What surprised Lucien the most wasn't the griffin's aura, or his demeanor, or the fact that he was there at all. What really surprised him was how tired he looked. Sure, the old bird had a good poker face, but Lucien could make out the bags underneath his eyes, the unkempt wings neatly folded to his sides, and the messy jacket he wore. Something was keeping him up at night, but Lucien could only guess what.

They sat there in silence, sizing each other up without words. Ironwing's eyes darted around in their sockets, taking in each aspect of Lucien's appearance, surely taking note of the scars on his forearms, his bright green eyes, and his beat-up shirt and jeans. Conclusions were drawn and deductions were made, but they were known only to Ironwing.

"I..." he began slowly, in a gravelly voice tinged with some sort of accent, possibly Russian, "shall get straight to the point." He lifted a claw and pointed a very sharp talon directly at Lucien's chest. "I could kill you now and be rid of you, but that would cause bad publicity." He jabbed his talon into Lucien slightly, enough to make him wince. "But I would ask of you to keep in mind that you are no longer in Ponyville, or Canterlot. You are in Cloudsdale, where I am revered and you, who walks only on the ground, are shunned." Lucien's eyes narrowed.

"I have heard of your... exploits in the grounded cities. Strange creatures attacking Ponyville, destroying a behemoth of a monster in the Everfree, triumphing over my old colleague, Bronze Gear." He lowered his claw and frowned. "Such stories have no effect on me. And while I do care dearly for Bronze, and I am troubled by her irrationality, she was a fool for thinking she could challenge Twilight Sparkle with you there. I am convinced you are a formidable adversary, and I will not underestimate you, but we play a different game here."

Ironwing laced his claws together. "In this city, you cannot draw your sword in the middle of a marketplace and challenge me to a duel. You cannot barge into my offices, destroy my property, and think that you will not face punishment for it. This isn't Ponyville."

He stood up. "When you leave this place, you will find that the general populace will not be as neutral to you as they were when you arrived. You have made an enemy out of me, so you have made an enemy out of Cloudsdale. Because you will find quickly that I am the face of this city, it's true ruler, despite what the governor may say. Skyline provides everything for the citizens here, and in return, the citizens provide everything for Skyline to survive. You will find that the public won't let what you did go so easily."

He took a few steps towards the exit to Lucien's cell. "I am glad you didn't try and interrupt me. I told you what you need to hear, and I hope you will have the good sense to let this all drop, and allow me to go on and run my company, but I can tell that you aren't the type to let these things to so easily, hmm?" Ironwing chuckled, a rumbling sound, resonating from deep within his chest.

Lucien kept silent and kept his eyes on Ironwing as he slid open the cell bars and exited. Lucien closed his eyes again, and considered his options.

"He had a point in what he said, somewhere in all that. This isn't like Ponyville and Canterlot, where I'm respected, at the least. The ponies and griffins going around Cloudsdale don't care at all about what I've done elsewhere. I've made an enemy out of someone the public trusts, and that makes me a public enemy. Traveling around the city probably won't be as easy now."

"I still can't just stop and go back home now though. It's glaringly obvious that he's up to something, and I don't know what. But I can't just walk into Skyline and demand to see what's going on. Maybe I will have to play his 'game.'"

"Alright, you're out. Get up and follow me," a dark blue pony said as he unlocked Lucien's cell.

Lucien stood wordlessly and followed the pony out. They walked down several hallways and eventually made it to a front atrium. He was led to a station where he collected his 'items.'

"Where's my sword?" Lucien asked the pony behind the glass as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"It's been confiscated," replied the pony, a frown etched in his features.

"Can I have it back now?" he asked.

"No," the pony said flatly.

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"NO. Now get out. Before I call somepony and have them throw you back in your cell."

"Fine, fine. Jeez," Lucien said as he walked away, concealing a small smile.

He walked out the front doors, escorted by an officer. "You're lucky Skyline isn't pressing charges for breaking and entering. You could've been in there a lot longer that you were. Make sure you appreciate Ironwing's generosity." The door closed behind Lucien.

He turned his head around and watched through the glass to see the officer walk away. Once he turned a corner inside, Lucien smirked. "'Confiscated.' Yeah, right." He held out his hand and his sword appeared in a bloom of light. He spun it in his hand once, then sheathed it on his back, where his invisibility enchantment made sure it wouldn't be seen.

