The Butterfly Catchers

The Butterfly Catchers

Chapter Two

Awakening

~~~

Evening had fallen over Ponyville, and the town’s cobbled streets were aglow under the lazy yellow gaze of the streetlights. A few ponies were still out, usually in couples or small groups, making their way out for the night.

The market stalls in the town square stood empty, awnings flapping in the warm breeze with an air of quiet abandonment. At first glance, the square appeared deserted, but a sharp eye could pick out a canary-yellow pegasus making her way between the empty crates and the other paraphernalia of a busy day’s trading.

Ordinarily, she would have been comfortably sequestered in her house at this time, perhaps humming along to the organic, improvised music of the many birds that made their homes amongst her rafters. This evening, however, she had received an invitation.

An intriguing invitation it had been too, Fluttershy mused as her hooves clicked against the stones with their pleasant, familiar rhythm. Delivered by hoof earlier that day, on Rarity’s fussily-bordered writing paper, and written in the unicorn’s distinctive and equally fussy horn-writing. A polite, friendly missive, requesting that the pegasus might pay a visit to Carousel Boutique at around seven that evening.

Of course, she had complied. No doubt Pinkie would be there too, which would doubtless make for an entertaining visit. She wondered for a moment if the invitation was related to her admission at the spa. Perhaps Rarity had decided that she needed cheering up, and had invited her over for tea and a sympathetic ear, both of which the unicorn was exceptionally good at providing.

In fact, she thought as the passed out of the market square into the street that led to the boutique, this was a welcome distraction. Fluttershy had spent a great deal of her life in a state of heightened nervousness, so much so that it had all but become the norm for her. Nowadays, though, it was a little different. It was no longer the norm; it no longer blended in with the ignorable background noise of her life. Some conflicts simply refused to reconcile themselves, and this was one such conflict.

You should just ask her.

You know I can’t! Not now.

Twilight. Just the thought of the mare sent her head into a whirlwind of indecision. It was an insidious, insistent attraction that had taken root in her mind many months previously. By the time she had been unable to leave it unacknowledged any longer, it had grown to the point where removal or suppression was simply out of the question.

In the unicorn, she saw a mare who suffered the same social anxiety as her; repress it as she may, Fluttershy could all too easily recognize her own symptoms flit across another pony’s face when she greeted somepony new, or found herself buried in one of the million subtle conflicts that so commonly came with friendship. She saw a mare who shared her taste for the quiet life. She could just imagine Twilight curled up in her hooves on the couch as they read a book together, a few birds perched around them, the silence broken only by low breathing and the flare of magic as the unicorn turned a page.

In contrast, though, she saw a mare who, like her, needed to keep her mind under careful observation; a mare who knew all too well what happened if her demons broke out. They could help each other… they could comfort each other back to rationality when anger or obsession bubbled to the surface. The unicorn felt like a kindred spirit to her, in so many ways.

She felt that she might, with the right preparation and perhaps a few of Iron Will’s tips, be just about able to pluck up her courage and ask the unicorn out for dinner. Of course, Twilight might refuse her. She knew that it would hurt; she knew that things could well be awkward between them for a while, but she would be able to cope with that in the end.

But… what if Twilight said yes? What if things went far too well?

Fluttershy felt her body tense a little as her imagination took hold. A quiet start to the dinner, filled with nervous conversation, stammers and blushes, perhaps a few tentative touches or compliments. A few real conversations, some shared interests to break the ice, both parties gradually relaxing into each other’s company. One or two glasses of wine. Lingering eye contact; a sense of genuine connection just before the arrival of the bill. An offer of accompaniment, and a walk home in the dark. A few affected stumbles and nuzzles, emboldened by the absence of light, perhaps even a couple of shy kisses. An awkward silence outside the library door, followed by a hopeful, stuttered invitation…

Her mind skipped forwards, and her cheeks lit up as she imagined Twilight reclining invitingly on the bed with submissive eyes… the unicorn atop her, moulding her to screams with flicking, expert tendrils of magic… her tongue lovingly tracing the spiral fluting of that horn, feeling the mare shudder uncontrollably beneath her, hot sparks filling her mouth… Then mistakes, inexperience, foolishness… Nothing but a silly, naïve pegasus, with no coordination, no technique, no understanding. Twilight refusing to continue; Twilight laughing at her.

She wouldn’t do that, and you know it!

