//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Regime Fluttershy // Story: Unfriendship: Pony Gods // by littleman001 //------------------------------// Things were getting out of control for the Equestrian Magical Regime. Even the most hardcore of it's supporters realized that by now. After Empress Twilight killed Insurgency Sombra in cold blood, the Regimers believed that with Insurgency Celestia's inside pony gone, they will finally deliver the blow that will completely break the Insurgency. But they underestimated just how well liked Insurgency Sombra was within the ponies of Equestria. And they didn't take his murder well. Instead of stabilizing their power in Canterlot after the insurgent attack, many of the ponies in the city actually outright revolted after what Regime Twilight did and soon enough, disturbances and outright riots erupted in the city. Even the Regime troops in full force had a hard time keeping order. The leaders actually saw it better to retreat into the Empress' Castle of Friendship to plan their next move. Regime Twilight was sitting on her throne, deep in thought, while Regime Rianbow Dash, Regime Starlight, Regime Trixie, Regime Blueblood, Regime Spitfire and Regime Nightmare Moon were standing in a circle in the middle of the room, discussing what they should do now. While they all had different ideas about their next move, they all agreed on one thing: These doppelgängers had to be dealt with. "We have been tolerating the presence of these doppelgängers for far too long!" Regime Nightmare Moon seethed. Regime Blueblood nodded. "Ever since they arrived, everything we've built in the past years to maintain peace, order and security has fallen apart." "I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but Blueblood's right." Regime Rainbow Dash added. "Celestia will have to wait. It's time to take out the thrash and buck these doppelgängers back to whatever screwed up, lawless alternate world they came from!" the others all agreed with her. They looked over to Regime Twilight to see what she had to say about this, but they received no word from her. The Empress was completely silent, still in her thoughts. The other ponies in the room weren't sure if they should disturb her. Finally, Regime Rainbow Dash broke the silence. "Uh... Twilight? Is everything OK?" Regime Twilight still ignored her. She just kept staring ahead of herself with a bitter expression. Finally she spoke, but it was more like she was talking to herself rather the than the pony who just addressed her. "I made them safe! Shielded them!" she said on a low voice, barely above a whisper. "I created them an Equestria where they can live in true harmony and sleep at night without having to worry about some monster dragging them out of their beds to do Faust knows what to them! But are they grateful? Do they appreciate my protection? NO!" Regime Twilight slammed down her hooves in anger, making the other ponies in the room jump." They whine, complain! And side with those terrorists!" Regime Twilight fumed in rage for a few moments before she managed to calm herself and looked back at her followers with a look that made them all realize that whatever she's going to say next, it's gonna spell trouble for somepony. "But if they would rather have chaos and destruction, let nopony say that Twilight Sparkle doesn't listen to her subjects!" she walked up to the others and stood between them. "Canterlot and Ponyville, I'll flatten them!" Regime Twilight slammed her hoof on the ground to emphasize the point. "Set an example! And then, these doppelgängers are next! I'm finding the mirror universe they came from and make them pay for meddling with my affairs." The ponies around her didn't comment on her plan. They felt unsure about how to feel about it actually, but somepony else in the room wasn't shy to make their opinion known. "Now, hold on a second, darling." Regime Twilight turned around to see Regime Rarity, who just entered the room along with Regime Applejack and Regime Fluttershy. "You... You want to destroy entire cities? And then invade another universe?" the white unicorn asked incredulously. Regime Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Is there a problem, Rarity?" the Empress asked. Regime Rarity narrowed her eyes and walked up to her. "As a matter of fact, there is! The whole point of this Regime was to protect Equestria and save it's ponies from any threat! How are we protecting Equestria when we ourselves become one of those very threats?" Regime Rainbow Dash stepped forward in an attempt to prevent Rarity from invoking the anger of the Empress even more than she already had. "Rarity, you have seen firsthand what happens when we let events unfold on their own without