# It’s a Date

“Aura!” Apple Bloom exclaimed in alarm, as the aroused filly presented her posterior for Apple Bloom, so far gone she probably couldn’t have stopped her tail from flagging up if she wanted to. Absolutely everything down there was on display. Aura’s tight moan accompanied that amazing pulsing of her vulva in and out, in and out.

Completely captivated, Apple Bloom couldn’t tear her eyes away as she said “I told you not to do this. N-now you feel all,” and, despite herself, Apple Bloom’s shaft was rapidly expanding to turgidity, just as unstoppably as Aura’s raised tail. Apple Bloom swallowed dryly, trying to calm down to talk with this filly, to tell her it wouldn’t do no good and she needed to get another colt instead, to not think about shoving it in that fleshy slit and pumping over and over again. She did not succeed.

“Don’t... care,” Aura, said closing her eyes and making that pink wink out again from between her soft green lips. “You can‒ you can do it now.”

“But I...” Apple Bloom wanted to just... drop everything and go. She stepped forward. She hesitated. She stepped forward. Aura’s cunt was practically begging her. Maybe just her dick would be enough, without boy stuff? But Apple Bloom herself couldn’t help but feel disappointment at the thought of not putting boy goo in there. She couldn’t imagine how disappointed Aura would be, since she was the one who needed boy stuff! “But I’m not s-sure if I can make more... boy stuff,” Apple Bloom mumbled self consciously.

“It doesn’t matter,” Aura said in a defeated tone, “I-I can’t get any worse than this.”

“Oh Aura, what did you do to yourself?” Apple Bloom sighed tensely. Aura just stood there silently shaking, her pussy dripping with need. Apple Bloom had to decide, but really what choice was there? Aura was right, and if Apple Bloom couldn’t help her, then putting it inside wouldn’t make her worse than she was now. And Apple Bloom really needed to put it inside.

“Just‒ just hold still, I’ll,” Apple Bloom looked under Aura’s blue tail and stuck her tongue out. “...I’ll do my best,” she said huskily, but if Aura had already orgasmed it was too late for her and Apple Bloom couldn’t do anything about it. That meant Apple Bloom could get right to what she wanted to do and didn’t have to wait at all. Something about that was terribly exciting, it made Apple Bloom feel free and powerful. With an indulgent grunt she just plain reared up and settled on top of Aura, the memory of her dick hotly and wetly nestled inside Sweetie Belle comforting her with how she was just inches away from doing that right now. Aura reacted the same way as Sweetie Belle when Apple Bloom planted her weight down on top of the blue green filly, with a soft, surprised moan. Apple Bloom really wanted to know what felt so good about it, asides the anticiation of putting it inside, which Apple Bloom herself felt... acutely.

Apple Bloom slid her hips forward and brought her shaft to bear and suddenly she was– her penis was prodding against Aura’s hindquarters. The moment she touched down on Aura an inarticulate moan escaped Apple Bloom’s throat. It was like a cold shock went through her when it touched Aura’s labia. She’d been trying not to touch her penis so much today that feeling Aura’s steaming hot hindquarters with it was like jumping in a pool full of icy water. Steaming hot ice cold water, didn’t make any sense, but it was true. Apple Bloom pushed her penis against Aura again and again, too desperate to get inside her to be careful. Those incredibly soft lips caressing her dick were hot as an oven, but Apple Bloom was getting chills!

Then Apple Bloom found it and with a relieved moan she pushed her shaft strongly into Aura’s vagina. Aura jerked in place when Apple Bloom started to penetrate, but then just stood there gasping and quivering while Apple Bloom went all the way in. Did Aura even know that Apple Bloom was going to put it inside? Did Apple Bloom forget to mention that? It didn’t matter. As soon as her penis even touched Aura’s vulva, there was no way Apple Bloom could stop. The need to put it in Aura was that intense. It was like a physical force driving her to push in. Every inch of her penis that she felt enveloped in that passage was making the rest of her penis ache to join it. The more she delved into the foolish Aura, the more she hungered to feel what the filly’s passage felt like even deeper inside.

Apple Bloom hadn’t orgasmed all day, and boy was she ready to. She couldn’t imagine how she’d put off orgasming so long before this whole boy thing. Just the thought of not doing this to a filly was maddeningly frustrating. Sitting there buried hip-to-hip inside Aura, the thought of calling this off or taking it easy wasn’t just annoying to Apple Bloom. It was terrifying. She wanted to be in there so bad, she didn’t feel like she could pull out for anything, and she absolutely just had to be in there when she orgasmed. Even if her dick just pulsed emptily, Apple Bloom had to feel Aura around her when it did. She guessed that’s the same reason why Aura did this to herself. Aura just wanted it so bad, just like Apple Bloom did right now, and as the other pony’s soft insides caressed Apple Bloom’s turgid flesh, Apple Bloom couldn’t help but feel that she was doing something very, very right.

Apple Bloom wasted little time before she began pistoning in the filly, her mouth dropping open with heavy breaths as she focused on hooking Aura’s hips in her hooves and pulling herself against, and into, those soft hindquarters. Aura was quieter than the other fillies, taking it more passively than even Sweetie Belle had. Apple Bloom had to slow down after a while just to remind Aura,

“Y’gotta push... back too. It feels... better that... wayyyohwoah”

Well now things were getting going. Aura was panting heavily as she rammed her hips backwards obediently and emphatically. Her head was down and her body was slicker than even Scootaloo had been. Apple Bloom was sweating too. It hadn’t been especially hot for a summer day, but with Aura’s moistness filling the air around her and the intense physical activity, Apple Bloom was slick against Aura not just on her labia, but hugging around her too. Strange that something as slight as a small hip thrust would be so heavily exerting, but it made Apple Bloom’s heart race at a mile a minute, and she had to do it so forcefully just from the sheer desire egging her on. It wasn’t hard to hold onto the pony it was just... hot and wet and intense. But nowhere was more hot and wet than inside Aura’s hips, and Apple Bloom was quite happy to feel along every inch of it, plumbing Aura’s depths with her new, but well used colthood.

