Life in Ponyville
The next morning, Twilight woke up and went through her regularly scheduled list to get ready for breakfast. Spike was still in bed, so Twilight decided to give him some extra sleeping time for being such a good little assistant that past few days. She went downstairs and found the peace and serenity of the Library in the early hours of the morning. She loved that sense of peace every morning before a new day. The shades of light blue that covered everything announcing that the sun was coming but it had still to make an appearance, the cool breeze of the past night still lingering around the world, and the complete serenity of every single living thing being still asleep. All broken when she heard the thumps of the wood the Spartan’s boots made as he approached Twilight.
“Good morning Silent, did you sleep well?” Twilight asked, expecting to hear some sort of vocal response from the guard.
The Spartan only nodded at her question and went directly to the chair he had been using the previous day. He sat down on it and picked up the same book he had been reading the other day, though it was noticeable that he was near the end of the book. Twilight thought of the things she would be able to learn from him if only he could speak. She would send a letter later on to Princess Luna to see what spell she used, and see if she could modify it so he could also speak. That would have to wait though, as she had a dire need at the moment: she needed coffee. She moved onto her kitchen and turned on the stove as the water kettle on top of it began to heat. Making coffee, cereal, and toast were among some of the only things she could do without setting the kitchen on fire. It completely escaped her how she could be so good at chemistry, yet so bad at cooking. It really pissed her off sometimes.
In the other room, the Spartan silently read his book without noticing anything in the world. Or so it seemed, in reality the Spartan was constantly looking at his motion sensor, which he had reconfigured to a larger radius. He was secretly monitoring every moving creature in the library as the morning developed. Sure, he read his book and was learning a lot of it as he was new to reading this sort of scripture. If this book were to be in the human English alphabet he would’ve already finished it yesterday, so it was no surprise it was taking him so long to read it. He looked at his sensor and saw that all dots were accounted for. Twilight then came from the kitchen and saw him still with his book.
“Umm, Silent?” asked Twilight to the Spartan as he lifted his head and saw her, “Would you like some coffee once it’s done?”
The Spartan nodded at her suggestion and went back to his book.
Twilight took the affirmation and moved back into the kitchen as the kettle started whistling its tune. She turned it off and prepared the two mugs of coffee as she poured hot water into them. She was making good progress in socializing with the guard and maybe if she could reach out to him he would want to teach her about his world, once she got the spell from Luna, that is. She came from the kitchen and set the steaming mugs at the dining table and called the Spartan over.
He sat down and surprisingly grabbed the mug by grabbing the handle with his five digits rather than passing his arm trough the handle and applying pressure grip to the sides like most ponies would. The day Twilight got him to speak would be the like receiving a Christmas present and birthday present early and at the same time. She then saw the guard lift his face up, and under it a mouth protruded where he ingested the coffee. Twilight couldn’t believe what she was seeing; this being wasn’t some sort of mechanical animal! It was covered in metal armor! How did she not realize this before? Now more than ever she wanted to have answers to the questions that were starting to bubble into her mind. She stood up and went up the stairs to wake up Spike. She had to send a letter.
After Spike made breakfast, and Twilight being somehow informed that her guard had something he couldn't eat, the morning slowly turned into mid-day. Twilight was getting her saddlebags on as she was going out for the weekly grocery trip. She went out the door and left the library and its occupants behind as she trotted towards the market place. Once she got there she would be able to purchase parchment, ink, quills, vegetables, apples, and coffee among other things.
It appeared that the Spartan had let her go without any sort of supervision whatsoever, this was really good for Twilight as she thought having a guard would mean being escorted around the whole place and secluding her from the general populace. This was turning out to be great, since it only meant having a new roommate for a couple of months. Twilight moved around the marketplace and did her shopping through the stalls, checking the things she already had acquired from her checklist. After all of that ruckus, she thought it would be a good idea to visit her friend Applejack and see if she might buy some apples. As she neared the stand with a big apple drawn over it she could already see her orange earth pony friend servicing a few other clients. The orange earth pony had a Stetson hat, blonde hair, and freckles.
“Hello Applejack how are you doing today?” asked Twilight.
