A hooded unicorn wearing a grey robe looks at the cliff overlooking the southern sea from the deck of a ship belonging to a zebra captain skilled or foolish enough to brave the seas from the north coast to the southern tip of Zebrica. Despite the distance, through the scope it looks as if there's someone moving around the active lighthouse on it.
"I'm going to check it out," says the unicorn, "If I don't come back in twenty-four hours, you're free to leave. The second part of your payment is in my cabin."
"Aye aye, doc," the captain standing on the 'front end' of the ship, as the non-nautical unicorn would call it, nods, "I'll have a boat to get you on the beach under the cliff ready in a few minutes."
"That won't be necessary," says the unicorn and disappears in a flash of light.
The pop of air being displaced by his materialization inside the control room of the lighthouse makes the zebra wearing denim overalls inside jump and back away.
"Who's in charge here?" asks the unicorn.
The zebra darts towards the control panel and freezes mid-air, imprisoned by a pink aura.
"Come on, I asked a question," says the unicorn calmly.
"C-Commander Zod is in charge of the lighthouse watch."
"Do you kneel before him?"
"What?"
"Nevermind," the unicorn shakes his head, "At my age, my mind starts wandering. No, I want to know who's in charge of all this," the unicorn points out of the window along the coast.
"You mean Cloak Town? I'm not sure but one of the bigwigs in charge is a griffon going by the name Lyam."
"And where would I find him?" asks the unicorn with unshakable patience.
"The town hall. Most of the city was destroyed by Stern's army including the fortress-"
"Trust me, I know," the unicorn's tone turns dark.
"-and the rebuilding effort started in the city center."
"Thank you," the aura of the unicorn's magic around the zebra fades and he flops on the ground, "You've been very helpful."
With a loud pop, the unicorn disappears. The zebra immediately reaches for the control panel of the radio.
"Lighthouse base to command center! We have a breach! A unicorn wizard is headed to the town hall!"
The invisible unicorn watching the situation unfold with a smirk rolls his eyes and quietly teleports away, this time for real.
He knows the layout of Cloak Town well. After all, he's the one responsible for the majority of the desolation everywhere around. He reappears just above the roof of the rebuilt town hall, hovers in the air for a moment, and then descends, listening to the multiplying calls for guards and security from the streets below. Thankfully, zebras can't fly so he doesn't need to bother with another invisibility spell, at least for now.
Now, where exactly was the Mayor's office?
He leans against a nearby chimney, sits down, and draws his hood over his eyes. The sea voyage was long, and a quick rest on a not-swaying ground would do him good. One alarm and a heating spell later, the unicorn dozes off.
The mental alarm wakes him up just as an equine silhouette lands on the roof in front of him, wings folding and a pistol aimed at him, held in her talons.
A hippogriff, the pony-headed version, not the fish one.
The unicorn stands up, shakes the snow off of himself, and faces the hippogriff mare. The roof creaks behind him, and a quick look reveals a griffon holding a shotgun. Magic flares up and a protective dome cuts the roof off of the rest of the world. A quick scanning spell reveals a different unicorn hiding behind a vent exhaust on the other side of the expansive roof. The last creature on the roof is a muscular zebra stallion, a hoof pistol fastened to each of his forelegs. Everyone but the hippogriff mare is wearing a military suit so it's impossible to make out their colors but the unicorn doesn't need magic to assess the situation.
Mostly because the hippogriff mare is wearing a tight, black bodysuit, same color as her charcoal coat, reflecting the faint corona of street lights reaching all the way up here. She should be freezing but doesn't look bothered by the cold at all. In fact, the coldest thing in the entire situation is the icy gaze of her emerald eyes peering from under a blond mane.
"Looking lovely as ever, Des," says Mistake as he withdraws his hood.
"What brings you here?" Desert Shade lowers her pistol. There's nothing in the arsenal of both her and anyone else here which could harm Mistake even if she wanted to do so.
"Bucket thought it might be you working to bring some order to the South Zebrican Republic."
"You can tell Bucket he can shove anything he wants inside his chrome ass. I'm not joining any crazy plan to get my father out of Tartarus. He's immortal, he'll get out eventually when Twilight and Celestia chill out, fix the world, and realize that him being down there is only making things worse."
"I think Bucket is just gathering information, Des. Besides, I didn't come here to do any investigation for him, I'm here to help. I've spent months stitching up dying zebras on the north coast and I could be doing that forever without making a dent in their numbers. You are restoring order in a way that makes sense while the Northern Coalition states, now that Stern's threat is gone, are squabbling among each other again. I want to help in any way I can."
Desert Shade smiles.
