It was surprise a how pristine things were this far from the front. Ponies went about their lives as though there was no fighting on our borders. I looked over at Firefly, she was radiant as ever and this was one of the few times I’ve seen her in anything other than military fatigues. The cover provided to us by the CIA was a couple on R&R in Canterlot. At least part of that was true, there are few things that bring two ponies closer than being captured and threatened with torture and death.
“Isn’t it lovely?” Firefly asked as the royal palace came into view.
She came up, nuzzling me gently.
“Snow said that our contact will be at a tea shop downtown,” she whispered in my ear.
“I’m more interested in our hotel room,” I replied with a smile.
I was rewarded with a hoof in the shoulder for my comment.
“You’re incorrigible.”
“Heh, I know…but tea does sound nice. Where’s that place your friend recommended?”
She smiled at me.
“Up the road and hang a right.”
Our hooves clicked on the cobblestones as we walked down the sidewalk. Carriages rumbled past us carrying their passengers all over the city. We turned the corner, and I looked for the tea house. It was a small unassuming shop crammed between a bookstore and a store selling scarves and bowling balls. The only advertising was a small wooden sign swinging lazily in the winter air reading “Tealove’s Tea Room”.
“This is the place,” Firefly said.
The bell above the door rang as we entered.
“Welcome to Tealove’s Tea Room,” an azure maned mare asked from behind a counter. “How can I help you?”
Firefly stepped forward with a smile.
“I’d like a jasmine tea with honey and four spoons of sugar.”
The mare returned her smile.
“I’m sorry but I’m out of sugar,” she said as though the request for a drink that sweet wasn’t strange at all.
“That’s fine; just don’t use any salt in my tea.”
“I might have something in the back room. Come with me please.”
We followed her into a room back towards the rear of the shop facing the street. The curtains were shut tight on the window when we entered.
“So I guess Snow sent you?” The mare asked, her demeanor shifting to a much more serious nature.
“Yes,” Firefly replied offering a hoof. “Major Firefly, of the REA.”
“Tealove.”
The two mares shook, though neither seemed too trusting of the other.
“So you’ve been briefed?” Tealove asked us, she poured three glasses of tea.
“Not thoroughly,” My wingman replied, taking a glass but waiting for Tea Love to drink it first. “We are still pretty new at the cloak and dagger stuff.”
Tealove shot us both a pitying look.
“You would have been better off just staying soldiers,” she sighed. “I got roped into this and I’ve been a double agent for more than a year now…I guess I’m not a double now since we are supposed to be working with the rebels.”
“How many other agents has Snow found?”
Tealove’s eyes shifted back to where we came into the room.
“Not a lot…and it’s not likely that we are going to get many more. Ponies are scared, one of our agents went to the palace to ask around, then we lost contact with him. There haven’t been any volunteers since. That’s why you’re here; some fresh blood may get us back on track.”
“Lost contact?” I asked, speaking for the first time.
“He disappeared without a trace, not only that, but his source within the royal guard did too. I’m willing to bet my tea leaves that they’re both lying in a ditch somewhere. I don’t know what you got me mixed up in, but I was less nervous when I was being questioned by the rebels.”
This revelation worried me; ponies don’t just disappear without some help. Whoever we were up against was ruthless and dangerous. Firefly seemed to be thinking the same thing, because she had a look of concern on her face. For a moment, I thought she might consider abandoning the mission. Snow had promised us a way out if we desired, and I was wondering if we should take the agent up on her offer. Firefly, however, had more courage than I possessed.
“Well, if we don’t do this, no pony will. I’ve caused enough death among other ponies, if I have any chance to end this war faster; I’m going to take it. What do we need to do?”
Tealove gave her a pitying look. It was obvious that she was not an idealist, but truth was neither were we. That didn’t stop her from sharing the plan with us.
“I get some guardsmen and palace wait staff in here from time to time. I’ve found a suitable target for you.” She slid a photo of a mare across the table. “She’s a pegasus named Butterbeam, she’s a member of Celestia’s staff and she works in the kitchen. Most importantly, she’s lonely.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.
Our host’s eyes rolled to the ceiling as if begging Celestia for patience.
“Because Romeo, she’s looking for a special somepony, and that somepony is going to be you.”
My mouth fell open and my cheeks began to feel warm.
“Me?”
The question was greeted with more eye rolling.
“Yes, you. She prefers stallions over mares, do you see any other stallions here. Anyway, Butterbeam is a creature of habit, and her habit tonight is to go to the watering hole on Saddle and Mane with her co-workers. Your job is to get her interested in you, and get her talking whether it’s at the bar or back at her place.”
“What?”
I still couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Firefly seemed to be more accepting of the plan that I was.
“So what you’re saying is; our entire mission hinges on Snap’s ability to pick up mares…we are in an awful lot of trouble.”
Heat rushed to the tips of my ears, and my wings fluttered on their own. I couldn’t decide which was worse; what they were asking me to do or the fact I was being insulted while I was still in the room.
“Don’t worry, I’ll give you some pointers,” Firefly teased, a broad smile on her face.
“I’m not comfortable with this,” I told her, feeling my anger subside slightly. “I don’t want to cheat on you, even if the fate of Equestria is at stake.”
The smile faded from Firefly’s muzzle. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.
“It’s not my ideal choice in plans either,” Tealove grumbled. “But it’s the best chance we have at getting information outside of the palace.”
An inadvertent sigh escaped my lips. I looked over to Firefly, who nodded her approval.
“Fine, I’ll do it.”
Tealeave’s expression was one of both relief and irritation. The green pony unfurled a piece of parchment, casting a map of the city on the tabletop.
“Here’s the pub,” she said indicating a crossroads. “We are here, your hotel is here. Avoid coming back to the tea house; we don’t want to draw too much attention. Show up at the pub separately, you’ll be too obvious if you arrive together. If get into trouble and need help, place a white marker on the lamppost outside the bar. We’ll get you to a safe house, but you have to remain calm. We can’t endanger the lives of other agents if you screw up. If, by some miracle, you get some information that we can use, leave a copy of the REA field manual on a table in the hotel lobby before eleven o’clock tomorrow night. That will indicate a dead drop is available. You know the location?”
“The cherry tree in the park,” Firefly repeated the location given to us by Snow. “Leave the package in the hole in the trunk.”
“And if we get nothing useful?”
“Do nothing, enjoy our R and R and head back to our unit like nothing happened.”
“Good,” Tealove said, seeming satisfied with Firefly’s rendition. “And for what it’s worth, welcome to The Company. Now, get the buck out of my shop.”
