Sapphire

Fluttershy sat on the edge of the bed and tried to stay absolutely still. She didn’t dare look at the clock. Her room in the White Hill was small and felt sterile and artificial. The bedsheets had a floral design and a plasticy stiff texture. The curtains were drawn. She stared straight forward at a painting of an empty park bench on the wall.

It was soon. Fluttershy didn’t know how soon. She didn’t look at the clock. She didn’t move. Sapphire might have been late, or Fluttershy might have been early. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know. That didn’t matter. It would be soon either way. Sapphire would come soon. She would knock on the door, and then Fluttershy would have to get up and go to the door and open it. It seemed a terribly difficult task. She needed to conserve her energy until then.

She didn’t trust herself to move, so she kept still, her back and legs rigidly straight. She focused on keeping her breaths steady. She thought about Rarity’s voice. She closed her eyes and listened to Rarity speak. But all she heard Rarity say, again, was, “This is something you have to do for yourself.”

Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked at the painting of the empty bench. Even in her imagination, Rarity offered her no support. Fluttershy was alone. She had to do this herself. She had to make herself an adult. She took a long, deep breath. She could do this. She would do this.

She would have sex.

With Sapphire.

Sapphire would come and she would be more than just a name. She would be a living, breathing pony, and Fluttershy would have sex with her, and then Fluttershy would be an adult. It would be soon.

Someone knocked on the door.

Fluttershy’s head jerked in the direction of the door. She stared at it. It could have been her imagination. Her ears had already summoned all manner of phantom sounds while she had waited.

The knocking came again, light but insistent.

Fluttershy hesitated. Then she remembered Pepper and his vaccinations. She stood up and walked swiftly to the door and grabbed the handle and took a breath and swung the door open.

Rarity stood in the doorway, smiling then not smiling, eyes narrowing then widening.

Fluttershy froze.

“Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy opened her mouth but didn’t have any idea what she had intended to say or how to speak at all, and a sound like a drowning pony gasping for air came out of her throat.

Rarity took a step back.

Rarity.

It was all so obvious and incredible and impossible

Fluttershy remembered the description in Velvet’s binder.

Race:          unicorn

Coat color:  white

Mane color: purple

Eye color:    blue

Her name was Sapphire.

Rarity and Velvet speaking to each other at the Bluestone. Sapphire’s description in the binder. Velvet’s reaction to Fluttershy’s choice. Rarity saying she had to help somepony tonight.

Fluttershy couldn’t believe her own stupidity.

Fluttershy grabbed the door and slammed it shut in Rarity's face.

She turned away from the door. She looked at the window. She ran to the window and shoved the curtains aside. She fumbled desperately with the lock.

Rarity knocked again. “Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy cried out and kicked the window but it didn’t open. No time. She didn’t have any time. Her mind blanked. She didn’t know what to do.

She looked at the bed.

She dove underneath the bed and went still and quiet. She looked to the door.

She waited.

“Fluttershy, are you still in there?”

A long pause.

“Fluttershy, will you please answer me?”

Fluttershy didn’t move. She didn’t speak. She watched the door.

“Fluttershy?” Rarity asked again, her voice muffled by the door. “I’m coming in, is that okay?”

Fluttershy’s head shot up and hit the bottom of the bed. No! No, it was the opposite of okay. It was everything but okay! Why hadn’t she opened the window and escaped? Why did she keep doing everything wrong? Her only hope now was to remain unseen and wait for Rarity to leave. She covered her mouth with a hoof and watched the door.

The knob turned and the door opened. Fluttershy silently swore at herself for not thinking to lock it. Rarity tentatively stepped inside. Fluttershy could only see her hooves. Fluttershy stopped breathing.

Rarity paused by the doorway, then walked forward, past where Fluttershy could see her without turning and risking drawing her attention. She thought Rarity was walking towards the window. She heard a hoof tapping on the glass pane and a rustling of the curtains.

Fluttershy waited, and then heard Rarity’s steps again, drawing closer. Rarity’s hooves stepped into view again, right in front of Fluttershy.

Rarity stopped. She stood by the bed, so close Fluttershy could have reached out and touched her.

Rarity stooped down and her chin came into view, and then her mouth, and then her nose, and then her eyes. She looked right at Fluttershy, frowning. “Darling, what are you doing underneath the bed?”

Fluttershy tried to say something, but her voice came out squeaky and scratchy. She swallowed and tried again. “N-nothing.”

Rarity frowned at her, then stood back up.

A long pause followed.

Fluttershy considered throwing up, but it probably would have gotten on Rarity’s hooves, so she kept her mouth shut.

Rarity leaned down again, smiling this time. “The White Hill always keeps a pot of warm tea in the lobby. I think I’m going to go get myself a cup. Would you like one, too?”

“Um, yes please,” Fluttershy said, more out of instinctual politeness than any desire for a cup of tea.

“I’ll be right back, then.” Rarity stood and walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Fluttershy waited. If she was going to run away, Rarity had just given her the perfect opportunity. Probably the last opportunity she would have. But where could she go? Back to her cottage? That would only delay the inevitable confrontation, the inevitable questions. Fluttershy wasn’t sure if she even wanted to run anymore. Maybe she could finally be honest with her friend again.

Fluttershy stayed underneath the bed.

