In the Heat of the Moment

Chapters

3. Little Box of Horrors
4. Contrivance
5. Excercise
6. In the Heat of the Moment
7. Feelings...
8. Climax
Epilogue
1. Awkward...
2. An Unexpected Arrival (and Exit)

3. Little Box of Horrors

The Night Court was all gathered within the great throne room of Canterlot Castle. Scores of ponies dressed in their very finest all gathered together before Her Majesty, Luna Equestris – Shepherd of the Moon, Caretaker of the Sun, Ruler of the Three Tribes, Princess of Equestria. Her own gown outdid them all, probably costing the gross national product of Equestria for a year.

And then there was Trixie. She was naked. And while anywhere else this wouldn’t have been worth commenting on, here, in this place of opulence, she stood out like a chipped hoof. She was currently disguising this fact by hiding behind a Night Guard.

“My Night Court!” Luna bellowed, raising a hoof for silence. “My noble and generally loyal as long as somepony is watching ladies and gentlecolts!”

Everypony quieted their conversations about how they were planning to backstab somepony else in the room in order to turn to Luna. A leer broke Luna’s features as the doors to the Night Court were closed and locked. “I declare this lock-in to have officially begun…” she drawled.

The change was instant. For one thing, the lights in the room began pulsating, rapidly shifting in colors, as bright balls made of hundreds of tiny mirrors began to descend from the ceiling, the light dancing off of them and causing them to glitter and sparkle. Music started up; somepony was playing a saxophone, backed up by some kind of synthetic piano. The music was cheesy.

And very swiftly, Trixie was not the only naked pony in the room anymore. She tried to close her eyes, but couldn’t, as the assembled Night Court began to gyrate and move against one another, kissing, licking, biting…there were groans and moans and cries of ecstasy and Lyra and Bon Bon kept trying to find a third pony to join them…

A pair of great, midnight blue wings wrapped around Trixie, and she cried out as she was pulled in close to Luna. “You’re disgusted by your own body!” Luna exclaimed. “But I don’t see why, you’re really quite beautiful, Trixie…”

“Y-yeah…” Twilight Sparkle added, sliding up behind Trixie, laying her head on Trixie’s neck, kissing her cheek, as one of her forehooves started a journey down her barrel and towards her nethers…

Trixie awoke sweating. Also screaming.

The terror quickly passed, allowing Trixie to remember that she wasn’t in Canterlot, she was in her home, far from any kind of Night Court lock-in orgy which she knew for a fact never happened, since no member of the nobility would leave themselves so open to attack or humiliation. She was in her own bed, albeit a bed which, from the smell and feel of things, she was going to need to change the sheets on.

Trixie groaned, climbing out of bed and telekinetically stripping it of its sheets. This was the worst part of heat – the dreams. The dreams which were so much more vivid, and detailed, and featured Luna disturbingly often. The dreams which had her wake up having sweated a sea into her sheets, and often having further…released herself, which granted did allow for a slight reprieve from her heat, but it was once that was always wasted as she needed to change her sheets and it made her feel like she’d just wet her bed.

Trixie dumped her sheets in with her pile of laundry, then trotted downstairs, resolving to grab a drink of water. She stopped on the way to glance into her bathroom, making sure that her makeshift fix of the pipes had held – ‘fix’ here being defined as her using her hooves, her telekinesis, and a substantial amount of swearing to compress the pipes closed.

She was not going to try and call a plumber. Especially with her not being paid for the month.

Trixie made it downstairs and downed several glasses of water from her kitchen sink, glancing outside as she did. The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon – her second day had begun. Her higher reasoning had ultimately triumphed after the first day of this chemical war – but now her bath was out of commission, as she’d hardly want to climb into a tub of used bathwater and so had drained it yesterday after spending an hour in it. Her hindquarters, meanwhile, had just conducted a successful night raid – they had regrouped from the shock of the freezing water yesterday and were preparing a new offensive.

“War is Tartaros,” Trixie declared.

Hours later, after going back to sleep and having a far more comforting and normal dream about being chased by a monster she couldn’t see or hear but which she knew for a fact was there always right behind her, Trixie found herself in her office. Being locked in her house for a week was going to leave her with an awful lot of free time, after all, and she supposed that there was still a backlog of Night Court paperwork that she could do to pass the time and, just maybe, convince Luna to only not pay her for the week rather than the whole month. She continued to pointedly ignore her hat in her drawer as her pen danced across the pages. Nothing killed the mood like filing information on farm outputs, water usage, and so on. Yes, sitting in one place was making her antsy, and her free, unoccupied front hooves kept trying to abandon her brain and join her nethers – in both a metaphorical and literal sense – but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t deal with yet.

Her front door opened. This was surprising, because she had a distinct memory of locking it. It closed quickly as a magenta pony trotted in, carrying a large cardboard box on her back – Cheerilee, schoolteacher, Element of Laughter, and apparently magician. “My front door was locked,” Trixie pointed out.

Cheerilee glanced at her friend, offering a helpless shrug. “That’s…not necessarily an impediment,” she said. Trixie raised one eyebrow. Cheerilee shrugged again. “I had an interesting foalhood. Learned a lot of useful life-skills.”

“Like lock-picking.”

Cheerilee nodded. “And embroidery,” she added.

Trixie rubbed a temple with one of her hooves while keeping a firm eye on her other one to make sure it didn’t try to wander anywhere. “N-now is not a good time,” she said. Cheerilee’s scent was beginning to reach her. Granted, Cheerilee was a mare and so not precisely what her hormones were seeking out, but at the moment Trixie’s rebellious hindquarters – still in firm control of her sense of smell despite her brain’s best efforts – were willing to take any kind of help in the face of the brain trying to starve them out. “Why didn’t you just, you know, knock?”

Cheerilee fixed Trixie with a stare. “Would you have answered?”

“Probably not.”

“Then that’s why I picked the lock, I’m not going to stand outside with these,” she rattled her box, “any more than I have to.”

Trixie stood up and walked over to the box, opening it with her front hooves. “Why, what’s in – ”

Trixie stared. Slowly but surely, her coat began changing color, from cerulean to a very bright shade of pink.

Cheerilee smiled sheepishly. “I heard you were in heat,” she said. “And I know how you feel about sex. But that doesn’t mean I can’t help out!” Cheerilee walked over to the other side of the box, which Trixie was still staring dumbfounded into, and reached in, rummaging around for a few moments before pulling out a cover with a suggestive title and an even more suggestive cover image of an earth pony stallion in the desert, wearing a hat, a grin, and not in any way, shape, or form hiding how…excited…he was to be on the cover of the book, entitled Riding Western Wind. “Okay, these,” she said, “these will help. I wasn’t sure what you’d liked so I just grabbed a few Westerns, a nice historical piece set in Unicornia, and – um…this.”

She had set aside each book she’d already produced on Trixie’s desk, and held up the latest one for Trixie to see. It had Princess Mi Amore Cadenza on the front cover, lying on her side and surrounded by opulence, though the picture was not itself risqué, probably just a public domain portrait of her done at some point in the past thousand years. Trixie blinked a few times in surprise, opening her mouth to object. No intelligible sound came out, however.

Cheerilee turned it back around. “It’s not licensed at all, of course,” she said, setting the book aside. “Apparently there’s this whole underground market of dirty books featuring Princess Cadenza or…um…” she pulled out another book. This one had no picture on it, but its title was Shoot for the Moon. Trixie could put two and two together.

“Yeah,” Cheerilee said, tossing the book into the pile she’d made. “Never really got into it myself, but hey, I’ll try anything once. Moving along…”

Cheerilee rummaged in the box some more, before pulling out a device of…impressive proportions. “Now for the record, I've never used these,” she assured Trixie. “I just used to, um…collect them, actually. Hey, a mare needs a hobby, right?”

Trixie stared.

“Kind of was getting difficult to hide them all, though, so that’s why I stopped collecting them and started collecting fish instead. More expensive in the long run, but at least I don’t have to worry about my little sister seeing anything she shouldn’t, right?”

Trixie felt nothing but sympathy for poor Piña Colada.

“Anyway,” Cheerilee said, setting aside the weapon of individual destruction and pulling out what, for a moment, Trixie thought was a corkscrew. A second glance made it abundantly clear that it was not a corkscrew, but the sight of it nevertheless made Trixie yearn for alcohol. “This one’s…probably not for you.” She set it aside, then pulled out something ribbed and spiked, studying it. “No, probably not…” she put that one aside, then began producing one torture implement (to Trixie’s eyes, anyway) after another. “No…this one might not even be legal…no…hmm, think I’ll hold on to this one…aha! Here we go!”

Compared to the previous implements, what Cheerilee held in her hoof right now was positively miniscule, barely four inches in length. “Small, so you don’t have to worry about losing your virginity,” Cheerilee said. “But, if you just channel some of your magic into it, it vibrates! Here, I think it actually has some residual magic stored up in it – the pony at the store I bought it in demonstrated it – the vibrating, that is! He didn’t use it…anyway.” Cheerilee rubbed its base slightly. Indeed, it began to vibrate with an audible humm, though only for a few moments as whatever magic remained in it gave out.

Cheerilee smiled, putting it back into the pile. “Just trying to help,” Cheerilee said, patting Trixie on the head with one hoof. “Being by yourself can be hard on a mare in heat…sometimes just ol’ Doctor Hooves doesn’t cut it.” She waved her two front hooves a little to emphasize her euphemism.

Trixie stared.

After several moments, Cheerilee realized that her smile was not as contagious as she’d hoped it would be. She stared back. “I’m…just trying to help…” Cheerilee ventured meekly.

Trixie breathed in deeply, then let it out in a slow, uneven breath as she focused very hard on the floor beneath her. She did not focus on the implements to her left. She did not look at the books to her right. Her brain most certainly did not have to deal with an insurgency inside of it that was imagining her on her back, helpless before Princess Luna and Princess Cadenza as they made use of those implements on her, all of them vibrating…gliding around her hips and her croup and dock…vibrating inwards…accompanied by their own heavy breathings and their tongues…as the Stetson-wearing cowpony, unsheathed in all his glory, approached Trixie from the front, offering himself, Trixie’s tongue stretching out and…

“Nngh…” Trixie gasped, as her hindquarters tried to press their advantage, hormones rushing through her body, the dull heat that had been building up all morning suddenly becoming a raging inferno at the sight of such easy relief, relief that wouldn’t require anything but a weapon of choice and her own treacherous imagination. “Hah…Ch-Cheerilee…if-f….if you w-want…want to…help…”

“Yes?” Cheerilee asked.

“G-g-get those…those things out of here!” Trixie exclaimed, scooting backwards from the box of horrors. “Please…p-please…before I d…do something I’ll…re-regret…”

Cheerilee paused only a moment, before hurriedly beginning to do as Trixie asked. She knocked over both the pile of books and the pile of dildos in her haste, but managed to quickly scoop them up and get them out of sight. It took only a few seconds, but Trixie was already sweating profusely, enough that she tore off her cape, though she held it close to her as she closed her eyes and tried to focus solely on breathing…in and out…in and out…in and out, in and out and in and out and –

“Hnh! Gah…hah…ahn…!”

Alright, so that was the wrong line of thought.

Cheerilee stared at Trixie. “You…” she said, “you…don’t…clop?”

Trixie shook her head violently. “It’s gross, g-gross, gr – hah – gross!”

Cheerilee sputtered a little, holding up a hoof. “Well…but…everypony clops, Trixie! Every mare! During their heat! How many heats have you had? Five? Six? And you’ve never clopped?”

Trixie shivered. “N…not…n-not intentionally-y…a f-few times, without…hah…without thinking about-t it…meaning to…ngh…”

“And didn’t it help?”

Trixie glared at Cheerilee. “It’s gross!”

Cheerilee blinked. “You’re going to explode.”

“Hah…m…my choice…not yours…”

Cheerilee shook her head. “I…alright. Fine. But it’s a bad choice. I just want you to know that. You’re making this much harder than it has to be.”

Trixie laughed tiredly even as she hugged her cloak tighter to her. The extreme heat was beginning to pass, her brain having successfully held off the hormonal barbarians. “Y…you’re the second pony to t-tell me I should g…go and buck myself…but mean it in a good w-w-way…”

Cheerilee sighed, grabbing the box and putting it on her back. “Okay,” she said softly. “I’ll…I’ll just bring these back to my place then.” She spared Trixie one more glance, before sighing again and heading outside.

Trixie remained still for several more long moments, before stumbling from her office, towards her kitchen sink. With her bathroom out of commission, her only option for cleaning herself off was now to simply fill a bowl with warm water and do it in her backyard. And then destroy the bowl.

So relieved was she to have her heavy heat pass, so anxious was she to try and wash off the stink of her own sweat and pheromones, that she didn’t notice that, in her haste to pack everything up, Cheerilee had accidentally left behind Riding Western Wind.

4. Contrivance

An hour later, Trixie found herself staring at the bomb on her floor.

Book.

Whatever.

It had landed on its back, meaning that she couldn’t see the stallion that was on its front cover. Its back cover, however, had its title displayed, as well as a description. Against her better judgment – not that her brain was being fully consulted on all of her body’s actions anymore – she lifted the book, making a point to not turn it around, and read its back.

Newly widowed after a shockingly brief marriage to an elderly Night Court lord, Honey Darling still aches with the pain of unexplored desire. And now her restless heart is leading her far from the protective bosom of polite Canterlot society –

Clearly the author had never been to Canterlot.

– to the perilous beauty of the Mild West…and to Western Wind

Breathlessly exciting but dangerously unpredictable, Western Wind is a loner whose blood burns hotter than the blistering desert sun.

That must have hurt.

Honey Darling’s wealth and title mean nothing to this stranger who’s passions rule his actions and his heart. But neither the wild desert stallion nor the untouched Canterlot rose can deny their irresistible attraction…

Trixie stared a moment, then let out a light laugh, smiling a little. That was the sorry excuse for a plot? It didn’t even mention what title Honey Darling had managed to inherit! That seemed like the kind of thing that would warrant description. “An elderly Night Court lord” was practically the same thing as just saying “some random pony” to anypony who actually knew how the Night Court operated. And besides which, why would a pony with Night Court connections want to leave Equestria entirely? The Mild West was on the other side of Cabelleria! Clearly this author had no idea what she was writing about. The book was harmless.

Trixie opened the book.

Trixie closed the book.

The book was illustrated.

In hindsight, Trixie realized that this should have been expected. A hack author like this would need the illustrations. Very carefully, she opened the book again, to the first page.

It was another scorching hot day, and the trail to Dodge had been a long, dusty one. Honey Darling was glad to see the wooden buildings of the city appear over the next rise. Her carriage-bearers were tired, and thirsty, and so was she. They descended the rise, and soon they were on the streets of Dodge. Honey Darling left her carriage-bearers with a good tip, and, now that they were getting a well-deserved rest, it was her turn. A few steps away, and the doors of the “Dusty Gulch” saloon beckoned. An excellent name, she thought…

So. Harmless, she decided, flipping through the book, as long as one avoided the pictures –

She stayed with him the night, and they made love two more times, long, drawn out, passionate affairs. He licked and kissed and stimulated her gorgeous body, until she was quivering with desire, and plunging deep inside of her –

“Gah it was a trap!” Trixie cried, hurling the book away, realizing only belatedly that she was still in her office and she was facing her front window. At the last possible second, she reached out and managed to telekinetically grab the book, stopping it from plunging through her office’s window and requiring her to call upon the services of Windowpane yet again. She breathed out a sigh of relief…until she realized that the book’s front cover was facing the window – and there was a jasmine-coated, blue-maned pegasus on the other side, one hoof raised as though she had intended to tap on the window to get Trixie’s attention.

Trixie stared, frozen in place. She was dimly aware of Raindrops leaving the front window, heading to her front door, and letting herself in, cautiously making her way to Trixie, who still hadn’t moved other than to lose her telekinetic grip on the book and let it fall to the floor.

Raindrops coughed. “So, um…” she said. “I had knocked, but you didn’t answer…went to try the window, see if you were in here…”

Trixie felt heating building in her cheeks. In a way, it was a welcome change from it building elsewhere in her body.

Raindrops shuffled. “It’s not her best,” she said. “Actually on the whole Rain Sprinkles isn’t really the best author…never really gets you invested in her characters, she just focuses on the sex. I prefer stories with more romance.”

Trixie slowly turned to face Raindrops at that. “What?”

Raindrops blushed herself. “I can have hobbies,” she answered indignantly. “Who says I can’t?”

Trixie stared, considered, and decided that it would be best if she pushed forward rather than tried to deal with the idea of Raindrops, the Element of Honesty, the weather mare, the pony with a serious anger problem beneath her carefully controlled exterior, the pony who could break solid stone with her bare hooves…reading romance novels. “Um…why are you here…?”

Raindrops rubbed one leg with her opposite hoof. “I, um…heard you were in heat – ”

Something inside Trixie snapped. “From who?” She demanded. “Who’s going around advertising this?”

“Well, you ran full-speed through the center of town yesterday…a lot of ponies caught a whiff,” Raindrops said. Her own nostrils flared slightly at that. “And you know that a town like Ponyville runs on gossip as much as silver…I wasn’t trying to find out, I just heard.”

Trixie quivered slightly. “So now you’re here to help?” she demanded. “Well, Luna’s told me to go buck myself, Lyra and Bon Bon wanted me for their sexual Olympics, Cheerilee shows up with a little box of smut and a few implements that I know can’t all be legal – ”

“Trixie,” Raindrops tried.

“ – I mean seriously, there is no way that something with that many protrusions is meant to be anything other than a torture device – ”

“Trixie,” Raindrops tried again, reaching out a hoof.

“I don’t like sex! I don’t want to clop! I just want this week to end! How is this so hard for you all to accept?”

Raindrops stared, as Trixie breathed deeply at her outburst. “Done?” she asked. Raindrops was no stranger to pent-up anger and recognized that Trixie just needed to vent a little. Trixie considered for a moment, before nodding. She was sweating again, great…Raindrops looked Trixie in her eye. “I’m not here for anything of those things,” she said. “I’m not going to try and get you to clop, I’m not going to try and get you laid. But I am here to help, in a way you’re comfortable with, hopefully.”

Trixie stared at Raindrops, and felt a slight swelling in her chest. “How?” she asked, daring to dream of a world where one of her friends actually had advice that she was willing to implement.

Raindrops sat back on her haunches. “Okay, this is what I do,” she said. “House as small as mine, I can’t exactly get alone time, right? Last thing I need is Snails to walk in. Or to have an awkward moment with my parents. But I’m not really comfortable trying to clop anywhere else where somepony else might come across me, not even in the Whitetail Wood. So, I figured out a workaround: exercise.”

Trixie blinked. “Exercise?” she asked.

