//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: Rocinante and the Wedding at Canterlot // by Charliemane //------------------------------// “Noble Highness!” “Princess Luna?!” The fact that the Princess did not awake as they burst into her room made Sassaflash's heart stop. But the Princess's chest still rose and fell with each breath, which in turn allowed everypony in the room to breathe at least a little easier. “Most Noble Grace, we need you this very hour! I beg you to arise and take note of your imminent peril!” Sassaflash gently shook the Princess's shoulders, but to no avail. “Cousin, I don't think she can hear us.” “Most Noble and Gracious Highness... Whatever did the accursed foe do to you whilst we were so deceived? How could we have failed you so?!” Sassaflash shook Princess Luna's shoulders again. “Cousin, I... When the imposter captured me, he... or she, said they were going to bring Princess Luna some water.” Sassaflash immediately began searching the room and quickly noticed the empty glass on the floor. Afraid that touching it might place her next to the Princess they were trying to save, Sassaflash motioned to the glass and eyed it carefully, but kept her distance. “It... It looks like the imposter slipped her some f-form of...” The words hung in her throat tightly. The very idea of what she was looking at made her sick to her stomach. She was a weather pony from Ponyville. How did she come to get wrapped up in all of this? A panic began to well up inside of her as she turned to her cousin. She didn't belong here. How did this happen? How did an innocent adventure or two turn into this? Rocinante's reaction was completely different. Sassaflash didn't even notice her cousin bending down to examine the glass with the same amount of caution at first, but then he suddenly scooped it up with his hoof and examined it closer. “poison...” Sassaflash's ears perked up at the word and, for a moment, her own chest became lighter. “Do you know anything about it?” Her heart fell back almost instantly as he shook his head. “Not even the slightest. However, from what evidence we have around us, I believe that is the surest conclusion.” Had she not been so worried for the Princess's condition, Sassaflash would have sighed. Instead she merely shook her head. “I know that! What can do we do about it?” Rocinante again shook his head. “Regrettably I know very little of the cowardly world of poisons and potions. Such villainous underhooved things like this have no place in the proper and noble realms of justice, virtue, and valor.” Sighing as he placed the glass on the table, Rocinante turned and walked next to the sleeping princess. “A thousand curses upon me, oh Most Noble of Graces. How I have failed you so, to not prevent such a poisonous sleep to fall... upon... you...” Sassaflash was stirred from her own melancholy by Rocinante's trailing words. Looking up from the floor to her cousin, she saw that Rocinante's eyes had suddenly grown very wide and his face suddenly began turning to a bright shade of red as he removed his helmet. “C-Cousin? What's wrong? Did you think of something? Is there some legend you remember that we can use?” Rocinante stared straight forward, his eyes focusing on some point as far away as they could. “I... have...” Again Sassaflash's heart leapt as a hopeful smile came across her face. “What is it? What can we do?!” Rocinante cleared his throat and, much to his cousin's surprise, seemed to blush even brighter. “You may recall a number of legends, quite popular amongst younger foals... especially fillies... I am not certain why fillies seem to prefer this sort of legend over colts, perhaps-” “Cousin?” Sassaflash's smile was quickly fading at the sight of her fearless cousin suddenly becoming so timid. But Rocinante continued before she could ask what was wrong. “Ah! Yes... I digress- You may recall, dear Sassa, a number of legends in which a princess is enchanted, cursed, or... or poisoned in such a manner as to be rendered completely unconscious, u-unable to be woken.” The memory of the old pony tales she had been told as a filly suddenly came back to Sassaflash's mind and her mouth fell open right as Rocinante spoke the common cure in all of the tales. “You see, the cure for such an ailment is... is... a kiss...” At the simple mentioning of the word, Rocinante's face reached a shade of red that rivaled Applejack's brother. Sassaflash stood agape as her eyes darted between Princess Luna and her Knight of the Restored Moon. “Cousin... Rocinante... Do... Do you think it will work?” Rocinante almost seemed to not hear her as his eyes finally broke off of their invisible focus point and fell on the sleeping princess. His breathing became slowed and very deliberate as he leaned forward as slowly and carefully as he could. Very gently, he placed his free hoof next to Luna's head and gently shook the mattress in one last attempt to wake her by “normal” means, but the Princess did not even stir. Her calm, peaceful breath left her nostrils and blew gently across his hoof, sending chills down the knight-errant's spine. Setting his lance down on the floor next to the bed, Rocinante took his now free hoof and gently brushed Luna's mane away from her face. Her face almost seemed to shine with a graceful alicorn beauty as Rocinante slowly leaned in and closed his eyes. Yet before his lips could make contact with hers, the entire tower shook violently. Rocinante stepped back from his Princess and raced with his cousin to the window. Both knight and squire stared in wonderment as black, insect-like creatures began pouring in from the skies before the pieces of the magical barrier had even finished falling onto the city below. Sassaflash looked down towards the castle in horror. The guards had evidently dedicated all of their time and resources to finding the imposter princess. Everypony was out of place trying to lock the castle down from a potential infiltrator. Despite the entire castle being on alert, the enemy had caught them completely off guard. As the changelings began raining down into the city, Sassaflash heard the familiar scrape of metal on stone as her cousin reequipped his lance and helmet. “At last the cowards have shown their hoof. Take care, dear Sassa. The battle is now upon us.” As he marched towards the door, Sassaflash nearly stumbled over herself to stop him. “W-Wait! What about Princess Luna?! What about the ki- what about helping her?” Rocinante, his face now back to its original off-white, smiled as he looked out of the window and back to his cousin. “My dear Sassa, Think back to the beautiful legends that you know so well. Did the prince, knight, or otherwise rescuer ever save the princess and then defeat the evil that had so wickedly imprisoned her? Indeed not! No dear Sassa, every last one, to a pony, first defeated the great evil before rescuing the fair lady. Now the great evil is upon us, but fear not! We fight in the name of justice, virtue, valor, and Her Noble Grace! Victory will soon to be ours!” Without another word, Rocinante began marching around his cousin and towards the door. Sassaflash stood dumbfounded as she watched her cousin trot excitedly down the stairs. She turned back towards the sleeping Princess, then to the window outside, the back towards the staircase. At last she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was how she got here. She had thought that she didn't belong, but she suddenly felt with her heart just how wrong that was. She was a squire, no, she was the squire to the Knight of the Restored Moon. They worked as a team and though she may not understand how their adventures got them were they had, she did know one thing: They would see where their adventures would take them together. Closing the windowsill behind her, Sassaflash swiftly trotted after her cousin.