//------------------------------// // Step Nine: Keep Strong and Don't Give Up! // Story: How to Court Alicorns: A Human's Guide // by little big pony //------------------------------// Celestia wiggled in her chair, trying to keep herself calm so she could begin her plan. All I need to do is get Luna and Cadence away from him for a few weeks, he thought, a frown etched on her face. And… I think I’m going to have to see if Fleur’s plan will work. As much as she didn’t want to do it, personal feelings aside, she knew it had to be done. The door burst open, revealing Luna, Cadence, and Shining, all who were looking at her in concern. “Sister, you called for us?” Luna said trotting toward her. “The guard you send told us there we were needed for an emergency. Did something serious happen?” Celestia shook her head, forcing herself to keep her emotionless mask on. “It shouldn’t be Luna,” she told her, looking at the three, “I just received a letter from the mayor of Baltimare that there’s something swimming around their port, something that may need a princess to either scare away or help.” Luna’s chest puffed out. “Then We will go and meet whatever this creature is,” she said, “to see whatits intentions are. We are sure that we’ll be able to handle whatever this is, sister, so you won’t need to concern yourself with it.” “I would still feel comfortable if you took somepony else with you, Luna.“ She gave Cadence and Shining a guilty smile. “I was wondering if you and Shining could go with her, Cadence,” she asked her niece. “I’m sorry that you have to work on—“ “It’s my job as a Princess of Equestria to help protect our subjects,” Cadence interrupted, fire in her eyes. “The Crystal Empire or Las Pegasus, as long as somepony needs help, I’ll be there!” Shining nodded. “Me too,” he agreed. Celestia nodded slowly. “I will make the arrangements then,” she said, turning away from them so they couldn’t see the guilt that was slipping through her mask. “The three of you leave in the morning. And thank you for doing this, you three.” Luna snorted. “It is our JOB, sister,” she waved a hoof around, “and we have been waiting for months to be sent on a mission to help our little ponies.” Luna gave Shining and Cadence a fierce grin. “And since we might have to encounter monsters, monsters that we will most definitely have to crush beneath our might, our excitement has been doubled!” With a happy trot, she made her way toward the door. “We will prepare for the departure this second!” Celestia looked back at Cadence as the Lunar Princess trotted out the door. “Please make sure that Luna tries to behave herself while she’s there … and that she doesn’t end up breaking half the city.” Cadence just giggled, her and Shining leaving the room so Celestia was once again able to look out her balcony window. That went a little TOO well, she thought, not turning around when there was a knock at the door. “Your Highness,” somepony said through the door. “You sent for me?” “Come in,” she simply said. ‘I wonder what he’s doing right now…’ A guardspony stepped into the room and saluted. “Ma’am.” The princess finally turned toward him. “Sergeant, I need you to go to the Sparkle household with a message.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Tell Antaeus that for the next month, he and I will not be able to be in contact with each other.” “Would you like me to give him a reason, my lady?” “…Just tell him that I have too many duties at the castle that require my attention… and that I am sorry.” The guard nodded and trotted out of the room, leaving just before Celestia slumped in her chair and sighed sadly. “It’s for the best,” she muttered, crackling a smile at how false that sounded, even to her. “It’s for the best.” Weeks Later… The last month had been pretty interesting for Anny. For some reason, the princess wasn’t able to really do anything with him—working out or otherwise—so that left him either alone, with Twilight and her family... or Fleur and Blueblood. Cadence and Luna also seemed to have also disappeared, without a trace almost, which led him to hypothesize that the two alicorns were either busy with political stuff (probably not), they were planning for something big for him and Celestia (be that good or bad, helpful or horrible), or they had just forgotten or giving up hope with his situation. Not that that would keep him from marching on up the muddy, slippery, gopher-hole riddled hill that was his tasks, but the very least they could have told him! Twilight seemed to be happy to help him, as did Spike and Velvet. From making heart-shaped letters to “poetry,” those three were always there to offer a helping hoof/claw. He was kind of unsure where to put the two nobles that alway seemed to be around him. Sure, he wasn’t a guy that … really disliked