“-And I want you all to read at least one book over the summer and write a two page informal essay on it,” Ms. Cheerilee said as she looked over her notes for the day. There was little written on the day’s ledger, more of an administrative to-do list than proper teacher's notes.

The clock’s ticking drew her attention, it was recess time. She was pretty sure she could hear a few of the students actually chewing on their desks. It was a beautiful day, as well as the last day of school; she couldn’t blame them for being antsy. Thinking for a moment, she cleared her throat. The rustling of foals came to a sudden halt, in anticipation of her next words.

“After recess, clean out your lockers and desks. You are free to go after that,” Cheerilee said, bracing herself for the explosion of pent-up energy. Keeping them here for the last three hours was just cruel; as much to them as her.

“So, what should we do?” Scootaloo asked. The three fillies stood just beyond the hedgerow of the school, the sounds of the playground still loud even at their distance. The Crusaders had decided to clean out their stuff first, and then skipped the playground.

“We can go swimmin’ at my place,” Applebloom offered. The swimming hole on the Apple property sounded like an excellent retreat from the hot sun, and a proper way to usher in the summer break. Turning their backs on the schoolhouse, the three cantered off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Applejack slowly walked the rows of saplings they had grafted the month before. She grinned at the little apple trees, almost all of them had survived the process. This time next year they would be dug up from their tightly-packed rows and replanted to their permanent home. Moving deeper into the field, she was examining one of the unsuccessful plants; when a loud whoop, then splash, came from the nearby pond. She followed the sound of giggles, till she found her sister and her friends, neck deep in the water.

“What do you girls think yer doin?” Applejack asked, standing next to the rope they had hung from a large tree. The three froze for a moment, not quite sure if they were in trouble or not. Applejack had a sort-of scowl as she turned away from the pond and disappeared into the brush. Scootaloo was just about to ask if they should leave, when Applejack returned, minus her hat and at a full run. With a deft leap she grabbed the rope and launched herself into the air. The fillies watched in awe as the grown pony cannon-balled over their heads, and squealed when the wave washed over them.

Applejack's head shot up out of the water with a gasp, “Cold!”

“How long you girls been out here” Applejack asked as the four of them stepped out onto the grassy shore, shivering as a gust hit her wet fur. While she had adjusted to the water pretty fast, being back in the air was almost intolerable.

“About two hours” Sweetie Bell answered in between clattering teeth.

Applejack shook out her mane and donned her hat. “Come on girls. Lets go back to the house and warm up. And ya’ll may as well stay for dinner. I’ll see to it that yer folks know where ya’ll are.”

“It was really nice for your sister to let us sleep over,” Scootaloo said, as the three trotted back to town in the morning sun, the farmhouse breakfast still sitting heavy on their stomachs.

“Maybe we could spend a night at my sister's shop?” Sweetie Bell said.

“That’d be fun,” Applebloom commented.

Scootaloo nodded to the idea. “I bet my folks would let us stay over one night too!”

“And then we could camp in the clubhouse!” all three of them said at once.

With plans for a marathon of sleepovers in their minds, the three hurried along; there were parents to sweet-talk and crusades to plan.

Dawn’s light crept into the crusader’s clubhouse. Three sleeping bags each held a play-weary filly. The last few days had been a blur of summer fun. They had taken pride in going inside only when necessary, choosing instead to revel in the warm weather and fresh air. Through wake and sleep, they had spent little time apart.

Their mania had finally caught up to them though. Their sleep was restless, even in the cool dim of first light. As dawn grew into full day, any hope of regaining lost sleep was dashed. With coordinated exacerbation, the three gave up on sleep and roused from their bedding. They were hungry too, but at least that was easily fixed with a trip to the Apple’s breakfast table.

The three fillies dragged themselves into the Apple family kitchen, it had been a long silent walk from the clubhouse. They were all a bit on edge, but none of them knew why. Some sympathetic instinct had told them to give each other space. A sharp contrast to the all-for-one mantra of the past few days.

