Most ponies don't remember their first kiss. Sure, they remember their first romantic kiss. They remember their first special somepony's kiss. But they don't remember their first actual kiss.
Fluttershy remembered every kiss she'd ever gotten. Her memories were almost entirely reflected through the medium of soft lips, hers or somepony else's, lightly touching a coat or an ear, pressing against a neck or a chin or forehead, or even pressing against another soft set of lips, both hot and full of blood and slightly damp and maybe parting around smooth teeth and warm breath.
Fluttershy's very first kiss was shortly after she was born. Her memory then was mostly shapes and colors. She was a small, quiet newborn in her plastic hospital crib, freshly cleaned and swaddled. Her eyes were wide and far too new to focus on anything in particular, or even make sense of the blurry shapes and motion happening around her. They still seemed to look around from object to object, cool, neutral, giving the impression of being reflective. She looked far too old in the way her eyes flitted from one thing to another, as if she expected them all to be there, and was just confirming her own idea about how the outside world should look.
The pegasus that leaned over her was not her mother, nor her father. It was the nurse that had cleaned and swaddled her. The nurse was just passing back through among the little red-faced newborns who were thrashing their little hooves and screaming for whatever reason newborns scream, or else fast asleep, exhausted just from being fully alive and a wholly separate creature for the first time. All except Fluttershy. Something about the little yellow pegasus with the wide blue eyes made the nurse lean down over her little crib.
A long white snout and soft lips that eclipsed her view of the room had brushed against Fluttershy's forehead, and she'd felt a surge of warmth, and the pulse of breath and life, and the strange sort of excitement and connection with another living thing that would characterize many of her kisses in the future. She tilted her tiny infant head, letting her own lips just barely touch the bottom lip of the nurse. The impression of the thoughtless touch of an unknown animal bestowing on her some impulsive sign of affection would stay with her and form the majority of the memory, and the nurse would also remember the smallest kiss she'd ever gotten.
There were many more small touches of affection as she was growing up: A brush across a cheek as a wing encircled her shoulder, a touch on her forehead before she went off somewhere, or a goodnight kiss placed lightly on the end of her nose, like the touch of a butterfly. Fluttershy remembered each and every one.
She was never good with crowds, and was even especially bad with very small crowds, up to and including her and any other pony. She was small and thin and awkward, and she kept her hair long to hide behind and kept her head down to hide further and always had trouble really finding any words at all to make the interactions that everypony else seemed to effortlessly maneuver through. But Fluttershy had no problem with kisses. She could understand and appreciate receiving a hug or a kiss as a greeting or a farewell, and casually, without trying, would be just as close or far away as she should be, or use her wing or a hoof in a half or full embrace, whichever was more appropriate, or make her lips just barely graze the other pony's coat, or press lightly against her kissing partner's cheek or neck or own soft lips, and when she gave those casual, social kisses which normally had very little meaning, the other pony would walk away feeling just a little bit better about life in general, even if, most of the time, Fluttershy would slink off immediately into whichever corner was least occupied and try to become as invisible as possible for the rest of whatever event she happened to be attending.
When she was straddling the border between filly and mare, there were much fewer opportunities for kissing. At that awkward age, nopony could unreflectively distribute kisses as they had as younger children. The gesture's innocence had been infected with threads of meaning and emotion that seemed to sneak through every glance, word, and gesture for those in the twilight between adult and child. But more than any other gesture that had once been innocent, the kiss had a special potential to be drenched in significant meaning.
Fluttershy advanced through school, growing up without making any significant social connections. She was too weak a flyer to be recruited for any sports teams, and her crippling social anxiety kept her from making friends. Academically, she was mediocre, preferring to lose herself in daydreams and novels rather than study. She knew she had no future as a weather pony, and didn't have a head for math or chemistry. School for Fluttershy was an unpleasant community where any active interactions were always uncomfortable, and she found it more difficult to slip into the background like she could when she was younger. She would frequently hide in a mostly-unused storage closet that the janitor would often forget to lock. She would listen to the hoofbeats of the other ponies, the unmoderated chatter of their conversations, and see the light and color of the hallway through the sliver of the barely-open door as the silence and darkness of the close space helped to calm her. She tried to divine, from listening, the secrets to navigating the social interactions she would certainly encounter when she went out into the hall again, but it seemed so easy for her peers. She didn't think they felt cold sweat or creeping terror when somepony went up and asked them a question. In the closet, though, she was safe. She liked knowing there was only one way in or out. Nothing would surprise her. She liked to pretend she was a small, timid animal, safe inside her den.
The janitor had walked in on her a few times. He was a brown pegasus with a short gray mane and yellow eyes, his cutie mark hidden under his coveralls. He seemed to instantly recognize her immediate reaction of distress not as a fear of being caught in an illicit act, so much as a fear of having to be out there. Fluttershy recognized an otherness in him, too. A silent stallion that was a transient spirit in the hallways, full or empty, he existed apart from the other staff and from the students. He had the invisibility and silence that Fluttershy wished she could possess, and he must have seen something of not just her terror, but her envy. After a few times, she found that closet perpetually unlocked and very little used, and she stopped hurrying out with mumbled apologies when he arrived.
She had always been a pretty mare, though, even as shy and awkward as she was. It was the primary reason that she could no longer meld seamlessly into a crowd of classmates. Even when she just stood at the back of the group and did nothing, other ponies would invariably come up and try to talk to her. There had been a few pecks on the cheek from potential suitors, and a few on the lips that Fluttershy had responded to in kind, but when the suitor started to talk she would just clam up and freeze in place. She could never even get out a "yes," or "no," or "let's talk about it." It wasn't that she didn't want to have friends, even very special friends, it was that she never knew what to say, even when some other pony approached her, and especially when an attractive pony tried to make friends. Her words would catch in her throat, and she'd only manage to squeak, trying to hide behind her long hair. She would either hurry away down the hall or else just stand there, not making eye contact, until the other party invariably left. She still understood kisses, though, and her suitors would remember the heat of her lips and the warmth of her body before she had been transformed by meekness and terror into somepony utterly unapprochable.
It went on this way for some time, her reputation becoming that of an unapproachable beauty. As far as her classmates were concerned, she was a stuck up, silent ice queen. She drifted through the school and the rumors made her poor academic and athletic performance into an aloof disinterest. Some dark secret had forced her into going to a regular school instead of living it up in the high society she'd come from, they said. She was so quiet and distant because nopony there was good enough for her. Nopony could meet her rigid standards of beauty and class. Maybe she was a hitmare for the pegasus mafia, or a secret assassin killer from Neighpon just there until she offed her mark (it was some rich businesspony, or maybe a gangster, who was into schoolfillies). The wild stories created an insulating barrier between her and her classmates until the the kissing closet incident.
