Relief

Rumble was walking down the cobblestone road through Ponyville. The place had changed a lot since he and his brother had come from Cloudsdale. There were more houses, the school was much bigger, he was much taller, as was the rest of the class... other stuff he was forgetting.

But some things never changed; Sugarcube Corner still had the best desserts, Rarity still made clothes for any who asked, the Crusaders still went questing, (but for slightly different reasons than before)...

And Heat Season still came every year. And for one, Rumble felt inadequate for this one, and had no intention of remaining that way this time.

But who to ask? Who could help him in a case like this? Who did he know who could stir up a solution to... his...

"Apple Bloom!" he subvocally exclaimed, "Surely she's feeling much the same way." he thought semi-aloud.

Heading for Sweet Apple Acres, he followed the scent of herbs and found Apple Bloom about where (and up to what) he'd expected. She was brewing a potion of some kind.

Knocking on the tree politely, Rumble cleared his throat. "Ahem. May I come in?" he requested.

Apple Bloom toook a moment to respond, unsure at first. At length she said, "Uh... sure. c'mon up.", lowering the ladder immediately after.

If he'd wanted to, Rumble could have simply flown in to begin with, but that would've been beyond impolite.

"So... what seems ta be th' trouble?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Well..." he began, "You know that That Time is coming, right?"

"A'yup." Apple Bloom confirmed curtly.

"Well, I wanted to be prepared this time." Rumble explained. "So I thought: Who do I know who could brew up a fix for me? You were the first to come to mind."

"Well, as't happens..." she replied, "Ah was makin' a potion fer m'self fer 'bout the same reason. It'd be easy ta make 'nother. Jes help me gather these ingredients here..."

A couple of hours later, two blue potions were made. They were about to drink them, but a yell came from down below, some distance off.

"Apple Bloom! S'time fer dinner!" the distinct southern twang of Applejack floated over, startling them enough to cause them to drop the solutions, which rolled a short distance away. They each grabbed theirs and with a quick "Bottoms up!" they drank them at once.

Rumble floated down from the treehouse, Apple Bloom -being an Earth Pony- simply jumped, landing solidly on both hooves, none the worse for wear.

"Ya wanna join us fer dinner?" she asked.

"I'd like to..." Rumble said, "But my brother's making salmon tonight. It's my favourite."

"Ah, well." Apple Bloom said, simply waving that off, "At leas' take a pah wit'cha." she offred.

That concluded, the two went their separate ways. Little did they know what would happen next...