Sculpting Marble

by Flammenwerfer

Chapters

2. The Kindling
3. The Spark
5. The Fire
6. The Inferno
Bonus: Epilogue
1. The Meeting
4. The Flame

2. The Kindling

Author's Note

As many of you have noticed, I like approaching stories from both main characters' points of view.

Anyway, here's chapter 2. Enjoy!

2. The Kindling

[One Week Later…]

The friendly neighborhood rooster’s rousing call echoed across the rock farm, doing well to banish Eric’s dreams from his groggy mind and pull him into the waking world.

Forcing his crusty eyes open, he knew right away that today was Saturday and two days until first day of classes. Taking a few moments to himself, he had gotten exposed to pretty much all of the tasks he would be asked to do here and there, as well as figuring out exactly what activities he would be better suited for as opposed to others.

On another topic, slightly tangential, he noted that his entire body hurt like no other. An unfamiliar intensity of muscle soreness radiated throughout his body and made it known that whatever he was doing, he was doing it right.

Getting out of bed was a little harder today, consequently. With a strained ‘fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck~’ at his muscles loosening and his bones cracking, Eric got started on his little routine for the morning... namely a three minute shower to wake him up, brushing his teeth, and getting dressed for his work. Eric adapted pretty easily to the routine, though the hardest part was the first day at waking up at the crack of dawn; he was never a morning person, and even back on Earth, Eric made it a habit to schedule his classes more towards the early afternoon whenever possible to account for this.

With the morning sun steadily casting more light over the land and through the house despite the overcast-ness, Eric bounded down the stairs dressed in a pair of his work jeans and an old, grey t-shirt that didn’t fit him as well as it used to. It was perfect for the occasion, since he didn’t have a dedicated outfit for manual labor. Plus, his jeans and old shirts were easy to maintain and wash by hand, if a little time consuming to do so at the worst.

“Morning, Limestone,” Eric greeted with a wave as he walked into the kitchen.

The mare in question, dressed in a usual, bland tank top and her own work pants, leaned against the kitchen counter. Holding a bowl of oatmeal in her left hand and eating with her right, Limestone shoved the spoon into her mouth and directed his attention to the table. There, two other bowls of the same food lay unclaimed, their steam trails beckoning their future consumers along with an intoxicating aroma that instantly cleared room in Eric’s stomach.

Limestone finally spoke, formally returning his earlier greeting with a fraction of her trademark sass.

“Hi Eric. Go ahead and eat; Marble’ll be down any minute."

It was certainly still there, but Eric had noticed that her attitude with him had lessened over the past week; a welcome change. He never faulted her for it in any sense, and to be honest with himself, she was already growing on him. Limestone had a great head on her shoulders, and that’s what Eric ultimately admired about the mare…

...that, and she was actually amicable even if she had sometimes obscure ways of showing it. Case in point: she would always cook everypony (Eric included) breakfast in the morning since she was always the first awake without question.

Eric did, however, notice a distinct absence of the elders of the house who had always happened to meet them in the morning before work thus far.

“Just Marble? Where’s Maud?... and Igneous and Cloudy?” he questioned.

“Something came up with Maud’s research and she had to head back to school early; she said to tell you she’s sorry that she couldn’t say bye… or whatever,” Limestone relayed a little message, stricken in hindsight at the slight oddity that accompanied such a request. “And mom and dad were heading south to maybe close a candy rock deal; could’ve sworn I told you yesterday,” she added, jogging her own memory for some answers.

“OH! Right, right,” Eric recalled, nodding as he shoveled some of his expertly-crafted oatmeal into his mouth.

Over his comparatively short stay in Equestria thus far, he was keen on the fact that food tasted immeasurably better in most cases than back on Earth, and even a simple meal such as oatmeal was packed full of something… something he couldn’t rightly place, yet, made all the difference. “And okay; I guess I’ll see Maud whenever she gets back.”

This is some bomb-ass oatmeal! Actual shit probably tastes better here too.

“Yup. So, we’ll just wait for Mar—” Limestone was cut off when Marble entered into the kitchen silently, slinking towards the table and mouthing ‘sorry’ as if she was making some sort of a scene. She promptly took her seat next to Eric and began ‘elegantly scarfing’ her food down. Getting a few-second look at her, she was dressed in her own work clothes that Eric had seen her wear pretty much every day, which included some black pants and a similar tank top to Limestone’s.

“Nevermind.”

“Good morning, Marble,” Eric said to her, smiling. She glanced back at him and blushed the moment she made eye-contact.

“H-Hey, Eric,” she replied gently before going back to eating, nothing extravagant but that was okay.

Over the course of the week, Marble had been at least talking to him a little more each day, so in Eric’s eyes, things were steadily getting better already.

In Marble’s eyes, she, too, felt that this was improvement. She could suppress the instinct to run away at first sight of Eric, especially after he had been so understanding with her initial outbursts, as well as being tolerant with her often less-than-conducive-to-friendship approaches to basic smalltalk. Nevertheless, things were certainly bettering, and the thought was that if she could keep this up, she’d be well on her way to beating her social anxiety.

Or at least… that was the hope.

Switching over to more of her authoritative side, Limestone began anew:

“Well, now that everypony’s here,” she said, taking another bite of her food . “Today’ll be an easy day with the weather forecast. I need to make sure that the ventilation into the crystal mine is properly sealed as well as rolling in the ore and loot we got two days ago. That means you two get to work together in the fields.

“Toward the southwest section of the fields, it looks like a fair bit of candy stone has been accumulating. Go ahead and dig up as much as possible for storage before it becomes... well, impossible,” she instructed, gesturing with her spoon while she talked.

“Sounds good to me! Half-days are always nice,” Eric remarked.

Marble, however, was most curious... especially so considering that Limestone would almost never shirk on any duties nor even think of half-days. So, she quietly asked:

“W-Why are we stopping early?”

“Thunderstorm later,” her older sister answered, and at the mention, Marble gripped her spoon that much tighter and her pupils seemed to constrict, along with a strong urge to hyperventilate welling up within her.

“The rain’s gonna turn the fields into mud, pretty much... and it’ll be Tartarus trying to dig out large rocks when your legs sink up to your knees,” she detailed, though more for Eric’s benefit rather than Marble’s.

The human nodded confidently at the task laid out before them.

“Got it!" he said.

‘Harvesting’ the rocks was one of the first things he was taught earlier in the week, and though grueling, digging them out and lifting those heavy stones provided a good, full-body burn like nothing else. Plus, he’d be working with Marble again.

Admittedly, he found her adorable, and dare he say, a ‘Cutie Pie.’

Hah… puns.

And as hilarious as that sounded to him, every bit of it was true.

I’m in trouble…

“Oh… okay,” Marble weakly added, her posture sinking in her chair as she continued to eat.

Limestone, on the other hand, had herself one last spoonful of oatmeal before taking the bowl to her lips and downing the rest of it in one gulp.

“Alright, well, you two get to it whenever you finish eating; no rush. I’m gonna get a head start though,” she announced, setting her bowl in the sink and briskly making her way out of the kitchen with a purpose. But, she had to share her last, traditional parting words with the both of them in her usual manner.

“And what’s the only rule?”

“Stay away from Holder’s Boulder,” Eric and Marble recited in unity, humoring the mare though clearly having heard the same spiel time and time again.

Eric had only been here a week and he already lost count of how many times Limestone warned him about such an endeavor; he couldn’t imagine how Marble or Maud put up with it, honestly. Further, he had actually seen Holder’s Boulder with his own eyes; it wasn’t really anything out of this world but it clearly held sentimental value to the lime-eyed mare. Eric, thusly, had neither the need, nor urge to test her patience.

Limestone nodded at the duo’s reassurances and disappeared from sight, the two of them hearing her exit out the front door and shut it behind her.

Being left to their own devices, Eric and Marble ate in relative silence, their spoons and bowls clinking together as they finished off their respective breakfasts. They ended up making some eye contact throughout but that usually ended with Marble blushing and closing herself off again. Eric had to stop himself from ‘squee-ing’ every time she did that; he was a man, and by the power vested within him as a man, no such sound would come out of his mouth… no matter how adorably cute Marble looked when she was embarrassed.

Eric finished off his bowl and got up to follow in Limestone’s hoof-steps

“Ahh… ready when you are!"

Marble was not that far behind either, and she brought the last bit of delicious energy elixir to her mouth.

Finishing with less flair, she too left her place at the table and set her bowl in the sink.

“Mhmm!”

Despite it being still ‘bum-fuck early’ in the morning, as per Eric’s words, the clouds had already rolled in courtesy of the local weather team, painting a picture of perfect white and gray gradients rippling seemingly endlessly across the sky.

Accompanied by the crisp morning air and occasional gusts of wind from the system that rustled the handful of trees across the drab landscape, this was indeed the telltale sign of a nice rainstorm (at the very least) to be upon them within the next few hours. The appropriate tools hefted and slung over their shoulders, Marble and Eric made their way to the designated section of the rock fields.

Silence, of course, reigned over the morning air and their respective hooves and feet compressed the soft, dew-stricken ground beneath them; ideal for digging up the rocks they would be searching for.

Eric carried a shovel and pickaxe over his left shoulder while dragging an empty, wooden wagon, bringing up the rear behind Marble who only carried her own set of tools. She, however, let her shovel and pickaxe lay across her upper back, using her arms to hold them in place behind her neck... and such an orientation allowed Eric an uncompromised view of her backside.

Like he wasn’t gonna look…

By the nature of her tank top and how her arms rested, he could see the underlying muscle through her coat that adorned her shoulders and arms; they weren’t large due to her overall slim profile, but they were proportional and certainly notable… which led beautifully to her currently-flexed back. Eric had always had a thing for ‘fit girls,’ and Marble certainly fit the bill thus far.

Letting his eyes wander a bit lower, Marble’s tank top rode up just a little bit, exposing her midriff and the coveted, mouth-watering back-dimples which were no doubt a testament to her working day after day on the farm. By virtue, it was almost necessary for a cute butt to be veiled through her pants, and that’s just what Eric observed. The way that Marble inadvertently (if subtly) swayed her hips and tail through her purposeful walking was nothing short of enticing and hypnotic.

Further, though Eric had enough sense than to just go around the other side and have a look, he knew that an ample bosom rested under her top, made much more prominent by such attire, which in turn led to a slim stomach and beyond.

This mare had it all, in Eric’s own unbiased and objective opinion. If she could work on her crippling shyness and break out of that shell of hers, he had little doubt of the power she could and would wield over others.

Man, I’m really in trouble…

...now quit perving on her, ya dick.

Bringing his thoughts back into the realm of propriety, he did notice that Marble seemed more… on edge today; stiff. So, he decided to catch up to her completely and match her stride next to her.

“Hey, you doing alright?” he asked, which startled the poor mare out of her thousand-yard stare with a gentle ‘eep.’

“H-Huh? Ooh yeah, I’m fine!” she said once she recovered, putting on a less than convincing smile for added effect.

Still, her natural apprehensiveness was showing even more than normal, and Eric was determined to find out why… though if she refused to be forthcoming for her own reasons, he, of course, would respect those boundaries.

“Are you sure? You look a bit… on edge,” he pointed out.

“Oh… heh well, I’m not on edge. I’m just fine,” she replied, again, not fooling anyone, but nevertheless Marble was not talking, and Eric had little desire to force it out of her.

So, he respectfully nodded and allowed her to continue leading the way.

Soon enough, both of them reached their apparent destination, further evident when Marble dropped her tools to the earth, stepped on the flat of the shovel and grasped the handle.

“Here we are,” she said softly, judging exactly where they should begin digging while Eric grasped his own shovel in preparation.

Jovial and ready to work, Eric fielded his question.

“Awesome. Where’d’ya want me?”

He was in a good mood today and eager to get on with things at Marble’s direction. The first time he worked with her went off as well as he expected, and true to her word, she had made a conscious effort to actually talk to him… though her usual habits of shying away unexpectedly or just flat-out avoiding conversation were still plenty common.

Nonetheless, Eric never felt offended by it.

Just as he was trying to do his best to fit in and not piss off his host family, Marble was doing her part to initiate conversation and stay her ground. Having a best friend back on Earth that had legitimate anxiety problems afforded him the requisite experience and patience. So far, he was having fun… though Eric wasn’t entirely sure he could say the same thing about Marble.

The mare in question pointed to the direct area where she felt was appropriate to begin.

“Ummm… c-could you start over there if you don’t mind?” she said.

He was lucky that she did point, though... because he could barely hear a goddamn thing she said with how softly she spoke.

With another genuine smile, Eric simply replied:

“Sure thing.”

And the instant that eye contact was established, Marble’s cheeks colored heavily and she averted her gaze. Eric enjoyed smiling, but he knew that part of him was just doing this on purpose because he found Marble’s antics cute as all hell. He knew quite well he was being a torturous twat, so he decided to instead get straight to work, going to the section Marble asked him to and jamming his shovel into the ground.

The process was straightforward: he would dig until the shovel would come into contact with a rock… which usually, he did not have to dig too deeply. Then, he would have to heft out said rock… but if it happened to be too big, the pickaxe would be used to help break it into more manageable pieces.

Eric also learned very quickly to heft the heavy rocks and stones out of the ground by use of his legs via squats… and not his lower back.

But after about half an hour of satisfying, yet silent work, Eric decided to break the silence more on account of his own sanity.

“Soooo, Marble…” be began, setting another stone atop of an accumulating pile in the wagon.

He cleared his throat a bit awkwardly, feeling that the back of his neck needed scratching at this very instant. However, at that same moment, Eric realized that he had absolutely nothing to say to her.

Eric just wanted to talk to her, but in his possibly overzealous efforts to do so, he foolishly didn’t anticipate actually not having a focal point of conversation. Even worse, he couldn’t risk going back to what he was doing and playing it off like he didn’t say anything—Marble already was glancing at him over her shoulder expectantly with that mane of hers cutely obscuring one of her eyes—and risk looking weirder than he already was to her.

Punctuating this fact, she shyly muttered:

“Hmm?”

That was Eric’s cue, and his conscience was ever encouraging him onward.

Oh come on it’s not like you like her or anything. Just talk to her, damnit! Go!

“So about them rocks…” he uttered without thinking, to which Marble sunk her head a bit lower and cocked her eyebrow.

While he still kept his cheery exterior, Eric, on the inside, facepalmed with the force of all the tonnage fired during the First World War. While he instantly drew up plans to salvage his words, he gave some measure of pondering as to how easy it might have been to commit ritualistic suicide with a pickaxe.

Eric’s brain finally shifting into the next gear of rational thought, he decided to inquire properly and, admittedly, a bit more naturally.

“Ahem, what I meant to say was, ummm… you’ve been working around rocks presumably your entire life. Do you enjoy it?”

While he awaited her response (if she decided to even entertain him after his mild sperglord show) he resumed breaking apart the next stone he had been working on.

After stabbing her shovel into the dirt beneath her, Marble further pondered his question, but had an answer.

“Well, yeah I suppose,” she replied.

For Marble, though Eric may have phrased the question… oddly, she did appreciate the fact that he was trying to at least get to know her a little bit more and start conversation with her. It helped her stay true to her promise to herself while making said task a bit less daunting and onerous overall.

“I-It’s really all I know… and my cutie mark reflects my talent with my namesake,” she added with a bit more confidence.

He cocked his head, genuinely intrigued by her last statement.

“Oh yeah?” Eric asked. “You’re good at working with marble?”

Marble closed herself off a tad out of habit.

“It’s more of a hobby, really… though it does kinda come in handy around the farm often,” Marble detailed timidly. “I sculpt marble.”

Eric dug his shovel into the ground again before facing the mare.

“Really?” he asked, impressed. “That’s awesome! What do you make?”

She blushed profusely at the praise, and met his kind words with a humble reply of her own.

“Oh… just little things. I-It’s not that impressive. Just…y-you know, something to do when I’m bored,” she forced herself to elaborate.

“Still,” Eric said through a strained voice as he hefted another stone into the wagon. “Hobbies are cool, and sculpting marble on your free time sounds really interesting, seriously,” he affirmed.

What had his curiosity piqued was that the only sculptures of marble done by hand, at least back on Earth, were often massive busts and statues which often took massive amounts of time. Smaller, trinket-like sculptures could be even more difficult, which made it all the more impressive. He was no expert on this stuff, but often precise sculpting was done by machines.

“If you’d let me, I’d love to see some of your work,” Eric added, flashing her another friendly smile, though this time, Marble forced herself to not shy away from it.

Though it nearly killed her, she still held the eye contact with him and returned a little grin… though she compromised and decided to veil her face a bit more behind her mane; baby steps.

Returning the gesture, Marble gave a gentle nod.

“Okay…” she affirmed, removing a stone from the earth with some difficulty but eventually depositing it in the wagon where it belonged.

Eric returned the nod with one of his own and got back to working, happy to at least have not embarrassed himself completely in front of Marble. Hell, if he played his cards right, he might just make another awesome friend here! While he was living with his host family who had treated him incredibly thus far, Eric would be a bit hesitant to go as far as to say they were his friends. As social as he was, he personally did not like tossing around the word ‘friend’ willy-nilly. He felt it devalued the innate endearment of the title.

For the latter, the conversation could have ended right there, but deep down she knew better than to just continue collecting the candy rock in silence. Eric was putting forth the effort to try and get to know her, making conversation and genuinely making her feel nice. The least she could do was reciprocate and find out a little bit more about him; it was the perfect opportunity since last time they worked together did not entail that much communication on their parts.

And being honest with herself, Marble still felt the desire to learn about her new human friend.

...well, at least she hoped to be his friend eventually, as evident by a familiar, this time comforting heat rising to her cheeks.

No time like the present!

“Do you have any hobbies, Eric?” she asked, much to Eric’s pleasant surprise.

Feeling his cheeks rise up in tandem with the edges of his lips, he turned to her after fetching his pickaxe.

“Well, I had a few hobbies back on Earth at least, before I came here,” he began, positioning himself to properly strike the stone in the ground.

Eat, masturbate, read, masturbate again… not necessarily in that order.

“Like what?” Marble bade specifics.

“Well, hiking was one of them,” Eric answered. “Once in a while I just like getting lost. There’s some nice hills and trails by my university back on Earth that I would frequent after exams were done; helped with clearing my head,” he detailed, more than happy to share some info about himself.

From then on, conversation seemed to flow a bit more naturally between the two, and Marble ended up saying more to him then than the entire week combined. Of course, there were still long bouts of silence but neither minded; they were only times to collect their thoughts before one of them inevitably spoke again. What was different this time was that there were perpetual smirks and smiles all around.

All it took was a little overture and suddenly, the realization broke upon Marble like the gentle waves of the Equestrian coasts; there was nothing to be afraid of! Eric was physically… different, that was certain, but not all that different. He had already confirmed on the first day that they met (though ‘exposure’ would be a more apt term for the event) that he would do her no harm. In fact, while she had the urge to just bury her face in her shirt or hide behind her mane every time he smiled at her… her urge to literally run away had been foregone completely, barely a measurable presence in the back of her mind. No, these acts of timidity were the product of something else…

...and Marble didn’t particularly mind this development.

“...so what did he say to that??” she nearly begged, waiting on Eric’s words to the conclusion of his story while they actually got their hands dirty.

In a subtle, subconscious gesture that meant a great deal in her own perception of the world, Marble moved her mane behind her ear, allowing her unobstructed view of Eric from both of her eyes.

“Absolutely nothing! There was nothing for him to say; the dipshit,” Eric finished, but he quickly covered his mouth when he realized that he let some less-than-desirable (purely subjective) vernacular slip through his teeth, but today was all about nice surprises, especially since Marble giggled heartily.

“Don’t worry; mom and dad may be a bit more conservative but the three of us aren’t,” Marble noted, kicking her shovel into the ground again.

Another thought graced her mind and she erupted into another cute giggle fit, one that sounded chorus-like to the human’s ears.

“You should hear what Limestone says when things don’t go well down in the crystal mines; our parents would have heart attacks.”

Eric breathed a sigh of relief.

Got her to laugh. Score for me!

“In fact, just this last week—” Marble’s sentence was interrupted when the low rumble of distant thunder rippled over the environment, and turning both of their attentions to its source, the clouds from the south were definitely darker than those currently above them.

“Looks like the rain will be here soon… we should probably head back,” Eric voiced, but he too was startled slightly when a fat raindrop plinked him right on the nose.

He recoiled slightly before wiping away the cool water.

“Spoke too soon. Come on, let’s go,” Eric took the initiative.

Turning the wagon back towards the farmhouse came with its own set of difficulties due to the extra bit of weight held within its carriage. What Eric noticed more, though, was the absence of any words from Marble’s mouth... or any movement from her for that matter. What’s more, her eyes were strictly trained on the source of the thunder, and the variable signalling the storm’s inevitable arrival each time it sounded. She was breathing much heavier and her eyes had widened considerably.

“...Marble?” Eric called out behind him, noticing that she was frozen in place.

Her grip on her shovel had intensified to the point where her knuckles became white under her coat.

“Marble!” Eric yelled, and as the rain from above began to drop its initial salvos upon them, a two raindrops nailed her right on the hand and the muzzle, both of which helped pull her back to the real world.

Gasping at the realization, she nodded and quickly gathered her dirty tools onto her back.

She rapidly muttered, barely coherently, her cobbled-together reply as she ran past:

“YeahI’mherethat’srightlet’sgotodaywasreallyfunthanksEric!”

She beelined directly toward the farmhouse without sparing a glance back at him.

Eric blinked away the confusion but only shrugged, yanking the wagon into motion behind him and knowing that he had to get a move-on before the falling rain softened the ground further. If the ground became too soppy, the wheels of the weighed-down wagon would dig in and he’d be definitely having a bad time.

Shrugging at Marble’s antics, Eric heaved the wagon behind him with great effort, dragging the wheels through the quickly moistening ground but his efforts were not in vain, allowing him to secure the freshly-gathered rocks under an awning. Then, it was little effort to stride back inside the house, though Eric’s mind was more set on Marble and how she tore past him.

Yeah, this was along the lines of her usual behavior… but the way that she stiffened so rigidly and harbored a genuine look of despair on her face wasn’t too reassuring that things were ‘business as usual.’

“Marble?” Eric called out as he entered into the common room of the house, not finding a single trace of the timid mare, not even a trace of dirt or mud from her hooves.

Running both of his hands through his blonde hair and wiping some dried sweat from his brow (and smearing some dirt on himself in the process), he could only assume that she had retired to the bathroom and her room, possibly to be left alone.

Seeing no sign of Limestone either, Eric removed his shoes and quickly banged them against the porch to dislodge any pesky dirt and mud clots before heading upstairs. While it was a short day today in terms of work, Eric was no less tired from the accumulated soreness throughout his first week.

Ascending the stairs and being able to make out the distinct, soothing patter of the heavy precipitation now upon them against the roof, a blissful smile carved its way across his face. Rain had always been his favorite weather… mostly because in Southern California, he and his kin thought ‘water falling from the sky’ was naught but a myth.

Passing by the bathroom and noticing both the light on and the sound of water running confirmed his likely suspicion that Marble was probably showering before she scurried off to her room. Eric hoped he’d be able to catch her on her way out and tell her that today had been extra fun.

Otherwise, this would be an odd way to end the day.

“One week down,” Eric announced to the empty room, stumbling as he tossed his socks away. “And a bunch more to go!” he silently cheered, pumping his hands into the air as he began undressing himself.

Slipping into a comfortable pair of sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt after wiping down his face and arms, Eric had half a mind to just waste the day away (as well as tomorrow) before classes started early on Monday.

Getting to his bunk and lying down, he had already done all the mental planning. In short, Eric would just have to wake up no earlier than normal, make his way to the train-station, finish his classes by noon or one in the afternoon depending on the day, head back and finish his chores which would leave him just enough time to study.

His musings were jolted when lightning flashed and thunder followed suit, along with a fair increase in the downpour which seemed here to stay. His hands behind his head, Eric was content to just listen to the aforementioned, soothing beat of the rain above his head as some white noise to catch an early-afternoon nap before he could properly shower off.

The rolling thunder was just a bonus; he loved thunderstorms, after all.

A gentle whimper just outside his door by the bathroom indicated that somepony didn’t particularly enjoy them.

Eric let it go, though; it wasn’t the first time that Marble had scurried back and forth from the bathroom in a bit of a hurry or in an anxious manner. He’d wait for a little while for the water to heat up again before going to rinse himself off.

So he resolved to rest his eyes again, arms folded comfortably behind his head.

As the thunder boomed quite loudly this time, however, that whimpering and sniffling outside the door didn’t go away… nor sound farther away, for that matter.

Opening his eyes and cocking his eyebrow, Eric directed his gaze towards the door; flashing lightning along with the same result confirmed his suspicions.

Curious, Eric swung his legs over the side of the bed and dropped to the floor, opening his door and taking a peek outside towards the bathroom area.

“Marble?” he called as he scanned his outside surroundings, but instead of a verbal answer, he got a visual one:

Freshly showered and garbed in her usual, baggy comfort clothes, Marble was sat in a fetal position against the small bit of wall by the bathroom door. Her arms were wrapped securely around her legs while her chin rested squarely on her knees, and Eric noticed that her eyes were shut tight with a few barely-discernable tear rivulets beneath.

Further, the poor mare was quivering to her very core, and a sharp pang of pity hit Eric right in his heart at the sight… a sight he was unfortunately all too privy to back on Earth for a multitude of reasons.

Having a good idea of what he could do, Eric cautiously made his way over to Marble’s immediate left, sinking his back down against the wall which sat him right next to her.

“Hey…” he said in a soft, almost paternal tone to try and capture her attention. “What’s going on? Talk to me.”

Better than he had hoped, Marble angled her gaze over to him, though her expression of misery didn’t lighten at all.

Further, when lightning and thunder made their presence known once again, Marble visibly flinched. While, in Eric’s uneducated opinion, this may not have been a full-fledged anxiety or panic attack (at least yet), his experiences with one of his best friends back on Earth who did suffer from such attacks allowed him to draw on a plethora of ways to handle the situation.

The only problem was risking either doing nothing on one extreme due to fear of overstepping boundaries, or accidentally doing too much.

In the end, Eric would be damned if he allowed himself to do nothing while this mare was figuratively shitting herself, and it would be easier, in his mind, to ask for forgiveness than for permission in this particular situation. So with that, he scooted up against her and draped his right arm over her, giving her the opening to lean against him if she so desired.

And as if subconsciously, still bearing that blank stare, Marble relaxed into him, angling her entire body and resting her head on his shoulder with Eric’s arm wrapped around her.

He sighed out in relief that she didn’t immediately scoot away in fright, as he had come to expect when Marble was faced with unfamiliar surroundings and situations… but further, he could feel her exhale gradually and take in controlled breaths to help calm herself down. The final touch called for him leaning his own head against the top of her own, which was exactly what he did.

A gentle aroma of freshly shampooed hair and washed body, one of subtle lavender, pleasantly filled his nostrils and served to bring a half-smirk to his face.

For Marble, she could not place exactly why she leaned into Eric so readily. That, or she just did not have the words to explain what she knew deep down the be a festering, fermenting truth… a truth which terrified her in an alternate sense. Still, this further helped to quell any residual fears about Eric; here he was doing his best to comfort her in her time of extreme need. Normally, she would beeline for Maud’s room for refuge and words of solace, but since she was not here, Marble felt she had no options; Limestone, bless her heart, was not exactly the paragon of bliss in these situations for her.

Then, along came Eric. Barely had it been a week with him around and she was already feeling noticeably calmer.

Now, the human knew it was time to draw her attention away from the storm.

“Tell me about your sculptures,” the human implicitly asked.

Marble blinked a few times as she processed his words.

“W-What about them?” she finally muttered her first words of the moment.

She quietly yelped when her thigh scraped against the floor.

“Ow!”

“Just… anything really,” Eric responded. “But as a suggestion, it may be a bit more comfortable if we sat somewhere better.”

He gestured to his room with a tilt of his head. It was an innocuous suggestion in nature, Eric knew this well but his ultimate fear was having those words misconstrued into something that was definitely not the case. ‘Inviting someone to your room’ could be interpreted in only a handful of ways when it involved two of the opposite sex who were (allegedly) straight individuals.

His ass was killing him though, and sitting on a bed was a much nicer alternative than a wooden floor in his eyes.

Thankfully, Marble was just as eager to get off of the unforgiving floor and, seemingly, did not take Eric’s words the wrong way in the slightest.

“Okay…” she said without hesitation.

Eric stood up first and offered his hand to the mare, who, with a grateful smile partially veiled by her mane, accepted the gesture.

Helping her off the ground, Eric kept his arm around the still-quivering mare and led her into his room, having them take a seat on the edge of the lower bunk under his own bed. The two scooted back against the wall for extra support, but the bed allowed them both to sit in a much more comfortable lotus position to relax in.

“So, what kind of little sculptures do you make?”

“W-Well…” Marble began, leaning back into Eric as if by habit, twiddling her fingers and flinching once when another bout of thunder rolled in.

“Just little things… like I’ll make tiny busts of ponies or some…” her words trailed off when her thoughts became a bit more muddled.

“Where do you get the material? Here?” Eric continued to ask his questions, and while the original purpose was just to distract Marble from the storm, he was genuinely curious.

“Mhmm. We have a tiny quarry with some white marble that we extract from every now and then,” she explained. “I’ll find some little pieces on the ground and if they’re not usable for us, I’ll take them.”

“Huh, interesting,” Eric expressed. “Back on Earth, marble sculptures are created with machines now, but in olden times they were done by hand with a hammer and a chisel. Is it kinda the same here?”

“Mhmm!” Marble nodded. “I don’t know anything about machines, but we use some magical chisels that allow us to carve much easier; it’d be really hard to make smaller pieces if that weren’t the case,” she elaborated.

In disbelief, Eric made his curiosity known.

“Magical chisels, really?” he asked, turning to look directly at her. “Now you really gotta show me this sometime,” he continued, eliciting a hearty giggle out of the mare, she covering her mouth out of propriety.

Gradually, the rain did not seem to matter that much anymore, and the storm could be weathered. In accordance with his original plan, Eric continued to field questions to draw her mind from settling on the storm system outside, but it became much easier as time went on and the major part of the storm advanced onward, only leaving the rhythmic sound of falling rain in its wake.

Neither party was sure how much time passed, but all Eric was certain of was that after who-knew-how-long, the two ended up lying down together on the lower bunk with Marble snuggled against his right side, her arm draped around his midsection and her head resting on his chest as if he were a giant stuffed animal.

Eric huffed in amusement as he looked down upon the quiet mare taking a nap on him, oblivious to the continual pitter-patter of the rainfall outside. With his left arm resting behind and supporting his head, he used his right hand to pull an errant strand of Marble’s mane out of her peaceful face and set it in its rightful place behind her ear.

There was little reaction from her on her part, except for her shifting in her sleep and donning a placid smile… one that was contagious enough that Eric had to form one of his own.

...but adding to the myriad of revelations he had this week, the young man removed his left arm from its place and let his head fall back onto the pillow in defeat.

Fuck, I like this mare…

I like-like Marble…

Goddamnit.

Indeed, glancing back down at her sleeping form, the familiar feeling of butterflies invading his stomach and fluttering around like degenerate assholes, as well as his heart rate pleasantly increasing was all the collective confirmation he needed.

This could all be Future-Eric’s problem, though… for now, Present-Eric was content enough to rest his right arm on Marble’s back and allow her to sleep while catching up on a little shuteye himself.

So, Eric lay back completely and let his free hand fall on Marble’s right shoulder, taking a deep breath and letting himself fall into the welcoming grasp of an afternoon catnap.

All the while, Marble’s eyes fluttered open just enough for her to realize her position… and she did not care in the slightest, only yawning, clicking her tongue once, and sleepily nuzzling her cheek back into its original position on Eric’s chest.

There, she drifted back into the realm of dreams, if only for a little longer, with the temporary peace of mind afforded to her by her new human friend she was beginning to find so… calming.

3. The Spark

[Three Weeks Later…]

The light of the four strategically-placed candles flickered about a nonexistent breeze, casting dancing shadows along the walls of the dim room whilst competing valiantly with the natural moonlight which shown through the four-paned window of Eric’s abode.

The human, however, was much more concerned with more pressing matters, namely the textbook in front of him.

