10. Fluttershy Wishes She Didn't Get Involved
Twilight blinked. “A play?”
Fluttershy nodded with a bright smile, holding a stapled bundle of papers in her arms.
Twilight was still covering for Moondancer’s office hours this week, but after the first day’s surge, students were few and far between, giving the two co-conspirators plenty of privacy in her office.
“Oh yes. The Cub Theater Club are putting on a child-friendly play in the park the week after the Gala, and they thought you and Rarity, as the student council leaders, would be perfect role models for the children if you played the leads. I was in the club for a bit, so they begged me to show this script to you.” She shifted her eyes and hissed, “I thought it was a theater club for actual cubs.”
Twilight frowned as she took the papers and skimmed through them. “I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to helping a play for children, but a week after the Gala is far too soon.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes, I understand, but I think you’ll reconsider after you hear what happens in the story. You see, once the evil Shadow Queen is defeated, the captive princess of Unicornia—played by you—is rescued by the heroic knight—played by Rarity—and…” Fluttershy leaned in and whispered, “You kisssss.”
Twilight froze, and then flipped to the last pages of the script, confirming this. She returned to the front page and placed the bundle in her lap. “Incredible. A club I’ve barely interacted with has, completely unprompted, provided an opportunity like this.” Twilight squinted her eyes. “Or, is this one of Rarity’s schemes? What exactly did they tell you, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy put a finger to her lower lip. “Well…”
The red-haired theater club member twirled. “Rarity is the pinnacle of elegance.”
The blue-haired theater club member leapt with her legs split. “Twilight is the pinnacle of sophistication.”
They chanted together while lifting their knees. “Rarilight is key! Rarilight is queen!”
Then they rolled over each other’s backs. “Over and over and over again!” Then pressed their hands together and brought their cheeks close. “We’ll stan Rarilight ‘til the ve-ry end!”
They leapt and cheered.
Cowering, Fluttershy presented them her purse. “All my money’s in here. Please, just go!”
Fluttershy’s mouth twisted. “Well, let’s just say other people are rooting for you and Rarity to get together.”
Twilight drummed her fingers on the script as she considered this. “Oh yes, I heard from Spike that many people view Rarity and I as a power couple, of sorts, and some think we’re even secretly dating already. I never figured out a way to leverage this that wouldn’t be to Rarity’s favor, though. She’s far more capable of directing popular perception; that only makes me more worried about this play.”
Fluttershy’s face sank. “So that’s a no, then?”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “Well, let’s not get too hasty. It’s true that the timing is awkward, and agreeing to a play where I kiss Rarity would surely make her suspicious if this isn’t already her plan, but this is for the kids, after all.” She flipped through the script again. “Plus, the script seems simple enough. Memorizing my lines will be easy.” She tapped her forehead. “The key here is how Rarity reacts to the script. If she refuses to participate, then I can press her on being too shy to kiss me, and maybe make her jealous depending on the replacement actor. And if…”
Twilight saw Fluttershy sitting there with the smile of a mother listening to their child ramble.
The princess blushed lightly. “Oh, uh, you can go show the script to Rarity now. I’ll just keep figuring this out on my own.”
Rarity hummed as she flipped through the script pages. The student council didn’t have a meeting set for that day, so she and Fluttershy were alone in the council room, sitting across from each other on the couches.
“So the club’s going to provide the outfits,” said Fluttershy, “but I’m sure they’d allow you to modify them as you see fit. After all,” she giggled, “this is going to be your first kiss with Twilight, so I’m sure you’d want both of you to look pretty.” Her eyes widened. “Oh, right, by the way, was this actually your plan?”
Rarity furrowed her brows. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, did you manipulate the Cub Theater Club into casting you and Twilight in this play? It does seem like one of your plans.”
Rarity slammed the papers onto the table. “Oh heavens no! I’d never try something as juvenile as this. Nay, this is the work of people outside my sphere of influence.”
