Be Careful What You Wish For

Be Careful what you wish for

Chapter 11 –  ‘Friends, Holidays, and Misunderstandings’

I had never been so thankful for home cooked meals in my life.  Everyday Love Tap, Button, and Chip brought in something for Lyra and me.  They would set up and the five of us would eat Dinner together.  Even with me saving Button Mash and Sweetie Belle I was starting to feel like I was a mooch.  Still, without fail I watched as the door opened, and an all too familiar family walked into the room.

Love Tap walked toward the dresser and Lyra quickly levitated everything off of her back onto the dresser itself.  I smelled fresh garlic bread, spaghetti – which was vegetarian a personal life choice of Love Tap’s, and some kind of freshly cut fruit.  I heard the Pegasus who was finally moved into the room with me whimper with displeasure.  I looked over to recognize Cloud Chaser.

“Man, that smells so good…  They left me some peas, a minced haypatty, and I think this is supposed to be mashed potatoes,” he said.

I looked at his meal and shuddered.  That was the kind of thing I didn’t want to try to choke down.  Nurse Redheart had told me that for the most part small hospitals like the Ponyville Hospital didn’t make too much alterations for gryphons or humans when it came to meals.  I had tried hay once, I didn’t like it, and I hated to think that the bulk of my meal would be that.

“Do we have enough to share?” I asked.

Love Tap nodded and walked over to Cloud’s tray.  She promptly dumped the contents into the garbage, and then put him a piece of Garlic bread, some spaghetti – with vegetarian meatballs, and fresh fruit salad on his tray.  He wasted no time digging into the food.  I was still getting used to seeing the pegasi using their wings to shovel food into their mouths when they were really hungry.

I smiled and waited for everypony else to get their plates before I started to eat.  Once again I was in pure bliss.  The food was amazing.  I didn’t know how Love Tap constantly managed to cook such amazing food, but it was obvious that everyone was enjoying it.  A moment later a loud belch echoed through the room and Lyra looked at Cloud Catcher who arched an eyebrow.

“Sorry, but in Pegasus circles I just complimented your cooking,” he said to Love.

“Thank you,” she said.

“It is fantastic,” Lyra said.

Love smiled and nodded.  She brought a hoof up with a napkin and quickly wiped off Button’s muzzle.

“Thank you so much for bringing this,” I said.

“Believe me it’s no trouble.  It’s the least I could do.  You saved my little Button,” she said happily.

“It was sooo cooool!  You were just like Sido the Brave as he faced the Cohorts of Neighbolia!  Except that you didn’t have a sword, but it was amazing how you knocked that Timber Wolf into a baillion pieces!” Button exclaimed.

“I’m just glad that I was able to make sure that you and Sweetie Belle were safe.  What were you two doing out there anyway?” I asked.

He nervously shuffled his front hooves around for a second before he looked back up at me.

“Well, Sweetie Belle wanted to go check on Zecora’s hut, and she asked that I come with her, and we got there…” he stopped and looked toward his mother.

“Actually Button I haven’t heard anything past that either.  I know you said that you were going to go help Sweetie Belle, but that was really early morning.  Don didn’t find the two of you until late afternoon,” she said studying him.

“Ummmm…  Nothing was going on,” he said.

“Button,” she said as she narrowed her eyes at him.

I watched as the poor little brown colt began to sweat before breaking down and covering his face with his forehooves.

“We got to Zecora’s hut and made oooouuuuuutttttttt!” he whined.

I watched as Chip covered his mouth, and I heard a snicker from Cloud, then Lyra began to snicker, and before long the entire room began to burst into laughter.  Even Love Tap laughed long and hard at the situation.  After a few minutes all of us began to quiet down and finally Love Tap touched Button’s foreleg.

“Button Sweetie,” she said.

“Yeah Mom?” he asked.

“You’re grounded,” she said.

“Buu…” he started before she narrowed her eyes at him again, “Okay Mom.”

