A/N: now is when the really interesting things happen, that I can promise.
Wings of steel: chapter 12: the takeover pt. 1
When steele awoke he heard the sounds of birds chirping, he felt the sun beat down on him as he shifted in bed, feeling fully rested, he sat up and stretched his hooves in the air, he then remembered that the princess was to present the information he had provided to the royal court, he decided to get up take a shower, and get properly dressed.
(Later…)
After taking his shower, he dried his mane and his coat with a towel that was hanging on the wall, he then quickly dried his metal wings so that they would not rust, he remembered that when he made them he used a special anti-rust liquid, that he had made before all of this.
As he walked out of the bathroom he decided to put on a fresh cloak, so that he would look presentable to the delegates of the royal court, as well as the princesses. After he had gotten fully dressed he heard a knock on the door, when he opened it he saw one of the royal guards, outside his door, "sorry sir, am I interrupting something?" the guard asked as he peered inside the room, "oh no, I was just getting ready for the day" steele answered as he looked the guard in the eye's.
"good, the princess has requested your audience in the council chambers" the guard said as he moved out of the way for steele to move past him, "yes, I'm coming" steele said as he walked out of the door and followed the guard to the council chambers.
(Ponyville square)
It was a beautiful sunny day, and all the ponies went about their day, unknowingly being watched from a nearby alley, "look at them, completely oblivious to what's about to happen" said a hooded Pegasus as he watched the simple pony folk walk on by. "Sir, we're ready" said a hooded unicorn as he walked up to the Pegasus, "are the troops in position?" he asked as he turned to face the unicorn, "Yes sir, we have to move quickly before we are spotted" the unicorn suggested.
"I agree, let's go" he said as they left the shadows of the alley, and into the sunlight, luckily for them they blended in well with the crowd, making them seem ordinary, as they made their way to town hall they had kept a close eye out for any royal guards, if they would be caught, their whole operation would be ruined.
When they entered the building the first thing they saw was a desk with a pony, who they assumed, was the mayor's secretary, when they approached the desk, they were asked by the pony at the front desk, "yes can I help you?" she asked as she eyed them up and down suspiciously, "yes, we are here to see the mayor" he said trying to act as calm as possible. "sorry sir, the mayor is not seeing anypony today" she said as she resumed her work, "we understand miss, but we are on important business from canterlot" he said as he kept his calm face, "canterlot?…very well I'll see if she is available, I'll be right back" she said as she made her way to the door, "please take your time" he said with a smile on his face, when she disappeared around the corner, his smile quickly vanished, the hooded unicorn walked up to him, "do you think they are suspicious?" he asked as he turned to him, "it doesn't matter, we'll do this the easy way or the hard way" he said as he turned to the unicorn, with a sick smile on his face.
(Mayor's office)
The mayor was sitting at her desk, filling out paperwork, nightmare night was only a month and a half away, and she was getting preparations underway, she was taken from her thoughts when she heard a knock on the door, "yes come in" she said as she got from her chair and walked around the desk, when the door opened she saw her secretary come in, "I thought I said I wasn't taking any visitors today" she said with a slight scowl, "yes, I know, but miss mayor, a group of ponies have arrived from canterlot, saying they are on official business from the princess" she said, this comment surprised the mayor but she still kept a straight face, "what? I don't have any meetings today" the mayor said as she turned to face her secretary, "that's what I told them" she said back, "what do we do, they are obviously lying" she said as she stared at the mayor, "send them in, I will figure this out, in the mean time have security ready" the mayor said as turned back to the window.
When the secretary walked back out to the reception desk, she saw the same ponies talking amongst each other, she then cleared her throat In order to get their attention, when they turned and looked at her she spoke, "yes, the mayor will see you now" she said as she moved to the side, allowing them to pass, when they disappeared around the corner, she picked up a small headset, and said, "security, we might have a problem"
When they entered the mayor's office they found her back to them, "to be truthful I wasn't expecting any visitor's from canterlot" she said as she turned to face them, she noticed that they didn't wear the official canterlot business outfit, "yes we have important things to talk about" the leader said as they moved around her. "Yes, well feel free to have a seat, and we can get down to business" she said as she turned around and walked calmly to her desk, when she almost reached it, she suddenly heard the sound of the door locking.
