Sunlight filtered down warmly through the leafy cover high above Riverfall, lighting the paths of hundreds of ponies going about their evening business. For most, that consisted of ambling slowly, chatting with others, or hanging around outside and seemingly doing absolutely nothing whatsoever.
For Amber, however, it consisted of laying atop the roof of a three-story tower directly adjacent to Willow's, and had been for the past three hours. Her head poked surreptitiously out over the edge, constantly watching her friend's door for any signs of coming and going.
A rush of wind and a furling of wings behind her heralded the return of Gerardo Guillaume. The blue griffon landed softly on the roof, a corn cob clutched proudly in his beak. Taking it in a talon, he announced, "They're currently having dinner, and a very fine one at that. In fact, miss Maple almost seemed disappointed you didn't show up. She said something about making extra." He pulled a fresh, un-gnawed cob out of his suit and offered it to the yellow mare.
Amber took it briskly, pinning it between her teeth as if it was a pipe and utterly failing to look cool due to its comically large size. Scrapping that plan, she grabbed it normally in her hooves and took a large bite. "It's good. Tell her thanks if you recon over there again!"
"Any signs of suspicious activity on this front?" Gerardo whispered, sidling up to Amber and holding his beak sideways to her ear.
The ear flicked. "Yeah," Amber suddenly deadpanned. "Us. We're, like, lurking on someone's roof and have been all day! We're probably the most suspicious ponies in town right now!" She covered her mouth to prevent loss of corn due to snickering. "At least, we should be. Watch this."
She swallowed and stuck her head back out, surveying the street around Willow's house. Out of the crowd passing below, at least two mares looked up, saw her, and smiled and waved.
"Apparently there's absolutely nothing unusual about me doing this whatsoever," Amber said, bewildered. She shrugged. "I actually don't know whether to feel proud or offended."
"All the more useful for us," Gerardo proclaimed. "Incidentally, this corn is very good." He pulled out another cob and bit the top clean off. Speaking with his mouth full, he added, "I don't suppose you'd care to make a friendly call on an old friend to see how our friends in the house below are doing?"
"Uh... sure thing, friend," Amber offered, setting aside her unfinished corn. "Give me a lift?"
"Still sound asleep," Amber reported, strolling out of Willow's house for the third time since Gerardo had returned with the corn. "Kids still playing. Faron still reading. And I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna be able to ask again without making someone actually suspicious."
"Oh well!" Gerardo shrugged happily. "No harm, no foul. Speaking of fowl, I happen to have a chicken-themed deck of playing cards, if you consider it a better way to pass the time..."
Amber eyed the implement strangely the moment they were back on the roof. "Where did you get a thing like that?" She arched an eyebrow as high as it would go, studying the slightly bizarre cover image of a chicken girded in a crown and battle uniform.
"A passing vendor gave it to me when I was touring the bazaar," Gerardo replied with a deep smile. "For free, of course. It isn't common knowledge, but us wandering adventurer-hero types actually do get a hero discount." He hung his head. "Regretfully, it's rarely for anything useful."
"Right..." Amber asked dubiously as the griffon spread his cards atop the roof. "And while we're playing cards, who's going to watch the door to see if Faron goes anywhere? You are taking this seriously, aren't you?"
"Of course I'm not," Gerardo replied flatly. "If we're correct in our assumptions that your friend's husband is in fact a nefarious foalnapper, which already sounds like a rather silly accusation, he'd have to be an idiot to do anything during the day when there are this many ponies around and his escape route is only present at night. Our stakeout up here is completely pointless save for the fun of it, and that is what I intend to capitalize on. Of course..." He aimed one eye at Amber, and it shone dangerously. "Once night falls, then it will be time to take things seriously."
Night fell.
With a single sweep of a wing, Gerardo assembled the deck and stuffed it back in its case, erasing their score tally before anyone could check who the overall victor had been. He stood militarily, touched the hilt of his sword with a single talon, and strode to the edge of the roof. "Now," he spoke, "it is time to be serious. Keep a careful watch over that door."
