Utopia

"Did you see the way he moved? Oh my, like liquid sweetheart! Like mercury, or silk bedsheets~"

Zubari and Hoodlum were both seated before the gushingly happy Ambrosia as she... well... gushed. Mostly about the performance, although both stallions expected it had more to do with the performer than the performance.

"Silk bedsheets?" Hood asked of Zubari with a frown. Zubari just nodded solemnly.

"Silk bedsheets," he replied very seriously. Neither of them were really listening to Amber at this point, and she was just sort of prattling on, yammering about one piece or another, and then, suddenly, there came a knock at the door. Ambrosia stilled very suddenly.

"... Gild," She whispered, then looked at her entourage, "You two. Don't do or say anything. The last thing I want right now is for Gild to decide locking us up is a brilliant idea."

The two stallions had mirrored injury on their faces as she walked swiftly to the door and opened it. True to her word, there were guards outside. Three of them. One of them, obviously the higher rank, had gone wide eyed upon seeing Ambrosia, and seemed to be currently trying (repeatedly) to find his voice. Ambrosia just looked at him, much less impressed it seems.

"Yes?" she asked, not unpleasantly. Her mood was simply too good to be mean to the poor, gobsmacked pony.

"I..." He began wordlessly, before he shook his head and cleared his throat.

"I'm Lieutenant Sky Graphic, serving under Captain Gild of the Solar Guard," He began confidently, but a flush was slowly growing over his features, "I've come with a summons from him, and I was told... I was told to say I have a w-warrant for your... arrest..."

"Oh, that won't be necessary," She said lightly, "We can go right now, no problems. Let's go."

Much to Sky's shock, Ambrosia simply pushed past him, and his guard accompaniment. Sky looked into the room, saw the two zebras, and couldn't help himself.

"Is she always like that?" He asked helplessly. Hoodlum and Zubari looked at each other, then back to Sky and they shrugged.

"If she's in a good mood," Hood said vaguely. Zubari just nodded to agree with him. Sky looked back at his leaving charge, and sighed, following after her, and following him were the others. Hood looked at Zubari.

"He is completely smitten," He said smugly. Zubari shrugged, though he knew Hood wasn't too far off.

Gild's feathers were bothering him. Again. The nurse inspecting the appendage was very critical of his wing.

"I already know you can't fix it nurse," he said sourly, "I've known that for a long time, but I just want to know if you can stop it hurting."

The nurse in question, a mare more his age in fact, was not known in the medical profession for her bedside manner, but she was very gifted at healing magicks, which was exceedingly rare in pony society. Her name was Purity.

"This is aggressive Gild," She said patiently, "Your wing is just the start, and has been for some time. I warned you when you first came to me that it would spread, Gild. I told you very firmly that-"

The doors opened tentatively, and Gild's wing, previously spread so the nurse could look at it, snapped closed, tight against his body. A stone faced guard peeked his head in.

"A lieutenant Sky Graphic has brought one Miss Ambrosia to see you sir, on your orders?"

Gild glared at the guard.

"The next time you fail to knock upon my office door, recruit," he said icily, "I will personally see to it that you are scrubbing toilets and bathrooms for so long, your own mother wouldn't recognise you when next you see her, do you understand me?"

The guard gulped visibly and nodded frantically, unable to form a sentence. Gild huffed.

"Good. Keep it that way. Now, please tell Lieutenant Graphic to give me a few minutes before he enters with his charge."

The now terrified guard nodded again, and the door slammed closed. Gild glared at the closed door for a long time before sighing.

"How long?"

"Still some time, Gild," Purity replied glumly, restrapping the wing quickly, "But not so much that you should take things easy. If you have any last goals, I'd work on them very quickly."

"Understood," he grumbled irritably, "Use the back entrance Purity."

"I know dear," She said bluntly, "I've been doing this for some time now, I'm not insulted."

"One day, I'll repay you for all of this. Thank you."

"Don't thank me Gild," She said bluntly, "I haven't helped as much as I'd like to."

And she left, through a small door in the back of his office. A useful thing he'd found within his first week of Captain, and he couldn't help but wonder if the old captain, Shining Armour, knew of it. In fact, he had, and he'd used it quite often to sneak Cadance in and out of his office. Though nopony knew that, save for Celestia, who seemed to know everything.

As to what happened in there, I'll leave you, dear reader, to imagine that.

No sooner had Purity left, than there came a very nervous knock at the door.

"Enter," Gild said stiffly, sitting up straight once more behind his desk. The door opened, and a familiar lieutenant walked in, Ambrosia behind him.

"Ah, thank you lieutenant," Gild said formally, "you may wait outside."

Sky Graphic nodded, and left smartly, trying not to glance at Ambrosia again. Ambrosia seated herself before the desk of her current rival.

"You summoned me, old stallion?" she asked sweetly. A muscle in Gild's cheek twitched.

"Yes. There's been a development."

"Do tell~" Ambrosia purred. Gild's brow rose.

"....."

There was a long, long pause between the pair. Ambrosia was in much too much of a good mood to not be smiling, and Gild was in much too much of a foul mood to not be frowning. The pair simply stared at each other. Eventually, however, a cold smile spread over Gild's face.

"As it turns out, they did exactly what you said."

Ambrosia's smile, if possible, became sunnier.

"I told you they would. And..?"

"Obviously, we caught them," He said stiffly, "Though, they insisted it was you who sent them."

"Oh?" She asked sweetly, "And do tell when they had time to see me and receive orders?"

Gild raised a brow again.

"Two days ago," He said coldly, eyes narrowing suspiciously, "According to them, you took over their group of thieves, and ordered them break into my office."

