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Fluttershy knew when something was clearly out of the ordinary; it took a remarkably naïve pony to fail to see what was clearly happening before her.
She stared at the irritated royal guard, who shuffled tiredly on her doorstep as she gawked at him before turning back to the letter.
Fluttershy,
You have been selected for an important event to increase the familiarity between the Elements of Harmony. You must take the chariot waiting for you. Say nothing to anypony.
You will receive further instructions upon arrival.
If that wasn’t unsettlingly vague, Fluttershy didn’t know what was. It took her a moment to realize that the royal guard was still waiting impatiently for her, and she trundled wordlessly out the door after him. His lightly clanking armor made faint noise in the air as he joined the only other pegasus guard, ready to pull the flying chariot the moment she entered.
In the light of the moon, Fluttershy could see that the inside of the closed chariot wasn’t nearly what she was expecting. Roomy, but with dark, velvet interior. True, it was plush and very comfortable – unlike any other carriage she had ever been in, to be sure.
It was also one that she never wanted to be in again, because it reminded her uncomfortably of a very opulent coffin.
Fluttershy was only put further on edge by her many questions. For example, the guard that had arrived to deliver her letter and the one that assisted in pulling the chariot weren’t even of the royal Night Guard; it seemed suspiciously out of place, along with the timing of the letter. Honestly, if she hadn’t seen the chariot through her window, Fluttershy might not have even risen.
She silently scolded herself, wondering how the poor, tired guards would have felt for having their time wasted. Only an awful pony would think something so selfish. Fluttershy distracted herself with a few of the other mysteries.
If the princesses truly wanted to ‘increase familiarity’ between the Elements, why not do it all at once when everypony was together?
Preferably in brightly lit, cozy rooms without anything scary?
It was no wonder that Fluttershy was already shaken by the time they arrived at a small side entrance to the Canterlot palace, slipping through the shadows and into a rectangular hole in the base of the mountain. Fluttershy jolted automatically, cringing inside what she was sure was her casket as they dove into a hidden entrance. The echoing sound of the chariot rustling through the dark and settling onto the cold stone cavern floor bounced around hauntingly, makng Fluttershy’s mane stand slightly on end.
Without warning, the door to the carriage was yanked open, and she stifled a yelp with one yellow hoof.
“We have arrived,” the guardspony grumbled. “Leave your luggage in the receptacle beneath the seats, and kindly follow the second hall on your left to the third door you come to.”
“I-I didn’t bring, um… any luggage,” Fluttershy tapped her hooves together awkwardly beneath his weary glare.
“Second hall. Third door.”
She nodded with a gulp, slipping past his mean look and trundling over the dark floor, the stalactites above hanging perilously with a shimmering light. Were there lights hidden with them, or was the dim light actually emanating from the stalactites?
Fluttershy swiftly followed the guard’s instructions, throwing a look back over her shoulder to see the other pegasus reprimanding the first for his rudeness as they trotted out of sight. Before long, she was left completely alone again, and Fluttershy shivered with the cool breeze wafting into the large cave.
It seemed like a bit of a design flaw, in some ways. It must cost a fortune to keep warm.
Then again, the princesses literally had a fortune, so they probably weren’t very concerned about it.
Fluttershy desperately distracted herself with these kinds of thoughts as she quaveringly tiphoofed down the much lower stone hall. The guard had said third door, hadn’t he?
Or was it third hall, second door?
Fluttershy gave herself another little shake, firmly carrying on until she counted out the proper one. With a satisfied little smile that she was nearing her destination, Fluttershy tugged open the heavy wooden door set deeply into the stone and struggled to heave it open.
No sooner had she done so than she leapt backwards with a shriek, the same agitated guardspony staring at her with a bland deadpan.
“… Done?” he asked crankily, shifting a short halberd over his shoulder.
“How-how did…?” Fluttershy spluttered, her heart pounding in her chest.
“Silver Shard took care of the transportation,” he explained drolly, obviously resisting the urge to rub his tired eyes. Fluttershy felt a sliver of sympathy for him, regardless of how rude he was. “Now, if you will kindly follow me, I shall lead you to your next drop-off point.”
“I-I-um, well-”
“Today, please.”
“Sorry!” Fluttershy blurted, cringing. “I-I just, um… I really have no idea what’s actually going on, and, well, you see, it’s been very confusing as to what I’m supposed to be here for, exactly.”
The guard tittered suddenly, a weary grin appearing on his face as he led her down the hall. Fluttershy was a little surprised to see no other guards; not even Luna’s Night Guard anywhere. From the low torches set into the walls and the lack of lavishness that the rest of the castle shared, Fluttershy guessed that they were in a much less-often used corridor.
