//------------------------------// // 2 sweet 4 me // Story: Fed up // by Billblok //------------------------------// “Love is a curious thing. Not because of how it makes people do things they wouldn’t normally do, but because it actively seeks out the world for purpose behind it, and further discovery of other reasons for its love.” -Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, The Spirit of Love Alongside Friendship It was a few minutes early of having to wake up for the day, Twilight had woken up, and so had the rest of the ponies. In the quiet early morning moments, each pony reveled in the soft warmth of the bed which gave them that wonderful feeling of “I want to stay here forever”, and there they stayed in relative comfort and laziness. Then Twilight’s wings snapped open, disrupting that comfort. “Horse apples; really?! I thought I was done with that!” The other ponies groaned from the absence of blanket, and Twilight tried in vain to pry her wings back down. Failing that, She rolled over to her side, allowing the blanket to slip off her cramped appendages. She shivered from the chill. Fluttershy—next to her—allowed herself the opportunity to ease the annoyed alicorn’s pain by rubbing her wing bases. “So,” Fluttershy asked. “How exactly are we going to make her give out ridiculous orders?” Twilight shrugged. “I don’t know; make sure we’re more familiar with her?” Fluttershy eep’d. “Oh, but I’m not used to social interaction, and I can try to be nice, but I might come off as too nice… Twilight, what do I do??” Rarity—behind Fluttershy—Put a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Fluttershy, you’re a friend of royalty, remember?” “Well, yes but—” “Royalty that is now on a first name basis with her former teacher?” Twilight quipped. “Yes, but—” “Royalty that lives in a library rather than a throne?” Applejack added. “Yes I know, but—” “Royalty that still enjoys scarfing down burgers in a very un princess-like manner?” “Rainbow, that’s uncalled for,” Twilight chided. “It’s just...” Fluttershy fidgeted, trying to find the right words. “I’m not the only one uncomfortable about all this… right?” Rarity sighed. “You’re right Fluttershy, I don’t like the looks of this either. I looked up to her, you know?” Fluttershy nodded. “And now? She doesn’t even want to be looked up to.” She shrugged dejectedly. “What does that make me then? Most of my life I’ve been making dresses and trying to become famous fairly while being generous. I looked up to her because she was fair with her fame; now she doesn’t want to be famous… am I greedy for wanting to be famous?” “Nah,” Rainbow disagreed. “I mean, look at me, I’m trying to get to the Wonderbolts. If anypony is selfish, it’s me.” “And I want to be the center of every party!” Pinkie chirped. “See? You’re not greedy, you’re just trying to make ponies look pretty.” The ponies giggled, and Rarity breathed a small sigh of relief. “Thank goodness; that’s one crisis of self averted.” The small amount of celebration they shared was not to last, however. The doors to the royal bedroom slammed open, startling the ponies, and Luna stepped in with great enthusiasm. “Good morning, my little ponies!” The six ponies sat in silence. “Let’s try that again. Good morning, my little ponies!” “Uhh… Hi?” Rainbow Dash offered. Luna frowned. “I don’t understand how she does it. Very well then…” Her smile returned. “So does anypony have an idea from which to execute our action plan?” Twilight shrugged. “Sorry, I guess we just think best awake… And I’m sorry for not being quite enthusiastic this morning.” “Oh no, it’s alright; I’m not my sister anyway. It doesn’t matter… So why don’t we head off to breakfast?” The ponies enthusiastically nodded. “Oh but first; who wants to talk with Celestia today? We’re going to have to get started with our action plan as soon as—” Fluttershy’s hoof shot up. “I’ll do it!” --- Most rulers of their respective countries took non-royalty sitting on their throne as high-treason, and executed those that dared to do so. As such, most even in Equestria believed that sitting on the throne was high-treason, or that they were simply “unworthy”. As such, ponies refused to step ten feet within the area of the throne, like children who get it into her heads that they can’t even touch the cookie jar when they were only told that they can’t take cookies from the cookie jar. However, the “royal throne” didn’t exactly belong to anypony in particular. It was owned by the government itself, which basically meant all royals and their subjects had de jure permission to sit on it, sit with the princess, or even sleep in the throne. Which is partly why Princess Celestia del Sol of the immortal empire of the solar diarchy (1) hadn’t minded it at all when Fluttershy came to court one day with her odd request. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway; Celestia was always a nice pony. “Um, princess?” She started nervously. “I was wondering if—well, with your permission of course—if I could, maybe… sit with you…?” Celestia chuckled. “Sure you can, if you can walk.” “Oh, um… may I…?” That was exactly what she was hoping to hear. With a gentle nod, she moved over to her right, and patted the seat. “Hop up, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy took her time, still unsure if she actually had permission, but eventually she came close enough for Celestia to wrap a wing around her and pull her close to her side. The shy pegasus yelped from the sudden close-contact, but Celestia soon got to enjoy the feeling of a pony nuzzling into her fur, relaxing in her gentle touch. Fluttershy’s happy sigh returned a gentle squeeze of her wing from the princess, and Celestia asked the question that others were probably asking in their heads. “So, not many ponies actually have the nerve to sit with the princess. What gave you the idea that I’m approachable?” Fluttershy stuttered. “W-w-well, it-it’s that—that—that I…” Celestia quirked an eyebrow. “…yes?” “I mean—Ever since I met you, I’ve been kinda fond of you, and I just wanted to say that I—um…” Celestia nodded. “I’m… your biggest fan!” “Really? I’ve never had a fan before.” She blushed, smiling. ”Oh yes; I read up on many books about you, newspaper articles, even old legends! I’ve never called myself that before, but well, getting to know the princess personally fixed that.” She reached from behind her to grab a scarf with her aurora mane colors and a stitching of her cutie mark on each end. “I... didn’t come here just to sit next to you, I mean, I am grateful for that, but… I made this for you, if you don’t mind…” “Oh Fluttershy, it’s wonderful!” She beamed when she put the scarf around her neck. “It feels so nice; what on earth did I do to deserve this?” Fluttershy gulped. “Um, it’s… it’s not about what you did, really, but about what you… might do, I guess?” “Really?” She gave her a scowl. “Fluttershy, you’re not trying to do the unthinkable, and bribe the princess of all Equestria?” The poor pegasus, realizing she had been caught, wilted like a flower. “B-b-bribing?? N-no, I would never do such a horrible, awful, stupid thing like—” “Hold on, Fluttershy; I would be happy to do something for you! You and your friends helped the whole kingdom so much, how could I not repay you?” “You—you’re sure you would do— But you don’t even know what I want yet!” “Of course. If you have a favor to ask of me, it would be my pleasure.” Fluttershy grabbed the princess in a hug. “Oh thank you thank you thank you! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this!” Celestia giggled, returning the hug. “You’re always welcome, my little pony. So, what exactly did I agree to?” “Oh right. Princess Luna said we should make ponies more comfortable with saying no.” “Saying no to what?” “…Commands that they don’t think are right… So, we thought you should start giving ponies outrageous or lofty orders…?” “…She told me to abuse my power? This is stage one of her plan?” “Uh, yes?” “I see…” Celestia contemplated the gravity of the situation. Was that really what it would take to make ponies think of her as just another pony? It just sounded corrupt, rude and inconsiderate. How could she possibly do such a thing? That sort of thing would instate rebellion! But if she had to drop her reputation a little to do this, then so be it. “Very well Fluttershy, I will do it. I—Princess Celestia of Equestria—hereby order you to get me some cake.” Fluttershy stared. “That’s not very outrageous.” “It isn’t? But isn’t a princess supposed to keep her perfect figure as part of her subject’s Idealization?” (2) “Everypony eats some cake, you highness…” She scratched her head with a hoof. “Okay, how about an entire cake?” “That’ll do it.” Fluttershy hopped off the throne and a little distance before she realized what exactly she was trying to do in the first place. “Oh right… If you don’t mind, I’ll have to refuse…” Celestia should have expected it, but she didn’t. Oh… She said no. That’s a little jarring to have that sort of thing happen. Did that actually happen? “What did you say…?” A little squeak of fear emitted from the pegasus. Confidently, she re spoke her words. “I-i-I’m sorry, but I s-said no.” “Oh…” Celestia’s ears drooped. She felt crushed, dejected; forbidden from the love and attention she deserved—No, she deserved none of that; she was just any old pony—just a scared little filly inside an adult pony’s body. A scared little filly… Wait… that’s it! “Fluttershy?” Fluttershy turned around once more. “Y-yes, your highness?” “I think I have an idea for how to make our plan work practically overnight!” “Really?” “Yes, I believe so!” With her magic, Celestia exposed her real self to the world once more. “No wait, mistress, don’t leave us alone without your thoughts—WE LOVE YOU WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO US—darn it.” (3) POP! The short little white alicorn with pink hair and a childish stature smiled back at Fluttershy. “Well? What do you think?” Fluttershy’s eyes