//------------------------------//
// Counter Scheming 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

"...Cool," Valey said, checking to ensure the door could be opened from the inside after Starlight and her friends had departed. Only her, Gerardo, Darkwind and Harshwater remained, and the latter was busy loafing like a queen atop a mountain constructed of confiscated portraits. "So, about this will."

Gerardo nodded. "Indeed. I think it's safe to assume none of us trust this Kero's intentions as entirely straightforward and innocent?"

Darkwind shook his head. "It's possible. I wouldn't assume it if I were you."

"Right. You know what's weird, though..." Valey took the letter, scanning it over and over and frowning as she read. "Okay. Let's assume worst-case for a minute, that Kero is a sneaky sneakster and is totally up to something. Pretend every last word here is part of a secret agenda." She tapped a paragraph and looked up, eyes serious. "Then what's with this part about all these mares?"

"Might you read it again?" Gerardo requested, tilting his head.

Valey shrugged. "Eh, the part where he went on about some client paying him to have this dude go seduce a bunch of sad, lonely mares, and then he did contraband philanthropy work trying to make it up to them. Let's say Kero's up to something. Why is this bit here?"

"...I can't quite parse what you mean," Gerardo said. "Why is it there?"

"That's what I'm asking." Valey put the paper down. "Assuming he's a straightforward good guy with a conscience weighing on his shoulders, it makes sense that he'd want his messes taken care of when he was gone. And mess might be weak wording for this kind of thing. But assume he's got some hidden motive, and suddenly I have no idea what it might be. Like... what could you gain from this?" She glanced between the mercenaries. "He assumes he'll be dead, so it would have to affect something he cares about, instead. Helping friends or hurting enemies. But the ponies he's asking us to help here are these mares, and if that was his primary goal for any reason other than the goodness of his heart and conflicting with his job and exactly what he said in the letter..." She took a breath. "Seems like it would've been far easier to help them by not taking the job, to me. So if we try to make things nice here, what changes between that case and him never taking the job at all? I don't get what he's after, and figuring that out could help us understand what's going on with this delivery quest thing."

"This method distributes the obsidian among the Ironridge populace," Darkwind said. "It could involve creating a market for the substance, since Ironridge completely lacks that. If you assume he's lying about everything, you should question when he says having the obsidian here has nothing to do with this plan to give it away."

"Aww, Kero's not doing that..." Harshwater pouted. "Didn't you hear in the letter how the obsidian brands were fading away and not staying properly? If he wanted to get this place hooked on anything, he'd use real stuff, and something like that should be easy enough to check, right?"

Valey nodded. "Yup. Ironflanks was hanging around with one of those mares for a while, and she had that happen to her. The weird moon glass bit is definitely true."

Harshwater made a chewing motion with her mouth. "See? Besides, it's hard to get this stuff into Ironridge, and it sells for a huge amount outside the city. You'd have to be an idiot to try and create a marker where it's hard to reach when there's a perfectly good one called the rest of the world right there. And Kero's not an idiot."

"Points well taken," Gerardo acknowledged. "But then, this does nothing to solve our original dilemma."

"Yeah." Valey looked back at the letter. "The only other thing I can see that's different between us doing what he says and not taking the job in the first place is all these foals. Like, apparently this job of his was to specifically get all these mares knocked up? And he's offering to bring the foals back to you guys to raise and take care of, if the mares can't handle it themselves. And since this description makes it look like they're targeting mares who would specifically be bad at raising families..." She looked up. "You guys usually don't know who your employers are, right? What are the odds Kero gave you this job himself, and whatever payoff he's going for is you getting a boatload of foals for your nursery thing? Any reason he'd want to give you a pile of half-siblings as a posthumous funeral present?"

"He could've..." Harshwater sounded unenthusiastic. "We do raise our foals to join our company, most of the time. My parents are some of the older members, though we did only join when I was six, so I wasn't born here. But raising foals is a lot of work, and I don't think we're equipped to deal with seventy extra. Besides, what would that accomplish? We need a new leader and an airship to keep up our careers as mercenaries, not more members who won't be able to fight for fifteen years. I don't know what good giving us those foals would do us. Maybe Kero's actually being straightforward?"

