Chapter 12: Go With the Flow

The long drive soon ended as seven girls plus one male crested the horizon, being greeted by the enormous sight of the Las Pegasus strip in all of its glory. At that point, Helmuth regained control of driving the makeshift ‘van’ and cruised his way swimmingly through the near endless streets of the sleepless city. With a few directions from Luna, they all arrived right in front of the MPM Grand hotel, arguably the finest hotel in all of Las Pegasus. Parked in the valet area, all the patrons stopped what they were doing to see the enormous military craft parked at the front entrance. Out the back emerged the Lunar Princess, clad in a short sleeved shirt and jeans, with Helmuth at her side. The Mane Six followed them out after that, taking in the sight of the breathtaking surroundings. Naturally, a figure of royalty and the Bearers drew quite the lot of eyes. Bellhops were at the vehicle immediately to assist with the enormous amount of bags as they were taken inside. The APC was driven into the garage by a valet overseer. Luna led the way to the front desk.

“Good afternoon, we have a reservation on file,” Luna said in a good mood. The attendant at the front desk nodded in acknowledgement but was not paying physical attention, typing away at a computer to call up the necessary sheets.

“Last name?” the attendant asked. Luna chuckled at the fact that she had not even looked to see who she was talking to, being engrossed in her work.

“Quasar. First name, Luna,” she responded with a smirk. At the mention of that name the attendant ceased typing immediately and looked up with wide eyes. Luna offered a full, genuine, teeth-bearing smile.

“P-Princess Luna! My apologies! Yes, your reservation has cleared: A four-bed, two-bath grand suite at the top floor, with each room containing two queen sized beds and a full walk in shower/tub with water jets. Your luggage already on its way up, and to add in, all expenses have been paid in full. Is this correct?” she asked. The girls’ mouths dropped and their eyes widened… Luna had the same reaction and Helmuth was quite stoked.

“Well… I guess Tia really did… what do they say? ‘Hooked us up?’” she mused, looking back at everyone, who agreed entirely. Seeing all was good, she turned back to the waiting attendant.

“Yes, that is correct. Thank you so much!” Luna spoke with gratitude. The attendant smiled and handed over eight card keys to her, one for each of them.

“My pleasure, Princess. Please enjoy your stay and do not hesitate to call the front desk if you need anything!” she responded jovially. With that, the eight of them made haste towards the elevators which took them to the top floor. Upon keying in one of the cards, they were all floored at the spaciousness of the common room they entered. It was all furnished with an aesthetically pleasing blue theme with a large sitting area in the middle which included three long couches and a love-couch. A furnished wood and glass coffee table rested in the middle and the entire area was facing the fireplace, as well as a large television set that was mounted above it. The kitchen was full size, refrigerator and all, and at every corner of the common room there was a door that led into the bedrooms, a bathroom connecting the two bedrooms on either side.

“Make yourselves at home, everyone! Decide which rooms you’re sharing! We’ll meet back here in a little bit to discuss a few things. Helm, come with me,” Luna said, beckoning him towards one of the rooms. They all scattered, talking amongst themselves while Luna shut the door behind her and her guard.

“Alright, Helm… I said we could talk when we got here. What’s troubling you?” Luna asked, already knowing somewhat.

“Please tell me they’re not all taking an interest in me… please tell me I’m imagining things and I’m just an egotistical asshole because I’d presume such a thing?” Helmuth asked pleadingly. Luna only shook her head and smirked.

“I’m afraid so, from the looks of it. You’ve attracted quite a few eyes, does that not please you?” Luna asked.

“No! It doesn’t! That’s exactly what I don’t want to happen! Luna, this is not good!”

“What is with you, Helmuth? It’s like you are avoiding girls like a pestilence!” Luna exclaimed, now outright confused.

“I-I do not!”

“Are you gay?” Luna asked seriously. The question completely caught him off guard.

“W-what?!” He asked incredulously.

“Ist thy sexual orientation that of homosexuality? Do you prefer the company of gentlemen? I’m not sure how much clearer I can be with my inquiry.”

“W-wha-NO! I’m not gay! And you of all people should know that, Luna!” Helmuth exclaimed.

“Then what’s the problem? Seriously… you’ve got six beautiful girls out there who are vying for your attention and you’re acting like they’re going to rip your phallus off and shove it up your ass,” Luna reasoned, resolving to more colorful language. Helmuth was silent for a second, undoubtedly deep in thought. He then inhaled and sighed audibly, resolving to say something.

