Plushershy

There were exactly twenty-eight bolts in the longest beam that ran across the ceiling of Fluttershy’s living room.

Princess Twilight Sparkle could not have explained what it was that always possessed her to count them every time she entered her friend’s home. The likelihood that their number would increase or decrease was negligible, but they were just so easy to count, that she deferred to them whenever she needed to keep her voracious mind active. Twilight had a similar technique for nearly every building in town, but it was not intended to suggest that her friends were boring. Her great intellect was simply such that her brain would get upset with her if she didn’t fill idle time with checking on things she knew would never change.

Her ears perked, and she rose from her relaxation upon Fluttershy’s couch when the Pegasus hovered in. Suspended beneath Fluttershy, pinched between her forelegs, was a box that was beyond the size of her entire body.

Twilight lit her horn immediately and surrounded the box in the raspberry hue of her magic. “Yikes, what is that? Here, let me help you with it-“

“Oh no,” Fluttershy insisted, “it’s fine. This is very light.”

“Are you sure?” Twilight tugged slightly on the box, but did not attempt to wrench it from her friend’s grasp. “Hey, that is light…what’s in there, clouds from home?”

Fluttershy allowed her friend to indulge in the boorish, repetitive joke. The snorting noise that shot from Twilight’s snout whenever she had amused herself was adorable and well worth it. Fluttershy floated over to the rug before her cold hearth, sat the box down, landed, and trotted over to the end table, making a fuss over Twilight’s empty tea cup.

“More tea?” She offered, with the usual obsessive concern she lavished upon houseguests. “I still have plenty of crushed spearmint leaves.” She put a hoof to her chin in thought. “Well, I guess that’s technically not tea, but they really don’t need anything else if you ask me. Just crush them up, strain them, and they’re really good, don’t you think?”

“What? Oh, sure…” Twilight replied without conviction. Curiosity was both her best friend and her worst enemy. Thus, she could not concentrate on the conversation so long as there was a cardboard elephant in the room.

Fluttershy caught her friend staring. “Um…okay then, I’ll…just go and get some more tea…”

But Twilight was already circling the box intently, as though she was expecting it to suddenly begin singing and dancing all by itself. “So what have you got here? It’s not really a cloud, is it?” Twilight laughed sheepishly, “Because honestly, that would be really silly considering there are clouds all over the place in the sky. Unless there really are better clouds in Cloudsdale? I suppose I wouldn’t know about that since I’ve never lived there, but just about every cloud around here comes from Clousdale anyway, doesn’t it? So what would make it worth shipping a cloud from one place to the next, when you could just move it? You’re a Pegasus anyway, so—“

Fluttershy’s brow furrowed as she listened to her friend’s train of thought rattle along. With each station it passed Twilight’s guesses were getting colder and colder, but Fluttershy knew her well enough by now to realize she wasn’t going to stop unless somepony stepped in. She finally let out a mumble that gave the princess pause.

“What?” Twilight asked, “I didn’t catch that.”

“It’s…um…” Fluttershy fidgeted and looked away, “…it’s Smash Fortune.”

Twilight tilted her head without comprehension. “You have an old sci-fi movie star that my brother used to love when he was a colt in a cardboard box in your living room?”

“I…well…” Fluttershy returned a sheepish grin of her own. “Yes?”

Twilight gave the box an exasperated look, “Is he dead? He’d have to be ashes to weigh so little.” She pondered her own words, “Well, I guess he could be dead. I haven’t really thought about him much since I was around six years old. He must have retired half a forever ago.”

Fluttershy was twiddling her hooves and staring intently at them. “…n-no…”

Twilight noted the uncertainty in her Pegasus friend’s voice. She took a breath and sought to calm her mind – whatever was going on, there had to be a simple explanation. She painted her lips with a reassuring smile and trotted back over to the couch, arranging herself upon it in the exact same comfortable, non-threatening position as before.

“Fluttershy, you know…it’s not that I didn’t have a nice time today, and I’m glad you invited me over, but we haven’t really done much of anything other than talk about how the chickens are doing or what my last trip to Canterlot was like.” She patted the empty cushion beside her and nodded at it. “And all of that is fine, but why don’t you tell me what’s really on your mind?”

