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// (5-2) Lunchtime With Fluttershy 
// Story: The Ruler of Ponies and Men 
// by Boopy Doopy 
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Before I knew it, the day had turned into night and I found myself waking up the next morning, excited to see my friend, a certain yellow pegasus.
“It’s so nice to see you happy, Alex,” Hope told me, breaking away from snuggling me as she stood up and nuzzled me. “It really is. I haven’t seen you this happy since before the last Crystal Faire.”
“You don’t care that I’m happy to see Fluttershy?” I asked, a bit confused, but still smiling.
“Not if it means I get more kisses and nuzzles from you,” she replied, moving up to do just that. “I’m sorry for being jealous. I really do want to see you happy, and if spending time with Fluttershy does that…”
“Don’t worry, Hope, I’m not romantically attracted to Fluttershy or anything like that. She’s just a very good friend. You’re the only pony for me.”
“Awwww, really? Promise?”
“Absolutely,” I replied. “I wouldn’t be sleeping in the same bed as you if you weren’t. Now let’s get out there. There might be ponies already waiting for us.”

Sure enough, there were about five or six ponies waiting in the lobby near the throne room, seeming cautious but much less nervous about approaching us. That thought made me smile wider. I could only imagine that they were less nervous now because of the fact that I saw that other pony yesterday, and it made me happier to know that what I was doing was actually doing something to make these ponies less fearful of me. It made me less upset about the idea of being in Equestria, knowing that the perception most ponies had of me not only could be changed but was changing. For a brief moment, I almost hoped that Starlight would fix this herself in a way that kept me in Equestria instead of me having to use the spell I found just so I could keep ruling.
“Things are actually looking up,” I thought to myself. “I have an assurance that this problem will be fixed, and ponies have finally stopped hating me. Cadance’s trial went almost perfectly, I get to see Fluttershy, and Starlight is also actually helping to fix me. Things are looking absolutely amazing. No matter what happens, the future is bright.”
It was a quick few hours before the noon bell rang, signaling lunchtime. It was much busier than normal, with several ponies still standing in line, but they quickly scattered once they heard the bell. Hope and I quickly finished dealing with the pony before us before I spoke to her.
“She should be here at any moment, Fluttershy will be. We’re going to be in the dining hall this time, not too far away, and we shouldn’t be more than a few hours.”
“Okay, that’s not any longer than normal. I’ll be here as usual.”
“I appreciate it, Hope, just so you know. I appreciate you staying to help ponies while I'm away. I always do.” That brought a smile to her face, and she leaned over to rub her cheek against mine, right as Fluttershy was entering the castle. I bounded up at the sight of her and made my way over, wrapping my hooves around the yellow pegasus in a hug.
“Nice as always to see you, Fluttershy,” I told her almost giddily. “One of these days though, we should have lunch at your cottage.”
“We should, I agree,” she giggled. “We’re having tea in the dining hall today?”
“We are,” I replied, then turned to give Hope a wave of my hoof. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Have fun,” she told me before adding, “I love you!”
“I love you too, Hope,” I answered back before Fluttershy and I walked off.



“You seem happy, Alex,” Fluttershy told me as a chef brought us tea and sandwiches. “It’s very nice to see you smiling.”
“Oh, I always smile when I’m around you, Fluttershy,” I responded, “seeing as I’m forever in your debt.”
She giggled at that, continuing, “Oh, you're not in my debt, and I did notice that you do smile around me, but you seem… happier. You were smiling even before you saw me. It was nice to see.”
“I feel happier. Mostly since yesterday.”
“What happened yesterday?” she asked curiously.
“I found something that will guarantee I get the happy ending I’ve been waiting for, even if Starlight doesn’t come up with anything. Knowing that I have a way out is comforting because it means that I won’t have to deal with being Sombra forever.”
“A way out? What is it, a spell? What does it do?”
“Well, it is a spell, but I don’t really know what it’ll do once I use it, or more specifically, what’ll happen to me. I know what it will do, what it's supposed to do, even if I don't know what that means for me. However, I know that there’s a ninety-nine percent chance that this will fix me, even if Starlight can’t.”
“It won’t hurt you, will it?” Fluttershy asked, a bit concerned as she took a bite of her sandwich and a sip of her tea. “I wouldn’t want to see you worse off than before because of a spell.”
“I promise, it won’t hurt me,” I assured her. “I mean, the Crystal Heart and Cadance didn’t hurt me when they tried, so I doubt a spell would, and especially not this one, since that’s not what it’s designed to do.”
“Is it okay if I asked what it was?”
That request caused me to frown. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. I can’t tell anypony what it is, not even you.” That made her frown, and she gave me sad, puppy dog eyes as a result.