Raindrops nodded, looking Trixie up and down. “Basically from dawn ‘til I drop, I just head out into the Whitetail, or else take extra shifts on the weather patrol, and run, stretch, fly, buck clouds, do push-ups and squats, anything to get me exhausted. At that point I’m so tired that it doesn’t even matter what my body wants me to be doing, ‘cause the desire to go home and get to bed and just sleep is too strong. And then I sleep like a log, which means I’m spending time asleep rather than trying to…” she waved one hoof in the air, her suggestion plain.

Trixie blinked a few times. “That’s…that’s really good, actually!” she exclaimed, making to hug Raindrops.

The pegasus’ wings flared a little at that, though, and she backed away. “Um, no offense,” she said, “but…well, I’ve got work in half an hour and I don’t want to have a Trixie-in-heat scent on me.”

Trixie was so elated at the suggestion that she wasn’t bothered at all, instead extending a hoof and receiving a bump in return from Raindrops. “I can help if you like, since you probably haven’t done much exercising in the past…no offense,” she repeated. “Walk you through a few basics, spot you if you need it. Say…first thing tomorrow morning?”

Trixie nodded fervently. “Absol – ”

There was a crash from Trixie’s window. The two mares in the room jumped away from it, turning quickly and finding that a rainbow-maned, cyan-coated pegasus was lying on Trixie’s floor, surrounded by broken glass and splintered wood.

“Boss?” Raindrops asked.

“My window…” Trixie mourned. Why? Why couldn’t she go more than a month without her front window breaking? Windowpane, the town’s window instillation and repair pony, actually gave her discounts now! Had her set up to buy new windows at bulk price!

Rainbow Dash groaned a little, standing up only slowly, on shaking hooves and quivering wings extended for balance like a newborn foal still trying to work out how her limbs worked. “Hah…s-sorry…Little out of it today…I’ll pay for the damages…” she said, flashing a slight smile at Trixie and Raindrops. “You guys…you guys are friends with Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon, right?”

Trixie slowly nodded.

“Woo…” Rainbow Dash said, turning around and climbing out the window. “Friends with benefits, I hope…they’re…yowza. Fourteen hours straight.” She spread her wings, considered them, then tucked them back against her sides. “Think I’m gonna just walk for today…I’ll go get Windowpane…”

Raindrops and Trixie both blushed as Rainbow Dash trotted out of sight. “And…on that note…” Raindrops declared, “I’ll get going.” She looked to Trixie. “Tomorrow, crack of dawn. Sound good?”

Trixie nodded. “Thanks,” she said.

“No problem,” Raindrops responded as she left – through the front door, not the shattered window, out a sense of tradition if not necessity. Trixie let out a sigh of relief as she trotted from her office.

A moment later, she galloped back in and grabbed Riding Western Wind. The last thing she needed was for Windowpane to come across it while fixing her window. Within just a few moments, the evil tome was safely deposited in Trixie’s trash can – which was promptly taken out into her backyard, doused in lantern oil, and set aflame.

Windowpane managed to arrive, fix Trixie’s window, and leave in record time, sympathetic to the fact that Trixie just wanted to be left alone at the moment. He had even shown up wearing nose-plugs to prevent himself from taking in Trixie’s pheromones and therefore potentially distract him from his craft.

Trixie may have been in love with Windowpane for that. Just a little.

The unicorn had just settled down to dinner, one that was nearly half again the size of her usual evening meal – the other problem with being in heat was that it resulted in a greatly increased appetite – when there was once again a lavender-hued flash and pop from about five feet away.

“Oh Stars Above!” Trixie cursed at the top of her lungs when Twilight Sparkle again materialized near her.

Twilight Sparkle sniffed the air, then waved a hoof in front of her nose again. “Still?” she demanded.

“Yes,” Trixie answered, standing up and away from her table. “Today’s only my second day.”

She considered trying to subdue Twilight so that she could be arrested, but decided against it. The mare had some serious magic power behind her, Trixie knew, and besides, she was an expert at teleportation magic. Even if Trixie somehow managed to gain the upper hoof, Twilight could always teleport away. This meant that there was really only one thing Trixie could do: make small talk until Twilight decided to go away and leave her in peace.

Twilight let out a long-suffering sigh. “I had this all planned out…” she moaned, levitating a carrot from Trixie’s plate and taking a bite out of it. “But no, you have to be in heat…”

“I am very sorry that my biological clock did not conform to your maniacal plan, whatever it is,” Trixie deadpanned, glaring harder at Twilight due to the fact that she was tucking in to Trixie’s dinner without asking permission.

Twilight glanced at Trixie again, then sighed even as she considered what had once been a tomato before Trixie had started adding spices and hot peppers and other foods to it. Without caution, she swallowed the whole thing in three quick bites, grimaced a little, and began sweating slightly from the hots but otherwise seemingly unharmed as she began to work her way through the caramel-topped broccoli.

Trixie stared. She had unusual taste in food. She knew she had unusual taste in food. She had never known anypony outside her own family, however, to tuck into a dish of her own creation so…unquestioningly. She quickly levitated some of the broccoli over to her lest Twilight gobble it all. “You…” she ventured uncomfortably, knowing that she’d played a big role in Twilight’s current predicament, “you haven’t been…starving, have you?”

Twilight glanced to Trixie in confusion for a moment, then laughed. “Oh! No, no, of course not,” she said, closing her eyes. With a flash and pop, a large chest materialized from nowhere and opened itself up, revealing itself to be about half-full of silver bits – thousands of them. “No, money’s never been a problem for me. The House Starlight is one of the wealthiest in Equestria.” She unsummoned the chest and turned back to Trixie’s dinner. “I’m just…really hungry right now, for some reason…”

Trixie eyed Twilight’s ‘cloak.’ “So what’s with the potato sack?”

“Disguise.”

“Ah. I see – hey!” Trixie grabbed a bread roll before Twilight could swallow it nearly whole. “This is my dinner!”

Twilight swallowed what was in her mouth, then smacked her lips. “Right,” she said. “Sorry…hey is it hot in here? You should open a window.” Twilight trotted towards the nearest window, walking past Trixie – just as Trixie inhaled through her nose.

Three things happened:

Her eyes widened;
She began to cough, and desperately wave a hoof in front of her nose before her hormones could surge to action again; and
When the cough finally began to subside, she glared at Twilight and shouted “that is just contrived!”

Twilight blinked, stopping just as she was about to open a window. “What?” she asked.

“You’re in heat too!”

Twilight blinked a few times, turning her head slightly and sniffing. “Oh, huh,” she said, smiling sheepishly as she rubbed a hoof behind her head. “What do you know…heh. I knew it was coming in the next few days, I actually wanted to get this whole plan thing moving and done with before it set in…I guess catching your scent probably drove my body to kick things off early…” she laughed sheepishly.

She was laughing.

She was laughing.

Like it was no big deal.

Trixie lunged at Twilight. No magic, no telekinesis, no magic words – just her bare hooves and, if she could help it, her horn. Twilight gasped in surprise, throwing up her own hooves and catching Trixie. The two fell to the floor in a tangle, the tangle not helped by Trixie’s cape or Twilight’s cloak/burlap sack at all. Trixie managed to get behind Twilight, grabbing at Twilight’s cloak with her teeth and pulling¸ trying to suffocate her.

Twilight pushed herself forward, though, landing on all four hooves and then bucking like a bronco, causing Trixie to fly off. Twilight’s horn glowed, then, grasping Trixie in its telekinesis and throwing her to the floor. Trixie’s own telekinesis managed to throw off Twilight’s magic, though, and she charged again, horn down. Twilight avoided it, grabbing Trixie about the neck and once again bringing both of them to the floor. Trixie writhed under Twilight’s grip, turning in place, wrapping her hooves around Twilight’s head and pulling her down, towards her waiting horn…Twilight struggled and resisted against the pull, responding by driving her rear hooves against Trixie’s sides…

Trixie managed to pull Twilight down further. Twilight managed to move to the right slightly, however, such as Trixie’s horn was now brushing against her cheek…Trixie gasped as Twilight’s own grip on her tightened, as her hips began to gyrate…Trixie’s hind legs lock around Twilight’s hips as Twilight’s tongue snaked out and licked down the length of Trixie’s horn, straight to the sensitive nerve cluster located at its base…Trixie moaned at the feeling, nuzzling Twilight’s neck, nibbling on her ear, until the two looked at each other and…

…their breathing, quick and desperate at the feelings from their hindquarters grinding together, moving as one…their eyes locked…their lips pressed together…

Trixie snapped back to the here and now, shaking her head and gasping for air. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Twilight was blushing and staring at her own front hooves, also similarly out-of-breath. The air was thick with their pheromones, and neither of them appeared to have moved from the spots they had been standing in.

Twilight glanced at Trixie. “Do…” she ventured. “Do you ever get the feeling that two ponies are thinking the exact same thing…?"

Trixie glared at her. “No. Now get out!”

Twilight sighed. “F-fine,” she stuttered, horn glowing and disappearing with a pop.

There was an identical, simultaneous pop from right behind Trixie. The blue unicorn sighed. “You took my dinner, didn’t you?” she asked of the empty room. “Great…” she turned around…

…and found herself staring at her intact dinner – well, intact but for the parts that Twilight had already eaten – but with a new addition, a basket laden with colorful, wonderfully scented, and above all else delicious-looking wildflowers.

5. Excercise

It was another scorching hot day, and the trail to Dodge had been a long, dusty one. Trixie was glad to see the wooden buildings of the city appear over the next rise. Her carriage-bearers were tired, and thirsty, and so was she. They descended the rise, and soon they were on the streets of Dodge. Trixie left her carriage-bearers with a good tip, and, now that they were getting a well-deserved rest, it was her turn. A few steps away, and the doors of the “Dusty Gulch” saloon beckoned. An excellent name, she thought, as she entered…

…the bar didn’t serve bourbon. Western towns never did. But they had whisky, and that was almost as good. The view was nice, too. The barkeep was a blue stallion with a safety pin cutie mark and a magnificent horn, and he kept winking at her – or maybe to the stallion to her left, who had a brown coat and a cutie mark of a window. She was fairly certain they were occasionally making out. That didn’t seem very professional to her – not that she was going to tell the two stallions to stop, since the barkeep would have to rear up on his hind legs to reach over the bar, which gave Trixie a good view of his…

…well. Suffice to say that the brown stallion was not going to be left wanting if things came to that. Or Trixie, as the two moved closer to her, and within moments she was on the bar and between the two as they nipped at her flank and nibbled her ears and caressed her body in ways that felt sooo good as Trixie’s front hooves and telekinesis reached out to the two stallions and stroked their –

“Trixie Lulamoon,” a new voice said. Trixie looked up and saw Twilight Sparkle, who seemed unperturbed by Trixie’s current…predicament. “Ah’m here to settle our score.”

Trixie got down from the bar and found herself outside at high noon – the perfect time for a duel. Twilight was beside her, facing the opposite direction, however, their right shoulders touching. Twilight leaned over to Trixie and placed the point of her horn on Trixie’s own. “Trixie…!” she sang. “Our horns are touching…!”

Trixie gasped as Twilight began rubbing her horn up and down along Trixie’s own, and Trixie responded in kind, leaning in, then moving down, kissing down Twilight’s neck, across her barrel and stomach and towards…towards…

…towards waiting, jasmine lips as wings of a similar color folded around her, as strong hooves, impossibly strong hooves, grasped her and pulled her close as she found herself falling, Raindrops underneath her, kissing and caressing each other, but Twilight hadn’t gone anywhere, was still behind her, her hooves rubbing her flanks and her tongue doing…other things…and Windowpane and Pokey were back and Cheerilee had arrived with an implement of individual destruction which she was showing off to Lyra and Bon Bon as Big Macintosh showed off how appropriate his name was as he plunged deep into Caramel who was busy with Zizanie while Shining Armor –

Trixie woke up making a sound that was actually outside her range of hearing, though it gradually faded back into it as she ran out of breath and was reduced to just panting and sweating and trying to keep her hips still as she reminded herself that she was in Ponyville, she wasn’t in the Mild West, and she sorely doubted that ponies in the Mild West had time for orgies of the caliber that Trixie had just dreamed about, not as long as they had to deal with ornery buffalo –

The door to Trixie’s room burst open. Trixie cried out in surprise, throwing her blanket over her trembling hindquarters even as something jasmine-coated and blue-maned burst into her bedroom – Raindrops, wings flared and eyes wide. “Trixie?” she demanded, looking around for threats.

Trixie put a hoof to her chest, trying to will her heart to stop beating so fast. “This – ngh – th-this is Trixie’s house!” she exclaimed, interrupted only by the feelings still coursing through her body and originating from her nethers. “Hah…this is Trixie’s b-bedroom! This is-s Trixie’s bed! What about that is confusing?”

Raindrops stared at Trixie, eyes flickering from her face to the rest of her, specifically one hind hoof that was sticking out from under the covers and twitching slightly. “I heard screaming,” the pegasus explained after a moment, eyebrow raising.

“Nightm – ahn!” Trixie tried to explain as she shuffled the sheets around, trying to do a better of job hiding her nethers. All she succeeded in doing was stimulating them, still sensitive from their night raid on her brain’s subconscious. “Gah…hah…n-n-nightmare, that’s…hnh…that’s all…”

“I’ll…head downstairs,” she said, turning quickly and exiting Trixie’s room. She paused outside of it, though she didn’t turn around. “Um. Does…does this mean that you won’t be taking my advice?”

“Nightmare!” Trixie repeated. “Bad dream – bad dream! I’ll t-take anything that might cut down on these!”

Raindrops nodded, waving one hoof as she trotted off. Trixie shivered slightly, climbing from her bed carefully, horn glowing as she tossed yet another set of sheets into her laundry. She spent several moments trying to compose herself, as well as an awkward few minutes in her bathroom trying to clean herself up as best she could with only her sink working. Eventually, she made her way downstairs, and found Raindrops sitting in her living room, staring intently at her hooves. Her front door was open, but didn’t look broken – she must have accidentally left it unlocked last night, but she was just as happy to not have had Raindrops break it in her eagerness to come charging to her rescue.

“Okay,” Trixie said nervously. “I’m, uh…I’m sorry you, um…saw that. And smelled it. And heard it…”

Raindrops offered a slight shrug. “To be expected, I guess,” she said, then offered a slight grin. “So…who was in it?”

Trixie cast a glare at Raindrops, who chuckled slightly. “Something I learned the hard way,” she said as she stood. “Try not to keep things bottled up. It’s…bad. Though I guess this doesn’t really count.” Trixie’s lips remained tightly sealed, though she did look down as she considered. Raindrops offered a shrug again, as she trotted past Trixie. “Well, let’s get going,” she said, heading out the door. Trixie followed, leaving behind her cape – something told her that she wouldn’t want it. Outside, the sun was only just beginning to glare over the horizon, and nopony was yet out on the streets besides the two of them.

After a few moments of following behind Raindrops, Trixie caught up to her friend to trot alongside her. “…Pokey Pierce,” she said softly.

Raindrops looked at her sidelong. “He’s gay.”

“Not in my dreams, apparently. Or at least he’s…open to experimentation."

Raindrops chuckled again. “Well, that horn of his is impressive – ”

“And Windowpane,” Trixie added after a moment.

Raindrops’ eyebrow raised again. “Huh,” she said. “He’s…the window-repair pony, right? Can’t say I know him that well. Guess it makes sense you would, though – ”

“A-and Big Macintosh,” Trixie interrupted, feeling the floodgates tearing open.

“Everypony dreams about Big Mac,” Raindrops said, looking wistfully into the sky.

“And Applejack and Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor Cheerilee and Lyra and Bon Bon – ”

“And me?” Raindrops asked wryly.

Trixie’s mouth snapped shut, and she stared at her hooves. Raindrops chuckled again, fluttering her wings a little. “It was only a dream, Trixie,” she insisted. “Gotta admit I don’t think I’ve ever had that many ponies in my dreams…”

“Last night I dreamed about the entire Night Court plus Luna.”

Raindrops’ face scrunched up at that. “Ew. Not Luna, I mean. The entire Night Court. ‘Cept for maybe Blueblood and one or two others, there’s not exactly much to look at there…”

Trixie stared at Raindrops. This was a very different side to her friend that she was in no way used to seeing. The early morning combined with the very reason the two were trotting to the Whitetail, however, made her surprisingly open to conversation of this nature. “Blueblood? Viscount Prince Blueblood?” Trixie demanded. “He’s…he’s a pig!”

“I can believe that,” Raindrops said with a morose sigh. “Doesn’t change that he’s been voted ‘best-looking stallion in Equestria’ three years in a row…even if what’s inside is ugly, doesn’t mean that I can’t admire the packaging. Maybe take his looks and give him Big Macintosh’s personality. Imagine meeting somepony like that on a moonlit night…or at the gala…”

Trixie stopped trotting, staring at Raindrops. “Okay,” she said. “Who are you and what have you done with Raindrops?”

The pegasus stopped her trot herself, looking worried. “Not again…” she intoned softly.

Trixie fervently shook her head at that, holding up her hooves. “N-no, not like that, I just mean…it’s really hard to imagine you as swooning for somepony.”

Raindrops was quiet, rubbing one front hoof against her opposite leg as she considered the point. “I’m a scary mare, Trixie,” she said softly. “I don’t think there’s a pony from here to Cloudsdale that doesn’t know what I can be like when I get mad. When this…this anger, this boiling rage that’s always just there, bubbling beneath the surface…when it boils over. You’ve seen it first-hoof, when I wrecked half of Ponyville in my fight with Gilda, or when I threatened to kill you and was mad enough to steal a stormcloud from the patrol station to threaten you with it. Ask around and you’ll hear plenty more stories.

“And it’s just who I am. And I don’t like it. I hate it, but it’s who I am, and to an extent I accept it. But…well…sometimes it’s nice to imagine that I could be…be different. You know? Somepony that somepony would actually risk getting intimate with. Somepony a stallion…or a mare…wouldn’t worry about making angry. The kind of mare that somepony would want to sweep off her hooves and carry her off into the sunset, or dance with at a gala, or…”

Raindrops trailed off, chuckling a little. “Anyway,” she said. “Come on…”

Reaching the Whitetail Wood took only about fifteen minutes, but they kept trotting for another forty-five afterwards through the forest, Raindrops taking wing and checking where they were several times before they finally reached ‘her’ clearing.

There wasn’t much to distinguish it from any other clearing, other than its size – at least not at first glance. It was roughly ovular, about two hundred feet by four hundred. Its upper northeastern quarter was separated from the rest by a stream, only about four feet wide and maybe two feet deep deep at its deepest point.

Of course, then Trixie began to pay attention to the details. All the loose stones and rocks seemed to have been gathered up and removed from three of its quarters, creating a broad, flat area safe for running without having to worry about chipping or splitting a hoof. The northereastern quarter, on the other hoof, was laden with rocks of various sizes, many of them cracked or even split open as though something had struck them with great force – something hoof-shaped. Trixie noted, however, that none of the rocks looked like they were – nor had they ever been – particularly large. The foals’ tale back in Ponyville was that Raindrops could split boulders apart when she was mad enough, but from the looks of things, that was just an exaggeration. Even mighty Raindrops had her limits.

