An Unstoppable Force of Destruction

Fluttershy dashed through dark corridors, skidding to a halt around each entrance-way to ensure there were no guards around. She was surprised by how empty the castle was, but with Luna to watch over it at night, she supposed it was rather unnecessary to keep them from their families.

That isn't to say the castle was completely empty, however. Occasionally, Fluttershy would find herself hiding swiftly in the shadows when she heard approaching hoofbeats. Luckily, they had never come close enough to see her in her obvious hiding places.

After the encounter with Princess Luna (and after she was certain she wasn't going to pass out in the aftermath of what was undoubtedly the most panic she had felt in a long time) she had seen none of the remaining Canterlot animals, with the exception of the smaller birds, which she understood were free to roam the castle anyways. The longer she hunted for the others without avail, the more fearful she became, until she found herself sprinting frantically without a destination in mind, simply trying to cover as much of the castle as possible before sunrise.

"I've...I've been here, haven't I..." She panted, finally coming to a stop. "Oh, Angel! I've been everywhere! They aren't here..."

Angel hopped off Flutttershy's back and shook his head slowly, obviously disagreeing with her statement.

"But we have! There isn't a room in this castle we haven't searched...except..."

Nodding his head, Angel hopped back onto Fluttershy's back and gazed at her expectantly.

"Angel! Are...are you sure about this? Seems awfully dangerous..."

With a sigh, Fluttershy knew her rabbit friend was right. She had to exhaust all her options, despite how unsafe it might be.

"Alright, Angel. Let's do this."

Fluttershy gazed downwards into the dark room from her vantage point high above. Another chandelier hung above the Princess of the Sun herself, asleep peacefully. The room was otherwise empty, and in the darkness, Fluttershy couldn't see anything. She did, however, feel exceedingly like she was inches away from the fury of the sun itself as she opened the skylight wider as silently as possible and lowered herself onto the chandelier. The fixture was some distance below her, and she flapped her wings as quietly as possible to cover the small gap.

"What in Equestria am I doing..." Fluttershy whispered to herself as she perched over the room from the chandelier. A light thump next to her informed her of her rabbit companion's presence, and the two scanned the room for signs of life. Directly below where the pointed end of the chandelier hung was Celestia. Above them, Fluttershy noticed the ceiling arching in odd, criss-crossing frames. She had seen the architecture before in the castle, but never so prominently. The wooden frames extended across the ceiling, stopping short of the wall underneath and leaving a small gap.Fluttershy realized they continued further on through the castle, connecting the rooms through tiny holes in the frames, too small for a pegasus to fly through.

But not too small for an animal to climb through.

"This is it..." She whispered to Angel, who nodded in agreement. Fluttershy began to lift off the chandelier, when a loud creaking sound caused her to freeze in her tracks.

"Uh oh..." She heard herself whisper, as the chandelier above her groaned against her weight. Leaping off the fixture with Angel, she hovered silently beside it, but knew it was too late. With an audible crack, the entire fixture came loose from its moorings.

"No!" Fluttershy screamed frantically, knowing full well what the fixture would be colliding with if she allowed it to fall. The yellow pegasus grasped the chandelier and flew upwards as forcefully as she could. The chandelier was incredibly weighty, and it took the majority of her flying ability to keep it from immediately dropping to the ground and impaling the sleeping Princess beneath her.

Fluttershy never was a strong pegasus, and the heavy chandelier was quickly proving to be too much for her. With the last of her strength, Fluttershy flew the light fixture as far away from Celestia as she could as she finally lost control of the chandelier.

In slow motion, the chandelier struck the polished hardwood floor, shattering it easily and sending shards of wood and glass across the room. Fluttershy flew as swiftly as she could through the skylight, tearing into the night and hearing the commotion from outside.

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness.." She repeated between panicked sobs. Beneath her, she could hear the shouting of guard ponies as they tried in vain to ascertain exactly what had happened.

Fluttershy knew better than to stick around the castle now. She knew exactly where she would be able to find the remaining  Canterlot Garden animals, but there was no way she could search the castle now, not with it crawling with activity.

