The Maretian - The Secret Logs

by Clopficsinthecomments

Rating: mature
Tags: Romance, Changelings, Porn, Science Fiction, Starlight Glimmer, Sex, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Human
Length: 26011

Shortly after Dragonfly's emergence from her stasis cocoon she finds that her situation is still desperately in need of emotional and magical sustenance. The changeling will need to turn to new, lewd, methods of feeding if she hopes to escape mars!

This is an AU clopfic of the wonderful AU story The Maretian by the equally wonderful Kris Overstreet.

Coverart by the awesome Manifest Harmony! Thanks so much!

Set just after Mars Ares mission date Sol 287, when Dragonfly, the plucky engineer changeling of the castaway crew of five Equestrians cohabiting with Mark Watney (recently stranded Earth astronaut), has emerged from her self-imposed exile in a long term cocoon.

She'd imprisoned herself out of concern for her crewmates when her stock of magical energies dropped so low that she found herself attacking Mark Watney to drain him of his delicious emotions and magic. Her months-long sentence helped her to recover... but not fully.

With nothing else to support herself with, Dragonfly turns to a forbidden source of magical and emotional sustenance, long-denied to changelings: lust.

Follow along as she desperately tries to convince Starlight Glimmer and Mark Watney to do the dirty deed together... so that she can refuel off their little tryst!

SPOILER: Contains human on pony action! If you find such things squick, look elsewhere!

Published 2018-09-29 01:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2018-10-31 00:41:04 UTC

Sol 288 - ENCRYPTED

Author's Note

Hey there readers!

I usually don't put my A/N's at the top of my stories but I felt it was appropriate here.

This is a little side 'passion-project' of mine. I have been absolutely loving the story The Maretian written by the excellent author, Kris Overstreet. If you are a fan of science fiction, MLP, and human/pony stories READ this fic!

Anyway, this clopfic is a little homage to Kris. I'm going to do my best to mimic his excellent style of short, poignant updates that move between diary entries, telegraphic morse code logs, and more regular narrative.

If you are a fan of the series, I hope you'll enjoy my little smutfic, meant to complement Kris's excellent story. If you feel strongly against human x pony relations... this fic is NOT for you: I don't want you to be upset! Just ignore it! Definitely some WatneyGlimmer ships will be sailing in these waters.

For those of you who have NOT read the fic but still want to get your dose of unicorn x human smut here's the brief notes:

Mark Watney (of The Martian fame) has been stranded on Mars. He has to find a way to survive for hundreds of sols (martian days) on a barren planet with supplies meant for only a month of human habitation. Hold the phone though, unlike the movie and novel Watney isn't alone! Joining him are five equestrians whose interdimensional drive malfunctioned and sent them to our universe, including:

-Dragonfly: Changeling mechanic and resident cutesybug
-Cherry Berry: Mission commander and earth-pony pilot extraordinaire
-Starlight Glimmer: magical science officer
-Spitfire: Medic and Wonderbolt veteran
-Fireball: Dragon EVA specialist

At this point in the story, much of the major hurdles, such as food, language, magic and more have risen and fallen before the plucky strength of our protagonists. Among the things helping them were a cave that they sealed to make airtight and begin a small potato/alfafa farm within, as well as small doses of magic (our universe is starved of magic, making its use quite agonizing and difficult for the Equestrians).

And that is also one of the major drivers for the action in this clopfic! Poor little Dragonfly lost her mind some 52 sols prior, a result of pure magic starvation. After 'accidentally' draining Watney of much of his magic and emotion, she decided to seal herself into a long-term cocoon to prevent herself from doing anything else to her beloved crew.

We pick up just after the bug has been rescued from her self-imposed cocooning. Saved up magic and good will beamed toward her pod finally roused her, much to the happiness of her crew.

In Kris's original story, Dragonfly manages to get along with some additional magic rationing from stored batteries, and a renewed sense of openness with her crew.

I'm going to explore instead what might have happened if she needed a... different source of magical emotional energy to give herself a boost.

And so we pick up the story in flight! Enjoy!

Sol 288 - ENCRYPTED

ENCRYPTED MISSION LOG - SOL 288

There is NO way that I’m going to be transmitting this log entry on the pathfinder feed. I’m not even going to be putting the thing in the usual log folders… I’m password encrypting this TWICE, then sticking it in a deep dark folder tree with extremely unassuming labels just like I used to as a young man hiding a porn stash from his parents.

There’s a part of me that thinks I shouldn’t record any of this at all, but my inner-scientist is screaming that I would be letting down countless hordes of present and future psychologists and behavioralists. Eh, actually, those guys were always lame in college anyways: talk about soft science, I think they just didn’t want to get their hands dirty like the rest of us.

Nah, it’s probably just force of habit and trying to sort through all the feelings that’s getting me to write this down. Still though, I ain’t risking this over any transmissions, encrypted or not. If Venkat or Teddy want access to this juicy info they’ll have to accept it via good ol’ physical transfer: me giving them a USB stick directly to them… probably while also apologizing profusely for what they’re about to read.

Why all the secrecy? Well… I have a date. Actually, even more than a date… I have a booty call.

That’s right all you earth playboys and hook-up artists. You think you’ve got game? Well Mark Watney is so desirable that he attracts females from other dimensions!

Oomph. Just typing that out made my head hurt. It is REALLY hard to joke about this.

Sure, Niven may have made Rishathra seem like not such a big deal, but when it’s actually YOU who’s gonna be performing, let me tell you… it’s a bit uncomfortable.

It seems our resident struggle-snuggle-bug (what? Since these logs aren’t going out anytime soon you’re gonna get Mark Watney even LESS filtered) may have emerged from her cocoon, but she hasn’t quite kicked the whole ‘I don’t have enough magic to prevent myself from going crazy’ thing.

And that’s where all this madness started, it seems her Queen-evil-bug-leader has wisely suggested that letting our adorable little overgrown mosquito go feral again may not be the best game plan. Unfortunately, it would seem that the alternative is going to involve feral acts of a different type.

In any case, I’ve got to go get ready for the rest of the day and try to avoid raising the temperature of the hab from my sheer, boiling blush. I’ve noticed that poor Starlight seems to be going through the same thing (more on that later), though Dragonfly seems to be having no problem with our impending… ‘arrangement.’

I’ll check in later today as we get closer to ‘zero hour.’

I guess I should make sure to brush my teeth?

The previous day, Dragonfly had barely noticed that she was sinking into a deepening sinkhole. Rapid fire splashes of water poured from her life-support unit, staccato bursts of venom-laced invectives from Queen Chrysalis, each ringing as clearly in Dragonfly’s ears as if the Queen had managed to find some way to cross the interdimensional link and upbraid her in person.

Occasionally, Chrysalis would pause after a particularly long string of angry upbraiding rebukes just long enough to convey a terse ‘OVER’, signal. Dragonfly would meekly tap out ‘COPY, OVER’ in mares code, which would allow Chrysalis to launch into her next tirade: the queen wanted to make sure that she was not speaking to an empty room.

After some time, well after Mark and Starlight had forced Dragonfly to reposition herself so as not to transform part of their farm into a lake, Chrysalis’s anger finally relented… slightly.

ESA: QC - DF Standby for confidential message. Request you clear area of team members or locate to solo area. Over

AMICITAS: DF - Standby. Relocating. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Go ahead. Have asked for privacy and relocated to deeper area of cave farm. Over.

ESA: QC - Roger, I have cleared the room in Baltimare and will only use suit DF. Confirm identity from challenge question: what do I call all new larvae? Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Really? A bit embarrassing. Over.

ESA: QC - Yes. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - My lovely little Honeybuggl-

ESA: QC - Break break Identity confirmed. We shall not speak of this again. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Understood. Over.

ESA: QC - Dragonfly, now that you are alone, I am ordering you to reveal to me your current state of magical and biological hunger. No concealment. No sugarcoating. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Not great. Check that. Not good. It’s bad. The cocoon helped recover some magical energy, but already I’m back into a state of light drain. The ramped-up level of distrust from my lapse has yet to clear, also. The team is doing their best to keep feelings toward me positive, but I have a reduced flow of biological emotional sustenance as well. Over.

ESA: QC - How large are the holes in your exoskeleton. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Stage 4. Larger than my hooves in multiple places. Over.

ESA: QC - Dragonfly. I don’t need to tell you that you are the most important person to me on that planet. Cherry is another I want to get back, and the rest of the crew, even the alien, would be too… but you MUST survive. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - I understand my queen. I’m doing all I can to try to achieve that. Over.

ESA: QC - Have you considered completely draining all your crewmates? Energy gained would sustain you, and you would still be able to direct them while they are in highly pliable state. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Negative. My queen, not only can I not consider this for ethical reasons, would it not also cause major conflict and extermination for the hive because of your actions? Over.

ESA: QC - I could manage it, I’m willing to lose some good will to save drones. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - I’m touched. But it doesn’t matter anyway, my queen. Losing the higher functions of my crewmates would be just as much of a death sentence as starving. Too many problems requiring specialist solutions I wouldn’t be able to provide. And even if… still… I wouldn’t do it. Over

ESA: QC - I thought as much. Just had to ask. In light of the circumstances I am considering authorization of solo ‘pink-energy’ consumption. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - What? Can I… can I even do that? I thought that pink-energy could only be consumed from podded ponies, trapped in dreams… and only during holidays? I thought that changelings explode if they consume ‘pink energy’. Over.

ESA: QC - Misinformation used to control the hive. Pink energy collection can occur live, from a solo drone, in the wild. However, it is highly addictive, would eventually lead to hive becoming debauched and unmanageable if use became widespread, hence its control. However, these circumstances are certainly unique. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - But… how… what the hay am I supposed to do? Over.

ESA: QC - Utilize digestive compounds 15, 32, in conjunction with salivary gland excretion 3. Will form powerful anti-inhibition fluid. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - I mean… that’s helpful. But. I’m talking more about… who… and how? Over.

ESA: QC - When a mommy pony and a daddy pony love each other very much. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Very funny. Not what I meant. I’m dealing with multiple species, including an alien, all in a constant life and death situation! How am I supposed to pull this off? Over.

ESA: QC - You are an excellent changeling and were a first-rate infiltrator. You’ll figure it out. That’s an order. Pink energy collection authorized. I expect an update by tomorrow. Chrysalis Out.

AMICITAS: DF - Received. Out.

Dragonfly’s return to the hab was interesting. She was welcomed back with plenty of hugs and much happiness from her fellow crewmates, like a homecoming of a family member from having been away on a long vacation. Throughout the day the tastes of curious bemusement and contentedness were touching and offset the acrid taste of uneasy distrust that lingered. She could tell that the hab had felt emptier without her presence for the past few weeks, but that her return was quite welcome.

For Dragonfly, she had the sensation of having woken up after a deep sleep. Long-term hibernation was not common among changelings of her stripe back on Equestria. Though she had some sensation of the time that had passed, she was conscious that she had missed out on subtle shifts in the dynamics.

That would make her task even harder.

Still, she had some idea of where she wanted to begin. She began to trot over to Starlight, currently stretched out on her bunk, flicking through a novel on Mark’s laptop, lying prone on her belly as she relaxed idly.

“Hey, Starlight… got a minute?”

Starlight glanced up over the edge of her laptop, a small surge of annoyance slipping through her, before it was replaced with concern and fondness for the recently returned changeling. “Uhh… sure thing Dragonfly,” Starlight closed the lid of the laptop, “what’s up?”

Dragonfly glanced about quickly. The confines of the hab were not exactly the best place for private conversation. At the moment, however, this would be about as good as it would get. Mark and Cherry had gone outside to clean the solar panels and stretch their legs. Spitfire was doing a shift in the rover monitoring for communications from NASA, and Fireball seemed preoccupied on the other side of the hab, carefully sorting and resorting his stack of gems - a habit which would help calm his dragon-hoarding instincts.

“Well…” Dragonfly sighed, rubbing one hoof over another, doing her best to seem vulnerable, “for starters, I hope you don’t mind if we keep this private.”

Starlight frowned. “I don’t know Dragonfly, you’ve gotten into a lot of trouble recently keeping secrets.”

Dragonfly let out the breath she’d been holding, trying to look a bit deflated. “That’s true. But that was me keeping secrets from everyone, in this case I’m sharing one with you. Also, I’m kind of new to this whole ‘go-completely-against-your-instincts-and-tell-everypony-everything’ kick, so I wouldn’t mind if you help me start slow.” She looked up at Starlight with puppy-dog like eyes.

Starlight’s resolve melted ever so slightly, she wasn’t expecting such vulnerability. “Huh… OK-ok... what’s going on?” Starlight sat up, now looking directly at the changeling, who was commanding all her attention.

“Well, you may have seen earlier today I had a nice long discussion with Chrysalis.”

“Sheesh, that’s an understatement. And I thought that Cherry Berry had a diverse vocabulary of insults.” Starlight grinned.

“Where do you think Cherry got half of her lexicon from? But… yeah… I got chewed out pretty bad. Rightfully so.” Dragonfly slumped. “You may have also noticed that she then called me aside for a private conversation.”

Starlight’s left ear flicked, now THIS was getting interesting. “Yes… but I thought you said Chrysalis was going to share some sort of super-secret changeling-only information.” Starlight set the laptop aside and sat onto the edge of her bunk, giving Dragonfly a spot to climb up beside her. “Why are you suddenly talking about that?” Starlight’s guard went up quickly. “Is this some kind of infiltration tactic? Are you manipulating me right now?”

Dragonfly sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Yep. Truth be told, I’m using the most effective infiltration tactic that has ever existed, it’s so good in fact that we only turn to it as a last resort…”

Starlight’s eyebrow arched upward in curiosity and suspicion.

Dragonfly grinned wryly and went on, “...it’s called telling the truth.”

Starlight rolled her eyes and couldn’t suppress a giggle at how corny that sounded.

“Yeah yeah, yuck it up. But I’m going to tell you exactly what I told Chrysalis a few hours ago: I’m far from out of the woods. My biological emotional hunger is greater than ever, and though I’m not magical-critical… I’m still net negative.”

Starlight’s brows furrowed. “B-but we’ve got more batteries now - I could set up more magical field time to supp-”

Dragonfly shook her head and caught off the unicorn. “Trust me, I’ve run the numbers. I’m worried that I’m going to be running into magical starvation, or emotional-hunger starvation within the next 80 sols… the only question is which will come first.”

Starlight sighed and softened, reaching a hoof out to pat the back of the changeling. “You told this to Chrysalis? What did she have to say?”

“Full transparency? She suggested I mind-enslave all of you to keep myself alive.” Dragonfly whispered, seeing Glimmer stiffen once more she quickly added. “I think she was joking. Kind of. The old ways die hard for her. Anyway… she came up with a second solution. One which doesn’t involve me getting all hissy at you guys.”

Starlight let out a restrained breath. “So, what’s that?”

Dragonfly paused a moment and thought. “Starlight… have you ever wondered what color different emotions might look like?”

“Not particularly? I mean anger being red is pretty common, depression blue… that kind of thing.”

Dragonfly nodded. “Not far from the truth either, and let me tell you, reds and blues ain’t so tasty.” Dragonfly sighed, “Unfortunately there’s been a lot of red and blue around this hab lately. Not so much yellow… fondness either. Just enough to get by. But tell me… what emotion do you think pink would represent?”

Starlight shrugged her shoulders. “Love?”

Dragonfly shook her head. “Close but no. Love is actually kind of a mix between pink, red and yellow. It’s really complex and filled with good nutrients for us changelings… no pink is something else entirely… pink is lust”

Starlight cocked her head slightly in confusion. “Lust?”

Dragonfly nodded. “Yep. And it’s actually a rare one for changelings to experience. We’re taught from an early age not to take things ‘too far’ when in disguise. And when we’re out of disguise we usually don’t have to worry about ponies or other species getting too frisk with us… though there are some exceptions…”

Starlight cleared her throat. She didn’t like where this was going. “What does this have to do with you starving?”

“Well… pink emotions… lust emotions, when fresh and potent, can be massive boosts to changeling emotion stores. So much so that only a few minutes could replace weeks of love.” Dragonfly motioned with a hoof at the air idly, as she waffled around her point.

“So why wouldn’t changelings be nomming on this super-potent lust energy then?” Starlight asked, hesitantly her mind trying to catch up to where this train of conversation was going.

“Well, we’re conditioned from an early age not to taste the stuff, unless it’s extracted by specific changelings and shared during specific holidays. Up until a few hours ago I thought that if I dipped my toe in the pink well I’d die… messily. Apparently, that’s just a fake warning Chrysalis and other queens have fabricated to discourage changelings from trying it.”

Starlight shook her head. “Why?”

