//------------------------------// // Mission 4, Part 1: Overwatch // Story: Semper Pie // by deathtap //------------------------------// Tourmaline put his binoculars down and stretched his back. How long had it been since he’d seen any movement in the mansion? Two, no, three days. How had he ended up here? While his peers had moved on to actually guarding the border, he had been temporarily transferred from the Border Guard. He was now working with the Night Guard, but even then his mission was kept secret for the most part. All he knew was that it had something to do with getting to the bottom of the foalnappings. He had read about them and wondered why it never seemed to get any better. Then something happened and it really did stop. There was a conspiracy theory that the House of Lords did not want the blame pinned on them and had put one of their best on the case with any and all resources at his or her disposal. So, Tourmaline was somehow selected because of that. After months of investigations, going over evidence, interviews with witnesses and victims, all his conclusions boiled down to one locality. Problem was, nopony had seen or heard anything from the owner of the mansion in years; an outspoken mare by the name of Fleur de Blanc, a Baronet that had vanished over a decade ago to explore the lands beyond Equestria’s borders. He read about her lavish farewell party with Centerlot’s elite that even Her Highness graced, making an appearance. According to the paper, it was a terribly exciting time. There was always something about her in the papers after that. She even had a small column that published her small blurbs. Then, about two years after that, everything stopped. There was one small article on a fourth page corner where an editor added a footnote asking the public about what had happened to the Baronet. That was it. After that, there was nothing at all in the papers. Interviews with her peers, friends and family didn’t really lead to much. The Baronet faded away into obscurity, during that time she had married a wealthy stallion who wanted a title to his name. He had died shortly afterwards from a tragic accident wherein the stallion’s entire fortune was passed on. She was tried, for the circumstances were slightly too convenient with high debts gnawing at her. She had whittled away much of her personal fortune through unknown means. After her marriage, she was not only wealthy, but increased her worth by unknown amounts. That was what made her suspicious. Where was she making all these bits? She also did not declare it, so the banks could not tax it and when asked to provide evidence of her wealth, she would only state what was already known. Her husband’s fortune, give or take a few thousand bits. Ever since then, there had always been an eye kept on the Baronet and her estate, but she spent so much time away that the government tended to forget about her. Until recently. It had all changed when news of the foalnappings made its rounds in the papers and the stories of the freed slaves and their harrowing experiences at the hooves of their captors. Despite the overwhelming number of victims from outside of Equestria’s borders, the courts only declared actual Equestrian subjects to have their cases explored. Banished and exiled ponies lost that right and were not considered subjects of Her Highness’ kingdom. And even Princess Celestia had to obey the law. Tourmaline had been given this case by the Night Guard. He had spent a long time, reading over documents and records regarding the Baronet’s account in the Royal Bank of Equestria, specifically the Canterlot branch. A lot of deposits were made of huge sums of money from all over the southern parts of the kingdom, a little too close to the newly annexed area. It fit too perfectly considering the circumstances. But how had she pulled it off for so long without any witnesses? She had to have created a system within the capitol itself. And the amounts? Large sums. Some of them would put her earlier fortune to shame. Then again, her withdrawals were just as embellished. So, she never really gained much and she constantly seemed to be on the verge of bankruptcy. How could anypony live this way? He checked his watch and sighed. Watch Tower would be along soon to take over for him. The earth pony Night Guard kept to himself mostly, but he was quite talkative once you got him to open up a little. Problem was that, during this mission, he refused to say a single word for the entire duration of his shift. This made it impossible to be with him for the whole duration of the watch. Unlike the Royal Guard, Border Guards aren’t taught to stand for hours on end like a living statue. There was never a need to. So, Tourmaline had decided that it would be better if they split the watch into two halves. That way they’d be more refreshed when the other took over, instead of both of them staying up for the whole thing. It was a blatant lie, of course. Tourmaline just couldn’t stand the prolonged silence. If the stallion was aware, he made no sign of it. Something caught Tourmaline’s eye and he picked up his binoculars and focused around the front gate. Something was happening, but the clouds had descended from the sky along the mountain and through the forest, bathing the entire area in a translucent fog. It wasn’t thick, the thick fog would not settle in until just before dawn, but it was enough to obscure things at the distance they were at. The edge