//------------------------------// // Good Deal // Story: The Immortal Dream // by Czar_Yoshi //------------------------------// Less than a day after first arriving in Stormhoof, Papyrus and Senescey alighted once again in the city streets, several hours to go before sundown. Papyrus stretched, furling his wings as Senescey pulled up alongside him. Bustling roads wound in all directions, their white stone bricks pounded down by generations of hooves and talons, pedestrians ambling along in a mundane hurry or else without a care in the world. This close to the keep, there was a bit less open-air market activity and a bit more guard presence, but Papyrus still got the feeling the guards were more there to put on a show than because they expected something to happen. "Right then," he muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Senescey to hear. "Step one, confirm that the castle is open to visitors. Step two, look and see if there are actually mares standing around purely for the sake of being pretty." "Let's get to it," Senescey answered, with just a bit less enthusiasm than Papyrus. Papyrus raised an eyebrow. "Getting cold hooves now that we're back in action?" Senescey huffed, then looked away. "No. Just... disappointed in myself for changing my mind so quickly about having nothing more to do with this stuff." "We did decide this by unanimous vote," Papyrus reminded her. "You didn't have to get on board with it." "That's the point," Senescey said. "I suppose you can't relate." "As far as I'm concerned, our deal is still on," Papyrus replied. "I tag around with you and your sisters and do whatever. It just so happens that whatever turned out to be what we were already doing!" Senescey shrugged. "I told you you couldn't relate." The spiral path up to the castle was just as Papyrus remembered it, a ramp made of alternating staircases and small circular plazas that was more a bridge than a road. From the amount of hoof traffic, not as high as the roads below that actually went somewhere yet much higher than a dead end, he judged the castle was indeed open for business. And as the main entrance rotated into sight, his suspicions were readily confirmed: the door wasn't even shut, and the guards on duty were spending more time bowing than checking any of the creatures going in or out. Whatever reason so many creatures were here notwithstanding, the castle staff clearly didn't mind their presence. And soon, he and Senescey passed through the entry with nothing more than the customary bow the guards gave to everyone. That was actually odd. Papyrus glanced at Senescey, who was wearing the same disguise as before. If Tarunda really wanted to rope them into something, wouldn't he have notified his guards to keep an eye out in case she did show up? He didn't have long to peruse that line of thought, because the inside of the castle actually had changed. In the old days, a short, defensible entry tunnel had opened into a grand ballroom and feasting hall, home to most of the castle's public events. That ballroom was ringed by a balcony several floors up, with no staircases and in fact no easily visible entrances or exits to invite the public further than the ballroom at all, save for two corridors that led to the kitchens and the bathrooms. The infrastructure was all there to present the public with a clean lobby and nothing else, to segregate them out from the castle's more official areas. And yet the ballroom he beheld today had done away with all of that. Every secret exit, hidden door and fake wall had been exposed, widened or removed. A new double staircase had been installed, winding symmetrically around the room's edges to grant access to the balcony above. And the floor had a much more permanent setup, full of benches and display cases and occasional velvet ropes meant to guide people along. "They turned this place into a museum?" Papyrus guessed, tilting his head and walking up to one of the cases. "They opened it up," Senescey said, following him loosely while staring at the ceiling. "What did they do about the upper class? The ones who were usually up there..." Papyrus reached the first display, ignoring her, and frowned. It was a giant, roped-off painting, accompanied by a lengthy description on a stand. The painting depicted a violent struggle on a dark, incoherent background, legions of griffons in House Everlaste armor crashing into a horde of untransformed changelings, swords and spears drawn. The contrast of detail between the griffons and the changelings was intense and deliberate; each griffon was pristinely rendered, attention paid to every facet of their armor. The changelings they tussled with blurred together into an impressionistic mass of fangs, eyes and limbs with holes in the carapace, though it was clear that whoever painted this had indeed gotten to look at changelings at length. He almost felt like two different artists had made this in tandem, equally talented in different areas. Above the melee, under a ruddy sky of clouds illuminated red from below, the griffons' commander stood on a bleak outcropping, a sphinx reared up on two paws with wings spread and a sword drawn heroically. And the way the sphinx was colored... Papyrus frowned, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Is