“Hiya Twilight, I’m doin mighty fine thank ya for asking. As you can see here, today’s apples are selling real nice. How about you sugarcube, anything to report?” asked Applejack.
“Well I’m quite good too now that you ask. Yesterday the guard Celestia told me she would send arrived, and I must say he was quite a shock the first time I saw him. He seems to be very reclusive, yet from what I’ve witnessed he would be a gold mine of information if I could get him to speak.”
“Word got around to the farm about this guard coming to town; he must be quite something if he shocked the whole town just buy coming to it. So he’s a shy one isn’t he? I don’t know how much help a shy guard will be to ya Twilight.”
“No Applejack you misunderstood me, it’s not that he’s shy, he just can’t talk.”
“Oh so he is one of them poor speech impaired ponies huh? I’m so sorry for the poor guy, I have a cousin who happens to have that problem. It makes it really hard for him sometimes.”
“Not quite either Applejack you see he just doesn’t know our language so he can’t speak it. So he rather decided not to speak.”
“What’s the point of a guard who can’t understand us?”
“Well, he does understand us.”
“For cryin out loud Twi! Just tell me what his deal is already!”
“Ok well, umm you see, he doesn’t technically belong here. Nopony knows where he came from but he crashed on Canterlot. The Princesses took him in and seem to trust him, so they made him my guard. Personally, I think it’s great he doesn’t seem to follow me around everywhere I go, since I got these wings everypony seems to act differently towards me, and having a guard follow me around would be the final nail in the coffin. Ponies would probably start bowing to me, and I can’t let that happen.”
“I don’t know, Twi, him being from who knows where yet he can’t talk with us, but he can understand us, and he’s strong enough for the princesses to place him in guard duty? It just doesn’t sit well with me, I’m not saying I don’t trust the princesses, but maybe they’re a little too trusting of this fellow.”
“I know it seems strange, but don’t worry, if anything does happen I’ll go right to you girls and send a letter to the princess, ok?”
“Ok Twilight, be careful though.”
“I will Applejack, thanks for your concern. Before I leave, do you think I could get four Red Delicious apples to go?”
“Sure Twilight, here you go!”
“Thanks, this will go great with the fruit salad I’m planning on making this afternoon. How much do I owe you?”
“I’d say about 2 bits should do it.”
“Alright here you are, thank you for the apples AJ.”
Both Ponies saluted each other and parted ways. Twilight was making her way back home when a pink blur shot past her into the general direction of the library. Twilight’s mind clicked and it suddenly hit her. Pinkie Pie. A bit of fear appeared in Twilight’s eyes as she began running to the library. She didn’t know how her guard would react to being bombarded by multiple questions by an unknown mare without respect for personal space, but she knew that it wouldn’t end well. She had almost reached the library when the door opened and pinkie shot through it.
‘Oh no, I’m too late!’ Thought Twilight as she saw her friend fly out the door. Then Pinkie fell on the ground and ran up to Twilight.
“WHERE IS HE!?” Shouted the pink and bouncy earth mare as she grabbed ahold of Twilight’s face.
“Pinkie what do you mean?” asked Twilight.
“You know exactly what I mean Twilight! I was told about your new guard coming to Ponyville to stay, and he’s your new guard it means he’s new and that means he’s never been in Ponyville which means I have to befriend him and throw him a ‘Welcome to Ponyville New Guard Friend’ party!”
“Pinkie I have no idea what you’re talking about! When I left this morning I left him at the library, there’s no reason he shouldn’t still be…” But Twilight’s reply was cut short as this time a green blur shot right past her face where Pinkie Pie was.
She stood shocked as she saw that Pinkie Pie was no longer holding her face or in front of her for that matter. She looked to the side and she saw her guard grabbing Pinkie by her waist and lifting her up in the air. He looked back to Twilight and said, “Authorize.”
“Wait Silent! She’s my friend!” yelled Twilight as the Spartan held Pinkie.
‘I’m guessing she is the one named Pinkie Pie. Well, I can’t just assume stuff but one never truly knows.’ Thought the Spartan as he gently placed Pinkie down.
“Pinkie I’m so sorry about this, I couldn’t have known he would react like this. I mean I didn’t even know where he was up until you…” but Twilight was once more interrupted as Pinkie gasped and looked at the Spartan. She then started bombarding him with millions of questions ranging from his favorite color to his favorite balloon. All the while Twilight was trying to get her attention the whole time.
