Sitting on the barstool next to Golden Harvest, Lily cautiously brought herself to meet the brightly-colored earth pony's gaze. Golden Harvest smiled back awkwardly, her eyes glassy with intoxication. The two locked gazes in a silent standoff, each waiting for the other to make the first move.

Oh, hayseed! What am I supposed to say now? Sorry I ran away from you like an Everfree monster? While feverishly wracking her brain to think of something witty to say, Lily took the opportunity to get an unobstructed look at her admirer for the first time — hopefully without looking creepy. Golden Harvest was not only large by pony standards, but powerfully built, her yellow fur longer than that of most Equestrian mares, giving her a wild, exotic, and not at all unpleasant, look. Lily was filled with an overwhelming urge to brush the alluring stranger’s coat to see if she felt as soft and cozy as she looked. Darn it, Lily, say something to her!

Golden Harvest gave Lily an apologetic look. “Terribly sorry if I scared yeh back there, Lily. I just dinnae expect to ever see yeh here of all places! I s’pose anypony would be scared. Ah’m a pure nick and drunk to boot…” She eyed her empty mug guiltily.

Lily blinked at the odd expression but knew well enough what drunk meant when it was looking her in the face. “No, no! It’s not you. It’s just… well, I really shouldn’t be here!”

“Yeh shoo-dent? Why not?” Golden Harvest’s face turned anxious. “Yeh’re not allergic to peanuts are yeh?”

Lily’s eyes swept the room, spotting groups of mares already engaged in foreplay across the hall. Poor Rose is going to be eaten alive. Alive and screaming! Looking back at Golden, she shook her head. “I’d be dead for sure! I mean I’m not sure I’m ready to be looking for somepony. Especially here!”

“Aye, but seeing yeh dressed up like that, I’d be more worried about somepony finding you!” Golden Harvest tossed her mane back, sitting up on the wooden stool as straight as her anatomy and drunkenness would allow her to so that she could look at her properly. “But I understand the feeling. I’m not so sure I should be out tonight, either.”

Lily’s ears perked up at that. Omigosh, this is great! I can do a good thing for both of us and get us both out of here! Comic shop, here I come! She took a swig of sarsaparilla, savoring the rare treat from a frosty mug as she so rarely went outside, having to settle for the bottled stuff at the market Daisy brought home. Fortified, Lily resolved to explore her new diplomatic escape angle with eye contact and polite interest — a huge, but necessary concession for their mutual survival. “Why don’t you want to be here? Did you get dragged here by a friend, too?”

“Ha!” Golden Harvest rapped the bar with a generic steel-shoed hoof. “I see Ah’m not the only one! Well, it was me friends, actually. But they only meant well. They seen me wallowin’ in me own shame and misery and brought me out here to find a mare and get me, eh... ‘back in the saddle’ as Apple Cobbler put it.” The orange mare requested a glass of water from the barmare and took a drink. “May as well get to work on treating the hangover before it starts! But where are me manners? Care for something with a bit more kick?”

Lily shook her head vigorously, weaving precariously as her stool nearly fell over. “Oh no! I couldn't drink something like that! What if I get sick and die?”

Golden Harvest’s eyeridges disappeared into her curly mane. “Well, I sayr-tainly hope me drunk isn’t fatal. That would be a first for me!” The glassy-eyed mare chuckled at her own quip.

Smooth as butter, Lily. Maybe I should try not to offend our ticket out of here and make with the flippin’ friendship already! Lily’s internal monologue chided. “I didn’t mean it like that! I just… Can I try that again?”

Golden Harvest laughed. A deep, hearty laugh that seemed to warm up Lily from the inside. “The night's young. Take your time, lass. I’m happy to have company that isn’t trying to get under me tail!” Goldie’s face fell, remembering her lost Apple, but recovered quickly. “So what’s it like working for Daisy? She doesn’t push yeh too hard, does she? Every time I see yeh, yeh’re slavin’ away on some pot o’ dirt in the greenhouse.” Golden Harvest brushed at her curly bangs nervously. “I don’t mean to pry or anythin’...”

