Author's Note
And here we are! This is the last in the series of fics that I wrote for MarsMiner. This was the very first one I ever wrote for them, and was written in general context of his OC's. This one is a bit older, so it has a bit of my older writing quirks in it. But I figured it was still nice to post this as a conclusion to the fic series! Enjoy!
What He Doesn't Know
An Unwelcomed Confrontation
Written by: SoftStroke
The dank apartment glowed gently within the pale moonlight. The dirty floor was illuminated by the white light, shining through the windows. The twitching lampshade flickered, spilling its own faltering light against the large shadows.
In the midst of the apartment was a single stallion. The stallion was a deep burnt red with even darker hair, hair pushed up into a single spike. His warm orange eyes glowed with worry as his hooves rapidly paced back and forth against the warm floor. His pelt was slightly unkempt, and his mane and tail were not very neatly brushed.
The stallion was known by the name of Mars, or more specifically Mars Miner. The stallion was pacing back and forth, rather worried something. His hooves pounded against the floor as he moved back and forth, staring at the door like a puppy waiting for his master to return.
Suddenly, to his shock, the door opened. He immediately turned and jumped at the door, rushing over and stumbling over his own hooves to get to the opening entrance.
In stepped the one mare that he’d been waiting for: Venus. The dark orange unicorn stumbled into the room on shaky hooves, even more so than Mars’. Once inside, she closed the door, only to have the hoove sand full weight of Mars against her.
“Venus!!” Mars gasped, hugging her up tightly in his hooves, “I mwissed thwu! Where were thwu?!?”
The mare gasped in surprise and gently reached up, slowly tugging herself out of the crushing grip of Mars. Venus squirmed, “M-Mars, let g-g-go, please!”
Instantly, Mars let go of her. Taking a step back, he sat down on his haunches as though she’d yelled at him. This gave Venus a second to gently gasp in some air. She slowly groaned and reached up, placing her hoof on the wall and shaking her head.
Venus was in her standard attire for her job: fishnets and tight panties. Her face was coated in red makeup and deep mascara, some of which that’d begun to run down her face. The panties she wore had ridden up against her ass and showed both of her lower holes, if just the faintest outline.
“M-Mars, you… you know that sometimes I get… I get sidetracked on my jobs…” Venus slowly stumbled over towards the tiny bathroom that the two shared. The floor squeaked and groaned beneath her hooves as she stepped on the dusty floor.
Mars slowly fell into step behind her and he nodded his head, perhaps one too many times, “I know bwhat you were gwone for hwee days! I phwas stwharting to get worried!”
The tired mare groaned and nodded, slowly gripping onto the counter and giving a tiny gulp as she reached out to turn the water on. The slightly dark water spurted out; she would have to work an extra job to get the plumbing fixed. She sighed and slowly wet her hooves, washing off the excess mascara and makeup from her face.
“I…I know Mars, I know. I couldn’t help it… I-I got a little… I got kinda sidetracked.” She rubbed her eyes, leaving a black smear against her cheek.
The red stallion nodded gently and then walked around so he was beside Venus. He looked over at her and quickly he reached over and licked his hoof, rubbing the excess mascara away.
“Sidetwacked? Did thwo get wost on the way here?” Mars cocked her head, not sure what she meant by that.
Venus sighed and slowly looked down at the sink. She didn’t want to look at herself in the mirror right now. She knew she’d be disgusted by what she saw: dripping mascara carving black lines into her face, lips smeared and cracked form a night of fellatio. The tips of her ears a mess from where a client had gotten rowdy and bitten them. Worst of all, the little patches of clumped fur… still sticky from what she’d put herself through.
As she looked up in the mirror, she could see Mars. The stallion looked like a colt almost, looking at her with the expectation that she’d suddenly turn and say something. He was always like that… even when they’d first met almost 10 years ago.
For whatever reason, the thought brought up something else. 10 days ago she’d come home to smell something burning… to see Mars was burning her clothes. She’d asked him what he was doing but his tail got caught in the flames and they had to rush to get it out before the apartment lit up.
