darkSpyro

OOC: I changed it sorry about that. Can The Shadow have a special relationship with the Princesses?

The Shadow waits in the darkness of an abandoned and ransacked shop, protecting the crystal pony that owns it. He waits for a member of his spy network that are everywhere to come with news. Right now he is waiting for news on this special meeting with the Princesses and the Mane Six. Nothing escapes his notice for he is always watching and listening, himself or his network of spies.

OOC: Sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile guys, my mom got admitted to the hospital on Sunday, and I've barely been home since then. I'll be home a lot more now because my little sister started school today, but I'll be taking care of her since my dads gunna be in the city with my mom.
I'll try to keep this RP running as much as possible, but if I disappear for awhile, feel free to do what you guys want. Create some side-plots if you want. I'm gunna try and get the main story in motion as soon as I can.
Wyrstel, I'd really prefer it if the Shadow did not have special connections to the Princesses. However, later on in the RP, there will be some importance to your character, and he might get called to action.

"Lieutenant Steel!" called the Solar guard over his shoulder. "We're approaching the rendevous point. Prepare yourself for landing."

The chariot had made it easily out of Canterlot, and was now heading toward the treeline at the very edge of Foal Mountain*. The guards slowly decelerated through the air, then landed with ease in the grass. At the exact moment of landing, the Lunar guard shot a magical flare directly above him, watching the shimmering burst of purple sail up. It didn't go too far before it fizzled out.

A similar flare shot out from the bush a few moments later.

-

* = please reference this map when I mention locations you aren't familiar with.

OCC: Alright, that's fine.

Cloaked figures are scattered throughout the area, listening and watching the group. Sometimes a few of these members of the group can vanish with a quiet pop as they deliver their messages or info to The Shadow. A lone figure watches them from a short distance and then vanishes.

Steel hopped from the chariot and trotted to the Solar Guard's side. The tips of his,ears only reached,the guards eyebrows, showing that he wasn't exactly a huge stallion. He,was still fairly built though. But lugging around pounds of machinery both inside his body and out required it.

The Lunar guard unrolled a scroll that had been wedged into his armor. His eyes glanced over it quickly, then he looked up to the bushes.

"Princess, Princess," the guard recited. "Elements arise; harness friendship and clear our skies."

A rustling could be heard from the bushes, and a moment later a purple coated alicorn stepped out into the open, her crown glittering in the sunlight. She smiled at the Lunar guard, who seemed to look a little embarrassed for some reason.

"You even did the tune!" the young princess exclaimed. "Who knew that the filly rhyme that Cadence taught me could double as a secret code! Come on out everypony, it's just the guards who are meeting us."

A moment later, sixteen more ponies began to emerge from the trees. Among them were two twin foals strapped to the sides of a tired looking, middle aged couple. A very young dragon cautiously poked his head out to peer at Steel. Five mares in particular stood out, bearing necklaces of gold that had unique gems embedded in them. One could almost see the magic bouncing around them.

The two guards bowed in the presence of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Loony kept watching Ponyville, his eyes travelling between the Everfree Forest, the Macintosh Hills, and the Badlands beyond.
"So far away." he mused quietly. "It's better that way."

The group sees many eyes watching them as they make their way to their place. The darkness moves and shifts as The Shadow's spies watch and listen to the group, recording everything that they say that might be important to their leader. There is no hostility in their eyes but rather worry and concern. Like watchful protectors the figures follow the group.

Forest walked through the alley heading to the local pub. It was nice of that mare to help him out, maybe there was hope after all. He stepped inside and the volume went up. He walked up to the bartender "Hey Mike, I can take another run. You look kind of busy so I figure you would need to stalk up" Forest said. "Sorry, but we have someone we hired full time for that" a crystal came from the back bringing two saddle bags full of alcoholic beverages "this is Nic. Since the whole Equestrian Preservation Society thing, we wanted to make this seem like a crystaline friendly place." Forest's face was flashed with anger 'I could carry ten times as much as him' he thought irritated at the biased. "NO, this *********. I could carry ten times what he could, and I was working cheaper" Forest yelled "why do these ******* crystal ponies always ruin my life, get the **** out of Equestria you ******* parasites" he shouted flipping a chair and throwing another behind the counter at the barteneder and his new employee. This started a ruckus and one of the patrons of the saloon threw a fist at forest only to find himself on the ground. As the bar exploded into random ponies trying to send each other to the hospital, Forest escaped out the back irritated and ready to just give up.

