//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Got Your Six // by Revel Montaro //------------------------------// Purity Brilliance was enjoying her evening. The quarterly inventory of her holdings and earnings report that her team of auditors had worked tirelessly on had been better than expected. All the money the crown had been pouring into infrastructure and rebuilding the damage from the battle had brought considerable profits to wealthy property owners such as herself and her family. Thankfully, none of her holdings had suffered permanent damage and she and close allies had swooped in like hawks to buy up more of the precious mountain side land. Since her mother passed a year ago Purity was now the matriarch of House Sterling, one of the oldest noble houses that could still trace its roots back to before the founding of Equestria under the banner of the Two Sisters. Her husband, who she mostly tolerated because he was wise enough not to annoy her, had come from a minor house, but their holdings had still contributed nicely to what Purity now had. His holdings were a footnote on the last page. The noblemare was about to order a bottle of fine red wine to celebrate when there came a pounding on the estate door that echoed loudly off the lacquered wood and polished marble floors. The servants naturally took care of it. Purity’s delicate pastel green hooves never needed to touch a door unless she wished to do so. Her attention once again consulted her private cellar wine list the door forgotten. So many excellent vintages to choose from, she pondered when a royal guard barged into her dining room and dropped to a submissive bow with a servant only a few steps behind. “I’m sorry, m’lady, he insisted and muscled right past me.” Purity recognized the guard as Lieutenant Flag Staff. He had been part of her “charitable donation” group for some time and last she remembered, was considered the next best candidate to take over as Captain of the Guard for that undesirable, barely any noble blooded bookworm, Twilight Sparkle, ever since Celestia had apparently lost her mind as well as her desire to rule. Popular gossip going around all the most influential circles centered around that Celestia had lost her well hidden love child, a young adult mare unicorn, in an incident involving dangerous magic and that old fossil from a bygone era, Star Swirl the Bearded. The few details that had emerged had been skimmed mostly from Star Swirl himself who was difficult to follow on the best of days. No one dared press Celestia for more details, not after she sent a curious reporter running from the palace grounds. Soon after, the Sun Princess accelerated her desire to retire only to have it all blow up in her face along with Canterlot Castle courtesy of that monster, Tirek, Queen Chrysalis of the old changelings, and some little sociopathic pegasus call Cozy Glow. Their failed efforts meant they now resided as the newest additions to the maze sculpture garden, but not before Celestia had lost a considerable amount of her raw power, leaving her mane streaked with gray hairs and a noticeable slowness to her movements. If even part of it was true then a retirement home along the beach was perhaps the best place for the former Goddess of the Sun and her deviant, night loving sister. “Flag, you look… unwell.” Now that Purity was taking the time to observe the guard more closely, she noted the purplish bruises swelling just under his fur and medical bandages wrapped around his ribs. That probably did not bode well. She might need something stronger than wine if her assumptions were correct. “I apologize for the intrusion, councilor, but the matter is urgent. I would have come earlier, but I was hospitalized by a mutual enemy and felt it imperative that you be told.” A finely manicured hoof gestured for him to pause and dismiss the servant so he could leave and close the door. Purity touched an enchanted gem on the table next to her wine list and the room was sealed in a privacy bubble from any would be outside listeners. A moment later Purity signaled for him to rise. "You may speak freely now." “As you are aware, I was in good standing to take over for Captain Quick Strike after he decided to take an early retirement following Celestia’s abdication. Everything was going according to your long term plans and strategy until Raven Inkwell had suggested to Princess Twilight another possible candidate, the former commander of the Storm King’s invasion force, Tempest Shadow.” Purity snorted disgustedly. “That savage with the broken horn? How could the princess, even as young and inexperienced at leadership as she possibly consider such a brutish thug for captain? Perhaps Twilight Sparkle has already lost her mind due to stress after less than a year on the sun throne. A pity if so, I have not even had any of my long term plans bear fruit yet.” “I… cannot speculate on that front, but I know that Tempest has the princess's full support and the turncoat flaunted it proudly by declaring herself already captain even though she has not been officially commissioned by the princess or the council.” “If she truly has the princess’s support then that is only a matter of formality before the title rank becomes official.” Purity tapped her chin, considering her options. Things had been so much easier years ago when the only thing Celestia cared about was raising and lowering the sun and moon and dealing with her brat students at the school. The nobility and council took care of most of the day to day operations, only dealing with the crown if the matter required more