“O-oh!” Fluttershy seemed startled, even though she had her full attention on the alicorn the entire time she spoke. “Y-yes, well, I should do that, shouldn’t I…it…”

“Yes?”

“It…well, it’s…”

“Yes?” Twilight repeated, leaning towards Fluttershy a little further with every instance of the word.

“…you see, it’s about…um…”

“About what?” Twilight tried her best not to sound annoyed.

“Uh, um, uh…tea!” Fluttershy finally announced.

Twilight made a face. “The strange box with Smash Fortune somehow inside it has to do with tea?”

Fluttershy’s foreleg was flailing towards the kitchen. “Tea! Let’s have some more tea!” The yellow Pegasus subsequently vanished from the room, leaving her guest to sit idiotically on the couch, staring at the large shipping box with no additional clues as to its secrets.

Minutes passed. Twilight’s ear swiveled towards the clinking china in the kitchen, but her eyes never left the box. Curiosity burned inside her. It threatened to overwhelm her, but her companion chose exactly the right moment to return, balancing a new tea tray on her raised hoof.

“Tea time!” Fluttershy sang, as if nothing were amiss. She arranged the cups on the coffee table and poured out a measure of clear liquid with a pallor that matched her coat, sweetening it to Twilight’s taste from a jar of sugar cubes. “These really are the best spearmint leaves I’ve had in some time, you know.”

“There’s no arguing with that,” Twilight conceded, taking the offered cup in her magic and helping herself to a sip. She remained politely quiet as Fluttershy prepared and began to drain her own cup, forcing herself to be patient until her host was ready to explain. Eventually, Fluttershy obliged.

“You see,” Fluttershy murmured as she stared off into space, “I sort of…well…did something bad. And part of why I wanted to have you over today was to apologize for it.

Twilight’s ears flicked inquisitively. “Bad? What was bad?”

Fluttershy reached towards the end table, opened its drawer, and extracted a thin envelope. She then gently laid the envelope before Twilight on the cushion and sat back.

“…these.”

Twilight took the envelope in her magic and opened it. Within were approximately ten promotional photos of the actor Smash Fortune, dolled up and posing for the camera, made up in the garb of one of his better known leading roles.

“You’re…sorry that you have Smash Fortune photographs,” Twilight concluded uncertainly. “I really didn’t know you were such a big fan of his.”

“I’m not,” Fluttershy explained, “I had never heard of him before that day that Princess Cadance and Shining Armor came to visit, when they announced they were having a foal. Remember when you showed us all how you made up a roomful of nostalgia for your brother?”

Twilight nodded, smiling fondly as she shuffled the photographs and looked them all over again. “Of course, how could I forget? I found out I was going to be an aunt that day.”

Fluttershy touched her hoof to the pile of floating photographs. “Well, these are your photos, not mine. I found them in a wastebasket in the palace that day and…I sort of took them. I’m really sorry.”

Fluttershy hung her head just as Twilight brightened with recognition-

“Oh! Hey you’re right, I do remember these now. I got them because I barely remembered what Smash Fortune looked like myself, so I needed some reference material.” She paused, “What are you sorry about?”

“Well I…took them…without asking…”

Twilight let out a snerk and blew lightly on her straight bangs. “Pssh, oh come on Fluttershy, that’s totally fine. I mean, they were in the wastebasket anyway. These are just generic promotional photos. They’re not collectible or anything.

“Be that as it may,” Fluttershy insisted, her chin staunchly up, “I still took your trash without asking. So I wanted to give them back to you and say I’m sorry.”

Twilight replaced the photos in the envelope and sat them aside. “Usually I appreciate it when somebody takes my trash, but okay. Thank you.”

The Princess of Friendship expected more. When no more words came from her host, she prompted them herself.

“And…why exactly did you want promotional photographs of an old actor that you didn’t even know prior to the day you took them?”

Fluttershy was nibbling on the tip of her hoof. “I…I don’t know a lot of stallions, and…well I do know a few I guess, but I don’t have a bunch of pictures of any of them, and I needed pictures for…” she pointed at the box, “For that.”

Twilight sighed softly, rowing about in a sea of ambiguity only Fluttershy could shine any light upon. “Do I get to know what’s in the box now?”