Hellena found her way to the palace gates. It was a wonder, really, seeing how immense the crowd was. The fire unicorn heard snippets of speech, from both sides of the issue.

"The princesses should send them back to nothing where they belong!"
"Give them a chance! They're just like us!"
"Lock 'em up!"

She shoved her way through, craning her neck to see if there was anything going on. Guards were keeping ponies from forcing their way through.

"Looks like ol' Celly has her hooves full." Hellena snickered, ignoring an indignant look from a mare beside her. "Good."

Steel bowed to Princess Sparkle, the tips of his feathers touching the grass, before standing up straight. His metalhoof came up to his forehead in salute. "First Lieutenant Steel Pteryx, P.O.N.I.E.S. Division, ma'am."

Hellena sidestepped a violent-looking picketer, who, by the smell of him, wasn't completely sober. She shoved aside another mare, horn gleaming a bright, flaming orange.
"No, that'll be a bad idea." she hissed to herself. "Surely there'd be protection magic against teleporters... Or maybe not. How many unicorns have the ability to jump nowadays?"

---

Loony, a little bored, began to experiment around with his magic. A prissy unicorn mare pointed out his lack of Cutie Mark to her companion, the two snickering.
"Is there a problem?" Loony asked flatly, red eyes narrowed slightly. They laughed again, before walking away. The once-imaginary entity sighed in frustration, his gaze turning back to Ponyville.
The Elements of Harmony live there, he recalled blankly. Wonder if they've been getting involved in this. Didn't one of them grow wings lately? Yeah, I reckon...

OOC: Wrystel, your posts aren't making sense

"An honor to meet you, Lieutenant!" Twilight said with a smile. "My friends and I have heard quite a bit about you from Princess Celestia, and I'm quite glad you'll be joining us on our way into the city." Her face grew slightly more serious as she began to address both Steel and the two guards. "If anything happens in those tunnels, I'd ask that you first protect our families before concerning yourself with us."

Rainbow Dash stepped forward. "Yeah! We can handle ourselves in a scrap!"

Applejack quickly hushed the pegasus and pulled her away from the serious conversation by her tail.

"Of course." Steel responded with a nod. "But, I really need to ask all of you to explicitly follow my instructions when I give them." He indicated Canterlot in the skyline. "Things are getting bad fast, and it's only a matter of time before a full scale riot starts."

The accompanying families began to murmur quietly to each other in concern, while Twilight simply offered a nod. "Lead on, Lieutenant!" she said.

The Lunar guard cleared his throat, then pointed to the small cave opening in the side of the mountain that Canterlot was perched upon. He then gave a small bow of his head, indicating that Steel was now in charge of the expedition.

Learning to teleport again would be useful, Loony thought. Help me help ponies, that's for sure. It's what I'm good at. He turned to look at his flank expectantly, but it remained bare. "Bah, forget it." he uttered in frustration, getting up and walking back towards Canterlot's centre, horn flickering red as he attempted to figure out the magical theory for teleportation. Again.

Steel began immediately trotting toward the opening. "Keep close! We don't want anypony getting lost!"

"You heard him, let's get going!" called out Rainbow Dash, her hooves assaulting the ground as she picked up her pace to a full blown gallop. She'd been asked by Twilight not to fly so that they'd be less likely to be noticed, but she was not going to fall behind.

The rest of the group all matched their pace to Steels and followed him to the cave.

-

A small unicorn filly was sitting on a sidewalk in Canterlot, staring at Loony with confusion. Finally she trotted up to him. "Excuse me?" she asked.

Loony's horn stopped glowing abruptly. "Hm, yes?" he replied, stopping and stooping over a little.

She gazed at his flank, then her own bare one. Gazing intently back up at Loony, she asked, "Mister, I was just wondering...how come you don't have a cutie mark?"

Steel calmly trotted through the rocky maw of the cave, his metal hoof clanking every third step on the cave floor. Glancing behind him for a quick count, he continued without interruption.

The lone figure watches them only a short distance from them. It is unafraid of the guards or Steel as it does not move as they get closer. It just watches them in silence. As the Princesses and the others get close enough and it sees no danger, it removes its hood. In the light coming from their horns and any other light they may be producing, they see it is a single unicorn mare. The unicorn is tan with chestnut mane and tail. Her eyes resemble the ocean in all its beauty and splendor. Her horn glows brightly in the light but she makes no movement against the group. Instead she bows politely but does not speak. However as the group passes they see a symbol upon the suit beneath her cloak. It is the symbol of The Shadow, a black and white rose together.

