Their eyes met

As the afternoon turned into night and then into late night, both Shine and Derpy were starting to look very fatigued, despite them sharing such a cheerful moment together. Derpy was getting ready to leave as Shine held up the door with an equitable pose.
- Thank you Miss Derpy for joining us at such a magnificent occasion. We certainly hope that you had a great time and that you shall join us the year to come.
Shine was talking with a silly, chivalrous tone.
- My, oh my, we certainly had an explicit wonderful time here great Sir Shine. We shall return for more the next time you make the excellent decision of hosting yet another of these, ''parties''.
Derpy and Shine were laughing heartily at their silly little scene.

But when Derpy was to take the step outside the threshold, she froze, blankly staring out in the pitch-black night. Shine could see at Derpy's terrified face that something was heavily bothering her.
- What's the matter Derpy?
- I am scared.
Derpy's voice was weak from fear as she took a step away from the door.
- Of darkness?
Shine tried to fill in.
- No, of THEM, those meanies.
Derpy sat down as she put her hoof to the door, taking control of it from Shine and slowly closing it.
- They have been following me every now and then. They never did anything to me back then. But now from what has happened, I am very scared they WILL do something horrible to me if I ever show myself outside alone again.
Derpy looked down at the floor, occasionally sniveling to herself.

Shine looked around his house for a solution. After scanning his house with his eyes, he locked focus on the couch standing in front of the fireplace.
- Hm... It isn't much but, perhaps you can stay the night here? You can sleep on the couch, it's not all that super comfy, but it should suffice. I think I have a spare blanket somewhere in case of cold winter.
- Really? I can stay here? Oh, thank you Shine, I feel so relieved.
Derpy smiled widely as she trotted over to the couch which she lie down on. Shine wasn't far behind with the promised spare blanket which he used his magic on to carefully put Derpy to bed. Derpy couldn't resist giggling at how generously she was being treated. She peeked with her right eye at Shine and spoke to him, almost whispering;
- Shine... could you please... sing that lullaby again for me? It was so beautiful and soothing.
- As you wish.
Shine cleared his throat and tried tuning his voice so that he would get the same deep, slow-paced voice he had earlier. After a little while he took a deep breath and began singing his song even slower than before.

With almost perfect timing as Shine finished the song, soft snoring could be heard from Derpy, indicating her successful journey to the land of dreams. Shine smiled at how effective his lullaby was and quietly walked up to his own bed and soundly fell asleep in it with a thud.

A few hours passed of the calm night only to be interrupted by a blood-curling scream of terror.
- THEY ARE COMING FOR ME!
- Huh? Who? Hey! I'm right at it!
Shine threw off his quilt and jumped up from his bed still half asleep. He tripped on a pillow he accidentally had thrown on the floor in his sleep. He purled into the couch Derpy was lying on with a loud bang.

Shine rubbed his eyes as he slowly rose to look at Derpy from behind the couch.
- Oh! Shine! I had the worst of nightmares! It was horrible!
Derpy hugged Shine and was about to start crying when Shine hugged her back and pat her on her head.
- There, there, Derpies. It was just a dream. Dreams can't hurt you. Just relax and take a deep breath.
- Dream or no dream, I was so scared those meanies would get me.
Derpy hugged Shine even tighter when Shine slowly began rocking back and forth, trying to calm the hysterical mare.
- Ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh... just take it easy... they're gone now. I drove them away, remember? Now, take a deep breath and relax.
- Yeah, I remember, Shine. I-it was just a bad dream... just... a bad dream.
Derpy sniveled and sighed a few times before she let go of Shine and finally lie down again on the couch. Shine used his magic to tucked in the blanket just like he did earlier.
- Nighty, nighty, Derpy, hopefully you'll have a better dream this time.
- Good night, Shine. Sorry for waking you up.
Derpy and Shine exchanged a smile before they both went back to get some sleep.

As Shine had gotten all cozy under his giant quilt, he heard the clopping of hooves slowly coming towards him.

