It was only late afternoon in Ponyville, but between the dark shadows of the clouds overhead and the constant downpour one would have never been able to tell. The Cloudsdale Weather Authority, in order to make up for a drought caused by a delayed supply of water from Manehattan, was now drenching the area for the whole day and well into the following afternoon. The entire town had to be shut down from the sheer amount of constant rain. Applejack had remarked to Rainbow Dash that any other farm pony would have brought a lawsuit against Cloudsdale for lost productivity, and the Mayor had already filed a formal complaint.

Fluttershy found that the unrelenting deluge only aggravated the unusually dour mood that had crept up on her. Like everypony else, she was staying at home for the day, kept company only by Angel and a few other of the woodland animals that had failed to reach their homes before the change of weather. However, aside from the crackling from the fireplace and constant drumming of the rain, no other sounds filled the cottage. Fluttershy was in no mood to sing, and she had laid out food for the animals long ago, though the inclement weather of her sad frown and withdrawn silence had clearly caused many of them to lose their appetite.

Sitting in her comfiest chair, Fluttershy’s vacant eyes locked on the red-gold play of fire on logs. Her thoughts danced around in her mind like the flames before her, but they always came back to the same subject: Rarity.

Fluttershy’s platonic love for her close friends had been a constant for as long as they had been together. Their individual personalities added to this, each having unique qualities that affected how she felt about them: How Twilight could always find something new and wonderful in what everypony thought they knew; how Rainbow made her feel not only safe but powerful; how Applejack caused long and tedious hours to disappear like a whirlwind; and how Pinkie... well, there was nothing that needed to be said about her that wasn't already obvious.

But Rarity... Rarity was beautiful, glamorous, complete... perfect. It wasn’t just her amazing talent with fashion or the easy grace with which she styled her mane or those of any of her friends. When she claimed to be a lady, she meant it. Everypony could hear it in the way she spoke, her combination of careful enunciation and eloquent choice of words. They could see it in the way she carried herself: the dainty movements of her hooves and the swagger of her hips - not too exaggerated but still there to be seen. And her eyes....

Fluttershy had discovered that she was attracted to mares only about seven years ago, but it hadn’t affected her life much between her shyness and the fact that she wasn’t the most sexual pony in Equestria. It did lead her to declining the few offers from stallions she had received while she worked it out, but the need to deliver rejections had made her even more timid and quiet, so she ended up not really doing anything about it. Even on the rare occasion that she pleasured herself she didn’t tend to think of anypony in particular, though she often found herself strangely turned on by incense and certain flowers.

The experience that finally clued Fluttershy in to her sexual orientation was an encounter with Rainbow Dash, only a few years before the return of Nightmare Moon. She had been invited to join Dash for some recreational flying and had very much enjoyed her company. By sundown, though, Fluttershy was nearly exhausted and was ready to call it a day, only for Rainbow to offer her a drink at the Drunken Master, a bar in the bad part of town (what little of it there was). She had wanted to say no, but at the same time she had made a resolution to try out new things.

So she said yes... and the tale from that point was right out of the classics. They went to the bar, and one drink led to another, and another, and another. Fluttershy had been drunk only once before that night, and she was certainly not ready for the way that Rainbow started to look at her coyly, and definitely not for how she brought their muzzles together.

Not only did Fluttershy have her first kiss that night, but also her first and only sexual encounter. Caught up in a drunken rush of hormones, they had rushed back to Rainbow’s house. As it turned out Rainbow Dash was not only bisexual, but very active and very skilled. It was a truly amazing experience.

The two pegasi hadn’t pursued the encounter any further after that night. Fluttershy was quite embarrassed about her first time despite how good it had been, and while Rainbow had been more than happy to open up her best friend’s world, she was distinctly not monogamous.

Fluttershy initially attributed her acceptance of the act to the alcohol, but as she got on with her life she couldn’t help but notice the mares around her in a whole new light. It wasn’t long after that she began to realize how she felt about Rarity, especially after their visits to the spa had become an active tradition.

