//------------------------------// // Chapter 44 // Story: The Monster of Canterlot // by drnkntst //------------------------------// Chapter 44 Fluttershy and I walked through Ponyville on our way to the little café in the town proper. While walking, several ponies turned their heads to watch us going by. The smiles on their faces were a very comforting switch from the looks of fear or distaste I was getting just a year ago. I returned the waves offered by the townsponies. It would seem that Rainbow and her weather crew had made sure the air was cool with a light breeze keeping it that way. Celestia was also doing her best to put on a show with a beautiful, late afternoon sky. I really couldn’t have asked for a better night for a date with such a cute mare. “Chris! Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie called out to us as she trotted over. “Oh, hello, Pinkie,” Fluttershy greeted her. “Pinkie, how you doing?” I waved to the bouncy mare. “Great-o-riffic!” I still don’t know how anypony could be so annoying and yet so lovable at the same time, but she did it. “That’s… great to hear,” I reached out to scratch behind her ears. She flinched, though only for a little. Even though it was barely noticeable, it cut me to my very soul. She did allow me to scratch her though. I knelt down in front of her. “It still bothers you, doesn’t it? What happened in Rarity’s boutique, I mean.” Pinkie put on her best fake smile, “no way, silly!” She waved a dismissive hoof like it was nothing. But it was something, especially to me. “We’re besties, and I know it was an accident! For some reason, though, my body won’t listen to my brain!” “So you’re saying, if I did… this,” I picked Pinkie up and held her in one arm, belly up, “and then proceeded to… tickle you relentlessly,” which I did, “you’d be totally fine with that?” Pinkie couldn’t answer, she was far too busy giggling, guffawing, and, of all things, snorting. It was, by far, one of the cutest and funniest things I’ve ever seen. I was brought out of my revelry by a gentle tap of a buttery hoof. Fluttershy was doing her best to indicate we had to get moving. Somewhat reluctantly, I placed Pinkie back on the ground. “I’m sorry, Pinkie, but we have to be going,” I told her. She was still giggling when she said, “alright! *Snort* I’ll see you two later! Enjoy your date!” She waved before she bounced away. “What do you think, Flutters, does that sound like a good idea?” She nodded and smiled warmly. “Alright then, let’s get going.” Fluttershy giggled, “Okay.” We had made it to the little café and managed to get a semi-secluded table off in the corner. We talked about our homes and our foalhoods. Our conversation revealed that we had some things in common. For example, we were both bullied, but we always had somepony there to defend us. For me, it was Twilight and her brother. For Fluttershy, it was Rainbow Dash. After that, we had finished our meals and left, a very healthy tip being left for the wait staff. From there, we strolled through the fields between Ponyville and Fluttershy’s cottage. During said stroll, we talked about all the adventures she’s had since Twilight came to Ponyville. She happily told me of how her friends had always been there to help her when she couldn’t bring herself to face the danger. What was surprising to me was how brave she could be when it was her friend that needed her. “So you really scolded a full-grown dragon?” I asked as I plucked a blue wildflower from a bush. “Yes, but I was only able to do that because he had hurt my friends.” “Still though. The only other pony I’ve ever heard of surviving such a feat was my mother.” “The princess is really that strong?” “Oh, you have no idea. Thankfully, she always manages to keep her anger under control. Well… almost always.” I slipped the flower into her mane over her ear. Fluttershy giggled. “I remember.” “Probably not as well as Rainbow does I bet.” Fluttershy giggled again, and just like every time before, it warmed my heart. I looked up at Luna’s moon and determined it was getting late. Luckily, we weren’t too far from her home. In fact, we were at her door in only a couple minutes. “Oh, it looks like we’re here.” “Oh, right.” I knelt down before her, lost for a moment in those cyan orbs of hers, before I told her, “Well then, I hope you had as much fun as I did, because I’d like to do this again.” “Me too,” Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around my neck and hugged me tight. I smiled and returned her hug. After a few moments, she released me. The blush on her cheeks was spreading and making her even cuter somehow. “Um, g-goodnight.” She smiled as she turned to go inside her cottage. I couldn’t help but watch for as long as the door would allow, which was just long enough for me to catch a single flick of her tail. If I had been standing, my knees may have given out. After visions of haunches stopped dancing through my head, I was able take wing and head for home. Unfortunately, I had to stop for a moment on a cloud. I was having trouble focusing enough to flap both wings the same speed. I couldn’t stop help but wonder if she still had that Mare Do Well costume. “Did you have a good time?” a