Light Patch fought to keep himself awake as the senator across from him droned on in a speech the pony had clearly memorized from repeated use. So much so that the passion they’d put into it was long gone and now all that remained was a monotonous recital.
The grey pegasus’ ears perked when he thought it was coming to an end, only to realize it was a brief intermission. Taking the opportunity, he quickly, and rudely, cut in. “Yes, I’m sure you have many more important points to illustrate, but our time is rather limited and you are, to use a commoner’s phrase, ‘preaching to the choir’.”
“You are in agreement with us?”
“Nobel Thoughts is in agreement with you. It’s only natural that we ponies guide nature as the princesses guide us. It is for the benefit of all.”
“Yes, of course, but if you simply wished to support our cause, you’d send a note. Why are you truly here?” Char Cuterie asked, looking questioningly at the pegasus across from him.
“All we ask is that you back the Bill we’ve put forward. The one giving a few more privileges to nobles concerning how and where the estates are built, maintained, and expanded.” Light Patch replied, trying his best to sound like a haughty noble. He raised an eyebrow when Char Cuterie gave a short bark of laughter.
“Next you’ll be asking me to stop serving cheese in my restaurant, reshoe you, and style your mane.” Cuterie’s eyebrows rose at how Light Patch suddenly folded his hooves as if to protect them.
“No one is touching any pony’s hooves. All we ask is that you back us on this and we’ll give you our full support.”
“We’d be happy to support the bill. Provided you address the section we have issues with.”
“To modify the bill now would simply open it to being torn apart by all. We can address any issues Eco Improvement has with it later,” Light Patch countered with what he hoped was a noble enough shrug. “Support us on this now and we’ll support you in the future, without hesitation.”
Char Cuterie leaned back and contemplated the offer for a few minutes, eying the strange noble on the other side of the desk from him. “And what about that bill that we’re bringing to vote that would very strongly regulate noble estate land maintenance practices?”
“Not everypony was happy, but we talked the lesser members into supporting it. We believe it’s in the best interest of this alliance. And this alliance is to the benefit of more than just us or our parties. Not even just Equestria, but the world. And isn’t that the important thing?”
“It is. It’ll take a little bit to convince everyone but I do believe this will be an alliance with much room to grow into,” Cuterie said, holding a hoof out to Light Patch before he realised that the pony was very adamant on the hoof touching.
Light Patch trotted out of the restaurant a few minutes later. He was happy that Holdfast’s notes were good enough to get him through that. He then sighed as he pulled out the much thicker stack of notes related to the Noble party. Now he had to convince the Nobles that Eco Improvements was willing to kill a bill they’d been fighting for, if the Nobles would allow them to alter a bill in ways the Nobles had been fighting against for months.
Holdfast figured this would quite nicely set up the two parties with some friction against each other when their stances on the bill turn out to be wildly different. Light Patch paused, looking at a flower and briefly wondered if putting it in his hair would help before deciding against it.
* * *
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Buck Skykicker muttered, pulling the collar of his flight suit up against the snow storm.
“Add a bit to the bucket,” Wedge replied with a shiver. “Your bad feelings are gonna fund an awesome party once this whole thing is over.”
Buck shot his squadmate a glare. “It's this whole thing I have a bad feeling about. It feels like a trap.”
“Maybe it is!” Hobby jumped in, hovering over the two.
“Don’t jinx it,” Wedge chided. “And if it is a trap, there’s not much we can do about it. We already turned on one commander; we should be grateful Princess Sparkle is the Princess of Friendship instead of the Princess of Court Martials.”
“Maybe this is how the Princess of Friendship gets rid of loose ends,” Buck grumbled. “She gets her friends to take care of them.”
“It is strange, though.” Soon Fell said, as the other members of Rogue Squadron closed together. “I thought we were fighting the alicorns, and that this Wits End pony was their leader.”
“Didn’t you read the briefing?” Crowcall asked. “Apparently the alicorns ousted him and those are his loyalists.”
“Doesn’t that seem suspicious?” Buck took to the air, hovering a few feet off the ground. “We’ve got the pony responsible for the war leading an army, and he’s supposed to be on our side? After literally nothing?”
