The Duke Abides

by GrassAndClouds2

Put Up Your Dukes

Mango roared, “TRAITOR!” and leapt at Greengrass, who only barely managed to dodge.

“Notary, hide!” The Duke yelled, and then he had to dodge another charge. When he was able to turn to look for her, she was already gone. He made a note that, if he survived this, he really had to pick up some tips from her on doing that.

Mango spun around, pendant glowing. Greengrass tried to dodge, but he wasn’t anywhere near fast enough. Mango slammed into the Duke and, though the Duke was an earth pony, knocked him sprawling on his flank.

“Now wait a minute!” cried out Greengrass. “Just hold on—“

“You lied to me! You betrayed me! And not just me, but Celestia as well!” Mango’s horn glowed a bright, frightening orange. “You will pay!”

Greengrass was not great in a fight. He was reasonably well built, of course, and he had an earth pony’s strength and stamina, but he was not at the level of a soldier or a Guard. Mango didn’t look all that strong, but he was fighting with righteous fervor and he had that weird pendant that Fisher had provided him. Plus, he had magic.

I wouldn’t mind getting toasted by this nut so much if it didn’t back up Fisher’s stupid point about how unicorns are inherently better fighters, thought Greengrass.

Mango fired a bolt of energy that the Duke, again, couldn’t entirely dodge. He yelled out as it crashed into him, and then he was flying backwards and slamming against the wall.

He managed to get to his hooves. Nothing was broken, although his back hurt terribly. “You’re just making it harder on—“

He was able to dodge the next blast by throwing himself to the side and slamming into a desk. He fell to the ground and rolled to one side just before Mango blasted it apart.

I’m not going to win this fight, he thought. Mango would likely destroy him, and then hunt down and destroy Notary.

No. Greengrass would have shaken his head, if he’d ached less.I can’t let that happen. I have a nation to rule and a garden to grow. I need to live for that, and Notary, and--

The Duke managed to get to his feet in time to dodge the next blast, but he couldn’t keep this up forever. If Mango was able to cast this kind of magic now, it was no surprised that he’d been able to ambush and overwhelm a Shadowbolt.

Greengrass looked at the unicorn, trying to draw some information by using his talent. What was Mango’s weakness? Besides his general insanity, and devotion to Celestia, and his lack of resources; he knew all those, but they wouldn’t help Greengrass now. What was the thing about Mango that he could exploit to win this fight?

Pendant.

Right, that sun pendant was amping up the mango farmer. He knew that already. It didn’t help him if he couldn’t get close enough to grab it.

Maybe he could try guile. “If you’re so strong and blessed, fight me without your magic trinkets!” yelled Greengrass. It hurt to talk, but he pushed on. “Take off your pendant and duel me with nothing but your own power! I don’t need a token to fight you, and you’re apparently blessed by Celestia – surely you don’t need something like that.

Mango blinked. “Why would I take it off? It’s giving me power!”

“To show you don’t need it.”

“…that would be stupid.”

Great. Now was not the best time for this pony to do something smart.

He leapt at Mango, but the unicorn dodged. His horn and pendant glowed, and when he kicked Greengrass – though only with a glancing blow – it sent him sprawling into a row of filing cabinets. The Duke’s head rang.

Greengrass rolled over just in time to dodge a blast of energy, but he was nearing the end of his rope. He could outfox any political enemy, but when it came to straight-up physical combat, he couldn’t do it. He needed help. He—

A small white blur darted out from under Fisher’s huge desk. It jumped on the desk, then sprang onto Mango’s back for a moment before jumping off. Mango roared and tried to buck it, but the blur – Notary – was already running into one of the side rooms.

“Nice try. You didn’t even scratch me!” roared Mango. “Now I will destroy you and him and Fisher and everypony who stands in the way of the Sun!”

His horn glowed. Greengrass tried to get up, but he was a second late and knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid it. He tensed up –

And nothing happened.

Greengrass stared. The glow from Mango’s horn was sputtering, and the farmer produced little more than a small puff of energy. “What? No! My power!” He glanced down. “My pendant!”

Oh. Right. Notary must have stolen that.

The Duke groaned as he heaved himself to his hooves. He was more of a match for Mango if magic wasn’t involved, but he was still woozy from all the hits he’d taken. He looked around to try to figure out a new strategy, but couldn’t come up with much besides escaping out the window. Even then, it was probably enchanted with all kinds of nasty defenses to block thieves, and…

Wait…

Greengrass strode towards Mango. putting himself between the unicorn and the window. Mango stared at Greengrass, then leapt at him in blind fury. The Duke threw himself down, and Mango smashed into the window. The glass shattered, but Mango managed to catch himself before he went flying out.

Dang.

Then the spells on the window triggered, blasts of energy that rocked Mango several times before sending him sprawling to the ground. Mango did manage to get to his hooves again, somehow, but it took little more than a tap from the Duke before he was down for the count.

Greengrass swayed and said, “Ow.” And then he fell on his flank.

###

Notary helped Greengrass onto a small divan sofa. She got Greengrass some tea from Fisher’s kitchen, and then began exploring the room.

“I can’t pick the lock,” she told him, five minutes later. “I don’t have my tools, and when I tried using a pin it melted. Fisher has some heavy magic on the door.”

