Fluttershy poured herself a cup of tea.
There was no sound to be heard throughout her cottage. The floor was reasonably clean. There were some tiny feathers scattered close to the windowsill, and a barely nibbled-on and still fresh carrot near the mousehole. In a corner of the room, very easy to miss, was a small pile of dirt, mixed with errant breadcrumbs and bits of greenish things. Next to that, a broom and handle propped against the wall.
Fluttershy smiled as she breathed in, inviting tea vapors into her nose. She put the cup back on the tea table and climbed the couch, settling down. Inquisitively, she reached out, and when her not yet completely outstretched forelegs had crossed the distance to the cup successfully, smiled again and pulled them back in.
She lowered her head to rest it on her forelegs and closed her eyes. Her breathing began to slow down.
The silence was broken by a series of knocks on the door.
Fluttershy opened one eye and frowned. She rose and turned her head to look at the door. Nothing appeared to happen, but just as Fluttershy was growing puzzled, there came another series of knocks.
“Fluttershy? Are you home? It’s me, Twilight!” a muffled voice came through.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Oh, Twilight? I’m here!” she called out, swiftly unfurled her wings and lifted herself off the couch, flew towards the door and opened.
The hut was suddenly filled with the sound of snoring pouring in through the open doorframe. Fluttershy found Twilight Sparkle looking to the side, puzzled, at a large brown bear lying on his back in Fluttershy’s front yard, with several sleeping bunnies on top of his belly. He was snoring the loudest, but the sound was put together by an orchestra of peacefully sleeping woodland creatures, as far as the eyes could see.
“Twilight?”
“Huh?” Twilight swiveled around. “Oh! Heh. Hi. I was just wondering what was going on for a second.”
“Why, it’s nap time!” Fluttershy answered, cheerful.
Twilight snickered, eyes wandering over to the bear again. “Yes, I figured out as much.” She looked back at Fluttershy with a start. “Oh! We should probably go in before we wake them, right?”
Fluttershy smiled and stepped to the side, waiting for Twilight to pass through the doorframe, horn and wings and all, and closed it.
The hut was quiet again. Twilight paced through the room, looking around. “You know, you’ve got a really beautiful house!” she said.
“Thank you!” Fluttershy beamed, then raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been here before, though. It’s not that different from usual, is it?” She started walking over to a cupboard, close to the stove.
“No, it’s just that I’m not here often. And last time was when we had the dinner party with Discord. Didn’t look much like this back then. My memory is kind of …” Twilight put on a frown slightly tinged by nausea, while Fluttershy produced another teacup from the cupboard. “Spinny on that one.” Twilight raised a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. “That might be why I don’t remember this place so well.”
Fluttershy giggled as she carefully guided the tea pot with her teeth to pour out another cup. Once she’d placed the pot neatly back, she looked at Twilight again, pointing a hoof at the table. “Would you like some tea?”
Twilight turned around from looking at a picture of flowers on the wall. “Oh! Yes, of course,” she said, approaching the table with a warm, slightly embarassed smile on her face. “Thanks.”
“It’s no bother at all,” Fluttershy said, climbing the couch to lie down as she had before. Just as she had gotten comfortable, she turned towards Twilight with a frown. “Oh, um, would you like the couch?”
Twilight blinked at her. She looked around, scanning the room until her eyes met a cushioned bench under a window. With a look of concentration, she set her horn aglow and guided the bench, hovering under her magic, until it was placed neatly next to the tea table, exactly perpendicular to the couch. Her magic flickered and died out. Twilight smiled with pride.
Fluttershy smiled, and reached for her teacup.
Twilight frowned, and looked over at her friend, anxious. “Is it okay that I moved your bench? I’ll move it back later.”
Fluttershy stared at her for a second, then smiled and nodded. “Oh, of course! If we don’t have two seats, one of us would have to stand! You can’t have tea that way,” she said, matter-of-factly.