Apple Bloom was surprised to feel herself swell up so soon, stopping her thrust as her penis flared inside the other pony. She felt like she was going to go over already. Like she’d been sliding her penis in this filly for the past entire day, all through break and all yesterday working up to this moment, and the physical contact with Aura was just the icing on the cake. She shoved in when her dick blossomed outward, making sure that when she did flare, Apple Bloom flared up nice and deep, all the way in where Aura could really feel it. Making sure Aura could feel every goldurn inch of it, and making sure Apple Bloom could feel every hot fold and ridge Aura had to share with her in there. Apple Bloom could feel Aura was like in there, and that simple fact was mind blowingly amazing.

“This is it Aura,” she panted over the pony’s shoulder, “I... I orgasm when that happens, and when I orgasm either I’m gonna fill you to bursting with boy stuff or... or we’re in trouble.”

“Nnh,” Aura moaned wordlessly, managing to say “I really like... the idea of your boy stuff... but it’s okay. Already feel,” Aura scrunched her face up, a contraction rippling around Apple Bloom’s shaft, making Apple Bloom flare up strongly again with a needy moan. “Already filled... to bursting,” Aura sighed happily, pushing back her hips to grind against Apple Bloom’s crotch.

Apple Bloom just started thrusting again without another word. Aura looked so beautiful beneath her, and Apple Bloom couldn’t stand the anticipation. She had to know what would happen. She had to orgasm. She had to piston her thing in again and again until it hit her like an out of control locomotive. A thrust sent a rush of pleasure from her dick to her entire body, and with the next thrust she knew she was there. Each time Apple Bloom pushed in and out, her pleasure reliably racheted up one thrust after the other, until it exploded in her head and her eyes filled with stars. Apple Bloom drove herself deep when she started orgasming.

She stared at Aura’s back intensely, hoping even as she throbbed and swelled inside the pony that she could put it in there. Trying so hard to feel from within her the hot pulse of‒ of‒ a thick spurt of cum erupted out of Apple Bloom’s dick, right into Aura. Yes! Apple Bloom moaned in satisfaction as her dick pumped more earnestly now, pumping her ejaculate into the filly with spurt after spurt.

It wasn’t the fifth spurt that Aura herself orgasmed again. Aura didn’t even make a single sound when that stuff started to fill her, just slowly lifted her head and inhaled, and then her insides went nuts. That must have orgasm been number three for Aura, all in the span of minutes. Apple Bloom could only look down at the pony in wonder as Aura gasped and shuddered, her cunt throbbing rhythmically around Apple Bloom even as Apple Bloom felt her own dick throbbing rhythmically in its own way, boy stuff rushing out of her in long powerful bursts of hot wetness. It wasn’t just coming out of her, it was going into Aura! Apple Bloom was in there doing it, curing Aura’s heat and filling her up. The next pulse came out, and her own seed started splurting out of Aura’s stretched entrance, and she hugged Aura’s rear in delight with the mess that Apple Bloom’s penis was making of their groins. She couldn’t stop doing it!

Apple Bloom clung tightly as she emptied out into Aura, her compulsive pumping making the excess semen patter and drip from their connection into a thick puddle on the ground. It was hard to count... it happened so fast, but it seemed like an eternity! That had to be like a dozen spurts of that stuff. More than enough to fill a filly completely. It made Apple Bloom wonder about why there was so much extra, and it made her wonder why she felt so good for making so much. Something in her just felt proud about how she made so much of it that it bubbled out between them and dripped down their legs.

Apple Bloom felt warm and happy for doing it anyway, and her heart swelled with pride when she realized that she did stop Aura’s estrus after all. Aura was right, and everything was gonna be O.K. It was so amazing to watch all that desperate need just drain out of Aura as the boy stuff cooled her heat. And not just any boy stuff, but Apple Bloom’s boy stuff. Apple Bloom got to be the one to give this relief to her, and Apple Bloom got to be the one leaving a little bit of herself inside Aura for doing it.

Apple Bloom didn’t even pull her dick out right away, just leaving it in there as long as she could, luxuriating in the feel of holding Aura tight against her chest, of her own slimy semen surrounding her penis in there. She didn’t want it to shrink but it did, and pulled out of Aura all on its own in its determined return to her sheath. Not that Aura complained when Apple Bloom did come out and climb off of her. Aura just nickered contentedly and let her tail fall to a neutral position. They stood there for a while, the wind blowing the sun dappled shadows dancing across their flanks. Aura seemed to realize what she’d done then, lifting her head up and turning to face Apple Bloom, her ears going guilty low, saying,

“S‒sorr‒” Apple Bloom bopped her on the head.

“That was plum stupid of you!” she said to Aura, then put the hoof on her own chest saying, “But it was plum stupid of me too.”

“I should have known how much this meant to you. You and everypony in school. I let you sit there and stew in your own estrus when I could have tried harder to get ahold of those colts, or found out more about myself and how I could help you, or at least got you to drink some of that gall blasted tea! I was only thinking about my own problems, and not considering how what I did might be hurting other ponies. I got your hopes up and then let you down, and all I was thinking about is how that hurt me, not how it hurt you.”