The rest of the meal was far more than enjoyable.  Conversation held by good friends, and good spirits filled the small room.  I was more than happy to have the food, and Love had said that she didn’t mind making the meals for me.  She ended up giving Cloud Catcher another tray of spaghetti before she left.  I watched as he noisily ate the pasta and vegetarian meatballs.  He finished his second plate, leaned back, rubbed his belly and then moved slightly sideways before letting loose another tremendous belch.  The sound of it was deafening, and I could swear that it caused the windows to vibrate in the room.  I shook my head and then looked back at Lyra who wasn’t as put off as I thought she would be.  Then again she did run a bar, and I knew she had dealt with all manners of ponies in it before.

“So, you’re the guy that broke up a Timber Wolf lunch huh?” Cloud asked.

I looked at the dark Pegasus as he leaned into the bed.

“Yeah, it wasn’t nearly as much fun as I thought it would be,” I replied.

“I guess it wouldn’t be.  From what I’ve heard in town and in the hospital you’ve gotten something of a reputation going on now,” he said.

“Like what?” I asked.

“That you’re here to stay as a citizen.  Most everypony believed it was only a matter of time before you went off and did something stupid enough for Princess Celestia to ask you to please leave Equestria.  Being completely honest I kind of thought the same thing.  I mean we’ve had at least six different humans try to settle in here, and none of them really seemed to last more than eight months before either going back through the gate or being asked to leave,” he said.

I leaned back in the bed and thought about that.  It meant whoever had built the cabin we saw near the lake was gone.  They had been either asked to leave Equestria, or they returned to Earth.  I didn’t just want to last more than eight months.  I wanted to live here for the rest of my life right here with Lyra.  I felt her lay a hoof on my arm and I looked up at her.

“I have no intention of ever leaving,” I said.

Cloud gave a small laugh before I heard him wince in pain.  I looked toward him and finally took in that his right wing was bandaged up.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I’ve been trying to help make sure that the uncontrolled weather from the Everfree doesn’t cross over into Ponyville.  It’s not usually difficult, but a couple of days ago a large storm began to move this way.  We had to divert every Pegasus to keeping it under control.  The clouds were so thick that it was hard to do anything except move them, and then I slipped through while I was pushing one,” he said.

“So the storm hurt your wing?” I asked.

“Actually…  One of the tallest trees in the Everfree hurt my wing.  I slipped through the storm, rammed into a tree, and fell down every branch.  They said I was lucky and only gave my wing a slight sprain, but it feels broken to me,” he replied.

“Sounds like it was pretty difficult,” I said.

“It was.  There’s only three Pegasi that fly high enough to monitor all of the weather.  Rainbow Dash is one, and she’s on Earth.  Lightning Dust, who’s filling in for her, is another, and the last one is Thunderlane.  Thunderlane’s on vacation, and Dust…  Well…  She’s a little too showy.  She’s caused several accidents so far,” he said.

“It sounds like you guys really need Rainbow Dash back,” I replied.

“Yeah, or we could use Thunderlane back.  Rainbow Dash showboated, a lot, but nothing like Dust has been.  Thunder is at least smart enough to make sure that some of our clouds don’t go over into the Everfree.  That happens they turn into massive storms, and we get what we had the other day.  Rainbow and Thunder would have seen that storm coming from a mile away and made sure that we kept it from happening,” Cloud griped.

“Have you talked to Lightning about it?” I asked.

“Dude, do I look like the kind of stallion that would tell his marefriend that she’s being stupid?” he asked.

“Wait a second… You’re dating her?” I asked.

“Well, yeah.  We’ve been dating for a couple of months, but what I said about her actions as Weather Captain stands.  She’s got the skill, but she’s just too hung up on showing off,” he said.

“Why don’t you just talk to her?” Lyra asked.

He looked at her like she had grown a second head.  He then looked at me to see if I thought that Lyra was joking, and when it was obvious that I wasn’t reacting the way he thought that I should be he shook his head.

“I don’t know how she would take it, and the last thing I want to do is hurt her feelings. For all of her showing off Lightning is pretty sensitive about things,” he said.

She looked at him and then thought about how he could present it to her.  After a moment nothing really came to mind and she shook her head.

“Why don’t you make a suggestion then?  I mean just suggest that in order to keep the wild storms down that she put a couple of you guys on going over the Everfree every couple of days,” I suggested.

