Author's Note

Welcome back, friends. Another chapter means more story to be told, and that can only mean one thing; mutually assured destruction.

Just kidding. But enjoy and comment and like for more.

Step 4: Kindess

Princess Luna walked through the halls of the castle, her mind going to a few different places as she sought to get ready to perform her duties for the night. Even with her initial trouble of readjusting to the more modern world of Equestria after Twilight Sparkle and her friends freed her from the grasp of Nightmare Moon, she still preferred that over being trapped still. The sound of her steps echoed throughout the spacious hallway on the way back to her chambers. The nightlight of the moon came in through the spacious mosaic windows.

''Another beautiful night, courtesy of thou-I mean me, hehehe,'' Luna corrected her mistake. Oftentimes something that still plagued the younger sister would be that the occasional slip of the old tongue whenever she was not focusing or coming to anger. It began to wane some when she took the time to slow down in her actions. ''Hopefully-''

Luna was cut off by the distant sound of something hitting metal. Or metal hitting metal. the sudden change in the silence made her stop and tense. She closed her eyes and focused her magic on the direction the soundwave came from. It took a moment after isolating it from the small background sounds, but it soon came to her. It was. . .Celestia's room?

''Sister? She should be sleep. Unless something happened to her?'' Luna mused to herself as she galloped over to her sister's room. Ordinarily, she would be fast asleep as soon as she did her part in lowering the sun, and Luna would just resign herself to her duties in the most efficient way possible to minimize any issues. But even she knew when her instincts told her something was off. Or that perhaps she may be reading too much into it; it could be nothing. But it could also be something.

Luna groaned as she approached her sister's room, stopping just short of her hoof touching the door. Maybe she should leave it alone. Her duties did technically take precedence. But she couldn't help but feel. . .

No. It was Celestia after all, she was more than capable of taking care of herself. 1000 years by herself certainly proved that point in itself. But Luna wanted to be of some sort of help rather than just a pony doing her job. Maybe tomorrow; plus if there was an issue, Celestia would probably voice her concern or something similar. Luna's breathing hiked as she fought to tear herself away from the door. With any luck, Celestia did not hear her approach so she could be left to whatever it was that she was doing.

''I should be more considerate than to barge in, especially at this point,'' Luna said, shaking her head of the thoughts of something bad occurring. It would be better to settle things in the morn, where her sister would be in a better state of mind versus groggy and confused.

As Luna teleported back to her own quarters, the last she heard before casting the spell of that sound again. It sounded familiar, but also foreign. It also happened with the space of a second before the sound echoed again.

''Was that. . .Luna?'' Celestia asked, stopping what she was doing before setting what was held in her magic down and looked towards her door. She thought she heard the faint poof of a teleportation spell and the sound of her sister talking. At this hour? Perhaps she heard. . .it. ''No matter, as long as she didn't come in, then I would not be able to restrain myself,'' Celestia touched a hoof to her chest and peered at the papers on her desk about the Human that her agent was tracking. Celestia wanted to know every single thing about the disease that galavanted around her kingdom as if he belonged there.

She would have his weaknesses known, exploited and all of the fragile bonds that he has made with Twilight and her friends will crumble to dust. And then, and only then, when they beg for her forgiveness. . .she will consider allowing them to come back to her side, to let her rule be known throughout the land.

Only then, would the thought come across her mind.

''They will be begging for mercy when she gets done with them and they are laying at my hooves,'' Celestia snarled to herself, resolving herself. To her, the ultimate betrayal is of that to your country. ''The prices will be paid, one way or another.'' the sounds began to sound again she picked the object up again.

Fluttershy and Duncan sat down in her clearing behind her house, the lush green grass being blown through by a wave of wind, the faint smell of flowers and honey carried on the current as of the feeling of being one with nature. After the other day of having fun with Pinkie Pie and Cheerilee, but the plan to help Duncan integrate into the town had to be back on track. And Twilight still looked up any actual information about where the Equestrian Humans actually were exiled to so the chance to bridge borders could be bridged.

And with the lack of information at hand, it would take a minute to get anything concrete enough. And with Celestia not being the most cooperative, it would make things especially more difficult. So for the time being, all was. . .quiet.

Duncan decided on spending a few days at Fluttershy's house seeing as Twilight would be busying gathering information, Rainbow lived in the sky, and there were no immediate ideas where he could stay there and not fall through the floor, leaving the rest of the girls to decide amongst themselves to have different days where they would spend with Duncan and help to acclimate him to Ponyville.

''So you can talk to animals? That's actually pretty cool.'' Duncan commented, looking to see Fluttershy talking to her bear friend, Thomas. ''And you named them?''

