We slept in a alley that night. Sure, it wasn't the most luxurious place, kind of filled with garbage, rats, and broken furniture that other ponies had discarded... but oh well, I can live with it for one night. Just one more night, and we'll finally be free.

I was actually able to sleep a little. Maybe the fact that we'd have our chance to escape tomorrow comforted me. Or maybe I was just really, really, tired.

I still ended up awaking early in the morning. Amber was up too, staring at herself sadly in the cracked full-length mirror that somepony had left propped up against the wall.

"Something wrong?" I sat down beside her.

She shook her head. "No, I just... Do you really think they're going to let us into the gala? Even with "expensive-ish" clothing? Look at us. We're practically homeless. When was the last time you had a bath?"

I gazed at myself in the mirror. She was... Right. All three of us were covered in dirt and blood, though nopony else ever seemed to notice, or at least say anything, for that matter. Amber's bandaged wing was still stained with blood, and the gauze that wrapped her injury was extremely dirty. Glaze's leg wasn't much better, worse, if I had to choose.

Though I was the only one without a visible injury... I still looked pretty horrible. My black coat was filty, and my mane was so messy and disheveled that you would think I had never brushed it in my life.

Rarity was so clean and proper. Why hadn't she said anything yesterday? Why hasn't anyone said anything?!

I sighed. "We'll figure it out. Maybe we should wake Glaze up and find a lake somewhere to at least clean ourselves off."

Amber nodded. "That wouldn't be a bad idea. Let's do it."

I looked over at the sleeping yellow Pegasus. "Wake him up."

"What? No, you wake him up!"

"I'm not waking him up! He'll spaz on me! You do it!"

"He'll spaz on me too!"

"Not as much as me, he hates me!"

Glaze lifted his head. "What are you two babbling about?"

I grinned at Amber. "It was a joint effort!" I high-hoofed her.

He got up and shook himself. "What's going on?"

"Come on, we're going to find a place to wash ourselves." The filly trotted out of the alleyway and began to walk down the street.

"It's like, two in the morning, can't we wait until it's lighter out?"

"We're less likely to be spotted if it's dark." I lifted myself into the air and hovered there. "Plus, I can fly."

I zoomed down the street after Amber, catching up to her quickly. I love flying at night, it makes me feel... Less useless.

Glaze landed beside us. "We're going to get lost. We don't know Canterlot very well. Who knows if there even is a lake nearby?"

I shrugged. "There must be a park or something with a stream. Or at least a water fountain. Would ponies look at us weird if we started splashing around in a water fountain?"

"Ummm, I should think so..." Amber gave me a weird look. "It's not exactly... Normal."

"Ok, park it is. Where's that one we were sitting at earlier?"

Glaze glanced in the direction of the castle. "It was over that way somewhere. Near the palace, I thought."

"Ok, let fly, it'll be faster than walking."
Glaze rolled his eyes. "You just want to show off."

"That's a terrible idea," Amber said with the huff. I suddenly felt bad, remembering both her injured wings.

"Oh... Uhh, sorry..."

It took us a while to reach the park, but when we finally did, we were delighted to see a path down to a river bank. It wasn't a terribly fast flowing river either, perfect for a bath.

I stepped one hoof into the water and shivered. "It's freezing cold..."

"That's what we get for coming at like, 3 in the morning. Plus, it's March. I'd expect the water to be cold." Glaze sat down at the side of the stream and began to unwrap his bandages.

"You gonna take yours off?" I asked, turning to Amber.

She shook her head. "I don't want to see what's underneath them..."

"You're going to have to sit in wet gauze all day, that doesn't sound very fun..."

"I don't want to be reminded of my failure. I'll keep them on."

I nodded and stepped another hoof into the water, then another. It was cold, but still kind of refreshing. I waded to the middle of the stream, where the water was up to my shoulders, and dunked my head under.

"Ohhh, that's cold..." I shivered again and shook the water out of my mane.

I heard a squeak from Amber as she stepped in for the first time. "It is cold..."

I dunked my head under again, pawing at my mane to get the dirt out of it. Wow, you could almost tell that it was purple now. There's a change.

There was another yelp as Glaze reached the spot where his wound was finally submerged in water. He shut his eyes tightly for a second, then shook his leg, trying to clean off the blood. Already, I could see the water turning red around that area.