Fluttershy blushed. She hesitated for a long time, and for a moment it seemed she would keep her secret forever, but she had learned a lot about asserting herself in recent years. She had come this far, after all. She spoke-

“Have you ever heard of a company called Heaven Sent?”

Twilight considered the question and replied easily, “Sure. They make plush toys and stuff for foals. Why?”

“They, um…they also make…toys and things that aren’t exactly intended for foals…” Fluttershy whimpered.

Twilight glanced at her friend. Then at the box. Then back at her friend again. A lightbulb went on in her brain, glowing so brightly it nearly caused her horn to ignite.

“Ohhhhhhhhh,” Twilight stammered, clearing her throat. She looked at the box again, “Really…?”

Fluttershy nodded demurely, “Mmhm.”

“I see,” Was all Twilight could think to say. She scratched the side of her head with a hoof and built a mental checklist of questions, organizing them by priority of what she wanted to know the most. What ended up coming out first was a statement.

“I…never would have expected something like that from you.”

Fluttershy had brought her long, flowing pink tail around to her front. She was whipping it idly against her forelegs and watching it twist. “Wh-why not?” She said, a measure of offense entering her voice, “C-can’t I do something like that if I want to?”

“Huh?” Twilight backpedaled, waving a hoof, “Sure you can! I didn’t mean it like that! I just…well, you’re so…so…”

“…I’m so what?” Fluttershy said drolly.

Twilight felt the spotlight of attention that was suddenly on her start to sear. “N-nothing, forget it, I’m sorry. Of course you can do something like that, just like anypony could. But…why Smash Fortune?”

Fluttershy shrugged. “I dunno. I needed reference photos, there were photos right there for me to use, and…well…I guess he’s sorta good looking, isn’t he?”

“You’re asking me if you think a stallion is attractive or not?” Twilight felt heat on her own cheeks now, “A-anyway, never mind that. I was six years old at the time so I can’t say I ever thought of him that way, but I guess when you think about it…sure, in his prime he was pretty handsome.”

Fluttershy’s tail-flips increased in manic intensity. “Right? I thought so anyway. I wanted to…you know, Heaven Sent has that…thing they do, but you have to have reference material, they won’t accept a written description…”

Twilight had caught on by now. “I heard about it, yes. I never thought about actually doing it though. It’s expensive, for one…are you sure it was worth it?”

Fluttershy shrugged slightly again, “I dunno. I’m going to find out I guess.”

Twilight sat back and smiled. She reached out and gently patted Fluttershy’s withers. “Well, whatever your preference Fluttershy, I’m proud of you for asserting yourself and trying something new. I have to admit though, I would have thought you’d want to keep something like this to yourself. Why tell me?”

Fluttershy fought to swallow through a thickening lump in her throat. “I’m nervous. What if he doesn’t like me?”

Twilight’s hoof stopped. “Um…say again?”

“I said, what if he doesn’t like me? What if I don’t like him?” Fluttershy’s tone increased with each voiced worry, “What if we don’t hit it off? Will it be embarrassing? What if I’m not his type or something, I dunno if I can handle that on my own-“

“He’s plush,” Twilight interrupted, “His brains are made of cotton.”

Fluttershy ignored the comment and went on, “-I need a…what do bar stallions call them…a wing pony! That’s right! Somepony to…you know, make things less awkward.”

Twilight’s left eyebrow attempted to vanish into her bangs. “You want me to run date interference between you and a life-sized stuffed animal, is what you’re saying.”

“Yes!” Fluttershy went on, “I’m so nervous!”

“And if you hit it off, should I book you a room or something?”

“What?”

“Never mind.”

Twilight glanced out the window. The setting sun was an exquisite shade of coral pink, and as she watched it slowly continue its magical dip out of the sky, she considered just how strange the entire evening had become. Still, she was the Princess of Friendship, and if a friend needed her, who was she to turn them away? She drew in a breath and puffed out her chest, sitting tall and as regal as she could manage.

“Alright, I’ll do whatever I can.” She was about to get up off the couch, but a nascent thought tickled the back of her mind. “Um, one more question though?”

“Yes?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly.

“Don’t you have to mail in the reference photos with your request?”

Fluttershy stared at her companion. One eye began to twitch.

“…c-come again…?”

