Reign of the shy-pony

by The_Swedish_Horror

Cake and conspiracy.

When Rainbow Dash arrived at the gates of the Baltimare High Security Prison she was too much in a hurry to even bother to land. Instead she hovered in front of the guard, holding the dripping, unfinished sponge cake in one hoof and her identification papers in the other. She was dangerously close to dropping it, but somehow her skill in bouncing a ball on her head also applied to cake-juggling.

"Let me in! I'm here to see Fluttershy!" she said.
"What? Again?" said guard with an annoyed frown. "You're here every now and then... Don't you know that she has already been released?"
"What? No, I haven't heard anything about that!"
"Well, she is released from prison anyway."
"Where did she go? And why didn't she tell us anything about it?"
"Don't know, didn't ask. Don't care."
"Is there anypony that knows?"
"Yeah, probably, somewhere..." the guard said, tapping his hoof. "I'm really not that interested in what's going on..."
"Are you serious? And you're supposed to be a guard... I demand to speak to the prison warden!"
The guard gave her a baffled look like he couldn't understand her request.
"What? Today? The warden? He's busy. You'll have to come back later and then maybe we'll let..."

But before the guard had time to finish his sentence, Rainbow Dash had already completely lost her patience and flown straight to the warden's office across the prison yard. She began to furiously struggle with the door handle, but the door didn't open. It was no use to bother with it and she no time for details.
"That's it!" she said and gave the wooden door a well aimed buck, blasting it open! Rainbow Dash then burst into the office like a tornado.

She found the room empty. The warden's office was a rather large room with a big desk in the middle. On the desk was an old a telephone, some papers and an ashtray with a big cigar in it.
"Hello? Is anypony there?"
There was no reply. Rainbow looked around to check that the warden wasn't hiding behind his desk or anything.
On the wall was an old photo of Celestia standing against a clear blue sky and the text "Our Beloved Princess of The Sun."

Rainbow Dash sat down on top of the desk and decided to wait for the warden. She put the cake next to the ashtray. When she did that she couldn't avoid noticing that there was a picture of Fluttershy taped to one of the papers. It was a mugshot and Fluttershy looked really sad with clipped wings and a sign with her prisoner identification number on it. Dash felt a lump in her throat. It was really painful to see poor Fluttershy like this. Nevertheless curiosity took hold of her and she just had to to take a closer look on the documents:

""Prisoner Nr 04. Name: Fluttershy.
Sex: Female.
Date of birth: 31st of September, year 2569.
Race: Pegasus.
Color: Coat, butter. Mane, pink. Eyes, cyan.
Cutie mark: Butterflies, pink.
Education: Flight school, unfinished. Failed PFT eleven times before quitting without grades.
Occupation: Veterinary (without a license)
Crimes: Disorderly conduct, illegal dumping of garbage, four cases of assault, threatening another pony, conspiracy against the crown, bank robbery, 502 cases of attempted ponycide, dangerous destruction of property and caught shoplifting a cupcake at Sugarcube corner. Also she practices veterinary work without a license and her hoarding of wild animals in her home may be illegal.
Health status: Dismal. She is a very bad flier, with a 2.3 in wingpower due to her continuous neglect of any training and exercise."

"She failed the Practical Flight Test eleven times? Poor Fluttershy... "
Dash shook her head. She felt really sorry for Fluttershy. On the bottom of the page she found a hoof written remark in red ink:

Transferred to F.I

Rainbow Dash scratched her mane. This was odd... She had no clue what F.I stood for. Also, the paper made no mention of Fluttershy's release from prison.
"This is strange stuff..." she said.
She looked at the cigar in the ashtray. Rainbow didn't usually smoke, but she somehow found this cigar very interesting. With a theatrical pose she put the cigar in her mouth and puffed on it like she was some big-shot while she looked herself in the warden's mirror. Although she was in a hurry to find Fluttershy she couldn't actually do anything before she had spoken to the warden. Anything other than looking cool, that was...
"I'm so awesome..." she said and puffed even more.

