Things had been going well for Donovan in this strange land of Equestria for quite some time, now. Steady work, even steadier pay (inflation wasn’t even close to being an issue here, compared to how crippling it had become back home.), and contrary to Twilight Sparkle’s claims that there was always some sort of disruption going on, whether it be in the form of an Ursa Major, Changelings, or any other number of creatures with which Donovan had a hard time believing in their existence, things were relatively calm here in Ponyville.

At least, they had been until this morning: the dawn of Estrus.

Despite his new friends imploring him to prepare for this upcoming week, he’d crudely underestimated their warnings, and now he feared that his poor apartment couldn’t take much more abuse, as a herd of mares, pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns alike, were trying desperately to get a piece of the one-of-a-kind male in their town. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure why, but he had a few theories. Firstly, these ponies weren’t stupid; because he was so much larger than any stallion in town, it would stand to reason he’s probably more endowed than most. He also threw around the idea that maybe whoever might’ve been able to pounce him would’ve had some sort of bragging rights, being the first to… ‘endorse’ the new anomalous species.

Either way, he wanted none of it. Sentient or not, he still saw more than a little perversion in fucking one of those things, and he wasn’t even close to desperate enough to fall for the pleas he was currently able to hear through the thin walls of his home, an uncountable number of voices calling out to him coupled with hooves knocking on the outside of the structure sounding like thunder, just about ready to literally tear the place down.

“Come on out, darling, I’ll make you a nice dinner before you rut me like a broodmare!~”

“You’re a hooman, I’m a mare, you don’t need to worry about foals, it’ll be fun!~”

“Ever rutted on a cloud before, big guy?~”

“You’ll be surprised what magic can do; come on out and I’ll show you~”

Donovan was sitting against the door, bracing it against the hard impacts of hooves and magic alike, while also occasionally looking up to make sure the army of pegasi on his roof hadn’t broken through yet. ‘Jesus, these mares are crazy, I really should have listened to Twilight…’ He thought, mentally cursing his own neglect on the matter. He heard a few hollow impacts on his roof before some crumbling could be heard, if he didn’t move fast, this place would come down right on top of him. ‘Come on, think, think! … Ah-ha!’ He snapped his fingers as he prepared to set his plan into motion, making sure his boots were laced up and ready for a wind sprint. ‘Here we go,’ He thought to himself as he mentally planned out his route to the Everfree Forest in his mind, making sure to stay under canopies as much as possible to keep the pegasi away. ‘One… two…’

Crash!

Donovan looked up just in time to see a section of the ceiling crumbling on it’s way down to him. ‘Fuck, three!”

He twisted the door handle and threw his shoulder against the wood, sending a mob of mares that were leaning against it flying back, clearing a path for him. He took off like a bullet, thankful now for his slender frame and long legs. He managed to shake off a few magical attempts to pull him back by a couple of the unicorns. He could’ve sworn he saw Rarity and Twilight somewhere in the horde, but he had no time to stop and check; not like he especially wanted to confirm his suspicions, anyways. He sped through town as a gaggle of pegasi flew overhead, trying to keep their eyes on him, led by none other than the obnoxiously loud (and apparently cock-hungry) Rainbow Dash. Somehow he managed to escape the watch of Equestria’s fastest flier as he cut through a few covered alleyways and managed to lose the entire group, just about a quarter mile before a thick canopy of trees on the outskirts of town. His lungs and throat burned, but he pushed on until he felt the cool air of the forest and the sound of chirping bugs and woodland creatures, courtesy of the Everfree. As soon as he ducked into its natural shade, he collapsed against a tree, gasping desperately for air.

A few cigarettes and about half an hour later, Donovan stands and slowly makes his way deeper into the foliage. ‘Okay, I got away from those crazy ponies… now what?’ He thinks to himself, honestly not imaging he’d make it past the crowd of mares.

He aimlessly wandered along the woodland path, stopping as he heard a familiar voice. “D-Donnie, is that you…?” The slender human stops dead in his tracks silently cursing himself as he suddenly realized where he was. He knew Fluttershy lived just a few miles into the forest, he’d been to her cottage twice before!

