~ Day 5 ~
~ Day 5 ~
The area around Fluttershy's cottage was now dilapidated with no more animals. Even the inside of the cottage was bare. From outside a window, a shadow of a Timberwolf peered in, growling...
---
Back at Rainbow Dash's house, Rainbow was still in bed. Her face was tear-stained and her cheeks were red as a result of her crying for an apparently long period of time. Tank, her pet tortoise, crawled onto the bed and tried to sympathize with his owner. Rainbow pulled him in close and hugged him tight.
"Oh, Tank," she murmured.
---
Back at Canterlot, Celestia was sitting on her throne when a royal guard came in and respectfully bowed, removing his helmet in her presence.
"Your Highness," he said to her. "Some of the ponies have begun to complain about the community service." Celestia raised an eyebrow. "They are saying it's because their new helpers are from Ponyville," the guard went on. "They believe that the quality of community service has been degraded."
"What?" said Celestia. "That can't be. I know the work must be hard for my subjects, but... I know they're better than this." She put a hoof to her chin in thought. "Send in one of the bakers to see me if they have a complaint."
"Yes, Your Highness." A few moments later, one of the Canterlot bakers rushed in with a tray of apple fritters, the specialty of Applejack from her latest family reunion.
"These things are commoner's filth!" said the baker. "We can't sell these at our charity bake sale!" Celestia used her magic to bring one of the apple fritters to her and sampled it herself. To the baker's surprise, Celestia found it very delicious and ended up eating the whole fritter.
"Mm... It tastes fine to me," said Celestia. "What's the problem?"
"What's the problem?! It lacks the genuine quality of the pride of Canterlot! And you've hired Ponyville scoundrels to help with our work!" Celestia was practically insulted.
"That's no way to talk to my subjects!" she snapped. "I may have assigned them to community service, but you're not making things any easier for them! They do wonderful work and you're not giving them any credit! Now get out!" Furious, the baker slammed his tray of apple fritters on the ground and walked out. Celestia took a deep breath to try to calm down. "This isn't how I was hoping things would go." She then proceed to write a letter.
---
Meanwhile, at the Sugarcube Corner, Granny Smith and Spike were babysitting Pound and Pumpkin Cake, but the little foals had been crying nonstop. And even when Mr. and Mrs. Cake came back, they were still bawling their eyes out.
"What are we gonna do?" asked Spike.
"They haven't stopped crying since Pinkie Pie was taken away," said Mr. Cake.
"They miss her," said Mrs. Cake sadly. "Spike, you and Granny Smith have done enough for one day. We'll take things from here."
"Okay," said Spike dejectedly, as he and Granny Smith left. No sooner did Spike leave than he belched up a letter from Princess Celestia. "The princess?" He read the letter and gasped.
---
Back at Canterlot, the guards were escorting a crying Fluttershy to Princess Celestia's throne room. Celestia gasped seeing the Pegasus breaking down.
"Oh no, what happened?" she asked the guards.
"The citizens accused Fluttershy of being uncivilized for communicating and interacting with the garden animals. One of them called her... a freak. She wasn't able to get any work done." Celestia actually did a face-hoof as Fluttershy cried even louder over being reminded of such an insult.
"What in the name of Equestria is wrong with them?" She then came over to Fluttershy and comforted her by wrapping her wing around her. "Shhh... There, there, Fluttershy. I'm so sorry things aren't going well. I didn't intend for this to happen. You're not a freak and you know it." She then looked up at her guards. "Escort Fluttershy to her room, please," she said to them. "She can have the rest of the day off."
"Yes, Your Highness," said an earth pony guard, who proceeded to lead Fluttershy out of the throne room.
"Oh, and tomorrow, I'd like you to take her home."
"To Ponyville? Are you sure?"
"Yes," answered Celestia. "It pains me to admit this, but my people here in Canterlot are behaving far worse than I could have imagined. I wanted all the ponies to help each other out, but things just haven't been going too well. I think it's best if Fluttershy leaves for Ponyville tomorrow."
"As you wish, Your Highness." The guard then escorted the still sobbing Fluttershy to her room. Celestia sighed.
"What about the others?" asked a Pegasus guard.
"I'll think about that," answered Celestia. That's when Spike barged into the throne room. He ran right up to Celestia and stopped to catch his breath.
"I... came as soon as I could..." he panted.
"Ah, Spike," said Celestia. "I'm glad you're here. Come with me."
---
"I haven't seen Rainbow Dash for days!" wailed Scootaloo. "And it's all my fault!" Scootaloo had been pacing around inside the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse.
"Now what in the hay would make ya think that?" asked Apple Bloom.
"I told you! When Mare Do Well came along, I saw her as the new hero in town in favor of Rainbow. I even invited Rainbow to come and witness her first public appearance! And Mare Do Well turned out to be her friends in disguise this whole time! I was played for a dupe!"
"That was months ago!" insisted Sweetie Belle. "You can't say that Rainbow hasn't gotten over it!"
"I haven't!" said Scootaloo. "I can't even begin to forgive myself! You have no idea how much it hurts me!"
"If ya feel that bad about it, why don't ya pay her a visit?" suggested Apple Bloom.
"And how do you think I can do that?" said Scootaloo, now disgusted. "In case you forgot, I can't fly!" She stomped her hoof.
"Don't worry, Scootaloo," said Sweetie Belle, putting her front hoof around Scootaloo's shoulder. "We're your best friends and we're gonna help you in whatever way we can! Don't forget, we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"
"To the end!" declared Apple Bloom. Scootaloo smiled warmly.
---
Back inside Celestia's castle, Twilight was miserably working on her friendship letter in her assigned room. Without her magic horn, she ended up having to use her mouth to hold her quill while writing, which wasn't working out too well for her, as her words were coming out a bit sloppy. She eventually spat out the quill and broke down into tears, but then she heard the door open. When she saw that it was Princess Celestia, her lip quivered as more tears fell from her eyes. But Celestia seemed to know just what to say.
"My faithful student," she said to Twilight, causing her to immediately stop crying. Celestia gave Twilight a small nuzzle. "Twilight Sparkle, I underestimated those Canterlot ponies. I did not think they would behave this way towards you and your friends." But this was not much of any comfort to Twilight, so Celestia went on. "But this doesn't change you and her friends being wrong for what you did to Miss Rainbow Dash. However, it seems that I need to make amends for how my people have treated you." She then had a look at Twilight's friendship letter as it had been written so far. She softly chuckled upon seeing that Twilight's writing was a bit messy without magic. "I see how important magic is to you, seeing as it's all you've ever really studied. Well, it has been a huge part of my teachings, to learn how to control raw magical power. Tell you what..." Celestia then brought Twilight's horn back to her surprise. "Rewrite what you have so far and then you can go." Twilight's mouth opened in even more surprise.
"Go?" she asked. "You mean, back home?"
"Yes," answered Celestia, smiling warmly. "To Ponyville. Do what you can and I will send you and Fluttershy back tomorrow. I'd say you and your friends have learned an important lesson already." Twilight nodded.
"Speaking of, what about Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie? Can they come home too?"
"They will in time," assured Celestia. "However, I wish to speak to each of them individually first."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yes, Twilight. My mind's made up. I think you and your friends are better off doing community service in Ponyville." Celestia then left the room, but then she seemed to be talking to someone else outside. "You can go in now." And that someone else was Spike, who rushed towards Twilight with his arms outstretched.
"Twilight!" he said.
"Oh, Spike!" sobbed Twilight, getting a big hug from her number one assistant. "I missed you!" Both of them cried.