//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 (Old) 
// Story: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
// by Backslasherton 
//------------------------------//

“God damnit, this is why I hate the press.” Jackson cursed as he hurried down to the halls of the palace. The guards had kept the press and citizens at bay, but it was apparently still extremely rowdy. They were on there way down to see what was going on, and to hopefully control the crowd.

“You knew this was going to happen. It was a part of revealing yourself that you talked about.” Celestia spoke from next to him.

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it!” Jackson shouted back. The group hurried down the hall, Slipstream and Twilight struggling to keep pace with the tall beings in front of them. At last they reached the doors to the main hall of the palace and stopped before the doors. Jackson and Celestia looked at each other with the same message in mind.

“Soooo… Who goes first?” Jackson finally said.

“You could go first, since that’s what they’re here to see.” Celestia responded.

“Yeah, but you’re their ruler.”

“But that doesn’t mean I-”

“How about you go at the same time.” A slightly annoyed Twilight cut in. The two looked at each other and Jackson shrugged.

“Alright.” He grabbed the handles of the door and pushed outward, opening up into the loud rumble of dozens of voices crammed into a small space. The hall was filled from end to end, with more trying to get in. The guards were doing there best to keep order. There was a few feet of space on a raised portion of the hall, the staircase leading up to it packed with press and guards.

“Holy crap... “ Jackson mumbled to himself.

“There he is!” One of the press shouted. If it was loud in the hall before, it was even louder now. Everyone starting shouting, trying to get their question answered and their voice heard. The guards attempted to retain the fraction of order that they had before. Seeing as that was not working, Jackson stepped forward and took a deep breath.

“QUIET.” He shouted. The whole room stopped their shouting and endless camera flashes and became quiet. The whole room was a ghostly silence, a stark contrast to a few moments ago.

“Thank you.” Jackson said as he straightened his tie. He motioned for Celestia to come forward and take over. 

“Hello, citizens of Equestria. We understand that you’re concerned and want to know more, and we will answer your questions in due time. But please, for right now be patient. We cannot answer and questions today. So please, if you would please come back next week, we have a press conference with all of you. It will be here in this hall and we will answer most all of your questions.” Celestia said before turning back to the group. As soon as the last word came out of her mouth, the shouting and questions started again. This time, however, it seemed to be even more intense than before.  Finally, the doors closed and the sound became a dull roar in the distance. Once the doors had closed, the all began walking towards their destination. Jackson let out a sigh of relief. 

“Well, that went better than expected.”

“Right... “ Slipstream agreed skeptically, if not in an exasperated tone. Jackson rolled his eyes.

“By comparison to what would have happened in my world, it was better.”

“That’s the case with a lot of things.” Slipstream said sarcastically.

“Oh shutup.” Jackson shot back. Slipstream smirked back at him. Jackson just shook his head in annoyance.

“Well now what. We’ve delayed the press, now what?” He said, tiredly.

“We make a better plan than your normal idea of just ‘Winging it’.” Celestia said. Jackson made an offended look.

“Hey now, that plan has almost always worked for me.” Jackson shot back.

“Almost being a key word.” Celestia said with a smirk. Jackson, wisely, stayed quiet, as he had no response. “In any case, we still do need a proper plan.”

“We could do small press releases and conferences.” Twilight interjected. “Release small amounts of information at a time, do our best to control what gets out. All the guards and soldiers have sworn not to speak of you, so we shouldn’t have to worry about them. The guards can try to control the Paparazzi best they can, and once the big Press Conference happens, they’ll be more controlled.”

Everyone glanced at each other, thinking.

“That could very well work…” Jackson said with a nod.

“I agree, though how would we get the small information out?” Slipstream asked.

“We could just schedule small interviews with trustworthy newspapers and magazines.” Jackson said.

“Trustworthy papers?” Slipstream questioned.

“You know… The ones who won’t twist my words and manipulate me. Like Fancy Pants’ magazine.” Jackson explained. The others made small expressions of understanding. “That’s another reason why I hate the press.”

As they neared Celestia’s quarters, the guards at the door stood at attention, the one on the left moving to open the door. Jackson nodded to the guards as he walked past and they fell back into parade rest. They walked off to corner of the room with couches and chairs for Celestia’s private meetings. Celestia and Jackson took the couch and Slipstream and Twilight took chairs.

“Do we have anyway of contacting Fancy Pants for a surprise offer?” Jackson asked. Celestia nodded before levitating a pen and parchment over. She wrote a letter, then rolled it and sealed it. She then called one of the guards in.

“Yes, your majesty?” A guard asked. Celestia floated over the parchment, which he accepted with care.

“Please take this down to the couriers and tell them it is addressed to Fancy Pants. Oh, and tell them to deliver it with haste, if possible.” Celestia said. The guard bowed before straightening up.

“Yes, your majesty.” He turned and made his way out of the room. As the door closed behind him, Celestia turned and looked over the others in the room.

“Now, we wait.” She smiled.