The early dawn hour found the Apple kitchen alive. The elder siblings had already started eating when the crusaders unceremoniously plopped themselves at the table; their food already waiting for them. They had gotten through most of their meal in uncharacteristic quite, when Big Mac broke the silence "You girls..." His nose flared as confusion riddled his face. He let out a half nicker as breath cleared his nose of what he had smelled. A strong shake of the head was accompanied by a "Nope" as he vanished from the room.

Applejack started to call after her brother, but when she took a breath to call for him, the effort ended in a violent fit of coughing; the smell of musk was overwhelming. Estrus was a smell that could not be mistaken, and she knew it wasn't her, and the smell was far too strong to be coming from one filly. Looking to the group, furrows of agitation were creasing all their brows. "Sweet Celestia, you're all in heat."

The fillies traded confused looks as Applejack stood from her meal and walked behind them. "Come on, girls. We're going to go visit Twilight and she's going to cast the no-foal spell on ya."

"What? Why?" the group complained.

Applejack gave them a tender look, trying to be as supportive as possible. "Because ya'll just started your first heat, and I don't want any of ya to end up pregnant," She could see moments of realization sparking in the fillies eyes. "And regardless of how ya decide to ride this out, I want ya to have one less thing to worry about."

Holding the door open, Applejack ushered the girls out of the house. She regretted not having talked to Applebloom about this before, but she had thought she had another summer. She let the tense silence hang till they had passed the farm gate. “So, what you girls been taught about estrus?”

Sweetie Bell spoke up, “When a mare is sexualy mature she will get one to three heats a summer. The more you’re in the sun the more you'll get. It’s the only time you can get pregnant. And you give off a smell that has drug-like effects on sexually mature stallions.”

Applejack nodded at the answer, they had the biology down. “That smell is why it’s polite to avoid being in a room with stallions while you're in heat. Outside, you just give them a little more space.”

“Why’s that” Scootaloo asked.

“Well...” Applejack drawled. “It clouds their judgment and makes their... body do things against their will. They don’t mean nothin’ by it, it’s just a reflex. But, it’s embarrassin’ all the same.”

“Oh!” Applebloom said. “You mean they might get a boner!”

Applejack sighed. She’d normally have scolded her for yelling something like that, but she couldn’t go giving her a complex. “Yes, girls... a boner.”

Twilight was sipping coffee at her desk when knocking jolted her from her concentration. Surprised to have visitors before opening, she hurried to the door, where she found a smiling Applejack and three haggard looking fillies.

“Mornin, Twi” Applejack greeted. “Sorry to bother you. But, The girls need your help.”

One eye twitched at the thought of the Crusaders needing her help; that never ended well. But it was Applejack asking with a calm smile—so it couldn’t be anything too bad.

“Sure, girls. Come on in, how can I help?” Twilight stepped out of the way and gestured towards some cushions.

“Thanks Twi,” Applejack chimed, walking past her into the room.

Twilight eyed the three fillies as they followed Applejack into the room silently. She sniffed the air and found the scent she was expecting. “So, you’re here for the no-foal spell, right?”

The crusaders halted and looked to their morning's chaperone for the answer. “If you would be so kind. It’s their first heat,” Applejack answered.

“Oh, congratulations!” Twilight said. Passing the group as they sat, Twilight went to a shelf and slid out a book. She glanced over the spell as a habit to double check. She knew it by heart; most unicorns did. “You know, I usually only get one heat a summer and just hide indoors until it passes. Usually only lasts a day.”

“You’re lucky,” Applejack said. “I always get three and they last at least two days, sometimes four.”

“Because you’re outside so much, right?” Scootaloo asked.

Applejack nodded to the question.

“Wait...” Applebloom eyed her sister. “How come I never noticed?”

“Um.. well,” Applejack dug at the floor. “You know when I go and help Caramel plow his fields?”

“You mean you’re not really helping him plow?” Applebloom asked, shocked at the idea of her sister lying to her.

Twilight repressed a snicker, but the effort only made the eventual outburst into full laughter even louder. “I’m sure Caramel's doing lots of plowing!”

“Laugh it up, Twilight!” Applejack tried to look insulted, but the look faltered at her own giggles.

