//------------------------------// // Ch 9: In Which Luna Meets Phineas, and Pinkie Uses a Brick // Story: Fulfilling // by PegasusMesa //------------------------------// Like every morning, Fluttershy awoke to the crowing of the rooster; unlike every morning, her eyes opened to a world devoid of light. I'm under the quilt... she thought with a yawn. I guess it's time to greet the day. Her legs pushed against the covers in an effort to reach open air. However, she wasn't expecting her bed to move. The thing covering her head lifted itself, and instead of being greeted by the sight of her room, she found herself sitting on a cloud, right next to a bemused Princess Luna. Was I under Luna's wing?! "A shouting dragonequis does not wake you, but a simple rooster does?" the princess asked with a hint of a grin. "What do you mean, 'dragonequis'?" Fluttershy asked. Memories of the night before slowly came back as she became more and more awake. "I—" I spent the entire night leaning against her! "Luna, I'm so sorry! I only wanted a little nap, I didn't mean to—" Oh, she probably thinks I'm really strange, now... "It is of no importance. I shall accompany you to your house before I take my leave." Soon, the two mares landed in front of the modest cottage. "Um, I... thank you, for letting me slee—" "Do not mention it," Luna interrupted. She fought back a yawn of her own. "I am happy that you trusted me to stand guard over your slumber." "'Stand guard'... Luna, do you mean that you didn't sleep at all?!" "Somepony had to make sure that we didn't fall," the princess said, her expression wooden. "I will be fine—" "No, no, no! I can't just—you come inside, right now! You need to get some sleep!" "But I—" "No 'buts'! You can use my shower, then you are going straight to bed!" "...Yes ma'am..." muttered the cowed alicorn. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ten minutes later, a squeaky-clean Luna walked outside to find her pegasus friend feeding the animals. "Luna, you should be in bed!" she said, but the princess paid her no attention. Instead, her attention zeroed in on the little critters. Squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, mice... "So..." she said in a dreamy voice, "...so... cute!" With that, she was off, chasing them down. Predictably, the animals fled the crazy, charging pony. "No, please do not run! Your princess merely desires cuddles! Cuddles, I say!" She halted in her tracks when one of the squirrels stopped and turned. Its face had a sour look on it, but that was nothing compared to its glowing-red eyes. "Chase us at your own peril, fleshling," it growled in a demonic voice. "Wha—wha—" Luna stuttered. The squirrel drew itself up tall, nearly reaching a full foot's height. "Foolish creature of bone and blood, you understand not the forces with which you meddle." "De—Demon squirrel!" the princess roared; her warrior's instincts took over. "We shall squash thee and cleanse this world of thy taint!" She lunged forward and brought a hoof down heavily. However, the creature easily darted to the side, avoiding the attack. "Stand—" *smash* "—still—" *crash* "—and—" *crunch* "—embrace—" *bam* "—thine—" *whack* "—end!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Fluttershy!" called Rarity as she came down the road to the little cottage. "Good morning!" Her cheery expression faltered when noticed Princess Luna leaping repeatedly at a squirrel. "Um... is the princess alright?" "Oh, she's just playing with Phineas," Fluttershy replied. "They look like they're having a lot of fun, don't they?" "Stop moving so that We may destroy thee!" "Heh heh, fun, playing..." the unicorn chuckled. "Right..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After ten minutes of "playing", Phineas darted to Fluttershy and climbed onto her back. "Fluttershy! Beware, that is no normal fuzzy critter!" Luna cried. "Oh no, Phineas is very smart," the yellow mare replied, nuzzling him lightly. "I am the thing that goes bump in the night!" Phineas said. "Dost thou not hear him?!" the princess asked. "Hear what?" Rarity said curiously. "Never be alone." "Seriously, nopony else is hearing this?!" Fluttershy patted the dark mare on the back. "Luna, maybe you should get some sleep now..." "Your nightmares will be of me!" "Squirrel... what art thou?" "I am everything that you fear." "Yes, you're going to sleep right now." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight, Pinky, and Applejack trotted towards Fluttershy's cottage, where they had been invited for a light lunch. "Sorry Pinky, but I don't think there'll be anything sweet there," Twilight said apologetically. "Nuh uh, that's impossible!" "With Fluttershy, it's usually salads and tea." The earth pony brandished a sack of her own food. "Ah gotta eat somethin' more fillin' than that if Ah don't want to die of hunger, so Ah bring mah own vittles. Y'all can have some if ya want, Pinky." "C'mon you two, stop complaining!" the princess said. "It was nice of her to invite us, the least we can do is be grateful." "Ah didn't say Ah wasn't grateful..." "Yeah Twilight, it's not like we're monsters or anything—" "Wait, what's that?" Applejack hushed the other two ponies and pointed at something that was moving through the shadows towards them. It could almost be confused as a shadow itself, except that it acted on its own. Twilight immediately recognized the specter from the reports she had read. "Girls, get behind me," she said. "Hold on, if there's somethin' dangerous—" "I don't have time to explain!" Twilight snapped. "Get behind me, now!" The other two mares reluctantly obeyed. Fortunately, they got out of sight in the nick of time; the moment their faces were hidden from view, the specter opened its eyes. Bright-green orbs locked with the alicorn's, and immediately it attempted to fight its way in. This thing's definitely pretty strong, Twilight thought, but it's not nearly as bad as when Luna broke my barrier. She easily repelled it, then charged up a spell that would hopefully capture the monster. However, right as she cast her dweomer, the specter shot towards Fluttershy's cottage at a surprising speed. "Stick with me, Pinky, Applejack, and whatever you do, do not look into its eyes!" Pinky giggled while they ran. "Haha, you said 'doodoo'!" The three mares burst through the front door and gasped; Rarity stood bravely before the creature. "Rarity!" Twilight cried. "Don't look into its—" She was surprised when her unicorn friend stared straight into its gaze. Suddenly, as if burned, the specter fled from her, back outside towards the chicken coop. Just before it reached the safety of the surrounding trees, Applejack slammed a bucket down over top of it, and Pinkie contributed by dropping a brick on the bucket in order to weigh it down. Muffled thumps came from within as the specter attempted to push its way free, but the makeshift prison wouldn't be budged. "Phew," Applejack exhaled. "The varmint almost got out of Dodge." "AJ, Pinkie... I'm sorry for shouting at you back there," Twilight said. "Nah, don't worry 'bout it." "We both realized it probably had something to do with mind control powers!" Pinkie said, waving her hooves in the air dramatically. "What was all that commotion?" Fluttershy cried. Both she and Rarity cantered out to join their other friends. "That monster that Luna's been looking for just tried to attack Twilight," the pink pony explained. "Yeah, but..." Twilight wore a troubled expression. It sure was strange, the way it ran... "'Yeah, but' what?" Rarity asked. "...Nothing. I'm sure it's nothing." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luna's dreams were filled with images of dancing Discords, each one sporting a sign that said "I TOLD YA SO!" "Um, Luna..." The princess stirred slightly, but didn't wake up. Something nudged her in the side. "Sleepyhead, it's time to get up..." "Nnnnhn..." she moaned in protest. "Go 'way, Tia... 'nother ten minutes, We beg of thee..." "Luna, it's important. We caught the specter." That got the alicorn's attention. Within a moment, she was out of bed and on her hooves. "You what?" she exclaimed to Fluttershy, the pony who had been trying to wake her. "It's outside. Applejack and Pinkie trapped it under a bucket." Luna's expression could only be described as wooden. "...What." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What." Now that Luna stood outside and could inspect the specter's improvised prison, it seemed even more ridiculous than ever. "You trapped an extremely dangerous monster. With a bucket." "And a brick!" Pinkie added. "This is a creature that not even the entirety of the palace guard could apprehend, and all you needed was a bucket." "Don't forget the brick!" "Well, it was sittin' right there, so Ah just plopped it right on top of the little critter, and that was that." "You keep forgetting to mention the brick!" Luna smacked a hoof against her forehead. "A bucket... why didn't I think of that?" she said sarcastically. "That brick was important!" "Alright, Twilight, let us take care of it before it finds a way out," the princess said. "Everypony else stay back. Twilight, when I say so, you lift the bucket. I shall make certain that this specter troubles nopony ever again." As soon as both ponies found their places, she said, "Now!" Twilight threw the bucket aside and Luna immediately torched the area with a gout of flame. However, as soon as the smoke cleared, everypony could tell that the monster was long gone. "It burrowed out," Rarity said, pointing