• Published 24th Apr 2012
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic -- Off The Record - The King of Hearts



A new pony is introduced to Equestria just before the fight with Nightmare Moon in Episode 1. Changing the entire story.

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Luna Shy

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Chapter 9
Luna Shy
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“Alright everypony!” Twilight said to her friends that were lined up in front of the library, walking back and forth in front of them. “Princess Celestia has given us the task of encouraging a dragon to leave Equestria!”

In front of her stood: Alex, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.

“Now, I know that quite a bit went on last night but…” Twilight stopped, upon noticing the missing pony. “Where’s Fluttershy?”

Looking around, Alex was completely baffled. Fluttershy had just been standing beside him.

“Fluttershy?” Everypony called, looking around for her.

Looking up in the sky, Rainbow Dash noticed something odd about a cloud that was floating away from them. It had a pink tail.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Dash said, flying up to the cloud, and pushing it aside, revealing Fluttershy with a weak smile on her face.

“Come on Fluttershy!” Twilight said, “We need to be serious here! Equestria is in real danger, and you’re ability to communicate with animals is vital to our success!”

Fluttershy looked around nervously. Everypony was counting on her. But she couldn’t go face a DRAGON! She was horrified at even the thought of an encounter with one of those. There wasn’t a single thing in Equestria that scared her more than a dragon. Well, nothing except—

“Hello everypony!” Princess Luna called from the front door of the library, taking a step out. “Are we ready to begin our quest?”

Fluttershy’s eye’s immediately widened. Nothing scared her more than Night Mare Moon. Not even a dragon. She knew that Princess Luna had changed back, and was good now. But, it wasn’t as easy to stop being afraid as it was to start.

“Just about!” Twilight said happily, “I just need to fill everypony in!”

“Very well,” Luna said, walking over to join the line of ponies. “Please continue!”

“So!” Twilight began, pointing to a picture of a mountain that she had set up behind her. “We’re going to start on the eastern most side, and we’re going to work our way up the path on the far left.”

Twilight went on to explain their plan in great detail, showing the precise route they would take, when they would stop for breaks, and how they were going to deal with the dragon.

“And, if we aren’t able to convince the dragon to go peacefully, Princess Luna will deal with the dragon herself, the same way she did with the Ursa Major.” Twilight finished. “Any questions?”

Raising a hoof, Fluttershy tried to keep herself composed as everypony looked at her. “Well! It didn’t sound like I was very important in your plans… So I’d better just go home!”

“Of course we need you!” Twilight said, confused. “I said that, didn’t I? Maybe I should start my briefing over again if I missed a few things…”

“No!” Dash said, slightly annoyed,” You said it! Fluttershy is just being a scaredy-pony!”

“Come on sugar cube,” Applejack said. “There ain’t nothin’ to be frightened of!”

“Precisely,” Rarity said, putting a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Princess Luna will make sure nopony gets hurt, she IS a princess you know.”

Fluttershy knew that there was no fighting this, so, she nodded meekly, and decided to try her best to tough it out.

“Wonderful!” Luna said lifting a hoof into the air. “Let us begin!”

////

The group traveled to the as fast as they could, wanting to get this issue over and done with. Unfortunately, Fluttershy had slowed down more and more until Dash was forced to push her along behind everypony. Until, finally, they reached the mountain.

Pulling out the map from her saddle bag, Twilight examined the route she had set, as everypony chatted loudly.

“Okay everypony!” Twilight said, getting the groups attention. “We need to head up this slope here. If we follow it up high enough, the ground will start to level off, and we can take a break there.”

Nodding in agreement, Everypony started walking up the slope. However, it wasn’t long before Alex noticed somepony missing.

“Uhh, Fluttershy?” Alex said trying to find her, as the group continued stopped with him. Luckily, he could see a shaking bush at the bottom of the mountain, with a pink tail. “You’re not very good at hiding, you know that?”

Poking her head up from behind the bush, Fluttershy looked at the cliff and shook her head. “It’s too steep…”

“Come on Fluttershy!” Twilight encouraged, “Why don’t you just fly up here then?”

Looking at her wings, Fluttershy decided to give it a try. Slowly spreading her wings, she flapped weakly, and started to ascend the cliff.

