>>12837497 (OP)
"Yes," says Luna, "And given the time you arrived, as well as the fact you have no prior relation to anything of this world, we believe there is no progression of events which would lead you to spying for our enemy."

"That's... good to hear?"

"I'm sorry to put this burden on you, traveler, but there is simply no one else we can absolutely trust in this situation. Neither can we look for this traitor ourselves; they have proven themselves able to illude and fool us thusfar and would continue to be on guard around us."

"The unfortunate fact of the matter is," says Luna, "we need to find this traitor, and find him or her either tonight or tomorrow. Do you happen to have any leads?"

>>12837497 (OP)
Somber was the word you were looking for, not sober.

>>12837509
>Do you happen to have any leads?
yeah, right here
*whips out dick*

>>12837497 (OP)
Just spread several different rumors/misinformation to the ponies around the castle, and whichever the enemy finds out will lead you to the leak.

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>>12837568
>so·ber (sbr)
>adj. so·ber·er, so·ber·est
>1. Habitually abstemious in the use of alcoholic liquors or drugs; temperate.
>2. Not intoxicated or affected by the use of drugs.
>3. Plain or subdued: sober attire.
>4. Devoid of frivolity, excess, exaggeration, or speculative imagination; straightforward: gave a sober assessment of the situation.
>5. Marked by seriousness, gravity, or solemnity of conduct or character. See Synonyms at serious.
>6. Marked by circumspection and self-restraint.
Stop being pedantic, Anonymous.

>>12837638
I'm liking this idea, but do we know what the enemy has already learned from us? We need to be able to rule out our most recent arrivals, if we can, to make sure we don't accuse the wrong pony.

>>12837568
Sober can mean very plain.
That's not a mistake, there's little Luna seems to be sad about.

>>12837509
We only really know like 3 ponies in the camp to begin with, besides the princesses and the elements.

>>12837695
Tell the rest of the castle you're sending an important relic with an escort to a remote location. The location can vary with each suspect you tell. Then we send a token group of guards to each place, the ones that are attacked turn tail and run and we know which one was expecting us.

I get the feeling there's some sort of clue hidden in our previous interactions

>>12837762
It's Silver, he's the only one with the kind of information the letter, thing, spoke of.

>>12837784
But Silver is Silver! It couldn't be him!

>>12837638
"I could try spreading misinformation to several different ponies. Whichever piece of information the enemy acts on would give us our traitor."

Luna shakes her head. "Such a method, while clever, requires time. We have no way of knowing the spy will even report to our enemy before tomorrow night, and waiting that long to out him or her is unacceptable." She clears her throat. "I do not mean to offend, but have you perhaps considered Victory Rose as the spy? Given her past, she seems the most likely and hardly seems... amicable toward others."

>>12837568
>>12837695
Somber would imply Luna walks around grumpy or subdued all the time, but questanon instead thinks she's more razor-focused. Sober was the word I wanted.

>>12837802
It has to be.
Rose certainly didn't have access to that information.

>>12837814
She doesn't have access to that kind information.
When the camp moved, she had no idea where it was since she was in the hospital in Withers. Unless she's omniscient, it couldn't have been her.

>>12837814
Gotta admit the blunted wings are making her look kinda suspicious. Something tells me Luna isn't going to trust us as readily as Celestia did with "I trust her."
I don't want to have our ass handed to us by our dear fight instructor, though.

>>12837814
Do you have a butler? It's almost always the butler in my experience.

>>12837814
Princess Luna I really don't think we should bring up pasts here, ponies have been known to change. Yourself included.

>>12837930
As if we know that Luna was banished or ever NMM. It was only implied that Luna was gone one time, anon.

>>12837930
arguably metagaming: questanon doesn't know about NMM except maybe in the most vaguest terms. I'd be ok with this without the last sentence.

>>12837814
Alright then let's do it like this, we pretend the enemy has overrun us, disguise our own guards and "take" our own base of operations. The spy will surely reveal themselves to our fake soldiers as a means to protect themselves.

>>12837860
Also, Silver was sent into the town ahead of us to see if the people were friendly.
He could have had the opportunity to tip off rebel agents while he was there.

>>12837860
"She doesn't have access to that kind information. When the camp moved, she had no idea where it was since she was in the hospital in Withers. Unless she's omniscient, it couldn't have been her."

"O-of course. I should have realized that." Luna looks down a moment. "Though with the teleport using as much magic as it did, it could be an enemy unicorn spotted us as well. It still is possible."

