A fine, warm spray of water cascaded down from the fine holes set into the ceiling of the shower stall, gently descending on Lero and Rainbow as they industriously scrubbed themselves and each other.

Thanks to Lero and Twilight’s help, Rainbow had finished her weather schedule, something that normally took two or three days, in less than a day. Because of that, she’d actually had free time today, much to her surprise, and she and her stallion had entered the hoofball tournament in the park this afternoon. It had been the more formal version, rather than the pickup games that just sort of happened when a few ponies got bored; there had been team sizes, limits, all that jazz. Even a referee! This game had been using the small-team version of the rules, which called for teams of four, each with two earth ponies, one pegasus, and one unicorn. Rainbow had convinced the Apple siblings to join up, while Lero had taken the role of the team’s unicorn. The unicorn’s job was normally to catch and throw, and while he didn’t have the reach of an actual unicorn, the guy could throw. He’d made some offhoofed comment that human arms were actually optimized for throwing, and Rainbow could certainly believe it. He could put the ball exactly where he wanted it, and he and Rainbow could just about read each other’s minds, keeping track of where the other was and what the other intended without even having to speak beyond short, cryptic exclamations. It made them a terror on the field, and when added to the athleticism and strength of Applejack and Big Macintosh, they’d proven to be almost unstoppable. They’d won every match, leaving Rainbow giddy with excitement and the thrill of success and victory.

Twilight had some magical research project that she was working on, so she wasn’t going to be joining them this evening, but that was okay. She expected to be done with it by tomorrow, and they already had a lunch date planned. The four victorious teammates had grabbed a quick dinner at a restaurant before going their separate ways for the evening, and the human and the pegasus had jumped in the shower to wash off the sweat.

Lero’s fingers finished massaging the shampoo out of Rainbow’s mane, leaving the prismatic hair plastered flat to her neck and forehead, and he brushed her forelock out of her eyes, caressing her ear gently as he did so. The pegasus had reared up and balanced herself by leaning against the shower wall so he could reach better, and had sincerely enjoyed the feel of his agile fingers massaging her scalp. She felt good, with the dirt and sweat washed out of her coat, and the light burn of exertion relaxed away by the falling warm water. She was still flush with adrenaline and euphoria from their victory, she was excited and looking for a way to celebrate, and what do you know, her lover just happened to be right here with her, dripping wet and nude.

She looked coyly over her shoulder, running her eyes along his smooth body and enjoying the way the water beaded and ran across his skin. He noticed her looking, and turned a bit so she could get a better look, running his eyes across her body in turn. One hand moved down her back, tracing down her spine, his fingers cutting through the runnels of water flowing down her back and following the streams down her hip. Silver lightning seemed to follow his touch, sparks of pleasure leaping from his fingers to her wet skin. The pegasus’s wings twitched as his hand trailed between her shoulder blades, the sudden motion scattering droplets of water from her primaries.

Rainbow turned, making a pleased sound in the back of her throat and reaching out to set a forehoof on his shoulder for balance, facing him. “Hmm. You look like you’ve got something in mind.”

Lero smiled, the expression slow and languid, and Rainbow mirrored it. “I just may,” he said, his voice a little husky. Water dripped down his face, doing nothing to hide the gleam in his eyes. “You look like that game got you all excited.”

“Mm. Yeah.” She stepped closer, pressing her body against him and feeling his wet skin against her coat. “All excited. Feel like doing something about that?”

“I think I do.” His fingers tangled in the green stripe of her mane just behind her ears, pulling her head back so he could plant a forceful kiss on her lips, thrusting his tongue aggressively into her mouth. He didn’t pull on her hair hard enough to hurt, just hard enough to jerk her head back a little and hold her in place while his tongue dueled with hers. His breath in her mouth was hot and fast. Rainbow’s heart raced, and that competitive urge stirred within her at his forceful behavior. Oh, man, this is just what I wanted after getting all worked up like that.

