Sugarcoat Interferes In Pony History

by Twinkletail


A Bird in the Hoof

"I don't understand! What is that thing? What happened to Philomena?"

To say that Fluttershy was baffled would have been a tremendous understatement. The day had been a rather tumultuous one, what with nearly missing the big meal with Princess Celestia and borrowing her pet bird Philomena to give her the care that the Princess was too busy to do. Once word had gotten out that the Princess was searching for Philomena, things had gotten far more stressful, but not nearly as stressful as when she watched Philomena suddenly burst into flame, then land in a pile of ash in her hooves. The trauma of it all was nearly too much for her to take, but then her emotions were taken for another ride as Princess Celestia appeared and spoke to the ashes, inconceivably convincing them to reform into a majestic birdlike creature. It certainly was a strange day.

"This is Philomena," Celestia responded. "She's quite a sight, as I said. But nothing unusual for a phoenix. Isn't that right, Philomena?" The bird let out a rather majestic caw in response.

"A...a phoenix?" Fluttershy asked, quite confused.

"A phoenix is a majestic and magical bird," Celestia said. "While it appears healthy and happy most of the time, every so often it must renew itself by shedding all of its feathers and bursting into flame." She leaned in towards Fluttershy with a little grin and whispered. "Rather melodramatic, if you ask me." Then she stood straight again, returning to a regular speaking volume, "It then rises from the ashes, fresh as a daisy. All just a normal part of the life cycle of a phoenix. I'm afraid mischievous little Philomena here took the occasion to have a little fun with you, Fluttershy. Say you're sorry, young lady."

Philomena, for her part, looked a bit ashamed, and let out an apologetic caw. Fluttershy gave her a little nod, but her worries still remained.

"So...aren't you gonna banish me?" Fluttershy asked. "Or throw me in a dungeon? Or banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in the place that you banish me to?"

"Of course not, my little pony," Celestia answered, raising a curious brow. "Where on Earth would you get such an idea?" At this, Twilight Sparkle smiled sheepishly. Perhaps she had overreacted slightly when she put those ideas in Fluttershy's head.

"I guess I have some imagination," Fluttershy responded innocently, giving Twilight a little wink. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fluttershy really did do everything she could to try to take care of Philomena for you," Twilight told the Princess.

"And I do appreciate that your heart was in the right place, child," Celestia said.m"But all you had to do was ask me and I could have told you Philomena was a phoenix and saved you all this trouble."

"Excuse me?"

All heads turned towards the fountain, where Sugarcoat was standing.

"Please, not now..." Twilight said under her breath.

"Did you really just say that?" Sugarcoat asked, trotting past the others and right up to Celestia.

"I'm sorry?" Celestia asked, more than a bit surprised at the pony's bravado.

"You should be," Sugarcoat responded.

Twilight nearly fainted on the spot.

"For what, my little pony?" Celestia asked, a bemused smirk on her face. If this was bothering her, she was doing a good job of hiding it.

"You know she loves animals," Sugarcoat answered. "If somepony who cares that much about animals sees an animal that looks sick, they're probably gonna want to do something about it. You could have avoided all of this by telling her right off the bat what a phoenix was all about, instead of acting all high and mighty and playing the 'you didn't ask so I didn't tell you' card. For a thousand-plus-year-old princess, you sure are pretty immature sometimes."

Twilight didn't say anything, for she had fainted dead away.

Princess Celestia, meanwhile, set a stony gaze upon the unicorn in front of her. The area fell silent, not a single pony daring to speak. All eyes were now glued on the sun princess, some shocked and some terrified as they waited for her response. Seconds passed by like minutes as the silence hung in the air. A small clearing of Celestia's throat finally broke the silence, but the tension was not broken until she spoke a moment later.

"...I shall take that under consideration," Celestia responded. Her face was unreadable, holding the calm little smile that she seemed to carry around so often, the one that could have been hiding nearly any emotion under the sun. She then turned to her guards and gave a nod. "Let us return to the castle."

"Y-yes, ma'am," one of the guards said. The Princess, her guard, and her phoenix then left the scene.

"Well...th-that was tense," Fluttershy said quietly once they had gone.

"Wwwwow..." Rainbow Dash said. She glanced over to Sugarcoat, who seemed completely unbothered. "You sure that was the best idea?"

"What?" Sugarcoat asked. "Somepony had to say it." Then she walked off, the others staring at her as she went.

"What happened?" Twilight said as she woke up with a start. "Was she banished?"