Three days later...

Twilight wearily walked into a private chamber in the Canterlot Castle and collapsed onto a cushion like a sack of potatoes. "How does Celestia do this?" she groaned. She had just closed court, having spent most of the day dealing with civilians with a number of complaints.

Several had asked about Princess Celestia, and Twilight had to give them all the same answer: she didn't know. Princess Celestia was still unconscious, laying in that hospital bed, and there was no telling if she was going to get better.

Which meant that she herself had to take the reigns as the current ruler of Equestria. Which meant endless paperwork, appearances, meetings with nobles and advisors, dealing with citizens. And making arrangements in case Celestia didn't....didn't return.

After only three days, Twilight was thoroughly exhausted. She lay on the couch, massaging her aching head, which felt like it was being squeezed in a vice, cracking beneath the pressure of carrying a world on her shoulders. A weight that had been transferred to her suddenly, without preparation.

Because of a single, senseless act of violence. For a moment, Twilight flashed back to that moment: an earsplitting crack, and warm blood, glistening scarlet in the sunlight, spraying across her face. Celestia, her mentor, her teacher, her friend, gasped and collapsed to the ground, blood staining her pure white coat. Wounded. Dying.

Everything—all the fear, hopelessness, despair and grief—that Twilight had been holding back all came flooding out at once. She buried her face into the cushion and began to sob, her tears racking her whole body.

A touch at her shoulder brought her back to reality. Looking up, she saw a yellow and pink blur standing next to her. "There, there, Twilight," Fluttershy said soothingly, stroking her shoulder with a hoof and giving her a tissue. "Just let it out."

Twilight's cries eventually turned into sniffles. She dabbed at her eyes, clearing her vision to find that all her other friends were all in the room with her, all looking at her sympathetically. Spike was just coming in with a glass of water and an aspirin, which Twilight gratefully accepted.

"It's going to be all right, Twilight," Fluttershy said.

"I don't know," Twilight groaned. "What if I'm not ready to take on the role of being a ruler of Equestria? What if I crack under the pressure? And what if...what if Celestia...if she doesn't..." She still could not force the words from her mouth, could not give voice to the terrible thought that had been hanging over her head for the past three days.

"Hey, Princess Celestia will be all right," Rainbow Dash said. "Nothing can put her down for good. And nothing can put you down, either." She gave Twilight a confident grin, playfully punching at her shoulder. "You're tough, Twilight, tougher than you know."

"It really doesn't do for you to fret so much, dear," Rarity said, taking out a comb and brush and starting to smooth out Twilight's tangled mane and bristling coat. "You have to try to keep calm; you won't be able to function if you strain yourself worrying."

"And you can always count on us to stay by your side," Applejack said. "No matter what happens, Twilight. We will always be with you."

"So turn that frown upside-down, Twilight!" Pinkie said, giving her one of her trademark ear to ear smiles. "The sun'll come out tomorrow: it's only a day away!"

Her stress relieved and her heart comforted, Twilight smiled at her friends, gathering them all up in an embrace. "Thank you, everypony," she said. But then reality came back into her life, and she remembered that she still had a Princess in hospital. She sighed. "I just wish we could cheer up Luna."

"Speaking of which," Spike said, gesturing out the window. Twilight realized that the sun was dipping towards the horizon: it was almost time to raise the moon.

Sighing quietly, Twilight got to her hooves. "I'll go find Luna."

Soon after, Twilight was walking down the hallway of the hospital, Flash and another Guard following behind. Doctors, nurses and patients around her all kept a respectful distance; Twilight could feel their gazes on her like heat from spotlights, and she had to fight down the urge to squirm.

Turning the corner, she saw the hospital room up ahead, two Guards standing sentinel before it. They both looked up at Twilight's approach. "Has she—?" Twilight started to ask, but one of the Guards solemnly shook his head. Groaning, Twilight gestured for Flash to wait outside and entered the room. Respecting her privacy, Flash stood at attention opposite the other two Guards, all three of them briefly sharing the same look of concern.

Twilight slowly entered the room. Luna was still sitting at her sister's side, her head bowed in thought. Celestia looked the same as she had always looked these past days: her mane was still as dull as before, lying limp around her. Twilight walked over to Luna and sat down next to her. The Princess of the Night did not acknowledge her presence. Up close, Twilight saw that her eyes were baggy and streaked with red. For a moment, neither spoke. The only sound in the room was the slow, steady beeping of the EKG and the amplified sound of Celestia's breathing through the oxygen mask.

