To Serve In Hell

by CoffeeMinion

Chapter 29: Strange Bedfellows

The streets approaching Governor Blueblood’s mansion were choked with carriages. Some had shinier metal accents; some were of deeper, richer wood; but all were joined in the singular quest of delivering their painted, preened, and sweat-slicked complement of nobles to protest the chaos unfolding in the streets around them.

And indeed, on the side-streets fanning out from the wealthiest heights of Canterlot’s Upper City, across its once-shining bridges, and into every avenue crisscrossing the Lower City, chaos ruled. New fires broke out constantly, heedless of location, rhyme, or reason. Gangs that had so recently confined themselves to the shadows struck openly against businesses, citizens, and guards alike. And rumors flew like the wind, speaking of something worse now cloaking itself in the darkness of the city’s backstreets.

Rarity stood watching the bedlam from atop the high wall at the edge of Lord Filthy Rich’s compound, and reflected on the briefing she’d received about the situation. Despite the compound’s location in the poorer and more violent Lower City, its walls and magical wards had, thus far, deterred would-be attackers. Yet there was no ward against Rarity’s unease about teleporting back to the very place where she’d seen the awful vision in the window. She clung tightly to the knowledge that their plans didn’t call for staying long.

Next to her stood Limestone. Rarity glanced at the mare’s simple black dress, and took some small amount of comfort that she could still recognize it as flattering despite not possessing her cutie mark. But when Rarity glanced down at herself, studied the elegant blue dress she’d been given, and touched a hoof to the clean, combed, bouncing coiffure that had been styled upon her, she felt nothing.

“Maybe this isn’t going to work after all,” Limestone said, frowning at the madness unfolding outside of the walls.

Kibitz stood nearby as well, muttering and fiddling with a notepad that he held in his magic. On hearing Limestone’s words, he set it down and met her eyes. “I would’ve said as much if you’d bothered to check back in these last couple of hours. Don’t get me wrong, I was on board with the idea of making a splash with fancy dresses and a carriage, but I’m afraid we may need to think smaller now. The conflict that started at the Archive keeps finding new ways to boil over.”

Limestone shook her head. “All right, keep doing what you can to get the streets contained again.” Then she beckoned toward Rarity with a hoof. “C’mon, get cozy; we’re low on the good teleport charms, so I’m gonna have to burn a one-way.”

Rarity stepped close and allowed Limestone’s strong hooves to encircle her barrel and pull her tight. Then the world lit up with a flash of purple and a loud pop, and she found herself stumbling unsteadily inside the Governor’s grand foyer.

Limestone staggered away from her and cast off a smoking metal cylinder from one of her forehooves. It clinked and hissed as it clattered to rest on the cold stone floor. Then she sat on her haunches, rubbing the forehoof which had held the device.

Somepony cleared their throat. Rarity turned to see a haggard-looking blue-green-coated stallion with a red neckerchief and a short grey mane. Faint impressions along the top of his muzzle and along the sides of his face suggested that he might’ve worn glasses, but they were gone, giving Rarity a clear view of his bloodshot, ice-blue eyes. She shivered at the haunted aspect that she saw in them, and found her gaze drawn downward to the wooden crutch tucked under the shoulder of his bandaged right foreleg.

“L… Lady Rarity,” he said, haltingly. But his eyes seemed to linger on Limestone, and he swallowed and darted his tongue to his lips before continuing: “The Governor said if somepony fitting your description turned up, I should show them right in.”

“That’s rather convenient,” Rarity said, looking askance at Limestone. But Limestone simply nodded. Rarity sighed, but then fell in with her behind the limping stallion.

At one point, their path across the mansion’s main floor took them past an open set of double-doors leading to the ballroom. Limestone glanced within, then scoffed. “What’s with the mess?”

Ahead of them, the stallion stumbled in his already stilted walk. Rarity frowned at the effect Limestone’s words seemed to have had on him, then glanced through the doors herself. Inside she could see a large ballroom with an incomplete and abandoned look about it. For a moment, Rarity slowed and forced herself to pay attention to what decor was on offer: grand statues of birds in flight, abstract artwork hung at unusual angles, and a unifying theme of red in splashes and accents throughout the room. She wondered if it might be some kind of an attempt at modernist overstatement… but she couldn’t be sure. The part of her that should be able to make such judgments was gone, leaving her with a curious absence of feeling.

