What Remains II: After the Fall

by Bateman66

Veiled Intent

Pencil Press kept his head stooped lowly against the top of his plain looking office desk, his pen jerking ferociously as he glided over word after word of the important message he was composing. Finishing at the bottom of the page with a dotted circle, he folded the piece of paper up and placed it gently into one of his desk drawers.

Standing up stiffly, he let out an exaggerated yawn as he caught a quick glance at the room’s wall clock. A mere three minutes till his next appointment. Before the clock’s second hand even a chance to twinge ever so slightly, the yellow-furred earth pony was already strolling through the External Affairs building’s looping corridors.

As he swooped through the hallways and dodged the other frantic government workers who too had much important things to attend to but not much time to get to them, he couldn’t help but stop at a slight commotion taking place by one of the stairwells.

It was two creatures, one griffon female adorned in the gaudy silken robes that diplomats from the Griffon Kingdom wore with such ardent pride in their hopeless excuse for a nation, and one unicorn stallion. The griffon pointed an accusatory talon toward the unicorn, while he in turn glared harshly back.

“You think you’re so clever trying to cut our boundaries!?” shouted the griffon. “We’ll see how smug you are with a broken nose!”

“You do not scare me!” spat back the unicorn with a dandified Canterlot accent. “Your barbarity perfectly encapsulates your equal stupidity!”

“I’ll show you ‘barbarity’!”

Internally smiling at the lapping political undertones of this hostile conflict between two individuals meant to represent their respective countries, Press continued onwards.

--------------------

Stopping just short of the half opened door to the administrator’s office, Pencil Press exhaled deeply and began what he set out to do. Skittishly poking his head through the doorway, he pursued his lips in quite visual weakness.

“Mr. Ash Leaf?” the young colt called louder than he intended, the last part coming out with a comedic shrillness. “I’m here for that meeting I requested.”

The grey maned and green furred stallion turned around to face the new arrival with a wrinkled fire that pretty well summed up his aged personality.

“Well, what are you waiting for then?” the elder stallion demanded gruffly. “I’ve got the Saddle Arabian ambassador coming in here in—” he quickly glanced at the wristwatch around his hoof—“fourteen minutes and twelve seconds. So let’s make this snappy!”

Press replied with a nod and immediately stepped into the superior’s office. Closing the door behind him, he took a seat by the massive crescent shaped desk that was his boss’s domain.

Plopping down in his much larger and wheeled leather chair, Ash Leaf lit a massive amber colored cigar between his teeth, and paused to take a brief drag of the savory stick. “So…” he said through an already billowing cloud of smoke erupting from the scented torch. “What’s this all about kid?”

Press swallowed nervously. “Well sir, I’ve been having some concerns the past few days…”

The stallion fixed him with an icy stare. “I swear, if your thinking of ratting me out about my extended lunch breaks I will personally—”

Press grinned. “Nothing like that sir. It’s something a bit more pressing.”

“That being?”

Press wrung his hooves together uncomfortably. “The human,” he managed out quietly. “Alistair, our prime volunteer for direct diplomacy operations?”

“I know of him,” Ash said with a nod. “How couldn’t you? That kid stands out more than a fly in cake batter.” He took another puff of the cigar and directed the smoke upwards toward the ceiling. “So what’s got you stirred up about him? Is he bothering you?”

Press shook his head. “Not in the slightest. However, I was looking through some of our travel ledgers and I understand he enlisted on a trade negotiation down in the Vile Stretch?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it said his vessel was due to dock back in Canterlot not but three days ago.”

Ash Leaf shrugged. “So? How’s this important?”

Press rapped his hooves across the desk with an oddly timed excitement. “Well sir, what’s got me a bit bothered is that I haven’t seen him around External Affairs since he was due back.”

The stallion’s brow furrowed. “What?”

“I haven’t seen him at his desk or around any of the other offices. Security claims they haven’t even caught a trace of the kid.”

The statement took a moment to properly click into place, but once it did, Ash shakily stubbed out the cigar. “Oh no,” he mumbled through a raspy choke of air, “the higher ups are gonna kill me for not realizing this sooner.” Cursing under his breath, he looked back to Press. “Do you have an idea where he might be? Were there any reports of storms in the area?”

“None sir, wasn’t any indicators on his desk either.”

Ash cursed once more and slammed his hoof against the top of his desk. “Great, this is just freakin’ great. I got a missing human on my watch—the only one in the entire freakin’ world—and it took three days and somepony thirty years younger than me to finally realize that he’s gone.” Ash muttered yet another curse. “How could I have been so stupid?”

“There’s still a chance we can find him,” added Press quickly. “There has to be something floating around that may lead us to him, or at least, give us a hint of where he last was. He’s bound to have made some schedule or list as to what his activities would be when he got to the Stretch, as well as his returning trip.”

The administrator grimaced. “I wouldn’t count on it. That kid likes to stick to himself, if he had any written clue to his whereabouts, he would’ve kept it on him.”

“Still,” said Press with ever increasing energy. “There’s bound to be something we can pick up on. And I can help with it.”

Ash Leaf raised a skeptical eyebrow. “I hope you’re not serious, cause’ there’s no chance I’m doing that.”

“S-Sir?” the colt stammered out. “I believe I should be the one searching for his whereabouts. I was the one who first figured this out, and I can be a lot more discrete than a Royal Guard investigation—”

“You’re also a lot more of an amateur,” cut in Ash sharply. “I can already smell a government scandal looming on the horizon, but I’m not going to risk the safety of another being just to try and keep this thing covered. There’s no telling what danger the human might be in and I’m not going to be the one who puts him in even more.”

Press’s face darkened. “I take it you’re not even going to listen to my idea?”

Ash shook his head. “No, I’m not. I really do appreciate you bringing this to my attention but for now we need to rely on those trained for this sort of thing, for everypony’s sake.”

Pencil Press rose from his chair, a tight glare focused on his boss. “There’s other ways to help, and the Guards aren’t the only ones who can.” Turning around, the young colt stormed out of the administrator’s office.