Fluttershy sighed with frustration as she put another tome down on the growing pile next to her, reaching for another tome with little to no enthusiasm. There were only two tomes left to read, and so far she had found little to no information on what she was searching for.

Unknown to most of her friends, she had always harbored a deep fascination for magic, specifically a branch of magic that had vanished long ago due to it going out of practice among those who had used it. The lost art was called Tattoo magic, kind magic that aloud pegasi to use magic without the use of a horn. The art itself had been created and perfected by the ancient pegasi, drawing on their already existing magical abilities and making it so that they could use it for more than just weather control.

But after the founding of Equestria, the art had slowly gone out of practice, till it had finally died out over a thousand years ago. Sure, there had been many tries to resurrect it, but they had all failed, mostly due to the unicorns labeling it as a danger due to what was required to cast it.

With a sigh at that last thought, she skimmed through the new tome, looking for anything that might hint at how to bring the art back to life, but sighed again as she found nothing conclusive.

After grabbing the last tome reading it, she placed it down on the stack, depression setting in. These books had been her last hope, her last chance to fulfill a dream her mother had given her when she was little.

Fluttershy’s mother was descendant from some of the greatest of the Pegasi practitioners in the lost art, but like all the others, they too had given up their art and all that was left of their heritage was stories of their magical might, though those two were fading as well.

She looked back at the pile of books, a frown forming on her face as she got up, grabbing her saddle bags. “I guess I better go return these to Twilight so she can send them back to Canterlot.”

As she put the books in her bag her thoughts drifted to Twilight, smiling a bit as she thought of her bookish friend. She had been highly curious as to what Fluttershy was looking for, but Fluttershy had kept quiet about what specifically she was looking for, only that she was interested in learning about magic.

Of course, this line of thinking led her to Princess Celestia, like it always did when she was thinking of these things. Celestia had lived for thousands of years, and she would have been around during the time to possibly learn of the lost art, but she couldn’t just ask the Princess for help.

She needed somepony she knew, a friend who she could talk to, who had lived during that time and could have learned of those arts. But as she racked her brain, the only pony she could think of was…

“Luna,” she said out loud, grabbing the rest of the books and running out the door, not even bothering to check on her animals as she left. She understood of coarse why she hadn’t thought of Luna right off the bat, for she had only become friends with her a few months back, but this was the perfect solution to her predicament. Luna was a friend, a pony she could feel comfortable asking about things regardless of the fact that she was a ruler of Equestria.

She reached the library in record time, well for her anyway, knocking lightly on the door and waiting patiently outside. Soon enough though the door opened, and Twilight poked her head out, smiling when she saw it was Fluttershy.

“Come on in,” said Twilight; opening the door wider to allow the usually timed mare into her library, noting the happy spring in her step. “Wow Fluttershy, what’s got you so happy today? Did you find what you were looking for in those books?”

“No, but I found a solution to my problem,” said Fluttershy, “do you think you could write a letter to Princess Luna?”

“Sure, but why do you need to get in contact with her?”

“Well it’s regarding the bit of magic I wanted to look up, everything I could find said it went out of practice over a thousand years ago, so I was going to head to Canterlot to talk with Luna and see if she knew anything about it. I wanted you to write the letter to ask her if it would be ok if I came over to visit, that is...if you don't mine writing it for me?”

Twilight looked sort of surprised at this, for she was not used to Fluttershy being so excited, as well as her planning a trip alone to Canterlot. Whatever Fluttershy had been looking for seemed really important to her, and that only increased Twilight's curiosity as to what it was she was looking for.

“Do you promise to tell me what exactly you’re looking up when you get back?”

“Of course,” responded Fluttershy, smiling at her as Twilight grabbed a piece of parchment and quill and began to write out the letter to Luna.

Luna sat in her bed chambers, the daylight creeping in through her black curtains and stinging her eyes. She had been going over some ancient volumes of late; she was still learning everything that had changed over her thousand year disappearance. As she went to grab another tome however, a magical green flame appeared in the air, which startled her as it expelled a scroll addressed to her, which she grabbed with her magic. She knew who the scroll was from of course, she had seen hundreds in her sister’s study, but she had never once had one addressed to her before that was sent via Twilight's dragon companion.

Curious as to what might lay inside, she unrolled it, thinking it must be important, and began to read.

Dear Princess Luna

I’m sorry for not talking to you in a while, it’s been rather busy here in Ponyville and I have not had a chance to visit. I’m writing today to ask if Fluttershy can come over and visit, she has been delving into the fields of magical research and wanted go over some things with you about a particular field she was looking into, for it seems to have gone out of practice a long time ago and she had hopes that you might know more about it.

Your friend

Twilight Sparkle

Luna looked at the letter in surprise, digesting the letters contents and rolling them around as she thought. A visit from Fluttershy to study magic, this struck the moon princess most odd.

From all their brief encounters, Luna had gauged her as the timid one out of all their friends, so to hear that she was researching magic, and making such an impromptu visit to Canterlot to see her was unusual. But something else intrigued her about the letter, the part about old magic, which reminded her of another who had sought to talk to her on a similar issue.

Regardless of the intriguing circumstances, she could not ignore the opportunity to help strengthen her friendship with Fluttershy. Out of all her new friends, she hadn’t spent that much time with Fluttershy, and this would be a wonderful opportunity to get to know the mare better.

