> Reign of the shy-pony
>  by The_Swedish_Horror
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Oh no! A little accident...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a beautiful day in Equestria, where the sunrise had painted the sky in wonderful colours of gold and orange. In Canterlot Castle a certain alicorn had just finished drinking her morning coffee. 
Princess Celestia walked around in her royal bedroom, dressed in bunny slippers and with a sleep mask still entangled in her ruffled mane. She was feeling mischievous today. The wise, kind and responsible ruler of Equestria couldn't help playing with the thought of doing something totally unexpected to surprise her subjects with new and amusing ways of royal misbehaviour.  

She continued to the royal dining room where she saw a tired, dark blue shadow of a pony at the table.
"Good morning Luna!" she said. 
"Godmorningsister..." Luna yawned while rubbing her eyes with her hoof. 
She was too tired to even notice that she was putting an oven mitt on her toast.
"Are you bursting with energy?" Celestia asked with a smile. 
"No, Celestia... I do not like staying up this late, you know."
"Have another cup of coffee then! I'm thinking of doing something fun today."
"Fun?" Luna asked while taking a small bite of her breakfast. She held up the toast and inspected it with a genuinely baffled expression on her face.
"Yes... Do you remember the old days, sister? When we were little fillies and used our magic to prank our poor subjects? I was thinking of that yesterday and I couldn't keep myself from coming up with a little plan..."
"I do not like the direction where this series of events are headed," Luna said and threw the toast into the garbage bin.


* * *


A few minutes later, but in Ponyville, Twilight would have enjoyed this beautiful morning, had she not been asleep in her bed. The little lavender unicorn was snoring under her quilt, oblivious to the wonders outside. She drooled on her pillow and mumbled in her sleep.
"Zzzz... dear... princess... Cele...zzzz...tia... Zzzz..."

Slowly a familiar shape emerged among the library's branches. It was Celestia. Using her horn as a crowbar she broke open the bedroom window and crawled into Twilight's room with the stealth of a panther. 
"Pssst, Luna! You got to see this," she whispered. 
Princess Luna emerged from the branches too.  
"She is sleeping like a kitten..."
"But Celestia, should we really do this to poor Twilight? What if she is not amused?"
"Oh, nonsense. She'll be all right. Give me the bowl." 
Luna handed Celestia the bowl with lukewarm water and the alicorn princess placed it right on Twilight's bed stand. Carefully the older sister dipped Twilight's hoof in it. 
"He he he he..." 
Then both sisters hid among the branches, waiting for the hilarity that would soon ensue. 

"Sister! Somepony is coming..." Luna whispered. 
It was Rainbow Dash who came trotting along the street outside the library. Celestia had expected her to be asleep, but somehow the pegasus had gotten up early for once. She carried a little red ball with her. Maybe she was on her way to set a new record? Celestia immediately decided to prank her, just on principle. Setting new records in pointless things were just too silly according to her.
"Rainbow Dash, so awesome and cool! But soon you will look like a fool..."
"Oh, your rhyming exclamation sounded just like Zecora! We surely must prank her too!" Luna said. The younger sister really begun to enjoy this kind of fun! 
"In due time. But first..." 
She was interrupted by a sudden outburst of distress coming from Twilight's room.
"OH! Oh no... no no no!"
"Got you, Twilight," Celestia whispered in triumph. 

Celestia put a spell that made both sisters invisible for a short while so they could follow Rainbow Dash from a distance. The unsuspecting pegasus started to play with her ball, bouncing it on the ground. She smiled happily. Then she threw it against the wall of Sugarcube corner and hit it again when it returned. 
At exactly the right moment Celestia grabbed the ball with a spell and pinned it to the ground with her magic power. Rainbow Dash was confused. She poked the ball with her hoof, but it didn't move at all. 
"Huh?" she said to herself. She gave it a harder poke. Nothing happened. "Why is it stuck?" 
She took a closer look but nothing seemed to be odd. It was just as if it was glued to the ground. 
"Stupid thing! Why don't you MOVE?!" 
Dash started to kick the ball repeatedly with her hooves. She kicked and kicked. Slowly a number of curious ponies started to gather around her. 
"What are you doing?" an orange pegasus asked.
"I'm kicking my stupid BAAAALL!"
"Buck it," Scootaloo suggested. 
There was a shocked silence in the crowd.
"Scootaloo! That's not cool to use that kind of language! Oh... Oh, you meant... he he, never mind." 
Rainbow Dash turned around and bucked the ball with a forceful kick! 
"MOVE!!!!" 
But it was no match for Celestia's unseen magic. The ball still didn't move at all.
"Okay, now I've had it! I will kick you into space!" Rainbow screamed and took of, flying a few meters up in the air to gather some momentum before descending on the ball like a lightning. At full force she dove right on it with a powerful kick that should have sent the ball flying like a mortar round, had Celestia not moved it at the precise moment before impact.
A surprised Rainbow Dash instead kicked through air, fell over and dove into a mud puddle!
The muffled giggle from Celestia and Luna was completely drowned out by the roaring laughter of the crowd.
"Oups," Celestia said. 

The two sisters continued along the Mane street until they reached the outskirts of Ponyville, where they wouldn't have to use the invisibility spell so often. They were not far from Fluttershy's cottage and Celestia suggested that they should pay her a little visit if she was still at home. 
"But, Celestia... Fluttershy is so nice and kind. Nopony ever pranks her."
"And that's why she needs it the most. I have prepared something quite special for her..."

And they were lucky, for the shy pegasus was in fact in her bed. Fluttershy wasn't asleep, but she preferred to stay in bed until she had to go up and feed her animals. Just a few minutes more... She was still tired from last night when she had helped an owl with a broken wing. Fluttershy rolled over and turned her back on the window, where the two invisible alicorns were hovering.
"Are we going to use the water?" Luna asked while slowly turning visible again.
"No, that would be too repetitive... Also we left the bowl at Twilight's place. I was thinking of putting a spell on her, turning her into something fun for a day. Maybe a cute bunny? Or a dragon? No, not a dragon... Dragons have a magic power to them that are far too powerful and strange. What if we turned her into a colt? I bet she'll be just as adorable as a colt! And we could set her up with a date... Hmm..."
"Or a kitten. I like kittens," said Luna, eager to pull the emergency brake on her sister's train of thought.
"Kitten it is then." 
"Shall I open the window?" 
"No, I'll just cast my spell right through it."
With a powerful glow from her horn, Celestia began to concentrate on her kitten spell, which was far more complicated than it would appear. She pictured Fluttershy as a cute, fluffy kitten. It was so fun that she and Luna could do this together, she thought... Cute fluffy kitten Fluttershy. Cute fluffy kitten... Doing pranks with Luna. Cute fluffy kitten. 
And she released the spell.

With a shock Fluttershy opened her eyes. A very strange feeling caught hold of her. Something wasn't right... Her body felt strange, she thought... She couldn't put her hoof on it, but something wasn't the way it was supposed to be. 

Outside the window there was nothing but branches and leaves. But on the ground below lay two shocked earth ponies that moments earlier had dropped from the air. One was blue and the other white. 
"Oh... oh, buck," Celestia said while scratching her pink mane in utter confusion.
"What is the matter?"
"Eh... um... you look different. I might have... accidently... turned you into an earth pony. Ha ha, no big matter, I'll just turn you back right away, Luna."
"How is that even possible?"
"Well, I might have... overlooked something when I cast the spell. My theory is that I somehow forgot that Flutterhy is connected to the elements, while we aren't anymore. And that made things a bit more... complicated. Does that answer your question, sister?" 
"No. I was thinking how it would be possible for you to cast any spell without your horn. You are an earth pony too, Celestia. " 
"Oh. Now we're bucked."

Meanwhile Fluttershy bumped her head against the ceiling when she tried to sit up in bed. The room was considerably smaller and she felt very awkward. Maybe her cottage had somehow shrunk? Slowly she crawled across the room while conducting a close inspection of her furniture and walls. Everything was too small. She really needed to buy a bigger home, she thought. The mirror was smaller too, and it showed a reflection of a... a... Fluttershy gasped in shock. 
The reflection in the mirror showed princess Celestia!
"Um... princess?" she asked. 
To her utter horror, the princess's lips moved when she said the words. For now she was princess Celestia... Or not exactly Celestia, but something closely resembling her. She had somehow become an alicorn!
"Oh m-my..."


* * *


Twilight Sparkle was at her home, carefully washing her bed sheets in the shower to get rid of any evidence from her little accident before Spike would notice it. She was blushing with embarrassment. This was just great! Just what she needed... 
When Twilight returned to her room with new sheets for her bed she noticed the bowl with water on her bed stand. 
"What's this?"
It was a beautiful porcelain bowl without any crack or dent. It must have been expensive and could not be from Ponyville... This was not one of her own bowls. Maybe somepony had left it there... But why? And how? And why was the window open? This called for an investigation...

At the entrance of the of the same edifice Spike heard desperate knocking on the door. He was in the middle of his breakfast consisting of a large gem and bowl of milk and cereals. He didn't like the cereals that much, but they were indeed much cheaper than gems. And even a baby dragon had bills to pay. 
"Come back later! The library opens in twenty minutes!" he cried.
But the knocking didn't cease. It sounded exactly as one might except from a panicking pony thundering her hooves against a wooden door. 
"All right! I'll open the door..."
Slowly the door swung ajar and Spike saw two earth ponies. They were thin and long-legged, with much distress in their big eyes and their manes were ruffed and wild. He immediately recognized them. 
"What in the name of... eh... I mean, what the hay?!"
"Dear Spike! Thou must help us! Get Twilight Sparkle quick! Something really, really bad has happened..."

Meanwhile Fluttershy was slowly emerging from under her bed where the glorious alicorn had went into hiding. What would the other ponies think of her? What would happen now? She had cried a little, not from sadness but from the sudden chock of unexpectedly being transformed into something, even if it was a magnificent alicorn princess. 
She took a shy glance at her reflection. She was indeed an alicorn with flowing, pink mane and beautiful, although swollen, eyes. Her cutie mark was still the same, though... And she was still the same, old Fluttershy, she hoped....
The alicorn slowly begun to make her way down the stairs.
"A-Angel bunny? she cried.
When Angel showed up he went nearly paralyzed with fear for a brief moment before fleeing into his hiding place under the cupboard. His terrified eyes followed her every move. 
"I'm just Fluttershy... You don't need to be scared, Angel!"
But it was to no use. He was trembling like a leaf and pressed his body against the floorboards like the scared rabbit he was.
"Oh no... Even my animal friends are scared of me... I will be forever alone!"





 

> From bad to worse. Much worse.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "Earth ponies?" Twilight asked with a tremble of fear in her voice. "But how... How could that happen?" 
"A spell misfired," Celestia said while sipping her tea. She didn't look very happy to talk about the subject. "So both my sister and I are completely deprived of any magic, I'm afraid."
"What spell, exactly? Maybe I can find some information in my books?"
"The Kitten Spell." 
"Kitten Spell? I haven't heard of it before. What does it do?" 
"It's for turning something into a kitten. Temporarily, off course." 
"Why would you want to do that?"
"Kittens are CUTE! Now less talking, more reading, please. I trust that if anypony can find it, it will be you, my faithful student."
"I will check my books!" Twilight said with a proud smile. If the answer lay written in a book somewhere she was fully in control of the situation and would surely save the day, she thought. 

Meanwhile the alicorn Fluttershy slowly sneaked out through the window, cloaked in a blanket to conceal herself from curious eyes. She was still shocked and didn't dare to show herself to the other ponies. It felt so awkward and strange that she almost started to cry again... Oh, what a mess she had gotten into! What would they say? Maybe they would even suspect that she somehow had done this on purpose! What if the princesses would think that she was some kind of copycat and tell her off for turning into an alicorn without their permission? Oh no! That would be so very, very humiliating... 

"Stop right there, you tall pony!" a harsh voice suddenly was heard from behind the corner of her cottage. 
With a frightened shriek Fluttershy turned around and in the process snagged her blanket on the window sill! Oh no! 
"Who are you? Why are you sneaking out of Fluttershy's cottage like a thief?" an old, dusty stallion asked while taking a closer look at her with his near-sighted gaze. It was Mr Greenhooves, her gardener. "Are you some kind of burglar?"
"N-no...?"
"Who are you then? And why're you hiding under a blanket? This whole thing smells like a rotten potato to me... Are you sure you're not a burger?"
"Burger?"
"Burglar! I meant burglar! Have you burglarized poor Fluttershy's home? Answer me, pony!"
"No! I'm... just... running away!" Fluttershy cried and tried to free herself from the window sill, but failed and instead tripped over one of her long legs and fell, losing her blanket in the process and planting her butt in the flowerbed. 
Mr Greenhooves gasped at the sight.
"Please forgive me, royal princess! I didn't know better!" he said while kneeling so deep that his old hat fell of. "P-please forgive this stupid old fool for his m-mistake!"
"Um..." 
"Please, I... I h-humbly b-b-beg you of forgiveness! Have pity on me... I'm an old blank flank and... I b-b-beg you to show mercy."
His voice trembled with fear like he had insulted a god.
"I forgive you, um... my... my old pony," Fluttershy said with a graceful nod. "Everything is fine."
"Oh, thank you! Thank you, kind princess! Thank you!" 
And Mr Greenhooves fled around the corner, tripping over his garden hose in his eager to get away.
Fluttershy was speechless. She was still sitting in her flowerbed, confused and dazzled by the way the old pony had treated her. Nopony ever bowed to her like she was some kind of... princess. But a princess she was indeed.

Twilight put the last book on her table. She had searched almost every book about temporary spells in the library, but she couldn't find any information about the mysterious Kitten Spell. Maybe this was some kind of test? But somehow she knew that would be too good to be true. She started to despair... What if she couldn't find the spell? What would then happen? But if it was only temporary everything would surely go back to normal in just a few hours? Maybe this problem wasn't so big after all...
"I can't find it..." she admitted. 
"Oh," Celestia said with her ears pinned. "Maybe... maybe if you look in some other book? The Kitten Spell is not entirely temporary. You might have use a spell reverse it... I probably should have mentioned that earlier."
Twilight gasped in shock.
"That means you used a permanent spell. Which is far worse... Oh no! This is bad, bad bad bad... Princess, have you... eh... do you maybe... might you know more specifically where to look?"
Celestia nodded slightly.
"I found... I mean, I might have heard that it may be mentioned in the Forbidden Book of Dangerous Spells." 
"Tis ridiculous! Just tell her the whole truth, sister!" Luna shouted. 
The older sister took a deep breath.
"We might also have tried the kitten spell on a pony... But first I would like to point out that, regardless to the events that preceded this unfortunate accident, there is absolutely no need to p..."
"Sister! Just be done with it!"
"We might have... tried it on Fluttershy. As a harmless joke, of course!"
"YOU DID WHAT?!"
"As a joke... It somehow backfired a little. I am truly ashamed, my faithful student. I should have known better."
"And how is she now? Have you turned her into a kitten?!" Twilight cried with tears forming in her eyes. "Poor Fluttershy! How could you do this to her?"
"I'm so sorry. I am truly, genuinely sorry."

But far from being a kitten, Fluttershy was staggering on her shaky legs through the streets of Ponyville. She felt very confused by the sight of ponies kneeling all around her and bowing their heads. But it wasn't entirely unpleasant, she thought... Although she was blushing furiously the shy alicorn somehow enjoyed the unusual respect she was treated with. This was surprisingly different from the time when she was a model for Photo Finish, when everypony swarmed around her like parasprites without any respect for her privacy. She felt like she was almost in control, although her heart pounded in her chest and her legs felt like spaghetti.
After a very awkward walk she had reached Twilight's library. She knocked on the door.
"Um... Twilight? It's me, Fluttershy..." she whispered.
The door opened up, just a little, and Twilight's face became visible. Her eyes turned big with surprise. 
"OH! Oh my! Is... Is that you, Fluttershy?! You... you're not a cat! But how?!"
"Copycat?! It's not my fault! This just happened, Twilight... Please, I didn't mean to be any c-co-copycat!" Fluttershy sobbed and started to quiver. "P-please... don't be mad at me! I... sniff... didn't meant to turn into an alicorn!"
"Fluttershy! Quick! Come in!"

After a long and, for some ponies especially, very embarrassing explanation of the royal mischiefs the whole situation slowly became clear to Twilight. Fluttershy was now an alicorn and neither Celestia nor Luna could turn her back since they had lost their ability to do magic. Fluttershy must have acquired all of their power and now she was not a princess, but instead a queen of both day and night! The thought almost startled Twilight. Shy, timid little Fluttershy... Supreme ruler of the world. She was practically a goddess now. A goddess sitting in her sofa, shyly looking down into her tea and using her immense magical power to teleport a sugar cube into her cup.
"We must search the archives for the counterspell! To the Friendship Express!" Twilight said. She was in command now since both princesses somehow had lost most of their royal self-esteem by the humiliation that came with being caught doing something this stupid. They looked a bit ruffled and ashamed.
"Um... I could teleport us there, if that's okay with you?" 
"You could? Are you sure? It should take years of practice to master a powerful spell like that," Twilight said, her lavender head tilted to take a closer look to see if poor Fluttershy's pupils showed any sign of concussion or madness.
"Um... Yes... No, I think I'm just... I don't think it's all that powerful compared to the other things that I can do now... S-sorry, I didn't mean to brag... It's just very much within my ability."
"Are you really sure?"
And with a strong flash from her horn they disappeared in an instant...


* * *


...to suddenly reappear right in the Canterlot library in front of Mrs Crumplepony, the head librarian. She dropped a heavy book on her hoof but was to surprised to even take notice.
"Quickly! We must find the Forbidden Book of Dangerous Spells in the Starscream the Bearded wing!" Twilight cried.
"What?" 
"Oh, sorry... I meant the Starswirl the Bearded wing. Never mind... We just need the book to reverse the Kitten Spell that turned the princesses into earth ponies."
"W-what? Shouldn't they be like... kittens?" 
Celestia rolled her eyes.
"Thankfully not. Can you imagine my sister Luna, sleeping all day and go potty in a box of sand? Oh, you probably can..."

Luna, Celestia, Twilight and Spike furiously rummaged through the shelves in the library in a way that would appal everypony who had the slightest respect for historic books, many of which ended up in a big heap on the floor.
"I've found it!" Twilight shouted after a while, waving the old book in triumph! "It was on the shelf for Old and Forbidden Dragon Magic, for some reason... Never mind! Now all I have to do is to reverse the spell to change everything back to normal!"
"HUZZAH!" 
"Well done, my faithful student!"
"Way to go, Twilight!"
"Please don't damage the cover!" (The latter exclamation came of course from Mrs Crumplepony, who didn't enjoy Twilight's handling of the old book at all) 

They gathered in a circle around Twilight who carefully put the book on a table not to damage its precious cover. Everything was to be just fine, she thought with a smile. Soon this mess would be over. And once again Twilight and her friends would have saved the day through careful studying and the power of magic!
"And now I will open this book!" she said. 
"Lets not be hasty..." said Fluttershy.
With a magic glow forming around her horn she gently shut the book before Twilight got a chance to read it.  
"Fluttershy? What's the matter?" 

The alicorn looked at her with a begging expression in her big, cyan eyes. She slowly dragged the book towards her across the table.
"I was thinking... What if I could get to be an alicorn a little longer, please? I would like to rule the world for a while, if that's okay with you?"
"But Fluttershy! There is no time for playing around! We must reverse the spell and make everything back to normal as soon as possible!"
"But I would like to be in charge for just a few days... I really need it, Twilight. I'd like to be in control for once! The whole world is now my oyster... Can you imagine how powerful I am? CAN YOU?! Please let me rule the entire world, just for a week..."
"Fluttershy! You know I can't let you do that! And what about princess Celestia? And princess Luna? You can't just usurp the throne of Equestria!"
"But they've already had their turn! It isn't fair! Now it's MY time to play! What if I don't want to go back to being old, meek Fluttershy? What if I instead WOULD LIKE TO RULE THE WORLD?! Yes! Yes I do want to rule the world!" Fluttershy screamed with a voice that almost blew the others off their hooves. Nopony had seen that coming at all.

The room suddenly turned dark and the alicorn looked very intimidating. There was a sinister smile on her face. 
"B-but Fluttershy! Please! You're going drunk with power! I beg you, please give me the book!!!" 
"Oh, you mean this book, Twilight?" Fluttershy said and immediately turned the Forbidden Book of Dangerous Spells into a solid slab of stone. "Here you go, then. But I somehow doubt that you'll have any use for it... Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a whole world to rule as I see fit... Ha ha... hahaha ha ha ha... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"
"No! Fluttershy! Please reconsider!" 
"No. No I don't want to reconsider! I want to rule the world!"

Celestia shook her head.
"Oh, that silly filly... She is almost as bad as you, Luna."
"Sister! Don't joke about such matters!"
"I said almost."

 


> Behold, Behold...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day a beautiful choir of white earth ponies sang their heavenly hymn when Fluttershy appeared on the balcony of the old Canterlot Castle. This was probably the most awkward coronation in the history of Equestria. Fluttershy had requested a celebration and both Celestia and Luna had no choice but to oblige. However they were nowhere to be seen today. The alicorn felt a little hurt by their decision, but she realized that she couldn't expect them to be happy with her right now. Fine! She didn't need those two anyway!


Thou Princess Flushy cometh 
Behold, behold 
A Princess here before us 
Behold, behold, behold 
Behold, behold
The Princess Flushy cometh 
Behold, behold
The Princess is here!


Fluttershy smiled and waved to her subjects. She wasn't entirely delighted by the slight mispronunciation of her name, making her appear to be some kind of toilet, but she decided to be nice about it and don't cause any trouble. It was probably an honest mistake, she thought. Also, most ponies didn't use toilets. 
One day she was only a shy, meek pushover of a pegasus that nopony seemed to respect and the next she was ruling the entire world with the powers of both Celestia and Luna combined... The thought baffled her. 

"And now, our kind and ruler, I mean, kind and responsible ruler, the loyal princess Flush.... eh... Fluttershy will speak to her royal subjects!" an elderly herald announced. Few ponies knew it then, but it was in fact Mr Greenhooves that had been appointed to this important task by Fluttershy as a compensation for scaring him yesterday. He wasn't exactly a given choice, but Fluttershy had just decided to act on an impulse.

A great silence fell upon the masses on the ceremonial square in front of the castle. Thousands of ponies were holding their breath, waiting for their new ruler to address her subjects for the first time. The absolutely confident and immensely powerful alicorn smiled. Slowly she began to walk towards the stone railing of the balcony to face the citizens of Canterlot. But the closer Fluttershy got to the railing, the more nervous she felt. Up to that point she hadn't exactly needed to do anything but to wave and smile. Now she had to say something! Anything! 

At this moment Fluttershy realized that she had completely forgotten to rehearse her speech! Oh no! All of her confidence melted away like an icicle and she felt like there was a swarm of butterflies in her stomach. That was what her cutie mark stood for. Butterflies. Maybe it was the butterflies in her stomach that were the true meaning behind it? She felt so helpless right now. Her face turned pale with fear and her tall legs barely managed carry her body forward. She must not faint! She must not faint! Alicorn princesses didn't faint.
"Fillies and gentlecolts!" Mr Greenhooves said in a desperate attempt to make it seem that the awkward silence was planned. It fooled nopony.

Fluttershy found herself suddenly cowering behind the railing, shaking like a leaf. She straightened her terrified wreck of a body and by sheer willpower forced her head to turn towards the endless crowd of ponies. So, so many... Maybe tens of thousands. Or a million. 
"I'm.... Fl... u..." she whispered into the microphone. "I'm... Fl...." 
Then she fainted.


*  *   *


Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle was trotting around in circles. She didn't want to participate in the celebration of Fluttershy's coronation out of respect for the princesses and had instead sneaked away to the Canterlot Library. 
Of all bad things that could possibly happen, this was the worst possible thing! Her friend had just usurped the throne of Equestria and she didn't know what to do! Was she going insane? How could a kind and timid pony like Fluttershy so quickly get absolutely drunk with power?! This was absurd. Maybe there was some corrupting force tied to the Kitten Spell? Or maybe Fluttershy was in fact that rotten? No, she couldn't be... 
And the worst thing was that she couldn't use the elements of harmony since Fluttershy still was tied to them! Buck. Double buck. She needed to talk to princess Celestia... But where were the princesses? Twilight hadn't seen them since yesterday...

The princesses were in fact not far away. They had came to realize that very few of their subjects recognized them now when they were mere earth ponies. Totally unattended they strolled the sunny streets of Canterlot and enjoyed the beautiful city without being followed by a crowd of curious subjects. This was quite a nice way to spend a day while plotting their return to power. 
"Sister, I was thinking... Maybe we could rally all of our subjects and just tell them the truth? Surely they would not let this unlawful ascension pass?" Luna suggested. 
"Or we can just ask her nicely? That was sarcasm, in case it went over your head."


*  *   *


When she woke up, the first thing that Fluttershy saw was the elaborate ceiling of the royal throne room where she had been carried by her aides. How long had she been unconscious? Maybe just a few seconds. But it was long enough to ruin her entire day! She promised herself never to attempt to hold a speech ever again. From the square outside she could hear the roaring sound of her subjects booing. They were upset and didn't like her speech at all. How dared they?! This wasn't fair! They didn't even give her a chance! The alicorn was so furious that she could almost run away crying! 
Slowly she got up on her tall legs. 
"Mr Greenhoves!"
"Yes, princess?"
"Tell the subjects that I'll be in my tower. And that I will not lower the sun before they have apologized for booing at me! This day will last forever!" 
Mr Greenhooves scratched his head with a somewhat dusty hoof.
"Heh... Excuse me, princess, but that plan looks oddly familiar..." the gardener said and spat his tobacco on the carpet.
"Yes... I know. I really haven't thought it through... I... I just assumed that they would love me. But instead they booed! So I tried to make my own version of Nightmare Moon's old plan. When I think of it, you probably shouldn't tell them that."
"Tell them what?"
"Exactly."

At the same time, but in a nearby park, news had spread about the disastrous speech held by the new ruling princess of Equestria. A sad and lonely Rainbow Dash sat on a bench, baffled about the many different rumours about the strange events taking place. She hadn't heard anything from Twilight, Spike or Fluttershy over the last two days. Some ponies said that a mysterious, new alicorn princess had been sighted in Ponyville and that the two sisters had abdicated and gone away. She didn't believe that very much...
Others said that there was now three, four or maybe five ruling alicorns at the same time. The whole thing had made Rainbow very confused, and Rainbow Dash didn't like being confused. Therefore she had decided to take the early train to Canterlot to see for herself and maybe find Twilight.
But when she reached the castle gates her path was blocked by thousands of curious onlookers that had gathered to see some coronation. And that's why she ended up in this park. Now Rainbow had to wait for the crowd to disperse before she could fly in and get a clear picture of the whole thing. 
"Worst speech ever," a unicorn said.
"Yeah, hardly a speech at all... More like a one-trick-pony who's only trick is failure."
"And what a stupid name... Princess Fluttershy! It doesn't sound very majestic, does it?"
Fluttershy! Rainbow Dash leapt from her bench. 
"Fluttershy is my friend! Don't you mock her! She is the nicest, kindest, most awesome pony ever!" she screamed. 

