The Proscenium Arch

The relationship of Racham and Hepzibah did not much deviate from the relationships of others at the outset. Even being a retired stage actor and a well-educated Dog did not change anything. Folk in love were folk in love and the particular features mattered little, despite what others might presume.

The course of love, however, never ran smoothly. When Hepzibah moved out of the student housing and into Racham's place she was stricken with the sudden wonder of absolute freedom from the restrictions of housing rules. She immediately bought herself a pet. A pet with great meaning to her.

“You're getting what?” Racham asked Hepzibah as they walked the aisles of the ironically large Little Pet Shop.

“Something I remember fondly from my puphood,” Hepzibah said cheerfully, picking up various small accessories and toys, as well as a rather large box that contained a disassembled cage. “A domesticated giant subterranean cave cricket. It's a very common Dog pet. I mean, yes, others enjoy domesticated giant roaches and domesticated giant pill millipedes, but they're crazy. My family were cricket Dogs and we liked it.”

“I've heard of them...” Racham said, with a slight bit of hesitation at the end.

“You're not getting away with leaving that one unfinished,” Hepzibah huffed, halting the cart in the middle of the aisle and turning a serious gaze on Racham.

Racham backed up a bit and coughed into a hoof. “No, it's nothing bad at all. But I've heard of them being a bit of a hassle to raise properly. And that their chirping has been known to be a bit much. Not that I think you're going to get a pet that's annoying and unpleasant but some ponies say things like that.”

“Some ponies do, but sweet ones don't,” Hepzibah said, leaning in to lick over Racham's snout and pat his cheek.

“Well of course we- they don't, that would be insanity, but I wonder if you know all the associated problems of caring for a pet,” Racham said, rubbing his snout while a goofy smile was plastered on his face. “You said yourself it was something you remembered fondly from when you were a wee puppy.”

“Not so wee,” Hepzibah noted, “I was paper-trained.”

Racham stared at her blankly.

“Only kidding!" Hepzibah said with a chuckle, “Just a little Dog humor.” Dogs going on the paper was another racial stereotype which Hepzibah had embraced in order to point out the absurdity of the claim. She shook her head a little and went on, “I managed to keep a decorative blue filigree alive and mostly healthy. Citizen Blue is still very much alive back at home. I've read all the books and I remember what cave crickets need. Really, the hardest part is finding a cave cricket outside the Colonies, but this place has them in the exotic pet section,” Hepzibah said, leading Racham to an enclosed area in the middle of the store. Within the lights were dim and numerous plastic enclosures glowed with magical light.

Along one wall eerily-glowing shrimp crawled along the pebbled floors of softly-bubbling tanks while over their antennae swam ghostly white blind cave fish. The sound of skittering echoed in the low light as the various arthropods reacted to intruders in their domain. The plastic enclosures ranged in size from the small, for housing more conventional sizes of insect, to the rather large, holding specimens as named by Hepzibah.

Several shining, segmented black shells attracted notice, the skittish giant pill millipedes curling themselves into irregular balls and looking like innocuous lumps. The giant roaches seemed unperturbed by the new arrivals, in defiance of their usual nature, softly scooting along the wood shavings or along the walls of their enclosure. As for the giant crickets, they milled about on the floor of their enclosure, occasionally leaping over one another or releasing a deep, quavering chirp.

Hepzibah strolled up to the cricket enclosure and looked in at the creatures. The Dog-bred domesticated giant subterranean cave crickets were slightly different than their above ground counterparts of normal size. The subterranean giants were a uniform brownish-red, and their chitin had slightly more shine. They slowly flexed their mandibles, which had been bred down to smooth, semi-flexible appendages and looked around with their large, black collection of compound eyes, which were set back on their heads. The antennae had been bred forward, in front of the eyes and low on the head. They reached up and slightly back, nearly three-quarters of the length of their bodies.

Racham looked in with suspicion at the small sea of eyes, narrowing his own eyes slightly as though daring them to chirp again. To his surprise they all seemed to respond to his challenge with a series of chirps. “Well... they look about as useless as other pets, and the chirping is so far inoffensive. How do you select such a pet?”

“I just need to find one that responds to me,” Hepzibah replied, wiggling a thick finger at the insects. One of the reddish creatures, slightly more petite than the rest, tracked her digit with motions of its head and gave a chirp. “Well now, that was easy. Did you bring your wallet?”

An hour later, after the process of formally adopting the cricket and lugging all the items to Racham's home, they had set up the cage and gotten the mostly-still creature settled. Both stood in his living room, watching the thing look out somewhat-impassively on the world.

“It's not much of a pet, rather like a baby alligator or a tortoise,” Racham noted, peering in at the thing. “Still... it's here now. So... what gender is this unassuming arthropod and what do we call it?”

“This is a male. The size and general construction bears that out. As for what we call him, well... we're a couple now. Shouldn't that be a couple matter? Seems to be in movies,” Hepzibah said.

“Well... you bought him. I was neutral on the matter. He's not so bad...” Racham paused as the cricket let out a chirp, taking a moment to see how he felt before continuing, “But he's your pet.”

“He's our pet, Racham. This is a relationship and we share things. That's the only healthy way to go about this whole thing,” Hepzibah said, with a firm nod.

“You have a point... very well. Let us name him... Chirpy,” Racham offered.

Hepzibah gave Racham a deadpan stare, arms crossed over her chest. “'Chirpy'? You were an actor, you studied the classics, you knew the origin of my name, and that's what you bring to the table? Some mealy-mouthed meager moniker?”