He loosened his grip on her mane when their lips separated. One side of her mouth quirked in a smile, and her eyebrows arched challengingly. Rainbow chuckled, her gaze turning smoky, and she gently, oh-so-lightly trailed the tip of her free forehoof against his chest, letting the lightness of the touch serve as a pointed reminder of the strength that lay behind it. “Mmm… sure you wanna go down that road? I’ll play rough if you want, but you and I both know you never beat me.” The pegasus brushed her lips against her human stallion’s lightly, teasingly, daring him to grab her again. She could feel him hardening up, his member growing in tandem with both his excitement and hers. Her wings were stiffening too, adrenaline and pleasure sparkling through her like lightning in a thunderstorm. Oh, this was gonna be fun.

“First time for everything, love.” She could feel his heart pounding where her chest and neck pressed against him, his heartbeat hard and fast, just like hers was at the moment.

“We’ll see, huh?” The forehoof she had hooked over his shoulder shifted, looping around the back of his neck and grabbing hard, pulling his head down and toward her while her free foreleg went low around his back, trying to shift his center of balance to push him toward the wall. In response, his grip on her mane tightened again, and his other hand grabbed at the base of her wing, trying to shift her as she was trying to shift him. Rainbow’s muscles corded with effort, tightening like steel cables as she wrestled with him, and almost immediately she felt her strength shifting him. She might be smaller than him, but in close like this her superior physical power could be used to great advantage.

Of course, it hadn’t occurred to her that water-slick tile provided remarkably poor footing. Her hoof skidded on the tile, and the sudden shift of her balance pulled Lero off-center. His foot slipped too, and he fell backward.

Taken by surprise or not, there was nothing wrong with Rainbow’s reflexes. Her wings were stiff and useless, but she shifted the foreleg that had been hooked around his neck to cradle the back of his head and tucked her body against his so she wouldn’t slam into him when they landed, and she was immediately glad she had. They thumped heavily onto the wet floor, and she felt Lero’s head hit the wall, fortunately cushioned by her foreleg. It hurt a bit, but she was completely willing to accept that since the alternative would have been to let his head slam into the wall unprotected.

They stared at each other wide-eyed for a moment, still tangled together in an embrace while the water hissed down around them. At the exact same moment, they both gasped, “Are you okay?”

They paused, blinking, and then, again in perfect unison, said, “I’m fine, are you…” and they both paused to let the other speak.

Rainbow wasn’t sure which one of them started laughing first, but they both dissolved into giggles and chuckles. They laughed helplessly for several moments, clinging to each other’s water-slicked bodies in relief. “W-well,” Lero gasped once he regained control of his voice, “let’s file that one under ‘bad idea.’”

The pegasus fought to stifle her giggles. “H-hey… that was your idea,” She broke out laughing again and had to fight to get her voice back. “You’re the smart one here, remember? It’s supposed to be me that does dumb stuff without thinking!”

“Well, I guess I officially have to turn in my smart person badge, because in hindsight wrestling while standing up on wet tile is a really stupid idea.” He grinned at her and gave her a quick, reassuring kiss. “You sure you’re okay? Was that your leg that I felt my head slam against the wall?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” She flexed her foreleg, still cradling his head. “A little sore, but I’m fine. Feels like just a bruise.” She looked him over quickly, seeing no injuries under the sheen of water still cascading down from the ceiling. “What about you? I had a pretty soft landing on you, but you sat down pretty hard, big guy.”

He winced a little bit. “Backside’s kinda sore, but I’ll be fine.” He reached up, wiping water out of his face. “Well, since we’re on the floor now and can’t fall like that again… where were we?” His arms tightened around her.

The pegasus’s eyelids lowered a fraction. “I think I was about to pin you to the wall and do whatever I wanted to you.” She tightened her own hold, shifting her back legs to give her leverage.

“You were about to try,” he retorted, a happy growl in his voice. Their muscles strained against each other, and Rainbow felt her stallion being moved slowly but surely back toward the wall. He’d never beaten her when they wrestled this way.

Something about that fact suddenly troubled her. Did that bother him? “Hey, Lero, time out for a second, okay?”

His grip loosened immediately, and she backed up a little, sitting down so they could talk. She saw concern in his face. “What’s wrong, Rainbow?”