Resigning himself to his fate, he turned around, holding the back of his neck and giving a half hearted smile. “Fluttershy! Heh… hey there.” He started casually, hiding his surprise as he didn’t see any sort of lust in those big, soft, blue eyes. Between all of the cute little ponies in this strange world, he admittedly found the shy cream-yellow pegasus to be one of the most, if not the absolute, cutest of them all. Maybe it was the timid nature, or the soft voice that was easy on the ears, or her unconditional love and passion for wildlife, the way she stuck to her craft and worked tirelessly at keeping every animal happy and healthy. Whatever it was, he was sure he wasn’t the only one who thought of her as such. “Boy… heat season sure is crazy, huh?” Although he tried to hide it, a bit of fear seeped through his normally ‘calm, cool and collected’ expression.

Donovan steeled himself and had to actively tell himself not to flinch as Fluttershy took a step closer, a red undertone on her cheeks as she chuckled behind a foreleg. “H-Hehe, yeah… d-don’t worry about me, though, Donnie, I, erm… i-it doesn’t… get to me the same way it does most mares…~”

Donovan visibly relaxed as she informed him of this, his shoulders sagging in relief. “Phew, thank God… I wouldn’t have the heart to run away from you, too, heh.” He said it only out of concern for the pony’s horribly apparent thin skin, not wanting her to think that he saw her as some sort of sex-driven monster or anything of the sort, but he could’ve sworn he saw her wiggle, just the slightest bit, after he spoke.

“Oh, yes… it gets a little… hectic in Ponyville during this time of the year, you see, Equestria’s gender ratio is very lopsided…” Fluttershy gently nods her head in the direction of where Donovan assumed her cottage was before she turned and proceeded to lead him along the trail as he quietly followed, listening to her speak, straining to hear her naturally quiet voice. “It’s bad enough in Canterlot, with a ratio of about five mares to every stallion, but the gap is even larger in Ponyville, with a ratio of almost eight to one.”

Donovan nodded slowly, making sure to stay in close proximity to his animal-loving friend, so as not to get lost; he hadn’t exactly taken the time to make a mental note of where he’d been thus far into the forest, so getting out without a guide would be a bit of a pain. “I see. I was wondering why there are so many mares out and about looking for, err… mates. Makes a lot more sense now. Still, doesn’t that boast a bit of a problem? I mean, I can’t imagine this place being as happy as it is with so many single mares all the time.”

Fluttershy nods, seeming to have expected the question. “Well, single probably isn’t the right word… you see, in modern pony culture, it isn’t uncommon for one stallion to have what we call a ‘herd.’ While the stallion is usually only married to one, maybe two of the mares, he supports relationships with an average of anywhere from five to seven mares. This mostly matters during Estrus, so that the mares have someone to, err… satisfy their needs, you could say. Also, ponies have one of the highest rates of same-sex romance and marriages, which helps to compensate for the gender disparity.”

Donovan was a little taken aback at the way Fluttershy was speaking. She sounded almost like Twilight with the amount of knowledge she had on the subject. He relented after realizing, however, that most ponies probably know about this dilemma, if not all. It’s a large part of their culture, after all. “I see… so, basically, to help close that gap, you guys have a lot of lesbianism and harems.” He says with a decided nod, never being much for subtlety.

“That’s… one way of putting it, y-yes…” Fluttershy says, her face growing a shade darker as she responds to his comment just as her hooves hit the wood on her porch. “Okay, h-here we are… Would you like to come inside, maybe? F-for some tea, I mean!” She says quickly, not wanting her intentions to be misconstrued.

Donovan fought to suppress a chuckle, seeing Fluttershy get so flustered; truth be told, with her shy, timid nature, (which again, he found adorable,) he couldn’t ever imagine Fluttershy partaking in any sort of sexual or devious act; in his eyes she was too pure for that, so it made sense that she wasn’t heavily affected by carnal urges during Estrus. He even found himself on more than one occasion trying his best (and usually failing) to hold back any crude language around her, not wanting to expose her virgin ears to such curses. He found it almost comical, a pony too pure even for some things in this world. Digressing, he gave a short nod of his head and a soft smirk. “Tea sounds great, Flutters.”

Donovan attempts not to die from a cuteness overload as the pegasus does her trademark shy expression, hiding most of her face behind her cotton-candy-pink mane, blushing a deep shade of red. Somehow, he succeeds, surviving to live another day despite the mare’s impossible level of adorableness.

