Dash walked through a very ornate doorway, flanked by two guards. The hallway she was in quickly opened into a much larger, domed room. She looked around, refreshing her memory of the atmosphere from last time. Little had changed. She managed to quell a shiver as nervousness forced its way back into her mind. Her mouth dried up.

"Wait in the middle." A guard said to her, before returning to his place by the door. Dash did as she was told. The Weather Board sure liked to put on a show. Maybe she could one-up them this time. She moved her tongue around in her mouth, feeling her heartbeat loud and clear. If she could get herself in motion.

"Rainbow Dash!" A voice boomed through the speakers, jolting her from her thoughts. "Are you aware of why you're here today?"

Something witty. Nothing. Come on, brain! Anything!

The pony rolled his eyes at her lack of a response. "It has come to our attention that your reckless mismanagement of the weather over Ponyville has led to storms growing out of control, most recently in the events just over a week ago."

Anger replaced nervousness, and her internal script started to rewrite itself. This was no longer a speech for the ages. It was about defending herself against the shit the Weather Board said. "Oh, that." Dash shrugged. "It happens." Ice cold, Dash.

"Maybe in your mind, Rainbow Dash, but not in the mind of the Weather Board. Your conduct is dangerous, and we have accumulated many complaints calling for your dismissal. We've warned you in the past, and we feel we are quickly running out of options."

"Let me check one thing. You are aware that Ponyville is in close proximity to the Everfree, where storms build themselves, correct?" He nodded. She was doing it, no choking or anything! "Then why, may I ask, is it not erroneous to assume that I was doing the best anypony could, especially with a crew largely out sick? I have documents to prove that as well."

"Whether or not you may feel you have reasons behind your subpar performance, Rainbow Dash, there is no excuse for endangering the citizens of Equestria needlessly when backups and safeguards can easily be formed."

Because the weather team totally wasn't made up of every single pegasus knowledgable with weather, Dash thought, internally rolling her eyes. Backups were a waste of Ponyville's limited resources, and the citizens lacked any interest in such a program. Given their good record, she wondered who it was that was complaining. "I see." She replied shortly. The tension started to return, and finding herself at a loss for a moment only gave the nervousness a chance to return.

"We have therefore decided, after much deliberation, to submit a recommendation for your dismissal to the mayor of ponyville, along with a suggestion for a suitable replacement." Heads nodded behind him. "You'll be demoted but remain on the team in recognition of your years of service."

"There's nothing that can change that?" Dash asked, trying to look devastated. That would buy her time to think.

"I'm afraid not." The pony replied. "You may go."

"Nah." Dash responded, surprising even herself. The pony stared.

"Excuse me?"

The words started to flow again, as a new plan fell into place. "Let me confirm, you're a non-governmental review board?"

The pony gathered his resolve, looking ticked off. "Yes, we are."

"Ah, yes. And I believe you said you'll 'submit a ticket' and 'recommend a replacement'." She said, using air quotes around the two phrases. "Those don't sound very forceful to me."

"While you are right," the pony responded among whispers from the other members of the board present behind him, "the recommendation of the Weather Board carries much weight across Equestria, I'm sure you'll find."

"Oh, darn." She stamped her hoof to the ground, looking defeated. "Well, then I guess I'm glad my word is worth more." She pulled a copy of her license from her saddlebags, showing it to the board. Ooh, take that. "You'll find that it is in fact legitimate, minted only a few short days before this meeting. To be honest, I didn't really have to come. Until I commit a crime on the job, the Weather Board has surprisingly little influence. And even then you're just around to make my firing official. The criminal justice system does the rest." Dash paused, enjoying the poorly hidden look of shock on the stallion's face.

"You can't assume that-"

"Excuse me," Dash began, "we're equals now. With this contract, I have severed all ties to this pointless institution, and with it allowed myself to more easily run Ponyville Weather without the bureaucracy from you. I contract to the city exclusively now, and because of how loosely your system is put together, there's nothing you can do about it." She paused, tipping her imaginary hat. "So I'll be keeping my job and giving myself a nice title promotion to manager or boss... still haven't figured out which one I want yet... and you all can sit here and do whatever it is you do. Maybe forfeit your jobs to ponies that actually know how weather works." She turned to leave.