other people, but he had to admit that he was still angry at a certain supermodel about a certain kissing incident, so even though he tried to be as civil as possible he was a little colder than usual around them. That still didn’t stop them from asking him to go and work out with them, which he did--one needed workout buddies when it’s heavy lift day--and even though they were pretty weird they were almost starting to grow on him and they were almost great friend material, except Fleur was always there being… her. She kept giving him these… looks all the time whenever she thought he wasn’t looking. It wasn’t just the looks that she tried to give him though, it was her, at least what he was assuming, Prenchness, which was a little more… aggressive than he would’ve liked. How she walked with that little pop of the hips, how she always seemed to sit really close next to him whenever they sat down, or the whole kissing on the cheeks thing kinda made him uncomfortable. He didn’t know how to bring it up with her without looking like a jerk--it just might be how Prench ponies could be--but he was starting to get really close to telling her to mind his personal space. He dealt with the two for three reasons: Blueblood was actually kind of fun to be around, it was kind of nice meeting all of the actually nice nobles that he’d meet when around with the two, and he could, discreetly, find out why the two were hanging around him and what they were going to do to him. None of that was really going to matter for the next couple of days though, not the worry, not watching his back from two ponies who might want to steal his kidneys, but because Celestia had sent him a letter, along with Twilight and Spike, inviting them to the castle for some fancy noble’s party, so he was going to go and see what’s been keeping her shut in her castle. And hopefully get some much needed answers. “Are you just about ready to go, Anny?” Twilight, who was dressed up in a simple yellow dress, asked, poking her head into the human’s room to see him fiddling with his tie. Anny grunted, looking down at the piece of clothing like he was ready to throw it into a fire. “Just give me a minute, Twi,” he muttered. “Now, around the bend, through the hole and… no that’s not it…” Twilight watched him, trying to keep herself from laugh, trying to put the stupid thing on, and failing, before asking, “Anny, do you need a little help there?” “No, I’m fine… I’ll get it, URK!!!” Rolling her eyes, the alicorn unwrapped the tie from her friend’s neck before putting it on with a simple tie knot. “Shining was as bad are you are when he was trying to put these on.” she said, trotting in the room and looking over him. She flattened out a few wrinkles on his jacket with a hoof. “I remembered when he needed to get dressed for his guardspony graduation,” she continued, giving his tie a little nudge to straighten it out. “I walked in to see if he was done”—she giggled—“he had somehow gotten tied up on his ceiling fan and knocked himself out, so he was just slowly spinning in the air with half of his suit on…” Anny frowned, adjusting his cufflinks. “So you came here to check up on me to make sure that I didn’t… knock myself out getting dressed?” Twilight let out a little ‘oh’ when she heard the disbelief in his voice. “I forgot, you dress like this all the time and—“ “I don’t dress like this,” Anny swept a hand down his best dress shirt, jacket, shoes, and pants, “all the time. Twilight waved that away with a hoof. “You still get dressed every day,” she said. “Ponies are usually unclothed—“ “Naked.” “—unclothed all the time, so getting all the straps and buckles on when you don’t know what to do is hard—especially for a stallion.” She gave him one final once-over. “I just wanted to make sure that you were doing it fine”—she gave him a cheeky smile—“and it looks like I was right since you needed help with your tie, so you’re welcome … You look great by the way.” That got a little smile out of Anny, the human patting the unicorn on the head. “Thanks, Twilight, you look nice too.” Anny brushed himself off and winked at the mirror before turning around. “And thanks for mothering me; your mom would be proud.” “I wasn’t babying you!” Twilight protested with a teasing smile, stomping her hoof. “I helped Spike get into his tuxedo; I just wanted to make sure that you were doing fine by yourself!” Anny chuckled. “Thanks mom.” Twilight nudged him before the two left the room and went down the stairs and into the living room, where Velvet was fussing over a clearly uncomfortable and unamused Spike. “Aw look at your widdle tummy poking out,” Velvet cooed, giving Spike’s stomach a poke, “you look so cute! Yes you do, yes you do!” You could almost taste the relief when Spike looked over at Twilight and Anny. “Oh thank