“I should have been more confident in myself. I should have trusted you more. You did the right thing, Aura, even if you didn’t know it. Your body was tellin’ you that I had more boy stuff to give you and you listened to it and trusted your instincts, while I was sitting there ruminating in my head and worrying about worst case scenarios. It’d be just silly if colts weren’t as good at ending estrus as fillies were at having estrus. Why else would there be estrus at all?”

“It’s okay Apple Bloom,” Aura said putting her hoof on Bloom’s shoulder, “I was being stupid. I did just what you told me not to, and you were right. And that’s okay, because sometimes I just do things that are stupid. It could have gone a lot worse if you were not there to save me,”

She pulled Apple Bloom into a full chest to chest hug, saying, “I can’t believe how much better I feel! I felt like I would never feel good again, and now it’s all gone! Nothing left in there, just you.” Apple Bloom patted her back, finding it curious that the filly’s close scent still tickled at her senses even when the urgent smell of estrus was washed away. Even after they’d separated penis and vagina, Apple Bloom still felt like being close with Aura, and Aura just seemed taken with Apple Bloom, not in a hungry way but in a tender way. Amazing what the span of what couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes can do.

The puddle Aura made from her filly juices was already soaking into the ground. The white boy stuff seemed more reluctant to, but Apple Bloom scuffed some dirt over it and declared it “camp clean.” Apple Bloom tended to Aura hidden back in the bushes there as they were, and nosed at her hindquarters now and again until the thick glops stopped leaking out of there. Then she looked out over to the open hardtop area and, facing Aura, said, “Hey, you wanna go play four square? I see Archer over there.”

“Really?” Aura said rearing up with a big smile. She settled down then and corrected herself in a more level tone, “I mean, yes.”

Way over by the slide, Scootaloo was talking earnestly with Sweetie Belle.

“I just don’t get it!” she said to the grumpy looking unicorn. “Apple Bloom’s your friend! She isn’t even any different as a colt. Well, except for the estrus. She’s still got the same jokes and the same attitude. Why can’t you be around her anymore?”

“I just can’t” Sweetie said emphatically. “Why do you care? I just have to wait until she’s a filly again.”

“It’s been one day and she’s already missing you, Sweetie. Can’t you just ignore whatever you think is wrong with her?”

“She is not the problem!” Sweetie Belle huffed. Then she got an uncertain look on her face, which a pony more observant than Scootaloo might have caught on to.

“Who is the problem then?” Scootaloo demanded. “Diamond Tiara? If she’s been threatening you I’ll‒”

“It’s me, okay?!” Sweetie snapped back. She looked down saying, “I’m the problem...”

“You’re not a problem, Sweetie!” Scootaloo said confused, “You’re her friend! And you’re my friend too!”

“That’s just it,” Sweetie mumbled.

“Just what?” Scootaloo asked.

“Just... just drop it. I don’t want to talk about it,” Sweetie Belle said stomping a hoof for emphasis, with almost enough force to bend straw.

“Well‒ well fine!” Scootaloo said, settling on her haunches in a huff and crossing her hooves. “I didn’t want to hear about it anyway!”

“Can’t we just keep playing cards?” Sweetie Belle begged. Scootaloo hesitated, but gave in pretty easily.

“Alright, fine. ...I’m a famous explorer who first navigated the Neighponian sea.”

“Who is Pole Marker?”

After school, Apple Bloom had a chance to get some much sought after answers. But first, she had to figure out how to dodge Big Mac. He was right there waiting after class, like he thought she was going to try and dodge him or something. Of all the nerve! Still, he could be reasoned with if you did it right.

“Let’s go past the bakery on our way home,” Apple Bloom suggested innocently.

“Why the bakery? Hankering for a treat?”

“I reckon I am,” she said cheerily, skipping towards that part of town. When they got there she casually mentioned,

“So I was wondering if I could meet a... friend out back behind the‒”

“Nope.”

“It ain’t a filly though,” she said craftily, “It’s a colt!”

That gave Big Mac a moment’s pause. Apple Bloom smirked inwardly, wondering what he was going to try next.

“You been seeing colts?” he said suspiciously. Buck!

“No! No. No,” she reassured him, “This is just a friend I made at school. He wanted to meet me behind the corner. Ah think I see him!” She tried waving to Rumble, who was standing there in the shadows. If she could get him to come over here, it’d make things easier!

“He did, huh?” Big Mac said quite aware of a lifetime of Apple Bloom’s wily ways. “Was that before or after you stopped bein a filly?”

“Wha? Bu‒ after,” she said surprised at his question. He sure seemed to care a lot about fillies and colts! “Not that I can see why it’d matter but, he and I were talking today and we just wanted to continue our conversation after school.”

Big Mac was quiet, looked like he was deliberating, but then he said in a surprised tone, “You made friends with other colts already?”

“Ah have colt friends!” she protested, then amended to say, “Friends who are colts ah mean. There’s Pipsqueak and uh,”

Now that she thought on it, Apple Bloom didn’t have many friends at all who were colts. What was up with that? No reason that colts and fillies couldn’t be friends, right? Why were they always separated at school though?

“That ain’t Pipsqueak,” Big Mac noted.

“No his... his name is Rumble,” Apple Bloom said carefully, “And he’s really nice! And uh...” she tried to think what a colt would say, “and cool!” she finished. Big Mac looked down at her wanly, but nodded his head saying,

“Go have fun. I’ll stand watch.”

