5.6
5.6
She waited, watching from above. Upside down, hanging from the ceiling by a spell upon her hooves amid the rib vaulting, she stood against the forces of the dread mare Gravity in a shadow cast by the setting sun. Still some time before the artificial lights would fully illuminate the ceiling spaces. He was coming, her guard apparatus had confirmed it a little while before; meeting with at least one royal clerk in the restricted section clandestinely. Well enough, she could kill off four tasks at once if he wanted to deliver himself to her!
Hah! Her sister thought she was the queen of multitasking, she’d show her!
Shaking out of her self-congratulations, she focused on the task at hoof. The purple runner that was strung from the castle end of the hallway out to the edge of the projecting East Wing was thick, a deep pile carpet that would swallow all hoofsteps upon it soundlessly. Good for guards sneaking up on intruders, or for intruders to step without sound down the hallway, a more attractive option than the geometrically patterned polished granite tiles. Well, except for the pesky problem for intruders known as the castle ward system; the overlapping scanning spells stretched the length of the half-kilometer long curving hallway, forming a nearly impenetrable barrier of alarm after alarm that would register any un-tagged intruder who attempted to access the Black Archives and the restricted operations section.
And yet, somepony had almost found a way through. Certainly, they were penetrating all the more conventional wards and scans through a novel new method. But there were older spells, spells buried into the hearts of the white marble columns that supported the structure’s roof, ancient wards that had never been documented and that had been put into place by her sister. Captain Resistance had correlated several interesting tidbits and passed them onto her when she had temporarily returned to the castle based off of his monitoring of the old wards, and his data had suggested yet another visit would be scheduled for that evening. All the better.
Spells jangled in her mind, the mystic alarms activating themselves as a life signature was detected; an invisible intruder who had indeed found a way to surpass the detection by the mortal-made scans. The interloper slowly crept down the hall, unchallenged by the defensive spells, untagged by the guard outpost at the entrance to the hall, unwelcome and without permission. Whoever it was knew a great deal about the castle’s defenses, they knew of all of the primary defenses. Somepony knowledgeable. She suspected who it was. Additional spells were very carefully woven about him, protecting the stallion from active attacks as well, and even hid him from sight and sound.
She was the alicorn of the night. Light did not need to concern itself over presenting information to her mystic senses.
So, for Duke Redcoat her flip downwards out of the ceiling of shadows to land behind him was a great shock; or it was when she casually stripped him of his spells and allowed his mortal senses to detect her. Credit was due to him, despite the rapid-fire beating of his heart; he quickly adapted and remained cool and collected in the face of an alicorn ambush. He straightened up from his low crawl and then bowed to her gracefully before stripping back his face-hugging hood to allow his disheveled blaze of a mane to breathe freely. “Ah, Princess. Unexpected to see you here, I was told you would be down in Ponyvile all day. I take it that there are further off-the-books wards, then.” He twitched his mustache irritably.
Luna circled him slowly, like a shark might examine a wounded seal before the strike. “Calm, for one breaking into one of the most secure wings of government operations.” She ran a hoof across the shimmering black material of Redcoat’s suit. The full-body glove shimmered in onyx, with faint green sparkling flecks of light slowly shimmering deep within the optical illusion of infinite space. Even Redcoat’s tail was tightly bound to his body in what was assuredly a painfully tight squeeze, and the shimmering surface gave no signs of any opening. “Ill gains from your black projects, I assume?”
Redcoat’s irritation flashed within his eyes, a glimmer of anger twisting his lips for just a moment before he squashed it beneath iron self-control. Swishing his mustache, he nodded for her. “Ah well—hardly ‘ill-gained.’ Since you know of my research, I can only assume that you also know I intend to share it shortly after producing results.” He countered, verbally maneuvering himself to stay out of her line of fire as he turned to keep Luna in sight as she circled him. The dusky light of the setting sun cast long shadows across the hall; blinding light that hid with the searing brightness, and the consuming darkness.
