Hidden Rainbows
She trotted down the ramp. Rainbow had been moored at the Canterlot Castle Docks two hours before, immediately engulfed in a flurry of restocking, refueling and maintaining. Even now, pegasi dockers were all over the envelope, checking it for any possible rips, while the land-bound crew examined the interiors and engines. Still, her job as captain of the ship was over for today. Works would take long into the night and probably well into next morning, but that was now the responsibility of Shiny Brass. And Rainbow Dash trusted her quartermaster enough to leave the ship in his hooves for a while.
She had to brief Quick Quill on what should be put to press and what should be kept quiet, but that took less then ten minutes. Young stallion turned out to be particularly savvy on the matters of security and need-to-know. Of course, Rainbow Dash suspected, it`s highly likely that whatever newspaper Quick Quill worked in, in practice he answered to Fluttershy.
Speaking of whom, she would be already at Twilight`s place. Lazily, Dash began her trot into castle, nodding in passing to the guards as she headed for the Arcanum Wing. Just a meeting between three life-long friends, nothing important. Of course, there was a little matter of those friends being court archmage, admiral and head of state intelligence, but... Hey, things be things. She missed her friends something fierce at times.
Rainbow Dash paused before the door. It was rather unassuming wooden door, similar to the doors anywhere else in the castle. Similar being the key word. The engravings on the wood were different from decoration that permeated the rest of the castle. Naive mind would assume the motif to be in tune with the overall theme of Archmage`s Tower. Everyone else treated the door as the deathtrap it was. Swallowing, Dash looked around and pressed her hoof to the door knob, round and cool aluminium under her hoof vibrating almost imperceptibly. Door swung open, and Dash let out a little sigh of relief, much to the amusement of Twilight Sparkle.
"Hey there, Dash. Still wary of my door?" - she quipped merrily, as he pulled out a chair for her friend - "It`s perfectly safe, you know. For you, it`s just an inert piece of wood and metal." Blue pegasus snorted, as she closed the door behind her gingerly. Her ears immediately popped. "Ow. I hate when it does that." - she grumbled, shaking her head as the pressure normalised.
"Well, that`s the price of security and safety. I tried my best to tone down the less... pleasant aspects of sealing enchantment, but... you know. Not always having a good grasp on how`s that feel for living ponies." - responded Twilight gayly. Fluttershy sneezed. "Well, it`s not that bad." - she offered quietly, taking a sip from her cup - "Kind of peaceful, really, when the air is still like that."
Rainbow Dash trotted over to the proffered chair and flopped on it, doffing her shako as she got comfortable. "Hey there Twi, Shy. How`s things, you both?" - she offered, her voice taking on unintended husky tone. Blinking, Rainbow Dash coughed to clear her voice, and continued - "Before we get to anything... Any news on the group I got to yesterday?" Twilight sighed and pursed her lips - "Nothing we didn`t know already, I`m afraid." - she responded, unrolling the scroll - "Twenty three cadavers recovered. Twenty two griffons, one changeling. They had a number of items marked with seal of Silverclaw, but duke rather empathetically denies any connection. According to his official statement, this band consisted of criminals on the run. He`s claiming that the amount of marauding gangs in his duchy is increasing with each day of the succession crisis and rather unsubtly hints that he`d put an end to all of this if only Equestria backs his claim to the Plumed Throne."
Fluttershy heaved a little sigh - 'He`s not lying about marauders, too. I`m starting to think that maybe we need to discover us a Stormwing the Fifteenth. This power struggle is threatening to plunge whole north into anarchy." Dash nodded - "Either that, or backing one of the dukes would do the trick. Any word from princesses on what`s most preferable?" Yellow pegasus slumped a little - "Well, Luna is mostly disinterested in the situation. Her advice is to pick someone who would be on tolerably agreeable terms with all the sides. I.E. Silverclaw or Stormwing."
