//------------------------------//
// Princess of Business and Bodyguard 
// Story: The Godmare 
// by Skylarking the Stargazer 
//------------------------------//

"What is your plan now, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked her friend as the two mares trotted into the Friendship Express on their way back to Ponyville. "Now that we're more aware of your true motives, we would be more than happy to aid you on your tasks at hoof."

"That is a good question, Twilight. I may have to check on my parents to see how they're doing, and maybe give them financial aid..." Fluttershy rubbed her muzzle before heaving a sigh. "Then there's my brother who won't stop wasting time wooing mares in pubs and his mane salon."

"Lemme guess, cheerleaders?"

Fluttershy nodded and adjusted her fedora. "My business partner, Mule Green, who owns half of the casinos in Las Pegasus, often had to beat Zephyr Breeze for disciplinary reasons." She sighed again. "I just don't think he's mentally capable enough to help run the syndicate."

With a wink, Twilight nudged her on the shoulder. "And that's when we come in! As your beloved 'business partners', we will help you grow your little group and guide Zephyr to the ways of a true mafia."

"Oh thank you Twilight. That means a lot to me!" 

"Um... so about those high dosed steroids you gave to Princess Celestia..."

"Oh, those were real."

Twilight's eyes burst open with sweat trickling down her cheeks.

"Don't worry, Twilight. Her magic flowing in her veins will suppress the negative effect of the pills. We talked this through with a ninety-nine percent guarantee of her life."

The alicorn swallowed and smacked her lips. "Uhhhh, I hope you're right about that. But what did that have anything to do with luring me to believe your fairytale lies?"

Silence quickly plagued the room. Twilight Sparkle found herself deadlocked in a staring contest with her best friend, to the death. All of a sudden she realized that a lot of tiny details around them no longer seemed relevant to the intensity of their smothering atmosphere. Twilight knew she might have made a wrong move asking such an insulting question.

With a deep breath, Fluttershy glanced up.

"That's a good question."

"Great. Thanks for letting me know after keeping me in suspense."

"I guess the pills given to her were meant to still place you with doubts on my occupation." The pegasus scratched her head. "But I'm glad you still stood for me even when there were controversies, Twilight. You're a wonderful friend I could've never had better!"

The two mares shared a tight hug and nuzzled each other on the cheeks, signaling a recovery from their dissension.





As soon as they got off the train and entered the Ponyville square, the peaceful routine was evident in each and every pony's busy lifestyle blooming from the wake of dawn. With a deep sigh of relief, Twilight took her time observing the bustling town which she called home.

"From all that mafia conversation we had earlier, it feels alive to see these ponies' usual lifestyles."

Fluttershy passed off a tiny grin. "Why yes. After all, they don't have to worry about having their heads being pierced by metal leads because of wrinkled envelopes containing identity documents or dominating in an audition two bits short for a less worthy jewel" —

"Um, Fluttershy?"

— "or having a horse head scraped of fur on the forehead so they can help an actor get his role in a motion picture—"

"I think that's enough of shady businesses for the day." Twilight chuckled, winking. "Don't want too many ponies overhearing you, do you now?" 

Shaking her head, Fluttershy closed her eyes. "Even if they do, they know better not to mess with ponies whom they don't know well enough. That is the basic instinct for survival: trust yourself before anypony else." 

"Fluttershy, life isn't about dominance and survival, nor is it a calculative sequence. You have to carve a path out and make sure that everything will be alright in the end." 

"That's what society wants you to believe nowadays, Twilight. We have arrived so far with our civilization that our minds become more complicated and intrigued by various new aspects of life. Little do they know, they forget the traditions that brought them together in the first place. Some ways of life should remain untarnished, and that is when they can be enjoyed at the highest quality."

Fluttershy took a sniff of the fresh Ponyville air before continuing. "And then there's power, you know you need it when your job requires an assertive attitude, yet at the same time, you can never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment."

"How are you going to make another pony abide by your orders without illegally forcing them?" Twilight asked.

"Who said it has to be by force? Sure, they can say no to me if I were to make them do me a favor, but when they do, I'm going to make them an offer they can't refuse."

"Riiiiiight." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I don't suppose we can see Pinkie Pie on the way. It's the weekend so she won't be out of Sugarcube Corner anytime soon."

