Foundations of Equality

by stupidhand14

Chapter 6: Coverup

Double Diamond lay in his bed, the sun ready to rise. Rather than a peaceful slumber, he was shifting in his bed, his dreams turning to nightmares. All of his plans, failing, all of his goals, unattainable. He couldn’t escape his fears in the world of dreams, only nightmares ruled there. It wasn’t until he was woken up by a shard of light that he was able to escape that world.

Panting, he got out of the bed. Rushing out of the room, he briefly scanned to make sure nopony was there. After his momentary fears were assuaged, he moved to the study. Opening one of the books he kept in there, he pulled out a letter. Opening it, his eyes latched onto a single sentence.
“I will be at your charity event on…”

Sighing, Double Diamond replaced the letter and began to get ready for his day. More lessons needed to be given, and he was working on a time limit. Azure should be able to learn all his tricks. She was a capable pony, and nothing would go horribly wrong. Hopefully.

---

Azure’s eyes opened to find darkness. Her blanket was cover her eyes. After she removed it, she understood why: the sun. The sun was already shining bright enough to sting her eyes as she looked around the room.

Oh ponyfeathers, she thought. I’m late.

Azure rushed through her usual morning routine, though she did spend some extra time and focus on replacing the makeup on her Cutie Mark. Some ponies waved to her as she ran by, but she hadn’t the time to return the gesture.

Without knocking or announcing herself, Azure burst through the front door, slightly out of breath. Double Diamond was at the table, looking over some papers until he heard her enter. Looking up, his eyes screamed disapproval.

“Why are you late?” he asked before looking over her. Upon noticing her breathing, he stood from the chair. “And why are you out of breath?”

“Sorry, I woke up late,” she tried to say, though still out of breath. “I ran over here as fast as I could.” Double Diamond got out of his chair and walked over to her.

“Next time, don’t run,” the mayor told her. “If you’re already late, don’t embarrass yourself by running.”

“Okay, if you say so.” Azure took a few deep breaths, trying to recover. After a minute, her breathing had normalized and her pulse had returned to normal levels. Double Diamond was already back at the table, reading over the paper again.

“There are some more papers upstairs, in the study. I’d suggest going through them carefully.”

“Yes, sir.” Azure went to the study and began to go through the process of reading and extracting information. About an hour into the task, somepony knocked on the door. Azure went downstairs only to find that Double Diamond was not there. Where’d he go? She answered the door in his stead and found River Channel standing there.

“Hey, River, what do you need?” Azure asked with a smile.

“I came to drop off a few notes for Double Diamond,” River answered with a smile back. “Do you mind giving him these?” She held out a small stack of papers. Most of them were just numbers, though there were a few notes mixed in.

Azure added these papers to her sorting, and ignored them for a while. However, eventually, she had to look at them. Most of the papers were full of numbers and letters. Taxes, maybe? However, in a small pile of notes on ponies, one note caught her attention: a note about herself.

Azure Moon has yet to store her bits with anypony else.

Grabbing the note from Treasurer Fire Hammer, she looked for other notes from the pile, and found three other notes of similar contents. One for each of her closest friends, each one showing that they had been hoarding bits away from the rest of the community.

Azure glanced around the room, looking for some way to dispose of the note, but found no place for it. Sighing, she tried to hide the notes off to the side, near the useless papers pile. She continued on for a few hours before lunch time had arrived. Smiling, she went downstairs only to find Double Diamond heading up.

“Oh, good. You’re done,” Double Diamond commented with a smile. “Eat lunch fast, I have a job for you afterwards.”

“Will do,” Azure replied with a mock salute. She grabbed a small lunch from home, before heading out to find her friends. She found Tempest easily enough, and the two were able to find River Channel and Golden Scale within a few minutes. The four mares entered Tempest’s house, and sat down at the table. After pleasantries, Azure shared her news.

“I think some ponies might be getting suspicious by our hoard of bits,” she told them. “Double Diamond was given notes detailing how many bits we should have been storing, and how we weren’t storing any of them.”

“Wait, Fire Hammer made a note just to tell him that?” Tempest Glide asked with incredulity. “Why is that so important?”

“They could be looking out for us,” Golden Scale pointed out. “They may want to make sure we aren’t spending bits on useless frivolities or having our bits stolen from us.”

“Then why make a note of it?” River challenged. “What could the mayor do that Fire couldn’t?”

“He could ask us questions, or have somepony watch us.” Golden pulled out a piece of paper, looking over the numbers. “We already have most of the bits, and I don’t think they know the exact amount.”

“They do have a note for it, an easy calculation could give them everything they wanted to know.” Tempest took a deep breath before continuing. “Why would they even want to watch us anyways? We aren’t doing anything bad.”

