Near Miss and Spleens slept in late the next day, to the point that it was almost noon before they left Spleens' house. First in their agenda was checking on Long Shot. After explaining pony dietary needs, specifically fluid replacement, to the brothel's manager, they were informed that Long was doing quite well, but was in the middle of a mandatory 8 hour rest period, and should not be disturbed. The director also mentioned that given Long Shot's remarkable love and lust output, as soon as the 48 hours was up, she was to be given the 'Key to Jackie's Holes' in addition to being invited to return at any time as an honered guest.

On leaving the brothel, Near collided with a light blue changeling, knocking them both to the ground. "Pardon me," Said the changeling as he stood up, "You wouldn't happen to be"-he looked down at a paper floating in his magic-"Miss Near Miss, would you?"

"Yup that's me," Near answered.

"Excellent, Mayor Ner would like to see you in her office as soon as possible," The changeling announced.

Near glanced at Spleens before shrugging, "Ok, lead on."

When they arrived at the mayor's office, Mayor Ner immediately beckened them in, "Near Miss, I'm glad you came, we have something I would like to warn you about. This morning, the body of a pegasus was found by one of the ponies working at a nearby archeological dig. The pegasus had been nearly completely drained of love. Based on this, we believe there is one or more rogue changelings operating in the area. I've called you here to warn you to be extremely careful, and not to go anywhere alone."

"She won't be alone," Spleens told the mayor, "She invited me to travel with her, so we can watch each other's backs."

"Excellent!" Mayor Ner said, "Still, stay alert, and if you see something, say something. On an unrelated note, your friend staying at the brothel is most remarkable in both her love/lust output, and also her sexual appetite. She is putting out so much, that we've had to invite random resident changelings in just to soak up the excess!"

After thanking the mayor for her warning, Near and Spleens slowly made their way back to Spleens' house, where they proceeded to carefully laze the rest of the day away, with Near reading a Daring Do book, while Spleens read an almost painfully sappy romance novel.

The next day, Near and Spleens walked into the brothel a bit after one. Inside they found Long Shot, freshly showered and chatting with someling in a back room. "Are you finished with your heat?" Near asked once Long noticed them.

"I should hope so," Long said, before flying over to Near and landing on her back. "Otherwise I've rendered myself unable to walk normally for no reason. Either way, let's go get us an artifact."

After retrieving the tickler from the mayor's secretary, Near, Long, and Spleens headed to the caravan. "I hope you don't mind but I've asked Spleens to join us on our travels, and she accepted," Near told Long.

"The way I see it, the more of us there are, the less often I have to pull the caravan," Long replied, "Besides, you never know when having a changeling with you will come in handy."

At this point Spleens spoke up, "Is it alright if I bring some books with me?" Long shrugged and Near nodded. "Cool, I'll meet you at the caravan in a bit."

As Near walked on, Long started to talk about her experience in the brothel. "So apparently they have had a fair bit of practice with mare holes, but they don't know all that much about butt stuff. Like, did you know that if a tentacle goes all the way through you it brings stuff with it? 'Cause I found out the hard way that if it goes in at your butt, some poo comes out of your mouth. So take my advice, and always have it go in through your mouth first to clean out everything in the right direction."

By this point, they had arrived at the caravan, so Near bucked Long off of her back, and sat down wide eyed, at an utter loss as to how one should respond to such a statement.

Author's Note

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