Learn to Fly

For the next few days, Fluttershy fell into a routine. She would wake up in bed curled against Tree Hugger. They’d make love, eat breakfast, and work on the farm until lunch time. Then Fluttershy would walk to town, doing little hop-flights from time to time as Rainbow suggested. There was a particular grain field, about the same distance across as the last flight she’d made in Cloudsdale, maybe two hundred meters. She’d clamor up onto the fence, spread her wings and leap. The wheat stalks would tickle her belly as she sailed low over them. She’d land neatly on the fence at the other side.

She would find Rainbow on the edge of town, usually napping on a cloud. When Fluttershy called to her to wake her up, she’d push the cloud down to almost ground level, and help her climb up onto it. Then they’d sail up over the rooftops, and they’d practice.

Rainbow had learned from last time. They had started with very short hops, and gone up from there. Praise was effluvient. There was a tolerant quality to Rainbow’s praise that Fluttershy didn’t much care for — she imagined Rainbow thought a filly could do most of what they were going over. But Fluttershy decided to take it at face value. She was doing what Rainbow said. And she was getting better.

Being around Rainbow so much was… interesting. Interesting was the word. It was a hot string of days; summer was coming, and coming fast. By late afternoon both of the mares would be sweaty. Fluttershy tried not to look at the way Rainbow’s wiry frame glistened gold in the lowering sun. She tried not to inhale the smell of her, tried to ignore when their bodies brushed together or when Rainbow had to handle her wings to show her something. Being around her, being touched by her, with her not being willing to take things any further was the most exquisite agony possible.

Then they’d say goodbye, and Fluttershy would go home to Tree Hugger.

They’d have dinner, mostly in silence — morning was okay for talking, but in the evening, Fluttershy’s head was full of Rainbow Dash, and Tree Hugger didn’t want to hear about it.

“I don’t want to hear about it,” she’d say.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy would say.

“Her energy’s all wrong for you,” Tree Hugger would say. “Aggressive. Dominating. Selfish.”

Fluttershy would peer at Tree Hugger from behind her bangs. “But I like being aggressively dominated by selfish mares.”

And that would start it.

Tree Hugger would push the dishes aside, sometimes knocking them off them table. She’d haul Fluttershy up onto her table, tossing her down with a thump that would make the table legs tremble and every soft part of Fluttershy’s body reverberate. Before she could even gasp, Tree Hugger would be on top of her, kissing, caressing, grinding. If the fruit bowl had survived, Tree Hugger would bring it with her as she kissed her way down the fuzzy, pear-shaped curve of Fluttershy’s barrel. Her broad tongue and heavy earth pony lips would dance along the cusp of Fluttershy’s flower until she was squirming with frustration.

Then she would start stuffing fruit into her. She’d mash berries into her opening and lick them out. She’d roll an apple through her juices until it was soaking, and then climb back up to share it with Fluttershy. One night she brought out a banana — an extravagant imported fruit that Fluttershy’s inner muscles mashed into paste when she came.

Then it would be Tree Hugger’s turn. They’d try to head for the bedroom. Sometimes they’d make it as far as the sofa in the living room. Fluttershy, light-headed and wobbling with the joy of her climax, would walk behind Tree Hugger so that she could watch the muscles moving under the fat on her bottom. She could never resist a nip, and Tree Hugger would gasp and giggle and Fluttershy would take a harder bite, sucking and rolling her tongue against her flesh. Tree Hugger would drop to her front knees, back legs straight and trembling.

“The hoof,” she’d moan.

“Are you sure?” Fluttershy would whisper. “You bled last time.”

“That’s normal, sweetie. It doesn’t hurt. It feels… so good. Equus’s love doesn’t feel so good. Give me the hoof!”

The second night they’d tried it, Fluttershy’d pulled her hoof out to see red streaking her hoof and hair of her leg, and she’d nearly fainted. But. It was worth it, wasn’t it? She loved the way Tree Hugger’s body felt wrapped around her leg, the way she’d moan and beg, the squishing noises as she slid her foreleg in and out of Tree Hugger’s plump, hungry quim.

After Tree Hugger would come, she’d slide slowly off of Fluttershy’s hoof into a puddle on the floor.

Once Tree Hugger had recovered, they’d stagger up to one of the bedrooms. Oils and a selection of long thin objects with thick bases had been pre-positioned in both her and Tree Hugger’s rooms. These went under Fluttershy’s dock.

Fluttershy had felt especially stirred by Rainbow’s kiss down there, and while Tree Hugger refused to imitate that act, she was perfectly willing to see what else they could fit up there. An improvised toy, at first — the round end of a broom handle, sawed off and nailed to a wooden base to keep it from getting lost up there. They played with it for two hours, working it slowly in and out until Fluttershy had learned to open for it and take it all the way inside. The next day, Tree Hugger had stopped at a sex toy shop and invested in some wooden and stone dildos, some flared at the end like a stallion, others rounded and torpedo-like. Fluttershy loved it. She’d squat over the biggest toy they could fit in her, bobbing up and down, feeling the butterflies bounce as Tree Hugger held the dildo in place, watching with heavy lidded rapture. When she got too sore, Tree Hugger would lay a hoof on her flower, and she’d come with barely a touch. Then they’d pull the toy out — a process every bit as long and involved as getting it in — and then they’d fall asleep tangled in each others’ legs.

Tree Hugger would fall asleep first. Fluttershy would watch her peaceful, snoring face, and feel guilty because she’d been thinking about Rainbow Dash the whole time.