He sat at the small coffee table, settling for a criss-cross position on the floor of her woodland cottage, as the couch was much too small for him to sit on comfortably, and his current seating allowed him to be close enough to the table that he wouldn’t have to bend over too much to reach anything on it. He waited patiently as the animal loving pony brewed some tea in the kitchen, looking her way as he heard the kettle whistling. “So, what’s brewing today, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, just some ginseng root tea... hoof-picked from the Everfree.” the pegasus replied quietly, walking back to the coffee table with a tea tray on her back, perfectly balancing two steaming cups of tea and a pitcher. To this day, Donovan was still flabbergasted by the amount of dexterity these ponies had, they could put most humans to shame. Well, except for Derpy…

Fluttershy sighed softly as she stretched out her wings before sitting at the table with Donovan, grasping a cup of tea between her feathers. “Mmm… I love this blend, it always smells so nice~” the shy pegasus’ ears flitted about cutely as she gushed, before she centered herself and turned to her bipedal friend. “So, what’s new, Donovan? Er… besides being chased by a group of mares…”

Donovan chuckled before picking up his own cup of tea and leaning back on his other hand. “Heh, well, not too much, really…” He lied, tapping the side of his cup a few times as he stared at the cute pony looking up at him. Relenting with a sigh, he closed his eyes for a moment before correcting himself. “Actually, that’s not entirely true… I assume Twilight hasn’t told you or the other girls yet.”

“O-Oh? Well, no, I haven’t heard anything from Twilight about you recently... Is everything okay?” She asked, her soft blue eyes assuring him that she was a safe ear to lend to.

In Fluttershy’s words, he heard an echo of Twilight’s offer when they spoke not long ago. ‘And, you know, Donovan, if you ever need to talk about anything… I’m here.’

“Uhh…” Donovan answered, abit unwilling at first, but when he looked over again and saw Fluttershy’s expression, he relents; he wouldn’t feel right lying to her. They were friends, after all.

“Well…” He begins, holding the back of his neck in a tense position, obvious that whatever was eating at him was really stressing him out. “As you and the girls know, I’ve got a family back where I’m from.”

“Oh, yes! Your siblings, right? Mallory, Liam, Lilly and Nikki.” She repeats the information her human friend had once confided in her, among other select few. “I hope they’re doing okay without their big brother…” She says in a more deflated tone.

“Yeah, that’s the thing…” He continues, following up with a summary of the letter Twilight had shown him, and an update on the painfully slow progress of research into Donovan’s world and how to link it to Equus, the world he was now stuck in. After the long winded recap, Donovan huffed and sipped his tea, while his free hand cradled his head. “Ugh, all this crap is giving me a headache…” He groans, sipping more of his tea; Fluttershy’s herbal blends always seemed to help whatever ailed him.

“Wow, Donnie… I’m… I’m…” Fluttershy trails off, seeming to look through her bipedal friend as tears well up in her eyes. It doesn’t take long for Fluttershy’s fragile barrier to crumble, and light sobs fall from her mouth as tears follow down her face. “I’m so sorry... “

Donovan is caught off guard by this, quickly trying to reassure her. “Hey, Flutters, its okay! It’s not your fault this happened, you don’t need to-”

“No, not that!” She interrupts; a rare occurrence for the timid pony, but she quickly explains herself. “I-I mean… *sniff* you’re going through this horrible separation and have no way of knowing if they’ll be okay without you, and I’ve just been planning to… to…” She trails off, hiding her face behind her mane as she finishes her statement. “I was planning on… t-trying to… m-mate with you… because of estrus-s…” She sits there, defeated, a shell of herself, devastated by the thought that, knowing he was lured inside on false pretenses, Donovan might not want to be friends with her anymore.

“Fluttershy…” He says quietly, as she flinches in preparation for the worst. He smiles and moves closer, pulling her into a tight embrace. “You silly ponies…” he chuckles, fluttershy gasping in surprise at the act, but quickly accepting it nonetheless.

“Y-You’re not mad…? But I.. I lied to you…” She says, awestruck by his compassion.

“Why would I be mad? I may not know much about this world, but I know enough about my friends here to tell when something’s off. I wasn’t gonna let anything happen that you might regret later. Besides, it’s either stay here with one estrus-ridden mare, or get bombarded by the herd of ponies outside trying to chase me down.” He explains in a soft voice, much like he’d done with Mallory in the past whenever she was upset due to school drama with boys and such.