"Once you go down this road, you'll find it's not so easy to come back."

Dash shrugged, finding the one stallion she knew on the Board grinning in the back of the group and nodding to him. "Sounds good to me." Dash walked past the guards and through the lobby, chuckling to herself as she walked outside. She walked across the street, looking over the fence at the side of the city at the ground far below. What a way to put in her quitting speech. The day was off to a great start already.

"Fuck whatever day it is today." Mac mumbled, biting his lip as he attempted to clean himself in the shower. Everything had become a zone that aroused him in some way, and heat was already starting to get old. He started on his flanks, his marehood enjoying the treatment immensely. Ideally, he had wanted to get it out of the way, but visions of stallions mounting him flashed through his mind, his fur prickling at the body he could almost feel against his back. Mac shook his head, turning the water even colder. It was basically hose water and he was freezing, but the cold was barely helping.

Streams of water ran across his lips and down his length, teasing him with their wisp-like caresses. His masturbation from earlier had hardly delayed the rebound, and only made him more worried about how bad this was going to be. He was sliding towards full heat way too quickly at this rate.

Mac reared up, positioning his head just below the shower faucet and letting the water run through his mane. He moved to the side for air and immediately regretted the decision as part of the shower stream skimmed his belly and hit the head of his length. There wasn't even a pause as it pulsed hard, drooling with whatever he had left at this point. It had only been three so far this morning, but they had been close together and he'd come hard. He would be ready to pass out by now under normal circumstances, yet as he came down his body only wanted more.

Alright, that was it. If he was going to get this done for any reasonable amount of time, he'd have to pull out the big guns. Mac reached from the shower, grabbing a small towel off the rack. He threw it on the tile floor, laying down carefully on his back and rolling it into a cylinder. He sighed, pushing himself slowly backwards until the back of his head hit the wall and the spray landed squarely between his legs. Mac managed to slide the towel underneath his rear to aim himself before the water pushed him over another climax. He let out a moan, shoving a hoof in his mouth to keep the sound to a minimum.

As his marehood stopped pulsing, he hardly got a few breaths in before his length decided it was ready again. Mac looked down his chest, feeling the hard pulses with every beat of his heart and watching his legs spread obscenely wider as his body subconsciously tried to soak up as much stimulation as it could. Mac tried to imagine Dash, positioning her face in front of him after a few thoughts. The scenario they were in stayed the same, albeit with her kissing him. The less he altered, the easier it was. Her dirty talk filtered into his ears from time to time, pushing him across his climaxes as they slowly became less and less common, and he became less and less aware.

An alarm went off, making him jump from his almost comatose state. That was probably an overstatement, but he felt like a new level of lethargic. Mac slowly rose to his hooves, his hind legs feeling uneasy. He turned the water off, checking his sheathe with a hoof. However long he had been here, it had done well to cure him of his heat at the moment. Mac turned to the clock, surprised to see that he had set it a mere fifteen minutes after he'd gotten in. It had felt like hours. But he was sated for the time being, and ready to take on the day.

For the first time this morning, he felt good.

Mac wiped his forehead, ignoring the slight burn that had inched its way back inside him. It was a minor annoyance, one that he could easily ignore. He pushed a bucket into position, bucking the tree it was under. Apples fell, finding their places in the containers. Mac quickly consolidated the apples and threw the full containers into the wagon, grabbing more and moving on to the next tree. Applejack was on the other side of the acres, and didn't yet know of his current heat. It was just as well. She would have forced the work on herself, and he didn't want that. It never went well.

Mac bucked another tree, continuing with his monotonous routine. He was most of the way through the trees he needed to get done, and was getting close to the ones for the rest of the week. He needed to get at least a good chunk of those done. He looked over at them, trying to observe their harvest from afar. All he ended up noticing was a mare walking through them, who waved as she noticed him looking in her direction.

