Rocinante and the Wedding at Canterlot

by Charliemane

Chapter 3

As Princess Cadance and her new escorts left the room, Shining Armor turned back to the Princesses across from him. His head was starting to throb again, but he rubbed his temples and tried to push it from his mind.

“Forgive me, Your Highness, but are you sure Rocinante is able to protect Cadance? I mean, a pony that has no formal martial training... I mean... I'm sure he has spirit...”

Shining Armor's words trailed off as he looked for the most tactful way to say that he thought Luna's Knight of the Restored Moon was little more than a court jester. It wasn't that he disliked the knight-errant, but a potentially insane pony with a busted up lance just couldn't be that effective, in any role.

Princess Luna however, seemed perfectly confident in her choice.

“While I do confess that I have but only borne witness to Sir Rocinante's combat abilities once, that single encounter gave full demonstration to both his tenacity and his indomitable spirit. Rest assured that Sir Rocinante shall be ever diligent and ever watchful. Regardless of his actual fighting strength, nothing shall slip by him and his swift squire will be ever ready to race for reinforcement. Together I have full faith that the two of them shall be able to keep thy fair bride-to-be safe.”

Shining Armor forced a smile as he looked back out of the, now closed, door in the direction of his love. He was still more than concerned about what might threaten her, but if anypony knew whether or not Rocinante could be trusted to protect her, it was Princess Luna.

Princess Cadance held in another sigh as the ever noisy knight and his squire followed after her. She had largely calmed down since the war-room, but if she was going to get anything done, she would have to find a way to get rid of her unusual guards. Unfortunately, they had been either too determined to hold to their post, or too oblivious to catch her subtle hints that they should go away.

As they rounded another flight of stairs on the way to her room, Princess Cadanced stopped and looked around. There had to be something that could distract him for just a few minutes for her to get away. Taking note of the restrooms to their left, Princess Cadance smiled. At last it felt as though luck was on her side.

“One moment, Sir Knight. I'll be back shortly.”

There was probably a window to vent out the room inside. She would just have to squeeze through and fly the rest of her way to her room. The Princesses might disapprove of her shaking her guards, but she could easily “convince” Shining Armor that there was no harm done.

Pushing the door open, she suddenly noticed that the knight was still right behind her.

“Umm... Sir Rose-in...aunty was it? You can't seriously mean to follow me in here.”

Rocinante seemed perplexed by her question. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought for a moment before suddenly he realized where exactly she was heading.

“Ah! Forgive me, Fair Highness, for I was so determined to hold fast to the charge that my Princess has given me that I failed to take note of where exactly you were going!”

Cadance forced a smile as she turned back towards the restroom.

“Yes, well I'm glad that's been settled. I'm afraid I'll have to be alone for just a moment-”

“Fear not Fair Highness! For though the rules of civility may prevent me from following you into this room, my noble and fearless squire, young Sassaflash, is not so bound! She shall provide the escort you need to carry on without fear!”

Cadance nearly banged her head on the wall in frustration as she gritted her teeth and let out what could only be described as a highly irritated growl. This reaction clearly confused both the knight and the squire as they both rushed to her side.

“Princess!”

“Fair Excellency! Are you alright?!”

The looks of genuine concern in the eyes of the two ponies now holding her up suddenly gave the surprised Cadance the villainous idea she had been looking for.

“Oh! Oh! My stomach! It hurts! It hurts! I think... I think I may have been poisoned! I need a doctor! If only somepony could go get a doctor!”

Rocinante and Sassaflash looked at each other with wide eyes before springing into action.

“Hold on Fair Highness! Sassa! Quick! Fly with all due haste to find the doctor!”

“Right!”

Spreading her wings, Sassaflash leapt into the air and flew as fast as she could down the hallway while Princess Cadance hid her subtle smile. One was gone and one was left.

“Oh! Rosen-aunty! I feel so sick!”

“Hold on Fair Highness! Help is coming with all due haste!”

Princess Cadance suddenly placed a hoof to her mouth and puffed her cheeks out. Spinning away from Rocinante, Cadance sped towards the restroom. But as she opened the door she noticed Rocinante was still right on her heels.

“You can't come in here! Don't follow me!”

Cadance wanted to slap herself for dropping her ruse in anger, but to her great surprise the knight only shouted back from the doorway.

“Of course! My apologies Fair Excellency! Fear not! I shall guard the door so that none may strike in your moment of weakness!”

Cadance rolled her eyes as she made her best gagging sound effect while looking for the window. To her joy, it was there, up high on the wall and already slightly opened for ventilation. All she had to do was squeeze out before the meddling squire could return with an actual doctor.

