Author's Note

Takes place during Chapter Twenty-Five.

Featuring Curaçao:

And Shroud:

3: Curaçao/Shroud - Raspberry Jam

Neither of the other two pairs, though, compared to the way that Curaçao and Shroud moved across the floor. Shroud seemed to have gotten the hang of waltzing relatively quickly, which was clearly because Curaçao wasn't just a good teacher, but practically a professional at the technique. She moved with a sort of serene grace that Twilight had never seen before, even back home when some of the stuffier parties involved this kind of dancing amongst practiced individuals.

It wasn't just the movement, either, but the look the two shared. Though it was hard to see their expressions clearly behind the masks they wore, it was clear that the two were looking right into one another's souls with what Twilight could only describe as a deep focus. It rather reminded her of the way that her brother and Cadence looked at one another when they'd danced at their wedding.

The waltzing music came to a triumphant close, and as it did so, Curaçao dipped Shroud close to the floor, but the two kept their eyes locked the entire way. Twilight leaned forward in her seat a little when she saw their faces pressing close. She felt her own face getting a little hot just watching the display, not sure what to expect next. It was like something right out of a movie.

Then, without warning, the two rose back into proper upright positions, though Shroud was breathing heavily. And as the music died down, the pair shuffled briefly off of the dance floor, shared a brief, impassioned, but mostly quiet exchange of words.

Curaçao then turned to the group, all smiles. "Pardonnez-moi, everypony, but Shroud and I are going to take our leave for the evening. This has been a wonderful soiree; merci beaucoup, for inviting us."

"No problem at all!" Pinkie said with a grin and a wave. "Thanks for coming. It was nice meeting you two."

"See you around, sis," Velvet said with a wide, toothy grin. "Enjoy the rest of your evening." She winked.

More goodbyes were said, and then the two departed out the door without looking back.

*****

It was late in the evening when Curaçao and Shroud rode the elevator up towards the latter's office at Pandora Tower, each still dressed in their masquerade costumes. They shared excited glances at one another that hinted at their desires, but Curaçao had enough restraint to keep her urges in check until they got upstairs, and she knew Shroud was just too nervous to act upon her own. The most that they did was hold one another's hooves, and that was perfectly fine.

Curaçao found Shroud to be especially adorable when she was in this hot and bothered state. The unicorn's cheeks were rosey red, her ears flat and back in a show of anxiety, her breathing clearly faster than usual. She was squirming a bit, too, as if she couldn't bear the thought of standing still. Even her hoof was shaking.

She could tell it was because Shroud was thinking. Thinking about how the evening had gone so far, how it was going now, and where it was going to. Shroud was uncertain, maybe even a little frightened, but she was also excited, and it wasn't just her expression that told Curaçao that.

When the elevator finally got up to the proper floor and the doors opened, Curaçao led Shroud into the hall and towards the office, a sultry smile upon her face. The door to the office itself was unlocked, and so Curaçao opened it without any trouble and drew Shroud into the room with her, closing and locking it behind her.

Shroud gulped. "So, what—"

Curaçao cut her off by pulling her in for a kiss. Shroud gave a little peep at first, just out of surprise, but then just melted like jelly right into it. Their first kiss together; and, if Curaçao was right—she usually was—Shroud's first kiss ever.

She started off slow, just using her lips to press against Shroud's at first with soft smecks until she was sure her new lover was comfortable with going further. The unicorn's lips were lusciously soft, and the flavored lipstick she was wearing—raspberry—just barely lingered on Curaçao's own.

Once Shroud was more comfortable with kissing—words were hardly needed since Curaçao could read her lover's body language with ease—Curaçao went bolder, parting her lips and probing at Shroud's with her tongue. She kept one hoof behind Shroud's head, the other on her shoulder; Shroud pressed both hooves right up against Curaçao's chest, and very slowly started wrapping them around her neck.

It took a moment for Shroud to relent and allow Curaçao's tongue into her mouth, but Curaçao remained gentle and slow, just lightly stroking her tongue along Shroud's. The unicon moaned into the kiss; Curaçao could feel her shuddering.