She shrugged, as best she could with her wings stiff as boards, anyway. “I just… when we wrestle like this, I always beat you. Like, every single time. Doesn’t that, I dunno, bother you?”

He shook his head. “Not at all.”

She searched his face, and saw no sign that he was being anything other than honest. “Why not, though? I mean, if I lost a game every time I played it, it would start to bother me after a while!”

His lips quirked in a smile. “You’re assuming that I lose if you beat me.”

She raised an eyebrow. “The heck does that mean?”

“It means that, as far as I’m concerned, we both win.” He ran his hand slowly down her foreleg, his fingers tracing her sleek, well-defined muscles. “Rainbow, love, I know perfectly well that you’re stronger than I am. That fact doesn’t bother me. I also know that when we start out in close like that, there’s no way I’m going to beat you, and that doesn’t bother me either.”

“But why not, though?” She could usually follow his thought processes without explanation, but this one was eluding her.

“Because you like it.” His hand trailed back up her foreleg, pausing to stroke gently under her wing. The pleasure of the touch made her catch her lip in her teeth. “For me, it’s not a matter of winning or losing, it’s about making both of us feel good.”

“You do know how to do that,” she breathed, leaning a bit toward his stroking fingers. “So you’ve been letting me win?”

“Not at all. I’d never lie to you like that. I try my best, but you’re stronger and faster than me, so you beat me anyway.” She was about to speak up again, but he rested his finger on her lips to hush her. “It’s because you enjoy it, and I enjoy it. And I enjoy seeing you enjoy it. I love watching the expression on your face when you’re feeling good.” His fingers found a particularly sensitive spot, and she arched her neck ecstatically, her wing muscles tightening. “Like that one.” He cocked his head. “Rainbow, do you know what my favorite part of you is?”

She chuckled dirtily. “I could make some guesses.”

“Mm.” His hand slid down, along her dripping body, finding its way down her belly, sending spikes of pleasure through her that made her twitch as it caressed her nipples, and finally settling between her hind legs. His hand cupped her genitals, not stroking or pushing in or anything like that, just sitting there, letting her feel it. She could feel the warmth of it through her vulva, feel the warm water pooling in his palm from the streams running down her body. It was comfortable at first, and quickly became arousing, with his smooth, soft skin resting against the sensitive lips of her sex. “I’d bet you’d guess that this would be my favorite, right?”

“It’d be up there on my list,” she replied, a little breathlessly. Part of her wanted that hand to move, to start stroking and heightening the pleasure she felt, but part of her liked the feel of him just cupping her like this. “Oh, leave your hand there. That feels good.”

He chuckled. “Can do. But this isn’t my favorite part of you.”

“It isn’t?”

Lero shook his head. “My favorite part of you, my beautiful Rainbow, is here,” his free hand touched one finger to the center of her chest, over her pounding heart. “And here.” Now he touched her forehead, right between her eyes. “Don’t get me wrong, I like your body… but what I love, Rainbow, is you. The person who lives inside your body, who looks at me through those gorgeous eyes. That’s who I fell in love with. When I make love to you,” his hand moved a little, to emphasize his words, “I’m using our bodies to make the person inside feel good, and that makes me happy, knowing that I can make this beautiful person, whom I love dearly, and who I know loves me in return, feel good.”

Arousal, pleasure, love, and happiness surged through Rainbow in a dizzying, confusing, exhilarating rush. She sniffled a little. “So that’s why you don’t mind losing?” It felt like an inadequate response to his words, but he didn’t seem to mind.

He leaned forward to kiss her. “That’s why I don’t lose at all. As far as I’m concerned, we’re both winning.” He grinned. “Besides, I like watching your face when you climax.”

“Oh, yeah?” She grinned and wiped some of the water from her face, taking a few tears that the intensity of her feelings had wrung out of her along with it.

“Yeah.” She cocked her head, silently asking him to elaborate. His fingers started stroking, lightly, slowly, at the very back of her vulva, while his palm remained cupped around the lower part. “It’s funny, how different you and Twilight are in the way you come. I like watching both of you when it happens; you’re both different, but both ways are amazingly hot, at least to me. Twilight likes to lose herself in it, to let it take her. To just let it build until it’s too much to resist.”

