Ruby Nights had taken a long, winding path between alleyways, guiding with her Zuri and Druva, both with their raised bruises shrinking away thanks to the dictamnus brew. The two zebras noticed and pointed out to one another several more shady figures they passed, who watched them go by. None of them moved to attack, however, having watched Ruby lead them on. Zuri guessed that these ponies must know who Ruby really was, and knew when to stay out of another's business.
She lead them into another shack, this one with two ponies already in it, and in a better all-around state, with an obvious maintained state of cleanliness and less cracks in the wooden walls. Despite this, however, the ceiling still looked a little close to falling in. One of them was toying with a completely holographic chess game, manipulating pieces on one side of the board. Another pony in the orange-hued hologram responded to every move slowly and thoughtfully. Evidently, this was a game of long-distance chess.
"Winning, Sire?" Ruby asked, walking up to the holographic chessboard and examining the placement of the pieces carefully. Zuri was a little surprised at Ruby referring to this rather grungy colt as Sire, before she realized that it must have been his name.
"Bah, last game was easier, mistress." He responded, shaking his head and moving another piece.
"I'm keeping him on his toes, mistress!" Said the pony in the hologram, waving enthusiastically. "He was better last time, I'm wearing him down quick."
"Well, if anypony could do it..." Ruby chuckled, and then turned to the other occupant of the room. This one was much older, and looked up slowly when Ruby turned to him.
"Ah... Need to get down, shadowmistress?" He said, smiling slightly.
"Yep, and make sure these two go unmolested by the detector."
"Yes ma'am." He said, slowly moving his hooves across a touch-display. A large corridor opened up, on one wall, halfway into the floor. Zuri peered down the revealed hole: it had a large staircase, descending into darkness. Only that as lights flickered on to either side of the way down, she could see the stone floor of the bottom. Ruby again lead the way, going down the stairs first, and followed closely by Druva and Zuri.
"We're in a part of the service tunnels of the sewers," Ruby explained, rubbing her nose slightly and sniffing. It was musty and mildewy, and Druva sneezed twice, the sound echoing around them. "Careful. During security checks this whole place is flooded and then probed by aquatic robots. If you raise the alarm you're dead twice. We're gonna go meet your friends, the nutjob mercs."
"They are not really nutjobs," Druva argued, "just excitable, and very well armed."
"We'll see about that," Ruby Nights muttered, taking a left turn at an intersection, and going further on. They walked mostly in silence, with the thief mare occasionally mumbling something to herself as she examined the tiny markings by every tunnel leading off the the one they were in.
"Fifth north, second left. We're here," Ruby announced, and began leading them up a steeper flight of stairs than the last. It ended with a solid metal wall, which Ruby caused to open into a doorway, again by pressing her hoof against a dimly illuminated circle on the wall.
"Is that a ShowMe?" Zuri asked, out of curiosity as the wall pulled into the left side of the tunnel.
"Yep, took me three weeks to get the money and connections to get a working one." Ruby affirmed, smiling proudly at the seemingly blank underside of her hoof. "Really darn useful, y'know. Now! Let's go see what your pony party wants," Ruby led them out of the tunnel, into another unoccupied shack. This one was in much better shape than either of the previous two: looking as if it had been cleaned the same day. She lead them over to a window, and beckoned them to look outside with a smirk on her face. Rainbow Dash was having a heated argument with a pegasus stallion, their noses almost touching as they barked at each other. Zuri could hear enough through the thin pane of glass to get the general idea: Rainbow Dash was negotiating the fee for the shrouded blade's help.
"I'm not really going drive you and your friends broke," Ruby admitted, as the stallion bellowed the exact opposite statement in Rainbow's face outside. "It's fun having them say that, but no. Though, I will need to get a little something for my trouble. Got to meet expenses~" She said this with a slight sing-song quality, as if quoting a song. "Of course, my stunt double is supposed to keep a level head! I'll have to help Star Drift with that part."
"Listen to me, featherfanny!" The stallion shouted, "there is no way in hell you're going to get our help just because you bat your eyelashes or aim a couple shells at us. We need money, and if you don't got any, then you're outta luck!"
"Who're YOU calling a featherfanny, clouds-for-brains?" Rainbow countered, bristling even more than before. "Your price is way too damn high. Let's negotiate, or I will send a couple'a shells at you!"
"You couldn't hurt the Shrouded Blade if you tried." Star Drift replied, standing tall and looking arrogant.
"Oh yeah? Watch me!"
"Oh, shit." Ruby suddenly ducked, as did Zuri and Druva, as several bullets flew threw the window shattering it.
"Bah, I don't actually live in this dump!" Star Drift said, uncaring. He was obviously unaware that anyone else actually was in the shack. "Go ahead! Perforate the whole house if you like! It won't get you what you want!"
"Then maybe I will!" Rainbow said, mimicking his tone. "Open fire, Riders!"
"Wait!" Zuri shrieked, terrified at the idea of more bullets flying. She raised her hooves and stuck them out the window, attempting to situate herself so she could stick her head out. "Don't shoot!"
When Zuri did get her face through the broken window, she saw that Rainbow and Star Drift were wearing almost the exact same look of shock, their mouths totally agape.
"When the hell did you become a thief, Zuri?" Moondancer squeaked at her, her own alarm showing in her voice.
