//------------------------------// // The first day // Story: Luna's Power and Rainbow's love // by zyr1987 //------------------------------// It had been a few hours since they had taken flight, and Fluttershy, who was not used to flying for so long, was getting tired. Fortunately for the poor Pegasus, Luna pointed to a small clearing on the river, and yelled that they would rest there. As they circled down towards the ground, Fluttershy wondered what Rainbow Dash made of all of this. Luna, meanwhile, was about to learn that karma can be nasty. She hadn't realized it but her speed was a bit too high for a soft landing, and when she tried to touch down she ended up tumbling onto her side, embarrassed but unhurt. Rainbow Dash watched with glee as Luna tried to land. She was hoping for a moment like this at some point, and here it was being handed to her on a silver platter. When she touched down, it was while laughing at Luna. “Laugh it up, Rainbow Dash, but we are sure that we have crashed far fewer times than you, despite being over a millennium your senior.” “You did spend most of that time inside the moon.” “Must we be reminded of this constantly?” Fluttershy, who had just landed and was panting, asked, “Are you okay princess?” “We are fine. Just a little dirty.” “Oh, good.” Fluttershy then took the opportunity to look at their surroundings. They were at a small bend in the long, winding river, near a vast forest. The clearing they were in was small but pleasant, and Fluttershy thought that, if she just wanted to get away from the world for a few days, she could just fly out here and relax. Rainbow Dash, however was more focused on the river, and her thirst. She basically ran over to it, before something grabbed her tail. “Rainbow Dash, do not drink straight from the river!” Luna told her. “Aw, c'mon, I'm thirsty!” “And liable to make yourself sick, which we cannot risk on this trip. We have to boil the water to make it safe to drink. Trust us.” “Oh, all right,” Dash said, with an air of exasperation. Luna then looked around the site, levitated several scraps of wood and clumps of dry grass to her, and put them in a pile. She then took two things out of her saddle bags, a collapsible stand and cooking pot. She levitated the cooking pot over the river and scooped up some water, before igniting the pile of debris she had made. As Luna went about boiling the water, and adding a few teabags to it, Rainbow noticed that Fluttershy had wandered to the far side of the clearing and was staring at the river. She decided to see what was up. She lay down next to her shy friend, and asked, “You still nervous about working with Luna?” “Yes. Why?” Fluttershy asked, sounding strangely calm. “Because you seem to be avoiding her. You think you'll be okay for the trip?” “I think so. Honestly, though, I came over here to simply appreciate this place. It's peaceful.” Rainbow looked around and tried to find the appeal in nature that Fluttershy saw, but, to her, it was just a bunch of trees and grass and stuff. Her thoughts then turned to Fluttershy herself. Rainbow turned to look at her friend, and saw her looking serenely out at the horizon, evoking a number of emotions from the cyan Pegasus, but before she had time to even begin to identify them, let alone process them, Luna called both Pegasi back for their lunch. As they drank their weak tea and ate part of Fluttershy's stock of dried apple slices, Rainbow Dash decided to ask about an incident mentioned earlier in the day. “So how did Celestia react to finding a toy spider on her pillow?” A mischievous grin formed on the alicorn's face. “She screamed and vaporized half of her bed. It was, how you say, fun to watch.” Rainbow burst out laughing at this, and Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle. The idea of the sun goddess destroying her own bed after finding a toy spider on it was too much. When she had regained her composure, Rainbow Dash asked, “So that's why she wanted you gone for a while?” “We assume so. She hasn't exactly been pleased with us since the incident.” “I can imagine. I didn't realize that Celestia was afraid of spiders.” “She is, though she would deny it,” Luna said. Fluttershy decided to change the topic. “I'm sorry if this a bad time to ask, but why did you think the water would make us sick, if you didn't boil it?” Luna, with her mischievous grin still on her face, opened her saddle bag and pulled out a book to show to Fluttershy. “Wilderness survival 101, all you need to know about surviving in the wilderness.” “Twilight Sparkle lent it to us after hearing what our journey would involve. We took some time to pursue it before embarking” “Sounds like Twilight. Still, it's better than going in ignorant I guess,” Rainbow Dash said. “Our thoughts exactly.” “Anyway, if you need me, I'll be napping.” “We'll wake you when it's time to go.” “Okay,” the cyan mare said, as she curled up and went to sleep. Fluttershy took the opportunity to go back to admiring nature by the river. Luna eventually lay down next to the yellow mare, and took in the serenity of their surroundings. Eventually she said, “We can see why you love nature so much. It is very calming.” “It is.” “Do you still fear us-me?” “Yes, but not as much,” Fluttershy admitted, still sounding