Twilight smiled, and sat down on the bench, fidgeting until she was comfortable, and looked at Fluttershy again, who had closed her eyes and taken a sip of tea. With a glow of her horn, Twilight let the other cup fly over close to her mouth and sniffed the vapors rising from out of it. She smiled a tiny smile of delight, and levitated the cup back onto the table. She looked back at Fluttershy again, who had her head resting on her forelegs, smiling relaxedly, eyes closed.
Fluttershy opened her eyes again when she heard the clacking of hooves touching the floor. She looked up and at Twilight, who stood facing the bench, trying to focus her magic, a distressed, guilty look on her face. “Twilight, what’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry, Fluttershy! Nap time, of course, what was I thinking?”
“Twilight, it’s okay! Leave the bench!” Fluttershy said, raising a hoof. “It’s okay.”
Twilight paused, and let her magic fade before the bench had moved. She turned to look at her friend, uneasy.
“It’s nap time for the animals. I just have tea,” Fluttershy explained.
Twilight blinked. She didn’t abandon her worried expression, but she did lay down back on the bench, hesitantly. She looked around the room again. It was as quiet as before. “Just tea?” she asked after a while.
Fluttershy smiled and nodded, then rose a considering hoof to her chin. “Well, sometimes I do nap. But usually I just drink tea and relax.”
Twilight looked out of the window to the front yard, where the bear had just turned around in his sleep, forcing a couple of surprised bunnies to find another spot. “You do that every day?”
“Not Thursday; that’s when I go to the spa with Rarity. Sometimes something else comes up. But usually, yes.”
Twilight nodded, still frowning. “I see. You’ve got the animals around you all day, so you take time off to relax sometimes.”
“Uh-huh,” Fluttershy said, smiling. Her eyes longingly drifted towards the tea table again.
Twilight looked down at her front hooves. “So, it is your ‘alone time’. I’m sorry for just butting in like that.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened, and she quickly put her teacup back on the table. “Oh, don’t worry! You’re always welcome! I told you," she chided, "It’s no bother at all."
Twilight eyed her, still unsure, then returned the smile and enveloped her cup and her horn in a glow of magic. Fluttershy sighed in relief, and reached out for her own cup another time. Both of them took a deep sip at the same moment. It was quiet, but not for very long.
“Wow, this is really lovely tea!” Twilight said.
“Thank you!” Fluttershy happily replied.
Twilight looked at the cup, suspended in the air in a glow of magic, a faint smile on her face. She let her eyes wander until they met the clock on the wall, mouthed the time silently, floated the cup back on the table and got off the bench. “Um, Fluttershy?”
“Yes?”
Twilight walked into the center of the living room, checking the ground and the distance between furniture, until she placed her hooves precisely in the middle of the largest area free of obstacles the room had to offer. “Would you mind if I do some wing stretching?”
Fluttershy blinked. “Oh, not at all!” she said, with a curious expression etched on her face as she watched.
Twilight spread out her wings as far as she could, forming a half-circle, and started craning them in every way she could. She winced as she did so. “Rainbow Dash said it’s a good way to keep them flexible,” she said, somewhat strained.
Fluttershy nodded.
Twilight folded one of her wings back, focusing on the other, moving it very slowly up and down as if she flapped in slow motion, wincing every time before she changed directions. While she did, she kept talking. “I mean, now that I have them, I do have to take care of them, and it helps me get used to having them, I think. It’s still weird sometimes.” She switched wings. “Do you do stretches, too?”
Fluttershy nodded. “In the mornings,” she said, and broke out into a smile. “I don’t do them as hard as Rainbow Dash.”
Twilight looked at her, then laughed. “I’ve watched her routine! Even looking at her is painful, and I’ve had wings for only three weeks!”
Fluttershy giggled.
Twilight unfurled her other wing again, performing the same slow-motion flap, but in opposite directions for each wing, so that when one was its highest, the other almost touched the ground. “I don’t know why she insists on this one. I mean, who flies like that?”
“I think she needs it for some of her stunts.”
Twilight stared at her, eyes wide, wings snapping shut. “Don’t tell me she’s training me to learn her stunts!”
