"Look, I understand what you want to do, but it's too reckless! You'll get them all killed!"

"It will work, you just have to give it a chance! My plans have never failed, and this one won't either!"

"No! I will not allow you to endanger my employees like this!"

Lucien looked at her, disgusted. "You say you care for them this much, and all you can address them as is your 'employees'?"

"...You know that's not true. I'm so used to calling them that when negotiating, it just... slipped out."

"No, I think that's exactly how you think of them, Charlotte. I'll just do it myself." he spat.

"Lucien, wait! You can't just walk like this! You know what will happen..."

He turned around to face her, hand on the door already. "Yes, I do. I'll be fine, and I'll live with the consequences." He exited the room and slammed the door behind him. "I can't believe it came to this..."

Lucien awoke to the sound of knocking at his door. Bleary-eyed he stood up and pulled his shirt on, then slung his backpack on by force of habit. Knocking came from the door again. "Coming! I'm coming..." He stumbled in the near-darkness towards where he thought the door was. His hand eventually found the handle, and he opened it.

A pegasus pony was waiting outside for him. He was earth-brown with an auburn mane. Lucien couldn't make out any of his facial features due to the fact that he was backlit by some light behind him. "Lucien the Magician?" he asked.

"What?"

"Are you Lucien the Magician?"

"Uh, apparently."

The pony held out a paper. "This is for you."

Lucien took it hesitantly. "Thanks?"

"Don't be late." The pony turned around and walked away, leaving Lucien completely confused. And tired.

"Uh... What?" He shut the door and turned around, flicking on the light as he did so.

"What's going on?" asked Twilight, yawning as she woke up.

"There was somepony at the door. Gave me a letter." He held it up to show her.

"Why so early?" she asked, checking the clock nearby. "It's barely even 5:30."

"Dunno. Let me open this." He tore open the envelope and removed its contents. A simple piece of off-white paper, with a gilded insignia on the top.

From the House of Iron

---

Lord Ironwing of the Skyline Corporation hereby requests the presence of Lucien the Magician at the Cloudsdale branch of Skyline Corporation at approximately 6:30 AM on this day. Please bring any and all manners possible. No additional guests will be admitted.

---

From the House of Iron

He crumpled up the paper, tossed it in the air, and ignited it with a thought.

Twilight recoiled back, despite being far away from the sudden combustion. "Lucien! Why did you do that!?" she yelled at him, now wide awake.

He fixed a cold glare upon Twilight and she shrunk back into the bed from the force of it. "Because," he started, "I am not letting this guy play games with me." He yanked open the door, stomped out, then slammed it shut again. Twilight could hear the lock bolt into place with enough force to splinter the wood.

"Oh boy..."

Skyline Corporation was just beginning to open. The all-glass doors were being polished to the point of being nearly invisible, but then ponies would run into them, and the janitor, Spit Spot, couldn't have that. So, to make sure the glass wasn't absolutely transparent, he made sure to throw on some cloud-dust each time he finished shining an area of glass.

Unbeknownst to him, the building manager and receptionist secretly hated him for not making the glass completely spotless.

But that stopped mattering to all parties involved as the glass doors were suddenly shattered inward.

"W-w-what!" shouted Spit Spot as a strange bipedal creature walked through the newly destroyed doors.

An aura of energy surrounded Lucien as he slowly walked across the main lobby. It was still too early for other workers and desk clerks to have shown up, so the area was empty. The only noise came from his footsteps and the constant hum and crackle of the magic surrounding Lucien.

He pushed a hand out to his side, and one of the elevator doors shot open, creating new space within the walls. He walked in, taking note of the large lever on the side where an operator would probably stand. His hand wrapped around the top of the lever, then he yanked it down, busting the upper half off. A gate shut in front of him, then he shot up, ascending the floors of the building.

Lucien poked the button half-heartedly, sending the elevator gracefully sliding down the floors of the modern building. His eyes wandered to his riding companion, a teen, by the looks of him. He had shaggy, spiky hair and wore a thin white jacket over a black shirt. A belt covered in blunt spikes held his torn jeans up, and an interesting-looking book was secured to his waist with a simple leather strip.

"What are you looking at, man?" the teen questioned, noticing Lucien's gaze.

"...Nothing," Lucien replied, out of energy.

"Aw, man, you just came out of White's conference room didn't you? That chick always puts a scare in people." The kid's gaze lightened.

"Heh. Charlotte always was like that... Tell me, what's it like working here?"

"Hmm?" He seemed caught off-guard by the question. "It's alright, I guess. Pay's more than enough for me, and I handle it all pretty well... I'm kinda new here, still."

"Oh? When did you join up?"

"Just a few months ago."

"Damn, you are still pretty new. Where'd she send you?"

"Havana. Had to deal with an Arbiter that got too big for its britches."

"An Arbiter, huh? Any help?"

"Yeah, brought a few friends along for the ride. They were pretty stoked we got to hang out on the beach after we killed it."

"Sounds fair. Speaking of, what kind of magic do you use?"

The teen unclipped the book attached to his waist. Now that Lucien could look at it better, he noticed it was a type of Grimoire. Judging by the runes drawn on the front and the multicolored gems set into the surface, he guessed it was an Elemental-type.