money than they had already been lining their pockets with on the sly. Things changed after the Summer Sun Celebration in which Princess Luna had returned as her darker alter ego, Nightmare Moon. While Luna’s return and subsequent reinstatement as a diarch of Equestria had been a shock to the council, it had not altered the day to day business as usual, at least, not at first. Following Luna’s return had marked a cascading of incidents an changes including the invasion of the old changelings, the return of Discord, the reactivation of the Night Guard thestrals, Tirek, Discord again, stolen magic, stolen artifacts, disruptions, invasions, annoyances, one thing after another! How was one expected to live a life of wealth, power, and luxury with so many distractions. It had become increasingly difficult to make large piles of coin the last few years. Celestia had mostly turned a blind eye to the machinations of the nobility, but Luna wanted to prove she still had a right to rule and began scrutinizing details. Captain Shining Armor had often protested what he considered poor and unbecoming behavior from the nobility, especially when it came to how business practices were conducted in and around the city. Captain Armor saw himself as something akin to the Last Paladin from popular story books. Honorable and above reproach. He had been difficult to maneuver around. Quick Strike had at least been more… accommodating if expensive. If the fool before her was correct however, Purity would need to start over yet again. “Tell me in your blunt, honest opinion, Flag. Will she play ball or will she try to pound things out her own way all in the name of honoring Princess Sparkle-flank?” Flag touched his healed but still tender, aching ribs. “She did this as an opening volley to tell the guard as a whole we were weak and useless. She beat down several guards and not a single one of us could lay a hoof on her. She fully intends to reform the guard from the ground up. I understand from one of my contacts in legal that she had already requested a small mountain of documents related to the guard’s expenses to review. I have little reason to believe she will be… flexible.” “Hmm. Well, let’s give it a try and see. I will instruct one of my private couriers to start a drop line for standard fish feeding. If that fails then I will talk with my colleagues. A pony with as checkered a past as one Tempest Shadow has it should not be difficult to exploit even a perceived weakness. We have her removed in disgrace and failing that, we have her dealt with permanently. We have a few options to choose from.” Purity’s horn lit up a yellowish color similar to her eyes and a small pouch landed on the table near Flag, the familiar clink of coins sounding from the impact. “Do try to take care of yourself. You are still needed even if Miss Shadow chooses to play the game. You may leave.” Once the privacy shield was lowered and Flag Staff saw himself out, the butler returned and waited for his mistress to give her command. “Oat, please have letters sent to Lady Floral and Lord Coal. I wish to speak with them at their earliest convenience. Then contact one of our drop couriers. Instruct them to give a charitable donation to one Tempest Shadow tomorrow, the usual amount.” Purity considered for a moment to include Duke Brand in the discussion, but quickly dismissed it. He would know soon enough and no doubt try to take over like he usually does. Her attention finally returned to the wine list signaling the butler that the discussion was over. The butler nodded and left to see to his tasks. ---------- Tempest had never liked paperwork. In Storm King’s army she had minions who took care of that sort of thing for her and the few that tried to push the workload onto her had found themselves zap without hesitation. It was not surprising to any who had met her that she was more a pony of action than of planning or having the time or patience for dealing with the minutia of government bureaucracy. It had its purpose, some even loved it. As Tempest understood Twilight was known to dive head first into a pile of paperwork with a smile that was way, WAY too happy on her face. Tempest figured if she had asked, Twilight probably would have come joined her as she combed over page after eye-crossing page of expenses, projections, inventory stocks, and numerous things she had no idea what they were. Those were the ones she would circle to ask about. That, after all was why she was torturing herself now. She had no minions and so far only one lieutenant that was willing to work with her to ensure she did not make a fool of herself, which she was certain of there were plenty waiting for that to happen. It was not the first time in her life that she had had to prove herself as capable to silence the naysayers and jeers. When the former commander of the Storm King’s assault force had taken an unexpected, and honestly, quite impressively aimed crossbow bolt to the throat the dead minotaur had left an open opportunity. Tempest had been climbing the ranks quickly leading small skirmish forces in the lands near Zebrica and the Eastern Islands. Most adversaries had never seen such an aggressive unicorn and assumed with her broken horn that she was magically invalid or at least weakened. Few understood that her broken horn did not mean she had less power, it meant she had less fine control of the power she could unleash. Nearly every unicorn would learn basic levitation and telekinesis before they even earned their cutie mark. Tempest was no exception. But unicorns with proper functioning horns