He looked at me and then shook his head.

“Where did you come up with that?” he asked.

“What?  I mean isn’t that Rainbow Dash used to do right?” I asked.

He nodded and then thought about it for a second.

“You’re a brony huh?” he asked.

I nodded.

He grinned and looked up at the ceiling.

“That makes sense.  Yeah, Rainbow Dash used to have a few of us fly over the Everfree every couple of days.  She said that it was easier than trying to deal with the storms.  I don’t mind making the suggestion, but I’m not sure how to present it to her,” he said.

“You said she likes to showboat right?  Why not tell her that this is a way she can one-up Rainbow?  It would make sense that she would be fine with showing up Dash while she took care of the Weather system here,” Lyra said.

He grinned.  His eyes then widened a little bit.

“Oh man… if she thinks that it’s a chance to one-up Dash she might want to get a few more ideas.  Do you mind if I come and talk to you guys every so often?  I have a feeling that I’m going to need to get a few more ideas before everything is said and done.  You wouldn’t mind helping another stallion out right?” Cloud asked.

“Sure, I don’t mind,” I said.

I didn’t mind, and besides if it kept the weather from having a few wild storms from hitting the town then that was even better.

Time passed awkwardly during my stay in the hospital.  Cloud’s first visitor, besides Love Tap and her family, was Lightning Dust.  I was a little surprised to see my suggestion to him go over so well.  She instantly thought it was an amazing idea.  Well, actually she did after she realized that she would possibly be one upping Dash.  After that she kept coming back to visit every day, for a few minutes or a couple of hours.  And she did that right up until Cloud was allowed to leave the hospital.

I had three days left, and though I had tried to send Lyra home to get some rest she had ended up staying here, and curling up beside me.  It was actually quite sweet, although she seemed to be feeling a little warmer than normal.  I tried to think of a reason she might be warmer, but nothing was really coming to mind.

“My, aren’t the two of you simply a picture of the happy couple,” a voice said from within the room.

I looked around and didn’t notice anyone.

“Discord?” I asked.

Discord flashed into existence and bowed slightly.  He placed his elbows on the foot of my hospital bed and looked up at me.

“I’ve got a question, and I thought who would be better to answer than my bestest guy pal who has a marefriend,” he said.

“Okay, so what’s the question?” I asked.

“Well, actually I wanted to know what I should do for Fluttershy.  Hearts and Hooves day is coming up, and this is the first time I’ve ever been close enough with anyone to want to celebrate it.  What should I do for her?” he asked.

The name of the holiday brought the old episode to my mind.  It had been one of my favorites, and I remembered that the CMCs had used a love poison on Big Mac and Cheerilee.  Still, I wondered how much different the actual events of Heart and Hooves day was from the cartoon.  I took an extra minute and shrugged my shoulders.

“Well, I’m not sure about Heart and Hooves Day, but I know on Valentine’s Day guys usually get their girlfriends flowers, take them out a nice meal, or do something really nice and romantic for them.  Wait…  Are you and Fluttershy dating?” I asked.

He tapped his claw and paw together before looking around the room.

“Sort of,” he replied.

I knew that he thought of Fluttershy as a friend, but I didn’t realize that it was deeper than that.  To be honest I always figured that when it came down to it Discord would stay friends, but try to distance himself somewhat from the ponies that lived around him.  Everything I knew about him said that he was immortal.  I had to believe that Fluttershy and the rest of the Elements, with the exception of Twilight, are mortal.

“Just be nice to her.  She’s a nice mare, and she deserves being treated like one.  Don’t take her granted, and do something for her that she’ll really like, and if you really care for her then be ready to do whatever she wants on Hearts and Hooves Day,” Lyra said without opening her eyes.

He grinned and then snapped his claws together.  A moment later he was gone.  Lyra snugged close to me and kissed my ear.  I felt her gently nibble on it.

“I’m so glad that you’re not going to have to spend Hearts and Hooves Day cooped up in the hospital,” she whispered.

“What is it like?  This is going to be my first Hearts and Hooves day.  I know what Valentine’s Day is like, but is it similar?” I asked.