"More importantly, what are you doing in one of MY hideouts?" Star Drift asked, a little more edge in his voice. Ruby took that moment to open the front door, and fix the stallion with a quelling glare.
"Actually, they're mine," she announced to the rest of them, looking at her group of armed thieves and Rainbow's mercenaries with exasperation. "I'm the shadowmaster. I brought your friends along because they were in trouble."
"The shadowmaster's a girl?" Rainbow said, balking at Ruby. "B-but then what are all those stories about you having a sexual appetite for mares? Or those tabloid TV shows with..."
"Oh, so the shadowmaster can't be a girl or adventurous?" Ruby asked, now fixing her glare on the cyan pegasus. "Jeez, I thought a mare so often accused of being a fillyfooler wouldn't say something so stupid as that. And yes, I know exactly who you are, Rainbow Dash! Don't look so dumbstruck! Why wouldn't I, you're a celebrity, remember?"
"I, well, sometimes I forget. I've been trying to be more humble after all my friends dressed up as a superhero that constantly outdid me. Uh, long story."
"You'll have plenty of time to tell all those little stories, Dash. Even if you got us a million bits, you'd be stuck in this city for a while. Now, get in here! Bring your little party, too, the security bots will be here soon. You fired guns, remember those? They're the things that make loud noises and break shit."
"So, wait, if you don't like staying put in hiding, why do you use decoys if you're going to show your face?" Druva asked.
"Decoys mean I can have more freedom, duh. No more questions like that. I got the mood scared out of me when I thought one of my lieutenants was going to let me get perforated!" She shot another glare at the very somber looking star Drift, who lowered his ears, bowed his head and trudged a little slower into the house. "And anyway, I mainly used one now because it could have been a decent trap. A group of mercs shows up asking for help offering a bunch of money? Almost too good to be true. You could have been hired to get rid of me."
"What convinced you?" Rainbow interrogated, sounding doubtful
"The bigwigs would never employ a band of mercs that made friends with zebras. They're too untrusting. Filthy Rich will send zebras out with parcels or messages, but not with guns and advance payments, so your friends almost getting raped right along my route to this shack pretty much saved your asses. Count your blessings, I guess."
"Raped?" Rainbow turned to stare disbelievingly at Zuri and Druva. "Well, are you two okay?"
"Fine, just fine." Druva replied, before elbowing Zuri. "She threw up, though."
"Don't you recall that I'm Oun-Drii?" Zuri growled at her, her face flushed. "Shouldn't you be treating me with more respect?"
"I thought you didn't like being pampered," Druva smiled cheekily. "Wasn't that why you left?"
"I didn't like being pampered by servants whose eyes betrayed their true feelings," Zuri shot back. "Now I'm receiving the common prejudice just like every other zebra. It's better than being singled out by my own kind."
"I'd just love to hear your assorted explanations for becoming a knot in my mane, ladies," Ruby addressed the whole of Rainbow's group, as well as the two zebras. "But right now I think I'd do better to get you out of sight. Come on."
Ruby and Star Drift lead the procession into the dark caves once again, but this time, Ruby stopped, and opened up a compartment on one wall. She withdrew several black cloth bags, and began thrusting them at each of Rainbow's mercenaries. "Put these over your head. I don't want there to be any chance of you learning how to get to our hideout."
"And why not us?" Zuri asked, as Ruby had given neither her nor Druva a bag.
"Believe it or not, I prefer the company of you zebras to ponies, and I think I can trust you. Maybe I'll explain it to you when I've got fewer headaches around."
They walked in total silence this time, with Ruby walking a little more rigidly, a few of her thieves helping guide the blinded ponies when they changed direction. The tunnels were becoming slightly cleaner, looking more frequently used, and therefor more maintained. Zuri thought this a little stupid: someone looking for a thief in the sewer tunnels would easily be able to track them. They left a very easy-to-follow trail, keeping up the condition of the frequented chambers.
Still, it apparently hadn't done harm to try and keep things a little cleaner, yet. Instead, it made Zuri a little impressed. So far, this was the cleanest pony-occupied area she had seen, besides the inside of the inn they had slept in. It was also impressive because the hint of a rank odor had diminished significantly as the group had walked. Ruby eventually arrived at another door, and opened it with her ShowMe, as before. The door opened, and there was a slight gush of air. A huge atrium-like room loomed before them. There were multiple stories in the huge room, constructed out of assorted metal, wood, and stone, and there were much more ponies than Zuri had expected. They sat at tables, discussing things in a very fast slang. Some of them were playing cards, some exchanging items over rectangular tables with onlookers on all sides, commenting on and offering money for some goods being placed down, a few were even tangled up with one another in far corners.
"Well, here we are." Star Drift and a few other thieves pulled the bags off the mercenaries' heads, allowing them to take in the sight of the atrium. "The rest of you can leave us alone," Ruby continued, pulling Rainbow, Zuri, and Druva aside. "All I need are these three."
Reaching another doorway, Ruby led them into an office-like room, with a large mahogany desk and a chair behind it, upon which the shadowmaster sat. "So, now that we're all alone: what the hell do you want?"
"Help," Rainbow began, "we want help getting into the noble district. We have a score to settle with Filthy Rich. Zuri and Druva want to get home, but can't, because Filthy Rich sort of has a score to settle with us, too."
