//------------------------------// // Getting to know the new queen // Story: Miss Fluttershy // by Nikiroo //------------------------------// Getting out of bed, Fluttershy yawned then flexed her wings a couple of times. She wished she could fin sleep as easily as Shining Eyes... By the time she came back from tidying up the house a bit yesterday, he was already fast asleep. So she just made sure the sheets were covering him up completely, then decided to call it a night, too. Walking down to the living room, she heard a bit more noise than usual and noticed than Shining Eyes was not in the sofa any more. She also noticed that it was high time that said sofa was cleaned... The changeling walking unsteadily around it. Angel Bunny then hopped next to her, expecting his morning greeting. “Oh, hello Angel!” She complied and patted the bunny's head, smiling as she did so. “Hello to you, too, Shining Eyes.” “Miss Fluttershy.” Shining Eyes lowered his torso, his head held low and almost touching the floor, almost as if bowing to her. The pegasus smile did not leave her lips as she saw the move. She quickly approached and patted his head, too. Shining Eyes was a pony — or almost anyway — but if *he* wanted his head to be patted, she was happy with it. “How do you feel?” Shining Eyes didn't answer immediately, as if surprised by the move, or maybe thinking about his answer. “I should be able to walk normally in a day or two, and fully able to work in a few more. My carapace is already getting ready to shed.” She doubted a broken leg could heal that quickly. “And what about your leg? I'm not sure you should try to walk before it's healed...” “It's mending correctly.” “Can I see?” The changeling obediently turned around to show his leg and, indeed, it was already healing. That was impressive. Maybe the changelings can heal quicker than ponies? She really wished she knew more about them... “Well, yes, it's looking good. That's nice! If you want, you can follow me to the kitchen so we can take our breakfast there; it will be better than on a dirty sofa. If that's okay for you?” “Thank you, Miss Fluttershy.” 'Miss', again. She sighed. “You know, you don't have to call me 'Miss'...” The changeling looked a bit apprehensive. “...Should I call you 'Queen'?” With a thankfully silent 'Eeep', Fluttershy tried to hide her blush behind her mane. “'Mi'... 'Miss' is fine!” Shining Eyes as perplexed. First she pets his head when she bows to her, and now, she is unclear about her title. But if she says it is fine, then so be it. He then watched her prepare the breakfast at a speed that was hard to follow. It seems she was starting things at random times, yet, everything was ready exactly when needed. “Oh, don't worry. I'm used to that. Do you prefer chocolate or jam in your pancakes?” She then hesitated. “Oh. I'm sorry. I forgot you were not a pony. Can you eat pancakes, oats, daisies and all that?” she asked, pointing at the breakfast laid on the table. “If... if you don't, just tell me what you want, I'll prepare something else.” Shining Eyes was surprised again. She really was generous with her hive! “We can eat anything a pony can. But I don't know what are chocolate and jam... I don't mind which you choose.” Fluttershy looked a bit preoccupied and whispered to herself, but he was not able to understand everything she said. He just heard the words 'chocolate', 'pink pie' and 'party'. She then shook her head. “Whatever. Just take a cushion, I'll get the tea and the jam. I'm sure you'll like it!” That pony food was delicious! Shining Eyes never had something as good as that to eat before. That 'tea' beverage was a bit harder to accept, though. But still, he never had such a good meal. Fluttershy was giggling when looking at him when he tasted the different food items, but she kept feeding him love at the same time, so it was obviously a good thing. When she took some time to pet a passing-by otter, he noticed that she sent him as much love as each of her other residents, even that evil-looking bunny thing she was so lenient with. He was... He was truly accepted. To say that he was happy about it was an understatement, and the smile he now wore was proof of this. The pegasus saw it, too. “Well, you sure like your breakfast!” “Yes, Miss Fluttershy. I didn't know food could be so good!” She blushed again. “Well, it's just some basic things. I wanted to give you some choice, so I made a bit of everything I had at hoof...” “Thank... thank you.” He lowered his head a bit in respect. Not a lot more was said during breakfast — he got his head petted once more, though. After Fluttershy removed the stained