private Saddle Arabian Nights

[Stormbringer 346]

Storm took another soft sip from his glass of water. "Fancy water they have here, huh?" He smiled, attempting to acquaint himself with the new ponies he had neglected to get to know. Otherwise, he kept to himself, looking up at the high ceiling. He hummed a little tune, attempting to keep himself busy. He got awful fidgety when having to sit still. He checked out the vases that were sitting around on pedestals, the high-end silverware and plates, the chandelier hanging above. He tapped his hoof quietly and slowly on the table, awaiting the princess.

[Mephala 2,633]

@

The way that Myopia had eyed her didn't abash Loveless; in fact, she was quite used to it, and she gazed back at him steadily. He evidently was quite pleased, because when he spoke he had offered her what was basically a job. Loveless felt a little thrill, but it wasn't because she was happy about the offer; she had won, again. It was so very rare that one met her without some sort of askance, and this time, she would even be paid.

However, at the same time, jumping right on the offer wasn't prudent, and Loveless didn't necessarily need the money. After all, he was a businessman, and all he saw her was as an asset to his company. This sort of view was what attracted Loveless to him; it was intriguing to outplay a worthy opponent, and outplay she would.

"Well," she said, and she glanced down at the table shyly, speaking slowly and quietly, "how smart you must think me...I am quite honoured to have received this askance." She looked back up at him from under her eyelashes and smiled a little. "But I do have ever such a busy schedule, and I should know what you need me to do...or who," she added, and her smile became a little more racy.

 

Suddenly, before Myopia was able to form a proper response, there was the call of a trumpet and Cadence bustled in, face drawn and cold. She nodded regally to those seated before her, and Loveless looked over her gown; it was tacky against Cadence's darker pink coat, and she felt ashamed on the Princesses behalf. It must be so hard to be a Princess who cannot even bring herself to look the part, she thought to herself, and she giggled to herself as a new idea ran through her mind.

 

"Good evening," said Cadence, but her voice sounded strained despite the smile she was obviously pasting on. Loveless noted the dark circles and seemingly bruised skin of her knees (she had been praying rather than sleeping), the lank mane (she hadn't washed it for several days), and the swollen way her shoes filled out (she had done a lot of walking). When the Princess lifted her glass, she saw the way she tilted her head back that made it clear she hadn't anything to drink in hours. It was clear that she hadn't been taking care of herself; a horrible idea, in Loveless' mind, seeing as the people looked to this idiot for guidance and she looked like she had given up.

 

"I apologize for my...words earlier," Cadence continued, for Loveless had established these thoughts within moments, "but you do know that I am under quite the strain at the moment. Now, I do believe the first course will be coming soon, so I shall make this quick." She leaned forwards, hooves together, and looked at them each in turn.

"We are relying on your good judgement to bring home the Princesses and the High Queen safely," she said quietly, "and you are not to be detected. As it appears I do not have a choice to speak without this...pony," she said disdainfully, glaring at Bardic, "as he so KINDLY invited himself to a private dinner and there is no time to call the guards, I trust you will keep him silent.

"The plan is that I have arranged your stay in the royal courts. You will be foreigners, yes, but do not worry; you will be safe enough so long as no one catches wind of you. Do not speak to anyone about the plan besides yourselves. The blimp leaves tomorrow at twelve. We have provided necessary papers to get you over the border and into the palaces, but nothing more; I hope you brought at least some luggage."

Loveless had a fleeting thought of her many bags.

"Succeed in this task, and you shall be rewarde-ah, and there is the first course," said Cadence suddenly, leaning back as several ponies bearing trays - and Slaes - entered.. "I must talk to Slaes quickly, so please, discuss among yourselves, I won't be but a moment." She rose and began to talk to him in hushed tones.

 

Loveless looked around at the others, eyes raised, hoping to see if any of them would be able to see the deeper implications of Cadence's speech.

 

EDIT: I can't spell hurr durr.

Edited January 19, 2014 by Zenith

[Strong Copper 126]

@,

 

Not to seem rude or anything, Myopia did turn to look at his pegasus neighbor before offering him a friendly smile in greeting. "Myopia Oncler. A pleasure to meet you Stormwing."

 

@,

 

Turning his attention back to the lovely Lady Loveless, a small smile appeared on his face as he listened to her. It had little to do with what she was saying and more to do with patting himself on the back for continuing to be a good judge of character. There was no way in hell that the mare was an authentic shy bone in her body; considering the kind of work she did, the shy either lose such a trait quickly or they simply don't last to long. However Loveless was clearly one hell of an actress, a fact that helped confirmed his belief that she was talented at her chosen profession. 

