//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Package // Story: Game of Harmony // by CommanderApplejack //------------------------------// Chapter 11 Package “That is awfully gross...” Rainbow said as Amber used her spit to melt through the metal bars, the green globs the changeling had spit out eating away at the metal grate. “If it can get us in without passing the guard it'll be worth it,” Twilight responded though she too was a little grossed out. The grate came loose, Twilight only just managing to catch it before it clattered to the ground and probably would have attracted unwanted attention. “Give me two seconds to clean off these bars, I don't think you ponies would do well if you touched that stuff,” Amber said, licking off the excess goo. Dash held a hoof in front of her mouth to stop herself from throwing up and turned around, a few of the others doing the same as the pegasus to avoid having to watch the display. “Alright, we can go through now.” Amber being the first in line squeezed through the gap they had now created, the others following until they all were inside and in the safety of the alleyways of the city. Moonlight led them as her night vision allowed her to see much clearer than the others. “Can we, Ah dunno, find a tavern someplace 'round here?” Applejack asked as they took the time to rest in the shadows. “No, not yet anyway,” Twilight replied in a whisper. “The sun will rise soon, if we're going to look for a room now ponies might start asking questions. We're just going have to power through to the afternoon, we'll present ourselves as traders from Manebridge if anypony asks." "Cool, so we're just going to hang out here until sunrise," Rainbow propped herself up against a wall and lowered her hood. "I'm catching some z's, wake me if stuff goes sideways." She was gone in an instant, a soft snore coming from under the cloth that was covering her up. "Wow, that pegasus knows how to sleep, I'll give her that," Cherry said astonished at the ability of the pegasus to seemingly just shut off. "Anyhow, Twilight, that package we were supposed to deliver, where do we need to drop it off?" "About that..." Twilight said sheepishly, cringing slightly as the rest would not like who they were supposed to deliver this to. "It's addressed to Countess Rarity Belle." "WHAT?!" Cherry exclaimed, quickly muzzling herself as to not wake anypony in the surrounding houses. "You mean the Countess Rarity Belle that runs the city, a noble that wouldn't hesitate for a second to turn you in for political clout. Have you gone insane, you are a wanted mare remember?" "We did promise to deliver the message and we're probably going to have to infiltrate the main keep to find the element anyhow," Twilight argued. "If we get into there, what's it to break into the noble's quarters?" Smack Moonlight practically hissed as she smacked Twilight over the back of her head with a hoof. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to break into places completely unseen?! We are not doing this, our own quest is way more important in the grand scheme of things!" "But-" "I gotta say Twi, general run in Ponyville was not to make a ruckus if ya wanted ta avoid attention. Definitely not with higher placed ponies," Applejack agreed with Midnight, "Not sure who this Countess is, may be a very decent pony, but Ah ain't risking mah hide jus' ta get that package to her." Twilight looked down at the small package in her hooves, very conflicted about pushing more to deliver it. Flint must've put a lot of trust in her to do deliver the package, for her not to do so now... "Alright. We'll only go after the element and then leave." She pushed the package back into her saddlebags, trying to put the matter out of her mind. "Good to hear that," Moonlight said with a sigh of relief. "We should discuss how we're going to get into the keep, we really can't just walk in there with our entire group." "Before we go on, Ah've been meaning ta ask, ho many earthponies live 'round here?" Applejack asked, Apple Bloom cradled in her forelegs. "Plenty, most of them in the lower district here but a few will be up in the higher districts as serfs," Twilight answered from what she knew about Manehattan. "Down here we're probably safe from prying eyes, the moment we head higher into the city we should be more careful." "So we leave the fillies and most of us down here while a pair, maybe a trio go up and investigate the keep," Moonlight proposed, getting the discussion back on topic of infiltrating the keep. "That leaves the question of who." "I need to be one