As Tarnish returned to his body, he felt somepony breathing on him. He forced his eyes open, they felt a little dry and sticky. His vision was blurry and he blinked several times to restore his sight. He felt a soft touch and he could smell Maud, a distinct smell that he would never fail to recognise.

“Are you alright?”

For a strange moment, Tarnish was almost certain he could hear the concern in Maud’s voice. He dismissed it as his imagination—Maud’s blank slate allowed him to see and hear what he wanted to see and hear—and he focused upon her face as his senses returned to his body.

“I’m fine, I uh, just did a little magic, that’s all.” Tarnish gave Maud a reassuring smile and discovered that his face was still waking up.

“You were mumbling.” After a pause, “I put that root ball in your saddlebags.”

When Maud spoke, he could feel her breath upon his sensitive snoot. It gave him chills and filled him with a strong sense of desire to have her so close. Tarnish felt the sensation pouring back into his legs like water sloshing into a cup.

“I saw Princess Celestia,” Tarnish admitted. “I, uh, well, I accidentally jumped to the astral plane and we had a conversation.”

“Unicorns.” Maud let out a snort and her ears angled forwards over her eyes. “You went still as a statue and sat here mumbling. You’ve been doing this a lot lately. It worries me, Tarnish.”

“Sorry.”

“You become lifeless when you go off. I’ve been poking you for a good five minutes.”

“Sorry…” Tarnish realised that he had to make it up to her somehow. Sitting on his haunches, he lurched forwards, wrapped his forelegs around Maud’s neck, and pressed his still somewhat numb lips against hers. He felt her stand there, stiff and unresponsive, and then after a few seconds, she reacted.

She leaned in, warm and willing, and Tarnish gave her a soft, loving lip nibble as the sensitive pad of his snoot provided wonderful friction that gave him chills. He felt her foreleg wrap around his neck, her touch was both strong and gentle, forceful but kind, and he gave her the sort of reassurance that she was seeking.

He allowed himself to fall over backwards into the tall grass, which sent grasshoppers bounding away, and broke their embrace. He tugged on Maud, pulling her over him, and he lay beneath her in her shadow. He found her lips again, restoring their connection, and he could feel strands of her mane spilling down upon his face, tickling him.

When he was breathless and certain that his lungs would burst, Maud pulled away. She stood over him, looking down, her eyes half open and somewhat sleepy looking. As Tarnish lay in the grass, almost panting, Maud sat down on his barrel, straddling him. She balanced herself with ease, drew in a deep breath, and then let it all out as a contented sigh.

Her weight was reassuring, indeed, something about her bulk was necessary right now, life had weight, it was solid, and with form. After drifting, Tarnish found that he needed something sensate. Reaching up with his forelegs, he wrapped them around her middle and gave a needy tug against her hips. She wobbled, almost off balance, and he could feel the tautness of her muscles as she righted herself. He could feel the heat of her body, the inviting warmth that existed between her hind legs, he felt it against his barrel and it filled him with a sense of longing, a sense of desire. But it wasn’t too urgent of a need, and so he lay in the grass, enjoying the moment, allowing it to happen.

A lone bit of dandelion fluff, which had gone a wandering on the breeze, came to rest upon the fuzzy tip of Maud’s ear. It hung there for but a moment, somehow enhancing Maud’s statuesque beauty, and seeing it caused Tarnish’s heart to skip a beat. With but a twitch of her ear, Maud sent it on its way, returning it to its journey, a dandelion seeking one last cycle of growth before autumn became winter. Tarnish’s eyes wandered away from Maud and he watched as the bit of dandelion fluff departed.

Reaching down with her hoof, Maud began to trace slow, lazy circles against the base of Tarnish’s throat, her hoof sliding against the scruffy whorl where the different grains of Tarnish’s pelt all converged. She ran her hoof over his pronounced scruffle, parting it, shifting it from side to side, and there was a faint sound as the thick, coarse hairs rubbed together.

“I like where we’re at,” Maud said.

Ears perking, not understand, Tarnish replied, “I don’t follow.”

“This stage of our relationship.” Maud looked down and continued to caress Tarnish’s scruffle. “We’re still hot and bothered for one another, that much is obvious, but we can have moments like this one where we just enjoy one another’s company without the frantic urge to rut one another silly.” Maud paused, blinked, and her ears pivoted around as she listened to the world around her. “The urge is there, I know I’m feeling it, but this is so nice that I don’t feel the need to rush anything.” When Maud shifted her body, there was the faint rustle of fabric as it rubbed against Tarnish’s pelt.

The previously dry heat of Maud’s nethers as she sat on his barrel was now a moist, humid heat. Tarnish found himself sniffing, an involuntary action. He could smell salty sweat, hot pony smell, and something else… something that tickled his nose and filled him with a sense of longing for Maud, a needful desire.

“I’m all hot and sweaty,” Maud deadpanned. “How about a bath? Someplace shady though, the sun feels a bit too hot today. I’m feeling it right through my smock.”

“That sounds fantastic,” Tarnish replied. “I’ll wash your back—”

“With your belly?” Maud’s eyes narrowed just a tiny bit and her nostrils flared.

Beneath her, Tarnish could feel her legs squeezing his ribcage. It made it difficult to breathe, but breathe he did. He sucked in a deep breath, looked Maud in the eye, and nodded.

Some urges could not be ignored nor delayed.

