“Twily!...wake up please…”
“Give her some room shining armor…shes fine” Celestia lay a single hoof on his shoulder. “The attempt failed…that is two assassinations you prevented today…really you should not even be up and walking right now…”
She gestured to the burns on his forelegs and the bandage over his eye. He was singed and bruised every here and there but overall intact.
“First they come after Cadence…then my sister…they must be trying to either taunt me or topple the empire” Celestia coughed letting him remember that the first target was her.
“Oh …yeah….the empire thing…” He turned back to his sister who was obviously still alive. Thankfully the doctors had just arrived on scene just about at the same time that one of the dark gray Pegasus rolled in
“Your majesty… Rainbow Dash is awake and refusing medical treatment.” Celestia looked from Twilight to Shining armor and back to the royal guard.
“if she is awake and able to come without further injuring herself then let her come….”
The guard nodded and left as the doctor inspected all the downed ponies. He waved over his assistant who trotted over and opened a bag. Quickly taking up some smelling salts, he waved it under Pinkie Pie’s nose. Near instantly she shot up with wide eyes. Her pupils still dilating she just smiled with a confused grin, pointed at Celestia’s mane, and drooled before passing out again.
“That is some powerful stuff that was on that blade…but don’t worry…give them plenty of water and it will wear away before morning…” The doctor stood and stepped to the doorway just in case he was needed again. He had already inspected all the wounds and only needed to stitch rarity’s flank with three small stitches.
Some quick and frantic flapping was heard as Rainbow Dash entered. One of her legs was tightly splinted. “Thank goodness… Rainbow Dash…what happened out there?...how did the assassin get away?”
Rainbow Dash grimaced. She was angry sad and in a great deal of pain. “Well princess… I was catching up to her. I was so close to running her down, just seconds away from a sonic rainboom and I would have her but….she did this thing…it well… I think it was a sonic rainboom…but it wasn’t a rainbow…it looked like the northern lights… and well…it was the last thing I saw before I woke up smashing into one of your royal guards. He spotted me and caught me out of the air… Princess…you have got to let me go after them I can do it… She just got the drop on me that’s all I can take her.”
Celestia firmly shook her head. “No….Rainbow Dash…not only are you one of equestria’s finest flyers but you are a part of Princess Twilight’s friendship council. To put it plainly you are too valuable to just throw into a mission. Not to mention you are injured. You are not to go ANYWHERE until you are recovered at least enough to walk.”
Rainbow dash suppressed the urge to brood about angrily or talk back. Even though this was Celestia telling her what to do she had a hard time accepting that she could not go after the pony who hurt her friends, beat her up, and plagiarized her moves.
“Ug…why does everything want to kill me at once…. My…head…my belly…what in the hay was that filly thinking?...” Applejack stumbled about and quickly the doctor came to her side checking her over.
“Well it pays off to be in excessively good health I must say…What is the last thing you remember?” He flashed light into her eyes with his magic and checked her pupils, which were still going crazy with the side effects of the drugs. Before she had a chance to answer he plopped a bucket in front of her in case the earth pony’s stomach did not prove as strong as her constitution.
“I remember trying to kick that stupid assassin…then I saw her throw a hoof my way and everything went dark….well… it exploded with color first and I started seein stuff.”
The doctor nodded and turned to Celestia. “Such a poison would be very easy to make, especially in the areas around Dark Island. In fact there are two species of plants I can recall that alone would give anypony who got it in their bloodstream these exact same results…The good news however is everypony will be fine none of those toxins are long lasting, nor are they actually damaging.”
Quickly shuffling away back into his corner the doctor was confident he would not have to even check the others, but he would be here so long as his princess requested it.
“Shining Armor… how is Cadence?...I need to know how much I can rely on all of Equestria’s sources.”
He eagerly perked up feeling over his bandaged eye with his hoof. “She is alive. Her wings are burned and one is broken, but she was not poisoned and her head is uninjured, she is at full mental capacity. But I would still recommend not demanding much from her. Surely you understand the effect of someone trying to kill you…I mean even I almost didn’t stop our assassin flash bangs, blades, and tricks…” He shuddered remembering all the gadgets they used. He could see them here too. The small bronze wind up egg released either a prerecorded sound or a powerful blast of sound. Nopony, even he could tell whether it was going to be a distraction to draw their attentions away or a weaponized burst of sound.
Twilight stirred in her sleep, groaning and whimpering she stood up pouting holding a hoof to her head. “I…don’t feel so…good….oh goodness” A hoof came to her mouth and the doctor rushed up pushing the bucket in front of her just in time to catch the purge. Just as quickly she looked about to see Pinkie Pie waking up only slightly woozy. Her eyes soon caught Shining Armor, though still blurry and dull she could plainly see the bandage. “AH! Shiny your eye…are you ok? What happened?”
He puffed out his chest trying to give her the reassuring brotherly tough guy act. “Oh twily I am ok…its just a scratch not even any real damage to my eye…Im just glad that you are ok.” He smiled warmly hugging her up but stopping with sudden caution as her eyes went wide and she doubled over the bucket again.
It did not take long before everyone was up and though most were sick Pinkie Pie was almost completely untouched, Rarity fainted every time she woke up to discover that her beautiful flank had stitches on it. Most attention however was on Rainbow Dash’s explanation of the Sonic Borealis, and Twilight’s safety.
“So…its like a sonic rainboom but its not a rainbow?...spooky…” A still very annoying Pinkie kept up her excessive optimism as others groaned and complained. Fluttershy apparently had only felt a light prick on her rump and passed out.
“Princess Celestia?! What are we going to do now? I mean surely we have a pla-“
“WHAAAAA! STITCHES?...ON MY BEAUTIFUL FLANK…OH WHY HAVE I BEEN FORSAKEN? WHY CRUEL WORLD WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY?” Still in a bit of a hurry to hear back from Celestia she quickly muted her overly emotional friend with a silence spell that prevented any sound from leaving a 4 foot radius around her.
“What do we do next?...what can we do to help this…that is two assassination attempts in a single day Princess, what is our next move…”
Celestia held up a single hoof as a show for a call for silence. “Calm down YOU and your friends will stay right here with a surplus of guards… I am mobilizing the army and the Wonderbolts. We cannot afford to just go and try to calmly figure this out. This was a very deliberate attempt on all the leaders of Equestria. We will have to answer with a show of force.”
Twilight flinched a little. She knew very well that her teacher could be firm and direct but it did not mean she enjoyed seeing it happen. She was ordering an actual act of military aggression against somepony who had just attempted the same. Depending how big this whole deal was, they could be witnessing the beginning of a war. “Princess… is there no other way? I mean I have done so much already, let me help we can find a way to settle this peacefully.”
“Twilight… don’t take this the wrong way… but we NEVER intended you to fight anyone. From Nightmare moon to Tirek… I only wanted you to stay safe and passively go through what you had to. You are a princess now, and as such, you are upon equal grounds with Luna, Cadence, and even me. However, you are still young, you are vulnerable and what little experience with such grave threats you have had have all been won on bare chance and use of harmony. We do not want you to be hurt in this. Just stay safe with the guards. The military will take on this new threat and we will be safe.”
Luna nodded firmly as she and Celestia turned about to leave. The entire royal guard had already been rudely awakened and messages sent to all the required locations to gather the army and summon the Wonderbolts. Friendship could not solve this problem. It was a rare thing but not something, that never happened. Celestia would force the problems to stop, just like they had with Sombra in the past and just like they would with anypony else who threatened their land.