//------------------------------// // (Extra) Ch 14: In Which the Plot Thickens, Luna is Asked to Dangle, and Sexual Jokes are Made // Story: Fulfilling // by PegasusMesa //------------------------------// In a move that surprised exactly zero ponies, Pinkie threw a party to celebrate Luna's liberation from the hands of the specter; everypony in town received an invitation to join in the festivities. Sugarcube Corner was filled to the brim with party-goers that evening as they all arrived to take part in one of Pinkie's lauded fêtes. The party stretched well into the night before it began to show signs of slowing down. One by one, tired ponies trundled out the door, waving farewell to their friends and thanking the pink earth pony for the invitation. Eventually, the event devolved into an "after-party" of sorts, consisting of the element bearers and Luna. That isn't to say that things got boring—in fact, Luna found herself having even more fun, now that it was just her and her friends. Rarity and Rainbow got into a slight argument over what a real "mare" was, but made up almost instantly. Applejack showed off her skills at juggling while Twilight and Luna lobbed increasingly heavy items her way. They all even managed to persuade Fluttershy to sing a little bit before she became too embarrassed to continue and clamped her mouth shut. For Luna, the hours blurred together in a wave of euphoria that made it seem as if it was unreal, a mere dream from which she would soon awake. At one point, in the throes of a sugar-high brought on from drinking a cup of Pinkie's infamous "death punch", she grabbed the yellow pegasus and, after thanking the mare heartily once more, planted a firm kiss on the wildly-blushing pony's cheek. "Luna..." Just thinking about that kiss made the alicorn's face redden slightly. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea... she thought. "Oh, Luuuuuuunaaaaaa..." Ah, what's past is past, nothing I can— "Luna! Come in, Luna!" The dark princess shook her head, dispelling her daydreams and returning to reality. She found herself standing at her sister's side on the stairs leading into the royal palace. Celestia gave her a worried look. "Sorry, sister, I was lost in thought," Luna said. "You don't say," Celestia replied. "C'mon, help me out here, I don't want to have to do all the greeting by myself! Good evening," she said to a passing mare. "But Ceeellyyyy," the other alicorn whined, "the Grand Galloping Gala is so boring!" A nearby noble heard this and frowned. "Heh, sorry..." "Do you have anything to do right now that would be a better use of your time? I hear that Hamfist has more paperwork that he needs you to fill out, if you'd rather take care of that." "Ugh, speak not of paperwork, I implore you." Over the past month, Luna had been presented with form after form, packet after packet, and waiver after waiver. Apparently, when a virtually all-powerful deity was possessed by an evil entity, such as the specter, there was a great deal of clerical work that said-deity was required to complete. At that moment, Luna suspected that she would snap and her vision would go red if she caught sight of even a single scrap of parchment, and may a god stronger than she help anypony who tried to stand in the way of the resulting rampage. "I still do not understand the point of our being here. Why are we, the sovereign rulers of this land, required to stand in one place all night long? Hello there, that is a very...er, nice... hat you have." "That's just how these things are done, Luna. Greetings, welcome to the gala!" "You cannot use that excuse on me anymore!" Luna protested. "Salutations, I am glad to see you!" To Celestia, she continued. "Bah, whatever, have it your way if you must." "I must." "Just so you know, I expect to receive the biggest box of doughnuts available after this..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In another area of the palace, the air was significantly less festive. A guard stood at attention in front of a door, above which hung a sign that read, "Laboratory". "Why'd I gotta get lab-guard duty?" he grumbled to himself. "All the others got to go to the gala, but nooooooo, let's have old Stomper watch over the test tubes!" "You certainly have gotten the short end of the stick, hm?" The voice caught Stomper by surprise, as he hadn't been expecting to meet anypony there until his relief showed up in a couple of hours. However, a pale-purple unicorn mare with a stunningly well-kept white mane defied those expectations and now stood before him. "I-I-Identify yourself!" the guard barked, remembering himself and shutting his jaw before a bug flew down his throat. "Just a curious party-goer." She sauntered over to stand close by him and batted her eyelids. "I hear that there's something very interesting being kept in the castle lab these days, and I just wanted to have a look..." "Sorry, Miss, uh..." The mare didn't offer her name. "...Miss Whatever, but nopony is allowed—" "Aw, relax a little!" she said with a pout. "I promise that I'll... make it worth your while..." Now she was close enough for him to smell perfume. Stomper gulped, eyes darting back and forth as sweat began to drip down his face. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twenty minutes later, the light-purple mare pranced happily out of the castle gates, a large sack slung over her back. Two other unicorns, both stallions, one blue and one red, fell into step beside her. "You got it, right?" the red one asked her. "Tch, 'course I do. Do you think I'm some kind of slacker?" The other stallion raised an eyebrow questioningly. "How did you get by the guard?" "Oh, I just gave him what every stallion wants from a beautiful mare in the middle of the night." The two males snickered, earning them each a confused look. "What?" "We never thought you'd give away your body like that, is all." "Wait, what?!" the mare screeched. "Get your minds out of the gutter, you—you... sickos! Snacks, I gave him snacks! Tons and tons of junk food! You bunch of perverts!" "Oh." The blue stallion's face fell. "That's a lot less interesting. Anyway, you should work on your phrasing, so ponies don't misunderstand you." "Most ponies don't have screwed-up thoughts," she muttered. "Getting back on topic... you're sure you got the right one?" "You two are really riding me hard tonight." They began to chuckle again, and the mare realized once more what she had intimated. "Grow up, you two!" As soon as they stifled their laughter, she dropped the bag onto the ground and, using her magic, pulled out a transparent orb. Inside it was an inky substance, somewhere between shadow and liquid. However, their attention instead focused on the malicious green eyes that stared out hatefully; only the magical nature of its prison prevented the specter from possessing its current captors. "Yep, that seems right," the red stallion said. "Let's get it back, and I'll see if I can extract anything useful from its memories." The other stallion wrung his hooves together. "And then we'll know everything we need to deal with our sweet princess." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Thank you for waking up to walk with me, dear." "It's alright, I couldn't sleep, either." Rarity and Fluttershy made their way slowly through the darkened streets of Ponyville. Clouds from an earlier storm hid the night sky from sight, denying everypony a view of Luna's brilliant starscape. A few twinkling points of light appeared through gaps, and the moon itself made an appearance from time to time, but in general, there was little of note to see. Hopefully it'll clear up soon, the pegasus thought as she gazed upwards. Rarity glanced over and saw where her friend was looking; a sly smile spread across the white mare's face. "So, how goes the quest for Luna's affections?" "What?" Fluttershy's heart jumped and her cheeks reddened instantly. "I—that is, she—why—" The unicorn chuckled and pulled her friend into a light embrace. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I couldn't help but tease. But in all seriousness, have you put any thought into pursuing her?" "I... I have..." "Really?! Well don't keep me in the dark, what do you plan to do?!" "I've, um, decided that I'm n-not going to do, um, anything." For a few seconds, Rarity was at a loss for words and could only stare at the pegasus blankly. Finally, she found her voice. "I apologize, could you repeat that for me?" "I'm not g-going to d-do any—" "Yes yes, that's what I thought I heard." She exhaled wearily. "That doesn't seem to me like a very good way to start a relationship with somepony." "I don't want to start a relationship," Fluttershy said. The other mare took a moment to ponder this apparent conundrum.; she soon realized what her friend was getting at. "Oh, now I see. Let me guess, it's because of some nonsense like, 'She's immortal, she won't want to be with a mortal pony', or, 'Why would a princess love a common pony like me?'" "Actually, that's very clo—" "It's also very ridiculous!" Rarity daintily stomped to accentuate her point. "It's not that you don't want to start a relationship, but rather that you're scared to start a relationship. You have seen no signs that would indicate that she doesn't like you, am I correct?" The pegasus nodded her head. "And you know that your own feelings are very strong, correct?" Again, a nod. "Then it is your obligation—no, your solemn duty—to use all of your might to court the pony you love!" That last statement threw Fluttershy off-balance. "I-I'm not sure I follow." "Look at it this way, then. You are certain of your own feelings, but not her's. What if she's the same as you?" "But what if she's not?" "Then she'll tell you herself when the time comes," Rarity said. "Luna's thoughts and emotions are for her to decide, not you. Do you understand?" "I—yes, I think so." "Excellent! Now, let us discuss tactics..