The late afternoon sun pierced the trees in brilliant shafts of golden light. There was a breeze, a brisk breeze, and it carried the scent of distant rain. On the eastern horizon, grey clouds gathered, pregnant with rain. The labourious morning had given away to a somewhat lazy afternoon, with both Tarnish and Maud lounging about after a pleasant bath.

His pelt darkened and still damp, Tarnish sat on a sun warmed rock, allowing himself to dry. Maud was just a few yards away, also sitting on a broad, flat rock, but she sat in the shade of a leaning elm that had grown at an angle from the jagged banks of the river. Her smock, still sopping wet, was laid out on a stone not far from her, drying in the sun after having been laundered in the river.

“Tarnish…”

He turned his head when he heard Maud’s voice and paid attention.

“Tarnish, I am starting to think that I might be a superstitious earth pony after all.”

“Maud?” His brows furrowed and he waited for Maud to explain herself.

“The orb… your little excursions… you’ve been doing unicorn stuff… stuff that is very important to you… and I’ve been a little uncomfortable with that. I think I’ve made a mistake, Tarnish. It feels as though I have. I feel as though I’ve done something wrong. I’ve been irritated and a little paranoid about it. I’m not sure, but I think I might have a few earth pony prejudices lurking about.”

He didn’t know what to say, he could not think of how to respond, so he remained silent.

“I want you to develop as a unicorn… I want you to feel a connection to your tribe.” Maud blinked a few times. “At least, I told myself that. Now that you are doing it, I find myself being overly concerned and suspicious. As it turns out, I’m a lot like everypony else when it comes to being skittish about things I don’t understand.”

“That strikes me as being normal, Maud.”

When Maud did not respond, when the silence became somewhat unbearable, Tarnish turned his head and looked down into the river. He could see fish swimming beneath a partially submerged log. Little bugs skated over the surface of a somewhat smooth pool of water that had formed in a basin of rocks. He didn’t know what to say.

“I had always thought of myself as being rational and therefore above the superstitious and foolish attitudes of my kind,” Maud admitted in a flat voice. “I must confess, there was a bit of snobbery there. I saw myself as being a better pony for having put my superstitions and unreasonable fears behind me. Now that I am experiencing it, I don’t know how to feel about it.”

“A lot of things happen that we don’t expect.” Tarnish looked up at the sky for a moment, watching the clouds stream past overhead. They had picked up speed and some of them were grey, rather than fluffy white. He looked over at Maud. “You never expected to fall in love. I never expected to learn magic in any serious degree.” Now thoughtful, he chewed his lip for a time before saying, “And little foals still scare me, but I am warming up to the idea that I’m going to be a father someday. Things change, Maud. Even the rocks change, if you leave them in the river long enough, or expose them to life and the world at large.”

A strong gust blew, causing the river to ripple. Little eddies formed along the surface. The trees rustled and bowed as the strong wind asserted its dominance. Leaves tore free from branches and took off on wild journeys, borne by the wind. With the strong wind came a chill that pierced through Tarnish’s damp pelt and made him shiver even as the sun continued to bake him.

The idea of becoming a father still scared him, but he was content to practice foal creation for now. Practice, practice made perfect, and one day, he would have perfect foals. The hazy thoughts inside of his head made him smile, a lazy, languid smile. A post-coital lazy, languid smile. Looking at Maud, he wondered if a bit more practice was in order. He wondered what she was thinking, what was going through her head right now. She was having one of her moments when she struggled with being a pony like everypony else.

His thoughts took a physical turn; he thought of Maud’s body against his, her muscles rippling, the sound of her breathing, the sensation of their pelts rubbing together. All of the sensations associated with being inside of her, touching her in her most vulnerable place, the overpowering need to be further in, the puzzling feeling of mere penetration not being enough, but the desire to drive himself deeper inside, until they were of one body. There was a sense of frustration present, a strange frustration, the feeling of being denied. No matter how he tried, he could not merge with her, her could not become one, but the desire, the need, the consuming compulsion persisted.

Some said that the eyes were the window to the soul, and while there was some truth to this, the body had other organs with connections to the soul. Tarnish felt it the most when he was hilted as deep as he could go and the need to go deeper still manifested as a strong urge. Being male, it was as if he had a battering ram, something that could almost, but not quite, allow him to sunder the veil of flesh that kept him from what he desired. Physical relief was not enough, he desired something greater, but could not express what it was or put the concept into words. It was a vague, nebulous thing, like most other spiritual or religious concepts.

Tarnish was not a religious pony—some ponies were, there could be no doubting this, ponies had all manner of superstitions, beliefs, and practices—but he was at his most spiritual when he thought about his connection to Maud. Or when he was connected to Maud, huffing and puffing against her while wrestling with his need to go ever deeper, to perhaps become a part of her, to merge with her.

“Tarnish.”

Jolted from his thoughts, he blinked a few times, looked around, and then stared at Maud, feeling a bit confused and disoriented. Her ears were splayed out sideways and she looked flustered.

“For the past five minutes, you’ve been staring at me and breathing hard. Are you okay?” It was almost impossible to tell for sure, but it appeared as though her cheeks darkened. “Somepony is happy to see me.” She made a gesture with her hoof in Tarnish’s general direction.

Looking down, Tarnish saw something staring up at him. He let out a surprised “Hmm.” He must have been really zoned out to not have noticed how aroused he was. He looked up from his turgid length, tilted his head off to one side, and said, “I’m coming over there to put this inside of you, if you don’t mind.”

“By all means,” Maud replied, “be my guest. You wouldn’t want to get that sunburned.”

Author's Notes:

Innuendo!