Celestia lays a wing over her sister's back. "I must agree with our friend here. I do not suspect Miss Rose. I believe she is not that kind of pony."

They share a look and Luna nods. "Very well. I shall trust the two of you on this. But if it is not Rose, then who? Do you have a list of suspects? Or at least ponies who are more likely to be the spy?"

>>12838061
There's only one pony who was with us every step of the way, aside from Celestia.

>>12838061
Tell me, how long as Silver been a part of the royal guard?

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>>12838193
B-but he's too cute to be a spy!
Maybe WE'RE the spy! Somebody interrogate us!

>>12838306
And Chronicle was too gentlemanly to be a cultist.

>>12838306
It was all a fassad, he put on the personality of a meek and timid new blood.
We bought it up.

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>>12838409
>>12838413
Drag him in here and pull out his fingernails.
I won't be fooled again. ;_;

>>12838088
>>12838193
"Well, there's only one pony who was with us every step of the way, aside from Celestia. Tell me, how long as Silver been a part of the royal guard?"

"Silver? I hardly think--" starts Celestia, but Luna cut her off.

"Sister, none of us enjoy hearing it, but it is possible he is the spy. I think we should see where he's going with this, first."

"Yes, of course. I apologize." Celestia rubs her chin. "Hmmm. Silver is one of the newer guards. He's been with us for a little over a year now. Spent about half that time learning under Steady. Always been a very optimistic one, Silver. I know we should consider every possible suspect, but I just cannot see him as the traitor. He's been so emphatic about defending his country and his princesses, even if at some times it's to the point of dramatics."

"The problem is, Celestia, he's the only one I can think of with access to all the information our enemy has gained from us."

She scrunches her face in thought. "There is also Steady and the Elements."

Letting out a sigh, you throw your head back, staring at the ceiling. "I dunno..."

"So you have something of a reason to suspect him. How do you propose going about confirming that?" asks Luna. "We need to know who the spy is for sure, we can't just lock up everyone we suspect."

>>12838306
Wait

Wait

This guy might have a point here

How do we know WE are trustworthy?

>>12838573
Commit sudoku.

>>12838573
Celestia already checked us for bugging spells.

>>12838489
He doesn't have fingernails, Anon. He's a horse.

>>12838504
It's not like we can say "The pastebin told us so."

>>12838593
Yeah, but she did not read our minds, did she?

>>12838601
Then give him some, and THEN pull 'em out again! Do I have to do everything around here?

>>12838623
Thank god she didn't/can't
The thoughts she's see.

>>12838611
Even if we explained it as someone speaking into our mind, it would still be pretty shaky evidence.
What we need is a way to expose him.

>>12838684
We need to get into his mind and explain why he would do it

We have hindsight

>>12838504
Questanon should go to Silver and, in private, admit he's having reservations about working with Celestia. If Silver wants to be our friend, and work with the resistance, he'll spring at the opportunity to convert us to the cause. Then we'll have him.
We can only hope it doesn't work.

>>12838504
Well, the spy has to be getting messages to the enemy somehow. Assuming it's Silver, he's either, A) flying off to tell someone, or B) using some kind of magic. So we can ask around and see if he was missing at suspicious times or check and see if he's got a magic-communicator-thingy.

>>12838726
Might work, too

>>12838709
We can't get into his mind if everything we think we know about him is an act.
Unless the princess' were to subtly peek into his mind while we have a discussion that could cause him to think incriminating thoughts, and I doubt they'd want to be that invasive.

>>12838747
What if...we set him up, somehow? Make him expose himself by creating a situation

>>12838726
Too obvious. He'd see right through it.

>>12838830
Maybe not, he seems to be somewhat naive. And if he feels like inviting us to crash at his place after this is all over, then maybe he'll WANT to believe us.

>>12838884
That's apart of his act though, he's probably extremely cunning, enough to fool the entirety of the camp.

It looks like the plans are

>>12838741 - check his belongings and ask the lookouts/sentries if they noticed anything

>>12838726
>>12838783 - set him up somehow (will need to be more specific before I can move forward with this)

>>12838747 - have the princesses try to look into his head


Which one are you guys feeling the best about?

>>12838928
First and third options are too seedy

Outsmarting him would be best, but I don't know how

>>12838928
I don't care.

