~~~~Canterlot High Courthouse~~~~

Judge Rock - Order! I said, Order! Order in the court!

Princess Luna - Princess Twilight, what is the meaning of this?

Discord - Hardly her decision, Moonbutt. Fluttershy apparently has a few things of her own to add to this little radio drama.

Fluttershy - My apologies for not calling ahead, Princess Luna. But I’m afraid things have gone too far now for me to remain silent. Rarity, are you alright?

Rarity - Just fine, Darling. Whyever do you ask?

Fluttershy - Mmm. Just concerned for you, as usual. You really ought to not flaunt about so much like that, you might scare somepony. Remember what we talked about?

Rarity - Yes, yes, I know… Honestly, Fluttershy. I thought you liked my new look.

Fluttershy - I’ve had time to get used to it, Rarity. Would you mind waiting for me outside? I shouldn’t be too long in here. This really should wrap things up.

Rarity - Of course, darling.

Judge Rock - If you two are quite finished, Miss Fluttershy?

Fluttershy - Apologies, your Honor. I really did not mean to be a fuss, but I figured that a better opportunity to speak wouldn’t come around again.

Princess Luna - I swear to the stars, you lot are incredibly frustrating!

Detective Tracer - And it ain’t gettin any easier, ma’am. Princess Celestia wants ta’ speak with ya at the precinct. Says it’s urgent.

Judge Rock - Then I’ve no choice but to declare a recess. My due apologies, Miss Fluttershy, but this court cannot continue-

Princess Twilight - I’ll step in for Luna and act in her stead. With her permission, of course.

Princess Luna - Twilight, I could hardly ask… Hmph. I’m not the one asking though, am I? Very well. I shall presume you are mature enough to understand what is going on here. I shall return poste-haste. I am leaving Twilight in my place, your Honor. If you would excuse me.

Judge Rock - If the past few days had not been what they have been, I would be calling an end to this Inquiry right now, Princess Twilight. I am sorely tempted to do so anyway, and bedamned to the consequences. Now I will ask you once, and only once. Will Miss Fluttershy’s testimony add any meaningful dialogue to the reason for this Inquiry, or not?

Princess Twilight - Flutters?

Fluttershy - I assure you, Judge Rock. What I have to say will be something very new to this court case. I can only hope that it will be enough to finally bring this all to a close

Judge Rock - Very well. I will be keeping you on an exceedingly short leash, Miss Fluttershy. Far too much of this court’s time has been given over to divergences and ranting. I would ask that you restrain yourself from such, if and when at all possible. Are we understood?

Fluttershy - Absolutely, your honor.

Judge Rock - Then this court calls Fluttershy to the stand!

Fluttershy - Thank you, your honor.

Let me be clear, I came here for my friend Twilight and not for myself. There are things she needs to hear and needs to understand. Things I can’t show her or tell her by sitting in that lovely little room they gave us at the hospital, nor in that secreted away little apartment we’re living in now. Twilight has always been there for me… even when I couldn’t listen to her, or more accurately, when I didn’t listen because I was so frightened of something else at the time.

You’ve heard so many other stories during these testimonies, so I’m not going to waste your time with repeating a beginning you’ve already heard. This isn’t really about my story. It’s about the story of thousands of others who’ve suffered terribly from the mistakes of a relative few. When I think about Lady Elegant and Fizzy, I am not angry nor am I horrified. Two ponies as much a victim of their own circumstances as any of us, blindly flailing away at the world. I pity them, really.

Judge Rock - Miss Fluttershy, what are you….

Discord - It’s complicated, your baldness. What’s happened to my little Fluttershy….

Fluttershy - Hush, Discord. We talked about this. I’m not going to spend my time fussing over something neither of us can change. I am what I am now and I am going to make the best of it.

Judge Rock - Miss Fluttershy, please forgive this court, but you do not appear to have suffered any physical changes.

Fluttershy - Ah, that’s right. I haven’t. My change’s are… more subtle than that, I suppose you could say. But getting back to my story…

Discord - Fluttershy, if you’re not going to tell them, I am.

Fluttershy - It’s hardly necessary, but… Well, alright. If you think its important, I suppose I should tell the story then.

You… You need to understand I’m not a pony who’s ever done very well with believing in myself. It used to be that whenever I found myself facing something I didn’t think I could handle I would get frightened. Not because It was necessarily frightening, but because I didn’t want everypony to see me failing all the time.When I was little, I knew how badly it hurt my mother to see me trying so hard to fly and just… I couldn’t do it. My wings…

I have a mild case of Icarus Syndrome, you see. It’s not something that gets talked about a lot outside of pegasus communities, but basically the… the magic in my wings isn’t very strong. I can handle most day-to-day flying, but anything strenuous that would require me to use my pegasus magic could send me plummeting to the ground. Fillies with Icarus aren’t usually treated really well in some communities. There’s a lot of pride tied up in how good you are at doing pegasus tasks, and when you can’t even do the basic ones…

But I cannot be angry at them either. Every parent is afraid they’ll draw the bad card and have to deal with it. Everypony knows someone who has a child with it. They’re not bad ponies, just frightened ones. It’s a theme I’ve seen repeated too many times, all with the same predictable and tragic results.

So many of the creatures we’ve fought, so many of the ones we’ve used the Elements on…

Double Scoop’s Notes: At this moment, Fluttershy reaches out her hoof and squeezes Discord’s paw, her smile never endingly serene.

Like a certain draconequus I could name. They’ve all just been suffering from the same things we all do. Fear, doubt, loneliness, desperation. They’re no different from the rest of us, except they have more power to wield against those horrible emotions. So they do bad things, not knowing how easy it is to find the things that can help them. If only they knew… but I suppose that’s why I am the way I am now.

My mom always told me everything happens for a reason. Every time I came home from school after… after some of the other foals were hurtful to me, she would pick me up and dust me off with her big wings. She’d smile and kiss my cheek, and tell me I was going to show all of them how to not be such meanies. She told me to keep being the special somepony that I was, and that someday other ponies would see it too.

When I took the potion, all I wanted was to be that special somepony mom had always told me I could me. I wanted to not be afraid anymore. I wanted courage and strength, like Discord showed me I could have, so that I could be that special somepony for the entire world. Fizzy told me that the potion could do that. He said that it could make all the things I was frightened of go away, and that I could be the new pony I’d always dreamed about.

He was more right than he knew.