The guards gave warning glares to the figure, stopping in place to wait for the rest of the group to pass before they continued on their way. Twilight narrowed her eyes at the pony, reminding herself to talk to Luna and Celestia about this "Shadow" character. The two guards muttered something to each other before heading off behind the ponies.

Now the whole party of ponies were inside the cave, and the Solar guard picked up his pace to catch up with Steel, leaving the Lunar guard at the back to keep a watch for any attacks from behind.

The cave was stone at the mouth, but the shine of crystals could be seen further down the tunnel.

Forest hopped into the empty cart on a train heading towards Canterlot. He didn't have the money to buy a ticket so he was going to have to hitch a ride. After that incident at the pub he no longer had a job and soon the word would get around and he wouldn't be able to get one. So it was to Canterlot. Considering there was probably rioting going on at this time, no one would be hiring. But Forest had given up on fair play, those rich ponies had more than they needed and Forest needs to feed his family. His mind had cracked, he would have never thought of using the riots as a cover for robbery, but he was angry and desperate. That sweet country boy had gone and it was replaced with a common criminal.

"Oh?" He looked back at his flank himself. Lie, tell the truth, or hide it? "It's a complicated story, rather not partake of the... finer details. I was imaginary, once, a friend for a filly that had no one, that stayed with her throughout her life. A few months ago, I think it was now, something happened that made me realise how fragile my mortality was through this mare, and I, well, made myself real." He paused momentarily. "Couldn't keep my mark, and most of my magic, though. They'll come back in time."

The filly tilted her head, trying to understand. Then, her face broke into a smile. "Well gee, mister. You sound like you were a real good friend to that filly!"

"I still try to, of course." Loony smiled, though it was somewhat strained. "It's a little harder now, since I can understand her morals now. They're... not pleasant."

The unicorn mare raises her head and speaks. The letters find a way into their armor and suits. Her voice is gentle like the spring rain.

"Pleasant journey to you and your friends, Princess Twilight. Then she reaches into her robes again and produces two more letters. Unafraid the mare walks over to Princess Twilight and hands her the letters. These are for Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, she says bowing low in respect. Farewell," she says before walking toward a wall and a magical circle appears which the mares steps into and vanishes.

"If they're from the Shadow, they should be safe." Steel reassured, unphased by the mare. "So far, he's been on our side. Just...exercise caution. You know, national security and blah blah blah."
He tapped a nearby crystal with his hoof, making an echoing resonance.
"At least we're on the right track."

Armed guards soon the group forming a wall around them. Pegasus, unicorns and earth ponies make up the ranks of the guards. All are heavily armed. A white Pegasus stallion with golden mane with the insignia of a black and white rose just like the guards around him holds out a hoof toward Steel.

"Hello there you must be Lieutenant Steel. Beg your pardon, your highness for the interruption but many skirmishes have happened around here. We cannot risk you and your company being caught in one of these. I am Sunrise, captain of this platoon of guards. We are here to escort you and your charges safely to your rendezvous. We have been watching you and your princesses closely for a long, long time. We have guarded you all night and day, gaining scars from our many battles with evil. Now we are here again to protect you from harm. Lead the way, Lieutenant Steel," he says taking his position among his men.

Forest arrived at a station in Canterlot. As he move further into the city he found less stuck up rich ponies and more protesters. He mind swirled with evil thoughts and his anger rose at the situation he was in. Even if he managed to get money to the farm, his mother's health would still be failing and his father would still be in prison. Perhaps rounding up a few protesters and breaking him out? No, the police would just hunt them down, it had be something more drastic.

After several jumps, Hellena managed to get further ahead in the line, panting slightly.
"One more... should do it." she muttered, charging up her energy for another teleport. What she didn't count on was a harried looking unicorn galloping from nowhere, his own horn glowing a brilliant azure, slamming into her just before she winked out of that particular space. Concentration broken, she was sent out in an entirely different place from where she expected, and her thin body impacting against a cold, hard wall. And from what she could see from her magic, it was made of some crystalline substance.
"Aargh..." she groaned, collapsing with both pain and exhaustion. "Bloody Blueblood..."

Okay guys, I have to close this, I'm really sorry.

Wrystel, since you LOVE taking charge of this RP and its storyline so much, how about you make one? Hmmm? Since you won't listen to a word I say.