Midnight Sparkle had never dreamed there would be a side to herself that would want this, but when the caring pegasus, Fluttershy, put her collar around Midnight's throat, everything just seemed to wash away. She was a pony. She was a pet. She belonged to Fluttershy. Nothing else mattered.

"Roll over." Fluttershy didn't use harsh tones to make Midnight obey her, the alicorn had slipped into a submissive mindset without any apparent regrets or struggle. "Good girl!" This time, when Midnight obeyed, Fluttershy practically pounced on her. "Good girls get brushie." She produced the brush from her animal care bag, and set to work on the exposed belly.

Brushie, Midnight mused, is just about the best thing ever. She stretched out lengthwise, tilted her head back, and let her mistress work away. Each stroke worked life's tension from Midnight's body, and pretty soon she had her eyes closed, and was giving soft little whines of bliss.

Fluttershy felt a calmness settle over her pet, her innate senses of animal welfare triggering for Midnight—it surprised her a little, but in a good way. The angry mare she had seen wasn't anything like her friend Twilight, and Midnight was meant to be a reflection of Twilight. "Now, that fur is just filthy, have you even washed since getting here?"

Midnight opened her mouth to reply, then closed it again. Looking up at Fluttershy, she kicked her hooves like a puppy. A wash sounded very good to Midnight. She watched as her mistress reached towards her collar with one wing, and clipped a leash on. Midnight's body tightened a little, but it wasn't related to anger at all.

"Up you get, you lazy little filly." Laughing at the confused expression on Midnight's face, Fluttershy gave a gentle tug on the leash. Like a shot, Midnight was up and at her side. "Good girl." Fluttershy reached up and rubbed her pet's ears again, and beamed in delight at the unabashed look of happiness on the alicorn's face.

Following along, since the leash gave her no way to object, Midnight was led to a water pump at the side of Fluttershy's cottage. Walking up to it, she brought her snout down and sniffed at it. Dozens of scents of dozens of animals met her senses; Midnight couldn't identify them, but it was very much marked as a well-visited place.

Fluttershy pulled a wooden bucket under the big hand-pump, and started working the handle. "Sorry I don't have any hot water, that is all for the inside plumbing." Hefting up the bucket, she gave a significant look to Midnight, with a raised eyebrow, before dumping the chill water over the mare's back.

The promise of the water being cold did nothing to dissuade Midnight from her role, but when the water soaked her, she trembled a little. "Crap." She froze, and lifted a hoof to her mouth. A glance at her mistress revealed that Fluttershy was paying close attention to her. Looking at the pegasus right in the eyes, Midnight smiled and said, "Woof."

"Good girl. You don't spook so easily, do you?" Fluttershy fetched a scrubbing brush and some shampoo from her second bucket, and set to work on Midnight's coat. Working suds into the dark purple fur, Fluttershy started to hum a happy tune.

Time seemed to alternate between flying by, and crawling. Midnight loved the latter, because she wanted to savor every second of her time with Fluttershy. Cold water was nothing once she got used to it, and Midnight Sparkle was very good at getting used to things.

The beating of wings caught Fluttershy's attention, and she looked up to see Twilight Sparkle flying towards her cottage. She was quite sure her friend hadn't noticed the two of them to the side of the building. "Hold on…"

Midnight startled at the feeling of the collar pulling free from her throat. She blinked, and then jumped a few inches when the Princess landed beside them. Realization dawned on her, and her love for Fluttershy swelled. "I think we cleaned most of it off!" She looked at Fluttershy with a mix of thanks and love.

"Oh yes!" Fluttershy smelled what Midnight was cooking. "What can we help you with, Twilight?" She ruffled her wings a little in happy complicity at the minor subterfuge.

"Well I was just wanting to check up on Midnight, make sure she was getting by okay. And…" Twilight trailed off, she had more she wanted to ask, but she could sense something strange was going on.

"You can be sure, Princess Twilight, that Fluttershy has not destroyed, disheveled, or even demolished so much as a single feather." Looking Twilight right in the eyes, Midnight protected Fluttershy's honor, as the pegasus defended Midnight's. "You could try asking Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie how I fared last night."

