Saturn Sized Stripes and Stretchmarks

Chapter 1

His dreams swirled. Something big, something round, something covered with stripes! He was just about to nuzzle it. To feel the warmth press against his snout and bury it into the tautly pulled fur when...

“Eddie? Eddie, wake up my sweet or you won’t get your treat.”

The grayish mass turned into rippling smoke and pulled away from him. Thoughts and consciousness slamming back into him as he woke with a start. Bleary eyes opening slowly alongside a moan objecting to the interruption. “Zecora? Oh sweet spirits what time is it?”

“Do not worry about that. Clear the sleep from your eyes and enjoy what I’ve made.”

Eddie blinked a few times. The fog clogging his vision began to clear and he saw the table he fell asleep on last night. A few other things coming to light as he was already feeling the stiffness in his neck and the drool falling from his lips. Thankfully better things began to fill his senses, the smell of something warm and buttery for one. When his eyes finally caught up to his nose he could only utter a single phrase, “Did I ever say how much I love you?”

She smiled, “I think I've heard that before, but it's never a true bore.”

Now it was Eddie’s turn to smile. He leaned forward to grab a few pancakes onto a plate. Butter and syrup already nearby, ready for ample application. A curiosity taking hold of him as he chose to speak before digging in, “This really is a great surprise Zecora. Here I thought all you knew how to make was soups and leafy salads.”

Zecora raised her eyebrow at that comment, but let it slide. “Hopefully they hold up. I got the recipe from a friend of a friend.”

“Oh really?” Eddie opened his mouth and eagerly bit down on the first pancake. Moments later his eyes went wide, his irises shriveled, and the stark white of his striped muzzle gained a sprinkling of sickly green.

“So, did I get the recipe right, or is that a look of disgusted fright?”

Eddie looked at Zecora’s face. It had a mixture of hope and fright on it. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that the gift tasted like crusty cardboard, “Well, I think it's *urp* an acquired taste.”

Zecora watched him suppress an open gag with a broad smile, then sighed, “I suppose pony food still escapes me.” She grasped the plate with the offending food upon it and sauntered over to the trash bin and toppled it all in, setting the plate aside before going back to Eddie and giving him a small peck on the head, “But I’ll get it one day.”

He smiled through the mild discomfort in his belly, “Either way, it's not a bad way to start off a Sunday. You still wanna head into town later and go to that farmer’s market?”

“That sounds lovely dear, but the market is not on until tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? But it’s Sunday.”

“No, it’s Saturday.” She retorted with a chuckle.

“S-Saturday?” Eddie’s pupils shrank. The color, once green, faded from his face until only his stripes colored his face. In a panic his hooves flew to his cheeks, “I’m gonna be late for work!”

He practically flew towards the door. Then stopped, turned, took a few hurried strides toward Zecora and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Sorry hun, see you tomorrow!” And just like that he was gone.

Zecora was left alone in her hut once more. Then she just sighed. “This is what you get for dating someone half your age… still,” she went over to where he was seated, at the half finished letter that had some drool on the cover, “he is very sweet.”

()()(1)()()

A stallion tapped his hoof on the ground in a steady rhythm. A heavy sigh escaped his nostrils as he checked the Ponyville clocktower for the time. The time he read, eleven minutes after nine, did not amuse him. “Edward...” The name made a deep groan rumble from the earth pony’s throat.

Moments later a figure came careening around the corner of the street. Kicking up a cloud of dust there was a zebra panting as his mane twirled in the wind. Upon seeing the pony standing in front of the shop he gasped and screeched to a halt, flecks of dirt lifting from the ground where his hooves dug trenches into the street. “Mister Davenport!” He tried to say with all manner of respect beneath the horrified surprise.

For a time the two just stared at each other. One bearing a nervous smile and the other holding onto his barely standing patience with a furrowed brow. Eventually the elder of the two began to speak.

“Edward,” Davenport started with a small adjustment of the nametag on his blue vest, “I would very much appreciate it if this lateness of yours ceased to be a habit. This is the third time this month.”

“I’m sorry Mister Davenport, it’s just that time got away from me and I forgot which day it was and-”

Davenport interrupted with a raised hoof, “Don’t apologize to me Edward, apologize to your co-workers. They’ve been unloading sofas all morning one body short.”

Eddie’s nerves visibly twitched as his body shot to attention, “Oh geeze, Saunter is gonna be so mad!”

Davenport allowed the nerve wracked zebra to hurriedly trot past him into the store. Watching him make his way to the back where the break room and employee lockers were located. The earth pony sighed, “How that zebra landed a marefriend I’ll never know.”

()()(2)()()

In the back room of Sofa & Quills herds of ponies milled about. Setting aside various forms of furniture and bundles of literature utensils to make their way to the break room entrance. For the first part of their long work days had finally come to a close. Now all that was left was stocking their loads onto shelves and filling up the show floor.

At least that’s how it was for most of the teams that had worked their morning away. An earth pony, big and broad like the finest farm hand, was still lugging heavy deluxe half-bed sofas and sectionals to their place in the loading dock. After one particularly heavy, and quite gaudy, sofa was set down the pony heaved a sigh and took a seat on his former cargo for a moment to catch his breath and wipe the sweat from his brow.

Before long a voice familiar to him busted through the backroom doors, muttering curses under its breath. “About damn time...”

“Saunter!” Eddie blurted out as he hurried over to loading bay four, “I’m sorry. I’m just… so sorry. I went over to Zecora’s, I forgot what day it was so I stayed up late trying to write the letter that would go with my anniversary gift and then-” He paused with palpable fright shivering through his stripes, “The letter! Oh horse-apples I left it out on the table! Great now the surprise is ruined, i’m late for work, and-”

“Eddie!” The silver stallion shouted to drown out the striped one’s babbling, “For Celestia’s sake dude, calm down.” Saunter was already rubbing at his temples, “I don’t need a headache this early in the morning.”

“Sorry Saunter it’s just that-” This time his speech was ended with a hoof pressed against his mouth.

“Please, no more, just start grabbing loveseats. It’s all that’s left.”

Eddie was obviously taken aback by the action itself. Though he did find his wits eventually and went to work putting heavy, leg shuddering, loveseats onto his back and hauled them out onto the loading bay floor. After about the fifth one had left him short of breath and wobbly of leg he found Saunter coming over to him with a quizzical look on his face.

“You really are mad for that mare, aren’t you?”

Eddie looked at the face that held not a playful smirk but a genuine expression of concern. It led the zebra to sigh in defeat. “Y-yeah.”

“You need to get a hold on those feelings then. It’s not just work you’re getting messed up at.”

Eddie banged his head against the armrest of a loveseat a few times, “Yeah, I know. It’s just that… I don’t wanna mess this up. This is the first time, like ever, that I've ever felt a serious connection with somepony. I mean it's not my first time to make a connection, but this time I feel like-”

“She’s the one?”

Now Saunter had a smile on his face. One that brought some comfort to Eddie’s beleaguered mind. He nodded and added, “Hard to believe it's already been two, no make that almost three years going now.”

Saunter grunted as he hefted a loveseat onto his back with far greater ease than his friend had. “How did that all start anyway? Doesn’t she have like almost a decade on you? All I remember is you being all distant whenever you came back to the cottage for like… a month, before you finally told us you were dating the only other zebra in town.”