“Fine,” Apple Bloom grumbled, “But he ain’t gonna do nothing to me.”

“No, I mean for other fillies,” Big Macintosh said, “Or mares.”

Apple Bloom didn’t have words for that, so she just took a few steps, looked back at him, then gallopped after Rumble into the alleyway.

Turns out it wasn’t just Rumble, but also Featherweight for once without his camera, and an earth pony colt with a similar color scheme to Rumble, if bluer. She recognized the third pony as the head editor for the school paper, with a squarer jaw than Rumble and less windswept hair, but couldn’t recall his name. At the sight of the three Apple Bloom almost backed herself right out of the alley again, surprised to see so many colts at once.

“Wait!” said Rumble, in a voice no filly could say no to, “We’re here to help!”

“W-what’s this all about?” she asked uncertainly.

“First, we gotta see how bad it is,” he said, gesturing with a hoof. “Featherweight, if you could?”

She was less intimidated than weirded out by the spindly colt walking over to her. He actually had some muscle on him, but his legs had just grown too long for it. So he walked right up to her, probably gonna take a bunch of pictures of her for some kind of science thing. He squinted at her flank, and then carefully sniffed her. Wait what?

“Aura,” Featherweight announced in a light tenor, “A lot of Aura.” He sniffed again, “Some Scootaloo. Archer’s got to him too.”

Apple Bloom shoved the colt away in a panic going, “You go around smelling fillies? What is wrong with you?”

Featherweight rolled his eyes and just walked back to Rumble, remarking behind himself, “Like I have to. You can smell fillies in estrus half a wingbeat away. Don’t tell me you hadn’t noticed.”

Apple Bloom blushed and she definitely had noticed. Smelling herself was probably the oddest experience in that respect.

“Have you been experiencing any headaches,” the bluer “earth Rumble” listed off in a steady and cute, if somewhat congested voice, “Drowsiness, difficulty concentrating, sweating, aches and pains, heated hindquarters, itching, fever, or hot flashes?”

“Whaat?” Apple Bloom said, completely confused now. “Ahm still a colt, you know that right?”

The two behind Rumble looked at each other and snickered, while Rumble just looked relieved. “Thank Celestia,” he said, “It looks like we got to you in time.”

“You don’t have to lie to us,” Featherweight said in a friendly tone, “We won’t fess you out to the fillies.”

“Seriously. Boys.” Apple Bloom emphasized with a stomp, “What is this all about?”

“I’m Rumble,” Rumble said.

“Ah know‒” Apple Bloom started to mutter when Featherweight added,

“And I’m Featherweight.”

“And I’m Shady, Shady Daze,” the third colt said evenly in a friendly tone. Bloom just stayed quiet at that, and filed his name away in her mental folder of “Colts who are not Snips and Snails.” You know, the mental folder that has a big lovey heart mentally scrawled on top with bright pink mental ink. He wasn’t as athletic as Rumble, but looked a lot stockier, with a lot more power behind his punch so to speak.

“We saw you come to school,” Featherweight explained, “When you came the day before yesterday, you transferred right into a school full of fillies on estrus.”

“You didn’t seem to understand you have to keep away from fillies at a time like that,” Rumble added.

“Why are you avoiding fillies anyway?” Apple Bloom demanded, “It ain’t nice, and they need your help!”

“So we thought we’d try and warn you before it was too late,” Rumble finished, ignoring her.

“Too late?!” Apple Bloom declared. “What are you talking about? Is this some colt thing?”

“More of a filly thing,” Featherweight muttered.

“We had to try and warn you,” Shady said with a note of urgency, “Before you went and caught... it.”

“It?!”

“Haven’t you ever wondered why fillies get estrus?” Rumble said intently.

“Not... really?” Apple Bloom said cautiously, “It has to do with the sunlight and the length of the day. Remember that sex-ed class a while back?”

The boys looked at each other in confusion, then Shady looked to Apple Bloom saying, “Yeah, why?”

“Didn’t you learn all about estrus and pineal glands and stuff?”

Featherweight furrowed his quite prominent brow, saying “They didn’t talk about a pineal gland.”

“You must have had a different class than us,” suggested Shady tapping a hoof under his jaw.

“Well sure,” Apple Bloom admitted, “Ah had the one for fillies, but they can’t be that much different?”

Rumble smirked and said, “You can tell us. It’s a great excuse, but we’re all colts here.”

Apple Bloom just mouthed silently, her temper starting to strain at how weird these boys are being.

“It’s time we warned you of the dangers about fillies,” Shady said in sort of a spooky tone.

“What makes fillies go into estrus is actually something called...” Rumble dipped his head and leaned close to say in a conspiratorial whisper, “...cooties.”

“Cooties?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, “What in the hay is that?”

“Cooties is what makes fillies go into estrus,” Rumble repeated, as if that answered anything.

“Nopony knows if it’s a disease, or a curse,” Featherweight added his voice warbling uncertainly.

“Why else would your brother lie, about you being Apple Bloom?” Rumble laughed, “He was just trying to scare off the fillies so they wouldn’t get you.”

“We know you’re a transfer student, just like I was, and you need to know about the Cooties,” Featherweight asserted strongly. Apple Bloom tried to get a word in edgewise, but Shady spoke up then, saying,

“Cooties get into a mare, and make them hot in the drawers, and make them act all crazy forcing them to give the cooties to other ponies. That’s why you have to hide during Season, and that’s why you are in danger from hanging around fillies.”

