Heatstroke

Chapter 3: Of Hormones and Happiness

“You sure you want to do this, Trixie?” asked Lyra with a dubious cast to her features, looking at Trixie as she trotted alongside the musician down one of Ponyville’s back alleys... towards a particular shop Lyra was quite familiar with but was curious how Trixie had even become aware of it.

Trixie, with so much bravado that Lyra didn’t even have to try to notice how much the other mare was forcing it, flipped her mane and said, “I am leaving nothing off the table. Besides I thought you’d be fine with this idea. Don’t, um, well, you and Bon Bon... go to this shop a lot, right?”

Lyra’s ears twitched, her mouth quirking with a smirk she suppressed instantly, “Well, yes, we do. Bedroom Adventures just doesn’t strike me as the kind of store that you’ll be able to go into without hyperventilating all over the place,and I kind of like you to remain conscious.”

“That’s why I have you coming along!” said Trixie with forced enthusiasm that barely hid the mare’s nervousness, “You can help with the more... delicate parts of this. Look, I need to do this. If I can’t even deal with a simple shop dealing in,” she made a rough hoof gesture and a grimace of distaste crawled onto her face, “that kind of thing, then how can I face Raindrops head on? I still need to go to her place, but I want to actually go there with... with something concrete to help with!”

Lyra gave Trixie a flat look, “And just what do you expect to find in a sex shop to help with? Unless you’re planning a seriously messy visit, Trixie, I’m not sure this will do much except make you even more agitated with the whole notion of just sleeping with Raindrops.”

“Are you going to help me or not?”

“I am! Of course I am. But seriously, what do you expect to find that will help?”

Trixie took a deep breath, and Lyra wondered just what had to be going through her friend’s mind. Lyra, though she felt guilty to admit it to herself, had never been able to get her mind wrapped around Trixie’s hang ups with sex. It didn’t make Lyra think less of Trixie or anything, it just confused her. And made her worry for Trixie. Lyra had been happy to hear it when Raindrops and Trixie had started dating, feeling nothing but joy at the prospect of two of her friends making one another happy... but Lyra had also hidden a seed of fear that this very problem would eventually crop up. In Lyra’s mind the solution was as simple as Trixie just... learning to get over her distaste for sex, but she also knew that thinking that was unfair. But it was incredibly frustrating at the same time. She wanted her friends to be happy, but had no idea how to help other than to follow Trixie’s lead.

“Alternatives,” Trixie said simply, licking her lips in a harried fashion, “I know some of you don’t think it’s a good idea, but I don’t see a problem if I can find some magical item or spell that can simplify all this. Or maybe, I don’t know, some kind of alchemical solution? They must sell potions here, right? I’ve also considered, ah... toys.”

“Toys?” Lyra asked, not entirely certain she could raise her eyebrows high enough.

Trixie’s own cheeks had decided to do their best impressions of cherries, “It was just a thought! I don’t have to... um... touch directly if I use... something else... like a go between. I don’t know, okay!? Like I said, I’m not leaving anything off the table.”

Trixie hung her head a bit, saying in a lower voice, “I just want to bring Raindrops something to prove I’m thinking of her. That I’m trying to find a solution.”

Lyra smiled some encouragement, “Okay, I’ll stop questioning this, then. Just, you know, if this gets weird, just say so, and we can go.”

This earned a sidelong look from the magician, “How could it get that weird?”

Lyra let out a small chuckle, “You don’t know who works there, do you?”

"No, who?" Trixie asked as she pushed open the door to the shop, the exterior of which was denoted by a colorful sign of a heart with a red arrow shot through it. Trixie hadn't even made it one complete step into the store before a pink blur appeared before her with a sound akin to a flicked spring.

"Oh my gosh hi Trixie!" chirped Pinkie Pie happily as she bounced before the bewildered magician, "I never thought in a million zillion years you'd walk through those doors but when my tail went zonky and I got an itch on my left eyelid followed by two consecutive stomach gurgles I knew it had to be you! Oh, hi Lyra! Your order just came in this morning!"

"Hey Pinkie," said Lyra casually as she squeezed in by the stock still Trixie, who was starring saucer eyed at the bubbly pink mare while Lyra trotted into the store, "I'll pick up my order in a minute. I was wondering if you could help Trixie out first?"

