Cadance was at a complete loss as to how she should respond. In all the time she had spent as Princess of the Crystal Empire, everypony had been respecting and helpful. This sudden hostility had taken her completely by surprise. She quickly regained her composure before responding.
"Am I correct in assuming these documents contain your motives for proposing my abdication?"
"They do, Mrs. Armor, as well as the signatures of those who back it." Geode Striker responded. "I also wish to make it clear that I hold no personal grudge against you. While the benevolence you and your husband have shown our Empire is greatly appreciated, we do not believe that entitles you to our throne."
"Well, I'm glad to hear. If that's the case, I'm certain we can work out your problems with a minimum of hard feelings..."
"Do not become over confident, Mrs. Armor, and do not attempt to sate us with petty concession." Geode Strike interjected roughly. "We will only be satisfied by the full independence of our Empire." He then gave an informal nod. "My associates and I will depart now. I'm sure you can locate me if another meeting becomes necessary." And with that, the crowd departed, leaving behind a very troubled princess.
"They want us to what?"
Later that night, in the royal couple's private chambers, Cadance had regaled her husband with her encounter with the separatists. The former Canterlot Captain reacted as you might expect. "Alright, me and the guards will take care of this honey, don't worry about."
"No Shinning, I'm going to resolve this diplomatically." Cadance responded. "I'm not going to throw my little ponies into a dungeon because they overreacted to some legitimate complaints." During her read through of Geode's papers, she came to understand some of his complaints. In particular, his gripes about preparations for the Games super-ceding the necessary reconstruction to raise living quality above that of a literal-slave pen. Now that she understood how some ponies felt, Cadance planned to make an address about how hosting the Games would create a massive surge in the Empire's treasury, which would be funding the numerous reconstruction efforts.
Her reasoning for suggesting the Empire as the Game's host had also been questioned by Princess Celestia, but after explaining her, the princess of the sun praised Cadance for her good thinking, and offered to pull some strings to ensure she got the Games. Cadance refused, wanting to try and win the Games for her people honestly, but had a nagging feeling Celestia would have suggested the Empire even if her desperate efforts to impress the Inspector hadn't succeeded.
"Caddy, this Geode Striker is just some snake trying to get the throne for himself. We should take care of him before this gets out of hoof." Armor retorted.
"We aren't going to arrest anypony over this unless they become violent first. They're just overreacting to some minor problems, just like when Twiley would have her episodes." Cadance put her hoof down. Her face softened though, as she saw a downcast look across her husband's face. Cadance realized her comment regarding her sister-in-law may have been going too far, on top of how she knew her husband hates feeling useless during a crisis. "There is something you could do though." She added, causing Shinning to perk up. "Have the guard conduct a full survey of the population, and find out how widespread this sentiment is."
Now having a purpose in his steps, Shinning Armor trotted over to his wife and placed his hooves on her shoulders, and began to kneed. "We've all had a stressful day honey, lets turn in for the night and relax."
Cadance complied with a low, relaxed groan, and did her best to banish the day's concerns from her mind, vowing to handle the situation tomorrow with a clear, prepared mind. No use worrying herself senseless about it while in bed with her wonderful husband.
Later the next day, Geode Striker and his followers were hosting a meeting over coffee at a corner side coffee shop.
"Cadance is not going to meet our demands, Striker. Our display was a failure." Said one downcast Crystal Pony while tear drops fell into her coffee.
"On the contrary my dear Leaky Sweets, the meeting was a complete success!" Striker replied back. "Cadance is clearly empathic to our needs, and I received word this morning that the guard are out in force, polling the population on how they feel about our demands."
"That report also made clear that the population is overwhelmingly in favor of staying a vassal of Equestria." Another crystal mare, Sun Beam, shot back.
"That, however, can be changed." Geode spoke confidently. "The greatest obstacle has been removed from our course: Cadance will listen to the demands of the people. Our task now is to convince the people to demand independence."
Before the conversation could go any farther, the owner of the coffee shop came stomping over to their table. He places his heavy hoof down on Geode's shoulder. "I think it's about time you troublemaker's get out of my shop."
Geode remained calm. "Certainly, my good stallion. Allow me to pay for our beverages and we will be on our..."
"No. Get out now. Your money is no good here, you dirty bunch of troublemakers!" The shop owner shouted, now rather angry. The shop's other patrons were all starring, many of them with angry faces after recognizing Geode Striker from his public display.
After being tossed into the streets, Sun Beam turned to the group's leader and remarked "So all we gotta do is convince everyone to go against the princess. It'll be a day on the sick house*."
"More ponies support us then you realize Sun Beam, they're just not mentally prepared to question royalty, not after Sombra." Geode responded, his mention of the dark lord giving everyone a shiver. "If we could get somepony of great renown and importance to speak in favor of our cause, the people would have two figure to choose from, and could more confidently assert their true beliefs."
"But who's important enough to match up to a princess?" Leaky brought up. "Nopony. Nopony at all."
"I know who we should get." A voice came up. It was Gleaming Polish, a mare relatively new to the movement. She'd joined Geode during his march the previous day, and tagged along without saying much ever since. "We need to get the pony who fought for our freedom in the first place, the pony who would hate to see that her efforts were wasted. We need the pony with princess prestige."
"We need Twilight Sparkle."