They were sitting in the compartment of the railroad car, looking out the dark wood framed windows at the scenery while the train made its way south from Canterlot.
Morail kept looking down to her lap and shaking her head. “I can’t get used to the idea. I mean, I know that my family are all dead. It is this.”
She held up a copy of the Okapitan News folded open to the Obituary page. There, for the world to see, were the obituaries of her family. Among them, an obituary for her, too.
Withers leaned over and took the paper, though they had all read the items before. “The Downitall party does not really like their poni … zebras to disagree with them. You were not there to be massacred with the rest, so they just declared you to be dead. That clears the way for them to seize the farm and give it to some crony.”
Amber smirked, “Besides, that also cleared the way for me to formally declare you to be a Diamond Dog! I now have all of your papers to prove it too! A few stripes? Merely a color variety!”
She reached into her own valise and produced Morail’s old Zebra Confederation travel and identity documents. Across them she carefully wrote, “Deceased. See attached documentation.” Along with the documents she had copies of the death notices, including an official Death Certificate from the Okapitan District Vital Records office.
Amber also pulled out a small folder of Diamond Dog citizenship and travel papers. Those, she offered to Morail. “There, Morail! Welcome back to the land of the living! So, tell us, what was it like, being dead?”
Morail snickered as she replied, “To quote that old donkey that the Rom so revere, it was just a nap! I think that I would have noticed it if I had died!”
Just then, the compartment door slammed open on its slides!
~~ ~~ ~~
Princess Luna made a point of sitting her throne in her full royal regalia to coolly greet the Zebra Confederation Ambassador.
After the herald had announced, “His Excellency, Otar Stippen, Ambassador of the Zebra Confederation to our Realm of Equestria!” the portly zebra began to simply walk up the rich carpet runner to the thrones of Equestria.
A Royal Guard stopped him at a distance. “Sir, you must wait here until recognized and bidden to approach by the Thrones.”
He started to push past the guard, snapping, “Do you have any idea who I am? I am the Ambassador of …”
Luna’s voice from her throne snapped back, “The Zebra Confederation! We did hear our herald! YOU WILL STAY where the guard has placed you!”
“What is the meaning of this insult!?”
Luna retorted, “That is what I am trying to find out! You sent a request that we have Morail Blum Fauntin report to your Embassy.
“That request led me to discover that, in spite of her studies being fully paid for this entire year, Morail put all of her classes into suspension and left the Royal University.
“I then requested her file from your Embassy. I found from YOUR files that she had left Equestria on the Zebra Confederation packet ship Mon Pretor. After her arrival in the Zebra Confederation, she was killed in the same attack that wiped out the rest of her family.”
Ambassador Otar frowned, “That is what we are trying to resolve! Apparently an impostor is using her travel documents. It is certain, ascertained by autopsy, that she was killed by the Discordians in the Blum Fauntin raid.”
Luna glared at him. “That is why you are stopped short. We are certain that she was HERE at the University when that attack took place. Yet, I have in YOUR EMBASSY FILE both news accounts, an obituary, and a death certificate all issued by the Zebra Confederation and filed as deceased.
“The only issue is this. Since she WAS HERE, in school, she could not have been there to be murdered. The use of her magically locked student ID, turned in or supervised work, testimonials of her instructors and fellow students all prove it. What do you say to that?”
Backed into a corner, the Ambassador tried to switch the topic. “If she was here and safe, why did she suspend her studies and flee?”
Luna promptly turned it back by pointing out, “Flee? She did not flee. The Zebra Confederation has declared her dead and canceled her travel documents. This legally made her both a stateless being and an orphan. We offered her Equestrian citizenship.
“Supreme Matriarch Amber of the Diamond Dog Enclaves heard of the situation and also offered her an Enclave citizenship. Morail first verified that becoming a Diamond Dog would not hurt her scholarship opportunities and chose to become a Diamond Dog by adoption.”
The Ambassador jumped on the one thing left. He scoffed, “Scholarship opportunities? What scholarship could a mere zebra, a total foreigner with no connections of any importance possibly have?”
Luna glared down at him from her throne. Icily, she replied, “In return for doing field work on one of Doctor Do’s expeditions, she will receive a fully paid scholarship, with all fees and a living stipend. This has been done before.”
Otar smirked meanly as he stated, “Then she has no scholarship! We have forbidden Doctor Do’s expedition!”