“Venus?” The stallion asked, cocking his head to the side with a small frown.
The disgraced mare could only splash more water into her face and grip the counter. She didn’t want to face Mars like this… she never wanted to face Mars when she came home from ‘work.’
As Venus stared at the stallion, she felt a slight amount of… anger. Anger in her that shouldn’t have been there. He never knew what she went through every single day. He didn’t know what she did because she made it so he didn’t. He didn’t know the pain and scars she’d received, or how many bits she spent on birth control… he didn’t know.
After a few more moments of silence, Mars slowly piped up again, “Vwenus?”
The question made Venus even angrier. She knew she shouldn’t be, but… but she was. She was mad at him. She was mad at the stallions who did this to her. She was just mad at the world.
“What, Mars?!” The orange mare huffed. A stray clump of mascara stuck to her eyelash, only fueling the building fire.
“Why dwid wou get swidetwacked?” The stallion lisped, cocking his head to the side.
In that moment, something seemed to snap inside Venus. All the humiliation of being taken so poorly, of living in what was best described as poverty, of knowing that the stallion in front of her had an image of her and that image was perverted beyond anything she wanted, it all came to the front. Her mouth opened long before she could stop herself.
“MARS!” The mare flipped around, causing black droplets of mascara to coat the mirror, “I-I got sidetracked coming home, alright?! I can’t make it back every single bucking night at the exact moment that I say I will! Y-You know that! So just… just bucking shut up for one minute!!!”
The sheer force of the words made Mars’ ears suddenly flatten right against his head. He blinked rapidly and slowly his eyes lidded and then looked at the floor. As she went on his entire body seem to… deflate, as though each word was breaking a small hole in him. By the time that she finished, he was so low to the floor he was almost laying on it.
“I-I… I’m swowy…” The stallion sniffed, “I-I’ll…”
The next thing Venus knew, Mars was gone. The door to the bathroom suddenly flung open and the door to the bedroom slammed shut. The noise of locking quickly carried through the apartment, as well as the creaking of their bed.
A hoof outstretched, Venus had her mouth open to apologize. The mare, dumbfounded at his escape, slowly let her hoof fall back to the floor. The second it touched, her body quivered and her head slowly hung down.
“W-Why… why did I say that?!” The mare gritted her teeth and hit her head on the counter. The pain that coursed in her head was nothing compared to the guilt that was suddenly coursing inside of her.
Mars… of any stallion in her life, Mars would be the one that she would trust under any circumstance. Not once had Mars ever betrayed her… not once had he even kissed her without asking permission first. He was such a simple stallion that the thought of doing something ot her without her explicit consent was unheard of… so much unlike other stallions she’d encountered her whole life.
Even now, she remembered when they’d met. She’d just been playing in the little field beside the Orphanage when suddenly the red colt came out of nowhere and tackled her. For a second she feared the worst but instead he asked her to play. He didn’t move until she said yes and the two played tag for hours before finally her stubby legs couldn’t carry her another step.
However even she knew that she couldn’t just go approach Mars now. Not only would he have the door locked, but attempting to talk to him would be a disaster. Secretly, she was glad she’d locked up her personal items in a secret spot in the apartment, otherwise he’d probably try to make something for her out of them.
Venus froze as though something had hit her. The realization she was upset that Mars would try to show he cared panged her almost as much as her outburst. Mars wanted to just help her… and she was getting mad at him for at least trying to be helpful.
Just like all those years ago…
The question mulled over Venus’ mind as she stripped from her whorish attire. She pulled the cheap fishnets off and threw them away, knowing she could buy more from PonyMart for only a dollar. The skirt and top were more valuable, and those instead went into the hamper. Each piece of attire than came off was like peeling back a leech that clung to her. Only this leech would be right back tomorrow night.