calm and relaxed, instead of the more nervous self Luna was used to seeing. “Why? What has changed?” “I guess I'm just getting used to you?” “I see,” Luna said, making a conscious effort not to use the royal we. Fluttershy let silence fall at this point, happy to let the calm serenity reign over the area. Luna apparently felt the same way, and didn't speak another word until it was time to go. Leaving, however, posed its own problems. Specifically, Rainbow Dash did not want to be awakened from her nap. Fluttershy tried asking politely, with little success, before Luna went with a more direct approach: pulling Dash off the ground with telekinesis and using her royal Canterlot voice to get the lazy pony up and about. Needless to say, Rainbow Dash did not appreciate this approach. “Did you have to shout at me? I did ask for five more minutes,” Rainbow muttered, her ears ringing a bit. “Yes, for the past fifteen minutes. We can only be so patient.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, and set about getting her saddle bags beck on. They were planning to fly for another two hours before camping for the night. Luna had decided that this staggered approach would be better than flying for six hours straight and risking overextending themselves. As they took to the air again, Rainbow Dash was reminded of that moment where she felt an onrush of emotions when she looked at Fluttershy, and cursed the fact that she didn't have enough time to figure out what those feelings were especially now that they were niggling at her, just outside of her consciousness. She tried taking a long look at Fluttershy to bring them into focus again, but nothing came of it, further frustrating the slightly cranky mare. Eventually, after two long hours of flight, Luna pointed to a large clearing near the river, and directed them to land. This time the alicorn came down far more gracefully, having made sure to check her speed and not end up back in the dirt. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy alighted nearby, the latter obviously very happy to rest her wings for a while. “How are you two feeling?” Luna asked. “I'm exhausted,” Fluttershy admitted. “Yeah, I could use a rest too,” Dash said, still feeling a bit sleepy after her rude awakening by Luna. “Okay, do not worry. We are resting here for the night. We will set up camp, then have dinner and go from there. Just stay off your wings,” Luna said, unpacking a lot of stuff, including two canvas tarps and some metal poles. She then started poking through her saddle bags, looking for something, before giving another embarrassed look. “It seems we may have not packed enough canvas for a third tent. So two of us are going to have to share one.” “Well, the two of you are going to be sharing a tent anyway, so...” Rainbow Dash said. “We are not amused by your attempts at humor. However, we assume that you are willing to share a tent with Fluttershy?” “If she's fine with it, then I see no reason why not.” “Fluttershy?” “That's fine,” Fluttershy said simply, going back to thinking about Rainbow Dash's staring at her at the beginning of their flight, and wondering what it meant. She did consider Rainbow Dash a good friend, but had to wonder if the cyan Pegasus had feelings for her. Not that she knew how she would respond if Rainbow did love her. She was brought out of her reverie by Rainbow Dash asking her to help out with setting up their tent. As they went about this, Fluttershy's thoughts returned to that moment and what it had meant. This wasn't to last long, however, as the sounds of frustrated shouting filled the air, driving her back to reality once again. Luna's tent had collapsed on itself, and, on seeing this, Rainbow Dash started laughing, causing Luna to shoot a nasty glare her way. As Luna continued to struggle with her tent, She thought about her companions. She had to admit that they were not what she expected. Fluttershy, who she expected to be meek and scared for the whole trip, was showing a lot of strength and solidarity, though that might be attributed to a lack of hugs on Luna's part. Regardless, Luna was glad to see this. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was making Luna want to banish her to the Everfree Forest, what with all the laughter and insults, though she did realize that she had brought it upon herself for picking on Rainbow Dash that morning. Finally getting her tent up, Luna made a mental note to give whoever had made these metal poles a day in the dungeons for causing her so much trouble. She looked and saw that the other two had already gotten theirs up, and were preparing their sleeping area for the night, despite it being several hours until they had to go to sleep. She looked up at her sister's sun and mentally calculated the amount of time she had until she had to raise the moon. After deciding that she would have more than enough time to have her meal first, she quickly set about starting a fire for their tea. With camp set up, Rainbow Dash briefly considered taking a bath, but, after seeing how fast the river was flowing, and remembering that her swimming skills were not great, decided against it, though she did wonder how she was going to wash all the sweat off. She eventually thought well, worst case scenario, I