"Really, now?" Ruby muttered, tapping one hoof on the desk. "That explains a lot. If you're the reason Filthy has shut off most lower-level access to the ways out of Paradise, then it's fitting if you're what gets him to open it all up again. "You know, I had you followed, before. Rather, I followed you around. I seem to remember there being three zebras, not two."
"He's not here at the moment," Rainbow replied, shrugging, "but he's not so sure he wants to go back any more. You see, uh, he and I..."
"Aahhhh, say no more." Ruby said, smirking widely. "You've an exotic special some'pony', miss Dash? Well, maybe there's hope for me yet. And, I also seem to remember, when you came here, that there was a strange looking filly with you. I didn't get a close look before you went inside the inn."
"Oh, right, her..." Rainbow trailed off, apparently mulling over how to address the subject of the changeling. "Well, you see, her name is–"
"Chrys!" Zuri shouted, suddenly, and everyone looked at her. She had just remembered why she had left the inn with Druva in the first place, and why she had been in that alley and had been taken here by Ruby Nights. Chrys was missing. "Melose!"
"Uh, yeah, Zuri, thanks for saying what we were all thinking," Rainbow said, looking a little annoyed.
"No, no, you don't understand... Druva and I left the inn because we saw Chrys walking away in the street. We tried to follow, but that group of odilia showed up, and, um, everything got sidetracked."
Rainbow was saying curses of her own under her breath, while Ruby took this all in. "What's so special about this Chrys girl? Is she in danger? Too young for that part of town?"
"No, she's the danger to that part of town," Rainbow groaned, putting a hoof to her temple. "Chrys is a changeling. We found her in a crate on the train coming here. I knew we should have killed her!"
"She's just a little kid," Druva argued, "she just wanted to fit in."
"That's what she wanted you to think." Rainbow stressed at her, looking exasperated. "I don't care if she was hardly potty trained when we found her. Changelings are too damn smart!"
"Slow down, slow down!" Interjected Ruby, who was looking quite incredulous. "You're telling me there's a changeling running around Paradise City? A live one?"
"Yes, there is." Rainbow affirmed her, sitting back on her haunches and letting her head sink low. "The damn thing's probably off sucking out some poor sod's love for his wife, by now."
"She seemed to get her fill being around us, though," protested Druva, looking indignant. "All of our emotional roller coasters seemed to keep her going."
"I can see where this is going," Ruby said, putting her hooves together on the table. "You three are gonna ask for my help tracking this bug down."
"What? No! We can do that ourselves!" Rainbow Dash looked a little insulted at the idea that she couldn't. "Besides, it's more important that we get out of this city. We don't have the time to worry about Chrys, honestly. Filthy's soldiers are probably scouting around the train right now."
Ruby sighed, and nodded agreement, though Zuri guessed she disliked the idea of losing another business opportunity. "Well, if you're sure you want to drop that, then alright. Now, about getting to Filthy Rich..."
"We're going look for Chrys on our own time," Druva whispered in Zuri's ear. "As soon as we get this Filthy Rich business cleared up, I want to find her."
"There's a couple formal gatherings coming up soon. A few are public, and a few aren't. I guess the biggest one would be the local Grand Galloping Gala."
Rainbow Dash made an exasperated groan. "That lame old excuse for a party? Really? Why’s that being held here?"
"Princess Twilight arrives the day before and stays for the next week," Ruby explained, grinning slightly. “It’s gonna be the end-all be-all welcoming party, and this place is gonna see an influx of bigwigs. So, you can get Filthy Rich, and I can take my payment from all those idiots in nice dresses!”
"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," Rainbow said this with an awkward smile, "last time our group went to the gala, we kind of sabotaged it without even meaning to. Moreover, if I have to wear a dress made by anyone but Rarity, I might have a conniption. Or she would, if she saw me in it."
"Well, it's the only way I can think of. What you really have to do, and at this I'm a natural, is find out whether Filthy will really be there. If so, the gala will be enough of a distraction that you can guide him over to a quiet corner and work him over for what you want. But to do that, you'd need to ask someone who knows his schedule, either because the work for him, or they work, literally, under him." At their looks of confusion, she elaborated what she meant, "I know he frequents The Ropes of Equestria, a gentlestallions' club in that part of town. Your best bet would be to interrogate the, ahem, entertainers in there."
"Well, that sounds easy," Druva joked, "just sneak into the noble district, find this perverted club, get some of the 'entertainers' to spill the beans, then go to a huge party which zebras probably aren't allowed to, and threaten Filthy Rich with our loud, obvious firearms and forbidden trancing magic. Yep, we'll be out of here in no time."
"I know it's a long shot," Ruby's tone was placating. "Even for me this is kind of loopy and overcomplicated, and much more time-sensitive than I prefer. You'll have to wait until the Princess gets here with her entourage, and no one ever said it was going to be easy. But the way I see it, this is your best chance to do it, otherwise Filthy might get ESSUG to come find you on his own, because assaulting a noble is sure to get you bent over a table by those ponies."
"Well, when does this princess get here?" Zuri queried, looking at each of them.
"Tomorrow, actually," Druva answered in zebric. "That announcement said the end of the week, right? For the ponies, the week ends tomorrow."
