Chapter. 2 –Stages of Grief
It has been a few hours since the search for Twilight Sparkle started and so far there was no trace of her. Volunteers were assisting the Royal Guard and message pegasi have already left to inform other towns in the area of the current crisis. But as the day lengthens, there was still no news of her whereabouts.
Slumped over a grand mahogany table, partially sitting on one of the ten matching chairs inside this tastefully decorated private dining room; was the youngest alicorn princess, trying her hardest not to cry as she continues her duty to the young dragon. Her eyes were slowly dripping, constantly; her posture looked like she was breaking with each small tremor travelling through her frame. But her smile, small as it was, stayed on in a vain attempt to keep her remaining charge distracted and happy.
The large rich brown wooden doors at the far end of the room gently opened with barely a creek, drawing the two occupants attention and allowing the grand figure of Princess Celestia to access the room. Her posture was calm, gentle, and graceful, a perfect image for any ruler; but Cadance knew her aunt, she could see behind the mask. She noticed the slight shiver in the long white legs, her wing posture was a little too ridged, and her eyes appeared distant, clouded. Celestia was obviously in distress.
She continued into the room –passing several large, elegant windows overlooking the castle gardens and allowing late afternoon light into the room– before eventually sitting down next to her niece; not using any of the chairs to be closer to the smaller alicorn’s height. The silence stretched between the two princesses as they watched young Spike sitting on the table, playing with Cadances hooves.
The overbearing silence smothering the room was broken by the soft voice of Princess Celestia, “I have been unable to locate her. Wherever she is has been warded heavily against divination magic.” As she spoke her gaze refused to meet her nieces.
The smaller alicorn broke a little more; her forced calm, laboured, breathing now held a noticeable shudder to it. Cadance swallowed, “she’s alive. I can still feel her love for me, for her brother and family, for Spike.” Another swallow, “I-I can’t find her, but she is alive.” Her voice was monotone, almost lifeless, but the pure uninterrupted trickle of tears falling out of her eyes showed her emotional state more than the trembling breath.
“Then hold onto that and don’t let go of it. Right now, that is all we have. First Lieutenant Shining Armor is still leading search efforts and shows no sign of stopping. I fear I may need you to stop him if he continues with such single mindedness.”
Cadance could only shake her head “I don’t think there is anyone but Twilight herself who can stop him right now, and I don’t think I can blame him. If it wasn’t for Spike here I would be right next to him in this search.” A crack appeared in the wall of her emotional dam, a few hiccups escape her mouth, her voice a few octaves higher. “I lost her auntie. Twily was taken right under my nose.” The dam breached, soul shattering sobs encompassed her entire body, wrenching her heart with each wave that passed. Her smile crumbled.
Celestia quickly embrace and wrapped her wings around the distraught niece in a cocoon of reassurance. “No, no don’t think like that. You did everything you could; if anything the blame lies with me for asking you to take her out of the castle today. I spoke to the guard I sent to you and he said you never stopped looking at her; again if perhaps I had not made the day so bright, you would have been able to keep a better eye out. There are countless small what if‘s that would change the outcome of the day. All we can do now is face what has happened and resolve them. We will find her.” The crack in her own voice made Celestia pause; she was curious who she was trying to reassure.
The small huddle received additional support from the only other person in the room. Little Spike had managed to stand up onto his hind legs and was now trying to hug Celestia as best he could from his position on the table top, and with his small front arms. ‘Twilight, you were doing so well. Just look at how compassionate little Spike has become. Wherever you are, please be safe and come back to us.’
Shining Armor, recently appointed First Lieutenant of the Royal Guard was currently galloping like a stallion possessed; his hooves thundering down streets, heading towards a non-descriptive back alleyway near the walls separating the plateau from a several kilometre drop. Reports had come in of a dead Pegasus; and while this was not the only piece of disturbing information discovered while turning Canterlot upside down in the search for his sister, it was by far one of the most grievous.
Turning the final corner into the alleyway itself, Shining Armor slowed to a professional trot. “So, what have we got here?” he had just run almost halfway across the city after searching constantly since the report of his sister’s disappearance; but even now it sounded like he had just finished a moderately hard jog.
Walking towards him was a fellow unicorn dressed in standard Royal Guard attire; however she was not wearing the anonymous glamour, much like Shining Armor. Her coat was a dark green, while her long braided mane and tail were a shocking contrast of lavender; it was hard to tell if that was her natural mane colour or not. Her cutie mark appeared to be an eye above a dotted line path.
“First Lieutenant Shining Armor, I am Chief Warrant Officer Eye Spy and welcome to my crime scene. This body was discovered ten minutes ago by aerial search parties sweeping the area. Initial forensics estimate that this person died approximately three hours ago; what he–” Her voice had the ring of someone who, once upon a time, spoke softly, before going through the ringer of the military; there was still a soft air around it but her voice was firm with conviction.