The door opened again, and Rarity stepped inside. Fluttershy watched her hooves approach the bed. Rarity leaned down again to look at her, two white tea cups hovering by her head. “You’re still here,” Rarity said, sounding surprised.

Fluttershy didn’t know what to say. It both frightened and comforted her to realize how well Rarity knew her.

Rarity looked from her tea cups to Fluttershy. “Darling, would you mind scooting over?”

“Um.” Fluttershy moved moved to the side. “Why?”

Rarity smiled and rested the teacups on the bedside table, then turned around and hunched over. She crawled backwards underneath the bed, stopping when she was side-by-side with Fluttershy.

Fluttershy’s face warmed. Space underneath the bed was cramped and small. Rarity’s body pressed against her own. Rarity felt warm and soft, and smelled like flowery perfume.

Rarity settled down and pushed a couple wayward curls of her mane away from her face. “There we are,” she said, turning to Fluttershy. “A bit cozy, hm?”

Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. “Um, yes.”

Rarity carefully floated the two cups of tea down to them, resting one in front of herself and the other in front of Fluttershy. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

Rarity levitated her cup to her lips and took a small sip. “For not leaving while I was out of the room. I’m glad you stayed.”

Fluttershy didn’t know what to say, so she took a drink of tea to cover the silence. Getting a hold of it and bringing the cup to her mouth was awkward in the cramped space. The tea tasted lukewarm and bitter. Fluttershy felt something touch her tail, and realized it was Rarity’s own. Rarity would get all sorts of lint and dust in her tail and mane and coat coming underneath the bed, a minor tragedy for a fashionista. “You didn’t have to come down here,” Fluttershy said.

“No.” Rarity took another drink from her cup. “I didn’t. How is your tea?”

“It’s very good.”

“You don’t have to be polite.” Rarity pushed her own cup away from herself. “It’s abysmal. I’ll be sure to bring my own if I ever visit here again.”

“Yeah, it’s really bad." Fluttershy smiled. “I do really appreciate you getting me some, though.”

“If I’m being honest, it was more for myself. I needed a moment to gather my thoughts.”

“Are they, um, gathered now?”

“More or less.” Rarity floated her teacup back up onto the bedside table. “I have some questions I’d like to ask you, if you don’t mind, and I’m certain you have more than a few for me as well.”

Fluttershy prodded at her tea. Here it was—the questioning. “Well, yes…”

“But it’s really not very comfortable down here, is it? If you wouldn’t object, perhaps we could speak on top of the bed rather than underneath it?”

Fluttershy nodded.

Rarity picked up Fluttershy’s teacup and crawled out ahead of her, her tail brushing along Fluttershy’s side and neck. Fluttershy had to turn her face away from Rarity’s backside as the unicorn went in front of her.

She quickly followed Rarity out.

Rarity stretched and examined her mane and tail, and frowned.

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said.

“My coiffure has suffered through much worse, as I’m sure you know.” Rarity placed Fluttershy’s teacup on the bedside table. Then she stepped past Fluttershy and lightly hopped up onto the bed and settled down onto the sheets. She smile to Fluttershy and patted the space beside her.

Fluttershy hesitantly stepped up onto the bed and sat down, belly on the mattress, hooves dangling over the side. The sheets felt itchy.

“Velvet,” Rarity said, and smiled. “The little rogue. She insisted that I absolutely had to come and meet a pony here tonight, but refused to tell me who. She only said that it was a lonely filly in need of help, and assured me that I would approve of her. I assume it was Velvet who persuaded you to seek out Sapphire’s services as well?”

“Um, no.” Fluttershy swung her hooves back and forth above the floor. “I did that on my own.”

“Really?” Rarity flashed her a pleased, somewhat embarrassed smile. “Well, thank you very much for your patronage.”

“You’re, um, welcome?”

Rarity laughed, then covered her mouth with a hoof and composed herself. “And I’ll assume from your reaction when you saw me at the door that you weren’t expecting me. That is, you weren’t aware that I am Sapphire?”

“No, but I did kind of—” Fluttershy closed her mouth abruptly.

“Yes? You kind of what?”

Fluttershy shook her head.

Rarity sighed, then smiled and nudged Fluttershy in side. “Dear, I can’t force you to tell me anything, but I do believe that, just moments ago, we both learned some very delicate and embarrassing secrets about each other, and I also very strongly believe we could have avoided this situation if we’d been honest with each other from the beginning. Maybe it’s time to start being open with one another?”

Fluttershy bit her lip and glanced at Rarity. “I kind of hoped it would be you. I kind of really hoped it would be you. I didn’t actually think there was any chance, though.” Fluttershy looked back down and waited for a gasp or a laugh.

But Rarity only nodded thoughtfully. “I should have foreseen this,” she said. “Well not this, obviously—” she gestured at the room “—but that you would have feelings for me. It does make sense, I mean.”

“It does?”

“Of a kind.” Rarity snorted. “For all my talk of romance, though, I never saw it. But we can come back to that a little later, I think. Would you mind if I asked you a question or two now?”

Fluttershy nodded. She didn’t know whether to be excited or anxious that Rarity appeared so nonplussed at the revelation.

