The Visitor.

In the short moment they had after the funeral, The Countess had been doing most of the talking, and Fluttershy had been doing most of the listening. When she later that day tried to recapitulate what she had said, on the other hand, she had almost no memory of it what so ever. A bit about the weather, her mother probably, and…

She did remember the Countess saying “Oh, but that is the loveliest dress you’re wearing. Black is almost always a total dread, but ... " and something about the lack of wardrobe alternatives when attending a funeral. It did seem like the Countess really didn't care if Fluttershy answered her or not. She just wanted her attention.

And her attention she had. All Fluttershy could do was staring into those eyes that kept mesmerizing her.

It wasn’t until Macintosh came over to them that the spell was broken.

“Ehrm...m’lady, yer father called for yer. It is time for the reception now.”

“Oh… yes, yes of course. Macintosh, this is Countess Van Bellemont. Countess, this is our butler, Macintosh. He's been with us for over ten years.”

Why did she introduce them? It was the complete opposite of what the etiquette sad, but for some reason Fluttershy found it important. Was it perhaps the slightly annoyed look the Countess gave Macintosh? Like she needed to defend her butler from somepony dissaproval of him just doing his job?

Macintosh didn’t react on her slip at all, but the Countess raised a curious eyebrow at her.

"Well then, darling" the Countess said dryly "This is MY butler, Spike. He is, as you see, a Dragonborn, and he has been in my service for... five years I think. But he is young and strong and very servile, I assure you. Shall we compare servants more, you think?"

Fluttershy panicked. She needed to quickly cover her mishap, but she felt like she just had been awoken from a long sleep, and she didn’t know what to say at all.  She desperately tried to get her brain to work, but at that instant she felt extremely dizzy, and her surroundings became blurry. Ponyfeathers, now wasn't the time for being sick! At this very moment, the only thing important was to please this beautiful mare. She couldn't upset her, or she might… well, do what, exactly? Fluttershy really couldn't tell, except for the feeling that you do not irritate the Countess unless you are ready to face the consequenses!

The moment she laid her eyes on Macintosh again, her hooves where on solid ground, at least for a bit. The calmness of her butler brought her back to where she was. There was to be a reception, a reception where her presense was necesarry.

“The reception… yes the reception!" There was the answer, invite the Countess!  "Eh...Countess, will you be accompanying us to the reception? It would be an honor to have you as our guest.”

The Countess gave a smile and waved her hand.

“Oh, dear, it would have been an absolute pleasure, but I am not that close to the family, and I would never break a social gathering for my own sake. But I do say we must meet again! Yes, we must! I will be staying some time in Ponyville, at The Cranky Doodle Inn. Ah! Tomorrow! Tomorrow you and I will share a Thé Complete at the petite café next to the station. Do not say no, darling. Tomorrow at two o’clock! Be there, please!”

Even though Fluttershy sighed with relief that the Countess was still in a good mood, that hailstorm of words was a bit over her head, and she could only stammer low:

“Tomorrow...at two o’clock….I will... b-be there.”

"Well, ta-ta, for now then! Spike, come here! We must leave the family to their guests!"

The dizzyness kept trouble Fluttershy, and when she turned to follow Macintosh towards the entrance, she stumbled on her hooves. Macintosh had to grab her arm and hold her steady not to fall over.

“M’lady? Something the matter?”

“Oh...Oh...no, Macintosh. I’m just feeling...let's just get inside as soon as possible, please?”

Macintosh said no more, but his face told a different story. He was indeed worried about her. She didn't think her unstable condition would be visible on her, but apparently she looked like a train wreck. If Macintosh gave visible concearn, it was to be taken serious. And he was not the only one to notice. She saw how some of the guests looked at her with confusion and concearn. And since it was members of the upper-classes, some of them looked at her with disgust. Fluttershy only wanted to hide from their eyes, she only wanted to unfold her wings and take cover, like a frightened duckling. But as usuall when she was nervous, her wings ceased to function totally, and she was left as prey to everyponys eyes.

