//------------------------------// // What goes around... // Story: Reign of the shy-pony // by The_Swedish_Horror //------------------------------// Baran handed Fluttershy his binoculars. "See... Smoke is coming from that chimney over there. It's a small cottage, but they'll have some food, I hope." "Um... g-good, I think?" "I'm starving. Let's go rob this!" the diamond dog said. "Um... but I was wondering... um... Do we really need to rob them? I sure love committing crimes, but do we really have to steal from them? I mean that little cottage looks... looks like the home of some poor pony. Maybe we shouldn't steal from them right now? What if they need their food more than we do?" "Nonsense, we do need it more than them. And even if we didn't need it, who says that they deserved to have any food in the first place? What kind of pirate are you anyway?" "Um.... a nice pirate?" said Fluttershy, looking away. "Um... when I steal things I usually ask politely first..." "That's not stealing, Fluttershy. Now, let's do this! Will you take the lead? I'm curious about your modus operandi, to say the least. You talk the talk, but do you walk the walk? If you're not as bad as you say I will not treat you kindly..." "Yes... well.... then I will go first and politely demand food! To evil! AHAHAHAHA!" Fluttershy and her partners in crime stormed out from the undergrowth and descended upon the cottage. The dogs wielded sticks and branches but the pegasus was unarmed. "Surrender your food, please!" she demanded and blasted the door open with a strong buck. When she peered into the interior of the cottage she saw an old goat and... RAINBOW DASH! "Rainbow!!!!" she whispered and threw herself around the surprised pony's neck. "I'm so happy to see you again! I'm so happy!" Dash returned her hug, assuming that this pony must be very important to her for some reason but she was unable to remember her name and what part she played in her life... Was she a sibling? Or a friend? Or something else...? She honestly didn't know... "I'm in trouble, Rainbow Dash! You must pretend that you don't know me! I can't explain right now, but you have to do as I as say or you will be in trouble too... Do you promise to play along and pretend that you haven't seen me before?" "I guarantee it," Dash said with an assuring nod. "Because actually I..." "Good! Now I'll take you prisoner... if that's okay with you?" Fluttershy said and twisted Rainbow Dash's foreleg around her back. "Let's move! I'll explain later!" She pushed Rainbow Dash in front of her, forcing her out of the cottage. "Dogs! I have taken a prisoner! This pony is mine from now on, do you hear it? You can take all the food, but this pony will be kept alive for my amusement!" "Please, don't hurt me! I'm so afraid..." Rainbow said, not sure if she really was afraid of this unknown pony. "Please spare my life..." "I will... for now on! Serve me well or I'll put your head on a spike!" "Oh my... You are incredibly cruel," said Baran with a baffled, slightly disgusted expression on his face. "You must be the evilest creature alive..." "Why, thank you! I try to commit as many evil deeds as possib..." She was interrupted by the old goat dashing by, quickly jumping to avoid the surprised dogs. "He's getting away!" Gear cried. The prison warden was very nimble for his age, skipping over Blind and Baran's heads before they could grab him. At great speed he ran off, his face pale with terror. "Get him! We'll eat him for dinner!" "Um... let's not be hasty... Why if we'd let him get away?" Fluttershy suggested. "Of course, evil one! To spread the word of your cruelness, I assume! Brilliant!" the diamond dog cried, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "DO YOU HEAR THAT, YOU DISGUSTING OLD GOAT?! WE WILL SPARE YOUR WORTHLESS LIFE! GO HOME AND TELL ALL THE WORLD TO FEAR THE EVIL OF FLUTTERSHY, THE PONY OF SHADOW AND DARKNESS!" "Oh... oh, that's... um... good. That was e-exactly what I hoped for," Fluttershy said, a drop of sweat emerging on her forehead and her eye twitching a little. "I really do want everypony to know how evil I am..." "You'll be hated and feared all across Equestria in no-time," Baran said with a proud smile. "Oh, buck..." the shy pony whispered, so quietly that only Rainbow Dash could hear her. * * * Meanwhile Twilight Sparkle and Spike was waiting outside the Baltimare prison. They had waited for hours but the guards refused to let them in for reasons that they didn't want to explain in detail. "For the last time, let us in! I'm the personal student of princess Celestia!" Twilight cried when she saw a glimpse of the guard's face in the door slot. "I'll pay you in gold, just open the BUCKING door and let us in!" The door immediately swung open. "Well, I'm not entirely impossible to bribe..." a shady looking guard said with a broad smile. "But if anypony sees you, I'll swear to Celestia that I will not go easy on you... Now, where is my money?" Twilight pulled out a wad of bills from her saddlebag. She levitated it in from of the guard, just out of his reach. "Now... Before I pay you, I would like to get some information first!" "Yeah, yeah... Be quick about it and then buck off!" "First I would like to know where my friend Rainbow Dash is." "She's on the run from the law, having assaulted a psychiatrist... I think she is mentally insane. Now give me my money!" "What?! And what about Fluttershy?" "The yellow one? She has been released, but she will be transferred to a mental hospital for the rest of her life... Now give me that money!" "But that makes no sense! Where was she sent? Where is this hospital?" "I don't care... Just shut up and give me the money! It's called Flutter Island.... And it's surrounded by water." "You don't say..." Spike mumbled, rolling his eyes. "Where is this Flutter Island located? I haven't heard of it before..." "Are you dumb? Look on the bucking map! There are only two islands depicted on the map of Equestria! One of them got to be Flutter Island," said the guard and tried to grab the money before Twilight quickly pulled it away from him. "Thanks. Now you can have your money..." she said with a smile. "Yeah, give it to me!" She tossed him the wad of bills. The guard quickly hid it under his helmet. "NOW get out or I call the guards!" he said and shoved them out the door. He slammed it shut behind them with a bang and they could hear the keys rattle in the lock. "That guard was incredibly