Valey held her breath, gingerly examining the letter one more time. "Yeah, he... he might be. I suppose he really could just care about the losers from this weird job. Still, I guess he could have added this just because there's no way to make it look... well, worse than normal for a mercenary? So we give him the benefit of the doubt with this delivery?"

Harshwater frowned. "Who comes up with the plan to make a ton of poor ponies preggers just so you can say, 'Look! I'm innocent'? If he was evil and wanted to prove he was good, wouldn't he brag about something much more normal? And just to be clear, I think he feels bad for the mares and really wants to help them."

"Who comes up with a plan to do that?" Valey raised an eyebrow, then waved a hoof. "Not a smart question to ask. For all I know, that turns someone on. In fact, I'd bet you a grapefruit it does. But I wasn't saying Kero made this job up so he could have something innocent-sounding to talk about his good intentions with. I'm starting to think maybe this story's completely truthful and he just really does want to help them. Not seeing how anything bad could come of it, at least. Which means..."

She nodded to Gerardo, checking if they were on the same page. He finished for her: "Perhaps Kero is of the sneaky sort, yet with intentions that are neutral or benevolent as opposed to evil or purely for personal gain?" He raised an eyebrow, and she nodded. "What if we look at this delivery and assume a broader range of outcomes than those that focus exclusively on us?"

Valey hummed. "Yeah... Let's say for a moment Kero doesn't actually care about us. Hey, maybe he assumes whoever's reading this isn't necessarily whoever did him in, which in this case, it isn't. What if delivering or not delivering this thing has no effect on us, but does on someone else? Imagine that he's gone, he leaves no records, and suddenly we show up on that princely dude's doorstep with this, knowing basically nothing except what he said to do with it? If Kero's dead, there'd be no way to get a better source than us. What if the whole point of this is to, like... get revenge on someone else?"

Darkwind blinked in interest. "Like whatever client sent him on the mission that got him killed?"

"Precisely." Valey clicked her wing spokes together, producing a satisfying snap. "What if, say, he was hired by that prince to do stuff in Ironridge, croaked here, and set up a plan to get him back that would only activate in a case like this, where he died? Imagine this moon glass having connections or connotations to something in the Empire that would land the prince in huge trouble just for receiving it? Maybe an implication that he was working for or with someone else, or..." She clicked her tongue. "Maybe he's a neutral party, but this is evidence of some sort this Gazelle could use to implicate someone else? A past collaborator Kero no longer likes, or something?"

Harshwater smiled smugly, ineffectually blowing her bangs out of her eyes. "Kero would definitely do that."

"Hmm." Valey looked one more time at the pouch, then rolled it aside. "I suppose he could also be telling the truth and legitimately have a job to keep this safe. But that worries me of why, and unlike with those mares, I can't think of a single good reason why someone would want to take a piece of moon glass and put it under that much protection. Unless..." She stared for a second, then shook her head. "Nah. It couldn't be her. This is for someone in the Griffon Empire, not Yakyakistan."

"Who?" Gerardo blinked politely.

"Uhhhhh..." Valey bristled, then forced the fur on her back back down. "Sorry. Not important. Point is, moon glass is bad news, ponies doing things with moon glass is worse news, and something being inside a piece of moon glass that's both known to someone and different from your average alien parasitic cutie mark is so much nope that real villains basically have to be involved. Something with this job is up to no good... and here's the thing. Let's say this is a trap. Pretend someone either comes murderously looking for this particular piece of glass, or we take it to this Gazelle and he somehow knows it's a signal to deliver vengeance on us. How are they going to know? If this is just a regular piece of moon glass... Like, the stuff's rare, but not that rare. You'd probably get dozens of false positives on who we actually are, or else rely on flags to find us that have nothing to do with this glass, making it redundant to put it here. That means it has to be different somehow. And that means something bad has to be involved."

Gerardo shrugged. "Well, it supposedly could be an empty delivery and the act of telling High Prince Gazelle we have a package for him protected in the name of Kero would be enough to bring down whatever wrath is in store."

"Yeah, but there would be easier ways to get us to be in a situation where someone could get revenge on us like that," Valey pointed out. "Like he said, trapping this room itself. And don't forget that there's no way he could be sure the ones who found this were actually the ones he wanted revenge on. Nah... I'm thinking there must legit be something different or bad about this moon glass, and that means it's more likely he's using whatever poor fools like us wander into his room first to deliver it."