Situated comfortably on his usual, top bunk with his upper back against the wall and book resting upon his knees, his eyes scanned over the words diligently while his finger dipped low in preparation to turn the page.

A comfortable, weightless silence pervaded the warm, welcoming atmosphere, further helped by the second individual in the room.

Taking space on the opposite side of the bed was one whose presence had come to be paired with Eric’s upon the culmination of the day, proper. Marble, clad in a faded white, baggy t-shirt and mesh shorts, was occupying herself with a small piece of her namesake in her left hand and magically-powered chisel in her right. She knew well that Eric had to study, and she was no stranger to keeping quiet.

Still, the two liked having each other around now since the ‘incident’ three weeks prior, and neither needed to say much to enjoy each other’s company.

Eric gently bit the inside of his cheek, rolling the flesh around in his teeth as he absorbed the words of the study guide in front of him, doing his best to make sure he understood all the highlighted points before he inevitably turned the page. Aiding him in his efforts was the combination of pseudo-white noise of a nonintrusive breeze outside and the gentle ‘ting’ of Marble’s chisel delicately striking her to-be sculpture.

Averting his eyes for a rest as he turned the page, Eric angled his gaze over toward Marble, who in turn glanced up at him. He flashed her a smile and Marble reciprocated the gesture from behind the veil of her mane, lowering her head just a tad and blushing as the duo resumed their work.

Eric, however, realized that the next page detailed the introduction to another whole chapter he had to review, so he figured this would be a perfect place to stop for a legitimate break.

“Alright, that’s enough for right now,” he said to no one in particular, placing a bookmark and folding the book closed as he set it aside.

Marble weighed in softly:

“How’s studying?”

Though her voice was as non-imposing as ever, Eric had been noticing that she spoke with more resolve behind her words as of late.

His answer came nonchalantly in kind.

“Pretty good so far. A lot of material but I should be good. Exam’s on Tuesday so I’ve got time to review more if I need it."

He scratched the side of his face and released a pent up breath. Adjusting his sleeping shirt, he then turned to face Marble who was still plenty occupied with her little project.

“How about you? Sculpture coming along fine?”

“Mmmmmhm~!” she replied vaguely as she continued her work, Eric not being able to see exactly what she was making, and her hand plus chisel orientation was not making the identification any easier.

“What’re you making?” he asked, scooting over to her.

But, an impish look instantly formed over the mare’s features and Marble suddenly turned away from him.

“Wouldn’t you like to know…” she teased.

Eric was more than willing to play along with her.

“I would, actually,” Eric added.

Sitting next to her and trying to peer over her shoulder, Marble was persistent and refused to let him see what her delicate hands were crafting… along with a mischievous giggle to accompany her actions to boot.

Sparing an inadvertent, fleeting glance downward in his quest to see just what this mare was hiding, he was greeted with a sufficient-enough gap between the collar of her shirt and her chest to get a figurative ‘down-shirt’ glance at what lay beneath; apparently Marble wore plain black bras when donning more casual clothes.

Though, Eric was a bit more drawn to what the cups of said undergarment held… mainly, their size. They had enamored him since he met her.

Lawdy… For her height and figure, double-D’s; easily.

“Hmmmm~… no,” she pondered cutely. “You’ll find out when it’s done, but until then…” she set the unknown sculpture aside, covering it with a portion of the blankets before turning around with a much more devilish grin; one that Eric hadn’t seen at all.

“M-Marble…?” Eric inquired quizzically. “Why’re you looking at me like tha—GAH!” Eric’s words were instantly silenced and simultaneously, his question was answered when Marble lunged at him.

Wrapping her arms around his midsection, she tackled him to the bed and pinned him under her in a position that had become a norm for them since the first time: Marble happily embracing Eric’s torso and snuggled against his side with her head on his chest, just under his chin. Arms still spread wide and reeling from his sudden change in position, Eric, faking annoyance, rolled his eyes and let his arms fall to the bed.

Her breasts were pressed firmly against his side and chest… so that made it better in his mind.

Nah, I’m just fine where I am.

“Uhhh, Marble, I kinda have to study…” Eric noted, not convincing anypony of his plight; token resistance at best.

“You have until Tuesday,” Marble replied, her speech muffled when she nuzzled into his chest, eyes already resting.

“Yeah…” Eric alluded. “But I’d rather get more done now so I have less to do later.”

“Hmmm… nuh-uh,” Marble added resolutely, entrenching herself further as she held firmly onto his midsection.

She intertwined her legs with his which, Eric had to admit, felt quite nice; despite having a thin coat covering her entire body, Marble’s legs and arms often felt as smooth as fresh skin with a slight velvety texture to them. These little details did not help him at all in his quest at finding out how to exactly approach his growing interest in her.

“You’re denying me my sole purpose as a student… to study?” the human questioned mockingly, earning a giggle from the mare as well as her immediate response.

“Mhmm!”

Pursing his lips, Eric sighed out in a similar mock acquiescence, throwing his arms up and letting them fall onto their most natural places: one around Marble’s back and the other just resting behind his head.

“Well, then I guess that settles it for now.”

Marble could tell that those words were playful and sarcastic in nature, but her old friends, uncertainty and reticence, did well to remind her of their existence.

Moving herself off of him, she propped her trunk up on her elbows and affixed her gaze on Eric’s, who also adjusted his position to see what was wrong, if anything.

“I umm…” Marble’s courage suddenly waned, falling back on one of her most natural instinct: shielding her face with her mane.

“I’m not being… y’know… weird, am I?” she asked in such a way that begged for her concerns to be assuaged and allayed. Eric had truly helped her feel much more calm around him and in general over the last few weeks, and as odd and fast as it was (especially for her) she liked just being near him.

Eric, on the same note, never considered Marble any form of a nuisance, even if the two had been spending most of the evenings together doing little else but study and sculpt (respectively), or simply sleep.

Often times, the two would rarely say more than a few sentences to each other over the course of any particular night. Doubly, since he was coming to terms with being romantically interested in her, he found little to complain about having her around by her own volition.

If anything, it was a massive ego and confidence boost that she wanted to be around him as much as she did.

Still, it begged the question of ‘why?’ One that Eric had every intention of asking at the right time.

“Of course not! What do you mean?” Eric asked, sitting up against the headboard so he could get a better look at the mare and ease the strain on his neck.

Marble glanced away and pursed her own lips as she marshaled her thoughts into a coherent idea; the last thing she wanted to do is embarrass herself yet again after about a month of knowing the human.

“Well, I just…” Marble began to say, but her thoughts eluded her as she herself, truth be told, was not entirely sure what she wanted to say.

Pouting (cutely, in Eric’s unbiased opinion), she struggled to jog her brain. She knew the idea of what she desired to express; that she just really loved being around him for a multitude of specific and not-so-specific reasons. However, she did not want to risk sounding potentially clingy... or worse, desperate.

She did not want to potentially lose that tingly feeling in her stomach every time he so much as smiled at her.

“Are you getting annoyed with me?”

Eric blinked harshly at the sudden question, but there was little hesitation in his answer.

“No!” he asserted boldly… but instantly realized how much zeal he put into his response and quickly lessened his tone, lest he give off the impression of something he’d rather not explain at the moment.

“Ahem… I mean… I’m definitely not annoyed at you. Yeah, you’re coming over to my room all the time during the evenings now but I actually like the company; yours in particular,” he added to help smooth over any of her fears or insecurities.

Marble was showing telltale signs of self-doubt, and with Eric’s mild enamoration with the mare, he’d rather keep her coming back.

Even so, he felt he was treading on broken glass, afraid to admit to her just yet that he had developed certain feelings for her… and risk putting her off altogether.

What a time to be alive.

At the mention of his last few words, Marble could do little to stem the heat flowing to her cheeks as well as a little squee that forced its way out of her throat… to which her ‘self-bred’ humiliation fucktupled in size. Relying on more of her usual coping mechanisms, Marble buried her face in her hands, sleeves from her baggy shirt providing extra cushion for her cheeks.

“Y-You always know what to say, huh?” she uttered her muffled response, lifting her face just enough where her eyes could peer over her hands and back at Eric.

She scooched closer to him on her stomach, smiling brightly at him once her bout of insecurity was quashed expertly by his genuine words of reassurance.

With a chuckle, and feeling that his head needed to be scratched at this very moment, it was Eric’s turn to struggle with what to say next.

“Heh, well… you know…” his words trailed off, and he being stumped was enough to elicit a tiny giggle from Marble.

On her end, she always found it cute when Eric got flustered…

...though thinking he was ‘cute’ was terrifying to her on several levels. So with equal trepidation, and smiling and chuckling awkwardly from behind her mane, she replied with a simple:

“W-Well… I’m glad you think that."

There, the two shared a small moment, reconnecting their halfheartedly averted gazes and flashing each other a smirk. Not wanting to ruin the moment, Eric lay back to relax, realizing that he, in fact, did need a bit more of a break from studying than he had originally planned.

This, of course, was an implicit invitation for Marble to resume position… and resume it she did. Beaming, she snuggled into his side and wrapped her arms around Eric’s midsection once more and nuzzled back into his chest.

She had reclaimed her rightful mantle!

Wrapping his arms around her in kind, the two lay there as they had for the last three weeks, letting silence do most of the talking on their joint behalf. Eric’s eyes felt a bit heavy, and as such, he decided on a little bit of a nap to refresh himself before hitting the books one last time this evening. He adjusted his position under Marble for his own comfort, wishing to siphon more heat from the unsuspecting mare before letting himself drift off.

And he did eventually give in and drift off… but not for long. Coming to about ten minutes later he realized there was a foreign, thin, velvety object that his right hand had been massaging between the fingers absentmindedly.

Forcing away some of the post-power-nap sleepiness, Eric shot his glance downward and discovered that he had been playing with Marble’s ear.

Sleep was instantly banished from his mind as his brain took in the implications.

I’ve technically been fondling this girl...

I’m just gonna have this fuck off outta here…

Releasing Marbles outrageously soft ear from his grasp, he exaggeratedly put distance between his hand and her face and let it come to rest on the much more chaste place which was the mare’s back.

Marble, however, grumbled at the change. Her voice was muffled and sounded as if she was about to cry"

“Why’d you stooooop…~?” she whined.

Clearly she too had been on the fringes of a nice little catnap with his direct help.

“Oh… I didn’t even realize I was doing it ‘til just now, honestly,” Eric answered, running his hand up her back and replacing it on her ear, continuing his previously unknown ministrations, much to Marble’s delight.

She hummed her approval and tightened her hold on him so she could scoot up a bit more, a comfortable heat diffusing between the two of them.

“Hey Marble?”

“Hmmm?”

“You know how we talked about you always being over here in the evenings?” Eric asked.

There was a little bit of hesitation from her part, mostly from wondering where he was going with this, but Marble eventually nodded.

“Mhmmm...”

“Well… and please don’t take this the wrong way… but I’m just curious as to why you still want to come back. I’m surprised you just haven’t gotten bored of me already,” Eric said with a chuckle, lacing his implicit inquiry with some mild humor as he always tended to do.

For Marble, this was an interesting question, and one which had many answers that were more or less correct; some more than others. However, in keeping with her virtue of honesty and timidity, she concisely uttered one simple sentence:

“You… make my nervousness go away…,” came her soft, still-muffled reply.

“What was that?” Eric asked, not having heard anything she said. Marble adjusted herself, angling her head upward to hone in on his gaze.

“Y-You make my nervousness go away,” Marble spoke up, seemingly clutching Eric that much tighter for the added punctuation of her words.

At that very moment, Eric felt he was hit with a bombshell of a revelation, evident by actually recoiling his head and widening his eyes at her words… not in a bad way by any means, but what Marble said was tantamount, in his opinion, to saying that she felt secure around him.

And that was always something that would get any man to smile…

...and smile he did.

“I just…” Marble continued. “...like, I can be myself around you and not have to worry about anything. I don’t have to talk to you constantly to hold your attention. That, and you’re just so sweet in helping me when you don’t have to at all and I…” she blurted out her confession, disconnecting their eye-contact as things became much more personal.

“I just like being around you, Eric.”

Her tail subconsciously wrapped around his right shin.

As great of an ego boost as this was, Marble’s honesty demanded a response. Eric was keen on giving it, but her words only further validated his feelings for her, and the human felt compelled to hug her right then and there.

“Oh… damn your nice words,” he joked, scooting down and wrapping his arms tightly around her, embracing her entire form to which Marble gladly returned the gesture with a bright, face-spanning smile.

Their cheeks pressed together as the two shared in yet another moment; a metaphysical receipt of sorts for the instantaneous strengthening of their little relationship.

“Well, just know that you’re always welcome here whenever you want, okay?” Eric added the extra reassurance, and the corner of Marble’s lips upturned in a half-smirk, along with an accompanying raise of her brow. She then propped her trunk up again to get a proper look at him.

“I just may take you up on that, mister…”

“You better.”

The two took in each other’s visage for a few moments, and for some unforeseen rhyme or reason as per the universe, Eric gave into the urge to brush aside a few errant strands of Marble’s mane back behind her ear where they belonged.

As beautiful as she was with her signature bangs shrouding her lone eye in a look that was Marble’s own, he personally felt her entire face should be on display for the entire world to see.

Similarly for Marble, she immersed herself in the feelings of comfort and security that Eric’s friendship brought her, leaning her face into that one hand that he had extended to fix her hair.

That allowed him to effectively cup her cheek, and Marble absolutely melted at his touch.

At that very moment, she felt that ethereal warmth spread from his hand to her cheek; to her face and all the way to her core… she could not deny what she had been so terrified to admit to herself any longer.

Marble liked Eric… the silly human.

At that point, words didn’t need to be said, at least for now, and Marble rested her head back under Eric’s chin, sighing out blissfully as she molded into her usual position.

Uncharacteristically, however, the two were holding each other that much closer, as if their unspoken feelings about one another had already been conveyed through the channel of magic.

Somehow, Eric knew. As he fearlessly ran his fingers up and down Marble’s side (earning a few gentle twitches and breathy sighs for his efforts) his conscience had told him to just take a breather and relax… things were already working themselves out beautifully.

But his mind, however, was more than willing to try and go that extra step.

Tell her how you feel…

Say it. Give her the D!

“M-Marble?” Eric beckoned her attention.

“Yeah?” she responded, looking back up to him with an almost hopeful expression on her face… though it was probably just a trick of the light on Eric’s part.

SAY IT, YOU TIT!

“N-Nevermind, I umm… I forgot what I was gonna say, heh,” Eric lied through his teeth.

Marble seemed to stare right through him, as if scrutinizing his words but in the end, she only shrugged and returned a soft smile.

You could’ve given her the D…

“Okay,” she said, accepting his answer and laying her head back down. Eric resumed his earlier ministrations and after internally chastising himself, the two lay down, eyes closed and just resting as they had become so accustomed to.

Eric opened a single eye after a while when he felt Marble’s right hand remove itself from around his torso and plant itself on his chest. Following up with that, she began twirling her finger, tracing various patterns while her eyes remained dutifully open. Had she been awake this entire time unbeknownst to Eric?

“Can’t sleep?” he asked, startling her a little bit at the sudden reveal that he himself was barely napping. Glancing away and looking back to him, she shook her head silently. “Yeah, me neither.”

Since he already had implicit permission from before, Eric, consciously, went about playing with her ear. He twiddled the little flap of flesh between his fingers and, again, was rewarded with the heart attack-inducing sight of Marble melting into him. Of course he got a sick pleasure in seeing how she reacted to not just his touch, but his very presence as of lately… but it was also a gargantuan honor, in Eric’s eyes.

And a firm reminder to not abuse her trust in him.

Never.

“Mmmm… that feels nice,” she whispered, shutting her eyes and basking in the precise touch of his fingers for just a little while longer. Marble reopened them soon after, affixing her orbs straight onto Eric’s and engaging in an unknowing but quite loud conversation.

“Well… your ear feels nice, too,” Eric remarked, which earned another blush and a cute giggle from his partner in crime.

Even so, he vomited on the inside at the egregious amount of cheese in that comment.

Fuck it!

Their looks soon morphed from warm, almost kindred expressions to those of hesitance and uncertainty. Eric knew for a fact that he didn’t want this moment to end… by his current feelings and internal ramblings, he’d cuddle Marble to the end of eternity if he had the option to.

As well, the timid mare was not that dissimilar in her own assessment of their current predicament… all she wanted to do was be in his arms and bathe in the physical and metaphysical warmth that their exponentially-strengthening friendship was providing her.

This was the time that both parties simultaneously realized how close their faces were. After all, Marble had been laying her head on his chest, and in lifting her head up, their mouths were barely over an inch apart from one another. Marble and Eric knew well what they wanted to come next, and all it would take would be a little initiative from either party to realize that mutual desire.

Still, neither moved.

“Marble…” Eric whispered.

“Y-Yeah?” the mare in question asked in return, her underlying tone begging him to continue.

Even then, Eric had trouble rallying his thoughts; he had to say something to her at this point. His chest felt it would explode like a grenade, but instead of deadly shrapnel which would certainly eviscerate both of them in the blast, it would be dickhead butterflies and pure warmth that would erupt from his chest cavity... probably still likely killing Marble with his undisclosed desires and feelings.

He had to prevent this at all costs, and he made one last ‘do or die’ resolution: if he couldn’t find the words to say, he would tell her through actions.

Now was the right time.

Carefully, he brought that one hand he had by her ear and cupped her cheek, and then gently pulled her face downward.

Extending his neck just a little bit to meet her, Eric committed to his action and pressed his lips to hers so gingerly, so tenderly and tentatively that he might as well have barely grazed her skin. There was absolutely no resistance from her, and in fact, Marble sighed out and moaned, almost relieved, before letting her hands slide up to his shoulders.

That was exactly the sort of reaction Eric was waiting for, and so he continued to apply his lips upon hers with much more firmness and conviction.

That first, magical kiss just felt… right! The sheer amount of emotions flooding into Marble’s core was enough to produce a lightheadedness, a fog of ethereal courage and desire that manifested in the form of heavy breathing and colored cheeks. An involuntary moan escaped her throat when she fully processed what was happening: she was kissing Eric…

And Eric was kissing her!

Marble, unfortunately, was forced to separate when she realized the distinct lack of air in her lungs, which necessitated her (and both of them, really) breathing heavily to recuperate.

They literally took each other’s breaths away.

Eric stared at the mare above, their eyes fiercely locked in a waiting game of bated anticipation on who would move next.

Marble’s innocent look, coupled with her flushed complexion were enough to drive him absolutely insane at the unadulterated, genuine sexiness that the mare was exuding. Her eyes, formerly averted and fearful, were now a window to something else entirely; something that Eric had never seen from Marble before, nor wished to ever stop seeing ever again:

Lust.

Marble took initiative this time, inching her muzzle ever closer to Eric’s face and, like with Eric’s foray, barely grazing her lips against his own… oh how she longed to feel their touch upon hers again.

They had not gone even twenty seconds beyond their first kiss and she already, irrationally feared she would never feel them ever again; she craved it.

Her reticence had dictated all of her actions up to this point in her life. Her parents and sisters always encouraged her to get a feel for the world; though conservative, they never held her back, readily visible by Maud’s and Limestone’s efforts and achievements.

No, she herself was the only obstacle, especially in the way of finding a special somepony… something that she had always enjoyed entertaining the idea, yet found equally frightening a prospect. She promised herself that she would come out of her shell, and Eric was making it all the more easier for her. Thus, the choice could not have been clearer.

She craved him...

And she would have him.

The spark within her had been placed; the pilot light in the depths of her core lit ablaze the pent up desires that she never had an outlet for… and she pressed her head forward to lock lips with Eric once again.

The kiss was soft; tender… but the touch was all push needed to ignite their shared passions in full, melting into each other as Marble lay herself flush upon Eric’s prone form. Her hands, as if magnetized, clamped down on Eric’s cheeks and held him firmly in place, letting her body and instincts do all the work as her mind became absolute, useless putty. Her ears flattened against her head and her entire body was hypersensitive, stimulated by every brush of Eric’s fingers while they traced vertical lines up and down her back.

She shivered at his touch, moaning softly yet deeply into his lips. If this was how vulnerable (in a good way) she became when Eric would simply kiss her and run his hands over her clothed body… what would happen if he were to touch her bare?

Seemingly reading her mind, Eric did just that, sliding his hands down towards her butt but quickly turning back and slipping under her shirt. There, he took the liberty of feeling up the toned, sexy back-muscles that he had been spying on every time Marble turned around in her work clothes.

He smiled against her lips, and the inherent contagiousness of such a gesture ensured that Marble, as well, produced her own giddy smile while they continued their quickly-deepening makeout session. Eric could not believe what was happening; this had to be a dream… a dream that became much too cohate as the product of an overactive imagination and his own desires.

And he dare not try to wake up.

The candlelight continued to flicker, providing the necessary ambiance to fuel their raging emotions for each other.

Their lips worked tirelessly, making up for all the denial and pent up attraction, both emotional and sexual. Eyes were closed, and they only allowed themselves to simply feel and listen... feel their wet lips grind against each other chastely yet sultrily while listening the most beautiful ‘smacking’ sound each and every time they separated for air. Those necessary, second-long breaks for life-giving breath were only the harbinger for either one of them to immediately dive back in for more, ready to taste the other yet again.

Eric wrapped both his arms around Marble and pulled her in as tight as possible. Her breasts were compressed tightly against his own chest, but neither party cared.

Adding fuel to the proverbial, lust-driven fire, Eric could just barely feel Marble’s nipples hardening through her shirt and thin bra against his chest, feeling them grind against him each time she made minute adjustments to her position atop of him.

In a daring move by anyone’s standards of Marble, she pressed her tongue to the forefront… just the tip, though… and allowed it to slide against Eric’s lip, pleading for entrance. She had been told by Maud that stallions liked that, and she, in her inexperience, decided to give it a go in her endeavor to taste more of Eric.

It worked flawlessly.

Eric, surprised by more of Marble’s forwardness, immediately allowed her entrance, and their two tongues met half-way for the first time under the cover of their joined mouths. The new, foreign wetness against Eric’s tongue was certainly unusual considering the size disparity between a pony tongue and a human one, but no less pleasurable as they tenderly embraced and massaged one another.

Shit, she’s bigger than me… heh.

Eric slid his hands down her back and cupped both cheeks of her butt. He squeezed them firmly through her shorts, making sure to dig his fingertips into her fleshy behind (which held a good bit of muscle underneath) and eliciting a sexy squeak from Marble.

Hot breath from their respective noses was traded, breaking upon each other’s faces like stunted gusts as they fought to intake air during their relentless kiss and stave off their inevitable separation. Their hearts raced together, only separated by some thin fabric and their bare chests, but the mutual realization of just how close they were sent feelings of nigh tangible ecstasy through their whole bodies.

No face-sucking session could feel this good if they weren’t made for each other… this was too good!

...and just like that Marble’s aforementioned reticence sprang forth like a figurative spring-wound toy from her heart.

Eyes widening at the full implications of what was happening right this moment, Marble separated herself from Eric at an instant. Two thin strands of saliva kept the two technically connected until they broke.

Marble was hyperventilating at this point, and the sudden loss of pleasure as well as seeing the mare that was kissing him seeming to have a panic attack set off every single warning alarm in Eric’s brain.

“Marble?! Are you okay? Fuck… I’m sorry I’m sorry what did I do wrong?” Eric pleaded with her, sitting up fully and going into damage-control mode to make sure he somehow didn’t overstep his boundaries.

He placed his arm on her back as she regained her breath, providing that extra bit of physical support while she clearly reined in her thoughts.

“No no it’s… i-it’s fine, Eric I just…” her words failed her yet again. “What time is it?”

“It’s ummm…” Eric scratched the side of his arm as he glanced to the room’s clock. “Just before midnight.”

“Oh… I should probably go,” Marble revealed, downtrodden, as she hastily smoothed over her shirt and wiped her mouth.

She quickly threw her arms around Eric in a hug before releasing him and dropping to the floor. Of course, she didn’t forget to employ some sleight of hand to retrieve her marble sculpture she had been working on.

“Goodnight Eric, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Marble rattled off as she exited the room, instantly taking off down the hall toward her ever-welcoming refuge of her own room.

Eric barely had a chance to wave her off and respond before she was already out the door.

“G...oodnight, Marble…” he said. At an instant, his mood changed from ‘high on life’ to ‘fuck it all.’

In the end, he felt that he only had himself to blame for most likely overstepping his boundaries.

Good going, jackhole… you shouldn’t have grabbed her ass!

God, I’m fucked… I’m FUCKED.

Eric wasn’t even convinced on that front.

If anything, he was just looking for an excuse as to why she suddenly broke the whole moment off if it was going so well. He had to remember, it had only been a month since she was running away scared from him… it was goddamn divine intervention that she even went this far.

Shrugging and sighing, Eric shook his head and resolved to try and put it out of his mind for now. His only hope as he snuffed out the candlelight and lay down for true sleepy-time was that he didn’t do any irreparable damage.

Rolling onto his left side and pulling his covers over him, he settled into a comfy position and allowed his less-than-desirable thoughts at the moment to whisk him away from the waking world.

Well, it was fun while it lasted, I guess.

“Stupid… Stupid… STUPID!” Marble berated herself, flopping onto her bed and beating her pillow to a pulp…

...well, at least she’d like to imagine that she did.

Eventually, she just resolved to bury her face in said head-comforter and scream out her frustrations.

Like Eric’s room, her own quarters were lit up by a few flickering candles, but this time, Eric wasn’t here, much to her chagrin.

Marble was alone with nopony else but her thoughts.

And being honest with herself, her thoughts were shit company.

“It was so magical and he was so sweet and… UGH!!” Marble continued to whine into her pillow.

“And you had to get all worried again and go fuck it all up!” she cursed herself, uttering a word that she rarely used in hostility.

With another unsatisfied groan, she rolled onto her back and took a few long, much needed deep breaths.

Reflecting on what had went down naught a few moments ago, the mare came to terms with the fact that she had just had her first, true kiss and heavy-makeout session.

Such a thought was enough to clear away some of the internally-aimed indignation but in no way cancelled out her frustrations with herself.

...especially since much of said frustrations also came from elsewhere.

Marble lay on her bed with her arms splayed out, pouting and more than aware that her lower-half was screaming for attention.

Her little session with Eric had gotten her quite hot and bothered for obvious reasons, and while she never in her right mind would have let things continue that far, even if she didn’t cut things short, there was still little shame (even for her) in admitting things flat out:

She was horny.

Marble was not a stranger to masturbation, and, to even her surprise, she did it quite frequently. Perhaps it was the side-effects of being essentially a shut in? As Marble stared at the ceiling with a blank look on her face, she tossed around some ideas in her head… but they all led to the same conclusion: giving herself some much needed attention and relief.

Sighing, as if relenting to some unknown, higher power, Marble lifted her hands from the bed and slid them up her waist, her fingers making contact with her exposed midriff which was still somewhat sensitive from her earlier ‘escapade’ with Eric.

By virtue of almost automation at this point, she closed her eyes and pictured the one pony she wished to be with right now… a certain human that had taken up residence in her home down the hall.

“Hmmm…” she hummed to herself, letting all ten of her fingers dip unceremoniously below the elastic band of her mesh shorts.

With a gentle exhale, she allowed her fingers to trace her lower abdomen and feel the small presence of the ‘V’ musculature that connected her stomach with her pubic area… all before letting her right hand make contact with its prize.

“Ooohhh…” Marble cooed breathily, the feeling of her fingers finally touching her neglected, quickly-re-moistening labia in all of its glory.

She allowed her index finger to commence tracing her slit from end to end, finding a steady rhythm while the middle finger of her left hand honed in on its own target: her pulsating, swollen clit.

“Mmph!” Marble groaned, stifling a moan at the very touch of her little button by biting her lower lip.

Normally, Marble would allow herself to get lost in the moment, treating herself and building herself up to her eventual release… but not this time. She was too… frustrated to make herself wait for that release she so needed.

With every single feature of the human ingrained in her mind, she allowed her imagination to take her to a place that she longed to eventually go. To her, Eric was the one running his finger over the length of her quivering netherlips, and likewise, it was his middle finger toying with her clit, circling it and teasing her to the absolute limit.

“Please…” she moaned to her imaginary lover, dipping one of the lone fingers into her inviting depths with a subtle, satisfying squelch along with the feeling of her walls being parted, even if just a little bit.

“Ah… Ah…” came the small chorus of pants and groans as Marble began pumping that finger into her needy tunnel.

All the while, her left hand’s middle finger was more than occupied with pivoting upon and flicking her clit. Her lower half began to grind itself against her mechanical ministrations on its own accord, sweat quickly forming on her brow as her body temperature skyrocketed.

“Eric…” she called out his name silently, doing her very best to shush herself but knowing full-well that she was a moaner.

Her imagination ran wild, and if for only a few fleeting moments, her finger inside her was his thick, throbbing length… pistoning in and out of her equally-throbbing slit. Her breasts were squeezed tightly together between her biceps as a result, and the only thing missing would be Eric playing with ‘her girls’ while he assaulted her most sensitive area below.

“Ahh! MMM! Right there…” Marble encouraged her nonexistent dominator, spreading her legs as wide as her shorts allowed for better access.

Her abs were tightly flexed as she bucked into her hands, effectively allowing her to deepen her range of motion. Sinking a second finger inside of her added the extra effect of stretching her walls out, and with a lack of experience despite her rather frequent masturbation sessions, this still sometimes hurt her.

Though by all that was holy… it was a wonderful pain.

Her moaning and tender talk continued in earnest, though she had to quickly come up with a solution for her outbursts and resolved to moan into her pillow.

By now, her actions had born fruit; her climax was approaching. The peak she so wished to ascend and tumble off of without a single care in the world was not at all far off!

“MMM! Eric, YES!” Marble cried out into her pillow when she flicked her clit particularly hard whilst burying both her fingers inside of her as deep as she could possibly sink them.

As if the simultaneous actions were the key to unlocking her figurative treasure, her pussy quivered as she came with incredible force.

Resorting to biting the pillow fabric to prevent herself from nearly screaming at the much-more-powerful-than-expected orgasm, she coaxed all of it out of her by continuing to rub her now-sensitive vulva in firm, fast clockwise motions. Her hands were absolutely drenched from the entire act and only when she was finally coming down from her euphoric high did she realize how much of a mess she made of her hands, her shorts, and even her bed.

She leaked through her shorts…

...like Marble cared at this point.

Removing her hands from between her legs, she let them fall to her side while she returned her gaze to the ceiling.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly as her body reined in her heart-rate and breathing, further encouraged by the cooler air that surrounded her within her naturally temperate room. Marble, however, was not keen on this in the slightest, evident by her dopey, victorious grin that she flashed to nopony.

Her satisfying orgasm had long faded by this point, and only then did she become concerned with being mildly damp with sweat… but soaked elsewhere, and not with water.

Further, Marble had no inclination to change her sheets at this hour, nor take another shower. Ultimately, she just wished to wash her hands and crawl back in bed, and unless she thought of something better, that would be exactly what she’d do, regardless of a soiled comforter and the night’s most recent events.

Bleh…

Night still held its reign upon the world at two in the morning, and through the shadows cast by the moonlight, a lone figure trotted trepidatiously yet with a purpose down the hallway towards Eric’s room. Hoof-falls were nonexistent as the entity made well and sure that they moved gracefully and with utmost stealth in each and every step that was taken.

Finally reaching their destination without disturbing the peace, said figure grinned victoriously as they gripped the doorknob and turned it, letting themselves into the human’s darkened room.

Of course, the room wasn’t entirely darkened, courtesy of the massive window that allowed Luna’s Moon to bathe the abode in an inviting, calming light.

Said light was enough to reveal the giddy smile on Marble’s face as she entered into the window’s field. With a teeny bit of cautious planning, she hefted herself up to the top bunk where Eric lay peacefully on his side, the cyclic rise and fall of his torso giving Marble the confirmation that she needed; he was fast asleep.

Just as planned.

With an extra stroke of luck, Marble spied just enough room behind Eric’s back and gladly helped herself.

Crawling cautiously but still taking advantage of the knowledge that the human was a semi-heavy sleeper, she slid herself into the welcoming embrace of Eric’s sheets and comforter. They were already warm and bathed in his natural scent, a non-odorous, ‘fresh musk’ that she had been enjoying ever since she took the liberty of laying her head on his chest for the first time.

