BPT: A Friendship Built to Last

by Wolven5

Chapter 5. Conflict of Interests

“Pizza's here guys!”

Midnight's pick of restaurant surprised Tech at first, who was expecting his new friends' tastes to be a bit fancier given his lineage. It was kind of humorous to see an alicorn really enjoy the idea of sitting down to a hot deep dish pie and a couple bottles of the criminally over-sweetened Colt Cola. Even funnier was the ridiculous portion sizes that the restaurant had to offer. The poor waitress in charge of serving her three guests was forced to carry a pizza two feet in diameter weighed down with mounds of shredded hoofmade mozzarella cheese and the usual vegetables everypony at the table liked. Techorse could clearly see Midnight's, or more accurately his disguises' eyes light up at the sight of this ridiculous meal that probably could serve no fewer than 12 ponies looking for a decent supper.

Stencil Guide attempted to serve herself a slice of the titanic brick oven masterpiece with her magic, only to find it way too heavy from the melted contents contained within the buttery crust.

“Oof, that's heavy!” she grumbled, starting to feel a bit uneasy about trying to eat it.

“Luckily we have a couple knives,” Techorse joked, “of course I left my saddle at home so I'm in the same boat you are!”

The prince rolled his eyes, “I can take a hint you know. I'll dish one up for you.”

Unsurprisingly, he was able to multitask with multiple aura fields, grabbing the edge of the big tin plate the pizza was served on and working quickly with one of the big knives left for them. Soon he was able to get the equally big triangular pie server tool under the cut pieces, and floated a good fourth of the pizza onto Stencil Guide's plate. When he dropped it in front of her, the long-maned unicorn swore she could feel the table shake.

“I'll be lucky if I don't blow up, this slice of pizza is larger than my head,” she said with wide eyes, pondering how her share of the food was supposed to fit in her stomach.

“Trust me, you're going to love it,” Midnight winked before returning to cutting the pie, “all right, yours is coming up, Tech.”

“You know, you don't have to give me a huge piece to start with,” he answered shyly, learning from Stencil Guide's misfortune, “I appreciate it, but...”

Midnight quickly smiled at him and suggested, “Well if it's too much, why don't you split the piece I cut with Stencil?”

“You know, that might honestly work out better,” Stencil blurted, hating to waste food and insult Midnight, “I'll just cut this in half for us, Techorse.”

Her horn glowed when she grabbed the other knife left on the table, and stared at the pizza in front of her for a few seconds before skillfully making a perfect cut straight down the middle. Techorse was impressed with the skill of her slash of the knife, he hadn't seen laser-accuracy like that outside of actual lasers! Stencil pushed the plate towards him with the equal halves cut without spilling a single drop of sauce, and noticed his look of being impressed.

“I don't think I've ever seen anypony cut something in half this well,” Techorse said, smiling at her, “so which half are you taking?”

“Oh um, well...” she said, stumbling nervously, “I cut, so you get to pick!”

“It's getting cold guys,” Midnight said with a mouth full of his own massive portion, strings of melted cheese running from his plate to his lips.

“I'll just take the one on the right,” the inventor agreed, pulling the slice onto his plate with his hoof, “where'd you learn to do things like that?”

She opened up about herself eagerly, “Oh! Well, I've always been a bit of a scrapbooker, so I've developed an eye for cutting paper perfectly. I guess it works pretty well for pizzas, too!”

Midnight ignored the nagging feeling from his windpipe that cheese was trying to glob it up, and took a long swig of icy cola while he kept listening in on the friendly banter between his two friends. There was being a third wheel, and then there was his current situation of being a fly on the wall, which was much more entertaining. Stencil and Techorse were locked firmly in each other's eyes, and would not stop talking about their hobbies. It was one of those moments that to Midnight Blaze was both cute and incredibly socially awkward, making it absolutely impossible to ignore.

“So you have a scrapbook?” continued Techorse.

Stencil Guide's face turned a gentle shade of pink, “Oh, I do... it's kind of stupid though. Your machines are a lot cooler.”

“I don't know, scrapbooking sounds like a good hobby,” he assured her with his friendly smile and a twinkle in his blue eyes, “and you're really good with keeping things in order and documented. That's also something to be proud of.”

“W... Would you like to see my scrapbook sometime?” she asked, losing herself for a minute.

“I would love that,” answered Techorse.

“You two are staring,” the prince snickered.

Sure enough, they were looking at each other awfully close, and jolted back to rest.