“Okay,” Raindrops said. “Here we are. We’ll start with a few laps around the clearing, get the heart pumping and the blood flowing. Then we stretch to get the muscles nice and limber. And…we’ll see where things go from there.”

Trixie nodded. Her ‘nightmare’ had, of course, drained her heat, but it had been steadily building up again over the last hour. It was still manageable, but…well, she was fairly certain she had been inspecting Raindrops’ cutie mark a little too closely as she’d followed her into the woods. She resolved to make sure she stayed ahead, or at least beside, the pegasus pony as the two began galloping around the edge of the clearing. Raindrops ran along the inside of their course, wings largely remaining at her side as she kept an eye on Trixie. The unicorn, herself, was panting after just the first lap – she wasn’t used to exercise, spent most of her days sitting comfortably behind a desk or on a couch. Still, she was determined not to give up after only one lap, and so pushed on through the second, and the third that followed afterwards. Raindrops called off their gallop after that, leading Trixie to the center of the clearing.

“Okay,” Raindrops said, sitting on her haunches and directing Trixie to do likewise. Trixie was panting, though from running rather than heat for a decent change. “Now just try and do what I do. If you can’t, that’s okay, just try your best and don’t strain yourself. You’re looking for resistance but not pain. First, stretch out your left hind hoof and reach for it with your forhooves, like so…” she showed Trixie what she meant, and Trixie did her best to copy. Raindrops kept an eye on her as she did. “Hold for five seconds…and…switch to right hind hoof…”

The stretching made Trixie’s legs tremble a little, but she followed Raindrops’ advice to not over-exert herself. “Okay,” Raindrops said. “Left forehoof high in the air, right foreleg behind the neck, pull a little backwards...hold for five seconds…and…switch to right forehoof in the air, left foreleg behind the neck…”

Trixie complied. Her heartbeat and panting were both slowing to normal levels at this point, and she could feel her muscles loosening. After a moment, Raindrops stood again, flaring her wings to their full span. “This part’s just for me,” she said, flexing and unflexing her wings, spreading them out wide and then up and over her head, craning her neck back as she did until she could poke the top of her head with her alulae and holding the position.

Trixie blinked. Raindrops was…surprisingly flexible, certainly far more so than Trixie had expected. The pegasus was full of surprises today, it seemed…after several long moments, Trixie realized she was staring, licking her lips a little, and stopped just as Raindrops finished her wing-stretch. “Okay,” she said. “Now, let’s see, how to get you exhausted…”

Trixie shuffled a little. “We could just run,” she ventured. That had not been the first suggestion to pop into her mind, but fortunately her brain had overruled any attempts to suggest other methods.

Raindrops shook her head. “Doing nothing but running, we’re more likely to get you bored than tired. We don’t want that. Idle hooves tend to wander. So…let’s start with push-ups.” She got down onto her stomach, and Trixie followed suit. “Pretty simple,” she explained. “Just don’t use your hind hooves. We’ll start with twenty-five.”

“Twenty-five?” Trixie exclaimed. She made no secret of her sedentary lifestyle: twenty-five was asking a lot from her.

“If we have to, we’ll take a break,” Raindrops said. “But the goal is tiring you out, remember?”

Trixie sighed, nodding. “Okay,” she acquiesced, readying herself, then beginning. “One…two…th-three…”

Trixie had to stop for several seconds at ten, and again at seventeen. She powered through the last eight before letting herself fall to her stomach. Raindrops hadn’t said anything at her needing to stop twice, instead only having her switch to rear push-ups, using her hind legs this time. Trixie felt more than a little uncomfortable waving her rear in the air, but then again there was only the two of them around. She still finished them as quickly as possible.

Following the pushups, Raindrops had Trixie roll over into her back, and do crunches, fifty in total. She’d needed to stop several times for that, but Raindrops again remained silent each time.

By the end of the crunches, Trixie was beginning to get a sense of just how tired Raindrops wanted her to be – but only a sense. The jasmine-coated pegasus had apparently done some reading on unicorns, and knew that their telekinesis was, in many ways, like a muscle – including having the ability to tire them out if overused. Thus, the stones at the other end of the clearing had been put to use, as Raindrops had Trixie levitate as many as she could and swing them around, up and down and side to side, fifty times in total. Here, Trixie didn’t tire quite as fast, being used to telekinesis - so Raindrops had helpfully added another fifty swings.

Raindrops smiled a little as Trixie put down the stones after her hundreth swing. “Okay,” Raindrops said. “Now we’re going to have a little fun.” She trotted out to the middle of the clearing and planted her hooves firmly on the ground, flaring her wings. “I want you to try and move me from here,” she said. “Don’t use telekinesis.”

Trixie blinked as she panted from the effort she’d been putting into their work-out so far. “Just…move you?”

“If you can.”

Trixie stared a few moments more, trotting up to Raindrops’s side. “Um…” she intoned. “Okay…” she placed her hooves on Raindrop’s side and pushed. Unsurprisingly, the pegasus didn’t budge an inch at first, remaining firmly in place without much effort until Trixie threw her shoulder behind the effort. Raindrops began pushing back, grunting a little before gradually beginning to slide. Trixie stopped. “Ha!” she exclaimed at her several inches of progress.

Raindrops nodded. “Okay,” she said, “now keep trying ‘til you’ve pushed me to the other side of the clearing.”

Trixie blinked a few times, then let out a groan at the thought of trying to do so, given how much effort it had taken to get just a few inches – never mind a hundred feet. Raindrops turned to face her, holding up her front hooves and grinning a little. With resignation, Trixie placed her own hooves on Raindrops’, and began to push.

To say it was slow going was an understatement, and to say that it was hard would have been a disservice to the term. Raindrops never tried to take back ground she lost, but she pushed against Trixie for every inch that the unicorn tried to claim. Trixie might have given up had Raindrops not been first saying, and then shouting, words of encouragement even as she resisted Trixie with all her might – or, rather, a significant fraction, anyway, as Trixie strongly suspected that if Raindrops actually didn’t want to move, Luna herself would have had trouble pushing her.

Trixie used her shoulders, her head (she was careful of her horn, of course), and her forehooves to push Raindrops. The pegasus herself spent most of the time resisting with only her hind hooves, her forehooves occupied on keeping a grip on Trixie to make sure that she didn’t slip and injure herself. Eventually, after what seemed like hours – and may very well have been at least one hour, in fact – Raindrops was finally pushed behind the tree line. The pegasus was panting and sweating, of course, while Trixie was all but on her knees and hocks, barrel heaving as she tried to suck in air. “H…ha!” She exclaimed at her victory.

Raindrops nodded. “’kay,” she said. “Now…we run again.”

Trixie blinked a few moments, staring, then groaned as she pulled herself to her hooves, trotting – not running, barely even cantering, more like simply shuffled – after Raindrops.

Consciousness came slowly but surely. Trixie felt dull pain across her entire body as she woke, and some degree of heat from her nethers, but her heat seemed like a remote, distant thing next to her exhaustion.

Trixie remembered Raindrops, remembered her work-out. She’d run several more laps, done more pull-ups and crunches, more levitation…the two had finally stopped for a breather after several hours, Trixie lying on her side and just panting and taking in the feeling of the cool grass beneath her…so soothing…so inviting. She had fallen asleep, that much was obvious.

The couch was a bit of a surprise, though. Trixie’s eyes fluttered open, and she found herself lying on the couch in her living room. The table nearby had a note on it; with effort, she managed to reach out and telekinetically grab it, bringing it over to her.

Good job today. Considering that you’ve never worked out before, you did great. If I’m right, you’ll probably end up spending the rest of the day in bed – night, too. Just make sure to get plenty to drink (and I mean water when I say that! No booze!) before you do.

I’ll be by tomorrow at around 3:00. Should give you plenty of time to sleep and recover.

– Raindrops

Trixie smiled a little as she let the note fall to the floor. That had gone well, she figured, as she stumbled from her couch and onto her living room floor. A glance at her clock told her that it was 2:00 PM – the two had apparently managed to work out straight through the midday break without even noticing, unless Trixie had collapsed prior to noontime, which she supposed was possible.

Trixie made to her kitchen, pouring herself a tall glass of water and draining it in just a few gulps. She was slightly more measured with her second glass, but still had it empty within a minute before leaving her kitchen. She considered her stairs for several long moments before deciding that her couch was plenty comfy. Therefore, she returned to her living room, bid Twilight Sparkle a goodnight, and closed her eyes, ready to just sleep through the rest of her heat if at all possible –

Trixie opened her eyes

Yup. Twilight was in her living room, specifically just in front of her bookcase, levitating a tome in front of her and apparently oblivious to Trixie’s presence, despite her having gotten up and then returned. The unicorn dragged herself to the edge of her couch, staring at Twilight for several moments before exclaiming “get out of my house!”

Or that was what she’d wanted to shout, anyway. All that came out was “geddoudam’ouse,” if even that intelligible.

It was enough, at least, to make Twilight jump a little as the lavender mare turned around to regard Trixie. “Oh!” she exclaimed, trotting forwards. “You’re up.”

“Mmph,” Trixie replied, leaning back into her couch as she remembered that Twilight was in heat and a dark possibility entered her mind as Twilight approached. “G’way.”

Twilight did the opposite, coming right up to Trixie, her horn glowing. “Okay, this’ll just take a second…” she said, as Trixie felt magic wrap around her. She let out a cry of surprise, trying to defend herself – but quickly found there was no need. It felt like there was vibrations across her muscles, like a thousand tiny masseuses working across them with warm hooves, kneading them and taking away the pain throughout them, if not the exhaustion.

Twilight clicked her tongue. “‘No pain, no game,’” she quoted, “except if I have anything to say about it!”

Trixie eyed Twilight as her horn stopped glowing; she was pretty sure that wasn't the saying, but elected to ignore it. “What did you do?” she demanded.

“Sort of a healing spell,” Twilight answered. “More like a masseuse spell. It helps with strained muscles that have been worked to exhaustion. It’s actually really interesting!” She glanced behind her, and several texts were wrapped in her effervescence and dragged forward. “See, when you work your muscles, they release a – ”

“How’d you know what I was doing?” Trixie interrupted.

Twilight pointed to Raindrops’ note on the floor. “I read that,” she said.

That made a degree of sense. As long as Twilight had once again teleported into her home, she supposed that the unicorn had every right to read whatever she wanted, or at least as much a right as anything else she might do. “And…why’re you back?”

Twilight shifted a little. “Um…” she said, tapping her front hooves together. “There’s been some…complications…with my plan. And…and these are all my books anyway!” Twilight turned around to the bookcase, taking books off of them and holing them out. “Dweomer Heart’s Diatribe on Divinations, Comet Cone’s Conjuration Codex, the complete works of Star Swirl the Bearded with annotations by Clover the Clever…” she turned around, having levitated one book in particular close her, holding it tight to her chest with her forelegs. “You stole these from my wagon!”

Trixie blinked, eyeing the book in Twilight’s hooves. “That’s not yours,” she said.

“Yes it is! And you…you doodled all over it – ”

Trixie shook her head, pointing down to the bottom right corner of her bookcase. “That’s your copy of Don Rocinante. Kept it separate from mine.”

Twilight blinked, turning around and looking, pulling the book out after several moments and comparing the two. “Oh,” she said softly, levitating Trixie’s copy over to its rightful owner and holding her own copy close, after checking the inside first to verify Trixie’s statement. “Um…sorry.”

“S’ okay,” Trixie said, running a hoof across her own copy of the book, opening it to a random page. Indeed, on the inside, there were doodles, the crude stick-figures of a foal trying to draw the images that the words of the book itself were unable to convey fully – especially the windmill scene. “It’s…my favorite,” she said after a moment.

“Mine too,” Twilight said. She looked down at her own Don Rocinante. “It was my first book…I mean, my first real book, not just a little foal’s book that just taught numbers and letters…”

Trixie nodded. The same was true for her. She had actually learned to read just so that she could read this book – and the same was almost certainly true for Twilight. The other unicorn was looking behind her at Trixie’s bookshelf, biting her lip. “I…it’s been so long since I’ve been able to just sit down and read…I’m sorry, I came back here and just saw the bookcase and all my books…”

Trixie stared for several long moments, before sighing, leaning down into her couch. “Take,” she said, yawning. “Don’t care…not very good at learning spells from books anyway. They’ll just…” another yawn, “…sit there otherwise…”

Twilight turned at that, mouth open, though she didn’t say anything, and after a moment she looked down at her hooves. “Can…” she said. “Can I…stay here and read them? I don’t have any candles at…where I’m staying. And I’m here already…”

Trixie stared at Twilight. “Thought you were in heat,” she said warily.

Twilight offered wide smile. “Who needs a stallion when I’ve got books?” she asked. "That's what I did for my other heats."

Trixie decided she had no answer for that. Any attempt at coming up with one would likely have only resulted in her, at best, decrying the fact that Twilight could apparently escape her heat with so little effort. And besides which – once more, there was nothing that Trixie could do to stop Twilight if she seriously had any intention of causing her harm. Even if she had Twilight teleport away, the lavender unicorn could just teleport back as soon as Trixie was asleep. But so far, she had come across merely as eccentric, and with no intention of actually harming Trixie.

Trixie got off of her couch, standing on shaking hooves. “Whatever…I’ll just go upstairs…”

Twilight trotted forward. “Hold on, I can help,” she said. There was a purple flash that completely filled Trixie’s vision, and when it cleared, she found herself standing in her bedroom, staring at her still-stripped down bed. Twilight frowned at the sight of that, and set her horn to work again, conjuring a violet bed sheet, cover, and comforter from nothing and laying them across the bed. “There we go,” Twilight said. “I’ll just be downstairs.” She disappeared with another flash and pop.

Trixie blinked, staring at her bed for several seconds and debating whether she wanted to sleep in bed clothes conjured from Twilight Sparkle. After a moment, she decided she was too tired to care, and so climbed in, setting her copy of Don Rocinante onto the nearby dresser. Seconds later, she was asleep.

6. In the Heat of the Moment

Trixie had wings. She was a princess, of course she had wings. She couldn’t make much use of them, though, having been locked in a tower that overlooked the countryside and guarded by an Ursa Minor.

“Haw…haw…haw…Princess Trixie never escape tower!”

A talking Ursa Minor.

There wasn’t much in the tower, just a bed – a surprisingly large and well-outfitted and clean bed for being in the middle of a dusty tower – though the tower, on a second glance, was actually very clean on its interior for being a prison. And indeed, the tower’s window was huge, taller than Trixie and nearly wide enough for her to spread her wings, which she had. She idly wondered why she didn’t just fly away from the Ursa Minor.

“Haw…haw…haw…me going to grind your bones to make stew! Make me fat-happy…haw haw…”

“Hey! Ugly!” A call came. Princess Trixie rushed to her window, looking out (rather than jumping out and putting her wings to use), and saw atop the hillside two figures. The first was jasmine-coated pegasus whom she knew was Raindrops of Clan Drops, Barbarian Queen, clad in sturdy armor and with a mighty sword slung over her back, though she drew it and planted its end in the earth and pointed at the Ursa. “Let the princess go!”

“Yeah!” The second figure, a lavender unicorn dressed in the clothes and wielding the staff of a mighty archmage – Twilight of the House of Starlight, Sorceress Supreme. “Let her go, or else!”

“Haw…haw…” the Ursa Minor guffawed, stomping forward. “Puny little ponies…me crush your bones to make my – argh!”

The last came as Twilight let loose a mighty fireball spell that collided with the Ursa’s face. It stumbled backwards, injured and angry, but not felled by any means. That was why Raindrops was already surging forwards through the air, sword swinging hard enough to send the Ursa falling backwards onto its rear. It tried getting up, but Twilight and Raindrops were both on it in moments, bucking and punching and trampling it underhoof such that a cloud of dust rose up. When it cleared, the Ursa Minor had spirals for eyes and singing birds flying in a halo around its head.

“You saved me!” Princess Trixie exclaimed with wings spread wide as Raindrops and Twilight both entered the tower, somehow – the how didn’t matter very much.

“Yes, we have!” Raindrops exclaimed, as she dusted off her hooves. “It was easy!”

“Almost too easy,” Twilight noted thoughtfully, as she eyed Trixie. “How do we know this isn’t a trap?”

Trixie was on her large, spacious bed, her Princess gown suddenly missing but for her crown and stockings. “You can see that I have no weapons,” she noted.

Twilight and Raindrops were upon her, then, Raindrops on her right and Twilight on her left. “Then I see no reason why we can’t collect our reward now,” Twilight breathed as she planted a kiss on Trixie’s lips, then another, then a third, light, soft things that sent tingles down Trixie’s spine…then Raindrops took her face with both hooves, turning her to face her, and pressed her lips to Trixie’s in a deep, passionate kiss that sent a jolt straight to her nethers. When it ended, Raindrops smiled, then shifted, Twilight moving as well, until the three were in an…ideal position for the two heroes to collect their reward, and give Princess Trixie a reward of her own.

“Give me fifty,” Raindrops ordered, “then keep going…”

Princess Trixie obeyed, closing her eyes as she got to work…her hind hooves, meanwhile, twitched with each stroke of Twilight’s hoof and the application of her magic between her hind legs…before she knew it, she had shifted, rolling onto her barrel, one front leg wrapped tightly around one of her pillows, holding it close to her, while her other, of its own accord, continued to stimulate her closer and closer and closer and closer and closer to relief at long last and –

“ – ! – ” Trixie exclaimed, at once in exultation and horror at what she was doing, what was happening – actually, what had finished happening. Despite her cry, however, she was frozen in place, her hoof still betwixt her nethers, her horn glowing as it still, despite her best efforts to get it to stop, massaged her sensitive areas with a gentle application of telekinesis, bringing her down as slowly, as agonizingly as possible. When everything was finished, she was little more than a blue puddle of twitching pony lying in her bed, higher thought impossible for several long minutes.

This was so much worse than just waking up to her hindquarters having betrayed her while she was asleep, she had been awake this time, conscious of what she was doing, conscious enough to ride her orgasm from beginning to end but not conscious enough to stop herself. “Ew…” Trixie moaned, as she struggled from bed, hobbling towards her bathroom on three legs, not wanting to put the last, treacherous hoof on the floor until she had washed it with scalding water. “Ew…gross…ew…gross…ew…”

Today was the fourth day of her heat, the midpoint of her time of the year. Her hormones were at their strongest, her self-control at its most vulnerable state. The scattered pockets of disgusting desires had thus far been limited to little more than raids and skirmishes – today, the war began, as the whole horde of her heat surged forth from her rebellions nethers to her brain, demanding that she just give in already, go out, and make some foals.