"Oh indeedy doo!" Pinkie Pie gave a quick salute, "The Pinkie Pie vow of quality customer service applies to all establishments that employ yours truly! Sooooooo-" she shot eyeballs at Trixie with a wide, welcoming grin, "What can we do for you Trixie? Looking for some extra sauce for a steamy night of bouncy fun with a super special somepony? We've got it all here at Bedroom Adventures! Look!"

Trixie, eye twitching slightly, didn't quite manage to get out a, "H-hold on a moment Pinkie," before she was yanked halfway across the surprisingly large store and plopped down the central aisle while Pinkie Pie cartwheeling over to a series of shelves with numerous objects on display. Objects that as Trixie looked at them felt her brain start to freeze up.

"Yup, we've got every shape and size you could ever want, all made from super-duper realistic rubber that feels like the genuine thing! Vibrate function sold separately," Pinkie said proudly, then zipped up next to Trixie and whispered, "We've even got chocolate flavored ones in the back, ask me about those later."

"Pinkie..." Trixie managed to say while gulping and taking deep breaths, "C-could you slow down a moment?"

Pinkie's enthusiasm popped like a balloon and she immediately got a concerned look on her face, "You okay Trixie-bixie? You're looking kinda green around the old gills?"

Lyra, who'd been standing to the side, said, "Trixie's kind of freaked out by this stuff, Pinkie. She's here on her insistence, but we need to take it slow with her."

"Ooooooooh," said Pinkie Pie, nodding her head multiple times. Then she blinked, "Wait, if Trixie is all kinds of wiggled out by the smexyz then why'd she want to come here?"

Trixie, taking a deep, deep breath and letting it out slow, said, "It's complicated. My... my special somepony is in heat and I want to help, But..." her eyes nervously roved the shelves of sexual toys, implements, and accessories, her mouth going dry, "I don't know how to help. I thought maybe I'd find something here."

"Say no more!" said Pinkie Pie, pumping a hoof into the air, "I understand completely and give you my solemn Pinkie Pie Promise that I'll help you out of your sexual conundrum with all of my might! Now, taking it niiiiiice and slow let me ask you a question, Trixie."

"Y-yes?"

"Out of all the stuff in this store, what freaks you out the least? Like, what gives you the smallest of the wacky willies when you look around?"

Trixie glanced at Lyra, who gave Trixie an encouraging nod, and she began to slowly look around the store at her own, measured pace. Her face still heated up and she felt a tad queasy looking at some of the more realistic looking toys. Some had far too much detail for Trixie's mind to comprehend. Who needed their...toy to have veins? Some of them had features that left her boggled, even if some back part of her brain could understand why some mares or stallions might want "realistic squirting action" or "realistic heating spell for that extra real sensation".

Her heartbeat was pounding, but she found herself a bit less freaked out when she was able to look over towards a back wall and see a few items that were a lot less overt. Amid various colorful ropes and bindings there were also fluffy hoof cuffs and a few objects that looked more like rubber pool toys than anything sexual, and Trixie, with calmer breaths, pointed that way.

"That doesn't look so...bad," she said, "Let's start over there."

"Okie doki loki!” Pinkie Pie zipped over that way and Trixie gave Lyra a worried look over her shoulder, to which Lyra just shrugged as if to say ‘Hey, you’re the one who wanted to do this.’ With a heaving sigh Trixie followed Pinkie Pie over to the wall containing the less realistic looking sex toys, though it still left her feeling exceedingly uncomfortable just knowing what they were meant for. Still, she hadn’t lied to Pinkie, these more benign looking if still phallic objects looked less disturbing than the realistic ones. If she pretended hard enough she could imagine she was just looking at oddly shaped mane curlers.

“So, you wanna put your best hoof forward with your special mare’s in heat needs,” said Pinkie, with a smiling but quizzical look as she peered at Trixie, “But you’re all super green-gilled over the messier bits? Welllll, some of these vibrators have nifty remote controls.”

“Remote... control?” Trixie asked, eyes looking dubiously at the grinning Pinkie, “Whatever for?”

“Oh, some ponies like to roeleplay, or do a little master/servant stuff, and its all kinds of fun sometimes to let somepony else have control, so you can anticipate when your special somepony might push the button to ramp things up. There’s also voyeurs who like to watch as their partner squirms and...uh, Trix? You okay?"

