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// Chapter 39: Most Suspicious! 
// Story: Caverns & Cutie Marks 
// by TheColtTrio 
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	“Alright. In an effort to save a little time, I’ll poke around different forges and see what I can gather about this alleged royal project,” Light Patch said, looking at the three mares with him. “You three can head on over to the Ash Champron to see if any local royal forces have lips loose enough to sink ships.” Pinkie giggled as Applejack and Rainbow Dash glanced at each other.
“Uh, sure. good luck with your bit,” Applejack responded, watching as the stallion walked towards a forge.
“That's just silly,” Pinkie said, bouncing ahead of her two friends. “Lips loose enough to sink ships!” She gave another burst of laughter. “How would that even work?” She faked a gasp, pointing in front of her before continuing in a deeper voice. “By Luna’s bedazzled hair! Our ship has a hole! Quick, somepony use your lips to patch the hole! No, not you Gossip; your lips are too loose!” She broke into a fit of giggles, finally overwhelmed by the images playing through her head.
“Is it just me, or does it sometimes feel like half the stuff Light Patch and his friends say sound’s like they come from another world?” Rainbow asked, hovering next to Applejack.
“Well, they have noted they come from outside of Equestria.” She rubbed the side of her head. “Least, that’s what I remember being implied by how they’ve answered.”
“You don’t think they come from space, do you? That's outside of Equestria,” Pinkie said, appearing between the two mares.
“Nah. If they were aliens, they’d have slipped up and revealed it by now. Maybe they come from the griffon kingdoms?” the rainbow maned pegasus ventured. “It could explain their knowledge of war.”
“They might be from Mina-Tos,” Pinkie mentioned. “I’ve heard from Fluttershy, who heard from Iron Will, that it can be dangerous outside of the Minotaur’s city-states’ influence.”
“We can speculate more later, girls. Right now, we’ve got some rumor’s to sniff out,” Rainbow said, pointing towards the door of the Ash Champron. “Oh, this is going to be just like that one bit in Daring Do and the Cabal of Cresthill, when she’s trying to find information as to where the villain’s secret lair is,” Rainbow whispered excitedly as she followed the others in.
The three mares sat down at a table in the back and ordered their usual ciders before glancing around. “So, either of ya’ll got a plan as to how we might gain the information we came here for?” Applejack finally asked, breaking the silence.
“We could throw a share your secret orders party,” Pinkie volunteered.
“Ah’m not sure that’d work, Pinkie. But, then again, Ah’ve seen stranger. But we should probably try something else first,” Applejack noted.
“How about we split up then?” the party mare asked.
“Seriously Pinkie?” Rainbow Rolled her eyes. “No, what we need to do use use our feminine charm like Daring Do did in-”
“That sounds more like something Rarity would be better at,” Applejack flatly responded with. “How about we just go over to that stallion’s table and ask him? In, uhh...” She paused trying to find the right words.
“Secret?” Pinkie hazarded. “Underhoofed? Classified? Esoteric?” Applejack shook her head. “What about ambiguous? Or maybe undisclosed? Oooh!” Pinkie squealed pointing a hoof at the thesaurus she was suddenly holding. “Here’s a good one; how about enigmatical? No? Okay, then what about veiled? Or shrouded? Or what about cryptic?”
“Roundabout. In a roundabout way,” Applejack finished.
“Right,” Pinkie said, throwing a small salute before rushing over to the stallion’s table, leaving Applejack and Rainbow in the dust. “There aren’t any empty tables, so can my friends and I sit with you?” she asked, plopping down next to the stallion, causing him to jump in surprise and wheel his head around to look at the mare. He glanced back at the table he’d watched the three sit down at after they’d first come in.
“But don’t you hav-” he began.
“It’s taken!” the pink mare shot back, her friends getting over their shock to join her. The stallion glanced over at several of the other empty tables. “They’re all taken too.” He opened his mouth. “Reserved,” she said, cutting him off without breaking eye contact.
“It’s best you just give up. I know my friend. she’s a hard mare to beat in a game like this.” The stallion glanced between Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. “Trust me, she can keep it up all day. Right, Applejack?”
