//------------------------------// // Day Three // Story: The Four and One Erebi Nights // by RandomBlank //------------------------------// The Four and One Erebi Nights or The Rise and Fall of the Filthy Empire. Day Three during which "Justice" is served. The morning came on time - Luna decided not to play mean and performed her duties while sitting on her cot. They were given some suspicious-looking oatmeal for breakfast, which they both decided to skip. Then there was taking hoofprints, more questioning, and they got a public defender, who appeared to be a member of the clique, doing the bare minimum required by law, and often not even that. He agreed to call both Twilight Sparkle and Silky Voice for Ice Pack’s witnesses though. Before 9 AM they were led to the courtroom. There were ten ponies in the prosecution side. Two prosecutors, two policeponies who arrested Ice Pack, and two fillies accompanied by their parents. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were both looking dirty, with scratches but exceptionally smug. Diamond Tiara stuck her tongue out at Ice Pack. The process began with the two fillies testifying. They played very badly hurt. They faked crying and sobbing. They answered in disturbing detail what Ice Pack allegedly did to them. They confirmed the Moon was already high up when they were on their walk through the outskirts of Ponyville. Luna made a note: they lied every single word. The adults already knew, but they decided it would be less trouble to have the zebra in prison than to go through unwinding the case with risk of charges of perjury. Not to mention the judge, an elder unicorn mare by the name Scales, winked to Mr. Filthy Rich in a very friendly manner. Then Ice Pack testified. He told about the two fillies making threats. He told he stayed at home the whole time with two mares present, reading books. The last one elicited laughter from the audience. Luna turned and scanned the audience. There was Twilight, Rarity and Applejack. She noted Shining Armor, wearing a suit and a necktie. And there was the exceptionally tall, white, slim Mr. Walrus, with big, thick grey mustache, rich grey mane neatly combed back, a monocle and a ridiculously high top hat on his head. Her sister always choose such silly disguises... Some rather stinky-looking pony was called to testify. “Rotten Apple” was his name and he said he was digging in the trash after moonrise when he saw a zebra walking through the outskirts of the town. That was all the sides wanted to know. Silky Voice tried to testify about the call. The judge upheld prosecutor’s objection calling the whole event unrelated. Twilight was called for a witness. She confirmed the visit of the two fillies. But the gist of what the prosecution desired to achieve was reached: Twilight left before the alleged rape was supposed to happen. The prosecutor implied Ice Pack decided to “teach the fillies a lesson” for their threats. “Calling Jane Doe, who refused to give her name.” Luna looked around. “This is you, miss blue unicorn with a dagger for a cutie mark. What kind of cutie mark is it anyway?” The judge pointed her mallet at Luna. “Better than crooked scales,” Luna stood up approaching the stand. “Try that again and you’ll face justice for contempt of the court,” the judge threatened. Luna was sworn in, in the name of Celestia and herself, to tell the truth... “So, why did you withhold your name from the authorities, miss?” The judge asked. “I gave them my operative name, which they refused to write down. It is Jorvana, your honor.” “What kind of horseapples is ‘operative name’?” “Section 782 of Common Law. Operatives of the Royal Intelligence are forbidden from using their real names while on mission.” “I see you’ve read some more than criminal books, but we’re having none of this here. What would the Royal Intelligence do after dark in the house of a zebra of ill repute? You stop this nonsense now or you face charges of contempt of court.” “Calling upon paragraph 42 of aforementioned section I request you contact the captain of the Royal Guard to ascertain my identity.” “And Princess Celestia too?” the mare laughed. The crowd didn’t catch up. “As I warned you, hereby you are sentenced to fine of five hundred bits for contempt of the court. Now give us your name.” “Are you refusing to act upon the section 42 to which you are obligated?” “This is a small town court. Your zebra friend committed a terrible crime and he will spend a long time in prison. It is not a time for your silly antics.” “You have sentenced him even before hearing all the witnesses?” “No, not yet, but you seem to be his last witness, and you play this spy drama farce. You could have picked something more original, it’s far too similar to that mare from the Legend of Hay House. Asking Canterlot for reply would unduly delay the inevitable, so let us be done with it. Let us assume your name is Jorvina for the need of this court. Meanwhile, your believability is strongly undermined. The persecution may ask the questions.” The prosecutor asked. “Where was Mr. Ice Pack last night, until his arrest?” “In his house, with me, the whole time.” “What was he doing? I am reminding you, you are testifying under the oath.” “Reading books.” “And