Servile

Believe it or not, up until the events of the Winter Moon carnival I led a fairly normal life. I got up at about mid-morning, I went to work at Aloe and Lotus’ spa, and I went home. On occasion I’d go and have a sip of cider, or I’d get some pastries from Sugarcube Corner, but in all that was my daily routine. This might not seem too fantastical but I can honestly say that I loved my day. It was simple, I didn’t expend too much energy, and honestly it brought me quite a bit of self-satisfaction when I realized that nopony really knew my personal life. I was a masseuse working at the spa that lived two buildings over in apartment twenty-four. I was just another pegasus from Cloudsdale who came to Ponyville for a quiet life. I honestly wish that I could say that I now lead that same life, and follow that routine, but that would downright misleading. It all started at mid-winter, on just another day as I described above. With a few major differences, of course.

I remember opening by eyes, and thinking just how lucky I was. The sheets were curled up around me, blankets thrown overtop my wings and hooves snugly fit into wooly socks that went up to my knees. My blue feathers probably looked sapphire in the dim glow that came through my window, the light from the sun barely making its way through the clouds to light the space. When I looked across the room at my dresser mirror my eyes glinted gray, a dusty charcoal color that meant that days like this were perfect for me. I live to this day with a number of biological problems, and my eyes are one of them. Besides being a strange ashen hue, my corneas weren’t and still aren’t the best at dealing with bright lights. Overcast, rainy and snowing days are my favorites merely because they didn’t give me headaches when I walked out my door in the morning. I sat up in bed, the covers falling off my chest and pooling into a heap near my back legs. I was met with a burst of colder air, causing goosebumps to erupt all over my body. I shivered, wondering if I should take the day off to enjoy the weather. Perhaps indulge in a cup of tea. I shook away those thoughts; it was almost time for the Winter Carnival. Aloe and Lotus would be livid if I didn’t take customers on a day like this.

I carefully extricated myself from the covers, sighing. As hard as it was to leave my warm bed, I knew that I simply needed to get up and motivate myself. It wasn’t any use laying around and being lazy, especially when there was work to be done. I slipped on a morning robe to keep warm, tying it at the waist while I was still sitting on the edge of my bed. It was sky blue, bordering on teal, and the sashes were the same dusty gray as my eyes. It hardly mattered to me what color it was, but when I’d bought it the garment had only seemed fitting, with another plus being that it was wool. I slowly shuffled my way across the floor to the bathroom, the cold carpet leeching the warmth from the bed right out of my hooves, ignoring the thick socks I was wearing as it stole away my comfort. I just wanted to get back into bed and fall asleep the moment they touched the white-ish gray carpet. I continued on, though, trudging over to the sink and splashing water on my face in a vain attempt to wake myself up. Although it didn’t work, I felt a little less inclined to turn around and dive back under the covers. As the shower started I caught a glimpse of my Cutie Mark, the real source of my lethargy.

Although pegasi don’t usually have too many ‘special’ abilities, like unicorns do, I suffer another malignant condition, specific to myself. I’d never heard of a pony having the abilities that I do, and admittedly, I myself wish that I didn’t have to live with them. The whole problem with my Cutie Mark is that I have the curious, albeit uncomfortable, talent of knowing the immediate wants of anypony I touch. Although this doesn’t sound too bad at first, this is compounded by the fact that I usually feel the immediate desire to satisfy the command; this makes me a good masseuse. I know just where the knots are in a pony’s back, the sweet spots, where the tension is, if they want me to talk to them during the massage or to remain silent. If they wanted to listen to the spa’s soothing natural spring, or listen to the radio. All of these things also allowed me to do a number of jobs better than most, including being a waiter. I could take a pony’s orders just by grazing my wings against them. The skill of knowing what a pony wants is great under some scenarios, but terrible under others, especially when I feel the sycophantic need to do whatever anypony around me wills me to.

As I slipped under the water in the shower I can’t help but be reminded of why I’d left Cloudsdale in the first place. I left because I was tired of being the only pony that had empathy. Spending my foalhood seeing the immediate impulses of ponies around me left me unhappy, and scared of how cruelly selfish a pony could be. I personally remember accidentally bumping into no less than ten stallions on the way to class sometimes and having their fetid impulses for debauchery pushed into my head. The worst part was that I immediately wanting to satisfy them, that I felt the servile need to do all the shameless things they were thinking. It took all the willpower I had sometimes to stop and separate my own wants from theirs, telling myself that whatever they wanted was wrong. Mares had equally disturbing thoughts, if not worse since sometimes their minds were consumed with the hormones a doctor might tell you is called heat.

