//------------------------------// // Chapter 57 // Story: The Monster of Canterlot // by drnkntst //------------------------------// Chapter 57 It’s been a long few weeks without Fluttershy. She had volunteered to help scout out the location for the proposed changeling village. Her animal expertise proved to be invaluable and irreplaceable. There was a couple upsides to it though. Firstly, it kept her occupied during her heat. Second, she made friends with our flora expert, an earth mare named Tree Hugger. The two hit it off amazingly well. Now, don’t think I sent her away alone. Fluttershy went with biologists, geologists, and botanists from all over Equestria. She was also accompanied by Desert Willow. We needed to be able to identify the ideal distance from the Crystal Empire and any other settlements for the Changelings to get a constant feeding from the Crystal Heart without being overpowered like Chrysalis was during Shining’s wedding. Fluttershy’s being gone was a little rough on me, but at least Luna was able to tell me that she was having pleasant dreams, even if she did blush every time she told me. Without having to worry about Fluttershy’s happiness, I was able to focus on my own plans. Fortunately, Cloudsdale would be good and close when it came through to bring winter. Barring some huge catastrophe, I should have what I’m after by the end of the month. “So,” Celestia asked during breakfast, “why do you need to go to Cloudsdale?” “Mom, I told you already, I have something I need to take care of there. That’s all the more you’re gonna get out of me because you tend to get giddy and a little too persistent. For my own sanity and the safety of Equestria, I will have to simply keep you in the dark for now. “You won’t even tell your own mother? Do you not trust me anymore?” Celestia’s bottom lip looked like it was in danger of hitting the table. She’d pulled this act on me before and I wasn’t falling for it. “That’s right. I no longer trust the mare who spent the last sixteen years making sure I was happy, healthy and safe. Surely, there could be nopony less trustworthy than that,” I teased. I laughed at the swat at the back of my head from Celestia’s wing. “It’s not nice to tease your mother.” “And it’s not nice to guilt trip your son either,” I returned with a smile. “I’ll tell you all about it when I come back, but this is something I want to do on my own. It won’t mean anything otherwise.” “Fine,” Celestia grumped. “Sister, please. It is not like Christopher is running away from home. He is merely going on an errand that he needs to do himself. He has wings now, allow him to spread them,” Luna added. “Well, I’m sorry. I just worry is all,” Celestia said with a pout. “I say let him go,” Blueblood added to the conversation, “if we’re lucky, he’ll get lost along the way.” “Oh, but dear cousin,” I said as I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him, tussling his mane in fake affection, “if I got lost, I might never see you again. I would never want to risk losing out on our time together.” He growled loudly as I let go of him and, laughing loudly, walked out of the dining hall. It took Blueblood quite some time, but he managed to make his mane presentable again, he would have it styled properly later. “What mission do you suppose our dear Christopher is on?” Luna asked, completely ignoring Blueblood’s discomfort. “I’m not quite sure, Dear Sister, but I know that I can’t wait to find out.” ***** After flying for a few hours, I arrived at Cloudsdale. Lazily flying over the streets, I searched for my target. Along the way, I was greeted by many pegasi who waved at me as I passed. For a second, I thought I saw Rainbow Dash, but the colors were a little too subdued, and it was also a stallion. A relative maybe? I really should come back to this city when I didn’t have an agenda. This is only the second time I was here and I was already starting to love the place. Not being greeted with screams and/or stares might have been a part of it. Another, huge part of it was the city itself. If you’ve never been to Cloudsdale, you need to make the journey. The weather factory alone would be worth the trip. Soon enough, I found what I was looking for. Or to be more precise, the address I was looking for. The home of Maelstrom and Gentle Breeze. The couple may be better known as the parents of the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy. I must have been standing on their stoop for a good fifteen minutes before I worked up the courage to knock. Well, fluffed the door I guess would be more accurate. You know, because of clouds. Shortly after, I heard fluffy hoofsteps. “Just a minute,” came from behind the door in a singsong voice. Strangely, it didn’t sound like the