Fluttershy giggled, and shook her head. “Every pegasus develops their own routine in flight school. I think she’s just teaching you hers. The parts that you can do, that is.”
“Oh.” Twilight thought for a while, then spread her wings again, looking them over. “I’ve never been to flight school.”
“You’ll figure out what you need soon enough, don’t worry.”
Twilight smiled, and went back to practicing the alternating slow flap. “She’s showed me how to clean them, too. Still gotta work on that. And ... ‘just fly’!” she yelled, adopting a fierce, aggravated pose, breaking down into giggles immediately after. “She was a bit angry when she heard from Spike I stayed indoors for days after coming back from the coronation.” She started to say something else, hoof raised, then stopped, blushing a little.
Fluttershy filled in for her with a smile. "It’s not healthy for pegasi if they don’t fly at least once a day."
“Sorry. You would know that.”
“It’s no problem.”
Twilight looked at her, smiled, and resumed her exercise again. “Well, I wouldn’t want to get yelled at by Rainbow Dash again, and I do need to take care of myself. So I started flying every day, and then I saw your cottage, and I thought I might as well take a break and, well, visit,” she said. “I mean, it’s been a while. Last time I was here was at Discord’s dinner party. I said that already, didn’t I?”
Fluttershy nodded.
Twilight folded her wings back, and stared at the floor, expression blank. She slowly trotted back to her seat. “We haven’t done this very often,” she said, studying the cushion, and stayed silent for a while.
Fluttershy didn’t take her eyes off of her, face locked in a worried frown, but she said nothing, either.
“It’s weird, isn’t it?” Twilight mumbled, eventually. “We’ve been friends for a long time now, and I don’t remember us doing anything like this. I mean, we see each other all the time, but ... Just talking, over tea. The two of us. I really can’t remember.”
“We do see each other all the time, though,” Fluttershy said. Twilight turned to look at her, somewhat startled, and Fluttershy flashed her an encouraging smile. “That’s what matters.”
Twilight scratched her chin in thought. “Yeah. I guess you’re right. Still. I spent a lot of time studying that I could—”
Fluttershy eyed her, worried. Twilight had just stopped right in the middle of a sentence - the cottage had been and still was quiet. “Yes?”
Twilight looked slowly around the room, out of the window, and at her hooves again, and sighed. Then she looked at Fluttershy. “Be honest. Do you think I’ve spent too much time studying that I could have spent with my friends?”
Fluttershy instantly shook her head. “Well…” she added, hesitatingly.
“Yes?!”
“I do worry sometimes when you stay indoors so much and stay up so late studying, if you’re eating enough and getting enough exercise, but that’s all.”
Twilight blinked and thought for a while, eyes narrowed. “So, is that a yes?”
Again, Fluttershy shook her head. “Twilight, we’re your friends. We understand that you have to study a lot, and you still make time for us whenever you can, and we enjoy spending time with you very much. Don’t worry.”
Twilight barely let her finish. “What about you?”
Fluttershy blinked. “What do you mean?”
Twilight looked away, pained. “I know, it’s my fault. I asked wrong. I said ‘friends’. I want to know about you, Fluttershy. Do you think I’ve spent too little time with you?” She glanced at the tea table, where the no longer steaming cups of tea still stood, sighed deeply and looked down at her hooves again, idly placing them against each other, trying to align them just so.
“Oh no, not at all!” Fluttershy said. “Twilight, you’re being very silly. You are a wonderful friend, and you should know that by now. You really should.”
Twilight blinked, eyes watery, but she couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you. You’re right. I should know.” She spread her wings and looked at them, letting out a barely audible chuckle. “I’m an inspiration on all things friendship, after all.”
“You know you are, right?” Fluttershy said anxiously, soaring up, sitting on her haunches.
Twilight met her gaze and smiled faintly. “Yeah. I know. I’m still being silly. I’ll stop.”
