After an uneventful and rather carefree return trip from Shady Hollows, I came home that evening to Daisy out of town on a delivery and Lily holding down the fort in her absence. Intent on seeing the damage firsthand from my being absent for two whole days, I put my belongings away and went back downstairs to see how Lily was faring. Upon entering the greenhouse, I noticed only half of the floral arrangements planned for tomorrow were done, and Lily looked to be wearing the contents of an entire bag of humus. Despite having an awful, busy day, she’d never looked happier as she greeted me with a cheerful ‘hello’.

“Lily smiling? There has to be a story behind that!” I joked, grinning in such a way as to let her know I was being friendly. She’s very sensitive about being made fun of.

“Well, I’m sure you’ve noticed how much of Golden Harvest we’ve been seeing lately. Just yesterday while you were gone, she asked me to be her marefriend and I said yes!” Lily reared up and gave a series of adorable hoof kicks and audible squee that gave me the impression of a filly on Hearth’s Warming Eve.

“That’s wonderful Lily! Is Daisy going to be out all night?” I wanted to see the look on Daisy’s face when I introduced her to the tall, handsome Gentleman.

“Yeah, she won’t be back until tomorrow.” Lily gestured behind her at the rows of plants in the greenhouse. “I’ve gotten a bit behind on work as you’ve probably noticed.”

When’s the last time these plants have been watered since I’ve been gone? I thought to myself, noting how dry the soil was. Helping myself to a watering can, I went to work helping Lily to re-pot the orchids. “Sounds like my little Lily is finally ready to blossom, herself!” I grinned, pointing at the flowers in her pot, pleased with my choice of metaphor.

“Oh I’ve been hearing it from Daisy, believe me!” Lily groused, her smile dropping.

“Did Daisy also mention how it’s perfectly natural and quite beautiful for a mare to find pleasure in the company of another?” I replied, my exasperation with Lily’s frigidness evident as I spoke. For Harmony’s sake Lily, try to enjoy yourself just a little!

She frowned at me in reply.

“Lily, I really hate to pry, but seriously what’s this all about? You’re clearly into each other, so what’s the hangup?

“Rose, do you really want to be stuck here all night? Let's just finish the work so we can both go to bed.” The formerly happy mare looked dejected, even fearful of taking the conversation further.

I can’t believe it! Even now when she’s on the threshold of actually getting some, she’s still creeped out by the topic of sex. “Lily, we’re going to be here all night regardless of whether or not we talk. Am I wrong about that?”

Lily hung her head, in defeat. “No.” She raised her head back up and pointed at me with her right forehoof. “I can ask you to leave though!”

I gestured back at her with my watering can. “Fat chance! You’ve got ten hours worth of work to do in here at least. Now you can tell me what’s on your mind and we can get this done in half the time, or you can spend the rest of the night covered in dirt. Your call.”

My vanquished friend finally relented; putting both of her forehooves up in mock surrender. “Fine! I’ll let you stay, but I fail to see the purpose of talking about… well, you know... ”

“Sex!” I shouted proudly. "The highest form of art in all the known universe!"

“Ungh!” Lily brought her forehooves to her temples as she is wont to do in moments of stress. “Yeah, that!”

“Lily, I just want to know one thing. Why do you get so uncomfortable about the mentioning of sex? Surely as intelligent as you are, the idea has popped into your brain that at some point this will happen between you and somepony else.” I refilled by watering can and moved to the table nearest Lily.

Lily’s face now turned guilty. “Rose, it already has happened, and you know that!” She began sobbing.

I grimaced at the memory myself — fun though it was in hindsight, it certainly wasn’t the introduction to intimacy I would have chosen for her! I put a hoof around her shoulder, prompting her to begin sobbing harder. “I do know, and as I said before, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Being under Discord’s influence is not the same thing as what’s happening now. I don’t hate you for what we did, but I do hate to see what it’s doing to you! For Celestia’s sake, Lily, that’s not what sex is!” I said even as I admitted to myself grudgingly that Discord or no, it was a pretty awesome experience. I didn’t want to admit it to anypony but seeing how despondent she’d become over it, I wondered if I should make an exception.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she brought herself under control enough to look at me, an expression of bitterness. “You should hate me, you know. I had a crush on you back then.”