owner of the voice had any sort of connection to Fluttershy, let alone belonging to her mother. Especially the volume of the voice. I would be far less surprised if it was Pinkie’s mother on the other side of that door. The door swung open abruptly to reveal a dull pink mare with a crimson mane. There was a gasp, a yelp, then bowing. Well this was going great so far. From behind the mare I could hear a very make voice calling out, “who’s at the door, Sweetheart?” The voice was followed around the corner by a large stallion with pale tan fur and a short, black and yellow striped mane. He wasn’t as big as Shining, but he could easily fill some guard armor. Once again, gasp, yelp, bowing. “Would you two please get up? I don’t like ponies bowing to me in the palace, I’m certainly not going to make somepony bow to me in their own home. Rise, please. They both stood up and looked up at me in confusion. “Um, forgive us, my prince, but why have you come to visit us?” Gentle Breeze asked. “Not that we aren’t pleased by your visit, of course.” “No, of course not. We’re very pleased by your visit. In fact, would you like to come in?” Maelstrom furthered. “While I don’t want to intrude, I would like that very much. If it’s not too much trouble that is.” Gentle Breeze giggled at my response. “I’m sorry, did I say something funny?” Gentle Breeze waved a dismissive hoof at me. “Don’t mind me, your highness, I was just thinking of my daughter is all.” “Oh?” “Yeah,” Maelstrom said. “Poor thing is so shy that I thought she’d never find a stallion of her own.” “Right,” Gentle Breeze giggled. “What was that boy’s name again?” “It was something weird. I think it was Crystal Fur, or something like that.” “Yeah, I think that was it. If even half of what she writes about him is true, you’d half expect him to be a prince or something.” That was when Gentle Breeze seemed to remember I was there. “Oh, I’m sorry, your highness. Here we are talking about our daughter’s love life while royalty is standing at our door. Please, won’t you come inside and tell us why you’re here.” I followed Gentle Breeze and Maelstrom inside and took the proffered seat in the living room of the cloud house. “Actually, it’s funny you should mention your daughter…” ***** The next hour or so had seen me enjoying my time with Fluttershy’s parents. I learned that Maelstrom worked at the weather factory as a shifter. Moving large caldrons and barrels of water, ice and hail to wherever they may be needed. He was actually the supervisor and didn’t need to, but it was just faster to do it himself rather than get three others to do the job. Gentle Breeze was something else. She reminded me a lot of Pinkie Pie, that not quite to that extreme. She worked in the snowflake department, creating all the different patterns they use. She was also currently spread out across my lap on her back allowing me to scratch her belly. Well, I say allowing me, in truth she would whine and pull my hand back down any time I stopped. “That girl never seems to stop surprising us,” Maelstrom chuckled. “What do you mean?” I asked as I continued to scratch Gentle Breeze’s tummy. “Well, I remember when that little filly had to be walked home from school every day by Rainbow Dash top keep the bullies at bay. Now, we find out that our Fluttershy, who has helped to save Equestria several times, has been dating none other than the crowned prince himself. It’s not something we’d expected from one of our kids, let alone the shy one. “Wait, did you say Rainbow Dash?” “Yeah. Dash took it upon herself to protect Fluttershy.” Maelstrom seemed to just drift off in thought for a few moments. “I sometimes think that if it weren’t for her, Fluttershy would have locked herself away in her room and we would have had to slide her meals under the door.” “Mmmh… kids’re mean…” Gentle Breeze murmured before she guided my hands to a particular spot on her side. I couldn’t help but chuckle at her antics and the cooing noises that could rival her daughter’s in adorability. “I can’t believe that. I mean, I know that Rainbow is fiercely loyal to her friends, but to think that she’s been friends with Fluttershy for that long. Twilight and I have been friends for just as long, but that was under entirely different circumstances. It’s good to know that somepony was always there for her. “Same for us.” There was a few moments of silence before Maelstrom asked, “by the way, your- Chris, you never did say what brought you to our door today.” “Ah, right. Well, Maelstrom, as you know, I’ve been dating your daughter for several months now, and I’ve never been happier in my life.” I was beyond nervous at this point, but my mother didn’t raise me to back down to my fears. “So I came here today to ask you-” I