“It seems perfectly descriptive, very on-the-snout as it were. A simple name suits a simple being. We need not lay airs and pretensions on his chitinous little head,” Racham answered, with a sage nod.

“How does 'Pogo' sound?” Hepzibah queried.

“You might make me jealous, thinking you love the little thing more than me,” Racham said with a soft laugh. “What about 'Cranky'?”

“He seems more like a 'Passive-y' to me,” Hepzibah noted, eying the calm cricket.

“No, after my mentor, the legendary thespian Cranky Doodle Donkey. He was a great inspiration and a grand fellow; so as long as we're giving big names to this insect, we might as well consider one such as that,” Racham said with some passion.

“Then we ought to consider one of my mentors, like 'Professor Rent.' Not the best, my true mentor was Doctor Peg, but that would be a silly name for a male cricket,” Hepzibah said.

“I'm just no good at naming crickets. Or anything, really. I didn't have pets growing up. I could have had them, but I didn't take advantage of the opportunity,” Racham confessed, looking down a bit.

Hepzibah nodded a touch and opened up a small door on the cage, sufficient in size for a hoof to fit through. “Go ahead. Stroke his head chitin and down the dorsal exoskeleton. Just mind his wings. He won't hurt you; he really can't. You're more of a danger to him.”

There was a moment of hesitation, Racham regarding the strange, still insect with some suspicion before his hoof reached out and into the cage. He pulled back just slightly as the long, smooth mandibles wiggled but he pressed on when they did nothing further. The soft flesh of his frog slid slowly along the smooth reddish-brown chitin of the cricket's head part, and continued along down the semi-flexible shell down his back towards the aforementioned wings. A slight vibration made him stop, in both fear and concern for the safety of the creature, but they merely twitched to let out what he could only think of as a contented chirp. “He's... not so bad...” Racham admitted.

“They're really sweet little creatures. We had several, and they always sang so beautifully when the magical lights from outside dimmed and the house lights came up around them. I know you probably would have wanted a normal pet...” Hepzibah started to say, her words cut off by a quick, soft kiss from Racham.

“He is a normal pet. Normal for you. And by extension, normal for me,” Racham said softly, pulling his hoof from the cage and pressing himself against his girlfriend's chest. “I'll love the little thing, I know I will. Time, is all it takes. It only takes time...”

“Let's go all out. We're both brilliant. Let's lay airs and pretensions on his chitinous little head. Let's name him 'Tempus.' If time is all it takes, then let him be time for us,” Hepzibah said, finishing her statement with a return kiss on Racham's lips.

“'Tempus,'” Racham said slowly, as if judging the feel of it on his lips and tongue. “It feels right. And it is related to 'tempo,' a clever bit of wit for the name of a musical creature. You ever show your wisdom, dear.”

“Do you hear that, Tempus? That's your name. Come now, sing for mommy and daddy...” Hepzibah said in a cooing voice to the inscrutable insect. As though in response to her request and the baton-like waggle of her finger his wings started to twitch, sending out a little collection of differently-modulated chirps, the collection of different quavers and volumes rather more impressive than first assumed from the performance at the pet store.

The couple genuinely enjoyed the company of the insect, and did all they could to be good owners. Tempus was fed and watered regularly, his cage was kept clean and they traded turns taking it for hopping walks around the neighborhood, with Racham never being bothered by the odd looks he got as he trotted past with Tempus hopping placidly beside him.

Like every couple there came to be one that loved the pet just a bit more than the other, and as it had been at the beginning that was Hepzibah. She would be the one, more often than not, to direct late-evening sessions of chirping when she needed to unwind after a long session of study. She even took to speaking with Tempus on subjects she judged too trivial or perhaps too indistinct for a serious discussion with Racham, confiding in him, sharing little secrets and uncertainties. She had her share to confide, after they started down their singular path into a strange vale.

The descent into their strange trip began innocently enough. Hepzibah had a rare day off from most responsibilities and had agreed to meet with Racham for lunch at the food court of an outdoor mall near the nicer part of Canterlot. He had been delayed taking care of dull but necessary financial matters, which left Hepzibah sitting on her own, checking the clock and letting her mind drift to her lessons. The world around her simply melted away, as she pulled into her mind and the repetition of what she had been studying.

Racham snuck up from behind Hepzibah; he noted her posture, especially the slight tilt of her head. She was lost in a medical reverie, that he knew very well. He had come upon her many times in that very state at home. The world could surprise her, and he always got a little laugh when the smallest interruption snapped her back to the world. Tempus had even shocked her to her senses in one case. The laughter was shared, of course, so it was all in good fun.

A sly look crossed his face as he slowly and carefully made his way through the food court, carefully watching Hepzibah to make sure she remained lost in thought. He reared up and suddenly placed his hooves on her shoulders, shaking her firmly and leaning his head down beside her ear to harshly whisper out, “Boo!”

The sound that left Hepzibah's mouth was beyond a simple gasp of shock. She vocalized on two separate registers, ultrasonic for her Dog ears and in normal range that others could hear. It sounded like she was whining just from the gasp, but the sharp barking cry of fear and surprise was far more of a yelp and whimper.

Every eye in the food court turned on the two of them, expressions running the gamut from shared-embarrassment to judgmental anger. Not knowing the situation some minds went straight to the most insidious conclusion. The look on Hepzibah's face didn't help. Her eyes were wide, darting everywhere, between Racham and the faces in the crowd; her jaw was dropped and her breath was sucking in and out hard; her body was shaking lightly, caught between fight and flight.