The moment broke. Her voyage of imagination ground to a sudden, unceremonious halt, leaving her quite along in the darkening evening, with nothing but a sense of shriveling, crippling embarrassment. She felt tainted and dirty, lusting after her friend in such a way. In truth, though, Twilight was only the tip of the iceberg. The unicorn was not the sole subject of her fantasies.

Some nights these thoughts kept her awake, hurling quick-fire images into her mind as she lay there with burning cheeks and stiff, flared wings. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, occasionally both… the list went on. Sometimes even her dreams were not safe. Each morning after it happened, she would thoroughly wash her bed-sheets with a vigour that bordered on anger, feeling almost like a criminal destroying the evidence of her wrongdoings, a hot shame burning in the pit of her stomach.

When are you going to learn it’s nothing to be ashamed of, Fluttershy?

I can’t help but be ashamed of being such a pervert.

Don’t call yourself that. One day you’re going to learn that life’s a lot happier if you don’t bottle perfectly normal things up inside and try to call them flaws.

She blinked. She must have been standing outside Carousel Boutique for at least a minute, lost in conjecture. The frustrated pegasus shook her head. Now was not the time to be worrying about these infuriating, circular problems.

Sighing, she knocked three times on the door.

After a few moments, hoofbeats sounded within the boutique, and the door swung ajar to reveal Rarity, with Pinkie bringing up the rear just behind her. The unicorn smiled, and for a moment Fluttershy imagined that she caught sight of a strange glint in her eye. “Ah, you’re here! Hello, darling,” exclaimed the fashionista.

“Hi Rarity,” Fluttershy replied, returning the smile despite still feeling not quite composed. “Hi Pinkie,” she added as she stepped inside, closing the door behind her with a jingle of the bell.

“Hey,” giggled the effervescent mare. For some reason, her cheeks were a little more pink than usual, which was quite an achievement.

“I got your note,” mumbled the pegasus, internally wincing at making such an obvious statement. “Is… is something wrong?”

“Oh no, not at all,” Rarity replied soothingly. “Come on; we’ve got something for you to see.”

Intrigued, Fluttershy followed the mares through into the living room. The curtains were drawn, and a log fire filled the room with waves of warmth; a pleasant contrast to the rapidly cooling evening air. A few lavender candles stood on the mantelpiece, filling the room with a scent that was appealing, without being overpowering. The only sound was the soft ticking of the grandfather clock.

“Have a seat, dear,” the unicorn practically purred, indicating the sofa. Fluttershy turned to catch her gaze, and the alabaster mare’s eyes flickered like liquid fire, catching the reflection of the flames in the hearth. Somehow, the atmosphere felt almost dreamlike to the pegasus; there was an electricity in the air that she could not quite place. Obediently, she trotted to the sofa, sitting down in the middle and resting back against the soft fabric with a little yawn, running her hooves through the plush rug that lay on the wooden floor.

“What’s going on?” she asked, looking from Pinkie to Rarity with a slightly raised eyebrow, a curious smile playing across her lips.

For an instant, she caught a glimpse of what seemed like nervousness in the unicorn’s expression, but it was swiftly banished, and the couple walked slowly across the room to kneel down on the rug in front of her, Rarity to Fluttershy’s right, and Pinkie on her left. The party pony did not seem at all troubled; if anything, there seemed to be a little more spring in her step than usual.

“Darling,” the fashionista began, leaning towards the pegasus a little. “Pinkie and I have been talking, and we’ve made a decision…” she paused for a moment, breaking Fluttershy’s gaze for a split-second before meeting her eyes again, cheeks flaring with blood. “We don’t want you to be afraid anymore.” Edging to the side, Rarity took Pinkie’s hoof between her own. Fluttershy felt her heart begin to accelerate a little, although she could not quite connect the dots and realize why. Her mind was whirling, but her thoughts were going nowhere.

“We want you to be comfortable though,” Pinkie whispered, her eyelids drooping a little as she leaned her head against the pearly unicorn’s, both mares sinking from their kneeling position to lie down together on the rug, gazing up at the silent Fluttershy. “Don’t worry; we’re not going to touch you… We just want you to learn.”

“If you want us to stop, all you have to do is say,” Rarity murmured, looking up at Fluttershy with a sudden blazing in her half-lidded eyes that had nothing to do with the firelight.

Fluttershy opened her mouth a couple of times, but no words appeared. She did not know what she was thinking; her brain refused to quite accept what was so obviously about to happen. Something in the unicorn’s tone and gaze made her primaries twitch visibly, and she blushed a deep crimson at the way her body could so easily be made to betray her. “What… what do you…?”

The words died in her throat.

The two mares on the rug before her had turned to face one another, and connected their lips in a deep, heated kiss. Rarity tangled her forelegs into her lover’s mane with a low sigh, pushing Pinkie gently down onto her back in a single, smooth motion.

