When the Everfree Burns

by SpiritDutch

Chapter 10: Watchwords

“It’s time you tell me what you have going on with that Blackhorn pretender, Councilor.”

Prosser looked up from his little alchemy experiment, and back towards the door of the storeroom.
Shining Armor loomed in the doorway out to the passage, five IHG knights waiting in the dark corridor beyond, illuminated in muted tones by the faded firefly lanterns.

Prosser took off his glasses and set them to the side. "Sir Armor, good afternoon. You didn't need to come down here to see me. I'd have been up in the castle in not too long."

"Hardly. You have been avoiding me." Shining took a few steps forward. He looked around the alchemy storeroom, wondering to himself if all the different kinds of material and chemical were really necessary. His eyes lingered on the nearly empty bottles of dragonfire. "I never deluded myself to thinking that I could rely on you, but you could at least do your job while Princess Cadenza is still feeling out her place in the Court. Hence my question. Are you undermining her on behalf of the Blackhorns?"

“That's a stinging accusation my dear Sir Armor. Two or three times now, you ask for my cooperation on something, then rebuff me the next day because of some inscrutable trespass I make.” Prosser said. “I get none of that from the ponies sympathetic to the Blackhorn lad. They pretend to tolerate me and are very polite. Nevertheless do not let that bother you- I know how to separate my professional and personal life.”

Shining tapped his hoof impatiently "I'll ask directly- Were you the pony who has been spreading the idea in the court that Seacrest Blackhorn should be appointed to the viziership?"

Prosser couldn't hide a thin smirk. "I was under the impression you and Lady Velvet had come to that arrangement."

Though Shining knew he was being condescended to, he just shook his head. "No, I haven't seen her in a week. Nor do I want to." He made a face. "Or, I didn't, when I thought things had calmed down. I'd just be stressing myself out. But now ponies are spreading this vizier idea." He paused. "Why did you think I would make that agreement? Or better, why think that it would even be my choice?"

Prosser gave Shining an incredulous look.

Now Shining bristled. "What?"

"You flaunt that you are friends with Princess Cadenza when it suits you, and feign ignorance when it doesn't." Prosser said. "Frankly Sir Armor, you've been acting like you were the vizier."

That was over the line. "Now you're making stinging accusations against me. Are you saying I'm betraying my duties? I have grounds for a duel for such an insult to my honor." Shining said sharply, quickly glancing back at the knights waiting for him out in the hall. "Retract that immediately."

Prosser pretended to fiddle with part of the alchemical set in front of him for a few seconds. "Do you threaten to duel other ponies as often as you do me? I'm a functionary, sir, and I hardly have any friends willing to step forward for my sake. I should think an honorable stallion would avoid picking on a target like me." He said. "Look, Shining, I think you have good intentions. In fact I should say that you think you are doing exactly what is needed and demanded of you. That is not an indictment or insult to you. Thus I retract my statement."

Shining let out a short sigh. "Councilor, you clearly understand me some. If I ever follow through with my challenges, and you fail to product a champion, I would have to extract my satisfaction by other means."

"That's the part you fixate on? What a stallion." Prosser chuckled to himself. "Enough about honor and morals. You came to talk about politics, Shining Armor. No chivalric hero he who takes up that battle, where pragmatism and power reign."

"And me, with my good intentions, being led astray, yes?" Shining rolled his eyes. "It's not me you have to worry about. It's that Blackhorn, which is becoming a bigger issue by the minute. You should be trying to distance yourself from it right now and trying to convince me you're not an issue too."

"No." Prosser said.

"No?"

"No. I don't want to." Prosser shook his head. "The fact is that I am an issue. But I'm not a fifth column. I'll give my life for peace and security."

"You'll give your life." Shining echoed. "I very much doubt that."

"Oh come now, sir. Why are you so worried about me?" Prosser asked, his voice hinting at exasperation. "Do you think I'm planning a coup against you?"

"I don't know what you're planning when you hide down here and don't communicate." Shining said. "Inviting the Blackhorn in directly challenges your and my guidance of the Court and Council."

"Guidance is an amazing way to put it, a word usually reserved for alicorn rule. You've got a bit your mother's rhetoric, sir." Prosser nodded his head. "But you're missing some of her political savvy. Everypony knows what that Blackhorn prince represents right now- a threat to the imperial consensus in Canterlot. Even ponies who like the empire are counting on it. He's a tool to shake things up, so things will eventually settle down in a different way, with ponies who were once at the bottom on top."

Shining nodded. "You're just skirting on treasonous talk, councilor. My mother has what it takes to wield that symbolic energy to her ends, not you. Not you by half."

"You must think me deluded or foolish. I'm well aware of my limitations, hence my being down here having fun with chemicals, rather than rabble-rousing in the streets." Prosser said. "Once in a while I can wield an individual pony. Not the Blackhorn movement, though. For one, the Blackhorns are flirting with outright unicorn supremacy. Besides I have no interest in contending with Lady Velvet."

"So-"

"So I leave it to you to control the Blackhorns. Co-opt them for the good of the empire." Prosser said with a laugh.

Shining looked back at the knights, trading amused looks at the councilor's behavior. "Absolutely not." Shining said.

Prosser let out a short sigh of impatience. "Then go kill them. It's one or the other." He emphasized. "You're not going to solve the issue by complaining to me."

"I have no right to lead dutiful soldiers against Equestrians except in the defense of the nation." Shining said.

"Regimes are flexible about how they defend themselves all the time. Watch sir, as I righteously defend myself by stabbing you while you back is turned." Prosser chuckled.

The IHG knights waiting in the hall stared impassively, seeing if Shining would order some kind of punishment for the joking threat.
"I don't find it funny. I see what you are doing though. Spreading this idea of installing the Blackhorn as vizier is meant to force my hoof. You want to push the decision of how to deal with the problem on me." Shining said.

"I don't particularly want anything. I'm just laying out your options." Prosser shrugged. "You're just a knight, not the captain, or a politician. You are the one forcing your way into this situation. Now, I don't have anything against that, and in fact applaud the initiative. Just don't be upset at getting what you wanted, again."

"Doesn't matter what you say you want. It would be a trick either way." Shining said, voice hinting at a controlled anger, or perhaps just a show of such. "I wouldn't be surprised if the way you're trying to 'wield' me echoes the late vizier Pants before his murder. Doubly when so many signs point to the Blackhorns somehow being linked to his killing."

Prosser tensed up. "Sir, I think you are just being provocative for provocation's sake. Yet I can't help but respect that too." He eased off his chair, leaned past Shining, and closed the storeroom door. "Did you come by the idea the Blackhorn movement killed Fancy Pants all by yourself? It's hardly a unique theory."

Shining eyed the closed door for a moment, then looked back to Prosser. It actually made him feel slightly more at ease, anticipating he was about to be told a secret.
"I try not to be swayed by other's opinions, but I can't exactly deny the coincidences."

Prosser was visibly relieved that Shining understood his intention. They could continue the collaboration for a little while longer. "Coincidences."

"The largest of all coincidences, not yet realized, will be if the Blackhorn pretender is shuffled in as vizier. How could it look like anything other than Fancy Pants being murdered to clear the way?" Shining pointed out. "I'm pretty sure my mother isn't involved in the killing. She looked me in the eye and promised she didn't do it. Still, it could have been one of those holdover leaders of the Blackhorn Council, Sir Blueblood or Viscountess Aurthora, who arranged it."

Prosser nodded along. "Well... no. No. The killing was pretty much unrelated to the Blackhorn Council. I think it's fair to say that Lady Velvet was planning to assassinate Fancy Pants eventually. But she didn't, and neither did any of the rest of that clique."

"You seem sure of that." Shining said.

"Yes." Prosser pronounced. "Because I know for a fact who the real killer is, and why they did it."

Shining blinked.

Prosser returned to his chair. "I'm only telling you so you don't waste your time, looking for leads and clues that aren't there."

Shining double checked the door, even peeking through the keyhole to make sure his knights weren't eavesdropping. "You knew?" He asked. "Then... why?"

"I can't give you any details, at all, whatsoever. I won't put you in danger like that." Prosser said. "I told Princess Celestia- It's up to her whether she decides it is your duty to know the killer's identity."

Shining felt many emotions at once, mostly indignance. "That's dirty trick. That's a very dirty trick. Again you wash your hooves of it." Shining said scornfully. The princess knew? It didn't make sense. "When did you find out?"

Prosser let his gaze droop. "Want to know if I let those mares die at the gate? Sorry, I won't tell you that either, or anything else. Leave it alone, or it'll be your closed-casket funeral instead of Pants's." He fiddled with his glasses. "I was sitting right here on the night of it, when he passed by with those assassin mares on his way to the trophy vaults. I was the last living pony to see him."

"Besides the killer." Shining muttered.

Prosser made a sour face. "Yes, besides the killer I suppose."

Shining was silent for a while. "You've left enough clues. If I trawl my memory, over the past month, there will be hints, some point where your behavior changed. I'll find out why you apparently survived with this knowledge and I will die with it."

"Sie Armor if you haven't figured it out already-" He cut himself off. "No, no, I'm not saying a word more." Prosser insisted. "Do nothing. Know nothing. Be a good knight and stand around with your sword. Have you thought about that? Inserting yourself in this is your death warrant."

"Now you're the one contradicting yourself. Maybe it's because I'm treading over your trap." Shining said. "A trap, to coopt and kill the Blackhorn pretender with whatever mystery force killed Fancy Pants."

Prosser shook his head. "That's almost too clever for me. But if I'm too stupid to wield the Blackhorns, there's no way I'd try to wield the killer."

"Maybe because you're already an accomplice." Shining wondered out loud.

"Listen, you silly boy-" Prosser took a deep breath and held back further reproaches. "I have nothing further to say for the moment. I have something of great importance but I won't say it alone."

"Will opening the door so my knights join the conversation do it for you?" Shining asked, half-stern half-joking. He wasn't sure much progress had been made with the infuriating councilor, but at least it felt like they were still allies.

"I have things to say before the Court." Prosser said, but seeing a look of immense disapproval pass over Shining's features he quickly backtracked. "Or before the Princess, I mean to say."

Shining was on guard again. "After you've just said you are a better one-on-one manipulator, why would I go along with you one this? You're trying to publicly tie me to some plot you've cooked up."

"No. It is because I know what your next line of questioning will be." Prosser said. "Or rather, I know what it must be, to save yourself and the empire."

That was a fairly galling thing to say, and annoyed Shining not a little. Once again the councilor was being obscure and probably untruthful. "Fine. I'll accept your terms. You're such a bothersome pony."

"Yes yes, why couldn't the killer have taken me instead of Fancy Pants. They all think it." Prosser yawned. "I'll see you soon."

Shining just sighed. After a moment, he pushed open the door to the corridor, where the knights were still waiting. "Thank you for waiting gentleponies. We've gotten what we were looking for. I'll return to the Court. You may to the watch. Or, actually, you're dismissed for the day. I'll see you at the barracks."

"Sir." The knights saluted and headed towards the stairs back up into the castle.

Shining glanced over his shoulder at Prosser. "Just lay off the Blackhorn rumors. Maybe I'll wise up a find a way to launch a coup against you, councilor. I'll find somepony who causes less trouble."

"The threat makes me jitter, but the instrumental violence makes me jounce." Prosser chuckled. "Unfortunately, I know you won't actually unseat me or anypony else. No matter how much violence you dream against them, no matter how much you rage at their decadence and improprieties, you'll do nothing."

Shining remained silent.

"You see Sir Armor, you're a perfect knight, almost. However, you are neither airheaded enough to be somepony else's tool, nor zealous enough to make your ideal world reality." Prosser said. "Instead, you bark at ponies, make empty threats, whinge about duty and all that." He paused to take a breath. "Not going to throw the gauntlet this time? Realizing it'll never happen, because you don't have the conviction of your own correctness?"

"I have no reason to seek to be correct. I have the princess to guide me." Shining said firmly.

"The princess. Oh yes. Well, we'll talk about that later, in the Court." Prosser gave an exaggerated nod. "Going to cast aspersions again, while I'm still in the mood to retort?"

"No councilor, I shall wait until later when you silently take the abuse. See you in the Court." Shining turned on his heel and stalked down the enshadowed passageway, up the stairs out of the castle underlevels.

Gods damn that irreverent earth pony, Shining thought. Prosser saw him as a mere colt, a plaything and ally of mere convenience. Troubled thoughts ran through Shining's head as he thought of ways to force the councilor's respect.

"Was your lord father doing well, sir?" A knight asked as Shining passed by.

Shining stopped in place, pulled from his thoughts. He had forgotten the very reason he had gone into the underlevels. Confronting Prosser about the Blackhorn rumors was only supposed to be a momentary thing before we went to see Night Light.
"He's well. Better than me." Shining mumbled as he continued on his way.

Shining was not going to go straight to the Court in session in the Throne Room to wait for Prosser. He was going to take action, and have something to throw at the councilor when they next spoke. He hurredly his way through the grand castle ground floor towards the entrance.
"Sir Sentry, you have the watch. After-Noon watch goes to Vanguard." Shining called out to the knights at the guard post as he passed through the entry halls.

"Aye sir." The knights waved back.

But exiting the castle, Shining stopped right in the threshold of the grand doors, hearing a familiar voice.
Shining turned to see his mother chatting with one of the fully armored knights on guard duty.

"Though lately, the cumulous are completely out of control all over the southern plain. Cloudsdale have really let us down." Velvet was saying. They were seemingly conversing about the weather. "Storms could come our way on any given day for the rest of the month." Velvet's eyes darted over to Shining, inviting him with a mischievous smile. "There could be rain over Canterlot any time now."

Shining cleared his throat. "Is her ladyship being restrained from entering the castle?" He stepped forward into the conversation. "If the lady regent of the Chateau gatehouse comes calling, surely the Court or I would be informed."

"Good day Shining. I was just asking your friend some questions." Velvet said little laugh.

Since she had taken on the entourage of dead-enders and inept climbers, like Blueblood and Sel Sabonord, Velvet had rarely been seen without at least one of the little coterie. So why had she come alone? "Questions I could answer?" Shining asked, inquiring to the knight on guard with a stare.

"Sir-" The knight straightened her posture. "Her ladyship was asking after somepony. It's not against any code to inform inquirers about non-castle staff, sir."

Shining looked over his shoulder, back into the darker spaces of the castle. "Have you really misplaced your friends, my lady?"

Velvet shook her head. "Not at all, sir, not at all. I simply thought the Lord Blackhorn might have come this way." A little nod from the knight backed up Velvet's statement.

"I see." Shining nodded, acting like he was scanning the plaza for the missing lord.
It didn't feel like coincidence that this was happening just after his discussion with Prosser about the Blackhorn. Doubtful Velvet was actually looking for Seacrest Blackhorn, since she wasn't the type to completely misplace somepony. She was sending somepony, probably Shining, a message.
But Shining was not feeling very receptive. Gods willing he would reach a solution that would make everything the other ponies were plotting obsolete. "Well, good luck Lady Velvet." He gave a quick salute to the knights on guard and trotted away.

Velvet watched Shining leave with bemused expression.
Then, after twenty or so steps, Shining stopped, and as she anticipated, approached her again.

"Lord Shining, good morning." Velvet said with a grin.

"You should walk with me for a little while." Shining said firmly.

"Really? I was thinking of popping into the royal Court for a while. Oh very well." Velvet said, amused. She bowed to the knights and followed Shining in the direction of the IHG barracks.
"You can vent at me Shiny. I'm your mother."

"No I've already been punished once today for not being careful." Shining said. "I won't take too much of your time. I'd just like to hear your reason for executing the assassin mares again."

"Oh? Last we spoke it seemed like you were fed up with me talking so much." Velvet said with a churlish grin. "Shining, if I told you that it was a ruse, and that I didn't actually kill the assassins, would you believe me?"

Shining sighed. "Back to playing games with me. I have too many evasive ponies in my life, but you are the best of the best." He nodded back towards the castle. "Councilpony Proser said he knows who the real killer was. Or, is."

Twilight Velvet made a strange sound, which Shining thought for a moment was a restrained laugh. "Do you believe him?"

Shining shrugged. "He seems to want to clear suspicions on you as well. Now, the sensical thing is to assume is that you two are coordinating and plotting since he's been whispering about enthroning your missing Blackhorn as vizier."

"Prince Blackhorn as vizier? The councilor is saying that?" Velvet made a purposely transparently fake effort to sound surprised.

Having passed around the curve of the keep, they were before the IHG barracks. Shining stopped Velvet with a hoof on her side. "The councilor has given his reason for not telling me the truth." Shining said. "What is your reason?"

Velvet laughed for a few moments, then, apparently thinking it not so humorous, pursed her lips and knit her brow. "Shiny I don't tell anypony anything. You already know that."

It was true. There was not a word Twilight Velvet had said in the past twenty years that Shining Armor had trusted unconditionally. "I do know that." Shining agreed. There was something wrong with the mare- She was able to tell lies with such absolute conviction that ponies wanted to believe. It was like magic, almost.
Shining wanted to believe too, because Velvet was his mother, and he still loved her.

"What I gain from telling you is much less than what I gain by not." Velvet said. "For one, my son's life."

So, much as Prosser had, Velvet considered knowledge of the killer's identity to be fatally dangerous. Maybe it was just more evidence they were cooperating and had message discipline. Or... "Then why has Princess Celestia done nothing?"

That caught Velvet off guard. She blinked, considered the question, then let out a derisive snort. "Don't ask me to guess the thoughts of alicorns. I have no gods in my head."

She had something worse- herself, Shining thought. "Fine. I won't. That's almost the end of this topic." He said solemnly. "Except for me to ask, once more, whether you'll come clean on the push for the Blackhorn to be installed as Grand Vizier."

"Shining dear, come clean out your ears, be hygenic. I said I was not involved." Velvet insisted. Her eyes sparkled as she thought up a new bold lie. "In fact I disavow it. Our appeal to the princess the other day was in the interest of general peace, not ambition."

"Very well." Shining nodded. "I'll forewarn you, you might feel like you have free-hoof, carefree and light, but that will end soon.

"Will it?" Velvet asked. At first she seemed curious. "Will it really?" Then she broke out into a laugh. "Good luck Shining Armor. If you want to impede your poor mother, then so be it. But you be forewarned, that you would have a much better time if only you accept my invitation to lunch, as we have many things to discuss."

"No we don't." Shining said. He was being disrespected again! "Good day, mother, but I have my duties."

"Good day to you Shiny. Visit your father some time. The company he has is absolutely dreadful." Velvet nodded. She meandered back towards the castle entrance and Shining went into the IHG barracks.

Blueblood was having a nice break day. He was in the Blackhorn Council meeting hall, kicked back in a chair at the conference table, reading a cheap fiction pamphlet. He didn't get a lot of time for reading when Velvet was dragging him around by the ear, berating him and making unsubtle threats to kill him. It was miserable while it was happening, but when the days were over and Blueblood had time to rest, drink, and think to himself, he felt a subtle thrill about the devious work he was a part of now. It was like he was a sidekick to a mischievous antihero strait out of the fantasy stories he was reading.
And yes, it wasn't ideal to be at Velvet's mercy, but everypony had their little place in a story. Besides, sidekicks often got off light for perfidy or, learning a lesson of redemption and going on to happy anonymity. Who was the villain of this life play, Blueblood wondered.

Iillor stepped past the dice-playing goons hanging out on the front steps of the Blackhorn Council building and pushed the door open. She peered inside, matching stares with Blueblood as he looked up from his pamphlet.

"Can I help you?" Blueblood took his hooves off the table and sat up.

"Don't know. Can you?" Iillor stepped fully into the hall and shut the door behind her. "I got an invitation to be here."

"Really now?" Blueblood arched a brow. "We're supposed to be tapering back recruitment right now. There's been too many interested ponies to handle. A puissance becomes a nuisance, as they say."

Iillor approached him, coming to stand on the other side of the table. She looked around, seemingly checking for other ponies.

"Hang on... I've seen you." Blueblood squinted at her. "Yeah, at the castle. You were... with Velvet's kid! That's right, you're Lord Armor's friend, eh?"

Iillor, satisfied they were alone, returned her attention to Blueblood.. "He's a lovely boy but not really my friend. I don't think he likes me, actually. My loss."

"No mis, his loss. I'd know if you were a castle regular, nevertheless there's no doubt you have the bearing and grace of a noble!" Blueblood leaned forward onto the table. "I'd usually take issue with commoners in our spaces, but for you, providence grants a very big exception."

Iillor first reaction was a look of incredulity, then slight amusement. "I'm like your boss: I make my own providence. That's why I came to see her."

Upon hearing that, Blueblood immediately realized this was not a pony to be messing with. She was either a spy, assassin, or imperial agent. "Oh, even better mis." He laughed, trying to recast his forwardness. "There's no doubt the Blackhorn Council could make exceptions and immediately recruit you, if that's what you were interested in." He sat up and cleared his throat. "But Lady Velvet isn't here. You could try at her residence, the Chateau la Garde."

"I didn't see her there." Iillor toyed with one of the chairs. "It wouldn't be an issue if I waited for her here, right, sir?" She asked, a slight pointedness to her tone.

"I'd be very poor company, mis." Blueblood laughed, getting nervous. Before, with Shining Armor, the mare had been all smiles. Now she was threatening. Why was it so important that she see Twilight Velvet? "You can come back later perhaps?"

"Nah. I'll think I'll stay." Iillor announced.