"Alright then!" Rainbow said, a little anxious. "Just have to wait a couple days, that's all. One for Twilight to get here, another for the gala. We can hold together a couple of days, right? It gives us time to go pester those girls in the club."
"It's best if you go in there at night," Ruby advised them. "That's when all the best ones are working, and Filthy probably knows that, too."
"How do you know that?" Zuri asked, "Aren't gentlestallions' clubs supposed to be for stallions?"
Ruby went a little pink, the same color of her eyes. "I'll say it again: can't the shadowmaster be a girl and adventurous? Now, as for sneaking into the noble district, I know a few tunnels, or by night, I can take Zuri and one pony over the rooftops. If you wear your cloak, Zuri, with your color, the scanners should mistake you for one of my thieves. We'll cover how you'd get into the ball if we actually need to. I know a couple ways."
"You have your secrets and we have ours, right?" Zuri asked, looking at Rainbow, who snorted.
"You already understand it perfectly! Great!" Ruby clapped her hooves together. "That makes this so much easier. Come on, I'll show you a way through the tunnels."
The bags went over the ponies' eyes again, as Ruby instructed them to be taken as close to their inn as possible, before letting them out onto the street and finding their own way. Druva went with them, but Zuri stayed with Ruby, as the mare took her through a long and complicated route of tunnels that went in every possible direction. "We're right here..." She opened another door, and Zuri found that they were no longer on ground level. They were in the middle of what appeared to be a staircase, and ascending to the top, Zuri realized they had exited the tunnels and had come out into a metal clocktower. "The Shrouded Blade dug the way to this tower in the middle of the noble district, in case we needed a quick escape or had things to do such as this." Ruby explained, surveying the street down below. It was much less crowded, there were different smells in fewer amounts, and Zuri got the impression that the noble district was very, very clean. The smooth roads looked spotless from this distance, and Zuri could tell, despite their perch, that every single pony down below was wearing clothing. Very ornate clothing. Neon lights and gigantic signs displayed very fancy-looking products and declared the names of respectable businesses, none of which the trancer could understand. There were gigantic manors, surrounded by gardens and small houses, obviously the living quarters for the servants. Blaring fields of grass full of beautiful blooming plants and trees filled one large area to the right, surrounded by high-end clubs, shops, and even a few very expensive hotels which reached to the sky.
The greatest sight of all, however, was the gigantic castle, moated by a perfectly placid lake, with towers and structures that seemed to be perfectly aligned with one another. It took a moment for Zuri to look down towards the entrance of the castle, where workers in giant pieces of construction equipment were moving things in and out of the castle grounds.
"That's the citadel, where the princess will be staying." Ruby informed her. "I heard that the princess used to live and sleep in a quaint little library, which was hewn into a tree. Now she gets a castle built wherever she goes."
"So the tunnels can cross between any district?" Zuri asked, thinking back to the big glass wall between the district she had been in and the next.
"Not all, but most. The ones that matter, anyway. The sewer tunnels are built wherever there's housing, though some of those poor souls in the striped shanty use a bucket and a big old liquid purifier. That's drinking your own waste water again and again, with the filtering only doing so much every time. If I had the money..." Ruby trailed off, and was talking to herself so quietly that Zuri couldn't hear her. Eventually, she let out a sigh. "I've always felt for the zebra, I can't say why. I just see the position most ponies put them in and want to start a revolt. It really, really sucks, what ponies are doing to this planet. Of course, what can I do about it? I run a band of thieves. I'd help the zebras out but the money would be stolen from them by someone else, or confiscated, or the sorry slobs would waste it on some equestrian product they've been brainwashed into thinking they need."
"I think you're the first pony I've met who actually wants to help, let alone treat us as equals." Zuri mused, when Ruby had finished.
"That? That's just proper Equestrian friendliness at work." Ruby shrugged. "Everypony learned their manners from the same place: the elements of harmony. Y'know Rainbow Dash? She's one of them. She represents loyalty."
"Elements of Harmony?" Zuri repeated.
"Yep. Six elements which channel their power through six ponies who best represent their respective element. They take the form of gaudy jewelry. That's what I could never get in the schoolbooks. Equestria's greatest means of defense takes the form of gaudy jewelry! But anyway, look over here," Ruby pointed towards one large building, with big lit up letters on each side, and an animated figure of a pegasus mare, in a very, very lewd position. Zuri looked away as soon as she saw it. "That's the Ropes of Equestria. Hey, don't be wimp about it! It's just a video picture."
"She's presenting herself." Zuri whimpered, holding her hooves over her eyes. "They put that on top of buildings? That's disgusting."
"Yeah, they do much worse." Ruby grunted, pulling Zuri's hooves away from her eyes. "Just open your eyes and look for a second! I promise it won't taint you and ruin you for all the Oun-Drii colts. Look, there's the main entrance. We'd have to sneak in around the back, where all the employees enter through. We'll look at the job listings, and see which ones have had sessions for Filthy Rich. He goes in there all the time, it can't just be to admire the carpets. I don't mean right now, it's only a little after lunchtime! We'll wait for evening, come on, I'll take you back to the hideout."
