Luna Nos Custodit

by Vermilion and Sage

Hidden Agendas

Steel Forge looked at Night Owl incredulously. It hadn't even been a week yet since she started lording the favor he owed her over him, which he suspected she had rather enjoyed doing to an extent. Now here she was with her two semi-competent cohorts whom he'd suspected had been conned into the guild at some point or another. Cross seemed to be the better of the pair, but Beat seemed like a general buck-up. The scene in the empty room at the university came to mind. Beat had mentioned something about them testing him to see if he would 'break' under scrutiny. He realized he'd given himself up as someone who knew more than he would let on rather early and made a note not to let it happen again in the future.

“You're serious?” Steel asked cautiously. “Last time I checked you took every chance you got to hold that over my head the last couple days, and now you're calling it in?”

“Anticlimactic I know, but some...unexpected developments came up. As much as I enjoyed having you on your hooves and at my beck and call, it seems this relationship will come to a close shortly.” Night Owl said nonchalantly flicked a piece of dust from her hoof.

“What a shame,” Steel replied, dry as desert air.

“Indeed. You two wait outside and keep quiet. Act like you're in love or something,” ordered Night Owl, referring to the two peons.

Beat Hoof and Cross both nodded and stalked out of the room with what seemed like a very meticulously practiced silence while Night Owl slank across the windowsill and took a seat on the bed. Wrinkles radiated out from where she sat, causing Steel to wince.

“So I assume you're going to fill me on details?”

“Only what you need to know.”

“Judging by past experience with you, even that won't help much.”

“How's this then. In one month's time a rather upscale museum will be reopening in Vanhoover, after some renovations are finished. Ponies will be coming from all over to see a showcase item that has yet to be revealed.”

“So you want that item?” Steel interrupted.

“No, if you'd let me finish, I was getting to that. The museum security will be well on the look out for anything out of place, anything suspicious regarding that particular item. However, entire wings will be left to the hooves of only a few security patrols, which leave some pretty trinkets ripe for the taking. So, you'll be getting an invitation to this party as the son of a noble, and myself? Well I will be your date for the night. So you need to learn to dance, some social niceties that I'm sure you're already familiar with. The posh nonsense.”

“I'm assuming you have at least have a particular target in mind?”

“Just one thing in particular, but that's not important to you for now.”

“Fine, we'll play it your way, but I’m none too happy about it.”

“You have been from the beginning.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“In time, Steel. Certain details can wait until later. What you need to know for the moment, is what I've told you already. I am acutely aware of your recent loss as well, and how it would appear to those who know if we were seen together so soon, which is why you'll cover with myself being an old friend visiting from out of town.” Night Owl paused to shift and seat herself a little more comfortably.

Steel thought for a moment on what Night Owl had said, or more pointedly what she hadn't said. She was being very careful in her words, keeping the conversation as one sided as it could be. The way she had said some things had also set him on edge.

“I may owe you, Night Owl, but when this is all said and done I want answers, because I know you're holding something back from me, and I’m none too happy about the way you’ve gone about things, or this dance and rob escapade you’ve damn near blackmailed me into going on with you.”

“As I said, in time.”

Night Owl stood up from the bed and made her way to the window, leaving Steel still contemplating some parts of their conversation. He looked up and met her eyes, which glinted in the darkness with something he hadn't seen before. Pity? Regret? He wasn't sure. It may have been nothing at all, or maybe he was wanting it to be there.

“If it means anything, I know what's heavy on your heart Steel, and I am sorry.”

“Sorry doesn't bring her back. Y'know I've been seeing her, almost as if someone was playing a cruel joke in hanging her death over my head? Is that what this is to you? A joke?"

Night Owl cut him off with a stern gaze before he could say anything else.

"Wars are never fought without casualties Steel, surely you of all ponies should know that. Make no mistake, this is indeed a war, albeit one without siege towers and massive armies."

"It's a concept I've become familiar with yes, after spending the last few years watching friends disappear."

"It will continue to happen for the time being as well, so you might as well get used to it. That sounds cold, but the faster you harden your heart the better off you'll be."

"I'm sure you're pretty knowledgeable about the subject, considering you just love using ponies to meet your own ends."

"I've been playing this dangerous game for a long time Steel, longer than you'd believe. Trust me when I say that."

"Oh I have no problem believing that."

A sharp rapping on the door made Steel jump. From the other side of it came a gruff, but muffled voice of a clearly still tired and annoyed Iron Gauntlet muttering about being woken up. The knob rattled for a second before the door opened and Steel was greeted with the face of a pony who managed to still look intimidating despite his somewhat disheveled appearance.

"Who in the hell are you talking to at this hour?"

Steel took his attention from his father to look back to where Night Owl had been standing, to find that once again she had pulled a disappearing act. He began to suspect magic in some form or another was at play.

"Just talking to myself, father."

"Evidently. Keep it down Steel, some of us are trying to sleep."

With that, Iron turned and left, shutting the door in his wake while Steel went to the window to look outside, muttering to himself as he crossed the room.

"Yeah yeah, I could say the same thing when you and mom decide it's a great time to ru---you're kidding right?"

"Have you known me to joke around?" Night Owl replied from her perch just outside the window. "He really seems like such an affable character."

"Try living with him."

"I'll pass on that."

"Smart move. Are you coming back in or are you going to continue sitting there like a stray cat?"

"I'm surprised that mouth of yours hasn't gotten you killed yet."

