A few minutes later, Wildcard had calmed down enough to drop his adorable disguise, Flash led the trio out of the inn, and they trotted down the street. First Class read the rest of the newspaper intently while Wildcard and Flash talked. There was a definite feel of anxiety in the air, coupled with fear. Most notably, nobody had laughed at his accidental shape-shifting.
As near as Flash knew, gathered from sources within the guard and elsewhere, the griffons had attacked en masse last night, taking advantage of the Equestrian Royal Guard assuming that there wouldn't be a second major attack, certainly not with such devastating force as this one. The Griffons also seemed to have employed some new weapon, but the Night Guard was keeping any information on that well under wraps. Equestria Daily was prevented from even going near the scene, along with any other civilians. The entire area had been put on lockdown late last night, with only a steady stream of refugees coming out, and the Night Guard itself had left in the morning. Baltimare was, as near as Flash knew, a total loss.
Wildcard really didn't like the sound of something that scared the Night Guard.
Flash glanced around, while he talked, mindful of the chaos surrounding them in the city. All over the country thirty thousand ponies found themselves called up for service, and it was causing mass pandemonium as they tried to reach their assigned units. Not only that, but there was an exodus from the west- Baltimare was evacuated in it's entirety, and neighboring communities were scared off. Apparently the rail line was entirely shut down today for civilian use, strictly for ferrying reservists around.
"... and then we've got the refugees, everypony is stepping up to help, but there's ten thousand of them," Flash said.
"I'm sure we can help on our end, so long as they like mushrooms," Wildcard offered.
Flash nodded. "We would be grateful."
"So what are you doing in Vanhoover anyway, shouldn't you be helping with all this?" Wildcard asked.
"Celestia got your letter just before sundown last night, and put me on the first train down here. I was supposed to link up with the local guards and arrest that jackflank, however..."
He trailed off and Wildcard realized where it was he had been leading him. As they came around the corner of a building he saw the bank- burnt to a cinder.
"Somepony must have tipped him off, he's gone- along with half a million bits of gold," He explained, turning back to the others with the scene behind him. A few guards and ponies wearing fire resistant suits were milling around in the debris, and a pile of melted gold bars was surrounded by a wall of armoured ponies.
"Hold on, this was the only mint in Equestria, who's going to do it now?" First Class asked, stuffing the newspaper into a waste bin at the side of the road.
Flash shrugged. "That's up to Celestia, I imagine the Crystal Empire could do it," he said.
Five hundred thousand bits. Enough money to buy yourself an army. Now a pony with a grudge was out there, somewhere, with all this. Equestria was vulnerable as it was, all it needed now was some economic problems to stack on top of a city being razed and the military being mobilized. Wildcard knew well the adage 'It's always darkest before the dawn.', but there was a flipside to that coin.
It's always brightest before the dusk.
Equestria had been so bright, for so long, that it was inevitable something would happen. Whether it would survive this or prove another adage- 'all good things come to an end', true or not; only time would tell.
His waxing poetic was interrupted by a prodding on his shoulder.
"Wildcard? Our rides here." Flash said, pointing to the sky where an airship shadowed the remains of the bank high above.
Wildcard noted how huge it was, and heavily armoured. Four great engines propelled the leviathan vehicle in the rear, while an enormous guiding fin ran down the lower and upper centre. Underneath the main gas chamber was a large deck with small structures on it, it almost resembled a small village. At the very top a few small platforms set with sharp objects pointed to the sky. Neither he, nor the hive, knew the Equestrian's possessed such a vessel. On the side covering most of it was the Flag of Equestria, depicting the two alicorns that had ruled it for so long. There was a significant difference however, in that it was bordered with a dotted gold/red line. A single pegasus flew down from it, while a few dozen others flew towards it from all over the city. They joined a series of chariots in a stream that boarded the ship.
"It's magnificent, I had no idea this ship existed," Wildcard gaped in awe.