"Well, uh... that's fine. Umm, I don't know if she'll be by here later either. You might consider... Well... Fine." Blueblood nibbled his lip. He picked his pamphlet back up, trying to focus on the words, but compelled to glance up at the black-furred earth pony as she sauntered to the edge of the meeting hall and just... stood there, still and silent. He did not trust that nothing bad would happen if he took his eyes off her.
Pleasant day ruined.

After checking in at the IHG barracks to make sure everything was in order, Shining departed south, just a little ways onto the campus of the University.

The University had a long and complicated name in Roanish that nopony used, Universitas Magistrorum Scholarium et Magicum Canter-Equtus Celestiaanum. Often, the Canterlot University. Most often, just the University. Everypony knew which one; It was the only one worth mentioning.

The University had been confined to a single large marble building for most of its existence, full of lecture halls and laboratories. Only with the last century, with the Equestrian Empire growing in population, prosperity, and technology, had the campus expanded into several buildings.
One of the very newest buildings was the Univerisity Hospital. After decades of contentious political battles between the chirurgeon and apothecary guilds and the avant garde medical scholars, the imperial government had approved the hospital as a place of both care and learning. That was where Shining was headed.

It was mostly unicorns around the campus, but there were also a few pegasi and earth ponies. They all avoided looking at Shining, letting him know his presence was not welcome; The University was a hotspot of radical ideology befitting the youthful idealism of the ponies who had come from across the empire to study there. There was more than a few dossiers back in the IHG barracks concerning student revolutionaries spreading propaganda among the masses of Canterlot.
Still Shining couldn't completely hate the University. It had been his little sister Twilight's respite after the estrangement from Celestia.

Shining was not long in arriving at the University Hospital. A few floors up, he saw a particular room guarded by some an armed and armored city guardspony.

"Is the captain awake?" Shining asked.

"You're Lord Armor right?" The guardspony gawked.

"Sir Armor, please." Shining corrected. It was something he had once had to say quite often. "One's duty to the princess comes before title."

The guardspony didn't say anything, continuing to stare.

Shining Armor, disconcerted, skirted past the guardspony and entered the room.
There were a brief moment of panic when Shining saw that the recuperation bed was empty, but a few moments later he saw Captain Hauseway standing by the window, which allowed the small amount of light in the room. Another pony was beside the captain, talking.

"Old Town lodges are in a bad place. They've got all kinds of suspect ideas in their heads. It's the newspapers, saying all kinds of things." The second pony was saying.
it took a while, but Shining finally recognized his voice. It was Barley Bale, the 'captain' of the Canterlot City Guard. A lazy lout even by his own admittance, Barley Bale left everything to the individual guardspony lodges. It was not a huge issue, since most orders came out of the castle anyway, but the lack of inter-lodge coordinate and camaraderie causing more and more issues, as the chaos after Fancy Pants's assassination had shown. So why was Barley Bale in the mix now?
"If I order them to participate, they might riot. Best left out of things for now. If they riot anyway, I hope I can rely on your boyos and girlies to put them down."

Hauseway let out a wheezing laugh. "What a crock. Clean up your own damn mess. That mob of shopkeepers can't storm a castle."

Barley Bale sniffled and rubbed his nose. "Then I at least need better weapons for deterrence. Give my loyal lodges some of those modern wheel-lock guns you're getting."

"In the utterly remote chance there's actual fighting I'll send... a maneuver unit of knights, good pegasi. But they'll keep hold of the the guns, and have their own officers." Hauseway grunted. "But you're just paranoid so it's a useless guesture anyhow." He stepped away from the window and poured himself a glass of water. Shining caught his eye for a brief moment, but Hauseway made no acknowledgment. Barley Bale saw Shining too and immediately glanced away, clearing his throat nervously.
"Knowing you, you're just blowing up the threat to finagle those guns from me. Tricky little stallion, aye? Why don't you use whatever friend you got the information from to swing yourself your own damn guns instead of mooching off me?"

"By hell, Hause, I'm giving you an opportunity to do me a favor so I'm indebted to you." Barley Bale clucked his tongue. "Since from what I hear, you could use a friend like me. Your circle of benefactors don't much rub shoulders with mine, so this is the way we gotta establish accord here. Because, obviously, if Canterlot goes up in flames that me out of a job, Hause."

"You hear wrong. I'm doing fine, so I fail to see how your problems, your debts, are my problem." Hauseway nudged Barley Bale in the shoulder with the glass of water. "Unless you make a concrete offer, the city and the castle stay separate. Your donkey-headed lodges can riot and I'll still be fine."

Barley Bale took the abuse silently. The two captains were technically equal, but Hauseway clearly had the superior social and political position.
"You know what you want from me Hause. You're really gunna make me be the one to say it? In front of him?" He nodded towards Shining.

"Heh heh." Hauseway leaned on the window sill, turning towards Shining Armor. "Shiny my boy, about time you came." He grinned, beckoning Shining closer, hoof curled around the glass of water. "Holding things down, aye? I'm all rested up. Can't see through the hole in my shoulder anymore, Shiny."

"Yes sir, and no sir, I can't." Shining said. Despite the captains' causal tone, the air of dire importance kept Shining formal.

Hauseway nodded. "Sometimes I love you, sometimes I hate you, but you're a fine soldier Shiny, and I shouldn't stay angry at you." He laughed, nodding to Barley Bale. "By the way Bale, this is my staff officer Lord Shining Armor of the House Twilight-Bright."

Shining winced at the use of his full name. His captain was using him to lord over the other. "We've met several times."

"And yet Bale here didn't say hello. We have to do better than that, right? To be deserving of salvation, ehh? 'Cuz he's not prayed enough, that's for sure." Hauseway chortled. He took a sip of water.

Barley Bale didn't seem to appreciate the diversion from their conversation. "I'm open to a bargain with you but it's a big risk. You're conniving second-in-command here is a big reason for that. I'm not saying anything while he's listening." He grumbled.

"No Bale, It's not your turn yet. I'm still talking to Shiny. He's come to tell me something." Hauseway said, as if addressing a child. "Because he's got his own a bargain to offer."

Was he being condescended to, or was Hauseway inviting him into some kind of conspiracy?
Nevertheless Shining was going to go ahead with his plan to outflank Prosser and Velvet. "There has been a lot going on at the castle during your stay here, captain. I've come to discuss the viziership. By your leave, I was going to send letters to the outstanding nobles of the empire, that they should present themselves to the imperial court posthaste. Then the princess can begin the selection of a new Grand Vizier of Equestria."

Hauseway sipped his water, thinking things over. "So you'll help Cadenza pluck a new vizier, just to your liking, out from the countryside, so they won't be polluted by the local politics. Why, have you gotten tired of being in charge? Ponies keep bringing word that you're acting like the boss around the castle lately. " He shrugged. "Well Shiny I think you're making a good choice. If you'd been set on keeping the reins we might have a problem between us."

"Sir?" Shining asked, inviting clarification. If there was a conspiracy, maybe it wasn't as friendly to him as he'd thought.

Hauseway shrugged. "Oh, nothing, nothing. I simply find it funny you came to ask my opinion. Are you hoping I'll back you up on your plan, Shiny? Or perhaps the princess aren't listening to you. Perhaps they take somepony else's council..." He waggled a brow. "Unless, uou haven't asked them yet? Shiny my boy! I'll say again, if you aren't asking their permission, why are you asking mine?"

The captain wasn't going to make it easy on him. "It's like the honorable captain Bale says," Shining shot Barley Bale a glance. "You know, but you're going to make me say it."

"I am." Hauseway chortled.

"Consultation with you, lord captain, comes before my princess," Shining sighed. "because I consider the consequences of your disapproval to rank higher on my wilingess to proceed. If my lady princess Cadenza objects, I think I could convince her. You, not hardly."

"Why would I object?" Hauseway teased.

"Because if a new vizier were to be seated they would, heavens willing, clamp down on this factional struggle in the city. It would deprive you of the opportunity..." Shining hesitated. "The opportunity of your revenge, sir."

"So, if I object to this plot, would you stop it?" Hauseway posed.

Shining sighed again. "I have not decided that, sir. I would have to change my approach. If you set out to stymie this plan, I would have to go about it in a way that you can not prevent it."

"Ahh, that's very interesting. You'd probably work through the princess then. She's your little sock-puppet after all. Devious little boy, ehh? Oh Shining, not only have you not apologize for that gatehouse buisness, but you've come right back to announce you'll continue to ignore my orders. When did you get so saucy, son?" Hauseway said in an offhand way. "But I see your words for their merit, Shiny, not just that they're pointed at me." He nodded to Barley Bale. "How about it Bale? You tell me, what's my 'conniving second-in-command' really planning here?"

Barley Bale thought for a moment. "He's either setting you up for failure by getting you involved with outside candidates, or pushing you into an even bigger fight with that earth pony Councilor, Prosser, and Lady Twilight Velvet too, in a big brawl over who the Vizier is. Maybe he's planning both."

Shining felt queasy. Had his earlier accusations against Prosser sounded like that? "Respectfully, that's idiotic!" Shining snapped, tired of the formality. "I want to END this damn factionalism and infighting. A capable vizier is the first step to putting the empire back into line."

"Hause, put your colt here back into line." Barley Bale clucked his tongue disapprovingly. "I've had ponies whipped for less."

Hauseway shook his head. "Hear him out Bale."

Shining felt a bit of encouragement. "A country noble, who can support their own host of knights and retainers, could defend themselves against the schemes of both palace courtiers and factions in the city. Increasing their own power will necessarily make the empire more secure- It's not like the Princess's will can be undermined when she is not asserting it."

"And you're not worried about this noble grandee establishing themselves a dynastic majordomo status?" Hauseway posed.

"Can it be worse for the empire than negligence and infighting?" Shining countered.

Hauseway and Barley Bale traded glances, then both broke out into laughter.
"Yes Shiny, it CAN be worse." Hauseway said. "Worse for us!"

"Here we are, discussing barging into the throne room and putting our own pony in charge, and you want to voluntarily give up power." Barley Bale said incredulously. "What's your deal? Did the little princess whisper in your ear to plan this plot? Is she bored of being in charge too?"

"You will speak more respectfully of her highness, Princess Cadenza." Shining said with sudden severity.

"Shiny is an honest-to-goodness coltscout. A little cinnamon bun." Hauseway chuckled, pouring himself more water. "Sir Shining Armor I'll let you tell us now, what we're about to do." He paused. "Or turn and leave, and wait with your momma while we do it ourselves. You'd be missing out though."

Shining stared out the window, behind Hauseway and Barley Bale. He thought he'd be dictating terms. But nopony listened to him. Not Prosser, not Velvet, and not Hauseway.
Outside that window, some birds were perched on the trees of the University green. Beyond them, the mighty towers of the city wall pointed to heaven. Somewhere in those southern skies was something more important to the princess than any of the mortal quibbles now consuming Shining and everypony around him.
Shining felt a tinge of apathy. Buck it, he thought.
"You're going to install a new Grand Vizier by force." Shining said. "My guess is... the Blackhorn."

"BINGO." Hauseway erupted. "You're a star as always, Shiny boy. Yeah, Bale here's got the Blackhorn bagged up in one of the guard lodges. At noon, we march back into the castle and 'make our case' to the Court and princess."

Shining nodded glumly. "And I'm to lead." Noon was mere minutes away.

"Right again! Right again!" Hauseway nodded aggressively. "See Bale! This boy has his issues, but he's the smartest ally we've got. When he's given an order he can't refuse, he doesn't. Yes, a smart boy with good survival instincts. If my 'vengeance' is defered, it'll be because you agree to my terms, not the other way around. "

"Our smartest ally? Buck us then." Barley Bale mumbled.

"Understood then, Sir." Shining said, returning to rigid formality. He pivoted to leave.

Hauseway cleared his throat. "Just a second, Shiny. I see you don't totally approve. You think I'm doing something wrong in my nihilistic play for power."

Shining turned back to his captain. "I do my duty, sir." He said stiffly.

"So did I, boy. I did my job the best it's ever been done." Hauseway sipped from his water. "I'm gunna tell you a story. You might have heard it before. I love handing out my war stories, but this is one of the oldest anecdotes, right at the start of the Chitin War." He raised a hoof, painting the scene with his gestures. "You see, I was on a boat. Or, ship. Big ship, multiple decks with cannons all in a row."

"Man'o'war." Shining said.

"Yes, man of war. Short for manticore of war, yeah? Well, I was on one of those, serving as a marine, essentially. We were going to attack a Chitin changeling coastal fortification, so that after we took out the fort our smaller ships could sail up the river and burn down this city where an annoying queen who'd been defying us was hunkered down.
"Anyway, this fort was up on some bluffs, too high for most of the ship cannons to see. Only mortars could hit it. Still, those Chitin guns are so god aweful firing back at us. Only a few of us died as we rowed up to the bluffs, and only a few more died climbing up the bluffs. Oh, but trying to get up those fort walls was hell! Ancient, poorly maintained, covered in slippery moss and repulsive changeling slime. The other marines and I were stabbed at, and pushed off, and shot point-blank. We got over that wall and started hacking away like damn berserker zebras. It was a damn fine mess! Blood spurting into the air and guts slickening the ground.
"But a mortar shell landed. The fort's gunpowder stores detonated, and the whole half of the bastion exploded apart. The very bluffs broke beneath the foundations, and hundreds of ponies and changelings tumbled down into the warm sea under burning stone. I thought I was dead, buried under a few bodies- But they'd burned so I'd not. So I slowly dragged myself up the charnel pile, convinced I'd see the clouds of Elysium at the top. Instead I saw a flag, Celestia's flag hanging above the fort. We'd done it. I saluted, unable to keep from crying."
Hauseway brought up his hoof in salute to the remembered flag.
"But it wasn't her flag. It was a piss rag, a dirty and torn thing that had landed on a stick after the blast. But I stayed saluting. I cried to that rag for hours, and one by one the other ponies dragged themselves from the bodies and saluted and cried along with me.
"But it was getting late, and our legs were tired, so we executed the surviving changelings and slid down the remains of the bluff to the boats. As planned our ships went up the river and burned the changeling city. Pretty good for a day's work."
Hauseway relaxed and leaned against the windowsill, sipping more of his water.
"But that rag, Shiny. I keep thinking back to that rag. I wish I'd let it down and saved it. That's my flag now. That all of our flags. We serve a piss empire that kills and conquers because it can. I'll be damned it I'm not the one on top of this hallowed pile of corpses we call Equestria."

Shining said nothing.

"Salute on your way out soldier. Salute the piss rag." Hauseway joked.

But Shining did not salute, a minuscule rebellion, as he just bowed and left the room.
He felt the eyes of the guardspony who'd greeted him on his back as he trotted down the hall- If he had said the wrong thing, insisted more stongly on his plan and refused to help Hauseway's, would they have killed him? The nihilistic pursuit of power... Even Twilight Velvet wasn't ready to admit that was her goal.

But Shining could not go against his duty. Per potentia ad victoria, he thought to himself.

Prosser was whistling to himself as he crossed through the mid-levels of Canterlot Castle, making his way to the throne room. While he wasn't exactly looking forward to what he was going to tell Shining Armor, it needed to be understood if they had any pretenses to saving Equestria.

Suddenly, twenty IHG knights joined the corridor in front of him, their armor and weapons rattling conspicuous as they purposefully marched towards the throne room. Prosser's breath caught in his throat, but he dare not run away as he heard twenty more knights approach him behind.
Stuck between the two groups of knights, Prosser sweated as the strange procession passed between the beautiful doors into the throne room.

Cadenza was in the throne, adjudicating some minor dispute between nobles from the Canter.
As soon as the additional knights entered the room, everything became silent very quickly. Courtiers shuffled to the sides of the room not to be seen. The two knights flanking the throne went from relaxed to rigid, looking between the junior princess and the new arrivals.

Prosser disentangled himself from the column of knights and slunk behind a column, hiding from attention with the other nobles.

Cadenza remained stoic; She may have been untouchable, but her glances to the other ponies betrayed her concern for their fates, very much in question depending on the intentions of the knights.

"Your highness's most loyal knights present a petition!" The lead knight bellowed.

Cadence pursed her lips. She probably couldn't diffuse the entire coup, but she could avoid violence depending on her actions. "What is within my power, and within propriety, I shall grant to the Sun's subjects." She nodded. "Come forward with your petition."

The knights fanned out across the room
The building click of hoofsteps in the hallway echoed into the throne room. Shining Armor strode in, bearing a scroll in his magic. Like the other knights he had donned his full set armor, the polished plate mail gleaming in the resplendent light filtering through the stained glass around them. A sword hung at one side, a pistol at the other. He was worthy of his name at that moment.

"Princess..." Shining took off his helmet and passed it to one of the knights. "The Imperial Household Guard, selected by providence and her highness the princess of the Sun, are moved to action by the state of disorder in the realm."

"Just so." Cadence couldn't maintain her stoic facade. She looked into Shining's eyes with a great sadness. Was it something I did? Was there something I could have done better?

No, answered Shining with his own solemn expression, it was fated to end this way. "This petition call for an abrogation of the period of solicitation, application, and discrimination for the selection of a new Grand Vizier of Equestria. A new Vizier can be beknighted, immediately!" He held out the scroll. "This is not without precedence, you highness. These late acts of necessity by the imperial government, cause of concern for some, can be accepted by plenary under the new Vizier."
That was to say, the new vizier would immediately legalize the seizure of power.

Cadence leaned back in the throne, her eyes losing focus as she stared to some distant horizon, thinking private thoughts.

Shining approached the dais. "Princess-" He sighed. "Cadence. I did what I could."

"I don't think you tried very hard. You said you wanted action." Cadence said softly, refusing to look at him.

"If you-" Shining paused. "Cadence, if you refuse, and you really mean it, you know what that means. That means enforcing your choice, by force. I'll obey you, but what for all these ponies behind me? Captain Hauseway knows the difference between empty threats and real alicorn prerogative: What happens when mortal agency conflicts with alicorn agency."

A sudden ferocity entered Cadence's movements, as she sat up on the throne, looming over Shining. "What do you mean by that Shining?" She demanded, her voice still soft.

"That you are a demi-god, Cadence. The faith instructs me that its through the stern tutelage of alicorns that ponykind is made right." Shining closed his eyes. "I adore you as a pony does, but you're my liege and heavenly princess. In the founding of the empire we were made to obey by the flame and the sword. If you wish to have your will carried out, rather than that of we temperamental servants-" He held out the scroll again. "You have to take up the whip, so the word is obeyed next time."

Cadence rose from the throne. She descended the steps to Shining. "You get what you want either way, Shining." She regarded the scroll, floating in Shining's magic. "I'm going to my tower. Please send a knight to accompany me for a trip up to the solar monastery this afternoon."

Shining sighed. "You know you won't get away from a decision that easily."

"Just put the petition on the throne." Cadence insisted.

Shining shook his head. "Not that decision."

"This is my desicision." Cadence wordlessly crossed the throne room, her hoofsteps slowly tapering off as she grew more distant.

"Fine." Shining huffed. "Court is indefinitely suspended!" He lobbed the scroll onto the sun princess's throne. "Get these ponies out of here."

The knights started ushering the courtiers toward the entrance, prodding more forcefully where necessary. Within a matter of minutes the throne room had been nearly vacated.

"Hold on, bring Councilpony Prosser back in." Shining called to the knights, who grabbed Prosser from the crowd.

Prosser glumly followed the knights to the front of the throne room. "I was wrong about you, clearly. You have what it takes." The earth pony eyed the empty throne.

"Nope, I'm still just a knight, not the captain, or a politician. This is Captain Hauseway's play." Shining said. "Captain Bale of the city guard is in on it. He's nabbed the Blackhorn from the city. They'll be bringing him up soon. They're ready to kill if they have to."

Prosser groaned. "That rat Barley Bale! He's been cavorting with the Blackhorn Council defector, Countess River Song. This whole thing stinks."

"That it does." Shining agreed. "Sorry councilor, but I'm washing my hooves of it. I'm going back to just taking orders. I do nothing, I know nothing. It your problem now. Good luck advising the new vizier."

Prosser stared at the unopened scroll sitting on the throne. "Your whispering to the princess wasn't all that quiet. Funny thing is, you told her nearly the same thing I was going to tell you."

"About the alicorns? I figured as much." Shining said. He nodded to the knights, who filed out of the throne room, leaving Shining and Prosser alone to talk.

Prosser stepped forward and put a hoof on Shining's armor, pulling him closer. "Shining the disease of this nation goes far beyond factions and lack of mortal leadership." He said with rushed urgency. "We live under a regime of sin. Our alicorn empress wasn't supposed to live this long without a succession."

"Hey, slow down." Shining pulled himself away. "And watch what you say."

"I should have warned you earlier. I was being a moron by acting superior." Prosser muttered. "I used to have a lot more investment in the life and health of this empire before I knew what the alicorn nature actually was. They're not like us, my friend. Their minds are half out of this plane of existance, and you can never quite be sure if they see the same things as you, or if the organ analogous to their brain comprehends the same thing as you. Who knows whether talking to them is actually conversation, or devious mimicry, a shadow on a cave wall."

The things Prosser was saying sounded almost indistinguishable from treason, outright fomenting against the holy alicorn princesses who guided ponykind. "You're putting my life at risk saying things like that." Shining said. "You better clarify yourself right quick."

Proser nibbled his lip. "You understand. I know you understand, because I listened to you exposit after our chat with Celestia, right after the murder. You know what the alicorns are doing to us."

