//------------------------------//
// Lockdown 
// Story: A War 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

"But, whatever do you mean?!" Filthy Rich said, flustered while watching several guard ponies search the cabinets, the shelves, the rooms, the paintings, the vases, and even the secret doors. "This is the third time you've sent a party of soldiers here!"
Mayor Mare firmed up her expression, fixing her glasses and looking out to the mansion's grand antechamber of gold, silver, and marble on the stairs, the walls, the columns, and the carpeted floor.
Which was also being searched by more guards.
"It's ruthless but necessary," she said. "That spy could be anywhere in Ponyville at anytime. If anything, she would give up sooner or later when she realizes we're not giving up."
"But, how long will this go?" Filthy replied, stretching a hoof out. Frustrated. "I'm a busy pony with a busy job and—"
She nodded. "I understand your predicament, Mr. Rich. However, as much as I don't want to do it, I must make sure the spy doesn't go away without a fight."
"I'm not covering up for any spies!" Filthy yelled, stomping a hoof before her. "I'm telling you the truth! If I am, then I don't know!"
"You seem sensitive for somepony who claims he has no spies," a passing guard blabbed before disappearing round a hallway.
Filthy grumbled, growling at the soldier now gone.
The fumbling search continued around him and the mayor.
"I know you don't want to hold any spies or agents here," she said. "You've been such a big help to Ponyville and Equestria, I don't think it would make sense for you to suddenly turn your back on us."
"Then, why do you keep searching our house?!" he shouted. "I'm certain these esteemed ponies don't have the time to search the rest of the houses thrice, so why us?!"
"It's a great place for a spy to hide in," the mayor said.
Filthy opened his mouth.
Then, closed it, rubbing his head in pain.
"OK. OK. I'll let you search this one up. But, you better make this one quick or—"
"Sir!" a voice called out from behind him. "You're under arrest!"
Levitating hoofcuffs locked on his hooves.
Both Filthy and Mayor Mare gasped at the sight.
More guards went up the stairs to face the rich stallion.
"What?! H-How could this be?!" Struggled to get out of his chains.
Tripped and fell face first on the red carpet.
The mayor glared at the stallion who had cuffed him. "I demand a good explanation from you! Filthy Rich has been a cooperative and supportive pony from day one!"
That armored guard pulled out a brown, aging letter. "Found this one tucked away in a random book. Incriminating evidence, mayor."
Hoofed it to her while helping Filthy stand up.
Mayor Mare adjusted her glasses and read it out loud.
"'To Filthy Rich,
"'Thank you for letting me buy your assortment of weapons. With your help, we could overthrow the corrupt aristocracy and, ultimately, the inconsiderate diarchy that rules over Equestria, seeking to bring all Crystal ponies into unreasonable submission. They only fight us because we've blundered ourselves. I'll be buying from you again, but until then, be on the lookout and don't act too odd.
"'Under codename: Z-L-J-B-Q-Q-X-F-I'."
"Which, decoded, is 'Comet Tail'," the guard said.
The mayor furrowed her brows. "And, who's that, exactly?"
"He lives in Starlight Glimmer's radical town." Levitated the letter back. "Reports say he's more radical than Starlight herself. Comet's been spotted at the scenes of multiple big crimes, one of which is the panic he caused by waving a bomb in a Canterlot shoe store—his target was undoubtedly Sassy Saddles."
"Ah, because she's adamant about producing uniforms for the cause," the mayor noted.
The guard nodded, glaring at Mr. Rich. "Which is why I see no reason to let this crook go scot-free."
He gasped. "No! Look! I've been framed! I've never seen that letter before!"
"Why is it in one of your books, sir?" he asked.
The door beside them opened, revealing the face of a tired Diamond Tiara.
"Huh? Wh-What's going on?" Tiara shook her head, knocking out the weariness in her.
Saw her father's cuffed hooves.
Gasped.
"What?! Dad?!"
Galloped to him and hugged him.
