Actions and Reactions: Saving Twilight Sparkle

by Lord of Flies

Chapter Six: The Sounds of Silence

Prince-General Blueblood stormed back to the banquet room, and, forcing his expression to be as calm as it could be, pushed the doors open. All the guests turned to see the Prince-General, his face calm but indescribable fury in his eyes. His mouth opened and he said, as calmly as he could, “I’m terribly sorry, but Princess Twilight’s Coronation Banquet, at the request of High Princess Celestia, has been called off. You’ll be informed of the reason why later this week. Again, I’m terribly sorry for any inconvenience.”

He then grabbed the back of Golden Gavel’s jacket, startling the stallion, and stated, “We need to talk. Now.”

Not waiting for a response, he dragged the unicorn to his office.

“Guards,” he told the two Palace Guards standing at the doors of his office, “unless it’s any of the Princesses or Captain-General Sparkle, I am not to be bothered until Mister Gavel leaves my office.”

“Yes, Prince-General.”

Pushing one of the doors open, he shoved Gavel inside the room. He pointed to a chair near his desk and commanded, “Sit.”

Gavel complied, and sat down in the chair once he reached it. Blueblood closed the door, grabbed a sheaf of paper, walked over to his desk, placed the paper on his desk in front of Gavel, slapped a pen onto the sheaf, and demanded, “Write the name of everyone that was involved in the assassination of Princess Twilight in some way.”

Gavel nodded nervously and began writing.

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

“Lieutenant Long Stride,” came the mighty voice of the High Princess, “you are cleared of any duties for the rest of the night. Go get some rest.”

Long Stride rose to his feet and nodded. There was nothing he could do here anymore. He needed to leave.

***

Slowly, Long Stride found his way back to the Praetorian Barracks. Any Royal Guards that were on their patrols had stood aside as the battered and exhausted Praetorian silently, somberly, returned to the Barracks. The two Praetorians at the entrance pulled the doors open for the Lieutenant, who nodded and gave a strained smile.

He found the quartermaster in the armory, and opened his mouth to explain his appearance, only for the quartermaster to raise a hand and state, “The High Princess called ahead to let me know about your arrival. I’ll have your armor repaired in the morning.”

Long Stride nodded, and headed to his armor station. Queuing up the removal process, he sighed, stepped between the two pillars, and waited. The mechanical arms of the station removed the golden pieces of armor from off of the exoskeleton beneath them before one pulled the plug connecting his armor to his central nervous system from the port at the base of his neck. A slight shudder ran down his spine as the connection was severed. “Never going to get used to that…”

The arms then pulled the front sections of the exoskeleton away, allowing the stallion to step out of the exoskeleton and head to a locker with his name on it.

Pulling the door open, Long Stride found a pair of simple fatigues and stripped his armored body-glove off. Changing into his fatigues, he saw that the front of his body-glove was also damaged in the same way as his armor. Folding the damaged body-glove, Long Stride retrieved his ruined faceplate and pauldron.

Placing the three items on the quartermaster’s station, he said, “Deliver that sword to the High Princess, she might want to examine it.”

“Of course, Lieutenant.”

With that, he went to his quarters, opened the door, entered his quarters, closed the door, and laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Only then did the weary, exhausted, and downhearted Praetorian allow himself to cry.

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

Brigadier General Damocles Blueblood watched as Princess Twilight was wheeled away on a stretcher, his face displaying a morose expression. He said nothing as Ambassador Night Light and Lady Star left, presumably to head to the hospital to get Star treated for her Overflow exposure, and keep track of their daughter. The High Princess looked down at him as she came to his side. “You all right, Damocles?”

Damocles shook his head. “No. No, I’m not. Haven’t been for two years… Not since Grey Beak… And this? This? This is making it worse. I-I could’ve… Could’ve…”

Damocles held his head in his hands and groaned. “None of this makes any sense… Why? Why would prompt a citizen of the Empire to do such a thing?”

“That,” rumbled the High Princess, “I do not know. But… I will find out.”