Touching down in the castle courtyard, she was met with the frantic chattering of her animal friends. Angel hopped off her back and promptly looked at her with genuine concern in his eyes.

"I...I guess we'll just...have to wait until morning, Angel. I'll explain what happened to Celestia in the morning..."

Setting her head down sadly in the grass, Fluttershy closed her eyes, but sleep simply wouldn't come to her. She knew it would be dawn soon, so she simply sat on the grass and watched the stars slowly traverse across the dark sky. She was surrounded by her own animal friends and a few of the Canterlot animals, all sleeping soundly around her.

"I made a big mistake..." Fluttershy thought to herself as she looked back at the Canterlot castle, now blazing with activity. "I should never have disobeyed Celestia. I should have just used the kennels..."

The more she sat and pondered her actions, the more she realized it would incredibly simple to undo them. She knew exactly where the remaining animals were hiding, all she had to do was fly in there and retrieve them. Nopony would suspect the chandelier incident had been her, and she could pretend she had been asleep the whole night.

Motivated, the pegasus took off back towards the castle, leaving Angel behind. Reaching the skylight overhanging Celestia's sleeping quarters, Fluttershy could hear voices coming from within the room, and stopped dead in her tracks.

"...and I simply don't understand how you haven't noticed any intruders when the damage they have inflicted is so blatantly obvious!" Celestia was ranting.

"Sister! Are you calling me inept?" Luna screamed in defiance.

Celestia sighed loudly. "I'm sorry, Luna. Of course I'm not. But you must admit, it is quite odd..."

There was a long pause, through which Fluttershy couldn't tell if Luna had replied or not.

"What was that, Luna?" Celestia snapped suddenly, and Fluttershy realized Luna had muttered her irritated reply.

"I simply said the chandelier was hideous anyways."

Deciding she had no more time to waste, Fluttershy tiptoed towards the skylight and took in the scene beneath her. Luna and Celestia were alone in the room, standing next to a huge crater in the wooden floor. They were both rather caught up in their personal debate regarding the appearance of the chandelier now, and Fluttershy knew she would have no better chance. Flapping her wings as quietly as possible, she soared through the still-open skylight and across the room, touching down on the overhanging wooden rafters. The sound of the bickering royal sisters was deafening to the stealthy pegasus, and she felt like they would look up at any moment and see her crawling quite literally through the wood-works.

Ahead of her, yellow light signaled the gap to the outside corridor, and Fluttershy increased the speed and urgency of her crawling in her excitement. She could faintly see movement on the other side and let out a quiet cry of relief,

"Did...did you hear that?" Celestia interrupted her sister mid-sentence and looked around the room frantically.

"Hear what?" Luna asked obliviously, gazing directly at Fluttershy but apparently failing to see her.

"Huh..." Also seeing nothing of particular importance in the darkness of her ceiling, Celestia shrugged and returned her attention to her sister.

Cursing herself internally for her impulsiveness, Fluttershy proceeded with even more caution as she attempted to squeeze her way through the impasse between the two rooms. Her head and forelegs through, Fluttershy could clearly see the remaining population of Canterlot's Garden, sleeping soundly in the rafters. She suppressed the urge to cry out again and instead whispered as quietly as possible.

"Hey! Monkeys and squirrels!" She hissed quietly. Celestia and Luna were too caught up in their conversation now and she increased the volume of her voice just enough to get the attention of the animals, who looked at her with obvious irritation at being awoken.

"Oh, don't look at me like that!" Fluttershy whispered impatiently. "I've had a very long night searching for you guys, so don't think you're the only annoyed one here!"

Her stare kicking on the last sentence, the animals were now eying the pegasus with a hypnotic glare.

"Now, I want you all back in the courtyard NOW! Do you understand me?"

Complying without question, the animals dashed urgently further through the rafters, where Fluttershy assumed they must have come from. Deciding it would be best to follow them to be certain they reached the courtyard, she squirmed further through the gap in the rafters.

"Oh...my..." Fluttershy whispered frantically as she tried harder and harder to make it through the impasse that was most certainly too small for her. Panic setting in at the thought of becoming trapped, and she tried desperately to free herself, her direction no longer relevant.

