Author’s inline notes: This is a MATURE story, meant for readers who are old enough to drink, smoke, swear, and other such immature activities. It is considerably different than my usual fare, which is lighthearted and mostly G-rated. This story in particular follows Green Grass and Twilight Sparkle of The Traveling Tutor and the Librarian, Chapter 30, in a way that the original story could not go and still maintain its T rating. Originally written for Dirty Little Secret’s Dirty Little Contest except Green Grass is an OC, and therefore ineligible. That’s fine, because I got to expand my writing spectrum and maybe I’ll write something for it before the deadline.

The Traveling Tutor - Tree Temptations
Decisions Decisions

At precisely 8:27 A.M. on a Tuesday, Twilight Sparkle decided it was time to lose her virginity.

Or it could have been 8:28. She wasn’t exactly positive, since a certain period of time before that was spent in a strenuous tickle fight with the stallion she had determined would be the one to take said virginity, and there was the inevitable cooling-off period afterward, some panting, a great deal of kissing, et al…

Still, she made the decision while her mind was clear, not under duress, and certainly not due to the frequent poking she had been getting from said stallion’s warm cock, which had been nestled up against her belly for nearly the entire time the two of them had been awake this morning.

Yes, it was time. All of the relationship checkboxes up to this point had been dutifully checked, if possibly smudged slightly. First and foremost, Spike was outside of the library bedroom, and she had put a security and privacy spell around the room so no unexpected friends would come bouncing through the door or peek in through the balcony. On a longer scale, she had more-or-less kinda been keeping up with her morning doses of ovulation medication, and it was not her heat time anyway, so the probability of foals was infinitesimal. Not that she would mind foals, she just wanted them in a more structured fashion. Probably after marriage, which is where one of the smudged boxes on her checklist made her a little concerned.

Green Grass, although he was a wonderful stallion with delicious wit and a flirtive manner that had no problem proposing the most outlandish wedding ideas, locked up absolutely cold with the idea of an actual wedding. That’s not to say the two of them had not approached the idea, discussed several elements, considered child names, and compared in-laws, but Twilight considered herself an old-fashioned mare…

No, that was not true. Twilight Sparkle was terrified of marriage too, since she had a bad tendency to think of herself as a child in a world full of grown-ups. Her friends treated her as an adult among her peers, and even a leader, but she kept thinking of every other pony in Equestria as older and wiser than herself, including Princess Celestia, who was older than everypony. The psychological deficiency traced back to when Twilight was a young student in Celestia’s school and a certain colt she was determined to leave unnamed had attempted clumsy intimacy upon her. It seemed like such a minor thing now, but Younger Twilight had tied herself up in mental knots over the event before finally confessing to Princess Celestia.

A number of therapy sessions with Dr. Psyche had resulted. The young colt’s parents moved far away, taking him with them. And Twilight had determined somewhere deep in the back of her mind that no other stallion would ever touch her in that way again.

Touching was certainly not a problem anymore. Twilight and Greenie had touched each other in all kinds of ways lately, some of which she had never even seen in any of her books. Even her language had changed as they had become more intimate. A mere few weeks ago, a cock had been a rooster out at Applejack’s farm, and a pussy was Rarity’s actual cat. Now the crude terms seemed so much easier to say and far more accurate than their technical terms, or at least when the two of them were in close contact. Although that particular linguistic substitution could only go so far, because Twilight constantly broke down in infectious giggles when they had explored the world of creative innuendo involving carrots and cucumbers, and had rolled off the bed in helpless laughter with the names Greenie had proposed for their various bodily parts. Even orgasm had originally been just an abstract word between organized and original in the dictionary, but her first one had exceeded the mere definition, in addition to pulling minor muscles, setting the sheets on fire from unrestrained horn-sparks, and earning more than a few peculiar looks from the neighbors over the next few days.

