//------------------------------//
// The Gala, part 1 
// Story: As The Sun Sets 
// by Noobblue 
//------------------------------//

"I'm not sure I understand why this is so important."

Shining was confused, which was okay; he didn't know Silver like Cadance did.

At the moment: Cadance, Amber and Shining Armor were sitting in their bedroom covered in papers and white boards. It was the day of the Gala, and Cadance had work to do.

She shifted a paper on air ordinance laws, "It's important because this is Silver's plan." She pointed towards their 'brainstorming' white board, "Silver tried very hard to keep this hidden, and was incredibly prepared to keep me out of it."

"It makes enough sense too." Amber said, "If she can't do damage with magic without getting caught, the next best thing would be to take over politically and economically."

Cadance looked up at their board. There was a menagerie of random comments and offshoots from a bubble with 'Tack & Co.' at the center. Apparently the idea was ingenious. Nopony had done it before because bulk transport portals had range and mass issues that nopony could figure out. Obviously Silver could, and the instant transport from region to region was incredibly lucrative.

"I still think it's some sort of world conquering idea." Shining was stuck on the 'portals to everywhere in Equestria' part

Cadance nodded, "It very well might be, who knows how much damage Silver could do to every single major settlement in Equestria before we could react."

The good news is that Cadance knew that wouldn't happen. Silver wouldn't blow all of her leverage on some massive world destroying attack, because she'd still lose in the end. Silver wanted to win, permanently. Tack & Co. wasn't part of some revenge scheme, everything Cadance knew about Silver pointed away from it. 

So why?

"I don't think that's the case though. There's plenty of ways Silver could more subtly destroy Equestria." Amber said

Cadance finished, "And she'd still lose in the end, that's not her goal."

"So it's some kind of economic power grab?"

Amber shifted a paper over on the crystal floor, "A decent one at that, Tack & Co. is operating in a market that's basically wide open. With the right innovations and connections, Tack & Co. could theoretically dominate and monopolize the transport industry in just over a year."

"How many bits is that?" 

Amber grimaced, "If she takes advantage of price ranges not responding to the new technologies of Tack & Co. because of the novelty factor? She'd outpace The Empire's coffers in two."

"Surely there are laws against one pony becoming that powerful?"

Cadance shook her head, Shining had a morning meeting so he had missed that part.

"We scoured the books for it, but a combination of Silver's Noble title, a technical international company, and dual citizenship means that there's no law, ordinance or treatise that Silver is breaking. We can't pin anything on the company either."

"As far as the law is concerned, the company is an independent lawful party, subject to international laws. Silver has neatly sidestepped our ability to slow her down." Amber finished

Shining Armor nodded grimly, "What I don't get is how she got so many ponies there so fast, and trained too."

"Hoof Take industry is a hiring company." Cadance said

"A what?"

Amber explained, "It basically means that they organize hiring processes for thousands of ponies who sign up. Instead of putting up job posters, ponies give their resumes to Hoof Take, and companies just go there to hire their employees."

"And Silver bought them out." Cadance lifted up the letter she expedited from the mayor of Manehatten and magicked it over to Shining, "Apparently Silver cut a deal with the owner to hire all of their employees in exchange for exclusivity. Hoof Take works for Tack & Co. now, finding ponies to fill the workforce."

Shining took the letter and started to read while Amber spoke, "Apparently their headquarters went up practically overnight, so nopony noticed. Silver paid a construction crew double overtime and hired several architect experts from both The Empire and Equestria for the construction; the ponies worked two days straight."

Cadance slapped a hoof to her forehead, "That groundbreaking request I expedited, I totally forgot about that. They must have started practically as soon as the paperwork went through."

"Can't we pull this down for the hostile takeover of Hoof Take?"

Amber shook her head, "Because the owner is still in charge, and the investors signed off on it, no. It's an informal agreement between the two."

"So what do we do?" He asked

Cadance knew this part, "At the moment? Nothing. We can't act on this until we have more information, but we're steadily catching up."

Shining continued, his tone dropping, "I'm concerned we won't catch up fast enough."

"We have to try."

Amber spoke up, "In all honesty, there is little to be concerned about. An economic superpower located in the Crystal Empire could work for us. The worst that could happen is Silver leads the economic sector of The Empire for the next several generations." She looked up at the two royals, "That's not really malevolent is it?"

Shining frowned, "It probably won't look bad until it's exactly too late for us to do anything."

Cadance nodded

Despite what she wanted to believe, that was the truth. If Silver truly planned on doing something 'bad' then she'd wait until the absolute last moment to reveal her hoof. They had to be ready for it, especially with the amount of damage the amount of bits Silver was raking in could do. Especially in her hooves.

"The good news is that we have a lead now." Cadance shook her head, "Silver's not doing anything else big, everything we've been dealing with so far must have been lucky distractions Silver took advantage of."

"You know what I just realized?" Shining said, "She lied, she said she'd tell us the big things she was up to, like you told her." He pointed to Cadance, "But she didn't."

Cadance gave a sideways smile, "Uhhh, well...."

"Cadance"

"She was pretty clear how ambiguous the agreement was to her... I guess I just didn't ask afterwards?"

Shining put his face in his hooves.

"I suppose you'll have time to ask her when she arrives for the Gala." Amber said

Ah yes... that

Cadance had received her dress, it was a big comfy florally decorated sun dress with even greens and soft yellows, speckled with flashes of bright vibrant flower colours. It didn't really match her coat... or mane, but it was very pretty.

"Silver definitely knows I know by now." Cadance said mostly to herself, "It's worth asking, I might get some more information."

"So... Lunch?" Shining said hopefully.

They'd been here for several hours past lunchtime. Everything was closed today in The Spire for the Gala, so they had no other responsibilities for the day.

"How will Silver know when to show up?"

"I could always use that sending spell she gave me."

"Cadance, we talked about that, I don't want you using corruptive magics."

Cadance pursed her lips, "It's only half emotion..."

"Cadance"

"I can handle it, Shining."

"I know, I still don't want you doing it, full stop."

"Celestia does dark magic."

"Celestia's been doing it for a thousand years."

Cadance gestured ambiguously.

"Yes I know I just argued myself into a corner."

Amber watched the interaction break down to gestures and short phrases as the couple communicated in what she could only call 'the chicken scratch of married arguing.'

"I'm going to test it." Cadance had said with a wry smile near the tail end as she stood and grabbed a paper in her telekinesis.

Shining tried to reason with her, having lost the battle of wills. Which failed as he was impacted by the spell.

Cadance had tried to send the paper to him, which worked, as the jolt of magical electricity jumped from her horn to the paper and consumed the page into a wave of force. What Cadance did not know, however, was that the power she'd put into the spell, plus her lack of practice, had given it a 'minimum range' of sorts. The result was that the spell couldn't disengage before arriving, and instead slammed into Shining's face.

Shining rolled onto his back, seemingly knocked over by a piece of paper shredding itself on his face at a quarter the speed of sound.

Cadance covered her mouth with her hoof.

"Ow."

"Sorry."

At least it worked.