> The Unwilling Bride > by ESC After Dark > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Like a Flood > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Limestone pointedly looked out of the carriage as the sun bore down on the rocky fields which she had been caring for her entire life.  Desperately, she tried to ignore her garments and her traveling companion, both reminders of where she was going and where she had come from. As she watched the rocks go by, Limestone tried to escape into the moment.  She wanted to forget the small cottage that had been built in preparation, the Choosing Stone she had touched, and the wedding she had barely endured.  She wanted to ignore the stranger next to her, the cottage ahead of her, and the things she would be forced to endure. Igneous had warned her, but Limestone had ignored it.  He had dragged her to the front porch and given a lesson on how important it was that she find love on her own.  Limestone ignored that too. Finally, he sat her down and said "Limestone, I shall tell thee as mine father told me.  Touching the Choosing Stone is to be tossed from a desert cliff whilst blind.  Thou shalt fall in terror and desperate thirst until you reach the bottom.  There, thou shalt find love vast as an ocean with which to calm your troubled soul and quench your unyielding thirst.  Thy calm shall be the better for the trial thou shalt endure." The carriage came to a stop, and Limestone felt her stomach drop out from under her.  She felt like she was falling, but she remained firmly in the carriage. The sound of belts jingling sounded from outside of the carriage as her father and...his father removed themselves from their harnesses.  Hoofsteps approached her door at a relaxed pace, and Limestone set her jaw.  Her father stepped in front of the carriage window and opened the door.  She didn't have it in her to disrespect him with her tongue even then, but she glared with all of her soul. "Thou must come with me, my daughter."  Igneous stated, looking her dead in the eye. Limestone didn't move. "T'was not a request." Limestone glared. The carriage shook, followed by a grunt behind her.  She turned just in time to see her...traveling companion get dragged out onto the dirt by his father with an audible thud.  Grunts, thuds, and whispered near-curses sounded from the far side of the carriage and slowly circled around the back until her traveling companion and his father entered her view. Roughly, causing a number of tears in his suit, his father dragged him across the gravel, up the porch stairs, and through the open doorway of the cottage that had been built for them.  Limestone felt like she was falling. "Limestone."  Igneous said, causing Limestone to give him a more uneasy glare.  "Out.  Now." Heart pounding, Limestone slowly leaned over, reached out with her white lace covered foreleg, and placed it on the ground.  One leg at a time, as slowly as can be, Limestone dragged her body out of the carriage while trying not to trip over her baroque white dress.   Once she was out, her father wrapped a hoof around the back of her neck and began gently but firmly dragging the reluctant mare to the cottage.  Once up the stairs, Limestone stopped dead.  Her traveling companion was facing away from her, panting on the floor just inside the door. His suit was covered in dust and torn at the seams.  Limestone was mildly relieved that he didn't look hurt.  She didn't hate him.  He was in the same boat as her. "Limestone, go in."  Igneous said with a warning edge to his voice. Limestone shook her head and planted her hooves.  Expecting a lecture, Limestone let out a yelp when her hooves were suddenly off of the ground and her head was closer to the floor than any other part of her.  With a half of a front flip, Limestone landed hard on her back inside the cottage. The door slammed behind Limestone, and the thud of the door being barred off sounded through the room immediately after.  The realization that she was stuck sunk into her, and she rolled over onto her hooves with a snarl.  With a shout, Limestone charged the door and slammed into it with her shoulder.  It didn't budge, which was a feat in its own right. Maud and Pinkie had helped make the blasted cottage, and Limestone knew that the possibility of escape was below zero.  Still, she backed up and tried again...and again...and again… The whole cottage shook with each strike, but the door held as firmly as ever.  Eventually, Limestone began pacing in circles around the room, giving the door a solid buck with every lap.  Outside, she could hear the muffled sound of her father and her hu- traveling companion's father talking on the porch.  Covering the inside of the door in hoofprints was not about escape, it was about letting them know just how incredibly angry she was at being trapped in there. More than anything else though, it was to delay.  Sooner or later, she knew that she'd lose her temper at the poor sod the Choosing Stone had forced her to marry.  