“...F-fine, entirely fine,” Trixie said, gulping, face breaking out into a sweat.

Pinkie Pie frowned, rubbing her chin, “Hmm, this is worse than I thought. It’s gonna be tough helping you out when even talking about the horizontal jamboree is making you so jittery.”

Trixie took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying her best to provide Pinkie with a small smile, “I know, and I know you’re trying your best to help. Do you, um, have anything in this store that would... affect a mare’s heat cycle?”

“You mean like put the damper on the raging sex inferno?” asked Pinkie Pie.

Trixie blinked, then shook her head, “No, I already know there’s next to no market for that and had checked thoroughly for such things during my last heat. No, I’m asking about any potions that... induce heat.”

At Pinkie’s confused look Trixie also heard Lyra come up behind her and ask, “Trixie, what are you planning?”

It was a thought that had been nervously skittering around her mind for the past few minutes, actually, as she desperately struggled to run down the list of solutions and was finding so few that looked viable. She hated her heats with a passion that burned almost as hot as the heats themselves. When Trixie went into heat, either due to random genetic chance or her general avoidance of sex itself, she went into a heat that was a lot stronger than normal. At its worst it left her thinking and acting almost like a different mare.

Maybe that different mare was what Trixie needed to be in order to help Raindrops?

Pinkie and Lyra both exchanged unsure looks with each other.

“Well, we do have potions like that,” said Pinkie with uncharacteristic caution and her enthusiasm clearly curbed with worry, “But maybe you shouldn’t use something that’ll make you want to do things you don’t really want to do. A party isn’t really fun if it's forced instead of real.”

“I think Pinkie’s got a good point here Trixie,” said Lyra, putting a comforting hoof on Trixie’s withers, “I know you’d do anything to help those you care about, especially Raindrops, but do you really think she’d want you taking a potion that’ll mess with your head like that?”

Trixie hung her head, eyes closed for a moment of deep thought, but soon enough she raised her head again, eyes snapping open. “I said that all options were on the table, and I meant what I said.”

Lyra didn’t back off, voice growing insistent, “Remember what Cheerilee said before? A potion to put yourself in heat won’t do any good. Your body will be all hot and bothered, but your head won’t be in it, and while I can’t speak for Raindrops I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want you drugging yourself in order to have sex!”

“I know,” Trixie said, her frustration pouring out of her as her voice turned plaintively shrill, “But I just don’t know what else to do, Lyra! If I thought it would help I’d dress in a bear costume and dance the Pony Polka at the front gates of Canterlot Palace! I’d find that less embarrassing and unnerving than the idea of... sleeping with my marefriend. Mon dieu what is wrong with me!?”

“There is nothing wrong with you Trixie,” Lyra said, lips pressed to a thin mint line, “You’re you, and she’s her, and this is just part of being in a relationship. You figure things out.”

Trixie turned her gaze across the lurid offerings across the shop, eyes finally resting on Pinkie Pie. The mare had been looking more and more forlorn as Trixie had ranted on, puffy hair deflating into a straight slackness that didn’t much become the party pony. With a bracing sight Trixie trotted over to Pinkie and smiled apologetically.

“I’m sorry for being a difficult customer. I appreciate all the help. I’ll, um, take one of these...” she pointed at a moderately sized vibrator that didn’t look too ostentatious, in either proportions or extra features, “Do you have it in, ehehe... my colors?”

Pinkie smiled back, “At Bedroom Adventures we have all your optional needs considered.”

‘Good, good, hmm, I don’t suppose you happen to sell flowers here too?”

As it turned out Trixie and Lyra had to make a stop off with one of the flower trio, Roseluck, to take care of the floral aspect of Trixie’s “care package” for Raindrops, as she was now calling it. Lyra had picked up her special order, a mysterious and small brown papered box that left Trixie curious, but at Lyra’s deep grin at tucking the object away in a saddlebag Trixie decided that she’d prefer to keep her present sanity and didn’t ask.

Her own bag rattled with her recent purchases. Purchases, as in plural. She was proud she’d avoided hyperventilating a bit until after leaving the shop. Lyra’s words resonated in her still, fortifying Trixie’s heart for the task to come, but she still felt her face flushing with crimson heat as she hear every jostle from her saddlebags. In the end she might have gone overboard, but she was leaving little to chance here.