Curaçao then broke from the kiss, if just for a moment, to draw Shroud over towards the office desk; the room was empty apart from it and two chairs, so that was all they had to use at the moment. Shroud did not resist, and if anything seemed eager as she was drawn over. Curaçao was able to lift her lover up onto the desk, then use it for leverage to deepen the kiss once she began it anew, then to move it down to Shroud's neck.

All the while, Curaçao's hooves moved down to start the process of removing Shroud's dress, with some help from the unicorn's magic. It took a few moments—masquerade ball gowns weren't exactly easy to put on or remove—but they managed it together; Shroud was able to maintain enough focus to neatly lay it over an empty chair so that it wouldn't wrinkle.

When Shroud went to take the mask off, though, Curaçao stopped her with a hoof. "Non," she said, just holding the mask in place with a hoof while she continued kissing Shroud's neck and trailed down to her shoulder blade. "Leave it for now."

Shroud didn't vocalize her response, she just did as she was asked and continued her heavy breathing as the excitement of the whole situation enraptured her.

Curaçao took a moment to draw back and look Shroud over, even though the latter tried to shy away. The other mare was a little on the thinner side, but her figure was still lovely nonetheless. Shroud was mostly plain otherwise, that much Curaçao knew, but she was sweet and cute and she cleaned up nicely, and it was that mare that Curaçao was in love with.

"Tu es magnifique mon amour," she breathed in Shroud's ear. "You are beautiful. So very beautiful."

Shroud's cheeks, already red hot, reddened even further. "Th-thanks, Curie. I know you're just trying to make me feel better." She gulped nervously. "C-can I… see you?"

Curaçao smirked, and with ease stripped off her own dress and threw it to the side; Shroud caught it in her magic and started folding it as well, and Curaçao just watched with amusement; as soon as the dress had left her body, it shifted back into a simple silver jumpsuit, enchanted by the same shapeshifting magic that flowed through her veins. Shroud barely even noticed. Curaçao kept her mask on, though, same as her lover.

Curaçao did not need to shapeshift herself to have the figure she did; it was entirely natural, the slim, trim frame without a hint of fat but rippling with lean muscle underneath. "Well, ma chérie? Do you like what you see?" she asked as she presented herself.

Shroud bit her lip and nodded. "You're… gorgeous…" She then shook her head, a sad smile coming to her face. "How does somepony like you even like somepony like—"

Curaçao pressed her hoof to Shroud's lips. "Non. Do not think like that, mon amour. Never think like that." She then leaned forward and kissed Shroud on the lips again, briefly. "You are beautiful. Je t'aime pour ce que tu es—I love you for who you are." She trailed kisses down Shroud's neck again. "I want you. All of you."

Shroud's hooves came around to the back of Curaçao's head. "I want you, too. All of you," she panted. "B-but… just so you know, I've… I've never been with anypony before. I don't know what to do…"

"That's alright. I will show you everything. Just relax, and let me take care of you."

Curaçao's kisses trailed down Shroud's neck to her shoulder, then down to her chest, then to her stomach, slowly enough to ease her into the sensations, but quickly enough that Curaçao could get closer and closer to her prize. Though Shroud was embarrassed and resisted a little bit, Curaçao was able to trail the kisses further down between her lover's tentatively-spread thighs.

She was gentle to start with, softly peppering kisses around Shroud's petite virgin flower, along her inner thighs, and up around her lower stomach and wonderfully sensitive teats. Shroud was breathing so hard that Curaçao could see her chest rising and falling, and so nervous that her hooves were shaking on the back of Curaçao's head.

"Th-that feels really g-good…" Shroud mumbled, almost completely out of breath.

Curaçao smiled and kissed Shroud's stomach again. "I'm glad you like it, mon amour. But if this feels 'good', then let me make you feel 'great', oui?"

She then went further, pressing her muzzle right against Shroud's slit and running her tongue along the unicorn's folds. Long, soft licks, like licking an ice cream cone on an especially hot day in the summer. Nothing too ambitious; this was Shroud's first time, and she needed this to be slow and gentle, perhaps a little methodical; wild and brazen stuff could wait for when her lover had more experience.