"Bonbon?!" He asked, hoping his voice carried that far. She broke into a trot, taking a minute or so to make her way over.

"You know, this place is really big once you have to go past the house."

"Yeah, it is." Mac confirmed. "How come yer all the way out here?"

"Well, actually, I wanted to talk about-" She sniffed the air. "What is... are you in heat?"

Mac's face hardened, as if he knew it was a joke, but thought it was stupid. "Of course not."

Bonbon waved a hoof at him dismissively. "As if I don't know." Green flames enveloped her body, leaving him in her place. "All it takes is one touch to get it right, and we've been friends for quite a while. You may not be the most touchy-feely of ponies, but it was bound to happen eventually."

"Yeah, yeah." Mac muttered, watching her turn back. "Ah guess you got me."

She shrugged. "The secret's safe with me. After all, you've kept mine well enough."

"Yer lucky Ah knew ya weren't one of Chrysalis' batch." He explained. "It's not like yer the most stealthy of changelings."

"I didn't think it was so easy to see through that window. To be honest it's lucky that it was only you, especially considering you weren't trying to peep. If you had been I would've felt it." She paused, trying to get her thoughts back on track. "Anyway, it was smart of you to wait for a better opportunity to try to expose me, especially since-"

"Ah happened to talk to Zecora about it out of pure luck." Mac finished. "It's gonna be really hard for me to argue your case next time, Bonbon. Ah'll gladly go down in flames for you, but don't force me ta do it over nothing."

She shrugged. "It's hard wearing a mask all the time, lying to everyone. And besides that, I still have to be a changeling occasionally. I get rusty after a while and even easy transformations and magic get hard." She gestured with her hooves, putting them extremely close to one another. "I was this close to forgetting my own origins, to becoming Bonbon. Well, I am Bonbon, but the Bonbon they know, I mean. Then this guy stood us up in an alleyway and I was barely able to cast a spell. I made it look like non-magic me, which was nice because BonBon's an earth pony, but you know."

"Well actually, I didn't know that." Mac confessed. "But hey, learning new things is nice."

"Yeah, well anyway, the point of me coming here is to tell you that something weird is going on in the Everfree. The nomads out there are getting spooked, and it takes a lot to put them off."

"I thought something was weird." Mac noted, sighing. He just wasn't sure what it was. But it'd definitely felt stranger than usual, somehow.

"Yeah, well watch out for that. I don't know if it's something or someone, but it can't be nothing."

He smirked. "Helpful."

"Eh." Bonbon shrugged. "But here," she handed him a petal. "I made this for you. It's a little stronger than they usually are, and it's specifically for you." Mac moved to take it, but she pulled it back. "That means that it'll be nearly useless to anyone else, but way more potent if you need it, so use it if you need to throw an Ursa Minor or blow up a city block." She let it fall into his hoof.

"Thanks. I hope you're leaving yourself some..."

"Oh, please. Caramel loves me like there's no tomorrow. Maybe because he's afraid he'll blow one of us up, so he'll have to get it all in now." She put a hoof over her heart. "I know he's annoying but damn I love him." She stared off into the distance, becoming silent.

"So like if you have kids, what happens?" Mac asked, breaking the silence and looking at her quizzically. "I assume changeling evolution accounted for that?"

"We can mate with ponies, yeah. We make more ponies, though. I do occasionally wonder what would happen if I was in changeling form. Presumably we would still make something I think, but I dunno." She paused, watching Mac twitch. "God, that heat's bad, huh? I can almost taste the lust."

"Yeah, well at least you know there are downsides to having this body."

"Oh, I get it. But outside of you, I haven't been able to re-create it. It doesn't work at all when I create my own forms. Not even close."

"It's weird that you tried."

"Come on, you wouldn't?" She waited for a response, breaking into a wide grin. "That's what I thought. But I'll tell you what, i'll see if I can give you a bit of a break."

