Twilight carefully slipped inside the barn through the open door and waited patiently for Applejack to finish the lecture she was currently giving the cutie mark crusaders. The changeling unicorn could feel the waves of sisterly love tainted by slight annoyance behind the words.

"Now, ah know you three really want to get yer cutie marks, but muckin' about tryin' to build yer own Cider Squeezy doohickey ain't the way ta be doin' it! Y'all wasted three barrels o' apples in yer 'test runs' and now Big Mac an' me are gonna have to work triple-time to make sure there's enough for tha season! Y'all are lucky ah don't tan yer hides."

Twilight cleared her throat just loudly enough to draw attention, "Hello, everypony."

"Oh, hi, Twilight. Sorry ya had to hear that. You three run along now. Try ta stay outta trouble this time!" the farmer said as the three fillies scarpered.

"It's fine, Applejack. Those three can be quite the hoof-full. I'm here to help, as promised."

"Ah can't thank you enough, Twi. With the weddin', we were already behind and now, with that durn experiment of Applebloom's, we're even further behind! If y'all can, can you harvest the west-thirteen rows? It shouldn't be too hard with yer magic."

"No problem, A.J. I'll get right to it," the unicorn said with a smile and trotting out of the barn with the farmer following her.

"If ya need anythin', I'll be in the east-four and Big Mac'll be in the west-twenty."

"Thanks."

The two separated and Twilight moved out to the designated area of the farm, passing by the area where Big Mac was already hard at work. She paused for a moment to appreciate his technique. She watched as the stallion shook some sweat out of his mane, tossing it over his head and then wiping his forehead with a hoof. He turned away from the tree and dug in his hooves, muscles rippling up through his shoulders and along his back as he brought his rear end off the ground. His body hung in the air for a split second before his powerful hindquarters launched his attack at the tree. His hooves struck perfectly and every apple in the tree gave up its hold on the branch and fell to land in the baskets scattered beneath the tree.

Twilight felt herself flush at the display of prowess and power.

'Now that, my dear Twilight, is a stallion.'

'I've seen him work before, but... this feeling is new. I've never... Wow, I think I need a cold shower...'

'And you are one hundred percent positive that your week doesn't start yet?'

Twilight ran the math in her head before running off in the opposite direction of the handsome stallion she had to tear her eyes away from, "Bad! Bad, bad, bad, bad! I forgot to carry a one! Oh no, this is so very much not good. Zecora! I need to get to Zecora!"

'Or you could turn around, seduce that hunk, and start building a proper hive.'

"I couldn't do that. Applejack would kill me! Likely with fire!"

'That is predicated on her finding out. I can teach you a memory spell that will just make him think he's exhausted and sweaty from bucking trees instead of you.'

Twilight stopped her gallop, leaning against a tree. The burning heat inside her was getting worse, possibly prodded on by the flashes of techniques given to her by the changeling in her head. Her legs felt weak and it was taking all of her effort not to collapse and crawl back to the magnificent specimen she had left behind. Breathing heavily, heart throbbing in her ears as her body began to ache with need, she was unaware of the hoofsteps approaching her.

"Miss Sparkle? Y'all feelin' alright?" came the deep thrum of Big Mac's voice, sending a shiver up the unicorns spine.

She turned with a predatory gleam in her eye as her irises flashed green briefly, "Big Macintosh. Do you know what estrus does to a pony?"

His eyes went wide and he began to back away slowly, "Now, Miss Sparkle, ah'm sure ah can get AJ over here with some herbs to help ya with that particular situation, but Ah..."

The stallion was cut off by a surprisingly forceful kiss from the mare in heat, "You're here now," she said after playfully biting his lower lip as she pulled away from the kiss. The act had provided an opportunity to transmit a spark of her own hormonal surge into the stallion, helping get him in the proper mood, "I've never been with a stallion before, Mac. Make me a mare..."

Macintosh swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry as he felt a familiar stirring in his loins. He was unsure where to catalogue this particular moment. Under "dream come true" or "Things AJ will kill me for." At the moment, it didn't matter, his body was responding to the pheromones and his deliberate thought processes were rapidly losing the battle for dominance. All it took for instinct to bludgeon logic into unconsciousness and bury it in the closet was for Twilight to flick her tail across his nose and expose herself.

Far away, on the opposite side of the farm, Applejack's ears perked up and she looked around as chill went through her body. She narrowed her eyes at the tree in front of her, "Why do ah get the feelin' ah'm gonna be beatin' my brother senseless later?"

Author's Note

Prepare thyselves, I am about to attempt clop.