//------------------------------// // Black to Move // Story: The Duke Abides // by GrassAndClouds2 //------------------------------// “Greengrass!” Greengrass started. He’d been finishing up his plan, writing out some papers that would be of use when it came time to that night’s activities. It was eleven AM, long past the time when the Duke would have been asleep normally, but he had his and Notary’s lives to save – he could forego sleep for a day. Evidently, so could Fancy Pants. “Fancy Pants!” Greengrass went to the door and let the unicorn in. “Hello! How can I help you?” “I couldn’t sleep. Fancy another game of chess?” Greengrass mulled it over. He was just about done with his papers. Next up would be the documents Notary would need, but she could probably handle those herself, at least the first parts. Besides, he had a feeling, somehow, that Fancy Pants might have something important to say. He did seem to be very well connected, after all. “Certainly.” He took out a set, and soon the board was ready on Greengrass’s desk. Fancy Pants, who had White this time, moved first. “I must say, your office is rather empty. But I suppose that’s due to the hour?” “Not really. Most of my staff left me after the Gala.” Notary was his again, of course, but she wasn’t in. He’d sent her to go free the Shadowbolts, on the basis that, not only would he get in trouble if it came out that he could have freed them but hadn’t, but he didn’t actually want them to get killed by some lunatic sun-worshipper. She’d been unsure if she could do it alone, given Mango’s unusually strong magic, so he’d given her a bag of money and told her to find and commission Ox and Bear to help. They didn’t work for him anymore, but there shouldn’t be any problem with Notary hiring them ‘on her own.’ “I suppose good help is hard to find.” “Yes. Well, that makes it all the more important to hold on to such help when you find it.” Fancy Pants smiled. “I thought you were the pony who didn’t like just holding on to what one had?” “I would hope that one could do both.” After a few moves, Fancy Pants paused. “Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?” “Well, I might not answer, but feel free to ask.” “You’re so open about your… ambition. Where did that come from? Your parents?” Greengrass laughed. “Embarrassed, Fancy Pants?” “Why would I be embarrassed?” Greengrass was normally circumspect, but if his plans worked, he’d be a political superstar in less than a day … and if they failed, he’d be doomed beyond anything Fancy Pants could do to him. “Because my ambition highlights your lack of it.” “Oh, really now.” Fancy Pants tittered. “I hardly think that’s fair.” Greengrass moved a pawn. “Can we talk honestly, without all this… pointless circumlocution? Just this once?” Fancy Pants stared at him, then nodded wordlessly. He moved his light-square bishop. “You don’t need to play dumb. I know quite well that you’re a lot smarter than you look. You have the brains to get a seat in the Court, and to rise rapidly. A friend of the princess, connections with businesses all over Equestria… you could be an archduke by the time you retire.” Fancy Pants shrugged. “And yet you show no desire to try. Content to be Luna’s advisor forever. It’s something I don’t understand.” “Contempt, Greengrass?” murmured Fancy Pants. “Really? After all the things you’ve done,” and his voice rose, “You show contempt for me?” “Everything I have done has been in service of my goal and my dream. What have you done in service of yours? Do you have any?” “Yes.” Fancy Pants smiled, but there wasn’t much mirth in it. “I do.” “A big dream?” “Oh, yes.” “Personal, local, or would it affect part of the nation?” “Every bit of it.” “Well,” Greengrass said, leaning forward, “I would hazard a guess that you could accomplish it more easily from a seat on the Court. You’d still be Luna’s friend, still have your connections, but then you would gain money and political power. You could affect whatever changes you wanted.” Fancy Pants nodded. “Yes, of course. I could. I’ve thought of it, even.” Greengrass raised an eyebrow. “I mean, you’re right. I could probably get a seat relatively easily. I can’t imagine that, say, Mounty Max could put up much of a struggle.” “No, very little. Honestly, I think if you offered to take his seat from him, he’d just give it up. Everypony knows he doesn’t like it.” Fancy Pants nodded. “And then it wouldn’t be too hard to move up. I might not have your intelligence network, Greengrass, but I do know a few things… the nobles would have to make way for me. My rise might be even quicker than your own.” “So… why not?” Greengrass castled. “Don’t want the risks?” “Because I’d rather not pay the cost.” Fancy Pants castled, mirroring the Duke. “Just because I have a dream doesn’t mean that I’ll throw out all my scruples to accomplish it. Why, would you?” “I don’t have many to throw out.” Greengrass smiled genially. “Let me turn your question around. Where did your… lack of ambition come from?” Fancy Pants was silent for a long moment. Then he said, “My father, really. He was the sort of noble I’m sure you’d scorn as an idiot. Generous to the poor, kind to the downtrodden, a just and fair judge whenever cases reached his desk. He had no seat on the Court, but he had a little influence on those Courtiers who valued honesty and integrity, and he did what he could to ensure that righteous and proper actions were taken by our government.” “So he raised you to follow in his footsteps.” “Well, he tried. It didn’t work.” Fancy Pants put his piece down and stared at Greengrass. “I was a… well, I’m not sure what word you would use. But I wanted on the Court. I saw what some of the nobles were doing, how they were making out like bandits and obtaining vast sums of money, how they could use political power to rearrange the world in their own image and take what they wanted from it. I wanted in. I would have done anything to get it, and I did.” “Really? I can’t see you as being the delinquent sort.” “You didn’t know me as a youth. There was this one chap, Baron… Cyan Hoof, I think his name was. He was in a weak position, enjoying parties and golf outings more than shoring up his political situation. I came up with this splendid smear campaign to level him, bribed