Such Sweet Poison

by AugieDog

3 - The Analysis

No time for tai chi, no time for her morning chores, no time for anything but finding Twilight! Fluttershy leaped for the door—

Then stopped because she was too big to fit through easily and she didn't want to smash anything and maybe hurt herself when she needed to get to Twilight's castle and...and—

And she had no idea what she was supposed to do! She wasn't the princess, wasn't the pony Twilight was really in love with, wasn't the sort of pony who took charge of things—

Except when she'd organized that tree removal on Thursday. Or when her animal friends were involved. Or when—

When her pony friends were involved.

Stepping forward, she pulled herself between the doorposts, got halfway down the hallway to the bathroom where she'd left the bottle of herbs that she'd need for the poison joke cure—

Which Twilight had said the other night took fifteen or twenty minutes to mix up. Or was this different because the powder was all measured and ready to go?

Could she take the chance? Could she take the time?

Shaking her head, she took a left instead, jumped down the stairway without touching a step, her big wings unfurling so wide, she almost knocked a couple birdhouses down. Barely pausing to wrench open the front door, she leaped out into the early morning sunlight, gave a flap of those wings—

And vaulted into the air with a force that took her breath away, wind smashing into her face and tumbling her ears over fetlocks. Feeling like confetti launched from Pinkie's cannon, she tried to straighten her flight, unsure if she was pulling up or diving down, the houses of town and the blue of the sky flipping and sliding and smearing across her vision till she plowed headfirst into something so big and wide and solid, it could only have been the ground.

"Whoa, nelly!" a familiar voice shouted, and Fluttershy blinked till the blur above her resolved into Applejack staring down from the edge of a small crater. "Fluttershy? 'Sthat you?"

With some more blinks, Fluttershy pushed herself up till she could see over the lip of the hole she'd apparently made in the middle of the town square, other ponies wide-eyed with alarm. "It's concentrated poison joke!" Fluttershy panted, planting her big front hooves on the rim of the pit and hauling herself out beside the gaping Applejack. "I'm fine, but Twilight's in trouble!"

Three more voices slammed over her then, one squeaky, one shrieky, and one scratchy. Pinkie, Rarity, and Rainbow popped, galloped, and swooped in from different directions, their sentences tangling in Fluttershy's ears: "...all swole up!" "...need a whole new wardrobe!" "...awesome crash!"

Shaking her head, Fluttershy tried to keep from shouting. "Please! Twilight needs our help! We have to find her!"

"Hold up, now, y'all!" Applejack reared back and scissored her forelegs. "We'll start at the castle and work out from there if'n we need to, Fluttershy, but first, how 'bout this poison joke? That a problem we gotta deal with, too?"

Fluttershy shook her head again, suddenly aware of all the listening ears. "I was helping Twilight with an experiment." Even whispering didn't seem to make her voice less noticeable. "It...it didn't go the way we thought..."

Rainbow leaped into a hover, her grin showing more teeth than Fluttershy thought a pony's head should have. "Lemme guess! You were trying to make six of you and ended up six times as big instead?"

"Seven times!" Pinkie waggled her eyebrows. "Gotta say: it's a good look for you, Fluttershy!"

"Pinkie!" Rarity had one foreleg drawn up to her chest and was leaning back as if she couldn't decide whether to run or faint, the salty stink of her fear making Fluttershy want to bury her nose under her hooves. "This is no time for frivolity! We must get her to the spa at once!"

Forcing away every other thought, Fluttershy stomped. "Please!" She couldn't stop from bellowing it this time. "What we have to do is find Twilight!"

The ground shook, her words thundering through the town square, and everything around her seemed to freeze. Then Applejack was wheeling in place and galloping toward the castle. "Reckon you heard the mare! C'mon!"

"Oh, yeah!" Rainbow zoomed after her, and Fluttershy rushed to catch up—

Only to pass them with a couple strides, her big legs devouring the distance and carrying her halfway to Twilight's before she realized she'd left the others behind. Skidding to a halt, she spun around—

"Keep going!" she heard Applejack call from a block away. "We'll be right along!"

Just wishing it was all over, Fluttershy whirled and barrelled the rest of the way to the castle. Pulling up before she could plow into the brick esplanade, she stepped gingerly onto the pretty tile work, crept to the top of the steps, and tapped the door with just the very tip of her hoof.

"Oh, come on!" Rainbow dropped onto the porch beside her. "You're, like, the biggest pony in the world right now, and this is a full-on emergency!" She waved her front hooves at the door. "You could smash your way through, and it'd be totally legit!"

Fluttershy couldn't help blinking. "But that would be so rude!"

Rainbow stared at her, the clatter of hooves from behind growing louder till Applejack came sliding up beside them. "All righty! What exactly we dealing with here, Fluttershy?" Her head tilting back, Applejack broke into a big grin. "I swear to Celestia, if'n Mac was here, his eyes'd be spinning like pinwheels!"

It took some effort not to wince at the princess's name, but before Fluttershy could open her mouth—not that she had any idea what she was going to say—Pinkie leapfrogged over Applejack to land in front of the palace doors. "Ooo! I'll bet if Fluttershy got all big, Twilight musta gotten all small! And that would mean—" Her eyes actually did start spinning like pinwheels, her voice getting hollow and echoey. "She's on a journey through inner space!" Everything about her snapped back to normal—or at least as normal as things ever did with Pinkie. "I'll betcha that's it, huh? Huh?"

A slight huff signaled Rarity's arrival. "If I recall correctly, it was Applejack who shrank under the influence of that horrible flower."

Applejack shivered. "Don't remind me. I still get nightmares sometimes."

"Will you all just—!" Rainbow pounded the doors. "Help me talk Fluttershy into kicking these things down!"

"Okay!" Pinkie pulled a wet paint brush from her mane and leaned forward. "Lemme slap a target on here so she won't hafta worry about missing, and we'll—!"

The door on the left opened, and Pinkie splooshed the paint brush directly into Spike's face.

"What the hay!" he sputtered, staggering backwards, his claws frantically scrabbling to wipe the red paint from his eyes.

"No time!" Rainbow whooshed over his head, shoving both doors out of the way. "Fluttershy's a giant, and Twilight's in trouble!"

"What the hay?" He said it as more of a question this time, and when Fluttershy followed Rainbow inside, she found herself looking down at Spike looking up. "A...giant?" he squeaked.

"Spike?" a voice called from the hallway, and Starlight Glimmer stepped into the foyer. "I thought I heard a knock at the—" Her eyes bulged and her jaw dropped.

Applejack sauntered past Fluttershy into the sudden silence, pushed her hat back, and gave a grin. "Morning, Starlight, Spike. Don't s'ppose you might know where Twilight's at?"