this supposed to be me?" Senescey started paying attention, looking to and reading from the information placard. "The Battle of Fourcliff Ascent. This masterwork depicts a pivotal engagement in the war, where Everlaste forces led by High Prince Gazelle held the junction between Wilderwind, Mistvale and the sea, stemming the tide of the invasion despite severe losses and a ten-to-one numbers disadvantage. Their success is accredited to the High Prince's transcendent strategic abilities, as well as the boldness and valor of Everlaste's forces." Papyrus narrowed his eyes. "But I never..." Then he blinked. "Ah, so that's why that kid the other day seemed taken with my so-called cosplay. This daft Consul has co-opted my legacy and twisted it into a pro-sphinx propaganda piece. Well, I suppose no one was around to tell him otherwise. Or that he got my preferred weapon wrong..." "Fourcliff Ascent," Senescey whispered back. "Did you even have troops there?" "Well, that much is true," Papyrus admitted. "More for the purpose of turning on and subjugating Wilderwind than for fighting changelings, but this might very well have been a real battle. Just without the personal presence of one High Prince Gazelle." Senescey stared at the painting a while longer. "Come on," Papyrus beckoned, tapping her shoulder with his tail as he passed. "Might as well see what other curiosities they've got in their collection." The castle displays weren't limited to paintings. Plenty of artifacts were present as well, many of which he recognized and more than a few of which he owned. Somehow, Tarunda had even gotten his hooves on a sizable part of one of Meltdown's old suits of power armor, which both baffled and slightly irked him. But, invariably, everything was related to sphinxes. And even the things that should have cast sphinxes in a negative light - like one of the medals awarded to the volunteer army that had helped foil Papyrus and Senescey's plans - were spun around to make them look good, instead. "Well, there wasn't much propaganda at the theater last night," Papyrus mused, walking past a uniform that had allegedly once belonged to the last Lord Stormhoof. "I guess they all keep it here, instead?" "Hey." Senescey poked his shoulder, pointing to a tight crowd of creatures that was congregating near the entrance. "Something's going on over there." Papyrus poked his way over to see. It appeared to be a guided tour that was getting its members together and just preparing to begin. "Hey there!" greeted a wide stallion with a hat and a rustic accent, attended by a mare and five small foals, apparently mistaking Papyrus for a fellow tourist. "How far do you hail from? Me and the missus are from Goldoa, ourselves!" "Close enough to call ourselves locals," Papyrus half-lied, figuring it would be easier to rely on his past knowledge to back up his story than brag about coming from Ironridge. "Oh, is that so!" The stallion beamed jovially, completely oblivious about who he was really making small talk with. "Let me tell you, sonny, all this stuff on display is fine and all... but the real show here is how you can just waltz into a castle with no identification or nothing! If you tried that in Goldoa, you'd get some mercenary rooming in your master bedroom in a heartbeat. But the grass is always greener on the other side, they say." Of course. The real propaganda on display here was the castle's laid-back security. They were showing off to tourists from the rest of the Empire that they didn't have threats here that necessitated a serious defense. Ironic, Papyrus thought, how no matter the age, Stormhoof's security flaws were deliberately implemented as a political ploy... Though since this castle getting attacked would certainly clash with their plan as he understood it, that had to mean there was additional security he wasn't seeing. Probably a lot of it. And probably something far more sophisticated than mere guards. "You're kinda staring off into space there, sonny!" the stallion remarked, not a care in the world. "Oh well, I'm going to mingle. Been looking forward to this vacation for months!" Fine by Papyrus. He did a quick scan of the rest of the crowd... Senescey nudged him, nodding at the tour guide and giving Papyrus a questioning look. Papyrus sized the guide up. She was a tall, red mare in a heavy back-only dress that covered her flanks and sides but not her chest, her mane done up in an expensive weave, the metal spokes used to hold it in place sticking out like elegant spikes. Her face was sharp, proud and haughty, albeit welcoming instead of hostile. He nodded. She was certainly visually attractive; if Tarunda also had the changelings he hired performing mundane tasks to disguise the purpose of their employment from the public, she could very well be one. Unfortunately, surrounded by the tour as she was, neither of them could very well ask anything deeper than a question about the castle's history. But Papyrus decided to follow them anyway. As the tour guide set off up the newly-installed stairs, he fell in near the back of the group; maybe an opportunity would present itself later. And he was admittedly curious what other lies and half-truths Tarunda had cooked up about his own history that a tour guide