Hold the Press

by Bunnybooze79

Chapter 6

“Look over there!”

Dirt Sheet along with the rest of the reporters had followed Slandermane moving slowly towards the castle. It seemed as if something was or would be going on there that had drawn his attention. As they had lost Fleur De Lis for the time being any other juicy story was good enough to satisfy their appetites until the model turned back up. Dirt Sheet looked into the direction his photographer was indicating.

“It’s her.” Dirt Sheet recognized the shopkeeper from before. How she had managed to get ahead of them wasn’t a big mystery. Slandermane moved very slowly and the brisk trot with which she was moving had been enough to overtake them. “She’s also going to the castle. I wonder why?”

Dirt Sheet grinned his most slimy grin. Perhaps Fleur had eluded them before, but her trusted friend might just lead them right back to her. Now there were two possibilities presented to him. Either follow the snail-paced Slandermane for a good story or follow the sweetmaker in hopes of finding a better story a bit faster.

“Come on.” Dirt Sheet decided it was worth investigating where that mare was heading. They could easily catch back up to the slightly freakish reporter any time later.

Rapid Flash joined her partner and trotted past the leading pair. Just as they were about to pass the odd pair, Spooky Noodles jumped to the side and let out a half-growl half-shriek. Rapid Flash let out a yelp in surprise and jumped into the air. It took her a good few minutes to calm back down. The fact that Spooky Noodles kept laughing at her reaction didn’t help much.

The little incident caused the other reporters to take note and they also decided to abandon their tailing of Slandermane and rather investigate the sweetmakers next move.

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Bon Bon was aware of the reporters now beginning to follow her.

She had managed to get ahead of them by using a few narrow alleyways and a steady brisk trot. Luckily they had not been moving very fast. Unluckily they were heading in the same direction she was.

Bon Bon had found Lyra’s note once she went upstairs to check on Fleur. Without wasting a second she had left the building through the backdoor in her kitchen and had set course for the castle.

The fact that the reporters had seen her didn’t bother her one bit. For all they knew she might be on her way to the castle to file a complaint about them to the Princess. They couldn’t possibly know that Fleur had been brought there by her friends.

Or so she had hoped.

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“What does that button do?” Rainbow Dash asked after nothing seemed to happen.

“Well you would have to be outside to really see it.” Pinkie grinned her trademark grin.

“Outside?” Fleur asked with worry in her voice. A sinking feeling set in with some of the assembled mares. “What do you mean?”

“Well I thought I would throw you my welcome to Ponyville party.” Pinkie bounced once more. “But of course I would have to make sure that you would find the place where we would be having it, so I took a few precautions so that you would definitely find it.”

“Oh oh.” Vinyl had a bad feeling where this entire thing was heading. Octavia shared her thoughts and turned around in a flash and ran as fast as she could towards the front door at the end of the hallway.

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Bon Bon stopped dead in her tracks as a blinding light erupted from the front of the castle.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust and when she could see clearly again she wished she couldn’t. Above the front door and across the entire front of the castle somepony had taken the time to place now brightly glowing neon letters all over to spell out a message.

Fleur De Lis

Please

Come Here!

An arrow pointed towards the front door. Each of the letters was at least two ponies high and could no doubt be seen from every last corner of Ponyville.

Bon Bon turned her head back to check on the reporters. As to be expected they too had frozen in place for the moment. She could see it on their faces that they only now registered what the message meant.

Instantly they started a frenzied dash towards the castle. Bon Bon had no other choice and also sped madly towards the doors. She had a bit of a lead on them and was nearly as fast as them. It would be close, but she could manage if she put her mind into it.

It was a stroke of luck that somepony was just opening the door from inside.

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Octavia opened the door to see what Pinkie Pie had done.

She never got the chance to see what had been done as Bon Bon barreled into her and knocking her a good distance away. Groggily she watched as Bon Bon closed the door back up and locking it up. Almost ten seconds later somepony started banging on it from outside. By the sound it was more than just one pony Octavia corrected her assessment.

Bon Bon hurried over to the prone cellist and helped her back on her hooves with an apology. Without saying anything more Bon Bon ran towards the room where other ponies had watched the little scuffle from the doorway. Octavia followed her while still being dizzy from her impromptu flying lesson.

“Close the windows and draw the curtains!” Bon Bon yelled at them. “Quick! Before they get any strange ideas!”

“What’s going on?” Twilight obeyed the command from Bon Bon by using her magic to close all windows simultaneously including drawing the curtains.

“They’re here!” Bon Bon finally came to a stop and took a moment to catch her breath.

“They?” Twilight was just as confused as the rest of her friends.

“Oh no….” Fleur shrunk back. She knew what the sweet maker meant.

