//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 - Cake, Tea and a Brush // Story: Your Faithful Student, Buggy Brush // by BUGFlower413 //------------------------------// Chapter 12: Cake, Tea and a Brush “Princess Celestia? May I talk with you for a minute?” asked Buggy Brush through Celestia’s bedroom’s door after knocking. It was already night, and she was just about to turn-in. He was going to help Luna in the Dream World, but taking advantage that she was still getting some things ready, he decided to go ask Celestia something he has been wanting to know for a good while. “Of course. Come in,” she responded in a soft voice. He opened the door and entered to the room slowly. Celestia was lying on her bed, levitating an almost-empty cup of tea. They have seen each other a considerable amount of times by now, but he had never been alone with her before. That made him feel somewhat intimidated. He was trying to remember how he formulated in his mind the question he wanted to ask her, but feeling nervous wasn’t making it any easier to remember. Celestia, both realizing that and knowing how nervous he can get through what she heard from her sister, decided to break the silence in an attempt to make it easier for him to speak his mind out. “So, what did you want to talk with me about, dear Buggy? You have been in the castle many times, yet this is the first you have come to talk with me.” “Oh, I’m sorry about that, Princess. I think I…” She giggled. “There’s no need to apologize. In fact, it’s a very pleasant surprise!” she said with a smile. “Ok. So, I came here to ask you a little something…” “…Well? What would that be?” He took a deep breath. “I… wanted to ask you… since when has Luna been dealing with all of her emotional struggles?” Her expression and position changed the moment she heard that question. She settled down the cup of tea near an empty plate with some cake stains, then she accommodated herself in a way she could have a better view of the young unicorn. That gesture made him feel like he screwed it up somehow. “WAIT no no! That sounded terribly bad! I’m sorry, I-“ “It’s ok, it’s ok. I get what you’re trying to ask,” she said to calm him down. “Why don’t you take a sit so you’re more comfortable while we talk?” She pointed at a bean-shaped couch not so far from her bed as she said that. Buggy was not really planning to stay for long enough for him to need to get comfortable, but he was too nervous to say ‘no’ to the literal Princess of the Sun. Besides, maybe that would actually help him to calm down. “I mean, she had told me one or two things about it before, but I wanted to know from an outsider’s perspective. Not because I don’t trust her, because I REALLY do, but because sometimes it’s difficult to notice those things in ourselves the moment we start feeling them and, being you the closest pony to her there is, I figured you would know. You grew up together after all.” “Yes, we did, and you’re right. I’d like to know what she has already told you first, though.” “Alright, so she told me when you both were younger, she sometimes felt like… less. Less special. She told me she obviously loves you, yet sometimes she couldn’t help but feel like she wasn’t ‘good enough’ compared to you, or like you were a lot more fun or interesting than her. That would be all the way back before you two were even princesses, I think.” Celestia looked at the side while listening, remembering those days. She already knew all of that, she remembers trying her best to make her little sister feel special without addressing the issue directly. She never liked to face those kind of situations, but she didn’t want her dear sister to feel bad about herself. It was so long ago, yet it affected her that much that she can still remember it vividly. “Well, that would be true. We were both just two little fillies back then. We were still going to Magic School, so my studies kept me a little busy, but I still noticed how her behavior passed from a happy and cherish girl, to a façade to pretend everything was ok.” “So…what did you do?” Celestia, turning again her eyes to the purple pony, kept talking. “I did what any sister would do and tried to cheer her up. I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but I was too scared to talk to her about it, so I used other methods to show her extra affection, so she would feel valued.” “And did it work?” She sighed. “No, it didn’t. At some point she realized what I was doing and tried to convince me that she was fine, but I knew she wasn’t. Years passed when I noticed she was feeling actually better about herself, she was starting to feel genuinely happy again, but that didn’t last long since we became princesses not so long after that. I assume you already know the rest of the story from there.” He nodded. Luna told him how she struggled with depression and other problems for many years, but he didn’t know it was for that long in her life. His face denoted a sad expression that was taking place while he was listening to the story. “I wish, I REALLY wish I could have helped her more. That I could have done something. If only I wasn’t that coward back then and I confronted the problem when I first realized, she would never-“ “Celestia, don’t say that.” She looked at his eyes and, in that moment, Buggy realized he just interrupted the literal Goddess of the Day. He already started to speak, so there was no way back, he thought. “I’m really sorry to interrupt you, Celes- your Highness, but you shouldn’t do that. Thinking about what you ‘should have done’. It’s not good for you, it won’t change anything and it will just make you feel worse about it. You said you did your best and I think that’s what matters. Nopony can ask for more than that.” Celestia