 

Before he had a chance to respond however, the queen arrived. While Myopia was by no means a royalist he wasn't an idiot. Before even setting hoof in Canterlot for the first time he had taken the time to learn Etiquette since the chances of meeting a bloody royal increased the moment you entered their city. Raising from his chair the moment he saw Queen Cadence enter the dinning hall, he waited until she seated before taking his own seat once again. It was clear that the current crisis was having a major impact on the High Queen and not in a good way. The manehatten business tycoon had seen this reaction to crisis before (He had been the one suffering it at times) and he knew first hoof that while there might be some short term benefits, pushing past the third day would only start making things worse. If he could have a private word with her highness he would have to slip that advice in.

 

Listening as the Queen told them of the plan so far and what their objective was, Myopia felt a few questions appear in his head that he would need to ask if only to clear up what the full extent of their role was in the coming mission and what sort of logistics they would be working with. After all, two or three (He still wasn't quite sure what 'Princess Sparkle' was the Alicorn Princess of yet) alicorn princesses weren't exactly the most subtle of ponies to move overseas and from the sounds of it there were special interest groups that really didn't want that to happen.

 

@, @@Pripyat Pony, @, @@Alex Kennedy, @@Pinkie Paranoia, @@Scribblegroove,

 

Still as the meal arrived and Queen Cadence went over to speak with Mr Slaes, Myopia didn't touch the food as much like the Queen before him he looked towards each pony who was going to be apart of this mission in turn. Taking a deep breath, he spoke so that the whole table could hear him. "Considering recent events and the fact that we are going to be entering a royal court that is going to be suspicious of our purpose there for seemingly no reason what-so-ever at the request of her Majesty, we require a valid Casus belli, or justification for being there. As an up and coming leader of industry that often works with raw resources and with the current war for the Crystal Empire raging her Majesty, in her wisdom, has selected me to spearhead a diplomatic envoy to renegotiate reopening trade with the Saddle Arabian government. Lady Loveless... " Myopia took a moment to tilt his head towards the lovely lady "is my adviser and second in command of the diplomatic team who shall aid in said negotiations. Now since I don't know any of you, how about you tell us what you'll be bringing to our mission in Saddle Arabia."    

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

@,

 

"Regardless of what accusations are levied against me, I have knowledge of the land and its customs... I may be able to assist in keeping your investigation private." Bardic noted. "If there is any truth to these allegations then there will be ponies who know of the crime, I am native to the land - they may speak more freely with myself."

 

So now it would appear, not only was he a self appointed reprisentitive of his homeland, but also a spy against it: not an ideal situation, but if war was looming then anything was acceptable to restore order.

 

He would not allow this princess to force an assault on his land as things were: she was driven by anger and hatred and was deaf to his protests of peace... if he could do nothing more here then he would simply have to deal with matters on the front line - so to speak.

 

"As for a story - there is no need of one. I was already planning to return home from my research trip shortly. "

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

@, Glory had listened in silence to Cadance's speech; she felt sorry for the Princess, who appeared to be under a considerable strain. When Myopia spoke, Glory took a moment to collect herself before she replied.

 

"I hope that I can be of assistance," she began. "My magic is healing magic, so if anypony gets hurt or injured, I can help them. My talent is the art of prophecy; altho it doesn't come to call, if I do get any visions, I will of course share them. I suppose my story to cover my being there, is that I'm your personal healer. It makes sense, after all, for a business gentlecolt like yourself to have a personal healer and of course the journey to Saddle Arabia is long and arduous enough for that to be plausible."

[Mephala 2,633]

"To be honest," said Loveless, lifting her head, "it all seems very suspicious the way we're trying to get in. Suddenly, nine ponies are trying to get into their land? Well, eight ponies and one native; sorry, dear," she corrected, indicating Bardic. "He leaves for a while, and suddenly he's returning with all these ponies who want to do 'business'...were I a leader of this nation, having eight of the enemy waltzing into my territory would be offensive, especially when they have already been sending aggressive envoys to the border to guard it. Not only that, but I would suspect some foul play." Sniffing slightly, she continued. "Of course, we don't know anything about what they have done to attack our nation, as the Princess has so thoughtfully left that out of the discussion...who knows what our reception will be, no matter how we enter the country? There must be another way that we can make ourselves known without looking suspicious..."

 

She leaned her head on her hoof and thought, then blinked. "Obviously, security hasn't been tight enough to prevent this darling young stallion" (again, she indicated Bardic) "to enter our country on a...how do you say it...'research' trip? Well, why don't we do the same? It's much less...grabby, and it gives us a chance to talk to some of the locals and try to find out what's going on."

[Scribblegroove 565]

 

 

"Of course, we don't know anything about what they have done to attack our nation, as the Princess has so thoughtfully left that out of the discussion...who knows what our reception will be, no matter how we enter the country? There must be another way that we can make ourselves known without looking suspicious..."