Eddie squeezed his eyes shut tight, “Ugh, don’t remind me of that period of time.”

“What? The part where you were distant or the part where Flaunter thought you had found out you were gay and had a colt-friend right before you told us the truth?”

A long groan echoed in Eddie’s throat gave him his answer.

“Oh, um, right...” Saunter set down another loveseat and helped Eddie unload his own before he spoke again, “So, my original question.”

“Right.” Eddie shook off the swelling ache of manual labor, taking a moment to seriously think before opening his mouth, “You remember that time when I’d been barely moved in a year and you asked me what Hoofrica was like? The zebra homeland. To which I could only tell you was that my parents, my pony parents, adopted me when I was like five and took me to Equestria. So I didn’t know much about Hoofrica at all.” Eddie received a slow thoughtful nod in response. “Well all that got me thinking about trying to learn more about Hoofrica. Sadly most of the books the town had on Hoofrica were lost when that crazy ass centaur guy tore the old library a new one. So I just had a few odds and ends at best. Then… well then some nice old stall clerk asked me if I was related to Zecora. I asked ‘who?’ and got told about the only other zebra in town. Heck maybe in all of Equestria!”

“And you just, what, asked her out?”

“What? No-no-no, I wasn’t looking for a date when I found out about her. I was just… ugh,” Eddie’s eyes scanned an invisible horizon, “All I wanted to know was more about my homeland. About the place where my parents, my birth parents, were from. To learn maybe what happened to them. To figure out my place in this weird world of ours.”

“Sounds like an existential crisis to me.”

Eddie snorted, “Maybe, but the truth is I just wanted to talk to her. Though I have to admit, the tales of ‘the zebra potion master of the everfree’ had painted a slightly more… haggard picture in my mind.”

Now Saunter snorted, “I’ll admit when I met her for the first time she did look rather young for her age. She could’ve shaved seven years off what she told me and I would have flat out believed it.”

“My first meeting of her was sort of the same.” Eddie said with a tinge of blush on his face, “She was pretty, but I remembered why I originally sought her out. I’m not sure why but… I still remember how she looked kind of… worried, when she opened that door to greet me.”

“Afraid an old stalker from Hoofrica had found her trail?” Saunter earned a little shove for that comment, a shove that made the behemoth of a pony barely budge an inch.

Eddie continued, unabated, “as I began to explain myself the worry seemed to ebb away. I was just some curious colt looking for some information. So she let me inside, set on some tea, and out the questions rolled. They tried to anyway, I didn’t know enough to really ask the right questions. So instead Zecora started telling me a bit about herself, and that led to me telling her about myself. I was adopted by well meaning missionaries of the Celestial Emissaries. She was the daughter of a shaman, something akin to being the daughter of a noble she said. I grew up in Haytriot, she in a village by the name of Ahn’boo. Apparently it was rather well populated, had a daily marketplace and even a few districts of somewhat permanent structures, but she always described them as lacking proper care. I told her about how when I finally grew up that I wanted to move out and find my purpose in life, and she… well she glossed over when she finally grew up and what made her come to Equestria, she simply told me that her venture for purpose was much the same. She told me she had found it during her spirit’s journey through the ancestral weave. The way she spoke of it, I immediately had to know more.”

Saunter nodded knowingly, “So that’s when it started.”

“Well, yes and no.” Eddie sat on his haunches and twiddled his hooves a bit while he thought, “we didn’t start dating after that first night. In fact it took well over a year before we got to that point. No, at that point I’d say the spark was ignited. We went from strangers to friendly acquaintances that night. The next time we met was actually in town. At a farmer’s festival. She was buying up herbs and other such things for her brews. I asked her what for and she started to explain how some of them were from Hoofrica itself, or at the very least were substantially good substitutes for what she needed back at her home. She offered to have me over to make a few brews and talk about Hoofrica some more. We began talking and I asked her about this ‘spirit journey’ and what this ‘ancestral weave’ was.” Eddie giggled and clacked his hooves together a few times at the memory, “She chuckled like I was some excited foal asking her about what magic was like.”

Saunter hefted another love seat from the back of the carriage and set it aside with the other. He eyed it for a bit and rubbed a hoof against the cushions for a bit before he finally asked. “So what is the ‘spirit journey’ and what the hay is an ‘ancestral weave’?”

Eddie had to bite his tongue for a moment as he thought, “Well the spirit journey is sort of like that cutie mark celebration ponies do, except for a zebra. You inhale a fume from a specially made brew of plants only found in Hoofrica and you have like… some kind of experience that takes you to the land of the spirits where you find out who you are. Then BAM,” Eddie enthusiastically jabbed a free hoof into the bare white space on his right flank, “your destiny marks your flank with its purpose.”

Saunter raised an eyebrow rather high, “They put colts and fillies through this?”

Eddie’s eyes went wide for a moment before he threw up his hooves defensively, “What? No-no-no, this happens when you’re like twenty...ish. Sometimes a few years earlier, sometimes later.”

At this point the final love seat was unloaded and Saunter was dedicating his full attention to getting information from Eddie, “So you heard about this ritual and got it in your head that you needed it to feel complete.”

Eddie grumbled a bit in reply, “Look, I know, it’s kind of pathetic, but look at it this way.” He trotted over and tapped Saunter’s flank a few times, “What if you never helped your dad haul that trolley full of stuff for his freight company when you were ten and found out you loved helping other ponies get settled and make their home their own? What if instead you were abandoned and hauled off to Celestia knows where to a place that never even heard of cutie marks. What then?”

“Whoa now, Eddie I didn’t mean to hit a tender spot.”

Eddie squeezed his eyes shut and placed a hoof over his face with a grimace across his mouth, “Yeah, I know. It’s just… some stuff I think about too much. I already went through that moody teenager phase where I hated my parents for adopting me. Sweet Celestia I am so lucky they never threw me out.”

“They love you dude, I know. Based on how they acted that one time they visited.”

Now the zebra was blushing fiercely again, “Please not that Saunter. The revisit embarrassment would end me. W-where were we about Zecora before we got side tracked?”

“Um, I think I was gonna ask what the hay a ‘ancestral weave’ was.”

“That, right. Easy one actually. It’s basically fate. This thing in the next world where your soul intertwines with every other one and forms this ever growing weave of fate that tells of your life and where it will lead.”

“Ah, so you basically learn of your destiny, where it will lead you, and I'm guessing what talent will lead you there.”

“Yep!” Eddie said with an excited clap of his hooves, “On that subject though. I’m not sure why Zecora’s mark is a sun. She never told me why it's that when all she seems to do is brew potions. You’d think it’d be a beaker or an herb or something more alchemically inclined.”

Saunter hmm-ed and huh-ed a bit before saying, “A fair point. Is it a tender spot for her as well?”

Eddie nodded, “I think so. She dodged my questions the few times I've asked. I figure she’ll tell me when she’s ready, or thinks something better of me I'm sure.”

“So when you find out she’s the princess of the sun in disguise you won’t go running back to mom and dad?”

Saunter earned himself another nudge from his friend, “Yeah, sure. Whatever it is though I won’t leave her over it. Things are too good to let something as little as that get in the way.”

“You sure? Could be a pretty big thing that sneaks up and bites you on the butt.”

