//------------------------------// // 15: Arresting the Aggressors // Story: Anon von Bismarck // by WojakWriter //------------------------------// An hour later, my feet are sore from pacing back and forth outside the room. I could feel a stitch developing in my side, and once more swore to start exercising properly. Quill was still away, gathering the ponies I had asked her to as soon as she'd returned with the doctor. And finally, the doctor exits the darkened room, wiping his hooves with a cloth. I halted in front of him, and he stares up at me with tired eyes ”Well my lord, you can thank Celestia for making me study changeling anatomy after their attack on Canterlot. That one's fairly beat up, broken snout, small rupture in the thorax, but they're hardy creatures. He'll pull through, just needs some rest now, and bandage changes once a day.” The doctor taps his hoof on the ground, his brow furrowing. “The injuries were consistent with a truly violent beating, and I'm rather certain there was the imprint of a shod hoof in one of the changelings plates. Take that as you will, my lord, but I'm fairly certain whoever did this was a pony.” The doctor lowered his head and began to walk away slowly. As I went to go enter the room, his quiet voice from behind me made me pause. ”My lord, even though he's just a changeling, do find whatever beast did this and make him pay. My oath won’t let this go unanswered.” I turned and gave the doctor an empty smile. “Of course, doc. You can rest assured that I'll be losing a lot of fucking sleep until this bastard is found.” The doctor nods, a small smirk touching his face at my cursing. It was quite the rare occurrence for me to curse, especially these days. Chitin's room is quiet, the windows shuttered and curtained to replicate the darkness of a hive, for his comfort. A soft and eerie glow comes from the bed, organized in twisted and weird shapes Bioluminescence, I quickly realized. The glow pitches up and fades, in time with Chitin's now soft breathing. Gone was the desperate wheeze I had heard earlier, he sounded quite comfortable in fact I suppose that doctor must really know what he was doing. As I took a seat by his bedside, the changeling stirs in his slumber. The hisses and clicks he makes are unnerving, but I was going to wait here until he woke up. It was impossible to leave him alone at this point. And if those who attacked him came back, I would be ready. A gentle knock comes from the door and it creaks open on its old hinges. ”Anonymous, sir? The officers from the deployment section are here as you asked.” I turned, giving a tight smile. At least something was going right, for now. “Excellent, please come in gentlecolts.” The two officers, and Quill, come and sit on their haunches in front of me. I leaned forward, my expression growing grim. “As Quill may or may not have told you, the changeling ambassador was under security lockdown by the Royal Guard, until this afternoon. Quill and I found him lying in bed, beaten and bleeding. As of approximately three hours past noon, the Royal Guards have been dismissed in their diplomatic security roles. This is where you come in.” My hands grip on themselves tightened and I began to grit my teeth. As distasteful as this was, it was absolutely necessary “What I need your section to organize is two things. First of all, assigning soldiers to guard the changeling ambassador against assault and worse. Soldiers from outside Canterlot only, if you please. The second is a section of military police, again from outside Canterlot, to arrest the entire roster of guards assigned to this duty.” Even in the gloom of the darkened room, I could see the eyes of all the ponies widen. I hadn't informed Quill of this before her leaving, and though it pained me, it was what was required to ensure no guardponies got wind of this before they were taken into custody. They wouldn’t get the chance to retaliate. “I understand this isn't an easy order to follow, and I assure you it's just as hard to give. But make no mistake, whether or not the ambassador is a changeling, assault is assault. I don't need to tell you what havoc an entire hive of furious changelings could wreak on a nation in wartime. I want to be sure they're wreaking it on our enemies. Do either of you have any questions?” The two officers share a look, then the younger of the two opened his mouth. ”Sir, what do we do if they resist?” I leaned back, a frown tugging down the edges of my mouth. “Treat them as you would any other pony resisting arrest.” I could see the two of them swallow hard, and the elder speaks up in a hesitant voice. ”A-and if they band together?” I closed my eyes and sighed heavily. “We don't need another war on our hands, so try and keep it non-lethal. But if they shoot first, cut them down like chaff. I won't tolerate seditious behavior, even if they are Royal Guards. Am I clear?” They shared another look, more sure but still clearly nervous. ”Yes sir.” They answered in unison, a firmness entering their eyes. I dismissed the officers and leaned further back in my chair as Quill leans against my legs and lays her chin onto my knees. ”Sir, is this really a good idea? I know the military has a firm support base, but I believe a great many ponies will side with the Royal Guards, especially here in Canterlot. There's no love lost for changelings here.” I laid a hand on her head and began to rub it gently. “That may be, Quill, but guards or not, they are under the law. Assault is assault, whether on a pony or another species.” She nods, but her voice still held uncertainty. ”Still sir, I don't think we need any more destabilization.” I sighed heavily, rubbing my eyes. She's right of course, but that doesn’t mean I had to like it. On one hand, I could simply tell Chitin that it was a