Celestia that you two are done,” he said, trying to waddle away from the older mare. “Could we please get going?” “The party’s not for another hour, Spike,” Anny said, biting his lip to keep from laughing when Velvet picked the drake up and started swinging him around. “Who’s momma’s little dragon? Who’s momma’s little dragon?” “…We’ll be fashionably early then. Now can somepony please get her off me?!” @~~@@~~@ “—and he’s been trying to make excuses to stay away from me! ME! All I want is to see how he’s--” Celestia sighed, silently wishing that she had something stronger to drink than apple cider. The white alicorn watched a fuming Fleur pace around her, screaming at the top of her lungs in angry Prench. With Fleur’s urging, she had tried to keep her distance from Anny for a month. For a month she had let Fleur be Fleur so she could seduce Anatues, for a month she had been forced to stew in her own emotional turmoil while she tried—tried—to ignore all of the letters that Anny had sent her, and, even for one of her patience, it had turned out to be a looooonnnnnng month. She had even sent Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor to go deal with a sea monster infestation that was happening in Baltimare. Everything had been set up perfectly, but in the end it had gone horribly for everyone, herself included. She missed running around with her favorite human, missed having someone with whom she could take off the crown, the majesty, and just be regular cake-loving Celestia. Instead of seeing the young man’s beaming face every morning for workouts, all she’d been seeing was paperwork—which she had began signing herself since she didn’t have anything better to do—and the faces of her guards—whose training yard she had been using to stay in shape—and she could honestly say that she was thoroughly sick of it all. And that wasn’t counting the rising guilt that she couldn’t help but feel about ‘toying’ with her friend’s life. To top it all off, Fleur was becoming more and more upset with Anny’s almost unwavering resistance to every mare other than her. The princess could tell, by the way that the unicorn was pacing around the room, her face scrunched up in irritation, that she was starting to lose it. No stallion refuses Fleur de Lis, the Jewel of Canterlot, the Pride of the Lis family, one of the greatest, and most gorgeous, mares that Equestria had known in a hundred years! But here Anny was, and Celestia couldn’t help but be a little flattered by that. It’s not every day someone’s willing to overlook all of the other fish in the sea for you. She might be a powerful, neigh immortal princess, but it felt nice when someone cared enough about you to see just you. “—I’ve never met such a stubborn stallion in all of my years! In fact, I can safely assume that there’s no creature ON THIS EARTH that can come within spitting distance on how—“ Celestia finally cleared her throat. “Fleur, honey,” she said, shifting around in her seat, “will you please calm down, stop yelling at me in Prench, come over here, and talk to me like a sane pony?” She looked her up and down. “You’re going to ruin that dress of yours if you keep stomping around like a Hydra.” Fleur blew a lock of her mane out of her face before taking a deep breath and walking toward Celestia in a calm and dignified manner. “Forgive me, Celestia,” she said, keeping up the perfect posture while the princess levitated her some tea, “I was just—“ “Letting it all out?” Celestia supplied, watching as Fleur, blowing a raspberry, slumped tiredly in her seat. “I’ve never seen anything like him,” Fleur quietly said after she drained her tea in a single swig. When she gave Celestia a pleading look, the alicorn magicked a bottle of Applejack Daniel’s from a hidey hole and poured the poor mare a glass. “Thank you.” Fleur said before draining the hard drink. “Now where was I?” Celestia looked at the bottle of whisky before shaking her head and magicking it away. No, I’m not drinking the emergency alcohol unless there’s an emergency… besides, I have a party to attend in an hour… “You were talking about Anny.” Fleur nodded, a dreamy expression on her face. “Honestly, I can’t imagine how you’ve been able to resist the stallion for so long. Even though he doesn’t want me to see them, I know he sends you letters every day, no?” Celestia nodded, though more and more of those letters were now asking if she was alright since she had been shutting herself in. The unicorn swooned in her chair. “All of the letters, the kind words that he says about you… Oh, how his eyes light up when either I or Blueblood just mention you.” Celestia frowned at the last bit but decided to hold her tongue. “Somepony of his willpower, of his kindness, would have made any other mare fall in love with him by his constant actions; how you have the will to resist is beyond me.” Celestia cleared her throat and chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah… will,” she muttered, looking down at her tea. Now slightly calmer, Fleur poured herself a cup of tea. “Anatues is a sweet boy,” she said, pouring a bit of sugar in her cup and stirring, “But I do not think he will stop hounding you until you really do something about it.” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” she asked, slightly perplexed. “I’ve already told him that I wasn’t… interested.” The supermodel nodded. “Yes, you did, but that wasn’t enough.” She took a sip of her tea. “You’ve tried to let him down gently, you’ve tried to keep yourself from him, and it has not worked.” Fleur leaned on the table. “So you may need to do something… more extreme.” Celestia looked over at her friend, a frown on her face, putting her tea cup back down on the table and saying, “Fleur, could you please just tell me what you have to tell me so we—“ “Anny’s coming to the banquet tonight, correct?” Fleur interrupted. The princess nodded. “Of course.” I was going to rip my mane out of my head if I didn’t get to see him after all this time, she quietly finished to herself. “Him and Twilight and Spike will be coming to the party.” Fleur nodded, tapping her hoof against her cup in deep thought, before she devilishly smiled. “If Anny didn’t take your no the first time, maybe he will if it’s a little more… public,” she suggested, while the color drained from Celestia’s face. “You mean… you want me to refuse him… in front of hundreds of ponies?” she asked, awe and horror in her voice. “I could never do something so…” Try as she might, she couldn’t think up a word to describe how horrible that would be for Anny if she did that. She could almost see it now, her telling the man, who no doubt was going to be dressed in his best, that she wanted nothing to do with him romantically. She couldn’t imagine the look on his face, nor could she bear to think about the aftereffects that that action would bring for everyone. “Fleur,” she finally said, “I could never do something to Anny like that. The first time I… rejected him, there were only a four of us in the room, and my sister was helping him! To do it in front of a crowd…” she shivered. “It’d be more horrible that I care to imagine.” Fleur, with a smile still on her face, slammed her hoof against the table. “Yes, it would be horrible,” she agreed, not noticing the thousand-yard stare the alicorn was giving the wall. “You would tell Anny, in a loud, clear, and thunderous voice that you would like him to stop his advances on you.” Hopping out of her chair, the unicorn walked over and poked Celestia on the shoulder. “The nobles will gasp and Anny will be heartbroken,” she sat down on her rump with a nod. “He will then go to the first one that offers him a shoulder to cry on, me. For a few days of pain from everypony you will be rid of Anny, he will no longer be in love with you, and my attempts at seduction will wear him down until he is swooning over me!” Fleur closed her eyes, beaming, and waited for the praise for such an amazing plan to be showered down on her. “It is a good plan, no?” She opened an eye to see Celestia staring at her emotionlessly. “I… will think on your advice,” she said carefully, getting out of the chair and walking away from her, “it might be a little cruel, but you are right, something needs to be done.” Celestia straightened her back and stared straight ahead. “And that something will be done tonight. Now, if you will excuse me, Fleur, I need to get ready to make my entrance for the party. I would suggest that you go down there and mingle with anypony that’s gotten here early.” “Of course, Princess,” she said, getting out of her seat and trotting toward the door. “I will meet you down there.” She spared a final glance toward her. “You’re doing the right thing, madame.” “I will be doing what’s best for me and him, Fleur,” Celestia said cryptically, staring out the window while she pondered. @~~@@~~@ After a short trip through town and after they got past the guard—all of whom gave the little group winks and quiet compliments—Twilight, Anny, and Spike got into the castle and were making their way through the corridors when they heard someone call out: “Young Anny, Twilight, Spike, it is good to see you!” Turning around, the three watched as Luna, dressed in an elegant and little black dress, gleefully trot toward them. Giving them each a greeting nuzzle, she said, “We are happy that you were able to come to this party.” Anny gave her a pat on the muzzle. “It’s good to see you too, Luna,” he said with a little smile. “I haven’t seen you or Cadence around in a couple of weeks; I was getting worried that something had happened to you two.” The Lunar Princesses