She hoped something in there would be of use to Raindrops, because she hadn’t been bluffing with Lyra; Trixie was desperate enough to consider a magical drug to try and fix this problem. Copious amounts of alcohol were not off the table either. As it stood she refrained from adding a bottle of champagne to her collection of offerings.

“Do you want me to come in with you?” Lyra asked as they neared Raindrops’ home, a small but sturdy house among a row of Ponyville’s numerous thatch roofed dwellings. It was a bustling day, with ponies trotting here and there, chatting among themselves, and foals playing through the rough country streets. Trixie was keenly reminded that if this day had been going according to plan she’d already be out on a enjoyable date with Raindrops.

I’ll help you, mi amore. Just you watch me, Trixie thought to herself... a thought that snagged for a moment as if it was trying to transmute into something more but it puffed away like smoke before Trixie could grasp at what that additional thought was. Shrugging it off for now she said to Lyra, “No, that’s alright. I don’t know how this is going to go, but I’d prefer this be just between me and Raindrops. But, um, if you didn’t mind waiting outside, just in case this doesn’t go well?”

Lyra nodded and gave Trixie a quick, comforting grip on Trixie's hoof, “I’ll be here. Now go have a chat with your marefriend, show her all the neat gifts you were thoughtful enough to bring in her time of need... although I still think you might as well just put a ribbon around yourself and let Raindrops unwrap you.”

Trixie rolled her eyes, “Don’t tell me you and Bon Bon have done that?”

Lyra giggled, “Hearthswarming tradition. We switch off each year who unwraps who.”

“A mental image I will now forever be unable to get out of my skull, come the season,” muttered Trixie. Arriving at the house Lyra went across the street, hiding just out of view as Trixie approached the front door. Taking a sharp breath, bracing herself, Trixie raise a hoof to knock, “Into the breach, dear heart.”

A swift firm trio of knocks were rapped out and Trixie waited, feeling her heart begin to pound a bit faster and the first drops of embarrassed sweat forming on her brow. That half formed thought from moments ago now struck her brain like a bolt of lightning, filling Trixie with sudden social dread. Her fears were confirmed in their enormity as the door swung open and a curious looking Snails stood there, foalish innocence plastered on his face as he looked at Trixie.

“Oh, hiya Miss Trixie!” he said brightly, “Are you here to see my sis? She’s been acting weird all day.”

Trixie gulped, trying to turn so the bag of unmentionables was less visible to the colt. Unfortunately her movement caught his attention and before she could respond to his first question he spouted another query, “What’cha got there?”

“NOTHING!” Trixie shouted, then paused at Snails’ flinching face to immediately try and soften her own expression and say in a more gentle tone, “N-nothing more than a few flowers for your sister, who is, uh, under the weather. It’s just a ‘get well soon’ care package! Yes. So perhaps if you could let her know I’m here?”

“Snails, sweetie, who's at the door?”called the voice of Raindrops’ mother, Shutter Bug, from the living room.

“Its Miss Trixie, mom! She’s brought a care package for sis! Uh, is sis sick?”

Trixie had the chill feeling of more of her blood draining from her face combined with the odd added warmth of it also heating up like a bonfire as Shutter Bug trotted out into the cramped entry hall and blinked at Trixie. It was a rather guarded look for the otherwise usually outgoing mare and Trixie had the sudden urge to shout ‘My intentions towards your daughter are completely honorable!’ A rather difficult to assert notion with a ten inch vibrating dildo, among other things, sitting in the bag she was carrying.

Shutter Bug, some unknown motherly decision or judgment crossing her eyes, said calmly, “Snails, be a dear and go play outside for a little while as I entertain our guest.”

“Uh, okay?” Snails said, not needing any real encouragement to go outside to play, where all of his bug friends were. Happily and thankfully oblivious to what was actually going on the little colt trotted outside and Trixie took his place inside, facing Raindrops’ other with an awkward smile.

“Thanks for letting me in,” Trixie said with a quiet nervousness.

