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// Leaf 08- A House of Cards 
// Story: Leaves- An Anthology 
// by FrostTheWolf 
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For this particular branch, it’s not quite as simple as you might think it would be. 

Everything about this Equestria is basically how you think it would go. From start to finish, the story is pretty much the same. You know the song and dance. The twists, turns, surprises and friends made along the way.

But in order to see what’s really going on, we’re going to need for you to look a little deeper. Behind the curtain, between the lines… under the surface.

You think you can do that? We can give you a moment or so to decide… but since you’re already here, you might as well have made up your mind already.

Just let it be known… We did warn you.

Under the surface of this Equestria, it is seen as a playground by the few and the powerful. Where opulence and power collide with brutality and authority. Professionals in their line of work shape the world that every creature here knows about through the shadows.

But instead of telling you, why don’t we show it through their eyes instead? The world that these professionals see.

Are you ready… because there’s no going back now.



No matter if you are a local or just visiting, there are many visitors going through the cloudy streets of Las Pegasus. Even more so with the amount of people going in and out of the various buildings and entertainment venues. But almost all of them fail in comparison to the Ponet Fantastique.

There are many guests here, whether it be in the gaming halls, the buffets or the entertainment rooms. But for the moment, we are only going to focus on one.

It’s that earth pony walking towards the front desk. Dressed in a nice suit, tailor made with a black coat and red tie. Their silver-ish mane stands out amidst the dark gray color of their fur. Their gaze is almost stone-like as she talks to one of the receptionists at the front desk.

“O-oh, hello. Welcome to the Ponet Fantastique! How can I help you?”

“I’m here to check into my room.” She says, not missing a beat and not changing her expression.

“O-oh sure. What’s the name of the reservation?”

“Cecilia Bloom.”

The receptionist, quick on her hooves, combs through the list of reservations on the desk terminal in front of her.  It doesn’t take her long to find a match as everything is quickly finalized and she prepares a room key for this… Cecilia. “O-okay, here you go. You’re in room 6 on the 47th floor. If you have any questions, feel free to come see us or call the front desk from your room. We hope you enjoy your stay.”

This mare seems nervous… but then again, who wouldn’t when the pony you're checking in doesn’t even change the expression on their face. You can’t tell if they’re happy, sad or even relieved.

But Cecilia takes the key, thanks the ponies up front, and goes straight to the elevator with her bags in tow. Nothing suspicious about that. She just goes about her business like anyone else would.

As she goes to the elevator, the door opens up as a different pony makes their way through. A stallion with an egregious looking suit and tie comes out, acting like they own the place as they push past Cecilia and make their way to the entrance. As the earth pony goes into the elevator, she watches this figure go around the bottom floor, as if inspecting how everything is going on.

Everypony else has… mixed reactions. The guests are taken aback, but in a more ‘oh my god, it’s a celebrity’ kind of way. The staff members, not so much.

Most of them freeze up upon seeing him. Whoever they are, they radiate this sort of ‘Big Shot’ energy.

Still, the elevator trip up is mostly uneventful… and it doesn’t take long for her to find her room and get settled in. As she places her bag on the bed, she pulls out something that looks like a small circular chip. As she sets it on the table, a glow begins to form as from it, a projection is shown. This one of another mare, a unicorn wearing a casual Sanguine dress, cream colored fur and chestnut brown mane and tail. Cutie mark obscured by the dress.

“I checked into the hotel. In my room now.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that you have arrived on site smoothly,” the mare in the projection replied, “But let me be the first to say welcome to Las Pegasus. You might already know a thing or two about the location, but not quite exactly why you’re here.”

“It’s part of the contract, is it not? The client wouldn’t have us here unless it’s for a reason.”

“How very astute. Well, I guess there’s no need for pleasantries,” the mare replies, just before the image of a familiar pony is projected from the chip.

Remember the rude stallion that bumped into Cecilia on the way into the elevator? Well, it’s him.

“Your target is Mister Gladmane, celebrity personality, owner of Ponet Fantastique and a self proclaimed friendship connoisseur. Though, let me assure you that’s the sort of persona that he wants the public to perceive of him.”

“I passed by him earlier in the lobby,” Cecilia says, “The guests seemed excited to see him, but the workers looked terrified.”

“That fits with the information the client provided, unfortunately. His charm provides a suitable cover for all the nasty things he does when nopony’s looking. Creating a hostile culture to prevent his employees from changing careers, turn-key business practices that had led to previous business partners filing for bankruptcy, other practices that are seen as downright predatory and silenced allegations of assault among his staff.”

If you think this guy was bad enough already, well he’s a scumbag here.

The living personification of what happens when you are immune to the consequences of your actions.

