Actions and Reactions: Saving Twilight Sparkle

by Lord of Flies

Chapter Five: The Assassin Strikes

Star Sparkle smiled, and, feeling a bit thirsty, excused herself from the group of nobles she was chatting with. Heading towards the drinks table, she saw a white unicorn standing against the table, taking a sip from a glass of wine. The mare standing against the table noticed Star, and stood back up. “Lady Star,” she said, “it’s an honor!”

Star chuckled, and responded, “Rarity, please. I told you that you can call me Star.”

Rarity blushed, and nodded. “I know, I know, believe me. Force of habit.”

“Yep,” Star agreed, “I know. Habit is a powerful thing.”

The two stood silent for a minute or two, sipping their drinks. “So,” Star began, “what have you been up to?”

“I just got done talking with Prince and Princess Blueblood.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Prince Blueblood isn’t all that bad, actually. He’s very nice, very courteous.”

“He does act really rude sometimes, doesn’t he?”

Rarity nodded. “And he also complimented my dress making ability, saying that the dress I made for his wife was simply amazing.”

Star smiled, “Oh, I’m sure he was impressed.”

“He was. Very.”

“So,” Star prompted, “have any plans for a future family?”

Rarity blinked, and blushed. The question was totally out of the blue, and surprised the younger mare. “Y-yes. With Spike.”

“Spike? Really? Twilight’s assistant?”

Rarity nodded, “Yes, he’s clever, handsome, and my son adores him!”

One of Star’s eyebrows raised, ever so slightly. “Really? You have a son?”

Rarity nodded, again, smiling. “Yes. You know, the two year-old colt who likes chewing on my fabric.”

“Oh! Him?! He’s so adorable!”

Rarity nodded. “True. I just wish his father could see him now…”

The forlorn tone in Rarity’s voice made Star pause for a moment, as the older mare processed the statement. Star nodded, and said gravely, “I see. Then you’ve not seen his father for some time.”

“Yes. Not since after I learned I was pregnant. I don’t know where he went. Or if he’s coming back.”

Star nodded and sighed. “Just like many mares I know,” she murmured, “this is truly a problem in the Empire.”

“You say something, Star?”

“Hmm? Oh, no, no.”

A feeling of dread came over the mare. She looked at Rarity. “Rarity, you wouldn’t happen to know where Twilight is, do you?”

Rarity shook her head. “No, I didn’t see her leave. But one of the guards by the doors might know where she went.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Star hurried off toward the doors. Rarity tilted her head to the side in thought. “Maternal instincts, perhaps?”

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

“Mi’lady, why are we here?”

Princess Twilight turned around and smiled down at the smaller stallion. “Take your helmet’s faceplate off.”

Long Stride hesitated, but only for a moment, and complied, removing the eagle faceplate from his helmet, blinking to clear his vision. He looked up at the princess, viridian eyes filled with curiosity.

Then, surprise filled his eyes as the princess brought her face close to his and kissed him. After a very long moment, the princess broke the kiss, stood straight, and smiled. A faint smile formed on the Praetorian’s face, while a faint blush appeared through his bronze fur.

The smile and blush disappeared as the princess grunted in pain and used the Praetorian to hold herself up. “Princess, I-”

Princess Twilight cut him off with a quiet command, pain in her voice, “Lower me down, please.”

Long Stride gently lowered the princess to the floor. She coughed, turquoise blood splattering across his golden armor. Princess Twilight smiled, a thin line of turquoise blood escaping from the corner of her mouth. He returned the smile with a weak one of his own, asking, “Who would do this?”

The response to his question was a soft golden gauntlet pointing at another pony in the room.

A rust maned pegasus mare with amber eyes and a beige coat stared at the two ponies standing across the room from her. In her left hand was a maroon bladed sword with most of the blade’s length covered by turquoise. The expression on her face betrayed the surprise she felt due to the act she just committed. An uneasy smile was spread across her face. She pressed her free hand to her temple and looked at the blade in her hand.

Long Stride rose to full height and commanded, in an authoritative voice to hide his anger and fear, “Stand down, and come quietly. I’m placing you under arrest.”

The assassin frowned, and adopted a combat stance. Long Stride sighed, and replaced his eagle faceplate on his helmet. “As you wish,” he said, disappointment in his voice, “but don’t expect any mercy from me.”

Swinging up his M93, the Praetorian fired a quick burst at the assassin, who dodged and let the four rounds tear into the wall behind her. Running along the walls towards the Praetorian, with more rounds just missing her extending automail wings, the assassin launched herself at her foe, sword thrust in front of her.

