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#Post#: 3428--------------------------------------------------
Meeting of Mayors
By: Gleam Date: November 28, 2017, 5:34 pm
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This heat sucked. Normally the summers of Equestria were
merciful to its capitol but this year the season simply wasn’t
having it. The trees did not move; they did not sway nor bend as
the mellow breeze so commonly felt through-out the mountain side
city of Canterlot had been nowhere to be found for weeks. If not
for the occasional trembling twig or shaking leaf one would be
fooled into thinking the parks of the city were a work of still
life art. Pretty, but frozen and not easy to enjoy under the
oppressive radiating heat infesting the still air. It didn’t do
many favors for the populace that the city happened to have its
own lake and waterfall running almost its entire length either -
just outside of the walls mind you - making things wet and
sticky for everyone without the free time to take a dip.
You know what isn’t fun to wear when everything when the heavens
are set to broil? Armor. Especially a set you’re required to
wear for the entire day, much like the required dress of the
Royal Guard posted around the city. It was interesting how
quickly many of the guards had broken into their own little
factions while under the oppression of Celestia’s sun. The
guards out in the market square roasting in the oven that was a
heavily populated area envied the ones on the walls since they
occasionally felt the air move. The ones on the walls hated the
ones inside the castle, what with their shade and cold stone
walls and junk. And the ones in the castle? They hated their
lives since they were the ones that had to listen to everyone
complaining about the heat, but also because the “cold stone
walls” did nothing for the sweat they had dripping from their
brows. However, there were a few who found themselves hating
their lives just that little bit more than the others as they’d
fallen victim to a unicorn that had been walking through the
castle and been very displeased by what he’d seen. A unicorn who
demanded perfection from all he came across and didn’t hesitate
to say so. A unicorn whom two guardsmen wondered if anyone would
miss as he berated them for every little thing.
“Straighten up. No slouching pony is going to wear that uniform
and get away with it on my watch.”
This unicorn was an elderly pony, one with wrinkles and a grayed
yet disciplined mane kept carefully cut to set an example.
“You’re glistening. Wipe yourselves down else a dignitary will
slip on the puddles you’re leaving and use the accident for
leverage.”
His silvery coat was doing better than his mane but was not
immune to the age he’d experienced. It was fading a bit in
color, but it’s base color was still obvious enough.
“Why can’t I see myself in your armor? You call this polished?
You somehow guard the castle of our illustrious leaders and
expect visitors to be impressed by a smudgy breastplate? This
isn’t a nightclub, kiddo, and you aren’t some shady bouncer
kicking out rowdy patrons after they vomit on your hooves. Clean
yourself up!”
His voice was raspy in that way only age could make it. Well,
age and a lifetime of yelling at others.
“Don’t you roll your eyes! Such disrespect! From a guardsman! I
should have you stripped of your responsibilities and forced to
clean latrines on the frontier! Or better yet, teleport you to
the bottom of the ocean with a fresh set of gills and see how
that plays out!”
This unicorn’s name was Gleam. “Head Instructor Gleam” he would
be quick to correct. He didn’t deal with unruly and sometimes
unstable unicorn colts and fillies day to day to be referred to
like any old pony. He had no authority over the guard - not
anymore at least - but that hadn’t stopped him from laying into
the two posted outside a set of massive and beautifully carved
doors leading into one of the castle’s meeting halls. Believe it
or not, it wasn’t even because of the heat that was making the
guards next to him consider crimes against his property as this
was just common behavior from him. A hair out of place, a horse
shoe left rusty, a spear that did not stab to his exact
standards, any of these examples and more were enough to incur
his wrath and force one to suffer through a session of lectures
and “back in my days”.
“Your mane is supposed to be trimmed in a perfect yet subtle
curve, colt,” Gleam scolded, jabbing a hoof at the plume of the
guard to the door’s left, “This wavy irregular crap is why no
one takes you seriously anymore. How can we say this is
Equestria’s elite when you look like you just rolled out of bed?
“And you!” his attention creaked towards the pony to the right,
“You’re off center. Tilted! One of your shoes isn’t even with
the rest. With a glance, I’d think a stiff wind could blow you
over and I’m not an assassin waiting for just the right time to
fall on one of the countless targets that frequent these halls.
