Rain poured down from the sky.
The physical aftereffects of Chroma’s colossal storm had at last worn off, and that meant that the weather patrol once again needed to schedule the occasional day of heavy rains to water the fields around Ponyville and wash away the accumulated dust of town life.
Raindrops stood inside the arch of Ponyville’s gates, staring out at the heavy downpour. A month ago, she would have stood her watch outside or on the top of the wall, feeling the rain under her feathers and reveling in the sensation. A month ago, the mad alicorn Chroma had not yet returned and brought her perpetual storms down on Ponyville. And even now, weeks after her defeat, Raindops still could not look on or feel rain without the memories coming back.
She hated Chroma for that. Her rational mind knew that tainting the rain with her memories was the least of Chroma’s crimes, but deep down in her gut, down where logic and reason meant little, Raindrops knew that the thing she loathed Chroma for above all others was that Chroma had taken the rain that she loved, that had given her her mark and talent, and spoilt it forever.
Raindrops was distracted from her brooding by the sight of a triad of ponies making their way up the Great Western Road. All three were clad in hooded all-weather cloaks of red-trimmed purple. Two appeared to be earth ponies, one large and bulky and probably a stallion, and the other short and slim enough to most likely be a mare. As they drew closer, Raindrops confirmed that the third pony had a unicorn’s horn under his hood. The unicorn and the earth pony stallion also showed glints of chain mail under their cloaks.
As the triad entered the gate, stepping out of the rain, Raindrops and her fellow guard, an earth militiapony by the name of Turnip Ghost, stepped forward.
“Halt! Present yourself,” said Raindrops.
The central pony raised a hoof and threw back her hood, revealing a cream-colored face with pale blue eyes and a mane striped in two colors of light blue. Raindrops recognized the mare instantly, and her next words confirmed her identity beyond a shadow of a doubt.
“Baroness Coco Pommel,” she said, producing her badge of office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Baroness Dame Adagio Dazzle took a long drink of cider, letting the cool, crisp bite of the alcohol wash away the rich spicyness of Sonata Dusk's foldies. She put down her glass, and selected a foldie from the second plate Sonata had brought out. The bread shells on these foldies were lighter and thinner than the normal, and where Sonata's regular foldies were packed with chunks of vegetable and spicy sauce, these foldies held berries and chopped fruits drizzled in honey. These were Sonata's latest culinary experiment, and her friends had been volunteered to test them out. Still, at least these fruit foldies were free. With Adagio about two bits from being reduced to grazing until the next round of payments from her holdings came in, that was nothing to sneeze at.
Adagio took a bite, and sweetness exploded in her mouth. Rather too much sweetness, in fact. The fruits were plump and juicy, but between the natural sweetness of fruit, the rich drizzle of honey, and the trace of sweetness baked into the bread shells themselves, the sweetness was overwhelming.
Adagio set down her fruit foldie and took another draught of cider to clear out her mouth. Sonata should probably serve these things with cream, she thought, remembering eating berries dipped in cream with her parents. Cream would cut the sweetness a tad, keep it from being so cloying. I'll tell her later.
“Mmmm, delicious,” said Lightning Dust, before taking another large bite of her fruit foldie.
“A bit too sweet for Iron Will’s palate,” boomed the sixth member of their table. “Iron Will is a bull, and prefers a bull’s fare. But most of Dame Dusk’s customers are ponies.”
“I agree with Iron,” said Adagio. “The sugar’s a bit overwhelming on these. I think they’d do better with some cream or something to cut the sugar a bit.”
“Really?” chimed in Aria. “They taste just fine to me.”
“I’d have to agree with Adagio,” said Starlight. “These really need something to dilute the sweetness.”
Lightning Dust giggled. “So we have two votes for ‘too sweet’, two for ‘just right’, and one vote for ‘I’m a macho beefcake and don’t have the same tastebuds as ponies’. Suri, guess that makes you the tiebreaker. What do you think?”
“Uh…” Suri looked uncomfortable. “I don’t think that this is supposed to be a debate. If Adagio and Starlight think these are too sweet, then some other ponies will too. So I think Sonata should serve some cream or something with them. That way the ponies who want something to cut the sweetness will have it, and the ones who like these the way they are can have them the way they are.”
“Well said, Suri,” said Adagio with a smile.
“But still, what did you think about the sweetness level?” said Lightning.
There was a moment’s pause. The background chatter of the Southern Breeze’s other patrons and the steady drumbeat of the heavy rains on the roof seemed to grow suddenly louder, as if to highlight Suri’s momentary silence.
