The Return of Flutterbat

by Stotter

Chapter 1: Prologue/The Return of Flutterbat

Dear Princess Celestia; for my personal safety, I cannot introduce myself at this time, but you will know me soon enough. Your millennial reign over ponykind shall soon come to a long overdue end as we rise up from behind your iron hoof. You may have fooled everypony else with your propaganda over the centuries, but we shall accept this no longer.
Our primary grievance is with your first and greatest source of guilt. We speak of course about the banishment of your own sister, our Princess Luna. While we accept the reality that she did indeed transform into Nightmare Moon and try to create an endless night, having witnessed the return of her alter ego before her restoration, we posit that the original incident was only possible due to her being made to feel isolated and unappreciated despite the so-called equal status you shared.
We do not blindly accept that you were unaware of this beforehand for the following reasons: We find it hard to believe that there was no nightlife whatsoever back then, which had Luna been aware of back then, would have provided an example of ponies who did not shun her beautiful night. In fact, I would go further and conclude that for there to truly be no nightlife, it would be because an enforced curfew preventing it. Second, the idea she wouldn't raise this concern until she'd already grown resentful is incredulous and at the very least reflects poorly on your relationship prior to her fall from grace. Finally, there is what you had to gain from having all that power to yourself: The pretense for a then unprecedented military expansion in the form of the EUP guard. Ostensibly for defense needed to compensate for the loss of an alicorn, used in conjunction with the still potent threat of the windigoes returning should there be internal conflict, they were your means of expanding our territory to the whole of the continent, assimilating land previously held by griffons or used by the nomadic dragons.
Our secondary grievance is the inadequacy of your token gestures of reform: Cadence was hardly any replacement for Luna, having only recently been found something to do in running your latest territorial acquisition. The coronation of Twilight Sparkle was an example of meritocracy, but it's too little too late as far as we're concerned. Democracy on the local level is insufficient to balance out the power of the aristocracy. For these and other reasons, I declare our intention to establish a republic where power will rest with the equestrians, not just one alicorn bestowing power to those in her inner circle, maybe a horn or some wings every millennium, never to earth ponies of course, but that's a separate issue for another day. It's too early to ask for your surrender, and I intend to do so in your presence when you'll have little choice in the matter. In conclusion, prepare for the revolution; because this year, the date we strike will cease to be remembered as Nightmare Night, the holiday that mocks our Princess with exaggerated tales, and become our independence day.
Sincerely, the Commander-in-chief of the Lunar Republic of Equestria.

Upon finishing the letter, Luna is filled with a level of rage she had never experienced, including the incident that inspired the letter in the first place. She dropped it, knowing that using her magic for even the simplest thing right now would result in the use of dark magic, such is the level of hatred for the author of this slander. Celestia, having read it first, cried into her pillow, having thousand-year old emotional wounds reopened in such a malicious manner.
"Sister, I swear to you, whoever wrote this shall be sent to Tartarus one way or another. I shall see to it personally."
Celestia raised her head, wiped her tears away, and tried to keep composure. "Very well. We shall stop this before it starts by preventing this fool from gaining support in the first place. He has to recruit from somewhere."
"But you are beloved by all; where in all of Equestria would he even think to look?"
"It's not about where I'm not beloved, it has to be where you are even more beloved. Ponies who are willing to change their very forms to better serve you."
"You refer to my night guard. That does make sense."
"Is there somepony in your guard you trust enough to have them spy on the others?"
"To be honest, I never formed that kind of bond with any of them. It's only been recently I'd learned how to act informal around anypony else but you and I never had reason to suspect any of them of discontent with you. The fact this cad thinks otherwise suggests I don't know enough about my own guards."
"In that case, I have a suggestion."

In her dream, Fluttershy is on a large stage, dressed in a frilly outfit reminiscent of a Japanese pop idol or magical girl, singing before an audience that stretched as far as the eye could see. They're cheering so much as she sings into the microphone while doing some adorable dance moves.