But there was one huge problem: Rarity was clearly straight. At least, if she was bisexual like Rainbow it was hidden beneath hours of her going on about her latest stallion crush. It was torture at first, listening to the fashionista’s constant reminders that they could never be together, but eventually she started getting used to it much the way she had gotten used to Angel’s abusive behavior, at least until her recent resolution to put a stop to it. Her status as an Element of Harmony and the discovery of the sacred bond between those six friends was also a comfort: She concluded that fostering that bond of mutual platonic love was more important than her own personal desires. Equestria depends on me... on us, is what she told herself each day--

*knock* *knock* Fluttershy looked to the door, startled yet inwardly grateful for something to take her mind off of the dark corners of her heart. Besides, with the horrible weather....

*knock* *knock* *knock* “Coming!” she called out as she jumped up from her chair by the fire. She reached the door and undid the lock, which she habitually set in spite of her isolation. She slowly opened the door a crack, then quickly swung it further in surprise at an unfamiliar and striking sight: standing on her porch, wet and shivering from the rain, was a female alicorn.

She was taller than Twilight, Luna, and Cadance, but slightly shorter than Celestia. Her soaked coat was a light amber color, her mane rose-red, and her eyes a deep sapphire blue. She was wearing a red cape, the hood of which was up to shield her head yet not enough to obscure the most distinctive aspect of her appearance yet: The top half of her horn had been broken off somehow.

“Oh... my,” Fluttershy murmured, too quietly to be heard or noticed.

“I-I am s-so sorry to imp-pose,” stuttered the alicorn with an apologetic look. Her voice, despite her shivering, was warm and melodious. “I g-got caught out in the st-storm when I arrived in Ponyville. C-can I come in? If only for a m-moment?”

Fluttershy stood there for at least ten seconds, entranced by the sight of the exotically lovely alicorn mare, then shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Oh please!” she exclaimed, pulling the door wide open and waving the newcomer in. “No pony should have to stand in the rain like that!”

“Thank you,” said the alicorn with a slight curtsy as she quickly trotted inside. Fluttershy shut the door behind them and locked it, then quickly flew over to a cabinet and pulled out a pile of soft dry towels.

“Please, help yourself!” She handed her guest the towels. “The fireplace will keep you nice and warm, and you can stay as long as you like! Would you like some tea? I only have Jasmine right now; I forgot to get Earl Grey, you see--”

“Oo, Jasmine would be lovely!” the alicorn exclaimed. “I haven’t had Jasmine tea in at least five centuries!” She undid the clasp on her cape and set it aside, revealing her cutie mark. It made Fluttershy think of Celestia and Cadance because it was almost like a cross between their marks: A white sun with a deep-red heart centered within it, and a smaller amber sun nested in the middle of the heart.

Fluttershy stared for another few seconds, her eyes roaming over both the cutie mark and, to her embarrassment, the alicorn’s smooth, finely curved flank. With an effort she tore her gaze away and flew into the kitchen, hoping her blush wasn’t too visible. As she reached for the kettle, her ear flicked at what she would have sworn was a quiet chuckle, and something about it sent a rush of heat to her face and loins. She shook her head again as she filled up the kettle and set it on the burner, then set two cups on her tray with their respective tea bags.

She then returned to the living room to find the alicorn sitting next to the fireplace, wrapped up in towels that once again hid her cutie mark. The visitor’s ears twitched at the sound of Fluttershy’s hoofsteps and she turned to face her host with a grateful smile.

“Thank you so much for receiving me! I would have tried the town inns, but when I arrived your house was the closest and I was already soaked and--!” She brought a hoof to her forehead. “Silly me, I’ve completely forgotten my manners. My name is Amber Dawn, former Princess of Equestria.”

Former Princess? “My name is... F-Fluttershy,” the pegasus forced herself to say. She had always had trouble introducing herself on initial meetings, but recently her assertiveness training had been paying off, though Amber’s alluring voice was not helping her remain calm.