Adding to the image was Racham himself. The surprise reaction was more extreme and powerful than anything she had given in the safety and privacy of home. He pulled closer to her after her whining yelp, his body naturally desiring to protect her from whatever had frightened her, even though it had been him that scared her. His muscles were tensed, but his body was oddly pleased. The eyes were not embarrassing him. His thespian training had acclimated him to the peering eyes. Had made him anticipate it. He was holding her close, he was with her, and they were all seeing it. The blood was flowing, his soul was stirring, he was sharing the spotlight with his beloved. It was the electric thrill of the stage, when no one knew it was the stage. The reactions were organic and real.

One of Hepzibah's hands shot up and she forced her breath back to a normal rate. Even though her heart was still thumping wildly she put on a happy face and looked out at the crowd. “I-it's okay, everyone. It's okay... it was just my coltfriend surprising me! I was a little lost in thought. It happens.”

The crowd stared for a while longer then turned back to what it had been doing before.

No words passed between Racham and Hepzibah for a long moment, she looking down at the ground and he holding onto her tight while he considered the feeling of those eyes. He finally thought to speak, whispering lovingly into her ear. “I'm so sorry, dearest. I thought you'd just gasp and maybe give a little bark like at home. I didn't realize you'd have a reaction like this...”

“I... I didn't... I'm sorry...” Hepzibah turned her head and gave Racham a soft lick on the cheek. “Even after all this time... I'm out here. Out here. Back home we were always enclosed. Even outside the walls of a home there were still walls of rock all around. It was more private, more cozy and protected. But this is out in the open air. Inside the house I have you and Tempus. I'm safe. But out here... oh...” She placed a hand on her heart and huffed a breath.

“It was... quite a reaction. Both ours and theirs. Those eyes, that reaction. So raw, so real. It was like nothing I ever experienced in all my time treading the boards. And you, well... wasn't that fun?” Racham asked, looking aside with a grin.

“'Fun'? Oh come on, that was embarrassing! They were just staring at me...” Hepzibah said with a blush.

“They were staring at us, dear. You, in my hold, both of us together. Your scream brought their eyes but we both kept them. Come on now... you loved that attention. Take it from an actor, you have a natural skill in front of an audience,” Racham said.

“Now, I have no idea what you're talking about,” Hepzibah said with a huff and the turning up of her snout.

A hoof slipped over to Hepzibah's chest, settling beside her own hand and feeling the heavy thumping. “Feel that heartbeat. I know that excitement. I felt it when I walked in the spotlight, when I still loved the stage,” Racham whispered.

“It's just surprise. I promise you. I'm not excited. I'm not... not excited...” Hepzibah said, closing her eyes and trying to will her body to calm down.

“Double-negatives don't go over well, you know. They're no longer indicative of an emphatic, they're a negation,” Racham quietly teased, kissing Hepzibah's neck after. A small thought, almost unbidden, very tenuously connected to his hidden tastes, came and planted the call to an action in his head. His hoof started drifting down, over the white button-up shirt she was wearing, down to her gray skirt. It quickly pulled up and pressed to the front of her underwear, feeling the light hint of moisture. “My... I see you were right about being not not excited...”

“P-pull your hoof away!” Hepzibah hissed, crossing her legs as much as she could, looking fearfully over to the others in the food court. “Someone might see...”

“And what if they do? They'll see us, two folks in love, expressing it. And besides, I can feel it... I think you liked it. I think you liked being watched. Even if it was embarrassing, they were looking and actually seeing you. You liked it. I know you always want to be recognized, for your mind and your body. I know you're a desirable bitch, and I know others can see it if you just let them see you,” Racham said in a heated whisper, pulling his hoof from under Hepzibah's skirt, but remaining tightly clutched against her.

“I'm not... but... I mean...” Hepzibah drifted into silence as she thought about it. It had been so automatic. But there had been something to it. The automatic reaction. The spontaneity. The eyes... the eyes not looking at her as a sideshow attraction or like some brand new bauble for entertainment. She was someone worthy of real focus and consideration. And knowing it was Racham, the one she loved... she was free to enjoy the excitement. The open air was so strange, so scary, but that difference made it so much more interesting.

“Let's have lunch and go home,” Racham said, pulling from Hepzibah and turning towards a Dog-and-Pony fusion restaurant. “We can relax together, talk... and some more activities.”

After a quiet lunch, filled with warm and meaningful glances, Racham and Hepzibah went back home. Tempus greeted them with chirps that lasted until they sequestered themselves in the bedroom.

Hepzibah's clothing came off rapidly, her quick and strong fingers deftly opening all the fasteners and throwing them carelessly around while she hotly kissed Racham, tongue rapidly lapping into his mouth. She lapped and licked over his lips and swirled around inside of his mouth, swapping saliva freely with him. Both came to be drooling fairly freely by the time they pulled apart with a pop, both of them panting heavily.

“Because it was you,” Hepzibah said breathlessly, roughly stroking her thick hands over Racham's green coat and occasionally over the thick lushness of his red mane. “I was so scared when I felt and heard something strange in a place where I was so open. But when I knew it was you, smelled it, felt it, knew it in my heart I could savor it. You turned my fear into... what it became because I could never be anything but safe with you.”