smile dampened slightly. “We apologize, Anny, but young Cadence and I have been rather busy lately.” She turned around and started down the hallway toward the gardens, Anny and everyone else following her. “We’ve just returned from a rather tiresome situation in Baltimare.” “Oh, was it bad?” Twilight asked as they turned a corner. “It was nothing to concern yourself with, Twilight,” Luna said with a wave of the hoof, “Cadence, Shining, and I simply needed to go and deal with a simple Leviathan that was troubling a part of the area’s water lines. A few well-placed spells sent the overgrown fish back to the depths.” “Then why did it take you weeks to get back?” Spike, who had gotten tired waddling to the castle and had opted to ride on Twilight’s back—much to her irritation—asked. Luna growled. “It had friends,” she said as they made their way out to the garden, “many, many friends. Nothing that our sister needed to know about, but it took us quite a few days to deal with the situation… and even longer to help fix the damages our little battle had caused.” The garden itself had undergone a complete transformation. Where there was once abundant wildlife and more than a few open little patches in the trees, now there were tables, littered with the finest food and drink that money could buy, there were servants, ready to service any noblemen that were too lazy to go to the tables, and there were nobles, probably the most underwhelming thing at the whole scene. Anny whistled while he looked around. “Wow, this is pretty snazzy,” he said, “are those… birds on the treetops?” Luna nodded, leading the group toward an empty table. “Yes, they are here to provide the music along with the orchestra,” she said, waving a servant down. “Sister had this group trained to sing an array of songs on command. We found them most entertaining at the last party.” Anny nodded, looking around. “That’s pretty neat, “ he muttered distractedly. “Hey, Luna, where’s your sister?” The alicorn shrugged, thanking a stallion as he rushed over and handed her a drink. “We believe that she was fretting over herself; something about trying to get into a new dress that ‘almost’ fit her or some nonsense.” Twilight frowned at that. “Why the hay would the princess be wearing a dress?” she asked, flabbergasted at the very thought. “I don’t remember her ever wearing anything other than her regalia to a party, and this one is just a little get-together!” Luna gave Anny a look that he didn’t see-- he was a little busy running over and grabbing platefuls of food to munch on—before she mused, “Oh, I wouldn’t say that this particular party isn’t going to be a special one.” She looked down at her drink, swirling it. “Twilight, Spike, may we ask thee a question?” “Sure, Princess,” Spike said, cutting off Twilight, “whatcha need to know?” “How have our sister and Anny been getting along in our absence?” she asked, discreetly looking around for a certain pink alicorn and her husband. We wonder what thou art also doing, niece, she thought. We are sure thou art running around with— “Oh, there you all around!” A voice happily said from behind them. “We’ve been looking all around for you!” Cadence, who was dressed in a sparkling pink dress with frilly bits at the end, and Shining, who was simple dressed in his officer’s uniform, trotted toward them and sat down, Cadence next to Twilight and Shining next to Anny’s chair. Giving her step-sister a hug, the Cadence said, “Oh sweet Faust, you look so cute in that outfit, Twilight!” Twilight blushed, looking away from her. “Thanks,” she muttered, while Spike loudly cleared his throat, the drake crossing his arms in irritation. Cadence looked over at him, rolling her eyes. “And look at you, Spike,” she said, giving his belly a poke, “all dressed up in your finest tux! It shows that cute widdle belly of yours and—“ “Nope,” Spike said, hopping out of his chair, “I had to deal with that for forty-five minutes, I’m not gonna deal with you. I’ll go do some mingling, see if there’s somepony in this party that won’t poke my stomach… no good, irritating, baby-face making…” Twilight, Luna, Cadence, and Shining watched him go. “Spike’s sensitive about his belly,” Twilight said, leaning back in her chair, “I’m sure he’ll be back here in a few minutes. Now, how was your… little trip, Cadence?” Twilight asked her old foalsitter. “Luna was telling us how eventful it was.” Cadence giggled. “Oh, it wasn’t that bad,” she told her, thanking a servant that placed her drink on the table. “In fact, some of those sea monsters were just sweethearts when you got to know them.” “One of the tried to eat me,” Shining muttered, “I had to beat it back into the water with an inflatable floaty.” Cadence patted her husband on the back. “Oh, it was just that one, Shiny, those others were