voice whispered in my ear. “Yeah…” I answered in my semi-dreamlike state. “You gonna see her again?” “I sure hope so.” “You gonna stare at her butt again when you do?” “I don’t know, Rainbow, we’ll just have to see what happens.” “You gon- wha? How the hay did you know it was me?” “There are only a select few mares who would be both able to sneak up on me up here, and willing to approach me. Since you don’t speak like it’s a hundred years ago, you’re not Luna. You don’t smell like cake, you’re not Mom. Twilight doesn’t have the guts to tease a pony like that and Cadance never jokes about matters of the heart. That leaves only you.” “Huh… I guess that makes sense. But how come you weren’t startled at first?” “Heard you coming.” I pointed at my ear, “Alicorn hearing.” “Ug, that’s cheating.” “Says the pony who breaks the laws of physics for fun.” Rainbow couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Yeah, I am kinda awesome.” I smirked at her bravado. “So awesome.” “So, you really do like her, huh?” “Yeah, Rainbow, I really do. I only hope she likes me back.” “Wow, you really are from a different world aren’t you,” Rainbow said under her breath. “It’s funny though, I had never seen her as any different than my other friends, at least I didn’t think I did. I’m glad Twilight, Bunny, and especially Rarity helped me realize what was going on in my head, and possibly heart.” “Did you talk to Fluttershy about how you were feeling?” “Yes, and we decided to go out and see where this whole thing led.” I plopped back on the cloud and sighed. “You know what’s funny? Ever since we talked, I can’t get her out of my head.” “*Heh-heh* Sounds like somepony’s got the hots for our little town animal care-giver.” “You know what, I just might.” I rolled over onto my belly. “Now, how about giving me a push toward home?” Rainbow flew up off the cloud and saluted, “You got it, your highness.” And with a mighty shove, I was rocketed back toward Canterlot. ***** The next morning, I was being berated with questions by Luna and Celestia about how my ‘big date’ went. I happily told them everything, excluding my adolescent fascination with her body. They both seemed very pleased with what I had to say. However, there was one who wasn’t. “Humph, yet another mare so desperate for attention, she’d stoop to laying with a primate.” “Blueblood!” Celestia yelled. “What, dear Auntie? I was merely making an observation.” I could feel myself starting to lose control. Oddly, though, I wasn’t blacking out like I had in the past. I wasn’t about to take that for granted. I was fighting to maintain control. Fortunately, I had a secret weapon, Fluttershy’s smiling face. I closed my eyes and focused on only that image. As soon as that buttery visage came into focus, the whole world was at peace. I opened my eyes and turned toward the bane of my existence. “Hey, Blueblood, have I told you who trained me in magic?” “Ugh, I neither know nor do I care.” I raised my ringed hand toward him. “Really, Twilight will be upset to hear that.” “I still don’t- wait, did you say…?” I clenched my fist, as if juicing an orange, and Blueblood’s teacup shattered into tiny shards. “Yeah.” I stood from the table and walked out. From there, I went to the nearest balcony. “Honey, where are you going?” “Oh, hey, Mom. I’m going to Ponyville,” I told her as I flexed my wings. “Well… okay, but I want you to take some guards with you.” “Ugh, Mom~, you know how much I hate that.” “I know, but it makes me feel better when you have somepony with you I know we can trust.” “Hmm… fair enough.” ***** “C’mon, ponies! Work those wings! Work those wings! I want you to give me another fifty wing-ups followed by ten laps around the course!” I touched down next to Rainbow Dash right after she finished her ‘coaching’. “Looking good there, Dash. You guys may even get gold this year.” “Silver maybe, but gold is most likely out of reach. All we can do is prepare ours-,” Rainbow froze for a second when she saw who had touched down next to me, Willow. Rainbow squared off with her and flared her wings threateningly. “What’s she doing here?!” I stepped between the pegasus and the worried changeling. “It’s alright, Rainbow, she’s here with me. She’s my bodyguard, for lack of a better term.” “She’s the reason you were almost killed!” Rainbow growled as she slowly tried to maneuver herself into a straight line of attack on Willow. “First off; I was killed. Secondly; she risked her life to save me, Chrysalis was the reason I died. It wasn’t even her fault. Any changeling that disobeys gets punished pretty severely and she did it anyway.” I placed a hand on Willow’s withers. “I’m not asking you to like her, just give her a chance.” “Fine,” Rainbow stood but kept glaring at Willow, “but keep her away from me.” Rainbow shot a dirty look as she went back to her training. “Maybe… maybe I should go,” Willow said as she pawed at the ground. “I don’t think anypony wants me here anyway.” “I’m not going to make you stay if you don’t want to, but I do want you here.” “Why?” She looked at me with tears in her eyes. “What possible good could come from my being here?” “Exposure. If we can get ponies to see that a changeling can