That’s when she began putting sound-dampening spells up before they fooled around. The backrubs he offered after were nearly as good, and frequently turned into another before, which led to more backrubs, and… Well, some mornings she was so exhausted after their mutual body explorations she could barely write a few notes about the previous night. Particularly when he tried to distract her.

This morning as she caught her breath after their mutual tickling, she was not distracted at all. She was mentally and physically ready, and obviously he was physically ready, but he had made a sincere promise some time prior.

“Fear not, young mare. For although I am a stallion of little willpower, I hereby swear I shall never lay a hoof upon you without securing both your full consent, and the prior written permission of either your parents, or your… um… teacher.”

Over their few months of whirlwind physical contact, they had laid far more than hooves on each other, they just had not gotten laid. She was not about to wait until after they were married, because he was taking forever to get over his phobia about being subjected to a forced marriage by his parents. And admittedly, after digging out Twerps Peerage and looking up some of the mares his parents had tried to pair with him, she had considerable sympathy for his condition.

“Greenie, I’ve been thinking,” said Twilight into the scruffy stallion’s long chest floof. He smelled absolutely divine after their morning wrestling and tickling, which had been started by much the same topic of sex. “No kidding anymore. I really want to do it.”

“Do what?” he responded with a guileless face. “Finish that permission letter to Princess Celestia?”

“No!” She blushed furiously and gave him a nip across the ribs. That letter had been tossed onto her dresser for future disposal. She had started writing it as a way of teasing Greenie, and every word had become less of a joke and more serious, which led to a larger problem. “I’d die of embarrassment if Celestia ever received a letter from me asking her permission for you to have intercourse with me. Besides, it’s not her permission you need, it’s mine, and I hereby give it to you.” She nipped his nose and rubbed her chest up against his belly, feeling the warmth of his rigid cock against her tummy. At one time, she would have been aghast at the sticky sensation against her own belly hairs and in fear of the upcoming burst of ejaculate, but there was a simple solution… actually two simple solutions, but she had done the first several times over the last few weeks, and she was ready for the second, except for one thing.

“Not without a letter of permission,” said Greenie. “Not because of me. It’s for you.”

Twilight rolled over, getting Green Grass on his back and straddling his waist so she could look down at him without rubbing their chests together. That friction certainly did not contribute to her rational thought, and this position did not either, but at least she had a little distance away from his dangerous lips. He, on the other hoof, was very much in range of her more dangerous lips. It took very little shifting of positions to press her soggy pussy against his furry balls and rub just enough to tickle her insides. It was a position she had not been able to maintain for long in the previous times she had tried it, because the sensation of his warm balls and tickling hairs sent short tremors up her insides, and made her absolutely impatient for the more he was willing to give.

“I’m over that vermin,” she started while her hips moved on their own, stroking his damp hairs against her clit with every stroke. “He used me. I trust you. The difference is obvious. There’s nothing about him that is remotely like you except for one thing, and that’s the thing I want inside me. This morning. Now.”

“I promised,” managed Greenie, although he had his eyes closed and was moving his hips in synchronization with hers.

What a wonderful, thoughtful stallion. If only he wasn’t so stubborn.

“I’m releasing you from your promise,” said Twilight, moving up on his body and leaving her own sticky trail up the raised ridge of his sheath. “I want you inside me, thrusting your cock into my pussy until you fill me up with cum. Cock,” she declared, letting the dirty word roll off her tongue in a way that she never would have if the room had not been properly secured by her privacy spell. She would not have trusted anypony else in the entire universe to hear her say it, but she trusted him all the way down to the hungry little tremors in her mareparts. “Cock,” she declared again with every wet stroke. “Cock, cock, cock…”

“Nuglumph,” managed Green Grass. “Letter.”

“I don’t need a letter,” whispered Twilight, feeling a radiant thrill spread through the twitching muscles of her belly. She swirled the damp hairs of her pussy up higher until she was brushing the bottom of his extended erection, and just rubbed up and down the hot length of it for a few precious moments. “You wanted a letter, not me. That’s terribly insensitive of you. I’m a young and hungry mare, who has discovered…” She lowered her voice and leaned forward so she could rest on his unturned chest while rubbing her pert nipples against his balls. “Sex,” she whispered into his twitching ears.

