Fulfilling

by PegasusMesa

Ch 3: In Which Fluttershy Quakes, and Luna is Terrible at Naming Constellations

The flight from Canterlot to Ponyville only took a few minutes for Luna, a fact for which she was grateful. She knew that her mind would wander while in transit, and if the voyage was long enough, her doubts would eventually re-manifest themselves.

Before she departed, she had divested herself of her royal accoutrements; even her tiara was left behind in favor of a more modest appearance, which would ideally put others at ease in her presence. Plus, those crystal slippers are murder on my hooves, the alicorn thought with a smirk.

As soon as she touched down outside the library, however, her prior misgivings returned in full force. Over the course of ten minutes, the princess went through a repeating set of actions, in which she would walk to the door, almost knock, then lose her nerve and back away.

Why are you being such a coward, Luna? she wondered. You are one of the mightiest beings in existence! There is nothing to be afraid of! The sound of hoofsteps reached her ears, and before Luna's mind could react, her body launched itself up to hide amongst the tree branches.

Down below, a yellow pegasus approached the library, trepidation clear in her every step.

Oh, it's her—Fluttershy, from Nightmare Night, the princess realized with a start. She felt a stab of sympathy for the poor mare, who was clearly plagued by nigh-crippling fear, but not even that was enough to bring the concealed alicorn out of her hiding place. The library door opened, allowing the pegasus entry; as soon as the coast was clear, Luna dropped back to the ground. Ok, enough of this! I shall just knock, Twilight will let me inside, and we shall all have a fun evening. Ready, Luna? Ready. Alright. She exhaled heavily.

The princess was just about to tap her hoof against the wooden portal when the instinct to flee-or-fight took her by the back of the neck. It was a knee-jerk reaction (literally) when, instead of knocking on the door, she kicked it open. Some little voice in the back of her head repeated Celestia's warnings against doing things that might intimidate other ponies, but at this point it was too late. Luna had fully entered 'princess mode', and nothing she could do could stop it. Black storm clouds formed behind her, making everypony in the general vicinity aware of her terrible majesty, and as bolts of magical lightning lit up the sky, she sucked in a breath and spoke.

"Greetings! It is I, Luna!" The dragon that lived with Twilight had been standing too close to her when she unleashed her voice, and the concussive force behind Luna's words sent him tumbling across the room.

"Hahaha!" he chuckled when he came to a stop, upside down, against the opposite wall. "That was awesome!"

"I have come bearing a gift!" she continued, brandishing the food she had brought with her. "Behold—brownies!"

"P-Princess Luna!" Twilight shouted with a hoof over each ear. "Too—loud!"

Luna immediately shrank back in embarrassment. "Sorry," she said.

"Ouch, that smarts," the purple mare muttered, rubbing the side of her head. "It's fine, Luna, I'm just glad you could make it!"

"Thank you for the invitation." Luna levitated the brownies over to the table where the other food was arranged. "Am I early?"

"No, you're right on time. There was just a little problem. I... kinda didn't check beforehand to see if my other friends were available, and everypony except Fluttershy already had plans. I'm sorry..."

"There's nothing to apologize for," the dark alicorn said. "I look forward to properly meeting Fluttershy! Pray tell, where is she?"

"What do you mean? She's right..." Twilight turned to gesture at her pegasus friend only to find an empty, pony-less space beside her. "...here? Fluttershy!" The last was said loudly, but Fluttershy didn't answer. "Huh. I wonder where she went."

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"No matter what happens, I won't hide or be scared of her, not even once!" These words echoed through Fluttershy's mind as she sat inside an empty cupboard. Hiding. Scared out of her little mind.

A pony of my word, that's me, she thought. I can't even be brave for a few seconds... She could hear Twilight calling her name, but the little pegasus couldn't muster the courage needed to respond. Then, hoofsteps sounded right outside of her hole, and she noticed, too late, that the end of her tail was sticking out of the door. Oh, ponyfeathers...

Bright light hit her eyes as the door opened to reveal a large, dark-blue pony looking back in.

"Aha, I found her!" Luna cried. Fluttershy let out a quiet 'eek' and tried her hardest to shrink into the wood around her.

"There you are," Twilight said, trotting over. "Fluttershy, come on out and meet Luna!" The pegasus shook her head quickly, and the young princess sighed before dragging the stubborn mare out with a levitation spell.

When she was plopped onto the floor, Fluttershy's legs began to shake and her eyelids clamped shut. After a minute of silence, Luna looked over at Twilight, who shrugged.

"Fluttershy, you remember Princess Luna, right?" The pegasus opened one eye tentatively before giving another 'eek' and closing it once more. "What's the matt—"

"Twilight Sparkle, I'm going to step outside. I would... like some fresh air." The princess walked off slowly, hooves dragging on the ground. As soon as Luna was outside and out of sight, Fluttershy visibly relaxed.