of the ponies there," Twilight said without hesitation. "No," Moonlight immediately replied. "If you get recognised everything falls apart. I say that I, Amber, and Applejack go up to scout." "It's a risk we have to take Moonlight," Twilight countered the batpony. "You're probably better at the stealth but none of you knows anything about guard protocols, passwords, and everything in between. Like it or not, as a former officer I am much more suited to talk my way out of a situation than you are." The two of them locked eyes, the piercing cat eyes of the batpony doing nothing to dissuade Twilight in their small battle of wills. It was Moonlight that relented, looking down to the ground. "Fine, you make a good point," she grumbled. "You're still very much required in this plan though, I am going to need a set of knight armour to even get inside, preferably an officer's armour. The key being that we get it without it being reported missing." "That's totally not a tall order," Moonlight grumbled. "I'll see what I can do. We still have the cover of darkness, if I go now I can scout out the keep for any potential points of access before first light." Twilight nodded in agreement, the batpony jumping up into the sky and hovering there for a moment as Twilight stopped her from flying off with magic. "The south side of the lower district's main market plaza, head there when the sun's up and find a noticeable spot. We'll meet back up there." "Understood. See you in a couple of hours." With that, the thestral was off into the darkness to be seen later. "And you thought it'd be a good idea to meet up here?" Rainbow asked sarcastically as she and Twilight pushed through the crowd of ponies, earthponies and unicorns mixing together in the market square, all trying to sell their ware to anypony that looks at them for more than two seconds. Rainbow had mud mixed in her hair and covering her clothes, looking like a proper bum though it also effectively hid her colourful hair. "Maybe it's market day? I've been to a few cities and the markets there were never this crowded," Twilight scowled as a salespony tried pushing something into her hooves so she'd have to buy it. Rainbow got much less attention from the salesponies as she looked like she did not have any money. Hold on... "Dash, Moonlight would want to attract our attention but avoid the attention of everypony else, right?" Twilight asked hypothetically, an idea forming in her head. "We should check the entrances to the square." "Why's that?" Rainbow's asked as she followed the unicorn pushing through the crowds to where the mass of ponies thinned. "Because that's where the beggars are," Twilight answered. "Blind ponies to be specific." That didn't help lift Rainbow's confusion at all but she followed Twilight regardless. As they got to the main southern entrance to the square Twilight scanned the beggars sitting there with their bowls and hoping to get a little money. "Please, a coin for the blind." Both Rainbow and Twilight spun around, coming face to face with the batpony's fanged smile. Moonlight being covered by her brown cloak and blindfold tied over her eyes. She was holding out a bowl that had a few coins in it, shaking it around so they made noise. "What... but... How?!" Rainbow stammered as she couldn't believe the batpony had been able to find them blindfolded. "I didn't think I was ever going to find you in the square itself, so I decided to wait here at the entrance. I also didn't want to risk some pickpocketer feeling under the cloak and pulling on my wings," Moonlight said as she motioned for them to follow. "You guys found someplace to stay?" "Yes. It's a bit cramped but it's cheap," Twilight answered as they left the crowded area into the quieter back alleys. “So what did you find?” “Security is good. very good,” Moonlight answered as Twilight Took the lead to guide them back to the inn they'd gotten lodging in. “Their patrols are tight, from the ground you're not going to be able to slip in through the gaps as there were none I saw last night.” “And from the air?” Rainbow asked as Moonlight hadn't excluded that possibility. “There's some spotlights I noticed but most of their defences are against possible earthpony infiltration. I think if we're doing this we're going to have to drop in from above at night,” Moonlight suggested. “That's still really risky. Even if they wouldn't expect pegasi down here they'd still put up a shield blocking air access if they notice anything wrong,” Twilight countered. “If that happens we'd either be locked out or trapped inside.” “This plan