"M..my queen?"
I stuttered a litle as I spoke, too many worries and thoughts rushing through my brain. By now I had grown used to finding her present at the gardens, looking out on over Equestria and greeting me warmly no matter how burdened she was, but today she had not event acknowledged me as I entered. Suddenly she spoke, though her eyes were still looking out into the distance.
"I send them to their death, forced my own sister to have them murdered..."
Her voice was broken and sad, as if all the spirit from her life had been taken. I found it very difficult to find words to reply to that, the whole atmosphere just feeling so cold and freezing me.
"You... It was not by your order th--"
"I held the power and I gave the power to those who send them, it was by my order that they went to Hoofington."
More silence followed as my mind now focused on those who had been given the power, the day when I first really spoke with Celestia and in her council meeting she allowed her advisors full reign on solving the problem of the revolution. Her only demand being that it be solved as peacefully as possible. I opened my mouth to speak and suddenly a cold shiver ran down my horn and into my spine, causing me to look around myself somewhat distressed.
I could not see anything out of place, but the feeling of unease would not go away. Still, I had to say something.
"On the hope that it won't harm me I'll speak freely...." another shiver and this time I flinched a little "I believe you should focus on the cause of this first, so it won't happen again."
Celestia looked over at me, and if she saw my great discomfort did not question it, instead asking.
"The cause? I am the one holding the responsiblity, I am the---"
I could not bear hearing her utter such self defeating words again, opening my muzzle to speak and tell her about the things I had discovered.
"..."
and found myself unable to, my jaw locked in place as Celestia continued, her words not even recognizable anymore as I panicked stuck in place as if I was glued to the floore Luckily enough the sun goddess was not able to utter many more words anyway, suddenly one of her advisors showed up, very much like the day she had handed them control of the situation .
At this point I regained my ability to move freely, though my jaw was still locked in place. Turning to look at him I could see that he smiled warmly, though it felt like he was glaring at me. And his voice sounded like it had just a little less respect and was more commanding
"My queen, with the matter of recent events arising we require an emergancy meeting right now, if you would be so kind to lend us your presence."
Celestia nodded in response to the demand, a soft sigh emiting from her tired lips as she trotted off toward the pony, looking over to me and speaking.
"Starshine, do you wish to attend once more?"
There was silence, my jaw still locked in place, when the advisor spoke up at once anyway.
"I believe this meeting does not require Starshine's assistance, and due to the nature of the meeting and recent events it might be better if we kept it to the fewest amount of ponies possible."
It was of course silly to assume that anypony had not yet heard of the 'disaster at Hoofington' as ponies liked to phrase it now, but with my silence Celestia seemed to simply go with it, nodding respectfully as she took her leave and the two ponies trotted off.
The moment they were out of sight I could feel my jaws at once freed, and a pony made himself visible to my presence. Surprisngly enough he was an elder earthpony, his clothing revealing him to also be a council member, though of lower rank then the other I had met. He trotted over close to me, his eyes speaking tales about how much he wished to see me dead on the spot.
"You are either incredibly lucky or smart to have shut up when you did... though I want you to give me one reason why any of us should keep this charade up, and not simply have you killed right now?"
I could hear the clunk of a crossbow being reloaded and suddenly another pony made himself known, this one a guard from my very own detachment. I had talked to him between shifts a number of times, certainly not the type I expected to ever have a crossbow aimed at my head. I opened my mouth, testing if I could indeed speak freely, and it was so.
"I... to murder me would draw questions and attr---"
The lower council pony smiled at me and shook his head, motioning for the guard to come closer, so close I could see the terror in his face, seemingly he was no more happy about doing this then I was.
"You really think I would come out like this without even having thought about how to do it?"
His words had a bitter tone to it and suddenly he spoke out once more.
"Knee"
Before I could even figure out what had been said my whole world exploded in pain, my knee being penetrated and shattered by a bolt and my scream muffled with a hoof, the advisor grining at me and my pain almost maddly, seemingly having rather a joyfull time with this.
While I was still twitching and trying to scream he spoke up once more.
"Now, enough of the stupid answers, I want you to give me a reason why I should let you live."
As I bleed out on the stonefloor the earthpony pushed me forward and against the railing of the balcony, finally making it clear how he intented to murder me without many questions being asked.
"It is a very long fall... and trust me, whoever will find your body won't be inclined to tell our dear queen about the grim details of your demise."
His hoof moved away from my mouth, and for a moment I considered screaming for help, but a little shove reminded me why I should not. I stuttered, from pain and panick, as I tried to find words.
"I—I--"
He broke in, one of his hoofs pushing the bolt deeper into the knee, making me wince pathaticly.
"reason..."
Something inside me snapped at that point, anger welling up inside my body as I decided that I did not really care if he pushed me off this ledge or not, smiling back at him. I opened my muzzle to speak, but before a single word could be uttered the guard wearing the crossbow suddenly flew past us, over the balcony railing, yelling in panic as he began to fall.
In a flash the adviser pushed me forward and over the edge, before turning to look at the assailant, and finding himself pummled by a large earthpony, who crushed his chest before picking up his more feeble and elder body and throwing him over the ciff to join me and the guard.
Though, I was able to see all of this, which at first did not click in my mind but then reminded me that I should be falling and not spectating, being held in midair exactly where I was. In confusion my eyes glanced over to the earthpony, which I now recalled to be the rust red earthpony from last night. And beside him was the dark blue pegasus who had spoken to me so nicely.
Suddenly I floated back over the balcony and was let down slowly, with care for my wounded leg. And now I could also see a third pony, an elder and dark grey looking unicorn, wearing an advisor pin of the highest rank himself. He had a long beard and was a face nearly as famous as Celestia or Luna, at least in Canterlot and the unicorn centric cities. The pegasus was the first to speak, steping close to me.