Luna rubbed her forehead with a hoof in exasperation. “Do you really think that a trivial expedition to your land is so vital that an Antiquarian of Doctor Do’s reputation would stop her career over it? A Diamond Dog enclave in the Eland Republic has found something that they wish to have examined in situ.”
Ambassador Otar waived a hoof dismissively. “Just get us the arrest warrant for Morail Blum Fauntin! Order it now!”
Princess Luna glared at him through slitted eyes and declared, “It is NOT POSSIBLE unless your government LIES in OFFICIAL documents!”
She hurled the file at his feet, scattering Morail’s documents across the floor! “You want US to give you a warrant to arrest a being that YOU HAVE NOT ONLY DECLARED DEAD and BURIED, according to YOU, she is buried in YOUR LAND! There is no living pony or zebra to arrest!
“Go! We are done here!”
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
As the compartment door slammed open, Major Hoofinmaw found himself staring like a bird hypnotized by a snake at the 13 mm barrel of Daring Do’s Spiderly revolver! As he tried to avert his eyes, he almost wished that he had not.
Amber had her big combat knife out at his throat level. If he had entered any further, he would have driven it into his own throat.
Withers had a big military sidearm aimed, not at his head, but at the junction of his throat and torso.
Morail had a smaller semiautomatic pistol aimed at the same place. In her other hoof she was holding up a copy of her death certificate from the Zebra Confederation.
He tried to sound official as he pronounced, “Morail Blum Fanutin, I arrest you in the name of the Zebra Confederation!”
It was Amber who replied, “That is quite impossible, Major. For starters, you need an Equestrian arrest warrant, which I know that you do not have. Secondly, Morail Blum Fauntin is already dead. She was murdered along with her family on their farm. Before doing such stupid things as you have just done, you should have checked your own Embassy files. You would already know it and have been saved this embarrassing incident.
“We have an official copy of Morail Blum Fauntin’s death files here. We were requested by the Princesses to deliver the physical file to the consulate in Milestago. They have already been notified by magic net.”
A pony in the blue uniform of the Royal Road Police interrupted, “Sir! Is it true that you do not have a Royal Warrant for this arrest?”
Turning his head and backing out of the compartment door, Major Hoofinmaw replied, “Well, yes. It is just a formality. The Embassy has applied for it already.”
The Royal Road Police pony responded, “That is NOT a formality. We will verify all that you have told us at the RRP Station.” They heard his voice fading down the car after the compartment door was shut.
The rest of the trip to Milestago was uneventful. Daring Do drew in a deep breath of the salt air and watched the wheeling sea gulls playing in the wind. Amber interrupted her reverie by saying, “Let’s get this death file to the Zebra Confederation consulate. They actually are waiting for it.”
Withers, looking down to the harbor basin pointed, “Look at that! There is warship out in the roadstead! Four turrets with three guns apiece!”
Amber disagreed, “That is not a warship. The Malachite is going to be our ride to the Eland Republic. She is one of our Enclave Fast Gem Distribution packets. Capable of high speed, fairly light armor, lots of teeth. Built for repelling pirates, except for the Chineighese Pirates of Qusi Han Lee.”
Seeing Wither’s look of confusion, Daring Do put a hoof on his shoulder and told him, “The Chineighese Pirates of Qushi Han Lee ARE the Chineighese Navy. I know that it sounds odd, but it really does make sense. When I get the chance, I will tell you how it happened. It is a great story.”
The Zebra Confederation consulate was a rambling, low laying structure. It had large pots holing plane trees in the courtyard. Entering the front, they were greeted by a violet pony behind the service counter.
She called out cheerfully, “Hi! Welcome to the Zebra Confederation consulate! What can I do for you?”
“I am Supreme Matriarch of the Diamond Dog Council of Enclaves. I was requested by my friends Celestia and Luna to deliver this file for your records. You were notified by Magic Net that the file was coming.”
The violet pony’s face fell just a little. “I heard about that. It was awful how that whole big farm in Okapitan was just wiped out. Poor Morail. If she had just stayed at the University, she would have been spared.”
She took the time to sort the papers and copy some. Then she filed the lot of them. As she was doing it, she commented, “If the Major had just seen these while he was at the Embassy, he would not be in such trouble now.”