That unlikely admission caught me off guard and I swallowed hard thinking of the implications. Had Discord been allowing her the chance to do what she wanted for his own amusement? Recovering from the shocking news, I got my head back on straight. “Lily, you may be a real stick-in-the-mud and not the sweetest mare I’ve ever met, but you’re not a monster! We were forced to do what we did, and the blame is on Discord, not you. There’s no need to hate yourself, or think that sex is always going to work that way.”

Lily nodded sadly, still sobbing gently over her flower pot.

I hesitated for a moment, before finally swallowing my pride. “For what it’s worth, Lily... I actually enjoyed our brief time together! It’s a moment we’ll always share, and I should’ve told you back then how I felt about it. I’m sorry you’ve held onto this for so long. Forgive me.” I bowed my head and ears.

This time, it was Lily who wore a shocked expression. “Rose… are you saying you actually enjoyed the company of a mare?” She looked up at me, disbelieving.

“I enjoyed the company of you Lily, and that’s nopony else’s business but ours.” We embraced each other, all the tension between us slowly melting away as I held her tight, and saw, with delight, she finally stopped crying.

Lily finally smiled, relieved of her heavy burden. “I guess you’re right. I’m just scared, you know? Goldie — I mean, Golden Harvest — is the kindest, gentlest mare I’ve ever met and I don’t want to scare her away.”

"Oh, you!" I gave her a dismissive wave. "Lily, let me tell you something; if Goldie was going to be afraid of you she wouldn't have approached you in the first place. The only thing you need to worry about is being the best version of yourself you can be and the rest will sort itself out. You dig?"

Lily gave me an odd expression before reluctantly nodding her head. "That makes sense... assuming I can achieve 'Best Lily' and maintain that somehow..."

Thankful I’d pulled her back from the brink of despair, I chuckled at her strange terminology — How does this gal's mind work, exactly? — and went back to watering the plants. Sure, helping my friend was priority one but I didn’t want to spend all night in this greenhouse either! "Well, at any rate, I don’t think Discord is going to be turning you into a sex-crazed love machine any time soon, being turned back into a statue again and all." I gave her a lewd wink. "Though, I don’t think you’ll need much persuasion to get Golden Harvest to roll with you in the hay! If anything, she'll be making the first move. She does seem to be the dominant type.”

Lily sighed. “I don’t get how you can be so nonchalant about sex, Rose. Committing to somepony like that is a huge risk!”

I should have seen this coming, yet another lecture about how I have too much stallion-related fun time. “It’s all a matter of what you're looking for, honestly. If you want a good rut, you go out there and find a stallion — or a mare in your case — who suits your fancy, you convince him you’re worth his time, and you both enjoy yourselves; it sure beats trying to work things out as a herd.” I felt my stomach churn as I thought of sharing a stallion with other mares. No filly should ever have to suffer through such deprivation!

Lily rolled her eyes at me. “You enjoy sex waaay too much!”

I laughed at that. “You will too once you've had it! Just promise me you won’t weird out on Golden Harvest and lose your one chance to try something new and enjoyable. Do I have your word, Lily?”

She hesitated again. “If circumstances warrant such actions I’ll —”

“Lily!”

She threw up her hooves. “Okay, okay! I promise.” She immediately turned towards her reflection in the greenhouse glass, examining herself silently. She took a deep breath and sucked in her belly before exhaling loudly. She gave her mane an experimental prod and took in her reflection from different angles. She slowly traced a hoof up her breast, feeling the way her fur parted.

I knew what she was doing; she was starting to look at herself as something for others to see. She was conceptualizing what it meant to be desired and touched by another pony. It was like witnessing a pony awaken from a coma after being asleep for many years. It dawned over her slowly like sunrise in the foal mountains but I could see hope gradually replacing the fear in her eyes.

“That’s better!” I clapped her on the back and thought of how proud Stuntman would be to see her overcome her fear and self-actualize right in front of me. Then I felt a pang of anxiety wondering what mare Richard would have crying out to Celestia tonight.

Feeling ashamed at my sudden bout of jealousy, I spent the rest of the evening and well into the night, quietly working to fix up the mess in the greenhouse. Completely exhausted from lack of sleep the night before, I passed out in my bed around one in the morning without a shower, miserable and filthy. So much for a grand victory celebration.

*****

I woke up a few hours later at Rose o’clock and shambled my way down to the greenhouse more dead than alive. I was greeted by Lily who looked as dead to the world as I was, but she helped me set up the stall with the recently assembled flower arrangements. I couldn’t help but offer her a sleepy ‘thanks’ for her effort.