“G-girls?!” Fluttershy spluttered, feeling as if her entire body’s blood supply had forced its way into her cheeks, her heart warping to a sudden gallop.

Okay... Okay, this has got to be a dream, right?

Of course, it was not. Her dreams had never quite captured the reality or immediacy of such a moment. Try as she might, she could not tear her eyes away; she knew that the sight of these beautiful mares kissing so freely and passionately would be seared indelibly into her memory. The rational, fearful part of her brain was screaming at her to tell them to stop, that this was wrong, that it was not something to be seen, but her mouth would not obey her.

Everything about this was utterly different to her imagination’s dull images; it made her dreams seem bland and childish. There were so many aspects of this kind of love that had simply never occurred to her. Her transfixed gaze took in every detail; she watched the way their mouths locked together as if sharing secrets, the occasional crack in the connection revealing flashes of pink, dancing tongues. She heard every muffled noise, every pleasured purr, every warm, wet smacking sound as their lips repositioned themselves. She saw her friends’ hooves roam with the abandon of lovers, caressing and clutching at waists and hips, dancing over cutie marks with feather-light motions.

In truth, Fluttershy was still in shock. Some little part of her brain told her that she ought to be panicking, that this was something dirty and furtive, not something to be aired in this way. However, a combination of paralyzing surprise, intrigue, and half-acknowledged but steadily growing arousal held her wide-eyed gaze in silence.

What in Equestria am I doing? What in Equestria are they doing?

They’re showing you what you should have discovered for yourself a long time ago… Just sit back, Fluttershy. Enjoy the show.

I… Oh Celestia…

Pinkie was a very vocal lover. Rarity broke away from the kiss, edging down onto the cerise expanse of the mare’s neck, leaving a trail of warm, lingering caresses of her lips. Each wet, suckling contact elicited a low moan or squeal from the excited earth pony. Each little sound made their timid observer’s wings tremble.

The unicorn’s horn was bobbing inches away from Pinkie’s mouth, and she wasted no time in planting a quick kiss on the tip. Fluttershy watched as her ordinarily-refined friend cooed with pleasure, squirming her hips into her marefriend’s thigh, her breathing growing hard and ragged. The pegasus realized that her wings were spread out wide and stiff at her sides, and were filled with a warm, tingling sensation, as was a certain other part of her body. The shock and embarrassment she felt were beginning to be trumped by her own desires; try as she might to control her emotions, she wanted to hear Pinkie moan again, and she wanted to see Rarity give more of those delightfully urgent squirms.

Not hesitating to press her advantage, Pinkie ran her warm tongue in one long lick from the base to the tip of the horn, before wrapping her lips around the centre and flicking her tongue rapidly against the spiral fluting. Rarity buried her face into her lover’s neck to muffle her sudden, hoarse scream, her midriff bucking reflexively downwards, tail flipping around uncontrollably.

Obviously not wanting to cut short the show before it had truly started, however, she pulled her horn clear of Pinkie’s eager mouth, shivering as the saliva-slick magical appendage slid between those full, pink lips.

Sliding down further, grinding herself up against the rug’s soft fibres, Rarity began to trace long, luxurious licks across her marefriend’s belly, grinning teasingly up at the confectioner as her full, pink thighs rose to wrap around alabaster shoulders. A sopping warmth pressed up against the of the unicorn’s collarbone, soaking into her fur, making no attempt to disguise Pinkie’s excitement. The air was hazy with a thick, sweet scent, one that mirrored Rarity’s own growing need.

All Fluttershy could do was stare as this spectacle unfolded before her.

“Oh Celestia…” she repeated to herself, this time aloud in an awed whisper. Her wings were as stiff as ever, and she was aware of a delicious heat boiling between her thighs, the dampness of her parted lower lips beginning to leave a stain on the immaculate cream sofa. A tiny, squeaking moan escaped her as she realized what was unmistakably happening to her, but for some reason that all-too-familiar fog of crippling embarrassment did not descend to cloud her mind. Her cheeks were still a furious red, but now a good deal of her blood was rushing elsewhere, too.

For such a long time, she had seen this act as something unpleasant; something dirty and taboo. She had been taught that this was something that should be functional, not gratifying.

As she watched two of her best friends making love before her eyes, however, she realized that this was something utterly different to the shameful act she had always envisaged. This was beautiful.

It was a discovery that brought her back to the day when she had seen her first butterfly; the day she had fallen headfirst into a whole new world, a world filled with so many wonders. This was, without a shadow of a doubt, another of those days.

