The Storm's Orchestration
Chapter 2:
Twilight rubbed the back of her head "Sorry you had to see that Fluttershy..."
Fluttershy giggled "You realize what he did right...?"
"What?"
"You just sent him to bed with the whole gem jar"
Twilight's jaw dropped as the realization hit her like a piano "Why that...!" Just as she was going to stand up, a yellow hoof grabbed her, causing her face to turn red as a flare.
"Tw-Twilight, don't be mad at him. I can't begin to tell you how many times Angel has done that trick to me just for extra carrots." With that, another small giggle came from Fluttershy, making Twilight's heart leap.
"Alright..." She said, sitting back down next to her friend. "But tomorrow, you can bet he's in trouble."
Fluttershy slowly began to unwrap the towels around her, revealing her mostly dried body. Twilight couldn't help but notice how she shined in the glow of the fire, she was saved from her inevitable slackjaw by a monstrous crash of thunder. "Eep!"
Twilight's mind went numb as Fluttershy huddled close to her, she could feel the warm body right up against her. Twilight could barely control her breathing. Just as the bliss began to fade, Fluttershy spoke up, "So… Twilight, do you think the Princesses ever have relationships?"
Twilight's heart did two backflips and a somersault, "W-Why do you ask...?" She was careful to control her voice, despite the pounding in her ears.
"Well, they've been alive for so long...They must have had suitors."
Twilight nodded "F-From what Princess Celestia has told me...It was more Luna who was the ‘Wild One’ as she called it..."
Fluttershy looked up. "Really? Princess Luna?!"
"I know, I couldn't believe it either. Apparently while Luna had a new suitor every few months, Celestia was waiting on that one that never came..." Twilight hadn't noticed until now that Fluttershy wasn't moving from where she was when the thunder struck .
"That's so tragic, always waiting on that pony...The one pony who is your soulmate, your perfect special somepony..."
"It's easier than you think..." Twilight held back a sigh as Fluttershy began to nuzzle into Twilight, before long, the young alicorn's mind began to drift.
"...Twilight?"
Twilight's eyes snapped open, did she just pass out? She turned to see Fluttershy staring directly at her. "Oh, sorry Fluttershy, I must've passed out..."
A friendly smile came from the yellow pegasus, "It is pretty late, I suppose I'll make up the couch..."
Twilight quickly shook her head. "No need, this castle has plenty of rooms, just choose one and jump in." Both the alicorn and the pegasus stood and stretched, Twilight careful not to make eye-contact, lest she risk gazing at her yellow and pink friend.
As they stopped in front of one of the many guest rooms, Twilight turned to say goodnight, "Well goodnight Fluttershy, I'll see you at breakfast in the morning, no questions asked." Fluttershy's genuine smile made Twilight's blush nearly run to her ears,
"Thank you again Twilight and goodnight..."
As Fluttershy turned to leave, virtually every fiber of Twilight's being was aching for her to act. This is it. Now or never!
"Fluttershy! Wait!"
"What is it Twili-" She was silenced by a pair of lavender lips pressed against hers, only to break apart a moment later.
"I'm sorry!" In a flash of purple, Twilight was gone, leaving the blushing pegasus frozen alone in the grand hallway.
"Oh...my..."
Twilight quickly locked her door behind her, unable to think straight. Oh no! Oh no! I actually did that! What if she tells the others!? What if she hates me!? What if she doesn't hate me?! Ok, wait, that'd be a good thing! But what if she doesn't like me, but she liked it, she'll run off and find some other mare! And I'll be left alone! She paced around her room, a prisoner to her own cascading thoughts until a small pounding came from her door, she froze in place until it ended. "That was clo-" It was at this moment, a figure appeared on her balcony in a strike of lightning. "Oh no! It's the "Failed Romance Pony! Here to steal my hopes and dreams!" At this point, Twilight had to slap herself for that one, she quickly opened her balcony door to see a familiar, but frightful sight, a drenched Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy, what are you...?!" A crash of lightning came down at that moment and, without thinking, Twilight pulled her in.
