Coming of Age
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Scootanari

Coming of Age

Having an innate inability to fly through my teenage years was bad. Having to hide a mortifying secret from everypony around me was worse.

I’d first learned that it… wasn’t normal when I was nine or ten. My parents took me aside to speak about it, told me that I was different, that I didn’t have the same ‘equipment’ as other fillies my age did. Apparently, that didn’t make me any less a girl, and because of my body it was pretty easy to hide, but honestly, do you know how terrible it is to feel different?

Not just being the pegasus that can’t fly, but being the pegasus filly with a dick. Gods, I’m happy no one in school ever found out.

There were some pretty close calls, too. It didn’t take me too long in my teenage years to realise that I was attracted to a few of my classmates. Silver Spoon, my friends, even Miss Cheerilee… and do I even need to name drop Rainbow Dash? Heck, I could be as straight as a ruler, and I’d still jump her if she so much as gave me the eyes.

But even when I started to get older, as some of my friends started to get into little ‘relationships’ and fool around, I abstained. They all thought I was a stick in the mud, and I tried to convince my friends that I just wasn’t interested in other ponies. It didn’t help that whenever I did get aroused, I’d start pitching a very noticeable tent, but like I said, good at hiding. I knew when to slip away or strategically cover myself, just in case someone might notice.

But no, even though I had the same urges and interests as all of my friends, how could I ever tell another pony that I liked them? I didn’t think I was bad looking—pretty cute, actually, if the way some of the others looked at me was any indication—but if I was to go for another filly, if I was to let my guard down and try to be with someone, what would happen the moment things graduated past second base?

Would they look at me and laugh? Would they call me a freak, and then go tell everyone? Would they be right?

I think it’s pretty easy to see why I avoided dating, kissing, even staring at other ponies. The worst part was discovering masturbation. You know how ponies always assume that it’s only guys that talk about sex stuff, and that girls can be pretty prudish? Total crap. When me and my friends started to mature, sex conversation was thrown around constantly, Sweetie and Apple Bloom telling me about something they’d found that turned them on, discussing technique, and Diamond Tiara even showing off a clit piercing she’d got done after her eighteenth birthday.

I don’t know what happened to her, but she ended up with no damn shame. It was pretty hot, honestly.

And of course, when I realised that I was terrible at bullshitting my way around these conversations, and even worse at being around my hot friends growing up as they talked about their bodies and what kinds of guys they liked and then that one time in the treehouse when we were all meant to play spin the bottle… I became a sexual recluse, to the point that after a couple of years, ponies knew just not to discuss it around me. I think they thought I was asexual, or digusted by the thought of sex, or something. Couldn’t be more wrong.

By the time I hit eighteen myself, just a few months ago, I was not only confused, but woefully inexperienced about literally anything to do with sex. I still couldn’t fly, either, but I was getting closer. Gliding was easy, now, it was just building the altitude before maintaining it.

But then there was the other issue that came with flying, the thing that had made it get to the point that I was even avoiding practicing with Rainbow Dash.

As I was maturing, my ‘problem’ was getting bigger. A lot more prominent, more noticeable. If I was up above, and anyone was looking up at me, wouldn’t it be ridiculously, stupidly easy for them to see what I was hiding from that angle? It was hardly a small thing anymore, and I had a bulge that would be noticeable if I didn’t take extra care to watch how I stood and sat and always stay dressed these days. What if Rainbow Dash saw? That’d be the absolute worst, no doubt.

My parents told me that this was really, really rare. Only one in a thousand fillies were born like this, they said. Sometimes I wondered if it was the testosterone production that led me to act more ‘tomcoltish’, if I’d be a little more like my friends if I’d been born like they had.

Honestly, I just felt like a misfit. I had a cutie mark now, I had great friends, and I had a kick ass mentor, but what I didn’t have was self-confidence or understanding. I was an awkward little virgin that couldn’t fly, and what’s more, I’d never met another mare or filly that was like me, that shared my affliction. Maybe it’s because I was so secretive about it, maybe it was because I never looked.

Sometimes I wondered if every mare like me was the same. If they all hid their ‘problem’ and hoped to Celestia that no one would ever see it, knowing that the moment they were exposed, their life was down the drain. I liked to imagine that some mares could embrace it, that with confidence, they could be whatever they wanted to be and still be accepted, maybe even considered attractive by some, if not for their anatomy then for their bravery.

I liked to imagine as much, but the reality was so far out of my reach that I didn’t even attempt to grasp it.