She glanced down briefly at her own long blue dress. Intellectually, she knew its cut had been chosen to accentuate her curves, and its color should complement her eyes. But that knowledge still only registered with her on an intellectual level. The one actual feeling it gave her was a bit of relief, as the dress’ length would serve as one more layer of protection of her Un-Marked status from the casual observer.

“Oh, hush,” Rarity said at length, deciding that she would at least hold to the principle of defending creative output for its own sake. “This, my dear, is haute couture. Make no mistake, whoever did this has a well-developed eye for fabulosity.”

“Thank you,” she heard the stallion say quietly.

“Whatever,” Limestone said.

Rarity frowned at Limestone, but bit her tongue. Despite her outward prickliness, Limestone had been quick to accept Twilight’s indications that Rarity’s story seemed plausible. Rarity’s gut still writhed with unease over deceiving them about the source and certain details of her information, but it was easy enough to push past those feelings as she reflected on the potential benefits to ponykind that their plan might offer.

The one thing that Rarity hadn’t yet worked out was how the Governor figured into their mission. Limestone and Twilight had insisted that they needed his aid, but they’d kept mum about the details. Nevertheless, they’d both agreed that Blueblood might respond better to their overtures if Rarity helped deliver them. Rarity tried to take that as a compliment, but it was overshadowed by her feelings of disgust at the prospect of having to deal with the lecherous Governor.

Their escort eventually led them through a service entrance discreetly set next to a wood support column, and through a set of narrow, sloping corridors that allowed for serving staff to move as needed without being a bother to “important ponies.” Rarity noted that they continued to gain elevation as they went and wondered if the stallion had chosen this path so he wouldn’t have to navigate stairs with his injured foreleg.

They emerged from an entryway hidden behind a curtain. Two guards standing on either side of a fine wooden door nearby glanced at them, then nodded.

“He’s in his office, madams,” said their escort. Rarity gave him a quick bow of her head before following Limestone through the open door.

A fire crackled in the fireplace, throwing long shadows over the finely carpeted room, and casting an even more ghoulish aspect over the bizarre stone dragon-horse head on his desk. At the far end of the room stood Blueblood himself, gazing out over Canterlot through a large window. Even from a distance, Rarity could see bobbing torchlight from the disquieted nobles approaching the mansion grounds.

“Governor Blueblood,” Limestone said.

He turned a frown on them, then walked to his desk and began pouring a drink. “Well, well. Limestone Pie. So, things are truly so bad that your ‘friends’ decided to let you out without your leash? Best watch yourself around this one, Lady Rarity; she bites, and not in the fun way.”

Limestone sneered. “Put up a silence spell, Blueblood. I’d rather not waste a charm on you.”

“You and your trinkets!” Blueblood slammed back the glass of smoky liquid, then poured another. “Do you see the havoc that your ponies are causing out there in my city? I was going to have a ball, you know? But now all the nobles want to do is scurry to ground and complain about whoever’s torching buildings and firing off crazy amounts of magic in the streets!”

“We didn’t start the fires—”

Blueblood harrumphed. “Let me guess: ‘they were always burning since the world’s been turning?’”

“Stop talking gibberish and put up a silence spell!”

“Fine, be that way.” Blueblood lit his horn and took on a look of concentration. A moment later, a feeling of static passed through Rarity, making her shiver.

With a grumble, Limestone began: “Your marefriend started this, not us.”

“Marefriend? Come now, I would never let myself get tied down. I have a reputation to maintain!”

Limestone narrowed her eyes. “Preen yourself all you want, but she ordered a hit on somepony we cared about, and then another on Lady Rarity.” Rarity winced, both because of the implication that she wasn’t somepony whom the Resistance would care about, and because she knew exactly who had “hit” Sweetie Drops, though she felt reasonably certain that his allegiance was more inclined toward the Resistance’s goals than not.

“Oh, balderdash,” Blueblood scoffed. “Regardless of who started it, I’m pretty sure your ponies are keeping up their end of this street war!”