“Well…” Suri began, but before she could continue her sentence she was interrupted by a new voice.
“Baroness Dazzle, ma’am?”
Adagio glanced up. Sure enough, that was Raindrops standing just inside the door of the Southern Breeze. Water dripped from her all-weather cloak to the floor, as if in echo of Raindrop’s cutie mark or of the rains outside.
“Yes, Raindrops?” Adagio replied.
“Baroness Pommel has come to see you, milady,” said Raindrops.
Suri froze for a moment, glass of cider halfway to her mouth. She very carefully put the glass down.
“Did she say what her visit was regarding?” Adagio asked. She had no idea what Baroness Pommel could want with her, but she doubted it was anything good.
“No, she did not,” replied Raindrops. “Just that she needed to see you about something.”
“Chroma’s horn,” muttered Adagio. She quickly glanced around. Suri had already gotten to her hooves and was pulling on her Elemental cloak. Surprisingly, so had Starlight.
“Starlight? What are you coming for?” she asked.
Starlight shrugged “I am the mayor of Ponyville. There’s at least a decent chance that whatever Pommel is up to will involve me as well as you. Besides, I want to keep an eye on Pommel. From what you’ve told me, she’s not to be trusted.”
“Thank you,” replied Adagio.
Starlight snorted. “And come to think of it, I should probably be keeping an eye on you after what you did with those two unicorns and the cultist hunt.”
“Thank you,” replied Adagio, letting her sarcasm slide into her voice. She supposed she should be grateful that she and Starlight could have the occasional squabble without breaking the bonds of Harmony that held them together, even if such squabbles made Friendship uncomfortable in the back of her mind. But she was so Midnight-damned tired of having ponies sneer at her for doing what needed to be done. It had gotten old long before Adagio came into her inheritance, and it certainly hadn’t gotten any less annoying since. And despite Starlight’s almost insane idealism, Adagio really did value the Mayor’s good opinion.
But now’s not the time to brood on that. Against Pommel, Starlight forcing things to play out above-board will work to my advantage. The official rules are on my and Suri’s side here, it’s the unofficial rules that favor Pommel.
She turned back to Raindrops. “I’m assuming Baroness Pommel is waiting in my foyer?” she said.
“Yes ma’am,” replied Raindrops. “She also brought two guards with her. Caramel and Moondancer are making them welcome.”
“Very good,” replied Adagio. “You may return to your post now.”
“Yes ma’am,” replied Raindrops. She turned and trotted back out the door into the pouring rain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they headed out into the pouring rain, Suri's heart was in her shoes. There was no way that the presence of Baroness Pommel could mean anything good. All Suri could think was that her time must have run out. Adagio’s attempts to reach out to Marquis Toity in hopes of circumventing Pommel must have failed, and Suri was back on Scorpan’s horns.
Ascarids! thought Suri suddenly. I never explained to Adagio about the brothers' device. She'll still think Pommel will be pleased with their work and try to use that as a bribe. She could get in so much trouble...
And you call yourself the Bearer of Loyalty? Chroma's raspy voice seemed to whisper in her ear. At least I tried to rescue my friends, even if I thought I had to wash away all Equestria to do it. You let your friend, your Bearer of Friendship, walk into a trap because you were too embarrassed to tell her the truth.
Shut up, Suri thought back. Recriminations later, explanations now.
"Adagio," she said in a low voice. "Whatever you do, do not mention those two unicorns or their device to Pommel. If she finds out about it, she will be furious. And it will give her the ammunition she needs to turn the Guild against us."
"What?" replied Adagio. "Why? I thought..."
"I'll explain later," hissed Suri over the roar of the rain. "No time now. Just don't mention those two to Pommel!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Adagio entered her house just in time to see Baroness Pommel slap Caramel across the face.
"Baroness Pommel!" said Adagio.
"'S ok," said Caramel thickly through a hoof pressed to his muzzle, waving his other forehoof placatingly. "My fault. Said the wrong thing."
"He did indeed," snorted Moondancer. "Coltanova here thought now was a good time to ask Baroness Pommel out on a date."
It was only when Adagio felt dripping oilcloth against her face that she realized that she'd forgotten to remove her rainboots before facehooving. "Fine," she sighed. "Caramel... just go someplace else for a bit, ok? Take a look at that nose and go flirt with somepony other than Baroness Pommel."
Caramel nodded, plucked his raincoat off the clotheshorse by the door, squeezed past the trio of ponies in the entrance, and disappeared into the curtain of rain.