The three fillies were totally lost, somewhere the conversation had gone over their head. Their confused expression brought the two grown mares back to a semblance of being serious. Applejack cleared her throat, “Caramel and I have an, understanding. We’re just friends. Nothing romantic. But, we trust each other. So, when I’m in heat, I stay at his place and he helps me get the natural urges out of my system.”

“So what do the others do during their heats?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Twilight’s horn lit up and a white spark lashed out and popped each of the Crusaders and Applejack in the flank with a static crack. They jumped with surprise but the effect was more sound than sensation. “All set for the year,” Twilight announced.

“Thanks Twi,” Applejack said. Looking back to the young mares she addressed the earlier question. “It’s not right to tell others' personal lives. But I’m sure they would be happy to share some details if you go ask them. But first! Before ya’ll go off and figure out how ya want to spend the next few days, I gotta tell you a few things.”

The girls grumbled at being held up. Itchy and uncomfortably warm, none of them had anywhere better to be, but none of them wanted to be still ether.

“Nopony cares what you do, but nopony wants to see it either. So be respectful of other ponies. No means no, girls. If you do approach a young stallion and he says no, just move on,” Applejack said. “Now, go mind your manners, but have fun out there.”

The three girls rolled out of the library. They were hot, sweaty and full of a strange energy.

“I need a shower,” Sweetie Belle said. “Lets go to my sister’s place. We can ask her what she does during her heats after we clean up.”

The three made a quick trot towards the Carousel. Scootaloo buzzed her wings in an effort to cool herself, “I still don’t get what-” Her words cut short as the three of them stopped dead in their tracts. Coming around a corner they had almost collided with Rumble.

Rumble jumped at the near collision, then quickly recognized his friends from school, his eyes lighting a little at seeing Scootaloo. He straightened to greet them, then froze again, like a small animal under a predator's gaze. A mania he had never seen before was brought to bear on him. “Ugh... Hi girls?”

Desire became known to each filly at the colt’s sudden appearance. This new urge screamed out from their very bones. The aching pressure that had been strange and meaningless suddenly found it’s cure. “Hi, Rumble,” three voices droned.

The three fillies took a step towards him, and he took one back. Instinct told him not to run, fear demanded he not stay. “Is... there... something I can do for you?" he asked

The girls shivered, twitched, nodded, and took a small step closer. Rumble held his ground, this time with a dry gulp.

The girls continued the advance. Applebloom stopped, her muzzle inches away from his. While on either side of him the other two brushed passed him with long, slow steps.

“Wanna come back with us to our club house?” Applebloom asked, her hot breath washing over him.

He started to ask what was going on, but the moment he opened his mouth, Sweetie Belle’s flagging tail filled it with hair. Startled by the attack on his face, Rumble gasped. His eyes watered at the smell of the air, it was thick with musk. He would have said it stunk, but it was a strangely enticing smell. His nose burned as the strange drug coursed through his blood. Before he could pull the hair from his face, he realized his penis was moving on it’s own will. Before he could stop it, it had unsheathed, leaving it hanging flaccid from his stomach to the ground.

The three purred: one right in his ear. Then one of them nipped at his wing. He was no longer flaccid.

“Eep!” Rumble cried, vanishing into the sky with a streak.

“Horseapples.”

“Guess we came on a bit strong.”

“So... What now?”

“Shower. A cold shower.”

///

“So what do you do during your heats?” Sweetie Belle asked her sister, she was still drying off from her shower. She felt better, but far from settled.

Rarity filled three cups with steaming tea. “Here, you three drink this, it helps relax you a bit. I... Well, I prefer to take care of that myself. You see, there is a store in town that sells... Things that help a mare. It’s cleaner that way.” Rarity said, opening up a drawer and removing a business card and a small purse.

///

“Well this is the place,” Sweetie Bell said, holding up a business card.

“This is a lot of bits,” Applebloom commented on the bag Rarity had given them earlier

Scootaloo pushed open the wood door to the unmarked store. She had walked past here hundreds of times, but never stopped to ask what was inside the plane little shop. The other two followed her inside, where they found themselves in a small antechamber with two more doors, one marked male and one marked female. The three paused only long enough to see the familiar “girls” marking, before pushing through it into the next room.

