Who dares...?
"Sombra, you know who I am."
It was a moment before sombra recalled the pony in front of him. Ah yes, the one afraid of her own shadow. Tell me, how are you coping with that one, considering it's always right behind you?
"I-- I just don't look at it... Whatever, that's not the point! you, Sombra, have betrayed my trust to not use a pony's fear against them. You should be ashamed in yourself!"
Sombra roared with laughter. Ashamed? I feel exhilarated! Nothing brings me more pleasure than putting a pony's fears right in front of them!
Twilight whimpered, still trying to be a princess, and not cry.
"And that just happened to be cuddles? Twilight was perfectly comfortable with her life, up until now, and you had to terrorize her by corrupting the most basic of affection?!"
Look, she didn't give me much else to work with, okay? Equestria is so blasted safe, there's nothing left! I have to teach them the true meaning of fear!
"GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"
Sombra (and Twilight) reeled in shock. Did Fluttershy just growl at Sombra? She's talked sternly, she's frowned, hay, she's even given a couple ponies the somewhat miffed look! But never in her life has Twilight seen the pegasus growl.
There was a short sigh, as Fluttershy took a breath, dragging a hoof slowly across the ground. "Sombra, let me talk straight with you," Fluttershy spoke in a deadly calm voice, which put Sombra's own ominous; booming one to shame. "I am the spirit of kindness, manifested in the body of-- what my friends say-- a gentle pony. And what you are currently doing..." Fluttershy inched closer, to the point where she almost touched Sombra's nose. "...Is a blatant act of cruelty. I don't like cruelty. As a matter of fact, it may just be one of a few things I hate."
A large lump formed in Sombra's throat. Swallowing that lump only made for another lump to take its place.
A sarcastic, shockingly spiteful smile graced the pony's lips, one that was so cold an empty, it could rival the vacuum of space itself. "Fear and hatred are your domain, you say? Well, listen to this: 'There are three things all wise mares fear: a sea in storm, a night without Luna's moon, and the wrath of a gentle pony.'"
Just then, Sombra froze up almost completely, coils around the purple princess going slack. Fluttershy was using the stare. As quick as she could, Twilight jumped out and away to relative safety, on the other side of the stare.
"You want to know fear and hatred, Sombra? You want to feel the wrath of a gentle pony? Try to scare one of these ponies again, and you will." Fluttershy bared her teeth. "This is not a threat, this is a warning. This distance between our muzzles is how close you've come to making me seriously hurt you."
Sombra, the great darkness, the shadow of terror and the never ending scream, cowered under the gaze of Fluttershy. I'm sorry, I'll be good. I promise.
"Leave, Now." Their noses touched, and for the briefest of moments, Twilight thought she could see sharp fangs in Fluttershy's snarl. Nevertheless, the pony turned giant snake made a beeline for the everfree forest, practically tripping over his own coils in sheer horror, whimpering as he slithered away.
As quickly as the anger came, it was gone. Fluttershy turned towards the terrified Twilight, eyes barely holding back tears.
"I-is he gone?" Twilight squeaked. Suddenly, everything smelled like dandelion. A pair of hooves softly wrapped around her head, pulling her close to Fluttershy's chest. Her mane tickled Twilight's ear a little.
"Yes, he's gone," Fluttershy soothed the distressed Alicorn, running one hoof through her mane. "And I'll make sure that he only comes back once the both of you are good and ready to see each other again." Fluttershy gently lifted Twilight's head until they made eye contact. "Are you hurt?"
Twilight smiled. "No, I'm fine."
"No crushed limbs?"
"I can still walk, and I think I can still fly."
"No shortness of breath?"
"No, that's okay too."
"No cuts?"
"No."
"Bruises?"
"No."
"How's your heart? Still beating?"
"Fluttershy, I'm fine."
"Oh, thank goodness; I was so worried!" Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around Twilights neck, Rocking her back and forth with her own head on top. "If you'd been hurt, I wouldn't know what to do! Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all?"
Twilight rolled her eyes, exasperated by the yellow pony's endlessly caring nature. "Fluttershy, I told you; I'm fine! You don't need to do anything."
Fluttershy's lip curled ever so slightly, and she made the saddest eyes a pony could ever see. "B-but I would be denying my element if I didn't do anything..."
Twilight muttered barely under her breath, "Well, I suppose you could cuddle me, it's not like you would have been the first this week."
Unfortunately, Fluttershy being the quiet speaker she is, managed to hear that muttering. "Really? What a great idea!"
Twilight tried to squirm away. "Wait, what? Ahahahah, did you actually hear that? No it's fine, I'm sure you have much more important things to do than cuddle one of your best friends in the whole world. I-i mean, aren't there so many more important things to do than cuddle a pony and make them happy and comfortable?"
"...No."
With a sigh, Twilight stopped struggling. "I'm not gonna walk out of this cuddle free, am I?"
"No," Fluttershy said with a pat on the head.
"Well, I suppose I'll get used to this. I mean, if I was okay with one of my mortal enemies cuddling me, then logically speaking, one of my best friends cuddling me should be a hundred times more tolerable."
