Woven Right, Courage Bright, Love in Sight

by OhYouFoal

Princess Advising, Pegasus Deciding, Emotions Confiding

Across Equestria, nopony was the wiser for realising that the Goddess of the Night dabbled in solar powers today, taking over her sister’s celestial duties. The Princess of the Sun talked into the evening with Twilight and Fluttershy, enjoying a home-made daisy sandwich as they discussed the timid pegasus’ predicament.

It took a while for the timid pony to divulge all the details of her emotional turmoil and social seclusion, but eventually the Princess had felt there had been enough explained for her to finally give some input.

“It’s not implausible for you to have feelings beyond friendship for Rarity, as Twilight suggested, but you are justified in your uncertainty of whether it’s just you missing a friend or something else.”

There was a small sense of relief on the part of the pegasus, not entirely similar but sharing some common ground with being told ‘No, you’re not crazy’.

“However, your means of handling things the way you did wasn’t healthy either. I had a few instances of needing to urge Twilight to refrain from interfering, as well as making sure she informed the others not to do the same. I came today however because I intended to handle this myself. After all, if the call for the Elements arose once more, there’s no guarantee you would maintain the spiritual and mental stability to channel such immense power.”

Twilight looked to the Princess with a great deal of shock on her face, tempted to question the sort of ‘straight forward’ statement the ruler had made. But the Alicorn was quick to follow up.

“At the same time, we are in a season of calmness it seems and I value Twilight’s friends as much as I value her. You all seem to make each other happy in some special way, so it would be wrong to continue to act as if your personal happiness was not worth taking seriously.”

Feeling as if this was her opportunity to finally give some input, Fluttershy spoke up after her lengthy silence.

“Thank you Princess, I can’t say it’s been easy getting all of this out in the open, but it does make me feel better.”

“I’m glad to help. Though, we’re not letting it end here. You said you wanted to reassure yourself of your thoughts, right?”

Fluttershy was hesitant to respond, nervous of what would come next. But she put on as brave of a face as she could and nodded.

“Then I’d like to help out in the best way I can. Though I can’t very well just force the two of you to spend time together or exploit my hierarchy for the desires of one pony, I can assist you in more subtle but significant means. As you know, I have a guest residence at the castle that Rarity used during her initial trip to Canterlot that allowed her career to take off in the first place. It didn’t take long for her to get the funding for her own residence, so it’s been empty for quite some time. If you’d like, I can at least offer that to you for now.”

The yellow pegasus felt a little overwhelmed by the Princess’ kindness for a moment, feeling it was overkill, but realizing that all she was giving her was a place closer to Rarity sort of calmed her a bit.

She’s not really forcing me into anything, is she? It’s really just an offer of residence if I need it...

However, her thoughts didn’t end there. It took a bit for it to click in the mind of the pony what this really meant. There were certain things that would get her closer to Rarity to spend time with her again and a home in Canterlot was solving the more simple but expensive problem.

“I would gladly take it, but what can I do with it? It’s not like I could just trot into her shop and ask her to clear our her schedule to spend some time with me. She has things to do, it wouldn’t be fair to make her drop everything just so we can be toge-”

Twilight raised a hoof in a way only a kid wanting to answer a teacher’s question would. With a slight nod from Fluttershy, she doled out the best idea that she could think of.

“Then you go out and get a job to ‘make’ it so she has to pay attention to you. That is, if you’re looking for a way for the two of you to spend time together without it interfering with her work, you start doing something that will intertwine with what she does on a daily basis.”

Fluttershy understood exactly what Twilight was suggesting, all the while waves of happiness, fear and uncertainty washed over the pegasus as she realized the most suitable means of going through with such a suggestion.

“Twilight, you... want me to get back into modeling?”

“While that’s not exactly what I was suggesting, it would work, wouldn’t it? You’ve had experience with it in the past and while it wasn’t something you ‘enjoyed’ don’t you think you could do it again for her?”

There was no doubt about it, Fluttershy had only participated in such a stressful situation before because of how happy in made Rarity before. This time it would be for more, she wouldn’t be allowed to just up and drop her work the moment she got scared. It meant more than she was prepared for.

“I’m sorry to cut this short but I’m afraid if I spend any more time here, Luna will surely send the guards out to retrieve me, for reasons more than necessary explaining. Fluttershy, please let Twilight know when you’d like to move whenever you’re ready so I can have the place properly cleaned and suited to your needs when you arrive. Though if it’s not too much to ask, I’d like you to not bring too many ‘friends’ with you.”

Fluttershy laughed weakly, as the Princess sighed.

“Your love of creatures is a wonderful thing my dear, but I’m afraid one too many would result in the cleaning crew threatening to strike.”