He wouldn't deserve it, at least not to the extent that she was liable to take it.  She wanted a coltfriend, a husband, somepony who could love her in spite of her temper. Her traveling companion didn't deserve to be stuck with an angry and quarrelsome wife.  As much as Limestone had tried to tone down her temper, it was a part of her just like her hooves.  It would make her marriage miserable, painful and it would ruin his life.  How could a stallion be happy with an angry wife? Bitterness and frustration circled in Limestone's mind for hours and, at some point, the sun had set.  Still, Limestone circled the room and bucked the door.  They were likely outside smoking their pipes and chatting away, and Limestone felt a sliver of satisfaction with every buck at the thought of having interrupted their conversation for a moment. "Limestone." "What?"  Limestone snapped as she reared back and bucked the door again. The cottage shuddered but held. "The longer we wait, the more difficult it will be to…" Limestone glared into his eyes for the first time...ever.  She had hardly even seen him, refusing any and all interactions with him since she had touched that blasted Choosing Stone.  He had a light brownish orange coat with a short cut mane that was grayish blue like her own coat, and his light blue eyes locked on to hers. "What?"  She asked, not stopping as she circled around towards the door again.  "It will be more difficult to what?" "Limestone," he said as she turned and slammed her hooves into the door again, "the longer we wait, the more tired I'll get." "Then take a nap!"  Limestone shouted as she walked past him, only just noticing that his tattered suit had been removed.  He looked as if he had showered as well. "I can't sleep with you beating on the door.  I tried." "That's not my problem, now is it?"  Limestone snarked. "It is your problem because they're going to check."  He said, causing Limestone to pause. "Who's going to check...what?"  Limestone asked, turning to give him a warning glare that would have paralyzed a lesser creature. "I'm guessing your mother is going to check you to make sure we...you know…" "That we what?"  Limestone growled, trapping him in a lose-lose situation. "Consummate the marriage." Limestone let the sentence hang in the air for a moment. "Why do you think that I would let you do that?"  Limestone asked in as calm of a voice as she could muster. "If they do check," he answered, "and we don't do that, what do you think they will do to us?" Limestone ground her teeth and turned around and stomped up to the door.  She needed an outlet for the building frustration, anything that wasn't her...traveling companion. "WHEN DO WE GET OUT OF THIS BLASTED COTTAGE?!?!" "Monday morning."  Came the muffled reply from her father. Limestone stepped back, turned, and bucked the door.  The entire cottage shuddered. "Limestone, do not allow thy pride to cause thee grief."  Her father said through the door.  "Embrace thy husband before that morn' lest we enter and make thee know one another." "Truly, is she so stubborn?" A male voice asked, one which she assumed was her new father-in-law. "Perhaps.  Quartz and I were so brought together, though we were granted only a single night."  Her father answered. "I do not look forward to that possibility." "Nor do I, but I surely hope that a second night shall be enough." "I admit to doubting the request for a second night," her father-in-law stated, "but I am beginning to be thankful for allowing it." "Indeed, she hath summed in her the stubborn nature of both myself and her mother." In response, Limestone bucked the door again. "From which of you did she inherit her temper?" "I do not know."  Her father answered.  "It is her own, though such oddities are not a peculiar thing among our daughters." "Are you calling Maud weird?!"  Limestone shouted in offense. "Thy tongue outruns thy ears, for I hath called thee and all of thine sisters strange.  Why doth thou assume thy sister Maud?" As her father began to chuckle, Limestone felt her ears betray her shame and she backed away from the door.  She quickly tuned out the pair beyond the door and began pacing around the room again.  Mentally, she kicked herself, but she did feel lighter than before.  She had another full day before… "What do you intend to do?"  Her hu- traveling companion asked. "I don't know."  Limestone growled. "A wrong decision is better than no decision."  He stated. "I don't know!" Limestone snapped, pausing her pacing to glare at him. He visibly fought back a retort that likely would have gotten him a black eye.  Limestone began pacing again as she heard him intentionally breathing deeply. "If we decide what to do now," he said, catching her ear but not her eye or her hooves, "then we can prepare ourselves for it." "That's disgusting."  Limestone said with a snort.  "I'm not preparing for anything!" "I meant mentally." "Sure you did."  Limestone bucked the door. "If you really want to pace around and buck the door until Sunday morning, then by all means.  