I felt her shuffle, her eyes opened slightly, and I looked at her as she smiled.

“It’s one of the most amazing holidays ever created.  You get to feel so special because your special somepony is doing everything to make you feel good, and it’s also the day that if you don’t have a special somepony you can find one.  It’s amazingly easy to do,” she said.

I held Lyra close, and wondered what was going to be in store for me.  The next three days came and went, Lyra finally went home on the day I was going to be released, but she did so only to get me a fresh set of clothes, and to use our bathtub.  When she came back she looked a little more refreshed.  She passed my clothes to me in a magical grip and I quickly dressed.  As I walked near her I couldn’t help but feel the heat radiating off of her.

I walked outside to see Nurse Red Heart squirming in her chair.  She seemed to be fidgeting quite a bit before she noticed me, settled down, and passed me some discharge paperwork.  I filled it out and walked out with Lyra.  It was at that moment I noticed a huge change in Ponyville. There were decorations up, but at the same time some of the stallions looked, nervous.  There was actually a few of them walking together, and it looked like they were watching each other’s backs.

“What is going on?” I asked.

“Heart and Hooves Day is tomorrow…  I’m so glad that I’ve got you.  I know that you’re going to take good care of me,” Lyra purred.

The weirdness of Ponyville just seemed to elope with the weirdness of the Twilight Zone.  I walked past a few adolescent mares and noticed their eyes following me.  I was more or less accepted into the community, but the way they looked seemed predatory more than anything else.  I tried to shake it off, but a few more stares from some older mares made me wonder exactly what in the holy hell happened on Heart and Hooves day.

I stopped on our way back home and looked at the market place.  The Apple Family Cart was there, but Big Mac looked almost as nervous as the stallions we passed earlier.  I felt Lyra’s fore legs wrap around my arm as she stood on her hindlegs and nuzzled against my shoulder.  It felt amazingly good.  I wasn’t really weirded out by it; after all, she had been this affectionate in public before.  Still, this felt different.  She was really being affectionate with me while we were around the other mares in the market.  It felt almost like she was marking her territory.  I walked toward Roseluck’s flower cart when I felt Lyra pull on me.

“Don, what are you doing?” she asked.

I looked at her and saw worry flitter across her face.  She honestly seemed distressed about me walking over to Roseluck’s cart.  I gently rubbed her ears causing a soft moan to escape her.

“I just want to get you some flowers.  I thought about doing it tomorrow, but I’m not sure if anything will be open,” I replied.

She smiled a soft smile and nodded.  I approached the cart and asked for a mixture of daisies and carnations.  I wanted to get Lyra a dozen roses, but she had told me before that she really didn’t much care for them, and one of the few things the show had been right about was that they did eat flowers.  Roseluck gathered the flowers together, handed them to me and then her hoof lingered a little on my hand.  I heard a light growl and she quickly pulled it back.  I turned to see Lyra looking hard at her.

“I’m sorry Lye, but…  I just don’t have a special somepony this year…  Do… Do you think that you could honor the past tomorrow?” Roseluck asked.

“There’s several stallions roaming around, and you should be able to find somepony.  I’m not a traditionalist Roseluck.  I’m sorry, but I’ve never been one, and besides, this is his first Hearts and Hooves Day.  I want it to be special for him,” she said looking up at me.

“Oh, I understand…” Roseluck said looking dejected.

“Wait, honor the past?”  I asked before Lyra began pulling me away from the stand.

We walked, hurriedly, toward the bar.  Once there Lyra shut the door, bolted it, and put up the sign indicating that the bar would be closed.  She snorted and looked at me.  There was a near crazed look in her eye that was teetering on the edge of creeping me smooth the fuck out, and I was wondering exactly what it was that was going through the head of my marefriend.

“Lyra, what is going on exactly?” I asked.

“Don, Tomorrow kicks off Hearts and Hooves Day!” she exclaimed.

“Okay, it’s a cute little holiday that you spend with your special somepony, I get that, but what is going on?” I asked.

She walked over and I felt magic grip my hand, and before I could even argue that same magic dragged my hand toward her tail.  She looked at me her eyes still somewhat crazed, slightly glossy, and obviously lost to the moment.