Amber Dawn’s eyes widened. “Fluttershy?! As in Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness!?! Oh, I cannot believe my luck!”

“You... know of me?”

“Absolutely! I was once a disciple of Princess Celestia before I became a princess, and my favorite subject for study was the Elements of Harmony. Wrote my graduate thesis on them and got a publication deal in Canterlot!” Amber let out a dreamy sigh. “I might have been away from Equestria for nearly ten centuries, but if there is ever news about the Elements I make sure to hear about it.”

It was now Fluttershy’s eyes’ turn to widen. “You... you have been away for ten centuries?”

“Mmhm!”

“And you were a princess, and Celestia’s student before that, too?”

Amber Dawn smiled. “Yes, and that’s all a rather long story,” she replied. As she opened her mouth to speak, the sound of a hot kettle punctured the air. “Which I’ll be happy to share over tea, if that’s alright.” She ended her sentence with a knowing yet demure look that made Fluttershy blush once more.

“Right away, uh....” Fluttershy tapped her front hooves together. “Your highness?”

The alicorn giggled. “Please, call me Amber.”

Fluttershy returned with their tea shortly, joining her guest on the floor in front of the fireplace. “Thank you,” said Amber. The remainder of her horn shimmered with rose-red magic and matching energy surrounded her cup, levitating it to her lips. She took a sip, then shuddered with ecstasy. “OH! Oh my goodness... it really has been so long since I’ve had tea. I had become rather accustomed to Gryphonian Fire Wine, but it is such a crude drink.”

“You... you can still use magic! Twilight told me a damaged horn is a permanent disability!”

Amber smiled. “Yes, and I should have lost my ability forever. It’s funny though, the Serene Zebra Republic seems to be home to scholars who understand magic far better than anypony. That country was one of my first stops after my horn broke, and I spent a century there in service to those scholars on the chance that I could glean some hope of regaining my magic.

“But maybe I should start at the beginning, yes?” Fluttershy nodded enthusiastically, unaware that she was unconsciously slurping down her tea instead of savoring it.

Amber cleared her throat. “I was a little filly a thousand years ago and had started my schooling during what you might call the Dark Times: The Tyranny of Discord, the Dark Regime of King Sombra... and, of course, the Failed Coup of Nightmare Moon. Though they were frightening times, there has really never been a period in the history of magic so captivating: Discord’s seemingly limitless font of manifested chaos, Sombra’s powers of violence and shadow, and the Royal Sisters, wielding the Elements of Harmony against both! I developed quite a fascination, one that kept me up late nearly every night, studying.”

Amber took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she gathered the threads of many long years of memory. Her eyes closed briefly as she continued, “I was not from the wealthiest family, but apparently I was the most dutiful student. Princess Celestia saw my exam results and, after a few tests of her own, she accepted me as her pupil. Alas, as I grew into adulthood, I learned that I was an oddity in two ways: First, I was a lesbian--”

There was a splutter from Fluttershy, and Amber’s eyes opened to see her wiping tea off her mouth and the table in front of her, her yellow cheeks suffused with deep red. The pegasus was no longer able to meet her eyes, and Amber’s cheeks flushed slightly in sympathy.

“I see I am not the only one here,” she said with a warm smile, glancing outside at the rain for a minute to let Fluttershy recover from her discomfiture. “As I was saying, I was a lesbian. The second oddity: I had not earned my cutie mark before I reached adulthood.” She looked down and smiled shyly before meeting Fluttershy’s gaze again. “I’m not the first and I will certainly not be the last, but it was definitely an embarrassment.

“Being a lesbian in that era was particularly... challenging. Equestria has not always been the realm of love and tolerance I have been told it is today. Back then, homosexuality and bisexuality were vilified at best, and in some areas were even criminalized.”

