"After that,” Rainbow continued, “we started hanging out. We just clicked together. We became the best of friends. We were by each other’s sides almost twenty four-seven. When he got his Cutie Mark, we just shrugged, and continued on with life. Things didn’t seem to change beyond that, though, until I got my Cutie Mark, a year later. After that, there was a… a spiral of events. Really, looking back, I’m surprised I didn’t see it…

I was racing home to tell my dad the great news; I’d gotten my Cutie Mark! A couple blocks away, I crashed into Firestar. “Oof!” We both went down.

“Sorry, Fire!” I apologised.

“You’re fine.” He replied. “It happens.”

“Hey! Guess what?”

“You won?” He exclaimed, happy for me. He’d been stuck finishing a test, so he couldn’t watch the race.

“Well, yeah,” I said, “but not that! I got my Cutie Mark!”

“What!?!” He yelled. I angled so he could see it. “Awesome!”

We hugged. Firestar, being strong - but by no means a hulk, mind you -, picked me up and spun me around.

“Woo-hoo!!” We cheered. When he set me back down, neither of us let go. We just stared at each other, basking in both the joy of the occasion and the comfort of each other’s presence.

After a few seconds of joyful giggling, he realized that he was still holding me. He gasped, and let go. We both turned red. “U-Um, sorry.” He mumbled. Then, he perked back up. “Your Cutie Mark looks awesome!”

“I know, right?” I exclaimed, still recovering from the joyful high I’d gotten when I found the red thunderbolt (outlined in yellow) on my flank.

“Come on!” He said. “Let’s go tell your dad!” We ran off, heading to my house.

Rainbow Blaze

I was relaxing at home, reading, when the doorbell rang incessantly. I got up and opened it, to find the two grinning stars of my life; Rainbow Dash, my daughter, and her closest (by far) friend, Firestar.

“Dad!” Rainbow jumped at me. In reflex, I put up my forehooves, and caught her.

“Oof!” I exclaimed. Rainbow wasn’t as light as she was at birth. “Hey, Rainbow! How’d the race go?”

“I won!” She said hurriedly. “But that’s not the best part. Look!” She flew to the floor, turning sideways.

I gasped, when I saw the thunderbolt adorning the side of her flanks. “You got your Cutie Mark?” I smiled. “That’s my filly, Dash!” We hugged, again. “I’m so proud of you, Rainbow!”

I put Dash down, and up came Firestar, wanting to share in the joy. I gladly accepted him. As far as I was concerned, he was my son, too, in all but blood.

As I sat Firestar down, something occurred to me. “I’ll be right back.” I said. I walked into the kitchen, and rummaged through a certain drawer. Pulling out a piece of paper, I looked at it. After her mother passed, I thought I wouldn’t see this again until she was at least twenty. Ha! She always was a fast little filly. Here she is, only eighteen, and already growing up. I set the paper on the table, and walked back into the living room.

“Rainbow?” I got her attention. “Do you know what comes with getting your Cutie Mark?”

“Uh…” I could almost see the gears in her head turning, “B-Becoming a mare?” She said, hesitantly.

“Yes, but not just that.” I replied. “Things such as… hormones, for example.”

“Oh.” Rainbow said. Then, it clicked, and her face went red. “O-Oh.”

Firestar fidgeted. “Do… Do you want me to leave?” He wasn’t truly uncomfortable, but he knew his maturing friend probably was.

Rainbow gasped. “N-No!” She exclaimed. “You-You can stay.” She said, softly.

Internally, I chuckled. I think I’ve got a good idea of who her first coltfriend might be. Heck, maybe even her only coltfriend. Celestia knows they seem like they’re made for each other. I’ve even discussed it with Firestar’s parents. Rainbow’s already loved by them. Being in a relationship with their son would only mean she’d be even closer to them.

“Um… Okay.” Firestar said, uncertain of whether Rainbow truly realized how embarrassed she was going to be.

I gave them both a pointed look. “I’m not going to hold back, just because he’s in the room.” I warned Rainbow, indirectly warning Firestar, as well.

“I-I know.” She stammered, still red.

“Okay.” I said. Then, I launched into a lecture that had probably been repeated more times than Celestia herself could count, throughout history. “One of the most noticeable things about being a mare, besides the hormones themselves, is heat, and I’m not talking about temperature.”

“Yeah, Dad, we know.” Rainbow replied. “We’ve taken Health.”

“I know, but please, humor me.”

Rainbow sighed. “Hugh! Fine!”