controlling them. Without order, Equestria will fall apart! We have to preserve that order and if that means cracking a few heads to make ponies listen, I'd say so be it!" Regime Rarity couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Do you even hear what you say?!" she screamed. "We can't just slaughter thousands to get a point across! Have you gone insane?" "THAT'S ENOUGH!" Regime Twilight hollered on the royal Canterlot voice. "I didnt ask for your opinion, Rarity! I told you what we were going to do!" But Regime Rarity didn't back down. "What you were going to do, perhaps! But I refuse to take part in this madness! Why, if your parents and poor Spikey-wikey could see you now, they would..." Regime Rarity never got to finish that sentence. She found herself being lifted into the air by Regime Twilight's magic and towards the Empress. She tried to fight it, but Regime Twilight was just too powerful. She brought Regime Rarity face to face with her and lit up her horn. Two purple magical beams were shot out of it, which went straight through Regime Rarity's eyes. For the next few seconds, all that was heard throughout the room was a sickening, sizzling sound as Regime Twilight fried the insides of the unicorn's head. Finally, she broke her spell and the lifeless body of Regime Rarity fell on the ground with two smoking empty holes in the places where her eyes used to be and her mouth open in a silent scream. Regime Twilight then turned to the other ponies in the room. "Any other objections?" Nopony in the room dared to raise their voice, fearing that they would be the next to suffer the wrath of the Empress of Magic. Satisfied with the silence, Regime Twilight then handed out the instructions. "Starlight, Trixie, contact every equestrian newspapers and give them full media coverage. I want everypony to know about this. Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, Blueblood, you're with me. Nightmare Moon, prepare the troops. I want them to be ready by sunset. Applejack, Fluttershy, get Tirek ready. We're taking him out on a test drive." she shot one last, dismissive look at Regime Rarity's body. "And somepony clean that up." Regime Twilight left the room with her followers in tow, except for Regime Fluttershy and Regime Applejack who stayed behind and gathered around Regime Rarity's body. Neither of them could say a word. They both knew Regime Twilight wasn't holding back anymore, but they never expected that she would even hurt one of her closest friends, let alone kill them. Regime Applejack turned back to Regime Big Mac who's been standing in the corner of the room. "Could you take her outside, Big Mac? We'll... We'll give her a proper burial once we're done tomorrow." she said quietly. Regime Big Mac just gave her his signature "Eeyup" before the two mares lifted the body onto his back. Regime Fluttershy gave the deceased unicorn one last, sad look before the stallion carried her out. Regime Applejack then walked up to her and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Come on, sugarcube. We have a job to do." she began walking away, but Regime Fluttershy didn't follow her. "Fluttershy?" Regime Fluttershy stayed quiet for a few moments. She knew for a while that Regime Rarity was having second thoughts about this whole thing. They have been following Regime Twilight because they believed she was right at first. But everything that was happening now? Regime Twilight killed one of her best friends in cold blood, they were preparing to destroy two cities including their hometown, slaughtering innocent civilians and invading another universe. None of this was right. Regime Fluttershy finally made up her mind. "She was right. This isn't what we signed up for." she said with a firm, determined look that Regime Applejack didn't see on the yellow pegasus in a long time. It greatly surprised the orange mare. "We all knew what we're signin' up for, Shy." Regime Applejack argued. "Friendship and harmony are no longer enough. We need to make tough choices to protect Equestria from her enemies." Regime Fluttershy turned to glare at her. "Was Rarity an enemy of Equestria?" she asked, whispering sharply. Regime Applejack couldn't meet her eyes. "She was..." Regime Applejack was not sure how to answer. "A casualty of war. Acceptable loss." Regime Fluttershy couldn't believe the Applejack she knew just said those words. "Acceptable?!" Regime Fluttershy yelled, making Regime Applejack back away. "She was our friend! And she helped saving Equestria on numerous occasions! If you still believe that rubbish, you're even more deluded than I thought!" Neither mares talked for a while. Regime Applejack just looked down in shame and regret. Regime Fluttershy could tell that she