of the treeline of the large estate was the safest place for them to sit and observe. Ever since the foundation of Freeport strange things had been happening all over the southern parts of the kingdom. What was especially disturbing was the involvement of so many Border Guards in the slave trade. There were also disturbing rumors that ponies within both the Day and Night Guards also had their hooves in it. That was why Tourmaline was chosen to help. He was too new to be involved, and was trusted with a specific branch of the Night Guard that worked directly under the Princess herself. The Royal Guard had it tough. Both the Day and Night Guards were put on high alert to watch out for anything suspicious, which made former friends start suspecting each other. That wasn’t helpful. So, to prevent further false accusations, a special taskforce was formed between the House of Lords and the High Council. They would each pick ponies that they thought were trusted and thrust them together in hopes of rectifying this blemish on ponykind. Over the last few months, plenty of Guards and even some prominent members of society were caught and brought to justice. However, the founders were still at large and according to a very secret report from Freeport, several prominent members of Canterlot’s extreme elite were involved. This meant that even members of the House and Council were still under investigation. Tourmaline shuddered at that thought. He could not imagine an investigation of the kingdom’s most trusted aides and advisors and political leaders. What would that say about the kingdom as a whole? As abhorrent as they were, Griffons accepted slaves as part of their lives and had strict rules governing the ownership of individuals as property. In Equestria, there was no such thing. Slavery had all but been banned in Equestria since before the rule of Discord. Still, knowledge of this report had been leaked and it had a mixed effect on the High Council and House of Lords. Some Lords began suspecting others and trying to find evidence, while others had decided to keep away until the matter had been solved bringing the external governance of Equestria to a near standstill. The closest to the House of Lords came as a close friend of one of the Lords was indeed involved, but had committed suicide before the Guard could get to him. As for the High Council, their advice was met with heavy criticism and most members did not even show up unless specifically summoned by Her Highness herself to the Solar Court. And then there was this mansion sitting at the base of the mountain, towards the northern part. It was near a dense wood and had access to a small river. It was suspected that foalnapped ponies were brought to this mansion, loaded into barrels and then set adrift down the river where a barge would collect them and sail around Equestrian waters to what was Lost Hope. That was mere speculation, but a barge would have been more likely than any other type of ship to avoid garnering attention and to be able to float down a river that could get fairly shallow should the pegasi neglect their duties and allow the river to run dry, which tended to happen on this side of Canterlot’s mountain. “What’s going on?” Tourmaline made a face as he turned his head to see the Night Guard silently walking, coming to a stand next to him. He reached into his saddlebag and removed his own binoculars and placed them over his eyes and looked towards the main gate. “Not sure. A chariot’s just arrived. Dunno who’s in it, but from the looks of things the escort doesn’t look happy that the gates aren’t being opened.” Tower narrowed his eyes. “I can’t make out from up here. Can’t you use your magic?” “Even if they don’t see the glow from my horn, some unicorns can tell when another is casting magic close by. Worth the risk?” There was a moment where Tower contemplated the question. “Do you think it’s worth the risk?” “Personally? No. For all we know it could be an angry neighbour with his friends complaining about something or rather. Or it could be a delivery of something expensive and heavy. We can’t blow our cover for something mundane.” Tower pondered for a moment. “I agree.” “Shall we wait or head on inside?” “Our orders are to observe and report. Once we’ve performed those duties we’ll have our orders,” Tower replied. “Although…” “Although?” Tourmaline prompted after Tower did not elaborate. “Although it’s strange that this is the only movement we’ve seen all this time.” They continued to observe as the group at the gate were getting increasingly boisterous from getting attention from the mansion. After a while, the front lawn illuminated briefly as somepony opened the main door and headed towards the gate. There was some commotion, a showing of weapons, then some more shouting before the stallion behind the gate unlocked it and swung it open. As the chariot continued onwards, Tower kept his eye on the stallion locking the gate back up while Tourmaline focused on trying to see what would need such a heavy escort. He kept on watching until the chariot came to a stop in front of the main door. Again, a bright streak of light lit up the area in front of the mansion and Tourmaline gasped by what he saw being carried by two of the escorts into the building. “See something?” “There’s a filly there!” Tourmaline growled standing up. “There was a filly on that cart! We have to do something!” “You’re right,” Tower nodded. “We won’t have time to