayor's desk, leveling her glare at the stallion before her.

"What are you doing here, Filthy?" she growled, not once taking her eyes off him as he made his way over to her.

"Am I not allowed to enter a public space such as this, Ms. Sparkle?" he asked, stopping short of the lavender mare, "The mayor's office is no more off limits to me than my own home, as I'm sure you're well aware."

"And as I'm sure you're aware, Filthy, it's best to have an appointment before you just barge in here." Mayor spat from behind her desk, venom dripping from her words, "Simply because you've caused this town to lose all sense of civility doesn't mean you have the right to act the same here."

"I merely made them see the truth, my dear Mayor." Filthy replied, ignoring Mayor Mare's harsh tone, "They needed to know, and just because you wouldn't tell them doesn't mean that somepony else wouldn't."

"You spread lies!" Twilight countered, unable to control her volume as she spoke, "You extorted the princesses and ruined the lives of two innocent people!"

"Ms. Sparkle, I may have been somewhat harsh and forthright with my words and actions in this matter, but I would never stoop so low as to spread lies!" Filthy said, now glaring back at Twilight, "If you don't believe what I said, then feel free to talk to your 'teacher' about what she knows. After all, she watched him long before transporting him here."

Twilight could find no words to bring to bear against the monster that stood before her, and instead found solace in attempting to incinerate it with her glare. Feeling satisfied that she was done raving at him, Filthy turned back to Mayor.

"So, why exactly are you here?" asked Mayor, "If it's just to gloat, then you can see yourself out. I've seen enough of you and your followers reveling in your so-called 'victory' here. I don't need to experience it in my own office."

"Actually, Mayor Mare, that's far from why I'm here." he responded, stepping closer to her desk and looking her in her eyes, "However, my victory does have a little to do with this."

Twilight and Mayor exchanged glances of concern before turning their attention back to Filthy.

"You see, while I may have... vilified the princesses to a degree, their contributions to this country are ones even my words cannot tarnish." Filthy began, pacing back and forth slowly as he spoke, "I was able to talk to my supporters and convince them to regain their trust in our rulers. After all, Celestia clearly made up for her mistake of bringing him here, and I reminded them that if not for her and her sister, we wouldn't have the glorious nation we have now."

Filthy stopped his pacing and turned back to Mayor Mare and Twilight, his gaze falling hard upon them both.

"However, I'm afraid I wasn't so fortunate in redeeming you, Ms. Mayor."

"What do you mean?" asked Mayor Mare, her gaze softening and her eyes showing a glint of fear.

"Well, you did very little to aid our cause, save for putting him in a cell after he attacked me." Filthy continued, "That doesn't look very good to them, and though you were there in a judicial sense, that doesn't change the fact you were a supporter of him all throughout this fiasco."

"So what if she was?" Twilight protested, stepping closer to Filthy as she addressed him, "My friends and I supported him too, but I don't see you sending your squads after us!"

"It's very different, Twilight." Filthy said, "You're not in a political position of power like she is. A position that, might I add, is far from permanent."

Twilight heard a small gasp escape from Mayor and turned to see her with a hoof covering her mouth in shock. Looking back to Filthy, she saw another smirk cover his face.

"I see you and I are on the same page here, Ms. Mare." Filthy said, walking over behind the desk.

"What are you getting at, Filthy?" Twilight asked, confused by Mayor Mare's actions and even more so by Filthy suddenly addressing her as "Ms. Mare."

"You see, Ms. Sparkle, the citizens of Ponyville have spoken, and, as it stands right now, Mayor Mare has been deemed unfit to lead this town." Filthy said simply, a devilish smile covering his face.

"What?!" Twilight screamed, unable to believe what she had just heard.

Mayor slid off her chair and onto the floor, her eyes welling up with tears as she sat on the ground, a stunned look distorting her features. Filthy just continued to smile at her as Twilight rushed around to the other side of the desk and embraced the other mare in attempt to console her.

"There's no way this is legal!" Twilight shouted as Mayor Mare turned around and began to cry into her shoulder, "You can't just have her kicked out of office like that!"

"Ms. Sparkle, we may live under a monarchy, but our town runs on a democracy, and that allows us certain freedoms, including having a hoof in electing our public officials. The ponies of Ponyville have spoken, and clearly, they don’t want her running this town anymore."