“Hello!” a bright, feminine voice called “Welcome to Hockencocks!”

The brightly lit room and the energetic greeting stunned the three young mares. Standing in a stupor they looked around the shop. Colorful boxes lined the walls and filled the shelves, each box covered in art that ranged form erotic to lewd.

“Sorry, didn’t realize this was your first visit,” a manilla unicorn said as she came around a shelf. “My name is Vanilla, feel free to ask me anything. Is this your first heat?”

“Umm, yea,” Applebloom answered,

“We don’t really know what we’re even looking for,” Scootaloo said.

“My sister just, sorta sent us here, to find something.”

Vanilla smiled and gestured for them to follow her. Walking the length of the store the vivid scenes of sex that decorated the shelved products erased whatever relief the cold shower had lent.

"I think I would recommend the junior wall-sticker for you as a first buy,” Vanilla said coming to stop at a stack of modest looking boxes. “It’s very popular with your age group.”

The girls watched in hypnotic interest as Vanilla removed a mildly sized rubber penis from the box. It was a cheery pink color with a huge suction cup at the back end.

Vinilla uncearomonesuly jammed the phallus against the wall, demonstrating the function of the suction cup. “And then you just back into it,” she explained. “You’ll need some lube too,” she said, pointing to a shelf near the counter.

Applebloom stared at the dong as it swayed back and forth. “I’ll take one,” she said.

Scootaloo found herself trying to make sense of another product nearby, when a pony talking on far side of the store caught her attention. “You sure this is the one you want?” the unseen pony asked. She hadn't realized there was anypony else in the shop, but what surprised her was that she recognized the voice.

Taking a step towards the familiar voice, Scootaloo froze in place as the pony stepped out from the aisle. “Rainbow Dash?”

Dash jumped at her name being called. “Oh, hay. Didn’t expect you here...” she said, quickly moving a meter-long toy out of Scootaloo’s line of sight.

Scootaloo craned her head to see what sort of device her idol was holding. “Oo, do you use these to get through your heat too?” she asked trotting up to Dash.

Dash fidgeted, trying to hide the toy under her wing, before Scootaloo could see what it was. “Ugh... sort of,” she said sheepishly.

Fluttershy peered around the corner to see who Dash was talking to. She smiled, recognizing Scootaloo. “Oh, hi, Scootaloo. How are you?”

Dash took the moment of distraction to backpedal behind Fluttershy, and disappear into the aisles.

“Hi, Fluttershy. Good, I guess,” Scootaloo shrugged.

Fluttershy frowned and sat next to Scootaloo. It was obvious the young mare was uncomfortable, and the smell of musk answered any questions. “Looking for something to ease your heat?” she asked. She knew the answer, it was just a question to get her talking.

“Yea. What’s wrong with Rainbow Dash?”

“She’s a bit shy about her heats. She normally gets her first of the year by next week. I should start in the next few days. Though, sometimes we get them the same week, it depends.”

“Really? How do you get through them?” Scootaloo asked, looking up to the older mare.

“Well, Dash and I are heat buddies”

“Fluttershy!” Dash hissed, her head suddenly popping up from behind a shelf.

Fluttershy giggled and waved a hoof at Dash. “Oh Dash, relax. It’s her first heat, she needs to know how ponies deal with it.”

“What’s a heat buddy?” Scootaloo asked.

Dash’s cheeks turned lavender as she sunk back out of sight.

“Well, it’s when two mares agree to be sexual with each other, while one or the other is in heat,” Fluttershy said.

A groan punctuated the comment from behind the shelf. Dash fluttered over the top of the aisle and landed next to Fluttershy. “I’m not escaping this conversation, am I?”

“Nope.” Fluttershy chimed.

“How do two mares...” Scootaloo tapped her hooves together.

Rainbow dash looked indignantly into the distance as her wing lifted, allowing the long rubber toy to fall to the ground in front of Scootaloo.

“Toys help,” Fluttershy said, picking up the device and hoofing it over to Scootaloo. It looked like it was made from two of the wall-stickers, stuck back to back. It didn’t take too much imagination to see how it was to be used.