For all those reasons and more, I decided to get a job that scarcely involved mares in estrous or stallions at all. No stallion in Ponyville really ever went to the spa, and mares during estrous stayed home for its entire duration. This town isn’t like Cloudsdale, where mares were practically shameless and stallions were almost equally as uncouth. I could bump into somepony walking to work and not have to worry about cringing inwardly towards their vile wants. Ponies weren’t perverted, nor were they prone to think ill of others. Ponyville is a nice choice for me, and it allowed me to live my life relatively free of the less desirable aspects of my gift.

I stepped out of the shower, sighing. If only I could have sat under the hot water forever. I dried myself and dressed hurriedly, making sure to include a pair of snowshoes and a hat. Unlike most of the Equestrian winters, this one was shaping up to be the worst to date as far as snow went. As I glanced out my window I noticed that there were ponies of all types moving snow, the unicorns were shoving it into alleys with their magic, pegasi were getting rid of the problem altogether by bucking away clouds that threatened to release more of the powder, and earth ponies were using shovels and salt to fight the ice coating the sidewalks. Although I could fly to work, and it was only two blocks away, I knew that it would be cold. I kept on my socks and slipped on the shoes, wondering who would come in today. Rarity was a frequent customer. I pondered that as I walked out the front door, trotting at a brisk pace, buttoning my coat. As I walked down the street I realized that there was banners being hung, and all the bulbs in the lampposts were being replaced. The Winter Carnival would be coming soon, and everything had to be just right for Prince Lune.

I shook my head and continued to trot down the street. The chances of me getting the slightest glimpse of Lune were nearly nill. He was a prince, after all. The park would be so crowded that night that even if I went to stand outside the park that right that very moment I probably still wouldn’t see eye nor feather of the prince of the night. I shrugged; it was just another part of working. Although Aloe and Lotus wanted to take the day off, due to that night’s festivities, I had volunteered to take customers. They were paying me extra, and I didn’t have anything to do today otherwise. I saw the spa in the distance and knew that my day was about to begin. The sidewalk was almost pure ice in some spots, so I had to use my wings to right myself as I hit a rough patch. On more than one occasion they saved me from a very unflattering spill down onto the pavement. My flannel coat might have been keeping the wind out, but slipping and falling into a puddle would more than do in the woolen jacket. As I was almost at the door of the spa I took one final, clumsy step and fell down, front first.

I took a few seconds to recuperate, laying on the sidewalk with half my muzzle pressed against the ice. My back legs were still standing, while my front legs were scratching at the ice, struggling for traction as I tried to haul myself up. It proved to be impossible as I managed to get my head off the ground, half-crouched, my rear in the air and front almost to the ground. I probably looked absolutely ridiculous. Luckily there weren’t any ponies around on the street to see my lack of coordination. I opened my wings and lifted myself off the ground with a single downstroke of my wings, falling back down away from the patch of ice that plagued the front of the spa. I stuck the key in the lock and opened the glass door, smiling as half-cool, half warm air flooded over me. Something about the spa that I enjoyed was that it was always a temperate climate, not quite cold though warm enough to keep one from shivering. It was, in essence, perfect.

I strode forward and opened the half-door to behind the counter, opening the power boxes and flicking the switches. There was a slight flicker as the lights came on and hot tubs two rooms over rumbled to life, heating and churning. I turned the sign to ‘open’ on the front door and picked the myriad of magazines out of the mailbox, my vision lingering on the ‘Stallion’s Fashion’. I set the others down on the waiting room table and went behind the counter, opening it to the main article. I usually indulged in fashion catalogs, and though it is difficult for me to admit I sometimes ordered a few items from the mares section of the magazine. As I settled into the chair behind the counter, I flicked to the next page. Hopefully it didn’t have another article on rising fashion prices.

Time passed slowly that day, dragging on like a wounded animal. Aloe and Lotus weren’t there, so I couldn’t engage in any idle chat with them. Not a single pony came until about three in the afternoon, and the guests were hardly typical. The guards that trotted into the spa that day were two, one a stallion and one a mare. The mare was unmistakable; she was a bat-pony, a member of Lune’s royal guard. She could hardly be overlooked with her signature slitted pupils and leathery wings, not to mention her armor. The stallion was a bit more normal, but different from the other guards at the same time. He had different armor than the other guards, with much more of the gilded metal focused around his neck and chest. His yellow-orange coat was much different from the normal guard’s pale complexion. I was about to ask them what they’d have when I realized they were talking amongst themselves already, and it would be rude to interrupt. I sat quietly and read while they finished their conversation.