Fluttershy felt like a whore.

As she drifted off to sleep, she would try to figure Rainbow out. Though they were spending a lot of time together, Rainbow deflected any attempt to move the conversation in a more personal direction, and Fluttershy couldn’t bring herself to press the matter. Pinkie appeared to know more than Rainbow wanted her to tell, but she only saw Pinkie when they took a lemonade break at Sugarcube. Rainbow was willing to do anything to derail the conversation away from the topic of romance — repeatedly dropping her glass on the floor, faking coughing fits, and once even ‘accidentally’ kicking Pinkie in the snout.

Not that Fluttershy really needed a clue.

Rainbow felt something for her. That was obvious. For Equus’ sake, she’d licked Fluttershy under her dock, that wasn’t something you did for just anypony. The question was how much she cared, and why she was being such a sneaky about it instead of just telling her.

So Fluttershy hatched a plan. It wasn’t a clever one. It wasn’t a subtle one. But it stood a good chance of working. That night after flight practice, she purchased a bottle of perfume. Before she left the farm the next day, she ‘forgot’ something in her room so she could hurry back and put it on. While she was there she put on her makeup more heavily than she usually did. She looked at herself in the mirror, and turned her head from side to side. She wasn’t much for admiring herself, but she looked hot. She’s confess her feelings for herself in a heartbeat, if she asked.

She hoped she looked good after bolting out of the farm yard so Tree Hugger didn’t see or smell her like this.

Wouldn’t it be easier to tell Tree Hugger she didn’t love her? A tiny voice inside insisted that yes, it would, but Fluttershy knew that was nonsense. Anyway, Tree Hugger deserved to be loved, didn’t she? And who was Fluttershy to deny her that?

✭☆✭☆✭☆✭

“What’s with the face paint? You got a hot date tonight?” said Rainbow Dash.

Here was the part where Fluttershy was supposed to come up with a witty comeback. Witty, yet flirty. “Um… ah… I…”

Rainbow gave her a comradely slap on the shoulder with her wing. Fluttershy tried not to flinch. “Sorry,” said Rainbow. “Just giving you a hard time. I think it’s great you’re getting along with Tree Hugger so well. Just… great. Yeah. It’s awesome. Doesn’t bother me at all.”

“Rainbow, I…”

“Really wanna get back to flying, I know. Oh. I sent a dragongram up to Cloudsdale. Mr. Updraft is cool — you’ll be talking your flight exam again at the end of the week.”

Fluttershy gasped. “The end of the week? I won’t be ready. I won’t!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yes you will. You already are. A kilometer is nothing; any pegasus with wings that work can do that! And there’s nothing wrong with your wings. The only thing you lack is confidence.”

“Confidence? How can you say that? Flying is easy for you!” complained Fluttershy.

“Flying isn’t easy for me. I’m good at it because I work hard. And you’ve been working hard too. You’re less scared. Your flight muscles are stronger — so much so your chest is thicker. Fluttershy, I don’t say this lightly — you’re awesome. I’m really proud of you.”

“P-proud of me?” Fluttershy’s eyes were getting blurry with tears. No! Stop it, eyes! Now was the time! Her mascara would run! “Rainbow I love you.” She closed her eyes and tried to kiss her.

There was a sound like two coconuts being smacked together.

Fluttershy reared back from the impact, her nose pulsing with pain. “Ouch.”

“Equus buck, what were you trying to do?” said Rainbow, clutching her nose.

Fluttershy was crying for real now. “Kiss you?”

“That was a kiss?” said Rainbow. Blood was dripping from her nostrils.

Fluttershy scrunched down into the wet wisps of the cloud. “I don’t have a lot of experience initiating. It’s not as easy as it looks. Are you okay?”

Rainbow waved her away with a red-spattered hoof. She grabbed up a wisp of cloud and pressed it to her nose. “I’m fine! It’s just a nose bleed. What was that you said?”

“Just now?”

“No. Before you ‘kissed’ me. You mumbled something.”

Fluttershy buried her face in the cloud. “I said I love you.”

“Oh, Fluttershy.” Rainbow looked worried.

Fluttershy looked up at Rainbow, tears streaming down her face. “You’re strong, and you’re brave, and you’re beautiful. Why shouldn’t I love you?”

“That’s not a good idea, Flutters. I’ve had a marefriend before. It didn’t go well. I want us to stay friends. If…”

Fluttershy lunged up from the cloud, grabbed Rainbow by the shoulders, and started shaking her. Well, she tried. Rainbow didn’t shake easy. “Friends? Friends? I… do not… want to be friends!” And she slapped Rainbow across the face and jumped off their cloud. She glided down into Ponyville, and landed badly, skinning her knee. It stung. She ran.

Right into Tree Hugger.

“Fluttershy.” Tree Hugger looked like she’d been crying.

“You… followed me?”

“You ran off wearing makeup and perfume and trying to avoid me. It made me wonder.”

Fluttershy stepped back. “You… heard.”

A tear glistened on Tree Hugger’s eyelid. “When were you going to tell me?”

Fluttershy ducked her head. “I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

“Well that…” Tree Hugger took a breath. “That didn’t work. That really backfired.”

“I’m sorry,” sobbed Fluttershy.

“We need to talk about this,” said Tree Hugger. She held her hoof out to Fluttershy.

“No. I don’t deserve either one of you.” And Fluttershy ran.