//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 — Preperation // Story: Dictators Of Ponyville // by Dragon-In-Black //------------------------------// Kludgetown, Badlands, 10 months later. Scootaloo was doing the paperwork. Yes. Paperwork. she couldn’t fathom it. Never In her life did she expect herself to slave away at paperwork, the definition of all evil. She had to though. Crusaders Democratic Party has gained over eleven new members. In total; they were thirteen. But she needed more creatures that would easily follow her command as well as her friends. If she were to succeed with the coup, she would need loyal followers that would follow her word to the very end. She was inside her room, not looking up as she heard steps drawing closer to her room. The orange filly had a feeling it was her neighbour and lieutenant. It could be no creature else, her friends were out working again. The vacation had been fantastic to put it simply. Scootaloo had been the only filly who had golfed because the other two didn’t feel like playing. Nonetheless, she had enjoyed the time and had in secrecy been in contact with Capper; informing him of her plans, but only the tip of the iceberg. She didn’t know the cat well and she wouldn’t allow a vacation to let it slip that she wanted to punish every creature in Ponyville. She had simply said she wanted to rule the small town because it looked like an easy target. From her standpoint, it seemed like the mysterious cat was satisfied with that bit of information. Continuing on her vacation, Scootaloo had enjoyed strangely enough, delicious food that the hotel had offered as well as cider that didn’t taste as good as the one from Sweet Apple Acres, but was a great replacement until she committed her coup. She had been surprised, however, when she heard rumours that an alicorn princess was in the Badlands. Allegedly, an alicorn had been spotted somewhere in Badlands, but the papers didn’t say where she’d been seen. Scootaloo suspected it was one of the alicorn sisters. There was no pony else... except... a princess named Mi Amore Cadenza. Scootaloo had heard a rumour that there had been a failed coup attempt in Canterlot by creatures called changelings. She had been utterly baffled. Not that there was another alicorn, but that the changelings failed the invasion. From her knowledge, it sounded like princess Celestia was well aware of the fact that the changelings were there but ignored the signs deliberately or expected Twilight Sparkle to fix everything. Then again, she wasn’t there to witness it herself so she had no right to judge the princess of the sun for her actions, or lack thereof. Now... which of the alicorns was it? Well, she suspected that it was Princess Luna. She wouldn’t rule out the possibility that it was this... Cadenza... but it just didn't sit well with her. From her knowledge, the princess was still inside Canterlot and hadn’t travelled anywhere nor did there seem to be any plans for such a thing. Considering the princess was newlywed, there could be no pony else except Princess Luna. The princess of the night was out of the media of Equestria and would have an easier time navigating the Badlands without much trouble. Of course, there was quite a bit of controversy against the princess, so most ponies were wary of her in the first place which didn’t sit right with Scootaloo. There were a few ponies who believed that Princess Luna wasn’t Princess Celestia’s sister but a fake that had false wings and believed she was manipulating the princess of the sun. Never in her life had Scootaloo heard something so ridiculous. They made foal’s lies seem believable. But then again, she could understand that they would be wary of the princess but she could never understand why Princess Celestia of all ponies would be manipulated by the night princess. How come Nightmare Moon was sent to the moon then? She wasn’t saying the sister of Celestia was weaker, but if you can defeat an enemy once, you can do it again. Princess Celestia would have— “Getting off-topic,” She muttered with no small amount of irritation. There was a knock on her door. “Come in,” The pegasus responded while checking a paper beneath the one she was almost finished with. The door opened and it revealed Capper. He was wearing a black fedora hat with the Crusaders Democratic Party pin along with a suit that had a bandana on the left arm on the elbow where it had the same mark, signalling that Scootaloo had been hard at work with her politics. “Miss Scootaloo, I have heard that there has been an attack in the market area five miles from here.” The cat responded with a large bow. The filly didn’t react. “Was any creature hurt?” “No, no casualties.” Scootaloo couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. While she may want to rule Badlands with an iron fist, she didn’t want to resort to... that. “Who carried out the attack?” Scootaloo