It started when Fluttershy had been meekly hiding in the crowd of students at a big sporting event (Fluttershy never really payed attention to what it was), and her classmates had erupted into cheers as their team victoriously rushed from the field. All the athletes poured through the crowd, soaking up the adoration of their peers, both sides drunk off the power that runs like lightning through a cheering crowd. One of the athletes ran directly into Fluttershy, wrapping her up in her wings. Acting on instinct, Fluttershy brushed her pursed lips against the other pony's open, panting mouth, but the chaste kiss Fluttershy gave was returned much more passionately by the other filly. The pegasus radiated heat, smelled of sweat and adrenaline and had a liquid glimmer in her eyes that was both hyperfocused and impulsive. Fluttershy understood, as the other filly's lips pressed against hers, open-mouthed, panting through her grin, tongue barely touching the very front of Fluttershy's teeth, that she was probably kissed just because she was there. All the same, she pressed forward against the other pony, her feathers threading between the other's wings, and their breath shot back and forth, over teeth and tongues. Fluttershy tasted sweat and heat and victory.
Shortly thereafter, her hidden closet retreat took on an entirely different character. Fluttershy would hide there to stay away from the noise and the crowds, but mostly she was safe because no one, really, was bothering to look for her. When the door slowly opened, the shape silhouetted against the light of the hallway was slim, young and feminine. She didn't smell like sweat or victory, but Fluttershy recognized her anyway.
Not flushed with adrenaline, she was cautious. She moved with purpose, but each step was careful; leg bending in a curve, slowly straightening, hoof placed just exactly there with a tap. Once inside, her back hoof touched the door, forcing the rectangle of light back down to the ordinary sliver. Her head moved slowly back and forth in the quiet darkness as she surveyed the shelves and assortment of larger supplies, the little nest Fluttershy made out of old towels, and Fluttershy herself, legs folded, wings pressed against her side, head downturned. The light just caught the blue of one of her wide, slightly sad eyes.
Fluttershy rose to meet her.
Fluttershy's lips met hers, pressing just firmly enough to create tension, letting the other pony feel her, allowing the other pony to respond. She pursed her lips against Fluttershy's, opening them very slightly, letting their breath mingle in the shared cavity of their mouths. Fluttershy turned her face slightly, just insistent enough to let the other pony know she could, herself, be insistent, and let the other pegasus push her back, part her teeth, stretch her mouth along the curve of Fluttershy's, locking them together in a slow, careful, exploratory kiss.
Their tongues met. They tasted fresh flowers (from Fluttershy), and chocolate and bits of almond (from the other pegasus). They could feel the liquid pressure of the other's tongue, Fluttershy drawing the encroaching tongue into her own mouth, letting her explore, feeling her breath through her nostrils along the top of her muzzle. Very slowly, the other pegasus withdrew, the thin line of saliva connecting their lips shimmering in the dim light.
She nodded. A few quick bobs of her shadowy head in succession, and then walked slowly out of Fluttershy's closet with the same careful but surefooted steps with which she had entered.
She returned to Fluttershy's closet many times, and soon other ponies did as well. Maybe she told her friend. Maybe it was an experiment to see if she would kiss some other pony. Maybe somepony just heard about it and was trying to peek. Regardless, when a pony came in to her closet with kisses on their mind, Fluttershy rose to meet them. Some were timid, some giggling, some forceful and direct. Fluttershy gave them all the kisses that her kind heart knew they needed. In the silence and the darkness of her closet, she was unafraid, and only the hoof falls and wet touch of lips and tongues ever disturbed the silence of the room. Each of her partners left feeling somehow bolstered. Like something inside of them that they hadn't known was hurting had been healed. It was a delicate magic, though, like a soap bubble, and it wasn't long before it burst.
Even though each of her kissing partners knew, on the inside, that the closet was a secret place, the den of a kind animal who could give them comfort, some of them just couldn't help but approach her in the hallways to talk to her. The kissing closet had eroded a lot of the reputation she'd acquired, and although she presented herself the same way outside of the closet as she always had, some of the ponies thought they had an "in" with her now. Some of them wanted her for themselves, and thought that they'd surely broken through the icy exterior of the fantasy mare they'd imagined she was. More ponies tried to ask her out, or even just tried to talk to her to make friends. Ponies argued with one another over her. Ponies performed increasingly elaborate attempts to prevent one another from seeing her, or to try and win her heart. Three ponies got expelled for getting into fights over who was going to ask her out for Hearts and Hooves day. In the end, no one did. A group of expectant suitors found the kissing closet abandoned. In less than a day, even her little nest and the warm scent of her body were gone.
Flight camp and the acquisition of her cutie mark were turning points for Fluttershy in the fundamental nature of her kissing. She'd essentially had to go. Pegasus ponies had to pass a physical exam in order to graduate, although it could be taken every year until the pony passed. Fluttershy had one more chance to pass and still graduate on time, so flight camp was really her only option.
She remembered standing quietly at the back of the mixed group of ponies who were there for the camp. Looking around, she could see a lot of younger ponies who hadn't taken their physical test and were probably trying to pass the first time, a lot of bored looking ponies who were probably there just to keep them out of trouble for the summer, and the other ponies her age: athletes who were looking to get an edge in tryouts, if she had to guess.
Her cheeks were already hot with embarrassment. She was lucky that nopony else from her school was there. She knew she was going to end up with the little kids, more likely than not, and the reputation that kept her safe from teasing at school was entirely absent here. She stayed away from ponies her age, gravitating toward the back of the group with the really young fillies and colts and a few older ponies who seemed oblivious or completely disinterested as the head coach had explained that they'd be sorted in groups based on their ability. (Fluttershy remembered that the weakest group were Bumblebees, but couldn't remember the names of the other two.)
She watched a little filly make a little cloud creature while a group of ponies flew around the track and the coach went on about something. Because she was looking at her hooves and trying to be unassuming she noticed some little bits of something on the ground and decided to push the pieces over to the filly to use as eyes for her creature. The filly had thanked her with a little kiss in the hollow of Fluttershy's throat. She remembered the small lips against the racing pulse in her neck.
She had ended up a Bumblebee, had made a clumsy idiot of herself trying to even get onto the course to try out, and had been ruthlessly mocked until a very young Rainbow Dash, then a stranger, had defended her and challenged the bullies to a race. Of course, the coaches were all paying attention to the best group (on reflection, Fluttershy thought they may have been called "Falcons"), and so the race was entirely unsupervised and unendorsed, witnessed only by kids who probably should have been doing something else.