"Alright. Hay, I can't exactly refuse a unicorn possessing all knowledge there is," she walks over and shakes Mistake's hoof, "Hey, Witherstorm, drop the barrier, will you?" she calls out to the hiding unicorn.
"Can't! The spell has a fixed duration in case the caster gets incapacitated," replies a high-pitched voice, "It's impossible."
"Mistake?" Des raises an eyebrow.
"Don't worry," he flicks his horn and the barrier fades, letting in the sounds from the streets again, "So, where do I start?"
"Time rewind on the entire continent would be a good start."
"I have unlimited knowledge, Des, not power… anymore."
"Hmmm..." Des purses her lips before snapping her talons, "I've got an idea! Stern had Silversmith gear at his disposal. Any idea where he got it?"
"His family crypt was a stash but it self-destructed once I took the seal key from there."
Des shakes her head.
"Silversmiths didn't do caches, they built cities or at least outposts. It all depends on how far you can dig without being shot to bits by their mechs or triggering a self-destruct sequence for the section you're in. I've got the zebras to mount a proper excavation here."
"I can show you where the entrance was if you get me a map. I thought you had your equipment which was even better than Silversmith relics."
"Lyam arranged transport for our stuff but we don't have the resources and tech to reverse engineer and duplicate any of it right now. Most of my contacts are in the Griffon Empire which is a little out of hoof here."
"Why did you come here anyway?"
"Just like you, Mistake. I wanted to help fix what we caused."
"And, like usual, to play a sexy warlord with her own country until she gets bored and shoves all the paperwork on my back," adds Lyam.
Desert Shade only huffs as Mistake starts laughing.
The street lights of Bloodstone are dimmed - the only way to distinguish day from night anymore other than checking a clock. Magpie is sleeping in his room inside the fortress, curtain drawn. These days, sleep is the only place where Magpie can escape the constant dull pain from his foreleg. On the other talon, it's the first time in years when he can regularly catch a full eight hours of sleep so there's always a bright side.
The window clicks quietly and the curtains part, letting in a silhouette that instantly blends into the darkness of the room with next to no noise. One more does exactly the same, following the first one's movements almost inch by inch. A final figure, smaller, enters with less grace and slightly more noise.
The first two draw combat knives, darkened so that no accidental reflection of light would betray their position. The final figure stays in the back, pulling out a pistol with a silencer just in case. As the duo advance towards the bed, each from one side, they spread their wings a little to balance out having to sneak on three legs, revealing they're both griffons. They freeze as Magpie shifts in his sleep and wait for a long minute, listening to his slow and calm breathing.
When it's clear he's still asleep, one of the griffons slowly pulls a pillow Magpie's head isn't on off of the bed and throws it to the other who catches it despite the pitch darkness. With the pillow in one foreleg and the knife in the other, the griffon balances himself on his hind legs, waits a second, and-
All lights in the room switch on at once and the two griffons by the bed scream as their retinas burn through their night vision goggles. Magpie kicks his blanket on the one on the right and which reveals the pistol held in his healthy foreleg. The shot rings through the room and the left griffon drops to the floor.
The blanket lands on him again along with the heavy body of the griffon who punches him with the boxer handle of the combat knife. With his hind legs, Magpie kicks upwards, throwing the griffon off of himself as well as the bed. As he jumps on all fours, he notes the silver patch on the sleeve of the bodysuit of the griffon in a combat position aiming a gun at him.
Black Ops.
A direct, silenced headshot follows.
Frozen, Magpie blinks as the Black Ops agent collapses on the floor. The final griffon who wasn't a part of the struggle lowers her silenced pistol. She's wearing a bodysuit as well, although one without all the utility belts and the discreet silver patches of the Black Ops agents.
Her head feathers are white, her slightly surprised grey eyes are narrowed and measuring Magpie, and what little is visible of her coat is sand-colored, excellent for hiding in the desert. However, the most important thing of all, the talons holding the pistol are a unique shade of blood red, exactly like Magpie's.
Magpie's beak drops.
"Veronica?" he whispers, "How are you alive?"
"Little spoiled Magpie..." she smirks, "I'll have to ask you the same but there's one more agent busy planting explosives on the airship you hitched. Come!" she rushes towards the window, opens it, and vaults through.
She could have shot me at any point. Filing any investigations for later. Can't afford to lose the airship.
Magpie climbs through the window into the freezing air with far less grace than Veronica, but soon he's on the way to the landing pad on the roof.
"Stay behind," she hisses at him and lands near the griffon wearing the same gear as the two dead agents downstairs, "Are the charges set?"
"They are," replies the agent, "Where are the others?"
"Give me the detonator," says Veronica.
The agent pulls out a pistol and aims at her forehead.
