Regicide Squares

by Shakespearicles


Breakfast at Velvet's

The morning light streamed through the shear drapes of the window. Twilight turned over in her bed. It wasn't like her to want to sleep in. 'Early to bed, early to rise; makes a mare healthy, wealthy and wise.' The studious unicorn always said. She pressed her face into her pillow, shying away from the light. She still felt tired. She had not slept well at all. Terrible nightmares had visited her. Dreams of being chased down long dark alleyways by faceless pursuers. Visions of falling.

Twilight pulled her downy cover over her. It was warm. Fresh out of the dryer warm. It tickled her nose. She adjusted herself and pulled it closer. It went taught and pulled away. Twilight opened her eyes.

She was in her old room in her parents' house. Her cover was blue. And feathery. Beside her lay Rainbow Dash, her wing splayed out across Twilight. She looked so peaceful. Quite pretty even, as the morning sunlight lit up her prismatic mane.

But then it all came flooding back. She looked down at her red-stained hooves. Everything that had happened yesterday. And the bad dreams that were very very real.

"AHHH!" Twilight screamed, right in Dash's ear. Shocked from her own much-needed sleep, Rainbow Dash jerked awake, a rush of adrenalin causing her to nearly leap from the mattress. Her ears viscerally hurt from the proximity of the audio assault. Three things of note was one, the pain, two, the ringing, and three, the mare screaming beside her. Of course, this was all in a matter of a microsecond. Her response to the situation was predictable.

"AHHH!" Dash screamed.

"AHHH!" Twilight screamed back.

"AHHH! Dash screamed louder.

THUMP THUMP THUMP! Came knocking from the door.

"Twilight! What is going on in there!?" Her mother asked. Instant sobriety struck the purple mare, putting her hoof across the mouth of her surprise bed guest, pinning her to the mattress. Dash had a severe aversion to being restrained in any way. She wound up a hoof to knock Twilight off of her. Twilight caught her hoof with her magic and called out to her mom.

"It's okay mom!" Twilight called out. "Dash and I were just... having a a yelling contest." She said, glaring at the Pegasus.

"Dash?"

"Oh, yeah, uh, Rainbow Dash came over last night for a... sleepover?" Twi said, slowly letting herself off of Dash to let her speak.

"Uh, yeah!" Dash said. "We were just having a slumber party."

"Well it's too early in the morning for this kind of game!" Her mom said.

"Well, we're done now. Rainbow won. She always wins." Twilight said. Dash smirked.

"Well why don't you girls come on out and come downstairs. I'll be making breakfast shortly."

"Okay mom." They listened to her walk away and out of earshot.

"SERIOUSLY TWI! Right in my bucking ear!" Dash growled. "This is why I have tinnitus!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Twilight apologized.

"How did we even get here?" Dash asked.

"I must have teleported us here last night. I tried to imagine a safe place, and I guess my old foalhood bedroom was the first place I could think of." She said as Dash looked out the window.

"We're back in Canterlot!?" She said, looking at the skyline against the morning light.

"Yeah."

"They're going to be scouring the city looking for us!" Dash said.

"I know! I know!" Twilight cried, clutching her head, trying to conjure a plan, an idea of any kind to get them out of this. The smell of cooking from downstairs wafted up. Her stomach growled. She looked over at Rainbow. "If we're going to be on the lamb, we should really eat something good first."

"Okay, fine. But then we really need to get out of here." She said as the both headed to the restroom to scrub the crimson stains from their hooves. Dash wiped her wet hooves on the towel, staining it red. "Dash? What the hell did you just do to her towel!?" Twilight scolded.

"What? I was drying my hooves!" Dash said.

"Well you're supposed to wash them first!"

"You watched me wash them!"

"I watched you get them wet."

"I was washing them! But this stuff is hard to get off! Maybe if she had some better soap..." She complained.

"I used the same soap you did! And when I finished, the towel didn't look like a maxi pad!" Twilight huffed. "Gimmie that." She grabbed the towel, soaking it in water and hitting it with a heat spell, steam cleaning it white.

"There, problem solved." Dash said, turning to leave the bathroom. Twilight wrapped the towel into a tight whip.

THWAP! Dash yelped at the contact, rubbing the whelp on her flank.

Breakfast was mostly uneventful. Her mother had prepared a sumptuous banquet. Flapjacks and hash browns and fruit salad. Her father sipped his coffee quietly, grumbling something about the daily paper not showing up that morning before heading off to his place of employment.

"Goodbye dear." Her mother said as he left the house. Once he was gone, her horn illuminated, pulling the newspaper from its hiding place in a nearby drawer. "Twilight, would you please care to explain what this is all about?" She said, sliding the front page across the table at them.

In bold letters, across the headline read, 'Celestia DEAD! Assassins caught red-hoofed; Still at large!' Followed by two stock photos of Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. 'Wanted for Regicide: Dead or Alive!'

Twilight was still in shock. This paper was distributed to thousands of ponies all across Canterlot. Syndication would have copies circulating across all of Equestria within a day. In twenty four hours there would be no safe corner of the world for them to hide.

She didn't hear the knock at the door. "Royal guard!" Came the demanding voice from outside. Dash grabbed Twilight by the hoof and they both bolted upstairs. Once her daughter was out of sight, Twilight Velvet calmly walked to the door and opened it. Outside was a phalanx of three guards. Across the street, a similar detachment was checking the other houses.

"Ma'am, have you seen either of these individuals?" One of the guards asked curtly, holding up his own copy of the 'wanted' poster.

"Oh my goodness!" Velvet feigned. "The princess? No!" She cried. "No officer, I haven't seen either of them. But do catch them quickly!"

"We will ma'am. You can rest assured of that. Every guard from here to Las Pegasus will be on search patrol for them!"

