“天马无畏！我简直不敢相信，那么多小马，偏偏是你！你竟然还和那些天空海盗们打交道！”邦比一直在一边咆哮着：“他们就是群贪婪的强盗——只会关心自己的利益！”他抓起一个鞍包，开始往里塞东西，他几乎都没注意到自己往里塞了些什么。无畏看着他丢进去了一袋弹珠、一块车达奶酪、五个苹果还有只橡皮鸭。“拜托告诉我你应该也注意到了吧？他们的那些强盗行径？”

“呃，我…”无畏犹豫了，如果她说云宝黛茜把西拉诺带到她家门口的时候没有察觉到什么异常，那肯定是在撒谎。西拉诺明显对那好运石榴石那么感兴趣，而当云宝决定要把石榴石送还给云中城时，她就在一边沉默不语，明显很令马生疑，但云宝很相信他们。“因为我相信他们…？”

邦比叹了口气，显然对于他好朋友的回答有些筋疲力尽。“你不能就这么相信他们。”

无畏说道：“我有点不太明白，”在她遇到云宝带着西拉诺船长还有她的海盗船员们来找她之前，她还从来没遇到过天空海盗们，邦比为什么会这么讨厌他们？“能给我讲讲吗？”

“行，你等我一下。”邦比咕哝了一声，拉开了他那阿尔托族古董木柜上的一个抽屉，掏出了一本看起来饱经风霜的速写本。它看起来鼓鼓的，上面画满了各种散乱的图画，似乎下一秒膨胀得就要炸开一样。无畏把本子翻开，立刻就明白了。这些就是草图！上面记录的都是邦比各种复杂的发明。

其中一页上有一幅草图，画着一个飞行背包的设计草图，可以让陆马也可以飞起来，无畏立刻就想起之前在西拉诺的飞艇甲板上看到的正是那样的背包！鹦鹉们甚至还给她演示了那些背包的使用方法，那时候穆雷和博伊尔就像两只长着羽毛的苍蝇一样在船上叽叽喳喳地争论着。“他们跟我说，这些空中背包都是他们拿东西换来的！”

“以物换物吗？”邦比摘下了帽子，捋了捋自己灰白的鬃毛，看起来有些生气，他向空中挥了挥蹄子。

“更应该说是偷窃来的！他们主动提出来帮我做最后的测试调整，来换取他们的一些使用意见，从那以后我就再也没见过他们了！”他多年来一直致力于研究这项发明，最后成功造出来了合适的成品，并打算在今年的飞行协会展览上展出，他想要惊爆全场。

“我就知道那些鸟儿有点可疑，”无畏摇了摇头，“西拉诺船长坚持说她只是想去帮云宝找到石榴石，但我更应该去相信自己的直觉。需不需要我回到他们船上去，帮你把飞行背包全拿回来？”

“不，我有个更好的主意。”邦比举起了鞍包，里面鼓鼓地塞满了各种奇怪的东西，他的眼神里充满了兴奋，仿佛就像刚从很长时间的瞌睡中苏醒。“我们就去偷走他们想要的，让他们去瞧瞧那是什么感觉！”

无畏把头歪向一边。“你是说…好运石榴石吗？”

“亲爱的，这正是我想说的，”老马点了点头，“看来我们要来场冒险了。”他甚至都没让无畏知晓他的计划是什么，就拉着无畏冲出了小屋，奔向了他自己那艘飞艇停靠的山丘。

当她穿过高岭城狭窄的街道跑向‘棱镜’号停靠的地方时，无畏的思绪又落到了云宝黛茜那，她独自和那些海盗们在船上，等着她去加入他们的寻宝队列。如果有谁还能一艘全是骗子的船上不受影响的话，那一定只有她了。希望云宝能明白，但无畏现在必须要在这场疯狂的寻宝冒险中保护好她的老飞行员朋友。

现在的寻宝正式成为了一场宝藏争夺战，邦比不可能就不战而败地把宝藏让给云宝他们，然而现在的无畏，依旧搞不清楚自己究竟是站在哪一边。

英文版：

Daring Do! I can’t believe you, of all ponies, are in cahoots with those sky scoundrels!” Brumby Cloverpatch growled with disdain. “They’re the worst kind of adventurers—only looking out for their own interests!” He grabbed a saddlebag  and  began  to  throw  items  into  it,  barely  paying  attention  to anything he selected. Daring Do watched as he tossed in a bag of marbles, a block of cheddar cheese, five apples, and a rubber duck. “Please tell me that ya sensed it, too? Somethin’ off about ’em?”

“Well, I . . .” Daring Do hesitated. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t gotten a strange feeling when Rainbow Dash had led the pirates to her door. The way Captain Celaeno had been so interested in the Good Fortune Garnet and  then  was  noticeably  quiet  when  Rainbow  Dash  had  proclaimed  she would return it to Cloudsdale was suspicious. But Rainbow Dash believed them. “I want to trust them… ?”

Brumby sighed, clearly exhausted by the fact that his friend could not see his point. “But ya can’t.”

“I don’t think I understand,” Daring Do said. She’d never run into sky pirates before Captain Celaeno and the crew had showed up on her own doorstep. How did Brumby have so many negative feelings about them? “Care to enlighten me?”

“I’ll show ya.” Brumby grunted and opened a drawer on his ancient Alto Terran wooden hutch. He yanked out a weathered sketchbook. It was fat with loose drawings and looked as if it was one piece of paper away from bursting. Daring Do flipped it open and immediately understood. They were diagrams! Intricate plans for all sorts of inventions.

But there was one drawing that kept popping up on every page. It was a design for a prototype backpack that would allow landlocked ponies to fly. Daring Do immediately recalled seeing the exact devices belowdecks on Celaeno’s airship! The parrots had even given her a demonstration of the way they  worked  with  Mullet  and  Boyle  buzzing  around  the  ship  like  two enormous, feathered flies. “They told me they bartered for those sky-packs!”

“Bartered?” Brumby took off his hat and smoothed his graying mane. He looked angry. He shook his hoof in the air. “Stole is more like it! They offered to help with the final tweaks and test them in exchange for a few for themselves,  but  I  haven’t  seen  them  since.”  He’d  been  working  on  that invention for years and finally managed to build enough to bring to the Aeronauts Society Convention this year. He was going to blow them all away.

“I knew something was fishy about those birds.” Daring Do shook her head. “Captain Celaeno insisted that she just wanted to help Rainbow Dash find the garnet. I should have trusted my instincts. Should I go back to their ship and retrieve the sky-packs for you?”

“No, I’ve got a much better idea.” Brumby held up the saddlebag, now bulging with ridiculous items. His eyes were wild with excitement. It was as if he’d finally awoken from a long nap. “We’re going to steal something that they want. Show ’em how it feels!”

Daring  Do  cocked  her  head  to  the  side.  “Do  you  mean…  the  Good Fortune Garnet?”

“My dear, that’s exactly what I’m suggestin’.” Brumby nodded. “We’re gonna get to it first.” He didn’t even let Daring Do weigh in on his plan before he galloped out of the cottage, heading for the hills where he kept his own ship.

As she ran through the narrow streets of Alto Terre to the Reflector’s docking bay, Daring Do’s mind drifted to Rainbow Dash, alone on the ship with those pirates and waiting for her to join them. If anypony could handle herself on a ship full of deceitful scalawags, it would be her. Hopefully Rainbow Dash would understand that Daring Do had to look out for the old aeronaut on his wild mission.

It was now officially a race to the relic. And there was no way Brumby was letting the wrong claws get ahold of it without a fight. Daring Do, however, still couldn’t work out which side she was on.