After waving the checkered flag, the rush of the racers had toppled Fluttershy, entirely unnoticed by anyone else, from her perch at the starting line, and she'd plummeted to what would have been her death if she hadn't been caught by a flock of butterflies moments before she slammed into the ground. She was filled with a sense of wonder on the ground, surrounded by all the animals. She'd never been down there before, and she'd loved the way the grass felt under her hooves, how it was perfectly normal to walk instead of fly from place to place, and most of all, the little animals that surrounded her.
After the thunderclap she'd later learn was a sonic rainboom, she'd discovered her special talent by calming the animals, watching their fear melt away as they looked into her eyes. The animals operated almost entirely through body language, and the tenor, tone and volume of the sounds they made were more important that any specific syllables. The fear and anxiety she'd always felt when dealing with other ponies was completely absent when dealing with these creatures, and the ice in her throat had melted, the fear flowed out of her body through her hooves like a lightning rod, and she'd held and cuddled each little animal.
She'd noticed that even the animals enjoyed her kisses, and she enjoyed kissing each of them. Unlike ponies, who really only varied significantly in size as far as their mouths were concerned, the little animals had all sorts of mouths. She could feel a bee's small tongue just touch her teeth, the smooth, hard shape of its head pressed into the cushion of her lips. The little squirrels had thin, almost nonexistent lips and little noses that were active in their nuzzling against her face. The birds all had smooth, hard beaks and soft feathers for her lips to slide against, and they flapped their wings and called to her, rubbing their beaks against her mane, neck, cheek and lips as she seated herself on the grass and felt the soothing presence of the animals all around her.
She stayed there almost all day, kissing, coddling and petting every little creature she could find. For the first time in her life, she was absolutely certain of something, consciously aware of a decision she knew she had to make. She would spend the rest of her life around animals. She wanted to take care of animals, there on the ground.
In the early evening, a coach who had the good grace to appear to be embarrassed had flown down to look for her, explaining that nopony had said anything about her being missing and the coaches had been so busy with the other students that they hadn't really noticed. Fluttershy, free from anxiety for the first time in her life, had explained that she didn't really think she needed to go to flight camp after all, and wanted to know if a pegasus could maybe transfer to a school on the ground.
She'd had no trouble flying all the way back up to the camp, wind whistling past her feathers, and had given the the coach a big hug, nuzzling against his throat, when he told her that she didn't have to stay at flight camp.
She'd even managed to find the blue pegasus, although the filly was at an age where kisses had gone from common to embarassing. Fluttershy had leaned down quickly, her lips touching just at the corner of the filly's cheek and muzzle. She could taste sweat for a moment. Rainbow Dash turned quickly, flustered, and Fluttershy turned with her so their lips met. The filly had kept her lips tightly shut, fitting between Fluttershy's fuller, softer lips, and Fluttershy had tasted the ghost of something sweet. Rainbow Dash had wiped her cheek and mouth with one hoof, spitting and blushing, and had called Fluttershy gay.
Fluttershy's first kiss in ponyville had been on the tip of an old pony's cheek. The loose skin had formed a confusing series of wrinkled valleys under her lips as he'd rapidly backed away, breaking contact.
"Oh it's just lovely!" she'd said after he'd opened the door to what would be her new home. He'd muttered something incomprehensible and quickly backed away.
The shack on the edge of town had been dark and badly-maintained. It had smelled overwhelmingly of mold and damp rot. Termites and big black ants crawled through and under and over the walls. The ceiling beams were thick with shiny legs, fat abdomens and glittering eyes, full of living spiders waiting dutifully for the flies and beetles and grasshoppers to stumble into their webs.
Mice, rats and lizards scurried along and behind the baseboards. To Fluttershy, it only made the place more primal. It was a place for kissing animals. It was a living place.
As Fluttershy hurried inside, she felt something hot and slick and wet uncoiling in her own body. She stood among the mold and mildew and mushrooms sprouting from the black, rotten wood as the former keeper turned and left. She stood among the plants pushing up through the floorboards themselves. The place was dimly lit, shutters swollen shut, concealing windows that had become completely opaque with grime.
There were no other ponies there, in a place redolent with life and decay. Only the sounds of a vast multitude of organisms swarming in the earth, in the rafters, in the walls and hidden spaces.
She did not feel alone.
For the first time, she felt truly at home, surrounded by animals that could not speak.
Days passed by her lips as she learned the character of every animal under her stewardship. The foxes and raccoons had earnest tongues that explored the interior of her mouth with the intense ridiculousness that only animals are capable of. A variety of tongues of different shapes and sizes slid past her incisors, bounded by her lips and cheeks. She knew that they were exploring for bits of food, pressing tonguetips against her molars and under her own tongue, but that was their understanding of mouth contact. She understood that they appreciated the opportunity.
She also learned the kisses that the animals used among themselves. She would rub her cheek or forehead against the cheeks and foreheads of the little birds, sometimes dipping her soft lips under and along their wings to help them preen. She used her lips on the soft fur of the little rabbits, nibbling at the fur on their foreheads, the base of their ears, and the sides of their jaws. They'd line up, resting against her folded forehooves, while she gently kissed away loose fur, as they did among themselves. She would press her cheek against the bodies of the little mice, letting them lean forcefully against her.
The social insects shared their food with her, taking a drop of saliva from her tongue, and giving her a drop of nectar from theirs. Even the beetles and spiders enjoyed the warm touch of her mouth and tongue on their bodies.
The reptiles would snuggle against her for warmth when it was cold, and taste the air of her open mouth.
Bears and wolves could fill her mouth with their tongues. Ferrets and lizards could fit their heads inside her mouth, licking at the groove of her tongue with their own tiny tongues.
Cheeks, muzzles, wings.
Carapace, fur, skin.
Hooves, paws, claws.
Time became a blur of blissful kissing before, after and during the routine feedings and groomings of all of her animal wards. Day and night seemed to drift together, time slipping into a fuzzy eternal crepuscular moment of lips pressing softly against some pleasant beast.
It was a kiss that woke her up, the skin of a mare pressed up tight against hers.