Racham nodded his head, at a loss for words while he sucked air following the powerful kiss and extended bit of tongue-wrestling. “I understand...” he finally said, dragging his tongue slowly up Hepzibah's neck and finishing with a kiss on her chin. “I should have known better. I'm so sorry I scared you, more so now that I know how badly you were frightened. But I'm glad that you trust me so much. To think so well of me... I never thought I would find that in my life...”

“You saw me. Me. When no one else seemed to be able to see anything but a novelty,” Hepzibah huffed, slowly falling and spinning, pulling Racham into bed with her, leaving both of them lying on their sides. “I know you actually love me. You smiled when I got a pet you admitted other ponies would find completely unacceptable. You let me live with you to save on costs when you knew I had to pinch bits until they screamed. You've been nothing but sweet and loving this whole time. You've earned that trust.”

“I haven't...” Racham whispered, shuffling his body closer to Hepzibah's, pressing a kiss onto her throat. “I can't say I've earned it if I've ever lied to you. Even once, even by silence. If I've been counterfeit, I don't deserve you thinking I'm trustworthy.”

“What do you mean? I don't care if you cheat on your taxes, unless you're being audited. Or if you used to be married but now your wife lives in Kleinpferd or something. I don't care about the little things. You've been true about the big things,” Hepzibah said sweetly, stroking her smooth tongue over Racham's face over and over in a Dog culture sign of adoration.

“... I haven't...” Racham breathed, squeezing in tight against Hepzibah's front. “So help me, Faust, I haven't, and it cuts into me. I've just become very good at forgetting my trespasses...”

“What aren't you telling me?” Hepzibah ceased her licking and looked down with some concern upon Racham's guilty features. “You look like... I don't even know. You've always been so good. What? Did you used to drink? Did you accidentally kill somepony? Did your parents hate Dogs? Are you a felon?” A look crossed her face, that could only arise out of her heart cracking at the edges. “Do you not really love me..?”

“That is not in question!” Racham cried, increasing the strength of his hold. “No. No no, never let that question ever enter your mind again. My love for you is real, it is powerful, and it is as eternal as Our Mother's universe. No. It isn't that... and I also was not raised by bigots. My parents actually liked Dogs very much. Once we can take a trip I'll certainly introduce you.”

Hepzibah's body, which had been held in fearful tension, visibly relaxed and the soul-torn pain vanished from her face. “Anything you say after this will almost seem like an anticlimax. Tell me... if you really love me that much, why can't you share what you've been holding back?”

“Because I am ashamed. Rightly ashamed,” Racham said firmly. “I am ashamed and disgusted by the blot that lies deep within me because I know it is wrong. But I cannot help it. It remains there, deep inside, a festering putrescence on my soul.”

“I know your flare for the dramatic, so I wonder how bad it could be. But I know you are a serious and upright stallion, so I wonder how bad it could really be,” Hepzibah said, softly and comfortingly stroking down Racham's back.

It took a moment for Racham to compose himself, a few soft breaths leading to a heavy inhalation which was released as an almost-pained sigh. Another moment passed as he gathered his thoughts and put them in some semblance of order. “You know me as a good stallion. A loving stallion. A kind stallion. You know me as this because it is what I am. This is the core of me, the very heart of my self. But you know what I did. I mimicked evil. The most depraved and impossible horrors conjured out of the depths of fevered imaginations. I played the villains who lost, who were defeated by good and this was the way it should be. You've seen my performances on television, so you know I mean what I say when I talk about my wicked fictional ways.”

“I remember. You may not like seeing your own performances but you were good at being bad. It was actually uplifting when your characters were brought to justice. Even knowing it was you I was happy to see them get what was coming to them,” Hepzibah said, tucking her head under Racham's chin as he spoke.

Racham savored the intimate contact for a bit, a large, unconcerned smile resting on his face as he drew warmth from Hepzibah's closeness. But a small frown appeared as he remembered he needed to go on. “I carry with me, though, a desire that will not go away. It is monstrous, in my own estimation, because of the effect it would have on the world, on this society I love, this good and pure place in which I live. Perhaps I am wrong in thinking as I do. But I am sincere in my revulsion. Even if it is in me, I find it unpleasant at the best of times, despite the fact that others may judge it with less venom.”

Hepzibah's fingers danced along Racham's spine for a moment, her tapping forming a rhythmic expression of her nervous energy and contemplation of what she had been told. “Even now, I trust you. You lied because you were ashamed, not to hurt me. But I told you already, we're a couple. We don't hide these things, we face them together. Like naming a pet, we do it as one. I know the lesson of the pony lands, and it's a good one. Together we are stronger than the same number of individuals. I'm here for you, I love you, and I want to help you with this. Tell me, outright, what it is, and we can go from there.”

Another moment was spent basking in love, Racham's smile pulled larger and more glowing than it had been a moment before. He even continued to smile as he spoke. “I have a vision of a performance no one knows is art. The unsuspecting public goes along its merry way, until, there comes a scream. A woman, attacked! Her body touched and violated, stroked, licked, penetrated before the shocked and disbelieving eyes of the population. She fights, she fails, wails and cries for mercy that does not come... because she is only pretending.”

Hepzibah had been growing tense and nervous as Racham spoke, his sonorous voice and clear articulation making the scene sound so very real and alive. She was growing repulsed and terrified until the very last statement. Her muscles loosened and a confused feeling passed through her. “What?”