Zuri and Ruby made their way down the steps again, and passed back into the service tunnels. They arrived soon enough at the door to the hideout, which slid open before Ruby's hoof could touch it. Another stallion stood before them, and immediately nodded his head. "Shadowmaster, you have a visitor."
Ruby looked very surprised. "What? Who is it this time?"
"The Minister of Defense, ma'am." Answered the stallion, and Ruby let out a long sigh.
"Crap, well, I guess he'd come nosing around eventually, with this shutoff of all ways in and out of the city. Let's go, Zuri. Maybe I can hide you before he–aw, dammit."
As soon as the two mares had walked into the main room of the hideout, a tall, slightly gaunt-looking unicorn stallion noticed them, his crimson eyes brightening. "Oh, good! I found you before you could slink off to your office, Ruby!" He said, as he trotted gaily over to them. "Who's your new friend?" His eyes travelled immediately to Zuri.
"She's no one, Shade." Ruby said, making as if to hide the zebra under her cloak.
"No one, huh? That's the fourth no one I've found you with this month." The stallion looked quite amused at this, grinning at Ruby.
"The names' real popular among unimportant ponies and zebras you shouldn't concern yourself with, Shade!" Ruby replied, suddenly sounding more upbeat. "My business is just that! Mine. So if you'd like to wait a moment while I sent Zuri on her..."
"So, your name's Zuri?" The ebony-black stallion smiled quite charmingly at the trancer. "That can't be all of it, what's your caste, Dell Mansa?"
Zuri went rigid. Ruby was swearing and kicking herself for saying her name, but Zuri rounded on her anyway. "Does every single pony know our language? Maybe I should learn some more pony swear words so you can understand how much this pisses me off." This Shade fellow had just addressed her as Fair Lady Trancer in a perfect zebric accent, complete with proper inflections on mansa and everything.
"Oh, sorry." Ruby hissed back at her, "Hadn't I mentioned? Almost all the bigwigs and bigheads—" she glared at the stallion, "—are fluent in your tongue. It comes with being officials with big egos and bigger balls."
"Oh, Ruby, you wound me!" Shade moaned, holding a hoof over his chest end rolling his eyes exaggeratively. "Your cruel, cruel words break my heart..."
"Bah, you can mend it with a few pretty girls. Why are you here?" Ruby questioned, still looking annoyed.
"But I wanted to learn this nice zebra's–"
"Why are you here, Shade?" Ruby growled through clenched teeth, and the stallion paused a moment before replying.
"About the two-way embargo placed on all travel methods." He said, much more serious than before. "Did you cause that? Is Filthy Rich mad at you?"
"Sweet Celestia! Was he ever not mad at me?" Ruby barked a mirthless laugh. "Which rich prick in the city isn't at least a little miffed that I nicked their favorite bauble or necklace or whatever? If you just came down here to ask stupid questions..."
"I could have received snappy answers over the telecom. I know. I really wanted to ask if you knew why he was doing this. I thought it'd have something to do with the crime in Paradise, so I thought of you! If you're the reason nothing's been shipped in or out, I need to know."
"Right, 'to make your job easier and my life less painful', I think was the reason you said before." Ruby snorted. "I can tell you this: it's not because of me or anything any of my thieves did. I don't know why he's doing it, but I heard it had something to do with one of his daughters. There, officer, may I go now?" Her tone was bitter and sardonic.
The stallion apparently named Shade sighed, and nodded coolly to her. With a frustrated huff and a flick of her tail that brushed it disparagingly against the stallion's face, Ruby trotted briskly towards the office, calling for Zuri to follow, but before she did, Shade stepped in her path. "So, Zuri, do you know who's riled Filthy up?"
"His own children, probably. Goodbye," Zuri retorted, stepping around the stallion and moving with all speed towards Ruby's office.
"I take it you're familiar with them?" He called after her, but received no response.
Ruby was waiting, resting her head on her desk and massaging one temple. "Bleh, sorry you had to deal with that Shade guy, he gets annoying fast."
"He didn't seem so annoying as he did curious," Zuri replied, "but if he's your minister of defense or whoever, I think it best not to tell him anything about me."
"My thoughts exactly. Shade'd want to help, it's in his nature, but given his position, he could hurt everybody involved. And furthermore..." She toggled a switch atop her desk, and a second door slammed shut in front of the first one that guarded the entrance to her office. "The guy sleeps with every mare he can work his charms on. He says he's a new stallion since being married, but I don't believe it. He's never even told me his wife's name."
"You sound rather like a lover scorned," Zuri commented, looking back towards the sealed off doorway.
"Ha! Scorned? No, I was warned about him before I even met him. He may seem like a nice guy, and he may actually want to offer you help, but I'm telling you now, Zuri: trust him as far as you can throw him."
"That's the policy I keep with most ponies, especially those trying to come onto me." She sighed. "Is every pony stallion a pervert?"
Ruby shook her head. "Not every one. You probably just have the misfortune of meeting all the worst examples of our kind in rapid succession."
"Well, what does that make you, or Rainbow Dash?"
"Rainbow's an exception, and me? Zuri, I steal things for a living. I'm not the best example of a nice pony." Ruby touched a disk-shaped device upon the top of the desk, as it had begun flashing. "Sentry, is Shade gone already?"
"Yes ma'am, he left right after you activated the blast door," answered a voice, emanating from the disk.