“Three hours ago? How sure are you of the time of death?” the intensity held within Shining Armor’s eyes could have stopped a hydra in its steps.
Eye Spy swallowed down her heart a little before answering. “The window is fairly accurate, within a period of thirty minutes to at most one hour. The body has not lost a significant amount of heat, even with the difference between the average pegasus and the current air temperature.”
“Well then, this guy’s just become my number one suspect. If you’re right then that means he died just before or just after my sister’s kidnapping. I want every single grain of sand within this alleyway catalogued into evidence. I also want everything on this guy; his family, friends, pets. Buck I want to know what he had for lunch last Wednesday.” If Shining Armor had any less control of his magic than he did, he would have been breathing fire; as it stands there were only sparks coming out of his mouth. A burst of pale rose coloured magic was launched into the air in the form of a flare. “Every one of my search parties are now converging on this alleyway; you’ll have all the bodies you’ll need to get me what I want.”
“Sir, my team has already swept over the alleyway; though we’ll sweep over it again just to be sure. If your pegasi could assist us in searching the roof tops surrounding the alleyway that will be helpful.”
This raised an eyebrow “You have reason to believe another pegasus was involved?”
“We have discovered more than just a little ambient pegasus magic in the alleyway. There was ether another pegasus involved or this fella was trying to break the sound barrier to get here.”
“And no other traces of magic?”
She shook her head “Inconclusive. If there was other magic used here it was on such a small scale it has become undetectable thanks to the saturation of pegasus magic.”
There was hesitation in her ice blue eyes and Shining Armor saw it. “You have something else to add? Warrant Officer?”
Her posture was professional and calm, and while her eyes showed very little, the intensity of the debate within did leak through.
“Sigh. If this is your guy, then we may have a possibility of motive. Sitting in front of him was a picture of, what we suspect is, his family and himself. He was crossed out.”
His eyes shrunk to pinpricks, his breathing became ragged; something was said but it didn’t register in his head. ‘She was traded.’ The noise was louder now, but still it just bounced off of his mind. ‘My sister was traded.’ His ragged breathing now felt like an inferno out of his mouth, the world was turning red; he was struggling to stand his whole body was shaking so much. ‘My L.S.B.F.F was TRADED?!’
Suddenly there were stars and he felt a wave of vertigo before his eyes rested on the still blue sky silhouetted by the buildings surrounding him. There was noise of a scuffle followed by a whump.
Slowly he got back to his hooves and discovered that there was a pegasus dogpile of at least half a dozen ponies right in front of him, and at the bottom of it was Eye Spy.
“At ease soldiers,” it was surprising how much it hurt to say those words right now. The pile in front of him suddenly stopped wriggling before the one on top spoke up.
“But sir, she assaulted a superior officer.”
“I said at ease. If I need to be brought back to the present and only hitting me will work then I want to be struck. Now help her up and assist her team in searching the roof tops surrounding this alleyway.”
As one his Pegasus search team removed themselves from the pile of ponies before moving on to assist the other ponies in whatever they needed. The last one in the pile assisted Eye Spy onto her hooves, though she was favouring her right foreleg.
“Thanks for the wakeup call. I needed it.”
Eye Spy straightened herself up before fixing her eyes on his. “It is only an initial theory. Until we fully inspect the evidence, that is all it is. Now would you be so kind as to escort me to the infirmary. You’ve probably got a wonderful shiner in the works, if not a cracked muzzle, and I managed to get badly burned somehow.” Shining’s eyes travelled to the foreleg that she was trying not to use and sure enough there looked to be some very nasty burns on her pastern and along most of her cannon. He did that. He had the grace to feel ashamed of himself and let it show a little. “Clean Sweep! I’m leaving things in your hooves but make sure you look over the separation wall. No way did this happen so close to it to be a coincidence. And I mean all the way down, get the pegasi to carry you even.” A generic Royal Guard Unicorn saluted at the command before they started to direct the pegasus guards where to go.
With the situation in reasonable hooves for the moment, the two superior officers started to head back towards the castle for a meeting with the infirmary.
“So, how did that guy die?” The walk had been silent and a little uncomfortable, and while probably not the best thing to discuss when out in public, Shining wouldn’t be surprised if the papers hadn’t already heard of the suspicious death.
“We know he died by asphyxiation due to blood in his lungs. However we cannot find the cause of the blood.” Eye Spy’s eyes darted around looking for possible eavesdroppers; that she talked about the case, even as a whisper, said she couldn’t see anyone suspicious.
“Nothing on the body?”