Trixie had finished washing her hoof off to the point that it looked like it had received a professional hoof-shine, from the finest hoof-shiner in Canterlot. Trixie actually knew who that was, or knew of him, anyway. Perfect Gleam. She could imagine him now – he was a sandy-coated pegasus, she knew, somewhat on the short side, but not terribly so, with long and supple wings. She saw Perfect Gleam before her, finishing her front hoof off…then moving towards her back legs, beginning the shine with his cloth and custom-made oils imported from far-off Zebrica, could feel his breath on her hoof…his tongue…tongue tracing up as his wing tickled her barrel, his tongue reaching her…

“Gaaaaahhhhh no…!” Trixie cried out, stumbling slightly on the last steps and crashing onto the floor. She was sweating again already, nostrils flaring, the heat surging forward. She forced herself to not think about Perfect Gleam and his Perfect Flank and Perfect Size for getting behind her, hooves on her back, his hot breath on her neck as he thrust…

One of Trixie’s hooves tried to sneak south and join the traitor legions of hormones; she stopped it with the other, conscious, on some small level, that she was still lying on the floor in her hallway.

Trixie squeezed her eyes tightly shut. “Gah…hah…ex…exercise! Think about exercise, Trixie!” She forced herself to her hooves, as she could hardly clop if she was trotting around. She made her way into her living room. “Think about…no, no, don’t think, do! Move the couch! Ha!” She dashed over to her couch, putting her front hooves determinedly against one arm on it and pushing it with all her might. Unfortunately, her hooves slipped, and she went tumbling forward, and – since when were her cushions lavender?

Trixie landed with her rear hanging over the edge of the couch’s arm, and her fore on Twilight Sparkle’s barrel – staring down its length, into the region between Twilight’s own hind legs.

There was a long pause.

“Trixie? Could you – ” Twilight began to ask from beneath Trixie. Unfortunately, the sudden breath and vibration against her barrel tickled, and her heat was already enhancing such sensations. Trixie flailed as she tried to suppress laughter, but all that ended up doing was causing her to lose her balance and tumble off the side of the couch – and desperately reaching out to try and stop her fall made her wrap her hooves around Twilight’s barrel, teeter for a few seconds, and then drag Twilight with her to the floor.

There was a tangle of hooves and manes and tails as both mares struggled against each other, trying to stand up and simply tripping over each other. The next thing Trixie knew, she was lying on her back, and Twilight had somehow gotten on top of her, rotating around so that their muzzles were touching –

– wait, that wasn’t just their muzzles. It was their lips.

“Mmmph!” Trixie and Twilight both exclaimed, doing a much better job at getting away from each other this time around, as Twilight threw herself in one direction and Trixie scooted backwards in the other. Both were breathing heavily from their exertion. The two unicorn ponies stared at each other for a long time, eyes wide in shock.

“Never happened?” Twilight asked after the two had calmed down.

“Never happened,” Trixie confirmed.

“Honestly I’m surprised you’re even out of bed,” Twilight said, as Trixie made the two of them breakfast. “Or downstairs…”

Trixie turned to glare at Twilight even as she continued to scramble eggs telekinetically. It was already one o’clock, and she wanted to make sure to get something to eat before Raindrops showed up at three. “I can go where I want,” she said. “It’s my house.”

Twilight shrugged. “Fair enough, but I mean, even if I had a whole house to myself, I’m pretty sure I’d want to keep my clopping confined to – ”

“Gyaaah shut up!” Trixie exclaimed, pressing her hooves to her ears. “La la la la la la la! Can’t hear you!”

Twilight stared. “What?” she asked. “We’re both mares here, we’re both in heat – ”

Trixie pointed at Twilight, horn glowing, and encased her in a field of silence. Twilight blinked at it for a few moments, before her own horn glowed and dispelled it. “That was rude,” she said.

“So’s talking about sex at the breakfast table!” Trixie shouted. She decided not to point out that teleporting uninvited into somepony’s home was just as rude as well, given that she had, in fact, allowed Twilight to stay.

Twilight stared at Trixie. “Do you…you think that sex is gross, don’t you?”

Trixie made sure to glare at Twilight before turning back to breakfast. “Yes, I do, please try to keep up.”

Twilight shifted a little as Trixie finished cooking and levitated a heaping plate in front of Twilight, then set her own down and joined Twilight at her table. Twilight stared at her food contemplatively for a few moments. “Why?” she asked.

Trixie gagged a little as she thought about exactly why – but fortunately or unfortunately, her increased appetite from her heat wasn’t ruined, and she began tucking into her omelet and Prench toast. “It’s gross,” she insisted. “All that…that sweat…and the gyrating…and…and the same place where you go to the bathroom…ugh!” Trixie shivered even as her horn glowed, intent on grabbing some vinegar for her toast. Unfortunately, her magic, egged on by her hormones and her mind, ever so briefly, thinking about sex, and with Twilight in the room she was thinking about the Starlight family and a certain member in particular…there was a surge in her magic, a blue flash…

…and then there, on her kitchen floor, was an illusion of herself…and mounting her, a white stallion with a blue mane and tail, wearing royal guard armor.

Twilight shrieked as she dove away from the illusion of Trixie and Shining Armor going at it, covering her eyes, but Trixie hardly noticed as her heat continued to swell within her…the illusory her seemed so…so satisfied, mouth hanging open, drooling slightly, eyes almost rolled back, even as she was rocked forward and back by Shining Armor’s thrusting…there was another surge of magic from Trixie’s horn and sounds were added in, panting and gasping and slapping and cries of ecstasy…

A lavender-tinted flash of magic filled the room, and the illusion of Trixie and Shining Armor disappeared. Trixie blinked, realized that her mouth was open and she was drooling a little, one hoof at her chest, the other…elsewhere. She cried out herself, pulling away and dashing towards her kitchen sink.

Twilight peeked out from behind the table, staring at Trixie. “Why?!” she demanded. “That was my brother!”

“I didn’t mean to!” Trixie cried out in response, even as she grabbed a sponge and began to scrub her traitor hoof under hot water – it was her front left, it was always her front left, it was a sinister appendage – again. “I’m sorry…my heat is…is always the worst…on the fourth day…” She shut her eyes tightly, thinking about hoofball, playing cards, the fact that Raindrops would be coming by later that they might go out and exercise more…anything but what her body wanted her to think about.

Trixie finished scouring her hoof, shivering slightly as she turned back around, eyeing her breakfast. Suddenly, her appetite…no, actually, on second thought she was still hungry, despite what she’d just seen, what she’d just almost done. She went back over to the table and sat down, staring at her meal for a few seconds, as Twilight cautiously sat back down, too.

“I hate this…” Trixie said at length. “But…today’s the worst day. Things will only get better from here.” Trixie dove back into her omelet. “Stars I wish I could have had some Regumate this year…”

“Regumate?” Twilight asked, face scrunching a little. “Oh, I remember that stuff…it was mentioned in Equestria Nightly.”

“Wonder drug…” Trixie said. “Made last year sooo much easier…”

Twilight grimaced. “It, um…wasn’t in EN because of the drug itself. It was in it because the company that made it went out of business.” Twilight took a bite out of her own omelet. “My father called it, too. They sank way too much money into Regumate, and then their sales were terrible because nopony…well, practically nopony…cares enough about her heat to want to prevent it.”

Trixie stared at Twilight, before standing up from the table again. “Un moment, s’il vous plait,” she said.

Twilight watched as Trixie walked over to one of the walls of her kitchen. “Um, Trixie, I don’t speak – ”

Bang. Crash. Thump.

“It’s not fair,” Trixie said about ten minutes later, after the world had stopped spinning. There was an ice pack on her head, just below her horn, as she lay on her couch in her living room, staring at the ceiling. Her head was wrapped in a lavender aura. “I just wanted to skip my heat…that’s all…it’s not asking much…”

Twilight was staring at one of her spellbooks as her horn stopped glowing. “Okay, no brain damage,” she said, before looking back to Trixie. “Trixie, you’re a mare, you’re going to go into heat, get over it.”

Trixie stared at Twilight. “You have terrible bedside manners.”

Twilight shook her head. “All I’m hearing is whine whine whine. There are ponies across Equestria who have it so much worse than you – ” she put a hoof in Trixie’s mouth before she could speak, “ – and before you say anything, no, I’m not including me in that!”

Twilight removed her hoof, and Trixie sighed. “I know, okay?” she said. “But right now, this is my problem, and it sucks!”

“Well, you’ve got two options,” Twilight responded. “One, you can keep complaining and suffering, or two, you can get over it and just start dealing with the problem the way everypony else in Equestria does!”

Trixie considered, before rolling over on the couch, burying her face in its back so that she wouldn’t have to look at Twilight. “You sound just like Luna,” she moaned.

Twilight sighed. “If I do,” she said, “it’s only because Luna doesn’t want you to go through the rest of your adult life suffering.” She shook her head. “Look, Trixie, your heat seems to be heavy, way heavier than mine. But denying it is only making things worse. Yes, it’s your body and your choice. It’d also be your choice if you wanted to drink arsenic. I’d try to stop you from doing that, and I’m going to try to stop you from making yourself suffer, too.”

Trixie felt a hoof on her shoulder. She shivered from the touch…even more so when she felt Twilight leaning down towards her. “You don’t have to suffer,” she said in a low, sultry voice, as her mouth gently closed around one of Trixie’s ears, tugging it a little…Trixie’s breath hitched as the hoof travelled down across her body, snaking towards her nethers. “We’re two mares in heat, and we can help each other…”

“N…y…maybe…?” Trixie breathed as she leaned into Twilight’s soft nibbling on her ear, turning around on the couch. “Y…yes, Twilight…help me – ”

Trixie realized what she was saying, realized her horn was glowing, and realized there were two Twilights – one prepared to do things to her, and one staring.

“Gah!” Trixie cried out, hitting her horn with her own hoof, causing the illusory Twilight to disappear. The real Twilight’s eyes were wide, and her mouth was open a little and notably dry. Trixie stared. “Okay, how much of that was real?” she demanded.

Twilight blinked, shaking her head a little and licking her lips. “Um,” she said. “Uh…a-about up to me putting my hoof on your shoulder…I – I thought I was just being friendly…”

Trixie shivered. “You were,” she insisted. “It’s…it’s just, with my heat…and…and…”

Twilight stared at Trixie. “Trixie?”

“What?”

“Is…is it normal for you to be accidentally summoning up illusions like this? When in heat?”

Trixie remembered two years ago, her bedroom in Canterlot, and Luna sticking her head in to see if Trixie was alright…and the uncomfortably nonchalant way she had reacted to seeing what Trixie’s magic had conjured up, which had been in no small part inspired by their recent trip to Cavallia and meeting Princess Cadenza and her retinue of loyal Honor Guards. “Y-yes,” she said. “At least on the fourth day. Yeah.”

Twilight stared a moment. “W…well,” she said. “I’m, uh…th-that note left by your friend, Raindrops was it? Y-yeah, she said she’d be by and three, and it’s already one thirty, and I’m just going to go and…um…”

Twilight’s horn glowed purple, there was a pop, and she was gone. Leaving Trixie, the blue unicorn realized, alone in the house…with nopony to bother her, nopony to see her, nopony to know if she just this once gave in and…

“Exercise!” Trixie cried out.

Trixie answered her door sweating profusely and breathing heavily.

Raindrops stared, blushing slightly, wings twitching of their own accord.

“Exercise,” Trixie insisted, as she dashed out the door, prancing in place to keep her muscles working. “I…I re-arranged my living room, and my bedroom, and my office, and then I did it again, and then…then I did it again…and I ran in circles around my backyard and then I grabbed a quick bite to eat ‘cause I didn’t get to finish breakfast what with the blunt force trauma, and I think I’m going to be avoiding carrots until this is all over, sorry Carrot Top if you can hear me!”

Raindrops considered Trixie. “Okay,” she said after a moment. “Um…let’s get going, then – ”

“Let’s! I’ll race you!” Trixie shot off at full speed.

After a few moments, however, she came back. “I forget how to get there!”

Raindrops stared a few moments more, before chuckling slightly, trotting up to Trixie and putting one wing over Trixie’s back. “Come on…” she said, leading the way.

“So, wait,” Raindrops said as the two jogged at a brisk pace through the Whitetail Wood to Raindrop’s clearing, “You’ve been getting visits…from Twilight Sparkle? And you didn’t tell anypony?”

“I’m telling you now!” Trixie insisted. She kept running in front of Raindrops, then falling back, then realizing she was staring at her friend’s flank and dashing forward again. “It’s not a secret or anything…I just…well, they were just quick things, and only over the past few days, until last night, when she stayed over. On the couch,” Trixie added quickly.

Raindrops chuckled. “I didn’t think you meant ‘stayed over’ the other way, don’t worry,” she insisted. “How is she?”

“Fine, basically. She had some kind of plan to expose me as a fraud, or something, I dunno, but then I was in heat, and she didn’t want to do anything, and right now she’s in heat too…lucky nag barely even shows it, though…”

Raindrops considered. “So…should we get the gang together and try and capture her, or…?”

Trixie thought a moment, but shook her head. “She can teleport crazy good,” she said. “She’ll have to want to turn herself in.”

“I’d bet Luna could do it.”

“Maybe…but that’s like grabbing a sledgehammer to deal with the problem. Twilight seems basically harmless…I’d rather if she chose to turn herself in…maybe she will if she just sticks around.”

Raindrops nodded at the logic, before eyeing Trixie with a sly grin. “So,” she said. “Anything else interesting? Maybe dreams?”

Trixie blinked, and there was a surge of magic from her horn. Raindrops stared as she found herself looking at an illusion of herself in barbarian gear, Twilight Sparkle as some kind of sorceress, and…an alicorn Trixie? Of greater interest was the position they were in…

“Gah!” Trixie exclaimed, leaping into her illusion and bucking around until it was dispelled in blue mist, though it was too late – Raindrops was blushing again, and her wings had stood erect of their own accord. Trixie’s own face was flushed red as well. “I’m sorry!” she exclaimed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…magic…kind of wild right now…”

Raindrops remained still only a moment more, before shaking her head and purposefully tucking her wings away. “It was just a dream,” she said. “Though, if you’re magic’s running that wild, I think we’ll be working on that first.”

“R-right,” Trixie said, as the two resumed their jog, which Trixie couldn’t help but notice was a bit faster now. Within minutes, the two had arrived at Raindrops’ clearing, and set to work, doing a quick lap around its edge before stretching – Trixie keeping her eyes closed tightly the entire time so as to not be leering at Raindrops – and then Raindrops setting to work on guiding Trixie to exhaust her magic by doing telekinetic swings with rocks again. In her hurry to get to work exercising, she didn’t notice that the blush had not entirely left Raindrops’ face.

She started with left-right swings. Left…right…left…right…she was holding aloft about her body weight in stones as she swung her head side-to-side in time with her own swinging, biting her lip as she worked. Raindrops was standing next to her, counting out her swings.

Left…right…left…right…this wouldn’t ordinarily be hard, but given the exercise she’d already been doing earlier in the day, their jog into the Whitetail, and the fact that her magic emphatically wanted to be conjuring other things right now, she was already working up a sweat just from the telekinesis.

Left…right…left…right…she slowly lowered herself onto her barrel, not wanting the extra effort of standing right now. Raindrops didn’t say anything, just sitting down next to her, her right wing draping over Trixie’s back in encouragement as she kept counting out her swings. “I know you can do at least fifty,” she told Trixie in between one swing.

“E-easy for you to s-say…” Trixie breathed as she closed her eyes, head still swinging back and forth in time with her telekinesis. “I’ve…hah…already been…been working…hah…a-and then, I’m s-still recovering from y-yesterday…”

Raindrops gave a slight squeeze with her wing. “Well, stop if you think you need to. Remember, you don’t want to hurt yourself.”

“Ngh,” Trixie responded. She couldn’t stop now, not now that Raindrops had said she was sure that she could get fifty swings in…according to Raindrops, she was already more than halfway there, twenty-eight swings and counting…

She did begin to slow down when she reached thirty-seven, though. Every unicorn used telekinesis, but usually only for small, lightweight things, certainly not their own bodyweight, and rarely spread out amongst multiple objects, either. Her rate of swinging slowed down considerably past forty…

Left, forty-one…right, forty-two…left, forty-three…right, forty-four…left, forty-five…

She held it there, breathing a few times, eyes still closed and breathing heavily. “O…okay,” she said. “F…forty-six…forty seven…f-forty-eight…” She stopped again, still breathing heavily, eyes shut.

“Nearly there,” Raindrops said softly – barely a whisper, actually – again squeezing Trixie with her wing, though this time her grip didn’t loosen. Trixie breathed in and out a few times, the rocks and her head swinging to her left, towards Raindrops, again. “Forty – ” she began, when she found herself unable to speak, due to her lips having touched something quite suddenly – soft and warm and inviting…

Trixie was vaguely aware of the sound of a bunch of rocks hitting the ground as her telekinesis ended, but didn’t acknowledge it as she leaned forward, into the soft and warm and inviting kiss…Raindrop’s wing squeezed tighter around her for a moment, before she felt Raindrops pushing against her, surprisingly gently given who was doing the pushing as she felt herself being rolled over, onto her back. Her front hooves reached out and closed around Raindrops’ neck…a slight moan escape her mouth, an opening for Raindrops’ tongue to invade as the pegasus’ own hooves wrapped around Trixie, pulling her close and tight…

…Trixie’s eyes fluttered open, and she realized, quite suddenly, that this was not her mind playing tricks on her again, that this was not an illusion – she really was on her back, in the field, and it really was Raindrops, one of her closest friends, atop her, kissing her, Trixie returning it eagerly…the shock made her stop returning Raindrops’ affection.

A moment later, Raindrops’ own eyes opened – much wider than Trixie’s, as she pulled away, and Trixie stared. “Oh no,” she said softly, staring. “Oh…oh no, I – I didn’t mean – oh Stars I just took…took advantage of you, didn’t I…?”

“R…Raindrops…?” was all Trixie could get out.

“I’m – it was…it was just, the heat of the moment and…and you were there and…I’m sorry!” Raindrops shouted, before breaking out into a run, wings beating furiously. By the time Trixie got up, Raindrops was already in the sky, flying away.

Trixie stared after her, mouth hanging open. “Wh…what just happened…?”

Author's Note

.
So. I chose a ship.

7. Feelings...

Trixie didn’t even realize that she had arrived home until she was trotting past the front gate of her house. The sun was beginning to set by now – after Raindrops had left, she had spent a few hours running laps around the clearing, half in exercise, half in waiting to see if Raindrops would come back and see if the two of them could figure out what had just happened.

