“I think I’m falling in love with you.” Citrus Blush says softly, she looks at him snuggled under the covers in his bed. He freezes and she moves a little closer to him, her heart pounding a staccato rhythm in her chest. Does he feel the same way? Would he blow her off?

“You are what now?” He says, not understanding what he has just heard.

She snuggles closer to him, enjoying his warmth. She brings her face close, nearly touching his, he tries a smile, “You’re falling for ugly little ole me? What is it? My lack of fur?”

Aww, he’s cute, she’s able to giggle over her nerves, “No, silly. I…” She searches for the words, “Well, you’re just…” Her eyes gaze into his, “Fun.”

She brings her muzzle forward and rubs her nose against his, he smiles and blows very softly into her face. She gasps and she turns her head to the side a little, and plants her lips firmly on his. Her tongue flicks out and teases against his lips. She feels him go slack and she takes the opportunity to invade his mouth with her tongue. She moans as she leans more into him. After time immeasurable, he brings up both hands, and places them gently on her cheeks, and pushes her away, getting a squeak from her in response as she opens her eyes to look into his.

“Citrus?” He asks softly. She shudders a bit, looking at him.

“Tim.” She pants.

He looks down, “I’m sorry, but I’m more confused than ever. You aren’t messing with me? You’re falling in love with me?”

She blushes and looks down, after a few moments, she nods.

“But how? I’m an alien to you.”

Her lower lip trembles, “I know. But when I was brought in, you were in such pain, and yet, with all that we were doing to help, it caused you more pain. And yet, through all of that, you never were mean. You never did anything to hurt the ponies helping you.” She lies down on the bed, “And when you finally healed. You’ve always been good to talk to. You are smart, compassionate, you truly listen when I talk to you.” She moves a little closer, “And it helps that you smell nice.”

He furrows his brow, lifting up an arm to check his smell, he took a shower today, but the ponies have nothing like the deodorant he was used to at home, “I smell nice?”

She smiles a little and nods with a soft giggle. She flares her nostrils a bit and leans forward to hold him, her head on his chest, “Citrus.” He says, she can hear the resonation of his voice in his chest, “You’ve been a friend to me since I woke up. I’m not the kind of person that hurts others just because.” He pauses for a moment, “I like you, I genuinely do. But you do know my life before here, right?”

Her hope starts to fade, “Your girlfriend, Karen, right?” She waits for his nod, “Karen isn’t here right now, you sleep alone here most nights. And Tim, you need to know, if the Princesses can’t send you back, you need a family here. You need a herd. To protect you, to provide you warmth, and togetherness, and the friendship and love you desperately need.”

He falls quiet for a long time, his arms around her. She can feel the strength in those arms as he holds her, those arms that would never hurt her. Her nose flares, she relishes his smell, she finds her tail thumping on the bed.

“What’s the tail for?”

She murmurs softly, “I’m happy.”

She loves the feeling of his arms around her, but she needs to know. Finally, she lifts her head and looks again into his eyes, “So…” She finds her confidence fading, she lowers her eyes as she traces a hoof on his chest gently, “Do you like me?” She asks, pricking her ears forward, her heart deciding to accelerate again.

He hugs her close, “Of course I like you, Citrus.”

She narrows her eyes, “You know what I mean, I’m not just talking about like a friend.”

He tries a smile, but it doesn’t seem to fit right, he finally puts a single finger on her nose, “I’m going to have to be honest with you, Citrus. I don’t know.”

She feels tears to well in her eyes, “Oh.” She says softly, then she starts to pull away from him, “I’m so sorry.” She stands up on the bed and moves towards the edge, she sits down at the very edge and moans softly, “I’m such a fool.” She looks down and closes her eyes, a single tear dampening her fur as it slides down her cheek.

“Now hold on there.” Comes his voice behind her. She feels the bed move as he shifts, and his arms reach around her. With a strong pull, and a squeak from her, he pulls her onto him, lying back and putting her head onto his chest so she can see his face easily. She squirms a little bit, and he hugs her tighter, she gasps at the strength in his arms and looks up at him, he’s smiling softly at her. Which causes her to furrow her brow. In response to her inquisitive look, he brings up a hand and cups her cheek, “Citrus. The entire time I’ve been here. I’ve known you, the princesses and the guards. That’s pretty much it. I had no idea.” He looks at her seriously, “No idea at all, that you were interested in me in any romantic fashion.”