"What's happening? Why did they arrest you?!"
"Step aside," the letter-levitating guard ordered, pointing at the open door. "Get back to your room. This is official Equestrian business."
"But, that's my Dad you're putting in custody!" she shouted. "My Dad would never do something criminal! He may like money a lot—"
"Uh, Tiara—" Filthy gulped "—that's not helping—"
"—but, he won't stoop down to lawlessness. He never rose to wealth consulting with shady names, so why would he do it now?"
"We have evidence," the guard said, hoofing the letter to her.
The rest of the guards beside him watched Tiara read the letter.
She snorted, dropped the letter, and pushed it aside. "It's clearly a fake."
Everyone around her—the soldiers, her father, and the mayor—looked shocked at this.
"Are you telling me you're smarter than the E.U.P. Guard?!"
"Tiara, that was very nice of you, but I don't think that's enough to help me!"
"We want to believe you and your Dad, but could you at least tell us why you think it's fake?"
Tiara smirked. "Easy."
Everyone there murmured to each other.
She picked it up.
"First, may I ask where did you get this?"
The guard nodded. "Hidden inside a book."
"A book, you say?"
"Yes, a book. What do you think?"
Tiara's smile grew larger. "Well, if my Dad was really an accomplice to this criminal, then he would do his best to hide the evidence. You know that we have more than a couple of safes lying around here—and, if we don't, we always have the money to buy a dozen of them. It wouldn't be logical, then, for him to just slip it inside a book, would it?"
Mr. Rich looked at his irritated escorts, struggling to smile. "Cheerilee is a good teacher, as you can...uh, tell."
"But, that's not all," Tiara said. She rotated the letter with her hoof and closed her eyes, looking smug. "The paper is quite old, but the ink still glitters in the light."
She placed it under a burning lamp.
Indeed, the ink still glittered.
"So, somepony decided to write the letter very recently—certainly not last week, not even yesterday."
The guard who had given the paper laughed. "Come on, everypony! Are you going to believe the testimony of the suspect's daughter?"
Mayor Mare grabbed his neck. "Don't you bring family to this!"
"Relations are relations, mayor," he said, patting her on the head while pushing her away. "Getting your parents out of trouble is what foals often do."
"Oh." Tiara glowered at the guard.
He shuddered a bit.
"One more thing."
She cleared her throat.
Pulled out a photo from her mane. It showed a yellow unicorn with purple hair; his cutie mark was a shooting star.
She let the photo drop to the floor.
And the letter, too.
"What's your cutie mark?" she asked.
Mayor Mare covered her mouth, hiding a sly smile.
"Wait a minute!" Filthy cried out, attempting to hold up a hoof...then, pulling it down before tripping again. "Are you saying that the pony who arrested me is the one who's framing me?!"
A hoof on the guard's helmet.
He slapped it away. "What's that for?!"
"Gotta make sure, Yellow Fence."
Hooves trying to remove his helmet.
"Get your grubby grips out of my—"
His armor glowed then levitated away from his body.
Everyone else gasped at him.
Looked at the picture.
Back at him.
"It wasn't much of a stretch," Tiara said, smirking once more. "When I saw the letter, I...I knew it wasn't right. Yellow Fence was very eager to get Dad in custody, which made him suspicious. I admit, it's very smart to talk bad about yourself, Yellow Fence...or, should I say, Comet Tail?"
The yellow unicorn with the purple hair and a cutie mark shaped like a shooting star—he was hoofcuffed by his new escort, constrained by the same cuffs that were on Mr. Rich's hooves a short while ago.
Closed his eyes and his mouth, quietly obeying as they walked him down the stairs and out of the mansion and into the early snowy morning.
The other guards followed suit, leaving the mansion.
It took a minute and a half for all of them to leave.
After that, a few seconds of silence.
The three of them standing on the balcony, looking toward the huge double doors on the ground floor.