Adagio took a deep breath. "Well, Pommel, I was given to understand that you had something you wished to discuss with me?"
“Yes, I did,” replied Pommel. “But if I may ask, what is she doing here?” She nodded her head towards Starlight.
The expression on Starlight’s face was technically a smile. “As the mayor of Ponyville, I have an obvious interest in keeping tabs on the dealings of nobles in my town. I’m sure you understand, Baroness.”
Pommel’s smile was precisely as warm as Starlight’s. “I do indeed, Mayor Glimmer,” she replied. “However, I must insist on discussing this matter with Baroness Dazzle in private. As I am sure you are aware, you have developed something of a reputation, and I would really rather not deal with your… unique… views on these matters.”
Well, thought Adagio, if Pommel doesn’t want Starlight present, that’s as good a reason as any to make sure she’s there. Plus, I really don’t want Starlight thinking that I’m pulling something sneaky with Pommel.
“I say, Baroness Pommel,” she said, “is there something going on here you’re not telling me? Because I can’t think of any reason to exclude Mayor Glimmer from our discussion. I certainly do not intend to say anything that I would mind being repeated in public, and I am sure you don’t either, so it’s not as though her presence could be harmful. Mayor Glimmer may hold unusual political views, but she’s no liar.”
Adagio continued. “And even if our discussion has nothing to do with any of Starlight’s interests, the only way she can be sure of that is to be present for our discussion. What harm could it do, other than the risk of wasting a bit of the Mayor’s time? And surely it is Mayor Glimmer’s decision whether or not to take that risk.”
“Fine,” Pommel hissed, before taking a deep breath and struggling to restore her mask.
“Shall we adjourn to my study, then?” said Adagio in her best faux-innocent voice.
“Yes, let us do so,” replied Pommel, tone light once more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Suri quickly took her usual seat behind a small desk off to the side, and tried as best she could to just look like part of the furniture. Adagio took her Baronial seat behind a larger and more ornate (if somewhat scuffed) desk, and Starlight and Baroness Pommel settled into chairs in front of Adagio's desk.
“So, Baroness Pommel,” said Adagio, “What was it you wished to discuss with me?”
Pommel reached inside her saddlebag, and pulled out a sketch of the Flim Flam brothers. Suri clenched her teeth and waited for the hammer to fall.
“I’m looking for these two unicorns,” said Pommel. “I understand they’re currently in residence here?”
“I believe they are,” said Adagio. “Why are you looking for them?”
“Because they are thieves and conponies,” replied Pommel, lacing her tones with indignation. She was good. If Suri hadn’t known better, she would have believed that Pommel was being totally sincere. “Three weeks ago, they came to me. Promised me wonders and marvels if I’d grant them my patronage. Well, they appeared to have some real skill, and my holdings had produced well this year, so I offered them a fairly generous patronage contract. Two days later, they bolted with hundreds of livres in funding and stolen supplies.” Pommel’s tone shifted from faux-angry to faux-sympathetic. “I do hope they haven’t pulled the same stunt on you. Chrysalis knows you can’t afford to take a hit like that.”
“Nice story,” said Starlight sarcastically. “I don’t suppose you have any proof?”
The grin Pommel gave looked like it really belonged out in the ocean, with a fin on top of it. “As a matter of fact, yes. I do.” She produced a set of papers from her saddlebags.
“May I take a look at those?” asked Adagio.
“Of course,” replied Baroness Pommel.
Adagio took the papers in her amber aura and began to read through them. “Hmm... Well, Baroness Pommel, I might quibble with your definition of ‘generous’, but that’s really neither here nor there. This certainly looks legitimate.” Starlight looked like she was about to say something, but Adagio cut her off.
“Suri, could you please get Moondancer from the main room and bring these two here? Let us see what they have to say for themselves.”
Suri slipped out of Adagio’s meeting room, hope warring with terror in her gut.
This could be it. This could be the thing that saves me. If those two are criminals and conponies, if Pommel takes them away, then Adagio will be off the hook for their invention. Adagio gets back the money they took, I get a shot at rejoining the Guild, and everypony’s happy.
And all I have to do is turn those two over to Pommel.
Suri wasn’t sure where that last thought had come from.
“Moondancer, could you go fetch the Flim Flam brothers?” asked Suri out loud. “Baroness Dazzle needs to see them about something.”
“On it,” said Moondancer, levitating over her raincoat and disappearing out into the pouring rain.
Why do I feel so guilty? Suri wondered as she waited for Moondancer to return. Those two deserve what Pommel is going to do to them.
