It was impossible to miss the mayor's mansion. It wasn't as large as the complex that housed the Chairman's office and the senatorial conferences, but it was, in its own way, far more impressive.
Modelled after the sky castles of old, it sat in a wide field of green grass and lush, well-tended gardens. It used brick for the walls, subverting every facet of the old castles by swapping earth for aspects of sky. Mineral groundwater fountains were piped up through the walls, feeding waterfalls and fountains ringed by flowers instead of rainbows. It was an island of color amidst the concrete and metal of the capitol city.
A hoverbike screamed as it shot towards the tallest building on the sprawling campus, the central mansion. It barely slowed as it maneuvered around topiaries and waterfalls, its rider barely noticing works of art that many ponies traveled great distances to see.
He didn't park in front of the building, with the other aircars. Instead, he swung around the eastern wing of the building, where the personal quarters were. He landed the hoverbike on the second floor balcony, right outside his own bedroom.
His keycode unlocked door, and he entered the room cautiously. He made a lot of noise on the approach, and didn't want to run into any surprises. But, the room proved empty, and what he heard shouldn't have come as a surprise. "Son? Is that you?"
"Yes, father," Red Hoof answered. He rode a hoverbike to and from work anyway, and his father wouldn't notice the difference in sound between the police issue bike and his personal one. "Sorry about the noise."
"You're home early." Hoof steps sounded outside the door. "Is everything all right?"
"Yes," Red Hoof lied. There was no need to worry him with Miss Kettle's ridiculous accusations. "I just wanted to speak with you a moment."
"Put those away, you idiots," his father suddenly said to somepony. There was a muffled conversation, before he heard his father scoff loudly. "He's my son, of course I trust him." More muffled conversation. "You're alone, right, son?"
Red's heart sunk as he ducked behind the heaviest object in the room, the gun safe he kept his equipment in on his days off. "Who are you talking to?"
"Some idiot friends of a business associate," was the answer. "Go wait with your boss, or in the kitchen, there's food in there," he told them before opening the door.
Red stepped out from behind the safe after seeing the two other stallions walking away. He recognized them. His team arrested them not long ago.
"What were doing behind there?" Green Hoof scoffed. "Come, I could use your help with something."
"What's going on?" Red Hoof walked over to his father, vigilantly watching for other ponies. "What is Wingless still doing here?"
Green Hoof smiled, clasping his hoof around his son's shoulders. "Preparing to make history."
"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," Red admitted. He didn't like the look on his face either, that greedy smile. "Who is this business associate?"
"You already know him." Green Hoof walked away, heading for a common room near the private kitchen. "Though, it's been a while since you've seen him. I've been waiting for the right time to reintroduce you."
"Father, where are the staff?"
Green Hoof shrugged. "I gave them the day off."
Red didn't show it, but he was anxious. Each step he took felt like he was growing closer to one he couldn't take back. His heart sunk every time his hoof hit the carpet. "Father-"
They rounded the corner, and Red took that last step, the one that shattered his world.
His father kept walking in, gesturing to an open bottle and tray of glasses in front of the couch. "Pour yourself a drink." He then sat on the couch, beside a black earth pony with a dark violet mane, who was carefully sipping out of a carved crystal glass. "Black Pot brought an amazing twenty-year scotch to toast the success of our most recent business venture with Inland Holdings."
Pressing his lips together, Red walked into the room. He fought to keep his breathing under control, and nodded stiffly. He walked along the far wall, where crates and boxes were stacked. More were scattered about the room, and several individual items were laid out on the coffee table. Weapons and ammo, some of it from the seizure of weapons he led less than a week ago. The evidence tags, with his own signature, were still stapled to the boxes.
Red knocked on one of the wooden weapons crates. He had been blind. "Would that business venture happen to be some sort of teleport disruptor?"
"Ah, hell," Black Pot refilled his scotch, knocked it back, then slammed it down, wincing, "that didn't last long. Good kid you got, warning you. Mine's the best shot we had at opposing Catch in a fight, and she won't even return my calls."
