//------------------------------// // 32 - Weaving fate anew // Story: A Penny for your thought // by Damaged //------------------------------// "I would show absolute skepticism here, but Princess Celestia herself told me you were to be trusted at your word." Perfect closed her eyes a moment, seemingly sorting the things Penny had told her into order. "It is best you have told us this. Now we understand your position." Articulate was a softly spoken pony, but I had noticed every time he spoke it was for good reason. "You were not directly tied with any of these things you are describing, but you also are not completely ignorant nor stupid. They work, and can work well here. We are going to need to build in safeguards, I already had a list of laws to restrict abuse. For example, all such investment deals will require the oversight of a representative of the ruling court." I pondered this, it would slow us down with our deals, of course assuming we ourselves did not count as such representatives. "That would be grand, Articulate, I gather you will be assuming that position within our little enterprise?" His name tasted exotic, I had to work it around my fangs a little to get it out without any chittering. The stallion gave a nod to this. "Perhaps a fee would be payable to the crown to cover the hiring of such a representative." Penny always did have a way with ideas and this one made everyone present grin. "That in itself would limit many, it would be a buy-in cost, a requirement that for such ventures to work, they would need to be profitable and monitored." Leaning in against her I drank very gently. It had to be a repetitive thing, for no other I had drunk from had felt such a light touch, but when she channeled a touch for me it was appreciated. "The same should be true of the charity donations." Perfect added. "If they are themselves a charity, the court could waive the fee, but it would make it a much smaller problem." The stallion was writing nearly constantly. I sipped at my drink and Penny both, the latter having a much nicer taste. "So we have the basics of how the Crystal Empire will defend against unlawful uses of these tactics and laws. Now we have to establish how WE are going to manage under those laws." I looked between each of the ponies present. "Articulate, with Princess Cadance not only endorsing but supporting our venture, and with these laws requiring you to at least be present, I would be quite happy with having you involved with the decision process." He looked a little stunned at this, glancing at the other two mares present. Each gave him a nod of support. "Well, we need to establish a time-line. There is no point spending most of our funds on a project that will not mature before we live to see it." He started on a new piece of paper. "So we have time scales, immediate payback, short term, long term and never." The last one confused me and I voiced it. "Never?" Articulate nodded. "Charities, the schooling issue Penny brought up." This made sense now and I nodded such. "We will want our projected returns within that period, balanced with continued returns past them." He was adding more to the chart. Beside me, Penny muttered something. We turned to look at her, getting a guilty look from the mare. I nudged her. "Well, we had things… computers… you could build charts on them, use formula to automatically manage some parts, all very easily." Articulate looked intrigued at this but shook his head. "It sounds like a delight, and something we may want to look at prompting a few ponies to work on, but for now we use paper and quills." In the end we had nearly half a dozen charts, three times that many equations and enough lists that I knew for sure of a Princess who would be in heaven right here. Articulate collated the whole lot together, writing on a side page instructions for filling them all out. "I will have these copied, each investment we consider will require all the relevant paperwork." Well this was less fun. "Some of these will become required documents for the court appointed pony to maintain." "So, we can start?" We were all looking a little rough around the edges, even Articulate, and this really was his special talent. "Oh of course not, but there will be minor discretionary funds available for each of us, a forward on our own pay, that we can use to get our projects started. If the project is approved, all such will be reimbursed." Perfect seemed to think this was the best way. She turned and rose up gracefully, trotting over to the bags. "Articulate, please note the forwarding of two hundred bits each." The amount shocked each of us, getting a gasp from the stallion as well. "Having spoken with you all, even argued with you a little, I can see you each have your heart in the right place and I don't expect this to be frittered away. But we do want to be taking steps, right now, before others take notice." She carried back a small pile of very high-value bit coins, setting a few in front of each of us. Penny levitated hers up and into her pack, as did Articulate. I had no pack and wondered where I should put them, looking around the room. "Silly mare." Penny's words pulled me from my contemplation and I looked to her. I felt the saddlebag settle over my back a moment later. "For you, since you are a much more important pony now." I looked back at the bag, it seemed specially made to avoid wings, obviously for a pegasus, but it would work equally well for a changeling. I set my coins in a pouch in the side of it and leaned up to give a single nuzzle to my marefriend. "That should do for our first meeting. I will schedule the next one for the end of the week. The appropriate documents will be ready by then and