Paranoia

by Valorousspectre

Shy Day

Chapter seven: Shy Day.

Applejack had responded to Twilight’s note with one of her own, the letter arriving via the mail mare. Demonheart found himself quite liking her as well. The strange, unfocused eyes and clumsiness of the mare was endearing and, before she had left, he had thanked her and told her she looked very nice that day. He was shocked when she responded by catching him in a bonecrushing hug, thanking him profusely.

Yes, he liked Ditzy.

The farmer had agreed to letting him off if there was a deal between him and Rainbow, but only for the day. So, he’d slept at the Library that night on the spare bed . It had taken him a moment upon awakening to realise precisely where he was and how he’d got there. Satisfied that he remembered everything about the previous day, Demonheart proceeded to get out of bed and, with a cursory glance to Twilight, he trotted downstairs and into the kitchen.

Twilight, on the other hoof, had to first wake up from a very pleasant dream including herself, Celestia and her parents and try to recognize and label what she was smelling. For a moment, she considered curling up and forgetting the world for a little while longer, but that smell was quite insistently pulling at her. Finally giving up on the idea of sleeping for longer, Twilight got up and out of bed, noting dimly that Spike’s bed was already empty and made her way downstairs.

She found Spike and Demonheart seated at the dining table. Before Spike was a plate full of pancakes covered in syrup. A large plate piled high with the fluffy treats sat on the table, dead set in the centre. There was naught but an empty plate before the only Pegasus in the house. At the head of the table was another set place, knife and fork properly placed in perfect imitation of a high class restaurant. The pancakes smelled positively heavenly.

“Morning Twi! Look! Pancakes! And I didn’t even have to cook ‘em!”

Twilight giggled and nuzzled the little dragon as she passed him, earning a pleased little sound from him in return, on her way to the empty seat at the table. She sat down and looked at the mountain of fluffy looking pancakes on the plate set on the table. It was now she noticed that the Syrup, butter and Honey had all been brought out to accommodate virtually any taste for the seasoning of said Pancakes. She looked to Demonheart.

“You made all these?”

He nodded quietly and looked down at his plate.

“It… It w..was the least I could do…”

Twilight smiled.

“Thank you. It was very thoughtful of you.”

~*~

It was a lazy day for Rainbow Dash. So naturally she was lying in one of Applejack’s trees, snoring. She liked her naps. Naps were always welcome in Rainbow’s world. They ranged from a quick forty minutes to up to three hours of pure napping bliss. With her active lifestyle, she napped whenever she could.

Today, it seems, simply wasn’t a good day to be napping in the trees.

Her entire world rocked as the tree suddenly shook and she cried out in shock as she fell out of the tree right into Applejack’s waiting hooves.

“Hey there Sugarcube. Ah understand ya owe Demonheart a day of work!”

Rainbow groaned.

Oh man!

~*~

“This is it! Fluttershy’s cottage. She’s probably out looking after the animals right now though, so I wouldn’t really bother her just yet. She’ll get here when she’s… Demonheart? Where are you going? Did you not just hear…. Oh Celestia dammit.”
The unlikely pair had arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage having walked from the library straight after breakfast. Whilst they had walked, Twilight had tried to pry him for information pertaining to the reason he wanted to visit Fluttershy and various questions about his past, hoping to dig up more information concerning his cutie mark. She’d gotten virtually nothing, and nothing she didn’t already know. Now that they’d reached the cottage, he was completely ignoring her and walking around the cottage. With a sigh of frustration she followed him.

She rounded the homestead to find him stopped in his tracks, a light blush on his cheeks. She followed his gaze and quirked her eyebrow in amusement.

~*~

Demonheart felt his heart stop in his chest for a moment and his breath caught as he rounded the cottage and his eyes found his quarry. But not how he expected to see her. He wanted to turn away, but he simply couldn’t work up the will to look away. It was obvious that she’d been filling a large wooden… well it was more a tub than a trough, but either way, with water. However it was clear something happened that made her tumble into the trough, since he seriously doubted she’d bathe in a trough/tub full of cold water. Her normally cute, wavy sort of mane that always fell over one eye now cascaded like a pink waterfall down her shoulders and her coat shone as the sun hit the moisture held in her coat. She seemed preoccupied with getting the water out of her eyes. Her wings had opened out and her feathers too shone, although they were also soaking wet, and therefore some, no, most, of them were soaked and the individual filaments on the feather itself were glued together. He whimpered softly and his blush grew as she swept her mane from her eyes. He vaguely heard Twilight giggle softly next to him.