"Wonderful," Gerardo remarked. "The object we have been tasked with delivering is likely accursed. The only question that remains is whether the option most beneficial to society as a whole is to deliver it or consign it to the shadows and let it remain there forevermore."

"Just saying," Harshwater said, lifting a foreleg, "Nobody knows where Kero went, but he's probably not dead. So he might have left this and figured he'd still be alive for whatever someone did with it."

Gerardo's eyes widened. "Well, this changes things. I can't believe I didn't put that together myself. You don't suppose Herman perishing was the trigger for any of this, do you?"

"It's possible." Valey shrugged. "I think it's a given Herman wasn't the only dude Kero was doing jobs in Ironridge for. Can't see him giving this weird mare harassment thing. Maybe Kero got in just as far over his head as me and Sparky and everyone else?" Her eyes widened. "Wait a minute. When, exactly, is the last time you guys had contact with Kero?"

Darkwind nodded at Harshwater's stack of paintings. "It would have been when he sent us down to the Flame District to ambush you. It should be a given that was Herman's order. We haven't seen him since we were teleported out."

"Huh..." Valey tapped her chin. "You know, now that I think about it, Herman denied sending you after me and said I must have made some other enemy. Not the kind of thing I'd question, usually. But Herman let me go after that, so he really might not have been trying to off me..." She closed her eyes. "Weird. Guess I do just have random, anonymous enemies laying around. Not that I didn't know that, or anything. But as I was saying... I wonder if Kero sensed Ironridge being about to explode, bailed, and this is his backup plan?"

"How so?" Gerardo tilted his head.

"Like this." Valey picked back up the drawstring bag. "Let's say this is important, and he actually is protecting it for someone. He's forced to evacuate and gives up the city as a lost cause, and either can't or doesn't grab this on his way out. So if we deliver this, we'll have gotten him out of a jam, and if we don't trust it and do nothing, he can come back once things have died down, be all 'Bwah ha ha, did you think I was dead!?' and just ask for his glass back, and of course we'll give it to him because we don't want to hang onto a potential trouble magnet. Boom, just saved his rear again. And he might figure we'd be smart enough not to smash it, because then if anyone comes looking for it and we just want to live in peace but can't just hoof it over... yeah, you know?"

Darkwind cleared his throat. "It's worth noting that if you keep the obsidian, but don't do anything with it, there's no way you could get in more trouble than if you destroyed it, barring unknown magic from the stone itself. If you destroy it, you run the risk of any searchers who would otherwise be peaceful turning hostile. There's a small chance the fate of the world is at stake and destroying it could foil someone's evil plan, but that's a risk you run every time you do even minorly significant things. Unless you can see the future, you just can't know about these things."

Valey tugged on the strings of the bag. "I mean... my cutie mark sort of lets me see the future? I can tell if something's lethal to the touch, at least." She dropped the moon glass into her hooves. Sleek and black, it was cold to the touch. "This thing isn't, for instance. And if it contains a bigger eldritch horror than has already been unleashed on the world, it sure isn't saying harm to me now. In fact..." She sniffed it. "Meh. Smells like jealousy. They all do. I dunno, sometimes I feel like I can smell differences between various pieces, but it's probably just in my head." Glancing at her pendant, she hesitated and added, "Technically... we could find out what's in there..."

Harshwater's eyes widened. "Woah, you can do that? Kero's letter said that took impossible magic."

"What can I say? I'm an impossible mare." Valey put on a seductive grin, but really wasn't feeling it. Eventually, her shoulders slumped, and she looked down. "So it's sounding like the best course of action is to keep this thing safe, but not do anything with it, and if anyone comes looking for it we see if we can give it to them and let everyone go on with their lives, and fight if they don't think that's good enough. For all those mares, we... I seriously dunno what to do with that. Ask Arambai to help, I guess. I really don't see how it can lead to anything bad."

"Who was it who reprimanded me about tempting fate earlier?" Gerardo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah, good point." Valey rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure he's right that someone thought it would make a great prank, and then he mentioned it just to butter us up and get us to think he was a good guy. Or because he really feels for them and wants to help. I dunno." She deflated, sinking deeper into the couch, her muzzle getting buried in a crack between two cushions. "Hey, did you check that combination he gave for another safe?"