Fluttershy tilted her head. “Really? I’m surprised you wouldn’t be involved with a theater club.”
“I’m certainly no stranger to theater—I helped with the Midsummer Theater Revival last year, after all—but I can’t be everywhere at once, dear. Plus, those Rarilight shippers, as they call themselves. They’re a bit, uh, shall we say, intense. Hard to safely manipulate.”
Fluttershy shuddered. “Tell me about it. Anyway, what do you think of the play?”
Rarity finished reading, flipping back to the front, and sighed. “It’s exceedingly simple. To be expected for a child friendly play, I suppose.”
Fluttershy put her hands together and smiled. “About that! I’ve been told that you and Twilight can rewrite your lines however you see fit.”
Rarity smiled back. “Splendid! I actually might just write down some ideas in the margins. Ooh, hold on.” She pushed the script to Fluttershy’s side of the table. “You write, and I’ll draw!”
She took two out two pens and gave one to Fluttershy, and then pulled a sketchpad from her bag and started drawing. The pink-haired girl grinned. “Wow, it looks like you’ve really been bitten by the inspiration bug. Let me guess, you want to better establish Syr Rosethorn and Princess Lavender’s romance.”
“Hmm? Oh yes, that knight character,” Rarity said without looking up. “She bores me. All my focus is on the Shadow Queen right now.”
Fluttershy’s lips pressed together and she stiffened. “Oh. You’re… not going to play Syr Rosethorn?”
Rarity trilled her lips. “That role simply doesn’t give me anything to work with. She has some scenes with side characters, then just comes in at the end to save the day and kiss the princess. It’s positively plebeian. Now, the story of the Shadow Queen and Princess Lavender, that can be expanded!”
Fluttershy’s eyes drifted to the side. “You mean making the romance between them instead? I suppose the Shadow Queen could be redeemed by love, but these are pretty big changes.”
Rarity waved her hand. “Oh no, I’m not planning to change it that much. Just minor adjustments. For example, go back to the very beginning, or rather the second or third page.” Fluttershy did so, and Rarity leaned over and tapped the paper. “The Shadow Queen has a princess held captive, but there’s no sense of danger at all!”
Fluttershy pulled at her hair. “Well, it is for kids…”
Rarity shook her head. “Tut tut, Fluttershy, that’s no excuse for bad storytelling. You need to make the villain menacing for her to be an effective villain.” Rarity returned to her sketch. “Now, to establish the power dynamic, the Queen needs to insult the princess. She’ll call her a naive fool. A failure. A whore!” Rarity pointed at the script. “Write that down.”
Fluttershy jumped a bit, then got to writing. “Um, I don’t think wh—that word—is really appropriate for a play for children.”
“Fine. Use ‘slut’ instead.”
Fluttershy’s face twisted. “Uh…”
Rarity crossed her arms. “Hussy, then.”
Fluttershy’s face twisted more.
Rarity humphed. “Alright, fine, what do you suggest?”
Fluttershy tapped her cheek. “How about ‘loser’? Though maybe that’s too extreme still.”
Rarity looked at her with narrow eyes. “Darling, seriously? There’s no passion in that insult at all!”
Fluttershy smiled while sweating. “Is that what we were going for?”
Rarity looked away and waved her hand dismissively. “We can figure out what works later. More important than what the Queen says, is what she does. As she puts the princess in her cell, she needs to slap her!”
Fluttershy gasped. “A slap?”
Rarity nodded while smiling. “Oh yes! The villain always slaps the helpless damsel! And if we do it for real during the performance, that’ll sell the threat fabulously! Oh, and not just there. A slap every two pages or so should be good.”
Fluttershy forced a smile as she wrote this down. Wow. She really needs to work things out with Twilight. She then asked, “Anything else?”
Rarity hummed. “No, I think that’s a good starting point. You have to get Twilight to agree to this too, right? I’ll see what she has to say. Oh, and by the way—” she tore out a page from her sketchpad and handed it to Fluttershy “—you can include my sketch for the Shadow Queen’s costume.”