Twilight frowned - "What about Celestia? I thought she considered Guizarme for the Plumed Throne?" Fluttershy shook her head - "Not anymore. Guizarme made public claims that if he were to take the Plumed Throne, he would demand the sovereignty over the griffins of The Rift. There`s a good chance that he`s been pressured into making those claims by the conclave of Blackfeather duchy, but... The fact remains that he publicly stated he would demand of Equestria to surrender The Rift to his kingdom or extradite Sabbrush and his tribe." Dash`s face creased with a sneer - "Yeah, he can go suck a rock."
Twilight pressed her hoof to the forehead, rubbing it a little as she mulled over the options - "Wait, wait a second. Blackfeather are the oldest clan, but they are not the most important duchy. It should be Silverclaw versus Thunder Crown. Wasn`t Guizarme suggested as 'third option'?" As Fluttershy opened her mouth to reply, Rainbow waved her hoof. "I`ve got this, Shy." - she offered, looking on Twilight then - "Twi, that`s the problem. Blackfeathers are only fourth in power in Kingdom, and that`s only because they`re the oldest ducal house in existence. Silverclaw and Thunder Crown are top two contenders for the throne, and if someone were to make questionable claims, it would be either Aurik or Jag the Scarred, not Guizarme. It`s bloody obvious Celestia would look on the demand dimly..."
"Meaning there`s someone forcing Guizarme to sabotage his own chances at the throne." - offered Fluttershy - "Or, for some reason, Guizarme wants to make sure he would not be the next king." Rainbow nipped her lip - "So... any guesses why Plumed Throne is such a poison chalice right now, you two?" Twilight bit her lip as well, her mind quickly combining the proffered facts and ideas in every way. "Hm. I think I have an idea why Guizarme did that." - she offered tentatively - "Sabbrush`s flock was driven out of Kingdom mostly by the influence of Jag the Scarred. It`s possible that Blackfeathers are trying to curry the favors with Thunder Crown. It`s not a secret that Silverclaw and Blackfeather duchies are historic allies... If Guizarme could get Jag on his side as well, he could get the Plumed Throne without Equestrian backing at all. And seeing as Celestia would obviously refuse to give up The Rift or it`s duke, that gives Guizarme an excuse to put economical sanctions on trade with Equestria. In Kingdom`s favor, obviously."
Fluttershy nodded thoughtfully, as she pulled out a piece of paper from her saddlebag - "...You know, that might be it. Jag had been hinting at having some kind of 'icebreaker' lately. Maybe it`s just an attempt to solve the problem diplomatically in-house, at expense of expatriated flock." Dash tapped her hoof against the table softly, as she mulled over the situation. "I remember Jag a little." - she offered pensively, - "If he`s been hinting at having an 'icebreaker', I don`t think he would care for Blackfeathers petty politics. No, I think he already has backers powerful enough to make him think he could take on Silverclaw. The question is, who? Can`t be Snowvale - Frigga barely got along with Stormwings, let alone dukes. But if not Snowvale and not Blackfeather, then whom?"
Yellow pegasus sighed softly - "Well, that`s my news that I wouldn`t want to send over the crystalline. I have a good reason to believe Jag`s been negotiating with Hoofington count, Minted Coin." Twilight quirked her brow, humming. Apparently, Fluttershy`s notion meant something for her. Rainbow Dash, however, was just surprised. "A count? Come on, Shy. I know that Hoofington is a rich county, but it`s not a separate country. What could Minted Coin offer to Jag that Equestria wouldn`t?" - she inquired, wrinkling her nose.
"Well, I think I know that one." - offered Twilight suddenly - "You see, Dash, Hoofington county is one of the royal counties. It is not a part of any duchy, which gives itself an autonomy equal that of a duchy. Particularly, in economic and logistic departments. Hoofington county spans over four fifth of the total border length with Griffin Kingdom. Most of our trade with the north goes through Hoofington. More importantly, all of the border that Silverclaw duchy shares with Equestria is in Hoofington county. If Jag has some kind of agreement with Minted Coin, he could put a serious cramp on Aurik`s chances for the throne."