Eddie shook his head, “Nope, I'm in this for the long haul. Ain’t nothing gonna stop me.”

“Wish you two luck then. Sister’s know I'm too busy with my dream to go chasing plots.”

Eddie went to comment when suddenly a sharp whistle echoed through the backrooms of Sofa & Quills. A sound that made the zebra groan, “We just talked our way through our entire break didn’t we?”

“Yep.” All Saunter had to say.

“Well guess i’ll get back to haulin-”

A hoof blocked Eddie’s way before his friend spoke. “I got it, not that many left. Just gotta work double time to catch up now I guess. You head out to the show floor and help Flaunter restock before his pink plot gets in a twist.”

Eddie snickered, “You know, i’m gonna tell him you called his plot PINK.”

Saunter rolled his eyes, “Whatever gets you your kicks Ed.”

The zebra left the back room floor and made his way to the front. Grabbing a cart full of quills, inkwells, and parchment punchers on his way. Leaving his friend to unload the remaining sofas before he would be needed on the delivery line to haul carts to the homes of ponies in need of new furniture. All seemed well with the world.

()()(3)()()

Zecora idly hummed to herself. Checking supplies and making notes on what she would need to grab during the market on Sunday.

“Let’s see. One bundle of grunt-weed, two ounces of merry feather clippings, two pouches of-”

The sound of a steamy whistle caught her swiveling ears. Looking up from her list she checked on the noise. Following it to the kitchen where a tea kettle was idly fuming atop her stove. She gave a short smile and turned the magically powered flames off. Her gaze turning towards a clock that had been gifted to her by one of her best friends, a friend due to arrive in…

“Three, two, one.”

Zecora’s gaze then turned toward her front door. Where the sharp pop of magical power snapped into her ear. Followed shortly by an eager rapping upon the door.

In short order the door was opened, and a smile was strewn across Zecora’s face, “Twilight! You remembered to knock this time.”

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, unicorn who ascended to alicorn-dom, blushed fiercely, “Hehe, well at least I didn’t teleport directly into the room that one time.”

Zecora’s look softened as she spoke once more, “Eddie and I understood the importance of your interruption, eventually. To be honest though Twilight, it’s been too long since I've been able to see you alone.”

The purple alicorn smiled deeply, “You can say that again. I can’t remember the last time we just sat around, had some tea, and talked for awhile.”

“Yes, there is much to discuss. Something… important has crept up in my mind recently.”

Twilight’s feathers ruffled slightly, “Oh? What about?”

Zecora gestured for her friend to come inside, “I think it would be best if it was talked about over tea. Come Twilight.”

She did as the host asked. Allowing herself inside and sitting on a cushion, one of many strewn about the den area of Zecora’s home, and levitated a homemade tea bag from a bowl over into her waiting cup. “So what did you mix together this time?”

Zecora brushed her way past the curtain hiding the kitchen from view of the more common area of her hut. She placed the steaming kettle of hot water down upon its plate, a gift from a pony of more eloquent tastes. “You’re in luck. I managed to find an herbalist that was selling bits of Gumroot and smashed leaves from the Goodano tree. You’ll be tasting an old Hoofrican favorite of mine.”

“Hm, sounds earthy. I’m more for a sharp spice kind of tea, but I relish the chance to taste something authentic from your homeland Zecora.”

Hot water was soon passed out. The two friends idly playing with their tea bags to pass the time between questions and quips to one another about the weather in the ever free or how princess duties were coming along. All things seeming well and good until finally the first sip of tea was had.

Twilight’s eyes twitched open wide for a moment before she let her teacup rest back down on the table, “Wow, that certainly is something!”

“Do you see now why I had been perusing the markets for months to find my ingredients?”

“Yeah! I’ll need to get the recipe from you so I can hunt down the ingredients myself. The girls would just love this stuff!” Her excited exclamations punctuated with a happy clapping of her hooves.

“Good to know my batch came out well, hopefully Eddie will find it just as swell.”

Twilight took a second, slightly greedier, sip. “How have things been going for you two anyway? I have to admit I still feel a tad surprised whenever you tell me how old, or rather, how young he is.”

Zecora held a hoof up to her lip as she chuckled lightly, “Yes it is a tad silly that he is just past half my age.” She let her hoof fall away so she might take another sip of her favorite tea, then spoke in a slightly more earnest tone. “Though I have to admit things have been… rather well. Actually. Eddie is kind and sweet. He, haha, he remembers all those little things about me that even I forget. His words they touch me so dearly at times I almost forget he is so young...” Her head was held downcast as she gazed through the floor towards her own thoughts. “Twilight. Am I being foolish? Somepony, some zebra, so young. Am I just grasping for straws in my old age?”

Twilight drew a look of deep concern. “Zecora, I don’t think I ever know very many ponies who are as wise as you are. You can have your doubts, sure, but remember what made you say yes to him that first time. How you wanted to take that happiness you felt together with him and go as far as you could together. I dare to say that I've never known you to be happier than you are at this time in your life. I say go for it, go as far as the two of you can go and just see where you end up.”

Zecora smiled, a few tears welled up in her eyes that she brushed away. “Thank you Twilight. Sometimes that wiser side of me argues with itself and I find myself with questions.” She held up the letter she had found on the table that morning, half-finished as it was she found herself full of questions as to what Eddie was going to ask her which was implied by the incomplete message. “But I think I know what I'm going to do now.”

()()(4)()()

Flaunter easily floated a handful of six inch quills into a container upon a shelf. Filling it to capacity and straightening it slightly with some magical manipulation until it looked just as neatly packed as the ‘easygrip’ earth pony pencils next to it.

“There, perfect!” The unicorn’s ears swiveled slightly as they heard the telltale squeak of a supply cart approaching. He turned and was greeted with a familiar sight, “Eddie! My word, I thought you’d be in the back all morning trying to help Saunter catch up.”

Eddie gripped the handlebar in his mouth and gently pulled the cart full of supplies to a halt. “I almost was, but Saunter said he could take it from where we left off. Besides,” Eddie began again with a sneer, “he didn’t want your pink plot to get in a twist.”

Flaunter’s eyes shot wide and his lips twisted into his mouth as he bit down on his lips before almost shouting, “It’s not PINK its Mauve, which is technically a subset of purple and I swear that pony has no concept of color theory. His coat is SILVER and he feels fine calling it gray.” The mauve unicorn huffed and puffed a few times before producing a comb from his uniform and began briskly weaving it through his blonde mane until it was almost perfectly straightened. “When will that pony learn proper colors?”

Eddie was fighting back a fit of snickering, “Probably the same time you don’t go off on a tirade whenever someone gets some colors wrong.”

“Is it really that big of a deal for some ponies to learn proper color theory,” Flaunter scoffed and rolled his eyes, “I walked past the high school the other day and you should see the color combos that those foals are trying to pull off. I swear, in some cases dyeing your coat and mane should be outright banned!”

“Yes King Flaunter, anything King Flaunter.” Eddie said with a little bow before his oh so benevolent overlord.

Flaunter idly floated over a few more quills and began to bundle them up together, “I better get that massage at three sharp.”

“I’ll make sure we send up the strongest, burliest stallions just for you my lord.” Eddie then began to take his time sorting the supplies out so he could begin stocking at an even pace to Flaunter.