"Yes, I said it after Fancy Pants was killed, and I will repeat it. This nation is diseased. Our argument about the Blackhorn pretender earlier is proof of it. The shining guidance of the princess and the Sun... is not not there." Shining said with a hint of lament. "If the secrets of alicorn nature can redeem us, there's no need for drastic actions, power, lies, violence and death." He shook his head. "But that was then. I'll repeat, I'm done causing messes. I'm just following orders now."

"Bullshit. Like you told Cadence, you're not getting away that easy." Prosser said.

Shining shrugged half-heartedly. "Especially not if you keep reminding me. I guess I really don't have the guts to strike you and make you make you shut up. Thus I follow my princess Cadence, in that I'm counting on others to make it happen."

"And the creature you're counting on most of all, Princess Celestia, is nowhere to be seen! What woe that accompanies the death of faith." Prosser said. "Sir Armor, please understand- You shouldn't be counting on her, Cadence, their kindness or their sternness. The alicorn understand neither." He paused. "That's not their proper name, by the way; Alicorn is a Roanish word, combination of 'cornu' for horn-"

"And 'ali' for all." Shining interrupted.

"No," Prosser said, a hint of his smugness returning. "It derives from the Roanish 'alius', meaning different. Yes, that name that you thought described the kinship between ponies and alicorns in fact betrays a deep truth that is hard to accept for most faithful equestrians: Alicorns are not like us at all."

Shining was getting a lot of Roanish lately. "That's of no consequence. It's their differences from us which justifies their rule." Shining said.

"Even when, for example, Princess Celestia tells me to buck off when I tell her the identity of Fancy Pants's killer?" Prosser posed.

Shining stood in silence for a good minute. Prosser got bored of waiting for an answer and resumed his fiddling with the alchemy set.
"So, lay it all out for me." Shining finally said.

A positively devious grin overcame Prosser's features.
"You can come at it from many ways. Philosophically, we can understand that the core of the pony condition is our pitifully short existance. Mortals die. We squirm around, pretend we're important, eat and breed, but ultimately we kick that bucket." Prosser cackled.  "Alicorns don't die. However they get awfully hollow inside with age, as is demonstrated by our dear Celestia. That is because they are not meant to exist like we do. They operate on a completely different set of rules."

Shining thought for a while. "Thus the succession."

"Thus the succession, where our Sun embraces the old princess and delivers us a new princess." Prosser said. "Sir Armor, you're of the right mind to ignore this politics crap. But that means you have to double down on the alicorns. Understand me? You have to find a way to get us out of this mess with a sun princess who has gone hollow from age."

Shining nodded. "Of course... the solar monk."

"Huh?" Prosser queried.

"You weren't here then that monk had an audience. Let me take care of it." Shining said. "We might figure this out sooner than you think."

Prosser gave Shining a sideways look. "Be careful about involving Cadenza."

Shining shrugged. "She's a princess. She will involve herself where she wants. Indeed she already has."

Prosser had to accept that. "Good luck out there. Don't get hanged for treason. I guess I have to navigate an Imperial Council headed by a Blackhorn as Grand Vizier, and with an IHG captain controling him. Pray for me."

"Pray for your own damn self. I still have my duties to attend to." Shining put on his helmet and reattached it. "Have a nice day councilor."

Prosser nodded and they left the throne room in opposite directions.
The doors of the throne room swung shut behind them, ending the brief period of Cadence's authority.

Sel Lech Sabonord was lazing at a cafe in the Old Town, enjoying his day off just the same as Blueblood.
He tried to live an austere life, but the young noble had to admit to himself he liked the delicacies and comforts of rich living. The dissatisfaction of being a noble courtier had never been material, as he'd certainly never wanted for food or shelter, but entirely in the realm of fulfillment and realization of the self.

That brought him to the cafe, eating little cakes and listening to a performance troupe across the street strumming forcefully on a gut-string guitar.
Oh, and the mute servant, Molar, had tagged along.

"You can have all the coco ones. I prefer the vanilla." Sel Lech nodded towards the plate of snack cakes,

The mute stallion shifted, staring blankly at the cakes from under his hood, before looking off to the performers.

The slave stallion had a reserved timidity about him, constantly hiding his features under the robe, and refusing to emote or communicate besides with rasps and head movements. Sel Lech knew that Molar knew how to read, inspecting all the signage of the Old Town shoppes and the menus of the restaurants. He knew how to write as well, but refused to.
Velvet wasn't interested in telling Sel or Blueblood what Molar's history was (if she knew herself), so they had chatted and speculated- Despite his unnatural muteness and other hidden disfigurements under the robe, Molar moved with a certain noble grace. Maybe Molar had been an adventurous knight before his imprisonment, and after suffering cruel abuse by foreign tyrant masters, was taken back to Equestria. It was fun for Sel and Blueblood to create stories for Molar which echoed their own trajectories through life, or match it with the narrative they were building around Seacrest Blackhorn.

In the moment though, when it was just a slave with his throat slashed up, it was less romantic.

"Suit yourself." Sel pulled the cakes toward himself.

They continued this way for a few minutes, Sel Lech eating more of the cakes, and Molar sitting glumly opposite him. The ponies of the Old Town passed by on their buisness. The bells around the city tolled noon.

Then Sel heard another sound in the distance. He wasn't all that versed in martial affairs, but he recognized the jingle of many armored ponies in motion from the night of the vizier's murder.
Molar heard it too, jumping to his hooves.

"Some new damn commotion." Sel hissed, fumbling some coins onto the table and galloping in the direction of the sound.

Several dozen armed city guardsponies, wearing the colors of the Inner City guard lodges, were marching down the avenue towards Canterlot Castle. Several intrigued civilians tailed behind them, as well as a few aggravated looking guardsponies in Old Town colors.
Between the armed guardsponies was Seacrest Blackhorn, looking very confused and trying to bargain with his detainers.

"Oh shit." Sel eyed the column of guards as it passed. "We have to find Lady Velvet."

Molar grunted his agreement, so they galloped out ahead of the guardsponies towards Canterlot Castle.
They almost collided with Velvet heading the opposite direction.

"M'lady, they've nabbed Prince Blackhorn!" Sel said hurriedly, gesturing the way they'd come.

Velvet nodded, a pensive look written on her face. "So it is. The IHG are locking down the castle. The Imperial Court is abrogated. It's a coup," The lifted a hoof. "but they haven't bothered to lock down the skydock or city gate, so it's not that serious."

"Not that serious?" Sel repeated, incredulous.

"We're probably not going to be proscribed. IHG and city guard in on it together means no radical moves." Velvet clarified. "That being said, don't get in their way or they might kill you out of convenience."

The column of guardsponies entered the plaza behind them. Some citizens and the Old Town guards were now quarreling and pulling at the trailing group of Inner City guardsponies. Seacrest began to shout. "Lady Velvet! Lady Velvet!" He screeched, trying to escape the clutches of the guardsponies before they pushed him back into the line.

"What a pitiful sight. There goes Lord Blackhorn." Sel Lech sighed and shook his head. "Maybe they'll kill him out of convenience. I didn't like the stallion but he would deserve that."

Velvet rubbed her chin. "No... No, I think they are going to co-opt him. Whoever is behind this, Hauseway probably, must have heard the whispers about setting Seacrest up as vizier. It was a mix of luck and destiny that put him in our hooves. Now, Hauseway wants a turn with him. Damn! I should have visited him in the hospital."

"But- We'll lose control of Seacrest! That's a month of work." Sel lamented. "My lady we have to do something."
The column of guardsponies stopped at the entrance of the castle as the guard sergeant leading them began talking with the IHG knights on watch- It seemed the knights didn't want to let more than a few of the armed city guards into the city. The crowd was still pestering the trailing ponies of the column.
"Right now, my lady, I could gallop in there and grab Lord Seacrest. Then you can teleport us away!" Sel said. It was exceedingly daring but Sel was feeling ready to take the risk. "We only have a few moments before they enter the castle. Now or never, my lady!"

"I'm not that good at teleporting. I could only move you a few hundred feet." Velvet said. "But maybe that enough. Hmm..."

She didn't even get a moment to ponder though, as at that same moment, a pony galloped up to Velvet et al from the other direction.
The interloper was one of Blueblood's thugs. "M'lady." She bowed, glancing past her at the spectacle of guardsponies. "Uhh, if you're not busy, m'lady, Sir Blueblood wants you to come rescue him. There's this mare that's in the council hall. Seems like just some trollop, but she's really freaking him out."

The 'trollop' could be none other than Shining Armor's friend, Iillor.
Velvet laughed at herself at the absurdity of it. "I see. This is all very amusing isn't it."
She closed her eyes and listened to the shouting and arguing behind her, Seacrest desperately calling out for her, Sel Lech's nervous prancing, the ripple of Molar's robe in the wind... She felt elated. "Ahh, when all is upended, joy can be found again." She opened her eyes. "The joy of shedding the old skin. We will have to make new plans now.

Sel felt equally concerned and relieved by her reaction. "You know what to do, my lady?"

"By god, we will do whatever must happen for ponykind to be redeemed." Velvet non-answered. She pointed to the guardsponies. "Follow them, non-confrontationally, into the castle. Confirm whether they're enthroning Lord Blackhorn or executing him."

"You really think they'll make Seacrest vizier? He's, you know, deficient. He can't even put his own horseshoes on." Sel queried.

"That's exactly why he's as useful to Hauseway as he was to us." Velvet said. She gestured for Molar to follow her, and nodded to the messenger to lead the way. "This situation at the council hall needs me. This is where the new path is made, Sel. We convene later there. Good luck young Sel."

"And to you my Lady, good luck." Sel bowed.

They went into action to do what was necessary.

Five days passed,

and the state of confusion lessened around Canterlot. It soon became clear to the ponies and chattering classes of the capitol that things mostly hadn't changed.
Everypony still had to go to work, to eat, to sweep the streets, to buy and sell, and to count their money. The new vizier, installed by the clique around the IHG captain, had not done anything, and had not even been seen in the public eye. The routines and habits of the subjects of the empire continued undisturbed.
But perhaps that was the point. Everything went on exactly the same, save for who claimed to be 'in charge'.

Shining Armor looked out the window of the tavern he was patronizing; On the cobbled Old Town street outside, a patrol of guardsponies passed by.
His skin itched. Sitting thinks out and not getting himself involved was hard. What HE could be doing out there, instead of the captains, he could not help but speculate.
Perhaps drink could force such thoughts out of his head. But turning back to his mug, Shining found no inspiration in it either.

Some soft music carried from the adjoining room of the tavern, playing for the rowdy audience of commoners. Shining respected the decor and sensibilities Canterlot's coffee houses whenever Twilight took him too, but for spending hours feeling sorry for yourself, there was no alternative to the taverns on the border of the Old Town and Inner City.

"Hmm..." Shining considered doing something silly like throwing his mug or smashing it with a hoof. That would at least be interesting. It would make him feel something besides aggravation. To be so close to power, but to have sworn off of it...

His own temptations were not the only things exhausting Shining Armor. By the letter, Shining only had his normal duties, but in reality he was now the only officer really doing any work in the IHG. Since the little bloodless palace coup, Captain Hauseway had entirely concerned himself with palace politics to keep his new ship running.
To his credit, the captain had been trying to preserve the channels of power rather than outright militarized dictatorship. Instead of governance being managed purely of the Imperial Council, Hauseway had been shuffling all around the city, meeting with nobles, Estates Speakers, and courtiers individually on issues of policy and jurisprudence, and thereafter Hauseway would go back and boss around the Imperial Council, putting 'Vizier' Seacrest Blackhorn's seal of approval on the decisions.

That left poor Shining Armor, with a hundred-odd imperial knights, angsty, proud, and idiosyncratic, to keep in line. Every morning it was paperwork. Ever evening it was drills. Everypony in the barracks had something to complain about to him. More than ever, Shining was the IHG last answer on everything, and it was exhausting.
It was doubly exhausting because not everypony was happy about what had gone down in the throne room with Princess Cadenza being sidelined so abruptly. The knights liked being around the princesses; It made them feel important. Being pawns to Hauseway's power play was not only dishonorable, it demeaned their status as knights of the holy alicorns.

And lastly, there was Shining Armor's covert dealings with Prosser, chasing the alicorn enigma, which he didn't even want to THINK about. At least he had a reason to see Cadenza from it.

"Why can't everypony just be nice to each other." Shining sighed.

Somepony eased into the chair behind him. "Oh? lookin for somethin' nice?" A soft voice cooed in his ear.

Great, another damn problem. "Mis Valor." Shining sat up in his seat and glanced at the black-furred mare. "Nice seeing you, I suppose. You've chased me down."

"Oh come on, Sir Armor. You sound unhappy about it." Iillor purred, crossing her legs. "Did you think I would stay away?
How could I ever, hee hee? Interesting things happen around you."

Shining's eyes gravitated to a cheap wooden trinket on a string around her neck. "I like the necklace." He said facetiously.

Iillor grinned. "Good taste runs in the family." Iillor fiddled with the trinket with a hoof. "I have a matching dress coming in tomorrow. I'll be a real Canterlot belle. The colts won't be able to keep my hooves off em."

Uh oh. "Your long delayed, much anticipated debut. You'll probably be the center of interest, not I. Especially with that necklace and dress." So it seemed that Iillor had been cavorting with Twilight Velvet in some form. They seemed like a match for each other, but the union still filled Shining with a certain dread: Were his suspicions of Iillor vindicated? "Here I was, deluded that provincial mares were demure and traditionalist, who only dreamed of being housewives someday."

"I tried that life, but in my case that was before I had a dream." Iillor giggled. "But I can still demure if you want, Sir Shining Armor. Will you be my big strong knight?"

"You're more flirty than usual." Shining said flatly.

"Isn't a tavern the place for that? Oh don't worry Shiny I'm not drunk. Except on happiness, ha ha?" Iillor tittered. "If you don't like it I'll stop. I've long been able to see that's not what you want from a mare. There's hardly need to flirt besides, since you're such a gentlestallion, you'd give me what I want without it."

How ominously phrased. "There's not much I can give you, mis. There is nothing I can spare anymore, even for myself, really." Shining said. "But clearly you've been getting along fine in Canterlot."

"Are you hurt that I stopped coming around? I'm sorry Shining Armor, I thought you were busy, though maybe that's when you needed me most." Iillor posed, her laughter turned to pouting. "Neither of us deserve to be turned into thralls for boring work. It's kinda sad for the both of though, don't you think?"

Shining cocked a brow. "So a somepony gave you a job?" He mused. "How does that work? I'm not judging but that somepony has been surrounding herself with unicorn maximalists and separatists."

"Oh don't be coy." Iillor punched his shoulder playfully. "Yes, I turned to Lady Velvet, but I have nothing to do with that political stuff. Like what is even the point without their prince? No, I'm just doing really simple jobs." She smirked. "And no, I won't talk about it with you. That's employer discretion or something like that."

"Sad for both of us, is it..." Shining took a swig of his drink. "Don't get comfortable around those louts. They might be comfortable with you doing menial work, the 'Black Horn Council' but they have no interest of earth ponies or pegasi being equals."

"Are they?" Iillor asked.

Now she was just being silly. "Aside from those born mentally and physically invalid, ponies are ponies, equal."

Iillor snorted. "Don't start telling me you have an egalitarian streak, Sir Armor. Who ever heard of a revolutionary knight? Surely you don't see me as your equal."

She was bringin up the class issue. That gave Shining pause. The distinction of commoner and noble was one of the truths of the Equestrian social order which went politely uncommented except by firebrands and radicals. "I don't decide ponies' position in our nation, mis. That's left to her imperial highness and her mother Sun. To wit, their faith tells us the pony tribes are equal. However where the alicorns have us in tutelage and governance, it flows through the well-born of Equestria."

"Stuck doing other ponies work and you still cite the dogma like a pro. That's why you make the big bucks." Iillor joked. "Come on, Lord Armor. Go on and say that I'm inferior to you."

"I'm not saying that." Shining glared. "Look, I don't appreciate you drawing comparisons between me and the Black Horn Council. Surely you've noticed the only other earth pony I see running with the Black Horn Council is that hunched mute who always has that robe on. Meller, Mooler, or something like that."

"I've met him." Iillor nodded. "What's your point? Not only are we both earth ponies, we're both commoners. Do you lump us together, like the unicorn separatists do?"

"No because- Tshh, I guess you're not staying away from politics after all." Shining grumbled.

Iillor made a triumphal gesture. "You've been outdebated sir, ha ha! Got tired of citing manuals and faith?"

"Never." Shining sighed. "Look, would you like a drink? I'd be happy to buy. Then we can chat about your days ahead as a Canterlot debutant."

Iillor eased back her seat. "Not this time Sir Armor. I think you're the one who's drunk."

"Not even. I've been holding this for an hour, barely touching it." Shining nudged the mug. "Any second I'm expecting somepony to drag me away for some fresh emergency at the castle. So as pathetic as it sounds, I'm intoxicating myself on the idea of what the drink represents." He sat back in his chair too. "It represents letting go of responsibilities. And relaxation, or good time. Or maybe just of forgetting mistakes. But all that stuff seems so far away right now."

"Yeah that's pathetic but most things are in this world." Iillor patted him on the shoulder. "I'd like to think I wouldn't be content to live that life, but hey, who knows, I've been duped before."

Shining Armor didn't feel like arguing with her anymore. "I'm proud of my service to the Imperial Household Guard and the princesses, even when it's tedious. I'm not asking for your pity." Though, thinking on it, the only reason he had mentioned it was in fact because he was fishing for pity.

Iillor didn't talk for a while, letting them both enjoy the music and the hum of chatter from the other booths around the tavern.

"I know what it's like between you and the littler alicorn princess." Iillor said.

That was out of the blue. "I don't know what you mean by that." Shining said.

Iillor gave Shining a knowing look. "You adore her more than a mortal should. But where it's encouraged that god is a subject of social desire, it's a dangerous taboo that they could become subjects of personal desire." She said. "I've heard ponies got exiled and locked away forever of that kind of thing."

Iillor was pushing at another taboo, this one even thornier than the last. "Again you're going to force me to draw distinction between myself and them, right?"

"It's obviously important to you. Do you expect everypony around you to see the same things in you that you see in yourself? I don't mean to tease or test you, just to know you better." Iillor said.

"Would you be alright with being known better?" Shining retorted.

Iillor considered the question. "To those who tell the truth, yes."

Shining found that ironic.
"Fine. I'll explain. A few years ago, a gang of young nobles tried to trick Princess Cadenza into a marriage with one of them, while she was attending the University as a student. The youths were doing it as a most devious and transgressive prank, but some ranking nobles gave them financial help to do it. The conspiracy came apart and a lot of ponies got into trouble."

"But you're not like them." Iillor said with a hint of sarcasm.

Shining took a tiny sip of his drink. "I did not seek the princess out. I'll make that clear right away. I do not lay my eyes anywhere except by the alicorns' command. So when I laid my eyes upon the junior princess, back when I when I was a squire, and she had only just been introduced to the court, it was at her request. So at her insistence we became friends."

"Damn. At her insistence? The little princess ordered you to love her." Iillor said with a titter.

Shining burned inside at her words. "That's not at all-"

"Not love? Adoration then?" Iillor chuckled at his embarrassment. "Would it be better to say she ordered your attention?"

That was acceptable. "It is her prerogative." Shining relented.

"And your next words will be 'the alicorns guide us through everything', and guide do they." Iillor waggled her eyebrows. "Nah, I think she loves you, Shining Armor."

That was going too far. Between friends, taboo and useful ambiguity could be tested for camaraderie's sake, but Iillor was not a friend, and being too daring. "Have you no decency, you harridan? That's your holy liege you speak about. You can compare me to thugs and miscreants all you want, but do not dishonorably frame her actions to the trivial emotions of ponies. What she desires is right."

"Desiring you is right?" Iillor pressed.

"Princess Cadenza does NOT 'desire' me. She is as dear a friend as mortal and alicorn can be. She provides me more attention than I deserve, and receives my due veneration." Shining explained, frustrated. "Whatever she intends, as servant I am a vector for. One of many."

"The favored among many." Iillor said. "You're going to see her today, right? I've heard you've meeting with her. Is she still giving orders even with the court suspended?"

Is should have been obvious to Shining before that Iillor had an eye to politics, since her activity around the castle could be interpreted as snooping. What was her deal? "She has studies I'm assisting with. Princess Cadence can be too deferential sometimes. I attend so others don't."

"Riiight, like those youths who tried to run away with her. Does that make you feel important?" Iillor asked pointedly.

"Uh..." Shining stuttered.

"The savior complex comes out again. Since your captain reigned you in, you're looking for a new way to be a hero. Sir Shining Armor might claim that he's ever-so-loyal, but he thinks he knows best." Iillor said. She watched Shining for his reaction, paused for a moment, then softened her expression. "Hell, Sir Armor, maybe you do know best. You've got a smart mom, and I hear your sister is brilliant too."

"That she is." Shining agreed after a while.
What was Twilight Sparkle doing at that moment? Was her work on behalf of Princess Celestia coming to fruition? Shining prayed that her toiling would not be meaningless. Twilight deserved more- not that being the First Student wasn't a high honor, but that position was even more dependent on the sun princess's whim than Shining's. How adrift Twilight would be with Celestia in the tower 24 hours a day? "But in the kindest way I can put it, my sister would hate you."