The sun was blotting out my vision. I could feel the wind biting at my cheeks with its vicious, frosty teeth. It was summer, and all around me I could see the verdant greenery of Whitetail Woods, the sounds of wildlife chirping and yipping in the distance. None of that helped me to maintain my balance.

“You’re doing great, Scoots! Just climb a little higher!”

I buzzed my wings with as much force as I could muster, reaching my hooves out to grab a higher branch. The tree I was climbing was one of the largest in the woods, and it overlooked a rather large cliff drop. Rainbow Dash’s voice carried from the bottom where she lightly hovered in place, and with her words in mind I pulled as hard as I could, making sure to place one hoof at a time as I brought myself up.

The view was stunning. It made me feel like a bird, almost, but I couldn’t focus on it. I needed to climb higher. Rainbow was barely a blot in my peripherals right now, but her colours always stood out. She’d been so much more enthusiastic about my training lately, seemed to really think I was getting somewhere, and it made me feel proud, helped me push myself to put more in.

I judged the distance between this branch and the next, tightrope walked across it, then leaped from one to the next with my wings outstretched, trying and succeeding to catch the wind. It helped me to jump further, and having them out was great for my balance. My tail curved around my leg at times, fluffy and bushy, but when I was walking I’d use it to feel my way around, remember where my hoofholds were.

With jump after jump I made my way to the top of the tree, and only when I’d finally ascended as high as I possibly could did I look down. Rainbow Dash was down there, and as I focussed in on her, I was sure I became aware of a smug smirk, like she knew I’d get up here just fine. I matched it with one of my own.

The sky used to scare me. It was something I didn’t understand, something I couldn’t control. It was something others had teased me for, that made me less than any other pegasus, and as such I’d grown to resent it.

Now, I loved the sky. I embraced it. I may not have been able to fly yet, but I was getting there, bit by bit, and I had the ponies I loved to support me all the way. When I thought about it, ever stigmatising the sky felt rather silly.

I leapt, and out came my wings like a little parachute. The next part was the test, flap in a rhythm and see how many times I could push myself upwards without my wing muscles giving out. I lasted for about thirty seconds before Rainbow Dash gave me a hollering whoop. “That’s it, champ! Keep it up! Just another minute to beat your best!”

I could feel the strain beginning to form already. I kinda liked it.

I was beating my wings harder, the burn resisting my pushes as I began to falter in midair, and soon I knew I’d have to give up. If only I could rest them for just a minute, I was sure I’d be okay again, but my endurance was so terrible! I grunted through the discomfort, pushing myself until it really did begin to hurt, until it felt like I might pull a muscle if I continued.

Only then did I finally let myself drop, wings going limp as I began to glide down towards the surface. My descent was met with cheers from my enthusiastic mentor. “Woo! You did great, Scoots! Nearly beat it this time, you were only a few seconds off!

I smiled in spite of my aches. It had only been a few months ago that Rainbow Dash had had a breakthrough regarding my flight. For a long time, everypony including me had thought that my wings were underdeveloped, or that I simply wasn’t able to get the hang of the technique, but it was neither. In fact, the only issue was how weak my wing muscles were. Forcing myself to stay aloft was definitely helping, but gosh did it burn. “I can feel myself getting better. I really can. I think if I just give it a couple more months of practice, I’ll be able to take off from the ground and go even higher than that.”

“Heh, wouldn’t that be a sight,” Rainbow grinned, flashing me a wink. “I’m so proud of you, squirt. You’ve been trying super hard lately, and you deserve all the results you’ve been getting. Keep it up, and one day you’ll be the most bombastic flier Equestria’s ever seen!” It was weird to say that in the last seven years, Rainbow had expanded her vocabulary to include synonyms of ‘awesome’. “Except for me, of course,” she tacked on. She was still humble as ever.

“What if I fly circles around you one day, huh?” I teased, pressing out my tongue, though I highly doubted it’d ever happen.

“Then I still win, because not only was I the best flier in Equestria, I taught the new best flier in Equestria everything she knows. No matter what, I’m always coming out on top.” She giggled then, pushing her mane back. “I’m only kidding. You’ll always be flier number one in my book, even better than me.”

I smiled a placid smile as I leaned back, sitting down on my haunches and squeezing my eyes shut. My body was starting to burn a little less, thought my breath was still slightly heavy, and all the while Rainbow wasn’t making a sound.

“Hey, Scoots?”

“Yeah, Rainbow?”