rude..." said Spike. "Yes. Yes he was," Twilight said as they left the prison. "But he was also quite useful..." "I guess he was... But what will we do now, Twilight? How are we going to pay for the room when you gave him all the money?" "Well, that'll be no problem. Luckily I had some monopoly money left in my saddlebag!" "Wow, Twilight! That's so clever! I can't believe you could be so street smart! And incredibly lucky too... I mean, how could you possibly have foreseen that we would have to bribe somepony today?" Twilight blushed a little. "Thanks Spike... But I always use monopoly money whenever I can. It's so convenient! And cheap too. I can't believe that a monopoly game only costs fifty bits with all the money that comes with it." "Twilight... eh... you do realize that monopoly money isn't real money, do you?" "It isn't?" "No, it's fake money. And you could be thrown in jail for using it!" "Oh... well... My books didn't say anything about monopoly money being fake... I... I just assumed that... hm..." "Oh, Twilight... Twilight... " Spike said and shook his head. "You're kidding, right?" Twilight smiled and nodded. "I knew all the time that he was corrupt. I've been here before, you know." "Anyway... he he... I think we should get to that Flutter Island as soon as possible! We can't let any more bad things happen to poor, poor Fluttershy. What if she is all alone in some padded cell, crying and dressed in a straitjacket?" "What's a straitjacket?" "You know, Spike... When a pony has studied a bit too much or maybe failed a test or two, things may happen that usually leads her parents to send her away for a week or so to live in a padded cell with a straitjacket on so that she may not hurt herself. If she happens to be a unicorn, her horn will be wrapped in tin foil and duct tape to prevent her from using her magic to start any more fires..." "Oh, that's a straitjacket." * * * Princess Celestia was sitting in her bed as she took a sip on her can of Sparkling Twilight, a new brand of orange soda. She had spent all day writing orders to various parts of her empire. First she had ordered marble and limestone from the quarries and cupper from the mines all across Equestria. A huge forest was already being chopped down to fuel the kilns required to burn the limestone to a white, dry powder. Thousands of ponies were put to work to restore her castle the way it should be. Soon construction workers would start clearing away the rubble of the old Canterlot and lay out the grid for a shiny, new edifice of Celestian glory. All of this was made thanks to the endless supply of money coming from Filthy Rich and the clueless ponies that he in turn borrowed even more money from. All was perfect. All was good... Or was it? Celestia had an eerie feeling that she had somehow forgotten something... It wasn't the angry letters from her subjects, always complaining over her new taxes. It wasn't the special tax cut she had granted Twilight either. And it certainly wasn't the moral implications of her schemes. She knew that she did a very bad thing but she considered it to be the lesser of two evils... There was a knock on her bedroom door. "Please come in," Celestia said, eagerly anticipating the arrival of Granny Smith with some freshly baked chocolate cookies. But when the door opened she saw a strict looking Griffonian enyoy, dressed in a top hat and a monocle. The princess was so perplexed that she dropped the soda in her bed. "Well... I... eh... welcome... to Equestria?" she said, twitching a little as she felt the ice-cold beverage spreading through the sheets. Her and Luna's room was a mess with empty soda cans everywhere, laundry hanging from the ceiling and dirty dishes on the floor. A half eaten, almost mummified pizza was residing on her nightstand. To receive an envoy here, in this horrible pigsty, was embarrassing to say the least. "Your royal highness, divine ruler of all ponykind," the envoy said with a deep bow. "Thank you for your warm welcome, o mighty one. I bow to thee, sun and sovereign of the Equestrian land." The sovereign quickly shovelled the pizza down in the bed stand drawer. "What... what news do you bring from our most friendly of neighbours?" "I came here to discuss the arrangements for the royal wedding, your royal highness," the griffon said. "Royal wedding?" "The royal wedding that you agreed to as a part of our economic treaty. The impending marriage between a Griffonian prince and a member of your choosing from the royal family as a token to seal our bond, your royal highness." "Oh... that wedding..." Celestia said, scratching her mane as the horrible truth sunk in. She had forgotten all about the wedding long ago while she was preoccupied with her magnificent construction plans. "Yes, that very one." "Oh..." "So, what have your royal highness reached a decision in the matter? Who may be the lucky bride?" "Eh... the lucky bride should be... be... the pony of royal birth that... shall marry the Griffonian prince..." "Of course, your royal highness. And whom may that be, more precisely?" said the envoy. "Hm... eh..." Celestia said as her brain worked furiously to find a suiting candidate for marriage... Who should she chose? Cadance was already married and she herself couldn't possibly marry a Griffonian prince as she was the head of state... The only option left was... "Luna! My sister Luna... has agreed to marry the griffon!" Celestia said. "Oh, what a delightful surprise, your royal highness! I'm sure prince Pompozzo the Magnificient will be overjoyed!" said the envoy with a deep bow. "I shall return to Griffonia immediately with the wonderful news, your royal highness. I bid you farewell and I wish you good health..." "Excuse me! Coming through!" said Granny Smith as she pushed her way past the now very baffled envoy in the doorway. "Here's some milk and cookies for you and your friend!" When she saw the damp spot in Celestia's bed the old mare gave the princess a puzzled look. "Well... It seems somepony has had a little accident. That's what happens when you drink too much soda... Ah should probably get you some new sheets, too," she said. "It's that blasted sparkle twilight!" Celestia cried, waving the empty can. "No, Celestia... Just because that happened to Twilight once doesn't mean that Ah'm going to believe that she's done it every time that happens! She is in Baltimare, for Pony's sake!" said Granny Smith and left the room.