sheets from the sofa, she went to him. “Do you like to read? ... That is, if you don't mind me asking...” “I write a lot; it is necessary. So I read, too.” She took some time to acknowledge the message. “Well, I need to go see a friend before dinner, but I don't want you to get bored. I've got some books on the shelf that you can read if... if you want. But there are scrolls and ink on the desk, too. If you prefer. Or if it is 'necessary' to you.” When Fluttershy left, the changeling wore a grin matching his happiness. She already trusted him enough to work in her absence. He will make sure she will not regret it. He took the ink and scrolls, and wondered briefly what he will start his inventory with. Fluttershy knocked quietly on the tree-library door. She really needed some more information on changelings, and if somepony could help her when looking for information, it ought to be Twilight. A small dragon opened the door, before looking up at her. “Hey Fluttershy!” “Hi, Spike.” “You know, it's a library... You don't need to knock every time.” That was far from the first time Spike told her so, but she really didn't want to intrude... What if they were busy? So she just followed the dragon — who didn't try to press the point any more — inside the tree-house. “So, what can I help you with, Fluttershy?” “Well, I would like... I mean, if you don't mind... some-information-about-the-changelings,” she said, whispering the end very quietly and very quickly. She hoped he would not mind looking at such a controversial subject. He was affected as much as everypony present that day, and she didn't want to cause him to remember bad memories. “...Sorry, could you repeat that last part?” She tried again, slower, but still as quietly as before. Yet, Spike heard it; he was used to speak with her, after all. “Wow. That's a strange request. I'm surprised you of all ponies is asking about them!” “Well... I'm... curious?” She should certainly not tell ponies about Shining Eyes until he was fully healed. That would not be kind to him. And she was curious, so it was not a lie... “Well, sure, no problem. I'll just go ask Twi if she has any idea where to look for. Any subject in particular?” “Hmm...” She was already hiding her face behind her mane. “I'm curious about what they eat, if they eat like us, as much as us, if they need to sleep, if they rest like us to heal when they are hurt... They are so like us, but still different so... so I'm curious. What are the differences between a changeling and a pony?” Spike looked flabbergasted at how long she spoke in a single reply. ...Without chastising some pony who deserved it or comforting a critter, at least. “Okay... No problem. I just need to know where to look for,” Spike answered. He then yelled at Twilight, “Twilight! Where do I look for books about changelings?” On the shout of "Coming!", the librarian came downstairs. “Oh, hello Fluttershy. How are you?” After some pleasantries were exchanged, Twilight finally answered Spike : "If you're looking for books about changelings, you're lucky! I just grouped them all this morning to move them from the different 'Legends', 'Myths', 'Fiction' and 'Fairy Tales' sections to the more serious 'Non-equine intelligent species' section. You just have to look at 'C'!" “Be sure to properly note which books you take, though; I'm still not done writing them all down!” she added in a serious tone. Spike rolled his eyes at the remark. “Duh. Of course I will, Twi! I'm not your number-one assistant for nothing!” “Heh. Yeah. Sorry,” Twilight answered sheepishly. “Come, Fluttershy! Let's have a look at what you need!” The pegasus just said her thanks to Twilight before following Spike. She was glad the librarian didn't ask her why she was looking for information about the changelings. Coming home at last, Fluttershy wondered how fared her guest. She should have expected that Twilight would not let her leave without at least browsing 'quickly' into all the relevant books... She was afraid this morning not to find a single book about changelings, she now returned with her saddlebags full of those — and only because she told Twilight she couldn't carry anything more. “Hello, I'm home,” she said. The place was quiet. Only Angel Bunny was here to greet her, until he saw she was just carrying books; he then crossed his paws over his chest, not happy. “I'm sorry Angel, I only went to the library.” Before she reached the bookshelf, Shining Eyes came from the kitchen. “Hello, Miss Fluttershy,” he said, lowering himself in a bow again. Fluttershy half-giggled behind her hoof at the sight, then patted his head. “I hope I wasn't too