Unstoppable

by Snaproll

Chapter 4

Despite my fatigue, I rushed back to the Mail Center with the ad as fast as I could. I managed to pass the add to Paper Pusher with just enough energy left to flop into one of the cots used for flyers stopping over.

I came to a few hours later when my nostrils were assailed by the smell of burnt coffee. I quickly pummeled my thoughts into consciousness, rolled out of the cot onto my hooves and started my way into the kitchenette.

Paper Pusher was there, looking the worse for going a night without sleep. Rubberstamp was committing coffee in the corner, and a trio of younger pegasi sat at a nearby table. I recognized the mare instantly. Tequila Sunrise had dominated the vast majority of my idle daydreams and some of my nocturnal ones. She had a beautiful, amber colored coat, deep purple eyes, and a braided midnight black mane and tail streaked with thin veins of red. Her normally merry features were somber as she contemplated the mug in front of her, but I suspected it wasn't the poor quality of the coffee that had her down. The other two pegasi, stallions both, I knew by sight if not by name. I joined them at the table, and had a mug of the awful coffee thrust in front of me by Rubberstamp.

I still haven't forgiven him for that.

"Alright", said Paper Pusher, distracting me from the atrocity being inflicted on my tastebuds, "we have a situation on our hooves. We have one pony in the burn ward, a shipment missing, and an attempt on another courier's life as well. And now this." With that he slammed the ad down on the table under his hoof before us before continuing. "Now, I'm not one to get in the way of innovation, but we've got a potential rival company that's ostensibly using dragons calling us out, AND we've had two couriers attacked by dragons, and one laid up . That smells an awful lot like an inconvenient coincidence."

One of the stallions I didn't know, a pale blue colored fellow with a vibrant green mane, raised a hoof. "So.....do we go to the Guard with this, sir?"

Pusher shook his head. "I don't think so. Everything we have is pretty tenuous, at best." He raised a hoof as the younger stallion opened his mouth in protest. "Think about it, Slipstream. All we'd be able to give them right now is coincidence."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "As in, if we had more evidence, they might be able to get to the bottom of things?"

Rubberstamp grinned at that. "Well, looks like you got a brain under your ears, huh?"

I glared at him. "Just because I'm an idiot doesn't mean I'm stupid. And who taught you how to make coffee?"

Paper Pusher tapped his hoof twice on the table before Rubberstamp and I could get into it further. "Snaproll here has hit on the crux of the matter. Furthermore, everypony knows about Flim and Flam. And fewer still trust them."

The other stallion snorted derisively at that. "Not after they tried selling a steam powered carriage, at any rate."

Slipstream glaced at him. "Why's that Cloud Cover?"

Cloud Cover smirked back at the pale blue stallion . "Somepony else invented one."

Tequila Sunrise spoke up for the first time, her voice husky as she stared at the tabletop. "So, what are we going to do about it? Stormy and I are close." She glared at each of us, her eyes moist, grief evident on her beautiful features. "If those.....swindlers are responsible, I want to make them pay."

Paper Pusher nodded at that. "What we really need is information." He glanced around the table in turn. "Slipstream, you've got a ton of overdue vacation time leftover, same with you Cloud Cover. Miss Sunrise, you're on bereavement leave for your friend. Snaproll, you're on a forced wellness rest, recuperating from your traumatic experience."

Rubberstamp smirked. "What about me, Pusher? Won't everypony notice that I'm not working?"

I couldn't help myself. "I think everypony would be more impressed if you started." There was some good natured chuckling at that before Paper Pusher stood up. "I can presume you lot are all in?" We all nodded and made vague noises of assent.
"Good. If you'll follow me into my office, I've got some ideas where we can start."

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Paper Pusher's office was....well, words didn't do it justice. Cluttered was the closest, but it somehow failed to to convey all the scope and majesty of the chaos within. Folders thick with reports and papers towered up to the ceiling, tables bowed with their weight. A single desk adorned with an inkwell, blotter and a calendar that was likewise covered with notes, scribbles, annotations and, in one corner, what I could only presume was a caricature of Princess Luna hitting a draconequis with a mallet. We filed in as best we could, leaning against tables and trying not to disturb any of the towering paperwork. If any of that falls over, it'll take them a week to dig us out, I thought to myself.

Paper pusher had carried the ad in with him and laid it carefully on the calendar. "So, these two swindlers are advertising a new mail carrying service via dragon. Any of you featherheads know how that could work?"

Much to my surprise, I had an idea. I raised a hoof. "I might have an idea about that. While I was at my last stopover in Ponyville, I stopped off at a bar and got a chance to talk to some of the locals, and listen to a few more. Evidently, that dragon that's always around Princess Twilight is able to send letters and such darn near instantaneously between her and Princess Celestia in Canterlot. They used to do it pretty regularly a few years back."

Cloud Cover whistled appreciatively at that while Slipstream spluttered "But... but... I mean, it takes hours to fly to Canterlot from Ponyville! That's...."

Tequila Sunrise frowned "If that's possible, why isn't everypony doing it?"

Rubberstamp shook his head. "Too unreliable. The weak link of the chain is the dragon, and they're rare as hens teeth. You've got to find one that'll do it for just goodwill. And generally those are just the young ones. By the time we come across dragons, they're adolescents at best, which means they're looking to acquire a hoard and become adults."

Slipstream frowned and raised an eyebrow at that. "What happens then?"

Rubberstamp grinned crookedly. "You ever try to feed a full fledged adult dragon? Shoot, just one'd take up half the Sorting room."

Paper Pusher tapped the ad thoughtfully with a hoof. "Well, I think the best thing to do in any case is to see this thing firsthoof. Says here they're doing demonstrations in Canterlot next week." He looked up at each of us in turn. "Looks like it might be a good time to pay the capitol a visit.

I smiled at that. "Yessir. I hear it's lovely this time of year."