>>393808"Mercy? Damn it, those two better be safe! I owe her two blankets and a kiss already."
>Smoothly ditching the other topic by selecting a comparison of Imperial to Kingdom vendors, Starglow's ears stick upright, speaking in amazemarent, though 'Shiibo' makes a slight cutting motion in view."I know, right?! Makes me wonder what else they all have in stock they simply haven't advertised yet!"
'She is... most excitable. Sir, please refrain from continuing the second part of that conversation, you are causing moderate psychological distress.'
>Running down a match of heavy Kingdom era ExoFrame shields, the mare's eyebrows furrow briefly before snorting aloud, head tilting left to smile prominently."For one, almost all of them are! Normally there's a good lead in deal, that's an object most ponies would want, at a fair or slightly above value price. There's quite a few of those in ach and they're REALLY hard to say no to.. even if I'm completely broke.
Two, there's at least five of, yes. Free Traders, Cairn Wharf, same place Bubba got that notice from, Whitewing Dealers, and the Navarchy's Blackout Hall.
For three, also yes. Each of them buys at minimum ninety to ninety-five percent value. It's actually a lot easier to take on risks than you might think, especially if a group sells specific styles, types, or certain factions."
>Nodding twice, Starglow motions through to seal the last set of offers."Kind of thought as much but wasn't sure. I'll remove it so only they can see, and keep the original papers under this cushion for Clemency. The offer is funny, too."
>Resuming her inspection of offers, and finding no matches for them, she leans forwards at two new screens, each detailing older pieces from Las Pegasus that weren't bouth."Most of these are.... I have to say really odd. Not much has been refurbished except for one of the Kingdom shields. Almost like these have been pulled out of museums, reliquaries, that sort. So far as I haven't seen any listed as missing. Must be some really big old collections opened up. Or inherited!"
'Interconnected black market confirmed.. one minute sir, this is leading to far more probing questions.'
>Parsing through data quickly, the avatar stands at attention, head slightly cocked left.'No more questions necessary, sir.
Interesting. Do you also have the sense a certain old black earth stallion is deeply involved? This will take some time to explain.
The pony version of a black market offers goods, services, and information which do not meet a specific faction's guidelines or rules
Both Lucky Stars and Linara match that definition precisely, which I will speak on shortly.
Trade prices are certainly greatly inflated, yet are equally desirable even at their current margins. Were I capable of doing so, I would spend eight hundred thousand Bits immediately, not including the alicorn weapon.
The strict rule of not allowing bartering is flatly unreasonable to nearly all ponies. Therefore, a pony is
not in charge of this endeavor. I suspect a Minotaur, Gryphon, or a young, fully trustworthy and incorruptible Dragon to be keeping full track of the amounts.
Should an object be purchased, we know for certain that ninety percent overcharge is
not being used to expand any of the black markets themselves. As the initial buy in factor and overhead becomes paid for, a black market must increase its share of openly available goods and services to continue expansion. These have not done so.
Nearly all previous bills of sale and trade notices do
not feature decreasing prices over time. Using the prototype's equine mindset, this would be a near-literal offense... doing so is criminal in nine factions.
I have studied the visible prices and noticed a specific trend in Las Pegasus when it was available: goods, housewares, clothing, materials, food, drinks, and the like were kept one to five percent below market norms for Razorback. Excluding luxuries, relics, and the like.. I am fairly sure most of those items were not stolen as suspected.
The Tower Guard, Honor Guard, among numerous high ranking assets, nobles, royals, and the like would have destroyed Razorback had they known. All outlier objects, relics, weapons, armors, artifacts, and the like... sir, Sapphire Kiwi's five percent collection and the office's contents? Sha'Ro would have far more than her in comparison.
Ahem. According to limited intelligence gathered on Linara, along with several archives from Flash, she was, or is, an exceptionally astute influence in destroying competing New Canterlot rivals, ones which I heavily suspect were Anti-infected. A number of Stalliongrad competitors were peacefully taken over, while less than ten were pushed out. She may have been attempting to
protect Razorback's open access there by openly acting in a pseudo-competitive manner.
From what I have been able to estimate, the Stalliongrad Import-Export Corporation has at least fifty thousand earth ponies working under various sub-companies, cooperatives, and smaller associated businesses. Equally, a large number of typically equine Stalliongrad amenities were provided to Razorback through multiple cutouts.
Second case in point: approximately 60% of the trees and various seeds planted throughout Razorback are strictly Stalliongrad natives. The excellent cold resistance, good yield, highly acceptable flavors, and long term storage characteristics point to this.'
'There is a >93% probability Stream Lark undertook an
external campaign in setting up private reserves and deposits outside the structure of Mainland Equestria. Similarly, only the Princesses and their most trusted agents would be keeping tabs on such.
Correction: >95%. Each receipt form is specific to capital cities. Those are quite easy to track.
In sum: we are not being played, the provided shelter is merely becoming apparent. Please continue while I connect to the prototype, she has likely upgraded at this time.'
[1d6+4 = (2+4) = 6] <E.Electronic Warfare
[1d6+4 = (1+4) = 5][1d6+4 = (1+4) = 5]