“We just don’t want you to hang around fillies not knowing the truth,” Rumble said concernedly, “If you hang around fillies too much, you’ll catch their estrus!”

There was a long pause, in which Apple Bloom could have put a word in edgewise if she wasn’t completely dumbstruck at what they were saying. Finally she just bust out laughing, imagining those poor colts getting “hot in the drawers” because of the evil possessed fillies. And now she was rolling on the floor from it. Oh mah Celestia, what the buck.

“What’s so funny?!” demanded Featherweight, but Apple Bloom was laughing so hard all she could do was point at him and try, but fail to answer. They were looking totally confused, but patient enough to wait for Apple Bloom to wind down and collect herself.

“He he he, whew!” she said with a merry tail flick, “That’s a good one boys, best I heard in years. You really had me goin’ there for a sec!” They just stared at her. “You’re joking, right?” she said laughing nervously, “You don’t seriously think that”

“My own brother wouldn’t lie to me!” Rumble insisted hotly. “And neither would Featherweight’s dad!”

“Yeah?” Apple Bloom asked with a weak chuckle.

“Yeah!” he responded.

Any trace of a laugh died in her throat as Apple Bloom’s eyes widened. “Oh mah Celestia, you really do think you can get estrus from fillies.”

“This is no joke!” Shady insisted furiously, “It really happened to a colt once! He hung around fillies and didn’t listen, and he really got it!”

“Who is this... colt?” Apple Bloom asked skeptically.

“He transferred away,”

“He’s still in the hospital.”

Shady and Featherweight both said at the same time.

“He might be in the hospital,” Rumble added in a dark tone, “Forever.”

Apple Bloom was once again, dumbstruck.

Very slowly she brought a hoof up to her face, and massaged the frog into her furrowed brow. Then she stomped it down saying urgently, “Alright, I don’t want to bad mouth your brothers,”

“Dad” Featherweight interjected.

“Dad,” agreed Apple Bloom, “But you have got it so gol durn wrong that you actually got it the exact opposite of the way it is!”

“You think you have a better idea?” Rumble said looking offended.

“Ah don’t think, ah know!” Apple Bloom insisted. She stuck a hoof in the sky where the sun was peeking into the alley, saying “Mares get estrus from the sun. When the sun stays in the sky long enough, like in summer for instance, the sunlight stimulates a mare’s pineal gland in their head and that causes a reduction in melotonie, which combined with FSH from the hypothalamiss causes her follicles to generate ovules!”

“I know what a hypothala...mus is,” Shady cut in, “But what are ovules? Follicles? You’re making this up.”

“They’re like eggs,” Apple Bloom explained, “But sort of, lots smaller than chicken eggs? I didn’t really get that part. And follicles are these feathery things inside a mare down by the crotch, which is right where she gets her heat!”

“Mares have feathery things in their crotch?” Featherweight said not quite disbelievingly.

“No like deeper inside like, didn’t you see the diagrams? What’d they teach you in sex-ed?”

“They don’t teach you anything about mares in sex-ed,” Rumble said with a grumble, “They didn’t even explain the diagrams!”

“I know the difference between a vas deferens and an epididymis, but couldn’t even tell you why mares have that second hole,” Shady added somewhat bitterly.

Apple Bloom thought for a minute, at that. Apple Bloom didn’t really know what that epididything was herself, and come to think on it Twilight Sparkle had tried to talk about the male diagram, but got embarassed somewhere around spongiform tissue and ended up turning it into a metaphor about boats or something. Then she went right into gross vaginal disorders that put Apple Bloom off her lunch for a while.

“If ah didn’t know better,” Apple Bloom pondered to the heavens, “I’d say they just conveniently skipped over certain parts so nopony would think to try...”

The boys would never understand why Apple Bloom’s eyes suddenly narrowed.

“Diamond Tiara,” she ground out between her teeth.

“What about her?” Rumble said cluelessly.

“Oh, nothin’ nothin’” Apple Bloom said, bringing herself back to the present. “Look I don’t know how to make you trust me or anything, but what I’m saying is the honest truth, and it’s real important! So listen close okay?”

The three leaned towards her expectantly.

“Colts can’t catch estrus,” Apple Bloom explained, “Because they have way different things between their legs. Without the follicles or the... the ovules it just can’t happen. Why else would I even consider becomin’ a colt? Unless you get yourself turned into a filly, you’re perfectly safe. And even if boys could get estrus, it’s the sun that causes it not a... not a disease, so unless you been hiding like this in the shade for the entire year, then if you could get estrus, then you’d have it. Look, not only can colts not get estrus.”

Apple Bloom stood on twos, spreading her front hooves for maximum emphasis, looking them straight in the eye.

“Colts,” she said, “Can cure a filly’s estrus.”

The three stared at her in stunned silence.

“You done back there?” Big Mac’s voice called from outside the alleyway. So much for silence.

“Not quite! Just gimme a minute!” she shouted back.

“You really think my dad would... lie to me?” Featherweight with just a hint of doubt.

“Well think about it,” Bloom said to the spider colt, “If grownups couldn’t tell you about fillies in school, then why would they be able to do so at home? Maybe he just got distracted, or maybe he was fibbin’ to prank you.”

“Or maybe...” Rumble said ominously, “Maybe the grownups want fillies to stay in estrus.”

“I‒ I didn’t say that,” Apple Bloom stammered, backing up a step despite herself. “But it... I mean if they have a good reason, they sure ain’t tellin it. Ah don’t understand grownups at all, but I’ll tell you one thing.”