Curaçao kept all of her focus on pleasing Shroud; she didn't need to look up to see her lover's face to know she was doing a good job. Shroud's hooves running through her mane, the way she bucked her hips softly whenever Curaçao paused to lick her clit, the gasps and moans and shudders; these were all Curaçao needed. She herself moaned into it, sending little reverberations up into her lover's sensitive spots.

Shroud's body was reacting just as much; her folds were moist from more than just Curaçao's judicious tongue, and her pussy was even winking slightly with every little motion, every kiss and lick and suckle, that Curaçao graced upon it.

"C-Curie…" Shroud panted as she tensed up. "I'm… I'm g-gonna—"

The unicorn let out a low groan as her hips suddenly spasmed; Curaçao was able to hold on and keep steady as Shroud's orgasm rocked against her muzzle, dripping marecum all over the corner of the desk. Curaçao didn't shy away one bit from tasting her lover's sweet nectar, lapping it up as though it was a spring she'd found in a desert after days without water.

It took several seconds for Shroud to ride out the orgasm and relax, resting down on the desk with her back against the monitor of her computer station. "That… was amazing…" the unicorn breathed. Her hooves ran gently through Curaçao's mane, and she looked up at the ceiling, her head in the clouds.

"I am glad that you enjoyed it," Curaçao purred as she kissed the inside of Shroud's thighs, finally opening her eyes to look up at her lover's face. Shroud's expression was that of serene bliss, as though all the stress in her life had just been released. "You look so beautiful like this…"

Shroud's already red face reddened further, and she glanced down at the wet spot on her desk. "Oh crap… I made a mess all over my desk."

She lifted herself up off the desk and down to the floor, wobbling a little as she did so; she lit up her horn and tried to open her desk to retrieve the tissues within, but her control was a little off-kilter and she nearly ripped the drawer off in the process.

"Let me just clean—"

Without hesitation, Curaçao brazenly ran her tongue along the cool metal of the desk, right over Shroud's cum, lapping it up like one would clean a plate, albeit slowly, sensually, looking right at Shroud as she did so. She kept her eyes half-lidded, her mouth open, and even moaned a little as she did so. The desk was spotlessly clean other than the marecum; these tables were automatically and electronically disinfected daily, so she wasn't worried about it seeming "gross".

Shroud just stared at her as she did it, biting her lip and breathing heavily again. "W-wow…"

"C'est propre, mon amour," she said as she walked over to Shroud and placed a kiss on her partner's neck. "Pardonne-moi for making a mess in your office."

"N-no problem," Shroud gulped.

"I think if we're going to continue this wonderful evening," Curaçao whispered as she drew her lips up to Shroud's ear, "we should take it to your bed~"

Shroud froze up for a moment, then with the same speed she used when on her computer, she opened up the door into the next room—her apartment—and drew Curaçao with her and over to the bed, all of which was with her magic; yes, even bringing Curaçao with her, lifting her amused earth pony lover up with her magic like it was nothing. They discarded their masks in the process, tossing them aside into the corner without a care in the world.

Once they were on the bed together, Curaçao took charge again, pinning Shroud beneath her and kissing her fiercely on the lips. She did not hold back this time, probing her tongue into Shroud's mouth and claiming it for herself with firm-yet-careful caresses. She wrapped her hooves around Shroud in a warm embrace, pressing their chests together; she could feel Shroud's rapid heartbeat without issue.

She was surprised when Shroud pulled back a little, but she did not pursue or force herself further upon her lover. Shroud looked Curaçao right in the eye, pressing their foreheads together gently and taking a moment to breathe. "Curie… Curaçao… I love you…"

"Je t'aime aussi ma chérie," Curaçao whispered back, taking Shroud's hooves in hers.

"I… I want to make you feel good, too…" Shroud stammered, her nervousness palpable. "B-but I don't know how to pleasure a mare."

"Oh?"

"Y-yeah. To be honest, until I met you, I never thought I was even into mares. Or that I'd ever end up with anypony, really. Especially not somepony as beautiful as you. I mean, you're even my boss's daughter, for goodness sake." She shook her head. "This is all like… a dream."

Curaçao smiled and kissed her lover's nose gently. "The heart wants what it wants."