“Sorry Midnight,” Techorse said, clearing his throat while holding his hoof to his mouth.

The disguised alicorn tried to sweep away the awkwardness, “No problem, if one of my other friends was here and we were talking about one of my hobbies, it'd be the same way! You probably hired the perfect lab assistant, Tech!”

Stencil looked down at her plate, cheeks still flushed, “Heh, yeah...”

“Don't put too much pressure on her, buddy,” Techorse said sweetly, “this is her first job after all.”

The kindness was a bit too much for Stencil, and she mindlessly turned her head back to Tech and said, “You're so sweet, Techorse. I can't see why Redtape rants about you everyday.”

Techorse went blank, “Wait, what?”

Midnight's suspicion peaked immediately, and he dropped his half-eaten slice of pizza unceremoniously on his plate. He had suspected the secretary from the start despite her skills, and had ignored it for Techorse's sake. But now there was definitely something off about Stencil's behavior, he could sense it.

“How do you know about Redtape ranting about Techorse every day?” he said, anger in his eyes, “you haven't even met him before! Aren't you from out of town, Stencil?”

She felt the impact of her mistake and nervously darted her eyes to the side, “Uhmmm, I... well...”

“You'd better have a good answer, Stencil!”

“Midnight, that's enough!” Techorse admonished with a raise of his voice, gaining the attention of some of the other patrons trying to eat their food in peace, “Why are you still interrogating my new apprentice?”

A couple of the patrons now seemed to be whispering to each other about hearing the name “Midnight”, and were thinking about Techorse's sanity if they weren't already since the unicorn sitting across from the inventor was clearly not the Prince. Still, the threat of having his cover blown was starting to test his patience, and Stencil Guide was clearly up to something. Midnight felt like taking his friend aside and telling him what was likely going on, but then he remembered something crucial and changed his mind on the matter.

Of course... it's Techorse, for goddess’ sake, thought the alicorn, relaxing in his chair, “He's a great guy, and he has a ton of potential, but he's oblivious. I wish I could afford to be that trusting.”

“Look, I'm sorry Stencil,” he said, “I'm just angry because... Redtape's been a problem let's say.”

The patrons in the restaurant lost interest in the conversation and turned their eyes away from the pony labeled “Midnight” by Techorse.

That was close...

“Oh well, yeah, I can see that,” she said slowly, having been granted time to collect her thoughts, “I was going to say that he keeps showing up at my new apartment I'm renting. Think my new landlord gets a lot from him too. He seems like a jerk, I can understand why you're angry.”

Techorse still couldn't believe that Midnight had snapped like that all of a sudden, not understanding his friend's ability to see through schemes. He trusted that the prince had somehow met him before, but was beginning to wonder under what circumstances, and why he seemed to be so eager to “protect him”. It was as if he wasn't trusted to handle his own affairs.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Stencil stood up from the table, “Well, I'm going to go home to my apartment. Thank you very much for the dinner.”

“You didn't eat anything,” Techorse said, holding out a hoof, “look, I know my acquaintance snapped at you, but it's okay, you can stay!”

Midnight didn't want to feel like he had earned the emphasis on “acquaintance”, but it wouldn't have been the first time he'd deserved a kick in the withers.

“I know I can stay,” she said softly, “but thank you.”

Stencil ignored the subtle jostling between the stallion's minds and sat back down at her place at the table. The princes' eyes pierced her and ramped up her anxiety even further, but she still needed to keep spying on Techorse in order to avoid Redtape, and managed to consume the slice she had been served before it got too cold.

Midnight's right about me, she thought, heart rate rising, I am a dirty little spy, and Techorse is a really good stallion who doesn't deserve to have his work sabotaged... but Midnight wouldn't understand if I told him that Redtape wanted... my body. He's probably used to the idea of a mare needing to be... chosen by a stallion, him being a prince and all. Nevermind... gotta stuff this pizza down and go home to think about this...

“So when do I need to be back in the lab tomorrow?” she asked casually, swallowing a bite of pizza.

“We'll probably start back up at nine,” answered Techorse, sighing, “got to get through the first prototype if we want to stay on schedule.”

“I can be there on time,” answered the mare with her mouth full, “looking forward to starting.”

Having blown through her food quickly, Stencil stood up again, “I really have to go for the night though, honestly. It's been fun.”

Techorse hadn't even gotten through half of his piece and faked a smile for her, “All right, have a good night, Stencil! I'll see you tomorrow morning.”