“Yes. Remarkable research.” She whispered into his ear from behind him, stepping back as he jumped. The illusion of herself that she cast vanished like the memories of a fading dream as he twirled around to stare up at her as she stood framed against the sunset. “Of course you intended to share it. But, I must wondered when exactly you were planning on sharing it.”
Advancing on him, she slowly forced him back down the hallway, pushing him further away from the east wing. “Would it be after you extracted all that you could from the Black Archives, perhaps?” Luna inquired, looking down at him as she seemed to grow larger, filling the hall with her shadow. “Or would it be after you finished influencing the military clerks to report to you first and to me second?”
Frowning again, Redcoat stood tall even as he backed away from Luna’s illusion. He chuckled once, possibly for politeness’s sake. “Test runs, if you will.” He suggested, narrowing his eyes. His backwards pace slowed as he stiffened and straightened, a faint shine of his green magic reflecting in his gaze. “If my research could be of benefit, well, why overlook the chance?”
“Naughty, naughty, Redcoat. I am rather displeased with your deception. Thinking you could escape my gaze, that you could use my darkness against me.” Luna, the real Luna, emerged from the shadows of her illusion as she caught Redcoat peering through it at her, letting the looming darkness part around her like fog about an airship. “Most displeased. And most amused at your brazen boldness.” She caught herself wondering just what exactly it would take to unnerve the annoying stallion. It seemed only jump scares could even gain a truthful reaction from him, and she could hardly keep going ‘boo’ in his ear and expect that to work.
Down to business, then. It might just work better if she unraveled his schemes like a thousand tiny kittens with a ball of string. A flash of teleportation surrounded them in bright blue light as she brought them to her public office. “So, you’re looking to see if I know the location of the hives, to go with your research that you intend to present publically.” She stalked around her tall, nearly featureless mahogany desk. Turning around, she sat down behind it and reached for the steaming pot of tea atop an inset black granite pad. “Shall we discuss how your endeavors have been at cross purposes with my own and how to correct this trifling disconnect? Or should I remember something about fealty that we discussed about two and a half weeks ago, and take this little betrayal far more seriously?” She couldn’t remove him, not yet anyway. He was still useful for badgering the nobles in her stead despite his inconvenience, so simply stripping him of his money and titles wasn’t yet on her table. Annoying the moonlight out of him by inducing paranoia and smashing his cover stories was far more satisfying.
Redcoat took up one of the unoffered cushions, sitting down across from Luna. The thin thing was more like a board to his backside, but it sheltered him from the cold polished wood planking of the floor. “Ah, then you have found the hives then, obviously.” He remarked quietly, examining the room. Dark, beveled wood panels lined the walls harshly, swallowing up much of the light streaming down from the fixtures hidden in the faceted contours of the similarly-planked ceiling. The only things breaking the monotony was the plain window behind Luna that let in the light of the setting sun, an obvious two-way mirror upon the wall, and the door behind them.
Luna’s gaze glinted at him from behind her glasses, an ear flicking once against the darkening star-field of her mane. Redcoat scooted closer to the desk, sniffing the rich aroma of the tea as she poured herself a cup and denied him. “You want me to not publically divulge their location to avoid interfering with a project of yours.” Luna sipped from her pewter tankard as Redcoat stewed in his thoughts. He continued, sensing a prompting. “Or you want me to not start a potentially ruinous war, which we both know I wish to avoid as well, despite my nationalistic sentiments. Ah, wait. You’re already influencing the hives somehow.”
“Astute. That is not, however, what I grow irritated with you over.” Sluuuurp! Mmm, good tea. Triple strength, triple brewed, spiced with exotic magicks and hellish condiments from the heart of the dragon-lands. Her sister was a light-weight. Luna set her tankard back down in the marble-lined cavity for it, waiting for Redcoat to answer her. Of course he wouldn’t, she finally recalled. “Your activities in the secure wing, Redcoat.”
She felt her scowl grow a little as he smiled smugly. “Ah, then the breach of my correspondence was a one-time event.” How irritating, he had been baiting her. “I shall have to redouble the security upon it.” He concluded as he sat back and pulled a black notepad from some hidden fold of his outfit that couldn’t be discerned. He glanced up from it, one of his bushy eyebrows raising. “It would seem foolish to bother even asking you how you breached it.”