"I know, it's just… w-well, I mean, if you were a stallion, I might know what to do."

That made Curaçao raise an eyebrow. "Quoi? What do you mean?"

Shroud grabbed a pillow and used it to hide her reddened, embarrassed face. "I, uh… wh-when I get lonely at night, or whenever I'm in heat, I, um… p-play with myself, right?"

"That is nothing to be ashamed of, mon amour—"

"I know, but, um… I used to do it while watching, uh…" Shroud paused, then let out a breath. "Porn. I watched a lot of porn. A lot. And I… I always saw the way the mares would please the stallions, and—"

Curaçao giggled into her hoof. "Shroud, ma chérie, those videos, they are not accurate—"

"I know, I know, b-but…" Shroud covered her face with the pillow again. "Ugh. What I mean is… that's all the experience I had with sex, until you. Watching stallions and mares together. I never watched any… lesbian videos."

"Ah, I think I know what you are getting at." Curaçao removed the pillow from Shroud's face to look her lover in the eyes. "You would be more comfortable with something… familiar?"

Shroud nodded. "Y-yes. I… I love you for you, Curie, but—"

"Shroud. Mon amour. I understand. And I can arrange that."

Without much effort at all, Curaçao focused her inner magic and changed her form into that of a popular, attractive actor, one that the mares of the city evidently enjoyed very much: Bolt Rockhoof, a tan-coated, blond-maned earth pony stallion with enough muscle that one could believe that he was really performing the amazing feats in some of his movies, like tearing logs in half with his bare hooves.

"Well?" Curaçao asked, now in Rock's near-baritone rather than her own voice. "Does this please you?"

"Yes." Shroud turned bright red again. "No! N-no. I mean… yes, it does, b-but this is our special evening, right? I… I just want you. I don't know a lot about how your… abilities work, but can't you—"

Curaçao-as-Rock smirked, and kept the smirk as she returned to her regular form. "Dis pas plus—say no more. One moment."

Curaçao's body shifted and changed fluidly to mold into the new shape she desired. She developed slightly more masculine features in her face and figure, grew a few inches in height, and gained a tad more muscle than before.

But, most importantly, she grew a large cock between her legs, already mostly erect because of her own arousal and excitement. She kept her size moderate, large enough to please her lover but small enough not to hurt her. Her marecock was mottled only slightly, enough to draw one's eye to her attention to detail; Curaçao never made half efforts, and it would have been lazy to just grow a dick and call it an evening.

She omitted only one detail: she didn't grow any balls with it, because she both didn't need them and because without them, she couldn't produce semen. Neither she nor Shroud had a condom handy, after all, and Curaçao wasn't one hundred percent certain whether her shapeshifting was that potent. It didn't allow her to use magic as a unicorn, and her flying was limited as a pegasus, but she wasn't about to risk the chance that her male self could actually produce functional sperm.

Shroud gazed down at the new additions to Curaçao's body, drinking in every last inch of detail from the muscles to the mottled dick. "W-wow… you make a hot stallion, Curie…" She paused, then added. "I mean, y-you're a hot mare, too! I mean—"

Curaçao chuckled at that, her voice slightly deeper than usual. "Mon amour, do not worry, I do not mind. I know that I can change my appearance—my entire body—at a whim, so if I can use this ability to pleasure you, then that makes me very happy, no matter what form you prefer I take."

Shroud locked her eyes on Curaçao's new cock. "Holy moley… so that's what one of those looks like up close…" She glanced up at Curaçao and leaned forward to kiss her gently on the lips. "I… I'm ready…"

Curaçao smiled and leaned down to more passionately kiss her lover. "So am I…"

She carefully positioned herself into the proper position, lifting Shroud up slightly first so that they were both comfortable and putting a pillow underneath Shroud's rear. She gently slicked her new appendage against Shroud's wet slit, still keeping her lips locked with the unicorn's as she did.

Then, she parted from the kiss and pressed her cock tip against Shroud's tunnel and, as she looked into her lover's eyes, she slowly pressed it in. Shroud gave a little gasp as the slightly flared tip shoved past her folds, then a moan as Curaçao inched forward, closing her eyes in the process. Curaçao knew it wasn't because of any pain, but because it was so new and exciting to her.