“And me?” Rainbow’s forehoof went between her legs, resting on the back of Lero’s hand and pressing his palm more firmly into her, while simultaneously enjoying the feeling of his hand against her hoof. His fingers kept stroking, slowly, gently, teasingly. Oh, that felt good, but she was starting to be ready for more.

“You focus on it. You’re always so intent on your feelings. You grab and hold onto it, and you don’t let it go until you’ve gotten all you can out of it.” He kissed her again. “It’s kind of like when you wrestle me down.”

She didn’t like the possible suggestion that she only wanted to pin him down and use him. “You’re more to me than just a way to get off,” Rainbow whispered. “So much more.”

“I know, love.” His reply was a whisper like hers, barely audible over the hiss of the water. “I know how much we matter to each other.” He kissed her. “Which is part of why I do so enjoy making you come.”

She giggled. “Well, we could probably huh!” His fingers slipped inside her for just a moment and made her gasp, “Could probably get on that, if you like.” She scooted closer to him and wrapped her forelegs around him. “It’s up to you; we could do it slow and gentle if you want,” she was feeling a little more mellow, but adrenaline was still making her tremble slightly from excitement, “or we could finish what we started.”

He leaned up and forward and nipped the tip of her ear gently. “I’ve never been a quitter,” he whispered. His hand left her groin, his arms embracing her like she was embracing him. “I guess the time-out is over?” He ducked his head down below the level of hers, nibbling at her neck. The sensation of his sharp teeth pricking at her wet skin made her shiver. She was glad she’d finally convinced him to do that a little; she liked nibbling, but she kinda liked being nibbled on, too. Sometimes, at least, and now definitely qualified.

“I think it pretty much is,” she replied breathlessly. “Ready?” He nodded, still nuzzling and nibbling on her neck. She quivered again, urgent feelings pulsing through her, and she took a deep breath. “Okay… three, two, one, go!”

Their muscles tensed as they strove against each other. Lero tried to lift her up to get control, but she countered by shifting her grip to keep one of his arms pinned against his side, unable to lift. She could feel his erect member poking at her belly, brushing against her sensitive nipples, and grinned in anticipation. Rainbow started to gradually push her lover back, having a more difficult job of it than usual because of the difficulty in gaining traction on the slick tile floor. Lero was having similar problems; the water drumming down on both of them made her coat slippery. It was trickier than normal, which just made the pegasus’s heart pound harder, her excitement pushing to greater heights.

Finally, her greater strength began to tell. Despite his best efforts, Lero’s body got closer and closer to the wall until his back touched. He put forth one final surge of effort, sending Rainbow skidding back a couple of inches, but she rallied and drove forward again, pinning his shoulders flat against the shower wall.

She grinned at him, panting lightly. The brief exertion hadn’t gotten her out of breath; she was just so excited and aroused that her breathing had sped up. “Well, here we are.”

“Here we are,” he echoed with a smile. He wasn’t struggling anymore, and his hands slid down her body and back up again. She shivered, reveling in the touch as she held him pressed up against the wall.

She shifted so she was straddling him, still holding him against the wall of the shower, and bent down to kiss him roughly. He responded eagerly, tilting his head back to meet her lips, and in the middle of the kiss she drove her hips down hard, taking him into her. They both gasped, the forceful penetration stealing their breath for a moment, and she felt his body tense beneath her, and within her.

“Took me by surprise, there,” he gasped when their lips drifted apart.

“That was the idea!” She started moving, still a little forcefully, pushing him up against the wall with every stroke. Her wings quivered at full extension, displaying her plumage and catching the spray, sending streams of water dribbling from the tip of each feather. The feeling of him pushing into her, of feeling his body up against her when she pushed all the way down, all of it was filling her with pleasure almost to the bursting point.

His arms were around her hips, his hands crossed at the wrist behind her, lending additional weight to her strokes. It was nice, but it could be better.

“Touch me,” she whispered, pausing to grind her hips slowly against him while she nibbled at his ear.

“Where?”

