Author's Notes:

I intended for this chapter to be where we meet Daring’s publishers, but it was running so long in the build up I decided to save that for the next chapter. Although, I do name them. Feel free to PM me with anything you think might help make the coming conflict a bit more real.

After a few trial runs of a glamour spell Twilight had in mind they found that the enchantment only held onto Daring for about four to six hours. They had spent a few days making their plans of attack, in addition to corresponding with Celestia and Luna about everything that would be going down. The diarchs of Equestria had requested they be kept apprised of what was going on with the events in question.

Now Daring and Twilight were on a seven-hour train ride to Manehattan to see about looking over her contract. They had decided they would just use the glamour and have the bank handle things in the usual way, and Twilight was also curious about this other alias Daring Do had mentioned. Twilight decided to reserve a private room on the train, being a princess has some functional advantages at times.

“So, tell me,” said Twilight as they entered the fourth hour of their ride, “Why do you have a safety deposit box in the bank we’re headed to under a different alias?”

“The disconnect, mostly,” said Daring, “I became pretty paranoid about personal documentation after my first encounter with some of the more morally lacking ponies out there. I also had an incident where the publishers fabricated an incident where my first agreement with them ‘went missing’ for about a week, I found it in a hidden compartment in the waiting area behind an image of the company CFO. I started insisting on having my own copy and made sure that as part of our agreement that I would always get a copy forwarded to a particular address, an address that happens to be a PO box number right across from the bank.”

“So, we’re actually visiting the PO box before the bank, that’s actually pretty clever. I take, you made it legally binding.”

“I was there when it was written into the contract, and made it mandatory that all future renditions have it as well. They thought I was making a minor fuss over such ‘an unimportant’ byline. To me, it was one of the most important; it helps me check and see if they’re trying to pull one over on me.”

“Because when they write up the new contract they’re still under the obligations of the old one,” said Twilight with a smile on her face, “by making sure certain bylines are repeated through each iteration, and required among them, you’re able to ensure they stick to their portion of the script.”

“Yup, there’s a certain way distributors like to go about doing things, even the less scrupulous ones. By limiting their options in their own legally binding documents, I’m able to exert some measure of control on how things can play out. And if they have a dramatically different version of the agreement than me when I go to visit I can call foul because I always check the PO box before going to see them.”

“And by checking the older version against the newer version you can make sure they were keeping up their end of the deal, but I’m guessing it’s getting harder each time.”

“Yeah, they keep on throwing in legal jargon at seemingly random intervals in places where they think they can get away with it. Thankfully, I thought ahead to that eventuality and got into the habit of reading up on the latest law books when I have enough free time.”

“Which isn’t as much as you would like, I’d wager,” said Twilight with a shake of her head and a shallow sigh, “thankfully, I’m more than well versed in all the latest legal codes.”

“I’ll bet, you probably wrote a few.”

“Indeed,” Twilight said with a smile, “in fact, I recently made sure that some critical legal codes pertaining to what we’re about to deal with got instituted in the legal system. Which means that some of the tactics they’ve employed are no longer legally viable. If a publishing house wants to remain in business, they have to be sure to do so within the bounds of the law, if they don’t then they risk being shut down by the government.”

**************************

Daring had her key on her for the box, which meant they didn’t have to deal with anyone. Daring’s box number was D23, Twilight thanked the stars it wasn’t a numbering sequence that could be jokingly referred to as a word. In the box was a manila envelope, which happened to contain a supposedly updated version of the contract. Daring let Twilight hold and read it as they made their way to the bank, during which time Twilight threw the glamour over Daring.

The bank was very polite, and Twilight learned the alias Daring used in the bank was ‘Navigation Point,’ and her lockbox was numbered S15. Twilight mentally groaned, Daring’s lockbox number was something that could be potentially read as a word, but in a way, she thought it was sweet when she took Daring’s speaking of her past into account.

After the bank official helped remove the box from its shelf and left Daring opened the container, and they looked inside. An older looking version of the agreement was seen. Daring let Twilight look over both versions and compare them to each other; she was more versed in legal wording. It took almost an hour for Twilight to make her comparison, which happened to involve her writing down a few things on a notepad she had brought in her bag.

The blue-clad violet alicorn let out a sigh when she was done. "The byline you talked about is in the older one, but nowhere to be found in the new one. They tried to hide it under a paragraph of unnecessary jargon that has more to do with tax code than literature rights. But that’s not the end of it, they’re trying to make it look like you agreed a thirty percent reduction in royalties and there’s a line in here about agreeing to a set number of Daring Do book that goes to three more than would be after the latest book is published. In fact, they’re claiming they had a meeting with you about this the same day you brought the idol to my castle; they actually refer to the event as that very date. Do you have any of the older versions of the agreement?”

