//------------------------------// // Chapter 4-Intended or Accident // Story: Hail to the Queen // by Snowfeather //------------------------------// There were some things ponies just had to do. They knew it wasn’t going to be easy, it wasn’t going to be fun, but you just had to buck up and do it. This was one of those times. The guard knocked on the door. He waited anxiously until the Queen responded. “Come in,” He heard through the wood. The guard gulped and opened the door. The Queen looked up from the papers on the desk. “What is it?” “I have an update on the escaped prisoners Applejack and Fluttershy,” he stated. The Queen nodded, indicating he should continue. “They were spotted today boarding a chariot on the outskirts of Ponyville along with three other ponies: Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie.” “The chariot took off, being flown by two unidentified but young pegasi. We do not know exactly what happened next, but we have inferred a strong wind blew, throwing the drivers off. They could not recover, and the chariot crashed in the Everfree.” “The ponies Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are confirmed to be dead.” “I knew it! I knew it!” The pegasus cried out, rushing into the small room. She glanced at the two ponies before her. “Did you hear—” The unicorn nodded. “Twilight’s insane to think we wouldn’t see through it! I knew it!” The pegasus cried. “What? Ya know what, Scoots?” The earth pony demanded. Scootaloo looked the two mares in the eyes. “It’s all her evil plan. You heard those rumors about trouble in the Clique?” Her friends nodded. “She had to get them out of the way. Twilight killed them! She purposely killed our sisters!” “We don’t know that!” Sweetie Belle insisted. Scootaloo turned on her. “Are you defending them? Are you a traitor?” “No!” The unicorn defended. “I meant don’t jump to conclusions.” “Sweetie, it makes sense,” Apple Bloom reasoned. “Her friends were fightin’ with her and demanding changes, she didn’t like it and shut them up by fakin’ this story they died in the Everfree! They haven’t found the bodies at the sight of the chariot crash—” “Because there was an explosion!” “Hot enough to incinerate bone? No, their bodies are at Canterlot!” Apple Bloom concluded. “I’m just glad Applejack went down fightin’ and didn’t give in,” Apple Bloom said, lowering her head in respect. After a moment of silence, Scootaloo spoke. “Which means now is the time to strike!” “Now?” Sweetie questioned. “We aren’t even ready!” “Yes, now! We’ll get ready!” Scootaloo announced. “Since Twilight’s so focused on her whole ‘grieving’ façade, she won’t notice us because she’ll be so focused on pretending to be sad.” “What if we…,” Sweetie Belle whispered. “What?” Apple Bloom asked. “What if we tried to reason with her?” The unicorn burst out. “Sweetie Belle, that’s what our sisters tried! That’s what all of her friends tried!” Scootaloo said angrily. “And look where that got them! We need to strike now.” “Scootaloo, I’m not ready! I can’t do it! I can’t cast the sleeping spell!” Sweetie began to panic, tears coming to her eyes. She blinked them away as soon as they came up. “Well, you did learn the disintegration spell, didn’t you?” Apple Bloom asked. Sweetie mumbled a yes while Scootaloo just glanced at Sweetie Belle, annoyed. “How much time do you need?” Scootaloo asked. “We need to do it soon!” Apple Bloom ignored the pegasus. “Could you ask Dinky to help you? Maybe you two could do it together.” “If we did it together, I think we could do it.” Sweetie said quietly after a few seconds of evaluation. Scootaloo thought for a moment. “We could add her to the first team. Yeah, we could do that. Tell me when you two are ready, and then we’ll strike.” The three mares moved to leave from the abandoned shed to notify important members of the Rebellion. The pegasus glanced upwards at the groaning tree. Shuddering from the creepiness and the cold, she hurried on. Scootaloo finally reached the clearing in the Everfree. She was early, and had expected to be the first pony here, but that wasn’t true. The cloaked pony watched her approach. Scootaloo wasn’t scared; she knew who she was. Just a day after forming the Rebellion, two ponies had shown up. The first was a frightened Tornado Bolt, who had stuck close to the second pony ever since they had joined. Tornado Bolt was a mare who used to go to school with Scootaloo, but after Equestria’s previous government had fallen