a few of the other nobles to sponsor me for the seat once it was open, everything like that.” Fancy Pants tilted his head, thinking. “I had a rather large celebration the night before, actually. I was excited that I would finally be on the Court, able to profit, unlike my fool father. “But, after the party, when I came home, I found that… well, my father, he was in a sickbed. It seemed that another pony wanted Cyan Hoof in the Court; he would vote her way reliably, and he provided a useful buffer against young upstarts like myself. She had planted evidence framing my father for something or other. She falsified his business records to make it seem like he was embezzling. When I got home that night, all that ‘evidence’ had been discovered, and everything my father had spent his life building was gone. His career, his charitable organizations… crumbled to nothing.” “I’m… sorry,” managed Greengrass. “Don’t be. It was my fault.” Fancy Pants shrugged, returning his focus to the game. “I retired from political life for the time. My marefriend left me once she found out what had happened because of me; I think she was afraid she’d be targeted too. I cared for my father until he died, and then… I came back. But my father taught me a lesson about blind, ruthless ambition.” “Well, I’ve always believed that how our parents nurture us has a large effect on who we are.” Greengrass hesitated, then decided to tell the story. It would be nice to finally tell somepony, besides Notary, and he was pretty sure that his family history couldn’t be used against him. “I mean, my father… he never taught me much, but I did learn one thing from him.” “I knew your father; he worked closely with mine. They did a lot of good together.” “Ah, yes. Greenmeadow, the pony of the citizenry! A loyal bureaucrat who sought no glory, took no money, but gladly devoted his life to advancing the country!” Greengrass laughed. “You know, for a time there I think he even believed his own press.” “So he wasn’t as selfless as I’ve heard?” “My father was… well, he wanted things out of life. Money. Power. Like Puissance, except not quite as creepy about it.” Greengrass shuddered. “Greenmeadow entered the Court fully prepared to graft as much as he possibly could.” “Really?” “Oh, yes. But a funny thing happened.” Greengrass chuckled. “You see, he realized that, if he reveled in corruption right away, as soon as he took his seat, he might be removed and a more honorable pony put in his place. So he told himself, he would work honestly – just for a month or two, build up a track record, and then go searching for bribes. “But, well, after a couple months, he still didn’t feel quite safe, and so he worked honestly for half a year more. And then he realized that he could get a higher position, be put in a more important committee, with a correspondingly greater opportunity to profit – if he just did good work and was noticed. He got the committee, he prepared to accept a hefty bribe in exchange for a vote, and then realized that he could maybe win himself a baroncy… if he worked with impeccable integrity for just a little longer. And that was how he lived the rest of his life. Every time he grew close to taking what he wanted, he became aware of some other opportunity. Some reason to delay his gratification, so that he could shore up his position, or open a door to even greater rewards.” Greengrass looked at the chess board. “My father worked here for fifty years, and never did what he wanted a day in his life. He wasted his life, and told me so himself.” He shook his head. “I resolved… never to be like that. I know what I want. I know what makes me happy. I will work for my heart’s desire; I will accrue any cost for that goal. Whatever happens to me, win or lose, I will not die of old age in a sick bed lamenting that I never tried.” “Any cost?” “Oh, you know what I mean.” Greengrass moved another piece. “By the way, your defense is slipping.” “Is it?” Fancy Pants moved a knight to fork two of Greengrass’s pawns. “There’s a word, you know, for ponies who will accrue any cost to get what they want.” “Motivated? Zealous?” Fancy Pants’s gaze was wintery. “A motivated pony might pay any cost. One who just accrues any cost, perhaps leaving other ponies to pay it – a ruined career, a broken marriage, a crushed business – well, there’s another word for those ponies. I—“ There was a rapid knock. “Fancy Pants? It’s urgent.” The pony seemed surprised. “Greengrass, I apologize—“ “Oh, no trouble at all. I need to think about this next move anyway.” Greengrass smiled as Fancy Pants got up. Who would track him here? Must be urgent… As he studied the board, he heard Fancy Pants gasp. “What? Impossible!” “It’s true…” That’s… odd… Greengrass felt mildly annoyed by Fancy Pants’s insinuation that he was some sort of evil sociopath. He wouldn’t do anything to win, after all. Wasn’t he releasing the two shadowbolts, even though it wasn’t really his responsibility and it could blow up in his face? There’s three possibilities there. One, all the shadowbolts knew about the group, and they just sent those two. In that case, releasing them doesn’t change anything, in terms of what the shadowbolts know and what they’ll do. Two, only those two knew, they were captured before telling anypony, but they’ll listen to Notary when she asks them to give us a day to take the group down ourselves, since right now all the evidence is framed to implicate me. If they listen to her, nothing changes. And three, if they don’t, if they go right back to headquarters and tell them about the group and we all get arrested in ten minutes, then I’m sent to jail forever. I’m taking a big risk for two ponies I don’t even know. “I’m sorry.” Greengrass turned to see Fancy Pants looking at him from the door. “I… I have to go. Urgent business, some… old friends came in. Can I see you later? We can resume the game then.” “Why don’t we talk at the party for Cadenza?” Fancy Pants paused. “…that party is for Archdukes and above. You weren’t invited.” “Oh, I’m crashing.” Greengrass smiled cheerily. “See you there!” And when Fancy Pants was gone, Greengrass allowed himself a smile. Yes, he’d be there – triumphant. He’d weed out Fisher, destroy the CCPS, and be back in the Game. That was all there was to it.