All the ponies in the vicinity stopped and stared at her, completely surprised. At first nopony said anything, then there was a slight murmur in the crowd. 
"Who is she?"
"What is she like?" 
"How did a pegasus like you get to know an alicorn princess?"
"I don't have time for your questions! Just tell me where to find her!"
"Well, why don't you try looking in the castle?"


*  *   *


"Sister, I will speak to our subjects! They must know the truth behind this!" Luna, formerly princess, said. 
"Are you out of your mind?! It's bad enough that some ponies know that we have lost our magic, but to tell the subjects that we are also practically dethroned, that is utter madness! Have you any idea what they would do?" 
"Maybe they will overthrow this VILE usurper! Maybe they have more courage than SOME PONIES! I WILL NOT BE DEPOSED TWICE!" Luna shouted in a loud voice that wasn't her Royal Canterlot Voice, but loud enough to make some ponies turn their heads. 
"Oh, hush! Don't be silly!" 
But Luna couldn't be stopped. She jumped on top of an old barrel and struck a pose! 
"DEAR CITIZENS! HEAR YE, HEAR YE!"
A few curious ponies stopped to see what was going on. This seemed to be an interesting day in the city of Canterlot, indeed... 
"I AM PRINCESS LUNA of the Night! I am the co-ruler to Princess Celestia, the true ruler of Equestria! Don't you recognize your rightful government? We have been unlawfully deprived of our crowns! A VILE and CUNNING usurper is being crowned today! But we know that our LOYAL SUBJECTS stand behind us...

There was a shocked mumble among the ponies. It was indeed the princess of the night! Now a mere earth pony, but nevertheless princess Luna. She looked a bit smaller and her coat had a lighter shade of blue than usual, but Luna it was. Her mane and tail didn't flow or sparkle with stars, but her temper and voice was unmistakably Luna-esque. And her cutie mark was the same. 
"...and together WE CAN MAKE HISTORY by telling this usurper that we won't bow! We won't yield! For we stand FIRM!" Luna exclaimed and stomped her hoof on the lid of the barrel! Immediately the rotten old wood gave way and the surprised princess suddenly found herself standing in water to her neck.

Celestia hid her face in her hoof. She hoped that this terrible day would soon be over... 


*  *   *


Little did she know that this day was far from over since Fluttershy had not thought of lowering the sun. The alicorn princess had completely forgotten everything about it since she was preoccupied with more serious matters...
She was planning a petting zoo with lots of animals for the royal park. Sheep, goats, chickens, crocodiles, an elephant and maybe some peacocks? She was very fond of peacocks. Maybe Rarity would like to get some feathers for a hat or something? Rarity! Fluttershy hadn't thought of her. What would she think of all of this? Would she be happy for her or would she be angry with her for disobeying Celestia? The princess honestly didn't know. She hoped that her friend would understand. However there was more pressing matters... Even more pressing than the planning of the "Wonderful Royal Petting Zoo". 
With a sigh she started to write a letter to Twilight. 

Dear Twilight! Please don't be mad at me. If you are, I will be very sad. And I don't like being sad. I command you to I hope that you will join me tomorrow at breakfast while I will discuss my plans for ruling the world with an iron with magic and kindness. 

Yours truly, Empress Fluttershy the First of Equestria.

Fluttershy couldn't decide if she should send the letter or not. Maybe it wasn't princess like enough? Should she try to emulate the writing style of Celestia? No, that would be bad taste... Suddenly she heard a knock on the window! Fluttershy jumped from her chair, spilled her inkwell and hid underneath her bed (or in fact Celestia's bed).

When she had regained some of her courage the alicorn emerged from under the bed and took a shy glance at the window where she saw a pegasus hovering outside, waiting to come in. 

It was Rainbow Dash.
> Twilight's cunning plan...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Canterlot Library was one of Twilight's favourite places, no question about it. Here the unicorn could study the old texts about the different kinds of magic in hope to find a spell that would  counter the effects of the mysterious Kitten Spell... The answer must be written in a book somewhere, she thought.
Twilight looked at the massive stone slab that kept its secrets for itself. She sighed. This book wouldn't be useful at all. And Celestia wasn't very helpful either... It should be among her interests to help Twilight to find the counter spell, one might think. But no, she wasn't the least interested in helping her faithful student that worked her flank off to save the day as usual! 

"Why aren't there a copy of The Forbidden Book of Dangerous Spells anywhere? I whish I could... go back in time... Hm... Yes! That's it! I just have to go back in time and stop the princesses from starting their disastrous pranking spree! Why didnt I think of that earlier? Spike! Follow me to the archives! We must find the Time Travel Spell. It must still be there somewhere!"


* * * 


Meanwhile, at the castle, a very strange scene was taking place in the royal dining room. At the end of a very long table was Fluttershy and at the other Rainbow Dash. In the background she could hear soft, classical music from a gramophone almost like they were at a fancy restaurant. Rainbow didn't really care much for classic music, but she had to admit that this was indeed a tune fit for an empress.
She was still a bit confused about Fluttershy's sudden ascent to power and the alicorn's explanation was very, very vague on some particular subjects... But at least the food was good.

They were completely alone in the vast room, which was strange but no stranger than the rest of this strange situation.
"I... I have a proposal for you, if you would like to hear it," Fluttershy said while sipping some of Celestia's finest wine. 
"Proposal? A-as... as in marriage proposal?!"
"No, not like that! Um... A proposal for you to become the new captain of the Wonderbolts. Would you like that?"
"Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh! Do I? It is my lifelong dream! Of course I want! It'll be super awesome!"
"Excellent..." said Fluttershy, rubbing her hooves with a cunning smile. "Eh... I mean, that's the least I could do for a dear friend. I just love to se my friends smiling with joy."


* * * 


When Twilight and Spike reached the Canterlot archives they found that this part of the castle complex was heavily patrolled. There were royal guards everywhere in full armour. At the gates, on the roof and on the lawn in front of the archives.
"Stay here, Spike, while I go and try to talk my way past them. Since I'm their captain's sister my chances are pretty good, I say!" 
She trotted right across the lawn with a very awkward smile and nodded at the guards that stood on each side of the copper coated door leading into the building. They didn't nod back. 
"Halt! The archives are sealed of on the orders of princess Flushy! Nopony is allowed to be here!"
"But I'm Twilight Sparkle, princess Celestia's student!"
"I know who you are, and the princess has specifically told us to keep you away." 
"But I need to get into the archives... There must have been some misunderstanding! I really need to get in..."
"There is nothing I can do about it. If you want to get in, you should go and obtain a written permission from the princess. Otherwise I can't help you, I'm afraid. Please try to understand, Twilight."
"I understand... I'll just have to come back later. Sorry for bothering you,"
"It's no big dea... Wait! What are you doing?!" 
Twilight had suddenly thrown herself at the door, furiously struggling to push it open! She must get into the archives at any cost and surprise was her best weapon, she thought! But the door didn't move even an inch! It was sealed like a vault.
"Twilight! Stop doing that! Just stop. You'll never get into the archives that way," the guard said.
"Because you will stop me?"
"No, because that door has a PULL sign, not a push. That's why."
"Oh..."
"And now I'll have to place you under arrest for disobeying an officer. Twilight, why did you do that? We'll go to the captain's office! Now move!" 
"The captain? My brother Shining Armour?"
"Yes. And I hope he tells you how foolish you've been. Now let's move, pony!"

Soon they had reached the office of the guard captain, which was located near the main entrance of the Canterlot Castle. It was a rather small office at the end of a corridor with a few cells on the side where drunk ponies were sometimes detained until they got sober enough to walk home. A purple earth pony with a bunch of grapes and a strawberry as her cutie mark lay on the floor in one cell, passed out and snoring. She smelled like a whole brewery. 
"That's just disgusting..." Twilight said.
The guard opened the door and shoved Twilight into the room where her brother was sitting behind his desk, reading a letter and drinking a cup of coffee. 
"Twilight! How are you? Have you come to visit me?"
"No... I was arrested." 
"What?" 
"I tried to go into the archives, where I wasn't allowed by Fluttershy..." 
"Oh.."
"Yeah... I tried to sneak past the guard. It was a stupid thing to do and I'm really sorry..."
Shining Armour put down the empty cup on the desk, making a brown ring on a document. He scratched his mane with his hoof. 
"No, Twilight. It is I who am sorry... I know that your intentions are pure. You are an honest pony, Twilight. You're just trying to help Celestia get her crown back from Fluttershy, who's acting rather bananas right now. You shouldn't be thrown in jail for trying to save the world! I think it's time for the royal guard to show that they're still loyal to the true rulers of Equestria. I won't lock you in a cell. In fact I will follow you to the archives and let you right in so you can do whatever you're doing to save the day. I trust you completely, Twily. Now, let's go before Fluttershy finds out."


* * * 


At the same time Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were enjoying a walk in the royal park. The beautifully raked gravel crunched under their hooves when they strolled along the path in the shadow of the threes. Rainbow had already proudly put on her blue wonderbolt uniform and goggles. Her eyes were sparkling with joy. 
"I'm so happy. Thank you, thank you thank you! You don't understand how happy I am right now!" she said and hugged the princess. 
"I just want my friends to be as happy as I am," Fluttershy said. 
"Awww! You're always so kind and generous, Flutters!"
"Oh, n-now you're making me blush..."
Suddenly a yellow pegasus landed in front of them. It was Spitfire and she was dressed in her dark blue flight commander's uniform and sunglasses. The epaulettes showing her rank insignia had been ripped of. 
"Private Spitfire reporting for duty, princess! I have spotted a breach in the security of the Canterlot Archives!" she said while saluting the alicorn. 
"Oh no!" 
"I'm afraid that Twilight Sparkle has incited a revolt among the royal guards! Shining Armour is with her and they have forced their way into the archives, princess!"
"HOW dare they?! I haven't even had the time to commit any misdeeds yet! This treason is outrageous! Stay here while I violently crush... I mean... um... talk them to their senses."

The Canterlot courtyard was filled with royal guards in their characteristic brass helmets. Many ponies thought that the guard's armour were made out of pure gold, but that wasn't the case since gold is too soft to use that way. 
"Long live princess Celestia!" a guard shouted. 
"Down with princess Flushy! Her speech was boring!"
"Shining Armour for emperor!" said another.
"No! It's time for democracy! Let the ponies decide who shall be their leader! We've had it with princesses for a while! And why can only alicorns have the power? Why can't an earth pony or a unicorn be elected to rule? This government is unfair! We regular ponies are discriminated against!"
"Order! Order!"
Suddenly Fluttershy appeared on the roof of the castle, looking down on the heated debate in the courtyard. 
"SILENCE!" she screamed.

And a heavy silence fell over the crowd. 
"What is the meaning of this? Guards! I order you to return to your posts! I will deal with this insubordination later. Disperse NOW or heads will roll!" 
A spear whistled past a few inches from her face. 
"Go buck yourself, usurper!" a guard shouted. 
"We liked Celestia better! She's the rightful ruler and not you, Flushy! Crawl back into your cottage and play with your squirrels!" 
Fluttershy's eyes turned dark with rage. With a powerful spell she surrounded herself with a strong, magical force field and descended onto the courtyard in a great leap, sparkling with magic electricity. Guard ponies were thrown aside when she trotted right through the crowd, zapping them like cattle if they were to slow to get out of her way. 
"Just go away! I need to get to the archives!" Fluttershy screamed and she begun to run towards the entrance of the building across the lawn. To her horror she found door wide open, which meant that Twilight was already inside... She must stop her before it was to late!


* * * 


Meanwhile, princess Luna was sneaking into a little magic shop in one of the back alleys. She went right towards the counter to get what she came here to obtain. 
"Greetings shopkeeper! I would like to purchase an item from thine shop!" she said.
The old, near-sighted shopkeeper looked up from an amusing book that he had been reading. It was in fact "Daring Do and the Griffon's goblet", but the old stallion had wrapped the cover from another book around it to conceal the fact that he, despite his age, still liked this foalish kind of literature. Slowly he put on his glasses. 
"Yes? Is there anything particular that you would like... Princess Luna? Is that really you?!" 
"Yes, it is me and I want to obtain the Alicorn Amulet! I know that it is here somewhere..." 
The shopkeeper looked a bit ashamed. His gaze wandered away and he started to play a little with his red scarf.
"Well, you see... It might be a bit unavailable for the moment."
"Unavailible? What do thou mean by that? Please do explain..."
"Well... I kinda... sorta sold it. But I made absolutely sure that it's in responsible hooves, of course! He he, you wouldn't like it to be misused in any way, would you?" 
"Thou sold the Alicorn Amulet? But tis the most dangerous item in the whole world!"
"Eh... yes. But to a collector, of course! I think... She must have been a collector and most likely the thing is now in a glass cupboard where it's collecting dust, safely away from any dangerous minds. So there is no need to panic." 
"I NEED THE AMULET RIGHT NOW! I pawned it here in the first place and thou promised me not to sell it!" Luna shouted, grabbing the shopkeeper by his scarf!
"I'm... I'm so sorry! But I have bills to pay... I need to make money too! Also, this is a pawn shop... Of course I promised not to sell anything, but that's just part of the trade! Please, don't be angry with me! I can sell you another amulet, if you'd want to? Half price! Or would you rather like to by a monkey? I give you a very affordable prize..." 
"No! I don't want to buy thine stupid monkey! I must have the Alicorn Amulet! Where can I find the unlucky pony who bought it?" 
"She... she lives in Ponyville, I think? Or maybe she's a travelling magician of some sort? But the monkey is very..."
"Enough about this monkey! What does she look like?!" 
"It's a he. I just call him Mon... Oh, you meant the pony! She's kinda cute... Blue coat and light blue mane, I think... Purple eyes. And a magcian's hat, I think."
"Good. I will hunt her down and find her. And then the amulet will be mine! Mine! Soon I will dispose of the unlawful usurper that has stolen my rightful throne!"
"And when you do, you can always celebrate with a brand new..."
"NO! I DO NOT WANT THY BLASTED MONKEY!" 
"B-but... I... I wasn't going to mention the monkey! It just wanted to suggest... a nice new crown?"
"Oh, that does make much more sense."
"Would you like to look at a new crown, then?"
"No."
> Turmoil at Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight furiously rummaged trough the Canterlot archives, throwing scrolls and documents on the floor. 
"Ah, now I see why she isn't allowed here..." Shining Armour whispered to Spike.
In front of a giant hourglass the unicorn knew that the spell would be located. If she only could find it... Little pearls of sweat started to emerge on her forehead. How much time did she have? Sooner or later Fluttershy was bound to find out about her trespassing and Shining Armour's brave decision to help her. Twilight just whished that she would discover the spell before it was too late... 
"She's coming! Lock the door!" Shining Armour yelled. 
They barricaded themselves behind a heavy copper door and Spike used his dragon fire to weld the lock shut. 
"This will hold her off for a moment... Not even an alicorn can pick a melted lock!"
"I just hope that you're right..." Shining Armour said, wiping the sweat off his brow. "Twilight! Have you found it yet?" 
"No! I just need..." 
She was interrupted by a soft knock coming from the other side of the door. 
"Um..."

The soft knock was followed by a strong buck from the alicorn's hind legs that blew the door from its hinges and sent it flying across the room like a projectile before crashing into the wall with a thundering sound of metal and wood slamming against limestone and marble.
Before the dust had settled Fluttershy emerged in the opening. She was dressed in a black crown decorated with white gold and her mane was flowing in the wind that somehow had found its way into the dusty old archives, whirling around the old papers in the room. She smiled a joyless smile. 
"I'm sorry but I can't allow you to stop my plans, Twilight. Now I have to put an end to this. I hope you'll understand..." 
The room turned dark and a pink glow of magic started to build up around that alicorn's horn. 
"NO! Don't! Don't hurt Twily! Are you out of your mind, Fluttershy?!" Shining Armour yelled and placed himself between the two mares. 
"Ah, Shining Armour! My loyal captain of the guards, casually betraying my trust behind my back... Do you know how much that hurts? Do you?! No, you don't... Yet. But you'll know everything about pain in just a moment... Because this spell isn't just for Twilight. It's for you as well."
"You maniac! What will you do to my brother?!" Twilight screamed with tears forming in her eyes. 
"Oh, I will just make him get down on his knees and apologize to me for his treason and then resign as a captain of my royal guards. Then I will snap his spine... No, I won't snap his spine, that's just too cruel. What was I thinking? I guess I just liked the sound of that... Never mind. I will fire him from his job and throw him in jail. That would teach him a valuable lesson. Then we'll call it even... Oh, and you too will go to jail. And Spike, of course. And I will disband the royal guards. And create an army that is loyal to me alone... But first I would like to knock you out with my tranquilizing spell, if you don't mind?"
"No! Please don't d..."
But before she could finish her sentence she was stunned by a flash of light from Fluttershy's horn. Twilight dropped to the floor like the sedated pony she was.


* * * 


Meanwhile Celestia was sipping on a cup of tea aboard the Friendship Express, far away from the turmoil at Canterlot castle. At good speed the train rushed trough the sunlit landscape. She was traveling north, to the Crystal Empire. 
This day was incredibly long, she thought. Why hadn't that stupid filly lowered the sun yet? Had she managed to forget a task that important? This was insane...
And where was her hot-headed foal of a sister? Luna had been gone for some hours now and Celestia didn't trust her judgement at all. She had missed her train, despite being told a couple of times NOT to miss it. But even that simple instruction was apparently too complicated for the princess of the night... Why couldn't more ponies be intelligent, like her? Probably she was falling into barrels and being easily defeated by mundane objects like doors and tables to the enjoyment of everypony who didn't understand the seriousness of the situation... Still she couldn't help feeling a little bad for her younger sister.
But now she had more important tasks ahead. Luna was somewhat capable of taking care of herself and Celestia needed to get to the Crystal Empire as soon as possible to speak with princess Cadance. An alicorn could only be defeated by another alicorn, she thought. 


* * * 


Rainbow Dash was sitting on a smaller throne right next to the big, golden one that Fluttershy had bought for herself. Rainbow didn't know where she got those things, but apparently Fluttershy had somehow obtained a golden throne. It was shaped like an enormous griffon. The motif baffled Dash. She didn't know that Fluttershy liked griffons that much... The throne reminded her of Gilda, and Rainbow felt a sting of bad conscience at the thought of her. Poor Gilda. Although she had been mean to her friends Rainbow missed her sometimes. What was she doing now? Maybe she was alone in some far away land? 
"Do you like it?" the alicorn asked. 
"Eh... it's very... very big?"
"Yes! The biggest one in the whole world! I specifically asked for the biggest, most awesome throne available. A griffonian artist had it made for a prince in some far away land, but the prince couldn't afford it. So I got it at a good price. Only seven million bits." 
"Seven million?!" Dash gasped. 
"Yes. Quite a bargain." 
"But how in the name of Flushy could you afford that?" 
"I just took the money from the treasury, of course. I expect to save a lot of money now when I've disbanded the royal guard." 
"What?!" 
"Yes, they betrayed me... So I'm planning to teach them a lesson. Every guard will be fired at the end of the month, just before their salaries are paid. And by that time my new army will be ready to put down any unrest in Canterlot. Ingenious, huh?"
"New army?" 
"Oh, yes. I'm transforming the Wonderbolts into the Fluttertroopers, my new brigade of henchponies!" 
"Fluttertroopers?!" 
"Oh yes! I just love that word. It sounds so cool and awesome! It's sure to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy..."
"Well... to be honest... I think it sounds kind of... eh... adorable. But not in a good way since you want to strike fear into hearts and stuff?" 
"Um... Now when you point it out, I do realize that it could be a bit of a problem... Well, I've already ordered seven thousand new uniforms with the name on them. I guess I didn't really think it through. I'll keep that in mind when I raise my next army."


* * * 


When Twilight woke up she noticed that she was in a small cell somewhere. The floor and the walls and roof were painted white and there was a basket with cookies beside her bed. In the basket was also a note from Fluttershy. 

Dear Twilight. 

Sorry for locking you in this cell, but I had no other choice since you would try to stop my plans for world domination. I have provided some cookies as a sign of friendship. Shining Armour is safe too and I have told the guard to bring him some cookies too. They are chocolate chip and I hope that you will like them. I will release you as soon as possible. 
Best wishes, Fluttershy. 

P.S, Spike is in the cell right next to yours. I have given him some gems to eat, but I don't know what flavour he likes. Maybe he likes rubies? Or emeralds? It honestly don't know since I have only tried eating a gemstone once. It broke my tooth and I had to get to Zecora to have it fixed. 

Twilight was very confused. She had a strange feeling and when she looked at her reflection in the mirror she saw that her horn had been covered in a metallic paint that blocked her ability to cast any spells. Oh no, his was bad... bad bad bad!
Slowly the unicorn walked across her cell and started to knock on the wall with her hoof. Maybe Spike would be able to hear her? 
After a few knocks, her knocking was answered. 
"Spike? Are you there Spike?" she cried. 
She could hear some muffled sound, but the wall was too thick. If she only could send a letter to princess Celestia...


* * * 


Princess Luna walked around in the streets of Canterlot, waiting for her train to Ponyville. This day was very warm and the sun was still up, even though it was way past night time. She was so tired... But she had to stay awake when the train arrived.
Suddenly she saw a masked pony with a crowbar as her cutie mark breaking into a bakery! The pony put some cookies in a bag before galloping away, disappearing into an alley! 
"WHAT A DASTARDLY CRIME! CALL THE GUARDS!" she cried.
"Good initiative, your highness, but apparently there are no guards left," a white unicorn said, wearing a top hat and a monocle.
"No guards? Tis preposterous!"
"Preposterous it might be, perhaps even shockingly preposterous. But all the guards are gone. If I didn't know better, I would think that they had been banished to the moon..."
Luna gave him a stern look. 
"Oh, right... sorry. Anyway, I haven't seen a guard here since dinner and when I..."
He was interrupted by a scream.
"My jewels! Somepony has stolen my jewels!"
It came from a purple unicorn holding an empty jewel box in her hooves. She looked as if she was about to faint. 
"This situation is rapidly spiralling out of control..." a pegasus said. 
"Yeah, I whish there was a pony like Daring Do or Mare Do Well around to stop this!" 
"Mare Do Well? I have never heard of her," Luna said. 
"She is a super hero, believed to live in Ponyville."
"OF COURSE! That makes sense!" 
"Does it...?"
"YES! She must be the same pony that has acquired the Alicorn Amulet and now she is using it to fight crime! I thought the amulet was evil, but perhaps I was mistaken... Quickly! To the train!" 
And Luna ran off towards the Canterlot Station. 

"I don't follow her logic," the pegasus said.
"I think she has gone slightly insane," the top hat wearing unicorn suggested, pointing his hoof to the side of his head.


* * * 


Suddenly everything turned pitch black. Fluttershy had finally remembered to lower the sun. After a few seconds the moon lit up the sky, casting its pale light over the sparkling rooftops of the Crystal Empire. 
"Smooth, Fluttershy. Very smooth..." Celestia said. 
Now the train had arrived at the newly built station near the palace. The former princess got off and looked around. The city seemed peaceful and there were no signs left of King Sombra's evil reign. Crystal ponies, still a bit confused about the strange progression of time, wandered around in the streets. 

Celestia went straight to the palace where she was received by an even more confused princess Cadance. Together they sat down in the royal living quarters to discuss the events that had taken place.
"...and now Fluttershy, of all ponies, is ruling Equestria. And she's doing a pretty lousy job, as you might have noticed."
"But Fluttershy? I've heard from Twilight that she is kind and quite timid?"
"That was before she got drunk with power. Now she is just a terrible pony. She won't let Twilight perform her spell and she can't control the sun properly. And I think that this is only the beginning of her misdeeds... Is there anything you can do to help us resolve this situation? Perhaps talk some sense into that silly filly? Or maybe use your love spell to get her chasing after somepony?"
"That is a dangerous thing you're asking of me," Cadance said while refilling her cup of coffee. "A pony that deranged with power shouldn't be in love. Also, if what you say is true, she won't listen to me... If her magic is as great as yours and Luna's combined, my magic won't do any good. She might be too powerful to take down... Have you tried using the Elements of Harmony? The Power of Friendship?"
"Of course not! She's still the element of kindness, for Pony's sake! And exactly how should we use the power of friendship? By giving her a hug and telling her not to be a power-hungry alicorn? No, the power of power is far greater than the power of friendship I'm afraid..."
Cadance sipped her cup of coffee with a thoughtful expression on her face. 
"Have you ever heard of Pon Tzu? The author of the infamous book The Art of Pony?"
"Perhaps...?"
"He once wrote that you should always use the one weapon that your enemy doesn't possess. And what weapon does Fluttershy still lack? Find that out and you will know her weakness..."
> The charge of the Fluttertroopers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week had passed since Flutterhsy's sudden ascent to power. In the streets of Canterlot criminal ponies were galloping around, burglarizing the wealthy houses of the old unicorn nobility and stealing from the fruit carts of the market traders. Law and order had broken down since the Royal Guard's refusal to serve their new ruler in favour of the old regime. The bakeries were especially exposed for break-ins and theft as many of the delinquents had a sweet tooth. A pink earth pony with a mane like cotton candy was frequently spotted at the crime scenes, jumping around with a big smile on her face. 

In the old Canterlot Castle Fluttershy sat on her golden throne, resting her head in her hoof. She looked tired and worn. It was dark in the ancient hall and the floor was littered with cookie crumbs and dust. There were cobwebs in the roof and a bird had started to build its nest on top of the griffon shaped throne. This decay had an explanation: Fluttershy had fired all of Celestia's houseponies and somehow forgot to hire new ones. Also some of her animal friends had found their ways into the castle and the princess didn't mind their behaviour at all. She was preoccupied with far more important matters... 

The door at the end of the throne room opened slightly and a pegasus emerged. She trotted along the carpet, smiling and waving to her ruler.
"Welcome, my trusted advisor... What news do you bring from my loyal subjects? It better be good news..." Fluttershy said.
"I brought you a letter!" the advisor replied. 
"Oh no! A letter?! I hate letters! I'm scared of letters! Maybe somepony is mad at me and has written an angry letter..."
"I could throw it away, if you want to?" 
"No... It might be important. Bring it to me." 
"Oh... I was kind of hoping that you would ask me to throw it away.... You see, I kind of lost it on my way here." 
"Oh. Then why did you tell me that you had brought it?"
"I don't know..." 
"That's all right, advisor... It was probably nothing too important. Maybe just another complaint from somepony that want to make me cry by saying hurtful things about my evil reign of terror!"
"But I like evil! And muffins."
"You're such a good advisor. I wish all of my subjects shared your wise opinion... But no, they just have to dislike me!"


*  *  *


Twilight was laying in her bed. She pretended to be asleep, but as soon as the guard had checked her cell she would continue with her secret little project... The unicorn had hidden away a metal spoon that had came with one of Fluttershy's numerous gift baskets. Apparently the alicorn still cared for her, despite having thrown her in jail. Twilight felt a bit sad when she thought of her friend... Poor, poor Fluttershy. Although she was the tyrant of Equestria she still had a soft heart. Twilight almost felt ungrateful for doing this, but she had to escape from her cell...

Suddenly she heard the keys rattle in the lock and the door opened up, just a little. The face of a yellow pegasus appeared. It was Spitfire, who had been demoted to private for some reason. She was now Twilight's jailer. 
"Twilight? Are you asleep?" she asked, removing her sunglasses and rubbing her deep orange, almost brown eyes with her hoof. It must be early in the morning or late in the night according to her eye rubbing. When Spitfire was tired it was most likely early or late, Twilight had figured out. Otherwise it would be impossible to see if it was day or night since her cell didn't have a window and the only light came from a single light bulb in the ceiling. 

