[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

~FW