He rubbed his hands together and clapped them once, warming himself up. Going for a day or two without casting a substantial spell left him feeling a little stiff. He stretched his legs out a bit, then took a large step forward. Then he took another one and flash teleported a few feet. Then he took another step, and teleported again, this time going further.

He went like that out of the police station, then onto the street, where he was greeted by a few unfriendly faces. He halted in his tracks and took a look around the cloud street to find it semi-populated. Not quite New York, but a little more than Los Angeles. None of the ponies did anything to harm him or anger him, but they definitely didn't seem as neutral as they did when he first arrived.

"Well, my first step should be to find Twilight and get back to the hotel. I'm gonna need a better gameplan now that I know what I'm dealing with."

With that thought in mind, he charged up some mana and teleported.

Knock, knock.

"Who's there?"

"Housekeeping. Who do you think?"

The other side of the door was silent.

"I'm respecting your privacy by knocking but asserting my authority as your friend by coming in anyway! Besides, I already broke the lock."

Twilight was curled up in a chair in the corner, illuminated by a single light. A book was open in front of her face, held up by her telekinetic grip. A bookmark was place in it delicately, and then it shut with a snap.

"Now, we have a lot to get done." Lucien took another few steps into the room. "There's planning, and researching, and all sorts of fun little activities that we need to do before we pinpoint him and set up a—"

"Lucien," Twilight interrupted, stopping him as he was removing markers from his backpack and setting them on a drawing board he had just conjured.

"I, uh, yes?"

"You... can't just come back in here and act like all that didn't just happen. You got arrested. And what you said inside the cell... It's like you became someone else back in there." Twilight set her book down on a table next to the room's single window. She stood up and walked to the man.

"All that stuff you said about Ironwing, and how angry you looked, and the way it all sounded... I need to know if you're doing this for the right reasons. I can tell, this isn't the first time that something like this has happened. You seemed too angry at something that doesn't even seem to deserve your anger. So I want you to tell me what happened."

"Twilight, you don't want to hear about all that, trust me. It's boring anyway."

She stared at him, choosing not to reply.

"I... alright. I'll tell you about it." He zipped up his backpack and sat down on his bed.

"The story begins... and I guess ends with one person. Charlotte White. One of my closest friends. She was a dedicated magician. Someone with a lot of potential, I could tell. We met when I was in my mid-forties, and she was somewhere between twenty-five and thirty-five. We paired up for a while after meeting in a flooded town that was having a major Wendigo problem.

Now, before I get into specifics of what happened, you need to know that I always trusted Charlotte and what she did. The how's and why's are where things go from black-and-white to a nice even gray.

She was on assignment from the Tribune of Magic, at the time the only influential faction of magicians. Stuffy old bunch, never could stand them, and neither could she, but that comes later. Anyway, I was there just researching Wendigo's and I was looking to help out with some of the "pest extermination."

The first time I saw her was actually out in the field. She was in the middle of a fight, and I had just arrived. And, I don't know, something about the way she fought made me stop.

See, there's this sort of unspoken rule that we all have, call it honor, or bushido, or whatever, but magicians help each other out whenever we can. And it goes beyond common courtesy, to the point where we'll take serious risks and go into serious danger in order to prevent a death. Saying it out loud, it sounds like common sense, to not let somebody die in a fight, but people on my world aren't so compassionate.

Something about watching her fight made me completely forget about that rule, that instinct to help. I stood on the sidelines and watched her in combat until she had polished off all the monsters, without a scratch on her. That could've been because of the puppets, but maybe something else-

"Hold on," Twilight held up a hoof. "Puppets?"

"Oh right, didn't explain that." Lucien unzipped his backpack and rummaged around in it. "See, Charlotte had a unique-ish ability. Meaning, she's not the only one able to do it, but very, very few people can." His hands eventually found what they were looking for, and he pulled them out of the backpack.

He held a simple little wooden construct.

"Is that a puppet?" Twilight asked, curious.

"Marionette Magic," Lucien replied before dropping the puppet unceremoniously onto the floor. With a flourish and a dim green glow, he positioned his hand over the prone wooden construct. Then, impossibly small strands of magic came out of his fingertips and latched onto the puppet. It rose up off the ground and positioned itself in the air next to Lucien.