~~~~~Canterlot Castle~~~~~

From the notes of Miss Inkwell, Meeting with Luna Re: NLPA

The Princess was sitting in her room, quietly leafing through the pages of her diary when Luna arrived.

“Sister, what in the name of Starswirls’ beard is the meaning of this?”

Luna’s voice is rich with anger, and the Princess winces away from it. Luna appears enraged, but not quite so angry as to be devoid of sense. She’s rid herself of her regalia, meaning she’s speaking not for her office but for herself. “You placed me in charge of this investigation under mine own laws. You gave me the authority to determine what needed to be done, because you could not trust your own instincts. Now, you will answer to me: Where is Fizzy Pop?

The Princess closes her diary, and looks to the door. As she has for the past few days, the Princess looks utterly exhausted. “Elsewhere.” She says in a quiet voice, and Luna is quite taken aback by this. “I am sorry for usurping you, Lulu, but I had to make a decision. This court case is a shambles, and the more the investigation turns up, the more I find myself desiring to ensure it never sees the light of day.”

Luna nearly hits the floor with shock, but she quickly rallies. “What in the name of Equestria are you plotting, sister? Uprooting the rule of law is not like you in the least.” She crosses the floor quickly, her voice pitched low and hushed.

The Princess half smiles, shaking her head. “You really ought to be reading Tracy’s reports, Lulu. This case is implicating a third of the Solar Court in utilizing the services of this Agency. While I am mostly certain the majority of them were unaware of what they were supporting, the law does not discriminate.” She winces again, and reaches up to massage her temple. “And after what has become of Fluttershy, It may be best to shut down this case and focus on aiding the victims. We certainly do not want her… condition dragged through the public eye if we can avoid it.”

