Author's Note

There is story here, I promise, but there is also a sizable sex scene in the middle. The second part of this chapter, coming tomorrow, does not have a sex scene, but is very intimate.

See you tomorrow!

Also, ach! I almost forgot! Two parter today and tomorrow. I blame Friday the 13th.

Book 2, 8. Old Loves and New, Part 1

Cloudy read the letter from her mother for the fifth or sixth time, leaning against Rosemary while she sorted through the last parcels of mail her mother had left.

Cloudy,

I miss you so much. I don’t even know where to start. I don’t know how much you know, we only get rumors from Rosie now and then. I hope Rosewater offers to take a letter back to us. I don’t know how she’ll get them to us without Roseate knowing, but I want to hear from you, Cloudy, and so does Cirrus. He wishes his big sister was there to teach him how to cloud bust, but your cousin Rose Breeze, you remember him, right, has agreed to help him out.

Misty Rose got over her anger at you for leaving without telling her. She wouldn’t even talk to us for a while about you. You know how teenagers are. But she still loves you. She wants you to come home. I know you can’t, and I tried to explain that to her… but she’s still angry that you had to run.

I wish you had come to us first, Cloudy. We could have helped you. And Rosewater isn’t so bad of a pony, not like the ponies on the street keep saying. She’s kind, and she let us into her sitting room. She has a beautiful home, and so many pictures, Cloudy. I had almost forgotten she and Carnation were… whatever they were.

I wish… I wish you had come to us. I really do. But I understand young love, and Rosemary… you weren’t thinking straight. We forgive you, Cloudy. Your dads and I love you, too. I’d like you to ask Rosewater to arrange something. She’s offered to sneak us out of the city to meet you and sneak us back in.

I don’t know if we’d want to risk it. We might have to run just like you. We… might need to. Roseate is only ignoring us because we keep the weather clear, your father and I and the other Rosewings and transplant pegasi, but the rest of our friends are having a hard time getting trade permits for Damme. They’re not being denied, but it’s taking weeks to renew, or sometimes they’re revoked for no reason.

Rosewater is assuring me Roseate will never see this. When you’re done reading… please lock it away or burn it or

The letter blurred before her mother’s signature.

With so much love,

Mom

When she looked up, Rosemary was looking into her eyes, her ears laid back. “I want this war to be over,” she whispered.

Rosemary answered by taking the letter and folding it carefully before placing it in the small box Lace had given her for her private things. “It will be,” she whispered, leaning in to kiss her love. “Tonight, I’ll share Mother’s Kiss with you, Cloudy, but first…”

Cloudy waited while Rosemary concentrated on the gems in the corners of the room, pouring magic into them until they glowed. Enough to keep for a half hour at best, she judged.

Enough, she hoped, that she wouldn’t discomfit the guard nor alert the staff that she was making love to Rosemary.

Rosemary’s lips were already parted when Cloudy leaned in to kiss her. Warm, soft lips parted further as Cloudy’s tongue traced her lips, met Rosemary’s, and slipped in to explore the taste of her. Wine, a taste of dessert, and a hunger that grew as Rosemary shifted the saddlebags and remaining letters to the floor.

Cloudy let her lead, guiding her to lay full out on the bed, tongues still twined as Rosemary pulled herself atop Cloudy, barrel to barrel, using her magic to settle Cloudy more comfortably against the covers before she drew back, letting her tongue stay free for a second before swallowing and looking down at her.

“You are so beautiful, Cloudy,” Rosemary murmured, tipping her head side to side to kiss the ankles rising to embrace her. “It’s been so long. I want you, Cloudy, to let me take care of you.”

Cloudy wrapped her forelegs around Rosemary’s neck and pulled her in for another kiss, her heart thumping, her breathing deepening, taking in Rosemary’s scent rising and intensifying as she raised her tail. Memories of past dates, chases, nights and days laying with Rosemary, talking to her, falling in love with her, and making love to her filled Cloudy’s mind as the kiss lingered on and on.

She saw the same memories in Rosemary’s eyes as they parted again, her breathing heavily, mouth open, Cloudy huffing and swallowing before she could make her voice work. “I love you, Rosemary.”