“Box G62,” said Daring, “under the same name. And I have backup copies in a bank in Canterlot under the same name as well, I wanted to go with a different alias, but Princess Celestia timed her visit to the bank to be at the same time as me, she clearly knew about the alias because she addressed me as such.”

“That does sound like the Princess,” said Twilight with a giggle, “since you have duplicates of the prior copies in Canterlot I’ll just let the princesses handle that. It looks like we’re going to Canterlot next.”

“More likely, Princess Celestia is just going to come and get herself involved, discreetly. Our next stop is the publishing house, which is in Hippocampus.”

“Um, they don’t call it that anymore. That town got renamed Silver Port over three decades ago.”

Daring let out a deep sigh, “I know, I just refer to it as such out of habit. It’s where Star Log and I were living when she disappeared; I chose the publishing house because they were in that town, I never really wanted to be far from the place that holds so many memories for me. Star Log had insisted our first place be by the sea, but after she disappeared prolonged exposure to that sort of environment started to ache inside me.”

“Which is why your address under your writing alias lives so far from everything,” said Twilight finally getting it, “you want to be as far as possible from the place that brings in bad memories.”

**********************************

It was in the lobby, with the legal agreements in Daring’s hold that Twilight sent a message to Celestia and Luna. The trains didn’t have any scheduled stops to their destination, so Twilight decided to just book two tickets back to Ponyville. Besides, they could fly to their destination if needed, or she could just teleport them there. Regardless, Twilight wanted to get more input on the matter from other ponies.

Surprisingly Luna and Celestia were waiting for them at the station. Celestia was also holding Twilight’s letter in plain view. Unlike usual, neither was in regalia. In fact, it looked like nopony at the station even recognized them, or noticed the items in their hold.
When they got off the train, before Twilight could say anything Celestia said, “Don’t say a word, either of you, we’ll explain at the castle.” Just taking what Celestia, who was in a sky blue dress, told them at her word they just followed behind her and Luna, who was in a midnight green dress.

After they were through the doors of the castle Twilight finally said, “What’s with all the secrecy? And why didn’t anypony recognize you at the station?”

“Actually, they didn’t notice us at all,” said Luna with a smirk, “because the only ones that could see us there were the two of you. As to why, I’ll let my sister explain.”

“Somepony tried to break into Ms. Do’s Canterlot lockbox,” said Celestia, “it was amusingly the same day I got your letter about the idol. I actually decided to check up on her holdings…”

“She kind of strong-armed me into making the lockbox a shared investment with her,” said Daring, “I was a little apprehensive about it at first but then realized the benefit of having a ruler of Equestria share my safe holdings.”

“And it was a good thing my sister managed to convince her,” said Luna, “it turns out somepony tried to gain access to the box by claiming to be a proxy of the crown.”

“I’ve taken the time to familiarize myself with all the castle staff that have duties that can potentially take them outside the castle, the pony in question had what looked like authentication papers that were all in order. Except for two minor things.”

Luna started chuckling next her sister, which only prompted Twilight to say, “What?”

“The perpetrator had a traced copy of my signature, almost unnoticeable, and claims that they were a pony that they clearly weren’t. The pony had documentation claiming they were a palace courier known as Gale Stride. To their credit, they were competent enough to know that Gale Stride was a pegasus mare but neglected to anticipate my sister or I would have had personally met the mare.”

“The pony in question is a one Silver Voice,” said Luna, “she works for a company that specializes in information retrieval and corporate sabotage. Nothing they offer as a service is considered illegal, yet, but some of the means they utilize are in legally gray areas and occasionally potentially illegal.”

“Impersonating castle staff isn’t illegal, so long as you don’t do so on royal grounds,” said Twilight, “ethically questionable and somewhat legally nebulous but not quite against the law. It’s when they start pretending to do things that require the approval of the crown or actually impersonating castle staff on the grounds that they start getting into trouble.”

“Exactly,” said Celestia, “they were apparently unaware of a few facts at the time.”

“Like the fact, the entire bank, despite being a government-run facility that would normally be considered a separate entity from the royal grounds is technically also considered castle grounds as long as you have at least one publicly known active holding with another pony?” Daring inquired with a smirk, “that ruling’s been on the books for the past thirty years.”

“But not publicly known,” said Twilight, “most law firms, even some of the more notable ones, are unaware of the legal proceedings for a princess and private citizen sharing a holding or account at a bank.”

“And since ms. Do shares a lockbox at the bank in question with my sister,” said Luna, “that ruling is in full force.”