Amber nodded solemnly, looking back over the edge herself. The day's crowd was quickly dispersing, ponies flowing back to their homes through ever-thinning streams of traffic. The sound of doors clicking echoed below as shadows deepened and windows came alive with lamplight, and within half an hour, the streets were deserted save for a few solitary figures dashing about on late-night business. Gerardo and Amber waited an hour after that, and then another. Moonlight began filtering through the trees. No ponies entered or exited through Willow's door. Riverfall was silent.
"I think," Gerardo whispered, leaving Amber crouched at the edge, "that I'm going to take a look around. Should anyone leave while I am absent, pretend to be an owl."
The mare nodded again, and Gerardo swooped off, circling around Willow's tower and clinging beneath window frames, checking them one by one. It didn't take long for him to return.
"Suffice it to say," Gerardo announced slightly more loudly than he had done before, "that being up all night tending to foals is a perfectly valid reason to sleep all day, but apparently that does not necessarily extend to the night after. Furthermore, our possibly-villainous stallion seems directly occupied as a result, and I strongly suspect he won't be feeling up to trying anything heinous, nefarious or dastardly before next sunrise. Finally..." He rubbed his talons together. "Those window blinds you ponies have are a miraculous invention and whoever created them deserves a raise and a promotion."
Amber reddened. "Yeah, thanks for making that subtle," she stage-whispered back. "So... we kinda waited up here all day long. You're just going to call it quits and... what, try again tomorrow? Because this could actually get boring after a while and I don't really feel like becoming nocturnal."
"Oh, ridiculous," Gerardo said with a smirk. "I said we were going to sneak, and we'll still do that. All we need is something else to sneak around, and I have the perfect target in mind..."
West of Riverfall, the forest of the southern riverbank rustled as a griffon glided his way through it, navigating between trees as much with his talons as with his wings. Amber clung to his nearly upright back as he swiftly and silently flew upriver, staying close enough to the water to see the opposite shore but not be seen as anything more than a passing shadow.
Abandoned, broken-down docks stretched along the far riverbank, mostly just poles that floating platforms had once been chained to. Amber felt a few thoughts about dubious construction fleeting through her head that they could be in that bad of shape after only seven years, before she remembered what had happened to Hemlock's crane... and the hubris that had allowed it. Who knew what kind of condition they had been in before the boats stopped coming?
Suddenly, they reached a dock that didn't seem damaged at all, at least from afar. It stood sturdily and without tilting, harsh white manalights stationed in rows atop short pillars on either side. Nothing was moored there... but the silhouette of a stallion stood at the end, coat illuminated with a yellow corona by the orbs of light.
Gerardo froze. When Amber saw him, she did too. They waited like that, hunched over in the foliage on the southern riverbank, for what felt like eternity. And then... a light drifted around the bend.
The river split in the beginnings of a wake as a dark prow nosed past, the boat that followed gliding soundlessly through the river. It seamlessly slid to a stop alongside Arambai's dock, disturbance so shallow that it was entirely swallowed by the river's natural turbidity. Out of sight, a platform dropped, and the sound of wood striking steel could be heard. Gerardo hovered closer.
"Ahh, Gunga. Here with tonight's shipment, are you?"
Arambai's voice rang out across the water. It was evident that he was talking softly, but the sound carried so well that Amber and Gerardo could hear it plainly. They craned their necks for more.
"That I am, Milord." A refined voice answered him, sounding like its owner was attempting to make it sound deeper than its natural pitch. "A reminder that the shipping schedule is due to update in a week. I brought you another new copy, just in case."
"Bah. You worry too much. But still... thanks. Anyway, here's the latest for you-know-who. Don't let it slip, but I think I've got a big break coming! Still a work in progress, though."
"You say that every time, sir," Gunga said with a hint of amusement behind his stiff, important tone. There was a flash of telekinesis, and something floated between the two stallions.
"Shut up!" Arambai's tone was whimsical, and two seconds passed before both stallions snorted and began chuckling. "All right, all right, yeah, I do," Arambai admitted. "So for the record, it's your fault if anyone gets their hopes up. I've got a whole city to run, here, for crying out loud! Besides, I've read the reports; things are perfectly stable. Why blunder into something untested when we've got all the time we could possibly need?"