“I don’t care.” She’d rather let him decide where to touch her; he’d never disappointed her on that front. His hands started to roam across her body, one moving slowly up her back, ruffling her coat and letting the warm water smooth it down again, while the other wandered down her hip. She closed her eyes, shivering hard, as the hand on her hip slid down under her tail, his fingers stroking the lips of her vulva where they engulfed him, spreading her open a little so he could push deeper. “Oh, yeah,” she breathed. As excited as she was, she wasn’t going to last long. Lero’s hand prodded and stroked between her hind legs, and the other started massaging between her wings. It paused periodically, shifting to catch the falling water in a cupped palm and then letting the warm liquid pour down her back in a wave. Wet slapping sounds echoed through the tiled room as she pistoned her hips up and down, getting faster and harder as her pleasure built. She liked the fact that the wall was there; it was holding Lero in place, keeping him from accidentally slipping away from her forceful movements.

Finally the pleasure crested, bursting through her body like a flood. She pressed herself hard against him, her wings contracting to fold around his shoulders, and she quivered while she came. One of her hind hooves slipped, dumping her against him, and he held her there while the wave of ecstasy washed through her.

Rainbow started moving again the second she regained control of her body. She felt like being relentless today. More rhythmic sounds of flesh against flesh echoed in the small room, punctuated by pants and the occasional pleasured grunt. Neither of them spoke; there was no need for it right now. They both knew how the other felt, and they knew their way around each other’s bodies.

Lero climaxed next, though Rainbow could feel that she wasn’t far behind him. His arms tightened, pulling her against his trembling body, one on her back just above her tail while the other one grabbed the base of one of her wings, pressing her chest into his. His back bent, thrusting him as deeply into her as he could, and she paused in her rhythm, bending her head down to bite gently at his ear and neck. She felt him climax inside her, that warm sensation that felt like it was filling her, and her forelegs went around him, gathering him against her. She knew he liked this close feeling when he came. She writhed a bit, wiggling her hips to give him more sensation and to prolong his orgasm. It lasted for several long seconds, and she felt a tremendous thrill at the feel of him pulsing within her.

He finally relaxed, looking up at her in chagrin. “Sorry, Rainbow,” he panted, “I didn’t last very long that time.”

She smiled. “No problem, I was kinda trying for that this time. Can you stay hard for just a little while?” The pegasus was pretty close to her second climax, and she felt like that would be enough for now.

He nodded. “I think so. If not, well…” He held up a hand. “There’s always these.”

Rainbow grinned and nodded. She didn’t waste any more time, putting her forehooves back on his shoulders and picking her rhythm back up, as the warm water hissed down from the ceiling.

That night found the two of them snuggled together in bed. Lero lay on his back, the sheets and blankets pulled halfway down despite the slight nip in the night air. Rainbow lay half-atop him, her head resting on his chest and one foreleg embracing his body, her body curving around next to him and her hind legs tucked under his. He had one arm around her shoulders, his fingers tracing lazy, random little patterns across her side. It was wonderfully cozy, though they’d have problems if they had to get up suddenly. Lero made such a wonderful pillow, and Rainbow tried to pay him back for that by keeping one wing spread across his body. He made a good pillow, she made a good blanket; her feathers and body heat proved to be a wonderful way to keep him warm, while she herself didn’t feel the cold. It was a match made in heaven.

She was going to have to ruin that relaxation, though. There was something that had been gnawing away at her for the last couple of days, and she felt like she needed to say something. Better to say it, rather than letting it fester. She cleared her throat and lifted her head a bit to look him in the eye, gently tracing one forehoof across his belly. “Hey, big guy? Mind if I ask you something?”

He frowned a little, hearing the seriousness in her voice. “Of course not, Rainbow. What’s bothering you?”

She took a deep breath, and almost balked. Suddenly, she didn’t want to mention this, didn’t want to draw his attention to it. But she’d already taken the plunge, so all that was left was treading water. “You remember that talk with Celestia the other day?” He nodded. “Well, it’s…” she paused, and sighed. “She said she’d figured out how you got here.”

He nodded. “I remember.”

Rainbow bit her lip. Oh, she didn’t want to say this. She shouldn’t have brought it up at all. She was suddenly terrified of where this conversation could lead. “I…” She choked.