She still remembered the tight, slightly sweaty hug and cool lips pressed against her cheek. The room was white, bright lights cutting out a silhouette of the pony in bed with her, pressed up against her, kissing her cheek with loud "muah!" vocalizations. Her cheek felt hot under the cool little kisses, and it took a moment for Fluttershy to recognize the blurry shape of one of very few ponies she'd spoken to since coming to Ponyville. She had vaguely remembered the party Pinkie Pie had thrown when she'd arrived, but after she'd moved in to the cottage, it had been weeks since she'd spoke a word to anypony. She had slipped out of the party as quickly as possible anyway. All of the ponies trying to talk to her and ask her questions had made her very uncomfortable.
But Pinkie was with her there, in the hospital, babbling rapid-fire questions and statements into her ear after the kissing stopped, until the nurse pried Pinkie off of Fluttershy and then sent Pinkie out the door. Fluttershy remembered slipping in and out of consciousness as the nurse explained that at least part of the dreamy bliss of the last few days had been due to severe fever, dehydration, and malnourishment-induced delirium. Fluttershy couldn't focus on the list of diseases (bacterial, viral and fungal) that had been swarming through her bloodstream. (So alive! Such intimate, internal kisses as they reproduced and died inside of her!) Pinkie had found her. Apparently, Pinkie had come to the cottage to see her. Fluttershy had stopped listening.
Pinkie was there again when Fluttershy had been released after a few dreary, kissless days. Fluttershy had tried to quickly return to her den and the waiting lips and tongues of her animals, but Pinkie stayed right beside her.
Fluttershy had been happy with her animals.
Walking through the streets with townsfolk all around, among bright flowers, trimmed bushes, clean houses and clean ponies, a horrible sense of shame and guilt coated Fluttershy like slime. The magic of her secret, rotting, living animal den was turned into some dark, greasy filth, and she could feel it dripping from her untrimmed mane and tail. Although she could tell that nopony was really paying any attention to her at all, she felt that they should be. That their eyes and hooves should be turned to her. Should be taunting her. She just wanted to get away.
That is why she told Pinkie that she'd gotten sick from kissing animals. She thought it would make Pinkie leave her alone. She could wallow in the shame and guilt she deserved, soak up the filth she rightfully acquired...
It was a small kiss on the corner of her mouth, and it left a sprinkle behind on her cheek. Pinkie's mouth was bigger than hers, Pinkie's lips slightly fuller. Fluttershy remembered her skin flushing under those full lips, like a rash. Heat, like fever, spreading through her chest.
She hadn't said anything on the way back to the cottage.
Pinkie's simple kiss had reminded her of the feeling of kissing another pony. Of the shared quiet emotion that came from the lips of another sapient creature. The shared understanding. Animals were incapable of intimacy. Their world was always the moment they lived in, no string of meaning running laterally into the past and future tied them so firmly to their actions, and no well of layered meanings drifted underneath them as they lived their lives. Not that they couldn't communicate. Not that they couldn't have thoughts or ideas or learn from their mistakes, but the ideas, the meanings were all tied to the now. To that moment.
Pinkie's simple kiss conveyed things other than "is there food in your mouth?" or "grooming feels nice." The corner of Fluttershy's tongue touched the sprinkle, and she felt the sugar dissolve with her saliva.
An attempt had been made, in her absence, to impose the ordered, civilized world on the primal corruption of the cottage. The windows had been cleaned, the shutters replaced, and the obvious mold, mildew and fungus scraped from the floor and walls. Vines still dangled from the rafters and animals scurried everywhere, hiding from the light and smell of bleach, but Fluttershy couldn't really be mad at Pinkie for despoiling her primal den.
She gave Pinkie a kiss too, her lips pressing slightly into Pinkie's plump cheek. Even Pinkie's skin tasted just a little like sugar.
Pinkie promised she'd come by and help Fluttershy fix up her cottage, at least once a week. Fluttershy couldn't say no, even though some part of her was deeply saddened that her first friend had destroyed forever her secret life as an animal.
She hadn't given up kissing animals. Not entirely, anyway. But with Pinkie showing up every week, she'd made adjustments. Now, she tasted sugar on her lips as she traded kisses with her new friend. Laying on the grass after they'd put together some chicken coops, Pinkie had attacked her neck with a sudden series of little kisses. She'd explained that if Fluttershy wanted to practice kissing, she could do it with Pinkie instead of the animals.
It wasn't that she neglected them now, although she was much safer and cleaner about which ones she kissed and where, it was that Pinkie seemed to really enjoy her friendly kisses, and Fluttershy enjoyed Pinkie's kisses too, and it just felt very nice to have a pony who didn't seem to mind, or expect anything, or pass judgment on her for wanting kisses. With Pinkie, she felt almost like she had as a small child, where the act of pressing her small yellow lips had only transferred in the pressing a sense of affection, compassion, and friendship.
Pinkie was not one for cautious, timid kisses. Pinkie was impulsive and her lips were never barely brushed against anything. She'd press her full mouth against Fluttershy's cheek or neck or her own lips, and the muscles in her lips would push or pull at Fluttershy's skin, and then the pressure would be gone. Fluttershy responded in kind, giving Pinkie little pecks when she thought the other pony least expected it, although she was almost always wrong, and Pinkie would just as often turn into Fluttershy's kisses so that their lips would meet, their teeth compressing them together. They were forceful kisses, but still friendly. Light, in their own way. Sometimes, Fluttershy's tongue would chase Pinkie's quick kisses and return to her mouth with a crumb or a sprinkle or the taste of sugar. Pinkie's kisses almost always had a sweet little ghost that dissolved on Fluttershy's tongue.
At the same time, Pinkie had recognized Fluttershy's talent with the animals, and suggested that she train animals for other ponies, or bring trained songbirds to parties or formal events as a musical ensemble. Fluttershy equivocated at first, but she had decided for herself that she'd pay Pinkie back for all the work she'd done around Fluttershy's cottage, and so eventually some of Pinkie's "less terrifying" parties had little birds singing songs, and Fluttershy became known, at least in some circles, for her extraordinary talent with animals.
In time, her fear of the ponies in Ponyville faded, once she'd gotten used to them anyway. She found more frequently that questions or greetings did not close her throat or make her sweat or cause her grasp of language to vanish in the ether. Her cautious, stuttered responses became smooth like tumbled stones, until she barely paused with her "good mornings" or "how do you do"s or "Thank you very much"es. She was still very clearly a timid mare, but the ponies around her became part of the scenery, part of a world that, on a baseline anyway, she was perfectly comfortable navigating through.