send word back to barracks. If there’s a child involved, we can’t wait for further orders. We must act on our own. You understand the implication?” At first Tourmaline couldn’t believe what he was hearing. A Royal Guard ready to leap into action without any sanction from his superiors? The Border Guard operated with some independence, which was required when working along the long, expansive border. They even had a mission ranking system for Border Guards to select missions they could do. In this case, Tourmaline half expected to be met with ‘can’t, no orders’ type of response. He cracked a smile, happy that he was completely wrong. “Let’s go! Y-you lead!” Tower nodded and quickly rushed to where they had kept sheaves of paper and quickly scribbled something down. Tourmaline saw that the note stated that the two of them were on their way to the mansion right away and that they would need backup as soon as possible, that because of extenuating circumstances they were unable to report to barracks. That meant that it would be another four hours before the next shift arrived to take over the watch. Coupled with Tourmaline already fatigued for watching for the past four hours already, could they pull this off? Could they rescue the filly that Tourmaline saw? Did she need rescuing? The two of them quickly made it towards the gate making sure to keep to the shadows and trees. It was especially hard to keep quiet because the forest was littered with leaves and twigs. Even with the fog, the sound of their ‘silent’ advance probably would have altered anypony who stopped to register what was going on. Tower unsheathed his sword. “I’ll take point.” “Fine.” Tourmaline took his shield out and placed it in front of him. “Ready when you are.” They reached the front gate and started down the main pathway that led to the front. Not a soul stirred. Carefully, Tourmaline climbed up and over the fence making sure to be as silent as possible. Tower climbed the gatepost and jumped onto the no-longer manicured lawn, the long grass remaining untouched for so long. Together they took point on both sides of the driveway towards the mansion using the fog to cover their approach. Soon they spotted the chariot left unattended near the entrance. Tower suddenly stopped, did something with his hoof and dove to the right. Out of reflex, Tourmaline bounded to the left. A split second later, two crossbow bolts hit where his body was mere seconds ago. It was hard to see, but Tourmaline thought that Tower pulled something out from his chest. Definitely a bolt. They were both lucky that quarrels had not been used, but perhaps that would have brought unwanted attention. There were other estates and mansions around, some with a complete view of this one. Perhaps the occupants did not want to risk bringing any notice to themselves. Still, to be able to hit a target like that in this fog must have taken someone quite skilled. A thought passed through Tourmaline’s mind. A certain stallion who earned his Cutie Mark with the crossbow. Tourmaline could not tell how bad Tower’s wound was, but considering the angle and how they were running, he surmised it was pretty bad. The best thing to do would be to get Tower to safety and pursue the filly by himself. Letting him stay there would certainly mean death, or worse if he happened to be captured. Still, he had some basic training in the Border Guard to patch up wounds. Most unicorns had to learn some form of aid. First thing would be to get over to Tower and fix up his wounds and bring him to safety, after that head over to the mansion and rescue the filly. That seemed like a reasonable plan, although it put the filly at risk. Should he go on instead and risk Tower bleeding out? As a Guard, he should have known the risks. But if he did, would his body get discovered and ruin his rescue attempt? He heard some hoof-steps getting closer. “You sure?” a voice asked in the dark. “Yep. Saw two ponies galloping down the way. Thought I shot one right here,” another voice replied. “Though it’s hard to see in this fog.” “You said it. Hard to keep an eye out when we can’t see a thing. Didn’t see where they went?” the former asked again. “Nah. Didn’t seem to be unicorns, though. No glowing. Don’t know what or who they could be, but definitely equine. No doubt about that.” Tourmaline gritted his teeth. They’ll be looking for them now. So much for the element of surprise. A part of him realized how foolish it was to go off on their own like that, but a kid’s life could be on the line here. They had to do something. Anything. “Think they were Guards?” “Hope not. Just what we need, a Guard coming here and snooping. The Madam is already going stir crazy. Can’t believe she did that to that filly, especially since it’s her.” “Yeah. Sickens me, this. Won’t stick around after this. Jobs may be hard to come by, but even I have standards.” “Yeah. Sickens me too. And that takes a lot.” “I know.” There was a long moment of silence before a faint ringing was heard. It sounded like a small bell. “Oh, seems like they’re ready.” “So quick?” The second one took a step and stopped. “Nah. Don’t like it. Too quick. Too fast. Something’s wrong.” “Y’think?” “Feel it in my bones, I do. Don’t like it one bit. Not one bit. Nope.” Tourmaline felt his skin crawl. What did they mean ‘too fast’? What were they talking about? Were they seriously going to harm that filly? He did not have time to waste, not even to help out Tower. He grimaced