Before Mac could ask what that meant, Bonbon already had a hoof against his cheek. He was having trouble not trying to extend the contact, and at the very least respond with a hoof of his own. But as he opened his mouth to protest her hoof became cold, so cold it burned. He tried to pull away, but he seemed rooted in place, all of his body heat shoving its way into her extremity. All of a sudden it stopped, and the two both fell backwards, bowled over by some phantom force.

"What the hell was that?" Mac asked, getting up.

Bonbon let herself lay on the ground for a few moments, looking content. "I grabbed a bunch of your lust." Now that she mentioned it, his mind did feel clearer. "It'll be back soon, but I figured it was worth a shot."

"Does that count as cheating?" Mac asked, not sure whether to smile or frown. He was sorta joking, but-

"Nah, it's not like you wanted to give it to me. It's hard to take love meant for another out of a pony. Really inefficient."

"So that tasted good, then? Or whatever it's like for you?"

"Well, I'm definitely not hungry. But with Caramel I'm never hungry." She shook her head, chuckling. "Anyway, watch your back."

"Keep track of Caramel." Mac recommended. "If they're out for those in the know, Ah wouldn't go after a changeling with a ton of love straight out."

"Yeah." Bonbon confirmed. "If this is the first disaster we have to deal with, at least we have some advance warning."

"Of the existence of danger." Mac replied, irritated. "That isn't enough to tip off the Ponyville guard, even if they did understand the situation."

"Well, you wanted to know all this in the first place. Knowledge of the things ponies don't want to believe in comes with the price of secrecy." She sighed. "I can tell you that firsthoof."

Mac shrugged. "Maybe it's nothing to worry about? It could be any number of things, and maybe it's just passing through."

"I hope you're right." Bonbon replied, turning away. "I'm going around to the rest of us next, so they know what's going on, but other than the couple that came in with me, most of them are new and nailing their identities is all that matters right now."

"Yeah, Ah get it." He waved goodbye as the mare started to walk away, wondering what it was that could spook the nomads.

He thought on it for about thirty seconds before his brain resolutely and quickly decided to focus on Bonbon's rear. He watched it like a hawk as it started to disappear over a hill, and jumped as she gave it a shake, surely realizing that he was eyeing it. Lust wasn't as good as love, she'd said, but with how much he felt like mounting her and fucking for hours, she was surely feeling a little full. But he was glad that for the few minutes they'd been talking, he had at least forgotten about his heat, to a large extent.

Mac turned his attention back to the trees, sighing. Forcing himself through the rest of these was going to be a challenge.

Dash wandered into the weather factory, her long walk across town calming her nerves. She had said everything she had wanted to without missing a beat, but she still had to be a little worried about angry Weather Board members. They could surely figure out some course of action to annoy her, and after the audit she wasn't sure what that would be. She had to hope for a flawless season to point to as proof that she could handle everything.

Now that she was here, there was a possibility that she could finish before the end of the day and return. She missed Mac, but that was in the back of her mind with everything else that had to be done.

"Can I help you?" A stallion behind the counter asked, his wing in a cast. That must've been why he was working the desk.

"Yeah, I need to negotiate a new contract for Ponyville Weather."

"Okay..." he trailed off, looking through a scheduling book. "You called in a few days ago, right?"

"I did." The moment of truth. "I wanted to see if I could reschedule for today."

"Well, let's see." He flipped a few pages around, drawing his hoof down a page slowly. "Unfortunately, unless somepony cancels, we're booked up today. Manehattan is working out plans for expansion, and we don't expect to be done before the end of the day." Dammit.

"Ugh, okay. Well, can you point me in the direction of a fairly nice hotel and book me for your earliest time slot tomorrow?" This wasn't too bad, really. She had expected the Weather Board to take much longer, and not let her go like they did. At least she wasn't stuck for an extra day.

"Sure. Eight tomorrow work?"

"That sounds fine to me."

