Utopia

When Sky Graphic woke up, for a moment he was dreadfully confused. He'd never been the type of pony to wake up slowly, bleary eyed and brain filled with sawdust. Never. Not even when he was a foal. He always woke up quickly. So when he woke up and saw only pink, and could only smell sweat, with a gentle wiff of cherries, he almost panicked. He turned quickly, wildly, and looked up at the roof, eyes wide.

A plain roof. A very plain roof that could have required a repainting. It confused him even more. He could only feel three of his limbs. His left foreleg was dead, he couldn't feel it. It took a moment for his almost wildly panicking brain to realise where he was. And then it took him a moment longer to turn back to the pink mass and saw it for what it was. A mass of pink mane, no longer done up, belonging to one of the most beautiful mares he'd ever laid eyes upon.

And he smiled. He couldn't feel his foreleg because it was under her, he'd hitched it up under her leg to hold her against his chest the previous night, same as he'd done with her rump to his hips, which is what guaranteed them to be so close together in the morning. With his smile not diminishing for a moment he turned back over, replacing his free foreleg bcak to her rump and pulling her close again, nuzzling closely into her neck through her mane, sniffing at the same time to sample her scent. Again, the smell of sweat, sex and cherries. Delicious, and a reminder of what they'd done last night.

"Sweeter than all the sugar in the world..." He whispered quietly to himself, rubbing her inner thigh with his hoof. She felt as sweet as her lips had tasted the night before, moist from their impassioned kisses, "My sweet, sweet Ambrosia..."

"Yours..?" came Ambrosia's groggy voice, "Am I yours now?"

"Would it be so terrible?" he poked back, actually a little nervous now, and it showed in his voice, "I mean... We can pretend that I never said it I mean..."

"Shhh..." She whispered back softly, turning over slowly and smiling groggily at Sky, "I never said it was bad... but weren't you the one saying we shouldn't move so quickly?"

"I.." He protested weakly, "I... I don't mean to be rude... but you are the one who pushed us into having sex last night."

"I didn't see you complain when we got started..." She mumbled with a soft giggle, "In fact, I remember you getting quite eager with it... Your wings were so stiff, I was afraid of breaking them when you had me against the wall."

Sky blushed brightly, all the way to the tips of his ears and broke eye contact. Ambrosia giggled again rather brightly.

"You're so cute when you blush Sky," She teased him playfully, "It's okay. I'm sure the neighbours got at least some sleep. You know, when we finally stopped."

"Oh dear..." He mumbled quietly, "I... Should we apologise? I mean..."

"Oh rubbish," She grumbled good-naturedly, stretching a little and giving him his foreleg back, to his mixed feelings of anguish and relief, "If I sent a fruit basket to everypony I offended with lovemaking, I'm sure there wouldn't be enough fruit in Equestria..."

She paused as he looked at her, flabbergasted, before flushing red.

"Oh darling," She said quickly, "I ran a brothel, remember? I made money off of sex."

Sky's face relaxed and he sighed in relief. Ambrosia laughed a little and kissed him sweetly.

"Contrary to belief," She assured him, "I don't mess around with my clientèle, I let my girls swindle them out of every penny they can for me. Figuratively speaking anyway..."

Before Sky could respond, there was the crash of metal shod hooves on wood as something banged on the door once, twice, three times.

"Ambrosia! You are to open this door and surrender yourself in the name of her Majesty Princess Celestia, Lady of the Sunlit Skies, Daughter of the Heavenly Flame and Sunlit Mistress of Canterlot on order of Guard Captain Gild! We have a warrant for your arrest!"

The pair of ponies froze, eyes wide in disbelief.

"A warrant?" She asked, shocked, "For what? On what charge?"

"I... I don't know..." Sky said nervously, "Ambrosia... If they catch me here..."

"The only thing he can do is take you off my case, that's all," She replied, "Quickly, out of bed."

The crashing on the door came again.

"Ambrosia! Open this door, or I'll have it broken down!"

This time, it was the sound of Gild's voice, not a random guard, that shot through the door. Amber was on the ground and walking in moments, straightening out her mane and shaking her tail along with Sky as best she could as the pair of them approached the door.

"I'm coming! Celestia's teats Gild, I'm coming!"

She flung open the door. Outside were three guards, and one of them was Gild, clad strangely enough in full armour, like his two subordinates. On one side was a grey unicorn stallion, the fibres from the top of his helmet were blue enough, but poking out in a place or two were a few stormcloud grey hairs. To his left was another stallion, this one stark white. He didn't seem to speak much.

"What do you want Gild? And what's this about a warrant?"

Gild didn't twitch, remaining stone faced. He looked a little agitated actually.

