private The Tyranny of Princess Cadence

[The Original 571]

@, 

 

Fiera took a second to skim read over the form. It was exactly what Swordpoint said it was. She sighed and hung her head. "I guess i have no other options..." She took the paper into her hooves... and then ripped it in half (Technically thats not possible though without magic). "Alright then" she started with a smile. "When do we start?" she said and stood up.

Edited June 5, 2013 by The Original PWD

[Super Derpy 535]

Crimson whistled a happy tune as he walked through the marketplace with his hat pulled low over his face, "well now that I'm done with my espionage today, I guess I'll just listen for rumors, that shouldn't be so hard with so many ponies around, let's see..." thought crimson before stopping and closing his eyes. Crimson concentrated and listened closly for any suspicious conversations, all of a sudden, crimson caught the voice of a mare yelling somthing about cadence, crimson smiled triumphantly, "bingo!" Said crimson exitedly before walking towards the mare who had yelled. Once he was infront of her and her friend, crimson bowed politely and smiled, "hello, nice day isn't it? Do you mind telling me why your yelling that's tyrants name so freely in public?" Asked crimson in almost a whisper.

@ragestar

"Wait... You think she's a tyrant too? I thought I was the only one! I mean she kicked out of my house and took away my job how can I not hate her." whispered Crystal Dusk.

"Oh and sorry about yelling I just got so angry about everything that has happened to me. Oh yes and this is Bluenote" *points hoof at Bluenote*

 

@Bluenote~

"Do you think Cadence is evil and a tyrant as well?"

[RAGESTAR 479]

Crimson grinned happily and chuckled "who doesn't? She stole land, destroyed cropps, made ponies homeless, and even threatens equestrias very safety, she must be stopped.....but I'm ahead of myself, where are my manors, my name is captain crimson grinn, ex-leader of celestias navy and pirate veteran extrordonair!" Said crimson heartily, before bowing with his hat in his hoof, now revealing a red maned white stallion with red catlike eyes and a scarr over his left eye, he was grinning mischeviously with a razor-toothed smile, "at your service!"

Edited June 5, 2013 by ragestar

[longgone 873]

"Goldie..." asked Ballyhooly, sitting adjacent from Golden Age in one of the barracks.

 

"What?" he replied, looking at one of the newspapers

 

"Why do you hate staying here so much?" he asked curiously. "Because this place resides within the city walls of Canterlot." he replied, not giving a glance to the Sergeant. "But, what does that have to do with anything?" he continued. "Lad, I'd rather spend a night in the Everfree forest than an hour in this city. This place is home to all the snotty, snobbish, and self-centered aristocratic bigots that Equestria has ever had the misfortune to lay eyes upon! But that's not the biggest problem, the biggest problem is that Celestia herself calls this place her home, this is where she resides, in that giant castle of there." he said, pointing his hoof. "And everypony and their mother knows in this regiment knows my views on the 'Schadenfreude von Sonnenschein', as I call her."

Edited June 5, 2013 by ~HistoricallyInaccurate~

[THE WILD HUNT 213]

Acheron lingered behind when he saw other ponies gathering around the mare. At first he thought they might have been some of Cadence's citizen supporters, but more to Acheron's surprise, they too spoke negatively about the Princess. Acheron finally stepped forward from his place.

"It's quite dangerous to talk so openly about that foul mare," the unicorn said as he joined the group. He studied them, trying to piece together who they were and what they were like...

[Discorded Bluenote 126]

@Bluenote~,

"My name is Crystal Dusk and it is a pleasure to meet you! I'm sorry for my appearance times are tough these days and I lost my job and... my house. All because of Cadence! I'm surprised she even let me keep my things!!

Crystal sits seething in rage for a few seconds.

"Oh I'm sorry for screaming I have just been holding that in for weeks. So tell me about yourself?"

"I disagree! You may not have a residence at all, but I have to stay here; this dump is my permanent residence!", she replied. "I don't expect to be keeping that for a long time. I'm glad someone agrees with me though, everyone seems kind of happy about it. It makes no sense. 

