Hunter sat quietly at the dining room table as his mind went over what he had learned and had been asked of him over the past few days. It had been three days since his meeting with Luna and Twilight, and it had left him curious about what he had walked into. He wondered if there was a way to learn more about the organization so that he could feed Twilight or guide her to learn for herself. He leaned back in his chair, and his head went back until it bumped the back of the chair. Wrath and Dezhara lay quietly on the floor, waiting for him to move or give them instructions. He closed his eyes and said nothing for several seconds before his eyes flew open. He leaned forward as a realization came to him.

“I do have a way to find out more about them. And I do not need to hunt them down.” He muttered to himself. “Top Quote.”

He waited as Top Quote was brought into the interrogation room. His red eyes followed the pony as he was brought in front of him and put into the chair across from the Overlord. The pale pink pony first said nothing before looking up at Hunter.

“I assume you’re wondering what more I need from you?”

“I am a bit curious.” He admitted.

“I am curious about the ponies from which you were trying to purchase the beasts. The organization that you had dealings with.”

Top Quote jerked at the mention of them. “I don’t know much.”

“I would advise against lying to me,” Hunter growled. “I spoke with a stallion named Sunder, who mentioned he knew you. What do you know of him and the others?”

Top Quote jerked again, and he closed his eyes for several seconds before his shoulders slumped. “What do I get for this? Still just my life in reward?”

“You wish to negotiate with me?” Hunter asked, his tone amused as he regarded the other pony. “Bold.”

“If I am offending you, then forget I mentioned it.” Top Quote said quickly.

“I will debate what your reward could be. You are currently housed in a mid-level cell. I can add things to it as needed. If your information pleases me, I may reward you as I see fit.”

Quote said nothing as he sighed and nodded. “What do you wish to know? I’ll tell what I know.”

“What is the structure of it?”

“It’s made up of three sectors with one pony leading those and then one pony above them.”

“Names?”

“Secret is the leader above everypony. Hazel oversees the security, while Sky Star oversees the storefronts. Penny Pincher runs the sector that manages all the money. He’s pretty reclusive and rarely needs to meet up with the others. Unless money is spent or earned, he is not involved.”

Hunter kept notes as Quote spoke. “How many nobles are ingrained with them?”

Quote snorted. “About seventy percent of them, at least. I haven’t been around them for a while, so it could be different now.”

“What is the most influential one?”

“I have no idea.”

“And Sunder?”

“His job is to maintain order with the sectors and keep everypony in line. He watches everypony closely for signs of dissent or traitorous activity.”

“I thought as much,” Hunter said to him. “Any idea who Secret is outside of the meetings?”

“I’m not sure. I’m not even sure he exists outside of the meetings and plotting.” Quote explained. “I never saw him outside of it personally.”

“Is their location under that bar?”

“No.” Quote admitted with a small sigh. “They are located within the city; last I saw, they were in one of the noble homes. They used to jump from home to home to keep guards or anypony off their tails. But they recently settled in one house, and they stay there.”

“Any idea which one?” Hunter asked.

“I’m not sure. But if you can find out who is doing better than the others, you might find them.” Quote advised. “Be careful if you do find them.”

“Oh?”

“They have enough elite security teams to take down a small army.”

“Interesting. I tricked them once already.”

“You did?”

“Yes. I ended up with one of their rare monster suppliers for my efforts.”

“Oh. Then they hate you even more than they did before. You were a point of argument before, so I would think they will be gunning for you even more than before.”

“They can try,” Hunter said to him. “What else?”

Quote was quiet as he seemed to be considering what else he could say. “Sunder is the one to follow. He keeps tabs on everything the others do and ensures complete loyalty to their goals.”

“Which are?”

“Their main goal is to lead Equestria from the shadows. They always talked about how they could influence the Princess and keep her blind to them.”

“Was Celestia involved with them in any way?”

“When I was with them, yes.” Quote admitted, and Hunter nodded so he could keep talking. “She was not involved in how they run things daily, but she didn’t have any pull, and only Secret dealt with her. She didn’t take orders but was careful about what she allowed. Celestia isn’t stupid, and she knows they are after her, but now that Luna is back, they are being even more careful. Luna is a wild card, and they didn’t think they could control her.”

“I wondered what they thought of her,” Hunter replied.

“They were almost afraid of Luna.” Quote told him.

“Why?”

“She’s a wild card in that they know very little of her and how to flatter her to come to their way of thinking.”

“I don’t think she would, honestly,” Hunter muttered. “She’s more into redeeming herself after how she fell a thousand years ago.”

“I agree. I said for them to keep her in the dark.” Quote said. “But they were putting pressure on Celestia to see if they can get her to control her sister. Last I heard she was doing what she could, but Luna was almost running wild.”

Hunter leaned back in his chair as he considered what he had been told. “Very interesting. You have proven to be quite useful Top Quote. You have my thanks.”

Quote looked shocked at the Overlord's thanks and nodded as he was removed from the room. “Oh!”

“Yes?”

“They might be planning something big.”

“How so?”

“Last I heard, they were planning something. They were after something here and in Equestria. Be careful of what they will plot. They will play the very long game if they have cause to.”