She stomped a hoof saying, “I’m gonna cure as many fillies of estrus as I possibly can, and I ain’t gonna let my brother stop me! You can listen to your brothers,”

“Dad,” Featherweight corrected.

“Dad,” Apple Bloom continued aggrivatedly, “But there are a lot of fillies hurtin’ somethin fierce right now, and let me tell you it hurts good, but it still hurts enough to drive you up the wall! I’d feel bad if I was you, for lettin grownups pull you into their crazy ways. This ain’t just playin with scissors or buildin’ trebuchets or any silly thing they don’t want you ta do. You have the power to cure a filly’s estrus; all of you do! And I think you should do it.”

“How do you do it?” Shady asked, entirely wrapt in attention.

“Well first you uh,” Apple Bloom tried to word it right, but it was just so crazy they’d never believe her if she just said it. She blushed and fussed a bit at the difficulty in explaining just how you did it in a way that showed how sweet and awesome it was, but all she could think of sounded just silly and gross. “You put your uh,” come on Apple Bloom, think!

“Hey, why don’t I just show you?” she said, brightening up. “We can meet at my‒” She stopped again then, not sure if she should reveal the secret clubhouse of the three and only Cutie Mark Crusaders. Then again Rumble and Shady didn’t have a cutie mark. But Featherweight did.

“You got any kind of sort of... private place we could all meet?” she said tentatively, “Like ah... clubhouse or something?”

The three conferred, and Rumble said, “It’s... sorta private. We have a strict ‘no fillies’ policy.”

“Well maybe it’s time you relax that requirement.” They still looked reluctant, and Apple Bloom sighed, saying “And maybe it’s time I relaxed that requirement. Listen I got a... if you meet me at the southwest orchard I can show you a little... place I got. I’ll have to ask mah friends of course, but I know they’ll say yes, especially to you, Rumble.”

“Me?” he blinked at that.

Blushing, Apple Bloom went on, “Listen we got like, a day left of school. Plus ah got a studying thing with some friends that afternoon. But after school’s out we got plenty of time, so on ah dunno, Saturday afternoon maybe come by the southwest apple orchard after lunch. If you can get that far, I’ll meet you at the main entrance, and I can show you the truth about fillies.”

Featherweight whispered to Rumble, who whispered to Shady, then the three of them nodded. “It’s a date, then!” Rumble announced cheerfuly.

“A d-d-d-date?” Apple Bloom asked calmly and suavely, totally not going red faced and tiny pupilled at what he said.

“Maybe if you want it to be,” Rumble offered slyly, leaning up close to Apple Bloom.

“Apple Bloom, you done yet?” Big Mac said irritatedly, poking his head around the corner.

“Just fine!” she yelped, “Finished! Just finished. Just, remember what I said!” She shouted to Rumble, then trotted off quickly to where Big Macintosh was waiting. She couldn’t say anything else, because she might tip Mac off that she was about to blow the lid off this petty little conspiracy of the older generation, using a little conspiracy of her own. So she had to leave the boys unanswered, to stew in their thoughts, as Macintosh accompanied her across town to the Apple family farm. While all the while she stewed in her own thoughts.

Rumble was gay. Apple Bloom was a colt now. Put two and two together. Was he gonna ask her out? Did she just ask him out? She kinda did, but on accident, and it would be with fillies and colts and not just the two of them. But he called it a date! What did he mean? Did she really just invite three cute‒ two cute boys to their clubhouse?

Meanwhile back in an alleyway behind the bakery, a lightweight brownish pegasus remarked curiously to an exotic grey pegasus, “Why was he still calling him Apple Bloom?”

Dinner at the Apple family house was less tense then it had been the last two nights. Apple Bloom was pleased as punch that she managed to convince Granny to convince Winona to convince Big Macintosh that it was okay for her to go and study with Dinky. To make the deal even more juicy, sweet Aura had shown Apple Bloom that Apple Bloom could keep helping fillies. Just had to wait a while to recover apparantly, make more of that boy stuff up inside her.

Apple Bloom blushed at the thought that she was probably even now making boy stuff, somewhere inside her pelvis.

The eatin’s was roast mushrooms and hay sticks, with plenty of cider to wash down the hay sticks. It was pretty simple fare, but Apple Bloom was proud to think that she went and harvested all the mushrooms herself. She also got a chance to try some apple bucking, mostly because Applejack was away, and was sure she’d upped her production by at least 10%! She almost had a whole basket of apples by the time she was done. And that from barely being able to buck apples at all from the distractions of estrus. Being a colt gave her a comeback, and then some!

Unbeknownst to Apple Bloom, the evening wasn’t going quite so well for a certain unicorn friend of hers. Sweetie Belle still couldn’t believe the look of horror on Rarity’s face when she innocently asked if you could end your estrus with your hoof. Rarity said she should never ever do that and should not even be thinking of such things, estrus or no, and to just keep drinking her Moon Tea and everything would be perfectly fine.

Well it wasn’t perfectly fine. When Sweetie found how Apple Bloom could do a thing that felt great and fixed her estrus without having to drink that bitter tasting tea, she was so happy at first. It felt great and calmed her down and, it was just like a satisfying meal. But she hadn’t slept that entire morning after having been done by Apple Bloom. She just sat there watching the sun rise, buried in her plush comforter worrying about what she did, and wishing she could be the good little filly she was last year, instead of what estrus was making her become.