"Alright, so what do we do about the bastard?... Er, wait, count of Hoofington?..." - Dash`s rush suddenly faltered as she recalled the conversation last evening, - "...Shit. Minted Coin`s the one who spoiled my chance of being Wonderbolt, isn`t he?" Lavender and yellow ponies nodded simultaneously, looking on blue one with matching expressions of unrest. Dash inhaled and exhaled a couple of times. "...Alright, I`m fine. I`m calm. Not the time for personal vendetta. So, what do we do?" - she offered strenuously.
Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged glances. "That really depends." - Fluttershy offered finally, - "You see, that`s not all. We`ve been getting reports of changelings among griffin forces. An odd one or two caught in the middle of things is nothing unusual, but there`s just too many of them turning up. Not to mention that some of my sleeper agents in Hoofington left clandestine messages about encountering changelings there as well. I have a suspicion that Minted Coin has a secret arrangement with changelings about the fates of Plumed Throne. Jag is too territorial and patriotic to influence directly, but with the help of changelings.... Or maybe, Minted Coin himself is compromised - but if that`s the case, he compromised himself willingly, or always were an agent of the Hive."
"In addition, there was another attempt at my life the night before last night." - proffered Twilight with a serious expression - "And tracks lead back to Hoofington." At that bit of news, both of the pegasi stopped talking and turned around to face Twilight. "...OK, so what did you do?" - inquired Rainbow finally. Twilight shrugged as she pushed back from the table, rolling back on her chair easily. "Well, I kept this one..." - she offered, lifting the jar off the shelf, - "The ringleader of the group. Others... Well, Shining`s got them locked up in the dungeon, the one that survived, that is." She shook the jar slightly, making the brain within wobble a little. Rainbow Dash swallowed.
"Ok, so... how did that even go down?" - she quipped uneasily, peering at the jar warily, - "And what did you find out?" Twilight chuckled darkly. "As usual... Everyone underestimated me."
It was rather late at night. Almost two past midnight. Not that Twilight cared much. She haven`t had the need to sleep in years, after all. Still, it was a very slow night. In fact, at the moment, unicorn was lazily doodling random patterns. She was bored. Several long-time experiments were in various stages of incubation/maturing/solidifying, and she had absolutely nothing to do. Even the paperwork was done already. At this rate, she would have to teleport into library and look up something she haven`t read yet. Which would probably end up being some trashy novel - everything else had already been perused extensively. Having no need to sleep, rest or eat would do that to a pony. But then again, Twilight took a measure of pride in the fact she was the only pony in the whole Equestria who personally read and comprehended every single written work on magic, science and philosophy.
Just as she got up, ready to cast teleportation spell, her alarm enchantment around the tower tripped up. Someone`s coming. She glanced on the bed. Rarely used, nowadays, but Twilight kept it around just in case. And today, the case seemed to be quite fitting. She trotted over to the bed and flopped on it, wiggling under covers. Intruders tripped the second line of alarms. Now she knew the exact number, species and even the looks of them. Passive observation, what a concept. Four attackers. Three of them are passing through the hall, one is going for the window. OK, so... Griffon at the window. With a crossbow. How curious. She reached out to the window with her magic, turning off the lightning trap. That one would be the ringleader, and she wanted to grab him without burn damage.
Trio approached her door. One earth pony, one mule, one changeling. Curiouser and curiouser. So, the muscle, the sacrifice and the charmer. That made griffon the sneaker. Alright. She flipped the door spell to cold and winced when mule pushed the door. So naive. Earth pony reared, then bucked against the frozen cadaver, sending the torso crashing at the door along with chunks of ice. Seriously? They expected one trap to be all that stands before them? Heh.
"Damn it, he was a funny guy." - groused the pony as he jumped over the scattered ice. Changeling followed, hissing - "Psst, that`s what we brought him over for. Be quiet, you don`t want to wake her." Pony groused back - "Like I`m afraid of one filly. Not with this." Oho. The suppressor. Things got interesting. Twilight snorted, pretending to be disturbed by the sounds. Intruders quietened down immediately. Then earth pony crept forward, then. Just as he lifted the ring over her horn, Twilight stopped pretending. Magic-encased hoof sent the intruder flying over the nighttable, suppressor ring clinking weakly against the wall.