you?” “Listening. Commenting. Drinking tea.” “That would be all, your honor. I believe we can safely judge the worth of the testimony by this mare.” “Does the defense have any questions?” The defender was supposed to ask details about Jorvina as an agent, things that would be easy to confirm and remove doubts. Instead... “No questions, your honor.” “Yes, and the image is quite enough. The witness will return to the place. The recess will not be necessary.” Luna returned to her seat. The judge struck the desk with the mallet three times. “Ice Pack, for your crime you are sentenced to fifteen years of prison. On top of that, as you have violated the conditions of your probation, your sentence is increased by further seven years for a total of twenty two years. I strongly advise against appealing it. It is an unusually light sentence for this kind of crime.” There was no applause from the audience. They all knew this case stank, but to dare oppose the clique? Ice Pack was led out. There was a short commotion behind the door, ponies turned their heads away at sounds of batons hitting flesh... “Well, so we have one minor case of an assault on the officer yet, plus a serious case of perjury. Miss calling herself Jorvina, what do you have for your defense?” Jorvina summarized the events, briefly, truthfully. Then the prosecution called the two officers as witnesses. One of them presented a bump on his leg. “She ripped my baton off and hit my leg with it. I can’t imagine who would believe I would injure myself like that on purpose.” The pegasus confirmed his colleague’s version. They didn’t mention making any threats. Still, they mentioned her getting very upset about the arrest. “We also have the testimony of Mr. Rotten Apple who says something quite opposite to miss Jorvina. Perjury is a serious crime, and while the previous charges would end with fine and probation, hereby I sentence you to two years of prison.” The whispers in the crowd were worried. There, this is what happens to those who speak up... Luna was led out. But then instead of being led back to the jail, she was stopped at some side corridor. The guards waited, talking in hushed tones. “Do you think it will take them long?” “No, it’s usually ten minutes and the scum is all mopped up.” “Poor guy.” “His own fault. She warned him not to file the appeal.” Luna didn’t know what to make of these words at first. Then a jolt of fear jumped up her spine. She sent her life detection spell to the jail. There were eight sparks of life in the corridor. And one in the adjacent cell. Waning. Without another second of waiting she gathered her magic and teleported to the cell. There was Ice Pack, hanging by a piece of a police trousers belt around his neck from the bars. She quickly lifted him, and pushed the escaping spark of life back in, removed the loop of belt and laid him on the cot. “We’ve got a ’porter! Flint, block her!” “You’ve made a huge mistake, lady,” a short, grey unicorn, one of the ring of policeponies gathered outside the jail said. His horn glowed and a crude magical field of disturbance surrounded Luna. Any lesser unicorn would be rendered powerless. Luna though, would be able to push back. And under current distress, she pushed back hard, really hard. A loud boom sounded, and the unicorn dropped to the floor, screaming, holding the stub on his forehead where his horn used to be a second earlier. “Flint is down! Kill her! Don’t let her escape!” Luna gathered her magic and weaved it into the Seal. Let’s see if any of them is a master, or if they are just all a bunch of rotten apples... The voices died down to low croaking resembling sounds of rusty door in enormous cavern. The ponies slowed down to dream-like dance. The Seal would buy her about three minutes. The world would progress by three seconds during that time, with the guards slowed, moving like suspended in honey. Quite casually, Luna got to healing the Zebra’s damaged throat caused by the belt. There were steps on the stairs. No, no powerful masters able to overcome the spell. It was Celestia, after dropping her disguise. Shining Armor tried to finish buckling his official uniform, following her - he was another pony powerful enough to overcome the Seal. "What do we have here, sister?" Celestia asked. "Seems like attempted murder, with a massive attempt at cover-up.” “How do we solve it?” “Will you pick it up as higher instance?" Celestia winced as if she just ate a lemon. "That always makes me queasy. What about the lost agent scenario?" "Can be done. But what about these here? I dehorned one accidentally already and it’s bound to devolve at this point." "Oh come on, just take the zebra away somewhere and sit back. I’ll handle the mess." "So, you go ask uncomfortable questions..." "And you bring your friend home. Read some books. Enjoy some tea or coffee. Do whatever you two meet for." "What are you planning?" "I will leave them just enough wiggle room to flee and banish themselves from Equestria on their own, although the judge and your attorney may face something harsher. And Mr. Filthy along with Mr. Fork are unlikely to remain lawful parents. I’ll present them with one chance to repair their errors, but they don’t strike me as ones to tackle it. The upbringing of these two fillies