“Pretending. Another actor. Two actors. Two depraved, counter-social actors in public, acting their hearts out in a performance of erotic impropriety. However the appearance it would all be a fake. Real penetration, real sexual expression, real performers... in love. In love and pretending a violation before their unsuspecting eyes,” Racham said, quietly, just enough to be heard by his lover's sharp ears.

“Faking rape, with all the screams and struggles in front of the public... why?” Hepzibah looked down at Racham and used one hand to angle his face up towards hers. “Help me understand this. If this is the secret you kept from me then I want to know all about it now that you're talking.”

“I used to wonder...” Racham said, focused firmly on Hepzibah's sapphire eyes. “I knew the impetus, in the main but I wondered what could really spur it. I considered it. It was the intersection of the actor's art and my role as the scoundrel. I would have those eyes, those peering, staring eyes on me, but really seeing. Not dull and glazed as could happen at the theater. It would be a surprise and their attention would be real and organic. They would hate me. Denounce me... and consequently elevate the one I was with. They would not know it wasn't rape, and they would treat me with hate, but treat her with all respect, all care and concern. Their hate would prove their morality and their care would honor the one I love, the right and proper thing for a lover to do for the one they love.”

Hepzibah peered down into Racham's eyes as deeply as he was looking into hers. “Why... fake a rape? Why not a mugging or something else?”

“I used to think it was because no crime was more hated than rape. Surely that's a part of it. But it goes deeper than that. I knew that when I met you and fell for you. When I really discovered what carnal perfection felt like in your arms. It had to be sexual. Rape is a crime of violence and power, not sex. But this ersatz version is wholly deceptive. It's about pure sex, and the world would see it. Perfected sexual congress between two beings in love. And, the form of it matters more than the function. It's like my inner self was somehow damaged in my youth or in my development in the womb. Somehow, the image of screaming and flailing has appeal, but could only ever truly be enjoyable with consent behind the facade. Or else it would lead only to disgusted self-loathing,” Racham said.

Hepzibah nodded her head slowly, while caressing over Racham's side. “At least you admit it,” she finally said. “I've never seen the appeal of flailing and screaming but then, it's not my way.”

“It's not a normal thing. It's not an expected thing. But it is, indeed, something which exists. Now that you know, I can feel free to enjoy you, because no secrets exist any longer. You know my shame, and may pity me for it,” Racham said.

“I don't pity you. I don't understand it at all, but I don't pity you. It's just something that happens to appeal to you, like... paws, or horns or Changeling apertures. You even said you'd never hurt someone, you just like the image. I mean... that's safe, right? If it's completely unreal, then there's no harm in it.”

“Entirely artifice, the creation of a deranged mind, like mine,” Racham said, with a light chuckle. “I don't know what we can do now that you know. It seems improper to continue with anything.”

“We're a couple. We can share. You've certainly indulged all my tastes when I have the time. There's no harm in this. The house is soundproof anyhow. I know because the neighbors don't complain about Tempus. It's not with an audience, but, can I be enough?” Hepzibah asked, giving Racham a smoldering look.

Racham smiled a touch and placed a kiss on Hepzibah's nose. “More, far more, than enough...”

They indulged and were happy with their indulgence. Every so often, not on any special day or with any special cue, but when Racham seemed up for it or when Hepzibah thought he could use a bit of fun she played at being the victim of a villain, with both passing winks and smiles at one another as he roughly mounted her.

They braved the quiet darkness of an adult store, as a lark, to see what they could find in the video section. It was a visual delight, after all. They had the pleasure of finding works involving Diamond Dogs, starring the incomparable Rarity. They all seemed to be force-based productions, which suited. More than suited, when Racham pointed out, using his thespian training and keen eye, that the starlet was actually savoring the activity, and not just doing her role for a check.

Both methods, the occasional bit of screaming and struggling with an open wink, and the shared viewing of pornography helped to make their lives more open, and to bring them closer together. As Hepzibah's degree came closer and closer she found herself more and more concerned about what might happen after, when the time for residency came, a worry that good sex helped to diminish. It all worked out well.

“We could,” Racham said one day, as they lounged together in the living room, half-listening to Tempus chirp. “We could. And it would be the same as here.”

“No it wouldn't, and you know why,” Hepzibah countered, shivering slightly as she cuddled against Racham. “I need my walls within walls to feel safe. Just being in here is enough because I know you're here but out there...”

“Out there I am the same,” Racham assured, stroking a hoof slowly along Hepzibah's side and placing a kiss on the tip of one ear. “I'm with you, always and forever, and would lay down my very life to keep you from harm. It is a lark, after all. A fake.”

“You would know, I would know, but all those ponies, and others. They'd have no idea it was fake. They'd think you were really hurting me...” Hepzibah said with a whine.

“And they would be more than wrong. I'd sooner die. If they don't know that is a consequence of life. Some performances exist without need of announcement. You almost remind me of the ones with stage fright. While they feared the boards and the world behind the fourth wall you fear the world outside of the cradling earth. Our Mother's open air need not frighten you. I was born and raised in it. It can't be all bad, can it?” Racham asked, gently lifting Hepzibah's chin.

Hepzibah laughed lightly and gave Racham a lick across the snout. “You know that's not the whole explanation. I also worry what they would think. Think of me... and you. I have to imagine there are consequences to faking a rape scene in the middle of the open city.”