"H.M.S Magnificent, so you're right there. I thought it was just a myth, apparently it's been docked for decades," Flash said, and with a flap of wings took to hover above.
"Well?" He gestured towards the airship.
"I got some work to do here yet, I'll catch up with you two later," Wildcard said. Flash replied with a shrug and took off for the H.M.S Magnificent.
Wildcard then turned to First Class, who stood beside him. She winked and pecked him on the cheek.
"Business, business, business, I know how it is. We haven't had a parliament in thirty years, I'm going to be busy too," She said, and ran a hoof through Wildcards mane. A shiver went down his spine in response.
"Don't take too long..." She said, and took off for the ship.
She blew him a kiss on the way, leaving him struck once again. He was an Ambassador, a leader, and a changeling spy. His brain wasn't designed for this however, and she blew right past his defenses.
Which Wildcard was absolutely fine with.
Alone, again, he trotted off as the ship rumbled away from the city. The vessal was so huge that it disturbed the ground enough to kick up a storm of dust before it came above the clouds. It blew those away too before the engines slowed to push it at a cruising speed.
The griffons had a new weapon, but so did the Equestrians.
Alone again, and with one last thing to do in the city, Wildcard trotted off to Buckapple's. He realized how dumb it was to have not put some way of sending the health inspector there, assuming they did come and weren't stuck with the rest of the nation. So he was happy enough to find a Pegasus yelling at Buckapple outside the door of the establishment, flapping her wings to emphasis her points.
Wildcard slowly trotted up, listening in as he did.
"... it only takes one! One is enough! One is a hundred percent more then the health code allows!" The pegasus shouted.
"But it's gone now! Besides, how do you know it had been there any longer then the half minute you were here?!" Applebuck retorted angrily.
Wildcard broke in.
"Excuse me, but what's going on?" he asked.
"Health Inspection," The pegasus said, and flipped open a wallet with a badge and a photograph of himself. Clean Slate was his name, health inspection was his game.
Wildcard was greatly amused that it literally said that.
He looked over the Ambassador, and then grinned.
"Ambassador... have you been here recently? Your testimony would be appreciated," He asked. Behind him Buckapple frantically shook her head.
Wildcard opened his mouth to speak, but a sudden burst of introspection stopped him.
Complain about this place, get it shut down. Following this, speak to First Class and have it seized, which would be easy enough if he complained. Then Applebuck could win it in an auction, and get the location for a pittance of what Buckapple had invested. The power of eminent domain was as a superweapon, nobody could escape the wrath of a bureaucrat with a plan.
It was a perfect plan, but there was something important he hadn't considered.
It was evil, it was everything the ponies thought of the changelings before. Underhanded, sneaky, probably enough to get him promoted again just for how sneaky the whole thing was. It couldn't be done, not now.
He sighed. "Yes, and I haven't seen a more perfect establishment in my life," he said. Less a rat, it was more or less the truth.
The pegasus health inspector turned to Applebuck, sighing.
"Well I'm sorry ma'am, I guess I shouldn't have jumped the gun on an anonymous tip," He bowed his head, Wildcard could actually feel the shame.
No, wait; that was his own shame.
"Don't worry about it!" Buckapple exclaimed, and put a hoof on the stallions shoulder. "Tell you what, let's all take a break and have a few.. pears. The whole world's going crazy, we all just need to calm down for a minute," she said, and gestured they follow.
Wildcard stayed outside for a minute, eying the nearly empty streets of the town. She mentioned she had no apples...
When Wildcard entered he found the health inspector sitting on a stool at the bar, chatting away with Buckapple. Wildcard took a stool of his own.
"Well, welcome back Ambassador, you sure left quickly yesterday." Applebuck said, laying a mug of something down.
"Mango juice," She added.
Wildcard took a cautionary sip, he found it good, not nearly as good as cider, but it had a fine taste of it's own.
"Business calls," Wildcard said.