Her wait had been in vain, though, and Raindrops had been right: running around and around in circles only gave her mind a chance to wander…

Trixie stopped just before her front door. Her horn was glowing, and she found herself staring at an illusion of her and Raindrops, sitting next to each other, Raindrops with one wing over her as they kissed. It wasn’t even a delusion this time – her heat coupled with her magic had conjured up a real memory, something that had actually happened.

Trixie stepped forward after a moment, waving a hoof through the illusion and dispelling it into bluish mist. It was only after entering her home, locking the door behind her, and hanging up her cape that she realized she had dismissed the illusion more out of tradition than anything, without really feeling the heat of embarrassment.

“Huh,” Trixie thought aloud. “Wonder if that means anything – ”

“Aaaahhh!” Twilight Sparkle’s voice cried out. Trixie started even as she heard a crash from beneath her, in her basement. Without thinking, she rushed into her kitchen, where her basement door was located, threw open the door, and rushed downstairs to help, ignoring the slight lavender glow her basement door had been covered in. It occurred to her only as her hooves touched the basement landing that Twilight might not have needed help. That she was in heat too. That the cry didn’t sound like one of pain, per se.

Trixie looked up and saw Twilight.

“Aaaahhh!” Twilight cried out. She was – probably – not in pain.

“Aaaahhh!” Trixie screamed. She was not in physical pain. But as she did not know any amnesia spells, her mental anguish would now have to last a lifetime.

“Aaaahhh!” Twilight screamed as well, though the context was different as she glanced behind her and saw Trixie. It was probably a mood-killer for her, but Trixie didn’t feel bad about that at all.

“Aaaahhh!”

Things were awkward for a few minutes.

Trixie stared at everything in the kitchen that wasn’t Twilight. Twilight was doing essentially the same thing for Trixie, rubbing one hoof against the opposite leg awkwardly.

“S…sorry…” Twilight said at length. “I, um…I th-thought I had a sound-dampening spell over the…the door…”

“You did,” Trixie said at length. She glanced at Twilight, blushed, and looked back down at her hooves. “Um…b-but I heard you up through the floor.”

Twilight shifted uncomfortably. “Oh,” she said. “Um…oh. S-sorry.” Trixie nodded. The silence stretched a little further. “Um…I can t-teach you how to cast unseen servant if you want – ”

Trixie considered all the possibilities of how useful it could be to be able to conjure up a pony-shaped, invisible-yet-tangible force that, while unintelligent, was capable of being ordered to perform simple tasks, such as cleaning, without needing continuous concentration from the unicorn caster.

Or several unseen servants. Each of which could perform separate tasks. She had, after all, just seen a demonstration of their…utility. They had been invisible, of course, but judging from the position Twilight Sparkle had been in, she had to have conjured at least two, more likely three –

“Aaaahhh!” Trixie screamed, instinctively covering her eyes, though there was little she could do to block the vision of her mind’s eye. “No no no no no no no no! No! Noooo! No no no – ”

“Okay!” Twilight interrupted. Trixie stopped her tirade. “Okay, I’m sorry!”

“I thought you said who needs stallions when I’ve got books? That’s what you said! You said that!”

Twilight shifted. “Where do you think I learned the spell from?” she asked. “Unseen servant is one of the most basic conjurations there is! I learned it back in the Academy!”

Trixie’s eyes widened. “They teach that?!”

Twilight shifted. “N…not exactly,” she said. “Um, they do teach the basic spell to ponies who can learn it, but it’s not, ah…anatomically correct. But…well, it’s kind of an open secret around the Academy, how to change it so it is.” She laughed a little in embarrassment. “It’s just, you know…one of those things.”

Trixie blinked a few times, suddenly grateful that she never attended Luna’s Magic Academy and instead learned magic from Luna herself. “The Academy is a glorified brothel,” she noted, turning around and trotting towards her pantry. In spite of everything, she still had an appetite. “A…gah! Who does that? What would Luna think?”

Twilight chuckled again. “A-actually, the story is – and I don’t think it’s true at all, it’s just the story – but the story is that Princess Luna’s the one who created the anatomically correct unseen servant in the first place. Since, you know, she’s immortal, she doesn’t have time for lovers…”

“Oh, but she has the time to turn a spell for cleaning up around the house into…into…into summon sex-slave?”

Twilight frowned. “An unseen servant isn’t alive, it can’t think. It’s not a slave, any more than a, I don’t know, a bathtub is a slave.”

“You know what I – oh Stars,” Trixie interrupted herself, stopping her search. She sighed, head downcast as she turned to Twilight. “Stars. Lyra went to the Academy. Now I’m wondering if Lyra knows that spell. I think she can only cast music-related spells, but if there’s a way for her to have learned it, she will have. Thank-you for that, Twilight, that’s what I needed. Lyra. And Bon Bon. A-and..and Rainbow Dash…a-and…”

…and her, and Twilight Sparkle, all in Trixie’s basement, moaning and groaning and sweating and gyrating as unseen servants conjured by the unicorns of the group crowded around them, Trixie on her back, her hooves stroking and her tongue licking…there were five to each of them, six in the case of Rainbow Dash…

Trixie’s eyes widened. She looked so satisfied. Why did she always have to look so satisfied? It made everything look so inviting…she was surrounded on all sides by unseen servants, though they weren’t quite unseen anymore, instead having a vague, pony shaped – and anatomically correct – outline as they pressed around her…she didn’t know where Rainbow Dash and Bon Bon and Lyra had gone, but Trixie was still there, feeling the servants’ coats against her own. Twilight was still there too, looking shocked at first, though when one of the servants nibbled on her neck she seemed almost to shrug and decide to go along with it…

“Ahn…!” Trixie moaned as she felt hooves on her back and something else between her hind legs, not penetrating yet but getting ready to…maybe…maybe this was it, maybe it was time to just get it over with…

Then, a wing. Feathers laid across her back as she sank to the floor, onto her barrel. The hooves that had been there disappeared, as did the presence of all the other servants around her. Trixie, eyes glazed, looked and saw Raindrops looking back at her. Raindrops closed her eyes and pressed her lips to Trixie’s, and Trixie returned the kiss wholeheartedly. It broke after several long moments, but Trixie leaned in this time…

…and her lips passed straight through Raindrops, who disappeared in a blue mist. Trixie blinked, and found herself sitting down, alone in her kitchen but for Twilight, who was blinking rapidly as she looked around desperately, sweating more than a little. “Wh…oh, come on, Trixie!” She exclaimed. “Y…you can’t just…just…” she paused after a moment, looking at Trixie. “Wait. I thought you didn’t know how to cast unseen servant.”

Trixie blinked, only slowly taking in Twilight’s words as she thought about what had just happened. “I don’t,” she said absently. “But the best illusions can fool other senses besides sight and hearing, though it takes a lot out of the caster. They can provide touch as well…” As she said that, she placed a hoof to her lips.

“R-really?” Twilight asked, utterly oblivious to Trixie’s conundrum. She glanced down at her own hooves. “And I always thought illusions weren’t worth the time…s-say, do you have a book I can borrow on them?”

“Ignis Fatuus: the Book of Illusions,” Trixie said without thinking about the potential consequences. “Living room, top shelf.”

Twilight stood on slightly-shaking legs and trotted from the kitchen. Trixie didn’t really notice, instead looking beside her again. Cautiously, she set her horn glowing – intentionally, this time – and crafted an illusion of Raindrops. The glamor stared back at her.

Before she could think better of it, Trixie closed her eyes leaned forward, pressing her lips to the figment’s. At first there was nothing, but then Trixie’s horn glowed brighter, and she felt real, warm, inviting lips kissing her back…parting just a little, head tiling slightly…Trixie’s horn glowed brighter, and now she could feel Raindrops’ breath, and her wing as she draped it over her back. Raindrops squeezed her just slightly with her wing, before she stopped kissing her. Trixie whimpered slightly at that, worried about what Raindrops was going to do, but the pegasus only nuzzled her, before laying her neck across Trixie’s back, squeezing her with her wing again. Trixie, despite herself, leaning into the hug, laying her head down next to Raindrops and taking in her scent, feeling her fur, hearing her heartbeat…

If Raindrops had wanted, she could have probably done anything she wanted with Trixie, and Trixie would have willingly gone along with it, losing her battle with her heat at long last. But Raindrops would never take advantage of her like that…

“Trixie, I – ” The illusion began. But the voice stuttered, as did the feeling of the wing on her back and Raindrops’ neck atop her, the scent in her nostrils. Trixie desperately tried to pour more power into the glamor.

“There are doodles all over this!” Twilight’s voice exclaimed as she trotted into the kitchen, holding forward a thin tome. “And how good a spellbook can it be if it has less than two hundred pages – ” she stopped at the sight of the flickering Raindrops, and Trixie’s horn glowing bright as she tried to maintain her spell. But it was too late, and Twilight’s distracting interruption made the effort finally too great. With a gasp, Trixie lost control over the super-real illusion, and it dissipated into nothingness. Trixie’s head whipped around, staring wide-eyed at Twilight. The purple unicorn shifted slightly at the expression. “I’m…uh…I’m sorry,” she said.

Trixie blinked a few times, then looked back down to her hooves. “S’ okay,” she said. “Just a figment…I can always conjure a new one…”

Twilight paused at Trixie’s tone, biting her lip as she looked at the book she held in her telekinetic grip. After a moment, she set it down on the kitchen counter, then trotted over to Trixie and sat down opposite her, looking her in the eye. “That was…Raindrops, right?” she asked. “Your friend? The bearer of the Element of Honesty?”

Trixie nodded. “She, um…” she said. “I was…exercising with her earlier today…trying to get through my heat, and…and she kissed me.”

Trixie’s horn unconsciously glowed again. In front of Twilight appeared a miniature illusion of Trixie and Raindrops, sitting together on the field, Raindrops kissing her. As Twilight watched, blushing, Raindrops gently pushed Trixie onto her back, though Trixie offered no resistance – at least until her eyes opened. The illusion didn’t provide sound, but there was some kind of exchange that ended with Raindrops flying off, disappearing and leaving behind Trixie.

Twilight blinked as the small look into Trixie’s memories disappeared. “When you, um…” she said, “when…oh, Stars, let’s call it what it was. When you conjured up that illusionary orgy, Raindrops appeared there, as well. And seeing her is what interrupted it, huh?”

Trixie tapped her front hooves together. “Maybe,” she said, shifting her hindquarters. Heat was building there again, hormones surging through her body and at once amplifying her emotions and desires, creating emotions and desires, and suppressing emotions and desires. She wanted to go outside and find a stallion and have sex until she couldn’t stand. She wanted to go outside and find Raindrops and just lie next to her with her wing over her back. She wanted to tackle Twilight and just satisfy each other’s heats. She wanted Raindrops here to help her satisfy her heat. She wanted to clop. She wanted to go back to the spa and spend all her money on the ‘deluxe service.’ She wanted none of these things and for her heat to just be over. She wanted to go to bed. But she wanted Raindrops in that bed. Or Twilight. But with Twilight it wasn’t the same…

“Do you like her?” Twilight asked.

Trixie glanced at Twilight. “I…I don’t know. Maybe? Yes? But I think it might just be my heat…but maybe it isn’t…I don’t know! I’m never attracted to mares except when I’m in heat. So maybe it’s just that!”

Twilight shrugged. “I’m basically the same,” she said. “Most ponies have a few same-gender ponies, though, that’d be an exception for them, even if they’re not in heat. So maybe Raindrops is one of those mares for you?”

“I don’t know! She flew off before I could find out! I mean, she’s really strong and stoic and puts up with me even when I’m at my worst but also knows how to take me down a peg when I need it, but I know that she’s got this soft side inside of her, she’s vulnerable just beneath the surface and I just want to…” she shivered, “I want to go down on her but I also just want to hold her and snuggle with her but maybe that’s just my heat…a-and she thinks she took advantage of me and maybe she did…but I don’t know!”

“Wait,” Twilight said, holding up a hoof. “What was that last bit?”

Trixie looked to Twilight. “She flew off,” Trixie explained. “We were kissing, and I thought it was just an illusion at first, but then I realized, so I stopped kissing her, and she stopped. Then she flew off after thinking that she’d taken advantage of me. I was too shocked to really try and stop her – ”

“Wait, what?” Twilight demanded, standing. “You let a pony fly off thinking that she’d just assaulted you?”

Trixie stared up at Twilight, eyes wide, before she realized what Twilight was saying. The heat inside of her seemed to ebb low, and Trixie finally realized just how distraught Raindrops had looked, how horrified of her own actions – Trixie had been focusing on her feelings and her confusion, but Raindrops –

“Oh no,” Trixie said, standing up and trotting back and forth. “Oh no! She thinks…I have to go to her…but I don’t know how I feel!”

“You still have to go,” Twilight insisted, pointing out Trixie’s front door. “Look, I might not know much about having friends, but I do know that Raindrops seems like she might care a lot about you and right now, she thinks that she might have hurt you. You can’t leave her thinking that!”

Trixie’s pacing didn’t slow down. “But what do I say?” she asked. “I mean…do I tell her that I like her too? Or that I don’t really, not like that? I…do I have sex with her? I want to! But that’s just my heat! I mean, I think I might be okay with it ‘cause she’d like it, I bet, but then it’d be gross still…even if it was her…I think…gah!”

“Trixie!” Twilight exclaimed. “Just go!”

“But I don’t know what to say!”

“It doesn’t matter!”

“Yes it does! Because it’s Raindrops and she’s really more vulnerable then she lets on!”

“Oh, for cryin’ out loud…” Twilight grunted, stepping forward as her horn glowed. Before Trixie could react, there was a lavender pop all around Trixie. The next thing she knew, both she and Twilight were standing outside in front of a small, but familiar, house in Ponyville. The sun had nearly set by now, and nopony was visible on the streets, though several lights were on in the buildings of the area, including the one in front of the two unicorns.

Twilight grunted as she got behind Trixie and began pushing her towards the door with her hooves. “Go!” Twilight insisted.

“How do you know where she lives?” Trixie demanded, fighting against Twilight’s pushing.

“I know where all of you live, it was part of the plan,” Twilight exclaimed. “It doesn’t matter, plan’s off now, I lost the stupid amulet anyway.”

“Get off me!” Trixie demanded, wondering what the full details of this ‘plan’ was, but deciding that it probably wasn’t important at the moment. Twilight complied, but only to wrap Trixie in her telekinetic aura. Trixie fought against it, but was powerless as Twilight ran up to the front door, knocked on it a few times, then dove into a nearby bush. Her aura didn’t disappear from around Trixie, however, who found herself forced into a standing position as the door opened.

Trixie found herself looking at Snails, Raindrops’ little unicorn brother. He was a little slow, but a fundamentally good colt, and ordinarily on seeing Trixie he would almost immediately brighten immensely, as he and his best friend Snips loved Trixie’s irregular but spectacular magic shows, possibly even more than Dinky Doo.

At first, this time appeared no different from any other. However, after a moment, his face darkened immensely. “Go away!” he shouted, slamming the door shut.

Trixie blinked, starting. Twilight apparently did too, as her magical aura disappeared and she stuck her head out from the bush in confusion. Trixie’s immediate instinct was to run, but Snails’ belligerence was shocking enough to warrant further investigation. She knocked on the door again.

“I said go away!” Snails’ voice called from the other side of the door.

“Snails!” Trixie demanded. “What did I do?”

There was no immediate answer, but the door did open. In addition to Snails, Trixie found herself looking at a sky-blue, blond-maned pegasus stallion – Dewdrops, Raindrops’ father – and a yellow-coated, blue-and-white maned pegasus mare – Shutterbug, Raindrops’ mother. Neither of them looked happy to see Trixie, though Dewdrops and Shutterbug looked only displeased, rather than incensed as Snails did.

“Trixie,” Dewdrops said slowly, taking a single step from his house, getting close to the unicorn mare, “I don’t know what happened today between you and Raindrops. I don’t much care. It takes a lot to my little filly cry, and – ”

Trixie stumbled backwards at that, eyes wide. “What?” she asked.

“Oh, don’t pretend like you don’t know!” Shutterbug exclaimed, coming out from the house and taking to the air, wings beating rapidly. In sharp contrast to her slow-speaking husband, Shutterbug moved and spoke at a mile a minute. “Raindrops was walking on starlight when she came home last night after spending time with you and she didn’t say anything but I know that she was happy to be spending time with you and she was looking forward to more today but instead she comes home looking angrier than I’ve ever seen her and she just shut herself in her room and we thought we’d give her time, but what do I hear when I go to check on her half an hour later? Tears! My baby was crying her eyes out!”

“I thought you were cool!” Snails put in.

Trixie blinked rapidly. “I…I didn’t do anything!” she said. “She kissed me!”

Dewdrops held up a hoof, touching Shutterbug to slow her down. “You’re in heat, Trixie, so you’re not acting yourself,” he said.

“You smell!” Snails exclaimed, covering his nose. He was too young for Trixie’s pheromones to be attractive to him.

“N…no, wait,” Trixie insisted. “Wait, please. I didn’t do anything! She kissed me, and I wasn’t expecting it, and then when I realized what was going on she flew off because she thought she’d taken advantage of me, but she didn’t! Please, let me just speak to her – ”

Trixie tried to walk forward, but Shutterbug blocked her progress by flying in front of her. “Even if we wanted to let you in, which I for one do not, it wouldn’t matter,” she said. “When I went to talk to her, she flew off on me. On me! Her own mother!”

“You don’t know where she is?” Twilight asked. Shutterbug and Trixie both leaped at her sudden entrance into the conversation as Twilight trotted out from the bush she had been hiding in.

Snails’ eyes widened on seeing her. “You’re the one who brought the Ursa Minor into town!” he exclaimed, pointing a hoof.

“She’s – uh, she’s under arrest,” Trixie lied. Fortunately, Twilight didn’t object to that statement. “Don’t worry about her, worry about Raindrops! Where is she?”

The two pegasi and one colt unicorn eyed Twilight, but Dewdrops did respond. “We don’t know,” he said. “Trixie, I don’t really know what’s going on. But I think you should go home and wait out your heat before you do anything else and hurt Raindrops more.”

Trixie blanched at Dewdrops’ words. Hurt Raindrops more.

Hurt Raindrops again would have been more appropriate. Trixie had done it before, when she’d revealed just how much Raindrops’ angry side terrified Trixie, and how Trixie, in her shallowness, had assumed that all there was to Raindrops was her rage, and the façade she put up to hide the rage. They had been friends, of a sort, before the rainy day a few months ago that had brought them closer together…but it wasn’t until after that day that they’d really become best friends. And it had taken Trixie nearly destroying that friendship first.

And now she’d done it again, just as Raindrops had tried to take their relationship further.

“No…” Trixie breathed, turning around and dashing out into the middle of the street, looking around as though she stood a chance of divining Raindrops’ location simply by sight. “No, no, no, no! Raindrops! Where are you? Raindrops!”