"Uhhh..." Spike's gaze seemed fastened on Fluttershy.

Fluttershy cleared her throat. If she'd known this was going to turn into such a bother, she would've taken the time to mix up Zecora's remedy. "Twilight's probably either down in the lab," she said, using all her strength to keep things to a rumble rather than a shout, "or up in her room. We need to find her as quickly as possible, please."

"Right!" Starlight shook herself, and a lavender light started wavering around her horn. "Lemme just do a quick scan for—" She blinked and turned to look to her left. "That's weird."

Ice wanted to crackle through every inch of Fluttershy's chest. "Bad weird or good weird?" she asked, hoping against hope.

Rarity had moved inside by now, and she turned a blank stare over her shoulder. "'Good weird'? Really?"

"Hello?" Pinkie was just finishing up painting the phrase 'Journey through Inner Space' in big red letters on the foyer wall. "For some of us, that's a job description."

Her brow wrinkling, Starlight looked back at Fluttershy. "I just meant that Twilight's magic is running down in the lab, but it's not—"

"Finally!" Rainbow flared her wings and dove for the hallway. "To the lab!"

"Rainbow?" Starlight pointed in the other direction down the hall. "The lab's that way."

But Fluttershy was already charging along the route she'd last taken Tuesday night, the crystal floor giving off muffled clangs every time her hooves struck it. If Twilight had been up in her bedroom, that would've been okay: hiding under the bed when she thought she'd made a terribly embarrassing mistake was something Fluttershy understood all too well. But down in the lab? Twilight might be looking for a more active solution.

And possibly a more dangerous one, too.

Again, she didn't take the stairs individually but leaped down the whole flight with her wings spread and scraping the walls on either side. The floor when she landed cracked like an April ice sheet, and while she winced, she didn't stop. She'd help clean everything up after she found Twilight safe and sound.

Passing the science library, Fluttershy slid to a halt in front of the lab doors just as a flash of Starlight's lavender brought everypony else into the hallway with her. "Wait!" Starlight panted out. "I was trying to say! It's Twilight's magic, but it's so...so rough and chunky, I...I've never felt her spin anything like it before!"

"Ooo!" Pinkie tied a bib around her neck. "Chunky like peanut butter?"

Starlight shook her head. "Chunky like a bag full of rocks and broken glass."

"Eww." Sticking her tongue out, Pinkie crumpled up her bib and threw it away.

With a shiver, Fluttershy stepped toward Starlight and tried not to loom over her. "Is Twilight all right?"

"Honestly?" Starlight looked at the lab's double doors. "I don't know."

Rainbow gave a snort and planted her hooves on the door handles. "One way to find out!" She shoved the doors open and flew through, Fluttershy right behind her.

Inside, purple light swirled over the walls, all the crystal surfaces reflecting the slowly rotating sphere of magical fire that floated over the control console. Fluttershy swallowed. All she could think of, looking at it, was a bruise as big as three ponies put together...

"Wow," Starlight whispered next to Fluttershy. "That's some serious unhappiness right there." She cleared her throat. "So. Anypony want to fill me in on what's going on?"

Fluttershy didn't want to, of course, but when Applejack said, "Poison joke's all we's heard so far," Fluttershy realized the others needed something.

"It's, ummm..." Where could she even start? "Twilight's blaming herself for me getting...like this." Fluttershy spun, planting her big hoofs and meeting the startled gazes of all her friends in turn. "But she did everything she could've to make the experiment safe, and we both just thought it would make my voice deep even if it did spill! And when...when it did this to me instead, I told her and told her it was okay! But she got so...so..." Not knowing how to go on, she stopped.

Beside her, Starlight made a little popping noise with her mouth. "Not sure that would've been enough to make her wad herself up into whatever that is, but—"

"Hey!" Rainbow zoomed into Starlight's face. "If Fluttershy says that's what happened, then that's what happened!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie leaped up with a growl, then dropped back with a shrug. "I'm guessing it's maybe not exactly one hundred percent everything that happened, but still..."

"Regardless..." Rarity nodded to the fiery purple sphere. "Have we a plan for getting Twilight out of the hideous thing?"

Straightening to her full height, Fluttershy watched the colors and shadows scurry across and beneath the roiling surface. "This is my fault." She swallowed. "I've got to go in and get her."

"What?" Starlight's ears folded. "Okay, that's probably not the best—"

Applejack cut her off by pressing a hoof over her mouth. "Like some company, sugar cube?" she asked, cocking her head in Fluttershy's direction.

And as much as she didn't want to bother them any further, she knew that she was going to need help. "Yes, please." She gazed down on Applejack, and for all the space in her expansive chest, Fluttershy could barely find enough breath for the words, "Thank you."

A quick nod, then Applejack was spinning to face the others. "All righty! Spike, Starlight, we're gonna need you two out here to monitor whatever the hay there is to monitor."

"Hold on!" Starlight waved her hooves. "I'm not even sure what sort of magic we're dealing with! How am I supposed to—?"

"Unhappiness." Fluttershy didn't want to look at Twilight's sphere, but at the same time, she could scarcely bring herself to look away. "Just like you said, Starlight."

Starlight's eyes were practically vibrating in her head. "But there's no such thing!"

"Actually?" Spike pulled open a cupboard and grabbed one of the notebooks standing up inside. "Twilight's been working on a theory about the opposite of friendship magic." He flipped the notebook open to near the middle. "One of the things she mentioned as a possible catalyst was somepony thinking she'd hurt a friend."

That got Starlight blinking. "Some sort of guilt magic?"

"Whatever!" Rainbow swept a cyclone around Starlight, picked her up, and set her down next to Spike. "You two figure out what to call it; we're going in to get Twilight!"

"Whoo-hoo!" A pink blur whooshed past Fluttershy's face. Something pressed down between her ears, and suddenly everypony was wearing bright yellow mining helmets, fireflies swirling in the lamps attached to the front. "But safety first!" Pinkie said, settling to the floor beside Applejack and adjusting her own helmet.

Applejack rolled her eyes, wiggled her helmet till the brim of her regular hat popped out around the bottom, climbed to her hooves, and nodded to the swirling clouds and fire. "Any idea how we get in?"

"Well..." Rarity took a step toward the sphere, and Fluttershy couldn't help smiling to see that she already had a purple hibiscus flower attached to the side of her helmet. "She surely wouldn't've made the thing completely impervious, would she?" She looked back over her shoulder. "After all, even when I lock myself away to have a good cry, I don't plaster over the doors and brick up the windows."