way more reasonable than that crab monster, but enough about that!” Looking up and down the table, she leaned toward Twilight. “So how have Anny and Auntie Celestia been getting along since she sent us on that little field trip?” she giggled. “Should I be expecting wedding bells yet?” Twilight gave her a weak smile before looking over at Anny, who appeared to be trying to stuff half a loaf of bread into his mouth. “Anny hasn’t really been around the Princess all that much,” she said, with more than a hint of worry in her voice, “she either says that she’s too busy or she’s caught a cold whenever we go up and try to see her.” Cadence and Luna shared looks while Twilight carried on. “So Anny’s been around Fleur and Blueblood most of the time, whether they’re working out or just goofing off”--she frowned--“Fleur won’t stop harassing Anny the whole time she’s with him too, giving him kissy faces and cuddling up next to him…” Luna raised an eyebrow. “Thou sound a little jealous, Twilight,” she said curiously, “dost thou fancy young Antaeus?” Twilight blinked before rapidly shaking her head. “No no, of course not!” she said, trying to keep her voice at an acceptable level and leaning toward them. “I just want the princess and Anny to be—“ Cadence let out a little huff. “Speak of the mare, and she will appear,” she murmured, pointing at who was now walking toward Anny. Twilight and Luna looked over, both of them frowning. “Should we go and direct her away from Anny?” Twilight asked no one on particular. Luna shrugged, taking a sip of her drink. “We would advise against that,” she told the unicorn. “If what you told us is true, then those two spending a few minutes together will not hurt anything.” With a grunt, she rose from her seat. “Now if you’ll excuse us, there appears to be a dance floor with our name on it.” @~~@@~~@ To even the untrained eye, Fleur’s dress could easily be described as a masterpiece. Made from a spider silk that was ten times its worth on gold, the dress was designed to be completely over the top. The dress itself, a slim and simply cut little number made by a master dressmaker from the Gryphon Empire, was decked out in blue diamonds, so if there was any light anywhere it would look like Fleur was shining. Yes, from her horseshoes to the mare herself, Fleur could have dropped off the face of the earth knowing that on this night she truly stood out and looked like a goddess of grace and beauty. The problem was, she couldn’t even enjoy the looks that the nobles and servants alike were giving her she was so wrapped up with trotting toward Anny. Oh, dressed to kill tonight I see, she thought, taking a second to watch him inhale his food with a dreamy sigh. The work seems familiar… made by that mare down in Ponyville perhaps? Or— “Fleur, darling, it is oh so good to see you!” Fleur’s eye twitched as she turned toward a fat, and slightly drunk-looking, stallion, who was standing a little too close to her for her taste. “You and I must-urk!” With a roll of her eyes, she walked past him, swatting in the face with her tail. “être allé ravageurs, “ she said, not bothering to look at his stunned expression. “I have bigger fish to fry than the likes of you.” She put on her best smile as she trotted toward her future—hopefully by tonight, if everything went well—colt friend. “Anny, darling! Look at you, all dressed up!” Anny stopped inhaling his food and looked over his shoulder, a small frown coming to his face when he saw the mare, not that she noticed. “Oh, hi Fleur,” he said, covering what little distance there was and standing a few feet from her. “You’re looking nice.” Fleur resisted the urge to laugh out loud. I’d prefer it if he told me I was ‘stunning’ or ‘radiant’ but I suppose that that will have to do. Standing slightly on her face hooves, she leaned up and gave the human a kiss on each of his cheeks, Anny—though a little reluctantly—returning them. While Fleur knew for a fact that the Prench people didn’t have a greeting like that, she wasn’t going to be the one to correct him on it. “And how is my favorite human, hm?” Anny’s smile shrunk a little bit. “Oh, I was just getting something to eat,” he said, sounding a little distant. “Hey, is Celestia walking around yet? I’ve been wanting to see if she’s alright, since she hadn’t been coming to our workouts or anything, you know?” Fleur’s smile suddenly became a little forced. “Oh, I’m sure she’ll be around in a little while,” she told him, patting his leg. “Now why don’t you come and sit down with a lonely mare; I think you and I need to mingle, chat together, eat!.” Anny cocked his head. “And what do you want to talk about, Fleur?” Fleur grinned mischievously. “That would be telling, no?” She nudged him. “Come, come, I’m sure that Blueblood still has seats for the two of us.”