Get that fixed by tomorrow, and you better believe me when I say
that I WILL come check to see if it was done. I know your face
now. You can’t escape.”
If everything these guards had done to help others in their
lives could be repaid with one act, they’d settle for two
individual pony sized meteors landing on them right about now.
One wicked away some sweat from his forehead with a quick flick
of magic, Gleam opening his mouth to object in some way when the
holiest of sounds rang out through the hall.
The doors opened. A shifting of heavy wood and mild woosh of
moving air displaced by the weight.
The guards nearly wept with joy as a yellow earth pony stepped
out.
“Head Instructor Gleam?’ she asked to which Gleam nodded
impatiently, “Thank you for coming. The mayors have all arrived
and are ready for you.”
“It’s about time,” Gleam grumbled, “any longer and I’d have been
forced to reform the royal guard into a proper legion the
sisters could be proud of.”
He shook his head and trotted forward past the doors. The guard
he’d most recently criticized, now believing himself free of the
unicorn and lacking in witnesses, looked to his counterpart and
conjured an illusion of a rope with which he pretended to hang
himself.
“… You call that a noose!?” Gleams voice rang from beyond the
doors, “I wouldn’t hang my worst enemy with that!” The doors
shut with a slam, almost to punctuate Gleams sheer disapproval
of the guard’s existence. The guard to the left chuckled while
the one on the right dropped the illusion and groaned.
--
“That was a conspiracy to run my name through the mud and you
know it!” a mare angrily exclaimed as Gleam entered the meeting
hall.
Things were already lively in here. Gleam took note of and
recognized the ponies waiting for him to arrive while the yellow
pony that let him in wandered off towards a corner of the room.
There were six on the other side of those magnificent doors he’d
passed just moments before. All were standing around a large
table with plenty of space between them with the only exception
Gleam could see being one fully equipped unicorn that seemed to
be serving as a silent bodyguard for another. None of the rest
were willing to get near any of the others for fear of them
somehow smelling a secret, and their personal bubbles – as far
as they were concerned – encompassed half of the country. A
large and no doubt expensive rug was laid out beneath the wide
circular table before them and light shone in from one of the
many carefully organized windows spaced between several larger
windows that held stained glass. Celestia help anyone who
spilled a drink in here.
“Never once did I even visit that dust swept hole in the ground
let alone sell Cautious any lewd photos of anyone! I would never
bring myself so low as to partake in such frivolous and
degenerate activities just to strike at you,” the mare
continued, a smirk creeping across her face, “besides, I’d never
drop myself so low as to make them suffer seeing such pictures
in the first place. None should live with the memory of having
such a horrid thing burned into their memory.”
Gleam recognized the voice before he’d even looked in the mare’s
direction. Diligence, an orange Pegasus mare that was probably
guilty of whatever she was being accused of. She had a
reputation for digging up dirt and seeding rumors amongst the
various governors, mayors and so forth across Equestria. Gleam
had no patience for such things and was always annoyed when
having to deal with her. She had this look about her that always
made it feel like she knew something about you that you’d rather
she didn’t, some creepy sensation that something private was
about to be made public should she feel so inclined. Worst part
was how much she enjoyed it.
“How dare you imply that my mother is not a sight to behold!” a
stallion shouted back from across the table, pausing for a
second before catching himself and stuttering with, “Y-y-you
know what I mean!”
That was Merger, a light blue earth pony that thought shaving
parts of his head would become a popular fashion trend. He was
an idiot, pure and simple, and Diligence was playing him like a
fiddle. Not once would he pause to think before speaking and
Gleam considered him a worthy subject for someone to do a
character study. He wouldn’t do it, but it would be worth having
someone try to figure out how Merger managed to get to his
position without being stamped out early on in his career.
“Oh, they’re going to have a field day with that one,” another
pony chimed in, this time a unicorn of a dark green hue, “you
sure you don’t want to try that sentence again?”
Gleam needed a second to place this one’s name. Dark green
unicorn… He didn’t think he’d met him before but he’d had to
deal with most of Equestria’s leaders at some point or another
so he was sure he’d at least heard his name onc-
“Go to Hell, Matrix,” Merger yelled, solving the mystery, “just
skip the line and tell them I sent you!”