"You've got to be kidding me..." The pegasus whispered to herself, finally giving up on her fruitless attempt to escape. What a fool she had been, impulsively darting about, wreaking havoc and destruction everywhere. Beneath her, Celestia and Luna had temporarily halted their debate as they discussed a slightly more pressing issue.

"I believe the sun is due to arise soon, Tia." Luna was saying. "My, this has been a long night."

"Indeed. Yes, well, I'll leave you to your business, Luna. I plan on checking on our animal caretaker promptly anyway. Hopefully she at least had a peaceful night."

"...ah, yes." Luna replied hastily after a short yet obvious pause. "I'm sure she did."

"Indeed..." Celestia said again, and Fluttershy heard her hoofbeats as she left the room. Luna did not follow her however, and Fluttershy desperately wished she could see just what she was doing as the seconds crept into minutes. Suddenly, Luna spoke.

"Well, I've seen quite a few odd things in my centuries of ruling this land, Fluttershy, but I think tonight is officially the most odd night I have ever seen." Fluttershy felt her heart skip a beat.

"Good heavens, Fluttershy...you certainly are disaster prone when you're here, aren't you." Luna chuckled lightly.

"I...I'm...I didn't...oh, Princess Luna..." Fluttershy stammered nervously. "I'm sort of...stuck here..."

"I gathered." Luna's voice came from much closer, and Fluttershy could faintly hear her wingbeats from behind her. Suddenly, a loud pop was heard as the room was flooded with white light, and Fluttershy found herself lying on the hardwood floor of Celestia's bedroom.

"Teleportation." Luna explained simply to the bewildered pegasus."Now then, about the chandelier...."

"Oh, Princess! I swear it wasn't on purpose. I didn't even want to be in here, it was Angel's idea...and I tried to fly with the chandelier...but it was just so heavy...I'm a terrible pony, aren't I?"

"Well, as I said before, you certainly are disaster prone. As for the chandelier..." Luna turned to look at the shattered pile of glass in question. "I've always hated these wretched things. So tacky."

Fluttershy chuckled at Luna's surprising lightheartedness considering the situation.

"In all serious, though, Fluttershy..." Luna's tone changed quickly, and took on a more commanding form. "It really did mean a lot to my sister. I do think you should apologize to her for what happened."

Fluttershy nodded simply. She knew Luna was right. What she had done tonight was wrong, she had caused havoc and she was solely responsible.

"I'll go talk to her." Fluttershy agreed sadly.

"Really, Tia, it was all an honest mistake..."

"That doesn't make it any less infuriating" Celestia screamed, whipping around to face her sister. "Sometimes I think I'm too trusting. Never again. Never again will I have conviction in anypony except Greenhooves!"

"That isn't what you said to Fluttershy, not even five minutes ago." Luna scoffed, before raising her voice in a mocking tone that sounded nothing like her sister. "Oh, don't worry about a thing, Fluttershy! Mistakes happen, Fluttershy! Do come back soon, Fluttershy!"

Celestia gazed quizzically at her sister. "Well, obviously I couldn't just SAY what I felt about the situation to her! With my luck, she'd swirl into some sort of depression and I'd be solely responsible. That makes me look terrible!"

"You ARE terrible." Luna replied humorously. "Terribly volatile. Do you intend on making her pay for the damages?"

"I've considered it...but our monarchy already pays her so little for her duties in Ponyville...I doubt she'd be able to compensate me for a century old antique--"

"Well, what then?" Luna interjected, sick of hearing her sister rant about the infernal fixture.

"I don't know. Aren't situations like these what tax-hikes are for?"

"And you wonder where the tyrant rumors come from." Luna muttered under her breath. "Will Fluttershy be returning the next time you think Greenhooves should take a vacation? I mean, we don't really have another option, and I still stipulate that she only made one tiny mistake."

Celestia sighed. "I guess you're right, Luna. I suppose she has learned her lesson on...oh I don't know, tolerance or something. Yes, she will."

Fluttershy watched the trees whip by from the train window as Ponyville approached and she left Canterlot far into the distance.

"It's all over now, Angel." Fluttershy said, relieved. "Let's hope we never have to go back there again."