“PINKIE!!!!!!” yelled Twilight with all her might.
“What is it Twilight?” asked Pinkie.
“He can’t answer back.”
“Who can’t answer back? Sparty? But why?”
‘Did she just call me Sparty? WAIT! How did she even get to that nickname? Does she somehow know I’m a Spartan?’ thought the Spartan.
“He can’t answer back because he doesn’t know our language, he can understand us but he just can’t speak like us, also I’ve been informed his name is Silent Warrior not Sparty.”
“Silent Warrior? However did you get to that conclusion about Sparty?”
“The Princesses told me. How did YOU get to Sparty anyway?”
“Oh Twilight, sweet, innocent, Twilight… maybe if you just think about it you’ll get it someday. Anyway I’d love to stay and chat but I have to go and plan a party. See you later Twilight!”
“Wait, Pinkie!” but Twilights demands were to no avail as the pink pony was already gone.
Twilight looked on to the Spartan who was staring in the direction the pink pony had run off. She was pretty sure he was as confused about the situation as she was but she was used to it so she could now easily shrug it off. He on the other hand would have something to think about for the next few days.
“Don’t worry about it Silent, that’s just Pinkie being Pinkie. What you should worry about instead is about your actions, mister. You can’t just attack ponies like that! If I hadn’t said anything would you just have proceeded to attack her? You have to be more careful about your actions Silent. Please don’t make me repeat myself.” Twilight finished her verbal lashing towards the Spartan.
Both of them continued with several thoughts on their heads about what just had happened. The Spartan knew Twilight was right, but he had restrained himself from completely attacking by asking authorization for the pink mare. He would have to be more careful and only reserve himself to act when immediate danger was visible, or when he got signs of fear from Twilight herself. He would definitely need to work some sort of system out to better center himself around possible threats, since sudden body contact could very well be unacceptable in this kind of society.
Twilight was on the other side thinking about her guard. Sure he had been rough, but maybe she shouldn’t have given him such a lashing; after all, he was just doing his job. Another thing that was intriguing Twilight was the small little fact that Pinkie hadn’t found him at home. If he wasn’t there where was he? And how could he just appear out of nowhere when Pinkie barely made contact with her for mere seconds? Had he been following her? And if so, how did he manage to stay hidden with such an enormous size? Such were the questions that were slowly giving Twilight a migraine. She would have to give herself more time to think about them later, but right then, she thought she could very well use a good book and some tea.
They both entered the library as the Spartan reactivated the alarm system. He then sat down and grabbed his book once more. Twilight went up to her room and pulled out “Quantum Mechanics: advanced edition” from under her pillow. This book always seemed to relieve her of stress on rough days.
**********
Two hours had passed since the little incident with Pinkie Pie, and Twilight was completely engrossed by her book. You could practically walk right behind her and she wouldn’t notice, she was completely vulnerable to anything. And that’s exactly what a certain Rainbow maned pegasus thought when she saw her friend on a reading trip through her bedroom window. Rainbow was initially going to ask Twilight about any other Daring Do books that could have come out but after seeing her friend like that, she just couldn’t resist the idea of pulling a prank on her. It was simple prank, but she knew her friend wouldn’t stay like that forever, so time was of the essence; she quickly got ahold of a paper bag which she inflated. The plan was to sneak up on her and pop it right behind her, which would be hilarious. It was going great; she had snuck into the library without anypony noticing, and was slowly reaching Twilight. She was practically there when all of the sudden everything went black and something grabbed her muzzle.
She tried fighting back, and kicked full force with both her legs to whatever had grabbed her. She was happy to see that she could once more see and realized that whatever it was grabbing her it was taking her down from Twilight’s room into the lobby. She kicked once, twice, three times at her aggressor and each time she could sense whatever it was grabbing her muzzle slip as the kick made contact into something strong. Then a sharp pain came from the back of her head and everything went black again.