Fluttershy finished scratching Thomas's belly, much to his displeasure when she flew over and smiled over at him, looking absolutely ecstatic to have somepony else be more invested in animals beside the girls. ''Oh yes, well most of them. Other times, depending on where they grew up, they end up hearing ponies talk and say names, and they decide based on that.''

''So, do you think they understand me even though it's not two way?'' Duncan wondered, rubbing the feathers of a Toucan that perched on a nearby stand that took a liking to Duncan. The brightly colored beak and color contrast of its lime green and black body colors reminded him of something from his past, and well every kid's past if they grew up with a certain brand of breakfast cereal. ''Do you know what I just said?'' Duncan asked rhetorically, expecting silence in return. He did, however not expect the bird to nod his head and caw a bit. The size of Duncan's eyes may as well have been the size of dinner plates when the bird ended up nuzzling his shoulder when it came closer.

''Answered your own question,'' Fluttershy giggled, looking to see the bird caw again, but at Fluttershy for a few moments. Nodding and smiling, Fluttershy pointed at Duncan as the bird nodded again and cawed, flapping its wings before taking flight and soaring off into the sky and arching around and flying back down to the ground, soaring in between the pair as Duncan felt its feathers graze his cheek as it flew by, knocking him on the ground from the sudden surprise before it returned, landing on the ground in the space between its legs. In its beak, although a bit marred, was a peach.

''He says he wants you to have it.'' Fluttershy said, the bird dropping the fruit in front of him and waiting.

''Really? Well, thanks little guy,'' Duncan reached a hand out as the bird tilted its head for a moment, looking at Fluttershy, who was all to happy to translate.

''He wants you to shake his hand. Kind of like a nuzzling but you may have to use your beak.''

The bird looked to think for a moment before hopping forward and allowing Duncan to wrap his hand around his beak and shake it for a few seconds. When he let go, the bird cawed again, extending a wing to Duncan again before it flew up on his leg, being mindful of his claws. Peering at the bird with an amused expression, Fluttershy shrugged. ''That's up to Duncan.''

''What are they saying?'' Duncan thought.

''Um, care to translate?'' Duncan asked, not understanding fully what was going on. He knew it was nothing bad, but the language barrier did annoy him to a degree.

''Oh!"' Fluttershy was surprised at the tone of his voice, forgetting for a moment he did not have her talent of animal interpretation. ''This Toucan's name is Rain, and he wanted me to tell you that he thinks you smell nice and that he wanted to know if you want to be friends. That's why he brought you the peach; he likes you.''

''Really? A. . .Toucan? He wants to be my friend?'' Duncan looked to Rain, who nodded again and cawed. ''Why? We just met.''

Fluttershy called Rain over and held her hoof out for him to sit upon as she explained. ''Well, a few weeks ago, before you got here, this little guy showed up with a broken wing. I nursed him back to health and he told me what had happened with his last owner. He had been used as a bird to help perform tricks, but one went horribly wrong and ended up breaking his right wing,'' Fluttershy gestured to Rain, who nodded sadly. ''I don't know for how long he had been like that, but I just knew he somehow managed to find his way on a cart full of the animal I normally get once a week and needed somepony to help heal him.''

Duncan felt a bit of sadness when hearing that, but paused when a certain question entered his mind. ''How come he wasn't defensive of me for the past hour?''

''Oh, that's because I told him about you whenever I talked to my animal friends. And it sounded like to me that he wanted to meet you. But I didn't think that he would take such a quick liking to you,'' Fluttershy pet Rain as he cawed softly.

''Hmm,'' Duncan held his chin and thought. He knew was. . .liked to a small degree, just not that well from an initial meeting. He didn't see any possible issue with making another friend; especially knowing that they would be needed in this time of uncertainty. The only issue would be the lack of communication between the two that would be the hardest thing to deal with.

''Sure.'' Duncan said, smiling at Rain. He did want a pet after being thrown from his home. He always wondered if his cat would be ok without him there. Then he remembered that his cat was a cat.

''She'll be fine, plus I doubt she even noticed that I left,'' Duncan joked to himself as he held his forearm out. ''Sure thing, bud.''

Rain cawed over and over, flying over to his arm and nuzzling the human as he giggled and accepted the affection. That would make 2 new friends made in the span of less than a week. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought he had a friend quota to make. ''Just don't be expecting me to understand you all the time.''

The pair began to chat, with Fluttershy playing the role of translator. Soon, the two of them began to bond. But something that came up in his mind was the true extent of their efforts in trying to get the town to open and accept, as well as believe that Humans used to roam in Equestria and that they are not more than myth.

With Fluttershy beginning to show him the beginning phases of it, he thought maybe kindness could be one of the factors to overcome to barrier. At least he hoped.

''Playing with mindless animals, are you? Fitting for a lesser being such as yourself. . .I suppose the time to make my own move is drawing near. Just make sure you can put enough of a fight when the time comes.''