Amber’s eyes reflected an old sadness, but as she continued her smile returned to its former brightness. “As you might imagine, a mare in my position was expected to be dating stallions, but simply put, they just never... turned me on. Since I was already a barely tolerated oddity because of my position as the Princess’ pupil - especially as a ‘late bloomer’ who was a blank flank for far too long - I at first decided to withdraw from the whole messy process.

“But my body, and my oh-so-concerned peers, let me know that this was not acceptable,” she said with a wry grin and a twinkle in her eye, “and so I decided as a magician to approach the problem scientifically.”

She nodded as she saw Fluttershy’s eyes brighten. “Yes, I used magic to affect my own sexuality. Actually, I invented that particular bit of magic. I was shocked to find that nopony had discovered this need before me and filled it, yet the mechanics were actually quite obvious, at least to me.

“My first spell was what I immediately needed, though it was perhaps not what you might think. You see, ponies are not strictly oriented towards any gender, at least not inherently. We lean towards either at any given moment, but we have the potential to enjoy both. My spell allowed me to bring out one’s most dormant urge, and in my case it was stallions.” Amber shook her head with a wry grin. “It was ironic: I desired mares originally, but thanks to my spell it was a stallion who was my very first partner. Oh, and he was such a partner, I’ve never seen one so long--”

Amber chuckled as she noticed Fluttershy’s face was almost totally scarlet. “Maybe I should avoid tangents like that,” she said with a little smirk. “Anyway, my spell worked and I happened to get my cutie mark as a result, but it was only the beginning. I went on to develop a whole series of sexual remedies and enhancements. Inconvenient orientation? Not a problem. Too little sex drive? Not a problem. Too much sex drive? I envied those ponies, but again it wasn’t a problem. I could even help ponies acquire kinks that they would have never dreamed of on their own.

“Eventually, word got out about my new field of magic and it reached the Princess’ ear, even though I had intended for her not to hear about it. Fortunately she was very pleased with me and I was soon swimming in awards. The traditionalists didn’t approve, but the scientific community and my customers embraced this new form of magic. And it wasn’t too many years into my studies under her before I received the ultimate award possible: Princess Celestia made me an alicorn.”

Fluttershy smiled. “You must have been proud!”

Amber grinned back. “You have no idea. There were a lot of benefits to it: Being feted by the elite and studying the Elements of Harmony stand out in particular, and I do enjoy flying. However, by becoming royalty and a member of a divine race of ponies, my position was beyond the scrutiny of law, including the very law that forced me to develop those spells in the first place. I was free not only to profess my sexuality, but to act on it however I wished, and it would have been treason for anypony to say a word about it. Not that I actually did all that much,” she smirked. “Celestia wouldn’t have it, said it was ‘bad for the reputation of the throne or something like that. Of course, the traditionalist nobles all assumed they knew the truth of my sexuality and privately hated me for it, and I am quite sure the Order of Saint-Empress Faust was behind a few attempts on my life--”

“Order of the what?” Fluttershy interrupted, then recoiled at her words. “That is... if you don’t mind answering....”

“No it’s quite alright,” said Amber. “The Order of Saint-Empress Faust was a secretive monastic order of zealots based around the worship of the Holy Empress Faust and the other Alicorns of the Infinite Alicorn Authority. The latter is supposedly a continuum of all-powerful aetherial alicorns that exist in Elysium, who sent Celestia and Luna into material forms to liberate Equestria from Discord and replace Clover the Clever’s Charter with the first Equestrian Constitution. Again, supposedly. The only ponies who claimed any contact with Faust and the Authority were the Royal Sisters, so it could easily have been made up. I can guarantee that I’ve never had any visions or other contact with such beings, though if they exist I would have liked to. But given that anypony, including me, can be ‘promoted,’ it is conceivable that the alicorn race is a genetic mutation brought on by powerful magic.”

“Oh... okay.” Fluttershy had never heard of such beings, nor had she ever heard of Twilight or the Princesses mentioning them. However, she decided to table any thoughts of how this might affect her spiritual beliefs for another time.