"Fluttershy, what were you doing out...?" She was silenced by a yellow hoof to her mouth.
"Twilight..." the lavender alicorn closed her eyes for impact, only the impact was...softer and...soaked...? She opened her eyes to see the yellow pegasus's hooves wrapped around her, "Twilight...Do you know why I asked if Princesses had relationships...?" the alicorn could only shake her head. "Because I wasn't sure if royalty would like a commoner like me..." Twilight was speechless, but she wrapped her own hooves back around the shaking pegasus "But...after that, I know now...Twilight, I am glad that you see me like you do..." Finally, the alicorn found the words to say, "I've always felt about you like this, long before I was a princess...In fact, if I wasn't a princess, I would've believed you to be one..."
"R-Really?!"
"Of course" Pulling back, Twilight moves the drenched mane away from Fluttershy's beauty...Fluttershy, I may now be the Princess of Friendship, but you're a true Princess to me..."
"P-Princess of what?"
"The Princess of my Heart..." With that, Twilight was tackled unexpectedly by the shy pegasus.
"Twilight!" She looked up only to be met with a pair of yellow lips meeting hers, the thunder and lightning seeming to orchestrate this coming of two hearts and the togetherness of one Princess to another.
Spike could only groan, his head on the kitchen table, as he felt his stomach turn and quake. "Why did Twilight LET me do this to myself...?" Just as he was about to head for the restroom, he noticed a sight that made it almost worth it, coming down the stairs were two ponies, an alicorn and pegasus, a wing draped around each other.
"I'm glad to see somepony is happy right now," Spike grumbled. Twilight stopped and stared at him, her wing still around Fluttershy, and the dragon prepared for the worst.
"Spike...Take the day off today."
This caused Spike to shoot up from the table, much to his stomach's displeasure. "W-Why...?"
"Because I'll be out most of the day..." Twilight said before pecking Fluttershy on the cheek. But just before Spike could run for the restroom and then Rarity's, she stopped him, "Oh, but there is one thing before you do, the Starswirl the Bearded Documentary Collection came in today and I need all 453 volumes alphabetized and catalogued." The baby dragon was left frozen with a expression of utter terror and an even worst upset stomach, the new couple made their way outside.
"Think you were too hard on him...?" Fluttershy asked her marefriend.
"Nah...He's just lucky I didn't order the Collector's Edition"
"Why's that...?"
"It comes with 1,450 volumes"
With that, the two made their way through Ponyville, a royal princess and her own personal princess going off to enjoy a new day.
Author's Note
Alright, so I wouldn't be publishing this if it wasn't for my friend, proofreader and editor Jules Winnfield, Thank you so much pal! And I do hope someone out there enjoys this story!
Chapter 1:
Ponyville wasn't unfamiliar with heavy storms, being a town heavily populated by Earth Ponies, many grew crops to sell at market, Sweet Apple Acres notwithstanding. However even Ponyvillians had to barricade themselves for the storm which now began to rage outside. Princess Twilight Sparkle and her assistant Spike had just finished barricading the last windows (even though the castle would most likely stand up to a Mach 5 Tornado, they always stood on the side of caution). Twilight brushed a bead of sweat away and sighed "Welp, that's the last of them!" Spike could only fall to the ground, if not a bit too dramatically.
"Finally! How many windows does this dang castle need anyway?" Spike asked, exhausted.
Twilight could only chuckle as she thought back to when the storm was first relayed to them by the Ponyville Weather Team.
Rainbow Dash, putting on her "best" professional voice and posture, cleared her throat before she began to read the important document in her hoof, "In order to make-up for the continuous errors in the Cloudsdale Storm Committee, we have permission to create a storm up to Level 4." This left many a Pegasus in a panicked uproar while most Unicorns and Earth ponies could only look on in confusion. Twilight, however, having read up on everything Pegasus after sprouting her own pair of wings, understood that a Level 4 storm was like being hit with a Mach 2 Tornado. Twilight jumped as the first burst of thunder made itself known.