"Luna?" Twilight finally spoke. "It's time to raise the moon."

Luna blinked a couple of times, then got up and strode to the window. Looking out of the window into the sky, she lit up her horn, reaching out with her magic. Very slowly, the sun began to descend, the sky darkening. The sun disappeared, but the moon did not rise. Luna's body trembled and she let out a little growl of frustration, straining as she attempted to lift the moon. A single tear slowly trickled down her face.

Twilight stepped forward, reaching out with her magic as well. The feeling of her magical touch seemed to calm Luna, who took a slow, deep breath. Together, the two of them slowly raised the silver crescent into the sky, it's light illuminating the capital below.

"Thank you, Twilight," Luna said quietly.

"It's all right," Twilight said, placing a foreleg around Luna and hugging her. Luna accepted the embrace, leaning down onto Twilight's shoulder.

They were interrupted by a sound from the bed. Turning in surprise, they saw Celestia's eyelids flickering. With a feeble groan, Celestia opened her eyes and looked around. "Wha...where am I?" she whispered.

"Celie!" Luna shouted, hurrying to Celestia's side. The Guards outside poked their heads in to see what the commotion was about. "Guards, get a doctor!"

One of the Guards immediately ran off down the hallway. "Doctor! Nurse! Somepony!"

"Be still, sister," Luna said, taking Celestia's hoof in both of hers. "You've been hurt, but you're going to be all right now."

"Luna..." Celestia whispered, trying to get up.

"Shhh," Luna hushed. "It's all right. You're safe now."

A doctor hurried into the room. "Your Highness, it's good to see you awake," he said, taking out a stethoscope. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Celestia said. "I need to get back to the palace. I need to..."

"No, Your Highness, you need to rest," the doctor said, gently pushing Celestia back down. "Everything is all right. Now, then, do you hurt?"

Celestia surrendered herself to the attention of the doctor. Luna, Twilight, Flash and the Guards all stood back and watched in relief. "Well, it seems that your wounds are healing faster than anticipated," the doctor said. "I guess that's your alicorn magic at work. I recommend that you continue to rest for a while so we can make sure that you're all right."

"Thank you, doctor," Celestia said, already finding it hard to stay awake. Luna grabbed the doctor in a grateful (and rib-cracking) hug, but quickly let go.

"It's all right now, Celestia," Twilight said, taking Celestia's hoof. "We can take care of everything."

Celestia smiled at her. "I know you can, Twilight. Thank you." And with that, Celestia slowly lowered herself into the pillow and fell asleep. The doctor politely shooed everypony else out of the room so that she could rest.

"I must inform everypony else!" Luna said, already hurrying down the hallway, happier than Twilight had ever seen her. "There is hope after all!" Bursting out the hospital doors, she took flight, heading for the palace.

Smiling, Twilight spread her wings and flew after her, Flash by her side. "Good to see her happy again," she said, turning to Flash. To her surprise, Flash did not appear happy by this turn of events; he was frowning slightly, his brow furrowed in thought. Twilight had seen that look on his face before: it never meant anything good. "Flash?" she asked. Her bodyguard did not seem to hear her. "Flash!" she repeated, reaching out and shaking his shoulder. Flash blinked and turned to face her. "What is it?"

"I was just thinking," Flash said, turning away to concentrate on the flight.

"Thinking about what?" Twilight said.

"It's nothing," Flash said, intentionally avoiding her gaze.

"It's never just nothing," Twilight said sternly. "If you—"

She was interrupted by a whistle from below. "Oi!" a familiar voice called. Looking down, Flash and Twilight saw Phillip standing on the street beneath them, waving up at them. The pair descended and landed before him.

"Did you find anything?" Flash said urgently; it had been the first anypony had heard from him for the past three days.

"No," Phillip said heavily. He looked very tired: his head was lowered slightly, his eyes were a little baggy, his forehead wrinkles seemed deeper than before, and there was a shadow beneath his jaw. "And that's what's worrying me."

"How so?" Twilight asked.

"Getting a professional assassin to kill a Princess is big. Somepony, somewhere in this town, should know something," Phillip said. "And yet, nopony's talking. None of my old contacts, nopony in the local underworld knows anything."

Flash frowned. "That's not the only thing, is it?"

Phillip bit his lip. "It's the way they're being silent," he admitted. "Like they're being told to stay quiet."

"You think there's more to this?" Flash said, his brow furrowing.

