Keeping an Ear to the Ground
The Blood Stripes had two different bases of operations: their business office in Freeport proper, and their barracks on one of the outlying islands. It was a pretty common arrangement for the major mercenary groups. They needed an office in the city itself to look prestigious and attract potential clients, while the outer island base gave them plenty of room for a barracks, training grounds, armory, and all the other bells and whistles any group needs to keep a private army in working order. Not to mention a lot more privacy than you could get in the city.
Which was why Puzzle and I were going after their base in Freeport first. We certainly could get onto the Stripes’ private island if we needed to, but it would’ve been a lot more trouble than just walking up to the front door of their business office. Plus, the Stripes couldn’t go nearly so crazy on security in the city as they could on their own territory.
Of course, that might mean the information we were looking for wasn’t here. I’d certainly want to hide all my dark secrets in the most secure location possible. However, given that we were trying to get a look at their business records, I was willing to bet that they’d be in the business office. Even the sensitive, secret records. Keeping all their financial records somewhere else would’ve been a huge inconvenience, and even in the EIS laziness sometimes overcomes institutional paranoia.
Someone in the Blood Stripes clearly had too much money and a flair for the dramatic, because their Freeport headquarters was set up to look like a miniaturized Zebrican castle. Unfortunately for the mercs, my inner architecture critic feels that castles are the sort of building that only really looks good when built on a monumental scale—even the short, squat, thick, and rounded castles that the zebras liked. When you miniaturize a castle down to the size of a normal building, you just end up with something sad and a bit ridiculous. Like a little kid trying to wear her mother’s horseshoes, except less cute.
Still, it must have impressed at least some of their visitors considering the Blood Stripes were doing pretty well for themselves. And certainly nobody would mistake it for anything other than the headquarters of a mercenary group. It would stand up to siege a lot better than most of Freeport’s other buildings, especially since the four little mini-towers on the corners of the buildings did have actual guards on them, even this late at night.
Fortunately, when it came to dealing with the guards we had two of the most powerful forces in the world on our side: boredom and laziness. Guard duty, especially late night guard duty, isn’t something anyone can do for hours while staying sharp.
I glanced over at Puzzle, who like me was dressed up in the standard issue sneaky cloaks that anyone who’s up to something shady likes to wear. To be fair, Freeport’s the kind of city where announcing you’re up to something shady makes people look the other way so they won’t get dragged into trouble whatever trouble you’re involved in. Plus, waterproof cloaks are actually practical clothing on an island where an ocean storm could come in without much warning.
And on top of that, cloaks just look good, especially on me. Or Puzzle. I grinned at the bug. “So, how do you think we should get in? My vote’s for coming in from the top. If zebras are anything like earth ponies and unicorns, they don’t think about looking up as much as they should.” Especially not when it was late and they were all tired.
“That is true,” Puzzle agreed. “Though this one will note that the towers provide the guards with an overlapping field of view. We can come from straight above at one guard, but the other three would be able to see us when we make our move.”
“So that’s out. I guess we need to come up with a better plan.” Our only option would be to take out all four guards at once. Possible with a couple of the Doos backing us up, but the timing would be tricky. “What about having Sunset teleport us in?”
Puzzle grimaced and shook his head. “Teleporting into an unknown building that almost certainly has some form of magical defense against intruders? It could end very badly.”
“You really think they’d have anti-teleportation defenses?” I frowned skeptically. “They’re just mercs. Alchemy wouldn’t cut it, they’d need someone who’s pretty good with magic to lock the building down.”
“It is no secret that the Shimmer-mare is active in Freeport, and that she can teleport,” Puzzle countered. “It would be unwise to assume that nobody has taken measures against her.”
I didn’t like that, but I couldn’t really argue with it either. Assuming your enemies haven’t come up with any way to counter a well-known trick is a good way to get in trouble. After all, the embassy had upgraded our own defenses to make sure Sunset couldn’t sneak in to cause trouble. Some of the security guys were worried she just might have a bit of a grudge against us for imprisoning her. Not to mention that if we ever needed to lock her up again, it was only prudent to make sure we could actually hold her. She had escaped from us before, after all.
“Guess we break in the old-fashioned way, then.” I scanned the building once more. “If we come at it directly on one of the corners, only one tower would have a good angle to see us. There’s an alleyway near the northwest tower that should give us cover to close in on them. We’ll still have to cross through open ground, but we’d only be out in the open for a bit and only one guard would be able to see us. Just gotta wait for him to get bored or distracted, and...”
“It should work.” Puzzle agreed. “Not without its risks, but much safer than the alternatives.”
So that was what we did. I’d like to tell some fascinating story about how we had to duck and dodge through the shadows, barely avoiding getting caught a dozen times, but it really wasn’t all that exciting. Most of the time, being good at sneaking around was more about patience than having some sort of amazing ninja skills. Puzzle and I wound up waiting in that alleyway for half an hour, until the one guard who could’ve seen our approach took a bathroom break. He probably should’ve called in a backup to take his place, but boredom and laziness were on our side.
Once we were right flush against the tower wall, there was no way the guard would’ve been able to see us unless he leaned over the edge and looked straight down—something he probably wouldn’t do unless we gave him a reason to. And Puzzle and I were very good at being quiet when we set our minds to it.