I stood on the street corner outside of the shop, feeling my teeth grinding together in my head. This whole situation made me uneasy; I was a soldier, trained to fly and fight and, if necessary, die. I didn’t sign up to extract intel from some poor unsuspecting mare based solely on a hunch we received from the enemy.
“Hey,” Firefly said behind me. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I lied.
“You’d think that a shopkeeper would be less rude,” She said, changing the topic of the conversation.
There were several other ponies around us, and we couldn’t speak openly about our mission. It was certainly different than on the flight line where we could pump ourselves up with a pep talk, here we could only worry.
“An unsettling cup of tea,” I said expressing my concern, in the most inconspicuous way I could think of. “Left a bad feeling in my stomach.”
Firefly looked concerned.
“Alirght, let’s go back to the hotel…”
She flagged down a taxi and we piled in. Normally we would have walked, but Snow had managed to get us a little bit of a slush fund from the CIA and we felt obliged to spend it. The cab driver was friendly, pointing out the various tourist sites on our route. I wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying until we got to the hotel’s cart port.
“And we are here,” he concluded.
The smile on his muzzle screamed for us to give him a big tip, but the major wasn’t swayed so easily by just a silly grin.
“Thanks,” she told him leaning close. “Hey, just out of curiosity…I didn’t see any of the guards around on our way here, where are they?”
The Cabby was cheery, but he didn’t answer the question.
“Why the interest in the guards?”
His response didn’t seem to rattle the Major at all.
“When I was a foal, I wanted to be one. It would be an honor protecting the princess. At least I thought so when I was little.”
“Well, in a sense what you are doing is protecting the princess.”
He sighed heavily.
“If I were only a few years younger…well, I doubt the REA would have much use for an ol’ cart horse like me. To answer your question, most of the guards are up at the palace. I get them from time to time in the cab.”
Firefly’s ears suddenly perked up.
“Oh! I bet they have some interesting stuff to say about the princess.”
The driver stiffened, looking back over his shoulder at her. He suddenly became very stern.
“Darlin’, you really shouldn’t be asking those kind of questions. Even the guards don’t talk about the princess; it’s to keep her safe.”
“Oh…sorry,” Firefly said innocently.
“It’s alright, you didn’t know.”
Firefly passed him a small pouch of bits and thanked him for the ride. Surprise registered on his face.
“Thanks, you take care now.”
We trotted into the lobby of the hotel. Whatever pony served as Snow’s travel agent knew what she was doing; this was a very nice hotel. The room location left something to be desired though; it was on the sixth floor, far from the elevator and close to the stairs without much of a view. I figured it was a spy thing, it certainly would be easy to hear the heavy door to the stairwell open if someone used it. Normally we probably wouldn’t have been able to afford such a fancy place on our measly flyer’s salary, but the hotel had given us a huge discount because we were soldiers.
I wasn’t about to complain about the price, especially once I saw the room. It was exquisitely furnished with a leather couch and two queen beds which. Firefly walked in first, caution exuding from her tense muscles and perked ears. She looked around the room and smiled back at me, nodding to indicate it was safe to enter.
“Hey,” she mewed seductively. “Let’s check out the bathroom.”
She sauntered past, running her blue tail under my chin as she did. I needed no second bidding and happily pranced into the bathroom behind her. I had my uniform shirt halfway unbuttoned by the time she got the shower going.
“What under Celestia’s sky are you doing?” She asked angrily.
I stopped struggling to get my wings through the slits on my shirt and looked at her.
“I…well you…um…”
My cheeks began to burn with embarrassment.
“Right, the shower thing…” I finally blurted out as I realized why we were both in the bathroom.
Snow had told us not to talk about anything openly in our hotel room because it was fairly easy for a unicorn to create a magic listening device and stash it somewhere in it. Since neither of us had horns, there was no way we could sweep the room ourselves. However, no matter how skilled the unicorn’s magic was, as soon as the shower was turned on, there was no way to hear anything less audible than a shout.
“Oh, Snap…” Firefly shook her head sadly. “The Mission before pleasure, okay? I guess I was a little too forward with my acting, sorry. Besides…”
She looked down at the dog tags swinging from my neck, her eyes finally resting on the dragon scale that hung with them. There was a slight pause, and I knew what was supposed to fill the silence, but she didn’t say it.
“You’ve got a date tonight and I wouldn’t want to tire you out before it.”
The smile on her muzzle said that she was joking but the sadness in her eyes conveyed another message; she was as uncomfortable with what I was about to do as well.
“Do you think I should do this?” I asked her.
She balked, not sure how to reply; she sought counsel with her own reflection in the mirror.
“You know you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to…”she said wistfully. “But…”
And then she was lost in her reflection again.
“We may not get another shot at this information,” I finished for her.
For a few minutes the only sound in the bathroom was the running water.
“Did you mean what you said in the tea house?” The major asked.
I wanted to lie, to tell her it was a joke; it would have made the mission easier…for the both of us. Except there was a voice in the back of my mind, that told me I needed to be honest.
“Yes,” I told her, looking into her eyes. “Every word.”
She couldn’t hold my gaze, and looked down at my hooves.
“Snap…you know Snow gave us an out.”
“It’s a little late to take it now.”
Firefly shuffled her hooves on the bathroom tile.
“You’re worried about…about what you might have to do. Some mares are more talkative after…a romp in the stables.”
Taking a deep breath, I tried to phrase my thoughts the best I could.
“I’m not worried about doing it; I’m worried about hurting you.”
“Oh Snap Shot,” she sighed.
“Firefly…if it comes down to… you know…will you forgive me.”
She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and she took my muzzle in her hooves.
“Of course,” she whispered, staring into my eyes.
I stared back; her eyes were the color of sapphires and hardened by battle, yet there was a playfulness to them that I hadn’t seen before. I smiled at her and she smiled back.
“Um,” I mumbled. “About what you were teasing me about with Tea Love. I know I’m not the most attractive stallion, I could use some tips from you…I’ve been out of the dating game for a while.”
“Hey, you swept me off my hooves,” she teased.
“No,” I laughed. “I tackled you because they were shooting at us. Tell the truth, if it wasn’t for this war, would you have even given me a second glance?”
“I hope I would, Snap. You have a lot of redeeming qualities; you just have to have confidence in yourself. Mares love a confident stallion, just be yourself.”
The cliché answer almost floored me.
“Be myself? I’m not exactly that confident of a pony.”
Her tone changed, from friendly to the tone she uses ordering her squad in battle.