"Good, that means we can open up again: this room gets really stuffy with that thing in place." Ruby toggled the switch, and the second door retracted back into the ceiling. "You should probably know, he's the one who strikes the deal of when we patrol the streets, and how. The rest of ESSUG's officials here apparently can't stand us, and Shade's particular occupation means that we, technically, fall under his jurisdiction."
"It sounds a little like you don't get along with him," Zuri muttered.
"Oh, sometimes we do, sometimes we don't, I just really don't have time for him to be intervening in anything right now. I'm going to be breaking about ten laws at nightfall, in the company of a zebra. He's going to have to do mountains of paperwork, so, I'd rather he not try and stop us if we warned him beforehoof."
Zuri and Ruby spent a little more time together, as the thief mare explained how she would come find the trancer at nightfall, and that for the moment Zuri should just find something to do that didn't draw attention. The last part Zuri had already thought of, and was planning to ask Uzul and Druva to continued helping her with learning the ponies' written language when she got back to the inn. It would be better to understand some of it before walking into an establishment wherein she would be relying on reading labels to find who she was looking for. She was wondering how Ruby was going to get them in, but assumed that she would be under the disguise of being Ruby's slave, and that Ruby was probably going to claim she was an investor, a potential employee, or something like that. Regardless, Zuri didn't think on it.
Zuri found she wouldn't be able to think on it, because as soon as a pony Ruby had let her out of one of the shacks and waved goodbye, she was immediately set upon by a very strange mare thrusting a note at her. The paper fell to the ground, and the ragged-looking pony dashed off without a word. Zuri thought she saw a glint of green in the mare's eyes, but when she looked around, the mare had vanished entirely.
The trancer looked down at the note, which she unfolded carefully. She hadn't expected to see it written entirely in zebric runes, even the signature at the bottom.
Zuri, it read, please do not try to follow me. You will not find me until I want to be found, which won't be for a while yet. Don't worry, I'm not going to expose you to Filthy Rich or anyone like him, but I decided I would be best off if I found out just what I was doing in that box in that train, on my own. Rainbow wasn't going to help me, and honestly, none of you really were. You were letting me toddle along like a dimwitted infant animal, but I know I can't rely on you or Druva or anyone for real support. I'm not a pony or a zebra, I'm different. I'm off to discover why I'm here on your planet, and how come that when I picked up a piece of paper to write on, I found I knew your written language by heart. Until we meet again, goodbye.
—Chrys
Zuri let out a breath; that explained where Chrys had gone, and she quite believed her when she said she couldn't be found until she wanted to be. Sure, sometimes her disguise lapsed and her eyes flashed green, but other than that, the changeling could blend into any crowd perfectly, and apparently had no shortage of food. This would be an interesting piece of information to pass on to Druva and Uzul.
"So, what's the letter say?"
Zuri jumped, and swiveled around to find herself face-to-face with Shade, again. She drew the letter beneath her cloak and replied, "that's none of your business."
"It probably isn't, yes," Shade agreed, nodding slowly, "but I can be curious, dell mansa. Or, would you rather I call you Zuri?"
"I'd rather you didn't sneak up on me," Zuri taking a step back. "I was recently attacked in an alley such as this."
"Oh, well I'm sorry, dell mansa. I meant no harm," his eyes flitted downward, probably trying to catch sight of where the zebra had hid Chrys' note. "I only wanted to ask where you were staying, if you had a place to stay,"
"I do have one. Might I ask why you're prying so much?"
"Curious, that's all," Shade replied, "sorry for bothering you. May I walk you back to your lodgings?"
Zuri guessed from how Shade had acted so far he wouldn't take no for answer, so, conceding, she let him walk beside her back towards the inn. About halfway there, she had an idea about why he had done this. A lone zebra mare, especially in a pony-dominant crowd, looked vulnerable. Having this tall, black stallion, supposedly in a very high position, walking right along next to her acted as a ward. While she didn't like having to rely on a male pony for this kind of security, she saw the use in it, and wondered if that had been his aim since hearing her say she'd been attacked.
They arrived shortly, and Shade bade her a good day before vanishing into the constantly moving crowd. Zuri ascended to her room, and found Druva and Macintosh in a corner. The big red stallion was whispering smoothly into the zebra's ear, his words making her blush and giggle. Obviously in a fairly tender moment, Druva looked as if she didn't want to be bothered right then. So, Zuri sought Uzul instead, and found him sitting side by side with Rainbow Dash, sharing their lips again. This, the trancer decided, also wasn't worth interrupting. A little frustrated, Zuri left that room as well, and resorted to sitting in the bathroom of her room, trying to ignore Druva's giggling and Macintosh's low, rumbling voice.
At last, Macintosh took his leave of her, and as soon as the door closed behind him, Zuri poked her head out. "Is it safe now, or is he just going to go grab his 'contraceptives'?"
At this, Druva let out a loud cry of laughter, lying on her bed as she did so. "Oh, come on, Zuri! It's just harmless flirting! You could do to have some handsome colt to flirt with."
Zuri sighed, hopping onto her own bed, which she had grown a little accustomed to. "I have plenty of those back in Otoul, and a lot of them don't mind my color." Zuri sighed, "though I did have a chance to be available to Bodlerae's son..."