“My first question is the obvious one,” Rarity said, looking seriously at her. “Why in heaven's name did you hire Sapphire? Why did you feel you needed to seek the companionship of a stranger? Especially after I offered to set you up on a date with Flitter tonight. This seems so unlike you. If you were feeling lonely, why didn’t you come to me? Or take the offer for dinner with Flitter? So many ponies would enjoy the pleasure of your company, dear. You don’t need to pay anypony for comfort. Of course, I have no moral qualms with your choice. I just don’t understand why you chose this when you had so many other options.”

Fluttershy looked down at the floor and her eyes stung and she sniffled. “I’m sorry.”

“No,” Rarity said sternly. “We’ll put a stop to that right now. You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for, and I promise you that if anypony here should be embarrassed, that pony is myself.”

Fluttershy buried her face into the scratchy sheets. “I’m sorry," she said, voice muffled.

“I’m supposed to be the drama queen here, don’t you remember?” Rarity giggled, and then rested a hoof on Fluttershy’s withers and stroked gently. “Come on, dear. I promise you don’t have anything to be sorry for. Please just tell me why you felt you needed an escort?”

“It was for you."

“But I thought you said you didn’t know I was Sapphire?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, I  mean I’m doing this for you.”

“I’m sorry, dear. I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

“I did it so that—” Fluttershy looked up at Rarity, and Rarity smiled, and Fluttershy looked back down at the floor “—so that you would think I was an adult.”

“I don’t understand. What does seeing an escort have to do with being an adult?”

“Not seeing an escort,” Fluttershy said, sitting up but still not looking Rarity in the eye. “Sex.”

“What about sex?”

“I’m a virgin,” Fluttershy said, and spit out the word. “I’m the only one of us who’s still a virgin.”

“Well, yes, I knew that,” Rarity said. “However, I’m not sure what that has to do with me. You mean, you wanted to lose your virginity for me? Or, well, with me?”

“Yes. Or no. Or both, I think?” Fluttershy shook her head and blushed. “I wanted you to think I was an adult. It didn’t matter who with. I wanted it to be with you, but I didn’t think—I mean, I just—I didn’t—I just want you to think I’m an adult. I just want to be an adult.”

Rarity frowned. “Dear, you are an adult. Who ever claimed otherwise?”

“You did!” Fluttershy said, finally facing Rarity. “At the Bluestone, you told Twilight she was finally a mare because she slept with Solemn Guard. And yesterday at the spa, you said being an adult means knowing how to be intimate with other ponies. And just now, you said you were coming because a filly needed your help. Not a mare. Not an adult.  I’m older than you, and I’ve never had a marefriend, and I’ve only ever been kissed once, and I’ve never been with anypony, and the rest of you girls have already done all of that, and you’re all leaving me behind, and you all think I’m just a filly, and you think I’m just a filly, and if you think so it must be true, and that hurt so much, because I want you to think I’m beautiful and smart and like—like—like we’re equals, and I thought that if I could just have sex, you would think I was an adult again, and—and I don’t know. I just wanted you to think I was an adult.”

Rarity was silent for a moment, her expression confused. Then she said, softly, “Oh my.” She leaned back and frowned. “I believe a very dramatic misunderstanding has occurred between the two of us.”

Fluttershy kept quiet.

Rarity sat up onto her haunches and lifted her teacup back off the bedside table and took a sip. She wrinkled her nose. She slowly set it back down. She tapped her hoof on the bed and bit her lip. “Well,” she finally said, “I think I have spoken very poorly these past couple days. I…” Rarity closed her mouth and looked down at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy looked away.

But two hooves wrapped around her waist and pulled her up onto her haunches and turned her around. Then Rarity’s face was just in front of hers, her nose nearly touching Fluttershy’s own, her eyes wide and brilliantly blue, her smile warm and sincere.

“First, I need to make one thing very clear, because I don’t want you ever misunderstanding this ever again,” Rarity said, and Fluttershy could smell her breath, minty and sweet. “You, Fluttershy, are beautiful and smart and so much more than just my equal. You are better than me in a million different ways, and you are the pony I most look up to. You are the pony I most want to be like.”

“R-really?”

“Absolutely.” Rarity nuzzled Fluttershy’s cheek. “You can’t possibly know the number of times I’ve wished I could have your poise, your grace, your humility, your loving gentle spirit, your limitless capacity for sympathy and kindness and for seeing the best in others, your inexhaustible desire to be helpful and good towards everyone you meet. You are an exceptional pony, Fluttershy, and I am so grateful to be your friend.”

Fluttershy felt herself smile, wider than she could ever remember, and she couldn’t stop. She felt light, happy. She grabbed Rarity in a light hug and said, “Thank you.”

“And,” Rarity said, giving her a friendly squeeze before pulling back, “you are an adult. Of course you are an adult. I misspoke before, and I misled you, and I am sorry for that. Sex is important. Sex is part of being an adult. But it is not being an adult. You are an adult because you are intelligent and mature and responsible, because of your experience and knowledge and wisdom, because of your ability to help so many, to care for so many animals and ponies. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been kissed. A mare isn’t more of an adult than anyone else just because she’s been with more ponies. You are an adult mare, and it would be simply ridiculous for anypony to ever suggest otherwise.”

“But, I mean, thank you, but—that’s not really what you said before. You seemed really insistent about it before.”