The thrusts were kept slow and shallow at first, just the tip and an extra inch or two at most. In, out. In, out. Slow, steady; soft, careful. Curaçao was no expert on how to pleasure a mare with a tool like this, not from first-hoof experience anyway, but she'd done plenty of "research" of her own so that she could fill the role of a stallion in every way if needed for a job.

As the time went by, Curaçao grew bolder and pushed deeper and deeper, until she was just bumping her medial ring against Shroud's entrance. Shroud, to her credit, had opened her eyes by now and kept her gaze locked with Curaçao's, at least until Curaçao brought her muzzle to her neck and began kissing her there anew.

Shroud let out a little wince when the medial ring pushed in, and at that point Curaçao knew that she could go all the way in without issue, and that she wasn't coming back out until she was done. Her next thrust drove her all the way up to the base, earning a throaty moan from Shroud, who wrapped her hooves onto Curaçao's back. If the mare had claws instead of hooves, Curaçao's back would be laden with scratches at this point.

Thrust, thrust, thrust, each time drawing back to the medial ring before driving all the way to the base again. Curaçao's mind was her own regardless of her form, so this was no testosterone-fueled craze; this felt good, and Shroud was loving it.

Curaçao could feel herself tensing up, and her thrusts grew more rapid as she tried to bring herself and her lover to climax. She clenched her teeth, adjusted her position so she could go deeper—balls deep if she had those—and did not let up.

Shroud came first, letting out a loud, wordless sigh of pure gratification, as though she'd been holding her breath all this time. She briefly lost control of her magic, accidentally blasting the pillow under her head across the room. Her pussy constricted around Curaçao's marecock like a vice, tight enough that Curaçao's next few thrusts were exceedingly stimulating, pushing her over the edge only a moment later.

Cumming like this was an odd sensation, really, like an indescribable fog that just washed over her loins with nowhere to go. Because she had no vagina, her orgasm should have been released from her new marecock. However, because she had no balls, there was no fluid to produce, and yet she still felt the phantom sensation of pulsing seed rushing through her and making her cock twitch and throb. And yet, nothing came out. It felt like something was, from her perspective, but she knew nothing was.

Curaçao leaned down to wrap Shroud in a tight embrace as she rode out her own orgasm, but did not withdraw herself like a proper stallion; she merely shifted her body back to its original form. The throbbing marecock vanished, her stature and features became lusciously feminine again, and that last throes of her orgasm dripped out of her pussy onto Shroud's stomach.

She leaned in to kiss her lover again, only briefly. "How was that, mon amour?"

Shroud dumbly nodded her head. "Wonderful…"

Curaçao brushed strands of hair out of Shroud's face and kissed her forehead. "I wish I could always see you like this. You look so beautiful… so peaceful." With a giggle, she added, "But then we would never get any work done, would we?"

"Nope."

Curaçao embraced Shroud and rolled over so that they were comfortable on their sides, then kissed her lover again, still gently, concerned only for helping Shroud come down from her orgasmic high and not keeping this passionate evening going on no matter how much she desired it. She had the stamina and energy to go all night if she wanted; Shroud clearly did not, as she was covered in sweat and breathing heavily.

"There's something you should know about me, Curie…" Shroud whispered as she melted into the embrace.

"Oh? Qu'est-ce que c'est?"

"Shroud… isn't my real name. It's just a title, really. Your dad gave it to me when he hired me; I trained under another pony named Shroud, too."

Curaçao smiled. "I see. So then, what is your real name?"

Shroud blushed and buried her face into Curaçao's chest. "Raspberry Jam."

"Raspberry Jam… c'est un beau nom," Curaçao said, stroking Shroud's—no, Raspberry's—mane.

"Nopony's supposed to know," Raspberry said, kissing Curaçao's chest. "But… I love you too much not to tell you…"

"Merci, for telling me," Curaçao said, drawing Raspberry's face up so they were eye-to-eye. "Je t'aime tellement, mon amour… non, ma petite framboise—my little raspberry. It will be our secret. I promise."

They kissed again, and it was just… perfect.