Iillor shrugged. "That's too bad. Say, Shiny, do you hate me?"

"Not yet. That may change if you help my lady mother cause trouble." Shining said.

Iillor laughed lightheartedly, then leaned forward, drawing Shining's gaze by pushing her mane back slightly. "Then it'll change Shiny."

"I hope that's just chatter." Shining mumbled.

"In the meantime, we can keep being... nice. We might even have a professional working relationship, depending on how the errends for your mom goes. That's something to look forward to, eh?" Iillor said, leaning back again. "I've had the damndest time seducing you, but maybe we can be friendly rivals. Theres\'s no reason for politics to get between us. A toast to the future of Canterlot, ha ha!"

Shining let out a deep sigh. "Mis Iillor... It's probably for the best if we avoid each other."

"Woah woah, that's a tone shift." Iillor's wry mirth evaporated.

Shining sat still for a while, then stood up, taking a generous gulp (his first) of his drink before pushing it away. "Next time you may not want to see me." If Shining took Prosser's claims about Fancy Pants's murder at face value, that meant the killer was still out there. Shining had almost forgotten the coincidences surrounding Iillor, and how she had happened to meet the assassin mares, and then happened to be in the castle at the time of the murder. Now Iillor was apparently leaping head-first into the highest level of politics, from the opportunities opened by Fancy Pants's demise.

The fact was, Illustrious Valor was very high on Shining Armor's list of suspects.
He looked into her eyes, and she into his. He bore a stern frown, and she a tight and mirthless smile.
She knew his suspicions, and it filled her with tingling excitement. But it was not confirmed, not for him, and not for her. It was the ambiguity which saved them both from mutual destruction then and there.

"Oh fine, sir. Even if you hate me, I'd want to see you." Iillor said, her attempt at a sincere tone being undermined by a stifled laugh.

Shining nodded. "And that's a problem, mis."
A pony rushed past the window towards the tavern door, wearing the uniform of an IHG knight messenger.
"My long-awaited call." Shining muttered. "Serendipitous timing." He eyed Iillor. "Unless you had more to say."

"You bet I do." Iillor laughed.

The knight messenger entered the tavern and crossing the room to them.
"Sir Armor." The knight messenger saluted.

"Is it the castle?" Shining asked. Out of the corner of his eye, Shining saw Iillor take his mug and devour its contents in a single swig. Impressive.

"Oh, no sir. Her grace, Junior Princess Cadenza, requests you attend to her." The messenger passed Shining a letter from her satchel. "Something about sun measurements? I don't recall."

"Oh? I thought the princess was using private couriers?" Shining mused. It was the little touches, like how Cadenza bound her letters with various strings rather than wax, which made him adore her; looked like mohair today.

The messenger nodded. "Princess Cadenza thought the couriers attracted attention. A few of the HG and I volunteered to be at her call for this kind of thing." She threw Shining a sympathetic look. "Despite, you know..."

"I know."
Shining glanced at Iillor, who was acting disinterested, and read over the letter. Cadence was at the University library? Strange, since he didn't think she would have too many fond memories of that place anymore. Very well.
"I guess I should be happy. There are lots of eyes kn the castle, and tattling mouths as well." Shining said.

"Indeed sir." The knight agreed.

"Then I'll have to go back to the barracks to change out of my armor. Accompany me, will you?" Shining said. He turned to Iillor. "I'd wish you luck but I wouldn't not want to be disingenuous."

"Alright." Iillor idly played with the chain of her necklace. "I'll see you later then Shiny."

"Or not. Au ne revour pas." Shining smiled thinly. With that, he turned and followed the knight messenger out of the tavern.

"More like, au ne revour rein." Iillor joked, horribly butchering the prench pronunciation.
She stuck around for a few more minutes, enjoying the atmosphere and music. "Man, I wish we'd had neat venues like this back home. Boy... Dneighper Crypts was such a dump." Oh well, back to the errends to which she had comitted herself.

"Hey, isn't that Sir Armor over there?"

"Hmm?" Twilight Velvet looked up from her book. "Where?"

"There exiting that tavern," Sel Lech pointed across the street. "in olive-color armor, with that other fellow."

"Oh, yes that's Shining." Velvet said with a shrug. "Duty called, apparently. He's such a busy boy nowadays he doesn't even visit for dinners. I hope he's eating well." She went back to reading.

"Nice enough guy, I guess." Sel followed Shining with his gaze until the knight disappeared in the crowd.
The cafe they were seated outside of was a nice little shop, a bit dingy for the Old City but passable.

The aftermath of the palace coup had been very strange for Sel Lech Sabonord. One would have thought Twilight Velvet would give up her claims to be working on behalf of the Blackhorn prince. What was the use professing support for a pony who had been snatched away from you? Hauseway was keeping Seacrest up in the castle, away from visitors, especially from Velvet's clique.
But Velvet was acting as though nothing had happened. Blueblood, Aurthora Airy, and the Blackhorn Council were still aggressively recruiting and propagandizing. Velvet was still attending little gatherings and giving vague speeches about ponykind and necessity, shadowed by Sel and Molar. But the Blackhorn was missing now.

And there had been one extremely alarming replacement.
“Heya!” The black-furred form of Iillor slipped into the chair beside Velvet.

“It’s Lady Velvet, even for my son’s friends.” Velvet said lightly.

“But what about for your friends?” Iillor tittered. “Surely your friends call you something different. Something starting with ‘A’ ?”

“We must be doomed as a species for you to carry on as you do.” Velvet said, voice dipping into a growl. “Hungry for attention, yet never truly noticed.”

“Sorry, I can't help myself.” Iillor smiled. “Attention is in my blood. I just want to be at the center of it all!”

Velvet, accepting that she wasn't going to get any more reading done, snapped her book closed and set it on the table. "Do you even have blood?"

"Wanna see it?" Iillor asked.

"I beg your leave, my lady." Sel Lech stood up. "It's back to wenching myself in the noble courts."

"Sel, do behave, and watch that foul mouth." Velvet rolled her eyes. "Do you have an issue with our new compatriot, Mis Illustrious Valor?"

Sel stared down his nose at Iillor. He found Blueblood's kind of noble snobbery distasteful, but he still had his own noble standards. There was something very wrong with the little earth pony he couldn't quite place. "What does this commoner have to gain from us? She hasn't been forthright whatsoever, my lady." He waved his hoof in irritation. "Is this our new direction? I barely understand what we're doing anymore. Am I important to your vision anymore?"

"That depends on you." Velvet said.

Sel huffed. "Sharing a cause with her makes me feel like a mercenary. She does not even pretend to strive for our ideals."

"I'm nakedly mercenary so you don't have to be, kid. Keep the veneer of your little cause." Iillor yawned.

Velvet stifled Sel Lech's retort with a raised hoof. "I understand Sel. We will have a chat tomorrow. There's something at the Chateau la Garde I have to show you as well."

That was ominous. "As you wish my lady. I've said what I wanted." He bowed to Velvet, then again to Iillor. "I'll be at the council hall. Good day." He trotted away.

Iillor leaned back and enjoyed the sun on her face. "What a nice day."

"Don't get too comfortable. We're here for a meeting." Velvet said, then paused. "How was Shining Armor?"

"I don't think he likes how things have gone with the new vizier guy, but it's not like he's going to do anything about it." Iillor shrugged.

Velvet shook her head. "Not quite what I meant. Was he happy?"

"You think I can read his mind? That's a bit beyond my powers." Iillor chuckled. "How could you see me if you don't actually know anything about Nightmares."

"Oh, because I am that powerful." Velvet said with a strait face but a mirth in her eyes. "And I'll use it to make sure my children get the world they deserve."

Iillor leaned forward, suddenly confrontational. "You should be smarter than to say things like that. What mortalkind deserves-"

Iillor cut herself off as another pony approached. It was an orange unicorn stallion in a silk vest, who took the chair across from the mares. “Lady Velvet.” He said.

“Ah, finally, Captain Bale.” Velvet marked her page and set her book down. “I've been waiting. Not right here, but since Hauseway's stunt at the castle. When I saw those Inner City guards taking the Blackhorn away, I knew you were involved too."

"Right to the point." Barley Bale said. "Don't flatter yourself though. Even inbred Estates Speakers were figuring that out my role and coming to me with questions."

"Is that why you're traveling without guards? Keeping a low profile? Surely you anticipated you'd make some enemies." Velvet said with a snicker.

That didn't seem to amuse Barley Bale. He settled more into the chair and waved over a nearby server. "Wine please. Two wines?" He glanced at Velvet.

"No thank you." Velvet shook her head.

Iillor raised her hoof. "Yes thank you."

Barley Bale shot Iillor an annoyed look. He turned back to the server. "Just the one wine."

Iillor tapped on the table. "Looking out for me, aye? Drinking too much is bad for your health. It'd be a damn shame if you bit it right here."

Bale eyed Iillor, curious, then grunted. "Is this one of the brigands that did it? Hmm, I always thought the three assassins theory was too few." He said sharply. "She should know to hold her tongue, Lady Velvet."

Velvet let out a sigh of consternation. "I had nothing to do with Pants. Even Hauseway accepts that now. I don't want to start this meeting on the wrong hoof but we need to have some understanding so we can negotiate in good faith."

"Fine. Consider yourself understood." Barley Bale shrugged. "So, business."

Velvet nodded approvingly. "We can work out a framework for collaboration here, and build out a plan in future meeting.s How does that sound to you?"

“Sounds like shit. I want my money,” Bale interrupted. “and I want it now.”

Velvet frowned. “Did you expect me to haul a wagon of gold to a cafe? I don't have it."

"Where is it stored?" Bale demanded.

"I just said I don't have it." Velvet said. "We're not liquid. Gathering you fee is going to take time."

"A pony's life is a thousand bits, is what the dirty thugs we pull from the street say. You'll come up with the money." Barley Bale said.

Velvet shook her head. "A pony's life-"

"The cost of a mortal life is but a single breath." Iillor interrupted.

Velvet shot Iillor a glance, letting her know the boundaries. "Quite. You should rethink your friendship with Captain Hauseway if he didn't tell you before you got involved, Captain Bale."

"That bastard led me to believe he was doing me a favor. Now everypony is pissed at me. Hauseway's calling shots at the castle and I just get yelled at." Barley Bale griped. "This time I'm collecting my due upfront. No money no play."

"Why would I mistreat you the way be has? Nopony appreciates you like I do." Velvet said. "Hardly sporting if Hauseway has the IHG at his call and I don't have anything." It seemed she had stoped taking the conversation seriously.

"If you want something for free, I'm not the pony to ask. For one, because I can't afford it." Barley Bale scowled. “Your Blackhorn friend ain't helping you since he's made Vizier? That's a shame, Lady Velvet. Dire shame. But, not my problem, unless I'm compensated to make it my problem."

"I'm not saying what you think I'm saying. I just need more time." Velvet said.

Barley Bale didn't respond, turning away to look around impatiently for the server to return. After a few minutes, the server returned with the wine, and Bale seized the entire bottle with his magic and popped it open. "More time..." He took a swig of wine. "If I had your husband as collateral I'd consider it. But he's in the castle dungeon, out of my reach. We have nothing to bind our agreement besides honor and that's worth less than this piss!" He took another swig.

"Language." Velvet intoned.

"This guy is playing hardball but he needs you more than you need him." Iillor snorted. "Kick him around so he remembers that."

Barley Bale pulled his mouth from the wine bottle. "You keep letting your friend here speak out of line. However useful she is a commoner; and-" He wiped his mouth before continuing. "I've a mind to have her punished as another precondition of our deal."

Iillor folded her hooves under on the table and sat her head on them, staring intensely at Barley Bale.

"We know the Blackhorn Council would have been stymied if you ordered the guard to confront us. By the same token I know you wouldn't risk a schism between your lodges." Velvet tapped her hoof, filling time now. "I appreciate you Sir Bale. Are you going to betray the only pony who appreciates you?"

Barley Bale nodded. "Yes. Pay me."

"You'd let slip the chance to help bind Canterlot together as a joyful and united force?" Velvet asked.

"Yes, yes." Bale said. He downed the rest of the wine and tossed the bottle away. "Save the sermons for the chumps and bucking pay me."

Velvet sighed, leaning back in her chair. "Ham-hoofed vulgarian." She muttered under her breath, eyes half-lidded. "We're not getting anywhere."

"Isn't it? We're learning not to waste each others time." Bale said with a shrug. "Anyhow, I thought this meeting was productive. Next time, I hope it'll be transactional." He pantimimed rubbing two coins together, then stood up. "Only after that will you start getting my cooperation, lady. You better hope somepony else doesn't scrounge up my fee in the mean time."

"See you later, sir. We'll get you what you're owed, promptly." Iillor idly waved him away.

"Sure. Keep well Lady Velvet." Barley Bale staggered away.

Velvet stayed silent, glowering at the street for a long while.

Iillor lifted her head. "Should it please your ladyship, I'll make a red smear of him tonight."

"Of course not, you little gremlin. Even if he thinks he's keeping a low profile, dozens of ponies saw us together. His death will be pinned on me. Hauseway will have an updated excuse to sweep me aside. " Velvet chided her.

Iillor rolled her eyes. "Then kill him too. I saw you fight the assassin mares-"

"I only really fought Mis Octavia. And hardly a fair fight." Velvet shrugged. "Are you suggesting I take on every single soldier in Canterlot in one-on-one fights?"

"Hey, it's my new job to demure to you, ma'am. I'll shank a bucker if you ask." Iillor said. "C'mon. Let's wipe them out. To a mare. All those annoying-ass nobles and effete soldiers I saw in the Castle are unworthy of life. And I can tell, I can taste..., that you dream of their annihilation too. Imagine the butchery, and delectable sin of turning that alicorn castle into an abattoir of noble flesh."
Iillor climbed onto the table and crawled towards Velvet, drawing curious glances from ponies at other tables. "Make a wish, my lady. I can make your dreams come true." She purred.

Velvet rollwed her eyes and nudged Iillor's head away with her hoof.
"Vex me no longer with that prattle demon. Your omnipotence can not help me." Velvet said. "The stage is not set."

"The stage... is not set?" Iillor repeated.

"If I could achieve my dream by wanton murder alone I would have done it before you came along." Velvet nodded. "Now get off the damn table. It's not the place for those filthy hooves."

Iillor tilted her head back, matching Velvet's stare with eyes that sparkled strangely at certain angles. "Fine." She rolled off the table onto her hooves. "What a family. I'm not even asking for a soul in return, you know. This isn't some bargain. I'm straight-up offering."

"Bah." Velvet opened her coin bag and counted out enough bits for Barley Bale's wine. "Taking on a creature like you was a mistake."
She got up and began to lead the way back towards the Blackhorn Council's meeting hall. "You have neither the virtues nor vices to be used to my purposes. If you can't take orders then leave."

Iillor's snout wrinkled in frustration. "I want to be a part of your dream, Lady Velvet. I swear! I thought your son had something special, the moxy, a dream he'd fight for. But he's being a wimp, and dishonest with himself."

"So I am what you settle for?" Velvet asked, feigning insult.

"Look, I have nothing to work with if Shining doesn't accept himself. Yeah, that probably sounds weird coming from me but..." Iillor clucked her tongue. "Some dreams require obliteration. I'm not a pony interested in higher causes, but you could call that my purpose."

"I know you're lying. It's all just ad hoc justification of your monstrous nature." Velvet chided. "You had better stop talking to ponies before we infect you with more of these useless sentimentalities which had been bred into us."

Iillor shrugged.

They followed the Old Town streets. It was a typical day, bustling with buisness, the urban gentry out on walks or shopping, laborers pulling carts of goods, artisans and shopkeepers watching the street from their windows...
And here and there, the social refuse. Ne'er-do-wells eyeing ponies for easy pickpocketing. Tramps and bums staring silently from shadows, hoping not to bee seen by the aggressive city guardsponies. Prosperous ponies who laughed disingenuously, concealing nefarious souls full of danger towards those they laughed with. And dark looks from workers and peons when they thought their bosses weren't looking.
And, a dozen steps behind Velvet and Iilor, a lone pegasus tailing them.

Velvet made a right turn and led the way into an alley between two shops, then stopped and turned around.

"They've got a knife." Iillor mumbled, her back to the approaching pegasus.

"Might be poisoned. Does poison affect you?" Velvet asked.

"Ah, the follow up question to the one about me having blood." Iillor smirked.

"Hey." The pegasus shouted over their whispers. "Turn around. Hooves away from belts."

"No issues from us, sir." Iillor stepped to the side, shaking her hips to show he was unarmed.

The pegasus approached cautiously. "Lady Twilight Velvet. The Mistress has been trying to get in touch." He spoke mechanically.

So Phyte had sent the pegasus. Velvet felt somewhat relieved. "We made our transaction. Further dealings will only bring bad attention on me, which I can't afford."

The pegasus shook his head. "The Mistress authorizes me to cauterize you if your answers are not to her satisfaction." He said matter-of-factly.

"Is he talking about Phyte? He's talking about Phyte, right?" Iillor wondered aloud.

"Shut your mouth." The pegasus revealed his dagger and stalked towards Iillor. "You shan't speak her name lightly."

"Won't I, bitch?" Iillor stepped forward, and didn't move and inch as the pegasus thrust forward with the dagger, stabbing her shoulder, nor when the pegasus stuffed a hoof in her mouth to stifle the scream he had been expecting. Iillor just stared in aggravated excitement, first at the pegasus, then to Velvet for approval.

"Stop this immediately!" Velvet demanded. "I dealt with the Mistress on fair terms last time. Treat me and my subjects fairly."

The pegasus drew back from Iillor. If he was surprised by her lack of reaction to being stabbed, he did not show it. "Humph." He turned back to Velvet. "The mistress suspects you ignored her letters on purpose."

"Maybe I didn't see them. Maybe I read each and every one. What does it matter?" Velvet asked. "If she wants to talk, she should come herself. I refuse communicate through dogs."

"Dogs..." The pegasus echoed.

"Look, around the hairline." Velvet Indicated to Iillor. "Stitching. And pull that cloak back, we might see something interesting about this stallions' wings. Was he a stallion originally? The world wonders."

The pegasus stared mutely.

"Away with you. Lead your master, or rather Mistress, to me next time." Velvet said, dismissing him with a wave.

The pegasus didn't outwardly react.

Annoyed, Velvet turned and trotted away. Iillor watched the inert stallion for a moment, then followed her.
"You treat ponies like Bale with undue respect, but tempt the anger of Stars. You're a cad."

"You know something of the Guild Mistress?" Velvet asked, arching a brow. "I detected your interest in her. So, just I set up a meeting."

Iillor pondered whether Velvet had actually done her a favor, or it was incidental. "Yes ma'am. I'm very interested in a meeting. You don't think she'll just send more killers?"

"She might. It's unlikely but she might. I hope she is starting to get curious about me, and she will want to speak before that." Velvet said.

They arrived at the Blackhorn Council hall.

"By the way, that dagger was dripping with venom." Velvet said. "If you had blood it would have been clotted and left you dead in that alley."

Iillor flashed a grin full of sharp teeth. "That so, my lady? I look forward to learning more about me."

Inside the hall, Velvet trotted over to the long meeting table, where Sel Lech and Blueblood were gossiping.
Both stallions went silent and eyed Iillor with suspicion as they approached.

"Good afternoon boys. Is our mute friend around?" Velvet demanded.

"In the office." Blueblood said. "I can call him out."

"No need, he heard us." Sel said.

Molar emerged from the connected office room and waited for orders.

Velvet gestured for him to come closer.

Molar bowed his head and stepped up to Velvet. After a moment's hesitation, he prostrated himself and, ever so delicately, produced a bundle of cloth from under his robes.

The temperature in the room changed- The unicorns in the room felt an uncomfortable coldness in their horn.

Iillor sucked in a giddy breath. "Ooh, hot dog." She snatched the cloth-bundled thing from Velvet and pressed it to her cheek. "I'm actually trembling. Damn... Even I'd die if I got stabbed by this."

"Don't unwrap it. I had to bargain pretty hard to get a hold of that." Velvet said, watching Iillor's reaction with a smirk.

Blueblood and Sel Lech exchanged confused looks. "My I venture to ask, my ladyship?" Sel queried.

"You may, Sel. Venture on. In fact we're venturing into greater peril than ever before, boys." Velvet jumped up onto the meeting table. "That package came from a deeply evil supernatural entity, known as a Star. I told this Star, Shale of the Don Hills, that I would murder Phyte the Guild Mistress using this weapon."

"What the fuck?" Blueblood blurted out.

Sel Lech leaned his head on his hoof and sighed.

"We lost Seacrest Blackhorn. That ruined a lot of plans I had. Things had to be shuffled, new plans forged." Velvet proclaimed. "But we are not backing down. We will have to be bolder, more daring, and committed to our triumph."

"Can't we do a normal scheme like break your husband from prison?" Sel Lech asked, subdued.

Iillor stared at the cloth-swaddled weapon for a while. "With this thing... Wow. I'm rarely left speechless." She paused, self-conscious of her silence. "I could... With this, I could remove Barley Bale and make it look like a heart attack. You'd be blameless."

That elicited a laugh from Velvet. "Don't get a big head. I'm just letting you hold it." She said. "Do what you want to that fool Bale. Earn that necklace, Mis Illustrious Valor."

"As you wish, m'lady." Iillor kneeled and bowed, then straightened back up. "But don't you get a head either. You're not my liege."

"Whatever." Velvet waved her away.