“Because intimacy is still a part of adulthood,” Rarity said, nodding. “I don’t want you to find love and a pony you can be intimate with because I think you’re a filly or you’re not developing quickly enough or some such other nonsense. I want you to find intimacy because it is a beautiful experience that can enrich anypony’s life. I want you to find love because you, more any other pony I know, deserve to feel loved, deserve to be loved. You are such a wonderful pony. I only wanted to help, and I guess I made a mess of things. But I simply want you to find love, Fluttershy, for yourself, because you are beautiful and wonderful and deserve to be loved. Do you understand?”

“I…” Fluttershy's voice caught, and so she nodded and smiled instead.

“Good,” Rarity said. “I hope that clears up all the misunderstandings. Is there anything else?”

Fluttershy shook her head, and then watched Rarity for a moment, and then asked, “Can I, um, can I please maybe hug you for a little while?”

Rarity rolled her eyes and smiled. She wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy and held her close.

Fluttershy went limp in Rarity’s hooves and let herself be held. She felt all the tension and worry and anxiety of the last couple days fall away from her like dirt slipping off her coat in the cleansing water of a hot shower.

Rarity didn’t think she was a foal. Rarity didn’t look down on her. Rarity even looked up to her! To Fluttershy! And of course she did. Rarity was her friend. She never would have thought anything different. Fluttershy wondered how she had ever been so silly. She knew she still had to deal with her feelings for Rarity, and that she had still accidentally stumbled on what must have been one of Rarity’s most closely kept secrets. But she let those worries pass as she rested her cheek on Rarity’s shoulder. Those could come later. For now, she just wanted to feel Rarity and know her friend was close and always would be.

“I suppose,” Rarity said after a long while, letting go, “that you’d probably like to know the story behind my vulgar alter ego now?”

Fluttershy finally pulled away, though wished she didn’t have to. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I won’t tell any of the other girls.”

“No, I’ve actually wanted to speak with you about this for a long time. It’ll be something of a relief to finally be able to talk about, though I do think I’d prefer if you kept this between just the two of us for a while longer.”

“Of course.”

“Well,” Rarity said, and smiled, “are you going to ask or not? The curiosity must be positively killing you, yes?”

“Um, how did you become Sapphire?”

Rarity sat back and grabbed her teacup again and took another drink. She grimaced. “I don’t know why I keep drinking this,” she said, and set it back down and pushed it far away from herself. “The story is a simple one. Velvet and I have known each other for a long time. She’s older than she looks. I know she can seem a bit… preposterous, but she is a very good pony. She helped me once when I very dearly needed a shoulder to cry on and didn’t know who to turn to, but that’s another story. I’ve also known of her, eh, occupation for a long time. I didn’t look down on her for it, of course, but it wasn’t something I ever had any interest in, and I did have some trouble understanding why a pony like her would keep at it as she does. If all some ponies want out of a relationship is a single night of vapid, meaningless amusement, then, well, so be it. I suppose a business like Finest Companions—and what a terribly gauche name, I’ve always hated it—provides those types of ponies with a unique service.”

“You don’t sound like you like escorts very much, for, um… ”

“For being one?” Rarity asked, smiling.

“Well, yes.”

“I don’t, or I do. It’s complicated.” Rarity frowned. “It’s not that I dislike the escorts themselves. It’s more that I dislike the kind of casual intimacy an escort service can promote. Intimacy is about so much more than just the vulgar. It’s about being in love, about feeling in love, about connecting with another pony both emotionally and physically.”

“But, why are you an escort, then?”

“Because I discovered that I could do that as an escort, too,” Rarity said, and shrugged. “Velvet often attempted to recruit me as a companion, mostly in jest. But then one day she asked me again, very seriously this time. She told me about a client who badly needed the help of a pony like myself. When Velvet explained who that pony was and how I could help, I simply couldn’t say no. And then I was an escort.”

“Who was it?”

“Any other pony and I would refuse to tell.” Rarity winked. “But I believe I can make an exception for you. However, you have to absolutely promise to never breathe word of this to a single other soul.”

“I promise,” Fluttershy said.

“It was a certain lonely, overworked, small town schoolteacher who I’m certain you know,” Rarity said, smiling in a distant kind of way. “She was… going through a difficult time, both in her work and in her private life. She needed somepony to talk to, somepony to listen, somepony to comfort her, somepony to tell her she was beautiful, somepony to make her feel loved. So that’s what I gave her. We met semi-regularly for nearly a year before I helped her and Pinkie Pie kindle their relationship.”

Fluttershy thought on that. Pinkie Pie and Cheerilee had seemed such an odd match. It had really been Rarity behind it all, Rarity giving happiness to others. But Velvet had said… “Velvet said you’ve only ever had two clients.”

“I guess I’m rather unusual for an escort,” Rarity said, laughing lightly. “The other, if you’re curious, I tried to set you up with today, and I do still think you should give Flitter a chance, though I guess now I know why you didn’t. But yes, I’ve only ever had two clients. I have no interest in silly paid-to-order romps in the hay. I’m only interested in ponies who need my services. I’ve never charged before, either.”

“Why don’t you charge? Why do you do this at all?”

“Do you remember the story I told you about Dire Straits, the first colt I ever kissed?” Rarity asked.

“Um, I think so.”