"But if we don't have Mayor Mare here, then who's going to be mayor?" Twilight inquired as she held the crying mare.

"Need you even ask?" Filthy said, his smile crushing any hope Twilight had for a positive outcome.

"No! No bucking way! Not you!" Twilight shrieked as Mayor Mare cried even harder, "You can't just step in here and take over as mayor! You have to be elected!"

"That's what you think." Filthy retorted, taking his place behind the mayor's desk, "The power to remove an official from office is just one liberty the ponies of this town have. Have you heard of an election petition?" Filthy took the particularly nasty glare he received from the unicorn as confirmation that she indeed had. “Then I assume you know what comes next.”

Twilight stared at Filthy with a mix of disgust, devastation, and rage as she realized she was powerless to do anything against the stallion now. Mayor Mare eventually released herself from the lavender unicorn's embrace and galloped out the door as fast as she could, sobbing heavily as she exited and headed down the hallway. Twilight followed her to the door and watched the tan mare disappear around a corner.

"It's a shame it had to end like this." Filthy said simply, leaning back in his chair, "She was an excellent mayor before she started supporting such trash mucking about in our town."

Twilight turned back to the stallion behind the desk, her heart racing as anger overwhelmed her. She ran up to the desk and practically jumped up on top of it, feeling all the hatred she felt for Filthy Rich boiling over.

"You hateful, spiteful, evil bastard!" she screamed, spit flying from her mouth as she began her tirade, "How can you sleep at night knowing what you've done?! You tore apart two lovers, threw out one of Ponyville's finest and oldest leaders, and extorted the very beings who rule this land we live in! Why Celestia didn't just send you to the bucking moon for your actions, I'll never know! You deserve nothing less than to burn in the lowest ring of Tartarus for what you've done, and even if the entirety of Ponyville were to go against me, I'd gladly expedite the process of you getting there! You are a weak, evil, hateful, monstrous coward whose only reason for becoming mayor was so that you could gloat over the horrible things you’ve done!"

Filthy raised an eyebrow as Twilight finished her revilement of him. The lavender mare stood there for a moment, breathing heavily as her anger continued to flow, causing her to tear up a little.

"My, my, Ms. Sparkle." Filthy calmly said, a slight chuckle escaping his throat as she addressed Twilight, "I'd have thought that, as Celestia's “faithful student,” you'd know what self control is and how to use it properly. It appears I was wrong."

Twilight continued to stare at Filthy angrily as hot tears began to trail down her face. After what she'd said to him, she expected the stallion to do the same, to verbally attack her just as she had only a moment ago. However, all he did was sit there, the same smirk on his face as before.

"Now you listen here, you little bitch." he said suddenly, his voice quiet and full of malice, "I don't give a damn what you think of me or my policies. Last time I checked, I won, and you and your little human friend lost. You may not see what I did as an act of kindness, but believe me when I say I saved this town a whole lot of trouble, and I may have even saved him. You can stand there all day long and berate me as much as you like, but the fact is I run this town now, and there's not a thing you can do to stop me. And, just in case you do try, keep in mind that there's a cell in Ponyville jail that'll be kept nice and warm for you."

Twilight stepped back from the desk upon hearing Filthy finish his own tirade. She just stared at him with fear and anger in her tear filled eyes, unable to believe how he'd become such a tyrant when he'd seemed so docile before.

"Now get out of my office, before I have you collected." Filthy said, sitting back in his chair once more.

Twilight, unable to find anything meaningful to say, turned and stormed out the door, galloping down the hall as steadily as she could through her tear-clouded vision. After making her way outside, she finally collapsed near the building and broke into sobs, her chest heaving violently. She couldn't believe how things could go from bad to worse so suddenly; how the citizens of Ponyville would have to live under a monster like Filthy Rich from now on. At that very moment, all hope for any sort of peace seemed lost, and Twilight felt as helpless as she had during the trial.

Josh sat in a chair off to the left side of the stage, trying his best not to nod off to sleep as the crew set up all the sound equipment and stage decorations for the show the next night. The young man's exhausted state had been brought about by a sudden uneasy feeling that had plagued him all through the night, making sleep almost an impossibility. He had no clue as to what caused him to feel like that in the first place, and even less of an idea as to how to get the sensation to go away. The few times he did manage to go to sleep, it was only for an hour at a time, if even that. It wasn't until that morning that the odd feeling went away, allowing Josh only a brief moment of respite before he had to go with Liam and Syd to the pavilion where the show would be held to keep an eye on the setup.