On a scale from "absolutely hostile" to "oh so very snugly", Twilight would have rated Nightmare Moon at around a "Soft, but selfishly cuddly", and Sombra at "Just trying to make me suffer".
Fluttershy was entirely off the charts, to a point where she had to make up a new rating. This one she dubbed "Flutter-smothering."
Twilight couldn't complain about that too much, because Fluttershy was after all the spirit of kindness, and if any pony was worthy of being cuddly, it was Fluttershy.
But when Twilight had found herself neck deep in quilts, head laying on a pillow so soft that she swore she had to come up for air and a spoonful of hot Queen Anne's lace soup hovering in front of her, Twilight knew this had gone too far. "Fluttershy, Last time I checked, I'm pretty sure I could eat for myself."
"Oh, are you sure?" Fluttershy pulled her spoon away. "I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to do."
"Yeah, I'm quite sure. If I couldn't feed myself, I'm not sure what else would be wrong."
Fluttershy smiled, dipping the spoon in once more. "I would feed you anyway, if it came down to that."
"Thanks, that means a lot actually." Twilight pushed the spoon away. "But why do you think it would be a good idea to feed me now?"
Fluttershy sighed blissfully. "Whenever I had a rough day at school, my mom would hug my tears away, lead me by the wing to her bed where she'd tuck me in and prepare a hot bowl of soup for supper. Then when bedtime came, she'd read me a story, and let me stay with her the whole night. It was so nice smelling the clean soil on her fur."
"Wow, she sounds so sweet! I think you got your element from her."
"I'd like to believe that. But I'm sure your mom loved you too."
Before Fluttershy could bring the spoon closer again, Twilight stopped her wing. "Thanks Fluttershy, but seriously, would you just let me feed myself??"
Fluttershy blushed. "Oh, um... okay..."
"Thank you." Twilight gratefully picked up the spoon and bowl in her magic. With her new found freedom, She gazed upon the warm, scrumptious meal.
The bowl was entirely empty.
"Okay... How'd you do that?"
"Um... you let me feed you."
Twilight blanked. Twilight didn't recall actually letting her actually put the spoon in the mouth. "No... No I didn't."
Noticing the confused look on her pegasus friend, it was clear that she didn't understand what Twilight said. Fluttershy's head cocked slightly to the right. "Then why's it all gone?"
"Because you made me with the powers of your adorableness! or-- something!"
Fluttershy's confusion turned into distress. "What? Oh no! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be adorable, honest!"
"No, it's okay! It's not like you can control it anyway!" Twilight assured her. "Adorableness is just a natural, genetic trait, and some ponies are just cuter than others!"
Tears welled up in the grounded pegasus' eyes. "B-but I've never heard of a pony able to hypnotize ponies with their adorableness!"
"No no no! Only indirectly! Besides, it was hardly malicious, right?"
It was too late, the damage was done. "W-w-what horrible powers do I have?! What horrible things could I do?! What have I done without even realizing it?! I'm so sorry, everypony!! I didn't mean tooo~!" Fluttershy's miserable cries turned into squeaks as she dropped her head in her hooves.
Twilight felt just awful. Her impulsive act of claming what she did was Fluttershy's fault was despicable. And it made her feel rotten. There must be some way to remedy this, Twilight thought. I need to save my friendship with Fluttershy. One purple hoof reached out to gently rub her friend's shoulder. "Fluttershy, I didn't mean to--oomph!"
Fluttershy leapt into Twilight's arms, more shocking than crushing the alicorn. "Don't leave me, please! You're still my friend, please don't leave me..." Twilight wiggled uncomfortably from her coat getting soaked by Fluttershy's tears.
"Fluttershy, I'm glad you forgave me, but--"
"...please?" Fluttershy turned her teary eyes up at Twilight.
"I don't--"
"Please...?" Fluttershy's wide eyes sparkled at her.
Twilight sighed. "Oh all right..."
"Yay~" Fluttershy cheered adorably. Twilight didn't have the heart to tell her friend that she used the power of her adorableness once more (Which wasn't actually her fault). Instead, she lit her horn to give Fluttershy an invitation she didn't really need. Still, she gratefully accepted the invitation to climb into her own bed right along with the alicorn. With a squee, Fluttershy squeezed right up to Twilight, nuzzling into the crook of her neck. Twilight reluctantly wrapped her hooves around her friend, who returned the hug without hesitation. Fluttershy's wings wrapped around her, soft downy feathers rubbing against her body. "Mmmm, this is nice," Fluttershy mumbled.
Twilight pulled her head up to look out the nearby window. The sun was still high in the sky. She sighed, laying her head back down in her friend's bed. "Yeah, I guess it is..." She nuzzled her pegasus friend, tucking the quilts in around the two ponies. She kinda needed the break after her whole coronation anyway, and she was sure that nopony would blame her for sleeping in just this once.
Twilight and her friend fell into dreamland, the former wondering if it was really that bad to like a good cuddle with one of her friends.