“I gained nothing from my date with Dire Straits. I wasn’t attracted to him. I don’t think we ever spoke again, simply because we had nothing to speak with each other about.” Rarity reached for her teacup, certainly now long cold, but seemed to think better of it and just hung her hoof over the side of the bed instead. “A pony cannot live her entire life without intimacy. It would be a miserable existence to go forever without feeling the familiar touch of another. I believe very strongly that everypony deserves to feel wanted, to feel loved, to be comforted. Everypony deserves to be called beautiful by a mare that means it. That’s why I went on that date with Dire Straits, and that’s why I am an escort of the unfortunately named Finest Companions. Because, for a myriad of different reasons, some of which I suspect you are familiar with, some ponies aren’t able to feel loved or wanted on their own. They need help, and so I help them.” She turned to Fluttershy. “Does any of this make any sense at all? Or am I speaking nonsense?”

“No, I understand,” Fluttershy said. “And, um, I think it sounds like a very lovely thing to do.”

“I’m glad you think so.” Rarity smiled. “I’ve just realized, as of tonight, I’ve actually had three clients. You’re my third.”

Fluttershy blushed. “Oh, but I don’t count.”

“And why not?”

“Because we… we’re not going to…” Fluttershy’s blush deepened. “I mean, not that I wouldn’t like to—but that would be very rude, and, um inappropriate. I would never ask you to do something like that for me.”

Rarity laughed. “Fluttershy, you’re becoming embarrassed again. What did I say?”

“Um, not to be embarrassed?”

“Exactly,” Rarity said, smiling playfully. “I’m really in a much more compromising position than you are. Besides, you hired me for a service, yes? As a business mare, I would consider it a great dishonor not to fulfill my business obligations.”

Fluttershy’s blush had become a permanent feature of her face. “Oh, um, well, no thank you.”

Rarity watched her closely, a playful, knowing look in her eyes. “Dear, why did you hire Sapphire?”

“Um, didn’t I already explain that?”

“No, I mean Sapphire specifically. You could have chosen any companion, but you chose Sapphire. Why?”

“I guess…” Fluttershy thought back to her meeting with Velvet. “I wasn’t going to go through with it at all, because I didn’t think I could do it. But then I saw Sapphire, and she seemed a lot like you. Then I thought, if I was with somepony like you, maybe I could do it, because… because I like you a lot and sometimes you make me feel like I can do a lot of things I normally couldn’t. Is that okay?”

“It is perfect,” Rarity said, and rested a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “You said you have kissed another pony before, yes?”

“Um, yeah.”

“May I ask who?”

Fluttershy rubbed her knee. “It was Rainbow Dash.”

Rarity’s eyes widened. “So you two were an item once?”

“Not really,” Fluttershy said. “It was in flight school, and it was Hearts and Hooves Day, and we were spending the day together because neither of us had marefriends. Rainbow wanted to try kissing, just as friends, to see what it was like. So, um, we did.”

“And then what happened?”

“Then Rainbow Dash made a face and said it was lame and we never talked about it again.”

Rarity giggled. “And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Did you enjoy it?”

Fluttershy realized that Rarity’s hoof was still on her shoulder, and that Rarity had begun playing with her mane. Fluttershy liked how it felt. “Yes,” Fluttershy said.

“So you’ve wanted to be with her since then, yes?”

“I liked Rainbow Dash for a long time after that, but I grew out of it.”

Rarity smiled and leaned forward. “And have you ever wanted to kiss me?”

Fluttershy’s voice caught, and she glanced at Rarity to see if she was joking, but Rarity didn’t smile or laugh. She watched Fluttershy closely. Fluttershy looked away and said, “Um, yes. Sometimes.”

Rarity’s hoof moved away from Fluttershy’s shoulder and drifted along her cheek and then rested underneath her chin. She turned Fluttershy’s head towards her. Fluttershy looked Rarity in the face for the first time that night. Rarity, as always, looked perfect. She wore a little more makeup than usual, her lips appeared a little larger and redder, her eyes darker, her eyelashes blacker and longer. And Fluttershy realized how incredibly close they were. Their sides were touching. Their tails overlapped. Fluttershy’s wing had extended and hugged Rarity’s back. “Darling,” Rarity said, “would you like to kiss me now?”

Fluttershy’s looked at Rarity’s eyes, and then at her lips. “Yes,” she said, voice a whisper.

Rarity smiled. “Then please do.”

Fluttershy hesitated, then leaned forward, and her face and neck and chest felt warm, and Rarity’s lips seemed much too close much too soon. She lost her nerve at the last second and kissed Rarity on the cheek, instead, then abruptly pulled away.

“No,” Rarity said, and Fluttershy could feel her friend’s warm, humid breath on her neck. “Like this.”

Rarity leaned forward, too quickly for Fluttershy to react, too quickly for Fluttershy to prepare, too quickly for Fluttershy to realize what was happening. And Rarity’s lips pressed against her own, warm, soft, slick with makeup. Rarity’s lips lingered, and then pulled away.

Fluttershy sat absolutely still again, her mind blank.

Rarity, still close, smiled brilliantly. “How was that?”

