//------------------------------//
// Chapter 24: Pay-Off 4 
// Story: Piece by Piece 
// by Eltirions 
//------------------------------//

12 December 1008

They had decided to head to the Spear Point Tower first, and then visit the Rainburg, before ending their day with a visit to the spa. All in all, it promised to be a busy but interesting day. 

So, a quick trip in the car later, they stood at the entrance to the Tower. The Tower was surrounded by a courtyard of grass, through which ponies would probably walk on a normal day. As it stood, the Lunar Guard had closed off the Tower and its courtyard, for security reasons.

Rarity wouldn’t have minded if other ponies had been in the Tower together with them, but there were security concerns, so Captain Darkheart had insisted.

Rarity could have overruled him, of course, but there was something to be said for a little peace and quiet. Still, they couldn’t very well spend the entire tour away from the public; that would defeat the entire point of the tour in the first place.

So, the Spear Point Tower it was. They were a group of seven in total: Rainbow, Flurry, the two Sergeants Captain Darkheart had assigned them, two extra guards, and finally Rarity herself.

Flurry was looking up at the tower, head bent back. ‘’It’s tall,’’ she declared after a moment. ‘’Are we going all the way to the top?’’

‘’I don’t know, darling. It will depend on how we feel, I suppose.’’

‘’Okay.’’

Just then, the door opened and a young pegasus mare stepped out. ‘’Good morning, my ladies and gentlecolts!’’ she greeted excitedly. ‘’My name is Cloud Gem, and I’m one of the guides in the Spear Point Tower! Come on in, I’ll show you around, unless you want to walk through the gardens first, of course.’’

Well, she’s certainly invested in her work.

‘’Thank you,’’ Rarity said. ‘’It is our pleasure to be here, Miss Gem. I think we’ll start with the tour of the interior first.’’

‘’As you wish, ma’am! Please, follow me.’’

The Tower was just as white on the inside as on the outside. Everything was made of the same white stone, with barely any variation in colour. The only parts of the building that were not white were the chandeliers, and even they were made of polished metal, shining in the light they cast.

‘’The Spear Point Tower is one of the newer large buildings in Rainbow Falls,’’ Cloud Gem explained as they walked. ‘’It was built by Duke Spear Point, who claimed it would be the centre of the new defences of the seventh level. In practice he used it as his personal party tower. When the nobles finally had enough of it, they defenestrated Duke Spear Point and had the Tower stripped of all decorations, which is why everything is white and made of stone here.’’

‘’What’s defenestration?’’ Flurry asked before Rarity could.

‘’Tossing someone out a window,’’ Rainbow answered before Cloud Gem could. ‘’Very interesting way of dealing with someone. There was this one time-’’

‘’Let’s not talk about that,’’ Rarity interrupted Rainbow before the conversation could derail any further. ‘’Instead, let us continue the tour.’’

‘’Right,’’ Cloud Gem said. ‘’Well, we are almost at the Great Hall, so…’’




|-x-X-x-|




12 December 1008

Once breakfast had been served and eaten, Sweetie and her two friends settled in the living room of the Boutique. They were plenty full from the delicious breakfast, which Scootaloo and Applebloom had complimented her on. Sweetie had just been happy she was able to finally cook something decent for her friends.

‘’Hooey,’’ Applebloom sighed. ‘’That was some mighty fine cookin’, Sweetie!’’

‘’Thanks,’’ Sweetie replied. ‘’So, anything you girls wanna do today?’’

‘’Dunno,’’ Scootaloo said. ‘’I’m bored too, but I can’t think of anything fun to do.’’ She aimlessly flapped her wings up and down.

‘’Let’s go to Twilight,’’ Sweetie suggested after a short silence.

‘’We can’t,’’ Scootaloo shot the idea down immediately.

‘’Spike’ll let us in,’’ Sweetie argued.

‘’We need to get past the Night Guard first,’’ Scootaloo argued.

‘’Can’t yer agent do sumthing ‘bout them?’’ Applebloom asked.

Sweetie shook her head. ‘’I asked, and he said no.’’

Scootaloo shrugged. ‘’Well ask again.’’

‘’I don’t think he’s changed his mind,’’ Sweetie remarked dryly.

Applebloom raised an eyebrow. ‘’You can always try, Sweetie.’’ 

Sweetie sighed, and shook her head again. ‘’It’ll achieve nothing, girls.’’

‘’Just try, for Celestia’s sake!’’ Scootaloo exclaimed. ‘’The worst thing he can do is say no anyway.’’

‘’Yeah, and go to the guards around Twilight’s castle, tell them we’re coming.’’ Really, that wasn’t so hard to expect, was it?

’Ah fuck, yer’ve got a point,’’ Applebloom swore. ‘

‘’So break-in then?’’ Scootaloo suggested after a few moments.

‘’We won’t get iiiiin,’’ Sweetie insisted. ‘’Especially not you.’’

‘’Hey!’’ Scootaloo said indignantly. ‘’I can be stealthy, if I want to be.’’

‘’Scoots, yer as stealthy as Pinkie Pie at a party,’’ Applebloom quipped.

‘’Actually-’’

‘’We could just ask Spike when he’s in town again,’’ Applebloom continued.