The atmosphere in the room gradually returned to normal as Iillor departed with the weapon.

"Again, what the fuck?" Blueblood said. Things were starting to feel like he was not on the heroic side of the story.

Sel Lech shook his head. "If you're that surprised, you weren't paying attention to what happened at the gatehouse."

Velvet shrugged. "Too true, Sel. I have things to attend to at the Chateau so you can go back to your work." She turned to Molar. "You too. Thank you for taking delivery of the Star's weapon."

The mute Molar uttered a raspy gasp, bowed, and returned to the office.

Four more days passed,
and its seemed as though the calm over Canterlot had to stay. There was no more popular fear of a revolt, insurrection, or palace counter-coup. IHG Captain Hauseway's unimpeded control over the Imperial Council through his pupped Seacrest Sabonord seemed to have delivered the peace he had promised.
And ponies began to let their guard down.

It was early evening, of a humid, warm day, a harbinger of the approach of the Summer Sun. It was not much fun to be outdoors, so ponies retreated indoors, and waited for the sun to fall.

A carriage coach pulled up to the grand entrance of the Canterlot Opera House. Captain Hauseway, emerged, trailed by a knight acting as bodyguard.
"Watch for trouble." Hauseway ordered the coach driver, before entering the opera house.

In the upper box seat, Countess Plenty Song waited. Down below, the opera company practiced; The production would not start until dusk, and that was still hours away.
"Hmm." Plenty Song lazed back in her seat. Opera did not interest her in the least. She was a boring, fun-hating pony and she knew it.

Hauseway's huffing and puffing heralded his slow approach to the loge. His bodyguard peered in first, made sure Plenty Song was alone, and let Hauseway enter.
"Ah, sorry for being late, the stairs were trouble." Hauseway plopped down on the chair next to Countess Song, letting out a sigh. "I lost some fitness during my hospital stay."

Plenty Song served him a bored look. "Did you invite me here for small talk? There would have been ample time at tonights party."

Hauseway chuckled softly at Song's non-joke. "No, Countess. I was just making excuses. Useless excuses." He retrieved a handkerchief from his pocket and blew his nose. Down on the stage, the opera production threw annoyed glances in the direction of the box. "I wouldn't pull you from your party preparations if it wasn't both time sensitive and important."

That elicited an impatient grunt from Plenty Song. "Then be quick with it, fitting it's importance."

"Of course." Hauseway said with a polite smile. "I may not know you well, lady countess. While you may be more comfortable working through Sir Barley Bale-"

"Bah." Plenty Song scoffed and turned her head away.

Hauseway let his smile drop. "Countess." He said, voice dipping into commanding tones. "Countess, as engaging as the little recital down there might be, I'm trying to talk to you. It's impolite."

The rank difference between them should have put Hauseway as Plenty Song's inferior. However Song was obliged to accede to him. "And who will you coerce me with? One of your lummox knights, or the Prancian-accented vizier of yours?"

This was an obstacle Hauseway had anticipated. "The Blackhorn as vizier is just expedience. You might as well forget he exists, my lady."

"If I did I would be doing that perfidious Barley Bale and yourself a favor, I suppose." Plenty Song said.

"Yes indeed, lady countess." Hauseway beamed. "You know favors aren't distributed freely here, even for a minx like you, dear lady."

Plenty Song's face contorted as she deliberated how to take that comment, then she laughed softly. "Very nice sir." She grew stern again. "I need that Blackhorn destroyed. He is in league with that devil Countess Glori Sabonord."

Hauseway tried to appear sympathetic, though he did not much care whether Seacrest Blackhorn had connections to Glori Sabonord. The rivalries of landed nobles were even more inscrutably petty than that of the city nobles. "I can't burn the Blackhorn yet. Besides he only rarely even speaks of lady Glori."

"Harumph." Glori wrinkled her nose. "I have drawn my line, Lord Captain. Even for a favor, I will not put up with a Sabonord dog."

"I understand, and admire your principle." Hauseway lied. "Trust that I will do what I must to reconcile you to me. Perhaps..." He paused. "Once it is clear to Equestria that you are the more worthy, they will welcome that Blackhorn going off the end of the skydock."

That piqued Song's interest. "And I would have a role-"

"In the castle, yes. You came to lobby the Estates, right?" Hauseway smiled. "How would you like to be the one ordering it?"

If it were an era of humility and common sense, perhaps the unpersonable and cynical Plenty Song would have known better than to be tempted towards a role she was unsuited for, and had been proven to be a trap. But it was not, so she did not. "I would like that very much." Plenty Song said with a smile. Grand Vizier Plenty Song, she though, charming herself with the idea.
Her smile immediately faded, and she stood up. "So we are done."

Hauseway scratched his head. "Yes my lady. I'll see you at the party."

Plenty Song smoothed her dress and strode out of the box, brushing past the knight, the clink of her hooves on the marble fading as she left the opera house.

Hauseway leaned his head on the bannister, watching the rehearsal on stage while he thought to himself. "Boy, being in charge is hard work." He muttered. "Maybe I should find some twerp to delegate to. Somepony to do what Shiny does for me with the IHG."

The meeting came at an unexpected moment, as Twilight Velvet always knew it would.

It must have been close to midnight, but she had too much to do to even consider going to sleep: Letters to write, payments to add up, old records to pour over. It was the cost of keeping herself at the center of everything with minimal delegation.

Velvet lingered at the door of the Chateau la Garde kitchen, watching her maid prepare tea and a late night snack.

“Will you be working in your room tonight, m’lady?” The maid asked while she stacked everything on a tray.

“No, everything is already in the greathall.” Velvet said. She plucked a cup of tea for herself from the tray as the maid passed.  “I’d take it to the dungeon to keep our guest company but Molar is already down there watching her.”

Velvet ambled behind the maid as they went the short distance to the greathall. A small corner of the feasting table was lit up by a firefly lantern, where some scrolls and books were also stacked.
One benefit of having Seacrest Blackhorn plucked away was that there was no more pretension to putting on parties, and things could stay blissfully silent.

Velvet settled into her work spot. The maid began transferring the tea and snacks off the trey.

But things were not quite right.
“Trespassers.” The maid whispered under her breath.

Velvet could sense them too.
The door between the hall and the parlor creaked, but it was far too dark so see anything that way. There were rustles and scrapes in the shadows.

“More are entering from the roof.” The maid said. “Highest probability is that they are guildmares.”

Velvet sighed and rubbed her forehead. She had asked for this. Now it was time to see if she had what it took to survive fate. No Iillor there. No other ponies between Velvet and fate.
“Very well.” Twilight Velvet straightened up, speaking at full volume. “Bring more tea for the new arrivals.”

A faint magical aura surrounded a chair across from Velvet, pulling it back from the table. The chair creaked as something large burdened it.
“That won’t be necessary.” A melodic voice whispered.

Though Phyte couldn’t be seen, there was no mistaking her magic. “You aren’t getting mine.” Velvet said coldly. “You have the choice of my hospitality, or not.”

“Oh, and should I expect your servant to bring back a dog bowl?” Phyte leaned forward, until her silk mane was just discernable at the edge of the light. “Is that what you called me? A dog?”

“I called that pegasus you sent as messenger a dog. And no offense to him, but he was a repulsive mongrel. I was instinctually repulsed by it, which I imagine was the intention.” Velvet nodded to the maid, who scurried back towards the kitchen. “I prefer the one you gave me.”

“The biggest mistake of my life.” Phyte growled. “Where is it?”

If Velvet told the truth, Phyte would search the chateau dungeon and find things. “Delivering my husband a book. He’s been trying to catch up on his reading while he’s detained.” Velvet said. There was no chance of Phyte breaking into the castle to confirm.

“Then I suppose I will have to repossess his value from you, Lady Velvet.” Phyte said. “The tip-off about Vinyl-”

“Vinyl.” Velvet repeated, feigning contemplating the word as though it was her first time hearing it. “Reports have been giving the white unicorn a different name.”

“That was a stage name. Tipping me off to Vinyl’s location was, of course, appreciated at the time. As far as I am concerned, you earned your reward. At the time.” Phyte said slowly. “But letting Vinyl get killed, indeed having a hoof in her death, offsets that.  That significantly offsets that. You owe me-” She leaned into the light again, her eyes glowing red. “Flesh and blood, my lady.”

Though Velvet had a high opinion of her own magical skill, but fighting a creature like Phyte was just shy of tussling with an alicorn.  She would have to be more clever.  “I understand your perspective now.” Velvet pursed her lips, scowling at her tea in mock concentration. “It’s going to be tricky for me to explain what facts you messed up.”

“I’m not interested in your lies and shell games.” Phyte hissed. “You will pay, in every way you can. Your accomplices, your assets, and my choice of your body parts.”

“My body parts. Not ideal. I was hoping to get market value for them.” Velvet rolled her eyes. “Does Celestia know about your little experiments?”

Phyte let Velvet stew in silence for a while.  “Let us not talk about her highness. How’s your daughter, by the way? It must sting not to hear from her since her unceremonious departure. She’s too far to help you now.”

“My family is safe. They’re protected and stashed away. I’m the only target, and I prefer it that way.” Velvet shrugged. “Now are you going to let me explain?”

“I’d rather hear you plead for your life. Do it and I might cauterize your stumps before I leave.” Phyte threatened. “I have killed for less.”

Velvet sighed in exasperation “Then kill the right pony. Or, you know, right entity. I’m not who you're after.” She said.
Now came the biggest gamble, and the only thing that could save her life:  Frighten Phyte the same way she’d been frightened before. “And no disrespect, you’re not my biggest concern, or who I’m protecting my family against.” She paused. “There’s a Nightmare on the loose.”

Phyte sucked in a worried, panicked breath.

Yes. Velvet felt a surge of confidence. She had won.
“So you’ve heard already. Yes, a Nightmare creature of ancient myth has come to Canterlot. It killed Fancy Pants.”

“I know that already. I know-” Phyte got up and kicked away her chair, to slowly stalk around the table to Velvet’s side. “I have detailed reports of his death, but nothing since Fancy Pants. Nothing. It’s so easy to believe it was just a collective hallucination.”

Now for the most thuggish move, to get inside Phyte’s defenses and deliver the coup de grâce. Proverbially speaking.  “Why do you think there were so many miscommunications that night? Why do you think I’ve been avoiding contact since, carefully avoiding the streets at night, and assiduously preparing contingencies?” Velvet prompted. “Mistress Phyte, I saw her too, and I saw everything it’s capable of. The killer…  the nightmare…”

Velvet’s apparently hesitation gave Phyte time to piece it together for herself. “The Nightmare was at the gatehouse.”

At that moment, the maid returned with the second tray of tea and snacks.
Velvet heard rustles in the dark as Phyte and all the hidden guild mares turned toward the maid.

“It’s not her.” Velvet insisted. “But she did encounter the monster, once while it was concealed, once while it was not.”

“Concealed. So it really did have shapeshifting powers.” Phyte ruminated.

The maid paused and waited for orders of where to put the tray down.

“Maybe you heard what happened here that night, just outside the doors of the parlor. Hell, you probably went past the scorches on the stone of the gate structure.” Velvet said. “You might have heard certain fantastical feats of swordsponyship and magic attributed to me, while fighting off alleged assassins.  You might have even heard that I used a spell nopony recognized, to burn them to a crisp.”

Phyte rushed forward, grabbing Velvet’s chair and leering over the seated mare.
She was nearly fully illuminated by the lamp now, her lanky proportions seeming all the stranger in the wavering light. How gaunt her face seemed, dangerous and desperate.
And to Velvet’s delight, grieving, desperate to hear what Velvet was selling her. “You were impersonated.”

“I can be brash sometimes but I don’t pick fights with IHG captains.” Velvet said. “There are already rumors out there about the discrepancies. Some ponies are saying my speech, magic color, and walk were different. The pretender had a necklace, while I only wear brooches. Most shockingly, the Twilight Velvet everypony saw had glowing red eyes, they say.”

Phyte, whose own eyes reflected the lantern light in iridescent scarlet hues, shrunk away, slightly.  Who knew what paranoid irrelevancies the Star was adding up in her head, trying to fit Velvet’s exaggerations and lies in what she thought she understood.  “That is interesting.” Phyte said quietly. “Yet… I can not go on word alone.”

Suddenly Velvet was seized by the neck and heaved in the air.  She gasped in surprise and tried not to panic, as Phyte pushed her onto the table.

“My lady!” The maid screamed, dropping the snack tray and running at Phyte.

Then the temperature of the room got cold. Velvet shivered in discomfort, and not just at her rough treatment, but a strange magic that was filling the air and needling her skin.
“Do not approach a mistress unwelcomed.” Phyte warned. Then, held aloft, the source of the pain: A simple, somewhat ornamented dagger, fashioned in a classical style.  Laying eyes upon it, and the metallic reflections of the light on its polished surface, filled Velvet with primordial dread. It was a Star’s weapon, made for murdering both the body and the soul.  “Or your lady will not be taking tea any longer.”

It was a test. It had to be a test, Velvet repeated inside her mind. She couldn’t panic and she couldn’t resist, or Phyte would kill her. Something in Velvet’s head made that very, very difficult, and staring up at the deathly red face of the Star made her furious. A great hatred stirred, that this creature could handle her and she had to take it.

“You’re trembling. Is this the mare who called me a dog?” Phyte asked stoically. “But dogs don’t carry daggers.”

Velvet didn’t answer, trying not to show any emotion. It was better if Phyte thought she was afraid.

Phyte released her grip on Velvet, but stayed over her. “It’s not as though a mere scrape or cut would kill you, Lady Velvet. A sacrifice blade must be used with purpose.” Phyte explained. “Their main purpose is rituals. Still, they are fit for purpose, to extract the flesh and blood I am owed.”

Velvet grit her teeth and risked talking. “I’ll help you collect. I’m not your mark, but your ally.”

“Ally? That is a silly notion. One transaction and we’re allies?”

“Do you think my lady likes to be threatened and mocked by a monster?” The maid spoke up.

“What did you just say?” Phyte whipped around to face the maid.

“She means the nightmare.” Velvet chanced sitting up. “We have a common enemy.”

Phyte’s attention lingered on the maid for a few long moments. “You didn’t fight back. Maybe you are telling the truth about the nightmare impersonating you.”

Velvet slid off the table and let out a long breath. “I’m a rhetoric teacher. If you want a magic duel, ask my daughter. Want a sword fight? Ask my son.”

Phyte slowly, deliberately, tucked the gleaming dagger back into her dress, and the painful feeling dissipated.
“Very well. We collaborate against the Nightmare. I don’t know of what use you will be, rhetoric teacher.” Phyte grunted. “Until next time.”
She leaned over and crushed the firefly lantern.  Hooves moved in the dark, as the mistress and her minions left the enshadowed greathall.

“They all have gone, including the ones on the upper floors.” The maid reported.

Velvet fumbled for her chair in the dark. After she was settled, she summoned a candle in a flash of magic, and lit it with a touch more. “Damn Star.” She sighed, pushing the bits of the shattered lantern into a pile.  “Could have gone better, could have gone worse. We have played her paranoia perfectly, so hopefully she will be keeping an eye out for a nightmare, rather than an eye on us."

"Indeed my lady." The maid curtsied. She took a moment to compose herself back to perfect stoicism. "Should I bring another lantern?"

Velvet shook her head. "No. I have to brief Molar and teleport him near the castle, in case Phyte intends to track him down and confirm what I’ve said.”

The maid pursed her lips. “Is he reliable enough for that? You open yourself to risk, my lady.”

“We could burn him and claim ignorance about his disappearance.” Velvet contemplated. “But no. There’s still useful blood in him.” She sighed and got up from the chair. "If you see Mis Valor, tell her to lay low for a while. After this, it's best they not meet, and the longer before Phyte identifies her, the better."

The maid expressed her displeasure of having to deal with Iillor with a momentary frown. “Very well my lady. Don’t overexert your magic.” The maid nodded. She got to work cleaning up the trey she had dropped.

Velvet grunted her acknowledgement and trotted toward the hidden stair to the dungeon, and the secret things which lay within.

Right down the street, among the palatial mansions of South Canterlot, the conspiracy against the comfortable quiet stirred.

Nopony was entirely sure why Countess Plenty Song had remained in Canterlot (Not even Plenty herself) after her falling out with her erstwhile clients on the Black Horn Council. Nor was it clear where she was getting the money for her new social life in the city, keeping up with the expectations of a landed noble, when her county was notoriously small and poor. In a word, why was the mare with only her noble title to leverage acting so contrary to her incentives and personality?

But something had overcome the souls of ponykind, that had made them foolish.

Countess Song stood off to the side in the South Canterlot Manor she had rented, watching the party guests come in. They payed far more attention to each other than to her, the host. She knew they hated her, a landed noble, acting like she belonged in Canterlot. The petty nobles resented her title, but they smiled hollow smiles and heaped compliments on her- For patronage, for favors, for attention, for petty Canterlot rivalries she couldn't understand. They thought she must have had an easy life, just because she had a castle and a few villages to her name. That was not so! Plenty Song raged inside that she had to cavort with the Canterlot nobles, the second-scions of Equestria, the refuse that had been kicked off of the land or inherited no title: The cosmopolitan and effete mixing of great noblepony noblesse, reduced to sitting in the shadow of, and defining their existence by, the Imperial Court. It was no way that a noblemare should live!
Yet there Plenty Song was, throwing a party. She was disgusted with herself.

Even as Hauseway arrived and planted a messy smooch on her cheek, she could only gather enough will to blink at him.
"Hello again captain." She said.

"Countess Song, you're looking fabulous this evening." Hauseway grinned. "And this party is one of your more extravagant! That ice sculpture is sublime!"

"Oh?" Plenty Song glanced back towards the sculpture in question, depicting Celestia reared up in graceful triumph, as though initiating the Summer Sun. "I hope it's nice for as long as it lasts. It wasn't cheep."

"Money well spent, I should say." Hauseway nodded. "I should hope not to become a pest, but on the topic of money, I'd like to revisit the conversation we had the other day about Barley Bale. We might even chat a bit about Black Horn Council, with whom you consorted a while."

"Stop that. Stop bringing up the Black Horn Council until you do something about that disgusting creature you installed as vizier." Glori said, a glower coming over her features. "As for Barley Bale, go talk to him yourself, if he's arrived. He might in the mansion somewhere."

Hauseway paused and took stock. "Well, maybe I will." He said, apparently deeming continuing with Plenty Song unproductive. "Good evening, lady countess."

So Hauseway, his knight guard in tow, wandered out of the foyer into the rest of the mansion.

It was a who's-who of Canterlot society. Hauseway saw noble functionaries, members of the Imperial Court, high-ranking courtiers of the viscounts of the Wall Castles, popular artists, and a few of his own IHG knights.

"Ah! Hauseway!" Somepony called out to him.
It was Jet Set, leader and Speaker in one the more influential cliques in the Estates. He was a slim and stylish stallion, a genuine blue-blood, but an ideological tabula rasa.
Standing beside Jet Set was his thug, ideologue, and reported mistress, Upper Crust. She handled the public-facing part of Jet Set's clique, which included solicitations and influence peddling schemes. Hauseway did not trust Upper Crust one bit, although she did align with him a fair amount as a conservative pole in Canterlot politics.

"Ah! Hello there." Hauseway smiled trotting over to the pair. "Long time no see, Sir Jet."

"Quite, Captain. Quite." Jet Set mewed, tilting his head slight to stare down at the shorter stallion. "The Summer Sun is near."

"Yes, and we all know what that means." Hauseway grunted. It meant the Estates convened. Jet Set was likely at the party to give the sales pitch for his services as a speaker to the lady countess. Good luck, Hauseway thought. "If I'm still in the chair by the time the Summer Sun rolls around, I'd like to be able to count on you and the Estates for some things. I have some policy that I can't get through with the Imperial Council alone."

Jet Set shrugged. "Yes, we saw your letter. We thought it was interesting, but-"

Upper Crust cleared her throat and chimed in. "We're just confused by you, Hauseway. I know some Speakers are willing to overlook that stunt in the throne room. Some ponies, Cadenza-detractors, are even happy about it. But what you did was a nasty breach of royal prerogative. I thought you were better than that."

Hauseway had heard it before, but it irked him to be hearing it from Upper Crust. "I've made it clear that protecting noble rights is a key priority of the Imperial Council under my guidance."

That didn't please Upper Crust. "You've set a precedent, Hauseway. Now any jackass can storm the court and they'll have your example-"

Jet Set clucked his tongue. "Now now, no need to get upset at the stallion. He was doing what he thought was best, even if it was a mistake."

"It wasn't a mistake." Hauseway grumbled. "Respectfully, read my letter again. I careful explained my actions in the throne room. The position of the Imperial Court apropos the Imperial Council-"

"You know..." Upper Crust interrupted, leaning forward. "I know a lot of Speakers who would be willing to overlook you transgression if they better understood their point of view. We could help with that.""

Of course. It always came down to the deal. "I bet." Hauseway bobbed his head. "I'm going to grab a drink and then we can have that chat." Stepped away and trotted to the nearest servant and accepted a glass of something.
He felt very sorry for himself. The sense of triumph had lasted less than a day, after he realized nopony was reacting to his little palace coup the way he thought they would. It hadn't been a turning point where Hauseway had bent Equestria to his whim. His big moment had been just another sideshow... And the real show was whatever Celestia was watching from the southern watchtower.
Maybe Shining Armor had been right. The responsibilities of the empire and viziership could have been fobbed off on some landed noble; but not a scrub like Plenty Song, a real lord or lady with an army and money to their name. One of the Unicornia Dukes, or a Riverpony Lord. Hell, the notirious Glori Sabonord fit the bill, even if she was a loose cannon.
"Having to think about buisness at a party just ruins the reason of going to a party." Hauseway lamented. He tested the drink he'd nabbed and made a face- It wasn't fit to be mouthwash. The countess was still counting pennies here and there, it seemed.