long? Did you try a book?” “No, I only had enough time to sort through the kitchen... But I'll start right away if you want me to!” he answered, half-panicked. Fluttershy quickly put a wing around him to sooth his fears. “Shh... It's okay... I just mentioned the books so you can have something to do if you are bored; you don't *have* to read them.” “Th... Thank you, Miss Fluttershy.” Well, he was still scared over the most silly of things... She was thankful he was quick to recover, though. She then removed her wing, an try to change the subject. “So, what was it about the kitchen?” Shining Eyes wished he thought a bit more before panicking over not having read the offered books. He was so used to the way things were in his previous hive that he reacted instinctively. If he had refused or even delayed such an honour in his previous hive... But Miss Fluttershy was different. He didn't want to look afraid of her while she was obviously trying to put him at ease. Even if it was frightening to think about all she did and was rightfully renowned for... Back into the present, he answered the question. “I sorted through it. I inventoried everything, but I must admit I don't know what some of your supplies are for, or sometimes even just what they are.” Seeing how Fluttershy was surprised, he quickly added, “I didn't disrupt anything, though! I will only start to organise them when you tell me to, and I still need to know more about some of the items before starting.” The reply was not immediate. “...Okay?” Fluttershy finally answered. That certainly was not expected. He did say his job was to make sure everypony was given his meal on time, or something like that. Was it part of that? “So... You made a list of everything I have in my kitchen?” “Yes, Miss Fluttershy?” He didn't seem to sure of himself. She should take care not to scare him again. And speaking about the kitchen... Having a recent enough list of what she had could really be useful. Every time she went to the market after noticing she forgot to check for something in the first place, she swore she would make a list. Someday. “So... If I needed to know, say, how much lettuce I have left... It would be in that list?” “...Yes? Well, you don't have any lettuce left, but if you had, it would be noted.” Oh. Angel Bunny will not like to hear that... Still, she was smiling. It was really nice of Shining Eyes to help her. “Well, that list will be helpful. That's nice of you. Was that part of your work, before? If... If you don't mind me asking.” “Yes. Our team was in charge of the inventory and food reserves when the swarm was moving. So we also had to make a lot of inventory lists.” “Oh.” At lest, he looked a bit more confident. She was also curious about what he was doing before. It looked like it was a lot of work. “What was it like?” “...We knew it served the Hive. That was enough for us.” Not sure if it answered the question, he continued, “We made sure to check everything, too notify the gatherers when we were low on some resources, to plan where to refill them long enough in advance, to estimate our future needs, to organise the safe transportation of the resources across land... In short, our task was to make sure everything was in order.” Wow. That was a lot of work. He looked like he was proud of his work, and she could understand why. ...And he didn't look afraid any more. “That... That certainly doesn't look like it was easy to do.” “No. But it was necessary. And we did it well.” Fluttershy could almost *see* how proud he was of his job. After some more discussion about his work in his previous Hive and how he used to feel about it, Shining Eyes noticed when Fluttershy took the books she had in her saddlebags to put them on the bookshelf. She had so many of them! She already had a large collection, and she is still now adding at least seven of them to it, like it was nothing! And not just any books, but large tomes of knowledge, in pristine state. She probably saw his mouth agape, as she turned towards him. “Is everything all right?” she asked at last. “That's... That's a lot of books.” “Oh. Yes, I just borrowed some books about changelings from Twilight. I figured I could take better care of you with those.” She was speaking lower and lower after each word. “...I hope you don't mind?” She must have called in a huge favour for this... Or maybe her notoriety was enough for her to afford such a move? In all cases, she got that just for him. He swore here and there that he will do anything for his new Queen. “Thank you, Miss Fluttershy.” He bowed to her, a tear in his eye... and got petted again by a giggling Fluttershy.