“I love you, too… I hope being in Damme hasn’t dampened your…” Rosemary smirked and kissed her nose. “Voice. I want you to scream for me, Cloudy. My name, more, more…” Her voice, light soprano deepened with husky promise as she pushed herself up and trailed kisses along Cloudy’s muzzle. “Can you do that?”

Cloudy whimpered and twisted her head to watch as Rosemary trailed the kisses down her neck until she rested her chin on Cloudy’s sternum, watching and waiting. “Yes!” she cried. “Rosemary, please, don’t tease me.”

“Tease?” Rosemary dragged her tongue up from Cloudy’s belly to the base of her rib cage, drawing a shiver and whine from her. “Cloudy… when have I ever not delivered every…” Her tongue stroked up the flat of Cloudy’s belly, drawing a whimper and a cry as lightning shot up her hind legs. “...little…” And along the crease between her inner thigh, making her cry out and thrust her hind legs higher, tightening the crease and drawing Rosemary to nip. “...promise?”

“Never,” Cloudy panted, writhing, her wing joints flexing as she rolled her hips back, wanting Rosemary’s tongue and muzzle between her lips. “N-never!”

Rosemary’s lips found the valley between Cloudy’s teats and nipped lightly at the sparse, soft hairs there, lapping slowly around the edges of the soft, bare rises and drawing groans and stoking the fires of Cloudy’s lusts. She winked suddenly, the erection of her clitoris stark and shivering as it pushed past the soft folds of her hood and flared her lips open briefly.

Cruel Rosemary ignored it, instead latching onto the soft nub of Cloudy’s teat and nipping, then licking and nipping again before her lips closed over the hard nub and began to suckle slow, deep, and powerfully.

“Rosemary,” Cloudy groaned, flexing her hind legs and hips, trying to coax her away from her teats and towards the ache in her nethers, growing with each deep suck and release. “Rosemary!”

With a pop, Rosemary let go of the teat, and chill immediately crept over the wet flesh. “Yes, lovely?” she purred. “I promise I haven’t gotten to the good part yet.”

“C-can you hurry? I remember your tongue, Rosemary.” That tongue, slipping into her, curling, she shuddered and flexed her legs as she winked open again, huffing as she arched her back and flexed her hind legs. Swirling around her clitoris. “Uhn, please!”

“Darling Cloudy Rose,” Rosemary purred, her lips brushing down past Cloudy’s teats to play at the very edge of her pelvic mound, so close she could feel the heat of Rosemary’s breath as it spilled against her parted lips. “You smell just as enticing as ever… I couldn’t ever resist…”

The touch, when it came hot and wet, sent a thrill of longing up Cloudy’s spine, tingling along her limbs. “Rosemary!” she cried, her tail pressing against the bed and trying to press through it, needing to open herself to her lover more.

“Sing, Cloudy,” the dastardly mare droned in a low voice, her chin resting on Cloudy’s pelvic mound and sending every erg of that voice right into her. “Sing.”

She held the last note low, humming as her horn glittered and surrounded her muzzle, intensifying the droning vibration sinking into Cloudy’s body already excited by Rosemary’s presence. Wetness began trickling along her budding pucker to pool in the cup of her dock, spreading into the hairs of her tail before long.

“That’s what I wanted,” Rosemary whispered as Cloudy’s erect clitoris slid back, her body relaxing as the humming ceased. “That sight, Cloudy, shall I describe it to you? Your petals barely parted…” Rosemary dipped and slipped her tongue between them, the heat of flesh on flesh making Cloudy’s back arch and an involuntary whimper to escape her throat. The tongue slipped deep, pressing against Cloudy’s contracting canal, urging her open just enough to let more pleasure in. Then it was gone, and the lack of her lover’s tongue woke an ache for more. “The taste of you… so intense.”

“Rosemary, rutting tease!” Cloudy moaned, trying to hook her hind hoof behind Rosemary’s head to draw her in again.

“Oh, no… I’m a tease? Whatever will I do to recover my reputation?” Rosemary laughed.