Flaunter snorted at his comment. “Think you can buy your way back into your lord's good graces with fantasy do you?”

Eddie wore a smirk, “It worked before didn’t it.”

“Okay, it did, but in my defense I was very drunk and mad about my ex at the time. So I didn’t really mean to act the way I did that night.”

Eddie shrugged, “The kiss was kinda nice.”

Flaunter visibly groaned and let his head fall against the shelf with a resounding bang, “Did you have to remind me that I did that? Ugh, I can barely forgive myself as it is for trying to get a rebound so soon after a breakup, but to make the move on one of my friends? Double the disgust.”

Eddie grimaced slightly, “I didn’t mean to prod that hard. Sorry.”

Flaunter straightened himself and looked toward his friend with a small smile, “Ah, it's all okay. That stuff is water long under the bridge by now.” Flaunter then began to rub his chin in idle thought, “Though, speaking of old gay stuff. You remember when I had you pegged as gay that one time before you came out that you had a M.I.L.F.?”

Eddie grunted a little, “Zecora isn’t a M.I.L.F. she’s just… well aged.”

“She’s almost got fifteen years on you dude.”

“Okay fine, what of it?”

“Well,” Flaunter began with a click of his tongue, “how did it start? Not like, how you first met. I mean how did you go from being that zebra history teacher you were flaunting over to full on date material?”

It seemed it was Eddie’s turn to grimace as his face turned to one of worry, “Alright, but you gotta promise you won’t laugh.”

An enormous grin rested on Flaunter’s face, “Oh this is gonna be good.”

“Promise!”

Flaunter began to go through the motions, “Cross my heart and hope to fly,” he then made a dumb show of sticking something sweet and delicious in his eye.

Eddie glared at his unicorn friend and his looming grin, but eventually relented with a long sigh. “Alright so, I'd been seeing Zecora for awhile, as a friend. We would get together every other weekend or so and talk more about Hoofrica and how the Zebras fit into that place. At the same time we would work on potions together. She would show me old brews for everything from mending and healing to food flavoring and preservation, it was all really neat to learn. Even if I couldn’t tell you half of the recipes she showed me. Spending time with her just felt… good. I was always happy to be over there.”

“Aww,” Flaunter started, “so you asked out your teacher and it all went better than planned?”

“Pffft, I wish it happened that way.” Eddie’s eyes shifted about as he groaned once before speaking again, “Basically, one day, I was over at Zecora’s again. We were going to try and make a very delicate potion that you would boil down into a sort of gel that worked better than any glue you would ever know. Works very good for construction and crafts I’m told.”

“Buuut...” Faunter preempted, with a sly smile.

Eddie just glared at him for a moment, “But I was distracted. We were making this potion, Zecora was talking while handing me ingredients and bottles to hold. All the while I was thinking of how much I liked to be with Zecora. How it felt better than the time I spent with my ex from high-school. Then I started to wonder if I was attracted to her. If it was genuine or if it was just because she was a Zebra. I mean come on, I was twenty-four at the time and she was thirty-six and we were probably the only zebras around for miles in any direction.”

Flaunter was squirming a bit with anticipation, “Come on then, what happened, what happened!”

Eddie hushed him slightly, he didn’t want a manager to overhear and get a strike for talking so much on the job, “Well, I had this bottle of… I forget what it was, but I had it in my mouth. My eyes wandering around the floorboards trying to figure out these feelings when suddenly Zecora says something to me. I look up from the floor and I see this spider dangling down in front of my face. Needless to say I jumped-” Eddie stopped as he saw Flaunter about to bust a gut, so he reiterated, “his wasn’t some tiny spider that you get in Ponyville, no this thing, this monster was a beast of the everfree. I mean like, this thing was huge, it was in my face, and it was almost the size of my face. So when I say I jumped, I jumped!”

Eddie did a little mock hop without realizing it and only made the snickering from Flaunter all the louder. He continued regardless, “The bottle I was holding soared out of my mouth and plop, straight into the boiling vat we were mixing. Thankfully the demonic spider of tartarus fled the scene but the damage was already done. Zecora tried to stop it but the cauldron was already bubbling over. Next thing I knew the whole hut was rumbling and suddenly there was a bang and a thick smog was coating everything in sight.”

“And what? You bumped into her, accidentally kissed, and revealed your true feelings for one another?”

“Would you just!” Eddie grumbled a bit more before he continued, “I heard a latch get pulled, and moments later the smog rushed out a window that Zecora had opened. I asked Zecora if she was alright, and she said the same to me. We seemed fine, felt fine, and looked fine. For all intents and purposes we just smelled like a botched potion… that was until the feeling crept up.”

Eddie glared at Flaunter, but he held his tongue. So he went on, “It was like that tingly feeling in your coat when you’ve got too much static electricity clinging to me. Except it was about ten times that. Suddenly, with our coats and manes looking frazzled and on end, our bodies just slid towards one another until BAM, we were joined side by side by some kind of weird electrostatic force… It kinda sounded like Velcro every time we tried to split but we never managed more than a few inches before we slid back together again. So eventually we stopped trying and tried to figure out what happened and what to do.”

“L-like Velcro, snrrrk,” Flaunter sputtered out, tears welled up in his eyes, hoof going to his mouth to try and muffle the sounds it was making. The effort failing spectacularly as spittle burst from his lips in waves. “Oh sweet celestia I can-haha-I can see it. Your silly curly q on the tip of your soft mane sticking out like a javelin while the rest of it is on end like some Neighponese anime character!”

“I thought you wanted to hear how Zecora and I got together?” Eddie said with a blush of embarrassment at the sadly accurate estimation of his appearance that night.

“Okay f-finish it,” Flaunter said between miniature giggle fits, “I am already dead.”

Eddie just did his best to talk over the quieting snickers of his friend, “Zecora eventually guessed that the potion to make a cohesive gel instead sparked with the magic of the liquefied root I had accidentally tossed into the pot. Making something still cohesive, but utterly different in its manner of manifestation. I asked her what we would do about it. She had no manner of supply to create something that could reverse the effect applied to us. It was close to night, and the Everfree is quite dangerous at night, especially for two zebras who were essentially glued together. The best thing she could come up with was wait. At least until morning. So we did.”

“Wait,” Flaunter interrupted once more, “when did you pop the question to her then?”

“I was about to get to that.” Eddie interjected of his own accord before waiting for his chance to continue again, “As you can imagine this could be a very boring span of time. We had a whole night to kill. So I started with an apology, after all if I hadn’t flung that potion in there none of this would have happened. She took the apology, but she didn’t seem to be very mad about the whole incident. She must have had an almost endless patience to deal with me, but anyway. Things then got rather quiet as I wondered what I could do to make things better, to break up the monotony and silence when suddenly it was Zecora who broke the bubble first. ‘I was rather worried’ she began, ‘that I was going to lose a friend for a moment there’. I asked her why, she told me it was because that was a Midnight Widow that I saw. Their bite can kill you in seconds. Usually they stay away because she sprays an herbal mixture around the area of her home to keep them away. She was a few days late doing it that year it seemed.”