complete unknown as to who attacked him, and there was no proof to indict anyone. Of course he may have seen his attacker, which would reflect even more poorly on me that even saying I couldn't find the guilty But on the other hand, there was an investigation into the Royal Guards, an organization that had existed for thousands of years. They certainly wouldn't take kindly to being investigated, and I wasn’t sure how they would act if one of their own was charged with the assault. If I was anywhere but Canterlot, I would see no problems with simply rounding up the guards in public and performing a thorough, invasive investigation. But here in the capital, public opinion sided firmly with the throne, and the Royal Guards by extension. Even if I had taken over Celestia's position, I wasn’t a part of the royal lineage and that meant to many in Canterlot, I had no claim to the throne. They wouldn’t accept me unless they had to. It was in part why I had gone to such lengths to ensure ponies accepted Luna as reformed, so that I could maintain a semblance of royal endorsement. I pinched the bridge of my nose, the days events taking their toll on me. As though sensing my state, Quill clambered into my lap and curled up. My eyelids began to weigh on me, feeling as though they weighed a thousand pounds, and my eyes like they are caked in sand. Chitin still wasn't stirring, and the castle was quiet. The warm air of the summer evening was pulling me closer to sleep. It couldn't hurt, I supposed, to take a short nap. In what felt like minutes, I was once more awake. There was a knocking on the door. Cautiously, I put Quill onto the chair next to me, and went to open the door. As I opened the door, I saw a pegasus messenger holding a box. “Sir, here’s the weapon you requested for.” Ah right, that thing. I had requested for it before I left for Trottingham. I almost forgot about it. “Thank you, miss. You may continue on your way.” I grabbed the box and carried in into the room, closing the door behind me. I opened the box, grabbing what was inside. A beautiful pistol, styled after the Colt M1911 from my old days in the army. It served me well. This wasn’t an ordinary one though, not anymore. After all, I wasn’t a soldier anymore. I was a king. And my personal weapon should fit that. Decorated in a polished silver, and with a Myrtle wood grip, it was now befitting of a king. Not to mention the barrel was made smaller, for easier concealment. It also served another purpose. A weapon for my officers and medics. Before this, they had no weapons at all, simply relying on other soldiers to defend them. Now they could at least shoot back. As I was admiring the beauty of my new weapon, I heard a sudden fit of coughing. I felt my heart jump straight into my throat and let out a muffled choking noise. A soft, hissing voice comes from the area of the orbs, and finally resolves just what it was. ”My apologies, lord. I did not mean to frighten you so.” Of course, I had fallen asleep in Chitin's room, it shouldn't have surprised me. But sleep always had this effect on my memory. “Don't worry about it, Chitin. How are you feeling?” A chittering chuckle echoes dryly in the small room. ”Considering the damage sustained, I am alright. Whichever of your ponies worked to heal me did well, though my organs ache.” I grimaced at the casual tone his voice carried. He focuses in on me and continued to speak, his voice growing more serious. ”I have not informed my queen of this, my lord. I believe that would compromise any diplomatic efforts we go to.” I sat back in my chair, stunned, and elated. My expectation was an immediate termination of any kind of talks followed by the coincidental leaking of classified documents to the griffons. As though reading my mind, Chitin continued. “My queen ordered me to...'turn the other cheek' unless my life were in danger. And since I am still alive, my life was not in danger and so I do not need to report this immediately.” A bead of sweat stings my eyes, and my tongue darted out to wet my dried lips. “W-well I must thank you for this. I've had the military launch an investigation into the incident separate of the Royal Guards, and using ponies from outside Canterlot. Hopefully this will alleviate some of the possible bias the ponies of Canterlot have towards changelings. Do you remember at all who attacked you? Any sort of information would be of great help to us in bringing the culprit to justice.” The glowing orbs shifted, and somehow I was able to tell he's looking straight into my eyes, despite the gloom. He gets closer, and his voice becomes quiet and monotone. ”I have no memory of who attacked me, my lord. They were royal guardsmen, but that is all I could recall. It is something you shall have to find on your own, unfortunately.” The galloping of hooves sounds in the halls as I realized the implication. While he wasn't going to report this to Chrysalis, he couldn’t help in aiding me in finding the culprit either. It wasn't that he didn't hold ill will over the incident, it was that he was forcing an apology of a different kind. 'Either find who did it, or you'll never find us' Blackmail. A pounding at the door snaps me from my thoughts, and Chitin retreated to under the covers of his bed. The moment he does, the door bursts open and a frantic looking soldier gallops in, panting heavily. ”My lord Anonymous, there's an incident in the guard barracks!” I opened my mouth to ask for clarity, when a singular crack of a gunshot echoes through the halls. The soldiers eyes widened, as mine mirrored his. Quill starts violently and falls off the chair I placed her on, but she's just an afterthought in the shock of the moment. Without a word, the soldier turns and gallops toward the sound of the shot, and I began to follow, hot on his hooves.