Twilight lay still and didn't say anything. She had became an expert at pretending to be asleep, closing her eyes just as much as she needed to appear to be sleeping but still keeping them open enough to see what was going on in the room. It was an illusion she had perfected. After a few seconds her jailer shut the door, turned the keys and walked away. Now it was time to act! 

Quickly Twilight got up and crawled under her bed. With her spoon she hacked away tiny bits of mortar from the wall, digging a small tunnel trough the masonry. The progress was slow but steady. Soon she would be able to reach Spike on the other side... 


*  *  *
 

A pair of dark pink eyes watched the city from above. The eyes belonged to Rainbow Dash, who had been put in charge with upholding law and order in Canterlot. It was a monumental task, even for Equestria's fastest flyer. The first couple of days she had swooped down whenever crimes were committed and fought alone against the culprits. This had resulted in numerous cuts and bruises. But now the tables had turned. Now she had her own squadron of fluttertroopers, ready to make their first strike en masse. 
She inspected her troops. They were all pegasi in different shapes, colours and sizes. Their uniforms were clearly not designed by Rarity: they looked like pink pajama with white, shoddily made plastic armour attached. On the chest that was a patch depicting a pony's skull that was supposed to make them look more "dangerous" in the same way as the Shadowbolts, but it was to no avail. It was hardly possible to be a disgrace to this uniform, Rainbow Dash thought.

There were twenty-four of the fluttertroopers and their numbers were steadily growing. Most of them were raw recruits from the Wonderbolt academy that had been tricked into signing up for "Special Training". Rainbow Dash wasn't too proud about this fact, but Fluttershy was counting on her and she couldn't back out.
"Listen up! This will be our first strike against the looters. Even though we are inferior in numbers, we will have the element of surprise on our side! They do not expect us. A swift and coordinated strike will scatter our adversaries like dry leaves in the wind. I want everypony to do your very best! Follow me! For eternal glory! Let's fight, so that others may live in peace!"

And at the same moment the wave of pegasi spread out their wings and took off in a dense formation. They swooped down from the highest tower of the castle and flew closely over the rooftops at high speed. Soon they had spotted a large crowd in front of a bakery. The windows were broken and empty cupcake papers and pie forms lay scattered in the street. Rainbow Dash waved her hoof to command her squadron to disperse the pillaging horde. 
"Charge!" she cried. 


*  *  *
 

Celestia, formerly princess, looked at the two crystal ponies below her window. They were princess Cadance's gardeners who were picking up trash and tending her park. They did the same boring work every single day. There wasn't much else to do, except plotting her revenge on Fluttershy. And she was out of ideas... 
What was the one weakness of that blasted pony? What did Celestia have that Fluttershy didn't? It wasn't magic for sure. Fluttershy possessed magic powers beyond her wildest dreams. It wasn't money either since she also controlled all of the Equestrian treasury's gathered wealth.
If Celestia was to regain her throne she must also somehow regain her ability to raise the sun or her return to power would be both meaningless and short. Fluttershy had to be depowered in a way that channelled the power back to Celestia and Luna...
Or perhaps only Celestia? She really didn't know... That great power in one pony's hooves was clearly too much to handle. There was a reason there were two princesses and not one single ruling queen. A reason that reminded Celestia of a forgotten time that she whished to forget even further. The first two or three hundred years that she ruled without Luna had been rather... interesting, from a historical point of view, had she not ordered all books mentioning the topic to be burned. There were things nopony must know. Shocking things. Things that she desperately hoped Twilight would never, ever come across in her studies...

And where was her most faithful student right now? Celestia didn't have any clue, but she presumed that Twilight would probably be working on some clever plan to save the day. But since a week had passed without any sign of progress, she started to feel a little worried... And what about Luna? Celestia didn't even want to think about what disastrous actions her sister might be doing at this very moment...


*  *  *
 

Twilight stabbed the wall with her spoon and suddenly she felt how the handle broke trough to the other side! 
"Spike?" she whispered into the hole that she had made. "Are you there, Spike?" 
"Twilight?"
"I'm in the cell next to yours! Please, help me send a message to princess Celestia!" 
She tried to ram a small, tightly rolled piece of paper trough the wall, using the handle of her spoon as a rod. But the hole was still too small. Twilight struggled in vain. She must make the hole bigger... Furiously she stabbed the wall. 
Suddenly she heard the sound of keys rattling in the lock! Somepony was coming!

But before she had managed to crawl out from under her bed the cell door opened and Spitfire stormed into her room! Twilight stared at her with panic in her eyes. Her jailer stared back at her. She had been caught! 
"Twilight Sparkle! I knew it! I knew you were up to some mischief!" Spitfire yelled with fury in her eyes. "Now you're in big trouble! No more cookies for you!"
With no time to lose, Twilight instantly head-butted Spitfire right on her snout, making the shocked pegasus tumble backwards with broken sunglasses. Quickly the desperate unicorn pushed herself past her jailer and slammed the door behind her shut with a forceful buck! The keys were still in the lock and by sheer reflex Twilight turned them around in a split second before Spitfire could react. The trapped pegasus thundered her hooves at the door. 
"OPEN UP! Twilight Sparkle! Open this door at once! I command you! Don't you DARE to lock me in! Open now or you will be sorry! LET ME OUT!"
"No." 

Quickly Twilight freed both Spike and Shining Armour from their cells. The corridor was empty now, but another guard might show up at any moment. They had no time to lose! The three escaped prisoners ran towards a metal door and pulled it open, not knowing where it may lead. It might be a way out or it might be a room full of guards. 
However, behind this door was a laundry room full of pink fluttertrooper-uniforms! 
"Twilight! Put this on to disguise yourself!" Spike said and pulled out a pajama like suit from a basket.  
"Uh.. I.. I don't think it fits me," Twilight said, slowly backing away with her ears pinned. "Eh... how about you, Shiny? Maybe you could try it on?"
"Don't be ridiculous! It's only a disguise, for Pony's sake! besides, it's too small for me."
"But... It's just so... so... flutteristic." 


*  *  *
 

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was staggering trough the streets of Canterlot with a black eye and a sprained wing. The attack had been an utter failure and her entire squadron had fled after a few minutes of embarrassingly un-epic pony fighting. The once proud captain of the Fluttertroopers was defeated and now she sneaked away trough a back alley. 

Suddenly a tall shadow materialized in front of her. The shadow took the form of Fluttershy. 
"Rainbow Dash! Are you hurt?" she asked. 
"No, just a little ruffled... Did you see the battle?" 
"Um... yes, a little... I migh have covered my eyes with my hooves a bit." 
"It didn't turn out the way I wanted. I hate losing!" 
"Me too... I was thinking... This situation is already pretty bad. I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew. Perhaps we should try another strategy, if that's okay?" 
"Yeah, that's okay, Fluttershy..." 
"Oh, good, then! Follow me, please. I have such a wonderful plan!"
> A brilliant plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The corridor was empty. Slowly a horn arose from the laundry basket, and underneath it a dark indigo coloured forelock and a pair of eyes became visible. Twilight Sparkle. 
She was sneaking around in the corridor, carefully hiding among the shadows and behind objects to conceal her prescence. There were two main reasons for her unusual sneakiness; One was that she had newly escaped from her prison cell and the other was that she really didn't want to be seen wearing this embarrassing uniform. The pink, pajama like fabric and the white plastic armour was more than she could bear...
Suddenly she heard the sound of hoof steps against the concrete floor! Twilight sank back into the basket. 

"I have tried everything! But it's impossible! First I tried violence... and then I tried... Um, when I think about it... I've only tried violence. Anyway, If my subjects can't learn to love me I will teach them to fear me instead! It is time to use Plan B."
"NO! For the last time, Flutters... isn't there any other way?" Rainbow Dash asked with a shocked look in her eyes. "Don't you think that plan it's a bit... evil?" 
"Oh... What part of the plan do you find evil?" 
"The part when you blow up half of the city, for Pony's sake!" 
"But that's my favourite part... I kinda wanted to blow up Canterlot anyway since everypony booed at me at my coronation... I felt so humiliated. Don't you think it'll be okay if I can do it without hurting anypony?"
"But please, Fluttershy! Blowing up Canterot is definitely uncool. I will always stand by your side, but as your friend I must also speak my mind. This is far too much! Please, I am very concerned about you..."
"Wait! I have an strange, sparkling feeling in my horn... Something is hiding in the twi-light!"
"In the twilight? Don't you mean in the half-light? Or just in the shadows?"
"Yes, of course... But there is something there. Something is watching us right now, in this very corridor. I can feel its awkward presence." 
"I'll kick its flank!" Rainbow Dash cried and jumped in front of Fluttershy with her wings spread out. She was still bandaged and bruised from her previous battle. 
"No, you need plenty of rest... I'll just use my magic instead. Like this." 

And with a glow from her horn, Fluttershy released a strong, blue spark of static electricity in the corridor. It bounced against the concrete walls and found its way into the laundry basket from where a muffed cry was heard. 
"What was that sound? It sounded like something was in pain!"
"Maybe it came from the basket with fluttertrooper uniforms?" Rainbow suggested.
"For the last time, Rainbow Dash! You don't have to tell me that even the basket is hurt by their prescense! I d...did my very best designing those uniforms! And everypony is complaining about them! I know I'm n-not Rarity, but I really tried to make them look cool! I know they're not perfect... but... I really... I really wanted to design them myself. And now everypony hates them!" Fluttershy said, almost beginning to sob.
"Eh... I don't hate them. They are... are... eh... very, very... hehe... eh... very special. Maybe most ponies just aren't used to them yet?"
"No, I know they're horrible... But thanks anyway for trying to make me feel better. It was probably just my imagination. I haven't got the hang of being an alicorn yet..."

When both ponies had left the corridor, a shocked Twilight Sparkle emerged once again from the laundry basket. Her mane was still frizzy with static electricity. This time she got lucky, she thought. Had Fluttershy looked into the basket her daring escape would have been discovered and she would have been sent back to her cell. 

And now there was no time to waste! Twilight must write to Celestia and warn her about Fluttershy's evil plan! She couldn't believe that the shy, kind pony was really was capable such an horrible act... Blowing up Canterlot! And that Rainbow Dash, the element of loyalty herself, was reluctantly helping her in this dastardly and outrageous treason against princess Celestia! The thought almost made her faint. This couldn't be true... 


*   *   *


Meanwhile, but in Ponyville, a blue, tall-legged earth pony was sitting at "The Prancing Dragon", one of the local taverns. Luna had somehow gotten the impression that a local tavern always was the best place to gather information when she were on an epic quest.
For nearly a week she had been sneaking around Ponyville in her search for the mysterious Mare Do Well. But to no avail. Nopony knew who the masked hero was or where to find her. But everypony had seen her. Oh, the endless stories about her heroic deeds... Now Luna was even more convinced that this pony must possess the Alicorn Amulet to hold such powers. There were no other possible explanations. 

She ordered another tankard of cider. This plan was going nowhere... It was time to change her approach. Maybe she could in a very, very subtle way ask where the Alicorn Amulet might be? When the tavern pony arrived with her cider, Luna waved her hoof at her to come closer.
"WHERE is the Alicorn Amulet? I want to USE it!" she said in her most subtle way.
"What?!" 
"I want the legendary Alicorn Amulet! Where is it?"
"NO! That's... that's just horrible! It's evil!" 
"But I will only use it to gain absolute power!" Luna assured. 
"That's even worse!" the shocked pony said, slowly backing away. "I'll never help you getting your hooves on it, even if I knew where it was! It's too dangerous for anypony to be trusted with!"
"We will soon see what is most dangerous; handing it to me or don't!" Luna said and rose from the table, making the chair tip over behind her and hit the floor with an intimidating bang.
"Oh! Help!" the terrified tavern pony cried and ran away. 
"By that I hope she meant that she would go and get help," Luna said to herself. 
She drank her cider in one gulp.


*   *   *


The beaten squadron of fluttertroopers had regrouped behind the walls of Canterlot Castle. They were ruffled and bruised, but nopony was hurt. There was a gloomy silence in the courtyard. 
"This attack was pure idiocy," a pegasus said. 
"Yeah, Dash didn't think it trough... To the surprise of absolutely nopony! I can't believe that Fluttershy had to put her in charge. She is such a lousy commander." 
"I think that we should try a more flexible approach," Blossomforth said while stretching her wing. "These looters may have the advantage in numbers, but I think that we can totally take them on if we concentrate on individual ponies instead of the whole group. We should swoop down only in situations where we outnumber them temporarily and then retreat back to the castle before the whole mob have enough time to gather."
"Wow, Blossomforth! I didn't realize that you'd knew so much about pony tactics!"
"I've played a lot of board games. Also, I've read a book about Naponyon Ponyparte, the greatest pony general of all time!"
"Yay! Soon the ponies of Canterlot will fear the sight of our pink uniforms!"


*   *   *


Hastily Twilight scribbled down another letter to princess Celestia, roughly the same one that she had dropped in her cell. But this contained even more dire news for the princess. 

Dear Princess Celestia! 

I'm trying to escape from my prison, where Fluttershy has put me. Shining Armour and Spike are escaping too. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are planning to blow up Canterlot! They have became evil! We must stop them before it is too late! Please help us! 

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle

P.S Rainbow Dash is less evil than Fluttershy, because she tried to tell her not to blow up Canterlot. ANYWAY this is BAD BAD BAD!!!!!

"Send it!" 
And with a green puff of flame, Spike sent the letter away. 
"Now we must continue our escape! I think the coast is clear for now... Hopefully Fluttershy and Dash are away for the moment. Oh, how I wish that I could use my magic! But this stupid paint on my horn is making it impossible!"
"Have you tried wiping it off with some acetone like Rarity does when she is removing her hoof polish?" Spike suggested. 
"I don't have any acetone... Hm... maybe you could just burn it away with dragon fire?"
"Twilight, I don't know if it's really such a good idea..."
"Just a little puff! I'm desperate, Spike!"
Trying to be very, very careful Spike took a deep breath and let out a little flame from the corner of his mouth. Puff. 
"OW OOWW OWWW!" Twilight screamed as her mane erupted in flames. 
"Oh, sorry! Sorry!" 
With his hands the dragon quickly extinguished the fire. He sure had a lot of experience in the art of fire extinguishing.

After this fiery incident they came to a door that led the three escapees to a secret passage into the castle itself. The once lavish corridors were empty and dark. All the candles had burnt out and now there were dust and bird droppings all over the floor. A little squirrel ran across the carpet to hide among the shadows.
"Oh, this is bad... I wish Celestia was here," Twilight said.
"I wonder what she's doing right now?" Shining Armour asked, scratching his mane. "Maybe she is doing her best to save us with some ingenious plan? I hope she has read your letter by now..."


*   *   *


A flickering glow was dancing on the dark walls of the laboratory in the ancient castle cellar. The only light allowed came from fireflies since the danger of a sudden explosion was far too great to be taken lightly. A number of unicorns in white lab coats were crushing different materials with mortar and pestle. The dust from charcoal filled the air and made the ponies cough and sneeze while they tried to breathe in this dangerous and uncomfortable enviroment. In the middle of all this stood a tall figure, impatiently tapping her hoof.
"Faster! I need the gunpowder to be ready as soon as possible! And where is the sulphur? Why can't there be more sulphur to buy in Equestria?" Fluttershy cried. 
"Because most ponies use magic instead when they do fireworks?" her advisor suggested while slowly pulling out a muffin from her saddlebag. "Can't you just make a nice firework with your magic, like Trixie does?"
"I'm not making fireworks, Derpy... I'm making explosives to blow this plothole of a city from the mountainside once and for all! AHAHAHAHA!!!! Um... but in a way that nopony gets hurt, of course." 
"Oh, that makes much more sense. Will we have a party after that?"
"A party?" 
"Yes! One with muffins, and fireworks and cider?"


*   *   *


Celestia was standing on the roof of the Friendship Express that was rushing trough the landscape at full steam. All the wagons had been painted in green and grey camouflage and the train carried a battalion of crystal pony infantry that Celestia had persuaded princess Cadance to reluctantly lend to her. The camouflage was applied to hid their approach from the ever watchful eyes of pegasus reconnaissance, but mostly they used it because Celestia thought that it was appropriate for this situation on a symbolic level.
This was the first time ever she tried to stage a military coup in any country and she refused to do it in a train that was pink and purple. That would have been too silly... 

Suddenly princess Cadance appeared beside her in a flash of light. 
"I thought you weren't coming?" Celestia said. 
"I just had to see this with my own eyes. I do not want to face her on the battlefield, but I will help you in any other way possible." 
"Are you scared of Fluttershy? That foal?"
"I'm terrified of her... Why aren't you?"
"Because she is the one that needs to be afraid. She has a lot to fear from now on."
"Are you referring to my army? You do know that I will not let you endanger the lives of any of my soldiers?" 
"No. I'm thinking of my anger. After the battle I will search for her among the ruins, and when I find her she will whish that she'd never been born."
"Battle? Are you really going to risk everything by fighting her in open battle? What about your powers?! What if they are lost for ever? I thought you would just use the troops to ensure the safety of your subjects and not attempt any drastic actions?" 
"Things have changed... Here, read this letter from my faithful student. I don't care about my powers now when my subjects are in danger! Can you learn how to raise the sun, Cadance?"
"I... I don't know..." 
"We may soon find out."
 
> A pony always pays its debts...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A shadow flew over the ground, swift and soundless. It was headed towards the Canterlot Castle. The pegasus scout carried news to the ruler of this world, princess Fluttershy. News about an army approaching her land with one single purpose; to remove her from the throne.

If this daring flyer had looked down, she would have observed that a window in the castle was open and that a pair of tied together sheets hung down from this window. Twilight, Spike and Shining Armour had escaped from their prison and were now sneaking around in the alleys, hiding from Fluttershy's troops. The streets were empty after several days of looting and riots. A lonely earth pony swept the cobblestones with a broom, cleaning away broken glass and cupcake paper. Twilight watched her from a distance. Canterlot seemed to be at peace for the moment... 
"I think we can make it..." she said. 
"Where are we going then? Should we try to get back to Ponyville or should we stay here and try to fix this bucked up situation?" Spike asked. 
"I don't know... Celestia didn't prepare me for this. I don't know what to do..."
"Can you do magic?"
"I could try it..." 
Twilight concentrated her mind and very, very slowly her horn began to emit a flickering light. 


*  *   *


Fluttershy dropped her glass with extra strong cider that she had been sipping on. It fell to the carpet and shattered against the floor in thousands of little, sharp pieces. She didn't even notice.
"WHAT?!" she screamed in shock and disbelief. 
"North, from the Crystal Empire. And at great speed. They will stand before our gates in a day or two, according to my estimation," Lightning Dust said, now corporal in Fluttershy's newest addition to her army; The Immortal Pegasus Brigade of Death and Destruction.
"Oh m-my..." Fluttershy said, wringing her hooves in distress. "D... Did you see Luna there, too?" 
"No, I only saw Celestia and Cadance. And they looked very pissed."
"Oh... I'm so... No! I will not panic. I must be brave! Of course I will beat them with my magic. I'm twice as powerful as Celestia ever was, for Pony's sake! And I have my army, too... How many troops do we have, Lightning Dust?"
"Thirty seven fluttertroopers and twenty two of the immortals... That's fifty four ponies!" 
"No, Lightning Dust... That's actually fifty nine. You are bad at math," Mr Greenhooves said from his place in the shadows near the throne. Everypony had forgotten all about him and now they turned their heads in his direction. 
"Are you still here?" Fluttershy asked, her eyes wide open in surprise. "No, I didn't meant it like that, s-sorry... I'm just confused because I didn't see when you entered the room. I thought you had returned to Ponyville days ago." 
"I never left. I figured I'd just make myself at home right here in this fancy old room. I've put my sleeping blanket in that dark corner over there and my coffeepot here... Would any of you fillies fancy a cup of coffee? I'm gonna make one to myself right now..."
The alicorn's face went red.
"How can you be so calm?! Don't you know that Celestia is on her way as we speak?! SHE WILL TEAR ME LIMB FROM LIMB!" Fluttershy screamed and pounded the gilded hoofrests on her throne in a fit of rage. "And now she has an unstoppable army while I'm STUCK IN MY OWN HORSE DUNG!!!"
Mr Greenhooves spat his tobacco juice on the carpet. 
"I'll stop them easily, if that's what you want."
"What?! How could an old pony like you take out an entire army?!"
"Anypony can stop them right in their tracks. Shall I go and do it now or can it wait to after my coffee?"


*  *   *


Luna heard a knock on the door of her hotel room at the Ponyville Grand Hotel. It was not a friendly knock. It was a knock followed by a command. 
"Open up! This is the Ponyville Home Guard!" 
Slowly she rose from her bed and closed the book that she had been reading. The former princess shook her legs and stretched her neck.
"What do you want?"
"Open the door! Or we will bash it in!"
"I am not amused by your tone."
"SHUT your mouth! We're going in!" 
The ponies began to kick the door to pieces. When it finally broke they saw Luna standing in her room, calmly watching them. 
"You're under arrest!" the leading stallion shouted. He wore a little grey side cap and some military looking webbing equipment. Luna head-butted him with full force. 
She proceded to send the dazed guardspony tumbling down the stairs with a strong kick, taking half of his group with him in the fall. 
"This is MY room!" she cried. 
Seven more home guards stormed trough the door and threw themselves on Luna, trying to wrestle her down. After a lot of biting and kicking they finally managed to subdue the raging ex-princess. 
"Let me go! I must get the Alicorn Amulet!" 
"No! That's against the law! You're a threat to society!" 
"That is preposterous! I am a civilized pony! Let me go or you will be sorry!"
She then embedded her sharp teeth in the hind leg of Roseluck who gave up a high pitched scream of pain! 
"OWW! My leg! My leg!!!"
"Princess Luna?!"
They all turned their heads towards the little guardspony that suddenly had appeared in the door. It was Pipsqueek and he was dressed in a grey cap carrying the Ponyville Home Guard's badge. An awkward silence fell upon the scene. 
"Oh..." 
"What are you doing, princess? And why are you down on the floor?" 
"I am... I just... eh..." 


*  *   *


"Please! I count on you, Rainbow. You are the only one that I can always trust... You must do this for me," Fluttershy said.
"But I don't want to leave you. Not when you are in danger... Please, let me stay here at Canterlot. I'm worried about you."
"There is no other way, I'm afraid. I hereby appoint you to military governor of Cloudsdale. Go there and mobilize the Home Defense Air Brigade and convince them to fight for me at any cost."
"Do you promise not to blow up Canterlot while I'm away?" 
"Um... that is a goal that I'm currently striving to have in mind for my upcoming agenda..."
"Fluttershy!"
"Okay, fine! I'll try not to blow it up... For the moment. If you bring me an army, I won't have to blow it up."

Suddenly the door to the throne room swung open and Blossomforth stormed in. She galloped straight towards the alicorn seated on the throne.
"Princess Fluttershy! Princess Fluttershy! The prisoners have escaped!" 
"What?!"
"The prisoners have escaped and they've locked Spitfire in Twilight's cell! She and Shining Armour and the dragon are loose!"
"NO! No no NO NOOO! Gosh darn it! Gosh darn it! Gosh darn it!" Fluttershy screamed and stomped her hooves against the carpet.
"Twilight's cell? Why does Twilight have a cell?" Rainbow Dash asked, her eyes narrowing. 
Fluttershy started to look around in the room, scratching the back of her head with a hoof.
"Um... I... I kinda... It's a long story... eh..."
"Tell me."
"I... I can explain!"
"Well, explain it to me, then!"
"Eh... um... I kind of... k-kind of... locked her up a little. But I gave her cookies! Cookies, Rainbow! Delicious chocolate cookies! Hehe..." 
"You locked Twilight in a cell?! Are you out of your mind?!"
"I was going to release her... eventually! I promise!"
"Fluttershy! Have you gone totally insane with power?!" 
"I... just panicked... please, don't be angry at me, Dash! I'm... I'm so sorry..." Fluttershy sobbed before leaping from her throne. She galloped away crying, disappearing trough a secret backdoor behind the throne. This was not her finest moment as a ruler of Equestria.


*  *   *


Mr Greenhooves was about to light his pipe but Lightning Dust quickly pushed it away with her hoof.
"Not now, for buck's sake!"
"Oh, right. I forgot..."
The sun was setting in the west and to the south they could see Canterlot's towers on the mountainside. The blazing circle of orange light was going down and the moon was on its way. The whole sky looked like it was burning with golden fire. A nightingale sang from a branch. 
Underneath a small, arched railway bridge the two ponies had planted twelve barrels of gunpowder and connected them with a fuse.
"Will this stuff really work?" Lightning Dust asked. 
"Yep. It'll make a big boom, I say."
"Good... I will enjoy this very much." 
"Hehe, yeah, it will be a blast... heh... I'll just ignite the thing and then we'll call it a day," Mr Greenhooves said. 
"Shouldn't we wait for the train to arrive first?" 
"No... That would be too dangerous. I'm sure Flushy don't want anypony to be killed. We just blow up the bridge and then they'll have to walk to Canterlot by hoof... It'll take them several days. And by then that rainbow filly will be here with all of her pegasi."
"Yes... But what if we could take out both Celestia and Cadance? Why not kill them all?"
"No, don't even joke about that! It'll be a bucking mess..."
"Oh, you're such a party-pooper."


*  *   *


"And that is why I need the Alicorn Amulet," Luna said after having explained everything that had happened for the confused Home Guards of Ponyville. 
"So... is it really true that Twilight wet her bed?" Pipsqueak asked, his eyes sparkling with mischievous joy. 
"Yes. Yes, she did. Anyway, I need the amulet to get the necessary strength to fight Fluttershy. It is the only magical item strong enough for this dangerous task." 
"But what if you get corrupted and even worse than her?" Roseluck asked with a frown. She now had a band aid on her leg but one could still clearly see the bite marks from the royal teeth. 
"That would not happen! I am absolutely sure that I possess the wisdom and discipline needed to withstand the forces of evil and corruption." 
Roseluck didn't look very convinced.
"You're princess Luna, for Pony's sake! Practically one step from becoming Nightmare Moon... Perhaps we should take our chances with Fluttershy for a while?"
"But she has no right to the throne!"
"And Nightmare night will be really, really lame this year! Nopony is afraid of boring old Fluttershy!" Pipsqueak cried.
"That is true... Bunny rabbits and singing birds are a bit corny," a brown stallion said. 
"And her fake tail extensions..."
"I hate Fluttershy. I really, really hate her," said Bon Bon. 
"What?!"
"She dumped a cart full of garbage over me. And never apologized! I'm so mad at her... All the time she could have just flown around the bridge, but no, she just HAD to walk over it. She's a bucking pegasus! She can fly! Do you know what it feels like to have to walk home covered in rotten garbage and grease? Do you? She is violent, evil, cruel and genuinely abhorrent! I think that she never washes her mane. And she is also a vile, disgusting coward..."
"That's enough, Bon Bon! You don't really hate her, do you?"
"No... I just wanted the attention..." 
"Anyway, I suggest we look around for this amulet and then we'll decide if Luna can have it or not," said Shoeshine. 
"No, that's just a very dumb way of decision making, Shoeshine," said Roseluck. 
"Tis ridiculous! I will pay you one thousand bits each if you help me," Luna said.
"Princess Luna! Bribing is a serious crime! And what if you turn into Nightmare Moon? Eternal night and stuff?"
"Two thousand bits?"
"This is still highly illegal," the commanding stallion protested. 
"Three thousand?" 
"Five thousand, and we may have an agreement..."
"I swear on my cutie mark to pay you four thousand of my money. A pony always pays its debts."
> Cadance's choice.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suddenly the night sky was lit up by a bright, orange blast. The thundering explosion tore away the railroad bridge at the exact moment when the Friendship Express was crossing it, instantly blowing it to pieces. The locomotive disappeared in a white plume of scalding steam and a rain of burning embers. The shockwave filled the air with dust and debris, shattered wood and twisted metal. This horrifying sight sent shivers down the spine of Mr Greenhooves where he lay in cover behind a rock.  
"Oh, the ponies... the ponies..." he cried in terror. His face went pale. 
Beside him was Lightning Dust, staring at the scene with a mildly curious expression in her face. 
"So, this is what death looks like? Fascinating."
"No... No! This... I don't... I didn't want to kill her! I really didn't!" 
"Well, too bad, then. And a few sparkly-mules less. Good riddance if you ask me... Come now, you silly old goat. I believe we have a draisine to catch."


