Actions and Reactions: Saving Twilight Sparkle

by Lord of Flies

Chapter Three: Coronation Banquet, Part One

Ponyville
April 15, 4E 2010
Day of the Coronation Banquet

7:30

“Spiiike! Get uuup!”

Twilight’s voice broke through the dragon’s dream and caused him to open his eyes. His green eyes locked with her violet eyes. He asked, a slight frown forming on his face, “What time is it?”

“7:30,” the mare replied.

“Oh,” he acknowledged, “alright, I’ll get up, then.”

The dragon climbed out of bed, and stood at his full height. Rather concerningly, Twilight was taller than he was, but only by a few inches. He chuckled slightly, nervously, and walked out of the room, to take a shower and get dressed for Twilight’s Coronation Banquet later that day.

******

8:30

“Oh, Sweetieee Belllle!”

“Coming, Rarity!”

The young unicorn came down the stairs. She looked around for her sister, her green eyes casting around the room. “Sis?”

Rarity was nowhere to be found. Sweetie Belle sighed, “Come on, Rarity. This isn’t funny.”

“Over here, dear.”

Sweetie Belle turned, and froze. Her sister stood on her workroom’s display stage. “Well,” she said, smiling wide, “how do you like it?”

The fashionista wore a ball gown, ivory in color and trimmed in silver. Full-length evening gloves, matching her gown, sheathed her arms. A necklace of silver inset with sapphires sat on her neck. An additional effect of the gown, Sweetie Belle noticed, was that it accentuated her bust.

Rarity cleared her throat, and said, “My eyes are up here, Sweetie.”

Sweetie Belle blushed, and looked down. “Sorry, i-it’s just…”

The clacking of heels, and a gloved hand pushing softly on her chin, alerted Sweetie Belle to her sister descending from the display stage. Rarity tilted her sister’s head up so the younger unicorn could look her in the eyes. “It’s alright,” Rarity assured Sweetie Belle, “when you’re as stacked as an earth pony, you come to expect stares. Especially from mares that are jealous or stallions that are lecherous. I hate those kind of stallions.”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “So,” Rarity smiled, “how about we go get something for breakfast?”

Sweetie Belle smiled, and nodded.

******

8:45

Applejack pulled a chair out from the dining room table and sank into it, sighing. Removing her glasses, she pulled a cleaning cloth from her jacket and began cleaning her glasses. After a few minutes, she finished cleaning her glasses and returned them to their rightful place on her head. She sat back in her chair and sighed. For a few minutes, she remained motionless.

Her thoughts drifted to her father, and Applejack pulled down her hat to hide her eyes. She could remember very little of her father, and what she could remember were quick looks at her father when she was a filly… and the day her father left, leaving her, McIntosh, and Apple Bloom to be raised by her mother and Granny Smith.

***

Her father came down the stairs, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. Applejack looked up and ran over to her father, saying, giving him a hug, “Hi, Papa!”

“Hey, AJ,” her father replied, smiling, “Where’s Mac? Your mother? Apple Bloom?”

“Mac’s with Granny out in the orchard. Mama’s got Apple Bloom in the living room.”

Her father nodded. “Well,” he mused, “Apple Bloom’s only a few months old, after all.”

“What’s in the bag?”

The stallion blinked, and replied, after a minute or two, “Papa’s gotta go.”

“Where ya goin’?”

“I’d like to tell you, little bud. But I can’t.”

“Oh,” Applejack said, looking down, “okay.”

“Hey,” her father comforted, “don’t be sad. I’ll be back…”

Applejack smiled big and nodded. “Okay!”

***

The memory ended. Her father did not return. And that left her mother and Granny Smith to raise Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and herself. She sighed. “Somethin’ wrong, dear?”

Applejack looked up, into the green eyes of her mother. “Nah, just thinkin’ a Pa.”

“Ah, him. Well, no use cryin’ over spilled milk,” she smiled. “Come on, you’ve got to get ready to go ta Canterlot.”

“Oh, right, right. Thanks fer remindin’ me.”

******

Canterlot, 10:00

Blueblood frowned, and looked over the security map for the coronation banquet again. “Something wrong, Marius?”

The unicorn paused, turned, and looked up into the teal eyes of Princess Luna. Or would have, if it weren’t for the ornate steel mask covering her face.

The alicorn towered over him, as did High Princess Celestia, and Princess Cadence.

Blueblood shook his head. “No, Luna. Just going over the security deployment map again.”

The alicorn nodded, smiling underneath her mask. “Good, good, keep up the good work.”

“Yes, Luna.”

************

A pegasus pulled her jacket shut. She began walking. She had to meet someone and get the weapon the contractor of her company had requested be used for her job. Frowning, she shook her head. She, and her handler, hated when those that contracting her company gave over very little details about a job. The details that were given, however, said that the job was an assassination. She sighed and shook her head. “Oh well,” she muttered, to herself, “pay’s good. And money makes the world go ‘round.”

She stopped, and flagged down a taxi. While flying would have been faster, she didn’t need the attention.

A taxi pulled up, and the pegasus opened the door and entered the vehicle. “Where to?”

The taxi driver sounded friendly enough. “The Hazelnut Bakery,” the mare responded, “if you please.”

“Of course.”

************

A knock on the left door of her office drew High Princess Celestia’s attention away from her work. She removed her reading glasses, looked up, and spoke, her rich voice carrying easily to the door, “Enter.”

The left door opened, and the Captain-General of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor Sparkle, entered. The High Princess smiled.

The unicorn stallion was a very large pony for his kind. Coming up to eye level with both Princess Cadence, his wife and the High Princess’s niece, and Twilight Sparkle, his younger sister and newly ascended Alicorn Princess, he towered over many of the citizens in the Solarian Empire. His massive frame was covered in a brilliant purple dress uniform, trimmed in gold. A trench coat of the same color and trim covered the uniform. Shining Armor was, Celestia noted, missing his barracks cover. Totally acceptable, of course; most Solarian officers weren’t forced to were their barracks cover if they had no need to, such as when they weren’t at ceremonies, in parades, or attending state weddings or dedications of new state buildings.

“Something you needed, my Captain-General?”

“Yes,” the stallion replied, producing a folder from within his coat, “I have, as you asked, compiled a pair of reports on the progress of the Imperial Flagship and our Selenar* Project. Respectively.”

“Ah,” acknowledged the mare, taking the folder from Shining Armor’s large hand with her much larger hand, “I see. Thank you, dear Captain-General. That will be all.”

The stallion bowed, and replied, “Of course, my lord.”

With that, the unicorn left, closing the gilded office door behind him.

Celestia leaned back, chair leaning back with her, and opened the folder and began reading the first report.

************

Solarian Empire Airspace, 13:30

One kilometer from Canterlot

Jürgen Windrider, Griffon Prince and native of Gray Beak City, drummed his talons against his armrest as he sighed. “How long until we reach Canterlot?”

The question was not directed to anyone of his accompanying staff or bodyguards in particular, but one did speak up. “Within the next fifteen minutes, Prince.”

Windrider nodded, and sighed, very softly.

***

Fifteen minutes later, the plane set down on the runway of Canterlot’s International Airport.

Windrider sighed, muttering beneath his breath, and rose to his feet. “Well,” he said to no one in particular, “show time.”

---

*Selene is the name of the moon in this universe, to avoid confusion.

Author's Note:

If you have any suggestions, feedback, concerns, or want to ask me any questions, leave them in the comments below. Thanks!