“Horse hockey,” the major told me. “I’ve seen you fly; no pony can lack confidence and fly like we do.”
“That’s flying, it’s different.”
“It’s not different. If you can’t be confident as Snap Shot, then be Draco.”
“Be Draco?” I asked confused.
Her blue tail flicked up behind her, a habit she had when she was getting irritated.
“Be the pony that I have at my wing when I meet the enemy. The pony that can pull off stunts that can test the courage of even the royal guard. Snap Shot and Draco are the same; you just have to believe in yourself.”
She threw her hooves around my neck.
“Be you.”
I hugged her back.
“I’ll try,” I replied. “But I’d rather be fighting off a squadron of rebels than going to a bar to pick up mares.”
“It’s just one mare, you remember what she looks like?”
I closed my eyes trying to remember the photo shown to us by Tea Love.
“About our age, gold fur, blonde mane, pretty.”
“Right,” Firefly said. “I’ll go in first if she’s there, I’ll find a table. If there’s a problem, I’ll wait for you outside by the lamp post. Wait…pretty?”
I smiled at her to show I was joking.
She gave me a shot to the shoulder with her hoof before reaching over and shut off the water.
“Well, that was fun,” Firefly smiled. “I’m going to head out and see the sights.”
After shooting me a broad wink, she left bathroom. I heard her saddlebags unzip and the rustling of fabric, she was changing into different clothes. After a couple of minutes, the door to the room opened and closed, and I was alone. The clock read fifteen to seven, I would give Firefly twenty minutes to get settled then I’d follow. Hopefully, that would be enough of a lead to keep anyone from associating the two of us. That’s when the butterflies started. I turned the shower back on and paced in the small bathroom, trying to burn off the nervousness. It didn’t help and I was forced to empty the contents of my stomach into the toilet.
“Bucking bad tea,” I coughed out, but I knew that I was lying to myself.
This wasn’t a good sign, I was never this nervous before a mission. I stripped down and jumped in the shower. The hot water running down my back quelled some of the butterflies but I didn’t feel much better about the mission. I banged my head against the shower tiles, hoping for some clarity and it came. I realized that for the first time, I was on my own without a wingman; it all depended on me and no one could pick up the slack.
“Buck it all!” I murmured, slamming a hoof on the water valve.
The flow of water ceased, and I stepped out of the shower. Fog coated the mirror; I wiped it off to get a good look at myself. I never had model looks, but I was supposed to try and charm a mare into giving me secrets at a bar? The dragon scale around my neck shone in my reflection and I remembered something. It hadn’t been in a bar, but somehow I had managed to charm one mare in my life. There was a sudden pain in my chest and an overwhelming feeling of guilt fell over me like a blanket.
I took the dragon scale in my hoof and looked down at it.
“I’m sorry…if there was any other way I could do this, I would. I wish I could explain this to you, but now all I can do is beg you for your forgiveness.”
I walked out of the bathroom and threw on a decent outfit. Part of working for a newspaper was that I had to head to a club every now and then for the gossip column; everypony likes a photo of Sapphire Shores with her newest colt toy. This meant I at least had enough sense to don the right attire for a night cruising the bar scene. We had brought along what little civilian clothes we had; what I had wouldn’t exactly be turning a lot of heads but it should be enough to get me through the door. I looked down at the clock, my twenty minutes were up. I took a deep breath and set out.
At first, I was worried that I was going to show up too soon behind Firefly. It turns out there wasn’t much need to have waited. The line to get into the club was long and the bouncer was being very selective. It took about a half hour to get to the door of the club, and I was finally allowed to pass across the velvet ropes.
The smell of stale beer assaulted my nostrils as I looked around at all the ponies packed tight in the small room. Music blared throughout the dimmed club and there was a tall amber coated pony manning the crowded bar. While this wasn’t good for finding Butterbeam, it would make it more difficult to be overheard. I spotted Firefly sitting at a table in the corner; I tried not to be too obvious that I knew her.
She gestured towards the bar area with her drink, I followed where she indicated and there was Butterbeam. The golden mare was sitting at the end of the bar, swirling ice around a short glass. A mare and a stallion vacated the bar, drunkenly staggering to the exit together. I took up a seat and ordered a carrot juice and vodka from the bartender. I wasn’t really sure where to go from here; I could simply walk over to Butterbeam but that might be a little too aggressive and I’d scare her off. I could sit and wait for her to get a couple of drinks but then I ran the risk of some other pony moving in. I sipped at my cocktail trying to make a decision, but it was made for me.
The barkeeper placed a drink in front of Butterbeam, pointed a hoof in my direction and had a brief conversation with the mare. She stood up, and carried her drink over to the vacant chair next to me.
“Hi,” she said, leaning close so that she could be heard over the music. It also gave me a good whiff of the alcohol on her breath.
I was slightly at a loss for words, I wasn’t sure exactly how this whole situation transpired and I was even less sure how to react to it.
“Be Draco,” Firefly’s words echoed in my head.
“Hey,” I replied with a smile, making room for her to get into the seat next to me.
She passed the drink to me and slid the barstool out, adjusting her tail so it fit neatly through the hole in the back.
“I’m Butterbeam. Nice to meet you and thanks for the drink.”
I sat tall, like a true military colt should and hoped that I didn’t betray the fact I had no idea what drink she was talking about.
“Sergeant Snap Shot,” I said with a nod.
Butterbeam seemed to be impressed with my rank because she batted her eyelashes at me. I felt myself blush slightly.
“Cognac told me you were a flyer. Have you seen any action?”
She placed her forelegs on the bar, leaning over to look interested.
“I’ve been in a dogfight or two.”
“That sounds exciting.”
The ice clinked in my drink as it melted.
“Flying always is, but I could do without the fighting,” I replied truthfully. “So Butterbeam, what do you do?”
“Nothing as interesting as flying in combat, I’m a server at the place.”
“That sounds very interesting to me.”
The small talk lasted for about forty-five minutes and she had three drinks to my one. She had already been fairly inebriated when she came over, now she was swaying slightly on her bar stool. I felt that if she was going to tell me anything, now would be the time to ask.
“So how do you like working at the palace?”
“Ish okay,” Butterbeam stated, her words slightly slurred. “It was lots better before the viceroy was in charge though.”
She dropped her voice to a low whisper and her muzzle brushed against my ear as she spoke.
“He’s a bit of a hard ass.”
The viceroy, the former general of the EUP royal guard, had taken over the princesses daily duties that involved the general population. The threat of assassination was so great that it made sense to have another pony address menial tasks like settling disputes between individuals. The fact that he was a hard ass wasn’t a surprise, Generals usually were.