Matrix only laughed while the fourth pony at the table - another
Pegasus of a mild yellow - rubbed the bridge of her snout with a
hoof.
“I could have been organizing a banquet today,” she complained,
“This is not how I wanted this weekend to go…”
Vision? Gleam, thought her name had something to do with vision.
Or seeing. Something like that. It was probably Vision. Either
way, he was growing impatient with this nonsense as he neared
the table. This constant fighting and fanning of rivalries
between the mayors of the various cities and their respective
territories only ever tired Gleam. It was just so very petty how
they’d invent rumors and conspiracies to throw mud and argue for
hours over nothing. Politics was never something Gleam thought
on fondly. He’d and understood it’s importance of course, but
the ones involved always came off as… well… they came off as
these kinds of people.
“That’s enough!” the fifth and final pony, a sizable dark red
stallion of the unicorn race, slammed his hoof into the table in
a show of anger, “Diligence, stop drumming up drama! Merger,
drop it! Matrix, shut up and Visionary, stop complaining!”
Visionary! That’s what it was. Gleam didn’t think it suited her.
“This isn’t what we’re here for and there’s far more important
matters to attend to than you two trying to screw each other
over! Put it on ice and focus for Celestia’s sake!” This
stallion was named Lion Heart and Gleam was rather familiar with
him, though it wasn’t for reasons that Lion would appreciate. He
was an example of governance that had yet to embarrass himself
in some easy to avoid way. Scandals involving guard captains,
embezzlement, altered documents and even rumors of smuggling had
plagued all the other mayors present, but not Lion Heart.
Somehow, he’d avoided the drama, and according to the higher ups
he was an example to strive towards. Gleam had yet to be
impressed.
“Now, maybe if we’re done seeing who can p*iss further and on
who’s face, we can focus?” Lion Heart finished before noticing
Gleam.
“Head Instructor,” Lion nodded, Gleam did not, “Thank you for
coming. I understand it was short notice and I’d like to
apologize for that right away before we get into things.”
“Last I checked both Luna and Celestia were both still
breathing,” Gleam growled and took a seat near the table away
from the rest of the ponies for fear that he’d slap one of them
the next time they spoke and rack up another favor on behalf of
the country, “so unless the Elements have been kidnapped or
turned into gelatinous cubes I don’t see why you needed to drag
me away from my duties to witness you all bicker like school
aged colts and fillies. I see enough of that already.”
#Post#: 3429--------------------------------------------------
Re: Meeting of Mayors
By: Gleam Date: November 28, 2017, 5:34 pm
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He noticed only now that the table had a map scrolled across it
of Equestria’s western countryside. There were several points
marked with flags and a few notes had been scribbled and laid
out over spots that Gleam could only assume were points of
someone’s interest.
“Trust me,” Lion continued, shooting Merger a brief glare to
keep him from speaking out of turn, “I wouldn’t ask you to
abandon your students if the situation weren’t dire. We need
your help.”
Lion glanced back at the sixth pony present, a unicorn fully
equipped in armor that had yet to say a word amd seemed to be
serving as both bodyguard and assistant to Lion. The unicorn’s
horn lit up with a glow of magic as he levitated a scroll over
to Gleam.
“We seem to be under attack,” Lion claimed while Gleam rolled
the scroll out in front him, “over the last few months there
have been several occurrences of unusual and sudden appearances
of various kinds of wildlife.”
“Animals have been showing up seemingly out of nowhere,”
Diligence spoke up, Gleam listening as he scanned the contents
of the scroll, frowning the further into it he got, “So far
we’ve counted four separate occasions, and they’ve been
increasing in severi-”
“It started in Greenswill,” the voice of Merger, cutting off
Diligence in another display of short term petty self
fulfilment, “some… animals materialized out of thin air. The
guard looked into it but found no evidence of any criminal
activity.”
“That’s your city, isn’t it?” Gleam asked without looking up
from his scroll, “what was the variety. Of wildlife, I mean.”