Consumed in his own thoughts, Hauseway walked right past another couple engaged in conversation.

Barley Bale, several drinks in, was engrossed by the court architect Laurel Black lecturing about her work.
"The fact is, military science has moved so fast some of the stuff they were teaching when I was a student is completely outdated now. Ravolins went out of style, then became useful again. Hoof-cannons were quite the rage for a few years, now you hardly see them even in East Griffany." Laurel idly swirled her drink. "Those griffins fight each other so much, the regimes who don't innovate get punished pretty badly. Without the Equestrian colonies to funnel weapons through, we'd probably lack their level of pony-portable gunpowder weapons. Well, now the adventures in Chitin and Zebrastan are making a market for new science and weapons here in Equestria."

"Three cheers for empire, aye? Not sure I agree with your bigger angle, about mucking about in wars being good for science." Barley Bale said.

Laurel shrugged. "I didn't say it was a good thing, just a pattern we see. It gets me work. Equestria has three star forts in the Zebrastani colonies to my designs, and two more in the Chitin treaty ports."

"But why's Equestria gotta have colonies? It just..." Barley Bale scowled. "The whole buisness strikes me wrong. Getting into pretty little wars, just to get better at future fighting? What's wrong with the Equestria we have now?" He sighed. "You'd get it if you've ever heard what Hauseway went through in the marine landing forces."

"Captain Hauseway? You know I saw him trot past just a few minutes ago." Laurel tapped her chin.

Barley Bale cursed under his breath. He'd forgotten that Plenty Song's invitation wasn't just a social courtesy. Hauseway was trying to rekindle their political alliance. "You saw him? Did he see me? That bastard better not be avoiding me."

"Uh-" Laurel blushed. "I don't know sir."

"Tshh." Barley Bale gulped his drink and set the glass aside. "Nice chatting Laurel. We should meet again sometime, even if some of your patrons have it out for me lately. Say hello to that incorrigible Duke Foaly Flux for me."

Barley Bale set out in search of Hauseway. He wove through the groups of party goers, exchanging terse greetings before moving on. The stallion felt even sorrier for himself than Hauseway had, for in addition to feeling put-upon by fate, he had a stirring resentment at feelings of having been tricked into his predicament. And unlike Hauseway, who chased after a solution with a certain amount of resolve, Barley Bale alternated between being desperation and internal rage.

It made him unmistakable to the creature hunting him.

"Oh hello! Sir Bale, was it?" A mare's voice asked.

Bale looked around. The pony who's spoken was a black unicorn in a deep scarlet dress and an emerald necklace. A small purse was looped around one shoulder.

"Hey you're the mare with Lady Velvet!" Bale said, then scowled in confusion. "N- No... She was an earth pony." He questioned his own memory. Yes, it had been an earth pony, and he had berated her for it.

"Pardon?" She mare scowled. She had a delicate lower Dneighper accent.

"Uh, apologies. I confused you for another mare." Barley Bale sighed. He rubbed his forehead. "I have been awfully stressed. Please forgive me."

"Your apology is accepted." The mare said, her accent and affectations reminding Bale of a flamboyant actress. "I too have been suffering some anxieties, what with all the political drama nowadays. This will be an evening of repose with my lovely friend Countess Song."

"Oh?" Bale grinned. Maybe that is why he had not recognized her- This was somepony from Plenty Song's county who had followed her to Canterlot. Anypony who'd describe Plenty Song as lovely was bound to be close. "I'm a passing acquaintance of the countess."

"And now you're here." The mare said. She flashed a smile. "Wait... You're the captain of the city guard, right?"

"That's right." Barley Bale chortled. "Sir Barley Bale at your service..."

"You may call me... Lady Valor, for the moment." The mare said. She unexpected stepped forward and curled a leg around Barley Bale's shoulder. "Sir, won't you join me in the garden for a moment? I have something to say to a captain of the guard, if you know what I mean."

Either she was propositioning him, or she was there to hammer out a deal on behalf of the countess. Either way Barley Bale was in.

Ten minutes later, and Valor and Barley Bale were outside the manor and in a secluded part of the garden surrounding the little estate.

"It's it lovely here." Lady Valor sighed. "The flowers so fragrant, so sweet. I am ever so envious of ponies with time to devote to beauty like this. Alas, we must all seek beauty in our own way." It really was a pleasant night, cool, with a clear sky above. Past the peak of the Mountain, a sea of stars watched over Canterlot. For a few long minutes, Valor stared back admiring the vastness of the cosmos and the incomprehensible power of those distant suns.

"Uh huh." Bale was less interested in the garden, and more on the payday he was zeroing in on. Gears were churning in his head- If he convinced Valor to reconcile him with Plenty Song, he could float on her patronage long enough to find a new angle with Hauseway. After that, Barley Bale would lie in wait, ready to sell out either Hauseway or Twilight Velvet to the other, depending on who found their coin purse first. Maybe there'd even be a bidding war for his services!

Perhaps fate had decided dying was the best outcome for Barley Bale, before he experienced the anguish of being too stupid to pull off his half-baked plot.
Or at least, that was what the Nightmare had decided.

"Do you ever think about how much ponies sacrifice for beauty?" Lady Valor slowly led Barley Bale through the garden. "My old teacher would talk for hours about Eros, a passion, without which we can't know truth. Yes she'd go on for hours about how desire for knowledge is superficial, until we begin to lust after somepony. After that, we can begin to trick our senses into chasing after the abstracts of a 'true' beauty with the same passions of our lust."

"How... titilating?" Barley Bale was only half-listening, still thinking of his plans.

"Not really. She was a cruel bastard that caved in my head on more than one occasion. And I proudly remain a dumb bitch. I did love her though." Valor laughed to herself.
She stopped in place, pivoting to face Barley Bale. She unslung her purse.
"Do you have a dream, Sir?"

"Uhh..." Barley Bale stumbled over the unexpected question. "I guess so. I was just thinking about it, sorta. I just trying to get myself out from under some things."

"Have you sinned?" Valor asked.

What a strange and sudden inquisition! Was this pony testing him? Would honesty or dishonesty work better to get in the mare's, and Plenty Song's good graces? "Sin... is what you make of it." Barley Bale opted for as evasive an answer as he could muster, since Valor had been so poetic. "Living is its own sin, in a way. Can we have good lives without becoming sinners? The dogma says yes, but the heart says no. I think all of us are damned for reasons we don't understand."

Valor quirked an eyebrow. "I think you understand perfectly well." She reached into her purse and pulled out a bundle of cloth. She cradled the bundle her her breast and tossed the purse away. "Sir, some ponies give up their whole lives. Not just for aesthetic beauty, but that spiritual and ideological beauty as well, that Eros. Those are the dreams I truly adore, and, I'll admit, lust after." She blushed, then, remembering who she was addressing, faced Barley Bale with a stoic look. "Sin in the cause of a worthy dream is virtuous. Sin in the cause of an unworthy dream is contemptible."

"I'm too buzzed for this." Barley Bale sighed, scratching his head. "Look, if the countess thinks I'm a greedy ass, I understand. I made a mistake. I trusted the wrong ponies and now I'm left begging. You get me? I'm not a bad pony."

"But I am."
Illustrious Valor shoved Barley Bale onto his haunches. The horn on her head, dissolved away into a black mist. She grinned. "You recognized me right the first time." She said, dropping the faux accent. "I'm almost insulted you accepted accepted the deception so easily. I had a whole conversation planned. Oh you poor pony."

"What the hell? You're not Plenty Song's friend?" Barley Bale gawked. "But then... Twilight Velvet-"

"Don't yell. You'll ruin the moment." Iillor stepped froward. "Here." She carefully unwrapped the bundle of cloth.
As she pulled away the last wrap, Barley Bale realized he was doomed. The dark mare held out a dagger- It sparkled in the light of the moon and stars. Magically untrained though he was, Barley Bale could sense an evil magic radiating from the weapon.
If he touched the accursed thing, he soul would be truly damned.

Barley Bale looked up from the evil dagger. Iillor was grinning like a madmare, delighted at Barley Bale's slow realization. "Why?" He asked. "What is this, like... Why are you doing this to me?" His voice trembled. " Haven't done anything wrong. Twilight Velvet sent you? I... I was just joking about the money. I'm her friend, really!"

Iillor wasn't interested in his pleading. "A nasty mare named Astral Nacre crafted his blade, tempered in an alicorn's blood a thousand years ago. It was given to a monster known as Shale of the Don Hills."
She held up the bundle to Barley Bale's face. Up close the dagger was savage looking. It was forged from a pale blue metal that did not reflect much light. Its edges were perfectly smooth and infinitely sharp. Was that leather on the grip? Horrifying.
"Barley Bale, I'm going to kill you with this Star's dagger. What happens next will be a sight to behold."

How could this be?! "Please I-" Bale's thoughts raced. "Any insult Velvet took, I can make up for. Any insult you took, mis, I-" He gulped. "I didn't mean any of it. I'll do anything. I- I-" He glanced in the direction of the manor. Could any of the other party attendees hear him? Was there any chance they'd be able to save him if he yelled? "There's other ponies. You can use it on them. A dozen servants, yes! I can even ask Plenty Song, and she'll arrange things!"

Iillor sighed. It wasn't satisfying when the victim was so pathetic. "To the end, a worthless creature with a worthless dream."

Iillor grabbed the dagger's handle through the cloth and jammed it into Bale's chest. The incredibly sharp blade went right through his cloak and hidden armor, to nearly split his sternum. Blood immediately began to stain Bale's shirt.

"You've crowded this planet for too long for any good you have been doing." Iillor lambasted the dying stallion. "In the name of god, get thee to hell."

Bale sunk to his knees. He concentrated with all his might and enveloped the dagger with his magic. With a hoarse yell he pulled it free, sending a spray of blood across the path. "GGgghhhhh!" His whole face was contorted. "Is this it?" His voice trembled with pain and anger. “I've been a coward. I should've gone to war like Hause.”

"Well I'll be" Iillor cocked her head. "I thought it'd annihilate your soul or something. It's a dagger for dark magic rituals after all. What's it feel like."

"Hfffffff. You're- about to know." Bale every muscle straining through his rapid exsanguination, stood up. He limped forward, eyes burning with hate, dagger gripped in his telekinesis. "After you, Velvet, the dumb whor-"
He was cut off by his own pained gargling. His eyes widened. He tried to speak again but could not. His limbs began to spasm and twitch, and before anything could be done his eyes rolled back and his mouth fell open.

But the dead stallion's body remained upright, and the dagger was still being levitated by his magic.

Something strange was happening. The dagger's magic had killed Barley Bale, but something else was left behind.

Just as with Fancy Pant's murder, Barley Bale's death was a sea change in Equestria, even if only the two of them realized it: Illustrious Valor, and whatever entity was now watching her through Barley Bale's dead eyes.

Iillor could make an educated guess who was possessing the corpse. "You gave you dagger to Lady Twilight Velvet. She lent it to me." She explained slowly. "Are you able to reply?"

The upright corpse did not move. If somepony stumbled upon them, it would look like Bale had been trying to kill her.

"I wasn't convinced this was the real article. What Star would actually send their sacrificial dagger to a random pony? Maybe that's just me misunderstanding things." Iillor mused. "But if you actually wanted us to take a shot at Phyte life, wouldn't you send a different weapon, which doesn't immediately implicate you?"

The corpse trembled. After a few moments, he moved, shaking his head back and forth in jerky movements.

"Oh, you didn't intent for Phyte to be killed? Then... You got tricked. Ha ha, yeah, Twilight Velvet duped you." Iillor chuckled. "Sorry, Lady Shale, but I'll be holding on to this. And maybe I will take a shot at Phyte's life. Your's too, if I feel like it, you wretched Star. Anyway, enjoy stewing in whatever hole you're hiding in."

Iillor hoped up and covered the dagger back up in the cloth, pulling it from the telekenisis.

The edges of Bale’s mouth turned upwards in imitation of a smile. His eyes and nose began to bleed, and after a few seconds the body fell over onto a flower bed.

Iillor slowly wrapped the dagger up in the cloth again. "Oh damn, I threw away the purse." She sighed, scanning the garden for where it had landed. "Whatever. Time to go. I'll check with Velvet I guess, and express to her that business was concluded favorably.” Iillor tried on her stiff accent again. "Until next we meet, sir." She bowed to Barley Bale's corpse.
But all she had done was stab a pony. That was hardly any fun. "Although before we part ways..."

Twilight Velvet was just out of bed, doing her stretches as the sun was just beginning to dawn of the city, when the news came.

"Barley Bale was murdered last night, my lady." The maid announced from the threshold of the room. "The paper claims Countess Plenty Song killed him at a party last night."

Velvet stopped mid-stretch, processing the revelation. "The Nightmare." She sighed and straightened up. "The only good thing to come of this timing is that it should further divert Phyte's attention. What of Plenty Song?"

"She is not in custody yet." The maid said.

"Then there's time." Velvet rushed from the room. "We have to go on hoof! It will be crowded so there's no chance of using the teleport unnoticed!"

"On hoof? Should I call a coach-"

"No!" Velvet shouted back as she raced down the hall. "Just put something less frilly on. Oh! And get Blueblood to meet me at the skydock!"

Reluctantly, Blueblood did as the message had ordered- He got out of bed and cantered to the skydock.
With the shorter distance, he arrived slightly before Velvet, and had time to examine the situation- Countess Plenty Song and a few servants were hastily loading her belongings on a small airship. A distraught noblepony, the owner of the mansion she had been renting was trying and failing to engage the countess in a conversation, which she has ignoring.

Blueblood approached the mooring, but not too close. He felt slightly guilty about Plenty Song's circumstance. Not guilt enough to do anything but watch her make her escape.

"Come to gloat?" Plenty Song asked tersely, casting a quick glance in Blueblood's direction.

"Never, my lady. This very unfortunate event is not what any of us wanted." Blueblood said. "I wish I could go back to stop you dis-engaging the Black Horn Council. Then you wouldn't have turned to Barley Bale." He shivered, the wind whipping against the city wall and plateau being quite cold in the mornings. "Trust me to vigorously protest your innocence, in your absence."

Plenty Song said nothing for a while. "You are not without your charm, Sir Blueblood. You may come with me, if you wish. In my county, the flowers along the riverbanks are just beginning to bloom."

Blueblood was tempted for just a moment, before he remembered how grudge-driven Plenty Song apparently was. She would probably throw him off the airship over the Canter forests. "Duty and obligation yet binds me here."

"What nonsense coming from a charlatan." Plenty Song huffed.

It stung a little to realize that nothing he could say could convince her of his good intentions. "Come on, Lady Song, I'm not a bad pony, and neither are you. It's a mix of destiny and obligation that steers ponies through the stormy seas of life, is it not? I thought we could lash our ships together and ride out the storms. Alas."

Plenty Song stopped her labor. "What a god awful metaphor. I hate this city and its metaphors so much. I won't flinch to see this plateau crumble off the mountain once I'm away."

"Once you're away." Blueblood repeated. "Fine. I understand."

Blueblood felt a tap on his shoulder, and a familiar giggle in his ear.
"You don't have to be so magnanimous in victory, after this mare betrayed you." Twilight Velvet said. She was slightly out of breath from the run from the chateau. "Not to say this is a victory. Only, the wheel is still spinning, and we remain on it-" She eyed the countess. "While you have been flung off."

Plenty Song stared daggers.

"I'll admit that joke was on purpose." Velvet grinned. "I respect you as a countess so I'll hold my tongue further. Truly I regret to see you go. I'm sure there's use for you yet here, if you would stoop to being my friend, my lady."

"Never, you lowborn she-cattle. You're prostituted to the designs of that devil, Glori Sabonord. I know it. You've corrupted the entire city." Plenty Song seethed. "Go ahead, say your worst. Show me the rhetoric you taught all those years."

Velvet shrugged. "I don't think I will. You think I'm somepony else's pawn, an unworthy accusation which I tremble to bear." She nudged Blueblood. "We we take our leave of you, Lady Countess. Safe travels."

"Uh, my lady-" Blueblood tried to get a word in but was dragged away by Velvet's magic. "Bye Lady Song!" He shouted towards the countess.

After they'd passed back through the skydock gate into the city, Velvet set Blueblood upright again. "Bah, what a waste. She really did have her mind set on leaving, and I'm not situated to detain her. She might be a waste of skin and that noble title, but he has some important ancestors."

"Well, yes, that's what a noble title means." Blueblood said wryly.

Instead of chewing him out like he was expecting, Velvet patted Blueblood on the head. "Nevertheless, you did an adequate job delaying her until I arrived. We couldn't change the outcome, but it would have been worse not to know."

Was that a genuine compliment? Blueblood felt oddly proud, even if she'd fussed his mane a bit. "Thank you my lady." He paused. "Did you really need Lady Song for some part of your plan?"

That question didn't go over well. "If you knew what I intended, would you betray me and sell me out, sir?" Velvet asked coldly.

He definitely preferred when she was patting him. "With all frankness, you're so damn obscure, talking about 'apotheosis' and 'realizing' for ponykind and the nobility. When I don't even know the next step, I can't judge if losing Plenty Song is actually devastating or not."

There was the echo of a whistle blast from the skydock. Plenty Song's chartered airship slid away from the pier and floated into the open skies, over the valley floor far far below. The side-sails unfurled, and the ship sped away east-south-east, toward the brightening horizon.

Velvet watched the dwindling dot of the airship.
"I won't lie. In the current version of the plan, I need to find somepony to replace her." She said, contemplating the far off mountains.

Blueblood sighed. Replace her in what capacity? "So that black-furred menace did Barley Bale in."

"Yes, with bad timing on several accounts. I've clearly miscalculated. Most of my trip-ups so far have come back to benefit us somehow. This time, by giving that irascible Nightmare too much leeway-" Velvet sighed.
She stared silently into the distance for a few minutes longer. "I wonder how Twilie is doing." She side-eyed Blueblood. "Not that you'd know or care. You've done enough here. There's surely some other work you could be doing."

"I'm dismissed then? I'll be at the Black Horn council hall if you need me." Blueblood said. "If Barley Bale really bit it-"

"He did." Velvet's maid arrived on the scene. Leading a sleepy looking Sel Lech Sabonord. "The noble captain is deceased."

"A disruption like this will send waves through the Old Town. I'd better be at my post. Uh..." Blueblood hesitated, wondering if he was about to overstep his bounds. "Do you have any more of that dragonfire on you? Maybe you could send Aurthora a letter to meet me. I'll need her help."

Velvet pursed her lips. "Hmm.... No. Take Sel with you."

Blueblood eyed the young colt, who shared his look confusion. "No offense to sir Sabonord, but-"

"I don't know if I'll be good without, uhh, your supervision, my lady." Sel Lech said. "You really want me interacting with those ponies?"

"Yes. Yes." Velvet said. "She glanced over her shoulder at the pinprick in the sky that was Plenty Song's airship. "Take cues from Blueblood here's geniality. Fake outgoingness. It's not too difficult."
She nodded to the maid, and they started up the street together. "I'm going to visit my husband. Phyte may have payed him a visit and we need to confirm. Anyhow, good luck with today's affairs, boys."

Blueblood huffed. "That madmare. She's setting you up for something, and chances are it's not pretty."

Sel Lech shrugged. "I'm not that worried." He paused. "Err, I guess I'm a little worried. Barley Bale actually died? Sheesh. That girl Iillor did it, didn't she..."

"We're basically culpable in a murder, Sel." Blueblood said glumly, kicking idly at the pavement. "That oaf Bale had his flaws, but he didn't deserve this." He was consciously echoing Frie Fellowship's fate with his words. "For an ambition I don't understand. It's hard to feel heroic in a situation like this."

Sel just shrugged again. "Heroic? Lady Velvet is keeping me fed with her errands she posts me on. That's pretty heroic in my book." His face contorted at a withheld laugh. "Sorry, bad joke. I wonder if we'll be invited to his funeral?"

Shining Armor had strapped on his light kit just before dawn and was on his way out the door of the IH barracks. Shining had gotten an extra early start to clear away any IHG buisness for most of the day. He felt confident that he he would get to his semi-clandestine meeting without anypony bothering him, when he heard the rapid clack of wheels and the clacks of horseshoes. He turned just in time to see a familiar coach carriage turn the corner and pull up to the barracks entrance.

Shining felt a hint of worry. Had the captain found out about his activities and had sprung a trap on him? Well, it wasn't like he was doing anything wrong, just unsanctioned.

Hauseway kicked the coach's door open and leapt out.
The IHG captain was not looking well in the least. His eyes were red from a night of extreme stress, and he wobbled on his hooves. "Shiny. Shiny. You heard. Thank the gods I thought I'd have to send one of these louts in there to wake you up."

The carriage driver sniffled. "You get what you pay for Lord Captain."

Shining was glad he wasn't in trouble, but that didn't seem to be the case for Hauseway, nor perhaps Canterlot itself. "Could you clear up the situation, Captain?"