‘’He was here five days ago, and he only comes out once a week,’’ Scootaloo pointed out.

That could work. ‘’So, we wait on him, and then ask him if he can help us,’’ Sweetie decided.

Applebloom shook her head. ‘’That won’t work. Mah sis ain’t even allowed in.’’

‘’Yeah, because she’s an Element of Harmony too. But we’re not. We’re just the younger sisters…’’ This required more thought to work properly. Perhaps there was a way to get in after all....

‘’For the record,’’ Scootaloo spoke up, ‘’I don’t think we’ll get in.’’

‘’Worth a try,’’ Applebloom said. ‘’Ah do wanna talk to Twilight.’’

‘’Yeah, so do I,’’ Scootaloo added. ‘’I’ve got questions I want answered.’’

‘’I-’’ Sweetie began.

The door to the living room opened. ‘’Good morning, ladies,’’ Twinkle greeted as he strode into the room. ‘’I went for a walk and had breakfast out of the house. I trust you are all well on this fine morning?’’

‘’Morning,’’ Sweetie greeted back. ‘’Did you happen to catch our conversation?’’

‘’The end of it,’’ Twinkle replied as he laid himself on a couch. ‘’I am not going to help you get into Princess Twilight’s castle.’’

I didn’t expect anything else.

‘’Why not?’’ Scootaloo asked. ‘’You got something to hide?’’

‘’Not at all,’’ Twinkle replied with a straight face, ‘’but even if I wanted to let you in, I can’t; don’t have the clearance.’’

‘’Then who does?’’ Applebloom inquired.

Twinkle shrugged. ‘’I’ve no idea.’’




|-x-X-x-|




12 December 1008

Nightmare Moon was most displeased.

‘’And just why,’’ she drawled, ‘’was this considered to be anything remotely resembling a good idea?’’

To his credit, the stallion maintained a steady face. ‘’Your Majesty,’’ he began respectfully, ‘’it was the Mayor’s idea.’’

‘’I did not know mayors commanded soldiers of my,’’ Nightmare placed special emphasis on that word, ‘’loyal troops.’’ She glared down at the stallion. ‘’Continue,’’ she said after a moment.

‘’There’s not much else to say, ma’am. The Captain followed the Mayor’s instructions, without complaint.’’

‘’And what was your own opinion of these instructions?’’ Nightmare questioned.

‘’Ma’am,’’ the stallion took a moment to think about his response, before saying: ‘’The Mayor’s idea was doomed to failure from its conception. The Captain should have anticipated this and shot down the Mayor, but for reasons that I can’t fathom he didn’t.’’

‘’I see,’’ Nightmare said neutrally. ‘’Is that all, Sergeant?’’

‘’Yes ma’am.’’

She nodded. ‘’Very well. You may return to your duties.’’

The stallion saluted, then headed off again.

Nightmare let out a long sigh as soon as the soldier was out of earshot. She’d already interviewed the Captain and Mayor, and interviewing various soldiers had been more a courtesy than truly necessary, but Nightmare liked to be thorough in these matters.

Considering what had happened, she didn’t think that was at all outrageous.

‘’Why on Faust,’’ she muttered under her breath, ‘’would you let prisoners spend more time than necessary outside their cells?’’

She had already fired the Mayor of the town. A mare that thought having prisoners socialise with the residents of her quaint countryside village was clearly not fit to govern anything larger than a filing cabinet.

It had been a perfect plan: placing the prison out of the way, in a small settlement some twenty kilometres north of Bridlepolis, should have ensured that no resistance fighters or ‘heroes’ would try and release the prisoners. She hadn’t factored in equine stupidity, however, and now it had come around to bite her in the flank.

It would be better if this was an intended break-out. Then I could have at least had a clear enemy to blame.

But from her ‘thorough interviews’ with the Mayor and Captain had only come the information that both had been well-intentioned, truly believing that their action had been smart. In a way it was pitiful.

But pitiful they might be, the consequences of their actions were anything but. Not every prisoner had escaped, but still a number of former Equestrian officials and officers had managed to disappear into the wilderness. Nightmare had moved some of her Guard from Manehattan to help the Army with the search, but she doubted they would find anyone. Too late for that now.

She sighed again. One of these days…

At least no one truly important had escaped. Those ponies were held either in the Crystaller Building’s basement, which had been hastily converted into a prison/minor office for the IIS, or they were held in the IIS Headquarters, which were located near the harbour, in several old warehouses that had since been expanded into one bigger building.

Of course, Sunset had her own little place for those things, but Nightmare politely pretended she didn’t know about that. To be frank she couldn’t give half a damn about what Sunset did, as long the people she did whatever on were either held voluntarily or were guilty. That was why she had assigned an agent to periodically check up on the place. Her latest report indicated she hadn’t yet gotten tired of torturing that Aztlanian Earth Pony.

Nightmare took a moment to admire the view in front of her; standing on the roof of the prison, she could see the village, filled with more soldiers than civilians by the looks of things.

‘’Your Majesty? We believe we’ve found tracks of some of the fugitives.’’

Without turning around, Nightmare nodded. ‘’Very well then.’’ She spread her wings and leapt off the roof, stars shining both in her mane and in the sky above.

Let’s hunt.