 

"And in these circumstances, of course she is a tyrant. Who gathers assassins in the middle of peace? Its stupid in a way."

 

 

 

"It's quite dangerous to talk so openly about that foul mare," the unicorn said as he joined the group. He studied them, trying to piece together who they were and what they were like...

 

"And? She could kill me, but that would be doing a favor for me. I hate this place now."

 

 

 

 

 

my name is captain crimson grinn, ex-leader of celestias navy and pirate veteran extrordonair!"

 

 

"Um, hey there Crimson. How has your life been going so far?"

Edited June 5, 2013 by Bluenote~

[Justin ZW 396]

@

Swordpoint nodded. "We're starting tomorrow morning. At 0700 hours, be ready for me to call you from the training yard. Do not be late. Dismissed." He turned and exited the building, making his way towards the castle.

 

@@Pripyat Pony

Celestia lightly dabbed her face with a napkin. "Swordpoint should be nearly finished. I trust you enjoyed your meal, Sanura?"

 

Swordpoint opened the door to Celestia's private quarters to find the princess finishing her meal with Sanura. "My princess. My apologies for the delay." He took several steps inside the room, closed the door, and sat down. "I would hear your task."

 

Celestia smiled. "It is good to see you again, Swordpoint. I'm sorry that you missed our meal."

 

Swordpoint waved his hoof lazily. "It is of no concern to me. I will find a meal in the mess hall."

 

Celestia sighed. "Very well. Now, the task that I have for both of you is quite simple. Applejack has gone to Appleloosa to oversee a large shipment of goods. I would like both of you to check on the status of the shipment. According to Applejack, the merchants have not yet arrived, and she worries that they may have been attacked by bandits."

 

"Our task will be to ensure that the supplies safely reach Appleloosa, yes?" Swordpoint asked.

 

Celestia nodded. "Yes. And if you cannot find the merchants or the cargo, attempt to locate the bandits and retrieve the supplies."

 

Swordpoint saluted again. "I shall not disappoint, my princess."

 

@

(OoC: Our team doesn't know that Cadence has gone insane. We are currently going about our business as usual and meeting one another. Please edit your post to reflect this. All of the relevant information was stated in the OoC thread. You have been given one warning point as a result.)

Edited June 5, 2013 by Justin ZW

[THE WILD HUNT 213]

"I disagree! You may not have a residence at all, but I have to stay here; this dump is my permanent residence!", she replied. "I don't expect to be keeping that for a long time. I'm glad someone agrees with me though, everyone seems kind of happy about it. It makes no sense. 

 

"And in these circumstances, of course she is a tyrant. Who gathers assassins in the middle of peace? Its stupid in a way."

 

 

 

 

 

"And? She could kill me, but that would be doing a favor for me. I hate this place now."

 

 

 

 

 

"Um, hey there Crimson. How has your life been going so far?"

"Hm, you may see it that way, but it is a foolish way to think," Acheron responded as he trotted closer to the group. A group of ponies who hated the Princess, it was certainly something Acheron found pleasing. They could very well be useful aids in bringing about Cadence's downfall.

"I assume you all have a strong hate for Cadenza. Be it personal or just in general, you all certainly want her dead one way or the other...."

Acheron looked around. There were too many citizens around, and no doubt they were looking suspicious already.

"This isn't a suitable place to discuss these matters, why not move to a different location? The likes of you aren't seen too often anymore, it would be shameful to have your anger quelled so quickly..."

[RAGESTAR 479]

Crimson grinned mischeviously, "my thoughts exactly, where did you have in mind?" Asked crimson before putting his hat back on and putting a hoof on his cutlass, "becouse there's not many places around here that tolerate that kind of talk, so we've gotta choose wisely.." said crmson softly.

[THE WILD HUNT 213]

Acheron thought for a while where the group could go for some actual privacy. Princess Cadence's guards were everywhere nowadays, and perhaps worse, spies hired by her to blend in with common civilians to keep a close eye on things. There was also a lack of uninhabited areas like there was near Ponyville and Canterlot, making things more difficult.