I carefully flew up to the second story window in the hope that it wouldn’t be as secure as the ground floor ones. Yeah, the zebras were probably smart enough to remember that a fair number of Freeport’s inhabitants could fly, but it never hurt to check. Just like you shouldn’t assume your enemies hadn’t thought up a counter for your clever tricks, you also shouldn’t assume that they hadn’t made a boneheaded mistake somewhere along the line. Reminded me of one of the stories I heard back in spy school, where my mentor had spent two hours getting together everything he needed to pick a complicated lock only to find out that the bad guys had forgotten to lock it.
Fortunately, this window was locked. A quick check didn’t reveal any traps, alarms, or other nasty surprises, which I found immensely worrying. My paranoia said that there was no way that the only security on the window was a cheap lock, so that meant that they had something I couldn’t see.
I gave the window a few careful taps, trying to keep them light enough to avoid setting anything off. After all, if whatever defenses the window had were too sensitive, they would go off every time there was a stiff ocean breeze.
A couple seconds later, something weird and slightly disturbing happened. The stonework around the window started rippling. I blinked and fluttered back as far away as I could without leaving cover, trying to figure out just what the hay was going on.
Puzzle flitted up next to me and put a gently restraining hoof on my back. “Stone spirit,” he explained. “They must have had a shaman bind one to the building for security.” He shot me a quick confident grin. “Fortunately, this one knows a few things about zebra magic. Stone spirits are only effective within stone. Thus...” He dipped into his saddlebags and pulled out a small gem. “This will prevent the window from vibrating within its frame while we enter. If there is nothing for the spirit to detect, no alarms go off. This one would also recommend we fly rather than walk upon the floors. So long as we do not touch the stone itself, we should be safe. The spirit likely has orders to raise the alarm if it detects anyone unauthorized.”
“Unless they’ve got an air spirit working there too,” I pointed out.
“That is possible,” Puzzle conceded. “Though unlikely. Air spirits are notoriously hard to bind to a single location, and it is equally difficult to make multiple spirits of conflicting types work together with one another. There are certainly shamans would could manage the task, but most of those are in the Zebrican homeland. Much like unicorns who share the Shimmer-mare’s talents.”
“And yet, good old haybacon-head is here in Freeport, mercing herself out,” I pointed out. “You know what they say about making assumptions.”
“This one is well aware of the saying, yes.” Puzzle sighed, shaking his head. “This one shall keep an eye open for any signs of further security spirits. If any present themselves, we will take the needed measures to escape them.”
“I suppose that’s all we can do.” After all, if we assumed their magical defenses were impenetrable, there was no point in even trying to sneak into the building in the first place. Besides, a shaman skilled on Sunset’s level would probably be ridiculously expensive, and the Blood Stripes were running a merc group that needed to turn a profit. No point in spending so much on magical security for one building that you wound up not actually having any money left to pay all your soldiers.
Puzzle’s gem worked like a charm, and we got in and started exploring. Flying around indoors was a bit awkward, especially since the hallways weren’t exactly built to accommodate fliers, but we managed.
The good news was that there didn’t seem to be any guards patrolling the inside. I suppose that made sense, considering they already had a spirit to watch things. The guards on the outside were probably there as much for show as actual security. From what Puzzle and I had dug up, there were a couple squads of Blood Stripes within the building, but most of them would be fast asleep in the basement barracks. Ruthless amoral mercenaries still need their eight hours of shut-eye every night.
We didn’t have too much trouble finding our way to the big boss’ office. Much like Puzzle’s office, it was big and built to impress. Granted, the fact that I couldn’t turn on any of the lights probably hurt the ambiance. It didn’t look anywhere near as cool when the only stuff I could see was lit up by a few beams of moonlight drifting in through the windows.
I headed for a couple of filing cabinets in the back, but Puzzle didn’t follow me. Instead he flew up to a large display case filled with potion bottles. “Fascinating,” he murmured to himself. “This one did not know they had so many recipes. Potions that harden one’s skin or thicken one’s muscles are both difficult to make, and require many exotic ingredients. Healing potions as well, and ... they also have an ointment that forces any shapeshifter to revert to its natural state. This one is sure it need not explain why it would be interested in such a thing.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, okay, but how about we save the sightseeing for sometime when we’re not in the middle of a break-in?”
Puzzle let out an annoyed huff. “It will only take this one a few extra moments to get into their potion cabinet, and it could offer substantial benefit to this one’s other endeavours. Need this one remind the Heartstrings-mare that it is here to make a profit? Stealing a few potion recipes would be extremely profitable. Not to mention that this one might be willing to share some of the fruits of its endeavors with the Heartstrings-mare in any future joint ventures.”
I sighed and conceded the matter. Keeping up the argument would probably take longer than just letting him do what he wanted, and I was pretty sure my bosses would be very interested in that anti-changeling ointment. Though if Puzzle was getting his hooves on it, he’d probably already be working on some way to counteract it. But that was part of the spy game: figuring out new tricks, and trying to find ways to counteract the other side’s tricks.
I left Puzzle to his distraction while I got to work digging through all the files. It only took me a couple of minutes to realize we were probably going to have to just steal everything and sort through it later. It would take us hours to go through all paperwork the Stripes had on their clients, especially working in the dark.
