//------------------------------// // A conflict of interests // Story: Fed up // by Billblok //------------------------------// “Uh… Moon?” The sun called out.         The moon, on the other side of the planet with all its moony lifeforms that lived upon it, insisted on ignoring it.         “Mooon?” The sun tried again.         No response was heard.         “Moon?? Moooooooon?? Moon moon moon moon MOON MOON MOONMOONMOONMOONMOON--”         The moon sighed from across the planet. “Okay, I give; WHAT exactly is it this time?”         “Do you feel like we’ve been forgotten?” The sun asked. “We think that our lovely mistress has forgotten about us. It has been at least a day since she graced us with her divine presence, and we have not heard her beautiful thoughts since then.”         Yeah; look sun, I’m sure she’ll--         “We love her, you know? We’re sure she loves us too, but not having her in my mind makes me feel less secure--”         “I’m sure Celestia hasn’t forgotten for long--”         “OH MOON, WE’RE SO SCARED!!”         “SUN, SHUT UP!! You’re fine, you’re still floating, so it isn’t the end of the stellar system, now is it?”         The sun blubbered a “no” in reply.         “Good. See? you’re fine!”         “Okay, but  we’re not sure why she unlinked with us in the first place…”         “I’m sure she’s just busy with the upcoming changeling invasion.”         “Wait, another invasion is underway??”         “Oh, you didn’t know? I was sure Luna told you. Did I even tell her?”         “It’s news to me!”         “I guess I didn’t… I suppose I should tell her at some point.”         "GUARDS!! TIA! SOMEPONY HELP!!"         “Oh, never mind, she already knows.”         “Moon?”         “Uh, yeah?”         “We think you shouldn’t be allowed to be a messenger anymore, because you can’t deliver.”         “Yeah? Well ‘We’ think that you’re too clingy to your ‘mistress’.”         “Stop it! It’s a condition! How would you feel if We mocked you for your sociopathy?!” ---         It was coming along to be a wonderful day so far. “Celestia.”         “Why Twilight, I’m happy you managed to say my name without tripping over the title!”         “We need to talk,” Twilight spoke with an angry pout.         “Well, of course! We do need to be on a first-name basis, after all.”         “Okay then.” Twilight pulled out a pillow, sitting her purple pony bottom on top of it. Celestia suspected that this was going to be for the long haul. With Luna’s nervous shift of movement, She knew Luna thought the same. “You know how when you first introduced your sister’s ‘plan’, I nearly choked to death on my drink?”         “Indeed,” Luna replied. “It was quite amusing.”         Twilight scowled.         “I-i mean, If you actually choked to death, I wouldn’t be laughing anymore! We swear, we’d bury the body too!”         “Want a shovel so you can also get out of that hole you dug yourself into as well?”         “N-no, we’re good...” Her ears drooped. “sorry.”         “Right; Now then,” Twilight continued. “Let me level with you two. I have been trained in the magic of friendship a long time. I know this because you, Celestia, taught me. Is it okay for a student to be disappointed in her former teacher? Because that’s kinda how I feel right now.” She leaned in conspiratorially, and Celestia felt the hairs on her neck stiffen. “This is a matter of personal opinion, But I don’t think you’re managing your… resources, properly.”         Celestia felt a cold sweat trickling down her neck ever so agonizingly slowly. “Uhm… How did you know I was using you, Twilight?”         She smirked. “I don’t know how many people even know this; but It’s kind of your job to use ponies for the benefit of your country. Amass armies, fund public use projects, raise up a student to care for the country in your absence, the gist. Very scandalous, I know. You two didn’t look so riled up when you were freed from those thorns.”         Celestia chuckled nervously. “Emergency makeup supply kit within a compartment in the chestplate. You should have one!” Her smile faded when she still saw Twilight’s sarcastic smirk. “So just what brought on this sudden burst of confidence, anyway?”         “Well, to be frank, I think this whole idea is STUPID!!”         The two elder princesses were stunned. Did she just say that?? of all the times she heard Twilight speak up, it was hardly ever in an air of irritation, much less indignation. Celestia in her own nervousness steeled herself for what could possibly come next. “...What makes you think that...?”         “Celestia, think. This whole thing about you joking around, trying to get ponies to have a laugh from you. If you finally make ponies think you’re some kind of comedian, What do you think will happen when you try to tell them something serious? They’ll just be waiting for the joke!!”         “What makes you think my situation will be like that?”         “Oh, just my friend Pinkie Pie. She’s so wild sometimes, I find it very difficult to take her seriously. Hay, I don’t think she even knows how to take herself seriously when she wants to be taken seriously! That’s a road of pain and suffering I don’t want you to go through, because even though I told you personally that It's a good idea to stop and listen to your friends' opinions and perspectives, even when they don’t always make sense, I still struggle with it.” She sighed. “I’m pretty sure that ever since that whole mirror pool incident, Pinkie Pie would be rather against having another Pinkie Pie.”         “Twilight, would you please just--”         “And another thing, If I may add? Why did you even call us here in the first place?”         “So I wouldn’t be revered as a goddess?”         “I thought that was over with a couple thousand years ago.”         “Well, it sure feels like it sometimes...” Celestia wilted slightly. “I just want to be more relatable...”         “OH, GOOD GOSH...” A hoof came in a vertical direction to make contact with Twilight’s face. “Okay, you two; do you even know my friends?? ever since I came here and agreed to help you, along with my friends, your demeanor has taken an alarmingly grand change, and I think that ditz came right along with it.”         Now that really stung. “I… Twilight--”         “You just invited six comm--” Twilight stopped for a moment, correcting herself in embarrassment. “Five commoners to the royal palace, asking them to help you become more relatable to the common folk. And yet you want to go with your own plans from a pony who by circumstances beyond her control is behind with the times and is also just as out of touch with the rest of us!” She pointed a hoof at the two. “You don’t need to make any plans. We will make the plans!”         It was only at this point that twilight realized just what she did after she stopped her talking. The two pony princesses sitting at their respective thrones looked like beaten puppies. Needless to say, Twilight felt utterly awful, and she had lost pretty much all of her putting-her-hoof-down-ness.         “I’m sorry… Was that too harsh? I didn’t mean to call you a ditz, princess, it just kind of came out like that… Are you two okay?”         Celestia recovered from her moment of depressed hurt. “I… I’m fine, just a little… disappointed?”         “Disappointed? By what?”         “I suppose because I was hoping you might not lose your confidence with us like that.”         Twilight smiled sadly. “Well, I guess that’s what we’re here for, isn’t it? Shall we call a meeting?”         Celestia nodded. “That sounds like the best course of action. Luna, if you would…?”         “Must I, sister?”         “Luna, do this for me, and we’ll get this whole thing done quicker.”         “I just don’t think you should just sit on your duff the whole day, like you usually do.”         “Luna, Please.”         “Okay, fine...” She trotted off.         Silence reigned for a time, then Celestia finally spoke up. “She probably needed a walk to clear her head anyway. But by all accounts, so do I, but someone has to stay in the throne room.”         “I can hold down the fort,” Twilight offered.         Celestia reached her forelegs around her once faithful student. “Thanks Twilight,”         They shared a heartfelt hug for a moment, and then Twilight quickly (but hardly in a rude sense) broke it off, gently pushing her mentor out of the way so she could sit on the throne in her stead. “Go on, shoo! . got this, Pinkie promise!”         Celestia giggled, walking out of the throne room to find the other ponies that Luna hadn’t came for yet. ---         “Oooff… ow, I didn’t think ponies were so heavy...” Lepidos complained as she carried Fluttershy upon her back. Fluttershy watched as her carrier struggled with the load she was assigned, limping along with her poor sore bottom. She had a decent amount of pity for the nymph, but Lepidos refused to take that pity.         “Well I hope she didn’t hurt you too badly,” Fluttershy said.         “No you don’t,” Lepidos replied flatly.         “But I do!” Fluttershy lied. “I’m the element of kindness! Didn’t your--” she shivered. “--mother tell you who we are?”         Lepidos nodded slowly. “You’re not Applejack though. She’s not very pony like.”         Fluttershy tilted her head. “But she’s honest because she’s a pony of her word, not that she doesn’t lie.” Obviously a lie. Mommy told her otherwise.         “No, she just doesn’t lie.”         Fluttershy sighed miserably. What was even wrong with this little nymph, anyway? She just seemed to be contradicting everything she said. It had to be Chrysalis’ doing. Of course. It just had to be that Crysalis would even deceive her own children. Which begged the question. “Lepidozz?”         The nymph giggled. “Lepidos, you silly pony!”         “Oh… okay.”         Lepidos changed the weight of her load, Fluttershy adjusting within her cocoon. “What’d you want to say?”         “It’s just-- i-is Chrysalis your mother?”         “Yeah,” She replied, giving the pegasus a “what kind of world do you live in?” look.         “You just seem a little… different.” Fluttershy avoided using the word “small.”         “Oh! Yeah, that’s because I’ve got daddy’s eye color.” She tilted her head. “What about it? Something about mommy being an invader?”         “Y-you know?”         Lepidos bowed her head. “Ponies say mean things about mommy… Things like how she invaded this place twice, and kidnapped fillies, and she’s a liar, and tried to starve a princess...”         Fluttershy shrank down. “But why do you think they said that if they are liars?”         “They don’t know her!” She shouted, bringing up her pace. “They don’t know mommy! They haven’t seen her in the city doing her job! She’s the nicest queen I know! She treats all our hossts with respect and dignity!” she sniffled, wiping her nose         “But why didn’t she treat me with any respect during the invasion of Canterlot?”         Lepidos stared in shock. “You too?!”         “Um, I… Yes?”         “Stupid pegsus, mommy didn’t invade anypony!!”         “Fluttershy, if you would refrain from agitating my daughter?” Chrysalis requested. “I hardly think that she wants to talk to a pony, when ponies got her in trouble. At any rate, I do wish to have a little chat with you in private. Lepidos, if you would?”         Lepidos trudged behind, walking up to her mother, who had her own cocoon on her back of the purple earth pony teacher. A brief flash of horns and the two were swapped. Fluttershy was far more scared than she was before she saw Chrysalis in the first place. But all the same, she was upset as well. “Why the hay have you been lying to them?!” She hissed.         Chrysalis chuckled, walking closer to the back of the whole group. “Really Fluttershy, you honestly expect me to do everything a pony does? I have an image to keep.”         Fluttershy defiantly fought through the fear. “Well… M-maybe if you j-just told them the truth, you’d have honesty in your image t-too.”         She faked shock. “Do you honestly understand how horrid that would sound?” She put on a sarcastically sweet tone. “‘Oh kids, I know you like ponies, but I really don’t, and I’ve been lying to you for years on end. While you were busy with your happy little cult of harmony, I’ve been trying to take on a conquest against their country, where I would usurp the throne and make them love slaves for the rest of their natural lives. You don’t mind, do you my dears?’ It’d just break their little hearts.”         Fluttershy felt fear, anger and grief at the same time. It practically made her sick as the inevitable tears came in. “Y-y-you monster...!”         “No, ‘slave’ is a little too harsh. I think you’d end up being our pets! Think about it; your own little bed, a pretty little collar on your neck, and food and water provided, all with the simple cost of a few hours cuddling! I don’t think you would even have to leave your own home!”         “I-I don’t care, your plans never work anyway!”         Chrysalis burst into a fit of giggling, grabbing the pegasus’ cocoon and twirling her around. “Oh but it has, it has! All I had to do was with a little mind control, project myself as so boring and uninteresting, barely anypony would even notice! It doesn’t work on children, but you silly ponies don’t even listen to them! I made it through, into the very capital of Equestria with nopony but you and twenty four ponies in a class of schoolfoals noticing!” Her happiness was so infectious, Fluttershy almost felt happy for the changeling queen’s sucess. Almost. “Finally, finally I’ve managed to weave my way into Equestria to sneak by and launch a surprise takeover!” "GUARDS!! TIA! SOMEPONY HELP!!"         “I-- Oh… Isn’t Luna supposed to be asleep right now?”         Fluttershy stared back behind her where Luna had shouted. “I-- well, sometimes, but that’s only when she’s on night patrol. Usually she searches the dreaming realm, I think...”         The changeling queen held her head in nervousness. “It can’t be. Something happened to reveal ourselves. Something left behind to make her notice. What did we miss? What on earth did I miss this time?? What could possibly have hinted her that something was amiss?!”         “Um, well… I might be… missed? I thought I was replaced...”         “Oh no-- and that was my idea!”         “And a rather poor one, I might have you know,” Said a voice behind her.         “Oh, Fluttershy!! You’re okay!” Another voice exclaimed in relief.         Chrysalis yelped, abruptly dropping poor Fluttershy on the ground. She stood, terror-stricken at just being caught by…         “Hello Chrysalis, can we have a moment?“ asked a pink-haired alicorn.         She tilted her head to one side, fear being  slowly changed into confusion. “Hold on… Who are you, and why do you have Celestia’s voice?” She pointed a hoof at the other ponies present. “And how did you earn their respect? Or the sleepyhead’s, for that matter?”         Luna snarled indignantly, hugging Fluttershy--who was just recently released-- quite tightly. “We are no ‘sleepyhead’, vile insect! And that is our sister, whom thou wouldst do well to treat with respect!”         “Oh what, her? Hardly the case. Celestia’s got rainbow wavy hair, everypony knows that!”         “Chrysalis, I don’t have time for this, Stop joking around!”         “I’m not. But if you want joking around, I’m sure we could do that.” She turned to the attentive little eyes behind her. “Kids, you want to have a little fun?”         “Oh my, I’m not sure I’m going to like this sort of ‘fun’...” Fluttershy mumbled into her current protector’s fur coat.         “Brace yourselves girls,” Twilight said warningly.         “Ponies love games, and I’m sure you would like to take a break and move around a little, hmm?”         “We won’t hurt them… will we, mother?” Formici, from the back, asked with an air of restraint.         “Oh, the pink haired one can take it,” Chrysalis dismissed.         “Chrysalis, my name is--”         “Go on, have some fun!” The group of changeling children looked at each other, then back at the ponies, putting down their cocoons. Then with the excited buzzing of wings, several jumped into the air.         “Here they come!” Twilight called out, flexing her wings for the third battle she had against the changeling peoples. She had to make this quick and efficient, or she could be quickly overrun.         “GET THE PRUPLE ONE!!” Formici rallied his siblings. Then before she even knew it, a black cloud of nymphs tackled her to the ground.