Marble was rudely awoken by a sharp pain in her flank. She squeaked and leapt up, flailing her hooves, but she had slept awkwardly on the solid ground and her legs refused to move as quickly as she did. She tumbled to the side, landing in a dusty pile of semi-functional limbs and a heartbeat which threatened to tear her chest in two.
"Oh m-my, what w-was that?" She scanned the surrounding area, her gaze alighting on a cheeky black crow. "Hmph," She snorted as she slowly untangled herself and made her way back to her hooves, "And to think, I fed you and your friends only the other day on half my lunch. Can't even let a lone mare sleep in peace."
It was still night. The moon was covered by thick clouds, and a low rumbling from far away spoke of poor inbound weather. A bone-chilling wind whipped and whined through the sparse, rocky landscape throwing eddies of dust and the odd dead leaf into spiralling twisters all across the fields. A bitter cold hung in the air, cutting straight through her fur and hardy body and freezing her insides to the point every muscle felt tense and achy, and her breaths came short and shallow, threatening to ice her lungs should she draw too deep a glacial breath. Shivers wracked her whole body, threatening to break her balance with their violence.
A prickling feeling on her back made her wince as she moved. A patch of white frost was forming on her fur with spreading numbness. It looked almost like glitter on her dull coat but it stung like a long line of nettles.
The rocks around her creaked and groaned, cracking and splitting as ice formed in the crevices and forced them apart.
Across the field, her home lay still and dark, save for a single lame light by the attic window. Wisps of smoke still leaked from the chimney, curling away into the sky.
She had to get inside, and quickly, before she succumbed to the cold. Her chest was already feeling tight and weak and the freezing air was stinging her nose and lips. She staggered around and tried to work some feeling back into her legs as she began to walk.
That crow, though rough and downright rude, had saved her life. She winced as the bitter air made the nip on her flank throb painfully, but at least she had awoken. She would be giving a whole lot more bread to the birds in the future. It seemed to acknowledge her thanks as it stared at her with its dark eyes, before it took off into the night and disappeared.
Every step was a pain, but with each gasp and grunt, she could feel herself growing a little warmer inside, and the cataclysmic shivers subsided somewhat. As she stumbled her way up the path to the front door, a niggling fear began to surface.
Being out alone in such weather was utterly foolish. What would Limestone think of her for being so silly, and then waking everyone up and disrupting their well-earned sleep? If she wanted even a chance of romancing one as sensible and hard-working as her sister, then she had to start behaving more like that. Falling asleep during a mid-winter's night in some unknown corner of the rockfields was just about the furthest from responsible she could have gotten. And that was ignoring the fact she had been drinking alone, even if Pinkie had said it was fine.
Fortunately, she would not have to face the prospect of awakening her family by knocking at the door like a vagrant as a pony opened the door for her. However, fortune was a fickle beast, and the pony who stared out at her with sleepy eyes and a deadpan frown was none other than the very pony she had wished to both avoid like the plague and twine her tail with to keep her close- Limestone Pie stood stock-still and even the cutesy pink scarf around her neck did little to hide the disappointment and angry incredulousness she radiated.
"M-may I c-come in?" Marble stammered, her teeth chattering too much for her to control. She may as well have not spoken as her sweet Limestone continued to stare at her. "P-please?" Maybe it was the desperation in her voice or the pathetic whimper she gave, but her sister moved aside and ushered her in with an impatient hoof gesture.
The door closed, locking them both in the gloom of the hallway, every lamp and candle having long-since been put out, save the weak, flickering firefly lantern on the floor between them. By the faint light, a powerful glower tore into her with all the emotions of a worried sister and the concerns of a business-pony. She was reduced to a shuddering, quietly sobbing mess on the floor in a few seconds.
"Marble, you foal." Limestone said at last, her voice as cold as the winter outside, "Do you have any idea what could have happened if I hadn't seen you wander out earlier? I know you're upset about Mac, but you can’t do something so stupid!” Her sister’s body was shaking and her eyes were shining. She had been worried; she had given up her priceless sleep to make sure she was okay.
“Mac?” The temptation to just go with it was enormous. Could she pass it off? Just throw away everything and decide that the one stallion she had ever met who was as quiet as her was to be hers? One look at the mare before her quashed any such thought. He may have been sweet and gentle, but only Limestone made her feel like anything more than the nervy, lonely rock-farmer she was. “O-oh, no.”
Limestone raised an eyebrow. “No?”
“Ah, it’s, well, um,” Marble swallowed and tilted her mane in front of her face so she didn’t have to look at the mare that commanded her attention, “Y- A…Mare.”
Limestone laughed. Not maliciously, but quite happily. Her hushed hilarity was enough to bring Marble from her nervous hide in confusion and embarrassment. “Really, Marbs? Pinkie said there was something wrong, were you seriously worried what we’d think? Half Equestria’s a bunch of filly-foolers these days- I know Ol’ Granny Pie never quite understood that, but she was from another time.” She closed the distance between them and hugged her tightly. “Silly filly.”
Marble could feel herself heating up instantly as her sister’s sleek, downy fur brushed against hers and her muzzle nestled into her shoulder as she continued to chuckle softly. She should probably have moved apart before the blush made itself too obvious and she grew too passionate. It was just a friendly expression of family love, she knew, not an invitation to anything more. Certainly not what she longed for, but even the stealing even the smallest moments of affection from such a busy, important pony meant so much.
All too soon, the beautiful warmth of Limestone’s body moved away. She let out a faint sigh of disappointment before cutting herself off. It would hardly do to interrupt this moment with her stupidity if she wanted to make anything more of it; she’d had more than her allotted number of stupid slips today as it was. They parted, and then her sweet sister, whether wilfully torturing her or not, decided to end it with a quick peck on the tip of the nose.