*   *    *


The royal bedroom was lavishly decorated with golden mosaics, paintings and stucco. There was an empty spot on the wall where an enormous oil painting of princess Luna being born out of a giant scallop had been hanging. The gilded wallpaper there was a bit darker than the rest of the wall as a result of years of bleaching from the sun.
Princess Fluttershy was laying on her bed, or in fact, Celestia's bed. Her eyes were swollen from the tears that she had shed and she felt like a very, very miserable alicorn. What if Rainbow Dash didn't want to be her friend anymore? What if she hated her now? The thought almost made her cry again, but this time she managed to get a hold of herself. As the tyrant ruler of Equestria she had important things to take care of...

There was a very, very soft knock on her door. Could it be Rainbow Dash?! What if she came over to say that she still cared for her and that she wasn't angry at her anymore? Fluttershy's heart almost jumped in her chest.
"C-come in...?"

But it wasn't Dash. It was Derpy Hooves, her advisor. 
"Good morning princess!" she shouted.
"It is almost midnight, Derpy."
"Oh, I didn't notice. My watch is only on time twice a day."
"That means it's broken..." 
"But I just washed it! Drat and double drat!"
"Oh, Derpy... I would laugh if I wasn't so sad."
"Are you sad because the watch is broken?"
"No! Because Rainbow Dash is angry at me for throwing Twilight in jail! I'm trying to rule the world and she gets mad at me for just a little, little unimportant detail! And I gave Twilight cookies! But no, of course I'm not forgiven! You know what? I think that I have been shockingly nice all the time! Perhaps even too nice! What do you think, Derpy? Isn't it time to do a little evil for once?!"
"Evil! Yes! Do evil, please! I like evil!"
"Evil it is then. Get my chariot. I have some evil deeds to commit!"


*   *    *


Far from being dead, princess Cadance looked at the flaming wreckage at a distance. With her keen eyes she had spotted the burning fuse moments before the blast and immediately teleported herself and all the rest of the ponies off the train with a powerful spell. They were alive and safe, but a bit bruised and confused from hitting the ground at full speed.
"Uh... what happened?" Celestia asked. She held a hoof to the side of her head and her coat was full of thorns from landing headfirst in a shrubbery of rosa rugosa. "What the buck just happened?"
"The train... They blew up the whole train..." Cadance said. A crystal pony that had been hiding under her wing became visible. "They just blew it up..." 
"Who? Why? WHAT?!"
"I saw the burning fuse... And then I just acted! Are you all right, Celestia?"
"I have seen better days..." 
"I mean, are you hurt? No? Then you can help me tend the wounded. I think that nopony is dead, thankfully... Oh, why did I get involved in this? Why did I choose to put my subjects in this grave danger?!"
"Don't you look at me like that! I didn't start a civil war and stole the throne and threatened to blow up my home town!" 
"No, you fumbled away your throne and then you started a civil war! I have no sympathy for you right now, Celestia! I'm going home and I'm taking my troops with me. You and your bumbling sister may fight your own battles from now on."
"Princess Cadance! Do you really want to let that... that usurper win? That menace! That yellow-coated, pink-haired monster?! She's probably laughing at us right now, planning her next attack! Perhaps you think that she will spare your precious empire? No, Fluttershy will come to your lands too... You can't just back down, for Pony's sake! You have grabbed a snake by its tail and if you let go she will bite you!"
"I'll take my chances with her."


*   *    *


A little shadow appeared in the moonlit alley. It quickly galloped across the cobblestones and snuck into a hiding place behind some crates. It was Twilight, who had tried a second time to get into the Canterlot Archives. But she had found the archives empty. All books, scrolls and documents had been taken away by Fluttershy's troops to some unknown location. And now Twilight had to find out where... 

Suddenly she heard the sound of hoof steps! Twilight decided to stay hidden behind her crates and observe what was going on at this late hour.
She saw two ponies quickly trotting by. They wore black masks and carried heavy saddle bags that seemed to be overloaded with something. They disappeared behind a corner. Soon two other ponies with black masks and saddlebags appeared. And then another two. Very, very carefully Twilight teleported herself across the street to get a better view. She hid behind a wooden barrel and took a quick glance at the street where the ponies had disappeared. There she saw a sewer lid closing. Some very strange operation was going on in the alleys of Canterlot... 

"What are you doing here?" a voice suddenly asked her from behind.
Twilight turned around and saw a par of masked pegasi in camouflaged suits.
"I... I was just looking around." 
"Nopony should look around where it has no business. Identify yourself!"
"I'm.... Tw... Sparklight Twinkle!"
"What did you see? Tell us what you saw!"
"I... I didn't see anything!"
"That's right, Sparklight. You didn't see anything. But just to make sure, you will come with us..." 
"No... please, let me go!" 
One of the pegasi tried to grab her but Twilight's horn lit up and she knocked them both out with powerful flash of magic! She was about to run away, but then she noticed that one of the stunned pegasi had dropped a package on the ground. Twilight picked it up before fleeing from the scene. 
When she had passed a couple of blocks she realized what it was: Banknotes. Fluttershy must be secretly robbing the Bank of Equestria!


*   *    *


The next day, princess Luna was visiting Zecora at her home in the Everfree forest. The princess sipped on her tea and looked at the strange objects that hung on the walls and from the ceiling. Dried herbs, bones from various animals and clay pots decorated the surroundings. 
"I truly appreciate your lavish hospitality and delightful company, dear Zecora. I was just wondering... Out of curiousity, of course, nothing else... Do you know what might have happened to the Alicorn Amulet?" Luna asked.
Zecora put her little clay cup down on the table. 
"Of that I will not speak, for tis dangerous, what you seek!"
"Tis preposterous! I AM PRINCESS LUNA! Why do you not trust me immediately? I will only use it to take back what is mine! I promise you that I will handle it in a most responsible way!" 
"No. For the thing that you desire is a very dangerous attire!"
Luna rose from the table. She was still a bit taller than Zecora in her earth pony form and although she was now a thin, blue-maned creature she still possessed every bit of her royal temper.
"I think that I am most capable of using it! Tell me where it is located so that I can begin to wield its immense power!"
"To help you, I refuse! A thing like that you may not use!" 

There was a flash of anger in Luna's eyes. She didn't like the way this conversation was going at all!
"Perhaps you have hidden it here in your hut? Do you mind If I look around a little? Of course, I might broke a few things if I do not find it soon... My patience is limited! And I may have bribed the Home Guard a little... If I do not find what I seek, I might invite them to help me searching."
"Princess Luna! That is... is... eh... bad... like rotten tuna!"
"Do you have it or not? Do not take me for a foal!" Luna cried and grabbed a richly decorated clay pot from the table. "I might drop it... My hooves are slippery when I am enraged."
"This has gone too far! Go away now, or a foolish pony you are!"
The raging Luna turned around and stormed off. She slammed the door on her way out. Twice.

On the walk back to Ponyville, Luna noticed a large boulder in the forest. She decided to stop right by it to rest for a while and calm down so that she wouldn't be stuck in a bad mood for the rest of the day. The former princess felt a bit ashamed for having behaved the way she did towards Zecora... The poor zebra was only doing her best to save ponykind from devastation, although Luna would most definitely have handled the Alicorn Amulet in a perfectly safe way, she thought. Zecora was indeed very wise, but she somehow lacked the courage to trust in Luna's good judgement... Drat and double drat! Why did nopony ever want to help her? What if she would never find the blasted thing on her own?
"IT IS NOT FAIR!" Luna screamed and threw herself on the ground, kicking and beating the mossy floor of the forest in a way that she many, many times before had promised never to allow herself to do in public. Lucklily, nopony was there to watch this foalish and very undignified tantrum.

Suddenly a hole in the ground opened up under her and swallowed the surprised princess, making her disappear without a trace! Luna was gone and the Everfree forest was silent again. 


*   *    *


Meanwhile at Canterlot, Lightning Dust and Mr Greenhooves were standing in front of the enormous, gilded door leading to princess Fluttershy's room. 
"You tell her!" Mr Greenhooves whispered.
"No! You tell her!" 
"But you're the one that wanted this whole gosh-darned mess to happen!" 
"Yes, but I'm not stupid enough to tell her!"
"But who will tell her then?"
"You will! She will ask you, I bet!" whispered Lightning Dust and very, very softly knocked on Fluttershy's door. "Oh, maybe she isn't at home? Maybe she has gone away for a few days..."

But her hopes were soon dashed when Derpy opened the door and let both ponies in. In the middle of the room was Fluttershy. She was seated at a big table with stacks of money on it. Beside the table were piles of banknotes, gold bits, silver bullions and diamonds. It looked like a seapony's treasure. There must be several millions in value just on the table... 
A tired Fluttershy looked up. She couldn't have slept very much last night...
"How did it go? Is the bridge down yet? I'm so stressed out that I could burst! Tell me!" she said, throwing a big wad of bills into an open suitcase.
"Yep," Mr Greeenhooves said without looking her in the eyes.
"Good... Good... What more?"
"Eh... We blew it up. The bridge sure is gone."
"Good... But where are Celestia and Cadance's army now? How much time do I have to... to relocate my money just in case something... unforeseen happens. I just don't have a lot of confidence in my own ability, that's all... Oh, I didn't meant to say that out loud. Pretend that you didn't hear that!"
"It is not a problem anymore, princess." 
"It's not?"
"We buried twelve barrels of gunpowder under the bridge. It is two thousand and four kilos of explosives... the blast... was far greater than we expected. I'm sorry. There is not even so much as a button left of them." 
"Oh... oh my..." 
> Panic and lies at Canterlot.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A ragged, dusty creature with thorns and thistles in her coat walked alone trough the Equestrian countryside. Her pink mane was ruffled and she had bruises all over her body. It was Celestia, or rather, what was left of her. She was tired, thirsty and humiliated. Her pride had suffered a devastating blow but she didn't cry. She held her head high and walked along the railroad tracks south without any hesitation that she would accomplish her goal sooner or later. The warm summer wind played with her mane. There was still hope. She was still the rightful ruler of Equestria, no matter what others may think. 

There would be a long and dangerous walk to Canterlot, but she refused to change her direction. She had to face Fluttershy, with or without army. And she was not afraid.


*   *    *


Meanwhile Luna was investigating the strange cavern that she had stumbled upon. In the middle of it was a little pond with a surface blank as a mirror... Luna knew what this was. It could only be the famous Mirror Pond, a location that Celestia had specifically forbidden her to visit. "Do not go to the Mirror Pond, Luna," she had said nearly a hundred times. But that had only made Luna even more interested in the subject. Now she had finally found it. It was a pond. Big deal! A pond! Did Celestia really think that her sister was too irresponsible to be let near a pond, for Pony's sake?! She wasn't a little filly anymore! This was just a regular, underground pond and not the entrance to Xibalba! (another place that Celestia also had forbidden Luna to visit)
"What is this mysterious piece of papyrus?" she asked when she found a little piece of paper with a note scribbled onto it:


And into her own reflection she stared
Yearning for one whose reflection she shared
And solemnly sweared not to be scared
At the prospect of being doubly mared


On the other side of the paper she fond a pink cupcake-stain and some glitter from the topping of a cake. The text was written with crayons in a happy, ridiculous style of hoofwriting. 
"I find this to be a highly amusing work of poetry, although a bit lacking... Who would want be double mared? Like a some kind of monstrosity with eight legs? I have never heard such a stupid thing... Just imagine some tragic, lonesome poet reading this stupid nonsense out loud while swimming around in this pond like a fool. Oh, how I would like to be double mared! Ha!"

In her most dramatic voice, Luna read the words out loud with all the mannerisms and quirks of a really bad poet. She then pretended to faint by the sheer beauty of her words, throwing her head back like she had seen Rarity do. 
"....of being doubly mared! Ah, what a senseless waste of good paper!"
And then she tossed the letter like a crumpled little ball into the pond, where it immediately duplicated into two crumpled balls of paper!

Luna quickly scoped up the balls of paper and compared them. They were identical. 
"It has been doubled?! What sorcery is this? A thing that somehow possesses the ability to make a copy of a written message? This is beyond belief! I have never seen anything like it! With this strange and magical pond, I can make copies of all my royal proclamations! I can write a letter to my subjects and send it with the post to tell them to join me in my glorious quest to take back the crown from Fluttershy!"

Immediately Luna wrote down a most elegant letter in her finest hornwritning style on a piece of paper that she had always carried behind her gorget for a time like this; 

Dear citizens of Ponyville! This is a message from your Rightful, True and Honest Princess of the Night, Luna. Heed my call to join me in my Rightful and Noble revolution against the Evil reign of The Usurper of the Throne of Equestria. In this dark times we need to stand up against evil and darkness and take back our future! We need to be brave and united against the Forces of Tyranny and Flutterism that threaten Our way of life and Our freedom! I will now bow and I will not yield until Peace has been restored to our World.

With love from Luna, your kind and thoughtful ruler.

She said the magic rhyme once more and put the letter in the pond. It doubled as expected, but when she fished them up from the water she found that both letters had became a soggy and unreadable mess! 
"DRAT!" she yelled and threw the wet pieces of paper on the ground. "What a blasted idea! A magic pond for copying papers that delivers wet, useless papers! Tis absurd! All this work for nothing! Now, l shall stop this nonsense and go back to Ponyville!"


*   *    *


Meanwhile at Canterlot, princess Fluttershy was handling the situation with usual grace. She was currently hiding underneath her bed, curled into a ball and crying. Poor ponies... She never wanted anypony to die! And what would the other ponies do to her when they found out that she had "accidently" committed horrific acts of ponycide and blown up both Celestia and Cadance? The subjects must not know! Not ever! The explosion at the Friendship Express must be written off as an accident at all cost.
But most of the evidence was still pointing towards her... The first thing she had done was to instantly throw both Lightning Dust and Mr Greenhooves in jail. They knew too much. She had even thought of throwing her advisor in jail too, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

The second thing that she needed to do was to remove and hide all the remaining barrels of gunpowder somewhere safe. And she knew just the spot. The same, ingenious location where she had earlier hidden away the Canterlot archives from Twilight... There was still room left and a few barrels with explosive material would fit in easily, she thought.  

There was a knock on the door. 
"Go away! I'm crying!"
"Please, Fluttershy... Open the door... I just came here from Ponyville." 
She instantly recognized that voice!
"Rarity?!"
"Yes. Please let me in!" 
Slowly Fluttershy crawled out from underneath the bed and opened up the door, just a little, so that Rarity could enter. 
"Oh, Fluttershy! What a magnificent room! Oh, what lovely curtains... And the bed! The bed is to die for!" 
"Nopony has died! Um, I mean... yes, it's a nice bed. It's very soft."
"And the wallpapers... Well, you could use a painting over there, of course, but apart from that it is a very beautiful room."
"Um... yes. Yes it is."
Rarity noticed the swollen eyes of her friend.
"You said you were crying? What's the matter, my dearest Fluttershy? Please tell me, darling."
"I... I'm just a bit frustrated, that's all. Nothing to worry about..."
"Are you sure?" 
"Yes, I'm fine." 
"I only want to help..."
"You could do so by joining my new government!" Fluttershy said. 
"What?! New government? But I'm not sure that..." 
"I will make you minister of finance! I've always found it difficult to use numbers and stuff, but you would probably know a thing or two about monetary matters."
"But... but.. please, I cannot accept the appointment! I... I don't know anything about finance and taxes! I only know about fashion and creativity! Can't you just ask Twilight instead? I'm sure she'll just love it."
"No! That's out of the question!" 
"Why is that?" 
"She... um... she has the pony pox! She needs to stay in her bed and rest, that's why she can't be minister of finance."
"Oh, dear Celestia... May I see her?" 
"No! Absoultely not! I mean... You could, if you don't mind the risk of getting the pony pox too. It's a very, very contagious disease and your body would be covered with brown, hideous, watery poxes..."
"Oh... On second thought, I could just send her a card."
"That would be nice. And maybe some chocolate too?"


*   *    *


Twilight Sparkle was dressed in rubber hoof boots and a little orange helmet with a light on it. She had crawled into Canterlot's vast sewer system to investigate where the stolen money was hidden. She had always thought that the sewage would run straight trough a hole in the ground and run down the mountainside like a river of filth in a fairly uncomplicated way. But since Fluttershy had taken over, she had somehow managed to clog the entire system and horribly dirty water was now standing high in the ancient tunnels that had been carved out from the rock itself. Twilight almost fainted by the terrifying stench, but by sheer willpower she managed to keep herself upright. If she had fainted, she would have fallen into the horrible muck. 
She took a deep breath and concentrated on breathing only trough the mouth. Slowly she continued her journey in the smelly underground of Canterlot. Long stalactites hung down from the ceiling and the walls were decorated with carvings from the time that the sewers were built, over a thousand years ago.

After a while she had reached an underground river. The water was almost black and there were a few pony skeletons on the ancient quay, where the water had overflowed. She saw an old, rotten ferry moored to a big iron hoop. There was a hooded creature on it, hiding in the shadows. 
"H-hello?" Twilight asked while stepping closer.
The creature slowly turned its head and looked at her.
"E-excuse me... My name is Twilight Sparkle and... and I..."
"I know who you are," the creature said.
"You do?" 
"Yes, Twilight. For long I have wandered by your side."
"Oh no! You must be Death!" Twilight cried in terror. "No! I don't want to die! Not yet! I'm still young!"
She turned around and ran for all that her life was worth, splashing trough the water in full panic! But when she looked over her shoulder she saw that the hooded creature was following her at great speed, quickly gaining on her! Oh no! 
"You'll never take me alive, Death!" she screamed.
She felt a pair of cold hooves grabbing her from behind! 

Then everything went black. 


*   *    *


There was frantic knocking on the door to Applejack's home at Sweet Apple acres. The kind of knocking that signalled that really bad things would show up at the other side of the door. 
"Dear Applejack! Please open up! We have done something very, very bad!" 
It was the unmistakable voice of princess Luna. Applejack wondered what in the name of Celestia she could have done and why she needed her help so badly. Was it because everypony else that were connected to the Elements of Harmony were away? Most likely. But Applejack didn't mind that, she assured herself.
"Ah'm coming, sugarc... Ah mean, princess!" Applejack said and went for the door. 
When she opened her jaw dropped. 
"What the hay?!"
There was a big, blue mass in front of her. Maybe over one thousand of Lunas, all identical!
"We found this pond... and... I... I mean we, we accidently did... this stupid thing. It is nothing that we are particularly proud of."
"How many are you, princess?"
"We are thousands."
"Oh, buck. Bucking hay... How did... And why? Just why? For the love of Pony, why?!"
"We did not really think it through..."





> The battle of the courtyard
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Blossomforth entered  the room she found the tyrant ruler of Equestria lying on a divan, eating strawberries dipped in chocolate. Spitfire was standing right beside her, dressed in a toga and fanning her with ostrich feathers on a golden stick. The former wonderbolt didn't look too happy about it... Sitting at the foot of the throne was Derpy Hooves, advisor and archchancellor. The wall-eyed creature had quickly became one of the most influential ponies to the new regime.

"There is a pony waiting in the courtyard that wants to speak to you, almighty ruler and goddess!" Blossomforth said with a deep bow. 
"A pony? Is it Rainbow Dash?! Tell me!"
"No. An earth pony."
"Oh. Doesn't it know that the castle is closed until... certain details have been taken care of? And how did she even get past the guards? She can't just trot right in here and expect me to have time for the likes of her!"
"I don't know... She demands to speak to you anyway, your divine highness."
"Well, go and tell her to go away! I have no time for this kind of mundane things... And, Blossomforth, come back here when you're done. I need your help to transform this lavish castle into a fortress. I have already ordered all windows to be filled up with bricks and barbed wire to be put on the walls. But I was thinking... Maybe we should also make the barbed wire electric? Just in case."
"Electric?"
"Yes. For protection. I don't want any nasty surprises... If my subjects should revolt I certainly don't want to be dragged around the walls of Canterlot and pelted with rotten apples."
"Princess Fluttershy! That's preposterous! Why in the whole of Equestria would they want to do a horrible thing like that?!"
"Um... f-for no particular reason? No reason at all! Maybe if they... they would assume, incorrectly of course, that I somehow happened to accidently... um... never mind," Fluttershy said while slowly crushing a strawberry. "He he... Now get going, please!"
"Right away, wise ruler!"


*   *   *


Twilight opened her eyes. She was still in the dark, foul sewers of Canterlot. And the hooded creature was right beside her...
"Death!" she gasped, almost fainting again. 
"No, silly. It's only me!" the creature said and revealed its pink face underneath the hood. 
"Pinkie Pie?!"
"Mhm!"
"But why? And how?!"
"I'm hiding in the sewers. Do you want a cookie?"
"Why are you hiding in this horrible place?" 
"Oh, it's not that bad. Once you get used to the smell, it's really a nice place. I'm hiding from Fluttershy."
"Fluttershy? Did she try to throw you in jail too?!"
"No, I'm hiding from her because she is acting totally crazy and I know crazy when I see it. She's going bananas. Do you know why?" 
"No, Pinkie... I don't know why." 
"She is scared."
"Scared?! But she is the... scary thing herself! She stole the crown, threw me and Spike and Shiny in jail and on top of that she even robbed a bank! Also she wants to blow up Canterlot! She is EVIL!"
"That doesn't stop her from being scared too. She knows that she had done a very, very bad thing and now she has lost control over the whole situation. And that makes Flutters a scared pony. Never trust a scared pony."
"But why? Why did she do it in the first place? I can't believe that a nice, kind pony like Fluttershy could do such an evil thing just out of the blue..." Twilight said.
"Well, I don't know. Maybe she went loco in the coco when she for the first time had a taste of power? Like that time when we had a party and there was a delicious chocolate cake and I had a bite of that cake, and the cake was really yummy and I just shoved my head into the cake and it was really good and... Oh, where was I? Never mind. You see, Flutters have never been in charge of anything. And other ponies can be quite mean to her... Which is really bad, since she is very sensitive and vulnerable. And suddenly they all seemed to love her for once, like she was a delicious chocolate cake. No, a lemon cake, since she is yellow. But not the same nuance, since she has the same colour as butter... Can you imagine a cake made entirely out of butter? That wouldn't be as good as a lemon cake, of course. And I like lemon cake. Fluttershy is definitely a lemon cake. I must ask her for the recipe as soon as she has been dethroned." 
"Pinkie! Stop rambling about cakes! And how do you know all this?" 
"Just guessing. Or she could be under some spell, I don't know. But I like my explanation better since it has cakes in it... Oh, sorry."


*   *   *


One of the elaborate windows in Futtershy's throne room shattered in a rain of broken glass and something white and armour clad landed on the red carpet with a thud. It was Blossomforth and she had a bump on her head and a black eye. All the ponies in the ancient hall stared at her in shock and disbelief.
"Ouwww..." she groaned.
"What the HAY?!" Fluttershy asked, dropping her last strawberry.
"The... pony outside... she... just threw..."
"FLUTTERSHY! You VILE, DECIEVING DASRTARD! Come OUT!" a voice sounded from the courtyard below.
"That's impossible! I-it cannot be..." 
"I AM princess Celestia, you CUR! Come out and fight me YOU COWARD! Pony against pony!"

Fluttershy unfurled her wings and fluttered away to the window, closely followed by Derpy Hooves and Spitfire. Trough the Blossomforth-shaped hole in the glass she could se a lone earth pony standing in the middle of an empty courtyard. 
"What an idiot... She is alone, my princess! You could totally kick the stuffing out of her in an epic duel! Now is the chance!" Spitfire suggested with a menacing glimmer in her eyes. "It will be a quick fight!"
"B-but... what if... what if she is...?"
"She is an earth pony! And you're an alicorn, for Pony's sake! You could crush her like a fly!" 
"No... I mean yes, I could totally take her on, all by myself.... But instead I will send in all of my troops. Just in case. I just don't feel confident enough to fight a battle that there is even a microscopic possibility that I could lose. I want to be two hundred percent sure. Sound the alarm! Mobilize the troops!" 
"But princess..." 
"We have plenty of time. Seal all the gates. I shall watch this from a safe distance, where I'm sure nothing bad can happen to me..." the princess said, wringing her hooves.
"Your chicken-hearted cowardice baffles me!" said Spitfire.

At first there was a shocked silence in the room. The alicorn's lip began to tremble a little, as if she was about to cry. Then she turned directly towards Spitfire.
"How dare you?! How DARE YOU?!!" Fluttershy screamed, her eyes darkening with rage. 
"Oups, I didn't meant to say that out loud... Sorry."
"That comment really hurt! I am not.. entirely spineless!"
"I didn't meant to..."
"If you think that low of me I'll... I.. I'll FIGHT HER! LET's DO this! YAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!"

And with this fearsome battle cry Fluttershy blew the remaining glass away from the window and descended onto the courtyard in a big leap, her horn glowing with magic and her wings spread out. 
"You finally came!" Celestia said with a smile. 
The alicorn raised her head and shook her horn. Magic was flowing trough her. 
"I will beat you up and show the world once and for all who is in charge, Celestia! Um, if that's okay with... NO! I don't need your permission! I'll beat you up anyway!"
"Oh shut up, you wretched, incompetent, despicable... turnip! You'll probably just trip on your fake tail and run away crying." 
"Nopony makes fun of my tail!" Fluttershy screamed, stomping her hooves in anger. "It looks CUTE! EVERYPONY thinks it looks cute! They all said it, and they didn't lie! Applejack said it was cute, and she can't lie so that means that it is cute, no matter what you might imply!"

With a blast from her magic force she threw Celestia across the cobblestones like she was a ragdoll. The raging tyrant then lowered her horn and charged at full speed. 
In the last moment Celestia rolled to the side and kicked away Fluttershy's leg, sending her tumbling trough the air and crashing into the castle gates, knocking them wide open. 
"I'll take you down easily, even without my powers!" Celestia cried in triumph. "Your chronic bad confidence will get the better of you!"
"No! Don't you DARE saying things like that!"
Fluttershy got up on her hooves and tore one of the gates from its hinges. She then threw it at her like a projectile. It missed Celestia's head by an inch and shattered against the walls in a rain of broken wood.
"Can't even aim straight!"