Her train of thought was cut short by a harsh voice coming from the corridor. What if the warden would be angry with her for her intrusion? Instantly Rainbow Dash dove behind the desk to hide, just before an elderly unicorn with a full beard and a tweed jacket appeared accompanied by a nervous looking prison warden.
"B-but... according to the orders I received..."
"Bah! You senile old goat. No more excuses! You nearly botched it this time... If my agents hadn't shown up at the exact right time she might have gotten away. And we can't have that, can we? How could you be so stupid as to release her without double-checking with me first? I'm starting to question your loyalty to our cause... Are you beginning to turn into a soft-hearted imbecile?" the unicorn said.
"No! I did only what I thought you wanted me to do! I swear!" said the warden.
"You just wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible, didn't you? Now, burn these damn papers. I want no trace of her whatsoever..."

There was a sudden, awkward silence when they both noticed the cake on the desk.

* * *

Celestia looked herself in the mirror. She was all alone in her room (or in fact Applejack's room). All the griffons had now left Sweet Apple acres and there was nopony in sight.
It felt quiet and empty. Luna was probably sulking somewhere else and Celestia didn't miss her much for the time being... There were things about the loan agreement that she rather not wanted to discuss with Luna. Certain promises that she had been forced to make that may, to some degree, slightly upset her younger sister...

The princess carefully removed Rarity's jewels from her mane and placed them in a neat little row on the desk. She would of course return them, eventually, she assured...
She slowly opened one of the drawers and reached for a half eaten piece of chocolate cake that she had stored there.
Celestia took a big bite out of it. It was already afternoon, but for her it was breakfast.
"Mmff... if the ponies only knew half of what I'm forced to do to keep my realm afloat..." she said to her own reflection. Her cheeks were for the moment full of cake, otherwise she looked like she had always done since she became an alicorn. Ageless, wise, beautiful...

The princess devoured the rest of the cake in two more bites and put the empty plate down next to a piece of parchment on the desk. It was an important parchment for it contained the new loan agreement that she had signed with the griffons.
They had agreed to let her borrow seven billions of Griffonian dollars as a start and in a few days even more agreements were to be signed. Soon Equestria would be drowning in money and her beloved Canterlot would be rebuilt according to her plans. And then everything would once again be as it should be. Everything would be fine. But first she had to take care of some things... Things that she wasn't too proud over...
"Now I will need to talk to all the rich ponies and convince them to trust me with their bits... Perhaps I should start a new bank? Yes, I will definitely need to start a bank... Hmmm... wonder what I should call it?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door.
"Celestia? Are thou talking to thyself?"
Her younger sister appeared with a concerned look on her face.
"No, I'm of course talking to the invisible ghost of the great composer Beethoofen. He has agreed to marry my imaginary aunt Drusilla..."
"What? No, you were talking about some bank... And what is that mysterious piece of parchment upon your desk? May I examine it?"
Celestia quickly tried to cover the parchment with her hooves.
"What parchment? I... I don't know what parchment you may be referring to..."
"That parchment right over there," said Luna and came closer, pointing her hoof directly at the agreement. "I want to see what's written on it. I know that thou are up to something!"
Slowly her horn began to glow.
"No, Luna! You can't have it!" Celestia cried and grabbed the document. "It is not intended for your eyes!"
"Celestia! Show it to me!"

Celestia got up from her seat and levitated the parchment away from Luna. But the younger sister didn't give up that easily. She threw herself at her like a panther and a vicious struggle for the parchment ensued! Both alicorns fell to the floor where they immediately started to wrestle on the carpet, rolling around and kicking.
"Get off!"
"No! Let me see it!"
"Never! It's none of your business, Luna!"
"What if I make it my business?!"
A chair fell over and a long, thin alicorn leg knocked down a potted plant that shattered against the floor. Celestia was the bigger of both sisters, but Luna was nimbler and she fought fiercely.
"Luna! Don't you dare biting me!"
"Then show me the parchment!"
"Never!"

With a push of strength, Celestia shoved Luna away from her and sent her tumbling into the wall. One of Applebloom's finest paintings fell down and impaled itself on Luna's horn, but the enraged alicorn didn't even notice. With a mighty roar she leapt across the room and got hold of Celestia's flowing tail just before she could escape through the door.
"AooOUWWW!!!!!" the elder sister cried by the sudden pain.
Frothing with rage she turned around and grabbed Luna in a deadly headlock but in the process she lost her balance.
Both ponies fell through the half-open door and rolled down the stairs, kicking and cursing. Along with them came half of the banister and a small carpet.
At the bottom of the stairs they collided with a little blue cupboard, immediately smashing it to splinters and cracking a mirror at the same time.