Several ponies had already come out of their homes when Snails had first shouted at Trixie to go away – Ponyville ran on gossip as much as bits, after all – and at Trixie’s antics, even more came out, a small crowd of ponies that Trixie was utterly obvilous to, since none of them were a yellow-coated, blue-maned pegasus with three water drops for a cutie mark.

“Trixie!” Twilight exclaimed, dashing over to her and stopping Trixie from dashing off in a random direction. More than a few ponies recognized her, but Twilight ignored them. “Trixie, she probably can’t hear you, and I think that her dad has the right idea. Maybe you should just wait out your heat – ”

Trixie turned to Twilight, looking at her with desperate, watering eyes. “No,” she insisted. “No, Twilight. Not again, I…I don’t know if I like Raindrops, but I do know that she’s my friend and I’m not going to drive her away!”

Twilight opened her mouth to continue objecting, but did a double-take on the look that Trixie was giving her. It was not a look that would brook argument, nor any other attempt to dissuade her. “Okay,” Twilight said, “okay, Trixie, fine. Fine. But where would we even start? Ponyville is pretty big, assuming she’s even still in Ponyville…”

Trixie looked away, then smiled. “That’s okay,” she said, “because I have friends who can help me.”

8. Climax

Trixie started pounding on the door and didn’t stop until it opened, revealing a small, grey unicorn filly with yellow eyes. Dinky Doo looked more than a little tired, but her eyes widened at the sight of Trixie. “Miss Trixie!” she exclaimed, looking a little worried. “Um…Momma said I wasn’t supposed to see you ‘til she said it was okay…”

“It’s okay, Dinky, I just meant going over to learn magic,” Ditzy’s voice called, and the pegasus mailmare came up to the door, looking Trixie up and down with one eye, while the other one scrutinized the ceiling. “You’ve looked better…”

Trixie, meanwhile, was frowning at Ditzy. “You banned Dinky from seeing me while I was in heat?” she asked in a hushed voice, not that Dinky would have any real problem hearing her.

Ditzy held up her hooves defensively. “Not like that,” she insisted. “I just heard you were in heat and figured you’d want personal space…is that Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yes,” Twilight answered, waving a hoof. “Hello – ”

“Wait, Twilight?” Dinky asked, pushing past her mother and Trixie to look at the purple unicorn.

Twilight backed away a step in surprise at the foal. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Oh, I remember you now, you were on stage with Trixie when – ”

“When you interrupted the show!” Dinky exclaimed. “And then you came backstage and said that Trixie was no good with magic and said that I didn’t know any better because I was just a foal but my Momma still says I’m smart for my age – ”

“Dinky,” Ditzy interrupted the foals tirade, coming forward and putting a hoof on Dinky’s withers. “Calm down a moment. I’m sure that Miss Sparkle here is very sorry for that – and for the other stuff that happened on the Eventime. Right?”

The last was directed at Twilight, who jumped a little at being directly addressed. She glanced between Dinky and Ditzy, one hoof raised as though she were planning to bolt, but after a moment – and after a glare from Trixie as the other mare mouthed the name ‘Raindrops,’ she wilted. “Yeah,” she admitted, looking down at her own hooves. “I’m sorry for interrupting the show. And…and for everything else that happened that night. I was an idiot.”

Dinky blinked a few times at that, considering, before closing her eyes and raising a hoof. “It’s okay,” she said, almost sounding like she was reciting something from memory. “You said you’re sorry, and you have to forgive ponies if they say their sorry and they mean it.” She opened one eye, looking pointedly at Twilight. “You do mean it?”

“I do,” Twilight confirmed.

“Pinkie promise?”

“What?”

“Later,” Trixie insisted, ignoring the slight movement she thought she had seen out of the corner of her eye, as she knew what it was and really didn’t need this situation to go off-the rails any further. She looked at Ditzy. “I need your help, Ditzy. Raindrops flew off and I don’t know where she is. We were exercising together out in the Whitetail Wood when she kissed me and – what’s with that look?”

Ditzy had shot a glare at Trixie suddenly, jabbing a hoof at Dinky. Trixie looked at the foal – who was glancing between Dinky and Trixie, trying to figure out what she was missing – and the pegasus, needing several moments to put things together. When she did, she reared back, neighing in surprise. “I meant that literally!” she insisted. “Exercising! Running laps, sit-ups, crunches!”

“Oh,” Ditzy said, calming down and looking a little embarrassed.

“What else would you mean?” Dinky asked confusedly. Her muzzle scrunched a little. “Does this have something to do with you being in heat?”

“Sort of,” Trixie said. She wasn’t sure how much Dinky knew about the birds and the bees – by her age, Trixie had known just about everything, but then again she had grown up in Neigh Orleans with a fairly open family, and knew that her situation was unusual. “Um…maybe, Dinky, you should go back inside.”

“Aw, why?”

“Dinky, I know you hate hearing this,” Ditzy said, using her muzzle to herd Dinky back into her apartment, “but I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

“Aw….”

Dinky didn’t put up too much resistance, though, and once the door was closed – and once the three mares had trotted several paces away, just in case Dinky decided to listen at the door – Trixie pressed on. “Everypony kept coming over trying to ‘help’ me,” she explained in a low voice, with more than a little annoyance. “Lyra and Bon Bon wanted me to be part of their sexual Olympics, Cheerilee brought a bunch of stuff that cannot be legal in this province…”

“What about Carrot Top?” Ditzy asked.

Trixie shivered, blushing furiously. “She was, uh, there when my heat hit me. At the spa. While I was getting a massage.” Ditzy began blushing as well at the implication, Twilight as well. “Pokey, at least, gave me space, and I guess you were too, thanks for that…but Raindrops, she showed up and had this idea as a work-around, that I just exercise and exercise and exercise until I was too exhausted to even think about…you know…and basically do that all week.”

Ditzy nodded a little. “I do the same thing, sort of,” she said. “Not exercise, really, just keep myself busy around the apartment. I don’t let myself stop for a moment.” She looked at Twilight. “Um…by the way…?”

Twilight’s blush deepened a little. “U-um,” she said. “I, uh…I had this plan…to, um…to maybe steal the Element of Magic from Trixie…”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Ditzy said. “The Elements are a part of us.”

“I know that!” Twilight snapped indignantly. “No, I had this plan that would have involved using this amulet I found, and…” she considered a moment, then shook her head. “Look, it doesn’t really matter. I teleported to her house while she was in heat, and then I think that triggered my own heat early, and Trixie’s been having such a hard time and I really didn’t want to add to that while she was in heat since she seems to get it so heavily, and then I didn’t want to do anything while I was in heat, and I’ve been doing some thinking, and…and, well, like I said. I’m sorry.”

Ditzy smiled. “I accept,” she said. She leaned forward, and nuzzled Twilight a little. “Making mistakes…I know all about them. Trust me, even summoning a space bear isn’t really all that bad compared to some things. Nopony was hurt, and you’re sorry.”

“Th-thanks,” Twilight said, returning the nuzzle. Her cheek slid along Ditzy’s, and she gently nibbled one of the pegasus’ ears. “I’ve…I’ve just been alone out there, in the woods…all by myself…so cold and alone…”

“Shh, it’s okay…” Ditzy said, her wings folding around Twilight and pulling her close. She pulled away from the nuzzle. “Don’t worry, I can keep you safe…”

The two kissed…

“Um, Trixie?” Twilight asked.

Trixie blinked, saw the illusion she had constructed, let out a yelp, turned, and slammed her head into the nearest wall. The world spun a little after that, and the next thing she was aware, she was on the floor, looking up at Twilight and Ditzy, both of whom looked concerned but were also blushing furiously.

Trixie let out a groan, closing her eyes. She was blushing at least as brightly as them. She was also drooling a little, and she wiped it from her mouth, even as her hind legs fidgeted, trying to almost rub out the heat she felt between them – or fan the flames, more likely, she wasn’t really in full control of that any more. “H-how much of that was…?”

“My apology,” Twilight said, “and Miss Doo’s accepting it.”

“And you wondered why I didn’t want Dinky seeing you,” Ditzy noted.

Trixie might have strenuously objected if not for the fact that she’d been loosing figments like that all day without wanting it. “Fair point,” she said, rolling over and climbing onto her hooves. “Ugh…okay, Ditzy, come on before I traumatize myself and everypony around me more. Short version: Raindrops kissed me earlier and I think she likes me likes me – ” Trixie ignored the giggle from Ditzy at Trixie’s wording – “but I was too shocked at the kiss to do anything and before I could stop her, Raindrops flew off ‘cause she thought that she’d taken advantage of me. She’s not at home.”

“So what do you need me for?” Ditzy asked, following as Trixie and Twilight both trotted from her apartments and out onto the Ponyville street. Outside, night had fully settled on the town, and the moon was just beginning to rise fully over the horizon.

“Well, you know everypony in town,” Trixie said. “You’ve known Raindrops longer than me. She’s not in Whitetail Wood, I know that. So where would she go if she just wanted to be alone?”

“You’re also a pegasus, so that helps, in case she’s hiding on or in a cloud or something,” Twilight noted.

“Just…start thinking some stuff up,” Trixie said. “I’m gonna go get Cheerilee and Lyra and Bon Bon and Pokey. Raindrops’ parents think that I should just give her space so they’re no help and maybe they’re right, but I can’t just leave Raindrops thinking that she’d taken advantage of me! I can’t leave her thinking that she hurt me somehow, she didn’t!”

“So you’re basically gonna try tearing the town apart to find her?” Ditzy asked. “In the middle of the night?”

“Yes!” Trixie exclaimed, turning on Trixie. “Raindrops is my friend…I can’t lose my friend!”

“I’m just saying, can’t this wait until – ”

“Trixie.”

Ditzy, Twilight, and Trixie all froze at the voice. Trixie knew that voice, even magnified as it was to put the weight and power of the full forty thousand years of its age behind it. She knew it very well in fact – after all, she had lived in Canterlot Castle for the past ten years before moving to Ponyville, and the owner of the voice had been all but her surrogate mother in that time.

Luna was not like her sister. When she made her entrances, they were at once subtle, yet jarring. Trixie, Ditzy, and Twilight turned to look at the origin of the voice, and found the Princess Luna simply there, standing in the street as though she had been there the entire time, mane glittering with starlight and wings spread wide in imperious authority. Ditzy and Twilight both yelped and bowed low out of instinct, Twilight beginning to sweat visibly. Luna, however, had her eyes locked on Trixie.

“Trixie, I’ve given you these past four days to respond to me,” Luna intoned gravely. “I do not like being ignored, least of all by – ”

“Luna! Perfect!” Trixie exclaimed, dashing up to her mentor. “You’re exactly the mare I needed right now!”

“I – what?” Luna asked. She had, perhaps, expected anger from Trixie, or fear, or embarrassment. She had not expected Trixie to dash up to her with a look of determination and relief, and didn’t seem quite prepared to handle it. “Trixie, you’ve been ignoring your appointed duties as a Representative of Ponyville. That’s a very serious – ”

“Yeah, hang on,” Trixie interrupted, holding up one hoof as she looked back to Ditzy and Twilight. “Okay, new plan,” she said. “Ditzy, get up a list or something of places Raindrops likely is while I go and get everypony else. We’ll get together and start looking. Luna, you’ll do that neat split-body thing that you can do, and one of you will go with each of us while we search.”

“Search?” Luna asked. “Trixie, I – ”

Trixie ignored her at the moment. “If anypony finds Raindrops, that Luna can get back to the one that’s staying with me – you and your clones are in constant contact, right?”

“N-not normally,” Luna said, raising an eyebrow. “Though I can if I choose. But – ”

“Great!” Trixie exclaimed. “Okay, once we find Raindrops, Luna or Twilight can teleport me to her and we can sort this whole thing out! Sound like a plan?”

There was a moment’s pause, as Ditzy looked between Trixie and Luna. The latter was glancing about herself, confused, even more so every time her eyes fell on Twilight Sparkle. Trixie, however, had a look on her face that was a mixture of determination and desperation, a pony who really needed help from her friend right now. She rose from her bow, and nodded to Trixie. “I’ll go and get Pokey and Cheerilee, you get Lyra and Bon Bon, it’ll be faster,” Ditzy said. “I’ll also go and get Rainbow Dash. If anypony can search the town quickly, it’s her.”

“Maybe Pinkie Pie, too,” Trixie said, though a part of her couldn’t believe her own ears at that suggestion. “We might have to hit up the farms as well…if we do we’ll start with Carrot Top and work from there.”

Ditzy gave a salute and galloped off in one direction; Trixie went the other, leaving behind Twilight and a very confused lunar princess, glancing between the two of them, one hoof raised.

“Wait…” Luna said, though her apprentice didn’t slow down her trot at all and didn’t seem to notice that Luna wasn’t chasing after her. “Wait, I’m missing some context…Trixie, I’m really quite…oh, whatever.” Luna rolled her eyes and sighed, resolving to wait for her student to return. “We’ll talk later.”

There was a lavender-hued flash and a pop from behind her. Luna glanced over her shoulder and found a distinct lack of a certain purple unicorn. Frowning, her horn glowed, there was a midnight-hued flash and pop, and Twilight reappeared. She looked around in confusion for a moment, before blinking a few times at Luna, then smiling weakly. “Um…s-sorry,” she said. “I had to try.”

Luna stared at the unicorn. “Your family is very worried about you.”

“I…I know,” Twilight said, sighing. “I’ve been an idiot…b-but for the record, I think I was going to turn myself in anyway after tonight. A…and I’d like to help Trixie first, if that’s okay.”

Luna nodded. “On one condition,” she said, turning around and facing Twilight. “What in Tartaros is going on?”

Gathering everypony in one spot had been an interesting experience, especially as they kept exclaiming in surprise at the presence of Luna and Twilight. Though the exclamations were muted in the case of Lyra, Bon Bon, and Rainbow Dash, all three of whom were apparently still exhausted from their experiences of a few days previously, which Trixie might have thought made sense if she had allowed herself to give any thought to it at all, which she emphatically did not. Rainbow Dash had even stepped things up when she called up several of the nighttime weather patrol to help in the search.

“It’s a quiet night,” the polychromatic pegasus had explained, “and besides, I can’t let my best worker wallow in a hole somewhere. Then nothing would ever get done.”

Trixie had been genuinely surprised at the positive way in which Rainbow Dash referred to Raindrops; the relationship between the two was sometimes difficult to parse. There was obviously respect there, at least.

Ditzy had made up a list of places Raindrops might be hiding in town, but the list was woefully short, and had been exhausted under half an hour – but it did, at least, serve to alert everypony else in town to Trixie’s efforts. The next thing she knew, it seemed like the whole town was awake, searching rooftops, back alleys, gardens, and everywhere else for any sign of the jasmine-coated pegasus; sense of community was strong in Ponyville, though Trixie couldn’t help but think that the fact that Princess Luna herself was a part of the search was lending it some weight. Trixie thought she might have heard a song or two about searching in there, but she pointedly ignored them and didn’t take part as she looked.

Internally, Trixie was tearing herself apart. This was her fault – her fault. Yes, Raindrops had been the one to kiss her, and okay, maybe it had been something like a cheap shot, pulling this while Trixie was in heat and vulnerable – but Trixie had been the one who had been too shocked, too dumbfounded, to react, to make it clear to Raindrops that she didn’t feel like she’d been taken advantage of.

It quickly became apparent that Raindrops wasn’t in town, nor in the skies directly overhead. The search rapidly began moving outwards, then, to the surrounding fields and farms. Trixie was on the edge of the Whitetail Wood, looking over a tree with blue horn-light the foals of town referred to as the Castle Tree, when she heard somepony – Lyra – call her name.

“Trixie!” The mint green unicorn exclaimed as she came running, Bon Bon in tow and horn glowing gold to provide light. Trixie didn’t question how the two had found her – she seemed to have misplaced the Luna that had been following her – as she looked down from where she was, amidst the branches of the Castle Tree, about twenty feet up. “Trixie, we found her – we were at the edge of this apple grove and then there’s this wheat field with a big rock in the middle of it. She’s there.”

Trixie had already begun scrambling down from the tree at Lyra’s appearance, earning more than a few scrapes and fraying her cape and hat more than a little. She paid the damage no mind as she dashed up to the two. “Where?” she demanded.

“Come on,” Bon Bon responded, turning and galloping off, Lyra and Trixie in tow.

“Did you say anything to her?” Trixie asked. “Did she say anything to you?”

Lyra shook her head as she ran. “No – once me and Bon Bon spotted her we came and got you. Pretty sure if we’d tried to talk to her she’d have just flown off.”

“Trust us on this one,” Bon Bon said, “it’ll have to be you and just you. We’ll keep anypony from interrupting.”

Trixie nodded as the three continued to gallop. It took several long, hard minutes that seemed to stretched forever, but eventually Trixie found herself on the other side of a wooden fence that separated the dirt road under her hooves from a field of golden wheat that waved slightly in the nighttime breeze.

Trixie froze. She could see the rock, but not Raindrops, though she thought she heard some pounding that might have been hooves stomping in the dirt. She looked to Lyra, then Bon Bon. “Wh…what if she doesn’t want to see me?” she asked. Suddenly her resolve to see Raindrops and set things right had evaporated. Faced with the possibility of seeing Raindrops now – of seeing her angry, or worse, in tears – hearing her say that she hated Trixie…all of Trixie’s confidence evaporated into nothing.

“Won’t know unless you try,” Bon Bon responded before Trixie’s self-esteem could sink any lower. She got behind Trixie and gave her a slight push. “Go on, get moving.”

“I think I hear some ponies coming,” Lyra said, looking up the road. Indeed, she could see the glow of horns and lanterns coming up the road, more eager searchers. “I’ll let them know to hold off…” she galloped off, though not before tossing a wink at Trixie.

Trixie swallowed again, then nodded to herself, climbing over the fence, and cantering towards the rock – towards Raindrops.

Trixie had let the glow of her horn die down, and moved cautiously around the rock in the wheat field. She found herself staring at a jasmine-coated pegasus, the pony herself, staring at the ground as she kept, raising her two front hooves and driving them into the ground, muttering “stupid…stupid…stupid…” to herself again and again, her voice hitching every now and then. With only the light of the moon and stars to go by, Trixie couldn’t see Raindrops’ face, but the tone of her voice and the way she hung her head spoke volumes.

Trixie grimaced, taking off her hat and setting her horn glowing again, as gently as possible so as to not startle Raindrops. It didn’t work – Raindrop’s wings flared in surprise at the new light, and she was instantly on her hooves, ready to take to the air. “No, wait!” Trixie shouted – begged? – at the sight of Raindrops nearly flying away on her again.

Raindrops froze mid-leap, glanced behind her, and saw Trixie. “T-T-Trixie!” she exclaimed. Trixie let her horn glow bright, and she saw Raindrops’ face.