“… It doesn’t matter-”
“Bunnies!” Diligence interrupted, pausing only to catch her
breath after a fit of laughter, “his market was flooded with
bunny rabbits and it was the silliest thing anyone ever-“
“Yes! They were bunny rabbits!” Merger retook control of the
conversation, speaking loud enough to drown out Diligence whom
had refused to stop laughing over the nature of his crisis,
“Rabbits appeared at noon in the center of the market square
during the height of business hours, or so the patrons had
reported. None of my guards had seen it happen, but according to
witnesses the rabbits just suddenly appeared out of nowhere like
they had teleported into the area with no warning. Like I said,
I had my guards look into it but they found nothing beyond a few
traces of magic. We’d assumed it was a prank some up and coming
mage had played on us for laughs and disregarded it as such.”
“Then a pack of dogs appeared in Noble’s market,” Visionary
adopted the narrative, Gleam halfway through the scroll that
detailed what he was being told though done so with more magical
technicality and insight,
“They showed up at noon during a grand opening for a new
restaurant. Most were run off by the guards that were watching
over the event but some managed to get a few bites in on the
attending ponies before being scared off. We still get the
occasional report of feral hounds harassing people after dark. I
would have chalked it up as a prank similarly to how Merger had
done so with his… uh… ‘bunny situation’,” another fit of
laughter from Diligence, “but ours was different. When we
investigated, I got reports from my guards that detailed how
some of the dogs appeared to be… Inside the walls of the
buildings around the market. Half of the dogs were melded into
the building while the other half were, well… you know. This
made us assume someone had used magic to teleport the dogs but
had been off target.”
The conversation stalled long enough for Diligence to catch her
breath, Gleam finishing the scroll and setting it aside and
impatiently clearing his throat. Diligence paid no mind.
“Hahaha! Aha! Ah… Hah… Oh… Okay… So… After they dealt with their
dumb harmless nonsense,” Diligence finally managed to form
words, much to the chagrin of Merger and Visionary, “I was hit
with timber wolves.”
Diligence’s voice dropped to a sudden grave tone that Gleam
hadn’t expected from the previously laughing mare.
“They appeared closer to Perticity’s castle than in Greenswill
and Noble, I might add, managed to do more damage than their
stupid bunnies and dogs. Several ponies were mauled before my
guards were able to get things under control, so maybe you two
should stop friggin complain about the inconvenience of having
mild woodland creatures show up to momentarily interrupt
otherwise normal events!”
Merger and Visionary went on to start shouting some pointless
defense that Gleam didn’t care about. He ignored the brewing
argument while he went over in his head what the scroll had
informed him one more time.
Several occurrences of seemingly random teleportation that
involved animals of increasing threat classifications. First
bunnies, then dogs and timber wolves. The report mentioned
manticores coming next which Gleam assumed one of the mayors
present would go into detail over soon enough, but he rolled the
idea around regardless in hopes of ideas coming to him before
this train wreck of a briefing was through.
“Stop!” Lion again attempted to regain control of the
conversation, his tone making it clear that his tolerance of
these ponies and their rivalries was wearing extremely thin,
“Your people are being attacked by wild animals and monsters
from the Everfree, and you think this the time to argue and
fight amongst ourselves? Reign it in! This is serious!” Lion
took a second to let loose another sigh and shake his head at
the others.
“My city was next,” He turned his attention to Gleam, shooting
the others quick stabbing glances as he spoke to keep them
quiet, “and I think it’s fair to say that mine was the worst.
Gleam, I noticed you rolled up the scroll I gave you, so I
assume you read about the manticores? They hit Corona, right in
the center of my castle’s square, and they did quite a bit of
damage before my Cortoza were able to put them down.”
Ah, yes, the Cortoza. Gleam almost rolled his eyes at the
mention of Lion Heart’s pet project. A corps of battle mages
intended to outperform and possibly replace the royal guard?
He’d found the idea amusing a few decades ago when he’d had the
honor of helping to found its original incarnation, but now it
seemed like a rather desperate attempt to impress the royal
sisters and make a name for himself. He didn’t bother hiding his
distaste for Lion’s mentioning of the Cortoza as he never felt a
need to and thought Lion’s defending of the resurrection of his
retired corps to be sad.