When a new pony moved in, she would be a little nervous. She'd be uncomfortable and shy before she got used to the fresh face. When a full grown Rainbow Dash became the new weather pony in Ponyville, Fluttershy hadn't actively avoided her, but didn't really know if Rainbow Dash even remembered her. Fluttershy had attended the "Welcome to Ponyville" party. Pinkie had absolutely insisted, and Fluttershy didn't have a very good excuse not to go anyway. The party had been a loud, rambunctious romp: the sort of horrifying affair that Fluttershy normally absolutely avoided. She'd maintained a post in the corner near the punch table waiting for an opportunity for the crowd to thin so she could slip out the door, but the free-flowing booze turned the venue into a dangerous minefield of staggering drunks. She watched them tumble over, transitioning into inert obstacles that would be a lot easier to navigate around. Only a few more and she should have a fairly open path.
And then Rainbow Dash had pressed hot, wine soaked lips against the corner of Fluttershy's mouth. Her tongue pushed into Fluttershy's cheek, and when she's yelped in surprise, Rainbow Dash had swallowed the small sound with a moan and a step forward. Fluttershys' rump pressed into the corner, her neck a tense curve as Rainbow pressed her chest against Fluttershy's. She tasted wine, wine and hot, panting breath as her own exhalation escaped in a whistle through one of her nostrils, pressed askew as Rainbow Dash twisted her face sideways, her lips forming a seal with Fluttershy's. Rainbow's tongue was inside her mouth, pressing her own tongue against her molars, licking the ridges of the roof of her mouth and running along the backs of her teeth. Rainbow's lips flexed and sucked as she moaned into Fluttershy's mouth, her lips, tongue and face all disharmoniously struggling to press themselves against whatever part of Fluttershy's face was closest. The kiss drifted across her incisors, pushing up her lip as Rainbow Dash's tongue wriggled partway into her nostril. Rainbow staggered sideways, a little bridge of spit breaking as she stumbled into the wall. Fluttershy was petrified, a string of Rainbow's cooling saliva hanging from the front of her muzzle and the bitter taste of sour wine in her mouth.
Rainbow's pink eyes had been glazed and unfocused as she'd used a wing to push herself back fully onto her hooves. She'd said that she remembered Fluttershy from flight camp, then called her a "fag" and wandered drunkenly back into the diminishing crowd. Fluttershy had made her escape shortly thereafter. From then on, she tried her best to stay away from Rainbow Dash.
It was really why Fluttershy stopped going to quite so many parties. Almost no parties, in fact, because whenever she did show up, Rainbow Dash was always in attendance, and at some point, boozed up and listing dangerously, Rainbow would slobber all over Fluttershy's face, call her a fag, and then stagger off. Sometimes the kisses tasted like wine, or beer, or liquor, and sometimes Rainbow's tongue would end up in her nostril or her ear instead of her mouth. (She could remember the wet, irregular squishing noises as the other pony's muzzle had filled up the cup of her ear.) Always, afterward, the slurred insult, and then she was left alone to quickly flee. It became really embarrassing, especially when it was a little foal's birthday party or a get well party for a senior at the hospital or a baby shower.
Rainbow Dash would act perfectly normal when she was sober. Fluttershy spoke to her about as much as she did any other casual acquaintance (which is to say, not very much at all), and chose not to talk about the inappropriate kissing with Pinkie. It made Fluttershy even more nervous when a new pony moved in, though. Whenever she got news that somepony else would be taking up residence in Ponyville, she'd almost panic. She'd remembered the kissing closet. She'd remembered how her reputation had kept her socially crippled and isolated. She didn't want to lose the little bit of society she'd managed to actually navigate successfully and so she'd been downright horrified when some super important student of Princess Celestia herself was permanently moving to Ponyville. What made it even worse was that the new pony was in charge of overseeing the Summer Sun Celebration. And Fluttershy, for the first time ever, had been enlisted by the mayor to provide an avian choir for the Summer Sun Celebration, and this new super important pony was going to make sure everything was perfect, and everything wasn't perfect and by the time Fluttershy had actually met the new pony, Fluttershy could barely manage to squeak out her name.
It had been utterly horrifying until Fluttershy had seen the new pony's baby dragon, and her panic had been replaced by curiosity, and Fluttershy's life took a dramatic turn as she became the Element of Kindness, and friend to Twilight Sparkle.
Being one of the Princess's go-to girls and savior of the country had had a surprisingly small impact on her kissing opportunities.
At first, when she was on her way with the others to confront Nightmare Moon, she'd gotten to make out with a manticore (and he'd used a lot of tongue), and her circle of friends had expanded fivefold, and the world became a slightly less horrifying place in general, but honestly, her new position only really increased her kissing opportunities by more than a handfull of new ponies.
At the party in honor of their victory over Nightmare Moon, Fluttershy had gotten her very last drunken kiss from Rainbow Dash. Most of the other partygoers had gone to sleep, and Fluttershy saw Rainbow Dash swaying only slightly in the corner. Rainbow Dash had made the most of her new position as one of the most important ponies in Equestria, and all of her storytelling had strictly limited the amount of alcohol she could manage to drink.
Fluttershy had walked right up to her, and before Rainbow Dash really knew exactly what was going on, Fluttershy had wrapped her foreleg around Rainbow Dash's shoulders, and pressed her lips forcefully against Rainbow Dash's surprised lips, and used her own demure tongue to invade Rainbow Dash's gasping mouth. Rainbow had tired to break the kiss, leaning backward until she'd fallen into a sitting position on her rump, but Fluttershy moved forward as she'd retreated, her hoof in Rainbow Dash's mane, her tongue in Rainbow Dash's mouth, leaning over the other pony, her yellow wings spread out to the side. Fluttershy had looked down at Rainbow Dash, her mane and wings making a private kissing bower that they occupied, and when Rainbow's surprised struggles turned into a press upward against Fluttershy's lips, she'd broken the kiss and stepped back.
Rainbow Dash was shocked. Scandalized. But when she started to speak, Fluttershy pressed the rigid blade of her hoof against Rainbow Dash's mouth.
Fluttershy explained that if Dash wanted to kiss her, that was perfectly all right, but she would not have Dash assaulting her at parties and calling her horrible names, especially when Dash was the one who came up to her for kisses. She explained that she didn't have any problems with kissing her friends, if her friends really wanted kisses, but that she wasn't going to be set upon by drunken mares whenever she was out in public. She'd registered surprise in Dash's Eyes, and held her hoof to Rainbow's mouth for a few seconds longer than strictly neccessary. She could feel Dash's soft lips press against her hoof, and there was a little sheen of spit when she'd pulled her hoof away to let Rainbow Dash explain.