She wished she hadn’t. Raindrops’ eyes were bloodshot, wide, and rimmed with tears and lined with dirt, the last likely from rubbing them after continuously pounding her hooves into the ground. Trixie glanced down, and saw that Raindrops had managed to dig quite deeply. The pegasus’ hooves seemed a little worse for wear, but nothing a good hooficure wouldn’t fix – she hadn’t been injuring herself, at least.

Trixie looked again at Raindrops. “H…hi,” she said softly.

Raindrops blinked a few times, rubbing tears from her eyes again. “I…I…” she stuttered, before closing her eyes tightly and turning around, wings once again flaring as she lifted herself from the ground. “I’m sorry – I’m sorry!”

“Wait!” Trixie exclaimed, not letting Raindrops escape again. She leaped forward, grabbing Raindrops’ tail with telekinesis, hooves, and teeth all, pulling the pegasus towards. Raindrops let out a yelp of pain at that – nice job, Trixie, the unicorn thought – and instinctively redoubled her efforts to get away. Raindrops wasn’t a fast flier, but she was a strong one, and Trixie felt herself being lifted off of the ground and carried dozens of feet before Raindrops had the presence of mind to land. With a pony directly underneath her, though, she ended up falling in a heap, and Trixie fell down after her, landing next to her and atop one wing. Raindrops let out another cry of pain.

Trixie was off her in a moment, hooves at her mouth as the glow to her horn died down to nothing. Breaking one of Raindrops’ wings was the last thing she needed to do. “Oh no,” she said. “I didn’t – did I…?”

Raindrops rolled over easily enough, however, flexing and unflexing the wing. “No,” she said, as one hoof moved across the ground, and came up holding something long and jasmine and a little rumpled. “No, wing’s fine, ‘cept for this feather you pulled…they grow back.”

Trixie let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, but the breath was a trembling one, and a lump was forming in her throat. She suddenly felt tears in her eyes, even knowing that Raindrops was fine. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I screwed up again and I’m sorry! I hurt you and I’m a horrible friend and I’m sorry!” she threw herself onto Raindrops again, this time careful to avoid her wings and instead burying her face in the pegasus’ neck.

Raindrops’ wings flared in surprise at the action. “Y…you’re sorry?” she asked, pushing Trixie away. “Why? I…I’m the one who couldn’t keep a lid on her own stupid hormones! I’m not even in heat! I have no excuse! I knew you were in heat and…and dragged you out into the Whitetail Wood…I-I mean, I know I said it was for exercise, and it was, and I did want to help…” She was choking back tears of her own now, “b…but I was hoping…hoping that one thing would lead to another…I took advantage of you, Trixie!”

“N-no you didn’t,” Trixie insisted.

“Yes I did!”

“No you didn’t! I don’t feel taken advantage of!”

“Well you should, ‘cause I did!” Raindrops beat her wings a few times in anger, though she didn’t take off.

“I don’t, though,” Trixie said, wiping her eyes. “I…I was surprised, that’s all.”

“I’m sorry.” Raindrops looked away. “I’m…I’m sorry that I kissed you.”

“I’m not,” Trixie responded.

Raindrops looked back to Trixie at that, eyes wide. She fidgeted a little, as an awkward silence began. She didn’t let it get very far as she spoke again. “Does…” she asked, tapping her front hooves together, wings twitching in agitation, “does this mean that you…that you like me too…?”

Trixie started a little at the question, wincing. Raindrops noticed, and her wings sagged low as she hung her head. “I don’t…I don’t know,” Trixie said finally. “I mean…I mean, right now, right here…I want…” she shivered, glancing away from Raindrops herself. “Right now what I really want is for you to just bowl me over and have your way with me. Or maybe me bowl you over and I have my way with you…stupid heat…and I’ve never been attracted to mares before except when I’m in heat, but that might just mean that I’ve never met the right one…and…and I know that I do admire you. Your strength…your honesty. I’m not like that. I wish I could be.”

Trixie put a hoof under Raindrops’ chin then, lifting her face and looking back into her eyes. “I guess,” she said, “I guess what I’m saying is…is I don’t know. But I want to find out. I really do – I know I do.”

Raindrops looked Trixie over. At length, she took in a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. “I…I have the weekend off,” she said. “Your heat should’ve passed by then, right?” At a nod from Trixie, Raindrops pressed on. “How about we…we go into Canterlot on Saturday? Get dinner? See a play, or one of those new moving pictures things?”

Trixie smiled a little. “I’d like that,” she said. Before she thought better of it, she leaned forward, brushing her lips against Raindrops’ own, causing the pegasus’ wings to flare in surprise. The kiss didn’t last for more than a second, anyway, as Trixie pulled back afterwards, smiling a little. “It’s a date,” she said.

Raindrops blinked a few times, before laughing a little, leaning forward and nuzzling Trixie. Trixie returned it – this was an affectionate nuzzle between friends, not something that was going to lead to a bedroom, and even Trixie’s quivering hormones could tell the difference.

The two ponies’ ears twitched then, however, as both heard some annoyed mumbles from somewhere nearby. Glancing back towards the rock that Trixie had found Raindrops behind, the two saw nothing – except for, poking out from behind it, a star-studded, flowing tail.

“P…Princess?” Trixie demanded.

At first, there was no response, but then Luna leaned out from behind the rock. Swiftly following her, however, was the sight of Lyra, Bon Bon, Pokey Pierce, Cheerilee, Ditzy, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and somehow even Carrot Top and Pinkie Pie, though the presence of the last probably helped explain how so many ponies had hidden behind the rock in the first place, as it wasn’t that big.

Trixie felt herself seizing up at the sight of what to her, at the moment, felt like half of Ponyville having watched what Raindrops and Trixie had just gone through. Raindrops, herself, seemed shocked. Both were blushing furiously. “You were all spying on us?” Raindrops demanded.

“You said you’d keep everypony away!” Trixie exclaimed as she pointed an accusing hoof at Lyra.

Lyra rolled her eyes, pointing her own hoof at Luna. “Right. Because I could stop an alicorn from doing what she wanted. And after that it really wasn’t fair for the rest of us to get left out in the cold…”

“I did not get woken up after a hard day of work just to not see what was going on,” Carrot Top insisted.

“Needed to make sure my best worker was okay,” Rainbow Dash explained.

“I needed to take notes for the party!” Pinkie Pie said.

Cheerilee, Ditzy, Pokey, Twilight, Bon Bon, and Luna all at least had the decency to look like they knew they’d been caught stealing cookies from the jar. Luna coughed slightly. “Yes, well,” she said. “Congratulations, Trixie. Enjoy your date. We can discuss your ignoring…” she considered what she was about to say for a moment, then finally just shook her head. “Oh, I suppose it doesn’t really matter if you took the week off. We’ll just call it your vacation time.”

Trixie’s eyes went wide. “I get vacation time?” she demanded. This was news to her.

Luna didn’t respond, instead looking to Twilight. Twilight looked back, before sighing and nodding. “Okay,” she said, and glanced to Trixie. “I’m…gonna be going to Canterlot now. I think I have a lot of explaining to do and stuff to make up for…”

Trixie smiled – not at the thought of Twilight on trial, exactly, as much as Twilight finally taking responsibility for her actions at the Eventime. “Maybe we can work something out where you’ll be here in Ponyville for whatever you end up being sentenced with,” she said. “I think the library doesn’t actually have anypony working at it…might be a good way to start paying back Ponyville.”

“Hmm,” Luna said at that, as Twilight smiled at Trixie – whether at the thought of working in a library, or the fact that she and Trixie appeared to have come to some sort of friendship, Trixie wasn’t sure. “There is symmetry there…we’ll see. Come along, Twilight.” Her horn glowed blue, and the purple unicorn and midnight alicorn disappeared in a flash and pop.

That was that, then. Trixie looked at all her other friends, then to Raindrops. “Right!” she said. “I’m gonna go home before all this turns out to be some kind of figment of my imagination. Raindrops, I’ll see you Saturday.”

Raindrops nodded, though she stopped Trixie from leaving with a wing over her withers. When Trixie turned to look, Raindrops leaned in and kissed her again, a longer, somewhat more forceful kiss than the one Trixie had given Raindrops earlier. It sent a jolt straight from Trixie’s lips down to her hips, though the higher part of Trixie’s brain knew that wasn’t Raindrops’ intention. She was still frozen in place when Raindrops pulled away. “It’s a date,” the pegasus promised, as she beat her wings a few times and took to the air, flying off…

…and taking Trixie with her, up into the sky, held in Raindrop’s strong embrace as the two soared ever high while Raindrops hooves reached ever lower, stroking and rubbing, flying upside-down so Trixie didn’t have to hold on as tightly, flipping Trixie around so Raindrops’ tongue and Trixie’s own could have an easier time pleasuring one another…

Trixie regained her senses – and managed to hold her hooves in place, though her tail and hind legs were twitching a little – just in time to watch Raindrops disappear into the night sky, and more to the point just in time to watch the muscles of her flank and hindquarters stretching and retracting with each wing beat. Trixie swayed a little bit, before glancing at her collection of friends that were still here. “Quick,” she said, “my bath is broken, where’s the nearest lake or pond or whatever?”

The ponies collectively blinked, before Carrot Top started grinning for some reason, and she pointed behind her. “There’s a pond about a half-mile that way. Through the apple trees and next to the big barn. Can’t miss it.”

Trixie was off. It wasn’t until half an hour later, well after she have dove in, driven the heat from her body for the moment, and at length climbed back out, that she realized the sheer amount of apples she was surrounded by – apple trees, an apple cart, the barn had a big, dark red apple drawn on it…

She had just relieved her heat by diving into the pond that the Apple clan used to water their fields. And she was fairly certain that they used it for their drinking water, as well.

Trixie blinked a few times at the pond, and the fortunately still-dark farmhouse in the distance. She let out a long sigh as she gathered her hat and cape and began trotting back home. “They probably filter it,” she decided.

Epilogue

Months later…

Raindrops and Trixie trotted into the Whitetail Wood. It was taking slight effort to simply trot and not jog, like they normally did – but then, their destination wasn’t Raindrops’ clearing, and they weren’t here for exercise. “How do you know so much about the Whitetail, anyway?” Trixie asked.

Raindrops shrugged. “Weather management policy is to air out any clouds we’re gonna use for a day before we use them,” she said. She and Trixie both had saddlebags laden with foodstuffs, and Raindrops additionally had a rolled-up blanket balanced between her wings. “Weather factory is good at making clouds, but they sort of…smell, when we first get them. Too much ozone.”

“I never noticed anything…” Trixie noted.

“When you’re around them all day long, trust me, you notice it. Anyway, we air them out over the Whitetail. Means we get a lot of time to look the forest over.”

“And that’s how you found the lake?”

“Well, I think it’s on any map of the woods, too. But yeah, I never noticed it ‘til I was carting some clouds over it a few months ago.” Raindrops smiled gently. “It’s surrounded by willows if you need to wait out the Sun, has this big, flat rock on its east side that’s good for getting warm on before or after…”

Trixie smiled at the description. It was summer by now, hot enough that Trixie had left her cape back at her home and was walking through the forest without her hat on. A refreshing dip in a private lake was sounding really good right about now, even for Raindrops, who as a pegasus had a resistance to extremes of heat and cold. Spending it with Trixie sounded even better.

On a whim, Raindrops stepped closer to Trixie, extending a wing over Trixie’s withers. In spite of the heat, Trixie smiled, moving closer to Raindrops as well. She really liked it when Raindrops gave her a wing-hug, the pegasus had discovered.

Dating Trixie – or at least, doing anything more than talking with or eat with her – had been a delicate exercise for Raindrops, and she was not a pegasus who prided herself on being delicate. It really didn’t help that Trixie was the first pony she’d ever dated, either, though the fact that Trixie had never been with anypony herself at least meant that both of them were treading unknown waters together.

It had taken time, but Raindrops had been able to discover Trixie’s boundaries. She didn’t mind being touched in general, and kisses were fine, too, as was nuzzling. Raindrops had found that she didn’t mind other signs of affection, either, as long as they didn’t get too rough or go on too long – a nuzzle at the neck here, a nibble on the ear there, that sort of thing didn’t set her off or repulse her. They had even slept together, in a literal sense – fallen asleep on Trixie’s couch one evening, Trixie curled up under Raindrops’ wing.

It was fine by Raindrops. Despite their Worst Start Ever, as their friends called their first kiss and the chaos that had followed, the two of them had so far been working out great. Trixie was a mare that Raindrops could open up to, who knew that Raindrops was more than just anger and hate, though that had taken some work too, several months previously.

It had been rocky, but what relationship wasn’t at times? Raindrops decided that they’d simply gotten all their rockiness out of the way at the beginning, and from here on out there would be smooth sailing…

Trixie stopped. “This is it?” she asked, her voice off for some reason.

Raindrops looked down at the lake, a smile starting to form on her face. “Yeah, that’s – wait, what?”

Raindrops blinked several times in rapid succession, but doing so did not change what she saw: a lake, about half a mile across, mostly surrounded by willow trees. A broad rock on one shore that was perfect for sunbathing if you had a taste for that sort of thing. A tri-masted galleon with its sails tucked away and anchor down, its masts waving a curious mixture: the naval ensign of Equestria, and a black skull-and-crossbones pirate flag, though the latter seemed almost cartoonish in appearance. The ship’s stern had the name RES Hispaniola written on it in powerful, proud letters.

“What?” Raindrops asked, as she trotted forwards. “What - What?

“I take it the ship’s new,” Trixie ventured as she followed.

“What is this?” Raindrops demanded. She was about to take to the air, when a pair of ponies appeared at the side of the ship. One was an earth pony stallion, tall and somewhat thin, though his muscles were well-toned. He was predominantly white, but had splotches of brown across his body, including over one eye, while his mane and tail were both brown. His mane was held out of his eyes by a bandana, and his cutie mark was a compass.

The other pony was a unicorn mare, gray with a slight lavender tint, with a yellow mane and tail and yellow eyes. Her mane was tied back with a pink bow, and her flank, meanwhile, displayed a cutie mark of five four-pointed sparkles, one big one with the other four arranged around it in a slight crescent.

The mare’s eyes glanced over Raindrops, then to Trixie. “Trixie!” she exclaimed, eyes wide as her horn glowed. In a flash and lavender-tinted pop, she disappeared from the ship’s deck and re-appeared on the ground in front of Raindrops and Trixie, causing the two mares to stumble backwards in surprise. “Trixie, thank the Stars I found you!”

“Dinky?” Trixie exclaimed, whinnying in surprise as she backed away.

Raindrops looked between Trixie and the new mare, blinking in confusion. “Wait, what?” she asked. “That’s – Trixie, that’s not Dinky.”

“I’m not your Dinky,” the mare explained, making a cutting motion with one hoof. “I’m Dinky from the future – look, it’s a long story! Trixie, you have to come with me!”

“Wait!” Trixie exclaimed, stepping closer to Raindrops. “Wait, hang on – me and Raindrops just came here, we’re supposed to be on a date – what about Raindrops?”

“She can come too!” Dinky said, horn glowing. Raindrops’ world was a lavender flash for a moment, and when it cleared, she found herself standing on the deck of the ship, looking at the splotch-coated stallion.

“Hullo,” he said, his accent Trottinghamish. “Name’s Pipsqueak. Have we met yet?”

Raindrops ignored him, looking instead to Dinky and Trixie. “Dinky,” Trixie said, “what’s going on? Does something happen to me in the future?”

Dinky shook her head, as she took up a wide-hooved stance, horn glowing brightly as she began to pull up the ship’s anchor. “No, Trixie, you’re fine, Raindrops too – it’s your kids! Something has to be done about your kids!”

Raindrops whickered and reared back in surprise at that. “WHAT?!” She demanded.

“We’ll explain everything once we get to the future,” Pipsqueak said as he trotted over to the wheel of the ship, getting behind it comfortably. “Ready when you are, Dinks.”

“Okay,” Dinky responded, horn glowing brighter lavender and a matching glow beginning to wash over the ship.

“This is insane,” Raindrops said, stomping one hoof. She glanced over the side. “You’re in a completely land-locked lake! There isn’t any water to sail down!”

“Sails?” Dinky asked, casting a bright smile at Raindrops. The ship began to shudder, and Raindrops suddenly felt as though she were rising – which, a glance over the side of the ship confirmed that they were, lifting off into the sky like the ship was being pulled up by a balloon.

Dinky’s smile brightened at the look on Raindrops’ face. “Where we’re going, we don’t need sails,” she said, as she ship launched itself into the sky.

1. Awkward...

“Ooh…this is the life…” Trixie proclaimed as Aloe ran her tender hooves across the unicorn’s back, working the tension from her muscles and joints until nothing but pure bliss remained. A glance to Trixie’s left found that Carrot Top was similarly relaxed under Lotus’ hooves, head resting on her folded front legs. Trixie preferred a lighter, gentler massage, while Carrot Top’s massages were always much more aggressive – the earth pony farmer tended to work up significant aches and pains in her muscles while plying her trade.

“S-s-so g-g-glad-d,” Carrot Top said, her voice vibrating as Lotus lightly pummeled her back. “E-e-every-y-y f-f-armer sh-should have to-o come h-here…work is s-so-o much b-better-r-r-r a-after…”

Aloe and Lotus both gasped a little, bright smiles appearing on their face at the thought of increased business. As if to help encourage Carrot Top’s line of thinking, the two redoubled their massaging efforts.

Trixie shifted under Aloe’s hooves, letting her eyes flutter closed as she simply focused on the massage. “Mmn…” she breathed, flicking her tail a few times, leaning into the hooves. “L…little lower, I spend a…a lot of time sitting…pain in the croup…”

Aloe’s hooves complied, and Trixie breathed out another moan of appreciation. It was so easy to just…just forget everything when being tended too so expertly…to let one’s worries just disappear…the only problem was that the heat from the sauna hadn’t gone away yet…seemed more like it was building up, and Aloe’s hooves across her back…across her croup…almost seemed to be coaxing the heat, moving it around inside of her…but far from being uncomfortable, it felt good…

“Ahn…” Trixie breathed out softly, once more stretching in order to move herself into Aloe’s hooves. With her eyes closed, and with her so distracted, she couldn’t see that Carrot Top was looking at her strangely, a look of mixed worry and embarrassment on her face. “Oh yesss…right there…right…”

The heat was mounting, building, headings towards a long-overdue climax as Aloe’s hooves moved lower, as she…tension building…tension building…tension…lower…

…naturally, realization of exactly what was happening reached Trixie just as the tension finally snapped.

“Ahhhh no no no n – ngh – no! I’m – hah – hah – I’m in heat!”

---

My little pony, My little pony
Ahh ahh ahh ahhh...
My little pony
Friendship never meant that much to me
My little pony
But you're all here and now I can see
Stormy weather; Lots to share
A musical bond; With love and care
Teaching laughter; It's an easy feat,
And magic makes it all complete!
You have my little ponies
How'd I ever make so many true friends?