I was in the middle of packing everything up for transport when something on the desk caught my eye. My first impression was that it looked like some sort of crossbow, except that it didn’t have the actual bow part of it. Instead of a groove to fit the bolt, there was just a smooth unbroken pipe, at the back of which was an odd mechanism involving a hole in the pipe and a long piece of string. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, though my instincts said it was probably some kind of weapon. After all, it had a trigger and stock just like a crossbow.
I shot a look Puzzle’s way, confirming that he was just about done raiding the potion cabinet. “Hey, bug-boy. Any idea what this thing is?”
Puzzle finished strapping his saddlebag shut, then flew over to have a look. “Ah, one of these.” He very gently picked it up, taking care to avoid pointing it anywhere close to me. “It's been a good time since this one has seen a Zebrican arquebus.” He hefted the weapon, clearly testing it out. “Not since this one involved itself in a bit of Zebrican court intrigue a decade ago.”
I gave the weapon a second look-over. “Oh, so that's what one looks like. It's some weird sort of alchemical weapon the zebra use, right?”
Puzzle nodded. “They're relatively new. Some zebra invented a black powder that's extremely explosive, but relatively stable as long as you don't apply too much heat or friction to it. Somewhat akin to the fire gems that the Shimmer-mare produces, except alchemical instead of magical.”
“Right, and they use an explosion to propel a bullet down the tube,” I finished for him. I wasn’t an expert, but a spy was expected to know something about foreign nations and their weapons of choice. “Just like a sling or a crossbow, except with a whole lot of complicated alchemy instead of just using simple physics.”
“Exactly.” He pointed to the mechanism near the back end of the weapon. “What you do is use the rod attached to the underside of the weapon to put a measured amount of powder down the barrel, and then a bullet. Then you put some more powder on the pan here. Once the string is lit, you point the arquebus at your target and pull the trigger, The burning end of the string hits the pan, lights the powder, and as long as everything goes right, the explosion of the powder propels the bullet out the barrel.”
I frowned skeptically at the weapon. “Sounds like it has an awful lot of things that can go wrong with it. Think I'll stick with my throwing darts.”
“That is the problem with them,” Puzzle agreed. “For one, if there are any imperfections in the manufacturing process, the barrel can burst from the force of the explosion. Then there's the problem if a spark from the string hits the pan when it's not supposed to, or the string goes out when you're trying to shoot. They’re notoriously unreliable in rainy weather. And there's the problem that these things aren't as good at penetrating plate armor as a crossbow, and are significantly less accurate at range than bows.”
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “Why do zebras even bother with them, then? Is it just that they like using an alchemical weapon for the sake of using an alchemical weapon?”
Puzzle shrugged. “This one suspects much of it is the same reason crossbows are so popular. Despite their flaws, they are quite effective when used properly and relatively easy to use. This one also feels that it should mention that these things are loud—it nearly jumped out of its carapace the first time it heard an arquebus fire.” He frowned down at the weapon, then set it back on the desk. “There also some practical advantages when it comes to equipping an army with them. Arrows are a lot heavier and bulkier than powder and bullets, and are more expensive to produce since they require good wood and a skilled fletcher. Powder is also much easier to produce in bulk; like many alchemical processes, many of the steps are quite simple once you know what to do. Still dangerous, but manageably so with proper supervision and safety protocols. If anyone ever figures out how to make these things more reliable and less prone to wounding or killing their user...”
“They'd still have less range and penetration than a crossbow.” I finished for him. “Anyway, that’s enough sightseeing, let's—”
I cut myself off as the door to the office creaked on its hinges. A zebra mare slowly poked her head through the door. “Captain, is that you? I was just finishing up some late paperwork and needed to check the records for—” She froze, staring wide-eyed at the two of us. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
I tried to come up with a cover story that would explain why we were here; pity we hadn’t heard her coming a bit sooner, or Puzzle could’ve shifted into one of the Blood Stripes—assuming a changeling disguise would fool the stone spirit. Though I tried, I couldn’t come up with any legitimate reason why a pegasus and a changeling would be poking around a zebra mercenary base in the middle of the night. Apparently Puzzle couldn’t either, because instead of trying to talk his way out, he lunged for the zebra, his fangs bared.
She barely managed to let out a soft yelp before Puzzle hit her, jamming one hoof over her mouth to silence her. As she fell to the ground he took care to stay on top of her, not letting any part of his body touch the stone floor. His fangs sank into the defenseless zebra’s neck, applying his changeling venom to disable her before she could tell anyone we were here.
Or at least, that was the idea. However, it’s hard to chomp down on anyone without shedding blood, and as soon as a single drop of her blood hit the floor, an unearthly wail began echoing down the hallways. The windows immediately sealed themselves shut, becoming an unbroken stone wall. For a moment there was total darkness, until an eerie red glow replaced the lost moonlight.
Puzzle hopped off the knocked out zebra, growling several colorful metaphors under his breath. He stomped his way over to me, no longer bothering to avoid touching the floor. “Should’ve realized the spirit would have orders to raise an alarm if it detected zebra blood. Move. Grab what we need and get out. We have maybe a couple minutes before we're up to our eyes in very angry mercenaries.”