He frowned in concern. “Rainbow, are you all right? What’s bothering you?” His hand shifted, stroking her mane gently. “Tell me. I promise, I won’t be upset.”

It wasn’t the prospect of him being upset that frightened her. She’d been fighting to hold this thought back, but it surged into the forefront of her mind, sending chills down her limbs. She had to say it, though. Had to. He deserved honesty from her. “I… it… if she knows how you got here, does that mean she could get you back?” It came out in a harsh whisper.

He blinked, raising his eyebrows. “Well… possibly. I obviously don’t know any specifics, but I know part of the problem she had at the beginning was that she couldn’t find a route.” He shrugged. “So… maybe?” She felt his fingers caress her ear. “Does that bother you?”

She shook her head, not trusting her voice yet. She fought not to shiver. “If she can,” she finally whispered, “do you want to go back?” Rainbow knew how badly he’d missed his family. How out-of-place he’d felt here, at least at first, and how he occasionally still had problems, still found things that confused him. He hadn’t mentioned it in a while… but she knew it still had to be there, at least a little bit.

“Go back?” He frowned at her again. “What, and leave you here?”

“I… I could…” her voice caught, and she had to clear her throat again. “I could go with you. If you wanted me to.” She’d been prepared to go into exile with him, if he’d been banished. This was no different. It would be hard… what would she do? She’d have to leave everything behind… but he’d done that. Not by choice, but he’d managed. She could do it too, leave her world behind and live with aliens. He’d shown her that it could be done. The prospect scared her, though. “Unless you wanted me to stay behind.” That prospect, though, scared her more. She didn’t want to have to fight him, she really , really didn’t... but she was willing to fight if that’s what she had to do to keep him. If he left, she would go with him, whether he wanted her to or not.

“Rainbow…” He folded her into a hug, holding her close. His arms were tight, and she could hear a hitch in his voice. “Even if the Princess could find a way to send me home… I wouldn’t take it. I could never leave you behind, and I would never ask you to give up your life like that.” He sniffed. “My family… I miss them, oh god do I miss them, but by now they all likely think I’m dead. I’ve been missing for months now, at the least, and I’ve got a life here. I’ve got a job, I’ve got friends… and I’ve got you and Twilight. I don’t think I could give that up, no matter how much I’d like to see my family again. I don’t think I’m taking anything from them by staying, not at this point, but I would be taking something from you by leaving.”

Rainbow hugged him back, relief sweeping through her, so strong it tightened her throat. She wouldn’t have to lose him, wouldn’t have to choose between him and her life. He’d already made that choice, and that fact made tears well in her eyes. There was a strong touch of sadness there, too, a pain on his behalf that mixed in with the relief. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m glad, so glad you aren’t going to leave, but I’m so sorry about your family. I’m sorry you have to choose like this.”

He sighed. “Me too, Rainbow. I made my peace with this a while ago, but I still miss all of them.” He leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “There’s something I should tell you. Something I should have told you a long time ago.”

She looked up at him in puzzlement, still holding him tightly. “Oh, yeah?” She hadn’t gotten the sense that he was hiding anything from her.

Lero took a deep breath. “My world would be a cold and lonely place without you in it.” He bit his lip. “Rainbow, I… I don’t know any other way to say it. I… if you feel the same way, I’d…”

She gently touched his cheek with her forehoof. “C’mon, big guy. You can tell me anything. Ask me anything. Go ahead.”

He caught her hoof in his hand, visibly mustering his courage. “I love you. I want to spend my life with you, Rainbow Dash. I can’t imagine not being with you. Can’t imagine my world without you in it.” He looked at her, anxious fear and tension in his eyes.

Rainbow couldn’t breathe. Afraid to break the moment, she whispered, “You didn’t realize?”

The fear in his eyes got stronger, and she could feel him tense underneath her. “Realize what?”

Her eyes shone as she looked back at him. “Goofus. I’ve felt that way for a long time. I thought you realized what it meant when I gave you this.” Rainbow touched the large cyan feather braided into the human’s hair, the one he’d lately never been seen without. Her chest felt full to the bursting point. She’d dreamed of him saying something like this to her. She’d thought he felt this way… but he hadn’t said it before. She hadn’t been sure, not completely. Now she was.