The farm pony grimaced as she remembered the one time she’d been the focus of Pinkie’s weapon grade chattering. “Trust me, partner, this is a battle that ain’t worth fightin’.”
The stallion sighed; as a pony in the militia, he’d at least learned to know when he was beat. “Yeah, sure, you can share my table.” He glanced at the three mares again. Well, at least they aren’t ugly, he thought to himself. And who knows? Maybe they’re mares worth fighting for. He scooted aside as Applejack sat down next to him.
Time to see how much Ah might remember from my time with Aunt and Uncle Orange, Applejack thought. “My name’s Applejack, and these two are my friends; Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie,” the farm pony said, pointing to each of her friends in turn. “And what’s your name?”
“I’m Bronze Flanchard,” he said, smiling at Applejack. “If you don’t mind me asking, what are three beautiful mares doing in here? It’s mostly the army and militia, and the rest are from the royal guard or castle servants. It’s really uncommon to see townsponies in here.”
“Well, uh,” Applejack began, not sure how to phrase her question. Before she could, however, Rainbow Dash leaned over onto the Bronze colored earth pony.
“We’ve heard this little rumor floating around that’s thrown us and other friends of ours into a little bit of a tizzy,” she said in the most feminine voice she could muster. “You see, we’ve heard that apparently the militia and guard have been called to action somewhere, and we’re all worried about what we’re to do without all you brave and handsome stallions to prot-” The voice had finally caught up to Rainbow as she broke into a small coughing fit.
“Like she’d said, we’d heard that the militia and guard had been called up to go somewhere.” Applejack quickly picked up, diverting the militia pony from the blue pegasus. “Us and several of our shopkeeper friends are concerned that all of the city's protection is being taken away for no good reason.”
Ah hah. Shopkeepers looking out for their bottom lines, Bronze Flanchard mentally noted. Still though, at least they're nice about this. “Well,” he said quietly leaning inwards, “I can’t say too much. Yes, the militia has been called to serve. And some of the castle guard is also being moved. But the town guard and most of the castle guard is being left in place,” He finished. Before he could say anymore, a unicorn in slightly fancier armor entered.
“Okay militia, it’s time to get back to the barracks,” the unicorn said.
“Well, I’d hate to leave you mares, but duty calls. I’ll look you up when I get back, though,” he said, downing the last of his drink before dropping some coins and following the other militia out.
The three mares continued to ply the other ponies in the tavern for a bit longer, but only getting minor variants of what they’d already heard in return. The three had once again retreated to their original table to go over what they’d found, when they all glanced up at the door opening to see Light Patch clumsily enter. He glanced around and quickly spotted the mares. With a slightly hasty and clumsy gait, he managed to get to their table and plop down in a seat.
“You okay, Patch Work?” Pinkie asked. “You looked like you were walking around on stilts or something.”
“I uh… I got shoed,” Light Patch said, looking down at his hooves. He noticed in his peripheral vision the looks of confusion on the girls. Huh, wow, I can see so much in my peripheral vision now. It must be the much larger eyes. It’s amazing how much this is improved, kind of like my hearing with my ears and- He cut himself off before that thought could get to its disastrous end. “I was talking to a farrier about the royal project, and he asked me if I was in to get shoes put on. I figured since he’d already confirmed he was doing stuff for the royal project, he wouldn’t have time.” Light Patch sighed again and lifted his front hooves up so the mares could see the horseshoes on them. “Turns out he had time to fit me in really quick, and I couldn’t refuse without looking shadey. So I’ve got horseshoes now.”
The girls giggled for a few minutes before they calmed down and the two groups shared the information they’d gathered. “Well, sounds like we’ve gotten some good information. And it’s starting to get late. We should head back and meet with the other group now,” Applejack said, looking at the others. With a collective nod, the groups headed out Light Patch trailing slightly behind.
“At least I’m not stuck with high heels,” Light Patch muttered to himself as he shakily followed the girls.