"Seriously, what's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"I... just... she's a..."

"She's a what?"

"She's a princess!" Fluttershy blurted out. "It's—it's—princesses are scary!"

"Wh...what?!" Twilight said. "I'm a princess too! Am I scary?"

"No," came the immediate response. "You're, um, different. You're still the same Twilight as before."

"What about Princess Celestia? I've never seen you shy away from her."

"That's because she acts like my mother."

"So the only problem is that Luna just-so-happens to be a princess?"

Fluttershy began to play with the end of her mane. "Well, I... um..."

"When she comes back in here, do you think you could try to see her as just another pony?" Twilight asked.

"I'll... I'll try," the pegasus said.

"Thanks. I'm going to go check on her; I don't like the way she looked when she walked out."

She seemed so depressed, thought Fluttershy of Luna, watching her friend close the door behind her. Is it because of me? Gathering all of her courage, the yellow mare forced herself to follow.

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I was right to have expected this, Luna thought from her place on a nearby hill. I should not have gotten my hopes up. The sun had disappeared over the horizon, allowing the heavens to open up and reveal their celestial bounty. The princess's horn lit briefly, and she enacted the spell that would set the moon on its course across the night sky. On a whim, she also painted a few streaks of red and blue across the starry canvas, then nodded in apparent satisfaction.

"What are you doing up here?" said Twilight. Luna didn't bother to turn her head to look at the approaching alicorn.

"Twilight, I fear that this was a mistake," the dark princess said. "The distance between my subjects and me is too vast to be overcome."

"That can't be true—"

"I truly do appreciate the effort you have put in on my behalf. However, in the future, I believe I shall stick to matters of state—"

"Oh my!" gasped a voice from behind them. Both mares turned to regard the newcomer and found Fluttershy, standing just a few feet away with her head tilted upwards. "The sky is so beautiful tonight!"

"Thank you," Luna mumbled.

"Um... you're welcome?" Fluttershy said, glancing at Twilight. "Why are you thanking me?"

"Because that was a kind compliment," Luna replied, which just served to confuse the pegasus more. Fortunately, Twilight correctly guessed the misunderstanding.

"Those are Luna's stars," she said. "She puts them up there. Not just the moon, but all of the night sky is her domain."

"You mean—" Fluttershy's eyes widened. "All of that—just one single pony did that?" She sat down heavily, mouth hanging open.

"My favorites are the constellations," Twilight said, walking over to point at the sky for the pegasus's benefit. "See, that's Taurus, and there's Cancer, and that's—"

"Forgive my interruption, but those names are not entirely correct." Luna, too, directed her gaze upward, her somber expression wiped away by one of bliss.

"What do you mean?" the other princess asked.

"Apparently, the astronomers within the past three centuries decided that they did not care for my method of nomenclature, and thus thought to give new names to my constellations." Luna's horn lit up, and the stars that formed constellations became brighter so that they could be more easily discerned. "That one's real name is actually 'Stupid-Looking Crab Thing'. And that one's 'Luna Kicking a Minotaur'. Oh, and there's one of my favorites... I call it 'Terrifying Monster of the Morning'."

"'Terrifying Monster of the Morning'?" Twilight repeated. "What the hay are you talking about?"

"Let's just say that my sister is not a 'morning pony'."

"I don't... wait, you mean Princess Celestia?!"

Luna nodded. "You've clearly never seen her right after she's rolled out of bed."

"What are some of the other names?" Fluttershy asked.

"Let me see... Do you see that one there?" the princess said, waving at one in particular.

"Yup."

"Very well. See if you can guess what it truly is depicting."

"Well, the current name is 'The King and Queen', so..." Twilight tapped her chin. "Could they actually be siblings?"

Luna smiled and shook her head.

"Parent and child." Another shake. "Ugh, don't worry, I'll get it—"

"Um..." Fluttershy said quietly, "I know what it is."

"Wait, seriously?" Twilight exclaimed.

"Y-yes. It's, um... I don't want to say."

"C'mon, don't leave me hanging!"

"I can't..."

"Pleeeease?"

"I..." The pegasus could no longer hold out. "It's... well, it's two ponies... doing... things..."

"Things?"

"You know, um, um, naughty... things..." Fluttershy developed a blush so deeply red, it was a wonder that she had any blood left for the rest of her body.

"Naughty...?" Twilight mused, not quite understanding. Then, it clicked. "Wait wait, there's no way that's it! Luna wouldn't—"

"Yes! Yes yes yes!!" The sudden exclamation from the dark princess caused the other two mares to jump. They looked at Luna to find her doing an impromptu victory dance. "Cadance told me that nopony would ever guess it right! Ha, that'll show her! That's why I'm the Princess of the Night, not her!"

