“What a great piece, Marcus! Excellent work, as always.”
“Thanks, Professor,” I said gratefully. “I took a bit of a risk using charcoal to draw this, but I think it worked out in my favor.”
“It certainly did!” my professor agreed. “My only critique would be to have a wider range of values. Try different degrees of gray in order to make the piece more visually dynamic.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I chuckled as I left the professor’s office and returned to my table where Rarity was also sitting.
“So what did he think?” she asked.
“You know Professor Draft. He’s always praising me, no matter that I do.”
“It’s like he worships the ground you walk on.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You say that like he doesn’t do the same to you.”
“Well, we are the top two students in his Drawing 101 class. It’s only natural.”
“We’ll see. You still have yet to show him your project.”
“Rarity, you’re up next!” Professor Draft called from his office, which was where he gave his critiques to students. The tall, thin, purple-coated pegasus sat in his rolling chair by his office doorway.
“Wish me luck, darling!” she said as she got up and walked towards the office. I couldn’t help but look at her rear as she walked.
She had on a pair of black skinny jeans, a strong contrast to her white coat. They hugged tightly against her lower body, making every curve visible to me, especially her wide, childbearing hips. I wondered if she knew how those jeans made her look. She couldn’t have been dressing like that deliberately, could she?
Nah, she’s too classy for that.
Back to what I was saying, Rarity’s tail swished back and forth along with her hips, and they swayed in opposite directions.
Hips moved left, tail moved right. Hips moved right, tail moved left.
I was practically hypnotized, and I glued my eyes to what I was looking at.
It made my head go dizzy as I undressed that lower half with my eyes. Her thighs entranced me with their immense volume as their voluptuous forms shifted gracefully, the skin thick yet bouncy. And that only made her magnificent buttocks pop out even more, its perfect inner arcs beginning high and near the tail and the outer curves spread wide apart, making her ass look big, yet tight.
What? I’m an artist. I have a natural eye for detail.
I normally didn’t do this, but since I’ve come to terms with how I felt about Octavia and Rarity, I‘ve gotten more comfortable with staring at them on occasion.
Just so long as they didn’t catch me.
Once Rarity went into Professor Draft’s office, my mind began to go off into its own little world again.
It’s been three days since I talked to Auntie Celeste about my feelings. Since then, I had been contemplating what I should do to admit my feelings to Rarity and Octavia. On top of that, I’ve been trying to figure out my feelings for Luna. I mean, I did find her attractive, and I did feel some sort of connection with her, but was it a romantic connection or a platonic one?
I still hadn’t figured it out.
I decided to put that concern aside for now and instead focus on the mares that I knew I liked. How was I going to tell them that I had feelings for both of them? There had to be some kind of solutio-
My train of thought was interrupted when Rarity left the professor’s office with a dejected look on her face.
“Oh, no,” I thought. “This can’t be good.”
Rarity trudged across the room and took her seat next to me, letting out a long sigh.
“What happened?” I asked concernedly.
“He didn’t like it,” she admitted, but then, after a long pause, she cracked a smile.
“He LOVED it!” she said with glee. “He said it was my best piece yet!”
“I don’t think he said all that,” I teased. “You’re probably just over-exaggerating again.”
“Are you questioning my artistic ability, Marcus Cortez?”
“Maybe I am. What of it?”
Rarity rolled her eyes. “Oh be quiet, you,” she said dismissively as I triumphantly grinned at her.
Just then, Professor Draft walked out of his office and called the class’s attention.
“Alright everyone! Class is about to end, so I need your attention for a moment. I’ve looked at all your pieces, and I have to say that I’m really impressed. Tomorrow, we’ll do a group critique so you all can get some feedback from your peers. I’ll see you all tomorrow!”
With that, the professor dismissed us, and we all flooded out of the room. Rarity and I walked to her and Octavia’s room and made some small talk along the way.
“So tell me again how your aunt revoked your punishment,” she requested. “You weren’t very specific when you told me and Octavia two days ago.”
“There wasn’t really much to go into, Rarity. Celestia told me that she thought about it and decided that a month-long punishment was a little too harsh, so she let me off. Not much more to it than that.”
What? Did you expect me to tell her that my aunt turned into a crying mess and begged me to stop ignoring her? I couldn’t sully Auntie Celeste’s reputation like that. She had a status to uphold.
“I can’t help but think that there’s something you’re not telling me…” Rarity said, more to herself than to me.
“Well, you’ll never find out if your hunch is true or not.”
“You are incorrigible.”
“Being incorrigible is one of my best qualities.”
Rarity playfully scoffed as we reached her room. Once she unlocked the door, we walked in and saw Octavia sitting at the center table drinking some tea.
“Oh, hello, you two. How was class?” she asked.
“Same old, same old,” I answered.