She left the table in a hurry, Midnight staring at the back of her head as he stuffed the last bit of deep dish crust in his mouth. When she was out of the building, he looked down to find two blue eyes giving him a rather filthy look.

“Mwhat?” he said through the crust.

“It would be great if you could be a little more trusting,” Techorse said bluntly, “I get that some serious things happen with your job and that makes you careful, but we need to focus on getting this invention working. Not everypony around here hates me... just half.”

He swallowed his food and cleared his lips of crumbs, “So you're admitting you have a fifty-fifty chance that Stencil Guide is hiding something from you.”

“I think she's a fun, but weird pony... like me!” answered the other stallion, chuckling to himself.

“Tech, I see your point,” Midnight answered, giving him a look of concern, “but you have to understand my point of view here. When I showed up at your house, you were perfectly fine with me saying we've met before and wanted to be my friend almost immediately. What if I had been one of Redtape's goons sent to deal with you?”

“Well, that could have happened,” he admitted, frowning, “but I'm fine taking the risk to try and find a new friend. If I had thought your way, we wouldn't be friends now.”

It was a great answer, but he decided to fire back anyways, “Friends? You called me your acquaintance just now.”

Techorse shrugged and put a partial smirk on his face, “It was the only way you were going to shut up.”

“If only some of the guys in Canterlot could be as blunt as you,” Midnight said, smirking back, “of course, you're only defending Stencil because...”

“Excuse me, here's your bill for this evening,” interrupted the waitress for their table, placing a folded leather check presenter in front of the two stallions, “will you need a box for the rest of the pizza?”

The two stallions sort of grunted at the interruption, but manners and such came before their friendly debate when possible.

“Sure!” answered Midnight Blaze, looking her in the eyes, “And thank you!”

Techorse immediately placed his hoof over the check holder and pushed down before Midnight could get to it.

“I'll get this,” he said graciously, “you recommended this place and I'll treat you.”

“Oh no, you invited me in and are giving me a place to stay, so I'll pay for tonight,” answered the unicorn, attempting to peel the check away from him using the underside of his own hoof, “let go, Techorse.”

“Never.”

If persuasion wasn't going to be enough to convince the green inventor to relinquish the honor of paying for the meal, then his friend was just going to have to test his theory about his gullibility based on the evidence presented during the meal.

Shifting his head to the side and looking past Techorse, he put a happy expression on his face and said, “Oh! Stencil, ya came back!”

Techorse immediately spun around to greet the mare, only to find nothing in front of him and a feeling of annoyance in his heart. He slowly turned back to rest in his seat, defeated, and looking at a smug disguised prince with a guest check hovering near him in his aura.

“Gotcha!”

He rolled his eyes, “At least let me pay the tip.”

Stencil felt bad about having eaten and ran off without much of a proper goodbye, but the discomfort of Midnight's interrogation had kind of forced her hoof. Now she was trotting along the way back home, trying to stay well within where the street lamps illuminated her path. She honestly believed that she was going to make it all the way back to her apartment for a nice, hot bath without any troubles, and the cozy complex had left the front lights on for her like it did for all their tenants. The mare entered the complex out of the safety of the lit street, and immediately Redtape stepped out of the shadows to block her way.

“AHHH!” she yelped, jumping back a foot.

“Shhh,” her boss teased, putting a hoof over his lips, “you might wake your neighbors, sugar.”

“D-don't call me that!” she whimpered, trying to calm down her poor heart racing in her chest, “Why are you following me?”

“I'm here to ask about what Techorse is up to,” he answered, raising an eyebrow, “you know... your new assignment?”

“He really hasn't done much yet,” Stencil answered, “this is going to take a little bit of time! The only thing I know for sure is that they intend to invent something to help others save water. Techorse believes that since the water shortage is the biggest problem our city is facing right now, inventing a machine to help with it will win the contest.”

Knowing that any sort of help with saving water would result in his office collecting fewer taxes per gallon consumed, Redtape muttered something rather offensive about the stallion he was up against. This information alone had made sending out Stencil worthwhile, all he needed now was a good way to keep Techorse from interfering with his water bracket. Of course, there was time to think about that later, when he wasn't hitting on Stencil Guide again.

Smiling, he pulled out a large sketchpad from his business suit, a beautiful set of fresh manilla sheets spiral bound together with a blue cover and backing made from painted cardboard, “Anyways, you did a good job today. I thought I'd give you this, if you'd have it. You know how much you mean to me, Stencil.”