She had yelled at Rarity. Why did she do that? She didn’t hate Rarity! How could Sweetie ever say something like that? Her mind kept going back to Apple Bloom the very, very nice colt, and that was really the only reason she could think of. He wasn’t the one who did this to her. He didn’t even know he was doing it, it was just her own feelings being twisted by the estrus. That stupid stinky horrible estrus was what did this to her. Just standing by a colt was enough to make her act like Rarity, and for once in her life Sweetie Belle was absolutely terrified of emulating her sister.

Her parents wouldn’t listen to her when she said she didn’t want any more Moon Tea, and they kept making her carry it all the way to school. It was easy to dispose of it quietly before class, and that meant she was disobeying, and that meant she was bad! But Sweetie didn’t care because, even if she listened to them she would always be bad. Discord had done the worst possible thing. Now she had an evil ugly thing inside her that would come out whenever Apple Bloom was there, and she couldn’t stop it. Not just any old colt now, but her best friend. Just the thought of screaming madly at Scootaloo or Miss Cheerilee, or locking Scootaloo out of the clubhouse so she could be with Apple Bloom, or treating Apple Bloom not like a pony but just a means to an end because he’s a stallion, using him and then throwing him away, Sweetie Belle didn’t want to be like that!

She had to be like that though, because estrus and colts would make her do it, just like they did to Rarity. It was so unfair! Sweetie was just desperate to save her friendship, but every time she was around a colt it made her feel funny, just like Rarity, and that meant she would be a Meanie Belle, not a Sweetie Belle, before she even knew it. That had to be what the funny feeling was. Rarity wouldn’t be like this if it didn’t feel good. One second Sweetie Belle would be happy and huggy and fuzzy inside like the feel of hot chocolate on a cold winter night, and that’s when it would strike. And then she would be yelling at Scootaloo telling her she hated her and to get out of the Boutique this instant, and saying no Scootaloo could not help her with her stallions, and saying how Scootaloo was a dirty little filly with bad thoughts, and shut her out of her life without even explaining why.

It had to be true, because, why else would Rarity act like that? Sweetie Belle loved her sister, and she knew Rarity would never do anything to hurt her on purpose. So it had to be the estrus doing it to Rarity, and making her that way...

And now Sweetie Belle had estrus too.

She felt like a ticking time bomb when she hid from Apple Bloom during breaks. She didn’t know what to do about what was inside her, besides stay away from stallions always, and every time her heart ached to be with Apple Bloom she knew it was just the evil ugly thing trying to tempt her into falling further into its trap. She had to avoid Apple Bloom, and she had to avoid stallions if she wanted to remain herself and not turn into a nasty mean mare in the shadows.

She was currently staring at the door to Rarity’s boutique as the sun crept lower in the sky, trying to get it to open up by sheer force of will alone. Which is actually a sensible strategy for a magical unicorn, but she couldn’t do more than make the locked handle jiggle. Pounding on the door with her hooves didn’t do any good, or elicit any response from inside. Rarity was supposed to be watching her this afternoon! Sweetie had already played with Pinchy and Noi, well played more like listened to them complain about estrus. Her school work was in her saddle bags inside the boutique. It was past time for Sweetie’s going home snack, and her special goodbye hug. And there was nothing she could do about it, besides wish that the door would open.

With a click the door opened, and a weary looking purple stallion with wavy blonde hair walked out of it. He looked down at Sweetie staring up at him like a deer in headlights and said, “Oh boy.”

“Don’t go in there,” he said in a cheerless tone, “She’s in a mood again. You do not want to be around her, just trust me on that.”

Sweetie Belle was too on edge to process his words, but once she had digested the simple fact that the door was open, she sprang into action, scrambling underneath him and squeezing into the door crack he was standing in.

“Don’t‒” he said trying to extricate her before she ran in, but then he just looked inside and sighed, letting the door latch and walking away from that place.

Sweetie Belle had to walk with care to avoid tripping over something. The Boutique got really messy this time of year, and all the lights were out too. She stopped short at a scary pony’s head right in front of her, illuminated in the shadows, but it was just a fallen mannequin. Sweetie Belle first found her saddlebags and then went looking for Rarity. It was easy to find the unicorn. You just had to follow the sounds.

The indirect light was even dimmer in Rarity’s bedroom. She had all the curtains drawn tightly shut. It looked like Rarity had half fallen out of her bed, and was leaning against it in the darkness, just sitting there weeping.

“Rarity,” Sweetie Belle said. Her shaky voice sounded so loud in the darkness. Rarity immediately launched herself at Sweetie Belle from the bed, snarled at her face with an incredible rage and fury,

“You are not supposed to be here, this is my private business! You want to see me like this, breaking into my house like a little thief get out get out get out!!”

Sweetie Belle balked, but bolted by the second “get out,” falling on her way down the stairs (again) and tripping over everything on her way to the front room, but not even slowing down until she was outside in the late afternoon sun. Then she just sat there and sobbed helplessly, her tears hitting the dirt. Just like Rarity.

“Oh honey,” her mom’s voice said, after way too long, long after Sweetie’s tears had all dried up. “Why are you sitting outside?”

Sweetie sniffled and looked up to see her parents, coming to pick her up late, as usual.

“She musta been waiting for us, the little sweetheart,” her dad said warmly.

She shouldn’t, but Sweetie went and gave her mom a big hug. The older pony just pushed her to hoof length and said, “Personal space, honey!” Sweetie looked down, then looked over at her dad who raised his hooves defensively saying,

“Oh no, not this time of year!”

Mom was pounding on the door saying, “Rarity, honey, come out and say hi. We’re here to pick up your little sister!” If Rarity heard, she gave no indication that she had. “Hello, are you in there?” Mom gave the door another pounding and tried the latch. She faltered a bit when the outside latch didn’t budge, but regained her usual cheery smile shouting, “Okay! See you tomorrow! Love you honey!”