“Professor Draft gave us high marks on our projects, as usual,” Rarity added. From there, she and Octavia started talking about Rarity’s piece while I sank into thought again.
Like I said before, I still hadn’t decided how I was gonna tell Rarity and Octavia that I liked them. So far, the only thing I was sure about was that I was going to tell them both at the same time. That would make the process a lot faster and a lot less troublesome.
So how was I going to tell them?
I maintained a calm appearance, but inside I was incessantly racking my brain. I didn’t know what to do, and trying to come up with a solution was practically killing me!
“Okay. Relax, Marcus. Just think back to what Auntie said…………………. What did she say?”
I thought back to three days ago, and tried to remember what Celeste told me.
“Everyone likes to get in touch with themselves from time to time!”
No, that definitely wasn’t it. It was something else, something about what mares prefer…
“I don’t know about human females, but when it comes to us mares, we prefer the direct approach.”
That was it! The direct approach! It was then that I realized what I had to do: cut the bullshit and just tell them up-front.
“Marcus? Are you okay?” Octavia asked suddenly.
“Huh?”
“Well, you just seem to be really… distant right now.”
“Oh, no. I’m fine,” I reassured her.
“Is there something on your mind, darling?” Rarity asked.
I paused. Was this the right time to come out and say it? I mean, I was just practically given an invitation to tell them what was on my mind.
Maybe I should wait a liiiiittle longer…
No! Now was as good a time as any!
“Well, there was something that I’ve been thinking about for a while now,” I admitted.
“Would you like to talk about it?” Octavia asked, and I nodded my head in response.
I took a seat between the earth mare and the unicorn at the table, mentally preparing myself for what I was about to tell them.
“So, what’s been troubling you, sweetness?” Rarity asked.
I paused and took a deep breath. Here goes nothing…
“Well, I was just thinking about the three of us,” I explained. “I know we’ve only known each other for about two months now, but… would you two consider me to be… close to you?”
Rarity and Octavia gave me surprised looks.
“Why, of course you’re close to us, darling!”
“What would make you think otherwise?”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Nothing. Just wondering.”
“Well, do you feel the same way about us?” Octavia inquired.
I hesitated for a second and put my head down. This was it, the point of no return. I couldn’t turn back now, not after I’ve come so close.
I took another deep breath and lifted my head.
“You could say that,” I answered. “I do feel like we are close, and I do feel something else.”
“Like what?” Rarity asked, her head tilted to the side.
Seeing her in that cute stance made me smile, and it eased my fear a little bit. “See, the thing is… I sort of…”
“Sort of…?” the two mares asked in unison.
“I sort of… have feelings for you… both of you.”
Silence.
A long, awkward silence.
I hung my head down again. I was too scared to look at Rarity or Octavia, and I imagined the looks on their faces. There was no doubt in my mind that they were surprised, to some degree, but the dead silence didn’t give me any clues as to what other emotions they were feeling.
It was at this point where I started to panic.
Without even thinking, I said the first thing that came to my mind.
“You don’t have to give me a response now,” I said blindly. “Maybe I could take each of you out sometime and we can talk about it then. I mean, they don’t have to be dates or anything, just-”
Just then, I felt a comforting hand on my shoulder. I looked to my right and saw it was Octavia’s hand that I felt. The earth mare gave me a reassuring smile, and then she spoke.
“That would be great, Marcus,” she said.
“Indeed,” added Rarity, and she put her hand on my shoulder as well. “It would be nice for each of us to spend some alone time with you.”
I felt a smile slowly grow on my face, and I felt an enormous weight being lifted off my shoulders. I began to wonder what I was worried about, and I also realized why Auntie Celeste wanted me to be direct:
Even if Rarity and Octavia didn’t like me back, they still cared about me, and they would never try to hurt my feelings.
“So, when are you going to take us out?” Octavia asked.
“Huh?”
“You just said a minute ago that you would take each of us out, did you not?” Rarity reminded me.
Shit. I did say that.
“Um… how about Saturday?” I suggested.
“That sounds nice. How about you, Octavia?”
“I have no qualms with it. It sounds like a good day to me.”
“Then it’s settled!” Rarity declared. “So, how does this sound? Marcus, you and I can spend the morning and early afternoon together, and then you can spend the rest of the day with Octavia. By the end of the day, you’ll know how we feel about you.”
“I guess that could be arranged,” I said with a nervous chuckle. “So I guess I’ll see you two on Saturday, then.”
Both mares nodded their heads, and I awkwardly left the room, closing the door behind me.
“Oh, God,” I said quietly to myself. “That was stressful. Oh well, at least they didn’t reject me.”
Something that Rarity said stuck with me, though.
“By the end of the day, you’ll know how we feel about you.”