Luna goes quiet for a moment, then speaks firmly. “Then allow me to handle this, sister.”

The Princess looked up in surprise. “What?”

Luna tosses her mane, her voice pitched low. “Sister, dear. I love you so. But thou art incapable of being cruel to anypony, even to the worst.” She crossed the room and laid a hoof on Celestia’s shoulder. “Spend your time doing what you do best, Sister. Heal the wounds of the sick and the riven. Leave the guilty unto me.” Her voice suddenly drops angrily. “I shall ensure that they are dealt with in good time, as best as they can be without harming thy peace.”

The Princess says nothing for a moment, then whispers. “Thank you, Lulu. I will… Yes. I offered Fizzy Pop a chance to finish his work if he vanished. Was I…?” She hesitates, trembling and falling over her words.

Luna shakes her head. “You are too kind, Sister. But who knows? Perhaps that kindness will buy hope for our future. We shall keep thy word, but I do not intend to make things simple upon him.” She smiled faintly. “Now, go consult with Cadence. The poor ponies whom have been harmed by this will need you both, and thy student, if they are to arise from this.”

The Princess stands, and laughs faintly. “I suppose… I suppose they will. Yes. Thank you, Luna.” They embrace, and I follow the Princess from the room.

~~~~~~~~~

Fluttershy - When I woke up that first morning, everything was different.

I don’t just mean that I was different, I mean the world itself was different. Imagine… Imagine if you could just see all the little snags and mis-steps that the world and the creatures in it make, all before they even happen. What if you could fix those things before they ever became a problem? Wouldn’t things be better?

I woke up to Angel Bunny being grumpy again, so I fixed him breakfast. Normally he tells me what he wants from the recipe book, but I just sort of knew the answer that morning. He looked at me oddly but didn’t argue when I set that particular salad down and got along to the rest of my chores. The rest of my day was… pretty much like that. Every time a little problem would normally crop up, I found I could head it off. It was just a matter of being nice… or rather, being Kind. I was always good at being kind, but I’d never been really good at using it properly. Then I had to go to town and I started noticing things. One thing, in particular, jumped out at me. I wasn’t frightened. At all.

See… Nopony really has ever known why I was so frightened so often. The answer was a lot simpler than most of them presumed, but… I couldn’t tell them. How could they possibly understand how horribly frightened I was of… just… Other ponies. We’re supposed to be a social species, that’s what we do! We get together, we co-operate, we socialize… it’s such a fundamental part of who we are. But… But I couldn’t handle them. I just couldn’t. They couldn’t understand me and I couldn’t understand them at all, and every time I failed because I wasn’t enough like them It hurt more and more. I loved Dashie, I loved her so much, but I could never ever be as good as she was and-

Ahem. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t… I need to be more careful. I was so afraid of being in front of other ponies, and having them see my failures first hoof. Of them judging and mocking me and looking down at me because I was born different. But that morning, I woke up and I wasn’t afraid anymore. It was hardly their fault they didn’t understand me. They were frightened of what I represented to them. Frightened of a reminder of how fragile life can be sometimes.

And even in Ponyville, where so many ponies treated me so kindly, it was hard not to be frightened of them too. But now, I could understand their kindness to me. Now, I understood how hard they worked to make sure I felt comfortable. It would have been terribly unkind of me to not work just as hard as they did at being a good pony. Instantly, I wasn’t frightened any longer. Now… Now that I knew what to do it was so easy…

So… So I was happy and cheerful and perky all day long. I never once felt stressed or frightened over every little thing that happened around me. It was unnerving, but I couldn’t even bring myself to be frightened of it. Why should I be scared? I just needed to be kind to other ponies, and they’d be kind back to me. And even if they weren’t, well… Maybe they just needed a good example like Discord did.

I didn’t notice anything even remotely strange or wrong until, well… There was one morning about a week later that I ran into someone very unpleasant. I’m not going to say who, but they were not behaving very nicely to someponies in the market. Well, I certainly couldn’t let it keep happening but I wasn’t quite sure what to do at first. But before I knew it, I was right in front of her and giving her a dressing down in front of everypony!

