Neigh York – Bucklyn – Flash's Parents' Apartment
Schwisssssh—Thunk! Lightning Dust slid the balcony window shut, muffling the loud urban world beyond. Smiling, she turned to look into the heart of the apartment. "Tell me... are you familiar with Jasmine Enterprises?"
Flash Sentry leaned up against a wall with his forelimbs crossed. "Well... who isn't?" A breath. "They're a major Manehattan Corporation," he said. "They own several of the trans-oceanic manacrystal imports from Saddle Arabia." He blinked, thinking hard. "They also specialize in real estate... tourism..." He scratched his chin. "Aren't they situated in Sapphire Towers in the heart of Manehattan Island?"
Lightning Dust nodded. "Now..." She took a few quiet steps across the barren apartment. "...what would you say if I told you that they're corrupt as all Hell?" Her brow furrowed. "And that their chief executive—Jasper Jasmine—is the worst of the whole bunch?"
Flash sighed. "So... what you're telling me is that a large, insanely-rich corporation is somehow crooked in its upper levels?" He gave her a cynical look. "Come on, Lightning. You're usually a lot more impressive than this."
"Shhhhh!" She frowned. "This world is full of liars and cheaters, sure. But I'm talking really... really corrupt." She glanced over her shoulder as if there might be spies in the walls of the room. "Like... 'innocent ponies disappearing in the river on a weekly basis' corrupt." She looked back at Flash, her eyes wide. "I'm talking about an organization that has its claws sunk super deep in every bank imaginable and is robbing money from Manehattanites every day and every night."
"Since when were you so concerned about conspiracy theories?"
"Flash! I'm being serious here!"
"I know. And it tastes weird." Flash's eyes narrowed on her. "Since when were you so concerned about crooked bureaucracies?"
"You know me, Flash." She winked. "I like a little bit of morning schaudenfraude in my cup. There's just... something super... super satisfying about seeing big fat cats take a huge tumble once justice catches up to them."
"You've always had a real fetish for the establishment crumbling apart."
"Yeah! You see?"
Flash droned, "Only because you've always had an anarchist edge to you."
"Psssst! Shuddup. I really mean it this time!" Lightning Dust gestured. "These dudes up in Jasmine Enterprises? They're running the biggest mafia empire in the history of Manehattan! And the shittiness drips all the way down from the very top—Jasper Jasmine herself!"
"Lightning, Jamine Enterprises has been hailed by multiple publications as one of the most generous philanthropist organizations in the last decade," Flash said. "Jasper Jasmine has shaken hooves with Princess Celestia and had her face featured on Trot Magazine. She's the very paragon of Equestrian business ethics and public relations."
"And where better to hide your true colors than at the very top?!"
Flash frowned. "Didn't Jasmine Enterprises build an entire low-affordable residential complex on Stallion Island?"
"Mmmhmm..." Lightning Dust's teeth showed beneath her smile. "And just where do you think Jasmine hustles her stupidest, cheapest thugs?"
Flash rubbed his forehead, sighing. "Lightning... I haven't the slightest idea where you're going with this latest crazy scheme—"
"It's not crazy!" she pouted.
The stallion continued: "—but assuming that even an infinitesimal smidgen of this was true, then the organization would have had to have gone through incalculably epic lengths to cover its own nefarious tracks." He looked up. "And a single pegasus couldn't possibly unveil any of this overnight."
"What if... a certain single pegasus... has already found evidence?" Lightning Dust murmured.
"Like, what, from the inside?"
Lightning merely grinned.
Flash paled. His ears drooped as he stood up straight, growling: "Lightning Dust, what kind of trouble have you gotten into this time?"
"Okay... look..." Lightning Dust cleared her throat, waving a hoof from side to side. "After all that bullshit at Wonderbolt Academy, I needed... uh... to do some silly things to scrape a few bits for myself, y'know?"
"What have you done?" Flash snarled.