Magpie's bullet hits the shoulder of the agent's foreleg holding the detonator which Veronica uses to knock it out of his grip. The second shot hits him in the side and Veronica drops him with a well aimed karate chop to the back of his neck.
"Nice shooting!" she calls towards Magpie flying towards her.
"I've been practicing after what Silas did to me."
"Then go practice some ruling and call for a GIL bomb squad. I'm pretty sure those damn charges are on a timer as well in case the agent failed like this."
"I can sit on a throne. That doesn't make me a ruler, it just means I have an ass."
"And a nice one too," she clicks her beak, "Oh don't give me that prudish look. I'm sure that the majority of branches of all noble families look more like recycling symbols, and ours is no different."
"STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" loud voices call out and GIL soldiers on watch swarm the roof, all aiming rifles at Veronica who turns her head to Magpie.
"You gonna call off your goons?"
"Stand down!" orders Magpie, "And get a medic here to keep this guy alive," he points at the bleeding Black Ops agent, "as well as the bomb squad to scan the airship before the charges he set blow up. Haul ass!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Sandstorm wine," Veronica swirls the glass in her talons, "You have no idea how I missed this."
The fireplace in Magpie's office is lit, he and Veronica are sitting in armchairs facing each other, one of the most expensive wines in the Empire has been poured, and the atmosphere is heavy at best.
"Start talking, Veronica," says Magpie matter-of-factly, "You could have killed me, you didn't. I have griffons to think about so get to it, starting with how you got out of the Holy City accompanied by three Black Ops agents."
Either this is some much more elaborate plan or…
Well, I'm not stupid enough to think she's on my side but for now it seems that her side and my side might be overlapping.
Veronica slowly sips her wine before putting the tall glass back on the table.
"Simple. Nicolai offered me a deal - your head for my freedom. Plus I had to officially renounce any claim of my bloodline to Redtalon lands but I'd get to live the rest of my life here as an Irongrip regent. You can guess what I picked based on the two of us having this chat right now."
"Not exactly," Magpie keeps observing her every move, "You were let go but you killed the agents who came with you. Explain."
"Damn, I don't recall you being so paranoid."
"Bloodstone is surrounded by corruption from Black Ops bombs, griffons are still hungry, and I'm about to lose one power plant. I'm in no position to be careless and not in the mood for games," Magpie frowns.
"The only thing I wanted from the rebellion was to shake up the nobility system. Legius had his plans with the corruption research and everything. I didn't know… about everything he was doing. Yes, he wanted to be the Emperor but not a dictator. Yes, he was power hungry but he knew the Empire being ruled by the noble families is safer than relying on a central authority. And yes… he also subscribed to the old immortal Emperor cult and tried to fuse himself with corruption to stop his decrepit ruling ass from dropping dead in a few years. When Nicolai offered me this, I did what I had to do to get out and see for myself if it's really you after all those years or some impostor. If it turned out to be the latter, I wouldn't have stopped the agents," she shrugs, "As things stand, I must congratulate you to be the only Redtalon who survived my path to the throne despite my best efforts."
Magpie points a pistol at her.
The silence lengthens.
"You have no fucking idea what I've gone through because of you..." he hisses, his trigger talon ready. Veronica doesn't dare move, her mercenary experience telling her with absolute clarity that the griffon facing her is a killer and isn't entirely… sane.
Only one word flashes through his head and saves Veronica's life.
Gem.
Magpie lowers the pistol.
"Why would Nicolai send you to kill me after he sentenced Bloodstone to corruption?" he asks instead, as if nothing happened. Veronica slowly breathes out.
"You've never met him, have you?" asks Veronica. When Magpie shakes his head, she continues, "Nicolai is a careful and meticulous griffon, not one to do things half-assed. Now with Cassius dead, he's the de-facto Emperor and the Black Ops leader. No griffon in the history of the unified Empire has ever held so much political power. Your defiance might give ideas to other families. I hear the Vash are the major problem these days."
"So what happens now? Do I wait until you poison my meal or…?"
"Brother, my official renouncement of Redtalon heritage is inside the Imperial archives. I have no claim to anything anymore. Even if the griffons here accepted me as their ruler which, from what I heard about you so far, definitely wouldn't happen, our territory would be up for grabs for any other royal family. No, I'm fairly satisfied with the hilarious 'fuck you' to Nicolai I just caused and the second Black Ops airship I got you. So don't worry, neither you nor your future kids have anything to fear from me."
"Castrated," Magpie chuckles, "The minotaurs who ambushed the expedition to the north you messed with did… a lot to me."
"Shit..." Veronica sighs, "So after the two of us, well, after you... the Redtalons are gone?"
