Cloudsdale
Spitfire hummed as she flew in the skies of Cloudsdale, unbearable boredom having driven her from home very quickly after she had awoken that morning. Orion had left earlier than her for an assignment in Canterlot so she had been struck with a bit of wanderlust. Spitfire struggled to recall the last time she truly had no responsibilities to anypony but herself and, thusly, the opportunity to satiate such a desire.
She continued to fly for the better part of the morning, eventually deciding to window shop as she moved from block to block. After stopping in an outdoor diner for a light lunch consisting of a fruit salad and fresh lemonade, she soon made her way back to the park she was in a few weeks ago. She wasn’t terribly surprised to see a dozen or so young fillies and colts playing in and around the small playground, their respective parents or foal sitters lingering a small distance away.
“Captain Spitfire” a stallion called from somewhere she couldn’t see.
‘Oh buck me…’ She cringed internally upon sitting up to get a look at the stallion. Her attitude quickly changed once she got a look at the pony. He was a rather yellow-toned Pegasus with a dark green mane, his purple eyes almost locking onto Spitfire directly.
“Zipper Flash...” She regarded him coldly “What do you want?.”
"Spitfire, Im surprised at you” he said feigning a hurt look. “Sence when can a stallion not check up on an old friend.”
“We are not friends” She said in a cold monotone voice.
Zipper noticed the look. “How harsh, hear I thought we had moved past all that nonsense” Noticing Spitfire’s withering look, he frowned “What? Is it really so hard to believe I have moved on?”
"Yes, because this is you we are talking about" She said, scowling slightly "You really think I'm just going to forget how you treated me? What you put me through?"
"Last time I checked? I wasn't the one who abandoned their coltfriend" He said, giving her an equally ugly look "You did that all on your own."
"You have some fucking nerve" She said, puffing her chest out in protest "Give me one damn reason why I shouldn't kick your ass right now."
"Well for starters I don't think you would wanna have a photo of you beating a poor defenseless stallion up around children" He said, reminding the mare of her surroundings "And second of all, I have protection now."
"Protection? What you're so paranoid you hired a bodyguard or some shit?" Spitfire said, smerking rather cocky.
"Mn no. I just so happen to have run into somepony who has promised me protection in return for some...how shall we say...sensitive information" Zipper said.
"What did you do" Spitfire squinted her eyes at him, sending daggers into the eyes of the stallion.
"You will find out all in due time Spitfire. For now? I would recommend watching what you do and say...you never know who is watching..." Zipper said He smiled politely before trotting away.
Spitfire held her breath until she was sure he was gone, releasing it in a long sigh and with a groan, she rose back to her hooves and shook the grass from her coat. She needed to find something more active to do.
Canterlot
Orion was walking through the courtyard of the military compound, nearing his company's barracks. He was assigned for some duties early today, so he never got time to see Spitfire. He knew he'd see her later on but he knew that it was going to be a long day and due to the time of year, it was already very dark outside, despite being only half past six, Orion sighed in exhaustion.
He didn't even open the door to the barracks before he could already hear hollering, and wild laughter from inside. It seemed the guys were having a good time, instead of getting ready for the shift. The young guardsman stepped inside, and his mouth turned to a smile, despite not even hearing what his company was so joyful about. But clearly, they were excited about something.
Inside the barracks, he could see at least twenty of his fellow troopers assembled roughly around where his bunk was. He rarely had to use his bunk, as he often went home after work. However there were rare instances where he was required to stay a few nights. He began walking there, but at that moment, another wave of laughter spread across the building. Getting closer, she could see the guards standing around someone, who was making a speech, or more likely, was cracking jokes at them.
"Okay guys, okay, now who is this? "Troopers... This sort of indiscipline, is simply, disgusting! If you were MY company, this sort of behavior would be weeded out, once and for all! But I can assure you, that my platoon won't act like this!""
Of course, the pony who played stand-up comedian, was Private Frosty Swords, one of the night guards- and Orion's bunkmate from time to time, resident funny guy.
"That's too easy, it's..." began a guard from the crowd, and lowered his voice "...General Blue Crest, come on Frosty, throw us a challenge already!"
Orion joined the crowd, and let out a chuckle herself. He had to admit, the imponification was spot-on. Although it was easy to mock and sneer at Blue. The infamous General of The Night Guard who was the generally disliked by most of the privates, Orion knew Blue personally though and knew he was genuinely a nice stallion, even if he was a dick sometimes.
When the hollering and laughing died down somewhat, Frosty resumed his act, changing the pitch of his voice again.
