Be Careful What You Wish For

Be Careful what you wish for

Chapter 13 –  ‘Crushed’

The quietness of the beautiful lake surrounded me.  The past week had been interesting to say the least.  I’d wake up to find a very horny Lyra next to me.  There was far more sex in that week than I had experienced since coming here.  Like with every other mare, gryphon hen, and from what I understand minotaur cow her heat began to lessen.  Lyra said that every mare who is in a relationship, or claimed a special somepony on Heart and Hooves Day, was encouraged to report to their local hospital.

When I had asked her why she raised an eyebrow and asked me if I had ever gotten the talk about where little foals come from.  I had explained that I knew that, but I didn’t know they could check so early.  She shrugged and I decided to chalk it up to magic, and realized that I had an entire day to myself.  So, taking the day to rest up, since Mr. Rich was kind enough to allow all of his employees to have an extra day to rest before coming in, I decided that a day at the beach fishing, and lounging would be awesome.

“Hey, mind if you get some company?” a familiar voice asked.

I turned around to see Cloud Catcher and Carmel standing behind me.

“Sure, I’m not doing much anyway,” I said.

They walked up toward where I was sitting, and Carmel looked at the peaceful water.

“I don’t think that I’ve ever, and I mean ever, been so glad to see and hear so much peace and quiet,” he said.

“No kidding, so how was your first Hearts and Hooves Day?” Cloud catcher asked as he looked at me.

“I won’t lie man.  It was amazing, but damn I didn’t realize that when she said all week she meant all week,” I replied.

Carmel laughed and shook his head.

“At least you only had one to deal with,” he replied.

“Carmel are you going to brag again?” Cloud asked.

Carmel rolled his eyes.

“I wouldn’t call it bragging.  One of them was a gryphon, and trust me that’s a whole new game of hoofball.  So, did Lightning wreck your flank like she said she was going to?” he asked.

Cloud shook his head and looked out across the water.

“She was aggressive, but more than anything she wanted to be dominated.  It’s kind of weird, but she’s really into being really submissive during that time.  I wasn’t stupid enough not to give her what she wanted though,” he said.

Carmel laughed as he looked out over the lake.  He turned to look at me.

“So, is it true that human females are in heat all of the time?” he asked.

I laughed and shook my head.

“I don’t know if I’d call it in heat all of the time.  I know the majority of them have a cycle every month,” I said.

They both looked at me blankly for a moment before Carmel finally shook his head.

“You have to deal with this every month?” he asked.

“Not quite.  It’s different. I think because it happens so often it sort of lessens it to a degree.  They don’t seem as…” I struggled to find the right way to say it before Cloud laughed.

“They don’t seem as bucking nuts?” he asked.

“Yeah, that works,” I said.

“It’d be nice to not have to see them go all crazy.  Don’t get me wrong, I think the world of Carrot and I’m finding myself really liking Sveti, but to have their estrus without having them stalking me.  I’d pay a princess’ ransome,” Carmel said.

“I suppose you could always try to get a human girl,” I suggested.

He thought about it for a second and shook his head.

“No offense, but I’m not sure how it would work.  I mean all of you seem so tall and everything,” he said.

“I don’t know, but I saw Braeburn with a human girl back on Earth.  He looked fairly happy,” I said.

Carmel thought about that for a second and then shook his head.

“Naw, I like Carrot too much.  I just wish that she’d feel like settling down.  Don’t get me wrong I’m not exactly pro-herd, but I could stand to have Sveti and Carrot together,” he said.

“Nope,” Cloud said.

“Wouldn’t want to try it?” Carmel asked.

“Not. At. All,” he said, “I’ve dated a gryphon before, and that’s something I will never do again.  Those girls get violent in bed.”

Carmel laughed and shook his head, “You just have to find the right one.”

I listened to them, and soon the sound of someone else approaching caught our attention.  We looked over to see Big Mac.  He tiredly walked toward the water, backed into it, and sat down.  There was a sigh of relief before he looked around at us.

“So, I take it that you had an interesting Hearts and Hooves,” I said.

“Eeeyup,” he replied.

“Want to talk about it?” I asked.

“Nnnope.  Ah just wanna relax away from Cheerilee for a while,” he replied.

“Just Cheerilee?” Carmel asked.

“Not gonna talk ‘bout it,” Mac said.

I shook my head and looked across the water.  I could see more and more of the male population gathering around the water.  It seemed as if they were all ready to relax, get away from everything for a while, and just forget about the week they had been through.  In all honesty I felt the same.  I love Lyra, I love her with all of my heart, but that was something I won’t ever forget, and a day of being in the peace and quiet was perfect.