I opened my eyes. She was standing up and walking over to me, looking worryingly playful. “You’ve got something on your muzzle.”

I didn’t trust her, but I rubbed my hoof against it just to be sure. “I do?”

She finally arrived before me, raising her front leg. “Yeah, my hoof.” Rainbow proceeded to press her hoof into my snout, laughing before pushing me back. I fell onto my side, giggling and rolling back onto my feet in an instant.

“That’s it, you’re so dead.” I didn’t even think about it, just leapt at her, tackling her to the ground and climbing on top of her. I could tell she let me knock her over, even let me pin her hind legs with my own, but once she was through with waiting, playing possum, she flipped me over and attempted to roll on top.

I was faster than I looked. I batted out one of her legs before climbing on her back, wrapping my legs around her neck and driving her into the ground. She dug her hind legs in hard, throwing my from side to side like a bull, but I held on tight. We were both laughing in a chorus, rivaling the birds, and in a moment she had me down again, the two of us fighting for control.

She was the larger mare, faster too, but she always went easy on me when it came to our little scraps. I think I surprised her sometimes, too. I jumped up onto her belly, putting all of my weight on top of her, and before she had a chance to escape, I pressed my hooves beneath her sides, beginning to rub them over her sides. I knew she was really sensitive there, and she burst out in laughter as I tickled her mercilessly, not abating even when she almost booted me off of her with her out of control hind legs.

It wasn’t long until she gave up. “Mercy, mercy!” she cried, out of breath and wheezing from the assault, and finally I let up, the queen of our two mare dogpile. I looked down at her, smiles radiating between us, and in a moment I was slumped down on top of her. She made no effort to move me, we were both out of breath, and together we laid for a moment, saying nothing, an air of contentment between us.

I still struggled with being this close to Rainbow Dash. Even now that I was older and saw her for the mare she was, not just her accomplishments and larger than life aspect, she was still beautiful, enamouring, so easy to get distracted by. There had been a couple of times I’d nearly faltered mid-flight just from looking at her for too long, and it was now that I was so close to her once again, smelling the wispy scent of rainclouds on her mane and feeling the softness of her belly’s fur that I was reminded just why it was better for me to keep my distance.

I started to become aware of the issue as soon as it was too late, and from the look of growing confusion on her face, it seemed she was too. “...Scoots?”

I didn’t say anything. I could feel what was wrong. I was sure she could as well, even if she didn’t understand, but I couldn’t think of a way to hide right now or explain it away. I was… I was pressed against her, all of me. Even the part of me that really shouldn’t have been hard right now, but inexplicably was.

“Scootaloo,” she repeated, and my ears folded back in an instant. She nearly never used my full name, and it was almost always when I’d done something wrong. “Look at me.”

I didn’t do as I was told, I couldn’t. Right here, this, this is what I’d been worried about for so long now, so freaking long. For years I’d been sure to keep it to myself, but I was on the verge of being discovered. I could feel my mind shrinking as the possible ways to get out of this diminished, and I began to feel boxed in by my open surroundings, the only thing in my mind Rainbow Dash, the soft, sexy pony I was pushing myself against.

She held me by the head. It was soft, one hoof on my mane and the other on my chin, and she turned me to look at her. Gently, an adjective you’d never think suited Rainbow Dash, but her voice matched it too. “It’s okay, Scoots. But we need to talk about this.”

I could feel the apprehension grabbing at me, mixing with the arousal that I tried to force from my mind until I was disoriented and fearful all at once. “No,” I replied, trying to force myself off of her, but she kept me from moving too far. “No, we can’t. It’s too weird. I can’t talk to you about it.”

“Why can’t you?” Rainbow smiled, softly stroking my mane, something I'd associated with the strongest reassurance ever since Rainbow had helped me through my camping night terrors years before. “You can always talk to me about anything, champ. Always.”

“Even if it’s something that makes you weird and confused and seriously uncool?” I had tears in my eyes, I could feel it, I could see the way they obscured my vision. Rainbow didn’t seem deterred. I tried and failed to blink them away.

She pulled me into a tighter hug, like she used to when I was a filly. “Nothing could ever make you uncool, Scoots. You’re my little champ, okay?” She let go, and despite the myriad emotions conflicting in my mind, I didn’t shuffle away. The comfort was too inviting to pass up on right now, I needed it. “I’ve known for a while, Scoots. Years, honestly.”

