//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Got Your Six // by Revel Montaro //------------------------------// Ever the forward thinker and planner, Raven Inkwell had booked a section of Princess Twilight’s time at dinner for Tempest to sit down and relax with her friend as well as talk about how things were progressing with the state of the guard. One could not be the princess's personal assistant after all if one could not multitask. Since most of the castle was still under reconstruction or renovation, Twilight was currently a long term guest of the Gilded Horn of Canterlot. One of the most prestigious hotels in city who were more than happy to take the crown’s coin in exchange for whatever accommodations the princess needed. The notoriety alone had ensured that all the rooms below the top floor remained booked solid at all times. Tempest imagined that even at a discounted rate that the penthouse royal suite which Twilight was currently living and working out of came at quite the stack of bits every month. The two guards from A company who she had not learned their names yet saluted before knocking on the door with a hoof. A moment later, Raven opened the door to admit Tempest and let the servant with the dining trolley exit. Once the door was closed, Tempest gave a bow. “Oh, you don’t have to do that, Tempest. Please, come sit and eat.” Tempest smirked. It never ceased to amuse her out 'unprincess' like Twilight really was. “Pretty sure I do have to. Besides, it’s good practice for when we are in public, dignitaries, ambassadors and all that. I’m still getting use to this whole legitimate royal guard job after all.” "I know the feeling. I'm still getting use to being in charge of everything even though I've been preparing for this for almost a year now." Twilight giggled and pulled the chair out for her friend with her magic. Tempest sat and scanned over the generous spread of fruits, cheeses, bread, and some sort of stew or soup. With a nod from Twilight, the mulberry unicorn began to load up a plate. “Raven,” Twilight said to her assistant, “please join us, I know you must be hungry too and this is a work dinner.” The cream colored unicorn smiled politely and summoned her own plate and stacked a few choices before pulling out the seat next to Tempest and sat down. The three ponies ate in silence for several minutes while savoring the fresh delicacies that had been selected and prepared for the evening. “Where would you like to begin, You Highness?” asked Raven, reassuming her role and formality. Twilight set her empty bowl of soup down after loudly slurping the remains dry. Raven twitched a bit, but got over it quickly. She had seen Celestia commit just as many poor manner faux pas over the years. Especially if cake was involved. “Well, first I would like to hear how my friend is adjusting to her new role and if she has any concerns before we get into the nitty gritty of it.” Twilight gestured for Tempest to speak freely. Tempest cleared her throat. She hesitated for a moment, turning her eyes back to the large, red lacquered double doors that were the entrance to the suite. A moment later Twilight's eyes widened and she nodded in understanding. Tempest felt Twilight conjure a privacy bubble and nodded her thanks. If she had to speak of the guard she did not want to the two out front to be gossiping hens... or worse. "Well, as far as me personally, I’m doing fine. My office is large and accommodating, the water for showers is hot and relaxing, the bed is almost too soft for what I am use to, and the work… well, they are not completely terrible, but there is much to be done that’s for sure.” Tempest grimaced as she considered how to word her report without sounding ungrateful for the opportunity Twilight had given her and simultaneously lace the entire undertaking with venomous disappointment. “To be honest though, they need a lot of work and I don’t just mean as far as physical training. Many of them lack discipline. The majority of them are used to being lazy, just standing around waiting to salute the princess or a superior, maybe show off how shiny their armor is for display. I guess that sort of thing makes for great photo ops with a family of tourist, but not so great for doing doing their jobs. There are a few that are not bad bordering on decent, especially the bat ponies, but I wish I was not starting quite so much from scratch. Combine all that with the obvious fact that quite a few of them hate my guts and... well, here we are.” “Hate your guts? For the fact that you attacked the city and captured our leaders or for the fact that you were promoted to captain without spending time in the guard?” Tempest turned to Raven and waved her hoof back and forth. The blunt honesty was appreciated. “Eh, both really. Some more than others, but after just a few days of interaction I have had to beat sense