"Cool." He replied, writing down her name from a phone record. "So just down the road, there's a six or seven story hotel that everypony makes fun of because it's called Cloud 9."

"Super original."

"Yeah, exactly. They're probably a three star or so. I'd go there." He paused. "I guess if you want to pay a little more, a few blocks farther and one south, there's another one that's four stars. I can't remember what it's called, but it's a weird looking building, and it should be clear."

"Thanks." Dash replied, exiting the weather factory in short order. She had a lot of time, and not much to do. Maybe she could figure out something to get Mac on a cloud? Seemed possible. Cloudsdale had a lot of worker issues, and always seemed to be short on ponies. If any city wanted to develop a permanent cloud walking thing, it'd be here. Otherwise she could probably ask Twilight. She'd gotten Tank to be able to hang out in her house, but it had taken a lot out of her. And apparently it had something to do with Tank's lack of movement. Maybe she was better now, and Mac would be easy.

Enough about that. She had a market right here in town, where she could, at the very least, find something that Mac would like. At least she wouldn't be totally bored.

"Oh, fuck." Mac muttered, trying to regain his footing. His hind legs were shaking again, and there was little doubt in his mind that he was in full heat by now. He'd been walking around and getting enough rubbing between his hind legs to excite him, which had been quite the irritation. But to top it off he'd kicked that tree and apparently vibrated enough to come.

He recovered and wrote it off, trying to get through the last of the trees for today and ignore the rivulets of moisture running down his legs. He was so close to being done, and then he could move on to other things. He had thought about just retreating to the barn, but what he really wanted to do was make a trip to the doctor. Of course, he couldn't go there in this state so he had to figure something out. But if he was going to start orgasming from little to nothing, then this would quickly become impossible.

Mac shook his head, his thoughts becoming no clearer. He was beginning to feel the effects of too much lust to the brain, interruptions to his thought processes making it harder to keep planning and trying to go about his business. It was getting tough far too fast as well, making him nervous to see what he would be like by the end of the day.

His hindquarters called for attention, the next buck almost sending him to the ground with sudden pleasure. Mac let himself fall onto his side after a few moments, gritting his teeth. This heat was beyond old. And it was worse than last time. He felt like crying, something he hadn't done since he'd been a foal. But it wasn't fair, this happening to him. Heat sucked enough already, without it being worse and ridiculously frequent. Dash was gone, naturally, the one thing that could have made it bearable. He wanted- no, needed to see her, to feel her touch. Fantasies weren't cutting it, no matter how real the hallucinations looked. His head sorta hurt, but the pain hardly registered, blocked by everything else.

The grass felt nice against his cheek, morphing into Dash's hoof as he lay there, his mind yearning to be with her like a drug addict needing their next hit. He blew a fast breath from his nostrils, steam following the disturbed air before whisking away.

"Mac?" Dash asked, walking over the crest of a hill. She barely glanced at him before her eyes went wide, and she rushed to his side. "What's goin' on? What happened?"

"Dash, you're back." He felt himself grow sleepy, blissful peace washing over him as he felt hooves wrap around his neck, picking up his head and looking into his eyes.

Cold washed over Mac's body, and he sat bolt upright, looking around quickly. Applejack was standing in front of him, a bucket in her hooves. "Oh, thank god." She sighed, pushing a water bottle into his hooves. "Drink."

Mac realized his thirst as she said it, gulping down the bottle quickly. It didn't seem to make a dent. "I need more." He said, his voice hoarse. She handed him another bottle.

"Why didn't ya tell me ya were goin' inta heat again?" Applejack asked, looking somewhat annoyed. "Ah put ya in here for yer own good, because you start to lose yer grasp on the world when it gets bad. How many days has it been?"

"One." He responded, watching her eyes widen. "Ah'm assuming Dash was a hallucination?" He already felt the heat returning.

"Yeah." His sister replied shortly. "Ya shouldn't have done that, losin' fluids as fast as ya are, and on a hot day ta boot. Ya almost worked yerself ta death."