“Alright look… this may make me sound like a complete ass, but bear with me. Throughout my adolescence, I was always… the romantic target for girls,” he began to day. Luna raised her eyebrow.

“Pardon?”

“Like I said, I know it sounds really weird, but I’m not kidding you. Girls always gravitated towards me and I, to this day, do not know why that is. I was never interested most of the time, thus I had lost a lot of good friends and created rifts between others’ friendships. I’ve broken a lot of hearts too as a result and I’ve always felt at fault for it somehow. Even when I did concede and attempt to forge some kind of relations with a girl whom I was actually interested in, it would end horribly because said girl would always witness others constantly vying for my attention… believing that she could not handle the stress of me being the center of desire for so many, even though she would know where my loyalties laid,” he explained in a deadpan expression. Luna was slightly taken aback by this.

“Is… is this true?” Luna asked to confirm. Helmuth looked at her incredulously.

“Look in my eyes, Luna… one as gifted as you in magic could be able to tell instantly of any deception in my features. Besides, you’re my closest friend aside from Windfire. I have no reason to lie to you,” he replied in the same manner.

“So, what are you saying?” she asked.

“I’m not debating the greatness of those girls lying on the other side of this door. I’m not debating their unquestionable beauty, skills, and competence. I’m not saying that I can’t potentially take interest in them… but what I don’t want happening is for me to hurt any of them emotionally… and drive a wedge between their friendships all because of me. Not only would this compromise your ‘mission,’ but I don’t think tension between element bearers is a good thing… just a hunch!”

“Helm, I can understand where you’re coming from given all this information… but I don’t think you’re giving those girls enough credit. They’ve been through so much together. I sincerely doubt that you’d facilitate a wedge being driven between them,” Luna coaxed. Helmuth sighed again, sitting on the bed.

“I know you’re right Luna, but I’m still a bit fearful. I don’t want to be known as the heartbreaker from the get-go,” he voiced. Luna sat beside him and hugged him around his side, her cheek against his shoulder. He visibly relaxed at the friendly comforting gesture.

“I know. But I guarantee that they won’t let that happen. Should you decide to give into one of their advances, I’m sure they’ve already decided on a ‘may the best girl win’ type of scenario. Especially since they’re stacked outside the door right now, listening to us,” Luna smirked.

Immediately there was a large cluster of bangs and crashes… a few squeals of pain as they vacated from the other side of the door with haste.

“Well… cat’s out of the bag I suppose. Hopefully they won’t mention this,” Helm said.

“I’m sure they’ll respect that. I know them… when they’ve set their attention on something, nothing else really matters. They’ll be too busy trying to get you to notice them. Just play along and have fun with the ride. Go with the flow!” she urged. He sighed once more.

“Alright, I suppose a little fun wouldn’t hurt.”

“That’s the spirit!” Luna said with one of her notorious smiles, eyes gleaming. Helm couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Actually, this would be a perfect time for you to spend time with them! During the ride over I was informed that my one of my meetings was moved to today… about an hour from now,” Luna said, getting up from the bed and searching through some bags.

“Oh? What’s the deal?” Helmuth asked.

“A Military-class diplomatic meeting. Las Pegasus is the closest major city to several other bordering nations and we’re just working on a standard jurisdiction, border porousness, et cetera et cetera. Have to meet with many foreign military and diplomatic officials,” Luna replied, pulling her formal uniform out of a suitcase. Luna and Helm (as well as Windfire) were on extremely close terms, so often times Luna would speak about what was going on as well as what she was working on politically. Luna lightly dusted her suit off and walked off to the bathroom to change.

“Need me to come with you?” he asked. Being one of her personal guards (as well as having a ‘male-best-friend-protective-complex) it was first nature to make sure she was safe.

“Thanks for the concern as always, Helm, but I’m sure I’ll be just fine. It’s only a meeting, after all. Go join the girls in the common room, I’ll be out in a minute,” Luna said through the bathroom door. Helmuth nodded and exited into the common room, where he found all the Elements doing their own thing (some were in their rooms). He sat down in the middle of everything on the couch, and true to his hopes, they didn’t mention anything out of the ordinary.

“Hiya, Helmie!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she bounded over the couch head and landed right next to him. It didn’t startle him in the slightest and in fact he found the perpetual caffeine-high’s demeanor to be quite pleasing. She was wearing a pink top with some jean-shorts that fit her perfectly. Not provocative by any sense of the word but that doesn’t detract from the fact that Pinkie was definitely something to look at, by Helmuth’s standards definitely.