Then Fluttershy turned around.

“Oh! I… um…”

She blushed heavily and sank partially beneath the water till only her eyes and nostrils were not submerged. Demonheart quickly looked away, his entire face red. Twilight found herself laughing.

“Oh jeez you two! Come on Demon, let’s leave Shy to finish up and then clean up.”

~*~

“AJ… do I HAVE to keep going? I’ve been working ALL DAY!”

Applejack rolled her eyes irritably. This had been going on all day. Although it was only about midday AJ had had a gutful of it all.

“Rainbow stop complainin’ will ya? Ya said ya’d work a full day to Demon, so ya gunna work a full day for me!”

Rainbow groaned again.

“Awww maaan!”

~*~

Twenty minutes later, Fluttershy was inside and, whilst still soaking wet, was covered with a towel and was markedly more comfortable. Before her sat Demonheart, still blushing, and Twilight, still smiling in amusement.

“S…So um.. W..Why are… why are you here?”

Twilight’s smile brightened.

“Oh Demon wanted to see you. He was looking for you yesterday but you were out at Zecora’s. So he stayed with me for a night then I brought him here. I told him to wait for you to be ready but…”

She looked at him accusingly and he shrank away. Fluttershy blushed heavily at the memory of the events that had previously occurred. She wiped her mane from her eyes again. And smiled shyly.

“It’s okay… really… I just… one of the animals um… a little… overexcited…”

Demonheart scuffed his hoof across the floor.

“I’m s…sorry… I didn’t mean to… to stare…”

Twilight laughed softly.

“Yes, you were very intent in what you saw. I don’t think I’ve seen anypony that interested in something in a long time.”

Demonheart’s entire face went beetroot red and his wings curled around him a little, hiding some of his face.

“I’m sorry…”

Twilight found herself giggling again before patting the bigger stallion on the back reassuringly.

“I don’t mean any harm, I promise. It’s fine.”

Silence dominated the room. For a long while, nopony spoke at all. Twilight’s jovial sort of mood at the time mellowed out slowly, turning to boredom. Fluttershy found herself constantly glancing back to the big stallion, and he found himself doing something similar, only whereas he looked at the floor, Fluttershy seemed avidly fascinated with the wall. Eventually Twilight spoke, rather uncomfortable in the tense air that had formed around them.

“Well I have… things… to do. I have a few things to do and Spike is helping me but even he needs help.”

“O..Of course.. b..bye Twilight…”

Demonheart nodded his goodbye to Twilight as she left. Again silence, the two pegasi sitting nervously in the company of the other. For a while there was no movement until Demonheart finally forced himself to his hooves and timidly trotted closer. Fluttershy looked everywhere but at him, then sighed softly as he began grooming her mane. Whilst a pony would normally use a brush or comb in these times, Demonheart groomed her using his teeth, the traditional method. This was, as a rule, a most intimate way to groom another, normally restricted to couples or lovers.

It also felt really, really good.

Fluttershy’s ears splayed as she leaned her head towards him, all but leaning on him as she was groomed.

“Mmmm… that… f..feels really nice…”

A faint blush lit up Demonheart’s face once more and a smile tugged at his lips.

“T..Think of it a..as an apology M..miss Fluttershy…”

She squeaked as she felt a soft nibble at her ear and blushed. Demonheart’s soft voice floated into her ears again, a soft whisper.

“S..Sorry… I didn’t mean t… I mean… I didn’t… I wasn’t…”

“Shhhh….~”

Fluttershy smiled softly.

“It’s okay… It felt… nice.”

Reassured and sure that he wasn’t going to be scolded for his bold move, Demonheart continued his affectionate grooming of the shy animal caretaker. For a long while there was quiet in the room broken only occasionally by the infrequent sighs and coos from the content Fluttershy. She completely relaxed by his ministrations, leaning on his chest almost completely, relying on him to keep her upright.

He… He was brought up… by.. Manticores… this is probably.. n..nothing t…to him Oh Celestia it feels so nice.