“Yes, yes it would.” Curtly, Luna pulled open one of the hidden drawers of her desk, withdrawing a particularly interesting sheaf of papers to read, putting a blank backing to them to prevent him from identifying what the papers might be. Her slam of the drawer seemed to seamlessly meld it with the dark paneling once more, making it impossible to find without foreknowledge. “Redcoat, while I am inclined to show you leniency for your sheer boldness and for only putting yourself in danger, know this well.”
She straightened the sheaf of papers by dropping their bottom edge against the calendar on her desk, magnifying the sound of their edges all clacking against the hard surface through a spell into a rolling thunder-crack that sounded all too much like a gavel banging. “I am not my sister. Neither my patience or my forgiveness is infinite.” She tilted her head forward, letting her face partially fall into shadow. “Attempt such a stunt again, and I will end you so thoroughly that your name will be a hushed whisper for a hundred generations. I will tolerate no further betrayal.”
Seemingly unimpressed by the display, or the suggested consequences, Redcoat ruffled his greying mane back into something resembling order. “Which stunt, your majesty? You’ll have to be specific. I have a great many going.”
“Likely attempting to bribe a clerk of military or restricted correspondence; attempting to infiltrate the Black Archives; attempting to access classified or restricted information without authorization; attempting to compromise or circumvent the wards of the Royal Castle; possibly sedition and treason, as well.” Listed off, the potential charges were fairly damning and frightening to any sane pony. The problem being, however, that neither party involved was entirely sane. “And personally irritating me after publically swearing fealty.”
“I didn’t actually bribe a clerk.” Redcoat mentioned off the cuff as he tried to wipe a speck of dust from one of his forelegs, only gaining a sullen and drawn-out squeak from the material. “You pay them far too much for a bribe to be successful untraceably.” He continued as he picked up one of the spare pillows to use, only adding more lint. He waved his leg futilely. “Wise, but not foolproof, of course. If I was to correspond with an insider, favors would be far more tasteful than bribes or blackmail. Failing to live up to a favor merely results in a sullen and disappointed pony who doesn’t like you anymore instead of more—extravagant charges.” Redcoat lit his horn to pluck away the lint, oddly double-corona’d with a second and far fainter layer shimmering still as he played with the attracted dust on his foreleg.
“Wise indeed.” Luna muttered, irritated that he was still thinking smartly. “Mind you, a given favor is still counted as a bribe, even if harder to prove.” She warned, relishing the slight scowl of irritation he quickly masked. She sipped her tea once more, glad that her exotic tastes gave her a legitimate reason to snub Redcoat. If she let him try her tea, it might cause him to implode while on fire. That might have been her imagination, though.
Redcoat twitched his mustache once more, shuffling his cushion forward as he did. He almost had his elbows up on his side of her desk before the diarch’s eyebrows rose in warning. He sat back rather than test her patience further. “Since that option is off the table, I shall assume you wish me to give up my insider?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll arrange for a public meeting for you to identify him.” Redcoat murmured loudly. He rumbled unspoken words in his throat before continuing. “Strange. I would have assumed that the covert military research on my part would have been more concerning than mere bribery and transcribed information.”
“I know of it, do I not?” Luna countered. Redcoat’s ears flicked, the duke forcing them to stay up rather than allow his feelings to be made clear as Luna adjusted her glasses and began reading while shuffling through the stack of papers while naming off the aims of many of his projects. “Your stealth suit, of course; undetectable my traditional surveillance methods of all forms. Changeling detection spells more covert than the Sparkle Method; the added bonus of being field expedient without testing gear an additional boon. General research into changeling anatomy, psychology, and needs; the crown is aware of their general psychology and some of the needs, but the further research remains useful. General research into their magic, to include emotion detecting and shapeshifting; a deeply interesting subject even if your methods are relatively disturbing, and I look forward to your results.” Shuffling the papers rapidly once more, she stuffed them back into the hidden drawer and shut it before Redcoat could look at the fronts of the papers. “I do hope you haven’t started any other projects without considering notifying the crown recently.” She warned him with mock concern.