“There’s no point in debating why it happened,” Azure broke in, ending the discussion. “We have to decide on what to do with this new information. We can’t just try to pass it off, somepony will ask questions about it. We need a story.”

“What about simply telling them the truth?” Golden asked. “It’s not like they would stop us if we did try, or would do anything to stop it from happening.”

“They might,” Tempest pointed out. “They could try to prevent us from leaving, or try talking us out of it. We can’t let them do that.”

“I told you we should have deposited our bits from the beginning,” Golden said. “If we had simply done that, we wouldn’t have this problem.”

“But then we wouldn’t be able to get our bits without jumping through hoops and explaining the situation,” Tempest argued. “We discussed this before, we need to be able to get our bits without having anypony know when we take them.”

“We could have come up with an excuse, surely!”

“While I see your point, do you want us to lie to them, to our friends?” River sighed.

“We can’t simply lie to them, nor can we tell them the truth.”

“I have an idea,” Azure broke in again. All eyes turned to her. “What if we tell them a lie, about how we are saving up to pay for the materials needed to buy our houses at the same time, near Tempest’s?”

“That could work,” Golden thought aloud. “But what about Tempest? She doesn’t need to buy a house, again.”

“I could be saving up to help my friends pay for it,” Tempest answered with a smile. “I like this plan.”

“Okay, are we all in agreement?” Azure asked, receiving three nods. “Good. Remember, no one must know beforehand.”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it, pure secrecy.” Tempest rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Azure, you need to calm down a bit. None of us are going to go tell the mayor our plans.” With business taken care of, the four mares switched to lighter topics, though Golden was more quiet than usual. After a few minutes, the four were done with their meals and Azure rushed back to Double Diamond’s house.

“Good, you’re back.” Double Diamond grabbed a saddlebag and gave it to Azure. “I need you to return this back to the Cutie Mark vault.”

Azure opened the bag and peered in, seeing Double Diamond’s Cutie Mark inside a jar. Looking back up at him, she smiled and gave a nod. Before she could leave, though, Double Diamond gave her one final instruction.

“Go there and come back as soon as possible. There are two other matters I wish to discuss with you.” With that, Azure left and began to head over to the Cutie Mark vault. On the way out of the village, though, she bumped into Golden Scale.

“Hey, Gold,” Azure said as she trotted by.

“H-hello, Azure,” Golden responded as she trotted in step with her friend. “Where are you heading?”

“The Cutie Mark Vault.” Azure smiled at Golden’s wide eyes. “What, surprised?”

“Yeah, a little. Why are you going there?”

“Gotta put back Double Diamond’s Cutie Mark. Just another part of the job, I guess.” The two trotted in silence for a few minutes before Golden broke it.

“Azure, what do you think would happen if I told somepony about it?” Azure looked at her friend, who was trying to shield her eyes by turning away.

“Gold, you know we all agreed not to. If you told anyone, we have to know so we can be extra careful.”

“I didn’t tell anyone... at least not yet. But, what if we did? It would solve so many problems and we wouldn’t have to lie.”

“The point is to get rid of any outside influence and control, to really see things. We can’t tell anypony, not until it’s the minute before, and only in a letter then.”

Golden remained silent for a few moments longer before nodding her head.

“Alright, Azure, I trust you.” Without any further comments, Golden turned aside and began to head back into town. Within a few more minutes, Azure made it to the vault.

The immensity of the vault always surprised her. Rows upon rows of Cutie Marks were stored, with no special treatment given to them. Trapped, like a prison or complex trap, keeping the cause of strife away from ponies. Azure went to one of the empty chambers and tapped it open. Opening her saddlebag, she pulled out the jar with Double Diamond’s mark in it.

Grabbing the jar in her magic, she cast a containment spell on the Cutie Mark, preventing it from going flying as soon as the jar was opened. With that in place, she opened the lid and immediately felt a force against her containment. The Cutie Mark was constantly trying to reattach to its owner, like a magnet it was drawn to its owner. Putting in a bit more power into the containment spell, Azure placed it into the box and closed it. Smiling, she eyed her work and released the spell. The Cutie Mark was still trapped, and wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

Azure returned to the village with a smile on her face. She trotted, a spring in her step, into Double Diamond’s house. For once, Double Diamond was not at the table. Frowning, Azure went upstairs and found him in the study. He was writing at the desk, the papers Azure had organized still thrown about. Double Diamond turned around and smiled upon seeing her.

“There you are.” He got out of the chair and motioned for her to take a seat. She looked at what he was writing and found many letters written, each one going to a different place around Equestria.