~~~

To say that Rarity had been nervous would have been something of an understatement. Throughout the day, she had cursed herself for setting the meeting time so late. Pinkie had, as expected, been more than amenable, but the lateness of the appointment had given her far too much time to develop cold hooves; far too much time to think about everything that could so easily go wrong. She had had visions of her friend breaking down in tears of shame, or panicking and running away. She had asked herself a thousand times if this was worth risking their friendship over.

So, it was with an internal sigh of relief that she glanced up from her marefriend’s heaving belly to see the pegasus leaning a little forwards on the sofa, expression enraptured. Her cheeks were brick red, her wings stiff as boards. She seemed to be finding a certain difficulty in keeping her hooves in respectable places, and Rarity thought she detected on the air the hint of a new musky scent, distinct from Pinkie’s or her own.

Flooded with relief, her desire redoubled, she returned her attention to her marefriend. She could not resist another instant. Pinkie always had the ability to excite her almost effortlessly, but this was something new entirely; it was so deliciously decedent, knowing that they were being watched, that their every move was being scrutinized. Their observer’s usual shyness somehow made the whole affair so much more titillating, and apparently Pinkie found it equally so, as she continued to hold the unicorn’s shoulders in a vice-like grip between her warm thighs.

Rarity slid her tongue one final time across her lover’s lower stomach, before looking up to meet Pinkie’s gaze. The mare was sweaty and shivering, and her eyes were almost pleading the fashionista to stop being such a tease. The unicorn smirked; normally her marefriend could last for long, lovely sessions of foreplay before showing any sign of surrender, but it seemed that their little audience had pushed her quite some way over the edge.

Rarity felt Pinkie’s hind legs release their grip slightly, allowing her to slide further down on the rug until her muzzle was flush with those beautiful pink hips. Her muzzle was mere inches from the heated centre of the mare’s pleasure. Her outer lips were dewy and glistening, separating a little with a tiny wet sound as the earth pony released the grip of her thighs entirely, spreading her legs out wide, silently begging her marefriend.

In a moment, darling… In a moment. The unicorn’s hard breath caressing her most sensitive area was enough to make the sensitive Pinkie moan gently, biting down on her lip. Just above them, they could both hear Fluttershy gently panting. The pegasus had flipped over to lie on her front, her hips squirming involuntarily against the sofa as she watched with shining eyes and a slightly open mouth.