Lily had to think about that for a moment. The job was a bit tedious at times if necessarily lacking in stress for her delicate emotional state, save for the occasional Ponyville disaster destroying the town. Daisy was a sweet, motherly mare who kept an icebox full of delicious two-percent milk and could cook like nopony’s business, and Roseluck… she supposed the gorgeous red and pink, nectar smelling, ball of stallion lust was just an emotional rollercoaster sent by the Fates to keep the shy mare’s life interesting. “It’s got its upsides and downsides, but I’m happy with it. I really enjoy knowing my boss is my friend and Roseluck is…” Lily gave a lovesick sigh, “She’s really one of a kind.” Over at Roseluck’s bench, Lily heard bits and pieces of her friend retelling one of her stallion conquest stories.

“Yeh got that right! Strange, to see her inside a filly bar, eh? Methinks she’s a bit bi-curious!” Goldie smiled smugly, rubbing her forehooves together like the happiest merchant in Manehatten Harbor contemplating her profits. “Would I be presumin’ too much to assume yeh’ve noticed how bonnie you two are?”

“Eep!” Lily’s forehooves met the side of her head with a flash. Some words just don’t need translation.

“I thought so!” Goldie proclaimed loudly. “So how does a bonnie lass like yehrself end up here talking to me in present company?”

Omigosh she thinks I’m bonnie! What do I do? What do I do?She started to panic, covering up her fear with a question she already knew the answer to. “Bonnie… that means ‘cute’ right?”

“Aye! Yeh’re as perceptive as yeh are fair.”

“You think I’m… cute?” Lily looked at the earth pony as if she’d sprouted wings and a horn.

“Aye! I’d have thought a mare like you could help Rosie see the error of her ways if anypony could.” Golden Harvest looked contemplative for a moment, noting the two florists were split up since they’d arrived. “Been sayin' to the gals here the two of yeh would make the cutest couple, if yeh don't mind me suggesting it,” Goldie gestured to her friends sitting nearby. “We even thought the two of yeh might already be an item. The way yeh two carry on is adorable, seriously!”

Lily gritted her teeth, unnoticed by Golden Harvest.

"So that's it, isn't it? Yehr looking to find another lady to keep things interesting between yeh! Keep the bed a wee bit warmer on those long winter nights! Well yeh've come to the right place for th —” Golden Harvest's eyes drunkenly refocused themselves on Lily's pained expression as the cogs inside her brain began to turn. "Oh dear... Yehr friend... She's the wingmare isn't she?” Golden spoke more to herself than for Lily's benefit as her own expression took a turn for the awkward.

She’s attracted to me! That’s not possible! There is collaboration at the highest level of Equestria’s government to get my hopes up! This is all a lie! Lily eyed her orange friend suspiciously, “You’re joking! You really think I’m cute?” she asked in disbelief.

Golden Harvest shifted uncomfortably atop her stool, her ears bowed submissively. “Um… aye? Is this a sore topic with yeh? Cuz we could not talk about it…”

Roseluck is right. I really am the one keeping me single… “Golden Harvest… I’m really sorry I snapped at you like that. I’m just really nervous right now and I don’t do very well with other ponies on the best of days.” Lily sniffled quietly into her hooves, “And you shouldn’t put yourself down. Y-you’re cute too! I-I want to talk to you. I’m just so scared…”

“Oh, Lily, it’s alright!” Despite the emotional outpouring, Golden Harvest internally breathed a sigh of relief. “Say… yeh, want we should find someplace a bit more private so we can talk about it?” Goldie looked momentarily defensive, as Lily raised her tear-streaked eyes up at her fearfully. “No, it’s nothing like that! Ah mean just for talk. Someplace quiet, a place away from all… this. Ah think we kin both relate to each other right now.”

Lily nodded, wiping her eyes. “I’d l-like that. I trust you… Golden Harvest.”

She smiled. “Please, call me ‘Goldie’, Miss Lily. We can stay in one of the overnight rooms. This place looks small from the front but there’s loads of room in the back. Gotta stash us crazy foolers somewhere lest we break down and start rutting on the side of the road!”

Lily giggled as she climbed down from her stool, glancing at a point behind her new friend her face morphing into a look of shock. “I can see that!”

Golden Harvest looked over her shoulder before climbing down. A crowd of mares had gathered around Sea Swirl, hungry looks in their eyes, as the unicorn rolled over onto her back, tail flagging hard as she displayed her slickened marehood for the assembly, taunting them with her tongue stuck out. Her horn glowed a gentle red, which gave way to yellow. When finally her aura changed to green, mares from the crowd descended on the mare as the mares sitting at a table arranged with stacks of bits cheered. “We might be seeing a lot more in a moment, none of which I think yeh’re prepared fer just yet. We should go.”

