Author's Note

Summary: Sleepy cuddles turn to something more when they are both lost in the haziness of instinct and love.

Warnings: None. Is vanilla sex between a married couple that loves each other considered a warning?

Notes: Consider this a belated Christmas gift, even if its not very festive, let's celebrate with a bang!

Midnight Haze

Eyes open slowly but she doesn’t realize, it’s just as dark in her room as it is behind her eyelids. Sound comes to her first—a serenade of crickets, a band of cicadas, the chorus of a warm breeze through the grass and trees—and a midnight concert pours in through the open window. It was summer, so it only made sense to leave it open, white curtains dancing with the wind and the moonlight. Starlight can’t see this, but she feels that breeze tracing an icy finger down her spine and she shivers. Such a contrast to her front that’s warm—far too warm for comfort.

But instinct tells her not to pull away, it beckons her closer instead to the source, and Starlight Glimmer, who, even in her waking hours follows her gut more than her brain, is powerless against it. She leans in and her muzzle meets something soft, something warm and alive. She can’t put a name to it at first, images and feelings flooding her mind instead—old books, the softest smile, spilled ink, magic like sunlight caressing her, teal eyes that make her heart race—and her lips twitch with a smile. Sunburst.

He's warm, much too warm, even though there’s not a stitch of clothing between them. He left his cloak on the hook of his closet door right before bed, and Starlight kicked off the sheets in her restless sleep long ago. She should retreat, but instinct tells her no, closer, go closer. She follows the call, mind still cloudy with sleep, lips dragging along the golden fur of the stallion she calls hers.

Sunburst’s breathing is deep and steady, his back to her as he dreams. He doesn’t feel her kisses at first, which admittedly are nothing but a lazy caress of her lips across his fur and skin until she gets to his neck, where the skin is much more sensitive and exposed. His breathing changes, rhythm interrupted, and he wakes, somewhat. There’s no confusion, no surprise, he knows where he is, and he knows who is responsible for his interrupted dreams. He’s known those lips and their owner his whole life.

He lifts his head from the pillow, only just, and tries to speak, but all that comes is a “Hmm?”

“Hmm,” she answers, unrelenting in her lazy kisses.

He understands, though, and turns slowly to face her, then he wiggles his way down. His face settles in her fluffy chest and he sighs deeply as her forelegs wrap around his head and play with his mane. His hooves find her waist and stay there, holding her close as she nuzzles the top of his head. He closes his eyes, taking in her scent intermingled with the summer air, and melts under her touch.

Starlight always loved his hair, even when they were foals and his mother cut it short and neat, like the rose bushes in her garden—perfect squares without a leaf or flower out of place. His mane is longer now, growing and curling wherever it pleased without Sunburst doing much about it, too busy with his books and theories to care about his appearance. But Starlight thinks she loves it even more now. It's long and wild, but it’s also soft and clean and smells like home.

She buries her snout into it, breathing in his scent. She leans in to kiss the crown of his head, but she miscalculates and catches the tip of his ear between her teeth. His ear twitches and flicks her nose—she starts, caught off guard, and giggles breathlessly at her own reaction.

Her giggling rouses him, making him think it was the chirping of a nightingale outside announcing the dawn, but the sound it’s sweeter and dearer to him than that of Luscinia megarhynchos. The stallion lifts his head, the only sign of curiosity he can show in this state. His wife doesn’t answer, instead, she continues with her kisses, leaving a loving trail from the crown of his head, past his horn, until she reaches the blaze of alabaster on his nose.

His hooves make lazy circles above her flank, tracing the edges of her cutie mark. Sunburst can’t help but think that she is the softest thing he’s ever had the honor of touching.

Both of them are so quiet, it’s a wonder that they can still understand each other, but love, instinct, and time made them well-versed in this kind of intimacy.

“Good?” She mumbles, barely coherent.

“Hmm.”

Starlight nudges him until he rolls over and she’s on top of him, kissing the long, flat bridge of his nose, specifically the two spots where his glasses leave a tiny indent. His eyes open blearily, hooves automatically going to her waist to steady her. His eyesight is terrible, but he’s seen and touched her body so many times that he has every curve and plane memorized. Sunburst loves the way she drapes over him, how she fits and fills those empty spaces in him—completes him. His grip tightens and his lips go to her neck, pressing them into those secret places that she loves so much, places that only he is allowed to touch.

His caresses resonate through her body like it’s been struck with a new vibration, and Starlight sighs appreciatively, her grip on him tightening. She’s always craving his touch and that hunger guides her now that her inhibitions are lowered, all she knows is that she feels good, and that she wants more.

In the dark they easily find each other, lips meeting in a lazy but loving kiss and it doesn’t take long for tongues to get involved, their taste sweet and familiar, but always exciting. They don’t need light to know where the other is, they have been in this position a thousand times and hopefully a thousand times more were to come. The couple soon adds the creaking of the bed springs to the midnight serenade outside, followed by their gasps and moans.

In this midnight haze, all Sunburst can feel, hear and taste is her. Her tongue, small but demanding, intermingled with his, using her position to her advantage to take what she wants from him. Sunburst doesn’t fight her or challenge her, instead, he moves with her, following her lead because they were a team first and foremost.

Because he surrendered to her a long time ago and hasn't looked back since.

Her tail flicks, her hips grinding against him in response to his touch, and it is then that he notices—that he feels just how wet she is. Her smell, strong, sensual. Overwhelming. It wakes him up.

And Starlight can feel it, Sunburst waking up—right between her thighs.

They rolled onto their sides, and their legs, at first heavy with sleep, now grip their lover with renewed strength and vigor; pulling each other close, chest to chest, heartbeat to heartbeat. Their kisses escalate, from sweet pecks to open-mouthed and hungry, breathing turns to panting as Starlight’s kisses grew more demanding and Sunburst’s touch was heavy with desire.