She woke up later and heard screams and insults that could only be from Twilight. Rainbow hearing the sounds of her friend in distress tried rushing to help, only to realize she was completely restrained by rope. All of her body had been restrained with tight rope and nothing was spared. Rainbow tried shouting but it also seemed like she had a gag in her mouth, just what in the flying fuck had happened? And of course Rainbow couldn’t see anything. Only then did she notice that the screams weren’t those of pain or horror; they were of hate. Twilight was utterly pissed as something, Rainbow didn’t know what it was but she could only take a guess that whatever it was it had really done it this time.
“I thought I had told you about these kinds of reactions Silent!” Twilight yelled, “In one day you’ve already assaulted TWO of my best friends! Would you like me to tell you where the others are so you can go ahead and get it out of the way!? I don’t know what Rainbow Dash did to get this sort of punishment but whatever it was it couldn’t have surmounted to this! I come down after reading my book and see you sitting with her gagged, roped, and blinded like a prisoner and all you do when I ask for an explanation is say ‘Authorize’. Silent I know you job is to guard me but this has got to stop! Not everypony who enters the PUBLIC library or touches me will have an evil scheme. It’s almost as if you thought there was somepony out there actually planning to harm me. At first I thought you were good but you haven’t been giving me reasons to trust you at all. Maybe Applejack was right; this is your last chance Silent. One more screw-up and I want you gone.”
Twilight sighed as she went over to Rainbow Dash and magically untied her. “I’m sorry for this, Rainbow Dash, he has a tendency to overreact. I don’t know what you were doing, maybe you got in through a window or something like that, but it shouldn’t have escalated into this. I’ll find a way to make it up to you.”
As Rainbow Dash was freed she could see what had grabbed her, it was very big. She looked at the Spartan quizzically for a moment as she was being overtaken by the surprise of this new creature she had never seen before. The surprise was quickly overtaken by anger as she remembered what the metallic creature did to her.
“What’s his problem?!” yelled an angry Rainbow Dash.
“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, as you may already know, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were going to send me a guard to keep me safe while they prepared the coronation, so things would pass on smoothly without invasions and things of the like. But this guard they sent me has proven to be more on the paranoid side that anything else and is giving me a lot more stress than he should be. I’ll make your make him give you a proper apology once I get Luna’s communication spell fixed.”
“It’s okay Twilight, I don’t hold against you, but make sure that he keeps to himself or else next time I’ll beat him to pulp.”
“So may I ask what you were doing here? You know before you got imprisoned.”
“Well I was going to ask you about any new Daring Do books.”
“If I remember correctly there should be a new one coming out soon, sadly I just can’t seem to keep up with all the studying I’ve been doing lately. Since Spike has been working with Rarity the past few days gathering gems and I rarely see him during the day it gets kind of chaotic in here.”
“I guess, anyway could you please tell me when it arrives? I’m eagerly waiting for it.”
“Since when have you been eager for a book Rainbow?” said Twilight with a smile
“Since your egg headedness started rubbing off on me.”
“Play nice, Rainbow, or maybe I’ll rent the book by accident to someone else.”
“Ugh! Fine I’m sorry. See you later ok?” and with that Rainbow Dash took flight and left the library by flying through the window she originally entered through. She could hear Twilight calling out to her with anger as she had told Rainbow Dash hundreds of times that she shouldn’t use the windows as doors.
Back in the library Twilight turned to look at the Spartan who was still standing where she had left him. She punished him like she would have punished Spike if he had stolen the ice cream in the freezer again. He placed the Spartan to clean the library from top to bottom. She had to teach the Spartan the error of his ways one way or another and it appeared that verbal lectures weren’t good enough. She hoped she wouldn’t have to come to anything more drastic.
The day continued and both ate a salad Twilight made up out of the groceries she had bought that day. Twilight decided it was enough of a break time and grabbed a couple books of Equestrian politics from the library desk and made way to her room. After that the afternoon passed by rather peacefully and turned into night. Spike had already arrived by the time the Sun exchanged places with the moon, but was so beaten after hunting gems he went directly to sleep, leaving Twilight to cook dinner. Dinner wasn’t that special, she made a few sandwiches and after that both she and the Spartan ate some fruit.