could be tasked with explaining. On the higher floors, the exhibits did continue, elaborate enough that someone had commissioned serious artists to put them together. In what had once been a humble storage room used for surplus military equipment that didn't fit in the actual armories, someone had painted the walls and ceiling with a lifelike mural of Garsheeva destroying a storm with her goddess powers, the way it would have looked from the ground. Powers which, Papyrus knew from his time in Equestria, actually belonged to every feathered creature, including griffons and pegasi, simply on a smaller scale. Somehow, they had simply never discovered them in the Empire, perhaps because Garsheeva snuffed out knowledge of such discoveries but more likely because she never permitted any inclement weather that would encourage their discovery in the first place. Furthermore, there actually were mares standing around doing nothing but acting as setpieces. Each one had been meticulously dolled up, and there were so many that he felt no particular urgency to talk to any given one, and more stuck with the tour because it was interesting than because he wanted anything out of the guide in particular. "He really does just want people to stand around," Senescey muttered in his ear. "It can't be that all of these are vessels. Stormhoof barely had this many sarosians before the war." "I'd venture their duties also include modeling and acting as practice dummies for beauticians," Papyrus muttered back. "All these dresses and all this manestyling can't come from nowhere. He's probably got a royal army of stylists for whatever reason, and they probably get their training on these fillies." Senescey nodded. "But the way he approached us last night, and then that letter... This can't only be innocent." Papyrus raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you're trying to convince yourself more than me." Senescey hesitated, then sighed. "Alright. Fine. I... didn't expect to walk into Stormhoof Castle and find it free and open to the public, with the old barriers to off-limits areas knocked down. We'd be fools to think there are no skeletons in his closet, but even if he's lying to his visitors about history, even if we know this is a facade... It's a compelling one. And you can't lie about where we're physically standing, right now. I keep having to remind myself not to believe it." Ahead, the tour guide was fumbling with a map, grumbling a frustrated apology about this being her first day. That caught Papyrus's attention. A new hire? How long had all the rest of the show mares been here? How actively was Tarunda recruiting to find someone else so close to spotting Senescey? If the tour guide was a changeling who didn't realize it yet, she was probably still in the process of figuring out the true scope of the job... or maybe she was just a mundane mare with an eye-catching face here to pad out the ranks so that it would be easier for Tarunda to hire changelings when he saw them. But that would be boring. She finished poking at her map and turned down a passage that had once been a servant's corridor, though the door had since been enlarged and displays were posted here, too. Papyrus used to love servant passages. The higher-ups never used them because they were too posh and important, so he had access to a whole network of hiding places and shortcuts all for the simple price of having flexible standards. Honestly, if the rest of the aristocracy had been willing to lower themselves similarly when pragmatism demanded it, he might not have gone off the deep end trying to clean them out in the first place. But as they proceeded, deeper into the mid-level servant areas and following a few more map consultations, things started to change. Floors had simpler and less-ornate rugs, displays seemed less curated, no one had seen a window for a while. At least two creatures near the front of the crowd - which numbered at least a dozen, excluding Papyrus and Senescey - asked if she was lost. And when they passed by a portable storage rack with several paintings stacked up for transport, the guide finally admitted it. "Alright," she said, turning back to the crowd and holding up the map. "None of you had better tell my boss, but... does anyone here think they can read this?" Papyrus didn't need a map. He knew exactly where they were, on the outskirts of a former maintenance area located directly above the kitchens where most of the castle's heating and cooling equipment used to be. Odds were, it was still there. But he didn't speak up, because he was curious to see where this would go. Someone seemed to have at least some idea, because the guide soon kept going in the direction she had been going, and then took a left. Or maybe they didn't have an idea, because that was the way to the maintenance sector... Papyrus blinked. The corridor ahead was completely undecorated, and one door - a door that used to lead to a rarely-used storage room for spare pipes and other system parts - was heavily locked and chained, taped over by yellow and orange caution tape and protected by no fewer than five giant padlocks. The chains were so thick he could barely even count how many hazard signs adorned the door beneath them. "I think we're