Cloudy laughed with her, shivering as the cool air of the room began chilling her flesh. “By the Mare… I love you, Rosemary. But what you do to me…” She writhed on her back, spreading her hind legs far open for Rosemary to have access to everything, to show her just how eager she was. “What you do to me…”

“Mmm…” Rosemary dipped her head down to nuzzle the expanse of Cloudy’s exposed belly. “Beautiful.” She nipped each nipple once, lapped at the shallow vale between her teats, and closed her lips over the hood of Cloudy’s clitoris, suckling slowly, more gently, and letting her tongue slip between the folds of her marehood every time her clit surged erect against the faint rasp and tug of the tongue returning.

It was fire, and Rosemary’s horn glittered as she held Cloudy’s legs open against the urge to clamp her thighs over her lover’s head.

“Ngh!” Cloudy panted, writhing, huffing, and gasping. “Rosemary!”

Her lover’s ears twitched back but she didn’t raise her head. Her eyes bored into Cloudy’s, the heat and raw desire in them belied the teasing. All of it had been to lead up to this moment. As if she hadn’t known it was coming.

She met her eyes for as long as she could, resisting the fire racing down her spine and up her neck to tingle her nose. Those beautiful rose eyes blinked slowly as Cloudy watched her lips part and close over her pelvic mound, the barest presence of teeth pressing into padded flesh further stirring her lusts, making her heart race and her breath grow shallow as lap after lap drove her farther towards that gasping cliff.

Then she could no longer keep her head lifted and threw it back against the bed, writhing and unable to close her legs over the growing tension and ache surging into a fire that lit every fiber of her being with a fire only quenchable by Rosemary’s expert, slow, firm love-making.

When her head dropped, Rosemary pulled away from her clitoris, but didn’t let the exposed nub go cold as a warming spell settled over her, gentle and inert. For now.

Cloudy felt and gasped as her lover’s tongue and cool breath mixed with hot breath as she breathed through her nose and mouth alternately, the tongue swirling through the heated part of her lips as more and more of Cloudy’s excitement pooled into her tail, not cooling as it should have, preserved by more magic. Heat upon heat built as the tongue touch her, sliding along crease and into every crevice, missing no part of Cloudy’s sex and both easing and igniting new aches deeper inside with every passing, slow breath from Rosemary.

Then her tongue was sliding into Cloudy’s body again, then pulling away as the sound of Rosemary lapping at her honey and swallowing theatrically loudly excited a cry of Rosemary’s name again, and quieter a plea to rut her, repeated over and over, barely cognizant of the words passing her lips.

The warmth over her clitoris changed, rolling around in a slow circle as a bit of telekinetic force entered the spell, and Rosemary shifted, cupping Cloudy’s hindquarters in her hooves and pushing her muzzle tight to the entrance to Cloudy’s wet depths, her tongue sliding past and curling, pulling back and tingling inside, leaving a fuzzy feeling of ecstacy behind before she pushed deeper and deeper, breathing more and more intensely through her nose as the washes of pleasure from clit and sex rose and rose.

Her voice rose with them, calling Rosemary’s name at first, needing to hear it cried, whimpered, and moaned with every draw of breath, then wordless moans and cries for more as the tension in her muscles, against the magic holding her legs apart grew stronger and stronger, building and building into a strain that let go as the force disappeared.

She rolled half to her side as she clamped her legs tightly together as the orgasm took her with a final cry of pleasure before she could only ride it out with Rosemary’s tingling tongue plunging deep, her muzzle firmly pressed to the entrance of her canal, following every toss and turn of her body.

Then she was coming back to full awareness, breathing heavily, barely able to get all the breath she needed, and Rosemary was slowly lapping at her sex, clinical and slow licks followed by quieter swallows and soft breaths.

“By the Mare in the Moon,” Cloudy moaned. “It was never like that before…”

“I learned a few tricks in the time between,” Rosemary murmured as she lifted her muzzle, Cloudy’s come spattered from nose and across the deep crimson marks of a Rosethorn. That tongue, that lovely tongue, bathed the sides of her muzzle, but wasn’t agile enough to get nearly all of it. “Rosie Night, Trestle, Garnish, Velvet… and from others… I wasn’t alone, Cloudy, as much as I wished for you, I wasn’t alone.”