asked, putting her quill down while staring at her lieutenant expectantly. If Capper thought it worthy to tell her this information then there must be a good reason for it. Capper felt his sweat run down his face. He was uncertain of how he was going to answer. He knew that there was no way he could sugarcoat it. “Allegedly, the Storm King is behind it.” He finally answered, afraid of what Scootaloo would say or do. The silence was deafening. Scootaloo stared at the cat with no emotion on her face, trying to find any kind of deceit. Her hooves were resting on the hoof rest of her chair but she didn’t feel them. It was like they had gone limp. The filly didn’t know how to react to this. On one hoof she could finally have something to use against the Storm King, on the other hoof, she didn’t know if this was yet another false alarm. Unknown to Capper, Scootaloo had heard similar things from informants around the town and Badlands. “So he attacks his own subjects... I never thought that I would be so disgusted by a pony like that.” Capper didn’t know how to respond. He did nod in agreement, though, as it was a disgusting thing to do. Yes, no creature was hurt, but that didn’t mean that the attempt wasn’t disgusting nonetheless. Storm King was many things, but the mischievous cat never believed that the buffoon of a King would harm a subject. “How are the creatures taking it?” Scootaloo asked while using a red stamp to approve a paper. “They’re angry.” Suddenly, without warning. Scootaloo laughed. Full-blown laughter hitting her hoof on the desk kind of laughter. Capper jumped from the sudden hit but calmed down when he saw the young filly laughing. “Of course they’re angry! Why wouldn’t they be?” She asked rhetorically. “They almost lost family members and friends, it's understandable that they are furious and want answers for the buffoon’s foolishness.” Capper knew better than to say anything when the filly ranted. “Which in itself is weird considering they’ve just accepted that there’s a ruler there doing only Celestia knows what, half the time, but they’re just... existing... they aren’t doing anything except the rare few secret anti-Storm-King rebels, but that’s it. It’s them and then there’s me who's trying to commit a coup. Speaking of which...” Her voice had become low when she had mentioned the coup and her eyes darted around as if to find spies but found none. “...Have you found any new recruits or soldiers who are willing to join us?” Scootaloo asked with a serious face. One thing she knew she would never be ungrateful for would be the loyal soldiers and recruits that join her. When the first few members had joined her party after learning of her story—which she had no choice but to reveal—joined her. There were a few different creatures ranging from ponies, dragons, diamond dogs and a cat. She had also heard rumours that there had been a swarm of changelings who had settled around the Badlands who Scootaloo wanted to meet in hope of getting new recruits. If she used the changelings she could make a clean coup and would be the successor of Ponyville along with her friends. But, she also wanted to ponies to learn that not all changelings were bad either. Scootaloo knew this because she had an understanding the ponies did not. She had no problems with different creatures because she knew that they had the same rights as they did to exist on this planet and live together. She would never accept the prejudice she now realised the ponies had against other creatures. Scootaloo remembered how miss Cheerilee would talk about other creatures while getting uncomfortable as if she felt disdain. Well, every creature apart from Spike... Tch... Scootaloo would have to make a better school system that would educate the ponies of Ponyville. So much to do, yet so much to prepare... Capper shook his head. “I’m sorry, Ma’am, but I have not found anyone else.” “That’s okay, I’m not expecting to have success every time. But...” Her face darkened as she stared him down. “I expect to have a clean success of taking over Ponyville, understood?” “Yes, Ma’am!” He saluted. Scootaloo nodded, her piece had been said. “You may leave unless you have more information?” “No ma’am,” He bowed and left, leaving Scootaloo alone to her thoughts. She let out a sigh. Storm King had committed an attack towards his subjects. Why? Just why would he do that? What motive does he have? She grumbled as she tried to figure out what possibilities there were but she honestly, couldn’t find anything other than wanting to inflict fear into his subjects. If he inflicts fear, it means that they will feel loyal to him and be afraid of what he’d do if they were to retaliate. Yes. Now It made sense. So that’s what he’s trying to do. Sadly for him, it did not work. His subjects are rather angry. She couldn’t help but chuckle. He was a buffoon. He would fall before her and she’d take his throne.