Twilight merely nodded at the envelope on the table. “How would they know what you wanted to order unless you mail the reference pictures to them? You did mail reference pictures to them, right?”

Fluttershy’s jaw dropped. Decorum fled her mind at the speed of a sonic rainboom. She sprang to life and zipped off the couch fast enough to elicit a yelp from her friend, and in the turning of a second, she was furiously tearing at the packing tape that secured her prize.

“Ohno…ohno…ohno…” She muttered obsessively as the first box fell away, “…what did I do…ohno…I know I mailed in pictures…ohno…”

Fluttershy tore the original, discreet shipping box apart in a flurry of gyrating limbs and gnashing, blunt teeth. Her frenzy threatened to obliterate every scrap of carefully-applied cardboard crust, but her first look at the cream filling inside froze her on the spot.

Two large, bedroomy, sea green eyes, identical to Fluttershy’s own, stared back at her.

Fluttershy’s gaze panned out. The eyes sported curly, effeminate lashes, and were attached to a soft face in a color that perfectly mirrored her own. The curve to the newcomer’s narrow shoulders and the taper of its muzzle were as unmistakable as the wispy flow of its long pink mane, and the folded wings resting on its flanks, just above the image of three butterflies on either side.

“It’s…” Fluttershy stammered, nearly muzzle-to-muzzle with the life-sized plush toy, “I-it’s…”

“It’s what? Too small?” Twilight left the couch and came around the side to get a better look. Her shock was only slightly less than her friend’s, and she just barely retained the wherewithal to look down.

“…uh…”

Fluttershy was still gaping, “’Uh’ what…?”

Twilight pointed down, waggling her hoof three times for effect. “…f-forget what I said about it being too small.”

Fluttershy glanced down, slapped two hooves over her mouth, and let out a sharp gasp at a pitch nearly beyond the threshold of pony ears.

“I…they…b-but…” She stammered, “…th-they gave me a…”

There was no need to finish the thought. The stuffed toy that sat patiently on Fluttershy’s living room rug was an exact copy of the Pegasus herself, save for one key feature. It was endowed like a stallion, and the mottled yellow and white girth between its hind legs was at proud, prominent attention. ‘Plushershy’ had a sly grin on her lips, and she was rearing with her forelegs in the air – the perfect position to mount her new owner.

Twilight, in need of something else to look at, noticed a packet of papers hanging from Plushershy’s neck by a thin piece of knotted string. With her magic, Twilight undid the knot, slipped the packet off the doll, and unsealed the envelope. She read from the first paper that she unfolded-

“Ahem. Congratulations on your custom purchase from Heaven Sent’s adult novelties corporation. We strive for accuracy and to create an immersive, satisfying experience. While we regret that we are unable to accept returns on custom projects, our customer service center will be happy to address any other concerns you may have about your product.”

“…c-concerns…?” Fluttershy balked, “Th-they gave me a pe-pen…boyparts!” She poked her plush doppelganger in the muzzle, “Wh-why is she me??”

Twilight examined the envelope in greater detail. She smirked. “Oh, I don’t think you can blame them for that. Look.”

With that, the alicorn presented a menagerie of floating documents for her companion to view. One was a copy of the original order form, which quite clearly specified that the customer, Fluttershy, requested a male product. The remaining documents were photographs of Fluttershy herself…in a number of provocative, and utterly embarrassing situations.

Fluttershy’s cheeks erupted like the Gauntlet of Fire as she nabbed the photographs from the air in her teeth and sought to stuff them in the end table drawer. She hissed her words out, “I…b-but…but those are…h-how did they get those!?”

Twilight shrugged. “You must have sent them the wrong pack of pictures. You essentially told them to produce the pony in the pictures, as a male. So that’s what they did. You can’t exactly blame them for that.”

Fluttershy floated a foot off the ground. She slumped, such that were it not for her flapping wings holding her in place, she might have oozed into the carpet like a lemonade stain.

“I…I guess not, no…” She admitted.

Twilight was in full analytical mode. She sat the envelope aside, cleared away the rest of the packaging, and circled the plush representation of her friend, inspecting the rest of its body. “You have to admit, they do good work. If it weren’t for the, um…yeah, down there, I think anypony could easily mistake this for you.” She sniffed the air sharply, “They even added a scent, which is…surprisingly similar to yours. I wonder how they pulled that off.”