She hugged me in return, and nearly fell back asleep on my shoulder.

The cart was back in the greenhouse, meaning Daisy had made it back okay and we could expect breakfast when she woke up, but I would have gladly traded it for more sleep. The stall we load most of our flowers in is just a wheeled cart that was specially designed to display the flowers instead of moving supplies. There’s also a place for the salesmare to sit and keep the money we make that day. The stall is pushed around the greenhouse, loaded up with the flowers we need, and pulled outside, usually by me, where the wheels are chocked and covered up by fold-down panels.

“Thanks again for helping last night.” Lily stifled a yawn. “I have a confession to make, Rose: if I wouldn’t have spent so much time with Golden Harvest yesterday, I wouldn’t have fallen so far behind,” she admitted sheepishly.

“I’ll be sure to call that favor back in as soon as I possibly can!” I muttered, a little grouchy as I pulled the loaded cart out to the front of the house. So much for Lily Valley: Employee of The Month. Is it too late to have the old Lily back? I gave the cart a quick buck after we put down the chocks; the panels fell into place on command.

The lights in the kitchen were on by the time we made it back inside; we were greeted by the smell of brewing coffee.

Daisy acknowledged us with a wave, wearing an apron that bore the words, kiss the cook. I’ll pass on that, thanks. “Morning, Rose, Lily. You two look awful! Did you both wind up at a Pinkie party or something?”

“If only I could be so lucky!” I wouldn’t be seeing any Pinky parties or the stallions that frequented them, in my future. “Lily and I were stuck with catching up on work in the greenhouse. It was a catastrophe of epic proportions.”

“Lily! This is not like you at all. Is somepony distracting you from your work? A certain filly catch your eye?” Daisy prodded, the corner of her mouth crooking up in certainty she knew the answer.

“See what I mean?” Lily mumbled to me miserably, her hooves going to the sides of her head again.

“What a way to spend your day back from your trip eh, Rose? So what were you up to in Hollow Shades? Seeing your Caneighdian friend perhaps?”

“Actually I was… and he’s not from Caneighda!” I snapped.

Lily Valley laughed quietly into her hoof. So much for returning last night's favor!

Having told Daisy that my stallion is human and expecting to introduce him to others soon, I decided it was best to concede that point to Lily as well. Oh, she wouldn’t like it, but better to get the worst of it now while she’s still in a relatively good mood; at the very least, too tired to really get mad. “Lily… the truth is, he’s not from Equestria or even Tellus,” I began, gathering my courage carefully as Daisy looked up in surprise. “He’s...actually one of the humans from the other side of the portal. I met him…”

“You had a human in my bed!?” Lily shouted, standing straight up and putting on her horrified look.

“Well… yeah.” I replied guiltily, absolutely spot-on about my fears.

Lily laid her head down on the kitchen table, covered her head with her forehooves and moaned in agony.

“Lily!” Daisy shook her spatula at the traumatized mare, a tone of warning in her voice. “She’s apologized enough for what happened.” Daisy looked happily at me again. “So how did you meet him? A friend of, Lyra, perhaps?”

I’d weighed my options, and decided to go with just enough not to get trapped in a lie. I could only hope my prosecutor friend wouldn’t pick up any inconsistencies in my story. “Nope. He’s actually a — what did he call it? — a ‘stunt man’. He travels around Equestria and goes flying through the air lashed to a team of pegasi stunt flyers.” True enough as it goes, right?

“Really! I’ve never heard of anything like that before.” Daisy scratched her chin as she leaned up against the stove. “So he doesn’t actually live in Ponyville?”

“Nope.” No way in Tartarus would she buy that Ponyville’s gossiping mare population would simply ignore the detail of a man strapped to a team of pegasi in Ponyville. That would be ridiculous!

“How did you meet this mysterious man in the sky anyway?”

Okay, Rose, you got this. “I met him through Rarity.”

Daisy smiled knowingly. “I wasn’t aware she was in the human matchmaking business. Makes sense I suppose given her difficult reputation…”

“So she doesn’t want to commit to a herd, big deal.” I dismissed her with a wave of my hoof. “I think a sophisticated mare like herself is justified in demanding the full attention of her stallion.”