stink for a couple of days, but so be it. Fluttershy was a bit more worried, because her long pink mane and tail would take forever to clean if she didn't have the opportunity to on this long trip, but she decided to focus on happier things, like being surrounded by nature, and having two weeks where she wouldn't have to worry about her friends dragging her into their latest bit of craziness. Her mind then wandered briefly back to the reward she still had to pick for going on this adventure, but, much to her frustration, nothing was coming to mind. Distracting her from further thoughts was Luna calling the two Pegasi for dinner. Over dinner, they chatted about topics ranging from pets and how Luna wanted one (Fluttershy could almost be heard squeeing at the idea of getting a princess a pet) to the Discord incident, before an offhand remark about The Stare drew Luna's interest. “What is 'The Stare'?” “It's some strange power Fluttershy has, where she glares at something so intensely that it is filled with terror. I experienced it once, and I can tell you, it's like staring into the heart of Tartarus, mixed with a compulsion to do whatever Fluttershy tell you to. I don't think anyone or anything could resist its effects for long,” Rainbow Dash said, shuddering at the memory. “Interesting. So when do you use it?” “I don't really control when it happens, it just happens when I get too angry or scared.” “Can you name a specific instance of this happening?” “Last year, I was taking care of some fillies, when they ran into the Everfree Forest to find a missing chicken of mine. I found Twilight turned to stone, so I knew a cockatrice was on the loose. Eventually we stumbled on the cockatrice, while I was trying to get the girls back to my cottage, and I was forced to use the stare on it as it turned me to stone. I get it to stop, and to turn Twilight and my chicken, who had been turned to stone about a minute before, back to normal.” “Wait, you were able to use this power to stare down a cockatrice while it was turning you to stone?” “Yes.” “Amazing! If you ever learn to control it, our scholars would surely want to study it.” “I'll keep that in mind.” The idea of dealing with a bunch of scholars trying to figure out how her stare worked didn't hold any appeal for Fluttershy, who would rather spend time at home, taking care of her animals than be treated as a science experiment. She resolved that if she ever did manage control over it, she wouldn't tell anyone. They concluded their dinner, and Luna packed away the utensils once again, while Fluttershy wandered off to enjoy nature some more, leaving Luna and Rainbow Dash alone. Eventually Luna said, “We understand you and Fluttershy met in flight school.” “Yeah, but neither of us likes to talk about it. It wasn't what you would call a happy part of our lives,” Rainbow Dash said, remembering the bullying she and Fluttershy had to endure for years, before both of them dropped out. “But you two are still friends.” “Yeah, we had been through hell together, and that sort of thing does promote bonding. Listen, can I make a request? Not as a reward or anything, but just out of the goodness of your heart?” “We are listening,” Luna said. “Can you talk to Celestia about making it a requirement for teachers to do something if they think their students are being bullied? It's bad enough having to be insulted and berated every day, but it's so much worse when someone who's supposed to be responsible for you at the time stands aside, doing nothing to stop it.” “We are surprised to hear that this is allowable. We will have to speak to Celestia about it. In return, however, we would ask that you stop laughing at us.” “Deal,” Rainbow Dash said, feeling much better about things. When it was time for bed, Fluttershy had to ask Luna, “Wait, don't you have to be awake during the night?” “No, we simply raise and lower the moon. As long as we are awake before dawn, we can fulfill this duty, and, even if we oversleep, Celestia can manage it, though she might give us an earful when we get back.” As the two Pegasi climbed under the covers together, Rainbow Dash wondered what they would have to do when they arrived at their destination. Luna had said that she needed two Pegasi to do whatever needed to be done, but hadn't been more specific than that. For a moment, her mind wandered to bad places, before she decided to just ask Luna in the morning. Rainbow realized that she might have an opportunity to finally figure out what she was feeling towards Fluttershy if she was patient. Instead of going straight off to sleep, as she normally did, she watched as Fluttershy fell into a peaceful sleep, and, sure enough, she felt the wave of emotions return, though now she had time to figure out what they were. First was the feeling of protectiveness, which she had felt ever since seeing the bullies pick on the yellow Pegasus at flight camp and knew that that was because she hated seeing Fluttershy hurt, then there was the feeling of closeness and trust, which, considering how long they had known each other and the hell they had been through together it was hard to see why they wouldn't be so close and trusting of each other. The last one, though, was the most confusing, and the scariest. That feeling was love.