“I’m sorry," I apologized, explaining why I couldn't. "I have to make sure that nopony tries to stop me or talk me out of using it. I don’t think you’d do that, but if you told somepony else, they might, and I absolutely positively am not taking that risk. I don't want to be talked out of it.”
“Oh… but, I’m your friend,” she told me sadly, putting a hoof on top of mine. “You can trust me. I wouldn't try to do anything, I promise.”
"I... well..."
Could I trust her? Was that even a question? Yes, of course I could. She’d proven that I could trust her from the first time that I met her. She didn’t know who I was, and yet even when no one else had my back, even as scared as she probably was of me, she stuck up for me anyway. I knew she deserved to know.
“Well, I can tell you, but you can’t tell anypony else. Not Twilight, not Luna, not a certain pony you also have tea parties with, nopony. Nopony else can know about this spell.”
“I won’t tell them, I promise,” she assured me.
“Even if you don’t like what it is? You still wouldn’t tell?”
“Even if I didn’t like what it was, I promise. I pinkie promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
That was good enough for me, and I leaned over to whisper in her ear what the spell I had was, anxious that somepony else might be listening in. I didn’t want anypony to know about this at all.
As I told her what the spell was and how it would work, her expression hardened, becoming almost a scowl by the time I was finished explaining to her what I wanted to do.
“Well… I don’t like it…” I frowned at that, expecting her to say that I should just be patient and hope somepony else comes up with something. Because of that, I was caught off guard when she continued, “But if you think it’s best, and it doesn’t seem like there’s any other option… well… then I’ll be there. But please, please tell me if you think it’s going to come to using that. I don’t need to be Twilight Sparkle to know that it could unintentionally hurt you, let alone other ponies.”
“I know, and I will. You’ll be the first pony I tell if it comes to it, and I’m planning to make sure that it doesn’t end up hurting you in any way. If it looked like it was, I wouldn't cast it. But hopefully, it won’t. Hopefully, I won't need it at all. Starlight said she was close to something, so that’s what I’m waiting on for now.”
“Okay, that makes me a bit more relieved. Thank you, Alex. Thank you for trusting me with this, even though you know I don’t really like it. I’m glad you can trust me with this.”
I paused at that, taking a sip of tea before responding, “Thank you for believing in me, Fluttershy, and thank you for always being a good friend, even if I’ve been more than a little rough with you and other ponies at times.”
“It’s always a pleasure, Alex.”
That made me smile again, and I asked, “Now tell me, how have you been? And what about your friends?”
“Oh, I’ve been good, although Discord still seems grumpy that I have tea parties with you. He says it doesn’t make it as special when I have tea with him.”
“That sounds like him,” I chuckled. “He’ll feel better later, probably.”
“Hehe, I hope so. But anyway, Twilight told me that she’s stressed out dealing with Cadance.”
“Stressed out with working to reform her?” I asked.
“Yes. She says she doesn’t think she’s going to change, and says that she keeps talking about how she didn’t do anything wrong and trying to convince both her and Starlight of that.”
“Well, she already admitted to it, so… although I hope it’s going well. The point is for her to learn her lesson, and if she’s saying she’s not in the wrong, it’ll be difficult to get her to learn it.”
“Oh, I know. I talked to Starlight after that, and she told me that she thinks everything is going fine. She said that she used to be that way, too, when she first met Twilight, and that it’s only been a few weeks. You should give both of them time.”
I took a breath at that, frowning again at the thought of the pink alicorn. “She absolutely deserves this, I can’t say that enough… but you don’t think I’m being too hard on her do you?” The yellow pegasus gave me a confused look, and I continued, “I know it’s a weird thing to think, seeing as she absolutely positively deserves this, and honestly deserves to be in Tartarus right about now, but I also want to get it through to her that what she did was wrong. I want her to eventually come to me to apologize, or at least feel bad about what she did to me. I want her to be embarrassed, but I also want her to apologize… is that weird?”
“That’s not weird,” she assured me, “and it makes sense. She should be embarrassed by what she did to you, and should feel very ashamed of herself. What she did to you, and Celestia, and Shining Armor… she should apologize. I mean, she already did at the trial, but it should be a real apology.”
“That’s a long way off for her, unfortunately…”
“I trust Twilight and Starlight. If there are any two ponies I trust to reform somepony, it’s those two. Between them, I’m sure they can do it. I trust them.”
“Well, if you trust them, I’ll trust them. I hope I can see her apology before whatever’s going to happen to me happens. I hope everything works out and I get my happy ending...”
“I’m sure it will,” she told me, giving me a gentle smile as she took another sip of tea. “Even if it doesn’t seem like it now, things always work out for the better. I'm sure your happy ending will come.”
“Thank you, Fluttershy. It’s nice to hear somepony else voice that, too. Thank you.”