“Anyway, I was essentially above the law, with the obvious exceptions of murder and those sorts of things. I was free to express myself as I wished, and find the mare of my dreams. Turns out that mare had been in plain sight the entire time.” Amber looked at Fluttershy with a smile that widened right along with the yellow pony’s eyes.

“Princess Celestia?!”

“Princess Celestia. I could go on for ages about how our match seemed to be made in heaven, how her love filled me with so much joy to the point of tears, how she was fantastic in bed... the point is, I was truly happy. As it turns out, I fulfilled her even more: She had never had a lover before, and she felt even lonelier after losing her sister to a thousand years of banishment. She had taken me on as a student for perfectly professional reasons, but secretly she had been hoping I was a lesbian like her.

“This story could have continued for eternity, happily forever and ever.” Amber looked down and her expression darkened. “Except for the accident,” she muttered.

Fluttershy’s enthusiasm visibly faded and she gulped before asking, “You mean, your horn.”

Amber nodded, turning to the fireplace. “It... we were experimenting with the Elements of Harmony. I won’t burden you with what happened or how, but the result is that I lost the top half of my horn. No more magic. I had lost everything that made me, me! And worse, without magic I was a princess in title only. They appointed a regent to manage my estate and participate in the legislature on my behalf, but it was barely a week before I called it quits. I left everything to Celestia, abdicated my crown, and fled Equestria in disgrace.”

She turned back to Fluttershy, whose face contorted with sadness to see the tears rolling down her cheeks. “But you know,” Amber said, nearly choking on her sobs, “the worst part was saying goodbye to... to her. She begged me to stay, you know. I told her that I’d travel the world beyond Equestria, serve the Kingdom that way--”

Despite her usual reluctance about such body contact, Fluttershy slowly put her hooves around Amber’s neck and held her close. “I’m so sorry,” said the pegasus softly. “It must have been so hard for you.”

“Th-thank you,” Amber moaned. They huddled in that position for a good minute before Amber pulled back, taking one corner of a towel to her eyes. “I did actually travel, you know. Like I said, I stayed in the Serene Zebra Republic for a good century and got much of my magic back with their help. I can actually perform a full nine hundred fluxes per second!”

Fluttershy looked confused.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Amber laughed. “This is something only unicorns usually learn. You see, fluxes per second is the standard Equestrian measurement for magic. When magic happens, it creates a brief flux in space. The more fluxes per second, the more effect is possible. Unicorns and alicorns can have their magic potential measured this way. The average unicorn can reach six hundred fluxes at a stretch, but a particularly talented one can cause around nine hundred. As an alicorn, at my peak I could perform one thousand three hundred and nine fluxes per second! Celestia was better: she’s reached one thousand three hundred and thirty six.”

Amber’s story was interrupted as she tried futilely to stifle a yawn. “Goodness, what time is it?”

Fluttershy glanced at the clock. “Ten in the evening.”

“A bit early,” Amber mused, “but I am quite tired from my travels.” She gave Fluttershy an innocent look. “Would I be imposing too much to ask for your sofa for the night?”

Fluttershy felt herself heat up again, though she recovered more quickly than before. “Please, stay as many nights as you like!” she said in a rush.

“Oh thank you!” Amber rejoiced, hugging Fluttershy again, which made the pegasus squeak in surprise. She pulled back and asked, “I do need one more small favor, then.”

“Yes?”

“Can you... not tell anypony I’m here? I want my reunion with Celestia to be a surprise. It’s... very important to me, Fluttershy. Will you keep my secret?”

Fluttershy smiled and recited, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Amber stared in confusion and concern, causing Fluttershy to giggle. “Yes, I won’t tell anypony,” said the pegasus reassuringly.

“Oh thank you, Fluttershy,” Amber said with a sigh of relief, standing up. “Sweet dreams?”

“Sweet dreams,” Fluttershy replied.

The pegasus trotted upstairs. Amber watched the subtle sway of her hips as she walked, smiling to herself. This is going far better than I could have hoped.