definitely lost-" the tour guide started to say, when Senescey tackled Papyrus from the side, dragging him into the shadows during an instant where no one was looking. Papyrus had been carried while shadow sneaking before, so he knew the drill: don't open your eyes, don't struggle, don't let go of whoever was carrying you, and try not to breathe. He felt her swimming rapidly for a moment, dragging him back the direction they came... and then she surfaced, just enough to listen and catch their breath. "Woah, nelly!" came a memorable voice from around the previous corner. "This isn't supposed to happen! What's a tour doing all the way back here?" It was unmistakably Tarunda. Senescey held a hoof over Papyrus's mouth, listening intently. He didn't need it, though; he was listening too. "I'm so sorry, sir," the tour guide's voice answered, bouncing clearly off the hard stone walls. "I got confused about the floor numbering on this map, and, um, I promise it won't happen again-" "Hey, no harm done," Tarunda encouraged, cutting her off. "I just don't want my guests to think we're slobs because they got to an area we haven't properly beautified yet. All the art you lot have seen on your way here, it takes time to make stuff that good, and this castle's only been with us for so many years! Not that any of this is off limits, or anything... Uh, except for that one room, we had a chemical incident there last month while mixing paints, and it's not quite cleaned up yet. But it would be a shame to waste your time here on the un-curated stuff, don't you think?" "Personally, I like seeing behind the scenes," said a voice that probably belonged to the happy stallion who talked to Papyrus earlier. Tarunda grunted in thought. "Is that so... Anyone else feel the same? I wonder if there'd actually be a market for behind-the-scenes tours... Well, we're right by the maintenance area, so if that's really what you're into, how about a little impromptu tour of that place as an apology for things going off the rails? Let's just page up someone who knows their way around a bit better, get you in good hooves..." A few moments passed, and then a new voice introduced themselves. After further pleasantries, a host of hoof and talon steps marked the tour moving on... but Senescey still didn't budge, so presumably she could still detect Tarunda. Papyrus hoped she was banking on having a bigger detection range than him, and wasn't just waiting around to be found. Even though he had been nice enough to the tour as a whole, they were sneaking. And the tour had safety in numbers. But if he did move on without them, then they would be able to sneak under the doorjamb and see what was in that locked room... "Alright, filly doll," Tarunda said, another moment after the sounds of the tour had completely faded. "Who put you up to giving a tour on your first day? I've got a reputation to protect as the best boss in the Empire, and that kind of behavior towards my valuable employees just isn't going to fly!" In answer, there was a faint bursting, burning, flickering sound: the unmistakable noise of a changeling transformation. Tarunda gasped. "Been a while, Consul," said a proud, arrogant stallion's voice, harsh and strong. "Surprised to see me?" "What are you doing in my castle!? And where's Sephora?" "What, the mare whose form I took?" The new voice chuckled. "She got a visit from HR telling her her start date was pushed back a day. And the HR rep in question has no memory of doing the deed." Papyrus's ears flicked violently. This voice... It was a while ago, and he had only been present for a minute at best, but was this the pirate who barged into Cold Karma while Discord was letting him spy on the war room there? Rhodallis? It was incredibly distinctive. Even with such a small sample, it had to be him. "As for why I'm here..." Rhodallis went on. "I just thought I'd do you a favor. We are business partners, after all... Prospective ones, at least. Don't worry, I didn't show anyone your secret collection. The only thing on display here was how much you could use the help of an expert in shoring up this castle." Tarunda cleared his throat defiantly. "Your negotiations with High Prince Gustadolph have nothing to do with my beautiful castle and my beautiful mares. And I'm not feeling inclined to give a word in your favor when your manners are this rude." "Heh. Don't give me that smart-cop-dumb-cop routine," Rhodallis laughed. "I already know all you Consuls are the same person. Putting in a word in my favor? You have all the authority you need to negotiate with me here and now. You know you need what I'm selling." "I haven't a clue what you're talking about," Tarunda shot back. "This castle might be open to the public, you know, but my guards aren't just for show. And I'm this close to calling them up and having you removed at my sole discretion." There was another burst of changeling fire, and then another, and then another. "Go ahead and try," Rhodallis's voice replied. "I'm not here for a fight, and you won't get one unless you attack every random stranger in the hope that they're me. Just try not to keep yourself up at night wondering what would happen if you met a shapeshifter who wasn't interested in playing by the rules..." He laughed