His eyes were wide, and she could see tears gathering there to match her own. “You have? I thought… I thought it was like the flower…”

Rainbow shook her head. “No. Flowers don’t last; they’re for dating, when you’re not sure it’s going to last. This…” she touched the feather again, “this isn’t temporary. I wasn’t sure you’d want to stay with me… but I wanted to stay with you. So I gave you this, so even if you left, a piece of me would stay with you.” Not that she would have let him go without trying to hold on, but...

“Really?” He sounded a little choked.

“Yeah.” She sounded choked, too. She couldn’t help it. She felt so happy it almost hurt. Rainbow wished, right then, that she was as good with words as Lero was. She wished she could tell him how she felt, paint a picture for him with words the way he sometimes did for her. She wasn’t, though, so she had to settle for holding him just as tightly as she could, trying to show him how she never wanted to let go. “I hope you’re not mad at me.”

He laughed. “Mad? Rainbow, I’m as far from mad as I could possibly be.” He sniffed. “I’m sorry, I should have realized what that gesture meant.” He hugged her tightly, and she responded, snuggling against his chest, tucking her head under his chin.

“You don’t have to apologize.” She knew that the smaller bits of Equestrian society sometimes slipped by him; she should have said something sooner. Especially since that was something not even every pony would recognize. Most used rings of some form, often anklets, a tradition copied from the unicorns’ horn-rings like the flower had come from the earth ponies.

He drew another deep breath. “There’s something else I wanted to ask. A… call it a custom, from where I come from. Maybe a tradition.”

Rainbow looked up at him, smiling. She was glad to hear that; she’d suggested to him more than once that he should try not to do everything the Equestrian way. She’d been a little afraid that doing that would change him, make him someone other than the person she loved. That trying to fit in too much might take away something special. “Well, tell me about it!”

“You guys have marriages, right?”

The pegasus nodded. “Yeah, the big ceremonial bonding thing, right? That’s for when two big houses are allying or something like that. Nobility stuff.”

“Well… we have that tradition, too, where I come from. Except, for us, it’s… call it a way of making a relationship permanent.”

Rainbow’s heart sped up a bit. “So, you want me to marry you?” He bit his lip, and nodded nervously. “What do I need to do?”

“Normally, there’s a big ceremony.” Rainbow grimaced; she didn’t want to make a big public deal of this, but nodded. “That’s not the important part, at least to me. To me, the important part is the vows.”

Rainbow’s eyebrows lifted. “Vows?”

“Yeah.” He licked his lips nervously. “Uh, we’d swear a vow to one another. Each of us would basically say that we’d always be there for the other, under any circumstances.”

Rainbow couldn’t speak for a moment. The joyful pressure in her chest stole her voice. Finally, she whispered. “I can do that. I want to do that for you.” To promise to always be there… she could do that for him easily. Happily. Joyfully. She bit her lip, remembering something he’d mentioned before. “This… wouldn’t cut Twilight out, would it? I mean, it wouldn’t be fair for me to do that to her…”

Lero shook his head. “Traditional vows include the line ‘forsaking all others,’ but I hadn’t planned on including that part. Besides, you and I haven’t been too traditional.”

Rainbow laughed delightedly. “Yeah, there’s that.” She sobered, looking at him intently. “So… do you want to do it now?”

“I… if you’re okay with it, yeah. I do.”

“I totally am. I totally am. What do I need to say?”

A few tears ran down his face. “You want to do it? Really?”

She touched his cheek, as lightly and gently as she possibly could. “I absolutely do,” she whispered.

He blinked hard, then cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “Okay. I can’t remember the traditional vows, but I’ll improvise something similar that sounds good and do my best, and I’d probably change them a bit to fit us anyway. Just repeat after me, okay?” She nodded. “Okay. Here goes, before I panic and forget what I was going to say.” He drew another breath, composing himself, and started to speak. “Rainbow, I swear to be yours. To love you and cherish you, to have you and to hold you, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad. For the rest of my days, I will be beside you, both in body and in spirit, and I will honor, respect, and love you, until death parts us.”