When she turned around she saw one of the ponies, with his hoof on the door, "what is this, you're not really from canterlot are you" she said as she looked around nervously, "clearly, your ability to see through our disguises, never seizes to amaze me, but we are here on business" he said as he motioned his group, they then brought out crossbows that were concealed inside their coats and aimed them at the mayor, "who are you?" the mayor asked fear evident in her voice, the leader just smile as he took off his hood, "my name is haze, and you work for us now, miss mayor" he said as he laughed, followed by his group, "what if I refuse?" the mayor asked as she tried to remain brave, but haze could see right through her, 'well, I never said you had to believe me, but if you care for the these pathetic citizens, you will do what I say" he said with a straight face, as the mayor stared into his eye's she could tell he was serious, instead of challenging him and risking the lives of all the citizens in ponyville, she had no choice but to give in, "very well, you win haze" she said with her head bowed in shame, "a wise choice miss mayor, okay the first thing you're going to do is call a town meeting" he said with a sinister grin on his face.
(Ponyville square)
After receiving new orders from the captain of the guard, multiple units had been dispersed to all towns and cities. "this is sergeant sky lance, reporting in, no activity in ponyville, I repeat no activity in ponyville" he spoke into his headset, the sergeant had been under cover, he was wearing a cloak, in order to hide his uniform from other ponies, suddenly he saw a commotion gathering around town square, "hold on, lieutenant are you there?" he spoke into the headset, at first he didn't hear anything, so he spoke again, "lieutenant, report in" he said louder, this time he got a response, "sorry sir, I was a bit tied up" the lieutenant said from the other side of the line.
"never mind that, there seems to be activity at town hall, I'm going to see what's going on, I want you to fly up and observe from the roof" he said as he started walking to the growing group of ponies, "understood, sir" he heard the lieutenant say.
When he walked into the building he saw what had to be every single pony who lived in the town, when they had all entered the room, the doors behind them swung slowly shut, causing multiple gasps and cries, suddenly a light shown from the ceiling, revealed the stand, but instead of the mayor walking up, they saw a pony that none of them recognized, when he reached the stand he cleared his throat and spoke, "greetings, citizens of ponyville, my name is haze, some of you may know me, as the owner for the wealthiest business in equestria, but that is not why I am here today, today I am here on a very special and important business venture, and it will require all of your participation, I will be taking over jurisdiction of ponyville for the next few days, but rest assured it will not interfere with your daily lives" he said as he looked over the crowd, which had erupted in to cries of disapproval.
Knowing this would happen, haze motioned with his hoof for his group to act, suddenly the door they had entered from burst open, and a couple dozen pegasi and unicorns came in all armed with crossbows. All of the ponies began to run around and scream in fear, haze had enough already, "silence!" he yelled over the crowd, causing them to stop and look at him, "now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, any more questions" he said with a frown on his face, suddenly only one voice spoke up, "hold it right there pal" said a hooded pony as he stepped into the middle of the group, causing all the ponies to back off and give him space.
"Who might you be?" haze asked as he eyed this brave but foolish pony up and down, the pony then tore off his cloak with his teeth revealing the shinning golden armor of the royal guard, this only made haze raise and eyebrow, "my name is sergeant sky lance of the royal guard, and by order of princess celestia, I am placing you and your followers under arrest for crimes against the kingdom" he said proudly causing all of the ponies around him to erupt in cheer and applause, this threat made haze slightly surprised but, he just smiled and laughed it off, suddenly blade came forward with a crossbow aimed at the sergeant, he was about to fire, but he was stopped by haze, "no blade, he wants to be the hero, then let him, very well sir, you've caught me, I will go peacefully, but you have to come and get me first" he said with a grin on his face.
"Are you challenging me?" the guard said as he took a fighting position and readied his wings. "Take it as a challenge, if you want to" haze said as he waited for the sergeant to make the first move, "you're making a huge mistake" the sergeant said as he began to take off in the air, "let's find out" haze said with a clam and straight face, when the sergeant took off in the air, he flew almost to the top off the building, he then did a back flip, and sped downward, straight at haze, who remained unusually calm. When he was a mere few yards away, a sick smile appeared on hazes face, as he readied in an attack position.