"Whatever you say, sir," Gunga replied. "Shall we move these crates to land?"
"Eh, hold up. There are a few special circumstances." Arambai didn't move, and the stallions remained standing on the dock. "First off, a traveler wandered into my town the other day, and I'm thinking of sending 'em your way. Mind keeping any eastern passengers off the boat for the next week or so? It'd probably be easier if you arrived to take them alone."
"As you wish." Gunga bowed. "I assume you've already thought through the complications that could arise from such an act?"
Arambai laughed. "You bet your boots I have! It ain't an easy choice, let me tell you. But what am I, some kind of prison master? And besides, I think this'll be for the best."
Gunga didn't protest. "You mentioned more than one circumstance?"
"Yeah." Arambai paused, taking a breath. "I've got a rumor I need spread around, to get nice and circulated. How fast do you think you can spread a sensational story around Ironridge?"
"Sosa? One morning. The Earth District? A day. The whole city? Forty-eight hours."
"Snazzy. Here it is, then: some wild yahoo crosses the mountains, from the south. Found a network of caves that let them get through, or something. They probably crossed... eh, about two hundred miles east of my village. A pegasus, adult. Real rambunctious, loves bragging about it. Has a bunch of shiny artifacts to prove it. If anyone asks, you heard it from the crew of an airship from that crazy llama city that can't decide on a name. Ain't around these parts, though. Think you can sensationalize that?"
"A pegasus, sir? From the Plains of Harmony?"
"Yeah, that place. Oh, and he's gotta look the part, too. Let's see, what's something no sane pony would ever look like... ah, I know! Red and black mane, totally evil-looking. And he's got a sinister goatee! Nothing beats doubters like the smell of fake embellishment covering up the real thing."
"Should I give him a name, or say I don't know?"
"Yeah, better make it something spooky. Lots of M's and D's! How about... Dommordimo?"
"No offense, sir, but that's a terrible name."
"You're right, I stink at naming. Figure something out yourself, then. And help me get this stuff to shore! I'll come pick it up properly in the morning."
As the two stallions adjourned their conversation, Amber and Gerardo looked at each other, both brimming with unanswered questions. Silently, mutually, they decided to go someplace more private to discuss them.
"What was that all about?" Amber asked as they broke into a small, unused forest clearing.
"A good question," Gerardo huffed. "The better one is, where to begin?"
"That was Starlight's cover story!" Amber exclaimed softly, waving a hoof. "But why are they spreading it in Ironridge? Isn't Ironridge not supposed to know about Riverfall?"
"I'm more interested in the part where that stallion referred to Arambai as 'milord,'" Gerardo replied, catching his breath. "I'm not perfectly versed in Ironridge's political system, but I do believe it to be governed largely by an economic council. That is to say, the shipping companies are the government. It is hardly a monarchy to produce lords and ladies. He is from Ironridge, is he not?"
"Arambai?" Amber asked. "I mean, I think so. Maybe it was, like, a gesture of respect? He did only do it once, after all."
"Yes..." Gerardo mused. "Nevertheless, within a confidential setting I was not supposed to be privy to, they went about making preparations for my eventual voyage out of town. That, at least, is heartening, is it not?"
"For you," Amber replied. "I just wish our sneaking had actually answered something. Maybe Arambai wasn't kidding when he said he had more secrets than the rest of Riverfall put together." She blinked. "He did say that, right?"
"I don't know..." Gerardo stroked his chin. "However, I believe further discussion on this matter would best be done in the morning, after a good sleep, and with as many minds present as possible. What say you we pay our friend Maple a very late visit?"
Amber shrugged. "Well, sure. I'm game if you're game. But maybe we should sleep somewhere that doesn't involve barging in in the middle of the night?"
"Very well. Then let us be off!" Picking up the mare on his back, Gerardo swooped into the forest, heading back east in the direction of Riverfall.