"Miss Kettle?" Red asked, surprising the black stallion. "She was a victim of whatever device you have. The pony she was teleporting with is missing, and... Oh, gods..." Red Hoof suddenly realized what kind of business venture involved missing ponies.
"We did it." Green Hoof straightened up suddenly, reaching over to slap the other stallion on the shoulder. "We did it!"
Black Pot fended off the hoof. "Contain yourself. We knew it was only a matter of time." He gave Red a hard stare. "The device doesn't take the teleport's originator, so I take it my daughter is with the police? Has she revealed the identity of the missing pony?"
"Not directly," Red shook his head, trying to control his reaction. There was no hope of misunderstanding now. Even if he wasn't plotting treason, his father was complicit in unforgivable crimes. "she just said, Dinky's mother or something like that."
Black Pot smiled as he slowly leaned back into the couch. "Oh, we did it, all right, Green. She isn't his housekeeper, she's his lover."
"And that brat is his own daughter." Green Hoof smacked the cushions, laughing. "After this gets out, his reputation will be ruined."
Red walked over to the only open crate, checking it to see if anything was missing. Small, timed, explosives, count matched what was written on the box. "Isn't Miss Kettle's mother a pegasus?"
Black Pot scoffed. "You've never bought a whore, boy?"
"No, I haven't," Red scowled.
"Are you kidding?" Green Hoof chuckled. "My Red's the police poster boy. He's never even tried Si'ir Salt."
With a sigh, Red squared himself up with the two ponies on the couch. His body was shaking. He was never one to back down from confrontation, but this? He didn't know what would happen next. "I've also never plotted to kill an elected official."
"Ah, crap!" Green Hoof chucked his empty glass. It clattered, but didn't break on the heavy carpet. "Son, thank you for coming to warn me. Is it police, or the Chairman's Security Force that found out? Do they know the timetable? How did they find out?"
Red shook his head, lips pulling back in anger. "Then, it is true?"
"Of course it's true!" Green Hoof stood up. "That's why you came to warn me, isn't it? Catch is destroying Tirassa with his new policies, but nopony's going to stand up to a mage that can best a volcano. Not directly."
"Not directly?" Red grabbed the open crate, and dumped it out in front of him. "Then how? This?" He snatched up one of the explosives. "Plant one of these in his office? Or his aircar? And walk away while it blows him and who knows how many innocent bystanders straight to hell?"
"They wouldn't be innocents," Green Hoof snorted, "Catch surrounds himself with brainless sympathizers who would gladly give Tirassa back to the birds in the name of misguided reparations. Even his daughter is so far gone-"
"His daughter? Little Dinky from the dinner? You would murder a filly because she disagrees with you?"
"If it would save Tirassa, yes!"
"I was blind. How did I not see this." Red stared at his father. Miss Kettle was right. "Father, there's no going back from this."
"Green!" Black Pot suddenly shouted, fear in his voice, "what is he doing?!"
Green Hoof glanced back at the other stallion, then followed his gaze down to where Red's hoof worked over the timer on one of the dumped out explosives. He pushed one last button, and the device beeped, its display lighting up.
"Two minutes," Red said, voice hollow as he tossed the explosive back behind the other crates. "Plenty of time to run."
"Or to disarm it," Black Pot countered, reaching for a blaster on the table. "You call yourself a loyal son of Tirassa?"
Red looked between the two stallions, his father, and Miss Kettle's. Black Pot could disarm the device, but his father didn't have the necessary skill. But, the sad thing was, they were both looking at him like he might still be persuaded to help them. "Yes, I do."
Red shoved his father away, and raised his hoof, blaster and all, in Black Pot's direction. He fired before the black stallion had a chance to voice his shock. Smoke rose from the hole in Black Pot's chest. Red then ran as shouting came from the kitchen, reacting to the sound of the blaster.
He was halfway to his room by the time Black Pot's goons made it to the common area to find their boss slowing falling over, his heart burned out. His father was running as well, in the opposite direction, warning as many of Black Pot's ponies as he could, "Change of plans!"