Without thinking, with nothing in her mind but the desire to feel Rarity’s lips again, Fluttershy rushed forward. She kissed Rarity on the lips. Fluttershy tilted her head and closed her eyes, and Rarity’s lips melded perfectly with her own. Fluttershy explored Rarity’s lips, and Rarity yielded to her, her mouth curved in the shape of a smile. Fluttershy reached a hoof up and around Rarity’s neck, and then Rarity’s back, and then in Rarity’s mane, felt desperately for Rarity’s body. And Rarity was there, allowing herself be explored, gently encouraging. Her skin was a soft warmth encasing love and support. She was confidence and wisdom.

Fluttershy, bolstered by Rarity’s confidence, reached two hooves around Rarity’s shoulders, along her cheek, down her flanks, on her withers, feeling everything and everywhere. Rarity subtly guided Fluttershy’s hooves and lips, their breaths intermingling, the air between them hot, their chests pressed together.

Fluttershy felt something wet slip along the outside of her lips, and she squeaked and pulled away.

But Rarity wrapped two hooves around her neck and held her. “Dear, open your mouth,” she whispered.

“Why?” Fluttershy asked. Rarity still held her, seemed to hang over her. They were so close, and the taste of Rarity’s lips lingered in Fluttershy's mouth, minty like mouthwash and sweet like perfume. Fluttershy could hardly comprehend it all, too much too understand, too much to feel all at once, and Fluttershy felt her total inadequacy in the face of Rarity’s knowledge and experience.

Rarity kissed her on the tip of her nose. “Please, for me,” she said.

Fluttershy nodded and opened her mouth. Rarity's lips pressed around her own. Rarity’s tongue, warm, wet, smooth, touched Fluttershy’s, and Fluttershy shivered. Rarity’s tongue moved over then under her own, drew it out, wrapped her lips around it. She encapsulated Fluttershy’s tongue in velvety warmth for a single blissful moment. But Rarity let go and pulled back. Fluttershy felt her friend’s warm saliva rest on her lips, slip down her chin.

Fluttershy couldn’t, would not let her go, not yet, not this soon. She pressed forward, kept their lips together, slipped her own tongue into Rarity’s mouth. Rarity giggled and then mewled appreciatively and encouragingly into Fluttershy’s mouth and the sound of it vibrated down her throat. Fluttershy's breaths came short and shallow, taking in Rarity’s flowery perfume and humid breath with every gasp, and then something else, something musky and hot.

Rarity’s hooves pressed around her, held her close, stroked her back, rustled her wings, tussled her mane. Fluttershy felt safe, protected, like she was home. She felt loved. She felt in love.

Rarity—incredible, talented, experienced, and beautiful—Rarity was holding her, was kissing her, was loving her. An impossible dream had come true, stars had aligned, wishes had been granted.

Rarity’s hoof slipped down her stomach and pressed against her thighs, and Fluttershy’s whole body shuddered, and she moaned into Rarity’s mouth. Rarity held her and kissed her. Rarity pushed forward and guided Fluttershy onto the sheets, lay her tenderly on the bed.

Fluttershy lay on her back and Rarity hovered over her. Rarity became her sky, smiling, eyes blue and excited, mouth open and panting. She said, “If anything I do makes you uncomfortable, just say so, and I will stop at once.”

Fluttershy nodded. Her pink, messy mane lay around her neck, on her face, over her eyes, clung to her lips.

Rarity leaned down and brushed her mane away, and Rarity’s own fell around them both like a lavender curtain, and then Rarity kissed her. Their tongues met again, liquidly, effortlessly. Rarity lay over top of her, her whole body pressed to Fluttershy’s. Fluttershy felt her friend’s heartbeat, quick and steady, felt her chest rise and fall, felt her exhaled breath. Their heartbeats and breaths were in time, in rhythm together. Their bodies seemed to meld together. Fluttershy felt Rarity’s flesh everywhere, all over her, strong yet yielding, wise yet teaching. Their hooves and legs entangled.

Rarity moved up, kissed Fluttershy’s ear, got her teeth around its very tip and nipped softly. She kissed Fluttershy’s cheek, her neck. She whispered into her ear, so close and so quiet that only Fluttershy could have heard, meant only for Fluttershy, she whispered, “You are beautiful. You are perfect.”

Fluttershy could have collapsed then. Fluttershy could have lain there and never gotten back up. The world could have ended and it would not have marred the moment in the slightest. Fluttershy could have stopped there and been forever satisfied.

But Rarity did not stop. Rarity moved down her neck, nipping and sucking at Fluttershy’s skin. Fluttershy felt Rarity’s lips and teeth at her neck, at her chest, ticklish and pleasant. Rarity’s hooves massaged Fluttershy’s thigh, gently, insistently. She kissed Fluttershy’s chest then her stomach, long, lingering, soft, and wet. Fluttershy squeaked and moaned and gasped quietly with every kiss. Fluttershy’s insides tensed and burned, a terrifying and desperate and wonderful pressure building up inside herself. Rarity kissed her thigh, then her other thigh, and then planted a long kiss right between Fluttershy’s legs, and Fluttershy felt Rarity’s tickling breath and the softness of her friend’s lips in places she rarely dared touch even while alone. She gasped and closed her legs shut.