Lily gasped as she looked on at the scene, her cheeks flushing hard, quickly following behind her new friend through a door leading behind the bar. Before disappearing behind the door, she saw tongues in places not normally discussed in polite conversation.

The lowering of the sun only brought more mares into the packed hall, the increase in chatter nearly drowning out the old jukebox, which had switched from moody love songs to newer, more energetic dance tunes. Taken in by the revelry, one purple-coated unicorn with a prominent twin-dolphin cutie mark was dancing naked atop her table, having removed her dress. When she’d entered, most of the mares had been dressed in their best, but looking again revealed a lot less fab and a lot more fur. Between the candles, the warm muggy night air, and the body heat of dozens of mares, Roseluck was sporting a thin sheen of sweat across her face and body. Not that it bothered the other mares at the table, who not only bought the rose-colored mare drinks — four empty cider mugs and a bottle of wine were already claimed by her bottomless thirst — but were even ordering her food.

Ït’s alright, girls… really. I ate before I left!” a swaying Roseluck announced as a second cucumber sandwich appeared in a field of unicorn magic in front her, barely a minute after the empty dish was carried off.

“Not me, Rose. I always prefer eating out; especially when I’ve muffed up the meal,” Raindrops announced with a lewd grin, taking a large bite of garlic bread. A few mares giggled at the double-entendre while tipsy Roseluck missed the joke entirely.

“Gotta soak up that grappa somehow!” Minuette lifted the sandwich up under her nose, tempting her as she stared vacantly at the empty plate, her mind and body sated with good drink and better company. “Come on, Rose. Tasty sandwich! Yummy~!” she addressed Rose like she was speaking to a foal.

Roseluck chuckled and picked up the sandwich with one hoof, “Alright, alright. But no more! I feel like I’m taking advantage of your... ” Roseluck only barely suppressed a belch with her spare hoof as she faced her glazed eyes on the blue-striped unicorn’s horn, noting how the blue glow reflected off her eyes and minty-coated muzzle in the darkness of the bar. “You know, filly... you really got a good thing going on with those lovely shades of blue. Has anypony ever told you that? They’d slay a stallion from a mile away!”

“Why thank you!” Minuette nuzzled Roseluck affectionately, delighting in her flinch. “I never knew you had such an appreciation for the female form!”

A peal of raucous laughter and hoof stomps erupted from the table’s occupants. A few even clinked their mugs at the unfolding scene.

Rose’s already-rosy cheeks turned a deeper hue; she retained enough of her sensibilities to recognize she was being teased and raised her free hoof defensively. “Hey, I don’t have to be a fillyfooler to notice something like that! Can’t a gal appreciate the competition every now and then?” Roseluck took a bite of sandwich, chasing it with liquid courage. “Not that… you’re actually competing. I just…” Rose suppressed another belch before continuing, “...think you could be competition? I do hope I'm making sense and not sounding drunk as all get out...” Roseluck's voice trailed off uncertainly.

“Wouldn’t even think about trying to be your competition!” A bespectacled dark orange coated earth pony teased, sipping her rum and cola through a straw. Neighboring tables going quiet as they turned to listen in, mares whispering back and forth in excited tones, a few bits even exchanging hooves as bets were made on the proceedings. “Not if the rumors I heard about you are correct! So tell me Rose... is it really true you got tucked in by an entire construction crew in Manehatten?”

Making no further pretension of stealth, every mare at the surrounding tables were now focusing on Roseluck. The Ponyville rumor mill was an efficient machine; still, nothing was going to put the controversy to rest until they’d heard it from Roseluck herself, who’d done the impossible and paid them all a visit to tell them about it.

“Whoa! I never heard about that…” Raindrops’ wings began to unfold again, thankfully with nopony noticing them or the heat traveling down to her nethers. Then again, she was far from the only one at that point! “Tell us more!”

For the first time since she’d entered the bar, Roseluck smiled. Finally, a leg to stand on! “You bet your Apple-lovin’ flank I did, Apple Cobbler!” Roseluck finished off her fifth mug of ale, slapped it on the table, belched for a solid three seconds, unable to hold it any longer — “nice one!” somepony yelled from across the room — and focused intensely on Apple Cobbler’s big blue eyes. Those bangs look super cute on her! Why is she not putting them to good use on a hunky, Canterlot guardstallion...?