"We can, even though everything seems too peaceful."

"Um, isn't that like, your forte?"

Twilight Sparkle was shoved into a corner of a grocery stand.

"Ouch!" She winced and cleared the dust off her fur. "Fluttershy! What was that for—"

But her friend was no longer in the open space. All she saw were ponies panicking and galloping to safety, maybe a couple of manarifle shots or two. 

"Well then..."

Hell broke loose across the town as professionally dressed stallions swarmed the square and exchanged gunshots from every direction possibly imagined. The clattering of iron and knives and brash collateral wreckage of numerous grocery stands filled the air. By the time the square was devoid of civilians, the heated bloodthirst rattled across the area, which and every participant was aware of while they brawled. Soon came the roars of numerous animal species as they pounced on the stallions and had them trapped within their natural born, razor-sharp claws and teeth.

Twilight could not help but take a peek from the corner, already shivering at the most gruesome fates of the misfortunate victims coming from Fluttershy's little battalion. 

Ten squirrels chattered and crawled through a stallion's clothing, poking his ribs and scratching his face. 

"Stop! Please! This is too much, I tell ya! I ain't gonna be tickled to my death, come on!" He cried as tears gushed out from the critters' merciless tickling.

"That wasn't too bad," Twilight mumbled to herself before turning to her back, only to see Harry swiping away his foes into the stands before pounding his chest with a sounding bellow. Chewing her lips, Twilight cowered beneath her wings.

"Come on, Twilight! As the Princess of Friendship, what's your plan?! You gotta bring everybody together regardless of their differences without abusing your magic."

"Use your magic, Twilight!"

Even in the midst of a thunderous warzone, Twilight immediately turned to face the voice who contradicted against her will. "Whoever said that clearly needs to check in with a therapist—"

Her jaw dropped Celestia knows where as the oranges had before rolling across the open lane. Lying about twenty feet from her, was a yellow furred body covered with pink strips of mane by a wagon cart. 

"No..."

She wished this was only a nightmare. 





"No no no no no no no!"

Tears stretched into the air as Twilight thoughtlessly galloped to her best friend, who still held a smile even on the edge of death. The Princess of Friendship cast a barrier for themselves as she carried Fluttershy into a collapsed grocery stand filled with oranges. 

"Noooooo!!!!!!" Her cries left a sounding trail behind her tail in the short time frame.

With her hooves on the pegasus, she began clutching her torso. 

"Fluttershy, hang in there. Hang in there. Please!"

Fluttershy gently nudged her on the shoulder. "Twilight..." 

"It's alright, Fluttershy! Don't speak another word. You have to keep breathing!" 

"Twilight... I can't do this..."

"Yes you can! Yes you can!" Twilight gripped her friend tighter. 

"How could have this happened...?"

Whimpering to herself, she raised her shaky hoof to feel Twilight's face. The Princess was beyond devastated to feel anything at all.

"It hurts. It hurts so much to know when everything goes wrong..."

A single orange rolled by Angel's side before he nibbled on it.

"I know it hurts. You can't deny the pain, but it doesn't mean you can't overcome it! Stay strong, Fluttershy! Please!"

"Pain is what we've been cursed with..." She croaked.

"Oh, I should've listened to you! I shouldn't think Equestria was such a peaceful happy-go-lucky realm. You were right, the world is darker than I've known. I was too scared to face reality—" 

Fluttershy stood up and stared at Twilight in the face. The alicorn was more perplexed than ever. Angel finished the orange and hopped right back into the raging battlefield.

"Twilight, I was trying to draw my enemies closer so I can capture them with a net my blue jays were prepared with." 

Ten seconds of blinking later, Twilight finally cleaned her face and asked, "So you're saying I foiled it?" 

Fluttershy hid behind her mane. "I can't, um, really say you didn't." 

Irritated, Twilight dropped her friend and began gesturing erratically.

"Could you, I don't know, stop faking tragic moments so others who are trying to help you can figure everything out for once?!"

Fluttershy blinked. "But I was doing my own thing before you got in the way—"

"I was only trying to be a good friend?!" 

"Try telling that to everyone out there fighting at the moment."