raucously, and Papyrus heard him stomping away. Moments later, Senescey surfaced with Papyrus in an unused closet, far enough that Tarunda probably wouldn't walk by, but still in the less-used portion of the castle. They looked at each other. "I know who that was," Senescey said, apparently not realizing that Papyrus had a decent idea too. "Pirate King Rhodallis. His turf is mostly in Varsidel, and he's always antagonizing Ironridge. Surely you've seen him in the news while living there." "You've met him in person?" Papyrus asked. "Yes," Senescey said. "He and my old crew had some history. In fact, an altercation with him was how we got into the Composer's good graces and got the Aldebaran in the first place. He's a Changeling Bishop - the same kind of thing as Lilith, Samael and Estael. I don't know why he's here, but... this complicates things." "Oh yeah?" Papyrus raised an eyebrow. "See, from what I heard, his parting line made it sound like Tarunda really doesn't know how to steal sarosian souls..." "Maybe," Senescey said, shaking her head. "Rhodallis likes making deals, and he hates the other Bishops. He has several other changelings on his crew as well, ones like me who can transform freely, but are still capable of independent thought. He's ruthless and stops at nothing to get what he wants, but he can be reasoned with. The only way to change his mind about something is to offer him something he wants more. So if he's trying to get something he wants out of Tarunda..." Papyrus nodded slowly. "You're saying that even if Tarunda is actually prey, we might not be the biggest predators on the block." "We're not," Senescey said. Papyrus waited for her to say something else, but she was quiet. "So how does this change our calculus?" he eventually asked. "Stay the course? Run away?" "We could try to make a deal with Rhodallis," Senescey said. "As I understand it, the whole point of us staying here is to try to get information for Luna so Felicity's job can be considered a success. Personally, I..." "Go on," Papyrus prompted. Senescey swallowed. "I think the knowledge that there are changelings here, being controlled by what's likely an amateur who's unaware of their powers - assuming everything Rhodallis implied was true - is more than enough to say we did our job. That might be the cowardly way out when there's clearly so much else going on here to learn and uncover, but the more I think about it..." She sighed. "Be honest with yourself, Papyrus. Why did you vote to stay here? Was it for the sake of Felicity's job? For the sake of the Empire? Or because we discovered that Tarunda might be an easier target than we thought, and it sounded like fun?" Papyrus narrowed his eyes. "I'm trying to answer that, and I don't even know if I'm capable of being honest with myself about it," Senescey said. "Any excuses I make are just excuses. I know staying here any longer than we absolutely have to goes against what I resolved to do last night. I'm mad at myself for flaking out, for even entertaining the idea of..." She pulled out the box containing the Iklofna, briefly flashing it in the dim light. "Of using these the way they were suggested. I don't want my mind and body used as a toy. And I'm trying to rationalize why I voted the way I did, without considering that I might just like seeing the mighty fall. And I'm not having much luck." "Sounds like a personal problem," Papyrus remarked. "Tell me you feel the same," Senescey said. "That you were thinking during the planning meeting after the vote, 'this is just like the good old days!' You were, weren't you?" Papyrus shrugged. "Guilty as charged. So?" "So am I just a little filly who doesn't know what she wants?" Senescey whispered. "Torn between the allure of the adrenaline I used to feel, and the reality that subjecting myself to that much danger is no longer necessary?" "Eh. I think you're overthinking it." Papyrus slapped a hoof on her back. "Chalk it up to peer pressure during the vote and call it a day. You want your sisters to like you, right? Of course it was unanimous!" Senescey frowned. "Out of the three of us, I was the first to cast a final vote." Papyrus blinked. "Were you? Perhaps you were. Oh well. Like I said, I'm just going where you three go, and like you said, we do have enough tantalizing info that if that puffy princess in Equestria wants to know more, she can organize a way to get it that's slightly less dangerous for all parties involved." He swiped the Iklofna box, turning it over in his feathers. "Why did she even give Felicity something like this in the first place? She said she was given all sorts of contingencies, but this sounds awfully dangerous for niche its use is. Was Luna really expecting us to need this?" "Evidently," Senescey said. "Unless Felicity was lying about where she got this, but I can't think of a good reason why she'd do that..." "Well, neither can I!" Papyrus passed the box back. "All I'm saying is, it's awfully convenient she had a thing like that. So, want to get out of here? And if so, want to check out that locked room first? Might as well grab one more snazzy piece of intel for the big boss goddess on our way out the door." "Sure." Senescey nodded. "You really think it's fine to just turn around, flip-flop again