Ribbons and Lace

Were one to enumerate Fluttershy’s praiseworthy traits, punctuality would not be among them; she could never bring herself to leave anyone in need, pony or animal, merely for the sake of her own convenience. That said, she never actually forgot her commitments; she merely got bogged down along the way. It was well past mid-afternoon when Fluttershy finally jingled into the shop, full of apologies.

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Rarity assured the pegasus as she locked the door and flipped over the ‘Open’ sign to ‘Sorry, We’re Closed’. “You’re doing me a favor, after all! You see, early last week, Hoity Toity referred one of his clients to me. Me! But she wants… well, a sort of outfit I’m not accustomed to making. It’s needed by a certain date, so I’m on a bit of a schedule, and I can’t call it finished until I’ve seen my design on a living model. The client lives in Canterlot, but it happens that your measurements are similar to hers. So… I wanted to ask if you would mind doing a bit of modeling for me. In private, of course,” she added quickly as she led Fluttershy up the stairs.

“Oh… well, I guess that’s okay, as long as it’s just for you.” Fluttershy paused, then said, “Um, if you don’t mind me asking, why are we going to your room?”

The unicorn hesitated as she rattled her key in the lock. “Umm… you see, the dress isn’t… it’s a bit, er… I don’t precisely want it on display downstairs.” The door swung open and understanding dawned across Fluttershy’s face, along with a faint blush. The mass of gauzy silks and sheer, diamond-speckled chiffon on the dress form couldn’t possibly be mistaken for anything but lingerie.

“Not to put too fine a point on it, my client wants this in order to seduce a stallion. I need to make sure that it will let her move easily and won’t bunch up or slide around, no matter what she does.”

The pegasus approached the dress with a cautious air, as if it might lunge for her at any moment. Rarity held her breath while Fluttershy circled the ponyquin once, examining the outfit closely.

“Is this supposed to be for a pegasus pony?” she finally asked. “I noticed you left space for wings.”

Rarity let out a relieved sigh. “Just so, darling! Then you’ll help me?” she asked, batting her eyelashes.

“Of course I will, Rarity!” The pegasus flashed a sunny smile. “It’s a lovely dress, and I’m sure it’ll make somepony very happy.”

The unicorn was still searching for a delicate response to that when Fluttershy realized what she’d said and blushed again.

Rarity made small talk meant to set the pegasus at ease while helping her into the outfit. “You see, most ponies don’t understand the value of negative space in clothing.” A jeweled halter glittered against Fluttershy’s cheeks and a light saddle spilled translucent lace over her haunches, light enough to flutter aside at the slightest movement but granting only fleeting glimpses of yellow and pink. “That which is covered is a mystery that excites the imagination; every designer knows that.” The saddle also had a crupper that held the wearer’s tail in an invitingly raised posture – Fluttershy squeaked when Rarity looped it around her dock. “But fewer recognize that what is not covered… is emphasized.”

For the pièce de résistance, a set of garters beneath the saddle’s skirts supported sheer leggings, leaving only the mare’s crotch exposed. “So of course, this one covers almost everything.” The unicorn couldn’t keep a note of smug pride from her voice. The outfit wasn’t subtle, perhaps, but there was only so much subtlety to be had on the theme of take me now, you stud! Still, thus far her first foray into lingerie design seemed an unqualified success. “Now, I’ll have you walk around a bit to begin with,” Rarity said, almost skipping as she crossed the room so she could watch how the lace flowed in motion – to see the forest rather than the trees, so to speak.

She walked to the door, turned… and stopped dead. The pegasus didn’t just look good. She was stunning. Literally. The unicorn’s jaw dropped and her thoughts scattered like a jar of spilled sequins. “Oh… my goodness…” she breathed.

Fluttershy paused with one hoof in the air. “Did I do something wrong? I’m sorry.”