could easily manipulate objects with the same dexterity that a pegasus could do with wings. Opening doors, turning pages, lifting everyday objects, things most unicorns took for granted Tempest had to focus all her attention on to keep them from exploding in flame or being crushed. In battle however, such control was unnecessary. She was the wild storm that any sane creature feared and ran from. Back among ‘normal’ ponies Tempest had to once again employ those fine concentration techniques she had honed on her own to prove that not only was she a capable warrior, but also a capable and intelligent leader and of course, to not tarnish Twilight reputation for choosing her. If she had to step down, it would not be because she failed to give her all or because stuck up nobles could only see a thug in black armor who embarrassed them. It would be because the job was simply beyond her expertise and she had no business doing it until she learned how. Not unlike Flash, Tempest felt leadership had to be earned, not given because who you know or who you were related to. Stupid politics, ‘the game’ they liked to call it. Tempest was drawn out of her inner thoughts when Flash set down a takeout box in the one unoccupied space on her desk and then another box for himself. She had not realized how hungry she was until the smell of something delicious tickled her nose sounding a mighty rumble from her belly. Using her hooves, Tempest carefully opened the box of fried and tossed noodles with mixed vegetables. It looked as good as it smelled. Over the years, the former commander had to sample foods from all over the world, some she would rather never think about and spoil her ravenous appetite. Having to command forces that were primarily not ponies meant being exposed to what others preferred. The yeti shock troopers mostly sufficed with fish and seafood when they were on the move. Easy to catch from the ships, easy to store in barrels for later. Those did not bother her and she would even admit that some of it was not bad when properly seasoned. But then, sometimes they were on land and would take a town more violently than others. Blood and casualties were unavoidable. The yetis came from an environment where nothing went to waste. That even meant dead defenders. She squashed those memories before they once again became to vivid. Tempest shook her head and focused on what was in front of her, the former smells thankfully leaving her mind. “I don’t think I’ve ever had this. What is it?” Flash Sentry finished chewing and them smiled. “Kirin cuisine. They call it stir fry. A couple came to Canterlot a few months ago to start a restaurant. It’s pretty good and business is booming as a result. I also have some egg drop soup if you’d like some. It looks… unpleasant but taste sooooo good.” Tempest nodded. “Thanks, I'll give it a try." Her eyes turned to the window where the sky was fading from orange to a darkened shade of twilight. "You know, the sun just set. Your shift is over and you can head home or back to the barracks, which ever you prefer. I’ve already abused you pretty thoroughly today.” “I was assigned to you so I didn’t have anything else to do and we still have a small stack to go through, plus you said you had questions on some of the line items you did not know what they were.” “Okay, yes, but you’re off duty. We can get to that tomorrow.” “I don’t mind, think of it as a date.” Tempest deadpan scowled at the blue maned pegasus to the point he was afraid she really was going to blast him out through the wall. “Orrr not.” “I don’t date. Or, more accurately, other ponies don’t want to date me. I’m not ‘dateable material’ or something like that. I read it in a magazine while sitting on a train. Whatever, doesn’t matter.” Flash rolled his eyes and sighed. “Pfft, whatever is right. Look, if it makes you uncomfortable I get it, but don’t sell yourself short. You are attractive, trust me. Anyhow, the old captain had overtime request forms in one of these drawers. I can fill it out and submit it if you like. That will keep everything above board and no pony will think you are abusing me. Better?” “I… thank you, yes. I just…” Tempest shook her head and just dove into her dinner to avoid the conversation and the rising blush in her cheeks. Flash, much to his credit, let the conversation die where it was. After they finished eating, Tempest first took note of the name of said kirin restaurant for future reference, secondly, she retrieved the stack of invoices and expenses that she had circled to ask Flash about and brought them to the center of the desk. Flash took that as his cue that they were getting back to work and set his own empty bowl down. “Well," he began, "I can’t say for certain what all these expenses are, but I recognize some of the abbreviations and project names. For instance, the TS-11u was to begin updating the dress uniforms and armor to better align with Princess Twilight’s preferred color schemes. I know that may seem silly, but Raven and several others including Princess Celestia and Princess Luna thought it was important.” “No, that makes sense even if it is a waste of good coin. I suppose with the armor it mostly just involves adding purple trim to parts and updating the insignias to Twilight's crest. The dress uniforms are probably being fully redone. That will be good for the business that is contracted for that.” Flash nodded. “Pretty much. I'm actually stoked for the new, non armor dress uniforms. I heard they were designed by Twilight's friend, Rarity. Now EIS7B7… I have no idea what that is and it has a reoccurring expense