"Tell me about it!" The health inspector said, clapping Wildcard on the back. "The Princess's assistant got some anonymous tip this place was in a sorry state, and had me on the first train out. That train then got cancelled, so I had to ride with the military down here. That airship is an incredible sight, but it is not comfortable," he ranted, and took a swig of the juice.
"If I ever get my hands on whoever sent in that tip..." he mumbled.
Wildcard coughed. "So, you mentioned you have no apples, why is that?" Wildcard asked the pink pony across the counter.
"Can't grow them out here, growing season is too short," She replied.
"So why not import them?"
"Some company that exports them across the sea has exclusive rights with the closest orchards, further than that is too expensive," she explained.
"I just buy some cider since it's more efficient to transport, get it from Ponyville," she added.
"Y'know, this juice is pretty good, and I know somepony that could provide you with a couple apples were you two to partner up," Wildcard suggested.
"Partner up?" Applebuck asked.
"You send her some of this juice, and some of these fruits. She'll sell them to the rest of the country, and send you some apples. You could both profit from this," Wildcard explained.
"And what do you get out of it?" The health inspector asked. Wildcard had forgotten he was there.
Wildcard shrugged. "The Hive could always use more varied food imports," he said.
He left his address and phone number with Buckapple, promising that if she contacted him he could arrange for a meeting with Applebuck. He was quite pleased with this, it was a far better alternative, even if he would probably profit less personally from it. Applebuck could expand her export business two ways, both by sending apples to the coast and by sending these fruits Buckapple had to the hive. He could try to arrange for Buckapple to supply them directly, but Applebuck had experience in exports, and would know better how to get things going. Wildcard grinned to himself as he left, he was feeling good in the late morning sun.
With that concluded he had accomplished all of his business in Vanhoover, and with a buzz of his wings took to the sky. As he did a roar in the distance alerted him to a blue object approaching at incredible speed.
Upon closer inspection it wasn't blue at all, it was rainbow.
"Wiiiildcaaaard," She shouted on approach. "Sppiiitfiiiire..." She skidded (which was strange to see in the air, Wildcard had no idea how it was possible) to a stop. "...wants to speak with you."
Wildcard wasn't sure what kind of incredible radar alerted Rainbow Dash to his presence, but he was happy enough to get his excuse to travel to Cloudsdale.
"Lead on then," Wildcard said.
Rainbow Dash grinned and flew off, Wildcard on her tale. Thankfully she was too talkative to fly as fast as yesterday. On the way she giddily went on about how she was "finally going to see some action", and something about putting the wonder of bolts into the griffons. Wildcard knew from experience that her tone would change when she did, but he humoured her for now. As they got closer to Cloudsdale, Wildcard noticed streams of airborne pegasi converging on it in all directions. These, he thought, must be the aerial reserves. Pegasi were probably sent here, but what of the unicorns and earth ponies? He wondered this, but knew it would probably be explained soon enough. As they came through the final wave of clouds to behold the city, Wildcard found a familiar object hovering beside it. The H.M.S Magnificent hung in the air beside the city, with a dozen odd smaller ships beside it. They all were branded with that curious red/gold highlighted flag, and a few of them bore the crest of the Wonderbolts- a bolt with mirrored clouds beside, as well. These specifically had long flat decks on top, Wildcard assumed it was some sort of launching platform. The question at the top of his mind was where exactly Equestria had hidden all this hardware. He had seen airships plenty of times before, but never on this scale.
"Check it out, isn't it cool? Those griffons have no idea who they're messing with. I didn't even know we had anything like this!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, pointing at the assembled fleet.
As they flew towards the city a pair of uniformed Wonderbolts broke off from a circling patrol to fly towards them. For second Wildcard's instincts kicked in and he almost turned and ran, it was hard to shake off fear of the authorities after a lifetime of being taught not to trust them. There was a radar in Wildcards mind that he called the 'cop radar', and it was flashing.
They came to a hover before the pair and gestured they stop.