“Look Heavy, I’m not telling you that it’s a bad idea, it’s just not your style.” The bat-mare said, striding in ahead of him. “Really, no need to go out on the town here in Ponyville when nopony’s gonna join you. Partying is only fun when you’re with friends.”

“I’m going out, nothing you can say about it.” The stallion named Heavy said.

“Well then, have fun. I have to get myself a massage and a quick hooficure first, so if you wanna leave you can. I’ll meet up with you before the Carnival starts.”

“Don’t be like that Magpie.” The stallion insisted. “I’ll wait here if you want me to.”

The mare trotted up to the counter, smiling at me. I felt immediately awkward, stuck there in between the two’s conversation. Before I’d simmered in the faux pas for too long the mare leaned onto the desk with her front leg.

“I’ll take a massage and a hooficure.” She said, waving her hoof at Heavy, who was about to say something. “He’ll take a soak in the hot tub while he waits.”

I wrote the orders down on a notepad, adding in. “Would you like to add anything?”

“Nah.” The mare said.

It took roughly an hour for me to fix the bat-mare’s hooves. They were so worn from her rounds as a guard that any semblance of smoothness had to be fought for. She chatted incessantly, going on about the pains of being a bat pony. She sat there in the chair, talking while I sat on a stool next to her. I could tell the sensitive parts of her hooves, and avoided them. On occasion she’d complain that I was pressing on her hoof to hard, but once she saw how well I’d worked out the crack in her left hoof she fell silent again. I sighed and set the file down, rubbing her hoof one last time to polish. Her pitch-black hooves now shone like ebony in the light, and she complimented me on my performance.

I stood up, putting the things away in the case and thinking of how late I was supposed to be here. Aloe and Lotus hadn’t given me a specific time, so I could probably get away with serving the drunken customers that came in sometimes after midnight. While I pondered this she paced the small room, probably thinking about conundrums of her own. I put the case under the counter and gestured for her to follow me to the massage parlor. She followed me down the hall to the main spa, where I checked the list for her hooficure. I walked down the extremely broad hallway to the end room. I gestured for her to enter first. I filled out the form outside the door and slipped the sign on the door to ‘occupied’ out of habit. I knew that, since there wasn’t anypony here except for me, there wasn’t a chance on being interrupted, but Aloe would have my head if I didn’t follow her procedures. I closed the door with a light brush of my wing and saw that the bat mare was settling onto the massage table, her armor already discarded.

I shrugged nonchalantly and picked her armor up, moving it to a small cupboard off the main room. There was a small stream babbling in the corner, filling the room with a soothing ambiance. I wished that she would’ve warned me before taking her armor off, but it didn’t bother me. I worked around mares constantly, most of them neglected to wear clothing in the first place. The first day had been a nasty shock for the sheer amount of control one had to exercise to not let one’s eyes wander, but Aloe and Lotus had taught me well, and I no longer instinctually looked at a pony that way anymore. They’d trained me to look at a pony’s face, and if not that, their neck. Shoulders as a last resort. The bat mare settled down the table, watching me with those strange green eyes. I asked her a few questions while I set everything up, making idle chat.

“What kind of massage would you like?” I asked, knowing she probably hadn’t been to many spas before. “We offer hot towel treatments, full-body by hoof, and even ice.” I prayed she wouldn’t pick the ice; it was hard to focus when I was shivering my feathers off.

“Full-body.” She replied, laying on her chest. “I’d appreciate a hot towel, though.”

I nodded and pulled one out of the heater, wincing. The towels weren’t warm, but genuinely scalding, spitting steam as a handled them. I trotted over to her, hoping she wouldn’t feel too threatened with me standing over her. I wouldn’t care for her sharp fangs ripping a chunk out of my leg. She just nodded, turning to look at the floor through the head of the massage table. I set a gentle hoof on her wings, guiding them into a position where I could still get in between her shoulder blades.

“This might burn a bit at first.” I said, picking up the hot towel and laying it across her shoulders.

She inhaled sharply and tensed; I prayed I hadn’t hurt her, I was deathly afraid of those sharp hooves of hers, to say nothing about her teeth. She relaxed, and I took that as a signal to lay another across her lower back. She sighed and I saw her muscles, tense as corded steel under her coat, relax. I nodded and set a wary hoof on her back, hoping she wasn’t like Rainbow Dash. I could scarcely touch any part of Rainbow without her complaining. Luckily for me her only response was to tuck her wings and let me continue. Soon I was massaging her without interruption, and she was comfortable enough to start talking again.