The night was silent and cool as Twilight studied about what her new set of responsibilities might entitle. Politics made her head pound, so many rules and drama queens making stuff up so they would be able to keep their material possessions. If it wasn’t for power it was for wealth; at least there were various that took emphasis on the people though. She thought she’d give it a rest for the day and turned off the lights of the library with a single spell she had learned not long ago. As she set herself for bed she heard the distinctive sounds of the guard’s boots walk into his room and closing the door behind him. Had he been up all the time while she was? Twilight gave it no second thought and went to sleep, Maybe the third day is the charm.
**********
The next day was quite a regular one; Spike’s gem hunting had ended so the meal and library organization would be taken care of. After a good breakfast, a knock on the door was heard and after opening in front of it was none other than Fluttershy. The pink haired and yellow coated pegasus looked at Twilight to ask for some help tracking down a rare plant in the Everfree forest. Everything was going well until she saw the metallic monster sitting on Twilight’s dining room. Instantly an inner battle gave way inside her as she would decide whether to run and hide or take both Twilight and Spike with her. She decided on the latter because as soon as Twilight was about to ask what was wrong, Fluttershy flew past her inside the library and grabbed Spike and one the way out she snatched Twilight. With both in tow she flew almost as fast as Rainbow Dash away from the Library and towards her cottage, Leaving a rather dumbfounded Spartan behind.
Once in her cottage Fluttershy shoved both Twilight and Spike in her room. She quickly closed and locked all the doors of the cottage aside from covering all the windows with drapes. Everything was perfectly silent before Twilight opened her mouth.
“Fluttershy? What’s going on?” asked Twilight.
“D-did you n-not see that m-monster?” replied Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, he isn’t a monster. He’s the guard Celestia sent to protect me. A rather paranoiac one at that, I might as well get going before he flips the whole city upside down searching for me.”
“NO! I can’t let you Twilight! What if he eats you!?” said Fluttershy holding Twilight’s face in her hooves.
“Fluttershy he isn’t going to eat me he is here to protect me.”
“But what if…” Fluttershy’s rebuttal was cut short as a set of knocks came to her front door.
Fluttershy went to her window and saw that the monster had followed them home. She was more scared than ever, it proved that the thing standing in front of her front door not only was big but also was rather fast. Twilight looked out the window and saw him.
“Fluttershy you have to let me go clear things up with him, or he might think you’re trying to kidnap me, and that won’t end well for any of us.”
“But Twilight!”
“No buts! Believe me when I say it’s easier this way.”
Twilight grabbed Spike with her magic and both made their way to the front door.
“Um Twilight, I don’t mean to add any more stress to the situation but I was cooking something when Fluttershy took us.” Said Spike on Twilights back.
“Great.” Said Twilight sarcastically as she opened the door.
The Spartan was surprisingly calm when she opened the door. He was just standing there looking at the cottage. He held a list in his extremities and seemed to be checking something out.
“Whatever it is that you’re planning, you can throw it away Silent, that pegasus in there is called Fluttershy and you sort of scared her. She overreacts sometimes but that’s okay, you got it?”
The Spartan nodded and only scribbled on the list a little more.
“Hey, umm, Twilight I should really get back to the Library.” said Spike from Twilight’s back.
“I know, could you get back on your own? Fluttershy was kind of asking me about a favor and maybe it’d be wise to do it, since were already here.”
Spike grunted and jumped off of Twilight’s back as he started the journey back home. Twilight went ahead and knocked on Fluttershy’s door. Soon enough the timid pony came out slowly from her cottage. It took a while before Fluttershy was confident enough to speak fluently with Twilight while the Spartan was there. It turned out that Fluttershy needed a root for a bunch of animals who had been starting to get ill from drinking in a contaminated pond. Twilight would be glad to help but first she needed to grab her saddlebags and a few books in order to find the root easily. Both she and the Spartan made their way back home in silence. They were almost there when the Spartan stopped Twilight with his hand.
“What is it Silent?” asked Twilight with confusion.
The tree house looked completely normal from the outside but something was off, the Town was completely silent. Nopony was on sight either trotting back home or socializing like usual. The Spartan was no fool and had been fully alert from day one, he looked at his sensor and he saw a lot of signals from inside the library. They were all placed in a semi-circle around the door. It was obviously an ambush, though how they were able to prepare in such short notice or evacuate the town for their attack was very jarring. He grabbed Twilight from her waste and carried her a few meters back from the door. He placed her down gently and looked back at the tree-house.