But Cecilia remains unphased. If anything, right now, she’s razor focused. “Who’s the client?”

“Our client is a member of a law firm that is representing multiple victims of Gladmane’s actions. Since it would be near suicide to try to challenge him in the court system while he’s alive, they’ve contracted us with his elimination,” the mare on the other end replied in a calm fashion, “We already provided a cover story for why you are here under your usual alias. Ms. Cecilia Bloom, just received a promotion from her workplace and is here to celebrate for the night. As such, you might need to play it by ear and find what you need on site in order to complete the mission.”

Well, that explains a couple things. Doesn’t seem like she’ll be staying here for long though.

“Is there anything else I should be warned of? You know that after Baltimare, we don’t like sudden surprises.”

Wait, Baltimare? What happened there-?

We don’t talk about Baltimare.

But-

We don’t… talk about Baltimare.

… Okay then. 

Ignoring that exchange from my fellow archivists, there was some silence in the room. Cecilia felt that she needed to repeat the question, but before being able to do so, the unicorn spoke again, “There is one possible issue. Hotel records indicate that among the guest list, two members of the Elements of Harmony are staying here at the Ponet Fantastique as VIP’s. We are still trying to narrow down who, but caution is advised. Though, it may be possible that those two can lead you to your target if you play your cards right. Provided that you are able to identify them on sight.”

I wonder how long she was waiting to say that one.

Probably quite a bit.

“If the client has any extra information, I will be sure to send it to you via the usual method. But I’m sure you have it all under control. Best of luck.”

And with that, the projection fades and the chip is collected. Attached like a button to the upper part of the coat near the left ear.

Now, some of you might already be having a few questions. Like, who is this mare? Who was she talking to? What is this about contracts and targets?

Well, the thing is, if you really peeled back the layers a bit, that puts you in danger. But if it isn’t already obvious, Cecilia is not here for a vacation.

She has a job to do… and the only way the job can be complete is if the target dies.

So, for the time being, let’s observe and watch how this plays out. After all, it's always more entertaining that way.

Now that the mare is free to do what she pleases and knows her assignment, the first thing that comes to her mind is to explore the hotel. Go back downstairs to see where she is allowed, where she isn’t and listen in on what the people say. 

After all, the best leads are the ones that you sometimes hear from word of mouth.

As are the best stories. Trust us, we know that from experience.

Though, there is one thing that Cecilia has to keep in the back of her mind. Certain manners of how to eliminate her target may be hampered if you happen to have an Element of Harmony in the vicinity. It’s already common knowledge that they aren’t like any ordinary creature you pass by on the street, but they are something else entirely. 

One of them is even a princess and was Celestia’s protégé.

So, whether or not she would have to factor them into how she went about this assignment was going to be a coin flip. Either she finds out more and it’s useful, or she’ll find another opportunity and jump on that instead.

Some things included small details on the VIP’s visiting the hotel, events happening across the casino, stuff at the gambling halls, that sort of thing. And many more options about how to approach eliminating the target.

Some options she found were subtle. Others the exact opposite. But over time, one thing started to become clear.

The two other VIP’s here… the Elements of Harmony that Willow mentioned before. It seemed like the two of them were starting to catch on to how Gladmane ran things here. 

But this gave her an idea. A wonderful… awful idea. All she would have to do was pull a few strings and wait.



To say things were not going well for Mister Gladmane was a bit of understatement.

And who would blame him. Earlier today, he was caught off guard by the sight of none other than two of the elements of harmony showing up at the doorstep to his hotel, saying they were here to solve a ‘friendship problem’. Which, by itself, shouldn’t have been any cause for alarm. But the moment that he learned that the two of them found the pair of brothers that he ‘hired’ no less than a week ago, things started to slowly get a bit more nerve-wracking. 

Could these two possibly connect the dots? Would they start to piece together what he actually did for a living? How he treats everypony that works for him?

There’s a lot going through his head and at this point, he thinks that the writing is probably on the wall.

Well, to be fair, it is. Though, he doesn’t realize that yet.

He’s been all over the Ponet Fantastique today and this is just a momentary reprieve back in his office. So many ponies to talk too, many questions to answer, many discussions to be had. All so that his operation would keep going smoothly. It wasn’t easy trying to keep his operation afloat, but it took a lot of hard work to get it to where it is now.

“Finally. I can barely catch a moment to myself.” He said, looking around his office. Portraits of himself, marble statues, the world’s biggest bit. Little oddities here and there that made him feel safe in this space. Where he felt in power and in control.

But strangely, something felt off. It was like that feeling you would have if someone had changed the temperature on the thermostat. It might have been small, but it was very noticeable.