was interrupted by frantic knocking at the front door. Gentle Breeze barely opened an eye, while Maelstrom and I were both a little startled. “Um…?” Maelstrom started. “It’s alright. Go ahead and see who it is. I’ll just stay here with my new blanket.” Both pegasi smirked as Maelstrom trotted towards out of the room. While we waited, I picked up my glass of lemonade. As I raised the glass to take a drink, I heard from the other room, “Rainbow Blaze? What’s going on?” “Mael! You’ll never believe who I saw in town earlier. None other than Celestia’s Monster. Can you believe that?” My world was suddenly filled with a familiar red fog. The same rage that always seemed to boil up inside at the mere mention of the M-word came back. It was Gentle Breeze’s surprised yelp and her jumping out of my lap that brought me back to the here and now. “Breeze? Is everything alright in here?” Maelstrom came trotting back into the room followed by that same rainbow maned pony I saw before. I looked down at her and felt my skin go cold. Breeze’s barrel was splattered with blood and there was glass on the floor. I don’t know how, but I must have cut her with the class I was drinking from. “I’m fine, I’m fine, but the prince…” she looked at me with a mixture of fear and compassion. “What?” I asked. “Chris, look at your paw.” I did as Breeze said and held up my ‘paws’. The palm of one of them was dripping with blood and had shards of glass sticking out at different points. I must have crushed the glass in my hand, the blood and lemonade falling onto Breeze, which startled her and caused her to yell. I gingerly pulled the glass from my palm with my other hand and cast a repair spell. Once the glass reformed, I stood from the couch. Pushing hard on the flesh of my palm to slow the flow of blood. I stepped around the three pegasi as I made my way out the door and took flight without a word, ignoring the concerned looks and questions. After a short flight, I found a quiet cloud bank that overlooked the weather factory and took a seat. I sat there, trying to stop the bleeding in my hand, and watched the land below drift by while the weather ponies pulled heavy, snow-laden clouds to their destinations over Ponyville. I always admired the care and precision the pegasi put into usual weather, but winter was were their efforts really showed. “Chris, there you are,” I heard Maelstrom say at the same time I felt somepony land on the cloud next to me. “You took off in such a hurry, we never got to find out if you were alright. Or what happened for that matter.” I opened my mouth to reply when another pegasus landed nearby. It was the rainbow stallion again, and he was bowing now. “My prince, thank goodness we found you. I wanted to apologize for what you heard back there. I had no idea you were inside the house.” I glared at him for a few seconds, until I saw his knees starting to shake under the strain of supporting his weight at such an odd angle. “Alright, enough. Get up, and then tell me your name.” “Thank you, your highness, and my name is Rainbow Blaze. I believe you know my daughter, Rai-” “Rainbow Dash. Yes, she’s one of my best friends. Mr. Blaze, please forgive me if I get short with you, but being referred to as a ‘monster’ tends to push me right over the edge. It’s not your fault, but that doesn’t change things. As I was about to explain to Maelstrom here, I left in such a hurry to avoid doing or saying anything I might regret. I mean, breaking the furniture of a pony before you ask for their blessing is not the right way to go about things.” “Wait a second,” Maelstrom asked, “my blessing in what?” I was about to answer until I was once again interrupted. I was beginning to think Cloudsdale was against me. As one, the three of us stood and stared in surprise at the sound of explosions, lightning, and raging waters coming from the weather factory. When screams joined in on the cacophony, we were airborne. The weather factory was in utter chaos. Pegasi were flying from one station to the next trying to get everything back under control and not doing very well. Maelstrom quickly took charge and started to guide groups of ponies to where they would do the most good. I even got to use my fun, new, alicorn level strength to lift, twist, and clamp thing that I never would have imagined lifting, twisting, and clamping one year ago. With everypony cooperating, we were able to get everything back under control, but not before one giant, literally screaming, snowball fired out over the countryside. Once everything had settled down, Maelstrom walked up to me. “Now, as I was saying, what was this talk about getting my blessing for something?” “Oh, right. So… listen…” And that was how I got permission to marry Fluttershy.