"And who is this? "Howdy y'all. Any of ya have medical gear I could borra? Im runnin' low on supplies""
The reaction from the soldiers were much less explosive this time around. A few of them scratched their heads, and changed suggestions between themselves who the target of the mockery could be. Orion knew who it was, but he didn't want to cut the game short, despite that they still needed to change into armor.
"Okay, that was supposed to be Private Ranks" Frosty revealed finally "I'm disappointed, guys, I didn't even get to the hard ones yet."
Orion slightly giggled, and at the same time, felt a little bad for Private Ranks. He wasn't known for being the sharpest tool in the shed. Well, in the barracks...
"We knew who it was, Frosty, it just wasn't funny. And you're a flankhole for mocking him. Rank's a cool guy." a soldier threw at him, sounding a bit offended.
"I know, but comedy only truly works if we set aside our limits, whether if the target of mockery is a cool guy or not." Frosty answered, sounding dignified, and a bit haughty.
"He's right! You shut up Lemon Eye, you wouldn't recognize humor even if it hit you over the head!" a pony from first platoon yelled.
"Do you want me to hit you over the head?" threatened Lemon, but several others dismissed him.
"Okay, okay, pussyfight's over, let's hear what Frosty has left instead, we don't have much time left!"
Frosty took a gander at the crowd, then began, raising his voice up real high:
"I am convinced that style and being a Royal Guard aren't mutually exclusive! Did I tell you about the mane conditioner I use? Oh, I will tell you all abou... Hey, look at that storefront!"
The crowd's feedback was rather conservative. A few chuckles here and there. Orion was smirking, as he knew who that was supposed to be. After all, there were only two mares in the whole company...
Several members of the crowd were whispering among each other, and no reaction came regarding the target of the imponification. After a little while though, one stallion spoke up:
"Well, I do wonder who that could be..."
"High pitched voice, is pretty girly... Hmmm..." said another stallion, putting a hoof to his chin, while also winking at another. That one spoke up:
"Oh, oh, I know that one then: It's Private Frosty!"
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"
The entire barracks burst out laughing as a single pony, much louder than anytime before. Orion himself laughed too. Frosty looked left and right, his mouth slightly agape at the sudden change of roles.
"Screw you guys, that's not funny!" he said, but he himself was smirking a bit. Before the company's resident comedian could answer, a dark red pegasus , a certain Second Lieutenant Rust Rider interjected:
"That was indeed enough guys. Let's hustle up, and get to the armory. Especially you, Night Guard. You don't want a piece of Blue's anger, do you?"
The Lieutenant's words were effective, and the Night Guards made their way toward the door. And finally, Orion could also reach his bunk, and begin to pack some things up. Rust sat down on his own bed, and greeted his friend.
"So, how have things been Mr. Wonderbolt Smooth Talker~" He teased, Orion blushing slightly as he looked to the pegasus.
"Knock it off Rust, it's as I told you before, it's only temporary until I can fix stuff with the bank. Besides she's not that bad of a roommate. She's really nice once you get to know her"
"I'm sure she is" He said, rolling his eyes playfully "In any case I'm actually glad I ran into you. I wanted to update you on something"
"What is it?" Orion asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, you know how the Noble's Club building was broken into? The report had said that nothing was stolen so we had put it down as a burglary gone wrong" Rust said "However last night a couple of our guards performed a routine inspection near Mountainside District North and we found an abandoned warehouse that was stacked full of Cash and Letters, and the letters where all written on Nobility Owned Notepads."
"Shit really? What was on the letters?" Orion asked
"Blackmail...about a lot of the nobility and even some of the higher-up guards" Rust said "Whatever we found was most likely a meetup between a buyer and a supplier. But by the time we got there they must have left."
"Thats...wow that's a huge breakthrough"
"Yea, a lot of us believe that there is somepony who is supplying the news reporters with the Blackmail and the Cash. The only issue is that we have no clue who's doing it, or what their motive is, and with Councilpony Elections coming soon, we need to act fast"
"Wait..Councilpony Elections..." Orion said, tapping his chin.
"What is it?" Rust asked "You have that look on your face that means you have a theory"
"Right well...I was doing some digging for a friend of mine, It ended up with me going to The Noble's Club, and I found out something very interesting about Councilpony Yellowjacket."
"You're kidding me, what did you find out?" Rust asked, a hint of excitement in his voice.