and call it quits for the second time in two days?" "It'll be fine," Papyrus promised. "It's not like anyone has anything riding on us staying here, after all." Papyrus and Senescey reached the chained-up door without incident. Up close, it was even more heavily locked down, the padlocks all built in different styles, some taking keys and others varying formats of combinations. Yet in true Stormhoof fashion, there was a small slit at the bottom where a sarosian could shadow sneak with impunity. Curiosity could not be denied. Under the door they went. The room beyond was bitterly, surprisingly cold. Papyrus almost didn't want to let go of Senescey, his fur fluffing aggressively against the temperature as an automatic lighting system kicked on. Papyrus took a minute to blink against the harsh, white light... and then he blinked twice at what he saw. It was filled with identical round black pedestals, featuring slanted edges and slightly recessed surfaces. An iceberg rose from the tip of each pedestal, dripping with frost and displaying not a hint of melt on their clear, crystalline surfaces. Each one was a source of the light that had turned on, glowing from within with a sinister sheen and perfectly illuminating what was suspended inside. Sphinx corpses. More than half a dozen deep-frozen sphinx corpses, put on display like every other artifact in this palace turned museum. Papyrus blinked in fascination and slight revulsion. He knew these people. Lord Everlaste, an impeccably clean stab wound straight through his forehead. Everlaste's daughter, a thin line of red circling her throat. Geribaldi Stormhoof, the nerdy Stormhoof scion and Floria's father, was positioned front and center... and actually had nothing visibly wrong with him at all. Didn't look much older than Papyrus remembered him, either. All of the pedestals had placards describing who was entombed upon them. All of the occupied ones, at least. Several were empty, pushed to the back and still awaiting use. "You know," Papyrus said to Geribaldi's frozen corpse, "I mentioned that flabby Consul having skeletons in his closet, but I didn't quite think it would be so literal..." "T-This is..." Senescey looked somewhere between nauseated and resentful. "Like what you see?" Tarunda asked, stepping out from behind a pedestal. Senescey jumped. Papyrus had a lifetime of experience that allowed him not to, but it was still very tempting - trashing his image and putting on a show of being surprised was fun. If only he hadn't just overheard this stallion getting bullied into submission by a show of force. "Where did you come from?" Senescey whispered, taking a step back. "Good trick, right?" Tarunda grinned. "Anyway, fancy meeting you two again, and here of all places. And here I thought you were skipping town!" "Why do you have these?" Senescey asked, bristling warily. Tarunda turned to stare at the frozen corpses. "These? They're the pride of my collection! Though I've been told my tastes are a bit eccentric in this one regard, so I don't go around regularly displaying them. If you wanna talk about them, I could jaw about these babies for days, but first off old Tarunda's got a few questions for you, just to make sure we can stay friends." Senescey stood her ground. Papyrus did too, though his posture was more casual than defensive. "First things first," Tarunda said. "That Rhodallis fellow who was here earlier. You don't work for him, do you? Did he put you up to this in any capacity? Or do you not know who I'm talking about?" "I know who Rhodallis is," Senescey replied levelly. "I don't work for him, nor have I ever." "Good, good," Tarunda said. "Second, that was a pretty fancy trick you used to get under my door! Where'd you learn a move like that?" "You don't need to beat around the bush," Senescey said, straightening her back. "You want to know if I'm really a sarosian wearing another form, don't you?" Tarunda's eyes sparkled. "You're pretty smart, you know that? But there's no need to act so defensive about it. I'm an honorable stallion of my word, here. And let me tell you, when I see a talented, beautiful mare sneaking around in my castle - a castle, by the way, that's one hundred percent open to the public, no exceptions, not even this here room - the first thing I think is 'boy, it would be great if I had this hottie on my payroll!' Now, back the other night, I was just thinking of giving you an entry-level position, but that would be a criminal waste on someone with your skills. So what do you say? Work for me, and you could have some very good things coming in your future." "Can you be honest with me about what those duties would require?" Senescey asked. "Or are you all carrot and no stick?" Tarunda coughed indignantly. "Here in Stormhoof, we're nice to our employees, prospective and otherwise! It's a little old philosophy of mine, a way to poach talent from the competition. You kids ever been up in Wilderwind? It's a different world, I tell you. And the way the Consulate gets ahead is by giving such a nice deal that it would be stupid to choose the other team. Come on, you aren't gonna turn up your nose just because you're a little weirded out by my collection, are you?" Papyrus glanced at Senescey, trying to read whether she wanted him