Fluttershy let out a breath of relief, and slowly lowered herself onto the couch again. She glanced at Twilight, who stared into space, and sighed with compassion. She held her chin with a hoof for a couple of moments, nodded and smiled in Twilight’s direction. “How was your day?”
Twilight looked up and stared at Fluttershy, a bit puzzled. “Well, nothing really happened.” She scratched her head. “I got up, went through the after-getting-up checklist, moved on to the morning checklist—”
Fluttershy giggled. “Twilight, I don’t know your checklists.”
Twilight blushed. “Oh. Well, you know. Brush hair, brush teeth, shower. Things. So I don’t look like a cave pony. That’s the after-getting-up checklist.” She waited for Fluttershy to nod before she moved on. “And then, well, breakfast, getting the mail …” She went silent.
Fluttershy took a sip of tea, without taking her eyes off Twilight for even an instant.
Twilight gave a faint smile. “I get book parcels all the time, you see? Well, technically they’re for the library. Always says so on the parcel. As long as I’m taking up the place, I take care of those, I mean, Ponyville doesn’t really have a librarian except for me.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I’ve been meaning to talk to the Mayor about that, actually.”
“What about today?” Fluttershy asked.
Twilight looked at her again, a bit taken off guard. “Oh. Yeah, I got one that was for me,” she admitted, smiling uneasily. Fluttershy just kept looking at her. After a while, Twilight's eyes drifted towards the stairs in the distance, and she let her head slowly sink into her folded forelegs. “It was the new Daring Do.”
Fluttershy put down her teacup, and settled down on the couch, and inspected Twilight closely, not making a sound.
Suddenly Twilight grew lively, smiling and gesticulating as she spoke. “You see, I got the first Daring Do book when I was really little. Later my mom took me to the book store, and I saw they had the second, and of course my mom had to buy that and then I asked if there was a third. That’s when they explained to me what a release date is. And sure enough, around every release date from then on, I’d start showing up in the bookstore and ask about the next Daring Do.” Twilight snickered. “All the time. Sometimes I’d go out to the bookstore, ask about the book, get home, and immediately go out and pester them again. I must have driven them absolutely crazy!” she let out a laugh, and kept smiling. “Never told me off, though. Always a smile. I loved the book store. When I entered Celestia’s school, I realized I might not get to go out on the release date, and I went there, completely devastated. I just had to read Daring Do at the earliest scientifically possible time! So they promised me that they’d send me the new Daring Do, as soon as they got it, wherever I was.”
She sighed, smile fading just a little. “And they kept doing it. I even gave them my new address in Ponyville. I haven’t even been to the book store in ages. Now that I think about it, I think Mom is still paying for them.” Her wings twitched, and she sighed once more, eyes again fixed on the stairs in the corner.
Fluttershy said nothing, but her eyes had only gotten sadder. She stood up.
“I shelved the other books and started rereading a couple of books on the Canterlot nobility and Palace etiquette. Studying. Then lunch, and then …” Twilight paused. “Well, I went out for a fly.”
Something touched Twilight’s wings. She whirled her head around, saw Fluttershy upright on her haunches next to the bench, who flashed her friend a smile before looking back at the wing. Gently and slowly, she started rubbing it with both of her hooves.
Twilight lay down again, closed her eyes and let out a content sigh. “That feels really good. Thanks. I didn’t even know I needed that.”
“Wings are very delicate things. I’ve taken care of a lot of different ones, so I know what to look for,” Fluttershy explained.
“Think there’s a book on it?” Twilight asked, hopefully.
“I don’t know. I haven’t read any.”
“You should write one,” Twilight said, eyes closed, sighing happily. “Seriously.”
Fluttershy giggled. “I don’t think I could.”
“I could help. I’ll be your test subject.” Twilight opened her eyes and turned to look at Fluttershy, eagerly. “I’ll edit, proofread and everything! Maybe even ghostwrite it! I’ll deal with all the publishing and printing and marketing and, I don’t know! You don’t need much to write a book, just something to share! Just think how many ponies you could help with it!”