"Apparently he recently used a large sum of money to purchase journalist companies, news outlets, as well as reporters. Said it was for 'Future Investments'. When I asked the other Nobles what companies he bought they said they had no idea"
Rust thought for a moment, collecting all the information he just gathered "If what your saying is true, we may have a possible suspect. But given he is a council pony it will be quite difficult to get court authority to conduct a search of his records."
"Yea I figured as much. Though this is differently better than having no suspect at all" Orion said.
"Well whatever the case, until we get evidence that we can present in a court of law to let us conduct searches of the Council Ponies' records and Properties, we can't do anything."
"Hm...You know Spitfire has been telling me she's been looking to try and prove something about Yellowjacket. Maybe I can assist her? Try to get him to say or do something to the Bolts that would let us act" Orion said.
"That's a dangerous path Orion...if the press got news that The Bolts and Guards were working to take down a council pony it would be utter chaos."
"Then I'll just be casual about it. I won't be there as a guard, I'll be there as myself" Orion said determination in his voice.
"Orion if you get yourself into trouble I may not be able to do much. Even with your status as a Captain" Rust said, his tone a very serious and concerning one. Orion taking the hint that he was getting himself into trouble.
"I understand the risks I'm taking Rust, but I need to do this. Not just for justice and the law, but also for the bolts who are suffering under Yellowjacket's command"
Rust nodded softly "I get it...and I wish you luck" The two guards then left their bunk, and walked towards the door, which was left open for them. Rust continued:
"Just remember your training and what's at stake Orion" the two ponies then left the barracks, and turned towards the streets of Canterlot.
Wonderbolt HQ
With a spring in her step, Spitfire trotted into the main HQ Building. Upon arrival, she was greeted politely by some of the new bolts still going over their paperwork. After a quick walk through the halls, she found the entire team assembled in the main meeting room, and in the midst of a debate that, if the look on Soarins’ face was any indication, was rapidly getting heated.
The team had divided into two groups: Soarin', Rapidfire, Misty, Surprise, and Thunderlane were opposed by Fleetfoot, Blaze, Silver Lining, Fire Streak, Rainbow Dash, and Wave Chill. “I’m telling you,” Fleetfoot growled at Soarin', “If we keep bending over backward to that damn narcissistic asshole we are going to lose our jobs!”
“For the last time, Sargeant,” Soarin' emphasized Fleetfoot’s rank, “that is not going to happen.”
The familiar sound of clashing egos triggered Spitfire to slip into her command role. With a sharp whistle and a stomp of her hoof, she attracted the attention of everypony.
“Alright, everypony sit down and shut the buck up!” She stalked towards the table.
Everypony at the table, except Soarin and Rapid, shrank in their seats as the Captain approached. Soarin didn’t bother to hide his smirk. Similarly, Rapid looked like he was torn between amusement and terror.
“Now, somepony explain to me exactly what this nonsense is about,” she stated firmly, making eye contact with every Wonderbolt at the table.
"It's Yellowjacket. He showed up earlier today looking for you." Soarin' said, walking over to her "He told me to give you this" He said, handing her a letter. Spitfire raised an eyebrow at this as she took the letter and opened it, the letter seemingly already been opened.
FROM THE DESK OF THE AIR COUNCILPONY
Greetings Captian.
If your receiving this message then you should consider yourself quite unlucky. I have recently been shown some sensitive information involving you and a pegasus by the name of Zipper Flash. Due to the sensitive material around the information, I'm sure you can imagine how damaging it would be to not only yourself but the entire Wonderbolt Team. However I am a humble pony who only wishes for the best, so I have made sure this sensitive material is safely hidden from any public eye. However in doing this, it takes quite a lot on my part, so I will expect some work on your end as well to repay me for this kindness. I will be in touch.
Yellowjacket.
Soarin' shot Spitfire a particularly apologetic glare as he looked at her. Rapid merely nodded, knowing better than to make the situation worse. Spitfire suppressed a nervous gulp and took her seat. "Son of a Bitch." she muttered under her breath.
"This is Blackmail Spitfire! He is holding what happened with Zipper against you!" Rainbow spoke up "He has you tied around his hoof now!"
"What do you expect us to do Dash? Tell on him?" Thunderlane said "If we even show any kind of authority this letter, he will release that information and all of us will be screwed!"
"Yea well it's better than living under his iron hoof 24/7!" Fleetfoot shouted.
"ENOUGH!" Spitfire yelled, standing up as she looked to everypony. "Look all of you make a point, there's no denying what this is, and what it means."
"So what do we do" Rapidfire said.