"Rainbow Dash, Ambassador Wildcard, Air Marshall Spitfire has been waiting for you, follow us," The lead one said, and then led them into the city.
Wildcard glanced at Rainbow Dash. "Air Marshall? I thought she was a Captain." He noted.
"I'm a Wing Commander now! We've all got cooler ranks, Celestia gave the order this morning," Rainbow Dash explained,
They flew down towards the city, and Wildcard was filled with awe as they flew closer to the great ship that was docked beside it. A dozen arms extended from the city, each nearly as wide as a road. Flying right beside the edge of the ship he could tell how really armored it was, thick solid steel was beset with windows here and there, and a few portholes. The flag that was painted on the side was so huge that it was impossible to see it's extent from this close. They turned and flew underneath the ship, coming on the other side to find a much, much, smaller vessel hovering in it's shadow. There didn't seem to be any gas chamber- it was literally as if a small yacht floated in the air. Instead of a sail, however, a large flag flew from it. The flag of Equestria, once again with that red/gold lining, filled the top half of the flag, the lower half was the Wonderbolts Crest. The two leading them landed on the deck, followed shortly by the two following.
Spitfire stood on the bridge of the small ship, holding a pair of binoculars and gazing out at the fleet.
"Rainbow Dash, Ambassador," She said, lowering her binoculars.
She gestured to the Wonderbolts that had led them in. "You two can go," She ordered. They saluted and, in a bit of showmanship that reminded Wildcard of how this was a civilian organization, leapt backwards over the back of the yacht as one, swooping off backwards into the distance.
"Spitfire, you get your own yacht? That's too cool!" Rainbow exclaimed, giddily trotting forward to look over the vessel.
"Well, I do lead the fleet. So I-" Rainbow Dash cut her off with an excited gasp.
"This is our fleet, we're really going to kick some tail!" She exclaimed doing a loop in the air.
"I really hope it doesn't come to that, W.C Dash. You're to report to the H.M.S Magnificent and find Lightning Dust, you'll be leading Fifth Wing," Spitfire ordered.
"W.C... so cool!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Spitfire grabbed her out of the air and drew her close.
"Play time is over, W.C Dash, this is serious. You mess up now and you don't get demoted, ponies get hurt," She growled.
Rainbow Dash stiffened, saluting in the air.
"I won't let you down!" She shouted, and flew off.
Spitfire then turned to the Ambassador, who had been gazing out at the ships. Nearly all of them seemed like just that- ships. The only one with an actual gas chamber was the Magnificent, and when he really thought about it he realized there was no way that could contain enough gas to keep it aloft.
"Now then, Ambassador, I have a request of you. Fulfill it and I will forgive your inability to honor your intelligence obligations," Spitfire said.
"First, answer me this- how do they fly?" Wildcard asked.
"Magic, what else? A unicorn just throws a levitation spell on them and we're all set. That's not a gas chamber on the Magnificent- it's a hanger," Spitfire explained.
Wildcard furrowed his brow "And what's in this hanger?" he asked.
"You'll see in due time, now what I want from you is a hundred or so changelings," Spitfire demanded.
"For the coastal patrols? We've already sent a-" Spitfire cut him off with a wave of her hoof.
"For war games, your people can disguise as griffons, use captured griffon weapons, we can stage training exercises that are closer to the real thing then possible before- with your help," she said.
"I'll see what I can do," Wildcard offered. Spitfire flapped open her wings and flew forward, nearly knocking him over as he suddenly found himself being stared down, muzzle to muzzle.
"You will help," She threatened, and lowered to the ground. "My new position gives me considerable lee-way. I'm sure it would look poorly on you if suddenly nation security concerns halted the railway construction, I could even have you arrested- you've technically violated your treaty a few times," She grinned at him and said.
"I suppose I have no choice then, you'll get your hundred," Wildcard said.
"Good, good. Now I believe you're wanted in Canterlot, so I suggest you head on that way," Spitfire said, and resumed looking over the fleet through her binoculars.