It’s her turn to look confused, “Tim, I’ve got to be pretty obvious if Princess Luna noticed it. I wasn’t aware of it until she said that earlier.” In response to his added confusion, “When she suggested I be a lead mare to you a young stallion in a herd, she was talking romantic feelings.” She looks down, her cheeks reddening slightly, “I hadn’t consciously considered it. Because you hadn’t shown any interest, I guess.”

“Any interest?”

She shrugs, “You know, your body language is completely confusing, you haven’t nipped an ear, I know you can’t make all the sounds we do, and you interact with the world differently than we do, you use those hands of yours where we use our muzzles or magic. But I would have thought you would show some sign. You never even touched my ear.” The mentioned ears flick back, “Then you shared your breath with me.” Her blush deepens, “That’s a very intimate thing, Tim.” She says as she looks up at him, “That’s why I kissed you.”

He brings a hand up and touches his lower lip, obviously remembering the kiss, she snuggles into his chest, “Tim, I didn’t know earlier how I felt, but now I do.” She reaches out a hoof and with a fetlock she runs it down his cheek, “I need to know what you think of this? Should I hope? Or should I go?”

His arms around her tighten as if to forestall her leaving, she shifts a bit to leave her back half on the bed, and her forelegs straddling his chest, she can’t control her tail, which continues to thump on the mattress. She watches his face intently as he thinks, finally he looks at her, “This is such a new development, Citrus. Well, at least to me. Humans have different customs to show affection. And yes, based on touching with our hands. I’d never bite your ears.” He reaches out a finger and runs it along the outer edge of her ear, causing her heart to once again race, and he smiles, “But I can touch them, and I think you like that.”

She fights to control her breathing, “That was…” Her blush comes back, “very intense.” She reaches over and runs a soft fetlock against his cheek, her blush intensifies, “I liked that.” She looks away for a moment, murmuring softly, “Though I wouldn’t mind if you nibbled on my ear.”

He chuckles, causing her blush to deepen, he heard that. She looks sharply up at him, and he keeps his face carefully neutral, after a moment he smiles and runs his hand along her cheek, “First off, Citrus. I am fond of you. You have been a constant comfort in my life since I got here. You’ve helped me learn a ton about how life is here.” He chuckles, “Even though you had to have a pegasus come here to show me they can land on clouds and move them around.” He shakes his head, “I’m still not certain how that is possible.” He sighs, “But, back to the subject at hand.”
He looks down, not taking his hand off of her cheek, “The guards are nice, but they are distant. The Princesses want to help, but their number one priority is all the ponies and their safety, so…” He stops, searching for the words, “So, I feel like a prisoner. And it hurts, to be honest.” He looks into her eyes, “I know this, I would be crazy right now. You have been always by my side when I needed you. I didn’t know until now that you were interested in me.”

He falls silent, Citrus watches intently for a long while, then leans forward and nuzzles his chin softly, ending with a soft lick. She leans back with a grin, looking at the shock on his face, she giggles, “So, you’ve had some time to think about it.” She wiggles a little bit, “And?”

He frowns a little bit, “What if I got back Earth, and Karen finds out I was with someone here. What would she think?”

Citrus perks her ears forward and giggles, getting a surprised look from Tim, “Tim, you are a silly human, if we got back to Earth, we could have Karen join.”

He freezes, and she could swear his heart stopped too, he shakes his head softly, “You would go back with me?”

She cocks her head to the side, “Of course, silly. A mare stays with her stallion.” She nuzzles him, “If you’ll have me, I’ll stay with you forever.”

“What do you mean, join?”

“Our herd, silly.”

“We don’t have herds at home, at least humans don’t.”

She frowns, “What? That’s silly! How do you humans do it? I thought you were in a herd with Karen.”

Tim reaches out and puts a finger to her lips, she leans back a bit and perks her ears forward, listening intently, “Well, for the most part, a man and a woman will start dating, hopefully fall in love, get married, and have kids.”

“Married?” She looks down, furrowing her brow as her ears flick back and forth, “Marriages are for nobleponys, and all they do is secure lines of succession between the mares and her daughters, or her other herd daughters.”

Now it’s his turn to be confused, though he disregards this for the time being. He thinks about everything she’s been saying, “So, if I understand everything correctly here, you are wanting me to be with you, in a romantic manner?”

She nods, and he sinks back into his pillows a bit, thinking furiously. She watches his face intently, “Karen wouldn’t be happy to add to us, would she?”

He looks down and shakes his head, “She was always a bit jealous. Not bad, but she kinda claimed me as hers.”