was struggling too, but was too afraid to speak her mind. Especially after witnessing Regime Rarity's fate. "If you wanna spend the rest of your life blindly serving Twilight out of fear, that's your business. But I'm not doing this anymore!" she then tore the Regime symbol off of her dress and threw it on the ground. "I'm done." she began walking away towards the exit, but Regime Applejack pulled her back. "Whoa there, sugarcube! You wanna follow Rarity to the grave? There is no done with the Empress!" Regime Fluttershy's determined glare didn't falter. "Maybe not for you." she rebuffed, pushing Regime Applejack's hoof off of her shoulder. "Goodbye, Applejack." she resumed her walk towards the exit, but Regime Applejack beat her to it. She ran up to the door and slammed it shut right in front of Regime Fluttershy. "Ya didn' think ah'll just let ya waltz outta here, did ya?!" she asked with a glare, before her face softened and started slowly approaching Regime Fluttershy. "Come on, Shy! Just calm down an' follow me. We can forget this little outburst ever happened and just carry on." but Regime Fluttershy was having none of it. "You're very good at that, aren't you? You just forget things and carry on. Like how you forgot what Twilight did to your family and carrying on being her yes-mare, isn't that right, Applejack?" Regime Applejack shot her a dark glare. "Don't ya put that on me, ya hear?!" she yelled in her face, poking her chest with a hoof. Regime Fluttershy returned the glare. "Well, you know what, Applejack? Forget this!" she then raised her forehoof and punched Regime Applejack across the face with surprising strength. It made her stagger back a little, but she quickly regained her balance. "Fine! Ya asked for it!" Regime Applejack turned around to buck Regime Fluttershy across the room, but the Pegasus dodged and grabbed the earth pony's backhooves. She then flew up towards the ceiling, carrying Regime Applejack with her and spun around in the air a few times, before releasing Regime Applejack and throwing her upwards. The orange mare crashed into the ceiling and Regime Fluttershy flew up to smash her back into it, then let her fall on the floor and flew down to her to deliver the finishing blow. "You didn't give me a choice, Applejack." she was sad that it had come to this, but finally realized that what they were doing is wrong and if Regime Applejack wasn't going to acknowledge that, then that's her choice. She was about to head out of the castle when she bumped into Regime Big Mac. The massive stallion gave the pegasus a questioning look, not sure what to make of her walking away from his sister's unconscious body. Regime Fluttershy gulped. This was just what she didn't need. "Oh, hello, Big Macintosh." she smiled nervously. "You're probably wondering why Applejack is lying on the floor, looking so bruised. Well, you see... It's the effect of one of Celestia's spells she suffered while she fought her on the train. The effects came out very... late and she... was hurt and I was taking her to the infirmary... and... you're not buying this, are you?" Regime Big Mac narrowed his eyes the her. "Nope." "Yeah, figured as much." Regime Fluttershy turned around to fly away, but after a few seconds, she noticed that she was just hovering in one place despite flapping her wings like crazy. She looked around to see Regime Bic Mac holding down her tail with his hoof. Regime Fluttershy reached back to free her tail, pulling with all of her might, then Regime Big Mac just lifted his hoof and the pegasus flew all the way across the room, crashing into a wall. "Oh, sometimes I wish I was born an earth pony." she wailed. Regime Big Mac slowly approached her menacingly as she crawled backwards on the floor in fear. She started looking around for anything that might help her out and she noticed a large crystal chandelier hanging over the room. As Regime Big Mac got closer, Regime Fluttershy knew what she had to do. "I'm sorry, Big Macintosh. I know you can't help yourself. Twilight is controlling you, but I have to do this." she then kicked the wall behind her, causing a crack to appear in it, which spread upwards to the ceiling until it reached the chandelier, which fell right on top of the approaching stallion. He didn't even have time to react, merely look up and make a dejected face as he realized what was about to happen. "I'm sorry, Big Mac." Regime Fluttershy said, patting the head of the unconscious stallion in sympathy. "I will help you get free. But first, I gotta get out of here." The guards probably heard the crash and were on their way to investigate. Regime Fluttershy needed to get out as fast as possible. A minute later, Regime Fluttershy was already soaring the night sky, but