The Kathiawari Mare

by AShadowOfCygnus

KM-12195306-49

Exam Form KM-12195306-49
Results

Aspirant: M. Cadenza
Institution and Year: Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns (individual study)
Exam Date: 17 Hearthfire 958
Examiners Presiding: F. Budget, N. Gamester, Q. Toddy

Reason for Testing: Special request; request accommodated upon review.

Scenario:
Variant of the ‘Northern Reach’ scenario—seven Crown agents sent to infiltrate an unknown and hostile fortress lately discovered in the Frozen North, exfiltrate civilians, and destroy or subvert targets of opportunity. Cold-weather gear provided and assumed for the duration.

Certain alterations made in accordance with [Redacted] protocol, as per the parameters provided.

Account:
Scenario began in a little camp made by the squad under a frozen hillock, the night before the initial raid. Candidate was provided a quick briefing on the intended mission, and pursued this line of inquiry vigorously. Candidate’s questioning was meticulous and considered, though it appeared to err more on the side of the political than the practical details of the upcoming operation: what was known about the state in question? had negotiations been attempted, and how had they failed? and so on.

In the course of this questioning, however, certain further details on the simulacrum were teased out: a small colony of Pre-Unification breakaways was established here some thousand years prior and, while primarily Horse in composition, it had lately been taken over by a Unicorn warlord of some local renown. The objective of the mission was to locate and evacuate any willing civilians to Equestrian soil.

Candidate acknowledged these instructions and bade her fellow agents to bed down for the night while she took first watch. While unclear to examiners at the time, Her Ladyship confirmed in the post-exam interview that the sleep was magically-induced, and therefore heavier than normal, thus permitting Her Ladyship to scrawl out a quick note of her plans and make a quiet exit undisturbed.

She then marched the four miles to the fortified border of the town under cover of night and heavy snowfall and presented herself to the guard under the recognised protections of parley. The guards—obviously bewildered at the sudden appearance of an Alicorn in simple travellers’ wrappings in the midst of a hundred-year storm—complied, and brought her before the warlord forthwith. The disparity between the warlord’s opulent holdings and the shacks and shackles on the populace was stark, and while Lady Cadenza clearly took in the suffering and squalor visible at every step, to her credit, it did not impact her later dealings to any discernible extent.

Candidate exerted considerable effort in making herself presentable prior to her audience with the warlord. Post-examination interview concluded that she either did not notice or take into account the evident discomfort demonstrated by the attending guards on her display of magic. After a brief period of waiting—it was clear that the warlord was being summoned from some evening meditation—candidate was admitted.

The audience started poorly—it was clear that the warlord (some manner of sorcerer, it was clear from his garb, mien, and state of accessory) had been drawn from some studious matter of great significance to him, and was barely tolerating the interruption. Her Ladyship was quick to pick this up, however, and adopted a demure and somewhat contrite stance, introducing herself as an emissary of a kingdom far to the south, that wished to open relations with its newly-discovered neighbour. She further stated that Equestrian scouts had not encountered any opposite numbers in their brief reconnaissance of the city, and that she was thus unsure what esteemed personage she had the honour of addressing. She had not, she was quick to assure, meant any harm by the interruption.

The warlord appeared to relax somewhat as Lady Cadenza’s overtures continued, but appeared to appreciate the observation of formalities. He in turn introduced himself as Lord [Redacted], heir to the Northwind throne and High Imperator of [Redacted], indicating his great pleasure at meeting a lady of equal standing, and of his chance to learn more of his plainsward neighbour. He then asked whether her Ladyship had come all the intervening distance unaccompanied—had she no entourage? nor gifts for the receiving Lord? Such things were customary, but she might be forgiven for her ignorance; of course, he knew nothing of how such business was conducted in the south.

Alas, Her Ladyship replied, much of her retinue had been lost in the storm, and her retainers had requested she make her way to the city whilst they returned to recover what supplies they could. She had not seen hide nor hair of them in the intervening several hours, focussed as she was on reaching her destination in one piece.

And yet, His Lordship rejoined with an easy smile, in the time it had taken for her to reach his throne room, a sweep of the perimeter had located a small detachment of soldiers in a cave along the nearest ridgeline.

This appears to have visibly wrong-hoofed Her Ladyship somewhat but she was quick enough to recover, indicating she would be overjoyed to learn her retinue had been located—so long as they were, in fact, hers. She enquired as to the colour of their livery, or the heraldry on their shields. This her host was unable to supply, demurring gracefully back to the topic of her mission.

They parleyed for some time on the subject of Equestria and [Redacted], exchanging notable facts and figures on their respective economies and systems of governance. Her Ladyship demonstrated an excellent memory for such minutiae, and for effectively working them into conversation without the appearance of force or ineloquence. Certain questions regarding the specific nature of the relations Celestia’s government was hoping to establish were deferred, as were those relating to Her Ladyship’s official capacity within said government; this was, after all, as much a fact-finding mission as a diplomatic overture—few things could be stated with certainty.

Eventually, a clock struck somewhere, and Lord [Redacted] excused himself for the evening. He requested that Lady Cadenza be escorted to chambers within the castle and placed under guard. When asked why, or what reason she had given for distrust, he would say only that he required time to consider Celestia’s proposal, and that any perceived confinement was purely for her own protection; beyond that, she would be treated as an honoured guest.