He looked at her for a moment, but found no hint of any lie. So it had been that bad then. "Ah wanted ta put mah share in before Ah had to end up in here."

The barn doors opened, and Mac shielded his eyes from the light. As they adjusted, his doctor came into view. "So he's having another one?"

"Yeah." Applejack said, standing up. "It's definitely a bad one."

"From what you said over the phone, I assumed."

"Look, Doctor, Ah don't want to interject mahself too much into his affairs or sound too blunt, but can't ya just cut his ovary out and save him from this? Ah know he might not want ta do it, but that would fix the problem, right?"

"It probably would." Light replied. "But Mac is a delicate stallion, and any procedure like that would be far from normal. If you needed a sterilization procedure for some reason, then that would be easy. Noninvasive and quick to heal, and it's been done thousands of times, practiced by doctors on models and cadavers before they leave school. This is specific, and the chances of us screwing something up are much, much higher. If we can avoid surgery and figure out what hormone may be triggering this response and how to target it, that would allow us to fix the problem."

"So then why has it takin' so long?" Applejack asked, becoming irritated at Light as he began looking Mac over.

"Getting drugs wrong is just as bad, Applejack. I understand the torture Mac goes through, and as soon as I'm sure I have a solution I'll administer it. But with so few data points, it's hard to develop any definitive conclusions." He paused. "I am close, though. He managed to come in during heat two weeks ago, and the rapid turnaround this week should hopefully give me a rather accurate vision of the entire cycle. Before, we couldn't take samples before heat because he didn't know it was going to happen, but by accident, we have this time."

"That was just after his last heat, there's no way ya could get anything from that!"

Light shook his head, pointing a light into Mac's eye. "The cycle starts weeks before, surely you must know that."

Applejack thought about continuing the argument before sighing. "Ah guess yer right." She paused, thinking. "But how could he even have another heat this soon?"

Light shrugged. "I think we may know a little more after a few days, though. I can only assume that it's accelerated because of hormones a female wouldn't normally have, or the fact that we're dealing with a non-fully formed uterus here. Or things could just be out of sync. I just can't say for sure."

"I really love it how you talk about me like Ah'm not here." Mac mumbled, pushing himself against the wall so that he was sitting more straight up. He slipped slightly on the loose hay, shaking slightly as the friction pushed him into an orgasm. He'd never been so annoyed during a climax before, or so embarrassed. But other than the gritting of his teeth and maybe a couple twitches, he kept it to a minimum.

Applejack looked on with concern, the sexual nature of the entire affair getting screened out by worry. If this didn't get under control and this was a trend, how would he even survive? He was tough to deal with during a good heat, and this was far past that. And there were some things she couldn't help him with, which made her feel worse. Most of his heats had been like hers, a major annoyance, but nothing that couldn't be worked past. Some had been worse, but never before had she seen him like this, hallucinating and forgetting about water. Maybe the lack of water had compounded everything else, dulling his thoughts and making him act like he had been? That was a distinct possibility, and it made her feel better if it had been the main problem.

"You okay, Applejack?" Mac asked, and she nodded. Of course it wasn't the truth; she was worried as hell. She bit at her hoof, ignoring the taste. Mac was starting to get the look in his eyes again of a pony possessed, and it freaked her out. There wasn't much that could keep him here if he decided to leave, so it came mostly down to his free will. That same free will had pushed him through work in the heat while being in heat and through dehydration, just to do her a favor. Applejack sighed. Maybe she was just overreacting again. She'd done it with Dash when she found her in the barn, and according to Mac, she'd made his last heat quite easy. And more importantly, she hadn't done the things Applejack had accused her of.

But it was still only day one.

Applejack shut the barn doors behind herself, barring them shut. Mac had enough food and water to last him the week, but she knew she'd be back in a few hours. Leaving him alone during the bad ones was usually not a good idea, because his mind would wander a little too much. He'd never tried to leave, probably due to his immaculate willpower, but with Dash in play she wasn't sure what would change. Speaking of...