The sheet included surprisingly detailed sketches of an extravagant gothic dress worn by a simple outline of a woman. Forgetting her previous trepidation, Fluttershy beamed. “This is gorgeous, Rarity! I’m amazed you drew this so quickly.”
Rarity closed her eyes, smiled, and waved her hand dismissively. “It’s as you said, dear. The inspiration bug bit.”
Fluttershy continued examining the sketches with a warm smile, but then noticed something that shook her perspective of the past conversation. Hesitantly, almost fearing the answer, she asked, “Rarity, these sketches… why do they have straight hair with stripes like Twilight?”
“Because Twilight is playing the Queen, of course,” Rarity said matter-of-factly. Her eyes widened and she put a hand to her mouth. “Oh my, did I not mention that? Well, I thought it was clear that rather than playing the knight, I would be the princess—Rarity, Princess of Unicornia only makes sense, after all—ergo Twilight would be playing the Queen. But now I can see how that context would be lost.”
Fluttershy’s head spun. “But… the slapping…”
“Oh yes, about that. I was thinking that a slap every two pages is a bit repetitive. I—and the audience—would get bored quickly. There needs to be something more.” Rarity’s eyes widened and her pupils shook. “I’ll have Twilight step on me.”
Fluttershy smiled with a cold sweat and jotted that down hesitantly. “Sure, sounds good.”
Rarity started drawing on her sketchpad again. “I need to figure out what shoes would be right for this. High heels? Or maybe barefoot would be better?” Drool formed in the corner of her mouth.
Fluttershy shot up. “Anyway, I should go talk to Twilight about your suggestions. I’ll just… go now.”
She slowly slid to the door, then ran out as Rarity frantically drew.
Fluttershy took a breath before opening the door to Twilight’s office. She had seen this side of Rarity before, but that didn’t make it any less frightening. Twilight would probably accept them shuffling roles, but she’d definitely reject her script changes. Fluttershy realized she'd have to downplay what Rarity’s suggestions actually mean, so Twilight wouldn’t get scared away.
She stepped in with a smile and Twilight looked up with a grin. “You’re back! Did Rarity—” Realizing she came off as too excited, she cleared her throat and said more evenly, “Did Rarity agree to the play?”
Fluttershy sat down with the script in her lap. “Yes. Well, sort of. She wanted to make some changes.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Changes?”
“First of all, Rarity wanted you to play the Shadow Queen, while you played Princess Lavender.”
“That’s interesting—” Twilight stood with wide eyes “—wait, that means no kiss!”
Fluttershy brushed her fingers through her hair. “Yes, that appears to be the case.”
Twilight sat back down and sighed. “I should have figured. Well, since she knows the kiss wasn’t my idea, no harm was done. And it should be easy enough to make my schedule busy enough to excuse myself from the play.” Before Fluttershy could respond, Twilight raised her finger and continued. “It might still be nice to act alongside her, though. What kind of changes did she make?”
Deciding to lead with the obvious positive, Fluttershy pulled out the dress sketches. “First of all, take a look at what Rarity drew.”
With magic, Twilight brought the paper close. “Oh wow, these look gorgeous!” She then smugly added, “As expected from Rarity.”
Fluttershy would have smiled at this, if not for what she saw on the back of the paper. There were more sketches, which itself was a surprise, but more shocking was their nature. Step by step, they depicted Twilight taking off her regal outfit to reveal a… more revealing one.
When did she even have time to draw this? thought Fluttershy. Is it horny energy? Did horny energy do this?!
Noticing Fluttershy gaping, Twilight raised an eyebrow, then turned over the sheet. She immediately turned red and said, “This-this-this-this-this,” in a seemingly endless loop as steam came from her face.