 

"Obviously, security hasn't been tight enough to prevent this darling young stallion" (again, she indicated Bardic) "to enter our country on a...how do you say it...'research' trip? Well, why don't we do the same? It's much less...grabby, and it gives us a chance to talk to some of the locals and try to find out what's going on."

 

Runedawn replied to this statement. "I would like to add that we aren't exactly the most ordinary group. We have this strange looking pegacorn who will draw quite a lot of attention, a buisnesspony who might be recognized even in saddle arabia, a half-bat pony whith extraordinary eyes and we have a giant blacksmith with the subtlety of an elephant!" He grinned. "That doesn't look like the slightest bit like a 'peaceful' diplomatic party, nor a group of researchers actually..." Runedawn quickly looked around the table, trying to figure out a way that he could make himself useful, and hopefully redeem the respect that lots of these ponies had lost for him. He was thinking vividly, trying to come up with something that either might solve this problem, or allow someone else to finish his reasoning and come to a solution.

 

"We need to find a particular group that fits the assemblance of ponies we have at the table here. What kind of... well group needs this group of ponies..?" He thought out loud.

 

@@Pripyat Pony, 

"The only thing I could come up with is not exactly stealthy, but it will lead us exactly where we want to go... If we were to act as if Glory were another new princess, like she appears at first sight! Then the rest of us could fill in positions such as diplomats, advisors, servants, perhaps friends? And of course a personal lifeguard, which will excuse my personal stature and lack of subtlety! The only thing we will be lead towards, as a royal party, is where the princesses will have headed!" He nearly got excited, but he knew that what he was saying did not exactly help.

 

"However, this is nearly doomed to fail since we would draw far too much attantion, and we do not have a real reason to send ANOTHER princess to saddle arabia just after 3 have disappeared there. And of course it would look like we had conjured another princess out of nowhere! Anyway, something in this direction might work, since I don't think we will be very believable as a 'research' group either, we are simply too extraordinary for that..." He quickly added, as to make sure that he had thought all of this through. He hoped that this idea might get some other ponies going, and then he would have contributed to the solution of this puzzling problem!

 

@, 

Runedawn remembered what Myopia had said earlier. "Oh, and as to what I can offer you myself... I have a very effective smithing technique, which makes use of an origional and traditional kind of magic, and of course I'm a warrior excelling an nearly all ways of fighting... I am also a lot smarter than I look, though I am not very considerate, and I don't know a lot about things I am not interested in. Therefore I might look a bit foolish, which I am sometimes if I have to be honest, but my intentions lie in the good places..." He proudly exclaimed. He stroke his now substatially shorter beard, and looked around hoping to get to know more about these other ponies...

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Bardic Knowledge.

 

@@Scribblegroove,

@@Pripyat Pony,

& everyone else relevant.

 

 

"No..." Bardic said with a humoured smile. "No... You are quite correct. No pony would fall for such a ploy: it is absurd." He couldn't help it - this was brilliant, better than anything he had thought of. "Which is precisely why it will succeed!"

 

The food went unnoticed by the foreigner as the implications of such a plan worked their way through his mind - intricacies and problems that were likely to arise... He scoured his memory for similar situations in the old stories and history books: this could be pulled off flawlessly with a little effort.

 

"Refuge in audacity, my friend! It would be logical for royalty to travel with such an entourage - those responsible for her well being and the like. If we are to enact this plan - we must remain committed: but I believe we can succeed. Who would dare such a ploy after all? Only the foolish would present a regular..."

 

He paused: leaning towards the priestess with a soft expression. "... Though you are, might I say, far from just regular Amisi..." He added more quietly - far from wanting to offend the fascinating pony.

 

"... pony as an Alicorn princess.... and so it is an action that none would suspect!"

Edited January 23, 2014 by Cinderscribe

[Pinkie Paranoia 43]

@,

 

"I can gather information as it is needed." Artemis said, breaking his prolonged silence. "I have a way with stealth and shadows, and as such I can infiltrate certain places others would have trouble even approaching. I am also no stranger to fighting, and can hold my own in combat." He finished what he had to say to Myopia, and turned to his left, to face Runedawn.

 

@@Scribblegroove,  @@Pripyat Pony,

 

"Quite an impressive idea, my friend. However, there is one detail that might cause it to fail." Artemis looked across the table, at Glory. "Glory's horn. Alicorn horns are elongated to almost double the length of the average unicorn, so that they may be easily distinguished from pegacorns. Glory's horn, on the other hand, is hardly longer than the other unicorns at this table." He stopped to take a sip of his drink, and began again when his thirst was sufficiently quenched. "Now I'm not saying that this is a game changer, or that we should scrap the idea over this, but merely pointing out that if anyone in Saddle Arabia knows about this detail, they'll know we aren't what we say we are."