widened. Then she squealed in delight. “IT. IS. PERFECT!!” With all the speed she could muster, she pounced on the little alicorn, twirling her around in her endless affection. “It’s the most wonderful most fantastic thing ever because ponies will think you’re just any old pony because you are just any old pony!!” Fluttershy stopped the moment she saw a spear at her nose. “Stop! You must unhand the princess, or we’ll be forced to—” Fluttershy whimpered. “B-but she’s just a little pony, I’d never do anything to hurt her…” The guard inexplicably fell over, clutching his poor heart. So did the others. “Oh no, princess! Your guards!” She let go, fawning over the unfortunate stallions. Celestia was left wondering how those ponies managed to become guards through the health screening, and missing the feeling of her fan’s affection. So she slumped over on her royal cushion with a deep sigh. --- “Ugh… Muh… Mommy? Was the teleportation really necess… necess…” “Necessary? Of course it was necessary. How else are we going to get our plan in motion in the course of a few hours?” As of that moment, there was a small crowd of changeling children and one queen situated within a back alley of Canterlot, still trying to recover from their long distance teleport from the badlands to Canterlot; Lepidos among their ranks. “We could have…” She held back a gag. “Just… just flown there, right?” “Nonsense! Some of your brothers cannot fly. Would you rather carry them there?” “Yes, I think I would… maybe?” Chrysalis smirked. “…All fifteen of them?” Lepidos’ long ears drooped. “No…” “There, you see? It was the best choice, and we made it with no repercussions whatsoever!” Unfortunately for her, Chrysalis’ sound logic was made unsound from one nymph losing their lunch. “…mostly no repercussions. Look, why don’t we just get this started, yes? And Acari, go help Siphona.” After some cleaning up (And lots of “eew”), a couple of changelings peeked out the side of the alleyway, waiting for some sort of signal. Out from back alley of Canterlot, the changelings had discovered an interesting thing: What ponies do when they aren’t panicking. As it appeared, ponies tended to walk very briskly to get to wherever they were going. They also seemed to have the strange counter-productive habit of not looking where they were going, and pointing their noses at a ninety degree angle from level to the ground. The population also consisted strangely of a high amount of unicorns. However, that wasn’t remotely as intriguing as the small procession of out-of-place foals, along with one earth pony adult mare heading in the direction of the castle, or at least what they assumed was the castle. “Whoa, what’s that?” “Is that some procession?” “Is it a hive?” “It is a hive!” “Kids—” Chrysalis attempted before finding out she was being ignored. “No it’s not, it’s too small!” “They’re not even ponies, how could it possibly be a hive?!” “Oh hey! There’s that little filly I smiled at!” “Ah, zo it iz! Look, she iz zmilink back! Zo beautiful…” “Kids—” Chrysalis growled at the continued ignorance in front of her. “What’re we gonna do, follow them? Is that how you integrate?” “Yeah, become a part of the group!” “But how? Changelings don’t have a good reputation…” “I propose we just walk up and say hi!” “KIDS, WE ARE GETTING DISTRACTED!!” The changeling nymphs shot their heads around towards a frazzle-maned Chrysalis. She huffed. “Standing around and staring at foals will help us none, will it? We can definitely do more than that.” The group sat in silence, before one dared to ask a question. “How, Mother? They are zshurely far away by now, and we cannot make a zscene, am I correct?” Chrysalis scowled. “A procession of foals may not be counted as a reliable source of information, but their teacher may…” She half mumbled to herself. “I believe an interception is in order.” “Interception? How?” “Only the one tried and true way!” Brother Formici didn’t understand. “…What iz the one tried and true way?” “Stalk, ambush, then feed! Works every time!” “Why would feeding the pony help?” “Not feeding the pony; feeding on the pony! There’s a crucial difference.” “But a pony haz to zshow affection firzst!” Chrysalis smirked. “That should not be a problem. Oh, Lepsy~?” Lepidos sat nervously. “…Yes, mommy?” “Do me a favor and drain the earth pony teacher dry, would you?” Lepidos cringed. “But mommy, that goes against the code of—” Chrysalis silenced the nymph filly. “We’ll discuss morals later; but you need to do what mommy says.” “I—Yes, mommy…” Lepidos took to the roofs, searching for the small procession of foals. It was okay, mommy always knew best, even when she knew better than mommy! A little sigh escaped her lips. Mommy’s always been a little stern when ordering changelings around. If she hadn’t known better, she might have thought she was a pawn! But she did know better; mommy sang them to sleep every night. When she saw a familiar purple-ish earth pony mare, she stopped buzzing her wings and relaxed into a