into quite a few of them and even had one arrested for trying to blast me while making a point inside a sparring circle. I know I’m not making many friends with my methods, but if it helps keep them alive and give them a fighting chance next time things turn ugly, well, I can live with that.” “How are things working out with Flash Sentry?” said Twilight while summoning a small bunch of grapes to her plate. “You two are still working well together I hope?” “Flash is a decent soldier, has a good head on his shoulders, but sometimes I feel like he is more worried about being liked and being friendly than focusing on being the best he can be. He holds himself back. I just wonder if he even notices that.” Tempest watched for Twilight’s facial reactions carefully. “He also seems to be on quite the informal base with you.” “Oh!” Twilight blushed and giggled a bit. “I was hoping that would not come up, but since you are already suspecting things let me go ahead and dispel the mystery. Flash and I went out on a few friendly dates a few years ago not long after he started working with the crystal guard in the Empire. He… reminded me of another pony I was crushing on pretty hard at the time. Plus, he is easy to talk to annnnnnd is easy on the eyes." Twilight blushed for a moment, but it faded as quickly as it had appeared, shaking her head. “However, it never got past those few friendly dates. Don't get me wrong, it was not his fault, obviously. It was just, I was so busy and while he was similar to my crush they were two very different individuals and he and I ended up having so little in common as far as likes and talking points of conversation. He is very much into being a guard and all things military and while a good listener his eyes were definitely glazing over when I would describe some of my books or project ideas to him. We knew it was never going to be more than friendship so we agreed to stop trying to make it work. We've remained good friends ever since. I was hoping with that military commonality that you two would get along great.” Tempest nodded. “He has been friendly and extremely helpful so I can adjust to all of this. Thank you for assigning him to me.” Tempest considered how she should broach the heart of the topic she really needed to discuss and ultimately decided the best way was to attack it head on like she often did. “That's all the good news though. As far as all the others… it’s hard to say where their loyalties lie.” “What do you mean?” Twilight gestured for her friend to continue. “I had a pony try to drop a bribe to me yesterday morning. A sizable bag of bits. I chased him down and then had the local authorities hold him while I met with the councilors, but when I came back for my prisoner he was gone. Apparently, two guards, using fake names got to him first and now my only lead into how deep the corruption in the guard ranks goes is in the wind.” “That is most unsettling,” said Raven, setting her tea down, a look of worry and disgust on her face. “What action do you plan to take next if I may ask?” “There is not really anything I can do about it right now. Without evidence it would just sow further dissident and turmoil and I’m more focused on getting my officers properly trained so they can pass that knowledge on down the chain. Obviously, I’ll keep an eye and ear out for additional corruption, but I would honestly rather leave the skulking and spying to your agents, Raven.” “My agents?” Tempest’s ears flattened out in annoyance. Normally, Tempest did a better job of schooling her emotions but the assistant's reaction caught her off guard. Was it possible that the pony who had visited her the other night was also in on the whole bribe scheme and just lied about everything she said? “A pony from the EIS named Sour Sweet came to visit me the other night. Though she tried to give me a pseudo name at the time, but I saw right through it. She said she works for you.” Raven groaned and momentarily lifted her glassed to massage the bridge of her nose. “Oh dear, what did she do this time?” “Nothing, we just talked. She had some ideas about working together to deal with the corruption in the ranks and other cross department collaborations. I saw no harm in sharing the burden and what little information I did have. It’s an on going process.” Twilight tapped her chin. “I know the name, but I can’t recall if I have met her personally.” “I usually try to prevent that, Your Highness. Sour Sweet is very good at what she does, which is why I put her in charge of the department, but she is… eccentric to say the least. She can be difficult to deal with so I still require her and her field agents to report directly to me so I can assess and determine for myself if it merits passing on to the crown. Despite her many, many faults she is trustworthy, Tempest. I vouch for her loyalty to the princess and her work ethic.” Tempest