allotment. Not a hefty one, but still going out every week. I would flag those to bring up to Raven or one of the undersecretaries who deal with the budget allocations from the council of nobles when you meet them.” “Ugh,” Tempest rolled her eyes and fought down the bile in the back of her throat, “nobles. Who even decided the criteria for such a ridiculous standard as nobility? Have any of these ‘noble families’ done anything as of late to earn their wealth and titles?” Flash shrugged. “Debatable. Ultimately irrelevant. Unless they do something truly sinister like treason or organize a coup the family will still retain the title even if the instigator is removed in shame. Most of the council members’ families date back to the founding of Equestria or even beyond, but records get fuzzy after that as I understand.” Tempest was about to comment further when a knocking on her office door gave her pause. She had not been expecting anyone, especially after sundown, but it could be a guard or courier reporting news. Tempest was about to get the door when Flash jumped to his hooves and opened it first. The two officers looked down at the earth pony mare who was standing there. Her smile seemed forced to Tempest, just a bit too wide. Her faint yellow coat was the color of freshly churned butter and was complimented well by her bubble gum pink mane with mint color streaks that was cut smart in the front similar to Twilight’s and pinned up in a hightail in the back. The only distinguishing article of clothing she had was a expertly tied, fine looking navy blue bowtie around her neck. “Can I help you?” asked Tempest. The earth pony’s purple eyes lit up and met hers without any hesitation. “Actually, yes! You absolutely can! I understand you were able to procure some documents related to the guard’s annual budget that I have been trying to get my hooves on for quite some time, but was told by the clerk’s office and my boss that they were classified without probable cause. You would be doing me a HUGE favor if you would allow me access to peek at a few items. I really won’t take much of your time.” Flash looked back to Tempest and found the new captain staring down at their unexpected arrival with a flat look that was a cross of boredom mixed with ‘what did I just step in’? Tempest had made no move to invite the mare in. “And why would I do that if they were off limits to you before?” “Ah, yes, excellent question. You see, I am the chief agent for the Equestrian Intelligence Service, we report directly to Raven Inkwell.” “The what?” asked Flash. “Never heard of you,” added Tempest. The visitor let out a scoff of a laugh and rub the back of her neck. “Yes, well, we are a secret agency of sorts, but if I’m being honest, bluntly truthful really, you probably never heard of the EIS because we are painfully underfunded because our budget is rolled into the guard's annual budget and we are near the bottom of the list of importance. Your predecessor said we rated about the same level as the washroom and kitchen cleaners. He was a jerk, by the way and probably on the take if you never met him.” “Riiiiight.” Tempest relaxed slightly or at least gave the impression that she had by sitting back on her haunches. “So, what exactly will get accomplished by you looking over said documents… and you never gave me your name.” The earth pony smiled mischievously and posed in a way that made Flash arch and eyebrow while Tempest just slow blinked pondering if the ‘secret agent’ was in fact just a crackpot or distraction from a real attacker coming from the blind side. “Ah, yes, my apologies. I did forget to introduce myself. I get like that sometimes, but you can call me, Agent Autumn Fall.” Tempest sighed. Yep, definitely a crackpot. Having come up with her own fake name Tempest remembered what it had been like to try and introduce herself the first few times to the other Storm Guard recruits. After no one took Fizzlepop Berrytwist seriously she had not only developed the Tempest Shadow name, but started on the persona to go with it. She had been laughed at the first few times because she had tried too hard on the delivery. No one introduces themselves with such flair unless they are a stage magician or actor. “That’s not your real name.” The mare’s expression bounced quickly between shocked, to annoyed to suddenly angry confident all in a span of two seconds. “Oh, I guess you would know all about aliases wouldn’t you, Fizzlepop?” Tempest’s stoic expression broke and her horn began to glow and pop with magical buildup. “I don’t know you and you certainly don’t know me. You do not have the right to call me that. Do it again and your supposed department budget will be the least of your concerns tonight.” Flash looked back and forth between to the two mares suddenly completely confused by the sudden change in atmosphere. “What’s a fizzlepop?” The visitor waved with her hoof at the door. “Alright, Captain Grouchy Pants, I didn’t come here to start a fight or make enemies. But this would go smoother if you would be so kind as to invite me in, yes?” Tempest gestured for Flash to step aside and walked back to her desk. “You have two minutes to make your case before I get bored and kick you out.” “Time limits, how annoying. Alllllrighty then!” The earth pony adjusted her bowtie and ran a hoof through her hightail mane. She then took a breath and cleared her throat. “Well, as you may or may not know Equestria does in fact have an intelligence agency for gathering information. We had at our inception three divisions. One for operations inside Equestria called S.M.I.L.E., one