Grinning, Rarity ran her tongue along her marefriend’s velvety inner thighs, before nipping gently at the very top of each hind leg, in turn. A trail of overflowed wetness was running down the pink pony’s right leg, and Rarity ran her tongue along the rivulet, her marefriend’s distinct, half-sweet-half-tangy flavour invading her mouth. She began tracing the balloons on Pinkie’s rump with her hooves as she worked her tongue around those full thighs again, feeling the stimulated, frustrated mare shudder beneath her ministrations.

“R-Rarity…” she groaned. “Rarity, p-please…”

At the sound of her name spoken in such a tone, the unicorn could resist no longer. Without further ado, she darted up to the centre of Pinkie’s hips, and plunged her tongue deep into the mare’s folds, flicking the tip rapidly from side to side and gripping her haunches tightly with her silken forelegs.

“Mmmmmh!” Pinkie let out a long, incoherent sound of ecstasy, and Rarity felt her muzzle grow slick with the mare’s excitement as she buried her snout ever deeper. Unable to control her own need any longer, the pearly mare began to grind her hips in small, tight circles against the rug, purring into Pinkie’s crotch as the rug’s fibres slid around her swollen, aching nub.

Pinkie’s head was thrown back; a wild, carnal grin was plastered across her face, her tongue lolling out, letting out uncontrollable moans and squeaks as the unicorn pleasured her.

Above them on the sofa, with a groan of surrender and release, Fluttershy finally allowed her hooves to slip downwards and bury themselves in the irresistible heat between her thighs. She let out a delightful little coo as she began to ride against herself, gyrating against her dampening hoof, her back arching high. Hearing her friend’s gasp combined with a particularly emphatic grind against the rug sent a sharply intense bolt of pleasure through Rarity’s body.

Forcing herself to focus, Rarity edged her tongue upwards, magically parting the earth pony’s lips as she began to play with her lover’s stiff little clit. Pinkie’s moans grew in pitch and intensity, rising to screams. She may have tried to form words, but her voice was clearly refusing to obey her. Her hind legs locked up as Rarity closed her lips around the sensitive button, suckling and coiling her tongue around it. At the same time, she raised a forehoof and began to move it in small circles around the edges pink mare’s slit, catching the pink mare between two sources of pulsing, intense pleasure.

After a few more minutes of teasing pace-changes, gauging the tone of Pinkie’s groans, Rarity realized that she had coaxed her marefriend as far as she could. She knew that she too was close to the edge as she rocked her hips against the plush, yielding fibres beneath her. She had been coaxed to enormous sensitivity partially by the reactions of the mare in whose crotch her muzzle was buried, but equally by the knowledge that Fluttershy; dear, sweet Fluttershy, was pleasuring herself as she watched them, barely two feet away with undisguised passion burning in her eyes.

This plan had been intended as a way to merely break through the pegasus’s inhibitions; to prove to her that sex was not something to fear. It had done, in the end, so much more.

Spurred by this knowledge, Rarity steeled herself for the finale. She pulled her lips and hoof away from Pinkie’s slick nethers, rapidly sliding herself up the mare’s body before either of them had time to cool down, and burying herself in an aggressive kiss.

Pinkie moaned as the taste of her own excitement invaded her mouth, rich on Rarity’s tongue, and as the unicorn began to grind her hips downwards again, this time connecting not with the rug, but with her lover’s burning crotch. A delicious friction was building between them as they pressed up against each other, their tongues and marehoods locked together, trapped between two compass-points of warm, wet pleasure.

Somewhere on the periphery of consciousness, Rarity could hear Fluttershy groaning uncontrollably as she ground into her hoof, and the sounds spurred her ever closer to her own climax.

The mares’ tails coiled tightly together as they danced their lovers’ dance. Suddenly, after a few emphatic bucks, their nubs ground together at exactly the right angle, sending an almost unbearable burst of pleasure burning through Rarity’s hips and along her spine. It caught them both by surprise, and Pinkie obviously felt the same, because she let out a muffled shriek straight into the fashionista’s mouth, shuddering and reverberating through her suddenly-limp tongue.