I don’t even remember where the words came from, but I sort of sounded like my mother did when she got angry at my bullies. The other pony looked frightened but she didn’t try to get away. She just stood there and listened to me, until finally her grumpiness broke away. Then I soothed her, and it didn’t take me very long to get her spirits back up. I didn’t know what I’d done, but I knew it had helped her somehow… I felt bad about making her sad at first, but I also remembered what I’d had to do to help the Breezies. Sometimes someponies just need a bit of firm discipline I guess.

That was the first time it happened, but it wasn’t the last. Slowly, I became more and more used to it. Every time I saw something bad about to happen, some unkindness somepony was going to commit, I moved in to stop it before It could ever manifest. A gentle word here, a little gift or interruption there, and the world smoothed out before me. I had to work hard with Pinkie, but she really doesn’t mean to hurt anypony. She just forgets sometimes in her enthusiasm, and I’m glad I can be there to help her.

Some other ponies in town are like that. Cranky Doodle needs reminding not to be so harsh with the foals, so I make sure his special somepony knows when he’s been naughty. Time Turner doesn’t always pay attention when he’s bothering everypony about being late, but it’s not hard to get him to be more considerate. And lots of ponies need hugs around town, and I’m glad to help give them now.

And eventually, I began to realize the gift I’d been given. In a world where so often we forget the feelings of others, I now was able to help make sure everypony could be kind to everypony else.

Just like they ought to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Initial Medical Report: Dr. House Call, Dr. Cassock, Dr. Lumination, Dr. Wile E as attending physicians.
Regarding Patient: Fluttershy.
Case Subject #00221, “Extreme Reality Warping”
To: Princesses Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, Luna, Cadence and Prince Armor
Dr. Wile E as transcriber.
WARNING: THIS DOCUMENT IS CLASSIFIED
EQUESTRIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE SECRECY LEVEL BLACK.

ALL UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ARE FORBIDDEN TO READ, POSSESS, OR DISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT UNDER PENALTY OF TREASON.

….. Which brings this document to Subject Fluttershy, the last of our “Reality Warper” victims known to us at this time.

Some background is required. At age six, Subject Fluttershy was diagnosed with Icarus Syndrome. At age ten, Acute Social Disorder. The cause of both of these conditions remains unknown. Her mother (Cherry Blossoms) and Father (Cloudstorm) are both fully healthy pegasi with no previous history of either disorder, so genetics are ruled out. Regardless, Fluttershy’s medical history is fraught with attempts by her parents to alleviate both conditions.

For those unfamiliar, Acute Social Disorder is a developmental condition which manifests itself as an inability to easily connect with other ponies in a social way. While initially dismissed as a function of her Icarus Syndrome amongst her peers, as her age progressed it became clear that Fluttershy was not making many friends, even amongst the lower status pegasi. Her connection to Rainbow Dash, a very high status pegasi, is now explained through the Elements of Harmony, but I digress.

It is the second condition on which we are now focused, since at age fourteen - upon the acquisition of her cutie mark - her condition was updated to better reflect her actual problem. The subject suffers from an extremely rare condition known as Zoonotic Social Transgression. Without going into the highly specific details, the subject in essence suffered from an unknown magical impact that caused the social aspects of her magic to focus not on ponies but on other animals. Which is to say, she can communicate and socialize with animals who otherwise cannot speak (Rabbits, bears, Squirrels, Birds, etc.) or are not considered social animals in and of themselves (Including Dragons, Windigos, Manticores, etc.) as easily as most ponies can communicate with other ponies, but cannot understand the unconscious body and magical language of pony social interaction.

Upon this discovery, her primary care physician informed her parents of the new knowledge, which they quickly decided to have sealed in her private records for reasons that have gone unrecorded in her medical files To this date, the subject remains unaware of the social condition she has lived with for most of her life. Instead, she remains of the belief that she is simply another victim of Acute Social Disorder.

