Fluttershy had a problem. Yes, a minor problem. She was really craving for some cactuses. Why? Well, it's a long story, but to put in it short, Fluttershy was in the mood for some juice. Not some ordinary juice, though. Something more alluring and exotic. Something that Rarity would agree with her on: an "exquisite" acquired taste. And no other common juice had been able to keep her thirst at bay. Instead, she has been craving for something new and refreshing, something that could keep her desire in check. She wanted to go above and beyond her own standards. So what better juice than that of a cactus? As a result of her thirst, Fluttershy set out on an adventure into the deserts of Equestria in search for the best cactuses in all of the land.
After searching for a few days, she stumbled upon a convoy of carriages and ponies.
That's when her problem escalated.
"H-Hello?"
Two beady brown eyes focused on poor Fluttershy, whose hooves trembled in fear of being judged excitement of possibly finding a source of information for her cactus hunt.
The owner of those eyes smiled. "Why hello, miss?"
"F-Fluttershy."
"I beg your pardon?"
Fluttershy looked away from the penetrating gaze of a stallion on a horse-drawn carriage and hid behind her mane. "F-Flutt—"
"Aye, Brazzer! What's the hold up?"
The brown-eyed behemoth of a stallion let out a mean sigh and turned to the voice shouting behind his carriage. "P-Hub! Relax back there! I'm just talking to a fair mare here who wandered in our path!"
The voice took a moment with its reply saying, "Well let’s get a move on then, mate! We got this funeral to attend to, remember? And I don't want the cactuses to become drier than the desert when we get there!”
Cactuses? "Alright!" Brazzer shouted, before turning to Fluttershy again with a smile. "Now where were we—"
"You have cactuses?!" Fluttershy exclaimed with sweat dripping down her cheeks.
The stallion behemoth stared into the eyes of his beholder. The mare’s lips was merely inches from his face, allowing him to take in her scent.
She smelled like that of a cactus.
"Y-Yes," he began as he pulled away from the mare with a jerky jolt. "W-We have some in the back few carriages. It's for the death of—"
"Can I come too!?" Fluttershy said, smiling and squeeing in excitement utter happiness.
"Uh… one second—Hey, P-Hub!"
"Aye!?"
"Can this cheeky mare come to the funeral?"
"Is she ten out of ten, gettin’ ready for the swoogity!?"
"Yep, mate! She's even got a thing for the cactuses!"
"Oh… Well, I like her already from the sounds of that! Send her back will ye?!"
Brazzer rolled his eyes and looked at Fluttershy. "Head on over to the caboose, alright? P-Hub wants to have a little chat with ye."
All Fluttershy could do was nod and hold onto her trembling fore hoof. The pressure from finding her delectable treat slowly melted away. Sweat slid down from her hair and onto the burning hot sands of Equestria. It was time to let her body feel the release she’s always wanted. The hunt was over, after all. She was finally going to suck on some delicious cactus juice and be happy about it.
But as Fluttershy trotted merrily to the last carriage in the convoy, she remembered a startling detail that sent shivers down her spine.
"W-We have some in the back few carriages. It's for the death of…"
"We got this funeral to attend to…"
Since when does a funeral need cactuses?
The thought in her head sounded odd to her after all. Maybe it's what ponies do in the desert? Using cactuses as exotic plants to showcase a dead pony's coffin? Maybe even to make the grave site look more appealing?
Fluttershy shrugged and carried on to the caboose. There's no use in stopping herself from gaining access to some quality juice. If that meant she had to tail a funeral procession in the deserts of Equestria, then so be it.
Upon arrival of being at the end of the convoy, Fluttershy noticed the carriage’s construction. It had a white veil covering its entrance, and its wooden frame was different than the rest. It was much larger and more reinforced, with plywood layered to ensure its safety. Its wheels were larger than the other ones she had passed, let alone stronger than the others. Why was this the case for the last one in the convoy? Was this carriage housing something she did not know of? Weapons, possibly?
She shook her head of the silly thought of them turning violent. There has to be another logical reason for…
"Hi."
…that.
"U-Um…"
Inside, an open white and blue coffin waited at Fluttershy's hooves. But that wasn't all that was inside this carriage. Behind the rather large coffin was another stallion. Much like Brazzer, he was a behemoth of a stallion, but the towering form and crooked smirk of this stallion kept her at a distance. She started to back away from the carriage, but the big orange hooves of his snatched her up and tossed her into the back of the carriage before she could even escape.
"What, do I have something on my face, Fluttershy?"
The sounds of clip-clopping echoed in the carriage.
"How do y-you…"
Each breath she took meant another step towards her.