Eddie took a drink of some bottled water he kept in his uniform’s pocket and continued, “Anyway, she went on to say she really valued my company and enjoyed how eager I was to learn from her and be with her.” He smiled at the recollection and let the arm feeling bid him onwards, “I said ‘even with all the mistakes’? She told me that, even though I had made mistakes it was the fact I kept coming back to improve and try even more that garnered her respect. Then, with that still fresh in the air, I had to ask. ‘Zecora, do you think we could ever be something… more?’ She looked at me with such a wild confusion. She wanted to know what I meant by more. So… I told her.” His eyes seemed starry, looking off into a far off burning horizon, “Zecora, will you be my marefriend?”

Eddie looked back down to earth from his cloudy high with a smile still plastered on his face, “And she said yes.”

“Wow, that is so-” Flaunter twitched as a third pony suddenly butted in to their little talk.

“Now I don’t know how long you two were jabbering, but I want these shelves presentable for inventory by the end of the day. Am I clear!?”

“Yes, Mr.Davenport!” The duo said in unison. Their work beginning again in earnest as their boss wandered away.

“With a story like that,” Flaunter whispered under his breath as he set about rebundling yet more quills, “you better get her a stellar anniversary gift.”

“Heh, you knew it was coming up soon?”

“I have my strengths.”

“Well don’t worry, just a few finishing touches and i’ll have the best gift yet...” Eddie frowned a bit to himself, “I hope.”

The two then began to work furiously like termites sent against a log. The thought still looming in Eddie’s head about the gift he wished to give. Hoping it would be enough, hoping it would show just how much he loved her. He would give the entirety of Saturday to it, that much he assured himself would be enough for it to be ready the coming Sunday at the market with Zecora.

()()(5)()()

The great day had finally come. Farmers, salesman, and all manner of pony with a trade or trinket to sell had gathered around the Ponyville square proper. The farmer’s market was on, even if it would be better to call it a Bazaar of sorts. Not much of a matter to the fine ponies looking to peddle their goods to every passerby.

This matter of even less importance to at least one in particular. A zebra in fact. He worked his way through the mild crowds while glancing around. It looked like most of the town had turned out. A good showing this month it seemed. Either way he still had something to do before he ran out of time.

“Let see was it on first street or second?” Eddie said aloud to himself, “Wait! It was two doors down from that one bakery. What was it? Sugarball Junction? Ah, whatever, but it's on the way to my stop and that’s all I care!”

A loud series of BONGS rang out over the town as Eddie looked eastward towards the town clocktower.

“Ah hay bales I gotta pick up the pace!”

The zebra went from a merry trot into a near gallop as he excused himself past various crowds of ponies towards his destination. Past a few stalls, around two corners, and one long apology to a mare he nearly knocked over he had arrived. A store, aged but not quite decrepit, greeted his stare as he walked through the door and was greeted by a loud chime.

An old voice called out from the meagre store’s backroom, “I’ll be up front in a minute!”

“Gonna have to ask for a slight rush today Miss Stitcher!”

“Eddie? You have good timing I was just finishing up your order.” An aged unicorn came from the back. her face marked by age with wrinkles and lines that told of a happy smile filled life. Floating a white box tied up with a black bow no bigger than a dinner plate, “you still sure you don’t want me to… fix it at all? I haven’t made many in my day, but if you gave me a day or two I could get a few of the, uh, kinks out.”

The zebra she talked to gave an idle shake of his head, “Don’t worry about it. I know it's not very pretty, and i’m not just cheaping out on some quickie idea. I went through several others just trying to get it to look right. As long as you sowed in the picture I gave you, I know it’ll be good enough for her.”

Miss Stitcher smiled, “Then I guess you don’t need to hear me prattle in your ear today to not be a foal and mess this thing with your honey-poo up.” She gave him a little wink and placed the box on the table.

“Thanks.” Eddie moved to take the box from the table, but was soundly stopped by a dusty hoof clopping down on the top and holding it steady.

“Are we not forgetting of a certain transaction when one of profession helps one without?”

Eddie gave a nervous smile and then began to feverishly rummage through his saddlebags for his bit-sack.

Meanwhile, at about the same time, a few streets down…

Zecora looked up at the clocktower. The hand passing the five minute mark into the hour. Time was running thin for her errand.

“Where is that pegasus, I thought I hired a professional!”

A shadow suddenly whooshed overhead. Moments later the resounding clack of hooves touching down were caught by her twitching ears. An adventurous looking brown pegasus, complete with an arrow hole punched cap and vest, stood before her.

“Sorry for being late,” A silver medallion swung from his neck while he took off his helmet and lightly dusted it with his wing, “but certain parties didn’t want to quit after I told them no.”

Zecora was slightly disturbed at hearing such a boast, but did her best to remain on the task at hand. “Did you get it? Were they where I told you they would be?”

The pegasus with a greyscale man and tail grimaced slightly, “Sorry lady, place was abandoned, although when I looked around-” one of his wings rummaged around in a saddlebag he had and produced an intricate wooden box, “-I found what you were looking for anyway.”

Zecora took the box she was handed and gazed inside. A smile crested on her face, but a pang of sadness remained. “Truly there was noone there? Not even a trace?”

The pegasus shook his head, “I’m sorry no? Did you know the ones who lived there?”

Zecora placed the box in her bag, a frown on her face, “A lifetime ago.”

“Well,” The pegasus looked toward the sky, “I need to get going. Kind of on a timer myself these days. You take care of that artifact now, something like that belongs in a museum.”

“I have a far better plan Daring Dude, excuse me, Doo. I will use the artifact for its intended purpose.”

“Daring Dude? Hmmm, not bad.” He made a move as though he were about to take off, “Oh and tell Dash this counts as the adventure I owe her!”

Daring Doo made a move to take off once more, when suddenly his silver necklace began to vibrate and chim. He pressed it against his ear and plainly spoke. “Quickie? What is it dear i’m about to head- woah woah slow down you’re how big? Okay don’t worry I’m on my way home now. No, I promise no side adventures on the way home this time.” He let out a long groan as a voice gibbered into his ear, “Well where is Teddy? What about Finch!? Oh for the love of… just sit tight. Yes I know all you can do is sit in a room that size when you are that big, just sit tight and don’t touch it and for the love of Graveeda don’t rub it!”

Zecora then watched the stallion zoom off to the southeast. Unsure as to what was happening in his life at that moment. Tossing the pang of sympathy aside she made her way towards the town proper where her little date was set to occur. All she had to do was hope that Eddie would appreciate the gift she was going to give him for their three year anniversary. That and continue to wonder why he had chosen such an odd venue for their date.

()()(6)()()

Eddie straightened out the cloth he had lain out on the ground. This was perhaps the fifth time he’d done this while waiting. Still not quite sure what was keeping Zecora and still amazed he was the one on time for once.

“Eddie my dear,” the voice made him swivel his head to meet the source, “I am sorry, but I was delayed by a circumstance that was out of my control.”

“It’s alright Zecora.” He leaned his head forward and nuzzled her snout before speaking any further, “Just gave me the extra time needed to make sure our picnic will be perfect.”

Zecora watched as Eddie set himself down on the picnic cloth, and did the same herself. Picking a spot just next to him so she could feel the warmth of his body against her own, “Eddie I truly must know, why make a picnic here though?”