reeks." "Sounds nice enough. Now, the seal will last maybe another minute, better move on!" Shining and Celestia headed for the exit, as the sleep-walking formation of guards began forming a line, a glow appearing on the unicorns’ horns. Luna cast her spell of mark on unconscious Ice Pack She set a mark of explosion on the floor. There would be just a big hole here in a second of of real time. Some smoke, some flash. Then, just as a crown of rays began extending from multiple unicorn horns towards her, she concentrated on Ice Pack’s home and blinked away, taking him along. She laid him on his couch and reluctantly picked up the discarded piece of the book, taking the place in the deep armchair to finish reading. As two wives of the Emir escape, hoof in hoof through the gloom of the night In the shadows of temple of Seth, their lover and brother await ⁂ The zebra woke up with a start. He looked around the room and spotted the blue mare slowly flipping through some book. "What time is it?" "Past noon." "My appointments!" The zebra stood up, startled and ran towards his desk. "Calm down. You’ve been abducted." Luna floated him back to his couch. "What do you mean?!" "You are hereby nominated a secret associate of the Royal Intelligence." "As if that worked so well for... No, wait, that was just a dream... I fell asleep while reading! I am so sorry!!" "You’re really overworking yourself. As I said, calm down and enjoy the moment while it lasts." "...what? Why?" "Certain two industrious fillies seem to have led the authorities to a network of nepotism and corruption. You may be summoned as a witness." "The authorities?" The zebra winced. "The trusted, real authorities. Come, on, personally, I’m starved. Does your wide range of services include cooking? I have no clue how to use all these modern appliances." ⁂ ...meanwhile, at the town hall... "Mayor, I cannot understate how crucial it is that agent Jorvina is located immediately. Princess Celestia is currently awaiting the report at the Ponyville Library and delays her current departure on a very important mission. And Agent Jorvina is not one to keep the Princess waiting. Whatever happened, it must have been very important." "Oh, my, captain Shining! I will ask the captain of the police! I think I saw them leading somepony matching your description to the courtroom this morning!" "Please do. And then please report to Princess Celestia." Mayor mare ran down the stairs, and soon she was back with the police captain, his face blackened with soot. "Sir," the policepony began, trying to excuse himself as fast as possible. "We have a situation. I will spare you a moment as soon as it’s been taken care of." He started to turn. "Attention, lieutenant!" The pony turned and stood to attention. "Did you hear ‘Dismissed’?" "No, sir. But sir, the situation..." "Did I hear ‘Permission to speak freely?’" "No, Sir! Permission to speak freely?" "Denied. Your little petty situation is of no interest to me. An agent of the Royal Intelligence is missing. You and your subordinates will abandon whatever folly you pursuit currently. You will find her and provide any and all aid available to allow her meet up with Princess Celestia at the Library Tree. This is a top priority alert. You are not permitted to fail this. The agent in question, operative name Jorvina, is a tall dark blue unicorn with light blue mane and a dagger for a cutie mark. She was meant to meet her zebra informer last evening. And pray to Celestia that nothing bad happened to her during your watch! Dismissed!" The policepony turned and walked back down the stairs to the police station slowly. Shining Armor sent a jolt of energy from his horn at the officer’s back. "Move, you inept cur!" he shouted. The policepony ran. ⁂ “Mr. Fork, Mr. Filthy...” “Rich, if you please.” “Do not interrupt me, Mr. Filthy, Captain Shining Armor has been investigating what happened to my agent. As you probably know by now, she was scheduled to meet her contact and spend this night at his place, gathering intelligence and writing a report for me. It appears somepony attempted to cancel her appointment. Luckily, after first few very unfortunate misunderstandings the agency for which the informer works records all calls.” “Princess, but what does that have in common with us? Silver, do you have any clue?” “No, Rich! Why should I ever hear about this... ‘agency’?” “Twilight, would you replay the recording please?” “Fun Agency, how may I help you?” “I want appointment for two for tonight with the zebra.” “Excuse me, but Mr. Ice Pack is booked for tonight already.” “Then cancel it, you stupid mare.” “I’m sorry but I can’t do that.” *BEEP* “Fun Agency, how may I help you?” “Please cancel my appointment for this evening with the zebra.” “May I ask in whose name the appointment has been made?” “ARE YOU DENSE? IN MY NAME YOU RETARD! I DON’T WANT ANY ZEBBER GIGOLOS AT MY DOOR TONIGHT, IS THAT CLEAR?” “All right, all right! Canceling, no need to be nervous ma’am.” *BEEP* “Is the zebra available yet?” “Yes, the appointment has just been canceled.” “Good! All night, his place.” “May I have your name?” “Twilight Sparkle!” “Thank you, miss Sparkle. Have a nice day.” “Oh, so Tiara and Spoon have been prank-calling again!” “Don’t you see