“I’m pretty sure sex was already there,” said Greenie in a husky voice. He raised up off the pillow to kiss her, only for Twilight to pull back and give him a wink.

“Oh, no. You want a kiss, I want something too.” She rubbed back and forth, feeling his thick member roll between their bellies and the additional spot of dampness that was accumulating on her chest. “We’ve tried just about everything else, including some things I never thought I’d like, and a few things I don’t think we’re going to try again. And during all of it, every time you had your tongue up my pussy or I had your cock—” she gave him a brief kiss on his hot lips “—in my mouth, you never asked for permission from anypony but me.”

“True,” admitted Greenie with his eyes still closed and that cute little tremor he got on his upper lip when he was concentrating. “But that’s… different. I want our first time to be special. Nothing between us. No reservations. No fear.”

“You think—” started Twilight as she sat back up again, keeping him pinned to the bed with her legs pressed against his sides and a dripping pussy applied where it was doing the most good “—that I’m going to have second thoughts. That I’ve sucked and licked and nibbled all over your body, and that you’ve done the same to me many times. After all that, after I’ve tasted your ejaculate, and orgasmed dozens of times, and fallen asleep with your nose up my pussy, and that one night that you just couldn’t get me to stop cuming until I got leg cramps.” She moved higher, soaking his hot cock with the outside of her pussy in long, slow strokes that still only went halfway up to the tip. “You think that thrusting that wonderful cock into me and fucking until we can’t move will somehow make me into some simpering mare, running off to Princess Celestia like I was Blueblood’s sister.”

Twilight scooted a little higher until she could feel the furnace-like heat of Greenie’s cockhead against her itchy pussy lips, and the mingled dampness of their juices. Holding one forehoof across her chest, she whined, “Oh, Princess Celestia, it was just terrible. He just kept fucking me and fucking me until cum was dripping down my ass, and then once I sucked him so he was hard again, he fucked me some more.”

Greenie was just so cute when he was giggle-panting, both sexually excited while trying his best not to laugh and failing. “You can’t… That’s… Wait!”

The distraction was only partially successful in gaining her goal. Twilight had scooted far enough forward to feel the hot tip of his cock slip just inside her pussy, and she hunched at the same time Greenie brought his forelegs down and lifted her up so the tiny touch she felt of his wet cock was all she got. It was such an unexpected jolt of pure pleasure that her pussy gave out a short, involuntary spasm of its own, sending shudders of pleasure all over her body and trapping Greenie’s ribcage between her clenched thighs until she could think straight again.

“Do it again,” she gasped. “Only deeper.”

“N-no,” managed Greenie. “I promised.”

After a quick swallow to regain her wits, Twilight put her forehoves onto Greenie’s shoulders and shuddered. “How about… we do like when you first licked my pussy. We do a little, then see how well that goes, and do a little more—”

“By the end of that night, you almost suffocated me,” said Greenie. “You got your thighs around my head so tight I couldn’t breathe. I was afraid you were going to have to write a different letter. Dear Princess Celestia, how do I hide a body?”

“Not nearly as much fun as a permission letter.” Twilight eased back as Greenie let her down until she was resting her squishy self on the base of his delightful cock again. “I don’t see why we can’t just try a little. I mean—” she began running her hooves up and down his chest while rocking forward “—you made me this way. You kissed me, and that was so good…” She squished a little further up his warm cock. “Then you kissed me in other places, and more places, until you got that nosy nose right where it did the most good. I never would have licked your—” she bent down and licked his nose “—cock if you hadn’t driven me so crazy. You made me feel so good that I had to reciprocate, and we’ve gone back and forth, further along in just a few weeks than I ever expected in forever. And I think we’re ready for the next step.”