"You there," Acheron said pointing towards Crystal Dusk. "You're one of the many unfortunate ones to have gotten evicted from your places, correct? Perhaps you know of more secluded areas where ones such as ourselves can talk. The slums of this decaying Empire would seem like a reasonable choice too..."

[Super Derpy 535]

Acheron thought for a while where the group could go for some actual privacy. Princess Cadence's guards were everywhere nowadays, and perhaps worse, spies hired by her to blend in with common civilians to keep a close eye on things. There was also a lack of uninhabited areas like there was near Ponyville and Canterlot, making things more difficult.

"You there," Acheron said pointing towards Crystal Dusk. "You're one of the many unfortunate ones to have gotten evicted from your places, correct? Perhaps you know of more secluded areas where ones such as ourselves can talk. The slums of this decaying Empire would seem like a reasonable choice too..."

"Well we could go back to the alleyway where I live. It's not much but it's all I have and its pretty seclusive compared to right in the middle of the market."

 

@Bluenote~, Ragestar

"You guys should come to since we all seem to have a mutual hatred for Cadence.

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

@

Swordpoint nodded. "We're starting tomorrow morning. 0700 hours. Do not be late. Dismissed." He turned and exited the building, making his way towards the castle.

 

@@Pripyat Pony

Celestia lightly dabbed her face with a napkin. "Swordpoint should be nearly finished. I trust you enjoyed your meal, Sanura?"

 

Swordpoint opened the door to Celestia's private quarters to find the princess finishing her meal with Sanura. "My princess. My apologies for the delay." He took several steps inside the room, closed the door, and sat down. "I would hear your task."

 

Celestia smiled. "It is good to see you again, Swordpoint. I'm sorry that you missed our meal."

 

Swordpoint waved his hoof lazily. "It is of no concern to me. I will find a meal in the mess hall."

 

Celestia sighed. "Very well. Now, the task that I have for both of you is quite simple. Applejack has gone to Appleloosa to oversee a large shipment of goods. I would like both of you to check on the status of the shipment. According to Applejack, the merchants have not yet arrived, and she worries that they may have been attacked by bandits."

 

"Our task will be to ensure that the supplies safely reach Appleloosa, yes?" Swordpoint asked.

 

Celestia nodded. "Yes. And if you cannot find the merchants or the cargo, attempt to locate the bandits and retrieve the supplies."

 

Swordpoint saluted again. "I shall not disappoint, my princess."

 

Sanura replied, "The meal was fantastic, Princess. Thank you very much." She listened with interest to the mission proposed to her, particularly to the part about working with Swordpoint. It was not in her nature to work with others, however despite the fact that they had only met for a short time, Sanura instinctively trusted the other pony.

 

She nodded to Celestia. "I will certainly carry out this mission and try my very best," she said.

[Shift 4,274]

@@Katella Avenue,

 

(Speeding it up a bit.)

 

Chippy nodded and kept up behind Mad Life. They were soon out of the Crystal Empire, and they stopped. Chippy squinted her eyes to make out the surrounding area. She wasn't...great with maps.

 

"So, do we just attack a caravan or something?" Chippy asked Mad Life. "And anyway, where is Appleoosa?"

[Concord Discord 35]

@Creeping Dusk
 
((Sorry, I went to bed and wasn't here in the morning, then I had school and stupid exams. BTW, how do you mention people properly in posts?))
 
"Hah, hah, hah." Curse chuckled. "I must be very good at being incognito, since you don't recognise me. I am Curse of Shadows, one of Cadence's personal assassins. And she has executed Anarchy, a fellow assassin. And I would like to know why."
A cylinder of black smoke shot up around him.
"I don't like to be kept waiting." came a voice from nowhere. the smoke disintegrated, and Curse was gone.
"It's funny how you think your mercenaries - if I can even call them that - can vapourise me" said Curse from behind the guards. The room went dark.
"If your mother ever told you not to be afraid of the dark.. she was wrong."
There was a flash and Curse was standing in front of Harmonic.
"This time, I am threatening you. SHOW ME TO CADENCE. Oh, and arrow, that fighting stance won't help you."