Sensing Twilight’s obvious offense, Fluttershy waved her hands. “You don’t have to use all of Rarity’s requests. She’s just, you know, throwing ideas out. That’s how artists are,” she said quickly. “Nothing you need to take seriously. Just joking around. Same with her script changes.”
Twilight’s ears perked at this and her face returned to a normal color. “Script changes?”
She flipped through the script and her face turned red again.
Fluttershy balled up her hands and put them to her chest. Stuttering, she said, “I told you, they’re just jokes, so you don’t have to take them seriously.”
“No, this is good.”
Fluttershy blinked. “Eh?”
Twilight nodded as she looked through the script. Her expression was calm and analytical. “I was startled at first, but now I can see this is an inventive new take on the story. It’s brilliant, even.”
Fluttershy tilted her head with a confused smile. “Is that so?”
“It’s an exploration of the corruptive capabilities of power. A biting criticism of our current monarchical system.”
“That’s really what you got from that?” Fluttershy said, louder than she intended.
Twilight nodded again. “Yes. I can actually see a lot of the same ideas I’ve been thinking about here.” Her smile reflected a deep relief. “We really are on the same wavelength. You know, this play is actually the perfect way to work through my own concerns about my power as a princess.”
Fluttershy pressed her lips together and nodded. “I suppose that’s good.”
“You know, Fluttershy, it’s legal for royalty to put a collar and leash on anyone they wish.”
Fluttershy slowly forced herself to open her mouth, her mouth resisting every step of the way, smiled perhaps too widely, and said, “Oh! Oh. That’s... interesting, Twilight.”
Twilight nodded with wide eyes while marking the script with pen. “That’s not even the start of it! Did you know I can declare any two people married—just like that—and they’ll be legally married?”
“What? Why?”
Twilight flicked her pen between her fingers. “There’s a lot of history behind that establishing precedence, but the main case I’d point to is when two princes of warring kingdoms fled to Equestria 500 years ago and Celestia declared them married right as the armies approached our borders, and then—well, long story short, that’s why the Holy Hayloft Empire isn’t around anymore.”
Fluttershy nodded.
“Hmm. Not a good way to work that into the story. Ah, yes, maybe I can have the Shadow Queen declare Princess Lavender and Syr Rosethorn married, just so she can capture her and torment her in front of him!”
Straining to respond, Fluttershy said, “Well. Rarity did say Syr Rosethorn needed more to do…”
The princess tapped her chin. “What else? Ooh! Did you know that I’m perfectly within my rights to strike a commoner with any object smaller than a breadbox as long as it remains in my hand and neither it nor my strike is magically enhanced?”
“How specific,” said Fluttershy.
“I was thinking about the most obscene thing I could use with that power.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Uh.”
“I thought of a hairbrush!”
She released a breath. “Oh.”
“I was thinking about how you could strike someone with the back of it”—she swung her arm to demonstrate—”and then turn it around and brush their hair after as a sick form of comfort. It’s disgusting. It’s manipulative. I’m going to do it in the play!”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened again. “Oh.”
Twilight started panting as she wrote. “Phew. I have so much power. It feels good. But it’s fine. It’s all going into the script. I can control the midnight in me through this. Who knew just writing about it could feel so good? What will happen when I play this out?” Her panting started shifting to what sounded like laughter, and her eyes darted back and forth.
At this point, Fluttershy stood up and swiped the script from Twilight. “Yes, well, um. You’ve made a lot of changes already, so I should go show this to Rarity for her feedback.”
Twilight twirled a finger in her hair, almost pouting. “I suppose so. Try to come back soon. I have so many other ideas I want to share with Rarity.”
As Fluttershy hastily walked out of the room, Twilight crossed her legs and impatiently rocked her foot.
Fluttershy came into the student council room to see Rarity wistfully staring out the window with a cup of tea placed on a saucer on the sill. The vice-president looked over her shoulder at the visitor, putting the side of her finger to her lips. “Ah, Fluttershy. Did Twilight get a chance to look at the script?”