She knew it was the wrong thing to say the moment the words left her mouth. ‘The next step’ was exactly what he complained about his parents saying when they were pressing for him to marry ‘into a proper unicorn family.’ Those powerful slow-rocking hips beneath her stopped, and she could feel a wave of tension fill his chest. It made her just furious at herself and her big mouth, and more than a little afraid of what would happen to him if someday she did not come back from one of their missions for Princess Celestia.

“I’m sorry,” she managed, only to feel those strong forelegs sweep up her sides, press into her tense shoulder blades, and pull her down against his broad padded chest for a welcome kiss.

“You,” he started between gentle kisses, “have nothing to apologize for. Any clashes between my parents and my own thick head are entirely on me. Although right now at this instant, I could not be happier that I managed to hold them off for this long, because it means I have you.” He gave her a long, determined kiss that left absolutely no doubt that he was giving her his full attention for however long she wanted. It would have been so easy just to remain there, spending hours wrapped around him while her mind calmed in his presence.

She couldn’t.

“I’m afraid,” managed Twilight when she broke for air. She struggled back to a sitting position, scooting back far enough that she was not pressing against his exposed cock, yet not so far that she would squish his balls while they got comfortable. It was one of the lessons she had learned from the adorable teacher, and she had to admit to teaching him several of her own discoveries in the process, but that was not important right now.

“That’s why I made the—” started Greenie, only to be cut off.

“—the promise,” finished Twilight. “I know. You’re afraid too. You’re afraid of marriage, you’re afraid of how powerful I can be, you’re afraid of others controlling your life, and I’m one of the others. And I’m afraid every time Princess Celestia sends me and my friends off on a dangerous mission, I’m afraid I’ll never return, and I’ll fail everybody I lo—”

She froze up on the word, the word neither of them could speak out loud. To admit that word would mean an inevitable checkbox had been crossed out, with huge tracts of unknown beyond. A terrifying, soul-sucking passage into things that could not be checklisted or planned around, where two hearts began to beat as one, and their mingling of souls would create another pony in their image. A tiny pony made of that word, and growing within her body until it became large enough to be born, to eat and poo and read early chapter books, who would look up to her as a mother, and probably destroy the whole world when she screwed up that too…

Though the chill of her fear, Greenie’s warm embrace grew crushing, and he buried his nose into her twitching ear. “Twilight Sparkle never fails,” he breathed. “You only think you’re afraid.”

“I’m not afraid when I’m with my friends,” she blurted out as the tension flowed away in his welcome embrace. “Or when we’re together. Not just like we are now. When we’re having sex, I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Except getting caught having sex with your friends.”

Twilight gasped, and Greenie ran his hooves up her ribs, turning the gasp into a welcome giggle that she stifled into his neck.

“I would never have sex with one of my friends,” she managed between the giggles. “The rest of them would get jealous, and I can’t have sex with all five of them. At once. Unless we made a chart. And a schedule.”

“You’ve got a lot more than five friends,” mumbled Greenie into her neck with a few additional nibbles. “I’m not sharing. We’d need a much larger bed, for starters. The way you keep gaining friends, I’m not sure there’s a bed anywhere big enough. The wedding would be epic, though.”

Twilight released a terribly embarrassing giggle-snort. “You can joke about weddings, but you can’t take one seriously. I can take intercourse seriously, but I can’t joke about sex. What are we going to do with each other?”

Greenie demonstrated with her assistance for a short while, and in a most delightful way, before she pulled away and sat on him again with a quiet and pleasurable squish. “Seriously. Why not?”

“Because you’re afraid of two things,” he responded almost immediately while still running his hooves along her chest. “No, there needs to be a better word for what I’m thinking. After we’re done in bed, I’ll go look it up in your thesaurus. You’re still afraid—” he touched her gently on the chest with the tip of one hoof “—of what that horny little cretin tried to do to you so many years ago. You want to screw me senseless to show yourself that you’re in full control of your body and your mind, which is silly because anypony who spends more than a few minutes around you knows that already.”