Her eyes lidding out of fatigue, she wasted little time in pressing herself flush against his back and molding to his shape, wrapping her right arm around his waist in deciding to be the big spoon. There, she thought this would be the end-all, and Marble would gladly fall asleep in this position despite it not being the epitome of comfort.

It turned out Eric was not sleeping so heavily tonight.

“H-Huh…? Marble?” he whispered groggily, glancing through slitted eyes over his shoulder at what, or who, was holding him so tenderly.

Even in a drowsy state of mind, he was already getting used to the identifying feel of Marble’s breasts pushed up against various parts of his form.

Turning to fully face her, and confirming that it was indeed her, the two shared a glance with each other through the darkness but before Eric could even say what was on his mind… or apologize for anything he might have done to upset her, Marble preemptively silenced him with a quick peck of her lips on his.

“Shhhh…” she cooed, wrapping her arms around him and snuggling into him more. With Eric gladly accepting her presence, she placed her snout in its rightful place under his chin, one side being hugged by his pillow and the other open to the night air.

She allowed her eyelids to drift shut and another smile traced its way through her features, this time the result of being at absolute peace.

“Goodnight, Eric…”

Eric, though unsure of what to make of this development due to him mostly still being half-asleep, was more than willing to accept this. Clearly, Marble was not mad at him in any sense, or else why would she come back and immediately join him?

Questions could be asked later, but for now, lest anything else take this mare away from his hold, Eric opted to enjoy his new predicament and just roll with it.

“Goodnight, Marble.”

Both drifted off into Luna’s domain with placid smiles on their faces.

Synchronized, rhythmic breathing was the ultimate indication that both parties had fallen asleep in each other’s arms. The two could deny things all they wanted, but Eric and Marble both knew in their own, odd little minds that these developments… these powerful feelings for each other, were most definitely real.

Sure, it had only been a month, and that was a valid cause for question and potential internal pilgrimage, but neither Eric nor Marble was in any rush to see where this was headed.

No words needed to be exchanged; only actions, both public and private.

They knew.

Author's Note

Sorry this was a bit late, had to make some change of plans in the clop scene to not make things look TOO forced. So, you all get a little teaser with some masturbation. Next chapter is the sauce. I plowed through this and it's 3AM right now typing this, so I hope you enjoyed!

"What are your intentions with Marble?"

Eric:

5. The Fire

[One Week Later…]

Eric slunk into his darkened room silently, and quietly shut the door behind him. Using the plentiful moonlight afforded through the one large window, he gripped onto the sides of the bunk bed and hoisted himself up. After a few creaks and thuds from the sturdily constructed, yet older bed frame, he lazily crawled to his pillow and fell onto his back, allowing himself to be embraced by the comfort of his bed once more along with the perfect-temperature air that rendered his covers unnecessary.

Arms folded behind his head, Eric reflected momentarily on the past week as well as some important subject matter from school. It was nearing the end of the term, and as such, final exams would be upon him… but he was not too worried, actually; the environment Equestria afforded was not all that conducive to academic stress, and the fact that he was pulling excellent grades despite not having to devote his entire life to his studies further allowed him to rest easy. Soon, it would be final exams; then, it would be winter break in which he’d have all the time in the world to become more involved on the rock farm; and then, winter quarter would be upon him, and the cycle would begin anew.

There would be few worries from here on out, and as such, the only actual stress he would have to deal with would be the frictional variety; simply done.

What also helped him along further was the other individual taking up valuable space in his bed.

“Boo!” Marble cutely blurted as she threw herself upon the recently-returned Eric. She beamed brightly, nuzzling herself into his chest, to which Eric responded by happily wrapping both of his arms around her. His left hand honed in on its rightful place, her shoulder, and he began gently tracing lines up Marble’s forearm with the fingers of his right. Adding extra mood to the atmosphere, the moonlight which peered through the window shined on the opposite side of the room, casting a shadow over the resting couple.

Business as usual.

“Hey, you. Still awake?” he greeted with a whisper, planting a gentle kiss onto her forehead; he felt he earned that much freedom at the very least when considering all that had happened so far. Marble agreed fully, evident by her soft snickering at the gesture. Letting his hands further roam over her form to more comfortable positions, Eric still could not truly fathom just how soft Marble’s skin and coat were. To him, it felt like she did not even have a coat on at all!

“Mhmm!” she affirmed. “What took you so long?” she further asked, though her question was not really all that serious; she just wanted to talk to Eric at any length. Culminating her own question, Marble gently dragged her hand up Eric’s stomach, and it soon found a comforting connection with his own hand.

“I was probably gone for a total of five minutes,” Eric jokingly deadpanned, and Marble responded with a silent chuckle against his chest. As if by instinct at this point, their fingers wrapped around each other’s hands and held each other close on his chest.

“Yeah…” she conceded. “But that was still five minutes without you here, duh!”

“Oh really,” Eric replied with his own sarcastic tone. “And just what could I have possibly missed in the five minutes that I had been indisposed?”

At the end of his last few words, Marble opened her eyes and donned a much more impish complexion, as Eric had just activated her trap card.

“This,” she said simply, and with one fluid motion, Marble swung her leg over Eric’s stomach and positioned herself atop of her human coltfriend. Straddling him, she retained her mischievous smile before biting her lip and lowering her face to his with puckered lips. As for the man, he got the message quite clearly, and eagerly placed his hands on Marble’s back to further encourage her descent downward until their lips were reacquainted with one another.

Letting out a breath they both were holding, the two let their lips do the talking and negotiating on their behalf, working each other over and filling the deathly-silent room with nothing but gentle smacks and breathy sighs.

Eric ran his hands up her shirt and traced random lines up and down Marble’s back, letting his fingertips cartograph each and every bit of musculature that he felt under the mare’s velvety coat. She smelt of lavender, as he had grown accustom to, and further, the smell had become addictive to him. He would associate it with Marble and Marble only, and each time they snuggled and he caught a whiff of her, he had the overwhelming desire to kiss her to his heart’s content.

“Hah~!” Marble tersely groaned when Eric latched his teeth onto her lower lip. Holding it in place, he ran his tongue in circles over her ensnared lip before releasing it and allowing the two of them to separate momentarily. Taking the half-second lull to catch her breath, she renewed her offensive, reattaching her lips to his and attempting to replicate his technique with moderate success. Spurred on by her forwardness as well as the heat of the moment, Eric’s hands ran down her back and made the decision to use her butt as a dual handhold. Their tongues were pushed to the frontline of the battle for their mouths, and at the same time, Eric slid his hands up the legs of her mesh shorts and dug his fingers into her bare, fleshy cheeks.

Marble shuddered at his touch, and pressed her butt further into his gripping hands as much as she could without separating from his lips. Given every single green light possible, Eric damn-near abused his liberty to fondle her perfect rear with abandon. His fingers rhythmically massaged her cheeks, kneading into her skin as if attempting to pierce the strong, underlying muscle. His attempts were in vain, however, and only served to elicit more breathy moans of gradually increasing arousal.

“How’s that?” Eric whispered with an accompanying grin when the two separated momentarily. Marble returned the gesture with the tiniest lip bite and lidding of her eyes.

“Really good,” she answered honestly with a whisper of her own. Gently laying her lower half atop of Eric’s she pressed her chest into his and framed his face with her hands before guiding her lips back to his. There, they reinitiated their kiss, Marble more than happy to play the dominating role while Eric made her involuntarily squeak at variable frequency with his continual massaging of her ass. What made the whole act much more exciting for Marble was when Eric’s fingers would just barely brush the periphery of her most intimate area. He never touched it, but the fact that Marble could just wiggle her butt and have him ‘accidentally’ slip into her sent an armada of butterflies to her stomach and a rush of heat straight down between her legs.

Further, Marble had begun to feel a much more euphoric flow to her core every time she and Eric embraced each other so intimately. When they started that time ago, she had no experience whatsoever and let her instincts, and Eric, dictate her actions. Practice had allowed her to develop more technique of her own, and Marble would always find herself craving his lips and his body against her so she could put said technique into practice.

Their joined mouths opened wider against each other, letting their tongues lovingly wrestle with extra room as their oral embrace descended into the throes of ever more intense passion. For both Marble and Eric, their clear minds were shrouded by the familiar and benevolent haze of monotonically increasing lust, their rationality and logic dissolving in the mixture of pent-up arousal and another emotion… an emotion that neither wished to address at the moment for fear of acknowledging the quite rapid pace of their strengthening relationship.

In fact, Eric was guilty of this much more than Marble; he had come to really care for the mare since they first met. He had been taken by her presence even when she would run away from him. However, his concerns were mollified when Marble trapped his tongue between her teeth and sucked on it, as well as massaging it with her own.

She was definitely getting better at this.

“Mmm!” Eric hummed in surprise when Marble bit down particularly hard, but not unpleasantly so. The extra stimulation on his tongue had an equal reaction in the form of digging his fingers into her butt that much harder, which in turn drew out a moan from Marble.

“Hah! Heh… heh…” The both of them exclaimed and caught their breath when they separated from their particularly steamy joining. A thin strand of saliva kept their lips connected while they panted and regained control of a normal breathing rate. Their hearts fluttered when their eyes peered into one another, conveying the wordless message to each other that neither had the gall to say out loud.

Breathing under control, the two smiled softly, Eric bringing his right hand to Marble’s face and affectionately stroking her cheek with his thumb. Such a gesture was well received by the latter, and she beamed while leaning into his hand, a hand in which she felt so secure and comfortable; like nothing could possibly go wrong in her life. After a few seconds of relishing in his touch, she pulled away and lunged for his thumb, attempting to playfully chomp it in her mouth. Eric was much too quick, however, and he countered by booping her nose with his index finger, which extorted another giggle from the adorable mare.

After brushing her nose against his, Marble smiled at Eric beneath her yet again and laid her body down into its natural position, wrapping her arm around his midsection and letting her nose wedge itself into his neck. With that, Eric resumed running lines up and down the length of her arm with his fingers.

Both were a bit riled up from their little session, and even though they comfortably rested their eyes in each other’s embrace, neither would be falling to sleep any time soon. For at least a short while (in Marble’s case at least) she was more than content to synchronize her breathing with Eric’s, using it as white noise to clear up her muddled mind, if only a little bit. Every now and then, though, she would plant the tiniest, chaste kisses on his neck which only served to wrest an occasional hum from him.

They lived for these little moments.

“You’re affectionate tonight,” Eric softly commented, running his hand down her arm and curling his fingers into her hand. She instinctively curled her fingers in return, taking his hand into hers.

“…Am I bothering you?” Marble asked in return, allowing her insecurities to well up in her just a little bit. The last thing she’d ever want to do was scare Eric off; she never wanted to go back to her shut-in, anxious ways… though of course, she wasn’t completely free of them. Eric, however, helped her put her fears aside and level off her anxiety, so in short, she just could not see herself improving as a pony without Eric.

T’was a long-winded internal justification for her question to Eric, but a necessary one nonetheless.

“Huh? No! We’ve been over this,” Eric said, reminding Marble of the countless times that he’s reassured her of her presence. He propped himself up on his elbow to get a better look at her, ready to nip this resurgence of reticence right in the bud.

“Yeah, I know, I know. It’s just… know what? Nevermind,” Marble dismissed her own worries, laying her head back against Eric’s propped-up chest.

“Hey now, don’t be like that; you know you can talk to me about anything,” Eric said, further reassuring the girl by running his index and middle finger through her mane, separating out a few strands and placing them out of her face. Her lavender orbs stared back at him in the darkness and Eric could’ve sworn he saw them twinkle. Nevertheless, Marble only smiled and craned her head up, pecking him once on the lips.

“Mhmm!” she acknowledged. “But l-let’s not talk about that; I’m okay now. I promise,” she concluded, smiling at him and pecking him a second time. However, Eric snaked a hand behind her head and held her there for a few moments, letting his lips get another fill of hers before they separated with mutual smiles.

They lay down again, resuming their positions.

“Well, if you don’t want to talk about that…” Eric’s words trailed off as he clicked his tongue, thinking of something to pass the time other than silence. “What do you want to talk about, hmmm?” he asked, slithering a hand into the crook of her neck and tickling her lightly, which garnered quite the heart-melting squeak and laugh out of her.

“Hehe, well… I always meant to ask you; why’d you decide to come to Equestria for college?” Marble fielded her question once she settled down.

“Simply put, I wanted an adventure,” Eric answered, arching his back so he could smooth over his shirt. “Irvine, California is pretty fun and super gorgeous, and I loved to just get lost in the various places to hike and what not… but when I got the message that they were opening up a bunch of study programs across the portal, that was probably the greatest adventure I’d’ve gotten! I mean, completely new planet with different ‘people,’ or ‘ponies,’ rather, among other things? I just couldn’t resist when I saw that ‘biology’ and all its specializations were on the list of acceptable majors,” he explained.

“Hmmm,” Marble pondered over his words as she let her eyes flutter shut. She placed her hand on his chest and began drawing figure eights. “You always do say that you enjoy getting lost; is that what you wanted to happen?”

“In a sense that is what happened. Getting lost is one of the greatest things a person erm—or a pony can do! You never know what you might come across,” he elaborated anecdotally. His features then morphed into a much more devilish expression. “I mean, after all… I came across this gorgeous mare,” Eric added, emphasizing that specific word by latching his fingers to her neck, initiating yet another brief tickling spree.

“AHH! STOP IT ERIC!” Marble squee’d, laughing as he attacked her neck. The compliment was not lost on her, though, and when Eric finally relented and found himself leaning over the mare, it was Marble’s turn to cup his face in her hand.

“You’re really too good to me…” she confessed with a sigh.

“What’re you talkin’ about?” Eric asked with a smirk, wanting clarification but not taking her assertion too seriously.

“I just wouldn’t expect anypony to be as patient with me as you are. Here you are, on a big adventure far away from home and of all ponies that you’ve met at school who are so like-minded as you… you choose me?” Marble questioned. Her earlier assertiveness and confidence had receded, replaced by her own familiar, internal insecurities that she had yet to put forth; questions that should have been asked—in her mind—weeks ago were now spilling over one another to her forethought in a seemingly desperate attempt to be answered and assuaged.

Before Eric could respond to the ludicrousness of her implications, Marble continued.

“A mare who barely leaves the farm and who might as well be afraid of her own shadow… me?” she reaffirmed her question, and through the gentle reflection of what little light there was, Eric thought he could see her eyes misting over. Musing internally, he was no stranger to these types of questions, though admittedly, he was not usually the subject of said questions. Still, he knew what the best course of action would be, through enough experience with a friend that Marble reminded him so much of. He had a few options on how to answer her question and uncover that smile he so loved to see…

…but his ‘status’ with Marble afforded him one other option that would be most effective.

Silently, Eric leaned down and tenderly kissed the confused mare, molding his lips so familiarly against Marble’s and with such effectiveness that the girl stood absolutely no chance. Her anxiousness and unease were swiftly replaced by the much more welcome feelings of belonging and sheer happiness. Eric’s lips against hers were the only reminder that she needed, a reminder of the simple fact that she was being silly.

He separated from her with a prominent ‘smack’ of their lips, and Marble’s eyes were lidded with a far-off stare, her mouth left slightly open.

“Whoa… that was nice.”

“Stop doubting yourself,” Eric said. He pecked her lips. “You’re.” He kissed her again. “Just.” And again. “Perfect.”

His little actions meant the whole world to her, and Marble felt that invasive heat emanate from her core and spread out all over her body. Her cheeks colored in the darkness and she had no chance of stopping the stricken smile from carving its way across her face.

“S-See?” she stuttered out. “You could get any mare you want by just smiling at them…”

“Says the better looking one out of the two of us,” Eric pointed out with another nose boop, and the praise that he was heaping onto her was having an incrementally greater effect on her. This time, Marble could not help but retreat behind her hands, attempting to stem the flow of her face exploding with how much blood was flowing to it. Of course, Eric made sure that didn’t happen, and he gently pried her hands away from her face so he could continue staring at that gorgeous visage in which he had been so captivated by the first time.

“Well… if you’re so sure, then you better not act so smooth at school, because I have no plans of sharing you,” Marble warned, regaining her earlier bit of confidence with a more sultry smile, placing her hands around Eric’s neck.

“Why don’t you come with me sometime?” the human proposed, and Marble’s smile quickly morphed from relieved to bemused.

“Wait… what do you mean?”

“Well, if you want…” Eric’s words trailed off a tad. “…if it’s an easy day here and with everyone else’s permission, why don’t you come to school with me? I’ll show you around the university and you can see my daily routine. I’m guessing you’d like to get out a little bit more so… it’s only a thought; no obligation, of course,” he expanded upon his initial proposal.

“You’d take me with you?” Marble asked.

“Of course! There’s usually enough room where you could probably tag along and sit in class with me but other than that, we can make a day out of it,” he suggested with a tilt of his head and a half-smirk. “Whaddya think?”

“I’d…” She smiled. “Really like that,” Marble answered after a brief moment of mental deliberation. With that the two shared a ‘moment’ and leaned in for yet another kiss. The way Eric made Marble feel was just too much sometimes; he really was a sweetheart, in her eyes… and in her quest to even return a modicum of what he gave her, she recalled a rather pressing detail that she felt needed to be addressed at once.

“You know…” Marble said when they parted, chewing softly on her lower lip whilst looking into Eric’s eyes hopefully. “I never did pay you back for ummm… the shed and your room a week ago…” She glanced away when she felt Eric’s confused gaze upon her.

“Oh, that?” Eric recalled immediately, understanding exactly what she meant. “Stuff like that’s not supposed to be a tit for tat thing; there’s really no ‘repayment,’ nor did I expect you to ‘repay me’ in that sense,” he continued, trying to dispel any notion that he was expecting some form of sexual reciprocity from her. Of course, that didn’t stop him from imagining things, especially on his own time or in the shower for his own ‘scientific purposes.’

He just hoped that Equestrian pipes were tested to handle a human male’s natural alfredo sauce.

“I know… but I want to anyway, so~…” Marble refuted, pressing her hand against his chest and lowering her eyelids. “Besides, I’m not thinking of much else right now since I felt something poking me down there a bit earlier when we were making out.”

“Oh yeah?” Eric asked with a little bit of hesitance in his words, but nevertheless he busied himself by burying his face in Marble’s neck, trailing kisses up her jaw line. The mare craned her neck up and to the left to allow Eric as much room as he needed, and she let out a breathy sigh, encouraging him further. “Sorry about that.”

“You better not be… I’m the apologizer, not you,” she joked, inhaling sharply and biting her lip when Eric nipped down on a particularly sensitive spot. She squeezed his bicep, feeling the muscle that was certainly a measure larger than when they first met, and allowed him to have his way with her. “Besides, I liked it.”

“I suppose; you’re just so… sexy sometimes,” Eric continued, and as much as he wanted to say ‘beautiful,’ he couldn’t muster that word. He called her that all the time; lavished her with compliments when she least expected it. This moment, however, called for something more forward in terms of ‘oomph,’ and his choice in word seemed to fit just fine.

Eric removed himself from her neck and took the tip of her ear into his mouth, gingerly rolling it between his teeth and earning himself a garbled groan from his mare. Knowing well that he had full control over her, Eric released her ear and kissed down the side of her face, giving her lips one teeny peck before continuing back down her jaw line. He planted his lips down her neck and trailed below her collarbone to where her shirt began, but did not stop there. He continued kissing even further down between her breasts and to her tummy… though there, Eric took the liberty of lifting the hem of her shirt up so he could get a nice look at that toned midriff he enjoyed.

Of course he continued kissing downward.

Shooting his gaze back up at her momentarily, as well as a devilish smile which sent a heat surging to Marble’s lower abdomen, Eric continued lower. He circled his tongue exactly twice around the periphery of her navel and continued his fateful descent. Having more than implicit permission from the romp a week ago, he hooked his fingers into the hem of her mesh shorts and slid them down.

As if time slowed to a crawl, Eric (and to a small extent, Marble) watched as his hands peeled down the thin layer of cloth that separated him from his prize; he knew for a fact from the last time that Marble did not wear panties to bed. He did not have to wait that long, though, and through the dim lighting of the night-time room, Eric was able to dispose of Marble’s shorts when they reached her hooves, and he was pitted face to face with her already-sopping marehood. The thin coat over her body that extended to even the most intimate of places was stained a much darker color, indicative of her profound arousal that came about just from their earlier lip-action.

Her immaculately-crafted netherlips were on complete display, and the human had to sate his quickly growing hunger immediately. After all, it was a carnal, evolutionary desire for a straight man to have a vagina on his face at all times; biological fact.

“I see someone’s ready to go…” Eric commented, licking his lips and urging Marble to spread her legs by running his hands up the inside of her legs. The latter moaned sharply when Eric squeezed her inner thighs, and she had no qualms with doing as he ‘asked,’ spreading her legs and revealing all of herself to him.

“Eric… d-don’t stare…” she muttered, suddenly feeling judged as Eric’s eyes wandered over her aching, soaked pussy. Marble covered her face with her hands.

“Why not? Don’t you like to see what you’re about to eat?” he quipped, unceremoniously hooking her legs over his shoulders and under his arms as he pressed his lips squarely onto her nethers, initiating a kiss of an entirely different kind.

“Ahhh~” Marble moaned, her reply to his little play on words dying in her throat. Her eyes shut tightly and by instinct, her right hand shot to the back of his head the moment she felt his tongue loll outward and grind up against her entrance. She gripped Eric’s hair and held him squarely where he was, silently communicating… no, pleading for him to continue, as she would make sure he would not be going anywhere anytime soon.

“Mmmm…” Eric groaned in response to her sexy noises, though only in part, as his reaction was from her taste… a taste that had grown on him since the first time. He continued to grind the broad side of his tongue right against her opening, teasing her before tracing her labia with his tip, letting her feel everything yet denying her what she yearned for so much… to shove that thing inside her and truly eat her!

It was only when Eric’s tongue brushed the underside of her clit that Marble had to cover her mouth to avoid crying out at the sudden contact. That risk was more than okay with Eric, however, when Marble felt him envelop her little nub in his mouth. A surge of pure, unadulterated ecstasy pulsed through her entire corporeal form when she felt him suck hard, all before pressing the tip of his tongue straight into it, pressing it as if it was, indeed, her pleasure button.

“Uhhnn… Ahhh… Mmmm~” Marble continued to whine, and each and every noise that she made was like a symphony of the most beautiful voices Eric had ever heard. In his lust-drowned mind, all he felt compelled to do was make this girl moan, cry out to whatever deity she prayed to, just so he could continue hearing that beautiful melody of pleasure.

And with an end-goal in mind, Eric steeled himself and dipped his tongue lower, parting her lips and worming his appendage inside her. His hands in perfect reach, he called upon the use of his thumbs to spread her out and give him further access to her warm, welcoming depths. He slithered his tongue inside her, and pressed it flatly against the top of her inner walls, drawing out yet another muffled squeal.

“MMPH! Right there… THERE!” Marble noted with urgency, and the sudden onset of pleasure continued in earnest when she felt Eric’s tongue seem to dance inside her. Her breathing rate rapidly increased as she only allowed herself to feel, not see… and her attempts to stifle her nigh-involuntary moaning was admirable, but there was only so much a painfully-bit lip could muster. Her legs closed around Eric’s head, crossing over his back as she let him continue to voraciously eat his full with her unequivocal consent.

Eric did just that, retreating for a moment so he could trace the inside of her slit with the sides of his tongue, before resorting to his previous method of grinding the broad side of his muscle against her. Then, he resumed his earlier ministrations, sometimes literally tongue-fucking her while he slurped and drank up everything she gave him.

Marble was drowning in her own pleasure, but there was a singular moment of clarity, a proverbial aperture in the dense fog of sexual hunger that led her to an instant realization.

This was supposed to be for him, not for her!

Her eyes shot open and, with some monolithic convincing on her own part, she lifted her hips and pushed Eric off of her, the latter looking up at her quizzically with the lower half of his face drenched in her juices.

“Wha…?” he began to ask, wiping his face on the inside of his shirt. “What happened?? Did I do something wrong?” he quickly asked, frantically going over everything he did to at least convince himself that he didn’t do anything stupid.

“No no! But damnit, Eric… this happened last time!” Marble protested, pouting as she sat up completely. “It’s your turn to feel good!”

“I am feeling good! Hell, going down on you like this is pretty goddamn awesome,” Eric admitted candidly. Marble, however, rolled her eyes.

“Not like that! Just… ugh,” she groaned, exasperated at his cute selflessness and stubbornness. She ran a hand through her mane once.

“I wanna make you feel good, Eric… what can I do to do that?” she asked so innocently, her eyes widening in inquiry as she leaned forward in preparation for anything that Eric might say.

As for the human, the ‘innocent’ look on her face nearly sent his cock into low-earth orbit with the force of how fast he hardened. Moreover, he caught a glimpse of Marble’s boobs when her shirt rode down her chest a tad low.

It was about that time that Eric needed to work out how to tactfully articulate ‘I’d love to just stuff my head—among other things—between those gazongas and molest them until I pass out.’

“Oh! You like these, right?” Marble, adorably, asked whilst hefting her breasts upward for emphasis. This action further bloated her already impressive cleavage, and Eric had little option but to admire for a few moments.

Marble had saved him from potentially embarrassing himself.

“You could say that…” he downplayed smoothly, nodding before meeting her gaze with an eager smile, like he was a child promised his favorite toy.

That was technically correct.

Marble sighed knowingly, lidding her eyes once more before hooking her fingers under the hem of her shirt. With a tantalizingly slow motion, she pulled the unnecessary garment over her head and left herself in a standard black bra, one which supported her bosom to perfection. Eric had no time to gawk, however. With another fluid motion, the statuesque mare reached a single hand behind her, and with the subtlest flick, her bra lost all ounce of support for her orbs.

In an attempt to be as sexy as possible, Marble kept her eyes trained on Eric as she held the cups of her bra firmly against her boobs. She squished them together and against her chest, further pronouncing her cleavage and ensuring that she had every ounce of Eric’s attention before letting them fall to her lap. There, Eric was greeted with the sights of one of the most breathtaking tiddies he’d ever seen… of the few that he had the pleasure of seeing naturally, of course. Dark, hardened nipples barely a shade lighter than black rested right in the center, commanding the entirety of Eric’s attention as he nearly began salivating.

Marble cradled her impressive chesticles in her arms, framing them as if it was a picturesque work of art for Eric to ogle… or do whatever else he wanted with them.

All he needed was the signal.

“Well…” Marble cocked an eyebrow, and then grinned. “All yours.”

At an instant, Marble found herself on her back with Eric having straddled her legs, his head level with her two breasts as he took them hungrily into each hand. She giggled at his eagerness, which faded into a drawn out moan and sigh when he squeezed her two tits together and proceeded to bury his face between them. Marble, knowing that Eric could easily take care of himself at this point, opted to just enjoy the firm yet sensual attention and massage she was being given, resting her eyes with a bright smile on her face.

Smothering himself gluttonously, Eric relished in the feeling of having ‘tits all over his face,’ and he had little intention of stopping anytime soon.

Fuck school; priorities.

Pulling back, he took Marble’s left nipple into his mouth for a brief moment, delivering a gentle suckle before drawing circles around it and tracing her areola. He lavished her right breast with the same treatment, receiving pleasured sighs out of Marble, who was certainly not in any uncomfortable straits. He hummed in delight, gnawing at one breast and trying to get as much of it in his mouth as humanly possible, all while massaging whichever one was neglected at the time. His tongue memorized each and every bit of curvature that her chest sported, his fingers digging into and feeling just how soft, velvety, yet firm they were to his admittedly rough treatment.

A painful twitch from between his legs brought him out of his boob-filled, drunken stupor. He was horny as fuck right now, and it was this exact moment that he was thankful that Marble did want to reciprocate his earlier actions… and he knew exactly what he wanted to do; it would be a crime against all of humanity to at least not ask.

“Marble…?” Eric huskily called.

“Hmmm?” Marble replied, feeling quite good at the moment.

“Did you mean that I could do anything I wanted to your tits?” he asked, though he kinda winced at the cruder language that he used in front of Marble; he wasn’t sure why that was.

“I did say they were all yours… what did you have in mind?”

“Well… erm… first let me lose my shorts,” Eric noted, beginning to shimmy out of the suddenly cramped article of clothing, but Marble stopped him just before he could.

“Wait… can I do that?” she asked, having sat up so she could get a better look at him. Of course, Eric felt there was only one rational answer to this question, and even if not, it wasn’t like he had any fortitude to say ‘no’ to that face of hers.

“All yours,” he said, using her own words against her. He leaned back with the support of his arms and presented the bulging tent in his own shorts to her.

The smallest amount of her naturally reserved nature made itself known when she covered her mouth; she was about to finally see it! She was going to see just what would poke her in her leg and tummy every time they made out with each other. That desire to see and know more immediately killed all other uncertainties in her mind, holding said uncertainties’ heads under the figurative water until they drowned in a sea of arousal.

Marble placed a hand flat on Eric’s lower stomach, making contact with the hem of his shorts. Her earlier, pent up impatience necessitated her using her other hand to help pull the hem down below his spire, revealing his engorged member to her in all of its glory. Marble’s jaw slackened a tiny bit as she lay eyes on the first penis she had ever seen. Both of their breathing was ragged, the only sound that was made during the pregnant pause, and ultimately, Marble looked up at Eric. Her eyes conveyed to him a silent request for her to continue, and without a single physical or verbal cue, she was able to get his message.

They both wanted this.

With the gentleness one might show a baby, yet with the eagerness of a horny mare, Marble lowered her hand and pressed her palm up against the underside of Eric’s cock, instinctively curling her fingers around his shaft and sizing it up; he was more than adequate for any of her future needs, in her mind. With a mouth that seemed to have a perpetual ‘o’ shape at her experience, Marble utilized her thumb to massage him horizontally, which garnered a light shudder from the human.

“I’m sorry was that bad!?” Marble fired off rapidly, ready to cease her actions immediately.

“No! Not at all… it felt really good, actually,” Eric reassured her, though he internally vomited at the somewhat cliché wording that he used. Nevertheless, Marble donned a much more confident smile and resumed her ministrations, pressing her thumb into his shaft and feeling the resistance of the blood flowing powerfully through it. She felt each and every time he throbbed in her grasp, and the side of her index finger suddenly became wet; that’s when she noticed he was leaking a small trail of precum from his tip.

“S-Someone’s excited,” she commented, looking up at Eric through her bangs as she took in the feel of his pre. By some foreign instinct assuming control, Marble gave into the urge to stroke him, letting her hand glide to the base of his cock just above his balls, then all the way up to just under his head, where, again, curiosity got the better of her; she dipped her thumb into the modest-sized bead of precum and let it spread and lather over her finger and his tip.

Eric was sent reeling, which was a massive surprise considering he had touched himself in similar ways without this sort of reaction. Then again, that probably was not too unexpected, considering the context of the situation as well as the fact that it was Marble waxing his porpoise.

Whatever her curiosity was dictating her to perform, Eric was enjoying her treatment wholeheartedly. Her hand continued to caress and envelop his shaft in the warm embrace of her palm. Even though he was more than content to lay back and get a handjob from this gorgeous mare until he blew, he had already committed to something else in his mind, and found himself on the fringes of conveying his desires.

As if by divine intervention yet again, Marble beat him to it.

“What did you want to do with my…?” she began to ask, but her words trailed off when the two locked eyes.

“You can stop me if you feel at all uncomfortable but…” It was Eric’s turn for his words to fail him, tactful articulation troubles being the cause of the loss of his wordpower. Instead, he opted to show her rather than tell her, sitting up and placing a hand on her shoulder. With the tiniest bit of effort, he directed her to lie on her back.

She complied, watching with wide-eyed excitement and inquisitiveness as to what this boy above her had in mind. Continuing to leer at him, her lascivious expression transmuted into one of confusion when Eric straddled her upper tummy and lay his throbbing length right on her sternum, between both of her breasts.

“Oh… hmm?” Marble questioned this odd orientation, looking up at Eric for clarification, a clarification which she received when she witnessed him squeeze both of her girls around his rigid cock. She glanced down at the helmeted tip pointing directly at her face, and then she got the message completely, her mouth forming that ridiculously cute ‘o’ shape before she smiled up at him. This was certainly… different; neither Maud nor Limestone had told her anything about something like this.