“It was better when Princess Celestia was in charge?”
“Yep, she’s nice and always loves having us around. The general just wants us to drop off his food and leave. He’s also real bossy, like we can’t go places on the grounds or in the cellar. Like the statue of Faust will come alive and eat us. Cognac, can I get another?”
I tried to hide my interest in the princess as the bartender gave her another drink. Unfortunately, I didn’t do a very good job hiding my enthusiasm.
“So you’ve seen her recently? She’s okay?”
“Seen her? No, she’s protected. I do gets to deliver her dinners sometimes, but I just carry her dinner down to the cellar and pass it to some guards and they take it down and stuff…Hey, why are you so interested in the princess?”
Back peddling as fast I as I could, I tried to remain calm as I thought of some excuse.
“Just some scuttlebutt around the barracks, nothing serious.”
Her drunken features registered confusion.
“Scuttlebutt, who’s that?”
“It means gossip,” I laughed. “There are just some rumors flying around that the princess was taken away to another country. Saddle Arabia or some other exotic place. “
“Nope, but she’s safe.”
She tapped the lacquered bar top to get the keepers attention.
“Cognac one more!”
Her attention turned back to me, and she had a goofy smile plastered on her muzzle.
“So soldier, what do you say after we each get another…we head back to my place for some coffee?”
I wasn’t how much more information she would tell me, but she wasn’t in any condition to find her way home; I’d make sure she’d get there safely. So I signaled the bar keep for a third drink and flashed a smile at her.
“Coffee sounds nice,” I whispered in her ear.
Cognac expertly slid two glasses down the bar, and Butterbeam fell off of her stool trying to catch hers. I offered her a hoof and she took it.
“I’m okay,” she stated blushing through her golden coat. “I’m okay. Drink up…”
“Um…call us a cab…” I told Cognac.
The amber earth pony nodded.
My drinking buddy and I drained our glasses and left some bits sitting on the bar top. I helped her out to where a pony with a cab wagon was waiting and lifted her into the seat.
“Hey…where to do you live?” I asked her.
Butterbeam mumbled something inaudible and I leaned in close. The drunken mare nibbled on my ear and I jumped back.
“Whoa! Easy there sweetheart, at least you need to wait until we get to out of here. What’s your address?”
“7483 Saddleridge Dr,” she blurted out.
The cab pony nodded and started trotting slowly up the street.
Halfway through our journey, Butterbeam passed out on my shoulder. She slept softly, her mane slightly disheveled. That last drink was starting to affect me, Cognac must have been a little heavy hoofed with our final shots.
The strong drink wasn’t the only thing getting to me as I looked down at the sleeping mare. I felt horrible for leading her on; it was something that I never wanted to do again. I wish I could have been more direct with her but there was no way to know if she would have turned me in or who would be listening to the conversation. It was the safest way to get the information for both of us.
I wrote down everything that she told me about Celestia on the ride to her place, I wasn’t sure what to make of it but I’d leave it to Snow’s ponies to figure it out. I finished my last note as we pulled up to a quaint little duplex a few blocks from the palace grounds.
“This is her,” the cabbie said, a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.
“Any chance you can lend a hoof?” I asked, flashing a shiny bit to the driver.
He nodded at the money and unhitched himself from his wagon. Between the two of us we managed to get her unconscious form to the door, which unfortunately was locked. I rang the bell, nothing seemed to happen.
“Great,” I groaned under her weight. “How do we get her inside?”
“Check under the mat.”
Sound advice, and sure enough I found a key. Before I could use it, the door swung inward and a sleepy eyed mare stepped out on the landing, her orange mane messed over her amber eyes. There was a brief silent exchange between the three of us. I decided to break it first.
“Um, I hope we have the right house. She’s a little drunk.”
“Again?” The cream colored pegasus asked, squinting at us. “I’m her roommate, bring her in.”
I shrugged and carried Butterbeam inside.
“Where’s her room?”
The pegasus flapped her wings irritably.
“Just leave her on the couch; it’s too hard to get her upstairs.”
I maneuvered Butterbeam into the sparsely furnished living room and deposited her gently on lonely couch that was facing the fireplace. Her roommate followed me and looked down in concern at the passed out mare.
I extended a hoof to the cream colored pegasus.
“Snap Shot,” I introduced myself.
She took my hoof and shook.
“Creamsicle, and I’m really sorry about this,” the pegasus siged. “She never drank like this before the Viceroy took over.”
Butterbeam stirred on the couch.
“He’s an asshole,” she mumbled. “Won’t let us go under the castle, off limits.”
Creamsicle picked up a pair thick rimmed glasses of the end table and put them on.
“You okay BB?” She asked.
“Mmmhmm,” Butterbeam replied before rolling over and falling back asleep.
In the back corner of the room, a tall thing brass pole stood shimmering like a sentinel. It was definitely an attention getter in the economically furnished room. Creamsicle caught me staring at it and she blushed deeply.
“It’s our roomate’s,” she said by way of explanation. “Thanks for bringing BB home, a lot of stallions would have just left her at the bar.”
“It was the least I could do,” I replied honestly.
Some of the responsibility for her condition rested on my shoulders. It felt like I was using her and it didn’t sit well with me. This war had caused me to compromise a lot of my principles in the defense of the kingdom; this was no exception.
“Will she be alright?”
“Nothing she hasn’t been through before,” Creamsicle shrugged. “I’ll make her some eggs and hash in the morning and she’ll be fine.”
The cabbie knocked on the door frame and cleared his throat.
“Meter’s runnin’” he informed me.
“You better go,” Creamsicle said. “I’m sure she already cost you enough in a bar tab.”
“Well, it was nice meeting you.”
I trotted back to the cab and got in. I wrote down her commented about not being able to go under the castle, even if it didn’t make any sense.
“What you writin’ there?” the cabbie asked as he made his way down the street.
It took me a second to come up with a response.
“A letter to a buddy of mine on the front, this will crack him up when he gets this. A completely shitfaced mare coming on to me at a bar? He won’t believe it.”
My driver chuckled and I had him drop me off at a hotel that was a few blocks from where Firefly and I were actually staying. I paid him and added a fairly generous tip for all the help he gave me with Butterbeam.
He pulled out into the street as I walked into the lobby. The pony at the front desk stood but I walked right past her and through the back exit. I followed the alley to the road and headed back to my real hotel. Our room was dark when I arrived, which had me a little worried. Paranoia began to set in as I flicked the light on; it subsided when I saw the note on the hotel desk.
“Went out for a bite, be back soon.”
