Things went back to normal back at the flower shop very quickly, and I found myself back in my native element: sweating and covered in dirt while occasionally making nice with the customers. Oh, I didn’t have to work sixteen-hour days anymore, just the occasional twelve-hour day. For the first time in my life though, I was actually enjoying myself at work! True to her word, Daisy started organizing bi-weekly water balloon battles. Sadly for Lily, she only got Golden Harvest, or “Goldie” as she likes to call her, for half of the time. Taking advantage of the presence of so many wet mares congregated in one place, a number of Ponyville’s men, the ones who were perfectly okay with potentially hooking up with giving another species, formed their own team. Princess Twilight Sparkle herself showed up, and gave her blessing to our ‘friendship study’.

“I really appreciate you three taking the time to organize this event to make our human guests feel welcome here in Equestria!” the lavender alicorn beamed with pride as she addressed the saturated assembly of mares and men. “So far away from home, I can only imagine how overwhelming this must be for all of them.”

“We certainly aim to make life as pleasant as possible for our new allies,” I said importantly, still dripping wet.

Lily rolled her eyes at me and walked back inside muttering as the men gawked and stared at our princess. A few of them even kneeled!

Twilight arched an eyebrow at me.

“Don’t mind her, she hates to waste a bad day.” I stood on my hind legs and slung my forelock back with a sweep of my hoof, releasing a stream of water. A few of the men whistled at me, proving humanity was not only friendly but had good taste.

Twilight laughed nervously. “Well, you’re all certainly having a good time. I hope you all —” Her remark was cut off by a well-placed, particularly large and very wet balloon which exploded across her back, soaking her as much as the other mares. “Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow Dash popped up from behind a cloud and laughed. “Just making sure you look the part, Twilight!”

A volley of well-placed slingshot-fired water balloons from the humans compelled the cyan pegasus to abandon her cloud, as well as her dignity as she shrieked off into the sky with Twilight in hot pursuit, telekinetically carrying a bushel’s worth of liquid vengeance in a purple field of levitation.

Linky gave the humans an appreciative nod. “Well done, human warriors. Yeh learn fast!”

“Remember to be back next week at the same time for another battle! Next week, humanity versus the pegasi!” Daisy helpfully reminded everyone who’d showed up.

A few of the pegasi mares cheered along with a muscle-bound pegasus stallion who shouted, “Yeeeeaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Thanks in large part to the water balloon fights and the subsequent dates they spawned, sales at the shop went up by fifty percent for the month; I’d have no trouble rebuilding my savings or even buying a new dress for when Stuntman came home to me. A couple of mares from the pegasi team even snapped up a pair of human men who were quite eager to learn more about Equestrian culture. A friendship study indeed!

*****

As I started working less, the stallions and even some of our new human companions started approaching me. Even as my estrus edged closer and closer — I experience mine once a month instead of the usual two to three months most mares do — I dared not violate Richard’s trust. He was only doing his job as a gentleman, but I would have to live with my infidelity. Still, as selfish as it is to say, it still broke my heart to cut them off. It sounds strange to some, but sex isn’t just a good time, but a way of expressing my individuality.

As luck would have it, Daisy kept all of the Times articles and was kind enough to let me read them, starting with the account of her first herd, which I read the night after our group discussion. Despite everything looking promising, it ended in disaster. Oddly enough, Discord’s return had been a factor in the split, and I wondered how many other ponies had had an awkward sexual experience that day.

Richard called me my second night back home. Thrilled I wasn’t forgotten, we spoke at length about ourselves, where we’d been, what our friends were doing, and when he was going to hurry up and get his butt over here already.

“I’m still working on it, but we’ll have at least three days together soon, I swear!” He’d promised me.

After work each day for thirteen days, I’d cleared all of the articles except the most recent. There was one article I was saving for the first day of my heat cycle.

Which also happened to be the night of poor Lily’s trial...

Golden Harvest and Lily started spending more and more time together as the week progressed. It seemed the destruction of our best employee’s reputation was at hoof, as Daisy and I caught the two of them making out in the greenhouse on more than one occasion. After the third time, which had only taken a couple of weeks, poor Lily was sentenced by Daisy to manage the stall while I worked the greenhouse for a week. Sitting in the hot seat — in this case, the recliner in the living room — I watched poor Lily’s reaction.