“Yeah, running sounds like a very good idea.” I grabbed the saddlebags that I’d thankfully already stuffed full of financial records and headed for the exit, Puzzle hot on my heels. The windows here might be sealed, but maybe we would have better luck in another room?
We didn’t. It was shaping up to be that kind of day. “Not good. Very not good. I just hope our backup heard all the alarms going off.”
“Strumming!” Puzzle called out, waving to me from around the corner and showing me one of Sunset’s fire gems. “This one would strongly advise that you join it in cover.”
“Ooooh boy.” I didn’t waste any time following his advice, though a part of me couldn’t help but notice that he was calling me ‘Strumming’ instead of ‘Heartstrings-mare.’ That probably meant something in changeling-ese. I really ought to learn more about changeling courtship customs. Assuming we both survived this.
Puzzle tossed them around the corner, then quickly ducked back into cover with me. A second later there was a loud thud, and then a sudden wave of heat and pressure as the gem went off. I was a bit surprised to notice that Puzzle had extended one of his wings to cover me after the fire gem went off.
After a couple seconds I poked my head around the corner to check the damage. For a moment I saw a clear exit, but then before my eyes the stone wall began rippling and reshaping itself until it had completely reformed. Puzzle growled under his breath. “This one really hates it when others are as prepared as it for trouble.”
“That stone spirit is starting to annoy me too,” I agreed. “There any way we can get rid of it?”
“Not within a reasonable timeframe,” Puzzle shot an annoyed look at the wall. “Spirits are very limited in scope and not especially bright, but they are quite resilient. Especially when working within their area of expertise. This one doubts we could pin down and neutralize the spirit before the mercenaries find us.”
“Well that’s just fan-feathering-tastic,” I grumbled. “I guess that means we’re stuck running for the front door. Which is probably the first place the mercs will secure.”
“This one would welcome any alternate suggestions,” Puzzle snapped.
Since I was running short on brilliant escape plans, I couldn’t do much more than grumble and head for the only exit. The only other plan I could see was to try going for the roof, and even if those exits weren’t part of the lockdown, that would mean running past the very alert tower guards. Most of the mercs would’ve been sound asleep when the alarm went off, and it would take them a while to organize a response and secure the door. If Puzzle and I hurried, we had a chance of getting out before they blocked that exit.
We’d nearly made it to the exit when Puzzle suddenly grabbed me by the leg and pulled me back against the wall, placing a hoof on my lips to signal the need for quiet. Once I nodded my understanding, he leaned forward and whispered into my ear. “This one thinks they beat us to the door.” I shot him a confused frown, and he explained, “It can smell the burning cord from their arquebuses. It is subtle, but rather distinctive.”
I took a couple sniffs and caught the vague scent of something burning. I guess I’d just assumed it was the lingering smell from his fire gem. “Lemme check if they’re there.” I pulled off the cloak I’d been wearing and stuck it out around the corner.
The sound that followed was a sharp crack that reminded me what it sounded like when someone snapped a large tree branch, except about ten times louder. That burning smell got a lot sharper, and a faint cloud of white smoke drifted up the hallway.
I felt the robe jerk sharply in my hooves, and when I pulled it back, it had gained a distinctly unhealthy-looking hole where my head would’ve been if I’d still been wearing it. “Yup, they're there. And you weren't kidding about how loud those things are.”
“When is this one ever wrong about something like that?” Puzzle asked primly. “And as bad as they sound, they're even worse if they hit you. They might not penetrate armor as well as bows, but the effects on unprotected flesh are ... unpleasant.”
“I'll take your word for that.” I’m generally not a fan of getting injured in gruesome and painful ways. “So, if you’ve got any tricks that would help us get past these guys, now would be a great time to pull them out.”
Puzzle pulled out a mirror and stuck it around the corner, managing to make a quick scan of the mercenaries’ position before another shot wrecked his equipment. He briefly scowled at the broken mirror, then tossed it aside. “There seem to be a dozen of them—half with arquebuses, the other half armed for melee. This one has a few smoke potions and thunderflash stones to throw out there. We could use them and run for the doors.”
“They’d still have a chance to shoot at us,” I pointed out. “Even if they’d have a hard time aiming with all the smoke and thunderflash, they might get lucky. Plus there’s still the melee brutes. Rushing them sounds like it could go very badly. How about we just fort up and wait for our backup?”
“That is an idea.” Puzzle conceded. “For the moment, they seem content to block our exit rather than go on the offensive. Likely they’re worried about us trying to draw them out of position, then double back and run for the exit. It seems their commander wants to play it safe and make absolutely sure we don’t escape. That gives us a bit more time to work with. Not a plan this one prefers, but...”
“I like it better than the ‘hope they have bad aim’ plan,” I agreed.
Puzzle nodded along. “Those weapons aren't great at point-blank range or on the move. Better to make them chase us than for us to attack them in a position of their choosing. We can pick somewhere that won’t give them any good firing lanes.”
“Yeah, then all we’ll have to do is beat up a bunch of mercenaries who are hopped up on crazy strength-enhancing potions.” I sighed and shook my head. “Let's hope our backup gets here soo—”
Because the universe has a terribly perverse sense of humor, Sunset Shimmer chose exactly that moment to teleport in front of us. Right out in the open.