"Now, why," She began sweetly, "Would I take over a band of thieves, and then turn them in? Seems counterproductive to me."

"Indeed," Gild responded.

"However, that's far from the truth," She began again, "Most of my time has been spent wondering if I'll ever see Celestia, and if there's any point in waiting."

Gild was silent.

"But I decided to take a break in planning to clear my girls," She continued sweetly, "And I went to a performance in the Royal Canterlot Theatre. Have you had the pleasure of seeing the masked on? Prosopeio, I believe they call him?"

"No," Gild replied coldly.

"Oh, you should. You'd be so much happier after seeing him."

"Somehow, I doubt that." He replied stonily. She shrugged.

"Your loss," She said casually, "In any case, I have an alibi, and several ponies to back it up."

Gild did not look convinced, but sourly, he sniffed.

"I'll need the paperwork," He growled irritably. She shrugged.

"Go ahead. I'll do that. Give it all to me, and I'll fill it all out~"

Silence. For a long time, Gild and Ambrosia stared at each other. Gild was pissed, and Ambrosia merely smiled at him. For almost a solid five minutes, nopony moved.

"I don't know how you've done it, Ambrosia," Gild said slowly, poisonously, "But I know you've got these miscreants wrapped around your hoof. We know for a fact there are more than simply three members to his gang."

He leaned forward slightly, narrowing his eyes at her.

"All I'm missing is the evidence. So when I find it, which I can, and I will, I will drag you personally down into the dungeons, to await judgement in the courts of Equestrian law. Do you understand me, or should I repeat myself in smaller words?"

Ambrosia's smile didn't budge, though a steely glint came to her beautiful eyes.

"Dear Gild," She said, her voice dripping honey, "Are you suggesting I'm a criminal?"

"I'm not suggesting shit, Ambrosia," He snapped, "I know you are, and when I get enough evidence, I'm going to put you away for life."

Ambrosia seemed to consider this for a second, before shrugging.

"Oh, that's fine. I was just considering what to do with my future anyway. I suppose this will do."

She turned on her heel and went to leave, head held high, and tail swishing happily, when Gild called to her.

"What will do?"

She stopped, and turned her head to face him sideways, her smile taking on a sadistic hue.

"Dedicating my immediate future," She replied venomously, "To ruining yours~"

And she left his office. Gild's face fell as soon as the door closed, and he looked at his wing sadly.

"I don't need your help for that..."

Ambrosia was escorted back to her apartment by Sky Graphic. He followed her around, unable to tear his eyes from her the whole time. As a guard, Sky prided himself on his self control, and his immense discipline. But this mare...

She's more beautiful than Princess Luna herself...

The moment the thought crossed his mind, Sky tried to shove it away, and ended up bright red. His sky blue coat turned red at his cheeks, and he blew his long golden mane from his face. He'd taken his helmet off before they'd left, and had forgotten to replace it much to his chagrin. He'd even dismissed the other guards, afraid they'd tease him, or try to steal her away from him.

"S-so um..." He said nervously, tearing his eyes away from her supple rump and shapely flanks finally, "You um... you haven't had too much trouble?"

"Well, other than your captain stealing my home and my girls away from me, no, not too much~"

Shame filled him and he looked at his hooves.

"I... I headed that operation..." He said sadly, "I... I didn't mean for anypony to get hurt I mean... If I'd known Miss Caress' client would be so violent..."

"Client?" Ambrosia asked suddenly, "Is that what Gild told you happened?"

Sky frowned, looking at her curiously.

"Gild? No, that's what Shatter told me."

"Oh, you mean that big pony that looked like he belonged in a circus?"

Sky wasn't sure where she was going, but it did sound like him.

"I... yes?"

"Oh yeah, he raped her," She said casually. Sky felt his heart stop.

"Wait, what!?" He demanded, shocked both at the accusation, and the casual nature of her statement, "What do you mean?"

"Oh, don't worry, he got what he deserved," She said slyly, "I heard they found his body quite... well written"

Sky's heart dropped.

"Wait... That was you?" He asked hesitantly. To his both relief and shock, she laughed. It was a beautiful sound, just like her.

"Oh goodness no," She chuckled, leading him into her apartment building now, "I just heard it on the grapevine."

"But.. that information wasn't released to the public?" He said helplessly. She giggled again. That was adorable.

"Honey," She said, turning around at a door on the third floor, "I ran a brothel. Every kind of pony ever visits my establishment, or visited in any case. I have a lot of contacts that tell me everything~"

Sky blinked, then cursed himself. Of course. She smiled at him, and he was completely disarmed.

"I..." He began nervously, then swallowed.

"Miss Ambrosia... I know... you may not want to know me right now... But I was... I was wondering..."

She looked at him curiously.

"Mmm?"

"I... I have a night off, this Friday..." he continued, talking through the lump in his throat as he tried desperately not to check out the mare before him, "And... w-well there's this restaurant see, and it's um... It's kind of..."

He stopped. It took him a moment to realise why he'd stopped, and he realised it was at an unfamiliar feeling. It took him a moment more to realise that it was a hoof over his lips, and he went bright red.

"You can pick me up at eight," She said primly, a sly little grin on her face, "And dress well. If I'm going on a date with a stallion younger than me, I'm going with a young stallion that dresses well."

With that, she slipped back inside, leaving the red faced guardspony to swallow and process her words.

Inside, Hood and Zubari looked at the silly smile growing on Ambrosia's face.

"He asked you out didn't he?" Zubari asked dully. Ambrosia simply smirked and swished past them into her room, the door slamming shut. With a sigh, Zubari extracted a small pouch of bits from his person and handed it over to a smug looking Hoodlum.

"Told you he would," He smirked.

"Shut up Zukra."