“Well… according to Chrysalis the stuff is quite addictive… and hives quickly become giant orgy-pits… which apparently are quite unmanageable.” Dragonfly shrugged.

“OK. So why are we talking about this?” Starlight carefully voiced, not wanting to hear what she knew was coming next.

“Well, the Queen gave me the green light to utilize the lust emotion… and… given the dire straits I’m in… I really don’t see another way forward right now.” Dragonfly slowly twisted her head so that she was staring Glimmer straight in the face.

“W-wait.” Starlight coughed, “W-wait… lust energy… you’re talking about… sex?” She nearly coughed out the word.

“Shh… not so loud, fireball might hear.” Dragonfly fluttered her wings.

Starlight’s eyes flashed over to the dragon, then back to the changeling. “Wait… and you’re only telling me… which means… you’re…” The unicorn’s pink face quickly turned a much more crimson shade of red.

Dragonfly’s emotional taste buds sipped from the cacophony of surprise, shock, embarrassment, nervousness, disgust, flattery, and even mild curiosity pouring from the stunned and stuttering Starlight, before she finally relented. “No… no not me and you Starlight. Though I’m flattered you’d consider me. No… I might end up using just as much energy that I absorbed if I did anything with you. Not sure if you’re my type either… though we changelings don’t really have types so much as tastes wh-”

Starlight had finally recovered enough to reply with half-whispered outrage and a stern reprimanding thump on Dragonfly’s head. “D-don’t shock me like that! What did you expect me to think with a lead up like that! Wait… if you did anything with me? What do you-”

“I want you and Mark to bang.” Dragonfly deadpanned.

“What.”

Quick little post-note!

As I mentioned, this is a small passion-project for me. In homage to Kris's style, I'm going to try to do with with brief, short updates until I've completed the story! Very different from my usual 'one and dones'!

This one is purely for my own enjoyment, I'm not looking for any popularity or heat on this fic, just something to share with other clop-thirsty fans of 'The Maretian'!

Sol 288.5 - ENCRYPTED

ENCRYPTED MISSION LOG - SOL 288.5

Aaand I’m back.

I usually try to avoid multiple log entries: I’m a mission specialist in botany, not journaling.

That said, I have some more thoughts on the matter, which seem to be running through my head over and over like a caffeine-loaded hamster on a well-greased wheel.

I won’t deny that I’ve done my best over the past few hours to remember each and every thing about equine sexual habits and breeding that I can. For all the good it may do. To pretend the two species are even remotely related is a bit of stretch, and even if they were… Well let’s just say that if someone tried to discern the courting habits of modern humans living in Chicago from the mating habits of bonobos… it would make for an interesting tinder date to say the least (for those not in the know, the range of bonobos social activities include penis fencing, sex to say hello, sex to say “how are you”, sex to say “not bad, how about you”... heck even if they sneeze I think that they’ll end up boning in some way.

Suffice it to say, I’ll be mightily surprised if my pink-wizard friend trots in front of me, hikes her tail, urinates on the dirt, then expects me to lap that up and exhibit the flehmen response before mounting her… and now that hamster is really going.

There’s definitely a big part of me that wants to just say no way, Jose at this point. But I know what’s at stake here - Dragonfly may be a bit of a manipulative little social engineer of a cuddlebug, but that just means she really knows just how difficult this is for Starlight and me… and by corollary induction, how critically important it is for her to do this. Dragonfly is definitely mission critical - the least I can do is try, for her sake. I like the little bug.

I’m still wondering why I’m even writing these logs. Even if I don’t scrub these before we leave this rock, NASA is pretty notorious for being guarded about extra-curricular activities in space.

Since we really are distant relatives of bonobos, we humans really do have an obsession with sex, and our space exploration is no exception to that fascination. ‘Has anyone had sex in space?’ is pretty much everyone’s second or third question about space. I can tell you, even as an ‘insider’ astronaut, nobody’s spilling the beans. Maybe Teddy has a secret vault under his desk that has all data on micro-gravity sex positions, replete with full audio and video.

Not that it would be the most titillating (heh, ‘titillating’) material. Sex in microgravity would run into issues with basic Newtonian mechanics once things started bumping into each other. Even using stability tools like bands or restraints (and not the fun types) so that tab A and slot B don’t go bouncing off every surface in the spacecraft in opposite directions (like some weird, sexual version of pong), things only get grosser from there…

You see, in microgravity, fluids work much differently. Surface tension of water-based liquids dominates. If you try to wring out a soaked towel in space, you end up with a weird, shimmering coating of water encasing your now damp cloth. Now imagine two naked bodies coated in a sheen of sweat and other grody fluids. It won’t help that air doesn’t circulate great in micro-gravity either. You’d have to make sure that there is enough circulation to avoid hot spots and even pockets of built up CO2 which could cause asphyxia (again, not the fun type… not that I’m into that).

So long story short, aside from speculative rumors about Mark Lee and Jan Davis (who married each other shortly before flying up on the shuttle… where they would have been constantly in the presence of other crew-members: unlikely to convince the wife on THAT locale), people in the know assumed we astronauts are essentially stoic, Benedictine monks while on mission.

But those who are REALLY in the know, have realized that while sex is a difficult activity to pull off in microgravity, wanking off isn’t… Definitely NASA’s best kept secret until ISS astronaut Ron Garan let slip in a reddit AMA that astronauts could find some solo ‘quiet time’ in the larger space of the ISS. Though really, if you look closely, it isn’t that hard to tell. For instance, male urine toilet adapter hoses have specific requirements to be able to accept more viscous fluids for expulsion and have corresponding vacuum strengths allowing for just that.

That’s right NASA, I’m blowing the cover wide open on this, since these logs are never getting published anyway! The Hermes’s space-toilet BJ action wasn’t really that good after the first time I tried it though, it’s loud, cold, dispassionate, and it sucks a little too hard… not unlike my last ex (take THAT Deborah) ... maybe the ISS or shuttle toilets were a bit more enjoyable.

No, the better method was definitely the good ol’ fashioned ‘five-finger-girlfriend’. If it was good enough for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronauts, it’s good enough for me! Not that anything was ever confirmed, but those guys were navy, air force, and marines… I’ve met enough of those folks to know that checking off locales where you’ve busted a nut is a point of personal pride - how could you not add surface of moon to that?

Well… maybe not, but still.

Anyway, everyone on Hermes had their own favorite spots, though you wouldn’t talk about it. You just knew when someone headed off to ‘check the wiring’ you knew to avoid that section of the ship for a little while. Also guys out there, let me tell you from personal experience, a date with Palmela Handerson in zero-G is more difficult than it sounds: without the help of vacuum or gravity to keep blood flowing and your noodle growing, you can get a serious case of whiskey dick. A firm grip with one hand or an improvised ring is a MUST (man, I could write for Playboy)!

No, I always liked the gravity ring. It may be a bit boring, but familiar territory makes the entire process MUCH easier. And I didn’t stop when we landed either. Well, I did... I don’t mean I was just constantly… you get the point. I don’t quite remember the first time I found some ‘private time’ here, the addition of guests from another dimension certainly didn’t help things, nor did the multiple attempts of the planet to kill me (that tends to reduce your desire to rub one out), but when things start to get routine… well… why not?

The decontamination shower has been my spot of choice… until the cave was fully secured. Heading out into one of the more private nooks, I won’t deny I’ve helped to ‘fertilize’ Mars’s soil in more ways than one, if you catch my drift.

I will deny that my imagination was straying to any of my crewmates though. Plenty of material from Daisy and other memories were enough for me. I’ve got a good imagination. If you tried to claim that the always-on-display sets of buttholes and lady bits I catch glimpses of constantly had EVER formed a part of my internal cinema, I would deny it up and down. Even if you were to tell me that watching Spitfire and Cherry go through morning back stretches, doing the pony equivalent of the ‘downward dog’ yoga pose, was a sight that any red-blooded male would drool at… I would simply shake my head. I am a rock. Chaste. Immune to their pony wiles!

Man, that hamster is running quickly right now: I’ve been rambling far too much.

I see Dragonfly coming back my way. She’s been acting as the go-between for Starlight and me this afternoon, the equivalent of passing notes in 3rd grade. She’s rather good at being a chaperone / concierge / matchmaker / inter-dimensional chitin-covered pimp, though.

After my initial reaction to her perfectly reasonable and impassioned plea for me to co-star in her little Martian sex-show (essentially just picture me saying ‘Bwaaaah?’ and my jaw hanging open while I tried to reboot my brain for about five minutes), I think she realized that I might not be the suave, smooth, lady-killer mare pick-up artist most people take me for.

So, she’s been playing Cyrano de Bergerac for the both of us… It’s getting a bit ridiculous though, every time I try to meet Starlight’s ye across the hab, she very quickly tries to find something else to do. I think we gotta talk through this or it’s gonna be a disaster when we’re down to the final countdown. Call me a die-hard astronaut, but I kind of hope we get some procedures worked out prior to this launch.

Maybe the bug is bringing me that right now.

Mark shut the lid of his laptop, looking up at Dragonfly, who was slinking over to Mark from the bunk area.

“Hey Mark.” She buzzed casually, seemingly totally unaffected by the impending situation.

“Hey Dragonfly,” Mark choked out, his voice halfway cracking as he spoke, belying just how much pressure he was feeling. Seeing Dragonfly smirk her toothy grin at his lack of comfort, Mark reached up with a free hand to rub his temple, before dropping his voice conspiratorially. “Hey, I know I’ve asked this before… but are you sure you want ME to do… this?”

Dragonfly nodded, putting one hoof over Mark’s hand. “Yep, one hundred percent.”

“Why not Fireball, or Spitfire or Cherry or…”

“Well,” Dragonfly waved him off, “couple of reasons there. Dragons, as far as I’ve been made aware, don’t really get into rut but once every hundred years or so. And while Spitfire and Cherry do have nicer butts than you…”

“Hey!” Mark protested.

Dragonfly shrugged, “Eh, it’s true… but I don’t think either is into mares so much, so I don’t think it would work out so well. But most importantly of all...” Dragonfly shrugged then leaned in even closer to Mark, “Starlight definitely likes you.”

Mark’s eyes went open slightly and he straightened slightly. “Huh. Really?”

Dragonfly nodded. “Yeah. I can’t blame her. You’re definitely still a stink-monkey in my books, but you’ve grown on me. You’re a good guy Mark. A bit patronizing and coddling at times… and annoying as Tartarus ALL the time… but you’re kinda cute once you get used to the other stuff. I think she sees that in you… not to mention all the nerd-outs you two are always sharing.”

“Stop,” Mark rolled his eyes, “my ears are blushing.”

“I’m serious.” Dragonfly pouted, “I’m definitely forcing things to a head, but this wouldn’t even be worth trying if Starlight didn’t find you attractive.” The changeling’s grin became a bit predatory, “You’re her big, smelly, love-predator. A handsome, sexy stink-monkey!”

“Did she say that?” Mark asked skeptically, not believing the mischievous little bug.

Now it was Dragonfly’s turn to roll her eyes. “Of course not, Starlight’s a bit shy about these things… but I’m a changeling Mark. Tasting the true underlying emotions is just what I do.”

“Uh huh.” Mark crossed his arms over his chest, unconvinced.

“Yeah huh.” Dragonfly persisted, “Just like how I can taste your emotions on this… as excited as a high school colt in spring.”

“What? Me!?” Mark pointed at himself. “Are you sure your emotional radar is tuned in right?”

“Admit it, you think she’s cute as a button.” Dragonfly laughed. “I saw… I tasted all your little bursts of affection that popped up every time she assigned us homework on fantasy or science concepts, or when you’d both go down the rabbit-hole discussing the endless magical-science concepts that would have the rest of us snoring. And…” Dragonfly prodded Mark’s shoulder, “I can tell/ when you’re looking at her flank, talk about your pink energy flares.”

“Hey, I thought you weren’t allowed to touch the stuff!”

“Just because I wasn’t consuming it didn’t mean I couldn’t sense it…” Dragonfly chuckled, “I’d have to be blind, I could be on the other side of the hab and know that Starlight was either on her back or had swished her tail up, because of the response from you.”

“OK OK.” Mark hissed, worried that Dragonfly might be speaking too loudly. “Man, that is totally an unfair evolutionary advantage. I wish I had you in high-school, you’d have saved me a lot of awkward date rejections.”

“Aww, poor Mark.” Dragonfly giggled again, “Well, at least I can guarantee you that you won’t be rejected on this date.”

Mark let out a breath, that he hadn’t even known he’d been holding in. “So… how do we do this?”

Dragonfly cocked her head in the other direction now. “What do you mean?”

“Like… how does this work… what are we gonna do?”

Dragonfly shook her head slowly. “Wow, didn’t expect I’d have to run through the basics with you, though I guess that sense of humor is pretty grating. Well Mark, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very m-”

Mark bopped the changeling on the head. “Ha ha. Now get serious. I get the basics, but there could be a lot of difference between humans and ponies in how we do things. You can help with that, you’ve read a lot of my library, so you should have a decent idea of my side of the picture… and I can fill in any gaps. Now on the pony-side: Are there any… uh… techniques… or taboos… or tips that you can give me?”

“Nah.”

Mark frowned and pinched his brow. “...nah? What do you mean, nah?”

“It’s way more fun if you guys have to awkwardly fumble through things. Half of the meal is the awkward moments and embarrassing misunderstandings.” Dragonfly grinned evilly.

Mark’s hands slid up to Dragonfly’s shoulders, momentarily making the changeling worried that he might move them further up to grasp her neck and choke her out of frustration. “Now listen here, you scamp.” Mark growled, “I have a distinct impression that you’re having way too much fun. I’ve gone more than 18 months without getting any and I can happily go another 18 months and let your little bug-butt starve.” Mark joked threateningly.

Dragonfly smiled nervously, inwardly happy that she’d managed to defuse some of Mark’s anxiety, redirecting it cleverly into excitement, frustration, and humor. “Alright alright, my plan is for us to go out to the cave tomorrow, just us three. I’ll make sure everything goes… uh… where it’s supposed to.” Dragonfly couldn’t help herself though, she had to add just a little more... “But… this evening when it’s movie time, I want you to make sure you sit next to Starlight.”

“Huh? Why?”

Dragonfly carefully removed Mark’s hands from her shoulders, preparing for a quick escape. “An emotional meal is like fine dining, Mark. It’s even better if everything has been stewing in a marinade of awkward sexual tension, you see.”

Dragonfly dodged the ill-aimed head bop Mark had attempted, dancing away with a laugh that made Cherry Berry look up from her alfalfa-potato salad on the other side of the hab.

Starlight sat up nervously on her bunk as the chuckling Dragonfly danced over toward her from the kitchen area, fresh from her discussion with mark.

“Hey Starlight.” She buzzed, still grinning.

“H-hey Dragonfly…” Starlight squeaked, as the bug sat down next to her. “Hey, y’know… I know I’ve asked this before… but… are you sure that you want ME to do this?”

Dragonfly looked over at Starlight, her face deadpan. It was almost like they had coordinated their anxious responses. Sighing, she steeled herself for another pep talk. “Yep, a hundred percent.” Dragonfly saw Starlight’s eyes racing over their crewmates, all in the act of doing free-time activities and decided to cut her off, “and no… I don’t think anyone else is well suited, and let me tell you why.”

Starlight’s eyes widened slightly, and she shut her mouth.

Dragonfly looked deeply into the unicorn’s eyes before going on. “I’ve got a few reasons. First: I know you’re in heat. And you have been stuck in that state for months”

Starlight sat up straighter, like she’d been shocked by an electric charge. “H-h-how… I mean… no I’m not.”

“Please Starlight, you’re a terrible liar,” Dragonfly huffed. “Let’s set aside the fact that every day you head into the back of the cave with Mark’s sample-collecting shovel to ‘test’ the soil. Only to come back ten minutes later with a grin and a soaking shovel handle.”

A sputtering Starlight found herself fighting to maintain composure amidst a burning blush of embarrassment. “Wh-... no I don’t! I always dry it… I mean I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Dragonfly sighed and patted Starlight’s leg. “I mean that’s not all that led me to suspect. I know that Spitfire and Cherry make have done a little ‘soil sampling’ themselves… though you’ve definitely got the record set…” Dragonfly paused and sighed before continuing, still under her breath. “No, it’s also the fact that you’ve been casting a small masking spell every day to suppress the usual musk, sweats and tail-lifts that come with heats, so the others won’t notice. It was definitely clever… would have worked too if you didn’t forget that I can sense magic too.” Dragonfly pointed at her horn.

Starlight groaned, slumping backward and flopping onto her bunk. “Just how long have you known?” Starlight squeaked out, mortified at the thought that her awkward secret had been revealed.