Edited June 5, 2013 by MinecraftBronyFTW

[Agent505 661]

@,

 

((Highlight a portion of the text from the person you want to mention, then just click mention))

 

"If you truly where part of Cadence's inner ring, you would know me, and you would know I don't scare, nor do I follow orders from anyone but the Empress." He grinned, drawing an imaginary line on the floor with his hoof in between the two of them. "Besides, do you really want to test your luck with my unicorns here? The doors are locked, the windows are magically reinforced and are unbreakable. The only way you're leaving here is if I say so."

 

He looked at one of the castle guards and cast his magic, raising the guard from the floor and crushing his throat to the point where he struggled to breath. "Shadows and trickery will not save you" he grinned, slamming the guard to the ground, unconscious. "You know the proceedings for an audience with the princess" he nodded suggestively at Curse. "Your weapons, would you?"

 

(I would also just like to say, now is one of those times where fair play comes into the works)

[THE WILD HUNT 213]

"Well we could go back to the alleyway where I live. It's not much but it's all I have and its pretty seclusive compared to right in the middle of the market."

@Bluenote~, Ragestar

"You guys should come to since we all seem to have a mutual hatred for Cadence.

"That seems like the most reasonable place to be at this time. Secluded, and in the slums? No guard would even bother keeping a close eye on things even if it was his post."

Acheron then nodded in agreement with Crystal Dusk's words, looking towards Bluenote and Crimson.

"Exactly, I'm sure that we can all discuss... certain actions we could take to make Cadenza's life miserable without having much arguments in between ourselves... show us the way," Acheron said finally to Crystal Dusk. He then realized he hadn't introduced himself yet, but he figured they could all introduce themselves later. Another thing crossed Acheron's mind. Two of the ponies didn't exactly appear to be trained in combat or in infiltration in any way. The only pony that looked like he could handle himself in a situation was the stallion with a hat and cutlass...

"I think I might be able to work out a solution for that... it will take time though..."

Acheron looked over the ponies again and saw he might have missed one detail in Crystal Dusk, her cutie mark. Binoculars, Acheron figured she was good at watching things...

"A good start... or does that simply means she likes watching birds?... I suppose I'll find out soon enough..."

Another thing was her form. She was malnourished, yes, but despite that, it appeared as if she was once trained to handle some manner of physical work..

Edited June 5, 2013 by Krein

[Justin ZW 396]

@@Pripyat Pony

Swordpoint stood. "Shall we leave immediately?"

 

Celestia shook her head. "Of course not! You shall leave tomorrow afternoon. Please get some rest. I'm sure that Rainbow Dash must be quite angry with me for how often you are away from home."

 

Swordpoint closed his eyes. "...she understands. She may not like it, but she understands." He walked toward the door. "Thank you, princess. And Sanura, I will meet you tomorrow afternoon once I finish with my training drills. I will come to the Canterlot Sculpture Gardens." He gave Sanura a small nod. "Good day."

 

Swordpoint departed the room and made his way outside. He spread his wings and took to the sky, heading for his home near Ponyville.

Edited June 5, 2013 by Justin ZW

[Concord Discord 35]

(I would also just like to say, now is one of those times where fair play comes into the works)

((I was only levelling the playing field. And Curse doesn't know the meaning of fair play. But he's good at taking orders.))

 

 

"You realise that my spirit can leave my body, my spirit can leave the room, and I can teleport my body to my spirit? And I'm great with testing my luck with unicorns, being one myself. Oh, and by the way, you must not know what an inner ring is. Or an assassin, for that matter. As for taking orders, don't think I'm taking orders from you." he handed his dagger to Harmonic. "Just so you know. This is my work dagger." He handed him another. "That's my spare work dagger. I have another at home - not that I have a home. I think I left it in limbo somewhere. I would go and get it... but you obviously don't want me to leave the room without your permission. Oh, and nice work with the guard - but I prefer breaking their backs. But obviously, you don't want to paralyse a member of your 'own personal guard' that you must be so fond of."