"I believe you owe me your life, maybe even twice now. Anyway, we should really move away from here and find a better place to chitchat, that one pony screamed more then a royal guard should."
I was not even asked any further questions, my body suddenly being moved by the unicorns magic, making sure that my wounded leg would be held straight and inplace as I half limped and half floated alongside the other ponies.
To my surprise we ran into no guards, leaving me wondering if they had purposely been respositioned in such a way that there was a perfect escape path. My guard mind said that this was quite a security hole in the castles protection, but then I assumed that was the point of it.
We finally reached what were two large doors, which with a single push from the earthpony revealed to be the living chambers of the unicorn beside me. Many large tomes and books being arranged in neat order.
We entered and the doors were closed behind us when suddenly the old unicorn turned toward me and spoke with what I assumed to be his best soothing voice was.
"This is going to hurt, but I assure you that despite any normal military lessons you were given, this is the best option for you."
Before I could question exactly what he meant, a sharp pain rushed through my body once more and the crossbowbolt was pulled from my knee with one strong magical pull. It left behind a rather gaping hole but blood did not flow from it, instead being held in place by what I assumed to be of the most magical complex forcefields I had ever seen. By now it it was obvious to me that this was not someone pretending to be him, but that it was indeed Starshwirl the bearded infront of me.
I had not infact seen him directly before, only heard of that he was present in Celestia's court as an advisor, though old and as such did not show himself often. To see him in such good shape had caught me rather offguard.
I whimpered as the pain in my body overwrote any questions or inquires I could have. The old unicorn gave a warm smile before motioning for the other two to come over, both of which did.
"Wingstroke, please bring me some of the herbs from the forth drawer down over on my left. Heavyweight--"
Before the old unicorn could finished the pegasus I now knew by the name Wingstroke placed the required herbs beside his body and interupted, his voice with a light growl.
"He is not supposed to know our names, and I do not appreciate you disgregarding our agreements in such a manner..."
There was a short silence, I felt as if there was some weird static of magical energy hanging in the air, but then it suddenly desisipated and Starshwirl spoke up, his voice filled with rather obvious disgust, it was loud and powerful.
"I believe our first agreement was that nopony died without Celestia's consent! If you desire me to keep to your rules, you would keep to mine."
This time there was a long silence, as Wingstroke turned to face the unicorn, then to face away, then faced the door, and finally walked away with a loud grunt. As he reached the door he noded toward the big earthpony I now assumed to be named Heavyweight and spoke.
"We'll be back tomorrow, just... make sure he stays quite and does not get into any more trouble."
With that he and his companion left the room, closing the door rather loudly and leaving me alone with my fellow unicorn, who was still concentrating on keeping my wound from bleeding. He turned toward me and smiled once more, his voice now calm and friendly.
"Alright, the wound should have started clogging by now, I will get these herbs crushed and something to bandage the wound with, while I do that my concentration on the wound might waver a bit, I am sorry if you start to bleed."
The way he spoke in an almost fatherly tone was very calming, unlike the other two ponies he gave me a feeling of genuily caring about my well being, rather then helping me for some selfish purpose. The way he returned his attention at me and answered to my unasked questions made me wonder if he was able to read my mind, or at least interpret my emotions.
"Don't worry about them right now, you are allowed to stay here and rest for as long as you require, and with my help the wound should heal much faster then you'll expect. And--"
He brought forth the bandages he had gotten, using magic to cut them to size while also using a morter to grind up the herbs, my wound indeed starting to drip blood as his concentration was divided.
"I too have heard about your recent activites. While most will do not appreciate your actions, there are some which are still loyal to the princess,"he grunted for a moment "trully loyal."
I felt that last moment was refering to his two allies I had already met yesterday, and as he placed the herb mixture on my wound I asked.
"What about... Wingstroke and that earthpony, Heavyweight? They seem to be helping you, or you them?"
He wraped the bandage around my wound and fastened it with his magic, making sure it was firm but would not cut off the circulation completly.
"They have their agendas which to most part align with mine as such make us natural allies. But I would not call them honorable ponies, or loyal to the princess for the right reasons."
He withdrew himself from his work, studying it with cautious eyes before smiling up at me once more.
"But you... naive, but very determined to do what you believe is right. I truly believe you deserve this badge" he pointed a hoof at the grand advisor pin he was wearing "more then most ponies currently in that meeting with the princess, but sadly it is not so."
He looked thoughtful for a moment and I tried to move my leg a little, curious to see if it still had mobility. It did, moving it shot incredible pain through my body but the leg itself moved suprisingly well, I must have gotten really lucky all things considered.
"However, you have something no badge or fancy position can garantee us, and that is Celestia's wise ear." Suddenly he poked me with a hoof, placing it over my heart. "Your job is it to give her the correct advice and guide her in the correct direction, without making yourself too much of a target."
The way Starswirl said that made me a little anxious, as if suddenly Equesria had stood up and said it trusted in me and whatever non existant wisdom it believed I had. Or at least the greatest unicorn in the nation had done so. I opened my mouth to speak, but just ended up closing it wordless, not sure what to say to him. All he did was nod understandingly, looking past me and through a window out onto Canterlot.
"I know you do not believe it, but I feel you have what it takes to set things right. At very least you have the genuin desire to, not like these vultures that seem to surround us fully."
His words were heartwarming and encuraging at a time when I felt in over my head and lost in a sea of confusing dangers. At very least I felt, I finally had found a pony I could trust with my thoughts, without endangering anypony in doing so. I stayed with him for now, asking him for all the answers and explantions I was not smart enough to find myself.