Golden Age

Chapter 4:

Laying Plans I

Charmer stumbled back into her dorm, her head hung low, wearing the jacket Slate had given her. It had been a long day, and all she could think about was him.

“Have a nice day?”

She jumped; startled. Looking up she saw Cloud Runner sitting at her desk. “H-how did you-!?”

Cloud Runner threw a shiny star bearing the emblem of the Equestrian flag onto the desk. “There’s a lot you can do with a MiliMain badge, even if it is expired.” he pointed out.

Charmer shut the door behind her, slowly trotting to the desk and placing her front hooves on its surface. She eyed the tacky silver badge, studying its plain and dull surface. “That’s a private’s badge. How’d you get in without a superior?”

On the other side of a door in the dorm room the toilet flushed. It didn’t make sense to Charmer, Rauna still had classes. The door suddenly flew open, a white Earth Pony with a neat black mane wearing a Bitalian suit walked out. “Heya, Charmer, howya been?”.

The curious expression on Charmer’s face fell. “Wash your hands, Francesco.” Rolling his eyes, the stallion shut the door behind him, and the two ponies in the room could hear the faucet pour water. She turned to Cloud. “Why is Francesco here?” she asked.

“I needed somepony with connections and power beyond any social class.” He stood from the desk, pushing the chair in. “We need somepony like that.” Suddenly, they were interrupted by a girlish shriek.

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!?”

“MiliMain! Cease and desist or you are under arrest!” Francesco exited the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. “Who the hell gives two rooms one bathroom?”

Cloud chuckled, “Lock the door?”.

Charmer set her hooves on the ground, leaning up against the side of the desk. “Thanks, now everypony’s gonna be wondering why MiliMain was using my bathroom.”

“All taken care of,” said Francesco with a smile. He turned to Cloud, “So, you tell her yet?”

“Tell me what?”

Cloud instinctively looked around the room. He noticed the Freedom poster hanging on the wall, then turned back to Charmer. “We’ve found Starrynight Beard--”

“No thanks to yours truly, by the way.”

The two glared at Francesco, Cloud continued. “We’re taking you with us to talk to him. He’s hiding from Watchful Eye’s ever-searching gaze, and we don’t know his magical capabilities. Neither do we know how powerful he is or what kind of traps he might have.”

Charmer sat down at the chair of her desk, looking up at the two stallions. “Why me? You’ve got Unicorns in the mafia.” she stated, directing her gaze towards Francesco.

“Charmer,” the accented stallion began, “this isn’t a Pavarotti family affair. Not part of the business. I got the resources at my disposal, but they’d never launch an operation against Watchful Eye.”

Charmer softly chucked to herself. She should’ve known how far Cloud would’ve taken this. She didn’t know how the stallion saw himself, but to her he was just the same old colt from high school. Same stupid colt. “I thought we were just taking on the vault?” she said to Cloud, eyebrows raised.

Cloud backed away slightly, a hoof raised precariously inches off the ground. Charmer read it as a defensive gesture as she’d learned in her psychology class. “We know that whatever the government wants to keep secret ends up getting thrown into the archives. I think we can find something out about the old monarchy.”

Charmer stood up, “I’m not a fan of the Council, I’ll admit, but I’m not going to put my life on the line for it.” She chided, tapping a hoof on the ground. Just then, she looked at Slate's poster hanging on her wall. If they'd noticed...

The two stallions faced it as well. Francesco trotted over to it. “Wait a minute, wait-- this is Slate’s! Bold fuckin’ move, Charmer. You can get into huge trouble with somethin’ like this just hanging there.” The Earth-pony shot the Unicorn mare a devious grin.

“What about the article you found in there?” Cloud asked, “Something about the monarchy era. They say there’s no surviving records from that point in history, yet the archives seem to prove otherwise.”

Charmer avoided her gaze, a hoof precariously raised inches above the ground.

“Slate was the first among us to notice how suspicious these gaps in our history are.”

She looked down towards the ground. They had her now. “What’s stopping us from ending up like him?”

Francesco chuckled. “We’re goin’ straight for the Council’s balls is why. They’ll be at our mercy once they risk the truth getting out.”

Cloud stepped up to Charmer, towering over the mare. “Like I said, Slate saw the inconsistencies, he knew something was awry in our government. He fought to find the truth and failed, so it’s up to us to continue his fight. He’d want no other mare than you to do it for him.”

“Go,” Charmer sat down at her desk “I need to think about it. I’ll meet you two outside the building.”

“Take your time.” coaxed Francesco. With that the two stallions left the room.