Before the dreamscape audience could demand an encore, Luna swooped in and picked her up like an eagle and a map. "I didn't know it was your dream to be a popular singer."
"Oh, It's not. This is actually a nightmare." Luna now notices how much Fluttershy is shaking in her forelegs. Luna cradles her
"It's alright. Everything's okay. Rest now." Fluttershy falls asleep in her dream, going down a dream level and finding herself in a peaceful meadow, no longer wearing the outfit.
"I didn't fall asleep in a meadow. I must still be dreaming." Luna appears and lands on a stump that grows into a throne.
"That is correct. This is a dream within your dream. I have a matter to discuss with you of grave concern."
"Oh my. This must be important. If there's anything I can do to help..."
"An unknown threat seeks to throw the kingdom into upheaval by tearing us apart from the inside. We believe their plan involves corrupting the loyalty of my night guard by convincing them to go against my sister, in my name no less."
"That's terrible. Everypony knows that's the last thing you'd want."
"This villain couldn't care less what I want. It's all just an excuse to take us over, the same as the rest."
"So what can I do to help?"
"I wish to have you infiltrate my night guard and discover the origins and depth of the conspiracy against us."
"Me, as a guard? Why me?"
"As you may have noticed, my night guard is comprised of ponies transformed into bat ponies, to make them more suitable for their nocturnal duties. You yourself have been a vampire-bat pony before."
"I don't remember anything from when I was. You're not going to make me turn into it again are you?" She shakes a little.
"That spell you were under was just an accident caused by an unrelated spell interfering with your innate magic. My spell is basically a weaker version of the spell used to turn you into a breezie. Ordinarily, a fruit bat would be used for it, but this could work to our advantage. With the enhanced abilities of the vampire fruit bat, it would compensate for the, well, gap in pegasi ability you have."
"My friends did say I was outmaneuvering them, and Dash is the best flyer I know." As she smiles to herself the leftover fang shows.
"Since you seem to still have some residual effects from your transformation, this should be simpler. When I change you, you'll have full control of your mind. Some side effects in one's personality are common but given your personality, the worst I can imagine is apple cravings."
"Yeah, with the help of my friends..."
"I'm afraid this assignment is top secret. No one but us and my sister can know, not even other princesses. Any details about this mission can only be discussed in a dream within a dream. Knowing all this, do you accept this task?"
"Well, my animals need care and I need an excuse for being out of Ponyville."
"That will all be arranged. Do you accept or not?"
"Well, um, okay. I'll accept."
"Huzzah!" She hugs her, reacting better than before, in that at least she isn't going limp. "We must hurry. The enemy intends to make his move on Nightmare Night."
"That's such short notice."
"He wouldn't give us a lot of time. Besides, if a pony can get through Wonderbolt Academy in a week, you can get through this in the same time frame."
"I can?"
"Sure." Luna then thinks to herself. "There's a first time for everything after all."

After Fluttershy woke up she made preparations to head to Canterlot. She went with the excuse of visiting parents, and contingency plans are being made in case they try to check up on her. Mr. Greenhooves was put in charge of housesitting, another task for the old background pony who works during the day in Ponyville and during the evening in Canterlot's gated garden. Her friends see her off on the train, which is set to go straight to Canterlot, no stops. Arriving in Canterlot shortly thereafter, Luna is at the station to pick her up. She teleports them both to an isolated field.
"Are you ready for this?" Fluttershy nods, but closes her eyes. "Very well." Her horn glows and Fluttershy becomes enveloped by a now familiar to us cocoon of magic as her transformation begins. She emerges as Flutterbat, complete with transformed cutie mark. She looks at her wings and is a little disturbed, then looks at her cutie mark and is existentially so. Nothing messes with the psyche of a pony like the alteration of a cutie mark. A loss can be processed; they don't forget their destiny. Alter it, and it can make them lose sight of who they are. Fortunately for her, three bats isn't different enough from three butterflies in the context of animal care to change her sense of purpose, but it's still what disturbs her the most about this form. "Are you okay Fluttershy?"
"I, I will be."
"It was successful. Now to take you to your destination." They teleport to the night guard training grounds.
"So, do I go into a recruitment office or something?"
"No, you become a bat pony, you're in. I don't turn everypony who volunteers to join my guard into a bat pony on day one."
She has an audible gulp. "So it's straight to basic training?"
"Everypony I brought into the night guard were fully trained royal pegasus guards who volunteered. This place is meant to further train them in their nocturnal forms." Before Fluttershy can ask, "No, we don't have time to put you through pegasus guard basic training, you'll just have to wing it, so to speak." Fluttershy's limbs lock up and she stiffly falls to her side. "This is going to be a long night."