Suddenly both sisters were hit by an unexpected gush of cold water! Shocked, confused and soaked they immediately stopped their wrestling to stare at the pony standing over them with an empty bucket in her hooves. It was Granny Smith.
"And that's what bad ponies get for making a ruckus in the house," she said and put the bucket down on the floor. "Now, stop smashing all of our darn things! Both of you should really be ashamed of yourself! One would expect better behaviour from fine princesses such as yourselves, but you two are just like chickens fighting over an old bread crust!"

With a frown Celestia got up. Her mane was a ruffled mess and her coat dusty.
"It was all Luna's fault! Look what she has done to me! She is always so immature and..."
"No! Celestia is just as bad as me! She won't let me see that parchment on the desk! She is withholding it from me!" Luna protested.
"You're both just as rotten! Now, get out! Princesses or not, as long as you live for free under my roof you'll have to help me doing my chores! Those dang apples don't buck themselves!" said Granny Smith.

Both princesses looked at her in silence and in utter shock. In their two thousand year old lives, nopony had ever told them to buck apples.

* * *

Fluttershy examined the interior of the carriage. It was quite luxurious, with leather seats and a cup holder where a brown paper cup with coffee was placed. Everything smelled fresh but a bit synthetic. The windows were blackened and Fluttershy slowly realized that the door on her side was locked and it had no knob to open the lock with.
Her only way out was blocked by the strange pony and she was caught like a mouse in a trap. She started to feel a little nervous...

"W-where are you taking me?" she asked, clutching the hoofrest on her seat.
Agent Sulky looked at her. She slowly reached for her briefcase.
"There are a lot of bad ponies in this world..." she said while turning towards the trees flashing by the window. "Ponies that wants you to go away and never to come back."
"Oh, my..."
"Ponies that are capable of doing horrible things... Ever since you challenged Celestia you have become a symbol of resistance against the regime. A symbol that must be dealt with swiftly, or else they will have a revolution on their hooves."
"A... a r-revolution? Oh my... I didn't mean to do a revolution... Um... actually I did want to make a revolution, but now I'm a good pony again! I p-promise!"

"Be that as it may... We're taking you to a mental hospital where you will be kept under armed surveillance for the rest of your life. A board of psychologists will examine the state of your mental health and they will declare you insane. The papers have already been signed. You will never get out from there... You will, quite fittingly, live out your days on Flutter Island, Equestria's only mental hospital for the criminally insane."
"Flutter island?"
"Yes. They've even renamed if after you as a joke."
"But I'm not insane! Please, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do anything! I just couldn't resist trying to... trying to... oh my..." Fluttershy said, the last words of her sentence barley audible as she was about to break down in tears. "I... sniff... I just wanted to... sniff... to be in control for once. I have never held any power... I have always been pushed around. Always! It isn't fair! It isn't fair! I have had it! Please, tell Celestia that I didn't mean to do it! I'm sure she will forgive me!"
"Yes, she will most likely.... She is far too kind for her own good... And perhaps even for Equestria's good. And that's why Celestia will never find out. Also, there is another motive. One that you cannot see..."
"I don't want to hear any of it! Just let me go, please."
"No."

"I asked you kindly..." Fluttershy said with a sudden harshness in her voice. "You leave me no choice."

Comments

[batran]

uh oh

[HJSDGCE]

I stopped reading when Princesses were scolded by Granny Smith.
Not that I hated it or anything, but I was laughing too hard I couldn't focus.

[NocturneD85]

starting to miss Princess Fluttershy ruling

[The_Swedish_Horror]

3263618

I'm glad you enjoyed it It was also the part of the chapter that I had the most fun writing.

[WhirringGears]

Flutter island... as in...Shutter Island?! RUN FLUTTERSHY RUN!!

[love2read333]

uh ohhhhhh fluttershyy wut are u going 2 dooooo? ur...not gonna kill em....are u?