Her heart in her throat, Rainbow repeated the words, replacing her name with his. Tears glittered in both their eyes, and her voice cracked a bit on the word ‘cherish’. She liked that word. It fit really well.

“So that’s it?” Rainbow whispered, caressing his cheek. “You and I… we’re gonna be there for each other? Always?”

“Yes.” He stroked her neck gently. “Like I said, there’s normally a big ceremony, with guests and priests and officials… but I think the vows are the important part. Making each other a promise.”

Rainbow swallowed hard. Tears streamed down her face, and she made a little sound that was almost a sob. Joy, happiness, love… they all were filling her chest, the pressure increasing to the point that it was actually painful.

“Are you okay, Rainbow?” Lero asked, his voice choked like hers was.

She looked up at him, and saw tears in his eyes to match the ones in hers. “Yeah,” she gasped, “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just happy.” She sniffed. “Oh my gosh, I’m so happy it hurts.”

“I know exactly what you mean. It’s like your heart is so full you’re afraid it will burst, but you’re so happy that you’re willing to take that risk.”

“Exactly,” she whispered, and kissed him. Not a hard kiss, not a rough kiss or a hungry kiss. She started it off slow and light, brushing her lips against his, then pushed herself up on the bed, lying with her chest against his so she could feel his heart beating against hers while their lips locked together. Her tongue slid against his, not fencing or wrestling, but caressing, feeling. She felt the points of his teeth, and felt his tongue slip past hers to feel her mouth as well. It seemed to last forever, while their breath mingled and the tears spilling down their cheeks mixed together.

She swallowed hard when the kiss ended, her eyes drifting open to gaze into his. “Heh, I’m not surprised you know exactly how I feel.” She rested her forehoof lightly on his chest. “There’s a piece of my heart in there.”

“Oh, is there?” He asked with a smile.

“Yeah.” Her voice dropped back to a whisper. “I gave you a little piece of mine, and you took it and gave me a piece of yours to replace it. There’s a piece of my heart in your chest, and a piece of yours in mine.”

He reached out to touch her cheek. “And you say you’re not good with words.”

Rainbow giggled. “I’m learning from two of the best. Twilight’s probably feeling all happy right now, too, and not knowing why. We both gave her a piece of us, too.”

Lero smiled. “That’s beautiful, Rainbow.” He caressed her neck pensively for a moment, thinking. “We should tell her about this.”

The pegasus nodded. “Absolutely.”

He bit his lip. “Do you think she’d be interested in sharing those vows?”

Rainbow tilted her head to the side, thinking. “Not yet, I don’t think. She’s not a hundred percent sure yet… but I think she’s getting there pretty quick. Give her a little more time, and yeah, I think she would.”

“I’d like that,” he whispered.

“Me too.”

Neither of them felt the need to say anything more. Rainbow snuggled back into Lero’s chest, and he wrapped his arms around her to hold her close. She would have him, and he would have her. Always.

And thus, we come at last to the end of my tale. I won’t say anything like “They lived happily ever after,” it’s trite and cliché, and it’s obviously not true. They’ll have their rough patches, times when they’re joyful and times when they’re upset, even the occasional argument and fight, but on the whole? Yeah, I think they’ll be happy more times than not.

This obviously isn’t the end of their story. Even though this window into their lives is closing, those lives continue. I’m just not the right one to show it anymore.

I do hope you’ve enjoyed this story. I certainly have.

Publisher's Note: I have tears in my eyes as I write this, to see such a heartfelt chapter of this wonderful story. It has been a tremendous honor to be able to bring this story to all of its readers, and I hope that all of you have enjoyed it just as much as I have.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the author for giving us this beautiful, and vibrant story of Rainbow's love. I hope that every one of you will take the time to let the author know just how much this wonderful story has meant to all of you, in the comments.

Author's Notes:

Want even more tales of Xenophilia and Lero's herd? Get more of a look into their lives in Xenophilia: Side Stories, and the wonderful works of archonix's The Xenophile's Guide to Equestria, which both AA and myself have helped out with.