 

((By the way, I meant mentioning someone in a post rather than quoting them. I have tried, but it just comes out as ordinary text))

Edited June 5, 2013 by MinecraftBronyFTW

[Agent505 661]

@

 

(So...wait. You're coming into the crazy empresses palace...in the middle of the empire she controls...and you want an even playing field? That's...right...think about it) 

 

"I'll be right back" Harmonic smiled with a nod as he trotted off to Cadence's quarters. The ponies around Harmonic formed a half-circle around the intruder, standing at attention and awaiting Harmonic's return. 

Sure enough. no more than a minute later, Harmonic returned, along with Cadence - and another dozen guards, looking even more heavily armed and armoured than Harmonic's. 

 

"Ah! Shadow, it's good to see you again" Cadence called sarcastically as she entered the room. 

[Concord Discord 35]

@

 

(So...wait. You're coming into the crazy empresses palace...in the middle of the empire she controls...and you want an even playing field? That's...right...think about it) 

 

"I'll be right back" Harmonic smiled with a nod as he trotted off to Cadence's quarters. The ponies around Harmonic formed a half-circle around the intruder, standing at attention and awaiting Harmonic's return. 

Sure enough. no more than a minute later, Harmonic returned, along with Cadence - and another dozen guards, looking even more heavily armed and armoured than Harmonic's. 

 

"Ah! Shadow, it's good to see you again" Cadence called sarcastically as she entered the room. 

 

((Every defense has its weakness --> levelled playing field!))

 

Curse decided to fight sarcasm with sarcasm. So Curse replied in the most sarcastic way possible:

"And it's good to see you too. It's nice to see we don't need to bother with formalities now. I was worried you'd still insist on me calling you 'mistress'. Still, it looks like this time I had to muscle through your whelp, Chaotic Harmony, and her ramshackle band of 'highly trained guards' to get to you. You killed Anarchy. I want to know why."

[The Original 571]

Fiera was relieved that she wasn't going to be dropped out anymore, but now she had to train with Swordpoint. Its not like she disliked him, its that she wanted to be able to show that she could do it herself. Fiera sighed and grabbed the small towel again then left for the showers. She didn't want to smell like this all day, and drying it all off wouldn't work.

 

After finishing her shower and drying off she headed out to the edge of Canterlot. She was just a trainee and didn't have to work at the moment. She loved looking over the edge and out to Equestria, it filled her with a certain sensation that she couldn't describe.

[Super Derpy 535]

"That seems like the most reasonable place to be at this time. Secluded, and in the slums? No guard would even bother keeping a close eye on things even if it was his post."

Acheron then nodded in agreement with Crystal Dusk's words, looking towards Bluenote and Crimson.

"Exactly, I'm sure that we can all discuss... certain actions we could take to make Cadenza's life miserable without having much arguments in between ourselves... show us the way,"

"Okay follow me its not a very long walk."

 

Crystal started to trot back toward the alleyway where she currently lived.

This is great! Finally some ponies that share the same ideals as me.

After about 5 minutes of trotting along she reached the alley which she called home. It really wasn't much she still had some of her old detective stuff around as Cadence didn't take her stuff just the house. She sold some of her stuff but it still wasn't enough to buy a house but she did buy some other useful things such as a sleeping bag and a winter coat when it got cold. There were pictures of her as a detective hanging up on the walls of the alley.

 

@Ragestar, Krein, Bluenote~

"Well this is it make yourselves at home."

[RAGESTAR 479]

Crimson looked around and frowned sadly at the makeshift home, crimson then growled and looked back at crystal, "crystal......just seeing how much that bitch took away from people like you....." crimson stopped himself and turned his back to them, "I promise......I'm gonna make her suffer for every pony she made suffer....." said crimson darkly, before turning around and sighing, "so.....what did you have in mind....eh....sorry, what's your name? Asked crimson refferring to acheron.

[00Pony 286]

"Hey! I said no cheating!" 

 

A sound of an object spinning through the air, and a tight grip later, the young pegasus smashed heavily into the ground. He tried to struggle to stand, but was pinned down by another pony pouncing onto his back, still speaking as if nothing had happened, "I told you that I wouldn't use any of my tools and chase you down conventionally, and you wouldn't use your wings."