"Nothing violent! I promise you!" She gulped. "I mean... I'd never stoop to mugging. Even if this world is full of cowards and pussies, that's no excuse to do something uncool like harming other ponies' health, much less their bit bags—"
"I thought you were done with this crap, Lightning!" Flash began pacing furiously, tail flicking. "Those gangs in the Lower Broncos! The 'used watch salesponies' from Stallion Island—"
"Hey! You're not the only pony who can learn from past mistakes!" Lightning tilted her chin up. "Once burned, twice shy, Flash! I'm not gonna repeat history! Especially the cruddy parts!"
"Then what in Tartarus are you doing now?!"
"Just delivering packages, y'know!" Lightning shrunk away slightly from his glare. "I... uh... started seeking some quick jobs around town, y'know? I made some friends... and some of their friends' friends connected me to other friends who... uhm... gave me a courier job every few days. Just... delivering stuff from block to block while... ahem... avoiding the fuzz..."
"Grfffff..." Flash Sentry face-hoofed. "...Lightning..."
"And, like, I do a good job at mindlessly zipping around from building to building! Ain't no denying that!" She smirked. "And one thing led to another and suddenly I'm being sent downtown to Manehattan Island, assisting in... erm... group jobs."
"What kind of jobs?"
"Transporting a bunch of unmarked boxes in and out of the shipyards. Real hush-hush stuff."
"And none of this ever struck you as even the least bit fishy?"
"Well... uh... there was that one time that one of the boxes tipped over and... erm... a bunch of strange purple vapors came drifting out of the lid."
Flash blinked.
"I rushed over to set the thing upright again, and the overseer at the time shoved me back, yelling a whole bunch of random shit about how 'dangerous' it was. At first, I thought the guy was looking after my neck. But then—with each delivery—I started... hearing things. Like... stuff about shady dealings with parties in central Equestria: minotaurs and diamond dogs and other creeps. Then I start hearing about blacklists... with names that match the next week's obituary..."
"Lightning Dust..." Flash moaned. "Won't you ever... ever learn to stop digging a grave for yourself?" He gestured. "You've just got yourself attached to the hip of the Black Market."
"Yeah! And almost all of the delivery spots take place on Jasmine Enterprises property! I'm telling you, Flash... they're doing some nasty things!"
"No, you're doing some nasty things." He frowned. "You need to get out of this business before it buries you!"
"Nah! Don't you get it?!" She smiled. "There's something super awesome about this! We can turn this around on its head!"
"Lightning—"
"Sure, it's really shitty, and I've run into a bunch of really nasty ponies... but I like to look at it as though there's a supreme purpose! Something divine... even destined, y'know?" She waved. "I've stopped being an observer! Now I'm a pillar! And if I so choose, I can release my grip of the foundation and let the whole stinkin' organization collapse in on its own weight!"
Flash stared calmly at her. "... ... ...how much do you owe them?"
"Pffft. What?!" Lightning Dust laughed raspily, her mane slightly frazzled. "What are you even going on about?"
"You don't delve in things unless there's a risk to it, Lightning," Flash said. "Admit it. Getting tangled up with these creeps has a certain degree of excitement in it for you. But you absolutely suck with money. It's one of the few things in life that you can't outfly. So tell me... just how deep are you in debt? And what stands to happen to you if you don't pay up?"
"This isn't a repeat of the mess I made in the Lower Broncos, Flash. For real! We're in the right place and the right time to expose these motherbuckers!" She folded her forelimbs, blew a tuft of golden mane hair out from before her eyes, and glared off. "... ... ...anyways... five thousand bits."
"I knew it..."
"But th-that's not a factor, Celestia Damn It!" Her voice cracked. "If I wanted to, I could split! I could fly far... far away from this town and live safely outside of the influence of Jasmine Enterprises!"
"You mean these stupid gangs—"
"They all answer to Jasper Jasmine, Flash," she said with a frown. "And this next job I've got going on late tonight? Out by the docks?" She smirked. "I've come up with a plan to expose these morons... to bring their corruption to the light."
"You'll be exposing yourself too," Flash droned. "Ever thought of that?"
"Pffft. Shuddup! One thing at a time! For once, I wanna do something that's heroic." She smirked slyly. "You wanna be a hero in life, right?"
"What do you want from me, Lightning?"