"Ooooh, very lucky," Druva sounded envious, "what made you pass up that chance?"
They looked at each other and said, in perfect unison: "father," and then proceeded to laugh.
"Ah, yes. Why is it no father wants Bodlerae as an in-law?" Druva said wistfully.
"Maybe because he's as much of an edrecht as they think he is," Zuri said, as her own laughter died down. "I fancied him when I was little, then when I grew up, his son took his place as the object of every mare's affections, right after Bodlerae admitted to having two lovers."
"Well, let's hope 'like father, like son,' doesn't apply there." Druva snickered, "otherwise some poor girl is going to marry him and find out he's got a harem in the attic."
"Well, speaking of unhappy discoveries, I was given this." Zuri decided it was as good a time as any to dampen the mood, and took out Chrys' note. She gave it to Druva, who read it twice over, both times the smile diminishing on her face.
"So she doesn't want us to help, then," Druva sighed, putting the note down. "I really wished we could have. I wanted to help her!"
"She obviously didn't think so," Zuri said, a hard look on her face. "This is mostly my fault. I'm the one who told her she couldn't come with us, first."
"Yes, but then I did the same thing, and she didn't need to ask Rainbow to hear her say no." Druva countered, "I guess we'll just have to wait and see if she turns up before we get out of here. How are we going to get out of here, anyway?"
Zuri explained how she and Ruby were going to enter the Ropes of Equestria, looking for information, but left out anything about Shade. It didn't seem important, then. "It seems like that'll work, if nopony realizes you're just staring at the list of names. Speaking of which, how are you going to understand it?"
"I wanted to have you help me learn their written language. I just need basic symbols, and how they fit together to form names."
"That will take a while, but you did say Ruby was coming to fetch you at nightfall, so we should be able to make some progress."
———
It wasn't easy, but by the time they had finished, Zuri could have written her full name down in the pony's language if she wanted to, and knew how to read several common words that made up most names. Druva made sure she knew how to read Filthy Rich's name, and the organization of most pony timetables. "If that can't help you, I'm sure Ruby can explain some of it to you," Druva finished, just as there was a knock on the door, and upon opening it, in walked Ruby, her hood pulled low over her head.
"Ready to go? Time flies when you're breaking laws, so we can't have any delays."
"As much as I will ever be, let's go."
They walked back down to the streets, then to an alleyway, where Ruby opened up an entrance to the tunnels, this time within a walk-in shed that looked like it hadn't been used for a decade. The thief and the trancer made their way to the tower in the noble district, and this time stayed on street level. The alleyways between these buildings were much thinner, but under a darkening sky, it provided perfect cover as the pair moved between buildings, and Ruby ascended a few fire escapes and gutter pipes to survey the area to make sure they weren't going to run into any security details.
Finally, they arrived at the Ropes of Equestria. The backdoors were open, with light and sound pouring into the dark paved roads of the alleyway, which had widened significantly. With their hoods over their heads, Ruby lead Zuri in a walk that said they belonged here, and anyone to question their presence was a fool.
The first thing that greeting Zuri and Ruby was the heat and noise coming from the backstage. Loud music was pulsating from speakers in every direction, and up a corridor of steps was a huge curtain, in front of which, Zuri guessed, was the main attraction. There was cheering and whooping behind that huge curtain as well, from a crowd made up entirely of male patrons. A few ponies backstage gave them odd looks. Several mares making up their faces on a mirror turned to fix their accented eyes upon the two mares, others watched them as they walked for more than a few seconds, before moving on. There was a heavy mix of perfume in the air, and it made Zuri’s nostrils itch and head ache.
Only one pony stopped their progress. A manager, apparently under the impression that Ruby was surveying their selection of mares to steal for her own business. The thief mare reacted perfectly, instead assuming the personality of a sexually adventurous and well-off mare wanting to “explore the possibilities” by signing up as a dancer and a prostitute. She charmed the manager, who, looking a little young, was obviously excited at the prospect of grabbing hold of such a potentially lucrative mare, not to mention one whom he could have under his control.
He was about to let the pass, when he also noticed Zuri. The look in his eyes was hungry. “Is she your slave?” he asked, looking her up and down.
Ruby flashed Zuri a single, apologetic expression before looking very proud. “That she is! I got her for a bargain, and she serves me very well.”
“Have you considered selling her to a club? She has a fine figure.” The stallion commented, and Zuri’s blood heated up.
“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t~!” Ruby teased. “I think you have enough fine girls here, but there are those who have more,” she fluttered her eyelashes at him, “exotic tastes.”
“A mare who knows stallions like the underside of her hoof.” The stallion said, not entirely in a respectful tone. “She is a mighty pretty one, you’d be able to drive a hard bargain. I’ve got to get along, but, see if you like the accomodations, miss…?”
“Shine,” she answered with no hesitation, in a syrupy sweet voice. “Call me Silver Shine.”
He nodded, and walked away with a little difficulty, given that his hindlegs were stiffer than before. Ruby gave a sly chuckle, and whispered to Zuri. “Stallions: you can have them eating out of a mud pit for you if you bat your eyelashes enough.”
“If things go wrong, can I kick him on the way out?” Zuri asked, to which Ruby just laughed.