“But how did they find us?” Vinyl had also understood what was happening. “Our disguise was perfect!”

“What did you do?” Lyra pieced some of the puzzle together and got right in Pinkie Pie’s face.

“I just set up a nice little sign for Fleur to know where we are.” Pinkie answered slightly confused.

“A sign in two-pony high bright neon letters.” Bon Bon added between heavy breaths. “All of Ponyville knows where Fleur is right now.”

“You moron!” Lyra pushed the pink pony with a hoof.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash swooped between Lyra and a still confused Pinkie Pie. As far as she was concerned Pinkie had done nothing wrong and was now being attacked by the lyrist. Rainbow would not let that happen. “You don’t push Pinkie around!”

“We would have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been sabotaged by that pink menace!” Lyra was getting riled up and she most certainly would not back down from anypony. Rainbow Dash flared her wings open in response and was about to defend her friend if necessary.

“Ok, ok. Calm down you two.” Vinyl wedged herself between the agitated ponies. The last thing she wanted was for a fight to break out and tried to defuse the situation. “Pinkie doesn’t know what we had been trying to do. You can’t blame her for just wanting to do something nice.”

“What exactly was it you were trying to do?” Twilight looked from one to the other hoping to receive some answer.

Bon Bon was still trying to catch her breath. Octavia kept shaking her head to clear away the last bit of dizziness. Lyra backed away from Rainbow Dash albeit only after Vinyl started pushing her away. The pegasus kept glaring daggers at the mint green unicorn, but remained silent.

The possibility of some kind of physical confrontation had led to Fluttershy hiding behind Applejack as a precautionary measure. The farmpony kept a very watchful eye on Lyra and Rainbow Dash. In case those two might clash she wouldn’t hesitate to separate them.

Rarity meanwhile stood beside a very silent and rigid Fleur. The model seemed to have frozen in place and just stared blankly ahead.

“We are trying to hide Fleur from the press.” Vinyl informed Twilight and nodded once towards the model.

“Press?” Rarity cocked an eyebrow. “What kind of press?”

“The bad kind.” Lyra replied and kept giving Pinkie Pie an angry look. “The kind that never seems to quit until they get their story.”

“What’s the big deal?” Rainbow Dash asked and finally looked away from Lyra. “Having some attention from the press is awesome.”

“Not this kind.” Lyra snorted and also gave up her aggressive stance.

“What are you talking about?” Twilight had very little contact with Equestria’s press. Sure, there had been a few interviews she had given on occasion, immediately after her coronation for example, but apart from that they had left her alone.

“It’s the paparazzi…..” Fleur finally spoke up. Her voice just as tense as the rest of her body. “They follow me…constantly.”

“Sounds kinda cool.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “You get to show them your stuff and get your own articles in the papers.”

“Yes….my stuff…they…really want to take pictures of my…stuff…” Fleur’s expression remained void of any emotion, but her voice quavered as she spoke.

“Why don’t we invite them too?” Pinkie suggested. For her the more ponies present at her party meant just more fun to be had. “I made plenty of punch.”

“That wouldn’t be a good idea.” Octavia shook her head and moved beside Fleur, worried that the model had somehow broken.

“Yeah, they are like vultures.” Lyra added and cast her look towards the still closed front door. “Picking away until nothing is left.”

“But it’s just the press….I mean how bad could it be?” Rainbow Dash still was puzzled what was so bad about having their attention.

“Speed-demon or super softy.” Lyra quoted an article written some time ago and published in the Foal Free Press and took slight pleasure in seeing the pegasus cringe.

“Oh….it’s those kind of articles?” Rainbow Dash remembered that particular article very well. She had been even more reluctant to go to Cloudsdale after it had been published.

“Well….the crusaders learned their lesson.” Applejack spoke up for the first time that evening. “Don’t ya’ll think them reporter folk might learn their lesson too if we spoke to ‘em?”

“That’s how they earn their living.” Lyra briefly toyed with the idea of grabbing some kind of weapon and simply beat them away. A few more court orders was something she was willing to live with if it meant that they would leave her friend alone for a while. “It’s their job to make other ponies as uncomfortable as possible with their gossip.”

“How about we just talk to them and tell them to go away?” Fluttershy added quietly. Despite having achieved some fame as a model herself a while ago she had not been targeted by the tabloids. Mainly due to Photo Finish keeping a very close eye on her and shooing away any potential nosy reporters. Luckily Fluttershy’s moment of fame did not last long enough for the reporters to keep trying to pry into her private life.

“They won’t go away…” Fleur’s eye twitched. “They never go away…”

The assembled ponies looked at the model with worry when she suddenly started laughing.