“...and that’s what led me to you. You were the one who tried to set Cozy Glow up, didn’t you? And what about Suri Polomare?”
He scoffed with a snarky little grin. “Heh. Guess I’m found out. But you have to admit, it was a pretty damn genius plan. Get the public to hate Cozy Glow, discredit the officer that set her free and get his entire agency disbanded!”
Solid plan, I had to admit. Cozy’s interactions with the general populace was still mostly rocky so it would be super easy to turn her against them. But I had one question. “Why? Once Ms. Coloratura--no. Once Rara tossed you out on your ass, you went into hiding like the disgusting swine you were. Trying to get her to skip out on a charity event for your own warty egotistical dickery. Clearly you’re just jealous that she has a successful life when you’re nothing.”
That struck a chord with him. The veins in his neck bulged, his left eyelid bulged, and his voice turned cold. “Do not mention that complete horse of a name to me. She’s old news. And for the record, I’ve been conducting business of my own without the need for some silly celebrity.” He looked at the kirin mare that held onto him, “Isn’t that right my dear?”
She nuzzled his cheek with her own. I had to admit, I didn’t expect somepony like him could even manage to get into a relationship. “That’s right, Sven baby,” she said in the quiet. Echo-y tone from before, “and for the record, he’s an absolute dream in the sheets--”
“I’m going to stop you right there. No one gives a damn. I thought the kirin were a kind that valued peace. Just what has he done to you, miss?”
“Hah!” The fiery mare scoffed at my words. Her echoing voice became louder as it assaulted my eardrums. “O-ho! So you just assume that we’re all the same, do you? That sounds quite inconsiderate from someone who set free an individual who nearly destroyed the world! My sexy businesspony of a stallion can’t conduct business with shit like that happening!”
So this one wasn’t being manipulated it seemed. She was legitimately attached to the guy.
But wait a second. ‘Business’? So there was more to this that we didn’t quite know about yet. Time to crack this case nut wide open. “Really?” I raised a doubtful eyebrow, “You mean to tell me the washed up and pitiful Svengallop has managed to not only--not only--find himself a mare who puts up with his shit, but found a successful business as well?”
“Oh yes,” he responded with that self-centered grin of his, “I think you’ll come to find that it’s quite the little...riot. Hmhmhm!” Both he and the kirin laughed to themselves. Disgusting. And the fact that they were out to ruin the life of someone else so readily was even more gross. All to protect some business of theirs? Just what even did they have?
Just when I was about to draw my weapon, I heard what could only be the most unexpected voices that hit my ears.
“Oh? What sort of business? We’d love to hear about it. All about it. Isn’t that right, Flam?”
“Mm-hm. Indeed, Flim. Now why don’t both of you exit the room quietly so we can avoid further conflict, yes?”
Those brothers had come to my rescue? I was in disbelief. I was entirely certain that their agency restoration was an elaborate ruse to get me on their good side. But no...it was true. They had come to help, and looked absolutely furious with the essence of daggers that bore right through them.
The kirin mare stuck out her tongue, and a part of her hoof lit ablaze.
Svengallop nudged her, and looked at the twin resort owners. “Ahem, what I meant to say was--”
“Cut the small talk,” Flam interrupted him, “We’ve seen and heard everything you’ve said.”
“You’re about to take a long walk into a short dungeon by the time we’re through with you,” Flim added, his horn lit up.
And yet the stallion with the pink mane didn’t seem to care. “Ha! And just what jurisdiction do you two have? You’re a pair of failed con artists running a hotel!”
“Not anymore…” Flam replied.
Svengallop responded with an inquisitive glare. “Oh?”
The brothers smirked at each other, and ripped off their normal attire and changed into their suits with pairs of shades. Their magic was poised to fire off a spell as they spoke in unison. “We’re ISA Agents of SMILE. And we will not tolerate such vile acts on our property. Cease your actions or be subject to punishment under the justice system of Equestria!”
ISA. Internal Service Affairs. I said it before and I said it again: I found it amazing that these two were actual agents.
