The SOAP

by kippermydog

Chapter II: The Plan

“No.” I heard, as the six ponies sitting around the conference table recovered from the shock of having a teenage pony volunteer herself to go on an epic quest. My mom’s voice reaffirmed what I had feared as I had walked in. “I cannot allow you to take this journey. It’s much too dangerous.”

Applejack apologetically added, “Sorry, Sugar Cube, but I’ve got to agree with your ma. You’re just too young to be doing this kind of thing.”

“And not to mention we couldn’t possibly risk losing another member of royalty to the Changelings.” Rarity added, getting up from her seat to face me.

Clearly, this situation would require me to use my honed reasoning skills and logic in order to convince the council. “So?” I retorted. Clearly my position as ambassador with the Changelings was off to a smashing start. “So?” was clearly not the answer they were expecting, judging by the half confused, half intrigued looks on their faces. Realizing that my defense lacked some explanation, I decided to fill in the gap.

“You’ve got to let me do this. You can’t send over a group of guards because the Changelings might see it more as a threat than a negotiation attempt. You won’t be getting any volunteers from Canterlot. They’re still terrified, and rightly so, of them after the last attack. Sending a member of the royal family, rather than just random nobody from Ponyville,” This raised a few angered looks from the mares whose hometown I had accidentally insulted. “Er, no offense. Anyways, that will show that we mean business.”

“Well, I’m sold.” Commented Pinkie Pie, “That sounds like a great idea, where do I sign?”

My mom gave her the disapproving look she often gave the pink mare, as if saying, “What the hay are you talking about?”
What she actually said, however, was, “Now, now, Pinkie, we haven’t agreed to anything yet. I still think this is a very risky idea.”

“This is a very risky situation.” I countered.

“Ooh, I like the way she thinks.” Pinkie added. The look seemed to find itself on my mom’s face again.

“I admit, she does make a good argument, darling.” Rarity tacked on to the testimony. It seemed I might win this one yet.

Sighing, my mother admitted defeat. “Fine, you can be the ambassador. But, I still think that you need some sort of protection.”

At that moment, my favorite dragon stuck his head into the room after realizing that I was taking a strangely long amount of time in the restroom. “I can go with Spike! He’ll protect me, isn’t that right, buddy?” I asked the confused reptile while I climbed up onto his back and hugged the barrel of his neck.

“Uh, sure, I’d always be there for you.” Spike replied, unsure of what he was getting himself into.

“So you’ll help me travel across the world to the Changeling Hive in search of Auntie Cadence’s son?”

Spike’s confusion soon turned to shock at the news I had just informed him of. “What?”

“Oh, right, you weren’t here when this was being explained. Mo- er, Princess Twilight, would you mind catching Spike up to speed?” I asked of my mother.

“Of course. As Moon Glow already told you, the son of Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor, Iron Heart has been kidnapped…” Twilight went through the whole story up to that point, informing him of their previous ideas, and now the current one to send me as an ambassador. After Spike had been made informed of the happenings of the Crystal Empire he had a question.

“It doesn’t sound like the safest plan, but I don’t think we have a better one. However, what will happen if the Changeling Queen doesn’t want to talk, and just asks for the Crystal Heart. Do we bring it along and just give it to her?” The ponies in the council looked at each other, considering the point brought up by the dragon.

After a good minute or two of discussion, Twilight decided to speak for the council, “We’ll leave that decision to Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor. It’s their kingdom, and it’s their decision to make on whether or not giving up the Crystal Heart to the Changelings is worth it. I will contact them when this council is over for their decision.”

Spike nodded. “That sounds fair. So, after we get a response from the Crystal Empire, my and Moon Glow will fly to the Changeling Hive, try to talk them into giving back Iron Heart, and if all else fails, give them the Crystal Heart or give up and let them keep the prince.”

The last clause of the sentence seemed to depress the entire room. Nopony was quite ready to accept that we may have to admit defeat, Rainbow Dash especially. In fact, she bolted up out of her chair and into the air in frustration. “No! There is no way that we are letting get away with this. This… It’s wrong. They need to face some sort of repercussions. We need to save Iron Heart somehow.”

“How?” Twilight answered. “If they see an army coming, they’ll just shoot the hostage.” The gruesome figure of speech caused Fluttershy to faint on the spot.

Rainbow was not giving up that easily. “So don’t send an army. We could dispatch a task force large enough to retrieve the prince and get him out safely while being small enough to sneak in under the radar.”

My mom countered saying that that tactic “would require a great amount of espionage and spying”. She stated, “We don’t know how to get into the Hive. We don’t know where they are keeping Iron Heart, or how well he is being guarded. Almost everything about this place is a complete mystery to us, except for its general location.”

Defeated, the pegasus slowly hovered herself down into her seat. The princess continued, “As much as it pains me to say it, yes, we may have to surrender Iron Heart. This is our only chance to save him.”

This sentence hit me incredibly hard. So hard in fact that I lost my balance and fell off Spike. I was the only chance that this colt had at surviving, assuming the prince and princess decided to protect the artifact that their empire was built around. I only had one shot at convincing the Changelings to free Iron Heart, to let him return to his kingdom and his family. If I screwed this up, if I wasn’t able to complete the task that was given to me, we were done. Finished. Mission Failed. Game Over.