It was such a relief when She saw Nana and her father coming towards them. Nana took Fluttershy's hand, and pushed her gently into a small recess. Macintosh closed the curtain behind them. Nana had that look Fluttershy remembered from her youth, when she had fallen down the stairs because she was to eager to play with her pets, and her voice had that exact mix of scolding and tenderness: “Now, young miss! Ya look weaker than a dog that has been drinking a mug of hard cider! Yer should not have taken such a big risk to attend here when yer were feeling ill! Why didn't ya say yer were feeling under the wheater? That is not the behaviour of a sound filly. Yer must retire to yer room immediately! No, no objections! Macintosh, you take the lady straight away and put her in bed."

“But Nana, the guests…” Fluttershy tried to protest.

“The guest will entertain themselves, my girl” father said. “I agree with Nana, you must rest. The journey and the funeral must have gotten you harder than we thought, and it was incautious of us forcing you to attend." He was silent a while. Fluttershy was pouting at him, and he continued with a much softer voice: "Please do as Nana says. My evening will be much easier if I know that you are safe and takes care of yourself!”

You didn't force me, I wanted to come. Fluttershy thought to herself. A bit of a half-truth, she admitted, but she DID love her mother, and that's what counted, didn't it? Well, there was no use in protesting, she could read that on Nanas and her fathers faces. With nothing more to say, other than to obey, she tried to walk away, but her hooves was still unsteady. She felt dizzy, and she leaned against the wall with her face in her hands. In an instant, she found herself lifted by the strong arms of Macintosh, and after additional fifteen minutes later, Fluttershy found herself tucked up in bed by him. How he managed to get her out of her dress without really looking at her was a mystery to Fluttershy, but she was now dressed only in her undergarments and her mane let loose. It was nice, but still...

“Now get some rest, M’lady. Ah’ll have some dinner sent for yer. Try to relax.”

Fluttershy didn’t want to relax. She felt angry. Who did they take her for? Some delicate flower that snapped at the first breeze? She sighed. To be honest, she was. She was a delicate flower that couldn’t really stand on her own at times. That was probably why Rainbow liked her so much. She never said no. Everytime Rainbow visited Canterlot, she had some stupid plan she thought would be "fun"...  And Surprice was the same when she came by. She always had some get-together to attend, and Fluttershy tagged along. And Derpy always sent letters. And then there was her Canterlot friends, Moondancer, Fleur de Lis, Cherrilee and that Istallian mare, Vincenza Scratch, who was as crazy as Surprice and always dragged her in to her crazy schemes like Rainbow...

Okay, perhaps she was a doormat. But in that case she was a doormat with a rich social life!

Suddenly, Fluttershy felt cold. What was this, throwing insults to her family and affront her friends in their absence? She blushed, and hid under her blankets.

In her solitude and darkness, she quickly realised what her problem was. She missed her friends. She gave out a silent sob. And then she started to think about the countess. Such a strange pony. She seemed so very kind, and yet there was something... strange and offensive about her. Down at the courtyard she felt the strange and contradictory feeling of both fascination and the want to escape. She did look like the mare from her dreams, but...she had been... okay, scary, but... she had been kind and loving. She only wanted Fluttershy to feel good. The Countess... She on the other hand seemed more like a hungry wolf. Well, she would have the chance to get a deeper impression of her tomorrow. If she got nothing else out of it, Le Pince à Sucres Thé Complete was always enjoyable, and that was actually worth a queer meeting with a strange pony. And with that thought, she turned of her mind  and slowly dazed of to sleep.

She dreamt of teapots.

In the afternoon she felt a bit better, and not even Nana could stop her from taking care of her animals. She attended supper as her normal self, and spent the evening with her father and the staff in the library, sharing stories about her mother and simply remembering her as the fantastic mare she was. This felt much better than the gloomy funeral, and it was actually with light steps she went to her room after supper. She feared that she once again should have to fight sleep, but to her surprice, it came to her quite easy. Soon afterwards, the mansion was dark and silent, save for the snoring from Applejacks quarters.