But all too soon for Fluttershy’s liking, the feeling was gone. An involuntary whimper escaped her throat before she could stop it and she blushed.

“I’m s..sorry…”

Demonheart smiled and nudged at one of her wings gently.

“Miss Fluttershy… if you could please..?”

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide.

“I… but… that’s…”

The preening of one’s wings was a terribly personal thing for a Pegasus. Wings were incredibly sensitive. They had to be in order to sense the subtle changes in air pressure and wind direction. So allowing another to preen a pegasi’s wings was a very big thing, critical display of trust.

Although mostly it was used as a means to show affection.

“Please miss Fluttershy… they need to be preened… They’ll get all messed up otherwise and… w..well it’s difficult t..to fly with unpreened wings…”

Blushing heavily, Fluttershy gave in to his logic and unfurled one wing for him. He smiled and nuzzled her timidly to reassure her before beginning his very gentle, very, very careful preening.

“B..but Demon w..we have t..the spa… t..tod… mmm~”

Her words were lost as he began to straighten her feathers. However, whilst she did find the sensation absolutely amazing, she heard him speak softly.

“If y..you don’t mind my asking… W..Where did you grow up Miss Fluttershy..?”

“Ooh… I… I w..was born in Cloudsdale… I… mmm… Went to the same flight school a…as R..rainbow… Oh that…”

She cooed softly as he hit a particularly sensitive spot.

“I… I fell from Cloudsdale and w..well… Mmm… I c..can’t fly very well s..so I never went back… I stayed here…”

Demonheart nodded softly and trotted around to the other side of the pony he was grooming, having finished with the first wing, and nudged at her other wing for her to open it. She obliged, unfurling that wing whilst furling the other back up.

“W..What about y..you?”

The ebony Pegasus was quiet for a long moment before speaking.

“I grew up in Cloudsdale, as you already know… T..The school I went to wasn’t a flight school. Mother wanted me t..to be something worthwhile, thought too many wasted th..their dreams on flights of fancy. D..Don’t get me wrong… I loved the Wonderbolts as much as any young colt did but…”

He shrugged, unseen by the content Fluttershy, once again leaning on him.

“Never wanted t..to be one.”

Fluttershy blushed before asking her next question.

“Did… did you ever um… did you ever have a fillyfriend..?”

He felt a similar blush grace his face and he answered, a little embarrassed.

“N..No… they weren’t interested in um… in me… More interested in my best friend… but that was okay… I didn’t l..like the attention anyway.”

He nuzzled the wing joint gently to let her know he’d finished and her wing furled back to her side. She looked up at him, a shy smile on her face.

“T..They obviously d..didn’t know w..what they w..were missing… if this is how good you are at this…”

He blushed and chuckled nervously, not quite sure how to respond, looking down at her so close to him. She continued before he could think of anything.

“Y..You’re kind… Gentle, thoughtful…”

She brushed the curtain of hair that made up his mane over his ear and smiled.

“And you’re handsome. How is it y..you didn’t have one?”

Demonheart was gobsmacked. Fluttershy had never been so… confident in what she was saying since she’d wanted to know what Big Mac said, of which she still didn’t know and even then she’d been pushed there by frustration. This was a whole new side to her and Demon didn’t know how to cope. He blushed profusely and stammered, trying desperately to find a response before falling completely silent as she brought her nose level with his. He could feel her breath washing over his muzzle, smell the peppermint freshness of it and he shivered, swallowing heavily. Her head tilted ever so slightly to the left and she leaned forward and…

There came a knock at the door.

“Darling! We’re going to be late for our session at the spa if we don’t hurry. And I think you can go get Demonheart this time, I did it the last two.”

Fluttershy lost her nerve and drew away, blushing heavily. With a stammered apology she ripped herself away from him, leaving him wide eyed and shaking.

I… She almost… Did that even just happen?

~*~

“I swear I’m not lying Miss Aloe, she really did almost kiss me!”

Aloe smiled from her vantage point behind Demonheart. The pair were in the customary setting. Since Demonheart utterly refused to be locked in a room with naught but hot rocks and steam for company, the spa pony had opted to skip the steam rooms completely and went straight to the baths. They spent almost twice as long in the baths as was strictly permitted in the establishment, but Aloe did own the place with her sister so…

“Are you sure darling? Fluttershy is a very shy mare, I don’t think she’d be even able to do such a thing.”