He wiggled a finger and it waved at Twilight cheerfully.

"That's... a little creepy," Twilight said, put off.

"Yeah, and this one doesn't even have any features. Trust me, it gets worse. Anyways," he closed his hand and the puppet went on a sort of auto-pilot around him and around the room, curiously poking at things. "Marionette Magic is remarkably difficult, because you have to divert your attention to a secondary being while still paying attention to your own body. See, Charlotte was a prodigy. When I saw her that day, she was managing four different marionettes at the same time, while still dodging attacks as they came from the Wendigo's. I didn't think it was possible to have that much focus in battle."

Even thinking about it now, about fifteen years later, it still amazes me. She still had some measure of grace, even with her attention being distributed so many ways. I could tell there that she would become somebody powerful, a force to be reckoned with. Eventually, I got over my stupor and I made sure we met up afterward to talk.

She told me about her job in the Tribune, how much she hated it, and how much she wanted out. So we chatted over it for some time, I told her about the wonders of being solo, and she expressed how much she didn't want to do that either. Eventually, we had to move on and complete our various objectives, but we kept in touch.

She went on doing jobs, and I tagged along for some. Eventually got to meet some of the higher-ups in the Tribune, and then subsequently grew to dislike them, but that's a story for another time. Anyway, once we really got into it over being in a faction, and one of us yelled something about starting a faction of our own.

And that idea took root in her mind. And it did in mine too, I guess, but not as much as Charlotte. Looking back now, I can see how badly she wanted it. To be the head of her own faction, to lead others in our battle, and to have power over others, just like her marionettes.

A day or two later she actually came to me with the idea and pitched it, and I went along. We began the Company of Magicians in New York, a large business city that was known as being specially flexible when it came to acting accordingly to the law. We got some funding, a lot of it out of our own pockets, and we started recruiting.

It took a year or two, but we eventually got the Company to a respectable place among the magic society. The Tribune was pissed at us, tried to have us shut down a few times, but never really managed much due to their own incompetence. Besides, we were watertight anyway. Charlotte was really into the whole business side of it, making sure we were financially and legally secure.

And I just kept on working through it. Doing jobs that she recommended that would earn the Company publicity, wearing the faction colors, blue and black, and just basically touting how great it was.

But as the time went on, assignments she gave me became less about providing legitimate help and more about getting publicity. I started disagreeing more with her on how she managed our recruits. Our relationship got more and more fragile, and I wasn't even meeting with her face to face anymore.

See, what I didn't know was what she was doing in New York, while I wasn't there. It was horrible. Blackmail, smuggling contraband spells, manipulating the CEO's of other companies, using her own magic to control others. That was the worst offense of all. Another one of our "rules" is that we don't use magic like that on the normal humans, that don't know what we are or what's going on.

It took some time, but I eventually grew suspicious of it all. Where she was getting the currency, where she was getting the supplies, where she was getting the real estate in the city. I heard from some of the people she had put down, and even some people that worked under her, that she wasn't being "straight in her affairs."

And... I don't know. I just didn't want to believe it. This was Charlotte White. I've always known her for how badly she wanted to make something of her own, and do it the "right way." And so I investigated it more, and found more and more evidence of it... It all just piled up and I couldn't look away anymore.

So I confronted her.

"Charlotte."

A door closes.

"Oh, hey Lucien. How did things go in Saint Louis? You did what I told you with the Arch, right?"

A chair rolls over the clean floors and comes to a stop.

"Actually, I wanted to talk about that. And other things."

Hands clasp tightly.

"What kind of things? Is something wrong?"

Weight is pressed into the chair.

"...Yeah, Charlotte, something is wrong. I've been hearing... weird things lately."

"About what?"

"About the Company, and about you."

A tight frown is donned.

"Are we going to have to start another propaganda war against the Tribune again? I didn't think that you would fall-"

"No, it's not from the Tribune. It's from bankers, and donors, and other contributors to the Company."

"...I assure that whatever you're hearing-"

"No. Just... no. Don't start. I know about what you've been doing to people. Manipulation. Blackmail. Smuggling. Charlotte, why?"

Silence pervades the room.