That was what she’d wished for the entire time. That Rosemary wouldn’t be alone.

Cloudy raised her head higher to see that Rosemary was flagging so hard her tail was nearly a curly-queue. “Let me take care of you, Rosemary,” she whispered, pushing herself up and rolling over to start cleaning Rosemary’s muzzle. Would that Collar was there to mount Rosemary, he could see just how beautiful she was to mate with.

Halfway through the cleaning, as Rosemary was relaxing, and Cloudy had recovered enough of herself to feel like she could do herself proud, she pulled away and met Rosemary in a kiss that she used to guide Rosemary down to the bed on her side, eyes hopeful, then pleading as Cloudy broke away.

“Let me take care of you,” Cloudy whispered again, raising herself as Rosemary shifted and raised her hind leg. There was no need to tease Rosemary. She wanted Cloudy. It was in every line of her body, in every breath she took, in that still-smoldering gaze. But she didn’t demand. She wanted for Cloudy to give herself.

Rosemary’s thighs were streaked with the evidence of her arousal, musky and potent as Cloudy lapped at the streaks on her way to the source as she watched Rosemary’s belly twitch and flex as she winked, her teats and nipples puffy with the long-held lusts and twitching as she paused to lap and suckle at each, drawing whimpers from Rosemary.

“Beautiful,” Cloudy said around one, following it as her lover’s belly contracted and flexed.

“Cloudy, please,” Rosemary whined, her tail thumping against the bed as she winked open again.

“Sing for me,” Cloudy murmured as she pulled herself between Rosemary’s legs and closed her lips over the hard, quivering knob of Rosemary’s clitoris. Her reward was Rosemary’s raised voice calling her name in a wavering wail that trailed into a huffing gasp for breath.

Cloudy pressed firmly into the plush mound, teeth pressing back the hiding place so even then, Rosemary’s clit wasn’t safe from Cloudy’s flicking tongue or the slower, gasp and moan inducing lathing across it, or the slow suckle as she pulled back, her lips sealing over flesh and drawing the nub to meet her tongue.

Then, before she could overstimulate Rosemary, she was parting from the source of the sound and moving to slip her longer tongue deeper into Rosemary’s depths than any unicorn could.

Rosemary’s cries changed pitch, becoming deeper and slower as her flesh flexed and contracted against the strong pushes and curls of Cloudy’s tongue. Her taste was all around, inescapable, lovely, and stirring memories of other days, lazy sun-drenched love-making in a clearing.

She pulled Rosemary closer as strong legs closed over her shoulders, shaking as orgasm took her, drawn out only by the slowing action of Cloudy’s tongue as she slowly withdrew to lap and drink in the dribbles of come and feel the aftershocks of Rosemary’s orgasm passing through her thighs and her sex, her clitoris winking out slower and for less time… and still getting a kiss and a lick each time it came out, earning her squeaks and breathy giggles.

“Oh stars,” Rosemary whimpered. “That was wonderful.”

“Yes,” Cloudy said, working her jaw until it cracked and she could push herself up. “I’m going to have to apologize to the servants tomorrow,” she muttered, glancing at the slick sheen on the covers where she and Rosemary had both come, their scents mingling until it was hard to tell where one started and the other left off.

“You forget,” Rosemary murmured, her horn glowing as it covered the stain. “I’m a scent mage…” Slowly, the slickness retreated as a small globule of come formed in the air. Other mist-like beads joined it from places where Rosemary’s excitement had trailed over the fabric. “I learned this from my mother last year. Hiding one’s presence. I don’t think she meant it quite this way.”

“You two got closer after I left?” Cloudy mused, watching the cooling globule stop growing. There was less than she would have thought. It had felt like she’d come more.

“We did. She was trying to teach me stealth. Just in case. Also, don’t tell anypony that I did this.” She sent the mess into the bathroom and set the sink to wash it down as she filled a bowl with water and warmed it. “But I don’t want to make the servants’ jobs any harder. Sheets are hard to get come-scent out of otherwise.”

“Mm.” Cloudy kissed her and resumed washing her muzzle, paying special attention to her crimson muzzle markings. “Have I ever said how beautiful you are?” The marks accentuated the slender muzzle, drawing the eye naturally to Rosemary’s own.

