//------------------------------// // Behold, Behold... // Story: Reign of the shy-pony // by The_Swedish_Horror //------------------------------// The next day a beautiful choir of white earth ponies sang their heavenly hymn when Fluttershy appeared on the balcony of the old Canterlot Castle. This was probably the most awkward coronation in the history of Equestria. Fluttershy had requested a celebration and both Celestia and Luna had no choice but to oblige. However they were nowhere to be seen today. The alicorn felt a little hurt by their decision, but she realized that she couldn't expect them to be happy with her right now. Fine! She didn't need those two anyway! Thou Princess Flushy cometh Behold, behold A Princess here before us Behold, behold, behold Behold, behold The Princess Flushy cometh Behold, behold The Princess is here! Fluttershy smiled and waved to her subjects. She wasn't entirely delighted by the slight mispronunciation of her name, making her appear to be some kind of toilet, but she decided to be nice about it and don't cause any trouble. It was probably an honest mistake, she thought. Also, most ponies didn't use toilets. One day she was only a shy, meek pushover of a pegasus that nopony seemed to respect and the next she was ruling the entire world with the powers of both Celestia and Luna combined... The thought baffled her. "And now, our kind and ruler, I mean, kind and responsible ruler, the loyal princess Flush.... eh... Fluttershy will speak to her royal subjects!" an elderly herald announced. Few ponies knew it then, but it was in fact Mr Greenhooves that had been appointed to this important task by Fluttershy as a compensation for scaring him yesterday. He wasn't exactly a given choice, but Fluttershy had just decided to act on an impulse. A great silence fell upon the masses on the ceremonial square in front of the castle. Thousands of ponies were holding their breath, waiting for their new ruler to address her subjects for the first time. The absolutely confident and immensely powerful alicorn smiled. Slowly she began to walk towards the stone railing of the balcony to face the citizens of Canterlot. But the closer Fluttershy got to the railing, the more nervous she felt. Up to that point she hadn't exactly needed to do anything but to wave and smile. Now she had to say something! Anything! At this moment Fluttershy realized that she had completely forgotten to rehearse her speech! Oh no! All of her confidence melted away like an icicle and she felt like there was a swarm of butterflies in her stomach. That was what her cutie mark stood for. Butterflies. Maybe it was the butterflies in her stomach that were the true meaning behind it? She felt so helpless right now. Her face turned pale with fear and her tall legs barely managed carry her body forward. She must not faint! She must not faint! Alicorn princesses didn't faint. "Fillies and gentlecolts!" Mr Greenhooves said in a desperate attempt to make it seem that the awkward silence was planned. It fooled nopony. Fluttershy found herself suddenly cowering behind the railing, shaking like a leaf. She straightened her terrified wreck of a body and by sheer willpower forced her head to turn towards the endless crowd of ponies. So, so many... Maybe tens of thousands. Or a million. "I'm.... Fl... u..." she whispered into the microphone. "I'm... Fl...." Then she fainted. * * * Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle was trotting around in circles. She didn't want to participate in the celebration of Fluttershy's coronation out of respect for the princesses and had instead sneaked away to the Canterlot Library. Of all bad things that could possibly happen, this was the worst possible thing! Her friend had just usurped the throne of Equestria and she didn't know what to do! Was she going insane? How could a kind and timid pony like Fluttershy so quickly get absolutely drunk with power?! This was absurd. Maybe there was some corrupting force tied to the Kitten Spell? Or maybe Fluttershy was in fact that rotten? No, she couldn't be... And the worst thing was that she couldn't use the elements of harmony since Fluttershy still was tied to them! Buck. Double buck. She needed to talk to princess Celestia... But where were the princesses? Twilight hadn't seen them since yesterday... The princesses were in fact not far away. They had came to realize that very few of their subjects recognized them now when they were mere earth ponies. Totally unattended they strolled the sunny streets of Canterlot and enjoyed the beautiful city without being followed by a crowd of curious subjects. This was quite a nice way to spend a day while plotting their return to power. "Sister, I was thinking... Maybe we could rally all of our subjects and just tell them the truth? Surely they would not let this unlawful ascension pass?" Luna suggested. "Or we can just ask her nicely? That was sarcasm, in case it went over your head." * * * When she woke up, the first thing that Fluttershy saw was the elaborate ceiling of the royal throne room where she had been carried by her aides. How long had she been unconscious? Maybe just a few seconds. But it was long enough to ruin her entire day! She promised herself never to attempt to hold a speech ever again. From the square outside she could hear the roaring sound of her subjects booing. They were upset and didn't like her speech at all. How dared they?! This wasn't fair! They didn't even give her a chance! The alicorn was so furious that she could almost run away crying! Slowly she got up on her tall legs. "Mr Greenhoves!" "Yes, princess?" "Tell the subjects that I'll be in my tower. And that I will not lower the sun before they have apologized for booing at me! This day will last forever!" Mr Greenhooves scratched his head with a somewhat dusty hoof. "Heh... Excuse me, princess, but