Fluttershy swallowed. "I think that's right, Rarity." The richness of her voice still startled her, but she couldn't afford to let it bother her now. "It's almost like..." Squinting, she moved past Rarity and tried to focus on the curvy, familiar, and oh-so-wonderful form sometimes taking shape deep within the center of the storm. "Almost like I can...can see her..."

"Where?" Air brushed her chest, and Rainbow popped up in front of her like a cork. "Behind that big cumulonimbussy thing?"

"Ah." And just the way Rarity said that one little syllable made Fluttershy's face heat up. "In this case, Rainbow Dash, I believe the heart has clearer vision than the eye."

"Huh?" Pinkie's voice came from below Fluttershy's chin, and Fluttershy almost leaped backwards when actual hooves touched her; snapping her head down, she saw Pinkie wedged between her forelegs and poking the center of her wide chest. "How can your heart see through all this muscle and hide and stuff?"

Applejack sighed, grabbed the tip of Pinkie's tail in her teeth, and hauled her back onto the floor. "How 'bout this," she said after letting Pinkie go. "Reckon you can carry the rest of us, Fluttershy?"

Rainbow snorted, spun, and smacked a hoof against Fluttershy's shoulder. "She could carry the whole town!"

Wanting to object, Fluttershy froze instead. Rainbow had just whirled with her usual speed and really slugged her, had hit her hard enough to make an actual slapping sound.

And Fluttershy had barely felt it.

"Ummm," she said, her ears perking. "I probably could carry you all..."

Pinkie sprang up with a squeal. "Pony ride!" She swarmed forward, and before Fluttershy could even wince, quick hooves were clambering over her side and along her back, the slightest sort of a weight settling just behind her left wing. "This okay, Fluttershy?"

"It...it is." Freezing again, Fluttershy could hardly get the words out. "I...I don't know why, but—"

"Duh." Rainbow smirked, flipped out of sight over Fluttershy's head, and another negligible bit of weight pressed down just above her right wing: she felt a warmth there more than anything else. "Biggest pony in the world, remember?" The weight shifted, and Rainbow's voice whispered loudly right into her ear, "You'll need to be, too, if you're gonna carry a lead butt like Applejack."

"A-hem." Applejack didn't clear her throat; she just said the word 'a-hem.' "Reckon since this whole kerfuffle started with you and Twilight, if'n you can see her in there, Fluttershy, might be you can reach her." She gestured to Rarity. "Mount up in back there beside Pinkie, Rares, and I'll slip in up front beside RD." Halfway into taking a step forward, she stopped and looked up, no fear in her face, Fluttershy was glad to see, but something more like concern. "That okay with you?"

Not letting herself think about the fantasies she'd had once or twice—or maybe a few more times than that over the years if she was being completely honest—about these very mares stroking her and touching her and holding her, Fluttershy concentrated on the one mare she'd actually stroked and touched and held last night...even if she'd likely never get to do anything like that ever again. "It has to be okay," she said. "For Twilight's sake." She bent her knees and crouched to the floor. "But please, can we get going?"

Applejack clambered quickly onto Fluttershy's left shoulder, but Rarity moved more slowly, Fluttershy almost sure she could feel distaste radiating from her hooves as she moved into the spot behind her right wing. Bending around, Fluttershy looked past a grinning Rainbow Dash to see Rarity perching there as uncertainly as Opalesence on a freshly laundered and still slightly damp sofa cushion. "I'm sorry I'm so lumpy, Rarity."

"Not at all, darling." To call Rarity's smile strained was a definite understatement. "You're quite comfortable, in fact. I just..." Her smile faltered completely. "I find it more than a trifle unnerving to think of my dearest friend in the world as a form of conveyance."

"Not me!" Pinkie drummed her front hooves against the center of Fluttershy's back in a conga rhythm that Fluttershy both heard and felt. "Let's get this show on the road!"

"All righty!" The grip of Applejack's forelegs tightened around Fluttershy's neck, and while it didn't constrict her breathing, it certainly did put a hitch in it. "Hang on, all y'all! Starlight, Spike, keep an eye on ev'rything!" She lowered her voice, her words tickling Fluttershy's ear. "Anytime you're ready, sugar cube."

Three more sets of legs squeezed various parts of Fluttershy, and she couldn't stop a little meeping noise from popping out. Forcing her attention back to the ball of storminess, she turned her mind to Twilight, Twilight, and only Twilight, caught a glimpse of a shape that had to be her, flexed her legs, and leaped into the sphere.

Wind struck her hard from several directions at once, roaring its desire to flip her and spin her and smash her into whatever the billowing masses of cloud all around them might be hiding. Mindful of her precious cargo, Fluttershy flared her wings, tried to feel the updrafts and downdrafts like they'd always talked about in flight school, but just like back then, it was all too much for her to—

"Spread your pinions wider!" Rainbow's shout just reached her over the howling squall. "Don't try to smash your way through a wind like this! Just ride it like you'd ride a sled down a bumpy hill!"

Gritting her teeth, Fluttershy flexed muscles she didn't normally have; she felt her feathers respond, and things seemed to steady out. The beams from the helmets Pinkie had given them cut through the darkness, but all Fluttershy could see was more clouds. "Twilight?" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "Where are you?"

"She's gotta be here!" Applejack's grip had gotten even tighter, and as harrowing as Fluttershy was finding all this, she couldn't even imagine what it must all be like for a pony who normally kept her hooves so firmly on the ground. "Like Rarity said, Twi coulda magicked herself off to somewhere we never woulda thought to look! But she didn't, so she must want us to find her!"

A flash to her right and below them caught the corner of Fluttershy's eye, and without even thinking, she wheeled toward it, dove and flapped and hoped it might be—

The wind vanished like it had never been crashing against her, the clouds replaced by the greenish brown canvas walls of a big square tent. Rough grass covered the dirt beneath her hooves, and Twilight stood on the other side of a large table covered with papers and graphs and drawings and who knew what all.

"Twilight!" Fluttershy cried, the others all joining in.

"Yes, ma'ams!" Twilight said, saluting, and that was when Fluttershy noticed that Twilight was wearing some kind of shiny silver armor. Two more armored ponies stood just past her by the tent's flap, spears held upright in their pasterns, and they...they—

They were both Twilight, too.

"Hold on," Rainbow said, and Fluttershy felt her shift. "Anypony else seeing something a little freaky here?"

Rarity was shifting, too. "Other than the olive drab decor, you mean?"

"Wow," Pinkie said, and it was the quietest 'wow' Fluttershy had ever heard from her. "Rainbow Dash was right! They were trying to make six Fluttershys! They just ended up with six Twilights instead!"

"We weren't—" Fluttershy began.