He forced his tired eyes open to see Derpy standing in front of him with an awkward expression.
- Uhm... s-sorry if I woke you up, again. B-but I can't really sleep. I just can't stop thinking of the nightmare I had.
Derpy approached Shine's bed and put her front hooves on the edge of the mattress.
- Y-your bed also seems well big enough for you and I was wondering.... if I... perhaps... could... sleep next to you?
Derpy blushed intensively at her request.
- I think I would feel much more, erm... safe... please?

Shine grumbled a little while to himself with closed eyes, which made Derpy unsure if Shine even was awake. But eventually, Shine moved to the far end of the bed with a huge yawn. He turned to lie on his right side, facing away from the mare that carefully crawled under the huge marine blue quilt that could cover a lot more than the size of the bed and easily both of the ponies huddling beneath its warm threads.
- Uhm, Shine, please don't fall asleep yet.
Derpy gently poked Shine on his back which made him turn around yet again. Shine yawned loudly once again before he spoke.
- Hm? Need to talk about your nightmare? Was it that bad?
- Oh, uhm. No, not that. I only wanted to talk to you... a-about everything that has happened lately.
Derpy could see that Shine's eyes opened up fully out of curiosity.
- Anything in particular that you need to get off your chest?
Shine smiled gently at the slightly nervous mare lying in front of her.
- Well... I-i was just... wondering... what made you stand up for me that day? I've checked around a little and found out that you wouldn't stand up for somepony you hardly know unless there is something going on.
- Bullies!
Shine rapidly answered with an unflinching tone. Derpy herself couldn't help but flinch at the quick and confusing answer.
- Bullies?
She answered while scratching her head. Shine sighed deeply a few times as he close his eyes.
- Bullies. That stallion was nothing more than a bully. A bully, feasting upon the suffering he caused to innocent creatures just because of his own insecurity.
Derpy was feeling much more confused than answered. Shine kept talking.
- I'll let you in on a little something about myself no other pony knows of. Spread it if you wish, I really could care less. Your choice.
- Oh, I wouldn't dream of telling anypony of your secrets, Shine.
Derpy smiled at Shine. A smile Shine didn't see as he still had his eyes closed.
- Very well then. It all began the very first day of school when I was just a little guy. I was oblivious to the bullies back then. But as I grew, I became aware of the horrible deeds they were doing to me.

They weren't laughing with me, they were laughing AT me. By that realization, things grew worse. I began telling them to stop. But I only fueled the already out-of-control inferno that was the foundation for my future in the shape of education.

- Oh my! Why didn't the teachers to anything about it?
Derpy put one of her hooves to one of Shine's hooves that she found under the quilt to comfort. Shine quickly smiled but soon after looked down with sorrow in his eyes.
- Pfft! It'd be a miracle if they ever did anything that was outside their job description. I had the ''great'' luck of getting teachers that only cared for the star students, students that were far better than everybody else.

I never was good at anything, studying the least. Therefore I was bundled together with the rest of the boys in my class. So I was stuck with jerks, bullies and the likes that were both. I was forced to associate myself with those that I hated. People I desperately tried to get away from. Separated from the few girls that were my only friends.
Derpy gasped slightly but was quickly silenced by Shine who put a hoof to her mouth.
- Hush! I know what you are thinking. We were nothing more than friends, got it?
Shine glared deeply into Derpy's eyes. The slightly terrified mare nodded slowly. Shine removed his hoof from her mouth and put it back underneath the soft quilt.
- At that time, the intensity of the bullying kept at a regular pace. It wasn't until the later years of elementary school that my life went from bad to worse.

I was enjoying my lunch with my friends during a day that had been abnormally calm and overall good. Like a lightning from clear sky, a guy that was a few years older than me that I had a bit of history with came up to our table from behind my back. Unprovoked, he knocked my plate down on the floor without any reason. Pent up with anger from years of bullying, I lost all that was self control.