In her rage Fluttershy blasted the whole courtyard with a magic shockwave, breaking the glass in all the windows nearby and tearing up the cobblestones from the ground. Sharp pieces of glass and blocks of granite whirled around her like a tornado of destruction. It slammed into the walls of the castle, knocking away the plaster in little puffs of dust. 
Celestia had to take cover, pressing her body against the earth to avoid getting hit by the whirling debris. 
Then Fluttershy dropped all the murderous projectiles and instead she lifted the former princess by the neck with a levitation spell. Celestia dangled in the air in front of her like a helpless kitten.
"I have you now, my little pet... What shall I do with you? I can think of so many, many things right now... Do you beg for mercy?"
"Bite my shiny cutie mark!" Celestia said with a defiant look in her eyes. 
"No. I rather not. Instead I will punish you in a far more creative way..."  


*   *   *


"What is that noise from above?" Twilight asked, holding a hoof to her ear. "It sounded like stones falling..."
"Oh, no! I hope it's not a ghost! Or a zombie-pony! A zombony! Or a zony? I don't even know what they're called!" Pinkie cried with a strange twitch in her tail. "Twitchi twitch! It means..."
"That something is going to fall on my head?"
"No! It means that Fluttershy is up to no good!"
"What? How could you possibly know that?" 
"Are you sarcastic, Twilight? Or are you genuinely baffled? I just can't tell... All I know is that we must hurry! Quick! Follow me! Also, Celestia is in danger." 
"WHAT?!!"

Both ponies galloped trough the sewers and reached a hall with a great iron door. Right next to the door was a lever. 
"Look a door! Where does this lead?" Pinkie said with a confused look in her eyes. "Don't open it, Twilight! What if it leads to the zombonies?!"
"No, Pinkie... I am absolutely, positively one hundred per cent sure that this door leads to into the basement library of Canterlot castle."
"Are you sure?" 
"Absolutely. I know this things well, you know. I guarantee. I am born here in Canterlot and as a little filly I often used to explore the surroundings of Celestia's castle... Especially the different libraries. And that door is definitely the door to the basement library. Oh, how I loved to sit there and read."
And with a smile Twilight pushed the lever. The door swung open and on the other side was a little cleaning closet with brooms, buckets and floor mops. 
"Oups..."


*   *   *


Meanwhile a little purple dragon was sitting outside the castle, sad and lonely. Spike felt like he had been completely forgotten and left out by everypony in all this turmoil. It wasn't fair! They should ask him for help, not just run away to do stupid things without even bothering about telling him where they went. And by "them" he essentially meant Twilight. 
"I don't like sitting here, doing nothing. What if I had some awesome superpower that would completely save the day? I am a dragon, for Pony's sake! You just don't forget to bring a dragon with you on your quest!" he said and kicked away a pebble. "It isn't fair! I feel so neglected. I don't even know what's going on anymore... And I don't care! Maybe Twilight is having an awesome adventure or something, but I really don't care about it! Well, maybe I care a little... Maybe I should do something. Yeah, I probably should do something."

Then he went away to buy an ice-cream cone. 
> The battle of the streets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The streets of Canterlot were filled with Fluttershy's troops. Ponies everywhere, dressed in various items of military clothing and armed with everything but the kitchen sink. Some of them had seen too many winters and some too few... A young pegasus mare hovered above the ground, shouting commands to her troops. 
"Hurry up with that barbed wire! No, don't put it all in one place! It needs to reinforce the roadblock... For Flushy's sake!" cried Pizelle, wiping the sweat from her brow. "The defences must hold when the barbarian horde arrives! We must throw back their furious assault, and defend the divine light of civilization against the darkness of obsolete, deranged celestianism! What are you doing, private?!"
"I... I'm sorry..." said North Star, who had gotten her dress caught on the bared wire. "I'm not used to putting up barbed wire, you know. Yesterday I was happily at home, minding my own business and today I'm being pressed into service as a soldier! I don't really know what I'm doing... I'm so sorry..."
"Is that so, unicorn? Would you rather want to return to you home and hide under your bed? Perhaps your precious silk dress is too exquisite to be worn in the midst of battle?" Pizelle said, slowly closing down on the poor North Star with a joyless smile on her face. "Just try to leave and then we'll see what happens... But I wouldn't recommend it if you value your life. Especially since you were a mare of the royal court and now has a lot to prove if you want to make yourself worthy of our divine ruler's trust."
"Oh... I... I didn't mean to..."
"No, you didn't. Cut her loose and we'll have no more of this idiocy. I want to see you in the first line of defence when the battle commences and if you try to turn tail, your tail will be turned into a fly swatter! Is that clear?"
Two unicorns immediately began cutting away a small piece of her dress with their bayonets, forever making an ugly rift in her most precious possession. 

"OH NOOOO!!!! What are you doing, you BEASTS!!!!!" a voice suddenly screamed in horror from across the street. 

They turned around and saw a shocked Rarity, hyperventilating and almost brought to tears by seeing such a crime against fabulosity. 
"Y-you cut her dress... How could you?!" she stuttered, galloping towards North Star with needle and thread at hoof. "Of all the horrible, dreadful things that has happened lately this is THE... MOST... HORRIBLE... THING!"
"This?" asked Pizelle, with a truly baffled expression on her face. 
"Yes! Do you even know how much work it takes to make such a dress? Griffonian silk is not very cheep these days and... and..."
Rarity stopped in her tracks, dropping the needle on the cobblestones. With rising terror she looked at the badly designed and cheaply made uniforms of the ponies around her. Some of them even wore helmets with chicken net on them where small twigs and branches had been put to act as a crude camouflage. 
"Oh, I think... I think I'm going to faint..."
Pizelle rolled her eyes. 
"Wait a second... Aren't you the minister of finance? What are you doing here?" she said, putting a hoof on Rarity's cheek.
"I am?! Now I'm going to double-faint...."


*   *   *


At the same time a certain deranged ruler was reclining on her bed, sipping on a bottle of champagne. Princess Fluttershy was celebrating the upcoming demise of Celestia while enjoying herself with the best beverages looted from Celestia's own wine cellar. She was not used to drinking but for once she had decided to emulate the luxurious ways of the Centerlot nobility. She could clearly see why they seemed to enjoy this beverage so much... 
"At last I will have my triumph! Now I have that pesky Celestia at my mercy! AHAHAHA AHAHAHA!!!" she cried and tried to take another sip from the bottle but in the process got some of the champagne in her eyes and in her snout. "Pppfffhh! Blasted thing... I'll have all the remaining champagne... hic... arrested tomorrow!"
With her magic power she threw the half empty bottle away, shattering it against the wall without as much as looking at the mess she created.
"Your royal majesty?" chancellor Derpy asked, slowly emerging from behind the curtain. The alicorn had no idea how long she had been standing there...
"I... It... it just slipped out of my grip..." said Fluttershy and reached for another bottle. 
"Oh. A bottle slip! Or maybe a.... battleship? I must think of something clever to say about..."
"A battleship? I didn't know we even had those, Derpy..."
"But we do have! Otherwise the admiral wouldn't have anything to sail in."
"Be that as it may," the ruler said and rose from her bed. 

She began pacing around in the room, a little unsteady on her hooves but absolutely not drunk, she assured herself. 
"The enemy is scattered, the princess is in chains and soon Rainbow Dash will arrive with even more troops for my disposal... Soon my power will be... be... very... um... powerful! MWAHAHAHAA!!!! I am about to be invincible... invincibler... more invincible than I was before? Invinciblabla...?"
"Invivicectivincible?" 
"That's the word! Insectivincible! So powerful that all my enemies will look like insects compared to me! Of course, insects are completely adorable, so I will find them very endearing... But they will look very much smaller than me! That's the point I'm trying to make!"

Fluttershy tried furiously to open the second bottle, but it slipped her hooves all the time. 
"All threats seems have been eliminated. But why am I still so... stupid, bucking bottle... Why do I have the feeling that... that something really, really bad will happen to me?"
"I know! I know!" Derpy said, eagerly waving her hoof like she was a little filly at school. 
"Yes, chancellor?"
"It's because you have a large, conscripted army sitting idly in the streets, teacher."
"Oh... is that a problem? I thought that it would only add to my security?"
Derpy shook her yellow mane. 
"No, no... It is actually quite dangerous," Derpy assured.
Fluttershy rolled her eyes.
"Haha, don't be ridiculous! Your jokes will always make me smile... my faithful student. You're kidding, right? How could more troops possibly mean less security? Your mathematic doesn't add up!"
"What's a mathematic?" 
"Well, to me, Derpy, mathematic is mostly a confusing Tartarus of tears and F:s... I have never been so... um... I mean I have not very often been so humiliated as in math class... sniff..." Fluttershy sobbed in a complete mood swing worthy of a great ruler.
Derpy Hooves gently patted her wing. 
"I'm so sorry... I'm sure everything will be just fine...," she said. 
"It will be as soon as... sniff... as soon as I have turned that blasted Celestia into a potato!"


*   *   *


The thunder of hooves echoed in the alleys of Canterlot, cloppering away against the cobblestones when a unit of Fluttershy's militia suddenly broke formation and began to gallop towards the city gates. It was the third battalion, also known as the Sparkling Cavalry Elite Battalion. But despite the name there was nothing "elite" about that unit at all; it consisted entirely of conscripts without any military training and only half of them had any weapons.
Raven, princess Celestia's former secretary, had been pressed into service among the ranks of this unit and now she fled together with the rest of them. 
"Stop! Stop this instant!" a voice shouted. 
The sound was followed by a flash of magic and a thundering bang. In a brief moment Raven saw a white unicorn with a moustache and a blue mane firing his magic in the air. He wore an officer's hat and a monocle. When his horn began to glow for the second time he was jumped by several other ponies. 
"Run! They're using magic! The officers are using magic against us!" somepony cried. 
Raven got pushed forward by the panicking crowd. Everywhere there was terrified pony eyes, galloping hooves and pinned ears. Suddenly another pony bumped into her and her glasses fell off, disappearing to be crushed by the trampling horde. 
"Oh no! My glasses..." she cried, but it was nothing she could do. 

Somehow she got pushed aside and found herself in an unknown alley. Raven could only see the silhouettes of ponies rushing by, but without her glasses everything was a blurred mess of colours and shadows. In distress she crawled behind a barrel to seek cover. Everything was so confusing and she didn't know where she was anymore... She felt so helpless. For a while she thought she saw a blue, tall shape passing by, but the poor secretary couldn't identify what it was.

"Raven, is that thou?" a concerned voice asked. "Let us help... We will bring thou to safety." 
A hoof was reached out to her and she grabbed it. 

Meanwhile, but closer to the city wall, the Sparkling Cavalry Elite was being pursued by two other units, the Second Unicorn Battalion and the Seventh Pegasi Volunteers. Magic flashed everywhere and pegasi swept down from above to restore order. In the midst of this chaos was North Star, fighting in the first line of battle armed with a guardspony's spear. She wasn't exactly sure what was happening or whom they were supposed to be fighting against, only that she had to fight bravely or her commanding officer, the ever watchful Pizelle, would punish her severely. 
A furious blast of magic was seen near the gates themselves, tearing the chains from the windlass and making the drawbridge come down in one, breath-taking motion. It hit the ground like a giant flyswatter with a thundering bang, so powerful that North Star could feel a gust of wind from it. If any unlucky pony had been standing there it would have been smashed to a bloody pulp. But thankfully the drawbridge could only fall outwards and not inwards, so nopony was killed. 


*   *   *


Spike was not in the mood for more ice-cream. He had an ache in his stomach and felt slightly nauseous. Aimlessly he wandered around in the city, oblivious of the battle that was taking place near the gates. Not even when he heard the distant thunder of the drawbridge hitting the ground he as much as looked up. 
"I'm so tired of always being left out..." he mumbled, kicking a small pebble across the street. "I just wish I could find a way to help Twilight... I'm so worried about her."
"Yeah, Ah know that feeling too, Spike..." a voice suddenly said from behind. 
Spike turned around. 
"Applejack?!" 
The orange earth pony tapped her hat with a smile.
"I'm so happy to see you!" Spike cried.
"Me too, Spike. Me too," Applejack said as she gave the dragon a hug. "Ah came with the train from Ponyville... Ah've heard all about the stuff that Fluttershy's been doing and Ah don't like it one bit."
"I think she has gone mad with power..."
"Granny Smith always use to say that you should beware of the nice ponies... They may seem innocent, but they seldom are. Ah always thought she was wrong."
"Do you know anything about what Twilight's up to? I haven't seen her in a while and I'm starting to worry," said Spike. 
"No, Ah haven't... Ah thought you'd know where she was?"

Suddenly two completely drunk mares appeared around a corner, heavily laden with suitcases and dressed in sunglasses, head-scarves and trench coats. Their clothes looked like they had been looted from a charity and they reeked of champagne. When they saw Spike and Applejack they almost dropped their bags in panic. 
"Drat!" one of them whispered, perhaps a little to loud.
Applejack tapped her hat.
"May Ah help you?" she suggested and reached out a hoof to assist the staggering ponies. 
"No, it's fine. Absolutely fine! Nothing to worry about here, he he..." one of them said and tried to hide the suitcase behind her back. 
"But that luggage sure look heavy, you're sure you don't want a helping hoof?"
"I'm obsoletely... absolutely sure, positively... eh... sure... hic... that we need no help at all."
"Okay, then..."
"We're just on a... eh... on our way to a... a very important meeting... at the suitcase and... hic... alcohol exhibition!" the drunk mare explained, shaking her suitcase in front of her. "So there is nothing fishy about these suitcases and..."

In the next moment she bumped her suitcase against the other drunk mare and the case burst wide open. A flood of banknotes poured out on the cobblestones. Among the money was a black ski mask and some classified files carrying the stamp of Her Royal Majesty, High Empress Fluttershy.
"Oh drat," she said, her ears turning backwards underneath her scarf. 
"You're burglars! Dang, dirty horse-thieves!" Applejack shouted. 

A chaotic struggle ensued! Applejack and the drunken pony fought over the stolen money while the other mare threw away her suitcase, spread her wings and took off! But before she could escape Spike got hold of her tail. As he was only a little dragon, he was pulled from the ground and dangled helplessly in the air behind the furiously flapping pegasus. 
"Get off! Let go of my tail!" she cried and gave Spike a kick, sending him falling to the ground clutching a fistful of blue horsehair. The poor dragon landed on the cobblestones with a thud. 

When Spike opened his eyes the fight was already over and a triumphant Applejack had tied up the remaining pony with her lasso. She looked very proud and struck a pose. 
"And that's how we do things in Ponyville! Now let's unmask this bandit!" she exclaimed. 
She tore away the culprit's sunglasses and head-scarf with a dramatic gesture...
"Blossomforth?!"
The pegasus gave her an angry, but still drunk, look. 

"And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling ponies... pony and dragon!"


> The End? (THIS is the END of Part ONE)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight looked into the cleaning closet, using the magic glow from her horn as a primitive form of flashlight. It was a dark and boring place filled with plastic buckets and brooms, but she decided to investigate it closely just to make sure that there was no library on the other side after all.
Suddenly she noticed a strange, muffled sound coming from somewhere among the shadows!
"What was that noise?"  
"AAhhH! Zombonies! Ghosts!" Pinkie screamed and fled in terror, stumbling over her own hoofs like a startled goat. 

But Twilight immediately realized that this couldn't be an ordinary ghost... The air carried with it a vague scent of skittles. It could only be Rainbow Dash! 
"Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here?" Twilight asked. 
A familiar face emerged from underneath a blanket.
"Sniff... Go away! I'm busy!"
"Are you... crying?"
"No! Just leave me alone! I'm NOT crying!"
"But please, tell me what it is... Maybe I can help you?"
"You can help me by going away and... sniff... let me cr... I mean, do other stuff alone!"
"Rainbow... Please, just let me help. I've read a book about feelings and now I'm eagerly looking for test subjects to examine!" 
"Twilight, you don't understand... I was supposed to return from Cloudsdale with an army for Fluttershy. But instead I'm here, hiding in shame! I tried to rally the troops, but they told me to go buck myself. I have failed her. And I HATE failing. I will stay here for the rest of my life!"
"Please, come out of the closet, Rainbow Dash..." Twilight said and tried to give her an awkward hug.
"W-what?!" Rainbow gasped, desperately retreating into a corner. 
"Come out of this cleaning closet. It's not like you to behave like this."
"Well..."
"Don't you know that Fluttershy have turned evil? She is a bank robbing, insane tyrant now." 
"That may be true, but I'm still loyal to her! Maybe I should turn evil as well?" Rainbow said and slowly got up on her hooves. She looked like a total wreck of a pony, with dust and cobwebs in her mane. Her eyes were weary and her tail ruffled. 
"Rainbow? What are you talking ab..." 
"What if I captured you and brought you to her? Then she would surely forgive me!"
"Please, Rainbow! Don't do anything stupid... If you do that you would betray me, and Pinkie Pie and all of princess Celestia's loyal subjects! And princess Luna, too! And you would do a disservice to Fluttershy, because she can't rule and needs to be removed from power for her own safety. Her regime is crumbling." 
"Yeah, I know... And I think that you should be free, I really do... But I'm a part of that regime so I still have to capture you and bring you to her. I hope you don't mind."

"No no no no!" Twilight screamed as she tried to run away. But it was to no use, for Rainbow Dash was way faster than her. She threw herself at her and wrestled the shocked unicorn down on the cold floor of the sewers. 
"Just let me hold you captive for a while, Twilight! This is all part of my plan! I will of course ask her to let you go after I have..."

She was interrupted by being hit with a blast of confetti from Pinkie Pie's party cannon, throwing her off her hooves. However, the shockwave from the muzzle also knocked over an old skull from a long since departed unicorn, making it roll down and fall from its shelf and hit a heavy steel rod. The rod tipped over and slid into the hoofwheel of a big valve where its weight turned the wheel and opened the valve completely. They could hear the sound of water quickly flooding some unknown compartment somewhere in the big sewer system.
"Uh... That's probably not a good thing."

When she tried to shut the valve, Twilight realized that the hoofwheel had been bent! Oh no! Now it was impossible to stop the flow...
"I have a bad feeling about this, Twilight..." Pikie said with a double tail twitch.  
"Me too..." 


*   *   *


Princess Celestia found herself chained to the wall in the highest tower of her old castle. She was now a prisoner in her own home, at the mercy of the tyrant ruler of her former realm.
Fluttershy looked menacing in her black crown, gorget and metal hoofshoes. She slowly trotted across the dark room, looking at Celestia with a gleeful smile. 

"I have you now, my dear princess... Oh, how I will enjoy getting rid of you once and for all," Fluttershy said, rubbing her hooves together. "And then I will rule this world forever as an immortal queen! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Once my army is gathered I will march to the Crystal empire and claim that throne too... And maybe even Saddle Arabia? You don't even know what I could do. Perhaps I should begin with turning you into a cute little bunny rabbit? Or a nice peacock?"
"I have already seen enough, Fluttershy. And I am not amused by your foolish shenanigans anymore," Celestia said. 
"Is that so? Well, too bad you were stupid enough to think that you could just trot in here and topple me like I was some kind of meek pushover! You came here expecting to find a madpony but instead you found a goddess! What were you even thinking, coming here alone?"

Celestia laughed at her with defiance in her eyes. 
"Why do you think I am alone?"
"What?! What do you mean by that?"
"Look out the window, Fluttershy..."

Fluttershy ran to the window, and what she saw outside made her almost faint! A blue mass of ponies were swarming the walls of Canterlot like ants! They were so many that they didn't even need ladders; instead they just climbed over each others like insects or zombonies! 
"No! It cannot be..." Fluttershy gasped with sheer terror in her eyes. "It's impossible!"
"Luna is coming, tens of thousands of her... She is evacuating your subjects as we speak. I was hoping to distract you, so that you wouldn't get enough time to slip away." 
"My army will stop her... um... them!" 
"And exactly where is your army now?" 
"Um..."
"You don't know? They have already surrendered. Give up now, Fluttershy."
"No! No, this is impossible! It's not fair! Wait! I still control the sun and the moon! I will teleport myself to a safe location, and from there I will take back my empire!"
"Oh, grow up... Just let Twilight do her magic and everything will be back to normal."
"Will it...?"  
"Yes. You will be severely punished, of course, but for me it will be back to normal."
"No! I don't think so!" Fluttershy screamed and formed a magic glow around her horn. "You are still my hostage! Let's move! We got some teleportation to do... I will release you from your chains, but please don't try any funny business! I'm a not a happy pony right now..." 


*   *   *


Twilight started to run as fast as she could, but it was impossible for her to escape the gushing sewage water that swept through the room like a filthy tide. The terrified unicorn tried to swim with all four legs frantically flailing around her in utter panic. The next moment she was sucked down under the surface, tumbling around in the raging currents. 
Suddenly she was flushed trough a water duct and into the royal moat! The whole sewer system was overflowing and the water swept trough the streets, taking with it a few surprised Lunas that didn't had enough time to get away from the flood. 
"Help!" she screamed, instantly getting some of the water in her mouth. "Gargle... Help! I'm drowning!" 
She saw a quick glimpse of Pinkie's head beside her in a brief moment before she disappeared. In the next second Twilight was hit in the head with a floating board, knocking her unconscious. 


*   *   *


The sudden force of water had washed away some of the foundation underneath a small tower of the castle, making the building slowly crumble and collapse like a sandcastle. Several thousand tons o stone and mortar came crashing down, taking with it several other parts of the ancient edifice with a thundering sound in a horrifying chain reaction. 

From her tower Fluttershy could only watch in terror when most of Canterlot was destroyed under her. 
"I didn't do that!" she shouted to Celestia, who was standing right beside her. "You have to believe me!"
But Celestia didn't even notice her. She was busy screaming from the top of her lungs at this horrifying sight.

Then there was a bright flash of magic from Fluttershy's horn. 


*   *   *


Twilight found herself, soaking wet and confused, lying on the mountainside. Beside her was Pinkie Pie. She was alive but passed out from the chock of being nearly drowned. From this place she could see the sad remains of the once beautiful castle; now half of it was completely washed away from the rock where it had stood in nearly twelve centuries. Canterlot would never be the same. It was now little more than a sewage drenched ruin.
"Uhhh... what happened?" Twilight asked. 
Pinkie didn't answer. 
"Oh... right..." 
She then noticed a soaked Rainbow Dash entangled in some vines further away, desperately struggling to free herself from the remnants of a blackberry bush. It was she who had in the last minute swooped down and saved them from certain death.
"Rainbow Dash? Are you hurt? Please, say something!" 
"Uuuoohhh... I think I'm going to vomit."
"Excellent, that means your esophagus is fully responsive to the stimuli of the..."
"UuuuhaarrrggghhhHHH!!!" Rainbow groaned and threw up her lunch along with some of the highly disgusting sewage water.
Twilight smiled happily. By her heroic actions Rainbow Dash had fully redeemed herself, she thought. 
"Rainbow Dash, I think that you..." Twilight begun before her gaze caught something climbing on the mountaintop that made her stop mid sentence.

A sight that made her jaw drop.


*   *   *


Fluttershy opened her eyes. She was, apparently, alive. Her body felt like it had been run over by a steamroller, but she wasn't dead yet. None of her bones seemed to be broken... Incredibly enough she had somehow managed to survive being crushed by stones, drowned by sewage water and a fall from a mountainside. Perhaps it was because of her alicorn powers... Eternal life somehow gave her the strength to survive absurd things like this. Who would have known? 
Slowly she crawled out from the pile of rubble where she had been buried. Her ruffled mane was full of dust and small grains of mortar. She felt really miserable. Now she just wanted to sneak away and hide forever... 

"HOW DARE YOU!" a thundering voice roared from above. 
She turned around and her gaze met a pair of furious, golden eyes staring at her. And they were enormous.
"Oh... oh my..." 
They belonged to a giant, red dragon. And he looked both angry and newly awaken. His scales were covered in sewage water and dust.
"YOU have a lot to explain, alicorn!"  he said. 
"I... I didn't..." 
"It was YOU who took away the powers from poor Celestia and Luna! And you also woke me up! How could you?!"
"She... didn't want to let me be an alicorn... And HOW could you possibly know that while you were asleep?" 
"I was actually informed a week ago about some crazy alicorn usurper threatening to blow up Canterlot. But I like to snooze... Anyway, you should be ashamed of yourself. I have had it with your destructive insanity! Now I will take away your powers and restore them to their rightful wielders, you... you BAD alicorn! Then I may finally get some sleep."

And in a flash of the most powerful of dragon magic, Fluttershy could see all of her powers being stripped away. The crown and all of her royal regalia fell from her as her body reverted back to its former size and shape. 
A miserable, shaken and very, very unhappy Fluttershy lay soon cowering on the ground. Tears started to run down her cheeks. 
"What?! It was YOU all along?!" the dragon said with a truly baffled expression in his face. "The same pegasus who once told me to go and sleep somewhere else?"
She nodded slightly.
"There, there... I don't want you to be upset. I know that you're not a bad pony. You just made a bad decision. Please don't cry."  
"D-do you think so...?"
"Have you deliberately killed anypony?"
"N-no..." 
"Then you're not even half as bad as some of the rulers I have seen in my days... No names mentioned."
"Celestia?! Did Celestia kill somepony?!"
"NO! I'm talking about Insanicus the Bloodthirsty!" 
"I... I have never heard of him before..."
"I maybe made him up to make you feel better. Now, I suggest you go and hire a competent lawyer..."


*   *   *


On the mountain slope beneath the desecrated ruins of her castle lay the ruins of a pony. It was princess Celestia, battered, bruised and covered in foul smelling sewage and waste. She wasn't dead, but she almost wished that she was. The princess had somehow managed to snatch the teleportation magic from Fluttershy's horn in the last minute before the building came crashing in, thus saving herself and at the same time leaving Fluttershy trapped in the results of her own machinations. She had however materialized in thin air and then dropped to the rocky ground below with a thud. It was not a very dignified landing for a princess.

When she lay there in shambles, Celestia suddenly felt the warm flow of magic through her body. Her legs grew long, as they used to be and when she looked over her shoulder she could see wings sprouting from her back. 
"I... I'm..." she mumbled, almost speechless when she began to realize what was happening to her.
With her hoof she touched her forehead. She could feel her horn growing back again. It meant that her powers were restored! She was now an alicorn again! She was once again the ruling princess of Equestria!
"I AM BACK! I AM BACK!" she cried with tears of joy. "At last! Finally I'm back... Oh, just wait till I get my hooves on that terrible pony! Where is she now? Where is that BLASTED pegasus?!"

She spread her wings and took off. Swiftly Celestia flew like a vengeful hawk in search of its prey. From above she would easily spot any little yellow dot trying to sneak away among the ruins. She was determined not to let that happen. 


*   *   *


Fluttershy galloped as fast as she could, fleeing from the scene in panic. She carried a saddlebag filled with several millions worth of banknotes that she somehow had managed to salvage from the ruins. Confused thoughts rushed through her head. With all this money she could start a new life somewhere far away... Maybe Griffonia? Saddle Arabia? No, that wasn't far enough! Celestia could still find her. And Fluttershy really, really didn't want to be found right now. She just wanted to disappear into the earth like a flea or an ant. Maybe she should get a new manecut? Or dye her mane black? Yes, she should definitely dye it black. And then she would get a tattoo that hid her cutie mark. Maybe a black square? A black square that completely covered up the butterflies would be nice... It would hurt a little, of course, but that was a matter of minor importance to her right now... 