Making her way up slowly, Fluttershy decided to stop just above Alex so she could follow close behind him. Unfortunately, a loud snore from the napping dragon caused the entire mountain to shake, making her wings instinctively close.

Alex looked up and gulped as Fluttershy fell from the sky, and landed right on top of him. He was happy that she was a light pony, otherwise he might have snapped in half.

“Just… wait…!” Alex said, thinking of another way to get Fluttershy of the mountain without having to carry her. Finally, he got an idea.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Alex lifted Fluttershy off his back with his magic, happy that he had recovered enough from the night before. “Alright you guys, let’s go!”

Everypony laughed as Alex trotted up the steep hill with a levitated Fluttershy just in front of him.

Fluttershy hoped that she wouldn’t be held too close to the princess. Luna was half the reason that she had been hiding behind the bush.

Looking back at Alex, Luna couldn’t help but be surprised at seeing him use magic so easily. Celestia had told her of his remarkable progress in his magic studies. Twilight had included an update on his progress every time she wrote a letter to Celestia, and it seemed like Alex was reaching another magical milestone every time Twilight wrote.

“Alex is truly remarkable with his magic,” Luna said, catching up to Twilight.

“You’re telling me!” Twilight said, “He’s bypassed everything I had planned to teach him this year! I don’t think anypony has EVER learned this fast!”

Luna nodded in agreement. Even Celestia and herself had taken years of study to become the powerful goddesses they were now. If his speed was any indicator, Alex could become the strongest spell caster Equestria had ever seen. That is, if he stayed in Equestria.

“How long do you think it will be before he is capable of going home?” Luna asked curiously.

Twilight thought about the question. It would be soon. Sooner than anypony thought.

“A year. Maybe less.” Twilight said simply. “He’ll be gone very soon.”

////

After a half hour of scaling, the group finally reached the flat area Twilight had described.

Everypony sat down in a small circle as Rarity and Pinkie Pie started handing out snacks for them to eat.

Walking over to a gap in the circle, Alex lightly put the frightened Fluttershy down, and walked over to the other side to sit in another gap.

Sitting down between Rainbow and Luna, Alex couldn’t help but be curious at how different Luna had become. She was a very different pony than the one he had met when he first arrived in Equestria.

“Luna,” Alex said, getting her to turn and face him, “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions…?”

Luna wasn’t surprised. She had expected some questions about her rapid changes.

“Of course,” Luna said, “I presume you wish to know why I have grown so much, correct?”

“Well, that, and why you’re talking to differently…” Alex said, completely confused over her transformation. “That isn’t another thing about this world, is it? Do ponies just grow randomly?”

“Of course not!” Luna said, laughing. “My body has been rapidly adjusting to the size it used to be. I may be a rather small pony now, but in a few years, I will be the same size as my sister.”

“Okay…” Alex said, taking it all in. “But what about the way you talk? You seemed to talk normally when you first changed back… What’s changed that?”

“Well, my sister suggested that I take a… refresher course on royalty, if you will.” Luna explained. “An instructor is teaching me all the proper ways for a Princess to act. However, she seems to be set in the old ways.”

Twilight cocked an eyebrow, “How so?”

“Well, she insists that I speak properly. Making sure to say words like ‘thou’ and ’thee.’” Luna said, sounding slightly frustrated. “But I do not seem to be able to get it. She says that I have made progress in my speech… But I still have lots of work to do.”

“And that’s why you sound so… Awkward?” Alex asked, trying to put it as delicately as possible, but still earning death-glares from the girls around him.

“Precisely,” Luna said. “I have even been told that I should speak in something she calls ‘The Royal Canterlot Voice.’”

“And… What is that?” Twilight asked, confused.

“IT IS WHEN I SPEAK LOUDLY ENOUGH FOR ALL OF MY SUBJECTS TO HEAR ME, SO THEY UNDERSTAND THAT I AM A RULER OF EQUESTRIA!” Luna bellowed, causing the ponies around her to recoil.

A few moments of silence passed until Rarity spoke up.

“Well… That was… Unpleasant…” Rarity said, laughing nervously.

“I agree.” Luna said sadly. “Why would anypony enjoy that? And yet, I am expected to speak this way…”

“Well, you don’t need to talk that way around US princess!” Pinkie said.