“Actually, they’re more like my honor guard.”
Rogue Squadron spun, immediately dropping into defensive stances. With a sigh, Buck waved them down with a wing. Standing before them was Wits End, with Spike at his side.
“Look alive, everypony!” Wits called. “It’s time for Rogue Squadron to learn what the former strategos of the Second Alicorn Diarchy does best.”
“And what’s that, exactly?” Wedge asked.
“Break all of the things. Let’s go!” A pair of spectral hands lifted Spike onto the saddlebags on Wits’ back as he broke into a gallop, Rogue Squadron taking to the air behind him.
“Shouldn’t we be flying too?” Spike asked.
“Only if we wanna be spotted by bandits,” Wits replied, struggling up a snow drift. “They’re gonna have their eyes firmly glued to the skies in a minute, so we’re much safer down here.”
“... And you can’t fly?”
“And also that, yes.”
“How did you end up in charge of an army of alicorns?”
“I’ll explain when you’re older.” Once they had reached the top of the hill, Wits and Spike looked out over the snow-cover plain below them. Tents of various sizes and quality dotted the landscape. “Bowgunners on the left,” Wits said with a smirk, peering through the whirling snowflakes around them, “and Talon on the right.”
“I think that’s Talon on the left,” Spike corrected.
“Really? Why?”
“Because that’s the side with the griffons.”
“Oh. Man, this snow is a right pain, it is.” Wits shook his head. “Regardless. Send the signals.”
Spike nodded, pulling a few scraps of paper from one of the saddlebags. He scratched out a quick message, then spewed flames over them, sending the ashes sailing away in the snowy wind.
* * *
“I must say I’m surprised you of all ponies would be representing Eco Harmony.” Char Cuterie stated.
Holdfast shrugged. “They asked me to quietly pass along this message to you for them. I suspect they wish to keep this little deal quiet. If I was to speculate, I think they’re hoping to shift the coalition supporting Blueblood.”
“They’d need a little more support. But I think we could even assist with that. And I do like the idea of the coalition shifting, so tell me what kind of backing you're thinking of?” Holdfast leaned back in his seat and seemed to ponder the question before answering.
“Knowing them, they’re probably hoping to find the middle ground on both of your stances to meet there. Anything further from me is simply speculation.”
“Please do speculate away,” Char Cuterie prompted Holdfast with a wave of his hoof. If he’d paid attention to where his hoof had ended, he’d have noticed at the other end of his restaurant one of the main party leaders of Natural Course talking to a rather stockier than normal earth pony. And he’d have been quite shocked to hear what that earth pony was saying.
“Yes, Ecological Harmony is more than happy to support your party consistently,” Just Duty said, taking a sip of the drink he’d ordered. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it had more umbrellas and garnishes than drink. Which he found amusing. Even if his sip did deplete half of the drink because of that.
“I’m surprised they would back us so freely,” Water Flow stated, looking at the large stallion across from her.
“Well, freely but not openly. Not yet, anyway. With Blueblood’s ineptity, a coalition shift is in the near future,” Just Duty spoke quietly, finishing his drink with a second sip.
“An alliance would be a very favorable shift for us... I’m very intrigued, but I’m surprised that Moderate Stance isn’t directly telling me this,” Water Flow commented, all but asking who Just Duty was without actually asking.
“I’m a member of the group, but my job sees me out in the field quite often, leaving me not well known. And as for why me, they want to keep this quiet and how better than to send a pony most don’t even know, let alone know is a part of your group? Now, I think I’ll get a refill for myself. How about you?”
* * *
Grill tossed the makeshift desk away. “What’d you mean, we’re under attack?” the minotaur leader roared.
“Ponies!” the other Bowgunner shouted, tossing Grill a javelin. “The flyin’ ones! Four of’m just made a zoggin’ mess of the mess tent!”
Grill snarled, shoving past the bandit and out of the tent. Visibility was terrible, but he could make out a few dark shapes whipping around in the snowy skies. “I hate Ponies,” he growled. “I really, really do.” He turned to the rest of the camp. “Up and at’m, you gits! It’s fighting time again! Minnie! Where’s the Orb?”