“You just wait and see,” the guard replied ominously, which certainly did nothing for Fluttershy’s anticipation. They approached the end of the hall where a small mechanical elevator awaited, just large enough for a couple of ponies. He left her there, nodding toward it. She jumped when he touched her, but he was only patting her kindly on the back.
“You’ll be fine, Miss Fluttershy,” he stated reassuringly with a miniscule smile. “The other two were just as jumpy, and they still came out all grins and red faces.”
“Okay,” Fluttershy started uneasily as the iron elevator gate closed, effectively separating the two as it began to rise. “I definitely do not like the sound of that.”
Splinter Spear shook his head slowly, his smile turning into a sad frown as he walked away.
The poor mare was so remarkably naïve.
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The clinking and clanking of the elevator threw Fluttershy off, and she had to resist the urge to cover her ears to protect them from the grating noise. It wasn’t even particularly loud, but it droned on for such a long time, and the elevator crept so slowly upward that Fluttershy was nearly dancing with anticipation by the time it finally stopped.
She breathed deeply the moment the metal grate clankingly slid open, blinking in the dim light. Fluttershy stared around at the many candles levitating around through the air on golden candelabras, dancing breathtakingly down the narrow hall. Almost as if they were leading her forward, Fluttershy tiptoed slowly down the hall toward a dim, warm glow. Before long, Fluttershy reached a dead end.
Fluttershy stared at the stone wall in mild confusion, wondering if she should simply turn back and tell the guard that he had possibly sent her in the wrong elevator; however, the moment she turned, a low harsh grinding of stone made her jump. Fluttershy stumbled, whirling around in wide-eyed terror as the wall slowly peeled itself apart to reveal none other than Princess Celestia herself.
“Good evening, Fluttershy,” Celestia smiled kindly down at the terrified pegasus.
“Princess Celestia!” Fluttershy stuttered and sputtered, struggling to prostrate herself before royalty. “Oh, my goodness; oh, my goodness!”
“It’s quite alright, my little pony,” she chortled as she laid a porcelain wing on the pegasus’s shoulder. “I’m sure that you have a lot of questions.”
Fluttershy forced out the lump of fear in her throat as Princess Celestia led her through the secret passageway into her royal chambers, nodding furiously since she couldn’t quite find the courage to speak.
Instead, she gazed around at the princess’s opulent bedroom and took in the sights. Fluttershy didn’t think that she’d ever actually seen where Celestia slept – if she slept at all. There was a pleasantly shined writing desk against one wall, adjacent to the closed windows to the balcony. The walls were much higher than in the small passage, and Fluttershy looked up to see a pair of incredibly lavish crystal and gold chandeliers that glowed with the same warm, dim light. What really caught Fluttershy’s attention, though, was the bed; or rather, what was on it. The enormous four poster bed was decorated with red satin sheets, which were littered with countless rose petals.
“Um… Princess?” Fluttershy began, straining to raise her voice above a whisper. “I-I, well, um… oh. You didn’t have to-to go through the trouble of, um…”
“Ah, but of course I did,” Celestia gave a little smile. “All part of the foreplay.”
Fluttershy’s cheeks burned furiously as it sank in.
“O-Oh, my. Oh, my. Oh, my,” Fluttershy’s breathing picked up pace, and her ears seemed to give off a light of their own from the heat flooding into them. “I-I-I, oh, dear. Oh, my. I thought, um… familiarity… Elements of-of…” she trailed off, shrinking pitifully beneath Celestia’s slightly amused gaze.
“Ah, yes.” Celestia nodded sagely, offering the frightened pegasus a hoof to help her stand properly. “You see, Fluttershy, there is a certain… ritual that must commence, within certain time periods of each year. As the previous Bearer of the Elements of Harmony-”
“You’re in heat?”
Fluttershy clapped her hooves over her mouth in horror at her slipup, terrified that Celestia would reprimand her for blurting it out.
Instead, Celestia only stared at her and eventually let out a little snicker. The princess tried to cover her mouth, but failed to keep her smile a secret.
“Well… yes, actually,” she admitted with a little tinge in her own cheeks, yet somehow managed to look completely regal and unperturbed about it. “And therein lies a problem. You see, Fluttershy, the Elements of Harmony leave a specific imprint on anypony wielding them for too long; and as I am no longer a Bearer, I can no longer… achieve certain objectives without them nearby.”
Fluttershy’s face burned again at the insinuation, her mind racing.
“Oh, my goodness,” Fluttershy breathed shakily, suddenly feeling like dropping again.
“Yes. My goodness,” Celestia tittered. “You can see why I certainly wouldn’t want anypony to know about something so… personal.”
Fluttershy nodded slowly, thinking back to the strange ride.