Is that your plan?" "I don't have a plan."  Limestone admitted as she circled the room. "Then what do you intend to do?" "I don't intend to do anything any more than I'm going to prepare to do anything!"  Limestone shouted before giving the door another buck. "Then what is going to happen on Sunday morning?" "I don't know!"  Limestone shouted, turning towards him and stomping up to him as she spoke.  "I don't know!  I don't know!  I don't know what I intend to do!  I don't know what I want to do!  I don't know!" She was muzzle to muzzle with him and breathing deeply from her outburst. "Then go in there," he said calmly as he pointed to the bedroom door, "lay down and sleep on it." Limestone slugged him. He might have been expecting it, given the way he rolled with it.  She hadn't really meant to hurt him anyway.  Her gut flipped as she realized that her temper had gotten the better of her and turned her against the stallion, if only for a moment. She turned away from him and walked back to the door and gave it a buck, knowing that he was stuck with her forever.  He would be subject to her temper for the rest of his life.   As Limestone turned to resume her pacing, she was faced with her traveling companion, intensity written on his face and in his eyes.  His furrowed brow and stern gaze caught her by surprise.  He neither cowered nor even flinched at her glare. "Go to bed."  He demanded. "Get out of my way."  Limestone countered with a growl. "You are my wife.  Go to bed." Limestone furrowed her eyebrows and bit back a surge of emotions as she stared into his eyes.  She didn't want to be his wife, nor did she want him to be her...husband.  She wanted somepony who would love her in spite of her temper…  Limestone felt like she was falling, like the world was spinning and didn't make sense anymore.  She was married, and her husband was here staring her temper down like a crazy pony.  She had a husband who was telling her what to do right after she had hit him for telling her what to do.  Why? "Go to bed.  Take a break."  He said, interrupting her thoughts. Limestone took a shuddering breath. "Okay."  She whispered. Feeling dazed, Limestone brushed past her...husband and through the half open doorway of the bedroom.  Inside, she paid as little attention to the bedroom as she had the main room and crawled up onto the bed. After a long and stressful first day of being married, the very confused Limestone quickly fell asleep. Limestone woke up late in the morning, well after dawn if the shadows were anything to go by.  She looked around the room, taking it in. To her right, a large window let in the majority of the sunlight in the room, and behind her near the ceiling, a wide but short window sat in the wall above the headboard.  Two small tables sat on either side of the bed, the one on her right with an alarm clock on it and the one on her left with two family photos and a lamp. One picture was of her family in front of Holder's Boulder, and the other was of another family.  She recognized some of them from the wedding, though it was so brief and she was so infuriated with it all that she had barely paid any attention to them. Limestone wouldn't have been able to get to know them if she tried.  She had been dragged to where a small raised platform was set up, thrown into a wedding dress, shoved onto the platform, and pressured into saying I do on threat of being disinherited.  She was sure the threat wasn't real, but the tiniest chance that she could lose her parent's farm was enough. Neither her family nor her husband's would allow the Choosing Stone to be denied its prey.  He had been treated similarly, so far as she understood. Limestone sighed as she threw the bedcovers off of her, turning her focus on doing something rather than bemoaning her situation.  She got out of bed and left the bedroom through the open door.  For the first time since entering the cottage, she took in the main room.  To her right was an open kitchen and dining area with a practical table and a practical layout.  No useless tidbits were scattered about as decoration. The kitchen had a window over the sink, brightening up the area and keeping it fresh looking.  The dining table sat in front of a much larger window, through which she could see her mother knitting in a rocking chair on the front porch.  Another mare, whom she recognized from the picture on the bedside table, was knitting and rocking across from her. In front of her, the living area opened up.  A large rug sat in the middle with a couch facing a fireplace on the leftmost wall, a rocking chair and recliner sat on either side of the couch, and a coffee table pulled it all together.  It wasn't fancy, but it was hers.  It felt strange, to be able to consider the very walls her own. Limestone entered the living room and circled around the couch to find her husband lying asleep on it.  She was unsure how she felt about him, but she felt a bit regretful upon noticing the hoof shaped swelling on his cheekbone. Scowl on her face, Limestone walked across the room to the kitchen and searched around for a rag.  