He politely reached out a hoof to point skyward over the southern hills of Ponyville. “See those rainclouds over there?” Indeed one could, they were a rather grey sore spot nestled together into one large patch over the place that had been pointed out previously. “Well the weather team had to schedule a few cloudbursts to make up for the slight drought this year. They’ve just finished doing the last run by with them and now it's time for them to be-”

Before he could finish the show had suddenly started. A team of pegasi flew straight toward the rainclouds and smashed straight through them, causing a portion of the collected clouds to burst open and shower a sprinkling of water into the air. In the next moment colors started to form in the air, and a majestic rainbow spilled forth from the clouds and hung in the air. Gently shimmering in the even sun’s light.

Zecora simply marveled. Content to lay there and watch the show with Eddie, but moments after the second eruption and sparkle of color occurred her own body let loose a low rumble. She had in fact almost felt it tickle the skin of her belly and fought back a smirk, “I seem to have forgotten to bring a snack.”

“Don’t worry, I got us covered!” Eddie reached over the picnic cloth and grabbed his somewhat sizable saddlebags he had set aside. “Now if I were a chef-ie type I would have brought mashed potatoes with some butter and pepper. Maybe even some gravy imported from the griffon kingdoms...”

Zecora shot Eddie a curious look as her belly growled a little deeper, “Must you always tease me with images of food before we eat?”

“Can’t help it if it’s fun,” Eddie jabbed with a quick shot of his tongue from his mouth. He rummaged through his saddlebags and produced, “Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches! served on toasted bread.”

His marefriend snorted slightly, “Still the aspiring chef of great excellence I see?”

“But wait there’s more! These delicious delicacies served with,” He rummaged some more and produced a bottle and some plastic cups, “some five-star apple juice straight from S.A.A.!”

“S.A.A.? Oh! That is what you and your friend Saunter call Sweet Apple Acres. Correct?”

“Yeah, me and the guys have been calling it that for years now. Guess i’ve been using the term enough for you to catch on after three years huh.” Eddie quickly unwrapped one of the toasted sandwiches and gave it to Zecora.

Zecora smiled at the mention of ‘the guys’ she remembered from the handful of encounters she had with them. “You have such good friends.”

While he opened the bottle of high quality apple juice he remarked, “You’re just saying that cause their names are so easy to rhyme together.”

“Perhaps...” Zecora said, taking another bite of her sandwich and flushing it down with a sip of apple juice. She had to admit that she wasn’t one for apple juice, but her friend from Sweet Apple Acres seemed to have outdone herself with this batch.

The two of them continued that way for a time. Watching the spectacle of the clouds burst into colors and sheets of shimmering water before it would drift down to the hills below. They were not the only ones to think of this activity, a few other couples and families were also milling about the park with their eyes southward to the free show set before them.

This lasted until the sun was well into its afternoon cycle. A pony could see from where they were seated the Ponyville clocktower, its hands nestled rightly at the four thirty mark. At which point Eddie spoke up.

“So...” His hoof traced a few small circles before him, “What’s your opinion on arts and crafts?”

A warm chuckle stirred in Zecora’s throat. “That depends. Are we going to make something together?”

Eddie cursed under his breath, that would have been a good idea for a date as well. He mentally saved it for later and continued, “Well, no, but I think you’re going to like it.”

He rummaged around in his bags until he finally found it. Producing the white box tied with black ribbon he gave it to her with a slight hesitation apparent on his face.

“Happy Anniversary!”

Zecora looked at his nervous smile and suppressed a giggle. He didn’t know how cute he looked when he got like that. She set about to untying the ribbon, removing the lid and…

“Oh, Eddie...” She dipped her hoof in and picked up the object to get a better look at it. A large circle of wood, a few interlacing circles of wicker woven messily criss crossing within, with a trifecta of white and black tails of fur trailing off the bottom. All of that surrounding a sewed in picture of two familiar zebras, their faces blurred by masks created just last year, greeted her memory warmly.

“I know its not the greatest craftmanship, and its probably not a surprise if you read that letter I forgot at your place two days ago.” Eddie began, “but you mentioned dreamcatchers that one year and it got me thinking. So I did a little research and found out that Buffalos and Zebras make them mostly the same way. I took a few classes and while i’m not great at it I made that one all my own. I hope the picture’s not too much.”

Zecora held a deep warm grin on her face and pulled Eddie into an even warmer embrace. “I will cherish it my dear, now sit back and get ready for my special gift.”

Eddie did as he was told. Laying back and watching Zecora as she shifted a hoof down under her robes and produced a small wooden box.

She placed it on the ground before him and began to speak, “When every Zebra comes of age, mare or stallion, a gift from the artisans of the great weave is bestowed upon them. Eddie,” she effortlessly opened the lid and bore the offering to him, “this gift of your Zebran ancestors is yours to have.”

Eddie almost couldn’t believe what was happening. He had always wanted to go to Hoofrica and experience the culture of the Zebra's first hand, and now a small piece of it was laying before him. He gently leaned forward and picked up the ornate thing in his hooves. An engraved silver collar of sorts was balanced in his grasp. All of its designs and emblems drawn toward a single point, a sapphire jewel embellished directly into the metal. Merely holding it was enough to instill a greater sense of awe in the stallion.

“Zecora I… I think you won this year!” He fought back fits of nervous laughter, “this blows my gift out of the water.”

Zecora drew herself closer to him, “Don’t discount your gift just yet. I don’t think you realize what you said by giving a mare a dreamcatcher.”

Eddie’s eyes went wide, “What?”

Zecora gave a devilish smile, “You were wishing our unborn foals to have many a happy dream while they grew inside me.”

“WHAT!?!?” Eddie nearly lept into the air from his sitting position, “But we never… how could… why?” The now loud chuckling drowned out his panicking as he layed back down with a hot blush on his face. “Okay, haha, I made a fool of myself… again.”

“It’s still a very sweet gift Eddie.” She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, “I’ll cherish it, foals or no.”

Desperate to change the subject, Eddie turned once again to his gifted collar, “So what do these symbols on it mean? I don’t really recognize them.”

“Hmmm,” Zecora took it and looked at it deeply, “my ancient Zebran is not the most well versed, but I recognize the symbol for Steccar. I think this may be a matter for the books in my home. Shall we? Before the day grows too old?”

Eddie stood up and gave a few stretches of his aching legs, “After all this sitting a think a quick trot to your home is just what the doctor ordered.”

The two Zebras set about cleaning up after their picnic. The basket attaching easily to Eddie’s oversized saddlebags. He gestured for her to lead the way. To which Zecora neatly accepted. All the while Eddie’s mind wandered to other matters he wanted to discuss, but probably best left for the correct moment. After all, he didn’t know how excited Zecora would be to hear he the idea he had been brewing since the day they’d started dating and Zecora was still wondering just what important thing he had yet to ask.

()()(7)()()

The light within the ancient tree hut brimmed against the gathering dark of the evening hours. Within a pair of figures huddles around a few glowing candles and a book, a silver necklace layn before them.

“Here it is,” Zecora finally said after endlessly scanning the tome in front of them, “A son of Steccar, one with the might of our fathers.”

“Hmm,” Eddie started, “that sounds like quite the blessing for someone as ordinary as me.”

“It is actually a rather common one, for stallions anyway. Warriors would usually wear multiple things signifying much the same thing.”

“So jewelry is rather common in Hoofrica?”