"Seriously?" - she quipped, hopping up, her magic illuminating the whole room with sharp light, - "Are you clowns for real?" Second punch sent the changeling hooves over head into the wall, where she slumped, unconscious. Maybe that was just a little too strong, mused Twilight, as she noticed the cracked carapace caving in at the spot where she struck. "Agh! Damnit, what the... BOLT, NOW, NOW!" - apparently, pony thought the reserves had to be brought in. She shrugged. "If you`re talking about your griffon buddy, he`s already dead." - she offered calmly, pushing the curtain away with magic. It fluttered in the wind slightly, revealing the griffon. Surprise etched all over his face, both paws clawing at the silk curtain cord wrapped tightly around his throat, he was obviously and irrevocably dead.
"...Aaght!" - she sighed, sending the pony back with another magically enhanced punch. This one was directed at his shoulder, and delivered with enough force to shatter the bone. He flopped down on the floor like a sack of potatoes, howling in pain. "Why? Why do you clowns always underestimate me?" - she quipped sadly, taking a step back, - "For crying out loud, why? Why does everyone think I`m such an easy target?" Pony was not in the mood to elaborate. She heaved another sign and yelled - "GUARDS!" Magically-enhanced yell rung out through the courtyard, alerting the pegasi in the barracks. Two minutes later, she was standing among four guards, led by Shining Armor personally.
"...Twilight." - he muttered with a touch of disapproval, eyeing the carnage - "Was there really a need to shout? Why raise the alarm if you already did them in?" Twilight quirked brow at him - "Seriously, Shining? How`d they get into courtyard, then?" That woke him up. "Oh, cripes. Alright, you fetch the medics, you three verify the outer wall posts. I want to know who let the bastards in!" - he snapped, - "Sheesh, and here I thought we tightened security." His sister patted his shoulder and chuckled - "If that`s of any consolation, I don`t think it`s a treason. You may be down a guard or two, though."
Shining`s face scrunched up at this, though - "...Damnit. I hate losing good stallions over... this crap." He glanced on the changeling with obvious distaste - "Figures they`d be involved. I`m guessing you`re going to keep the griffon for your forensics... Do you want what`s left of mule as well, or should I call the cleaners?" Twilight snorted - "Cleaners, Shiny. I`m going downstairs." She disengangled griffon`s body from the curtain cord and levitated it out of the door, calling over her shoulder - "I`ll leave you a note on what he was thinking." Shining Armor rubbed his nose and sighed. "My little monster sister." - he grumbled, - "When did things came to be like this?"
He grunted and turned over the pony with the hoof. "Quit pretending. I know you`re awake and can hear me." - he offered, - "You`ve got off easy, you know?" Pony on the floor stared at him incredulously, doing his best to disturb shattered shoulder as little as possible. "You call that easy, bucker? What kind of monster she is, anyways?" Shining Armor leaned on the table. "Well, to begin with, she is my sister. Some ponies would argue that it`s a claim enough to be called a monster as is, but she also happens to be dead." - he mused - "Pretty spry for a dead mare, don`t you think? She`s been in good mood today. Last assassins that got in? She breathed acid on them, I kid you not. Poor bastards. Must be a rotten way to go, having your face melt off."
Having no answer from downed pony, Shining Armor sighed - "So much for casual talk, eh? Fine, let`s get to brass tacks. Who sent you and why?" Pony just spat in his direction. Stallion shrugged - "Look, I`m just being nice. Right now, Twilight is raising your buddy griffon as a zombie. No will, but all the memories. In about fifteen minutes, she`ll know all about your plots. So if you`ll give me no reason why you`re worth the expense of medical supplies to deal with your injury, I`ll just tell Twilight to go ahead and use you for whatever experiment she wants. Knowing her, it will be painful agonising experience and you`ll never get to truly die, instead being forced into aeons of undead servitude."