Every meeting I’d ever had with Rainbow flashed through my mind. All the effort I’d made to keep myself concealed, the constant checking to make sure I wasn’t sitting of moving in any way that would allow me to expose myself… “How? Did my parents tell you?” The idea felt like a betrayal, almost, but I found it hard to even imagine that was the case.

“I mean, yeah, but only after I asked ‘em. You’ve ridden on my back so many times, Scoots, it was kinda obvious after a little while. You don’t have to be embarrassed about it, seriously. It’s nothing to be all ashamed of.”

I could feel a bite in my tone as my face screwed up, my eyes looking anywhere but at Rainbow’s, only a foot from mine. “How would you know? Have you ever even met another mare that was like me? You don’t know what it feels like to be… like this.” It was hard for me to put into words, but even trying made me feel sad. I rolled off of Rainbow, slumping to the floor, but in a moment she was above me.

“No, I’ve never met a mare like you, Scoots. And I’d say that whether or not you had a dick.” It felt so weird hearing her say that so bluntly. I’d always beat around the subject in my own mind, actually labelling it just felt like too much. “But seriously, Scootaloo, you’re not ‘different’, you’re special, unique. You’re the best filly I’ve ever met, and whether or not you’ve got something that most fillies don’t doesn’t do anything to change that.”

It was difficult to hear something like that from Rainbow. On one hoof, she accepted me. She didn’t reject me or call me a freak. She was trying to make me feel better, convince me that I was great no matter what, but on the other… “I’ve never had a coltfriend, or a marefriend. I’ve never kissed anypony. I don’t talk about that stuff, I can’t even think about that stuff around my friends in case, well, what just happened now happens. You’re the coolest, Rainbow Dash. I was scared that if you ever found out, you’d not wanna hang out with my anymore, or be my big sister. But that was stupid, and I’m sorry. But other ponies? I don’t think it’s ever gonna be that easy…”

My tail twitched as she placed a hoof on my side, softly rubbing at me. “Does… does what just happened happen a lot then, Scoots?”

“More often than I’d like… I couldn’t even look at Sweetie Belle in a new dress the other day. Had to go out the room. I’ve never really…”

“Whoa, hold on.” Rainbow was suddenly looking at me with severity, as if she had just caught whiff of terrible news. “Don’t tell me you’ve never…”

I tilted my head, ignorant. She mouthed a word and mimicked a stroking motion with her hoof in mid-air. The image of it alone made me even harder. “I-I mean yeah, of course. Loads of times.” Okay, slow down, probably too much info. “But… I dunno, I don’t think I’ve ever really been that great at it. I finish, but… all of the fantasies that I have, the things that help me do it? They all feel like things that could never happen, so I just feel terrible after I’m done, which makes it harder for me to even get in the mood.”

“But you’re in the mood right now,” Rainbow said, pointing between my crossed legs, which did a terrible job at hiding my hard on. “Why right now?”

“Well, because… I don’t know.” I buried my face in my hooves, blotting out all of the light around me, part of me wishing that everything would go away, the rest hoping Rainbow would stay. “I’ve always kinda had a thing for you, I guess. I know that sounds weird, but like, when I hit puberty, I noticed how hot you were, and then I hoped I’d kinda forget about it when I got older, and I guess I never did…” I peeked out from my hoof fortress, gauging her reaction. “You think I’m disgusting, don’t you?”

“Hah, of course not!” Rainbow sat right next to me, holding a hoof to her chest. “I swear, if I had a bit for every time I’d oogled Rarity—she knows it, too—and then when I was growing up, there was this mare in flight school that taught me, Miss Eclipse. She had the firmest ass you’d ever seen, I’d obsess over those flanks! Gilda would have to tap me on the head just to stop me from staring… I totally get that, Scootaloo. Everypony has eyes, after all, and you can’t help who you’re into.”

“Yeah, I guess, but it’s different for me. If you like someone enough, you can just approach them, you’re confident, and you don’t have any nasty surprises waiting for them if you end up rolling around on a cloud together. With me, I’ve got this thing. I could never just get with a pony like this, they just wouldn’t want me.”

Rainbow shook her head hard. “You’re one of the most beautiful mares I’ve ever seen, squirt. I watched you grow up, and you became really good looking, which is kinda weird to say but it’s true. It isn’t just your looks, either, it’s your attitude, your personality. If a pony can’t handle you for everything that you’ve got, screw them! If I was your age, I’d jump you in a heartbeat.”

“You’re just saying that.” I’d never usually accuse Rainbow of lying, but right now, I just didn’t know what to think. I looked at her and only saw the genuine idol I was so used to, but what if it was all a front to save my feelings?