She brought it to the sink and pumped the faucet while holding the rag under it.  The pump turned smoothly and didn't so much as whimper, a far cry from the one at home.  The one at her old home. Cold water flowed, chilled from its time underground, and wet the rag in her hoof.  Once it was thoroughly soaked, Limestone rung it out enough that it wouldn't drip and made her way back to the couch.  Gently, she draped the cold rag over the hoof shaped bruise on her husband's sleeping face. Limestone went back to the kitchen, opened the cupboard and began making breakfast for two.  Eggs, toast, and coffee. It took a bit to find what she needed and get it all together, but once the food was cooked and coffee poured, she put it on plates and carried it all over to the living area.  She placed the plates on the coffee table and held one of the mugs under her husband's nose. His eyes fluttered open, and began to sit up.  Limestone reached up and caught the wet rag as it fell from his face.  It was no longer cold, but his bruise looked better. She nodded at the coffee, and he gave her a confused look as he took it in his hooves.  Limestone saw his eyebrows raise in surprise when he saw two plates of food on the coffee table.  With an eye roll, she picked up her own plate and settled down into her rocking chair. "You like black coffee?"  She asked, taking a bite of eggs. "Yeah."  He answered. "Good, it's the only coffee you'll get until one of us is dead." He snorted into his coffee and smiled as a response. "Why did you do all of this?"  He asked as he picked up his own plate. "Because you are my husband."  Limestone answered simply. The two finished their meals and coffee in silence, and Limestone brought their plates and mugs to the kitchen.  She split the rest of the coffee between the two mugs and brought them back to the living area. "So," he asked as she settled back into her rocking chair, "are you not actually always angry?" "Do I look angry?"  Limestone asked with a glare. "You look like you just bit…into..." Limestone noticed him looking at her cutie mark through the sheer white material of her dress.  "I was going to say a lemon, honestly." Limestone rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee. "Yes, you look angry.  Are you?" Limestone took a deep breath to calm her annoyance. "I have a temper."  She admitted. He wisely did not respond. "What's your name?"  Limestone asked as she saw him sipping from the corner of her eye. His whole body tensed, and he pitched forwards as he spit his coffee back into his cup and coughed a couple of times.  While his reaction was far from a Pinkie one, it certainly wasn't as collected as a Maud reaction either.  Limestone grinned. "Nopony even told you my name?"  He asked in a hoarse voice before coughing some more. "Maybe," she said once his coughing was gone, "if they did, I wasn't paying attention to them.  I was focused too much on getting out of it." Limestone felt a bit of her bitterness begin to evaporate as she remembered how proud mother had been yesterday.  What exactly she had been proud of, Limestone wasn't sure.  She had been too busy being angry at the world to appreciate all of the work that had gone into getting them...here. Limestone found herself scowling again. "Lodestone."  He said, looking concerned at her expression. "Why are you still wearing your dress?"  Lodestone asked. Limestone looked down at the frilly white dress that was now dirty, dusty, and torn in a few places due to her kicking. "I can't take it off by myself."  Limestone stated, thinking about how to make him uncomfortable again.  "You'll have to undress me." "I thought that you weren't on board with this."  He said as he squirmed in his seat and diverted his gaze towards the empty fireplace. Limestone didn't respond, not comfortable with it going any further than that. "I'll take it off nice and slow, just for you."  He said in an artificially deep voice. Limestone tensed up, recognizing the opportunity for what it was.  A way to pretend, to separate herself from...it.  She could just play along.  It's just teasing, a joke or prank.  Suddenly, Limestone felt like she was beginning to fall again. "As long as you do it with your teeth."  Limestone whispered, staring at the coffee table with wide eyes. Limestone could hear Lodestone swallow, possibly coming to the same conclusion. "That's...not all...I'll do with my teeth."  He said stiffly. Limestone stood up, unfocused on the world around her, and shuffled her way to the bedroom door. "Come on then."  She just managed to squeak out from the doorway when she didn't hear hoofsteps behind her. Walking up next to the bed, Limestone felt a wave of nausea come over her.  She had never so much as been kissed by a stallion, but now she was going to be…Limestone felt her hooves, ever strong and sturdy, begin to shake.  As she heard hoofsteps entering the room, she steeled her nerves and hopped up onto the bed. "Just do it."  