Greengrass sped up his pace slightly as he entered the ballroom set aside for the Canterlot Trade Show. He had so many schemes revolving around the show, plans for half the businesses that had shown up to buy, to sell, or just to show off their wares, that he could scarcely wait to get started. He knew what the ponies there would want; he knew what he could provide them; he knew what objections they might raise and how he could most conveniently sidestep them. He could play them against each other and tear them all down, or unite them into one large industrial union, or bolster only Fisher’s industries and weaken just the Apple Trust, or vice versa. He could do all these things, and many more… and all he needed was for the ponies there to talk to him.

He paused for a moment before shaking his head briskly and moving on. Yes, he’d had some setbacks on that last front, a few minor problems, but that was surely over now. These ponies were from the business and industry sectors; they weren’t really part of the Court. Granted, the Courtiers weren’t speaking to him… for the moment… but there was no reason why the industrialists would be the same way. They needed political representation; he was a Duke. A non-voting member of the Court, to be sure, but still a Duke nonetheless. That had to count for something.

The ballroom was the next door on his left. He smiled, straightened his suit, and stepped into the ballroom. His mood brightened immediately as he looked out at the ponies. He could see their weaknesses at a glance, with this one needing a quick infusion of bits to make infrastructure repairs, that one eager to finally rise up and topple a rival, those three in a bitter feud that was dragging down all their businesses, and that small one in the back new, inexperienced, and totally out of his depth, in desperate need of a mentor to show him how to survive in the business world. Greengrass could help any and all of them get what they wanted, so long as they let him. And he wouldn’t ask for much in exchange. Just the start of rebuilding his political career, of regaining his seat, and of resuming his ascent to the top.

Allowing these thoughts to further buoy his mood, he made a beeline for the first table that he was interested in – the booth of the Apple Trust, showing off their newest tractors and fertilizers. “Hello there!”

“Hello!” said the stallion in charge, a dapper, older pony named Orange. “How can I help you?”

“Well, I’m looking for a good company to invest with!” Greengrass grinned. “I don’t suppose you’d know one of those?”

Orange laughed. “The Apple Trust is always happy to have new investors. Let’s talk. I’m Resplendant Orange.”

“Duke Greengrass. I—“

Orange blinked, tilting his head. “Wait, hang on. Greengrass?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I can help you.” Orange smiled in a dismissive manner. “Please, excuse me.”

He’d been hearing that for months now, but hearing it from this particular pony caught Greengrass by surprised. “I’m sorry? You’re saying you don’t want my investment?”

“No.” Orange turned to another pony that had walked up behind the Duke. “Ah, Jasmine! How can I help?”

Okay, well, the Trust is very large. Perhaps my enemies in the Court tipped off the bigger companies that I’m not very popular these days. I’ll start with the smaller ones then.The Duke resumed his cheerful expression, bowed goodbye to Orange, and trotted over to a set of small booths for local businesses that had only barely finangled an invitation to the trade show. “Hello!”

###

“Greengrass? Sorry, but we’re not interested. Word is, dealing with you’s a real bad idea.”

###

“Yeah, right. Don’t want your dirty money. Everypony knows what you tried to do at the Gala. Go spin.”

###

“Sorry, Duke, but I’ve already made a deal with Vicereine Puissance. No offense, but I hear she’s got more to offer, and her name’s not toxic, you know?”

###

“Wait, who are you? Never heard that name before.”


Greengrass brightened. “I’m a Duke at the Court. Now, if you let me help you, I can use my connections to—“

“Oh, wait, Greengrass? Yeah, I remember that name. Um.” The pony flipped through a notebook. “Boss said that I can ‘t make any deals with you under any circumstances.”

“…oh.”

###

“Archduke Fisher won’t let us talk to you.”

“But—“

“No!”

“But--”

“Scat!”

###

“Hey, aren’t you that idiot that had a breakdown in front of the whole Court? Haw haw! That was hilarious to watch!”

“You know, you should be more circumspect when speaking to a noble—“

“Noble? Heard you got fired!”

“Actually, I’m still a Duke.”

“Well, yeah, but you can’t vote or do anything, right?”

“I can do many things!”

“Alright, what have you done since the Gala?”

Silence.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

###

Much later, Greengrass scowled from the back of the room. He’d tried thirty-odd stalls, with no success.