Stencil Guide's jaw dropped as she recognized the brand of sketchpad as one of the most expensive ones in Equestria. Sure, organization and documentation were what she did as a job, but her real talent was sketching and design. She had thought of a million ways to improve Techorse's blueprints that morning, and had bitten her tongue with every mistake like a good spy would. That being said, there was no way she was taking such a present from a stallion that wanted her to accept his advances.

“That's a really pricey gift,” she answered slowly, “I can't...”

“Oh, but you can,” he answered happily, pleased with his new approach, “and there will be so many more of these for you to fill with your drawings and concepts if you choose to share a home with me! It is your special talent after all... or is your lovely cutie mark just for show?”

“Since when do you care about my talent?” she huffed, having just received confirmation he had been staring at her flanks, “didn't you say you wanted a housewife cooking and cleaning for you?”

“I've changed my mind somewhat. Yes, I very much want you as my sweet wife, but... you do need to pursue your passions,” Redtape continued to explain with a cheerful tone of voice and a whimsical wave of his right hoof, “I've got the means to hire staff to do all the boring chores while you do what you want at home. So what do you say Stencil... the door to my heart's still wide open!”

“I... I'm really glad you're thinking about mares in a better way,” she said nervously, “but I'm still not interested. I really want to have a career too.”

“Really?” Redtape growled, instantly losing his facade of being nice, “I'm compromising. I never compromise, Stencil.”

“And compromising is going to make your marriage to your future wife a lot nicer, Redtape,” she carefully answered, “and there's a big list of mares who want you and don't care about having a career. They're really nice, too!“

“I see,” he said flatly, “I suppose you're right, there is no shortage of mares after my heart. I wonder what it's going to take...”

“To stop Techorse?!” Stencil shouted, stopping him right there, “more spying, of course!”

Desperate to get back to her house, she walked around her boss, “I really need to sleep, sir. I'll let you know what Techorse is up to tomorrow night. I... I'll contact you!”

Redtape turned around and watched his love interest trot up to the door of her apartment, fumbling with her keys when her aura flickered, and slamming the door shut. Breathing a sigh of frustration, the stallion kicked away the sketchpad sitting on the ground, sliding into the darkness.

“Hey now, this is no way to treat belongings,” snickered a familiar voice.

“Jester,” Redtape answered as his dragon buddy emerged from the shadows with the kicked pad in claw, “you were watching me, weren't you?”

“Like a hawk,” he giggled, the bells on his head scales jingling, “that fine piece of plot you're after still shooting you down, I see. What an idiot that mare is.”

“She's smart, and that's the problem... she thinks she can do better,” the wealthy bureaucrat muttered while shoving his hoof into the dragon's chest, “brains and wisdom are not the same thing.”

Of which you have neither, thought the dragon to keep himself amused.

Aloud, the reptile said while placing a hand on his friend's back, “We can talk about your next step to win the hot lady's heart in a bit, Red. For the moment, your 'sponsor' wants to talk.”

He grumbled, “Oh no... what does he want? He... he's not here is he?”

“Oh, he's here in Fillydelphia tonight,” Jester answered, “but calm down, Redtape. He's told me it's very good news.“

Uncertain as to what his boss was going to say, Redtape reluctantly shadowed Jester to the designated meeting place. It was a small building at the edge of town, with two burly Diamond Dogs armed with crossbows watching over the entrance. Despite their fearsome appearance, whoever owned the building wanted to look professional, as both of them were dressed up in proper night guard attire and their fangs were well-brushed. They slung their weapons over their shoulders when they saw Jester approach with Redtape, and pulled open the two glass doors to the entrance of the nondescript building. Inside, the two found nothing more than a set of storage crates stacked up against the concrete walls, and a large metal hatch on the floor that had been left open to reveal a staircase. During the day, the guards shut the hatch and concealed it well underneath the floor of the building which was left ignored by the public.

“I wish we could have met at the club instead,” Redtape complained to Jester as he put his hoof on the first step down, “this place is filthy.”

He gave him the common sense answer, “And risk us all getting caught?”

When they reached the bottom of the dark staircase which led well underground, there was in front of them a green door with a welcoming light shining underneath. Redtape gave the secret knock on the wood, and the door was opened by another guard inside, who ushered the two into the room. It was rather nice, despite Redtape's complaining, a fluffy white rug on marble tile floor gave it the appearance of a lounge, and the room was well lit and ventilated with enough seating at a large black wooden table for about twelve ponies.