Citrus smiles, her tail thumping more often on the bed, “Fine, I’ll take what I can get then. If you want to take me if the Princess can find a way to your home, that’s fine. But if not, I’ll stay here and hope for you to come back. Maybe you’ll bring her.” She smiles brightly at him.

Tim brings her closer into a hug. After a long time, she leans back to look at him, “Tim?”

He looks down at her, “Yeah, Citrus?”

He can tell what she wants before a single word is uttered due to the bright blush that starts at her cheeks and expands to her ears and down the rest of her face, “I really liked kissing you…” She traces a hoof on his chest softly, “You know, earlier.”

“And you want to kiss some more?” He says softly, which gets a nod from her. He thinks furiously for a few seconds, then he decides, he brings his hands to each cheek, and brings her forward. He finds his eyes closing as their lips meet, her larger tongue again invading his mouth. He runs his tongue along hers for a moment as she leans her body into the kiss. He puts a hand to her cheek, and she moans into his mouth. His other hand reaches around and starts and the base of her skull, just softly touching along her spine. His mind spins, he can feel it, in every movement, every twitch, every moan. She wants him. The soft fur around her lips does little to detract, but he’s finding she’s pretty aggressive in the kissing department.

Finally she comes up for air, she licks her lips a couple of times, “It helps you taste good too.” She says and giggles, her horn alights and the buttons of his night shirt fly in random directions as she pulls it apart, getting a gasp from him, she looks at his exposed chest, “You do have fur!”

He laughs, “I’ve got hair on my legs too, and my arms, why are you surprised I have chest hair?”

She giggles, “No idea, but for some reason, I thought you didn’t have any hair there, that’s why you always wear clothes.” She leans down and nuzzles the center of his breastbone, “There’s not all that much here.” She lays her head on his chest, she looks up at him, “Your heart is beating fast.” She grins.

He reaches down a hand and places it on her chest, getting a smile from him as he responds, “Yours is too.”

She reaches up a fetlock and runs it along the side of his cheek, “You are beautiful.”

“Huh?” He looks at her for a long time, “Citrus, I’m an alien to you, what makes you think I’m beautiful.”

She raises her head and scoots forward to give him a peck on the lips, “You are beautiful…” Her blush comes back, “To me.”

She smiles at him as she pulls away, “You are blushing.” She says saucily.

He reaches forward a finger to her nose, she gets up off of him and her horn lights again, “Now, let’s get the rest of this off of you.” She murmurs, he reaches up a finger and taps her horn gently, cancelling out the magic. She winces a bit, “You should be careful with that, Tim. You could hurt a unicorn if you hit their horn too hard while they are doing magic.”

“I know, I had accidentally hit a guard’s horn while he was doing magic, boy he yelled at me quite a bit. So, I was gentle on purpose.”

Her eyebrows climb as he continues, “Citrus, are you seriously suggesting we have sex right now?”

“Of course silly, how do we even know if we are compatible if we don't try?” She giggles, “For all I know, you might be too small for me.”

His eyebrows rise, “Too small?”

She nods, nuzzling his neck, “You aren’t a pony, for all I know, you could be enormous, or tiny. I’ve never seen it.”

He finds his hands moving to cover himself, as he does, she nips his neck, hard. Getting a yelp from him.

“What was that for?” He touches where she just bit, that’s gonna leave a bruise.

“You want me?” She asks coquettishly.

“You know that’s a big step, Citrus. Having sex.”

She nods, “Yes. An important step.” She says with half lidded eyes, “I know I can pleasure you. Can you pleasure me?”

She wants him to show what he can do. Part of his wants to just throw caution to the wind. But the rational part of his mind is hanging on by a thread. Instead, he brings her face closer to his, and this time he kisses her, finding it easier each time to not think of her as some alien, but just as a female attracted to him, he’s more aggressive this time, teasing her lips open, and running his tongue along hers, and feeling her teeth and tasting her.

Finally she pulls away, panting softly, “Boy, Tim. You know how to kiss.”

That gets a smile from him, “I’ve been told that before.” He again puts a single finger on her nose, “Citrus. Among humans, it’s a very big step to have sex. The intimacy, the feelings, it’s all a lot to deal with. I do want to have sex, and I have a feeling that you and I having sex is going to be amazing. But this is a new relationship. Can we take our time, work our way up to going all the way?”

“All…the…way?” She says slowly, her ears flicking back.

He nods, “Yeah, and I promise, I’ll do everything I know how to do to make you feel as wonderful as possible.” He again runs a finger on the outside edge of an ear, then he rubs his hand down her neck and her spine, and ends up resting it on her cutie mark. He looks at his hand, “Your mark, it’s warm.”

