FermataTheBasse

Well I have no heart, so it is an issue for me.

No, it's just... HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO HAVE CADENCE REHOOK UP NOW And can you imagine the sheer disgusting sentimentality that's going to ensure when Cadence and Shining meet?!

Ironically, Penumbra could act like a diva at the times when she was more tired than she was now. Well, to an extent. Normally, being a diva for Penumbra was less about being annoying to get attention and more about being annoying because she was actually really annoying when she was tired. She was ditzy, incoherent, and irritable. [colour=#808080]"Eh, everyone gets like that sometimes. You just have to find them on a good day. Or in some cases, a bad day." [/colour][colour=#000000]Penumbra started leading the two ponies into the convention proper, past the lobby and into the hallways where booths and vendors were set up- of all types, from music tech to services. [/colour][colour=#808080]"So you're one of the acts? Nice."[/colour]

Oh come on, he's actually alive?!

[colour=#40e0d0]"Right. I think the school could use more ponies willing to deviate from the clique norm and just jump around as they please." [/colour][colour=#000000]Wordplay considered the logistics of that. If she was smart about it, her reputability in this school could help out these three eccentric artist ponies- one more eccentric than the other two- find a healthy balance. They seemed smart, it would be a shame for them to be caught in the many details of the system like she had been. [/colour][colour=#40e0d0]"Well you can count on me as a friend, to be sure. The Commons and Clopham are the best boarder dorms on campus, but the trade off is that they're the furthest away from the main buildings." [/colour][colour=#000000]A three block walk, to be precise. Wordplay only knew this because she had boarder friends, she lived in Manehattan so she didn't need a dorm. [/colour][colour=#40e0d0]"So I'll go too. Ms. Heart?"[/colour]

Wordplay had to get out of her crowded compartment for a moment, so she excused herself and staggered out of the heavily scented room. She was rooming with three pretty cool fillies of a similar age: apprentice perfume makers who were experimenting with scents. Wordplay didn't mind, but the scent of incredibly fragrant oils had become oppressive. Wordplay still smelled strongly of some kind of spicy tree. The cost of a trip to Stalliongrad from Manehattan by train was normally just too much for a filly of her age, even sharing a cabin with other fillies. However, there was a pretty big freestyle up north being hosted, some of the biggest names currently in the rap game would be in attendance. So she had worked with her parents, negotiated, and ultimately come up with a satisfactory deal for all involved- she'd bunk with the perfume fillies who her parents knew, and the parents of all four fillies would split the costs to make them more tolerable. Wordplay hated relying on her parents. It offended her personal sense of pride, and as a rapper she felt ashamed that she couldn't make it big and start paying her parents back for their support. Well, it couldn't be helped. Until she found her entrance into the game... Click clack, chug chug, click, zzz... Wordplay heard the powerful driving cacophony of the train as it pushed along, found herself inadvertently stepping her hoof to it's 'downbeat' as she continued to trot down the train's length. [colour=#ff00ff]"Lest the poor have even less,[/colour] [colour=#ff00ff]Less the more they say but stop the press[/colour] [colour=#ff00ff]The press is felt on everypony's belt[/colour] [colour=#ff00ff]The belt is felt on everypony's felt[/colour] [colour=#ff00ff]Fur, felt, hide, whip, chain on the beat[/colour] [colour=#ff00ff]I chain through the beat with a verse don't cheat[/colour] [colour=#ff00ff]Chain the mare who says that we've got problems,[/colour] [colour=#ff00ff]What you say- somewhere under one hundred, I'd say..."[/colour] [colour=#000000]Wordplay trailed off, not because she didn't have more to go on, but because she had seen somepony familiar in her peripheral vision as she had been passing through, so she quickly backtracked. Sure enough, that was Octavia, the famous virtuoso of Canterlot, lying on her bed in a compartment. The mare was one of Wordplay's many artistic inspirations, she had a sense of visual-auditory artistry that could evoke powerful imagery within the listener. It was something Wordplay was bad with, as abstract and in-jokey as her rhymes tended to become. Wordplay waited until she had Octavia's attention, she held up a hoof in greeting.[/colour]

Not on Canterlot RP. I think we have a good selection of different types. Perhaps we don't have as many mundane ponies as we should, but we can't expect people to want to play those too often.