"First, we don't panic. That is the last thing we need" Spitfire said "If we are going to get around this, we need to find ponies who could actually do something about this"
"What, you mean like a detective?" Surprise said.
"Don't be ridiculous, if we involve anyone from the Cloudsdale Police then Yellowjacket will immediately know." Misty said.
"I'm not suggesting we go to the police" Spitfire said.
"You're not suggesting who I think you're suggesting..." Soarin said.
"Come on Soar, he would know how to handle this. Plus there's no way Yellowjacket would have any idea who he is" Spitfire said, looking to her, and then to Rapidfire who also had a similar look of concern on his face.
"Guy's what in the hay are you going on about" Rainbow spoke up.
"I have a friend...he works in the Royal Guard. I think he could help us" Spitfire said.
"The Royal Guard?! How is that better?!" Fleetfoot shouted.
"Look you guys just have to trust me on this!" Spitfire snapped back "He's already aware of the Yellowjacket situation anyways, and he's been helping me a bit. If we want advice then why not go to somepony in the Guard."
"Yellowjacket is the Air Council Pony! He has Royal Guards working with him all the time, how in the hay would he not know!" Rainbow said.
"Because he doesn't work with Yellowjacket or the Council Detail. He mainly does Castle Duty in Canterlot. Yellowjacket wouldn't recognize him at all." Spitfire said.
"Right so what's his name then" Blaze asked.
"It's Orion." Spitfire said, causing a few of the bolts to gasp slightly.
"Orions in the Royal Guard?! Shut the front door!" Surprise said "You didn't tell me that!"
"More importantly you have been living with a Royal Guard??" Rainbow asked.
"Yes, does that really matter?" Spitfire said, huffing softly.
"We are just surprised that's all Spitfire" Thunderlane said.
"Yeah well, Orion can help us with this. I trust him and I think he is the perfect pony to get advice from" Spitfire said "So I need you all to trust me on this ok?" Most of the bolts looked at each other, then they looked back to Spitfire, nodding in agreement.
"Alright good...now everypony take a break, get something to eat, and cool down a bit." she said turning to Soarin' and Rapid, “Don't worry guys...I promise this will work out"
Spitfire's House
“Is He here yet?” Thunderlane asked, his hoof tapping the ground impatiently.
Spitfire sighed lightly she, along with Thunderlane and Soarin, were sitting together at Spitfire’s house, awaiting the eventual arrival of Orion. Thunderlane had been annoying Spitfire with some variation of the same three questions over and over again, whereas Soarin had long since fallen into a catatonic state. The sky-blue stallion’s eyes stared blankly through the space in front of him, scarcely aware of the conversation.
Spitfire truly wished she had the same ability to so completely tune out the world.
“Well unless she figured out how to become invisible: then no, I’d say she isn’t,” Spitfire answered with a roll of her eyes.
“Why are we here again?” Soarin asked with a sigh. “I mean, seriously Spit, it’s your date, not—” He froze, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head when the realization hit him. “Oh you little…” He mumbled, pressing a hoof to his forehead.
Thunderlane’s face paled as well, his eyes drifting to Spitfire, who was failing spectacularly at maintaining an innocent look.
“No” Thunderlane stated flatly.
“No what?” Spitfire asked, her voice cracking as she struggled not to giggle.
“You know perfectly well ‘what’,” Thunderlane growled.
“Hmm...” Spitfire rubbed her chin contemplatively. “Nope, pretty sure I don’t.”
“Mallow and I aren’t going on a double-date with you,” Thunderlane jerked his hoof in Soarin’s direction.
“Oh, I get it,” Spitfire purred, “you two lovebirds want private quality time.”
Soarin smacked Thunderlane’s shoulder irritably. “How, in the name of all things sacred, did you not see that one coming?”
“You’re not helping,” Thunderlane groaned despondently.
“You two are just adorable together,” Spitfire giggled, clopping her front hooves together in excitement.
“There is no ‘we’!” Soarin declared in exasperation.
Thunderlane groaned in exasperation as he pressed his hoof to his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut. “You really are evil.” He lamented, pointing an accusatory hoof at Spitfire.
“I prefer the term ‘morally flexible’,” Spitfire said with a playful wink and a smirk. The three Wonderbolts shared a moment of laughter as a familiar white pegasus stallion walked into the house. Looking at the three ponies with confusion.
"Did somepony die? Or-" Orion asked, confused.
"No not yet-" Spitfire said "We actually needed to speak to you Orion. We need your help."