This was followed by the drawing of a lightning bolt and a wing. These were the signal that she was alright. If there were two bolts, then I would be in a panic. The relief of knowing she was okay caused exhaustion to roll over me like a wave. All the events of the day seemed to crash down on my head; the travel, the meeting with Tea Love, and then this whole fiasco in the club culminated to that one point and I felt too tired to stand.
I crawled into bed and fell asleep before I could even turn the lights off.
I awoke the next morning wrapped in cool sheets next to a warm body. Rolling over, I found myself staring into a smiling pink muzzle and sparkling sapphire eyes.
“Morning,” she whispered happily.
“Hey,” I replied as I gave her a soft kiss on the nose.
I rolled out bed and stretched my wings out, nearly knocking over the bedside lamp as I did. This brought a giggle out of Firefly.
“You’ve always had an impressive wingspan,” she teased.
I loved this side of her, though I rarely got to see it on the front line. She was too enveloped in chaos and death to let her playful side show. A dull ache in the back of my head reminded me of how much I had drunken last night and of the mission.
“About last night…” I caught myself before I talked openly about the mission. “Where’d you go?”
“Wrap place up the corner, they have a great honeydew and yellow carrot pita.”
She looked past me to the bathroom door.
“I could use a shower,” she said sleepily.
I walked in and turned the water on, giving us the freedom to talk. I began to brief her on what happened at the club.
“I think I got some useful information out of B…”
She cut me off with a kiss, and corralled me up against the wall of the small room. There was a brief thought in my mind that this was why stallions would never understand mares, and then my mind was occupied by only one thing.
Water from my wet mane dripped onto the desk as I summarized my notes about my assignment for Snow, I brushed my wet mane out of my eyes. Firefly lay on the bed, silently reading a book with her own mane wrapped in a towel. She seemed off, like something was nagging at her. I had told everything that transpired between Butterbeam and I, including that nothing happened after we left the club. She she was visibly relieved when I delivered that last bit of information but she was still hiding something.
I finished the summary and wrapped it with my notes before stuffing it into a long cylinder. When the cap was in place, the package glowed in brilliant golden light. Snow had enchanted it so that once sealed, the contents would be incinerated if it was opened before a counter spell was cast. A pretty fancy trick in my opinion.
“Well, I’m all ready for our picnic in the park when you are. Unless you need another shower.”
A damp towel hit me in the face.
“If I took another shower we’d miss lunch.”
I shook the towel off and smiled.
“After you, then.”
We went downstairs and Firefly sat down at a chair in the lobby, continuing to read her book. I trotted over to the hotel bar. There was only one other patron in the room, a brown stallion at the end of the bar with a jet black mane and tail.
“One bloody marey,” I told the pony behind the bar. “And two asprin.”
The mare smiled and began mixing my drink.
“Hangover?” She asked as she poured the tomato juice.
“Yep,” I admitted. “Enjoying my R&R a little too much.”
The glass clinked on the bar as she set it in front of me and put a small two pack of pills next to it.
“One hair of the dog that bit you,” she said with a smile. “On the house for the boy from the flight line.”
“Thanks,” I said as I threw the pills in my mouth and washed them down with the drink.
The stallion at the end of the bar caught my eye; I thought he was staring at me, but then he waved to the bartender and she trotted over. My imagination was playing with my paranoia again, this was getting old. I returned to the chairs in the lobby where Firefly was now reading the paper.
We stayed there a good five minutes before heading to the park, leaving the book sitting on table. Our picnic consisted of wraps from the shop around the corner, the old mare behind the counter smiled at us as she passed the sandwiches over the counter.
“Y’all have a great day,” she told us with a motherly look. “Always nice to see a young couple out and about, even in a time of war.”
We thanked her and made our way to park, which was only a few blocks from the hotel. The park was beautiful, a lake shimmered in the afternoon sun and a blossoming cherry tree grew by the lake shore.
“Couldn’t ask for a better day to have a lakeside picnic,” Firefly beamed, trotting down to the tree.
There was a small hole in the base, where the trunk met the earth. It was almost unnoticeable if you didn’t know where to look. Firefly tossed the cylinder into the opening as if it were a moldy piece of garbage.
“And that’s that,” she whispered in my ear. “Let’s eat.”
We found a nice quiet patch overlooking the water and unwrapped our food. Our mission was complete, and for the first time in months we could relax. No threats of an emergency scramble, no enemy flyers within three hundred miles, no need to gather intelligence from any pony. The relief finally settled over us like the warmth of the sun setting. We sat there for almost an hour, just talking about silly things; movies, books, stormball, anything that we wanted. I realized that this was what I was fighting for, so that every pony could enjoy this kind of peace, even if it only lasted a short while. I gazed around the park at the other ponies, both young and old were enjoying the day. That’s when I noticed him, a pony with a jet black mane and brown coat. He was the same one that was at the hotel bar.
“Crimson,” I whispered using Firefly’s callsign. “I think we’ve been made.”
“Where?” she asked.
“Tan stallion, over by the carrot stand. He was also in the lobby of the hotel when we left.”
She chanced a glace over my shoulder before looking me in the eyes.
“Don’t panic,” she whispered. “Snow told us what to do if this happened.”
“Right,” I replied calmly, but my heart was pounding in my chest.
We got up and headed toward the street. Walking as slowly as we could given the circumstances. This was a bad situation, he could be with the rebels or he could be CIA or worse; he could be with whoever was holding the princess.
As we were walking along the sidewalk, Firefly fished in her saddlebags and took out a small piece of reflective white tape. She slapped the tape on a light pole at the corner, it was a mark indicating an agent in peril. Anypony walking down the street wouldn’t pay any mind to it, but a CIA operative, knowing what to look for, would send in the cavalry. I checked the reflection in the plate glass windows of the shops across the street and there he was a little ways back still watching us. I brushed my wing up against Firefly’s, she got the hint.
“Alright, let’s fly.”
We took off, flying towards the train station. I only made it half a block before another pony collided with me. Forcing me down into a side alley. I grabbed my attacker and twisted midair forcing him below me so he hit the concrete first. He went limp on impact, knocked out cold. I rolled to my hooves and Firefly landed next to me.
“Mule fritters!” I shouted as I looked up.
Another pegasus was blocking out way out of the alley and the black maned stallion was standing by the street smiling at us.
“You a soldier?” he asked with the same disdain generally reserved for drug pushers or insurance salesmen.
“And what if I am?”
He sauntered toward us and two more stallions filed in behind him.
