Heat Rises

“No,” Rainbow said, pulling her hooves away.

“What’s wrong?” Soarin asked, a fake, pained smile on his face.

“You know what’s wrong.”

“So you don’t…”

“You know I do.” Rainbow puffed her bangs out of her face.

“So what’s the problem, Rainbow?” His suave smile was more pained, pleading. “Why lie to yourself?”

Rainbow felt her body tense, and pushed her hooves an inch into the clouds below. She took a deep breath.

“No.”

“That’s not an answer.”

She twitched.

“I said no. I don’t care what my body says, cuz I say no. It was interesting to get to know you, Soarin.” Rainbow turned and walked towards the door on the far side of the room.

“Babe, wait,” Soarin said, hot on her heels. “You’re walking out on me? ...me?”

“Gladly.” She descended the stairs to the nearest balcony and exited into the brisk night air. Nopony else was there; it was just a landing for ponies to come in and out of.

“Ah, come on, what did I do wrong?”

She turned and stared him dead in the eyes. “Just forget me. You were…” she crinkled her nose, “charming.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

She sighed, and looked out over the alive nighttime metropolis. “Your whole life, you’ve looked up to someone. Wondering about what it’s like to be them. Wondered what they’d think of you. Wondered what they’d ask about. Wondered if they liked that same band you did. You work your whole life to find out. It’s your dream.”

“Is that it? Because I don’t like Iron Mareden?”

Rainbow’s eye twitched. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

And then she started screaming.

“No, you fucking idiot, it’s because from the moment we sat down at the bar you’ve been thinking ‘Oh, it’s Dashie, what an impressionable little mare in heat, she’ll sure be easy to bag n’ tag like a notch on my Wonderbolt suit.’ It doesn’t matter how many years I’ve been using imaginary-you to get through heat because real-you doesn’t have a drop of respect for me. You don’t give a fuck about me and I’m so sick of it so just please walk back inside and find some other nameless, needy mare who’ll get under the table and suck your Wonderbolt dick.”

A rainbow streak blew wind into Soarin’s face before his jaw could even open