“I’ve got it,” the Bowgunners’ second-in-command said, hoof-deep in the snow with a pack over their back. “I haven’t let this out of my sight.”
“Good. We’re already missing half of our Orb. I’m not letting Ponies get hold of the other half. Keep an eye out for those Talon gits. Every time we get a fight, they have to show up and complicate things.”
Grill whirled about, his hand snapping at the air behind him. He felt something brush his fingers, and came away with a sand-colored feather. “Somepony thought he could get the drop on us,” he snarled. “Let’s go. Those Crystal Empire Guardsponies’ll be sending in the ones that can’t fly soon.”
“Boss!” Minnie pointed up into the darkened sky. Grill looked up to see more shapes in the darkness, moving in ranks. One seemed to take the lead, and began to glow. “What the f-”
“Criminal scum!” The voice echoed from above, full of authority and confidence in the cold wind. “You stand accused and guilty of holding an artifact that threatens the Second Alicorn Diarchy!” There was a flash, and the clouds parted above them, revealing dozens of alicorns hovering overhead. “In the face of these charges,” the leader continued, “I, Iron Maiden of the Second Alicorn Diarchy, must demand your immediate surrender!”
Grill, along with the rest of the Bowgunner bandits stared up at the alicorns. “I thought there was only four of them,” Minnie muttered.
“That’s a lot more than four,” Grill spat back. He reeled back and chucked his javelin, sending it whistling through the air straight between the eyes of the lead alicorn.
Less than a foot away, the javelin was frozen in place by an aura of magic. “Your response has been received,” Iron Maiden’s voice echoed, holding a certain impressed twist to it. “Very well! Prepare yourselves!”
With that, the alicorns dove.
It didn’t take long for Grill to realize why four alicorns had been considered enough for all of Equestria. Each Bowgunner could hold their own against a member of the Royal Guard, but each of these alicorns was like a dozen Guardsponies at once. The bandits fell back in bunches, kept together only by Grill Grood’s shouting. The bandit leader even managed to drop an alicorn, using a tent pole like club to swat it out of the sky. Eventually, though, the minotaur felt feathers along his back.
“Seems like that bluster wasn’t for nothing after all.”
Grill spun around, tent pole at the ready. But instead of an armored alicorn, he found a ragged griffon. Grill snarled, or perhaps smiled. “If it isn’t the bird brains.”
Solosun clicked his tongue in irritation. “You could at least thank me for taking half of the heat off of you,” he said briskly. Behind him, the Talon Mercenaries were formed into rough squadrons, flying against the alicorns whenever their armored foes came into sight.
Grill spat blood into the snow. “I’ll thank you if we’re still standin’ at the end of this,” he growled. “Where’d you come from?”
“It seems we inadvertently set up camp on opposite sides of the hill.” Solosun jerked his head towards the expanse of snow to one side. “The alicorns forced us into the sky, and we saw your band down here.”
“Well ain’t that convenient,” Grill growled. “If you’re such a military fellow, what’d you think our chances are?”
“Under normal circumstances,” Solosun mused, “I’d recommend negotiating a conditional surrender. However, we have two things that make this less than normal.”
Grill gave a humorless chuckle. “You mean two halves of a busted Orb.” He jerked one hand, calling Minnie over to them. “Unless you grew a horn,” he said, pulling out half of the Orb of Glacious, “there ain’t much we can do with these.”
“Actually, the Orb is only one thing,” Solosun said with a grin. He gave a sharp whistle, summoning a pair of battered griffons with a sack carried between them.
Grill watched as the two griffons landed next to them—one handing Solosun the other half of the Orb—and his eyebrows knitted as he noticed the contents of the sack moving. “Aaaaand what’s the other thing?”
Solosun motioned with a wing, and the griffons upended the sack. Two ponies, their legs and muzzles bound, tumbled into the snow between the bandit leaders. “Leverage,” the Talon Mercenary leader purred, as he moved closer. “I’m sure you remember our former colleague, Moon Dancer? It seems she wanted to play the hero and steal my half of the Orb back without any help from her friends.”
