Lessons in Lying

[monochrome]

Outside the camp, in a particularly damp patch of ground, Mono Chrome was pacing back and forth along a 'shoreline' to the disgusting bog water. She was deep in thought; a question had been asked of her that made little sense to her. She stopped in place and sank somewhat without the constant movement to stop her.

"It's a trick question," she said, looking to her mentor "It has too many contradictions in the logic to be believable no matter how I phrase it"

She sat on a nearby stump

"I could tell him that it was all a ruse to throw Celestia off my trail but if I had actually STABBED him... well that seems far too dangerous to just be a trick. Nor can I tell him that I mistook him for another pony; my reputation isn't so deplorable that I would be believed to make mistakes of such magnitude in my work,"

She stopped and laughed nervously.

"In Celestia's case I'm outed as part of the Cult, thrown in jail and I held until you're captured; fooling an Alicorn is far from what my abilities offer, unfortunately,"

She sighed and removed herself from the stump, again pacing along the small shoreline. While not the answer she wanted to give, she felt it was the best she could do under the given circumstances.

[Red Charge]

The large armored stallion she was speaking to gave a slight shake of his head, his brilliant red fur glistening even in the soft light reflected from the bog water. His armored hooves seemed impossibly clean after traversing the soft and muddy swamp, he examined Monochrome for several moments before replying.

"You are looking at it from the wrong direction. An assassination can only be proven once it is successful. Should you fail to eliminate your target, they can only suspect you of assassination, now in speechcraft it is important to use any elements of your surrounding. You could claim to have suspected an attempt, and tried to prevent it yourself, for example." He kept his gaze fixed on her when he talked.

There was something in his sun-colored eyes that made it impossibly hard to look away from them. He had explained to her the importance of eye contact, but in his case the mere act of looking into his eyes seemed to mesmerize those he talked to. They were, of course, beyond mere attractive, they were commanding, yet trust inspiring, he had mastered his own presence, being able to manipulate others by manipulating himself.

"You must always seek a motive, every-pony has a motive, good, bad, it doesn't matter. Once you establish a motive, you must establish the type of pony you are speaking to. Every pony is unique, and trying the same ploy on two random ponies will likely yield completely different results. Inspect the situation, and use it to your advantage. A loyal guard might seek to protect the princess from other possible assassins, and let you go in the process."

Finally, he gave her an approving nod, "You are doing well, I can see you have been listening. Now, I would like you to lie to me. I, for one, am against such tactics, but it is inevitable that you will one day deem it necessary. Any fiction would do, I wish to observe it. Keep in mind, when concocting fiction, your eyes have a natural tendency to roll to the left, after training yourself for a bit, this will stop."

[monochrome]

A simple story shouldn't be too hard, I suppose

"When I was born, I was expected to be as my sister Poly Chrome was... that is to say colorful beyond what is to be naturally expected of a young mare or stallion in today's day and age. Neither doctor knew exactly what the explanation was for my complete lack of coloring but agreed that the fluke would hold no bearing on the rest of my life,"

She consciously looked down at her feet.

"My father, however, was ashamed of my appearance, going so far as to dye my coat at times," she turned her head to the side a little, displaying her neck but keeping her eyes locked on his "You can still see a bit of coloring from the sheer amount of dye that was used on a daily basis,"

"During school I didn't have very many friends. There was only one other little filly that stood with me during those years; Snowy Fluff was one of the sweetest and brightest students in the class. She didn't care that my coat had absolutely no color,"

She had been, the entire time, staring at Red without blinking while waiting for this part of the story to come up. With a little luck and practiced timing her eyes began to tear up from her efforts. She blinked a couple times before going on to drive the tears out of her eyes and down her cheeks.

"However, we hardly spoke again after another of her friends disappeared. I imagine she was heartbroken over the loss of a friend and she just... withdrew. It was also around that time her cutie mark, a crimson snowflake, appeared and put more distance between her and myself; to this day I don't know what it meant but for all intents and purposes, our friendship was over. It wasn't until a year after I finished school that my own appeared,"

She took a false steadying breath

"A few boring years later, I found myself here,"

[Red Charge]

"Overdramatized, your reaction to the memory does not fit your image. A cool, more distant response regarding such a memory would have been more appropriate in this case. Body language seemed fine as far as I could tell, tone of voice should fluctuate when crying." He said, "But these are technical difficulties." He explained with a smile, it could fool a random colt or two if she had tried it on them, but not someone more accomplished and expecting.