Lily, of course, was horrified by the news, rearing up and putting her hooves to the side of her head. “B-but I get nervous around other p-ponies! You know that!”

“I’m sorry Lily, but we can’t have you performing ‘advanced friendship studies’ during business hours,” Daisy replied coolly.

Sitting next to Daisy on the sofa, I brought my hoof to my mouth to keep myself from laughing, succeeding only in having a chortle escape through my nose in the form of loud snort.

Daisy and Lily shot me an exasperated look, but it won Lily no favors this time. “Roseluck will manage the greenhouse for the next week while you and Golden Harvest work your way through the honeymoon period. As happy as I am for you, I need you working more than ever to keep up with all of this business.”

Lily sighed. “Yes, ma’am…”

“Good. Rose, I’m heading to Dizzy’s. All of this talk about romance has got me in the mood! Try not to burn down the house down while I’m gone!”

“Yeah, yeah…” I dismissed her unfunny joke with a wave of my hoof and was about to make my way upstairs to my ice-cold bed when I noticed Lily leaving as well. “Hey Lily, good luck!” I gave her a roguish wink and the nastiest grin I could manage.

After looking at me with a mingled expression of sheer terror and a desire for vengeance, she settled on an undignified retreat out the door.

That’s my Lily!

*****

Reading the latest Gentleman article which followed Five Stars’ and her third herd’s relationship, the phone rang. I snatched up the receiver and spoke, hoping for the best. “Hello?”

“Hello yourself, little flower!” came the low, slightly accented voice of Equestria’s finest pony stalker.

“Richaaaaaard!” I squealed gleefully, dropping the phone to give my body pillow a hug in place of the real thing, while he laughed that good-natured laugh of his.

“Whoa, Whoa! You make it sound like I wasn’t going to call back! How are things back home?”

“Everything’s great, Richard. I’ve been keeping myself soaking wet with the garden hose to withstand the oppressive heat of the day out here,” I said in my most sultry voice.

Richard exhaled slowly. “There’s truly no escape from your wicked temptations, is there?”

“Can’t let a man get too comfortable! In all seriousness, I have spent a great deal of time soaking wet over the past week. We’ve started team water balloon fights, and I must admit, humans, are very impressive on their two legs.”

“You should see us when we’re being chased by bears!” he joked. “Very impressive right up until we get caught, and that’s not nearly as fun as letting me catch you!”

He stole my joke! I vowed to make him pay for that later. “And what about letting Five Stars catch you?”

The line went silent for a moment. “Hoo-boy. Okay, how much do you know?”

No way! How could I possibly be this lucky? “Are you kidding me? I just found out about these articles in the Manehatten Times, and you’re telling me you’ve gone a round with her?”

“You could say that…” he said playfully. “She’s trained a good percentage of us Gentlemen. Some of us before we even started our first day on the job!”

A mare after my own heart! “I’m told you men aren’t used to the wiles of a cunning and resourceful mare. It must have been really exciting to discover you were trapped with no hope of salvation.”

“A feeling we can both relate to, no?” he replied huskily.

My breathing went shallow as I felt heat spread throughout my body, readying itself for his touch; A touch that would not come this night. I suppressed a needy whine as estrus overtook me. “How long, will it be until I can see you again, Richard?”

“This Saturday, Rose; I’ve arranged a few days off so I can go see you. I want you to know this hasn’t been easy for me either, but I’m doing what I can to make time for us. You still want to do this… right?”

The tenderness with which he spoke was so warm and sincere that I trusted him immediately. “Oh, Richard, of course, I do! Where will we meet?”

“I don’t suppose I could stop by your place? That is unless your friend isn’t waiting to buck me clear across town...”

“Don’t be silly. They’re very curious about you, and you’re more than welcome to stay if you haven’t already made accommodations.” Richard sleeping in my bed? Yes, please!

“As long as it’s no trouble. How much do they know about me?”