But the arrogant stallion didn’t seem afraid. In fact, he was amused. “Heh. Oh la-dee-da. You two aren’t real agents. You’re nothing more than fools that nopony takes seriously! Time and time again the Apple family always bests you at everything. How shameful.”
“Oh really?” Flim raised an eyebrow, “Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is, ingrate!”
“Excellent idea,” Svengallop responded with a clap of his hooves.
The kirin mare giggled. “Ooooh...you’re all in trouuuble….”
This initially confused us all. Just what could a clap accomplish?
CRASH!
From behind the brothers, the door to the hot tub room was kicked open. And a dozen ponies burst through. Most of them stallions, but there were a few mares as well. All of them held some sort of weapon. Crossbows, grenade launchers, knives, magic, their bare hooves--all ready to battle.
“What the hell?!” I shouted, “You’re the leader of the elusive Mogul Mob?! Are you fucking insane?!”
From the corner of my eye, I noticed the yellow unicorn brothers. A small flash went off, and they nodded at each other.
Svengallop simple cackled. “Insane? Ha! True insanity is attempting the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So I stopped trying. I worked my way up through the black market, doing things nopony would ever expect from someone such as myself. Theft, gaslighting, fear mongering, destroying relationships. I did it all!” He said with a stomp of his hoof.
The kirin mare giggled. “Isn’t he just the greatest? I met him when he offered positions to join in his little gang. Turns out his organizational skills are unparalleled!”
“But with you setting that little horse of a mare free, it’s put quite the...damper on my business, we’ll say,” he said with a devilish grin, “But all of that’s going to change once she’s dead!”
“WHAT?!”
From the other room, I could see the brothers were trying their best to figure out how to approach the situation.
“Well? Are we going to stand around all day? Or are we going to fight?” Flam asked while he used his magic to twirl his mustache in a taunting manner.
The nervous Flim swallowed a lump in his throat. “Brother...are you sure this is a good idea? We don’t want to risk the lives of the patrons. Why don’t we take this outside?”
“Inside, outside, doesn’t matter to me,” Svengallop trotted over to his mob of mercenary ponies. “Oh and Freeze Flame, you know what to do.”
The kirin’s face lit up with pure ecstasy. “Ah! You mean…?!”
“Yes. The detective is all yours. Use him however you like.”
On command, she changed into the jet-black, fiery nirik once more. “Oh you better believe I’m going to do exactly what I want with him.”
Flam looked at me. “Pale? Distract that mare. We’ll deal with these lowly thugs. Come, brother! Activate the window trap!”
“Windo--” Before I could ask, something crazy happened.
Flim had pushed a button which forcefully ejected all of them out of the window and into the Las Pegasus square down below!
Everyone screamed. “AAAAAH!” Sven’s mob would all scatter across various areas of the square while the civilians had safely fled to the inside of whatever building they were closest to when the unicorn shouted.
The brothers landed near a fountain with their backs together to cover each other. Flam used his magic to grab a megaphone and shout into it. “Everypony! This is a citywide emergency! Run to the nearest building and stay inside until further--”
He was cut off by one of the mobster ponies that fired a crossbow bolt and knocked the megaphone away from him. “Ha!”
“Son of a--”
“Relax brother,” Flim assured him while he produced a small barrier with his own magic, “You got the message out, now let’s drive these crazy mercs out of here! Stay focused, stay alive.”
Flam used his magic to uncover a secret panel beneath the fountain, and pulled out some sort of shoulder-carried firecracker launcher. “I’m with you! Now who wants some?! The Flim-Flam Brothers stand for fair and honest business!”
I observed the chaos that ensued down below, and then I was tackled by the rage-filled nirik. We were sent tumbling down and out of the other side of the building from the steam room and onto the soft, yet firm cloud ground below us.
“Grrr!” I kicked her off of me.
The nirik mare spun around and landed upright. Now she trotted around in a wide circle like a predator ready to stalk prey.
We were on the southern side of the city away from major buildings. This must have been one of the parks. Interesting. But I had an important question on my mind. “Why Svengallop?” I asked. “What could he possibly have to offer you?!”