"Ambrosia, by the authority granted in me by Celestia, You're under arrest for the possession of and suspicion of distributing illegal drugs from your place of business. Given that it is your place of business, your charges also include petty theft on behalf of your employee, a miss Caress I believe. Any claims otherwise?"

Ambrosia just stared at him stupidly, blinking. "I'm sorry... what's that? How'd you pin all this..?"

Gild sniffed, and moved slightly to his left. Behind him, looking at the floor to her right was Bubbles. Ambrosia felt her heart drop into her stomach. And then, Bubbles looked at her, an icy look to them she'd never seen before.

"Ambrosia," She said icily. Ambrosia swallowed, her words dying in her throat, almost choking her. Behind her, She heard Sky Graphic gasp.

"B...Bubbles?" he asked incredulously, "That's... That's Bubbles right?"

"Lieutenant," Gild spoke coldly, "I was warned you might be here. As Captain, I can't control who you see... or who you fuck during your spare time."

Sky gulped, feeling his gut twist in consternation.

"C-captain..?" He said nervously. Gild sniffed.

"I am, however, rather disappointed in your choices. Fraternizing with a common criminal. Lieutenant, you're henceforth removed from this case, and your authority to act within the bounds of the law in regards to Ambrosia, or any aspect afforded thereto, is rescinded. You will be reassigned to a new area of the castle with new duties upon your return to work tomorrow. Until then, I suggest you return to your own lodgings... possibly after washing the stench of sex from yourself."

"Bubbles..." Amber whispered softly, heartbroken, "How could you..?"

"Oh, don't you start with me," Bubbles snapped back, "Perhaps I should have held my traitorous tongue, but I decided not to, and that you took far too long."

That made Amber falter for a moment, but Gild capitalised on it anyhow.

"Guards. Arrest her, we move her to the castle."

Without waiting for anyone to reply or argue further, Ambrosia was marched away, followed quickly by Gild and Bubbles, leaving Sky to watch helplessly as she was marched away, trying to keep a brave face despite her predicament.

Gilded Thread sighed softly. Another day in paradise, she supposed. Upon her bed, stretched as she was, curtains drawn across her cell. She still couldn't believe that she'd managed to convince Sky Graphic to give her and the rest of the girls all this. To keep them happy? He wasn't like the other guards. He seemed... she wasn't certain. More gentlecoltly than the rest. He seemed to care for them, or at least their needs. It was strange.

The clank of metal on stone alerted her to someone coming, and she lifted her chest up, using her forelegs as props, but leaving her hindquarters on the bed. The curtains glowed, and were opened with magic, revealing the grey guard from Ambrosia's apartment, flushed as always when he spoke to Thread.

"Your compatriots are to be released immediately, courtesy of Guard Captain Gild, on clearance of all charges."

"Well, it's about time," She smiled at him, twisting her torso a little, just to tease him. She liked the way he squirmed and blushed whenever she did so, "You going to let me out of this cell now Arc, or are your plans a bit more... risque?"

His blush blossomed to his neck, and he cleared his throat.

"I... Your compatriots are already released. Upon looking up records on all employees however, we... We've discovered possible past crimes. Petty theft and one instance of aggravated assault."

Thread frowned.

"I thought that was closed. I didn't assault the mare, she fabricated the lie to tarnish my reputation. It worked too. I lost my job because of her."

"Which is grounds for further investigation apparently..." Arc replied, looking quite ashamed of himself, "I... I'm sorry, but you'll be here a little longer. I'm sure it's nothing."

Thread sighed softly, and nodded.

"Alright... Thank you for the news dear. Is Lieutenant Graphic there?"

"Lieutenant Graphic's been reassigned," he admitted freely, "Conflict of interest in concerns to this case. He... appears to be in a relationship with Miss Ambrosia."

Thread blinked, a little surprised.

"What, Sky Graphic? And Ambrosia?" She asked, "I hadn't even been aware they'd met."

"They met recently, and apparently went on a date last night," Arc admitted, "We caught them together in the same apartment."

"Oh."

Sky had asked a favour. A big one. One last thing to do on this case before being shoved off of it. And he planned on taking care of it. Which was why he was at the hospital, where Caress had been being kept for her own protection. Now that she was healed, and cleared it was time she was released, and she was being very vocal about it. Sky was not in armour when he approached the loud mouthed pegasus mare, and she was no longer in a hospital gown either.

"No! I'm not leaving until Ambrosia is here and I can tell her myself that I'm okay! Hey, I went through ages of psychologists rantings after the incident! I won't go anywhere without her!"