Redcoat pursed his lips in thought, then slowly and deliberately shook his head as he leaned back a little ways to rest the hard booties on his forelegs atop his thighs. “No, I don’t believe I’ve started anything else recently.” Tilting his head towards Luna, he slyly smiled disturbingly. “I do have to commend you on your thoroughness once more. I’m surprised you memorized it all.” He waited a bit to give her the time to make a rather impulsive error. Luna quietly sat, steeping her hooves together to rest the tip of her muzzle against, forcing him to continue. “Yes, I know it was all blank. I’ve already read everything in this ‘office.’ There isn’t actually anything here.”
Feeling her heart rate quicken just a tad, Luna scowled behind her cover as she tried to figure out if he had somehow gotten himself or an agent into the room before. It didn’t seem likely, given that she could teleport everything in the room to one of several locations, but there was always the chance. Steadying herself by embracing the tides of the dreamscape, she leaned forward just enough for the light of the ceiling fixtures to reflect off of her glasses. “I would like to ask how exactly you know the contents, but I suspect you will not answer.”
“There are ways of reading without seeing.” Redcoat enigmatically answered. “An old stallion must keep his secrets, of course.”
“We shall see.”
“What makes it particularly simple to discern is the small issue that this is as much an interrogation room as it is an office.” Redcoat pointed out, slowly pointing out the limited furnishings and amenities of the tall and wide room with a wandering fore-hoof. “The overly bright lights, the dark paneling of the wall, uncomfortable pads that I doubt you would inflict on any friend of yours, only your desk for furniture, the painfully obvious two-way mirror on the wall that you’ve tried to hide as a portrait mirror. It’s all quite obvious, of course.” He remarked meticulously, twitching his mustache.
Luna bit back a groan, making a mental note to better prepare the room in the future to perfect her dealings with troublesome nobles. “So it is.” She took up her tankard once more to soothe her strained nerves and to quench her throat. Thumping the pewter mug back down, she rattled the marble insets lightly in their places. “There still remains a question of your loyalty.” She whispered darkly, glaring at Redcoat. “I have little to go on in regards to your fealty, given your recent violation.”
“Violation sounds so—callous. An act of curiosity, if you will. If you insist on knowing, I was indeed searching for any further information you might have on the hives. So as to not duplicate efforts, of course.” Redcoat smoothly spun for Luna, twitching his mustache slightly as the onyx-clad princess leaned forward and loomed like an obelisk. He pursed his lips and considered a few more words. “I suppose I shall have to find a different way of finding out in the future.”
“You should have asked. I had no issue with your plans as they originally were. If I had, I would have told thee.” Luna growled, slipping back into her olden accent from irritation as she fought back the urge to properly deal with him. Still too much trouble.
“Then so I shall, in the future.” Redcoat agreed, scribbling in his black notebook via the use of magically applied ink. He looked up from his writing for a second to see if Luna was trying to look over his shoulder, then went back to scribbling for a few more moments. He nodded once, as if satisfied, then shut it with a snap and slid it up against his outfit until it vanished into it seamlessly, disappearing as if it never was. “Is there anything else, your majesty? Or should I walk my trot of shame back to my estate?”
“Nay, nothing else. For now.”
“Very well.” Redcoat carefully stood, bowing again to Luna before walking backwards to the door. He stopped by the small and unadorned portal, smiled again, and spoke a little further. “By the way, nice change of look. How did you know—ah, from my correspondence?”
“Yes. It was a good idea, so I stole it before you could suggest it. Best to ensure the rest of the pack of fools, liars, and mad ponies know exquisitely well that I am not my sister.” Luna graciously replied, nodding.
“It suits you.” Redcoat said, chuckling lightly with Luna at the pun. “It is a well-tailored change.”