"Things are different here. There's only so much I was able to do, while everybody was locking me out of this entire world. You don't know the kinds of animals live in those skyscrapers, how depraved, and dirty, and disgusting they all are. I had to do what I did, because there was no way we could get all of this otherwise."

Another silence. A hand meets a face and covers its eyes.

"You can't. Not anymore. I can't believe you did it in the first place."

"There was no other way!"

"There's always another way! Instead of sending me on those stupid, useless assignments, you could have had me help deal with those 'depraved, dirty, disgusting' people. I've made some friends here, Charlotte, why didn't you just look around for help?"

"Because this is the only real way to gain power in this godforsaken city! All that stuff you heard about me was true! I did all that for the Company! It's because of the Company that I stooped to that! You and I both know we're better than those people out there, and this was how to make them know that!"

"What you did was wrong! What you want for the Company is wrong! Back when we started this you said you wanted respect, and a faction that is efficient, that respects its recruits! Now look at what you have, a Company of recruits that don't know the morals of the world we grew up in! This Company isn't respected, it's feared!"

"No... no it isn't! And don't attack our recruits, you know how well they're taught!"

The silence reenters.

"Denver. Two months ago."

A face pales.

"That... that's not fair..."

"Stone Titan. Combat party of six."

"You can't blame me for..."

"One survivor. Five casualties. The only recorded deaths of Company members since its founding."

A tear strikes the ground.

"It's not..."

"If you had just trusted me..."

A choked sob.

"I couldn't have done it... It was impossible for me to..."

"No. It was. But you were too far gone in this world to even try. You've given up on magic, Charlotte. And I can't stand to watch it anymore. I'm leaving."

"Please... the Company... we need you."

A door shuts.

Twilight's hoof covered her mouth, as it had for most of the time. Lucien was sitting on the edge of his bed, staring at the ground, downcast. "It was the last time I saw her. I swore off dealing with the Company, besides allying myself with a few recruits in combat. I heard eventually that she started taking more and more time out of the office. Six months later, she disappeared. No evidence found, no substantial investigation made. All they found of her were two of her marionettes. One looking like me, one looking like her."

Lucien lamely lifted his hand towards the puppet that was in the room with them. It was sitting on the edge of their nightstand, its legs dangling. The air around it shimmered and flashed to reveal that it was no longer featureless. It was a puppet of a woman, wearing a white peacoat and black leggings. Her hair covered half of her face and it was cut close down her neck. Its features were amazingly detailed, a prominent nose, soft brown eyes, and immaculate red lipstick with well-lined eyebrows.

"Is that...?" Twilight asked softly.

"Yes," answered Lucien. "That's her. It was in her house. I felt like I needed it, to have some real way to remember her. Remarkable, in every way, even until she disappeared."

He jerked in surprise as he felt something soft plow into his side. "I'm so sorry," Twilight said, hugging him. "I had no idea that something so terrible happened to you and your friend..."

"It's alright. It was a long time ago now." He put a hand on her, gently rubbing her fur. "Besides, you totally called it when you said that something happened in the past to make me like this."

"Yeah," she laughed quietly. She pulled back and sat up straight. "I keep asking you these things about you and your past... and just when I think I've known everything about where you came from, you tell me something like this. Something I couldn't imagine. Either wonderful, or horrible, the things you experienced..."

"Yeah, I've been around on Earth," Lucien smiled.

"...I'm going to see it, someday." Twilight said forcefully. "I have to."

"I-"

"Don't say no, because you know that won't stop me from finding a way," Twilight interrupted.

Lucien laughed. "Yeah, I know." He grew quiet. "Twilight?"

"Hmm?" she asked, meeting his eyes.

"Thanks for listening."

"It's what friends do, right?"

"Right..." Their eyes remained locked.

"Well," Lucien cleared his throat and stood up, suddenly becoming aware of how close he and Twilight just were. "We should probably get planning, anyway. You know, since we have some investigating to do. Not 'taking him out' or anything, just a good, clean investigation."

"Right! Right, right, right, right, right. We should definitely do that! Investigating, yes." Twilight stood up and walked to where she had some parchment and a quill. "I should get to work contacting the Princesses and finding contacts to see who Ironwing's been talking to. Let's do that investigation!"

Neither noticed how brightly the other was blushing from their close encounter.

Author's Notes:

Thanks for reading.