to intervene. She seemed to be rapidly shedding her fear of Tarunda, though it was definitely possible he would turn around and stab them in the back if she said no too many times... but some sense, or perhaps a memory, was painting a whole different picture in his mind of what was going on here. Looking at Tarunda, Papyrus saw an act, complete and total. And behind that act, he thought he could see someone laughing their head off with a juvenile sense of humor, screwing with someone purely for the entertainment value of watching them navigate an awkward situation, who could afford to say whatever they wanted because they had no stake in the future beyond their enjoyment of the present. Maybe he was just seeing himself, and the way he had treated his favorite pawns in his past life. That had certainly been one of his signature techniques for always winning, making people think you had a goal beyond having a good time. Maybe this was just a false impression... but he trusted his instincts. "If I can humbly cut in," Papyrus interrupted, preparing to fight fire with fire. "You wouldn't happen to be making an offer for my talent as well, would you? I can see that you're desperately horny, and I am tragically a dude, but my wary associate here isn't quite opportunistic enough to jump at an offer that's too good to be true. Not so for me. Might you have any ludicrously high-paying work for an ordinary, non-sarosian-in-disguise Gazelle cosplayer?" "Heh heh." Tarunda turned to Papyrus and chuckled. "I appreciate you playing to my tastes, kid. But the truth is, that depends on whether your little friend here asks for me to hire you as a condition of her own employment. See, the truth is, I need some jobs done that can only be done by sarosians, whether they're in disguise or not. Simple stuff, really. Doesn't take any effort on your part whatsoever!" "Such as?" Senescey pressed. Tarunda shook his head. "You know, it's sad and kind of funny seeing how many ponies are scared of the single best deal in the Griffon Empire. I can't blame you for being mistrustful when the circumstances are what they are. Anywhere else, and you'd be in violation of a dozen laws right now and well on your way to jail or worse! Meanwhile, all I'm trying to do is cut your people a break after all the nastiness that went down twenty years ago. Ain't that just poetic? A silver bullet, the one way out of your old life and into a great new one, and you'll just up and turn away like so many others even when it's staring you straight in the eye. It's so sad. I'm crying right now, really." Papyrus tried his absolute best to stare into Tarunda's soul. Was it possible he was telling the truth? Offering a legitimately great deal in the shadiest possible manner for the fun of seeing people turn it down? "...You're smart, though," Tarunda said. "So here's the messy truth, all out there at once: it takes hoof power to keep Stormhoof the utopia that it is. You can incentivize folks to all sorts of good behavior when their needs are met and they've got a bogey up north keeping their ire preoccupied, but there's always cracks that are gonna need filling in. Cracks like inquisitive kids running around in my special collection like they're trying to get my attention. Now, sarosians like you, they've got this mystical connection-" "You want to possess me and borrow my body," Senescey interrupted. "Just like Chrysalis did to everyone, twenty years ago." Tarunda gaped. "You sure you don't work for Rhodallis?" "Dead certain." Senescey flickered with green flame, and returned to her original sarosian form. "I work for no one but myself." For a moment, Tarunda stared at her, transfixed. "Is that your original form? Are you... one of the assassin sisters who...?" Senescey nodded. "Whoever you are, you are playing with powers you don't understand. I've been asking myself over and over why you didn't just take my body by force. After overhearing you and Rhodallis, I'm not even sure you can. And listening to you now, I don't think you have the slightest understanding of how the world works. These?" She swept a hoof out over all the sphinx corpses. "Do you even know why we wanted them dead?" "That means you knew High Prince Gazelle in person? You were even one of his closest confidants?" Tarunda held a hoof to his chin. "...Forget working for me. How'd you like to straight up become a Consul?" Senescey blinked. "Your own little slice of land, govern it however you please?" Tarunda grinned at her. "Unlimited privileges wherever the rule of law is still respected in the Empire? You could even go to and from Neo Everlaste Palace and meet High Prince Gustadolph as much as you want, and if you really are working for Rhodallis, that's an offer I know you won't be able to refuse." "Then it sounds like refusing it is the best way to prove I'm on my own side," Senescey said, turning around. "If you were competent, you'd know how to offer a proportional reward to get what you want, and you'd know how to do it without making someone suspect they're getting scammed. I've been in the scamming business for far too long not to have seen what happens when that fails. And if you were on the straight and narrow, you wouldn't have sent me that threat letter." "Threat letter?" Tarunda