Once Liam saw how miserable Josh looked, he'd insisted that the young man stay and rest, assuring Josh that he and Syd could handle everything with no problems. Josh contemplated staying in his room and sleeping for awhile, but insisted on going along with them, even if he was tired. Liam again tried to talk him out of it, only to finally give in once it seemed Josh was resolute in his decision. Together, the two old friends and Syd made their way over to the campus of UNLV, heading for the basketball court where the show was supposed to be held. Upon arriving, Liam and Syd went off together to speak to the university president and venue manager, leaving Josh to stay by himself and watch as the crew members ran all around, chatting idly as they placed the equipment and decorations on the stage and wired everything up.

Josh managed to stave off passing out one more time before hearing a voice from behind him.

"You alright, mate?" Liam asked, causing Josh to turn around in his seat, "You looked like you were gonna fall asleep again there."

"I'm fine." Josh lied, standing up and stretching in an attempt to wake himself up even further, "Besides, I've managed to stay awake this whole time so far."

"What exactly happened that made you lose sleep anyway?" Liam asked, stopping short of Josh as Syd followed close behind him, "Was it a dream or something? You weren't real specific when I asked you about it earlier."

"I don't know, L." Josh said simply, "Right as I was about to go to bed, I got this weird feeling in my stomach, like that feeling you get when you're really nervous about something. It just came out of nowhere, and I wasn't able to shake it till morning for whatever reason."

"Hmm..." Liam mused, putting his hand to his chin in contemplation, "That is odd. What were you nervous about?"

"That's just it." Josh said, "I wasn't. I just started to feel it, and it persisted all night. I've never had that happen before, not even when... well..."

Liam reached out and patted Josh on the shoulder as the young man trailed off. Josh looked into Liam's eyes and saw genuine concern there, one that he'd become so used to in the last few weeks as he'd been incarcerated in Ponyville and sent back to earth.

"I'm sorry, pal." Liam said sincerely, "Perhaps it's just stress finally getting to you. God knows you've dealt with enough of that recently. You know, if you need anything to help you sleep, I can get you a few sleep aids."

"I think I'll be alright." Josh said, smiling a little at Liam, "Maybe it is just stress."

"If you're sure."

"I am."

"Well, alright then." Liam said, turning back to the setup on the stage before him, "How'd things go over here? Everything get done?"

"As far as I can tell they did." Josh answered, following Liam as he made his way over look at the sound equipment.

"No equipment casualties?"

"I didn't see any if there were."

"Well, that's all in order then." Liam said simply, stepping back and looking to the computer and mixer area where Syd was standing, "Hey, Syd. Throw down a beat for us real quickly, would you? I'd like to make sure everything's working properly before we come back out to rehearse tonight."

Syd nodded before turning back to his controller and beginning to get things powered up.

"You never had me do that for our shows after setup was done." Josh said, chuckling a little.

"I never had to worry about your setup because you refused to let anyone else wire up the speakers." Liam said, smirking a little.

Josh thought back to when he was still performing before. It was very true that he rarely allowed anyone else besides himself to even touch the equipment, let alone wire it up. Part of it was a type of anal retentiveness that he'd always had as a producer and DJ, having had to learn all the equipment and how it went together. He'd gotten better about that issue in Equestria, but was always still very reluctant to allow others to touch and wire the speakers and everything else he needed. On more than one occasion early on in his time there, he'd shown up to the hotel late or had Vinyl come and retrieve him as he would check and double check that everything was up and running properly.

Josh and Liam stood side by side as Syd laid down a trap style bassline, blasting the heavy beat through the speakers nearby. As the track played, Josh noticed a slight distortion in the sound coming from the large speaker on the opposite side of the stage. Walking over to it, he stood in front of the device and listened closer, hearing a faint bit of static issuing forth. He looked over to Syd and gave him the signal to stop the music, which Syd did immediately.

"Is there something wrong here?" a voice behind Josh asked.

Turning around, he found himself standing before a large, tall man with short blonde hair and very dark blue eyes. The man had his arms crossed and was staring down at Josh from his vantage point with a look that could wilt a plant.

