Clandestine

by gloamish

books

Fluttershy ambled down the hallway of Twilight's castle, careful not to let her hooves ring too loudly on the crystal. Ponies were likely asleep — night had fallen a few hours ago. She'd meant to visit earlier, to pick up some guides on wildcats, but her duties that day had piled up on each other, several long-due appointments hitting her all at once. Now, she just wanted to curl up in bed with a good book, specifically one about a mammal family that wasn't endemic to the area but she'd always found cute.

Fortunately, Twilight had assured her that 'mi castle es su castle', a turn of phrase that likely would've qualified as an international incident if she wasn't several ciders deep at the time. She took it to mean that she was welcome to drop by whenever. Despite her light step, she was sure that Twilight was up this late anyway, likely in the same library she was headed towards.

"... need to relax. And I'm happy to help." The voice of Starlight, Twilight's student, floated down the hallway.

Her mentor's worried tone followed in its wake. "Ooooh, but now I can't stop thinking... What if a filly wants to loan out a primer on dressmaking and it's the first step to finding her special talent?" She smiled as her hunch was confirmed. Starlight was probably trying and failing to get Twilight bundled off to bed, a burden all her friends had beared.

"What if a stallion needs a recipe to impress his special somepony, and their relationship falls apart without it?!" A private eyeroll was ventured, more of a glance to the sky. Knowing her, she was probably awash in fears of whatever librarian-seeking villain would be born of such a tragedy. Maybe she could try asking her to join her in meditation again — she was still a little hurt from how she reacted the first time, admittedly, but she knew it was just fear. One of the things she shared with her friend was a gnawing, ever-present anxiety, but where Fluttershy always attempted to let it wash over her, while Twilight pounced on it and tried to take it apart, only getting herself more tangled up in the process, like a cat with a ball of yarn.

As she walked into the room, she had just resolved to ask Twilight to meet her tomorrow morning in the fields for a second round of mindfulness. Then, her mind went blank, more than any meditation could hope to achieve. Her hunch was wrong, after all. The pinker of the two ponies had certainly been attempting to get the other to bed — just not to sleep. At some point, she must've given up and skipped to the part she was clearly enjoying.

"What if Fluttershy needs a guide on the plumage of cardinalidae?!" Twilight continued unabated, flinging a hoof toward the new arrival, who was standing frozen in the entrance with a prime example of cardinal coloration on her face. A few moments of silence went by.

Fluttershy gave a gasp. Twilight gave a yelp. Starlight failed to give much other than her "is this really that important, I'd like to get back to what I was doing" face (which she practically always wore, but it felt more pointed now with the 'what' being a 'who'.)

The pegasus stumbled back, stepping on her own tail and pitching herself hooves over head, rolling back through the entry and into the far wall of the hallway, apologizing along the way. "Sorry! Sorry! I'm sorry! I should've knocked!" Not pausing to wait for an explanation, Fluttershy galloped down the crystal hallway, wildcats forgotten. Shaking off the wooziness after a few moments of headlong dashing, she span around and ran toward the exit instead of deeper into the castle.

---

"... Well, now that she's gone—"

"Get off!"

"I was working on that, and if you'd just—" A thump of pony flank on crystal. "Ow!"

The quick stomp of hooves, just short of a canter. "It's like you don't even care we got caught! What if it was Rainbow Dash? Half of Ponyville would know by now!"

"Oh, are we reneging on the dirty little secret thing?" A teasing voice. A second set of hoofsteps following the first, at a more sedate pace.

A quick clatter that any pony too quick on the verbal trigger would recognize as hooves reorienting while the target of a jibe whipped around.

A hollow where a retort should've sat.

"... Starlight, I know we're just fooling around, but..." A voice that didn't echo.

"... Twilight?"

"... I know we're just fooling around, but I—" Quick hoofsteps, closing the distance.

Silence.

"There's no 'just', I... I love sharing time with you... and sharing myself with you. I just want to—" Panting, accelerating in pace, then hurried words, risen to something frantic. "I was never curious before I met you! Everything was just a straight path to one goal and now, everything's all branched out, and it's overwhelming, but when you're with me, I just... I get so excited to explore it all. And I want to do it with you! And I'm sorry that that's weird, but—"

Silence again, blooming like a flower in moonlight.

Shared breaths. "I love you, Starlight."

The sound of a tear-choked smile, somehow, in the words "I love you too." A breath. "I'll... talk to Fluttershy. Honestly, she probably wants to forget what she saw as much as we want her to."

A huff. "No magic, Starlight."

"... Bad choice of words. I just mean she'll take any excuse I can give her." Tap tap tap. "I'll say I was checking you for ticks!"

"Veto! Veto!" Feathers swatting flank.

"How long, then? If we're... whatever we are, then..."

"Hmmmm... A week?" A giggle, sinister. "I want my dirty little secret for just a little longer."

A pleased gasp, and then two sets of hoofsteps, again, spaced apart. The second speeding up to match the first, then pausing. A shimmer of magic and a yelp, then peals of bright ringing laughter as they took off again, faster, racing to bed.

Comments

[Themaskedferret]

Oh no, poor Fluttershy hahaha. Looking forward to how this all wraps up when your muse strikes.

[Hoofprintz]

Perfect.