Hold the Press

by Bunnybooze79

Chapter 7

“Uh…you ok?” Octavia hesitantly laid a hoof on the model’s shoulder.

“I’m fine! Just peachy!” Fleur kept laughing hysterically. “Why shouldn’t I be? Having every move written about, every little insignificant gesture blown out of proportion, every word I say checked for hidden meanings about my preferences about everything….why would I not be ok?”

“See?” Pinkie pointed a hoof happily at the model. “She is having fun so let’s get this party started!”

“Hold on, dear.” Rarity pulled away Pinkie’s patented party cannon with her magic. “I don’t think the time is right for that right now.”

“Why not?” Pinkie looked at her friend confused. “No fun if she is the only one laughing.”

“I don’t think she is laughing because of having so much fun.” Vinyl murmured.

As if on cue Fleur’s hysterical laughter broke into loud sobs. There was no escape for her and being here in Ponyville had been the last straw needed to break the manticore’s back. The walls she kept up constantly crumbled away into dust and left a nervous wreck to be seen for all.

“I can’t take it anymore!” Fleur let her head hang low. Her entire body sagged along as any energy left in her evaporated like a drop of water on a hot stove. “They just keep coming and coming. I thought I could get away from them here. Have a small moment of peace and clear my head by doing just normal everyday things. But now…they’re here.”

The ponies watched at Fleur lurched back towards the box they had transported her in. Without another word she slid back inside the box and laid herself down. Stunned the rest of them just watched in silence.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Rarity asked after a moment.

“I didn’t want to make a lot of fuss….” Fleur answered from within the box.

“Why are you back in the box?” Lyra asked while she trotted closer.

“I had a moment of peace in here.” Fleur answered promptly. “I’ll just stay here until I have to go back.”

“You can’t stay in there!” Rarity held a hoof to her chest at the prospect of leaving her esteemed guest hiding away in a box for an entire week.

“Rarity’s right!” Pinkie stuck her head into the box. “You can’t have a party inside a box!”

“Will you give it a rest with your parties!” Lyra snapped at the pink pony and shoved her away from the box. “Don’t you see what you already did with your little welcome sign?”

“What I did?” Pinkie looked in confusion at the lyrist.

“Yeah! You led them right here and all our efforts to get her some kind of refuge have been for nothing.” Lyra saw that Rainbow Dash was about to step in once more if she pushed the party pony again. So she stayed beside the box rather than confront Pinkie further.

“But…but…parties make ponies happy!” Pinkie tried to comprehend what was going on.

“I’m afraid this time it did the opposite.” Vinyl shrugged and braced herself. She knew Pinkie rather well and could imagine how she would take the news.

“My party made her feel….bad?” Pinkie stared wide-eyed at Vinyl.

“Yes…” Vinyl cringed as Pinkie Pie’s hair suddenly fell flat.

“But…parties…good.” It was obvious that something inside the constantly bouncing party pony had broken. “Parties…make pony sad?”

“Yes, Pinkie.” Vinyl remained where she was. The very same action that all other ponies mimicked.

As predicted Pinkie’s eyes well up with tears. With a loud wail she let a literal fountain burst from her tearducts as she realized she had inadvertently caused misery to another pony. It only took three seconds for Vinyl, Fluttershy and Rainbow to rush up to her after the initial torrent had been released to try and comfort the saddened pony.

Lyra, Bon Bon and Octavia tried to do the same for Fleur who still remained sobbing in her box. Rarity just watched slack-jawed at the events around her.

“Well what do we do know?” Applejack looked from on pony to another for some kind of answer.

The door to another room opened up. A trolley full of nachos came rolling through being pushed by Spike. He closed the door to the kitchen and turned to the ponies with a big smile.

“Nachos are read….y….uh. What’s going on?” Spike only saw a group of ponies attending to another one hiding in a box and Pinkie wailing and being comforted by her friends. “Party not going well?”

“I’ll talk to them.” Twilight said after a moment ignoring the question from her assistant. “This is my castle and they have no right to accost one of my guests.”

Applejack and Rarity watched Twilight stomp off towards the front door.

______________________________________________________________________

“Did you see anthing?” Dirt Sheet asked his photographer the instant she had landed beside him.

“Nope.” Rapid Flash blew a bubble with her chewing gum and popped the bubble before continuing. “All the windows are closed with the curtains drawn.”

“Damn!” Dirt Sheet stomped a hoof on the ground. “There’s something going on in there and I want to know what it is. Our readers deserve to know what Equestria’s premier model is doing in that castle with four known fillyfoolers and a Princess!”

“Want to look through the bins?” Rapid Flash wasn’t too keen on nosing through the Princess’ royal trash, but sometimes interesting things could be found.

“No….” Dirt Sheet had contemplated that already. They wouldn’t find anything on Fleur in those bins of that he was sure. He looked around for a moment, trying to see some way of getting into the castle.

Other reporters and photographers swarmed around the castle like moths around a flame looking for a way to snap a compromising picture or see something worthy writing about. Of course they could just fabricate some tale out of nowhere, but it was always better to have some kind of visual aid. And they really wanted to see some visual aids.