“I am not a silly pony,” stated Twilight with the most sincerity she could manage in this position. “But… you’re probably a little right there. I would say it’s about fifteen or twenty down on the list of Why I Want To Have Intercourse With My Sexy Studmuffin. And… I don’t think I would have admitted it if you were not rubbing… ahhh, right there,” she added as Greenie moved his hips in a slow, regular pattern and pressed the prickling base of his sheath against her tingling pussy. “Y-you said two,” she managed after a few long strokes that she suspected were as much cock as she was going to get this morning.

He hesitated before continuing breathlessly. “It’s not impor… Well, it’s important, but I can’t think of how to phrase it without sounding like an egotistical jerk. And I can’t lie to you.”

“But you want to fuck me,” said Twilight, sliding forward again along his rigid cock. “You certainly can’t lie about that. It’s obvious.”

“Why is it we can b-both see what the other is afraid of, and not admit it to our… Um, you better move down a little if I’m expected to talk.” After a quick breath and a little rearrangement, he said in a quick burst, “You’re afraid you’ll lose me if you don’t fuck me.”

“That’s… um…”

Twilight had to stop moving in order to think even a little clearer, although she remained perched on her previous goal. She wanted to keep going, to press her sopping marehood around his cock and hump until the troublesome thoughts all cleared out from her mind, except he had placed one hoof squarely on the exact point she had been evading. Their relationship had grown so fast, like a crystal in a supersaturated solution, which left her with a tiny fleck of fear in the back of her mind that he was just toying with her. Or worse, that she was treating him like some sort of alchemical experiment, and once she had exhausted their potential experiment points, she would toss him aside and write her conclusions in a paper which she then would lock into her bottom desk drawer and never take out again.

It gave her a hollow feeling in the center of her chest that the blazing fire of lust could not touch. Then again, the Forbidden Word kept popping up in her mind whenever she thought those depressing thoughts, the tempting concept of what it would be like to be with him forever, to explore every single facet of his personality and body, to grow old together, to fight and make up, to see their children have children, and to be joined as one in heart and mind with nothing held back…

“Possible,” she managed after some time. “Do you really think so?”

“Yeah.” He ran his forelegs up her back and brought her down onto his chest for some slower hugging. “I’ve seen it at school far too often. One of the frat guys gets all happy that his marefriend is willing to put out all of the sudden, when all of us knew their relationship was going to pot. Then comes the crash, the boom, and the split.”

“So you’re afraid if I do let you screw me senseless,” continued Twilight slowly, “that I’ll leave.”

There was a moment of hesitation, then a nod. “I keep thinking you’ll see me for who I am. A hornless horny fraud. A cheater. A poor student.”

“A thoughtful lover,” said Twilight with a kiss, and continued across his face. “A faithful companion, who likes it when his silly marefriend talks in bed. A fellow bookworm. Somepony who will stand up for me when I want to sit down. Someone who takes away the fear and the tension of life, and replaces it with this roaring fire under my ribs. And eventually, after we work through the correct checklists, a good father.”

“Our kids,” said Greenie during a muffled kiss, “are going to be soooo screwed up.”

“And if I catch one of them in bed with another pony, I’m going to be so hypocritical,” murmured Twilight during the return kiss.

“You’ll be hypocritical?” snorted Greenie. “I will be a raging example of hypocrisy. You will be able to look into the dictionary and see my face as the definition of that word. I will rant so hard my father will look like an example of tranquility and peace by comparison.”

“You will not,” said Twilight with a welcome laugh that loosened the faint lines of tension that had begun to creep up her sides again. “You will be the same adorable squish that every one of your young students have put on their own pillar. And that an older and far wiser one…”

It was either kiss or say the Forbidden Word she could not say, so they decided on the far more pleasurable option. She never finished the sentence, but she did start a new one after they broke for air.