Her horn was already glowing again when I shouted out a warning that was lost in the crackling roar as the zebras opened fire on her. A wave of white smoke obscured everything, including Sunset herself.
“Sunset!” My heart sank and I took a half-step towards her, only to be stopped by Puzzle’s restraining hoof. All I could think was that I’d gotten Celestia’s ex-student killed. Sure, Sunset was an arrogant, stubborn, and morally dubious mare, but I still had a soft spot for her. And those bastard zebras might have just killed her!
Oh, and my career was probably deader than disco. After all, my assignment had been to keep Sunset from getting herself killed, or jumping off the deep end and becoming a warlock.
Thankfully, as the smoke finally cleared I saw Sunset alive and well, safely hidden behind a half-dome of ice. Judging by the misshapen metal balls caught within the wall, she’d gotten it up just in time. Sunset scowled at the damage to her dome. “Okay, those are new.”
“Stop them before they can reload!” Puzzle shouted at her.
Sunset blinked, then nodded. “Right!” She turned to the zebras, frowning and quickly sizing them all up. Then her horn started glowing and she yanked the matchcords out of the weapons. “Hope that works. What are those things, anyway?”
“Arquebuses,” I quickly explained. “They use an explosive alchemical powder to—”
“Wait,” Sunset interrupted. “You mean all those guys are carrying explosives that can be set off by these?” She shook the still-burning cords she’d just removed from all the arquebuses.
“That is correct.” Puzzle seemed to have figured out what Sunset had in mind, because a positively evil grin worked its way onto his face. “The Shimmer-mare might wish to know that they store their extra powder in the gourds on their belts.”
“Gotcha.” She stepped out from behind her ice wall, grinning like a filly on Hearth’s Warming Day. “Hi! I'm Sunset Shimmer, pyromancer.” She conjured up a trio of pretty impressive fireballs, which hovered over her head. “My friends tell me that those gourds on your belts are full of some sort of powder that explodes when exposed to fire.” Her fireballs flared a bit larger, just to make sure her point got across. “So ... how about you guys walk away before this gets ugly? Well, ugly for you. My biggest problem would be needing a shower.”
I knew Sunset well enough to be pretty sure she was bluffing about being willing to blow them all up, but I doubted the Blood Stripes would call her on that. After all, they wouldn’t hesitate if the situation were reversed. Sure enough, a lot of them were shuffling nervously and eyeing their gourds, no doubt thinking about just how messy and painful their deaths would be.
Puzzle saw his opening and moved in for the kill. “This one is sure you all know exactly how dangerous the black powder is, no? No doubt they told you about that when they gave you those weapons. The slightest spark and ... well, boom.”
The Blood Stripes’ leader, a sergeant judging by his rank insignia, let out a frustrated growl and waved his men back. Guess he knew better than to start a fight he couldn’t win. Once they were far enough away, Puzzle and I stepped out from behind our cover and started walking for the door. The sergeant shot us a glare brimming with impotent fury. “You might escape today, but that does not change that you have intruded on our territory and shed the blood of our soldiers. That is not something we will forget. Or forgive.”
“Somehow, we will survive,” Puzzle remarked dryly.
I scoffed. “Tough talk like that always comes when you don't have anything else left to use.” Considering the financial records I had sitting in my bags, the Blood Stripes were probably going to have much bigger problems than a feud with the three of us. If they knew exactly how much information I’d stolen from them, they’d probably reconsider whether it was worth the risk of going up against Sunset to stop us from getting away.
Thankfully they didn’t have a clue, so we made a clean getaway. Once we were outside, the Doo mercs Puzzle had hired met up with us, covering our backs and making sure the Stripes didn’t get any cute ideas.
Once I figured we were far enough away to be reasonably safe, I turned to Puzzle with a grin. “Well, for an operation where almost nothing went according to plan, that turned out surprisingly well.”
Sunset shot us a proud grin. “Only because I was there to save your plots.”
Puzzle answered her with a dry smile. “This one will remind the Shimmer-mare that she nearly got herself shot by blindly jumping into the middle of an active combat zone.”
I chuckled and poked him in the side with a wingtip. “Aw, let her have her pride. She did get us out of a tight spot. You did good, kid.” Sunset’s chest puffed out a bit at the praise, and I turned back to Puzzle. “So ... as far as dates go, that was pretty interesting.”
Puzzle grinned and buffed a hoof on his chest. “This one told the Heartstrings-mare that it wasn't a boring date.”
“Well, you were right.” I thought about it for a moment, then decided that what the hay, why not? “In fact, I’d call that a damn good date, so...” I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. Not because of the mission, or to get closer to him. Just because I wanted to.
Puzzle returned it, then smiled at me. “So, how does next weekend sound for our next date?” He paused, then dryly added. “Though preferably one that doesn't get us shot at. This one suspects that would get boring after a while.”
“Variety is the spice of life,” I agreed.
Sunset glowered at us, letting out a very loud and very annoyed huff. “Hey, lovebirds! Is this really the time and place?”
Puzzle flashed me a mischievous, conspiratorial grin. “And what is wrong with here and now? It's night out, the sky is clear, and this one is on a date with a very beautiful mare. What better time for romance?”
Sunset growled something rather unfriendly under her breath. “I'm not getting paid enough to put up with this.” Without another word, she vanished in a flash of light.