gave him a little smile. He still couldn’t help feeling stupid for cutting her mid-sentence. As Celestia said, they haven’t talk in that way before, and he sure wasn’t leaving a good first impression about his manners. He felt a little relieved to see her smiling though. “Just from this little exchange, I can already tell you’re a really good student, Buggy Brush.” “Huh?” “My sister has been telling me some things about you, but even if she didn’t, just listening to you I can clearly see you have been taking her teachings to heart.” He blushed a little. “Now, going back to your original question, that is indeed the first time I remember ever noticing Luna’s self-esteem struggles.” “Well, thanks for telling me, C- your Highness. If I’m being honest with you, I’m really happy she feels a lot better nowadays.” “Me too.” “In some way, I’d have liked being able to help her before somehow, but I suppose there was no way for me of doing so,” he said while standing up and walking towards the door. “You really love her, don’t you?” He froze and his eyes went wide. Celestia’s question caught him completely out of guard. From where the hay did that question even come from?? He slowly turned his body, looking at her again, trying to get something coherent out of his mouth between all of the chaos that question just caused inside his brain. “W- WHAT?? What do you mean by that?” “I mean if you love her.” He tried to look at anything except at her eyes to avoid her from noticing how hard he was blushing in that moment, but he failed at it. “I- I mean, of course I do, but in a friend way. In the way a friend loves another friend. Just like that!” “Hhmmm…” “What do you mean by ‘hhmmm’??” Buggy forgot for a second with who he was talking to, since that was the kind of situation usually one of his friends, like June or Zweet Beatz, would put him into. Because of that he didn’t realize he just raised his voice to the princess and, in the moment he did, he was already starting to think what he would do during the next thousand of years of banishment. Celestia stood up and walked towards him, staring directly at his soul while opening her wings. He was so dead. “OH GOSH. I- I’M SO SO SORRY, YOUR HIGHNESS. I SWEAR I DIDN’T WANT TO YELL AT YOU, THAT WAS NOT MY INTENTION AT ALL. I PROMISE I WON’T DISRESPECT YOU EVER, **EVER** AGAIN. PLEASE FORGIVE ME, I BEG YOU, I-“ He was cut by Celestia’s laugh. At that point he had already walked backwards to a wall and cuddled in the floor, absolutely terrified and at the verge of crying (the latter being a thing Celestia didn’t notice). He stood up again while trying to calm his heartbeat. When Celestia finally managed to stop laughing, she spoke. “I’m so sorry, I just couldn’t help myself from doing that.” She laughed a little more. “Gee, Princess! You almost gave me heart attack!” “Forgive me for that, dear Buggy Brush-“ she wiped with her wings the tears she got from laughing “-but in all seriousness now. Don’t think I didn’t realize the way you act when you’re near her.” The way this alicorn was able to read right through him left him speechless. “So, I’ll ask you again, do you love her?” He looked at her eyes for a second, then looked away again. “Just be aware that, if the answer is yes, I’m probably going to have to kill you.” His position became tense again as he let out a little squeal. Celestia realized a little too late after the little joke she just pulled him through, he was probably still a little scared of her. “That was a joke. Remember, I may be old, but I have also been young like you, and I have also passed through that kind of situations.” He wasn’t sure why, but after short consideration, he felt like he could actually trust her to tell her his true feelings towards Luna. Maybe it was because she is a literal Goddess, a creature full of wisdom and knowledge; or maybe because something in the tone of her voice and in the way she speaks gave him motherly vibes, even after she almost scared him to death. He knew he could trust her. “…Yes, your Highness. I love Luna, and I mean, I really REALLY do,” he finally answered, looking at the princess. “Very well then.” She lowered her head and closed her eyes as her horn started glowing, making a weird sound like if it was charging some sort of futuristic weapon. “Princess, what are you doing?” She didn’t answer. He started slowly taking some steps back again. “Princess, what are you doing?????” “Don’t move, please, or this will be more painful than it should be.” That’s it, his heartbeat didn’t even recover from a moment ago and now it was going crazy again. “Farewell, Buggy Brush. It was a pleasure to meet you.” “PRINCESS CELESTIA, WAIT-“ “AaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-“ “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!!!!” Once again, Celestia started laughing her flank off. She was laughing so hard she was barely able to remain standing, so she took some steps back and fell into her bed, crying from the laughter. Buggy, meanwhile, was trying to confirm if he was still alive or if either a laser beam or a heart attack had already taken his soul out of his body. “Don’t worry, Buggy, your secret is safe with me.” “Thank *huff* you. *huff*“ “With one condition.” “Y- yes? What is it?” “I’ll keep your secret as long as you go to the kitchen and bring me another piece of cake,” she said while levitating the plate to him. “Ok, Princess Celestia. Right away.” “You can just call me Celestia, dear. After all, I think eventually I’ll be your sister-in-law, won’t I?” “Celestia!” “Exactly!!” He facehoofed while walking away to the kitchen. How can that pony manage to switch between being that goofy, and that intimidating just at the blink of an eye?? He was going to need a glass of water.