Rainbow told her that as soon as she'd come to Ponyville, she'd recognized Fluttershy, and that kiss that Fluttershy had given her as a filly had left an impression on her, but not a very good one. She'd always resented Fluttershy for stealing her first kiss, a kiss she'd wanted to give to the most amazing stallion in the world (because, obviously, that's the only stallion who deserved Rainbow Dash's first kiss), but now, her lips were forever tainted by the lips of some lesbo mare who had totally ruined her perfect first romantic kiss. So whenever she got too drunk, she'd tried to steal kisses from Fluttershy, to let her know what it felt like to have somepony snatch your kisses away. She shamefully admitted that it wasn't exactly the greatest drunken plan.
Fluttershy looked into Rainbow Dash's pink eyes and attempted to commiserate. She'd opened her mouth, raised one hoof, put the hoof down, started to speak, closed her mouth, opened it again, and then had told Rainbow Dash that that was the gayest thing she'd ever heard.
Fluttershy never knew exactly how it was that the Princess learned about her. Or when. After she became a bearer of the Element of Kindness, obviously, the Princess knew who she was, but Fluttershy had always gotten the impression that the Princess had known something about her beforehand.
And the way that the Princess had looked at her specifically after they'd purified Luna with the Elements of Harmony...
It had been a look Fluttershy recognized.
The first night had been terrifying. Fluttershy had been in her cottage, covered in blankets and just drifting off to sleep surrounded by the warm bodies of her dozing animal friends. If it had been a scratching on the windowpane, or the sound of claws scraping on the door downstairs she wouldn't have been scared. That would clearly have been an animal that needed some help, or maybe just wanted to come inside for the evening. But it was a knock on the cottage door. A very polite knock, but a knock, nonetheless.
Only ponies knock.
Fluttershy had slowly extracted herself from the bedding and crept across the floor with her belly almost touching the ground. She had pressed herself against the wall of the loft, next to the bay window, and slowly peeked into the moonlit night outside, trying to get an angle on her front door. She'd gasped, shoving the blade of her hoof in her mouth to muffle the sound. She could see the multicolored tail of the Princess rippling slowly in the still night air.
The Princess. At night. At her doorstep. The polite little taps on her door continued in groups of three. Fluttershy had been immobile. She couldn't ignore the Princess, but what could the Princess want with her?
She'd descended the stairs with shaking legs. The knocks continued, never becoming insistent, still quiet and polite. Just a reminder that somepony was standing just outside.
She almost hadn't been able to manage the doorknob.
As the door swung slowly open, white moonlight poured across the floor in a widening arc, interrupted only by Celestia's elegant body. The moonlight shone through her mane and tail, catching in it, sparkling with muted pastels that wavered on Fluttershy's floorboards like light through rippling water. Her coat seemed to gleam with captured light. Fluttershy couldn't be sure she wasn't glowing: Something white hot. A fragment of the sun that still retained its heat and glory. Even as she was, without her crown or armor, the sight of the Princess made Fluttershy fall down trembling.
It took a few moments for Fluttershy, pressed flat against the floor in supplication, to open her eyes and peek up through her hair, and to see that the Princess's eyes were kind. The Princess smiled a small smile and lowered her muzzle down to Fluttershy, using her nose to brush the hair from the terrified pony's eyes. Fluttershy could feel the warm breath from the Princess's nostrils. The velvet of her nose had brushed Fluttershy's forehead, then velvet of her lips.
Fluttershy's heartbeat slowed. Her small nose nuzzled instinctively against the underside of Celestia's chin, and Celestia's muzzle rubbed slowly back and forth down Fluttershy's cheek, nipping softly at the base of her mane. Celestia's mane, still shimmering with moonlight, was a drifting canopy of soft pastel light over both their heads. In the shifting, multicolored light, Celestia pressed her muzzle under Fluttershy's cheek, gently encouraging her to raise her head and neck. Fluttershy responded instinctively, lifting her chin, feeling the light pressure of Celestia's longer muzzle, her soft, full lips just touching the side of Fluttershy's throat. Fluttershy was aware of her own heartbeat. She could feel the curve of Celestia's mouth hot against the arteries close to the surface of her throat. Her face got hotter, almost as if Celestia's lips heated the blood that was moving past them, spreading the blush across her cheeks.
Her head was tilted back, looking up into Celestia's eyes as the Princess's muzzle slowly slid out from underneath hers. Her chin brushed the soft skin between Celestia's nostrils, and then the Princess's nose and lips brushed past Fluttershy's.
She half-stood, her forehooves clicking on the wooden floor, and rose up into the Princess's offered kiss.
Warm, full lips so much larger enveloped hers. She gasped. A thick tongue brushed against the narrow gap between her teeth.
Her own small tongue pressed against its wide, rounded edge as she opened her mouth more fully.
She heard her hooves clatter as she wrapped her forelimbs around the Princess's neck, the wet sound of their lips and tongues working against one another as a thin line of warm drool slid across the hot blush of Fluttershy's cheek. Warmth spread outward through her body as the Princess's tongue slowly displaced what empty space there was inside of Fluttershy's mouth.
Fluttershy let her tongue and lips respond to Celestia's without thought or reflection. She pressed her chest against the Princess's and felt a hoof slide up and down against her back. She felt hot tears drop softly onto her cheeks from up, up above as the Princess murmured wordlessly against Fluttershy's lips.
Comfort. Warmth.
Time and memory.
It wouldn't be the last time the Princess visited her.
She didn't tell her friends, of course. They thought that her encounter with Iron Will, or maybe their own private conversations and attempts to get Fluttershy to express herself had made the biggest difference in her demeanor, but in the mornings after the Princess's visits, with the memory of soft feathers curled around her back or gentle, tentative lips so much larger than hers, Fluttershy knew. When the Princess would sigh deeply, lying on her side and pulling Fluttershy against her, when the massive, almost-glowing body of the Princess would cling to her as Fluttershy made little kisses along her neck, or lie on her back and kiss gently the smooth white feathers at the base of her wings, Fluttershy knew.
When Discord had been given over to her care, it was because the Princess trusted Fluttershy. She was the living incarnation of Kindness, and her own gentle power did not conquer through violence. Her lips would brush the rough fur of Discord's cheek or the base of his horn, sometimes just on the curve of his forehead before he went to sleep. She knew, though, that her power must be tempered.
She had gently whispered "no," when he'd tried to kiss her. She thought of her school kisses in the secret closet, or the animal mouths in Ponyville when his lips had pressed against the leathery frog under her hoof. She'd interposed her foreleg when he'd leaned toward her own lips that night, and she had used her hoof to turn his head to the side, feeling the brush of his irregular fang against her pastern. She'd wrapped her other foreleg around his neck, pushing his face against her chest. Comfort, Friendship, Kindness. Discord did not need confusing feelings, unchecked emotions.