As for Eric, feeling his dick buried tightly in Marble’s cleavage almost sent him over the edge immediately, but marshalling his self-control prevented the worst from happening. Even so, Marble’s earlier exploratory teasing as well as his slight fetish for larger breasts would overpower his own ability to prevent from finishing early. All he could do at this point was just enjoy what Marble was willingly letting him do to her.

And that’s just what he planned to do.

Keeping his eyes trained squarely on hers, his own precum afforded him bountiful lubrication as he made his preliminary thrusts out and through the chasm of her breasts, massaging her tits around him as he gradually built up speed.

“Mmm, this is… not what I expected but that feels nice~,” she admitted sheepishly, shielding part of her face with her mane and leering up at him with a lone eye.

“You have no idea how amazing it feels up here…” Eric chuckled out, picking up his pace as he thrust his entire length through her valley. His thumbs tweaked and played with her nipples, coaxing a few moans out of the mare which further spurred him on. Eric groaned each time his hips made contact with the underside of her tits, the soft slap reminding him that he was having his way with her chest; fucking her tits. His cock seemed to throb in tandem with Marble’s heartbeat, the entire feeling enhanced by that extra layer of silken smoothness that her coat brought to the table… a smoothness which quickly became a slickness since he was leaking precum like a worn faucet.

“Mmm… how’s that?” Marble whispered, just loud enough to grab his attention. She bit her lip once and tried to be sexy by licking her lips all the way around; it worked beautifully. However, Marble couldn’t keep her eyes on Eric’s pleasure-ridden face the entire time; she was more curious about the head of his cock making itself known each and every time he thrust his hips forward; she almost had half a mind to try and taste him right then and there.

“So good… your tits are perfect…” Eric could only muster, pressing his hips a bit hard into her boobs to punctuate his words. Marble smiled hungrily and placed her hands atop of Eric’s, helping to keep his cock firmly sealed in the slippery vice-grip of her mammaries. The soft ‘schlick’ that sounded each and every time he beat forward further enhanced the jolts of pleasure swelling into his lower body. His cock bulged almost painfully, engorged by the desire to release its pent up payload and cheered on by Marble’s heaving breasts.

“Good…” she further encouraged, feeling his thrusts become more and more erratic. The way that Eric was violating her in the best of ways made her feel unbelievably dirty… and she loved it! Her nipples pointed diligently at the ceiling, and seeing Eric in such a state of euphoria was sending her heart racing; she wanted to make him feel like this all the time, every minute of every day! A slew of thoughts entered into her mind, all centered on a multitude of lewd things she could do to him, and he to her… oh god the list was endless!

But first, she wanted Eric to enjoy his release…

“Marble… I’m close,” Eric noted, further evident by the harsher treatment of her tits; his fingers dug seemingly painfully into them, further erecting her nipples to the ceiling but allowing Marble to feel at least marginally good herself; they were sensitive, after all. His thumbs continued to diligently pivot over her nipples and her resounding groans gave him the motivation to drive his cock home through her cleavage.

Marble’s excitement soared, as Eric would finally get the release he so deserved after he was so generous with her. She was not biologically illiterate; she knew what happened to men when they got sexually stimulated and had a decent understanding of sex despite being sheltered and a shut-in. Of course, that provided her no beforehand knowledge of what ‘titfucking’ was but, regardless of formal terminology, she knew exactly what the end result would be.

And she was hungry for it.

It was hard to pick her memory while Eric erratically humped her girls into submission and made her feel just as good in ways she never thought possible… but through his dirty talk with her in the shed and on the bed a week prior, she decided on a single word to use to help encourage Eric to let go. Biting her sore, slightly swollen lip for the umpteenth time, Marble spoke:

“Cum.”

It was not the word that completely destroyed the dam of self control, but how she said it, combined with that sultry look that Eric tattooed to his brain. That lone word held a commanding, imperious power to it that suddenly surged his pleasure to new heights as he fucked her breasts… and with one last, deep thrust, Eric let himself succumb to the throes of a powerful orgasm, growling through bared teeth as he emptied his balls into her cleavage (as well as distinctly hearing a solitary squeal of delight from Marble below). Each consecutive thrust was accompanied by another spurt of his thick, warm ejaculate.

Eric finished his final thrusts and twitches, and all of his residual energy was drained from him upon the comparable drainage of his balls… all over Marble’s neck and through her cleavage. The end result of merely a few minutes of him in control was as clear as day.

Regaining some semblance of sense about his lustfully fogged-over mind, Eric looked downward and found a sight that would forever be etched into his memory: Marble staring back up at him with an intensely shocked, yet lecherous smile… complete with one eye closed for a very good reason: a lone, errant volley of his seed had struck her right in the cheek, and his combined essence from her face down to her cleavage shimmered dimly in the moonlight.

His hands had still kept a tight grip on her breasts up to this point, and he released them from around his quickly softening length, allowing her literal funbags to separate bouncily on her chest, pert nipples as hard as ever.

Both breathed heavily from their little carnal deed, and Marble—drawing from her memory with Eric back in the shed—let her curiosity get the better of her as she dipped her middle finger into the puddle that collected in her ‘natural valley.’ She lifted her hand back up and observed the consistency of his load, toying (almost sexily, in Eric’s eyes) with the viscosity before shooting him a bit-lipped stare and taking her finger into her mouth.

Eric watched in absolute astonishment, as he was almost afraid she was having remorse over letting him essentially violate her tits to his own liking; as if she would suddenly push him off of her, run to her room, and close the door like the first time they made out on his bed. But no… this was something he had literally zero expectation of.

This was furthered when Marble took yet another small serving, doing her best to sexily suck her finger as she pondered the musky, bitter taste before it absorbed too much into her coat.

“Hmm…” She bobbed her head. “Not really sure what to think of that, honestly,” she commented on the taste.

Eric blinked hard.

“…Not gonna lie, didn’t think you’d do that, nor take the… erm, end result so well,” he expressed, gesturing to the little bit of his cum that reached her left cheek. Hammering home his point, he took the liberty of wiping it off with his thumb and depositing it on her breast, an action which made her giggle cutely; her cheeks were still very much colored from the lewd act.

“It’s because it was you who did it and nopony else,” Marble admitted bluntly. Her face, however, suddenly belied her own horniness and giddiness.

“Did… did you enjoy that? My t-tits… that is?” she finally finished her question, token insecurity rearing its head. She had some trouble saying that crass word that never entered into her vernacular, but some habits of Eric’s were slowly but surely rubbing off on her.

Eric glanced down to the massive load he spilled, courtesy of his favorite toys, and surveyed the damn-near collateral damage that he caused. He left a few notable marks and indents on her chest from where he harshly fondled and assaulted her breasts, not to mention just how spent he felt; that was probably the greatest orgasm of his life, to date.

He nodded sarcastically.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that, heh… thank you, babe,” Eric spoke, smiling gratefully down at his lover. Marble beckoned him downward with outstretched hands and her own smile that spoke volumes more than her own words would be able.

More than willing to comply with the silent request, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers for one of the last times of the evening, and this time the two of them held little qualms in wrestling tongues immediately. Marble moaned gently when she felt Eric invade her mouth, and instead of aggressively repelling the intruder, she opted to let him rest there, and caress his muscle with her own.

They stayed locked in a fiery, yet passionate embrace… feeding off of each other’s emotions that seemed to pass unabated through their mouths and gentle coos of pleasure. Unfortunately, it was necessary to abort after a while when Marble tenderly pushed him away.

“You’re welcome, babe,” Marble threw his little pet name back at him with yet another giggle. “But… because of a certain somepony I’m gonna need to shower again before we go to bed so, if you don’t mind…” she gestured with her eyes towards his lower body, which was still very much straddling her stomach.

“Oh! Heh, right,” Eric said, being brought back to reality as he dismounted her stomach, letting her sit up and stretch her arms over her head. The human was afforded a much more unobstructed view of his ‘markings’ upon her… she definitely needed that shower.

Jesus, dude, you did a number on her.

Flicking her tail out and brushing Eric’s face with it once, Marble gave him a rare, confident yet mischievous smirk before dropping to the floor; her bosom bounced hypnotically for a singular moment thereafter. Without asking and without taking her eyes off of her boyfriend, Marble yanked Eric’s towel off of the footboard of the lower bunk.

“Don’t fall asleep without me, okay?” she requested over her shoulder. She then sauntered outward into the darkness and shut the door behind her, the only cue of life beyond the veil of night being the sound of the shower suddenly running from the bathroom.

Eric chuckled to himself as he looked to where his mare exited, shaking his head… but that’s when he noticed that something felt wet on his chest. Glancing downward questioningly, he found a nice big stain of what was clearly his own cum… and that’s when he remembered that in leaning down to kiss Marble, his shirt dipped into the damn lake of his seed that he left in her cleavage.

“Oh for fucks sake…

“Meh. Worth it.”

Author's Note

And there's chapter 5. Definitely steamier than the others.

Marble is getting bolder (Heh, boulder). Wonder what's gonna happen next time? :rainbowhuh:

One more chapter remains, y'all! Let me know what you thought, below :pinkiesmile:

6. The Inferno

[Winter Quarter | Seven Weeks Later...]

Eric began the last stretch of preparing his formal outfit for the night, buttoning up the black, perfectly fitted vest over his white dress shirt and red tie.

Once that was taken care of, he took a step back from the mirror and, with no one else around to judge him, he contorted in all odd directions. He gave himself a once-over from each and every angle to ensure that his getup looked flawless. His black slacks were immaculately pressed and contained nary a trace of fuzz, and his dress shirt was made by none other than Rarity Belle herself, fine-tailored to his torso.

Topping it all off, his jet-black dress shoes were shined to perfection.

Combined with his ever-neurotically combed blonde hair and a (surprisingly) blemishless face, even Eric had to give in to just a tiny bit of vanity and admit that he looked awesome. As a last bit of quality control, Eric ran his fingers under his eyes to make sure that no residual crust escaped the shower. There was none.

More than satisfied, he smiled coolly and pointed both of his fingers at the mirror in ‘pistol fashion.’

“Bitchin’…”

In the end, he liked what he saw, but his entire look was not just for him, though… he wanted to make sure he looked his absolute best for Marble tonight.

Checking the time, they still had two and a half hours to get to Canterlot and be punctual for the main event of the evening: The Winter Formal Dance. It was a University tradition, and all students, even those who had come from Earth, were welcome to take part with their dates.

Naturally, Eric had already made his choice, and it was a simple matter of asking Marble with a bouquet of flowers if she would accompany him.

He would never forget how her face lit up, and how loudly she screamed ‘yes!’ before tackling him to the ground and peppering him with kisses.

He pulled his thoughts back to the present.

“Alright,” Eric said to himself as he took a tentative seat on the lower bunk and zoned off to the side.

His impatience got the better of him, though… and after a few moments, he hefted himself up and walked out of his room. Glancing down the hall and eventually fancying a trek, he found Maud’s room sealed up tightly, as she and Limestone were helping their youngest sister get all spruced up for the evening.

Eric figured it would not hurt to check up and see how things were going, though he knew he would not be able to get a sneak-peak at Marble until the mares let him.

So, he knocked on the door three times and patiently awaited an answer, teetering back and forth on his toes and heels all the while. He heard some whispering from beyond the wooden veil, as well as some hoof-falls.

The door unlatched and creaked open just a sliver, revealing a single eye that belonged to Limestone. Her brow furrowed at the sight of him.

“She’s not ready yet. Can we help you?” she asked in her usual tone, but by now, Eric knew that perceived, intended offense was nonexistent.

Eric put on a knowing, sly smile.

“No no, just asking how things were going is all. Need any help?” he asked simply.

Limestone’s eye rolled and her gaze narrowed.

“No, but you can make like a tree and fuck off downstairs until we say she’s ready,” she so politely suggested an alternative.

Having received his answer, Eric pursed his lips, bowed slightly, and gave her a thumbs up as he turned on his heels. Limestone promptly shut the door.

Taking her advice, Eric leisurely made his way down the stairs with his hands in his pockets. As he stepped onto the main floor and entered into the common room, he found what he would describe as a stereotypical setting from the nineteen-fifties back on Earth: Cloudy knitting on her chair while Igneous was seated next to her reading the evening paper. A small fire burned in the fireplace and added an extra, cozy warmth along the soothing aroma of burning wood to the room.

The two saw Eric over their activities and, at the same time, smirked softly.

“Good evening, Eric,” Igneous greeted, a pipe in his mouth. “Ready for thy evening?”

“And thou lookest quite dapper tonight,” Cloudy also felt compelled to comment.

She appended a motherly smile with her words, and such praise brought a gentle warmth to Eric’s face and a chuckle out of his mouth. He had nothing but good things to say about his relationship with the Pie elders this far into his stay.

Eric tilted his head forward respectfully in response to Cloudy’s praise.

“Heh, well, thank you," he replied. "And you know it, Igneous! I know Marble’s just excited as I am, so I’m sure we’ll have a great time tonight.”

The patriarch nodded.

“I’m most certain of it,” Igneous agreed, gesturing to the empty chair that laid close by. “Have thyself a seat while we wait.”

Eric accepted the offer with gusto, and relaxed into the chair as he enjoyed the silence and the small bouts of conversation with Igneous and Cloudy. He wasn’t worried about having enough time, despite checking the clock occasionally. Transport via carriage had been arranged to the train station, which would be running especially long tonight because of the event… so for all purposes, Marble could take as much time as she needed to get ready; it made no difference to Eric so long as he could enjoy a dance with his mare.

Conversation, however, was brought to a grinding halt when there was audible shuffling and stepping being heard above… and then coming down the stairs. Cloudy and Igneous looked on with anticipation while Eric immediately stood ramrod, smoothing his outfit and crossing his wrists behind his back whilst puffing his chest outward.

He took a deep breath and steeled himself (and those goddamn butterflies in his stomach) for what he was about to see.

The chorus of hoofsteps abruptly ceased, however, and Maud was the first to come down the stairs and enter into the common room. Garbed in her usual frock and skirt, her demeanor still held its natural stoicism, though Eric was easily able to see a hint of a smirk… one of great pride.

“Mom, Dad,” she then looked to the human. “And Eric, especially. May we introduce to you, your princess…”

Maud gestured back toward whence she came and, slowly but surely, Limestone entered the room, aiding Marble by the hand to ensure she didn’t trip… and to Eric, the entire world seemed to fade away as he focused solely on the mare in front of him.

Oh it certainly was Marble standing in front of him now, but never as he had seen her in the past. The first thing he noticed was her dress… it was jet-black, much like his suit, though there appeared to be a slight metallic sheen to it that would make itself known depending on the angle one looked at her. Further, it was sleeveless.

Said dress fit her figure immaculately, Eric tracing his eyes from her hooves to her neck. The skirt fell appropriately below the knee, and vertical slits up the sides would give the wandering eye a more intimate look at her comely, powerful legs.

True to Marble’s timid, practical nature, the dress was solid up to her collarbone, covering her rather prominent chest and leaving not a hint of cleavage nor other miscellaneous skin in view. Her cutie mark was expertly woven into the right side, right on the hip where one would expect to find it underneath.

What truly deserved all the accolades, however, was her face, and Eric was as entranced as when he met her for the first time. Her lavender eyes were accented perfectly with eyeliner and an equally lavender shade of eyeshadow.

Marble’s mane, instead of falling in front of half her face, was parted directly down the center. This allowed her graphite locks to frame her face like the mount of a beautiful work of timeless art. Her lashes were curled, and her cheeks sported a small amount tactically-placed individual glitter specks, giving her a much more literal twinkle in the light every time she so much as turned her head.

Eric, understandably, was struck stupid.

Wake me up inside… Jesus dude, you cheated the universe somehow. You’re the luckiest motherfucker alive.

“Look at thee!” Cloudy Quartz nearly squealed, rushing to Marble and hugging her tightly. The girl readily returned the gesture as her mother beamed.

“My gorgeous daughter!”

Igneous looked on with silent pride, having stood up and placed his hands on his hips as he took in the sight of his dolled up, elated youngest one.

Marble, however, was much more concerned with a certain human after all the praise had been doled out from her parents and her sisters, and she stood in front of Eric, presenting herself to him. Much to her delight, the slack-jawed look combined with the far-off gaze his eyes together played host to an expression that she knew all too well.

She giggled victoriously, and gently closed his jaw with her index finger. However, her confidence began to waver at the lack of an immediate response from him.

“S-See something you like?” Marble ventured to ask.

Despite her trepidation, putting herself out there like that colored both her older sisters impressed. They shared a mutual look behind her back.

As for Eric, he opened his mouth to finally answer her but, to his dismay, he stammered over his words. His thoughts had gotten progressively more and more muddled at Marble before him… choked up like a middle-schooler in front of his crush. His insecurity swelled.

“Jeez, I umm… I really can’t find the proper words but just know that you look absolutely stunning,” Eric replied simply and genuinely, deciding to not potentially make an ass out of himself.

He had always found Marble immensely attractive no matter what she wore, from her work clothes to her pajamas. This time, seeing her so done up and rocking the look so flawlessly did something to him… it sent his internal musings and temperature into a tailspin, as well as getting those goddamn stomach-butterflies all uppity again.

As well, she caused a disturbance down below which he had to quickly quell.

In short, he had a suspicion that no one would be noticing him tonight with this mare by his side.

He punctuated his words by planting a chaste kiss on her cheek, one which was more than appropriate for the current audience. Marble colored deeply at the sweet gesture (as well as the rest of his praise and the way he was looking at her), and neither was really sure which one of either Limestone or Maud cooed ‘awww.’

He was sure, however, that Igneous huffed approvingly.

“It’s probably time for you two to get going. Go on! Shoo! Have fun!” Limestone butt in before anyone else could say anything, ushering the couple out the door.

“Heh, okay! I’ll bring her back at a reasonable hour,” Eric called over his shoulder while they were being literally pushed out.

Cloudy only shook her head, smiled excitedly, and gestured them outward with her hand. She was more than eager to release her youngest daughter into the world in the company of someone she trusted.

“Worry not about the hour, Eric. We trust thee, just have fun!”

Knowing that, at least implicitly, made Eric’s eagerness soar.

His host family watched as the two of them, hand-in-hand, made their way to the prearranged carriage. With encouraging calls and waves (which were graciously returned), the two took a small ride in style to the train station for the short hop to Canterlot and the eventual evening that awaited them.

Canterlot University was one of the most prestigious schools in Equestria and, suffice to say, they forewent no expense for the annual Winter Formal. This particular dance was much more special this year, as human students would be participating for the first time.

Students arrived in droves on their lonesomes or with their dates to the event being held in what the school called the ‘Ambience Hall.’ It was an older (architecturally speaking), yet meticulously maintained formal hall that the school appropriated for these exact purposes. Decorations stayed true to the season, with seasonal flowers lining the walls, magical light-shows showcasing floating snowflakes and faux-windigoes, as well as many other gorgeous additions from the human world.

All in all, the human and pony collaboration for this year’s formal event went wondrously, and there was unanimous approval throughout the student body.

With his arm around her waist and hand glued to her hip, the couple stared around in awe at the gorgeous set-up before them, though more so Marble, who had never been to one of these in her life.

Eric looked over and was about to say something to his gorgeous date, but opted to just watch as her eyes shimmered, lighting up with barely bridled excitement. She only caught wind of Eric staring after a few moments, and she looked to him with a giddy smile, forcing those dimples of hers (that Eric absolutely adored) into existence.

“Oh Eric, this is amazing!” she exclaimed. “Thank you so much for bringing me here!”

Eric pulled her snuggly against him.

“Sure thing, babe!” Eric smoothly answered. “Like I was gonna bring anyone else? Also, you’re taking in the new environment pretty well!” he noted.

Marble blinked once and came to the full realization that he was right! She hadn’t had any form of an anxious breakdown thus far, and in fact, had forgotten all about it in the excitement of the moment.

She nudged him playfully, and a gentle back-and-forth ensued with hearty giggles.

“Gee, thanks for reminding me!” she exclaimed, jovial sarcasm plentiful.

Still, being reminded of what she considered her ‘ailments’ was not in her best interest, and Eric could see the festering doubt within her; perhaps he should’ve kept his mouth shut, once again. Nevertheless, in an attempt to circumvent any future ‘happenings,’ he wrapped both of his arms around her and kissed her cheek once, as well as pecking her lips.

Stroking her cheeks with his thumbs, he gazed upon her with soft features.

“You’re doing wonderfully, Marble. Don’t worry, we’re gonna have a lot of fun tonight, okay?” he reassured her, cupping her cheek and gazing deeply into her lavender eyes.

Any tenseness that Eric felt in Marble’s body seemed to whittle away under his touch. Her features became noticeably much more relaxed.

Steeling her visage, Marble slid her hand up to the back of Eric’s face and pulled him in for another, much more forceful yet short kiss. They broke apart, and the gray-coated mare took a single, deep breath. She sighed out, and her proud smile returned in full force.

“Alright… show me a good time, Eric!” Marble proclaimed.

She puffed her chest out and righted her posture confidently… yet hindsight was shit-tier company at the moment. Eric bit his lip as he fought to stifle laughter that was dangerously close to escaping his mouth, and Marble’s cheeks flared up in a deep red at the realization of what she just said.

“N-Not like that I didn’t mean it like that you know I-I didn’t mean tha…” she stammered in a run-on sentence.

Her words and resolve faded as she resigned her face to the cool embrace of her two hands. Eric saw his chance to intervene, and he pulled her in for another hug. She put up no resistance.

Eric, despite her plight, could not resist his next words. The corners of his mouth turned up devilishly.

“Well, I knew you didn’t mean it like that... but are you sure?”

“S-Shut up, Eric!”

Eric giggled evilly, but still held her close.

“Oh don’t be like that, I’m just having fun!” the human playfully defended himself.

He kissed the top of her head gently and ran one of his palms up and down her back. Realizing where they were, Eric moved the two of them off to the side by one of the gathering areas of the hall.

“Just having fun with my girl, is all.”

They gently swayed together, as if influenced by an unknown breeze.

Those words, despite how many times she’s been told, always struck Marble in the most profound ways. They never failed to disperse a comfortable heat to her cheeks, nor that tingly feeling all over her body.

“I’m… I’m your girl?” she asked.

And just like that, her own fledgeling confidence reared its little head.

“A-And just what makes you think that I’m your girl, huh?” she fielded her own teasing, cocking her eyebrow up at him.

Eric chuckled, then lidded his eyes.

“The fact that you let me do lewd things to those sweater puppies pressing into my chest,” he retorted without missing a single beat.

Marble’s entire face seemed to color a deep crimson at the allusion, but to her credit, she played it off with an appropriate eye-roll and a blown raspberry.

“Keep it up and I’ll cut you off, mister,” she threatened, though her words were token at best and they both knew that.

They giggled amongst each other, and Eric lay his hand on Marble’s waist once more.

“I’ll keep that in mind… but for now, let’s enjoy ourselves,” he suggested, and Marble vehemently nodded.

After sharing a confident grin between themselves, Eric’s face lit up when he spied something across the hall, gesturing to it with his left hand.

“Oh! Let’s get some snacks. I know for a fact they’ve got this gorgeous fruit ensemble with a pineapple at the center, among other thi—”

“Eric?? Is that you over there??”

Hearing his name being called, Eric jerked his head to the right and promptly smiled when he laid eyes upon a familiar face approaching… one of a stallion with a buzz-cut white mane and azure coat who sported a run of the mill black suit.

His hand was was connected with another mare, faded-gray to the coat, faded-blue to the mane, and striking silver eyes. A sleeveless magenta dress contrasted starkly with her coat color, yet never failed to turn envious heads from the surrounding males and occasional female.

Eric opened his arms out with a bright smile.

“Holy shit, never thought I’d see you in a suit!” Eric responded as the new couple were upon he and Marble.

The two males bumped chests and patted each other harshly on the back.

“How’s it going, Sleet?!”

He then turned his attention respectfully to the mare, nodding.

“And Starry, lookin’ awesome, by the way!”

The mare in question beamed him a toothy smile and gave a light, humorous curtsy.

“Heh, thanks Eric!” she replied.

“No kidding, right? I was wondering if I’d see you this early…” Sleet added. Then, his gaze fell upon Marble, who faltered slightly. “...and this must be the mare we’ve heard so much about?”

At that mention, Starry’s eyes widened comically once they fell upon Marble.

“Wait… this is her?” Starry asked, flabbergasted. “She’s even more gorgeous in person!”

“Sure is!” Eric said proudly, pulling Marble’s hip against his and smiling brightly at her.

Marble had been used to getting complimented by Eric frequently, but she was not ready for the heaping on of praise from multiple sources. As such, she retreated behind her mane, veiling half her face with a strong blush.

She asked meekly while looking up at her coltfriend:

“Y-You talk about me?”

“You’re all he ever talks about!” Sleet teased, cutting Eric off before he could speak. “It’s like we already knew you before we even met you... going on about how wonderful and beautiful you are,” he continued, jokingly droning on.

Marble reaffixed her gaze back to Eric’s, a squee dying to be released from her mouth.

It was his turn to be flustered and awkward.

“Heh well, you know… it’s true,” he added. though that was a matter of perspective.

Marble thought it was the cutest thing in the world to see him caught red-handed like this, talking her up when she wasn’t here. She’d kiss the fuck out of him right now if it weren’t for her shyness and requisite social propriety.

“B-But what am I doing? Marble, this is Sleet and Starry, some good friends I’ve made during my time here,” Eric finally introduced, gesturing his hand between the two of them.

“Sleet, Starry; my marefriend, Marble.”

“Awesome to finally meet you! Apparently we had to be off-campus each time he brought you here,” Sleet said, shaking her hand.

Starry, however, was much less restrained and immediately threw her arms around the shy mare, squee’ing all the while. Marble went rigid, eyes wide at the sudden invasion of her personal space.

“Words don’t do you justice at all! You’re so hot, look at you!” Starry exclaimed, releasing the poor mare and running her eyes down her body.

“And girl, you gotta show me how you got your hair this straight, it works so well and… UGH, Eric!” she turned her gaze toward the human. “You’re a lucky fuck, you know that?”

He pursed his lips and nodded in absolute agreement.

“Oh trust me, I’m well aware,” he admitted, shooting Marble a sideways glance and a wink, which got her head sinking lower and cheeks heating up again.

In the end, it was all too much and Marble could only muster a weak ‘thank you’ before shuffling into Eric’s side for ‘protection.’ She buried her face into him when he wrapped an arm around her.

“Jesus, guys, just smother her why don’tcha,” he mockingly scolded his friends.

He held Marble close and let his right hand retake its place on her waist, something he always prided himself on at this stage each time he did it. He was one to think (in his own personal opinion) that a hand on the waist was exclusively for boyfriend/girlfriend relationships. By his own standards, he was elated to have gotten this far and hold her in such an intimate fashion in front of others.

“Alright, alriiiight,” Sleet replied dramatically, locking his hand back with Starry’s.

“We’ll get out of your manes for the moment and let you two have some fun. Come find us later on the floor, okay?” Starry continued, already in the midst of dragging her date towards the dance floor where a small amount of ponies were already beginning to congregate.

“You got it!” Eric said, waving after his friends’ departure. Sharing another look with Marble, the latter smiled sweetly up at him.

“They’re nice ponies…”

Eric whimsically smirked, nodding gently at her words.

“Mm. If a little crazy sometimes,” Eric reflected. He ran two of his fingers through his hair once to ensure order. “Sheesh, Starry’s got her influence wrapped around him by the balls.”

Marble giggled, donning her own impish features. She then spoke through barely a whisper:

“Remind you of anypony?”

Eric suddenly turned to her, hand over his heart, and exaggeratedly scoffed as if he were offended.

“Oh ho ho, so very witty tonight, huh?” Eric replied. Marble returned his look with an ever-so innocent one, fluttering her eyelashes.

Then, they shared another moment, relishing in each other’s presence and just taking a few seconds to wordlessly express how much the other meant to them. While the venue was climate-controlled, the couple would mutually agree that it was starting to get warm in the room. From past experience, moments like these ended up with either Eric or Marble making the first move with a kiss, which would progressively become more and more heated until one of their faces was ultimately buried between the other’s legs.

Marble had grown somewhat fond of pleasing Eric the way he did her.

To prevent having to muster their iron wills and resist such temptations, Eric and Marble made good on their older plans, namely relocating to the food tables to partake in the real festivities as well as sample the grub.

Eric did well to introduce Marble to familiar faces that he had come to know during his time at the University, and to her credit, she was giving her best effort to be sociable… it was definitely showing, too! What was making it hard, however, was that she was granted no respite from wandering eyes, mainly from mares and women, who felt absolutely compelled to compliment her on how beautiful she looked.

Inevitably, after a remarkable two hours of socializing, she could only take so much attention.

“Marble!”

Eric shouted after the mare as she tore away from the group towards the outside courtyard. Eric, annoyed, furrowed his brow and glanced over his shoulder back at his friends.

“I told guys not to smother her so much!” he growled as he moved to follow Marble.

“Shit…”

“Sorry, man!”

Eric ignored anything that was said, only concerned for Marble’s well-being. Thankfully, she did not go far. Wading through the sea of ponies towards the courtyard, he found her just leaning on the balcony railing. Nopony else that was out here paid her any mind.

Based on how her back was expanding and contracting, she was clearly hyperventilating, and rather than potentially startle her further with sudden words, Eric opted to just mimic her position right next to her.

“Hey you,” he spoke softly, snuggling close to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

Marble sighed deeply and leaned into the human. Her ears drooped and she shook her head.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” she replied in equal, if forlorn tone. “I didn’t want to ruin it for you, but maybe I’m not so cut out for, well… this.”

Eric planted another kiss on Marble’s head, and the mare felt that much better. Being in his arms also helped that along immensely.

“Nonsense, babe. You just need some fresh air,” he reassured, running his palm up and down the length of her bicep. He could feel the underlying muscle, and perhaps this gesture wasn’t just for Marble’s comfort.

“Don’t you worry. I’ve got you,” Eric added.

The mare smiled blissfully under his ministrations, and she ensured to wrap her arms around him and be as close as possible. She allowed her eyes to shut for just a moment while feeling the fresh breeze break upon her face.

Nevertheless, Marble continued to lambast herself for her actions.

“Still. I thought I’d’ve been over this by now,” she mused.

“Your anxiety isn’t gonna disappear overnight… or even over a couple of months,” Eric noted, punctuating his words by leaning his head on hers. “So as I said, don’t worry. Let’s just get some air and join back in when we’re ready, okay?”

As simple as his words were, they hit home for Marble. They were just what she needed to hear, but at the same time, she was brought back to all the memories that she and Eric shared, from the first time they met, to when he comforted her during one of her panic attacks for the first time, to the first time they kissed, and ultimately to the first times they were partially intimate.

These were the highlights of their relationship so far, and through each of those times, Marble meticulously noted each time Eric had been an absolute sweetheart to her. This, right now, was just the icing on the cake… in a time where both of them should have been having a blast, and Eric celebrating his second term here in Equestria, here he was instead comforting her…

...his marefriend.

The realization dawned on Marble brightly, and extorted an almost painful grin out of her… and a some wetness under her eyes.

Marble sniffled, chuckling at all she had reflected upon. The sound was not lost on Eric, who quickly sprang into concern-mode.

“Marble? What’s wrong??” Eric asked, tenderly angling her face toward his.

She was only smiles, despite the obvious tears. She shook her head, chuckling at the ridiculousness of it all.

“Nothing. Believe me, nothing at all,” she chuckled, turning to him fully and wrapping her arms around Eric’s neck. She lay her face against his chest and decided to just listen to the beat of his heart, sighing tranquilly before she spoke her next words.

“I just have the most amazing coltfriend in the world.”

HNNNNNNNNNNNGGG!

Eric might as well have had several consecutive heart attacks, all from the sheer cuteness Marble was exuding, in conjunction with how deep those words of hers were. If there was any indication that she was happy with him, it was right here, right now. His chest felt light, bloated even. And Marble was probably keenly aware of how fast his heart was fluttering at the moment. While Eric’s temperature certainly skyrocketed, he would not dare release the hold on his mare, nor did he have any desire to.

He leaned his head down and nibbled the tip of one of her ears, something Marble always loved and giggled at.

“Anything for you, Marble. Always,” Eric whispered into that same ear.

The way he said those words caused Marble to blush all over her body, and suddenly she felt her dress did not quite fit as well as it did not even a moment ago. She lifted her head and gazed up at Eric, who in turn gazed back in kind.