Not for a second had Fluttershy stopped her treatment, slowly working her way through Twilight’s wings, easing little knots and creaks along the way, even as Twilight had started stirring. She finished on the outer edge of the wing just as Twilight had started growing anxious for her reaction. “That’s not what I meant,” she said then, and walked around the bench to start on the other wing. “You see, the most important thing is just time. I deal with wings every day, so I know what to look for, but I can’t explain it to somepony who hasn’t cared for wings as long as I have. The only piece of advice I could give would be to take your time, do it a lot, do it with love, and be patient. It would be a very short book.”
Twilight set her head down again, smiling faintly, staring at an unfixed point in the distance. “And it would still hold more wisdom than most of the longer ones I’ve read put together.”
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said, smiling.
“I guess if you’re born with wings, this stuff would come naturally anyway. Heh. ‘Just think how many ponies you could help’. I’m, like, the only one.” She snickered, and sighed. “I know you just told me to be patient, but how much time are we talking? Do you get the hang of it in, like, a year?” She let out an uncontrolled relieved sigh as Fluttershy straightened a particularly stubborn knot.
“It’s different for every pegasus. Some don’t really know how to treat their wings well until they get their cutie marks.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “That sounds awful!”
“It’s because their wings are still growing. Don’t worry, it’s not so bad.”
“It is, though! I mean, that’s years until they get their wings treated the way they should,” Twilight rattled off, “I mean, I didn’t even realize how uncomfortable I’ve been until—”
“I told you, don’t worry. I mean, young pegasi still have to learn, but they’re never alone,” Fluttershy explained, calmly. She stared off into space for a second, thoughtful, then smiled. “Remember when you were too young to know how to read?”
Twilight, who was in the middle of another contented sigh, opened her eyes, dumbfounded. “Um,” she said. “Barely.”
“It must have been awful. All those books, full of the most wonderful stories, and you couldn’t read any of them!”
“No, it was great! My mom read me stories!” Twilight rushed to say. She stared at Fluttershy and found her winking at her, smiling brightly, as she continued to work through the wing. Twilight smiled. “I think I get it.”
Fluttershy nodded, looking back at the wing. “Mothers know the wings of their foals as well as their own, and they have a lot of experience. It’s almost torture for them when their little ones start doing it for themselves.”
“What about pegasus foals without mothers?” Twilight asked, unruly.
“Fathers can do it just as well.”
Twilight shook her head annoyedly. “I know, I know, goes without saying, I mean, without parents?”
Fluttershy pondered for a second. “I was going to say ‘siblings’ or ‘aunts and uncles’, but I think you’re talking about pegasi without family.”
Twilight nodded, anxiously.
Fluttershy smiled again. “There’s always a family, Twilight. No foal grows up alone. Not among pegasi, and I don’t think among unicorns or earth ponies either. Now, when it comes to wings, it’s really simple. When we can tell a little pegasus needs their wings cared for, and we know we can help, we help. That’s all there is to it.”
Twilight looked at her serene expression, sighed out in relief and rested her head again. “I’m not a little pegasus, though,” she mumbled. “Not really.”
Fluttershy giggled. “Well, adult pegasi are a slightly different story. Doing this for another adult pegasus,” she narrowed her eyes a bit, scrutinizing a particular spot close to the top of Twilight’s remaining wing, “is an expression of deep affection.”
Twilight opened an eye. “‘Deep affection’?”
Fluttershy didn’t say anything. She finished her work on Twilight’s remaining wing, folded it gently down and gave it a gentle pat, then looked at her, thoughtful. “How to describe it ... Like between close family members. Parents and children, siblings, and so on. Someone you care deeply about, and trust absolutely. Spouses, too. And lovers, for instance.”
Twilight went bright red. “Oh.”
Fluttershy giggled.
“I did not know that.” Twilight stared into space, lifting her hoof up to her chin. “I guess that explains Rainbow’s reaction when I told her my wings hurt and if she could help me.”
Fluttershy pressed her hooves on her muzzle, straining not to laugh, only pressing out a couple of squeakish sounds.