“Well, I’d kind of like to raise foals before I get too old, myself. The trick will be in convincing Dizzy to go along with trying stallions again.” Daisy sighed, shaking her head. “Well, that was certainly very generous of our Rarity! So he lives out of town?”

I figured a truthful answer here was safe, my face neutral as I spoke. “All the way off in Manehatten.”

Daisy’s eyes widened in shock. “Manehatten!? How in Equestria are you going to maintain a relationship with somepony living in Manehatten?”

“Well we’ve got the telephone for when he’s away and he can just… fly over here.” I said lamely, thinking of his pegasus-drawn chariot. Humans just have those, right? I could feel the crud of a thousand seagulls began to rain and all of it was landing on me. I felt a trickle of sweat begin to run down the back of my neck.

“He has his own private team of flyers that take him places?” Daisy cocked an eyebrow at me skeptically.

Oh seagull crud on me again! “He’s not really a big deal around Ponyville, sure, but in Manehatten, he’s quite the lark!” Celestia, banish me now...

Daisy looked to be in a trance for a moment. “Quite the lark…” She snorted and began to laugh. “That’s a good one, Rose! Did you get that, Lily?”

The exhausted mare awoke from her torpor with a start. “Get what? Food, where?”

Daisy grunted and rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright. I’ll get cooking! You two can both take the morning off and sleep. I can handle things well enough myself. Thanks for helping out last night, Rose, you really went above and beyond there!” Daisy beamed at me proudly. "Consider yourself Employee of The Month!"

“My pleasure!” I lifted a hoof to my chest, praising dumb luck for my salvation. “I’m not really that hungry, though. I think I’m going to take a shower and sleep now; I’m ready to fall over.”

“I’ll take her’s, Daisy!” Lily Valley said, her stomach growling in agreement.

Before Daisy could object, I started making my way to the bathroom.

“Hold on there, Star Employee! I'm not done with you yet!” Daisy shouted, her forehoof outstretched at me as I stood frozen with my hoof extended halfway to the doorknob — her face a mask of determination. The only thing hurting her case as a prosecutor was the spatula in her hoof, and that ridiculous apron.

"Eep!" I froze.

Lily’s head perked up, and turned to face me with an inconvenienced look of, ‘now what did you do’?

“Y-yes, Daisy?” I put on my best attempt at an innocent face but could do nothing to stop the sweat from trickling down my body.

“This coltfriend of yours is from Manehatten and he has his own chariot.” I could see the wheels behind Daisy's eyes were turning.

“Yes,” I winced as her gaze bore into me.

“Quite unusual for a human to have access to their own team of flyers. If I didn't know better I'd call it complete fantasy, but it's not fantasy, is it, Rose?" She waited for me to reply but my teeth were grit together so she continued. "I may be able to explain that for you... that Gentleman for Mares service is also based out of Manehatten!”

“Ngh!” I felt my stomach buckle as if I’d been punched. “H-how could you possibly know that s-sort of thing?”

“Oh don’t even try it, Rose! I’m following the articles in the Manehatten Post about the life of one of their trainers — some mare named Five Stars. You know you really had me going there for a while. ‘Stunt man’… Let me guess, is that his call name? At least you were somewhat honest about him being introduced to you by Rarity. Funny thing, she actually wrote into the paper the other day about her own experience with one...”

I stared at her blankly, forgetting for a fleeting moment that I was being grilled, my curiosity piqued. “There are articles about Gentleman for Mares in the newspaper?”

Daisy shook her head and sighed. “Bit of an oversight when you were constructing your lie, eh, Rose?"

I slowly walked over to the couch and collapsed into it, face down. “I… I don’t... read... the newspapers.”

“Clearly. But I have to admit this mare, this... Five Stars, has had an interesting life,” Daisy said, her anger briefly forgotten.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t read the newspapers either. How did Roseluck screw up this time?” Lily asked with cold detachment.

“She hired a human from an escort company to come and rut her brains out after getting us away from the house through her Marechivellian machinations,” Daisy replied, irony dripping off every word.

It took a few seconds for the import of the words to fully register, but when they did, Lily’s expression of horror dwarfed anything she’d delivered before. “Arrrggh! I should have burned the whole bedroom!” she exclaimed, covering her eyes as if remembering the sight of her ruined room once more.

I can’t believe this mare has ever had the desire to rut me; I live in a crazy world. “Roseluck didn’t screw up anything!” I said, so angry I'd switched to speaking in third-pony. “I had a wonderful night, no, two wonderful nights with a tall, handsome stranger who gave me exactly what I craved! A man who didn’t judge me for being strange, and who treated me like royalty!”