Damocles nodded, and sighed, looking up at the High Princess. She nodded, and spoke. “Go.”

Turning from the alicorn, Damocles left, leaving the High Princess alone in the corridor.

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

“Tia,” Luna said, “there’s nothing you could have done. You know that.”

Celestia shook her head, and responded, “One can always do something. I just did the wrong thing.”

Her response voiced, Celestia turned and walked away, deeper into the palace.

Luna shook her head, and whispered, “Oh, Tia…”

She then headed in the same direction as her sister, as her destination was along the way to her sister’s.

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

The next day came, as it always did, and the citizens in Canterlot noticed a change in the Royal Guard. Grim, dismal looking Guards had replaced the somewhat cheery and quietly confident Guards that patrolled throughout the capital. No matter who a citizen was: a criminal, a street urchin, a police officer silently eating a donut, a posh and arrogant noble, a slum dweller with enough Koares* to buy something from the other side of the wall, or even one of the staff working inside the Imperial Palace, it did not matter, they noticed, and many did not like it.

The Guards did not talk to any of the citizens they encountered during their routines, only speaking to order citizens out of their way or when arresting any criminals they came across. This told the citizens, even without any spoken words from the Guards themselves, that something had happened.

The citizens found themselves speculating about why the Guards had suffered such a drastic switch in mood. Many proposed that something terrible had happened to one of the Princesses, only to dismiss the proposal as ridiculous.

Those who speculated about one of the Princesses having something terrible happen to her were not wrong or ridiculous.

And they were only scraping the surface of the truth…

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

In the chamber where High Princess Celestia held her Day Court, those citizens in attendance noticed the same grim, dismal mood in not only the Palace Guards, but the Praetorians, as well.

However, what really disheartened the attendees was the state of the High Princess, who was very much adored by most of her subjects.

Her clothing, made from the finest silks, was severely disheveled. The signature multi-colored hair that always flowed as though an invisible wind blew gently through it was still, spilling down across her mighty shoulders, and unkempt. Her crown and gauntlets had been cracked at some point between her cancelling the Coronation Banquet for Princess Twilight and when she was first seen by a citizen coming to voice their concerns. This detail of the High Princess’s appearance unnerved the older attendees, some of whom had seen, sixty years ago, when the monarch had personally defeated an Ursa Major that had threatened Canterlot with only her fists. Her gauntlets were unscathed after that battle as was her crown.

The damaged appearance of these pieces of the monarch’s outfit suggested a rage and strength that she was extremely capable of suppressing.

But, the vital detail that alerted the more astute attendees to the fact that something had happened to make her react in such that she looked like she did was the telltale lines of orange makeup that had gotten wet and ran down her face, staining the white fur with its color; her eyes reflected a spiritlessness that very few had seen in their monarch, let alone any other pony, but one that her Praetorians had seen until Princess Luna had returned from her banishment.

Those who saw this, and knew this display of emotion's significance, understood what was happening.

The High Princess of the Solarian Empire was showing her sorrow.

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

Prince-General Blueblood sat in his office alone, facing the window and looking at the city surrounding the palace, pondering what he should do for his next step, when the doors to his office were flung open by Captain-General Shining Armor. “Marius,” he demanded, “is it true? Did my sister get attacked by an assassin last night?”

“Yes.”

The response was short and melancholic. “Who did this then?” Shining Armor asked, voice shaking, “Why was this done?”

Blueblood turned around, revealing his face was one of deep sorrow. His eyes, swollen and puffy from the tears he had shed earlier that morning, made the upset elder brother of Twilight Sparkle pause and realize that the Prince-General was upset to the point of tears. His voice was shaky and strained as he replied.

“‘For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings; how some have been deposed; some slain in war, some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed; some poison'd by their wives: some sleeping kill'd; all murder'd…’ All because they happened to be unfortunate enough to be wearing a crown of shining metal and no one liked them.”

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*Koare: Standard Imperial Currency, equivalent to one 1915 British Pound (approximately five US Dollars)

Author's Note:

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