Cadence was trying her hardest to keep up a forced march, but she was just not in the shape to maintain a good speed compared to the other two. She knew better than to try and complain, but she felt that she had to at least warn them that she was going to slow them up. [colour=#ee82ee]"I'm sorry guys, I've been out of it for years, I'm going to be slow!" [/colour][colour=#000000]She wasn't breathing heavily yet, she was trying to pace herself. If they ran into trouble she needed some modicum of energy.[/colour]

[colour=#40e0d0]"Will do." [/colour][colour=#000000]Wordplay levitated the mug slowly and carefully- there was a real chance she could drop it if she wasn't careful- onto the table before her. She pulled a few bits from her person onto the table, then took a sip of the tea. Oh, that was perfectly warm and soothing for her throat. Wordplay sighed contentedly and continued to drink the stuff, feeling the scratchiness in the throat dissipate. [/colour]

The conspiracy grows increasingly complicated and hard to follow

[colour=#40e0d0]"Not often. I mostly do freestyle rap, so my singing voice isn't really exercised." [/colour]

You didn't offend me boi, I'm just saying.

Every ship is acceptable. Even the weird ones. Especially the weird ones.

Penumbra shrugged. [colour=#808080]"That's it? Dude, I know I'm unattractive and useless. No need to defend me for it..." [/colour][colour=#000000]She smiled anyways, though. Again, it was nice when others stood up for her. [/colour][colour=#000000]And what was that bit about 'knowing what it was like to lose a loved one'? Penumbra knew better than to ask, so she just kept her mouth shut. [/colour][colour=#808080]"Thanks, Bridge. Seriously, it's rare that others try to stick up for me." [/colour][colour=#000000]Penumbra looked around the Expo hall, wondering what they would do now. [/colour][colour=#808080]"What do ya'll want to do, Bridge?"[/colour]

But are they GOOD Music? Cadence is an idealist, at least? She has no intent to kill anypony or cause any more suffering in her current state.

[colour=#40e0d0]"I could use some of that tea." [/colour][colour=#000000]She smiled apologetically. [/colour][colour=#40e0d0]"Sorry, I wasn't thirsty until I started rapping."[/colour]

Ah, so it was true enough. Psmith was a member of the stuffy Canterlot aristocracy, though he was apparently one of the few odd ones out. Wordplay had the amusing little thought that Psmith was so conceited even the conceited nobility couldn't put up with him. But she understood that he was probably better than any of those ponies with their egos inflated, who were spoiled. [colour=#40e0d0]"Going to be honest, Psmith, I can't see you being a cricket player. But St. Mareson's is pretty much the same as Canterbridge, from the sound of it." [/colour][colour=#000000]She rolled her eyes. [/colour][colour=#40e0d0]"You're kind of exaggerating it. The groups are exclusive, but it's not like we have gangs out here or anything." [/colour][colour=#000000]Wordplay had read in history about how gangs occasionally formed in cities without proper harmony in their governments and proper ethics being taught. Hay, she had read about how rap was popular amongst the more trashy cities of the past. It annoyed her, to think that her art form was looked down upon...[/colour] [colour=#40e0d0]"Well all three of you should totally join choir. Everypony is the background pony, more or less. Nopony stands out, Choir is supposed to be a team sport." [/colour][colour=#000000]Wordplay was quite surprised with some of the class choices her younger peers had made. [/colour][colour=#40e0d0]"Those are some heady classes, guys. I never took anything like that, I get most of my knowledge from talking to the ponies in those classes, actually." [/colour][colour=#000000]Wordplay had almost no classes for her last year of mandated education. Instead she was a general aid to some of the teachers, a job which would allow her to keep her own hours, more or less, so she could run off and do some work on her career outside of school but still have an excuse to hang around her friends one more year. [/colour][colour=#40e0d0]"How modern, Ms. Heart? Sapphire Shores modern?"[/colour]

But what happened to Scootaloo and Sweete-? We can ask about pretty much every pony, couldn't we?