Why would she say that? I mean, if neither she nor Octavia had feelings for me, then wouldn’t they have declined my offer to take them out? Was this already a sign that they, in fact, DID like me back, or did they just accept my offer so they could spare my feelings, and then they’d let me down gently on Saturday.
You know what? No. Just… no. I’ve done enough thinking for one day. I’ll just stop worrying and take things as they come. Whatever happens, I’ll just deal with it accordingly.
It was three in the afternoon by the time I got home, and I decided to head to Auntie Celeste’s room. I was gonna have to tell her that I’d be out all day Saturday.
Come to think of it, this was gonna be my first time telling her that I’d be going out with a mare (or in my case, mares). I wondered how she was going to react.
Hopefully, she won’t take it the wrong way.
I really wasn’t looking forward to the long walk to Celeste’s room, but luckily, I ran into her in one of the hallways.
“Oh! I see that you’re home, Marcus,” she said with a smile, and she pulled me into a hug.
“Hello to you, too, Auntie,” I replied.
“How was school?”
“Pretty good. I finally told Rarity and Octavia how I felt.”
Celeste’s face brightened when she heard that. “Really? Oh, I’m so proud of you, Marcus! You’re finally confronting your problems like a man!”
“Thanks, Auntie… Wait, what do you mean, ‘finally’?”
“Oh nothing. So, how did the lovely ladies react?”
“Well, they didn’t really say whether or not they felt the same, but I’m gonna be going out with them on Saturday; Rarity in the morning, and then Octavia in the afternoon.”
“So… you’re taking them out on dates?”
“Well, sort of. You could say that. Why?”
“Oh, nothing. I’m just getting used to the fact that you’ll be dating, that’s all. Seems like just yesterday I met your parents for the first time, and you were still inside your mother’s womb.”
“You mean the day you tumbled off the roof and landed in the bushes with the grace that only an alicorn princess could possess?”
“Don’t make me ground you again,” Celeste joked.
“Okay, okay, but can I ask something of you?”
“Of course, Marcus. What is it?”
“Could you not follow us around like last time?”
Auntie Celeste gave me a confused look. “What are you talking about?”
“You mean you don’t remember the day I went to the museum with Rarity and Octavia and you kept tailing us?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sure you don’t.”
“Regardless, I think this is a good sign!”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Rarity and Octavia agreed to go out with you, so they must have at least some interest in you. They’re probable testing the waters to see if you’re right for them, or maybe they already like you!”
A smile grew on my face when Celeste said that.
At that point, Celeste and I had reached her office, where she had a lot of paperwork to get through, according to her.
“Well, I’d better get to work,” she told me. “I need to at least put a dent in this paperwork by tonight.”
“Don’t let me keep you, then.”
“Princess Celestia!” somepony called suddenly. My aunt and I turned around to see who was calling her, and I nearly heaved when I saw that it was none other than-
“Honey Pot?” my aunt asked.
“Fuck my life,” I whispered under my breath, only to receive a swift, yet firm strike on my shoulder from Celeste, who obviously heard me despite my hushed voice.
She may have been a pony, but she had ears like a bloodhound.
“You have a message for me, I presume?” she asked Honey Pot.
“Yes. Your three-o-clock appointment with the mayor of Maresachusetts tomorrow has been moved to four-o-clock.”
“I see. Thank you, Honey Pot. You’re dismissed.”
“Yes, Princess,” the maid said with a bow. As she did so, she looked up at me with a deceivingly warm smile. “Oh! Hello, Marcus,” she said.
“Oh, are you two familiar with each other?” Celeste asked, feigning ignorance.
“Yes, Princess,” Honey answered as she stood back up. “I used to bring him his meals. He insisted that I simply call him by his first name, and I happily obliged."
I narrowed my eyes as I looked down at the mare, who was shorter than me by a few inches.
How come I never noticed that?
It must have been her intimidating and seductive nature that made me picture her as a taller mare.
“Well, it’s nice to see that my nephew is getting familiar with the staff. Don’t let me keep you from your other duties, though.”
“Of course, princess,” Honey said with another bow. “I’ll see you around, Marcus.”
With that, the mare happily left me and Celeste, and my eye twitched as I tried to process what just happened.
“What was that!?” I asked my aunt the minute Honey Pot was out of earshot.
“What?”
“You know that’s the same mare that gave me a picture of her barely clothed, right? The same mare that’s been stalking me, right?”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Marcus. She just likes you.”
“I know that! The problem is that she is way too forceful!”
Celeste sighed. “You ever think that she’s like that because you keep pushing her away? I know you don’t feel the same way for her, but you don’t have to be so mean. Some mares take that as denial. Maybe if you were a little nicer, she’d get the hint.”
“Easier said than done.”
“Don’t worry about it so much. I'm sure she's a reasonable mare.”
Celeste crouched a little and kissed me on the cheek before going into her office.
I shivered. Not because I was cold, but because I feared for my safety.