Which brings us to her reality-warping condition. The subject has gained a hyper awareness of all social situations in her immediate vicinity to the point of being able to predict the shifting currents and patterns of social interactions in nearly all creatures we have subjected her to. Put another way, her incredible ability to read the body language and social structures of the animals she cares for has been extended to include nearly all living things we are aware of.

Even more astonishing, the subject seems capable of instantly comprehending the solution to such observations to achieve specific goals. Though at this time we are not certain what those goals are. While we have no further information, given the incredible mystery as to exactly how these abilities manifest themselves, we do have one last frightening fact that must be submitted for this report to be complete.

According to our resident energy expert, Doctor Luminous, Fluttershy has begun to exhibit many of the same energy radiations and signatures as Discord that we had previously believed were entirely unique to him. She has also exhibited far, far stronger magic than she previously had ever shown before and it may be possible that her Icarus Syndrome condition has been removed entirely, though we have not yet had time to confirm nor deny that assertion.

With all of the above information, this medical report is recommending that the subject be placed under immediate house arrest and observation until such time as the full extent of her transformation and effects can be understood. Above all other things, we recommend that she not be placed into a highly-charged social situation under any circumstances.There is quite literally no telling what she might be able to do… or what she might actually do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fluttershy - … Oh, dear. I went off on a bit of a rant, didn’t I? I’m so very sorry, your Honor.

Judge Rock - T-That’s quite alright, young lady. Please proceed as you see fit. I’m sorry I allowed my foul mood to taint my professional demeanor.

Fluttershy - Well, thank you, your Honor. Where was I? Oh. Yes.

Ponyville.

It’s a little town I've lived in for so long with so many problems. Yet the ponies there are so kind, so thoughtful to others. They so rarely turn astray from that kindness, and when they do it is almost never intentional. But sometimes we get guests from outside, and I wonder what the world must be like out there to create such sad creatures. I try to help them, of course, but… Well, It doesn't always work. Not like it ought to.

Like there was this one Manehatten couple that had come to speak to Rarity about a new dress, and they were looking around town with these big sneers on their faces. They were looking down on us and I knew that just wasn’t right, so I walked over to have a talk with them. At first, I wanted to get angry with them for being so dismissive but I couldn’t be anything but polite. I kept trying to tell them all the wonderful things about Ponyville and they refused to listen to me.

The stallion… I don’t remember his name, but he started insulting our town. Called it a lot of very mean names, and as much as I wanted to get mad… I just… I couldn’t. I kept smiling and gently trying to insist that he was mistaken in his assessment. More ponies stated to gather around me, and said some also not nice things to the couple. I told them to not do such things, that we’re above that sort of behavior, but nopony listened to me.

Things were starting to get ugly and… I remember wanting to be so very angry, and it just all vanished every time it came up. How could I be angry? They were just looking at the world the wrong way. They didn’t realize they were wrong. So… So I told them, “Maybe you need to go see more of the world before you judge this place, and realize just how special it is.” I said it in a very stern, motherly sort of voice.

And all at once, the stallion lost his sneer and his haughtiness and sort of took a step back. He looked shocked at me, as though he wasn’t quite sure what to say. But I wasn’t done yet. “These ponies aren’t so different from you.” I said, advancing on him and shaking my hoof in his face. “You need to see them how they really are. Walk a few miles in their shoes.” I continued. “You’re not so different. Or can’t you see that?”

The mare had fallen back too, and both of them looked awfully stricken. The stallion was crying a little even as he looked around into the crowd. I was going to say more but…

Discord - But then I cut in, as was needed, and whisked you away from that dreadful little argument. Really, Fluttershy. I thought I’d told you not to get involved in such kerfuffles.

Fluttershy - Well, somepony needed to show them.

Judge Rock - Show them what, Miss Fluttershy?

Fluttershy - Isn’t it obvious? They needed to be shown how to be Kind.

Author's Note

Sorry this one was late guys. Had a really crappy day yesterday.

Thanks to A3V For help getting this one sorted out to completion.