"I am P-Hub, Fluttershy. I know you due to one of my users watching your video series. Especially the one titled 'Fluttershy sucks juice out of—'"
"Please, don't say it!” Fluttershy shouted, her hooves quivering where she sat. Reminders of the juice trailing down her throat kept her mouth from getting the words she wanted to say out. “I know, I-I was featured on that place’s page, but I don't need you to—"
P-Hub interrupted her by kicking the coffin around, making the bottom end face her again. "But Fluttershy, why wouldn't I mention it? I need to congratulate you on your achievement? Fluttershy, no mare could have done what you did! You made yourself famous across Equestria for something so elusive.” He paused, his eyes focused on her hindlegs. He noticed some thirst sliding down them, while some matted her fur. It baffled him that a mare like her had wandered this far without having to stop for some a quick refuel. “It’s quite a shame, though. Brazzer will surely miss not having you around."
She watched as his eyes wandered all over her form. "W-What? Why are you saying that?"
P-Hub smiled. Oh what a wonder to see her in the flesh! She was so vulnerable and precious... but under his iron hoof, she was a pawn for his business. They just never met in pony to pony. Maybe he should ask for her to give him the release that the stallion had in the video. After all, she did know how to suck the juice out of an apple.
But no, not with Fluttershy. Her eyes were wide, her bottom lip was quivering, and the juice was slowly trailing down her legs. Her excitement needs were part of a vicious cycle that he did not want to have in his life. Plus he had been deemed her master, so Fluttershy was not allowed to be with him. After all, masters should never play with their products.
Even if he wanted to play with her just for a moment, P-Hub had to still deal with her lack of misconduct. Without his permission she had been living life elsewhere. Just suddenly taking off to a place that he was not aware of was a definite violation of her contract, one that he got her to sign in blue ink.
"Because I need you back at the facility for a while," P-Hub replied, his hoof slowly grazing against her cheek.
Fluttershy winced from the contact. The facility? Her eyes widen as the pieces in her head connected. This wasn't a funeral procession, this was a convoy to find her again. The excitement fear of being caught continued to surge through her. She couldn't help it; she was caught in his snare again. But instead of it being the secretary who fed her, it was now his turn. The stallion had her in his grasp, and he knew she could not escape. It was just like the day she signed her contract, one that was behind iron bars where a hoof and pen told her to sign or die.
So, with reluctance, she signed her signature. And that was when her career under P-Hub's brand had started, at a facility where "dancers" like her, probably collected the same way, danced for stallions who loved their bodies. And she danced for them all night long, both in private and public with sweaty, juicy passion. That passion though was not real. It was forced and abusive; her hooves being tied behind her back while juice meandered down her legs and stuck to the little tuffs of fur on her chest. She was being used, and all she could do was take it.
That's why she was craving cactus juice right now. It was a new cycle to feed into.
"B-But I don't want to go back!" she shouted. "I don't want to be used again! I—hmmph!"
A large hoof was shoved into her mouth, ending her shouting in an instant. "Fluttershy, Fluttershy, that's not what we discussed when we talked about your contract. You're mine, remember? You get sent out by my secretary to do the dirty work. You receive orders from him and you give those customers what they want. There's cameras all around on the sets so you can earn your payment." He let go of her mouth and returned to petting her, his free hoof reaching for her mane. "I can't wait to tell them that you've returned to me--I mean us. You made our company grow so fast!"
Fluttershy knew at this moment that searching for cactus juice was a huge mistake. She needed to get home to return to her life that she forged out of her own hooves. But would it be possible to escape now? After all, this stallion could overpower her.
If only she knew how to escape her fate.
"I'm not going back!" she yelled, before slapping him with her free hoof.
The connection made the stallion recoil, but that didn't make falter enough to lose his grip on his masterpiece. He had her by her tail, so he yanked on it hard, causing her to yelp loudly.
"You're not going anywhere..."
P-Hub knew that she wouldn't want to go back. He just wished that she would cooperate with him more. Otherwise he would just have to terminate her contract, knowing that even though she would be forced back into the business, she would not cooperate with the customers. She would be a troublemaker that would never be the good mare that she should be.
With a internal sigh, P-Hub grabbed her by her mane and said, "On second thought, I don't need you anymore."
Why the sudden change of heart? Fluttershy thought as her eyes widened. "Really?"
He nodded. "Yes, because you won't cooperate with me nor with our future customers. So instead of that, I'll do the next best thing."
"L-Letting me go?"
He shook his head, causing Fluttershy to shiver.
"No, I have a better idea," he said as he picked her up and hung her over the open coffin. With that crooked smirk on his face and the eyes of an angered mutant, Fluttershy knew that this was her end. She couldn't leave. She couldn't go home to feed Angel, she couldn't meet with Rainbow Dash to see her fly again, she couldn't go to that place and live freely; she was going back to the facility, in a coffin.
Sweat dripped off her face, her excitement needs trickled down her legs, and the images of dancing for all those stallions she was used by came to her full force.
"Fluttershy, you're not going back..."
And that moment, her eyes widened. The stallion grinned.
"You're a bad mare. And you know what happens to bad mares, right?"
She shook her head. The stallion laughed.
"Bad mares meet the recycling bin."
Fluttershy, with her excitement fear at its highest peak, could only scream as the coffin swallowed her whole.