“Pretty much right from the start.” Dragonfly shrugged. “And I never got what the big deal was. Everypony goes through heat, nobody would judge you for-”

“Because it’s embarrassing! It’s private! It’s inconvenient!” Starlight growled, slapping her hooves against the bunk-top.

“More embarrassing, private and inconvenient than digging through and mixing your poop, or hearing you fill the toilet box behind a paper-thin curtain?” Dragonfly asked with an arched eyebrow. “Because we have all literally done just that.”

“OK, first off: we don’t talk about that.” Starlight’s face was not amused. “Second: it’s different.”

Dragonfly twisted a hoof toward the ceiling in question. “How, exactly?”

“It just is, OK?” Starlight huffed. “Talking about sex is still… weird for me, alright? When I went into heat while we were prepping the cave it was horrible.” Starlight threw her forehooves above her head on the bunk. “I tried to isolate the cause - maybe it was the increased sun exposure from the solar window-prisms… or maybe it was my burst-like use of magic… in the end I never figured out what it was… just that it wouldn’t stop. Not after a few days, or a few weeks… and now it’s been four months.”

Dragonfly grimaced in sympathy for her friend. “Oomph. I’ve never heard of a pony being in heat for that long.”

Starlight groaned. “Neither have I. It could be the magic environment, or the suppressants interacting with my system in a weird way, or this dimension. But you know what I think?” Starlight lifted herself up onto her elbows. “I think this planet just hates me.”

“Yeah.” Dragonfly nodded in commiseration. “I get that feeling too. How bad is it. The heat flashes I mean.”

Starlight chewed her cheek as she considered briefly. “Not too bad. A light heat if I were to compare it to back home. So, there’s some small comfort at least.” She blew a strand of her mane that fallen across her face out of the way. “When it flares up I get achy and dopey… then I start to get a bit moist and… oh Celestia why am I telling you this?”

“Hey, I’m here to help.” Dragonfly smiled, “Do you get uh… winks.”

“N-not often. I keep my tail tucked down if I feel one coming on.” Starlight replied, “and when the flashes go away… or I do some ‘sample collection’... I can almost forget about it until the next one comes on.”

Dragonfly nodded, then smirked a little. “Do you think of Mark ever?”

Starlight’s eyes flashed over and met Dragonfly’s, her ears flicking slightly. She hadn’t been expecting the question, and the former changeling-infiltrator could read Twilight’s protege like a book: bingo.

“N-no. Usually Sunburst, or just some random stallion.” Starlight lied blatantly, and she knew at once that Dragonfly saw through her as the bug merely arched an eyebrow back at her. “OK… yeah, sometimes. I like his eyes… and his legs… and his flanks...” Starlight’s voice became progressively softer and distant as she looked across the hab at where Mark was sitting, quickly looking away when the human started to realize he was being watched. “Celestia this is so embarrassing.”

Dragonfly wrapped a hoof around Starlight’s shoulders and squeezed tightly. “Nah, it really isn’t… he likes you a lot too, y’know?”

Now it was Starlight’s turn to give Dragonfly an askew glance. “Yeah. Right. Dragonfly… I’m a pony to him. They don’t have other sapient creatures on their planet. To them, anything that isn’t their own species is bestiality… at least from what I’ve read and seen.” Starlight shook her head. “I never wanted to outright say it, but there’s probably a part of Mark that sees us as animals.”

Dragonfly clicked her tongue softly. “Nah, trust me on this. He thinks you’re cute.”

“And that’s another problem - he was treating us like children: he probably saw as as cute little helpl-”

“OK, scratch that.” Dragonfly groaned, getting annoyed with Starlight’s whining. “He sees you as sexy-cute. He likes your butt more than anything else, if I had to guess. Typical male.”

That quieted Starlight down. Dragonfly saw and felt the beginnings of a smile forming on Starlight’s face.

“Did he say that?”

“Pretty much.” Dragonfly grinned - sometimes it was too easy. “He likes you Starlight. You two have spent a ton of time together, talking about every nerdy thing in the universe. In two universes, even.” She let her mischievous side come to the surface. “Besides, he already poked you with his ‘horn’ when you two were al-”

“Hey!” Starlight grunted, pushing the bug off her. She still found reference to ‘the incident’ on the first rover trip difficult to discuss. Still, as Dragonfly flopped to the bunk top chuckling, Starlight found herself begin to laugh as well.

Dragonfly knew she’d done it again: transformed that tension and anxiety into frustration and humor, just like she’d been doing with all the crew throughout their ongoing ordeal. It wasn’t manipulation, it was survival.

Starlight’s chuckling tapered off and she stole a quick glance at Mark before flopping down next to the bug on the bunk. With a conspiratorial gleam in her eye, she whispered, “...OK, so let’s say we’re gonna do this… just how exactly are we gonna pull this off? I mean…” Starlight looked over briefly at the human, who was once again typing on his laptop, “...will ‘it’ even fit?

Dragonfly grinned toothily and patted Starlight on her hoof. “Don’t worry Starlight… you read ‘Ringworld’ right?”

Starlight nodded.

“Just like Niven said, we’ll find a way.” Dragonfly winked, making Starlight smirk. “...Tomorrow though, at the cave.”

Starlight let out a little breath, her excitement at the prospect of tomorrow playing against her relief at not having to do… ‘it’ that evening.

“One thing though, Starlight.” Dragonfly mentioned as she got up from the bunk, starting to head back over to where the rest of the crew had started up an impromptu session of whiteboard Pictionary.

“Hm?”

“I need you to make sure that you sit next to Mark for movie time tonight… like as close as possible.”

Starlight nodded, blushing a little bit. “Uh, OK I guess… any reason why?”

“...marinade.”

Author's Note

Wow, this is altogether WAY too much fun.

So hopefully I'm hitting the right tone with this chapter again. I feel like I'm getting the voice of Starlight, Dragonfly, and Mark down pretty well, but I'm currently without an editor right now (hint hint if you're interested), so I'm really trusting to my own interpretation and your feedback in the comments afterward.

This chapter is really about how good Dragonfly is at converting the nervous, unsure and anxious tension into some humor and even a little excitement on the part of our two main participants.

I'd really love to hear your ideas and feedback in the comments: did I do Starlight a little too 'blushing bride' style? I kind of get that vibe from her (versus Spitfire who I'd see reacting a little more saucily), but definitely not the full on 'never-been-kissed' style. There's been some really interesting discussion about whether Starlight is actually romantically inexperienced (read: virgin) due to her background in the show as a filly who went on to become a cult leader, I'd be interested to hear your take.

In the context of my story though, Starlight has definitely been keeping some secrets... with Pegasi and Earth ponies, I think that exposure to sunlight and warmth (like what you get when you enter spring) is what would trigger the hormonal changes that send a mare into heat. With unicorns, though, most likely its a combination of the above, as well as magic usage... just make sense from a biological trigger point of view in my book.

Starlight's usage of spell energy in bursts, combined with a good deal of additional sunlight, and the strange diet (I also hinted at perhaps a strange reaction to suppressants, which I imagine they may have given to any female astronauts before a long-term mission like that of Amicitas) have confused poor Starlight's biology into pseudo-heat for a long period of time.

For Dragonfly, this is all gravy. I really enjoy writing her. She's a fun little bug!

Sol 289 - ENCRYPTED

Sol 289 - ENCRYPTED

Deep breaths.

Calming thoughts.

Alright, I’m about ready to call this meditation stuff complete BS. Sure, you can say that I only tried it for a grand total of 10 seconds, but my heart is still pounding, my stomach is filled with butterflies and I am continually switching between wanting to puke or laughing maniacally.

It feels like the morning of high school prom night all over again... Although, if I’m being honest - I stayed home and played D&D with friends on prom night (For the record, way more fun than awkward dancing and vapid dress-based pageantry would have been). Nope, trans-dimensional lady-killer Mark Watney didn’t punch his V-Card until university… and despite any vile rumors you may have heard about Chicagoans, my horse-sex passport is totally unstamped. That may change today.

But… so I’m clear, that’s not how I actually feel about this. Maybe there was a brief period at the very beginning of my close encounter where I saw them as ‘animalian’, but I see each and every one of my team members as people now. I will admit that there was an interim period where I saw them as alien-people… but as time has gone on… they’re so similar to us that I don’t have much trouble seeing right past their appearance.

I mean sure, they’re weird-cutesy magical horses/dragons… but aside from that, they’re pretty much human in sociability, emotion, morality, and demeanor. Hell, I’ve met humans who are less human than these guys (yes, I’m talking about you, weird uncle Bob). So, over the last 24 hours, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I can feel attracted to these people. I’m not sure if that is a positive or a negative for humans’ ability to overcome our evolutionary hard-wiring? I’m also only a sample of one - I could be the only human in our universe that finds pastel-pink unicorns sexy.

Wow, I really just typed that, huh?

Sue me, I like pink… and she’s got a nice ass.

She dropped by my bunk late last night too, when everyone was asleep. Everyone except me, that is… I was still way too wired to drift off. It was touchingly cute, actually.

She woke me up with a little shake, telling me she was sorry, but she wanted to talk. In typical pony-fashion, she went on to apologize for how weird things had been this evening.

Sitting next to her through three entire episodes of Wonder Woman (damn you Lynda Carter and your perkiness!) with a rather pesky bug constantly nudging me into Starlight’s side was not helpful. Every time Starlight or I shifted to get more comfortable we would end up bumping thigh against haunch and trying not to meet each other’s eyes. That damn love-mosquito was enjoying things altogether WAY too much. The worst moment came when I’d had enough of how goofily constrained the two of us were being: both of us were being so uptight with our hands/hooves carefully placed to avoid any proximity, that I decided to stretch my arm out behind Starlight to get more comfortable and relax… at about the same time she did. We both babbled more sophomoric apologies and awkward chuckles that Spitfire had to shush us. The only sound after that was a low, smug buzz from the changeling at my left.

Anyway, apparently Starlight didn’t want to leave things so tense, and after she woke me up she asked if she could talk a little bit. She was brave, I have to give her that. I’m sure anyone reading this knows that I’m not exactly the easiest guy to open up to (I tend to defuse tense situations with humor, which some have told me can be annoying), but she did just that. After prepping herself, she basically said she was sorry that this was happening, and that the two of us didn’t really have a choice. Then she put a hoof over my hand and said:

“I’m not unhappy that it’s you, though.”

I remember exactly how she said it. Softly and full of feeling, with a hopeful little smile. I’m not a romantic, but my heart sure did a flip or two. She went on to say that she really liked me, and even though this might make things weird, that she wanted me to know that I was an important friend to her, which made the situation more special.

Knowing how much these ponies value ‘friendship’, I’m guessing that was a pretty big deal.

I said some kinda hodgepodge back at her, some terrible mix of bad humor trying to defuse the tension while also reassuring her that I liked her a lot too, and that I’d be careful and yadda yadda yadda. They didn’t cover this in training - you really should get on that Venk.

Anyway, Starlight shut me up with a smile and a wink to go to bed, whispering that “I’d need to be well rested.” I’m not sure if that’s hot or terrifying. Maybe both.

The whole late-night scene was so cute… and getting me almost looking forward to the next day, that I’m a bit suspicious. I don’t mean to be a cynic regarding Starlight’s cross-species romantic maturity, and I know that Dragonfly has only done her shapeshifting in the direst of circumstances… nah…

In any case, I see that Starlight is stepping out of the decontamination shower now, which means it’s my turn now. I think we’ve realized by unspoken agreement that we should make sure to take a good scrub-down before our EVA today. Funny enough, I noticed Dragonfly doing the same thing before Starlight… Which makes me a bit nervous.

“I’m not sure I understand why Starlight needs to go...” Cherry Berry asked lightly, as she looked over at Dragonfly, Starlight and Mark, suiting up as they prepared to go into the airlock. “I mean, she’s going to be completely immobile in that human EVA suit: wouldn’t it be better for her to stay behind with the rest of us until her suit finishes curing? I don’t like the idea of an EVA going out with a third of its people totally immobile.”

Starlight and Mark froze while trying to fit the ridiculously oversized suit around Starlight. At this point, it was more like a large pressure-contained bag than a suit. Dragonfly, being the rather skilled ex-infiltrator, didn’t miss a beat in responding convincingly to her commander.

“My fault, boss-mare.” Dragonfly awkwardly rubbed the back of her head. “I wasn’t thinking things through when I started patching everyone’s suits yesterday, or else I’d have Fireball come along to help carry Starlight - poor Mark is going bear the brunt of all those extra alfalfa portions she’s been scarfing down.” Dragonfly looked over at the still frozen unicorn with a sad shake of her head. “It goes right to her flanks.”

“Hey!” Starlight blurted. “That’s not-”

Cherry waved Starlight’s reply off at the pass, not easily distracted by the familiar antics of her changeling colleague. “I’m serious Dragonfly.” Cherry stepped closer toward the subject of her scrutiny, her proximity clearly conveying her seriousness… and willingness to listen. “I need to know if you’re so critically low on magic that you have to get out to the cave with Starlight now. Are you sure this can’t wait until we can all go out, together?” Cherry’s eyes searched Dragonfly’s face for any cues or tells.

The changeling sighed and shrugged. “Ya got us, boss-mare. I don’t really need to go out there… you’ve actually just interrupted my secret orgy club, Mark and Starlight are the founding members… but you’re welcome to join.”

Mark coughed, hiding his shocked amusement, while one hand reached down to steady Starlight, who was shaking with the desire to begin babbling and blurting a denial.

“Not funny Dragonfly.” Cherry deadpanned, not buying the cheerful Changeling’s admission, as her face began to turn a bright red. “You shouldn’t joke about… th-that!” She turned away from the trio, now more eager to put distance between herself and Mark. “I just didn’t… I don’t want you keeping secrets about how much trouble you’re in anymore, understand?”

Dragonfly nodded seriously and saluted. “Boss-mare, keeping a regular trip like this on the schedule will put me in the clear. Honest.”

Cherry looked over her shoulder with a nod. “Good. Make sure to report in once you’ve arrived.” She began to trot back to the bunk area leaving the three soon-to-be-EVAers alone near the airlock.

“See… told you the truth is the best infiltration tactic in my repertoire.” Dragonfly smugly smiled at Starlight.

Mark look with an arched eyebrow and crossed arms down at the almost exhausted unicorn, who was still staring slack-jawed at Dragonfly, trying slowly to get control of her mouth and form words.

“What did you mean, keeping a regular trip?”

Twenty minutes later, three passengers bounced along in the cabin of the first rover, as it made its way over the well-worn path between the Hab and the cave farm, creating a highway of tracks between those two points. Leaving the airlock and loading Starlight into the Rover was done in relative silence. Mark had held the saggy mess of ill-fitted EVA suit that was Starlight close to his body, the easiest way to carrying such an awkward and heavy weight, while also allowing the unicorn to wrap her arms clumsily around his shoulders to keep herself somewhat balanced. The physical proximity, the weight of living, breathing pony in his arms, the small movements as Starlight shifted and breathed… all made things a little too embarrassing for Mark to say anything.

That pall continued to hang like a cloud over the trio, even after everyone had found their seats and made themselves comfortable through the rover’s startup sequence.

It was getting almost unbearable.

“Soooo….” Mark offered, keeping his eyes glued to the road ahead, though he could complete this drive blindfolded.

“So.” Starlight responded, busying herself by looking at one of the rover’s display LCDs, though the heading indicator vector would not change in this trip, nor had it in the previous hundred trips out to the cave-farm.

Then everything went silent again. For a full minute.

Mark looked over his shoulder at Dragonfly. “Please, for the love of your bug-religion’s God, say something.”

“Why?” Dragonfly smiled, “You two are delicious.”

“Dragonfly!” Starlight shouted, breaking out of her shell and twisting around. “Haven’t you ever heard that you shouldn’t play with your food? You’re doing this on purpose!” Starlight’s frown was serious and unflinching. Bitter almond touches of emotional flavor began to trickle into Dragonfly’s palette.

“Fine, fine. I’ll break the silence.” Dragonfly conceded, eliciting sighs of relief from both Mark and Starlight. Starlight finished her long sigh by taking a draw of water from a nearby squeeze bottle, which had been supplied for her since she wouldn’t have the usual suit-source available to her.

“So... Starlight,” Dragonfly began, timing her words precisely, “How do you feel about anal sex?”

Starlight did a literal spit take, thankfully missing the rover display panels (though they were IP68-rated). The rover swerved slightly to the left as Mark jerked the rover in response to the question.

“Wh-what!?” Starlight coughed out.

“So, I guess that’s a no?” Dragonfly hummed, “No big deal, but it is better to be upfront about this stuff, or else it could lead to some nasty surprises.”