"Yeah, there sorta is." Josh said as politely as he could, "There's quite a bit of static coming out of this particular speaker. I noticed it almost as soon as Syd started the track."

"I didn't hear anything." the man replied flatly and with a thick German accent, "Maybe you're going crazy or something like that."

"That's probably not far from the truth." Josh joked, hoping it'd soften the man's demeanor towards him.

Unfortunately, it only caused the man to glare hard down at the young man before him.

"That's not the sub that Dom dropped, is it?" Syd called out, turning to look at someone behind him, "You motherfucker! That's coming out of your paycheck!"

"No, this isn't that speaker." Josh answered, kneeling down to look at the device, "I already fixed that one earlier... If I can just..."

Gently pushing the speaker to one side, he glanced at the back, carefully scanning the wiring for any sign of damage or an out of place cord. After a few seconds of looking over the wiring and not finding anything wrong he stood back up and made his way over to the mixer and other equipment on the table. Almost immediately, he spotted the issue at hand and turned back to Syd and the man.

"It's been plugged into the wrong port here." Josh said, glancing between the two, "That plug should go there, not there. It's dimming the sound on that side otherwise and making it seem off-balance."

"And just how the fuck can you know that?" the large man asked, strolling over to the board and glaring at Josh once again, "Last time I checked, you’re nothing more than a go for for L over there. I'm the equipment manager here, and I wired that thing myself. If there's one thing I know, it's how to do my goddamn job."

"I'm not saying that you don't know how to do your job, man." Josh said, taken aback at the sudden hostility that this man was demonstrating towards him, "I was just pointing out a slight error. People make that mistake all the time. It's not a big deal, and I don't see why you're so upset by it."

"I'm upset by it because I don't need some pretty boy, wannabe manager coming in here and trying to show me up just because he's not allowed on the real team."

"Frank, what the fuck?" Liam interjected, causing both Frank and Josh to turn their attention towards him, "Josh hasn't done anything to you. Stop being a prick."

"Don't defend him just because you decided to take pity on him and give him a job, L." Frank continued, turning his enraged glare back to Josh, "He's not here to do my job or anyone elses. That means he ought to stay out of our shit, and just keep on getting you coffee or whatever else like a good boy."

Frank turned away and made his way to the opposite end of the stage, leaving Josh to stand there, fuming at what had just happened. Go figure he thought, watching Frank's hulking form move away People are still fucking unbearable here. Turning back to the equipment before him, he suddenly got an idea, one that would take the stick up Frank's ass and force it up even further.

"Syd," he said, turning back to the young man next to him, "drop a beat again."

"Uh... are you sure?" Syd asked, "Shouldn't we fix the sound problem first?"

"Just do it." Josh said, smirking evilly, "I have a plan for that."

Looking back to Frank as the tall German made his way off the stage, Josh called out to him, "Hey, Frank! Hold up for a sec!"

Frank stopped upon hearing Josh's voice and looked back to see the young man give a signal to Syd. Instantly, the same heavy, trap style bassline issued forth from the speakers, making the stage actually begin to rumble as Josh had Syd turn up the volume on all the speakers. Josh motioned for Frank to come back over and stand in front of him, which he did extremely reluctantly.

"Now, listen to the distortion in that speaker." Josh called out through the loud sound.

Frank shook his head, either indicating that he didn't hear the static, or that he hadn't heard Josh at all.

"Can't hear it?" Josh asked, gripping the wire to the speaker on the board in his hand, "How about now?"

Yanking hard, Josh pulled out the plug, causing a loud pop to sound from the nearby speaker. The gunshot-like noise caused everyone but Josh to duck and cover their ears, especially Frank, who almost fell on his backside with the speed he crouched down. Syd instinctively stopped the music upon hearing the pop, staring at Josh as he did so.

"What the fuck was that about?!" he asked, sticking a finger in his ear and twirling it around.

Josh didn't answer, instead plugging the wire in his hand back in its proper place.

"Drop it again, Syd." he said, never once taking his eyes off Frank as the huge man stood back up.

"You gonna pull another fucking wire out like that if I do?" Syd asked angrily.

"Just do it."

Syd frowned, but nonetheless still hit play on the track. The sound that now came out of the speaker was crystal clear and perfect, causing Josh to smirk once again at Frank, who had just managed to regain his bearings and was staring at the subwoofer.