Fluttershy, overcome with curiosity of her own now, flitted hesitantly back over to the doll. She hid from its gaze – when she was finally ready, she stuck her snout in its direction, took a deep breath, and pulled away again in a fraction of a second.

“Wait…huh?” Fluttershy wiggled her muzzle. “That…how did they do that?”

“Do you think it smells like you too?” Twilight asked.

“I-I dunno,” Fluttershy replied meekly, “it is kinda familiar somehow. I can’t quite place it. But, they never said they could include a scent.”

Fluttershy was unintentionally shoving her guest out of the way to inspect her copy further. Twilight backed off. She stood silently for a time as Fluttershy flitted around the doll, and then offered her thoughts when she felt the time was right.

“I’ll say it again, Fluttershy. I’m proud of you.”

Fluttershy paused, hovering behind the wryly grinning toy. “What? Why?”

“Well,” Twilight began, as she took to examining the documentation and care instructions again. “For trusting me enough to show me all of this.”

Fluttershy drooped. “I…I told you, I was afraid to meet him…um…her, by myself…”

“I know,” Twilight replied. “But you still chose me to be here with you. I’m touched.” With her eyes still on the documents, she grinned slightly. “And don’t feel bad about taking pictures of yourself. I know you didn’t mean to send them to the company, but…I don’t think you’re the only pony that has ever done that. If anything, it’s good that you have a healthy appreciation of your own body, without being conceited about it.”

Fluttershy blushed gently and placed a hoof over her lips, muttering into it with an understanding look. “Y-yeah. You…know how it gets this time of year.”

“Mmhm,” Twilight admitted. If ever Fluttershy, of all ponies, would order a life-size, custom-made sex toy, it would be around this time of year. Twilight fell silent as she poured over the instructions, until her ears perked at an intriguing passage.

“This says it can…well now…” She cleared her throat again and hid behind technical terms, “…ejaculate.”

Fluttershy nodded meekly, appreciating the lack of attention from Twilight’s amethyst eyes. “It can. But you need something for it to…um…do that, with…”

Twilight read on, “It says here you can load it with a substance that mimics the look and consistency of semen, but it doesn’t come with that included. I guess you’d have to get it on your own, huh?”

“…there’s…no need to get any more…” Fluttershy muttered.

“…oookay then, well!” Twilight moved on, “Wow, you’re not kidding about how complex this thing is. It says it has a wind up crank somewhere discreetly beneath it that makes it do that. That’s pretty impressive, considering most devices like this are limited to activation by magic only.”

“It’s a new thing,” Fluttershy replied. “So other tribes can enjoy it.”

Twilight finally sat the instructions aside. Amused, she tilted her head at her friend. “You seem to know a lot about the industry for this, huh? I never would have thought.”

“I-I can be into things that all the rest of you don’t know about!” Fluttershy defended herself, “I-I’m sure that we all have…things we do in private, don’t we?”

Twilight held up a hoof in a calming gesture. “Relax, relax, I didn’t mean it that way. You’re right, we all do. And this sort of thing is a perfectly healthy way to enjoy yourself as a single mare. I’m not judging you, don’t worry.”

But Fluttershy was no longer listening. Hovering before the toy now, she had a look on her face as though she were inviting a stranger into her home.

“H-hello Fluttershy,” She said softly, “I-I’m Fluttershy. Can I get you some tea?”

Twilight laughed softly, “Fluttershy, I don’t think it’s all that interested in a cup of tea.”

Fluttershy placed her hooves together in the manner of a server at a fine restaurant. “I have a lovely white peach citrus blend. It’s one of my favorites, so I guess that would make it one of your favorites too, huh?”

“…Fluttershy, seriously, it can’t-“

“B-but-“ Fluttershy interrupted, turning her attention so sharply to Twilight that the princess was startled by it. “Can you imagine what it would be like to just be thrown in a cardboard box, all alone in the dark, not knowing where you’re being sent or who might be there? She must be so lonely and scared, and I for one would really want a cup of tea to calm my nerves…”

Twilight watched as Fluttershy returned to the tea set she had brought out earlier and poured a measure of the still-warm, slightly yellow liquid into an unused cup.