Some were already working for Puissance, Fisher, or other big-name nobles, fine. Some were just shy about politics, a few were arrogant enough to think that they didn’t need any help, two or three were so stupid they would be useless anyway. But the rest…

He stomped on the ground, perhaps a little harder than he needed to. The other nobles had leaked to the industrial and business sectors that Greengrass was toxic and that they shouldn’t deal with him. And they’d done a thorough enough job that not one pony in there would deal with him. That hurt. He hadn’t been able to make a political move in months, not so much as one vote or one bill passed or failed due to him. He’d been looking forward to the trade fair, honestly, he’d been looking forward to it too much, because he’d thought – hoped, really – that he wouldn’t be blocked from this venue too, that he could get back into things. Into the Game.

But it was not to be.

Across the room, he saw Fisher talking with one of his ponies. They seemed to be marketing some kind of new drill bit, diamond-studded and magically enhanced, that could supposedly cut through quite a bit with just a light buck to the flat end. Useful, Greengrass thought. Although the hidebound traditionalist that was Fisher wouldn’t be able to see the uses. Greengrass --

“Sad, Greengrass?”

Greengrass turned to see Puissance. She was traveling lightly for her, with only about a dozen ponies in her entourage. Her silk clothes were lined with silver and platinum and sparkled from the diamond dust woven into them; they probably cost more than the total value of half the merchandise in the ballroom. “Not really, Vicereine. How are you?”

“Splendid. I love trade fairs. So many new things.” Puissance smiled, looking as close to happy as she ever did.

“I always thought you liked the old.”

“I like it all.” Puissance chuckled. “And yourself? I can’t imagine it was a productive day. You must know by now that no pony in here will deal with you.”

“I suppose you had nothing to do with that?”

“Of course I did!” Puissance smiled slightly. “As did Archduke Fisher, and Archduchess Nobility, and all the others. Honestly, Greengrass, it’s not often that Luna gives us permission to completely lock out a rival, and in public no less. You can’t really blame us for taking her up on it.”

Greengrass said nothing.

“Honestly, you should consider taking a vacation for a few years. Perhaps by then she’ll have forgotten what you tried. Or not.” Puissance laughed. It was not a nice sound. “Well, I should be going. There is the most wonderful little business from Cloudsdale that I’ve had my eye on.” She trotted off.

Greengrass tried to think of some biting retort, but he couldn’t. If everything had gone as planned, if Trixie hadn’t beaten him, he’d have had Puissance on the ropes by now too – he’d bailed her out of a few political crises, all he’d had to do was secure the Elements and he could have shown the world that she was waning as he waxed – but it had all fallen apart. Trixie had outmaneuvered him. Poisoned him, actually, into having a mental breakdown on the Court floor. His scheme to snap up the Elements was ruined, and he’d taken the entirety of the blame. It looked like Puissance, Fisher, and even Trixie had manipulated him, not the other way around.

“I’m too young to be getting too old for this,” muttered Greengrass, as he cast a baleful eye over the fair. If he couldn’t make any deals, there was little point in him being there any longer – her certainly didn’t feel like sticking around to chat – so he might as well go home. Or back to his garden. At least there, things worked correctly. He had just obtained a new shipments of fresh Prance roses which he thought would work perfectly along the southern wall, and now was as good a time as any to start planting them.

“Sir?”

He turned to see his secretary, Notary, who as usual seemed to have popped up from nowhere. “Ah, Notary. Any progress?”

She shook her head. “Hay & Alfalfa Incorporated were unwilling to speak with me.” They hadn’t been at the convention, which had indicated to the Duke that perhaps they were on the outs and could use more political support. Evidently not. “However, I did learn that one of the high-level clerks in that organization has a fondness for salt. We could exploit that.”

Greengrass shrugged, already starting to lose interest. Notary was a superlative assistant, but she wasn’t having any more success than he was. The clerk probably wouldn’t pan out either. Nothing did these days.

Still, some comment seemed required, so Duke said, “Well, we tried, and that’s all we can do. An interesting night’s work, and I suppose tomorrow is another chance.”

“Tomorrow?” Notary’s voice was slightly disapproving. “The night is still young, sir. We can try to work the trade show two or three more times.”

“Ah, it won’t be of much use, and you know it. I’m going to my private residence.”

“Again?” Now Notary’s voice was almost… disappointed? “You’ve been there every night for the past two weeks. Three of those nights, you did nothing else.”