“We don’t like soldiers too much around here but if you leave all your bits and valuables we’ll only rough you up instead of kill ya.”
Thugs? That’s all we were dealing with? Not rebel insurgents, not rogue CIA spooks, just simple common criminals. We had been followed by a band of petty thieves. That’s why they were at the hotel, they were casing potential marks, and I was throwing bits around like we had an endless supply. I had drawn them to us, like some stupid bucking tourist.
“Take whatever you want, just let the girl go.”
He gave me a smirk and advanced.
“Nah, she’s with you, that’s her problem. The way I see it, with most of the Royal Guard deployed in the war it’s our job to control the riffraff on the streets.”
Firefly stood defiantly against him.
“Then why are you robbing us?”
“We gotta make some sort of profit for doing a benefit to the community. I mean look what you did to poor Shovel, someone’s going to have to pay for his injuries.”
He pointed and laughed at the pegasus laying unconscious on the ground. As he was talking, words began to appear behind the stallion, as though they were being written there on an invisible chalkboard.
Get ready to run. They read in bright green letters.
A metallic clink echoed in the alley and a small canister landed on the ground in of us.
“What the..?” Black mane asked and then the grenade exploded in a puff of smoke.
White fog filled the alley and we were suddenly blind. There was the sound of something solid striking flesh followed by a groan of pain. Two more strikes and the sound of bodies hitting the ground.
A pink hoof reached out and grabbed me, pulling me toward the street. I was thrown into a carriage which began to move down the street.
“Thanks Firefly,” I said to the pony next to me.
“I’m over here,” a voice said across from me.
I looked up and Firefly was sitting in the opposite seat next to a mint green unicorn. I looked over to my savior, a pink earth pony, who was now pushing a collapsible assault stick back to a compact size.
“Well,” I said to her. “Thank you. You really pulled our tails out of the oven there.”
The pony blushed and didn’t say anything for a moment.
“Sorry,” she eventually mumbled to the carriage floor.
“No need to apologize for saving my life,” I said. “Besides I’m used to having a pink heroine come to my rescue.”
I smiled over at Firefly, who returned my smile.
“She’s not pink,” the unicorn next to her said. “She’s lightish red.”
I looked at the pony next to me. In my opinion pink was pink, but I wasn’t in the mood to argue with my saviors.
“Sorry,” I apologized. “Anyway, thank you for your help, miss…?”
“I’m Famosity, this is Maquillage, and you must be the new guys. You know a ‘dead drop’ means you drop the thing and leave, right? Not drop and have a picnic next to it. We couldn’t collect the package while you were sitting there.”
Firefly stiffened, realizing that she had done something wrong.
“Sorry,” she said.
“It’s fine,” Famosity dismissed the apology. “Rookie mistake. Probably a good thing anyway, we were able to see that you were being followed when you left.”
“So you two are with the company too?”
Famosity and Maquillage both shook their heads.
“We don’t care about the sun or the moon, I’m just doing a favor for a friend.”
Firefly glared at her.
“Chaotics…” she growled, using the term for those who followed the lord of chaos as opposed to Celestia.
“Yes,” the mint unicorn replied. “And we could have just left you to that gang, you know. Our mission was just to retrieve the package, which we still haven’t done.”
“I’m sorry,” my wingman replied. “It’s just been a very long day and we truly are grateful for your help.”
The carriage stopped.
“We’re here!” Famosity said angrily. “Stay out of trouble. Snow will contact you when she wants to meet.”
I looked out and saw that we had arrived at our hotel.
“Are you sure it’s safe for us to come back here?” I asked.
The mint unicorn looked like she was about to start shouting at us but Maquillage interfered.
“Your things are here, and those ponies that attacked you today shouldn’t be bothering anyone anytime soon. We’ll let the royal guard arrest them, street gangs have become more of a problem since the war stated so they’re going to jump at the chance to show ponies that they are doing something.”
“Thank you both,” I said, trying to smooth things over with Famosity. “Stay safe, okay?”
Maquillage smiled at me, but Famosity still looked like she had steam curling out the roots of her brown mane. The “lightish red” mare leaned over and whispered something in the unicorns ear. Whatever was said made her smile and sit back in her seat, the color in her cheeks shifting from mint to crimson.
“Have a good night,” she told us, and the carriage pulled away.
***
Three days passed without contact from Snow, so Firefly and I were actually able to enjoy some actual R&R. After that attack on the second day we were a little more cautious about our surroundings, but that didn’t stop us from going to dinners to get real food or catching a real movie. The meals at the base made me contemplate murder of a certain cook and the movies mainly consisted of VD and trench hoof films. We were able go out on real dates and actually feel normal for a few days. For three days, we weren’t soldiers, we were just an average couple enjoying their vacation. Even so, I could tell there was something bothering Firefly, but I didn’t have the guts to ask her.
Regardless, thing were going well for us, until there was a knock on our door on the last day of our R&R.
“I have a message for this room, but it doesn’t have any names on it.”
“I’ll take it,” I told the stallion standing in the doorway.
The poor bellhop looked so confused, that I gave him a bigger tip than I should have then closed the door in his face. The envelope only had our room number on it and the single piece of parchment inside only contained an address. At the bottom of the page, a single white snowflake had been drawn.
“It’s from her.”
Firefly looked over my shoulder.
“Let’s go.”
***
“Now you’re just trying to embarrass us, Snow,” I scolded the unicorn mare sitting across the table from us.
Snow had set up the meeting at The Tack Room, a strip club located in one of the dicier parts of the city. Mares and stallions of all colors were prancing around on stage in bridles and saddles, slowly removing the articles as they swung around brass poles. Snow didn’t seem very interested in the dancing girls.
“Nonesense sergeant, places like this are some of the best meeting places for what we do. They keep the rooms dark so it's easy to hide and loud music to cover conversation. There are plenty of distractions to keep prying eyes away from us. Ponies don’t really pay attention to whoever is around here and most won’t ever admit to coming to this establishment. Plus there's an armed guard at the door who isn't paid very well, so if you pass him a few bits he'll be your muscle in a pinch. You'll pick these things up."
A set of jeweled reins landed on our table, thrown by one of the mares on stage.
“I’m picking things up alright,” I said, scooting the strap to the table’s edge. “Like you seem to lack class.”
All Snow did was smile down at me.
“I have enough class to take you to school,” she quipped.
A saddle clad waitress ambled by to retrieve the piece of tack. She stopped for a minute and squinted hard at me.
“Snap Shot? Is that you?”
I looked up to see an orange pegasus staring at me.
“Creamsicle?”
“What are you doing here?” she asked me, blushing deeply.