“Yes,” said Fluttershy, standing tightly in the doorway. “And she liked what you wrote. She made changes of her own too, but on the way here, I just happened to accidentally drop it in an open fire. Then the ashes fell into the pond. And ducks ate the ashes.” She squeezed her lips shut.
Rarity looked down. “Oh. That’s a shame. Do you remember what feedback she had?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “No, sorry, I don’t. Incidentally, I do think we’re getting a bit sidetracked from the point of the play.” She smiled diplomatically. “It’s probably better to just follow the original script. And roles.”
Rarity frowned. “I’d rather not.” She stood up away from the windowsill and sat on a couch with a sigh. “Honestly, I’m losing interest in this play entirely.”
Fluttershy put her hands together. “Well, that’s fine too. I’m sure the Cub Theater Club will understand.”
Suddenly, a cloud of dust flew into the room then formed into a book that fell onto the table in front of Rarity. “Hello, what’s this?” she said. Curious, Fluttershy walked over as she opened it up. “It’s a message from Twilight!” Rarity exclaimed.
“Oh,” said Fluttershy.
“She says that she thought having you, darling, as our go-between was making things too slow, so she used Spike’s magic breath to develop a magic spell similar to an exchange journal spell she read about. Now, I can just write my changes to the script in this book, and she’ll instantly get them. Ooh, and I can just press my sketches to a page and they’ll just move over to it! How fascinating!”
“Oh.”
Rarity wrote something in the book, and jumped in excitement when new writing appeared in the book below it. “Fluttershy, look at this! Remarkable!”
“Oh.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Honestly, dear, can’t you say something else? Anyway, I’ll tell Twilight you lost the script.” She did so, and Twilight quickly responded. “Fabulous! Twilight has the script and all the changes memorized, so she’ll just recreate it here.”
“Oh—I mean… that’s good.”
Rarity watched as the script appeared on the book pages, then put a hand to her chest and blushed as she read. “My! These additions from Twilight…” Her bosom heaved.
Fluttershy backed toward the door. “Yes, well. I think this is straying away from the Cub Theater Club’s intentions, so I’ll go ahead and tell them you two were busy.”
Rarity kept reading. “Twilight wanted to mention she calls this process Spike-Enabled Exchange of Text, or… ‘seeting’. Uck, what an ugly acronym for this. Perhaps instead of the ‘e’ in ‘exchange’, we use…”
Fluttershy stepped out of the room. “Bye.”
Wallflower slipped past the door as it closed, leaving Rarity alone as she and Twilight wove their own story together.
The Cub Theater Club was surprisingly accepting of Rarity and Twilight being unable to participate. They were clearly too busy to take part in their small production, after all. They even had some backups in mind.
“I wanna be the knight!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.
“That’s fine by me,” said Applejack, “but I ain’t gonna be some captured princess. I’d rather be, let’s see, a traveling merchant with such great apples, that the Shadow Queen just has to have them without paying!”
“Why would a knight go out of her way to rescue some random merchant?” said Rainbow.
“Maybe because she’s hard working, and makes great pies!”
“Pies are the worst reason to rescue someone!”
“Maybe you’d think different if you actually tried an Apple Family Apple Pie, Rainbow!”
“No! I don’t wanna!”
“I’ll make you eat my pie, Rainbow!”
Fluttershy cowered in the corner. Why did she have to get involved in all this?
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Oh god. Poor, POOR Fluttershy.
Ho boy. Twilight and Rarity have a LOT of issues that they need to work out between them....poor Fluttershy indeed.
oh poor Fluttershy
things between Rarity and Twilight are getting even more interesting
10813727
They're the cheerleaders from "2 4 6 Greaaat", Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof, turned into the fangirls for a particular person in school (or pairing in this case) that you often see in school anime. I won't deny an Utena reference, though.
This has been absolutely delightful so far. Rarity and Twilight are so much fun in this, and I can't wait to see more.