Celestia XVII: The Broken Princess

by brokenimage321

Shining Armor: Twoo Wuv

I nodded at the two guards, who returned the nod and uncrossed their spears. I stepped up to the door between them, took a deep breath, and knocked.

“Who is it?” called Princess Luna.

“Captain Armor, Your Highness,” I replied. “I have a status report.”

“Come in, please,” she said.

I turned the handle and pushed the door open. Reflexively, I swept my eyes across the small room, searching out all the corners and hidden places where an enemy might be lurking. Couldn’t help it. Guard training.

There were eight ponies in the room, all told: Princess Luna, of course, lying on a cushion on the carpet. Lying beside Luna, her mane in a bun and her glasses crooked on her face, was my sister Twilight (who, if I wasn’t mistaken, had been leaning up against Luna until just a moment ago). Prince Blueblood and Rarity, cuddling together in the window seat, the setting sun glowing orange behind them. Twilight’s other four Ponyville friends, scattered about in various poses of exhaustion. And finally, one of the Palace’s nurses, moving from pony to pony with her bag of ointments and bandages. All of them were looking up at me curiously. All of them, except the nurse, were still in their fancy clothes from the wedding, and all of them, except Luna and the nurse, were bloody, filthy, and haggard. Their clothing was destroyed, their manes were ruined, and every one of them needed a long, hot shower, but they were alive. And that was about all we could ask at the moment.

I cleared my throat, then took off my helmet and held it under my arm.

“Status report,” I repeated. “Most of the Guard is still rounding up changeling survivors, but they’re not putting up much of a fight anymore. The death of their Queen appears to have broken their will.”

Blueblood looked up. “Does that mean that it’s all over, then?”

I shook my head. “Not exactly,” I said. “I still wouldn’t be surprised if some of them got desperate and did something stupid. And there’s still the cleanup efforts, of course—we want to make sure we’ve swept out all the corners, as it were. But I would expect us to get all the bugs taken care of within a day or two, unless something else comes up.”

Princess Luna nodded solemnly. “And the casualties?” she asked.

I hesitated. “We’re still determining that, to be honest,” I said. “Wounded civilians are still trickling in. Most of the Guard is accounted for, in one way or another, but we still have several squads searching the Palace for any stray changeling nests.” I swallowed. “Most of the prisoners they took are still alive, at least.”

A muscle in Princess Luna’s jaw twitched. “I see,” she said.

I gripped my helmet a little tighter. Her tone was a rebuke.

“Do you have any notion of how they were able to so thoroughly infiltrate the Palace yet?” she continued, her voice cold.

I shook my head. “No, Your Highness,” I said. “I expect that it has something to do with the chaos surrounding the wedding planning. Conflicting orders, public disturbances, and so on. With the Guard so distracted, it would have been relatively easy to sneak into the Palace, a few changelings at a time.”

Her frown deepened. “I expect a full review of Palace security practices to be completed at your nearest convenience.”

I bowed my head quickly. “Of course, Your Highness.”

“That will be all,” she said.

I looked up, shot a small smile at Twilight, who smiled back, then turned to leave.

“Actually, if you please, Captain Armor…?”

I stopped, then turned to look at Rarity. “Yes, Ma’am?”

“I was wondering…” she looked around at her friends, then back to me. “I was wondering if it might be possible to, perhaps…” She sighed, then glanced at Blueblood, who put his arm around her. She smiled, then looked back at me, her eyes bright. “I was wondering if it might be possible to resume the wedding. And to still have the reception afterward, of course.”

My eyes bulged. I opened my mouth—

“EeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” squealed Pinkie Pie, with enough force to shatter glass.

I slapped a hoof over one ear, then gaped at her, but Pinkie soldiered right on.

“It’s just like a fairy tale!” she cried, ignoring the pained, irritated, and aggrieved looks coming her way from everyone else in the room. “Mare meets Stallion, Mare rejects Stallion, Mare gets invited by the Princess to redecorate the Palace, Mare realizes Stallion has shaped up and isn’t an ass anymore, Mare and Stallion have a wedding that gets invaded by a million bugs, and they all lived happily ever after!”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “What sort of fairy tales did you read when you were a filly?” she asked.

“Besides,” Pinkie continued, unabated, “Prince Blueblood did something brave and stupid and he saved everyone! That proves it really is…” she sighed dramatically. “Twoo Wuv.”

Everyone stared in stunned silence, as she stood there, chest heaving. She looked around the room, her smile wide, somehow impervious to the looks of impatience, amusement, and disdain everyone was throwing her way.

“...Yes. Well. With that said,” Rarity began, after a moment of silence, “I do honestly think that having the wedding after all might still be one of the best possible uses of our time and resources.”

Blueblood opened his mouth, but Rarity held up a hoof. “Yes,” she continued, “I know that there’s been a great deal of unpleasantness today. Some ponies got hurt. Some got killed. And I know that not many will feel like celebrating. But I think that may be why it’s all the more important that we do. We have to show them that there’s still something to live for in this world—something to hope for. And, if we can send them away with a smile on their faces and a slice of cake in their hooves, all the better.”

“Sweetheart,” interjected Blueblood, “It’s late… I don’t think we’ll have time for everything…”

Rarity waved her hoof dismissively. “Then let’s just skip dinner and head straight to the dancing. And we’ll have the kitchen wrap the leftovers in tinfoil, send them to the families that got hurt today.” She smiled. “That way, everyone gets something.”

Pinkie frowned, thought a moment, then nodded slowly. “That’s… a good idea,” she admitted.