Twilight had no choice but to open her ears to the ongoing battle being executed between Fluttershy's mafia and the unknown rival gang. Bodies of shrieking ponies soared through the air and angry animals stampeded the ground. She was in a loss of words to describe the messy situation being showcased in front of her. 

"Oh dear, what am I going to do to stop this?"

"You can always use your magic..."

"Pssht! That's the braindead solution for all unicorns. It's just another excuse to abuse our special powers over others. I'm nothing like that!" — she noticed Fluttershy's furrowing eyes — "Okay fine. I'll halt them."

With that said, Twilight emitted a lavender barrier and brought every participant in the shootout together in a giant crowd. With such powerful magic, it was unimaginable to find the situation any more difficult than it should have. Once they were netted by the blue jays, everypony and animal shot glares at the Princess for her tardiness. Without hesitation, Fluttershy walked towards the clasped stallions. The head honcho of the stallions was distinctive thanks to not only his top hat with a wrinkled button-down shirt but a meaty body that is worth the average size of two mares. Scents of alcoholic content were still fresh from the corner of his mouth. 

Twilight could not help but point to the leader. "Are some mafia bosses just as brave-hearted as him?"

"Well, I mean like," one of the stallions shrugged, "it has worked in the past because ponies were always stunned by his crazy ideas like showing himself in front of everybody. It serves as a distraction while we as his subordinates surround the enemy from all sides."

"Callate!" The leader snarled at his henchpony. "I know not of cowardice but only asserting my absolute dominance!"

"Uh, no. You didn't assert jack crap besides getting us bamboozled," said another stallion.

"Tu madre!"

"Of course it hasn't worked." Fluttershy chuckled and removed the hat off the leader. "Because this is when karma bites you."

"Que?!" The leader exclaimed in shock. "Are you saying you used my plan to foil my plan?"

"You honestly don't look like somepony who has a plan if it's just throwing yourself out there at the risk of your entire mafia..." Twilight commented. 

"I put myself out there to have your stallions in Ponyville outnumbered by my courageous animal friends from the Everfree Forest." Fluttershy pointed a hoof at the leader. "You stood no chance at all!"

Every stallion scrunched their faces and shook their heads. Fluttershy and Twilight exchanged confused glances before the former continued.

"Say whatever you want, Señor Dos Saddles. But if it was me, I would never enter the drug business and put my friends into risk like you. No offense."

"Wait a minute, Dos Saddles? Didn't you just give Princess Celestia those life-threatening pills made by them? I thought you two were in a friendly relationship."

"Um, well... I tried to be assertive and ended up purchasing those pills for the last time at a very low price." Fluttershy pouted.

"And damn right you cheated me out, little girl!" Dos Saddles pounded his hoof on the ground. "How did you even think you can get away with that?!"

Fluttershy blinked. "But I did."

"I'm already putting my life on the line just by standing next to you, Fluttershy!" Twilight began jerking her friend on the shoulders. "Why are you taking so many unnecessary risks just for one deal? And what's gonna happen next that just might kill us?!"

After giving that question a long thought, Fluttershy nuzzled Twilight on the cheeks. 

"We'll be fine, Twilight."

"Say less, because that'll protect us at all."

"Don't you think you can get away with this, Donna Fluttershy!" Dos Saddles spat on the ground. "You will pay for refusing my request!"

"Because, um, dealing with somepony like yourself is safer than a dozen other drug cartels coming at me at once while spending a quarter of my people to protect your syndicate. So, um, I knew what I was doing." 

The stallions behind Dos Saddles scrunched their faces again. Fluttershy, realizing what they were doing, could not have felt worse.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I couldn't have put the truthful words in any nicer way!"

"Earlier with Bonne and Sarah, you were pretty confident, weren't you?" Twilight smirked.

"That was because it was easy to be nice at the time. I didn't have to verbally attack the boys for their mistakes because they admitted to them."

"So, what do we do with this guy?" Twilight turned to face a vexed Dos Saddles. "Turning him to the Royal Guards sounds like an unequivocal solution—"

"Or we can make him turn into a good pony without having to face any punishments because of me."

"Sure, sure. Just bring forth the asphyxiation process." Twilight grumpily walked away from the crowd. "Because noooooo pony will lose their minds having to bear with you."

"They will thank me for doing them a favor." Fluttershy smiled innocently. "And then they'll cooperate with me."