Fluttershy jumped over a fence and ran across a small field. Her heart was pounding with dread. What if her subjects would get her? What horrific punishment would they choose for her? She hoped to never would find out... 
The fleeing pony looked over her shoulder and took a quick glance on the sad ruins of the once proud Canterlot castle. It bore little resemblance to what she had seen a few weeks earlier. She didn't exactly know what had happened to it, but she somehow suspected that this disaster was her own fault like everything else that had gone completely off the rails during her disastrous reign. 

Suddenly a shadow swooped down from above and her way was cut off by none other than princess Celestia! And she didn't look happy at all. 
"GOING SOMEWHERE?!" the princess yelled with fury in her eyes.
Fluttershy could only answer with a high pitched squeak of terror. She turned around and jumped over a small ditch, pushed herself through a hedge and stumbled on to a small country road somewhere in the farmland on the mountain slope near Canterlot. She was lost, but she didn't care. She just wanted to get away... 

"There she is!" a little colt shouted and pointed his hoof in her direction. "There she is! There is the bad pony!"
Fluttershy desperately tried to run the other way, but before she could escape her road to freedom was cut off by a number of enraged townsponies! She was cornered. 
"No! No!" she screamed and spread her wings to fly. 
But it was already too late. Celestia herself appeared above her, pointing her horn directly towards the terrified Fluttershy.
"Oh, no you don't!"
Her heart almost stopped. Her legs felt like spaghetti and her mouth was dry. She looked around, hyperventilating. But there was no escape. Her fate had finally caught up with her. 


EPILOGUE


Although princess Celestia powers were fully restored, her castle wasn't. She tried to rebuild what was left of Canterlot, but she couldn't afford a full restoration and the expenses of her effort made her bankrupt. 

Only the true princess Luna went back to being an alicorn, to her great relief. The other surviving Lunas marched away like a swarm of locusts, invading both Saddle Arabia and Eastern Griffonia. They were much appreciated.

Twilight Sparkle went on to write a thesis on Rainbow Dash's feelings in hope of getting a bachelor's degree in behaviour studies. She presented a very thorough and detailed account of the subject, closely examining the matter from a scientific point of view. She failed her class. 

Mr Greenhooves were able to escape from his jail and later went on to become an exotic dancer, thus finally earning his cutie mark. 

Lightning Dust was sentenced to eleven years in prison for her crimes against ponykind. She was however released on a technicality after a week. 

Blossomforth thrown in jail briefly, but then made four star general by Celestia as a recognition of her immense strategic knowledge.

Spike bought another ice cream cone. 

Fluttershy was taken to court for high treason, bank robbery, unlawful possession of explosives, conspiracy against the crown and littering. Despite the best efforts of her lawyer, Derpy Hooves, she was sentenced to imprisonment in the Canterlot jail. Until her release from prison the ever so loyal Rainbow Dash, and sometimes her other friends too, brought Fluttershy a basket with freshly baked cookies almost every day.

However, most of the cookies tasted absolutely horrid since Rainbow Dash is a very dismal baker.


THE END TO BE CONTINNUED



> A few months later...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A pale pony dressed in orange and ill-fitting prison clothes was slowly making her way across the courtyard of the Baltimare High Security Prison, a forgotten and desolate place in the generally peaceful land of Equestria. Fluttershy had been transferred here from the Canterlot Jail almost immediately after her arrival because of the damages on the latter complex from the flood.
This facility had only two prisoners, one of which was the former usurper of the throne. The other was a strange, reddish horse that looked like he (or she for that matter, it was really hard to tell) was carved from a single block of wood.

Fluttershy had already spent a few months here, rotting away in her cell. For the most of time she was lonely, but almost everyday she got visits from her friends, of which Rainbow Dash was the most frequent. The shy pony was amazed and delighted that her friends apparently still cared for her, after all she had done. But she also felt a bit guilty... No, rather very guilty. How could she ever become so drunk with power and behave so terribly? How could she try to steal the throne from the rightful ruler of Equestria? Fluttershy was indeed very ashamed. Her actions had forever placed her in the company of villains like Nightmare Moon and Discord. 

For the time being she had to go out for fifteen minutes and walk around in the courtyard. It was early in the morning and quite chilly. The autumn was on its way and most of the geese had already migrated southwards. The pony shivered in her thin prison scrubs. How she wished that she was home in her cottage with all of her little animal friends... How she wished nothing of this had ever happened. 
"Please... let me go back inside..." she whispered to herself. "Please, let the guard open the gate..."
But the guard at the bar gate didn't even look at her. He was preoccupied with lighting a hoof-rolled cigarette, fumbling with the paper and dropping half of the tobacco on the ground. There would be fourteen more minutes in this gloomy courtyard. 


*    *    *


Princess Celestia was sitting on her throne. The almighty alicorn was at peace for the moment, silently sipping on a cup of lapsang suchong and browsing in a newspaper. There was an article about Fluttershy in the paper and below her picture Celestia could read:

"The face of evil. Fluttershy, the deranged and incompetent tyrant ruler of Equestria, was widely known for her cruelty. She ordered her elite troops, the Pegasus Brigade of Death and Destruction, to blow up the railway in an attempt to murder princess Celestia. Before she was deposed in a glorious revolution she destroyed the ancient castle of Canterlot in a terrible flood. It is believed that Rainbow Dash, a formerly well liked flying hero before she was corrupted by Fluttershy's evil, was instrumental in the flooding of the catacombs. Thankfully nopony was killed, despite the dictator's murderous intentions." 

The princess put her cup down on the table in front of the throne. It was a plastic garden table with one leg missing. Since the flooding her economy was virtually nonexistant and Celestia had to put all of her taxpayer's money into the rebuilding of Canterlot. She had also been forced to double the taxes for her subjects. There was not a penny left for her to put in the royal piggybank. 
There was a knock on the door to her throne room. Since the castle had been utterly destroyed Celestia had moved into Applejack's barn, which she now insisted on referring to as "the throne room". 
"Please enter," she said.
The door swung ajar and her younger sister appeared. Princess Luna, the real one and not one of her many doubles, was unusually early this time. She was not a pony that appreciated the early mornings and she seldom showed up before dinnertime. She looked tired and worn out.
"Ah, my dear sister... It's always such a pleasure to see you. In good health, I trust?" Celestia said with a grin. 
"Mmm..." Luna nodded. 
"Good, good... there is still some tea left if you want it."
"No, but thank you for your kind offer. I am not thirsty enough to enjoy this beverage. I will very soon be going to bed. I have been awake all night..."
"Of course." 
"...managing the budget. We will be be completely impecunious in about a month."
"Ah, so we're going to be broke? Then we'll take another loan from the Crystal Empire. I'm sure Cadance will understand about the precarious nature of our financial situation."
Luna looked down into the carpet. Her ears were pinned. 
"But dear sister... How are we ever going to repay her? This project will swallow all of her money too and it will take us many years to complete. How will we be able to even pay the interest?"
Celestia scratched her magical, flowing mane. Her gilded crown that went lost in all the turmoil had been replaced with a cheap copy made from aluminium cans.
"That's simple, little sister... I have a plan. We are not going to use this money to rebuild the castle right away... Instead we will use most of it to pay the interest so that Cadance will think that she'll eventually get more money back than she lent us. Word will spread and soon everypony will want to throw their money at us in hope of getting more money back. Of course we will use that money too in the same manner..."
Luna rubbed her chin with a baffle expression on her face. 
"I am not completely following your logic..." 
"And the pile of money will grow and grow and grow..." Celestia said with a cunning twinkle in her eyes.
"And what will happen then? How are we going to pay them back after we have borrowed all this money? Pray tell, dear sister!"
"That's the beauty of the plan. Once we have all the money we will change it to Griffonian dollars and then we'll devaluate the Equestrian bits by printing a lot of paper money. The ensuing inflation will eat away all our debts like a swarm of parasprites."
Luna couldn't believe what she just heard. Her sister was planning to scam her subjects for money!
"But Celestia! That plan is both immoral and unjust! It will ruin the lives of thousands of ponies! Perhaps millions." 
"I know that very well... But I am desperate, Luna... If I could, I would do anything else. But I see no other choice. If we don't do this little scheme our great castle will never be rebuilt... As I see it, the money that they will lend us is probably money that they can do without... mostly. What is a few billions of bits worth compared to the history of Equestria? Canterlot was the castle of the old unicorn nobility and I refuse to let it go the same way as our ancestral home... The home that we both destroyed, may I remind you."


*    *    *


Fluttershy was sitting on a chair in her cell, surrounded by guards with their weapons aimed at her while the prison's barber were clipping the feathers on her wings with a pair of scissors. It was a standrad procedure with pegasi-prisoners and parrots alike. If the feathers were cut short she wouldn't be able to take off and fly away.
The pale pony was not at all amused by this and she felt humiliated every time they did it. The wings of a pegasus was a very important part of its appearance and she didn't like it when ponies she didn't trust were handling them. She also thought she looked like a chicken with her feathers clipped.
"Now, my fair princess, we're done with this little wingie..." the barber said with a chuckle. 
He was an old, white-maned pony with a bowtie and thick glasses. His mane was thin and combed over the baldness of his head. Fluttershy frowned at him. 
"And now we'll have a look at the next little one, ho ho ho..."
Fluttershy stretched out her other wing without a word. For a brief moment she fantasised about grabbing the scissors and stabbing the old fool in the eye with them. Of course she would never do such a thing. She was not a violent pony but when pushed too far even she would snap. And that was why the guards were needed. 
"Heh, I'll sure miss the sight of you when you're out of here," the barber said and adjusted the dusty old glasses on his snout. "The other one is not nearly as interesting as you. He never says a word and of course he have no cute little wings so I don't get to trim him. I hope to see you soon again after your release from prison." 
"Release? What are you talking about?" Fluttershy asked. 
"Oh, haven't you heard? You're about to be released from prison tomorrow. I thought everypony around here knew that."
"No... I didn't. Why has nopony told me?"
The guard pointed his spear at Fluttershy.
"That's because nopony likes you! Now shut your mouth! Fraternizing with the staff is strictly prohibited, you criminal scum!"
"Wait! Why are you clipping my wings if I'm about to be released?!" she yelled and tried to pull her wing away from the barber. 
"Hold still, please! Whopsy daisy!" the barber said as he slipped with his scissors and cut her right in the flesh. 
"OW!!" Fluttershy cried as she felt the sting of pain in her wing. 
"Shut your mouth and keep still!" the guard screamed on top of his lungs. "Or else I will terminate your release!"

At that precise moment Fluttershy's eyes turned dark with rage. She hated that guard. Hated, hated, hated him... Hated his arrogance, his cruelty, his unjustness and the way he treated her. She felt the rage flow through her body like she was burning up inside. She wasn't scared of him nor his colleagues. She wanted to throw herself at him and bite his throat like a panther. But she didn't. She just remained still and vowed to listen carefully for a chance to hear his name, look him up in the phone book and then calmly set his house on fire.


*    *    *


Twilight Sparkle was enjoying a cup of coffee in a small café in Baltimare's harbour. She liked the city, although it was very different from Ponyville. She and her friends had moved here since Fluttershy's transferal to the high security prison. There were two main reasons for this; one was that it would be much easier for them to visit the poor pegasus this way and the other was the severe criticism that Twilight had received from the townsponies for her handling of the situation. She had done all she could do to prevent the disaster at Canterlot, but for some ponies this wasn't enough. A persistent rumour claimed that she was the one responsible for the flooding of the catacombs. Now she just wanted to lay low for a while.

Twilight turned a page in her book about Pegasi Behaviour and Physiology. It detailed the subject of how pegasi were different from unicorns in matters of body language because of their wings. The wings were the windows to their souls. If a pegasus's wings suddenly became spread out it was a sign of excitement. That was interesting, Twilight thought... She had to immediately put this theory to test. 
"Rainbow Dash?" she asked.
"Yeah?" Rainbow answered from across the table.
"Think of something that arouses you." 
"What?!" 
"You know, perhaps a stallion... or mare, for that matter, that you have a crush on."
Rainbow Dash looked at her in disbelief. 
"Why?" she asked.
"I want to see if my theory is correct."
Rainbow Dash gave her a suspicious look. 
"No, I won't fall for that... Sounds like some kind of prank to me," she said.
"It's for scientific purposes only," Twilight assured and grabbed her quill and paper.  
"Hah, I don't buy it! You can't trick me that easy, you sneaky egghead."
"Okay then... I can always try my theory on Fluttershy."


*    *    *


Meanwhile, but several days of travel away, two ponies were trotting along a pier in a small harbour north of Vanhoover. The oldest of them wore a naval captain's hat and he had a white beard and a pipe in his snout. The other appeared to be some kind of bureaucrat. He had a necktie and glasses. 
"Are you fully familiar with the precise nature of our plans now, captain?" he asked. 
"Arr."
"Good... Discretion is a virtue in matters like these, as you can easily understand. In times like these we must carry out our duty with utmost diligence and without unnecessary misunderstandings. I believe my economical assistant has explained the financial details of our little excursion?" 
"Narr," the captain said and shook his beard. 
The bureaucrat immediately opened up his briefcase and gave the captain a huge wad of freshly printed bills. 
"And you will get the rest when the package is delivered to its destination. I have already spoken with the admiral and he has agreed to let us proceed without further delay. So your back will be fully covered once this mission is underway."
The captain gave him a broad grin as he browsed through the bills. 
"Arr, did ye bribe him too?" 
"No. Admiral Horsestvensky is not a pony whose loyalty can be bought with money... No offense, of course... He is a trusted friend to our cause and he understands the importance of this mission. He knows the hoped outcome of this plan and he fully supports it..."
"Garr... And what's that? What's the hoped outcome?"
"A new regime of Equestria. One that is not riddled with incompetence on all levels of command..."
> Released from prison?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy stared at the old goat in front of her. For he was in fact a real goat, just like the two goats that Iron Will had brought with him to Ponyville for over a year ago. He was the prison warden, and that was indeed something for a goat to achieve. He looked like he was in his eighties and he had a beard and a white tonsure of hair around his bald head.  
"You'll have to be recorded before you're officially released," the goat said in a bleating voice.  
"Um... okay..."
"There are a few way we can do this, and the choice is yours."
"It is?" 
"Ah, yes... On a clear day you chance upon a strange animal, its leg trapped in a hunter's clawsnare. Judging from the bleeding it will not survive long. What do you do?"
"Oh no! That's horrible!" 
"This is only a routine question to test how prison life has affected your moral compass, please answer it correctly." 
"I... I will try to help it and take it home and nurse it back to health," Fluttershy said, almost breaking down in tears at the thought of this poor, suffering animal.
"Interesting. I was hoping you would draw your dagger, mercifully ending its life with a single thrust."
"Oh, no I couldn't... But if I didn't it would suffer. No! I would have to kill it... But I can't do it! I don't know what to do... And I don't even have a dagger. I only have some kitchen knifes and the are really dull so that no animal can accidently hurt itself on them."
"Take your papers and go see captain Gravius," the goat concluded. 
And a very confused Fluttershy left the room.

In the next room an elderly pony with sunglasses waited behind a counter. 
"Prisoner number two. Step forward," he yelled. 
Fluttershy walked up to the counter and the old pony put a cardboard box in front of her. 
"Her is your belongings; Two pairs of hoofboots, black and silver plated. One crown, black and silver plated. One gorget, black and silver plated. Two saddle bags, standard army issue."
The sight of her old crown made Fluttershy's heart tremble with guilt. It was the most glaring evidence of her many crimes. She vowed to have it melted down as soon as possible and donate the precious metal to charity. Without making eye contact she scooped everything up and turned around to leave the room. With trembling hooves she opened the saddle bags and shoved down all of her evil regalia. When she did that, she noticed that there was something stuck in the folds of one of the bags. She felt it with her hoof and she immediately noticed what is was; a thick wad of banknotes!

"Oh, my!" she gasped. 
The elderly pony looked at her. 
"Is there something wrong?" 
"Eh... um... no. Not at all! He he, I'm just... just very delighted to... to... feel the inside of a saddle bag. I really like... um... saddle bags. They are so... um... delightful."
The captain gave her a very awkward look. 
"I see... May I suggest you go and feel the inside of your saddle bags somewhere else?"
"Um... okay..."

Fluttershy opened the door and slowly walked towards the prison gates. The sun was shining very brightly on a blue sky and the autumn had painted the threes in wonderful colours of yellow and orange. Celestia's sun smiled towards Fluttershy and she smiled back. She felt a sudden burst of joy in her heart and she couldn't believe that she'd finally been released from prison. Fluttershy had only been kept here for a few months but it felt like she had been jailed for eternity. She smiled like only a happy pony could smile. Now her life would soon be back to normal, she thought. 
When she passed the guards at the gate, she showed them her papers. The guards gave her a quick look and nodded silently. 
"Thank you," she said and proceeded through the open gate. 

When outside the prison Fluttershy found herself on a road that went through a little forest of beech trees. This was a very calm place and she turned around and took one last look at the High Security Prison. She hoped that she'd never see that place again. But there was one thing that bothered her... Where were her friends? Fluttershy had hoped for them to be here and greet her as soon as she was released. But nopony had shown up. That was strange... Perhaps they didn't know that she would be released this day? 
"Where are they? Where is Rainbow Dash and where are Twilight and Applejack and Pinkie and Rarity? she asked to herself.
Fluttershy felt very confused and lost. She didn't know her way in Baltimare and didn't know in which direction she should walk to get to the centre of the city. She could go back to the prison and ask for directions, but Fluttershy really didn't want to do that in fear of somehow getting dragged back in and thrown into a cell. 
"Fluttershy, I presume?" a voice suddenly asked from behind. 

Fluttershy turned around. She saw a pony with sunglasses and a trench coat. Her mane was red or possibly orange and she wore some kind of name tag.
"Agent Sulky, Equestrian Bureau of Investigation."
"Oh... my..." 
Fluttershy knew that the EBI was a government agency under Equestria's Department of Justice. It investigated crimes, probably, but nopony knew exactly what it did since there were not many crimes in the magical land of Equestria. Until recently, of course...
"Come with me," the agent said and pulled Fluttershy with her towards a black carriage that was drawn by a mule in a similar outfit. He introduced himself as "Agent Muleder". Those two would really stand out from a crowd, had there been a crowd here. But there was no crowd and the three of them were the only ponies (or mules) present. 
"Wait! Please! Where are you taking me?" Fluttershy cried when agent Sulky pushed her into the carriage, using her head as a battering ram in the same way as Pinkie Pie had done when she made a fool out of herself at the grand galloping gala, as Rarity had told her. 
"To safety! Now, get in!"


*     *     *


Meanwhile Rainbow Dash was impatiently waiting in the kitchen of the small hostel where she and her friends rented their room. She was baking a sponge cake in the oven and as soon as it was ready she would wrap it in tinfoil and fly with it to the prison.
But the cake wasn't ready yet! The baking dragged on... She was very annoyed and for the seventh time she opened the oven hatch and scanned the cake with her gaze. It STILL wasn't ready! It wasn't even warm yet! 
"I have had it with you, you stupid cake!" she cried and slammed the hatch shut. "Why can't you be DONE yet?! You... you... BUCKING piece of mule-dung! Be done! Even my old Tank is faster!"

Rainbow Dash sat down on the floor and shook her hooves in silent frustration towards the old oven in front of her. The worst thing about baking was that it was clear for everypony that all of her friends were more experienced than her in this art. And that made her feel like an unskilled rookie. A feeling that she deeply dreaded.
Yet she had, in a weak moment that she had often regretted, baked a cake to Fluttershy. And Fluttershy seemed to love the cake for some reason, despite that it was horrible. This had led Rainbow Dash into believing that she somehow over time could master the art of baking and this was the reason for her constant attempts.

What's the matter, Rainbow?" Twilight asked from behind. 
"The stupid cake won't do as I want! I hate baking! And I'm already late for my visit to Flutters!"
"I'm sure she won't be going anywhere soon," Twilight said. 
"Well... that's true, but I still hate baking. It's boring, lame and definitely uncool! said Rainbow and threw her apron on the floor. (It was in fact Spike's apron that she had borrowed without asking him. One could wonder why in the name of Celestia a pony like Rainbow Dash wore an apron, but she had somehow gotten the impression that an apron was absolutely vital to all forms of bakery. To her it was just an overly complicated and mysterious process like Twilight's magic.)

"Is the oven warm yet?" the unicorn asked. 
"No!" 
"Well... perhaps it's broken in some way? If you want, I could easily disassemble the oven to see if the mechanical, or even more likely, the electrical components are damaged?" 
"Thanks, Twilight... But wouldn't that stuff take like forever?" 
"No. It could be done in one or two hours. I have read a book about electric equipment and I'm eager to study it in detail. There are almost no electric appliances in Ponyville, you know, and I find it fascinating to..."
"Two hours?! I don't have two hours for this lousy cake!"
"Or perhaps it could be done in a much shorter time. This oven is not turned on."

"Screw this! I'm outta here!" said Rainbow Dash and grabbed the cold baking tin from the oven. She spilled some of the mixture on the floor but was to busy to notice. "I'll just tell her it's supposed to be this way, like a cake-soup."
"Cake-soup?" 
"When cake isn't black and charred, it can usually be eaten from a bowl just like soup."


*     *     *


Many kilometres from Baltimare a certain princess was greeting the emissaries from the Democratic Republic of Western Griffonia. Applejack's old barn was lit up by several chandeliers that hung from the beams in the ceiling. Over the straw a pair of big, red carpets had been placed. And in the middle of the room stood Celestia herself. She wore so much make-up that her sister had asked if there would be a lion tamer too, since the clown had already entered the circus. For this comment Luna had been banished to her room.

The emissaries all wore suites in a dull, greyish colour. Celestia had left her shabby tin-can-crown and instead she had decorated her mane with a few gems that she had claimed in a sudden and improvised taxation of Rarity's boutique. She and Luna had furiously, and in the middle of the night, rummaged through the unicorn's drawers when she was away and found a crude picture of Rarity and Sweetie Belle adorned with blue gems. Those gems now sparkled in the princess's mane. 
"I wish you a true, honest and warm welcome from the bottom of my heart!" said Celestia with a very wide smile as the emissaries bowed their heads. 

Featherweight's unwashed snout suddenly poked in trough the window of the barn and he pointed his camera towards the scene. A pink glow of magic gently pushed it away. 
"I want no pictures of this meeting whatsoever, thank you. Now, leave us please."
Celestia then carefully shut the window and pulled the curtains over it. 
"Gentlecolts... Eh, I mean gentlegriffons, we have some important matters to discuss. As you may know, my castle in Canterlot is undergoing a somewhat complicated renovation process... This is a necessary investment to help carry the tradition of pony architecture into the next century and to preserve it to our grandchildren. Also, this will stimulate the job market and thus provide a well needed growth to our economy. I would like to offer Western Griffonia a chance to be a part of this exiting journey by providing your glorious nation a very lucrative investment opportunity."

The griffonian emissary, an old griffon with a big birthmark on his forehead, coughed. Perhaps he didn't appreciate the four centilitres of perfume that the princess had doused herself in? Celestia really wanted to look and smell as best as she could but now she began to realize that she perhaps had overdone it. 
"Is there something wrong?" she asked.
"No... I am just a bit... cough... I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" 
"I'm just a bit confused by this overwhelming friendliness... Not that I disapprove of it, of course, but it's a bit... how do you say... unused to me."
"Really?" Celestia asked with an even wider smile. Little pearls of sweat began to emerge on her brow. West Griffonian cooperation was a vital part of her plan since the many copies of her younger sister had already invaded Eastern Griffonia. 
"I do want to promote the peaceful cooperation and competition between our glorious nations," the emissary said. 
"Of course. And what is your opinion of the matters at hoof? Might your leaders be interested in joining our impending economical growth?"
"Perhaps." 
"I can assure you that it is a great opportunity," Celestia said, smiling so hard that she almost began to feel a cramp in her face. 
"Perhaps."
"If you lend us money we will repay you at an interest rate of ten percent. How do you like that?"
"Perhaps. The Griffonian economy has already many commitments that needs to be fulfilled..." said the emissary.
"Ten percent every MONTH!" Celestia boasted with a twitch in her eye.  

The emissary's jaw (or rather, the lower part of his beak) dropped. 

 
> 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."
 
> Blistered hooves
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buttercup was a yellow earth pony with a butter churn as her cutie mark. She was on her way to Baltimare to sell her own, home-produced butter to the townspoines in the big city. Her butter was the finest butter in the north east of Equestria, she believed, and many ponies would testify that she was right in her assumption. For Buttercup's butter was truly a very good and nutritious complement to the food, made from only the finest cow milk.
Now she trotted along the road, happily singing for herself. Her saddle bags were filled with packages of butter and ice packs to keep the butter from melting.
"Butter, butter. I like butter... la la la..." she sang, cheerful as only a very, very cheerful pony could be. 

Suddenly she saw a sight that almost made the heart jump in her chest. It was light yellow pegasus, slowly limping towards her. The poor creature looked like it had been in some sort of horrifying accident; its wings had lost many of their feathers, its mane and tail were torn and frayed and it had a blackened eye. Slowly the creature focused on her with an unsteady, cyan-coloured gaze. It opened its mouth and spoke:
"Um..."
Buttercup, who had became nearly paralyzed by the chock of seeing a pony such a state, slowly came back to her senses. 
"Oh! You poor thing...  What in the name of Celestia happened to you? Should I get an ambulance?" she asked as she hurried to help the pony.
"Yes, please... And do you have a Band-Aid?"
"No... but I do have some ice packs in my saddle bags. Here, take this... Wait here while I run and get the ambulance! Soon we'll get you to the hospital..." 
"Thanks, but... But the ambulance is not for me. There are two other ponies further down the road that are in much, much worse shape. They need it more. I'll just take the ice pack for my eye, and then I'll be going... Baltimare is in that direction? Right?"
"Wait, what? There are others too? Where you in a traffic accident?" Buttercup asked.
"Um... no, it was not really... an accident."


*    *    *


Meanwhile, but in Ponyville, a certain princess was hiding behind a tree... Celestia had managed to slip away from Granny Smith's ever watching eye for the moment and she intended to stay hidden for the remainder of the day. She didn't like apple bucking at all. In fact, she hated it with an intense fury. 
"That old foal! How dare she order me around to buck apples? I am the princess of the sun! My subjects should fear me! Fear me! Fear... me!" she said, her voice fading to a frustrated whimper as she uttered the last few words. 

Her legs ached from all the bucking and she had blisters underneath her rear hooves. It hurt really bad and on top of that she had stepped in some manure... Celestia was boiling with rage. How could her subjects so completely have lost all respect for her, the mightiest being ever known to ponykind? How had she become such a joke that even an old, wrinkled earth pony like Granny Smith dared to treat her like she was some kind of maid?! A couple of months ago, this would have been utterly unthinkable. But since then her reputation had taken a severe blow. And reputation, not brute force, was the only reliable foundation of power... Nightmare Moon and Fluttershy had never realized that. And as a result their reigns had been chaotic, brutal and short. Now she was temped to follow the same path, despite knowing how such an adventure would most likely end...

"Perhaps I'll smite the old goat..." Celestia said for herself, stroking her chin with a dirty hoof. "Perhaps I'll use just a little magic to gently send her to a much happier place..."
But deep down she realized that she would never do such a thing. Although she liked to fantasise about it for the moment she knew that she could never hurt another living being again... Those days were over and she was very thankful for that. 