My mind raced to come up with an excuse.
“Um…”
“We’re having a business meeting,” Firefly said quickly.
“Yes,” Snow backed her up. “If you’ll excuse us so we can finish. Also, I’d like to order a Tequila Sunrise.”
Creamsicle hesitated a minute shifting from hoof to hoof.
“The drink, or the dancer?” she asked quietly.
“The drink…”
The pegasus mare nodded and hurried to the bar to place Snow’s drink order. The agent turned back to me, a cold fury in her eyes cutting through her calm façade.
“You gave your real name to a non-agent? Faust, you really are green.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that either.
“Manes Bond gives his real name,” was all I could come up with.
Snow and Firefly both rolled their eyes at me.
“That’s because he’s fiction you…ugh,” Snow began but stopped herself.
She took a deep calming breath, well as calming a breath could be that smelled of stale ale and sweat.
“No, harm done…I suppose. And the intel you collected was worth it.”
This news surprised me.
“You were able to get something useful out of it?” I asked skeptically.
Snow nodded slowly.
“We think so,” she explained. “At least it seems to indicate that the princess is alive…but it also might mean that she’s in trouble.”
“What do you mean trouble?” Firefly asked concerned.
“There are old pony tales about a network of caves that run underneath the palace. If you were trying to hide something or keep a pony prisoner that would be the place to do it. There’s an issue though, these caves are supposed to be a myth; they shouldn’t exist. The CIA has been pouring over plans for the castle and can’t find anything on them, no entrances, no stairs, nothing.”
“So the information was useless after all.”
Snow shook her head.
“We are going on the assumption that the caves are real, a retired member of the wait staff backed up Butterbeams story. He had never been down to the caves himself but he told us that they really did exist. We just need to find somepony that knows where to get in and navigate the caves, the problem is most of the castle staff and guards have been deployed in the war or have taken sides with the rebels. Those few who remain are most likely fanatically loyal to the viceroy. We are hoping Princess Luna may be able to lead us to a pony that can help us.”
“So you’re going to contact her?”
She smiled at me.
“Actually, you are,” she stated. “This information is too sensitive to be delivered in any normal methods. If it gets out that we know where Celestia is, and we’re right about the caves, they may move her or worse.”
I put both my hooves together resting them in front of me, suddenly defensive.
“And how are we supposed to do that? It’s not like we know where they are Snow, if that’s what you are implying.”
The agent sat back in her chair, like a parent of a naughty foal in the principal’s office.
“It’s nothing like that, Sergeant. We are going to arrange a meeting between you and The Raven through Tea Love’s contacts. All she will know is that we want to set up a rendezvous so we can compartmentalize the information. It keeps everything safer.”
I sighed; I had hoped to get out of this game after this. I was a flyer, not a damn spy.
“Fine, what do we have to do?”
“We’ll figure the details out later, but you’re the best shot we have at secure communication with the Princess.”
“I’m guessing you’ll contact us on the line when things are all set up?” Firefly asked.
“Yes.”
I stood, not really wanting to stay too much longer in the company of the CIA.
“Well Snow, unless you are planning on giving us a dance on the table. I think we are going to leave.”
“Don’t tempt me sergeant,” The white unicorn said, flipping her mane back in an enticing manner. “I know some moves that will knock your horseshoes off.”
Firefly laughed, she was much more at ease around Snow than I was.
“No thank you Snow,” she said happily. “We’ll wait for you to contact us, but for now I think we are going to just going to enjoy the rest of our R&R.”
“Good luck major,” Snow told her solemnly.
Firefly and I made our way towards the door. Creamsicle was on stage now, her wings covered in a beaded mesh shining in spotlights as she swung around a brass pole. She waved to me as we left, and out of politeness I waved back. The bouncer at the door, who I assumed Snow had bribed, opened the door for Firefly.
“So should I get a sexy saddle like that?” She asked once we were outside.
The question took me by surprise, the idea of Firefly doing anything so foreign to her personality just couldn’t register in my brain.
“Wha..?” was the only sound I could seem to form.
“You seemed a little distracted in there.”
There really was no saving this one.
“Any stallion would be distracted by that,” I informed her truthfully. “But I’m in love with you, even without the dancing or the skimpy clothing.”
She smiled an obviously forced smile, and proceeded at a fast trot to the street where she tried haling a cab, which just kept driving.
“Something’s bothering you,” I said finally catching up.
“No,” she denied a little too quickly.
“Don’t lie to me,” I told her. “You’ve been acting strange lately.”
She sighed, knowing that I had seen through her.
“I’m sorry, I’ve just been getting jealous lately…”
“Jealous? Over the Butterbeam thing? Fire…”
“Not just that,” she interrupted walking over to me.
She ran a hoof gently around my neck and found the chain to my dog tags. Pulling them out from beneath my shirt, she took the dragon scale in her hoof.
“Of her,” she said sadly.
We both stared at the shimmering white scale, initials carved in the bottom corner.
“I know I shouldn’t be…but I am. I keep thinking that you can’t love me because she’s always going to be first in your heart. It’s selfish and petty and I feel horrible about it.”
She gazed deeply into my eyes, but tears were welling in hers.
“I’m not telling you to hurt you, but I just…I don’t know where I stand.”
I reached out and hugged her, trying to comfort her as best as I could.
“You’re with me,” I told her. “Right here, right now. I love you and nothing is going to change that.”
I released her and took the dragon scale in my hoof.
“But this is part of my past. I can’t forget her, not after what happened.”
She nodded at me, understandingly.
“I don’t want you to forget about her, ever. I’m just worried that…I don’t know what I’m worried about.”
“I’m not sure what I can do to put you at ease…”
She shook her head.
“There’s really nothing you can do. This is something I’ve got to come to terms with myself.”
Raising her hoof she shouted angrily at a passing cab.
“Hey! Taxi!”
Hooves clabbered on cobblestones as the driver desperately tried to stop. She shot us a dark look as we got into the carriage. Though she happily took us where we wanted to go.
“So, what do you think our friends have planned?” Firefly asked me.
***
This is the dumbest idea ever… I thought to myself as I stood on the flight line.
Snow’s plan was deranged and utterly insane. She set up an escort mission, then she gave the course and time to the rebels. She couldn’t just have us meet in a field somewhere; it had to be a whole production. I’m sure she had her particular reason for doing it like this, but if the rebels weren’t actually working with us, we were as good as dead.