“I like to hear you say it,” Rosemary said with a grin as she leaned in closer. “So I can return it, my beautiful Cloudy Rose.”

Cloudy kissed her, slow and deliberate, savoring the feel of her tongue and the faint aftertaste of mingled come, a particular taste she’d had rare enough occasion to experience in the last year. So few mares in Damme wanted to taste themselves. Rosemary not only wanted to taste herself, she wanted to take it from Cloudy’s mouth herself.

It was a part of her, the free openness of sex, not needing to worry about how far or what her partner might want or not want. She knew this mare, and knew what she wanted, how she liked it, and there was nothing hidden between them.

When they parted, the sink was off and a small pile of hoof towels waited next to a bowl of gently steaming water.

“It’s been so long,” Cloudy murmured. “Since I didn’t have to teach a lover about cleaning each other, and how relaxing it is. They don’t teach the mares here anything about sex.” She caught a towel between her lips and wrapped it deftly about her hoof before she dipped it in the bowl and set about cleaning Rosemary’s thighs more thoroughly.

“You poor darling,” Rosemary said with a laugh. “Surely they know to keep themselves clean?”

“They do. They just don’t want me to watch or help.” She sighed. “It’s embarrassing to them, I think, to let another mare, even the one who made the mess, clean it up. Like it’s an admission of weakness or something.”

“Or, perhaps, it’s a worry about the cleaning getting them aroused again?” Rosemary cocked a brow as she took a towel and cleaned Cloudy’s tail first. “It happens. Or maybe it’s a part of their stoic pride?”

“Pride, maybe. Or… I don’t know. I’ve tried to ask, but nopony seems to want to talk about it.” Cloudy grimaced and shook her head as she reached for another towel. “Collar has gotten used to it, at least, and enjoys it. Last night, he was more tender than usual cleaning my marehood.”

“Stoic about all things pertaining to sex, I think. Except for a few that get over their upbringing.” Rosemary continued with the other side of the towel, cleaning Cloudy’s folds gently. “Do you think Collar is one who can overcome it?”

“I do. He accepts my sexual appetites. And, admittedly, I’m still young enough to want to explore.” Cloudy grinned and shook her head. “You were the mare I was going to settle with as my main lover going into my late twenties. And now… it looks like it might be you, Rosewater, and Collar.”

“Are you going to have sex with her on your next date?” Rosemary asked, pausing in the cleaning of Cloudy’s belly. “I know it’s quick, especially for her, but…”

“I think I’ll leave that up to her. She’s… striking. Beautiful, yes, but there’s still a chill about her.” Cloudy shook her head at Rosemary’s frown. “She’s still walling herself off. I know… I know who she is. I think. And I understand why she can’t be who she is all the time.”

“If she’s going to the Garden tonight…” Rosemary chuckled. “Petal and Seed, especially Seed, will help her take down those walls.” She grinned. “And there’s this absolute firecracker of a mare I helped through her maiden night. You remember her? She’s not much younger than I am. Roselyn?”

“Ah.” Cloudy pursed her lips. “She seemed a little too energetic for Rosewater’s tastes. And possibly too young.”

“Hmm. That may be true. I wish I could ask her. Roselyn knows what she wants and pursues it relentlessly.” Rosemary chuckled. “She chose me as her guide into sex after one visit to the Garden.”

“And you think she might be interested in Rosewater?” Cloudy arched a brow.

“Mmm. She was always badgering me about Rosewater. I think, looking back, it might have been more about scents than anything else.” Rosemary giggled and pulled another towel to begin wiping Cloudy’s muzzle. “In either case, I hope she has fun.”

“I hope so, too.”Cloudy lay back down as Rosemary drew the gold-flecked pink vial free. “I love you, Rosemary.”

“I love you, Cloudy,” Rosemary said as she drew free two tiny droplets and atomized them before they began to glow with pink energy, the gold turning into sparks that flashed and flared as memories of her mother descended on Cloudy.

She closed her eyes, smiling, as the enchanted fragrance drew her into dreams with her love by her side.