Chapter 1
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A Story in All of Us

Chapter 1

*Knock*Knock*Knock*

"Fluttershy? Are you there?"

It's a bright and sunny day in the late afternoon as you find yourself standing before the home of Fluttershy. This was the first time you had ever been to her house before; you had just gotten over staring wide-eyed at her hut that seemed to blend in seamlessly with the surrounding nature for a couple minutes to remember why you were now knocking on her front door.

There were two reasons for your unexpected visit. First, you were delivering some mail of hers that had ended up in your mail box by mistake. You weren't entirely sure how such a mix-up could happen, but then again, your town's post office has a cross-eyed pegasus for a mail carrier, so anything is possible. In any case, deep down you knew that the first reason was merely a lucky excuse so you could actually go to her house for the second reason, a reason you wouldn't dare tell another soul:

You love her company.

Ever since you first saw her at the special welcoming party Pinkie Pie sprung on you in your own house the day you moved in, you have always felt something stir inside you when she was near you. One look at the peaceful expression on her face coupled with her sweet delicate voice would always be enough to make you feel at ease with the world, no matter how stressed you were mere moments ago. You expect her closest friends were used to her peculiarities by now, but you never tired of them and always found your time near her to be criminally short.

It was also tough to get her to acknowledge you at first: While her other friends were quicker to open up to you and treat you like a true friend, she rarely spoke directly to you when it was just the two of you, and even then it was little more than small questions and one-word replies uttered at a barely-audible level. Her friends had to explain to you that it's just how she acts around ponies she isn't comfortable with, and you could see small signs of her getting slightly more comfortable being around you, but it only strengthened your resolve to become friends with her. There simply must be a beautiful heart underneath her quiet demeanor, and you wanted it to feel as serene and content as she made you feel without even knowing it.

Returning from your daydream, you knock on her door again. It had been a couple minutes since you last knocked, and with each passing second you could feel your chance to see her today slipping away. Your head was racing with thoughts on why she wasn't answering the door: Is she taking a nap? Is she not home? Is it you? Could she possibly....not want anything to do with you? Could you really have come off so intimidating to her? What if you tried too hard to be friendly towards her? What if you weren't friendly enough?

Finally realizing how paranoid your thoughts are starting to get, you decide to settle on the innocent explanation that she's not home. With a sigh of disappointment and your head pointed to the ground, you turn around and begin your long walk home. Maybe you'll try again tomorrow; you still have her mail, after all, and you didn't just want to leave it at her doorstep where some animal could take it and run off with it. Not that you would know what kind of animal would just up and take somepony's mail, but better safe than sorry. Reaching the end of her front yard, you look up so you can at least see where you're going-

Eep!

You're not exactly sure which one of you made that noise (possibly both of you), but you had more important matters in front of you. Standing only a couple feet away and looking right at you was none other than Fluttershy, showing just how quiet and inconspicuous she can be without even realizing it. You jump back a couple steps out of reflex, which causes her to do the same and unconsciously bring her body down lower to the ground.

It's at this point you notice something strange about her: She's dirty. Mud and other stains are splotched randomly across her otherwise lovely coat, her mane is disheveled (yet still able to conceal one of her eyes from your vision), and you could possibly make out a stray leaf or two in her tail. You aren't sure what your next move should be; you feel like you should say something, but you don't know what to say, and even if you did, your surprise meeting has put a large lump in your throat. All you can do is stare at her dirt-covered face until...

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" says Fluttershy, finally breaking the silence between the two of you. "I, um, wasn't expecting any c-company for today..." she continues, her voice steadily getting weaker and her face turning away from yours and toward the ground. She lightly kicks at the dirt beneath her with her forehoof.

Through sheer willpower, you swallow the lump in your throat and begin to speak in as friendly a voice as you can muster. "N-no, Fluttershy, please! It's my fault...I shouldn't have come by unannounced. Please forgive me, it was rude of me to do such a thing." You bow your head to the ground, despite knowing she isn't looking at you anymore. Returning from your unseen gesture of humility, you remember the one question that popped into your head upon bumping into her: "But, Fluttershy...if I may ask, what happened to you? Why are you covered in mud?"