The Princess had trusted her. It was not her words, but silent comfort that transformed an enemy into a friend.
She flourished. She thrived. She took things at her own pace.
She remembered Pinkie's playful kisses, although they were much less frequent now that Fluttershy didn't appear to be in danger of friendlessness.
She remembered Rainbow Dash's now-much-more-platonic kisses as they'd transitioned into an easy friendship, comforting nuzzles and hugs generally taking the place of lip contact. Sometimes, a peck on the cheek from Fluttershy would still make Rainbow blush.
She remembered Rarity's kisses, perfunctory at first, one on each cheek. As they'd grown closer, Rarity's demure lips lingered longer. Fluttershy would give her a little nuzzle as she softly kissed her friend's jawline.
She remembered a nervous Twilight, first as a unicorn, who, you know, seeing as how Fluttershy was raising animals, was wondering, you know, if she could help explain to Twilight some of the, uh... She'd read some books, naturally, and was just wondering, purely out of academic curiosity...
Fluttershy had silenced her nervous rambling. She'd used the tip of her nose to raise up Twilight's chin, slowly, cautiously, brushing her lips against Twilight's. Fluttershy's hair didn't wave in the moonlight or cast undersea colors over the two of them, but it had shaded Twilight's blushing cheeks. Twilight had been blushing even more furiously when Fluttershy had to explain that they were still just friends, but if Twilight wanted to practice, she'd be more than happy to help.
It wasn't until after Twilight was a Princess that she'd come to see Fluttershy alone.
Twilight would try to explain her worries and concerns, but Fluttershy would quickly silence her. Lips and tongue, nuzzling, her hoof in Twilight's mane. Comfort. Kindness. Twilight would always be shocked at first, blush ferociously, and then relax.
That same sigh, a sigh that represented both weariness and comfort.
So many kisses, spiraling back through friendship and loneliness, meaning and sensation. Fluttershy remembered them all. In daylight, in moonlight, even in her dreams.
It had been in a dream that frightened her. The faces of her friends, their lips, teeth and tongues, had drifted through her consciousness before the dream had become something more concrete: shape, form and sensation solidifying into something recognizable.
Her cottage was wrecked. Pieces of broken windowpane, splinters from furniture and cages, stuffing and scraps of cloth littered the darkness, dim rays of moonlight shining through the empty doorway and splintered window frames. She was at the bottom of the stairs with the faint, fading sensation of lips having recently left hers. "WHORE" "SLUT" "FILTH" and similar phrases, or symbols that, to her dreaming brain, represented those concepts, slid and shifted on the walls. She walked cautiously across the floor, a tight, sick feeling in her chest. All of her animals were gone.
She took a step forward and found herself outside. Her fence had been torn down. Her chicken coops were in ruin. All of her birdhouses lay scattered across the ground. A Royal Guardspony stood in the dim moonlight, just faint slivers breaking through obscuring clouds that slid and shifted across the sky in an almost-solid blanket.
She tried to say something, but her mouth just opened and closed, saliva dripping onto the ground. The guardspony told her that Princess Celestia had found out what she'd been doing with the animals and had taken them away. Princess Celestia had told the Guardspony to tell Fluttershy personally that she, the Princess, regretted never being able to fully get the taste of Fluttershy's diseased saliva out of her mouth. That by Royal Decree, Fluttershy had to vacate the home immediately because a new pony would be appointed to care for the animals. She was clearly unfit.
Fluttershy ran down the moonlit pathway that lead to Ponyville. She hadn't gone far when she was bowled over by something, a hot tangle of hooves and feathers that resolved itself into Rainbow Dash straddling her. Dash's lips pressed against Fluttershy's before she could react, and Fluttershy felt something long, wet and hot pressing past her teeth, pushing her tongue down against the bottom of her mouth, and worming its way down into her throat. Fluttershy coughed and gagged, struggling as she felt the appendage worm closer to the tightness in her chest, felt it wrap around something inside of her. Rainbow braced her hooves on Fluttershy's outstretched wings and pulled, the muscles straining in her neck. Fluttershy could see Rainbow Dash's horrifyingly distended tongue stretching between them. With a sound like wet fabric tearing, she fell backwards, a spray of viscera staining Fluttershy's coat. Rainbow Dash held a lump of rhythmically-pulsing meat in her mouth.
Rainbow Dash swallowed it and laughed, flying away. Fluttershy could still feel the ghost of Rainbow's kiss on her lips and hear her mocking laughter.
She walked slowly toward town, the tightness in her chest gone. Her legs drifted as if she were carried along by a current. So much effort to lift them. She was in front of a tombstone. Three balloons were carved on it. She leaned down and pressed her lips against the smooth granite, feeling raindrops falling, making the headstone slick and reflective. Lightning flashed overhead and she noticed Rarity, wet with rain, makeup running down her face. Fluttershy tried to comfort her, but when Rarity saw her, her face contorted into a mask of pained rage. She cursed at Fluttershy. She explained that Fluttershy's constant spit-swapping had made Pinkie sick, but Pinkie would never believe that her friend would hurt her. That Fluttershy had spread an earth pony disease to Pinkie without even knowing about it because she would put her tongue in anypony's mouth. That if Fluttershy wasn't such a slut, Pinkie Pie would still be alive.
Fluttershy felt Rarity's unicorn magic grip her mane, and she tried to run, too scared to open her wings enough to fly. Her head jerked sideways and then she was free, long, pink strands of hair drifting down around her.
She was galloping through the rain, the buildings of ponyville slowly sliding past as her own hoofbeats drummed in her ears.
She was in front of Golden Oaks Library.
She was inside the library, hair limp and wet, draped across the floor and trailing out the door.
Princess Twilight Sparkle lay across a pile of books, peering up at Fluttershy through long lashes. She wore blue eye shadow and dark lipstick. She waved a hoof to Fluttershy, beckoning, explaining to Fluttershy how much she loved her, explaining how happy she was that Fluttershy finally realized they should be together as a couple, that Fluttershy would love being royalty.
Fluttershy's mouth dripped with drool that interfered with her words. She tried to explain to Twilight that she loved all her friends, and didn't love any one of them more than the others. She talked about how she'd been trying to comfort Twilight and be there for her, but that she didn't have romantic feelings, that she'd just been there as a friend and-
She could see Twilight's face fall, her seductive glances replaced with confusion, then cringing hurt, and finally unbridled rage. Sparks flew from her horn as her eyes began to fill with light. Thunder crashed outside, and Fluttershy could hear more hooves outside, a crowd of enraged ponies lead by Rarity charging toward the library, snarling and shouting.
