"Wh-What do you mean with new queen?" Twilight was shocked. Just what had Fluttershout done to turn Celestia into this? Pinkie just stared at Celestia with her mouth hanging open.
"I-I don't think I w-want to throw a p-party... not f-for her." Pinkie said weakly. Shadow facehoofed and grunted something.
"Show yourself, Fluttershout! I know you are hiding in here!" As if on command, Fluttershout appeared next to the throne. She gave Shadow a sly smile and walked up to him.
"Why hello there, handsome. Have we met before? It would be a shame if we hadn't." Fluttershout winked at Shadow before moving back; he just gave her a cross look. Seemingly annoyed by this, Fluttershout turned her attention to Twilight.
"Oh look, it's the student. Remember that I'm still your friend on the inside, and you wouldn't hurt a friend, would you?" Twilight backed a little, she was scared.
"R-Release Fluttershy. P-Please." Twilight mumbled. Fluttershout staggered at Twilight's words and looked at her with a shocked expression.
"But Twilight darling, I am Fluttershy! Don't you recognize me?" Twilight couldn't contain herself anymore: she pounced at Fluttershout and tackled her to the ground, only to be pulled away by Celestia's magic.
"You do not. And I repeat not, LAY YOUR HOOF ON THE QUEEN!" Celestia finished in the royal Canterlot voice, something she hadn't used in a long time. Twilight staggered, both from the sheer volume and the fact that it was Celestia herself who said it. Fluttershout snickered and walked up next to Twilight, she hummed a soothing sound right into Twilight's ear. Shadow and Pinkie watched in horror as Twilight's eyes changed color to red and blue and her cutie mark faded away. Twilight bowed down and kissed Fluttershout's hoofs.
"W-What did you do to her!?" Pinkie shouted. She ran up to Twilight and gave her a hug. Twilight barely reacted, she just blinked a couple of times and stood completely still.
"Oh, I just told her the truth. Sure, it was wrapped in honey and spiced with lies, but still. She liked it enough." Fluttershout said with a smirk. Shadow just stared in shock. Fluttershout wasn't that cruel, she was just an annoyance. She and OLDSACKS used to scare and ear rape the others. But she never tried anything like this.
"T-Twilight! W-Wake up!" Pinkie forced out between sobs. "This isn't you!" But Twilight didn't react; she just grabbed Pinkie with her magic and held her so that Fluttershout could do whatever she wanted to her. Fluttershout slowly walked around Pinkie, eyeing every millimeter of her body. she then pulled a hoof through Pinkie's poofy mane. All while Pinkie was desperately struggling to break Twilight's magical shackles, with little success.
"Hmmm... Kinky, but it will do." Fluttershout mumbled, she then planted a gentle kiss on Pinkie's mouth, Pinkie's hair immediatly fell down and became straight. Her eyes turned red and blue and her cutie mark faded. Pinkie's mane turned poofy again, she gave Fluttershout a seductive smile and whispered something in her ear. Pinkie then walked out of the throne room.
"Later..." Fluttershout whispered, she then turned her attention to Shadow Rush, who was standing defyingly, like a standard representing freedom. Of course, that was only Shadow's view of himself. Fluttershout let loose a malicious laugh: she was in control of this little world now.
Shadow backed away from Fluttershout, something had definitely pushed her over the edge.
Fluttershout hummed a strange tune, the sound distorted itself as it travelled through the air. When it reached Shadow's ears he felt his vision flaring red and blue, and nothing happened.
"What!? Why isn't it working? What are you!?" Fluttershout cried in shock. Why wasn't he bowing before her? How could her powers be useless on him?
"Fine, if that's how you want to do it!" Fluttershout sent a sonic blast at Shadow, it hit him straight on and threw him across the room.
I have to stop this madness! Even if... I'm sorry Celestia, I have to break my promise to you.
Shadow had been gathering energy ever since he was turned into a pony, it was for a situation like this. He ran away from Fluttershout as she neared him, he then began to channel his energy into his hat. The energy swirled like a river, and he struggled to keep it under control.
"What are you doing? Stop it now!" Fluttershout said, she felt a familiar type of energy emanate from the pegasus, but she couldn't put her hoof on what it was. The energy created a barrier around Shadow that made it impossible for Fluttershout to near him. She launched a soundwave at him. It ricocheted and struck her back in the face, throwing her backwards at least 5 meters. When she rose, she was blinded by a flash of light emanating from Shadow's body.
Shadow felt his body change, and his old powers returning to him. As the light died out, Shadow looked down on Fluttershout.
"This is my true power and form Fluttershout. Remember me? My name is The Inverted Shadow." He said with his new voice, it was deeper than his old one.
Fluttershout cowered before the creature, she did remember it. It was tall and apelike, it wore a black shirt with a blue insignia, the creature also sported a red hat. In its hand it held a device, resembling a revolver with wires and a screen attached to it.
Shadow could feel the very fabric of the world around him: to him it was letters and numbers aligned into code. He turned to the possessed Celestia and Twilight, he shot them with the revolver. Their bodies froze in place. He walked up to them and examined their minds; it appeared in front of him as A.I programming. Shadow quickly identified the corrupting code and deleted it.