I fidgeted uncomfortably in my bed remembering my shameful performance two weeks ago. “I sorta told them about you coming in a chariot and I got cornered into telling them the truth.” I reactively bowed my head in submission to the empty room.

To my relief, he took in stride. “Don’t worry about it, Rose, what’s done is done. As long as they don’t spread the word or greet me with pitchforks, there shouldn’t be a problem,” he said casually.

I shook my head, subconsciously, still bothered by something when it hit me. “Richard, may I ask you a question of a somewhat personal nature?”

Sensing the importance of the question he dropped his carefree attitude. “If it’s really important to you, then please ask.”

“Well, I apologize for asking but I really want to know… have you been in any intimate relationships since becoming a gentleman?” I cringed as I spoke. “I only ask because I’ve never really been in a long-distance relationship before and wonder what it’s like.” I could almost picture him squirming in his chair. I was reluctant to ask about his previous relationships, but my curiosity needed to be answered. That, and I couldn’t get sex off of my mind at the time.

There was a slight hesitation, but then he came through clearly and confidently. “I did have one. I’ll admit, the fact she was a pegasus made things easier since she could drop in on me every now and then, but it was still a lot of work and in the end, she decided to call things off.”

She'd dumped him? That’s crazy! “I’m so sorry! Did you two just grow apart?”

He gave a polite laugh. “I wouldn’t think you’d be too sorry!”

I ran a free hoof through my mane awkwardly. The man has a point. “You got me there.”

“To satisfy your curiosity, she wanted foals and decided to join a herd. Since there’s a good chance I’ll run into her again at some point, I should let you know she lives in Ponyville like you and works on the weather team. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve met her.”

I knew just about every pony in town but hadn’t heard any gossip on pegasi mares sleeping around with a human. I must be getting old! “You and a weather pony? Surely that would create a scandal! What’s her name?

“Blossomforth.”

My eyes went wide as saucers. My Gentleman had managed to hook up with the only mare in town who’s more dangerous at the stallion game than I am! I felt a mixture of respect and even a hint of fear. While I don’t consider myself a connoisseur of the female beauty by any means, Blossomforth was, and is, the most beautiful and graceful pegasus mare I’ve ever seen. Her pale pink coat almost glowed in the sun; her cerise and mint-green striped mane stood in stark contrast to even the most colorful pony, and immediately drew the eyes of all about.

And once she had your eyes on her, the fur freckles and bright, blue eyes ground all remaining resistance to powder and cast it to the winds with a carefree wave of her delicate wings. If I had enough to drink, she could probably have me for the night — though I’d never admitted it even if Celestia herself had asked for the truth. Of course, this erotic tale of filly-foolery will never be told; not after I delivered her the only defeat she’d ever suffered from a stallion. One wild night at Pinkie’s, when I was a young mare of eighteen, I seduced her coltfriend into tucking me in and later rubbed her nose in it. I was a greedy and unprincipled little filly back then...

Richard’s voice cut into my reverie. “I know it must seem odd to you when I’m out sleeping with other mares, but I haven’t been sleeping with anypony, er, anyone else outside of work.”

“Of course you haven’t!” I said confidently. “I haven’t been seeing anypony else either. I miss you a lot, Richard, but you’re always worth the wait.”

I could all but hear his relief on the other end. “You’re so sweet, Rose!”

“So a few days then?” My nethers jolted impatiently. Looks like bedtime is coming early for me.

“It’ll be over before you know it!” he exclaimed, no doubt being ironic.

“I guess this is goodnight then, monster. Will you be kind enough to stalk me in my dreams?”

I could just see him grinning in my mind’s eye, his pointy incisors glinting by candlelight as he spoke. “Count on it, My Little Pony!”

*****

When all hope for stallion companionship is lost, there’s always doing it yourself. You could say the Equestrian civilization was built on the backs of mares with three hooves to the ground and one between her thighs. The nearly five to one ratio of mares to stallions has made the need to cool down from estrus an ongoing struggle — one I’m sadly familiar with. Oh, I can chase the elusive male as well as any other mare, better than most in fact, but even I can’t always have a happy ending.