“They were trying to get at the lockbox,” said Daring, “but why?”

“Unknown,” said Celestia, “as part of their practice their records don’t outright refer to those who hire them, they’re all given misleading codenames. In this case, the one they have recorded as employing them is referred to Caring Lumber.”

Daring facepalmed, “A lumber company that went under forty years ago because of financial difficulties, they were a small company that only lasted about six or seven years before being put in a situation that forced them to disband. Not a lot of ponies remember them, and very few businesses around today had any interaction with them. They’re one of the forgotten wood harvesting companies now; you’d be hard-pressed to find anypony that remembers them today.”

Celestia gave a smile at what Daring had to say, Twilight inquired, “Then how do you know of them?”

“They had an associate company that made paper, they rounded up all the wood pulp from their projects and shipped it in bags to a company called Waste Not Paper. They actually made the paper my sample manuscript is written on, after Caring Lumber went under they rebranded themselves as Memoire Paper. I actually heard about Caring Lumber from them, when I bought my first batch of paper from them they were in the middle of their last deal with Caring Lumber as it was going under and they were insistent on telling the story to anypony that would listen to them. I actually have my first memoir page mention both.”

“So, the unpublished Daring Do novel also makes mention of them,” said Twilight, “Grand Tales Press is starting to seem like the likely culprits, but since they can’t be tied without a doubt to a third party that will make things harder to find incriminating evidence. But why would they want to go after your backlog of legal agreements?”

“They’re likely going to try taking me to court over agreements I never agreed to, since I usually spend time in locations without any associates it would usually be pretty easy doctor things in their favor. But since the dates they chose to cite actually did involve me interacting with ponies, in an official capacity, they painted themselves into a corner. They’re trying to cover their bungling up with fake legal documents written in a manner to give them a greater advantage. I’m no expert on legal proceedings, but I’m pretty sure that sort of thing is illegal.”

“It is,” said all three princesses at once.

“It’s made worse if their official documents don’t match up with yours,” said Twilight, “the courts would usually side with the company since their official documents are used as a base comparison. But that becomes harder for them when the one they plan on filing a lawsuit against keeps a backlog of previous agreements going back more than six years.”

“They insisted on ‘renewing’ our contract every five years. I guess they figured I would just be throwing the old agreements away after a certain number of years, but that doesn’t answer a crucial question. Why now?”

“Because of new legal codes that have been put in place the past three years,” said Twilight, they headed to the library and took a seat there. At this point, Daring noticed Spike and Flurry in what looked like a command center crafted out of some rather large tomes, notebooks, and a few tables. “The new legal codes require companies to have legal documentation that matches or exceeds physical evidence of the agreement to who they have an agreement with. Chances are, they probably only have copies for the past four or five regarding your legal agreements. They probably thought you would only have two or three of the more recent copies and tossed the rest; they didn’t think you would hold onto every copy you had.”

“And my backlog has somewhere closer to a couple dozen, I can see why they’re desperate. They’re worried about all their goes at chipping away at our agreement coming to light. We’ll probably need the idol, the real one, as material evidence during the court case if it gets that far.”

“Thankfully I keep full documented evidence of all my encounters with ponies, I even had Spike take a photo of your arrival with the broken idol.”

“I figured the flash when I stepped into your castle was something like that, also the after photo you insisted on before we left.”

“I might have tried a few attempts at discreet photos of what the idol did to you afterwards,” said Twilight, tapping her index fingers together like she was feeling guilty.

“I’m going to want some copies of those,” said Daring, “I’d probably have done the same thing in your position. Besides, they’ll make good physical evidence if things get that far. Of course, some of the other things that happened after are going to have to be brought to light as well. I’d rather avoid things coming out during a legal battle, it could have an immensely adverse set of consequences on my new mission statement.”

“You’re probably right about that,” said Celestia, “slogging through the legal system has a way of ruining good causes and elevating less socially desirable ones.”

“Not to mention the emotional toll they often put on the families of those involved,” said Luna, “if it does come out to a court case, then chances are Twilight and Spike would both be forced into participating as material witnesses. Which would, in turn, put undue stress on her parents, Shining Armor, Cadance, and Flurry Heart.”

They spent a few more hours in discussion before Celestia and Luna left. Right now, all they had were suspicions and circumstantial evidence. But Daring still had every intention of this being her last book in the series. Of course, chances were she’d probably be making a go at writing some religious documents to help anyone interested better understand the faith. She had no intention of stepping on anypony’s hooves, but it was likely she would still end up mentioning all three of the dragon goddess sisters a few times over the course of the works.