“They took control of the situation,” Lion continued with
emphasis placed on the Cortoza’s efforts, “after putting them
down and calming the civilians they cleaned up the mess.
Immediately after I set them to investigate the situation I
contacted the others here and learned of their experiences.”
“what did Captain Willows find?” Gleam asked, speaking for the
first time in what he felt was forever.
“Willows wasn’t consult-“
“What did Captain Willows find?” Gleam repeated, his tone
demanding in his desire to know what the captain of Corona’s
guard had discovered.
“Willows. Was. Not. Consulted,” Lion repeated with a blunt stop
and start cadence, “My Cortoza were assigned to investigate the
phenomena and found little to go on.”
“You’re toy soldiers failed to pick up on any leads then?” Gleam
chuckled, directing his attention to the table in front of him
as Lion huffed from his corner, “I’m shocked. Truly. What’s this
all about then? This map has markers over several towns and
cities that none of you mentioned. What’s their significance?”
“We’ve been trying to discern a pattern,” Visionary spoke up to
explain, “There’s no concrete rhythm to the appearances that
we’ve been able to decipher, but we’ve noted several possible
targets that might be hit next according to the locations that
have already fell victim to these attacks.”
“Attacks!?” Diligence nearly fell over, clutching at her sides
as she howled with laughter, “’Attacks’ she says! Dogs and
bunnies! Ahahahaha!”
“… These are the most likely targets according to our
estimations,” Visionary tried to ignore the raucous cackling of
Diligence, “We can’t tell for sure where it might happen next,
of course, but we’re pretty confident that it will be in one of
these two locations.”
“Berylsburg,” Gleam named off one of the marked locations, a
sizable city some distance away. He shot Matrix a glance at the
mention as he realized why the pony had been present this whole
time.
“And… what is that… Weaver? Why is Weaver marked on here?”
“Weaver is going to be holding a festival within the next few
days,” Matrix mentioned while scrutinizing his left hoof’s most
recent manicure, “Some locally run square dance or whatever they
do out in the boonies. Lion think’s that might make it a target
but I don’t get why. It’s just some backwater where everyone
sleeps all day, I think.”
“It’s the nap capitol of the world, actually,” Diligence tapped
near Weaver’s position on the map and whispered as if letting
everyone in on a secret, “They make blankets.”
“Every attack has happened either in a center of a congregation
of ponies or near the cities administration,” Lion stepped in
again, “and a festival falls in line with the former. However, I
agree that it’s an unlikely target. Berylsburg is a much
stronger candidate what with its upcoming gem exchange.”
“Yeah,” Matrix, “we get tons of tourism this time of year since
a bunch of collectors show up and show off their rare gems. It
does wonders for the economy, I tell you what. Those nerds love
to flaunt their shiny rocks.”
Gleam looked over the map and weighed the options. He’d heard of
Weaver but never been there personally. The festival coming up
was unknown to him, and as such he could only assume it was more
of a local event than Berylsburg’s well known gem exchange that
reliably attracted thousands of ponies every year. As a “nerd” –
according to Matrix at least – he found himself in agreement
with the arrogant mayor. Especially when considering that, in
this heatwave, most of the exchange would probably be taking
place indoors to get out of the sun. More concentrated targets.
More potential for damage.
There was, however, one question that had been bothering Gleam
ever since he’d received that scroll from Lion Heart.
“Why haven’t you told the royal sisters?” Gleam was blunt,
staring Lion in the eye as he asked this.
Lion was hesitant to answer, but Diligence started to snicker as
had become common behavior for her when it came to the other
mayors’ missteps.
“Well?” she asked halfway through a breath, “Why haven’t you
told the princess? Please, enlighten us.”
Lion avoided eye contact with the others. He glanced back at his
bodyguard, Gleam only now noticing the insignia on the guards’
armor and scoffing while Lion turned back to finally answer.
“The Cortoza can handle this,” He claimed, the other mayors
either groaning or chuckling at the idea, “All they need is to
be told where to go and we can stop it. One lead and this
problem is solved.”