“CELESTIA DAMN IT, Dragonfly!” Starlight shouted, slamming the squeeze water bottle back into its holder and spinning around to scream at the mischievous bug. Just before she could commence a tirade of the most epic proportions, she heard a chuckling laugh fill the cabin, coming from her left.

Mark was laughing.

“Just what’s so funny, huh?” Starlight growled.

Mark tried to shut his mouth and contain his laughter, swallowing back a hearty laugh while managing to squeak out a tiny. “Nothing.” Unfortunately for Mark, Starlight continued to glare at him, watching the human’s cheeks puffing out further and further as tears began to form in his eyes.

“Butt-sex.” Dragonfly chirped from the rear of the Rover.

“BWAHAHahahaha!” Mark Watney laughed obstreperously, the containment of his mirth only making it arrive with more force and fill the cabin.

“HA HA. SO FUNNY.” Starlight grumbled, angry at being the only person in the cabin who was serious. “You know what? Yeah, I AM into… that.” Starlight snarled, over the buzzing laughter of Dragonfly and the hearty chortles of Mark. “But not like how you think.”

“Oh?”

“When we get to the cave, Mark, you’ll need to bend over and then I can shove my horn right up you-”

“Woah, woah, woah!” Mark wasn’t laughing now. “I don’t know if I can… uh… is that even a thing you guys do?” He asked, concern on his face as he realized that he’d never really discussed Equestrian mating habits.

Dragonfly leaned forward, winking quickly at Glimmer without Mark noticing. “Oh yeah! It’s a big part of unicorn sex, I had to learn all about it in infiltration school. Some might say the old butt-horning is overly-traditional, sure… but I’m sure Starlight wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Starlight nodded. “I’m a traditional kind of mare.” She touched her horn with her hoof… a horn which was looking longer and bigger by the second to Mark.

“I… but… I mean… there’s no way THAT is gonna fit.” Mark stammered, beads of sweat starting to appear on his forehead.

“So what!?” Starlight half-shouted, “You think THAT thing would fit in my tailhole!?” Starlight gestured towards Mark’s lap.

“I wasn’t saying tha-” Mark began only to be immediately cut off by Dragonfly.

“I can assure you, Starlight, that many a stallion has managed to fit in many a mare’s backside.” The changeling let her eye’s waggle in Starlight’s direction.

“Not many a stallion is as BIG as a human like Mark there…” Starlight motioned with her head jerkily toward Mark.

“Well, you don’t know that - Mark doesn’t seem THAT big when he’s coming out of the shower.” The changeling replied with a snort.

“Hey, I’m a grower, not a shower.” Mark piped in, trying to divide his attention between the drive and the conversation.

“Trust me, he’s THAT big.”

“Wait… what? You’ve seen him already? Did I miss something?”

“No, I didn’t see anything… I… uh… felt it.”

“What!?”

“I told you about this! It was… what’s the term… morning wood” Starlight paused their staccato back and forth to quickly switch into Equestrian. “I felt it through his shorts.”

“Oh, and why exactly were you feeling his shorts?”

“I wasn’t! I was sleeping on him.”

“Oh!?”

“Ladies ladies LADIES!” Mark interjected, no longer able to contain himself. “I have a very important question…”

Dragonfly and Starlight paused and looked over at the serious, stern-faced human.

“...does this mean you guys were kidding about the whole horn-butt thing or…?”

A pregnant pause hung in the air of the cabin. Only the hum of the brakes energy reclamation system charging the batteries as the rover slowed on its final approach to the cave-farm parking area.

Then all three creatures started laughing uncontrollably.

Author's Note

What do you think: was it Dragonfly who visited Mark the night before, or was it actually Glimmer? Even I’m not sure.

Also: What other jokes do you think that Mark might have started to spring on poor Starlight once he was no longer constrained by the veneer of embarrassment? I think we all know that Mark Watney unconstrained has almost no shame, so I’d love to hear from the community some of the teasing/ribbing that he would have laid onto Dragonfly/Starlight given the circumstances.

Tell me below in comments!

So, this is chapter 3 of the story, and we are fast approaching (if not having already arrived at) the sex scenes that I’m sure at least some of you are waiting for. It has been quite a bit of fun playing with the style and story setting thus far, but it will shortly be time to… get to business, as it were!

I’d be happy to know what the feel of the crowd is on the inevitable scene soon to occur as well: should it be my usual style, with lots of passion and raw sexual lust and wantonness?

Or perhaps more of an embarrassed tumble in the Martian mud, as would befit how I’ve portrayed Mark and Starlight to this point?

Something in between the two, perhaps?

I gave myself plenty of license by teasing Dragonfly’s ability to produce (literally) an anti-inhibition compound. Heck, I could even have Dragonfly join in and truly make this spectacle, well… spectacular. I’m not saying that I’ll do exactly what the community wants, but I’d love to know the general feel, as interacting with you all has been the most fun part of this project!

Anyway, we’re almost there!

Sol 289.5 - ENCRYPTED

Sol 289.5 - ENCRYPTED

AMICITAS: DF calling QC - use suit DF for responses over.

ESA: QC here as requested. Provide status report. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Have arrived at cave farm with Mark and SG, as discussed. We’ll be proceeding with the operation as planned in the next 5 minutes or so. Mark says hi.

ESA: QC - Understood, I would like to convey messages to both of them. Is Starlight not available?

AMICITAS: DF - She can hear the splashes. She was busy getting out of her suit. I’ll transcribe your messages real-time for Mark. Scratch that, he says he can pick up the gist. Over/

ESA: QC - Copy. Mark, Starlight… I’d like to thank you both for this. Dragonfly may not admit it but what you’re doing may very well keep her alive and help her to get back to me. This may be the only time you ever hear this from me but… the changeling nation thanks you deeply… I thank you deeply. It will not be forgotten. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - My Queen, I… thank you too.

AMICITAS: SG - Your kind words are appreciated, but we’re doing this for Dragonfly. Over.

ESA: QC - That brings up the other thing I wanted to convey. A warning. Don’t make this just about your worry for Dragonfly. From what she’s conveyed to me, you and Mark have the hots for each other. My thanks will be fully rescinded and replaced with my full wroth and fury if you fail to provide my subject with the hottest, steamiest, sexiest pink energy ever recorded. Over.

AMICITAS: SG - Wow. No pressure?

ESA: QC - I mean it. Let me give you two some advice. Mark, I have found that unicorn mares really like their horns played with. Especially if simultaneously done with vigorous stimulation of their clitoris. Two words: fire works. Over.

AMICITAS: SG - First off. That’s one word. Second: where are you getting this? Your harlequin romance novels?

ESA: QC - I’ve had some experience as an infiltrator. Also, Starlight… I’m not hearing a denial. Is Mark taking notes? Over.

AMICITAS: SG - ... I can’t believe I’m having this conversation. Or that Mark is laughing about it. Over.

ESA: QC - As for you Starlight. I have strong reservations about your level of experience beyond anything of a solo nature. I suspect you will require extensive advice. Over.

AMICITAS: SG - Just what are you implying!? Over.

ESA: QC - Starlight, assuming that humans function similar to males on Equus, I recommend that you attempt fellatio. That means you suck his penis. Focus on the glans on the underside of the tip of the penis, which are highly erogenous zones. Long licks, like an ice-cream cone. Are you copying this down? Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Starlight stepped away to swat Mark, my Queen. He confirmed that your instructions regarding males were correct and Starlight was upset that he was encouraging you. Over.

ESA: QC - I’m liking Mark more and more. I’ll give him another tip: pony mares love nips to the neck. But do not attempt this until you are partially or fully penetrated into Starlight. Over.

AMICITAS: SG - Will you quit it? This is not helping. Over.

ESA: QC - Oh you don’t like love-nips?

AMICITAS: SG - I… I didn’t say that. Over.

ESA: QC - Have FUN. That is most important. Dragonfly can act as chaperone or director as required. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Starlight has thrown her head up in exasperation, my Queen. But I think this helped defuse a bit of tension. Will update post operation. Out.

ESA: QC - Get messy. Out.

The three inter-dimensional sextronauts looked up at one another as the last splashes of water fell with wet splats onto the wet, warm, Martian mud. There had been a brief mention of taking their activity to one of the cave’s aft-sections, which Dragonfly had confirmed was a more common site for ‘privacy’ among the crew members (a fact which made Starlight stick her tongue out in mild disgust: she quickly resolved internally to not touch anything in those caverns), but after a little discussion, the consensus was that there was no point in restraining themselves to the smaller cave sections, especially if it was only the three of them in the farm.

Mark and Starlight worked together to spread a section of spare hab canvas over a section of the cave floor to provide an area where they would be able to ‘perform’, despite Mark’s joking complaints that he’d really been looking forward to some: ‘sexy mud-wrestling’. Both Dragonfly and Starlight had quickly groused a reminder to Mark that they had twice the number of crevices in which grit and other particles might become lodged ending any other ideas to start the first extraterrestrial mud wrestling federation.

The process of laying out the canvas didn’t take very long, however, and soon there was nothing left to be done… except get right down to it. This fact became more and more obvious, as the flight-suit-clad human looked over at an awkward and anxious naked (admittedly, she was always naked) unicorn and annoyingly grinning naked changeling (also admittedly naked most of the time) sitting in a triangle looking at one another.

Mark swallowed hard. His pulse pounding in his head. His memories flashed back to times of university dates and attempts at using various social dating apps during his time pursuing his research in botany. Neither situations had played out very well for him. Astronaut training had not been much better: it was easy to let yourself become engrossed in the training program preparing you to be launched at incredible speeds to distant planets and focus less on things as mundane as dating. It wasn’t that Mark was inexperienced or even that he was socially awkward… at his heart Mark was, and would always remain, a nerd.

And nerds tend to overthink things. Especially when the situation calls for less thought, and more action.

So it was, that Mark’s internal dialogue ran something along these lines: ’Alright Mark, you can do this! You’ve got this! You’re about to experience the fantasy of every red-blooded male since the dawn of time… OK well… any red-blooded sci-fi geek since the dawn of the Star Trek series, but still! And all you need to do is be decisive! Be a MAN! Swallow up your damn courage and walk over there, grab Starlight by her shoulders, tilt her sideways in her arms, say some cheesy line like: ”Here’s lookin’ at you, kid. and start kissing. Ready? GO!

...OK you didn’t even move. No problem… second attempt… on three… 1… 2… 3…

…

“S-so…” Mark mumbled not moving an inch.

’Nice, dumbass.’

“So.” Starlight replied, her gleaming eyes betraying that she was undergoing a similar internal monologue.

Silence descended once again over the strange meeting.

“Guys. Seriously?” Dragonfly sighed, turning away and rooting through a pouch on her nearby discarded suit. “I really thought we’d gotten past this, but at this rate… all three of us are going to starve waiting for you guys to get busy.”

“Give me a minute, alright?” Starlight complained, “It’s not like I’ve pr-”

“Here.” Dragonfly turned back to both of them, holding a pair of small test tubes she had repurposed from the hab as a container for some type of suspicious green liquid. “Take this, and it should help get things rolling.” She tossed one of the plastic tubes to Starlight, then turned and tossed the other to Mark.

“What… what is it?” Starlight asked, fumbling the tube between her two hooves and looking at it suspiciously.

“Changeling secret.”

Mark frowned, shaking his tube slightly only to see how distressingly low the viscosity of the strange goop was. “Uhhh… no… nope… that’s not gonna fly, you little bug-porno-director… no way I’m ingesting something without knowing exactly what’s in it.”

Starlight had popped off the top of her tube, just to get a small sniff of the substance inside, before flinching and holding the tube away from herself. “BLERGH… gross!” She quickly capped the tube. “I’m with Mark, just what is it?”

Dragonfly shrugged. “Fine. It’s a changeling anti-inhibition compound. We don’t like to admit that we have them… sort of a relic from the ‘bad old days’...”

Mark’s eyebrows raised, and he tilted his head while crossing his arms. Dragonfly and Starlight had long ago understood this to be the standard human body-language for an extremely skeptical ’seriously?’ posed with the maximum amount of derision one could muster. It was not dissimilar from the pony body-language version, which Starlight Glimmer was also demonstrating.

“So, you were about to give me and Starlight the equivalent of a GHB dose?” Mark did NOT look happy.

Dragonfly found herself suddenly on the defensive: the emotions from Mark were NOT happy. “Why are you so upset suddenly? I don’t even know what that is! I was just trying to help smooth things along.”

“It’s a date-rape drug on my planet.” Mark shook his head. “Messes with mental facult-”

“No!” Dragonfly shook her head, waving her arms. “No, it isn’t anything like THAT. It just makes things easier, like alcohol but more focused on dropping your social guards… you both just seem so… uptight about this, I was just trying to make things easier!”

Mark’s emotions softened a bit. Maybe he’d been a little bit harsh to immediately jump to one of the worst conclusions, but a green-glowing vial of mystery chemical tends to associate itself with more nefarious substances. “Hmmm. Well, I don’t know about it. I still thi-”

Starlight looked up at Mark with a bit of resignation. “I think I understand, Mark.” Starlight shook her head a bit sadly. “I guess Dragonfly is able to taste your emotions pretty well, and she was just trying to help… but to be honest I’ve even been able to see it myself over the past day.” Starlight looked down and kicked her hoof against the hab material. “It’s… I’m weird. I get it… I’m not saying anything about you, it’s just hard-wired for you is all: I’m not attractive to you physically. Hay, I probably look like a weird horse to you. You might NEED that to even- Mark… are you?” Starlight stopped in her diatribe, caught off guard by the fact that Mark had just uncapped the tube.

The human lifted the potent chemical up toward his face, briefly sniffing it and flinching… before holding it away from himself and pouring it out onto the earth. “I don’t think I need some weird bug-juice drug to be MORE physically attracted to a beautiful girl like you, Starlight. Don’t ever think anything different.” Mark smiled across the canvas at the pastel pink pony.

’Nice!’ Mark’s internal dialogue metaphorically fist-pumped, ”... a little bit corny, but still nice!

Starlight lifted a hoof to her muzzle to cover her smile. It had been one of the things she’d been most concerned about for the past Sol. No mare likes to think her partner might find her unattractive… least of all a mare who still sometimes found it hard to believe anypony could love her after the things she had done in her past. With small tears of silly happiness beading in her eyes and a chuckle beginning to form in her throat she uncapped her vial and upended it as well. “Well after that little speech, Romeo… I know I won’t be needing this”

Both now sat across from each other, goofily and sappily grinning.

Dragonfly took a moment to sip from their connection before clearing her throat. “Ahem… yeah, hi…” Dragonfly crossed her arms. “First off, thanks for pouring out all those super useful reagents I could have used on other things… oh by the way, those potions are not toxic or poisonous to plant life or soil, thanks for asking Mr. Super Botanist.”

Mark stiffened suddenly. “Oh… oh wow, I really wasn’t th-”

“Wasn't thinking. I know.” Dragonfly tried not to let her mild frustration show. “That brings me to my second point: that was a touching little moment. Lovely amuse-bouche actually… but you guys are still six feet separated distance-wise… the goal is to get that separation factor down to about minus four inches.”

That comment took a moment for Mark to process. “Woah… wait, it’s more like minus eight inches. Alright?”

“Minus seven and three-quarters.” Starlight piped up from the other side of the canvas. When she caught bemused stares from both her cave-mates, she shrugged. “What? I’ve got a good eye for eyeballing measurements….” before she added under her breath: “still freakin’ huge…”

“Anyway,” Dragonfly continued, “because this EVA can’t go on forever… I’m going to propose that from here on out… you guys follow my direction, OK? We’ll take things nice and slow, and I’ll be able to sense if anything is getting uncomfortable or weird… it should let me … tune things just right so that we ALL have the best possible experience here.”

Starlight looked over at Mark for a response, who shrugged with a grin. “So, you really are gonna be a little bug-porno-director? Nice! I always wanted to star in an adult perfo-”

“Mark.” Both Starlight and Dragonfly growled at the same time.

“Sorry. Yeah… that… that works for me. Is that okay with YOU Starlight?” Mark asked looking over at his partner.

Starlight smiled and nodded, looking up through her bangs at Mark. “Y-yes.”

Dragonfly clopped her hooves together and grinned. “Yezzzz!” She couldn’t keep the happy buzz out of her voice. “Now… I do like the idea of director… that describes things perfectly…. And so… without any further ado…” she looked from Mark to Starlight with a grin that would be best described as naughty.

“...action!"

Author's Note

OH MAN. I am so sorry. I promise you that this was an unintentional marination.