After a couple of hours there was a complete collection of males from Ponyville, including Mr. Cake.  The mood was fairly laid back.  I almost expected to see someone start a game of some sort, but the most that happened was the mummer of talk rising up on occasion.  I watched as Ironclaw the III dipped into the water.  It was interesting to watch for a few moments before finally someone broke the silence.

“So, how many of them do you think are with foal?” Carmel asked.

“If it was my mare’s choice she would be with foal this very second,” Ironclaw the III answered.

“Purty sure that Cheerilee is,” Mac said.

“I’m a little frightened at the prospect, but I would guess that Lightning is,” Cloud replied.

“I’m just hoping that it’s an Earth Pony this time,” Mr. Cake stated.

The answers began popping up, giving the indication that most of the population thought that there would be a new generation of foals running around before long.  Finally Cloud nudged me.

“What do you think about Lyra?” he asked.

“I don’t know.  I don’t know if our species are so far removed that it’s impossible or not.  I know that Gryphons and ponies can have children, but I don’t know about humans and ponies,” I replied.

“Maybe you will.  There’s nothing quite like having a little one running around,” a familiar voice said.

I looked and saw Chip.  He was relaxing a little further down the beach.

“I suppose it’s possible,” came a slightly gruff voice, “but then again I know that Berry and I have been trying for some time.  I’m glad that I’m able to help raise Berry Pinch at least.”

I looked to see John, the other resident human of Ponyville.  He walked toward the water, waded out into it, and let out a satisfied sigh as he laid back and floated on top of the water.

“So, when are you going to take Berry back to Earth?” Cloud asked.

“We’re waiting on the gate pass for Berry Pinch to come through.  There’s a lot of world over there that I want to show them,” he said.

“You’re wanting to leave Ponyville?” I asked.

“It’s a nice place, but it’s just not home.  I miss a few too many things about Earth, and I want Berry Pinch to get to experience some of the great things over there,” he said.

I couldn’t understand why he would want to leave.  The town was more or less perfect.  There wasn’t really any crime to speak of, and while the occasional weird thing happened it wasn’t that dangerous.  Sure, there was a few things I would want to show Lyra from Earth, but I was certain that I wouldn’t want to simply move back there either.

“John, are you planning on moving back to Earth?” I asked.

“That’s the idea.  Berry Punch and I have already gotten all of the details worked out through the embassy for the two of us, and like I said we’re just waiting on the pass for Berry Pinch.  Don’t get me wrong.  I like it here.  I really do, but this isn’t home, and besides if Berry and I want to have kids maybe the answer is in medical technology,” he answered.

I watched him float, and I wondered if he might be right.  Humans have done some pretty amazing things in the past, but I wasn’t sure if this was something that our medical advancements could really handle.  For all of our advancements I had never heard of cross breeding between a anything close to a human and a quadruped.  I not going to say that I didn’t believe it could happen.  After all there are gryphons and minotaurs so obviously the ability to cross breed was there, but both of those examples originated from here.  I wondered if it was because of the inherent magic of this world.

It would make sense if that was the case.  The magic that surrounded this world, that was part of it, but I wasn’t sure if it would work for us humans.  Everything I had seen on the news, and everyone I had talked too pretty much confirmed that we weren’t magical at all.  I decided to stop thinking about it for the moment.  Right now I wanted to relax, and just enjoy the day of doing absolutely nothing special.

The day began to pass, and I watched as the final few adult males began trickling in to the lake.  I was surprised to see Discord among everyone else there.  Being next to a god I figured that he would have simply been able to rejuvenate himself.  The air around the lake began to change as the day passed.  It was still relaxed, but the various groups of males began separating into different activities.

I smelled fish cooking, and I could see some of the other guys floating around sipping on some Trottingham Beer somepony had brought with them.  I had been fishing, and long since given my catch to the group cooking.  I wasn’t much of a fisher, but they accepted the three small fish I caught and seemed happy to have it.  I looked up into the sky and wondered exactly what was going to happen now.  Hearts and Hooves was long over, and with that I knew things were going to return to somewhat normal around Ponyville.  I also knew that more than likely there was going to be several additions to the community.

I could see every aspect of the lake, including the ‘My Little Dashie’ cabin, as I called it, being used.  I stood stretched, and began to walk.  I heard some hoofsteps and looked to see Cloud Chaser following me.

“Is everypony here?” I asked.

“Nearly, I’m sure some of the teenagers are trying to act like they didn’t do anything,” he said.

“Really?” I asked.

“Dude, I know when I was a teenager I didn’t let my family know that I had been caught and made someone’s special somepony for a few hours every day of the week after Hearts and Hooves day.  I’m pretty sure my Dad and Mom knew, but I wasn’t going to tell them that,” he said.