that plan looks oddly familiar..." the gardener said and spat his tobacco on the carpet. "Yes... I know. I really haven't thought it through... I... I just assumed that they would love me. But instead they booed! So I tried to make my own version of Nightmare Moon's old plan. When I think of it, you probably shouldn't tell them that." "Tell them what?" "Exactly." At the same time, but in a nearby park, news had spread about the disastrous speech held by the new ruling princess of Equestria. A sad and lonely Rainbow Dash sat on a bench, baffled about the many different rumours about the strange events taking place. She hadn't heard anything from Twilight, Spike or Fluttershy over the last two days. Some ponies said that a mysterious, new alicorn princess had been sighted in Ponyville and that the two sisters had abdicated and gone away. She didn't believe that very much... Others said that there was now three, four or maybe five ruling alicorns at the same time. The whole thing had made Rainbow very confused, and Rainbow Dash didn't like being confused. Therefore she had decided to take the early train to Canterlot to see for herself and maybe find Twilight. But when she reached the castle gates her path was blocked by thousands of curious onlookers that had gathered to see some coronation. And that's why she ended up in this park. Now Rainbow had to wait for the crowd to disperse before she could fly in and get a clear picture of the whole thing. "Worst speech ever," a unicorn said. "Yeah, hardly a speech at all... More like a one-trick-pony who's only trick is failure." "And what a stupid name... Princess Fluttershy! It doesn't sound very majestic, does it?" Fluttershy! Rainbow Dash leapt from her bench. "Fluttershy is my friend! Don't you mock her! She is the nicest, kindest, most awesome pony ever!" she screamed. All the ponies in the vicinity stopped and stared at her, completely surprised. At first nopony said anything, then there was a slight murmur in the crowd. "Who is she?" "What is she like?" "How did a pegasus like you get to know an alicorn princess?" "I don't have time for your questions! Just tell me where to find her!" "Well, why don't you try looking in the castle?" * * * "Sister, I will speak to our subjects! They must know the truth behind this!" Luna, formerly princess, said. "Are you out of your mind?! It's bad enough that some ponies know that we have lost our magic, but to tell the subjects that we are also practically dethroned, that is utter madness! Have you any idea what they would do?" "Maybe they will overthrow this VILE usurper! Maybe they have more courage than SOME PONIES! I WILL NOT BE DEPOSED TWICE!" Luna shouted in a loud voice that wasn't her Royal Canterlot Voice, but loud enough to make some ponies turn their heads. "Oh, hush! Don't be silly!" But Luna couldn't be stopped. She jumped on top of an old barrel and struck a pose! "DEAR CITIZENS! HEAR YE, HEAR YE!" A few curious ponies stopped to see what was going on. This seemed to be an interesting day in the city of Canterlot, indeed... "I AM PRINCESS LUNA of the Night! I am the co-ruler to Princess Celestia, the true ruler of Equestria! Don't you recognize your rightful government? We have been unlawfully deprived of our crowns! A VILE and CUNNING usurper is being crowned today! But we know that our LOYAL SUBJECTS stand behind us... There was a shocked mumble among the ponies. It was indeed the princess of the night! Now a mere earth pony, but nevertheless princess Luna. She looked a bit smaller and her coat had a lighter shade of blue than usual, but Luna it was. Her mane and tail didn't flow or sparkle with stars, but her temper and voice was unmistakably Luna-esque. And her cutie mark was the same. "...and together WE CAN MAKE HISTORY by telling this usurper that we won't bow! We won't yield! For we stand FIRM!" Luna exclaimed and stomped her hoof on the lid of the barrel! Immediately the rotten old wood gave way and the surprised princess suddenly found herself standing in water to her neck. Celestia hid her face in her hoof. She hoped that this terrible day would soon be over... * * * Little did she know that this day was far from over since Fluttershy had not thought of lowering the sun. The alicorn princess had completely forgotten everything about it since she was preoccupied with more serious matters... She was planning a petting zoo with lots of animals for the royal park. Sheep, goats, chickens, crocodiles, an elephant and maybe some peacocks? She was very fond of peacocks. Maybe Rarity would like to get some feathers for a hat or something? Rarity! Fluttershy hadn't thought of her. What would she think of all of this? Would she be happy for her or would she be angry with her for disobeying Celestia? The princess honestly didn't know. She hoped that her friend would understand. However there was more pressing matters... Even more pressing than the planning of the "Wonderful Royal Petting Zoo". With a sigh she started to write a letter to Twilight. Dear Twilight! Please don't be mad at me. If you are, I will be very sad. And I don't like being sad. I command you to I hope that you will join me tomorrow at breakfast while I will discuss my plans for ruling the world with an iron with magic and kindness. Yours truly, Empress Fluttershy the First of Equestria. Fluttershy couldn't decide if she should send the letter or not. Maybe it wasn't princess like enough? Should she try to emulate the writing style of Celestia? No, that would be bad taste... Suddenly she heard a knock on the window! Fluttershy jumped from her chair, spilled her inkwell and hid underneath her bed (or in fact Celestia's bed). When she had regained some of her courage the alicorn emerged from under the bed and took a shy glance at the window where she saw a pegasus hovering outside, waiting to come in. It was Rainbow Dash.