That was the final act; both mares tipped over the edge together. Rarity felt every muscle in her body relax as she released, her liquid pleasure squirting down onto the mare beneath her, staining the fur of her belly and hips as she too let out a throaty scream. Pinkie though, as always, rode out her orgasm in utter silence, clutching almost painfully tightly onto the shivering, cooing mare atop her. Her eyes were closed and almost peaceful, and only the uncontrollable twitches of her hips and the expression on her lips gave any hint to the intensity of sensation that she was experiencing.

Rarity gave one last deep sigh, her head tipped back to point straight up at the ceiling, before she collapsed down onto the mare beneath her, and silence fell. She air smelt thick with sex and perspiration, and the only sound was the heavy, contented breathing of the three mares. The unicorn’s eyes fluttered open, and she bestowed a gentle kiss on her tired lover’s lips.

“That was quite something, Pinkie,” she whispered, and her marefriend giggled quietly.

You can’t pretend anymore, Rarity. You can say this was altruistic as much as you like, but you’ve wanted to be watched like that for so long now.

I’m not going to try and examine my motives, not now of all times.

She looked up at her friend. The pegasus was lying on her back, wings lazily drooping out over the edge of the sofa. Her eyes were closed, and her hooves rested just inside her thighs, their work done. The sofa cushion beneath her would certainly need a few rounds in the wash, but at that moment nothing could have concerned Rarity less. Fluttershy’s cheeks were a smooth pink, not the angry, blotchy red of shame or embarrassment. She seemed more at peace than Rarity had seen her in a long while.

Look at her. She’s… she’s happy. There’s one less fear in her life now. Maybe this is more than just gratification; maybe we’ve actually helped her.

You took an awful risk, Rarity. If things had gone differently, you could so easily have traumatized her, set her back years, or even lost her friendship altogether. Don’t congratulate yourself yet. In fact, don’t congratulate yourself at all. Take as much pleasure as you like from today, but don’t you dare take pride in it. Your lust could have done so much damage.

She forcibly suppressed the angry, critical little voice. Surely every reward came at a risk, otherwise the reward was meaningless. But even so…

A little nervously, she reached out a tentative hoof to rest on the mare’s shoulder. She suddenly felt slightly fearful; who knew how Fluttershy might react now that she was free of the hazing influence of passion? Who knew how ashamed or used she might feel?

“D-darling?” Rarity murmured. Pinkie had climbed shakily to her hooves, and had also come over to check on the prone pegasus.

Fluttershy’s eyes flickered open, a gentle smile gracing her expression. “Rarity…” she murmured. “Th-thank you.” Everypony present knew exactly what her thanks meant; neither the confectioner or the fashionista needed to request clarification.

You don’t deserve her thanks.

Suddenly though, with infinite care, Fluttershy reached her head up and met the unicorn’s lips with the gentlest of kisses. The fashionista’s eyes jerked wide open; this was not a possibility that she and Pinkie had discussed. Even so, she did not pull away, not wanting to spoil such an undeniably wonderful evening with a rash rejection at this stage. Not, of course, that she wanted to reject the beautiful pegasus. The primrose mare only held the kiss for a few seconds, making no attempt to advance her tongue. She seemed content simply to rest her velvet-smooth lips against her friend’s, in a kiss that spoke of a simple gratitude.

Breaking away, the pegasus’s blush intensified a little as she met Rarity’s eyes. “…Apricots,” the unicorn murmured as she licked her lips a little dreamily, the smooth, fruity taste still vivid upon them.

“I-I’m sorry… That was my f-first kiss,” Fluttershy whispered, sounding a little awestruck. Her voice was still slightly shaky from the remnants of her earlier climax.

Rarity looked at Pinkie, who was smiling. With a sense of relief that her open-minded marefriend seemed perfectly accepting of this turn of events, she turned back to Fluttershy, nuzzling her cheek warmly. “It’s quite alright, darling.”