She reaches her neck over and nuzzles his hand on her mark. Then she turns back and nuzzles his cheek, “I think it means I’ve found the love of my life.” She says softly, then her horn lights again, drawing the covers back as she slides under the thick duvet. She orients herself on her back, looking at him, he moves onto his side and moves closer to her, putting an arm over her chest, where she puts her forehooves over his arm, holding him. She again nuzzles his chin, ending with a soft lick. “Tim?”

He smiles in response, and she continues, “I hope not all of your human customs are endearing yet irritating.”

He laughs, “No worries, Citrus. Some are even more irritating, and some are more endearing.”

That gets a giggle from her, “I can imagine.” She looks over at him, “So, what do your curious customs do allow? If you don’t want to go,” She crosses her eyes and sticks out her tongue for a moment, “All the way.” Her face softens, “What can we do? Because I really do want you.”

He thinks for a moment, and many different answers flash through his head, he finally settles on an idea, “Citrus, if I’m doing anything you don’t like, or it doesn’t feel good, let me know. But, I can start with this,” He brings his face forward, and kisses her neck right at the base of her shoulder, using his tongue to tease her skin. He brings his mouth away and blows on the newly moistened area. Her soft gasp gets him to run his hand slowly down her breastbone as he continues kissing her neck. He can feel that her fur gets thinner along her belly, but is very soft. He runs his hand slowly up and down her belly, enjoying the feel of her. He raises a little on an arm so his other hand has better access to touch her. She takes the opportunity to run her tongue along his ear, she brings the very tip of his earlobe into her mouth and she bites it far more gently this time. In response, he tickles her navel, she squirms in response.

“Does that tickle?”

She blushes even more, “No, it feels really good.”

That gets a smile from him as he graduates from tickling to rubbing more firmly. She sighs in pleasure in response.

“Citrus.” He says softly, she opens her eyes and looks at him, “I’ve never been with a pony, and I know you haven’t been with any humans before.” He chuckles at the thought, “But have you been with any of your own kind?”

She lifts her head and licks his cheek gently, then lies her head back down again, her blush quite prominent, she shakes her head softly. He furrows his brow, “Really?” At that, she nods, “I would be your first?”

Again, she nods, he feels a thrill of fear, “I’ve never been anyone’s first before.” He breathes.

She seems to sense his fear, she brings up a foreleg and wraps it around his neck, pulling him into a passionate kiss, he feels his entire body respond. After time eternal, she pulls away slightly, “It will be wonderful, because I’ll be with you, Tim.”

He finally remembers his hand on her belly and gently starts to rub lower with it. In response she nuzzles tighter to him snuggling her muzzle against his cheek. As he moves his hand down he finds the fur slowly thinning until his fingers are on a patch of smooth, warm skin. Breathing faster she gives his cheek a soft nip and a sensuous lick. As his hand caresses her udder, he finds the thick bump of her teat and gently gives it a squeeze. Squeaking Citrus perks her head and ears a bit before half slitting her eyes and snuggling tighter. She moans softly as he traces the outline of her teats. He moves over to kiss her, just relishing in her taste, and her feel. That last little part of his mind objecting being drowned out. She’s beautiful, and she wants him.

He throws the duvet off the bed and starts running his tongue down her neck, listening to her pant. He moves his hand to her inner thigh, running up and down the soft skin there, he finally makes it down to her teats. He brings a teat into his mouth, sucking on it gently. Her tail thrashes back and forth as her panting gets faster. He lets the teat slip from his lips, and he kisses further down, teasing her thigh. This is the first time he’s seen this part of her. Her gasp is loud as he uses his fingers to gently part her lips. He brings his face close and inhales her scent. She’s starting to make some very equine sounds as he continues to tease her, he traps her tail under his chest. He stretches the soft outer lips apart and blows very gently, getting her to wink furiously and a loud whinny escapes her mouth.

“Eeeeeep!” Comes a voice, along with a loud thunk.

Tim looks up, a purple alicorn is standing there, her wings are extended over her face, though he can see an eye peeking through the feathers. A pile of books are on the floor next to her. He can hear her, “Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!” She’s saying.

He looks down at Citrus, who’s trying to draw into herself, the covers are on the floor, not an easy reach. He flops down on the bed between Citrus and where Twilight stands by the door, “Uh, aren’t you here a little early?”

Next Chapter: Chapter 3. Estimated time remaining: 19 Hours, 54 Minutes