Majesty: Queen of the Castle

by Paradise Oasis


Understanding

The flowers, the sights, the scents... Majesty didn't want to admit it, but Flutter Valley was a rather beautiful place. The flutter ponies lived in small, gazebo-like houses that fit their diminutive stature, which sat at the very top of luxuriant tropical trees. Beautiful gardens were maintained all throughout the massive tree-city, making it looking like one big, scenic park.

"I must say, Holly, these flowers are rather beautiful." Majesty declared, sniffing one of the Marigolds. "I mean, there are a lot of exotic flowers in the Dream Castle gardens, but this? I've never seen some of these tropical flowers growing this far north before."

"It's the warmth of the Sunstone that keeps flutter valley tropical." Hollywood explained, fluttering beside the amazed unicorn princess. "Without it, our valley would be nothing but a cold and dead husk."

Wind Whistler and Applejack had gone of to see the boys, leaving Majesty and Hollywood to wander about cobblestone paths of the flutter capital. The two ponies were gazing at all of the flutter ponies fluttering all around them, their gossamer wings reflecting the sunlight onto the ground in rainbow patterns. The princess craned her neck upward to view the swarm of flutters far over her head.

"Why do they stay up in the sky all of the time?" Majesty asked, her neck getting sore from looking skyward. "Don't they ever come down and walk, like Pegasus ponies do?"

"Not very much, we stay out of the way of danger in the air, and we can fly far faster than we can gallop." Hollywood explained, flexing her flutter wings. "We tend to get tired out if we stay too long on the ground to trot. Speaking of which, I'm kind of getting a little winded right now."

Well then, maybe we should head skyward." The princess noted, gazing up at one of the small houses. "I've always wanted to see what the inside of a flutter pony dwelling looks like."

"Good Idea, Majesty." Holly nodded, and pointed a hoof towards the tree where her own house was. "We'll take a rest at my place."

The two ponies want over to Hollywood's tree, and the flutter motioned over to a nearby basket attached to a rope. Majesty trotted over and climbed inside, and a pulley and rope system took her up to the door of one of the flutter houses. Trotting inside the doorway, the princess was quickly followed by Holly.

"Huh, nice little place you have here." The princess noted, looking around at the cozy little cottage nestled high in the treetops. "It's small, but it seems really cozy, with all these small rooms and tiny furniture."

"It works for us flutter ponies, that's all that matters." Holly insisted, motioning for Majesty to have a seat on the couch. "Besides, it's certainly better than the big and empty halls of you regular pony's castles."

"Holly, can I ask you something?" Majesty inquired, as the flutter sat down next to her. "Why does your tribe hate the rest of us so much? What did the rest of Ponydom do to your kind that makes you despise us so?"

"What, besides the way you all treat us with contempt? And the way you all come bursting in and making demands and threatening whenever you think a flutter pony has does something wrong?" Holly replied angrily. "We're all taught as foals that we were betrayed and cast out by regular ponies back in the time of the ancients, and because of that no flutter pony should ever, ever trust a normal pony."

"But it's okay to kidnap our stallions and attack us, right?" Majesty asked, raising an eyebrow. "You want better treatment, but don't want to treat others better?"

"Like I said, it's a hatred and distrust that dies hard. And we're really, really desperate for stallions right now" The flutter actress sighed, slumping on the couch. "By the way, I wanted to say thank you for saving me from your two friends back there. No regular pony has ever stood up for me before."

"Glad to be of help." Majesty smiled softly. "And I'm sorry about Applejack and Wind Whistler, our prejudices against flutter ponies die hard as well, I guess."

Hollywood was about to reply, when a soft knock came at the tree cottage's door.

"Hello, Holly? Are you in there?" A soft voice asked timidly. "I heard you brought the pony princess back here, and I brought you both some sweet treats."

"Oh, Yum Yum! Come on in!" Hollywood opened the door to a purple Flutter with a yellow mane, who was carrying a small basket with a handle in her mouth. "Yes, our royal guest is right here. Majesty, this is Yum Yum, our resident flutter pony chef. Yum Yum, this is Princess Majesty, daughter of the Queen of Dream Valley."

"Your Highness." Yum Yum bowed respectfully, setting a basket of chocolate chip cookies on the table in front of the princess. "When I heard you were a guest here, I made these chocolate fudge brownies for you."

"Well, that's very sweet of you." Majesty replied, before her eyes suddenly went wide. "W-wait did you say FUDGE!?!"

To their surprise, the two flutter ponies quickly learned of Majesty's greatest weakness...any baked good made out of fudge. The princess proceeded to devour almost the entire content of the basket.

"OM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM BUUUURRRRRRP!"

"Oh my, it seems our royal princess has quite a royal appetite!" Hollywood laughed. "I was hoping to get a few brownies myself, though."

"Oh don't worry, Holly. I brought a second batch." Yum Yum replied, reaching just outside the door, and bringing in a second basket she left hanging on a branch. "But I am pleased to see the princess enjoyed my baking so much."

"Are you kidding, these brownies are great!" Majesty gave the two a big smile. "Even our cook Cupcake back home couldn't make something this wonderful!"

"Well, I do try." Yum Yum giggled. "I love to bake everything from cookies to doughnuts; you should try my spaghetti sometime, every flutter pony just loves whatever I make."

"You should take your recipes to Bright Valley, and start a restaurant there. Your cooking would put all the ponyland chefs to shame." Majesty sat back, thoughtfully. "In fact, with your beauty and grace, there are a lot of things you flutters have that put the other kingdoms in Ponyland to shame."

"It's true, it's why so many other ponies hate us." Hollywood sighed. "It's why flutters who are captured have their wings clipped, for pony alchemists to use in their magic potions. And why flutter ponies are treated with suspicion everywhere."

"Oh no, it doesn't have anything to do with flutter ponies taking earth ponies as slaves centuries ago." Majesty retorted, stamping her hoof on the floor. "Nor the superiority complex that lets your tribe ponynap innocent stallions against their will."

"Would both of you stop it, please?!" Yum Yum pleaded, stepping between them before they could start arguing. "Can't you both see that it's lingering distrust on both sides that's kept this whole mess going?!"

Majesty started to say something, but then though the better of it, and fell silent. After a few minutes, Yum Yum finally spoke up.

"So, you're going to be facing Queen Rosedust tomorrow in the battle corral, that's incredible!" The cooked told her, flittering her wings excitedly. "No one has ever beaten her in a duel, you've really got your work cut out for you."

"Say, I can use my magic in this duel, right?" Majesty asked nervously, realizing she had never asked about the rules. "I'd kind of be at a disadvantage if I couldn't."

"Yes, unicorn magic is permitted." Hollywood replied, taking a bite of a brownie. "But so are the queen's flutter pony abilities. If you're not careful, you could be utter fluttered right out of the corral."

"Oh, well that just makes me feel so much better." Majesty sighed. "Great horsemaster, what the hay have I gotten myself into?"

That sat there in silence again for several minutes, before Hollywood finally spoke up.

"Hey, we shouldn't just be moping around here, you need to get your mind off the duel." The actress smiled. "Why don't you let Yum Yum and I show you some real flutter pony culture?"

"Okay..." Majesty replied, unsure. "What exactly did you have in mind?"