It’s also didn’t help that we had a new flyer with us. Cloudchasers replacement was a former officer of the guard named Red Virtue. His callsign was Firebird after he had a run in with a phoenix during basic training. He was a good stallion, but he was pretty by-the-book and very devoted to the cause. So I doubted he’d be understanding with me having a nice little chat with the enemy.
Either way everything was set and all we needed to do was execute the plan, as crazy as it was. I sat anxiously waiting for clearance for the tower. Since we had our talk, I had skipped my usual good luck ritual because I didn’t want Firefly to get upset for me kissing the dragon scale. I needed her to be undistracted in case this turned into a rebel ambush. It was just calling bad fortune on the mission. There were only about a million things that would go wrong with already.
Before I could contemplate summoning more misfortune, we were cleared for takeoff. Crimson and I took the lead with Firebird and Sunburst taking up the rear. Not a lot was said as we flew, I looked back to check on the new guy. He was keeping up fine for somepony who was new to the unit; at least he wasn’t new to combat, being a transfer from another flight group.
The caravan we were supposed to be protecting was up ahead, turning up a massive amount of dust on the dirt road.
“Mustang Flight, Mustang Flight. Caspian Flight. We are approaching from the south to relieve you. Repeat; friendly forces approaching from the south.”
A mare replied on the radio.
“Caspian Flight, Mustang Flight. Roger that, take up formation at the rear of the convoy.”
We took our positions, flying above the dust of the last wagon. Four pegasi circled around, the flight leader firing off a salute to Crimson.
“Caspian lead, Mustang lead. Take care of our boys down there and thanks for the relief. Mustang lead out.”
We now had four hours before the next flight would take over for the final leg of the journey; so if we were to pass the message along, it would have to be soon.
The rebels didn’t disappoint, and about an hour into our shift Firefly spotted two pegasi on the horizon.
“Caspians, two marks 2 o’clock high!”
I peered in the direction she indicated.
“I see them,” I replied, for the first time I was praying that it was The Raven.
“Sunburst, Firebird, stay with the convoy. Draco you’re with me!”
She took the lead and I followed. The two tangos up a head broke from the convoy to face us. One pitch black, the other gray; just the two I was hoping to see.
“Draco, I’ll take the leader. Keep the trailer busy.”
We broke apart; not really a text book strategy but we were good enough to throw the book away. It didn’t matter anyway, this was our contact; it would be bad to kill him.
The moment I thought that a crossbow bolt buzzed over my head.
“Buck! Son of a mule!”
I checked behind me and saw the black pegasus giving chase. I took evasive action trying to lose him and another bolt hissed past. This was a set up, we had been betrayed.
I rolled and dove, picking up as much speed as I could. Weaving around I headed for the trees, hoping he was dumb enough to follow. It was his own tactic, break visual contact and strike your prey.
There was the thump of hooves behind me and I pointed the business end of my crossbow at the sound. I found myself looking at the same; Raven was there aiming at my heart.
“Lower your weapon!” I shouted.
“You lower yours!” he shouted back.
Neither of us moved, trapped in an uneasy stalemate.
“You shot at me!” I accused, breaking the silence.
“No, I shot near you. If I shot at you, you’d be dead.”
I sighted at his chest.
“How do I know you’re not just a lousy shot?”
He glared at me.
“Don’t even act like we are friends in this. Our interests are just temporarily aligned.”
Before I could reply to that, we heard a twig snap from the right and Raven dove out of the way as a crossbow bolt embedded itself in the ground where he had been a second before. The one thing I hadn’t counted on was a pony playing the hero and following me when I went into the tree line, but Red Virtue had done just that.
“Son of a mule!” Raven cursed, and aimed his own bow at Red.
I caught Red in a flying tackle, pulling him to the ground as the bolt from Raven’s gun missed my neck by centimeters. I quickly pressed the emergency release on Red’s harness and his weapon fell to the ground.
“Hold fire! Hold your fire!” I shouted as loud as I could, positioning myself between the two warring stallions.
Red looked up at me from the ground, now disarmed.
“You’re a traitor,” he gasped in disbelief. “You’re with the rebels.”
“No,” I told him. “I’m with the CIA.”
Raven sat down where he was, breathing hard.
“Faust, I thought you had stabbed me in the back.”
“I figured you’d done the same.”
A smile played at the corners of his muzzle, a smile which grew to a full on laugh. He disengaged his weapon and stood, striking a regal pose.
“Hence! Wilt thou lift up Olympus? Doth not Brutus bootless kneel? Et tu, Brute! Then fall, Caesor.”
His recitation was seamless and perfect.
“You’re an actor?” I asked, astonished.
“Was, an actor,” he admitted.
Red had gotten to his hooves behind me.
“We all had lives before your kind rebelled. That doesn’t explain what you are doing here.”
Raven took offense to this statement, which was reasonable as the statement was intended to offend.
“My kind?”
Again, I had to shout to rein in the hard headed soldiers.
“Enough! If you two would put a bridle in it for half a second, I’ll explain everything.”
I got Red up to speed on what we were trying to do, and then told both of them the information that we had uncovered in Cantorlot. Snow would probably be pissed with me, but I was sure Red would have turned me in if I didn’t tell him how import our mission actually was.
“So what you’re saying is the CIA thinks Celestia is being held beneath the castle?”
“Right.”
“And you believe that?”
I shrugged.
“Well, think about it. When’s the last time that you saw Celestia? Why have there been no discussions of peace talks between the two sisters, even though Luna as made several attempts to initiate them?”
He thought for a moment and then sighed.
“And what do you think?” He asked Raven.
“Princess Luna believes her sister is somehow in danger. I trust her with my life, and the royalty must be preserved…both of them.”
He turned to me and nodded.
“I’ll take this information to the Princess, and we will get in contact with you through our mutual acquaintence.”
“Just remember to keep the information between you and Princess Luna.”
He looked over at Red who was standing uneasily behind me.
“You’re one to talk. Stay alive, and we may find an end to this war.”
He trotted off into the forest, disappearing into the darkness. I turned to my flight mate, who was now getting his crossbow up on his back.
“You okay?” I asked him.
He nodded slowly.
“It’s just a lot to take in. I’m still not sure that I believe all of it.”
I sighed.
“I’m not sure I want to believe all of it, but the evidence seems to back it up. I’m sure this goes without saying, but this goes beyond top secret. If this all it true and word gets out that somepony knows that Celestia is a prison they might kill her.”
“You think that would happen?” he asked, eyes wide.
“You want to risk it?”
“No, I want to help.”
I sighed a very heavy sigh.
“I’ll talk to Snow…she’s not going to be happy about this. I’m really sorry to tell you this, but welcome to the company.”