Rarity groped for words, her brain sluggish to re-engage. “Oh, no, Fluttershy! You look absolutely… breathtaking! Do take a look in the mirror – Why, Huge Hoofner himself couldn’t ask for better.” It wasn’t exaggeration by any stretch. Her demure eyes and diffident posture somehow altered the effect of the dress; whereas the provocative outfit would have seemed lewd on another mare (as it was quite intended to), it instead lent Fluttershy a coy, flirtatious air. In fact, against all reason, Rarity herself was seized by the desire to flirt back. She giggled and pushed away the momentary urge to plant a kiss on that smooth, jeweled forehead. How delightfully devious! If the dress worked this well on its intended owner, she should have no trouble enticing that stallion to try his luck.

Then Fluttershy turned to admire herself in the mirror, and the unicorn felt her face catch fire. Just as she’d explained, her eyes were drawn directly to Fluttershy’s rump. With the long, pink tail gathered up and held high, there was nothing at all left to the imagination – but even so, her imagination was very busy indeed. It forcefully presented Rarity with several entirely inappropriate ideas in quick succession. It took three tries to tear her eyes away from her friend’s rear end.

“It’s nice,” the pegasus decided, oblivious to the distress she was causing.

“Excuse-me-a-moment!” Rarity squeaked and fled the room.

Rarity shoved the ponyquin out of her display nook and pulled the curtain closed around her. Her heart pounded out a fast gallop rhythm and her lungs struggled to keep pace, and not just from the rush downstairs. A spark of unexpected excitement had ignited down in her belly, a pleasant little knot of carnal desire—

For Fluttershy?!

She recoiled and shook her head as if trying to shoo away a fly. That is quite an improper way to think of your friend, Rarity! she told herself sternly. She was a cosmopolitan sort of mare, of course; it made no difference to her who did what with whom. Still, the unicorn had never personally been attracted to another mare before.

…and to her best friend, at that. A shiver crept up her back, bringing along a knot of emotions so tangled she couldn’t even begin to unravel them right now. Arousal mixed with shame to leave her feeling unclean, grimed with guilt as though she’d been rolling around in Applejack’s pigsty. And yet, some horrible, wicked, repressed little corner of her mind was cackling with glee. Maybe, it suggested, since she was already filthy, she could wallow around for a bit longer. She was at loose ends now, romantically speaking. Maybe that sweet little filly upstairs would be willing to indulge a friend’s curiosity…

Certainly not!

“Rarity? Are you all right?” Fluttershy’s voice drifted down the stairs, sending a fresh wave of anxiety though her belly. This was all too sudden! Too overwhelming! The thought of going back upstairs made her heart hammer with panic. Definitely panic. Her head started to spin.

The unicorn gritted her teeth and lowered her head between her forelegs, leaning against the wall for support. She would not faint in the middle of her own store! She would go back up there and… and… maybe just a little peck on the cheek…

She shook her head more violently as she fought to master her emotions. Get ahold of yourself, Rarity! You are a professional, so act like it! She called up the same willpower that fueled her magic to push away the unwelcome thoughts. Focus. This is simply business. No personal interest. Now get your rump back in there and do the job! The private pep talk didn’t do much to stop the insistent sensation of need, but she’d have to deal with that later. For now, she could only brace herself to face the lovely, timid, suddenly-very-alluring pegasus again.

Rarity cleared her throat. “One moment, darling!” she sing-songed, hoping the strain didn’t come through in her voice. She hurriedly cast about for some excuse for her abrupt exit – aha! She slipped the strap of her pincushion over one hoof and trotted back up the stairs as casually as she could manage. “My apologies, Fluttershy, I realized I’d left my pincushion down in the shop, just in case I need to mark any changes.”