Limestone growled as she shut her eyes tight and clenched her jaw, trying to think of something that would keep her from backing out.  "Whoever backs out first has to skip lunch for a week." Lodestone didn't respond, not that she wanted him to.  He hopped onto the bed, causing Limestone to stumble a bit and widen her stance for stability.  Hooves began cautiously searching up and down her back for a zipper. Limestone felt his hooves moving in her mane at the base of her neck, causing her entirety body to shudder in discomfort.  He was shaking as badly as she was, and in a half panicked state based on how frantically he was trying and failing to grab the tiny zipper. He whined in frustration before pulling away and breathing deeply to calm down. "How serious are you about the just do it thing?"  He asked, his voice trembling with audible anxiety. "Just get it over with!"  Limestone shouted at him, her eyes still closed. The bed lurched as something grabbed ahold of the base of her mane and pulled it up none too gently.  Limestone squeezed her eyelids together as he roughly started biting at the back of her neck in an effort to get ahold of the tiny zipper. After a few bites, he got a good grip and shoved her head down with the hoof that had been pulling on her mane.  He pulled the zipper down her neck and across her withers, releasing her from the embrace of the wedding gown.  Once it was midway down her back, the zipper ended but Lodestone didn't stop. With a jerk, Limestone felt the dress tear across her back until it slipped off of her sides and flank.  Quickly, he pulled the dress down off of her flanks, the cloth likely irreparable, and lifted her tail.   "Okay...now what?"  He whispered. Limestone wasn't sure how to answer that question, but he didn't give her much time to come up with an answer before letting go of her tail and mounting her.  Limestone's heart skipped a beat and her legs felt as if they were about to give out. Something hit the inside of her thigh, making her tense.  A moment later, it prodded against her left flank before sliding across until it was directly against her vagina.  Limestone heard him take a deep breath. Slowly, he pushed on her.  It pressed against the outer lips of her vagina, and her vagina opened to let just a little in before it began painfully tugging against her insides as if they were covered in glue.  Limestone let out a groan of pain as he pushed harder, causing him to stop. "Does it hurt?"  He asked from above her with a groan. "Ah, yeah."  Limestone felt him pull away and, more strangely, she felt the inner walls of her vagina try to pull away with him, peeling off of him as he backed up off of her.  Limestone felt a jolt of pleasure at the sensation, but tried desperately to ignore it. "It's like tack." Lodestone said as he got off of her back.  "How am I supposed to get in there?" Limestone shakily lowered herself to the ground, as confused as she was concerned.  She just wanted to get it over with, but it looked like it was more complicated than that. "I don't know, I thought...I don't know…" Limestone collapsed onto the bed, panting from the stress as she continued shaking.  She realized that she had to get more wet, but the thought of doing trying to in front of somepony was mortifying. Limestone opened her eyes for the first time since they started and looked over to see Lodestone staring at her flank.  She figured that she should just get used to it, even though it made her...feel…warm. Limestone rolled away so that her underside faced him.  Slowly, she lifted her hind leg and watched Lodestone's eyes roam across her belly and teats.  Her cheeks had never been so warm as she watched him watch her.  Limestone felt herself wink as she presented herself to him.  The cool air gently blowing across her most private areas while they were being so openly stared at made her feel hot. Any other time, she would have bowled anypony over for staring at her like that.  It made her uncomfortable, hot, and exposed, but in that moment it was exactly what she needed to feel.  She glared at him while he looked, not wanting to look and wanting him to look at the same time.  Limestone wanted to curl up and hide to keep it from happening, and she wanted to get it over with quickly so that she wouldn't have to feel so conflicted anymore. "Try again." She said as a shudder went down her spine and made her voice quake. Limestone rolled completely onto her back and pulled her hind legs up and together, exposing herself while giving the slightest feeling of not being so exposed. The movement snapped Lodestone from his ogling far more than her words had.  He looked conflicted and looked Limestone in the face as if seeking confirmation. "Just…"  Limestone winced and began reaching a hoof down to touch herself with, but stopped herself halfway there.  "Just try again." He nodded and stepped behind her.  Limestone closed her eyes tight while trying to imagine his eyes on her, drinking her in with them.  