“Legal repercussions could be had, likely charges of indecent exposure. Minor but worrisome. It would go unnoticed on your record. Believe me, I know your objection. My career ended by my will, yours is yet to begin. I know it all,” Racham said, adding a kiss on Hepzibah's nose.

“It's more than the mere mark on my record,” Hepzibah said, “It's a crime. A serious one. It's as bad as... as yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater.”

“Think of such a performance as a fire drill,” Racham said, comfortingly caressing his lover. “We'd be testing how folks react to witnessing a rape-in-progress. It would help hone their skills for defending victims of genuine sexual abuse. For all we know, such performances would help foil actual rapes.”

“You still want to,” Hepzibah said. She stated it because it was never a question. “I've come to enjoy the fakery, the pretend of it. I know so well it's all a lie that I'm allowed to enjoy the feelings that are 'forced' on me. I can savor it because I told you to do it and you obey, with every look and motion as though it's by your will. In another life I guess I would have been an actress,” Hepzibah said with a deep chuckle and the repeated thump of her wagging tail.

“And a very fine one,” Racham added, nodding his head. “You have a singular advantage, in that no one knows who you are. If you give no details there need be no consequence. We should at least try. I will place all the blame on myself. It was a foolish act by a perverse coltfriend and I will willingly take the social hit.”

“I can't ask you to do that for me...” Hepzibah said.

“You need not. I'm willing to do it. It is my assurance of your safety. Again, I will always protect you. You've done so much, worked so hard towards a goal of great nobility. I'm asking you to do something silly, frivolous and injurious to that goal, all for the sake of my marred drives. That you even consider it is beyond any wild dream I ever held. To take the blame is possibly the very least I could do for you,” Racham assured, burying his snout comfortably against Hepzibah's throat.

“Stage fright is right...” Hepzibah finally said after a moment of squeezing Racham against her chest. “I have every reason to be afraid. But just like in the bedroom, I know you're there and it's all just make-believe. If I ignore the sky over my head and the ponies around me it's just you and me, pretending. Like we do now and again.”

“One small indulgence. We just may find it suits us. Even if it doesn't, we tried,” Racham said, a contented smile spread across his face.

So it was that the next day Hepzibah settled herself on a bench at a small park, a distance away from the university and from her home, in a place where no one would recognize her, if they even had the capacity to distinguish between Diamond Dogs. She was wearing her usual long gray skirt, as well as a zipper-front blouse and tasteful red cotton vest. She tried to look casual, despite being a nervous wreck, her stomach full of butterflies and her mind drowning in doubt.

She heard Racham's voice behind her, and some of the panic melted away. “I'm here. Don't be alarmed by the attire. I needed to apply some of the old skills to this endeavor. I redid my mane and put it under a net cap to give it a different tone. I have also added a blaze and dappling to make sure I am not too easily known. Add to that a vest and white shirt and I appear at least passably different from the norm.”

“Thank you for the warning. I don't know if I could have gone on with this seeing you looking different. It's hard enough...” Hepzibah whispered, turning her head slightly to look at her coltfriend. The same shape looked odd behind the bound mane and added blaze on his face. He could pass for a slightly different unicorn at that. “I'm so full of fear I think that the stage fright is winning...”

“Jitters reach us all from time to time. Uncertainty is the way of things sometimes. This may pass. We will see...” Racham whispered back, reaching over the back of the bench. He used a combination of magic and his hooves to draw Hepzibah's zipper up, and expose the teats on her belly, and pull her shirt up just enough that he could reach down and press his hoof against her sex.

Hepzibah trembled, her jaw clenching tight for a moment as her eyes ran, shocked, over the small crowd. Ponies, right there, blissfully unaware her lover was grinding his warm flesh against her vulva. The skilled working of a pony hoof was parting the folds somewhat, grinding on the inside. She was wet, unquestionably so. She lied that it was just Racham's deft hoof and padding, but as his other hoof came to rest on one fair-sized teat she let herself think the truth. She was a willing participant in her own arousal. She was letting herself enjoy it. And in some small way, being under the unfamiliar sky in the alien open air was exhilarating. “Ahhh... I'm not... it feels... Racham I'm still scared but it feels so nice...”

“It is you, and only you that will move it onward,” Racham muttered into her ear, giving it a loving and comforting kiss. “We can silently perform this and run away if we are seen when we don't wish it. But if, if you feel it, if you can pass the fear, and feel the passion and power of being seen engaged with one who loves you, however the misinterpretation... then just like in the bedroom, scream out, and raise the curtain...”

Hepzibah didn't do anything more than quietly moan and self-consciously writhe on the bench. Every nerve was alive, and she was all too aware of everything that passed. It wasn't just the warm tingle of her genitals as Racham lovingly ground the softest flesh on the underside of his hoof across her unhooded clit, or down between the spread lips of her semi-pyramidal-designed sex. It wasn't simply the teasing flick of the rounded and polished rim of his hoof over her long and perked nipple, which was followed by a gentle squish onto the full globe on which it lay. She could feel the very air, every single breath of a breeze passing over the gray velvet of her coat; and the sun, pouring down freely across her, warming her just as deeply as the sexual experience. Her home did not have wholly unbidden breezes, or a powerful sun raining down. It was a foreign feeling, and she was almost taken out of herself.

Racham wasn't Racham, even if he was. She wasn't Hepzibah the medical student, she was a nameless Dog sitting on a park bench with her body exposed to the glorious sun and gentle air. She wasn't home anymore, she wasn't herself anymore. Taken out of her own context the stage was set and her character was placed. Hepzibah didn't scream. The nameless Dog being groped by a mysterious and unknown unicorn screamed out loudly, hands clasping at the bench as she made a token effort to rise, only to find herself pulled back down by magic and the hold of those strong pony legs.