Really? retorted some other part of her psyche. You know what Pommel is capable of. Do you seriously believe that that was a genuine contract she pulled out? And even if it was, do you honestly think they deserve what Pommel will do to them? Did you deserve what Pommel did to you?
It’s not the same thing! the first part of her insisted. All I did was try to open my own shop. Those two are trying to overthrow the Guild! Doesn’t that mean I should believe Pommel’s accusations?
No. It doesn’t.
Her meditation was interrupted as Moondancer entered, Flim Flam brothers in tow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As soon as he stepped in out of the pouring rain, Flim knew he and his brother were in trouble. Two months was not nearly enough time to forget Baroness Coco Pommel or her colors, and now Baroness Dazzle's foyer was full of her thugs. Flam had no idea what Baroness Pommel was doing here, but it couldn't be anything good.
"Right this way, please," said Moondancer politely. She deposited her raincoat back on the clotheshorse and then led Flim and Flam into Baroness Dazzle's study. Flam took in the room at a glance. Baroness Pommel and Mayor Glimmer were seated in front of Baroness Dazzle's desk, the one looking smug and the other furious. Behind the desk, Baroness Dazzle's face bore the inscrutable neutrality of a noble who did not want to give anything away. Out of the corner of his eye, Flim saw Suri Polomare slinking towards a smaller desk in one corner, looking even more terrified than Flam felt.
"Ah, Flim and Flam, good to see you," said Baroness Dazzle. "I'm afraid we may have a problem on our hooves. According to Baroness Pommel here, you signed a contract of patronage with her, then made off with quite a sum in coin and goods. I don't suppose you would care to shed some light on this matter?"
"Baroness Dazzle, We solemnly swear," said Flim, words tumbling over each other in desperation,
"We signed no pledge to that Baroness there," continued Flam.
"Tis all a lie, a trick, and a -"
BUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!
A loud monotone buzz smothered the brothers’ voices, and only then did Flim realize that his words had slipped into the rhythym of heartsong. The amber glow around Baroness Dazzle's horn continued, but the buzz died down to a faint background hum.
"Correction," said Baroness Dazzle, the background hum rendering her words oddly flat. "Would you care to explain without the use of heartsong?"
"Baroness, I swear-" said Flam, his own words deadened by the background noise.
"-We both swear-" interjected Flim.
"We never signed any contract with Baroness Pommel, and we certainly never took anything of hers," continued Flam.
Flim took up the narrative. "We came to her a couple of months back, and she did offer us a contract of patronage. That much is true."
"But when we read the contract, it was so one-sided that we had no choice but to refuse it and go on our way."
"The only thing we accepted from her was lunch, and that was before she offered the contract."
"I see," said Baroness Dazzle. She levitated a bundle of papers off the table. "So this must be the contract you never signed. But in that case, whose signatures are these at the bottom?" Her magic flipped through the pages to reveal the last page, which was indeed decorated with a trio of signatures.
"Not ours!" blurted out Flam. "It must be a forgery!"
"Of course you would say that," said Baroness Pommel.
"Adagio!" said Mayor Glimmer, face furious. "Surely you aren't-"
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!
The background hum briefly spiked into a cacophonous buzz, cutting off the argument, before dying down to background noise once more.
"Peace, all," said Baroness Dazzle. "As it happens, there's a very simple way to check. Mayor Glimmer, I know you know the spell for scrying signatures. All we need to do is have Flim and Flam here sign something, here and now while we are all watching. Then Mayor Glimmer can scry that signature against the one on this contract. If the two match, then Baroness Pommel is telling the truth. If they don't..."
"But how are we to know that Glimmer will perform the spell correctly?" asked Baroness Pommel. "Everypony knows she's practically an anarchist in these matters. Surely she'll report that the contract's a fraud whether or not it actually is!"
"Listen here, you-" spluttered Mayor Glimmer, but Baroness Dazzle's voice cut through hers, the background hum dropping away to bring out the cold steel in her tone.
"Baroness Pommel, I suggest you think very carefully about what you just said. Starlight may be mistaken about certain things, but she is no liar. If you do not retract your words immediately, you will be baselessly accusing my friend of breaking her vows as mayor and knight. And I will be quite happy to testify to that effect in a court of law." Her horn flared amber and she drew her jeweled rapier an inch or so from its sheath. "Or stand as her second in the dueling arena. Whichever should prove necessary."
For a single moment, everypony was frozen as through Baroness Dazzle’s challenge had sealed them in glass. Then Baroness Pommel slumped slightly in her seat and let out a sigh.