“Exactly! It’s just us girls!” Rarity said with a wink, then turning to Alex. “Well, MOST of us, anyway.”

“Oh, I can be a girl!” Alex said, “Like, I LOVE Twilight!”

The group stared at Alex. He had made himself a very awkward situation, and didn’t even know why.

It took Alex a moment to realize that Twilight was both the name of a girly book series AND the name of one of his friends.

“Oh!” Alex said, finally understanding. “It’s a book series back in my world. It’s called Twilight! A lot of girls love it, and guys generally don’t. So… Yeah…”

Everypony remained silent.

“Fine… I guess I’m no good at being a girl,” Alex sighed. “I’ll just… Go over there.”

And with that, Alex stood up, and walked away from the group, and then, plopped himself down a few meters away, and pretended to start sobbing.

The girls laughed at his dramatics. Even Fluttershy stopped being scared for a moment so she could chuckle along with them. Eventually the laughing died down, and Alex rejoined the group.

“Well… If you’re sure you don't mind!” Luna said, happy to have an opportunity to talk normally again. “I’ll talk normally around you guys from now on!”

The group ate their lunch while they Listened to Luna describe her day to day life in Canterlot, and how all of her royal duties left her little time for herself. She even confessed that her coming along with them was just an excuse to get away from everything for a little while.

After finishing their lunch, everypony decided to continue their ascent. Unfortunately for Fluttershy, when Alex levitated her off the ground, she was stuck floating right next to Princess Luna.

Fluttershy had to work to keep herself from shaking too hard. All of this was too much for her… getting stuck next to Night Mare Moon, AND being on her way to face a dragon was terrible for her. She wanted to fly away and never look back. But, she knew that her friends were counting on her, and would be disappointed if she left. So, she had to hope that nothing worse than this would happen, Because she knew that she would be gone as soon as it did.

////

The group continued further up the mountain. And luckily, because Alex was levitating Fluttershy, they made great time. They walked along narrow paths, jumped over pits, and even crossed avalanche danger zones. All things that Fluttershy knew she would have had trouble with. Unfortunately, after all that scaling, they finally reached the summit. And Fluttershy knew what that meant.

Dragon time.

Everypony lined up to face the cave, and Twilight stood in front of the line, facing them.

“Alright everypony!” Twilight announced, “We’re all going to try our best to get this dragon to leave peacefully! We’re going to going to do this exactly as I outlined.”

“Let me at ‘em!” Dash said, hovering herself a few inches above the ground, then gunning straight toward the opening of the cave.

“That’s not how we’re doing this Rainbow!” Twilight said, using a spell to keep Dash’s tail held in place, stopping her before she was able enter. “If we make it angry, things will just get worse!”

“But… I’m not good at… Talking!” Dash said desperately.

“Well… Maybe you should sit this one out then.” Twilight said, laughing.

Dash looked around, seeing everypony shake their heads in agreement, she sighed, then flew herself behind the group and landed in a huff. “Fine!”

“I’ll go first,” Twilight said chuckling. “Figure out who wants to go next, in case I’m not able to convince him.”


After a short discussion, everypony decided on an order: Twilight, then Rarity, then Pinkie, then Applejack, then Alex, then Fluttershy, then, finally, Luna.

Fluttershy’s heart pounded as she watched each of her friends go in, and come out without any luck. Twilight had asked nicely, Rarity had appealed to the dragon’s vanity, Pinkie had tried to share a laugh with it, and Applejack explained what damage his nap would do to Equestria. All of which failed.

Finally, it was Alex’s turn.

Gulping, he looked around at his friends, who gave him some encouraging cheers. Everypony else had come out fine, so there really wasn’t much to be afraid of. But still, there was one thing that he knew would keep him in high spirits.

“Wanna come in with me Colors?” Alex asked Dash as he walked toward the entrance.

“Aww yeah!” Dash said, trying not to sound too excited, as she ran to catch up with him.

“Remember Rainbow!” Twilight called, “Be NICE!”

“Yeah yeah.” Dash said dismissively. “I’ll let Alex take the lead.”

“Good luck you two!” Rarity called as the pair walked into the cave.

“Are you ready to go next Fluttershy?” Twilight asked the pony who had been hiding behind a rock with her tail sticking out.

“Um… Can I… not?” Fluttershy asked, praying that they could just skip her turn.