let out a relieved breath, one less thing to worry about. “Thanks, I appreciate that, Raven. You had me worried for a minute there that I had been played.” Tempest stood and bowed again. “I should probably go since I have nothing else to share at this time. I still have a mountain of inventory audits to go through and an office space to organize.” “Don’t hesitate to come to me for any reason, Tempest. You’re my friend and I want you to have as many friends as you could ever want here.” Tempest’s smile was warm and genuine. “Thanks, Twilight.” ---------- Not far from the palace complex an early evening dinner party was commencing at one of the most wealthy estates not just in Canterlot but perhaps in the entire world. There was no special occasion this time, some of the wealthy elite of the merchant class and nobility liked to throw such occasions to keep in contact with business partners and occasionally make new connections. The nobility often threw such low key events just to show off a bit to one another. What is the point of power if not to flaunt it? A quiet saying that many such lords lived by. Duke Gilded Brand was the patriarch of House Platinum, the ancient house that had once ruled old Unicornia. Something he felt was necessary to point out from time to time to those that needed reminding or the fact that he had politically maneuvered Princess Celestia into a corner on a dire matter of state and as a demanded reward, had his son, Blueblood, officially declared a ‘prince’ even if not directly a member of the royal family like Cadenza. Still, it brought great notoriety to his house and was always a useful bargaining chip amongst the different factions and interest. Should they ever forget who was on top he need only point to himself or his son. Almost no moves in the great game that was Canterlot politics went unnoticed by Duke Brand or his army of agents. Which was why he had thrown a little soiree to both confirm that members of the nobility were in fact moving pieces and to remind them that he DID know. Duke Brand had engaged in all the appropriate pleasantries and hospitalities for about an hour before quietly pulling two particular nobles off to his study to show them his latest acquisition. Once inside, Brand’s horn lit with a golden magic aura that sealed the room in a privacy bubble. Brand was not a skilled mage, but he had perfected the one spell and found it quite useful over the years. “So,” the pristine white unicorn with the salt and pepper mane began, much of the pleasantness disappearing from his posh voice, “which one of you two idiots thought it was a great idea to conduct a drop in broad daylight on the rough and tumble new captain, hmm?” Grey Coal’s jaw hung open for a moment before he snapped it closed and looked towards Purity Brilliance. Duke Brand rolled his eyes and sighed. “I should have known.” Purity shot Coal a seething glare with her burnt orange eyes for doing such a poor job of controlling his expressions. “Honestly, that was so stupid I honestly suspected it was Grey who had ordered it. You are usually better than that, PeeBee.” “At least you were wise enough to put up the barrier before using the pet name you like to call me when you are balls deep inside me, Gil.” Grey blushed deeply despite already being aware of the affair that was more for fun than political gain, at least as far as he could tell. “Regardless, I do apologize. I had ordered the drop to test the waters on what kind of pony we would be dealing with. I failed to inform the courier to be more… subtle.” Brand shrugged. “It would have been done soon enough by one of my own couriers, but had you come to me I would have suggested feeling the waters more carefully first. We only just met her face to face the other afternoon and lack too much crucial information about Miss Shadow and that always makes me nervous. I take it you did not gleam anything of use from our meeting?” “Actually,” Grey injected, now that the conversation was back in more comfortable territory, “I felt we learned a great deal. First and foremost, we learned that Captain Shadow is a diehard loyalist to Twilight Sparkle. No doubt still grateful to the princess for leniency of her crimes and saving her life during the final battle of the siege. She has no desire to be rich and will not be bought and has already shown a furious desire to begin reforming the guard from the ground up.” Duke Brand stepped over to his desk and examined a few papers and books, nothing of interest, but moving around gave him time to process the information and appear as if there was something useful or scandalous on the massive oak hulk that sat just ahead of a bookshelf full of ancient tomes and scrolls. Purity doubted the duke had read even a quarter of them, but did not poke him about it unless it was useful. Brand let her get away with quite a few insults and