Twilight looked at her, her frown fading, and started joining in. “She was red like a carnival light, and so angry. ‘I don’t do stuff like that!’ she yelled at me, and that I had to learn to do it on my own anyway!” She shook her head, smile etched on her face, and looked at Fluttershy again. “Are you telling me she thought—” Her eyes went wide.
Fluttershy shook her head, still giggling. She breathed in deeply in an effort to calm down. “No, I’m sure she understood. You see, the only pony I remember taking care of Rainbow’s wings was her dad, and that was a long time ago. I think it’s about it being too ‘mushy’ rather than, you know.” She blushed a little, but didn’t stop smiling.
Twilight blinked. “That’s a load off my mind. You see, she did it anyway, 'just for demonstration', of course, and—” she stopped, adopting a guilty frown. “And made me promise not to tell a soul. Oh dear.”
Fluttershy rubbed her forehead against Twilight’s cheek, startling her for a split-second. “Don’t worry. She won’t hear a thing about it from me.”
Twilight breathed out deeply. “Thanks.” She frowned again, and turned to look at Fluttershy, curious. “What about you?”
Fluttershy giggled. “You’re kind of like a little pegasus to me.”
Twilight smiled, looking at her back, idly wiggling her wings. “I kind of am, aren’t I? Little lonely pegasus Twilight, cared for by a kind stranger?”
“Did it feel like that to you?” Fluttershy asked, head cocked in curiosity and eyebrow raised, but smile intact.
Twilight blushed, and shook her head fervently. “Not at all. It felt sort of like Mom.” Right after the words reached her ears, she glanced down at the muzzle they'd escaped from, eyes wide.
Fluttershy just looked at her, mouth agape.
Twilight gulped and broke out into a fake smile, flashing eyes quickly to the sides as if scanning for an exit. “That was the weirdest thing I could have possibly said, wasn’t it? I’m sorry,” she said, hurriedly.
And then Fluttershy beamed, and pulled Twilight in for a hug, burying her head part of the way in the pinkish and blue mane. “Not at all. It was the most wonderful thing.”
Twilight breathed out in relief and then smelled Fluttershy’s mane. She placed her own foreleg around the shoulders of her friend and pulled her in a little bit deeper. “Thank you,” she whispered.
They stayed like that for a little while, then let each other go, smiling. Fluttershy walked back over to the couch, sat down and reached for her tea.
“Still feel bad about Rainbow Dash,” Twilight mumbled, after a while. Suddenly she furrowed her brows, and a smile slowly spread all over her face. “I know! I’ll tell her, apologize, and give her the new Daring Do. She can’t stay angry at me then!” she declared, triumphantly.
Fluttershy giggled, pulling her cup close to her mouth to drink. “Have you even read it yet?”
Twilight’s expression darkened. She looked down at her hooves, then away from them, eyes finally resting on the far wall. She didn’t say anything.
Fluttershy looked at her, and slowly placed the cup back on the table, undrunken from, without making a sound. “Twilight?” she asked, gently.
“No, I haven’t,” Twilight said, sighing. “It was weird. Usually, when I get a Daring Do, I rip the parcel open and I start reading, and then I read it again, and then a third time, before I can even think of anything else. Today, I,” she sighed, “I ripped the parcel open, and I looked at the cover, and I stopped.” She finally looked at Fluttershy again, tears in her eyes.
“What happened?”
“It’s Daring Do. I’m a Princess now. I have duties. I shouldn’t be spending my time reading kid’s books!” she yelled. She looked away from Fluttershy, at her forelegs again.
“Well, if you have the time—”
“I don’t have the time!” Twilight exclaimed. “At least, I shouldn’t have the time! I mean, I’m a Princess now, I should have more things to do, not less!” She spread out her wings and glared at them. “I’m already trying to take care of those wings and I still have no idea what else to do!” She folded her wings up again and slumped onto the bench, tears steadily streaming down her face.
“What did you do before?” Fluttershy asked, calmly.
