The Game of Estrus

"Would you like some coffee?"

"Don't mind if I do. Black, no sugar, please."

Film Reel took off her hat, and hung it on a hook by the library door. Rainbow was eyeing her suspiciously, as Twilight lit the gas flame beneath a kettle in the corner of the room.

Film Reel noticed Rainbow's glare, and gave her her best reporter's smile. "Is something the matter?"

Rainbow moved her head to stare at her sidelong. "No, not really. I just think you seem pretty fishy to me."

"Give her a chance, Rainbow," Twilight rebuked. "You didn't like it when Carrot was suspicious of us for trying to ask questions."

"Yeah, but that was only because this reporter had tried to ask questions first," Rainbow pointed out. "Carrot must have had a good reason for not trusting her! Animal-team-girl said they had 'history', remember?"

"If I might interrupt?" Film Reel interjected. "The history that Golden Harvest and myself have has nothing to do with my methods of reporting. Had I known she was there, I wouldn't have even bothered trying to get any answers."

Rainbow turned back to stare at her again. "Well then, what is the history between you two?"

"...that's personal."

"Huh. For a reporter, you're pretty suckish at answering questions."

Twilight sighed. "Rainbow, calm down and eat a sandwich. I'll handle this." She pulled one of the carrot sandwiches from her bag, and laid it on a plate in front of her.

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow gave Twilight a bemused look as she lowered her head to take a bite from the sandwich. "Just 'cos I'm eating, doesn't mean I can't..." She trailed off at that point, her taste receptors having registered the object in her mouth.

"Well, that should keep her busy for a few minutes," Twilight chuckled. Hearing the kettle boil, she pulled it over to herself, along with the coffee and three mugs, and poured a cup for each of them.

"Thank you," Film Reel said, taking a sip from the mug. "Now, I'd like to ask you a few things about this competition."

"Okay, but why?" Twilight asked. "One of the rules means you won't be able to report on anything you learn."

"Ah ah ah..." Film Reel tutted, shaking her head. "It means I won't be able to report on anything yet. This game won't last forever. Either somepony will find a way out of it, or everypony, bar one, will be eliminated. I'm sure the world will have been turned upside-down by that time, and ponies are going to want answers."

"That's a good point," Twilight conceded, sipping her own coffee. "Very well then, ask away."

Film Reel grinned at her. "Well, for starters, I noticed you visiting the first pony to fall victim to this-"

"No."

Film Reel blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"No," Twilight said again. "I'm not telling you anything about Ditzy. The only reason I was allowed to talk to her is because her daughter trusts me. I can't betray that trust."

"Aww, c'mon. Not even a little snippet?" Film Reel made pouting eyes at Twilight. "In return, I could give you some of the information I've gathered already..."

Twilight's hoof thumped down on the table. "Might I remind you that you are also at risk from this game? It would be in your best interests to give me any information you can anyway, for your own sake as well as everypony else's."

"Ahhh, but I'm afraid that's not the way my job works." Film Reel calmly sipped her coffee again. "Tell you what, you don't have to tell me anything about your friend. If you can just tell me anything else of interest that you've learned, I'll be happy to exchange info with you."

Twilight sat back down. "That seems far more reasonable, thank you. Let's see..."

She told Film Reel everything she had contemplated over the past day, from her magic being messed with to the surprising lack of rampaging stallions around town. As the journalist was hastily scribbling everything down, Rainbow Dash suddenly leapt up.

"Wooooaaahhhh!" She yelled. "This sandwich is amazing!" She then sat back down and took another bite. "So, what'd I miss?"

"Not much," Twilight said, fishing her own sandwich from her bag and taking a bite. Even gone cold, the explosion of flavour still took her breath away for a moment. "Film Reel and I were trading information. In fact, she was just about to give us her side, wasn't she?"

"Of course. I am a pony of my word." She flipped back a few pages in her notebook. "Let's see... ah, this'll probably interest you."

She paused, and smiled as the two ponies leaned in closer, eager for her information.

"Apparently you haven't noticed, but I can tell you this for sure... Discord wasn't lying about the stallions."

Applejack was out patrolling the orchard. This early into spring, it was difficult to discern between a living tree and one that had died over the winter, as the leaves on the trees were still no more than buds. However, it was also important to find any dead trees as soon as possible, so that when they dug it up and planted a new seed in its place, the new tree would have the optimal amount of time to grow before the next winter rolled around.