Needless to say, Trixie was in a panic as she threw herself off of the massage table and onto the floor, breathing heavily as she did. She had meant to land on all four hooves, but her hindquarters were…a bit busy…and weren’t up to sudden movement or demands from the brain at the moment after emerging from a state of total bliss. As a result, she ended sitting on her haunches, breathing heavily and sweating even as a war took place inside her body: her brain demanding her to move and her nethers demanding her to stay put and enjoy herself.

Her brain won out eventually as Trixie stood on shaking hooves, trying very hard to ignore her surroundings and the three earth ponies staring at her and even harder to ignore the already-returning heat filling up her body.

“I…I gotta go,” she said, stumbling forward on shaking hooves. “I…I gotta…”

“Vait, Miss Trixie!” Aloe said.

Trixie froze, grimacing as she glanced behind her at the pony she’d just…just essentially tricked into…Aloe was wiping off her hooves with a towel as she regarded the unicorn. “Ve charge a little more for our deluxe service,” she said. “I’ll have to ask you join me at the front counter.”

Trixie’s jaw dropped. “What?” She demanded. “I…but I didn’t want to – didn’t mean to – ”

“You are, perhaps, familiar vit the idea of ‘you break it, you bought it? This is a similar situation,” Lotus answered for her sister. She then frowned. “Actually if breaking vas involved ve have a little discount…first time and all that…”

Trixie eeped. “N-no! No breaking! I…I don’t think there was even…gyaaah fine I’ll pay whatever you want!”

Trixie dashed out front, and Aloe followed, smiling wryly and giggling slightly at the unicorn’s antics, leaving Carrot Top and Lotus alone in the massage parlor. After a few moments of silence, Carrot Top looked to Lotus, one eyebrow raised. “How much more for the deluxe?” she asked.

Several moments later, Trixie was joined by Carrot Top just as the unicorn finished paying her ‘extra’ fee, which apparently included an additional charge due to it being ‘spur of the moment’ rather than worked out ahead of time. Carrot Top was frowning and muttering something about her finances as she looked to Trixie. Trixie couldn’t look Carrot Top in the eye as she shifted from hoof to hoof, waiting for Aloe to finish counting out her bits. She had retrieved her cape and hat from the stand near the front door, and was currently using the latter to keep her face hidden. “I’m sorry, Carrot Top,” she said at length. “I am so sorry, it’s snuck up on me again this year…so embarrassing…”

Carrot Top offered a slight smile. “It’s okay, Trixie, it happens,” she said, putting a hoof to her mouth and giggling slightly. “In fact, this one time, in school, I was – ”

“Gah I don’t want to hear I don’t want to hear!” Trixie exclaimed, pressing her hooves to her ears.

Carrot Top blinked. “Okay…you’re from Neigh Orleans though, right? I never took you for a prude…”

Trixie glared at Carrot Top. “It’s gross!”

“What? Mares?”

“Yes! And stallions! And…and everything! Everything about sex!”

“Hang on,” Aloe objected, looking up from her counting of bits. “Vhat do you mean, ‘gross?’ Sex is a beautiful and natural process. Two ponies coming together so intimately, sharing their bodies…” she raised one eyebrow. “Or…more than two…ooh you should see the parties that my sister and I sometimes throw here! In fact ve are having a lock-in next veek, already have tvelve ponies – ”

“Keep the change!” Trixie exclaimed, dashing from the spa as fast as her hooves could carry her.

Carrot Top watched her go, sighing and shaking her head. After a few moments, she looked to Aloe, one eyebrow raised. “Lock-in, huh?” she asked.

Trixie galloped as fast as her hooves could carry her through the streets of Ponyville, trying, and failing, to ignore the heat that was once more mounting in her loins. Even worse, she was sweating…and sweating meant that she was releasing pheromones in the air. Every stallion and mare that turned to look at her…were they seeing a crazy mare running by, or were they smelling her treacherous body trying to convince them that she was open for business?

“I’m not open for business!” Trixie shouted before she could stop herself as she rounded a corner – and ran smack into Lyra and Bon Bon. There was confusion and pain for several moments as the three worked to disentangle themselves from each other.

“Trixie!” Lyra exclaimed when she was finally free and helping Bon Bon to her hooves. “Jeeze, what has you in a panic?”

“Nothing!” Trixie exclaimed, shifting around a few times. “I…er…gotta go!” she resumed running.

Bon Bon looked to Lyra in confusion. “That mare…” she said, shaking her head. “She…”

Of course, then Bon Bon and Lyra breathed in through their noses…and caught a whiff of what was in the air hovering, inviting, and leaving a trail the way Trixie had just run off.

“Bon Bon?” Lyra asked, nostrils flaring a little. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Bon Bon tapped her two front hooves together. “Oh yes…”

Meanwhile, Trixie had finally made it to her Residency and dashed inside, closing the door securely behind her. Pacing back and forth for a few moments, Trixie dashed over and into her office, closing the blinds and then grabbing an ink well, pen, and parchment, and quickly writing out a note.

Dear Princess Luna,

I regret to inform you that due to circumstances beyond my control, I will be unable to serve as the Representative of your Night Court for the next week or so, and further that the Residency itself will be unfit to serve as the official office of your Night Court. I apologize for the inconvenience.

– Trixie

Trixie took off her hat, tossed the parchment inside without waiting for the ink to dry, and chanted the magic words that would send it to the Princess’ office. That matter having been taken care of, she set her hat down on her desk and turned around – and let out a cry of fright at the sight of an invader into her privacy!

“…hi?” Pokey Pierce asked. Her secretary and general helper blinked a few times. “You feeling alright?”

Trixie swallowed, opening her mouth – when there was almost a ping from inside of her. It occurred to her that she’d never really taken Pokey into account before. He was tall and thin, but not lanky by any means – no, his muscles were actually quite well-developed, clearly the result of a pony who ran several laps around town every morning to stay in shape. His coat shined; it was well taken-care of, and his wavy mane looked quite inviting…

And then there was his horn.

His magnificent, magnificent horn, easily a third again the length it was supposed to be considering his height, expertly sharpened to a point, an excellent focus for magic and…

…and…

Trixie grinned as she made her way over to Pokey’s desk, sitting down in front of it. “Everything’s fine,” she said, propping her chin on her front hooves. “How are you...?”

Pokey blinked a few times. “Just fine,” he said. “Shouldn’t you still be at the spa?”

Trixie smiled, fluttering her eyes as her tail swished unconsciously behind her. “Oh…had to go home early…” she said, standing and making her way over to Pokey. He watched her approach, nostrils flaring when Trixie was close enough and he finally caught the scent…and Trixie saw a war began inside of him, a chemical war, a war that his brain swiftly began losing as Trixie leaned in close, burying her muzzle in the crook of his neck. “I…I think that…I don’t appreciate you enough, Pokey…”

Pokey stared at his boss, raising one eyebrow as he waved a hoof in front of his nose. “Uh…uh, boss…?”

Trixie muzzling moved from the crook of Pokey’s neck, to his chest. “Yesss…?” she purred.

Pokey’s hooves were on her shoulders, and he pushed her way, looking her in her surprised eyes. “I’m gay,” he stated.

Trixie blinked a few times. A shiver passed through her body, and she realized what she had been doing. “Oh no no no!” she cried, leaping backwards and dashing over to her desk, hiding behind it. “Oh…gah…I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

“I mean, not that I don’t appreciate the compliment, but…”

Trixie peeked out from behind her desk. “S…so sorry…”

Pokey considered, eve as he put a hoof to his muzzle. “So…so it smells like you’re in heat, then.”

Trixie whimpered.

“…and I’m gathering I can go home early.”

Trixie nodded. “I’ll…I’ll still pay you for the week…” she said. “But don’t show up ‘til I s-send for you. Okay?”

“Okay. I’ll just…leave you to it, then. Have fun!”

Trixie whimpered again, but Pokey didn’t notice – he probably thought that Trixie’s antics were from her embarrassment of coming on to him, rather than born from how much she hated being in heat. Not that she wasn’t embarrassed…there was a small flash of light from underneath Trixie’s hat. Trixie retrieved it, taking out the note from Princess Luna and reading it.

Dear Trixie,

Did your heat sneak up on you again?

Trixie frowned, writing out a quick response on the same piece of parchment.

Dear Princess Luna,

Yes. I don’t get it! It’s not fair! Everypony else practically sets their watches to their heats while my biological clock was built by diamond dogs!

She sent the message off, and received a response within a minute.

Dear Trixie,

You’re still young, it can take several years after reaching full adulthood with some mares before their heat cycles become regular.

Now, Trixie. I respect your feelings on the matter, and while I feel that most of your problems with your heat would go away if you simply found a decent mare or stallion, I can hardly order you to do that against your wishes.

Having said that, at the risk of being crass, there are numerous techniques a mare may perform by herself to help relieve her heat. Make use of them. The governance of Equestria can’t stop simply because a single mare is afraid of her own body.

Trixie stared wide-eyed at what was, no matter how one decided to approach the issue, an official Royal Decree for her to masturbate.

Dear Princess Luna,

No! No! No! I refuse! It’s gross! I’m not doing it! Ponyville is just going to have to deal with being out-of-contact with the Night Court for the next week!

The response was almost instant – clearly, Luna had anticipated Trixie’s declaration and prepared a reply.

Trixie –

It’s simple: if you aren’t working, I won’t pay you. For the month.

Trixie considered for a few moments – but only for a few moments.

Dear Princess Luna,

Terms accepted.

2. An Unexpected Arrival (and Exit)

Trixie sent off the note, debated waiting for a response, and resolved instead to open the drawer to her desk and stuff her hat inside. Just as she closed it, she thought she saw a flash, but decided to ignore it.

Luna would be angry with her, but it was totally worth it. She had just done her grocery shopping the day before last, she had more than enough food to last a week sealed up inside her home. All she had to do now was make a sign saying that the Residency of the Representative of the Night Court of Luna was closed for business for a week.

And underline "closed for business."

Twice.

Naturally, just as she had finished making the sign and found a nail to stick it into her door with, her front door opened, and two mares walked in: Lyra Heartstrings, Element of Loyalty; and Bon Bon, candy-mare. The two of them had been best friends all their lives and a couple pretty much since they had been old enough to fully understand the concept.

They also had a vigorously active sex life, as Trixie had – accidentally – discovered on her third night in Ponyville when finding herself outside Bon Bon’s front door and hearing things. Memories of what she’d heard still haunted her sometimes…the words spoken…the moaning…the panting…quick breaths, gasps for air, cries of exultation and sheer bliss as Lyra’s delicate tongue traced its way down Bon Bon’s…

Lyra waved a hoof in front of Trixie’s face. “Hey,” she said, frowning. “Hey, you still alive in there?”

Trixie blinked, realized she had been drooling, and used whatever it was in her hoof to wipe her mouth. She realized only belatedly that it was the sign she had been intending to nail to her door. “What?” She asked, crumpling up the piece of parchment and turning around to head back to her desk and make another. “N-now is not a good time.”

Lyra looked to Bon Bon, who looked back for a few moments before turning to look at Trixie. “You’re in heat.”

Trixie’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, really?” she asked. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Well…” Lyra said, “you know the best way to relieve heat, right?”

Trixie stiffened, then turned around. Somehow, without her noticing – though admittedly her senses weren’t at their best right now – Bon Bon had crept up along one side of her, and Lyra on the other. Both mares were close – very close – had this been a few hours ago they’d have been uncomfortably close, but at the moment, all Trixie could feel was their warm body heat, their breaths…

“C-c-cold baths…” Trixie breathed.

“Those help,” Bon Bon said. For some reason, her voice was a normal speaking one even as she leaned in close to Trixie, rubbing her muzzle against Trixie’s neck. Trixie shivered.

“A-and…and Regumate…” Trixie said, feeling herself leaning in to Bon Bon even as Lyra came close, her mouth gently closing around one of Trixie’s ears and nibbling it softly – ever so softly. “It’s this…new stuff…tried it…last year…hah…w-worked…w-wonders…b-b-but expensive…”

Bon Bon’s nuzzling moved to Trixie’s chest. “There’s also the old marble trick,” Lyra said. Like Bon Bon, she was somehow maintaining a normal speaking voice.

“Nng…virgin…d-d-don’t want…to put anything…ahn…R-Regumate...”

“Never heard of Regumate, but I don’t think the apothecary is going to carry it…not many mares look to suppress heat, least of all in a country town like Ponyville.”

“Hnh…”

Bon Bon’s muzzle was moving lower…Lyra’s nibbling mouth left her ear and moved to her cheek. One of Lyra’s hooves came up and turned Trixie’s face to face her own. “Look, Trixie,” she said – again with a normal speaking voice as she planted butterfly kisses on Trixie’s muzzle. Trixie’s eyes fluttered closed as she accepted them. “I’ll get right to the point. The best way to relieve heat is to, well, indulge it. I know how you normally feel about sex – ”

Trixie gasped. Bon Bon’s tongue had taken a slight detour along her right foreleg, but she was now within inches of…

…could feel her breath on…

“ – but I really think it’d be best if you just, well, went with it. It’d be easier, more enjoyable, you wouldn’t have to suffer.”

“And me and Lyra,” Bon Bon said. Her mouth was thankfully moving back up her leg again, but only to return to her chest…start down her barrel again... “We promise we’d keep everything private.”

“So…” Lyra said, leaning up, tongue snaking out and tracing up Trixie’s horn, “What do you say?”

Trixie shivered…and then noticed a lack of feeling other ponies on top of her, doing things. Her eyes fluttered open, and she saw Lyra and Bon Bon, standing close but not best-impression-of-Pinkie-Pie close. They didn’t look like they had moved at all.

Trixie blinked. She looked down at herself, touching a hoof to her chest and barrel. There was no sign that anypony had been…doing things…there, and her ear was similarly free of any real sign…had she really just hallucinated the two of them assaulting her?

Trixie shivered, glancing to Lyra and Bon Bon. “No,” she said firmly.

Lyra and Bon Bon both sighed as one. “Okay…” Bon Bon moaned. “It’s your choice…”

Trixie turned around, shivering a little even as she went to her desk drawer and opened it, pulling out a bag of forty bits and turning back around (and pointedly ignoring her hat and whether or not there was a note sticking out of it). “C-could one of you…d-do me a favor and…and see if the apothecary…does-s carry Regumate…? Just in c-case?”

A golden glow wrapped around the bag of bits, Lyra’s telekinesis, but the other unicorn only moved the bag back into Trixie’s desk. “No problem,” she said, waving a hoof at the thought of Trixie paying. “Just…get over this quickly, okay? We’re gonna want our friend back as soon as possible.”

Trixie whimpered slightly. Lyra cautiously placed a hoof on Trixie’s withers, giving her a quick pat before she and her marefriend turned and left the Residency. As one, the two sighed again, though now that they were out of sight of Trixie they let their disappointment show more. “Stars above,” Lyra moaned. “We’re never gonna get to have a threesome – ”

There was a peal of thunder, a flash of multihued lightning, and a cyan blur that kicked up a slight dust cloud when it landed with a thud in front of the two mares. When it cleared, the two saw a blue-coated, rainbow-maned pegasus with wide eyes, a wide grin, and fully flared wings.

“I. Heard. ‘Threesome,’” Rainbow Dash noted.

Lyra and Bon Bon looked the pegasus up and down, considered what they knew of the athletic weather captain, then let wide grins split their features, especially once they considered that, with Rainbow Dash, they’d have a pony from each tribe involved. “My place, one hour,” Bon Bon declared.

Trixie managed to get the note up on her front door without further incident, and held out for fifteen minutes until Lyra and Bon Bon – looking far too ecstatic for reasons they didn’t explain – returned and informed her regretfully that, indeed, the apothecary didn’t carry Regumate. Trixie hadn’t really expected it to, but it was still yet another piece of bad news on what was shaping up to be the first day of a long week.

She rushed upstairs after they left, drawing a freezing cold bath as quickly as she could and practically diving in, not caring about the water she splashed onto her bathroom floor.

Instant relief!

Also probably instant hypothermia. Trixie yelped at the cold, and her teeth were chattering within moments. She climbed out quickly, draining the cold water and resolving to have a lukewarm bath rather than a cold one. Nevertheless, she was smiling a little. The cold water – or the shock to her system, but whatever – had all but dispelled the heat in her nethers, the equivalent of her brain ordering a megaspell bomb barrage on her rebellious hindquarters. Her hormones were already regrouping, of course, but they were completely disorganized and scattered, unable to mount any sort of resistance as her bathtub slowly began filling up, preparing for a second strike…

There was a lavender-hued pop, and quite suddenly Trixie found herself not alone in her bathroom.

“Trixie Lulamoon!” A high, bedraggled voice cried as Trixie shrieked in surprise at the invasion to her privacy, this time an actual invasion, too, rather than Trixie simply forgetting about Pokey being in her office. The mare that arrived was purple-coated and black-maned, though her mane had a purple and pink stripe in them. She was wearing a brown cloak (or a potato sack; Trixie couldn’t tell) and had a cutie mark of a six-pointed star surrounded by other stars…

“Twilight Sparkle?” Trixie demanded.

Twilight had a shaking hoof pointed at Trixie. “I…I’m here to expose you!” she shouted.

Trixie blushed.

Twilight didn’t seem to notice. “You’re a fraud!” she continued, nostrils flaring. “You don’t deserve to be the Element of Magic, you’ve squandered Princess Luna’s teachings, and I’ve spent the last few months building a case to prove this and gather my own…my…my own…”

Twilight paused, sniffing the air. After a moment, she began coughing, waving a hoof in front of her nose. “What…what is that…that smell?”

“This is me not surprised that you don’t recognize it,” Trixie deadpanned, eyes half-lidded as she did.

Twilight stared blankly at Trixie for several long moments, before her eyes widened even as her pupils shrank to dots. “Oh!” the renegade sorceress exclaimed. “Oh…oh…”

“Yeah.”

“Bad time.”

“Yes.”

Twilight stared awkwardly for few moments more, scuffing a hoof on the floor. “It’s…” she said softly. “It’s not like…I mean, it took me a few moments, but it’s not like I’m not interested just 'cause I read a lot…I – I mean…well, actually, now that I think about it, you haven’t squandered the teachings, you’re a wonderful illusionist…”

Trixie’s eyes widened. “No! No! No! No! No! No! No – ”

“Okay, okay!” Twilight objected, raising her hooves defensively. “I’ll just, um…leave you, I guess…”

“You do that!”

Twilight’s horn glowed, and she disappeared with a flash and a pop. Trixie stared at her bath, then began hitting the faucet with her hooves. “Fill faster fill faster fill faster – ”

She hit the faucet too hard, and it snapped. Instantly water began spraying from her wall and into the bath in great torrents, filling it quickly – and then beginning to spill over the side.

Trixie sighed. The first day…of a very, very long week…