“So, they’d rather hang out by themselves huh?” I asked.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong.  If they’ve got some friends they’re going to be hanging out together, but for the most part they’re going to avoid coming out here,” he said.

I nodded, found myself near the fire pit, and took an offered piece of fish.  Cloud did the same and we took a seat near Ironclaw the III who was currently tearing into a piece of cooked catfish.

“He’s right you know.  When I was younger I did everything to ensure that my father and mother had absolutely no idea that I had been cornered,” Ironclaw said.

“Why go through all of that trouble?” I asked.

“It’s embarrassing,” they both answered.

I nodded and then looked up the sky again.  It was so clear.  I suppose that it would be.  The only place where there was any storms could be happening was the Everfree, and it even sounded quiet over there.  I watched the community gathered together relax, act like old friends, and then slowly everypony began leaving.  I waved at Cloud, Carmel, and Ironclaw as they left.  Instead for the moment I seemed to be completely alone.  Well almost alone.  The sounds of some arguments could be heard, and I walked toward them.  Standing in the distance was Diamond Tiara and near her was Rumble.  She turned from him and started to walk off.  I heard her final words to him.

“It was a mistake Rumble.  I meant what I said before about how everything we did was just fun, and I don’t want to have to settle down with a loser.  I don’t want you to come near me,” she said.

I looked at the adolescent colt sitting there.  It had to be hard, harder than I could even imagine, to hold in all of that pain.  Tears threatened to spill, and I walked toward him.  I took a seat across from him and looked up at the filly which was the cause of it.  I gently touched his side and brought him out of his self-enclosed withdrawal.

"Hey, it's going to be all right," I said.

He looked up at me, and his tears began to spill out.

"But...  but I...  I really like her," he muttered.

It was so painful to watch.  I had been where he was so many times.  More times that I could ever count.  I was lucky now, but I hadn't been before.  So, I figured it was time to pass along a little knowledge that my Uncle had passed on to me.

"I know it sucks.  Hell, it's seven shades of suck, but that's what a crush is.  That's actually why it's called a crush, because eventually that's exactly what it does.  No one's immune to it," I said.

"I...  I thought that she liked me," he whimpered.

"You want to hear a little secret?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Something like this happened to me.  I met a nice, sweet girl, but the problem was she was dating a real jerk.  Everyone knew that he was cheating on her, but she loved him.  I got to talking to her, and we got to be close.  I finally told her how I felt, and when I did she shot me down.  She was sweet about it, but it hurt all the same," I said as I looked up at the sky, "I realized that she didn't need another boyfriend, but she wanted a best friend.  So I decided to be the best friend I could to her.  The truth is that there's always going to be girls breaking your heart, and all you can really do is pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep going.  You keep going because eventually you're going to meet someone who's going to want to do nothing more than fawn over you."

"Sure..." he said.

"No, it's true," a different voice said.

We looked up to see Lyra trotting over to us.  She sat down on the other side of him.

"He's right you know.  You have to keep trying because eventually you will meet your special somepony, and when you do you'll be so glad that you never gave up," she said.

“She’s…  She’s going to have our foal,” he choked out.

Lyra took him into her forehooves and held him as he began to weep bitterly.

“My foal…  my foal isn’t ever gonna know that I’m the daddy,” Rumble said.

He brought his wings up to cover himself as Lyra held him.  I joined in the hug and wished that I could take the hurt away from the poor kid.  Sure, I knew in some way he had brought this on himself, but it wasn’t really fair to think like that.  The kid at least deserved to have his foals know him.

“It’ll be okay,” I said.

After a couple of hours we walked Rumble back to the family he was staying with.  Since his brother was on vacation at the moment he had been fortunate enough to get to stay with the cakes.  Apparently they had put him up in Pinkie’s old room, which was surprising to me.  I wasn’t sure why it was surprising, but perhaps because of the times I had seen the show and always associated Pinkie Pie with Sugarcube Corner.

We walked into the bar and Lyra let out a sigh.  I felt a sort of heaviness in the air and touched her hoof.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“Another year of not expecting,” she said.

There was a sad smile on her face.

“I’m kind of wondering if maybe I just can’t have foals,” she said.

I pulled her into a hug and felt her wrap her forehooves around me.

“So, you’d like to have children?” I asked.

“Yeah, I was a little disappointed this time, although I really don’t want them right now.  I’d kind of like to be married before getting pregnant,” she said, “Do you think that we’ll be able to have foals one day?”

“Honestly I’m sure that anything is possible,” I said before I kissed her.