But the first Twilight cut her off. "All troops are in position, ma'ams. We're just awaiting your orders to begin the attack."

Fluttershy's ears fell. "Attack? What—? I mean, where—? I mean—"

"Lemme give it a whack, sugar cube," Applejack whispered. She slid from Fluttershy's shoulder, stepped up to the table, and returned the first Twilight's salute. "Reckon we'd best have a quick review, soldier, afore we give the word."

"Yes, ma'am!" The first Twilight did a smart about-face and marched toward the tent flap. "If you'll all follow me, the observation post's just outside."

A warm stroke along her right flank and a sigh told her Rarity was dismounting. "If only I'd had time to make us proper uniforms."

"Yeah." Rainbow flapped up to hover all squinty-eyed in front of Fluttershy. "'Cause that woulda made this whole thing so much less weird."

The last little press of weight vanished from Fluttershy's back, and Pinkie trotted after Applejack around to the other side of the table. Fluttershy followed, the two Twilights at the door saluting as the first Twilight approached; their horns flared to pull the tent flap open, the first Twilight stepped through, and Fluttershy moved with the others into something like she'd never seen before.

Clouds darkened the sky overhead and shivered Fluttershy's spine with thoughts of the storm they'd just escaped. A range of mountains rose behind, but as the first Twilight led them to the top of a small rise, Fluttershy could see row after row of tents stretching out onto the plain below. Beyond the camp, catapults sat drawn back and filled with stones, cannons lined up just in front of them, and hundreds—maybe even thousands—of ponies in armor stood in formation, all the ponies and their weapons and their gear aimed at a big dark purple tower jutting up all by itself in the middle of the valley.

Even worse? All the ponies, as far as Fluttershy could tell, were purple alicorns. All the same purple alicorn...

"The sorceress is inside," the first Twilight said. "We've had a few minor skirmishes with her troops, but they've mostly pulled back to defensive position. Our plan of attack, however—"

"No," Fluttershy muttered, her own voice making her think of distant thunder. "This isn't right."

"Ma'am?" The first Twilight blinked at her. "I can assure you that our plan is—"

"It's very thorough, I'm sure. But—" Looking from the tower to her friends and back again, Fluttershy had to shake her head. "Yes, Twilight's hurting and scared enough to do all this. But she wouldn't...wouldn't lock herself in a tower! Twilight's whole life since we met her has been about getting out of towers! I mean, she stayed in Ponyville instead of going back to Canterlot! She's always telling ponies not to call her princess! She even turned her castle into a school! It's one of the things—"

Snapping her jaw shut stopped the words 'that I love most about her' from coming out of Fluttershy's mouth. She wasn't going to think about that, not while Twilight was still missing. Afterwards—

No. No thinking about any of that ever. "She's not in there," she said when she could, turning to glance back into the tree-covered hills around them. "But I'll bet she's nearby..."

"Hey, yeah!" Rainbow shouted, doing a little loop and pulling Fluttershy's attention back to the group. "That's why this's all so weird!"

"Really?" Rarity arched an eyebrow. "I've come up with multiple reasons, myself."

"Thirteen over here." Pinkie held up a little notebook. "Maybe we oughtta compare notes."

Rainbow scowled. "I mean this whole thing!" She waved at the troops and equipment lining the slope below them. "It's straight outta Daring Do and the Enceladine Amulet!"

Applejack's forehead wrinkled. "The what now?"

Dropping to the ground, Rainbow tapped a hoof. "It's a magic necklace that makes earthquakes, but that's not important! What's important is: Fluttershy's right!"

"I...I am?" Of all the surprising things that had happened recently, this one—

"Yeah!" Rainbow looked to where the first Twilight was standing. "Hey, you, uhh, you wanna give us a minute here?"

The first Twilight blinked, shrugged, saluted, turned crisply, and marched back toward the tent.

Eyes shifting from side to side, Rainbow lowered her voice. "At the beginning of the book, Daring Do has this inscription she needs translated, so she heads up to Haugrinsmy Valley where her friend Merryweather has a little cottage—she's this unicorn scholar who helped Daring in some of the earlier books. When Daring gets there, though, she finds a whole army camped out around this big, weird tower. The general in charge says that the mage insulted Duke Prosper, and they've come to make her pay.

"That doesn't sound right to Daring, first that Merryweather would insult anypony and second that she'd hide in some tower. So while the army attacks, Daring heads off into the hills and finds her friend sitting in a cave, drinking tea and waiting for the army to get tired and go away."

"Oooo!" Pinkie was hugging a bowl of popcorn to her chest. "What happens then?" She plunged her face snout-first into the bowl and came back up chewing, little white kernels sticking here and there to the front of her mane.

"Don't matter, Pinkie." Applejack looked at Rainbow. "Reckon we'll just sneak off and see if'n we can't find Twilight somewhere in these—"

The air flashed, and Fluttershy blinked to see the other four all suddenly wearing versions of the same armor the various Twilights had on. She felt something constricting her own chest, too, but when she looked down, it was a khaki shirt buttoned around her barrel. The shape of the hat brim sticking out at the top of her vision had become smaller and rounder, too: Fluttershy felt sure it had changed into a pith helmet.

"Ah." The little purr that Rarity put behind the sound heated Fluttershy's face again. "It would seem that 'Daring Do' is to go off looking for the missing scholar while the rest of us busy ourselves elsewhere."

Applejack was tapping her hoof against her breastplate. "Doing what, d'you reckon?"

"Are you kidding?" Rainbow's eyes sparkled and shimmered. "We get to attack the tower!"

"Whoo-hoo!" Pinkie slapped a large sheet of paper onto the ground, lines of blue and red, silver and orange swirled over it. "Dashie, you lead the air forces in through the top of the tower while AJ leads the ground forces up from the bottom! Rarity'll take command of the magical artillery, and I'll take the cannons and catapults!" Her head popped back up, a corn-cob pipe clamped in her teeth. "Any questions?"

Rarity's eyes narrowed. "Several," she said.

"C'mon, Rares!" Rainbow whooshed into a hover in front of her. "We're, like, totally inside Twilight's head, so nothing's gonna hurt us or whatever! And, I mean—" She waved her hooves at the panorama before them. "The tower! The army! It's all right here, ready to go!" Her lower lip started quivering. "Please?"

Her eyes narrowing even further, Rarity glanced at Applejack.

This time, Applejack was tapping her hoof against the ground. "If'n we're really inside Twi's head, it might be we gotta play whatever game she set up in order to get out." Her gaze came up and met Fluttershy's. "You gonna be okay looking for her on your own, sugar cube?"