"Luna!" Twilight screeched. "Why would you put something like that up there?! Do you realize how inappropriate that is?!"

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While Twilight unsuccessfully berated Luna (who had just started to do her 'moon-walk'), Fluttershy had a realization. This odd pony standing before her might be a princess with an intimidating amount of power, but she was still a pony all the same. Luna had likes and dislikes, qualities both good and bad, a sense of humor, and the ability to give things terrible names. Right at that moment, Luna had become nothing more than a fellow mare.

Fluttershy normally didn't enjoy crude humor, but the idea of such a raunchy scene depicted in the sky, put there by a princess of Equestria no less, for some reason tickled the yellow mare's funny bone. She began to giggle.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight said, turning to her friend. "Don't laugh! It'll just encourage her!"

"We are sorry, We cannot hear thee over the sound of thy jealousy," Luna taunted, deliberately slipping back into the archaic dialect.

"Who would be jealous of—oh, I give up. When you two decide to act your respective ages, I'll be at the library." With that, she gave an indignant 'hmph!' and walked smartly back to her tree.

"I hope I did not offend her too badly," the dark princess said, trotting over to stand by Fluttershy. Now that she had seen Luna in a more casual light, the pegasus felt nothing more than her usual fear of interacting with a pony she didn't know well.

"If you did, all you need to do is apologize," she said. "Friends forgive each other for things like that."

Luna nodded, comforted by the reassuring words.

For a few minutes, the two mares talked further about the night sky. Luna demonstrated some of the ways she could shape it to her liking, drawing appreciative 'oooh's and 'aaah's from her audience of one. Finally, the air grew cold enough to force them back inside.

"Um, Luna..." Fluttershy said during the walk back, "I'm sorry..."

"Sorry for what?"

"For the way I acted earlier... I was so scared of Luna the princess that I completely ignored both Luna the mare and her feelings..."

The princess nudged the other pony lightly. "You said it earlier—'friends forgive each other for things like that', right? So... that is, if I can call you my friend..."

"I would like that—" Fluttershy was cut off when Luna pulled her into an embrace that was more akin to a bear-hug.

"Huzzah!" she cried. "I have made a second friend! Thank you, dear Fluttershy, thank you thank you thank you!"

"Can't—" the pegasus gasped, her face going purple, "—breath!"

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Once Fluttershy recovered from Luna's chokehold, and after they met back up with Twilight, the rest of the evening passed in a blur. They played games, enjoyed snacks and tea, ("Behold, Twilight, for I have mastered the art of not breaking tea cups! No more styrofoam for this princess!"), and chatted until long past Spike had gone to bed.

Twilight envied the ease with which the other two mares now interacted. It seemed like a dam had been broken and both were now rushing to make up for the time that they had missed spending together. In fact, they were so intent on their conversation that Twilight began to feel a bit like a fifth wheel. The young alicorn didn't resent it, however—she was overwhelmingly happy that they had become friends.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and all-too-soon the clock struck midnight. Walking outside, Luna bade her friends farewell and took to the air to return to Canterlot.

As she watched the dark-blue pony fade into the night, Fluttershy felt a strange sense of loss building up inside of her. I must be getting tired... I just met the mare, after all. I can't be missing her already...

...can I?

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Luna, on the other hoof, hadn't felt so energized since the years before her stint as Nightmare Moon. I did it! she thought. I did it I did it! A new friend! I wonder what types of things she will want to do in the future. How shall I go about approaching her about it? Hmmm... Perhaps Celestia or Twilight will know.

For the rest of the night, and the next few days as well, the dark princess could hardly think of anything else.

Comments

[HaoKyruss]

Luna is best princess. Period!

[PegasusMesa]

3449401

I agree! Exclamation point!

[Hardstuck]

You know, until now, when I read fanfics, I would only do so much as snicker a bit at something 'funny'. however, 'stupid looking crab thing' just about Babe Ruthed my sides into orbit, and I don't know why. well done.

[SHL]

Twilight unsuccessfully berated Luna (who had just started to do her 'moon-walk')

My God, that sounds AWESOME! Somepony draw it!

[PrincessLunaTheGamer]

That last one had me laughing so hard I could hear myself over the music. How the hay did Fluttershy guess hat though?

[Keyota]

3680934

If Its the same for me while I'm pumping 990 bmp wubs and electro through 5 Indusitrial sized amps with custom audio boosters ya know it's good.

[silver hands]

Twilight's stargazing is ruined forever. I have never laughed so hard at a fanfic (shows how mature my humor is). I love how Luna is written. I think PegasusMesa is my new favorite fanfic author.