“There was no obvious trauma, be it blunt or laceration, no foreign magic on him or any active spells. No sign of the common detectable poisons either. I’ve already got an autopsy scheduled just as soon as the field work has been completed for a more in-depth search; so hopefully we’ll know by the end of tomorrow.”
Well that was an interesting turn of events. Thanks to magic actual autopsies were very rare as the cause of death could, normally, be discovered within a dozen spells. This news just solidified in Shining Armor’s mind that he was involved in his sister’s kidnapping. But it was disturbing; whoever was actually giving orders here appeared to know exactly what they were doing.
His train of thought was interrupted as his travel companion started speaking again. “Once we confirm the cause of death I’ll start looking for old cases with similar circumstances. This was too well coordinated to just be a first time event.”
“I was thinking much the same. If you need help getting information just let me know. Even if it’s above my pay grade, between knowing Princess Cadance personally and being the big brother of Princess Celestia’s student, I can wield a surprisingly large amount of political clout. Haven’t used it yet, but my sister will be the exception.
“Sigh, also I want to apologise for causing those burns on your leg. The news you gave me was not good for my control.”
“Yes, you must be an exceptionally powerful unicorn if you can start the wild fire transformation. You were breathing fire and your mane and tail were starting to smoke before I punched you in the face. I suppose that’s the reason how you’ve managed to become a First Lieutenant at such a young age; there’s less than a hundred unicorns known who can start the transformation, and out of them you have to be the youngest by a large margin.”
This brought a small chuckle out of Shining Armor. The first one since he received the news of his sister. “You’re in intelligence aren’t you?” Eye Spy nodded in conformation, “and when I said that I knew Princess Cadance personally just now you didn’t flinch, so you know a little about me. Do you know why Cadance was my sister’s foal sitter?”
“I do not know. I only knew that your family was close to Princess Cadenza and I guessed that she was a foal sitter for your sister.”
“It was a desperate petition for help. Even as a young foal, Twily could start the wild fire transformation.” This made Eye Spy shriek out a “WHAT” “It’s true. With all the family around it was manageable; but by the time I was off to high school my parents were deep into their careers and every sitter we tried just couldn’t handle Twilight when she got angry. Heh, if I remember correctly our family was barred from every sitter service in Canterlot.
“That was when I actually went to the castle with a petition to help my parents and Twily.
“So there I was, second spring afternoon court, waiting in line for my turn to see Princess Celestia to ask her to help our family. It must have been quite a sight seeing a fourteen year old waiting in line surrounded by adults much older than me with only a small pile of paper as evidence to my plea for help; when Cadance pops up from nowhere and asks why I was there.
“Honestly I didn’t know she was a princess, but she had a friendly smile on her face and she looked like she was the youngest person in the line excluding me, so I told her of the problem my family was having. She listened to my tale, had a look through the list of former foal sitters I brought – looking back at that memory I can laugh at how high Cadances eyebrows got as she went down the list of names; there was over fifty.
“The line had moved maybe three ponies by this point when she asked if this was all I wanted; someone to foalsit my sister and who could help her control these outbursts, and I replied yes. I mentioned that we didn’t have that much money but could offer a basic salary if need be, however Cadance stopped me with a wing. That was when I realised I was speaking to a princess; I hadn’t looked past her face at all, never noticed the wings, or that the adults around me who were looking at me as if I was crazy speaking to a princess like some commoner.
“I couldn’t even open my mouth to apologise for not realising who she was when she just grabbed me and my petition in her magic before dragging me to the front of the line. We actually interrupted someone else’s turn as she marched right up to Princess Celestia and said she was granting my petition and that she would do it.
“I was in shock at what was happening, but Princess Celestia smiled at her niece and retrieved the petition. She gave it a quick read, asked for clarification on when Twilight started having her problem. I remember she deliberately did not mention what the problem was even though it was written down on the petition; even then she was looking out for Twilight and she didn’t even know her. She asked for my name, my age for some reason, where I lived and if that was everything. Once I answered every question as honestly as I could Princess Celestia approved my petition giving the task to Cadance and stipulated that Cadance be available at her own discretion and that the crown would cover the costs for the foalsitter and expenses.
“The rest is history; we left together right then to meet my parents and Twily at my house. Those two hit it off instantly and ever since Cadance has basically been a part of our family. You know, I do believe Cadance has spent more time at my parents’ house than at the castle since she started.”
Eye Spy nodded at the heart-warming story before a slight smile appeared on her face; there was an air of mischief about it. “And now you’ve been dating Princess Cadenza for a little over a month when this situation happens.”
“You know?!”
“Please, as you said I’m in intelligence, no matter how small it is; it’s my job to know what potential security threats there may be to the princesses. Before you ask, you guys have not been as subtle as you think; if the betting pool going around is any indication, at least half of the castle knows it. If I could make a suggestion I’d tell you to go to your marefriend when you get to the castle. I think, right now, that is the best place for you to be.”