Hepzibah was terrified when the eyes fell on her, at first. Until she saw the shock and surprise. They were looking on her as another citizen. Not a completely foreign immigrant but as herself, as a fellow sapient creature with value and rights that were being violated. She was still so unsure about all of it. But it felt so good to be seen, almost as good as the hard grind against her freely-flowing pussy and the hard press of her teat.

Racham was lost in the moment, lost in the experience of being his character. He had broken out of the box that trapped him before the dull and glazed eyes of audiences that knew he was there to perform for them. He was everything. He was the actor, taking on a role to shock the population. He was a the character, the nameless and mysterious pony who wished to slake his lust by grasping a Diamond Dog and feeling her flesh. He was, in fact, the audience, watching from the outside, savoring the realization of his perverse desire.

There was such pleasure in finally bringing the benighted desire to life. Racham's organ slapped solidly against his belly as his hooves roamed against Hepzibah's squirming, struggling form. His character was proving to be a terrible pervert but that only added to him. “It's pretend...” He hissed into her ear.

“You don't need to say...” Hepzibah whispered back before another huge, whimpering scream fell from her lips and she once again struggled to rise from the bench. Her eyes closed as she assured herself the crowd had seen her for her, and had seen Racham touching her. She was a sexual creature, beyond being intelligent, the whole package, and they knew it. She shut out the strange world of open sky and lack of walls to focus on pretending to be a nameless Dog, and focus even more on the beautiful feeling of her lover working her towards her climax.

There was no focus. There couldn't possibly be. Racham the actor was lost as the nameless character, his focus split between slapping his organ solidly on his belly and using every bit of remembered technique to work Hepzibah's nerves in just the way she liked. Her screams, the false screams of his pretend victim thrilled him, because he was sharing with her. Sharing his acting with her, and sharing her with the world, a world that deserved to see what a sexual being she was. They all hated him for violating her, they saw her as worthy of their protective anger.

The first blow caught both of them off guard. Racham was knocked away from Hepzibah by another unicorn's hoof cuffing him solidly in the side of the mouth. He was surrounded by the crowd that had been there at the start. The first strike set off others. Blows came from all directions, and Racham was helpless against most of them, barely able to twist and leap away from the brunt of the hits, while still taking a serious beating.

After the crowd had Racham down and in a state they considered properly subdued one of them ran off to get a police officer. Racham wasn't about to allow that. His rational mind snapped to itself as he remembered one little spell from his education. Power surged wildly into his horn and he let off a tremendous flash of light. When the flash had cleared the ones subduing him found their hooves empty, and a slight crater where Racham had once been.

Hepzibah had been unsure what was happening when the assault began. The delicious hooves motivating her screams and charging her heated body had vanished and she had become dimly aware of heavy impacts and screams of hate. Her first sight broke her illusions, shoved her back from being the nameless Dog to being Hepzibah, watching her darling being beaten by the ones who had been watching them. She was up and off the bench in a flash, rushing to hide herself away from their notice.

Without Racham's encouragement, without the sexual pleasure and the drifting calm of letting go she was her scared, uncertain self again, in danger of hurting her future. She saw him hurt, and every strike made her wince in sympathy. Then she saw the flash and his escape, both relieved and concerned. She knew unicorns could teleport if trained, but usually it needed focus. He was injured, he was somewhere in the area, and she needed to find him.

She remembered what direction he had been facing, and carefully made her way through the park in that direction, which led out of the grassy expanse and towards a few buildings with alley space. It was as good a place to seek him as any.

In the fullness of day the alleys were a little dark, though generally devoid of debris, as well-kept as most areas of Canterlot. A few dented trash cans and well-ordered piles of crates dotted the long lines of space between the tight-packed buildings. “Racham?” Hepzibah hissed, loud enough to let her voice carry but not alert the folk from the park. “Racham, come on, where are you?”

“Hep-zi-bah...” The name came from a space behind a large crate, with one of Racham's legs sticking out to indicate he was indeed there. He pulled himself up just enough to look at her, using only one eye, the other swollen shut. His lip was cut and fattened, a small trail of blood dripped from his left nostril and the rest of his body trembled from all the sore spots on it.

“Racham...” Hepzibah couldn't handle the sight, not all at once. She might have been all but a doctor but it was no faceless patient presented for her skill. It was her lover, the stallion she adored, whose life she shared. He was broken, bleeding, in agony and suffering. A powerful, choked sob emerged from her and she leaned in close.

Racham actually smiled, if a bit lopsidedly, and coughed out. “I... I think I need to learn a good shield spell before we try this again...”

Hepzibah actually smiled, despite herself, and even let out the smallest hint of a chuckle. She didn't allow herself to contemplate the statement. She used the jolt of humor to restore her mood. She filled her head with practical facts. Pony anatomy, the dangers of various concussive blows, how to staunch blood and reduce swelling in a trauma situation. She didn't hesitate to remove her blouse, tearing it into strips to sop up blood and cover the swollen eye. “I have medication and proper bandages at home. If we're lucky nothing's broken and this won't need serious intervention. Let's just get home dear... let's go home where it's safe...”