With that gruesome thought to add to her already conflicting emotions, the mare slowly walked over to the shower. The two had been lucky with the plumbing here, as, odd as it was, the sink and shower were not connected to the same water pipe. This meant that the shower itself, though it would be lukewarm at best, was still clean enough to bathe in.
The mare slowly turned on the hot water, cranking the dial until it wouldn’t move anymore. She placed her hoof under the water and her expression shifted. Lukewarm. At least something seemed to be going right for the night.
Stepping into the warm water, Venus gently raised herself onto her hind hooves, placing her front ones on the shower wall. She slowly let her head hang as the water gently cascaded down her form, slowly moving through the fur.
After a few moments, she could feel her fur becoming un-clumped. Letting out a small sigh of relief, the mare looked backwards at the mirror; the shower curtain was mouldy and had to be thrown out. She looked so mall with her fur wet against her body. Even her tiny stubby horn was visible as her hair became flat against her skull.
In a way, it was how she always felt in this world. She always felt so small… like she was so insignificant she could be blown away by a single gust of wind. Her small body and stance in the job market only made her feel smaller…worthless, even.
As she let the water continue to pour on her, suddenly she heard something. She picked up the soap telekinetically just as the noise began to fill the bathroom. It was dull and barely audible over the water, but to her it stood out clear as day.
It was the sound of Mars sobbing.
Venus had heard Mars cry many times. He would cry if he stepped on a Lego brick and it got wedged in his hoof. He’d cry if he burnt his tongue. He even cried when he heard that they weren’t going to have enough money for presents at Hearth’s Warming.
But this crying was different. This wasn’t the cry that ended with a few kind words and guidance. This was a deeper and more emotional crying. It was a crying that felt raw, as though he’d been hurt badly.
The noise made the poor mare feel even worse than anything ever before. To think she’d made Mars cry… to make such an innocent and simple stallion break down in tears, it was utterly heart-wrenching.
In that moment, she wasn’t sure she could take it anymore. She’d planned to try to make food, coax him out to dinner and apologize. But never had she driven him to tears. Even in estrus she never yelled anywhere near loud enough for him to back away.
“Oh… Mars!” Venus twisted the valve shut, even knowing that it wouldn’t be lukewarm the next time that she stepped in. She didn’t care. “Mars! Mars open the door!”
Still dripping wet, Venus wrapped the door in her magic and tried to pull it open, but it was still locked from the inside. The thought occurred to her for a second to force it open, but the more rational side said that the cost would be through the roof to repair.
“G-Go ahwyas!” The distraught response came from inside the room, “Ah, Ah jwust want to bwes left awones!”
“Mars please, just open the door!” Venus yelled knocking her hoof on it several times, “I-I want to talk to you! Just please let me in!”
“No!” Mars yelled back. The noise of bed hinges creaking told Venus he’d shifted to face away from the door, “Y-You was mwean to me…”
“Yes I know, Mars!” Venus called, tugging on the door harder, “I just want to talk! I’m sorry, please let me in the room!!”
This time, there was no response from Mars, save from the gasping sobs that still came from him. No matter what she did, Venus couldn’t open the door from the outside.
There was still no response from Mars, and Venus felt her heart sink. The gasps still came from the room, letting her know he was still crying. She’d driven her one and only friend… her one an only trusted pony in the world away…
“I-I’m sorry Mars!” Venus shook hard. Her hooves became weak as she pressed her front hooves against the door. Her weight made her slowly began to slip down the door, until her face hit the dirty floor. She shook, “I-I didn’t mean what I said! I didn’t!!!!”
The bedroom went quiet after a few moments, but there was still no response from Mars. A shot of terror went through Venus as she suddenly thought she’d driven her best friend away. That Mars wasn’t coming back. That… that she had hurt him and he didn’t want to see her.
“I’m so sorry Mars, please forgive me!!!” Venus yelled, hitting her head on the door, “I-I fuck everything up! I’m sorry! I-I’m sorry that I yelled at you! I-I mess everything else up! P-Please, please don’t… don’t let me mess us up! I’m sorry… I’m sorry!!”