Rarity looked around the room, from pony to pony. Twilight looked to Princess Luna, who gave a small, dignified nod. Rainbow looked away and shrugged, though her excitement was clear in her eyes. Fluttershy nodded meekly, and Applejack smiled.

Last of all, Rarity turned to Blueblood—and her face fell.

“Blue,” she said, “what’s wrong?”

Blue looked miserable, his eyes already misted with tears.

“Sweetheart,” he said, his voice trembling. “Wouldn’t you… wouldn’t you want to… to wait a little?”

“Wait?” she almost yelped. “Why should I?”

“Aren’t you… tired?” he asked. “With everything?” he added, gesturing vaguely.

“Not at all,” she said. “Not when it comes to my wedding, at any rate.” She examined his face curiously. “Why would I want to wait a little?” she asked. “What would make you say that?”

“Because…” he sighed unhappily. “Because… well…” He looked desperately around the room, then down at his hooves. “Because I don’t know why you’d want to marry me anymore. Not now.”

In the sudden silence, no one moved. Then, Rarity snuggled a little closer to him. “Whyever would you say that, Darling?” she asked.

Blueblood pulled away from her. “When you needed me today,” he mumbled, “I wasn’t there. I ran off.” He looked away. “You deserve someone better than me,” he said. “Someone who isn’t such a screw-up and a coward…”

“You’re not a screw-up,” Rarity protested.

“I am,” Blue insisted. “You’re beautiful, and smart, and perfect—and I’m a stubborn, arrogant jerk, who jokes around instead of dealing with his problems. You don't deserve to clean up after all my messes… I don’t know why you ever—”

And then, Rarity’s eyes flashed with fire.

“Prince Blueblood!” she roared, leaping to her hooves. “I have had just about enough of you!”

Blueblood jerked back in horror, and all of us turned to stare.

“You are handsome, and clever, and caring, and a damn sexy stallion, excuse my Prench,” she continued, her voice trembling the slightest bit. “And yet, you continually insist that you are a worthless excuse for an equine, who just happened to fall into one of the highest and most respected positions in the land.” She drew herself up to her full height, the tears in her eyes glistening in the light of the setting sun. “Listen to me, and listen well, Blueblood, for I will not say it again: you have no right to speak of yourself in such a fashion, and I shall hear no more of it!”

Blue looked up at her, his bottom lip quivering. “But, Rares…”

“Oh, shut up,” she snapped.

And then, she leaned in and kissed him, full on the lips.

Blueblood gave a little moan. Rarity wrapped her arms around him, and he sagged, almost melted, at her touch. I smiled, feeling my heart lift for the first time today. Somewhere in the distance, Pinkie cheered, and Rainbow Dash let out a wolf-whistle, which turned into a cry of pain and surprise as Applejack slugged her in the arm.

Finally, Rarity let go of Blueblood, and he turned to us with a goofy, slightly-dazed smile.

“Wedding’s on, then?” he asked.

I covered my ears just in time for Pinkie’s renewed shriek. She leapt to her feet, then started dancing with joy.

“A par-tay, a par-tay,” she chanted, “we’re all gonna have a par-tay…”

“Um,” said Fluttershy.

Ordinarily, with a voice so quiet, Fluttershy would have been lost in the noise. But something in her tone made us turn and look. Even Pinkie stopped her dancing, frozen awkwardly in mid-step.

“What about Cece?” Fluttershy asked quietly. “Don’t you think she would want to attend?”

A chill descended on the room. For a long moment, everyone was silent, as each of the ponies looked uneasily at each other. Finally, Twilight sat up.

“She’ll be fine,” she said. “Let’s do it.”

I cocked my head and frowned. Twilight had never been a good liar.

“Are you sure, Twiley?” I asked. “This is important. I would think she would be—”

“I know her best,” Twilight said, cutting me off. “She’ll be fine.”

I thought I caught a little sparkle of anger in her eyes—but it was gone almost before I recognized it.

“Oh, alright,” she said to the room at large. “Yeah, she won’t be able to make it just yet. But we don’t know how long it will take her to get back on her hooves—could be weeks. But we’ve already made all the preparations, and all the guests are already here—and I doubt they’ll be willing to wait around for her. And, even if they were, the cake won’t keep that long.” She paused, then looked around the room. “We’ll save her some cake, just in case,” she added. “And take lots of pictures. But I still think that we should go ahead anyways.”

Rarity bit her lip. “I suppose…” she admitted.

“Great. Then it’s settled,” Twilight said. She stood and walked towards the door. “I need to go straighten up my mane.”

I watched her go with one eyebrow raised, then slipped my helmet back on. I turned to the room and bowed.

“Your Highnesses. Ladies,” I said. “I’ll go an make preparations as well.”

I turned and stepped out of the room. As I closed it behind me, I thought I heard Pinkie Pie sigh again:

“Ah, twoo wuv…”

"Oh, can it, you," snapped Rainbow.

Comments

[Comickook]

Excellent work on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Yeah, I can definitely understand Shiny's POV following the immediate aftermath of Chrysalis's attempted invasion as well as the few extra details concerning the Mane Six's assorted reactions. And, yeah, at least Fluttershy noticed how Celly might have been affected badly by this.

Now, on to the next chapter.

[badninja]

So it was Blueblood and Rarity’s wedding that got ruined. I hope Fluttershy goes and talks to Cece and helps her start to get over this.

[sporklasagna]

... Does Cadance even exist in this world?

[brokenimage321]

9910966
She does--but she hasn't appeared in the story yet.

[Lurks-no-More]

Pinkie going "TWOO WUW!" is a superlatively Pinkie thing to do. And yes, Rarity is generous with more than money and fashion, as we see.

[Sylica telca]

Cece desperately needs a therapist or something