“We’ll defend our interests if we have to, but we’re in the dark about what her game is this time. We don’t even know how she’s got this many ponies in the city. She must have a base of operations nearby, but we can’t take the fight to her if we don’t know where that is.”

“Well, so what?” Blueblood swirled his drink, and took a small sip. “She’s an independent mare. Even if she was involved, she wouldn’t necessarily tell me.”

“I know what it’s like to live and work under her,” Limestone said with a quiet intensity. “I defected for a reason, and if she gets the kind of power she’s after, you’ll find out what that is firsthoof. If anything, it might be worse for you—she’s not exactly a big fan of elite social standing. So if you truly want to get what you’ve been looking for, then it’s time for you to stop ‘keeping your options open’ and make the right choice.”

Rarity’s ears perked up at the hints of intrigue Limestone had laid out.

For his part, though, Blueblood simply pursed his lips, finished his drink, and poured another. “And what, pray tell, would that be? You and your—” Rarity raised an eyebrow as he rolled the ‘r’s “—rrrrrebel frrrriends, only seem interested in stringing me along with little bits of information here and there. At least she’s been willing to procure me some really meaty reading about Tartarus and, ah… other topics.”

Limestone shook her head. “We know. And we appreciate the fact that you’ve passed along so many of her little gifts to the Archive for us to check out, too. You… knew that we were doing that, right?”

Blueblood snorted a laugh into his drink. “Of course! Say what you will about keeping one’s options open, but sometimes it pays to let those you’re in bed with know you’re still playing the field.”

“Well then, this is your lucky day. As it turns out, I need your help with something… and to get it, I’m prepared to make you an offer beyond anything that she could possibly give you.”

“Truly? What could you of all ponies give me that I couldn’t get elsewhere—especially considering how much I’m willing to pay for my desires?” He paused, cocked his head, and eyed Rarity. “But before we go there, my dear Seneschal, this is getting to be some real deep talk among the big ponies. You’re not exactly… in, if you catch my drift.”

“My allegiances have shifted of late,” Rarity said.

“Mmm.” Blueblood arched an eyebrow. “Trust but verify, though, as they say. Now, despite how terribly gauche it must seem, I think I might have to take a peek at those magnificent flanks you’ve got all covered up in silk.”

Limestone stepped forward, scowling. “Blueblood!”

“Don’t play coy; you know exactly what I’m looking for.”

Rarity lit her horn. “It’s… all right. Provided this is brief.” She took hold of the edge of her dress with her magic, and lifted it high for a moment.

“Hold on,” Blueblood said. “I’m not looking for a tease.”

“Governor—”

“You want something. The way this works is that you have to give something to get something. Understand?”

“Very well…” Rarity hitched her dress up again, slowly, heat rising in her cheeks all the while. Blueblood watched with a satisfied smile as she did it. Once her cutie mark was visible, he stood up and sauntered over to her, bending down and giving a closer examination.

“Of course there’s really only one way to be sure…”

Blueblood placed a hoof on Rarity’s rump, then lasciviously licked his other hoof and brought it around, slowly rubbing at her painted-on mark.

“There will be consequences for this later,” Limestone said, a tremor in her voice.

“Later is my favorite time for consequences. But now… ah, there we are.” Blueblood pulled his hoof away, studying the blue residue on it. “Hello, little grey bars. What kind of trouble is your mommy getting up to?”

“That’s enough!” Rarity declared, stepping back and letting his hoof slide off her. “I trust that you are satisfied with this humiliation?!”

“I suppose, if I must be.” He turned his gaze on Limestone. “So whatever this wild opportunity is that my so-called marefriend ostensibly could never touch must be pretty serious, if you’ve got her on board with it. Or have you been part of this all along, Lady Rarity? Ol’ Filthy always made it sound like you were more on the side of my lovely new aunt.”

Rarity turned her eyes downward. “I wasn’t part of this, until recently. But now I’m trying to make up for lost time.”

“Which we don’t have much of,” Limestone interjected. “Governor, I know you’re content to sit here wringing your hooves instead of going out and keeping the peace because you don’t actually care if everypony out there tears themselves apart—”

He scoffed. “Oh, give me a break. It’s an evolving situation!”