Amber squirmed a little too when her injury entered the water, but there wasn't any visible sign of blood, which hopefully meant her wings were healing well.

I flapped my wings like a bird, trying to splash myself with water, and also managed splashing the filly in the process.

"Hey!" She yelped, lifting one hoof and splashing me back.

I grinned, launching more water at her with the tip of my wing.

"Stop it!" She said with a laugh, bounding into the shallower part of the stream, and flicking her tail, sending more ice cold water at my face.

"Would you two stop horsing around?" Glaze growled. (More bad horse punz wooo xD)

I rolled my eyes and splashed some water into his face with the tip of my wing. "Stop ruining our fun, we don't have much of it these days."

He shot me a death glare, shaking the water off his nose. "Don't start with me..."

"It's just a little water, get over it," I smirked, splashing him again.

I turned back and watched Amber prance along the riverbank, shaking the droplets off her coat. She suddenly turned back and stared at me for a second, before her eyes widened, and she suddenly said: "...don't look behind you."

I glanced over at her, confused. "Wha-"
I stiffened, my mouth frozen in shock as a wave of ice cold water hit me from the right.

Amber burst out laughing, and I glanced over at Glaze, who grinned and splashed more water into my face with his wingtip. "It's just a little water. Get over it."

"Saw that coming from a mile away!" Amber laughed, wading back into the water.

My shock slowly turned into annoyed laughter. "Well played, Toaster."

He didn't answer, just smirked a little and waded out of the water. "We should get going, it's almost sunrise, and we better dry off before we go to pick up our gala outfits."

"Oh come on, you're no fun," I sighed, stepping out of the water and onto the riverbank. I have to admit, this is the most fun I've had for a long time.

"I am the king of fun," he replied, in a tone that made it very hard to believe.
"Pfft, I'll believe that when I see it," I scoffed.

Glaze kicked his bandages into a nearby bush, ignoring my previous statement. "I'm not putting my gauze back on, it'll probably infect the wound with the amount of dirt caked on there. If we absolutely need to, we can buy a new roll at some random store."

"What are we gonna do for like, 4 hours while we wait?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but splashing around in a freezing cold stream isn't exactly how I want to spend my morning."

I shivered, suddenly realizing how cold the air was. "Alright, I suppose I don't want to catch hypothermia. It's not exactly the most practical time of year to go swimming." I shook the water off my coat and folded my wings. "Still, where would we go?"

"We should explore Canterlot!" Exclaimed Amber excitedly. "I mean, we're here, in the capital of Equestria, and we're not going to sightsee?"

I sighed. "Amber, it's dark out. We can't see anything. Plus, you don't usually see that many ponies out walking around at this time of the morning. If there's Factory guards patrolling somewhere around the city, they'll notice us for sure."

"True..."

"I don't want to walk around too much either," said Glaze. "My leg has started stinging again, and I don't want to put too much weight on it until I absolutely need to."

"It's almost 4, and I think the boutique opens at 6 or 7:00. We have two or three hours."

"Then we'll just wait. There's not really much else that we can do." He shook himself again and lay down on a patch of grass. "Were all wet anyways."

"Yeah, I guess we should dry off first. I wish I had a brush, my mane is going to be so frizzy when it dries..."

"Ha, that I'd like to see," Glaze laughed. I silenced him with a sharp glare.
And so we waited. And waited. And waited. And Amber got bored and started whining. And Glaze started pacing despite his injured leg. And it was only 5.

So I slept a little. And Amber whined some more. And Glaze paced some more. And I joined him, cause I was getting bored too. And then finally...
"It must be close to 6 now, let's go." I said, looking up at the sky to judge the time.

"FINALLY!" Amber breathed a sigh of relief.

After a bit of walking around town, we found Carousel Boutique again. To our relief, there was a sign that read "OPEN" on the door.

We entered the store, where Rarity once again emerged from the back room at the tinkle of the bells on the door.

"Ah, you're here! Come, come, I have your designs ready in the back! I'll need you to try them on one at a time to make sure they fit."

I nudged Amber forward. "You go first. And come out and show us."
She nodded and followed Rarity into the other room.

A few minutes later the door opened and she emerged in a multicolored dress. The main part of it was red, with layers of light red, light yellow, and cream underneath the skirt. It had long sleeves that were the same light red as the skirt. I have to admit, it looked good on her.