“Silent what are you doing?” a confused Twilight asked.
The Spartan placed himself in position and exploded into a mad dash towards the door he was going to break through it and eliminate all hostiles.
“SILENT!” yelled Twilight as she ran behind him.
It was too late though, as he smashed through the door and sent debris all over the area taking everyone inside by surprise. He was about to start the elimination process when a bright purple flash blinded him and he felt like he was being crushed against the world. His body gave up and smashed into the library’s wooden floor like rag doll as a purple glowing encapsulated him. His shields broke from the smash against the floor along with the magic holding him jolting Twilight with the magical backlash. The lights of the library turned on and a multitude of ponies where coming out of their hiding spots with party hats and streamers. The shock in their faces was all the Spartan needed to know he had screwed up again. He looked at Twilight and she was mad, but she wasn’t in rage. She was sad and mad, as her glare slowly became more intense with some tears falling to the sides.
“That’s it. I can’t take this anymore Silent. I’ve tried to see the good over the bad but as soon as things get better you pull something like this off. I know you try, but you’re just not getting it fast enough. I just can’t deal with the pressure right now Silent. Maybe in another time, I could have but now isn’t a good time. Please leave.”
Twilight slumped down to the floor as Pinkie Pie along with the other elements of harmony trotted up to her and consoled her. The Spartan lifted himself up from the floor and watched at the ponies around him. Some were scared, others were angry, and some just hadn’t gotten over the shock yet. He turned around and left the library.
**********
Nobody saw the Spartan around after he literally crashed the party. Days and nights passed, and yet not a single soul had seen him. It was as if he had vanished into thin air. The library hadn’t had the guest for enough time for it to cause any sort of noticeable changes, except for the empty guest room. Thing were back to normal, but Twilight knew she would have to report the dismissed guard to the Princess eventually. She didn’t want to think about the princess getting her another set of guards but she knew it was unavoidable. After a while she indeed sent her the letter and two days later, two standard issue guards were on her doorstep watching who entered and who didn’t. During library hours they would check everyone before they got inside the library. They would follow Twilight everywhere so her plans about everything being normal got stumped. Eventually two weeks had gone by and nothing had happened.
Two months remained before the coronation, or 1 month 27 days 15 hours 32 minutes and 15 seconds to be exact. But who kept count right? Everything was fine and Twilight had already finished studying politics. She was now studying the legal system and the monetary system which would also make an attempt to break her head. The guards were very silent and complacent; they didn’t do much else rather than keep ponies at a safe distance. If only Silent Warrior had been like that, he would still be here instead of them. Their names where Lightning Strike and Feather Stroke, they would keep Twilight safe until the coronation. Another set of guards had been deployed to search for Silent and bring him back to the castle. All efforts in finding him had rendered useless.
One night there was a frantic knock on the door; one of the guards woke up and went to answer it. Both guards had been lodged in the guest room once belonging to Silent Warrior. He opened the door and on the other side a hooded figure moved swiftly and plunged a dagger straight into the guards neck, he tried calling for help but a magical aura grabbed his head and swiftly threw him out of the house with a sickening crack. The mysterious figure moved along the house, and found the other guard in the guest room sleeping. He plunged the knife into the second guard and effectively disposed of him like his companion. With both guards out of the way only two things remained on the hooded unicorn’s to do list. He went up the stairs and saw his targets sleeping. There the figure slipped a pill into the little dragon’s mouth to take care of him at once. He might have been small but if the little nuisance woke up, his dragon fire could prove problematic.
Sadly, as the figure moved around the move Twilight who hadn’t gone to sleep too early was slightly woken up. As Twilight started to move the bed sheets in order to see what was happening the figure took the opening to insert something into Twilight’s horn and tied her to the bed with chains. Twilight yelled but found her voice gone as she felt a tingling in her throat.
“Well, well, well, look who’s up and about at this hour at night” said the hooded unicorn.
Twilight tried to turn on the lights with her magic but noticed that she couldn’t produce magic. Her eyes widened as she could feel the extra weight and pressure on her horn.