She imagined him nuzzling her teats and breathing on them, but no more. Limestone felt her gut flip as he pushed her hindlegs towards her with his chest and slipped himself over her.  His forelegs and chest pressed down, bending her legs at the hips as he slid forwards over her. Unlike last time, his aim was right on.  Limestone wasn't sure if he had been looking this time because she certainly hadn't.  Her lungs began to burn, and her chest began to heave from having held her breath.  She couldn't remember when she had begun holding her breath, but her lungs did. Like last time, he began pushing into her.  Unlike last time, he slid against the walls of her moistened vagina and the head slipped in.  Limestone sucked in air through her nose and let it out in a trembling whimper as he kept pushing onwards. He was pushing hard for little progress, though moist enough to enter she was not wet enough for comfort and his...it pulled on the inside of her vagina painfully.  Her most private parts opened for the first time to let him in, and were stretched beyond anything they had experienced before, opening her up so wide that she wondered how she had stretched so far. Limestone bit back a sob, her vagina feeling as if it was going to be torn apart from the inside.  He must have heard her, since he stopped and eased up on the pressure. "Still hurts?"  She heard him ask through gritted teeth. Limestone just nodded. "Me too." They panted in silence for a few moments, Limestone cringing when she felt him twitch inside her.  Every time he twitched, she twitched in response and squeezed involuntarily.  Sometimes he would twitch in response and start the process over again, the two of them twitching back and forth like a fast paced tennis match.  Limestone couldn't stop shaking. "So...what made it more...wet?"  He asked awkwardly, breaking the awkward silence. Limestone bit her lip, not wanting to say, not wanting to open her eyes, but wanting to watch him looking at her like he had before.  But not wanting that either.  Limestone huffed, wanting to get it over with. "T-tell me-" Limestone grit her teeth as she clenched on him merely by thinking about it.  She focused on breathing as they rode out the back and forth tension together. "Tell me...sweet things."  She mumbled, not caring to remember what he had even asked. She heard him take a deep breath and felt his body relax a bit on top of her as he let it out. "When I found out it was…" he took another deep breath, "that I'd marry you, I was scared of being stuck with you forever." Limestone felt like she could cry, that wasn't sweet at all.  Was he trying to be mean?  He twitched and set off another cascade.  Limestone squeezed her hindlegs together and bit her lip until it finished. "M-my dad always said that...that it is better to be homeless than to live with a...quarrelsome wife." Breath catching in her throat, Limestone fought to contain her emotions.  She didn't want to cry, didn't want to hear him, didn't want to feel that old ache in her heart.  More than anything, she didn't want to be a quarrelsome wife. "I thought that you'd be a quarrelsome wife, but when I woke up to coffee and breakfast this morning after what happened last night, I realized that you'll be a good wife."  She heard him take a deep breath.  "I don't think it will be easy, but I think you'll be a good wife." Limestone wasn't sure when she had started crying, but she felt his hoof wipe away a tear and relieve the unnoticed tickling it had caused.  Like a physical thing, the relief of his words soothed her aching chest and tense muscles.  His weight on her legs pushed her hindlegs apart as they relaxed, and his chest settled gently on her own as his hooves awkwardly cradled her head. "And a more beautiful wife, I couldn't have asked for." Limestone let out a tired laugh and swatted him on the shoulder. "Took you long enough to say something sweet."  She said, opening her eyes and looking down at where he laid. Limestone winked around him, feeling the strangeness of his now softened penis as it slid against walls in an attempt to escape.  His eyes looked on her gently, and the sliding stopped as it began to grow inside of her. "I'd like to kiss you, if you'd let me."  He said, making her heart leap in her chest. The thought of it made her uncomfortable, but she wanted him to nonetheless.  He wasn't afraid of her, and that alone made her feel almost weightless.  Limestone nodded, and winced as he shuffled forwards and pulled her towards himself. Like running into a door frame on the way through, he hit something inside her as he pulled himself into her that was briefly uncomfortable and left a lingering soreness.  He slid deeper in with minimal tugging, stretching her more than it felt like she should be able.  It hurt, and she was sore from the tugging of before, but the feeling warmed her belly and her cheeks. Gently, lovingly even, he pulled her lips onto his.  He stopped sliding in, and Limestone could barely breathe from the overwhelming feeling on her lips and in her loins.  