So far, it seemed this winter had been kind to their orchard. She hadn't found a single dead tree after a whole day of searching, barring the short break she had taken to visit the Carousel Boutique earlier this morning. Satisfied that she had covered at least half the orchard by this point, she decided to take a brief respite.

She lay down on the grass beneath a tree that was already eagerly sprouting a few leaves, resting against the trunk with her hat over her eyes.

Thunk, thunk, thunk...

A dull thudding disturbed Applejack from her rest. It was on the edge of her hearing, so she could have probably ignored it by moving to a further tree. But avoiding work when there was work to be done simply didn't sit well with her.

"Sounds like Big Mac's found a dead'un," she thought aloud, getting to her hooves before heading in the direction of the noise.

"So you've seen some stallions running rampant then?" Twilight asked enthusiastically. "Because we haven't seen any!"

"Twilight's right!" Rainbow confronted Film Reel. "How do we know you aren't just making it up?"

"Rainbow, that's not what I meant."

Film Reel put her hooves up defensively. "Not to worry, not to worry. I wouldn't make a claim I can't back up." She reached into her bag, and pulled out a collection of photos. "I've gathered an interesting collection of pictures today, that I think you'll want to see."

Thunk, thunk, thunk...

As Applejack got closer, something started bothering her.

"Big Mac's buckin' too quickly... he can't be puttin' barely any strength into his kicks."

Wondering why her brother might be expending energy so needlessly, she increased her pace, galloping towards the source of the noise.

Film Reel placed one of the photos onto the table. It was dark, but Twilight could clearly see two unicorns in the picture, one on top of the other. The mare on the bottom was quite clearly in distress, while the stallion on top had his eyes closed and a vacant smile on his face.

"This was the first event to catch my eye. It happened late last night, in the middle of town." She flipped a few pages in her notebook, before pointing to the mare in the photo. "This pony's name is Sea Swirl. She's a marine biologist, so she often takes trips to the coastal cities, such as Baltimare and Los Pegasus."

Twilight looked at the photo more closely, and noticed that her cutie mark did indeed consist of marine life, specifically a couple of dolphins. She thought she vaguely remembered seeing her around town a few times, but had never properly spoken to her.

"She had probably arrived back in Ponyville on the last train, and was heading home," Film Reel continued, "when she was jumped by this stallion."

The stallion in the picture was more visible, since his horn was giving off a vibrant glow. He was a blue unicorn with a white-and-blue mane, with a safety pin for a cutie mark.

Film Reel flipped to another page in her notes. "Pokey Pierce. No known occupation. His talent is having an unusually sharp horn. Unknown if this is naturally occurring, or sharpened manually."

Twilight looked back at the photo. She couldn't see it explicitly, but from the position they were in, and from Sea Swirl's desperate expression, it was clear that there was now an extra piece of information to amend onto that bio: rapist.

She sighed. "I guess this proves Discord was serious..."

Something was definitely not right. As Applejack got closer to the sound, she noticed a few trees that had already been felled. At least, it started off with a few, but the numbers kept increasing the closer she got, until it looked like a hurricane had swept through this part of the orchard.

"And here ah thought we were havin' a good year..." she muttered to herself. "Looks more like our worst year ever now."

There was a crack underhoof, as Applejack trod on the branch of one of the fallen trees. It was a fresh sounding crack, not the crumbly kind that came from a tree long-dead. She looked down, and her eyes widened at what she saw.

There, on the branch, was a bud. A fresh, healthy bud, frozen in mid-blossom.

"What in tarnation?!" A mix of shock and fury crossed her face. Somepony was uprooting living trees... her trees!

She looked ahead. The sound was close now. The path of destruction curved around, so the culprit was currently obscured by the trees left standing. But they were close, and Applejack knew one thing for sure... either her brother had gone insane, or somepony was vandalising her farm. Either way, they had better be prepared for a severe flank-bucking once she got her hooves on them.

Rainbow stared at Film Reel. "That doesn't prove anything. I've seen that guy at Pinkie's parties, he's always in a world of his own. He probably didn't even have any idea of what he was doing."

Film Reel dropped a couple more photos onto the table. "Well, then perhaps these will convince you?"