Daisy facehooved. “Yes, Gentleman tend to be very nice to their clients. They also tend to be very good at sex with ponies. Do you know what they probably aren’t good at? Staying faithful to one! I’m surprised at you, Rose! You of all ponies should not be this taken in by an one or two encounters!”

“Rose, why would you of all ponies need to pay for… for sex?” Lily cringed slightly at the last word, all but squeaking it out. At least she was saying the word now.

Daisy’s reminder of Richard’s absence hurt, but I had to trust him. He put his name on the line, and paid service provider or no had gone well beyond the call of duty. Lily looked at me disbelieving, but with an earnest desire to understand evident in her eyes. “Lily, it’s difficult for me to explain, but there are some things stallions just can’t do for me. I’d say more but it’s very personal to me. There is a good reason, but I think you can appreciate that there are some things you just don’t talk about with others.” I maintained as neutral a tone as I possibly could, and was pleased to see understanding replacing uncertainty.

Lily nodded and looked down at the floor, silent and contemplative.

“Believe me, Daisy, I know how all of this looks. This is why I wanted to keep it a secret from you both. Well, I can’t now, and I need you to give me some measure of credit as a grown mare to see this through!”

“Nopony is questioning your age, Rose, but why are you doing this all of a sudden!? You seemed so… content with just messing around with random stallions. You’ve never had a nasty breakup or been taken advantage of by a stallion, and yet you casually cast all of us ponies aside for an alien from another dimension. One question, just one question is all I ask: What makes this human stallion so much better than all the ponies you’ve been with before?” Daisy plunked herself down in the recliner and beheld me with eyes furrowed, her forehooves held together.

A pregnant pause filled the room, as I found no answer to her simple question. As great as the sex was, it was only sex, and when it came down to it that wasn’t what had won my heart. I closed my eyes and made myself remember his courtesy and kindness; the way he actually listened to me talk about my boring life with genuine interest, and the simple satisfaction he took in making me happy. I thought of the sight of him flying off into the sky in his pegasi-drawn carriage, off for lands unknown, filled with untold dangers and unforgettable experiences, off to his next great adventure in life and love… but promising that ultimately, he would come home to me. I looked back up at Daisy’s face, whose accusing glare softened into a look of genuine concern.

“Rose, I want you to know that whatever you decide to do, we’ll always be your friend, but I can’t just let you make such a decision without thinking it through. If you can’t answer the question, just look me in the eye, and tell me: Is this really what you want?”

I raised my gaze to her and did my best to do so. “To your previous question, I don’t feel comfortable answering, but it’s not just the sex or the fact he’s a human. You have to meet him to understand. Nothing else matters once you’ve heard him speak of his life and experiences: the places he’s been, the journeys he’s taken, the adventures he’s faced…” I shook my head in disbelief again at some the tales he told. “He’s lived the lives of a hundred ponies, Daisy, each more fascinating than the last. Yet, when he looks at me, I can’t help but believe that he views me as a fellow traveler — as an equal. Someone he’d want to spend his life with.” I closed my eyes again, shivering as I remembered how he’d kissed me for the first time as a lover.

My words and body language seemed to confirm my sincerity in Daisy’s eyes. “That’s reason enough for me, Roseluck,” she said tearfully, who walked over to give me a hug, joined soon after by Lily. I praised harmony to be blessed with such friends and I still do this day. We embraced each other tightly, until Lily’s stomach could take no more, and grumbled again.

We laughed even as we wiped the tears from our eyes.

Lily Valley ate well that morning, and I finally got my first real sleep in days.

Author's Note

Sorry about the wait, but this chapter proved to be a real challenge. There's no clopping and that does break with the format, I'm really sorry. For the sake of pacing, I decided to hold off on that until next chapter. Thanks again to Firesight for editing, and boy did I need it here; this was a tough one.

Edit: 10/12/2015 - So what about that sexual encounter Roseluck and Lily were talking about? You can find out here! Mind the fetish warnings in the description to avoid getting squicked out.

Off to work on chapter seven! In the meantime, go check out Five Star Service here.

5/22/2018: Grammarly edit.

7/27/2019: I'm doing an overhaul of the dated-as-fuck 2015 dialogue on this chapter.