co-exist, then maybe we can get your family out of the dungeon. I don’t know about you, but I would like to think that maybe, just maybe, our two nations can get along.” Willow looked up at me in mild confusion. “Seriously? But, ponies are our food source. There’s no way they’d get along with us,” she snuck a glance at Rainbow Dash, “or even try.” “Back on my world, my species eat all manner of animals, and ride horses and ponies for fun or work. Yet here, I’m prince of a vegetarian nation, and I’m dating one a female of a species that I’d never heard about before coming here.” I look up and catch Fluttershy’s eye as she goes around the practice track. She waves down to me, and I can just make out the same blue wildflower from the night before. Willow shuddered for a moment. “Wow! You could feed the hive for a week on that love.” I smiled down at her, “hers or mine?” She chuckled, “Both.” “You don’t say.” A grin spread across my face. “Chris! What were you thinking bringing her here?” Willow began to cower at Twilight’s voice. “You have no idea how ponies will react to seeing a changeling.” “Probably about the same way they reacted to me.” That got her. “Like I told Willow, the only way to get ponies to accept the possibility of a union between our two kinds, they have to be willing to accept at least one, lone changeling.” “I suppose you’re… right,” Twilight conceded with a small sigh. “Besides, how often does a pony get to study a barely known species by having a one-on-one chat with them?” Twilight’s eye’s expanded as realization dawned. Nopony had ever had the opportunity to study a changeling, not a living one anyway. “Willow, would you be willing to aid Princess Twilight in her studies?” “Yes, of course I would. Besides, I’ve just had a very nice meal,” she said while rubbing her stomach for effect. Twilight looked to me for an answer. “Apparently, Fluttershy and I are quite fond of each other. That means that she must really like me, because even the queen couldn’t absorb my emotions.” “Interesting…” I recognized that look on Twilight’s face. I felt a little sorry for Willow as magic started to envelope her. “Chris?” was all Willow got out before both she and Twilight were blinked out of sight. I could only laugh guiltily before returning to watching two of my favorite pegasi, plus one that I only know in passing, practice. Rainbow was, of course, blowing through the course like she was born just for that sole purpose. Fluttershy was nimble, but even I could outpace her in a straightaway. The real weak link, ironically, was Bulk Biceps. As strong as the guy was, there really is only so much one can do with wings the size of a foal’s. Soon enough, the three pegasi landed and lined up, Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps side-by-side with Rainbow Dash facing them. Dash had started addressing them and evaluating their progress. I wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying though, my focus was on something more yellow. Especially since Fluttershy was facing away from me. I was snapped out of my brief daydreaming when the three racers threw up a salute to each other and broke up to go about their business. Rainbow shot me another glare before she took off, leaving nothing more than her trademark prismatic trail. Bulk Biceps happily trotted toward town, being temporarily distracted by butterfly flittering through the field. Fluttershy lazily floated over to me and I caught her in my outstretched arms. We both laughed while I carried her back to her cottage. Once there, we repeated the actions of the day before, tea, shower, et cetera. Afterwards, Fluttershy loaded a basket and she and I flew off to find a nice cloud to sit on while we eat and enjoy the sunset. Once again, Celestia didn’t disappoint. I was actually starting to think she was doing it on purpose, just for me and Fluttershy. We found a nice, fluffy cloud and sat down to enjoy our sandwiches and fruit. When those were all gone, I laid back with one of my hands behind my head and Fluttershy stretched out across my belly. She was telling me all about growing up in Cloudsdale while I absentmindedly stroked the fur on her back. There was no better place to watch the stars come out. “You know, Fluttershy, I can’t help but notice something these past few days.” “Hmm, what’s that? That is, if you don’t mind.” “Well, I’ve only known you for about a year now, but from that and everything I was told by our friends, not to mention Twilight’s letters, you seem different. Like, a lot more confident.” Fluttershy looked up at me, “is that bad?” “No, no, it’s excellent. I mean, when you’re your normal shy and quiet self, you’re cuter than a puppy playing with a kitten. But when you’re more confident in yourself, it’s… I don’t know.” I looked into her big, beautiful, cyan eyes and told her, “But I know that I like it.” Fluttershy smiled and giggled a little, and that caused my heart melted a little bit. She then craned her neck and surprised me with a gentle kiss on the lips. One so soft, if it weren’t for the warmth of her breath, I may not have known it had happened at all. But since I did, I’ll never forget it. And that was one of the best moments of life.