"Are you all right... your... uh... princess-ness?" a voice suddenly asked from behind. 
Celestia turned around, quite shocked that somepony had managed to sneak up on her twice this day. They'd better not make a habit of this, she thought... 
It was Big MacIntosh. The red stallion looked at her with his calm, friendly eyes. 
"Yes, I am fine," she said. 
"May I help?" said Big Mac and took a glance at her hooves. "I saw you had some trouble walking..."
Without waiting for a reply he opened up his saddlebag and took out a roll of duct tape. He then clumsily pulled off her gilded hoofshoes and examined the princess's hooves by poking at them. She wasn't particularly delighted by this tactless and fumbling display of medical care. They were indeed blistered and swollen and poking them with his heavy hooves wasn't exactly the first thing an experienced doctor would do.

"This'll help for a while..." he said and put small pieces of tape over the chafes. "You've done great work today, princess." 
Celestia knew he was lying but she didn't feel any need to correct him. After all, it was his sister who was the element of honesty and not him. After all these disasters Celestia really needed all the praise she could get.
"You are a kind and gentle stallion," she said. 
"Eeeyup..."
Big Macintosh blushed under his red fur and looked away. He wasn't that used to receive compliments and when he received them from princess Celestia herself he barely knew what to do or how to act.
"Would you accept my reward?"
"Eh... Eyup?" Big Mac said, not sure what to expect from her. 
"Good. As a reward I shall give you your own bank. How is that for a reward? Not too bad, if I may say so myself."
"Eyu... Nope...?" Big Mac replied in utter shock. 
"Excellent. I will call it The Honest Apple Family Bank. You'll be its manager and you will of course receive a good salary."
"A-a celery?"
"If you whish, my dear MacIntosh..."


*    *    *


"Let me go!" Rainbow Dash cried as she struggled with the ropes that tied her to the warden's chair. 
The bearded unicorn had easily restrained her with a magical spell and now he and the old goat were contemplating her upcoming fate.
"What shall we do with you, my cute little friend..." the unicorn said and stroked his beard. 
"With me?" the old warden-goat asked, utterly perplexed.
"No, not you, you imbecile creature! The spy-pony, of course! Go and keep watch in the hallway... What I'm about to do might be slightly illegal and highly unethical."
"Y-you aren't going to hurt her, are you?"
"That's none of your concern, warden."

"Let me go now, or I will get very angry. And you won't like me when I'm angry," said Rainbow with a glare towards the unicorn.
"No, I can't do that... How much did you hear of our little conversation? And have you read these classified files? Yes, of course you have read them... Snooping as usual, I see... Well, perhaps we should take you to the admiral? But on the other hoof, that would make a long and boring trip and I'm not sure if that'll be worth the effort. No, I'll just use my memory spell to wipe your mind clean and then I'll release you back into the wild."
"Just let me go! And I want to see that Fluttershy is okay. If you have hurt her in any way, I swear to Celestia..."
"Celestia? Celestia can't help you. She is incompetent and weak. She has no money anymore, no castle, no power... She is practically a worthless shadow of her former glory. All that time we have feared this... this feeble clown! Isn't it funny? Bah! Now everypony can see how weak she really is."
"NO! She is not like that!"
"Are you denying that she has lost most of her power? Are you denying that she most likely has severe deficiencies in her budget? I am a trained psychologist, you know, and I can recognize denial when I see it," the unicorn said and started to play with his cigar, slowly shaking it up and down as he spoke. 
"You're insane!" Rainbow Dash said. 
"No. Now you're just projecting your inner anxiety on me... I am not insane. And besides, you do not possess the sufficient education to produce a valid diagnosis of my mental state. You clearly have a troubled mind... Perhaps I'll do you a favour when I remove your memories?"
"Well, perhaps I do you a favour when I... I remove... some... stuff and... eh... things from... from your... house?"
There was an awkward silence. 

"What? What in the name of Equestria could you possibly mean by that?" the psychologist said, truly baffled.
"I was just thinking of an awesome comeback to say before I break loose and kick your flank!" 
"Oh. You kind of failed at that."


*    *    *


Agent Sulky slowly got up on her hooves, helped by two ambulanceponies. She immediately felt a stinging pain in her leg. The carriage she had been riding was lying upside down in a ditch and her fancy trench coat looked like it had actually been in the trenches... She wasn't sure what had happened exactly, but somehow that pale pony had gone berserk. She had fought like a rabid wolverine and bited like a serpent.
With a trembling hoof Sulky reached for the sunglasses in her pocket. They were broken in half. 
"Bucking hay..." the disorientated pony mumbled. 
"Are you in pain?" one of the ambulanceponies asked with a worried look on her face. "You have a sprained ankle and a few scratches... We'll take you to the hospital right away! Your friend is being taken there right now as we speak. He is not that much injured, only a little bruised and a deep bite wound on his tail."
"And what about the pegasus?" Sulky asked.
"What pegasus?"
"The butter-colored pegasus with a pink mane and butterflies as a cutie mark?" 
"I don't know... However that description does sound highly familiar... It reminds me of somepony I read about in a magazine not long ago."
"Yes, it does, doesn't it?"

Agent Sulky cursed silently when she was being loaded into the back of the ambulance carriage. Being taken to the hospital for a sprained ankle! What a waste of her valuable time... Sulky was about to protest, but before she could open her mouth an ambulancepony had already shut the door behind her.
"That's just great... Now we have a just-out-of-prison Fluttershy roaming free without any supervision..."


*    *    *


Meanwhile Twilight Sparkle was reading a book. She was blissfully unaware of the recent events that had transpired. She didn't know that Fluttershy was on the run from a strange and shadowy conspiracy, that Rainbow Dash was being held captive by a slightly disturbing psychologist and that princess Celestia was planning to scam her own subjects out of their money. She had other concerns for the time being.

"What a fascinating book about pegasus behaviour," she said to herself as she eyed through the pages containing information about the hidden language of pegasi wings. "When the Pegasus is excited, its wings become spread out..."
"Ya seem an awful lot interested in that particular subject," Applejack said from across the room. "Ah'm startin' to think that you're up to some mischief?"
"No, Applejack... I'm just very curious."
"Are you sure, Sugarcube?"
"Yes. There is absolutely nothing of the sort going on... Mischief, that is. I'm just very interested in extending my knowledge in many areas, and this is just a coincidence that you somehow managed to hear me mention it two or three times. So there is most definitely no mischief going on in any way. It's very strange that you would even think that I would have some mischief in mind. Being interested in pegasi behaviour is perfectly normal and not at all suspicious in any way," Twilight explained, her face slowly turning red.
"Well, if you say so, then Ah guess that there is no mischief..."
"Of course not. And why would it be? Haha, how ridiculous... It's not like I'm obsessed with it in any way and my interest in that matter is purely academic."
"Ah see... Speaking of pegasi, where is Rainbow Dash? Ah thought she'd be back by now?"
"I don't know... She went to see Fluttershy in prison. But that was several hours ago... I wonder what they're up to?" Twilight said, desperate to change the subject as fast as possible. When Applejack looked away she hid a small notebook under a pillow. On its cover she had written: Butterfly and Iridescent -A romantic love story.


*    *    *


The sun was setting behind the silhouette of the apple trees of the Sweet apple acres. A long day's work had finally come to an end and it was now suppertime at the farm. Granny Smith looked at the baskets filled with freshly bucked apples just outside the orchard's fence. She had to admit for herself that the results weren't that impressive, but the old pony decided do not bring that subject up at the table. She assumed that they each and everyone had done their very best and that it would be impolite to be anything but happy with what help she could get. Every little bit counted, especially now when Applejack was away in Baltimare, doing whatever it was that she was doing. 

"Come on, everypony! It's suppertime!" she cried. 
Had she carried a watch she would have noticed that the sun went down unusually early this day. 
"Come and eat! The supper is ready!"
Applebloom and Big Mac soon showed up, followed by two tired princesses. Luna looked like she had been to Tartarus and back; her mane was a blue, ruffled mess with twigs and leaves sticking out of it and her legs were covered in ant bites. She didn't look particularly happy, but compared to Celestia she seemed like a ray of sunshine. The elder sister was limping and her coat was dusty. Her flowing mane was not so flowing anymore and she had small, soggy bits of crushed apple all over it. She was not pleased with the situation at all. 
"Thank you for helping out with the apples," Granny Smith said. "That was much appreciated. And a hard day's work is good for the appetite, too. I have made some of my finest apple pie!"
"How kind of you..." Celestia murmured.

Soon they were all seated at the kitchen table and enjoying the delicious pie that Granny had prepared for them. 
"This baked dish is highly flavorous! We find this very delightful," said Luna as she levitated a big piece of pie in the air in front of her. 
"Thank you! You're so sweet."
"Will you be helping us tomorrow too?" Apple Bloom asked, looking at the princesses across the table. 
There was a sudden silence. Celestia immediately stuffed a big piece of pie into her mouth and Luna started to fidget with her chair. 
"Well, dear Apple Bloom, I... I think that depends on... on a variety of factors... eh... that have great significance for... several..."
"Mff... Luna is of course more than happy to help," Celestia said between the bites. "I will gladly let you borrow her for the whole day if you want..."
"Sister!"
"No, I'm fully convinced that you can handle this alone. I need to be in my room, taking care of important tasks to ensure the wellbeing of my subjects. They are always my number one concern..."
"Tis absurd! I have subjects too!" protested Luna. 
"No, Luna. You only have a handful of ponies with bat wings and they will most likely be asleep during the day while I have to manage the whole of Equestria."
Luna looked at her sister with an angry frown. 
"And pray tell, dear sister, how has thy management played out lately?"
"Luna! That's enough!"
"Oh, hush! Both of you! This was meant to be a nice little supper, but you two are just impossible! Eat your pie and keep quiet until you have something nice to say to each others!"

And so they ate the rest of the supper in silence.
 
 
> A d-dangerous pony?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The unicorn psychologist stubbed out his cigar against the portrait of princess Celestia. 
"And now, my little pegasus, I shall wipe your memory clean. After I'm done your mind will be as blank as a blank-flank's flank. You will forget your name, your friends and, most importantly, those documents... I would like to tell you to remember this little lesson in what happens when you snoop around in things that are out of your league, but then again I know that is by definition impossible."
"LET ME GO!!!!" Rainbow Dash screamed, struggling furiously in her chair. "Don't do it! Please, don't do it! My friends are the most important thing in my life! I'll do anything you want, just don't destroy my memory!"
"You'll do anything?"
"YES! Anything!"
The unicorn stroke his beard. 
"If you only knew what twisted implications that brings to life in my mind as a psychologist... I... I have to smoke another cigar! Immediately!"

Rainbow Dash felt slightly nauseous, like she was about to vomit. She couldn't guess exactly what the psychologist was referring to, but she assumed that it had to be something very, very disgusting. She hated being treated like a damsel in distress. It went against every fibre of her being and her very soul. She had to break loose!

After a few deep inhalations the unicorn looked directly at Dash with an evil smile on his face. 
"I want you to... wear a tall, powdered wig and dress like a rococo-age queen! And then maybe drink tea from a porcelain cup and perhaps wave around with a little handfan..." he said with a squeeing look in his eyes.
"NO WAY!!! That's totally uncool! I will never do such a thing!"
"But please consider how adorably cute you would look!"
"Sorry, but this pony doesn't do cute... This pony is all about the awesomeness!"
"Very well, then... That makes no difference as I would have wiped your mind anyway."

"Oh, drat."

The unicorn's horn lit up with a bright, magic light. His eyes turned glowing white and his beard started to spark with static electricity. 
"AAAaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Rainbow Dash screamed, closing her eyes and trying to turn her head away.
She felt an intense heat on her forehead, slowly spreading towards the middle of her skull. Thousands upon thousands of small lights flickered on her retina as the world spun around her. Then everything went black.


*     *     *


Fluttershy was lost. For several hours she had wandered around in the woods outside Baltimare, confused and scared. She didn't dare to take the main road as she feared to be recaptured by the police or some others of Celestia's numerous goons. She really didn't want to be taken to Flutter Island! The thought of that horrible place sent shivers down her spine and almost brought her to tears...

And now it was dark outside. Being lost in a dark, scary forest was the number one thing that Fluttershy feared the most. All the trees looked like terrifying creatures, reaching for her with their branches. At this moment she remembered what Pinkie had told her; to laugh at things that scared her. 
"Ha... ha... ha..." she tried. 
But that didn't help this time! How she wished that Pinkie was there! Or Rainbow Dash! Or Twilight... 

"W-well... trees. You are scaring me... But I think that you are the ones that should be scared," Fluttershy said for herself. "You can try and scare me all you want, and that's probably not very hard to do... But bear in mind that when I'm scared I am the most dangerous! That's right! I am the one that forced Celestia from her throne! I am the one that enslaved the residents of Canterlot, waged war against the Crystal empire and did numerous other evil deeds! And do you really want to take your chances with a pony that's just out of prison? What if I'm dangerous? You never know when I could attack! Perhaps with a knife or a broken bottle... I'm a dangerous and desperate pony! Be aware!"

Fluttershy laughed her most evil laugh, and to her surprise she felt much less scared. She was a dangerous pony! And it felt wonderful... She knew that it was wrong to think this way but for the time being she really enjoyed being an evil, dangerous pony that even nature itself must fear. Perhaps the trees were afraid of her? They'd better be!

"Mwahahaha!" she laughed as she sneaked around, pretending to hunt for an unsuspecting prey. She was comparable to Nightmare Moon, Discord and Queen Chrysalis! Fluttershy, a name that was to be feared all across Equestria...

After another hour she saw a flickering light among the trees. She was cold and hungry and the prospect of sharing the comforting warmth of a friendly campfire in the company of some nice ponies proved irresistible to her. She picked up the pace and trotted towards the fire. 

But when she got closer, she saw that there were no ponies there. Instead there was a pack of big, menacing diamond dogs. Fluttershy hid among the undergrowth. She counted the dogs. There were seven of them. Now she really felt how cold it was outside... As soon as they would leave she would sneak up and steal the last warmth of the fire. 

But the dogs didn't leave. They just sat there, talking and passing around a jug of some unknown beverage. The sight made her realize how thirsty she was. She had nothing to drink and nothing to eat... How she wished that she could just walk over and join them as she would have done if they were ponies. But she was too scared... Or was she? Was she really scared? The most dangerous and evil pony in the whole of Equestria? She couldn't decide... And now her nose begun to run. 

"...and then I jumped out and caught that stuck-up unicorn clothes designer by her horn!" said one of the dogs, gesturing wildly in the air. "And I robbed her of all of her diamonds! I remember even calling her a mule before I left... You should have seen the look on her face." 
"Arr... those were the days. How long has it been since we even saw a diamond last? I haven't stolen any diamonds this month. It's a bleak season, I say..."
"Indeed. Ever since that wretched Celestia doubled the taxes ponies can't afford to buy any diamonds longer. She has killed the market, that greedy cur!"
"She has made the ponies hide their diamonds to avoid having them taken away in her numerous tax drives. The princess robs her country of its wealth."
"We sure live in a strange time..."

Suddenly there was a muffled sound from the undergrowth.
"Pfff!" 
"What was that?!"
"PFFTH!!" 
It was Fluttershy who sneezed...


*     *     *


Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. The room around her was some kind of office. She had a headache and she felt a bit nauseous... And there was an unpleasant smell of something burnt still lingering in the air. She sat in a comfortable chair, dangling her legs. There was a desk in front of her. 
"What a nice desk," she said. 
She looked around. On the wall was a picture of a beautiful pony with a tiara... Maybe some kind of royalty? That was very likely. Perhaps a queen or a princess? She didn't know.  

Rainbow got up and walked around in her office. To the left she found a wardrobe. When she opened it she found some clothes... mostly blue uniform jackets and visor caps and ties and shirts. They looked like they had never been used... Strange, she thought.
"Hello?" she asked. 
To her surprise she got an answer, a faint whimper coming from the floor. She looked down and saw an old bearded unicorn, nearly passed out and hyperventilating. The creature's horn was burnt, most likely due to some kind of magic accident. He certainly didn't look very well, but she couldn't see any other injuries on his body. 

"Who are you? And what are you doing in my office?" she demanded. 
"Uuhh..."
"Wait here while I go and look for somepony who can take care of this..."

She opened the door and peered down the corridor. There was a sign with the text "WARDEN'S OFFICE". Of course. She was the prison warden! That made so much sense! That was the reason why she had all these uniforms! Quickly she returned to her office and tried to put on one of them, but it was impossible since her wings were in the way... She had to get them sent to the tailor as soon as possible, she thought. 
"I wonder what I look like..." she said and took a good look at her reflection in the mirror. "Oh. I look totally dashing! Rainbow-colored mane, awesome tail... I'm probably the coolest prison warden in this... this... place?"

Rainbow Dash then neatly stacked the documents on the desk. Those were classified files... Who would have placed them there, lying around like that? They must be stored in a safe where they belonged. 
"Do you know anything about these files?" she asked the unicorn. 
"Ooow... my head... my poor head..." 
"Have you read any of these files? You know that these are classified files, don't you?" 
"Get me a doctor..." the unicorn moaned. 
"Of course! You poor thing... How could I forget?"

The door opened and an old goat appeared. 
"You're finally awake, pony? Quick, follow me!" he cried. 
"Thank Celestia... who ever that might be... that you're here, doctor! Help me with this poor unicorn. His horn appear to be damaged."
"No, we don't have time with that! You must follow me! You are in danger... There is a conspiracy! I'll explain later, but now we must go!"
"A conspiracy? Are we involved or are we the targets, doctor?"
"We were involved, but now we are the targets... sort of. Never mind, just follow me! We must get away from this prison!"
"Of course! I'm the fastest prison warden in Equestria, you know!"
"Good! But let's hurry up before the others come! There are numerous spies among the prison guards! And I should know, because I'm involved myself!"
"Are you a spy?"
"I will explain later! Now, follow me!"


*     *     *


"Is there anyone there?" the biggest of the diamond dogs asked as he pushed the undergrowth aside.
A terrified Fluttershy emerged from the bushes. She was almost too scared to talk, shaking from cold and nearly about to cry. What would these diamond dogs do to her? Would they attack her and gobble her up?! She didn't know... Her only chance of saving herself was to scare them, she thought. She was a dangerous pony, after all! 

"And who the buck are you?" the diamond dog asked.
"I am the one they fear," she said, trying to sound as dark and evil as possible.
"Who?"
"I think you should know my name by now, dog."
"Are you...?"
"Yes. I am Fluttershy, the one that brought Celestia to her knees."

The diamond dogs looked at her with suspicion in their faces. They rubbed their chins. 
"She doesn't look very evil... She is too adorable to be feared by anyone."
"And what evil pony has a pink mane and cute little butterflies on her flank? That's not very evil... Butterflies are nice things. And if she really is evil, one might think that she should have something nasty as her cutie mark. Perhaps a skull or some kind of weapon? Maybe a blood-dripping dagger! Or a knuckleduster?"
"I've heard that there is a kind of knife that is called butterfly knife. Perhaps the butterflies symbolize that weapon?"
"No, then it would look like the weapon and not actual butterflies."
"Yes, that's more logical now when I think about it." 
"Hmmm...."
"Hmmm, indeed... I have heard about a terrible pony with that name who did commit many evil deeds, and her cutie mark is said to be pink butterflies. And as we concluded earlier, this one also has butterflies on her butt."
"Okay, then she really is the evil one... Good! You're welcome to sit down and join us around the fire, princess...? Please tell us about your evil deeds! We got plenty to learn."

Fluttershy sat down close to the fire and the dogs handed her a warm blanket to wrap herself in. 
"Let me introduce ourselves," the leading dog said and made a sweeping gesture towards his pack. "My name is Rood. And here are Doan, Gear, Ganrod, Shan, Baran and Blind."
"How nice to meet you," Fluttershy said. 
"You too. Now, please tell us about your evil ways and what horrific, twisted and dark deeds you are planning to commit!"
"I... I'm planning to commit the evilest deed possible," Fluttershy said, desperately trying to come up wit a really nefarious crime. "I have already robbed the bank, stolen the throne and waged full out war... But soon I will do a really, really bad thing! I will become... a... a pirate! A lawless, dangerous pirate!"
"Wow, Fluttershy... that is really bad," Baran said, his voice filled with awe.
"Thank you."
> Another great plan...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun rose over the Equestrian countryside. A new day, filled with hard labour, was beginning for the poor princess Luna who, despite numerous attempts, hadn't come up with a valid excuse for skipping work. Tired, bitten and blistered she slowly crawled out of her bed and dragged herself down the stairs and out in the kitchen where Granny Smith, Apple Bloom and Big MacIntosh were already seated at the breakfast table. 
"Good morning, princess Luna!" Granny Smith said with a smile. "I've made some pancakes for you... Look! And we even have some of ma good old zap-apple jam. It's delicious!"
"Thank you, Granny Smith..." said Luna and settled on her chair. "How kind of thou to... zzzzzz... to..."
Apple Bloom patted her on the wing just before she nodded off, saving the royal face from descending into the stack of pancakes. 
"Who... What? Where?" she asked, looking around in confusion. 
"Looks like somepony is sleepy!" Apple Bloom said. 
"Who? Me?"
"Eeeyup."
"Here, drink some coffee," Granny said and placed a small cup in front of the princess. 
"Thank you, dear Granny Smith. I highly appreciate this most magical of beverages... Shall I go and... yawn... awake my dear sister?"
"The sun is up... Ah thought she was already awake?" said Apple Bloom.

But then Apple Bloom didn't know the full extent of Celestia's determination to not getting up; The princess had raised the sun from her bed without even putting her hooves on the cold floor. Now she rolled over and tried her best to fall asleep again and not wake up for another two or three hours. Then she would have a nice cup of tea, perhaps stretch her wings a little and then maybe sneak out and buy a couple of chocolate cakes at Sugarcube corner. First after that she would attend to the more pressing matters at hoof... 

But for time being Celestia was happily snoozing away the morning in a warm and cozy world of her own. She liked to fantasise and daydream about all the wonderful things that could happen to her; it mostly involved receiving praise from her loving subjects. As soon as her old Canterlot was fully restored everypony would marvel at the magnificence of her architectural brilliance... "Princess Celestia is so very talented", they would say. "Look what a splendid, marvellous work she has done! Her old parents must be so proud of her, looking down from Ponyheaven, pleased with her dedication to the restoration of the historic edifice of the unicorn nobility..." Of course, all ponies wouldn't be that pleased with her actions... A few rich, stuck up ponies would be angry with her for borrowing too much of their wealth without paying it back, but for the pony on the street she would be a hero... And besides, their money would grow back in no time. What was a few billions worth of bits compared to all the wonderful things she could do?"

Celestia rolled over in bed. She opened her eyes and frowned. Wow, she thought... Was she really that naïve? Of course nopony would regard her as a hero after what she was about to do. Her newly imposed taxes had already sparked some dissent, judging from the angry letters that had started to arrive from all across Equestria. And soon winter would come... Should she tell her subjects to save food for the harsh times ahead or would that lead to an outbreak of panic and pessimism? She couldn't decide. If she choose to warn her subjects they would know that she was behind all of this... But if she didn't inform them, on the other hoof...

"I must remain strong..." she whispered to herself. "I must concentrate on rebuilding my castle at all costs. This is my only chance. If I wait too long it will become impossible. And I will not easily desert the castle that was my home for a thousand years... It's bad enough that I lost the castle where me and Luna used to live."
Luna! The thought of her sent the older sister a sudden feeling of guilt... Not for leaving her with all the work, but for another thing... A certain decision that she was forced to make to obtain the loan. She would probably have to tell Luna about that, eventually... Maybe tomorrow, she thought.

Suddenly a letter appeared from out of nowhere! It landed in her bed. 
"I wonder who that could be," Celestia said and rolled her eyes.

Dear Princess Celestia! 
Rainbow Dash is missing! She hasn't returned from her visit to the prison where you put Fluttershy (please, please release her. I'm sure she has learned her lesson).She has been gone since yesterday and I'm beginning to worry about her. I will go there and investigate today. Also, the season is beginning to change. Cold you please send me some warm clothes? I forgot to pack any and had to borrow a scarf from Rarity. She is very generous but I don't want to borrow her things too often since I'm afraid that I will spill some choco on it and that would really upset her.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle 

P.S I still think you are the best princess.

"Awww, Twilight..."  said Celestia as she felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in her chest. "I must remember to grant her a special tax cut when I raise my new tax on magic. It might seem a bit unfair to my other subjects, but I doubt that anything bad will come from it..."


*    *    *


Meanwhile, but in Baltimare, the two prison wardens were hiding in an old cabin in the woods outside the prison. One was an elderly goat and the other was a very confused pegasus. The goat had lit a fire in the stove and started to cook some porridge. It didn't look particularly tasty. 
"Now, will you explain to me what's happening?" Rainbow Dash requested. 
"Well... that's a long story. Sit down, please..." the goat said and scratched his head with a cloven hoof. "The unicorn with the beard is a famous psychologist who's name is Dr Fetlock... He is the one who runs the mental hospital on Flutter Island, a facility that operates in the guise of being a government project. It's not. It is probably financed by some external agency, but certainly not the Equestrian state under Celestia's rule... And he has done everything in his power to get control over one of our prisoners, a certain Fluttershy... Bribery, threats, lies and more bribery."

Rainbow Dash scratched her mane.
"Fluttershy? That name sounds familiar... And kinda adorable, too."
"Ah, yes. You should know, since you have visited her almost every day during the time of her imprisonment..."
"I have?"
"Yes. But yesterday Dr Fetlock used a memory spell to erase your memory of discovering the conspiracy. I of course couldn't let that happen, so I heroically dashed into the room to interrupt his spell and thus saved the day."
"Wow, that's awesome, I think... Not the erasing of my memory, but the other stuff."
"Ah, yes... And then I decided to valiantly rescue you from this prison before that evil unicorn could recover from the shock he had inflicted... I mean I had inflicted on him with my martial prowess, of course! You do know that I have a black belt in karate? Not that I want to brag or anything, but I'm a ninja..."
"A ninja?"
"Yes. And a billionaire... Where was I? Anyway, I think that you'll be just fine if you can find a spell that recovers your memory."
"There's a spell for that?"
"Ah, yes. Any unicorn spell can be reverted with a counter spell from an alicorn. Or maybe another unicorn? I don't really know."
"But shouldn't I get back to the prison and write a report first? I am the prison warden, after all," said Rainbow Dash. 

The goat just shook his head and hid his face behind a cloven hoof...


*    *    *


Princess Celestia sipped on a glass of champagne as she admired the marble and polished brass of Filthy Rich's great indoor swimming pool. Everywhere there were gilded statues of famous ponies made by the masters of the Ponissance.
"Is everything to your satisfaction, your highness?" a butler asked.
"Yes, thank you. The water is very nice."
Celestia submerged herself to her shoulders in the warm water of Rich's pool. She really enjoyed this. As soon as she had finished her important task she would perhaps have one of these indoor pools built in her newly restored castle... A little luxury couldn't hurt, she thought.
"I'm very honoured by your presence, my princess," Filthy Rich said as the butler filled his glass with more champagne. 
"Thank you, my dear Rich... I'm very fortunate to enjoy such splendid hospitality from one of my dearest and most loyal subjects... A hospitality that will not be easily forgotten."
"Oh, thank you, your highness... You're as graceful as always."
Celestia emptied her glass. 

