An Unstoppable Force of Destruction

Celestia set down her book with a sigh and rose from her spot in the library. Luna was facing out the window, her eyes closed as she scanned the subconscious minds of her subjects for nightmares, a mug of coffee levitating idly beside her.

"Good night, Luna. As always, the night is yours." Celestia said drowsily.

"Thank you, Celestia." Luna replied, smiling at her sister. "Have a good sleep."

Left to her own devices, Luna quickly became increasingly bored with the library, and after swiftly finishing her coffee, the Princess of the Night set out on a directionless journey across the empty castle. Not even a guard stirred to interrupt Luna's thoughts, though at one point she thought she could her the faint laughter of a mare in the distance, but she dismissed this as her own sleep-deprived imagination. In time, Luna found herself in the main hall, at this hour void of life, her own hoofbeats the only sound to break the serene night.

Suddenly, Luna noticed something near the center of the main hall that certainly looked out of place. Tip toeing cautiously towards the objects, Luna picked it up with her magic as she got closer, levitating it towards herself.

It was a feather.

"What in Equestria..." Luna muttered, confused. It wasn't unusual to find pegasus feathers lying around (although it was greatly demeaned to not preen oneself carefully) but this was most certainly not a pegasus feather. Luna's mind raced furiously. There was an intruder within the castle...and it wasn't a pony. Should she awaken her sister? Princess Luna was ready to sprint to her sister's sleeping chamber when a light rustling from above caused her to whip around. The room was flooded in darkness as one of the overhanging lights were suddenly extinguished. Above her, the large chandelier was moving ever so slightly, the glass fixtures pinging together like the cadence of wind-chimes.

"Who goes there!" Luna called out harshly. "Show yourself, thou villainous avian coward!"

Suddenly, without warning, a dark shadow descended upon Princess Luna.

Fluttershy awoke with a start as she was repeatably assaulted by some manner of terrifying monster. She whipped around to face her imminent demise and was shocked to see Angel Bunny kicking her side frantically.

"A...angel?" Fluttershy stammered, sighing in relief. "Oh my...you scared me! What's wrong, honey?"

Angel Bunny furiously forced Fluttershy onto her feet and bounced frantically around the empty courtyard.

"I...I don't understand what you're afraid of, Angel...there's nopony here--"

A sudden wave of realization shot over Fluttershy as she looked across the empty branches rustling in the midnight breeze.

"There's nopony here!" She screamed hysterically. "Where did all the animals go?"

Fluttershy was crying now, while Angel sighed and brought his hands to his side in a 'told you so' gesture.

"I trusted them!" Fluttershy cried. "I didn't want them to feel scared and lonely...and I trusted them! We don't have time to loose, Angel! We need to find those animals, before something terrible happens!"

Angel nodded, and hopped on Fluttershy's back as the pegasus took of into the air. Suddenly, she caught a quick glimpse of movement as she flew and she darted back to the earth quickly. Angel grabbed onto her mane as she landed hard on the ground, dashing towards where she had seen the movement. She wasn't far from the clearing where she had slept, and she silently cursed herself for not checking around here at first.

Lying down in the grass was nearly a dozen familiar animals, and Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief as she saw all her animal friends had remained where she had told them to. Angel was awakening them now, much more gracefully then he had awoken Fluttershy, and they all looked from him to Fluttershy expectantly.

"Ahem." Fluttershy began nervously. "There has been an...incident. Everything is perfectly under control, but I need you all to stay right here no matter what, and if you see the Canterlot animals, make sure they do NOT leave the clearing where we first met. "

The animals instantly began chattering loudly, obviously not satisfied with Fluttershy's vagueness.

"I don't have time for this!" Fluttershy asserted. "I'm sorry, my friends, but I need you to trust me. Do not leave this spot, because if you do, I will be VERY angry. I'll see you guys soon."

With that, Fluttershy tore back into the sky, Angel frantically grabbing her tail and crawling onto her back. The two scanned the courtyard for signs of life, and suddenly Angel was jumping up and down and pointing at a black and white figure in a tree.