Sky smiled, sadly, but smiled none the less. Ambrosia had explained her operation to him. The Bordello, and the girls behind it. She'd helped hundreds of ponies, mostly mares. Impoverished, homeless mares and fillies that couldn't help themselves. Giving them a home, a place to stay and offering the girls jobs when they came of age, or helping them find and secure one in their chosen field. The young mare in the restaurant was one such mare. She also told him of a few she'd helped into the modelling business, a few that'd gone into hospitals as doctors or nurses, she'd even put one through university. An advanced magical theory course that went for three years, and costed almost as much as her Bordello. Expensive, and according to her, totally worth it for the smile on her face, and the happy tears that had coursed down her cheeks the day she'd found out, and the picture she'd taken of the young mare the day she'd graduated with honours was worth more to her than she'd been able to accurately describe.

"Miss Caress was it?" he asked quietly, tapping her on the shoulder, "I'm... Here to collect you I suppose?"

Caress spun and glared at him, suddenly very defensive.

"Who're you?" She demanded heatedly. Sky sighed.

"My name is Lieutenant Sky Graphic. I was in charge of the raid on the Golden Star Bordello... where Ambrosia told me you were... sexually assaulted, but one of my subordinates. I... I wanted to say I'm sorry. He spun a tale that seemed plausible. He had an impeccable record, I... I didn't know."

The horrified look on her face made his heart wilt under her gaze.

"Where's Ambrosia..?" She asked softly, barely a whisper. Sky couldn't face her, and turned away.

"She's.... been taken into custody. Your record's been cleared. You're... You're to report to the housing we've provided as soon as possible, with the rest of your colleagues. I... I'm sorry."

It was all he could do to stand stoic, as Caress began crying on his shoulder.

Bubbles swallowed heavily as she stood behind and slightly to the left of Gild, seated at his desk. He was looking through the Princess' books, trying to find a spot for Ambrosia's trial, to little success.

"Dammit... There's got to be something soon," He finally snapped, throwing the book aside, closer to Bubbles. She couldn't help herself, and looked over at the book.

"You kept moving her appointments around before..." She ventured cautiously, "Why is it so hard now?"

Gild paused, and looked back at Bubbles, looking a little confused.

"Moved around?" He demanded, "What do you mean..."

He stopped mid sentence, and grimaced.

"Ah. I see. You're referring to the constant rescheduling. I understand how you came to that conclusion."

He moved the book, and gestured her closer. Warily, Bubbles did so, the clipboard under her wing moving as she adjusted them a little. He flipped the pages back a few months, and began pointing it all out.

"This was her first appointment she made," He explained, "You can see the appointment written in. Pencilled in, actually. And that must be noted. Now, Miss Bubbles, I can understand, and I didn't hide I wasn't pleased her pleas had gone unheard, but hear me out."

He turned to look her in the eye, and began to speak.

"It's not so simple to get an appointment of this manner. Protocol, a protocol I can't change, it was set in place long before my time as Captain. Anyway, it mandates that I must pencil in appointments like these that have to be placed after any important events that cannot wait. Now, here's why it kept being pushed back."

He pointed to another entry, same day, penned in this time in ink.

Griffon Ambassador, urgent business.

"The Griffon Ambassador was involved in a mugging, and being as aggressive as they are, demanded compensation. Turns out, he wanted a trial by combat of the unicorn he caught, or near beat to death anyway. Celestia denied him, and there was almost an international incident. That's why these..."

He pointed to the next three positions pencilled in for Ambrosia, all inked in with 'Griffon Incident'.

"Are here, and I was honestly forced to push her appointment back."

"For three months?" Bubbles asked, sounding a little unsure of herself. Gild nodded slowly, skipping to the next month.

"Alright, fair enough. Look, Dragon envoy. Another protocol. The Pony and Dragon nations have a tenuous relationship at best. Due to the agreed terms, the dragons need Royal permission to fly through our airspace. They've determined that their people's migration is across the sea, through Equestrian skies. Dragons are notoriously difficult to handle, and Luna handled this one, she's an old friend of the envoy apparently. It took almost a month to figure that mess out, much to the princess' disgust. The closest opening was next month, so I pencilled it in."

He flipped again to the next month. This one was a total clusterfuck of ink, written and rewritten again and again.

"This month... I'm not going to lie, it was a complete clusterfuck."

He sighed, and Bubbles actually felt... guilty? She felt sorry for him for a moment. The stress he must have gone through...

"See, we suddenly had diplomatic messages from almost everyone. Zebras demanding aid to help in the drought conditions they're experiencing now, had to meet with several different envoys at the same time from all the major tribes in Zebrica. That had to be rescheduled about seven times. We had another complaint, this time about Equestrian pirates in the Empyrean Ocean, Equestrian coastline. the Griffons demanded we condemn he action and endeavour to catch the pirates, or we were at war. That took forever to simmer down, thus the whole... yes. Also, again, things got more complicated. The Crystal Empire came down for a summit, as did Princess Sparkle from Ponyville. Things were... tense for some time. The queen of the Changelings came down for peace talks. It was complicated."