Redtape and Jester sat at their usual seats at this table, on the right side towards the front, where a big brown leather chair was facing away from them, cigar smoke wafting from the top.

“Ah, Redtape, I'm glad you're here. We have a lot to discuss.”

The chair swiveled around to face the stallion and his dragon confidant. Sitting at the head of the table, with a cigar in hoof and a crooked smile on his face, was the Head of House Avarice and Duke of Business and Commerce, Buck Cheap! He was a tall and well-fit pegasus stallion with a glass-bottle green coat, wine red mane, eyes like molten liquid gold, and his cutie-mark was an envelop with gold bits spilling out. He wore a dress collar with his initials embroidered onto them and a designer tie, cuffs above his forehooves with diamond cufflinks, not a hair on his expertly combed mane was out of place, and even his feathers glistened with a healthy sheen. However, he gave off an unsettling presence by his smile as welcoming as that of a crocodile’s.

“What's this about, sir?” demanded his underling loudly.

“Relax. I only want to make sure our little drought is going as planned,” answered the duke from Celestia’s Aristocratic Council, extinguishing his cigar in a convenient ashtray balanced on the left arm of his seat, “you and I both know too well that the mayor of this city is too concerned with fairness to help us make a profit. That's why I put you in charge of the water incident.”

“I'd say this scam is working wonderfully,” Jester interrupted, “every gallon of water over the ration cap costs several bits in tax stamps. Since most of the residents of the city are earth ponies that live in the suburban areas, they pride themselves on keeping their lawns green. They're spending that money, and then some!”

Buck Cheap let the dragon finished, and then cleared his throat, “Well, Jester, while I appreciate you rehashing what I've already known for quite some time, I would like a status report beyond it... if you don't mind.”

“There's nothing new to report,” Jester answered, chuckling, “besides Redtape enforcing the water rationing, me and the other dragons have been keeping ponies out of the water treatment facility so that the pegasi don't catch on that there's plenty of water to make rainclouds with.”

Buck reclined back in his chair, thinking aloud, “As I figured. I can't trust either of you to analyze the important details of business. It's a good thing I really like you boys... I could cancel this deal at any moment you know.”

Redtape heard the guard in the room play with the taught string of his crossbow, but he refused to show fear in front of his boss.

“Jester said you had good news. Or is that not the case?“

“Of course I have good news,” he answered, nodding, “this water racket has made Fillydelphia a more profitable outfit than almost any other city my guys control. Normally things have to get a little messy between the dogs like this fella here and the residents, if you catch my drift.”

The diamond dog chuckled softly and played with the weapon in paw again.

“We came up with a way to keep cash coming in without goons, and in exchange you've kept violence off of Fillydelphia's streets,” Redtape answered, “again, more restating of what we know. What's the new information you dragged me all the way out here for!?”

His boss smiled, “Well, in short... you're about to get control of the operation entirely.”

Retape couldn't believe his ears, “What do you mean, sir?”

“Simple. I've got a bit of a um... delivery service I want to put in Fillydelphia to help supply my customers better. I leave you in charge here instead of these visits to take care of business, and the whole operation becomes disguised as a freight company out of the city. No more risk getting caught. All you've got to do is make sure this little hydration issue keeps going for another month so we have the funds to put together the place.”

Redtape nudged his head in the direction of his friend, “What about Jester?”

He shrugged, “I still need spies and security as always. Heck, I'll give them a pay raise. Gotta keep the family happy after all.”

“The new operation is a weapons factory, isn't it?” teased the dragon.

“I'm impressed you figured it out that quickly,” Buck Cheap nodded, “but yeah, we need to start putting together some firepower for... what's up ahead. Might be some magical components too, but the ponies and dragons around here will never find out.”

“I love the idea,” Redtape said in agreement.

“Yup, and all you have to do is make sure there's no issue with the water crisis for another month,” continued his boss, “that won't be a problem... will it?”

This made Redtape a bit nervous, but he honestly answered, “Well... we do have one problem. It's that stallion named Techorse I told you about earlier.”

“What's one loon gonna do to this plan?” laughed Buck Cheap, “you already told me he's just a goofball. Ignore him for once, Redtape!”

“We can't afford to,” said his employee bluntly, “according to my secretary, he's inventing a device that can help fix the water problem. Granted, his inventions don't always work... but this time...“

Buck Cheap didn't like Redtape's pause at all, “What's happened this time, Redtape?”