 

The pony pulled out a dagger and twirled it. The Pegasus tried to pull himself out from under the other's weight, but was stopped by the pony on his back driving the dagger down through his wing, right at the joint. The pony on his back sighed, "But you just couldn't help yourself." The Pony stepped off, and knelt down before the pegasus. He was a dark crimson, with bright blue eyes, "I won't ask you what you saw, or what you heard, that would make you want to desert the army. I already know. I just want you to know, that I am greatly disappointed in you."

 

The Pony stood, taking a hook-bladed dagger out and twirling it as he looked down. The Pegasus groaned and bared his teeth, "The Princess had gone mad, Sanguinem. I'm warning Celestia about this."

 

Sanguinem sighed again, "No, you're not." He brought the dagger down on the Pegasus' head, hook down.

 

~*~

 

An hour or so later, Sanguinem came trotting back through the Crystal Empire's gates, a smug look in his eyes.

 

(OOC: Not sure the quality of this, but hey, it's something.)

[Ano170 162]

@, 

@, 
 
(OOC: Back finally! At least tomorrow I'll be sat on my butt in front of my laptop all day, so I should be able to keep up better....well, until the evening anyways. So much for being free for a week after study leave... ).

 

Arrow's face drew into a hard line as he watched Chaotic choke one of his own soldiers into unconsciousness. He had seen far worse acts of cruelty in the...well, in the past, committed on both enemy soldiers and civilians alike. But for Chaotic to toy so callously with the lives on his own ponies, simply to make a statement...  He has no regard for his own ponies, Arrow thought to himself with disgust. Something stirred deep within the pegasus; a flame, which had long gone out within him, had just sparked.

 

It sputtered and died the moment the assassin - Curse, he'd called himself - spoke Arrow's name. The pegasus stiffened, appraising the black unicorn with new eyes. Of course, if Curse really was part of some inner espionage ring of Cadence's, it would make sense for him to keep tabs on new army troops.

 

Still, Arrow wondered. What else could he know? The pegasus resolved to keep a low profile, in effect immediately. Just play good soldier buck until you can find a way home, Arrow told himself, despite knowing that he would not be able to leave until he had seen...whatever the Empire's situation truly was through to the end.

 

Arrow was shaken from his reverie by the sound of the Princess's voice - apparently he had missed the outcome of the battle of the two hams, Chaotic and Curse. It seemed the intruder was having his request granted - Chaotic had brought Cadence and more guards with him, making Arrow wonder when the unkempt soldier had left. 

 

Cocky knaves, the both of them - if I were their employer...

 

A low, soft groan from behind him reminded Arrow of the guardpony that Chaotic had choked. Unable to help himself despite his earlier vow, Arrow stepped back and slipped inconspicuously out behind the ranks of guards. Thankfully, everypony else's attention seemed fixed on the cold beauty that was the princess.

 

Crouching, Arrow examined the unconscious guardpony. "You'll live." Arrow grunted, low enough that nopony else should be able to hear him. The soldier had signed up expecting injury, of course. 

 

But was he expecting magical assault from his own commander? Arrow wondered. He looked again at Chaotic and Curse. He had nothing but contempt for the assassin - serve his executed colleague right for choosing such a distasteful profession, if it could even be called that. It did not surprise him that Cadence employed assassins; he had met a fair few on his travels, employed by some royal or another - more than a couple had boasted of having worked for Princess Celestia in the past - proving ever further the existence of the deep rooted corruption in Equestria and the lands beyond. A corruption that appeared to run just as deep even in the future. What did surprise Arrow was how indignant the assassin was over his colleague's death; surely it was an accepted fact for assassins that at some point their employer may need them removed?

 

That whole "business" is a dark, twisted...er, business.

 

No, what truly stirred the anger in Arrow's chest was Chaotic. Assassins had no honour, but a high-ranking officer like Chaotic...Arrow was under no illusions about the deplorable morals and attitudes of soldiers, but to turn on your own like that and have nopony question you? Was that..."acceptable" in the future?

 

As Arrow stared at Chaotic, that flame - just a spark - began to flicker weakly once more.

Edited June 5, 2013 by Ano170