Wildcard wasted no time, and flew off. He wasn't sure which way Canterlot as from this height, and swooped below the clouds surrounding Cloudsdale so he could find some landmark on the ground to get his bearings. Just as he broke under the cloud ceiling two figures came out of his peripheral vision and grabbed him. Wildcard frantically tried to struggle free, but it was useless. Glancing to his side he yelped as he realized what had grabbed him.
Griffons.
They grinned at him, talons biting into his arms as they held him. They were greatly armored, and on their backs those same flame weapons he had seen in Baltimare were slung. Fearing for his life Wildcard struggled more, and they only tightened their grasp. To his surprise a voice came from behind them.
"Ambassador, so nice of you to drop by," Pretense said. The griffons holding Wildcard spun him around, and he saw the pony sitting on a chariot pulled by two other Griffons, equally as armed as the first.
"Pretense? What the buck are you doing?"
Pretense smirked at him, and laughed. "Oh my, I had thought you were wise, but nobody is foolish enough to accept an offer like that without haggling. I knew you were going to betray me, unfortunately proving wrong my hope you were more pragmatic then giving your loyalty so easily," he said, and with a quick gesture Wildcard was brought closer to him.
"This is your last, and only, warning. You're backing the wrong horse. Go home, let whatever happens to Equestria... happen. This isn't your fight, " he threatened.
"What could the griffons possibly be promising you?" Wildcard asked.
"Money, power, life. The Griffons are coming, 'ambassador', and not even this sudden new alliance is going to stop them. Equestria will fall, and I will live to stand on it's ashes," Pretense replied.
With another gesture the griffons holding Wildcard released their grip, he dropped in the air before his wings opened and caught him.
"Nobody that has proven me wrong thus far has lived to regret it. Go home, and maybe you can be the first," Pretense said, and with a nod the group flew off into the clouds. Wildcard flew after them, but they were lost in the fog. Wildcard flew down below the clouds again and spotted the rail line. He followed this east to Canterlot, arriving a few hours later.
The sun was starting to set when Wildcard burst into the throne room. Celestia was speaking with Captain Massè when he strode in.
"Your Highness, Captain!" Wildcard shouted to get their attention as he galloped towards them, they turned to him.
"What is it, Ambassador?" Celestia asked.
"Mr. Pretense, he's gone over t-" Captain Massè cut him off.
"We know, we've been looking for him all day, We got a report from your people that he's hired some griffon mercenaries," he said.
Wildcard sighed. "What is going on out there? I've been out of the loop all day," He said.
"We'll talk tomorrow, for now I suggest you call home, and there's a sizable amount of paperwork in your office," Celestia suggested.
"I'll get right to it, your highness," Wildcard said with a bow.
"By the way, Wildcard." Captain Massè said. "It's General now."
Wildcard really had been left out of the loop.
He strode out of the room and soon found his office. Opening the door he walked in to find, as expected, a pile of letters on his desk. There was also a rectangular object with two things sticking out of it on the desk. Taking his seat and looking it over he found a note.
"93.5 AM is the guard frequency, keep informed." It read.
So it was a radio then. Wildcard had known these existed, but had never used one. The hive didn't pick up anything from Equestria, and had no need of their own. He switched it on and a staticy voice came through.
"... You're listening to the Everfree Network. In tonights news, everypony is talking about the events of this morning. Princess Celestia has declared a state of emergency, and called a meeting of parliament in one month. To get a perspective on what this really me.." The voice trailed away into static, Wildcard picked up and shook the radio, but that didn't seem to effect it. He sighed and put it down on the desk, about to turn it off when another a voice came through.
"...Citizens of Equestria. This is your superior speaking. I am Grand Martial Galvon, and I am responsible for what has transpired in Baltimare. You are meeting in one month to decide your future, so I give you this ultimatum: Surrender in one month, or be destroyed."
There was a click, and a return to static. Wildcard shut off the radio, and spun his chair to stare out the window.
Dusk set.