After Fluttershy gave a nod of acceptance, the two elements said their goodbyes and let the ruler of Equestria take her leave. She stepped out to give the two a wave of the hoof goodbye and took off into the sky with a bright yellow flash before they headed back in to tend to the mess left over from dinner.

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

Upon the Princess’ departure, not a word had been spoken between the two ponies. Fluttershy seeming lost in her own thoughts, having a look on her face of concern, leading Twilight to believe that she’d been dwelling on all the ‘what ifs’ all night. Finally, the silence was beginning to drive Twilight crazy and prompted her to speak.

“So, do you think you can get back into modeling? I know you might not be keen on getting back in touch with Photo Finish but you have a contact for her, right?”

The lavender unicorn had sort of experienced the more persistent fashion pony first hand, knowing that she could be a tad overwhelming and intimidating.

“We didn’t exactly leave on the best of terms Twilight. I didn’t get any angry letters or hate mail from her, but... I’d be lying if I said a couple ponies didn’t give me some dirty looks and stares after that. Though, I do remember some colt coming to me and confessing his love for me after I’d quit.”

Twilight’s eyes were wide with amazement. Sure, it wasn’t impossible for there to be someone in love with Fluttershy, but to so boldly express without hesitation was what shocked her. Fluttershy on the other hand was showing a bit of amusement and embarrassment at the same time.

“He was really sweet about it too, said he thought if I wasn’t working anymore, we could try dating. I had to turn him down though, I felt like he didn’t understand his own feelings like how I am right now. But we did go out for a cup of coffee one day and that was quite nice, he was a very nice pony overall, just not someone I think I could love back.”

“Well naturally, it’s not like you can just up and start loving somepony, right? I mean it’d be SUPER awkward to go out on numerous dates trying to find somepony you click with and fall in love and cherish for the rest of your life as if you didn’t need anypony else in the world to be hap-”

Twilight had now found Fluttershy staring back in a similarly wide eyed state of amazement from that little rambling of hers. The pegasus was hesitant to speak but her friend’s outburst left her with some concern of her own.

“Twilight, is there something wrong? That was kind of-”

“I don’t want to talk about it, that was something I should have kept to myself. Please, if you don’t mind, I’d prefer to pretend it didn’t happen.”

Fluttershy lowered her head to the ground like a scolded child, deciding that silence was the best option for now. Twilight appeared to wish for the same, moving away from the pegasus to tend to a different mess.

With the moon slowly on a rise, Fluttershy was prepared to take her leave. Her hoof was reaching for the door, before she paused momentarily, turning back to Twilight.

“Go ahead and, um, send a letter to the Princess tomorrow afternoon, okay? Tell her I’ll be ready in 4 days.”

“You sure that’s enough time?” The unicorn replied somewhat plainly.

“Yes, that should be plenty of time. Like I said, we didn’t leave on the best of terms but she did give me a way to get in touch with her quickly. I’ll take care of those affairs when I get to Canterlot, in the meantime I need to go pack.”

With the door open and the cold breeze of the night air wafting into the treehouse, it woke up Twilight a bit. Coming back to her senses, it donned on her that she was sending her friend off for the night on a less than positive tone. Not one to leave on bad terms, she called out to Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy... There’s nothing to lose out of this. Whatever becomes of you and Rarity, it’ll be a win/win situation, right? Just give it your all to get that time with her that you want, okay? Don’t let anyone stop you and don’t let your fears stop you.”

Fluttershy turned around from the door only for her friend to wraps her hooves around her and hug her tightly, so tight that it concerned her. A warm fluid hit her shoulders as she sensed a trembling sensation from the other pony

“You... have someone you care about very much. And whether that’s friendship or love, you make sure you don’t give up on it. I know how much it tore me up inside when Discord drained the magic of our friendship from me, I wouldn’t want to experience that ever again.”

The Element of Kindness felt that there was more to be said, that Twilight was still keeping something inside. But rather than pry, she held her tightly and let her sob just a bit. Her friend clearly needed someone for a little comfort and this seemed the best way to provide such a thing.

“I’ll come by tomorrow to let you know when I’ve sent the letter. Go head on home, you’ll need your rest for tomorrow.”

With the lavender pony releasing her hold on the yellow pegasus, she wiped her tears and let Fluttershy take her leave. Trotting off towards her cottage, Fluttershy felt a warm sensation coursing through her body, a confident smile running across her face.

I’m ready for this... I need to do this now. If I wait too long, who knows what kind of work she may be caught up in... Oh goodness, she could get so big that she might get hired to tour all of Equestria and then I’d never see her ag-

Her train of thought was promptly interrupted as she opened the door of her cottage to see the her pets all rush to the door, making various squeaks, squawks and cries of attention, hunger and more. Fluttershy had truly forgotten just how long she’d been at Twilight’s residence, smiling and nodding to each of her little critters.

“Alright my dearies, I’ll get to each one of you as soon as I can.”

It’s going to be a long night...