"Thank you." Velvet said.

"You two," The ranking officer barked, "go check the next house. I want to ask this one a few more questions."

"YES SIR." The both obeyed and moved on. The remaining guard leaned in close, eyeing the the mare inside the doorway. He looked past her at the kitchen table. Four plates.

"The other two may not be able to tell when you're lying. But I can!" He said quietly. "Now I'm going to ask you again. Have you seen them?"

"No. Officer." She said flatly.

"Mom," Shining Armor whispered closely, "Twilight is in a LOT of danger right now." I need to take her in. It won't just be the guard. There will be others looking to collect the reward-"

"Reward?"

"Princess Luna is going to issue one this afternoon if we don't find them. There will be bounty hunters. And they may not be so kind to stay their weapons. I can protect her, but only if you and she cooperates now."

"And I will tell you again, OFFICER, I have not seen them."

"Twilight!?" He shouted into the house.

"Shame on you Shining. Do you really think your sister so foolish to come HERE of all places? The first place you'd look? Give her more credit than that. And if you wish to continue this investigation, I suggest you get a warrant." And with that, she slammed the door closed.

Twilight peeked from the top of the stairs. Her mom didn't move. She stood there, staring at the door, waiting motionless for the sound of Shining to walk away from her stoop. Once she was sure he was gone. She turned around slowly, and stood at the foot of the stairs and looked right where she knew Twilight would be.

When the cookies were missing from the jar, she stood at the foot of the stairs and looked right where she knew Twilight would be. Peeking from around the corner at the top of the stairs.

When the vase was found broken, she stood at the foot of the stairs and looked right where she knew Twilight would be. Peeking from around the corner at the top of the stairs.

She had just lied to the police for her daughter. She stood at the foot of the stairs and looked right where she knew Twilight would be. Peeking from around the corner at the top of the stairs.

"Twilight, you know that there is nothing I would not do for you." She said quietly. "If you have the Princess's body up there in your bedroom, you had better tell me right now so I can help you bury it." Twilight just shook her head. "I just lied to the police for you. So you better not lie to me." She looked her in the eyes. "Did you do it?" Twilight shook her head. "Did she?" She asked, motioning to the Pegasus behind her. They both shook their heads 'no'.

Twilight Velvet sighed. "You two need to come down here and tell me EXACTLY what happened. And then I suggest you get as far away from here as possible. I have no doubt that Shining will call my bluff and return with a warrant, so speak quickly."

"Well, here's what happened..." Twilight began.
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"That doesn't make sense." Her mother said at the conclusion of Twilight's explanation. It only raised more questions than it answered. "So what are you going to do now?"

"We need to gather evidence to support our innocence." Twilight said. "And we need to find out what really happened to Princess Celestia."

"In the meantime, you need to lay low." Her mother advised. "It's too dangerous to move now. You'd best wait until nightfall."

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That evening, Shining stood outside the door to his foalhood home. He looked down at the paper in his hooves. 'Warrant to search by royal decree'. The sun slipped below the horizon. Luna was doing a decent job keeping the sun on it's path. He crumpled the paper in his hoof and stuffed it in his bag. 'She wasn't safe.' He reasoned. The announcement for the reward had gone out. Opportunists would descend on this house if he didn't officially declare it cleared first. He looked to his troops behind him.

"Stay your weapons. We want them ALIVE, is that understood?" He commanded. He knocked on the door. "Mrs. Sparkle?" He addressed his own mother. "We have a warrant to search this premises. Open the door or else we will break it down!" After a moment, the door glowed faintly of light purple. Inside, Twilight Velvet, his mother, sat calmly at the kitchen table doing a crossword puzzle. "Ma'am, by royal authority we will now search this dwelling." Shining recited in an official tone. "Please do not interfere or else you will be detained as a suspect."

She didn't even look at him. "Just do what you came here to do."

"Spread out." He ordered. The other guards began going through the home, checking the rooms. "Leave no stone unturned." Guards moved through the home, opening doors, checking cupboards, under beds, behind dressers. They made an awful mess of things. At the end of the hallway was a tiny, unassuming supply closet. It was Twilight's favorite hiding spot as a foal. As he closed in, he heard the slightest of a rustle inside. Bingo! He had found them. "Well, Mrs. Sparkle," He announced his presence loudly. The last thing he needed was surprised Twilight slamming him with a kinetic spell. "I wonder what you have in your supply closet?"

"SUPPLIES MOTHERBUCKER!" Dash yelled.

WHACK!

He had prepared for Twilight to hit him with some kind of magical attack. What he was not prepared for was Rainbow Dash slamming him in the horn with a broom handle. Twilight had tried to explain to her that blunt trauma to a unicorn's horn was just about the worse pain there was for them. And she explicitly instructed her to NOT do any such thing.

"Dash! What the hell!?" Twilight yelled.

"RUN!" Dash screamed at her. They both booked it up the stairs. Guards were in Twilight's bedroom. Dash took an abrupt turn through the bathroom door with Twilight in tow. Not through the bathroom doorway, mind you. Through the DOOR. Inside, one of the guards had taken the liberty of using the facilities. Dash knocked him over as she sprinted past, through the glass window. Twilight faltered, nearly tumbling two stories to the street below. Rainbow grabbed her and saved her from falling to her death for the second time in as many days.

"For buck sake's Twilight! You have wings! Use them!" Dash yelled. Twilight struggled to gain any lift.

"I- I can't!" She cried as she struggled in the air. Shouts rang out in the street below. Pegasi guards took off after them. Rainbow Dash swooped down and grabbed Twilight in her hooves. Dash didn't have the takeoff speed that she needed. And there were many more pegasi after her now.

"Twi get us out of here!"

"But where-"

"ANYWHERE BUT HERE!"

-FLASH-