He eventually breaks the kiss, his lips brushing over hers as he murmurs, “Turn around.”

She obeys, scooting herself until her back molds against his chest. Sunburst’s body temperature ran higher than most ponies, but his skin feels scorching tonight, almost feverish, and she shivers. But it wasn’t the difference in body heat that made her tremble, but the feeling of her stallion around her, pulling her close and tracing the curves of her body with his gentle touch. The feeling of their bodies fitting together so perfectly despite being so different was something she would never get used to.

His hoof goes from tracing her hip to her ass, scooping her tail out of the way and looking down.

By Luna’s stars, she’s soaked.

His nostrils flare, shivering as her scent fills his lungs. His heart races and his cock stirs, the need he feels for her it’s almost painful at this point. Sunburst wants nothing more than to bury himself in her and drown his senses in lust, love, and animalistic desire, and Starlight too by the looks of it. She wiggles in his grasp, initiating that ritual dance of finding the right angle for both of them, and letting out a low whine when her mate wasn’t cooperating, if she weren’t half asleep and horny, she would probably tell him some quip to get him moving. The thought makes him chuckle breathlessly, and it gives him an idea.

Starlight feels him hook a hoof under her leg, lifting it into the air, and she lets out a sound that was between a gasp and a moan. This was new.

Whenever they made love, Sunburst had always been gentle with her, almost polite, letting her do as she pleases and going along with whatever she wanted. Not that he was a doormat in bed, but more often than not she had to ask him (beg him) to take the initiative and use her as he pleased. Opening her up for what feels like the world to see, spreading her out like this it’s almost a rude gesture, coming from somepony like her husband.

And yet…

She feels a rush of excitement between her legs. Cool air blows from the window over to her throbbing pussy, making her shiver, and her clit winks involuntarily in the night. The cold doesn’t last long, though, as her husband’s warm cock nuzzles against her folds. It’s drooling with precum, sticky with anticipation as he grinds against her opening, warming her up and testing the waters. And then he enters her easily, comfortably, and they both moan in unison, voices filled with lust and relief.

When he hilts her, Starlight turns her head and nuzzles his scruffy cheek, using him as an anchor for the pleasure that floods her. Having him so deep inside, to the core of her heat and desire that’s been building in her all night, makes her dizzy and desperate in the best possible way.

His grip on her leg tightens, and she feels that leg stretch out involuntarily, spreading her open just a little more to the night and heat that cradled them.

They pause for a moment or two, and then he withdraws, slow and gentle, but Starlight still whimpers a “yes”. Her pussy grips around him, the folds winking, trying to pull him back in and keep him there. His strokes are light at first, humping against her backside with experimental thrusts, barely making a sound save for the whisper of his fur against the sheets. He groans something that sounded like her name, but he’s too tired to understand what it is.

But Starlight just repeats herself; “Yes, yes.”

And the bed starts to rock.

He's putting more force into it, hips finding a comfortable rhythm, keeping that leg in the air, her pussy spread open, allowing her juices to slide over the inside of her thigh and drip onto the sheets. She loves the control he has, the way it feels when he draws halfway out before pushing back in. It's that cycle that drives her wild, in and out, push and pull. The contradiction of wanting to be stuffed full and satisfyingly empty at the same time is a feeling she can’t help but chase.

His thrusts become fuller, and the soft percussion of fur on fur adds to the crickets and the moans and the bed springs. That slick, wet crackle of flesh meeting flesh, sweat, and cum dripping and mingling and becoming one, staining the bed and their bodies until morning when they will be washed away with a shower and a giggle.

But now Starlight reaches down to play with the hard pearl of her clit, throwing her head back in pleasure, her hoof is vibrating like a hummingbird's wing over herself. Ecstasy plays with the features of her face, opening and closing her mouth, screwing her eyes shut, and furrowing her brow. And then she's there, electrified and squealing at the heavy rhythm her husband has taken up, sweat running down her brow, backlegs closing together as it slips from Sunburst's grip.

Sunburst is desperate to follow her into bliss. His free hoof snakes around his wife's stomach, pulling her in hard as he feels his orgasm approaching. It's like something has taken over his brain, turning his actions automatic, working only on instinct and desire to fill his mare. There's no stopping now, and he knows it.

Starlight is crying out, riding her own orgasm, he can barely hear it but he can feel it. She’s writhing in his grasp, hips grinding against his thrust to prolong the pleasure, to bring him close to her, and Sunburst is forced to use his strength to keep her still long enough to finish.

And then, all at once, his rhythm falls apart as his climax rockets through him. He struggles to keep his eyes open while his hips do this strange, jerking puppet dance as he thrusts one last time, grinding against Starlight's cunt as it hugs his cock, which has swelled and taken up all the room it can inside her.

Some kind of sound fishes itself deep from within Sunburst, the kind you could never make on purpose, something deep, guttural and primal that makes Starlight shiver as she lays there in his embrace.

He can feel his cum move through him, releasing inside her, coating his own head with it over and over. It’s a pleasure that overwhelms him, it almost feels painful. He closes his eyes tightly against the onslaught, hard enough to see stars as he releases his potent seed inside her.

Starlight can’t really feel his cum inside her, but she can feel the excess leak out of her, dripping over her abused opening, down her legs and over the sheets. Her tail twitches at the feeling but otherwise, she lays still, relaxed, sated, and content.

They both lay there, defeated by each other's love, spent in both body and soul.

There aren't words they could say, even if they were awake enough to put them together.

And they fall asleep, caked in sweat, without a care in the world.