“I used to study all the time. Everything. I mean, I was Celestia’s personal student. There were exams, and tests, and homework, but mostly I just felt that I needed to know as much as I possibly could, to be the best student I could be. But then there were not always exams, and tests, and homework, and reading is so much fun, and other things are fun, and I had friends now that were more important to me than everything, and somehow I never had a reason to stop and think about it. But now—” She took a deep breath. “Celestia has invited me to the castle, it’s in a couple of days, and for the first time ever, I know there won’t be an exam, there won’t be a test, there won’t be anything to study for. Because I’m a Princess now.”
“I’m sure she’ll teach you about what to do."
“She can give me advice,” Twilight said with a sigh. “But she can’t tell me what to do. Not anymore. I have to figure it out. And I don’t know, Fluttershy. I just don’t know.”
Fluttershy thought for a while. “What would you like to do?”, she asked, finally.
“I’d like to swoop out of here and toss my crown in the lake!” Twilight yelled, suddenly standing on all fours. “What good is a Princess without a clue? I’m supposed to be an inspiration! Who am I going to be an inspiration to, like this?” Her eyes filled with tears again. She looked back at her instinctively outspread wings. “I’m a filly again! A filly pegasus!”
Fluttershy hovered next to her and put a hoof under Twilight’s chin, slowly turning her around until their eyes met. “If that is what you want to do, you should do it.”
Twilight blinked. “Toss my crown in the lake?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“Stop being a Princess?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“You would be fine with that?!”
Fluttershy nodded, then raised a hoof in contemplation. “Actually, the crown is probably a bit too pointy. The fish might get hurt. You’d have to melt it down first.”
“You wouldn’t be disappointed?” Twilight asked, a bit incredulous, but also calmer.
“I would be proud of you, because you’d have realized what it is you wanted, and found the will to see it through.”
Twilight looked at Fluttershy’s big, serious eyes, and her posture relaxed, just a little. “The others?” she barely more than whispered.
“If they knew it is the thing you want to do, they’d support you just the same, and they would be proud of you just the same.”
Twilight smiled. She looked down, at her hooves digging into the cushion, and at Fluttershy, still hovering roughly in place, wings flapping. Sheepishly, she lowered herself onto the bench again, and Fluttershy smiled and landed.
Twilight let out an amused snort. “This is all wrong. If there is an inspiration to all of ponykind on the magic of friendship in this room, it’s you.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “I’m just me. In this little cottage, talking to you, I have nothing to be afraid of. We’re all good at different things. We’re all small, weak and helpless in our own way.”
Twilight's eyes widened with sudden indignation. She sternly pushed a hoof against Fluttershy's chest, just above her heart. “Now, you listen to me. You’re not weak and—” Twilight closed her mouth again.
Fluttershy had not even flinched. She just smiled.
Twilight looked down, at the hoof still pressing into Fluttershy's body, and sheepishly pulled it back. She stayed silent for a while, still staring at it. “But … I’m also just me,” she whispered, looking at Fluttershy again.
Fluttershy nodded, smiling just as before.
Twilight smiled back, and looked around the room, quiet as it was. Picture of flowers on the wall, the tea table with the couch and the bench, the pile of dust in the corner. She looked at the window, outside, where the animals were still napping.
“I’m me,” she whispered. “What do I want?” She looked at Fluttershy again, and then smiled triumphantly, standing up and spreading her wings again, fully and proudly. She pointed a hoof at Fluttershy. “I want to protect my friends!” She pointed at the window. “I want to protect everyone out there, from monsters, from spirits, from magical phenomena of any kind, from bullies and anyone else who would stand in the way of harmony! I have magic, and I’m not afraid to use it! And I have friends who stand at my side!”
She stomped a hoof. “I want to study the world, become better at magic, expand my knowledge and understand as much as I possibly can! I want to help everypony in Equestria live together in harmony, I want them to understand how important friendship is, and if I don’t know how to do that yet, that’s okay, because I’m going to find out! Because I’m not perfect, and I never will be! I’ll never stop learning! And I have friends who stand at my side!”