Cadence was happy that it was Applejack, thinner or whatever, she was at least there. [colour=#ee82ee]"I'll talk to you later, Applejack!" [/colour][colour=#000000]Cadence was now more eager than ever to get to their destination. [/colour][colour=#ee82ee]"How much longer is it to the Falls?"[/colour] [colour=#000000]-----[/colour] [colour=#000000]The Mistress stuttered, [/colour][colour=#afeeee]"B-but of course, Twilight! I wish nothing but the best for your little one! I could even teach him..." [/colour][colour=#000000]It trailed off sadly. Perhaps it was finally understanding that it's presence wasn't really wanted at the moment. [/colour][colour=#afeeee]"Well, uh... Nothing to report, Twi. I'll see you later, I guess." [/colour][colour=#000000]It sounded a little more hopeful at that last bit, and it vanished, leaving Twilight's mirror normal, as if nothing had just happened.[/colour]

[colour=#afeeee]"I wish you trusted me more to have mental connections with me more often!" [/colour][colour=#000000]The Mistress of Shadows whined, the whining disturbingly low pitched and growly because of the effects of it's scrambling spell. [/colour][colour=#afeeee]"Buuut, I've got just the spells you need! I could make them think you were dead when you were standing in front of them! Not that I'd ever want you dead," [/colour][colour=#000000]The Mistress reassured quickly. It then was silent upon the appearance of Azure. It didn't say anything until the child left.[/colour] [colour=#afeeee]"Twilight, I didn't know you had a child!"[/colour]

The Mistress of Shadows squealed happily when Twilight smiled at it. The horn present in the mirror glowed sharply for a moment. Almost immediately, the clatter of many metal tools upon the ground was heard, as if the Mistress had dropped everything the moment Twilight had ordered her to. [colour=#afeeee]"I can make that happen Twilight, no doubt about it. Peace or war, whatever you decide, I shall follow. How is Rarity, if I may ask?" [/colour][colour=#000000]It was pretty clear from what little of it's tone actually made it through that it was just trying to make some form of conversation. [/colour] [colour=#000000]------[/colour] Cadence laughed, galloped like a little school filly even though she was pretty much the slowest present. It was definitely understandable, after all, she had been listless for a long period of time. That wasn't something one just walked away from without some atrophy of physical ability. She had once had a dancer's body, now she was just bone thin. When she eventually caught up, she was surprised to hear a pretty familiar voice. [colour=#ee82ee]"Applejack! Is that Applejack?" [/colour][colour=#000000]It had been so long since Cadence had heard the voices of any of the Bearers of Harmony. She knew Rainbow Dash was in an important position in the GEF. Beyond that, she had no idea where any of them were, if they were still even alive. To hear Applejack's voice clear as day only further bolstered her spirits, told her she was doing the right thing.[/colour]

Why are you winking at me I don't know anything. Did anyone say this was going to be an easy fight? Off the top of my head, I know the Changelings have the Queen, Dopple, and Lyrpis.

What with all the subversive factions running around, we need some equilibrium, no?

You're better than me, don' worry.

[colour=#afeeee]"Tw-Twilight! It's been too long!" [/colour][colour=#000000]The voice was heavily edited, masked by layers of static and distortion that made it impossible to tell the identity of the pony on the other side of the mirror, whether it was even a stallion or a mare was impossible to tell. Yet even through this garble, the voice was clearly excited to be hearing from Twilight. What appeared in the mirror before Twilight was just a glowing horn, nothing more, the rest of the mirror curiously blacked out to where it was not even reflecting the light within Twilight's room. The Mistress of Shadows was truly a shadow, darkness followed in it's wake.[/colour] [colour=#000000]Of course, it didn't have such an ominous title for no reason. Of the agents that served the GEF, The Mistress of Shadows was probably one of the most infamous. It had the unique ability to not die when she was killed, instead seemingly coming back over and over again until the job was done right. And the job was virtually always the death of somepony. It had a large mouth, it bragged a lot about her accomplishments and prowesses, and yet nopony seemed to be able to truly figure out the identity of this pony of shadow. Rumors flew as they always did, but anypony who was close enough to ask the Mistress of Shadow questions was probably not going to survive. Only one mare knew the truth about it. And that mare was Twilight Sparkle.[/colour] [colour=#afeeee]"I would be honored, pleased, happy, pleasured to serve you my lady. I will do everything in my power to ensure that your will is done, and I shall never betray you." [/colour][colour=#000000]One heard the noise through the mirror of a pony- average size- bouncing about and clattering objects, as if eager, packing things. Sharp things, by the screech of metal that could be heard. [/colour][colour=#afeeee]"Oh, and I heard that you have replaced Red Fox! Congratulations, Twilight! You finally have the power you deserve."[/colour]