The rain was coming down hard in Ponyville.

Near the outskirts of the town a pink-haired pony was resting under a large tree. Several of them
came together here, surrounded on all sides by a high, overgrown mass of bushes to form a
little clearing. She smiled, enjoying the sound of the rain pattering over the fresh summer leaves.

Another sound pricked her ear. Somepony else was in the clearing, had just stepped next to her.
She gave a little start, looking toward the sound. A unicorn smiled back at her, a muted, dusty
brown color, with mane the same shade.

"Sorry, did I startle you?"

"Oh no, I mean yes, I mean it's fine..."

The unicorn extended a hoof, smiling again. "My name is Haze."

The yellow pony paused a moment, then smiled back slightly, reaching out to complete
the hoof-shake. "I'm fl-...fluttershy."

"Good to meet you Fluttershy." He sat next to her, a few feet away, and turned to look out
toward the town. "Caught in the rain?"

"Yes..." And after an awkward pause. "I don't mind though. The rain sounds nice on the leaves."
She winced, afraid this sounded stupid, but the brown pony nodded. "It does. A very relaxing,
steady rhythm, one drop after the next, in slow,

steady

re-pe-ti-tion."

Fluttershy blinked. Something had distracted her, but she couldn't remember what. Haze was
in front of her, looking into her eyes.

"Could you help me with something, Fluttershy?" "Well, um, I, really-" His eyes blinked. A
gentle relaxation crept through her.

"Sure."

"Wonderful. Would you mind taking a look at this?" He levitated a book into her hooves, old,
leather-bound and worn. "Right here-" his dull gray magic quickly flipped to a page a quarter
of the way through.

The left-hand page was blank, but on the right-"What do you see Fluttershy?"

"I-it's a maze..."

Harsh, geometric angles traced back and forth across the page, forming passages that twisted
in all directions, bending round and back with dizzying intricacy.

"Where does it end?"

Fluttershy's eyes scanned the maze. The lines seemed to converge to toward the center, but
there was no clear end. Every time they got close they would break off again, another circuit,
another obscure pathway. She realized she was following them, following the lines as they-

"Twist and turn over the page, overlapping, underlapping, back on themselves and back to the
center and around again for another pass. Keep following those lines, the center is getting close,
you can feel it, you know it, you know-"

The center was getting close, she could find it, she would find it.

The lines made concentrating harder and easier at the same time, deeper and deeper into the lines,
the rain around her was dimming now, everything in her periphery dimming now as the lines
danced and swayed so excited so focused so close now, so close to the center nearly there,
there was the center there was-

The world was white.

The world was-

The world-

-

Haze plucked the book from the unmoving pegasus. Her hooves stayed in place, glazed
eyes still staring motionless at where the book had been.

"Put your hooves down."

The yellow pegasus obeyed robotically, still staring at empty space. Haze glanced down at the book
and smiled, not so friendly now. In the center of the maze, inside a small circle, three butterflies had
been inked into the page. Haze looked up at the pegasus and considered what to do with his first catch.

Haze stepped in front of the unblinking pegasus, savoring the moment. It was always
so much fun to see them like this. Frozen, helpless, empty. Waiting. The unicorn knew
what the result would be, but he couldn't resist waving a hoof in front of the yellow
pony's eyes. No response. He held his hoof to her mouth, felt the slow, shallow breaths
against it. Gently pressed her jaw open, let his hoof play over her limp tongue. She was
an excellent start.

Reaching into the binding of the book with his magic, Haze pulled out a battered quill,
tip somehow already wet with deep black ink. Magic sparkling, he brought the book in
front of him, still opened to the same place, maze on the right, blank page on the left.
He let it hover there a moment, looking to the frozen pink pegasus, then out into space,
then back. Then with a small smile of decision, he brought the quill to the empty page
and wrote.

Sex is a normal way to help an injured pony feel better.
There is nothing unusual about using sex to help an injured pony.

Leaning down toward the page the unicorn blew across the page, drying the ink into the
ancient paper, then looked back up to his glass-eyed pegasus. Slowly, almost unnoticeably
at first, Fluttershy's lips began to move. In a moment the motion was obvious, her mouth
and tongue silently forming the shapes of words. The same words Haze had just written.
Repeating them, again and again, a little slower each time. Until at last her lips went
still again, and the pegasus gave a long, deep sigh. The words sparkled slightly
on the page, then faded to dry black.

Haze closed the book, slipping it into a small bag and pulling out a small wooden case.
His magic shimmered across the wood, opening it and withdrawing a thin razor. He brought
the blade up a few inches above his right hoof, then cut across-

Once

Twice

Thrice

-horizontally at various angles and lengths, always shallow, careful to miss any major
veins. A few more cuts and the blade was quickly cleaned and put away. Haze reached up
with his hoof, holding it in the air just above Fluttershy's head and wincing at how
sore it was now, then gently pulled back and down, as if he was pulling a sheet off
her head.

The pegasus twitched, blinked. Looked up at him confused, then immediately apologetic.
"Oh. Did I fall asleep? I'm sorry...sometimes I-" She caught sight of the blood
dripping down Haze's hoof. "You're hurt!"