Thank goodness! Fluttershy was facing the door when she returned, which made it much easier to concentrate. Just a customer, just a customer… “Now then, if you could spread your wings out for me…”

Rarity waved goodbye to her friend as the sun began to sink, the traitorous dress now safely back on its stand. “Good night, Fluttershy! See you tomorrow at the spa!” she called. For over an hour, Rarity had filled her head with fabric and stitches, building a dam against everything but an objective inspection of the dress, willing herself not to notice how astoundingly attractive it made Fluttershy.

Now that she felt she could relax, the dam was cracking and springing leak after leak, and she didn’t know how long she could hold back the flood. Her eyes strayed to the departing pegasus’s tail, and her memory helpfully filled in precisely what was beneath the waterfall of silky pink hair. It wasn’t as if she’d never glimpsed… that… before, but she’d never been so acutely aware of it, either. She felt a mighty blush turn her skin bright red from the end of her muzzle to the tips of her ears.

Rarity jerked her head back inside, slammed the door, and threw the bolt. She sagged against the painted wood as her brain treated her to a highlight reel of the past hour. Around the halfway point, Fluttershy had begun to truly feel attractive, and the way she'd started waggling her hips as she strutted across the floor had very nearly been enough to break Rarity’s resolve on the spot.

The unicorn gasped as she found her hoof sliding down between her thighs, where an insistent heat throbbed with each quick beat of her heart. She snatched her hoof away and staggered to her feet in a daze. She ached to be touched. Now that she was alone, she wanted it so badly she could hardly contain herself. Not here. Not yet. It might have been unlikely anypony would peer inside, but she was closed unusually early. Rarity thundered back up the stairs to her room and hauled each pair of drapes closed against any inquisitive pegasi, then threw herself down on the bed and gave in to lust.

She wasn’t gentle with herself. Rarity moaned with pure, animal need and ground her hoof roughly against her swollen, damp petals as the memory of Fluttershy’s exposed sex drifted before her mind’s eye. She was already soaking wet, and within seconds, so was her hoof. She wanted so badly to reach out and taste the pegasus, fill her mouth and nose with the sweet musk of Fluttershy’s excitement. She switched hooves, sliding her tongue across the soft pad of the wet one, lapping eagerly at the sheen of hot juices and breathing the scent of her own arousal instead. She could imagine Fluttershy’s reaction so vividly.

A squeal as she tried to pull away, stopped short by Rarity catching her hindlegs in a hug. The pegasus at first protesting the sudden assault, then falling silent but for quickening breaths and quiet gasps as the tension built and her wetness grew. Then, finally, a loud moan of surrender when Fluttershy gave in at last and pressed herself back against Rarity’s muzzle, accepting the pleasure and beginning to beg for more…

Rarity switched hooves again, her hips starting to buck and squirm across the bedspread. Would Fluttershy be willing to reciprocate? Mmm… surely so.

Once the pegasus capitulated, Rarity would roll her onto her back and straddle her muzzle. Fluttershy would resist at first, but soon she would discover that the better a job she did, the better Rarity treated her in response.

“Use your tongue, Fluttershy,” she panted aloud. “Lick me hard!”

Soon, the clumsy, blunt edges of her hooves were no longer enough. The frenzied unicorn wanted so much more! If a stallion had been present, she’d have given herself to him without a second thought. She let out a long, frustrated cry that was more than half scream and cast about for something she could use to finish herself off.

Her wandering eyes fell on a spool of green satin ribbon on her work table. Idea! She levitated the spool in a bright blue glow and drew it to herself, unrolling a few feet of ribbon as it crossed the room. The free end slithered between her thighs and wrapped around one hoof, then tied itself in a simple bow; the spool orbited the other hoof twice and she secured it with another quick knot. She pulled the ribbon up against herself, sliding it easily between her soaked labia and gasping out another groan as she began sawing it back and forth. A bit awkward, but serviceable. The rest of the spool unrolled across the floor, forgotten. The bright fabric was shortly soaked dark with her wetness, coated in slick fluids and sliding easily against her delicate flesh. Rarity squirmed more urgently, trying to make the ribbon hit just the right—

She sucked in a sharp gasp as the smooth, slick ribbon found her erect clit, then threw back her head and howled with delight, dragging it harshly across the nub. Yes, that was it!