“Of course not!” Twilight said, “You’re the best one here with animals. It’ll be easy! Besides, when Luna takes the dragon away, it WON’T be happy about it! And nopony wants that!”

“I— I…” Fluttershy stammered looking back and forth. Everypony was looking at her, expecting her to go and fix this problem. But she couldn’t.

She just couldn’t.

So, she did the only thing she could think of. She ran in the opposite direction, and flew away.

////

Alex and Dash walked through the dark cavern toward a dim light a short distance away. From the descriptions the other ponies had given them, they were expecting a pile of treasure, with a large sleeping dragon next to it.

“So… what exactly are you going to say to it..?” Dash asked.

“I really don’t know,” Alex answered. “Maybe it’ll leave if I let it have you!”

“Oh, I get it! THAT’S why you wanted me to come along,” Dash said sarcastically.

“Yup! That’s the ONLY reason!” Alex said looking at her and smiling.

Dash smiled back. “Suuure.”

After a couple more minutes of walking, the two finally reached their destination. A large circular chamber with one entrance. On one side of the room was a massive pile of gold and gems, and the other side had a massive red dragon, with a very annoyed look on its face.

“Are you here to harass me too?” The Dragons deep voice sighed.

“ ’fraid so,” Alex said, laughing nervously. “Is there any chance you’ll just go, and save all of us a lot of time?”

The dragon simply shook his head.

“And I’m sure you’ve heard all of the same things from all of the ponies that have come in here, right?”

Again, the dragon only nodded.

Alex sighed. He wasn’t sure what else there was to say.

“If you don’t go, we have a pony outside who’ll MAKE you go! We have the strongest pony in Equestria with us!” Dash said, not realizing how bad she just made things.

The dragon didn’t like that.

“You think I can be MADE to leave?!” The dragon boomed.

“No!” Alex said, trying to repair the damage Dash had caused. “We only have that pony here in case things get out of hand! As a safety net!”

“Well, things HAVE gotten out of hand, little pony.” The dragon growled. “I’m going to count to five. And you and your friends had best be gone when I reach it.”

Alex and Dash looked at each other, then bolted toward the exit.

“I’m sorry I said that!” Dash said, as the two raced toward the exit. “I didn’t think he’d get so upset about it!”

“I was going to say it if you hadn’t,” Alex confessed, “So don’t beat yourself up about it.”

After five seconds had passed, the two could feel the thumping of the incoming dragon behind them.

Luckily, the dragon wasn’t very fast. So they were able to exit the cave well ahead of it.

“Alright Luna!” Alex said quickly. “You’re up!”

“What did you do Rainbow?!” Twilight shouted.

“It was me,” Alex lied. “I mentioned Luna without thinking about it, and now he’s REALLY angry!”

“Alright,” Luna said, stepping forward. “I’ll deal with the beast.”

////

Fluttershy couldn’t believe she was doing this. She was going back to apologize, and try her best to help, even if she was scared. She knew that abandoning her friends was wrong, but she couldn’t help herself. All she needed was a few minutes to calm down, which she had now had.

It was funny that her wings worked perfectly fine when she was running away from danger, but not when she was headed toward it. She just hoped that nothing frightening happened before she was ble to land.

Looking down, she saw that Alex and Rainbow had just come out of the cave. Which meant that it would be her turn next.

Sighing, Fluttershy headed down and landed in the group, with her back to the cave.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight said desperately, “You need to—”

“Wait Twilight!” Fluttershy interrupted, in a very un-Fluttershy like tone. “I need to apologize!”

Everypony stared at Fluttershy in shock. The dragon was standing right behind her at the entrance to the cave, and she had no idea.

“I’m sorry I ran away when you needed me…” Fluttershy said, returning to her normal voice. “The truth is… I was scared of the dragon…”

Luna looked at the massive beast standing behind Fluttershy, and decided that she needed to get herself into attack mode. Dragons have certain resistances to magic that the Ursa Major didn’t. She hadn’t mentioned this to everypony in the hopes that it wouldn’t come to a fight with the dragon. But, it looked like that was unavoidable at this point. The beast wasn’t moving right now, but it would be soon.

Fluttershy continued to apologize, and slowly made her way to admitting to Luna that she was afraid of her. So, Fluttershy decided to close her eyes, and just get it out of the way.