"Welp, I better lock the door before the winds blow it off its hinges," she thought to herself, but just as she was about to lock the door, a bellowing cry could be heard outside.
"H-Hold on! Pl-Please!"
Twilight stared in shock as a yellow and pink blur dived into the castle, "Fl-Fluttershy!? What in Celestia's Light were you doing out in that!?" She was only answered by a quiet, shivering noise. "Spike, hurry and grab some towels!"
Spike ran to the top of the castle's stairway. "What, did the rain bust thro-" He stopped, mouth agape as he stared at the soaked Fluttershy. "Be right back!" Twilight quickly moved her friend in front of the massive fireplace as the purple dragon shot off for towels.
"Fluttershy, are you ok...?" A nodding motion came from behind the drenched mane.
"What were you doing out there?" she repeated her earlier question to the calming Pegasus.
"You see..." she began to speak in between shivers "After R-Rainbow Dash gave us the m-message, I went around Ponyville, making sure all of the animals’ homes were secure for the storm...I had just finished m-making sure Mr. and Mrs. Fox's b-burrow was safely sealed when the rain started..."
Twilight could only smile, her earlier panic melting away. "Of course that's what she was doing..." she had just levitated another piece of firewood onto the fire, reaching out her wing for Fluttershy when Spike came down with a stack of towels.
Twilight quickly shot back her wing as she took one of the towels, something Spike, however clearly noticed "Oh, this is going to be fun."
"Thanks Spike." He nodded and went over to sit by Twilight.
"You know, I could always just light this, why do you even buy firewood?" Spike turned his head only to see a concerned Twilight fixing towels around Fluttershy's coat, mane, and even laying one on her tail. Twilight was just about to scoot closer to Fluttershy;
"You know Twilight," Spike said, "there's a such thing as too much warmth." Spike barely hid his mischievous smile as Twilight turned back to her draconic friend, a small blush across her face.
"Well, I j-just don't want her to catch a cold or anything!"
"Twilight, I'm so sorry to worry you..." Fluttershy said, burying herself in the towels "I-I promise I won't be a burden like this again"
"Fluttershy...Don't you even say that..." Fluttershy's eyes turned to look directly into Twilight's, a shared blush between them. "This castle is as much yours as it is mine...You are one of my dearest friends..." Twilight was just about to grab Fluttershy's hoof when Spike spoke up once more.
"Not to mention that throne with the butterflies, I mean, that isn't exactly meant for Snips and Snails."
Twilight glared at him. "Spike, I'm trying to comfort a friend and all you can do is–" her scolding was put on halt by the tiniest of giggles from the pony bundled in towels.
Spike crossed his arms proudly "Finally, somepony with a sense of humor around here, seriously Twi, maybe you could take some lessons in taking a joke from Fluttershy here."
Twilight sighed with annoyance, "Spike, isn't it close to your bedtime?"
"I haven't had a bedtime in 2 years!" the purple dragon stood up in protest.
"Well, as a Princess of Equestria," – Twilight stood up and flared her wings– "I am issuing that all dragons serving as Assistants to a Princess must be in bed by..." –She quickly looked up at her clock– "9:45!"
Spike could only throw up his arms in surrender. "Fine, whatever, if you wanna spend time with Fluttershy that bad, be my guest!" He grumbled past Twilight and Fluttershy into the kitchen and back with his gem jar in hand "If you're sending me to bed, then I'm taking my midnight snack to go..."
~ ~ ~
Just as Spike reached the top of the staircase, he grinned at his brilliant acting skills. "Looks like Rarity's rubbing off on me." He looked quickly over the banister, "Go get her Twi..." He happily walked his way to his room, proud to have helped his friend and sister, but even happier to have gotten away with the whole gem jar!