* * *


Fluttershy trotted through the hallways, glancing behind herself nervously every few steps. She hadn’t seen what was on the letter Wits End had given her, but whatever it was, she was sure that if she got caught with it, she, Wits, and probably a lot more ponies would be in a lot of trouble.
For a moment, she wondered if she should read the letter before delivering it. The pink-maned shook her head, clearing her mind of that thought. “I couldn’t do that,” she muttered. “It might be personal, like…” Fluttershy frowned. Wits End might have that skill card for flirting, she thought, but I don’t think he’d do something like that on somepony like… Well, I don’t think Purple Heart would like that.
She glanced up from her reverie. “There’s the dragon tapestry,” she said to herself, turning the other way to face the stairway. “Second floor…” she muttered, following her own directions, “go left… third room on the right.” Fluttershy stopped in front of the door. She swallowed nervously, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
A few minutes later, she knocked again, this time hard enough to make a sound.
“Enter,” Amber’s soft voice sounded from the other side of the door.
Fluttershy opened the door slowly, peeking through the frame. “Um, excuse me, Princess. Do you have a minute?” Amber looked up from the book she was reading and smiled when she recognized the yellow pegasus.
“Of course,” she replied, beckoning for Fluttershy to come closer. “Purple Heart is out practicing until dinner, so I have some time.”
“Oh, thank you.” Fluttershy closed the door behind her. “How is he doing? I hope he’s not too badly hurt.” Shaking her head, Amber gestured for the pegasus to sit.
“He’s doing okay, I guess,” she answered, her smile shifting into a look of concern. “He had me worried before his first match, but he seemed to bounce back afterwards. I guess some rest after a nice workout, albeit painful, must have helped him.”
Fluttershy frowned, wondering if she would have to talk to the purple stallion later. “Well, I… suppose that’s good.” After a moment, she reached into her saddlebag. “I, um, I actually came here to give you a message,” she said, placing the letter on an end table.
Amber cocked her head to one side as she took hold of the envelope with her magic. She tore an opening into one side and slid the letter within out to unfold it:

Don’t panic.
Seriously, keep calm. What you’re about to read might seem pretty bad, but don’t worry. I’m working on it.

There’s a pony trying to kill you.
That pony is me.
Stop panicking. I’m not going to succeed.

The short version of the story is this: Holdfast has set himself up to claim the throne when Bastion dies or gets deposed or whatever. You showing up has put a wrinkle in that plan, and he wants to iron you out.

Friendly reminder: keep not panicking.

Holdfast is threatening the rest of the party unless I help him get rid of you. But don’t worry, I have a solution that keeps everypony happy (except him, obviously). I won’t go into too much detail for your own safety, but just know that I do have a plan, and it should work smoothly.

For your part, I need you to do something for me. I know it’ll be hard because of what I wrote before, but I’m sure you can handle it.

I need you to keep Holdfast’s attention. Be outgoing among the nobility. If you can, get a rumor or two started about you. If you and him are in a room together, talk to him. DON’T LET HIM KNOW YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON. As long as his focus is on you, I can finish my plan and everypony will be safe.

I know. It’s terrible. You think you should go talk to somepony, get him thrown in the dungeons. But don’t do that thing. And definitely don’t tell Purple Heart. He’ll charge in and get in even more trouble. The goal is to get through this without engaging the rest of the group. Only Fluttershy, myself, and now you know about what’s going on.

Also, we can’t be seen talking to each other without the rest of the party around. If you need to send me a message, send it through Fluttershy. Or I guess you could send Opal, if you trust her not to talk. We need to keep the number of ponies involved down, though, so be careful.

Oh, and burn this letter when you’re done reading it. Just in case.

Signed;
Wits End

P.S.: Actually, if you do have some sort of thing for PH, if you could be more open about it in public, it’d help to get rumors started, and thus get Holdfast’s attention. Just a thought.

P.P.S.: If PH asks, just tell him that I offered to give him some help, senpai to kohai. He’ll understand.

A frown creased Amber’s brow as she read the letter a second time and then a third to commit it to memory. The princess stood and trotted over to the balcony that looked out over the city. She then sent a pulse of magic into the parchment of the letter and envelope, incinerating them before letting the ashes drift into the breeze. Her frown remained as she turned to Fluttershy. Several questions rose to the forefront of her mind but only one managed to pass her lips.
“Purple Heart isn’t gonna like this, huh?” she mused.
Fluttershy watched as the ashes blew away, definitely wishing she had read the letter first. She almost asked what had been on it, but quickly bit back the question, just in case. “So, um…” She shifted uncomfortably. “Is there anything I can do to help?” The golden unicorn sighed and nodded.
“Who amongst you is the best at gossip?” she asked, her tone one of resignation. “And could you take a message to Purple Heart? His next match is later today. I’d like to speak to him afterwards.”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Well, um, Pinkie Pie is really good at gossiping. I mean, in a good way, that is. And, uh, I guess I can take another message before meeting up with the others. Is there anything else I can do?”
Amber shook her head, her mane swaying with the motion. “Nothing else. Please tell Wits End that I shall be careful.”
“I will.” Fluttershy moved to the door. “And, um… If you need anypony to talk to… Well, you can talk to me.” A small smile curved the princess’ lips.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, placing a thankful hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
Fluttershy smiled and nodded. “Have a good day, Princess.” She trotted through the door, closing it behind her. With a sigh, she started making her way toward the arena.