- What happened? Please tell me what happened?
Derpy was filled with anticipation.
- I hit him. I hit him as hard as I could. I think I managed to hit his lower jaw and bust a tooth. I don't really remember. I was lost inside myself. Imprisoned by anger and hatred.

I remember him stomping me on my back and spitting blood down my neck as he yelled at me, asking me if I ''enjoyed picking a fight''.

- How horrible! Didn't anypony do anything?
Derpy was devastated to hear this tale.
- No. Nobody dared to do anything. That good-for-noting-ass-hole only backed away when the old ladies serving the food yelled at us for messing up the dining hall.

Once they got close enough to us they saw what was going on and called out to the teachers that was eating their lunch just around the corner a short distance away from the scene.

After I've gotten a new plate of food and discussed with my friends what happened, which I to this day still have hard to believe happened, we were waiting the last minutes of our recess just outside the classroom when that same idiot walks straight up to me.

He forced me up to the wall, continuing to threaten me. Accusing me of what he started. Then... ''IT'' happened.

- ''It''? Don't be so secretive, tell me what happened! Did he hurt you?
Derpy was beyond herself with worry.
- No, he did not hurt me. What happened was that someone FINALLY stood up for me. After years of being alone, forced to make everything by myself, someone finally stood up for me. Someone that meant, and still do mean a lot to me. But since I don't see a way of going back to the life I used to live, I've realized that I might as well forget about her.

Thought it hasn't gone too well as my dreams remind me every time I think I have managed to move on. It hurts, it hurts so much to be reminded... reminded of that horrible day.
Tears formed in Shine's eyes as his voice began to tremble. Derpy felt a lump in her throat as well when she slowly moved closer to Shine and wrapped her hooves around him, drawing his body closer to her own. She softly stroke his mane to comfort which seemed to work as Shine's sobering quieted down.
- There, there. I'm so sorry if I opened up an old wound.
When Shine had calmed down completely, he gently placed his head so that his horn was alongside Derpy's forehead, silently thanking her for her kindness.
- Thank you Derpy, I feel a lot better now that I've gotten a chance to talk about it.
Derpy giggled in response and softly gave him a kiss on his muzzle.
- Anytime, Shiny. You helped me out, now I help you out.
She whispered as she placed her head back to the old position, feeling his horn flat to her forehead.
- Besides, you make me feel like I've never felt before.
Derpy blushed when she realized that Shine was moving even closer to her when their chests made contact.
- And how, if I may ask, do I make you feel?
Derpy blushed even more when she tried thinking of the feelings she had for Shine.
- Whu-well... h-happy, I guess... You also make me feel special. There's also this new feeling I've never felt before the incident yesterday.
Shine shone up with a sort of teasing giggle.
- Oh ho ho, lemme guess. You feel excited, but still calm? Energized yet tired? Tense but relaxed at the same time? On top of everything, you feel this strange ticklish feeling?
Derpy hugged Shine even tighter with a delightful giggle.
- That's it! How did you know?
Shine swung his forelegs around Derpy, pressing his hooves gently at the base of her wings. He could feel that the wings themselves were tense but not the muscles attaching them to her back.
- The feeling is mutual, my dear Derpies.
Derpy gasped slightly when she felt Shine's hooves pressing against her back. She never thought that touching there would make her feel like this. Energy like no other she had felt was building up inside her.

The strange ticklish feeling traveled so incredibly slowly from her back down to her hind legs, jumping between the inside of her thighs, left to right, right to left, every now and then taking a slow delay in-between them, teasing her.

Her breathing had intensified as her legs tended to twitch unwillingly with very long delays between each. She felt that she wanted more of this strange, almost forbidden feeling.
- Oh sweet Celestia! Whatever you're doing I beg you, please do not stop.
She felt an uncontrollable pool of saliva forming in her mouth. She kept swallowing but it came back in what seemed as a blink of an eye.

She moved up a little so that she could position her mouth to the base of Shine's horn which she then began kissing, licking and eventually sucking on, keeping her tongue wrapped around it as much as she could. She gave it a gentle tug every time she felt a twitch of her own.