“I’m really surprised at myself, but I haven’t even told you my name yet.” She mused, her tone curious. “It’s pretty hard to pronounce to most ponies, but the name I let my friends use is just Magpie.”

“I heard it from the stallion out in the lobby.” I replied, smiling. Her name was fitting. “Mine’s Felt Feathers.”

We lapsed into silence for a few seconds, until eventually I reached her upper front legs. She pulled a face and looked up at the room around her, blinking. She seemed to be bothered by something, as if she was aware of something that I wasn’t. She looked over at the radio, which by some disaster had been left on all last night and most of today. I noticed that it was actually turned all the way down, as opposed to off. I realized quickly that she could probably hear whatever it was, being a bat pony. I took a break and trotted over to the counter, turning it off with a light click. When I turned around she was looking at me with something bordering on fascination, her eyes lighting on my wings and flanks. I returned to my position next to her, getting back to work giving her a massage. I knew from experience that the best thing to do was to ignore all distractions and get the massage done. Even if the client was giving you reasons to stop.

“So, how’d you get to be in this field, eh?” She asked, her voice slightly more sultry. There were hints of something I did my best to ignore in the question. “Just fall in here one day? Or did you always want to work here?”

“Always.” I mused, thinking back. “Aloe and Lotus always thought I had talent.”

There was a slight pause in our conversation, where she did little but breathe and occasionally move her wings. I noticed that she was getting progressively more fidgety. I began to feel strange, lightheaded, as if the back of my mind was dissolving into a warm, viscous slurry. It was the feeling I got when I was touching somepony whose thoughts were shifting over to something… unsavory. I knew what she was beginning to think about, and I cringed, my hooves leaving her soft gray coat. I prayed to Solaris that she wasn’t going to bring it up. Aloe and Lotus weren’t here to step in and save me if she began to get ideas. Nopony could help me if this descended into something I didn’t want to happen.

“So… there’s this service that I’ve been wondering about.” She said, turning her head to look at me out of the corner of her eye. “It’s pretty special, and I hear that maybe they offered it here.”

I winced, her wing grazing my hoof. I was inundated by stimulation, by her urges. She rolled over on the table, now facing me. Her wings spread, complimenting her sleek figure. I must admit to myself that she was genuinely beautiful, and if I were anypony else I would probably accepted her request. Much to her disappointment, I lifted my hoof from her wing and backed away, holding my upper foreleg as I shyly explained why what she was suggesting simply wasn’t possible.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that Aloe and Lotus would want me to… that’d be really bad for our reputation if somepony found out. And I’m not really interested in m-mares.” I confessed, feeling vulnerable. She was first pony I’d told my secret to, and at that point I prayed that she would be the last.

“Oh!” She said, blinking. She looked more surprised than I was when I first discovered my gifts, looking around the room and attempting to find a foothold to continue talking from. “I didn’t know… sorry.” She apologized, embarrassed. “Let’s just… pretend that didn’t happen.” She finished, lying back down, unwilling or unable to face me after being rejected.

A very long, awkward lack of sound filled the room as I slowly, hesitantly resumed the massage. It was with great difficulty that she wound down, feeling slightly ashamed that she’d made such a sudden move. I’d seen it coming, but it still came as quite a bit of a shock. Some things along those lines had happened before, but Aloe and Lotus almost always stepped in and, in usual professional manner, asked the customer to leave. I was much too meek to tell a pony to get out once they’d already paid, not to mention that fact that I had issues of my own brought on by my unique nature. So I just continued in what I was doing, hoping that she’d never speak of this to anypony.

“So… uh, kid.” She said, hoping to break the extremely thick ice again. “Sorry about that. I… mistook you for the type of pony that would have agreed, but no hard feelings… I’m just kinda used to the ponies in Canterlot, where you can walk into just about any spa and get that… uh, special treatment I was referring to.”

I made a mental note to never go and work in Canterlot as I replied, with slight exasperation. “They really allow that there? Right in the city!”

“Yeah, actually. It’s not strictly speaking legal, but the ponies that know to ask usually are good friends with the ponies that are being asked. So the workers at the spas usually are the ones doing their friends favors. If a pony knows to ask, they won’t tell. They don’t ask, no harm done. Basically nopony’s complaining, since you have to be in on it.”

“Well, none of that here.” I said, making my way to her other upper foreleg. “The moment we start to do something like that is the moment we all get told on. No offense to anypony here in Ponyville, but there is scarcely a single mare or stallion that doesn’t have loose lips. Word gets around fast here, so we have to keep any personal information to ourselves.”

“I see. So, since word gets around, does anypony know you’re a coltcluddler?” She asked.