“Fluttershy,” Twilight huffed, “It’s a sex toy. If it had anything other than cotton for brains and any desires at all, I think tea wouldn’t be among them.”

Fluttershy was already on her way back to the doll, “Twilight,” She scolded, “That’s not very nice. You’ll upset Fluttershy, and she’s our guest!”

“…seriously?”

“Twilight!”

Twilight rolled her eyes, “Alright, alright…I’ll just…sit over here and have another cup of tea…” Exasperated, but unwilling to abandon her friend after promising she wouldn’t, Twilight returned to the couch and attempted to make herself at home.

Fluttershy landed before the copy of herself and bashfully attempted to make small talk with it. “S-so, um, it must be very stressful to be asked to…erm…’perform’, fresh out of the box like this.”

Twilight, sprawled upon the couch and raised a brow. “Should I leave you two alone?”

“N-no!” Fluttershy blurted. “I mean…no, thank you Twilight. I, um…” Fluttershy dug at the back of her neck with a hoof, “I thought maybe…you know…”

Twilight tilted her head obliviously. “I get it. You’re nervous. About meeting a plush toy.”

Fluttershy turned towards her friend, but found that she could not make eye contact. “It’s…not just that…”

Twilight glanced at the window again. The grace of her mentor had fled completely from the sky, leaving nothing but paint-streaks from its rays behind. “I really don’t want to be rude Fluttershy, but I should probably get back to the palace soon. Just in case anypony needs me for anything.”

Fluttershy took wing again, and floated over until she was hovering before Twilight, both her hooves resting upon one of Twilight’s forelegs.

“…w-wouldn’t you like to stay?” Fluttershy ventured. “Don’t you get, you know…frustrated, having to be all, um, princess all the time?”

Twilight shrugged. “Sometimes, I guess. But I’m not really expecting to be busy this evening. It’s more that I like the townsponies to be able to find me easily, just in case they might need me in the middle of the night for something.”

Fluttershy persisted, her perpetual-bedroom eyelids batting. “B-but, if you’re not expecting to be busy, then it’s really not a big deal if you stay a little later, right? We could, um…” She wracked her brain, brightened, and then flitted over to a cabinet filled with party games. “We could play Parcheesi!”

Twilight seemed unimpressed. “Parcheesi with only two players isn’t all that entertaining.”

Fluttershy stared at her companion, subtly indicating the doll with a roll of her eyes in its direction. She spoke as though she was afraid her doppelganger would overhear. “Twilight…i-it’s not nice to talk about somepony as though they weren’t there…”

Twilight rested her forehead in one hoof and let out a sigh. “Fluttershy, you’re confusing yourself with that thing more than anypony else possibly could…”

Fluttershy glanced at the doll. She floated back over to it and addressed it again.

“Um, excuse me? Fluttershy it’s just that…you have a beautiful name and all-“

“-says the owner of said name,” Twilight cut in.

“You have a pretty name and all,” Fluttershy repeated, “But I think it might be difficult to tell us apart like this-“

“-except for the gigantic penis grafted onto one of you,” Twilight interrupted again.

Fluttershy cleared her throat and kept her attention on the doll. “What if we call you, say…Butter…shy?”

“Buttershy?” Twilight repeated. “That kind of sounds like something you’d melt over the nooks and crannies of a Trottingham muffin in the morning…”

“You’re right, that is kinda silly…” Fluttershy replied, though she was not speaking to Twilight, “How about, umm…Flutter…erm…Flutter Nutter?”

“Please do not call it that,” Twilight begged sardonically.

Fluttershy fell silent for a while. She nodded her head at the doll several times and hummed her assent to questions that were not being asked. When she was satisfied with her mental conversation, she landed, turned, and finally approached the Princess of Friendship.

“We decided that it’s too confusing for the two of us to both be named Fluttershy,” Fluttershy explained, “So, um…for as long as Fluttershy stays with us, can you please call me Flutterbunny?”

Twilight stared. “Flutterbunny? You want me to call you that?”

“I-it was Fluttershy’s idea,” Fluttershy meeped, averting her eyes to the floor.

Twilight couldn’t hold back a second, deeper sigh. “Did you just submit yourself to the whims of a stuffed toy?”