I shut the window to the room; no use in letting the entire town hear me moaning even if I had the entire house to myself again. I lit up the room with cherry-scented candles to set the mood and wound up the disc phonograph. Lastly, and most necessary of all, I withdrew from the top shelf of my closet an inconspicuous wood box containing the cooler: a lifesaver invention that simulates, to a rough approximation, the texture and feel of a stallion’s phallus. Since a mare can’t ‘cool’ off her heat without the discharge of seed, the cooler was designed to squirt an artificial substitute.

Having removed the cooler from the box, I took out a white powder-filled cylinder and added water to the open end. Using the heat from one of my candles, I warmed it to body temperature, capped the open end, and gave it a vigorous shake. It would keep for at least an hour before beginning to cool down. One of ponykind’s greatest inventions! Satisfied with my work, I loaded the cylinder into the cooler and suction-cupped it to the wall behind my bed. Ideally, this is performed with another mare you're cool with called a “heat buddy” or a marefriend if ladies are what you’re in to. My heat buddy had become unreliable since she started seeing Dizzy, leaving me to cook up pseudo-stallion cocktail mixes in my bedroom like some second-rate alchemist. Alas, such is life.

I heard the front door open and cut the music. Lily and Daisy had only been gone two hours, so what was the deal? The mood I’d ramped up with the latest Five Stars article was dampened by the new arrival, frustration filtered in to take its place, leaving me even less ready to clop. I gave a needy whine. Focus Roseluck! I thought of Richard chasing me through the house and felt a pang of loneliness. Ugh, not going to work this time. I thought of my night of passion with Thunderlane; as hard as it is to admit, there is something sexy about the thought of sleeping with another mare’s colt, even to this day.

Silence downstairs. Well, whoever it was could mind their own darn business! I ground my hoof into my aching blossom until it was saturated with my fragrance — my breathing becoming ragged. My nose twitched with the memory of his scent, a spicy smell unique to pegasi sweat. I remembered him trying to flap his wings to generate thrust, but the young stallion hadn’t managed to overcome his stiffened wings as I lapped at his shaft and balls. Still, he needn’t have bothered, he was packing more than enough to satisfy…

As I was sure Blossomforth could attest to now.

“Oh come on, Rose!” I whimpered to myself. The feeling was wonderful, but try as I might I couldn’t bring the full weight of my imagination to bear. I punched my body pillow to let out my frustration.

I heard the gentle sound of hoof clops in the upstairs hallway and the sound of a door opening. The pink and red hairs along the crest of my mane stood straight up. Lily and Golden Harvest. No, it can’t be! Lily is more afraid of sex than parasprites, bunny stampedes and ursas combined! Newfound confidence or no, There was no way in Tartarus she would or could be doing this with me here.

Unless Linky and Twinkleshine had claimed Golden Harvest’s house for the night. No mare or stallion would willingly occupy the same house as those two once Linky gets riled up if the rumors of marebarian roleplay are true.

I felt a growing sense of dread and even guilt. Would I be robbing her of her first time... again? I marveled at the seeming contradiction of terms. Hearing the door open I turned the music back on, volume low but just enough to give the pair some privacy.

Quiet conversation filtered through the walls. I could make out parts of it and my name was brought up several times but the pair were being deliberately quiet, likely assuming I was asleep. I knew what was about to happen and felt an empathic link to my equine sister grab me by the tail and drag me down, down, down inexorably into the open maw of carnal desire. My friend was about to get rutted and I could feel her excitement deep within my very soul.

I wasn't going to touch myself to Lily. It would be unforgivable. I went back to the articles and read on as the conversation is the next room would down and I heard the sound of Lily's husky feminine voice speaking above the din of the phonograph...

“Goldie, I’m ready for you!” Lily cried out rapturously.

Then I heard it: the most beautiful little squeak to have ever been uttered by ponykind, and then another. Soon Lily’s room was filled with the serene sound of Lily's maresong filling the entire house, my head swimming. My nethers began to expand, waiting eagerly to be filled by another.