I deserve this she thought. This is what I get for acting the way I do.
She cringed, trying to hide behind her hair, closing her eyes tightly. The light from Twilight's horn and the flashes of lightning outside let her see the veins in her eyelids on a red backdrop.
She waited.
The peal of thunder was cut off mid-echo. There was silence instead of hoofbeats. The brightness from the lightning flash did not dim.
She felt cool, dry lips pressed against the edge of her nostril, pushing slightly against her hide as they made their way lower, pressing tenderly against her own lips, the point of a tongue just barely moistening them. She instead let her face drift up with the retreating lips, maintaining a soft contact, her mouth slightly open, and let her eyelids relax, feeling the foreign tongue touch the edge of her teeth as she panted slightly, opening her eyes to see a glittering string of saliva connecting her mouth to the dark, full lips of the Princess of the Night.
Princess Luna stood in front of her, dark lips parted slightly, a hint of blush spreading across her cheeks. Fluttershy remembered the moment with utter, crystal clarity.
"I'm dreaming," she said.
"Yes," said the Princess, nuzzling Fluttershy. Her soft nose pressed against the bridge of Fluttershy's muzzle, her nostrils expanding as the Princess's warm breath spread across her face. The Princess's lips touched her own again, almost pulling Fluttershy's upper lip between both of hers, the Princess's full lower lip lightly pressing into Fluttershy's slightly open mouth.
She broke the kiss. Twilight was frozen mid-leap a short distance away. The angry mob outside was backlit by a bolt of lightning frozen in the sky. Drops of rain glittered with refracted light, but did not fall.
The Princess pressed her lips against Fluttershy's again, her tongue softly parting Fluttershy's lips, her mouth opening and turning slightly to the side. Fluttershy reciprocated, opening her mouth to the Princess, her smaller tongue pressing against and folding around the foreign tongue that found itself inside her mouth. The Princess's eyes were half closed, her wings partially open, her translucent mane waving slowly in the still air, glittering with thousands of stars.
Fluttershy felt warmth spreading through her chest, the warm saliva on her lips as the Princess pressed her body to Fluttershy's, wrapping her wings around her. Fluttershy's smaller wings brushed against the taut, dry hide of the Princess, reciprocating the gesture as their mouths and tongues engaged in a languid, steady joining, the wet sounds of their compressing cheeks and tongues filling up the silence.
The Princess's tongue withdrew from her mouth, and her own was in the Princess's mouth for only a brief moment before Luna broke the kiss.
"Are you real?" Fluttershy asked. She could not imagine that kiss being anything other than...
"Yes," said Luna. "I am Princess of the Night, and have a certain affinity for dreams." She nuzzled Fluttershy's forehead, lips compressing gently against the rim of her ear. "When one of my little ponies needs me, I am here for them."
Fluttershy began to cringe, but the feeling of Luna's lips, light kisses down her forehead and the bridge of her muzzle, kept her from pulling away. "I'm sorry," she murmured, "I didn't mean to bother you."
Luna laughed, a deep, rich, feminine sound that startled Fluttershy. Luna quickly wrapped her wings around the smaller pony, pressing Fluttershy against her chest and gently kissing the base of her mane. "No, no, my little pony, you need me, and I am here for you. Why do you think you had this dream?"
Fluttershy felt Luna's heartbeat though her chest, and heard and felt her feathers rustling against her back and sides in slow, gentle strokes. She felt warm, from the tip of her nose to the base of her tail, and nuzzled fiercely into the Princess's mane. She thought long and hard, surrounded by the slowly drifting stars, before she answered, muffled in the soft, gently waving hair.
"I- I know there's something wrong with me," she began. She cringed slightly as she said it, but the comforting presence of the Princess helped her to soldier onward, "I'm obsessed, and weird, and I can't get along with other ponies very well. And I know how badly I've messed things up in the past, for me and for other ponies, and for the first time in my life I feel like I have actual friends, ponies who really care about me, and I'm actually important and what if everypony secretly hates me and I mess it all up and I wouldn't blame them if they found out how creepy I was if they never wanted to," she sobbed, hot tears soaking into the Princess's mane, "again and ..." whatever else she was going to say dissipated into muffled, choking crying.
Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around the Princess's neck, holding tight and feeling the other pony's body against hers. Princess Luna kissed her neck and shoulder, stroking Fluttershy's back with one of her forehooves.
They held one another in the strange, frozen moment, until Fluttershy's muffled wailing turned into wracking sobs, then quiet whimpers, then silence, just a heaving chest, shuddering breaths, the rustling of feathers against feathers. Her forelegs fell to the floor with a clatter as she looked up at Princess Luna.
Fluttershy felt the Princess's hoof under her chin, gently encouraging Fluttershy to meet her gaze. Luna kissed her softly on the nose.
"There is nothing wrong with you," Luna said. Fluttershy started to interrupt, but the Princess kissed her on the nose again. "You are a better pony than I," and another to stop the interruption, this kiss full on the lips, soft and slow. "I was consumed by anger and jealousy, letting what-ifs and suppositions poison my mind. You do not possess the capacity for real hatred," another kiss, "and are full to the brim with love and kindness. So full, in fact, that you cannot keep it all inside, and must share your kindness with the ponies and animals around you." Luna gave her another long, slow kiss, the tips of their tongues barely grazing one another.
"When you kiss another creature, they can feel your kindness flow into them. Calming them, centering them, bringing them comfort and peace. Your kisses are your true power, and you've grown into them, using your kindness to bring joy to everyone you meet." Shortly after their lips met again, their tongues intertwined, another thread of saliva twinkling in the light when the kiss broke. "You are truly selfless, and the comfort you've given to my sister is truly invaluable. I only wish I'd come to you sooner." Fluttershy could see blush spreading down the Princess's neck, her eyelids fluttering in the strange, frozen light, her lips still slightly parted.
"Be at peace with yourself, Fluttershy, and know that you are truly special and gifted in the most marvelous way." Fluttershy felt her lips compress beneath Luna's as the dream began to fade, and could still feel the lingering heat of the Princess, muttered, incomprehensible words spoken into her mouth fading with the last tatters of the remains of the nightmare.
The sun was barely kissing the horizon, knowing that whatever happened, she would be there for everypony who needed her, lips ready to bring comfort and kindness.