she wasn't sure what she should do now. It was one thing to defect from the Regime, but the bigger question was where should she go. The obvious choice was finding the insurgents, but she had no idea where to look for them. She heard some rumors among the Regime troops that said that the Empress managed to locate them using the samples of the other Celestia they captured. If that was the case, that information could have only been stored at one place: the royal archives. Regime Fluttershy didn't know if those rumors had any merit, but at the moment, it was her best call. So she flew towards the castle, which was still badly damaged from the insurgent attack at dawn. She expected security to be tight, but since the only Regimers who knew about her change of heart will be unconscious for a while, she didn't worry about being seen. She landed in the courtyard and was about to enter the building when she heard a voice. "You are about to embark on a heroic mission to restore peace and security to our beloved homeland!" she quickly recognized the voice as Regime Nightmare Moon. The alicorn was standing on a podium in front of a battalion of assembled Regime troopers. "Before me, stand the best and bravest soldiers Equestria has to offer! It falls to us to enforce the values that the Equestrian Magical Regime was built upon! Order, obedience, control!" Regime Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "And I thought Rainbow Dash loved to hear herself talk." "But those who would oppose the will of our Empress will be treated as traitors and enemies of the state! And will be executed without mercy!" Regime Fluttershy didn't like where this was going. She saw a few of insurgent ponies being carried to the courtyard and lined up in front of the Regime troops. "Executioners, assemble!" Regime Nightmare Moon ordered and a group of unicorns stepped forward. They ignited their horns and were about to blast the prisoners, but Regime Fluttershy quickly intervened. "Not on my watch! Not anymore!" she flew to the middle of the courtyard and started flying around in circles as fast as she could. She whirled up a small dust cloud that blinded the executioners before flying over the prisoners and untying them. "Get out of here! Now!" they didn't need to be told twice. The wall of the courtyard was still demolished from the attack, so they could escape easily. Regime Fluttershy was about to disappear as well, but when she turned around, she found herself facing Regime Nightmare Moon herself. The dark alicorn trapped Regime Fluttershy in a telekinetic grip and twirled her around in the air a few times before throwing her away. The pegasus ended up flying all the way to the Everfree Forest and landed with a big crash that hurt like Tartarus. She could barely manage to get herself together and stand up before Regime Nightmare Moon descended down in front of her. "As I said, traitors will be executed without mercy. And from what I gather, you have just turned a traitor, Fluttershy. Considering the Insurgency is about to be crushed, this seems like poor timing on your part." Regime Fluttershy glared back at her. "For once, you're right. I should have done that a lot sooner!" Regime Fluttershy threw herself at the dark alicorn, who obviously didn't expect poor, timid Fluttershy to make the first move in a fight, let alone fight so aggressively. She didn't even have time to counter with a spell. So she decided to get physical as well. She tried to stab Regime Fluttershy with her horn and the pegasus was so hard on the offensive that she could hardly notice the attack in time. She could barely get out of the way in time, but the horn still managed to scratch her. Regime Fluttershy screamed in pain and collapsed on the ground. Regime Nightmare Moon stood over the wounded pegasus and pressed her horn against her throat. "Any last words, traitor?" Regime Nightmare Moon snarled. "Just three." Regime Fluttershy smirked slightly. "Angel, help mommy!" "What?" the alicorn frowned in confusion. The next second, she felt a sharp pain in her flank as a pair of teeth were sunk into it and she looked back to see a small, white rabbit nibbling on her backside. "GET OFF OF ME YOU PEST!" Regime Nightmare Moon screamed as she tried to blast Angel Bunny off of her, but all she accomplished was burning her flank. "OW! You'll pay for that!" Angel just blew her a raspberry as he started jumping around on her body, making her thrash around wildly to get him. Regime Fluttershy took advantage of this and ran over to a large tree which had a big hole in it. She whistled over to Angel Bunny and pointed at the tree. The rabbit quickly understood what his owner was planning and jumped over to the hole and patted his behind to taunt