She seemed to think so too. She was smiling so wide you'd think she just found the answer to life.

"Oh, thank you, thank you so much Rarity!" Amber jumped up and down, hugging the white mare.

Rarity smiled and patted the filly on the head. "Have fun at your gala, dear."
I sighed. She's not going to. She can't. That's not what we're there for. I'm sorry Amber, but we have to focus on the problem at hand.

"Alright you two. Who's first?" Rarity turned to me, then looked over at Glaze, who was looking really bored on the other side of the room.

"He is," I decided.

The yellow Pegasus looked up. "What? Ehhhh, fine." He followed Rarity into the back room. He came out a few minutes later, with a bundle of black fabric draped over his wing.

"What? We don't get to see?!" Amber exclaimed.

"Pfft, you'll see soon enough, won't you?"

"Well, aren't you stubborn," I scoffed.

"Look who's talking..." He muttered. "Whatever, it's your turn."

I sighed and glance over at Rarity, who smiled and shrugged. I reluctantly made my way into her office.

She shut the door behind us. "He is quite stubborn."

"Oh, you have no idea. Try riding with him all the way to Canterlot... From Ponyville."

"Ponyville? That's where I live! I've simply come to Canterlot for the time of the gala, to sell my dress designs." She lifted a swath of navy blue fabric from where it lay draped over a chair.

"Here's your order. I'm sorry, I may have gone a bit overboard with you and Amber's designs... It's just, I'm so used to creating the expensive ones that everypony else wants, and I got a bit carried away. However, I promised you 75 bits, so 75 bits you shall pay."

I nodded. "I can't thank you enough for this. As you've seen, we don't exactly have unlimited amounts of money."
"Ah, I don't want to snoop too far into your buisness, but-"

"If you're going to ask why, there's no point. You'll be hearing about it soon enough."

"Huh?"

I took the pile of fabric and draped it over my wing. "Either we'll be dead, or heroes. That's all I'm going to say."

"Darling! But... You aren't even going to try on your dress?!"

"No need. It'll do."

"But... You don't even-"

"All it needs to do is fit. I just need to do is get into that gala."

"What?! Just need to get into the the gala... To what?! Steal something?! Murder somepony?! Am... Am I helping a criminal?! A murderer?!"

I paused, amused by her reaction. Is... Is it too risky to have a little fun with this mare?

"Hmm. I suppose either of those terms could apply to me," I said with a small smile. Y'know, it's not too far from the truth...

Rarity gaped. "But..." She used her horn to levitate her cell phone over to her.

I grabbed it out of the air and smiled. "Oh please, you're in even more danger if you contact the authorities."

"Get away from me!" Rarity ran to the other side of the room.

I sighed. I guess that's enough. I faked a laugh. "Relax! I'm kidding!" I set her phone back on the table, a cover story forming in my head. "Our family is kind if in debt, and Amber really wants in that gala. It's been her dream ever since she was a little filly, and as her step-sister, I decided to give her a treat. Just... Don't tell our parents, ok? They don't know..."

Rarity panted, slowly standing up. "Don't scare me like that! What could you possibly gain from doing such a thing?!"

I shrugged. "I dunno, it was fun?"

"Look, I admire what you're doing for your sister, but I'll have to ask you kindly to leave my office."

"Alright. I don't blame you for saying so. I know I'm just as much of an idiot as Glaze. Well, maybe a little less." I smirked.

Rarity scoffed, and muttered something under her breath. "Please leave, miss."

I trotted out of the room, an angry Rarity following behind me. I emptied the bag of coins onto the floor and counted out 13, which I placed back into the bag. I pushed the remaining bits towards her. "There you go. I'll get out of your hair now."

"Speaking of hair, yours looks terrifying..." I heard Rarity mutter under her breath.

I growled and smoothed down the top of my mane. No need to point it out. I know it's frizzy.

Amber bounded over to me. "Whaaatttt?! I don't get to see yours either!?"

I ignored her. "Let's get out of here."

She sighed and grabbed her dress from where it sat on a nearby chair and followed us out the door.

Glaze turned to me. "What the hell happened in there? You were causing enough racket, we could hear it through the door!"

I grinned. "I accidentally let something slip, so I decide to have some fun while covering it up... I think I scared her. Y'know, just a little."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not even going to ask."

