"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" thought Twilight, "Everything I've read about the subject made it sound so painful. I don't want it to hurt, but I still want to do this. And I don't think a numbing spell would be appropriate." She let out a long, low sigh before dropping her head to the pillow. "Why does this have to be so complicated?" Here she was, the night after her wedding and she was laying alone. She told him that she needed a few moments to collect her thoughts and like the perfect gentlecolt he was, he didn't complain. He just nodded and told her to take all the time she needed.
That was one of the things she loved about him, the way he was so gentle. "In more ways than one," she thought with a giggle. But really, it was. He was slow, methodical, and put tremendous care and effort into everything he did, even courting her. The purple unicorn shook her head against the pillow, splaying out her striped mane. "Why am I so nervous?" It had taken nearly two years, but here she was. She shouldn't be nervous anymore.
She lifted her head to examine just where "here" was, but the only thing she saw was purple. "Oh, right." She brushed her mane away from her face. Normally, she wouldn't have a problem with it, but she had been letting it grow out lately and the bangs were just at that awkward stage where the only place they'll stay put is in your face.
With her vision now unobstructed, Twilight once again took to examining her surroundings. The room itself wasn't very big, but it didn't have to be, all it held was a bed, a desk, and a bookcase. Right down to the floorboards, it was all constructed from rough hewn wood, and, aside from being built by his hooves, every piece of furniture brought to mind memories of him.
The desk held a stack of paper, a jar of ink, and more quills than you would expect a stallion like him to own. She knew now that he liked to sketch when he wasn't working. That's why there were so many quills, each one had a different tip for drawing and he knew how to coax perfection out of each one. He had even done a few sketches of her. Even, at her request, one or two that were a little on the, shall we say, "spicy" side. She had done it to tease him one day, all because she caught him staring at her. She didn't really mind, since they had been together for well over a year at that point, but she still couldn't let it go without pestering him about it.
There would be no teasing tonight though.
She resumed her visual journey around the room, the room she would share with her lover and now husband. Her eyes came to rest on the large bed, the one she was laying on. She was on her belly atop the sheets, legs folded beneath her as she shook, not from fear, but from anticipation and nerves. His bed, no, their bed was soft and comfortable. It wasn't quite as springy as the one she was used to, but she still felt like she could get used to it. She glanced at the folded blankets at the base of the bed and wondered if she should throw one over herself to help calm her shivering. Ultimately, she decided against it.
No need to get them dirty.
The only other thing in the room was the bookcase. Well, unless you count the floor. Staring at it, Twilight realized that she even had a memory linked to the rough wooden floor. An extremely happy memory too, their first kiss. She had come to see him before a date, date number five to be exact, and decided to surprise him by waiting for him in his room. But she was used to smooth tile and carpet, or at least the polished wood floors of the library, and had a tendency to shuffle her feet when she walked. On rough plank flooring, shuffling like that results in splinters.
She'll never forget how he rushed in when he heard her cry out in pain. She liked him, but after five dates, she wasn't sure that they were going anywhere with their relationship. That moment though, after he picked her up, set her on the bed, and removed the splinters, changed everything. He had just removed the last of the splinters, but before letting go of her hoof, he gave it a soft kiss. She remembered staring at him after that. It felt like several minutes had passed before she was able to ask him why he did it. His reply was that a kiss makes everything better. She continued staring as he started leaning towards her, moving in for another kiss. At the last moment, she chickened out and turned her head to the side, but she hadn't known that he was only going for a kiss on the cheek.
Their lips collided in a haphazard and sloppy manner, and neither of them realized what had happened at first, since they had both clamped their eyes shut. When they opened them, they found themselves staring into each other's eyes, lips still connected. Neither of them made a move to pull away, they just sat there, staring for nopony knows how long. Twilight always referred to that as "the moment" because it was at that moment that she knew that they were headed somewhere.
She didn't quite expect to be headed here, sitting on the very same bed and waiting to become one with the stallion she loved.
Her eyes drifted to the bookcase. Reference books, art guides, and some light novels adorned most of the shelves. Everything was neat, organized, and in its proper place, she was the one who kept it organized after all. But the middle shelf, the one at eye level, held no books and she had no part in its layout. This was his shelf. Only he ever touched it and it held only a few things that were important to him. There was a photograph of him and a familiar yellow pegasus, a feather, and a sketch of Twilight. Thankfully, it was one of the more vanilla ones.
The last item on the shelf was the one that held her gaze the longest. The item that started it all, a beat-up, threadbare old ragdoll named Smarty Pants. On the day he tried to return it, Spike had gone to Rarity's to help her with something, leaving Twilight to her own devices. That usually wasn't a problem, unless she tried to cook. The billowing smoke pouring out of the library windows as Big Macintosh, the red workhorse of sweet apple acres, approached the library was evidence that she had indeed tried her hoof at the culinary arts.