“Don’t worry about using your magic sweetheart, after all, if you’re an alicorn that’s about the first thing to take care of, don’t you think? I also tied you up real well as a precaution, you can never know how strong an alicorn can get.”
Twilight looked around the room but stopped once she saw spike in his nest awfully still.
“He is quite adorable when he is sleeping isn’t he? I liked it so much I slipped him something so we could keep him that way… forever.”
Twilight’s eyes widened and started tearing up with rightful rage coming from them. Her mouth opened as if it shout but nothing came. Though slowly the machine on Twilight’s horn started smoking and just as it did a small noise was emanating from her mouth.
“Quite persistent aren’t you? Don’t worry I got more toys where that came from, you see I didn’t know how strong a recently ascended alicorn could really be, but I decided I didn’t want to have any risks so I went ahead and took the necessary precautions. The whole room is noise cancelled, even if you broke my spell you would have to have a really strong voice to break through the room. And as for your horn…” The figure said as it pulled two more contraption from a saddle bag and stuck the tool onto Twilight’s horn, “can’t have you using your magic, darling.”
Twilight couldn’t believe what was happening, who was this pony? And why was he doing this? Did she do anything to deserve this?
“I know what you’re thinking sweetheart; you’re wondering why I’m doing this. But I must tell you that I’m sorry, this is purely professional. I was hired for this little assignment and given quite the sum of bits to get it done and I intend to follow through with my word to the very end. Whoever did this was quite insistent with getting it done. So let’s stop delaying the unstoppable shall we?”
The hooded unicorn pulled out a big curved dagger out of his saddlebags and approached Twilight who was now on the brink of snapping into hysteria.
“Oh one more thing before I forget, my boss wanted me to say ‘Long live the new Princess of Equestria’ cheesy, I know, but he is the one paying for this.”
And down the dagger went. As Twilight closed her eyes and her life flashed before her.
But not into Twilight, the dagger simply fell to the floor as the magic grip around it disappeared. Twilight looked up as the pain never came, her eyes shot open once more when she noticed the arrow stuck to the unicorn’s foreleg. Blood flowed down from the wound as the unicorn tried to heal his wound. But as soon as the first arrow came, another did. Then another, and another, and another until about six or eight were stuck into the unicorns vital parts. The blood of his body made a puddle on the floor, as soon as no signs of life were found there was an enormous sound from the bottom floor. All the spells had vanished with the death of the assassin.
“SOMEPONY WHOEVER IT IS PLEASE HELP ME! MY FRIEND IS DYING! PLEASE!” screamed Twilight as strongly as she could. She heard the sound of somepony coming up the stairs. The door smashed into pieces as the Spartan came in to Twilight’s room. He looked around and found Spike he checked for a pulse and found one, though it felt weak. He went to Twilight and took off all the magic restrainers as he ripped off the chains like they were taffy. Twilight stood up, and immediately went to Spike. She casted a diagnosis spell on him and found the poison the pony had used on Spike would only allow about 7 more minutes before the job was completed.
“HE’S DYING! We need to get him to the hospital now! If we wait any longer he might not make it!” yelled Twilight at the Spartan.
The Spartan picked them both up and jump through Twilight’s balcony at an amazing speed. Twilight on the other hand didn’t had time to think and was picked up as she was conjuring a teleportation spell. Due to both action being done simultaneously they teleported in midair. When they appeared they were in the lobby of the hospital but arrived with a smash to the ground. That Spartan took most of the hit as he was holding Spike and Twilight but it was a pretty big hit. The security of the hospital gasped as they fell an went immediately to inspect the visitors. They arrived and saw an unwelcomed pony, the Spartan. After hurting Twilight and her friends, he had gotten a bad vibe around town, it didn’t help that the palace guards where after him. They saw Twilight and Spike near him and Twilight was full with bruises where the chains had tied her she also seemed like she was crying. The commotion brought a few doctors and nurses to the lobby and saw the image before them.
Twilight looked up to the doctors and said pleadingly, “You have to help him! He is dying!” while holding Spike in her hooves.