Suddenly quicker than lightning, haze threw something at the sergeant, it seemed to shine in the sunlight, luckily for haze he was a very skilled marksman, the object hit the sergeant and caused him to fly out of control and miss his target as he crashed into the ground behind haze causing a small dust cloud.
When the smoke cleared the saw the sergeant on his side, a large puddle of blood underneath him, when the crowd saw where the blood was coming from, they saw a large knife lodged into the sergeant's throat, as the guard slowly choked on his own blood, haze walked up to him, and quickly pulled the blade out of his neck, "poor old fool" haze said as he walked back up to the crowd, "now then, does anypony else feel like being the hero" he said, but his only response was silence, as he looked over the crowd he saw their expressions of fear and shock, "do as I say and you will all live through this Endeavour, fail to do so, and the consequences will be…severe" he said as he turned from the crowd and back to the body of the officer.
The rest of his army had begun funneling out the rest of the citizens to their holding area's, blade walked up to haze and asked, "sir what are your orders?" haze turned to face him and sighed, "lock down the town, we're sending a little message to the royal court" he said with a sick grin.
(Canterlot castle, council chambers)
The meeting was now officially in session, and again the princess was forced to listen to delegates argue back and forth, but this time it was different, as the princess stood and addressed the delegates she cleared her throat causing all of them to turn and face her, "delegates, while I understand what it is you are arguing about, that is not why I called you here again and so soon, after receiving intelligence by a respected individual…" she said as she winked at steele who was sitting next to twilight and her friends beside her at the large table, "…it has come to my attention, that we are being threatened by a group of ponies that live in this very nation, they have made threats against the public, and will stop at nothing to gain their goals, It is my strongest interest to handle this matter before it gets out of our control" she said as she sat down again and looked over all the delegates who had shocked expressions in their eyes, until the first one spoke up, "with all due respect your majesty, how are we supposed to believe this individual of yours" he asked suspiciously, "it is because I believe him, and so should all of you" she said as she looked at the delegate who had spoken out of turn, "during this time I have instructed the captain of the royal guard to distribute extra guards to each town where it is most likely they will strike".
Before any of them could answer, the door burst open, and in came one of the guards, when he stopped at the far end of the table, he looked completely out of breath, "guard, we are in the middle of a meeting" one of the delegates said as he turned to the guard, "yes, I am sorry, but we've just received word from ponyville" he said as he began to gain his breath back, "yes well speak" another delegate said, "apparently, sergeant sky lance was killed by this unknown group of ponies, they have taken over ponyville, and are holding all the citizens hostage" this comment put a shocked expression on all their faces, even the princess.
"What, how do you know this?" the same delegate asked, "we received a message from the lieutenant who witnessed the whole thing, he said a group of ponies, led by one called haze, he killed the sergeant and then with his own private army sealed off the town, we also received this video cartridge, from ponyville, we believe it is a distress signal, from the remaining guards who we're forced out of the town" he said as he looked at the princess, finally the princess spoke, "very well, you may play it" she said with concern evident in her voice.
The guard nodded and walked to a video projector, he then inserted the roll into the machine and turned it on, after it started up, the face of a familiar pony appeared on screen, causing Steele's natural gray coat, to turn as white as snow.
"greetings, your majesty, and members of the royal court, as you no doubt have guessed my name is haze, and yes I am the one who has taken control of ponyville, rest assured the citizens are all fine, aside from the ones who attempted to escape, as for my demands they are quite simple, all I want, is for my old friend steele and his new friends to come here alone, and if they try anything, I will kill every single pony in this town, starting with the youngest fillies and colts, it's not wise to challenge me your highness, just ask sergeant sky lance, oh and steele, if you are listening to this and I know you are, the lives of all these ponies are in your hooves, the choice is yours my friend" suddenly the video shut off and lights in the room came back on.
The room was silent for minutes, but it seemed like hours, suddenly the princess stood up, "this meeting is adjourned" she then motioned for the captain to follow her, "steele, you and your friends need to came with us" she said as she passed by them, as they left the room the only ponies left were the other delegates, who slowly proceeded to leave silently.
A/N: yep like I said this chapter was interesting, the next chapter will be up soon.