I snickered and shook my head. “Guess she's not a romance fan.”
“Her loss,” Puzzle murmured. “Now then, how about we get those papers somewhere safe, and then do something nice to celebrate a successful mission?”
I grinned and bumped hips with him. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
A week later, once things had settled down a bit, Puzzle took me out for a cruise on his yacht. Yes, he has a yacht. One of the many perks of dating an information broker is that he’s stinking rich, and while he didn’t flaunt his cash as much as some do ... yeah, luxury yacht.
Puzzle was manning the wheel, steering us along a presumably safe course while I contented myself with just enjoying the sun and that warm ocean air. I might’ve grown up in Canterlot, but I was developing a real fondness for tropical ocean weather. It was just so warm and pleasant.
Puzzle grinned over at me as I languidly stretched out. “Enjoying yourself there?” He slipped past me to adjust the sails. “This one would not object to a bit of assistance.”
I yawned and rolled over onto my back. “Hey, I told you when you invited me on a boat trip I didn’t know much about sailing, and that I was just going to spend the day being lazy while you did all the hard work. Why are you so shocked I was telling the truth?” I paused, then chuckled. “It was bound to happen eventually. Lying about everything eventually gets boring.”
“And makes one terribly predictable,” Puzzle agreed, giving me a quick nuzzle as he slipped past me. “You have to at least be honest enough that they can never be sure if you’re lying, or what it is you’re lying about. Not to mention a bit of strategic honesty can catch your enemies by surprise when they’re expecting a lie.” He chuckled. “Regardless, this one hoped you would like getting some nice relaxing sun.”
I spread out my wings to drink in as much sunshine as possible. “Well, you were right. So, are planning to seduce me?”
Puzzle grinned as tucked in the sails and tossed over the anchor. “Ah, the Heartstrings-mare sees through this one’s clever scheme once more. Yes, it was this one's plan to bring you out here to use its charms and wiles to seduce you.”
“Well, you're off to a good start.” I was loving the boat ride, and I’d already snuck a look at the food he’d brought along. Suffice to say I was suitably impressed. “So, how'd it go with the Council?”
“Well enough.” Puzzle settled in next to me and gently nudged me over onto my belly. “The Council arrested Sefu, so whatever he was planning has been stopped. Apparently, he was stockpiling weapons and trying to win over enough supporters to start a race riot.” His hooves started working along my shoulders in a very pleasant way.
“Mmm.” I leaned into his touch, some small part of me surprised by how at ease I felt around him. After all, there’d been a time in the recent past when I never would’ve turned my back on him. “Well, I’m glad we stopped that. What about the Stripes and whoever paid his bills?”
“The Council has made it quite clear that the Blood Stripes no longer enjoy their favor.” His hooves expertly sought out points of tension on my back and got to work relieving them. “The Stripes are of course denying that they were involved in any misdeeds and no formal charges have been levied, but this one would be surprised if they didn't have to use a lot of their funds to pay bribes to keep any of them from going to jail. And until they do something to put themselves back in the Council’s favor, jobs will be a bit harder to come by.”
“Couldn't happen to a nicer set of mercs.” The Stripes would probably just shift to taking more jobs in Zebrica, but that was fine by me. It would keep them far enough away that they wouldn’t be our problem anymore. Any further worries about those mercs faded away as Puzzle’s hooves continued to work their magic. “Mmm, you're good at this...”
“This one did pretend to be a masseuse for a couple weeks at one point in its career.” He paused for just long enough to make me grumble before resuming. “As for who was paying the Stripes, that will require more investigating on the Council's part. There are a great many documents to work through, and that takes time. Though they think Batur had something to do with it after all.”
“He is the obvious suspect.”
“So he is.” Puzzle paused again, frowning pensively. “However, the Council wants to be sure before making the matter public. Few things are worse than accusing another nation’s leaders of wrongdoing only to find out later you were played for a fool. Not to mention the uncertain situation in Zebrica...”
“In other words, the Council doesn’t want to risk starting a feud with Batur if they think he might end up as the next sultan,” I concluded. “In that case, it’s better to hold onto the info and use it as a bargaining chip next time they want something from Zebrica.”
“Just so,” Puzzle agreed. “The current sultan may be old, but he’s not dead yet. If he lives another five or ten years ... a lot can happen in that much time. Best not to burn any bridges.”
“Yeah, that’s how it goes with politics.” Probably my least favorite part of being a spy was the fact that so much of my job was ultimately tied into political agendas. Puzzle and I had gone to all the trouble of uncovering a conspiracy only for the Council to decide that it might be in their interests to keep the whole thing quiet. The EIS would probably do the same thing, given that Equestria generally made a policy of not sticking its nose into other nations’ internal affairs. “So, I guess that means our job’s done? All that's left is to wait for all the paperwork to clear out.”
Puzzle leaned down and planted a kiss on the back of my neck. “Thankfully, this one believes that we can avoid all of that.”
I chuckled and spread my wings. “Great. That’s always been my least favorite part of the job. Definitely like hanging out on a yacht more than pushing papers.”