On reaching her chambers, Her Ladyship was bade a tentative, whispered goodnight by the attending guard, and locked in. At something of loose ends, Her Ladyship sent a quick, telepathic update to her second-in-command (albeit with no response), and bedded down for the night.

It was not five minutes later that Lord [Redacted] burst in, flinging aside his posted guard like a ragdoll and screaming bloody murder at Her Ladyship. He was a stallion possessed, spitting fire from eyes and tongue, violently cursing Lady Cadenza, the ‘conspirators’ she was in communication with, and the soldiery he made clear he had ordered his guards to slay. He finished with a promise to see Her Ladyship executed on the morrow should his demands (to whom it was never made clear, especially as he had professed no knowledge of Equestria up to that point) not be met.

Here Her Ladyship committed quite possibly the single error in an otherwise flawless diplomatic performance: in her understandable panic at the suddenly-changed mien of her host, she again attempted to contact her second, and this time was able to break through and alert the group to her status and the threats to her person. She implored them to scrub the mission before they were discovered, and received only terse acknowledgement and apology by way of response. She waited most of the night for updates; none were forthcoming.

When His Lordship returned the next morning, he was again the gracious host of the previous evening, with one important distinction. He had received word of an attack on one of the gates the previous evening, and that efforts had been made to start a popular uprising in one of the labour districts just that morning. It was made clear that the threat of execution had been a test to determine what forces lay in wait for Her Ladyship outside the city, and that she had failed this test by communicating with said ‘conspirators.’ Accordingly, she would be executed—painfully and with many intermissions for other violences, she was assured with a smile—in short order, beginning after breakfast and ending only at a time of his personal choosing.

Though Her Ladyship was excused from the simulacrum prior to the execution, the panel elected—in accordance with [Redacted]—to let the scenario play out a bit longer to determine any lasting impact these efforts might have had on relations with the theoretical power implicated in the scenario.

Following the clandestine unit’s initial skirmish with the warlord’s vanguard, efforts to root out themselves and any other insurgency among the local populace were redoubled. The local constabulary was on high alert for any suspected sedition, and general violence against the public increased substantially in the months to follow. Two of the seven members of the embedded cell were discovered and executed, and the remainder were obliged to abandon their wider plans and return with the dozen or so revolutionaries whose support they had managed to gather to Equestrian soil.

Results:
The examiners have elected to award Lady Cadenza a mark of 6 for her dedication to a diplomatic resolution, and the political overtures and magical efforts made in pursuit of such a solution, even at substantial risk to—and indeed, the cost of—her life. With the information and resources available to her, this panel is confident in its assessment that Her Ladyship did everything in her power to ensure mission success within the ethical strictures she set for herself.

Whether these strictures aligned with those expected of the scenario is a matter of debate among the members of this panel and—as it became clear by the time of the post-examination interview—between this panel and Her Ladyship. The examiners recognise that it was not Lady Cadenza’s choice to undertake such a scenario, and would like to put forth the suggestion that her particular temperament and talents lie in the field of statecraft, rather than the martial disciplines.

We would also encourage the candidate to reflect on the particulars of the examination in the context of a broader-scale understanding of the challenges that consistently face the Equestrian government in its handling of foreign relations, especially its dealings with certain of its more belligerent neighbours: situations she would disqualify out of hoof as ‘unjust’ or ‘heartless’ are by no means rarities in the world of statesmareship, and must be considered on even ground with those more palatable duties of the station.

A copy of this report has been forwarded to the Crown Secretariat, per request.

Addenda (not provided to the candidate):

At several points throughout the scenario, elements of the Board had resolved to declare a miscarriage and terminate the exam forthwith, but cooler heads prevailed, and the simulation was allowed to play out unmolested. As reaffirmed in the Board’s discussions during and after the examination, the purpose of such assessments as these is not merely to test the bearing and stance of qualified individuals for military service, but indeed any active role in the Equestrian government. Moments of duress can and will occur under any such circumstances, and a thorough understanding of how prospective functionaries/statesmares/agents provocateur will stand up to such duress is critical to assessing their fitness for a given post.

As such, the Board would like to express its admiration at the simulacrum’s ability to adequately sustain an examination that transgressed so far beyond its expected parameters; idiosyncrasies of character aside, the bare fact that the behaviours of the warlord-construct were so well modelled as to stand up to the level of scrutiny demanded by Lady Cadenza’s actions within the simulacrum speaks to a considerable level of care in the fabrication of the relevant algorithms. The Board passes its sincere congratulations to the dream-architects on a job well done, and would encourage the consideration of similar simulacra for the training of diplomatic personnel in future.

On the subject of Lady Cadenza herself, [Redacted]. In line with the parameters of the Crown’s request, certain details of the scenario were expunged from the candidate’s memory on removal from the simulation. All relevant personnel have been sworn to secrecy.

Comments

[Cerulean Blue]

Interesting scenario - implies some knowledge of the history of the Crystal Empire

[Lurks-no-More]

10624056
It seems like Celestia set this up to test Cadence's capabilities against the eventual return of Sombra.

[Lazy Gray]

10842287
Possibly, except for two things: Celestia herself was surprised by the return of the Crystal Empire, and the simulation wasn't training Cadance to be a pony javelin.