Mayor Mare turned to face Diamond Tiara. "May I ask...how exactly did you get to that conclusion?"
Filthy Rich looked to his daughter for that answer as well.
Tiara smiled again. "If I'm supposed to follow in my Daddy's hoofsteps as a successful businesspony, then I'm supposed to know how to deal with rivals who would employ...less legal means of competing."
The mayor gulped and exchanged a worried glance with Filthy. "That explains as much." She turned her head back towards the door. "Well, I have to make an emergency announcement to all of Ponyville now."
He nodded.
Father and daughter watched the mayor trotting down the stairs.
They could hear her breathing fast.



Someone opened the window curtains.
Saw the mayor trotting, looking about while surrounded by eight armored guards equipped with spears and bows—quivers at the ready.
Closed those curtains.
Looked at the clock on the wall.
Four o' clock in the afternoon.
"It gets more unsettling the longer it gets," the cream-colored stallion spoke, his frazzled mane matching his dirty jacket. He paced the wooden floor, going around purple couches and the tea table in front of the burning fireplace with that smoky smell.
The blue mare on one of those couches stood up and walked to him, stopping him in his path.
"What are you doing, dear? Don't get in the—"
"I can't stand having you walk around the house for three hours straight!" she said, earrings glimmering in the faint sunlight that could pass through the windows.
"What else could I do?" he asked. "You'd have to be crazy standing outside without a good reason!"
"You have all the reasons in the world! We're running low on apples and we can't get food if we don't go out to the marketplace."
"It's all deserted!"
"How do you know?!"
"Why would anyone stay outside? They could be dragged to jail for suspected smuggling!"
"Suspected smuggling?" She took a step back, examining her husband. "The guard knows better that! It's even stated in the manual!"
"The manual was written during peace time," he replied, finally trotting his way to a couch and sitting there.
She trotted to the couch and sat down beside him.
In front of the burning fire, hearing the crackling fire from the burning logs.
A better look of the place: a lamp on the corner, some paintings on the wall, another window which gave a nice view of the backyard—in the winter, the sandbox was a snowbox and the swing now hung from a leafless tree. Bookshelves beside the fireplace, potted plants left and right, and behind the couches was the kitchen.
"Good thing Scootaloo was able to get here before lockdown," he said.
"I don't think it's a good thing," she replied, turning her head upwards, toward the ceiling.



"Alright, Petunia," Scootaloo said, rubbing her forehooves as the two of them sat on wooden stools in the bedroom of history books, old paintings, and precious relics.
Also, a bed in the room.
Petunia scratched her blue ear. "Uh, what's alright?"
"Weren't you paying attention?" Scootaloo asked, rocking her stool around. "Name one offensive spell a unicorn can use after he's mastered the Uni-beam!"
"What? We're having lessons on that boring old military subject again?"
Scootaloo stretched her mane. "What's so boring about cool fights and pow's and bang's?"
"I don't like being skilled at hurting ponies."
"Like what Rainbow Dash always says in the stories—" Scootaloo took in a deep breath "—'You know it hurts, but at least you're the one who does the hurting!'"
"That doesn't sound like a good idea to me," Petunia said while shaking her head.
"Blinding beams!"
Petunia looked confused. "What?"
"That's one of the offensive spells a unicorn can learn after the basic Uni-beam! It's actually a slightly more advanced spell, but if the pony is looking straight at the beam when he gets hit—boom!"
She smashed her two hooves together.
"Blinded! Yeah, temporary blindness, but it lasts for an hour, which is more than enough to immobilize an entire attack all at once!"
"But—"
"You're wondering why we haven't won the war yet. That's because the evil Crystal armies learned how to deflect those attacks early on! They have counterspells, training, specialized armor and shields—you name it! But, it still works in a pinch or in a tight spot."
Petunia looked out the window, seeing the white sky. "How long does this lockdown thing last again?"
"Until the day after Hearth's Warming."
Petunia groaned on her little chair.