"Yep." Harshwater nodded. "Found it right over there. All the money's in griffon, so you can't use it here without an exchange, but there was a lot of it. Nothing wrong with taking freely-offered money, right?" She pointed a wing in emphasis.

Gerardo happily grinned. "I certainly can't see a reason why not. Though, as Starlight accepted the ownership of this house, it technically belongs to her, so we should probably seek her approval before wasting it idly on frivolities and high living."

Harshwater's ears snapped upright. "So, lighter subjects! What do griffons like you do for fun, Gerardo? Kero broods a lot, and every time I try to get him to hang out, I get ignored."

Gerardo eyed her. "Forgive me if I'm being presumptuous, but do you have a thing for this Kero?"

Harshwater slowly lowered her gaze to look at the painting stack she was reclining on like a dragon's hoard, then back up at Gerardo. "It's that obvious, you think?"

"As I said, forgive me." Gerardo shuffled awkwardly. "But I have the impression Kero is from the Empire, yes?"

Darkwind nodded. "From things he's said here and there, yes. He doesn't speak about his life there, though."

"Mmm. Regrettable." Gerardo looked back at Harshwater. "Well, I'm unfamiliar with your familiarity level with the Empire, but in case you weren't aware, the culture there is... moderately against inter-species relationships, barring the sphinx royals. If you're asking me for courtship advice, I would first start by ensuring that's not a problem you're being stymied by. And I apologize if I just turned an attempt at light conversation into a darker subject."

Harshwater stared down at her collection of paintings, thought... and huffed. "I didn't know that. I guess he never got the old 'forbidden means fun' talk, then..." She glared at the portraits, brain spinning with plans behind her eyes.

Darkwind nodded at her. "Right. You weren't there for our last Griffon Empire deployment..." He turned back to Gerardo and Valey. "It sounds like we've reached a consensus on what to do. I'll back you up if you tell Maple and Starlight everything is taken care of, and that we figured out what's going on and they don't need to know. Who wants to take care of the stone?"

"Eh, I can." Valey shrugged, trying to fit it back into its bag. "I'll have warning if anyone tries to snipe me for it. Now just... argh, this bag is small...!"

Her hooves fumbled, and the glass popped free from her grasp, bouncing and skittering away from the floor. "Argh!" she pouted, punching the bag as Darkwind knelt to pick it up, returning the black stone held in his wing.

"Cool, thanks." Valey grabbed it and looked back at the bag. "Now this thing's gotten turned inside-out. Oh well. It... Wait..." She trailed off, eyes narrowing. "There's something written on the inside of this bag."

"Oh?" Immensely curious, Gerardo pressed his beaked face near to hers, trying to read as well.

"Hey, back off, Birdo. I don't want a kiss." Valey pushed him away with a wing. "Sorry. Only mares get this close to my headspace, unless I'm headbutting you in a fight. Now, uhh... Wow, what's this written in? The writing is really bad..." She squinted. "Puddles?"

"Puddles?" Harshwater looked up from her brooding, one ear flopping over as she tilted her head.

"Ninety percent sure that's what it says," Valey said with a shrug. "Unless this E is actually an O, in which case it's Puddols, but that doesn't make much sense. Doesn't make sense anyway, but... you know."

Gerardo continued peering with interest, from a more respectable distance this time. "Interesting. I wonder if it's the brand or name of the bag manufacturer?"

Valey stuck out her tongue. "Meh. I was hoping some villain was dumb and gave us a clue as to what it was for, but that would be dumb and your way's more likely. I sure hope you're right, because a pony called Puddles would automatically be adorable. Here. Use your griffon hands and put this back in its bag for me."

As Gerardo delicately manipulated the undersized bag, Darkwind spoke up. "Your friends will probably be some time before they return, and I'm sure Harshwater is going to want to take her prizes back to our new compound. If you want to come with us and visit, it'll probably be more entertaining than sitting around here for a few hours. It's a long way to the Shadow District, after all. And, we could show you the nursery, if you'd like to see for yourselves the foals we've gotten with Ironridge mothers."

"I can't say for certain that would allow us to discern the job's purpose, and it in fact seems unlikely it would, but who am I to deny an invitation?" Gerardo beamed. "Admiral Valey? Are you in as well?"

"Eh, why not?" Valey shrugged. "For all I know, you'll get in trouble and need me to bail you out. Let's go!"