It took a while for Fluttershy’s crying to dwindle away, and Donovan was happy to let her lay against him as he helped soothe her worries; eventually they both lay there, asleep, The pegasus curled up in his lap as they slept peacefully through the night.

Fluttershy was the first to awake in the morning, awoken by a hungry Angel bunny, as was to be expected. Not wanting to wake her human friend, she slowly got up from his lap and made her rounds, feeding all the animals in and around her cottage before setting to work in her quaint kitchen, cooking up a breakfast for two.

Donovan awoke to the smell of a delicious home-cooked meal and stretched as he roused himself, his joints crackling and popping loudly as he lets out a groan. “Nghh… is it morning already?” He asks, to which Fluttershy responds as she walks into the room with a tray full of food on her back. “Oh, yes. We must’ve slept at least ten hours!” She confirms. “You must be hungry, Donnie… I-I made some breakfast, if you want…”

He smiles and gives her mane a pat and light scratch, something he’d learned most of these ponies enjoy greatly. “Thanks Flutters, I’m starving.”

The cute pink-maned pony smiled appreciatively at the attention, setting the tray on her small coffee table and sitting next to DOnovan, accepting more headpats as they both ate in silence for a few minutes. She broke the silence with a soft blush and clearing of her throat. “U-Uhm… Donnie, since its pretty, um… dangerous in Ponyville for you for the next few days… would You maybe want to stay here until Estrus is over? I-I promise I won’t, you know, um… try anything.”

Donovan wastes no time in giving a response. “I think that’d be the smart choice, yeah.” He chuckles, lightly scratching her scalp. “Plus, you probably don’t get much help from folks, being on the outskirts.

“Oh, well, Zecora helps occasionally, since she’s so close… but yes, I don’t get much help, except for my animal friends, of course. Isn’t that right, Angel Bunny?” The cute snow white rabbit thumped out a response before hopping back to his bed and settling down in it.

“Zecora. Right…” Donovan trails off, wondering whether he should talk to her about the strange vision the Zebra had induced on him, but thinking better of it and deciding to let sleeping dogs lie. “A little strange, isn’t she?” He asked, scratching at the light stubble that was beginning to form on his jawline; He needed to shave soon, his beard never grew in evenly. Though, that probably wasn’t anything Twilight’s magic couldn’t fix.

The hours went along as they went from talking idly to taking care of all of the Everfree’s friendly animals Fluttershy had made accommodations for; they fed the creek’s fish and the forest ceiling’s birds, retindered their nests along with rebedding the chicken coop. They shined turtle shells and pulled a sliver from a surprisingly friendly bear’s paw. It all seemed to blur together, adn Donovan didn’t mind helping; Fluttershy certainly seemed to enjoy the company. Before they new it, Estrus had ended without further incident, and Donovan was ready to go back to his own (hopefully not destroyed) home.

“Well Flutters, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy getting away from the excitement of town for a few days, but rent’s gotta get paid, so I should get back to the old grind.” He says as the two walk out onto Fluttershy’s porch. The pegasus flew up to eye level and embrace the human as she spoke in her sweet, soft tone.

“Yes it’s nice to have somepony, err… someone else out here from time to time… you’re always welcome to stop by, unannounced or otherwise…” She looks away and trails off before lightly blushing and booping her nose against the human’s cheek. “Make it home safe, Donnie… I’ll see you around…~”

The tall human smiled and slowly disengaged their embrace, nodding and giving a wave to both Fluttershy and Angel who’d joined them for their farewells as he headed down the beaten path back to Ponyville.

His trip back to his rented home wasn’t without event, though; several mares would come up to him, red in the face and apologizing profusely. He gracefully waved off their worries as quickly as he could, as he was ready to get home. Fluttershy’s cottage was cozy, but a pony-sized couch wasn’t exactly comfortable for a human, let alone one that stood at over six feet tall. Eventually he found his way to that familiar front door and stepped inside, not even bothering to kick off his boots as he collapsed onto that ever-so soft mattress, sighing in relief as he muttered a quiet but genuine affection.

“Home sweet home…”

Author's Note

MAN, does it feel good to get another chapter out on this story. I love the Canterlot High fic but this story has been so fun for me, and I'm so proud that I've been able to get along writing it on my own! Let's hope we can keep the gears turning on this story!

Deuces, guys!