Chapter 4

You scream, almost leaping out of the bed in fright, hooves at your throat, not realising that you weren’t alone between the warm comfy sheets. Toffee sits up immediately next to you, her look of panic matching your own, placing a hoof on your back as she pulls you close to her.

“What’s wrong, what happened?” she asks, giving you a quick visual check and looking at your stitches.

“It... It was just a nightmare.” You reply, deflating slightly as your surroundings become familiar once more. She coos, pulling your face to her chest and runs a hoof through your mane to try and comfort you.

“Uhm... Why are you in bed with me?” you ask, “Not that I object to it or anything.”

“Where was ah supposed to sleep?” she replies, warmly yet slightly deadpan.

“I guess that makes sense, I’m sorry... Thank you for looking after me Toffee, I really don’t know what would have happened if you good folks hadn’t found me.”

“Not a problem... Ah kinda like havin’ you with me here.” She says, letting you go and looking at you with those eyes, like a pair of tiny oases in the desert. You gingerly raise a hoof to her chin, running it around the edge of her jawbone to her ear and then stroking her mane. Her eyes close and she smiles deeply, enjoying the feel of you caressing her before slowly leaning in, her mouth slightly open.

You stare at her lips as she edges closer, a sort of light dread filling you as you realise what is about to happen, like a train crash in slow motion as you feel her breath on your skin and your lips meet; the sensation is amazing... how could you have possibly survived so long without discovering this!? You exhale through your nose, melting into the lovely kiss, the southern belle giggling slightly yet staying in contact. As slowly as she had leaned in, she pulled away, leaving a ghost of the gentle pressure her lips had made on yours. She blushes once more, her lower lip slipping between her teeth as she turns a deep crimson.

“Ah’ve always wanted to do that.”

“Me too...” you reply, lost in her eyes again.

“That was your first time too? How come?”

“It’s a long story. How about you?”

“Well... I’m the daughter of a blacksmith and pretty much ready to take over when pappy decides to retire, so I’m usually covered in Celestia-knows what and ah guess no colts have ever seemed to like that.”

You look back, confused.

“But what about the dress? I saw you wearing a dress, I thought you were a showfilly?”

“It was my mommas. She used to sing in the Salt Block, before she passed a couple of winters back... I kept it to remind me of her, but can’t really wear it unless I’ve scrubbed up; with you here, I’ve needed to stay clean so I figured why not wear it, do my mane up nicely, pretend I’m a glamorous mare. It must be so silly to you.”

“Not at all, you look lovely in it...” You manage to squeeze out before being kissed again by an appreciative looking Toffee. This time, you push at her, causing her to lean back onto the pillow she had been resting her head on, your mouths moving together as she just gently slides her tongue between your lips, probing your mouth softly as if testing the technique read in a book. A hoof is raised behind your head and you feel yourself being pulled further into the kiss, readily accepting more of her tiny pink tongue sliding within your mouth. You rest a hoof on her chest, able to feel how quickly she is breathing through how rapidly it rises and falls.

“These last six days... they’ve been special to me, looking after you, it’s given me so much” she gasps, pushing you away, “I think I’m falling for you.”

Her statement pulls enormously at your heart strings - nopony had ever said that to you before, you kiss her again, running a hoof up and down her torso, tiny moans occasionally forced into your mouth. The thought of her having protected you, cared for you, given when she didn’t have to... You were falling for her too... The words were forming in your throat, begging to be let out!
“I... I think I’m falling for you too.”

Suddenly, in the calm and looking at her, you realise something... you couldn’t hear the town outside, the usually bustling streets sounding abandoned.

“Can you hear that?” You ask Toffee, motioning to the open window leading to the street outside. She blinks, focusing on reality again.

“Ah don’t hear anything?” she says, still lost in the romance of moments ago before catching on, “Oh no. No, no, no. It only gets this quiet when someponys about to be run out of town... Silverstar and his boys, if they know where you are, Oh Celestia No.” the filly leaped out of the bed, quickly pushing a chair under the door handle, closing the slotted wooden shutters of her window and drawing the curtains; beams of light coming through the slots and illuminating the room in a gloomy manner. Not quite understanding her panic, you manage to haul yourself out of the bed and approach her from behind, sitting down carefully next to her trying to avoid pulling your now painless stitches.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5 Estimated time remaining: 7 Minutes