"Oh! Um, it's n-nothing..." she replies, looking up from the ground but still not making eye contact with you. "Uh, my friend Applejack came by this morning and asked me to help find some of her pigs that got out last night. We found them in a muddy bank near the edge of the Everfree Forest, but they were just a teensy bit rowdy, and we had to chase them through the mud to catch them. I finally got them to calm down by talking to them, but then one of the baby pigs got just a teensier bit friendly and jumped on top of me, pushing me into the mud and licking my face a whole bunch. Applejack helped me out of the mud and told me that she could lead them back to her farm by herself, so I decided to come home and wash this mud off, not that I like to leave my friends like that or anything...eep!"

Realizing that this was the most she had ever said to you at one time, she turned her head to the side, her mane obscuring both of her eyes to you. You could possibly make out a light blush coming across her face and her muttering the words "I'm such a chatterbox..." under her breath. Again, you felt like saying something, anything, to make her feel better, but it seemed that all your knowledge of language had just abandoned you, never to be found again. Before you can even begin to think of saying something that wasn't just foal babbling, she sort-of turns her head back to yours and speaks again. "...but, um, why are you here...um, you know, if it's okay for me to ask?"

For a second, it seemed as if not only your ability to speak coherently had been forgotten but your reason for being there as well. "Um, er, yes, I'm here because, uh...oh, right!" With your brain finally getting somewhat back into gear, you immediately open the saddlebag you'd been wearing the entire time and pull out her mail: A single issue of Equestrian Geographic, with Fluttershy's mailing address labeled on the cover. Holding it up for her, she slowly takes the magazine with her mouth and places it on her back. "I, er, somehow got your mail delivered to me by accident. I was just stopping by to hand it to you," you explain. It wasn't the whole truth, but you knew that now would not be the best time to express your desires to her. "I see you have some things to take care of, so I should probably just get going now..."

At those words, Fluttershy's head perked up and turned to fully face yours again. "No, wait! Um, you can't go just yet. I mean, you came all this way out here just to deliver a magazine. You should at least come inside and let me make you some tea." Mere seconds after making her assertive outburst, she resumes her normally timid stance. "Um, that is, if you want to...if you're available..."

It was an offer you couldn't refuse. Giving her a warm smile in yet another attempt to make her feel more comfortable, you accepted her offer, and found yourself walking into her house together.

....Why am I here?

About half an hour has passed since you came inside Fluttershy's home, and you've been asking that question to yourself ever since. You had told her that it wouldn't be right for her to serve you while she was covered in mud, pig saliva, and Celestia knows what else, so she went upstairs to take a bath. You tried to come up with some way of getting your feelings across to her in the meantime, but nothing you thought of didn't come off as overbearing or incredibly cheesy, and thus your thoughts would eventually come full circle to the question of what you were doing at her house. Maybe it wasn't so bad being just a distant friend after all, you figure. At least you couldn't hurt her this way...

Before you could wallow in more of whatever it is ponies are supposed to wallow in, a bright light makes its way into your eyes, forcing you to shut them and turn your head for a second. Placing a hoof over the bright spot, you eventually make your way to the source of the glare. It turns out to not be your first guess - a magical love fairy sent to turn you into a Casanova - but rather a pretty glass ball sitting on a table that caught the sunlight coming through a window and bounced it into your eyes. Inside the ball is a delicately crafted butterfly resembling the ones on Fluttershy's cutie mark. In a way, it was exactly like Fluttershy: Beautiful, yet seemingly fragile at the same time, and almost just as captivating as the real thing.

You found yourself drawn to this pretty table ornament. Using both of your forehooves, you carefully pick up the ball to admire it better, noting how smooth it felt to the touch. You bring it a little closer to your face, but in doing so, the ball bounces the sunlight off itself and back into your eyes again. In your hock-jerk reaction, you feel your balance slip out underneath your hindlegs. Before you knew it, you had fallen to the ground with a nice "THUD!", sending the glass ball flying into the steps leading down to Fluttershy's basement. Returning to your senses, you immediately rush down the stairs into the basement, chiding yourself the entire time. That ball looked so valuable! What were you thinking just grabbing it like that? If it was broken, she definitely wouldn't accept you now!

The basement is dark, its only sources of light coming from the door and the glow of some fireflies inside a glass jar. You reckon Fluttershy must keep them as pets or something, but you quickly return your focus to finding the ball if it's still in one piece. You poke and prod through the knick-knacks, furniture, and other miscellaneous items inside the basement until you find yourself on the other side of the room. You turn to start combing the room from the other side when you catch a faint gleam of light in your eyes again. Slowly making your way to the source, you reach out and carefully grab the object, hold it up in front of the fireflies, and breathe a sigh of relief; it was the ball, with a couple extra scuff marks, but still in one piece. You could probably hide them from view if you put it back in its stand just right. Lingering in the basement any further would likely end in trouble, you figure, so relying on your hindlegs to guide you once again, you turn your head towards the door-

...ngs in the Wa...