at a hole in the scorched ground, through which the specter had presumably escaped. "At least we know it can be captured," Luna said. "But now we must make a plan. You said that it was after Twilight?" "Yeah, it went straight for her," Applejack said. "Then it's a good thing I taught you how to protect your mind." "Oh yeah! Speaking of which," Twilight said, "Rarity, how did you manage to fight it off?" "I'm allowed to know how to shield my mind too, aren't I?" the unicorn said indignantly. "Well, yes, but why would you know how to do that in the first place?" "If you must know, when I was a filly, some colt used a spell to read my thoughts, then used what he learned to spread rumors about me. Ever since, I've made certain that nopony can get inside my head unless I let them." "I have determined what our best course of action is," said Luna, rejoining the conversation. "Since Twilight and I are the specter's targets, we should separate ourselves from the rest of you. That way, none of you will be in any danger of possession when it attacks again." "Wait, what makes y'all so certain that thing'll go after you two again?" "It's clear that it wants an alicorn body, so it makes sense that we're the ones it will approach." All of the others broke out in argument at once, but Twilight silenced them. "I—I think Luna's right," she said hesitantly. "But you'll be in danger!" Fluttershy protested. "We can help you!" "Actually, you will help more by avoiding the specter completely," Luna said. "If it were to possess one of you, it could use that leverage to its advantage." "Still—" "C'mon, Fluttershy, we'll be fine. Look, Luna'll be there! If anyplace is safe, it's next to her!" Another shock of jealousy ran through the pegasus's body at the thought of the alicorns spending time together, just the two of them. "But... I don't want you to get hurt..." "Everything will be alright," the dark princess assured her. "As soon as we have dealt with the specter, we shall return here. Is that agreed?" "Fine, do whatever you want!" Fluttershy said in a very rare show of anger. "I don't care!" She felt a twinge of regret as an expression of pain crossed Luna's face, but right at that moment, the pegasus couldn't find the willpower to deal with it. "Very well," the princess said. "We'll... we'll just be going, then." "Fluttershy, wasn't that a bit rude?" Rarity asked, as soon as the two alicorns departed. "I just... I don't like this at all." But what is it that I don't like? Luna and Twilight being in danger, or the fact that they get to spend so much time together... alone... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An hour later, Twilight and Luna stood in the middle of a large field. They could see for at least twenty yards in each direction, so there was no way that the specter could sneak up on them. "If it truly desires to possess one of us, then the only way it can do so is by confronting us here," Luna said confidently. Twilight began to fidget. "Um, Luna... there's something that's been bothering me." "What is it?" "When I ran into the thing earlier, I'm not actually totally sure that it was really after me." Luna felt a spike of dread plunge into her back. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Well, um... it's kind of a stretch, but..." "Twilight, it's very important that you tell me what you're getting at." "It's just that, after it failed to take control of my mind, wouldn't the best plan be to escape back into the shadows? But instead of that, it tried to get into Fluttershy's house, like it was going after something else..." "You mean, the pony it really wanted was inside." "It's possible." "It could have been after me," Luna mused. "I was inside and asleep, after all." Then something even more frightening occurred to her. This probably didn't happen... But what if the specter was there last night, listening in? What if it heard me admit *that* to Discord? If so, then it knows... "Oh, *yay!*!" she cursed loudly, causing Twilight to jump. "Follow me to Fluttershy's house! I have erred greatly!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Why can't I stop feeling jealous? Fluttershy wondered as she went around the house. She made the motions of performing her daily chores, but her heart wasn't truly in it. She wouldn't be interested in a simple pony like me anyway. Twilight's far better for her... she's prettier, smarter... She absent-mindedly poured the dog food into a bowl and placed it on the ground. And they're so much closer, anyways. Always going off with each other. Behind her, something shifted, making a light scraping noise. "Your ssadness... Sssmells deliciouss." When Fluttershy spun around, she found herself gazing straight into a pair of horrifying, green eyes.