Trying to stop a blush never worked, Fluttershy knew. So despite how her face heated up at the thought of being alone with Twilight in this odd and exotic setting, she just nodded.

That got a low laugh from Applejack and a pair of giggles from Rarity and Pinkie. "Very well," Rarity said, and every trace of laughter vanished from her voice when she went on: "But be careful, Fluttershy. I think it goes without saying that Twilight's in a very delicate state right now, and—"

"No more talking!" Rainbow leaped into the air. "It's tower attacking time!"

"Yes, ma'ams!" The first Twilight had been sort of milling around by the tent flap, but she now trotted forward, her head held high. "The best minds in your army have worked out three possible plans if you'd like to—

"That's okay!" Pinkie scooped her paper from the ground and thrust it into the alicorn's startled face. "We got it covered!"

The first Twilight's hornglow took the paper. She squinted at it, turned it upside down, squinted at it again, then turned it back around to its original position. "Unorthodox," she said at last. "But I'll get it distributed to the battalion leaders." She started down the slope.

"Oh, yeah!" Rainbow practically rainboomed into the valley, Pinkie pronking along after her. Rarity huffed out a breath and waved to Fluttershy while Applejack gave her a wink. Then the two of them followed the others, and Fluttershy was left alone on the little rise above the big square tent.

Well, alone except for the two Twilights still guarding the tent's door. Fluttershy wondered if either of them could be the real Twilight in disguise, but that didn't feel right, not after what Rainbow had said. If this was all a scene of some sort, she needed to play her part, and that meant finding a cave in the hills.

Fluttershy turned away from the tent and headed into the woods. The silence closed around her as quickly as the trees, and that bothered her. Nothing scurried anywhere—not a rabbit or a lizard or a bird—and the only scent in the air was a vague sort of pine aroma even though all the trees around her seemed to be deciduous.

Shivering, she picked up her pace. For a pony as careful as Twilight to get details like that wrong, she must really be in a state.

Up one hill, down the other side, and Fluttershy came around a rocky outcropping to see a cave in the cliff face just ahead. With quickened steps, she reached the opening, peered into the shadows, and couldn't stop her wings from flaring.

Twilight was lying back on a red velvet sofa, a small table beside her with two teacups sitting on it. Or no, actually, she wasn't just lying back, Fluttershy thought: she was lounging or perhaps reclining or maybe even lolling. Her half-closed eyes made Fluttershy's heart beat very fast, but even worse—or even better, a part of her mind insisted eagerly—Twilight had on a sheer, dark, diaphanous gown that seemed to emphasize her lovely curves in ways that made her look more naked than she usually did even though she seldom wore any clothes at all.

"Ah," Twilight said, and if Rarity purring that syllable had made Fluttershy's face heat up earlier, the throaty little sound from Twilight in her current state caused every inch of Fluttershy's long throat to go completely dry. "Daring Do! So wonderful to see you again. Won't you have some tea and—" She wiggled her hips in the most subtly suggestive manner Fluttershy had ever even imagined. "Take a seat?" she finished.

Remembering last night and the glorious feel of Twilight against her, Fluttershy wanted nothing more than to swoop inside, scoop her up, and lick her all over like an ice cream cone. But that wouldn't— It wasn't— They couldn't—

Parts of her absolutely roaring at her not to do what she was about to do, she took a ragged breath and said, "Coriander casserole."

The silence around them got even quieter. "What?" Twilight asked, her voice as flat and wooden as a floor at Applejack's house.

Once again shattering all her hopes and dreams, Fluttershy forced herself to go on. "We need to talk, Twilight. And I mean really talk, not do"—she couldn't keep from waving a hoof—"whatever this is."

"This?" Twilight rolled off the couch and onto her hooves. "This is me apologizing to you! This is me giving you what you said you wanted!" She started stomping toward Fluttershy, though the hem of her gown kept tangling around her fetlocks and almost tripping her. "This is me setting up a situation where you can have your way with a strong, desirable mare the way—" Two steps away from Fluttershy, she finally faltered to a halt, her gaze dropping to the ground. "The way I did last night..."

Fluttershy sighed and said the words she wished she'd had the presence of mind to use earlier. "Nothing happened last night."

Twilight's head snapped back up. "Excuse me? When I regained consciousness this morning, I was spread all over you like jam on bread! How can you say nothing happened!"

"Because nothing did." Fluttershy sat on the cave's stone floor. "You knocked on my door, I invited you in, and we talked for a while. Then I used the poison joke you brought so I could change, and we went upstairs to sleep because you hadn't for three days. Slept, I mean."

That little twitch pulled Twilight's right eyelid, and Fluttershy squelched the urge to lean over and kiss it. "Okay," Twilight said after a moment. "I'll admit I don't have the clearest memory when it comes to last night, but I mean—" She swallowed. "With you looking like that, how did I not try to...to..." Her blush this time spread over her like her namesake time of day, darkening her face slowly to the loveliest shade of mulberry.

"Oh. That. Yes." And for all that Fluttershy had hoped she could get away without saying it aloud, she'd known since the beginning that she would have to. "Well, it's just that I'm not the pony you're in love with." She forced a smile. "Am I?"

Another bit of silence surrounded her and the wide-eyed Twilight while Fluttershy fought the contraction of her throat muscles. "Just before you fell asleep," she said, the words as sharp as claws inside her, "you called me princess and told me you loved me. So, well, I think we both know who you really want to be wearing that dress for..."

Something creaked, and for an instant, Fluttershy flashed back to the sounds of that fungus-ridden tree getting wrenched out of the ground on Thursday. Movement all around her made her stare, dark fissures cracking the rocks, but before she could dive forward to shield Twilight from what was apparently some sort of cave in, everything shattered—the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the air itself. Fluttershy felt herself dropping; she spread her wings, but just as quickly, her hooves met a good, solid surface. She barely had time to blink before she found herself standing with Twilight in front of the lab's control console.

Cries of various sorts rang out to her right, and she looked over to see Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie, still in their armor, clatter to the floor, Rainbow swirling around overhead and shouting, "No fair! Me and my guys were just about to bust through the window!"

More cries—"You're back!" from Starlight, and "Twilight!" from Spike—dissolved with the others into a muddle of voices, but a glance at Twilight, still and downcast beside her, made Fluttershy flap a blast of wind through the room and stomp a hoof hard enough to make the floor clang but not shatter.

All sound ceased, all eyes turning wide and startled toward her. "Thank you, everypony, so much," Fluttershy said, modulating her contralto to fill the room without overwhelming it. "Twilight's only back with us because of your wonderful efforts, but right now, she and I have some things we very much need to discuss in private."

"Fine!" Rainbow swooped up, her forelegs spread. "Send us back in there, then! We were all set to—!"