Wait, was that...no, it couldn't be! As you turned your head, you could have sworn you had briefly caught some words you had seen before. Setting the glass ball to the side and performing a double-take somewhat confirms your suspicions; poking out of a large white sheet obscuring a large "something" was the words you had thought you saw. Your next move was crucial: Fluttershy could be out of her bath at any moment now, but if this really was what you thought it was....

Your curiosity got the better of you. Grabbing the edge of the sheet with your mouth, you flick your neck and throw the sheet off the “something”, revealing much more than what you initially suspected. The sheet was hiding a desk, and on this desk was a small stack of books. You recognized many of the titles of these books: Spreading Wings in the Water by Ravenley, The Day the Guard Came Home by Sugarcane, The Wish for Relief by Winkley. The majority of the books, however, were all penned by the same author, a reclusive and eccentric writer known only by the name of Lionheart. You knew these books were not just regular books; they were romantic novels, some of the highest-praised romantic novels in Equestria, to be precise.

You knew this because you were a huge fan of them.

It was a hobby you didn't openly discuss with anyone, but ever since being dared by one of your stallion friends to read a popular romance book, you couldn't get enough of them. In the hands of the right author, the novels touched your heart in a way you had never felt or thought you needed to feel before. Lionheart's works were especially moving; by the time you had finished reading A Filly's Fantasy, tears of several emotions all resonating at once were trailing down your cheeks, something you would never admit to doing lest you risk giving up your status as a colt. Seeing these novels in Fluttershy's house of all places has made you elated. This was a side of her you would have never thought existed in your wildest dreams, and maybe, just maybe, this could be what you need to break the ice.

You couldn't get too far with this line of thinking, however, as your attention soon turned to the other object upon the desk: A stack of paper, with one sheet set aside by itself with a quill laying on top. You thought about stopping your sudden snooping spree, but you just had to continue, as if some force was drawing you to this desk. You could make out writing on the lone paper, but even with your eyes somewhat adjusted to the dark conditions, it was still difficult to read, especially considering it was written in some of the cutest cursive you had ever seen. You can only make out a few words - "lips", "massage", "control", "blush", "passion", among others - but the gist of it was causing you to develop a blush of your own. She couldn't really be writing this kind of scene, could she? Just what was she trying to write? You reach over to the stack of papers and pull out the sheet on the very bottom. The print on this page is large and clear, and nearly causes your jaw to hit the floor.

A Story in All of Us

Lionheart

This...has to be a dream. Or a joke. Maybe your mind is playing tricks on you now. Maybe you're going insane. Maybe Celestia is teaching you a lesson from afar on not snooping around on your friends and/or possible love interests. Whatever the explanation is, it can't be real. There is absolutely no way that Fluttershy, this delicate and gentle creature, could even know what a romantic novel is, let alone be a famous author-

*Gasp!*

You're definitely sure which one of you made that noise, but you had much more pressing issues behind you. Slowly turning your head to the inevitable, you can make out the pink mane and wide cyan eyes of Fluttershy, once again showing just how quiet this pegasus can be. She looks at you with an expression of pure mortification. You had been caught red-handed; there wasn't a thing you could do or say to get out of this, and so you can only look back with an equally frightened face. The mere seconds the both of you stand in this position feel like years to you.

Finally, she breaks the standoff, but not in a way you had hoped. Her breaths turn into light whimpers and tears start forming in her eyes. Before you can even begin to work up the courage needed to free yourself from this emotional paralysis, she turns to the stairs and runs out of the basement, her head held low to the ground. You spent the next few seconds staring into blank space in sheer disbelief until your instincts finally took over, forcing you to run up the stairs in some kind of blind chase after her.

Your thoughts were filled with a new level of despair and self-pity. You had blown it, plain and simple. The person you wanted to open up to you and your favorite novelist were one in the same, and you were now being rejected by both. Whatever punishment you receive from hurting this beautiful creature, you surely deserve tenfold. You race out of the basement and up the stairs into the second floor out of a combination of guilt and a futile attempt to repent for your actions.

Frantically looking around for the pegasus whose heart you undoubtedly broke, you notice a shut door leading into what you assume is the bathroom. Inching closer to the door, you can begin to hear the sounds of someone crying on the other side, your heart breaking even further as the sobbing gets louder. Purely operating on emotion now, you lose all control over your next few actions.