“You want me to trust your toy soldiers with what could
potentially be a burgeoning crisis?” Gleam’s words cut like a
knife, Lion flinching slightly while the other mayors only took
pleasure in it, “Have you gone insane?
This needs to be brought to Celestia or Luna immediately.”
“No!” Lion pleaded, Diligence cackling away in the background,
“Gleam, I know you don’t think much of me, but I implore you,
give my Cortoza this chance! I’ve already gone through the
trouble to organize this meeting, Corona is far closer to both
of the next potential targets than Canterlot and I have a number
of prepped teams on stand-by just waiting for me to say the
word-”
“Sorry, you’re going to have to repeat that,” Gleam said after
loudly shushing Lion down, “You’ll have to forgive me, I’m
getting up there in years so it’s getting a tad difficult to be
sure, but it sounded like the words that just came out of your
mouth weren’t: ‘Yes, Head Instructor, I apologize for being a
selfish child that values his project over the security of my
people and will alert both Celestia and Luna immediately’. Am I
wrong? Someone correct me because I swear it sounded like
something completely different!”
Lion was silent then straightened himself out and looked Gleam
in the eye.
“I’ve done my research, Head Instructor. I know about the
Cortoza. Their past, their history, what they did and what they
were capable of. I also know that you’ve doubted my
reincarnation of the corps since its inception. But please, just
give them a chance. I have overseen their training, taken great
pains to ensure that they are the best of the best, all so I can
prove that their corps not only is needed but has a place in
today’s military that none can deny.
“I grew up with stories of what you and your friends managed to
do,” Lion continued, his gaze dropping to the floor beneath him,
“My library is one of the few to still have surviving evidence
of these events. Gigatrax, The Cloven March, Surmount…”
Lion sighed, the stallion sitting down where he was and focusing
on the map in front of him as he ran a hoof across his forehead
to wipe away a few beads of sweat.
“I know that the Cortoza are exactly what we need in this day
and age. All they need is one opportunity to prove themselves.
This is that opportunity, I‘m sure of it.”
There was silence.
Then Matrix spoke up.
“I say let it blow up in his face,” Diligence loved this idea
and expressed it in a way that I’m sure you can assume, “I mean,
his joke of a guard reformation guided by a selfish desire to be
at the head is primed to become a hilarious disaster already.
Why not go full throttle?”
Lion glared daggers at Matrix while Merger contributed with:
“I honestly don’t care either way. Whatever shows up will be an
issue for you all to deal with anyway so I don’t really give a
flying fudge what you decide. I don’t even know why I’m here.
Did I mention that my city only had to deal with a sudden
explosion in it’s rabbit population? Can I leave now? I don’t
think I’m really relevant to this discussion.”
“Sit down!” Lion barked, bringing Merger’s butt back to the
ground.
“So long as someone looks into it, I’m happy,” Visionary sounded
urgently, “Just so long as maybe it happens right now? We’ve
spent all this time talking but we’ve decide on almost nothing.
Can we get a move on?”
The group looked in Diligence’s direction but were left with no
insight as she just slapped on a smirk and shrugged.
Gleam passed his gaze between each of the ponies. He gave each a
full scan before moving on, focusing on the eyes and body
language before moving on to the next. Eventually he reached
Lion and narrowed his own watery gray eyes. After a few seconds,
he looked back down at the map scrawled out in front of him.
“… I’ll see what I can do to send a few guards over to
Berylsburg,” Gleam assured the congregation after heaving a deep
breath, “I can call in some favors and pull some people. They
can show up under cover and keep an eye on things. If anything
suspicious comes up they can send word to Corona then Canterlot
and we can decide what to do from there.
“but know this, Lion,” Gleam growled, leaning over the table and
appearing somehow larger than he had before, “If these wannabes
that you’ve scrounged together fail to provide results, they’re
finished. I will personally come to Corona and fire each pony
one by one and turn their little headquarters into a bakery.”
Lion didn’t flinch, but Gleam felt he’d gotten the message.
“What of Weaver?” Visionary asked, thrusting a hoof in the
town’s respective position on the map.
Gleam backed off the table and looked towards Weaver on the map.
After some thought, he waved a dismissive hoof at the town.
“I know a couple of ponies that can look into Weaver...”
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