Resting a hoof on the unicorn’s waist, Fluttershy turned to catch Pinkie’s eyes, wanting to prove that her gratitude was shared equally, and that she was not trying to intrude on the mares’ existing relationship. She may have been thoroughly enjoying this delicious education, but her heart was set on Twilight, and on Twilight it would remain.

Perhaps the friendship between the couple and the timid pegasus would never be quite the same again, but all three of them knew instinctually that a friendship was what it must remain. What that meant, however, was quite up to them. “Would... would you mind being my second, Pinkie?”

Smiling, Pinkie rested a hoof on Fluttershy’s other shoulder with a small nod of assent. Her baby-blue eyes were shining and irresistible. Rarity felt the pegasus’s hoof tighten a little around her waist as she watched the earth pony lean slowly forwards.

~~~

Kissing, Fluttershy reflected, was another thing that was utterly different to the experience that her imagination had primed her for. So often, she had heard romantics refer to a kiss as an otherworldly experience, intoxicating and ephemeral. As she felt Pinkie’s lips close around her own, however, she knew that they were wrong. To Fluttershy, nothing had ever felt less dreamlike; nothing had ever felt more overwhelmingly real.

Every nerve in her body felt live and burning. She was acutely aware of every point of contact between them as she folded the mare into her free foreleg. She felt every movement of those warm, soft lips, and every slight shift of fur as the mare repositioned herself the better to press up against her friend.

In those few moments, the pegasus felt as if she knew her friend better than she ever had, tasting the joyful sensitivity that summed up Pinkie’s personality so perfectly. The mare was breathing through her nose, the gentle blooms dancing across Fluttershy’s muzzle. Rarity’s breath was hot in her ear as the unicorn observed the exchange with a certain fascination. Fluttershy shifted her position slightly, relishing the sensation of her two friends’ coats as they rubbed up against hers.

Holding her lips closely against her pink friend’s, Fluttershy tangled both of her forelegs with Rarity’s, guiding them gently into the luxuriant down of her wings, which were stiffening rapidly once again, flaring out wide at her sides. She shuddered, her eyes rolling back a little behind their closed lids as the unicorn’s compliant hooves began massaging the bases of the soft appendages.

To think that, mere hours ago, she had seen this kind of intimate behaviour as something shameful. With a gentle shiver, she recalled the sensation that rolled over her when her the tantalizing edge of her hoof had inched her past the point of no return; the release of that delicious friction and pressure. She had experienced it before, in her sleep, the actions of her hoof driven by lusts acknowledged only in her dreams. She had always woken to feel only the final, ebbing waves of pleasure, drowned beneath layers of self-disgust. She had never consciously felt the moment of climax before; it was a moment that she wanted never to forget.

Sometimes, Fluttershy, fears are just opinions. We can decide whether our opinions are right or wrong, that’s why they’re opinions. We choose what we’re ashamed of, and if we decide to hide ourselves away, then ultimately we choose what we’re afraid of as well.

Some fears are justified.

Rarity edged outwards, beginning to stroke along the very tips of her wings, and Fluttershy let out a small, squeaking moan against Pinkie’s kiss. Her lips parted reflexively, and she caressed her tongue hesitantly across the very tip of her outgoing friend’s, smiling into the kiss as the mare’s sugary taste grew strong in her mouth.

But sometimes they make you miss out on incredible things. You’re lucky, Fluttershy. You’re so lucky to have friends willing to take you by the hoof and lead you out of your comfort zone. Without them, you’d hide behind your parents’ views forever, not because you agree with them, but because they give you an easy excuse to not step out into the unknown.

She knew that it was entirely normal and not in the least bit an unusual act, but for some reason the knowledge that she was exploring this beautiful mare’s mouth was an idea that she found deeply arousing. She knew that, even now, Pinkie’s saliva was mingling with hers, and she knew that the cerise mare’s breath was flowing into her lungs. Most of all though, she knew that every little purr and gasp that her friend made was a direct result of her actions.