The two of them walked off, Dad shouting back to Sweetie, “Well get a move on! We have to make tracks if we’re gonna get home in time for a nice hot dinner.”

Sweetie warmed a bit at the thought of food and started walking after them, saying “S-s‒” but her voice was too unsteady to talk still, so she just silently ran to catch up with them, following in their lengthy strides with her short quick hoofsteps.

Somewhere far across town behind a metal gate inside a fancy mansion, Diamond Tiara was being recognized and lauded for her talent and achievements.

“They were so naive and trusting,” she said cheerily, “It was easy to make them doubt themselves. I bet they went that very night and tried to do it with their hooves!”

“Diamond Tiara,” her father said in a jowely tone, by a sunlit filagreed window from floor to ceiling seated comfortably in his plush armchair, whatever arms are. “You never cease to amaze me with your resourcefulness. Isn’t it sad those poor little ponies don’t know the truth, and they fall for it over and over again.”

“That’s not the best part though,” she cooed to him strutting along the lushly carpeted floor of his reading room. “When the orange one came to school the next morning she didn’t look like she had gotten a wink of sleep last night, but the yellow one? You know, the worst of them all?”

“She has been quite a thorn in your side at times,” her father agreed, tipping his glass at her approvingly. “But you always manage to come through in the end. She can’t compete against a pony in the know.”

“She made a deal with a demon,” Tiara giggled delightedly, “You remember the one who brought Chaos to Ponyville?”

“Wish I could forget,” Filthy grumbled tossing back his drink. He was always nicer after a few of those, and she knew well to take advantage of ponies who thought being nice was a good idea. Always a good opportunity to remind herself of what a superior pony she was.

“Well Ap–” she caught herself, “The yellow one must have done what I told her to do, and her estrus made her so crazy that the demon approached her! And you know what he did? I just learned it today I didn’t believe it at first, but it’s true!” Diamond watched her father pensively as he refilled his glass with the smelly liquid, timing her next words just right, “She like, sold her soul or something, so that the demon would... turn her into a colt!”

Filthy Rich spat his drink out in shock, to Diamond’s delight. Before he could recover she explained herself more clearly. “She or should I say he came to school and was absolutely humiliated!” Diamond exclaimed beaming with praise for herself. “She thought she could make friends with a demon isn’t that stupid?”

Collecting his wits quickly, Filthy nodded saying, “Yes, friendship is sneaky that way. You think you’re doing the right thing, but all you’re doing is being a doormat for somepony to walk all over you. Still, that is rather low to fall, even for one of them.”

“I almost slipped because the teacher was all like, gaga over him and really laid into me but she didn’t do anything except tell me to be good. She thinks I’m going to trust her! So I’m not sure how to um... I’m still considering my options,” Diamond said diplomatically. “I think this could really ruin their friendship though, and then maybe I could get some dirt on the unicorn, and she wouldn’t have any ‘friends’ to help her. And then the unicorn knows the dressmaker you know the one with the gems cutie mark? If I bully her just right, the unicorn filly can steal all the jewelry supplies I could ever need!”

“That’s a very good long term plan,” Filthy agreed, putting down his drink and folding his hooves worryingly. Her smile faltered at that, and perceiving her moment of weakness he said, “On the short term however, I am very concerned with your involvement with that Silver Spoon filly.”

Diamond relaxed waving a hoof at him lazily and looking away. “Oh pfff, don’t worry about that one,” she said easily, “I would never make friends with like, her. I’m just using her, to get what I want!”

“And what is it that you can get from her?” he said seriously. Diamond was glad she had turned her head away that moment, because she didn’t want him to see the twisted rage on her face.

She looked at her father composedly and blandly then, and said, “I’m sure I’ll figure something out. She only thinks we’re friends. Soon I’ll have something to threaten her with, and then she’ll... like... give me connections to get at her family!”

“You do understand that you’re not to have any friendships, right?” he said still serious, but he relaxed unconsciously so Diamond knew she was going in the right direction.

“Not in like, a million years daddy,” she said smugly, “I wouldn’t fall for friendship even if a filly came begging and kissed my hooves.”

“You’re a very smart filly,” Filthy Rich said, settling back in his chair with an amiable smile. Diamond Tiara just about glowed with contentment. She was a smart filly, and he respected, and recognized that! “You understand the truth about friendships more than a normal filly your age,” he continued. “They’re nothing but traps ponies use to exploit your good nature, so you don’t need any of them at all. You have something better than friendship.”

He ended on a leading tone, so Diamond nodded and said agreeably, “Yeah. Money!”

Filthy nodded, saying, “Money is never going to betray you like friendship is, because you can always count how much you have. So you stay away from friendships, and stop treating that Silver Spoon filly so nicely.”

Diamond’s ears twitched but she didn’t let them go down. “Yes, daddy,” she said neutrally.

“Now go on, have some fun,” he said waving a hoof at her dismissively and turning to face the window. “I’m sure you have a lot of planning left to do for tomorrow.”

“Yes, daddy!” she said a little more excitedly, “I will, daddy! Thank–” He shot her a sharp glance. “I will take full advantage of your advice, daddy,” she said more demurely. He relaxed then and nodded, his ignoring her a sign that she was free to leave. She trotted briskly out of his reading room, and safe from his watchful gaze looked around with a dissatisfied feeling in her chest. What she needed was to find some of the household servants to bully.

And then Diamond Tiara was never a relevant part of the plot again.
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