“I was in Manehatten on business for Daisy. I'd set up in a motel and was touring the city, beforehand. It was a real scorcher! Weather patrol must’ve been on strike ‘cause it was ninety-two degrees Fahrenheit and don't even ask about the humidity…” Roseluck wiped a hoof across her brow. “Didn’t make it any easier that the road was covered with blacktop that made everything seem ten times worse! Even without wearing any clothes, I was soaked with sweat and thinking of nothing but downing a quart of ice cream back at the motel when a fire hydrant across the street blew out. It felt glorious, but I could only imagine how I looked dripping everywhere with my mane and tail all out of sorts!”

Wings and tails twitched all around the hall. “Oh, I think I can imagine it…” an orange-coated cotton candy-maned pegasus chimed in as her wings flared, deploying through strategically placed holes on her maid’s uniform. Roseluck wondered briefly if she’d come straight from work or if it was a fetish thing, but didn’t feel the need to ask just then. “So now that your smoking hot body was cooled off, what did you do?”

Roseluck helped herself to another bite of sandwich, chewing slowly, reveling in all the royal treatment and positive attention she was receiving. A mare could get used to all this flattery! And here I thought this was going to be difficult! Why was I so afraid to come here before? “Well, I wasn’t thinking about ice cream anymore, but I still needed to grab some lunch before getting dressed and going to to a meeting with a thestral supplier on renegotiating the cost of Zebrecen Shade Bloom. As I was looking for a place to eat, I came upon a construction area. There were big, tough, earth pony stallions wearing utility orange, with belts carrying various tools strapped to their sides, going at the old pavement with jackhammers — still can't believe the city folks walk on that hard stuff! So anyway, I stopped long enough to, well… admire the scenery when one of them noticed me and started walking in my direction.”

“It begins!” Minuette announced to cheers and whinnies of approval from the assembly.

Roseluck acknowledged them with a wry grin before continuing. “Oh, I could see it in his eyes, girls: I was the only mare in the world for him! He didn't say hi, and I wasn't about to ruin that labor-hardened stud of an earth pony's dream. We started making out right there on the one clear lane of traffic... but not for long... I broke the kiss and slapped the muscular workcolt on his flank with my tail and invited him to take the ride of his life!” She went wistful at the memory, basking in a fresh round of cheers and adulation from her audience.

“And you did this out in the open?” the barmare gaped as she passed Roseluck a fresh mug of ale, this one on the house. “I’ve heard some whoppers in my time, but this one’s a trip!”

“Sure did!” Roseluck boasted, ignoring the skeptical hostess as she took a swig off her new drink, smacking her lips for a moment. “Attracted a lot of attention, too! All his buddies stopped working and came over to watch!”

A series of impressed sounds floated up, more and more mares collecting around her to listen. “You’re a braver mare than I, fillyfriend! Assuming you’re not pulling my tail!” One pony called out from the crowd.

Rose gave her a funny look for a moment but lost in the story and a deepening alcohol-induced haze, she continued, some part of her noting in quickly forgotten alarm that she was getting turned on by telling her dubious tale. “Thanks! In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have done this in public, but at the time nothing mattered to me. I was at peace with the world!” Roseluck downed half the mug in one draw, her cheeks warm and face glowing with pride. “Bowing my head and presenting myself to him, I heard him mount me with a squish on my back and bore his weight easily. Whether it was my new friend or not, I can't be certain because his coworkers soon joined him, nipping and suckling at my ears, and licking the length of my neck from opposite sides…”

Minuette lit up her horn, gasping as she pierced her wet, eager marehood with her electric-blue magical aura; it’s size and girth contoured to fit her perfectly after many years of practice. Within no time, her slickened wetness was dripping onto the wooden floor from the gaps between her magical construct and inner walls as she thrusted it repeatedly up inside her with growing need. “Oh don’t mind me, everypony. Please, continue your… Umm... Story, Rose. Unn~”

Roseluck’s nose twitched at the smell of her arousal, most prominent among several others now evident to her nose. Whoa… she even smells like mint! Trying not to think about why it was turning her on, even more, she concluded that such questions were best left for later.

“So the biggest one of the bunch — the Boss... at least I think he was the Boss because he was certainly the most well-endowed — came over to me and took over on neck and make-out duty, while his subordinates took turns sucking my teats and rutting me senseless, occasionally pulling out to make their erection last.”