"Sounds much better, doesn't it?" Josh asked smugly, motioning for Syd to stop the track again.

After a few moments of absolute silence as he stared at the device before him in a disbelieving way, he turned back to Josh, a look of anger painting his face.

"Perhaps before you get so worried about me taking your job, you'd better learn how to do it yourself." Josh said, glaring up into Frank's face, "Don't get your shorts in a goddamn bunch just because someone's trying to help you out with something and being nice about it. Not once in the entire time I talked to you about the speaker did I say anything about your skill or that I was here to take your job. You were the one so paranoid about nothing that you acted like a complete chuckle fuck to me when I was just trying to be helpful."

Frank's glare intensified as Josh finished speaking. The young man just stared fearlessly back at the gigantic behemoth before him, intent on attempting to out-intimidate Frank.

"Let me take a guess as to why you're such a jerkoff here for a second, if I may." Josh began, watching as Frank's face became more and more red with anger, "I'm gonna hazard that back in your own country, you were nothing but a puke, a half-wit, slack-jawed, knuckle dragging rave club bouncer who couldn't hack it as a real DJ. You're angry and bitter because you suck so bad at what you'd done before, and more than likely, you got fucking fired for messing up someone else's equipment before this. So, you took a job on some godforsaken loading dock and saved up enough money to make your way to America and managed to con L here into thinking you're more than just a walking muscle whose only talent is to stand outside some black doors and check the ID of every slut and moron who wants to get in that club and use the bathroom to get loaded."

By this point, Josh was honestly worried that the hulking German before him would vault over the table and attempt to use him as a toothpick. However, even as he shook with rage, Frank just continued to stand there, not saying a single thing but breathing so hard it seemed he might hyperventilate.

After what seemed like an eternity of awkward silence all around, Liam spoke up, drawing Josh's attention away from Frank.

"Josh," he began, approaching the young man and placing a hand on his shoulder, "I think you just need to take a breather, alright? You've not slept well, and you're irritable. Come on, and I'll take you back to the hotel."

Josh stared at Liam for a second, watching as his eyes darted between his old friend and the angry man on the other side of the table. Upon recognizing the usual look of concern on Liam's face, he nodded and made his way off to the other side of the stage, Liam following close behind, leaving everyone else in a stunned silence.

"I swear to God, mate," Liam said, taking his place next to Josh as the two made their way into the lobby of the building, "you've got a fucking death wish if you're talking shit to Frank like that."

"If he was gonna hit me for what I said, he already would have." Josh said flatly, the adrenaline coursing through his veins tapering out slowly, "Besides, I'm not gonna take shit from anyone for something like that. The whole reason I'm back here is because I didn't stand up for myself and my friends when I had the chance. I'm not letting that happen ever again."

Liam stopped as they reached the front doors of the lobby, causing Josh to do the same and turn his attention towards his English friend.

"Josh..." Liam began, stammering a little and pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, "I... Well, I don't really understand your situation. But, I can assure you that I do sympathize with you. Nobody deserves to have to deal with the shit you've had to deal with in the last few weeks, not even the foulest person on this earth. It's completely justifiable that you don't want to repeat the past here. But, you can't go and be like that, even if Frank is a fucking prick. There's nothing wrong with standing up for yourself, but the last thing you need is to make any enemies, especially with the people you'll be spending the next few months around."

Josh sighed heavily as he thought about Liam's words. He was determined never to let anyone push him around ever again, and he certainly wouldn't allow them to hinder the progress he'd begun to make in his time back home. However, there was a fine line between standing up for himself, and making an ass of himself.

"You're right, L." he said simply, "I just couldn't let him treat me like that. I did get a bit... carried away though."

"Not to worry, mate." Liam assured, patting Josh on the shoulder and leading him out the door to the waiting car and driver, "I'd have done the same thing, I think. Just get back to the hotel and rest up. I don't have anything else for you today anyway. Not anything that I can't take care of myself, at least."

Josh nodded and made his way to the car, opening up the door and climbing in. As soon as he shut the door, the driver took off, making his way back through Las Vegas and out to the hotel. All along the way, Josh couldn't help but be reminded of his time dealing with Filthy Rich back in Equestria. Never again he thought as he stared out the window of the car at all the scenery passing by I'll never let that happen to me or anyone close to me ever again. I swear on it.