Her arms were still firmly wrapped around his neck, and his hands lay right on the small of her back. Their lips were only a few inches apart.

And their eyes met.

Marble knew exactly what she was feeling, and in a rare moment of spontaneity, she decided to be both true to herself, and be the first to cross a specific bridge. The smallest of smiles formed on her muzzle.

“I love you, Eric…”

The human in question blinked hard, and it was his turn for his eyes to widen. Of course, he was floored by those words, yet his body did not respond in kind. In fact, he subconsciously pulled him and Marble together even tighter, their chests down to their stomachs pressed flush.

Eric knew the truth about how he felt; neither of them wanted to admit it. But, all cards were suddenly on the table. He could do little (and did not wish to do anything) to stop the response from flowing unbidden from his mouth, even though he knew that he would pay dearly for it in the next five weeks.

He didn’t care. That would be future-Eric’s problem.

“I love you too,” he replied with an equally soft tone.

Both of their feelings were fully reciprocated, and the amount of unadulterated happiness running through both of their forms like a raging river was palpable. It was one of those feelings for another that was so powerful, yet so sudden that it had no way to manifest itself beyond simple gestures.

As such, Marble leaned up and pressed her muzzle against Eric’s nose, and the two of them relished in the gentle, euphoric feeling. Their noses caressed one another as they allowed their eyes to close, the two of them still holding each other and allowing their bodies to dictate the cadence of their embrace.

In a simultaneous, continuous motion, the two adjusted their faces the perfect amount to allow their lips to press together.

Angling their faces more appropriately, the two truly went at their kiss. Their lips contorted and worked around one another, the tiniest of smacks and wet sounds of joining and separation were drowned out by the party atmosphere. Neither cared on who may be watching, because in fact, no one was. Other ponies (and humans) were making out in kind, so what difference did it make?

After what was arguably the most intense and meaningful kiss of their relationship, the two finally broke away with bright blushes.

And they, wordlessly, held the other’s gaze for a few more tender moments. That was, until Eric brought his hand to Marble’s cheek, stroking her with his thumb twice before grinning determinedly.

He tilted his head back towards the hall.

“Whaddya say… you and me catch a few dances?” he asked.

Marble’s cheeks colored, but she glanced between his face and the entrance back into the main hall. She fidgeted in Eric’s arms and chuckled awkwardly.

“I ummm… I don’t know how to dance,” she admitted plainly, thinking that would somehow turn him off.

Eric, however, shrugged indifferently.

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem, honestly,” he responded, locking his right hand with Marble’s and holding her against him as if they were in a typical dance position. The mare brightened curiously at the sudden change, and its potential implications.

“Wait… you can dance???” she inquired.

Eric threw his head back in exaggerated, rapturous laughter.

“Pshh, not at all!” he confessed without missing a beat. “But again, I don’t think that’s an issue. There’s a certain charm in having fun making a fool out of yourself. I just think it’ll be more fun with the two of us.”

Marble really could not argue that, and in fact, suddenly the prospect of dancing with him seemed even more enticing!

She nodded vehemently.

“Let’s go!”

“Let’s go!” Eric repeated, the two of them eagerly bouncing back inside just as the current song was fading out.

It didn’t matter that the hall was necessarily stuffy from all the bodies. It didn’t even matter if the dance floor was starting to get more and more crowded by the minute. All that mattered to both Eric and Marble was each other in that moment as they nestled themselves somewhere towards the middle of the crowd.

Letting go of each other’s hands, the two stood a couple of feet across from each other. A new song, changing up the theme from swing to techno, came on and it was high time to find a rhythm.

Eric, confident in his own abilities to not dance, quickly fell into some simplistic motions of his arms and legs that technically counted as such. At the same time Marble attempted to copy his technique (or lack thereof) and ended up inadvertently falling into the cadence that most women and mares naturally had, come the time to ‘move to the beat.’

They indeed moved to said beat, and took great care to not flail around like some obnoxious degenerates… they had enough sense about them to realize that. In the end, while they were not turning any heads, the two would come together and break apart at will, forming their own little couple’s routine with bright smiles seemingly permanently etched into their faces.

That song soon faded out of existence, providing some relief for the couple to come together and rest for a few moments. Catching his breath, Eric looked upon Marble, who also had the slightest hint of sheen forming on her brow.

“Looks like someone’s having fun,” he playfully noted.

Marble shimmied giddily in place.

“So much!” she exclaimed, and it seemed that the music controllers read her mind as the next song suddenly made itself known.

This time, it was a human tune that many of the beings in question knew quite well, including Eric. As a result, a beat was instantly adhered to, and he and Marble decided to get closer and allow their bodies to dictate their rhythm.

It worked flawlessly, and again, while they weren’t the prodigies of the dance in any sense of the word, their bodies became hot in the greatest ways. They truly danced with each other, and Marble took no issue with the crowd as she focused on one thing, and one thing only: Eric.

Her surprisingly graceful cadence, however, was called into question when she and Eric briefly came together to swing with each other. Marble glanced over and found Sleet and Starry… though Starry’s backside was distinctly pressed against Sleet’s front. More convincingly, her ass was right in his crotch.

They were both enjoying each themselves incredibly. While that method of dancing was certainly lewder than the happy-go-lucky grooving she and Eric employed, Marble figured this was a night of firsts.

So, she shifted in Eric’s hold, turning around and planting her butt right in his crotch.

Oh, he felt that. One tends to not just ‘let go’ the idea of their flaccid dick being wedged between the cheeks of a succulent ass. His implicit questions were intercepted when Marble glanced back at him over her shoulder with lidded eyes and salacious smile.

And like magnets, his hands immediately gravitated to her her tummy and hips.

They remained like that for the rest of the poppy song, swaying while connected at the most intimate of places. Marble helped push things along, especially when she realized she was getting a rise out of Eric in both senses of the word. She would reach her hand back over her shoulder and run her fingers through his hair… and he in turn, having gotten the message, would explore the length of her stomach just below her breasts with his fingers.

Of course, he would press his crotch into her butt further when she would press back. That was only natural.

Further, Marble wanted it to stay there.

But, that song could not last forever, and once it faded out it was promptly replaced by another pony tune, much more swing-y in nature. Eric took little issue with that, and he and Marble resumed their earlier dance routine that he dubbed the ‘we have maybe some idea of what we’re doing’ technique.

Even then, though, Eric still found Marble’s ass diligently pressed against his waist. This was not the constant as the songs slipped back and forth from different genre to different genre, but the two would end up like this more so than not. Oddly enough it was a welcome vicious cycle, as it were. Every time Marble would press herself against him, he would get a raging erection… but her pretty much grinding on him expertly hid said erection.

What can ya do?

So, Eric and Marble just… danced. To their beating, love-struck hearts’ content, they danced the night away, easily losing track of time as well as the surrounding ponies coming and going. They became tired, sore, and sweaty, but the fun refused to cease, at least, not on their watch.

Their minds had supreme authority over their bodies, after all. Still, said bodies eventually won out, and fatigue slowly began to overrun their mental blocks.

Much like the individual songs, even the dance itself could not last forever. Quite the lot of ponies had diffused outward and left for the night come one in the morning. For the lucky few that remained, both couples and wallflowers alike, the orchestrators of the entire event gave the call for one last song and dance. As if taking notice how everyone’s energy seemed to ebb away, the powers that were decided on a much slower tune…

...and one true to the namesake of 'the last dance.'

“Got one more dance in you, babe?” Eric asked softly, the two coming together in a much more intimate hold. As per typical, Marble’s arms went around his neck, and Eric’s around her waist.

She bit her lip and pressed her forehead against his after they shared in a small, three-second kiss.

“Mhmmm…”

There they stood, in the middle of a few stalwart couples who remained dutifully ‘til the very end. The soft, soothing melody and sonorous voice of Frank Sinatra filled their ears, calming their minds and letting the two melt into each other tiredly.

Marble lay her head against his chest, and Eric’s right next to her forehead.

With their eyes closed, they swayed with each other. It was nothing elaborate or formal, but it was the essence of ‘them;’ the culmination of the most perfect night they could’ve had.

And in the best of ways, the lyrics haunted them… the song might as well have been played just for the two of them. Of course, that notion was silly, but that did not stop either Eric or Marble from imagining that was the case. Neither were worried about time, since the train back to the farm would run until the early hours of the morning for those who chose to partake in any after-parties.

There were always a few of those exuberant bunch.

If Marble had to choose the greatest moment of the night, it would be this one, right here. Bundled up in the arms of the man whom she cared so much about, absolutely nothing could disturb her right now, and especially not her shyness.

That had thankfully retired for the evening.

As the final notes of the song signalled the end to the Winter Formal, she could not help but hold the accompanying, final lyrics of the song close to her heart.

...and save me the first dance in your dreams tonight, Eric.

“I don’t think that could’ve gone any better,” Eric remarked as he removed and carefully set aside his vest and shirt. Marble was in the process of removing her makeup in front of the mirror by the candlelight.

She looked over with an inquisitive, cocked eyebrow.

“I couldn’t agree more!”

The odd couple found themselves back in Eric’s room just after two thirty in the morning, and despite the fatigue they exhibited earlier, neither were really that tired anymore. Then again, the fact that they managed to rest their eyes for the ninety-minute journey from Canterlot to back home probably contributed to that; an extended power nap can do wonders.

Eric dropped his slacks and set them over a chair in the corner, which left him bare save for his boxers. He looked over to Marble, who spared him a glance when she felt his eyes upon him, and she graced him with one of her trademark smirks.

The moment he turned away, however, Marble’s smirk devolved into one much more sultry and scheming.

Her hand rose up her back and she began undoing the zipper in her dress.

“I think I’ll sleep like this tonight,” he thought out loud, staring at his bed thoughtfully.

“Just the right temperature for that, methinks.”

He heard Marble stand up and get to her hooves behind his back. He figured she was gonna head to the bathroom and freshen up before the two crashed. So, with little forethought put into his response, he glanced back over his shoulder.

“Hey babe, you gonna wash up before you…” his words trailed off and died when he found Marble, her figure beautifully silhouetted by the candlelight, in nothing but a black, lacy bra and matching lacy panties.

If his pupils could get any wider, he might as well have been a Loony Toon. That, and his cock immediately became feature-length under his boxers.

He turned to face Marble, ever so slightly uneasy as the latter wore an almost carnal expression on her face. Her eyes were lidded, but in conjunction with how she swayed her hips and carried herself in general, she was not just radiating sex appeal anymore.

As she closed the increasingly negligible distance between them, she was espousing an animalistic aura, one whose aetheric energy seemed to touch Eric in all the right places and convey to him all what words never could…

...One that plainly stated ‘You’re. Mine.’

“Marble…?” Eric questioned only once, but the mare’s answer was to candidly smash her lips against his, cradling the back of his head with her hands as she worked those now-experienced lips over his own.

Eric’s hands, in turn, slid down her back and rested right on her ass.

What would have been a usual, less-than-chaste kiss for the two of them quickly became much more heated when Marble pressed forward, forcing Eric to bump the back of his head against the beam of the top bunk. He still got the message, though… and as Marble’s tongue breached his lips and forced its way into his mouth, he ducked and lay back into the lower bunk.

Naturally, he took the mare with him.

Straddling his waist (and consequently, the massive tent he was pitching), Marble remained connected at the lips with Eric. Much like at the dance, she began grinding on his length and making sure the covered head pressed firmly against her quickly moistening panties.

As the kiss drew out more of their desires for one another, said kiss could no longer be restrained, and quickly turned much more voracious. Marble moaned into Eric’s mouth each time their mouths opened against one another, thrusting their tongues forward in combat to taste the other.

The taste of food was still fresh in each other’s mouth, and said taste was more than satisfactory for both of them.

“Mmmm…” Marble moaned as she let her body assume control of her actions, rocking her hips tantalizingly slowly against Eric’s while she held him down squarely by the shoulders. She felt no reason to encapsulate the sides of his face with her hands…

He knew his place, after all.

More than happy to be the submissive one this time around, Eric took the opportunity to re-explore Marble’s body, mapping out the terrain of that toned back that he loved. His fingertips started high, and gently dragged downward by virtue of her musculature. He would dig his fingernails through her coat and drag them against her skin… not harshly enough to leave a mark by any means, but certainly with enough force for her to feel it. She shuddered pleasurably at the contact.

And groaned into his mouth.

Even when she was the one dominating him, Marble was always taken aback, in a good way, at just how well Eric could play her body.

Marble’s most intimate place quivered with excitement, and she had to assume partial control again to make sure she didn’t tear her panties off, tear off Eric’s boxers, and just go to town on him. No, that’s not how this was supposed to go down tonight.

This was going to be their first time together. As far as she was concerned, since she was with someone she loved and cared about to cosmic proportions, this was supposed to be magical.

As for Eric, he knew exactly where this was headed the moment he saw Marble look at him in that way. Further, when he saw the matching lacy bra and panties, he fell back on one bit of anecdotal knowledge that he picked up back on Earth:

If she’s wearing matching underwear, it was not you who decided to have sex.

The conclusion of his most recent thought saw Marble separate herself from him so tenderly, so… sexily. She looked down upon him with a predatory gaze that was amplified so picturesquely in the dimly-lit room. The candlelight cast passionate, dancing shadows over her face, and the flickering light reflected off of her lust-clouded eyes.

He could only hope his look back to her matched a modicum of what she was giving him.

To punctuate the atmosphere and ambience, the moon was high in the sky, the aforementioned temperature was just right, and light and shadow were left in perfect equilibrium.

This was it.

Marble bit her lip and arched her back inward, pressing her bra-clad breasts into Eric’s face, smothering him in her cleavage for seconds at a time. She knew for a fact he did not mind, especially when he would grasp them and hold them around his face.

Eric would take in her scent each time he was blinded by her chest, and she smelt wondrously of lavender... as well as her natural scent. This only served to further his sexual longing for his suddenly wanton girl.

Eventually, though, Marble deprived him of his favorite type of smothering, pulling away from him to merely sit atop of him. She swayed subtly back and forth, having stopped rocking her hips into his so he could bear full witness to her upper half. Knowing she had his full attention, she donned a much more lecherous grin and reached behind her back.

With a single motion from two of her fingers, her bra’s clasp was undone, and the now-useless garment fell onto Eric’s chest.

He cared little about that, though, as his eyes were much more focused on Marble’s bare breasts, now free from their garment-y constraints. Returning the same, subtle lip bite to his mare, he clamped his hands down on her thighs and teasingly rode them up to her waist… then to her sides, and up to her heaving chest.

The moment his hands made contact, Marble let her head fall back and allowed Eric enjoy himself… though she was probably getting more out of it than he was.

Eric squeezed her two tits together, creating the most luscious cleavage that was extra special this time around. He framed her nipples with his fingers, and gave them gentle, yet firm pinches between his knuckles.

“Ahh!” Marble groaned as Eric pinched her particularly hard, though said cry immediately melted into a coo when he massaged the offended nipple with his thumb. She giggled lasciviously.

“You love my boobs, huh?” she asked the obvious question in the sexiest way possible. Eric’s cock twitched painfully in its own fabric prison at those words and the way she said it.

She has learned.

“More than you know,” he breathily replied, pressing both of his thumbs into her little nubs as if they were buttons. He then massaged in opposite directions as he squeezed her tits together yet again, earning more than a reasonable earful of delightful moaning.

Much to Eric’s chagrin, however, Marble placed her hands on his wrists and dislodged his hands from her breasts, her funbags bouncing back to their natural positions.

“We’re not done here…” she alluded, sinking low so her face was aligned with his. Eric desperately awaited for Marble’s next move, and the mare only let him onto her plans by unabashedly licking his cheek. Winking, she removed herself from her straddle and sank down to her knees between his legs. She beckoned him a little closer to her so his legs hung off the side of the lower bunk, which put Marble face to face with a tent in his boxers so massive, she might as well have gone camping.

Eric propped himself up on his elbows to get a look at exactly what she was up to.

Marble eyed that covered spire of his hungrily, actually licking her lips and salivating at the prospect of getting that thing in her mouth right this moment. She ran her hands up his thighs, applying the right amount of pressure to them as if the action would force more blood to his already painful erection… for her own purposes, of course.

The harder, the better. Sound logic, in her mind.

Eric knew what Marble had planned, and he was dying for some form of respite. However, the moment Marble caught wind of his hands getting near the waistband of his boxers, she batted them away, looking to him like he was a naughty child.

“No…” she commanded. “I’m gonna show you a good time, Eric,” she so imperiously stated.

She let her hands walk their way up to his chest and back down, fingering and drawing out his recently more-defined pecs and stomach. Soon enough, her fingers were the ones that came into contact with that fateful waistband.

Marble glanced up at Eric’s face and, to him, he did not think her facial expression could get any sexier.

With one single motion, she dipped her fingers behind the band and slid his boxers down entirely, allowing his engorged length to spring free in all of its glory.

It was just as she remembered it… and she took little hesitation in palming it with her right hand.

At the sound of Eric shuddering at the contact, Marble wrapped her fingers around it and began stroking him as her muzzle got impossibly closer to the head. Just as she had learned over the past weeks, she utilized slow strokes to keep him on edge, employing a twisting technique in her grip which earned her a fat bead of precum from his tip.

This was all the incentive she needed, and, locking eyes with Eric to ensure he was watching everything, Marble dragged the flat of her tongue up the backside of the head. To her delight, Eric flinched and stiffened at the sensation, breathing a bloated sigh as her tongue ended at the tip of his cock. She immediately noted the taste; earthy, if a teeny bit on the sweet side.

But of course, she refused to stop there. The throbbing in her own panties, and her own soaked nethers refused to let her.

Shooting him a devilish wink, she encapsulated his prick’s head in her mouth, suckling the entire tip like it was her personal pacifier. In a sense, it was… if a pacifier’s main job was to get her horny beyond belief.

Marble slipped her unused, left hand down into her panties and pressed them against her sopping wet netherlips. She began to rub them and trace her slit in tandem with her ministrations on Eric.

She released his head, a small strand of saliva and precum mix keeping her lips technically connected to his tip. Marble then, keeping eyes trained on Eric’s, kissed him gently on the underside of his shaft and made her way downward. Her muzzle finally met his sack and she took a gentle whiff of his scent right where it met the shaft.

If she didn’t have some modicum of control, her eyes would’ve rolled into the back of her head at how intoxicating he was to her.

As for Eric, he was more than content to let her have his way with him. Since everything she lavished him with would threaten him with blowing early, he had to keep his mind in check with anything but what Marble was doing to him.

Especially more so when the mare in question began dragging her entire tongue up the length of his cock.

Shit, okay… naked grandma, dank memes, dead kitties… big anime tiddies. FUCK. NO!

Marble was blissfully unaware of Eric’s mental turmoil, and only knew that his fidgeting, groaning, and gentle, approving words meant she was doing just fine. Deciding general playtime was over, she continued her tongue’s trek up the backside of his cock and ended back at the tip where she started. Then, in one fell swoop, she sunk downward and fit three-fourths of his length into her mouth.

“Shit!” Eric cried out, restraining his voice as much as possible.

Marble, however, only groaned lustfully, finally tasting his cock once again. Her pussy leaked unashamedly against her hand, and she continued to rub herself whilst starting her rhythmic bobbing on his dick.

With Eric’s direction and practice, Marble had much more experience with this, and she moved right into lapping the underside of his dick with her tongue on each downstroke. She slurped the top on each upstroke, treating his cock like it was a lollipop that was the perfect flavor for her. Eric leaked precum into her mouth like a worn faucet, not that Marble cared at all.

In fact, she was starting to get into this probably more than Eric was.

Eric was in euphoria at the moment, but he knew Marble stopped trying to tease him when she closed her eyes and focused only on quite literally sucking him off. Her approach was unrestrained, and Marble, though she was pacing herself, was actively seeking her prize: Eric jettisoning his creamy seed into her mouth.

The mare had to admit, it was an acquired taste… one that had grown on her since the first time Eric accidentally came in her mouth.

“Marble…” Eric moaned out her name, but it was not a request to stop.

Hell, even if it had been, the lavender-eyed mare would have elected to ignore it.

Marble’s face played host to a determined expression, and once she reached the apex of his cock once again, she decided to alter her rhythm.

By ‘alter,’ however, she meant ‘attempt to swallow his entire cock.’

Eric’s eyes shot open.

“JESUS CHRIST!” he moaned out loud, and he had to try and convince himself that neither Limestone nor Maud were woken up by that.

Marble was undeterred, but try as she might’ve, she could not go down far enough to kiss his pubic area. She did, however, expertly prevent herself from gagging when his tip poked the back of her throat, something she also learned to control during the two’s exchanged fellatio and cunnilingus sessions.

Deciding not to push it, she torturously began the re-ascent, lapping his dick and swirling her tongue around him all the while. With one final slurp, Marble was back to his tip.

Her perseverance astonished Eric further, since she only took a single moment to catch her breath before descending upon his dick again. She bobbed her head with greater intensity and fervor, making her goal clearly known to Eric.

He throbbed painfully, but to him, it hurt so good. His chest heaved with his attempts to control his breathing, but often times those attempts manifested themselves as deep groans of satisfaction from his mare’s treatment. He was danger-close, and it would not take much more to tip him over the edge.

Marble was well aware of this, and on another upstroke, she brought her chest closer and in one fluid motion, framed his dick with her breasts. She was still attached to him at the mouth, though.

Eric let out a few struggled whines of ecstasy rather than words, which only encouraged Marble to double down on her efforts. She massaged his length as best she could with her tits, all while unrelentingly sucking the head of his cock with calmly closed eyes.

“Marble, I’m close!”

Oh, she knew. She definitely knew, and Marble answered with a drawn out moan on his cock, which sent the vibrations straight into him.

Still, her face projected the very virtue of determination. Further so when she squeezed his member tightly in her boobs’ embrace. She then decided to jiggle them and alternate them a few times over his length, and that was what did it for the sexually frustrated man.

With clenched teeth, Eric emitted what sounded like a hybrid of a whine and a growl as he bucked his hips upward through her natural valley and into her mouth. There, he released his initial salvoes of his accumulated cum.

Marble’s eyes widened at the feeling, but quickly lidded when she felt the familiar feeling of him literally painting the inside of her mouth with the seed she so desired. Releasing him from the hold of her breasts, she encouraged him onward by jerking his cock and swallowing, as best she could, what was given to her. Though she almost lost control thanks to how much Eric came, she held it together.

To her great pride, she had swallowed everything.

Opening her eyes and shooting up to a spent Eric’s face, she made sure he watched her clean him off and finally separate from his cock with a resounding ‘pop’ and and ‘ahhh.’

Punctuating, she licked her lips and winked at him, giggling cutely.

“Good?”

Eric was still coming down from that intense orgasm, but he knew for a fact that that word was just simply wrong; misinformation.

“I… heh… I don’t think that’s the right word at all,” he expressed, propping himself up by his elbows again.

Marble chuckled, but she was alerted to a feeling below, namely her panties sticking uncomfortably to her soaked lips. Still keeping her face trained on Eric’s, she hooked her fingers through the band of her panties and slid them off, discarding them haphazardly to the side.

“Not gonna need those.”

Eric stared up at her with a mock-questioning gaze.

“What’re you up to…?”

“That depends,” Marble answered, leaning forward and pressing her chest into his lower abs.

“You ready to go again?”

“Being honest, I may need just a couple of minutes,” Eric admitted.

Marble’s face lit up nevertheless; she had a contingency plan.

“Oh that’s okay,” she said, looking down on him once more with that sultry stare as she began crawling over him.

She kissed up his chest, then his neck, and up the side of his face. Simultaneously, she dragged her swollen, soaked labia up his body, effectively leaving her mark, as it were.

Eric had a pretty good idea where this was going (and hoped it was going!), but he knew well that ‘coy’ was the sexy attitude of the evening.

“Got something on your mind?” he asked, raising a lone eyebrow, to which Marble bit her lip and nodded.

“Gonna put that mouth of yours to good use!” she exclaimed, shuffling her hips upward and planting her pussy right onto his mouth. In a tone much unlike her, Marble also had something else to add:

“Lick.”

Don’t have to tell me twice!

Eric’s hands clamped down on her hips and he immediately dove in, pressing his lips and tongue against the delicacy above him. While he found some hilarious irony in eating the pie of a Pie, he resolved to keep his humor in check for just once.

So, to the beautiful sound of Marble’s soft moaning and coos of encouragement, Eric wormed his tongue into her. He then utilized his thumbs to spread her lips apart, exposing her in entirety and allowing him the easiest access to lap at her folds. It was his turn to drink up greatest nectar that he had the pleasure of tasting.

“MMM! There we go…” Marble whispered after her deep moan.

She ran her fingers through his hair, further spurring Eric onward.

Eric’s hands moved back to her ass and massaged her perfect rump while he continued his drink from his mare’s fountain. Though, it was a little more difficult without his hands to help, so he decided to switch some attention over to her clit. Compromising with one hand to play at her hood, Eric pressed his tongue into her little button, pivoting over it and eventually leaning up to suck it as he would her tits.

One stifled cry later, Marble extricated herself from him, much to the human’s readily apparent dismay.

“Aww come on, man!” Eric whined.

Marble was having none of it, though. She slid down his form and straddled his waist high, letting the head of his recently re-hardened dick press squarely against her entrance.

“All the work is on me tonight, Eric,” she reminded, shushing him with a finger to his mouth… which he promptly sucked on.

Even so, Eric could still sense some brief hesitation; the figurative looking over the edge before taking the leap of faith. He wanted this, and Marble wanted this.

There was no question.

“Ready?” he asked, just confirming one last time that this was indeed the case.

Hearing his words of encouragement was apparently all she needed, as, silently, she lined him up and sunk downward. Both of their mouths went slack and they breathed heavy, weightful sighs as Marble gradually impaled herself on him for the first time.

Still, this was her first time, and being honest with herself, it hurt. At least, it hurt enough where her entire face contorted in mild pain, and she hissed out.

Eric was right on the scene, and he grasped at her hands. He shot her an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry…”

“No no, it’s not that bad… just, gimme a moment,” Marble fought through it, taking deep breaths and letting her inner walls adjust to the size of the foreign invader.

“Okay baby. You got this,” Eric offered his own words of encouragement.

He helped her along by massaging her legs, her sides, her tummy, and ultimately by just holding her hands. To help make the process that much more painless, he beckoned Marble downward and the two shared in a much more passionate kiss, one filled with deep breaths and moans when their mouths opened to one another.

“I love you…” Marble spoke after a few moments, pressing her cheek against Eric’s.

“I love you, too,” Eric replied immediately.

With that, Marble planted her hands on his chest and retreat upward, leering down upon Eric and communicating that all was stellar once the pain ebbed away.

Slowly but surely, she began rocking her hips, letting Eric’s cock within her rock to and fro in the tight embrace of her tunnel. Her breathing picked up frequency, and the two held each other’s gaze for as long as possible… at least, until Marble found a steady rhythm and allowed herself to just bathe in the warmth and pleasure shooting through her entire body.

Then, she let her head fall back, which allowed Eric to hear those cute little whines, moans, and squeaks each time she rocked her hips forward.

Eric was in no better straits himself, as she was the tightest girl he had ever had the privilege of sleeping with. She was the first girl he had ever deflowered, and that was okay with him. She held him like a vice, and the greatest feeling other than how wet and slick she was against his cock, was her heartbeat. He could feel her throb in tandem with him, and it soon felt as if their heartbeats synchronized with one another.

“Eric… MMM!” Marble moaned his name, and the man in question’s cock twitched at how beautiful it sounded falling from her lips.

He felt it was his turn to offer his breathy, dirty talk.

“Ahhh, that’s it baby…” he groaned his own words of encouragement.

He held her steady by the hips, as Marble’s inexperience forced her to slip off of him if she pulled up too much. Thus, Eric happily kept her aligned so she could spear herself on him at her leisure.

Their combined pleasure soared to previously unattainable heights, and their moans and cries of ever-increasing lust and love for one another backed this up. Every so often, Marble would have to catch her breath and give her tight muscles a rest, a souvenir from a night of dancing. It was only a matter of efficient use of time for them to tongue-kiss during.

Then, as quickly as they took breaks, Marble was back at it, this time emphasizing bouncing rather than rocking. What blew her mind was how much in control she was… that was, in control of how full she could be at any given time.

She would drop down with a loud ‘slap’ of their hips, and instantly have Eric’s cock buried entirely within her. Electricity shot through her core each time he so much as throbbed inside her. Then she could raise herself up and feel abyssal emptiness and a lack of fulfillment… only to drop back down and relive the first feeling all over again with ever-increasing speed and power.

Eric was also swimming in his own bouts of extreme pleasure. He would buck his hips when he could on Marble’s downstrokes, and he kept his eyes fully trained on Marble’s tits bouncing hypnotically with her dictated, cyclic rhythm. Through his hazy mind, he had every intention and desire to just squeeze those puppies together while they rocked the horizontal tango. The need to ensure he didn’t slip out of Marble, however, won out in urgency.

Just bathing in the feeling and her own thoughts, she lost track of how much she was doing, and her sudden orgasm swept her thoughts aside at an instant. She had enough sense to slap her hand to her mouth, lest she cry out uncontrollably and wake up an undoubtedly pissed off Limestone.

That forced a small rest… and disbelief out of Eric.

“Whoa, did you just…” he began to ask, but was cut off when Marble nodded.

Her eyes were still clenched shut and her stomach was tight, Eric able to suddenly see the rigid definition in her abs.

“Ahh… Mmm~... Ohhh…” Marble continued to breath out. She finally came down from that wondrous experience, not with fatigue, but with more determination to get back to that point with Eric forcefully in tow.

Her body, however had other plans.

She began rocking her hips again, but her butt and thighs refused to respond without extreme muscle soreness; her abs, too. With a frustrated groan, she tried again, but could only bounce for a few moments before she found herself stiff and out of breath.

“Ugh… come on,” she scolded herself.

Eric grasped her hands yet again, and looked to her with a soft smile.

“Hey, I can take over, okay?” he insisted, and despite her initial reservations in wanting to do everything for him tonight, she could not deny her own aching muscles.

So, she relented with an eager nod.

“Okay…”

Wrapping his arms around her, Eric led the both of them into switching roles. Marble soon found herself comfortably laid on her back while Eric was between her legs, having pulled out just temporarily to avoid any problems.

As he lined himself up, Eric brushed some of his blonde hair out of his face that had matted due to sweat. He did the same for Marble’s mane before leaning in to kiss her.

Marble held him there, gripping him gingerly by the ears and moaning into his mouth… further amplified when Eric pressed his hips forward, burying his entire length inside her.

Marble separated breathily with lidded eyes and an open mouth.

“Ahhhhnn~” she groaned gutturally at the feeling of being full once again. Excitement welled up within her at the realization that it was now Eric who was in complete control of her pussy.

Eric began pulling back and sinking himself back into her at an already-fast rate. Her abused slit was already sensitive after her first orgasm, so Marble had little restraint over how much she moaned. There existed only enough mental clarity at this point to either control volume or frequency; not both.

“Right there, Eric… HNG! There!” Marble communicated, letting Eric know exactly where he was doing well by her.

Being one who lived off of communication, he listened intently.

“Yeah?” he asked, still pumping his rigid length into her depths with a wet slap each time their hips met. “You like when I fuck you right there?”

Right when Marble was about to moan out her response, Eric hit her in that sweet spot once again.

“Oh sweet Cel—ESTIA YES!”

Marble wrapped her legs tightly around Eric’s waist, lest he get any funny ideas of going anywhere right now. No… in her mind, he had a job to do: fuck her hard and cum inside her.

Ravage her innocence.

Claim her!

Eric was well aware of what he had to do. Mustering all energy he could, he made subtle adjustments to his position and just went crazy, pistoning his painfully pent-up dick down into Marble’s pussy. He was by no means long enough to hit her cervix, but he set that as a hypothetical goal…

...to pound her so deeply and so hard that he could somehow kiss her deepest wall.

Even if that was not attainable, the mere idea and the actions that came of it were having its intended effect.

“ERIC!... UHNNN! Holy Luna, yes! YES!... MMMPH!... DON’T STOP DON’T STOP… MAKE ME YOURS!” she cried out much louder.

Eric leaned in for another kiss, which the mare graciously accepted. It was tough to keep up his ministrations in this odd position with the kiss but he managed as best as he could. Marble’s sultry noises gradually became more and more higher pitched, and he was assuming that she was nearing her end.

