Chapter 4: Try Fluttershy
The next day had come and the girls all met up at Twilight’s to discuss how their progress with Midnight Star went. Since Fluttershy hadn’t tried yet she didn’t have anything to say. Spike just stood by and listened. “Well, how have you all done?” Twilight asked.
Everyone already knew how Pinkie’s first attempt went so she didn’t have anything to say either. Rainbow was the first to speak up. “My meeting with him didn’t go so well, he was just so cold. He just told me he didn’t want friends and stormed off.”
Rarity was next. “I’m afraid I didn’t fair any better either, he put up quite the strong front against my charm.”
“I managed to get somewhere with him, he seemed to perk up a little when I brought him some art books for him to look at. That was when I suggested he go to Applejack’s for a chance to get some business.” Twilight informed the others.
Now it was Applejack’s turn to tell them how her meeting with Midnight went. “It went all right at first, I did manage ta get him ta tell me a little about himself, seems he never really had a home for a long time, said he just travelled around making and selling paintings. When I brought up family, he got all tight lipped. I tried ta get him ta talk, but when I tried ta push it, he got real upset and yelled at me fer it. Whatever he’s hiding, it must have something ta do with what happened to his family.”
Pinkie then spoke up. “How are we supposed to find out what that is if he won’t tell us?”
Rainbow Dash then had a thought. “I guess it’s Fluttershy’s turn to try then, maybe you’ll have better luck then the rest of us.”
Fluttershy got nervous from being put on the spot all of a sudden. “WHAT, me, oh, I don’t know, what if I say the wrong thing and make him mad or something.”
Rarity then came over. “You can do it dear, you just have to be yourself and just talk with him.”
Twilight then got an idea. “Maybe you could ask him to make a painting for you, he would have to talk with you then if he thought it would be a chance to make some bits.”
“Do you really think so, I don’t know, can’t one of you come with me, I don’t know if I can do it alone.”
Pinkie spoke up. “Fluttershy, we all already tried, if we come with you, he may be reluctant to let you in. You can do this, no problem.”
Fluttershy could tell her friends wouldn’t let her give up, so she reluctantly agreed to the plan. “Oh, all right, I’ll do it.”
Midnight Star was busy in his house trying to figure out the best kind of painting to make for Applejack and give it to her as an apology for yelling at her like he did without letting on that he was willing to have friends. “Come on think, what kind of painting can I make, UGH, I hate it when my creativity gets blocked like this, it’s only because I’m so upset over this whole mess.” He never was able to be creative when he was feeling bad about something. He paced back and forth in his living room in front of a blank canvas.
He finally took some time to cool down so he could think clearly. “Ok, now that I’ve calmed down, maybe now I can get creative here.” Before he could do anything though, a knock came at his door. “UGH, now what!” He was feeling frustrated now, he had just managed to get his creative juices flowing and start on his painting when he was interrupted.
He opened the door and was greeted by a yellow Pegasus pony. “Um, hello there,…. my name is…….Fluttershy.”
“For the love of Celestia, they sent this adorable shy thing to talk with me now, how in the hayseed am I supposed to be cold and distant with this one?! These ponies are REALLY playing dirty now.” “Can I help you?”
“Um, well, I was wondering…..if it wasn’t too much trouble…..if maybe I could….ask you to make a painting for me. You see, I heard from my friends…..that you’re an artist……and I was wondering….if I could ask you to make a painting for me.”
“Stay strong Midnight, no matter how adorable or shy she is, you MUST….STAY…..STRONG.” “I see, very well then, come inside and we can discuss this further.”
“Ok, um, thank you.” Fluttershy then followed Midnight into his home.
“You can at least be a little hospitable to her, just act casual and don’t let your guard down.” “You can make yourself comfortable on the couch if you want, would you like some tea before we get down to business?” He asked with an even tone.
Fluttershy gave a small smile at the offer of tea. “Oh yes please, I do like a good cup of tea.” She then took a seat on his couch.
Midnight Star then made his way into the kitchen to get started with the tea. “It won’t be too long.”
Fluttershy decided to look around the room, she noticed a painting off to the side of the room next to a blank canvas. It was a beautiful painting of a sunset as it came down between two hills with the trees near their base. The sky had wonderful shades of blue and orange across the sky. “Oh my, what a beautiful painting you have, did you make it yourself?” Fluttershy asked, a bit more confidence in her voice than she usually has.
Midnight turned to see what she was talking about. “Yes, I made that on my first day here, I’m glad you like it.”
Fluttershy shrank back to her usual shy self as she spoke again. “It’s very nice, are you….going to sell it?”
Midnight finally came back into the living room levitating two cups and a pot, he set them on the table and took a seat on the couch next to Fluttershy. He poured the tea in the cups as he answered. “Maybe in the near future, for now, I plan on using it to advertise my talents and pull in some customers.”
“I just know you’ll get lots of ponies to come to you with such a wonderful talent, we don’t have any artists like you here.” Fluttershy was feeling a bit less nervous as the conversation went on. Fluttershy took her cup and took a sip of the tea. “This tea is very good, thank you.”
Midnight took a sip from his own cup. “Thank you, now about this painting you would like me to make, would you like a scenery painting, something original, or perhaps a self-portrait. To be honest, I think I could make a marvelous self-portrait of you, you have such natural grace about you.” He said out loud without thinking. “IDIOT, don’t just compliment her out of the blue like that, you sound like you might have a crush on her!” He berated himself inwardly again.
Fluttershy blushed a little at the compliment. “You….really think so?”
“Too late to go back now moron, you can’t just say you didn’t mean to say that, you’ll hurt her feelings, and she seems like she can be easily hurt by the wrong thing.” Midnight cleared his throat before continuing. “*AHEM* well speaking from an artist’s point of view, so, what kind of painting would you like me to make for you?”