“I’m sorry for pressuring you into intercourse,” she started, “if you’re sorry for pressuring me to write a letter to Princess Celestia asking for permission.”

“Why should either of us be sorry?” He rested one hoof each on either side of her flanks, right over her cutie mark, which was a very ticklish and wriggly spot for her. “Every time you try to get at my body, I get this raging feeling of importance, that you desire me more than anything else in the world. That all those fears you’ve been fighting through your life are less important than us. And someday when you present that letter from your teacher, even that last fear will be conquered by the inestimable Twilight Sparkle.”

She wriggled, despite her best efforts to remain still. “I’m not all that—”

“Yes, you are,” said Greenie, nuzzling her nose. “You are afraid that Princess Celestia still thinks of you as a helpless foal. Do you think she will be angry that you have grown into your own body after you’ve done so much for Equestria? I certainly don’t think so, or I never would have made that promise.”

“Hypocrite.” Twilight poked him gently in the chest. “Let’s take the morning train to Canterlot. We can be standing in front of her by noon, so I can ask her directly.” She managed to keep a straight face for a few seconds before breaking out in giggles. “And we… stop that… can borrow her bedroom… eek!”

It was not exactly an apology, but she still accepted the kisses and mutual touching while returning them in proper proportion until it was Greenie’s turn to break for air, looking deep into her eyes and speaking from the heart.

“When we make love, I want it to be the right time, not the most convenient time, or the most horny time. I want no regrets, no reluctance, no fear at all for either of us. Other than the normal fear of trying something new, I suppose,” he clarified with a soft kiss. “I don’t think we’ll ever get over all of our fears, but we can face them together.”

After some more kissing, Twilight pulled away just far enough to rest her nose on his. “So… Until I’m properly documented, I can still tease you about fucking, rub my pussy against your cock, and do everything except that?”

Greenie wrinkled up his nose. “I would be disappointed if you stopped. It’s a lot of fun, and an incredible ego boost.”

“And we don’t have to stop any other kind of sex, right?” asked Twilight, wriggling back and forth at the touch of his hooves on her rear to feel the press of his rigid cock against her belly.

“I’ve created a monster,” murmured Greenie into her cheek. “Of course we can keep—”

“Good.” Twilight lunged forward and grabbed onto the headboard with her forehooves, then settled down to press her wet pussy against Greenie’s hot cock. “Because this monster is hungry, Spike is making pancakes downstairs, and I can’t walk around town all day with you while dripping. Ahhh, yeahhh. Right there.”

She trailed her tail over Greenie’s balls while settling down down, allowing his cock to press into the crack of her pussy and her convulsive twitches to wedge it deeper. It could not reach inside and tickle the parts she really wanted tickled, but it could and did feel absolutely fantastic on the outside.

“And no fair cranking me up for hours of this,” she panted. “One and done. Pancakes. Oh, stars that’s nice,” she added as Greenie’s cock teased her clit out from its folds and the resulting bolts down her touchy nerves made her grab onto the headboard so hard it creaked. Even if she couldn’t stuff that hot cock up her pussy, she could imagine the feeling of it plunging in and out as his cock rubbed again her clit, and the burst of hot marecum when he gently began to rub her cutie mark on each flank with the tip of his hooves and just…

She had been cranked up so hard to this point that it was far more powerful than any orgasm she had before, to the point where she was really concerned about either breaking Greenie’s ribs with her back legs or tearing the headboard off the bed with her forelegs. She could feel the muscles of his barrel tense in the middle of her convulsions, and his cock jerked rhythmically, spraying hot ejaculate across his upper chest.

At one time in the recent past, Twilight would have been upset about making a mess in the long chest floof of such a snuggleable stallion. That was another fear she had put behind her with the assistance of the mess-maker clutched between her trembling legs.

Well, and an effective cleaning spell afterward.