"I want to borrow your badflankery," she said. "Just for a night." Silence. "And no, not in the sexy way. Although..." She purred. "I wouldn't mind that either... heehee..."
"Ugh..."
Lighting Dust does not understand how groups like these work. she is not a pillar, she is a pawn just like all the other people around her are. And pawns can be sacrificed with very little backlash to the king.
This is going to paint a target on both of them and there will be no outrunning it. It will be fight or die.
...I ship it?
7486089 This guy knows what he's talking about.
I am personally hoping this plan fails.
I anticipate the explosion of a giant skyscraper. With a massive explosion.
This is going to go super bad and ponies are going to die.
I forsee shares in screen door companies rising in the next couple days.
Wait, it is Hearths Warming soon isnt it?
... This can only end well. And I hope it ends like the first Max Payne game.
Or it'll turn out that half of Jasmine E staff has been replaced with changelings.
7486089 The second I read that, I knew it was over for her. The worst thing you can do is assume you're irreplaceable.
7486367 especially when. You are literally jist a deliverymare. You are a dime a dozen.
If she was some mid level officer then yeah she would be a threat and could do.something.
But fact is she doesn't know what's in the creates and neither does anyone else she works with. They don't even know where the crest is going.
The driver of the truck only knows what route to take and to not leave the vehical.
Those that receive it don't k LW where it came from or what it is and are just there to unlapd the truck and leave.
Then another group who doesn't know where it came from.or who unlapded it there will pick it up.and move it elsewhere.
This chain will.aheb a few links who k ow nothing about the other chains so if one should break the rest of the chain remains in effect and in a couple of days the missing pieces will be replaced with very little impact to the entire operation.
She doesn't understsnd how business like this operate and keep operating and like I said they are just making themselves annoyances that will need to be removed.
7486280 I don'tthink the Lings are that powerful to have replaced every major group in the nation at least not so soon after their defeat as they need to recover.
Plus since we know the queen is near death definitely know they aren't doing anytji g on a major scale (possible a couple key people have been replaced but not many)
Whoops. Missed that next chapter.
In any case, Lightning is getting to get herself killed. This is practically a guarantee. All Flash can do is make sure that it won't happen in the short term.
7486427 Do not underestimate the awesomelings! I bet they cracked those silly detection methods ages ago.
7486637 except for tjr fact those detection scanners have only been around a very short time and are not widely being used so there hasn't been enough time to crack them. Give them about six months once the scanners hit the market.
7486697 But we have no confirmation that these scanners are used anywhere else than the secret base, as far as we know the only widely available testing method is a visual blood test. But, eh, we'll see. I just wanna finally see the titular hero of this story, who's taking her sweet ass time.
<Chrysalis> You cannot hurry perfection, you philistine!
<Lyra> *stage whisper* Somepony help me...!
7486731 Iknow its why iI said the lings probabaky habnet beaten the scanner uet, I'm quite sure the bloodletting method has been beaten a long time ago.
Scans will be a bit harder to do and take long as so far as you said only one group seems to use them in a single area so hard to beat something you have not yet encountered.
And yes she is but we are so wonderfully close and follow Lyra in all of this is rather fun.
7486758 Yeah, I agree.
And true, it's fun, but I wanna finally see her. And the glorious freakout.
7486809 oh yes the freak out will be one for the ages though I hope it doesn't end up not living up to the hype.
Um did you misupload a chapter by chance? My email mentioned a chapter called Blonde and Blonder.
This...could potentially go really bad, really friggin' quick.
Don't look at Flash that way, Lighthing. Wouldn't you prefer a mare? I know this one Listing Breeze who seems made just for you.
Lightning Dust: authority issues, terrible with money, and a narc. I dislike this character, but this make it interesting.
Lightning Dust is connected to the local underworld, and is drawing attention to herself in a public place, talking with a member of the Guard. If anyone saw her, she's already compost that hasn't been turned under yet.
Stick your rod into a socket and you won’t know what hit ya!
FlashDust/LightningSentry both kinda sound like super hero names than ships. xD
Those childhood friendships sure can be annoying/complicated lol and geez looks like KIng Pin boss shows its figurative face. Nice.