Fluttershout watched as The Inverted Shadow cleansed Twilight and Celestia. Shadow then flew away through the roof, and a few moments later, Fluttershout could feel her control over Pinkie fade. NO! SHE was in charge here, and she would not accept this! As Shadow came back before her, she prepared her most devastating sound attack: the same one she had used on Pinkie. She took a deep breath and screamed... Nothing happened.
"Yeeeah... I took the liberty to mute you Fluttershout, I don't like micspamming."
Fluttershout gasped as he had just removed the only power she had. She pointed at Celestia and Twilight, they were just standing and staring blankly in front of them.
"I disabled their A.I. It will only work while I am in this form, but it should be enough time to put you out." The Inverted Shadow took up his toolgun and fired at Fluttershout, she jumped away from the blue beam and delivered a flying buck to the side of Shadow. However, Fluttershy's body isn't exactly famed for physical strenght, so Shadow barely flinched from the weak kick. He took Fluttershout by the leg and held her upside-down in front of him.
Nnngh... I only have about a minute before my power runs out. I have to shut her down NOW!
Shadow was just about to delete Fluttershout when she bucked the toolgun out of his hand with one of her hoofs. She followed up with bucking him in the face, sending Shadow staggering backwards. He reached down to pick up the toolgun when he felt a wave of fatigue hit him like a flaming oil barrel launched from a Coilgun, and he knew how that felt. Shadow collapsed down on one knee and felt the world go blurry, he fell and felt the last of his energy disappear as he reverted back into a pony.
No... I'm sorry for failing you... Twi...
Fluttershout carefully neared the blacked out pegasus. She poked Shadow with a hoof to ensure he was unconscious. After making sure that he wouldn't wake up for a while, Fluttershout gleefully kicked the light body across the room. Shadow crashed into a pillar, his body then slowly slid down from it while leaving a red trail on the shiny marble. Fluttershout fluttered over to the limp body and flew it high into the air.
This is what you get for muting me!
Fluttershout dropped Shadow and heard the satisfying sound of bones cracking as he hit the floor. Fluttershout landed next to the body, it was laying in a now growing crimson pool and blood was dripping from his mouth. She leaned her head against his chest and listened to his heart, it was beating slower and slower with each beat.
Perfect. If I leave him like that, he just might wake up before he dies. Oh, I would LOVE that!
Fluttershout rearranged Shadow's body so that he looked like he was sleeping. She then looked over at Twilight and Celestia, only to find that they had disappeared. Fluttershout looked around herself, only to hear a fizzle behind her and a horn gently jabbing her in the neck. She collapsed before she even felt Celestia's spell.
"Jolly good aim there Your Majesty." Pinkie said in a comically British accent while putting on a fake moustache and a monocle. Celestia and Twilight, who had teleported up behind Fluttershout in order to put her out just stared at Pinkie.
"Wha... How... When?" was all that Twilight managed to stutter out.
"Pinkamena Diane Pie. From the stairs. About 25 seconds ago. Does that answer your questions Twilight? Ooh, my turn! My turn! I think it was Colonel Mustard in the kitchen with the crossbow!" Pinkie cheerily exclaimed. Twilight just stared at her for a second before switching her focus to Shadow Rush, he was bleeding from a gash in the back of his head, five ribs were broken, one lung was punctured and his left wing had been turned into feather-and bone salad.
"Ohmygosh! Somepony get him a doctor!" Twilight yelled. Seconds later, a team of doctors came running into the room with a stretcher. They secured Shadow's limp body on it and took him to the castle's medical wing. Twilight tried to follow in order to make sure that Shadow would make it, but Celestia stopped her with one of her wings.
"No, my faithful student. You may not see him yet, we aren't finished here." Celestia said and gestured towards Fluttershout's unconscious body. Twilight walked up to it, she tried to sense Fluttershy in it but all she felt was an alien mind.
"How are we going to save Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, Celestia thought for a while before getting an idea.
"We need to get inside her head." she calmly said, Twilight just tilted her head slightly in confusion.
"How are we supposed to do that? With a hacksaw?" Twilight asked. Celestia frowned at the ridiculous assumption while doing a mental penta-facehoof. Sometimes she wondered how Twilight could be so intelligent and yet so stupid. It was what made her so adorkable, part of her charm so to say.
"Eh... Well, no. I was planning on, instead of playing brain-surgery, letting you use Luna's dreamwalking spell to enter Fluttershy's mind and purge it from the alien entity. Do you think you can do that, my faithful student?" Celestia asked. She was trying her best to not smirk at the idea of Twilight trying to open Fluttershy's head with a hacksaw and poke around in the pegasus's gray matter.
Twilight thought for a little bit: while it was the only way for her to save Fluttershy, it was also something she had never done before. She probably didn't have time to read one, or twenty, books about it either
I have to do it, for Fluttershy and Demacia, I mean Equestria!
"I will do my best." Twilight said, Celestia nodded and summoned some pillows for Twilight and Fluttershout to lay on during the spell, and gently placed the tranquilized pegasus on them. Twilight seated herself in front of Fluttershout and readied the spell: a purple aura formed around Twilight's horn. She touched Fluttershout's forehead with it. The aura turned dark blue and spread across both Twilight and Fluttershout's bodies.
"Remember who you are Twilight!" was the last thing Twilight heard from Celestia before everything went white.