“I don’t have a reason to keep you out, do I?” said Shutter Bug, nodding towards the open archway to the kitchen, “Come, I’ll fix you some tea. Raindrops is upstairs, but I feel we should talk before you go up there.”

“Of course,” Trixie said, wanting to do anything but, yet Raindrops was here, and Shutter Bug the rightful parental guardian... Oh sweet moontears I should have had Lyra come with me. She could have run interference.

In truth, however, Trixie knew this conversation needed to happen. While she and Raindrops had been dating she had met Shutter Bug and her husband Dewdrop in a few swift, informal situations, and neither had seemed to be bothered by their daughter’s budding relationship with the town’s Representative. However Trixie had yet to really talk with either parent about the relationship either, and with Raindrops in her present condition, well, it was past time for ‘the talk’.

Shutter Bug led Trixie into the kitchen, a rather small space with just enough room for the sink, fridge, oven, and a few cupboards. Really most of the house was like this, a tad small and cramped for a full sized family. Still it wasn’t uncomfortable per se, as Trixie leaned against the far wall and watched Shutter Bug get out a pot and pour water to start boiling for the tea. As she did so the pegasus mare took a deep breath, as if steadying herself, and looked at Trixie with a very open and frank expression.

“You’ve been dating my daughter for some months now.”

“Y-yes, well, I have, and you’ve known that,” said Trixie, stammering slightly, feeling jittery down to her very tail, “Both you and Dewdrop. I imagined if there was a problem with this either of you had ample opportunity to say so.”

Shutter Bugs ears twitched, an unconscious flick, “My husband and I have talked at length about it and we both agreed that Raindrops is old enough to start finding her own relationship. That said, she is a young mare, and...”

The mare seemed to stumble for words, waving a hoof vaguely, “She’s inexperienced, Miss Trixie.”

“Trixie, please. Just Trixie.”

“Trixie. Raindrops takes the notion of romance very seriously for her age, and has a rather romanticized notion of it all. I suppose I haven’t ever tried hard to teach her otherwise, but that’s neither here nor there.” It was now that Shutter Bug began to shuffle on her own hooves uncomfortably and it occurred to Trixie this might be as horrifically awkward for Raindrops’ mother as it was for Trixie.

Trixie was about to offer the mare some assurance that she had every intention of taking her relationship with Raindrops as seriously as it deserved and with a fair dose of delicacy, but Shutter Bug beat her to the punch with words blurting from her mouth as if she just needed them out there.

“Have you had sex with my daughter?”

Trixie nearly fell over. Surely she lost her easy lean against the wall and stumbled forward, eyes goggling, mouth agape, “What!? No!”

If the first question had been a swift jab, the uppercut was imminent.

“Why not?”

To that Trixie couldn’t even answer, just stare at the other mare with utter bewildered shock etched on her azure features. Her brain was in utter, frozen lock-down, as if Shutter Bug had just transmuted into Corona herself and demanded Trixie perform oral service right then and there. Neurons were firing, but no useful information was getting past the brain to the rest of Trixie.

Shutter Bug seemed to take note of the Representative's state of mind and blinked, “I feel like I’m missing something here.”

“I...should say so...” Trixie said in a faint, distant tone, slowly shaking her head, adjusting her hat, which had become askew. “Why would you even ask me a question like that?”

“It seems sensible enough,” said Shutter Bug as if explaining the basics of life to a growing foal, “My daughter is a romantic, and honestly has rather heavy heats since they started up. I want her to be happy, and thought that with her dating you she might find exactly that. She talks about you a lot, you know. Even if the relationship doesn’t last for the long haul at least it should be a good learning experience for her. But she’s been nothing if not more and more... pent up since she started dating you. Even before this heat I’ve noticed her, um, taking more ‘alone time’ for herself. I’ve been worried, Trixie, about whether or not you’ve been taking proper care of my daughter. She’s at that age where if she doesn’t get relief, who knows what might happen?”

There was no joking or mockery in Shutter Bug’s tone. Indeed the only emotion Trixie could hear in the other mare’s voice was deep rooted concern, that of a parent for a child. A child who was now old enough to be considered a young adult, with all the rather delicate and messy desires and needs thereof.

Merde... she’s not afraid of me having sex with Raindrops, she’s afraid I’m avoiding sex with Raindrops!