Roseluck paused, enjoying the appreciative murmurs that came up from her avid audience. “It’s funny how vivid the details of each little thing stay with me to this day. I can still feel their weight on my back, their nibbling my ear, the nips on my neck. I can recall the exact feel of each shaft inside me, it’s shape, size and hardness. I can still hear the others cheering, grumbling for having to wait their turn while hearing my cries for more!”

“More!” the mares listening agreed as one, urging her to continue the story, cheeks flushed, wings splayed and now more than a few hooves starting to stray south.

“Give a filly a chance, girls!” she replied, basking in the attention, grateful that even fillyfoolers could appreciate a good stallion sex story, and finding herself oddly flattered that she was turning them on. “Between the eight of them rotating in and out, I may have been standing there getting tucked in for hours, because my legs were starting to get really tired. No joke, girls — I thought I had died and gone to the Summerlands, enjoying my reward for an honest and hard-working life, even if for only a day. But no, my real reward came at the end,” she told them all. “That was when the boss finally took me!”

“R-Really?” the barmare was now leaning heavily on the bar. “W-wait… if he was the Boss, why didn’t he take you first?”

“Funny you ask…” a now-swaying Roseluck giggled, polishing off the rest of her ale and wiping her mouth with a foreleg; the mug was swiftly replaced before her. “‘Cause I asked him that too! He smiled and told me between nips and kisses his workcolts were the reason they got done every day. And that they were good fellas and deserved to go first. Then he told me he was going to make damn sure he was the one I'd remember the most! And by Celestia, did he ever! He was as big as a Saddle Arabian and I felt like a filly having her first when he entered into me. Even his probing thrusts were so strong they scooted me forward an inch each time, and then when he'd penetrated me fully, he gave my ear a gentle bite and told me to ‘hang on!’ I whinnied so loud, they must have heard it clear over in Baltimare!”

The room had fallen silent except for the wet sounds of hooves and auras involved in self-pleasuring, though some of the listeners were rubbing up against each other hard. “So he was as good as advertised?” a voice called from the back.

“You better believe it, sister!” Rose slammed her latest mug down, sloshing out some ale. “Bracing my hooves as best I could, I threw myself back onto him with each thrust of my hips to drive him in deeper, chomping down on his length to force his surrender sooner. Oh, but he was good, and wise to my tactics. He’d pull out just before coming and continue the foreplay, holding out until he could do so no longer. After a solid hour of going at it, I could go on no further and he carried me back to the motel on his back before rutting me again and again.” Roseluck sighed, barely aware her own winking marehood was gently dripping onto the floor, accompanied by an ever-stronger smell of rose petals. “Oh, I sure hope he kept his job!”

Silence, save the occasional gasp of a self-pleasuring mare, filled the room. “Sounds like satisfying you is a full-time job in and of itself, Rose!” Apple Cobbler finally spoke again.

“You said it!” the minty mare added her cheeks bright red against her blue fur. “You know, I bet we could do it, too!” she said, to the eager sounds of agreement from the assembled mares.

Her earth pony alcohol resistance keeping her only two sheets to the wind, for the first time since the start of the Crystal Heart discussion, Rose was beginning to feel a bit concerned. Jealousy, Rose could handle. Appreciation for her exploits was rare, but always welcome. But a hungry-looking audience of openly aroused mares was a new and uncomfortable specimen she’d yet to catalog, and somehow even more terrifying than Daisy’s tentacle plants that could eat magic. “You all must be —” Roseluck’s eyes darted around the table at the hungry faces of its equine occupants and swallowed audibly “— v-very impressed huh?” Her smile, which had been brimming with confidence just a short time earlier, went nervous, her eyes flitting from one fillyfooler to the next, suddenly and very uncomfortably reminded of where she was.

The cloud of booze had lifted off of her mind like the early morning fog under the heat of the sun.

The bronze pegasus snorted gently, the blast of air tickling the highly erogenous, reddened tip of Roseluck’s right ear. She gasped, the walls of her marehood winking involuntarily, and turned around to find herself muzzle to muzzle with her marefriend for the evening. Her bronze wings were fully deployed, twitching slightly. “I know I’m impressed! Not everyday a stallion-settler experiences the kind of fun we mares experience on a regular basis.”

Minuette and Apple Cobbler walked over and took shelter under their friend’s wings.

You what?” Roseluck shot the pegasus an involuntarily hostile look, before catching herself. “I mean, you do that sort of thing… regularly? As in more than one of you at a time?”