"...Aaaalright. Moving right along." - offered Rainbow Dash, glancing at Twilight nervously, - "What did you get out of that brain, anyways?" Mage frowned. "Not as much as I hoped, to be honest." - she retorted, shaking her head - "As I mentioned, the trail leads to Hoofington, but I don`t have anything certain beyond that. Griffon`s name is Bolt, he and Heavy Hoof are crooks for hire... Er, Heavy Hoof is the name of earth pony. Whoever hired them was a male pegasus, most likely of military background. He introduced himself as Fake Name and wore a cloak throughout the interaction. During that meeting, Fake Name secured their assistance, paid them a hundred bits in advance and promised two thousands if they pull their part off. He did mention that he`s hiring them for kidnapping and clandestine murder but divulged no details beyond that."
She paused and shook her head - "Obviously enough, Fake Name is a... well, fake name. I`ve considered the list of male pegasi with history in military, but there`s a little over three hundreds of suitable suspects living in Hoofington, and it`s not a sure bet our customer is even a registered resident of Hoofington to begin with." Fluttershy nodded thoughtfully - "Well, that makes sense. Cutoff layers are the staple of plausible deniability, after all. So, griffon and pony used to be a team. What about mule and changeling?"
Twilight snorted. "Mule`s name is Floppy Ear. He was known in Hoofington as petty crook for hire. He was hired by Heavy Hoof to be used as a patsy. Or, as facts would have it, a trap discharge dummy. He was not told anything about the operation, per ce." Rainbow quirked her brow - "That poor sod. Why he`d even agree to that?" Lavender mare shrugged dismissively - "As far as I gathered, Heavy Hoof told him that the whole thing was to shake down some petty noble on the orders of moneylender. Common enough thing, to be honest. Some of the nobles think it below themselves to actually pay back to moneylenders. Obviously, they`re most commonly young and stupid."
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash shared a little chuckle over that as Twilight continued - "Now changeling? She`s rather interesting part of this puzzle. She`s the one who had the exact details on the mark, namely me... And the only one who actually knew they`re taking on Twilight Sparkle. Bolt and Heavy Hoof were under impression that I am, once again, a minor noble. In fact, their only difference from Floppy Ear was that they knew it was kidnapping and murder, not a shakedown." Yellow mare let out a soft sigh. "Let me guess... blanked out, is she?" - she offered quietly. Unicorn nodded back - "Yes. Cautious too - triggered the blanking before entering castle. I thought her carapace gave out way too easily."
Adjusting her shako, Rainbow Dash sighed - "So you got nothing from her, am I right?" Twilight nodded, her lips pursed - "Quite so. I mean, I did run a magic scan on her just in case, but..." Unicorn sighed and waved her hoof - "You know how it is. Once they are blanked out, they just fall apart within a day or so." Blue pegasus snorted and leaned on the table, resting her cheek against the hoof.
"So... where do we stand?" - she inquired after a few seconds - "I don`t see anything useful here, so far. We`ve got a bunch of suspicions and loose ends.. but nothing solid." Twilight nodded at that - "Yes, not a lot to go on... Fluttershy, this is your ball, so far. What`s your opinion on all this?" Fluttershy hummed a little tune, mulling things over. "Well..." - she offered softly, - "I have somepony investigating in Hoofington already. So for now, we wait. Though, there are a couple things I need to discuss with both of you, if you don`t mind."
"Well, shoot." - offered Rainbow Dash, giving a vague hoofwave - "You`re in charge of this one." Letting out a little giggle, Fluttershy nodded - "Well... here`s what I got so far. Dash, you will depart on board of Rainbow tomorrow around midday. You will moor at the Little Oaks base for "inspection". My agent from Hoofington will contact you there, and depending on information they`ll have... If Hoofington is secure, you will proceed with another sweep of the border. If Hoofington is compromised... well, in that case you will take command of Silver Cloud, Aegis and Bulwark and storm the Hoofington castle."