Morail, with a very good Diamond Dog accent, asked curiously, “In trouble? What happened? I mean a major did barge into our compartment on the train but I had no idea what he was trying to do.”
Kind of ruefully, the violet pony replied, “He got himself censured by BOTH Princesses for disturbing the trip of Supreme Matriarch Amber in an attempt to arrest a zebra that he should have known was dead for over a month. After the Royal Censure, he was ordered home as persona non-grata. He did get permission to go back to Canterlot and pack his goods.”
Turning to Amber, Morail spoke Diamond Dog as she inquired, “<What did she say? She spoke Equestrain too fast for me to follow clearly.>”
Amber, eyes twinkling with humor, repeated what the counter pony had said. In Diamond Dog.
Besides the counter pony, a zebra had entered the room and he was listening closely. He commented, “Why do you speak Diamond Dog?”
Morail smiled ruefully but replied in Equestrian, “It is my native tongue. I speak Zebra as a second language and Equestrian is still a bit difficult for me.”
The zebra and the counter pony both blinked and looked puzzled. Amber filled in, “Morail, here is a Diamond Dog! Morail, my puppy, tell them about it. Practice your Equestrian while you are at it.”
“Yes, Matriarch Amber.
“I am not sure when I was orphaned. I became a …” searching for a word, she chose a Zebra one, “veldtratten.
“I almost fell down one of Ruby Drift’s air shafts. The enclave took me in when they understood my situation. I think that they were going to use me for a mascot or other pet.
“I got into the mines almost by accident. They found out that I was GOOD at both tunneling and following ore or gem drifts. As I got older, I became a drift supervisor and explosives expert.
“The whole Ruby Drift Enclave voted to adopt me. That went to the Council of Enclave Matriarchs and Amber, Supreme Matriarch, ratified my adoption.”
The zebra skeptically said, “Quite the tale. How do you explain this?” He slapped down a copy of a Zebra Confederation wanted poster with Morail’s picture.
The counter pony replied first. “She doesn’t have to, Karl. That is bureaucratic foul up. See? It is for Morail Blum Fauntin. She was murdered back in the Confederation, over a month ago. Here, let me attach the document links.”
Karl examined the file, nodded and stated, “That is pretty conclusive, all right. I will use the mirror in my office to cancel this thing and kill the reward.”
He turned to Morail and requested, “Do you have any sort of ID? I am not familiar with Diamond Dog identification systems.”
Amber prodded Morail and said, “We don’t need them much underground in the enclaves but now is the time for your ID tag.”
Managing to look blank for a moment, Morail fished in her saddlebag for a bit and produced a worn looking ID tag with her picture.
Karl’s eyebrows rose. “Spell locked? That is absolute. Here, let me put it into the reader.” He inserted the tag. It produced a mellow chime of identification.
He handed back the tag saying, “Sorry about the mixup, Miss Ruby Drift. I did hear about it. Most of us did. Poor Major Hoofinmaw. He was just working from erroneous records.”
As they were walking down to the Rusty Barnacle to spend their last night in Equestria, Withers chortled, “That was some story that you fed them, Morail.”
Morail looked about, biting her lip and struggling not to cry. “It was told to make them think something false but except for Zebra being my second language, and having trouble with Equestrian, it was all true.” She swallowed hard. “I spent so much time in the Ruby Drift Enclave that my Zebra got a serious Diamond Dog accent. Vatter used to tease me about …”
She broke down and bawled. “Vatter will never tease me about my accent again!! I miss them all so badly!”
Amber hugged the weeping Morail and whispered in Diamond Dog, “<This vengeance WILL be taken. It is too great for you to do alone. Fear not, though. It will be done and you will help!>”
Morail got back in control of her raging emotions and they went on down to the waterfront.
Daring Do had called ahead on her Magic Net Mirror and dinner was waiting for them on the tables of the Rusty Barnacle.
Morail was amused to note that she had, besides her clover steak, a bowl of Diamond Dog meat sauce and a basket of crunchy maize chips.
They were in the middle of the dinner sharing jokes and laughter when they heard it. Coming in through the Rusty Barnacle’s front door was a loud moan that rose to a sustained scream!
Amber shoved away from the table and called, “We have to go and NOW! That is the Malachite’s Battle Station Siren!”
Daring Do tossed golden bits on the table to pay for the dinner that they had no chance to finish and ran after the others, heading for the Malachite’s steam launch at the dock!