“You inconsiderate dingbat! Everything! Let me start from the beginning. You know about us Kirin, yeah? And how we live in Kirin Grove? That place is surrounded by the Peaks of Peril.’
I nodded, “Yeah. I know that much. But that still doesn’t explain--”
Her flame grew stronger. “SILENCE! Now...you must also be aware of the fact that our numbers are somewhat small. The previous generation of kirin only had three males while there were over a dozen females.”
Yikes! That was terrible--or heaven depending on who you asked--but it did explain why I didn’t see too many new kirin around nowadays. “I see...but why ally yourself with someone like Svengallop?”
“I’m getting there. Because of our low numbers, our leader, Rain Shine, has started that polyamorous relationships are encouraged to keep us around. That way, we’ll hopefully give birth to more male kirin and balance things out.”
Ouch. That was just the situation of Equestria but made far worse to the point of threatening their way of life. Even though Svengallop is abhorred by all, I could respect that. “Okay...but why Cozy? Why does Svengallop want Cozy put away so badly? To the point of manipulating others to commit crimes even. Did Suri even know what she was doing?”
“Hah! Of course not!” Freeze Flame threw her head back as she talked down to me, “The population of this world is so damn gullible that they’ll believe anything you tell them. Suri Polomare especially. Such a desperate little horse that’ll do anything for money.” She had a smug little grin and waved her hoof at me, “I’m surprised she didn’t try and beg you, the poor thing.”
So it was true. Suri had no real idea of what happened. But still, there was more I needed to know. “And about Cozy?”
“Hm.” Once more, the flaming pony began to trot in a wide circle while inspecting me to watch for my every move. “He never cared about that pegasus that much. In reality, it was I who wanted Cozy Glow framed for crimes and put back into stone. So I had him pull a few strings and his mob buddies set that whole thing up with that idiot of a pony Suri.” She snorted and giggled like a complete witch. “Heh heh heh! Genius, isn’t it?”
Well now. That was a shock. But it gave me more context. “But why did you want this?”
Her fire grew even more. The mare’s body shook and shivered from her emotions as they overtook her. “All those years ago in the final battle against Cozy, Tirek, and Chrysalis? My parents, my sister and my whole family were killed!”
I took a step back. I knew many injuries were sustained, but never imagined that ponies actually lost their lives. “Wh...how?!”
“I was a filly at the time. And when I heard that my mom, aunt, and sister all died in that battle...I cried. I cried and cried and cried. There was nothing I could do…” her fire went dim as she spoke of this, but her nirik form didn’t change. “So from then on, I vowed that I would never let anyone like them rise to power again. And you are just letting that murderer walk free?!”
Shit...she had every right to be upset. The death of one’s family--a family that cared about you--is not something one can shrug off so easily. “I...I understand. But I assure you, she’s not the same pony she was back th--”
A burst of blue and red fire whizzed passed my head. “LIES! ALL LIES! But no more...I won’t let someone like you cause another set of families to lose their lives to such a crazy pegasus like Cozy. So this is how it’s going down. You can either walk away from this and allow Svengallop to frame her so she gets put back into the stone prison. Or...we fight. And if we fight, one of us leaves this place a dead pony.”
Absolutely insane. That was not how to solve a problem. I shook my head. “There’s no need for that. We can be civil and--”
“If you want to be civil...then let Cozy go back to stone. Otherwise, you’ll be the one that has to die. Are you ready for that? Are you ready to die to ensure the safety of a mare who nearly destroyed the world in her youth?” She stood on her hind legs, flames lit up in both of her hooves.
I also stood on my hind legs, and reached into my vest. I glared at her with eyes of hatred. “I am.”
Meanwhile…
Corkscrew had just arrived to Las Pegasus station on the train. All he had to do now was fly up.
“Thank goodness Flash Drive was able to watch over the agency and Suri,” he thought to himself, “I knew I should’ve went with Pale to begin with. I could just feel that there was something off. But don’t worry buddy. I’m here.”
“This is gonna be the greatest plan.”