“Am I? How about I prove it?”

My ears twitched, my legs crossed tighter by instinct. What the hell did she mean? “Prove how? I don’t think you can really—”

I was cut off by the hoof she pressed on my lips. “Open your legs.” I hesitated, but she was persistent. “Go on, I wanna see what you’re working with.” I bit my lip beneath her hoof, but my body was desperate to acquiesce as much as my nerves wanted to swallow me. “Just trust me, Scoots. Have I ever let you down before?”

It took me a few more moments, but I slowly, timidly parted my hind legs, and my erect length unceremoniously sprung free, slapping against my belly a couple of times before settling. Rainbow made a long, drawn out whistle, and I didn’t know what to make of it. “Is it… is it always that big?”

Instantly I had the jitters. “I know, it’s weird, isn’t it, and—”

“Weird?! This is awesome! I mean, it felt pretty big pressed against my belly, but I thought that was just my mind playing tricks on me—you’re hung, Scoots!” She spent a couple more seconds just marvelling at me, tracing my shaft with her eyes. “...I don’t think I can call you squirt anymore. Not when you’re this damn big.”

I looked between my own legs, and in my belly I could feel something other than butterflies and arousal, it almost felt like the twinge of confidence I had before taking flight. “Is it… Are you serious?”

“Serious? Scoots, I don’t think I could even take all of this. How the hell do you hide it so well?!” Rainbow honestly looked flabbergasted, and the more I looked, the more I realised just how disproportionately large it looked compared to the rest of my nubile, slender body when it was hard. I didn’t usually look out of shame and embarrassment, but for once, I was beginning to see it in a slightly new light.

We were in an empty field in a thicket of trees, sure, with no ponies for a mile in each direction, sitting under a bed of grass, but I was finally sharing my affliction with somepony. Somepony I trusted, and she’d reacted positively. It felt wonderful, it only made me think about her more, and at my own disbelief, I felt a sheepish grin creeping onto my lips. “Guess it is pretty big, huh?”

“So... “ Rainbow chewed the inside of her cheek, inching closer. It took all of my willpower not to flinch away. “You have fantasies about me?”

“I mean, I guess, I’ve—Rainbow Dash?!” My voice was shrill, my eyes wide, and my cock beating like my heart as I felt the light brush of her hoof against it. She raised it up, as if she was testing the weight of it, before wrapping a hoof around it and beginning to slowly pump it up and down as she looked at me. “What are you doing?!”

“What does it look like, doofus? I’m showing you just how much a mare could enjoy something like this. Besides, about time one of those fantasies came true, right?” She continued jerking me off, her hoof gliding over the head of my cock and twisting around, changing direction and pulling lower. She spat on it, rubbing the spittle in and incorporating another hoof, pressing her head down on my legs. “You like when I roll it between my hooves like that, Scoots? Does it turn you on?” She cast me a look, and already I was huffing as I arched my back, my tail thumping up and down. “Looks like it does…”

“Rainbow… Fuck, are you sure this is a good idea?” My breaths were coming faster, my eyes losing focus, the only thing I could feel was the latent pleasure waking inside me, the wonder and shock of finally being touched by another pony in such an intimate way. And the fact it was Rainbow Dash… that did things to me that nothing else possibly could, ever. It made my cock twitch and my eyes scrunch and my body shake with pure pleasure, and all of it just from her moving her hooves in a way I had so many times before.

“I’m not sure, but I wanted to anyway.” There was definitely technique to the way that Rainbow manipulated my length, the attention she paid and the way she ensured that the entirety stayed wet and tingling at all times. I could feel a load building inside me from the first moment, I couldn’t believe how good she was at this! Well, I could, Rainbow Dash was great at everything, but even still with the way I was threatening to burst so quickly I was worried it’d be over in just a few more expertly placed strokes.

She manipulated my slippery cock like an expert, never bringing her mouth into the mix, giving me the most erotic experience of my life by miles with only her soft, loving hooves. She kept her eyes on me the whole time, and I couldn’t believe that the only times I ever looked away, it wasn’t out of shyness, or to berate myself, it was to watch her in action, stare at her hooves and the way they moved over my thick, pulsating length.

I could feel my balls tightening from the work Rainbow was putting in, and she seemed to notice my comfort, the way I rolled around in place. She cupped them under a hoof and held them, swirling her hoof around. “You getting close already, Scoots? I can see why you’re working on your endurance now.”