Oh, if the Summerlands were filled with such a glorious sound! I felt my special flower begin to weep anew as I dug into it with a practiced hoof, suppressing the urge to moan myself and as much to hear Lily's siren song as to keep my unwanted presence from intruding on their night of love.

I closed my eyes and somehow I saw them clearly; even movement, every touch: ‘Goldie’ teasing dear Lily with her tongue while she teased her teats with the soft part of her forehooves — one hoof between her thighs vigorously stoking her own fire.

Lily was on her back of course, all the more exciting to see the desire in Goldie’s eyes; the orgasm building deep inside of her steadily, as Goldie put all her years of practice in pleasuring mares to good use.

My hoof was not enough. Placing the pillow on its side, I thrust my entrance across its edge repeatedly, each swipe sending electric surges of pleasure throughout my body. As the cadence of Lily’s moans and the squeaks of her bed began to quicken, I felt myself on the verge of orgasm. Biting down on the end of the pillow in a desperate bid to muffle the impending scream; I came hard enough to make my eyes cross, a muffled, neighing whine having escaped my lips.

In the other room, the action continued unabated until Lily finally climaxed with a blissful song that could banish the chill of the windigos.

I could see it so clearly in my mind’s eye, Goldie accepting her offering with a swallow — the excess coating her muzzle and torso. Her eyes taking in the beautiful mare she had shared her love with pride and immense satisfaction.

No sooner had I came when I felt my body began to heat back up. I drank the glass of water on my nightstand to quench my sudden thirst. The little pony inside my head pointed me back toward my toy box where I’d stashed away another cooler, which I mounted to the wall next to first. As the action in the other room began to pick back up, I inserted the tip and thrusted myself back into it. I was in no hurry to cool off now. I savored the aroma of the candles, the warmth, and stickiness of the heavily perfumed air and the sound of the two mares in the other room whose need for one another vicariously satisfied my base urges.

The two of them were moaning together now; Lily’s melodic, high-pitched, quavering squeal serving as an erotic counterpoint to Goldie’s deeper moan. No doubt, the two had switched to a double-ended cooler.

“Yeh're doin’ great, Lily! By the stars, yeh're wonderful!” Golden Harvest exclaimed. “I can feel it coming! Harder, Lily!Harder! I need you!”

“Yeeeees!” I heard Lily scream as I quickened my own pace, determined to climax at the same time in what, as far as I knew, nopony had ever tried before: a simultaneous three-way, voyeuristic climax. But if anypony can manage it, it’s us! I assured myself, summoning every ounce of strength in all four legs and hips into hilting the enormous, pseudo-stallion member repeatedly.

I heard them both go off at once, and sent one last thrust into the loaded cooler, emptying its contents into me as I felt my throat scrape from the piercing cry that tore from me, unfettered, the cooler doing its work of filling me to the brim with white, warm, gooey seed. I rode my orgasm for the better part of a minute before collapsing to the bed and rolling over on my side, utterly spent as I dimly realized the house had gone dead quiet. Not the sound of gurgling water pipes nor the throes of passion between mares, just an eerie, lingering silence.

I could take it anymore and spoke through the wall. "Eheh, sorry in there! Um... I'll just be... very quiet now."

From the other room, I heard the slow clopping of hooves. “Oi, Rosie! I’m glad it was good for yeh too!” Golden Harvest called to me.

“Rose… I’m far too happy right now to ask why in Tartarus you just did that, so I’ll let this one slide.” An out of breath Lily gasped at me through the wall.

“Thank… you…” was all I could manage. Too exhausted to feel shame and too content with myself to move a muscle, I fell asleep where I lay. As I drifted off into a dreamy sleep, I resolved I’d apologize to anypony offended later... after I thanked Luna personally.

Author's Note

For anyone curious about Lily and Golden Harvest, I do have an old story I wrote in a different universe that's perfectly innocent E-rated fun, and yet paradoxically references The Scent of Prey. It's called Lily Valley Goes Shopping.

As far as an M-rated version of the two of them, I don't have any plans as of yet. My apologies.

5/22/18: Grammarly edit.

7/27/2019: Modified Lily and Golden Harvest's scene. I have plans...