Rarity sat up and looked down at her and smiled, and everywhere Rarity had touched before Fluttershy felt cold and longed for Rarity’s warmth to return to her. Rarity kept her hoof on Fluttershy’s thigh, stroking slowly, up and down, in small circles, warmly, encouragingly. “Dear, do you want this?” she asked. “We can wait, if you prefer.”

Fluttershy barely heard her friend’s voice. She couldn’t think of anything past the feeling of Rarity’s hoof on her thigh, light, gentle, stroking up and down, closer and then away and then closer again, and how much she wanted Rarity to touch her. She looked up at Rarity and tried to speak, but couldn’t find her voice, and so nodded instead.

“Thank you,” Rarity said, and leaned down and kissed and suckled at Fluttershy’s thigh. “This is for you.” She moved to Fluttershy’s sex and kissed there, slow and long, while she reached up and massaged Fluttershy’s thighs.

Fluttershy shuddered, and the tension grew inside her. She felt Rarity’s mouth, her tongue, beautifully wet, smooth, soft, warm around between her legs and then Rarity slipped it inside. Rarity’s tongue was inside her. Fluttershy repeated that thought over and over again. Rarity was inside of her, even if only a little bit, but Rarity was inside her. Fluttershy was closer to Rarity now than she had ever been, than she would ever, could ever be. Rarity massaged and kneaded at her with her tongue and her lips and her hooves, and the tension between Fluttershy’s legs grew and grew, and it felt like nothing she had ever felt before, nothing she had ever imagined.

But what mattered so much more than the feelings was that it was Rarity that caused them, Rarity that worked this beautiful pressure between her legs, Rarity that loved her. It mattered so much more than anything that she was with Rarity, that she could feel Rarity inside her, that she could smell Rarity’s perfume and musk, that she could hear Rarity’s melodic, rhythmic hums and pants. It felt so different than any time Fluttershy had ever touched herself, to feel somepony else’s touch, to give herself up to somepony else, to give herself up to Rarity.

Rarity’s tongue was long and flexible, and it stroked her sex in a quick, excited rhythm, while Rarity’s lips and tickling shallow breath brushed against her, and Rarity’s hooves massaged her thighs. Much too soon, every muscle in Fluttershy’s body clenched and tightened, and the muscles inside herself grasped at Rarity’s tongue, and the building tension and pressure broke and dissolved.

It wasn’t an explosion and it wasn’t the breaking of a dam. It was waking up from an afternoon nap, feeling rested, feeling ticklish and tingling and pleasant all over. Fluttershy felt loved. Fluttershy felt beautiful.

Fluttershy went limp and closed her eyes and her breaths came more and more slowly and her thundering heartbeat calmed. Rarity moved up beside her and lay down with her and held her close, and Fluttershy felt Rarity’s breath and heartbeat slow. Rarity rested her head on Fluttershy’s chest. They lay together.

“How do you feel?” Rarity whispered.

Fluttershy stirred and kissed Rarity. “It was perfect. Thank you so much.”

They lay together for a long time. Rarity hummed a melody Fluttershy vaguely recognized and reached a hoof into Fluttershy’s mane and ran it through her hair.

Fluttershy listened to Rarity’s humming and wished the moment would never end. She felt satisfied, contented, at peace. She lay in Rarity’s hooves, felt Rarity’s breath on her chest. She was Rarity’s, at least for now, body and soul. After a long time, she asked, “Can I do that to you now?”

“Of course,” Rarity said. “Anything you want.”

Rarity kissed her and then got up and rolled over and lay on her back. She gestured Fluttershy towards herself.

Fluttershy got up and stood over Rarity and looked down. She looked between Rarity’s legs, spread wide and welcoming. She had, of course, seen small glimpses and stolen surreptitious glances before, but she had always averted her gaze out of politeness. Now, incredibly, Rarity presented herself to her, welcomed Fluttershy to see. Fluttershy looked and did not look away. Rarity’s sex was different from hers, pink and fleshy and wet and exposed.

Fluttershy looked past Rarity’s stomach and chest and into Rarity’s eyes. Rarity smiled to her and slipped a hoof down her own side and thigh. She stretched and massaged her folds, and she panted softly and looked to Fluttershy and breathed, “Come, dear.”

Fluttershy bit her lip and hesitated. “How?” she asked.

“Kiss me,” Rarity said, still stroking herself with her hoof.

Fluttershy leaned forward, coming close, and took a deep breath. Rarity smelled of musk and sweat, and the bodily scent was so much more enticing than the flowery scent of the perfume, so much more real and raw. Fluttershy moved underneath Rarity’s hoof, Rarity’s warm thighs on either side of her head, and did just as Rarity had told her. She kissed Rarity's pink, sensitive flesh. Rarity felt wet and warm against her lips, not seeping wet, but lightly damp like dewy flower petals in the early morning. Fluttershy tentatively licked, and her tongue slipped easily over Rarity’s slick folds. Rarity tasted wet and watery and vaguely coppery.

Fluttershy licked again, then again, exploring Rarity’s folds. It felt a little like Rarity’s mouth, like kissing her, except much, much warmer. Fluttershy couldn’t believe how hot Rarity felt. Hot as the spa’s sauna or a steaming bath. The heat radiated off and out of her and seemed to spread through the whole room. And Rarity moved. When Fluttershy pressed her tongue inside, inner muscles subtly contracted and extended around her tongue. It was as if Rarity’s whole body responded to her, and Fluttershy felt a foreign sense of power and control, one she had never before felt in the presence of her friends, and especially Rarity.