"My goddess..." Bubbles whispered softly, "And all this time we thought..."

"You thought I was trying to stop her from seeing Celestia?" he asked with a grim smile, "I understand why you'd think that. I didn't exactly hide my pleasure at her not seeing Celestia, but... I suppose it does make me seem the villain."

"What about your obsession?" She demanded suddenly, "You've focused everything on Ambrosia, everything on the Star... why?"

"Obsession?" he asked incredulously, "Honestly my dear, how do you get these accusations? The star was simply part of a small step!"

"A... a step?" She asked nervously. Gild looked around, then seemed to think for a moment. With a sigh, he pressed a hidden button on the underside of his desk. There was a flicker around the room, and he took a deep breath.

"Alright. If you're going to be by my side at all times, I suppose there's no way I can't stop you finding out, so I'll tell you now. The Golden Star was a haven for criminals according to my sources. Whilst she may not have knowingly done so, your adoptive mother sheltered several criminal sources for sometimes days at a time, and your colleagues were unknowingly keeping them out of our reach. Plus, the drug charges were rumoured for some time, but she'd never had the chance to be searched. The Golden Star Brothel was a symbol."

He looked Bubbles in the eye, his unbound wing rotating subtly in its sockets to loosen the muscles, "The first step is small, but it's critical. By taking out the Star, I could prove nopony's untouchable. But I had to build up the power I needed first to get my new idea passed. My movement made it all possible. After taking the Star, I could move on other locations. Others that I knew were criminal hideouts but I had no proof of. There's a small cafe, run by a greasy stallion. Name of-"

"Stitches," Bubbles finished, her face crinkled in disgust, "I know of him. He's rather eager to press for sex, and he's been banned from the Star. Amber's been forced to use his services before, to keep us safe from would-be attackers. Don't worry, she never did anything illegal with the info."

"You know what he does?" he asked suddenly, wide eyed, "For certain?"

"Of course," She said with a shrug, "He deals in information. In all honesty, in exchange for safety, you'd be better off using him to catch other, nastier criminals. You can arrest him after the rest."

Gild stared at her in shock, his mouth almost brushing the floor in his surprise. Bubbles blinked. Gild's eyes narrowed, and his face grew grim again. He turned to his table, reached out, and began to speak again, picking up a pad of paper in the process.

"My plan was the gradual elimination of all criminal organisations in Canterlot, starting with the weakest, all the way to the strongest. Ambrosia did me a favour at one point, handing three small timers over to me by convincing them to break into my office, and tipping me off. I don't think she knew, but two of them weren't just accused of theft, but of assault, one of them on an officer."

He reached for a quill, and placed them both before Bubbles, then looked at her seriously.

"I want the names of all the ponies Ambrosia has ever had contact with that are criminals, and what they do. Every name you give me can be attributed to her, and from there can reduce her sentence."

Bubble's eyes went hard, and cold, and she sniffed, feathers fluffing up.

"What makes you think I care about her?" She demanded angrily, "She called me a traitor."

"And that gave you an idea, didn't it?" He said wryly, "Don't lie, it's not so easy to deceive me my dear. You did what you did to help your friends, and to get back at her at the same time. By doing what you've done, you've guaranteed their safety and release. it's admirable. I wish I had ten guards like you."

"Is that a job offer?" She asked, partially in jest. He smirked.

"If you wish to take it," He joked dryly back, "But I wouldn't recommend it. Better benefits as a PA, especially to me."

Bubbles had to physically stop herself from laughing, and frowned suddenly, concerned. Gild seemed to catch himself as well, and cleared his throat.

"Write. You wouldn't have turned her in if you hadn't cared for her. Now prove it. Mistakes or not, she's still your adoptive mother. And sometimes, family is all we have."

Bubbles looked at the paper, and licked her lips nervously.

"You're looking into the charges against Gilded Thread?" She asked slowly. Gild nodded.

"Yes."

Bubbles swallowed heavily, picked up the quill and began to write.

Looking out from the barracks, Ambrosia could see the procession. She watched the guard ponies pushing the homeless and the impoverished out of the way, none too gently either. She watched a few pushed physically out of the way, and others slinking away in fear. It took ninety minutes. it was early morning, two days after her arrest. They were clearing the streets. The Princess was to make an appearance, to raise the sun. The lamps were the only light in the darkness, but she watched anyway.

She watched well into the morning. She watched ponies gather, and then watched the parade, the procession of Princess Celestia, walking her way from Canterlot Castle to her custom built podium. Watched as the impoverished, homeless and weak watched fearfully from the shadows.

And her heart went cold.