Good timing, considering he would not be able to keep this up much longer, either.

“Marble… I’m getting so—”

At an instant, Marble went tense. She yanked a portion of the lower bunk’s comforter to her face in one last moment of clarity and arched her back as a rogue second orgasm absolutely wracked her entire form. She tightened noticeably around Eric, and her midsection quivered as she let out her muffled, orgasmic howl into the fabric.

Regardless, Eric refused to stop.

Further prolonging her ethereal high as a side effect, the human called upon all reserves and plowed his spire into Marble’s now-hyper-sensitive pussy with abandon. His hips quite literally slammed against hers and made her harshly rock backward each and every time he beat into her.

She gave negative amounts of a shit at this point. To her, if this was what pure heaven was like, she never wanted to come down. Eric could have his way with her until it hurt.

Thankfully, that did not have to happen, as her velvety crescent proved too much for Eric. With a single thrust into her like any other, he once again broke the record for the most powerful orgasm he had experienced. Being so connected with Marble on such a level caused him to seemingly wring out his balls into her tight, ribbed, leaky depths. Volley after volley of his warm cum quickly filled her to capacity, and the excess seemed to escape out of her hole and dribble down her inner thighs.

Marble calmed down enough to be able to remove the blanket from her muzzle, and her groaning was instead drawn out at the feeling of being filled on yet another level… being filled by her coltfriend’s thick essence.

“Oooooh… Eric~,” she tiredly moaned, eventually reaching out to him above with both hands.

Receiving the message, the two kissed for what would be the last time that evening… not a kiss of lust, but one of love and accomplishment. They had officially ‘done it.’ That major hurdle in their relationship had been sailed over amazingly.

And neither would have it any other way.

Eric separated for just a moment so he could remove himself from Marble, but the mare placed her hand on his shoulder. She gazed up at him with those eyes, the lustful glaze receding and in its place, profound love for him.

Eric could only hope he was conveying the same message to her.

“No…” she said softly. “Leave it in for just a little bit… please?”

He looked upon her happily, his features sagging in fatigue but still able to muster an identical smile for his mare.

“You got it,” he whispered, and he leaned back down to reaffix his lips to hers.

There, the two lay in a post-coital embrace, relishing in the orgasmic highs that had so recently come down from, as well as the most comfortable heat flowing through their bodies. Not a single word was said thereafter that night, and when they finally decided on separating their intimate parts, there were no objections to falling asleep on that lower bunk.

Neither would’ve had the energy to climb up to Eric’s usual bed, anyway.

[Five Weeks Later…]

Winter Quarter had come and gone, finals having been taken and passed with flying colors. It was a beautiful day with nary a cloud in the sky, and a temperature that was just perfect; a textbook example of how to start Spring Break.

For a certain human on the Pie Rock Farm, however, there was nothing to celebrate, especially as he was packing up the last of his belongings in his suitcase. Indeed, with the end of the term, bundled with it was the end of his Student Exchange Program.

It was time for him to go home.

Eric, dressed in the very clothes that he first arrived in, reflected on this inevitable fate as he folded the last of his spare clothes into his luggage. He glanced around at the now hauntingly-bare room that he had called his own for the last twenty-five weeks, with an already profound longing.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t excited to see his family and best friends who were undoubtedly waiting for his return through the portal… quite the contrary.

He just, obviously, had no desire to leave Marble behind. Even more painfully, he was scared how she would react on the day that was now officially upon them. She had grown so much with him, and in the end, even though he would make every effort to visit when he could, Eric just hoped she would not regress.

Strangely enough, though, Marble had not gotten very emotional (at least, as Eric would have come to expect) over the subject come the last couple of weeks. Eric suspected she was calling upon monolithic reserves of her mental energy to keep herself together.

That did not mean there weren’t many crestfallen nights, though.

He packed away a single small, marble sculpture that Marble had made for him; a beautifully smooth heart that cutely had ‘MP + EG” engraved in its center in a fancy script.

Eric then reached out to the dresser and plucked from its top the literal last thing he had to stow away: a picture frame. Despite the situation, he managed a rueful sigh and smile.

Said frame held a photo of he and Marble sitting outside in the rock fields, dirtied with mud and grime. Yet, they could not have been happier. Eric was holding Marble bridal-style while the mare belied her personality with one of the largest, most gleeful open-mouthed smiles she had ever sported. Her left arm hung around Eric’s neck for support and her right hand was extended outward, holding up two fingers.

His stomach sank at the reminder that he was leaving that. No butterflies this time.

Only wet eyes.

He’d make every effort to visit when he could, or bring her over through the portal. Travel was surprisingly cheap both ways.

He acted like this would be the last time he’d see her, which couldn’t be farther from the truth.

But, it might as well have been.

Three soft knocks yanked Eric out of his pensive stupor, and he immediately righted his posture, turning on his heels to find Marble in casual blue t-shirt and denim pants. She was leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed under her chest, and as beautiful as always.

Eric felt she might’ve been the most gorgeous mare in the world right now.

She sported quite the downtrodden smile, and her posture was definitely not as confident as it could’ve been relative to these past weeks. Still, it was a vast improvement over Eric’s expectations.

“Hey,” Marble spoke.

“Hey yourself,” Eric replied after another sigh, along with wiping his eyes.

Marble knew exactly what he was doing, but she saw little need to draw attention to him getting emotional. Still, seeing him like that would inevitably get her going…

...Under normal circumstances, at least.

“All packed?” Marble asked matter-of-factly.

She pushed herself off the doorway and made her way over to him, then pulling him into a hug, which Eric gladly accepted. He held her in a one-armed embrace as the two of them now stared at the picture together.

“Yup,” Eric said breathily, nodding. “Gotta leave in twenty minutes for the portal station in Canterlot. Should probably say goodbye to everyone and thank them graciously for having me.”

Marble chuckled at the picture as if ignoring his words, thumbing away some dust that had collected on the edge of the frame.

“Celestia I love that picture,” she remarked, leaning into Eric’s chest.

Eric, however, was much-less ‘together’ at his point. He pursed his lips and shut his eyes tight, burying his face in her mane.

“I love you.”

Marble’s lips curled upward, and she faced Eric in his hold. Her features sullied significantly at the sight of Eric’s eyes becoming noticeably moist. Still, she retained that rueful smile.

“And I love you,” she answered, and pulled him into a chaste kiss. It wasn’t a full makeout, nor just a peck… but it was soft, almost fleeting. Their lips conveyed so much with so little, and somehow, it was Marble, not Eric, who wordlessly communicated that everything would be okay.

He was just leaving. It wasn’t the end of the world, after all. As he had reasoned many, many times, he’d visit whenever he could, and she would do the same.

Then why did this have to be so difficult?

Questions like this gave way to other unnecessary and horrible ones, such as ‘why did I have to fall so quickly for someone?’

They separated from their kiss, and resumed their usual little staring contest. Marble’s eyes weren’t even wet, in Eric’s point of view. She may have become a much more confident and brazen mare than when he first met her, but she was still the same girl on the inside who would let her reticence get the best of her from time to time.

And yet, she wasn’t even crying?

“I have to say,” Eric began, pausing briefly to marshall his words. “You’re taking this a lot better than I expected,” he admitted.

Marble’s expression remained unchanged for a moment, then began to (much to Eric’s surprise) upturn into the ‘happy’ territory. In fact, she almost looked elated…

...and she giggled.

“Yeah, about that…” Marble said with more than a modicum of deliberate suspense. She lovingly squeezed his shoulders and pressed her chest into his.

Before she could continue, however, the sound of somepony clearing her throat took them both out of their conversation. They glanced over to the doorway and found both Maud and Limestone just outside the room.

“Well?” Maud was the first to speak, oddly beckoning Marble to continue with her eventual words. Eric, understandably, was at a loss for what was going on.

“Ummm…”

Eric’s own questions were cut off by the other Pie sister.

“You gonna let him in on it? Or’re we gonna have to spill the beans?” Limestone asked.

This time, Eric detected no malice from her words, nor her usual snark. In fact, she was almost… grinning? But it was the type of grinning when someone knew something good that the other didn’t.

Eric was no longer about to cry… but desired answers instead.

“Okay, what’s going on?” he asked insistently, looking to Marble for clarification.

Melting his heart for the umpteenth time, she beamed at him.

“Well… I just maybe might’ve taken a trip or two to Canterlot to look up information about an across-the-portal university…” she clued him in elusively.

He blinked. Hard.

“Whaaaat?” he asked, dragging out the vowel pronunciation and punctuating with a cocked eyebrow.

Marble nodded deeply, her smile never changing.

“Mhmm! I believe it was… wait, what was the name?” she asked, tapping her index finger pensively on her cheek. “Oh! University of California, Irvine. Your school.”

Eric’s face went stoic, and Marble took that as her cue to continue. She adopted one of her trademark innocent expressions.

“And just maybe I contacted them, asked about a sculpture program in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts… and they might’ve gotten back to me and asked me to send them samples of my work,” Marble elaborated cutely.

Suddenly those butterflies in Eric’s stomach returned with a vengeance.

“Wait, are you saying…” Eric began to (in his opinion, foolishly) get his hopes up. Marble, however, continued in earnest.

“Aaaaaand~... just maybe they got back to me, loved what they saw, and said I had potential, especially as a cross-portal student. So maybe they offered me a few exceptions, meaning a full scholarship, room and board, and being able to enroll in classes for Spring Quarter and thereafter…” she concluded excitedly, her tone having risen a couple of octaves as she droned on about her explanation.

Eric could do little to resist the massive, open-mouthed smile of extremely pleasant surprise, as well as a wealth of other emotions. He had to separate from Marble and take a seat on the lower bunk. Marble, as well, was absolutely glowing.

“Wait… wait wait wait wait,” Eric said, shaking his head. “Do you mean that…”

This couldn’t be real… this had to be some fucked up dream or prank.

It was a good thing that somepony with a more forceful personality was there to talk sense into him. Limestone rolled her eyes and chuckled, reaching for something behind the veil of the doorway.

“What it means is that she’s going with you!” she pointed out so bluntly.

The last word didn’t even leave Limestone’s mouth, and Eric was already upon Marble. He slammed into her and hugged her tightly, then proceeded to pick her up and swing her around, much to the mare’s squealing laughter.

Maud and Limestone watched the situation unfold with silent pride, and the two shared another ‘look.’

The former even managed to crack a half-smirk.

“Really?!” Eric asked Marble, eyes wide and nose pressed to hers, after he finally set her down.

Marble cupped his face in her hands and bestowed upon him the most excited, vehement nod. She then kissed him deeply, even sneaking her tongue between his lips so tactically that her sisters didn’t even notice.

“Yes!” she yelled out her answer, finally getting teary-eyed.

Eric let out a gargantuan breath that he had no idea he was holding, foregoing words to just tightly hold his mare with the greatest relief he had ever known.

“And on that note...” Maud abruptly said, cutting into the couple’s bonding time.

She tossed a hefty duffel bag into the room, the item landing squarely in front of the embracing couple with a loud thud. It was filled to capacity with all of Marble’s essentials.

Maud and Limestone grinned simultaneously.

“...you two have a train to catch.”

Author's Note

*Nods once, sets down pen, closes book, and sets it aside.*

Well guys, there you have it. The end to the story has come, and with it, I move on to other projects.

I seriously can't thank you guys enough for reading; and for all of your comments, criticisms, and ultimately, your support. I certainly hope you enjoyed reading every moment as much as I enjoyed writing it... because if you did, then I have succeeded! I also made some structural changes when it came to dialogue and some lengthier paragraphs. Should be a bit easier on the eyes.

If this is it for you, then I'll see you around on fimfiction! If not, you're more than welcome to check out my other works.

I also will be publishing more new content very soon, so if you're interested in that, feel free to follow me and get the downlow on exactly when I update, as well as my status reports and other tomfoolery via blogposts!

Again, thank you all very much for reading!

Until next time :raritywink:

~FW

Bonus: Epilogue

Stepping back through the portal from Equestria to Earth was not the most monumental task in the world. It literally only required walking into some giant, coruscating plane of technicolor energy.

Simple stuff.

Even after the first time he ever did just that, Eric did not feel any different. In fact, the only thing he felt was a slight tingly feeling… as if his entire body went to sleep for a fraction of a second then came back online, like rebooting a phone. There was no odd disconnect in his brain in the act of ‘transporting’ between worlds and probably dimensions. Nothing ever changed; everything was where it should have been, barring the instantaneous change in scenery, of course.

But this time, passing back through from Equestria to Earth, Eric noticed that after thirty seconds of easy walking, his left hand had a distinct lack of feeling in it.

An immediate glance downward revealed said hand ‘being nearly crushed into a pulp’ to be the cause. The cause of that was simply Marble’s own hand squeezing his with all the strength that a hard life of labor on a rock farm provided. Her entire forearm was flexed tense and her knuckles were nearly white through her coat. This was further corroborated when Marble was seen with her trademark, wide-eyed, lip-quivering, thousand-yard stare that she always donned when she was downright terrified.

Marble was making tremendous strides, but Eric definitely knew when she reached her limit in the open world. Of course, this was on Earth, and suddenly finding oneself in the middle of the Starswirl Portal Terminal of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) with hundreds of people (and a fair amount of ponies) in the same place at once would... certainly trigger some reticent failsafes.

The casually dressed Eric knew for a fact that he’d be wise to intervene now… If not for the sake of his marefriend’s mental state, than just to ensure that his hand did not have to be amputated from lack of blood-flow.

He turned to his black tank-top clad marefriend in full, cupping her cheek and manipulating her face so she would look at him.

“Hey, Marble? Cutie pie, it’s okay. I’m right here. There’s nothing to worry about, okay?” Eric cooed, stroking his thumb against her cheek.

"H-Huh?”

Marble finally broke out of her stupor, and her eyes glanced upward and immediately locked onto his. All at once, she suddenly knew not why she was terrified, as her horrible thoughts and not knowing what to do with herself slowly began to ebb away under Eric’s comforting look and touch.

The effect was readily apparent, as Marble had little say in the matter when her face cracked that unwilling smile… That very smile that she saved for the times Eric was simply too sweet to her.

In the small moments of recollecting herself, it was his little words and gentle actions that reminded her the most of why she loved him to the stars and back.

Mainly that, of course. Having sex was also a nice little bonus that made things all the better.

"Heh, I'm okay now, Eric,” she said with a gentle nod, rewarding her man with a little peck on the lips.

“Thank you, handsome.”

Now it was Eric’s turn to get all warm and bubbly on the inside.

No but seriously, fuck these stomach butterflies. Fuck ‘em all to death.

Nevertheless, he gave into that deep pull inside of him, the one that gravitated his mouth to Marble’s as she returned her little peck with a full-fledged kiss of his own. Cupping her face for a few moments as the two let their mouths work each other in public (no one paid them any mind), Eric pulled away with a gentle smack and stared into her eyes with a beaming smile.

And donned that jesting tone that Marble loved so much.

“Welcome to Los Angeles, California, United States of America, Planet Earth, my dear. I’ll be your guide,” he formally welcomed.

Ever on a crusade to make her smile and laugh endlessly, Marble was little match for his grandiose display. A hearty giggle escaped her lips and even through the mask of her hand.

And just like that, everything was right with the world once more.

“Hehe, thank you! It’s certainly umm…” her gaze meandered around the terminal, filled with an impossible amount of human and pony traffic, along with the multi-colored lights of different shops and eateries.

“...crowded.”

Eric nodded and shrugged, conceding her point fully.

“Very, but don’t worry babe. It’s not like this at all when we get to residential areas, especially where I live,” he reassured, taking her hand again and resuming their walk.

The two synchronously re-slung and readjusted their backpacks and luggage, foot and hooves in perfect step.

“It better…” Marble softly threatened, though her words were less than convincing to anyone.

Eric angled his head towards her with incredulity, and Marble responded by giggling and covering her muzzle.

The man then smiled again.

“I’ll never get tired of that contagious laugh,” he mused out loud.

Just as he knew it would result, Marble retreated behind her silken, perfectly straight graphite-mane and blushed profusely. Her cheeks colored extra due to their public setting, and her perception to others suddenly was a factor in how she carried herself, though Marble knew it should not be.

Still, she appreciated every single one of Eric’s genuine words, as he had been instrumental in her little ‘transformation,’ as it were. And she always had her ways of showing how grateful she was, and how much she truly cherished his company, his presence, and his patience.

She had many ways.

Marble gently slapped his shoulder.

“N-Not here…”

Eric chuckled deeply and pulled Marble into a one-armed embrace, letting his hand fall to her waist as they plodded along.

He then pecked her on the cheek.

“I won’t embarrass you in public, Marble, don’t worry,” he assured, patting her side and then promptly following up with:

“I love you, beautiful.”

Oh how her insides seemed to become lighter every time Eric said those words. Her heart rate rocketed to the moon, her cheeks colored fiercely, and her bubbly, fidgety side of her came out in full force. Moreover, each and every time Eric bestowed this measure of soft, powerful affection on her with seemingly little effort, she had the overwhelming urge to jump him and pepper him with kisses… all while proclaiming the same in reciprocation.

But, they were in public, so Marble had to restrain herself and settle for something much more socially appropriate.

She wormed her muzzle into the crook of Eric’s neck and nipped at him tenderly, then planted a gentle kiss there, which earned her a pleasureful shudder from him.

“I love you too, handsome.”

Marble’s concentration was broken when someone’s arm bumped into hers as they were going the opposite direction. She yelped in surprise.

“Omph!”

“Whoops! I’m so sorry!” came the apologetic, almost desperate reply from another man who looked a little older than Eric. Instead, he had neatly combed amber hair and green eyes.

There was no harm done though, and Marble was perfectly fine.

“N-No problem at all! Sorry if I didn’t see you, either,” she added.

That would have been the end of the exchange and all would have been okay with the world, but fate had to intervene with more interesting parting terms as a thestral mare bounded over to them and placed both her hands on the newcomer’s shoulders.

She whispered from behind into his ear with unconvincing seriousness:

“Oi Fredrick, you fukkin’ askin’ mares fer threesomes without me? A-After all we’ve been through together, love??” she jested.

Eric began hacking into his hands in any attempt to cover his would-be raucous laughter, but the same could not be said for Marble, whose face blanched white immediately. Her eyes went wide and she hadn’t even the slightest inclination from being stunned to seek refuge behind her mane.

“I sincerely apologize for my marefriend here,” came the nice man’s pleading reply. “We’ll just be on our way now.”

“OI! Don’t fukkin’ apologize fer me, ya cunt. She’s perfect fer the job!”

“Yeah we’re leaving, bye have a wonderful day!” he added, dragging the batpony along as quickly as he could.

The relative silence was upon the original couple, but Eric could not hold back his explosive laughter. As much as he loved his mare, he could not deny the sheer hilarity of the situation that was upon them, but thankfully he was able to manage it to just a strained giggle.

“M-Marble...PFFT… Chhh… Let’s go babe…”

She responded with a stiff whine, still seemingly frozen in place.

“Please get me out of here…”

And Eric was more than happy to abide by that request. Taking her hand yet again, he led her out of the portal terminal and back into the main airport, where Marble was given the opportunity to lay eyes upon an airplane for the first time. It was an interestingly difficult concept, oddly enough, to explain to an inquisitive Marble that this was how humans (who had no ability to use magic) were able to travel far and fast.

Then again, coming from Equestria, this might as well have been magic to her anyway.

But that could all be explained later; Marble was eager to leave this god-forsaken place, and truth be told, so was Eric. LAX wasn’t a place people came to for fun and good times, after all. It was full of sad moments, goodbyes, a few welcomings, and oft-dirty bathrooms.

It was then a matter of getting to his car that Eric’s brother had parked there a day before in one of the structures outside the terminal… and that was another thing that needed explaining once they arrived.

A simplistic explanation was all it took for the beautiful mare, and soon enough, she was comfortably seated in the front seat of Eric’s father’s Mercedes hardtop convertible. Turns out Eric’s dad was gracious enough to leave it for his arrival so his company could experience her first day on Earth in style.

Of course the top was down.

Both hands on the wheel and having just got on the Interstate 405 Southbound, Eric spared a knowing, sideways glance at Marble. He found her beaming like a child in a toy store where everything was free of charge. The wind blew through her mane and revealed her entire, pristine face to the world as she smiled and squealed with excitement at how fast they were going.

Just like that, the day seemed brighter for Eric.

“Having fun, Marble?” he asked, placing a hand on hers.

She grasped his in return via reflex.

“THIS IS AMAZING!!” she cried.

Her lavender eyes told him everything… how happy she was, and just how much she trusted him with her life to show her the best time in the world. There would be plenty of challenges ahead, namely meeting Eric’s parents, acclimating to life in the human world, and then starting school to hone the skill she loved most.

It wasn’t all peaches and cream for Eric, either. The most daunting thing: Marble’s parents trusted him to return their youngest daughter to them in the same or better condition in which she left.

Eric couldn’t help but laugh out loud at it all. Fixing his sunglasses, he grasped her hand a little harder.

“Well babe, I’m glad! Because it’s gonna get so much better! You’re gonna love it here, Marble.”

The gray-coated mare leaned over the center console and lavished Eric’s cheek with a massive, wet kiss with an accompanying ‘mwah!’

“I’ll love anywhere where you’re with me, Eric,” she added, though she had to raise her voice on account of the car speeding up.

Those words… those powerful words that meant so much more from somepony like Marble; words that never got old.

It’s… a beautiful day today, I must say.

“I love you, Eric!” she quickly followed up, and sat back down properly. She let her eyes fall shut as the wind massaged her face with its ethereal tendrils.

Not a moment’s hesitation from the blonde-haired man.

“I love you too, Marble! Now buckle up, buckaroo!”

Finding a nice opening on the oddly-clear 405 for a weekend afternoon, he floored the pedal and let the faux-jet engine of their roadster catapult them down the highway. Marble squealed with delight as they sped forth, down the path to Orange County on what could be considered her first road trip… a path that would take them on a long, winding, beautifully scenic route of an adventure together.

And for the first time in her life, Marble couldn’t wait.

Author's Note

Just a little epilogue, as I promised.

Thank you so much again for reading! I hope Eric and Marble do well together, and I hope you do, too!

1. The Meeting

Author's Note

And here is the beginning chapter of a little short story I wanted to do since the AJ/Pinkie Hearths Warming episode. Introductions are always the hardest for me, but I'd like to think I'm getting better at them... so in any event, this was the first chapter. Hope you enjoyed! :twilightsmile:

As this is a short story spanning of a certain amount of time, time jumps will be placed where appropriate and certain, more nitty-gritty details will be glossed over and implied rather than explicitly stated.

1. The Meeting

The lone human in the car was nudged awake when inertia had its way. The first thoughts that rushed into his cloudy mind were reinforced by the squealing of the train’s brakes in tandem with coming to a smooth, complete stop.

Blinking some of the residual drowsiness away, he fancied a glimpse out the passenger window and let his eyes roam over the rather unimpressive, drab landscape accentuated by thick, grey clouds above. From what he could see at the moment, it appeared he was in the right place. However, the holdout uncertainty that lay in his stomach—disguised as apprehensiveness—was waiting for the final bit of confirmation from the train’s conductor.

“This stop: Midway Rock Fields! Next stop: Canterlot Station!”

Showtime.

Hearing the cue he was hoping for, Eric Griffith stood up tall and stretched his arms overhead, loosening up his back and shoulders before ensuring that anything he brought with him was accounted for… all while ignoring some curious stares being shot in his direction from the other commuters, as he had grown accustom to.

Letting his mind meander as he secured his backpack and readied his rolling luggage, he remarked to no one that perhaps this whole ‘thing’ was a good idea. After all, considering that from this point, Canterlot—the home of his new university for the next two quarters—was only about forty-five minutes away by the same medium of transportation. Still, that bit of a silver lining did not make him any less edgy at what was to possibly transpire in the next half an hour or so.

Running a hand through his short but thick blonde hair, Eric took a deep breath as he made his way out of the train and took his first steps in the new environment.

This one seemed to be another world entirely from the homely, welcoming streets of Ponyville and the hustle and bustle of Canterlot proper. In fact, he was the only one to have gotten off at this particular station… and no sooner did he set both feet onto the platform did the kaleidoscopic train shut its doors and resume its diligent chugging eastward towards the capital city. Eric watched the out-of-place-looking train disappear over the horizon… as if lamenting over his only means of backing out of his current arrangement should things go south.

Well, you’ve come this far.

His trusty inner voice was right, though. It wasn’t like he was some introverted shut-in, considering he immediately made the leap through the portal to participate in the Earth-Equestria Educational Exchange Program the moment it was announced; there were other factors involved, though. Still, his friend Pinkie Pie’s words held some measure of foreboding weight in the back of his mind when she said, with pride, that her family “could be a bit… ‘traditional and different.’”

No matter. Stretching and smoothing out his navy-blue sweatshirt that held ‘UCI Biology’ proudly stitched on the front in gold, he glanced into the seemingly abandoned station window for use as a mirror; he had to make sure he looked at least moderately presentable for his to-be hosts.

The man chuckled derisively.

“Jesus… everything about you right now screams ‘tourist schmuck,’” Eric joked with himself as his bright blue eyes scanned his face, ensuring there were no errant strands standing out of his meticulously-maintained hair.

He ran a finger through his hair’s part on the right side of his head before curtly nodding, satisfied. With no one else around to judge him or show him around, he set off in the direction of this so-called ‘rock farm,’ reflecting on all the information Pinkie Pie bestowed upon him back in Ponyville.

The directions should be easy enough to follow… take the trail out of the station, second left about three-fourths of a mile up, and follow it straight to the front door of the farmhouse.

‘Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy’ was the descriptive phrase of choice for Pinkie when she relayed directions and explained how things would go down… and trusting that cute, exceedingly nice mare with his life at this point, Eric allowed his attention to turn to his more immediate setting.

At least at the station, a quick visual tour of his surroundings gave him the impression that the world itself was dead. Not one shred of green (or any other bright color, for that matter) could be seen in the acres upon acres of seemingly fallow farmland. In his mind, there couldn’t possibly be agriculture here…

…right?

Eric shook the thought away as he continued his journey, the crushing of dried dirt and gravel under his shoes serving as white noise and natural ambiance. it provided some measure of solace.

He mulled upon when he first arrived through the portal and instantly had to mesh with these new, anthropomorphic ‘ponies.’ To him, it was like a furry’s wet dream with the tails, the ears, and the endless continuum of colors and color combinations among mane and coat. Of course, it took some getting used to, even for one as social (self-proclaimed) as Eric, but upon realizing that the average pony was miles friendlier than the average Californian, his acclimation to this new world was not all that difficult. Moreover, they behaved essentially like humans and seemed to have all the ‘human bits’ one would consider important. There were incredible ponies and there was the occasional shithead, but the latter seemed to be relegated to the noble districts of Canterlot, which was fine by him.

The human smirked widely at the memory of traveling with a few new friends to Ponyville, and getting a taste of true ‘pony hospitality’ when he was assaulted by the notorious Pinkie Pie. After a chaste but satisfying party thrown in his honor, he had let slip mention of him wishing to live off-campus rather than in the dorms at Canterlot University, though he had little faith in that happening considering it was about two weeks before class started.

He would never forget the twinkle in her eye and the magnitude of the smile she sported at said mention.

And so, he was offered the chance to live with Pinkie Pie’s family, who were looking for some extra help around the rock farm and the house itself. He would be set up completely and payment was really only with his labor… and that really sealed the deal for him. Eric had been meaning to try and exercise more, and while he wasn’t in bad shape by any means, he would, ideally, like to sculpt himself a little more; what better place to do that than with hard labor on a farm?

And despite all this newfound optimism, he was drawn back to reality by the sheer nothingness of his surroundings. It was almost eerie in contrast to, say, Sweet Apple Acres. It kinda reminded him of one of his favorite TV shows.

Enter a world where the land around you has fuck-all for color…

…where the environment killed itself out of boredom…

…and you couldn’t imagine any goddamn form of life living here at all.

You’ve probably entered into some form of the Twilight Zone I guess… or wherever the hell this place is.

Eric chuckled at his little joke, but he kinda felt bad afterward. This was Pinkie’s family’s home area… and it wasn’t too kind to disparage someone’s sacred ground. Besides, if he was being honest with himself, it wasn’t so bad; it had the peacefulness factor going for it.

That wasn’t saying much, though.

This is literally the Bakersfield of Equestria.

It was about that time that Eric realized where he was having followed Pinkie’s directions to a ‘T,’ and finding himself face-to-face with the entrance to the farm itself.

He noted that based on the slight soppiness of the dark dirt beneath his shoes that it had probably rained not too long ago… which was weird considering it was dry at the station. His eyes, however, were drawn to the stunning, interspersed crystal formations with which their colors, he could not determine precisely. The geometric perfections appeared lavender in some light, while silver at an alternate angle, and Eric noted that the entire property was littered in said crystals. This held true for the walkway leading up to the front door, reminding him fondly of an airport’s runway at night.

Eric finally arrived at the front door of the homely-looking farmhouse and stood tall, steeling himself one last time before knocking on the door four times. He took one last deep breath as he heard some muffled hoof-falls from beyond.

Putting on a friendly smile, he adjusted the grip on his suitcase for some measure of reassurance. He also gave a stern warning to himself to watch his language. He loved his curse words and their gratuitous use; fuck off.

Here we go!

The door unlatched and swung inward, revealing a lone mare with a dull, grey coat dressed in a faded-blue frock and crimson skirt. Eric immediately noticed that her demeanor seemed to hold a textbook air of stoicism, and as a male, his eyes spared a glance at her figure… which could not truly be discerned under the modestly-fitting clothing, the given time, nor the afforded light. Her form was complimented by a mauve, impossibly straight mane and tail, along with aqua irises that seemed to scrutinize and judge Eric’s very existence.

She blinked twice.

“Sorry about my outburst… I have to admit that I forgot you were going to be a ‘human,’” she apologized in the most monotone voice Eric had ever heard… and her words only made him cock his head slightly to the left.

“Wait, what?”

“I’m Maud Pie, one of Pinkie’s sisters; please, come in,” she beckoned him inside, ignoring his question, and Eric wasn’t going to deny that request. He entered into the comfortable abode which looked… almost exactly as he expected it to look. The air was definitely a bit warmer inside, but he didn’t get much of a chance to wander or process his new environment on account of Maud closing the door and speaking up again.

She inferred with absolutely no change in her voice from when he met her; absolutely none:

“You must be the famous Eric that Pinkie told us about.”

Christ in a caravan that voice is gonna take some getting used to…

“Y-Yeah, I’m Eric. Very nice to meet you, Maud,” he then replied with a genuine smile, extending his hand to her.

The mare shook his hand with a grip that betrayed her passive nature, Eric having to quickly beef up the firmness of his handshake lest he get crushed and he come across as some wimpy dickwheel. He had to admit, though; despite her virtually unreadable exterior, she was indeed quite pretty in an old-fashioned sort of way… and he could make out a modestly slim figure and a proportional bosom nestled beneath her frock.

“Trust me, the pleasure is all mine,” Maud remarked with nary a drop of emotion, so her comment almost sounded sarcastic.

The thought of that sent Eric giggling internally, considering how he prided himself on being fluent in one of Earth’s greatest languages.

Maud gestured to the side of the front door.

“Please, set your stuff down and make yourself at home. I’ll get everypony else. They’re as eager to meet you as I was.”

Gee that’s reassuring.

“Okay! Thanks Maud!” he called back as she left the room, taking her up on her words and relieving himself of his backpack and other suitcase.

Setting them against the wall with a satisfying thud, he straightened out his clothes and made certain there was no dirt or fuzz on his person before he met the other members of Pinkie’s family.

It was a shame that pink-coated mare couldn’t be here today to introduce them formally and facilitate this in her own style, but from what he remembered, there were four others: her mother, her father, and three sisters, of which one of the latter he just met. So far, Maud was nice despite her inability to sound enthusiastic about his arrival… or anything for that matter; he only hoped at least the former stipulation held true for the others.

Raven definitely went through a new phase after the Teen Titans.

Eric righted his posture and gaze as he heard several sets of hoof-falls just outside the room, and he mentally prepared himself for meeting his host family.