frowned. "I wasn't thrilled about seeing you wander off last night, but I'm a more graceful loser than that. What are you talking about?" "If you care about doing right by your people, like a leader should," Senescey began, "you'll find this advice far more valuable than having another sycophant to follow your orders: take your people seriously. And if you're corrupt, then the advice is the same, just for different reasons. But you aren't taking me seriously, and in less than a day I've gone from fearing you to realizing I have the upper hoof. Give out your Consul promotions based on experience and moral fiber, not because I once tried to kill a family whose corpses you now keep as trophies. Otherwise someone like the mare I used to be will show up again, and you'll be the one entombed in that ice." Papyrus was ready in case Tarunda tried to backstab her. He could tell Senescey was ready too; he even saw the faint glimmer of the Iklofna case ready to be withdrawn if needed. But Tarunda didn't try to stop them as they left. Instead, he stood there wearing the expression of a foal who had just been given an expensive new toy, and was in the process of realizing it wasn't as cool in reality as it looked in the store's window. "Welcome back," Floria greeted as Papyrus and Senescey re-entered the airship, completely unaccosted on the journey from the castle. "Yo." Papyrus saluted with a wing. "Not every day I get a welcome home from you." Floria took a deep breath. "About the vote this afternoon, I have been thinking-" "We're calling it off," Senescey said. "The situation isn't how we read it. I don't know everything that's going on here, but we have more than enough information for the Princess. And I'm not happy with our thought process during the vote, anyway." "You aren't?" Floria looked surprised. "Well, it seems I am not the only one having second thoughts. And I suppose this simplifies the matter of explaining how I've been feeling to the others..." "Sounds like we've got at least three in favor of leaving," Papyrus announced. "At this rate, I ought to take us to Izvaldi or something so that the next time we change our minds, we aren't already halfway back to Equestria, but let's see what the others have to say..." Outside, far to the south and even farther above, Discord sat on the edge of the Aldenfold's cliff face, legs dangling off into oblivion. Beside him was his glowing, phantom screen, depicting the deliberations between Papyrus and his friends as they concluded and the airship began to rise. "You overstepped the bounds of our wager," a voice said next to him. "This doesn't count." Discord put on a petulant face. "Are you so sure about that?" "You presume I'm not?" "First off," Discord lectured, "my intervention didn't actually change anything. So I forged a little blackmail to tempt them back into the ring. And look at them now, so gung ho to take over the Empire as a result!" His companion frowned. "You gave them a lot more than a bogus letter." "Pshhh, what are you talking about?" Discord waved a hand. "Didn't you hear Felicity? That little box of hers came from Princess Luna, not me. And she earnestly believes it, too!" "This is what I'm talking about," his companion insisted. "Using a power like that absolutely falls outside the bounds of our agreement." "Except my intervention was on the behalf of your own desired outcome," Discord pointed out, curling his lip. "I'll have you know I stacked the tables against myself with this little bout of cheating, and we both know the only reason you're sore about it is because you know I'll win and you know it'll make you look even worse when you lose." His companion stared at him levelly. "Oh well. Such are the pitfalls of gambling with a known cheater." Discord meticulously cleaned the claws on his paw, lifting them one by one and flicking out a few balls of lint, a hair, and a whole tumbleweed out into the abyss. "I'll have you know it's a personal philosophy of mine not to make a point lightly. It's no fun winning if you think I got lucky or slipped by on a technicality. I simply couldn't live with myself if I didn't give your own silly viewpoint the most help I possibly could, so I can knock it down at its strongest!" "That sounds like an excuse for slight of hoof," his companion accused. "Fine," Discord sighed, "if it makes you feel better you can chalk it up to me feeling sorry for you and your inability to cheat on your own behalf alone. Since I know you would if you could. Aren't you always going on about how eeevil you are?" His companion scowled. "If you really felt sorry for me, you wouldn't make us meet somewhere so high up." Discord gave a cheeky grin. "I'm going back to bothering Halcyon," his companion said, floating downwards in a hazy shimmer of mother of pearl. "Maybe she'll have done something interesting within the last few days. Go figure the one other person who can see me is even more insane and less productive to interact with than she is... Where did you even get those Iklofna for Papyrus's gang?" Discord yawned. "It's a very long story involving the fishing pond in Las Pegasus, a camera thief, and a packet of ball bearings..." He checked to make sure his companion was still present before continuing, but they were gone.