Unexpected Changes

The next week went by with little interaction between the four friends. They had to do their shopping and prep for school, so the only time they would hang out together was when they would bump into each other out in the world. That is, when they would see each other while shopping, or taking a break from shopping to eat.

Daisy, in particular, took note of her mom's shopping habits, noting that she would buy multiple backups of her hoofball uniform, as if she expected that it would be damaged. Perhaps Snapdragon had a point?

The week came and went, and they all made it back to school, being picked up by Glory's mom on the way to her job at the mayor's office. She'd be pick them up to go to school at the beginning of every day, just as she had for years.

Most times, they were too tired, having to wake up early to go to school, to talk to each other, but the first day was always different. On the first day back, there was much more excitement in the air, so they were peppy and chipper. This was most evident when Daisy and Lily jumped into the back of the wagon, and everypony immediately piled onto Lily, hugging her tightly.

"You look wonderful, darling!" gushed Snapdragon, the first to leave the hug to wipe away the sticky crumbs on her shoulder from Glory's toast with jelly. "I take it you're no longer sick?"

"Not at all!" smiled Lily. "The goopy ointment fixed me right up!"

"Settle down back there!" called Glory's mom, waiting for them to all sit down so she could go.

"Sorry, ma'am!" called Daisy, ushering everypony to their seats. "So, Lily, tell us about this fever, again?"

"It's not a fever, it's called "heat." It's something every filly has to go through to become a mare."

"So, we're all going to go through it?" asked Glory through a mouthful of breakfast.

"Why?" asked Snapdragon. "What's the point?"

"According to my dad, it's to prep our bodies for adulthood," explained Lily. "Like, we'll be doing normal stuff one minute, and then we can start to experience cramps, then muscle tension, chills, a mild fever; but it's all okay, because the first one is always the worst. After that, it's way easier, he says. That's why most mares don't all become absolutely crazy all the time. Can you imagine if they had to go through what I just did every three weeks?"

Daisy shrank down in her seat. "It happens that often?"

"Mostly during the summer," calmed Lily. "I'm only supposed to have one or two more before I go dormant for winter."

"So you're going to hibernate?" asked Glory. "Like a grizzly bear! I bet if you grew out your coat a bit, it'll keep you real warm!"

"She's not going to live in a cave, Glory!" snapped Snapdragon. "She can hibernate at my house. I'll even give her a warm blanket so that her coat remains untarnished."

"How would she even go about growing out her coat?" asked Daisy. "It seems to me that if we could do that, we could skip out on needin' scarves an' hats."

"If you did your mane up perfectly like I do," taunted Snapdragon, "you would already know that hats are unnecessary."

"So, if the first time is so bad, what's the second time like?" asked Daisy.

"Don't know," shrugged Lily. "I can probably tell you in a week; that's when it's supposed to hit again."

"So, what are your plans to counteract it if it ends up really bad again?"

"So, the burning sensation I was feeling was right around here." Lily rubbed her hoof over her abdomen, just grazing her breasts. "My dad had this special ointment that, when he rubbed it in, it really doused the flames, and I wasn't burning nearly as much. If I have another bad reaction, I'll just tell him about it, and he'll probably tell me to apply more."

"Does it hurt?" asked Snapdragon.

"It does at first, but after a few days, it stops hurting, and then it's kind of nice. I actually kind of miss the burning sensation, a bit."

"Maybe it cooked your brain a bit?" suggested Glory.

Lily shook her head. "I think I just grew accustomed to it, and now that it's gone, there's just this empty, gaping hole where it used to be. It's kind of lonely."

"Hearing how much you complained about it at camp, I thought you'd never want it to happen again?" thought Daisy aloud. "You mentioned feeling like you were going to be sick."

"Well, I wasn't sick. And that means that I can eat all of the enchiladas I want and nothing bad will happen!"

"Not all of the enchiladas you want..."

They all turned to Glory's mom, who'd just chimed in from the front. "What's that mean?"

"I'm saying you can still eat enchiladas, just don't eat and eat and eat until your stomach is at twice its capacity. That'll make you sick for real, regardless of your estrus cycle."

"What's estrus?" asked Daisy.

"It's another name for heat."

The fillies all sat back in their chairs. "Anyway," continued Lily, "it wasn't my stomach that was the problem. It was something else. My dad showed me pictures and stuff."

"So, what was it?" asked Glory "It certainly looked like you were rubbing your tummy earlier."

"Well, there's, like, a lot more organs in there than you realise. There's the stomach, and then there's the bladder, but there's this coil-y thing that's called an "int-a-stein," and a pair of kidney beans, and a whole mess of others, and they all do different things. Not just when to eat or go to the bathroom, and they all have different ways of telling you what's wrong, and they all have different cures. The only problem with that is, sometimes, it's hard to tell which one is saying what, so heat cramps feel kind of like your stomach turning. That's why I thought I was going to be sick; because the organ that tells me I'm going into heat was sending out cramping pain."

"Huh..." noted Snapdragon. "I didn't know that."

"Neither did I," admitted Daisy. "So, what organ was it that told you you were in heat?"

Lily pointed to her abdomen again. "I think they're called "test-sicles...""