>>12838915
I somehow doubt he's fabricating an intricate character to fool everybody utterly with. It's much more likely he's just an average Joe who got a little too worked up with the wrong guys and agreed to spy for them.
>>12838928
However, I'm in favor of the first plan, checking his stuff, before we do anything. If he catches us, we use it to segue into the second plan and pretend we wanted to see if he's with the resistance because we wanted to help as well. Let's not talk to any of the other guards, though: if it's not Silver, and the spy is some other guard, then we'll have tipped them off.
I'll admit I'm not super confident about this plan. Do we have any other ideas?

>>12838928
I'm torn.

rummaging through his things doesn't sit right with me, but god knows we would have exposed Chronicle a lot earlier if we'd taken a peek at his book.

>>12838928
First option.

>>12838991
What about a direct confrontation? If he's just some shmuck that got dragged into a bigger situation, talking with him openly and offering an alternative might sway him to our side

>>12839073
if he were just some average joe, would he be able to so perfectly imitate a loyal-to-a-fault royal guard?
and if it's not an imitation, would he really be spying?

>>12838991
>>12839017
>>12839038
"The only concrete evidence would be something in his bags, an item associated with the enemy. That kind of stuff can't lie. If I fail to find anything there, I can try to trip him up, outsmart him into exposing himself somehow."

"As uncomfortable as I am saying this, rummaging through his belongings does sound like a solid first step," says Celestia. "Do you have a plan for exposing him?"

"I'll figure something out. He seems pretty nervous around me so I might be able to use that to my advantage."

The princesses both nod. You get up from the bed and walk toward the exit.

"Good luck, traveler."

"Thanks, Celestia." You take a deep breath, duking under the tent flaps and mumble, "I'm going to need it."

Outside, the several perimeter torches light most of the camp, the moonlight illuminating the areas they miss. Most ponies are asleep, but some are sitting around fires, chatting. Others are wandering about. Just as you start to wonder where you might find Silver, you spot him at one of the campfires, poking it with a stick. He hasn't spotted you yet.

You can remember vaguely where his tent is, since you helped him set it up.

>>12838928
If we're checking his belongings, we need a distraction.
Something to ensure he won't walk in on us in the act. Because holy SHIT would that be awkward.

>>12839221
Time to use that Splinter Cell stealth, stick to the shadows.

>>12839221
Go talk to the sentries first, see if they noticed him going anywhere recently.

>>12839221
Invite him to go get a salt-lick.
Then drink him under the table and look through his stuff while he's passed out.

>>12839247
The tents are pretty close and since Silver hasn't noticed you, yet, you can probably go straight to his tent. However, without a reliable distraction, you don't know how much time you'll have. He could be happy by that fire for another hour, or he could be ready to fall asleep within a couple minutes.

>>12839251
Talking to the sentries would take time and Silver would likely spot you (you're not exactly hard to see) but you would gain some information from them and you might be able to convince one to distract Silver for you.

>>12839265
This method wouldn't involve other ponies, but you don't know how much salt he can hold or if he even licks in the first place! You could reveal yourself and gain nothing for it. Still, a passed-out Silver definitely won't cause you any trouble with your search.

>>12839335
I'm out of ideas, we're time constrained.
You could always roll for how long he'll be next to the fire and not tell us.

>>12839335
Why don't we just get Celestia to distract him?

>>12839335
My vote's towards fullstealthmode. Straight to the tent. It IS risky, though.
Maybe we could recruit somebody else to distract him in the case he starts to make his way towards his tent. Not sure who, though. Maybe Rose? She's more or less completely trustworthy in this.
One of the main 6 might be more plausible. Pinkie can be VERY distracting.

>>12839415
Pinkie could be very agreeable in a pinch. We wouldn't even have to tell her anything.

>>12839473
So long as she doesn't get distracted too quickly, yeah that could work.

>>12839403
>>12839415
>>12839473
Best way to move forward would be to get some sort of distraction. Given Pinkie's penchant for being, well, Pinkie, you figure she's a good bet. You walk to the Element's tent, keeping quiet, and peek inside. Rarity and Fluttershy are asleep, but Pinkie and Rainbow are up, chatting. It doesn't take long for Pinkie to notice you, jumping over to you without hardly making a sound. She greets you with a smile.

"Whatcha need?"

"Sorry, I know this is kinda weird to ask, but could you, uh, distract Silver? I'm trying to, um, play a prank on him, but I need to make sure he doesn't come near his tent while I'm doing so. Are you up for it?"

"Sure! Anything to help a friend!" She about launches herself out of the tent, but you hold her back a second.

"Try not to make a big scene, okay? Just Silver needs to be distracted."

"You got it!" With that, you release her, hoping you just made the right decision.