"You could have been a little nicer to her. She did give us a discount after all. What would you have done if she took that away because of your lousy attitude?" Said Amber, obviously annoyed.

I shrugged. "I could have knocked her out, and we'd just have taken off with the dresses."

"Mystery! Why do you always resort to violence?! She seemed perfectly friendly to me! I don't blame her for getting angry at you, you were probably being an idiot!"

"Shut up Amber, we're not talking about this. We got our gala costumes, stop complaining."

She sighed, a strand of fuchsia hair blowing into the air as she did.
"This whole thing would be so much easier if I didn't have to babysit you two children."

"Excuse me Miss 12-year-old?"

"Excuse me Miss 17-year-old who acts like you're 7?"

"I'm 16 for your information. I turn 17 in April. Do your research."

"Research?! What the buck? I just met you!"

"You're too young to curse. Stop that."

"YOU CURSE ALL THE TIME."

"I'm almost 17,"I smirked.

She let out an angry scream.

"Stop it you two, you're attracting attention," Glaze growled. "Amber, you're acting like a 2-year-old right now too."

"You have no room to talk." I scoffed.

"What did I ever do? Not to be full of myself, but I think I'm the most mature one here."

"Childish maybe isn't the right word for you... But seriously... 'All I'm doing is admiring the little bit of beauty that's left in this twisted world?' Pfffftt, where'd you get that line, some mushy romance novel?!"

"When the hell did I say that?!"

"Back on the train."

Glaze gave he a confused look. "The buck? Did I really say that?"

"Yup."

"Don't remember that... Did I really bucking say that?!"

"Yes, now stop swearing, it's going to rub off on the 12-year-old."

"Buck you Mystery!"

"Oh look what you did Glaze."

"ITS NOT MY FAULT, YOU SWEAR MORE THAN ME!"

"I'm surrounded by idiots..." Amber muttered under her breath.

"Where are we even going?!" I asked, cutting into our conversation.

We stopped.

"Where are we going?" Amber looked down the street.

"Are we not going back to that alleyway? I mean, the broken mirror that somepony left there may come in handy." Glaze suggested. "That's where I've been headed, dunno about you two."

"When did you become smart?" I glared at him sarcastically.

"When I was born, idiot. When did you become stupid?"

"Since I met you," I mumbled, half to myself.