I totally DID mean to get into the sex-scene this week. But as I started to go through things in my head, I realized I had built up SO much tension that needed to be defused. I’d also left hanging plot threads about the anti-inhibition compound that needed to be tied up.

I’d originally included that plot device so that I’d have an out to go full-ham with the sex and character dynamic if I wrote myself into too much of a hole. But recently some close friends and longtime editors have pointed out that I’m using these sorts of things as crutches, especially things like going into heat, going into rut, or getting drunk on some magical potion to make my sex become wild and feral. Thought those ARE my favorite kinds of clop-scenes… I’d like to challenge myself to step out of my comfort -zone a little bit and write something that at least starts off a bit tender.

I also wanted to find a clever way to transition from Rover to Cave to sex. Nothing particularly fun was coming to mind, until I decided that Chrysalis might decide to give a little call for both a ‘thank-you’ AND a pep-talk. A funny pep-talk of course.

Finally, when approaching the sex-scene itself, a mystery in my head was always going to be how to ‘fit the pieces together’ (pun intended). With Dragonfly in the mix, I was always wondering whether it would be her just sort of drooling on the sidelines, drinking in the excess lust-emotion… or taking part in the activities herself.

I’m not dropping any spoilers about the latter potential, but one thing that immediately jumped out at me was the idea that she could act as a kind of ‘guide’ to the whole affair. This makes her a little more active, even if it is just Mark and Starlight (again, no spoilers on if that stays the case throughout) ... it is also something that she is perfectly suited to perform: as a changeling, she’ll be sensing each participant’s emotion real-time. Their fears, excitement, love, comfort etc. will all be laid bare to her… plus with her experience as a CAPCOM, she’ll be able to relay the perfect instruction and the perfect time to yield climactic results. She DOES want to make this as efficient as possible for herself as well, after all.

Though I promise she won’t be giving instructions in a CAPCOM cadence or manner…. As much as I’d like to make a ‘Go for docking’ pun in there, I don’t think even Dragonfly is THAT mischievous.

Anyway, as I reached the end of this section, and started to go into the actual smut, I realized that things would become a MASSIVE chapter. Part of my goal with this little project is to keep things light and fun for myself, as well as to mimic Kris’s style of shorter chapters, even sometimes filler chapters… so I’m going to push this one out this week, and we’ll start things off (promise) with smut next week.

With that, I’d love to hear from readers what fantasies you’d like to see fulfilled by our two main participants! Things will be very vanilla (the way I’ve written things - I don’t they’ll be getting too kinky) ... but I’d still love to know what turns my readers on!

Would you like to see Mark nip Starlight? Should Starlight treat Mark more like an ice-cream cone… or a popsicle?

Let me know in the comments!

Sol 289.6 - ENCRYPTED

Sol 289.6 - ENCRYPTED

Dragonfly’s instructions poured out like honey. The soft buzz of the changeling’s voice betraying a happy warmth that filled the cavern and almost seemed to soothe. The little chitin-covered director was in her element.

”OK you two… just follow along, nice and simple: Mark, step over to Starlight, scoop her up in your arms, give her a big hug.”

Mark crossed the canvas floor in two easy strides, reaching down for Starlight who was already holding her forelegs out with a smile, like a toddler asking for ‘upsies’. With a happy, twirling flourish, the human squeezed the little pony close to his chest - and she squeezed back in return. Starlight’s chin fit perfectly on Mark’s shoulder, letting her nuzzle him slightly even as her hooves were lifted from the ground.

”Mark, put Starlight down nice and gentle while hugging her… that’s it, down on your knees. Starlight, I want you to look at Mark and tell him how you feel.”

Starlight pulled back slightly from the hug, Mark’s big human hands still grasping under her armpits, while her own forehooves rested on her shoulders. With a happy smile she looked into his face and cocked her head, her ear flicked slightly.

“M-mark, I really like you.” Starlight whispered, the blush on her cheeks deepening.

Mark chuckled, leaning forward to rest his forehead against Starlight’s, careful to pick a spot below her horn, so that they could be a little bit closer. The gesture resulted in the two wrapped in a soft hug looking down at one another’s chests.

“Me too, Starlight.”

”Starlight, tell Mark what you want him to do to you.”

Starlight’s eyes flicked up to meet Mark’s, two big blue irises that sparkled with life.

“Uhm, I guess… I uh… l-like you?”

“You do?”

”Jeez c’mon you two! That’s why we’re here!”

“I know that! I just… listen it’s not often a guy gets to hear that, OK you little love-bug!?”

“And… uh, do… do you, uh… well?” Starlight nervously brought her hooves together, focusing on how the tips touched one another and avoiding looking at Mark’s face.

“Do I what?”

”Do you like her too, you big dumb ape!?”

“I really like her! Of course I do!”

Starlight blushed and looked up at Mark with happiness. “You… you do?”

Dragonfly buried her face in her hooves. ”You two are like foals… tell you what… just follow along… Mark… I want you to give Starlight a nice, soft, kiss.”

He leaned in, his left hand reaching up to brush a few strands of displaced mane hairs behind Starlight’s ear, reaching in with his lips as the unicorn tilted her head, perfectly coordinated so that he softly landed on Starlight’s lips. The feel was much the same as he’d remembered with any kisses he’d given: warm, quivering… alive. The moist atmosphere of the cave-farm left some humidity in the air, letting their lips stick together for the briefest of instances before they pulled apart.

”Very nice. Now, kiss her shoulder.

Mark smirked slightly, resisting the urge to make a wisecrack about the unimportant role of shoulders in human mating practices. Starlight saw the smirk, reading her annoying partner’s thoughts instantly, which made her grin as well and roll her eyes slightly, before she twisted her head and shifted her mane, granting him easy access to the point of her upper body.

Mark pressed his lips against the point of Starlight’s shoulder, expecting something hard and unpleasant… instead, the delicate, short hair of her fur tickled the sensitive nerve endings of his lips. There was a slight layer of skin, fat and muscle there… soft and forgiving even where she should be hard and unyielding. Just another reminder that she was really there…

”Now kiss the nape of her neck… and keep kissing as you work your way up to her ear.”

Mark obeyed, dropping little butterfly-touches with his lips as he traipsed along the pink fur. With each stop, his nose filled with more of Starlight’s scent. There had been no shampoos or conditioners on Mars since Sol 1… so why could he smell the hint of lavender? Was this how she really smelled? It was so easy to lose that perspective when you were surrounded by the worst stenches and odors… but with this closeness, this proximity… he was drowning in the smell of Starlight.

His kisses pressed a little more firmly as he slid along her neck, which shivered and tensed with every brush of his lips. He began to kiss more insistently, pressing against her warm skin underneath. Starlight let out a soft, contented sigh as Mark passed her the line of her cheekbone. The unicorn gave an exploratory squeeze to the back of Watney’s neck, an act that did not go unnoticed by Dragonfly.

”Put your hooves against the back of his neck, play with his hair.”

Starlight did as instructed. The frogs of her hooves touching Mark’s warm, pink skin. His tangled, overgrown mess of dirty blondish hair slid against the sensitive undersides. She began to softly stroke his head, which guided the man to increase the pressure he was applying by the minutest of amounts, as he arrived at the lobe of her ear.

”Now, whisper something sweet into her ear, Mark.

“This is SO sexy.” Mark breathed.

The somewhat innocuously inept statement, combined with the puff of air from his words tickling her delicate inner-ear hairs made Starlight giggle briefly, the sound escaping her lips before she could cover them with one of her forehooves.

”Don’t laugh Starlight, Mark may be a nerd. But YOU are too, and your turn is coming next.”

“Sorry” Starlight smiled, half-heartedly flattening her ears in a failed attempt to appear more contrite than she currently was.

”Mark, try again… try telling her what you’re going to do to her.

Mark blew a soft stream of air at Starlight’s ear in revenge, making it flick and twitch involuntarily. Then he leaned in again and whispered, “I’m going to… buck you, Starlight Glimmer.”

Starlight turned to face Mark directly, her face a deeper shade of red, but still smiling. Mark’s choice to use the pony term (which doubled as an invective), reminded her of how she’d been the one to teach the human all about its etymology and usage, all those months ago.

”Now kiss.”

Starlight closed her eyes and let her mouth slip open - she wanted more than the peck that they two had already shared.

Mark tilted the angle of his approach carefully, keeping his eyes open. With Starlight flying blind, it would be up to him to make sure this docking procedure ended in success, and it wasn’t like there were any procedures on pony/human French-kisses. A moment's hesitation proved too much for Starlight. She pulled gently with the hoof still hooking itself behind Mark’s head, resulting in a little bump of their noses.

Starlight’s eyes fluttered open, and she grinned while flattening her ears apologetically.

The second attempt went much smoother, with both creatures locking eyes as they skillfully managed their different physiologies… and kissed. Mark felt the hot, wet breath of Starlight’s muzzle fill his own mouth, a moment before her large, warm tongue began to press into him. Definitely more tongue than he was used to… Mark wondered briefly if that was a cultural artefact… or just Starlight herself. Either way, Starlight seemed to be in her element now. She was a deep kisser.

Starlight let her eyes softly close, focusing on the sensations and sounds of kissing Mark. He tasted of potatoes and copper and seemed less experienced with kissing and using the tongue and mouth to act as an exploratory too. She wondered if that was a cultural artefact of humans… or just Mark himself. It didn’t distract her for long, as she ran her pink muscle around and over Mark’s teeth, fascinated by the sharp points of his canines and the razor edges of his molars… so very different than the smooth and flat teeth of a pony.

”Rub her back Mark, feel her barrel’s muscles and knead them nice and deep.”

Starlight moaned slightly into Mark’s mouth as his fingers began to press and twist with expert precision into the tightly woven strands of her back. He was so good at finding knots and tantalizingly tickling the vertebral bumps on her back with those strong fingers of his. Mark’s backrubs were famous among the Amicitas crew (except Fireball, who refused)... but for some reason this one was even better than usual.

Her face being glued to his might have something to do with that.

She thirstily pressed deeper into Mark’s mouth, parting his teeth and sliding her long tongue part way down his throat with a groan in response to him finding and releasing a particularly stiff knot. She wanted more of him now… wanted to pour every bit of herself into the kiss. Her heart thumped in her chest and filled her ears with the sound of thumping, thrumming blood.

And still, she wanted more.

”How about you rub him too, Starlight.” Dragonfly buzzed.

Starlight almost didn’t hear her… yet her hooves still began to move. Perhaps Dragonfly had only meant for Starlight to reciprocate Mark’s backrub. Or perhaps she did intend for the unicorn to escalate things. Noling would ever know the truth.

What was known is that Starlight’s left forehoof left its place on the back of Mark’s neck, sliding underneath his shoulders and tracing along his side… until it found Mark’s butt. Starlight squeezed the human’s right buttock, something she’d always found to be one of his best features. It was just as firm as she thought it would feel like. Months of lighter gravity had not weakened his main lifting muscles, the heavy workload of surviving the harshness of Mars had seen to that.

She felt Mark react slightly to her ass-groping, she laughed slightly into her mouth. It was cute, and she was happy that he was happy. It made her feel bold enough to do something even more risqué with her other forehoof.

She shivered with delight as Mark found yet another knot in her lumbar area, before he carefully began to knead it out of existence. She wanted to repay him for the sensual massage he was giving her, and a simple ass-grabbing wouldn’t cut it.

Her right forehoof slipped around to the front of Mark’s body, creating a little space between the two of them for the first time since their hug had begun.

Mark was surprised, thinking that Starlight was pushing him away. Maybe he’d gone too far with his latest attempt to rub the little mare’s back? He began to pull away from their ongoing kiss to ask, only to find Starlight press forward with her head, not wanting to break their embrace just yet.

So just where was her hoof going… oh.

OH.

Starlight let her right hoof slip past Mark’s belly, reaching down into his groin area as it searched for the treasure she knew had to be somewhere down there. Fumbling along the top of Mark’s left leg, then reaching across his groin again, she whined into Mark’s mouth with dismay. One of Mark’s hands quickly slipped from the small of her back, grasping her hoof and guiding it to a spot more between his legs… almost underneath him.

Then she felt it.

Him.

Mark wasn’t hard quite yet. Not like that time in the rover. Perhaps he was still a little nervous. But he was halfway there. Starlight could feel his body pulsing through the fabric of his one-piece jumpsuit. There was a stiffening lump of flesh under there that she carefully rubbed at, trying to absorb the feel and texture of his stallionhood through the grasping and exploratory massage of her frog.

Mark moaned into her mouth when she traced her hoof up one of the larger lumps under the fabric. His hands froze in their work on her back as he absorbed what must have been an extremely pleasant sensation… he must have really liked that. She began to focus on this lump, carefully rubbing along its length, applying more pressure so that she was pushing it against his body. She could feel it responding, growing. With each moment her strokes and rubs had to get longer, wider. The lump was quickly making an outline in his suit.

Bingo.

”Mark, why don’t you do the-” Dragonfly began to buzz. Only to see that Mark’s hands were already moving.

Mark had never been a particularly experienced lover. Like most males, he liked to think that he wasn’t terrible in bed - and like most males, he wasn’t. But, like most Earth men, he was a bit competitive. He wanted to keep pace with Starlight. And right now… she was in the lead.

He didn’t need Dragonfly’s instruction to know he wanted to catch up.

His hands slid from Starlight’s barrel, fingers still hooked into small claws that scratched Starlight’s fur in a comforting way as he brought his arms inside of Starlight’s arms (currently still pawing at his ass and groin) and began to rub her tummy. This was a spot that he had little experience with on his pony-crewmates. Early on, he’d learned that, despite their cute-fluffy pudgy bellies - they did NOT like to be treated like puppies for belly-scritches. Stomachs were clearly intimate places.

But this was clearly an intimate time.

Mark felt the rise and fall of Starlight’s diaphragm through her skin as he lightly drew his fingers under her belly button and she continued to draw heavy breaths through her nostrils. Then his fingers brushed against something new. The light coating of belly fur gave way to the soft, but slick feel of bare skin.

He was touching the tops of her teats.

Instantly he felt Starlight widen her legs, trying to open herself up to his touch and invite him to go further. She flicked her tongue against the roof of his mouth, demanding he move more quickly.

But where Starlight was groping and forceful, Mark would be playful and teasing.

He toyed at the edges of Starlight’s teats, letting his fingers run over the small mounds, or dance toyingly along the valley between them, never cupping or gripping at them like Starlight wanted him too, despite her doing everything she could to push her body into his hands.

She groaned particularly loud as he let his fingers slide over one of her nipples, already hard and sensitive with the unicorn’s excitement. Mark paused for a moment to little tweak the stiff nubbin, before retreating all the way back to Starlight’s belly button as she moaned in frustration.

Mark felt her take the hoof off his ass and grab his right hand. She wasn’t going to stop stroking his erection, but she’d had enough of his annoying digital coyness. He smiled slightly, as he felt Starlight’s tongue retracting slightly into her own mouth: she had to focus on where she was moving his hand.

Mark gave up and offered no resistance, letting her pull his hand down from the spot it had retreated to on her belly. He fully expected that she would plant it right around one other teats, forcing him to cup it and grope her properly, once and for all.

Imagine Mark’s surprise, when she pulled him right past her teats… down below. Into a hot, moist, jungle of slick and puffy swollen skin.

Her marehood.

”Are… are you guys even listening?”

Starlight’s eyes fluttered open in delight and she drew her tongue back into her mouth, now only pressing her lips against Mark's: he had just cupped her marehood with his hand.

She’d started to drip from the moment Mark’s hands had started working their magic. That familiar telltale swelling of the lips that usually made her feel so achy and unsatisfied, so embarrassingly moist at the most inopportune times… but now it just felt so right.

Her pussy fit perfectly in the human’s hand, even in its swollen state. Mark’s writhing hand pulled against her briefly, rubbing against the sensitive inner folds which were peeking from her plump ink outer lips, kissing up against the palm of his right hand. The tip of Mark’s middle finger was resting just beyond the bottom of her slit, touching that ticklish spot between her marehood and her tailhole.

She couldn’t believe how badly she wanted Mark to take that finger and hook it so that it slipped into her. She burned for that, she throbbed for that!

Instead, Mark squeezed with his hand, pressing his middle finger along her parting folds lengthwise, so that he slid along her vagina, instead of into it. This made her pull away from her kiss entirely, instinctively nuzzling into Mark’s neck and shoulder as his hand became slick with her juice… before he brushed against her fattening clitoris.

“Oh Mark!” Starlight whined, grinding her head into his neck with pleasure, before humping involuntarily into his hand. “Yes!”

The burning pink bud winked out of her with a shudder, kissing against the heel of Mark’s palm and leaving a sticky, hot thread of juice behind… before she winked again even harder, her clit splashing down into the small mess it had made just a moment before. Her tail swished back and forth on the canvas behind her with joy.