already is wrought with danger, it's just another risk we're going to have to take,” Moonlight responded to Twilight's concerns. “I know, I'm just pointing out that we either pull this off or we're fighting our way out of the city,” Twilight scowled and looked back at the thestral. “I don't like the odds we'd have in the latter case.” “I'll add don't get caught to the list,” Moonlight sarcastically stated. The trio arrived at the inn Twilight had been guiding them to and walked in past the tender and up to their room. In it Cherry was giving some instructions to Applejack on her fighting stance, the room already barely enough room to accommodate them. Amber, in her disguised form, was silently keeping an eye on the two of them while also observing Scootaloo and Apple Bloom sleeping on one of the beds as the trio entered. “Good ta see the three of y'all made it back in one piece,” Applejack commented, dropping her stance and making room. “Sheesh, I know you said small but I didn't think it'd be this small,” Moonlight commented as she entered the room last. “Please stop doing that,” Dash grumbled, rubbing her head. “Do what?” “The looking without looking, it's kinda seriously creeping me out. Can you see through that blindfold or something?” Dash elaborated, making the thestral chuckle as she pulled off the blindfold. “Can't promise I won't do it again,” she smirked as Dash snatched up the blindfold to see if you could look through it. “Anyhow, we really could only afford this room if we still wanted to eat. All the earthpony coins we managed to trade with Flint for unicorn ones will only feed us for so long. We aren't in the wild where we can just eat the grass anymore,” Twilight stated while she pulled out her short sword and strapped it around her barrel. “We should get some rest, I want to try and get into and out of that castle as soon as possible.” “No extensive planning? No contingency plan?” Cherry asked with a raised eyebrow. “You're really planning to just rush in?” “I really don't like being in this city,” Twilight grumbled. "I just want to get this thing and get out." “What about the pony that's supposed to wield the element? Have we even checked that compass thing yet?” Cherry pushed. Twilight opened her mouth to reply but stopped, realizing that, no, she hadn't. Grabbing a hold of her saddlebags with magic, the unicorn went ahead and pulled out the compass to see what it would say. "It's pointing north now. That's directly towards the keep," She said as the needle stopped spinning. "The noble quarters lay behind there too, the pony may not be in the keep itself," Midnight commented as she'd seen the area for herself. "Does it really matter? If it's the keep the pony will likely be a guard that's unlikely to help us, and if it's a noble we're even more screwed," Cherry commented. "How in the world are we going to convince some unicorn to join our poor, ragtag, band of traitors?" she added sarcastically. "We'll figure something out. We have to," Moonlight stated, drawing a laugh from Cherry. "Seriously, What do you think is going to happen? That we're just going to walk up to some unicorn noble or guard and be like 'hey you're this wielder of some powerful artefact and we need you to destroy your empire'. That's certainly going to go over well," Cherry locked eyes with the batpony. "You may be desperate but not all of us are suicidal." "If we don't Nightmother-" "Oh yeah, the god that's, according to some legend, supposed to be returning-" Moonlight's hoof smashed into the side of Cherry's nose, drawing blood from her nostrils. Twilight immediately grabbed hold of the thestral so she couldn't press the attack. "Moonlight!" Twilight exclaimed as the thestral hissed at the earthpony. "I need some air," Cherry stated, rummaging through their pile of stuff to find a cloak with which to cover her heavy armour. "Applejack?" Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were wide awake and had been watching the argument unfold. "Can we... go outside too?" "I can watch them while you discuss how to get yourselves killed," Cherry grumbled, getting the small cloak Scootaloo had been wearing out of the pile too. Applebloom gave her big sister the biggest puppy eyes she could, the elder earthpony sighing and giving a nod. "Don't do anything I would do Scoots, the unicorns aren't gonna be as nice as the earthponies were," Dash warned her, ruffling her hair. "Come on you two, let's go," Cherry said, leaving with the two fillies in tow. As the door to the room closed, Twilight locked eyes with Moonlight. "We're having a