The crash when Applejack grabbed Rainbow's tail in her teeth and jerked her to the floor interrupted her, and Rarity stepped forward, her armor making her look like some queen out of pre-Equestrian history. "Of course, darling," she said softly. "Shall we wait upstairs for you both?" Her eyes darted as quick as hummingbirds toward Twilight, then came back up to Fluttershy. "Or would you prefer contacting us afterwards?"

"Afterwards, please." Fluttershy bent to touch her nose to Rarity's. "Thank you for understanding."

A blush dappled Rarity's cheeks. "Not at all." Her voice lowered. "And Pinkie's quite right, Fluttershy: it's definitely a good look for you." Stepping back, Rarity winked, turned, and announced, "Well! That was as exciting a Saturday morning as I've had in ages! Shall we all repair to Sugarcube Corner for breakfast?"

"Donuts!" Pinkie crowed; she leaped sideways, somehow leaving her armor behind to stand on its own. "We'll save some sprinkled ones for you, Twilight, and a couple chocolate old-fashioneds for you, Fluttershy!" And she burst out the doorway.

"But—!" Rainbow began.

This time, Applejack interrupted her by planting a shoulder against her side and scooting her screechily toward the door. "You heard the lady, RD. We got us some repairing to do."

"But—!" Rainbow tried once more, but when Rarity surrounded Rainbow's hooves with the glow of her horn, all three of them moved easily out into the hall.

Spike was tapping his foreclaws together, a frown on his snout and his eyes on Twilight. "Is...is she all right?" he whispered loud enough for Fluttershy to hear. She couldn't miss how Twilight's ears folded at the question, either.

"Umm..." Starlight looked at Fluttershy, and Fluttershy could only force a smile. Starlight didn't return it, but she did give a short nod. "She will be, Spike." She nudged him gently toward the door. "They'll be up in a while, and then Twilight'll tell you that herself."

He didn't seem convinced, but he didn't resist Starlight herding him out. She gave one glance back before her hornglow surrounded the door and pulled it closed behind her.

Fluttershy swallowed and looked down at Twilight. Sitting as she had been since they'd returned, she didn't look sexy in her gown any more; all Fluttershy could think of suddenly was a filly in a not-quite-successful Nightmare Night costume. "It's all right, Twilight," she said in her quietest rumble.

Twilight's reply drifted up like a butterfly's sigh. "No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is." Fluttershy almost moved to put a hoof on her shoulder, but she knew that would be a bad idea. "You're in love with Princess Celestia, and there's nothing wrong with—"

"I'm not in love with Princess Celestia!" Twilight leaped into the air, her hooves pulling at her dress till she had it wadded into a ball. "Why does everypony keep thinking that??" She threw her clumped-up dress at Pinkie's armor, scattering the pieces like milk bottles in a carnival booth.

That got Fluttershy blinking. "Umm, well, the way you called me princess last night for one thing."

"I didn't mean—!" Burying her face in her hooves, Twilight sank back to the floor. "That's not the princess I meant..."

Ice prickled Fluttershy's spine. "Luna, then? Or...not Cadance?"

"No!" She took her hooves away, tears shimmering in her eyes. "When I was a filly, I idolized Celestia—I still kind of do, I guess. But as soon as I grew old enough to start having, you know, those kinds of thoughts in bed before going to sleep, I quickly realized that she wasn't exactly 'mare of my dreams' material. Celestia's always so busy, always multi-tasking, always a little bit scheming, too." Twilight wiped her cheeks with a pastern. "I would never trade a moment of my time with her for anything, but love her? No, I...she...just...no."

A tiny spark of hope flared in Fluttershy's chest, and she held her breath, not wanting to fan it or extinguish it.

Twilight sniffled. "So I...I started making my own fantasy princess in my head: bigger than Celestia but gentler than her, a mare who would have her own life, sure, but who would be willing and able to share that life with me the same way I wanted to share my life with her." She gave a little cough, her gaze on the floor again. "I have what you might call an embarrassingly large body of work detailing our adventures both romantic and otherwise. None of it's written down or anything, but I..." She tapped the side of her head. "I could recite whole novels to you about my princess and me if you're interested."

Fluttershy could hear her swallow, and when her face came up this time, she looked like a porcelain vase on the verge of breaking. "But I knew she wasn't real, and I accepted that I would never know this princess anywhere but my dreams. Except..." She rose into the air, and the stroke of her hoof against Fluttershy's cheek made her gasp. "You're right here, aren't you?"

Hope burst to full flame inside her, and Fluttershy was about to leap forward, was about to wrap her forelegs around Twilight, was about to announce that she would be anything Twilight wanted her to be—

But Twilight was spinning away, zig-zagging across the lab with her voice cracking. "But you're not some construction of my imagination! You're you, your own pony, your own wonderful pony! So what does it say about me that I never thought of you as anything but a friend till that stupid poison joke exploited some accident of genetics or magical affinity or whatever to turn you into the physical embodiment of my personal fantasy? How is it fair to you that I'm so shallow, such a slave to lust that I would even consider—?"

Launching herself, Fluttershy swarmed toward Twilight, grabbed her out of the air, enveloped her between her forelegs and her chest, and smiled slowly at those staring eyes and open mouth. "Twilight?" she asked, then she bent her thick neck till she was kissing that beautiful, beautiful mouth.

When she finally pulled back, she could feel Twilight's heart pounding, but her own seemed remarkably peaceful. "I have loved you," she went on, easy sweeps of her wings keeping the both of them hovering near the ceiling, "for years and years and years. So if you wouldn't mind, I would like very much to try being marefriends."

"Oh." Twilight quivered warm and solid and perfect against her. "Okay." She wriggled, stretched, reached up, and pressed her lips to Fluttershy's.

Fluttershy only knew that she'd landed when she felt the floor press her haunches. Reality pushed at her, too; with a sigh, she settled Twilight to the floor and straightened. "But we're going to need another rule first," she said.

"Oh, yes." Twilight's chest rose and fell in a very distracting fashion. "Rules are good." Her mouth went sideways. "Which I seem to recall saying last night when I was a little less coherent than I am now." One hoof came up to touch the smile that spread across her lips. "Though I'm not really sure how coherent I'm likely to be right at the moment..."

It took some effort not to bend down and kiss her some more, and Fluttershy reluctantly made that effort. "It's just...when we were inside the world you created, you said that you were doing it to give me what I wanted. But, well, you're what I want, Twilight, the strong, gentle, beautiful mare who keeps changing my life in magical, glorious ways. So I would very, very much like sometimes to be able to cuddle with you and feel your big, wonderful self holding me." She took a breath. "Is...is that at all possible?"