Mark started to pull his hand up and away from its position - ever so close to fingering her without doing so… dragging his middle finger along her slit as he did so, grinding his palm against the mound of her pubis bone, applying pressure through her swollen lips to the sensitive clitoris and folds underneath.

Starlight whimpered, begging for Mark to return his wonderful hand to her wet pussy. The human was having too much fun teasing her though, he returned both hands to Starlight’s teats, cupping both and feeling their heft and weight - spreading the slick juices he’d just collected on the dark pink nipples, squeezing ever so lightly with agonizing patience.

“B-buck Mark!” Starlight growled, preparing to take hold of his hand with her magic... She’d had more than enough.

”Mark you’re being a little too naughty ri-”

“Hey, no backseat driving! I know what I’m doing!” Mark chuckled, looking over his shoulder at Dragonfly and seeing that she was sitting in a rather… exposed position.

“Do you?” Starlight moaned grumpily. “Because I’m literally begging you to ahhhhh...mnnnnnnnhhh…” Starlight’s grousing was cut off by Mark’s hand sliding down her once again, and this time quickly slipping his middle digit into the grasping, needy love-tunnel of the horny unicorn.

Mark was a bit stunned with the feel of Starlight’s private interior. He’d fingered ‘earth-women’ of course… and this was similar… but at the same time… SO different. For one thing, she was HOT, a boiling heat. He knew from Spitfire’s constant medical examinations that the ponies had slightly higher internal body temperatures… but this felt positively boiling. The next big difference was just how tight Starlight was. She’d been dripping with that fragrant lubricant, which let his middle finger push in all the same, but he’d really had to apply some pressure to do so. The orifice was small and twisting with coiled, muscular power. Since sliding in to his second knuckle, her walls had been swirling and sucking at his digit as tightly as if he’d wrapped his finger in a closed fist. When he felt her passage coming rapidly to what seemed like an end as he fingered deeper into the unicorn’s body, he began to have serious doubts about whether he’d be able to provide her with anything bigger than a finger or two.

“Mmmmm!” Starlight groaned, using both her hooves to pump at Mark’s now fully hard manhood through his jumpsuit. “That… that feels… mmngh!” The little unicorn was starting to bounce slightly on Mark’s middle finger, trying to get the sensation of thrusting penetration that she wanted so badly.

Mark had other plans.

He was about to introduce this little mare to the wonders of human digital manipulation…

Pulling his hand slightly down and back, Mark’ began to bend his middle digit, pressing into the wall of strength with rubbing circles that explored the sides of Starlight’s velvety cunt… much as a particularly prominent ridge might if it were a pony lover thrusting into her. Her hooves froze again on his bulge, her mind frozen as it tried to process the cacophony of new sensation… Then Mark slipped in his index finger as well.

Starlight began to squee.

Mark was turning her into putty on his hand. With constant curling ‘come-hither’ gestures that appeared to apply as effectively to female ponies as they did to female humans, Mark suspected he was at least near Starlight’s G-spot. Her body wracking shivers and how tightly she was now gripping his wrist supplied the evidence for THAT.

“M-m...mark!” Starlight moaned out between shuddering breaths.

Mark could feel the muscles of Starlight’s marehood becoming uncoordinated, confused... unable to keep up with the electrical impulse thrumming through them. She was starting to wink almost non-stop, each time a paroxysm of muscle spasms clenching and sending the fat lovebud shooting out to slap wetly against Mark’s hand. He could feel the absence of the large sensitive bump of flesh in her vagina each time it shot forward with engorged blood… and it gave him an idea.

As it shot out in conjunction with another of Starlight’s moaning squees, Mark quickly hooked his fingers and pinched with his thumb, capturing Starlight’s winking clitoris in a soft pinch, keeping it stuck in its engorged, extended state - not letting it retract or deflate… leaving it open to the humid air of the cave farm until he chose to release it, trapped, swollen angry.

“Mar - *hic*... Ma- *hic*... Muh *hic*...” Starlight desperately squeaked, trying but unable to form words as the flood of overwhelming sensation drove the air from her lungs, winding her. Her eyes flickered with a mix of fear and passion, begging Mark for mercy.

Mark only grinned.

He brought his other hand over to assist in his digital masterpiece, teasing the dripping, quivering clitoral bundle of erotic pleasure nerves with the end of his index finger, manipulating it like an analog joystick on a video game controller with small circles that flooded Starlight’s mind.

”Mark! Go easy on her! Holy buck!”

Starlight felt her tongue lolling out of her mouth. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. All she could do was focus on the fingers and hand of the human finger-fucking her… pleasing and teasing her… driving her over the edge. She wanted to do something for him - kiss him, hug him… be closer to him. But all she could do was FEEL.

The pleasure which had been hitting her in powerful waves… each one stronger than the last… each one impossible to bear… were now hitting her constantly. It was like being in a pool where splash after splash of explosively erotic energy had turned the waters turbulent, frothing with arcing electrical tingles that raced out in every direction, making the short hairs on the back of her neck stand tall and her eyes flutter, making her hooves squeeze and grip for balance against the wrist of the human inside her.

“Marr… *hng*.... Marrr… *hng*,” Again and again she tried to speak only for her voice to be driven from her, “I’m…. *hic…. C-c-... *hic*... c-cuh…. *hic*...” and then… she broke.

The turbulent waters exploded. A depth charge had gone off just beneath their chaotic splashing waves. Starlight craned her neck back and let out a guttural howl that filled the cave.

“UUNNNNNNNNNGHhhhhhmmnnnnnnnnnn………!!!!”

With desperation and instinct, she began to hump involuntarily into the human’s fingers. Powerful thrusts meant to drive a cock deeper into her mareparts so that it could perform its biological imperative. She was in complete autopilot. Mother nature had fully taken the reins from her conscious mind as she wracked and contorted in the throes of her massive orgasm.

She didn’t see Mark’s surprised and stunned face, didn’t hear the wet splatter of her marecum splashing in five powerful convulsive squirts to the canvas floor in a sticky puddle, didn’t smell the rich lavender-honey musk she’d saturated the air with. All she could experience was the feel of her orgasm...

And the magical warmth of her lover.

”Mark watch out for her…!”

Mark heard Dragonfly’s warning. But he was too stunned with just how intense Starlight’s orgasm had been. His mind was still trying to process just how such a little mare could be SO pent up… still processing just how she could release SO much sticky mare-lube in such massive squirts all over his hand and the cave floor… still worrying about whether she had broken his wrist with the strength of her clutching squeeze... or if her cry of passion had perhaps damaged his hearing… he was definitely worried that the crushing tightness around his two fingers might cause permanent injury to a very special part of his body should he attempt to enter it.

In any case: he barely noticed the glow of Starlight’s horn becoming brighter and brighter, becoming a blinding light that quickly exploded into a small burst of fireworks. He flinched away instinctively, but not fast enough. Luckily for Mark, Starlight’s magical essence was not that of other unicorn’s which might be charged with pyrotechnical, electrical or chemical elements. Hers were simply filled with charged magical essence, which felt warm and tingly, like wet glitter glue. Which sprinkled down in little gleaming sparkle-trails all over Mark’s face.

”... her horn. Pfttt…. hahahaha!” Dragonfly tittered from her continually approaching spectator’s position. ”Serves you right for not listening!”

Mark gently pulled his tired hands back from Starlight, steadying the still whimpering and shaking unicorn as she slumped against him with exhaustion, her little chest heaving with deep puffs as her body tried to replenish its oxygen stores. He felt the magic trickling down his face, dripping from his nose and chin, and despite his best efforts, was unable to avoid getting some of the strange fluid onto his lips and in his mouth. Peppermint-sweet.

He looked down at the panting, bedraggled unicorn, brushing her disheveled hair so he could see her dewy eyes. “Did… did you just give me a magical facial, Starlight Glimmer?”

Starlight managed to grin slightly, even while still drawing deep heaving breaths through her nose. “S-sorry…*huf*... *huf*…”

”Aw, you KNOW you loved it.”

Starlight’s grin became a smile. A rather predatory one. “Well Mr. Watney…” Starlight’s breathing was becoming less ragged now, she was finding her composure, brushing her hair back into place with her magic, flexing and stretching her muscles to regain her control of them.

“You just gave me a very nice treatment…” Starlight stood up on all four hooves, bringing her head height slightly above Mark’s, “...and my teacher told me you should always try to give back at least as much as you’ve received. Especially if given to you by a dear friend…” Her eyes looked hungry now, like a huntress, Mark shuffled backward slightly as the Unicorn walked into his space. “So, Mark… I have just ONE question for you… how LONG is the male refractory period?”

Mark swallowed and looked over at Dragonfly for help. “Dragonfly… little help here?”

”Hahaha, we changelings have a saying: ‘You stir-up the hive, you gotta deal with the drones.” Dragonfly buzzed teasingly from a few feet away.

“And just how does that help m-mnf!” Mark was cut off by a long lick of Starlight’s tongue dragging across his cheek, cleaning him of a strand of her magical essence as she strode forward, deliberately placing one of her hooves right against his junk - now rock-hard… completely invading his personal space.

“I asked you a question, Mark.” Starlight growled playfully, then licking another bit of magic off his face. She reached up with the hoof not planted on the canvas next to Mark’s groin, gripping his shoulder and starting to push the human backward. “I’m waiting for an answer… and I’m not a patient mare.” Her horn began to glow as she prepared another spell.

Mark’s thoughts raced. Just what had he unleashed in Starlight!? And… why was it turning him on so much!? Maybe he really did have a thing for powerful females “...maybe ten, fifteen minutes?”

Starlight kept pushing, unbalancing Mark so that he fell backwards onto his butt with Starlight standing over him on all fours.

“Perfect…” she purred with a smile, “...my turn.” Starlight’s horn snapped with the crack of a magical spell being cast. Mark’s jumpsuit vanished then reappeared over top of Dragonfly’s jeering head, falling on her like the limp bundle of fabric it now was.

Mark was buck naked. On his back. Underneath a hungry-looking unicorn mare with a dripping rear end. And ‘not-so-little Mark’ was standing proudly up between his legs, eager for attention.

Starlight looked down from Mark’s face, her eyes lingering on Mark’s stiff shaft, then she looked back up at Mark’s face with a hungry smile.

“Eep?”

Starlight slid downward onto her forelegs’ elbows, putting the end of her nose just inches from Mark’s manhood. She whistled softly, blowing a soft stream of air over Mark’s foreskin.

“Well, well, well… this is a lot more than I was expecting.”

“Seriously? We have a phrase on earth: ‘hung like a horse’... I was actually a bit worried I wouldn’t… uh … measure up.” Mark commented, propping himself up on his elbows as well so he could look down his chest at Starlight.

The unicorn brought her eyes from their cross-eyed focus on her prize to look up at Mark. “Yeah, seriously, maybe there are some bigger stallions back home, but I’ve never met them - you are like… twice my size, too.”

Mark grinned. “Hey, if you don’t think you’re up for it then I’m happy to treat you to round two of these.” Mark wiggled his fingers playfully.

“Oh really.” Starlight arched an eyebrow and rolled her eyes. “So confident that your fingers are the greatest thing since sliced hay, huh? Well, why don’t I just show you what a mare can do with her tongue.” Starlight let her jaw hang open, displaying just how long, wide and wet her tongue was.

Mark swallowed with nervous anticipation.

”Starlight, you should start with your hoof inst-”

Starlight placed her nose against the base of Mark’s cock, a wet, snuffling warm spot right between his balls, before bringing her tongue out to caress the underside of his sack, drawing it up in one long upwards lick. The hairs were different than she was used to, and the smell and taste of the pink skin was saltier than she’d expected. There was no fat medial ring… only a strange little line of skin that traced up the underside of his cock, guiding her drooling muscle until it reached his small pink tip, still hiding inside Mark’s sheathe.

”Or… just do whatever…” Dragonfly chuckled, her wings buzzing while her hoof moved suspiciously near her own nethers.

Starlight smiled up at Mark, who had groaned with pleasure at her first lick… giving her confidence that it was quite pleasurable for the human. She swirled her tongue around his cock’s end, hoping to coax the rest of his penis to emerge from his sheath, wrapping the end and tilting her head sideways to engulf part of the thick sausage in her mouth.

She pulled back from Mark’s shaft, letting his cock rest against the side of her nose. With a throaty growl she looked up at Mark with some frustration. “Just what do I need to do to get you to come all the way out, big guy?”

Mark’s groan ended with a bit of a confused grunt, as Starlight plunged her tongue into the opening at the end of Mark’s penis, hoping to coax out the hiding head. Her tongue could feel the sensitive glans in there waiting to be uncovered. She pulled back from her latest oral excursion to inspect her work, eager to see if she’d stimulated her stallion to fully extrude himself.

Mark’s hand reached down and grasped himself, pulling back to retract the skin slightly, revealing his pink, mushroom shaped head, still glistening with Starlight’s drool.

Starlight’s eyes lit up as she took in the sight of the human's penis. Her mind flashed back to some of the anatomy textbooks she’d quickly scanned through, so many months before. At the time she’d quickly flipped past the more… salient texts on human reproductive organs… she’d only known mark for a few weeks back then, and it had been hard to see him as anything other than a funny-looking monkey alien: she’d definitely NOT wanted to think about what was under his trousers. Looking at it now though, the little mushroom-helmet shaped ridge, the fat little bulbous glans, the slick slit in the middle of it all… it was cute… if you could see past its size.

“Hmm… so that’s how that skin-flap works…” Starlight hummed, swatting Mark’s hand away and taking hold of his shaft with her own hoof. She played with his organ, pumping it up and down, causing the head to vanish and reappear as she moved his foreskin up and down with her light hoofjob.

“It’s mmm… it’s a foreskin… and it reduces… mmph… fr-fricti… fuck!” Mark squeaked out, before cursing as Starlight took the opportunity of his fully exposed cockhead to bend down and plant a deep, wet, suckling kiss right on his sensitive underside. Her tongue extended part way down his shaft, covering him in her wet drool before slurping up and darting along the glans and tracing underneath the ridge of his cock.

”Wow, Starlight. You’re… surprisingly good at this.” Dragonfly breathed, from only two feet away, her head leaning in close to see the action from her front row seat. The bug was leaning forward on her belly, her rear hooves kicking idly in the air, wings buzzing excitedly as she pawed at herself.

Starlight pulled back from her suckle with a gasping *POP*. “I practiced a lot.”

“I didn’t think you were the type…” Mark groaned, sweat forming on his red face.

Starlight blushed. “I… no… I MEANT I practiced on my coolers a lot… I actually haven’t...had many… uh…”

“Coolers?”

”Synthetic dicks.” Dragonfly chuckled, her nose dangerously close to the pair now: she’d been creeping closer and closer, her eyes glowing with energy.

“Ah, like a dildo. I imagine a nerd like you probably had quite a collec-”

Starlight frowned with annoyance, before cutting Mark off the best way she could think of: she grasped his cock hard with her hoof… brushed a strand of her mane out of the way… opened her mouth wide… and plunged onto his shaft.

“Oh BUCK!” Mark grunted, using the Equestrian curse, his hands gripping the back of Starlight’s head as she forced four inches… half of Mark’s length into her throat.

It wasn’t as pleasurable as the tongue lashing and kissing he’d been receiving just a moment before, but the thought that Starlight was driving his cock into her throat, that the cute little unicorn mare was choking on his penis, was so wildly erotic Mark had to restrain his emotion.

Starlight’s eyes were tearing up. This was way different than any cooler she’d ever tried to perform this on, even her bigger ones. She swallowed madly and began to cough, panicking slightly at the width of the cock she’d willingly jammed into her muzzle as it began to constrict her airway. Tears formed at the junction of her eyelids. But she persevered, reminding herself that she had plenty of oxygen, and that she could breathe through her nose… she tried to relax, to simply run her tongue along the underside of the fat cock in her mouth… and just like that she was deep-throating Mark Watney.

“Holy… holy SHIT!” Mark grunted again, his hand squeezing Starlight’s mane, as the mare began to bob up and down on his shaft. He stroked at her hair, running his fingers with loving kindness through the long purple strands in gratitude as Starlight continued to suckle and blow him.

”Starlight, Mark… I know you haven’t been listening to me…” Dragonfly began, her hoof having made its way onto Mark’s abs, stroking lightly and playfully, just inches away from the main source of action. ”...but trust me on this one.” Dragonfly pulled her other hoof from its spot between her hind legs. Trailing a suspiciously wet trail across Mark’s belly as she lifted Starlight from Mark’s cock.

