Chapter 6: Keep your enemies close and your friends closer
Twilight sat down next to Fluttershy at the same table near the window, their saddle bags at their sides, brimming full of notes, text books, and homework.
“Well, that was an interesting first day.” Said Fluttershy, eating her fresh garden salad.
“You can say that again.” Said Twilight tiredly. A voice called out from the crowd. It was Rarity, waving at Fluttershy with a smile.
“There you are Fluttershy Darling!” Rarity made her way to their table in another elaborate dress. She sat down between the two ponies.
"You won't believe the day I had after we left Royal Etiquette." Said Rarity, tossing her purple curled mane over her shoulder, accidentally brushing it across Twilight's muzzle.
"Um, hello." said Twilight awkwardly. Rarity turned to her, noticing Twilight was there for the first time.
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” she said addressing Twilight. “I am Princess Rarity of Lobelia, pleased to meet you.”
“Princess Twilight Sparkle…of Ponyville.” replied Twilight. Rarity titled her head, hearing the name of Twilight's kingdom.
“Ponyville? I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of that kingdom.”
“Well it isn’t much of a kingdom per say. It’s more of village with my castle standing near the edge. But I do what I can to help Ponyville’s citizens like any other princess.” said Twilight, rubbing her foreleg awkwardly. Rarity turned back to Fluttershy, her mane once again brushing Twilight's muzzle.
“Speaking of kingdoms, I don’t think you ever told me what kingdom you’re from Fluttershy.” said Rarity.
“ME?" cried Fluttershy. Her mind tried to remember the old name of her mother's kingdom (it had been renamed the Dark realm, or Dark kingdom during Melodia's evil reign). All could think about was her mother. 'That's it!' thought Fluttershy.
"Um...Melodious." Fluttershy fibbed nervously.
“Melodious, huh?” said Twilight. Fluttershy nodded, taking a big bite of a tomato slice.
“I don’t think I’ve heard of Melodious either. Perhaps I should get out a little more outside social events.” Rarity said to herself. She then put a hoof to her head and said dramatically, “Well I don’t know about you two, but I feel like I could use a spa treatment after that spending class with that Discord fellow. I had him for fourth class of the day, he was unbelievably rude. Allowing tea ware to attack students!”
“It wasn’t so bad.” Said Fluttershy meekly. Twilight pulled brown, cracked book from her saddle book, using her magic to open it and flip through its pages.
“I wasn’t sure at first myself, but now there’s no doubt in my mind that this is the same Discord I read in my Equestrian history book.” Said Twilight. Her magic stopped at an old illustration of a creature looking exactly like Professor Discord. "I can't believe I almost forgot about reading him in this section." Rarity leaned to get a better inspection of the book.
"What exactly did he do?" she asked. Twilight continued, reciting the information she'd read.
“According to it, Discord was the mischievous spirit of chaos and disharmony. He ruled over Equestria centuries ago in a state of unrest and unhappiness.”
“Oh dear.” Gasped Fluttershy.
“Sounds dreadful.” Said Rarity, in an even more dramatic tone.
“It was. But Queen Celestia and Princess Luna rose against him and turned him to stone.” Twilight said proudly.
Fluttershy winced as she looked at the illustration of the two royal sisters turning him to stone. Discord and her mother seemed very similar. Her mother had also sought to rule Equestria, what if she received the same punishment as Discord, imprisoned in cold stone for all eternity. Then a thought came into her head.
“Maybe he’s not so bad.” Said Fluttershy hopefully. “Why else would Queen Celestia let him teach here? Maybe she thinks he deserves a second chance.” Twilight and Rarity looked at her incredulously. Rarity shook her head.
“I’m sorry Fluttershy dear, but even if that is the case, Discord’s a hopeless cause. Anypony who has done all those horrible things doesn’t sound like the type who’s interested in being nice. And I think the attacking tea set speaks for itself.” she said. Twilight closed up her book.
“We should be careful nonetheless.” Said Twilight. “Queen Celestia might’ve taken precautions against Discord, but who knows what kind of tricks he has up his sleeve?” Fluttershy nodded in agreement with Rarity, but inside her flapped about in her chest. If this is what her friends (she’d finally decided that Twilight and Rarity counted as her friends) thought of their teacher, what would they think of her if they ever found out her and her mother?