Mac had no way of knowing what was going on, so when he saw the smoke, he immediately assumed that the tree-slash-building was on fire. When he tried to open the library door, it was locked. Having no other means of entry, he bucked it off the hinges and ran in. He followed the smoke to its source, hoping he could stop the fire before it got out of hoof, but when he got to the kitchen, the sight before him made him realize that the only danger here was the possibility of an upset stomach. Twilight, who was somehow covered in ketchup, stood in front of her oven with a pot holder in her mouth. She was using the pot holder to fan a tray of little black lumps that Mac could only assume were once hay fries.
When Twilight saw him, she greeted him as if nothing was out of the ordinary. For her, this was a pretty standard outcome for an attempt at cooking. It wasn't until she offered to share her fries that Mac finally spoke up. He only said one word, but it was the first time Twilight had ever heard him say anything other than "eeyup" or "nnope." Though, come to think of it, "e-what?" wasn't much of an improvement and her reaction to the simple question wasn't something she liked to remember. She had broken down, she started going on and on about how useless she felt and apologizing for being terrible at simple things like cooking, or social interaction.
Mac's reaction to her breakdown caught her off guard, he turned around and walked away without another word. She had been expecting that, but what she hadn't been expecting was his return a few minutes later with a brown paper bag. He set the bag in front of her and she opened it. Inside was an order of hay fries and a salad from some fast food place. Mac then told her that, since she was good at other things, there was nothing wrong with letting somepony else do the cooking.
But it was what he did next that really cheered her up. He reached into his saddlebags and pulled out the Smarty Pants doll. He set it next to the bag, saying that they even gave her a toy to go with the meal.
That seemed like so long ago, but she could remember every detail, the way his eyes watered from the smoke, how long it took to clear out the smoke, and most of all, how she felt when their hooves accidentally touched while they were sharing the fries.
Now, they would share everything, their lives, their love, themselves.
Twilight heard the bedroom door open behind her. "No!" she screamed internally, "I'm not ready yet! I thought he said he would wait until I called him!" She didn't turn around. She loved him, she shouldn't be so nervous about this and she didn't want him to see how badly this was effecting her. "Maybe it's better this way," she thought as the sound of hoofsteps approached the bed, "if I called the shots, he might be waiting in that hallway for the rest of his life." Through the mattress, she felt a weight climb into the bed. With a loud gulp, she screwed her eyes shut and lowered her head to the pillow. At the same time, she lifted her back end into the air and did her best to hold her tail steady and out of the way. "Let's just get this over with. That way, next time we can-" Something was wrong.
The weight that was behind her moved to her side. And, she hadn't noticed earlier, but it was far too light to be her husband. The weight settled in beside her and she felt a warmth press against her side. She felt a gentle weight on her rump, pushing it towards the mattress. She didn't fight it, but she did notice that the weight did not come from a hoof. No, it was far too light and soft for that. It felt more like feathers. "A wing! Oh, sweet celestial reckoning, please tell me I didn't-" Twilight forced herself to open her eyes and lift her head to look over at the warm weight beside her. Yellow fur and a pink mane greeted her vision, as did a face that, at the moment, matched the long, silky mane it was hiding behind.
"F-F-F-FLUTTERSHY?!!" Twilight felt like she was about to faint. "I-I just p-presented myself t-to you?!" There was no way she would be able to do it now, not after that.
"Um, Twilight?" Fluttershy's voice was calm and even, and despite the furious blush upon her features, she forced herself to make eye contact with her distressed friend. "Mac asked me to come and talk to you. He said you were nervous."
"I, uh-" Twilight really didn't have a response to that. She wanted to say that it was nothing, or that she just needed a little time, but she knew that wasn't the case. With a sigh, she dropped her head back to the pillow below. There was only one thing she could say. "Yes."
Fluttershy let out a little giggle and set one of her forehooves over one of Twilight's. "So was I, on my wedding night, but I couldn't bring myself to admit it." She began absent-mindedly stroking her hoof back and forth as she thought of the past. "It took me a nearly a week to get over it, but I didn't have anypony to talk to. You do. So, um, if you don't mind, could you tell me what's bothering you?"
"I, um-" Twilight didn't feel comfortable talking about it and Fluttershy picked up on that. Anypony would have been able to really.
Fluttershy spread her wing out over Twilight and wrapped it around her. "We're friends, right? You can talk to me about anything. And I've been through this before, so maybe I can help."
Fluttershy's voice was soothing, And it was slowly getting Twilight to relax. "I'm afraid it'll hurt."