Hauseway opened his mouth, hesitated, then grabbed Shining's shoulder and pulled him towards the coach. "We'll talk on the way."
Shining obediently let the shorter pony shove him onto one of the seats.

"On the way to where, sir?" The driver asked.

"Who gives a damn. Just circle the city, and avoid the manor." Hauseway croaked. Once the carriage started rolling again, he slouched in against the padded seat, nestling his head in his hooves. "Ooohh."

The city rolled by, dawn slowly breaking. Shining worried about his missed meeting. Would Cadence be mad? He hoped he could explain later, depending on what the crisis was. "Are you okay, sir?" Shining asked.

"Hell no. I just made it out before the guard cordon fell. I'll have some explaining to do once they find out I was there, but it beats being detained and questioned now. That's be a bucking mess." Hauseway moaned into his hooves.

Cordon? "Sir?" Shining prompted for clarification.

"Okay, look Shiny-" Hauseway sat up slightly. "Somepony caught Barley Bale alone in a dark corner a party, and turned him into a blood eagle. Guts, draped every-which-way! It must have been some kind of magic weapon because even the bone was SLICED through. Can you imagine something sharp enough to cut bone? Ghastly! Ghastly! So I, uhh, skedaddled before the city guards arrived."

Each successive sentence hit Shining Armor like a hammer blow. Barley Bale had been assassinated. Since Hauseway hadn't given a name, it had been a clean hit. "Sir, you have a commanding position on the Imperial Council, currently. What could be the issue with staying to explain to the guards? Or, with if Bale is passed, taking command of them?"

"Because Plenty Song fled as soon as she heard! Everypony saw me chatting with her all night. And gods, the guard investigators must be irate. Those south guard lodges were Barley Bale's base of support, a mix of pudding boys and thugs. They'd probably extort me. Damn! Damn!" Hauseway punched at the air in futile frustration. "Damn it all! The city probably thinks I killed Bale to consolidate my power. How did all go so bucking wrong, Shiny? How?"

"Well-" Shining sighed and rubbed his temple. After little more than a week in power, it seemed his captain's grace had run foul. "That sure is unfortunate, sir. I may point out, though, that the list of ponies who would want Sir Bale dead is shorter than the one for who had wanted Fancy Pants dead. And the overlap between those two lists is smaller still." He explained. "Personally, I believe you could have stayed and controlled the narrative around the murder, to propel the hunt for the real killer and vindicate yourself before Canterlot."

"Hey, hey, that's a tertiary concern. Shiny, who do you imagine would be next on the hit list, hmm? The Unicorn Prelate? The Clawstantiopolitan ambassador? NO, Shiny, me, I'm next. Then you. Then... Hell, Prosser probably." Hauseway said. "We're being targeted in a covert, systematic decapitation plot."

"So it seems, sir." Shining said. Apperently Prosser hadn't told Hauseway about knowing the killer's identity.

"So..." Hauseway paused, struggling to form his next point. "We... have to present this the right way to the Imperial Council and others, so we can maintain order from the palace."

And maintain the grasp on power. A high-ranking official had been killed on Hauseway's watch, and it could fatally undermine his brief command over the imperial institutions. If the Councilors and functionaries saw him as discredited and ignored him, would Hauseway go so far as force them all into line with the IHG? That was a huge leap from just shutting down the Court.
"I see. " Shining said. "I am surprised you want my input, sir. I have not had a reason to keep up with affairs in the upper floors of the castle since I adjourned the Imperial Court and expedited the new vizier's entry for you."

Hauseway understood the meaning instantly, but bloviated. "Hey, this has been working out to both our preferences, Shiny my boy. Did you actually enjoy dealing with the Court and councilors? Hell no you didn't. The IHG is your joy, Shiny, your pride."

Shining scooted to the edge of his seat and leaned over his ailing captain. "Sir, I did your dirty work, for the sake of Equestria sure, but mostly for you: Your aggrandizement, and your leap for destiny." He felt a tingle of terror at his own words, being so frank and honest with his superior. "This nihilistic grab for power, for power's sake, was supposed to be a worthwhile bargain for Equestria. Yes, you got to be in charge, but we got our peace back."

Hauseway didn't meet Shining's gaze, feigning nursing his headache as he stared at the floor.

"You may chose to breeze past our comrade Sir Barley Bale's murder. However sir I fear that in the execution of our duties, the knights and I will be bombarded with questions about what has happened, why, how it may be prevented again-" Shining paused. "And who has sought the princess's guidance for this failure. We'll be asked this, and not have questions, because we only know what we are told."

"You want to be told something different, Shiny, eh?" Hauseway mumbled.

At that moment, staring idly out the window, Shining spotted two familiar ponies on the street.
He tapped the top of the coach "Oi, stop for a second!" Shining said.

The carriage came to a slow stop, nearly right alongside Blueblood and Sel Lech Sabonord, who eyed the ornamented coach as it pulled up. It was not much a relief for them when Shining Armor pulled the window down and stuck his head out.
"Oh, Sir Armor." Blueblood clucked his tongue. He looked past Shining to Hauseway sulking "Fancy seeing you here. Heard of what became of Barley Bale? Plenty Song just flew the coup, not ten minutes ago. I hope you lawponies didn't have any questions for her, or you'll have to commandeer a fast airship."

Nopony cared about what Plenty Song was doing. It was about the extant contest of power.
Shining paused, considering doing something risky. He glanced back at his captain. "Now is the time, captain. Do you suspect my mother for Barley Bale's murder? If so, we should squeeze her allies for information. If not, we should enlist them to find the real culprit. SIr, this is how we absolve you and prove your right to govern."

Hauseway immediately realized the position Shining was putting him in. It was also an unsubtle jab for Hauseway's aggression at the gatehouse, the night of Fancy Pants's murder. "You're a cheeky lad, Shiny, and your timing is crass, inappropriate." He grunted. He slumped slightly. "I'll have more to say later. I have no comment in front of those jokers."

Fine, he wasn't going to get any support. Shining knew he was pushing the limits, but Hauseway was really out on a limb and would have a hard time punishing him. That was some comfort. "Apologies, captain." He turned back to Blueblood and Sel Lech. "Noble sirs, I must ask plainly, whether you know who killed Barley Bale."

Blueblood and Sel Lech traded stoic glances.
"There are suspicions." Sel said with a shrug.

"No comment." Blueblood mumbled, staring into the pavers. Then an idea visibly ran through the stallion's head, giving him a jolt as he raised his head. "Ah, but there is a certain lead! My friend Deeper Frie Fellowship, who was poisoned last month, you know. The two deaths are connected, I'm sure of it."

Sel Lech threw his comrade an incredulous look. "This again? Sir Deeper's death could not have been more different than this latest murder. You're going to mislead the imperial authorities on wild hunches?"

Blueblood huffed. "I'm not going to give up on my friend's memory that easily, boy."

"Come on, even Aurthora knows when a poor soul is well dead and buried." Sel rolled his eyes. "The timing seems crass, when Sir Bale is probably still attracting flies. Wouldn't you agree, Lord Armor?"

"Crass only if you don't see the connections! Let's help the imperial officials stop these senseless killings." Blueblood stomped his hooves.

Sel grunted in annoyance. "Velvet's going to kick your ass if her son tells her about this."

"Is that a threat? I've half a mind to box you, boy." Blueblood harrumphed.

Shining felt foolish for bothering. He tapped the roof of the coach, and they started moving again, leaving the stallions to argue in the street.
Shining stewed in silence as Hauseway watched.

"Nice try, Shiny. If those idiots had played along, you might have had me in a bind there." Hauseway said with a slight chuckle. "You think I'd gun after Velvet for this? Hell, she might not have done Barley Bale in, or even Fancy Pants. Definitely Deeper Fellowship though. I give that an eighty percent chance on that."

"Yeah..." Shining said sourly. "And yet, and yet..." He shifted his whole body towards Hauseway, underlining the gravity of the next words. "You made your play for control, sir. But after poaching the Blackhorn from her, you've done absolutely nothing against my mother. You threatened to kill her, nay, TRIED to kill her with your own hooves at the gate. But when you had the Imperial Council bent over your hoof, you did nothing with it?" He sighed.

A slightly glumness overcame Hauseway's smug expression. "Expecting me to spill some complex plan, Shiny? Or some 'road to Damascolt' moment?"

"Nothing of the sort, sir. Just..." Shining sighed. "I thought I might hear something that would restore my respect. After the shuttering of the Court-"

"You did that! You did that!" Hauseway snarled, waving his hoof accusingly. "You were the one who marched into the Court under arms, waving a scroll to make that dumbass Blackhorn vizier!"

Shining felt a sinking feeling. His superior might be beyond saving. Then there was nothing to be gained from the conversation anymore. The IHG captain and the second-in-command were going to stay at odds. "By your leave, my lord captain, I will ask Princess Celestia to relieve me of my duties. Perhaps I'll even be stripped of my knighthood altogether." It was half-bluff, half-threat, half-burning guilt that propelled his words. He didn't want to be tied to his captain's endeavors anymore.
It was a desperate gamble as well. There was no guarantee, if Shining even made it to speak to Celestia, that she saw things his way rather than Hauseway's.

Hauseway paused, then nodded in approval. "Shiny my boy, coltscout and cinnamon bun that you are... I'd be well rid of you." He knocked on the roof and carriage rolled to a stop. "Since Barley Bale is dead we are the last ponies who head what I said last week. The nature of power is that it is self-justifying. Many things are power- Shiny, we both know you're a popular lad. It's not just the knights. The common soldiery, all the dipshit city guardsponies, random court wenches, look at you like you're some chivalric icon, instead of what you are, which is a stupid boy who has no idea what they're doing."

Shining accepted the abuse silently. Hauseway was fairly liberal with his diminutions, but rarely so harsh.

"If you give up your position, you'll be at my mercy. You know that, right? Your mother too." Hauseway continued. "I could have you transferred to the ass-end of the earth, some smelly outpost in Chitin constantly under attack by the damn bugs, or some barbarous Zebra pit. You won't hear about what happens to your family for months and months, because they won't waste any dragonfire on you, boy. This is who you're messing with."

"Is it so? I see a stallion." Shining said.

"Yes your a cheeky lad for sure. It's a crying shame you don't see things my way. We really could have been a powerful axis in the Council." Hauseway pushed the door open. "Get out. Go snog your secret whore, cool off, realize the mistake you're making. This is all water under the bridge, if-and-only-if you stop acting like a prideful moron, and start behaving like a god damn knight." He waved Shining out. "I'll be waiting at the top of the castle."

Egomaniac. Shining disembarked from the carriage and watched it speed away. Captain Hauseway, for all his provocation, clearly still wanted Shining on his side. If his authority as captain wasn't going to cow Shining, he was going to try threats. Would pleading come next?
It was all so miserable. A stallion was dead and nopony seemed to care except for how it fit into their carrousel of schemes and conspiracies. Poor Barley Bale. Shining hardly knew the stallion but still felt bad for whomever cared for him.

"Or maybe... This is what I wanted?" Shining wondered aloud. "Don't I want this imperium, dragging its extremities ponderously, cleansed, disciplined, and made holy again?"
As he often did, he looked up at the southern watchtower. "I'll be seeing you soon, my empress. And I'll ask if the coup was too far, and I should be penitent, or if it I did not go not far enough..." He scowled. "And thus I should be doubly penitent."

When her friend had not arrived for thirty minutes past the arranged rendezvous, Cadenza began to worry. Shining Armor was rarely late, and never flaked on plans without advanced notice. Something must have happened. She was about to go looking for him when there was a quick rap on the door, and a few moments later Shining let himself into the tiny room: The private reading rooms of the University library were in high demand, but the University's conclave president, Semaphore, had been one of Cadence's professors when the princess was still attending; A little favor for some privacy was not hard to swing.

Cadence would read a concealed worry on Shining Armor's face. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Not really. My captain might have killed Barley Bale. He might kill me too." Shining said. "I shouldn't stay long. I'm going to force an audience with Princess Celestia to get this resolved. That puts me in an awkward position since Prosser had indicated to me he's investigating a Succession."

That was quite a bit for Candence to take in at once. "Shining..." She paused, sighing. "Shining Armor, has there been anything else happening that I should know about?"

"Let me check." Shining pretended to check a chain watch. "Hmm, no, princess. That's about all."

"Very funny." Cadence nodded. "Except not at all. Captain Hauseway killed Barley Bale? Are you sure?"

"No I'm not sure at all, but either he did, or my mother did, or the same mysterous ponies who killed Fancy Pants did it." Shining took a seat next to her.
Shining avoided meeting her gaze. Cadence looked at him with eyes full of concern he didn't deserve, not when he was so full of angst and treachery. She was just too earnest, and he was too much his mother's son. Where would she be if he got everything he wanted? Shining flooded his mind with nonsense thoughts to avoid confronting such questions.
"Princess, nevermind these... meaningless things of mine. We're meeting to discuss your project."

"I know why we're meeting, but do you think I can ignore your problems?" Candece asked softly. "You can't save the world if your dead, Shining."

"I'm not saving the world." He promised.

"I might be exaggerating a bit. Nevertheless-" Cadence indicated towards a binder in front of them on the reading room's table. "I wanted to show you some more records from the solar monastery the brother, Manered, supplied to me. His math was wrong, but it underestimated the scope of the problem. If the monks measured correctly, the sun is off its course." She lifted the binder and set it behind her. "Did you say Councilor Prosser was looking into the Succession rituals? If so I should speak to him."

"He's just a blowhard, just trying to underscore a point he was making about Celestia." Shining said. He was somewhat thankful Cadence was digressing from his issues. "If you give me the sun records, I'll ask her highness about them, assuming things go well for me."

Cadence smiling understandingly. "Do you think I haven't tried talking to her about it?" By the tone of her voice it was clear that it hadn't gone well.

"I see." Shining gnawed her lip. "It was foolish of me to think you hadn't." He stood up. "Cadence, princess... I have dishonored you and my apologies mean nothing in the face of my actions. And those actions-" He closed his eyes and shook his head. "betray my sinfulness."

Cadence fussed with her mane for a bit. "Is this about that buisness in the throne room, the 'coup' as you call it? I told you it's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal. I've done nothing but make your life worse since begging you to help us that night." Shining fretted. "I repeatedly embarrassed you in front of the court, then I-" He shook his head, falling into a kneel at Cadence's hooves, face to he floor, penitent. "Princess I have no right to beg you again, for forgiveness or anything else. I surrender myself to your absolute mercy. You have more right to decide my fate than Celestia."

Cadence put a hoof on Shining's head and sighed. "Shining dear, what in heaven's name is going on inside that brain of yours?" She nudged him back, making him stumble a bit, but it had the intended effect of making him face her. "Worse ponies than you have tried and failed to control me. I see as clear as day how much you worry for my sake. But like you said yourself, Shining, I'm an alicorn. I don't have to listen to anypony I don't want to, because nopony can coerce me to do anything."
She slid off the couch and crouched beside him. "And doing what I want sometimes means doing what other ponies want, because they're important to me. Yes, the court frustrated me, and so did your interruptions, and so did the 'coup' but none of that is catastrophic for our friendship. I know you're just a pony. I don't say that as an alicorn, but as a fellow pony who has made plenty of her own mistakes. I'm not a bit player in your story, Shining, so I don't obsess over how you've treated me even if you do."

Those words were equal part hopeful and hurtful. Shining didn't want to face her, but he had to. "I'm trying to take responsibility for my actions, when I can't anywhere else."

"No Shining you're trying to have me take responsibility for your actions. In some way, I guess that's my responsibility as princess." Cadence stood up, sighing again. "But I've tried and again to say that I don't really want that, at least between us. I am your friend, not your liege. I want a friend's loyalty, not a knight's."

Such a confession, earnestly expressed, was probably what Shining needed to hear. "Cadence, Cadenza-" He cleared his throat. "That makes me... very happy." He met her stare for but a moment. "I'm embarrassed to think about how a month ago I would have a panic attack even contemplating you. Now, I'm more embarrassed still to admit it." All the same... "I hope you can understand, as a friend, that its a knight's obligations I have to fulfill, regretfully above that of a friend's. If you are not my liege, the other one is."

"That she is." Cadence said, voice tinged with sadness. "Tell her you have my full support."

"That's not going to go over with my captain there. He's going to contest it." Shining pointed out.

Cadence nodded. "And Celestia will overrule him. I stand by my words. If I have to sacrifice, I will, for your sake, Shining."

"That's... That's not acceptable Cadence. I can't let you say things like that." Shining stuttered. "My princess it's your prerogative-"

"Shining you dolt. You're my friend and it's my right to say things like." Cadence was finally getting annoyed with Shining Armor's behavior. "Tell Celestia everything. If you don't I'll know, and that will really break my heart. I know it's just hyperbole when you say you might die, but I can't even stand the thought of you getting in trouble when I have to power to prevent it. What use is this nepotistic empire if I can't protect one pony though it?"

It rankled Shining slightly, but it was something he would have to accept. "Yes Princess Cadence." He bowed. "This issue will be behind me next time we talk."

"Good, We will have to talk at length about these records from the solar monastery." Cadence tapped her chin. "It might be better if we go ahead and meet at the monastery itself, if you can set aside the time for the trip. I know this is a convenient hideaway-"

"I will make the time, princess." Shining bowed again. "Thank you very much forgiving me."

"Oh come off it. There wasn't that much to forgive, besides you being an overly apologetic colt." Cadence smiled. "I will see you around the castle."

So Shining left to face danger.

And danger was lying in wait.
Councilpony Prosser saw Hauseway stalking back in front of Princess Celestia's quarters and assumed it meant trouble for him. He weighed just ignoring the IHG captain, but thinking better of leaving the torpedo out for somepony else to trip on, approached the doors as though he were heading in to seek the princess.

"Ah, hello lord captain." Prosser nodded. "Checking on the sentries?"

Hauseway stopped his pacing, glancing between Prosser and the stoic knights flanking the princess's door. "No." He snarled.

"Ah. Well, then I suppose you're here for the same reason I am, to let her highness know about our late friend Barley Bale." Prosser said. "I'm getting deja vu. Feels like just yesterday we were going in to tell her about Fancy Pants. Say, are you going to Pants's memorial? The date's finally been set."

Hauseway didn't spare an answer, dwelling on private thoughts.

Was the IHG captain becoming a liability? Prosser had been mostly content to let Hauseway bang his head against the obstacles of governance and ruling through the Imperial Council. Because Hauseway had felt secure and unchallenged for power after his coup, he left the institutions in place and didn't rock the boat. If Hauseway started to feel insecure, he would become less predictable- And how could the captain feel otherwise after Barley Bale's murder?
It might be time to put feelers out for bringing Cadence back, Prosser thought. Hauseway's political defeat would have to be swift and total, or he'd counterattack. A plan would have to be carefully devised.

"There's rumors that Lady Plenty Song is involved in the murder. It is true? I know you were counting on her for Estates support." Prosser said.

Hauseway jerked his head towards the earth pony. "Shut the hell up and go play with the other councilors. Those decaying geriatrics are about at your level. Drag out that dolt Prancian vizier of mine while you're at it." Hauseway barked. "Maybe together, you lot will be able to see I'm dealing with a LOT MORE IMPORTANT THINGS."

Prosser felt a bit smug to have baited out Hauseway's anger. "Oh... You're asking me to convene the Imperial Council... without you?" He asked, acting cowed by the shouting.

"I'm asking you to buck off. Is that direct enough for you?" Hauseway sneered.

Prosser exaggerated shying away from Hauseway's intense glare. "Loud and clear, lord captain." He sulked away, laughing inside at Hauseway's foolishness.

The next movement was not long in coming. The clip of Shining Armor's horseshoes on the marble floors proceeded him, as the knight approached the princess's doors.

"Took your time with that wench, eh? So you still know how to follow orders." Hauseway laughed darkly.

Shining dipped his head in acknowledgment then, with calculated haughtiness, tilted his head back so he stared down his snout at him. "Aye, sir. By the princess's grace we might see this disagreement deescalated."

"Oh yes, by her grace, and for the good of ponykind." Hauseway retorted sarcastically.

"Uhh, sir, captain, I don't wish to assume, not at all-" One of the knights on guard coughed. "But her highness the princess has not come down from the watchtower for several days. Other nobles have come away from meetings disappointed about her un-responsivity."

"Thank you sir, noted." Shining nodded to the knight. He stepped around Hauseway and let himself through the stairwell up to the top of the watchtower.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Shiny my boy, and don't get ahead of me." Hauseway followed after him.

Not much was said for the arduous climb up the tower as the stallions conserved their breath.
Shining was not thinking of much, feeling a slight anxiety for what he'd brought on himself, but mostly ruminating on Cadence's last words, her concerns for the future. Shining's ambitions, such as they were, existed in Celestia's absence; Where the empress's guidance was lacking, Shining had fancied his own system, an imagined improvement over directionless chaos but never a contest for the princess's rule.
But the other ponies thought differently, their ambitions more pointed. Hauseway's nihilistic powergrab and Prosser's succession schemes could be easily interpreted as challenges to imperial alicorn prerogative. They imagined ponies being architects of their own futures, rather than the faith and governance of the Sun and her daughter.
That placed Cadence and her investigations in a particularly tricky spot.

These thoughts had to be set aside when Shining stepped out from the stairs onto the top of the tower, into the winds and skies, where all Equestria could be surveyed and surveilled.
Princess Celestia was expecting him, her head turned slightly, so a single golden eye could watch, unblinking, her vassals' arrival.

