//------------------------------// // Demesne For Sale (MrNumbers' "The Demesne Of The Reluctant Twilight Sparkle") // Story: Never The Final Word (Vol. 1) // by horizon //------------------------------// "Hello, Fluttershy," Twilight Sparkle said. "Lovely day, isn't it?" Fluttershy stared past the edge of the cracked-open door. All Twilight could see of her was an unblinking sliver of eye in a tiny stripe of yellow. "Oh. Hi, Twilight. Yes, yes, it is." Twilight waited. Fluttershy stared. Two squirrels chased each other through Twilight's hooves. Twilight cleared her throat. "Uh, I was hoping you could maybe help me clear something up?" "Anything for you, Twilight." The door didn't move. "Yes. Well." Twilight coughed quietly into a hoof. "Do you remember that contract I drew up to put this whole ridiculous demesne thing behind us, transferring ownership of everyone in Ponyville to themselves for the sale price of one bit, to be subsequently donated to charity? Do you remember my announcement that I just needed everypony's signature as a party to the transaction in order to make the transfer legal and official?" "Of course." "It … err … appears to be one signature short." Through the tiny crack, Fluttershy's cheek grew pink highlights. "That must be very. Um. Upsetting," she whispered. "I know how hard you worked on that." "Fluttershy," Twilight said, feeling a migraine coming on, "it's YOUR signature." Silence. For a moment, Twilight thought the door was going to slam shut, but Fluttershy's eye slowly blinked, and the flush on her cheek deepened. "Well, um," she said faintly, "I must have forgotten." "That's alright. I brought the contract." "Okay." A cock crowed from the coop around back of the cottage. A raccoon squirmed through a tight hole in the building's foundations, hind legs flailing and scrambling. A bluejay wheedelee'd in a nearby tree. "Fluttershy," Twilight said, voice getting strained, "please open the door and let me in so we can get the contract signed." Fluttershy mumbled something Twilight couldn't hear. "What?" Mumble. "Maybe … um … you could say that louder?" Mumble. "Fluttershy," Twilight said, her temper slipping, "SPEAK UP!" "Order me!" she squeaked. Twilight stood there, mouth hanging open. "… What." "Ord…" Fluttershy's voice locked up. Then Twilight saw her eye narrow in resolve. The door slammed open. Fluttershy stepped forward, standing in her doorway in something that looked like a maid's outfit but revealed far more than it covered. "Order me!" she shouted breathlessly. "Oh, Twilight, I've been such a bad pony, I haven't done what my owner wanted AT ALL. I've been so willful! MAKE me sign, Twilight! ORDER ME!" * * * Heart fluttering, Twilight glanced around the throne room. At the tapestries. At the stained glass. At the guards. At anything at all, just so long as it wasn't Celestia's eyes. She reached behind her with a hoof, awkwardly, and tried to shove her wings back into their proper folded position. "Twilight," Celestia said with strained maternal cheer, "this contract appears to be one signature short."