Philip looked up at his partner. The investigators shared the kind of look shared between two ponies who are both thinking the same thing.

"What is it?" Twilight said, looking between them, her previous joyous mood quashed.

"I've been thinking," Flash said slowly. "The assassin was a professional, right? Connected to dozens of killings over the past fifteen years?" Phillip nodded. "So how come he missed?"

"What do you mean, he missed?" Twilight almost shouted, her wings flaring in shock. "She's been in hospital for three days!"

"Th-that's not what I meant," Flash stammered out quickly. "I mean...think about it. That shot was taken from less than a thousand meters away, in broad daylight, with no crosswind, against a target that wasn't moving very fast. Easy shot: Celestia should be dead now. Instead, he aims for her body, and only wounds her."

"And then he rushes out, guns blazing, instead of just quietly slipping away," Phillip said, beginning to see where Flash was going. The two of them paused, the same thought swimming in their eyes.

"What if he didn't kill Celestia on purpose?" Phillip said quietly. "What if he was supposed to get caught? What if whoever did this wanted Celestia wounded, weak, but not dead?"

Twilight stared at them. "But why?"

Phillip glanced down the empty street behind him, dark shadows creeping up walls and into cobbled alleyways, only partially banished by flickering street lamps.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Flash said quietly, his voice carried away by the whispering wind. The other two ponies silently agreed.

The night was quiet, the passing hours marked by the chiming of clocktower bells. The two Guards remained outside Celestia's room, standing watch over their princess. The armored ponies stood still as statues in the darkening hallway long into the night.

Nothing happened until past midnight, when one of the Guards suddenly realized that something wasn't right. The hallway wasn't just quiet. The hallway was silent. Not a single sound to be heard, as if the world had held it's breath.

Then the two of them heard a noise: a low, humming buzz that seemed to reverberate within their skulls. Looking up, they saw a figure standing at the end of the hallway, wearing a dark hooded cloak that hid it's entire body. The figure began to walk towards them, it's step slow and purposeful.

"Halt!" one of the Guards, an experienced master sergeant shouted, taking up his spear. His partner leapt to his side, the two of them forming an impassable blockade between the figure and the door to the Princess' room.

And that's when the Guards both felt fear that they had never before experience. The humming grew louder, deeper, and they both gasped in shock, their weapons trembling in their hooves. The pony continued to stride forward.

"I said halt!" the senior Guard repeated, summoning up his reserves of courage and strength even as his knees quivered. The cloaked figure paid no heed to his command, continuing to stride forward. The humming grew ever louder, filling the Guard ponies' ears, echoing inside their skulls. Both of them shook down to the tips of their tails, struggling to breathe, but held their ground.

"We are fully trained elite members of the Royal Guard!" the sergeant called out once more, talking to himself, his partner and his enemy, trying to convince them all. "You do not scare us!"

The cloaked pony stopped right before their trembling spear hooves. The humming sound was now becoming painful, and the Guards felt nauseous from fear, struggling to hold their weapons as their hooves became slick with sweat.

Slowly, the figure raised his head to reveal his face from the shadows. Both spears clattered to the floor, their owners slowly backing away, wide eyed and open mouthed in horror.

"Boo," the cloaked pony whispered.

The Guards turned and ran for their lives down the silent hallway, too terrified to even scream.

Now that the way ahead was clear, the cloaked pony entered Princess Celestia's room unmolested. He went straight to the bed, to the sleeping alicorn within. Sensing his presence, Celestia opened her eyes and turned towards him. The blue eyes widened in horror.

"Good evening, Princess," the cloaked pony hissed. He reached over to a morphine drip, turning the dial to increase the painkiller feed. Celestia tried to get up, to shout out, but fell back into the bed, overwhelmed by the narcotic.

Going over to the window, the intruder opened it up wide, allowing the cold night wind to enter. Going back to the bed, he pulled out all of the tubes and wires and lifted Celestia up in his hooves. He carried her over to the window and waited.

Outside, a raven cawed three times. The figure dropped Princess Celestia. She tumbled down three stories and landed directly in a wagon of hay, the soft grass cushioning her fall. Immediately, two ponies covered Celestia with a tarp and more hay, then attached themselves to the harness of the cart and hurried forward down the street.

With a satisfied smirk, the cloaked figure spread his bony wings and flew out the window, disappearing into the night.

Author's Notes:

Question: who would have a Princess shot and then have that Princess abducted from the hospital for reasons unknown, and scare two experienced Royal Guards while doing it?

Answer: wait and see...