The mercenary came to a stop next to the other pony and knelt, looking the bound and gagged Moon Dancer in the eyes. “Now, I’m sure you remember what will happen to your friend Winter Sun here if you try anything funny.” To emphasize his point, Solosun placed his talons on the back of the farmpony’s neck, forcing her face into the snow. “Right?”
Moon Dancer’s eyes flicked between Winter Sun, and the talons around her neck. Eventually, she nodded once.
“Good.” Solosun held out his half of the Orb of Glacious. “Put the two halves together.”
Grill’s frown deepened. “Won’t she try and freeze us with it?”
Solosun tapped one talon against Winter Sun’s neck. “She won’t.”
“...Fine.” Grill pressed his half of the Orb against Solosun’s, and the air filled with a hum of energy. “Now what happens?”
“Our friend Moon Dancer protects us from the oncoming alicorns.” Solosun said simply. “Isn’t that right?”
Moon Dancer closed her eyes, her horn glowing with a faint violet light that soon surrounded the Orb. In a flash, all sounds of combat disappeared, only to be replaced with an eerie silence.
Grill opened one of his tightly shut eyes. “What happened?”
Solosun grinned widely as he looked around. “It seems we have some time to think,” he said, watching as Bowgunners and Talon Mercenaries alike picked themselves up off the ground. “And you owe me an apology.”
* * *
“As I understand it, a new pony is operating in the area with the 597th and they’ve got a plan to see things start to wrap up,” Light Patch finished explaining to several senators in the Communialist party. Whether or not he thought he had more important things to focus on, he was still the emergency representative of the Frozen North. That isn’t to say he wasn’t happy that this little meeting had little to nothing to do with Holdfast’s plan to pitch Blueblood with the bathwater, so to speak.
The pegasus thought the meeting would have little to nothing to do with Holdfast’s plan, yet he failed to notice what the Communialists had. Specifically, the two ponies several booths over from them.
“What are you all whispering about?” the pegasus finally asked.
“Roam and Jewel are over in one of the corner booths.” The purple coated mare pointed sedately with a hoof.
“Looks like a date. There’s been a lot of rumors floating about them, especially since their parents ‘perished’.” Light Patch could hear the air quotes around the word. “Which coincidentally left them to fill in their roles for now.”
“It’s actually a slightly uplifting story really. Their love, that is,” the mare said.
“Aren’t they in opposing parties?” Light Patch asked, glancing at the pair. A small thought seeded in his mind and slowly growing into a full flower of an idea.
“Yes. Considered and Progressive Action. The Progressive Action party tends to side with us over their similarly named counterparts,” one of the senators confirmed.
“You should enjoy that while it lasts,” Light Patch commented, taking a sip of his drink while still watching the two ponies.
“What are you implying by that?”
“I’m just saying that considering they sound like two darlings of the senate, with sympathy and a great love story to boot, I wouldn’t be surprised if it causes their two parties to set aside more things to cooperate in honor of them and their hardships. And Celestia help you if they get married,” Light Patch warned, turning back to the purple coated mare. He shrugged. “I might be wrong but you never know.”
The mare looked skeptical of his thought, as did a couple of the others at the table with them, but he also noticed at least one pony looking very thoughtful and another seemed outright concerned. He didn’t really expect his words to hold a lot of weight, but even a tiny spark could set a house alight, and this was really more of an attack of opportunity anyway.
* * *
Wits and Spike looked down from their place on top of the hill. “What was that?” Spike asked, rubbing his eyes.
“A fly in the ointment,” Wits muttered.
The two of them looked at the dome of ice that had formed around the battlefield, and the alicorns circling around the outside of it. Wits could make out a few alicorns using their magic to melt ice from their armor, and others trying unsuccessfully to do the same to the dome.
Rogue Squadron landed a few meters away, with their leader coming to a stop next to Wits End. “We have a problem,” Buck said.
“Yeah, I can see that,” Wits replied.