I stopped for a moment, thinking of how to respond. “You do.” I said, continuing my massage. “I’d like to keep it that way. Nopony needs to know, and there are other things about me I don’t want to tell you. I won’t tell you that because… the last time I told a pony about it something awful happened.”

“You don’t have to tell me…”

Another long pause ensued as I continued, thinking back to the one time I’d told somepony of my unique skill. I told them that I could see a pony’s wants, and then want to fulfill them. They took that fact and made me into a fool, had me laughed at in front of thousands. I still remember it. I was about to receive my degree, it was right there, when Miscrea reached on stage, tapped my hoof, and watched me faint in front of everypony. After, of course, I’d stumbled offstage like a drunkard, reaching out for something to catch my fall. I sighed and continued my work, shaking my head. That was a painful memory.

“So, read any good books lately?” Magpie asked as my hooves reached her central back.

“Well, I finally managed to read the classic book-” I began.

“Never mind.” She said, rolling her eyes. “I was talking about recent books. Only Lune and Solaris read that barf you call ‘classics’.”

“Lune reads classic novels?” I asked, curious.

“Yeah, tons. He always says that he’s attempting to better his knowledge of the present by understanding the books published during the time when he was exiled.” She droned, sounding as if she’d recited the same tired line more than a few times. “He never stops going on about how genius the writers during the twenties were, and all that other boring junk. I could care less about a pony that lived almost a hundred years ago.”

“Maybe, if you’re immortal like Lune, you care more about that past.” I inquired. “Because that’s actually in his lifetime, if you think about it. He’s a very old stallion, and he must have cared somewhat about that such things happened during the time he was gone. He must feel like he could have prevented it.”

“Look, the only thing that caused the collapse during the thirties was because we tried to make Equestria more like Griffonia. It just didn’t work.” She defended.

“Well, he must feel like he could have stopped us from doing that.” I said, moving onto her legs. I prayed she didn’t ask me again as my hooves lighted on her thigh.

“Woah there!” She shouted, shooting upwards and staring at me like I’d just slapped her. “That part is a little delicate, if you haven’t noticed.”

“It’s your thigh.” I stated simply. “You asked for a full-body massage, and you paid for one too. Unless you’d like me to skip it?”

She grumbled and laid back down, saying something about fancy prudes like me shouldn’t be doing such a loose pony’s work. I rolled my eyes and continued, ignoring the occasional tensing of the back as I pressed my hooves against her leg, searching for the numerous knots and bundles of tension that usually marred a pony’s thigh. She would occasionally look back at me accusingly, like I was somehow teasing her by doing my job. I continued, unfettered.

“What else do you do that’s all fancy like Lune?” She asked, trying to distract myself from my hooves pressing against her leg. “Lemme’ guess, you drink tea?”

“Correct.” I confirmed. “I like chamomile mostly, although English Breakfast is always good. I also like to read books, sometimes I like to do bestiary studies, and on occasion I go stargazing. Does that answer any further questions?”

“I’ve gotta introduce you to Lune. You two would get along better than steak and gravy.”

I finished her legs, sighing. It had been great, getting to know a strange, relatively random bat-pony and also have her make a promiscuous advance towards me. It was a load off my chest to tell somepony I was a coltcuddler, and also know that somepony else enjoyed tea and classic literature, but my day was done. I was ready to turn the sign to ‘closed’ and make my way home. Tonight was officially over for me as I threw the towels I’d used back in the heater and shut the lid. I left the room with her, switching the sign on the door to ‘vacant’ and trotted down the hall. She went to go get her friend while I returned to the lobby, counting her bits and making sure that they were all in the right part of the register. After I was done and she was at the door, ready to leave, I waved goodbye.

I honestly thought that would be the last time I talked to her, but before she left she looked at me from the doorway and said to me one very simple thing.

“Thanks, kid.”

For that reason, and that reason alone, I kept the spa open a little later than usual that night. Why I decided to do that… I don’t know. I know, however, that due to me working late that night, I no longer work as Aloe and Lotus’ spa. It is because of me staying open late that I no longer live in Ponyville, or even have my own house. It is because of that mare that strode out the door that night that I discovered that I didn’t need any of those things, and it is because of her that I realized that, deep down, I really did want to meet Lune. I also discovered a few more choice things about myself, things that are quite hard to admit to a pony that I don’t particularly know. It is much easier to show than to tell, as I learned much later. It is easier to simply perform an action than to explain it. Through this logic, I will do my best to explain myself, but I must say that it would make much more sense to show you how I reached these conclusions. So bear with me as I now tell you the story of how I met Prince Lune.