As if the universe had seen fit to answer, the purple-coated unicorn from earlier, having stopped dancing to listen to Roseluck’s story was approached by two mares: one of whom began to kiss her full on the lips, while the second nudged the dolphin-lover’s tail aside, plunging deep inside her marehood with her long, ring-pierced tongue. They were soon joined by a third and fourth who went to work on her cutie mark and neck. Roseluck stared, transfixed by the sight of a group of mares ganging up on another mare who, far from struggling, lifted her flagging two-tone blue tail helpfully out of the way until climaxing with a muffled cry, sending a forceful, salty stream of fragrant nectar down the second mare’s throat. The greedy mare didn’t let a single drop hit the table, tilting her neck up to trap the salty load in her muzzle. The table cheered as the tan-coated mare displayed her trophy at the tip of her long, thick tongue before swallowing it down, licking both their lips clean so as not to waste any.

Roseluck felt a sudden, unwelcome twinge of insecurity at how short her tongue was by comparison. Now I know how short-stick stallions must feel!

“We get around, filly,” Raindrops said silkily, the two of them watching as the five mares at the nearby table reconfigured and started rutting again. Minuette and Apple Cobbler stood aside to allow their marefriend to address Rose alone. “We’re living that dream of yours.” Her voice dropped low and she spoke directly into her ear. “Every… single… day.”

The weathermare allowed a moment for her words to have the desired effect before nuzzling the length of Roseluck’s neck, the latter shuddering as unbidden lust leaked out from ominous, widening cracks in her mental dam holding back the rising tide of fillyfoolery.

“So why don’t you admit it?” Raindrops trailed kisses up a stunned, slightly trembling but unresisting, Roseluck’s neck. “We all can see it, Rose; all those stallions but you never keep them. They mean nothing to you. You just want the eyes of every jealous mare on you; comparing themselves to you; wishing they could have what you got.” Wrapping her forehooves around her neck, she reached behind Roseluck’s ear and nuzzled it. “You’ll never be truly satisfied until you’ve spent a night with a mare you’ve deemed ‘worthy’.”

Shoving her confusion aside and gathering up her scattered senses, Roseluck whinnied harshly, stepping back defensively as she roughly rubbed her violated ear. “Now hold on there, Neighfertiti! You can’t just go accusing ponies of being a fooler based on the fact they’ve never been with a mare!”

That brought an immediate upsurge of voices, all speaking over each other. “Rose, we can all smell how turned on you are…”

“Figures. Some mares can’t ever be easy about this…”

“It’s not like anypony is going to hate you for coming out, Rose. A good percentage of us mares are at least bi…”

“She’s right. You’ll never know unless you try…?”

“Bi or not, that was a hot story. I’ll have to try to find that construction crew!”

“Speak for yourself! I wasn’t turned on by them; I was turned on by the idea of her being in that scene with mares!”

“Smell? By, Cadance, she’s soaked the bench with her filly cream! Sure glad I don’t have to clean that up!”

“Rose, are you going to finish that sandwich?”

“Enough, already!” Roseluck roared, kicking her forehooves out. The sound of chattering bar attendees quieting as they looked at each other nervously. “Now tell me. What is this all about? Why do ponies think I’m… that way?”

“Rose… maybe we should talk about this outside? You are very drunk, horny, beautiful, and creating a scene,” Minuette stated casually, suddenly worried they’d pushed her too hard.

“That is because I am the mare who creates scenes!” Roseluck fired back, bringing a hoof to her chest proudly, sticking out her neck for good measure. She was greeted by eye rolls, groans, head shakes, sighs, and a smattering of applause. “And I want to know where this is all coming from. Spit it out!”

Raindrops’ ears splayed back at the harshness of Roseluck’s tone, sensing if the mare walked out now, she’d probably never come back in. “Fine”, she huffed. “I didn’t want to bring this up, Rose, but we know about Blossomforth.”

Roseluck’s cheeks flushed hard as she ran through a kaleidoscope of emotional states; her expression ranged from surprise, fear, incredulity, guilt, anger, regret, arousal, and bitterness as the image of snowy-white feathers, festive-striped mane, and a freckle-faced smile floated past her mind’s eye. “W-what about her?”

“You had a crush on her, Rose,” Minuette stated bluntly, setting a hoof down firmly for emphasis.