In a moment of what felt like absolute relief, she heard the glorious noise of the lock disengaging. Slowly, the red stallion opened the door, his face matted with tears.
“Vwenus?” He blinked, looking around for her. After a few moments he looked down and only became more confused, “Why awe wyou on the fwoor?”
Seeing Mars in front of her filled Venus with utter joy. Suddenly, her hooves came up to wrap around his neck. She pulled him into the tightest hug she’d ever given him, still sniffing and coughing from her own despair.
“M-Mars…” She whispered. She sniffed and pressed her face into his shoulder, holding it there for along moment.
Mars opened his mouth to say something, but rather than continue, he instead reached up and wrapped his own hooves around her. He always loved hugs… he loved how close he would feel to the pony. And Venus was one of the ponies he wanted to be closest to.
Not a word was shared between them for a long while. Venus was simply basking in the glory that was Mars, her own personal godsend. Mars meanwhile was simply enjoying the warm and loving hug, finding it nice and tight and cozy.
“…twhy’re old…” Mars suddenly said.
Venus let out a small cough as she slowly leaned her head back. She looked at Mars with a look of confusion, “..what?”
Mars sighed, never taking his hooves off of her for a second. “W-Wast week… chwu asked meh why I whas brwuning your stwuff…twhy’re old…” He said slowly, “Y-You swaid the day bwedfore u were swick of chwu… I-I jwust wanted to hwelp by… by gwetting rid of the owd stwufs that was mwking chu sad…”
Venus blinked suddenly as it all came rushing back to her. She’d come home from a night of utter hell… a night of seeing how much she could fit and for how long. Every part of her was sore and she’d cursed her life and wanted a new one. But… she never expected Mars to take that seriously when she said it.
“You… you weren’t just senselessly destroying my clothes?” The second the word ‘senselessly’ left her lips, she regretted it. Not because it was the wrong word, but Mars could easily take it the wrong way.
Mars, however, was silent this time. When he did, it made Venus worried. Mars, even if he wasn’t a very… bright pony, often thought about what he would say next. It was an odd combination, but not one that was unwelcomed.
Instead of saying something, Venus suddenly felt a weight on her front hoof. Mars had suddenly taken it and was pulling on her, not so gently either. From his stance it was clear he wanted to lay down in bed.
Any other stallion who did this would normally make Venus scream and try to get to her pepper spray she kept behind her ear. But… when Mars did so she trusted him. Maybe it was because he hadn’t ever made a move on her before. Maybe it was because she was guilty. Or, most likely, because at that moment, more so than ever before, she was just so tired.
Mars guided her into the bed, taking a moment to lay on his side, facing her. As she got closer, she could smell his scent. It was earthy, like he’d rolled around in dirt. But beneath that was something else, something that was unique to him. It was a warm and comforting smell, like lilacs on a spring morning.
“Mars… have you been using my shampoo?” Venus asked as she slowly stepped up into bed.
The red stallion had no shame as he nodded, “Itwh smwelled weally good.”
Venus could only feel a smile tugging at her lips. He was such an honest and true stallion. Like Forest Gump, there was no hint of deceit behind his eyes. What she saw on his face was what he thought and felt. To her, it was a god sent from Celestia herself… a stallion who actually acted looked like what he was.
Mars looked down, “Twhy… thwey say I’m… dumb…”
Venus was snapped from her stupor by the revelation. She blinked a few times before cocking her head to the side, “What? Who said that?”
The red stallion hung his head as he let his body fall onto his side, “I-I was waithing for wou outswide and thwese colts came by. They swaid I wooked sthupid and I pwobabwly was.” He looked away, “I dwidn’t know whath to sway so I didn’t sway anythwing.”
Inside, Venus felt something break inside her. Mars wasn’t a smart stallion… if they could afford a diagnosis he’d probably be labeled with more things than she could count. But for colts to openly say that to him as he was just waiting for her to come home… that was unforgivable.