Some hours passed. Down the valley in Ponyville, the clock in the Town hall stroke eleven, and the faint "ding" was heard even at the mansion. Some rabbits were moving over the road, a fox was peeking out from a bush at the edge of the forest, and even a moose could be seen moving through the night. The rest was silent, except for a rustling of leaves.

But all of a sudden, everything went dead silent. There was not a movement, almost like nature itself was holding its breath. Waiting for something to occur.

And suddenly, a black figure eloped from the Forest. It was as dark as the night surrounding it, with a mane floating from its head like a piece of the night sky itself. It walked from the forest along the road, until it stood almost in front of the mansion. There it stood still for a moment. The fox slowly aprroached it. Instantly the figure turned its head to look the fox in the eye. The fox gave a small whimper, and then heel-turned back into the forest. Every other animal did the same, and soon, there was no wild animal in a two-mile distance from the mansion. In their cages, Fluttershys pets shivered in fear. The figure grew a smug grin. Then it slowly the figure seemed to dissolve and vanish from the ground. In its place, a thin smoke appeared, that slowly floated next to the wall and up to the third floor. There it hovered a bit, until it found a window. There it started to slip in between the windowframes.

In that moment, Fluttershy awoke. She had not heard anything, but she felt that something was off. The rooms only light came from the moon, making squares on the floor, but the rest was darkness. She saw the smoke coming from the window, she saw it grow thicker, she saw a figure materialize in front of her. Fluttershys heart took a lep over a few beats and she gasped at the figure. Large, like a big calf. Long tail. Sharp ears. Eyes as blue as the winter morning sky.

The cat was back.

She expected herself to be afraid, but surpricingly, she wasn’t. Instead she felt the cat being a familiar sight, and she felt a warm feeling inside. She didn't know where it came from, but it was pleasant. She gave the cat her most welcoming smile. “Come here, kitty. Come to Fluttershy.”

The cat wasn’t late to react. It jumped up into her bed, and lay itself comfortably next to her. Streching the full of its length, the cat reached almost down to her hips. Fluttershy stroke the soft black fur and schratched it behind the ears. The cat was purring. Fluttershy felt calm and quite happy. There was nothing scary with a cat. Even though it was big.

“You are a beautiful kitty. Yes you are.”

Then she found the cat looking and poking at her chest whit its left paw. It did sting a bit, but not to much, and when Fluttershy looked down, she saw that the wound from last night was back. Not only that, small drops of blood was sipping from it. She looked at the cat again. It was licking its lips, and the pupils had become thinner. At that moment Fluttershy remembered what the cat did to her last time. Once again, she surpriced herself that the thought of the cat dringking her blood didn't upset her. Actually, her feeling was the opposite.

“Oh, poor thing. Are you hungry?”

The cat didn’t move, it only kept licking its lips.

“You must be hungry. Please...let me feed you.” Fluttershy tore of her shirt, revealing her upper body, but this time, she wasn’t ashamed. A poor creature needed her, and Fluttershy never put her life before an animal.

“Come kitty. Come to Fluttershy. Feed of me” The last part she only dared to whisper.

This time, the cat moved closer to her, and started to eat. It didn’t bite her this time, and the small pain of the wound was soon concealed by the strange feeling of the cat feeding of her. It felt good, and Fluttershy almost pushed the cats head harder onto the wound. Her breathing had also become heavier.

She even let out a moan, even though she knew this was so wrong in so many ways, it just felt perfect!

Then the cat stopped feeding, and moved on to lick her face instead. Then it looked Fluttershy in her eyes.

"Do you want to stay her with me?"

The cat nodded.

"I want you to stay. Come, lay down her next to me."

Fluttershy put her hands and her wings around the cat. They were both purring with satisfaction. The last moment, before she fell asleep, a strange feeling came over Fluttershy. It was almost as the weight of the bed changed, and it felt like she wasn't stroking a cats fur, but a mane. Before she could react, she heard a voice in her head.

I am yours, and you are mine. Sleep well, my love. Sleep well...

And then, the clock struck twelve.