"So am I. You didn't answer the question."

"You know they say patience is a virtue, right?"

"Yeah. You still didn't answer the question."

"You really are just the most fun to chat with sometimes. Before you ask again, as much as I would just love to come back inside, I just don't think I'd be able to control myself. There's just so much nice stuff in here that would be missed."

"Really took that in a different direction."

"I'm a professional Steel. Never show your cards before it's time."

"I'll keep that in mind then."

"Oh good, so you can learn. I was beginning to doubt it myself..."

"Would you look at that, this window looks like it's about to close itself." Steel reached for the frame, holding his hooves on it and glaring at the mare hanging from the sil.

"Fine, fine. I can see I've overstayed my welcome. I'll be in touch. Stay safe for now Steel. I would just hate to have to find another pony to accompany me on this grand adventure."

"Yeah whatever, like you'd really have a hard time finding someone else to blackmail into helping on your 'grand adventure.'"

"Mm, you'd be surprised how much work has gone into this in the last twelve hours."

With that last comment, Night Owl descended from her perch outside Steel's window and landed on the grass with a feline grace that he has suspected came from years of practice. Just like that she was out of sight, presumably collecting her cohorts from somewhere down the street.

Steel closed the window softly and locked it, which brought him what he knew was a false sense of security since Night Owl seemed to have a complete disregard for locks in the first place. It was a little unnerving knowing that at any moment he could cease to be of use to her, and through her, the Thieves Guild, and be bumped off in the night without so much as a sound.

Flopping on his bed, Steel found himself staring at the ceiling, again recounting the last couple days and trying to come up with different solutions to the problems he'd been presented with that wouldn't have put him in the tight spot he was at the moment. While it didn't seem all that bad, being on the leash of a mare he barely knew, who worked for an organization noted for it's shadowy operations and questionable 'business partners.'

He finally concluded that it was at the very least the lesser of two evils and that it sure beat the hell out of rotting in some Solar Guard prison waiting for the next gauntlet of torture, being disowned from his family, and basically left for dead.

Somewhere in all this contemplation, he slipped from consciousness and fell into a dreamland, full of the possibilities and parallel realities that could have been, but by some twist of fate, hadn't. He drifted through web upon web of trains of thought, each fleeting and forgotten almost as fast as they happened before he passed into a void of darkness.

* * * * *

Moonlight filtered through the window of a small compound built from brick and mortar that stood on a hill overwatching the surrounding area just outside the walls of Canterlot, one of many abandoned buildings that littered the countryside, left over from periods predating the current occupants by several decades. The walls were bare and the furnishing was sparse, the only light coming from the silvery orb that hung gracefully in the sky.

A solitary figure sat before the window, gazing out at the nightscape, her brilliant light blue and silver mane framed by moon that gave her smokey-white coat a somewhat shimmering brilliance. A single tear rolled down her cheek that she slowly reached up and wiped away as a knock came on her door.

"It's open." She replied quietly, not taking her gaze off the nightscape before her.

The door opened and Night Owl stepped inside, and crossed the room to the mare's right side.

"As much as I adore your taste in colts, that particular one is a bullheaded as a mule and twice as mouthy."

"Is he coping well?"

"Well enough, all things considered. He's grudgingly on board with the heist, and after that...well there's really going to be no choice for him but to forsake everything and come to the Guild."

"That's...good, I suppose. I hate putting him through this though, even if it's necessary for both of our endgames. What's to do now?"

"This entire progression is a very delicate game of chess. Every move must be calculated with as much insight as possible to the enemy's movements. The last pieces are almost in place, and it won't be long before we can make our move to ensure a checkmate."

"As long as the game concludes in our favor...this conflict has to come to an end before more bloodshed occurs. I feel guilty for being the one that survived when the other three..."

"Sacrifices had to be made in order to secure a powerful piece, Mist. Sometimes the pawns have to be taken. They played their part, and are resting peacefully knowing that they did what they could, and you are carrying on their work. You played your part as well, or at least your doppelganger did. The important part now is that Steel continues thinking that you're dead, otherwise this could implode rather quickly, and I've put too much work into this to let that happen."

The two fell silent for a few moments before Night Owl turned away from the window and walked out of the room, leaving Mist to her own thoughts. She hadn't taken her eyes away from the window during the conversation, and she wouldn't for several hours until the sun started to rise in the East, bringing forth a new day of plots and moving pieces.

"Forgive me, Steel...."

Author's Note:

A note, from the desk of Vermilion

Well to be honest, I had lost my drive to write for some time. I kept getting wrapped up on other things and not paying attention to my writings. A few weeks ago I got the urge to start again, so I sat down and looked over what I had for chapter three and was pleased with it, but still had some story left to tell.

Unfortunately, the night that I planned on sitting down to start working and reworking this chapter, some stuff came up at my squadron, and it got kinda hectic so we were working late and I just didn't have the energy to do much of anything afterward besides shower and get to sleep.

In all that though, I found a night where we got off relatively early in the morning (I work nights) and seized the opportunity to finish it up and send it off to Sage for edits. It's been done for about four days now, and I was really excited to share it with you, especially since there's really only a chapter or two left before some really fast paced stuff starts happening. I just wish that this one had been a bit longer than it is, but I reached my end goal for this chapter a lot sooner than I had thought.

Hope you enjoyed it, and I look forward to seeing you around for Chapter 4.

Regards,
-Vermilion