Greengrass forced his scattered thoughts together. “What about those drill bits he invented? Can’t those cut through even magical locks?”

“Low-level magic, like Mango’s lockbox. Fisher’s door is likely to be much more formidable.” Still, Notary opened up a box on Fisher’s shelf and removed a few drill bits. She took one of them, then bucked it at the door. The bit touched the door, something rippled, it dug a little deeper--

And then Notary to dive for cover as the bit was hurled away from it and smashed into a bookshelf, embedding itself in an ancient collection of treatises.

“Okay, so that’s no good… wait, do you hear something?”

Notary listened. “Sounds from the hallway. I think the bit cut through the silence spell, at least. Maybe we can yell for help.”

“I don’t think we’ll be able to explain this one away easily to any random passerby.” Greengrass sighed, holding his head. “Okay. I need to think. Fisher… I need to figure out his next move.”

He settled back on the sofa. “Here’s the thing… if Mango had killed us, or we killed him, that would embarrass him and the USF. The Guards knew it. Mango was supposed to be in their care. Therefore, the Guards knowledge will somehow not be a problem for him. Maybe he’s going to tamper with their memories? Make them forget he had Mango?”

He paused. “But what does that get him? That’s a really high risk just to have Mango try to kill us. Fisher could go to jail for that. He wouldn’t take that risk without a better reason, so there’s some other reason why he wants to mess with the Guards’ minds…”

Notary said nothing.

“If the Guards knew what happened here and made it back to the other Guards, the attack on the party couldn’t happen. Then the USF couldn’t stop it.” Greengrass groaned. “Horsefeathers. He still wants the attack to happen. He’ll probably launch it himself, then hide.”

“That… but what if he gets caught?”

“He’s not thinking that far ahead. Or, maybe he’s convinced himself that it’s worth it. I don’t know.” Greengrass groaned again. “Okay. We need to get out of this room and stop him before he launches the attack. On a national level, the attack could injure ponies if the USF isn’t fast enough. More personally, without the Guards to tell the world we were working with Fisher, he’ll still sink us for being in the group and funding the thing.”

“I’ll look for other ways out.”

Greengrass settled back on the couch as the world slowly stopped spinning. “I’m sorry,” he managed.

“For what?”

“I should have seen this coming. I know Fisher, I know how badly he hates to lose and how he… zealous he can be. I should have had a backup plan in case he targeted the Guards, or—“

“Sir?”

Greengrass turned to see Notary frowning at him.

“You didn’t dragoon me into this. I’m here of my own free will. Because I believe that, together, we can rise to great heights.” She smiled slightly. “I still believe that. No apology is necessary.”

Greengrass chuckled. “Alright then.”

Notary completed her search of the room without finding any more exits. “The only way out I see is the window. I think Mango set off all the guard spells.”

“I can’t climb that, though. Not even if I hadn’t just been thrown across the room a few times.” Greengrass struggled to his hooves and was mildly surprised that he didn’t fall over. “Maybe a rope…”

“I can climb it.”

Greengrass paused. “I know you’ve done some climbing, Notary, but—“

“I’ll be fine.” Notary smiled again, though Greengrass could tell she was faking. “It’s just a short climb down to the next roof. I can run across the rooftop, and the next one, and get back into the castle in the Hall of Portraits. There’s a window there with a broken latch. Then I’ll just run back here and try to open the door from the other side, or get Ox and Bear to break it down or something.”

Greengrass wasn’t sure what to say. “Notary, honestly, I appreciate it, but that is incredibly dangerous. I—“

“If Fisher pulls off his scheme, we both go to jail forever, right?”

“Well… yes.”

“Then I think the risk is worth it.” Notary began walking to the window. “But I want you to do something for me.”

“Name it.”

Her voice grew tense. “Bury Fisher.”

Greengrass thought, briefly, of what Fisher had done. Especially what he had done to Notary. She had given him her loyalty, worked for him professionally, though he intended to ruin her former master and friend. And in return, he’d been plotting from the beginning to dispose of her – not even as part of some intricate strategy, but just due to his contempt of her. She’d given him her all, and he treated her like a disposable tissue.

“I promise,” he said.

Notary laughed, a surprisingly bright sound considering the circumstances, and then climbed out the window.

###

Notary hooked her hooves into a few cracks in the wall and began climbing down. She made no complaint; this was part of her job, now, and she would attend to it with her customary care and diligence. She would climb down the wall and--

“HEY, NOTARY!”

Notary couldn’t help but look up.

The former Captain, Lightning, was perched on a small outcropping. He laughed. “I knew it! I knew one of you would try to go out the window!”

Notary began to climb down faster, hooves and legs scraping against the rough blocks that comprised the castle wall.

Lightning’s horn began to glow. “This is revenge, Notary!”

Author's Note:

Yeah... Fisher couldn't be this crazy in canon. Still, I admit to liking his sheer energy as he goes totally off the rails.

Comments

[Talon and Thorn]

Its interesting that Notary often gets referred to as small in this. I've not previously thought of her as being anything but of average size (and in fact may be sort of aggressively average, to make her harder to remember), do you actually visualise her as being short or small?