Fluttershy thought for a moment, since it was now up to her to try and get him to open up more, she needed a way to try and spend more time with him. She figured the self-portrait thing was the way to go. “I suppose the self-portrait thing sounds nice….if you don’t mind me saying.”
Midnight Star struggled to keep a straight face, a smile was threatening to come out from her natural adorableness and shyness. “Very well, a self-portrait it is, in order for me to capture the true you in my art, I’ll need to get to know you more, see where you live, get to know what you do for a living, and learn what you like to do in your spare time. If it is all right with you of course.”
Fluttershy smiled at Midnight. “That would be fine, whenever you want to come over to get started, you’re more than welcome to.” She took another sip of her tea.
“I don’t have anything going on right now, so how about we go ahead and get started, just lead the way to your house and we’ll begin. All I really need to do is make a sketch of you at your place, then I can make the painting when I come back.”
“Oh, um, all right, I guess that’s ok.” Fluttershy then got up and waited for Midnight to finish cleaning up with the tea. He then levitated his saddlebags onto his back with his sketch book, colored pencils, and his journal, which he always kept in there so he would always have it with him.
The two then made their way to Fluttershy’s cottage. Upon arrival, Midnight was impressed with her little home. “Wow, look at that, it’s like it’s just built out of a small hill, and look at all the bird houses and holes around it. She must have a lot of pets.” Midnight did not let his face show how much he thought the place looked nice. “So I take it from all these bird houses and animal holes, you have a lot of pets?”
Fluttershy looked to Midnight as she answered. “Oh no, the animals here aren’t my pets, they are my friends though, you see, it’s my job to take care of all the animals around Ponyville, I just love taking care of them, it is my special talent after all.”
Once again, Midnight found himself fighting back a smile on his face. “Cute, graceful, AND has a love of animals, this mare is just too much. I don’t know if I can do this, just make a quick sketch and get out of here fast.” “I think I can already get a good picture of what the theme will be for your self-portrait, definitely something natural.”
“That does sound nice. So what do we do now?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, I think it would also be good to get some of the animals you care for in the picture as well. Why don’t you get some of them with you and I’ll start on the sketch, from there, I ‘ll head home and get started on the painting.”
“Ok, I’ll call some of my animal friends over.” Fluttershy then called out to her animal friends and a whole mess of them came out. Some birds, a pair of ferrets, a few bunnies, one white one came up to her and stood right in front of her, and a big brown bear came out. “Midnight, this little white bunny is my special friend, his name is angel, he is my pet and best animal friend.”
“Right then, let’s get this over with.” The animals all stood where they were. Midnight was quick to pull out his sketch book, so quick that he failed to notice that his journal was caught up with it and fell out of his saddle bag. He levitated his sketch book and a number of colored pencils in front of him and began to draw.
After a few moments, he was done. “All right, there we go, you can all relax now. I’d better get going and get started on this, I’ll come by and let you know when it’s done, you can pay me for it then.” Midnight then placed his sketch book and pencils back in his saddlebag and quickly trotted away.
Fluttershy then noticed a black book on the ground. She tried to call out to him. “Wait Midnight, I think you forgot something.” He didn’t stop, he just kept going. “Oh dear, I hope this isn’t anything important. Maybe it’s one of those art books Twilight gave him. I should probably take it back to her then.” Fluttershy then made her way to the library.
Fluttershy entered the library and found Twilight at a desk reading a book while spike was napping. “Um, excuse me Twilight, I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
Twilight then turned to face Fluttershy. “Flutteshy, hello, no, you’re not interrupting anything. How did your meeting with Midnight Star go?”
“Well, um, you see, I didn’t really get a chance to ask him anything. He did come over to my house and made a sketch of me with my animals, but he left in such a rush, he left something behind, I think it’s one of those art books you gave him.” Fluttershy then let Twilight take hold of it in her magical grasp.
Twilight eyed it carefully before responding. “This isn’t one of the art books I gave him, I wonder what it is.” Twilight opened the book to look inside. She could clearly tell it was some kind of journal as there was a date on one of the earlier entries. “This is a journal, this must be his journal. Fluttershy, do you know what this means?”
Fluttershy just looked at her curiously. “That we should give it back to Midnight before he misses it?”
Twilight did see sense in that statement, but she also couldn’t help but think that this was the chance she and her friends were waiting for. “Fluttershy, this could be an opportunity to finally learn what it is Midnight is hiding, once we do, we may finally be able to get him to open up to us.” Twilight skipped the first entry as it was dated the day Midnight arrived and figured it was just about how he managed to find a home or something. The next entry after that is what caught her eye. “What, that…..that doesn’t make any sense, why is this dated from over a thousand years ago?”
“What are you talking about Twilight?”
“I mean that this entry here is from about a thousand years ago, but how can that be when this book looks only a few years old? I need to check something.” Twilight turned back to where the inside of the cover had a date showing when the book was first made. Sure enough, the date was from over a thousand years ago. “That……that can’t be right, how is this possible?!” Twilight then turned back to the entry and decided to read it and see if that might shed some light on this mystery.
The journal read this.
Day XX Year XXX
My father has finally succeeded in his dark ambitions, he had conqured the Crystal Empire, he is now KING Sombra of the Crystal Empire, which makes me the prince of the Empire. I just don’t know what to say about all this.
End Entry.
Twilight’s face was practically pale with fear. Fluttershy saw this and tried to get her attention. “Twilight, are you all right, what is it, what did the journal say?”
Twilight kept her eyes on the journal as she responded. “Fluttershy, we need to get the others together now. This is bad, this is very bad.”
It was now Fluttershy’s turn to worry.