"That is just it! I can't find either of them." Twilight's wings spread in her confusion, and any odd behavior by Midnight or Fluttershy was forgotten. "The last anypony saw of them was you and Rainbow with your flying lessons. Did you see where she went?"

Midnight blinked. "Well, we did have quite a workout, and I think Rainbow and Pinkie took things further between the two of them. There was… calisthenics!" Clamping her jaw closed, Midnight tried to hold in her giggles, with some success.

"Have you tried asking Mr. and Mrs. Cake what time Pinkie got in last night?" Fluttershy's eyes kept sliding to Midnight's face. She could see—after a few peeks—that while her new friend was still happy, she had lost some of the openness their pet play had put into her look. Part of her was sad to see it missing, and another part knew it was her job to bring it back.

Twilight's eyes widened. "Fluttershy, that's a great idea!" Just as socially awkward as ever, the Princess of Friendship spun around and flapped her wings hard to get back to Ponyville.

"Is she always like that?" Midnight almost fell sideways—against Fluttershy. A hoof reached up and began stroking her mane, and Midnight closed her eyes, embracing the relaxation that came with not having to worry.

Reaching around Midnight's throat, Fluttershy fastened the collar back on. "She is, but she has gotten a lot better." On a whim, she kissed Midnight right on the nose. "Let's get you dried off, and then we need to take care of that mane and tail properly, to say nothing of your wings." Back in her role, Fluttershy simply walked forward, pretending she didn't have the leash leading to an alicorn in her grip.

Of course Midnight followed.

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

Midnight woke up warm. A deep rumbling behind her vibrated through her like a huge feline purring. Part of her wanted to panic, but that part couldn't do anything—she had a collar on. Opening her eyes slowly, she saw that a pair of white rabbits were curled against her forelegs. One turned and looked at her, somehow knowing she had woken up.

Angel Bunny wasn't sure, at first, what to make of the pony that acted like another of Fluttershy's animals. But she was warm, and cozy, and he was quite sure he could push her around now. He looked back at her big eyes, and nodded once.

Am I being acknowledged by a bunny? Midnight thought. She leaned towards the rabbit, and stuck her snout in his soft, white belly fur, and blew. The look of astonishment on Angel's face, was accompanied by tiny, bunny laughter.

"You seem to be getting along well." Fluttershy heard the commotion of soft giggles and was astonished to find Midnight and Angel apparently friends. "But it is getting on towards afternoon, and I think Twilight will be looking for you again." Fluttershy reached down and stroked Midnight's mane back from her eyes. "Harry seems to like you."

The deep guttural groan of a bear, right beside Midnight's ear, almost startled her. The collar was still on, though, which meant she didn't have to worry. She leaned her head up a little and nuzzled at Fluttershy's hoof. She watched as her mistress' hoof reached down under her neck. "We're over?"

Sadness and longing so painted Midnight's words, that Fluttershy wanted to fasten the collar back on and never remove it. "For today." Fluttershy pulled the collar up and away from Midnight. "Did… did you like it?"

Midnight didn't think about the question. Instead, the mare thought about how to get up from being spooned by a bear without making said bear angry. In the end, she decided to just go for it. "It was amazing." She stood up and shook her mane and butt. "I didn't even know I needed it and then you just stepped in and made it happen." She didn't even think about it, she leaned forward and kissed Fluttershy on the lips.

Memories of kissing Pinkie Pie came and left Fluttershy's head like leaves on the wind. She felt an eagerness rise in her that Midnight's desires seemed to match, and this one thing lit a fire inside her that Pinkie's aggressive submissive play never had. She closed her eyes and pushed into the the alicorn's mouth with her tongue, tasting Midnight, and oats she had fed "her pet" for lunch.