in the direction he had last seen the stallion, and as quietly as he could made his way to the mansion with his body as close to the ground as possible. Tower would understand. After hearing that conversation, how could he not. They needed to get in and find that filly and get it out. As Tourmaline reached the side of the building, he pressed himself against it and listened for any noise. Nothing. Rounding the corner, he headed towards the nearest window and took a quick peek inside. Nothing but darkness. Hesitating for a moment, he quickly smashed the window as quietly as he could and reached through the broken pane to find the latch. The lever let out a high pitched squeak that seemed to scream into the night as a deafening thud signalled the metal sliding open. The noise made Tourmaline freeze. “Over there! Intruder!” One of the voices from before shouted. Without thinking, Tourmaline whipped around and raised his crossbow. A sound of air rushed by his face as a bolt has barely missed his eye and hit the window shattering another pane of glass in bits. It was now or never. Taking a quarrel, he pointed it up into the night sky and fired. He watched the emptiness above with tense anticipation and drew a faint breath of relief when the a ball of green light bathed the clouds in its viridescent hue. To be used only in the most dire of situations, they decided to use a firework as a signal to warn those in the know that were part of the mission. But that was stressed. Only in the most dire situations. Right now, Tourmaline felt that this had turned into a mission of life and death and he was going to do everything in his power to save the filly in question. He saw the two ponies galloping towards him, and using the loading technique he learned, loaded another quarrel and fired. The two ponies saw the bright glowing electrical quarrel surging towards them, which was intentional. He needed to buy time, and at the rate they were running one would have been killed and the other would have made him commit to a hoof-to-hoof fight. Knowing that he wasn’t the strongest of fighters, he used the quarrel to distract the attackers, which made them duck away to the side out of reflex. It worked, and it wanting to lose this opportunity, Tourmaline bounded through the window smashing the remaining glass panes as he landed inside with a heavy thud. A large cloud of dust billowed up from underneath him and he noticed the entire room was covered in dust-blankets, plastic sheets and other coverings for the expensive furniture. This room had not been used in a very long time, and by the looks of the contents inside, it was perhaps an old study of some sort. The books on the shelves having long been packed away, the empty space being occupied by rolls of carpets wrapped in transparent plastic sheets. But there was no time to take in his surroundings. He quickly trotted towards the large doors at the end of the room and pushed the latch down. It wasn’t locked, and Tourmaline pulled it open and stepped into a dimly lit hall. Candles had been placed strategically to give the barest amount of light, but the carpet here was clean, unlike the room he had exited from. He would have hid in that room, but the dust would give his position away in a second. But where to go? Right or left? There was a fifty-fifty chance that he would be right, but that was assuming he knew what to look for. He had no clue apart from the fact that he was searching for a filly. He needed to think quickly, he did not have the luxury of time with the two right behind him. He could not afford to get caught in a fight at the moment. He cursed himself for his lack of combat proficiency, but he had long since accepted that flaw in himself. He passed the Guard because of his brain, and he needed to use it right now. Observing the hallway once more, he noticed that the candles were located on small tables at uneven intervals along the wall. Each straight edge was met with a small, narrow, semicircular dome, which then dipped into a shallow alcove. There were plenty of these ‘dips’ along the hallway wall opposite the door, each had some sort of paraphernalia within it; a table with a vase, a fancy bust, or something of the sort. Old vases, tables with busts, a standing replica of a Buffalo totem, a string bass. To a layman, each one of them must have seemed to be worth a fortune, but in actual fact they were worthless. Cheap replicas that the sharp eye of Tourmaline’s identified right away. But why? Why the lie? From the room he had just exited, it was clear that this place had rarely been used for quite some time. Something just did not fit. He dove towards one of the recesses, one that had a table, and ducked underneath it ensuring that his flank and haunch were covered and that his head was barely visible. It was a gamble, but he had no choice. He wasn’t going to risk running in the wrong direction and running into another patrol. A two on one fight he could probably manage. More than that and he’d really be pushing his luck. Moments later the two ponies from outside pulled the open and burst into the hallway where Tourmaline hid. He watched them both, keeping silent and still. In the dim light he noticed that both were unicorns, but there was something odd about them. They were certainly ponies but not Equestrian. Perhaps from other pony nations. He tried to pinpoint where they could be from, but he just could not place them based on their appearance. “Which