"Of course!" Twilight sprang into the air. "We can take turns! I'll draw up schedules and everything!"

Which gave Fluttershy no choice whatsoever: leaning forward, she kissed Twilight again, every square inch of her tingling when Twilight kissed back.

But for all that she wouldn't've minded this going on for another several hours... "Everypony's waiting for us," she muttered, barely taking her lips away from Twilight's, and then she shoved herself back and turned toward the airlock into the lab's isolation chamber. "And I'm overdue for a shower."

"If you insist," Twilight said behind her with a giggle, and Fluttershy's ears perked—she'd been half-afraid Twilight would object. "Just one thing first, though." Fluttershy felt multiple tiny tugs along her chest, looked down with alarm, and saw Twilight's magic unbuttoning the giant-sized Daring Do shirt that Fluttershy had forgotten she was wearing. "I think we'll save this for later." She heard another giggle, and the shirt with its pith helmet vanished.

The thoughts that flashed through Fluttershy then heated her from ears to withers, but purple light was sparkling around the airlock door. "The tank's all full up," Twilight was going on. "Because I'm still going to figure out how poison joke works." The door slid open.

Fluttershy stepped inside. "I think we should ask Discord." She look the rope in her teeth and pulled.

"Chaos magic is one of my theories, actually." Twilight's voice reached through the warm patter of the water washing over her. "We already know that Discord created the plunder vines, and their presence for so many centuries, I posit, has had the unintended consequence of allowing the unusual flora and fauna we find in the Everfree Forest to flourish." The wonderful feeling of curling up made Fluttershy sigh, the rope sliding through her teeth and the walls seeming to grow as she shrank back to her normal size.

"Of course," Twilight was going on, "rather than asking Discord, I'd like to put together some solid experiments to address the question. I have several suppositions I'd like to test."

Smiling, shaking her wet mane, Fluttershy pushed out into the lab, and Twilight's voice gurgled to a halt.

Alarm clenched Fluttershy's stomach, and she looked up to see Twilight staring at her, a towel floating beside her in the glow of her magic. The clench tightened, horrible thoughts rattling in her head like winter-bare branches against her bedroom window. Would Twilight recoil from her now that she wasn't the giant mare of her dreams? Would all her hopes be drowned once again? Would she never—?

"My first supposition," Twilight whispered, gliding forward and catching the end of Fluttershy's dripping mane in the warm folds of the towel, "is that I've been either stupid or blind for all these years. Nothing else could explain why I've never noticed how incredibly beautiful you are."

Fluttershy had to tilt her head back to meet Twilight's lips this time, and it was perfect. Hearing Twilight say something so right in exactly the right tone of voice, Fluttershy couldn't stop her hopes from filling her till they were overflowing.

Yes, she knew they might crumble in the future. But tucking herself against Twilight here and now, she just plain refused to worry about it.

Author's Note:

And they lived:

Happily ever after!

Mike

Comments

[AugieDog]

Well:

It's still Wednesday for twenty more minutes where I am...

Mike

[Venerable Ro]

A good ending, and a lovely story. well done. I hope you keep writing, you've a talent for this.

[Empty Shelf]

Ah, that hit the spot.

This is a lovely story. It actually reminds me a lot of Biology: A Romance, though if anything I like this Fluttershy better. And though the relationship had a bit of an unconventional start (by fanfiction standards), the story really sold me on it.

[ShadowLDrago]

This was a lot of fun, I greatly enjoyed this.

[AlanSmithy]

This is definitely something I haven't seen explored often. And besides being really interesting, it's also really well written!

[Harwick]

This was odd shipping premise, which unfolded in quite unexpected directions, and was thoroughly enjoyable! Nicely done!

[meerkat8472]

Well, that went to some unexpected places, but it ended pretty much as I thought it would. Pretty good overall, enjoyed it thoroughly.

[Ri2]

Wait, why'd the armor and outfits remain once they were back in reality?

Also, the castle isn't a school, she built the school in her backyard.

And I'm still not sure how healthy this is.

[The Iguana Man]

"Lemme guess! You were trying to make six of you and ended up six times as big instead?"

"Seven times!" Pinkie waggled her eyebrows.

Hmm... This confused me for a moment, since I thought that would make her roughly the size of a house. But then I realized that would only work if she was seven times the height. If she was seven times the volume then, thanks to the square cube law, she's be just less than twice* her normal height, breadth and depth. Which makes a bit more sense (or as much as Poison Joke Mutation (PJM) can, at any rate).

That said, I question having all four ponies riding on her back as they do. Oh, she's be big enough and probably strong enough, given the aforementioned law, but the natural curve of a pony's back would probably make it difficult to stay on if you were only sitting on one side of it. And if she was big enough that that wouldn't be a problem, she'd probably be too big to fit... well, anywhere, really.

I apologize if I'm overanalyzing, it just piqued my curiosity.

Anyway, this was a pretty cute story. Weird as all get out, but in this case that's far from a perjorative. My only main complaint is that now I'm really curious how Twilights subsequent experiments with PJM will go.

_{*About 1.91 times, in case you weren't wondering.}

[djthomp]

If Discord's chaos really is behind the poison joke as seems likely, that may explain a few things about how the effect was suddenly turning Fluttershy into an uncanny match for Twilight perfect mare.

[TheCreativeWonderDash]

You really have a talent for writing TwiShy and is just my favorite thing when I come across it on this site. I WAS HONESTLY, GUSHING SO MUCH THROUGHOUT READING THIS ENTIRE THING, and everything flows smoothly. Once I started reading I thought the premise and concept of growth would be detracting and offput me. Though, you did it in such a great way that it enhanced the story and just made me gush with the dreams that Twi has about being cuddled and immersed in another ones body. Just, the 1st chapter where it starts everything off, when Fluttershy gets affected by the poison joke. The interactions between them are flawless with that, so perfectly portrayed, in character AND JUST MAKE ME GUSH SO MUCH BECAUSE I LOVE THESE TWO A LOT AND THIS IS WHY. WHEN YOU HAVE THEM TOGETHER and it could be either one of them that gets flustered and it just has me making excited squealing noises. By the end you have Twi with her thoughts shown through actions and then proceeding the 2nd chapter and it's just really great with how you portray Fluttershy's thoughts.

With this, you see Twi's breakdown and it just gets me wanting to see Fluttershy comfort her. Then the little spat they have and just ahhhhhhhh, you get a hint of Fluttershy's feelings and that does it for meeee. THEN WHEN FLUTTERSHY CONVINCES TWI TO REST AND JUST TWI IS HAPPY AND MY HEART IS COMPLETE. YOU DO SUCH A GREAT JOB WITH THAT SCENE, the pacing and portraying the character and especially the vulnerability of Twi and Fluttershy's thought process as she tries to coax Twi to rest.

