At the very edge of Ponyville – depending on who you ask, it's either the southernmost feature of the village, or it's outside its borders altogether – lies a building. Not a particularly striking piece of architecture in and of itself; it was built around a hundred years ago as a waystation for ponies making the onerous journey from Manehattan to Canterlot before the arrival of locomotives, and it was essentially a big wooden box with an oddly sloping roof and darkened windows.

The darkened windows weren't an original feature of the building; they were added much later, by the new owners, because while what they sold wasn't illegal it was frowned-upon, and there were more than a few citizens of Ponyville who would've liked to see it go out of business entirely.

Except there are some trades you just can't rid of, no matter how hard you try. The fact of the matter was, they paid rent and taxes, so they weren't inclined to go anywhere.

It had no official name, but plenty of unofficial ones. Bagnio, den of iniquity, cat-house ...

A timid pegasus approached the building; it wasn't the first time, and even heavily disguised under a dark brown cloak, she was still wary that anypony could be watching. Her friends had spoken of this place using the sort of language one didn't often hear uttered in polite company. It had piqued her curiosity, however.

She knocked gently on the door and awaited a response.

“Password?” asked a gruff voice.

The pegasus reached into the cloak's internal pocket and retrieved a small cloth purse. She nudged it under the door with her foreleg.

“Password: accepted,” said the doorman and he unlocked the heavy wooden door to allow the pegasus entry. “Nice to see you again so soon, ma'am. May I take your cloak?”

Fluttershy shrugged out of the garment and handed it to the doorman. “Thank you,” she said politely.

“My pleasure. Well,” he said, hanging the cloak up on a peg, “as you've been here before, you don't really need me to tell you how everything works.”

“No,” agreed the demure pegasus with the faintest trace of a smile. She went through the interior door and found herself in a room not unlike a bar; rather than drinks being for sale, however, it was ponies who were on offer for … consumption.

“Hello, Miss,” said a broad-withered stallion, showing off his musculature with a series of poses that came across more ridiculous than arousing. “Like what you see?”

Fluttershy blushed. “Uh, you're very nice,” she said, feeling the bizarre need to let him down gently, “but you're not who I'm looking for.”

“Fair enough,” he replied, letting her know it wasn't personal, “but if you change your mind ...”

The shy pegasus looked around; it was for one reason only that she came here time after time, and it looked like they weren't here. Just as she was about to give up, one of the side doors opened up and a thing entered the room.

“Mohini!” Fluttershy called, pushing determinedly through the crowd before anyone else could get to them.

“Hey, nice to see you again.”

Fluttershy wanted to believe that was true, but doubtless, it was something Mohini said to every … client. “Um, are you … available?”

“Always, for you,” Mohini said with a wide grin. It was rule number one of the profession: make the customer feel special. They usually paid more and there was the possibility of repeat business.

The two disappeared into one of the side rooms. They were all pretty much identical. A bed just large enough for two, a couple of lamps affixed to the wall, and a box of treats at the foot of the bed. Fluttershy put this aside, as she always did. She had no need for such … implements.

Mohini spread out seductively on the bed while Fluttershy sat on her hind legs, lost in thought. “Same as usual?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“Can I say something?”

“Of course,” said Fluttershy.

“This is, what, the ninth time you've been here in the past few weeks?”

“Tenth,” corrected Fluttershy with a small sigh.

“Our services don't come cheap, if you'll excuse the phrasing.”

“I know, but it's worth it,” the pegasus replied, feeling a shred of doubt gnawing at her.

“Look, far be it for me to tell you how to live your life, and obviously it's better for me if you do keep returning,” Mohini was saying, “but I really think you should just tell them how you feel rather than going through with this charade.”

“You know I can't.”

“Why not?”

“It's … complicated.” Fluttershy sighed, feeling tense. It was the exact opposite that she wished to feel at this moment. “Can we … start, please?”

Mohini nodded. Broken hearts were one of the reasons this place got to stay in business after all. In a flash of green light, the Changeling transformed into a perfect replica of Fluttershy's objet du désir. Money wasn't the only reason for doing this job; unreciprocated love wasn't quite as powerful, but it was close enough, and every little bit helped keep the Hive fed.

“Hey, Fluttershy,” a voice laden with minute cracks said, “how's it goin'?”

Fluttershy turned to see Rainbow Dash sitting there; her mind tried to tell her it wasn't really the cyan pegasus, of course, but it was easy enough to ignore it in favour of listening to her pounding heart. “Hello, Rainbow Dash,” she said with a small blush. “I'm … fine. How are you tonight?”

“I'm good.” Faux-Dash stretched her wings to their maximum span. “Come here.”

Fluttershy slid gingerly along the bed until she was level with Faux-Dash; the fake pegasus put her wings around the real one and held her close, confident cerise eyes gazing into timid blue ones. “So?”

“So what?” asked Fluttershy, looking into a face that so perfectly mirrored that of her best friend.

“I get the feeling that there's something you wanted to tell me.” Even the voice was perfect.

“I … yes, there is,” said Fluttershy, cowering slightly under the scrutiny. “I … I'm in love with you, Rainbow Dash. I have been for so long now. I … I couldn't think how to tell you, I'm such a coward.”

“Nah, you're not a coward,” Faux-Dash said, “you were just afraid that you weren't worthy of me.”

Fluttershy nodded and leaned into the winged embrace. She wished desperately that they could just stay like this forever, but the obnoxiously rational part of her mind screamed at her, ruining the fantasy. “I … I should get going,” she said, extracting herself from the feathery hug.

“You pay a lot of money just for this,” Mohini said, tone carefully neutral.

“It helps.”

“Does it?”

“... a little,” conceded Fluttershy, “but it's better than nothing.”

“What's Rainbow Dash doing right now?” enquired Mohini.

“Probably out with Twilight.”

“Doing what?”

“I'd rather not think about it,” Fluttershy snapped a hair more angrily than she'd meant to, but the images of Rainbow Dash's unique brand of “flying lessons” came unbidden, anyway.

“Again, not trying to tell you how to run your life, but … you should forget about her. I mean, I'm sure she's wonderful and all that, but this … this isn't healthy.”

Fluttershy knew that the Changeling was right, that this wasn't how she should deal with her feelings, but she wasn't quite prepared to admit that Rainbow Dash was lost to her. She cursed her own bashfulness. Maybe Rainbow wouldn't have felt the same way, but the rejection would've been better than the uncertainty. At least then she could think about moving on.