“Could we perhaps talk about this later?” Greengrass didn’t like to blow off his secretary like this – Notary’s advice was very valuable – but he was feeling tired, and stressed, and he really did just want to get to his garden. “Surely any issues with my recent schedule can wait a few hours.”

“I will meet you then.” Notary paused. “You will be there, I trust?”

“Of course. I always keep my promises to you.”

Notary nodded and trotted away, leaving a puzzled Greengrass behind her.

###

Things seemed so much better, Greengrass thought, when he was back in a world that he could still touch.

He delicately inserted the spade into the soil and dug a small, perfect hole, then gently lowered the rose in. The thorns brushed against his coat but did not sting him; he was far too experienced by a gardener to let that happen anymore. Once the plant was secure, he gently packed the dirt back in, then added fertilizer and water. “Perfect.”

Despite the season, Greengrass’s garden was in full bloom. Built in the cavernous basement of an abandoned building, it filled the entire room with riotous color. There was a large flower section, and a section for fruit-bearing plants (Greengrass was especially proud of the grapevines trailing up a false wall), and a small ‘park’ section with shrubs, small trees, and a few paths and benches. Near the end was an open area that was soon to be occupied by a gazebo. Greengrass liked the idea of letting the vines and climbing plants crawl up its trellised walls, making a sort of plant cave that he could sip in and perhaps enjoy a nice glass of wine. He could even arrange the flowers on those plants to make a vertical plot, which would look splendid in that corner of the room.

He had dreamed – he still dreamed – of making all of Equestria into something very much like this garden. It would be so enjoyable to carefully tend to the country, help it grow, weed out the bad elements, and watch it bloom and flourish before him. To lead the country and be its gardener and caretaker, enabling it to reach its fullest potential by eliminating all that dragged it down -- Greengrass could think of no more enjoyable way to spend his time. Working in his personal garden was fun, which was why he made it a point to do so at least every few days, but he really did want to go to the next level. One could only grow so much in a basement, after all. Why settle for growing plants when one could grow ponies, for cultivating plots instead of communities? Greengrass wasn’t the sort to settle.

But now the way was blocked. He was barred from the Court, and Luna had shown no inclination to let him return. He no longer begrudged Trixie her victory – it had been a masterful play, one he’d never seen coming – but he could not deny his growing frustration, and worse, his apathy. It had been months of no progress, months without gaining a single thing in the political realm. It was like he was a youth again, still trying to figure out why his gardens never seemed to work. No matter what he had tried them, his plants had wilted, or drowned, or been eaten by rabbits and other pests. And it was the same way now. Like he was up trying to smash through a concrete wall; he was getting nowhere and wearing himself out trying.

The Duke shook his head. He wouldn’t think of those things now. He was in his secret garden, where he went to play and to get away from the troubles of the Court. The task before him was still to plant the rest of the roses. Politics could wait.

After all, they’ve been waiting a lot lately…

No. Roses now, politics later. Greengrass began to dig again, preparing to plant the next rose.

###

Notary was waiting for the Duke when he returned to his quarters. “Still up?”

He couldn’t explain why he felt so tired. It wasn’t the gardening; that didn’t drain him like this. But he just wanted to go to bed and forget about the latest failure of a day. Nonetheless, he had an obligation to Notary, and he would meet it.

“Of course.” Notary paused. “Sir. I’m worried about you.”

The note of concern in her voice was not completely alien – Notary had expressed her concerns before, usually when the Duke was embarking on some wild political scheme that had a decent chance of sending them both to jail or the hospital – but the pleading undertone was new. Greengrass hesitated. “My political problems are mine, not yours, Notary. I appreciate your concern—“

“Not about that,” she said. “So long as you keep trying, you will overcome this obstacle, as you’ve overcome all the others. But you aren’t trying anymore.”

“That’s not true. If I weren’t trying, I don’t think I’d have worked half as hard these last few months.”

Notary frowned. “You can lie to the other politicians, but please don’t lie to me or yourself. I’ve been keeping track. In the first half of this last month, you spent twice as much time, on average, in your secret hideout than before the Gala.”