"Princess." Shining immediately knelt. With her eye upon him he had no doubt the alicorn was able to feel his thoughts, and what borderline treasonous things he was harboring. Maybe going to see her was a bad idea while he was so stewed in bad thoughts.

"Get out the way boy." Hauseway grunted, shoving Shining aside so he could get out from the stairwell too. "Oh! Princess Celestia!" He bowed his head several times. "I request the honor of an audience, my princess, on urgent matters of the household guard."

Celestia didn't say anything for a few minutes. Her quick eye movements between the stallions was the only indication that she was not a statue (besides perhaps the etherial mane).
"You made yourself this audience, and that honor. That is how you conduct yourself." Celestia said. It was emotionless, even inflectionless. "Everything has its orbit, it's divinely planned course. I shall ask you, captain and knight both-" She turned her back on the southern sky, to face them. "Do you think your actions are impelled under your own agency, or ordained by the Sun's destiny?"
Then, all too deliberately, she arched a brow towards Shining Armor.

Shining felt lightheaded for a moment. Celestia had felt his thoughts and worries, and gave voice to them. But in so doing, didn't she answer her own riddle?
"My princess, the Sun's destiny, written by our mark's, is undeniable, but through my sins I know my will is free." Shining said.

"I smell a false dichotomy, my princess. Ponies, to our discredit, can be ensnared by other powers than your mother sun." Hauseway said.

"Like who?" Celestia immediately challenged.

"Like the demons the zebras worship, or the dead gods of the griffins. Even if they're not real divinities, they're a damn powerful social idea, which can pull a mortal down strange paths." Hauseway said, a slight smirk telling how clever he felt for the response. "We're a big country full of many ideas, and plenty of them are bad."

"What about other alicorns?" Shining asked.

That made Hauseway pause. "What're you saying? I'm talking about social constructs and ideas, Shiny boy. Can you handle the metaphor?"

"I get that, but if you're going to break the princess's dichotomous question, would you say other alicorns are also influencing ponykind?" Shining Armor asked, thinking he could play on Celestia's fascination in the Ancient Alicorns. The audience had so immediately digressed from the intended, but that was fine.

Hauseway stared into space for a while, avoiding Celestia's expectant gaze. "Err, no." He cleared his throat. "No, no I don't think so at all."

"Very well. Thank you for indulging me my question, noble sirs." Celestia nodded. "To the matter at hoof: By dint of rank you may speak first, sir captain."

"There is little to say, my princess. Your knight here has allowed himself to grow arrogant and rude, and insubordinate. I have given tasks to stem the emergency we are in, which he pridefully believes himself above the execution of. When confronted Sir Armor made an exaggerated act of saying he would resign, which of course needs your approval in order to revoke you investiture. I do not object in any way as I feel Sir Armor has become incapable of fulfilling his duties, if he is even interested in those duties any more." Hauseway said quickly. "However, however, if Sir Armor and you agree to enact on a kind of probationary service, to give him a last chance to reform back to his previously exemplary service, I would be heartened. I don't want to lose a good knight, but that's part of the reason he must go if he remains intransigent, to keep that churlish indolence of his from spreading."

"Much said, much contested." Shining Armor shrugged.

"You're going to get yourself in some shit if you play around with me Shiny." Hauseway growled.

"Language, captain." Celestia warned. "Sir Armor has rights afforded to his station which gives him leeway on some things. There may be disparagements between you. This is not unexpected." She laughed softly. "I am the final say."

"As our liege, it is so." Shining nodded.

Celestia sighed. "No point for exaggerated humility on issues like these, Shining Armor. Give your rejoinder."

Shining had a few rebuttals. He might as well deploy them in order. "Is it so, princess," He asked. "that we in an ongoing emergency?"

Celestia did not immediately answer. She looked away, her attention being drawn inexorably back to the southern skies. "We are." She murmured.

"Humph." Hauseway grunted, looking smug.

"Then it is more important than ever that the hierarchies of the state be respected, as my captain says." Shining said. "Which means authority flows first from the princess, then the Imperial Council, before I must contend with your authority, my lord captain."

Hauseway arched a brow. "Oh? Have you been paying sufficient attention? I have writs by the imperial council cosigning my most important directives from the last weeks, and specific anointed responsibilities carrying the council's full weight."

No, Shining hadn't been paying sufficient attention. It seemed Hauseway had, to his credit, covered his bases and accrued legal power to himself, rather than counting on nopony questioning the implied threat of his control of the IHG after the coup.

"I have the grand vizier's full support behind my decisions. I have the imperial council's confidence, Shining. You, on the other hoof, haven't bothered attending the council meetings." Hauseway continued. "Do you think any of the councilors would appreciate you hiding behind them? Even that irascible earth pony Prosser might shy from defending you."

Shining shook his head. "I have no intention to put the Imperial Council on the spot, and I would discourage you from doing so either if you wish to remain in their good graces, lord captain. They let you have your way precisely because you do not bother them overmuch."

"Yeah? And they like punk knights like you better?" Hauseway chortled.

However compelling the exchange, its intended audience was no longer paying much attention. Celestia was back to looking out over the city, to that ambiguous threat only she knew, somewhere out there.

But to 'win' or even survive, Shining needed her attention, and very close attention at that. She would stay aggressively aloof of talk of viziers and the Imperial Council, but Shining suspected he had something which would interest her, and very much aggravate Hauseway.
Do you hear my prayers?, Shining thought to himself. Do you ever oblige silly sinners like us?
"Well captain, I can not fault you for finding a stone to stand on after the throne room buisness." Shining said.

Hauseway choked on his breath, eyes wide at Shining's audaciousness. There was not chance of him gently forgiving Shining now.

"You have had glaring moments of hypocrisy, captain, callously subverting the vaunted hierarchy when it serves you." Shining said. Putting forward his strongest point was a gamble. "Yes I think you might be a hypocrite, captain. Veils of holiness are not unfamiliar shrouds for the depraved, against what eyes heaven must have on them."

"You're in for it now, boy." Hauseway growled, a throaty earnest threat.

But the eyes of heaven were just then turning back, Celestia's interest returning to the audience. "Find me any holiness that has not been thus tarnished." She said, a hint of a lament in her tone. "In our striving we yearn for an elusive perfection. Were it not so, we would not now be ruminating on problems between us, or of failings of our imperial state, or... many other things."

"What I've done, I've done for you, and the empire, princess. There's no hope for idealism if everything falls to shi- uh, crap!" Hauseway emphasized. "I admit ambition, sometimes fostered, often ignored. But when I think, act, and order, it is always because I hold the utter conviction of the propriety of it. Propriety in the face of my goddess and princess! Shortsighted ponies like Shining Armor don't and often can't, understand. Probably because of their own self-concerned myopia! That's why they must obey, always, always, always!"

"You must have know I was going to raise this. Is that the best defense you came up with?" It was Shining's turn to be smug.

Celestia looked expectantly to Hauseway, her expression still stoic. "I shan't be coy, lord captain. I know all that has transpired." She glanced quickly at Shining. "Explain whatever you believe needs explaining, before I come to a conclusion on what has been said, and unsaid, in this audience."

"I am guided by untiring faith, princess. You can look into my heart and know that." Hauseway said quickly. "And-What can be said for misunderstandings and confusions out of individual pony control? The kinds of social demons I spoke of, lies that mislead us, blind us, when we are looking for your light."

Shining nodded along to Hauseway's excuses. "Aye princess. All of that." He paused for a moment, considering what he might say further, or the words Cadence had entrusted to him. "I am a sinner. I will sin again, gods willing. Nay, I am dedicated to sinning again." He said, with a touch of haughtiness. "And it is by it I know the limits of grace and duty. I have only a few mistakes I truly regret, but I did wrong Cadence, which while forgiven by her, is still open to your judgement, my empress. I will not obey my lord captain's unlawful orders ever again."
It was all a bit melodramatic, and Shining didn't mean some of it, but it was a direct foil to Hauseway's words.

Celestia nodded idly. "Oh how blessed to have such eloquence at my beck. Captain, step back."

"Princess?" Hauseway asked for clarification.

"Step. Back." Celestia grabbed Hauseway in her telekinesis and dragged him, none too gently, to the far end of the watchtower. "As even while asking my forgiveness this foolish knight is betraying his princess again." She stepped forward, using her height to lord over Shining Armor. "You did not say it, Shining Armor."

Shining was mute. What did he not say, that Celestia demanded of him?

"Oh you know exactly what I mean. The pretty words 'entrusted' to you." Celestia said, fixing Shining with her unblinking stare. What penetrating terror. The full, unbroken attention of the princess was on him, and she was displeased. Very displeased. "Why? 'You have my full support', so simply said. Tell me why you withheld it."

"Because- I, princess," Shining could not bear look away. "I did not need it."

"Do we let too-assuming heretics, who believe themselves above my Sun's destiny, go about it?" Celestia demanded. "You don't have the right."

"I don't have the right?" Shining repeated.

"You were all put ordered. Cedenza gave you the words. You defy. You defied an alicorn, yet you snipe at your captain for doing the same. But when you do it, it is for noble reasons, so you reason. Ah, but when your captain thus-deludes himself just the same, it amuses you." Celestia accused, chuckling darkly at the irony. "If you had listened to what Cadence was trying to tell you, maybe you would have understood. Instead, you take the wrong lesson from her advice and her forgiveness. Perhaps that can be forgiven also."

"I do wish to be forgiven." Shining said, struggling out the words. Why was it never easy?

"But it is not easy. Life gave you the choice to indolence, noble birth, the right to carefree existence. You, virtuously, chose this path you tread. Are you indignant that it is difficult?" Celestia grilled him. "You wish, so often, for the same power as your captain has seized for himself. Is it for duty, and is it even for security as it is for him, or, something unspeakably sinister?"

The rapid barrage of crushing words all but flattened Shining to the floor.

"So, either save yourself by words, or by some other means." Celestia said. "Arrogant pony, who thinks themself above an alicorn... try yourself." She nodded to the sword at his hip. "Perhaps there is hope for the agency of ponykind. Do you dare?"

So...
"That would be fatal to me." Shining said.

"Is that what divine destiny, or pony's sinful agency, which leads you to that fate?" Celestia asked.

So, so, so... Shining was coming to the realization that Celestia really wanted him to say Cadence's message. For some reason, it was very important to the princess that he say it.

"It is no mystery. She ordered you to. That is why I accented to this audience, for what you are duty-bound to say." Celestia answered.

"No, never have I heard my princess give anypony such a dressing down as I gave just gotten, and I am... quite shaken for it." Shining said, shivering.
Alicorn mercy had been abrogated because of an inconsequential message? It made no sense,.. unless...
He felt a rush of rage that he didn't understand, so sudden and fierce he was afraid it would drive him to take up Celestia's challenge and draw his sword. Were the alicorns toying with him?!

"You're ignoring your princess again. She told you, with absolute clarity, that you must stop thinking yourself the center of everypony's universe." Celestia sighed. "I am your princess too and I mean the best for you. It is why I am here. No accident of genetics and flesh gave rise to this, which speaks at times in comforts, other times in rebukes, but always for the flourishing of her ponies. What has gotten into you, Shining Armor?"

"Must be the company I keep." Shining hissed, throwing the perplexed Hauseway a glance.

For that mere second he looked away, Shining missed a dawning realization take over Celestia's features, and as quickly be suppressed. She dwelled on that thought for a long while, even as Shining waited for her retort so the verbal bout could continue. However Celestia only sighed, holding certain remorses to herself, and turned away.
"This audience has run its course. Captain Hauseway, keep this knight away from political games. He is of the Imperial Household Guard."

What? That answer rapidly deflated Shining's ire, and he tried to blink through the returning clarity. Was that it? Had Shining really gotten away with it? All of it? Disrespecting Hauseway? Withholding Cadence's words?
There was an uncomfortable feeling of anticlimax, as though a wound trap had failed to spring shut, still lay primed. Shining only felt sour regret and still-stinging verbal wounds.

"No you have not won, Sir Armor. Though, you have gotten farther than you sister did." Celestia said softly. "Alas captain your conjecture was wrong, it is evidenced, for other alicorns reign over us still. Good day and pleasant dreams."

Yes, that was it. With that, Shining Armor decided to leave while the going was good. He expected Hauseway to lag behind and try to dispute things. The celestial princess did not seem to be open to arguments or even listening anymore.
Quickly, Shining darted into the stairwell.

Now came the difficult work of trying to interpret what had happened with the last few minutes of arguing with Celestia. Shining still felt his heart quake at the echoes of the princess's words. She could end him with a thought, and had seemed half-primed to do so. Was it a lesson in mercy after all? Perhaps Shining should dwell why the holy princess had so artfully disengaged when she sensed she had pushed her pony too far. Was that the right interpretation?

Or perhaps his 'victory', carrying on with the hypocrisy the princess had decried, was the punishment. To go forth unrepentant and heretical would damn his soul worse than Celestia could ever do. Her capitulation was meaningless if it was her divine absolution he really needed.
"Why am I such a dam fool.' He muttered to himself. "I WANT to obey. I was stubborn for no bucking reason. I'm MEANT to be wielded and manipulated by the princesses." His miserable pity lasted for a few hundred more steps.

Or maybe it just didn't make sense. And why had Celestia been so committed to maing him say it-
Shining emerged from the stairwell, coming face to face with Cadence.

"Oh, uh-" He stuttered, restarting his thoughts. "Were you waiting for me?"

"Looks like things went well for you." Cadence beamed. She draped a wing over his shoulder.

He tingled at her touch. "After a fashion. I probably don't have to worry about my captain anymore, at least." It was probably for the best not to raise any of Celestia's accusations and demands. He cleared his throat. "Princess, I'll be fully at your disposal for the issue with the sun observations. For the moment, I must beg my leave. I need a rest."

"Hey, you don't have to be so uptight and formal all the time you know." Cadence tittered. "I know it's not exactly right to celebrate, since Hauseway is my vassal too, but I'm just glad you're okay." She lifted her wing and stepped back. But her expression grew more concerned. "Don't put yourself in a position like that again. I'll help you again whenever you need it."

It would be a terrible moment for Shining to bring up he'd not invoked her help, and even gotten in tremendous trouble for doing so. "As you wish princess. I will see you later then." He bowed and passed by Cadence, destined for the IHG barracks.

Cadence watched him go with a sad smile. He didn't fool her nearly as well as he thought.

Such as it was, Shining Armor was not the center of the world, and though he retired for the day, things continued on.

The way back to her tower took Cadenza right past the meeting room of the Imperial Council.
She stopped in place, thinking about how, if Captain Hauseway were still on the Southern Watchtower trying to get a response from Celestia, she could check in on the Council without worry of there being an issue.
Surrendering to her curiosity, Cadence peeked into the meeting room.

Oh, yes, she had forgotten about the existence of Councilor Prosser, and the Blackhorn vizier which had been foisted on her, two thorny articles indeed. Her day was nearly ruined seeing them, more for the latter than the former.

"We have quorum, but you want to drag out proceedings because Hauseway isn't here? That's just ludicrous, ludicrous!" Prosser was saying, leaning on the long conference table as he harangued the other councilors. "Months would go by between Hauseway's appearances in this room, and Fancy Pants would conduct the buisness of the state regardless. We can't get hung up on one pony."

The councilors affected shrugs and groans, unwilling to engage in an argument.
Out of them, the cyan unicorn at the head of the table, robed in silk, Seacrest Blackhorn, was the most nervous for the shouting, and thus the natural target. "It is untoward to, uh, compare me to my predecessor, sir councilor." Seacrest said, with very little conviction behind the words.

"Apologies lord vizier, but even you could admit the novelty of your position, to you, and you to us, and so on. We understand why you don't lead discussion and let Hauseway lead things, but it means we don't understand your leadership style either. It's only for this lack of understanding that I invoke Fancy Pants, see?" Prosser said.

Seacrest sighed and lay his head on the table. "What is even on the agenda, Councilor? What's so urgent?"

"We have Barley Bale's death to put out a statement on! If no royal nominee is forthcoming, we must also chose a new City Guard captain. There can be no delay!" Prosser pounded the table. "Now! We have to chose now! Surely you have some candidates in mind for the open captaincy, lord vizier? We have to be expedient, my lord."

Seacrest, so obviously exhausted in the role he'd been forced into, slightly perked up. "I might have a few ideas."

Cadence backed out of the room and shut the door. Evidently Prosser would have the run of the Council for as long as Hauseway was occupied.
Who knew what he intended. Hopefully he wouldn't try to ask Cadence to get involved with the Council or Court again, and she could pursue her own interests in peace.
And if Prosser and Hauseway were occupied fighting each other, maybe they would keep their hooves off Shining Armor too.

Twilight Velvet entered Canterlot Castle and descended to the dungeons, on her way to visit her husband. A few of the IHG knights hanging around shared the gossip that Shining Armor had angered Captain Hauseway over something. That was interesting, but not Velvet's immediate concern.

What was her concern was that she was not Night Light's only visitor.
Illustrious Valor was sitting outside Night Light's cell, yapping about the weather.

"She came in about an hour ago." The jailor leading Velvet said. "I've seen her about with Sir Armor so I assumed she was a family friend. Nay?"

"Close enough." Velvet said.

Night Light, sitting up on his bed, and Iillor by the bars, turned as Velvet approached.

"Hello." Night Light gave a little wave.

"Yo, Lady Velvet. I thought I'd be coming here." Iillor beamed.

"Doing well dear?" Velvet asked. "Have enough reading material?"

"Yes, and no. Bring some real books next time." Night Light chuckled, tapping a hoof on the pile of books on the shabby table by the bed. "This tractates and political pamphlets are just too dry."

Bearing a half-smirk, Velvet waved her horn, and a new stack of books shimmered into existence next to the first pile.

"Hey! No spells." The jailor chided. "And I'll be checking those books later for contraband between the pages. Sorry, but even you can't flout the rules ma'am."

"Understood, understood. I'm sorry." Velvet laughed. "No more spells, I promise."

"Right. Don't make me come back with a blocking charm." The jailor threatened. She trotted back towards the access hall. "That just makes everypony's day worse. You'll make everypony in the block mad."
The political prisoners who filled out Canterlot Castle's dungeon expected a certain amount of comfort, which included use of their most simple magic. Using a haemony charm to stop the local flow of magic was an effective threat against repeat offenders. It was miserable to be cut off from magic, a punishment for common prisoners, not nobles.

Looking over the titles of the new books, Night Light nodded his approval. "Thank you, these look interesting."

"The ones that look worn, I borrowed from Blueblood, so don't misplace them." Velvet said.

Or trade them away, Night Light understood. "If you take requests, I heard there was a new fencing guide circulating the Baltimare presses right before I was incarcerated. If you see a copy in the Canterlot bookstores, I would be very interested."

"Since you asked nicely, I would be happy to." Velvet nodded. She trotted up and nudged Iillor. "Did you tell him about Barley Bale? Surely you weren't really talking about the weather."

"Barley Bale?" Night Light queried.

"He met a gruesome end to a psycho with a Star's sacrifice blade." Iillor said. "Or so I've heard."

"A what?" Night Light asked again. He was beginning to realize how quickly things had changed while he was in the dungeon.

"My my, sounds like a dreadful topic. Hardly the thing I'd wish to talk about." Velvet said emphatically. "Mis Valor, can you wait for me at the hall? I'd like to have a few words alone with my husband, and we will leave together."

"Sure." Iillir shrugged, hopping to her hooves.

Night Light gestured to the cell across from his, whose occupant never lit their lantern. "We're never entirely alone here, Velvet."

"Don't worry, I see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." Came a whisper from the darkened cell. "Just lend me another book some time."

Eyeing the darkness until she was satisfied, Velvet leaned against the bars, waving Night Light closer. "It's all fine. There is nothing improper to discuss."

Night Light got off the bed, stretched, and stepped over the bars. "Who was that mare? She said she was a new agent of yours, but I feel as though I have seen her before, in some other context."

Velvet tapped her chin, thinking how much to divulge and how. "Mis Illustrious Valor is a primordial Nightmare creature that has taken pony form. Her ambitions are not entirely clear to me, but she has a grudge against the Stars."

"Velvet what the hell. Why would you trust a Nightmare? The double game with Phyte is dangerous enough." Night Light groaned.

Velvet leaned in closer. "She was the one who killed Fancy Pants." She whispered. "For weeks after, she was hovering around Shining Armor, pestering him. The Nightmare's chaotic ambitions would have led to conflict between them, so I am saving Shiny by enlisting her. Besides, I don't intend on doing anything to get on her bad side. Gods willing, she tries to kill Phyte, and takes care of a problem for me, or gets taken care of herself."

Night Light shook his head incredulously. "Do not be given over to hubris Velvet. If that pony really is a Nightmare, you are being manipulated to her ends."

Velvet shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe she will become a fast friend."

"If she visits again I will make my judgement of her." Night Light said, reluctantly accepting that this was another thing he would have to go along with for Velvet. "Don't keep her waiting. The sooner you win the sooner I will be out of here."

Velvet pulled her husband closer to the bars and kissed him on the cheek. "I will come back soon, and heavens believe me I've been on Shining's case to come visit, but next time I'm not taking no for an answer."

"It's fine let him be. Shining apparently has other nightmares to worry about than you telling what to do." Night Light's smile was weighed down by concern. "I love you. Stay safe out there"

"I love you too." Velvet gave him another kiss, then trotted after Iillor.