Sassaflash could feel her heart racing as she torn down the hallway. Her eyes darting down each hallway she passed with an increasing panic. They had gone through so many twists and turns in the castle since they arrived that she had been hopelessly lost before she had even started looking.

Landing for just a moment, Sassaflash ran in place as her head darted around. Why weren't there any guards now when she needed them? Picking a random hallway, Sassaflash raced at full speed down the marble lane on the off chance that she had gambled on the right hallway.

To her great shock, she in fact won her gamble. As she reached the passage at the end of the hall, she recognized the stairwell that led down to the war-room from before. A smile of relief almost managed to spread across her face as she threw open the door.

Cadance's plan was simple enough. She would no doubt get “in trouble” for shaking her guards and causing a scare like this, but Shining Armor was putty in her hooves and even Celestia had been lax around her. A dark grin flashed on her face. She would get a slap on the hoof and that would be that.

Finally prying the rusted windowsill all the way open, Cadance began to squeeze herself through. It was a tighter fit than she had expected and having to make all of the sickly noises she could think of to keep the knight outside convinced that she was poisoned was leaving her out of breath as she scrambled through the tiny opening.

As Cadance struggled to pull her left wing forward, she felt the window rise up a little bit more, allowing her wing to pass, but then fall down on her back with a screech. Coughing loudly, Cadance looked back toward the door through the window and breathed a sigh of relief. Evidently the knight was still holding his post outside. The smile swiftly returned to her face, but slowly began to fade as her right wing pushed against the window, at first with a little force, and then with a lot.

Shining Armor nearly trampled Sassaflash as he raced out the door in the direction of his beloved. Sassaflash spread her wings and flew off after him and the Princesses were both right behind her. Though she was supposed to be the one to lead them to Princess Cadenza, Sassaflash was more than relieved that Shining Armor apparently knew the route to her room and was unwilling to wait for her to lead the way.

What had been a series of long winding staircases and a labyrinth of hallways for Sassaflash, was only a few rooms upstairs for the Captain of the Royal Guard. Within moments Sassaflash eyed her cousin trotting in place nervously as he waited for help to arrive.

Cadance used her magic to grab hold of the window and began forcefully pushing it upward. The tired hinges made no sound as they bowed with the windowsill, but refused to give up their hold on the window itself.

Suddenly something white caught her eye further down the wall. Through the windows lining the wall, Cadance could see the squire had returned, not with a doctor, but with a whole entourage of all the ponies she wanted to see the least right now. Her game was up, she had lost. Now she had to try to get back into the bathroom before everypony found her like this.

Using her magic to push the window upwards and bracing her hind legs against the wall, Cadance pulled herself in with all the strength she could muster. With a sudden jolt, Cadance flew backwards into the room, bumping her head on the window and slamming hard onto the floor, just as Shining Armor threw open the door.

“Cadance!”

Shaking her head and quickly rising, Cadance was nearly toppled back onto the ground by her fiance's sudden embrace as he checked her vitals.

“Dear, I'm fine, really. It was just... umm... it was just indigestion.”

Shining Armor backed away from her slightly as one of his eyebrows raised. Behind him, the two Princesses walked in, their faces clearly showing their confusion. Cadance turned slightly red as she looked to the open windowsill and back to the ponies in front of her.

“I don't know how much they told you... but I was... well umm... with all the talk about me needing guards and breakfast never did sit quite right with me this morning and well I just I just.. I overreacted. Yes. I overreacted. Sorry about that.”

Princess Celestia looked incredulously at her before turning a raised eyebrow to her sister.

“I'm surprised that your knight wasn't able to tell the difference between indigestion and poison. Are you sure he's up for this?”

Luna frowned and tilted her head towards Cadance.

“As the young Princess said, talk of assassins and guards have led to this incident. T'is but a harmless false alarm.”

As Princess Celestia chided Luna about her knight panicking alongside the pony he was supposed to protect, Princess Cadance caught sight of something that made the corners of her mouth subtly rise. Princess Celestia, exhausted from checking and double checking various security measures alongside Princess Cadance's own nagging questions and wedding plans, was beginning to get irritable while Princess Luna, clearly nervous about the prospective attack and embarrassed that her guards had already failed in such an humiliating manner, was already on the defensive.

Though she had lost this little game, with a little careful planning, and maybe a little shape-shifting, she realized that she could take the very lance that was sent to protect her and use it to subvert the two biggest alicorn obstacles to her plan.