She pushed one of the photos across the table. It mostly consisted of blue sky, but Rainbow could see a pink shape that somewhat resembled a pony, who, at first glance, appeared to be riding a cloud.

"What you are looking at took place this morning. Aloe, one of the Earth ponies that runs the local spa, was picked up by an over-muscled white Pegasus named Snowflake while on her way to work. Having nowhere to go once in the sky, she was bucked by him until the local guards showed up." She picked out a few more photos, which depicted Snowflake being intercepted by a selection of guards. He put up a resistance, but was eventually subdued.

"Wait..." Twilight looked concerned. "What happened to Aloe once the guards showed up?"

Film Reel sighed. "He dropped her. She survived, and was taken to hospital, but her injuries weren't light."

Twilight was shaking. Sea Swirl's pained expression, Aloe getting injured... and this was all within a single day. She had thought she'd have more time, but ponies were already having their lives ruined, while she was still trying to work out what to do.

Rainbow shook her head. "Ugh, that big muscle-brain. He's always doing dumb stuff like this. This doesn't prove anything either."

"On the contrary, he's never done anything like this before." Film Reel picked some newspaper clippings from her bag, and laid them down in front of Rainbow. "Snowflake has been in the news for violent behaviour before, granted. But he's also a complete coward who surrenders whenever he's outmatched, and he's never fought the guards before."

Rainbow shrugged her off. "Well, maybe he just finally grew a backbone?"

Film Reel sighed. "Okay, I see you're being difficult for the sake of it now." She placed down three more photos. "This is the last incident that I noticed today, maybe this will convince you."

Twilight was afraid to look. She didn't want to see any more ponies getting hurt over something she should have managed to solve by now.

Film Reel saw the sweat dripping from Twilight. She gave a sympathetic sigh. "These ones aren't so bad, but even so, I'll just describe them to you. Over the course of the day, I noticed a certain stallion courting a number of different mares."

Twilight pricked up her ears. "Courting... you mean, he didn't just pounce on them?" Out of hopeful curiosity, Twilight managed a glance at the photos. Her shaking stopped immediately, her body becoming as rigid as a board once she saw who was in these pictures.

Film Reel took another sip of coffee. "An understandable reaction. After all, who'd have expected Filthy Rich, owner of Barnyard Bargains, to make such a bold move?"

Filthy Rich, well-respected businesspony and father of Diamond Tiara, was indeed in each of the photos. Joining him in the pictures, each clearly flustered and blushing profusely, were three ponies Twilight definitely recognised from around town. They were the flower-selling trio: Daisy Wishes, Lily Valley, and Roseluck.

"Those three appear to be quite close to one another, although I noticed Mr. Filthy only approaching any one of them when the other two weren't around."

Rainbow collapsed to the floor laughing. "Oh no, a wealthy businesspony is having an affair! I guess Discord really must be to blame!"

Film Reel's smile had left completely now, as she glowered at Rainbow Dash. "Listen. Do you know what the statistics are for rape in this town? Very, very low. Rarely ever more than one a year. And now two cases happen within twenty-four hours of each other, and you simply intend to ignore it? Plus, yes, businessponies have rather a reputation for affairs, it's true. But they are also the most careful types when it comes to them, and so romancing three mares at once seems rather out-of-character, don't you think?" She paused, out of breath.

Rainbow sat back up, looking ashamed. "Sorry... I was just poking a little fun, but you're right, this is serious."

Film Reel took a sip of coffee, and steadied her breathing. "Glad I can finally stop fighting with you." Her usual smile returned to her face. She plucked yet another piece of paper from her bag, and laid it on the table. It was her copy of the game scroll. "Now, what do you notice?"

"Huh?" Rainbow stared at the scroll, a look of concentration on her face.

Twilight nodded to Film Reel in understanding. "None of the mares were participants in the game. Meaning the stallions don't know who's playing on the female side, just like we don't know who they are."

"Exactly." Film Reel went to roll back up her scroll, but Rainbow stopped her. "Hey, you have your own, what gi-" She stopped once she saw the expression on Rainbow's face.

It was a look of sheer terror.

"Rainbow?" Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder. "Rainbow, what's wrong?"

Rainbow simply pointed a shaking hoof towards the scroll. Twilight followed her gaze, and froze.

The second square by Applejack's name was coloured yellow.

"Wh-what? How can-" She froze again.

Before her eyes, the square had just turned pink.