Sometimes it can feel like every step you take is the hardest one you’ve ever taken, but I’m told it gets easier. Lily told me that before I went behind stage. She said I could do it, and that I would blow all the other ponies out of the water. From my place behind the curtains I could see her in the audience, which was surprising given the size of the venue.

Nearly a month after Lily and I had started to be a thing she’d done something unthinkable. She’d signed me up for a poetry contest, where the winner would get a decent cash prize and an award from the Canterlot Art Association. To sign me up she had to have some of my poetry samples which I keep hidden under my bed unless I’m writing. I could remember the moment I fell into her devious trap.

We were lying in my bed, nothing incredibly sexual either, just cuddling like we usually did. Lily didn’t like it as much as I did, I could tell she was looking for more. There was just something in her eyes at night. But it was what she said that threw me off guard.

“Rose,” she whispered into my ear, “You know what would be really nice?” We were lying face to face, her limbs wrapping me tightly. The hair along my neck prickled when she spoke like that.

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. I had a good idea of what she wanted, and it was fine that she did. She giggled a little, her muzzle brushing the sensitive hair on my ear.

“I think it’d be really great if I got to read your poetry.” As usual, she took me by surprise. I cast my eyes downwards and kept silent. I knew my course of actions would be futile, I could never say no to Lily. “C’mooon,” she begged, “I’m sure it’s really good.” The only writing I’d done since the Galloping Gala had been lovey-dovey romance poems. I blushed just thinking of them, and who knows what would happen if Lily read them. There was no way in Equestria I was going to let her read them, I resolved.

Sadly, she knew just how to get around my resolve. Lily shifted herself so her head was right in front of mine, muzzles just barely touching. Her eyes were glinting mischievously in the light of the bedroom, illuminated only by candles at this time. I couldn’t do anything else but stare helplessly into her golden eyes. Lily was smirking too.

“You’re pretty, you know that?” she asked. I nodded, muzzles brushing against each other again. “You know I love you?” Again I nodded. “But do you know how much I love you?” Lily adjusted herself, one of her hooves trailing down my back. Every touch sent chill up my spine. “I can’t think about you all day. You know why?” Her hoof was circling my cutie-mark, following the contour of my flank.

“It’s not the poetry is it,” I offered stupidly. She sighed, her hot breath smelling so sweet for some reason.

“Rosy,” she said, her voice filling with what I knew to be passion, “I get wet when I think of you. Do you feel the same thinking of me?” I swallowed a lump in my throat. Certainly I felt the same about Lily, but not nearly as intense as she described it. Her hoof was trailing lower and lower along my flanks. “Is this too much?” she asked, her voice just as laden with passion as before. Reflexively my tail flicked up to hide my marehood from her. Lily hoof pushed through the coarse hair of my tail. With the force of her push the hairs rubbed their way across the folds of my marehood. I yelped at the sudden sensation of Lily’s hoof. Other times I had stopped her before she’d gotten this far, but I didn’t want to fight her on it, not this time. Lily was stroking my tail still, all the while I could feel it and she knew just what I feeling.

She didn’t have to ask for me to move my tail, I did it for her, giving up any shred of hesitence I had. I was still nervous as anything, but there was a deep fire of desire growing in my belly. I was hoping she’d kiss me and give me something to focus on.

“Kiss?” was all I could manage when I felt her hoof daintily trail itself along my slit, top to bottom and back again. Every stroke found a little extra time when it slid over my pearl, just starting to come out of hiding in my marehood. Any words I wanted to say got caught in my throat and gave way to steadily growing squeaks. My cheeks glowed in embarrassment, Lily nuzzled them to calm me down.

“Stop thinking about this, Rose,” she whispered, “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, every mare gets excited.”

“What about you?” I asked. Lily responded by focusing intently on my clit, sending sparks shooting through my body. A low moan passed my lips.

“You first, then we’ll see about me.” I wanted to ask her why, just to get my mind off it, but she rolled me over, so she was on top of me, straddling me. Both her forehooves were on my chest. I could feel the warm liquid on one. The hoof glistened in the flickering light. My hind legs were splayed out and my forelegs held tight against my sides. “I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” she groaned. Lily slipped her head down between my legs and waited for nothing.

Lily took one long swipe of her tongue across my tender nub, and I almost felt my body seize up in ecstasy. Everything below my chest was lost in waves of heat and excitement. Lily took advantage of that and started lavishing her rough tongue upon my virgin folds. She started to press it inwards, stretching me ever so slightly. Lily was giving me pleasure I didn’t even know to exist. My chest felt tight and my breath came in shallow bursts. Every feeling beyond what Lily was doing to me felt small and unimportant. Warmth and a feeling of being filled to the brim overcame all else.

While Lily went to town, licking all that I had to offer I was experiencing something completely new. There was a pressure I hadn’t ever known, and that was all I could think about. It felt so good with Lily there, making me feel like I was the most important mare in the world. Little did I know that the tension was reaching a max, but Lily seemed keen to test me on it anyways. She withdrew her tongue from me and started to nuzzle my clit, raising the pleasure to previously unknown levels.

Her nuzzle was the last straw. I felt all the tension in me slip away, replaced with waves of the very passion that had built up. They coursed through my body, shaking my legs and causing my mouth to hang open in ecstasy. Even the sensations of mare fluid dribbling down my backside seemed to tingle and increase the fun. It felt amazing simply to be.
I saw Lily rising over my belly. Her lips smiling and coated in glossy liquid. Mine, I realized, as the orgasm faded, slowly yet surely. She rested her head on my chest, staring dreamily into my eyes.

“So,” she muttered, “how about those poems?”

There wasn’t anyway I was going to tell her no after that, so I caved. She read my poems, saved a few that she thought were the best, and submitted them for the contest. And in the end, I stood backstage, just about to be called to read one in front of almost a thousand ponies. The organizer walked behind the curtain with a flourish, looked at me with a sneer of disdain, and grunted at me.

“You’re up,” he grunted. Bristling with indignation, I took tentative steps past the opening he held open and took a position in front of the microphone. In front of the stage was a panel of 7 judges, all sitting at a long table with a pure white tablecloth laden with papers and quills. One of them read into a microphone, reading from a paper.

“Poet Roseluck, also known as... Green Thorn.” When he said my pen-name I could heard murmurs and claps in the audience. I wasn’t aware that anypony would know my poetry, at least nopony who would come to an art show. “You may begin.” I cleared my throat and started to read from memory.

A pony’s heart is three parts,
It’s her love that she gives,
The love she receives,
And the love she lives.
Sometimes there is fear before,
Lived silently, year by year,
before a chance encounter,
when everything now is clear.
Fear can be beaten,
but you become a beacon,
for those with too much love
who come to you, beloved.

I stopped, waiting to see what would happen. I didn’t have any faith that I would get praise, but I was wrong, and Lily was right again. The whole audience clapped for me, some stood up and clapped. The judges just wrote furtively and talked silently. Eventually the same that had asked me to begin spoke again.

“Thank you, Miss Rose.” So I turned around and trotted to where I had stood before, thinking all the while of Lily. “We will now begin deliberation on the victor!”

To Be Continued

Author's Note

I'd really like some critique on this. It was a huge jump from my comfort zone, style and topic wise.