“I told you, it’s not—“

“Then, these past two weeks, you’ve spent four times as much. You haven’t shown up at the Court for three days in these past weeks, and the days you do show, you try one or two things that you know won’t work, and then leave right away. When you’re in the Court, we’re both still working hard, but we haven’t tried anything new in a month – just the same offers and deals that aren’t being accepted.” Notary sighed. “Sir, I’m sorry, but I think you’ve given up.”

Greengrass stopped himself from saying something rude. Notary’s counsel was very valuable, after all. “I’m not one of Fisher’s machines, Notary. So I’m in a slump. I’ll get out of it. You know me; nothing keeps me down for long.”

“Very well. What are your plans for tomorrow?”

The question caught Greengrass unprepared. “Uh.”

“Or the day after?” Notary raised an eyebrow. “Before, you always were full of ideas – more than we could ever implement. I happen to know that, in the next four days, there are at least two major concerts, two conventions, and a secret meeting between Fisher and his business captains to discuss expanding their agricultural operations. We could get involved with any of those, but I’m worried that we won’t – and for no good reason. Or that, if we do, we’ll make the same few offers to those ponies that we did last week, and to the same affect.”

Greengrass sighed but said nothing. He didn’t have any new ideas; he couldn’t seem to think of any. Nothing worked. Was it that he wasn’t trying? Maybe in part; yes, it was true that he was spending more time planting and less time politicking these days, but that wasn’t the only reason. He was just… stuck. Like Trixie had broken his engine and he couldn’t restart it.

Notary asked, “Are you going to keep on going, just as you’ve been doing?”

What else can I do? “Yes.”

Notary paused for a long moment. When she spoke, it was quietly. “I work for you,” she said, “Because I believe that you will ascend higher than the other politicians and business leaders who desired my services. You have the ability to rise to the top and take over this nation one day. You have the ability to govern this nation one day.” She locked eyes with him. “But only if you strive for it. If you give up and resign yourself to remaining in this position…” She couldn’t finish.

“I’m no use to you, is that it?” Greengrass suddenly felt very tired.

Notary looked away. “I didn’t say that. But… if you aren’t going to try, if you have no ideas and intend to keep merely using the same ones that aren’t working, then I will need to look for new employment.”

Greengrass wanted to say something, but it was like his mind was mired in mud. He found it hard to even think of her leaving. He’d made plans in case Notary left, of course, but it had been far too long since he’d seriously considered them. Notary had been with him for every step of his political career so far. He came up with the political moves, and she used her myriad of talents – secretarial, criminal, all sorts – to help him pull off his schemes.

But what can I say to her? She’s right. I don’t have any ideas for how to get back into the Court. Greengrass bowed his head slightly. “Fine. Good luck. I’ll write you a recommendation if you need it. Now – I really do need to sleep.”

He moved into his bedroom and shut the door with a slam. It was a long time, though, before he fell asleep.

###

Notary shook her head. She’d been hoping that threat would spur the Duke back into form, when nothing else had worked. She hadn’t expected that he would crumble completely like that.

I suppose it could be considered to be for the best. If he’s really down and out, then I do need to find an employer who isn’t. Notary forced herself to turn and start leaving the room; she couldn’t quite explain why her body seemed to reluctant to leave. I’ll start with Puissance. She should know by now how talented I am, and she has the resources to let me fully utilize my talents.

When her body still hesitated, she frowned. He was a boss, like any other. Yes, we got along well, yes, I thought he had what it took, but I need to be rational about this. I have ambition too, and I won’t squander it by mourning for his ambition.

She exited Greengrass’s office to return to her own quarters – she had a small apartment in Canterlot, for when she needed to be away from the castle. She could deal with finding a new employer next evening.

Damn it, Greengrass… I really thought you could do it. For Trixie to beat you is one thing, but to break you…

She couldn’t finish the thought, and she left in a rush.

Author's Notes:

So, as I said before, this story was written several years ago and doesn't really fit with canon anymore. One of the things that killed it was the way the Court is depicted here, with Puissance still openly gloating about political shenanigans being used to suppress the Duke. Another is how Luna is apparently still openly hateful of the Duke. (Contrast to JULP, where she was actually kind of nice to him at the end). And then there's how GG's special talent more or less makes him psychic in the first scene here; this was how I originally conceived of his power, but it got retooled into more of an intuitive, general thing and less of "Aha! This pony's weakness is chocolate sundaes with strawberries on top".

But I still think it's kind of fun, so I hope you'll join me for a bit of Lunaverse noir as we move on.