apart, she had disappeared. The second was a unicorn. She had introduced herself as Glitch, claiming she could help them win. They quickly figured out she was an extremely powerful unicorn. She had been an irreplaceable member of the Rebellion. However, when they had asked her if she would cast the disintegration and sleeping spells on Twilight, she had firmly denied, refusing to cast any spells directly on the alicorn. When Scootaloo asked her why, Glitch said Twilight would recognize her magic. The pegasus had shrugged it off, having almost no knowledge of how unicorn magic worked. Glitch always wore her cloak, which meant no pony knew her cutie mark. However, Scootaloo had seen she had a cream coat and a purple mane, which, surprisingly, looked like another filly who used to go to their school until Twilight became the queen: Alula. Glitch denied any relation to Alula, saying it must have been a coincidence that they appeared similar. Scootaloo was a teeny bit annoyed Glitch had gotten there before her, but it didn’t really matter. The two mares stood in silence. Eventually, all of the members going on the first mission had arrived. Scootaloo looked across at them: Sweetie Belle, Dinky, Glitch, and Rumble. They had tried to keep their numbers low to avoid detection. “Okay, everypony. Do you all remember the plan?” Scootaloo called out as all the ponies turned to look at her. “So, let me make sure I’ve got this straight,” Dinky said. “We’re teleporting in, casting the sleeping spell on Twilight, and then teleporting out?” Scootaloo nodded, but Dinky stared into her eyes, clearly at indecision. The pegasus mare looked away, a bit unsettled. However, when she began to say something, Dinky interrupted her. “Scootaloo,” Dinky said as Scootaloo turned around. “Twilight didn’t kill her friends.” The unicorn paused. “Twilight…she came into our house a little more than two weeks ago. I don’t know why she was there, but Derpy invited her in, and they shared a muffin. Mom always uses her recipe of chocolate chip muffins whenever she’s comforting a pony that’s sad, and she used chocolate chips for Twilight. She told Mom all about her problems with her friends—” “Which were?” Scootaloo interrupted. “Her friends kept telling her to be less controlling and that the logs were stupid. Mom told Twilight her advice: to take small baby steps to become less controlling. Twilight agreed and was going to let some other pony speak first at her meetings. Then she left.” “I just don’t think Twilight killed them. The way Mom told it, Twilight sounded as if she really cared about them—” “Mom told it?” Scootaloo echoed. “Who did you hear this story from?” “From my mother,” Dinky replied cautiously. “After Twilight left, I asked Mom what she had said and she told me.” “How do we know she was telling the truth?” Scootaloo asked. “What? Are you calling her a liar?” Dinky asked defensively. “No, I just mean she might have misinterpreted it…” Scootaloo’s voice faded, knowing she was touching a sensitive subject. Rumble, however, was oblivious. “You know, she isn’t really the sharpest knife in the drawer.” Dinky whirled around, eyes alive with fire and mouth open to deliver a fiery retort until Sweetie Belle stopped her. “Whether or not she killed them doesn’t matter. We still were going to do this mission even if nothing had happened, right?” Everypony nodded in agreement. “Right, so let’s get going,” Scootaloo said, nodding to Glitch to begin the teleportation spell. The unicorn’s horn lit up with purple magic, and she indicated for all the ponies to come closer. The sphere around her grew larger to encompass all five ponies, and then the light from Glitch’s horn grew brighter. With a loud pop, the light began to fade. As each pony blinked the spots from their eyes, they glanced around to find themselves in a dark but elegant room. It was mainly bare, only containing a rug on the floor and a wardrobe in the corner. Scootaloo put her ear to the door. Hearing nothing, she opened the door quietly and peeked around. Nothing in either direction. The five ponies slid out of the room, closing the door behind them. The pegasus remembered studying the map of Canterlot Castle so she could find her way around it in this mission. Turn right, and then continue down the hallway until you come to the large doors, she remembered. Each pony followed Scootaloo, their hooves touching the floors soundlessly. The hallway was quite fabulous, but no pony