The unicorn grimaced. "Yeah, I must have scraped myself on som-YEEE!" Before Haze could
finish the sentence, Fluttershy had somehow found gauze, bandages and alcohol and was
already applying the latter to the wound.

"Oh, sorry." She apologized in worried town, seeing Haze's reaction. "No problem."
The unicorn replied through clenched teeth. The pegasus might have used a bit more
then was strictly necissary, as Haze noted the bottle was now a quarter empty.

"There you go." She said, stepping back. "How does that feel?"

Haze looked down at the injury, already perfectly bandaged. "Pretty good actually.
Still a little sore, but that serves me right for being careless." The pegasus gave
a gentle smile. "I'm just glad I could help. I'd hate for those cuts to go untreated.
They looked pretty bad." She glanced around. "How did you get them anyway? I mean if
that's ok. I don't mean to pry."

"Like I said, careless. Say Fluttershy?" The pegasus looked back toward him. "Yes?"

"The bandage is really helping, but I'm still pretty sore. Is there anything else you
could do to help?"

"Um, well, I have some soothing tea, but that's back at the-" "No no. I mean, uh-"
He pulled back one of his hind legs to reveal his length, already half out and hanging
heavy between his legs.

"OH." The pegasus instantly went a bright red. Haze shuffled his leg back. "Sorry,
I know some ponies aren't really comfortable, I didn't realize. I just thought-"

"No-"

Haze mentally grinned as the yellow pegasus walked over to him. "No it's...fine."
He could almost see the shift as the need to nurture and help pushed aside the vague,
instinctual objections her mind was making. "I-it's a... perfectly normal way to help
with an injury like this." The words came out slightly mechanical. "And those cuts did
look bad." She looked up at him. "um, would you mind lying back?" He did smile this
time, though not as widely as he wanted to. "Of course."

Haze sat back against the tree, legs spread, length in plain sight again, lying
against his belly. Very gingerly, the pegasus lay in front of him, her eyes locked on
the thick black shaft as her head came close. Her hooves grasped the base, pulling it
up into the air, and looked up at him, giving a small noise of emberassment as his eyes
met hers, then immediately shutting them. Haze watched in fascination as her tongue came
closer and closer until he felt its warmth against his base, felt it slide up and
swirl and gently, tenderly roll over his eager length.

The pegasus was incredible with her tongue, and when her mouth finally followed,
slipping over his tip, bobbing and rolling across his length, enveloping him in warm, soft
pleasure, Haze couldn't stop himself from giving a very pleased moan. She was so tender,
so careful and loving with each stroke, all the right places getting exactly what they
needed. Soon she began to move quicker, bob a little deeper, grasp the base gently with
her hooves, press and release, press and release. The unicorn could feel every muscle in
his body going limp in pure, blissful contentment. Another smile crept over his face as
the sloppy wet sound of slick flesh sliding over slick flesh rose from between his legs.
If only the pegasus knew what she was doing. But there would be time for that later.

He could feel himself tensing now, close. His hoof reached down, stroking Fluttershy's
mane. And then, as the last crest of pleasure hit, he pulled her back. The pegasus's mouth
opened to form a question, but in an instant it was full of hot, salty answer. As was her
cheek, and the front of her mane, and the other side of her face, and somehow one of her ears.

The gentle yellow pegasus looked up at Haze, staring through the white liquid slowly
running down her face, sticking here and there. She was paralyzed again, but this time
for a very different reason. Her cheeks had gone red again.

"Fluttershy? You ok?" Haze waved a hoof in front of her. The pegasus blinked, shivered.
Looked up at him again. "Swallow." She did. "You ok?" After a pause, she nodded slightly,
then more firmly. "Sorry, I was trying to stop you before it was too late, but I guess
I didn't time it quite right." The unicorn lied.

"That's ok. I um...don't mind." This last part was strangely quiet. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much better." Haze said, truthfully this time. "Thank you for that."

"Oh, it was nothing." the pegasus glanced shyly at the ground. "Say Fluttershy?"
She looked up. "Yes?"

Haze's hoof thrust forward suddenly, out toward Fluttershy's head, then up slightly.
The Pegusus's eyes glazed, body freezing in place. In the bag behind the tree, the book
glowed slightly.

"Did you enjoy that Fluttershy?"

"Yes..." The voice came back a distant, relaxed monotone.

"And how do you feel now?"

"Embarassed... But good..."

He smiled. "Good girl. Such a dirty pony. But being a dirty pony is good. Repeat and remember."

"Being a dirty pony is good." The pegasus murmured.

"Good." He extended his hoof again, pulling back this time. Fluttershy blinked,
back again. The rain had stopped.

"I should...um...be getting back for now. If you're ok that is?" She looked to Haze
with concern. "I'm fine, really. Thanks to you." The pegasus smiled slightly, looking
back down at the ground. "It was nothing. A-anyway, g-goodbye then..." And she
disappeared into the bushes.

Haze watched her go, then noticed that his book had fallen out of its bag. It lay
on the ground, open to a page nearer the beginning. The page on the left was full
of dense writing, but toward the bottom quarter it suddenly became frantic, ink
splattered her and there, letters barely finished. The last few sentences were incomplete.
On the right, there was only a solid mass of black.

Haze looked down grimly, and closed the book.