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Free at last, oh thank you thank you thank you," Luna breathed to nopony in particular as she took to the sky. When Celestia finally declared the greeting period to be over, the lunar princess had taken that as her cue to make like a banana and leave. Ah, my poor legs, so stiff... She stretched her limbs out, gasping in sudden relief when the tendons cracked. Normally, at this time of night, Luna would be dropping off into sleep, but she was in no mood for that at the moment. She felt far too restless to slumber, so she instead decided to see where her wings would carry her; the mare was barely even surprised when she found herself turning towards Ponyville. There's no way anypony will be awake, she thought when the village came into view. Not this late at night. Sure enough, Twilight's library was closed; no lights shone from inside. Luna briefly considered hopping into the younger alicorn's dreams for a bit, but ultimately decided against it. She had long ago learned to avoid the dreams of anypony close to her, due to a circumstance involving Celestia, a ferret, a piece of string, and a boat-load of pineapples. To that day, the princess of the sun had not wholly forgiven her sister for that. Luna turned from the tree-house and soared around the rest of the town. Her mind began to calm a bit when she saw that she was the only one awake, and a yawn escaped her mouth. Just as she resolved to turn and head back home for some rest, her keen eyes spotted movement below. "Aha, success!" she said under her breath. Her wings came in close and she dove towards the ground, corkscrewing while she did so. At the last moment, the feathery appendages flared out and halted her downward motion, allowing the princess to touch down lightly. "Eeek!" squeaked Fluttershy when the black shadow whizzed into view. In an instant, she was hiding in a nearby bush, eyes peeking cautiously out. "Bravo!" Rarity cheered, stomping her appluase. "Yes, thank you, thank you." The princess bowed low. "I speak truly when I say that I am delighted to find that there are still two... um, where did Fluttershy go?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oh dear oh dear, how much did she hear? How long has she been listening? Was she above us the whole time? This is bad bad bad bad! These thoughts and more ran through poor Fluttershy's head when she realized that it was Luna who had swooped down upon them and not some giant, evil, terrifying monster come to eat her and Rarity. "Heh heh, I'll be right back," Rarity told the princess, trotting over to where the pegasus hid. "Fluttershy!" she whispered urgently. "This is your big chance!" "What do you mean?" the yellow mare hissed back. "Wasn't she listening to everything we talked about?" "Of course not, she just got here. Alright, here's what you should tell her." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another long yawn cracked Luna's jaw while the other two mares held a hushed conversation between themselves. Finally, they wrapped it up, and Rarity pushed her reluctant friend forward. "Good evening to you," the princess said with a forced smile that she meant to be disarming, but in reality came off as slightly grotesque. "U-u-um, L-Luna..." Fluttershy stuttered. "Um, um, w-will you, um..." Something is the matter. Am I frightening her again? "Please be not afraid, dear Fluttershy. I apologize for scaring you; it was not my intention." "No, it's not th-that." The pegasus drew herself up and swallowed heavily. "Um, are you, um, free, tomorrow?" "I am in fact not busy tomorrow, but why...?" Luna's face lit as realization dawned upon her. "Oh oh! You want to dangle!" When she only received blank stares, the princess clarified. "Dangle out?" "Hang out?" Rarity offered, to which Luna nodded enthusiastically. "Yes!" Fluttershy scuffed a clump of grass with her hoof. "If it's okay with you..." "Of course it is! Yes, what shall we do?" The pegasus glanced at her unicorn friend as if to say, "What now? I didn't think this far ahead." Rarity came forward and whispered a few words into her ear. "Um, would you like to see a movie?" Fluttershy asked. "Then we could... get dinner... or something..." She hid behind her pink mane, the blush on her cheeks going completely unnoticed. "Woohoo!" the alicorn cheered. "I have never—" A nearby window slammed open and an aged stallion stuck his head out. "You kids shut up, some of us are tryin' to get some sleep!" he shouted. "And stay off my lawn! In my day, we didn't bother our elders, ten miles in the snow, uphill both ways..