She felt like she was floating, drifting as she kissed his slightly cracked and dry lips. As they kissed, Limestone felt him pull out of her a little.  The relief was enough to earn a groan from her.  Like stretching a muscle to its limit and then enjoying the limberness the stretching provided, she reveled in the relief that came from him pulling out of her.  Unfortunately, it didn't last for very long. Slowly, he stopped pulling out and began pushing back in.  He twitched as he began to slide against her again, setting them off pulsing against each other with an intensity that surpassed the pain of being stretched out again.  It hurt, but Limestone found herself breathing, open mouthed, against his lips. Limestone desperately wanted it to end, even as she moaned into his lips.  Guessing that their strange twitching exchanges were as intense for her as they were for him, she intentionally squeezed around him once he stopped pushing.  Her muscles complied with far more vigor than they had from her unintentional squeezing, wrenching down on him with all her might. Immediately, he pushed into her hard with a groan and his pelvis pressed against her rear.  Inside, she felt him throbbing and pulsing as something squirted into her.  Limestone shuddered as it squirted again and again, feeling a little sick at the dirty sensation. Mercifully, once the squirting stopped, he began to pull out.  Limestone winced at the pulling, almost sucking feeling of him pulling  out combined with the fleshiness of her body inadvertently squeezing on his softening penis.  The sudden squishy feeling from his softened penis and the semen it had dumped inside her made her gag. Limestone clutched her forehooves close to herself as he finally pulled himself out, trying and failing to stop them from tremoring.  It was over, but it wasn't. "Get them now or later?"  She heard Lodestone ask, concern bleeding into his otherwise professional sounding tone. "Ju-" Limestone began to answer, but she quickly covered her mouth with a shaky hoof as the words caught in her throat. Desperate to get it over with, she nodded vigorously and brought her other hoof to cover her watery eyes.  Though she didn't see or hear a response, she did feel him hop off of the bed and trot out of the room.  From the living room, she heard him bang on the front door. "We're done."  He half shouted.  "Check and get out." Limestone rolled onto her side, away from the door so that she wouldn't have to see her mother.  She buried her head into her hooves when the front door unlocked, bit her lip when it opened, and tried to hold back tears and control her breathing as three sets of hoofsteps echoed through her house. As their hoofsteps entered the bedroom, Limestone tucked her tail and held her breath.  Without a word, the hoofsteps stopped at the end of the bed and somepony pulled her tucked tail up and away.  The exposed feeling of the cool air against her used privates made her cringe and let out a whimper. It took every bit of willpower Limestone had to hold back a sob of relief when her tail was released and hoofsteps retreated away.  Breathing in and breathing out became an uphill battle once the hoofsteps left the room.  At long last, the front door opened and shut, and it was over. The ordeal was over, and Limestone curled up as much as she could, desperately taking the small comfort a curled position could provide.  She didn't notice hoofsteps returning to her room, nor did she hear her husband call out to her.  It wasn't until the bed shifted that she recognized her husband's presence.   Gently, so very gently, Limestone felt his hooves wrap around her.  She scooted a tiny bit towards him in response, and he pulled her into him.  One foreleg wrapped around her withers and brought her curled forehooves to his barrel, and the other pressed her face into his chest.  His hindleg draped across her flanks, and Limestone felt his weight pressing onto her as his hooves pressed her into him. Then, and only then, did it truly strike her heart that the ordeal was over.  She had been married.  She had been brought to her home.  She had been intimate with him.  She had been checked to be certain of their consummation.  There was nothing left to go through. Relief like an ocean washed over Limestone, crushing her with weightlessness and rushing through her heart in a cleansing outpour.  Tension, anxiety, and fear were washed away in the overwhelming flood.  The greatest burden in her lifetime, her hopeless loneliness, was caught up in the fray and wretched off of her burdened mind by the hooves of her husband as they bathed her with their tenderness. Joy and sorrow swirled into a torrent of emotions and quickly tore apart the dam Limestone had been constructing for years and years.  Unable to contain it, incapable of controlling it, Limestone poured her heart into her tears and wept into her husband's gentle embrace. In that moment, the love she felt in his hooves seemed as vast as an ocean, as unstoppable and gentle as a tide.