He turned his attention away from the castle for a moment. Quite some distance away he could see Slandermane standing beside his partner. Spooky Noodles seemed to take a couple of pictures, of what exactly Dirt Sheet did not know and didn’t care.

Ignoring the oddball reporters for a moment something in the back of his mind triggered. He studied the front door once more and then couldn’t help but smile. Confidently and under the curious gaze of the other reporters he strode up to the front door. As he was about to knock the door was opened by somepony from inside.

__________________________________________________________________________

Twilight opened the door quickly to make a grand entrance or in this case a grand exit from her castle.

She blinked a few times in surprise at the mass of ponies looking at her. Slowly cameras that had been readied for a chance of taking a picture of Fleur De Lis were lowered again as Twilight was not their target.

Part of Twilight’s new courses were about addressing ponies in a more regal manner and this seemed like a good time to put her new skills to the test. She cleared her throat and held her head high to address the reporters. Before she could say a word one stallion that had been directly in front of her spoke up.

“May we come inside, your highness?” He only minimally bowed his head while his eyes darted behind Twilight to see if anything interesting could be visible.

“No.” Twilight replied and stomped a hoof on the ground to emphasize her statement. “You may not.”

“Why not?” The stallion now focused back on the Princess after it was clear there was nothing else to be seen at the moment.

“My castle is off-limits to the press.” Twilight replied in a calm tone.

“Isn’t that obstructing the freedom of the press?” Dirt Sheet still was smiling and Twilight didn’t like that one bit.

“Freedom of the press does not reach into the privacy of my home.” Twilight wasn’t the most knowledgeable pony when it came it certain laws. It was on her agenda and she would eventually get around to learning all of them.

“Really?” Dirt Sheet tried to look surprised, but the smile had turned into a vicious grin. He sensed that Equestria’s newest Princess didn’t quite know all of the boundaries the press would have to work with. “What about public places?”

“Public places?” Twilight slightly lost her advantage as she was thrown off by that question.

“Is the press allowed to report about and in public places?” Dirt Sheet was aware that the other reporters were paying very close attention.

“Yes, of course.” Twilight nodded once. The question was still confusing to her, but she hid it well.

“So….we can write about anything happening in those places and can enter without permission?” Dirt Sheet pressed on.

“Of course? It is a public place after all.”

“That means we can go into the park without any objections?” Dirt Sheet asked and saw the confusion slowly seep into the Princess’ features.

“Er…yes?”

“What about town square?”

“Naturally.”

“The lake?”

“Of course.”

“The library?” Dirt Sheet kept up his rapid questions.

“Yes, be my guest.” Twilight knew she had just stepped into a trap when Dirt Sheet’s grin turned very smug indeed.

“Excellent!” He beamed at Twilight. “So we can enter the library here without any objection.”

“Yes…no!” Twilight realized the error of her rapid answers. “You can’t right now.”

“Why is that?” Dirt Sheet asked innocently.

“It’s closed at the moment.” Twilight desperately tried thinking of some kind of good excuse.

“Closed?” The reporter looked at the sign next to the front door. It advertised the castle’s library with a sloppily written phrase that reading is fun. The opening times were sketched underneath and indicated that it would remain open for quite some time. Dirt Sheet pointed a hoof at the sign. “It doesn’t say anything about the library being closed.”

“Uh…” Twilight silently cursed that her old tree house library had been blasted to smithereens. It functioned as Ponyville’s library but was mainly her home. That gave her the option to close it anytime she so pleased. Now in her new very large castle a section was reserved for the public that they could enter whenever they so pleased and was within the allotted opening time.

“Or do you mean it is temporarily closed?” Dirt Sheet offered the Princess an opening.

“Yes!” Twilight seized it immediately. “It is closed for the time being.”

“Ah…so you are having your lunch break.” Dirt Sheet made a show of it to check the clock on the tower in the distance. “But seeing as it is so late it can’t be lunch. So a coffee break is the reason why the library is momentarily closed.”

“I…” Twilight should have followed Rarity’s advice about taking lessons dealing with these kinds of situations. Now the reigns of the conversation had fully left her control. With some effort she remained as regal as possible. “Yes….a coffee break is exactly what is going on in here right now.”

Twilight’s bluff was laughable at best. The gigantic neon sign flashing above her was a big enough clue to even the most dense reporter that a coffee break was not the only thing happening in the castle right now. Besides that Twilight was abysmal at trying to bluff her way through things. A trait that Rainbow Dash fully exploited every time they played a game of cards.

“So…that means it will reopen to the public in about fifteen minutes?” Dirt Sheet beamed at the Princess. “There are some books I just have to read right now.”

“Uhm…yes indeed….fifteen minutes.” Twilight stepped backwards into her castle and shut the door as soon as possible. Then she took the easy method of joining her friends again by teleporting into the room.

“Well? How’d it go?” Applejack asked after recovering from Twilight suddenly materializing amidst them.

“We have fifteen minutes to come up with a plan.” Twilight replied with a sigh.