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After Luna gave her farewells and flew away (and after Rarity shouted the time of the movie after her, because a supremely nervous Fluttershy had forgotten to mention it), the little pegasus once more found herself shaking; however, this time the anxiety came from sheer excitement instead of fear. "Fluttershy! Calm down!" the unicorn said with a chuckle. "At this rate, you'll wear yourself out!" "But this is so wonderful! Thank you for not letting me back off!" "Just get some sleep, and everything will be fine. I'm so happy for you! This is the first step towards something beautiful, just you wait and see." "Thank you..." Sudden weariness descended on the little mare, and she realized how fatigued she really was. "I think... *yawn*... I'll get some rest." "I'll bring by the tickets tomorrow," Rarity promised. They exchanged a few more words, then went their separate ways, each with a bounce in her gait. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luna shambled down the hallway towards her private chambers, feeling more and more tired with each hoof she dragged along the ground. However, when she reached her door, she was surprised to find Hamfist standing guard outside. "Is something wrong?" she asked the sentry. "Princess Celestia has requested that you attend her!" the zealous guard said, snapping off a salute. "She awaits your arrival inside!" What does Celly want with... When Luna pushed her way inside and saw what sat on her bed, her eyes grew as wide as plates, and all of her fatigue quickly vanished. "There you are! I was wondering when you were going to get back!" Princess Celestia lounged on Luna's mattress, next to a box filled with enough doughnuts to feed Pinkie Pie for a whole hour. "Dough...nuts..." the dark alicorn intoned reverently, moving to sit beside her sister. She was about to reach in when she paused and looked beseechingly into the white alicorn's eyes. "Tia, can I...?" "Ha, help yourself-" The words had barely left her mouth when Luna's magic grabbed hold of a half dozen of the baked goods and shoveled them down her throat. "Geez, I'm glad your manners are better in public..." The two sisters shared an amiable conversation (well, more like Celestia talked while Luna nodded and chewed) while they made their way through the box. The princess of the night's good mood was contagious, and the normally emotionally guarded Celestia found herself laughing and talking more than she had in a long time. Just as Luna began to feel the slightest bit stuffed, a thought occurred to her. "Is Hamfist still outside?" she asked. Her sister looked at her askance. "I'd bet my crown on it. Why do you ask?" Without answering, Luna hopped to her feet and walked to the door. "Hamfist, come in," she said to him, stepping aside to allow the guard entry. "Have a doughnut." He halted in front of the humongous box. "A... doughnut?" "Don't hold back on our accounts," Celestia added, nudging the container forward. "But I've never had..." Expressions of shock crossed the alicorns' faces. "You what?" the white mare cried, while her sister yelled, "Blasphemy!" "That settles it. You have to eat at least one." Luna sat on her haunches and watched him expectantly. "I guess just one won't hurt." The stallion's horn lit and he pulled a simple glazed ring out of the box with a levitation spell. With both mares watching, he self-consciously took a small bite. To most ponies, the tiny smile that formed on his face wouldn't have indicated much, but to the two princesses, who knew Hamfist's stoic and sour demeanour, it spoke volumes. "It's not bad." Me, being nice to Hamfist, Luna thought wryly. Next thing you know, I'll be hugging Discord. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next morning, a very tired stallion finished exploring the mind of the specter. He locked the beast away in a dark cabinet before going to report to his superior. "Hey, Shower," he shouted to the light-purple mare when he finally found her, "I finished up with my research." "That's 'May Shower' to you," she corrected him. When he proffered a stack of messily scribbled notes, May took hold of them with her magic and began to read through. By the time she reached the final sheet, a light grin had spread across her face. "So, she has a love interest, eh?" "That appears to be the case." "Hmmm..." The mare put a hoof to her chin and thought deeply about what she should do with that information. "I guess the best thing to do would be to disrupt that relationship," she decided at last. "At the very least it'll distract her." "Is 'distracting' Princess Luna good enough for our purposes?" the stallion asked. "Look, don't go questioning me, okay? I've thought long and hard about all of—what's so funny?!" He forced himself to stop chuckling. "N-nothing, May." "Wait, long and har... seriously, grow the hay up!"