"Oh! It's the panda bear!" Fluttershy screamed happily. "He's just...sleeping..." She knew from her research that pandas were usually rather lazy animals, and did not travel swiftly or frequently. Right now, he was the least of her concerns, and she instead flew higher above the courtyard. Soon, she was above Canterlot Castle, landing on one of the taller spires overlooking the courtyard. Across from her was the main hall, which she could only assume was void of life at this hour. If she didn't find the animals before sunrise...Fluttershy shuddered at the thought of Princess Celestia discovering that each and every one of the rare, exotic, endangered animals had escaped, and Fluttershy was entirely to blame. No more Element of Kindness, no more Equestria, no more friendship.

"No. I'll find them!" Fluttershy said aloud.

The main hall ahead of her was completely dark, but Fluttershy noticed a glimmer of light coming from the roof. Squinting her eyes in an attempt to see it more clearly, Fluttershy realized she was looking at the moon reflecting off of an open skylight that led into the main hall. Angel Bunny had apparently noticed it too, and pointed towards it while tugging Fluttershy's mane.

"Yes honey, I see it. You think we should check it out?" Fluttershy knew better than to doubt Angel's judgment now...if she would have listened to him earlier, she wouldn't even be in this mess. Motioning for him to hop back onto her back, Fluttershy spread her wings and sailed across the midnight sky, touching down quietly on the main hall roof. The open skylight was surrounded by what Fluttershy quickly deduced as flamingo feathers. She let out a quiet exclamation of joy and hugged Angel happily, before peering into the main hall from the skylight. As she had predicted, the room was empty.

Wasting no time, Fluttershy lowered herself through the skylight and hovered in the empty room, the regal red carpeting beneath her easily 60 feet down. Even from her great height, Fluttershy could make out several brightly colored flamingo feathers dotting the floor. Suddenly, Fluttershy noticed something she hadn't before, and cried out happily when she did, her laughter echoing in the main hall. Angel sprang to life, shoving his paw onto Fluttershy's mouth to silence her.

"Look, Angel!" She whispered, as she flew towards one of the many immense overhanging chandeliers. Perched on top of the delicate fixture were several brightly colored flamingos, sleeping peacefully. Fluttershy landed on the fixture next to them, and shuddered when she heard the chandelier creak audibly under the stress of so much weight. Angel jumped off her back as soon as she landed, and rudely awoke each of the flamingos, much to Fluttershy's dismay. They all looked at her innocently, and it took the best of her resolve to fall back on her anger.

"You...you bad birds!" She whispered. "You aren't supposed to be here! Do you have any idea how worried I've been?"

The innocence was gone from their eyes, replaced by guilt. But Fluttershy wasn't done yet. Widening her eyes and staring straight into their own cold avian irises, Fluttershy spoke again.

"Now, you will return to the courtyard immediately, and if I EVER have to come looking for you again, you will certainly be sorry!"

Hypnotized by the supreme power of Fluttershy's stare, the flamingos nodded absently and flew off through the open skylight. Angel nodded approvingly at Fluttershy, and just as Fluttershy was about to take off after them, his eyes grew wide and he frantically shook his head and motioned for her to be quiet. Fluttershy complied without question, and quickly realized what it was the rabbit had heard as Princess Luna strode into the room.

Fluttershy couldn't quite see where she was from within the light fixture, but she was rather certain Luna would be able to see her clearly by the light of the chandelier. As quietly as possible, the pegasus blew out the flame and huddled in fear as she heard Luna breathing heavily underneath her. Suddenly, the Princess of the Night spoke, causing Fluttershy to jump in fright.

""Who goes there! Show yourself, thou villainous avian coward!"