He smiled as in walked an older-looking stallion, but one that stood a couple inches over him. Right behind him was a mare of comparable age, presumably his wife, as well as another mare. The stallion was beige to the coat and was garbed in a grey button-up shirt which was layered-over by a set of black overalls. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and a pilgrim-esque hat was adorned atop of his fairly bald head, while his gray mane flowed at shorter length behind him and seemed to mesh with his sideburns. His yellow-eyes gaze bore into Eric’s very soul, regarding him with the same lack of warmth that the others exuded. This was further amplified by his intimidating build, doubtlessly honed in the figurative crucible of rock-farm life.

The older mare had an off-white coat and some blue-colored mane and tail that Eric could not rightly place; he was a man, and as such, his sex dictated that his color palette did not range beyond the simple colors and a couple miscellaneous shades. Her mane was secured neatly in a bun, and she was clad in a rather traditional housedress of sorts, one that Eric would liken to those worn by women in the 1800s. Her eyes were the same color as Maud’s, and with vision assisted by a pair of glasses that rested on the brim of her muzzle.

Eric did not have time to briefly appraise the other sister before the older stallion stepped forward, the sound of his hooves tapping the floor being amplified for some reason.

With a deep voice exactly what the human expected (though with a bit of a rasp), he asked:

“Surely thou art the one they call Eric Griffith, yes?”

Eric could only nod a little slower than he would have liked.

“I am called Igneous Rock Pie, the father of Pinkamena Pie whom you are acquainted with, and son of Feldspar Granite Pie.” he introduced himself, removing his hat from his head.

He then extended his hand and Eric went for the shake as he replied.

“That’s me, sir. And it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mister Pie,” he said, delivering a much firmer handshake than he did with Maud.

He met firm resistance as well. Igneous nodded tersely, and to Eric, it was a successful introduction, if a bit more formal for his tastes. Still, he could manage.

The older mare stepped forward and took her place by Igneous’ side.

“And thou shalt know me as Cloudy Quartz,” was all she said, bowing her head.

Eric nodded and also extended his hand to her, to which she reciprocated with a firm but gentle shake.

Igneous then added to their collective introduction.

“May Providence favor thee well, and to thou comfort, our humble homestead brings," he stated simply...

...which floored Eric by the sheer formality again. He hoped he wasn’t expected to reciprocate that very manner of speaking, because he’d just end up looking like an asshat.

Okay…

“Thank you both, Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz, for your hospitality,” Eric said, bowing his head slightly in return. “I’m sure I will have a wonderful time here, and I hope I can repay you fully with my labors.”

Nailed it!

The younger mare stepped forward, and she looked about the same age, maybe a bit younger than Maud. Now able to get a better look at her, her coat was about the same color as Maud’s mane and tail, and this one’s mane was also similar in style, but cut short to just above her shoulders and faded in color which gave her some measure of a tough-girl look. Eric liked the look on her, to be honest, and in conjunction with a svelte figure, she was still kind of a looker. Her more casual clothes consisted of a (not coincidentally) lime-green tank top and some work pants.

Eric’s smile brightened, expecting her to be somewhat similarly tempered like the young mare who greeted him first.

His first mistake was assuming.

“I’m Limestone Pie,” she declared with authoritative sass, pointing to herself for emphasis. “My parents own this farm but I’m the one who keeps it running smoothly. As long as you’re willing to work your hardest around here and pull your own weight, you and I will get along just fine. The last thing I need is somepony new mucking it all up. Don’t cross me; got it?!” she added, getting in his face.

Eric recoiled a tiny bit, if only for personal space, and nodded. He was reminded of a certain phrase Pinkie used to reassure him.

‘Difficult Difficult Lemon-fucking-Difficult.

“Yes ma’am,” he affirmed.

“Good!”

Well, at least she speaks normally…

There, Eric thought introductions were over with, but at the last second he remembered that there was supposed to be a third sister, and since Maud was standing to the side observing as enthusiastically as ever, he took note of the absence. Simultaneously, he realized that there was a lone eye upon him from beyond the veil of a doorway to his right. The moment he looked, the mysterious figure suddenly emitted an ‘eep!’ and slunk away. Limestone noticed this too, and only rolled her eyes.

“Come on Marble, we have a guest! That’s just rude!”

Eric had to cough into his hand to avoid laughing his ass off at the irony of that comment.

With no luck forthcoming, Limestone looked toward her parents, to which her father nodded solemnly. She sighed out a breath of irritation, one which betrayed an air of commonality, and stomped over to and beyond the doorway. In her return, she dragged a struggling young mare of similar age back with her against her will, as evident by her flailing and attempts to scurry away.

“Just… introduce yourself!”

Limestone propped the new mare up and pushed her forward; the newcomer stumbled and nearly crumpled to the ground in front of Eric but the human was quick to act through reflex.

“Whoa there!” he blurted, grasping the unknown mare by her shoulders and ensuring her face did not meet the cold, unforgiving wooden floorboards.

Her own instincts helped when she clung to his forearms for support, and Eric cautiously helped her regain her balance.

With an air of friendliness and that extra accentuation of formality (to be safe), he added"

“Don’t smash your face into the ground! I’m Eric! You alright, miss?”

His words grabbing her attention, Eric watched as Marble looked up at him, and the two locked eyes for the briefest of moments. A mere second’s look was all he needed to discern that this mare was gorgeous; her eyes, or rather, the one that was not obscured by her straight, flowing, graphite-colored hair, possessed the lavender color that Eric had been so fond of since arriving in Equestria. Instead of meeting a warm gaze or even a stoic one, however, he was unpleasantly surprised to see her pupils shrink to pinpricks. Cheeks coloring heavily while clearly panicking, she uttered a small squeak, a barely acknowledgeable ‘mm-hmm!,' and promptly tore out of his grasp, disappearing out of sight from whence she came.

This time, nobody tried to stop her.

Everypony watched her go, and Eric could not hold back the deadpan look plastered on his face.

Is there no one normal here?

Fuck.

“Well… that’s Marble,” Limestone added, annoyed, while gesturing to the empty doorway. “She’s a little on the shy side.”

“I really didn’t notice,” Eric replied, shaking his head and masking his sarcasm perfectly.

Limestone then moved to exit the room to do… whatever she had to do, but not without some harsh parting words for Eric:

“Oh, and stay away from Holder’s Boulder!”

“Umm… sure?” he replied, not knowing what she demanded of him at all.

Still, his words looked like they satisfied the mare, as she only nodded, huffed, and disappeared. Eric was a bit more worried about Marble, though; he sincerely hoped he didn’t make a bad impression on her.

“Is Marble… is she okay?” he directed his question to the two parents.

“Worry not; t’was nothing thou hadst done. She shall come around eventually,” Cloudy Quartz assured. “In the meantime, Maud will show thee to thy room, so thou mayst get settled before supper.” Igneous Rock echoed her words with a curt nod of his own.

“Yes ma’am. Thank you,” he said as the aforementioned, blank-faced mare walked up next to him. She had collected his luggage for him and he promptly took over.

“This way,” she said, leading the two of them out the doorway where Marble had fled through, though there was not a single trace of the latter. It was a shame though, as from what Eric was able to see from just that couple-second glance, she was probably the prettiest of them all. He couldn’t get a good glimpse at her figure through her baggy clothes, but her eyes had already won him over. Overall, each of the three sisters were pretty in their own rights.

And that’s when his pupils shrank in realization as to how screwed he was. Eric would be living with a family—where clearly the heads of household were much more conservative—with three daughters roughly his age that all happened to be attractive despite having their quirks. To him, this whole setup had to be something out of a sitcom on Comedy Central, one that would have a crappy laugh-track associated with it.

Great.

“Up here,” Maud cautioned the human as the ascended the stairs to the second level of the house.

“Mind your feet on the sixth step.”

On cue, Eric’s foot got caught on a piece of fractured wood, tripping and nearly face-planting into Maud’s butt… which he had to admit looked pretty nice in that skirt she had on. Perhaps fate was trying to tell him something?

“Thanks for the early warning,” he blurted out sarcastically without restraining his tone, but before he could backtrack on that, Maud produced the faintest of huffs.

Wait… did she just laugh?

“I can already tell we won’t have any trouble getting along,” she added dryly, and the human chuckled in kind.

“Likewise.”

Maud led Eric down a hallway towards the alleged guest room. The light from outdoors was all that illuminated the corridor, revealing the boarding-school-esque layout. The contrast between the light and the shadow against the monochromatic paint-scheme made Eric feel like he should expect two twin fillies to appear at the end of the hallway and ask him to ‘come play with them.’

“And here we are,” she proclaimed when they reached the end of the hallway.

Gesturing to the first door on the left, she turned the latch and flung it open, revealing a rather spartan-looking room that held four distinct bunks. Eric wasn’t really surprised at all at the revelation, and it didn’t bother him in the slightest; bunk beds were ‘the shit’ in his opinion. Other than that, the gray color of the wooden beds matched that of the identically-wooden floor, leaving much to be desired in terms of personal touch. Again, Eric (ever the optimist) wasn’t too concerned; depending on how well of terms he would become with the Pie Family, perhaps they’d let him touch the room up to his liking… within reason of course.

A lone four-paned window took up most of the wall on the opposite end of the room, letting in just the right amount of light despite a cloudy day. To their credit, all the beds seemed to have been made fairly recently and it did not look like there would be anyone else living in this room with him, to Eric’s knowledge at least. Overall, his new room was definitely different, but it held an innate sense of homeliness to it. While the presence of bunk beds would be best shared with someone else, Eric had learned over the years to fully appreciate the intrinsic value of privacy.

Having to share rooms with siblings of his own while younger, he would fully attest to that, and ergo, he did not wish to live in the dorms with somepony.

With an excited smirk whilst pointing to no bed in particular, Eric asked:

“Sweet! Can I just pick any?”

“Whichever you like; make yourself at home,” Maud invited without so much as a change in her stoic demeanor.

Eric wished to believe that it was a giant joke and that sooner or later, she would speak normally and Ashton Kutcher would jump out from somewhere and tell him he was being punked.

The easiest choice for Eric would be the top bunk on the right side of the room, and he laid his luggage on the bottom bunk to sort through in a moment.

“Perfect. Thanks, Maud.”

“I, or, we should be thanking you actually,” Maud confessed, closing a little bit of the distance between she and Eric.

The human was more stunned that she changed up the inflection based on the word emphasis she wanted to convey, but he was instantly brought back to reality when the mare crossed her forearms over her stomach, relaxed her posture, and breathed deeply. Such a sign was the telltale harbinger of some potentially serious discourse.

“What do you mean?” he asked, facilitating the impending conversation and slipping a hand into his pockets.

“Mom and Dad are getting older, and while they’re stronger than a lot of ponies in Equestria, they’re not able to do as much anymore,” she explained, and Eric’s mouth formed an ‘o,’ feeling that things were making a bit more sense all of a sudden.

“I’m not always here to help because I’m also in school, and Limestone thinks she can handle running day-to-day operations just fine on top of her own work… but even she needs help, though she won’t say it. She's much too proud.”

“What about Marble?” Eric asked, leaning against the bedpost.

Maud nodded with respect and reverence towards her sister.

“Marble is strong and tactful when she needs to be, but between the three of us, her skills are more suited to rock harvesting and surveying; there’s more to this whole operation though, and with me not being able to be around constantly, it can put a strain on things,” she confessed.

“The fact that you were willing to accept our offer and pick up the extra slack says a lot, even though we really haven’t told you much yet. I had to convince everypony that assistance was very much needed, which was why I wanted to be the one to greet you and introduce you. Just know that your help will be truly appreciated.”

‘Rock harvesting.’ Goddamn rock farms, man. How do they work?

“Yeah I’m not really sure what this all entails, really… but I can at least try. Hopefully whatever you have me do won’t throw out my back too badly,” Eric replied, then added:

“Seriously though, it seems like awesome work. I’ve been meaning to try and get into better shape anyway, so no worries.”

“It definitely is… and that’s a relief,” Maud said.

“Don’t worry, though, we’ll walk you through your tasks when we start tomorrow. For now, just get settled. My room is on the opposite end of the hall, farthest left. Limestone’s is the one before that, and Marble’s is across from hers on the right. The bathroom is just across this side of the hall. I’ll come get you when it’s time for dinner, but come find me if you happen to need anything else,” Maud offered the last bit of useful info she could impart with the same blank expression from when Eric first met her.

Eric smiled brightly at the mare, even though he knew he wouldn't get one in return, but that was okay.

“Perfect! Thanks again, Maud!” he replied.

As he mentally noted beforehand, things were starting to make more sense, and part of him actually couldn’t wait for dinner to be upon them so he could see everypony in a newer light. He was also looking forward to figuring out what this rock business entailed; if it was as hard of work as he was led to believe, he’d be riding on some pleasant soreness for when school started in the next week. With the second or two of silence that reigned between the duo, Eric entertained the idea of sculpting himself into the stereotypical, strong farmhand.

Swole as fuck.

Maud gave a gentle tilt of her head and headed back out the door, but before she exited completely, she glanced back at the human over her shoulder.

“…And I mean ‘anything,’” she added stoically, punctuating with a light flick of her tail and using it to grasp the doorknob and close the door behind her.

With her extreme lack of emotion, Eric wasn’t too confident in what that meant; she had gotten her point across, after all. He shrugged and began the unpacking process with earnest.

Huh, wonder what that was about.

Stretching his back again out of habit, he unzipped his rolling luggage and set out to work. Thankfully the room was furnished with a fairly standard set of dresser and nightstand, so Eric wouldn’t have to live out of his suitcase. The monotony of such a task allowed him to ponder things yet again, and Eric found himself this time focusing on the three mares that he had just gotten acquainted with. Tallying things up, Maud was easily the friendliest of them all, though in her own special way of never showing it through emotions, but rather actions; Limestone was the hard-ass of the family, clearly… probably from assuming the responsibility of the farm at her age, Eric gathered; and Marble, of course, was the demure one that he never really got a chance to actually meet considering she bolted out of the room when Eric so much as muttered his own name.

If he had to guess, Eric felt she might actually have some measure of anxiety issues.

Even though Cloudy Quartz assured him that it was not his fault, that her actions were just her nature, he still couldn’t help but feel partially responsible. After all, he technically was a bit different in appearance being a human which, moreover, were not entirely common in Equestria just yet. Eric drew comparisons between Marble and Pinkie’s friend Fluttershy, and how nearly the exact same chain of events transpired: the cute mare quite literally shied away from him when he tried to introduce himself… though admittedly, she didn’t turn on her hooves and high-tail it in the opposite direction, but rather hid behind Pinkie for a while before ascertaining that he wasn’t a threat. Then, she warmed up to him fairly nicely, though her shyness still showed through in more endearing ways.

He looked over his shoulder towards his door contemplatively, indirectly homing in on Marble’s room where the mare in question most likely was. In mulling, Eric hoped that he could extrapolate from his experience with Fluttershy; he would like to get to know Marble and the others since he’d be pretty much living with them for the next twenty weeks or so. Eric liked to consider himself a ‘go-getter,’ so perhaps, in his mind, a small trek down the hall to the room of a Marble Pie was in order.

Maybe I should go see her…

Thinking further and taking in how she reacted in front of her family, who knows how she’d react when she would be alone with him, so on a second thought, that may not have been the best idea at the moment. Shaking his head clear, Eric resumed neatly unpacking and refolding his clothes in preparation for the first supper with his generous hosts.

Were he to have acted on his impulse however, he would’ve found a lone, lavender-colored eye peeking cautiously yet curiously towards his room from a doorway down the hall and to right. The eye’s owner breathed a heavy, if shaky sigh, and retreated back into her lair with a resounding latch of her door.

[Two Hours Later]

When Maud fetched Eric for dinner as promised, he skipped down the stairs (minding the sixth step from the floor) with his head held high and an extra pep in his step. After all, the dinner table was a sacred place for families to bond together and talk about anything and everything on their minds; it was the general trend for Earth and from what he heard and observed here in Equestria, it also held true. It wasn’t that Eric felt they all got off on the wrong foot earlier (except maybe with Marble) but he’d like to at least get to know the Pie family better over some good food. Moreover, Eric was one that found pleasure in meeting new people, usually at parties or wherever, and potentially making new friends; it was only fitting that something similar happened here.

However, as Eric sat in complete, awkward silence amongst his host family while they quietly slurped their soup, he was beginning to abandon that notion altogether and his once surging confidence that all would instantly be happy and merry gradually waned. Eric glanced around the table with his spoon in his hand, bringing the first bite of the odd-looking vegetable soup; surprisingly, it was great! Thus, Eric took little issue in eating like a normal person, but one thing that he did find peculiar was the set of rocks staring back at him from the bottom of his bowl.

The food wasn’t his issue, but the fact that nopony was chatting outside of general pleasantries and table etiquette was starting to get to him.

Studying the seating orientation, Igneous Rock, naturally, sat at the head of the table with Cloudy Quartz at his right. Eric sat next to her a chair down and all three of the Pie Sisters sat on the opposite side with Maud being in the middle, Limestone on the left (from Eric’s point of view) and Marble on the right. He still couldn’t make out much of the latter other than her admittedly ‘cute as fuck’ face which hid behind her mane. Continued, fleeting glances out of the corner of his eye revealed the same Marble Pie that ‘greeted’ him earlier in her baggy, long-sleeved shirt that she wore. What was new, however, was that by the way she was sitting, Eric could make out something he didn’t expect at all.

I’m not saying that girl has boobs… but that girl has boobs.

All ate in a peaceful silence that seemed to only be awkward for him, and it was killing him because he felt like he had no right to speak at this point without drawing unnecessary attention to himself. Despite Maud’s heartfelt reassurance that all was well and that his presence was more than welcome amongst them, Eric gave a pass to his mind for thinking that wasn’t exactly the case. It’s not that they were mistreating him by any means, of course not; they generously and without question provided him a room and dinner… but the nagging feeling of being out of place for an unknown (or probable) reason was as strong as ever.

Shifting in his seat as if it would give him some respite, Eric glanced down again to his soup after having another bite and looked at the four rocks that lined the bottom of his bowl like stones in a murky lake. He didn’t want to seem rude at all, so he scooped up one of the foreign objects of nature and rolled it around in his spoon. Contemplating on what he should do with it, and being too much of a bitch to ask out loud, he was gonna place it back in the bowl and address the concern later when Maud’s voice pierced the silence.

“You don’t eat the rocks,” she said monotonously yet pointedly.

For once, Eric was almost relieved to hear Maud’s sonorous voice grace his ears in his time of uncertainty. He looked up to her for extra confirmation and noticed that only she was addressing him; the others were diligently eating their food and barely paying him mind… especially in Marble’s case, who looked like she was actively avoiding crossing gazes with him.

“Oh… okay cool,” he said stiffly, chuckling and averting his eyes.

“Yeah. They’re flavor rocks, not eating rocks.”

Eric’s eye twitched.

‘Eating’ rocks…

“Gotcha,” he replied, letting said rock drop back to the bottom of his bowl as he continued slurping on his soup.

He could feel the occasional eyes upon him from different directions, but they were only for fractions of a second it seemed. The conditions seemed right for the group to fall into another uneasy (for Eric) silence but the evening was saved, surprisingly, by Igneous Rock.

“Pinkamena tells us that thou art a student at Canterlot University,” he stated, though the implicit question was obvious.

What’s more, Maud raised her head up to face Eric again, clearly intrigued. Deciding that it would be in his best interest to not be a smartass, Eric replied appropriately.

“Y-Yes, sir. Transferred from Earth to study here, though that’s probably a bit obvious,” he answered meekly.

“What studiest thou, Eric?” Cloudy Quartz fielded her own question.

“Biology, ma’am. It’s been my life’s passion,” Eric replied, proud of his choice and that others were actually inquiring. He remained hopeful that this would be the start of a pleasant time here at the rock farm if the conversation picked up.

“A student of the sciences; impressive,” Igneous remarked, keeping his attention on his food as he ate.

“No wonder you get along well with Maud,” Limestone piped up, pointing a thumb to her sister in question. “You’re an egghead like her.”

“Don’t mind her,” Maud added in. “She’s just jealous that she can’t study rocks and look this hot,” she said with complete seriousness, and with her monotone voice, Eric nearly burst out laughing.

Fuckin’ savage.

Instantly, that set off a fiery exchange of banter between Limestone and Maud… though ‘fiery’ may not have been the most apt term given both of their personalities and speaking mannerisms. Both of their parents seemed indifferent to the display and only occasionally offered each other a few words by whisper. Though, Igneous ultimately decided upon asking Eric some more questions, and while a normal person might shirk under such questioning, Eric welcomed it wholeheartedly.

“And what dost thou intend to use thine education in Biology for, occupation-wise?”

“Well I’m hoping to get a specialization in Virology or Bacteriology. There’s some influence coming from my family though, since both of my parents are doctors. I’m pretty broad right now since I’m still only in my second year, but I know that I wanna research diseases and try to find cures. Maybe that’s a bit idealistic and vague but it’s what I wanna do,” Eric replied.

Glancing again out of the corner of his eye, he also noticed that Marble had slightly come out of her hair-veil and was seemingly interested what he was saying, which made him feel an involuntary smile begin etching itself on his face… and that in turn fed into his much more jovial demeanor.

“Not idealistic at all if it’s what makes you happy,” Maud’s voice swept Eric’s attention towards her blank face. Limestone was focused intently on eating once more, and the color her cheeks sported indicated that she most likely lost the banter-match with Maud and was irritated as a result.

“Indeed. Many know not what they wish to pursue in life, even if Providence hath shown them the clear way. It is most admirable that thou hast a plan,” Cloudy weighed in with her thoughts, and Igneous nodded in silent agreement.

“Maud here also attends school.”

“So she told me,” Eric acknowledged, turning to face the stoic mare in full. “I don’t think I asked what you were studying?”

“Geology with a concentration in Geological Agriculture,” she answered so succinctly. “My hope is to use my education to explore more efficient ways to help get the most out of the rock farm as well as others abroad.”

“Ugh,” Limestone grunted. “I told you, Maud… we don’t need help like that.”

“Don’t start with me, Limestone. I’ll come down on you like falling feldspar,” she warned.

This time, he made no effort to stifle his hearty chuckling, though what made it that much better was when he heard some simultaneous giggling emanating from across the table. Turning to look out of reflex, he saw Marble laughing into her hand along with the cutest expression on her face, enhanced by her visage not being obscured by her mane for the first time. Again, Eric was struck by how beautiful she was… and when Marble felt his look upon her, she too turned to face him. Internally, the human went into turmoil with a slew of thoughts entering his head and vying for dominance over the course of half a second. Fortunately, one set of instructions stood out enough.

Shit dude… she’s looking at you! Smile, you jackass!

Eric did just that, shooting her a friendly smirk when their eyes locked onto each other. The reaction was immediate, and Marble, suddenly feeling as if his eyes were studying her, instantly retreated behind the cover of her mane. Her cheeks colored brightly and her giggling that Eric had found so adorable had abruptly ceased.

While the human held his expression and directed it elsewhere, internally he wanted to beat himself. At this point, Eric felt he went and creeped out this nice mare who was opening up suddenly with the aid of a friendlier atmosphere… or at the very least, he probably pushed his boundaries with her and set back progress at least a week.

“So, answer me this, Eric,” Limestone grabbed the human’s attention by way of his name. “Do you have rock farms back on Earth?”

Well, let’s hope there’s no permanent damage so far!

And truthfully, that was all Eric could root for as he began answering Limestone’s question. Even so, the atmosphere around the dinner table livened up beautifully, and conversation flowed easily from then on. Eric became the center of attention and he was happy to let his hosts in on details about his world, his current education, and his life… though with the latter, he skipped some more personal details. As Eric had come to expect, he and Maud shared some similar interests and overall attitudes on education and overlapping courses (though to be fair, he felt she only had a single attitude). Granted, Marble did not really participate actively in the conversation, rather, she only shifted her eyes around between the participants as any indication she was paying attention. But, it was something, and Eric was just happy he didn’t potentially scare her off entirely.

In the end, it wasn’t so bad. If he had to deal with some shyness from Marble, so be it. As of now, things seemed to improve marginally with everypony else, and Eric couldn’t ask for much more than that. Truthfully, it was technically incorrect for Eric to say that things were ‘improving,’ considering there was nothing to really improve; as he noted previously, the Pie’s were not treating him poorly. The notion of ‘improving’ was primarily to allay his own concerns of not being wanted, or potentially being forced into a dynamic that did not request nor require his presence.

So far, that did not appear to be the case.

By the soft light of the flickering, magical candles in his new room, Eric climbed up to the top bunk and flopped down with hands behind his head. Breathing out a massive sigh of relief that dinner turned out to be a great success, he mentally went over what had happened throughout his first day here, tallying up the oddities and emphasizing the victories. Igneous Rock even shook his hand yet again, this time with a noticeable smile on his face… and that was Eric’s proudest accomplishment of the night.

Dressed in some sweatpants and a loose t-shirt, Eric rested his eyes and was more than content with drifting off to an early sleep so he could get an equally early start in the morning. He figured it would make a good impression on everypony, especially Limestone, if he showed up ready to be bestowed with his tasks early at around sunrise.

Even so, the others had, one-by-one, retired to their respective rooms so Eric felt he really did not have much choice in the matter unless he was to be bored out of his mind.

So, as he had already decided, an early bed-going was in order. Letting his eyelids drift shut, Eric settled into the astonishingly comfortable bed and let his mind meander just enough to tire him out. In fact, his technique was working beautifully until his eyes shot open out of reflex; he could’ve sworn he heard the faintest of knocks at his door. Nothing sounded when he listened out again, so Eric wrote it off as an old house creaking with the gentle nudging of the breeze outside. Letting his ears concentrate on the outdoors, the sound of the breeze which carried the miscellaneous calls of the surrounding wild served as soothing white noise.

I can definitely get used to this.

He set about letting himself resting his eyes when this time he was absolutely certain someone knocked. Eric was only just about to settle into a comfortable slumber, so he could afford to get up and greet whoever happened to be at the door with a nice attitude… like he would do anything else. In the couple-seconds of time it took to sit up, drop to the floor and make his way to the door, he speculated on who it might’ve been; perhaps Maud letting him know ahead of time on what he would be doing tomorrow.

For the second time today, he was dead wrong.

Opening the door inward revealed the absolute last pony he expected to see, namely a certain lavender-eyed mare with that impossibly straight, graphite-colored mane.

“M-Marble?!” Eric asked as he met her eyes.

With the timid mare standing right in front of him, he could finally see that, yes, she was shorter than him by about three inches or so, and she looked relatively the same from earlier today. The only major difference was that she was dressed in what Eric would describe as a form-fitting one-piece pajama suit which was decorated with a repeating pattern of marbles. Her immeasurably cute attire afforded Eric the chance observe and confirm what he initially believed was the case: she had a slim body with a prominent chest.

Also, Eric noticed that she wasn’t replying to him, seemingly frozen in fear and outright refusing to focus her gaze on his own.

Marble’s eyes darted around on account of her crippling shyness and irrational fears, yet she held her ground firmly. Her lips were pursed, and a determined expression soon overrode her fearful one, which gave Eric the impression that she had something important to say. But, she remained silent for a few moments longer, and Eric was gonna ask her what she wanted, though he soon found out that wasn’t necessary.

“HiEricI’msosorryaboutearlierI’mMarblePieandit’ssonicetomeetyouIhopewecangettoknoweachotherbetter!!” Marble suddenly blurted out in one rapid, run-on sentence that sent Eric reeling in astonishment.

The mare instantly covered her muzzle upon the utterance of her last syllable and blushed profusely, as if pondering the consequences of her words. Seeing Eric’s startled expression only furthered her resurging fears and she promptly turned on her hooves and strode down the hall, quickly finding her room and closing the door behind her.

Standing in his room’s doorway, Eric was left dumbfounded, and he blinked away enough of his bemusement to take a peek down the darkened hallway. He couldn’t see anything and Marble’s door was shut tight.

What the hell just happened??
.
.
.
Further down that same hall, Marble Pie leaned against the inside of her door and slid to the floor, landing softly on her butt and folding her legs into her chest. Wrapping her arms around her shins, she curled up and rested her head on her knees, eyes shut tightly in frustration.

“Stupid…” she muttered, shaking her head indignantly as she internally admonished herself.

To her, here was a chance to have a clean slate with somepony new, to not let her overwhelming shyness come out in full-force and, hopefully, to actually meet someone without wanting to run away as a first instinct. She promised herself that she wouldn’t let this happen, and yet here she was, having potentially ruined her first impressions with Eric entirely.

This is your chance to come out of your shell…

Pouting, Marble pondered deeply about today and the next few weeks ahead. She meant every word she incoherently blabbed to Eric; she did wish to get to know him. He was going to be living with them, as it were, and they would be inevitably exposed to each other both on the farm and in the house. Since it was only him and nopony else, she saw this as a chance; the species difference was of little to no concern to her. What truly mattered was that she was given an opportunity to do what she always wanted to do, though in a much more controlled environment: not necessarily ‘change,’ but improve upon her extremely withdrawn and reserved personality. Perhaps, even break out of her reticence.

Pursing her lips again, Marble felt her eyes become a bit misty, and a few whimpers and sniffles escaped unhindered at what seemed like a monumental task ahead of her… but regardless, she swore to herself that she would see this through.

Softly yet resolutely, all she had to say to herself was:

“This time, or never."

Nodding decidedly to nopony but herself and balling her fists up. There she sat for about ten minutes before collecting herself enough to crawl into bed, simultaneously welcoming yet dreading the next rise of Celestia’s golden sun.

4. The Flame

[~Two Weeks Later…]

“Morning, Limestone!” Eric greeted with his usual flair as he entered into the kitchen. Bright and early as always, Eric, dressed in his work clothes, was ready to begin another hard day’s weekend work. As he had come to expect, Limestone, also dressed as per usual, was waiting for him and Marble with several bowls of freshly-cooked oatmeal. The aforementioned mare was in the middle of chewing, and she opted to flash him a full-mouthed grin and a wave of her fingers in the meantime.

“Hey Eric,” she returned his greeting properly with a much more friendly tone, one that Eric had been thrilled to hear gradually change over the course of his stay; Limestone almost seemed to be happy to see him now! Perhaps this was because Eric fell into his farm work routine fairly well, and he had a firm grasp over all the tasks that would be expected of him on a given day, as well as how to perform them to the highest standard he was capable of. “How’d you sleep?”

“Pretty well, actually. All rested and ready for whatever you throw at me today,” he replied jovially, getting a head start on his oatmeal. This time, he also noticed that there were various berries mixed in… he could definitely get used to this. “How about you?”

“You’re not crying in agony from the work yesterday… you’re getting better,” Limestone added with a sly, diagonal smirk to go along with her little quip, nodding as if she was impressed. “And I’m just fine; slept like a log as always.”

“Awesome,” the human said, shooting her a friendly smile… one which Limestone returned with one of her own. It was the little things like this that really made his whole experience with the Pie’s that much better. His relationship with Igneous and Cloudy had also thawed… though they were never really ‘cold’ to him necessarily, just stern, if anything. Hell, his grades had been stellar thus far, he had dropped a few pounds of weight (and gained some more muscle for his efforts), and so far his host family enjoyed his presence… Eric could not have been happier.

“Good morning, everypony,” a familiar, meek-sounding voice intruded into the silence, and Eric’s smile brightened immediately. Marble entered into the room, clad in her usual tank top that was a shade darker than her coat. Work pants fitting her legs and butt exquisitely, Eric took little issue in letting his eyes wander up her form.

Oh wait, I can definitely be happier, now.

“Hey Marble,” Limestone greeted her sister, continuing to munch her oatmeal. Marble, however, defaulted to Eric’s side and smashed herself into him with a deep, affectionate hug, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her cheek elatedly into his.

“Heh, good morning to you too, Marble,” Eric added with equal enthusiasm, returning her hug with gusto. The both of them nearly forgot to let each other go after a few seconds, drifting well-past the realm of a proper hug… especially true when Eric felt eyes upon him. Marble took her seat, and the human glanced towards Limestone as he resumed eating, finding her staring right at him. Still visibly chewing, she stoically cocked a lone eyebrow at the duo’s little display of affection. Eric internally paled.

Shit… she’s onto you! Do something!

Feeling it was the only logical thing to do for some reason, Eric mimicked her gesture, responding to Limestone’s curiosity with faux-inquisitiveness of his own. As the latter finished chewing and downing the last portion of food that lay in her bowl, Eric could have sworn he saw the right corner of her mouth upturn in an almost knowing smirk… it was subtle, but assuming residual tiredness was not clouding his perception, his stomach sank at the possible implications.