“Thank you.” Redcoat half-bowed to her words again, smiling. He swept his hood back over his head as he stood back up, his features all becoming indistinct as the suit began to shimmer. Three little clicks sounded as he clacked his hind-hooves together, and then he vanished. The door opened without his obvious presence, shutting again a moment later.
Luna waited once moment, two, three moments over, then released the yowl of frustration she had been holding in for most of the meeting. A flash of light heralded the teleportation in of a mat to protect her desk shortly before she began banging her head repeatedly against her monolithic desk as she fought her frustration with her erstwhile nemesis. “Annoying, annoying, annoying, stupid, annoying! Annoying!”
Honeydew slipped through the opening secret door by the mirror, concernedly watching Luna futily trying to bash her annoyance out. Mostly worried because she was afraid Luna would need a second mat to protect the tabletop. “He wasn’t that bad, Princess. Positively charming, except for the slimy parts.” She stopped, stepping back slightly when Luna stopped thumping her head and glared at her. Resistance had a half-second’s warning before Honeydew’s rump pushed the door shut again in his face, falling back into the security chamber with a thump and a muffled yelp of pain. “Or, complete scum of the earth, evilest of them all, Tirek Reincarnate.”
Resistance opened the door again and staggered through with two tissues stuffed into the nostrils of his bleeding nose as he walked up to his wife. He leaned on her, then reached up with a wing and lightly bopped her on the back of her head. “Ow! What?”
“Canny old stallion! I don’t know what he was fishing for with me, but he was hardly on the defensive. He found what he was looking for from me, and I don’t think he was looking for information on changelings in the East Wing.” Luna grumbled, speaking viler words under her breath afterwards. She took up her tankard and drained it empty in a few gulps to try and drown her tension. Alas, it could offer her no relief. “What is he looking for? What are we missing?”
“Can’t you just strip him like you threatened and be rid of him? You’ve got cause now.” Honeydew suggested, fidgeting in her new outfit, a prototype new mix between a dress uniform and concealed armor.
“Still more trouble than it’s worth.” Stiff Resistance grumbled, reaching for Luna’s special pot until she batted his hoof away. He looked at her, scrunching his muzzle at her soft head-shake. Okay, then. He pulled over a few of the mats into a proper cushion and dragged his part-thestral mate into a hug on the pile of pillows. “Provided he properly turns over his research and gives up his insider, he’s still useful. He scares the lesser nobles twice as much as he annoys us. He’ll still keep him in line. Add in our little ambush on him, and he’s going to think long and hard before his next move.”
Groaning, Luna resumed her head-desking, muttering out plans as her glasses fell from her face and started bouncing on the desk from her impacts. “Stupid annoying stallion. Stupid ahead of us planning. Stupid crazy ponies. Need to find his objective, need to find his goal. Can’t use Tiberius again, he knows we checked his mail and will be looking over my assets for what did it. Need to—of course, why check on a clerk?” Her aloud musings had been interrupted by her head-bangs until insight stumbled to her. She stopped and teleported in a pen to write with. “We need to find that clerk.”
“He might give us the wrong one.” Resistance pieced together, working through the same plots and plans Luna was developing. “We’ll see through a false accusation fairly quickly, but a delay will give him time to get whatever agent he might be meeting out of the country.” He was already making plans based off of refinements of his plans to check for Celestia escaping the country. He had to figure out what signs might be exhibited by an escaping terrified informant.
“Why not look to see if somepony in the clerk sections or the record-keepers suddenly had problems solved.” Honeydew pieced together for them. “Then we see if they try and leave the country in the next few days and find out what they know.” Luna and Resistance head-tilted at her, catching up with the secret service maid-master. “He mentioned favors, remember? Less criminal charges? One might be getting them out of the country. We can hide that we’ve exchanged them, then afterwards take whoever it was to their destination.”
Luna pointed a hoof at Honeydew, catching on. “Good idea. You and Resistance work on that, and also make sure he wasn’t planting things in the archives. I can handle hiding our switch.” A small pocket watch sounded in her suit, reminding her of the time. “After I get with Twilight. I trust you can handle damage control, right?”