had the heart to admire it when their hearts were thumping so loud they swore everypony could hear it. The pegasus looked up at the bigger-than-normal doors at the end of the hallway. She motioned to her comrades that this was it. Queen Twilight was right behind it. She opened the door slowly, fear racing though her. Scootaloo took her first steps inside the Queen’s bedroom. It would have been a marvelous room to behold; except it was dark and all anypony could see was the vague outline of an object. But there, on the bed, was Twilight Sparkle, dead asleep. Scootaloo cautiously crept to the side of the bed, waving Sweetie Belle and Dinky forward. Glitch and Rumble stayed by the door, keeping watch. Scootaloo heard a loud click. She whirled around to see Rumble with his hoof on the knob, looking embarrassed. Everypony glared at him. Sweetie Belle and Dinky began to cast the sleeping spell, touching the tips of their horn together. When Twilight woke up, the spell would keep her awake for as long as Sweetie Belle and Dinky wanted. Only they could remove the spell, and when they did, the Twilight, if she had been kept awake long enough, would collapse on the ground, exhausted. All of her spells would shut down, too. Then Sweetie Belle could cast her disintegration spell. It was the perfect plan. They had to get past her magical shields, and when she fell asleep, they’d turn off, leaving her exposed. Scootaloo looked on as magic swirled around the alicorn, infusing itself into her. Twilight was lifted a little bit from her bed from the spell. Everyone winced as a blanket slipped off of her, but she stayed asleep. The light from Sweetie Belle and Dinky’s horns began to fade, and the Queen was placed back on her bed. Now for the second stage: leaving without getting caught. Scootaloo walked past Glitch and Rumble, putting her hoof on the door. However, she had forgotten to confirm there was no pony out there. She opened the door into the face of a guard. “Hey! What are you doing here?” He shouted. Scootaloo flinched then rushed forward, pushing the stallion into the wall. He grunted as the five ponies passed him. Scootaloo heard a rustle from Twilight’s room and she ran faster. She didn’t know what to do. Her mind was panicking as she dodged. A spell magically trapped the air where she had just been. Suddenly, a bubble exploded outwards, encasing the pegasus. Scootaloo screamed. “Scootaloo! It’s me; stay still!” Glitch shouted. In a flash of light, they were down on the grounds of the castle. “What?” Scootaloo shouted. A light flashed again. “Trust me!” Glitch shouted back. Light flared up, then faded, and then flared faster than Scootaloo’s mind could register it. At some point in the interminable terrifying wait, Sweetie Belle fell against Scootaloo, screaming. Scootaloo fell to the ground, grunting as her shoulder crashed against concrete. The light flared, and it changed to snow against her shoulder. Then it changed to mud, then metal, then stone. Finally, it changed to long grass, and Scootaloo winced, waiting for the next flare of light. It never came. The pegasus looked around, dislodging Sweetie Belle. They were in the clearing in the Everfree forest. Scootaloo blinked, attempting to get the spots out of her eyes. Rising to her hooves, she walked slowly over to Glitch, who was panting, her horn smoking. “What…happened?” Scootaloo asked, confused. “Long-range teleportation spells…We had to get away…so I teleported us…they can trace teleportation…so to be safe…I teleported us to about ten different places…so it would be hard to track…they’d have to journey all across Equestria to find us…we visited every faraway place I could think of,” Glitch said between breaths. “Oh, thank you,” Scootaloo said. “If it hadn’t been for you—” Glitch had composed herself by now. “No, don’t thank me. Am I free to go?” Scootaloo shook her head. Glitch put her hood back over her mane, which had fallen off during the teleports. The pegasus turned to the group of ponies. “Well, we cast the spell, but Twilight knows we were there. She may figure out we cast it on her and turn it off. We’ll have to confirm she didn’t before sneaking in the second time. But the most important part is: we did it! We cast the spell on her!” Everypony lamely cheered, too tired to do anything more. “The second group will leave from this clearing at two o’ clock in two days. Now go get some sleep!” Scootaloo announced. She turned and began to leave.