slights of disrespect because of their affair, but there were limits. “We had slowly and carefully obtained a steady flow of royal bits to use for many of our guard bribes as well as off the record docking and goods transfers all while under the nose of the two sisters and their previous captains. Such sweeping reforms jeopardize the system we have in place.” The duke turned and gestured with a hoof. It was a good thing he was so attractive for his age, Purity thought, or else she would fine such theatrics painfully annoying. Still, he needed to reach a point soon. “That is something I cannot abide.” “You have a plan?” Grey asked with an arched brow. “I assume you both still have all the items we reported as ‘stolen’ during the siege locked up out of sight?” Purity scoffed. “Of course. What fool defrauds an insurance adjuster nearly a million bits in precious artifacts and art only to then put said items back on display so soon after reimbursement?” “I’m sure there are such fools in the world,” Brand commented quietly before clearing his throat. “Since the good captain cannot be persuaded to the nature of the game the easiest thing to do is to simply remove her from the playing board.” Purity's grin was practically feral even her eyes seemed to dilate with the joyful thoughts of murder. “I would prefer a more ‘permanent’ removal. Allow me to invite her over to a private event and you will never see the brute again.” Brand sighed. Purity Brilliance only appeared sweet and coy to those that did not know her. For one such as himself who knew her QUITE well the only thing that generally topped her bloodlust was her lust for carnal pleasures. “I would rather not go with that first. It would draw too much attention from the princess and those loyal to her.” Purity scoffed again. “That undeserving, commoner who stumbled into alicorn princesshood? And I use to think the stories of how Cadenza earned her wings were ridiculous. At least she was purportedly the descendant of a long lost noble line from the Crystal Empire. But that book worm? Not a drop of hard earned noble blood flows through her veins. Celestia must have truly gone senile in this last year to choose to retire and hoof over the throne to Sparkle alone.” “Such blasphemy, my dear,” Duke Brand said with a smile. She knew he shared her opinions on their ‘rulers’ since they had discussed it more than once behind closed doors. “Nevertheless, even without knowing all we can about the captain it is common knowledge she was part of that barbarian satyr’s army long enough that she is not above suspicion such as theft. We just need to put the pieces in place and have our loyal guards move in to seal the deal.” “I can see where you are going with this. Very well, Gil. We will try it your way first.” ---------- Tempest was sitting at her desk. It was officially her desk now. Just like the stack of paperwork that she was thankfully almost done with was hers as well. It had been one week since Twilight had asked her to accept the job and only slightly less than a week since she had accepted and began pounding on the guards to better prepare them for what was really out there beyond the borders of Equestria. There had been an offer to mark the promotion with a public ceremony, but naturally Tempest had declined. There was work to be done and it was a waste of good money for publicity that she did not give a griffon's behind about. Instead she compromised and just had the captain's stars insignia magically tacked to her armor's shoulder guards, done publicly Her officers had come a long way in less than a week and some of them could not only block her attacks they had been successful at landing a few hits of their own. With such promising results Tempest was now planning to move up the training of the company sergeants by at least two days. Most of that would be handled by the officers who were ready to pass on the freshly earned knowledge, but she would supervise. That was acceptable. According to the last scry call she had received from Vector the minotaur was still two weeks out from arriving and would still have to take a train from the coast to reach Canterlot. At least with the invitation and signed pass from the princess he would have no trouble with port authority and crossing the country once he landed. Now she just needed to find the damn shields the expeditionary force had left behind. The guard had made an official seizure notation and she had found the record of it, but not where they had stashed the shields after they had been taken. Flash Sentry was helping her with that by trying to track down the ones who had actually taken the inventory and wrote the report. Tempest was not sure if any pony in the city really knew how valuable they were or if they were just stolen for trophies to put on display in the homes of the wealthy and elite to talk about over a snort of