Marked

by Eisen

Chapter 18: The Plan

Shortly after their agreement, Twilight and the other two headed downtown and rented a room at the local inn, where they began to formulate a plan.

After being settled in for a few hours, Twilight and Gray looked up at the door to see Ruby enter, carrying hardware supplies, tools, etc. that she had been sent out to grab earlier. She plopped the bag down and began unloading the stuff, as Twilight and Gray looked over the large sheet she had laid out on the table.

The sheet had the architectural schematics of the main Reach office building, and the central office she had seen. She had written plenty of notes for the three of them, the most common notation being differences between the schematics and the office room, indicating it had been modified after construction.

"Okay gang, here's the basic plan," she started, using her horn to highlight a path on the schematics. Gray stood on her right, while Ruby stood on her left, both looking intently at the trajectory.

"I can't sustain it for long, but I can make all three of us invisible for about two minutes tops, as long as you are both in contact with me, likely at the shoulder, we'll be fine. It should only take about 45 seconds to quickly walk to the main office. Then, picking the lock will be up to Ruby, and I'll scan the room for traps. I should be able to deal with any of them, while Gray cracks the safe and gets that file." Her tone was strong and confident, earning a sly chuckle from Gray.

"That's pretty good, but it's a company, so we'll need to strike when no employees are there, yeah? Nighttime is our best bet, of course," Gray added, nodding. "Ruby, you pack the bags?"

Ruby nodded as well and gestured to the two saddlebags over by the couch, one for Gray, one for Ruby. After looking over all plans again, everything was solidified. They would strike just after dusk.

"Now you two just got out of jail, so you'll need some rest before the operation," Twilight recommended, looking to them for approval.

"Fair, fair, but if we wanna be well rested that late at night, we'll need to fall asleep pretty late so we wake up real late, the way I see it. Midnight should do." Gray spoke with a strategic confidence, but Twilight wasn't so sure about that timing.

"Ruby! Get the extra item I ask ya to bring! We'll need to kill a few hours." At this order from Gravel, Ruby nodded and entered the kitchen, and quickly returned with a 12 pack of hard cider.

Now Twilight was not a heavy drinker. In fact, she wasn't much of a drinker at all, save for some Canterlot Wine from Celestia, and occasionally a special cider brew from Applejack. However, she eventually rationalized the situation. It was bleak, they were up against incredible odds... why not have a few drinks?

In the moonlit night, laughter erupted through the hotel room. It was not the first time tonight, and for once in this whole mess, Twilight was grinning and smiling, some of the big pressure laid off.

"It's all a true story, that's why I'll never touch pickled ANYTHING ever again!" Gray said, laughing. They had been telling stories for the past few hours, although Gravel was telling the most of them all, which was quite fine by Twilight. The less questions "Tara" had to answer, the better.

Eventually, the topic of comrades returned, and Twilight got the chance to ask something that had been on her mind ever since the incident at the jail.

"So, Gray, what's the story on your green friend? Heard he was in solitary when I went to bail you two out." This question had been burning for a while, given that he seemed to have no major link outside of that isolated attack and warning.

Gravel's face contorted and he lay back in his chair. "Well now, Sieve's uh... quite the unique case," he began, taking another swig before continuing. "See, he and I were real pals growin' up. School friend, you know? Anyway, he'd always been a little off, but not too bad. He always loved wood carving, wood shaving, sculpting with wood. I never did meet his parents, but I think they were in the carpentry business. Anyways, so about a year back, after the Empire reappeared, I lost contact with him. This was the kinda guy who believed all those conspiracy theories that ponies spread rumors on, you know the kinds. Now he told me he was on to something big, and he wouldn't quite tell me what, but he started going to the library just about every day after that. THAT was when he disappeared... until about a month ago, he came back asking me for work. He seemed paranoid and a little desperate, so I helped him out. He wouldn't say what he'd seen, but he started buying... strange things, like chemicals and stuff. He seemed to think something was always there, but he didn't say anything outright, and he avoided the topic."

Twilight digested the information slowly. Looking into conspiracy theories and turning paranoid. That sounded familiar. Twi was just about to speak, when she noticed that he still looked deep in thought.

"You know, he said something weird to me when he passed my cell on the way to the interrogation room. He said: 'I've got it! If you embrace the dark, you need not fear it!', and that threw me for a loop. All I know is, next time around he was being dragged to the back with a bloodied gash on his arm." Gravel seemed to finish his thought, then shrug. "But that's Sieve. Hope he's alright in there..."

Could he have been running from the same people I am? Could he have joined them out of fear? She felt disturbed, but was snapped out of it by Ruby speaking up for once. "So, how did you know arrow, huh?" she asked, leaning forward to listen with intent.

Now Twilight couldn't mention that she was the princess yet, so she'd... modify the story a little.

"Oh, well, see a while ago he bumped into me and uh... He hurt my leg by accident. Anyway, he was very polite, very sorry, and I kept saying it was fine, but he insisted on making it up to me. Now, I'm a reporter, so he uh... was looking into a weird story himself: your pegasus friend. He thought he could hand me a story and catch this guy at the same time..." Twilight hoped they were buying her little story modifications, but Ruby seemed too curious to notice any errors in tone.

"Two apples, one arrow..." Ruby said quietly. When she noticed Twilight looking at her confused, she shook her head and cleared her throat. "Sorry, uh, it was a phrase he used to say to me..." Ruby said quietly, a hint of a sad smile growing on her face. "What else happened?" she asked.

Twilight simply replied: "oh, it's all a blur. I remember the gray pegasus being there but... I can't remember much other than... seeing Arrow on the ground..." she said, sulking. Ruby looked down too, but to comfort her, Twilight had one little detail she could give away. "You know... I do remember that his last word was... 'Ruby.'"

Ruby looked up with watery eyes at this revelation. Gray calmly raised his glass and said "to Arrow!" and they all toasted to him.

After a brief moment of silence. Gray spoke up again. "Oh hey, enough about us, what about you, you have any friends?"

Twilight looked down. It was always troubling to think about her friends so far away back home now. "Yes, I do but... I came here to do some research that I don't want them seeing," she said.

"Well why not? They're your friends aren't they? I'm sure they'd understand anything you had to do," he said, smiling to her.

To be honest, this struck a nerve with Twilight. While she had never really believed that her friends would betray her to even Celestia, she always had the feeling that this investigation was a little more than just Cutie Marks. To be frank, she was actually glad she hadn't pulled her friends into the whole mess. Kept them safe back home. "It's best they stay back home," she said simply, nodding, earning a look of approval from Gray.

The alarm began to blare, indicating midnight: their time to begin resting for the long night tomorrow. "Alright everyone, let's all rest up, we'll need it," she said, and they both nodded and headed off to bed, leaving the secret princess alone in her seat.

Finally, she had hope for the whole situation, and a chance at some real hard evidence against whoever was after her. And yet... she felt dread. Nervousness made sense, but she felt a deep knotting in her stomach, and felt close to something.

Her journey had been tough and very long, and she felt something big coming up soon: for better or for worse, tomorrow night would be a defining moment, that much was certain.

And so, new thoughts weighing heavy on her mind, she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Comments

[Fourpony]

The alarm began to blare, indicating midnight: their time to begin testing for the long night tomorrow.

After exhaustive testing, they concluded that night is indeed dark.

[ferret]

Could he have joined them out if fear?

she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

GOOD.