She grabbed a quill and parchment then, quickly writing a response and telling Twilight that she would love for Fluttershy to come and visit, and that she was more than willing to help with whatever the mare needed. She then used her magic to send the message and then waited a bit, not at all surprised when another scroll appeared a few moments later, which she caught and unrolled to read.

Dear Princess Luna

Thank you for your quick response, Fluttershy was so excited she bounced out the door like Pinkie Pie if you can believe it. I have never seen her this happy before, and I hope you can help her with whatever she is looking for. I will probably be in Canterlot in a few days myself, so I will be seeing you soon.

Your friend

Twilight Sparkle

Luna smiled at that, glad that her answer had caused such joy in one of her friends. She then got up, deciding that she would meet Fluttershy at the train station, for it would make getting to the palace much faster. So with that thought in mind she teleported, leaving her history books forgotten on the bedside table.

Fluttershy walked off the train into the station, smiling as she spotted a familiar form parting the crowd to meet her. She walked up to the lunar princess, hugging her in that way friends do when they haven’t seen each other in a long while, before backing away to let the mare speak.

“It is wonderful to see you again Fluttershy,” said Luna, looking down at the yellow pegasus with a smile on her face. “I was surprised when I received your letter, very unusual request on your part.”

“Well I figured you would be the best option to ask about the branch of magic I’m looking up, next to your sister you’re the only one who might know about it.”

“And what sort of magic would that be,” said Luna as they walked, “I find myself highly curious about what you have been up to.”

“Um, could we not talk about it out here, I don’t know how ponies might react if I spoke about it.”

Now Luna was very curious, and quickly teleported them to her room in the castle. “Why don’t you take a seat, I’ll go get us something to eat ok?”

Fluttershy nodded, taking a seat on the couch as Luna quickly grabbed some things for them to eat, and then sat down. “So what kind of magic was it you were looking into my dear Fluttershy?”

“Um…I…I was hoping you know about the pegasi art of tattoo magic?”

Luna gave her a surprised look, a little shocked that she had asked her that. “Why…why yes I do know of it, I trained under the finest practitioner of the art at the time, a mare by the name of Fleeting Steps if I remember…”

She was interrupted by a loud squee of delight from the little mare, who began bouncing around the room with glee like a certain pink pony she knew before stopping in front of Luna. “You were taught by my ancestor Fleeting Steps, my mom used to tell me stories about her all the time, do you think you can teach me what she taught you about tattoo magic?”

Again Luna looked at her with surprise, wondering if this was the same mare she had met all those months ago. “You want me to teach you how to use tattoo magic?”

Fluttershy nodded excitedly, “Yes I do, I’ve wanted to learn about it ever since I was a little foal. My mom used to tell me all sorts of stories about that kind of magic, about how it allowed pegasi to use their magic just like the unicorns did, and I always wanted to give it a try, for from what I heard it becomes like second nature to any pegasi that practices it, so please will you teach me.”

Luna was then hit with one of the most adorable faces she had ever seen, a pleading look she was sure should be banned for the shear amount of daww it was causing to rise within her. “You cannot say no to that face,” said a voice inside her head, “You shall not say not to that face!”

Luna cleared her throat to quite her mind, and then spoke to the waiting mare, “Very well, it would be my pleasure to share your heritage with you Fluttershy.”

She then squeaked as Fluttershy grabbed her up in a hug, feeling the mare bury her face in her chest as she hugged her tight, “Thank you.”

Luna smiled, and then returned the hug with a gentle one of her own. “You are quite welcome my friend, now let us retire for the day, for I work better at night.”

Fluttershy nodded, then let go of Luna, going over to the couch to lie down, only to have Luna pick her up with her magic. “Luna, what are you doing?!”

“No friend of mine is going to sleep on the couch, you shall be sharing my bed during your stay; it’s big enough for the both of us I think.”

Fluttershy didn’t struggle, but inside she was panicking out of control, not really knowing what to do about this situation. Now it wasn’t well known to her friends, all save Rainbow and Rarity of course, but Fluttershy wasn’t exactly what you would call an innocent pony in terms of what happened behind barn doors.

In some circles, it could even be said she had…been around the town…a couple of times. That’s not to say she was a whorse, no nothing like that, she just didn’t mind sharing herself with a pony when the mood arose.

Of course Fluttershy did have rules when it came to her…“special friends,” and at the moment she was about to break one of her own personal rules, “don’t share a bed with somepony you have not made arrangements with, it complicates matters.”

But there was no way she could say no to Luna, for she had something Fluttershy wanted beyond a beautiful body…a very beautiful body.

“Fluttershy get a hold of yourself, she has something you have been wanting since you were a little filly, just keep this professional, it doesn’t have to go there…unless she brings it up.”

She had been so lost in her thoughts she had not realized she had been placed on the bed, softly eeping when she felt Luna wrap herself around her, moving her head under Fluttershy’s chin to get comfortable. “This feels nice,” said Luna, “it has been long since we have lain with a mare like this…it’s nice.”

Fluttershy’s panic immediately ebbed, her loving nature taking hold as she rested comfortably against Luna, greeting sleep like an old friend as her worries washed away.

Author's Note

Made some fixes and added a few lines, but for the most part the chapter is still the same. More edits to come soon for the later chapters, so stay tuned.