“Thank you for the information.”

“Sure.”

Hunter stayed silent as the pony was removed from the room and heard the door clank behind him. “Very interesting.”

Twilight was quiet as Wrath came racing into the castle, shrieking and carrying a scroll for her. She took it from Wrath and patted his head in thanks. She opened the letter and began to read what he had written. Her face fell into horror as he read through it again.

“Oh, by Faust, NO!” She murmured under her breath. “It can’t be.”

She felt her heart drop into her hooves, and her stomach churned. She could feel herself fighting back, vomiting at the shock of what she had read. She looked up and felt her stomach lurch even more. She swallowed heavily to try to swallow the bile in her throat. She got to her hooves and ran off the map table room for the bathroom. She fell into it and threw up almost violently into the bowl. Her hooves gripped the tank, and she tried not to sob as she threw up. She felt something pat her back and looked back to find Wrath patting her gently. She sniffled and tried to smile at the minion.

“Thank you, Wrath.” She whispered. “Oh, Faust, she can’t be… But she is.”

She slid to the ground and fell to her belly as tears welled in her eyes. Wrath hugged her as she wrapped her forelegs around him and held him and cried. She tried not to squish him in her grip, but she just held him.

Twilight sat at the map table, and her magic hovered over the letter from him close by her shoulder. Wrath was sitting on the floor by her hooves, teasing Basher. They began to bicker, and she watched for a minute as they yelped and slapped each other with their long arms. They reminded her of a pair of mares batting at each other in a mock fight. A laugh bubbled up from her, and she laughed heavily at their antics.

“What’s so funny?” Spike asked her as he came into the room.

She laughed and pointed at the now shrieking minions as they fought. Spike came around to look at them, and he also began to laugh. Tears welled up in her eyes as she laughed, and she soon gripped her stomach from laughter. When Wrath slapped Basher to the crystal floor, and they settled back down, she slowly stopped laughing. Spike looked at her, and his laughing face went from amusement to concern.

“Have you been crying?” Spike asked her.

She looked at him and shook her head, trying to look certain. He frowned at her, and she sighed. “A little bit. Hunter sent me some upsetting information.”

“What did he say?”

“It’s a lot to explain. But it was… unexpected.” She admitted as she tried to give him enough information to satisfy him without revealing everything.

“Hmm. Well, don’t overdo it. You’ve been doing a lot of late nights, you need to sleep more Twilight.”

“You might be right.” She agreed and smiled.

Spike looked proud of himself, and he nodded. She smiled at him. “I always know how to help, so I’m your number one assistant.”

“You're right. That is why you’re my number one assistant. Thank you, Spike.” She said to the baby dragon.

Spike went back to what he had been doing earlier, and she looked at the letter in her magic for a second before pulling out the paperwork she had worked on with Rarity. She looked at the noble houses and realized that a couple were doing better than the others despite setbacks to their houses. She read the notes again and decided to try to relax for a second before she made herself sick again. She pulled out her scroll and began to pen a reply to Hunter to let him know that she had received his letter and the information it held.

“Wrath,” she said as the minion stood and saluted her. She then gave him the scroll to take to Hunter.

The minion took the scroll, turned, and raced for the Gate outside. She watched him vanish through the doors and out of sight. She sighed heavily as she tried to figure out how to reach out to Luna and tell her what Hunter had found without tipping their hoof to Celestia. She felt unease leech into her body, and fear began to sink in.

“This is the worst-case scenario.” She whispered.

Sunder looked at the functioning construct as it zipped around the room. They had not been able to give them commands and have them follow them without their direct interference. So far, they had been made to put them on hoof-held controls. Beside him, Sky watched with a calm, almost serene look on her face.

“They can’t work independently?” Sunder asked her.

“No, Sunder, dear. We haven’t gotten them to work the same as they did in the Empire. The range is pretty good, so if we put Pegasus in the air with the controls, we can keep them going. We are working out how high the range is before it cuts out.” She advised.

“Understood,” Sunder replied. “What is the plan after that?”

“Then we get our contacts to create a disturbance in the Empire and see what the Overlord does. If we play it right, he should call on all his troops. Even our little Princess is one of his helpers, so he should have reason to get her involved,” Sky replied calmly.

As she finished speaking, Sunder didn’t say anything back, and he allowed the ponies to work around and above him. They were testing all the constructs they had made and rebuilt. Each one moved easily, and their small engines whirred as they zipped around them. The blades housed inside each machine had been retrofitted and sharpened to ensure they were as deadly as they could get them.

“If this doesn’t work, we will have a very pissed-off Overlord and an enraged Princess on our hooves. She’s not to be tangled with if we can avoid it, so we have to get her under control on the field and put her down when the opportunity presents itself.” He said to her.

“You're right.” Sky crooned at him.

He managed not to growl at her tone as she spoke. He managed to keep his displeasure to himself as they watched the tests.

Author's Note

It's been a while since I updated this one. Sorry for the long delay, but I finally retrieved the old outline for part of it. It was buried pretty deep in my other outlines, but it was there. Please enjoy!

Featured: 7/9/2024