Fluttershy didn't remember how exactly she had wound up falling from the chandelier, but before she knew it, the ground was quickly approaching her, and Fluttershy knew there was no way she would be surviving a fall from this height. Unfurling her wings, Fluttershy glided to safety, Angel almost falling of his owners back at the sudden inertia. Flying now, Fluttershy turned to face Princess Luna, who was almost unidentifiable in the darkness. With a gasp of relief, Fluttershy realized it was entirely possible Luna had not even realized it was her that suddenly dropped from the sky and was now flying rapidly towards the long corridor at the end of main hall. Behind her, she could hear heavy wingbeats and knew she was mere seconds away from what would surely be banishment.

At least the flamingos were safe.

With ease, Luna used her magic to slam the door to the main hall, instantly cutting off the fleeing pegasi's escape. The villain skidded to a halt as it instantly stopped flying to avoid slamming into the closed door. Whipping around, terrified, the pegasi was facing her now, and Luna thought she could see another creature sitting on its back.

"And just where do you think you're going, thou wrongdoer?" Luna said proudly, her horn glowing with magic.

"P...please..." A shy voice cooed fearfully. "Please don't hurt me, Princess Luna."

Luna stopped flapping abruptly, hitting the ground hard and stumbling to maintain her balance. Using her magic to illuminate the room, she gawked in disbelief as she found herself face to face with the Element of Kindness herself, cowering in fear on the floor of the main hall.

"Fluttershy?!" Luna said in surprise as she shook her head and regained her regal posture. "Care to explain what exactly you are doing breaking into the royal castle in the dead of night, and why I shouldn't just have you escorted from Canterlot immediately?"

Despite what logic could possibly dictate, Fluttershy looked even more terrified as she met Luna's eyes.

"I...I'm so sorry..." She cried softly, the sound of her tears echoing across the otherwise emotionless main hall. "I...I'll go right now...I'm a terrible pony..." Fluttershy turned to flee, but Luna stopped her dead in her tracks with her next statement.

"No! You will explain to me why you are here, what this feather I found belongs to, and finally, why it was found within this castle!"

Fighting back more tears, Fluttershy explained the situation through panicked sobs, staring at her hooves and doing her best to avoid eye contact with the Princess of the Night. Luna nodded absently through Fluttershy's story.

"...and...I heard you come in...and...I..." Trying desperately to get the words out, Fluttershy suddenly burst into tears as her rabbit friend tried to console her. Luna blinked in bewilderment.

"That...that's it?" She began slowly. "Well, I'm sorry, Fluttershy! And here I thought I was looking at some sort of serious security threat! Well, the castle is yours, although I'm sure I would have noticed animals running about within these walls."

Now it was Fluttershy's turn to be confused. "You're not angry? You aren't going to banish me? Or take my animal friends away from me? Celestia is going to be furious that I let her down!"

Luna laughed innocently. "Oh come now, it isn't that serious! As a matter of fact, Celestia doesn't even need to know about this."

Fluttershy wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at Princess Luna. She thought about how terrified she used to be of the Princess of the Night...how she had thought of her as a heartless, murderous beast. A sharp tinge of guilt shot through her as she looked into the eyes of such a kind and forgiving pony.

"Between you and me, Fluttershy..." Luna whispered, before convincing herself not to. It was odd enough she was conversing with a commoner so casually, she most certainly was not going to let her in on her sister's intentions for a cruel practical joke. "Ah, never mind. Good luck finding your animal friends. I'll give you a shout if I find anything."

Fluttershy was speechless, but managed to mouth a timid thank you. Princess Luna chuckled lightly and used her magic to open the door in front of her, and Fluttershy turned and sprinted away faster than Luna had ever seen a pegasus move.

Luna watched the empty hall for a long while, when a loud yawn alerted her of her sisters presence in the room. Turning around, she saw Celestia blinking sleepily as she walked through the door.

"What in Equestria is going on, Luna? Did I hear you shouting a few minutes a go?"

"Umm..." Luna stuttered, blushing. "No, Tia. You must have been dreaming."

"Mmm hmm." Celestia agreed sleepily and left the room to return to sleep, leaving behind a relieved Princess Luna and failing to notice a particularly troublesome flamingo feather.