Chapter 3 is where it all finally happens and the sweet feelings and just the journey of it. I love the scenarios with this as they're sucked into Daring Do's world and how Twi mind works. It's so astonishing and immerses you a lot for every way through without it dragging.

And she had no idea what she was supposed to do! She wasn't the princess, wasn't the pony Twilight was really in love with, wasn't the sort of pony who took charge of things—

These bits of diction in the story. You do it so well and really give it a stab in the heart with the emotions and it's just so flawless and beautiful, as honestly delivers the emotion you're trying to go for. Gotta love Rarity's picking up on things as well heh. Super just well written of the ponies.

"Ah." And just the way Rarity said that one little syllable made Fluttershy's face heat up. "In this case, Rainbow Dash, I believe the heart has clearer vision than the eye."

Ahhhh, RARITY is too good in these and ohmygosh, gushing so much with this. I love the mention of the safe word as I almost forgot of it and the impact that is leaves is very abrupt, giving that moment of reality.

Fluttershy could hear her swallow, and when her face came up this time, she looked like a porcelain vase on the verge of breaking. "But I knew she wasn't real, and I accepted that I would never know this princess anywhere but my dreams. Except..." She rose into the air, and the stroke of her hoof against Fluttershy's cheek made her gasp. "You're right here, aren't you?"

Ahhhhhhh, my heart just all over at this place. <33333333

But Twilight was spinning away, zig-zagging across the lab with her voice cracking. "But you're not some construction of my imagination! You're you, your own pony, your own wonderful pony! So what does it say about me that I never thought of you as anything but a friend till that stupid poison joke exploited some accident of genetics or magical affinity or whatever to turn you into the physical embodiment of my personal fantasy? How is it fair to you that I'm so shallow, such a slave to lust that I would even consider—?"

Gosh this is too beautiful with capturing Twi's thoughts and her morals and just HER REALIZATION WITH THAT <3 WOW, THIS IS TOO BEAUTIFUL. AND THEN FLUTTERSHY'S CONFESSION OF LIKING TWI AND JUST OMGGGGGGGG, MY HEART AGAIN. AND THEN THEY'RE ADORABLE TOGETHER AND LOVEY-DOVEY AND NOW TOGETHER AH YES <33333333 I cannot express how much I love this so much and just how much it made my week. This is so great and definitely one of my favorites TwiShy stories for the concept that you took, exploring that and giving new insight on character thoughts, emotional exposition and just the execution of this. Gosh, these two are precious together and hope you explore more stories with these two. Regardless, I'll definitely check out your other stories, because your writing is so fluid and keeps me reading!!! Ahhhhh, So much love for you with this fic and I really enjoyed it a lot in ways that I can't describe. <33333333

[Icy Shake]

I wonder if in a way Twilight knew Fluttershy would round up their friends. I suppose she must have.

Also I guess if there was anything to indicate Twilight wasn't in love with Celestia before now. On that front I might go with the constant "ma'am," which doesn't fit with how she generally (ever?) addressed Celestia--not sure if there were others though.

All in all, like how it ended up. And Fluttershy showed some good assertiveness along the way.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Some beautifully done Twishy. Believable taste in partners on both ends, entirely reasonable second-act misunderstandings, and an unexpectedly epic third act that made sure the rest of their friends all got to contribute at least a little. My only complaint is that I've never liked the idea that poison joke always inflicts the same effect on a given pony; after all, a joke is never as funny the second time around.

Still, lovely stuff for a pairing I rarely see. Thank you for it.

[Lurks-no-More]

The characterization is just perfect throughout. Probably my favorite moment was Rainbow getting excited at having an actual army at her disposal!

But yeah, overall a very, very good Twishy story! (And I quite liked Twilight's explanation why, even though she still idolizes Celestia, she doesn't love her in the romantic sense.)

[Ranun]

8973515
True order is nothingness. Chaos is life.

[Crack-Fic Casey]

9175152
The heck does that even mean?

[Ranun]

9203287
Taken from a different fanfic.
Also, how chaotic it would be for the deepest desires which are way against our outer selves to be granted.

[Crack-Fic Casey]

9204141
Well, it doesn't sound pretentious at all.

[Vaguely Demented]

Surprisingly fluff for fetish fuel.

[Lore Horse]

I wish there were more to this. It is one of my favorite stories and I would have loved to see how their relationship progressed.

[AugieDog]

9733009

I'm currently:

In the "serious planning stage" for a sequel, actually. It might even end up being M-rated...

Mike

[Lore Horse]

9733751
That's fine. M-rated stories are not something to shy away from....... Unless the author is horrible with words and punctuation, which you definitely are one of the authors who know what they're doing. Looking forward to what you come up with.

[Lore Horse]

I'm back, again. I read it, again. I'm looking forward to more, again. This story is just as good as the first three times I read it.

Edit: 5th read 2/14/20
6th read 4/30/20 This story is too good.

[Neece]

Cute AF ending.

[Solid Punch]

9733751
What stage you are now, if you don't mind me asking?

[AugieDog]

10539819

I've got:

A bunch of individual scenes that I like, but I need to give the overall storyarc more thought. It's looking like it'll be a bigger story than this one, too, maybe over 40,000 words, so I want to be sure I know what I'm doing before I start posting any of it. I'm not even sure about the title: I want it to be something like "Sharing a Poisoned Cup" or "A Poisoned Cup in Common" or something like that--maybe "A Perfect Cup of Poison"?

Here's the cover image, though.

cdn-img.fimfiction.net/story/it4p-1563032933-441790-full

So it's coming along: just not as quickly as I'd hoped.

Mike

[Solid Punch]

10541804
Yay!

The perfect cup sounds better, I think.

[Loganberry]

Hello! Have a review. And a like and a fave, come to that. The whole "big 'Shy" thing would definitely not have been something I'd have looked for, but you really made it work for me. Actually, the excellent characterisation was what convinced me about this. A shame the possible sequel wasn't (I assume) to be, but what's here is still great. Thank you.

[AugieDog]

11477559

Thanks!

I've got just over 3,000 words written for the sequel, and I have the overall structure and the scenes I want to show set up. But actually writing it has been like pulling hen's teeth: verging past "difficult" and heading toward "impossible." I haven't given up on it yet, but I need to rethink what the goal of the story is. I've been trying to write about Twi and Shy's physical relationship, but the sheer difficulty of doing that has made it increasingly obvious to me that I don't really want to do that.

So it's still a possibility...

Mike