This realization was not at all helped by the fact that Trixie technically was doing exactly that, for very legitimate and personal reasons. Trixie’s mental freeze shattered and her brain went into overtime to try and explain the situation to Shutter Bug in any manner that’d make sense. She summoned up all the delicate, diplomatic acumen she could muster to pick her words with great care.

“Mrs. Shutter Bug, if there is one thing I can give you my absolute word on it’s that I want Raindrops to be happy as well. The relationship between her and I is something I’ve come to cherish these past months, and I don’t wish to lose it for any reason. Um, aheh, that said, sex is... it’s complicated for me.”

Shutter Bug’s head tilted, almost with an audible creak. “Complicated how?”

Trixie could feel the sweat-drops trickling down her neck. Really if Luna wanted to smash the moon into Ponyville at that time, Trixie wouldn’t have objected. Slowly she managed to get out, “I kind of, sort of have an aversion to sex. It isn’t something I can’t control, mind you, or affects how I feel about Raindrops. I just have never, ever had any desire for... for that kind of thing.”

Now it was Shutter Bug’s turn to look bewildered into near brain freeze. Trixie could actually see the other mare trying to turn the gears of her head, piecing together what Trixie was saying and what it meant. Her next words were quiet ones.

“I see. That would certainly qualify as ‘complicated’. Did Raindrops know about this before she began to date you?”

“Yes, she did.”

“Then,” Shutter Bug sighed, a rather helpless chuckle escaping her, “I guess the two of you have made your own bed here. I apologize if I came off as overbearing just now. I love my daughter deeply, and seeing her this stressed has me in a bit of a state. At least now I know why.”

She eyed Trixie’s bag with a look of understanding, “That’s meant to help Raindrops?”

Trixie belatedly nodded, face blossoming with fresh heat, “It, uh, well yes. Is that okay? Wait, how do you know what’s in there?”

Shutter Bug smiled, somewhat thinly, “My husband and I may have two foals but we still enjoy the occasional trip to that particular store, and those nondescript bags are actually rather noticeable. I suppose given the circumstances that might help my daughter as much as anything else you might try. Not as if I disapprove of her owning her own.”

That made a thought occur to Trixie, “How do we know she doesn’t already?I didn’t even think of that before buying all of this.”

“Oh, she doesn’t. I still clean her room sometimes and trust me, I’d know if she had a stash. Well, a stash other than the magazines and novels,” Shutter Bug said with a wink. She then adopted a slightly more serious, and somewhat supportive expression. “You’d best get up there, then. I think I’ve held you up long enough.”

“Thank you,” Trixie said, feeling a wave of relief that this conversation had drawn to a close, though fresh worry was quick to replace the relief as she realized the hardest part of all of this was yet to come. She began to trot from the kitchen when Shutter Bug called after her.

“Just remember, Trixie, that my daughter isn’t any more in charge of her hormones and feelings than you are of yours. Especially right now. From everything I’ve heard her say about you these past few months I think she cares as much about your happiness as you do hers. So... just be mindful of a young mare’s heart, both of yours.”

Trixie gave a beleaguered but understanding nod before continuing out of the kitchen and turning to head up the stairs.

Raindrops was close. She could feel the electric build up of pleasure mounting, heedless of everything around her. Her face was buried in her pillow so the noises coming from her muzzle couldn’t bother her family.

In her crystal clear mind’s eye it was Trixie between her hind legs and not her hoof, tenderly using a skillful tongue. Raindrops could easily imagine Trixie’s smokey eyes lidded with desire, filled with equal pleasure as she touched upon Raindrops’ most sensitive spots. Wanting, needing, a shared connection that Raindrops would eagerly return as soon as she reached her own peak.

So close, just a few more-

The door knocked, loudly, breaking through the musty trance Raindrops was under. With a frustrated growl that was still half moan Raindrops ceased what she was doing and took a second to grumble several obscenities into the innocent pillow. She loved her family dearly but any one of them should have known that short of the end of the world there was no valid reason to bother her right now!

Actually, the end of the world was a distinct possibility with Corona still at large. For all Raindrops knew this was some kind of Elements of Harmony emergency, not that she was feeling particular harmonious right now. Rather fractured and chaotic, really, with a mind and heart zipping in a dozen different directions, but all tied into the throbbing need inside her.