“One that you’d gladly avoid if you could.” Limestone let the words hang in the air for a moment before continuing: “If, for instance, you could get safe passage into Tartarus instead of having to deal with all of this, I imagine you’d find that very attractive.”

“Attractiveness is relative. Safety, even more so. There would, of course, be consequences afterward, as you yourself so eloquently stated.”

Limestone nodded. “Yes, but she’ll never get you into Tartarus. She doesn’t have the means. But we do. In just a few hours, you can finally get the answers you’ve been seeking, firsthoof.”

“Come now. Are you saying that you’ve come into possession of the Hellshard? My dear new auntie is too smart to let that happen. Notwithstanding how that seems to be going for the lovely Lady Saddles, who certainly doesn’t have it anymore—”

“How is she?” Rarity asked, her mouth suddenly dry.

“Not feeling the best, I’m sorry to say? I guess she kinda had a friend just stab her in the back. Metaphorically speaking. And then some other friend actually did get stabbed, or burned… or something.” He leaned forward. “Just between you and me, I’m shocked—shocked, I say!—that she even had friends to lose! But life is full of surprises. Oh…” He frowned, swirling his drink briefly. “Also, for some reason she seems to think that you’re planning to kill her, so… y’know.” He took a sip. “It’s complicated.”

Rarity nodded. The implication that Sassy was still alive calmed her pulse slightly. She swallowed, absorbing the news and trying not to let it unduly sway her from the mission. “Regardless, I know where the Hellshard is being kept, and how we can obtain it with minimal notice.”

A smile worked its way across Blueblood’s face. “So that’s why you’re in on this. Very well; let’s assume that I believe you’re gonna bring me the Hellshard and let me have my way with it. The big question is, what do you get out of this? And why do you need me?”

“We don’t need you,” Limestone said, pointing at Blueblood’s desk. “We need him.”

Blueblood visibly struggled to suppress a smirk as he turned and ran a hoof over the mismatched horns of the unsightly statuary on his desk. “Oh, my friend, the curtain calls for you at last.”

Rarity glanced at Limestone. The misshapen head on Blueblood’s desk made little sense to her. But what she saw in Limestone’s eyes was a look of strength, determination… and with small wrinkles at the corners that belied an underlying desperation as well.

“You’ve taken a very deep interest in ancient pony lore, and in the recent changes to Tartarus,” Rarity began slowly. “You’ve also courted ties to the Resistance and enabled this… other power as well. So it’s clear that you’re willing and able to support ponies who you think will work to undermine the rule of the Nightmare. And now the opportunity has arisen for us to go further: we can stop her, once and for all.”

“How, precisely?”

Rarity held his gaze. “By going into Tartarus and obtaining the last of the Elements of Harmony.”

Blueblood’s eyebrows climbed. He raised his glass and chuckled while draining it once more. “Well, Limestone, I’ve always known you were ambitious, but this one takes the taco. You’re banking an awful lot on my stone friend here keeping this from devolving into an amusing suicide mission.”

Limestone briefly met Rarity’s eyes before turning back to Blueblood. “I may think you’re crazy, but Twilight believes you’re really talking to some little part of Discord’s essence in there. And she thinks that might be our best chance of controlling where the Hellshard opens up, since the rest of Discord is already down in Tartarus. She even thinks he might be able to help us deal with the Guardian, if we have to.”

Blueblood sat back in his chair. He touched his forehooves together in front of his lips, staring indistinctly, and stayed quiet for a long moment.

“I have one condition,” he said slowly.

“Name it,” Rarity said.

“I’ve built… something of a rapport with him. So when the time comes for whatever you’re going to do with him, you’ll let me work with him to do it.”

“Out of the question,” Limestone said. “Twilight’s deep knowledge of magic makes her the logical choice to tap into whatever’s left of him. Besides, how could we trust you not to open the portal into a lava pit, or strand us there, or do something equally vile?”