way he went?” “To the cellar?” They both looked down the corridor in the same direction. “How we know he didn’t go the other way?” “That would be better. Leads away. No, he must’ve gone down to the cellar. We gotta go chase! Better safe than sorry.” “Right. Let’s go!” The two ponies galloped away as fast as they could, and with all the ruckus they were making, Tourmaline easily followed from the shadows. He kept an eye out for other unwanted guests, not wanting to raise any more alarm, but it was eerily empty for a mansion this size. He followed them quietly into a dining hall, a table could have easily sat thirty or more was tucked away under huge white blankets. Tourmaline knew that the vast emptiness would have given his hoof-falls away, so he cautiously peeked out and spotted the two ponies disappearing into a hidden door at the far corner of the room. It was the server’s door, and he knew where it would go. Ensuring that there was no ambush awaiting him, he continued down the large corridor until he finally reached a large double-door. He had arrived at the kitchens. Creeping as stealthily as he was able, he knelt by the entrance and listened. He heard voices from inside, but couldn’t make out what was being said, so he pushed the nearest door open gently. “... so you’re saying that you don’t know what that light in the sky was, eh?” “No, sir. We just know that somepony jumped the gate, shot a firework into the sky and then smashed a window to get inside. Thieves maybe?” “Thieves?” the former voice laughed mirthlessly. “Look, you numbskulls, did you check to see if you were followed at least?” “Sir?” There was a loud groan. “Never mind. You two, head down to the cellar. The Lady’s making us pack-up. We’re high-tailing it out of here. That little firework display you saw was the Guard signal. If you morons actually listened to orders and headed here, maybe it’d give us time. For all we know you were followed and there are Guards right outside that door!” Tourmaline’s blood froze and he readied himself. Nothing happened. “Anyway, it’ll take the rest of the posse half an hour to get here. We need be teleported by then.” “The Lady’s going to activate it? But… the shipment…” “You think we have a choice? If the Guard catch us, we won’t just get banished. You understand what we did. What we did is worse than murder.” Tourmaline’s blood ran cold. What did he mean by that? And why did they know what the green signal meant. It could only have meant one thing. A traitor. Within the taskforce. Even with all the precautions, they were exposed. Nopony was supposed to have known the significance of the green firework, which was specifically chosen to look like something the rich would do for fun. The ones who lived in these lavish mansions were renowned for attempting to one-up their neighbours and show off their wealth. Perhaps it would was strange to see on a foggy night, but it would have aroused zero suspicion. Thinking over the time he had spent with this taskforce, Tourmaline racked his brain trying to puzzle out who could have given them away. Was it Tower? Couldn’t be. Could it? There was nopony that stood out. Perhaps it was a pony that they were reporting to. Someone higher up the chain of command? Shaking his head, Tourmaline pushed that thought away. If he started suspecting everypony, he’d be isolating himself. He had to trust those he could and, if he was wrong, hoped that others would find the truth for him. Right now, he had one mission. The mention of teleporting out of this place was a problem. Even if he traced the magical residue, him teleporting after them was extremely risky. What if they were waiting for him and others at the other end? What if the trace was a decoy, as some experts could do, and teleported them into a trap, or over an empty space? No, that was the problem now. Tourmaline would need to stop them from being able to escape via teleportation. From the sounds of it, they were trying to use a strong spell. Either for teleporting far away, teleporting a great deal of things, or both. In each case, a normal teleportation spell was out of the question. They would need a caster and a runemaster. If he was going to save that filly, he would need to stop either the caster or runemaster or kill one or the other of them. That was assuming that the runemaster had not yet finished setting up the runes. Perhaps that was what the others meant by ‘finishing fast’. Did he overreact? No, not if the life of a filly rested in his hooves. Then it wasn’t worth the risk. Why was he so convinced that the filly was in the basement anyway? Perhaps that was the safest guess. After all, these old mansions usually had a lot of underground passages that could be accessed by secret doors that usually led into the cellar. It made sense, if those who lived in the mansion knew, to use these secret passages and rooms to hide themselves from outside eyes. Was that perhaps why they saw nothing suspicious for so long? Then, if that were the case, why did that chariot suddenly show up at the front gate? Too many questions needed answers, and Tourmaline was kicking himself mentally for not concentrating on where he was. Exposed outside of a kitchen’s double-door waiting. Wait for what? Clues? As if they’d just drop on his lap. He needed to find the filly. But he had no idea where to go. If only he had a clue, a hint. As of that moment, he had no choice but to take a gamble and head down into that cellar.