Later that night, Twilight left for the library to do a little light reading. Fluttershy stayed behind in their dorm, pulling back her mane for the night. She'd felt that the day had gone okay, and was glad to make friends with two nice ponies. That she even had ponies she could call friends made her smile brightly. As she gazed in the vanity mirror, a dark light began to emanate from its depths. Fluttershy squealed and backed into the wall in fear. The reflection in the mirror was replaced with Queen Melodia’s image, looking down at her cowering daughter.
“Hello Fluttershy.” Said Queen Melodia. Her eyes lowered at half mast.
“M-mother!” squeaked Fluttershy. She'd nearly forgot about her mother checking in on her.
“You haven’t forgotten your mission, have you?” asked Queen Melodia, sea-green eyes piercing into her. Fluttershy shook her head.
“N-no, of course not mother.”
“Good.” Said her mother approvingly. Fluttershy recovered from the shock and little by little, stood to face her mother in the mirror.
“I’ve been watching you and your teachers. That Draconequus by the way was a pleasant surprise. I would never imagine Celestia would allow such a creature among her precious princesses.”
“Draconequus?” said Fluttershy, wondering who or what her mother could mean. “Do you mean Professor Discord?” Queen Melodia nodded, a wicked gleam in her eye.
“Yes, I feel he could prove quite useful to us.” The butterflies from that morning returned once more, swarming in Fluttershy's stomach.
“Um, about that…” said Fluttershy timidly. She was hoping to convince her mother to possibly forget about the 'takeover Equestria' plan. Queen Melodia stared down her daughter with a sharp gaze. One that made Fluttershy feel uncomfortable and scared.
“You’re not thinking about disobeying my orders are you?” she asked.
“Oh no, I would never disobey you mother!” cried Fluttershy, hoping she hadn’t upset her mother. Even though she was far away and unable to harm her, Fluttershy knew better than to make the queen lose both her temper and patience. Queen Melodia appeared to calm down a bit and continued.
“As I was saying, I want you to keep an eye on the Draconequus, as well as Celestia and Luna.”
“Yes mother.”
“And one more thing.” said Queen Melodia.
“Yes?”
“I want you to get rid of those friends of yours. They’ll be nothing more than a distraction.” Fluttershy looked at her mother with disbelief. Give up her friends? She'd only started to fit in with them, and felt, for the first time in a long time, truly happy.
“But…” Fluttershy was cut off by another glare that made she shrink back and keep quiet.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll do as I say and get rid of them. Understand?” asked Queen Melodia in a deadly serious tone. Fluttershy sighed and lowered her head in defeat.
“Yes mother.”
“Very good, I shall contact you again with further instructions. Goodnight my daughter.” The black magic dissipated from the mirror and the queen's image faded away.
“Goodnight…mother.” Fluttershy said in a soft whisper. Fluttershy let out another squeal when the door suddenly opened and Twilight trotted in.
"Who were you talking to?" asked Twilight. Fluttershy's eyes darted to the mirror. She hated having to lie to everypony, especially her new friends, but she had to do as her mother said. If she disobeyed her, who knew what sort of things she'd do out of anger?
"I was talking to nopony. Nopony at all." said Fluttershy. Twilight looked at her suspiciously but shook her head, dismissing the subject.
Twilight and Rarity began to worry about their shy friend. Over the last few days she'd not spoken a word to anypony unless called upon by the teachers. Not only that, but she'd taken to eating by herself outside for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
"Do you suppose she's ill?" Rarity asked Twilight during lunch. Twilight shook her head.
"I don't think so." she said. She then went on to tell Rarity how she'd confronted Fluttershy the other day. The response had been quite shocking.
"We can't be friends." Fluttershy had said dejectedly.
"What do you mean 'we can't be friends'?" Twilight asked "Is it because I don't really have a kingdom like everypony else? Is that it?"
"No!"
"Then what?"
"I just can't."
Twilight had groaned in frustration, unable to get a good answer. "Fine then, if you don't want to be friends then so be it." She'd then left in a huff.