She stomped the same hoof again, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “And I want to read Daring Do! I want to go to all of Pinkie’s parties! I want to play board games with fifty-page rulebooks! I want to read more of the romance novels Rarity thinks I never noticed she borrowed! I want to write that paper on misconceptions about Ancient Griffon grammar no one but me is going to care about! I want to find a special somepony, even though I have never had a date! I want to secretly learn at least one of Rainbow’s stunts, just to see the look on her face! And sometimes, I want to relax for a while and do nothing whatsoever! Because I’m just me! Twilight Sparkle, a friend, a scholar, a magician, and a Princess, but mostly I’m still just me!”
Silence.
Twilight looked at the couch. Fluttershy’s eyes shone with tears, and she smiled.
“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Twilight said after a while, sheepishly. “That was really loud, though. Do you think I woke the animals?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “Don’t worry.”
“I tried so hard to be a Princess, I forgot I already am. I’m really sorry I was being so silly. I’ll really stop this time, though. Thank you.”
“You have friends who stand at your side,” Fluttershy said. “Remember?”
Twilight blushed, and smiled. “Yeah, I really do.” She raised a hoof to rub out an errant tear and slowly stepped off the bench.
Suddenly her eyes fixed themselves on the door. “Um.” She folded her wings and fell back on her haunches, then started rubbing her front hooves nervously against each other, eyes still fixed on the door.
“Yes?” Fluttershy asked after a while.
Twilight flashed Fluttershy an embarassed smile. “This is going to sound really, well, me, but—”
“Oh, of course, Daring Do!” Fluttershy blurted out. “That is absolutely fine, go ahead!”
Twilight beamed and rushed towards the door. It and her horn started to glow, but she caught herself and turned around. “Thanks for everything!”
Fluttershy nodded, smiling. “You said that already.”
“Really, really thanks for—”
“There’s a new Daring Do novel at your library,” Fluttershy said, matter-of-factly.
There was the thud of a door slammed closed before she’d even got to the “library”. Fluttershy let out a giggle and turned towards the tea table. There was her cup, almost empty, and Twilight’s, nearly full.
She smiled as she reached out for her cup again.
The door opened again. “I forgot to put your bench back!” Twilight said frantically. She came in and swiftly closed the door behind her. “I did promise! One second and I’ll be out of your mane!”
“Wait!”
“Huh?” Twilight let the bench fall back down and stared at the mistress of the house.
“I like it better there,” Fluttershy said, pointing.
Twilight looked at the bench and rose a eyebrow. “Are you sure? You kind of have to walk around it to get to the stairs. Not very efficient.”
“I have wings, I’ll just fly over it.”
“It’s still there. It used to be under the window. Didn’t you like it under the window?”
“It was fine under the window, but I like it here more. It’s better to have two seats next to the tea table.”
Twilight looked at the tea table, uncertain.
“For guests, you see?”
“Oh, that’s true. If you wanted to drink tea with a guest, you’d have to fetch it from under the window every time otherwise,” Twilight mumbled, blinked and went quiet.
Fluttershy waited.
Finally, Twilight broke out into a smile spreading from ear to ear. “Yes, you’re definitely right. It is more efficient this way.”
Fluttershy smiled.
Twilight smiled back.
“Daring Do,” Fluttershy said.
Twilight was gone.
Fluttershy took in a deep breath and looked at her tea. Then she glanced at the clock, blinked in surprise and let out a deep sigh. She stood up from the couch and grabbed the teapot with her hooves, shaking it. The can was cold to the touch, and from the sound of it, was almost full.
Fluttershy sighed again, and then smiled and shrugged. She put down the pot on the tablet, carefully placed it between her teeth and carried the ensemble over to the kitchen sink.
Then she walked to the door, humming a tune, and opened it.
“Rise and shine!”
A number of pony friends have encouraged me and helped me along with this little story of mine; especially in the Equestrian Study and the ponythread on giantitp.com. You have my heartfelt gratitude! And of course, to the one reading these lines, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!