“You are right, Baroness Dazzle,” she said. She turned to face the mayor. “Mayor Glimmer, I apologize for my accusations against you. I let my tongue run away with me, and spoke without thought.”
“Apology accepted,” said Mayor Glimmer, in a tone which made it quite clear what she thought of Baroness Pommel’s apology. “Now, Adagio’s idea is a good one. Shall we?”
Baroness Dazzle produced a sheet of paper covered in numbers rambling this way and that. “Here, you two can sign in this corner. Baroness Pommel, you’d better sign too. Might as well check all three signatures.”
Considering how shaky his legs felt, Flim astounded himself with how neat his signature was. His twin’s signature was of course a twin to his, while Baroness Pommel’s had the blocky quality common to earth ponies and pegasi.
“Ok, we’re all witnesses that these three signatures are definitely those of Flim, Flam, and Baroness Pommel. Starlight, will you check these against the signatures on the contract in dispute?”
Mayor Glimmer ignited her horn. Twin streams of turquoise magic extended from her horn to touch both sets of signatures, then a third arc of magic connected the two. After a moment, all six signatures began to glow blood-red.
“Interesting,” said Mayor Glimmer. “It would appear that none of the signatures on the contract in dispute are in fact genuine. Anyone care to offer a guess as to how that came about?”
Baroness Pommel blushed prettily. If he didn’t know better, Flam suspected he would have found it quite convincing. “Well, this is embarrassing,” she said. “I’m not sure what happened. If I had to guess… I did have a couple of copies of the contract made. I must have gotten one of the copies mixed up with the original.”
Baroness Dazzle arched an eyebrow. “If you say so, Baroness Pommel. In any case, without the original contract, I’m going to have to accept the Flim Flam brothers’ word on the matter. Innocent until proven guilty and all that. You know how it is. So unless you have any other business…
Before Baroness Pommel could say anything, Baroness Dazzle let out a quick giggle. “Oh, I almost forgot! I have a matter to discuss with you.” She tilted her horn towards Polomare, who, while she wasn’t actually hiding under her desk, looked as though she wanted to. “Suri and I are going to be accompanying Marquis Toity on his trip to the Lunar Kingdom in a few days. I’ve been making arrangements to have Suri officially sworn into the Guild when we get back, since the Queen asked us to report to her at Canterlot when we return from the Lunar Kingdom. That’s not going to be a problem, is it?”
Flim had no idea why Baroness Dazzle had laid such emphasis on her last sentence or why it had made Baroness Pommel so furious even he could see it, but he didn’t really care. All his attention was focused on trying not to pass out from sheer relief.
“No, that won’t be a problem,” snarled Baroness Pommel. “Now if you’d excuse me, I’d really better be going.” She rose and stomped out through the door.
“I think I’d better be going too,” said Flim hastily.
“Lots to do!” added Flam.
They turned and all but bolted for the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Starlight managed to hold her indignation in until the Flim Flam brothers were out the door, but she could wait no longer.
“Adagio, what was that?” she hissed. “Baroness Pommel just commited fraud of the highest order, tried to bind ponies into a false indenture, and perjured herself all over the place! And you let her go!”
Adagio sighed. “Starlight, you really are so naïve sometimes. Yes, we all know what Baroness Pommel just did. But proving it is a whole lot harder. Baroness Pommel’s story may be as transparent as glass, but to actually prove she’s lying, before a jury of the nobility? How do you propose we do that?”
Adagio continued as Starlight fumed. “Oh, I’m sure we could hurt Pommel if we went after her for this. We could probably get her on contractual irregularity or frivolous prosecution or something, make her pay some fines and do some damage to her reputation. And then, with us having spent all our ammunition, she’d have every incentive to strike back. As it is, we all come out winners. The Flim Flam brothers get away unharmed, and Suri gets back into the Guild. Pommel won’t want a fight either, so she’ll steer clear of Suri for a time. It may not be right, but this is the way the world works.”
“It shouldn’t be!” retorted Starlight. She tapped her Elemental gem with one hoof. “These are supposed to mean that we’re better than the rest of the nobility!”
Adagio laughed bitterly, “I dream of the day when I have that luxury. Unfortunately, that day is not quite yet.”
Before Starlight could figure out what to say to that, Adagio turned to Suri. “Suri, I think you owe us an explanation. Why were you so afraid of Baroness Pommel finding out about the Flim Flam brothers? What’s wrong with their project?”
Suri flinched, then took a deep breath. Starlight stamped down her frustration and settled back to listen.