That taken care of, you crouch down and get behind some of the closer tents, watching Pinkie bounce her way over to Silver. She greets him and the two talk, though you can't make out the words. It's hardly relevant, though. You duck back down and creep along the row of tents. According to memory, his tent should be a couple rows down. As you pass each row, your breath quickens, hoping no one notices you in the seconds you're visible.

[cont]

>>12839729
Tonight, though, luck is on your side and you get to his tent without incident. It doesn't spare you from your rising heart rate and the tension that seizes you as you reach for his tent. The wind, the crackling fires, the torches, even the snores of sleeping ponies are quiet as a whisper. All you hear is your heart and the rising headache as your hand gets closer and closer.

The zipper sounds painfully loud when you want it to be silent, but Silver's too far away to notice or care. You peek inside. There's not much here but his sleeping back and a set off saddlebags, both closed up. Looking both ways, you crawl inside and open the saddlebags. There's some typical stuff in there: a compass, a map, rations, emergency blanket. Something does grab your attention, though: he's got a body piece of armor with one of those odd Stampede symbols on it. You recognize it from when Rose knocked out the pony wearing one. It's just a body piece, though. No helmet or leg pieces to go with it.

>>12839746
That's not enough, he could easily just pass it off as a "trophy of war" so to speak.

>>12839746
Grab it.
Maybe Rose will know something about it.
Now close everything back up again and get the hell out of there.

>>12839792
From when? He didn't have the time to grab it during the fight, and considering we were abruptly swept away, he didn't have time after either.
And by the time we came back to the scene of the battle, all the bodies had already been removed.

>>12839746
a body piece of armor?
How big of an object are we talking here? Seems like a weird thing for a spy to keep with him.
If it's small enough, we should take it, and observe Silver for a little bit. If he asks around about it, we'll now he's innocent and he just picked it up somewhere. If he's guilty, he'll know we're onto him, and that we potentially have evidence.

>>12839827
Unless he bolts at the first sign of suspicion.

>>12839821
From the first fight we fled from.
It would be in his whimsical character to do something like that.

>>12839863
In which case, they no longer have a spy in operation, and we know who the spy was.
Only downside is we don't manage to capture him, but he's still useless to the enemy as a spy for the future.

>>12839884
What first fight we fled from? The one at the very beginning of the quest? Cuz that was just us and Celestia.

>>12839919
But he could be a valuable source of information, with the right...encouragement.

>>12839938
>...encouragement
unf_

>>12839827
It's nothing concrete, but it's better than nothing. Besides, if he doesn't go around asking for it, you'll know it's something he's trying to keep to himself.

You put everything back best you can, close up the saddlebags, then crawl out of the tent. An audible sigh of relief escapes your mouth when you find Pinkie had kept up the distraction. Silver isn't around. You make like a tree and get the fuck out of there as silently as possible. Only when you're close to the princesses' tent again do you stand up straight. Sweat is practically pouring down your neck, but you're much happier the whole thing's over.

Silver and Pinkie are chatting near the fire along with Steady. You're a bit curious as to what they're talking about, but you also need to talk to the sentries.

>>12839795
Rose might be able to tell you more about the armor as well.

>>12840007
I was asking about the size of the armor, not the significance. Are we talking about a full chestplate-type deal here, or something smaller?
Did we take it with us?

>>12840007
Find the sentries first, then Rose.

>>12840054
No, let's talk to Rose first. We can trust her more.
Nobody said this spy is somebody we've met: if they spy is one of the other sentries, we don't want to waltz over and give away we suspect somebody.

>>12840041
yes, you took it with you. Sorry, didn't make that clear.

The armor piece isn't all that large. You're able to stash it under your shirt against your back. There isn't much room to spare, though. Your pants secure it in place well enough.

>>12840090
We don't have to name any names. Just ask them if they've noticed anyone entering or leaving the camp lately.

>>12840007
Let's see if we can find and isolate Rose then.

>>12840054
>>12840209
Since there are 2 for Rose and 1 for sentries, I'll start there next time. For now, I have to run. Sorry!

Next session is next WEDNESDAY! It is at the same time as the Saturday threads, 12pm noon CST and will go on as long as a typical Saturday thread.

>>12840258
Blast! Just as we were getting somewhere!

Thanks for the session, AA.

>>12840282
SA.
was what I meant to type.

>>12840258
In the future, after next Wednesday, could you try and avoid that time during the weekdays. There's no possible way I can make that session.
If you don'y mind.