*Smack-POP* “H-hey!” Two annoyed sets of voices complained, as the changeling interrupted what had been a passionate interdimensional blowjob.

”...is for horses. Now shut up you two, and just… there… that’s it…” Dragonfly groused, as she bughandled the flummoxed unicorn, making her stand up… then used her chitin-covered forehooves to grip Starlight’s withers and rotate her around, so she was standing over top of Mark, who was still lying on his back. ”...there., that’s much better. Now we can double the thrust to weight ratio of this little launch sequence.”

The possibilities of the new position clicked in Mark and Starlight’s minds simultaneously. The unicorn still had Mark’s erect cock right in front of her nose, perfectly positioned for her to continue her oral attention… but now she’d been turned 180 degrees. Perfectly positioning her rear over top of Mark’s face… dripping down onto his upper chest.

“Oh.” Mark murmured.

“Oh.” Starlight grinned, looking down under herself, through her legs at Mark with a mischievous smile.

”Yeah… OH. Told you to trust a ling. Now get busy! I’m hungry!”

Starlight swatted the bug with her tail playfully. Then she kept her eyes on Mark’s face, watching the human’s reaction as he stared up at her plot… as she hiked her tail up high, revealing her dripping, winking marehood… as it descended to plant itself right onto his face.

“Mmmmmn!” Starlight groaned, the erotic thought of smothering her human lover’s face with her pussy turning her on even before the pesky human had a chance to do more than grunt in surprise into her wet cleft. She quickly lowered herself back to her belly, now resting on top of Mark, which brought her back to staring at the big human phallus. She started to reach forward to take the shaft in her hoof again, only to find that it was already being held by a black changeling forehoof, squeezing the base of Mark’s cock experimentally, unable to fully wrap itself all the way around his shaft.

”Hmm hmm… here you go Starlight…” Dragonfly buzzed happily, her tongue darting out into the air for longer than usual as she held Mark’s penis steady.

Starlight glanced quickly at the bug with surprise, a little off put by how involved she had suddenly made herself… but… this was for her after all… right? And… Starlight didn’t want to start a fuss that would waste any time… Dragonfly was just trying to help…. And Starlight wanted nothing more than to continue giving her stallion as much pleasure as he’d given her. Plus, she found his taste… his scent pleasing… comforting… she had a secret thrill that she could take such an intimate part of him so deeply into her.

So, she did.

Mark grunted out with a muffled yelp of pleasant satisfaction, as his cock was engulfed in wet heat again. His grunt was muffled because he was currently buried in pony-pussy. A part of his mind laughed at himself: ‘What if this is the way I die? After all the explosions, fires, space-catastrophes, food-shortages, and Mars generally flipping me the bird… what if I die from drowning in unicorn-vagina? I DON’T want to think about what Venk would have to announce to the press…’

But Mark wasn’t completed out of air. Though his mouth was completed smothered in Starlight’s fat, drooling lips, his nose was buried in a tender spot of flesh just below her marehood and above her asshole, which was currently all he could see, less than an inch from his face. It was a cute, quivering thing… a round ring of muscle that reminded him more of a mini-donut than the strange wrinkle of a human… a pony-donut… a ponut?

In any case, there was a literal waterfall of sticky Starlight juice pouring over his chin. He couldn’t see it, but the convulsing squeezes on his face made him sure that the unicorn’s lovebud was still winking in and out. Mark wasn’t going to just sit back as he received a blowjob from an alien species… no… Mark was an explorer. He thrust his tongue out into Starlight’s folds, meager and short though his oral appendage may be. She was sweet. Minty.

Immediately Mark felt Starlight thrust back against him, trying to drive more of his tongue into her. Smushing her rear against him with a force that might be considered rude… if she wasn’t simultaneously bobbing up and down with such eager strokes on his shaft. He could feel the tension in his gut, a telltale sign of an impending orgasm starting to build. He clenched both sides of the pink pony’s butt, digging in with a passionate and firm grasp.

”He’zzz close…” Dragonfly buzzed, watching with a gaping mouth as her friend slid up and down half of Mark’s pink throbbing shaft. Aside from the building tension in Mark’s emotions, she could see the base of the human’s cock twitching, pulsing… his two hairy sack-covered egg-sized testicles retracting. The whole scene was so delicious. What had been a faintly glowing light of energy when they had first entered the cave was now a burning bonfire of pink emotional love energy… a bug-zapper light of beautiful emotional food that was drawing the starved changeling closer and closer like a moth to a flame.

That beautiful human cock, currently the center of all of Starlight’s lusty focus, was right in front of her… half of it not even being touched by Starlight’s lips… lonely… untended to… maybe she could just… have… a little… taste…

Dragonfly’s snake-like forked tongue slid out from her lips, wrapping around Mark’s thickened cock-base several times like a constrictor. Immediately the changeling’s eyes burned several shades brighter. She wasn’t just sipping from the incredible source of lust-emotion… she was gulping it down in firehose-level volumes. She slid the coils of her tongue up and down the bottom of the shaft, occasionally bumping into Starlight’s muzzle when she bobbed down on one of her suckling thrusts, though the mare was far too engrossed to notice.

Then it happened.

She noticed it first when her tongue began to stretch painfully. The tightened coils being pulled apart by the sudden expansion of Mark’s girth by the slightest hint of thickness. She saw his balls shoot close to his body, convulsing with a sudden, violent spasm…

And then the emotional field EXPLODED.

With such close proximity and contact, everything was an order of magnitude more potent than Starlight’s earlier orgasm, and with each pulse of Mark’s ejaculation, Dragonfly was filled with overflowing lust energy, stuffing her belly full of the human’s tantric satisfaction.

Starlight choked and gagged, absorbing two pulses of thick human ejaculate directly into her throat, before she was able to pull off of Mark, revealing the geyser of Mark’s orgasming penis, his swollen head red and full of blood as he shot thick ropes of white semen in messy strands that landed across her muzzle and chest.

Where Starlight had been able to pull off and dodge entirely choking on the physical ejaculate… Dragonfly was completely unable to avoid being pumped full of the emotional energy spewing with pulse after pulse from the human. It felt like he was pouring directly down her throat and into her belly, filling her with warm, spicy lust… even as the sticky human-juice that missed Starlight landed on Dragonfly’s twitching face.

And then… just as she was starting to get her fill.

It was over.

The human’s orgasm subsided, both physically and emotionally, to a trickle...

With a groan, Starlight rolled off the human’s chest onto her side, her tail swishing happily back and forth above her drooling marehood, a sticky snail-trail left from Mark’s chin across the canvas to Starlight’s butt. The human’s cock was slightly softening, a wet pool of white batter dripping down either side of his shaft, rolling over the changeling’s tongue.

”W-wow… WOW. Dragonfly panted, after pulling her long tongue back into her mouth. ”That… was… AMAZING!” Dragonfly bounced to her hooves, prancing around the two gasping, panting lovers. ”Howlongdidyousayyouneededtorecover?” Dragonfly asked, rapid-fire, prodding at the human with her hoof.

“Staaaaarrrrrliggghhhhtt….” Mark moaned, only now starting to rouse himself as he rolled away from the annoying bug to look at the unicorn. “I think lust is changeling-meth…. make her stop poking me….” he groaned, weakly swatting at Dragonfly as she continued to dart around him, trying to lift him up from his position of rest.

”C’mon’ c’mon c’mon c’mon c’mon!” She buzzed.

“Oh… I don’t know, Mark…” Starlight grinned, looking back over at the tired human over her shoulder. She flicked her tail playfully left and right, the bedraggled, moist hairs flopping from side to side, brushing purposefully against Mark’s groin with every other wag, revealing her dripping, winking folds… which were clearly eager for more attention. “I also can’t wait for you to be ready for round two…” She smiled mischievously just as her clitoris parted her marehood with a little squelching splash of marejuice.

“Buck me.” Mark whispered, as Dragonfly pumped her hoof in triumph.

”Yezzzzzzzzzz!”

Mark rolled onto his side, swatting at the annoyingly energetic bedbug, who prodded him with her horn in… sensitive areas.

“C’mon you depraved little sex-spider…” Mark moaned, attempting to return to his knees. “I’m sure guys on your planet need a couple of minutes to recover too… and I’m not a twenty-year old college sophomore.”

”But you’re no ordinary male, Mark...” Dragonfly cooed, slipping underneath Mark’s left arm to prop him up as he stumbled onto his knees. ”You’re a big... ” Dragonfly began nuzzling Mark’s hip, ”studly...” Dragonfly’s nuzzle were getting disconcertingly close to Mark’s crotch ”well-equipped...” the changeling’s snout made its way under Mark’s semi-erect penis, rubbing against him hungrily, ”DELICIOUS male...”

Mark froze. Even his sex-bedraggled brain needed a moment to process what had just happened. He had managed, over the past sol, to accept that he could… that he would have a physical relationship with another species… with Starlight Glimmer. Now, he was being touched in a VERY intimate way by another species. Was this OK?

Certainly, ‘not-so-little Mark’ thought it was OK, judging by his reaction to the changeling’s nuzzles… but the more rational Mark’s reaction was to immediately push the intruder away, and scold her for being so forward. As he reached his hand for her neck to push her away, his brain took a second pass at solving this new dilemma.

It was immediately clear that the Dragonfly was excited… perhaps over-excited. Mark had already guessed that there were plenty of mores and values that were incongruous between his alien colleagues and human society (their lack of clothing being a prime testament to that). Perhaps Dragonfly didn’t consider nuzzling his junk to be… inappropriate?

”C’mon… time to wake up…” Dragonfly addressed Mark’s penis directly, before tracing a tongue from the base of his shaft to his tip.

THAT… was unmistakable. Excited or not, Dragonfly clearly had no problem being extremely intimate with Mark in this moment… the only remaining question was… did Mark have a problem with it?

He’d already come to terms with the fact that he liked Starlight. Loved her, even. Of all the Amicitas crew, he had found her to be a kindred spirit in terms of interests, conversation, affection… no-one else even came close. No-one, that is, except for…

Dragonfly.

Mark let his hand fall back to his side. The changeling had always been close to him. Always ready to drop a joke or do something klutzy that would brighten up his day. She was undeniably cute, in every sense of the word. She cared so much about the emotional well-being of the whole team, always acting the peacemaker or the jester… She was his ‘buddy’ in the hab, happy to hang out with him and shoot the non-existent Martian breeze. He liked the little bug. He’d always suspected the feeling was mutual: she always had a bit more bounce in her step after receiving a ‘feeding hug’ from him, compared to receiving any from the other crew members.

And now she was in desperate need… and acting a little unrestrained. But this little even was as much for her as it was for Starlight and himself… if she was going to go a little wild… Mark wouldn’t stop her…

In fact, Mark grinned wryly to himself, he had to admit… it was pretty flattering to have TWO cute interdimensional aliens after his junk.

”C’mon, time to come out of your hibernation... ” Dragonfly managed to buzz somehow, despite her tongue still tracing up and down Mark’s length… then heading toward his… a port and tickling at his exit hatch.

“Hey, hey… woah! Cut that out!” Mark grumbled, using his fingers to flick the changeling’s ear in displeasure. The chitin-covered female chittered and flicked away from him, racing ahead to where Starlight was on the canvas. The changeling whirled around to face Mark while standing next to the half bent over unicorn.

”Hee hee hee.. It worked, didn’t it?” She chittered, pointing a hoof at Mark’s renewed erection.

“That’s not the point… I don’t uh… w-woah…” Mark’s complaints trailed off as he took in the sight in front of him.

Starlight’s fluffy chest was still pressed into the canvas floor and she was resting on her forehooves… but she’d stood back up on her rear legs to lift her ass up into the air. She coyly looked back with a sultry, smoky look and let her hips waggle slowly from side to side.

“Like what you see, Mark?” Starlight cooed teasingly.

Mark nodded. The unicorn’s tails swatted left and right with lazy flops, haphazardly brushing against the human’s thighs and groin, flashing him glimpses of her glistening marehood with each shake.

”Zzzat’s nothing… look at THIS! ” Dragonfly grinned, reaching over Starlight’s flanks while still facing Mark, grabbing a hoofful of unicorn butt and pulling the two pert buttcheeks apart… spreading Starlight’s pink, clenching tunnel wide for all to see.

“H-hey!” Starlight growled, quickly flicking her tail over to swat the changeling in the face. Making the bug sputter and cough with the mouthful of tail hair she received. “Behave! You’re getting a little too rambunctious, Dragonfly!”

Dragonfly sat back on her haunches, putting on the air of a scolded child… while she continued to vibrate and hum with energy. ”S-sorry… I juzzzt… so tazzzzty... pleazzze continue...” Dragonfly shuffled forward… leaning in as close as she could… if either Mark or Starlight looked closely enough they might see a bit of drool falling from her mouth.

Mark looked back toward his target. That position… that posture… there was something so… primal about it. “Are you sure… you don’t want to do it more uh… traditionally? Like, face to face or…”

“Dolphin-style?” Starlight chuckled, blushing. “I’ve… I’ve never... “ her blush deepened, “I’m not the most experienced mare… I’ve always done it pony-style…” Starlight’s confidence started to come back, seeing the lust building up ion Mark’s eyes, “which is the most traditional way to buck of all… unless…” she started to hike her tail up, lifting her dock to the fully flagged orientation, revealing her dripping cunt and throbbing , winking lovebud, “...you’re not interested…”

Mark’s eyes were bugging out of his head, he couldn’t manage any words, only a soft shake of his head before he shuffled forward on his knees. He placed his legs on either side of Starlight’s damp, sweating haunches. The lavender musk hung like a fog in front of him as he brought his groin into alignment: with him down on his knees, it was the perfect height - Starlight had to make only the smallest of flexes to her spine to line everything up.

God, he wanted this so much! Mark grabbed his stiffness, still slick from his earlier adventures. He wondered if Starlight wanted him just as badly… the slickness pouring out of her , her needy lip-biting... and most of all the changeling sweating and panting nearby convinced him that this was the case.

He started to shift forwards, aiming just an inch above the big pink bulb that flashed in and out of the humid cave air… But apparently he wasn’t shifting fast enough… not for the desperate Dragonfly, who had scooched closer and closer.

A bizarre series of clicks and hums came from her, in what was neither English nor Ponish… she wrested hold of Mark’s cock and pressed it downwards, pressing his fat mushroom tip into the top of Starlight’s marehood, digging it in to her wet, pink inner folds… before snatching her hooves back to her mouth to cover up her glee.

“Mmmmmn!” Starlight moaned, relaxing slightly into the male behind her as Mark started to sink into her. The dull, burning, needy ache of her lust seemed to spark with the touch, like static electricity leaping from a doorknob. She felt his strange, fat, head start to slip into her, so different than anything she’d ever had before… and so BIG. Despite her desire for him, her tight lips strained and prevented him.

“F-fuck…” Mark groaned as his penis slipped and caught in Starlight’s crevice, the clenching inner muscles that had squeezed his fingers so tightly earlier preventing him from sliding beyond the first half-inch of his head.

“P-push… harder…” Starlight grunted with a guttural plea, wiggling her hips backward.

“You’re too tight… I don’t th-”

“You’re not going to break me!” Starlight snapped, huffing from her nostrils and slapping one of her forehooves against the canvas. “Stop trea- EEP!” Her complaint was cut-off part way, as Mark’s head popped into her marehood, the momentary jolt of such a large invader making her stiffen for a moment… before the wave of pleasure made her relax again.

The heat and sticky, wetness was intense. Feeling those sensations on his organ instead of his fingers only heightened the disparity between unicorn-sex and anything Mark had experienced before. He felt the mare’s walls clenching and relaxing around his head, like a hand constantly balling into a fist then releasing. Gritting his teeth, he waited for one of those tightness melting respites to cautiously ease himself another inch into Starlight’s body.

An obscene squelch filled the cave, as pink lips strained to slowly slide over pink shaft, despite copious amounts of lubrication.

“B-b… BUCK you’re big.” Starlight grunted, breathing out with concentration. Mark had just slid another couple of inches into her, managing to get half of himself inside of her.

“I’ll take a bit out…” Mark quickly whispered, stroking the small of Starlight’s back comfortingly, then starting to withdraw.

“No! No… wait…” Starlight breathed, moving backward in synch with Mark’s retreat to prevent him from withdrawing. “Just… give me a minute to get used to it.” Starlight moaned before putting her forehead against the canvas to focus.

Mark rested patiently, stroking her back calmly, letting his hands run over her hind legs soothingly, comforting her. He could feel her tight little cunt spasming around him, throbbing as it tried to accept his size.

“B-buck!” Starlight moaned out suddenly, her clit involuntarily shooting out to rub along the underside of Mark’s shaft, with an associated splatter of sticky marejuice.