By the grace of Faust and a simple twist of fate Hepzibah managed to lead Racham home from the alley, finding either empty streets of ponies too absorbed in themselves to notice Racham's injuries. She carried him when it was necessary, but let him walk when he insisted, typically for the sake of appearances when others were around.

Once through the door Tempus began his usual chorus of chirping, only to be silenced by a very unexpected show of anger drowned in concern. “Not now, Tempus! Daddy's hurt and mommy needs to do something about it!”

“I'm conscious and you stopped the bleeding. I think yelling at Tempus was a bit much,” Racham said, giving a game smile. The fat lip and swollen eye made the look simultaneously charming and distressing.

“I'm the almost-doctor here. And until I know you're fine then I have a right to be as short with any creature I desire,” Hepzibah said with a snort, though with some touch of a smile. “How do you do this? How can I smile when you might be bleeding internally? Does this hurt?” She asked, gently probing at Racham's abdomen.

“In a few areas. Like there!” Racham said, wincing as Hepzibah probed over one spot in particular. “You know I'm fine. Your instincts are strong and you know what real life-threatening trauma looks like. You know I'm not at death's door. But you need to think it because otherwise you have to conclude this wasn't a total failure...”

“'Wasn't a total failure'?!” Hepzibah spluttered, looking up at Racham like he was crazy while she carefully felt along one foreleg. “You were violently beaten by an angry mob that thought you were about to rape me! I'm not sure why I didn't think of that as a possibility. I guess I thought ponies were just more timid. I figured on the police showing up.”

“My culture is very moral, very upright and concerned with the rights of others, no matter their species. Their anger came because it was in them to take me to task for violating you. Ponies may be kind but when evil rises they stand and resist,” Racham said, pride glowing in his battered features.

“I guess there's something to all that pony uprightness. You get a different perspective underground,” Hepzibah said with a sigh. “Your long bones seem fine and that pain over your ribs looks like contusions. All the soft tissue damage looks like simple contusions without internal hemorrhages. I'll examine your nose and face but I'm guessing they're not badly damaged either. Now I guess there's also something to that old saw about pony robustness. I can't believe how badly this went. They just wanted to subdue you, but they really hurt you.”

Racham looked thoughtful for a moment as Hepzibah double-checked his limbs and abdomen. “Maybe that was the real point of all this. Maybe I accidentally unlocked the real key to what makes this right.”

Hepzibah scoffed. “Really? Injury? Maybe I need to examine your head in depth and call in a favor from a neurologist. Unless you're a masochist in which case you hid that one really, really well...”

“No, no it's not that simple. If it was I think it would be more acceptable and easy to understand,” Racham said quickly, softly tapping his chin, twitching when he accidentally touched the swollen part of his lip. “I don't like it when I bang my leg or trip or anything like that. And I've never had it happen but I'm more than sure I don't want my fleshy bits being hurt,” He said with a soft laugh and slowly died away as he returned to a serious look. “But the feeling of being beaten for the sake of retribution... it doesn't feel good but it seems correct.”

Hepzibah sighed, pulling out her first aid kit and replacing her makeshift bandages with proper gauze, as well as cleaning any minor wounds with an antiseptic liquid. “What scares me now is that you can explain that. So explain it. I don't doubt you can...”

Racham smiled a little bit. “You know me well, my love... but you deserve a serious response. It's quite simple. I play such horrible things, I deserve to be punished for the roles I play. I make these evil things look good and competent. I told you the experience with television revealed as much to me. Some out there were feeding on it and I was helping. I should be hurt for the bad things I do. But more than that, for the things I think. Those thoughts of falsely-raping someone I love in full sight of the population... I should be punished for violating the sensibilities of the population. It's my penance. I've long hated that I could find such an objectionable thing appealing, even with as much assurance that I have that such indulgences are fake, this makes me clean.”

“Are you saying that as long as it hurts you can feel alright with this kind of thing? You didn't need it here at home. Let's just keep it at home. It was working fine. And as a bonus you won't get hurt,” Hepzibah said, her voice firm but her eyes full of concern.

“I was growing complacent, foolishly cut off, like I was before I met you. I loathed my own self when I thought only in abstracts. Indulging with you made me forget that the image is actually connected to a reality, a reality that is ugly and horrifying. That first hit reminded me. When real screams ring out a real being is being hurt. And I had been enjoying the image of that harm. Their chastening blows justified the inclination, both by their show of morality and my punishment as the image of those that harm others,” Racham said, with a firm nod of his head.

“And what about me? Having to watch you being viciously beaten, having to slip away and see you bleeding and battered, in pain... is that my penance? Seeing you abused like that? I don't like it at all and I want this to never happen again,” Hepzibah insisted.

“It's the price of my art. You should never have loved so serious an artist. More importantly, it's the only thing that makes me feel even slightly better about the realization I'm fetishizing the image of rape. However fake it was I still did it. I'm sorry you pay a price and I wish I could take it all away. But I don't want to get away with these thoughts, not so cleanly, not so perfectly,” Racham said.

Hepzibah went silent for a time, idly peering at Racham's nostrils and softly touching his battered face to make sure there was no serious damage. “You're going to ask for this again after you're healed up. I already know. If you can protect yourself better... your explanation makes sense. It just makes sense. I love you... but sometimes I wish you didn't make so much sense.”

Racham suddenly hugged Hepzibah, squeezing her tense form tightly and rubbing his cheek against her chest. “It would be so much easier. It would be so much kinder. But I do. I wish I could stop, but that seems unlikely...”