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// True Love's Kiss...Kind Of... 
// Story: My Little Pony Disney Tales (#1) - Fluttershy and the Four Crusaders 
// by Blue Paratroopa 
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	“Now, listen,” Babs told Fluttershy the next day, “pardon our paranoia, but that Queen could be anywhere. Our parents tell us she’s tricky.”
“Right!” agreed Apple Bloom. “So don’t let anypony in!”
“Except for us,” added Sweetie Belle.
“Where are you going?” Fluttershy asked them.
“Back to the diamond mine,” called Scootaloo, as they started walking off. “We figure we might as well keep trying like you said!”
“Heigh-ho, heigh-ho,” they sang as they marched around the bend.
The second they were gone, Trixie crept out from her hiding place in the bushes. Now she was going to take care of Fluttershy once and for all with that apple of hers.
“Apples,” she called, “who would care for a free poison apple?”
Fluttershy poked her head out of the clubhouse’s window. “A free what?”
“A free regular apple,” Trixie called back.
“Well,” said Fluttershy, with a hint of suspicion, “my stepmother did say to always treat your elders with respect right before she would hit me…”
Trixie nodded happily.
“I suppose I can let you in,” Fluttershy smiled innocently, and opened the clubhouse’s door. Trixie walked in and immediately thrust the apple into the princess’s face. Curiously, Angel sniffed the apple and screeched in horror.
“What’s that?” asked Fluttershy to her rabbit companion. “You say that the apple is actually poisoned? Oh my goodness!” She turned to Trixie. “That means that you must be…”
“Drat!” cried Trixie. “I didn’t know you could talk to animals! Impressive.”
Philomena had been watching from the window and immediately flew off to get help.
“Well,” sneered Trixie, “no matter. There’s more than one way to skin a pony.”
“You want to skin me?” gasped Fluttershy.
“Figure of speech,” Trixie grinned, before shoving the apple into the princess’s mouth. Fluttershy immediately collapsed.
“Now I’m the fairest one of all!” Trixie cackled.
“GRRRRRRR…”
Trixie looked around, only to realize that she was surrounded by angry forest animals, including a large bear. She whipped out a potion, took a gulp, and was immediately back to her normal young and “beautiful” self.
“Stand back!” she bellowed, before releasing a shockwave from her horn, sending the animals flying in all directions.
“I am magic after all,” she boasted.
It began to rain. A storm was brewing. Trixie adjusted her cloak, took one last look at Fluttershy’s limp body on the ground, and began to stroll away when something hit her in the back of the head.
“Ouch! That really hurt!” Trixie whined. She turned around to see Philomena and the four Crusaders standing behind her, armed with diamonds ready for throwing.
“Insolent brats!” growled Trixie. She shot a few beams at the Cruaders, making them duck behind a rock.
“What do we do?” whispered Apple Bloom.
“We gotta save the princess!” Babs whispered back. “And that means we gotta stop the Queen!”
They bolted out from behind the rock and continued to throw diamonds at Trixie, who fired more magic beams at them. But the little ponies were fast, and were able to dodge most of the bolts.
“You’re dealing with royalty here!” yelled Trixie between shots.
“When the kingdom sees what you’ve done to Flutterhsy…” warned Scootaloo.
Trixie stopped for a moment. She had a bad reputation as it was, and if anypony found out about her not-so-little stunt with the princess, not to mention her killing a quartet of little fillies, it could cause a potential uprising. But if she could off them and make it look like an accident…
“Catch me if you can!” Trixie cheerfully called to the ponies, then bolted. The Crusaders and the animals raced after her through the stormy weather.
The chase led through the forest, up a mountainside. Trixie saw exactly what she was looking for near the top: A large boulder. She positioned herself behind it and began using her unicorn magic to pry the boulder loose, hoping it would crush the Crusaders.
The Crusaders realized what was happening when it was too late to turn around. They braced themselves and backed up a bit, scared out of their minds. But just when it seemed that they were lost, a lightning bolt struck the cliff’s side, sending Trixie falling into the darkness below, along with the boulder.

The Crusaders dashed back to the clubhouse, followed by the forest animals. But when they got there, they realized that they were too late. Fluttershy lay on the ground, not moving. The girls sobbed quietly until the sun rose.

“So…” Scootaloo whispered the next morning, “what do we do with…her?”
“I don’t know,” Babs paced. “I mean, she’s the princess. We gotta tell somepony, I just don’t know how to break it to the kingdom.”
“This is way too big for little ponies like us,” moaned Apple Bloom. “Things were so much simpler a few days ago.”
Sweetie Belle just nodded. Her ears suddenly perked up. “Hey,” she hissed frantically, “somepony’s coming!”
They poked their heads nervously out the window to find Twilight and Spike looking around.
“Are you sure he’s around here?” asked Spike.
“I think so,” replied Twilight. “I just hope we’re not too late. If I recall correctly, she’s in that little treehouse up there.”
The Curaders gasped and ducked back inside.
“Somepony knows!” they chorused.
Twilight strolled in, followed by Spike. “Not to worry,” the purple alicorn assured the frantic fillies. “We’re from the castle, and we are most certainly not friends with that awful Trixie.”
“That’s a relief,” sighed Sweetie Belle. “She won’t bother anypony again.”
Spike sighed in relief as well. “I can keep my head, then!”
“B-but you’re too late to save Fluttershy,” sniffled Apple Bloom.
The other Crusaders nodded sadly.
“Again, we should be okay,” said Twilight. “Spike and I took a few spellbooks from Trixie’s lab. According to this book, we just have to find some nice pony boy who loves her to kiss her.”
“Darn,” said Scootaloo. “None of us fit that description.”
“Doughnuts!” called a voice. “Get yer doughnuts!”
“It’s Joe!” cried Spike. He ran out the door and a moment later returned, dragging Joe with him.
“What’s going on?” asked Joe. “What happened to the princess?!”
“I’ve seen you talking to Fluttershy before!” explained Spike quickly. “I know you love her enough to give her a free doughnut, which is a really big thing in my book! You’ve gotta kiss her and break the spell!”
“I love her platonically!” stammered Joe. “I can’t…I mean…she’s royalty, and I don’t feel that…”
“KISS HER!” everypony else shouted.
Joe gulped and gave Fluttershy a big kiss on the lips.
“I forgot to mention,” added Twilight, “it could have been on the cheek instead.”
Joe glared at her.
Just then, Fluttershy’s eyes slowly opened! “What happened?” she asked groggily. This was met not by an answer, but by a huge group hug.

Things brightened up for everypony after that. Fluttershy became the new queen, with Twilight as her advisor (Fluttershy didn’t know much about ruling a kingdom, after all), Spike as her hunter (who never needed to put anypony’s heart in a box again), and Joe as the royal chef.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were promised jobs as protectors someday in the future, but since they were too young at the time, they continued their quest for their cutie marks.
The diamond mine was given to Sweetie Belle’s sister, Rarity, who put it to good use for her fashion line, which took off even more than it already had, thanks to the diamonds she added to the dresses.
And, as these stories usually end, they all lived happily ever after.