Rainbow jolted upright as if she just swallowed a poker. "WHAT?! Storm the castle?" - she blurted out, blinking, - "Fluttershy, you can`t be serious." Yellow mare heaved a little sigh - "I`m sorry, Dash, but... It may be quite necessary." Twilight nodded resolutely - "I know it sounds preposterous that we may have to assault our own castle... But there is a very unpleasant tendency forming. Changelings keep cropping up in the north, and there is a distinct possibility that Hoofington had been discreetly taken over by them already. Situation is complicated by the fact that some of the known changeling sympathisers had departed for Hoofington within last month."
Dash looked back and forth between two of her friends - "Oh, come on, you can`t be serious, you two. A crooked count I can accept, yes. But storming the castle... You`re talking about this as if we`re about to face a... a..." Twilight nodded, her face hard but sympathetic - "Yes, Dash. A full-scale uprising. It would not be the first time for changelings to attempt a subversion of a whole province at once. Which is why we`re talking about launching a preemptive assault on the castle in case our worst fears are confirmed."
Fluttershy nodded, her own face marred with worry - "I sincerely hope it won`t come to that, but if it does... Then your task, Dash, will be to take over the county and institute a martial law to ferret out all the changeling infiltrators. Some of the reports we got indicate a strong possibility there is a hidden base of operations close to Hoofington. If so...." Yellow mare turned to unicorn - "Twilight, what is the status of Project G?" Twilight`s eyes widened momentarily, her face splitting in excited grin a moment after - "Oh, that? A big success. A series of successes, actually. As it turns out, there`s a whole family of agents that suit our needs perfectly. I`ve had to split the project into lettered subprojects, due to the fact that properties run a wide enough gamut to be different in tactical use."
She turned around and opened the wall safe, pulling out a thick binder out of it. "GA and GB series show good potential for open confrontation. Both undergo explosive atomisation well, form stable mist and act within five minutes. A series is more unstable of the two and decomposes within two hours - a good choice for a pre-assault strike. B series retains it`s potency for up to six hours and should be a good choice for siege scenarios and short-term defence." - she proffered proudly, - "GC is a fluke, sadly. Abnormally low flash point - it can be ignited by direct sunlight. Pretty fireworks, but nothing worthwhile. GD, on the other hand, is a keeper. With persistence of about three days, it`s a good choice for area denial and defensive scenarios. Oh, and let`s not forget about GF. That one is most viscous out of them all. That does present a problem for atomization, but also lends the most persistence. With average lifespan of about two weeks, GF should be great for long-term area denial and surgical strikes beyond the front line."
Dash perked up, offering - "Wait, wait. You skipped GE." Twilight shook her head - "Ah, no. GE is extremely unstable and deteriorates within seconds. Completely unsuitable for any practical purpose. I`ve examined the series further, but further derivatives are prohibitively expensive to synthesize and therefore are not viable. Still, some of the samples, particularly GJ and GM, show interesting properties... Ah well, I`m still working on analysis of the full line." Pegasus quirked her brow, doffing the shako back habitually - "Yanno, Twilight, you`re disturbingly chipper talking about military poisons."
Unicorn jerked a little, her face adopting sheepish expression. "..Well, yeah, uh... You know." - she offered, rubbing the back of her head - "Sometimes I get too caught up in science. I mean..." Fluttershy waved her hoof lightly. "That`s OK, Twilight." - she offered - "You`re usually dealing with all those, um, things in laboratory. It`s hard to actually consider what kind of havoc they would wreak in the field." Rainbow Dash looked on the yellow pegasus inquisitively - "Speaking of havoc... What do those have to do with the problem at hoof?"
Fluttershy heaved a little sigh. "GF is the persistent one, yes?..." - she offered, looking off into the distance - "I can`t believe I have to suggest this, but... I`d like Rainbow to have cannonshells loaded with Project G. The most persistent one that can be produced on such short notice." Twilight`s face quickly adopted the same far-off expression - "...I can manage a gross of GF shells, I think... Fluttershy, are you sure we need to have something THAT heavyhoofed ready?"
Yellow pegasus looked on her friends with inscrutable expression. "If what I suspect is right... then we might not have time for kinder solutions." - she offered quietly.