Their little staring contest ended and Limestone nonchalantly set her bowl into the sink, filling it with water before wiping her hands clean.

“Well, today we’re gonna do something different,” Limestone began, going into her lecture mode. “As you know, we’re finalizing a crystal shipment, so I’ll be preparing the numbers with mom and dad today. While it’s not gonna be really a short day today like several weeks ago, it’ll be easy for you two.”

She coughed suddenly, clearing her throat before continuing.

“I got up earlier today to get more work done on the last cart that needs to be filled up with crystals from the mine. Just take your time and finish it up before the end of the day. It’s a bit of an interesting task that we’ve never exposed you to, Eric, so Marble will show you the ropes. Sound good?” she asked after elaborating appropriately, though her last question was more rhetorical than an actual inquiry; she wasn’t too concerned about Eric’s and Marble’s ability to work efficiently together.

“I’ll keep him out of trouble,” Marble quipped softly, hiding behind her mane when Limestone chortled at her remark and Eric simultaneously shot her a playfully hurt look. Her older sister walked by, chuckled, and dragged Marble into her chest as she delivered unto her a noogie of epic proportions. Eric gave the two loving sisters some space, laughing as Marble squealed at being helplessly subjected to the stronger Limestone’s wrath.

This is a nice family.

“Well, no rush to finish your breakfasts, you two. As long as this is done by around three or four-ish, we should be fine, and that’s more than enough time,” Limestone said, releasing Marble’s head from the crook of her arm, leaving the poor mare red in the face and her mane dishevelled.

“You got it, Limestone. See ya later!” Eric replied, saluting as she walked out the kitchen door, the mare in question responding with her own salute in kind. Marble fixed herself back up in the meantime.

“Bye Limestone!” Marble called out as well, and upon the departure of her older sister the human and her were left to their own devices. Knowing the two of them were alone, Marble turned to Eric and smiled, though she hid behind her mane when Eric returned a smile of his own. The human did not know how she pulled it off, but each and every time that she hid behind that flowing, perfectly straight mane of hers, he felt his heart just explode with butterfly shrapnel… just like the first time she smiled from ‘behind the veil;’ it never went away and in fact, it only grew stronger. As such, her antics demanded action!

Confident that the both of them were indeed on their lonesome, Eric wrapped her up tightly in his arms and finally returned the little greeting she gave him a few moments earlier. There was no hesitance in Marble hugging him back, the two unable to control their smiles nor their hearts racing when their chests were pressed together. As an added token of Marble’s own feelings, she pulled back, closed her eyes, and happily brushed her nose against Eric’s, giggling all the while before going back to eating.

Now, it was Eric’s turn to blush. He loved the ‘nose rubbing’ and thought it was ‘the cutest shit in the world.’ With his brow lowering in relaxation and another grin tugging at the left corner of his mouth, he, too, let himself face the table and finish his food before they would inevitably get right to work. Still, he had to get his heart rate under control, and if this kept up with Marble, Eric felt that he’d probably have to enroll himself in a pregnant mares’ course so he could learn how to breathe properly again.

He had never felt this way about any girl, nor did he want to about anyone but Marble.

“How’d you sleep?” Eric asked, both of their bowls clinking softly each time they dug their spoons into their meals.

“Wonderfully,” Marble replied, shooting him a ‘look’ between bites. Eric knew exactly why that was the case and the resulting ego boost was more than welcome; she just liked sneaking to his room now to literally sleep; nothing nefarious at all.

“Fair enough… I guess I could say the same thing,” he added.

“You better!”

A few clouds dotted the wide blue sky on this particular day, seemingly strategically placed just by the sun to provide ample shade from the mild heat if necessary. Eric, however, was less caring this time around to the scenery; literally none of it changed on a regular basis. His attention was more appropriately focused on a certain mare that was leading him towards the crystal mines, namely Marble and her luscious backside… he couldn’t get over how perfect her butt looked in her denim pants. If it wouldn’t freak her out or be disrespectful at this point, he would sneak up behind her and dig all ten of his fingers into her flanks.

He could wait, though… what further placated his rising desires was the fact that Marble was the perfect eye-candy.

As per earlier discussions, Eric and Marble agreed to cool off their more intimate banter while they were in ‘public,’ and resolved to try and keep their antics confined to the evenings when the others retired for the day. Over the last two weeks, nopony had been the wiser, and up until breakfast where Limestone had shot a curious look Eric’s way, there had been no incidents that warranted any questioning.

Eric also decided not to tell Marble about Limestone’s silent inquiry; nothing came about it anyway, so what was the point in potentially worrying her over nothing?

“Well, here we are,” Marble spoke up when the two had descended into the small quarry and stood at the mouth of a cave. Said cave was framed on both sides with rock that had undoubtedly smoothed over through the years, and a gentle light emanated from its depths, one which held a faint, violet hue. Focusing his eyes, Eric had trouble seeing anything due to the contrast of light, but he could make out small shapes as a result of the colored glow from within. It was enough to pique his interest and more exploratory side.

“It’s funny, I thought I would’ve been here by now during my stay,” Eric thought out loud, prying his eyes from the mine entrance and looking at Marble.

“The mine has some of the most valuable crystals and can also be dangerous at certain places; Limestone was a little hesitant to let you in at the start,” the mare explained, pivoting her foot in the ground and averting her gaze as if her explanation would draw Eric’s ire.

The latter bobbed his head, taking Limestone’s concerns to heart with no problems.

“Fair enough. Can we go inside?” he asked excitedly, wanting to see the natural wonders within. He had never been in an actual mine before, though admittedly, the ones back on Earth that he could have ventured to were abandoned and dangerous… probably haunted as well; hopefully if the latter was the case here, it would be one of those advertising ghosts for Pizza Hut or something.

As Marble watched Eric brim with excitement, a welcome, familiar heat rose to her face; every time that Eric showed his more outgoing side or just talked about anything he was passionate about, she couldn’t help but take in how cute he was. This was especially true when she would ask innocuous questions about his biological studies, and even though she might have been lucky to understand a small fraction of his words, she just loved watching him animatedly lecture about something he loved.

In her opinion, it made him more… kissable.

With this reminder fresh in her head, she stopped herself from letting him venture on ahead, and instead, a conniving smile formed on her muzzle.

“Sure! We need to get some tools though; follow me,” she directed, waving Eric behind her as she headed towards the nearby tool shed that was built at the bottom of the quarry entrance. For extra emphasis, she brushed him with her tail and helped ‘drag’ him along, a little gesture that Eric had always found endearing.

“You got it,” Eric confirmed, winking at her and falling into step. As the days and weeks progressed, Marble had started to feel the signs of when her human friend’s gaze would drift to more… intimate parts of her body.

This was one of those times.

Further, she liked it.

Contrary to what Eric might’ve thought, he wasn’t as sneaky as he’d like to believe. Marble knew from day one that he had eyed up her backside and chest once or twice out of the corner of his eyes… and at first she wasn’t really sure what to think of it since she was still dealing with her knee-jerk anxious reactions to someone new. Of course, after the last couple of weeks, every time he did, she felt flattered and… sexy.

In fact, she wanted him to look at every opportunity. It helped her confidence swell to unprecedented heights... to know that she was pretty, in his eyes.

With that in mind as they neared the tool shed, Marble felt she had to step up her game. With a sultry smirk, she started setting one hoof in front of the other—which gave her hips that extra sway to them—all while moving her tail high and out of the way.

In Eric’s perspective, though he hadn’t been glancing at her for very long, he did notice that subtle change in her immediate walking habits… and his face blanched at the thought that she knew. Marble had to have known, considering she had never done that in the past! If that was the case, then she had probably figured out his occasional glancing in her direction long ago. Eric meant no disrespect by it, though. He genuinely admired her figure and person as a whole; to him, she was drop-dead gorgeous… especially so when Marble would carry herself with that extra air of confidence she was working on.

Regardless, Eric wasn’t going to pass up on the opportunity if she was presenting it to him on a silver platter.

“I see what you’re doing, Marble,” Eric said jokingly, earning him a sly smirk from the mare over her shoulder.

“And I don’t see you complaining,” she simply put, startling Eric with her sudden forwardness. Eric, however, was not one to back down in the face of playful banter; his job as a professional shitposter on the weekends back on Earth prepared him for this day.

“Oh trust me, I have no intention to... I love what I see,” he shot back, emphasizing his words by flicking his eyes down to Marble’s butt.

The mare fronted a valiant effort… but Marble was no match for that remark, and she showcased this fact fully when she pulled her face back behind the curtain of her mane and faced forward again. Her entire face burned something fierce, but it was fortunate that the two had arrived to their destination: an unassuming shed, as expected.

She could put her hastily concocted plan into action.

“Come on in, help me grab some things,” Marble bade Eric inside, opening the shed door and entering first. Unaware of anything out of the ordinary, the human casually followed after her, and the moment he crossed the door’s radial threshold, Marble struck. She pointedly closed the door and latched it, leaving the two of them sealed inside for the time being.

“Hmmm?” Eric uttered, turning around at Marble’s unexpected action but his implicit question was met with the mare wrapping her arms around his neck and smashing her lips against his. The sudden contact made him widen his eyes for the briefest of moments, but ultimately he decided to roll with it. Letting his hands slide down her sides and rest on her hips, Eric allowed himself to press up against this mare who daringly assaulted him orally.

Their lips held firm, keeping each other chastely joined for a few more moments before separating with a satisfying ‘smack.’

“Whoa…okay then!” Eric remarked dreamily; Marble was getting really good at kissing. Then again, practice did make perfect, and the two have had plenty of practice.

“I’m sorry,” Marble voiced, tracing one of her fingers on his chest as they just held each other. “I couldn’t wait ‘til later; you were being too cute,” she added, peppering his jaw and cheeks with little kisses; she simply could not get her fill.

“Look who’s talking,” Eric shot back, pulling Marble’s face back into his for another round with their mouths. This time, the two let their lips separate and their tongues reintroduce themselves. The human also decided to lean against the door, allowing Marble to support herself on him as they continued their secret little makeout.

Nothing else was said for a while as their lips battled for dominance. As they both had come to expect, Marble’s larger tongue continued to reign supreme while exploring each other’s mouths, though Eric’s gradually had been learning to put up a much better, sexier fight before submitting.

Marble separated briefly and reoriented her hands, placing them on Eric’s jaw before resuming her onslaught on her human friend who was quickly becoming more than a friend, in her eyes.

“Mmmm…” Marble moaned throatily into Eric’s mouth, relishing in the feeling of her tongue against his, her lips against his, and his taste. Each and every time the two kissed, all that happened upon the end of their ‘sessions’ was more than a deep sense of satisfaction for her… but such a satisfaction would inevitably turn into a festering hunger for more...

...just like now. Since that first time, Marble was insatiable, and Eric always wondered how he got any more studying done.

He let his hands lower down to her butt, the prime staple of makeout sessions, and gave her cheeks a firm squeeze. This had become fairly standard, and Marble no longer ran away… in fact, she loved it! She let loose a little moan as a testament to that. Then again, no matter where Eric touched her while they toyed with each other’s lips, he always made her coat stand on edge.

A small chorus of gentle gasps, hums, and ravenous groans heralded another separation, both of them breathing heavily as they fought to recuperate their breaths. The two knew they would be diving back in for more, but that didn’t stop them from keeping their eyes glued to each other.

Eric pressed his nose against Marble’s, letting the both of them bask in the gesture they mutually loved while their hot breath broke upon their necks. It was a relatively mild day in terms of temperature, but Eric himself felt constrained in his clothes at the moment as the heat of their more local, intimate atmosphere soared to unprecedented heights.

The egress of blood-flow southward, and the resulting, almost painful tent being pitched in his work-pants made things that much more difficult, however. To distract him from his own plight, Eric dove into the mare’s neck and began gently nipping and suckling her sensitive flesh, dragging his teeth upon every contour he could come across.

“Ohhh!~”

Marble cooed involuntarily, and by reflex, she craned her neck rightward to allow Eric the maximum amount of room. She, clearly, was not faring any better. With a modicum of remnant shame, she squeezed her inner thighs together and could feel the accumulated dampness in her panties… unfortunately, it provided her no respite from that burning itch that was becoming increasingly impossible to ignore.

“Kiss me…” Marble demanded, and Eric wordlessly complied, locking lips with her once more. This time, both of them allowed their hands to roam boundlessly over each other’s bodies, and Eric’s gladly affixed them to her waist… only to slip under her shirt and feel up her smooth, toned tummy that he had only laid eyes on by virtue of her shirt riding up her midriff once in a while.

They separated yet again and Eric buried his face in her neck to resume his previous ministrations.

“Mmm, you smell nice…” Eric complimented breathily, having taken a nice whiff of the residual lavender body wash that she used the night before. It smelled even better this time for some reason, and Eric felt it had to do with their current activity and its side-effects… because in the end, Marble didn’t just smell sweet at the moment; she smelt like sex.

“Mmmph!” Marble groaned and whined, pressing herself tightly against Eric and pressing her chest against his. Her actions, from Eric’s perspective, appeared to be much more frantic as she nuzzled herself against him almost helplessly.

“Marble… are you okay?” he asked. His answer stared back through her eyes as they locked onto his, her pupils visibly dilated and seemingly glazed over. In truth, Marble was overcome with lust and pleasure, every little touch that Eric bestowed upon her seeming to amplify through her.

Simply put, she was horny as fuck… and having no sexual contact other than her hand up to this point in her life was sending her deeper senses into a tailspin.

“Eric please just... touch me!” Marble ordered with uncharacteristic weight behind her words, though with clear restraint on her vocabulary. The human was not in any better straits, and as such, had few qualms with obeying her every word. With his hands still on her stomach, he let them retreat from under her tank top and slid them up her torso towards the very prizes that he had longed to touch. Resting his palms just under her chest, Eric flicked his glance once between her bosom and her eyes, conveying that wordless question of whether he was allowed to continue.

Marble answered by lowering her eyelids purposely, taking his hands in hers, and sliding them up to cup both of her breasts in full. Eric’s eyes widened as he finally got his hands on his ultimate goal… granted, through fabric and a bra, but still!

Marble looked up at him with her lip bit as she allowed Eric to start massaging her two, heavy orbs through her tank top, letting him relish in what he desired for a little bit… and it was not like he didn’t get anything out of it! Her breasts were a teeny bit on the sensitive side, and every motion, every squeeze, gyration, and pinch sent her breathing ragged and her head swimming with more wanton thoughts of the human fondling her. Soon enough, she had a better idea, and pressed half her side into Eric which allowed her to kiss him again, and allowed him to continue playing with one of her boobs; a win-win, in both of their books.

Eric upped his game, tugging on her lip after he was able to latch onto it with his teeth, evoking a hearty, lust-driven giggle out of Marble before she repeated the same action on him. All the while, Eric attempted to pinch and tweak her nipple through her top; the effort was valiant and it had the intended effect on her, but it wasn’t the same… he hoped to get these pesky garments off of her at some point.

Marble felt the seemingly solid bulge in Eric’s pants press against her lower stomach, and through their continued makeout (which was running their lips raw), she gave into her curiosity and used her free hand to cup him.

Feeling her hand cradle his compacted length through his jeans, Eric thusly felt that he had some more implicit permission to explore more of Marble’s body. Letting her do what she wished to him (which was morph her hand and trace the outline of his member as they pecked each other’s lips), Eric, reluctantly, eased his grip on Marble’s breast and traced down her stomach, gently circling her navel as he made his way to her pants. There, he opted to utilize the same treatment she was lavishing him with.

Marble’s breath hitched in her throat when Eric palmed her directly between her legs, feeling his firm grip compress on her aching marehood and only serving to further augment her growing neediness. She felt her ruined panties press up against her and demonstrate just how soaked she was from Eric’s touch, presence, and attention.

Again, it wasn’t enough.

Eric tugged teasingly at the hem of her pants, showing her just how easily he could undo the button and zipper, but he did not proceed. He wanted to, certainly... just to feel how wet for him she was… but the last thing he ever wanted to do was assume wrong.

“Marble…?” he broke away from her lips to utter her name in such a way that conveyed all she needed to know.

“YES!” she instantly replied, nuzzling her face into his neck to get another whiff of his natural scent that was driving her nuts. She angled her lower body against his hand and grinded once against it, if to just hammer home the message.

In reality, she had no idea what she was doing, and allowed instinct to take over for her. By Eric’s actions, he had clearly been experienced in this matter, and opted to just let him take care of her like she knew he would. She wanted this...

...no, she needed this.

With all the assurance he needed, Eric leaned in and kissed his mare for the umpteenth time today, undoing the button on her pants with his free hand and tantalizingly slowly unzipping the front. He could sense her impatience; it cascaded off of her like an aetheric waterfall as she silently begged for him to have his way with her.

He just couldn’t say no to those lavender eyes of hers.

Eric lifted the hem of her tank top a tiny bit to expose her smooth, lower abdomen. He drummed on her for a few seconds and finally slid his palm into her pants, unsticking her panties from her person in the process. He bypassed the troublesome garment and palmed her bare lips, letting his digits memorize each and every soaked contours of her aching crescent.

“Uhhnnn…” Marble let slip a gentle moan at his touch on her most vulnerable area, instinctively spreading her legs a little wider and leaning on him more for support. All he had to do was just touch her there and suddenly her entire mind was useless, awash in electrifying pleasure that could never in her wildest dreams be replicated with her own hands and fingers.

Eric had little desire to keep Marble waiting, so, unceremoniously, he began letting his middle and ring fingers contract over her slit, framing her entrance and lightly squeezing her lips. This elicited another squeak from the mare, and Marble gripped onto his clothes that much more tightly.

Going further, Eric let his middle finger slip inside her, burying it up to his knuckle and just allowing her to get used to the intrusion. All the while, this thumb was in perfect position to trace slow, teasing circles around her swollen clit… all within the parameters of her cramped pants.

“GAh!!” Marble cried as Eric’s thumb made contact with her little button, and to help silence herself, she resolved to press her snout in his neck and pepper him with encouraging kisses as well as speak her pleading words of encouragement. “Please…”

“What do you want, baby?” Eric asked huskily, using that particular pet name for the first time. Marble’s heart was sent racing (more than it already was!) at that word… she was his baby? She was practically in love with that idea.

“Y-Your fingers… please?”

Marble, frustrated, adjusted her position yet again and—with some ingenuity in making use of the adjacent workbench—lifted her left leg, but bent at the knee.

Eric heard her loud and clear, and inserted his ring finger into her, letting her take the entirety of his digits before he agonizingly slowly withdrew them… then sinking them back into her.

Marble, in response, let her jaw go slightly slack as she breathed out the heaviest sigh. She felt both of his fingers throb inside her depths in tandem with her own walls. All brainpower had been devoted to just feeling everything Eric did to her, and through the lack of any coherent thought, there was only one thing Marble knew for certain:

This was so much better than masturbating.

“Like this?” Eric asked.

“Yes! Just like… Ahhh!... that…” Marble urged him on. Her eyes were shut tight as her head was pressed firmly against his neck.

Eric knew he was getting somewhere, and by how Marble was squirming in his grasp and begging for a release, he got the feeling she would not hold out for very long. He sped up his penetration, letting his fingers spread out slowly within her so he could, by extension, spread out her walls. He pressed his palm into her clit during each downstroke, grinding into it and sending those particularly intense jolts of ecstasy surging straight to Marble’s core. Despite her dutifully restrained moaning and words, Eric could also hear just how wet she was each and every time he thrust his fingers into her.

He loved seeing her like this, even though this was the first time he ever had. Marble was under his control, and each little movement he made with his hand and fingers elicited an often different reaction from her. Time, however, was not a luxury at the moment, and as much as he’d love to lay her down and explore every bit of her body on their own time, they both knew that they could not take the risk of getting caught, whatever that chance may have been.

“There we go…” Eric whispered into Marble’s ear, encouraging her moaning while he sped up his actions. Curling his fingers upward toward her uppermost wall, he ground his digits against her while lavishing her clit with more of his palm. “Cum for me, Marble…”

At the mention of her name, Marble whined and bit her lip, dropping her resistance and allowing herself to fully embrace each and every bit of pleasure that Eric was heaping onto her. The latter gyrated his hands inside Marble, and spread them nice and wide.

“YES!”

“Come on, baby… you know you want to…”

Eric reversed the roles and played the cheerleader this time around. He withdrew his fingers for a few moments so he could properly rub her pussy and thumb her clit. Before long, his fingers were sheathed inside her slit once more ,and Eric resumed pistoning in and out of her with abandon.

“Right there… rightthererighthererightthererightthere...!” Marble’s words suddenly became muddled as they fused together in one long, incomprehensible mess. Grinding her needy mound against his hand by reflex, she was millimeters away from that edge she had toppled off of many times, though this time, she was ready to soar off of it from new heights… and that new height established itself when Eric hilted his fingers particularly hard inside her.

Immediately covering her mouth, Marble silenced her orgasmic cry as she came powerfully. A small rush of her juices accompanied a much more substantial rush of euphoria flooding her entire body. All restraint went out the window and a small shiver emanated from her lower body, diffusing throughout.

“Thaaaat’s it, baby… there we go~...” Eric further cooed, cheering her on and letting Marble further bask in her peak that she never wished to descend from. Hell, on Marble’s end, she started questioning why they had not done something like this sooner! Something that felt this good had to be right!

What would happen when (she hoped, at least) they would go all the way?

Their first sexual act together had been done, and Eric withdrew his soaked, sticky hand from between her legs and out of her pants. Though Marble was still coming down from her orgasmic plateau, her whining and moaning gradually weakening, she was still watching his every move. With that knowledge, Eric brought his ‘spent’ hand to his face and noticed how it reflected the light that entered into the shed.

In Marble’s perspective, he seemed to scrutinize her ‘essence’ but much to her immediate shock, Eric gave into his curiosity and stuck his fingers in his mouth, licking off the remnants as if he was cleaning his hands from a messy meal. Her faded blush returned at an instant as she watched with wide eyes, her nethers throbbing at the sight.

To Eric, her taste was neither sweet nor strong, but she tasted…

Huh… earthy? I like it!

He likened her flavor to overly-mineralized water; neutral, if anything… and he did not hate it in the slightest. After licking his hand clean of Marble’s wetness, Eric shot her a reassuring, lustful gaze.

“You smell and taste good… I might have to get a second helping straight from the source if you’ll let me, later,” Eric so smoothly uttered.

Marble colored further at the implication, retreating behind her now somewhat-disheveled mane. Likewise, Marble felt overcome with the ‘wobbles,’ as she had slight difficulty with standing on her own at the moment; leaning on Eric as she had done for the entirety of their little act was still not a bad idea.

As well, Eric’s suggestion sat perfectly well with her.

“Y-You promise?”

Thankfully, the two did have to actually get tools from the shed.

Work continued much more enjoyably for the remainder of the day, and Eric got to erase two things off his bucket list: see the gorgeous crystal mine that was underneath a part of the Pie Rock Farm, and fingerfuck the cutest mare he had ever gotten the pleasure to know. Even better than that, when the work day ended and night fell upon the land, he even got himself a second serving…

Marble had wanted to take that time later in the evening to do something for him as a token of gratitude, but somehow when things were getting started, it ended up with Eric’s head and hand between her legs, as well as her begging him not to stop. So, much to the mare’s chagrin, she did not get to toy with him as she passed out almost immediately after she came.

The man was just not able to help himself around her, much like Marble was not able to around him. While he looked forward to the prospect of getting ‘reciprocated,’ he didn’t mind in the end. It was a simple act of rubbing one out in the shower to the thought of Marble’s tits and that took care of that. Besides, he could wait.

Thirst, however, won out as the night progressed.

Eric quietly crept down the stairs, watching his every move and minding all the oddities of his path as he made his way to the kitchen in the dead of the night. While he still exercised caution to prevent accidentally killing himself and waking up the entire house, his ability to give a steady stream of shits had gone out the window… rather, the assembly-line which manufactured the shits to give was temporarily out of service. This was no surprise to him, as his thoughts drifted to the ‘previous activities of the evening with a special somepony named Marble…’ whom Eric was really starting to care for more and more, if that was even possible.

Perhaps that was just the post-coital high that got him all loopy and ‘love-struck’ in the head… or maybe it was the truth; definitely the truth. He truly did adore Marble, after all, and for all intents and purposes, they were pretty much a couple without official title for obvious reasons.

So, unofficially, she was his marefriend.

“YUSS!” he whispered to no one, pumping his fist into the air victoriously.

The whole slew of happy thoughts breached their way into Eric’s mind at the very mention of ‘marefriend.’ He damn-near bounced and slid into the kitchen; hell, he even felt like dancing as he grabbed a cup out of the cabinet and began filling it with water. The only thing that prevented him from doing just that was the fact that he had no style, nor did he have any grace… he was proud of the fact he didn’t have a funny face, though, so Eric at least had that going for him.

“Is that thou, Eric?” a booming voice pierced the late-night silence and the human nearly stood ramrod. He fumbled with his glass as it slipped out of his grip but he caught it just in time; thankfully, nothing spilled, either.

God? Is that you?

“Y-Yes, sir?” Eric called back meekly at the mention of his name, though with a voice that could only dream of measuring up to the sheer manliness that Igneous exuded.

“Wouldst thou please enter into mine bureau. I would like to have a word with thee,” Igneous added. Not wishing to keep the patriarch of the household waiting, Eric briskly set off towards the office, which was straight through the common room and facing the front door.

There, not knowing how he missed the presence of life inside, two candles flickered and set the room awash with a soft light. Peeking his head in respectfully, Eric found Igneous in his usual getup, save for his hat resting on the top of a vertical coathanger and his sleeves casually rolled up to his elbows. He had a quill in his hand and paid the newcomer no mind as he continued writing.

“Please, have a seat,” he said with a much more restrained tone on the account of their proximity. Eric entered into the cozy office and took the left-most seat that sat opposite of Igneous. A fierce sense of awkwardness suddenly pervaded the atmosphere as Igneous continued to not utter even a single peep. Eric became much more aware of his own heartbeat and breathing patterns, on top of the loaded sound of the stallion scribbling onto a parchment.

It was getting a bit awkward for Eric’s liking, and he opened his mouth to ask the question that was on the tip of his tongue… but Igneous beat him to it.

“Thou art doing well, and building quite the few friendships here; Maud likes thee, as do Limestone and Marble… Cloudy and I like thee,” Igneous opened with a general observation, and with those words the artificially tense atmosphere seemed to dissipate. “Indeed, dost thou enjoy it here?”

“Definitely, sir!” Eric answered with conviction; it was an easy question, after all, and one which had a genuine answer. “I’ve learned quite a bit here, and you’re right… I’ve come to see Marble, Maud, and Limestone as friends. It’s nice to hear from someone else that they feel the same way.”

Igneous finished writing whatever sentence he was on and gingerly set the quill aside. Then, he folded his arms on the desk and gave Eric his undivided attention. Nodding at Eric’s words, his air of stoicism faded, if only subtly.

“Very good,” he commented. “Most wonderful to hear. We, too, have enjoyed thy presence and help around our homestead. Thou hast eased many-a burden, and for that, we cannot thank thee enough,” he also added with a slight smirk.

“Of course, sir… I’m more than happy to help,” Eric said.

“Mhmm… now, there is something else I wish to discuss with thee,” Igneous began anew, reclining in his chair but never taking his eyes off the bed-headed human. Eric knew he wasn’t presentable in the slightest but he wasn’t sure if that mattered or not at this point, especially since the conversation topic switched suddenly.

“I wished to speak to thee regarding Marble…”

Eric felt as if his stomach dropped several feet inside him, and that he was about to shit it out. Of course, being able to carry himself comfortably under pressure, his exponentiating despair did not show on the outside.

Oh no…

“S-Sir?” he asked. “What about her?”

Igneous adjusted his position again, leaning forward as if he was about to deliver unto Eric some serious words of puritan wisdom.

“In all mine years, neither I, Cloudy, Maud nor Limestone have seen Marble as she has been these past several weeks,” he went on to explain. “So… jubilant; happy.”

You deny everything! Repeat the mantra: Marble is for hug, not for fug.

“Oh?” Eric said, a cue for Igneous to continue.

“She is more affectionate with us all; she laughs more and talks more… and strangely enough, this change catalyzed around thy arrival. You wouldst not happen to have a hand in this?” Igneous’ fateful question was finally fielded, and he crossed his arms over his chest as he awaited Eric’s inevitable response.

There it was. For Eric, he knew at some point this question would be asked of him… further reinforced by the subtle inquiry that Limestone had when Marble was getting a little too close to him at breakfast. Maybe she’s the one that tipped off Igneous? Why would she do that though… Limestone liked Eric. Of course, Marble is her little sister, and the well-being of her lil’ sis would always trump her friendly relationship with him.

That, or this was just a bunch of hilarious coincidences; attempts by the universe to ream Eric over the table with the long dong of fate.

“W-Well,” Eric uttered his first word, but his throat instantly dried up and he ended up choking on his own spit. He held up a single finger to ask for a moment before continuing.

“I’ve definitely clicked with Marble, and I feel she and I umm… have developed a really nice friendship. So uhh, yeah. We’re good friends. She’s also nice company when I’m hitting the books,” he added, letting his last sentence slip out naturally and as a result, wanting to scream at his stupidity. The last thing he needed right now was Igneous standing up in all his hulkish pilgrim glory, sweeping everything violently off his desk, and proclaiming with utmost contempt ‘you were in a room alone with my daughter?! Scoundrel!’

That didn’t happen at all, actually. In fact, to Eric’s great surprise, Igneous only nodded thoughtfully at his words.

“So it would seem…” he replied cryptically, as if thinking out loud and mulling on what Eric had told him.

“Eric, I am not one to pry much into the lives of mine daughters; Maud and Limestone, especially, as they are more than capable of handling themselves,” Igneous continued. “Marble, however, has always worried me with her innate reticence. Nopony tries harder, but I and Cloudy still held our reservations, and attempt to guide her when possible.”

Eric nodded as Igneous plodded on with his words; his tone was not harsh at all, and in fact, held a thoughtful air to his words. The human had the utmost respect for this stallion, a respect which had matured dutifully as the days turned to weeks, and so on. Still, he was on edge as to where Igneous might have been potentially going with all of this.

“And to see her as she is, going about her daily routine with renewed vigor… well, it warms all of our hearts and brings us back to younger days when Pinkamena showed us the true power of a simple smile .” Igneous grinned. “So, to thee, I say this...

“Whatever thou callest this bond you have forged with Marble, know that I approve.”

Eric blinked twice at that last sentence. To him, it sounded like, by proxy, he approved of their relationship.

“Uhhh, sir?”

“Whatever thou dost with Marble that allows her to express herself so freely, I would like thou to continue just that and to remain ‘good friends,’” Igneous restated his wishes, adding extra emphasis to his last two words. To Eric, the subtle air quotes were conveying to him that not even the head of household believed his little half-truth in entirety.

Eric certainly didn’t lie, but Igneous possibly knew there was more to it than that.

“It does an old soul well to see his daughter smile,” he concluded his little lecture with a much softer smirk.

“Nothing would be more awesome, frankly,” Eric assured him of his own stance. With the high pseudo-approval of their fledgeling relationship, things would be a lot smoother and more interesting from here on out.

Igneous nodded deeply, his eyes closing in mild reverence.

“Very well. Now, run along; you have class in the morning,” the stallion said, gesturing with an open hand towards the office door. Being dismissed, Eric reciprocated a nod in kind and stood up, smoothing out his shirt.

“Goodnight, sir,” Eric said before turning and making his way out. Just before he was about to exit into the common room and hang a left towards the stairs, Igneous called out to him.

“Oh, Eric?”

“Yes?” the human called back, pivoting on his heels and facing the sitting stallion once more.

“Thou truly must stop calling me, ‘sir.’”

Author's Note

Righto! There's chapter 4 done. Oh, if you're THAT much of a stickler for archaic conjugations and speech, let me know if I screwed anything in Igneous' part and I'll fix it up when I get the time.

Those of you who didn't get the memo via blog post, I'm extending the story one chapter because of reasons. So, two chapters left!

EDIT: Love waking up to comments all pointing out a bajillion errors that I remember explicitly fixing in Drive. Thanks google, for making me look like an illiterate fuckwit.