“I’m sorry, Mars…” Venus pressed her head up into his chest. His earthy smell filled her nose as slowly she let her sore and crippled body relax against him. Their normally rock hard mattress felt… lighter as she snuggled with him.
Mars in turn gently wrapped his hooves around her and pulled her closer to him. To him, she was the most beautiful mare that there ever was or ever had been. He wished that she was a princess just so he could put on his cardboard armor and rescue her… if even for just one single kiss.
“Ahm… ahm I stwupid?” Mars stammered. His hooves trembled around Venus as he slowly pressed her closer into his form.
Venus almost wanted to cry at how upset Mars sounded. Of any stallion, Mars was the least stupid of them all. Most stallions thought with their second brain… Mars had only one and it never occurred to him to think of the lower one. HE was honest, sincere, caring, delightful and helpful… even if it never seemed to come out the way he intended.
“You’re not stupid!” She whispered harshly, pulling herself up into him. She could feel every muscle of him… he was always a strong stallion. She could feel his strong chest and abs, his long legs and haunches. Even his length was strong and pressed on her… but for once she didn’t mind.
“Mars… you’re the farthest from stupid I’ve ever seen…” She whispered, “Intellegence isn’t what you know… it’s how you use what you know… and even if you think you screw up you’re doing all of it for the right reasons…” She gulped, “J-Just like you did with me…”
The two stopped as the memory seemed to come back. It was the time they met for real and truly stuck together. Venus was only 5 when it happened… when she’d been offered candy and some money to buy the newest doll she wanted by three stallions in a truck. When she’d been found later traumatized and bleeding, stuffed with their reminders in a shack waiting until they said they were coming back to get her. When while she was crying suddenly the door flung open and Mars stood there, seeing her and instantly running out to get help. When he realized no help was coming and he dragged her all the way back to the orphanage and forfitted his life on the streets just to be sure she was okay.
Mars didn’t seem to pick up on the story, and to Venus that was okay. She knew that Mars wouldn’t think of that in one swoop, and that wasn’t his fault.
Suddenly, before Venus even knew what was happening, Mars lifted her up and pressed his face against her own. He didn’t kiss her… he just held their foreheads together and stayed like that.
“I can fweel wour heartbweat…” He whispered, pressing them closer, “It’s thwuch a nwice swound…”
The sudden shift was totally unexpected to her… but most everything that Mars did was unexpected. Yet the thing he was doing… it was beautiful and sweet beyond any measure she ever knew from the stallion.
“My… heartbeat?” Venus whispered slowly, “Why… why my heartbeat?”
Mars blushed and he looked down at the floor, “I-I dwon’t know why…” He slowly gulped and squirmed in her grasp, “I-I…”
Venus stopped him as he started to stutter, placing his hoof against his mouth, “Shh… it’s okay…” She gave, for the first time in the night, a full smile.
Seeing the smile, Mars smiled back and he slowly yawned. He stretched gently before turning to look at her eyes.
His strong arms gripped her sides and twisted her around so that her back faced his front. His hooves came to slowly wrap around her and pull her body up against him, creating a spoon. His body was almost like a furnace, radiating heat that the two always seemed to desperately lacked in the middle of the broken apartment.
Venus smiled and gently used her magic to grip the small chord to the lamp beside the bed. Slowly, she pulled the chord down and let the room gently plunge into darkness.
The mare slowly pulled the covers over the two and let herself relax in his grasp. He held her entire form easily, snuggled right up into him with a smile. It was a wonderful feeling to have her body pressed against Mars, his hooves around her body, his breath against her ear.
“I…” Mars bit his lip as he slowly stuttered, “I-I wuv thwu Venus…”
Mars’ words brought a sense of relief against her form. She let out a small sigh and pressed herself closer to Mars.
“I love you too, Mars…” She whispered back before slowly beginning to fall asleep.
