You would think that Nox Eous would have learned something from his little “experience with the legal system” but no. He followed me as I left the town hall and headed toward the train station. Besides the clunking of his hooves on the cobbles, his mouth was running full blast!
“Drat you, Goat! This is all your fault! Not only have I not got any of my inheritance left, I paid you β50,000gold! You ripped me off! After that foul fine I had to pay over basically nothing, I may not have enough in my account to pay my rent!”
I stopped and turned to face him, ugly as he was. “How is any of it my fault? I bluntly told you that the price was that high because Coalsmoke is my friend. That high price was meant to deter you from any effort to harm her, and I told you that, too. Not only did you go ahead with the contract, you failed to mention getting rich, which could have easily been a part of the contract. I did include everything that you asked for and you got it all, exactly as stated in our contract. Judge Coldheart verified that.
“Everything that has happened to you is your fault and yours only.”
He snapped, “That is a load of bull! You knew that I was trying to get rich!”
I nodded agreeably, “Of course I knew that. I was waiting for you to say it. You didn’t. What you did say you wanted, you got. End of discussion.”
I turned and trotted toward the station. I was pleased by what I saw. Work was already underway to replace shop windows broken in the riot. A work crew was clearing out the charred wreckage of Windy’s Ice Creamery. They were loading it into Hackamore Hauling wagons for removal.
As we arrived at the station, we were greeted by Twilight’s Royal Marines in full combat armor and weapons at the ready. They had established a perimeter that included Coalsmoke’s armored wagon.
Spears lifted and the Sargent in charge nodded politely to me. “Welcome, Mister Goat. We were waiting for you, please go on in.”
As I trotted past them, the same spears dropped across Nox’s path. “I am sorry, Sir. No pony is permitted here without Royal authorization.”
Encouraged by spears in expert hooves, Nox left. I saw him headed for the shops under repair. I wondered in passing whether he was actually looking for a job.
On the platform I found the familiar old donkey from the Royal Intelligence Service. He smiled at me and then totally floored me by saying, “Grumpeter, altering that will was the finest bit of time manipulation that I have ever heard of. Could you please tell me how you managed it?”
I shrugged, “I had a little help. Time works differently for the Lord of the Dead than it does for us. He allowed me to remind Noxon of just how foul Nox Eous was to him and Coalsmoke, the wife that he loved. He was just at the point of calling Mortimer Mollycoddle to dictate his final will. That reminder caused him to change the beneficiary information to shaft Nox Eous. The result was that there never was any other will that I needed to alter. That let me tell Judge Coldheart the truth, that I did not have to alter the will documents because they were exactly as Noxon dictated them.”
The old donkey grinned. “That was truly evil. Right up there with what you did to those executives that lied to the Princesses. By the way, you can let Romaine know that it is OK to print up that story. The last one of those executives croaked this morning.”
Conversation became temporarily impossible as the big locomotive pulled up to the platform, blasting steam in loud hissing screams from its engine braking, its bell clanging loudly. It quieted down to only a slight hiss as the iron monster settled to a stop.
The actual transfer of the gold was almost an anticlimax, it was so routine. While the actual coin bags were being loaded, the old donkey asked, “Do you know who Noxon was going to give his stock portfolio and estates to before your little reminder?”
I nodded cheerfully, “Yep. It was all going to be given back to Equestrian National Bank. It would all have been swallowed up in the crash and cost nopony a copper. As it is, Nox Eous wiped himself out, trying to hurt Coalsmoke. The two estates were taken from him this morning by the bankruptcy court to cover his endebitedness on all those thousands of shares of voting stock.”
The old donkey sort of suppressed a snicker as he pointed out, “That was economical. It did all go to the bankruptcy just as Noxon was originally going to do.”
We followed the Marines who were now guarding the wagon of gold on its way to Ponyville Trust and Loan. As we arrived, we were treated to the sight of Nox Eous sourly stomping out of the building.
While the clerks were busy with the final count up and all the paperwork that it entails, I asked Mister Greenbriar about what Nox Eous wanted.
He gave a sort of sad smile as he replied, “He wanted gold. He found out about the Wholeheart grants. He charged in here demanding that since we were just handing out gold to lazy shop keepers we should give him some too. Not much, just a few thousand! I refused, of course. I told him that there were conditions to be met and just being poor because of squandering a fortune was not one of them.”
I raised my eyebrows at that. “A fortune? I know that he did have some money, but a fortune?”
Mister Greenbriar pursed his lips as he said, “He was raised by his mother, who took care of him. She died about eight years ago and left him an investment trust worth about a quarter of a million in gold. The interest that it was earning was keeping him comfortable. As soon as he could, he dissolved the trust and put the money into a non interest bearing checking account at EQNB. He has been living off the idle principal ever since. I gather that it is nearly gone.
“Then he said that we could just give him a loan for a few thousand. He had no collateral. His house is rented. The furnishings in the house are rented. I had to refuse that excellent idea too.”
I began to giggle. When I got myself under control, I said, “We should give him a job as an economic adviser!! Whatever he says to do, we do the opposite! We couldn’t lose!”