"Oh, it will," Fluttershy grimaced at the memory, "it will." She moved her hoof to Twilight's mane and started stroking it in long, slow movements. "But it's worth it. It's a part of life, and it doesn't last long, but once it's over, so much opens up for you and him. It's understandable that you're so nervous, but you really shouldn't be."
"I still don't know." Her words made sense, but Twilight still couldn't shake the nervousness inside her. "What if it hurts too much to continue?"
Fluttershy gave her friend a gentle nuzzle. "He cares about you, if it's too much for you to handle, then tell him and he'll stop. You can trust him. You're married to him, you need to trust him. Just like he'll trust you to be honest with him. If anything's wrong, all you need to do is tell him." Twilight looked ahead of her and thought about it a little while. Fluttershy could see that she was still not convinced. She leaned in and gave Twilight a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm your friend, you can trust me too."
Twilight nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She turned to face her friend. "Tha-" She was kept from finishing her thank you by something pressing against her lips. She couldn't see what it was, her vision was completely blocked by yellow and pink.When the pressure against her lips started to shift, she realized what was happening. It was a kiss. "HOLY FREAKING CELESTIAL PSEUDO-DEISM, FLUTTERSHY'S KISSING ME!!!!"
Twilight felt like her head was about to explode. If not her head, then her heart. Just moments ago she was fretting about spending her first night with the pony she married, and now? She was making out with one of her closest friends. Oddly enough, that wasn't the part that was confusing her. No, the part that Twilight was confused about was that she was starting to enjoy it. Like, really enjoy it. Like, melt into it, forget the rest of the world, and lose yourself in the heat of the moment, enjoy it.
"What am I supposed to do? Isn't this wrong? What about Mac? But he asked her to come here, so maybe he's ok with it? Why would he be okay with this?! But, maybe if it helps me calm down, then it'll be fine? But what if-" Her train of thought derailed with the loss of all passengers when something warm and wet ran along the length of her upper lip. She was just starting to recover when that same something made its presence known along the inside edge of the lip. Her mouth, which had been hanging open mid-word since Fluttershy first surprised her, started to move up and down in a vain effort to protest.
What little control Twilight held over her mental faculties was rapidly deteriorating. When the soft, wet warmth turned its attention to her tongue, slowly pushing under it and tugging, any of Twilight's remaining second thoughts, or first for that matter, burned away in a white heat. She closed her eyes as she started leaning into the kiss, offering no resistance as Fluttershy's gentle lapping slowly coaxed her own tongue out of hiding. At that moment, Fluttershy pulled away, softly dragging her teeth along Twilight's dangling tongue.
"Mr. Macintosh?" Twilight barely heard Fluttershy call out, the warm fog occupying her mind left very little room for input or thought. She just sat there in a daze, tongue hanging out and glistening saliva clinging to her chin. Fluttershy smiled softly as she leaned in and licked away the juices, some of which were her own. "Your wife is waiting for you."
The bedroom door opened once again and another, heavier, set of hoofsteps approached the bed. Once again, Twilight felt a weight climb onto the bed behind her. Once again, she lifted her rump, her legs were shaky, but she managed it. And once again, she felt herself being pushed back down to the mattress, this time, by a rough, but gentle hoof. This new weight moved to her side opposite Fluttershy and laid down, bringing a welcome warmth to her side.
"You-" Twilight was so worked up that she had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself as she turned to face her husband in bed beside her. "Y-you're not going to-"
"Nnope." Big Macintosh used his nose to nudge the purple mane out of her face. Somehow, her mane had gotten messy again. "Yer not ready. Ya cooled off a bit, but ya still ain't ready. And Ah ain't gonna push ya till you are." He gave Twilight a kiss, soft, caring, compassionate, just to let her know that this night wasn't about any physical act they could perform, but rather, about the love they could and do share.
When Mac pulled away from the kiss, he had a funny grin on his face. He lifted his head to look over Twilight at the pegasus sharing the bed. "So that's how ya got her ta calm down?" he asked with a chuckle, "Ah shoulda known."
"Why not?" Fluttershy propped herself up and leaned over Twilight to give Mac a peck on the lips. "It always works on you."
"Eeyup. And Ah see you got somethin' out of it too." He reached out a hoof and ran it along one of Fluttershy's outstretched wings.
"Oohhhhmmhh. Oh, ah, yes, I, uh-" She cleared her throat and did her best to compose herself before speaking again. "I mean, it was enjoyable for both of us."
The red stallion started laughing. "That's good, Ah'm sorry I missed it."
Twilight, who was now quite red herself, decided it was time to speak up. "So, you don't mind?"
Mac looked down at her in confusion. "Mind?" He looked over at Fluttershy who was trying rub a hoof along her other wing without being noticed. "Ya wanna take a break from that and help me out here?"