“More than that.” Buck motioned towards the ice dome. “The last thing I saw before I got thrown out of there was the bandit leaders. They have hostages.”
Wits hissed through his teeth. “Anypony we know?” Buck’s eyes narrowed, and Wits sighed. “I just want to know what I’m dealing with. Of course we’re rescuing them.”
Buck nodded. “One was dressed like the villagers that live outside the Crystal Empire proper. The other looked like one of Princess Twilight’s associates.”
“One of the Elements?”
“No. If I remember the reports correctly, her name is Moon Dancer.”
“Of course it’s Moon Dancer,” Wits grumbled. “Alright. Spike, send messages telling Iron and Mousetail to meet us up here. We need a new plan.” He gazed down at the dome. “And I might need to call in a little help...”
* * *
“I certainly hope you weren’t left waiting for too long.”
Holdfast looked up from his newspaper to find an elderly stallion standing near his table. The copper pony was a bit shorter, but quite a bit wider, than Holdfast. He smiled. “Ah, Heavy Wait. No, I was just enjoying a rare moment of peace here in Canterlot in between senate business. Please, have a seat.”
Heavy Wait chuffed appreciably as he sat, eliciting a pained groan from the wooden chair. “Ah, yes, I can completely understand that. Ever since our dear princesses left and the young Prince Blueblood took the throne- Would you mind if I helped myself to a danish?”
Holdfast smirked and pushed the tray of pastries closer.
“Thank you. As I was saying, since Blueblood took the throne, those of us who make things happen here in Canterlot have had a dreadfully busy time of it, eh?” The danish disappeared into Heavy Wait’s mouth in one bite, and the rotund stallion was already gesturing with another one in his hoof. “Surely, you and your senate can do something about him?”
“Acting Regent Blueblood has done as best as can be expected given the circumstances,” Holdfast said casually, punctuating his statement with a sip of his tea. “Still, the senate is doing everything we can to keep life at home calm while the regent focuses on the war effort. Certainly would be easier with an alicorn on the throne, though.”
“Hmm, quite.” Heavy Wait took a despondent bite of a croissant. “But the Prince has the attention span of a highly respectable fruit fly. It’s exceedingly difficult to get him to focus on Equestria’s priorities long enough to- I say, is that Ponultimo I see there?”
A dignified, if slightly ridiculous-looking, stallion in full Royal Guard dress uniform approached the table, giving a jaunty smile as he drew closer. “Indeed, it is I!” He sat in the remaining empty seat, removing his peaked cap with a flourish. “And-a how are we today, my dear comrades?”
Holdfast gave enough time for Heavy Wait’s noncommittal answer before he responded. “We were just discussing how the young Blueblood makes it difficult to focus on protecting Equestria’s interests.”
Ponultimo nodded, brushing his hair back with one hoof. “On-a that, we’re agreed. Our-a prince hasn’t so much as-a met one-on-one with we Royal Guard Reformists since he took-a the throne.”
“Or with the E.P.F.,” Heavy Wait grumbled. “What’s the point of being the spokespony for Equestrian Priorities First if our good prince won’t take the time to prioritize Equestrians, eh?”
“He spoke to Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Holdfast pointed out. “And with her mother, Twilight Velvet.” He took another sip of his tea, noting the discomfort on both of the other pony’s faces. “How was your meeting with Miss Velvet, Heavy Wait? Remember, if she shared her pineapple crumble recipe, you did promise to share it with me.”
While Heavy Wait seemed to deflate into a series of half-started objections, Ponultimo’s eyebrows narrowed. “You met with-a the leader of the Royal Wisdom party, Heavy Wait? What about-a our agreement?”
“Now, see here!” Heavy Wait sputtered. “Just because somepony meets with another pony, in a completely casual situation I might add, doesn’t mean anything politically!”
“Holdfast called it a meeting!”
“It was a flugelhorn recital, for goodness sakes!”
While the two party leaders bickered, Holdfast motioned to a passing waitress. “Could I get a refill on my tea?” he asked with a smile. “And another tray of those pastries. I think those two will be at it for a while.”