Sidestepping the attack, Long Stride staggered as the sword, with the assassin’s weight behind it, pierced his left pauldron and bury itself to its hilt in the unfortunate armor piece. The assassin kicked off of him, knocking his rifle from his hands, which went spinning through the air. Landing on her feet, the mare caught the weapon, and aimed it at her foe, who sneered behind his eagle faceplate and drew his own sword.

Pulling the trigger, the assassin found herself surprised when her captured rifle emitted a not-so-subtle click, indicating that the weapon’s magazine was empty. Tossing the weapon aside, Dawn Shrike dodged a heavy, two-handed slash from the Praetorian, who had charged across the room at her and covered the distance in a few seconds, displaying surprising speed for such a heavily armored stallion.

She flung herself again at the Praetorian, and unleashed a flurry of slashes with her metal wings. The majority of the slashes dealt heavy damage to his torso armor, but did nothing to the flesh underneath. A few, however, managed to strike the armored stallion’s head, as a slash sliced through the eagle faceplate, rendering it useless to the Praetorian and the rest glanced off of his helmet. This earned Dawn a backhand slap from her foe, sending her flying a few meters across the room.

Long Stride took this opportunity to remove the ruined eagle faceplate from his helmet and his unfortunate left pauldron from his armor. Dropping the two pieces of ruined armor to the floor, he drew his sidearm, and flicked the pistol’s fire selector to full-automatic.

Dawn’s eyes widened as she realized the Praetorian’s intent and she leapt through a window, but stifling cries of pain as a few rounds from the sidearm caught her in her metal wings and one of her shoulders. She glided down to the street below and limped away from the palace, as one round had found its way into one leg.

Long Stride bolted to the window, looked down, and watched as the assassin limped away into the night. He lightly slammed his free fist into the window sill and growled, “Damn!”

With the threat to both him and the princess gone, Long Stride turned his attention back to the wounded mare lying on the floor on the other side of the room. Retrieving his discarded equipment, he returned to his charge’s side, only to find that her mother had arrived, and was currently attempting to heal her wounded daughter with her magic, with little effect.

“Lady Star,” the Praetorian asked, worried for the older mare, “are you wounded?”

Star shook her head and replied, “No. No. I am unharmed. Twilight, however, is not.”

“Yes, I know, she was stabbed by the sword lodged in my pauldron.”

“What happened to her attacker?”

“Escaped out the window, but I managed to wound her.”

Star nodded and said, “Good, good. She’ll be easier to track down and arrest.”

Crouching down, Long Stride inquired, “How is she, mi’lady?”

“Not well, her injury’s sent her into shock, and I’m trying to stabilize her, but it isn’t working.”

“What? How?”

Star shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe it’s an effect of that sword. I’m going to stop very shortly, or I’ll start taking internal organ damage from Overflow.”

“Overflow?”

“Yes. Overflow is what happens when a unicorn uses too much magic too quickly, like what I’m doing here. In long exposures, Overflow is almost certainly lethal.”

The cerise colored magic aura around her horn stopped and she coughed into her hand, with her hand coming away bloody. “But, I’ll be fine, I wasn’t exposed to Overflow very long.”

“Can you use magic after a few minutes’ rest?”

“No. Doing so now would continue to kill me, I’ll be able to cast magic again tomorrow.”

Star lifted her daughter up and cradled the younger mare in her arms. She rested her head on Twilight’s shoulder and assured, “It’ll be okay, Twily, it’ll be okay.”

Long Stride looked up as more ponies entered the room. Prince-General Blueblood, Brigadier General Damocles Blueblood, High Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Ambassador Night Light stared down at the three ponies.

The Prince-General’s face turned into a snarl and he stormed away. The Brigadier General said nothing, anger forming in his eyes, though his face remained calm. The High Princess clenched her hands into fists, trembling with anger and struggling to keep her face serene. Princess Luna’s mouth constantly twitched, as if she was fighting the urge to scream in anger and she looked away.

The ambassador crouched down next to Long Stride, and rested a hand on the Praetorian’s shoulder. “It’s alright, Lieutenant,” the stallion assured, “it’s alright. You did the best you could.”

Long Stride did not reply. The ambassador’s assurance was supposed to make him feel better. It did not.

All the assurance did was make him feel worse.

Author's Note:

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Comments

[Valiant Charge]

This can't bode well for the kingdom.