“Come on now, Sis, it’s time to go to bed. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow!” When didn’t she have a busy day? Limestone was probably the most overworked pony to have ever walked the land, and she loved it.
Limestone led the way to the stairs. They quickly and quietly trotted up to the attic bedroom the four of them shared. Wordlessly, they sneaked in, avoiding the various bedroom-detritus strewn about the room from Pinkie’s attempts at unpacking.
All she had to do was somehow squeeze herself between Pinkie, who had managed to sprawl so far about her bed that she was more off than on it as she snored comically, and Maud, whose tail formed a purple barrier across the beds. At least they were both undisturbed. She glanced over at her other sister who was busily digging herself into a nest of thin sheets and let out a curt sigh. She would simply have to be careful not to awaken either of them.
She tip-hoofed forward, crouching down to the point her muzzle was scraping the floor as she attempted to crawl underneath the tangle of limbs and mane. The darkness was hardly helping, but she couldn’t just put a light on and wake everyone up.
“Mmph…” She nudged a pile of dust and had to quickly dart backwards and bury her face in her hooves to muffle a sneeze with a lame squeak, “...Choo!” Maybe she’d just lay on the floor then, after all, if she could fall asleep in the fields, surely a nice warm, wooden floorboard wouldn’t be too bad.
“Marbs.” A whisper caught her ear, “Just come here and share. Don’t worry ‘bout stirring them.” Limestone was beckoning her, holding aside a stack of blankets from her makeshift sleep-den. “Besides, I’m freezing, I could do with something warm in here.”
She hardly needed telling a second time and had to keep herself from all-out sprinting to the offered bed. With a somewhat overenthusiastic scrabble and leap, she slipped into the blankets and snuggled down next to her sister. Would she manage to keep her hooves to herself all night? She was willing to let fate decide itself though, as long as she got to spend the night in the warm caress of the one she loved.
She lay back against the pillow and let her mane pool around her head. The warm, slow breaths of her sister danced over her neck and she let out a pleasurable, sleepy sigh. Limestone had her forelegs draped around her chest, hugging her close for heat, and she was only too happy to let her and return the hug, pushing as much of their bodies together as possible. The last thing she saw as she closed her achy eyes was a shaft of moonlight highlighting the contented smile on her sister’s face. She’d be happy if this was as close as she ever got to a relationship.
Her mind began to wander as sleep closed in. Was Limestone aware? Had she somehow guessed what she’d been hiding- no, she’d thought her anxieties had been about Mac, or her filly-fooling tendencies. She was probably completely oblivious, and, given how happy she seemed, maybe it would be cruel of her to confess any feelings towards her. It might destroy everything they had together, but at the same time, it was most definitely the right thing to do. There was no way she could go on much longer before someone guessed what was up and outed her, or she broke down by herself.
“Mmmarrble?” Limestone whispered blearily, drawing her from her chaotic thoughts.
“Hmm?”
“You got any problems, like, y’know, love stuff, jus’-“ She yawned, “-jus’ come to me ‘bout it, alright? I’m here for you, no matter what. No more running off to hide or anything- Care too much ‘bout you to let you go get yourself hurt.”
“Mmhmm.” She passed it off as calmly as possible, but inside she was screaming and melting. Limestone cared enough about her that maybe, just maybe, she’d listen to her and wouldn’t run for the hills if she asked for her love. Any love problems at all, just go straight to her. It was a more welcome option than asking Pinkie or Maud; the prospect of talking about something so sensitive to them seemed terrifying- Maud would probably just give her that unending wilting stare over the top of a thousand grim romance poems, and Pinkie would throw some sort of ‘Glad you’re gay for your sister’ party.
“Good, good.” She was asleep in an instant, her dainty whinnies so unlike the tough business-pony she was during the day.
But what if she was the love problem? Well, she’d just have to find out. As scary an idea as it seemed, if anyone would tolerate her, it would be the cute, sweet pony who had just lent her a bed for the night; who had gone to look for her when she was sulking off in the deathly cold; who had extended a heartfelt offer to confide her most tricky and complicated thoughts and feelings in.
Their semi-conscious hooves met under the covers and held tight. But Marble fought off the lovely clouding warmth that threatened to make her cheeks burn until she melted.
Limestone Pie was beautiful, brawny and loving. Any passing pony around could see that, and with the frequent business-trips and meetings, any rich, gallant stallion or sleek, sexy mare might sweep her from her hooves off to their distant manor, to leave Marble alone and longing.
Her time was up and there was nothing left to stop her but her own silly nerves.
Tomorrow, tomorrow she would unveil her darkest secret to her beloved, and only tomorrow would tell whether she was sent scurrying, disgraced, from the farm with her tail between her legs, or whether she would be accepted, and thrown to the ground by her powerful forelegs, only to be smothered in tender kisses and-
Limestone had been right, it was going to be a busy day tomorrow. She let a smile fill her face as she relaxed, sinking into the bed, and the sleepy, warm embrace. She should really get some sleep and stop fantasising- though given the gamble, maybe she had the rights to be allowed a little fantasy or two.
She did have such a fine, slender body, after all, and with her cute smile and short, rough-tough mane, how could she not spend every moment, awake or asleep, thinking about her?
A thick darkness began to weigh down heavily on her tired mind, and she gave in, letting it take her away to a restful, stress-free place where the only things to worry about was making her partner feel as loved as she, and when to breath in her deep, passionate make-out session with a gorgeous, gleaming Limestone.
She was soon deeply asleep, curled up with her sister, and with only the red on her cheeks and the occasional school-filly giggle to give any idea of her wonderful dreams.