"Fluttershy?" You ask loudly enough for the pegasus to hear. Her sobs do not stop. "Fluttershy, please I..I'm sorry! I know what I did was wrong!" The crying continues undeterred. "I...deserve to feel horrible for this! If I could t...take it all back, I would!" With each word uttered, your voice becomes more choked up, and you can feel tears forming in your eyes, but your words still have no effect. What possessed you to say this next line, you will never truly know:

"Fluttershy...I...I...love your work!"

All goes quiet on the other side of the door. Your mind and heart were racing faster than the Wonderbolts in a one-hundred-yard dash. What have you just done? Did she believe you? Did she have any reason to trust you anymore? This silence was weighing down on you more than any stress you have ever felt before. You thought you were going to go mad from the suspense. You had even begun to imagine seeing the door knob turning...no wait, that was actually happening!

The bathroom door opens with a slight crack. You cannot see Fluttershy through the crack, but you know that she is on the other side of the door. "D...do you really mean it?" Her voice is shaken and unsteady, as if she could break down and start crying at a moment's notice.

"Y-yes, I really mean it." You respond, once again making your voice as gentle and comforting as you possibly can. "I've always loved your work. I...own all of your books. They've all...touched me dearly...I never knew I could feel so emotional for text before..." As you finish this line, a question you can't help but ask enters your head. "But...Fluttershy, I must know...how do you write so well? Where do you get your inspiration?"

"Um, I, uh...." She goes silent for a few seconds, just barely long enough for you to start regretting asking her in the first place until she speaks up again. "Uh, well, I, um, I just...think of things that make me happy while I write." You note that a little bit of stability has returned to her voice, but hints of fragility still linger.

Her response gives you a follow-up question that you couldn't pass up: "..and what is it that makes you happy?"

Again, she waits a little bit before responding. "Um, well, just..little things....uh, cute animals...warm sunny days...being together with all my friends...." At those words, a small smile forms across your face and you have to fight back the urge to say "d'aww" out loud.

".......you."

At this word, your mouth and eyes open wide and your cheeks start to turn pink. You, of all ponies, not just her friends, made Fluttershy happy? Not just make her happy, but serve as an inspiration for some of your most favorite books ever? You tap your face with your forehoof and, feeling the sensation of touch, confirm that this wild series of events is not a dream but the real deal.

"I...really make you happy?" You cautiously ask, still doubting this stroke of good fortune is real.

"....yes." She replies, once again putting a blush on your face. "You've always been so nice to me, even if, um, I haven't always thanked you for it. It's just that..I thought if I told you how much you meant to me, you would think I was really weird, but I must have acted so cold to you. I wanted you to feel happy too, but I....I...." Her voice was breaking up again, and she began letting out more sobs.

You had heard enough. With a sudden burst in confidence, you push the bathroom door open the rest of the way and step inside. Taken aback at your sudden move, Fluttershy steps back a couple feet but keeps her eyes focused on you. In this light, you are able to make out all of her beautiful features. She had washed her coat and mane clean, almost making her give off a warming glow. Her face was less illuminating; there were streaks of tears running down her face, a deep blush of pink across her cheeks, and her eyes glistened with more tears ready to run if you hadn't moved in. You had never felt a bigger need to comfort someone else than you do now.

"Fluttershy," you begin in your most soothing and reassuring voice. "You do make me happy, and ever since meeting you, I've wanted nothing more than to make you as happy as you have made me." As you finish, her blush gets even deeper, and she turns her head to the ground. You reach out your forehoof and gently bring her head back up to yours. "Please, Fluttershy...let me make you happy....”

As if you were raised your whole life for this moment, you slowly move your head closer to hers and begin to close your eyes. Now only mere centimeters from her face, you shut your eyes all the way, close the remaining distance to her, and lightly touch your lips to the tip of her snout. You withdraw your head after only a second, but you felt like whole years had passed in that time. Opening your eyes, you see Fluttershy's eyes and mouth are wide open, maybe out of not knowing how to feel or react, you guess. Before another wave of self-doubt can hit you, she brings her head closer to yours, and then, closing her eyes, returns the favor, lightly brushing your snout with her lips. Breaking contact from you, she retreats her head, allowing you to see the soft smile forming across her lips. It was a smile that melted your heart; at that moment, you decided that your sole mission in life was to make sure that smile never left her face for the rest of your days and hers.