“Shhh… shhh…” Mark cooed, rubbing Starlight, using his fingernails to brush her coat. Slowly, she was adjusting. The clenches were coming less often, with less force, as she relaxed around him. With a grin, he brought his left hand over to the unicorn’s dock, running his thumb along the pink tail, making her shiver. After tracing up and down its length a few times, he let his digit trace ever so slightly lower, over the wrinkles of smooth skin… and over top of Starlight's quivering ponut.

“M-marrrrk…” Starlight groaned, her tail swatting at his hand. Mark simply ran his thumb in little circles around the ring of flesh, hot and throbbing. He didn’t push into her, just provided her with a new sensation, occasionally darting under the tailhole to put pressure against the sensitive spot between her two plot-holes, just above where his cock was impaling her.

After a few moments of this, she started to move backward again.

“Starlight?” Mark asked.

“Mmmmmore...” Starlight moaned, pushing back with her forehooves. “Feels… so full…”

Mark brought his hands back to Starlight’s hips, hooking his fingers over her furry hipbones and guiding her backward. Inch after inch of him disappeared into her, getting crushed by her vise-like tightness as he penetrated her scalding depths.

“So bucking… DEEP…” The pink unicorn grunted, arching her back as Mark finally hit bottom. Six inches was all that could fit into her smaller body, before the tip of his head kissed up against her cervix. Groaning with the feeling of overwhelming sensations, she lifted herself to her forehooves so she was standing on all fours, looking between her legs back at the dripping mess behind her. “You’re HUGE.”

“Words that every male wants to hear, regardless of dimension.” Mark grinned for a moment. “Uh… hang on, I’ll slide out a bi-”

“No! No… you’re GOOD huge, not ouch huge.” Starlight grinned, looking over her shoulder. With a flick of her tail, Starlight showed Mark another difference between their species: he felt an incredible ripple of muscle run from Starlight’s outer lips to her deepest depths, twisting and clenching around him.

“Unnnnff…. Th-thanks! Y-you… too?” Mark grunted out, his brain not functioning well enough after experiencing THAT to coherently respond.

Starlight chuckled, throwing her sweaty mane backward and waggling her well-filled plot. “Well? What are you waiting for?”

Mark felt Starlight’s rhythmic vaginal contractions coming in waves and he braced himself. “OK… I’m gonna start moving.”

“Huh?” Starlight squeaked, before feeling the thick human cock sliding out of her. “I thought I said… OH!” She craned her neck upward with surprised pleasure as Mark reversed his direction and pressed against her cervix again. She’d heard that some stallions liked to pump once or twice before releasing… but she’d never experienced it for herself… it was… nice.

Really nice.

Mark pulled back again, sliding a couple of inches from his lover with a squelching, dripping wetness. Her tight inner and plump outer lips gripping at him as he withdrew, stretching away from her body. He felt his head bumping and dragging along fleshy, coiling marehood walls… then he began to push back in, until he hit bottom again.

“Oh Mark!” Starlight pleaded. Her head tilting back with pleasure.

He was finding a rhythm now, carefully increasing both the tempo and length of his strokes. Her volcanic tunnel was beginning to boil-over with spasms again… only where before they had been concerted squeezes, now they were a cacophony of chaotic pulses, as Starlight’s pussy was overloaded with the feeling of being pumped into. Her fat, pinkish-red love nubbin ground itself against the underside of his shaft with regular frequency.

“Oh… oh sh-SHIT!””

Mark’s ears perked up. He’d never heard Starlight use that curse-word. Less than a moment after hearing it, he saw her legs falter for a moment, shaking as something wracked through her. She shivered, thrashing her neck to the left and suddenly straining her tail skyward with intensity. Her legs recovered just in time to support her, and she splayed them ever so slightly outwards. The muscles in her vagina began to run in coordination again, waves and waves that matched up with her heavy, gasping breaths.

She was cumming.

Culminating with a whimper from his lover, Mark felt a heavy splash of marecum splatter against his balls and against the canvas, forming a sticky, turbulent pool. Then another splash. And another.

Throughout the mare’s climax, Mark didn’t cease his thrusting, having now reached full strokes, sliding himself six inches in and out on a gentle three second rhythm.

“C-cele… cele…” Starlight whimpered, her head hanging downward, mouth agape as she struggled to catch her breath. “M-m...mark…”

Mark could feel his heart pounding now too, the strain of his work catching up with him, but going completely unnoticed. He was making love to his beautiful lover, lost in the sensations and emotion, awash in the sea of instinct and biology and carnal desire. He was going to give her his everything.

Minutes passed, with the sounds of grunting, squelching and breathing only being offset by the occasional feminine whimper.

Starlight’s mind was descending, slowly but surely, to the most primal and primitive core of her ego. She could only liken it to being incredible drunk… while also being filled with caffeine: a burning energetic excitement, lost in a haze of dopamine and endorphins. Her body and Mark’s were merging, becoming one. The human she had so much affection for was deep inside her, and she was engulfing him: it felt so… completing. Her eyelids sank halfway as the human continued his steady rhythm… she would be content to just… lose herself and be Mark’s for all time. A hedonistic sponge for his love. To simply… melt away...

The thought jolted her back to reality. She couldn’t take much more of this. Not her mind… or her body… she could feel her nerves becoming raw and sensitive with the overexposure they were receiving… just HOW was this stallion lasting so long!? She wasn’t sure, but she thought she might have orgasmed three… maybe even four times since he’d started. No mares orgasmed more than once during sex (and sometimes not EVEN once).

She summoned up what she had left of her will power, forcing her mind to draw her lolling, swaying tongue back into her panting mouth. It felt heavy and strange in her jaw. She tried to speak, only a croak and a whimper coming out, which Mark ignored… she was in real danger… she could lose her mind!

One last try! She opened her mouth again… “M-m...Marrrrkkkk…. P-pwease….” She moaned out before clenching her teeth from another flood of pleasure. She’d done it! She was saved!

Mark heard his lover begging him, pleading with him. He was tired, exhausted… and nearing his own limit. He’d already recovered from his earlier orgasm, and the familiar stiffness and swell of his cock told him that his second climax of the trip was not far away… but he would sooner collapse than fail to meet his lover’s plea.

Mark grabbed a handful of Starlight’s tail, gripping near its base just above the dock, giving him extra purchase… then he began to pound her.

Mark’s thrusts became more violent, more bestial. Heavy and rapid thuds that affected Starlight with impossible sexual force. Her eyes rolled left and right wildly as she felt another wave of exploding chemical-electrical energy race through her body. The mini-orgasm drove the air from her body, winding her. She felt her forehooves slips and slide, her chest slamming into the canvas, returning her to the face-down ass-up posture she’d held earlier.

Mark felt his partner’s rear raise higher into the air as her front dipped, and he took advantage of this newfound invitation, stepping forward to position himself to jackhammer into the mare. He pulled hard with his left hand, the silky-smooth tail firmly ensconced in his grip. His right hand dug into the soft flesh of Starlight’s right flank, his fingers digging into her body and his thumb prodding at her backdoor, all supplying him the purchase he needed to truly fuck the little unicorn into the Martian soil.

“F-fuck… Starlight!” Mark groaned, feeling the constant orgasmic ripples of the mare under him as he thrust into her again and again. He felt something in the mare relaxing, opening… and noticed her was slipping deeper into her with each thrust, further and further… until he popped his entire length into her on one downward stroke… his body and testicles colliding into her rear with a wet, meaty…

*PLAP*

Starlight felt Mark inside her. So far inside her. Physically… and mentally.

*PLAP*

Her mind was filled with thoughts of being with him, her nose filled with their combined odor, her skin was soaked with their combined sweat.

*PLAP*

The wash of her final climax of the encounter was at once the most powerful and the weakest of the day. Most powerful because of its incredible magnitude of sheer, raw, pleasure… Weakest because Starlight’s body had nothing left to give… except her grasping, clenching marehood, desperately milking and clenching at Mark’s cock, her uterus ready to be painted with his seed.

*PLAP*

Mark felt Starlight’s vaginal walls begging him for his everything - for the sweet release, the end to this sexual marathon. He felt the hot, sticky splashes of her final release, as she squirted again and again.

*PLAP*

He opened his mouth wordlessly, his hips thrusting of their own accord… as he burst.

*PLAP*

With one final thrust, he held himself all the way deep into the little unicorn mare, releasing his second orgasm of the night, with far less volume, but far more intensity than the first. He could feel the body he’d melted into crying with joy at his seed’s arrival, a quenching glass of water on a burning house fire of pure lust.

Then, he felt the world spin, and… still holding onto Starlight… he collapsed onto his side, pulling her over with him… a tangled, messy heap of sticky, stinky, human and pony limbs… a heaving biological monument to the lustful act they’d just completed.

They both laid there, unmoving except for deep, gasping breaths as they both tried to recover and re-oxygenate. Mark felt his flaccid sex slide out from the tight slit, a rather unremarkable and slimy finish to what had so recently been a raw, powerful physical connection.

He felt Starlight pushing back against him, snuggling her back against his sweaty chest, not caring that she’d pushed herself through puddles of their unmentionable fluids, only wanting to be close to Mark’s warmth… a warmth that would match the warmth still inside her.

She felt Mark’s arm wrap around her chest, drawing her closer, spooning her inside his larger bulk. Protecting her, if only momentarily, from the harsh reality of the cave… of Mars… of existence. His big, caring muscles were her armor - she was safe, satisfied… loved... what more could a mare ask for? Her eyes began to drift closed… as she prepared to sleep in the beautiful afterglow of her pleasure…

Author's Note

Wew.

So... I will fully admit. I TRIED to write something a little different. A little more tender. A little slower paced. Paying homage to the wonderful connection between Mark and his crewmates.

Then things started getting HOT.

I am a clopfic writer at heart.

I hope you forgive me... or even better - enjoyed my little romp: don't take it too serious!

Your comments are extremely valuable to me, don't skimp on them!

Epilogue - ENCRYPTED

Epilogue

“...wait.” Starlight’s eyes fluttered up, her entrance to the post-coital bliss interrupted by Mark’s voice. “...I feel like something’s wrong.... Wait… WAIT… Dragonfly!?” Mark’s body began to uncoil itself from her, she wanted to protest… to snuggle back into her warm hidey hole against the world… but her brain was rebooting too… how long had it been since they’d heard from the bug?

“Starlight!!!” Mark shouted, his body moving rapidly now. “It’s Dragonfly!!!” He half-screamed, fear in his voice. “She’s… she’s…” Starlight turned her head to see Mark roll over to the bug, who was laying on her back, belly swollen grotesquely, her carapace’s holes filled entirely and her chitin shining brightly under the solar crystal beaming down from above. Mark placed his hands on the changeling’s breast plate, above the huge bulge in her gut. “SHE’S NOT BREATHING!”

Starlight jumped to her hooves. “WHAT!?” She raced over, lighting her horn immediately, not caring for the amount of magic she spent as she performed a quick scan of the insect’s body, seeing that her pulse, though faint, was still there.

“She’s choking! Chest compressions! Here!” Starlight moved Mark’s hands to a landmark on the bug’s chest.

Every astronaut is well-versed in first aid, and Mark quickly got to performing the heavy compressions that flexed the strong exoskeleton of Dragonfly’s torso with each blow. He worried for a moment that he might crack or hurt the smaller creature, and was about to ask Starlight if he was ‘doing it right’ for a changeling, when…

“*COUGH* *COUGH* *COUGH*…” Bright pink sputum flew from the changeling’s muzzle, and she took a shuddering first breath. Mark watched the fluid fly through the air, terrified that she was hacking up a lung.

“Quick! Roll her on her side or she could start choking again!”

Mark gripped the changeling’s far shoulder, rolling her to the left. Immediately a river of bright pink syrup began to pour from Dragonfly’s muzzle and nostrils.

“It’s like Pepto Bismol…” Mark muttered, his eyes glued to the rise and fall of Dragonfly’s body. “If it smelled like cupcakes and fish.”

“Shush!” Starlight scolded. “I want to hear her respiratory rate, she could b-”

Suddenly Dragonfly’s eyes brightened, and she woozily tilted her head.

“Dragonfly? Are you oka-”

“I don’t…” The bug moaned, shaking her head. As she quickly stood up on her four hooves, despite the protests of Mark and Starlight. She reached up to her muzzle with a hoof, trying to cover it. “I don’t feel so… goo-”

*BLERGHHHHHHHHHHHHH* *COUGH*

She vomited, the intensity and volume of the pink substance gushing from her made Mark stand up to get out of the way, as it formed a river trailing toward the cave wall.

*BLERGHHHHHHHHHHHaaaaHaaaaHaaaa*

She vomited buckets worth.

*BLERGHHHHHHHHHHHHaaHaaa*

Mark watched as the changeling’s gut slowly became less and less of a beachball sized swollen mass… and more of a chubby tummy.

Finally, the changeling looked up at her two companions, pink liquid still dripping from the corner of her mouth and the hoof she’d tried to cover her mouth with. “I… I’m full now.” She promptly slumped over onto her side. Passing back out.

…

A few minutes later, Starlight had arranged the Changeling comfortably against one of the cave walls, one of the emergency tin-foil blankets spread over her for warmth.

Mark had put on his jumpsuit pants back on (despite Starlight’s complaint that now there was really no point), and stood next to the unicorn, both watching the little black bug snoring and buzzing happily.

“Well…”

“Well.”

Mark coughed slightly, looking around the cave. “Quite a mess you made.”

“I made? More like, we made.” Starlight huffed. “I have no idea how we’re going to sneak this by Cherry while we take turns at the decontamination shower…” Starlight prodded at a sticky mass of fur on her chest, courtesy of Mark Watney.

“Well… I feel like you could provide a surprisingly good shower right he- oomph.” Mark didn’t manage to chuckle at his own joke: the well-placed unicorn hoof to his gut drove the air out of his diaphragm.

“I suppose we could try to take a shower at the same time.” Starlight grinned at Mark and waggled her eyebrows a bit. Then her nostrils flared as it caught a whiff of Mark. “Celestia you smell.”

“I don’t think taking a tandem shower would help reduce suspicion, Starlight.” Mark held his arm up to his nose and took a whiff. “Wew… yeah that’s pretty potent. Eau de Starlight Sex. I’m guessing you ponies can smell it even better than even I can.”

Starlight nodded. “We both smell like we’ve had a good long roll in the hay… while in heat and rut… and then we sat in a Yakyakistan sauna for an hour.” She moaned. “We’re screwed.” She looked down at Dragonfly, snoring happily, and she took a step closer to Mark, pressing her barrel against his body. “Still… I’m so glad that we were able to help Dragonfly. She looks so much better already.”

Mark nodded, reaching down with his right hand to scratch behind one of Starlight’s ears. “Me too…” He waited a moment, before deciding to open his big, dumb mouth. “Starlight?”

“Mm?”

“I’m… I’m also really happy we got to share this, regardless of Dragonfly.” He looked down at the unicorn, who was looking back up at him. “You were incredible... And to be able to do that with someone I love…” He smiled, trailing off.

Starlight smiled back, then looked down at her hooves. “...you weren’t so bad yourself. And… yeah: I’m really glad I was able to do… uh… THAT… with someone I love. It was a lot more than scratching a heat itch.” She looked up at Mark, eyes bright and kind. “Thanks Mark.”

Mark sighed, putting his hands on his hips. “Welp, we gotta at least try to clean up.” He looked over at the absolutely filthy hab canvas. “And I have NO idea what changeling Pepto Bismol would do to the plants in here, so we may have to dump this stuff outside… time to get to work!” Mark started to turn around.

“Nuh uh.” Starlight huffed.

“Huh?” Mark asked, seeing a petulant, cheeks-puffed out Starlight.

“Work can come later. Dragonfly’s little emergency cheated me out of snuggle-time.”

“Snuggle-time?”

Starlight nodded. “I’m willing to accept one half-hour of snuggle time. Or forty-five minutes of cuddle-time. Your choice.”

Mark grinned scooping up Starlight in his arms.

“Forty-five minutes of snuggle time it is.”

Author's Note

And that's the big conclusion!

I really hope that you enjoyed my sidefic!

I had a lot of fun writing a little scene in the vast, expansive world created by Kris. I sincerely hope that others will pick up the torch that he has held aloft for so long... exploring the post-sparkle drive universe.

I have to admit, I have no idea how Kris is able to maintain a regular update schedule: this was extremely difficult, even on a bi-weekly basis... unlike Mark, I'm less of a marathon man and more of a sprinter ;-)

I really do hope that this will end up being well-received. The fans of The Maretian are so wonderful and participative, I really don't want to let you down.

As always, I write this for you: let me know how you felt about the fic in the story!