"Tome Magic, mostly. I got a few pages from my trip down there. Some good scores, I'd say. And the Company even let me keep everything I found there. Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me. What do you do?" He clipped the book back on to his belt.

Lucien motioned to his dagger. He shrugged. "A little bit of everything, really. Call me a Something-mancer."

He didn't notice the teen's shocked expression. "Wait, does that mean you're...?"

Lucien looked at him, surprised. "What now?"

"You're Lucien the Magician! One of the founders! Oh my god! Wait until my friends hear that I met you in an elevator! They'll be shocked!"

"Hold on, you know who I am?" Lucien asked, completely bewildered.

"Duh! You're only everywhere in the system! Credited with creating the Company along with White! Oh man, everyone's heard of what you're doing!"

"...And what is it I'm doing?"

"Going around the country kicking monster ass! They say you always work alone, and you've taken out Behemoths the size of cities all by yourself! Is that true?!" Lucien found it hard to resist the teen's enthusiasm, but it was a bit awkward for him.

"Well, that was one time, and saying it was the size of a city is a bit of an exaggeration..." He rubbed the back of his neck, his face red.

"Wow! That's so cool!"

Lucien took a moment to gather his thoughts. "What if..."

"Hey, you said you have some friends that helped you with that Arbiter, right?"

"Uh, yeah, why?"

"Because I got wind that there's a Stone Titan outside Denver, and I can't quite take it on my own..."

The elevator dinged as it hit ground floor, and the pair were lost among the crowds of young magicians milling around the lobby.

The elevator dinged as it hit top floor, the only sound in the otherwise quiet building. "There is no way in hell I'm letting this guy screw with me. I don't play games!" Lucien stepped out into the hall.

A secretary's desk sat off to the right, its surface covered in various papers and notices, along with a coffee cup that was undoubtedly left over from the previous night. The large glass windows lining the hallway would have let in ample light if it weren't for the fact that the sun had yet to rise.

Lucien stomped across the hall, making for the larger-than-life double doors that he hoped would lead into Ironwing's office. He drew in a breath once he reached his destination, steadying himself for the confrontation.

"Ironwing!" he shouted, kicking the doors open loudly.

"Freeze!" a few shouts echoed back at him.

"What?" he asked, confused and blinded by the sudden harsh light shining directly at his face.

"Lower your magic levels and place your extremities on the ground!" came a single shout over the rest.

"What?" he asked, even more confused.

"You are under arrest for breaking and entering and destruction of property, now surrender or we will take action!" came the voice again.

"Oh, it's just the police. Great." "Hold up! Turn down those lights, I can't see!"

"That's the point! Now surrender or we will use force!"

"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed." "I'll just get those for you!" Lucien shouted, before using his magic to dim the lights down to a level acceptable for his eyes.

Now that he could see, he could adequately assess the situation. And that situation seemed pretty bad. For him, that is.

Police pegasai were stationed behind desks and barriers all across the wide circular room. More than a few strange-looking weapons were pointed at him, undoubtedly ready to electrocute him or otherwise do him bodily harm.

"Hey, uh, I'm here on assignment from-" "Wait, I don't think Celestia and Luna'll want me spreading that one around. Shit." "-myself, I guess. But don't worry, I'm totally on your side! Ironwing's done... something wrong, and I'm here to stop him! He even summoned me here, let me just get the invite..."

He tried to reach inside his pocket but was stopped by a sudden sharp pain erupting from his lower back. "Ooooouch!" he exclaimed as electricity coursed through his body. It stopped and he dropped to a knee. "Okay, this is bad. I don't want to fight back, and I don't want to go to jail. Or be fined, gross."

"Okay, is there any way this ends without me going to jail or beating you all up?!" he asked, futilely.

"No, sir! You're going to jail! And you're getting fined!" Lucien was able to spot a pony in the back of the room shouting at him through some kind of loudspeaker.

He winced. "How about I just give you all some bits and we forget all of this ever happened!"

One police pony whispered to the loudspeaker pony, but was quickly swatted by the loud pony. "No! Now surrender!"

"Great." "Alright, alright, I give!" He lowered himself onto both of his knees. A pegasus pony dashed forward and slapped a magic-nullification cuff onto his wrist. It pinched. Annoyingly. "Guess that's not made for humans, huh?"

"Up you go now, nice and easy." He was quickly surrounded by a fair amount of pegasai, all ready to shoot him at the first sign of motion.

They marched him down the building and past the janitor that he had passed on the way in. "Hooligan!" he shouted, raising a hoof in anger.

They reached the lobby floor. Pegasus police ponies were abuzz, flying around the place. Some were taking pictures of the area and Lucien, which he dislike greatly, and some seemed to be assessing the front doors and elevator for damage. They marched out the front door, and Lucien's heart dropped when he saw what was waiting for him.

A mob of concerned-looking ponies greeted his arrival. They surrounded the chariots and took up a fair part of the street. Some looked like they were just arriving for work, others looked like they came out of their houses or apartments to see what the noise was. He had a feeling they weren't worried on his behalf. He was led to a caged chariot, then forced inside of it.

"Twilight's gonna be so pissed..."

Author's Notes:

Rewritten.