“Be right there,” she said, “Just give me a sec.”

She was rather proud that she didn’t sound like she was ready for committing murder. Just assault. Self control, self control, wasn’t that what she was striving for? She took deep breaths, seeking her center, and briefly straightened out her bed, pointedly covered the rather soaked spot with a pillow, and considered opening the window to air out the scent.

Well, it wasn’t as if her parents weren’t aware of what was happening, and it’d take too long to air the room out anyway, so Raindrops decided just to skip that part and answer the door.

“What is it...?” Raindrops asked, trailing off and blinking in complete surprise at seeing Trixie standing in her hallway. Her breath halted in her throat and unbidden her wings fluffed upwards, almost painfully. Trixie’s mane framed her perfectly sculpted features like a silver waterfall under the moonlight. Raindrops wanted to run her hooves over that mane, like gravity itself was reversing to try and pull her towards the mare in the hallway. Trixie’s eyes were wide violet pools that lit Raindrops with warmth just to look at them. And that well groomed coat of bright, colorful blue! Trixie’s sleek, yet plush form was so enticing with its every curve, Raindrops wanted to feel every inch.

Trixie’s mouth was moving. Raindrops blinked again

“I, uh, sorry did you say something?”

Trixie laughed, a quick noise flushed with awkwardness yet beautifully ringing in Raindrops’ ears, “I asked if this was a bad time? I said I’d be by, to try and do all in my not inconsiderable intellect and capability to help.”

Raindrops saw Trixie’s nose twitch, smelling the air. Raindrops felt herself start to blaze with fresh heat as she suddenly wished she’d opened up the window. Trixie visibly swallowed, clearing her throat, “I didn’t mean to interrupt. Just, well, I brought something!”

Raindrops finally took note of the rather plain paper bag Trixie had been carrying, now proffered in a wreath of blue magical light. A set of roses joined the offered package, carefully wrapped in Roseluck’s signature style. Raindrops heart instantly melted like candle wax under an open flame at the sight. Even if she actually wasn’t that fond of roses, the romantic gesture left her smiling as she took the flowers, although she had a hard time meeting Trixie’s gaze because Raindrops was having difficulty resisting the urge to pull the mare into her room right then and there.

“Thank you, these are beautiful.” Her eyes turned towards the package, oddly plain looking for a gift from Trixie, which triggered worry within Raindrops because it made it clear to her how much this whole 'heat' thing was throwing Trixie off. “What’s this?”

Now it was Trixie’s turn to begin doing an impersonation of a strawberry, red starting to outweigh blue on her face. Between the two of us we could out red Bic Macintosh, Raindrops thought.

“It’s... gifts, stuff, from Pinkie Pie's work...”

“Sugar Cube Corner?” Raindrops asked with a bit of confusion. She enjoyed a bit of a sweet tooth, but she didn’t see how that was much help given that the only thing she really wanted to sink her teeth into was the enticing treat of a unicorn standing before her. Raindrops had to almost shake to banish the idea of Trixie coated in chocolate, just waiting for Raindrops to lick her clean.

I can’t take this for long, or I’m going to end up doing something I’ll seriously regret, she thought.

“Oh, uh, different work,” said Trixie, looking at the bag as if it might spit forth a cluster of snakes. In fact Raindrops noticed that Trixie was holding the bag in her telekinesis rather gingerly, like something that might explode at any moment. And what did Trixie mean by ‘different work’? Where else did Pinkie Pie work?

“I...” Raindrops hesitated, fear mixing with her surging desires, unease sickeningly mixing a potent need to pull Trixie to her and just feel the other mare from the tip of her muzzle to the... the other end. Raindrops suppressed a shudder. “I guess you should come in.”

For just a second Trixie looked as if she might refuse, and Raindrops could understand why. Her room, Raindrops herself, both, for lack of a more polite phrasing, stank of sex. While mares might not react to the scent of other mares in heat, the smell was still prevalent, and given Raindrops had spent the better part of the afternoon trying rather vigorously to douse the fire between her hind legs she thought it a minor miracle Trixie hadn’t turned and run away at the first whiff after the door had been opened.