"Eep!" Fluttershy put her hoof down as quickly as she could and bent her wing in the process. She tried to ignore it, but as soon as she moved, the wing shot right back out like a spring. She shot a glare of mock anger at the farm pony. "This is your fault, you know that, right?"
"Eeyup." He leaned over and gave her another kiss. With a bounce of his eyebrows, he asked, "ya want some help with that?"
Fluttershy gave him a playful shove and smacked away his hoof when he reached for her wing again. "Don't you dare! This is Twilight's moment, and I am going to wait for her." She poked him in the chest. "And. So. Are. You." Satisfied that he had been sufficiently admonished, Fluttershy laid back down next to Twilight and started nuzzling against her neck. "Sorry about that. Sometimes, he's just soooooaaaahhhh ooohhh my goodness, yesssss, hmmm, Oh!" She shook her head clear and reached back to give Mac a solid smack on the nose. "Stop nibbling my wings while I'm talking."
"Nnope." Mac gave Twilight a wink and went back to teasing Fluttershy.
Watching the two of them, Twilight started to feel a pang of regret. They were just so, in touch and comfortable with each other and she didn't feel like she was able to be a part of that. When Fluttershy gave up on trying to fend off Mac's playful advances and laid back down, Twilight asked her, "How can you two be so relaxed doing that? Especially with me here?" She just couldn't understand it, no matter how she tried, even though she desperately wanted to.
"T-Twili- Oh!" She was trying her best not to react to Mac's attentiveness towards her wings, but he was starting to make it very difficult. "Um, we're a heeeerrrrrr! Ohh! Sorry, um we're a herd now, weeee, uh, we share everything, our lives, our lo- oh, hngh, yes! oh, uh, huh, oh sweet Luna, that's distracting. Hmm. But, we share our lives, our love, and each other. Keep that in mind, you married both of uuhhuuhssss! You'll get used to ih-hi-huh, ohhh, uh, used to it. It, ooh! Hooooo. At first, it took us a while before we could even look each other in the eyes, and that was when it was just us."
"I can see why." Twilight's face was about as red and hot as it's possible to be with bursting into flames, but she couldn't tear her gaze away from the scene playing out above her.
"D-d-dooohhohh! Hoh! Hah, um don't worry." Fluttershy put her hoof around Twilight's shoulder. "Nothing's going to happen until you're ready for it. And wh-wh-hoo, oh. And when it does, I'll be right there beside you. Ju- huh- huh-just like you'll be right there for m-m-me! Oh! Hah! Hnn!" Fluttershy involuntarily curled up around Twilight, pulling close and burying her face in Twilight's mane. "Oh, I- Ah! I can't- ohh, hmmph."
Twilight looked up at Mac. He was smiling and pointing at a spot on the leading edge Fluttershy's wing. Due to the way she was curled up and panting into the back of Twilight's neck, the spot was right in front of Twilight's face. Mac then made a series of biting motions with his mouth. Twilight started shaking her head and Mac started nodding his. After a few seconds, Mac stopped moving his head and tilted it to the side. Twilight knew what was coming and she also knew that she was powerless against it, even for a request as odd as this. All he had to do was mouth the word "please" and make that adorably pathetic face at her and she would be putty in his hooves. In facct, this whole situation probably wouldn't have happened if he had done that in the first place.
Steeling herself for what she was about to do, Twilight opened her mouth and leaned towards Fluttershy's wing. Mac did the same to her other wing and timed it so that they both bit down at the same time.
The pegasus immediately tensed up, pulling even tighter against Twilight . Mac pointed to another spot, this one a little closer to her body. Twilight moved her toothy grip, so did Mac. Fluttershy started shaking. Once more, Mac pointed, but this time, he pointed to the little folds right where the wings connect to the back.
There was a moment of hesitation on Twilight's part, but she moved her head and bit down. Fluttershy started screaming into Twilight's fur. For a moment, Twilight was worried that her friend was in pain, but a breathy, "thank you," once the screaming subsided was enough to allay her fears. The only other sound that the yellow pegasus made after that was soft snoring.
Twilight moved her head around to look at her sleeping friend. Even though she was asleep, Fluttershy's face still held a contented smile. As Twilight stared, Mac laid back down beside her. "You were part a' that, ya know." He leaned in and gave Twilight a soft kiss on the cheek. "She was so nervous when I asked her if Ah could start courtin' again, but once Ah told her it was you, well, Ah think that smile there tells ya."
With a sigh, Twilight took one last glance at Fluttershy's smiling face. "I'm sorry I wasn't ready."
"There's always tomorrow." Mac planted a kiss on Twilight's forehead and pulled the blanket over the the three of them. "Goodnight you two."
Twilight took one last look at the two ponies laying beside and upon her, the two ponies who were both her friends and lovers. As she laid her head down on the pillow, one last thought crossed through her mind before sleep took her.
"I'll be ready."