 

@,

 

Artemis' gaze turned to Bardic while he finished his thought process. "Might cause a bit of trouble if that happens, wouldn't you say?"

Edited January 22, 2014 by Pinkie Paranoia

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

Lost sighed. Of course if it were him alone he could easily get in as a researcher, considering that's essentially what he was. But many of the others had less of an academic look to them, and Runedawn in particular didn't seem to have the subtlety to pull off such a ruse. He thought for a while.

 

"I have to say that as a group, the only way we could likely get in would be to pass for some sort of government agents or something. Our natures and skill sets are too varied to be researchers or diplomats. Of course, we can't very well tell them that we really are government agents. My only thought is that we could perhaps split up, each creating our own reason for traveling there, and reunite on the other side of the boarder. Of course, there's any number of ways that could go wrong."

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

Glory blushed to the roots of her mane. What an idea! To masquerade as an alicorn princess... how could she possibly hope to pull such an audacious ploy off! She felt a bit of relief at Artemis' objection, but still felt that she had to correct him slightly, even tho it was talking herself into the plan, rather than out of it.

 

"It's right what Artemis says about alicorn horns, cept for one thing," she said, timidly. "It applies to adult alicorns, but not to those not fully grown. Princess Twilight still has a horn that's the same length as a unicorn's horn, but only cuz she isn't full grown and hasn't been a Princess for long."

 

Glory could hardly believe what she was saying; she didn't like the idea at all, altho it did make a lot of sense, but then she was supporting it. But then, as a priestess, it was in Glory's nature to be honest and, given that she often taught her assistants in the temple, to correct a statement that wasn't entirely accurate. She sighed.

[Strong Copper 126]

@@Pripyat Pony, @, @@Alex Kennedy, @@Pinkie Paranoia, @, @@Scribblegroove,

 

"Diplomacy is a double edged sword." Myopia began, his hooves coming together under his chin as he listened to the others talking "It is because of diplomacy that we cannot call the Saddle Arabian government out for abducting our princesses since we have no evidence that proves it. The one war we are currently fighting is enough and starting another is just going to end poorly in the long run anyway. However, for the exact same reasons they can't call us out for being government agents. After all, diplomats are just spies that everyone knows about but are still talented enough to get information."

 

As the suggestion of using their local pegacorn as a makeshift princess was discussed, a plan started to form in Myopia's mind that brought a sly little smile to his face. Taking a moment to inspect Glory's coloration, the smile seemed to grow a little more. "We could always claim that Glory is the illegitimate daughter of Princess Luna, conceived around the time that Luna became Nightmare Moon and was shortly sealed away in the moon which had the effect of putting the pregnancy on hold til after returning to Equestria a thousand years later. Between the scandal of one of the Princesses having a child out of wedlock and a birth defect that causes her to have access to little to no magic whatsoever, 'Princess' Glory was raised in isolation away from the royal court in secret. With the recent loss of three of the Princesses, High Queen Cadence has brought 'Princess' Glory into the court to assist her in running the Empire."

 

Letting the idea hang in the air for a moment, Myopia added "The beauty of all this is that if Queen Cadence backs the story and gives it her approval, there is nothing the Saddle Arabian government can officially do to call us on it. The only way they could prove that Princess Glory isn't Luna's daughter would be to have either Princess Celestia or Luna herself publicly denounce us... at which point, we request that said Princess comes back to Equestria with us. Might not be all three, but its a free win."

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

@, Glory went still a brighter red with embarrassment. "But... but I couldn't possibly act as a princess!" she gasped. "I wouldn't know the first thing about acting like a royal... altho, it is a good idea and would cover all possibilities," she added, despite her misgivings.

 

"And I'm not getting any bad feelings about the plan either," Glory said, reluctantly. Her sixth sense in fact was telling her that the plan was a good one and was in fact their best chance of ever getting into Saddle Arabia. "Much as I hate the idea, my feelings are telling me otherwise."

[Scribblegroove 565]

Runedawn's jaw dropped. Everything he has hoped to happen had happened. His idea had set off a chain reaction that had lead to a plan that was not even that different from his original plan. "So I suppose it is settled then? We are a royal escort, guiding princess Glory through the lands of saddle arabia for a diplomatic mission to do.. What exactly? We need to have a fake reason to be there, am I right? And a good one if we want to fool an entire civilization. The most obvious would be because of the lost princesses, so lets assume that we'd take that approach..." He thought out loud, feeding the brainstorm, hoping to get it moving again.

 

"You know what, how about we go straight for the royals if Saddle Arabia. That will give Artemis plenty of time to nose around, we will get to question the Saddle Arabian authority, and at the very least we'll be able to investigate where the princesses have dissapeared..." He turned to the native of their destination land.

 

 

@

"At least, if Saddle Arabia HAS royals. How does your political system even work?" He asked...