“”What your favorite toy Dash?” Scootaloo asked.

Dash turned violet from nose to tail. Shrinking behind Fluttershy, she answered the question with an incoherent mumble.

“What’d she say?” Scootaloo asked

“She really likes the magic crystal bunnies,” Fluttershy answered, pointing to a large display in the center of the store.

Sweetie Belle laid a book and a small box on the counter, besides the dong Applebloom had picked out. “You find something, Scootaloo? We’re checking out.”

“Yea, coming,” Scootaloo answered, plucking a box from the display and running up to the counter, her comment getting a snicker from her two friends. “What?” Scootaloo asked.

Looking over the products the girls were buying, Vanilla added up the total. “I’m giving you a forty percent discount, because it’s your first heat.”

“Wow, thanks!” Sweetie Belle said.

“Just don’t be shy about coming back, okay.” Vanilla said as the till rang. “That comes to fifty-two bits, after discount.”

Sweetie Belle counted out the bits, and laid them on the counter. She was happy to find the purse still had a dozen or so bits left. They could buy lunch and ice cream, and still give some bits back to her sister. Actually, ice cream sounded absolutely amazing right now...

“Here you go,” Vanilla chimed, disrupting Sweetie’s train of thought. Their purchases carefully placed in a large brown bag, and hoofed over to them.

“I’ll carry it,” Applebloom said.

Stepping back outside, the three winced as the summer sun again found them. Its heat and light amplifying the urges within them.

“I get why Twilight hides in the basement,” Scootaloo said.

“Who else wants ice cream?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Oh, sweet Celestia yes,” Applebloom answered, walking towards the soda shop without looking to see if the others would follow.

Crisp air and sweet scents rolled over the three as their hooves found the chilly marble floor of the ice cream parlor. The mare behind the counter gave them a warm smile as the bell chimed out their entrance. Taking up a scoop she opened cooler’s glass top, and waited patiently for their order.

“Chocolate mint shake please,” Sweetie bell said, placing a few bits on the counter.

“Make that two”

“Make it three”

Nursing her treat, Applebloom surveyed the other patrons. Among the half-dozen other customers, more than a few were mares that carried the same heated expression. The parlor had always struck Applebloom as unnecessarily cold. With ceiling fans and filtered ventilation that made the place unbearable on all but the hottest days. Today however, it was blessing by itself, and the soul nourishing sweetness of the frozen cream; heaven.

They were halfway through their frozen confections when the door chimed open. None of them bothered to look up, even as a voice spoke to them.

“Well...” Diamond Tiara drawled. “If it isn’t-”

“Diamond,” Applebloom interrupted, not taking her eyes off her dessert. “I have four-hundred acres to hide the body.”

Diamond Tiara’s jaw hung slack as a stunned groan rolled out. “I can’t-”

“Buck off,” Scootaloo said, idly stabbing at the frozen bits of her shake with a straw; clipping the indignant rant short.

“Twit,” Sweetie Belle finished Scootaloo’s sentence with the tone of one correcting somepony’s grammar.

Diamond Tiara backed slowly out of the door she had just entered. None of the fillies bothered to watch or acknowledge her leaving.

The ice cream finally consumed, they all leaned back into their seats and soaked in the tranquil moment. Leaning forward, Applebloom lifted the brown bag, and rose to her hooves. “Let’s go back to the clubhouse and see how these work.” Before they could take a step, the door flung open; its bell struggling to chime out the intrusion. Pinkie stood at the counter before the door had time to close itself back.

“I need a Black Jack,” Pinkie blurted to the mare behind the counter.

“What’s a Black Jack?” Sweetie Belle asked. Pinkie turned and smiled at the girls. Her expression was far more intense than they were used to. Scootaloo though she saw steam rolling off Pinkie’s back.

“Two scoops black walnut ice cream, three shots Jackalope bourbon,” the mare behind the counter answered, pulling a bottle the girls had never seen before from under the counter.

Applebloom was looking out the window, dreading their inevitable return to the aggravating sunlight, when she heard Scootaloo speak up.

“Are you ok?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yea,” Pinkie answered, “Just my first heat of the year.”