“Ngh!” Roseluck sat back and clamped her hooves over her ears, shut her eyes tightly, trying to will her audience and unwelcome memories away. “I don’t really want to talk about her! Listen, gals; it’s not at all like that, okay? I still feel terrible over what I did to her with Thunderlane. And you —” Roseluck pointed an accusing hoof at Raindrops “— don’t know anything about me if you think I don’t enjoy stallion company or respect the ones I’ve slept with!”

Raindrops sighed. “Maybe you’re right, Rose. I should not have said that. But I was there. What you and Blossomforth had was… special.” The bronze pegasus closed her eyes, remembering back to their school days. She chuckled when she remembered Cheerilee’s strange manecut. “The two of you were inseparable throughout elementary school; you were always at her side. You had other friends, but nothing like her.”

“It’s true...” Roseluck nodded sadly.

“And then Thunderlane showed up…” Raindrops cut in, her expression neutral.

Roseluck growled. “It’s not at all how it looks!”

Raindrops shook her head. “Isn’t it? Now for argument’s sake, we could postulate that you got angry at Blossomforth for stealing your stallion. That is where you’re going with this 'I'm so misunderstood' defense, right? And yet you made no thought of sharing him with her like most mares would.”

“I… am no ordinary mare!” Roseluck protested.

“Quite true!” Raindrops shot back. “Normal, or should I say straight mares wouldn’t value the relationships with their marefriends over that of their stallion!” Raindrops made a show of rubbing her chin. “And yet you do. And that’s why you’re here tonight, isn’t it?”

Roseluck looked nervously over at the bar where Lily was sitting only to find they were nowhere to be seen. She and Golden Harvest had taken their leave. “I came here to help a friend!” And it looks like I did! Roseluck thought to herself. It was gratifying but worrisome. For now, she was all alone in a bar full of fillyfoolers, one of whom was making her relive memories and hear things she didn’t want to. I helped Lily, now who’s going to help me?

“You came here to help your marefriend, Rose.” Raindrops confirmed her thought with a smile, taking a stab at the air with her hoof. “The way you and Lily get on reminds me exactly how you and Blossomforth did. It’s really cute actually…”

“No!” Roseluck brought forehooves to the side of her head, teeth gritting as she was forced to face facts. “It can’t be!”

Raindrops gave the sympathetic smile of a mare who’d seen this before. “It won’t be weird anymore once you’ve tried it out, Rose. You’ve driven yourself crazy and driven away potential marefriends in the process because of the hurt that one innocent filly caused you. Hey, maybe I’m full of hot air and all of Ponyville’s gone mad,” Raindrops snorted. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

Roseluck looked back at her fearfully, her urge to flee growing.”Wha- what do you all want me to do?”

“Oh, I know what you want to do!” Raindrops winked at the cream-coated cutie, rubbing her chin before an idea brought a smile to her face. “But I’m not sure you’re quite ready to actually go through with it.”

Roseluck did a double take, looking back at the mare as if she’d grown a second head. “Wait, what?

She smiled, and so did the others. “Hey, I can tell a horny mare from ten-thousand feet up, but you clearly do not have what it takes to handle a mare like me. You need the stamina of a buffalo, and the agility of a jungle cat to compete with any of us!”

Roseluck jaw dropped open, unable to speak as the room turned their attention to a particularly loud squeal of delight from the mare at the center of the throng, who came again into the maw of another lucky mare.

“Just look at her go! That mare is making some wicked gains!” Apple Cobbler pinwheeled with approval and her two friends whistled and cheered, Roseluck setting the Riddle of the Bronze Pegasus aside to look in on Sea Swirl’s ‘gains’.

She watched on as the mare with the dolphin cutie mark climaxed again with a blissful cry, the pair of mares pleasuring her femininity, lapping up the stream while a third had the unicorn pinned down with her horn fully enveloped in her mouth. She bobbed up and down on the lightly-glowing pillar as she pleasured it’s firm, supple hardness. Eager to get another climax out of their willing captive, the trio continued their ministrations unabated as three more mares walked up to the four to help the others, her neck, teats, and mouth now occupied by frenzied licking and sucking — fifteen bystanders cheering lustily, hooves and bottles banging the floor and table as they tallied how many orgasms the sea-themed mare had experienced (twelve) in the last hour. Before Roseluck could see what the approaching seventh and eight mares joining the pileup was intending to do with the lovely unicorn — pleasure her ear tips or the dock of her tail, Roseluck guessed with a shudder — Rose turned her attention back to her date for the night, her lovely teal eyes inches from her own.