“Yes… I’m certain I…”

He fell silent and a blush covered his face. Aloe rolled her eyes.

He’s always blushing when he talks about her.

“Sweetheart, I wasn’t trying to put you down.”

She smiled and threw her brush to one side, finished with washing between his wings and down his back and opted to switch to her hooves. She began rubbing and pressing at his shoulders and he sighed softly and leaned back. Although she hadn’t told anypony, Aloe’s insistence on keeping Demonheart in the water for so long was to help him overcome his morbid fear of water and, so far, seemed to be working.

“I.. I know… I mean.. I went there with Miss Twilight because Mi-“

Aloe sighed.

“Darling, how about we drop the ‘Miss’ when you’re talking to me hmm? It’s a little annoying.”

A nod made her smile.

“Good. Now go on.”

He took a moment to compose himself.

“R..Right. I went up with M… Twilight this morning because I couldn’t find Fluttershy anyplace yesterday. Twilight said she was visiting somepony named Zecora and wouldn’t be back all day, so I stayed the night there. Then when we arrived today I… I was impatient to see her and sort of went around her cottage and…”

His sudden cease of words made Aloe stop and lean over his shoulder. He was blushing heavily and his eyes were downcast. She nuzzled his cheek gently.

“And what?”

“…Found her…” He murmured softly, “She’d fallen in a water trough and…”

Aloe stifled a giggle.

“Now you know why we separate the mares from stallions here hmm?”

He nodded gently as Aloe went back to her massage. For a while both were quiet before there came a squeal of surprise from elsewhere in the spa and his ears pricked up.

“Miss Aloe… C..Can I ask you something..? Something you can’t tell anypony else about?”

Aloe smiled and sank into the water beside him, taking a lock (A heck of a long one) of his mane and beginning to braid it idly.

“Of course. I won’t go babbling about it to anypony.”

He smiled gratefully.

“T..Thanks… um… T..Theoretically speaking um… Hypothetically… um… if one pony um…”

She continued her braiding, letting him splutter through his question.

“If I was to say I knew somepony had a um… a crush on somepony else um…”

Her ears pricked up and she looked at him slyly, a coy smile playing across her face.

“Mmmyessss?”

He blushed and looked at the water.

“A..And was looking f..for advice… on how to um… get them to um… well…”

Aloe giggled.

“Darling, your crush on Fluttershy is rather obvious to me you know. There’s no need to lie.”

He sighed and nodded.

“I.. I know but… It… I just…”

She giggled softly and pressed a hoof to his lips to silence him.

“My mother always told me that a crush only lasts at maximum three months. You’ve only been here for about one. Now are you sure it’s a crush?”

He sniffed loudly and hesitated.

“I… I don’t know… I know I really like her Aloe… b..but I’m afraid…”

An eyebrow quirked, her curiosity awakened.

“Afraid of what? You’re a very handsome stallion. You’re gentle, kind, lovely and very thoughtful.”

A small smile took to his lips.

“M..miss Fluttershy said the same thing…”

She felt a touch of annoyance at the title again but shrugged it off.

“But no… n..not afraid of h..her not liking me b.back…”

He sniffled softly and cuddled up to Aloe, surprising her. Not quite certain what to do with the big stallion’s head on her chest, she awkwardly stroked his mane.

“What are you afraid of?”

A pause before he continued softly.

“I’m afraid I’ll hurt her…”

Comments

[BobtheLurker]

That was pretty sweet. I loved that tender moment in the cottage. It makes simple grooming seem like so much more, if you know what I mean. I also think Demonheart has that blushing disease.

Now that the two Pegasi are about ready to take it to the next level, I can't wait to see what happens when Mac finds out.

[Valorousspectre]

991437
Yeah, I wanted to try my hand at a more tender moment, and that popped into mind. But who said anything about a next level? and if you notice he only blushed when talking about, to or doing something with Fluttershy. The others simply don't interest him really. Although he likes Derpy.

Everyone likes Derpy.

[Rainbowblitz]

who the tartarus would dislike this heavenly story i know there is only one but still i cannot believe someone disliked this story