Raindorps stood aside and Trixie took a few hesitant steps inside, clearly trying to suppress her agitation. It was sweet to think Trixie was trying so hard for her, which only served to both heighten Raindrops’ desire to hold Trixie and run her lips appreciatively over her deliciously curved body, and redouble her guilt for thinking that way knowing full well Trixie could only find such an action unnerving at best and disgusting at worst.

She immediately regretted inviting Trixie inside, because once the door was closed and they were alone Raindrops’ hormone drowned brain went into overtime with imaginative scenarios.

No, no, NO! Stop that. She’s here to help you, but not like that! She can’t, and you can’t let her, or let yourself, or... ARRRGHHH! Raindrops’ mental roar of tortured frustration must have broken through her plastic mask of an expression because Trixie looked at her with concern flooding her own eyes.

“This... this really isn’t any more pleasant for you than it is for me, is it?” Trixie’s voice was soft for a moment, but it soon became filled with a more bold and determined note as Trixie nodded to herself, “We’ll get through this. I shall not let something like mere biology hiccups interfere with taking care of you. So, that said, here, I hope these help.”

Trixie held her head high and floated over the bag, which Raindrops was happy enough to take if only for the distraction it provided, “Just what’s in here anyway?”

“Take a look,” Trixie said proudly, “It was not easy for me to, um, get myself to make the purchases, but I had Lyra’s help, and Pinkie Pie’s too. She’s rather supportive and seemed to know what she was talking about. I don’t know what, eheh, what size I should get, or what kind... so I got a variety.”

As Trixie had spoken Raindrops had set the bag down and opened it with a hoof, peering within. She opened her mouth, a laugh blurting from her as she almost broke into subsequent giggles, utterly astounded.

“Trixie, did you just buy me a bag of dildos?”

Trixie’s muzzle scrunched up adorably, “Not just dildos! There are two vibrators in there, one with raspberry flavoring and the other with a remote control! Also some kind of bead string. I don’t know what those are for but Pinkie Pie recommended them. I didn’t know what you wanted, okay!? I just grabbed whatever I thought might help you satisfy your, uh, needs.”

Raindrops couldn’t even bring herself to be embarrassed, she was too busy trying to find breaths between bouts of laughter, only enhanced by the fact that Trixie only turned further shades of red and even stomped her hoof in a manner Raindrops found absolutely precious.

“I don’t see what’s of funny! I’m trying to help, and thought that-”

It was impossible to stop herself. The upswelling of raw affection at the gesture crashed through Raindrops’ inhibitions, already strained past the limit, and she crossed the distance to Trixie in an instant and locked her lips firmly upon the unicorn’s, cutting off Trixie’s words with a deep kiss. For Raindrops the warmth of Trixie’s body, the soft touch of her lips, it was a moment of simple bliss. Soon ended, for she could tell Trixie was rigid, not fully responding, though not pulling away either. Raindrops did that herself after a moment, wings and fore hooves both holding Trixie in a tight hug that was painful in the knowledge it was all she could do right now.

“It’s very thoughtful of you Trixie. Thank you.”

She let go of Trixie, stepping back a bit to meet Trixie’s eyes. Trixie herself looked torn between confusion and relief. She readjusted her hat, which had been nearly knocked off her head by the surprise kiss. At length she said with a quick smile, “You’re welcome. So will this help?”

Raindrops glanced back at the bag of sex toys, “Maybe? I’ve never actually used anything like that before. It... like I said, it’s thoughtful. Might make this blasted heat easier to get through, but...”

She took a deep breath and met Trixie’s gaze, knowing to be anything less than honest here would be spitting on this wonderful mare’s resolve to make this relationship work, “I still want you. I don’t think anything can replace the simple fact that I... I have to feel you, and have you feel me. Everything short of that is just going to be temporary fixes while the dam itself is still going to burst at some point.”

She could see Trixie’s tension as clearly as she could read stormclouds, and wanted nothing more than to melt all that worry and fear away, to make her marefriend a happy, cuddly pile in her hooves. Only that was the one thing she couldn’t do, and so she was as bound as if there were iron manacles around her limbs, a mare dying of thirst in the desert with a oasis just out of tantalizing reach.

“I’m sorry, Raindrops,” Trixie said eventually, sounding almost like a lost filly in the woods, “I don’t know what to do.”

At length all Raindrops could say in return was the honest truth.

“Neither do I.”