The doctors took Spike and Twilight to get medical attention. Meanwhile the security guards were holding the Spartan against the floor as they sent a nurse to get some of the local authorities to help in his containment. If it weren’t for one of the guards being a unicorn, they would be in deep trouble. The guard used a spell usually reserved for special cases in which they amplified the gravity force of an individual by a few times which would effectively stop them. In the case of the Spartan, the security guard had to amplify it hundreds of times till he finally collapsed to the floor. A few minutes later the nurse came with about 10 royal guards (all unicorns) following her. They had been stationed in Ponyville in order to restrain the Spartan should he re-appear. Once the gravity spell was lifted they took the Spartan in their magical grip and dragged him to a chariot where they would effectively transport him into his predetermined cell in Canterlot.
**********
Twilight stayed by Spike the whole night expecting the cure the medical staff had given him to work and bring Spike back to the land of the consciousness. At about 7 a.m. Spike opened his eyes and found himself strapped to heartbeat monitor and several intravenous bags pumping some liquid into him.
“Twilight? What’s going on?” Asked Spike scared at what he was witnessing.
“Spike?” asked Twilight groggily after being woken up. “SPIKE!” yelled Twilight as she wrapped he hooves around Spike and brought him into a hug. Tears fell from Twilight’s eyes.
“Twilight what happened? Why are you bruised? What’s with the cuts? And most importantly why am I in the hospital!?”
“Spike, I’m so relieved you’re okay!”
“Twilight, are you crying?”
“Yes, you don’t stand a few minutes from dying every day!” More tears fell from Twilight’s cheeks.
“D-Dying!?”
Twilight was about, to explain as the door to the room exploded with the elements of harmony barraging through it and into the room. Faces of relief and worry were on all of the elements.
“Oh SPIKEY WIKEY WHAT WOULD I EVER DO IF SOMETHING HAPPENED TO YOU!?” cried Rarity in that overly dramatic signature way the white unicorn had as she pulled Spike into a hug.
“Girls how did you know?” asked Twilight.
“Some night guards came an’ told us a few seconds ago. I told ya you shouldn’t have trusted that fellow!” yelled Applejack.
“Ugh! I should’ve pummeled him when I had the chance!” followed up Rainbow Dash.
“Wait, you girls think Silent did this?” asked Twilight intrigued.
“We don’t think he did it, we know so!” said Applejack.
“Why on earth would you think he did it?” asked Twilight.
“Umm, because that what they told us? Also that he is being taken to Canterlot were he will be judged? An assassination attempt against her own personal student, Celestia will be pretty pissed.” Said, Rainbow Dash.
“Girls, he didn’t do it!” said Twilight.
“Honey, we know you must’ve grown attached to the guy the few days he stayed with you, but there are eye witnesses that saw him grabbing you when you teleported to the hospital.” Said Rarity.
“That’s just it, Rarity. He wasn’t the culprit, he was the savior. This other pony unicorn came into my house at night and tried to kill me. He almost did until Silent took care of him. If Silent hadn’t acted me and Spike would have been dead.” Said Twilight.
“Twilight listen to what you are saying, now why would anypony in their right minds try to kill you?” asked Rarity.
“I don’t know Rarity. But if you don’t believe me please send some guards to my house. You’ll have all the evidence you need.”
“I’m on it!” said Rainbow Dash as she left the room to get the guards.
“I hope we can clear this mess up before Celestia banishes Silent for something he didn’t do.” Said Twilight.
**********
On a prisoner carriage headed to Canterlot was the Spartan being grabbed by all extremities with a magical grip. The guards giving him dirty looks as they carried him to Canterlot. Most of the guards from Canterlot were acquainted with Twilight Sparkle and as such the idea of someone who would try to kill her made them rather angry. Some comments were exchanged about giving him a little bit of punishment themselves and blaming it on a rough patch in the way over to Canterlot. Others spat at the Spartan, as they couldn’t contain the disdain they held over him. The Spartan kept silent the whole way, once he was left alone in the cell he would find a way to escape and then clean his name.
The Spartan was sure of one thing at the moment, and it was that if the Princesses had been merciful the first time they met, this time there would be nothing stopping them from sentencing him into some sort of public execution. The ponies were pissed at what they thought he had done to Twilight and when they find the bodies in the tree house all sort of coherence would be thrown away. He needed Twilight to help him this time from what could very well be a similar situation.
Special Thanks to Medeis Magica for editing.