“Heat, we’re all going into heat!” she exclaimed.

The realization hit me hard.  Ponyville wasn’t a huge town.  There were a few thousand ponies and a few gryphons that lived here.  While the show, and most of the fan fictions, weren’t right about there being roughly three times as many mares as there was stallions there was still several mares.  The stallions that weren’t in committed relationships knew what was going on.  I realized what was going on.

“The honoring the past…  What is it exactly?” I asked.

She looked at the ground.  I knew she wasn’t exactly sure how to answer it.  I had a feeling.  There had been several fan fictions that dealt with this.  Sure, there had been a number of times that the fan fictions had been wrong, but it seemed like they might be getting it right this time.

“It’s herding.  We don’t really do it anymore.  I mean, there’s really not a reason to, and there really wasn’t a reason to then either.  Sometimes if a mare can’t find a special somepony she’ll ask someone who has one if they’ll honor the past.  It’s because they need relief, but I don’t want to do that Don,” she said.

“I don’t either.  Wow, so… What’s going to happen?” I asked.

*Shhpop!*

I looked at her as the wet sound echoed through the room.  She walked toward me, her horn lightly glowing.  She stood on her hind legs and kissed me deeply.  I felt her tongue invade my mouth and she began to battle my own tongue.  I was barely out of the hospital and I had a feeling that the actions that I was going to see tonight could lead me to being right back in there.

I broke the kiss and looked at her.  I knew what was going on, and I knew what was happening.  I felt myself being pulled toward the bedroom upstairs, and I followed.  Once we were there the door slammed shut on its own, and I felt something gripping me inside of my jeans.  The magical appendage stroked me several times before I began removing my clothes.

Lyra laid down on the bed, her tail moved out of the way, her head on the mattress, and her ass sticking up in the air.  She didn’t want foreplay, she didn’t want to be treated like a queen, but regardless of that I was determined to at least give her both things.  I leaned forward and kissed her inner thigh.

A soft moan escaped her.  I kissed a little higher, and another deeper lust filled moan followed.  As I neared the treasure I heard her gasp, moan, and her breathing became heavy and uneven.  I looked at the moist set of lips presented to me.  I kissed them, gently tracing around them, and then softly penetrating them with the tip of my tongue.

“Stop teasing,” she gasped.

I ignored her protest and probed a little deeper.  Her gasps began to fill the room, and soon she was panting hard.  I licked down to the edge of her lips and found a small nub waiting, winking, and inviting me.  I cautiously licked it and when I did she pressed against me hard shoving as much of her into my face as she could.

“Please!  Don!  I… need… Want…  NOW!” she screamed with desire.

I stood and aligned myself.  The heat coming off of her was amazing, and I pushed forward.  She let out a satisfied moan as she began to rock her hips back and forth.  I wrapped my hands around her hips and began to match her tempo.  I slammed forward as she raced back.  The wonderful sounds of her pants and moans filled the air along with the squeaks of the bed springs.

Almost every fan fiction I’ve ever ready talked about the endurance and stamina of the human male in comparison to a mare in heat.  That somehow we’re all porn stars that can go for ages and never get tired.  Those fan fictions are full of it.  Since I’ve been here I’ve built up my stamina.  I’ve ran with Lyra, had sex with her several times, and I had gotten to the point where I could go off and on for a couple of hours.  I would consider that porn star worthy.  After about three hours I needed a break.  I felt Lyra fall forward and I fell beside her.  She breathed out a heavy sigh, sounding like she was content, and scooted over to me.  I felt like I had just run a marathon.  She kissed my cheek and snuggled close.

“Let’s rest for a little while, and then we can go again,” she said.

“How long does this heat usually last?” I ask.

“About a week, and I’m so glad that I have you.  I knew that you would be taking care of me,” she said.

I thought about it.  An entire week, of marathon sex, with Lyra, and it sounds great.  It sounds fantastic until I stopped to think about it.  There was no telling how long she was going to rest.  A funny thought came to me as I laid there.  If this was happening here, then were the ponies on Earth going through it again?  No, I had doubts about that.  I laid there and felt my eyes drooping.