He rolled his eyes, and didn't say another word as we made our way back to the spot we had spent the night.

~~~

"Oh my Celestia Mystery, you look so pretty!" Exclaimed Amber excitedly.

I scoffed, straightening the hem of my navy blue gown. "Shut it, brat."

"What the hell? I complement you, and that's my thanks?"

"I hate complements," I hissed, folding my wings. "And overall, I hate when ponies lie to me."

"Lie? When did I lie?!"

"Nevermind, you'll just contradict me again..."

"What is with your attitude lately? You actually seemed likable on the train! What happened?"

I rolled my eyes. "Pretty sure Glaze happened."

"Oh come on! He's not that bad! Why do you hate him so much?!"

"He's just... Annoying. Stubborn. Selfish. Ungrateful. Never listens. Argues at everything. Keeps getting us into trouble."

"I don't know, sounds to me, like you're describing yourself."

I paused, not sure how to answer to that. She was kind of... Right.

Noticing my hesitation, Amber took the chance to speak.

"As much as you hate each other, I think you two are more alike than you realize. In another world, you could be good friends."

Me and Glaze... Friends? I almost laughed at the idea. Yeah right. Like that's gonna happen.

"Friends?" I sighed. "I don't need friends."

"Don't need friends? How can you even say that? Friends are amazing! It's someone you can always count on! Someone who will always help you out of trouble! Someone to spend your free time with! Are you saying you don't want any of that? Are you saying that Jace isn't your friend? That I'm not your friend?"

I shrugged. "I never said that. But after all I've been through, I've learned multiple times that the only person you can always count on, again and again, is yourself. Friends are a luxury, nothing more."

Amber shook her head, obviously flustered. "You've got to be kidding me! You don't get it, do you?"

"You're the one who doesn't get it, Amber. You've haven't lived my life. You don't know what I've been through. If you did, maybe you'd finally understand me."

Our conversation was cut short by Glaze, as he walked around the corner.

"I'm back."

"Where did you even go?"
He threw a roll of bandages at Amber. "Bought these at the corner store. They cost 3 bits, we still have ten left for anything important. I already re-bandaged my leg, you should do the same for your wings."

She quickly shook her head. "I already told you, I don't want to take my bandages off."

"Amber, it's going to get infected, those things you have on are filthy," I warned. "Forget being reminded of your stupid failure, if you don't change them, you're going to regret it. You've got one pair of wings, if you ruin them, they're gone for good."

"They're fine," she sighed. "They don't even hurt. I think they're healing."

"Whatever, if you're not going to do it, then let's get going. The castle doors open in an hour, and there's going to be a huge lineup to get in if we don't pick up the pace. Glaze, get your outfit on." I tossed the swath of black fabric at his head.

He sighed. "Do I really have to wear this?"

"Do I look happy wearing mine? No. You're going to suffer my pain..."

I sighed, looking back at my gown. It was a dark blue colour, with a turquoise overlay on the skirt. The top part had one jewel on the front, which was obviously fake. Rarity had done a good job designing it, yes, but everyone who knows me, knows that I've always hated wearing formal clothing. I found it uncomfortable, and hard to move around it, which tonight might prove fatal. I mean... If the factory guards do attack us...

I sighed, shaking my head. I'm overthinking this. There's no way they could know that we were attending the spring gala. Its not something they would expect us to do... Is it?

I absentmindedly flattened down the front of my mane, cursing myself for not being able to brush it.

"Ouch!" I let out a yelp as something hit me in the head. "What the buck?!"

"Brush it goddammit, the frizz is bugging me."

I looked up to glare at Glaze, then down an the jeweled brush he had chucked at me.

"Where... Where did you get this?"

"Stole it from Rarity."

"Glaze! You idiot!" Amber turned on him. "First Mystery scares the crap out of her, then you steal her brush?!"

He shrugged. "I'm sure she has others. That couldn't have been her only brush."

"Ok, ok, I appreciate that you stole a brush for me, but did you really have to throw it at my head?!" I seethed, smoothing down my tangled hair with the brush.

"I stole it for myself, for your information. You're lucky I'm generous enough to let you use it."

When I finished fixing my hair, I threw the brush back at him, missing by a few centimeters.

"Nice aim, Myst." He said sarcastically.

"Umm, no, you're not aloud to call me that."

"What, Myst? Jace calls you that. Amber calls you that. Why can't I?"

"Only my friends can call me Myst and get away with it. It's Mystery to you."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Mystery. Amber, you want this?" He held up the brush.

"I will not use a brush that's been stolen," she said stubbornly, then paused. "Well... Ok, maybe just this once..." She snatched the object from him and began to run it through her short, fuchsia mane.

"Honestly, I can't wait until this is over, and I can get away from you two..." Glaze grumbled, slipping his tuxedo jacket over his head.

"The feeling is mutual," I replied.

"I just want to go home..." Sighed Amber quietly.

I looked away. "Me too... Y'know, if I had one."

Amber gasped. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, I forgot..."

I shook my head. "It's fine." I said, maybe a little to harshly. "Forget about it, let's go."

"Hold on, hold on." Amber ran up to me, placing the bag of coins on the ground, and removing the ribbon.

"What are you doing?" I was confused.

She grabbed the bottom part of my mane, and tied it into a low ponytail.

"There."

"What was that for." I asked, the words sounding more like a statement than a question.

"It looks pretty." She smiled, slipping the bag containing the last few coins into Glaze's suit pocket.

I rolled my eyes and started walking again.

"Waitwaitwait."

"What now?!" I turned to the filly.

"Go stand beside Glaze."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it."

"No." I went to start walking again. She bounded infront of me.

"Glaze, come here."

The yellow Pegasus sighed and walked forward, straightening his navy blue tie. "What's your problem, Amber?"

She took a few steps back and glanced from me, to Glaze, back to me, and back to Glaze.

I hear her mumble something under her breath, that sounded a little like:
"...did Rarity do that on purpose?"

"What?"

Amber paused. "...nothing."

She turned and began to walk again.
Pffft, never mind her, I thought with a smile. We're on our way to victory. As long as we don't screw this up, I'll never have to deal with these brats again. I'm going to win back my freedom. Were finally going to shut down the Rainbow factory.

Once and for all.

We're almost there.