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// Prologue 
// Story: The Diamond and the Butterfly 
// by ANgrantAN 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy clasped her head and ruffled pink mane tightly in her hooves as she hunkered down beneath a table whose cloth had already been torn away in the panic now consuming the restaurant.

How could this have gone so wrong? Oh, Fluttershy, you’re always making a mess of things! I should’ve just let Rarity have her nice date and be happy for her! This is all my fault!

Almost a dozen mice scurried along the floors in blind terror, much akin to the classily-dressed nobleponies fleeing and screaming in fear. Rarity had long since left, keeping pace with her date, who had first initiated the cascade of shrieking and scrambling.

Fluttershy covered her face; all of it was her fault. It was her fault that her little critters were scared and loose. It was her fault that Rarity’s date was ruined. It was her fault that everypony else’s night had been ruined.

Just when it seemed that the fiasco had finally reached rock bottom, it went right back into freefall. The ornate front doors were blasted off their hinges by a powerful buck from the hooves of a Royal Guard. On cue, his comrades flooded in, focused on a single goal entirely: Finding the perpetrator of this failed attempt on Prince Blueblood’s life.

Once the room had finally been cleared of ponies and the last of the mice had been dispelled from their hiding places and shooed outside, a pair of imposing guardsponies approached Fluttershy, still hiding under Rarity’s table.

“You there, miss, are you okay?”

Fluttershy released only a fearful “Eep” in reply. She further shielded her face behind her mane and forelegs, afraid and fully aware of what would come next.

To Fluttershy’s infinite fortune, however, her prediction was incorrect. The two guardsponies gingerly lifted her out from under the table, letting her stand on her own four hooves and allowing her a full view of the once-pristine dining establishment, now turned into little more than a ransacked obstacle course of chairs, utensils, food, and everything in between.

“It’s okay, miss. We’re going to get you out of here and you can go home. We’ll find out who did this, in time. Follow me”

One of the guards waved a hoof for Fluttershy to follow. She hid her face behind her mane, but she was not swallowed in terror as before. In fact, she hardly feared the repercussions of possibly being found out as the one who released her critters into the restaurant. What she feared now, though, was the possibility that Rarity could never love her now.

Once outside, she flopped down on the grass as far away from the other patrons as possible, wallowing in her abject failure. Rarity would find out, no doubt about it.

Rainbow Dash floated down to her friend, hovering in front of her and sporting an expression of worry and empathy.

“Don’t worry, ‘Shy. It’ll all turn out fine... I’m sure of it.”

Fluttershy sighed and shook her head. She was the face of a pony whose will was broken. “No, Rainbow.... It won’t turn out fine.”