“What’sup Pinkie?” he asked, turning towards her to be polite.

“Mmm… not much. Just baking a cake. What kinda cake do you like?” she asked. He raised his eyebrow.

“You packed baking materials?” he asked. She merely scoffed.

“Pfft, well DUH! Never know when anyone wants a fresh cake!” Couldn’t really argue for or against that logic.

“Then I guess it better be some kind of chocolate!” he responded in kind with a joking inflection. Her grin stretched ear to ear.

“You know it!” she exclaimed before she bounded over the couch again and into the kitchen. He followed her swift exit off of the couch for a few seconds before turning back to his thoughts. Hehe… she really was something. However, Helmuth wasn’t alone with his thoughts for very long, as the sound of someone clearing their throat disrupted him.

“Oh hey, Twilight! Were you sitting there this entire time?” she just fidgeted in her seat with the obligatory book in her hand.

“Yeah, kinda. I tend not to draw too much attention to myself, especially when I read,” she replied. She was laid out on one of the couches with a Math textbook opened up. Helmuth was a bit curious.

“What you reading?” he asked, attempting to start conversation. Go with the flow, right?

“An Introduction to Differential Equations: Engineering Edition,” she replied, showing him the cover. Applejack walked by at the time, taking other things in to her room. She muttered something about ‘fancy shmancy mathematics’ before disappearing into her room again. Rarity was freshening up, Fluttershy was napping, and no one had the slightest clue where Rainbow was. All was as it should be.

“Ah, I remember those. Good stuff if I may say. I approve of your read,” Helmuth said playfully. Twilight raised her eyebrow.

“You being serious? Never really took you at first glance for a math head, no offense,” she said incredulously. He nodded in understanding.

“None taken. Yes, I was quite a math nerd in school. One of my passions,” he added. Twilight’s face brightened a bit.

“Maybe you can help me understand this then…” she said meekly while scooting closer to him and putting the book into his lap. He studied the series of equations on the page before he nodded in understanding.

“Piccolt’s Theorem?” he asked. Twilight nodded.

“Yeah… I’m a math nerd too but this lingo and language is starting to get to me a bit,” Twilight reasoned. It was a good thing Helmuth didn’t know Twilight well enough yet because she was a horrible liar. She wanted to see what he knew and subtly gauge him.

“Well it pretty much states this: suppose that we have a derivative with respect to x, 'y prime', which equals to f of x y, where we have an initial condition of x-naught and y-naught. Assuming f of x y is continuous and…” he trailed on with the explanation of the theorem. Twilight was quite awestruck at his knowledge of the subject. She subtly scooted up against him as she listened. After a while, she realized that Helm had been looking at her for a response, and she had just been staring at him dreamily.

“Oh! Umm… yeah that makes… more sense now. Hehe,” she said, scratching the back of her neck in embarrassment. She quickly changed the subject.

“You clearly have a good brain in your head… if you don’t mind me asking, why a Royal Guard? Or the Military for all intents and purposes?”

“Well, I wanted a change. I wanted to do great things and have great responsibility. In all honesty it was just to give it a shot. After my year tour was up, if it was ‘eh,’ I would have left. But I never would have anticipated getting Windfire as my partner and then being assigned to Luna’s corridor, eventually her commissioning us as her personal guard… all within a year!” he reminisced. Twilight listened intently.

“Plus I was living at the castle, in her corridor; she quickly took great liking to us and we all became quick friends, the pay was nice, and my family and other friends lived in Canterlot and still do. I renewed my enlistment every year,” he finished. Twilight was about to speak when Luna opened the door to her room, dressed in full military garb.

“Alright everyone, I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Diplomatic duty calls,” Luna spoke, placing her cap on her head as she walked to the door.

“Sure you don’t want company?” Helmuth called over his shoulder.

“Nope. I’ll be fine, and I prefer to do this on my own anyway. You should take this opportunity to hang out with everyone. Pinkie, Twilight? You make sure you get the girls together and show Helmie here a good time around Las Pegasus. We’ll reconvene for dinner,” Luna said, waving over her shoulder and giving Helmuth a knowing look that said ‘it’ll be alright,’ before exiting and closing the door. Helmuth looked at the two girls, who were smiling back at him, and shrugged. Inside, however, he was quite nervous.

A little time, a few hours, with six girls… nothing could go awry…

Right?

...Right?