Out on the street several stallions shivered, then looked behind them, as if searching for a predator.

“How do you deal with your heats,” Sweetie Belle asked.

Pinkie waited till the shake was in her hooves before speaking. “Dick,” she said, before taking a long drink. “Pinkie needs some dick.”

The three young mares blinked at Pinkie. The others had planned ahead for their heats, Pinkie obviously didn’t. “You don’t have anypony that helps you?” Applebloom asked.

Taking a sip of her sunday, Pinkie sat at the table they had just gotten up from. “Pinkie plays hard. Pinkie scares most stallions, hurt some too,” she said wistfully into her glass. “Pinkie feels bad about those, but they all got better.”

Applebloom giggled. “Sound like she needs a stallion like my brother.” The words were still on her tongue when she realized what she had said. Offering up her big brother to Pinkie’s carnal needs struck her as strange and natural at the same time.

Pinkie took a long draw of her drink, the ice cream and booze blend consumed in its entirety when she released her straw. Leaning back with a content smile, Pinkie sighed. “Pinkie feels better now. Thinks she’ll go find Big Mac.” In a puff of smoke she vanished. Scootaloo thought she heard the door ring, but the distorted sound was hard to pinpoint.

“Well, that was different,” Sweetie Belle said.

The three followed suit, though at a much slower pace. The lunchtime-market buzzed with an energy they all subconsciously avoided, opting to take the long way around town. Reaching the edge of the orchard, the girls ducked under the fence, deciding to walk the line of trees, instead of the proper road. Soft grass and thick shade rewarded the decision as they wound their way through the orchard's acreage.

Now out of public sight, Scootaloo’s eyes fell on the heavy bag Applebloom carried. Curiosity about her toy nagged at her, but stopping to look at it only slowed her from getting to the clubhouse and using it. “Hey Sweetie Belle, can you get mine out of the bag? I didn’t get to see what it actually looks like.”

“Umm, okay,” Sweetie Belle answered. Sticking her tounge out for better concentration she focused on the bag till Scootaloo’s package floated out with a green aura around it. The box crumpled till one end opened. What slid out made them all pause.

“You’re going to do what with that?” Applebloom asked.

“There’s a lot of buttons on it,” Sweetie Belle said

“The little thing on the side looks like a bunny, that's kinda creepy. Wonder why Dash likes this one?” Scootaloo asked stepping closer, she looked it over and shrugged: she’d figure that out soon enough. Sweetie Belle floated the device back into the bag as they resumed the journey.

“What’s that sound?” Scootaloo asked, as they stepped into the last field they had to cross before getting to the fallow lot the club occupied.

Applebloom paused. Turning her ear to a faint murmur, she listened to the noise. “What is that?” she asked before walking towards the strange sound. The others followed her a few paces before a bellowing yelp sounded through the trees.. Panic turned to confusion when giggling followed the yelp. With cautious steps the three followed the noise, which had now turned into an otherworldly moaning.

Applebloom craned her head around a tree, only to jerk it back. “Oh geez,” she whined, covering her eyes with a hoof.

“What is it?”

“Are you all right?”

“Yea, just didn’t need to see...” Applebloom waved a hoof towards the tree, “that.”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle traded glances before looking around the tree themselves. Across the line of trees they found Big Mac on the ground; his back pressed against a tree with Pinkie in his lap, grinding her hips against his. Mac’s hooves explored her body, while her mouth explored his, giving him little nibbles and outright bites, the latter electing winces and occasional yelps from the stallion. After a moment of this, Pinkie threw Mac to the ground, and the two rolled in the grass in some kind of wrestling play.

Applebloom shook her head as her two friends' tails flagged. The to accidental voyeurs' hips unconsciously rocked with arousal as giggles, moans, and occasional thwacks and yelps sounded from the other side of the tree that blocked her view. “Come on, let's get to the clubhouse,” Applebloom said, tugging at Sweetie’s ear and Scootaloo’s wing to break their trance. The effect wasn’t quite what she was going for: she wanted their attention, but not that much attention. “I ain't got what you need. Snap out of it,” Applebloom said, already walking away from the two.

Author's Note

Co-author: Exelzior