anything inappropriate in this?” “But it’s completely harmless!” “Now, Twilight, would you care to cast the recording spell?” Twilight concentrated and a shining sphere of light appeared over her horn, vibrating as it replayed the conversation. "Service us, Zebra." "I told you you are too young. Besides, I have a guest." "A bunch of horseapples! We have booked you for the whole night!" "No, not you." "The previous reservation got cancelled!" "And how would you two know that?" "I... ah... I heard it from my mom." "Your mom has no clue who my appointee was." "Mom has friends with the phone company!" "Look, my appointee is a very cultured nice lady. She would never shout racial slurs into the receiver. The place of the appointment didn’t match either. Silver Spoon, using this kind of language is completely unacceptable in social spheres to which you aspire!" "You think you have won?! You will see! You won’t get out of prison for that!" “What now?” “Oh, my little darling! I’m sure she didn’t mean that! Now, Silver, they would never...” “Rich, I have a bad feeling about this...” “Mister Fork, Mister Filthy, your daughters managed to get an Intelligence employee sentenced to twenty-two years of prison for crimes he didn’t commit. And in the process they managed to imprison my agent, endangering... No, wait Twilight, what time is it?” “Half past three...” “Utterly thwarting an important international mission. Do you plan to do anything about this?” “I...” mister Rich nervously looked at his watch, “I’ll talk to her the first thing in the morning.” “Why not today?” “I have two absolutely essential business meetings I must attend.” “And mister Fork?” “I will find time in the evening as soon as I’m back from the Art Society meeting!” “Not earlier?” “I am presiding the meeting and I have a very important presentation!” “Well, I had one absolutely essential international mission to attend but your lack of oversight over your daughters has already thwarted that. Considering your continued inability to prioritize, I am forced to take steps. The two young ladies will be sent to a correctional facility.” “Oh, but Princess! I am sure this would not be necessary!” the businesspony took an “all business” stance. “I hope we can work out some deal. I’m entirely willing to compensate the complete losses of your mission and more, and I will have a word with my daughter as soon as I’m back from my meetings!” “I’m afraid the diplomatic losses are beyond compensation but if you can compensate the financial ones...” Princess Celestia frowned, “I might try to overlook your failings so far. Twilight, would you pass mister Filthy my Canterlot Bank account number? I estimate the losses on the mission have been at least five hundred million equestrian bits a year, for next six years, for a total of three billion bits. As soon as the indicated amount reaches my account I’m willing to entirely forfeit any complaints.” Mr. Rich appeared somewhat pale. “Mister Filthy, look, I may of course distribute the amount over the six years mentioned. Five hundred million a year. I can even give you time until end of the week if you need time to liquify some of your assets for the first installment. I’m really flexible when it comes to finances.” “I... may have overestimated my financial abilities. My combined assets wouldn’t be enough for a tenth of the first installment.” Princess Celestia went back to the serious, stern tone. “And your two essential meetings? Do their profits come nearly close to the losses your daughter has generated? Your reckless behavior has grown harmful to Equestria. Your daughter has grown dangerous to the society and you appear entirely unable to deal with the fallout. The correctional facility is not a nice place but it is efficient. Foals of parents unable to give them a proper upbringing enter. Fair, honest, upstanding citizens leave its walls. And you will have all the time in the world to perform your business. For whatever good it does to you.” “But princess! Can I...” Rich began but got interrupted. “You had your chance when you talked to miss Cheerilee a year and a half ago. You choose to ignore her requests. You choose to threaten her with making her lose her job if she tries to discipline your daughter. I believe this is when your daughter learned the art of blackmail from you, which led to today’s situation.” The brown stallion sat, silent. “And mister Fork, since the unfortunate events left me with this evening free, I’ll be visiting your Art Society meeting.” “Really?!” The grey stallion’s ears perked up. He didn’t like his daughter anyway. “I’m planning to present some modern music, a rather shocking piece of modern art that has been created basing on recording of your daughter. I’ll be sure to give credit for its creation where it’s due. Twilight, would you please?” Twilight put a record on the turntable and switched the music on. The beat and scratching was soon followed by remixed vocals. Are you dense? Are you dense? Are you dense? Are you dense? Are you dededededededense? Zebbbbbbbbbbbber! ⁂ “Luna, I didn’t realize this wasn’t the first time. I’m not so sure letting them flee the borders of Equestria was a correct choice.” “How many years?” “What?” “Oh, yes, and what. Insomnia or nightmares?”