“It is this one’s least favorite part of its job,” Puzzle agreed. “This one spends too much time reading reports from its agents and not enough time in the field. That is why this one sometimes likes to help uncover a Zebrican conspiracy, even if that means it gets shot at and placed into far too much mortal peril.” He settled down next to me. “Though in truth, this one can think of a few things it would enjoy much more than paperwork or a dangerous infiltration mission.”
“I was never a fan of papers or mortal peril,” I agreed, casually draping a wing over him. For a couple seconds we were just companionably silent, until I started to worry just a bit about how comfortable we were getting. “You know, this could get real complicated. I mean, it’s already complicated, but the more we...”
“It could,” Puzzle agreed. “You have your master, as this one has its. Though given that both of us have the same goals where the Shimmer-mare is concerned, it does not seem likely that we will come into conflict. I want her alive and sane. So do you.” He held up a hoof to forestall my inevitable objection. “Yes, this one is well aware that it is simplifying the matter. It is certainly possible that there will come a point where our nations have a conflict of interest. If that should happen, we will be in quite the difficult position. But ... well, this one thinks it would be bored with normal.”
I let out a soft snort of laughter. “I guess I would be too. So then...” I rolled over so that I was on top of him, grinning down predatorily. “Let’s get un-bored.”
The rest of what happened that afternoon didn’t show up in my report to my boss.
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Not sure what to say here.
Overall it was a good short story that helped flesh out the Freeport world.
But...kind of wanting something a bit more in the way of plot development from this series since it is my favorite among your woks. I know it's hard since this is a prequel to your Winning stuff, but...it's not like a princess hasn't just shown up out of the blue before in cannon material with no prior buildup.
7215138 Wha? Is Freeport seriously a prequel to Winning stuff?
7215138
In that sense, I'd compare the Freeport Venture series to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series. Most of them are short stories that flesh out the world and the characters with little relevance to the plots of the larger Holmes novels.
A minor story helping to flesh out Heartstrings.
while reading this I had an amusing thought of a young relative of strumming coming to visit and she conscripts sunset to babysit
7215138 7215431
I've got at least two more major Venture stories in the pipeline. And ... well not to give too much away, but some of the stuff being established and fleshed out in this story might be very important for one of those.
Interesting short story, and as a comparison to the AU fic, nice to see what an Equestrian spy is like in Celestia's Equestria (compared to Sunbeam's). And more Puzzle too, especially after he had that other fic too. A bit anticlimatic compared to other Freeport stuff (like when Puzzle recently encountered Chrysalis), but I don't mind a short story too. Wonder if that zebra affair is already concluded or not. I'm curious to see how far that their romance thing will go- they're probably not enemies (at the moment), but, well, spying is a dirty business. At least Sunset hasn't been dragged too deep into it, or into killing too much.
I look forward to more Freeport stories, i always love this series, from the varied POVs to the worldbuilding and of course more Sunset.
7215782
I hope one of them involves Sunset finally focusing on her primary goal: ascension. I wonder if she can pull it out without the Elements.
I approve of Strumming x Puzzle.
So you shipped them while they were on a ship?
Ah, the zebra stone spirit starts screaming when zebra blood hits the ground... I can just imagine the kitchen:
"Oops, my hoof slipped and I cut myself with my knife."
"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! FULL LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES!"
Or the paperwork department:
"Bah, a paper cut. Hate it when those happen."
"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! FULL LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES!"
7218228
7218228
Well played.
Though I imagine the stone spirit probably only goes on full security mode at night.
7218606 Okay, then. How about this?
"Hmm, I do like my midnight snacks. Whoops-"
"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! FULL LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES!"
Although, they would probably have snacks set aside for late night hunger (Fourthameal). But still, accidents happen. Like running with scissors, except with daggers/knives/swords. I think a better alert system would be a silent alarm, which then alerts zebras to come check out if it is actually a problem or not, who can then give the 'all-clear' or 'red-alert', with no response for a certain period of time being a 'red-alert' as well. But then, that's just what I'd do.
I loved reading the story, by the way! All of them.
7217473 Even if she does, it's going to be a great many years away, since there's no news of a bacon haired alicorn princess in the main Winningverse stories.
7218745
Yeah, false alarms are ultimately the problem with any properly paranoid security system.
Either the first occurrence of the word "trouble" should be removed, or a semicolon or dash should be inserted afterwards.
*Smiles manically because he found an error in a Chengar story for the second time*
I see my name in that list! <3
This was certainly rather well done, and I admit I didn't forsee this wrapping up in two longer chapters. HOWEVER, I must say that you did a very good job, and I am most pleased with the story and writing <3
I'd say the only thing missing is everyone's favorite tiny Changeling, Kukri Doo!
Really enjoying these short Freeport stories
Ah, the pleasure of heists.
Like it was said here - a silent alarm would be a far better choice in this case. Thankfully for our heroes, it was not the case.
And Strumming with Puzzle had some well deserved fun a while afterwards.
Who would have thought that being together in a deadly situation can be so bonding, especially when the two are different genders?
7215194
I think calling it a prequel isn't exactly accurate. It's a prequel to Winningverse in the same sense that, say, the first Iron Man movie is a prequel to the first Thor movie. They take place in the same continuity and are relevant to each other, but they are separate entities with their own plots and characters. And honestly, Lunar Rebellion has more to do with this story than Cloud Kicker's various shenanigans.