Regime Nightmare Moon. The alicorn blew steam out of her nose and was so mad that she forgot about her magic and just flew straight ahead to catch the rabbit. Angel quickly jumped away and Regime Nightmare Moon ended up getting stuck in the hole. Regime Fluttershy flew behind her and kicked her deeper into the tree, before picking up the bunny and giving him a tight hug. "Oh, Angel, I missed you so much! Thank you..." however, the feeling apparently wasn't mutual as the rabbit gave his owner a stern glare with folded arms. Regime Fluttershy instantly knew what the problem was. "I know, Angel, I made a huge mistake joining the Regime, I realize that now. But I want to make things right. Will you help me?" Angel raised an eyebrow, as if to say 'What's in it for me?' Regime Fluttershy sighed. "I'll give you all the carrots you want!" Angel held out a paw and made upwards motions with it. "And I'll brush you two times everyday." Another upwards gesture. "Three times?" And another. "And I'll get you that heated carrot shaped bunny bed you always wanted." At this, the rabbit finally gave in. "Oh, thank you, Angel! Mommy loves you so much!" Angel pretended to be annoyed, but a slight amused smirk could be seen on his face. He also missed Regime Fluttershy. The pegasus than placed the rabbit on her head. "Now let's go! We need to find the insurgents to warn them." Angel then pulled out a piece of paper and gave it to her. "What's this?" her eyes lit up as she read it. It was Regime Twilight's orders for Regime Nightmare Moon, which instructed her to lead an attack on the Insurgent base, along with it's exact location. "Good work, Angel! Let's go!" she then took off faster then she ever did before. At the Insurgency's HQ, Shining Armor was trying on an armored suit that the Insurgents started using recently, with Cadence watching him. When Shining Armor finished putting on the armor, he turned to his wife. "What do you say, honey? Does your husband look as gallant and strong as usual?" Cadence just rolled her eyes with a smirk. "You look fine, Shiny, besides you know I prefer it when your out of armor." she said huskily with a wink. Shining Armor blushed and rubbed the back off his head sheepishly. "Cady, we're in the middle of a war. I don't think this is a good time." Cadence walked up to him and wrapped her forelegs around him. "How about we fight a little battle of our own in the meantime." she was about to kiss him, when they were interrupted by a crash. They jumped apart and looked up to see Regime Fluttershy fly in. "Uh... did we also bring over our Fluttershy?" Shining asked dumbfounded. Cadence glared at the yellow pegasus. "I don't recall it." "Then this bad news." Shining growled. "Go get Celestia." "Which one?" "The one from this world! I'll handle this!" Cadence ran off to do as his husband said and the stallion went to confront Regime Fluttershy. She was obviously taken aback about seeing the stallion who's been long dead in this world. "What's wrong, Fluttershy? You look like you've seen a ghost." he asked tauntingly. "Yeah, that about sums it up." she replied casually. "Where's Celestia? My Celestia to be precise. I need to talk to her!" "She's out somewhere, not being a murderer!" Shining spat. Regime Fluttershy shrank back. "I realized something like this was probably coming my way." she sighed. "Look, I'm not here to fight, I'm here to help." Shining raised an eyebrow. "Well, forgive my skepticism. Ever since I arrived to this world you're friends have been trying to kill us!" "I'm no longer with them! I know we... they've been taking things too far. But I want to make things right." "Well, good luck with that. If you think I'm letting one of you Regimers anywhere near my friends and my wife, you have another thing coming!" Shining lit up his horn and was about to attack, but then, he felt a hoof on his shoulder. "Shining Armor, that is enough." Insurgency Celestia spoke softly. Shining was hesitant to give in, but the alicorn out on a firmer expression and voice. "At ease, soldier!" this finally made him stand down. Insurgency Celestia stepped forward and looked down at Regime Fluttershy who cowered in front of the former princess. "Fluttershy, what a surprise. Although, I can't exactly say, a pleasant one." "I... I..." Regime Fluttershy tried to talk, but nothing came out. In the end, she simply broke down in tears and could only utter two words. "I'm sorry." she cried. Insurgency Celestia just stared at her for a couple of moments, before doing something that shocked everypony in the room. She opened her hooves for an embrace. The crying pegasus threw herself into the embrace and cried. Cried for the mistakes of the past five years and for what she knew was about to come.