“Prince Midnight Blaze is helping him complete the project,” he answered, so angry he could spit, “I made a bet with Techorse that if he couldn't finish it, he'd be kicked out of the city for good. But I got so caught up in how much he annoys me that I didn’t realize that Midnight is capable of working on machinery too. Together they might be able to do it!”

“What, by making water out of nothing?” Jester joked.

“Shut up, Jester,” Buck Cheap ordered calmly, “I msut admit, his royal pain in our plots could make things more complicated, but Techorse is the one creating the device... so he has to be our focus.”

Then, turning to Redtape, he gave an ominous suggestion, “Perhaps if he just happened to... get taken out of the picture?”

The bureaucrat didn’t bat an eye though he did raise an amused brow, “Sir... you'd kill Techorse?”

“With Midnight Blaze and him being friends?” Jester added, “Good way to become target practice for alicorn magic. He'll investigate our entire operation the second he suspects foul play.”

“I suppose you're right,” the duke answered, thinking carefully, “although if you ever want him gone once the weapons operation is going, Redtape...”

“I'd be more pleased knowing Techorse was alive, but whipped,” answered Redtape with a smirk, “which is why I promise you that he'll lose this bet and be driven out of the city. But since you're offering your stronger side, once he's left town... perhaps you could send some of your fine dogs to add a little suffering to it?”

“Redtape, if you stop Techorse, you can pick the number of teeth you want that stallion to have left in his mouth, and I'll have the dentist in the next town he stops in confirm it!” Buck Cheap responded firmly, “Just make sure he doesn't put so much as a dent in our operation... or this deal's over.”

You arrogant dumbasses, Midnight's the real threat here, thought Jester, but held his tongue as the two business ponies nodded in agreement of their plans.

Going back to light his cigar, Buck Cheap said, “But I believe you've gotten things taken care of, Redtape! I like ya for a reason. Now get out there and finish the job.”

“It'll be done. Techorse will be out, we'll have the money to start the factory, and Fillydelphia will be completely under our control!” Redtape said, pushing his glasses up.

“Now that's what I like to hear!”

Once outside the building again, Jester and Redtape got into a carriage that had been called for them, and it rolled away into the streets of Fillydelphia to take them back to Redtape's new mansion built well outside the city limits. Despite the fact that his salary obviously couldn't cover such a place, the residents didn't suspect his embezzlement for a moment. So long as he could keep Techorse and Midnight from winning, he'd be set for life financially and socially.

That still left one thing though. An empty bed without Stencil Guide in it!

“You seem down, Redtape,” Jester said, “Hey, I've got a great idea that'll make you happy.”

“I can't see how,” answered Redtape with a groan, “I won't be happy without... Stencil Guide. I don't get it. I was more compromising, I offered her a nice gift... nothing works. She thinks she's so much smarter than me, the stallion who truly has it all!”

“You'll never get her the normal way,” the dragon answered, bells on his scales jingling again as they usually did when he had a plan, “but I think I know what we can do to kill two birds with one stone, if you're interested.”

“What do you mean?” Redtape asked, tilting his head curiously.

“This goes back to that idea I mentioned,” continued his pal, “Let's say Techorse and Midnight Blaze discover you're behind the water crisis, or stop it somehow using their machine. All you have to do is frame Stencil Guide for the embezzlement of the tax money by depositing a lump sum in her account and forging some paperwork to back it up. Everypony... and dragon for that matter, loves and trusts you... but to them, she’s just a nopony! She'll be in horrible legal trouble...”

“...and then once the police come for her, I offer to bail her out in exchange for her commitment,” Redtape finished, “and she'll never be able to leave my home for fear of arrest! She'll be thrilled just to be out of jail and tending to our foals.”

“That's how you got to do it if you really want this mare,” the dragon winked.

“But what about Midnight?” asked the stallion, scratching his chin in thought, “he's a part of this equation too. How can we keep him from investigating into the water crisis or the shifting of blame?”

“Leave that part to me,” Jester answered, giggling, “soon you'll have your mare, and we'll have that factory and all that money!”

The two cheered for themselves as the carriage crossed over the city limits, heading to the massive home outside underneath the starry night. Fillydelphia was behind them, a beautiful town built by dragons and ponies working together, both completely unaware of the plots and puppet strings of those truly in charge.

Author's Note:

Spirals95 and I discussed the storyline, worked it out, and then I did the editing. Due to a direction I’m taking my main story, I decided to include Duke Buck Cheap and we hashed out the idea that he’s responsible for the water problem in Fillydelphia but he has Redtape overseeing the operation