Zecora ran a hoof across the multiple rings she wore around her neck, not to mention the few that dangled from her hooves as well. “One could say such a thing.” She then watched him clumsily fasten his collar around his neck.

“So, does it look good on me?”

Zecora gave a throaty chuckle while eyeing the silver collar and its blue gemstone on the stark white and black of Eddie’s coat, “I do not have an eye for fashion, but I say you are rather dashin.”

“Okay now you’re just stretching for those rhymes.” A thought then crossed Eddie’s mind, “Say, backing things up a bit. Speaking of Hoofrica. Do you ever think about going back?”

The question seemed to send a slap across Zecora’s face, “What?”

“Well it’s just that,” Eddie positioned himself a tad closer to his marefriend and spoke in a clearer tone, “I’ve been saving up my bits, and it's taken a long long while to do so mind you. But I think that I’ve finally saved up enough.”

Now Zecora was more confused than she was the moment before, “Enough for what?”

Eddie beamed as he said, “Enough for two tickets to the Hoofrican Savannah, and enough left over for some meager accommodations as well. It would be great! Like a homecoming and a vacation at the same time! Right?”

Zecora looks at his face. The way it held such an adamant joy and hope to finally reveal this gift he wanted to share with her. She knew how badly he had wanted to learn more about Hoofrica, the land of his people, but to take her along on his quest. Her heart… drops, knowing that she can’t say yes.

Despite that she can’t bear to say no, not in this moment, not on this day. “I will have to think about it.” Is her answer.

Eddie’s mood sours slightly. “Oh.” But it brightens in a moment of perceived understanding, “well, I guess I can’t expect such a big question to get answered right away. I still don’t even have a date planned for when we might go. Not that we have to make up our minds quick or anything.”

Zecora let her gaze run over Eddie. Her thoughts wondered about him, about herself, about her past. These thoughts led her to questioning things. Was she in a relationship with him for the right reason? Did she truly enjoy him and wish to be with him or was he just a fleeting glimpse of her past that she wanted to keep lest she lose some final shred of her history. How was she supposed to tell him all of the things swirling in her head?

At that point Eddie could easily make out the distress on his marefriend’s face. “Zecora is everything alright?”

She looked back to him from the long horizon of her thoughts, an air of confusion on her face, “Everything is… fine, what makes you think otherwise?”

Eddie took his time before he spoke, for he wasn’t truly sure if he should breach the subject he was thinking about, “Is this about Hoofrica… or about the reason you left?”

Zecora sat there. Still as could be, her eyes slowly shifting about. Then she gave a long sigh. Her mind made up. She owed him an explanation, after three years she most certainly did. At least as much of an explanation as she was allowed to give, “I can not go back Eddie, and I am afraid I can not tell you why.”

Eddie opened his mouth to protest, then stopped himself. He thought about her, about all of the things they had done together and all of the wonderful conversations they had had about Hoofrica and the Zebras together. It all slowly built up into a feeling that made him take up a very calm and collected voice as he spoke with confidence.

“Zecora...”

She flinched slightly as he was now before her, holding one of her hooves tightly in one of his own.

“I just… I want you to know that I love you. I don’t know if I really understand why you can’t tell me about your past, but I want you to know that I’ll still love you even if I never know. Because I don’t care about our pasts, that’s not what this is about. To be honest I don’t know how much I care about Hoofrica right now, since I have you. I just want you to know that. Okay?”

Zecora feel a warm flutter in her chest. Her sight grows misty as she soaks in his words. In that moment she feels like the luckiest mare alive to have a stallion as patient as Eddie for a coltfriend. She felt herself wanting him now more than ever. This colt who was of the Zebra like she was. Perhaps a gift from the spirits, a reminder of home. Maybe it was a little wrong of her to think such of him, but perhaps it was all a gift of fate. She squeezed his hoof tight and grinned brightly.

Her face then brimmed with a sly look, “Eddie… Come with me.”

Eddie chuffed slightly when she walked past him and brushed her tail in his face, “Um, okay.”

The poor zebra, and his mate, both completely unknowing of what was about to begin…

()()(8)()()

Eddie took a moment to get up off the floor. This gave Zecora a somewhat decent lead to wherever she was headed. Despite this he followed at his own pace. When he saw her push past the elegant curtain which divided the den from the bedroom he paused. He didn’t say a word however, for his curiosity which had stirred before was now peaked.

When he sticks his head in past the curtain to look within his eyes widen and his mouth almost falls open. There, laying upon the bed on her back with striped legs in the air, was Zecora bare in all her nakedness that she could be, teats and all. Now ponies may have not normally worn clothes, but they did wear a special form of enchanted underwear to cloak their naughtier bits. Zecora had picked up on wearing one as well after spending some time in Ponyville. This piece of clothing was now cast on the floor, still magically mimicking the greys and blacks of her rump that it had been worn against just moments before. So to see her exposed in such a way was an intimate affair to say the least.

The implications of Zecora being in such a state ran through Eddie’s mind like a wildfire, burning a hot blush onto his features, “Z-Zecora what… are you? Do you really want-”

She interrupted him with a calm voice, “Eddie… I want this, I want you. Come be with me.”

Eddie isn’t sure what to do, but his body eggs him onwards. He approaches Zecora, seeing her body more than ever before. The many slithering stripes that roll over her body in great numbers, the rings of black that coil over her legs and sharp lines that dart across her chin. Even the blackness of the tip of her muzzle stands out to him now more than ever. He can only think of what she sees in him and his mostly white appearance, his stripes mostly on his back and rump with a few on his face. Surely she must have chosen him for more than his supposed looks.

When he finally crossed the room to her he could only take her in more. The beauty of her curves as he nervously clambered over top her body. The rich smell of crushed plants and peeled roots greeting his nostrils as he nuzzled her chest on the way to her face. What little he could say as he gazed into the beauty that was her deep blue eyes was lost to him. Their gaze peering into his own as he leaned forward and gave her a long kiss that felt more inviting than it had any right to be.

Eddie slowly broke the kiss, feeling a fluttery warmth already kicking up in his gut, “How do you want me?” He said alongside kicking off the underwear he was wearing, letting it join its company on the floor.

She responded with a few heavy breaths, then spoke. “Slow, so I can give you all that I am.”

The couple, now more eager than before, resume their kissing. Each planted smack getting more intense as they begin to huff in each other’s scents. After breaking one of their longer embraces Eddie moves his head lower and begins planting rows of kisses on her neck. With his position lowered Zecora makes her move and grabs at one of Eddie's long ears with her mouth.

He winces and Zecora pulls back, “No,” He leans into his words and says, “more like that!”

Now Zecora is the one that winces as she feels her plot getting grobbed harshly, the plump flesh wrinkling against the hoof that fondled her bum so tightly. She wraps her front hooves over his shoulders and pulls him in close, planting a few playful love bites along his neck before kissing him square on the mouth.

Eddie can feel the blood rushing to his ears, and other parts as well, as he grinded his body against the mare locked beneath him. Every moment a certain something sliding longer and harder out of its hiding place to squeeze its way between them until it nearly traveled all the way up their bellies. At that moment, when he could no longer bare the foreplay any longer, he broke their kissing and spoke plainly.

“Zecora, I never wanted you so badly in all my life.” He grunted as his now raging hard on twitched hard against Zecora’s belly and matted the fur with a small spurt of pre.