Fluttershy attempted to clear another sudden thickness in her throat. “It’s…really not such a bad thing to submit to a toy…you should try it sometime…”

Twilight blanched, her coat soaking up the intent behind her friend’s words like so much spilled milk. “Wait…why am I here again?”

Fluttershy rocked on her heels. “…moral support?”

“Alright, but why me specifically?” Twilight pried, suddenly no longer satisfied with the returning of garbage photographs excuse.

Fluttershy wilted under the interrogation, “I…I just thought…well, you’re so…um…bookish and reserved, I thought maybe you’d be interested in…um…” She paused to swallow again, “…in meeting Fluttershy.”

Twilight’s eyes slid over to the toy. Plush Fluttershy stared back at her with that sly grin permanently etched on her face, and a proud, thick erection curving up from between her legs. Twilight found herself staring at the toy’s stallionhood, and she blurted out a question without thinking-

“Did you order something that large on purpose?”

“What?” Fluttershy followed Twilight’s eyes, and she blushed. “O-oh, um…they…they custom make that part based on the measurements you send them…”

“And where precisely did you get measurements?”

Fluttershy’s eyes were darting around. “N-not stallion measurements. You have to measure your own, um…parts. And they base it off of that.”

Twilight whistled in spite of herself. “Fluttershy, you never cease to amaze me.”

“S-so do you want to try?” Fluttershy spat out the words before she could stop herself.

Twilight shifted on her sofa cushion. “You’re serious, aren’t you.”

“Mmhm,” Fluttershy replied innocently. “I’m so nervous…i-if you went first, then maybe…”

Twilight felt fire erupting from her pores. She rummaged around in her mind and let out the first excuse she could come up with-

“I’m…not into mares? I-I mean, I’m not into mares! Yes. Tooootally not into mares.” Twilight made as if to rise, “So, you know, thanks for the gracious offer and all that, but really-“

She trailed off when she noticed she had lost her companion’s attention again. Fluttershy – the real Fluttershy, was back to hovering, her wings absently beating as she rubbed a hoof under her chin, deep in thought. She floated over to her plush-self and just stayed there for several minutes, so lost in the workings of her mind that she barely moved a muscle except for the appendages keeping her in the air.

“So…” Twilight stood, “I’m gonna…head home…”

Fluttershy exploded into motion, whirling on her friend. “D-don’t go!” She pleaded. In a burst of speed she tore over to a cupboard, extracted a pair of scissors, and sped back over to her plush self. Twilight couldn’t get a word in edgewise while Fluttershy emitted a whirlwind of metallic snipping noises, the intent of her attack blocked from view by her own body. When she was finished, Fluttershy grabbed the plush toy and dragged it over to the couch, where the alicorn was still standing.

Plush Fluttershy was now completely devoid of eyelashes.

“H-here!” Fluttershy stammered manically, “We’ll call him…um…Butterscotch!”

Twilight, startled, took a step back. “B-Butterscotch?”

“Uh-huh!” Fluttershy insisted as she shoved the grinning, lashless plush into Twilight’s face, “S-see? He likes you!”

Twilight’s second step put her leg in contact with the couch. Yelping, she collapsed back onto the furniture, finding no escape from the two encroaching pegasi.

“B-but that’s just you without eyelashes!” Twilight complained.

“Pound Cake is just Pumpkin Cake with fewer eyelashes!” Fluttershy insisted. “Oh Twilight, pleeeeease don’t go home! What if Butterscotch doesn’t like me? I don’t want to make him uncomfortable!”

“Y-you just cut her…his…whatever eyelashes off with scissors, you’re dragging him around the room like the plush toy he is, and you’re worried that he might become uncomfortable!?”

The duly-named Butterscotch vanished from Twilight’s field of vision, only to be replaced by the crocodile eyes of Fluttershy. Each orb was practically the size of a salad plate. “Please Twilight…please stay just a little while longer, pretty pretty please…”

Twilight batted lightly at her guest, “O-okay! Fine! J-just…personal space!”

Sighing with relief, Fluttershy backed off. “Oh, Twilight, thank you so much,” She went on as though her friend had just casually agreed to another cup of tea, “We’ll have a wonderful time tonight, you’ll see!”

Outside, Luna’s influence was already upon the heavens. Twilight wondered just how long a night it would be.