I did enjoy all of the careful work of the two spies preceding the arrival of Sunset straight into the middle of a firefight. It's a tight, entertaining cast that you've created for these stories. I still look forward to some evidence of a Rainboom and the potential fallout of what follows...
7221116 From a guy who has only read the Freeport stories, and A moment in the Sun. I can say that these are pretty easy to follow.
The Sunset vs Chrysalis thing kinda confused me though.
I'm gonna have to just read everything for there to be nothing confusing. Looking forward to it.
Liked.
Because just sinking the SunPuzzle ship wasn't enough, you had to do it on an actual boat.
7217889 Puzzle doesn't even own a shipping company... Or does he?
7223087 The line refers to Sunset Shimmer learning such a spell, not Strumming.
Oh I do love me some Freeport!
Another great story. Puzzle has been my favorite since the first Freeport so I always love to see more of him. the Freeport series has become one of my favorite fics to read. I've never been a real fan of alternating perspectives, multiple times in this story I had to remind myself that this is not Sunset, I did have that problem with the others though. Will there be more alternate perspectives?
Also loved Strumming's totally not racism and the clear T rated thoughts, not that I want anything more then that though.
Another good short story to add to the Freeport collection. Can't wait to see what comes next. Keep on keeping on.
Ohhhh this was a good read! Always love me some Freeport adventures!
Although I admit myself at a loss... What exactly was that whole business with Chrysalis Shimmer and Puzzle were discussing in their date? I don't recall any such event in the main Freeport story or any of its extras (although I certainly wouldn't rule out a memory gap
)
Could anyone enlighten me?
7228085
This Story
7228640
Ooooh!
Thank you!
7231017
A war between Britain and Spain. The runup to the conflict centered on a Captain Jenkins, who claimed that the Spanish had intercepted his ship and, after a confrontation, cut off his ear. He supposedly carried the ear around in a jar to show to people.
I like the setting, the world building. But the dialog still feels excessive, as if characters were explaining themselves to the reader. I'm used to characters whose expertise/knowledge matches how much of the dialog is done via subtext. In my last comment I was annoyed, right now it's being interesting to think over.
7231517 Ah, thanks
(History, stranger than fiction any day of the week and twice on Fridays
)
This was a really good read, loved it!
7372527
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/315163/freeport-venture-something-sweet-and-sour
Amen.
This explains so much about my playstyle in games like Thief and Dishonored.
Fortunately?
So keep your hooves on the carpet?
One wonders what Luna thinks of their dreams.
I think there's a few items on Mr. Welch's List that would apply here.
If the stone spirit can close over the windows, why do you assume it didn't also close over the front door and tower trapdoors?
Sunny's probably the type that likes long afternoon walks on the beach. And much less being shot at.
Including what it feels like to be bitten by a changeling?
I'm a little surprised that Sunset revealed her identity to the Stripes, though. Sure, it worked out in that the Council wrist-slapped the Stripes for their actions, but if that hadn't been the case because of politics there's a whole "The Magus hires out as a lowly sneak-thief" PR problem.
OK, yes, Sunset is very ego-driven, and if we're still assuming this is set pre-EG she can't have too much character development or acquisition of talents/approaches that her canon self didn't. Even so, kind of interesting that she didn't show up physically or magically disguised.
oh, like Zecora used in "cutie re-mark".
8185145
From what Chengar has said, Freeport is basically where Sunset went in this universe instead of the equestria girls universe/dimension thing.
And so sexy sex happened. Sexily.
8797484
At this point setting a group up for this universe with everything laid out in story order would make things much easier. Especially for people reading these stories for the first time.
8797500
That would help significantly. I went looking for a blog post or something that would lay them out for me, but I didn't find anything.
Maybe there is one, idk. I'm gonna take a break from this series until I can be bothered to collect what I should be reading.
I'm not in the mood to read the second chapter of this atm.
8797500
8799403
8943226
There's an app for that.
... And how do you expect to dakka with that attitude good lady?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-heRWvYVIdY
Interesting that they invented firearms and an actual mechanism for it (instead of just ligting up a fuse and aiming) would be invented before canons... And be able to keep it quiet a secret before the mechanism itself was invented.
Though considering all, i would imagine it would be of much more use to Griffons or other creatures with "fingers" rather then hooves. I can see the zebras using "handcanons" or the early trigerless "just light up a fuse and point it" arquebus but Griffons taking that concept and improving upon it since it seems a lot more suited for their type of "body".
I imagine since they skipped cannons, they wont actually be invented? xD
I'm surprised. Strumming is a lot more tolerable when we're in her head rather than Sunset's. I wasn't expecting to like this one much, but I did.
That said, the way they escaped the Blood Stripes felt too easy. I mean, I prefer it to Sunset casually murdering them for doing their jobs, since casual murder was how the last two stories ended, but the conflict did seem to just peter out rather than come to a natural end.
9202527
I would argue that the conflict got resolved without murder because the last two ended that way. When Sunset's been involved with not one, but two cases wherein the outcome is the death (or worse) of those involved, people will start to avoid picking fights with her.
9354598
Sounds right to me.
Extra “trouble” here.
See, creatures are learning, don't mess with the pyromancer with a habit of being very easy to piss off.
And I just got the ear puns in the chapter titles.....