I am immediately regretting this, Fluttershy thought later that day as she tried to sort out what she should do to prepare for an evening with a princess.
"That's silly," she said to nopony in particular. "I don't need to be worried at all! I'm around Twilight all the time, and she's a princess."
That's true, but you knew her before she was a princess, too, her mind responded.
"Well, yes, but—"
And you don't even know Princess Luna in the first place.
"That doesn't—"
And aren't you supposed to be terrified of loud, scary things?
"I don't see why—" Fluttershy realized what she was doing. "I'm having an argument with a voice in my head. Does that mean something's wrong with me?"
The answer is probably 'yes'.
"Oh hush, I wasn't asking you...I'm sorry, that was so rude of me..."
Angel Bunny, who had been watching all of this, rolled his eyes at the clearly insane pegasus.
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"Ahem." Luna cleared her throat and puffed her chest out. "'Hello, dear friends'—no, that's terrible." She scrunched up the page she was reading from and tossed it to the side, where a pile of similar paper balls accumulated. A quill and fresh parchment floated up in front of her, and she wrote a new greeting to test out. "'Oh my, how nice to see you all again!' ...Bah! Too insincere." Over her shoulder went the page, soon replaced by another. "'Are you all here for me? You didn't have to do that!' ...No no no NO!" The last was shouted in the Royal Canterlot voice, causing a nearby mirror to be shattered.
The princess hung her head and sighed. She had spent all day getting ready for that evening, but no matter what she did, she only succeeded in making herself feel more and more nervous.
"If only my opponent was a foul ogre," she grumbled. "Oh ho, then I would be fine! But no, instead I have to survive an evening with other ponies!" Luna glanced over at the brownies that she had received from the palace kitchens.
Earlier, she had tried her own hoof at baking, but the results had been less than successful. A chef, covered head-to-hoof in the remnants of Luna's version of 'chocolate cake' after the inevitable explosion, had politely but firmly (and even the socially-impaired princess could see that he was seething with anger and irritation) told her to leave the food to him.
She began to pace back and forth across the room. "A pox upon cooking! And a pox upon baked goods—" A sudden idea caused her to halt momentarily. "Hmm... perhaps I shall ask for instruction from Twilight Sparkle on how to cook..." Little did she know that Twilight's own baking had become the stuff of legends.
Terrifying legends, meant to be cautionary tales for aspiring chefs.
A fanfare of trumpets interrupted Luna's frenzied steps, followed by the doors to her suite slamming open.
"Her Majesty, Princess Celestia!" announced the guard who had entered (Without knocking, Luna noted with a scowl).
"Hamfist, how many times must I tell you?" the alicorn in question scolded as she moved past the guard. "You must seek a pony's permission to enter before barging through their doors!"
"Of course, Princess! My apologies, Princess!" The zealous expression Hamfist wore told everypony that he was anything but sorry. At a gesture from Celestia, he backed out of the room and closed the door behind him.
"'Hamfist'?" Luna asked primly. "Thou hast a guard named 'Hamfist'? Do tell, is his second-in-command's name 'Turkeycock'—"
"How good to see you, Luna!" Celestia interrupted with a nervous laugh. After a moment's pause, she added, "You know, it really isn't proper to mock a pony's name."
"Meh. For as long as he continues to defy Our privacy, so too shall he remain a fair target for Our witty jibes and jests!"
"I suppose I can't argue with that." The white alicorn looked around, taking note of the pile of discarded parchment. "Anyway, I'm only here to see you before you go to Ponyville! Are you looking forward to it?"
"Dear sister, do griffons drink their victory wine from the skulls of their fallen enemies?" Luna asked, receiving only a blank stare in reply. "Erm, that is... yes, We are—I am—greatly anticipating it. Although We—confound it, I—am beginning to feel jittery."
Celestia nudged her sister lightly. "I'm here to listen if you need to talk about it."
"Sister, I..." The dark princess swallowed, and cleared her throat. "Up until now, I have spent nearly all of my efforts on once more becoming a capable ruler. However, that has left very little time to spend with... you know..."
"Normal ponies?"
"Precisely! In fact, the only normal pony that isn't terrified of me is Twilight Sparkle!" A realization hit Luna right as she finished that sentence. "But I suppose that she is no longer a normal pony herself... That means that, for every one of my subjects, I am naught but a specter of terror and nightmare!"
"Luna, that's—"
"In fact, it is certain that the other Elements of Harmony will know only fear in my presence! Very well, I have decided. I shall write Twilight Sparkle and tell her that I cannot come tonight! No, sister, do not try to change my mind; I shan't be budged!"
"Luna." Celestia's firm voice carried a tone that said she would brook no argument. "Luna, that couldn't be further from the truth."
"Truly?" the dark alicorn said, her eyes shining. "You mean, my mere proximity won't set mortals aquiver in fear?"
"'Shan't be budged', eh? I'm certain that if you relax and just be yourself, nopony will be anything other than happy to be near you." Without warning, she found herself wrapped in a tight embrace.
"Tia, your words never fail to lighten my mood," Luna said.
"Just... make sure you don't do that thing with the storm clouds."
"Storm clouds?"
"And try not to shoot any lightning."
"I wouldn't dream of it!"
"And no shouting. Even if something surprises you!"
"Sister, you wound me by even suggesting such a thing!"
"And if I even hear a rumor that you've burnt down another renaissance faire—"
"One time! That was one time! And I said I was sorry!"
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"Ok, so we've got snacks, games, drinks, cushions... am I missing anything?" Twilight turned to face her dragon assistant, Spike, who was going over her checklist.
"You haven't gotten any ice cream yet," he stated with a sage-like nod.
"Wah, you're right! I'll go and—wait a minute." She frowned at him. "I didn't put that on the list."
"Pfft..." the dragon snickered. "You're almost too easy to tease."
I should talk to Rainbow and Pinkie about the things they're teaching him, the alicorn thought. Out loud, she said, "Well hardy har har. C'mon, Mr. Prankster, help me clean this place up a bit."
Just as she was moving a particularly heavy textbook, a soft knock came from the door. "I'm on it," Spike said dutifully, opening the door to reveal a timid-looking Fluttershy.
"H-h-h-h-h-hi, Spike." Her legs were shaking so badly that her knees knocked against each other. "H-hi, Twilight.."
"Hey, are you alright?" Twilight asked, concern etched across her face. "You're trembling, and your face looks really pale."
Now that she was inside, out of the fading sunlight, the pegasus seemed to find a bit of comfort. "Um, I-I-I'm f-fine," she stuttered. "P-pr-probably."
"Are you really that scared of Princess Luna?"
"Well, um, maybe a bit. Kinda. Yes." The last word was said as a barely audible squeak.
"Oh, Fluttershy..." Twilight sat next to her friend. "I'm sorry. You know I hate to put you in situations that make you uncomfortable, but this is really important. Do you know what it's like to not have friends?"
"I... yes."
"Then you can understand how Luna feels right now, correct? If the other girls could have made it, then I wouldn't put this kind of pressure on you, but you are, at this moment, the only pony who can help! So... what do you say?"
Fluttershy, who appeared to have been emotionally moved by the description of Luna's plight, put on a brave face and nodded. "I'll do it!" she said with what in other ponies would be called trepidation, but in her was tantamount to courage. "No matter what happens, I won't hide or be scared of her, not even once!"
It was right at that moment that the door blew open. Lightning flashed through the windows, accompanying a voice both deep and dire.
"Greetings! It is I, Luna!"