Fluttershy

Zoe

(12 hours earlier)

The coronation had gone perfectly, with a little help from Nathan. A fumble of only a few words and a slight character mess-up got me through saying the vows for Quinn Fluttershy. Then, it was the feast and the party. Almost 2,000 people were there, according to Nathan, and they all knew Quinn or Quinn's family.

"Good job, not bad." Nathan said as he danced with me during a formal song.

"Sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you over my complete failure-ism that someone called me." I mocked him. All this week he had called me a fool and said that this charade would never work. Now it was my turn.

"You're right, you're right. I'm sorry for being so hard on you. You did wonderful this week."

"Thank you. Finally I get a little credit for being someone I'm not." I laughed. Nathan laughed too. "But seriously, if Quinn doesn't come back soon, I might need to start being called Queen instead of Zoe."

"Don't push your luck with me." Nathan chuckled. "Want some food? You've hardly eaten all week, are you okay?"

"I'm perfect. I'm not going to eat anything, but I am really thirsty. Punch?" I asked. Nathan nodded and stopped dancing so we could go get something to drink. It was hard to balance the crown atop my head as I made my way through all the people, even if they cleared a path for me. 

Nathan grabbed two goblets and filled them with punch, handing one to me and sipping out of the other. I took a sip, but not much more since it tasted like liquid metal. Though I was starving, I refused to eat anything, but the punch was tolerable. Nathan and I watched the party from where we stood, people dancing and laughing all around us.

It was weird that the night I turned seventeen would be the night that I was crowned Queen of a fairytale land. The night of all nights, it was on my birthday, which Nathan told me that was Quinn's as well.

"I have to go get something, but I'll be right back." Nathan said, setting down his goblet. I nodded, and with a stupid smile on his face, Nathan bowed to me before he left. I giggled and waved him away with my gloved hands.

The dress I wore was red, despite the colors that I had been wearing all week. It was slim and tight around the waist, but flowed out at the waist down like one of the prom dresses I had seen last year. It didn't have any sleeves or straps, so my shoulders were free to move. White gloves covered my hands, all the way to my elbows. The sliver crown on my head was medium-ly heavy on my curled hair, which was pulled back in a half-up-half-down ponytail with red ribbon. The makeup on my face was red also, with three red dots underneath my right eye.

Suddenly, a headache formed in my brain, larger than I could have anticipated. I didn't fall to the floor, but I instead grabbed the table to stop myself from falling. I held out my cup so I didn't spill out the punch. That didn't help much. My hand caught the table by suddenly grabbing a plate full of food. It flipped over my hand and onto the ground. I closed my eyes to shut out the pain, but it didn't work  as well as it had before. Finally, the pain subsided. 

Fortunately, no one noticed my mistake, so I quickly hid the fallen food underneath the table and put the plate behind another dish. Nathan came over soon after.

"I saw that. I know why you're getting these headaches." He said, putting his hand on the back of my neck to try and help me stand up straight.

"I'm fine, it's probably the corset again." I said, brushing him off.

"No, Zoe. It's serious. I need to talk with you." Nathan said, bringing something out from behind his back. It was a white book with the words Human-Fairy Bio-History on the front. "It's life or death serious."