She held still as the two of them cooled off, fully aware of how sensitive he was after orgasm, yet another lesson she had learned from their mutual educational experiences. It was such a quiet and floating time that she could feel her pulse where they pressed together, two hearts beating as one while their hearts slowed to a normal rhythm. After such a sensitive and intimate time, there should have been some romantic words to trade once they recovered, with gentle touches and affectionate nuzzles. She decided on a different action, before they got carried away and missed pancakes altogether.

“Greenie,” she cautioned after quietly spitting out a small splinter from the headboard, “if you touch my teats, I’m going to nip your nose.” As the gentle hooves moved away from her sensitive groin, she had to add, “After breakfast, and spending some time outside, we’ll come back to bed and keep going. I swear, you’re going to make me bite through the headboard yet.”

“A librarian bookmark,” he said with one long stroke of a hoof down her twitching tummy, adding a dot at the bottom that made her giggle.

“We can’t spend all of our time in bed. A quarter, at most,” she chided him while getting out the tissues and starting a cleaning spell to deal with the pool of ejaculate mostly contained to his furry chest. It was going to be so good when they both got over their respective resistances, and she planned on making good and proper use of every sticky drop internally once that day came. Of course, she would have to write the permission letter to Princess Celestia first, and she was not quite there yet. Nor was she ever under any circumstances willing to write said letter to her own parents, because they would keep it in the family history book, and she would be embarrassed in front of relatives for decades. And her mother might send advice. Cadence certainly would.

“Acting like newlyweds already,” said Greenie with only a slight hesitation from both of them after the word was spoken, and the resulting damping of their mutual warm glow. “That shall wait for later,” he quickly declared. “M’lady hath vanquished yon serpent with the power of her passion, and it already retreats into its lair.”

“You’re just saying that because you want to be in the sequel tonight.” Twilight mopped up a last drip at the ‘lair’ of the serpent, then swooped down to kiss Greenie on the lips. “Come on, up,” she added after rolling off the bed. “Pancakes.”

“Right after you,” said Greenie with a brief grunt to get out of his mattress dent. “I’d follow that happy tail anywhere. Um, dear? You left a little happy there.”

“Got it.” Twilight mopped away some of their mutual moisture with an additional tissue. “What are you going to do if I take this happy tail up the wedding aisle?”

“Check out the rest of you,” chirped Green Grass in a happy trill while shrugging into his vest, “because I might be following the wrong mare, and someday when we wind up there, if we do, I want to be positive.” He took an appreciative look from nose to tail before giving her a long, warm kiss. “Yep, that’s the beautiful mare who captured my heart and totally scrambled all of my long-term goals.”

“I remember long-term goals,” said Twilight with a long sigh and a distant look. “Of course, that was before Nightmare Moon, that Ursa Minor, my friendship studies, and this horney, hat-wearing hunk.” She placed Greenie’s hat firmly on his hornless head and gave it a fashionable tilt.

“If I may be so crude,” said Greenie, leaning closer. “Screw long-term goals.” He kissed her, but drew back when her heart began beating harder and she leaned forward into his lips. “Short-term goals are far better for now. Pancakes. Dealing with our daily tasks. And then…”

Twilight kissed him on the nose. “Reading with you downstairs in the library until closing time.”

He kissed back. “Finding an excuse for Spike to go visit Rarity this evening.”

She smiled. “And maybe, just perhaps, writing the first draft of a letter to—”

He held a hoof over her lips. “Shh. Too long-term. Pancakes are calling.”

And as the two of them strolled downstairs to the library’s cozy kitchenette for breakfast, a lone piece of paper fluttered quietly on top of the dresser drawers. On it was the scribbled permission letter Twilight had been attempting to write as a joke a mere hour ago, barely legible due to the tickling she had been receiving during the process.

Hours later, when the two returned to the bedroom, the letter was long gone.

Neither of them noticed, or paid the slightest bit of attention to the lingering scent of dragonfire.

They had more important things on their minds.

Author's Note

Thankfully, Spike seldom read leftover friendship letters he found around the house before sending them on to Princess Celestia.