All of the customary jocularity slid from Blueblood’s face as he sat up straighter in his chair. “Do you ponies know why I’ve been so interested in all these crazy things lately? Because I don’t. Not exactly, anyway. All I know is that there’s been this… this…” He raised a hoof to his head. “Him in there, driving me to know more, telling me that he’s lost so much knowledge. So much self. And for the life of me, I can’t begin to understand what he’s whispering to me. What do you both know about the great Ocean of Fire and the source it flows from, or the Sleeping Realm from whence few ponies would escape? When the Guardian calls you, how will you answer? And what of the Lowest Reaches that you seek?” He gritted his teeth. “These things I know—if only in vague outlines. And I have to know more.”

Limestone leaned close to Rarity. “You must talk him out of this. If we entrust him with this power, he could easily exploit it—or worse, he could secure the Elements for Nightmare Moon.”

“Why, not a chance, my loud-whispering frenemy. My lady-in-waiting would never forgive me if I passed up the opportunity to stop Nightmare Moon once and for all, even if that left things unresolved afterward. Though I’m sure you’ll want a guarantee that I’d be willing to keep her in the dark about it? Rest assured…” He leaned closer, and dropped his voice. “She already doesn’t know about a couple little side flings I’ve been having.”

“I’ll have to talk with Twilight,” Limestone said. “If she doesn’t think she can maintain enough control with you leading this, the deal’s off. But if she does… I suppose I can live with that. I hope you’ll understand if I prefer not to let you out of my sight until we’re on our way with the head, though?”

Blueblood frowned. “Fine, let’s get to it, then. Tell you what: you might also need some extra backup down in Tartarus, and a cover story to get to wherever the Hellshard is. I can supply enough sympathetic troops and extra uniforms to make whatever you’re planning look totally legit.”

“Before we go,” Rarity interrupted, drawing stares from both of the others. “I feel there is one loose end that I should like a chance to tie up.”

“Rarity, we don’t have much time,” Limestone said.

“I know, Limestone; but I shall not leave another Moondancer behind me if I can avoid it. I may lack my cutie mark, but I remain the pony who possessed it not long ago. Now, I trust you have a means that I could use to talk to Twilight?”

“Yes, but—”

“And Governor, I trust that Overseer Saddles is indeed alive and reasonably well somewhere within these premises?”

“She is!”

“Very well, then.” Rarity’s stony determination cracked only a little. “I should like a chance to see her.”

Comments

[Raistlin]

I have read several versions of Blueblood: spoiled brat, cunning power hungry bastard, secret agent hiding under a facade...but this is the first time I see him as a sort-of-follower of Discord
And incredibly enough, it works!

[FanOfMostEverything]

Hmm. I wonder if that chaotic essence is what made Tartarus into the flaming hellscape it is now.

“We didn’t start the fires—”

Blueblood harrumphed. “Let me guess: ‘they were always burning since the world’s been turning?’”

I see that communion with Discord has led to some extraplanar esoterica finding its way into Blueblood's mind.

Those rolling "r"s make me wonder where Trixie fits in amid all of this, especially considering what appears to be a third faction that's made the chaos in Canterlot self-sustaining.

Blueblood is certainly in an interesting position. It's not quite the full possession or mind swap that I hypothesized, but it still offers some promise for the Tartarus expedition. For good and for ill. Mind you, the same could be said of Rarity and Sassy's reunion. I suppose we'll see in time.

[sporklasagna]

Discord's whereabouts finally being answered in the intro and this chapter makes me wonder where the other villains are (as I usually do in Cutie Re-Mark fics). I'm pretty sure Chrysalis is biding her time somewhere and Tirek is still in Tartarus. As for Starlight Glimmer....... well, who can say?

[MisterNick]

That's a fun meeting there!

Also...

A smile worked its way across Blueblood’s face. “So that’s why you’re in on this. Very well; let’s assume that I believe you’re gonna bring me the Hellshard and let me have my way with it. The big question is, what do you get out of this? Any why do you need me?” I believe you mean And why you would need me?

[CoffeeMinion]

9425901
Amazing. Untold numbers of editing passes later, and there’s still the odd typo?! D:

Well, thank you for it! Better out than in, as it were.

[ZanarNaryon]

Oooh so Blueblood has some sympathy. I hate him though for that sexual harassment, hope he dies