She squirmed heartedly as well, for he wasn’t the only one fully heated and ready to blow, “Then take me Eddie, take me.”

He says not a word more. Eddie then brings himself into position. Pushing himself up and away from her as his hips move more in line with her own. His member twitching as it rolled over her teats and pressed against her inner thigh. Luckily enough they had been making love on the edge of the bed to begin with, so getting himself the rest of the way was easy. Soon enough his tip was waiting outside her warm nethers.

Eddie remembers what Zecora had told him earlier and takes it slow. Pressing the head of his cock against her hood and spreading it open, the warmth making him flare reflexively and spread her all the more. Carefully dipping himself in further until a good inch of his modest member is buried inside her sex.

Then he begins to pump. Pushing his hips forward to bury a few more precious inches of zebra cock inside her walls. Pulling back he has to fight against her initial winking to get any of it back. Then he presses in harder, grunting as he does so.

“Zecora-” He huffs out, “you’re so tight!”

Zecora shudders and feels her body clamp down on him again, “And you so thick!” She mutters while feeling warm shivers coursed through her body as his meat begins filling her with its presence.

Eddie’s medial ring pressed against the entrance for some time. Several thrusts necessary to finally let it pop inside. Much to both of their enjoyment as wetness poured from her hole and Zecora shuddered into a small climax. Eventually the rest of his nearly foot and a half length pushed into her body until with a satisfying thwap his hilt landed against her hips.

Then their passion could truly begin. Eddie ramping up his thrusts into a steady rhythm of slaps. Zecora herself losing it time and again as her nethers would clamp down and pull on him time and again. Unable to stop herself from moaning alongside his increasingly deep grunting. Eddie having to fight the ever tightening grip of her cunt until he felt like he was losing a battle of attrition trying to tug himself out of her so he could hilt into her just one more time.

This lasted for a time until Eddie felt something tick inside his body. A pressure building up in his hilt as his nuts seized and pressed up against his body. He realized what was happening all too soon as Zecora’s body seemed to sense the impending flood and tugged all the harder on him.

Amidst the burning passion that was locking up his muscles as the climax neared he shouted, “Ugh~ It’s time. Zecora, it’s time!”

Zecora could swear she felt his cock bulging inside her with its load as pleasure overwhelmed her. She shouted back in kind, “yes Eddie, yes! Let me feel your warmth inside me!”

His face burning with hot red need Eddie began slamming into her all the harder. Every motion making his entire length buzz and shiver with need. Getting ready to cannon its load directly into her womb. When the final thrust finally came he couldn’t stop himself from roaring and shouting like some animal in a barn. The embarrassment melting away into pure enjoyment as he felt the first spurts coating her walls get sucked straight out of his cock by her winking walls. The act of their lovemaking drenching her insides with his seed.

Zecora is lost in the act mostly the same. His warmth cannonballing into her depths untils she feels it nesting somewhere deep in her core. The sudden invasion of thick heat enters a place near her belly, but in a place much more intimate and sensible. Before she could do more than puzzle at this strange feeling a sudden pressure pushed outward from her core. Where that heat had emanated now a gentle glow took hold, all the while a gentle sparkle illuminated inside her eyes. Before she had time to do more than grunt and twist her head about in pleasure something else happened.

Eddie suddenly felt Zecora’s body clamp down on his shaft and pull. Then suddenly, as if his cock were a tear being suckled on by a yearling foal, more heat burst forth from his buried tip and straight into her womb. The glowing thing that was in her belly beneath him warbled and bloated once more. Now even brighter than it once was. Then her sex tugs on him again, and again! Each time Eddie would shudder and scream as his eyes sparked with light at each climax. Loads of his cum bursting endlessly from his shaft into her halls. Feeding this strange event to ever greater heights.

The glowing sphere in her body now the size of a grapefruit. It growls deeper than it did before and shakes suddenly. Zecora’s voice letting out a roar of pleasure as she feels it stretch and tighten inside her until a basketball is now sprouting from her body. Then gain it rumbled, and again Eddie screamed as warmth ejected from him into her womb. The beast rising slowly until an over ripened melon now settled and danced inside her skin. The duo locked in climax, unable to think through the pleasure until there was another warble from the beast, this one even lower and more bestial than ever. It hungered for more, more than it ever had before.

Eddie’s hips uncontrollably jerked forward into Zecora’s, unleashing a massive wad into her waiting womb. The moment it hit there was a satisfied rumbling from the behemoth that made it shudder and shake, the entire taut surface prickling with ripples of motion. Then it began to throb. Punching and pounding with a beat all its own as every ripple was punctuated by a grumble of noises. All of it making Zecora wail in ecstasy and Eddie scream in constant climaxes as it pulled cum from him harder and harder. The twitches coming closer and closer together. A sudden constant stream of them making her thrust her belly into the air, screaming in climax as a magical glow erupted forth from it all in one grand display. With a guttural roar it bloomed to nearly half again its own size. Spreading taller and wider as a tight linea nigra split it into two bulbous halves on her body, the apparent border of her split nation capped with a small fleshy outpost of a nub that had once been her belly button. Zecora’s belly now the size of an over inflated beach ball, split neatly into two rounded halves.

This sight still glowing as her intense thrust had for some reason left the two of them floating in the air. The glow of the thing made her grey coat look white, quite the standout from her black stripes. The aura of it seeming to grab the two of them and gently place them down on the bed together as they huffed and puffed. Coming down from what had been perhaps the most intense session of pleasure either of them had ever experienced in their lives. The glow too seemed to need time to die down as it slowly receded into the depths of Zecora’s belly and stayed there.

Eddie is the first to come out of his stupor. Feeling the vice like grip on his now rather sore cock loosened he pulls himself free. Worry overcomes him as the dizzying haze of pleasure washed away. All that he can see of Zecora is her lower half and her swell of a belly, the sight of it made him awestruck to say the least. It was wider than her, wider than him, and so deep she could probably have fit multiple melons within it. He had to race around the edge of the bed to the other side just to see her face. Thankfully she was awake, but seemed to be in some sort of daze.

“Zecora. Zecora!” He shouted as he gently touched her body and tried to shake her carefully awake.

Slowly she rouses, the mist clouding her eyes clearing as she groans and her limbs reflexively stretch into the air. ‘Eddie?... oooh… what… what happened?“

Zecora suddenly shivers when her belly does something remarkable. It shudders gently. Then… it begins to move ever so slightly. Little bumps and pushes coming from inside the seemingly confused mass. This show going on and on as the two of them watch in what could only be described as worrisome awe.

“Zecora… what is… are you okay?” Eddie says with worry in every word.

Zecora puts a hoof to her mouth as realization finally strikes her mind. Then slowly her hoof falls away in disbelief until she lets out the words. “Eddie I think… I think i’m pregnant.”

As if to confirm her words her precious cargo shifts harshly. Stretching out one side of her belly and rolling its wave of motion into the other side. Making the gravid zebra shake and shudder trying to keep her balance so she doesn’t roll over or fall off the bed. The two Zebras looking to one another soon after as their foal continues to rock about, both of them unsure of what to do or what to say.

End of Chapter 1

Author's Note

Hoorah, I'm back! Not sure when i'll get to pumping out the next chapter but i hope you all can wait, cause things will only be getting BIGGER from here