I think we may start doing formal business." Articulate smiled and lifted up a hoof. We each raised our own and clopped the four together. "To giving every pony a chance to be successful." Penny surprised us by putting words to our mission. It seemed to fit well. And got a chorus of assent from us. The stallion packed up all his things and took his leave. There was a gentle knock at the door after he had left. Perfect raised an eyebrow toward the pony guarding… It hit me then, those five big bags were filled with bits. "Only me, may I come in?" Cadance's voice from the partially opened door was a surprise but not a bad one, at least it shook me from my revelation. "Of course, princess." Penny was on her hooves first, followed quickly by Perfect. The ruler of the empire strode in, looking happy but troubled. "We need to discuss a few things that would not need court." She looked right at me and I got up, offering her a spot at the table. "What is the matter?" Penny's easy way with the princess had Perfect Poise a little startled, myself as well. It did occur to me that in her world everypony was equal, but that simply wasn't how it worked here. Not showing any hint that she disapproved, Cadance began. "With things the way they are, the best I can offer you in direct support is amnesty from taxes, at least for a little while." It was a blow, but if those bags were each filled with the same denomination bits as what we had been given, it shouldn't be too big a problem. "Secondly, it seems Ambassador Silver himself is going to be distracted by other tasks." I could guess that it had something to do with what she had discussed with me, but Perfect Poise didn't need to hear that. "Thankfully," Penny smiled and levitated a drink over to the princess, "we have some ponies very well equipped to assist with this task." She had gestured toward Perfect, who bowed deeply. Cadance brightened at this. "And I see you have support of auntie and some other ponies from Canterlot?" "It is a start." Perfect was, without a doubt, the best actor I had ever met. She just called the largest single source of wealth I had even heard about, as a 'start', and looked like she meant it. The startled expression I suddenly had, when I realized she may mean it, showed on my face. "It is a start, we will accrue much more wealth than this, and pay more to the crown of both the Crystal Empire and Equestria, mark my words." There were three ponies in the room, completely in awe of her pronouncement. Cadance recovered first. "I am glad to call you an ally in this. Much as I hate to do it, I am going to have to take my leave of you. It seems every day there is another problem, on top of all the others, that requires my own hoof to solve." "We will work to try and make those problems less so." Penny moved up and snuggled against my side, prompting me to lean in and nibble gently at one of her ears. It was a quick transformation, the tired-looking princess seemed to suddenly be revived, her eyes bright as if she had seen something amazing. "Yes, I will leave you to your work. Perfect, I have arranged a suite for you and your guards. A number of the royal guard will be at your disposal until you can arrange proper accommodation, to ensure the safety of your cargo." Cadance rose up to her hooves, finishing the drink and made to leave. "If you will follow me?" Perfect began to follow, gesturing to the unicorn guarding the bits. The bags lifted smoothly and, without fanfare, they were all gone. I had barely a moment to think when I heard the door lock click and there was suddenly a very excited Penny bouncing around me. "Holy crap we did it! It is all coming together and we are going to get this all going!" She froze, her eyes wide as she turned and pulled her shawl up. I was not sure her game until we both saw the book, with two horseshoes, one inside the other. "My cutie mark!" The bouncing resumed for almost ten whole seconds before she stopped and looked again. "What does it mean?" Stepping up to her, leaning down to her flank, I nuzzled it. "A book, learning? One large hoof and a smaller one." I poked each part as I described it. "Teaching? That simple?" She looked quite amazed. "What, you don't think you have been teaching two very intelligent ponies here, today?" I stepped up so we were side by side and, reaching, I kissed her horn. Her magic grip on her shawl winked out and she leaned against me. "But I… oh darn, I guess I do have a lot to teach." Before I knew what she was about there was a sharp nip on my ear, Penny having poked an eye tooth all the way through it. I was opening my snout to complain at her when something with a little weight to it was clipped, pressed through the hole. "What is-" I was interrupted by Penny running her fangs along my neck, the motion perfect to align her own ear near my mouth. I didn't hesitate. Being very careful, I pressed my tooth to her ear, just near the base where she had done mine, and bit down. She trembled a moment, but I could see on the table where she had left the other pin. It was beautiful, a crystal that reflected brightly, even the little light that was coming in from the slowly declining sun. The wire clip behind it was simple to fasten and I soon had it in. "There." I nuzzled her neatly pierced ear, stepping back so she could see mine too. I knew what my own face looked like then, because I could see the love on Penny's and knew I was showing her the same. Remembering the full-length mirror in the bedroom, I trotted toward it with a quiet mare at my side. When I stepped before it, seeing Penny move in beside me, I lost some tears. "What's wrong?" Penny was immediately worried, leaning to nuzzle at my leaking eyes. "Nothing."