glide, lightly stepping on the cat walk of the castle. She turned her ears towards the little crowd of foals. One of the fillies appeared very excited. “I can’t believe I thaw her again!” the filly exclaimed. “And she wath tho cloeth!” “Was she the cute one?” A pink filly asked next to her. “Anypony who looks that good must be rich!” “Yeth, she mutht be rich!” A grey filly next to the pink one perked up. “Do you think we could get her to buy something for us?” Lepidos razberried (quietly). Changelings don’t do the money thing… “Maybe, but only if she hath thum money to throw around.” The pink filly grinned. “Think about it silver! With your fortune, my daddy’s fortune, and the strange random filly’s fortune, we can make a really big fortune!” She just wanted money that I don’t even have. Well I guess that makes my achievement less notable… The cult doesn’t need to hear about this, I’ve got a job to do! With a flap and a buzz of her wings, she gracefully flew around in a circle. I guess it makes sense that some ponies just find it difficult to make friends… with a buzz of her wings, she delicately landed. Right in the middle of the crowd of foals, in broad daylight, right in front of the castle gates. For the cult of harmony, such an action could be spoken of as heroism. For any other changeling worth their salt however, this was a rookie mistake. “There she ith again! Hi thtrange filly!” “Oh my gosh, is she—like, a blank flank?! Ew!” “Whath tho wrong with that?” “A talentless pony can’t do anything in society! They don’t—oh gross, she has holes in her legs!!” “CHANGELING!!” A random colt shouted, throwing the rest of the foals into a panic. It took a few seconds for the earth pony mare to grasp what just happened and take measures to defend her students. There they stood, eye to eye, face to face. One was terrified, and the other was determined to keep herself between her students and the threat in front. Neither moved an inch, waiting for the other to dare even twitch an ear. Thankfully, the hive’s gracious mother took notice of the delay. Lepidos, what’re you waiting for?! Suck her dry!! Mommy, I’m scared… Lepidos, just let your instincts through and feed! It can’t be that hard. But she’s… bigger than I expected… Lepidos felt her mother’s aura in her eyes for a moment. Hmmm, I agree… She looks quite healthy, even if she is a little pudgy… Lepidos’ cheeks flushed violet.(4) Th-That’s not what I meant, that’s rude! Well we’ll get a better look at her later; I need you to take her out of the picture! H-h-how?! Start with a hug or something, I don’t know, just do it!! So lepidos did just that; against all her instincts as a forager to run as fast as possible away from the mare, she closed the short gap with a whimper and a jump, awkwardly clinging to the mare’s neck. Meanwhile she contemplated how she had managed to affect the world for the greater good, for it was clear that her life was only moments from the inevitable end. Silently, she said her goodbyes to all her brothers and sisters before she couldn't when... ...a pair of hooves hesitantly wrapped around her, holding her lightly, but lovingly all the same. When a stream of love trickled into her filling her with the scent of flowers and a feeling of happiness, she realized what happened. She couldn’t believe it. It worked! Mommy could barely believe it either! Okay, what?! That makes no sense! Changelings work though deception! I swear, what is it with you and your unfathomable way of making things work in your favor?! This goes against everything changelings are about… Lepidos nuzzled the cheek of the mare, who seemed to have relaxed after a little time of feeding. Everything seemed to be going smoothly; and she expected that at any moment the teacher’s sclera would take on that sleepy green color. Just to check and make sure, she looked up, smiling sweetly. Her eyes widened. The mare’s whites were as… white, as they were when she first saw her. Now she had made possible the impossible. She had managed to feed off love from a pony without making them brain dead! Not only had she fed, she was full! She had accomplished what all in the cult of harmony had only hoped of doing years from now! Lepidos… Why haven’t you drained her yet…? She had done it, and she was scared to death about disobeying her mother. She was surely going get her bottom chipped for this. “Tho… Are you thtill here to invade uth again, like from the latht time we thaw other ghangelingth?” "I... I..." Lepidos, I swear if you don't drain the earth pony right now I will make sure you cannot sit down for a week!! B-b-but I'm full! Lepidos tried to defend herself. Her mother's angry voice made her reflexively cover her ears which were probably too long to cover. LEPIDOS, GET YOUR FREAKING THORAX OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!! And so Lepidos did what any naughty little girl would do in her situation. Quick as she could, she sprinted as fast as she could in the general direction of away from mommy.