And now that it was on his mind, he can’t think of anything else other than that. For the one thing that he was thinking about now was very important to how he ran things at his establishment.

For every business, bookkeeping and managing business documentation was important to running the thing. However, to Gladmane, it was something that he would keep hidden and not let anypony see. Because the things that would be inside would expose him as the opposite of the kind of pony that he tries to portray himself to be.

And it is within that moment that he realizes that the safe in the wall where he kept said books, behind one of his portraits, was not closed all the way. In fact, it was empty.

Immediately, questions began to bounce around in his head. Why was it open? Did he not lock it all the way? Could somepony have broken into his office? If so, then who?

Clearly, it was not one of the caterers from downstairs. Maybe an employee? But nopony would know about the frame unless-

It was as these questions bounced in his head that the doors to his office opened… and a pair of guests that he welcomed personally a few hours ago entered the room. “Mister Gladmane, ya have some explainin’ to do.”



“Out of curiosity, what exactly led to you taking this approach?”

The question was an honest one, Bloom had to admit. But she was busy assembling an extra tool that was hidden in a case from a dumpster. A small hoof-held crossbow, custom made and compact, easy to conceal. The bolts are sharp enough to shred through flesh and bone.

“He looked like somepony who wasn’t really comfortable with the Elements poking around. So, the easiest play was to ‘assist’ with that.”

“I understand that, but sneaking into his office, just to open a safe and take what’s inside… only to leave it as convenient evidence for those Elements to pick up on? I knew you disabled security, but from my perspective… What exactly is your play here?”

Oh, she would say what it was… but perhaps it would be easier if we told you.

Helping the Elements expose his misdeeds and all that? Well, it’s a lure. If the target stayed within the Ponet Fantastique, Gladmane would feel invincible and have the metaphorical deck stacked against anypony trying to ‘expose’ him.

However, if he was somehow ousted out, then nothing inside the hotel could protect him from who or what was waiting for him out here. And the best way to do that was to have the Elements of Harmony that were there act like the heroes that Equestria knows them for. Many ponies wouldn’t even end up remembering who would get on their bad side.

And by the time she was done, no one would even care about what happened after the fact.

All it required was a bit of patience and preparation. But mostly patience.

A lot of patience.

Patience deluxe, if such a thing existed.

All she had was time on her side. It did not matter how long it would take, as long as the plan somehow worked. It might have been odd, but it wasn’t like anything she handled before.

This mare’s a downright professional. A smooth operator. Unfazed by any challenges presented to her.

Almost as if right on cue, what she was waiting for happened. Storming out the front doors of the resort, a rather messy looking stallion who looked like the exact opposite of the pony she saw upon arriving in the lobby. Clothes were a mess, panicked breathing, chased out of the resort that he saw as his own little fortress. 

And also hid in the same alley that was nearby her. Convenient.

“H-how did they find that? T-that was supposed to be secure! How did they-” his breathing was erratic, “N-No matter. This isn’t the first time that I had to start from rock bottom! I’ll just start over! Build everything back up… and take back what they took from me-!”

Before he could even finish rambling, the mare that waited for him took the shot. A single bolt, through the head as the body of her target fell forwards. With the cloudwalking spell that was cast on him leaving the second he drew his final breath, the corpse plummeted through the clouds of Las Pegasus, hurling towards the surface and ensuring that nothing would remain.

“Excellent work. The money’s been wired to your account. Now then-” ‘Willow’ said, before an audible chip interrupted her as Bloom concealed the weapon in her coat and started to walk away, “Hang on a minute… Our work might not be done quite yet, I’m afraid.”

“How so?”

“A handler of ours just reported in requesting assistance. From the sounds of it, they were running an intelligence operation on a potential target in a club on the opposite end of the strip, but they lost contact with their field agent a few hours ago. If their operation is compromised, then it falls to us to find them and perhaps finish their mission. Of course, the handler in question is going to compensate us, in case that serves as motivation.”

The mare, straightening her clothes, looked at the opposite end of the strip and started to make her way there. “Give me the details.”

Now, from our perspective, we know that Cecilia Bloom is just a cover. But right now, hearing her actual name may raise more questions, “Very well, 74. I’ll send the information your way now.”



We told you that in the beginning that once you see what truly lies under the surface, there’s no going back, right? Well… now you know why.

For in this World of Harmony, there is a World of Assassination just hidden away under the surface. And those who know about it know just how dangerous it is. How easy you can get away with the most awful of things… and how easy you can make yourself a target.

Now that you know the truth, you must know that you cannot go back. Try everything you can to forget what you learned, but it will be of no avail.

Because in this world, one misstep can put in the crosshairs of one of the most lethal adversaries in the world.

And they never miss their mark.