Clamping her eye’s closed, Fluttershy blurted it all out, “And, I’m also afraid of you Princess Luna! The last time we met… You were Night Mare Moon! And, I know that you’re not anymore… But I can’t—“

Fluttershy opened her eyes when she heard a strange noise coming from in front of her. Looking ahead, instead of seeing Princess Luna, she saw black smoke. Luna had been completely shrouded in it. Fluttershy wasn’t sure what was going on. “Princess…?”

Princess Luna had done something that she knew would be received with mixed reception. She was changing back to the form of Night Mare Moon. She had more power in that form. And looked more intimidating to boot. Even if her friends were scared at first, she would show them that she was on their side immediately.

However, when the smoke cleared, and everypony could see Night Mare Moon, one thing happened that surprised them all.

Fluttershy’s eye’s expanded to a size that none of them though possible. And, after a moment of her simply shaking in place with her mouth hanging open, she did the first thing that came to her mind.

Turn around, and run away.

And, due to her crippling fear of Night Mare Moon, when Fluttershy turned around and saw the Dragon, she didn’t care.

Fluttershy started flying toward the Dragon at an incredible speed, and when she hit the dragon in the stomach, she took the entire beast with her into the cave.

It truly was a sight to be seen. A small yellow pony pushing a fully grown dragon all the way back into a cave, moving at a speed that truly shocked them all.

After a few seconds, everypony lost sight of the small pony and the dragon to the darkness. However, they knew that Fluttershy and the Dragon had hit the wall at the back of the cave, as the entire mountain shook violently.

The next few seconds of silence were agonizing. Nopony knew what had happened. However, their questions were soon answered when the ground started thumping again. The dragon was coming back out. MUCH faster this time.

Luna stood her ground, ready for the fight that was sure to come next.

However, that fight never came, as the dragon came out of the cave, crying its eyes out, and immediately took off and flew away.

“I should have listened to them!” The dragon’s voice boomed as it flew away in tears, “She really IS the strongest pony in Equestria!”

Everypony in the group stood in the group stood in a state of shock.

The only one who was able to form words was Alex. “You guys… I think Fluttershy might be the DragonBorn...”

Dash looked at him confused. “The what…?”

Alex was really glad that he wasn’t in his world. He would look like a huge dork right now.

“Uh… Never mind.”

After the initial shock had passed, the group decided to go in and look for Fluttershy.

Going into the cave, everypony walked down to main chamber where the dragon had been napping.

Looking around, Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen. But, after a few moments, Alex finally spotted her in the huge pile of treasure. He never would have spotted her if her pink tail hadn’t been sticking out.

“Fluttershy!” Alex said, levitating her out of the heap of gold. “That was amazing!”

“Night Mare Moon!” Fluttershy screamed immediately upon seeing Luna, who was still in her alternate form.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” Luna said, quickly casting the spell to return her to normal. “I didn’t turn evil again! I just went into that form so I could deal with the dragon properly!”

“R—Really?” Fluttershy said, still quaking.

“I promise!” Luna said sincerely.

“Well… O—Okay..” Fluttershy said slowly, calming down. “What happened to… Th-- The dragon?”

“It ran away!” Pinkie said excitedly.

“Eeyup!” Applejack agreed, “Cryin’ like a baby!”

“I had no idea you were so strong, dear!” Rarity added.

“I told you it would be easy!” Twilight said, beaming. “You just… did it a little differently than I thought you would!”

While the group continued to congratulate Fluttershy, Alex leaned over to Dash.

“Maybe she should teach me how to fly.” Alex whispered in Dash’s ear, earning a smack on the back of the head.

“Come on everypony!” Dash said, speaking up, “Why don’t we head home? We can keep talking about how amazing Fluttershy is on the way back!”

Everypony laughed at that as they headed out of the cave.

Walking together at the back of the group, Dash quickly leaned over and kissed Alex on the cheek.

“What was that for?” Alex asked, confused.

“That was for taking the blame for upsetting the dragon…” Dash said, “But don’t think it means anything! I was just saying thanks! That’s all!”

“I believe you!” Alex said smirking. “Besides, what other reason could there even be?”

“Exactly.” Dash said with a wink.

////

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