You reached your head out once again, not moving to her face but her neck. You gently rub your face against the left side of her neck, causing Fluttershy to gasp at first but then turn the gasp into a sigh of contentment. As you rub, you take note of how lovely her neck feels to all of your senses. Her freshly-washed coat is not only as soft as a newborn foal's, but it also contains hints of the shampoo she used not too long ago, giving off a smell of berries you can't quite identify but you also can't get enough of. You move back for a second and then begin your nuzzling anew, this time on the right side of her neck, and with a little more aggression. Fluttershy takes notice of this, letting out a stronger sigh of satisfaction. You felt like you could have done this for all eternity, but there was so much more to Fluttershy, and you wanted to make every last piece of her feel happier than it has ever been.

Breaking away from her neck, you reach forward and slowly lift her left forehoof into the air. Again, she gasps, but that gasp turns into a soft coo when you show her what you plan to do next. Using both of your forehooves, you slowly massage the lower portion of her foreleg, starting at the tip of her hoof and working up to the hock, rubbing out any tense spots you find. As you expected, her legs were firmer than the rest of her, but there was also a hint of softness that felt lovely in your hoofs. Pleased with your work, you bring her hoof up to your face and lightly kiss the tip, noticing that Fluttershy is blushing even deeper out of the corner of your eye. You lower her hoof back to the ground, but pick up her other foreleg and repeat the process, once again massaging away any tense spots, your new-found sworn enemy, and ending the rubbing with another light peck on the hoof.

Lowering her right leg back to the ground, you move to find another part of Fluttershy to please, but she raises a hoof and pushes on your shoulder, preventing you from moving any further. "Wait," she begins while keeping her warm smile, "I would like to have a chance to make you happy, too." Just being with her was enough to make you happy, but you couldn't say no to that request. You give her a warm smile of your own and nod your head, allowing her to make the next move. She moves her hoof from your shoulder up your neck and onto your face, brushing your cheek with her base. You knew your body couldn't possibly feel as great as hers did, but her continued brushing seemed to suggest otherwise.

Eventually she removes her hoof from your face, but as you start to miss the feeling, she cautiously brings her head closer to yours until they are only a hair's breadth apart. Shutting her eyes, she closes out the remaining distance and joins your lips to hers. Her mouth feels as soft as a pillow, and you can slightly make out the taste of that berry from before. Instead of the light peck you had expected, however, Fluttershy presses against you with a surprising amount of passion. You can even feel her tongue brushing at your lips, extracting your special taste from them and looking for a way inside your mouth. You oblige to her request, opening your lips and allowing her tongue to further explore you. She gleefully takes advantage of the opportunity, lapping at every curve of your inner mouth and throwing your tongue around as if she were in a playful wrestling match with friends as a foal. Not wanting to let her have all the fun, you decide to push back, and before you know it, a full-on war for dominance between your mouths has begun. Slowly but surely, you overpower her tongue, pushing it back into her mouth and allowing you to be the explorer for a change. The pleasure you feel as you lap at every last corner and taste as much of her as you can is almost unreal. If there was a heaven, you can't imagine it feeling any better than this.

Out of nowhere, Fluttershy breaks the kiss, gasping for breath while her lips were still curled upward. Taking advantage of the break, you decide to get some fresh air in your lungs as well. After some much-needed deep breathing, Fluttershy speaks up again. "Um...I know of a few more ways that I could make you happy...if that's alright with you."

"Really?" You respond, your breathing slowing down into something more manageable, "I'm listening." Grinning at those words, Fluttershy leans into your ear and begins whispering her suggestions to you. By the time she's finished, your jaw is almost touching the floor. If you hadn't already learned about her secret hobby a while ago, you would have seriously believed this was a dream. You wonder if you should try tapping yourself again to be extra sure it isn't, but you decide it's best to not look this gift horse in the mouth. "Fluttershy, I can think of no better thing in the world to do than these things with you," you reply to her, quietly chuckling to yourself for that cheesy rhyme.

Elated, Fluttershy gives you one more kiss, this time on your cheek, before she walks out of the bathroom and beckons for you to follow. You turn and exit the bathroom, following her as she walks across the second floor and climbs onto her bed, turning towards you and giving you the most adorable "Please?" expression you had ever seen.

As you climbed into the bed, you thought back to the title of Fluttershy's book in progress. She was right: Everyone truly has a story inside them. Your story was about to begin, and you were going to love every moment of it.

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(Author's Note - You now have a thing for cheesy romantic novels/short stories...oh, and Fluttershy too, I suppose)