That comment caught me off guard. “N-not helping,” I panted, though I could barely hold my head up to look at her at this point, as much as I wanted to.

“Heh, even your pre is thick. I wonder if you blow your load like a stallion does…” Rainbow eyed my cock curiously, before moving forwards and lapping at the head, tasting what I had to offer. And fuck did it feel good, like I’d gone to heaven for a moment, or I was in a dream filled with decadent ecstacy. I gasped, my breath caught in my throat, and she pulled back with a snicker. “Too much?” she teased, licking her lips. “Good. I wanna see what you’ve got for me.”

She sped up, both hooves in rhythm moving up and down me faster, occasionally lapping at my head again, though she drew it out so much between licks that I never knew when to expect it. I couldn’t keep my head up anymore, I was too far gone, so I had to anticipate when she’d switch things up, and I could never guess. Fast turned to slow in an instant, then without warning she was focusing intently on my head, right where I was most sensitive, my tip shiny with her spit and the glaze of my precum.

And all the while I could feel the growing orgasm coursing through my body, so much of it concentrated in my cock, which was getting ready to fucking explode any moment from now, to coat me and her in my seed. It was something I never could’ve imagined doing until now, and now that I’d got here, it was a thing of magic, a moment I never wanted to end, but every time I tried to drag it out, to think of something else to slow me down, I was reminded why Rainbow Dash was the best with another twist of her hoof or touch of her tongue, and before I knew it, I was teetering on the edge.

“R-Rainbow Dash, I’m going to…”

Wordlessly, she pushed her mane back, bringing her head forwards. She parted her lips, taking my length in her mouth and sucking hard, coating my head in the silky walls of her throat and inviting me to let loose. I couldn’t help it, I thrusted upwards, and like the daredevil she was, Rainbow stayed stock still, taking the whole thing as she tightened her lips around me. My first spurt hit the back of her throat, a gunshot of pleasure that went through me in an instant, and the second and third soon followed, my wants superseded by their actualisation, my conscious view of the world forgotten for a feeling of being atop of it in perfect splendor. It might not have been romantic, or everyday, or at all what I’d expected my first experience to be, but it was still perfect.

And, of course, Rainbow dutifully swallowed everything I gave her, the shudders shooting through me as she slowly licked me clean before pulling back, licking her lips one more time as my cock finally gave out, falling back onto my belly. I looked at her with awe, surprise, embarrassment, relief, every emotion, really. I must’ve looked pretty damn confused.

A few pants, and Rainbow was able to speak. She patted me on the belly once before coming over, laying next to me. “Listen, Scoots. I didn’t do that out of pity, or whatever, so don’t ever think that. I did that because I want you to know just how attractive you really are, especially with what you’ve got.” A bashful laugh, and Rainbow Dash actually looked embarrassed. “Honestly, I probably enjoyed that a little more than I should have.” Another giggle. “I know you did.”

It was still so hard to even know what to say at this point, but I tried to at least put some of my thoughts to words. “Y-yeah, that was pretty intense. I mean, probably the best that’s ever felt, by far. I just… you really think that other ponies would be okay with this?”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, briefly casting her glance down. “Honestly, Scoots, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were fighting over you by the time they all found out. Well, the mares at least. Stallions would just be jealous.” She shot me a wink, scruffing up my mane, and my wings buzzed by instinct. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, champ. Ever.”

“So, you really think I could try it with another pony? That it might be a good idea?”

“Hey, you don’t get anything from not trying.” Rainbow rose to her feet, stretching out and splaying her wings. “Anyways, think you’ve slacked off long enough. Up and at it, back in a tree and—jeez, why are you still hard?”

A blush crossed my cheeks as I moved to stand, trying to hide it. “I… don’t always go down after just one.”

“Were you built to be a sex goddess or something?” Rainbow chuckled to herself, pointing to same tree. “To think you were worried about ponies rejecting you, you’d probably have to search for a long time to find one that would. Anyways, tree.”

“On it,” I replied with a mock salute. I began walking over to the last one I’d used, but on the way, stopped. “Rainbow, thank you so much. I really think you gave me a new perspective today.”

“It’s cool, just don’t tell your parents.”

“Think I’m stupid?” I laughed.

“No, but I do think you’re slow! Go climb already!”

The ascent this time was more of a metaphorical one than anything else. The whole while, I could feel myself going up, on a high, and I didn’t think I’d be coming down any time soon, even when I took the plunge.

Maybe it was finally time to try being honest with other ponies.