“Do you understand now, young seedling?” Raindrops oozed seductively, giving Roseluck’s rump a quick flick of the tail. “You came here tonight for your friend’s sake, or so you say. But I always knew better. You came here to size up the competition; to explore the life you've been missing out on. And now you’ve seen the futility of your resistance. You can’t hope to compete with a fillyfooler in the ways of lovemaking. We train daily, we forge our bodies and our souls through sweat and careful dieting to achieve absolute perfection while you just lift your tail and call it a day…”

Roseluck lifted a hoof in protest, only to be cut off by a placating, minty coated hoof. “Yeah, we know. You’re out there working hard to impress your stallion. But mares have to do more than just look good to each other. In times past we subdued the elements, took control of the skies, tamed the wild earth, and harnessed the arcane. But now that we have no need to struggle with the land we’ve turned that struggle inward; the struggle against apathy, lethargy, complacency. Do you have the courage to test your steel against another mare? If not, all the bragging in the universe will not help you.” Minuette motioned towards a door behind the bar leading to the kitchens. “Come with us, Rose. We have a room back behind the counter where we all go to exercise. Let’s see what you’re really made of!”

Roseluck made a face, thrown completely for a loop; convinced a few moments ago she was going to get triple-teamed in a back alley by the bar’s diverse welcoming committee — and definitely not being completely turned on in any way by that fact — she found the offer a bit of a letdown. A very strange and no doubt memorable letdown she'd remember for all time.

I had them eating out of my hoof! She admitted to herself openly. Still, these ponies are my job to handle. And if I can handle them with a mere test of strength I should be fine. Hey, I’m an earth pony! I can pull a loaded wagon like nopony’s business and got the rump to prove it. Can this unicorn say the same thing? Roseluck gave what she hoped was a casual glance at Minuette’s rump and found it lacking in horsepower.

“Alright ladies, you’re on!” Roseluck swatted Raindrops’ rump in return. Ha! Just as bony as your unicorn friend. This will be cake! “You got a pull-up bar back there too?”

Raindrops winked at the Rose-colored lovely, her wings tensing and relaxing slowly as she walked to the door, the bartender allowing her to pass without a word. “Filly, we got everything you can dream of.”

“This is awesome!” Apple Cobbler exclaimed, pinwheeling again before following the pegasus. “I finally have another earth pony to show off my gains to! Rose, you’re going to love it here. You’ll never, ever, want to leave!”

“Underestimate me at your own peril, Roseluck,” Minuette warned Roseluck sternly, her eye ridges furrowed to a point. Roseluck’s tail drooped to the floor, momentarily cowed. Could she read minds with her horn? “Unicorns are pretty strong too with proper exercise. If you’re not training, you’re not gaining. Remember that.” Walking away slowly, hips swaying to show off her carved, equine physique, the unicorn followed her two friends behind the counter.

Roseluck trembled on the spot as she considered the door behind her. Beyond the exit were freedom and stallions, with a small detour through filly debauchery and exhibitionism atop love-stained tables. She was aching with need for a good rut from a solidly-built, well-endowed stallion, preferably under the tail so she could drive out the image of glistening yellow wings, and rain-soaked teal mane waving at her as she pushed a cloud across the sky...

An image that would simply not be squelched. Rose’s mouth began to water as in her mind’s eye she gazed upon her new pegasus friend’s rugged sculpted flanks and long, majestic wings, watching when Raindrops suddenly abandoned her weather patrol duties, swooped from the sky like a griffin stalking its prey, and pinned Roseluck’s unresisting body to the grass-covered ground, plunging her long fooler tongue roughly into the side of her maw, claiming Rose as her own.

NO! She’s wrong… I”m not… And yet, for all her confusion, Roseluck’s legs carried her forward, inexorably towards the open door in the back. Giving one final look back at the crowded hall, its patrons still cheering at the unicorn having her love juices devoured, she spared a final thought for her shy, pink friend. Please, Lily, get me out of here! Hear my thoughts. Help! HELP!

Author's Note

5/23/2018 X brought hoof to face. (sigh) God, I'm tired of reading that phrase in every single one my stories. Why is writing a simple said tag so hard for me? Grammarly edit pass complete and all references to facehoofing have been physically removed with a shotgun to the head.

6/6/2018 One final edit to end all edits for this chapter. The scene with Lily and Golden Harvest was a bit of a mess. Everything else looked mostly good.

12/10/2018 That scene with Rose and Lily was still an absolute mess. Chapter edited.