"A story needs not be as long as that however, to seem believable. For example, see if you can tell the truth, consider that we have just met." He instructed.

"I, am an alicorn." He said simply, nothing in his tone changed from earlier, nothing in his body language, it was as though he was continuing a point.

[monochrome]

She waited for a moment after he had spoke, blinked and opened her mouth to speak but stopped. She could remember Celestia and Luna's forms easily.

"That's... absolutely absurd. Disregarding that your wings would in no way fit under that armor, that is a massive secret to withhold from the members of the cult let alone reveal to somepony you /just/ met," she said quickly "Not only that but I doubt that the Princess would have missed such a massive power as another alicorn within Equestria. No matter how normally you say such a thing it's common knowledge that there are no other alicorns aside from Celestia and her sister"

Even though the explanation seemed sound to her own ears, Mono wasn't absolutely certain that there wasn't a trick in the question. It seemed far too easy.

[Red Charge]

"If you're certain." Red Charge smiled, turning away from her and beginning a slow pace around her. "Say I assign you to recruit a certain pony, who is already very prejudiced against the cult, say, one of the royal guards, for example, how would you go about that?" He asked, stopping in front of her again, eyes ever inspecting her own.

Surprisingly he has yet to ever ask her this question, why he waited so long for it was uncertain, but there must have been a point behind it. Even the newest ponies in the Cult were aware that most if not all of Red Charge's actions were made with a sound, yet often hidden reasoning.

[monochrome]

"Charm is as valuable a tool as any sword or spell. The easiest course of action would be to seduce the stallion or mare. It may take months, perhaps even years, but one in such a high position would be an extremely valuable asset and therefor worth the time,' she said without hesitation "Depending on how I reveal who I am, however, the plan may or may not fall apart right then and there,"

She raised a hoof and smoothed her mane thoughtfully. The easiest course of action, of course, would involve said target "accidentally" discovering of her activity within the cult; she conveyed this to Red as the thought came to her.

"Even then, how could we be completely certain that he wouldn't simply go to Celestia after joining the cult? I mean, it would be exactly the same thing I'm being trained for. I think overall that the idea is a poorly constructed plan that would ultimately lead to a great mass of betrayal on both sides,"

[Red Charge]

"You are too pessimistic, your mind is set, and thus you lose sight of possibilities. Now, I'm not going to answer this one for you. Think it over, and give me a correct course of action." Red Charge instructed sternly, "Try to look outside of your own perspective." He finished.

At that he went to sit by a tree, letting her think with less pressure, and allowing himself to observe her from a far, once she was ready to answer, she could freely approach him and deliver her reply.

[monochrome]

She watched him walk away and sit down a few yards from where she stood. She resumed pacing, her eyes closed. With less stress on her senses she could think easier; the smell of the bog was beginning to wear on her mind and thought processes. Even though he told her he wouldn't hand her the answer she was absolutely certain he had already answered the question in the conversation beforehand.

Somewhere to her left a bubble in the bog popped and an idea fired off in her head at that moment: motive. But then what motive could a royal guard have for being back a creature his lord assumed was a great danger to all of Equestria? Perhaps he doubted his lord in some area or another... no, not enough to want her overthrown but enough, just enough, for intervention to be taken by a third party.

She turned back to Red.

"His motivation. Find and exploit it for everything it's worth,"

[Red Charge]

"True, everyone has a motivation. More often than not, they would be the same as yours. A royal guard wants to protect Equestria just as much as we do. Biased or not, he will not be able to ignore the truth." The large stallion nodded approvingly, "You're on the right track. Now then, do you have any questions? Both about this lesson, and in general?"

He stretched his hooves slightly, as though preparing to move out, it was odd how everything in the bog seemed to stay away from wherever he was going, especially with all of the recent attacks in the area. But that was just Red Charge's effect on his environment, he commanded power, he was mysterious, and it was very hard to dispute that it could be that the creatures of the bog themselves were afraid of him.

He smiled at Monochrome in expectation, waiting for her to talk.