They spotted a sign hanging outside the office probably belonging to the manager that had just run off. Zuri began reading the names, one after another, of the private shows scheduled for the night. A lot of them were strange pieces of nonsense, that Zuri was surprised were even pony names, but sure enough, she found Filth Rich just as Ruby had. He was scheduled to be seen later that night by one Glamour Rose, in private showroom two.
"That's where we're headed then. They probably have a back entrance around here to each of the rooms, like over there! That was easy." Ruby lead Zuri over to a door marked "PRIVATE BACKDOORS". Upon turning the door handle, they found it unlocked. Private room two was easy to find, and they could hear someone humming to the tune of the song blaring from the speakers outside. Without any sign of stealth, Ruby shoved the door open. A tall, tan pegasus mare turned around, her wine-red hair hiding half of her face as she spun around on the vertical pole she has hanging from. Her eyes, which matched the color of her hair, widened in alarm.
"Hey, you're not supposed to be in here! You're not even stallions!"
"No kidding," Ruby said, and leapt for her. Zuri watched as the two mares suddenly began wrestling one another, attempting to pin the other down. This Glamour Rose mare was obviously very athletic, as Ruby was having a hard time holding her down.
"Ugh, let me go!" She shouted, and Zuri found it high time to join in. With one swift blow to the face, Glamour Rose was silenced for the moment, gritting her teeth in pain.
"We just want to ask one question, and then we'll let you go." Ruby said, calmly.
"I'm not telling you shit! Let go of me! Security, security!" She began calling out for help again and again, and Zuri struck her in the face again. “Augh! I think you broke my nose!”
“Much worse when you’re getting raped, too,” Zuri growled at her. “Though, given where you’re working, I’m sure you’d like that kind of treatment.”
“Don’t talk to me about treatment, stripey! I’m a professional dancer, not a hooker! Looking for those? They’re upstairs!”
“Well, for the sake of your pretty face, I hope you’re as good at answering questions as you are dancing, huh?” Ruby said. “We want to know about Filthy Rich…”
“What about him? I’m not his wife, dumbass.”
“Does he talk to you?”
“And what if he does?” Glamour sneered at her. “Did you want to shake your flanks at him too?”
“Answer the question, dancer,” Zuri ordered, pressing her hoof down on Glamour’s head
“Ugh, yes, he talks a lot with me. We don’t… we don’t screw, though, I’m too good for that.” She sounded as if she were reassuring herself, rather than the two mares interrogating her.
“Yeah, does he tell you what he’s up to? Where he’s going?”
“It’s stuff about his daughters, stuff about his wife, I don’t remember it half the time! He does like to brag to me about his parties, keeps saying if I cut him a discount he’ll take me to one of ‘em.”
“Does he say which one?” Ruby asked, making sure Glamour’s wings couldn’t push her off.
“He shows me he’s got tickets to the gala and that he wants to ‘share,’ but I know what he really wants. He just wants to get between my haunches. Takin’ a girl to the gala’s the way to do it, though…”
“Then we got what we need.” Ruby replied, and kicked the dancer in the side. She gave a whimper, and did not fight back when Ruby climbed off of her. “Come on, Zuri, we’ve got to get out of here, before security catches us.” The door banged open again, and two burly stallions rushed in. “Oh, fine, great, of course,” Ruby sighed.
“Security! Help! They’re trying to go after a client” Glamour cried out, and Ruby hit her again before avoiding a swinging hoof from one of the stallions. The other ran towards Zuri, yelling like a buffalo. Zuri dodged, and used his momentum against him. The stallion was thrown into the wall, which cracked as his head struck it. He crumpled to the floor, and Ruby meanwhile was having a time apparently crawling around the stallion’s body like a spider. Eventually she ended up straddling his head, her hindlegs around his neck and squeezing tightly. She lurched to the left, and threw him along with her onto the floor, on top of a screaming Glamour after a single spin. The stallion did not get back up, as Ruby unraveled herself from him and straightened up.
Zuri and Ruby ran out onto the backstage, with the mares screaming in alarm as more security ponies rushed at them. They made it out the door, and Ruby began ascending the side of a nearby building with expert speed. Zuri, meanwhile, relied on the streets, using her agility and stamina to outrun the stallions, towards the tower, where most of them had fallen behind or given up the chase. By the time she had ducked into the still-open tunnel entrance, Ruby spontaneously rose out of the shadows and shut the door behind her.
“They’ll probably be putting footage of us all over the city. They had cameras on every corner, and one in that private room. You gotta remember this, it's okay to break the rules a little, so long as it doesn't get out of hoof.” Ruby panted, apparently exhausted by her quick ascension of the buildings. “And it sort of did. We’ll have to be careful.”
“On the bright side,” offered the trancer, “we know he’s going to the gala. That means there’s a point to all this. We have a chance at finishing this.”
“You mean you have a chance,” Ruby corrected her. “Remember? I’m just helping you out a bit more personally than usual. My payment comes in what I’ll be able to pick off the tightasses at the gala.”
Zuri furrowed her brow. “Hang on a second, we need tickets for that, don’t we? Also, didn’t you just say we would have to be careful, because they would have pictures of us all over the city?” Ruby looked at her for a second, and then put a hoof on her shoulder.
“Zuri, I think somepony should introduce you to the wondrous effects of alcohol on a stressed mind.”