Bold Act, Daring Do and the Quest for the Crimson Crystal of Crimoneigha
By A Renegade Time Lord
Prologue: Roses Have Thorns
The Eastern Stable, Bay-Ying, Haybale Province, Neighsia, 8:15 P.M.,
The warm, moderately-lit room was filled with the smell of different wines, food, and cigar smoke. Lots of it. Dressed in a white tuxedo, complete with white silk bow tie, grayscale mane combed back, looking rather dapper over all, the tan Pegasus stallion, Bold Act, walked down the steps to the dining room, and swung his head about, looking for his table. He spotted it (and his associates) and, laying a folded fifty-bit bill on the tray of a passing waiter, he trotted over to it and took his seat.
"Good evening, ladies." he said, nodding to his associates.
"Did you enjoy the show, Mr. Act?" asked the leader of the group of mares sitting across from him. She cocked her head and smiled at him. It was a visually pleasant smile, hiding a head full of malice and deception.
This Unicorn mare's name was Emerald Shimmer, and she had quite the reputation around Bay-Ying. A reputation for brutality and murder, cleverly perpetrated to leave no trace, masked with a pretty face and a body of eye-candy.
"Quite. It was riveting."
"Was there a particular part you liked the most?" Shimmer asked, her eyes twinkling.
"No, Ma'am. The entire show was most enjoyable. I don't think I could like one part over another; it was entirely superb." A bead of sweat rolled down Bold's back as the mares watched him.
"...Very good, Mr. Act. It pleases me to know." Shimmer said, leaning forward and crossing her forehooves on the table. "Now, on to business." She said briskly. "Do you have the item that we wanted?" Shimmer asked. Her smile never faltered, and now she arranged her expression to convey a hint at an unhappy evening if he didn't and a pleasurable evening if he did. "The Crimson Crystal of Crimoneigha?"
"Indeed. Do you have my payment?"
Shimmer reached under her jacket and into a pocket. She pulled out a small pouch and set it in the middle of the table.
"Would you open it, please?" Bold Act asked. Politely. It would not do to have these mares think him unfavorable... or impolite, at the very least.
"Certainly." Shimmer said. Her horn blazed into magical life and her magic grasped the drawstrings of the pouch, untied them, upturned the sack and emptied it. Gold coins spilled out and all over the mares' side of the table. On his side of the table, Act sighed, an explosive expulsion of air through his nostrils. "The payment was for the sapphire, if you'll remember correctly. The Heart of the Ocean."
One of the mares, a green Unicorn, sitting to the the right side of Emerald Shimmer, turned to him and spoke, the very first time that evening. Her words were angry and full of venom: "How dare you correct her! Emerald Shimmer! Filthy stallion! How dare you presume to say what was and what you'll receive in... payment." She spat the last word and actually spat at him. The spittle sailed right past him. "You don't deserve to be paid at all! You're simply a tool, to be used and discarded. Disgusting males..." She spat at him again, successfully this time, and turned her nose up at the sight of him.
The expectorate landed on his snout, and his head jerked back as it landed. Fully aware that the attentions of the entire bunch were upon him, practically staring daggers, Act calmly took up a napkin and wiped it off himself. Emerald Shimmer made no move to berate her insubordinate subordinate, though she was no doubt displeased. Her pleasant expression faltered, for a moment, just a moment, revealing a face that could frighten off an Ursa Major. The revelation considerably upped the tension in the room. The entire room.
When Emerald Shimmer was unhappy or displeased, ponies could die. When Emerald Shimmer was angry, outright angry, ponies DID die. Especially if the transgressor is a stallion. Castrations were not beyond her[2]. In fact, this entire group of mares was well known, maybe even famous for their brutality towards those they deemed useless or unfavorable... who were usually stallions. Fortunately (for Bold Act), the expression was one of displeasure, not anger.
Slowly, Shimmer turned to the mare, raised a hoof, caressed her ear. The mare's eyelids immediately lowered in pleasure.
"Jade Flower." Shimmer cooed, massaging the ear of her inferior and leaning in close to said ear. She spoke so quietly that nopony but she and Jade Flower could hear. "You know to never interrupt either myself or my... associates. Ever. I'll let it go this time, dear. But do not do it again."
The mare nodded, leaning in against Shimmer, nuzzling her. Shimmer stroked Jade Flower's mane. Then she turned back to Act.
"Yes. You're quite right. I did promise you the Heart of the Ocean in return. How... remiss of me." The other mares snickered.
Act's instincts started screaming at him. Get out, they said, GET OUT!. The hackles on the back of Act's neck rose, and his heart started to pound. He immediately began to fear for his life. For good reason, it turned out. Shimmer's horn blazed and she levitated a gun out from under the table, aimed it at him. "Whatever makes you think I would actually uphold my end of this bargain? I've no reason to. So, why should I? I could simply kill you and take the Crystal from you." Shimmer's smile only grew brighter.
Bold Act nodded his head. "Yes. You could. But. I don't have it. Not on me." he said.
Shimmer's left eye twitched. Ever so slightly, but it twitched. "So. You lied to me in your communique. I don't like liars, Mr. Act." She said. The hammer on her gun began to pull back, and the other mares' horns lit.
"No, Ma'am. I did not lie. I located the Crystal, and it is here, in this building, right now. In this very room, in fact." Bold Act said quickly. "Only I know where it is. If you kill me, you'll never find it. But if you pay me, I'll retrieve it, be on my way, and never bother you again." And now for my insurance. he thought.
Shimmer licked her lips, then motioned to the other mares to extinguish their horns. Her own stayed bright. "You... brought it here. But somepony else knows where exactly it is?"
"No."
"Go get it."
"Oh, certainly. Just let me have the Heart first."
"What, so you can walk out with it?! I think not." Shimmer laughed.
"Then one of your mares could accompany me." Act suggested.
Shimmer paused for a minute, tapping her chin with her hoof. "I suppose that is acceptable."
At the end of the mares' side of the table, a yellow hoof, belonging to yet another Unicorn, shot up. "I'll go with him, Ma'am. If you'll let me."
Act cast an eye over her. She was a young thing, about twenty-ish.
"You'll go with him, Dawn Glow? Very well. Miss Dawn Glow will go with you, Mr. Act." Shimmer agreed.
"Will you leave your weapons here, on the table, Miss Glow?" Bold Act requested, as Shimmer entrusted a box (presumably containing the Sapphire) to the young mare.
Five minutes later,
A Pegasus's wings are extremely dextrous, and all Pegasi are able to use their wings as humans would their hands. Using this evolutionary advantage, Act used one of his wings to reach under the staircase and felt the underside of one step for a package taped to it. The sensitive tips of his wings reported the package was in fact there, and in a deft movement, tore the entire thing off and pulled it out and into the light. Out of the shadow of the staircase, the package revealed itself to be a box. Act shook it, and something inside thumped. He used his wing to offer the box to Dawn Glow while opening it.
"Do you see?" He asked, tilting the box so the light of the room filtered inside. Glow looked in it, and the glimmer from a ruby-red stone winked back. "I am a stallion of my word. Now, may I have the sapphire?"
Dawn Glow looked at him askance. "Why, no!"