"Help with what?"
"Yellowjacket" Soarin spoke up "He's just crossed a line and we have run out of options, we were hoping you could help us out."
"What did he do.." Orion said, Spitfire then walked to Orion and handed him the letter, the pegasus reading over it as his confused look turned into that of anger. "That fucking dickhead." He said.
"We need your help Orion. We can't go to the police or else Yellow will find out, and seeing as your familiar with Nobles and Politics in Canterlot...I thought you would be able to provide some inside knowledge?" Spitfire said
"I can help absolutely" Orion said "But...I'm going to need full context about things. Im not...familiar with this Zipper Flash pony"
Spitfire fidgeted uncomfortably, finding herself unable to look Orion in the eye. "He's...my ex-coltfriend"
"I...wasn't aware you had a Coltfriend before. I mean...besides the whole made-up thing about you and Soarin" Orion said.
"We don't talk about it because Zipper used to be a Wonderbolt." Thunderlane said. "Its...a long story."
"Is there any way you can summarize it?" Orion asked.
Spitfire would walk over to the couch sitting down, sighing softly. "It was a couple years ago, Zepher was a new recruit in the bolts, and he showed a lot of promise." Spitfire said "We began to see each other at first just as friends, but slowly we began to get closer, and we eventually decided to start dating"
"Right...and I get the impression things didn't go well after?" Orion asked.
"No...Zipper began to get a bit distant from me, and we began to have a lot of fights. Eventually Zipper went too far...he threatened to tell Yellowjacket and The Media that I was giving him a favor because I was dating him." She said, scowling slightly at the memory. "When the rest of the Bolts found out, we all ganged up on him and forced him to leave the Bolts."
"It was a really nasty situation" Soarin said "We were only able to get him to agree to leave by giving him a retirement benefit. Essentially we paid him to leave"
"Right...and if news came out that The Wonderbolts had forced a member to leave by paying them, as well as Zipper claiming that Spitfire was favoring him when they where dating. It would be a nasty blow that the Wonderbolts wouldn't be able to recover from" Orion said.
"Precisely, and now that Yellowjacket knows about it, he is going to hold us against it so we will do whatever he wants" Spitfire said.
"Has he said at all what he wants you to do?" Orion asked.
"No not yet, I imagine he is saving it for when he knows it will benefit him." Thunderlane said.
Orion stood up, walked to the window as he looked out of it, contemplating and taking in all the information. He huffed softly as he turned to the group. "Right...I'm glad you told me all this, I myself actually have news regarding Yellowjacket as well."
"Wait really?" Spitfire asked.
Orion nodded "Recently, the Guard found a warehouse that was full of Cash and Blackmail letters, they haven't identified who supplied them or who was going to pick them up. However with the information I collected about Yellowjacket buying out Journalist Companies, and now with the info you have told me. It only points to the fact that Yellowjacket has been running some kind of Underground Blackmail Business."
"Don't you think that's going a bit too far? I mean...Underground Blackmail?" Thunderlane asked.
Orion shook his head "The guard has been dealing with a huge amount of Journalists finding out information about Guard Routes, which correlate to locations of Noble Ponies as well as The Princess's." He said "Yellowjacket was one of the most voted ponies in over 5 years when he became Air Council Pony, and I have a feeling most of those votes were most likely forced due to Blackmail."
"So he rigged the election?" Soarin said "Damn...he's been playing the long game.."
"With Re-elections coming up, his suspected activity now makes more sense. He is trying to stay in office, and get himself a second term by Blackmailing ponies who would swing the votes his way." Orion said.
"So how in Tartarus are we supposed to stop him then? We have nothing but estimated guesses and one single Blackmail letter." Thunderlane said.
"You guy's are having that Holiday Party in a week right? Perhaps we can use that as our advantage" Orion said.
"How? What's a holiday party going to help us accomplish?" Soarin asked.
"If we get Yellowjacket alone in a room, and record him confessing to the Blackmail Letter. We can then turn it over to the proper ponies." Orion said "I can have it sent to the Princess's who can then authorize a search warrant of not only his properties, but also look into his bank records. Meaning we can pin him for leaking all the Blackmail and Guard Routes and get him kicked off of Council and make it so that he can never run again."
"That could work...I think we could pull it off" Soarin said looking to Spitfire "What do you think Spit?"
"I think it's about time Yellowjacket gets a taste of what it's like to be burnt by a flame" The four ponies would nod in agreement, with a plan now set up and a good idea of what's to come, all that was left was to wait.