“I-I think so, Princess… but how-how could I help anypony?”
Celestia slowly drew closer to the pegasus, leaning gradually over her and placing her wings like enormous shields on her sides.
“Oh, you are so naïve that it’s adorable.”
“Um… t-thank you…?”
Fluttershy couldn’t manage to say much more, as she found that Princess Celestia’s lips were blocking her mouth from spouting any more stuttering.
Fluttershy flinched sharply, and likely would have toppled over from the sheer shock were it not for Celestia’s wings gently keeping her upright. She stood stock still with locked joints for what felt like an eternity, struggling to force her mind to keep up with what was happening. Eventually, Fluttershy managed to shake it off long enough to progressively lean back into the kiss. Celestia’s tongue flitted momentarily across her own, just before she drew away.
Fluttershy involuntarily gasped for breath, suddenly feeling light headed. She wasn’t certain if it had been from the shock and surprise of the evening (or was it morning by this point?) or if her limbs had simply been locked in place for too long, but she nearly completely collapsed to the floor the moment that Celestia released her from her loose grasp.
She embarrassedly accepted the princess’s assistance once again, quaveringly clambering onto the enormous bed when Celestia nodded to it.
The silken sheets were surprisingly softer than she expected, and rubbed strangely against her body.
“Um, P-Princess Celestia?” Fluttershy whispered as she lay on her back, feeling both horribly exposed and painfully aware that her face was probably redder than the sheets themselves.
“Yes, Fluttershy?” she asked as she slowly removed her gilded crown, holding it pensively in one hoof for a few seconds.
Fluttershy opened her mouth, but couldn’t quite seem to get the words to come out properly. She shook her head violently, jerking herself back to reality.
“… Um, excuse me, Princess. But, um… is this – well, I mean, is it-”
“Necessary?” Celestia paused as she leaned over her, placing one hoof softly on either side of Fluttershy. “Not at all. You could return home any time you wished, you know.”
Fluttershy opened her mouth, and closed it again before shaking her head.
“O-Oh, no, Princess,” the pegasus whispered. “It-it’s just, um… oh, my goodness, this is so embarrassing.”
Celestia grinned suddenly, placing the golden tiara carefully atop Fluttershy’s head. If anything, this only made her blush even more furiously.
“Very well then,” Celestia nodded seriously as she tried to hide a smirk. “I would never wish to put you in a position where you were embarrassed, my princess.”
Fluttershy thought for a moment, and tugged at one of her wingtips as she wriggled just a few inches away from Celestia.
“I-I, um…” Fluttershy breathed shakily, tremblingly readjusting the crown before taking another deep breath and looking straight into Celestia’s lavender colored eyes. “Oh, my. That-that sounds like a bit of a scary position to be in…”
“Of course, my princess,” Celestia again nodded with a half-serious look. “Which, of course, begs the question of what position her majesty would prefer?”
If Fluttershy didn’t think her face could grow any hotter, she proved herself wrong.
“Oh, my. Oh, my. Oh, my,” she blushed deeply, failing miserably to hide behind her wingtips. “Um… if-if it’s okay with you, Princ- I mean, um… my subject, I-I don’t really have any… preferences…”
Celestia nuzzled gently across her neck, making Fluttershy squeak.
“Hmm. Perhaps I could share some of my own,” Celestia slowly nipped at her as she traveled down her chest, making Fluttershy twitch and bite back a gasp in anticipation with each little nibble. “Would you like that, Princess?”
“O-Oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my!”
“That was a yes or no question, your highness…” Celestia mumbled with a grin as she ever so slowly slid between Fluttershy’s thighs with her tongue.
“Yes!” Fluttershy blurted loudly, fully shaking by this point. “I-I-I, yes! I mean, I would! I-I mean, I’m sorry!”
Fluttershy tearily covered her face with her curtain of pink mane, quivering like a kitten in the rain beneath Celestia’s touch. After a couple of moments, Celestia pulled Fluttershy closer with her wings, hugging her close to her body against her side.
“Sorry?” Celestia nudged her cheek curiously. “Whatever for, Princess?”
“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy pulled at her ears quietly. “I-I’ve never actually… um… you know.”
Celestia ahh’d in understanding, gently nuzzling the frightened pegasus again.
“That’s nothing at all to be sorry for, Fluttershy.” She kissed her again, meeting her eyes. “If I had known-”
“Teach me?”
Celestia blinked at her request, and Fluttershy’s face lit up again. She started to apologize, but instead tapped the crown atop her head lightly with one hoof.
“Y-yes,” Fluttershy insisted. “Um, as-as your princess, I-I command you to teach me about… it. Um, if that’s okay with you, I mean.”
Celestia’s smile only widened.
“Of course, Princess Fluttershy.”
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