The kiss lingered, and Midnight sucked on Fluttershy's tongue with a slow, insistent motion. Her body wanted a lot more from her new partner. But the kiss broke, and Midnight looked at Fluttershy in surprise. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Fluttershy couldn't stop her wings from ruffling a little in agitation. "I need to tell you the truth. I said at the end of the week you could take care of me." She waited for Midnight to nod. "It isn't so much the end of the week as 'the full moon.' "Fluttershy now felt a little worried, and agitated. Nervousness spread, and she almost told Midnight to forget it all.

"The full moon? What, are you going to turn into a giant wolf?" Midnight grinned a lopsided smile. "Like a werewolf?"

"Werebat." Fluttershy tried to look away, but she owed it to herself and Midnight to tell her new friend all about her problem. "Every lunar cycle I turn into a bat pony, but not like the bat ponies. I crave apples, and… and…" Big, dark wings wrapped around Fluttershy with a possessive air. She stopped sobbing as they gripped her tight.

"I shouldn't disbelieve or make fun." Midnight owed Fluttershy more than poking fun, and she knew it. "Do you want to explain it all to me?" She pointed at the couch with a wing, keeping the other wrapped around Fluttershy's neck.

In her nervousness, Fluttershy felt herself guided to the couch, and set upon it. A small presence curled up against her, and her hoof found Angel's head, and began to pet him. The tight wing around her comforted more than coddled, and Fluttershy felt herself opening her mouth, and talking. "It started a few years ago. I was helping Applejack with a bat problem; they were eating all her orchard's apples."

Midnight listened, hearing the story of how Fluttershy had used her stare on the bats, but instead of imparting her will upon them, the magic of Twilight's spell imparted a curse upon her. When Fluttershy's voice trailed off to nothingness—mentioning that every moon she now transforms back into a bat—Midnight kissed the mare's cheek again. "What do you want me to do?"

The words were the exact ones that Fluttershy wanted to hear; what she had hoped she Midnight would say. But she had never expected to have the joy hearing them brought. A few moments passed before she felt up to talking. "I want you to take care of me, when I change. I am… I am wild."

"That seems reasonable. How long does it last?" Midnight nuzzled the underside of Fluttershy's jaw.

With the warm attention distracting her from the topic at hoof, Fluttershy continued to explain. "Three days is the normal length. But you need to be firm with me… with her."

" 'Her'?" Midnight raised an eyebrow at the second-person pronoun.

"I am not myself." Fluttershy leaned her jaw down on Midnight's snout, stretching her neck out to expose as much of her soft throat to Midnight's nuzzling as she could. "She is wild, a monster. I was thinking of asking Pinkie Pie, but I don't think she has the patience to care for such an… active… pet."

"And she can't fly after you… her." Midnight corrected herself after a moment. "Of course I will do it, Fluttershy. But one question: you aren't contagious, are you?" She drew her muzzle back and licked Fluttershy on the nose, earning a giggle from her. "What were you doing?"

Fluttershy blushed an intense red. "I… I shouldn't really talk about that. But I need you to do more than just keep me… her… safe." Her belly felt like a million butterflies were flitting around inside. She looked into Midnight Sparkle's eyes. "I need you to tame her."

Midnight's submissive side gave ground to her more developed dominant self with reluctance, and she inhaled a deep breath. "For real? You want me to teach your… your werebat side to be a good pet?" When she asked, she saw the scared little nod from Fluttershy.

"I saw what you did to Twi… your Twilight." Fluttershy froze a moment as a wash of that intense anger flushed Midnight's face. "I saw how easily you trapped her with your magic." She gulped. "I need somepony strong, powerful…" She leaned against Midnight, and felt the tension in the mare's muscles that hadn't been there for the whole day.

Something strange happened in Midnight. Her anger was running hot and strong, but then—like a cherry-red steel bar plunged into water—the anger was quenched. She pulled her wing around Fluttershy a little tighter. "I will try, for you." In that moment, Midnight wasn't sure what she wouldn't have promised Fluttershy, just for a moment of that wonderful, cool release that her new friend gave.

Author's Note

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and ~~I~~ they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, ~~I~~ they will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! ~~I~~ They will pick one question per chapter.

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