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Honestly, a lot of the Luna side story feels like it should be it's own story.
This is good stuff! Luna is so awesome! Thanks for sharing.
It's ambiguous as to whether Luna actually had to deliberately scan for the cloaked Redcoat in the archives, or if he shows up automatically on her radar. Coupled with the fact that he recloaked before opening and closing her study door, and we didn't see Luna checking for his presence afterwards, I'm inclined to wonder if he didn't actually exit, but is still there in the room.
I note also that Luna also appears far less subtle and familiar with mental tapdancing compared to Redcloak, most likely Cadance, and probably even Celestia. Redcloak can recontextualize anything in a heartbeat; Luna got caught short at least twice. Presumably high-speed complex plotting only caught on some time in the last thousand years...
5752566
That's what I like about trying to never get in a character's head. You can never tell if they're really just that smooth of an operator, or if they're getting by by the skin of their teeth while mentally going 'ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap'. Luna did just completely wreck his plans, and has a few more surprises in for him.
Nice Captain Jack Sparrow reference at the end.
Also, screw Redcoat. He is upsetting my second-favorite princess.
*munches popcorn.* Mmm. Fun watching you guys miss stuff.
"At the same time, despite being spineless, Redcoat possesses enough coolant for blood to remain icy to the touch even on the surface of the sun. "
So he's part tardigrade, then?
Just for your information, those entertaining author's notes don't appear In the downloaded .html version. So bothersome.
Loved the update!
Adapted from Pirates of the Caribbean. Don't think I didn't notice! :P
5753339
A little bit of pirates, a little bit of Pratchett, a little bit of Cra-ZY!
Heh, Luna is GOOD!
That's what's fun about Luna, she doesn't take nothing from nopony.
I see.
Not to mention very smart and irritatingly polite.
Which is probably the only reason he's still got everything, he's more useful with power than withotu.
Oh Captain Jack Sparrow...
You have a nasty case of ambiguity at the beginning. It takes you eight paragraphs to identify Luna. Yes, there's little question that she's the perspective character, but it'd be nice to read it without thinking you were being intentionally vague.
Also, I would've definitely checked to make sure Redcoat had actually left the room. After all, trusting the invisible, inaudible, treacherous stallion to actually exit when he opens and closes the door seems a bit optimistic. To say nothing of that second corona when he was removing the lint; likely how he saw the blank sheets.
Really, at this point, I'd say Redcoat isn't worth it. If you assume that the trouble you don't know about equals that you do, then his good equals his bad. And that seems like a rather conservative estimate.
I am amazed no one has figured out how red coat knew the papers were blank. He doesn't have a spy in there. Luna's glasses reflected the light, so with her dark coat they should easily show a reflection of a blank white page.
Redcoat's screwing with her.
5753376 You know just how to please me, don't you?
5753957
No, no that's not it at all. His trick is much more subtle and interesting than that.
5754728 Hmm well dang that's pretty subtle too.
Redcoat isn't necessarily a threat to the Diarchy. However, in seeking his own power, he could undermine the state or even unintentionally cause a war. When someone is rich and powerful enough to have their own military R & D at that level, they are rich enough to have a mercenary army. I'm sure that Luna would prefer someone with their own agenda not be free to walk around with that sort of power. I also think that she would prefer not to have private contractors thinking that they can subvert the civil service for their own benefit.
5756078
Or look for his own alicorns to counter-claim the diarchy?
These exchanges between Luna and Redcoat are absolutely fascinating to read, and may be some of my favourite bits in this fic. It's like watching a good game of Chess or Go. Love how their moves and counter-moves are written out. Brilliant stuff.
5758722
"I'm Rarity." "I'm Rainbow Dash." *Together* "And this is Jackass!" *shock themselves with a taser, are surprised when it hurts.*
5764995
Adopt a Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle?
This is good, but what does it have to do with the cmc?
5775960
fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/346/e/3/it__s_spike_by_unknownhedgehog-d4ivzsg.jpg
All proceeds according to the scenario.