talk." "Think they'll be alright?" Apple Bloom asked Scootaloo as they had found a relatively calm square where Cherry could sit and think. The unicorn city lacking all the greenery that the earthponies planted all around their city. "Yeah, our big sisters can work things out between Cherry and Moonlight, can't they?" Scootaloo confidently waved off Apple Bloom's concerns. "Ah guess if you say so..." Apple bloom said, not completely sure herself, her focus being on something between the crates some way behind the pegasus. "What in tarnation?" Scootaloo also turned around, spotting the same thing Apple Bloom had. A white unicorn filly with light purple and pink hair poking her head up from between a set of crates, looking over at a set of unicorns in armour that were seemingly looking around for something. "What do you think she's hiding for?" Scootaloo asked. "Why don't we go over to ask?" Apple Bloom said walking over to the filly's hiding spot, silently approaching from behind with Scootaloo closely behind. The filly had no clue they were there until they were right behind her. "Hi there, what are ya doing?" She spun around, covering her mouth to avoid screaming in surprise. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow as the filly looked between the two of them. "I... I'm playing hide and seek! Yup! That's what I'm doing!" she squeaked, nervously glancing behind her at the two unicorns were getting closer. "Are you hiding from them?" Scootaloo bluntly asked, pointing at the two older unicorns. Sweetie's eyes widened and for a moment bit her lower lip. “Y-Yes,” she admitted. “You earth ponies know how to shake them, right? Please, can you help me?!” Apple Bloom was taken aback by the begging unicorn. “Yer a fugitive then?” “Y-yeah!” she answered. Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes but eventually accepted what she'd been told. “Alright, come with us.” “Bloom, I don't know, this really sounds like something Rainbow would do,” Scootaloo said carefully. “Anypony runnin' away from ponies like them are our friends, right?” “I'm not sure that's how that wor-” “Can we please leave?!” the filly interrupted, her nervousness increasing by the second. “Fine, fine, I still don't like it,” Scootaloo whined, “At least tell us your name.” “Sweetie B-... Just Sweetie.” Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow at that but didn't as further as the two unicorns were getting awfully close. They tried leaving the hiding spot as subtly as they could, sticking to cover wherever it was possible. They could see Cherry sitting against a wall, looking up at the open sky as they heard a shout from behind. “You three fillies, stop right there!” one glance behind them showed they'd been spotted. The shout though had also alerted Cherry who was standing ready for a fight as she saw the three fillies running towards them. “What did you do?!” Cherry exclaimed as she allowed the trio to jump onto her back. “No time! Run!” Apple Bloom called back to her, getting an enraged scream from the earthpony soldier, the speed she picked up surprising all three of the fillies. “If your sister won't kill you for this stunt, I will!” Cherry shouted as she turned corners and sprinted down streets and alleyways. It wasn't long before she had lost their tails and started heading back to the inn where the group was hiding. “So what is up with the unicorn?” Sweetie cringed. “She's a fugitive like us!” Apple Bloom answered, before Sweetie could say anything. “Is she now?” Cherry looked over her shoulder at the three fillies. “Tell me then, why are you running filly?” “I, uhh...” Sweetie fell silent as she had nothing to reply with. “Wait, you said you were fugitives?” Sweetie clamped her hooves over her mouth as she said it. “Alright, get off my back,” Cherry demanded, the three fillies sliding off as she sat down onto her butt. “You.” she poked sweetie on her chest. “Head back down that street and forget you ever saw us.” “B-But... And what if I get caught and tell the guard?” “Are you?” Cherry leaned forward, her voice having a very dangerous edge to it. Sweetie swallowed nervously, looking down the street where Cherry had pointed. “I-I can't...” she sniffed, “They'll recapture me...” “Recapture? and who do you mean?” Cherry asked as Sweetie teared up. “T-Those unicorns, they were guards from house Tinker. They want me to pressure m-my sister,” the small unicorn admitted. “I-I don't know where to go.” “Who's yet sister?” Apple Bloom asked, having stepped up next to Cherry. “Countess Rarity B-” “I changed my mind, you're coming with us.”