"I can't believe you said that to her!" said Rarity, giving Twilight a pointed look.
"I know, I know! But I just couldn't figure out why she's been so distant lately. I guess I just lost it." said Twilight. Rarity put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder in a comforting gesture.
"Don't worry darling, I'm sure whatever it is, she'll tell us in her own time." she said. Twilight gave a small smile.
"Thanks Rarity."
Fluttershy sadly watched as Rarity and Twilight laughed and talked to each other, wishing she could join them. Plate in hoof, she slipped out the door and sat outside on the stoop. She'd dutifully did as her mother instructed, keeping an eye on her teachers. Princess Luna had taken it upon herself to see that she didn't cause any trouble, and if she did do anything that provoked suspicions, she'd tell Queen Celestia. Of course Fluttershy hadn't done anything of the sort, and thus it was mostly her giving Fluttershy the evil eye every now and then.
Professor Discord was by far the most curious of them all. Each day he'd use his chaos magic to play some sort of prank on the princesses. More often he'd be the only one laughing. But other than that, he seemed roughly harmless. Certainly nothing like the description Twilight had read. Fluttershy was lost in her thoughts as she bit into her daisy sandwich, when a loud voice from before startled her so much she nearly choked.
"Hi there!" Fluttershy turned to see the Pink pony from before, no more than an inch from her face.
"I'm Pinkie Pie!" she said. Bursting with enthusiasm. "Who're you?" Before Fluttershy could respond, the orange mare stepped out from the kitchen door.
"Pinkie Pie, what are you doing out here?" she spotted Fluttershy. "Pinkie you know you shouldn't go around disturbing the princesses! I thought we went through this after you went around waking everypony with that one pony band set on the first day of classes."
"Aw, but I just wanted everypony to have a super duper special first day." said Pinkie. "And what better way than with a big welcoming song from nowhere?" The orange mare shook her head.
"Try to forgive her your highness." she said to Fluttershy. "Pinkie Pie means well, she just...gets a little carried away." Fluttershy smiled at them politely.
"Oh, I don't mind at all." she said.
"See Applejack! Somepony likes my welcome music." Pinkie said to the orange mare. Applejack smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Whatever you say Pinkie." said Applejack. The three of them laughed lightly together. Fluttershy put her hoof to her mouth, silently scolding herself. She wasn't supposed to befriend anypony.
"Hey, I have an idea!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "Why don't you hang out with us?!"
"Pinkie Pie, what did I tell ya? The princesses are here to learn, not 'hang out'." said Applejack. "Especially with a couple of servants like us." Fluttershy looked the ground, digging her hoof around in the dirt.
"I-I would like to hang out with you. And my friends too." said Fluttershy sadly. "But mother wouldn't approve."
"Well, that's to bad." said Applejack. "Cause from what I can tell you're already hanging out with us." Fluttershy looked up at her in surprise.
"You're right!" said Pinkie. "We've been talking all this time and having fun, so we're already hanging out!"
"And if you're already doing it, I see no harm in hanging out for a bit longer." said Applejack. "At least until we need to get back to work and classes start up again." 'Mother won't be too happy.' thought Fluttershy. But a small smile crept onto her face. For now, she didn't care.
That night, Queen Melodia appeared before Fluttershy in the mirror, just as she'd expected.
"Fluttershy," said Queen Melodia in an eerily calm voice. "You're not going against my orders are you?" Fluttershy shook her head, doing her best to stand tall and appear brave.
"No mother, quite the contrary. I'm doing just as you said." Queen Melodia arched an eyebrow. Fluttershy looked her mother in the eye.
"One of the lessons you've taught me is to 'keep my allies close and my enemies closer.' And that's precisely what I'm doing." said Fluttershy. Her mother was silent for a moment before breaking into a smile.
"Well done my dear. I'm pleased that you're taking the lessons I taught you seriously. Carry on." Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't sure how long she'd be able to fool her mother, but at least she could be with her friends again. But instead of keeping her allies close and her enemies closer, she'd be keeping her enemies close and her friends closer. It didn't make much sense, but then again, nothing seemed to lately.