She would start tickling Fluttershy’s clit with the tip of her tongue. The pegasus would moan so delightfully and try to hide her face behind her forelegs and Rarity’s tail, whimpering and quivering with each stroke of the unicorn’s tongue. She would have to remind Fluttershy to keep servicing her while she worked, pushing her rump insistently down against Fluttershy’s face.

Rarity gasped and trembled herself, grinding her thighs together. The smooth ribbon dragged so deliciously across her sensitive little button, she could hardly bear it!

She would tease the pegasus, flicking and stroking the sensitive spot carefully, not enough to finish her off, just racheting the tension higher and higher. Eventually, the moans would turn to desperate cries and the quiet mare would finally break down and beg her for release. Then she would thrust her tongue into Fluttershy’s hot, dripping-wet tunnel and– and–!

Rarity screamed at the top of her lungs. Pleasure rolled through her body like a tide of fire, immense and irresistable and excruciatingly wonderful. Curled up on her side, she kept stroking herself with the ribbon, letting out moan after moan and shuddering under the waves of ecstacy until she couldn’t stand the stimulation a moment longer. She loosed the bow with a quick twitch of magic and stretched out on her back with a long, profoundly satisfied groan, panting heavily and quivering in the afterglow for a few blissful minutes.

Rarity’s head spun pleasantly as she lay, listening to her pulse gradually slow. Sweet Celestia full of light, she hadn’t needed it that badly in years! Or possibly ever, come to think of it. This is utterly insane, she reflected as she watched the bed’s canopy slowly orbit above her. Since when did I get so… flustered over mares? Wasn’t the mate of her dreams a gallant and noble stallion?

Yes, yes he was. He. She’d never even considered dating another mare before. Why now? For that matter, she thought suddenly, how long has it been since I went on a proper date in the first place? After a moment’s consideration, she decided she didn't wish to calculate it more accurately than “quite some time”.

A quiet smile broke across her muzzle. Of course, how absurdly simple! She was still a young mare, after all. This was probably just some hormonal… thing. She had been working hard for months to prepare for the Gala on top of everything else, with very little time left over for herself – much less for any sort of romantic pursuits, even laying aside her aspirations to nobility. So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising if the accumulated stress required… “release” now and again. At any rate, she promised herself, she would allow her standards to slip down to merely 'high' and put out an honest effort to find herself an acceptable husband. How many refined young stallions had she missed meeting at the Gala, wasting all her time on that Blueblood lout?

Rarity allowed herself indulge in a bit of “could have been”. She pictured herself with a charming stallion of about her age, both dressed to the nines, slipping off together to a secluded corner of the royal gardens. Shielded from prying and judgemental eyes, who could say what mischief even a mannerly young lady might get herself into? Especially when the stallion saw how she could unfasten buttons using only her lips and tongue…

She giggled and tugged a pillow up against her side to stand in for the handsome swain, letting that fantasy play out… until she remembered that Fluttershy had spent most of the evening in the gardens. Then things got decidedly weird. After a few minutes, she caught herself pulling over a second pillow and trying to work out any circumstance under which Fluttershy might join a threesome with herself and a strange stallion. She shoved both pillows clear off the bed.

I need a cold shower.

A handful of lights pushed back the gathering gloom of dusk as Rarity lounged on her favorite overstuffed love seat down in the shop. Lounging was another thing that had lately taken a back seat to work, work, work. With her mane and tail wrapped up in towels, she levitated her latest saddle-ripper novel by Primrose – an admittedly trashy piece called Galloping Hearts. She tried to immerse herself for a time in the romantic escapades of Heavenly Gates and her paramour of the moment, but somehow, in her imagination, Ms. Gates kept turning into a pegasus with a coat the color of butter.