This silence was deafening and Eye Spy actually wondered if she had broken the First Lieutenant “Betting pool?”
That statement only grew the smile that was currently on Eye Spy’s face “Yes I’m afraid so.”
“Half the castle?”
“At least that I’m afraid, yes.”
“Dose Princess Celestia know about it?”
“If you are asking about you dating Princess Cadenza; then yes she does know. If you are asking about the betting pool; then yes she knows about that as well.”
“Sigh I can’t believe the princess is allowing this interference with Cadances and my love life. Why hasn’t she shut it down yet?”
The Cheshire cat grin that appeared on Eye Spy’s face would have made even the god of chaos proud. “Because. She’s got money on you two getting married.”
“What?!”
“And that’s all I’m going to say on the matter. Now since you’ve managed to talk this easily I’d guess your muzzle is going to be ok, so can you please go see Princess Cadenza and make sure she’s not destroying herself with guilt, please?”
“Why are you trying to help us?” the exasperation was clear to hear within his voice. This day has obviously been more than a frantic chariot ride through a thunder storm for him; especially if he’s missing such an obvious answer to his question.
“As you said, I’m in intelligence. There are a number of reasons having a good relationship with the person who’s on track to be the youngest Capitan of the Royal Guard in history.” ‘Intelligence is both gathering information and deceiving the opposition.’ “Now hurry up in your escort duty; my leg is killing me and you’ve got a princess that more than likely is in desperate need of reassurance.”
Shining Armor could no nothing else but shake his head. “Yes Ma’am” before catching up to the retreating figure.
Within the private dining room of Princess Celestia the, relatively, small huddle of alicorns hadn’t moved much from their position. The small baby dragon had sat back down and was now asleep at the edge of the table closest to the huddle, curled into a small ball and gently sucking the tip of his tail. Some members of the castle staff had obviously been in the room and had delivered some light refreshments in the forms of various flower petal sandwiches, slices of white frosted cloud cake, some bottles of iced water and a fresh pot of tea and coffee, both resting on a warming plate. All of this was sitting at the bottom of the ten seater mahogany table with the princess huddle situated at the top.
There was a gentle knock on the large golden stained wooden doors before they opened, allowing the pure white stallion with a multi shade of blue mane and tail access to the room. He was out of his armour and had a bandage covering the left side of his muzzle.
Walking up to the white huddle of wings, he cleared his throat to gain their attention. “Umm, Princess Celestia; if you would be so kind?”
The huddle of wings moved a little as the large alicorn extracted herself from comforting her niece. “Ah, First Lieutenant. Yes, I must be needed elsewhere; we are still housing the ambassadors of our allies at the moment.”
She had barely extracted herself from the small pink alicorn, before Shining Armor took her place in reassuring Princess Cadance.
Cadance on the other had had stopped thinking entirely “Shining? Wh-what are you doing here? You should be searching for Twilight” while her voice said one thing, the desperate vice like grip of a hug he was receiving told an entirely different story; doubly so when her wings completely surrounded him.
“Cadance, it wasn’t your fault. I’m here to reassure my marefriend that this whole thing wasn’t her fault and that I’m here for her during this, difficult time. Honestly, I think I need you just as much as you need me right now; I lost control earlier and injured somepony quite badly because of it.” It wasn’t needed to be said what he lost control of, as it was the same problem that his sister had that brought them together in the first place.
Cadance gave the smallest of wet smiles to her coltfriend, before burying her face into the crook of his neck, quietly sobbed tears of both relief as well as pain. For his part Shinning stood there supporting the leaning weight of his marefriend, slowly and gently running a fetlock down her back; all the while his eyes wept a clear, slightly salty, liquid.
So engrossed with each other, neither of them noticed Princess Celestia quietly leaving the room; a sad smile on her face.
The sun had set and the room was dark before it was disturbed once again, this time by two unicorns. The first one, a mare, had a light grey coat with her mane and tail in the colours of white and purple stripes. The other figure, a stallion, was completely blue, with only a darker shade for his mane and tail separating the single uniform colour. These two unicorns were Twilight Velvet and Night Light respectively; they were Shining Armor’s parents. They were Twilight Sparkles Parents.
The huddle of comfort grew with these new arrivals. Nothing was said; nothing was needed to be said, all of them knew why they were here. They were a family desperate for comfort and reassurance from one another; trying their absolute best to reassure each other that their missing member was out there alive somewhere, and that they would see her again soon.
The lights within the room remained dark; the refreshments forgotten, the doors undisturbed. Only one noise penetrated the room; the painful sobs of a broken family comforting themselves in the only way possible.