for spying on other nations called F.O.I.L. and a third that catalogued and recorded everything that could have been considered a threat to the nation, the E.I.S.” “Nice acronyms. Too bad they are about as useless as your departments.” ‘Autumn’ gestured her agreement with a hoof wave and a nod. “Touché. As you already do know Celestia was and still is not a big fan of spying in general, but gave the other divisions time to work and do their jobs, at least until the return of Nightmare Moon that is. Everything changed after that. The other two divisions were shut down and our budget was so severely cut that we couldn’t roll all the agents into the E.I.S. after the merger. May of them, some damn good agents, had to be let go. The results of our downsizing are… well I don’t have to explain it to you. We failed to see a changeling army and of course an entire invasion force or airship. Like you said, we are almost useless other than just cataloging information we gather.” “So, you are knocking on my door in the hopes that I will vouch for you to Twilight and the council to increase your budget?” Tempest asked. “Yes and no. While I would LOVE a bigger budget, what I really need is to find out where all the money the guard already has is going. You see, in addition to gathering information on outside threats, ancient monsters, invaders, and what not, we try to keep an eye on the inside threats as well. Magical corruption, dangerous artifacts, high profile theft and money laundering. I personally have been trying to get my hooves on the guard budget and expense reports for a while because I know all the way down to my hooves there is money going places it shouldn’t. I just can’t prove it and every time I tried to assert authority on the matter the nobility would cry to Celestia or Raven and they would shut down my operations. They felt it was worth the lost coins to just keep things status quo with the old houses. The problem is, you let somepony steal from the cookie jar too many times they just get bolder and keep taking until they reach a point that it’s not theft anymore, it’s just good business. And that, captain, is wrong any way you look at it.” “So, what are you proposing?” The yellow mare beamed and she clapped her hooves together far too happily for Tempest’s liking. She seemed to bounce from playful to deadly serious faster than Pinkie Pie on a caffeine rush. “Since we don’t know where the money is going and to whom the best thing to do would be to reset the entire budget to zero and start over.” Flash visibly bristled and Tempest arched an eyebrow. She was not an economist, but that just sounded all kinds of bad. “If the guard budget was zeroed none of the guards would come to work because they would not get paid until the expenses were reconciled. You would see a city wide revolt by the ones that are supposed to put down a city wide revolt!” Okay, okay! I see your point,” the visitor quickly backpedaled. “I was just throwing it out there. Now, since without even looking at those documents, I can tell there are quite a few programs and allocations how about you zero the budget, but keep only the things you absolutely need. That way we can see which dirty rats come scurrying from the dark first crying afoul. Keep the guard’s pay, obviously keep my measly budget so I can keep my agents paid, but cut anything you consider unknown.” Tempest snorted, holding up a random page with items circled on it. “Interesting proposal since that is exactly what I was planning to do anyhow. I’ve identified at least a dozen programs and outgoing expenses that I have no idea what they are and was going to present them to the committee for clarification before proposing they be cut. An army runs best when it runs lean.” The earth pony's eyes lit up, her smile a bit more genuine. “No, this is good, very good, surprisingly good! You go forth with your plan and I can wait and listen and not have to expose myself any more than they may already suspect because all the attention will be on you.” “Not exactly wanted attention,” Flash mumbled, but both mares heard him. “Since you are going forward with your plan there is nothing I need to see directly, but you should keep a copy of the suspected documents in case the ones you have now go missing later. If you have any questions or concerns you can contact me through your boy-toy over there.” Tempest made a throat clearing sound as the strange mare turned to leave. “Yes, I could, except we already established that the name you gave me was fake.” “And I have the list of important contacts and department heads that Princess Twilight gave me, which much to my surprise DOES have a contact name for the Equestrian Intelligence Service now that I look at it again. But you are not on it,” said Flash eyeing the visitor more suspiciously. Interestingly, the yellow mare just groaned and rolled her eyes. “Ughhh! Fiiiiine. Don’t show me the list.” She gestured for Flash Sentry to lean forward. “I’m going to whisper a name in your ear then you look to confirm it.” Tempest watched as ‘Autumn’ did so and then Flash looked down at his parchment and nodded. “Checks out.” “You can confirm with Raven tomorrow if you still have suspicions, but it might be best not to mention we had this meeting. Just in case.” Tempest gestured for the agent to leave and she did so with a bounce in her step and sway of her mane and tail. Tempest next gestured for Flash to show her the list of contact names. Down, near the bottom of the list was a contact name for the director of the E.I.S. “Sour Sweet,” Tempest shrugged, “I’ve heard worse.”