"Yep," Magpie nods, "Although dying of old age without an heir is the last thing on my list of concerns, considering that Nicolai is bound to discover that his assassination attempt failed and that his corruption operation won't be progressing as quickly as he wanted."
"What, you got something that the best scientists in the Empire haven't figured out since the first bomb in Drachenberg?" Veronica raises an eyebrow.
"A very smart changeling friend with a lot of experience regarding corruption. So far, we assume we can melt the surface vegetation on a large scale but we're still working on a way to deal with the spread through the soil deep down and actually restoring nature instead of turning everything into a pool of black sludge."
"Wow, you're really sticking it to the Black Ops, aren't you?" Veronica laughs out loud before leaning closer to Magpie and adding in a conspiratorial whisper, "How about we double down on that?"
"Hmmm?"
"Before I get all smug, you haven't, by any chance, discovered a lab complex under Bloodstone sewers filled with corruption research data?"
"What?"
Veronica grins.
"I mean, it's not as if there was a certain member of a certain noble family with whom a certain traitorous Grand Vizier conspired to take over the Empire. It's not as if I couldn't procure literally any city property that wasn't directly my father's to safeguard all he discovered."
"Pleeeease," Magpie moans, "Get to the point."
"Fiiine. You know, you're no fun," Veronica rolls her eyes, "Legius had a facility here to store all the backups of research data from the branches in Drachenberg and other places in the Empire. Once the rebellion got going, he couldn't do the research here anymore so that he wouldn't endanger one of the biggest cities in the Empire but it was still the safest place to store the data in case any facility got destroyed. Of course, neither of us expected a certain alicorn to ruin everything. Anyway, unless Silas discovered it, it should still be untouched. I could get your nerds inside."
"And in exchange you want…?" Magpie raises an eyebrow.
"One thing, actually. Something I wanted all along - you end the law that only males can be the head of the Redtalon family."
"Easy deal, even though we're the last Redtalons anyway. Is that all?"
"Yep. You can't know how frustrating it was to be the only heir with actual real-world achievements and experience and still know that no matter what I'd do the only thing I'd ever be good for was to be used as a diplomatic chip to be given away to some slimebag by Altberg in a political marriage," she shakes her head with an angry growl.
Magpie walks over to the intercom on his desk.
"Castor?"
"Yes, sir? The bomb squad scoured the airship and we flew the second one onto the pad on the roof."
"Good job. Now find Three, send a guy for Veronica, and grab some scientists. Veronica will show you Legius' facility that should host all of the archived corruption research."
"What scientists?"
"The scientists who will know which exact scientists we're going to need once they see some of the data. Some computer experts to start, I'd say. We're going to need a smart unicorn from Equitown because I can hazard a wild guess that a good chunk of the data will be on the use of magic."
"Understood, sir."
Magpie nods to the door.
"We don't have time to mess around, V," he says, "We need every hour we can get."
"As you wish, Lord Magpie," Veronica gives him a mocking bow, "For the glory of Bloodstone, as we say."
"Screw glory. It's for the future of Bloodstone and all griffons in our lands, V."
"Your lands," she stops by the door for a second, "As for me, now I'm just here to show Nicolai and everyone else that one does not simply fuck with the Redtalons and lives to laugh about it."
After a long night of waiting, Veronica returns with two guards by her sides and Three riding on her back. Magpie raises his exhausted and bloodshot gaze from the documents on the desk in front of him.
"Anything useful?"
"Smart bug?" Veronica pokes Three with her wing.
"Eeeh, good news and bad news," replies the changeling, "The lab and the storage were untouched but everything locked itself up when Miss Veronica tried to access a storage device at random. We had similar technology back home in the old military archives which self-encrypted once the wrong dw- pony tried to access it. It took a special group of guys reeeeally good at math a long time to decrypt. I have no idea what system the griffons use and even if I knew it, I'm definitely not smart enough to engineer something able to crack it. Six would be the right changeling for the job but who knows where he is these days."
"So we're back where we started, basically," says Magpie.
"Not necessarily," Veronica shakes her head, "I've been mulling over it all the way here and it seems to me that you have two options. One is to take the weeks or months to assemble a team of cryptologists and provide them with the resources to design a system for deciphering all the drives we found or… you could use a setup that's already in place and far more powerful than anything even you can muster here. It would be extremely dangerous for everyone involved but it also might give you some time before Nicolai sends more goons to kill you or thinks up something even worse."
"I must admit I'm drawing blanks on whatever your idea could be."
"It took some planning to get to the front of the line of heirs, brother," Veronica smirks in satisfaction, "Imagine this - what if Nicolai's assassination attempt on you was successful?"