“Thank you.” I smiled, knowing that she didn’t really mean any disrespect; Rainbow was just an impatient little filly, at heart. She wanted things to be done fast, or just avoided, altogether. But this was not the kind of conversation to be rushed. “One month a year, a mare goes into heat. Her sex drive is upped exponentially, and she’s even more fertile than normal. There are very few mares, in all of known history, that have been able to routinely ignore the temptations of heat, for the entirety of their month.”

“Usually,” I continued, “it’ll just be an annoyance. However, every so often, there’ll be a spike, and that’s when most mares lose their inhibitions, temporarily. These spikes usually only last a few seconds at a time, but, in the company of whatever gender the mare prefers, their frequency increases exponentially. The most imminently annoying aspect of heat, however, in our circumstance, is that heat always starts somewhere between a few hours and a couple of days after the mare gains her Cutie Mark, which marks her as a mare, rather than a filly, and actually allows her body to fully grow.”

“Do stallions go in heat?” Rainbow asked.

“No, thank Celestia.” Firestar replied. “Or I’d be- Ehm… nothing.”

Rainbow snorted, amused. “You’d be what? Rutting around town, right now?”

As Firestar stammered, I collapsed onto my chair, laughing heartily. Most parents would be unhappy at their foals for making a joke like that, but I knew Rainbow. She always was the pony that grew up fast, even if some aspects didn’t seem to follow at the same rate.

I looked past the comedy-induced tears in my eyes to see Rainbow suffering a similar fate.

Firestar finally settled for a “K-Kind of.” After watching us laugh uncontrollably for a few seconds, a grin slowly formed on his face. He began chuckling, then laughing, then outright losing it, along with us. This only prolonged the moment.

Eventually, we all settled down. “Rainbow?” I got her attention. “In the kitchen, there’s a guide to making a special kind of tea. I’d suggest you make a few batches of it.”

“Me?” She asked. “Why me? I don’t know a thing about making tea.”

“The guide is very easy to follow, Rainbow. I’ve made it, myself, back when your mother was alive, and merely away from home.” The mention of Rainbow mother, who’d passed away when Rainbow was only five, sobered up whatever laughter still remained. Though Rainbow hadn’t known her mother long, she couldn’t have loved her more.

“O-Okay.” She said quietly, and walked into the kitchen. The door shut behind her.

I turned to Firestar. “I’ll explain this to her later,” I began, “but I might as well tell you about it now. It’s called Moon Tea. It suppresses the spikes to a much more manageable level. She’ll probably still get some big ones, but not nearly as often.”

“I’ll keep her out of trouble.” He replied.

I smiled. “I know. But what if she targets you?”

He blushed. “M-Me? Why me?”

“Technically, you’re not related to her. You’re the closest friend she has, and you’re a stallion. If she’s attracted to stallions - which I know for a fact she is -, she’ll probably try to pounce you, at least a couple times.”

“P-Pounce? U-Um… Wow.” He murmured, his embarrassment at mortification levels. If his face got any redder, the tomato companies of Equestria would have to swab him to get such a deep shade of red.

Over the years I’d known him, Firestar had been embarrassed in front of me loads of times. He stammered occasionally, even calm. Embarrass him, and it’s even more often. However, considering how he stumbled over almost every word, here, I was starting to suspect he might feel something for Rainbow. He and Rainbow were only a year apart, with him being the older of the two. A single year isn’t much of a gap, whence you’re a grown pony.

“You like her, don’t you?” I asked him.

He flinched. “Y-Yeah.”

I patted him on the shoulder. “I’m not actually against it.” I told him.

“W-What?” He asked in disbelief.

“You two have been best friends for years. I know you both care for each other. You wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, and I know that you’re genuine in your feelings for her. Really, I couldn’t ask for a better stallionfriend, for her.”

“Although,” I added, “as her father, I feel I must add - though I’m certain you’d never do anything like that - that, if you hurt her, you will never see the light of day, again. When it comes to Rainbow, I’m not afraid of going to prison.”

He gulped. “Y-Yes, sir!”

I patted his shoulder, again. “Relax, Fire. I know you. You’d never do anything to hurt her.”

I decided that, if the two of them ever got together, let it not be said that I didn’t help them along. I actually gave Firestar a few tips on wooing mares, and things he could do to fluster Rainbow. In addition to being amused at others’ behaviors when they’re flustered, Rainbow, after enough times being flustered by him, might even develop feelings for Firestar, herself.

Author's Note

Moon Tea was inspired (and pretty much almost directly copied) from what it is in Zurvan's stories.

Zurvan's page: http://www.fimfiction.net/user/zurvan