All of this was par for the course in any romantic interlude, naturally, but that was part of the beauty of inexperience; every detail that most ponies took for granted was a detail that she could notice and appreciate, almost with an artist’s eye.

Fluttershy slid the hoof that was resting on Rarity’s hip slowly up her body until it softly cupped her cheek, she fetlocks tickling the unicorn’s sensitive snowy ear. The fashionista knew instinctually what the pegasus wanted from the miniscule pressure that she applied, and drew her face up until she was level with Fluttershy’s eyes, her lips hovering inches from the thoroughly engaged mouths of the other two mares, whose tongues were now grazing up against one another with a growing confidence.

The pegasus felt a sharp, rushing sensation in her chest, as she was suddenly aware of a second tongue stroking up against her own. Rarity joined in; a cool, crisp taste somehow reminiscent of wild berries in the mid-autumn joined the sugary sting that came borne on Pinkie’s tongue.

Wanting to savour the peculiarities of each mare’s technique and taste, Fluttershy found herself dipping her tongue first deeply into Rarity’s mouth, before pulling back and re-engaging Pinkie. The party pony’s tongue was a little wider than the fashionista’s, with a glowing heat and insistent strength, despite not being able to quite match the subtle dancing caresses that Rarity was capable of.

There’s so much to all of this. I… I’m right to feel inexperienced. I must be such a terrible kisser.

They don’t care. You’re learning to dance, Fluttershy. They won’t mind if a few of your first steps are a little off.

At last, they found a balance that meant they no longer needed to alternate. Using Fluttershy’s mouth as a middle-ground, Pinkie and Rarity held her close, their tongues slipping slickly up against the pegasus’s, but still finding time to caress one another with a finesse reserved for lovers.

Once again, this was an experience that defeated Fluttershy’s expectation. She had imagined that another pony’s tongue against her own would feel unpleasant, slimy and invasive; she had never quite foreseen the hot, pleasurable wetness that came with this most intimate kind of kiss, nor had she pictured the delightful sense of exposure and trust that came with allowing these mares to explore her so freely. At that moment, Fluttershy felt simply naked, and she loved it.

The timid mare’s hooves wandered gradually downwards, tracing the soft curves of her friends’ waists, noting the soft fullness of Pinkie’s body, her shape curvaceous, but just shy of edging into plumpness. Rarity was toned in every sense, her fur sleek and immaculately shampooed to a sensuous, scented sheen.

After the co-operative kiss at length dissolved, Fluttershy realized that she was holding both mares cuddled close to her, one in each foreleg. Rarity’s thigh was draped over the pegasus’s hip as she lay half-off the sofa in a lazy pose of pure seduction, whereas Pinkie was snuggled up against the pegasus, her hooves joining the unicorn’s in exploring the downy intricacies of Fluttershy’s wings.

Fluttershy felt her cheeks heating up, as four gentle forehooves toyed with the sensitive appendages. She tipped her head back a little, beginning to pant. Beneath her, another of Rarity’s meticulously spotless cushions was swiftly booking a date with the washing machine. Really, Fluttershy reflected, the sofa was a little small to accommodate her sudden surplus of fantasies.

Feeling a sudden, irrepressible burst of courage, she looked down to meet the eyes of the couple who were so generously sharing their intimacies with her. Perhaps they would indulge her inexperience a little further; perhaps they would understand that there were better means of learning than simple observation.

Is this right? They’re doing this to teach you… should you really be taking so much pleasure in it?

Of course I should… I’m sure they’re liking this just as much as I am. Besides, this is a lesson in pleasure, so it’s hardly wrong to enjoy it.

After all, she reflected, the definitions and boundaries of their friendship were entirely up to them. They could, between them, decide what their friendship meant.

“Girls…” Fluttershy traced her forehooves further downwards, lightly caressing the mares’ cutie marks, eliciting a shiver from Pinkie, who was clearly the more sensitive of the pair. The pegasus smiled a carefree smile; perhaps her mother’s face would haunt her in the future for these acts and fantasies. Perhaps her fear and shame would come back to plague her one day, but tonight they were gone. Tonight, she could not bring herself to care. Tonight was enough.

“Don’t you think it’s time for bed?”