"But I haven't come here only to bathe in your magnificent pool... In fact, I have a suggestion. A very lucrative business opportunity that I am sure a prominent entrepreneur such as yourself would appreciate."
"Lucrative? That sounds delightful..." Rich said. 
"Good... I would like to offer you a chance to lend money to the state at a very generous interest rate, if you are interested, of course... Pun not intended."
"That sounds interesting... Generous for who, if I may ask; for me or for the crown?"
"For you, of course. Your money will double in about a year, according to my calculations. But bear in mind that this offer might come across as a bit unfair to the others... Please keep it secret," Celesstia said, fully knowing that Filthy Rich would immediately spread the word to his colleagues and try to borrow their money too.
"You can always trust me, my princess. I'm as loyal as Rainbow Dash!"
Celestia raised an eyebrow.
"I most certainly hope not. Rainbow Dash's loyalty was misguided and led her to commit treason... I trust you will serve me much better."
"Of course... But may I ask exactly how you will repay my loan? Forgive me if I come across as a bit blunt, your highness, but the Equestrian economy seems a bit strained for the moment?"
"That's just a common misconception, my dear Rich... And if you must know, the loan will be fully secured in government assets and the political power that comes with them. I could make you a prince."
"Or you could make my daughter a princess," Filthy suggested. "I'm sure that Diamond Tiara would be very happy. If you do that, you'll have a deal."
"Consider it done. She won't become an alicorn, yet, but I could perhaps pull some strings in the realms of magic to make it possible... in due time."
"Excellent... The only thing I really want is to make her happy. I work too much to give her the love and attention that she needs, I have to admit..."


*    *    *


At the same time princess Luna opened her eyes. Confused and still a bit dizzy she looked around and discovered that she was still at the kitchen table... Underneath her head was a pillow and over her wings somepony had placed a blanket. On the table beside her was a paper with the inscription: 

You fell asleep on the table and we decided not to wake you up. It was very kind of you to offer us your help, but I guess even the Princess of the Night needs her sleep sometimes! I have saved your pancakes.

Granny Smith 


*    *    *


Fluttershy, the most evil pony in Equestria according to herself, trotted along with her newfound friends through the woods outside Baltimare. The diamond dogs preferred to travel far away from the main roads as they didn't want to attract the attention of the authorities. Casually robbing ponies of their gems was after all an activity that tended to result in a certain amount of hostility from the Equestrian society and numerous clashes with the Royal Guards. 

"Um... excuse me, but where are we going?" Fluttershy asked.
"We're going southeast, through the woods towards Dodge Junction. It's warmer there in the winter than in Baltimare," said Baran.
"Oh, that's a shame. Our ways will part soon because I must go to my friends here in Baltimare. I'm sure they're awfully worried..." 
"Friends? How could an evil pony like you have any friends? No offense, of course..."
"Oh, but I have friends! They're... they're pirates! And robbers! Together will we commit many evil deeds! HAHA!"
"Interesting... Do you rob jewellery stores too?"
"Oh, yes! All the time! If there's a jewellery store in sight, I'll definitely rob it," Fluttershy assured with pride. "I love to rob and steal and do all kinds of crimes!"
"Good... Because we might commit a little robbery soon. Do you see the smoke over there, just above the treetops? It's from a chimney. And we're going to pay whomever lives there a visit... It's not a jewellery store, I'm afraid, but hopefully it has something that we can steal. One cannot travel without food and ponies usually have food."
"Oh, m-my..."
> What goes around...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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. 




 
> A turn for the worse.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy and her small raiding party moved through the shady undergrowth of the great forest west of Baltimare. The sun was going down and the woods would soon turn dark and chilly. An unknown bird could be heard calling from the branches above. 

The dogs had only managed to find a few cans of baked beans and a bottle of apple cider in the cottage. It was not much, but at least  it was better than nothing. They had decided to share it evenly among them the way pirates did. 

Rainbow Dash was being forced along, tied to a rope behind Fluttershy. She had no clue what was going on but that villainous mare seemed to be an awfully lot concerned about her, especially when the dogs were looking away.
Dash had thought about escaping from them a few times, but for some reason she didn't want to leave her behind... Although she clearly must be an evil mastermind, that yellow one seemed to treat her as a friend and because of that Rainbow strangely enough didn't want to escape from her clutches of evil just yet.

Before nightfall they had set up camp in a abandoned sawmill. The dogs had made a warming fire on the concrete floor and built Fluttershy a makeshift bed out of some pallets, spruce twigs and blankets. It was surprisingly comfortable. To demonstrate her evilness the yellow pegasus made some threatening graffiti with a piece of charcoal on the wall. It was butterflies, little bunny rabbits and kittens. 
"Ha ha! It's so fun to be evil!" she said, clutching her hoof. 
The villainous Fluttershy then donned the darkest of the blankets, slung over her body like a hooded cape. 

"Eh... what are you doing, o great terrible one?" asked Baran, scratching his head in confusion.
"I'm shrouding myself in darkness! That's a pretty evil thing to do, don't you think? Um... I hope you're not thinking that I'm bragging or anything."
"Bragging, Fluttershy?!"
"Yes... I'm really sorry if I sound like I'm bragging. It's not my intention. Sorry.."

She then turned towards Rainbow Dash. 
"Now, please kneel before me, prisoner! I shall corrupt you with my darkness, so that you can be evil too... if you don't mind?" she said. 
"Well, I... don't know if that's really what I want..." said Dash.
"Oh. I understand," said Fluttershy, her ears briefly turning backwards in disappointment. "But if you ever change your mind, I would be happy to corrupt you anytime... Are you sure you don't want any of my evilness? Just a little? I'll let you have my share of the cider if you turn evil."
"Well, I'd hate to see it go to waste..."
"Exellent...." said Fluttershy and rubbed her hooves.

She then fluttered her cape in a dramatic, vampire-like move but in the process she lost her balance and stumbled over her bed, bumping her knee in the pallets. 
"Aoowww...." Fluttershy cried. "Um... do you feel the power of the dark side of the magic?"
"Yes...?" said Rainbow, eagerly anticipating a sip of cider.
In fact, Rainbow Dash didn't feel anything since Fluttershy couldn't do any magic but she didn't want to disappoint her if it meant so much to the yellow mare.
"Good... good... the force is strong in this one," Fluttershy said and pulled the hood of her blanket-cape over her head to cover her face in shadows of darkness again. "Rise... um... Lady Dash Rainbow and embrace the dark side..."

Rainbow Dash rose and gave the surprised Fluttershy a hug, as she was the darkest thing in reach of her and she knew that "embrace" was a fancy word for hug. 
"Oh, m-my..."

All the diamond dogs stared at them, speechless, not sure if this really was the correct way to do evil.


*


Dear Twilight Sparkle

I have received your letter regarding the events that have transpired in the east and I feel very alarmed by the turn they have taken. I have NEVER requested the release of my greatest enemy and you should know this by heart. Nor have I ordered her to be taken to this place called "Flutter Island" and the very thought of taking such a risk frightens me. She was to stay in prison until it could be absolutely confirmed that she would never turn alicorn again. If she has been alicorn once, she could in theory, and if the right conditions are met, revert back to her alicorn form. Therefore all measures must be taken to ensure that those conditions are never met again. The absence of the treacherous Rainbow Dash, as well as her violent actions and apparent mental decline, fills me with worry for the safety of my subjects. You must find Fluttershy and recapture her with your unicorn powers. Do the same thing if you happens to stumble upon Rainbow Dash, but do not actively pursue her as this would distract you from your primary goal.

I wish you the best of luck, my faithful student. I have also informed the taxponies not to tax you this year as a special favour. And I have sent a nice gift package for you with the mailmare. For your protection, and to ensure the success of your task, I hereby grant you supreme control over any royal troops you may encounter.

Princess Celestia

"See? I do have the supreme command of all troops," said Twilight with a smile. 
The commandant lowered the parchment with Celestia's seal on it. It seemed to be legit... She was a little blue earth pony who wore her black mane like a bun. Twilight thought she looked more like an accountant than the commandant of Baltimare Flying Academy.
"I see..." she said and neatly folded the parchment before handing it back to Twilight. 
"So you will help me?"
"Of course." 
"Good! Me and my friends need to get to Flutter Island. Do you have a balloon or something that could take us there?"
The commandant's eyes narrowed. She took a sip of water from her glass before she spoke.
"A balloon? Well... I´m afraid that's not possible for the moment." 
"Why not?"
"Well... I'm not sure that I can provide a balloon on such a short notice. I'm sorry."
"Never mind, then. Do you have a cart and some pegasi that could pull it?"
"I... hm... I'll look into it as soon as possible," the commandant said and started to shuffle around a stack of papers. "If you would be so kind as to come back tomorrow afternoon, please. But I can't make any promises."

Her office was a very cluttered space, filled with documents, dust and cobwebs. On the wall was a portrait of an old pony in an admiral's uniform.
"Thank you very much. By the way, what is your name?" Twilight asked and reached out a hoof to the commandant.
"My name...? I'm lieutenant-colonel Cookie Crust."
"C-o-o-k-i-e... C-r-u-st... Take a letter, Spike!"
The dragon pulled out a quill and a paper from Twilight's saddlebag. 
"Dear princess Celestia! I'm sorry to inform you that I cannot fulfill my duties as lieutenant-colonel Cookie Crust failed to provide me with sufficient means of transportation for me and my friends..."
"Wait! Let's not be hasty... I'm sure I could arrange something," said Cookie Crust and put down her stack of papers on top of another stack, making both stacks immediately fall over. "Today! I'll do it right away!"
"Good. Then we'll have no need to inform Celestia, do we?"
"N-no... No need at all. Follow me to the hangar, please."


*   *


"Thou wants me to marry a griffon?!" I will do no such thing!" Luna screamed and threw her chocolate pudding on the carpet. 
"Don't be so selfish, Luna! It's for the sake of Equestria! And you'll easily outlive any griffon or pony for that matter!"
"Sister! I think thou are unfair and preposterous! And do not remind us of such matters! Now thou hast made me depressed and sad, I hope you are happy!" cried Luna and stormed off! She slammed the door behind her, leaving Celestia alone in their room. 
"Well... that went rather smoothly," Celestia said to herself and opened up another can of Sparkling Twilight. "Here is to me, Celestia the great!"

But the solar princess had more important matters to attend to. She had to make a public appearance together with Big MacIntosh and Filthy Rich declaring the new, prosperous times ahead for Equestria and she was already a bit late...
This was to be the first official appearance since her relocation to Ponyville and it must be perfect. Press from all over Equestria would be there, ready to take her picture. Hopefully Luna would have calmed down a bit, but just to be sure Celestia hadn't invited her to the event at all. I was probably for the better to avoid bringing a raging Luna to such an occasion...
"Now, where is my carefully prepared speech?" she said.
Her gaze swept across the room until it reached a spot on the carpet... There was a piece of paper, completely covered in chocolate pudding. Oh drat.

Hastily Celestia put on her regalia, opened the window and spread her wings. She was a bit too big for flying through it like a pegasus, so instead she had to climb out slowly, struggling with her long legs and tail. 
"Blast... I should have taken the door instead! So much for saving time...", she said. 
With a leap she took off and, very majestically, flew away over the Sweet Apple acres.

When she passed above Ponyville she noticed that many of the small businesses had closed and a long row of sad looking ponies were standing in line for a bowl of soup. A purple earth pony walked around carrying a sign with the text "I give you HUGS for bits!". 
Big MacIntosh,  Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara were already standing on the balcony of the Town Hall, waiting for her. A crowd of ponies had gathered in front of them, waiting in silent anticipation. With an elegant manoeuvre the solar princess landed upon the balcony. 

"Citizens of Ponyville! I bring good news of the wonderful times ahead!" Celestia cried and paused for applauds and cheering from her subjects.

There was only silence. 

"Canterlot Castle will finally be rebuilt and restored to its former glory! Everything will soon be well in Equestria! I feel that a new era of friendship is rising and with it a new era of prosperity to all ponykind. I have initiated a deal of cooperation with our Griffonian neighbours and they will partake in the restoration of the castle. My sister Luna will marry prince Pompozzo of Griffonia to seal our treaty of eternal friendship!"

Now the front rows of citizens started to cheer a little, no doubt aided by a few of her royal guards discretely encouraging them with their spears. Celestia felt like things were finally going in the right direction for her. Hastily she tried to wipe some of the chocolate pudding from her speech, but the wet paper just fell apart.

"Eh.... where was I? Well... eh... my beloved subjects! As a special favour to the town of Ponyville I have given Filthy Rich a most lucrative deal to finance the... hm... restoration and his wealth will double in under a year. As a sign of my gratitude I have decided to make his daughter, Diamond Tiara, a princess of Equestria. Very soon she will perhaps turn into an alicorn and in the mean time..."

"Excuse me! Princess Celestia!" a voice shouted from somewhere in the crowd. 
"Not now! I'm in the middle of my speech. You will have plenty of time for asking questions later... Now, in the mean time..." 
"When are you going to lower the taxes?!"
"I will not go into details right now but rest assured that everything will be fine!"
But that pony, a wrinkly old stallion, didn't stop. 
"And why are you favouring that stuck up, greedy pony? Why do you take our money to give it all to him?! Why do you tax us to make him richer?"
"Well... I... I think... I know that it will be for the better of everypony! His wealth will make society richer as a whole!" Celestia said. 
"Will he share his wealth then? Why should he be getting richer by our suffering?" 
Celestia tapped her hoof against the balcony. 
"Order! Order! I hardly think anypony is suffering yet! Just be patient and everything will be just fine! Just go back to your houses, have a nice dinner of delicious apple pies, cider, chocolate cakes and cookies and rest assured that the situation will turn out for the better! As it has always done before!"
"We have no cookies anymore! The Sugarcube corner went out of business a week ago!" another pony cried.
"Where are our pies, Celestia?"
"THEN JUST EAT THE CAKES INSTEAD!" the princess screamed in her royal Canterlot voice.

For some reason this comment didn't please the crowd. Some ponies were shouting something about her being "barbaric", but Celestia couldn't make out any words. Raven, her secretary, appeared on the balcony and handed her a megaphone. 
"LISTEN TO ME!!! HELLO! STAY CALM AND LISTEN!" Celestia cried, her voice echoing over the town square. "Citizens of Ponyville! BE CALM!"

But the roaring voices of angry ponies didn't cease. When Celestia paused to take a deep breath she could hear the anger in their voices. It was terrifying. Her face turned even whiter than before. She licked her lips, feeling the dryness in her mouth. Everywhere she looked she saw angry faces. 
"Your royal highness... Please, step inside. Please step away from the balcony," Raven said and tried to pull her inside.
But Celestia didn't move.
"What is happening? Why do they all suddenly seem to hate me?" she asked.
"Please, your royal highness... Please step inside the Town Hall..."
"I don't understand... I haven't done half of the things I was planning to do and already they hate me. Have they forgotten all the good things I have accomplished?"
"Please! I beg you! Please step inside... It's not safe here!" Raven said. 

The crowd of ponies started advancing on the Town Hall, pushing their way forward. They were shouting "Lower the taxes! Give us our Money back! Lower the taxes! Give us our money back!".

Finally Big Mac pushed Celestia inside and closed the door behind them. 

There was a gloomy mood in the Town Hall. Everypony was silent and anxious, concerned by the raging crowd outside. Diamond Tiara was sobbing and hiding behind her father's legs. 
"I only raised a few new taxes, and they already hate me! I can't believe my subjects have turned against me that easily!" said Celestia.
"No, princess. They don't hate you! They are only upset about the taxes... You know how they react. Just a little turmoil and then it will all be forgotten in a few days, I'm sure," said Filthy Rich. 
"So, you think I should lower the taxes?"
"Well... if the Equestrian economy is as strong as you say it is, then we could probably afford a little tax cut..."
The princess gave him a deadly gaze, somewhat reminiscent of a basilisk's. 
"Is that so? And what will happen if I don't? Please do enlighten me with your keen insight in politics. Please do lecture the two thousand year old goddess in the art of running her own empire."
"I... I just thought... uh... thought you wanted to hear my o-opinion?"

"No, Filthy... I only want to hear my own opinion!"

> An unexpected visitor.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle looked out the window of the fuselage. This weird-looking flying machine was driven by magic from a crew of four unicorns that powered each and one of the four turbofans on the wings. A fifth unicorn was manning the controls. 
It was the fastest thing ever built by ponykind and although it looked almost futuristic on the outside, Twilight knew exactly how it worked. It was one of the few magic-powered aircraft of Equestria. Her veiled threats had obviously made an impression on the commandant, she thought. 

"Ah'm not sure about this thingy...," said Applejack, who had been brought along together with the rest for the trip to Flutter Island. "Ah haven't seen such a strange contraption before..."
"I assure you that this is perfectly safe," said Twilight. 
"Ah don't know... This looks a bit too heavy to fly, being all made of iron and such..."
"It is actually made from aluminium. And there is a parachute under your seat, if that makes you feel more at ease," Twilight explained and reached down under her seat to show the parachute to Applejack.

When she did that Twilight noticed that today's newspaper had been tucked into a small net on the back of the seat in front of her.The temptation of a little reading was too much for the bookish unicorn and she immediately dropped all thought of parachutes and reached for the newspaper instead.

On the front page was an article that made her jaw drop.

Princess Celestia flees from Ponyville Town Hall! Yesterday Princess Celestia had to abort her speech at Ponyville Town Hall after turmoil had erupted. The spark that ignited the unrest is believed to be when the princess urged her subjects to engage in the cannibalistic murder of an impovrished Ponyville family. The protests stopped after the princess was seen escaping the Town Hall by flight. The family of four is not in danger and have been taken to a safe location outside Ponyville. 

Below the text was a black and white picture of Celestia fleeing from the Town Hall, flying away above Ponyville and the protesting ponies below. 

"Oh, dear Pony... I think I need a glass of cider," Twilight said.


*


The river south of Baltimare was too wide for any bridge to cross. It was known to be a dark and treacherous body of water, slowly making its way towards the Horseshoe Bay. This time of the year the water was still low, but once the autumn rains would start falling the river would overflow its boundaries. The only way to cross it was by boat or by being a pegasus and therefore the earth ponies of the northern riverbank had to rely on the numerous riverboats for transportation. 

One of these riverboats was the Golden Horseshoe and at this particular moment it lay moored by its docks on the riverbank, waiting for the passengers to arrive. The riverboat was a magnificent sight; it was painted white and its funnels were tall and their tops shaped like crowns or little palm trees of iron. Through Baran's binoculars it almost looked like a floating palace... 

"There, there... I promise to help you get your memory back, Rainbow. I really promise," said Fluttershy as she gently patted the pegasus's wing. "You should have told me this earlier... You know I was an alicorn once?"
"You were? Nothing makes sense anymore..."
"Yes, an evil alicorn that ruled over Equestria... If I could somehow turn alicorn again, then I would restore your memory and everything would be back to normal. I think it's the only way..."
"Or maybe we could get some help from a pony that is already an alicorn?" Blind, the diamond dog, suggested. "The princesses may be able to help her if she would approach them alone and ask them really, really politely. Especially if nopony knows about our involvement with her."
"Thank you, Blind... But I happen to like my plan better," said Fluttershy with a chilly tone in her voice. "I will turn alicorn, rebel against Celestia and take power. Then I'll restore Rainbow's memory and rule Equestria forever with an iron hoof. Like I said, this is the only way."
"It is? But I thought..."
"Shhh... Let's not bother poor Rainbow with details!" said Fluttershy and gently put a hoof to Blind's mouth. "We'll test my plan first, and if it doesn't work then we can try to get another alicorn... Baran! Do you see any guards near the boat?"

"No, Dark One. There are no guards!"
"Good! Shall we... um... charge forward and do a little piracy?"

Fluttershy and her cronies, now with the aid of Rainbow Dash, surged forward through the undergrowth and at full speed charged towards the docks. A few surprised ponies turned their heads in chock.
"HUZZAH!!!!" the bandits cried as they galloped onto the wooden quay, swinging sticks and twigs like flails. 
"Please surrender your ship! We're pirates committing piracy!"

Most of the ponies fled at the sight of the diamond dogs; the smallest of them was twice as big as a pony and with their sharp teeth and shaggy, grey fur they looked like horrible beasts. There was much shoving and panic to get out of the way as soon as possible. 
An adorable little filly with a little basket of freshly picked berries was pushed into the water. 
"Help! Help! I can't swim!" she cried.

Without much resistance they swarmed the deck of the Golden Horseshoe. An old pony with white whiskers appeared on the bridge. He was wearing a blue captain's uniform with brass buttons and a monocle. 
"What is the meaning of this commotion?" he demanded. 
"It's bath time, you donkey!"
Gear then grabbed him by his collar and threw him into the water. 

Fluttershy took his place at the helm in the wheelhouse. From here she had a clear view of the ship as the dogs rushed around and chased the terrified crewmembers and passengers alike.
"Cut the moorings! Throw everypony overboard but keep the firepony and the chief engineer! Now this ship is under my control!" Fluttershy proclaimed through the captain's megaphone. 

The bystanders, still in chock, could only helplessly watch when the riverboat slowly drifted away from the quay after its moorings had been cut. The old captain, soaking wet and without his monocle, shook his hoof in anger as he swam towards the shore. 
"You monsters! Ogres! Despicable toadstools! You dang, dirty trolls! Changelings! Pirates! Curse ye! Curse ye all to Tartarus!" he shouted.

"Now I am a pirate! I told you all that I wanted to be a pirate, didn't I?" Fluttershy cried as she tried to steer the boat. "AHAHAHAHA! I AM INVINCIBLE! Wait... um... did that filly get saved?"
"What filly?" asked Baran. 
"The poor little filly that fell into the water... Please tell me she didn't drown!"
"She's right over there," said the diamond dog and pointed at the riverbank where she was being helped ashore by two of the bystanders. 
"Oh, good. I was worried there for a moment... Anyway, now let's commandeer this vessel! Let's commit evil deeds of plunder and piracy! Arr!"
"But I thought you just wanted to cross the river? said Baran. 
"Um... I changed my plans, if that's okay... I just need to commit acts of piracy. It's all part of my plan!"
"You have a plan?"

"Yes... I think."


*      *


Meanwhile, but in Ponyville, the train from Griffonia had just arrived. Prince Pompozzo the Magnificent stepped out on the platform with a big smile on his beak. The prince was not very impressive, despite what his name suggested; he was a rather short, chubby griffon and on top of that he sported a little beard that seemed to be out of place. His eyes were however keen and they sparkled with energy. 

"Ahhh, Ponyville! The jewel of the Equestrian countryside! What a glorious place! Oh, what joy it is to arrive here this time of the year when it's season for truffles and so many local, culinary specialties!" he said as he looked around. "I'm so exited to meet my betrothed, the legendary princess Luna. What a privilege to be alive in such a time!" 
"Indeed, sir," said and older, thinner griffon with glasses and a necktie. 
"But first we must have some champagne, perhaps a cider and some food! I'm starving. I wonder where we could find a four star restaurant? Hm... what if we went straight to princess Luna and invited her for dinner? I don't want her to miss out on such an occasion. It would perhaps be perceived as very rude not to rush to her directly and pledge my undying love for her?"
"Well, sir... Forgive me if I come across as a bit blunt, but you haven't met her yet. How do you know you will like her company?" the older griffon asked. "And do you even know what she looks like?"
"Looks aren't that important! If I like her, I will like her no matter what she looks like... I've had plenty of time to look her up in a dictionary, but I haven't even considered doing it. She is the one who, without a moment of hesitation, agreed to marry me and who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? Besides, I figured that there is only one proper way to find out anything about her, and that is to go directly to the source. To grab the alicorn by her horn, so to speak," Pompozzo said.
"Sir, perhaps you could consider refraining a bit from using that kind of expressions, given the species involved... That might come across as a bit insensitive, to say the least."
"Oh, I'm sorry... Even the alicorn-part?"
"Especially the alicorn-part, sir."
"I thought it was rather clever... Well, I perhaps got a little carried away. Now, let's go forth and find the royal place of residence!"

The two griffons started to aimlessly wander around in Ponyville, looking after a big sign with the text "Royal Palace of Ponyville" or something in similar fashion. But they could only find grafitti with messages like "Down with taxes!" and "Down with Celestia and Luna! Down with the two tyrants!".

A little filly with a red mane and glasses was handling out flyers near the main square. 
"Excuse me, what are those?" the prince asked. 
"Flyers! Want one?"
"Yes, please. Here, have a gold coin."

He looked at the flyer and saw a caricature of two horrible, ugly alicorns with pointy teeth and evil-looking smiles sitting on top of a big treasure chest, laughing at a crowd of starving ponies. The blue one was depicted as having lice and being surrounded by flies. Over her head was the name "Luna the Nightmare, harbinger of pony tears" written. 
"Hm..." said the older griffon with a concerned look on his face. "I don't think this is a good sign..."
"Bah! It's just a political caricature! At least we now know that she's blue and has lovely, pointy teeth... We'll keep it and show it to her! I'm sure she'll have a good laugh when she sees it."


*      *       *


The legendary Princess of the Night was lounging on her bed, reading a freshly stolen book and sipping on a cup of coffee. The inside of the cover had the text "Property of Twilight Sparkle" written on it in neat, elegant hornwriting. 

Luna wasn't on particularly good terms with Celstia right now, but she nevertheless cared for her as she could clearly see that there was something upsetting her. But Celestia didn't want to tell her anything. When asked about her day the older sister only looked away and mumbled something incoherent before quickly changing the subject. At least she hadn't brought up the impending griffon-marriage anymore, so that dilemma was probably over, Luna wrongly assumed. 

"Luna! Have you seen my suitcase? You know, the big one with little apples on it?" Celestia asked. 
"Thou meanst Applejack's suitcase that thou stuffed full with money and jewels?"
"Exactly... Where did I put it?"
"The long lost treasure that thou seekest is believed to be hidden beneath a mountain of dirty laundry," said Luna and put Twilight's book down. "And may I ask why you need it right now?"
"I'm going to Canterlot to supervise the rebuilding of our historic castle. Also, Fluttershy has escaped from prison and Rainbow Dash has gone insane and turned renegade."
"What?!" 
"Yes. I thought you should know... Anyway, if I don't find my suitcase may I borrow yours instead?"
"But sister! That is dire news! The evil Fluttershy is the greatest threat in the world! She is a deadly piranha!" Luna cried and spilled a drop of coffee in Twilight's book. "How can thou be so calm?!"
"I have sent Twilight to deal with her. And she hasn't turned alicorn, so I think she is just a minor problem compared to... hm... eh... Now, about that suitcase..."
"Compared to what, sister? Pray tell, what could possibly be a bigger problem than her?"
"Compared to... eh... to the problem with the... missing suitcase, that's it!"
"Celestia... I know that thou are concealing something! I have known thee for two thousand years now," said Luna, her eyes narrowing. "If what I think is happening, IS happening... It better not be."
"Ehmm.... I... hm.... I just realized that I don't need my suitcase anyway. I guess I'm off to Canterlot then!" Celestia said as she very, very slowly backed away. 
"Celestia..."
"No, don't think about it... Just keep the suitcase if you happen to stumble upon it. And the money."
"But..." 
"No, you don't need to thank me, dear sister. I'm just feeling very generous and..."

Then she stepped in Luna's chocolate pudding from yesterday that was still left on the carpet.