“Darling, more,” Rarity said, eyes closed, pushing harder between her legs with her hoof, nearly hitting Fluttershy in the forehead.

Fluttershy’s sense of control evaporated, then. She needed to do better. Rarity had given her so much tonight, and Fluttershy needed to give something back, show Rarity she could do this too, that Fluttershy could be an adequate lover. She tried to remember what Rarity had done with her lips and mouth and tongue earlier, tried to mimic her friend’s movements. She stroked at Rarity’s folds, pressing firmly, and tried quick flicks of her tongue and tickling with her breath and lips.

But Rarity kept massaging more and more vigorously with her hoof and sounded like she was getting frustrated. Fluttershy tried to go faster, to do something different, anything that would please Rarity, but she began to feel discouraged. She was clumsy and inexperienced. She didn’t know what she was doing. She couldn’t make Rarity feel how Rarity had made her feel.

“There!” Rarity cried out suddenly. “Right there, dear.”

Fluttershy paused, then repeated exactly what she had done before. A quick firm lap, just a little bit inside, along the side of Rarity’s inner flesh.

“Good,” Rarity said, sounding relieved, her hoof slowing. “Just keep doing that, please.”

Fluttershy complied. She lapped again and again at the same spot, sometimes more slowly and sometimes quickly, searching for the right rhythm. Rarity began pressing and stretching with her hoof in time with Fluttershy’s tongue, and Rarity’s breaths became quick and shallow. And she started to moan, to squeak, like she did sometimes during massages at the spa. Fluttershy had never felt so in love with Rarity’s voice. It had never sounded so much like music.

Fluttershy worked harder just so she could hear more of Rarity’s voice, and she was not disappointed. Rarity rewarded her ministrations with longer, louder, deeper moans. Fluttershy flicked her tongue and Rarity breathed deep and squeaked, and Fluttershy loved it because it was her, it was Fluttershy that had caused it. The sounds were beautiful because each one was a confirmation from Rarity that Fluttershy, in spite of all of her clumsiness and ignorance, was making Rarity feel something like Rarity had made her feel. For the first time, Fluttershy could show Rarity just how much she loved her.

Rarity’s hoof went out of time with Fluttershy’s tongue and Rarity stroked at herself without any rhythm at all. Her breath and moans came wild and desparate. Inside, her muscles tensed all at once, grasped at Fluttershy’s tongue. Then Rarity’s hoof stopped and she let out a long breath and went limp.

For a moment, Fluttershy worried that she had done something wrong and hurt her friend, but then she saw the placid, satisfied smile on Rarity’s face. Fluttershy moved up and did exactly as Rarity had done for her—she lay down and held Rarity close. She waited for Rarity’s crazy heartbeat to calm.

“Did I do it right?” Fluttershy asked, resting her head on Rarity’s shoulder.

“You did it perfectly,” Rarity said, eyes still closed.

“I’m sorry I’m not very good.”

“It comes with practice,” Rarity murmured, a wry smile on her face. “And I expect you and I will have plenty of opportunity for practice together in the near future.”

Fluttershy’s breath caught. “What do you mean?”

“This is something marefriends often do together, if you didn’t know,” Rarity said, opening one eye and looking over at her.

“You… you want me to be your marefriend?”

“If you’ll have me.”

“Are you sure?”

Rarity leaned up and kissed Fluttershy on the lips, long and deep, then lay back down.

Fluttershy didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t say anything at all. She settled down and smiled so much it hurt her face. “Will we be real marefriends?”

“Of course.”

“And go on dates and buy each other gifts and spend Hearts and Hooves Day together?”

“Absolutely.”

“And… and…”

“And we will spend our nights in each other’s beds.”

Fluttershy nuzzled Rarity’s neck and cheek. “Rarity,” she whispered, “I think I’m in love with you.”

“And I you,” Rarity said, sounding happy and sincere and tired, but then she frowned and sat up. “Fluttershy, you really love me, don’t you?”

“Um, yes,” Fluttershy said, feeling worried. “More than anything.”

Rarity watched her closely, then smiled. “Dear, I don’t want to mislead you. I do love you as well. As a friend, but not more.”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to object, but couldn’t find her voice, or even her breath. It didn’t make sense! How was it possible. After all they had just done, after how Rarity had treated, how could she not—

“However,” Rarity said, nuzzling her neck, “I believe I could, with time. You are beautiful, and you are wonderful, and I would absolutely love to give a relationship with you a chance. I just… I can’t make you any guarantees, do you understand?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said, feeling relieved.

“And is that okay?” Rarity asked.

“Of course,” Fluttershy said.

“Good.” Rarity lay back down with her.

“Thank you so much, so much, so much for all of this,” Fluttershy said.

“Hush now.” Rarity brought a hoof around Fluttershy and held her tight. “Let’s rest.”

Fluttershy nodded and stayed quiet. She didn’t fall asleep for a long time, but that was fine. She didn’t think Rarity was asleep, either. They lay together. They held each other close. They breathed slowly and sweetly. Fluttershy lay her head on Rarity’s chest, and felt Rarity’s hooves pass through her mane and up and down her back, and she could not stop smiling.