“What are these for?” Azure asked, looking at the first one. It was addressed to somepony in Las Pegasus.

“Think of it as a reconnection,” Double Diamond told her. “These letters are to the friends that left once Starlight… was taken away. It’s inviting them back, and, if they want, have their fillies and colts equalized.”

“That makes sense…” Azure’s mind went to the future, and saw a large influx of new ponies into town. It would be a boom in population and would solve a few problems, maybe. Food might be an issue, though. Shaking her thoughts, she looked at the paper and saw her name at the bottom, below Double Diamond’s signature.

“You’ll need to sign below your name,” he instructed. Azure began to sign each of the letters, though that took more time than she would have wished. By the end of it, her hoof was slightly cramped. Double Diamond took the letters from the desk and motioned for her to follow.

The two walked into Double Diamond’s personal room. In the corner was another, smaller desk. Opening one of the drawers, Double Diamond removed wax and a small pendant. The Pendant was in the shape of an equal sign.

“Watch closely,” the mayor commanded. He lit a candle and put the wax above it. The heat began to melt the wax, which he allowed to drop onto the folded letters. He did this for every letter except one. Upon getting done, he took the pendant and pushed it into each of the blobs of wax, making a seal. After he was done, he moved to the side and held out his hoof.

“Now you try,” he said invitingly. Azure grabbed the wax with levitation and brought it above the candle. Waiting until it was heated, she put it over the letter, letting a small glob fall onto the paper. Taking the pendant from Double Diamond, she pushed it into the wax, sealing it with an equal sign.

“Good job,” Double Diamond commented with a smile. “Why don’t you go upstairs and grab the papers to be disposed of?”

Azure headed upstairs and grabbed the papers that were to be burned. However, she paused when she saw the four notes about her and her friends’ bits. She grabbed them, looking at them. Should she throw them into the fire? Wouldn’t Double Diamond suspect something? He hadn’t a chance to read it, but he would surely hear about it, right? Shaking her mane, she placed the notes in the pile of papers from Fire Hammer, the ones to be stored. She returned downstairs and the two burned the papers that nopony else would see.

Azure went home, leaving Double Diamond to finish up whatever other small tasks needed to. She ate a small dinner with her mom and went to her room. Grabbing Starlight’s Journals, she began to read, but didn’t get far. Taking out a journal of her own, she began to put down her own thoughts and plans.

Across town, Double Diamond was filing papers away. When he was storing some of the Treasurer’s report, a single note slipped out. He read over it, a frown forming on his lips. Sighing, he went outside to get some fresh air. Verifying that nopony else was there, he began to make his way across the village by moonlight.

His face hidden in shadow, he went to one house and began to knock hard. The parents were, fortunately, awake and invited him in.

“No, no, that’s okay,” Double Diamond assured them. “Do you mind if I borrow your daughter for the night? I need to talk to her about her future.”

“Of course,” the parents responded. Their daughter came out of her room sluggishly, and followed Double Diamond back to his house. He lit a small fire while she sat at his table, trying to stay awake. She was very, very tired. Double Diamond took his time with the fire, grabbing some water, and getting everything prepared. All the while, the young mare squirmed in her seat.

After he was finished with everything, he took a seat across from the mare, a smile on his face; a smile that didn’t touch his eyes.

“Good evening,” he greeted.

“Hi,” came the weak response. Double Diamond pulled out the note and put it on the table.

“So, I heard you haven’t been storing any money with the treasurer,” he stated. “Mind telling me why that is?”

“I’m saving up for one big purchase, as a surprise.” The mare squirmed in her seat a bit more, clearly not comfortable with being asked direct questions by the mayor.

“Really?” he asked without humor or belief. “I don’t think you’re being completely honest with me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“See, if you wanted to do that, you would have had enough money a couple of months ago, at least if you’ve managed your money well enough.” The mare remained silent. “So, I’m afraid you and I will be here until you decide to tell me the truth.”

The interrogation lasted all night. Dusk turned to night. The only light in the town was from the mayor’s manor, the moon, and the stars. The two ponies talked for many hours, until the mare was allowed to sleep when dawn was approaching. The sun rose, with Double Diamond ready to greet it. He greeted the new day with a smile.

Author's Note:

I may be playing the pronoun game, but it's just such a fun game to play.

Remember, Criticism is always welcome.

Comments

[Mix-up]

Interesting, Azure was Planing to leave Our Town the first chance she got, that must be a shock for DD; I wander what he will do to keep them there

[zalla661]

7114704 It's an interesting situation isn't it? Here we have the mayor and a leader in training and one is going to essentially abandon the other.

[Twilight Connor]

Dd really wants Starlight's last wish to be fufuiled.