brandy. It honestly would not surprise her. In either case it did displease her greatly. She really did not want to give Vector her black combat armor to be reworked. She would if she had to, but Tempest also had her own, personal reasons for not wanting to do that. A knocking on the door pulled the captain out of her brooding thoughts. “Enter.” The door swung open and Flash Sentry entered with two bags tucked up under his wings. He set them down just long enough to salute his commanding officer. Tempest, returned the gesture as best she could while remaining in her seat. She then eyed the bags that had the shape and smell of takeout food. “I had a feeling you were going to try and pull another all nighter to get the last of the audit done,” Flash said before removing his helmet and securing it to his armor hook on the left side of his body plate. “I figured I would just drop you off a bag of the good stuff before heading back to the officer’s mess. Unless…” Tempest arched a brow. She had a feeling what he was getting at. Despite her best efforts the persistent pegasus was wearing down many of her social barriers faster than Pinkie Pie with her surprise attack hugs. He was charming for certain, but his quick wit and ability to work tirelessly without complaint had proven to be invaluable for the break in week. Still, she was not going to give into him that easy. He wanted her personal time, he had to earn it. “Unless?” Flash smiled. “Unless you would rather not eat alone. I read an article that said it's bad for the digestive system.” Tempest narrowed her eyes, but gave him the tiniest of smirks that she knew he would see. “Not a date! Just two comrades of the service that are hopefully becoming friends sitting down and eating in a certain vicinity of one another, perhaps sharing in conversation to keep the mood light. I could tell you about the first time I tried Crystal Empire fare food. It was more interesting than it sounds.” Tempest could not keep from letting out a small snicker. He was so damn charming it was not fair sometimes. And those big blue eyes… She let out an overdramatic sigh and gestured to the empty chair and tiny open space on the corner of her desk. “I suppose I will allow it. You did very well this afternoon on our drills. You’re not the best, but definitely not the worse. I think if you focused just a bit more you could even take on Flanker, you know, for a few minutes.” “I’ll take that as a compliment, captain.” Flash opened the sacks and began setting out the salads and hay fries. He set the sandwiches off to the side since there was no desk space for them. After the first course was quickly wiped out, Tempest once again underestimating how hungry she actually was, she carefully levitated over her sandwich. It floated with a wobble in her magic as her horn let out the occasional spark and stray bolt. Flash wanted to comment he could have just passed it to her, but he had already upset her once a few days ago when he had accidently commented on her unsteady levitation field while lifting some equipment. It was a sore spot and now he knew better. “Any luck on finding those ferronite shields?” Flash finished swallowing and nodded. “I talked with requisitions. The CSGU magi research division were the last ones who had seen or used them according to records. We missed it earlier because they did not describe them as shields. It simply said, ‘artifacts.’ I’m going to go speak with their head professor first thing in the morning. Hopefully they didn’t turn them all into atoms or something.” “Finally, some good news.” “I told you I would give it my all and that’s what I’m going to do. I make a promise, I keep it.” Tempest was about to say something snarky when a hoof pounded on her door far harder than it needed to be. It sounded like an armored hoof as well. Rather than call out, Tempest stood and rounded her desk. Flash caught the scowl on his captain’s face and immediately set down his dinner, slid his helmet back on, and kicked his chair to the corner in case he needed extra room to maneuver. Using her magic, Tempest opened the door. Standing front and center was Lieutenant Flag Staff, a smile on his face that was anything but pleasant and a rolled up scroll in the crook of his foreleg. Tempest’s eyes then immediately took note of the three other guard privates that were standing behind him with crossbows that were armed but pointing to the ground. “Good evening, captain.” Tempest kept her expression as neutral as possible. “Lieutenant. Is there a problem I should be made aware of?” “That depends on how you react in the next few seconds.” That was a threat, not thinly veiled in the least. Tempest had to fight down the surge that almost boiled out of her horn, steadying her breath with meditative practice. “Clarify.” Flag Staff unrolled the scroll. “Tempest Shadow. I have a signed warrant for your arrest.”