She walked inside, nodding to Applebloom. The filly was sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of cereal as an after-school snack, blissfully unaware of the issues in the barn. "Did ya get the apples all back inta place?" She asked. Applejack had told her an Apple had fallen, and a chain reaction had occurred. She was getting so good at misrepresenting lies that her element was starting to become irrelevant. She chuckled. "Yeah, they're all set up. Mac's in town doin' somethin', but he helped me finish up." The lie seemed to pass. Applebloom was too young to read faces as well as Mac and her friends.

"So, problem solved?"

"Fer now, yeah." Applejack responded, pulling the phone from its hook. She put her hoof right up to the numbers before realizing that she couldn't call Dash. She stood there, frozen as she thought about the conundrum. The phone rang in her hoof, and she pushed it to her ear, picking it up. "Dash?"

"Huh?" A voice responded. "How'd you know my pitch?"

"What?" Applejack asked, confused.

"It's my- look, I'll just start over. It's time to dash, dash, dash out to Canterlot's biggest gem- click." Applejack hung up, wondering if she should be amused or annoyed. She put a hoof to her chin, thinking. If Dash did call, she merely wanted to know when the mare would be back. If she was going to be delayed another day, then she would have to watch Mac like a hawk until then, and start figuring out how she could do that with Applebloom around. Maybe another sleepover? They'd just had one here, so somepony owed them a favor.

Or maybe she was underestimating Mac's willpower. She was cutting him short. This was the same guy that had protected her all these years, that had broken two of his legs in the Everfree and barely shed a tear. If there was anypony that could handle whatever kind of jacked up heat he had, it'd be him. Hopefully Dash would make it easier, when she got here. Applejack didn't want to think of any of the graphic elements of their contact, but she had a way around him. Mac had been in a good mood since their first date, and after she'd discovered him, he'd basically never frowned. He was madly in love with that mare.

That was what put her on edge.

Dash wandered through Cloudsdale's market, not finding much of interest, especially on the cloud walking front. Cloudsdale wasn't exactly known for much beyond weather, so she couldn't say she was surprised. Their produce was not as fresh, and they lacked many of the larger items a market like Canterlot could host. There was a lot to be said for life in the clouds, but this was not one its strong points.

Cloudsdale had come about through necessity, starting as the weather factory by itself. Originally, the factory had existed just off the cliffs of Canterlot, but due to noise and risks it was relocated. A small town popped up around the factory for the workers that didn't feel like making the long commute, and the city had grown ever since. It was a simple history, but it at least had its own character.

A jar caught Dash's eye, a little raincloud inside. She knew it was fake, but it did look strikingly more realistic than the ones she'd seen before. Intrigued, she trotted over to the stall to take a closer look. Her well trained eye could tell that something was off, but she couldn't quite place what it was. Part of the cloud lit up for a moment before fading, and she raised an eyebrow.

"You like it?" A pegasus asked, turning his attention from the customer he had been talking to. "My son made it. He's a unicorn, doing some training in Canterlot. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah, it's surprisingly realistic for a fake."

"Well if I didn't know better I'd say he's still got a bit of the sky magic in him." He grinned, picking up the jar to look at himself. "You know, there haven't been that many that have been able to definitively call it fake. Most of them knew something was up, but they couldn't quite bring themselves to say that it was fake."

"A bunch of years of weather team does that to ya."

"Oh? Which city?"

"Ponyville." Dash replied. "I'm actually up here on business, but the weather factory's a little busy apparently."

"I've heard." He agreed. "Anyway, if you're interested, I'll call it twenty bits for this thing."

"Really?" Dash asked, surprised. "That's a little cheap, don't you think?"

"Trying to charge yourself more?" He chuckled. "I'll tell you what. Twenty, but next time you come up here you've gotta come look again. If you can't tell that it's fake, you have to buy another for forty."

Dash laughed. "If it's indistinguishable, I'll take forty any day." She handed over the bits, taking the jar from the vendor. She finally had that little cloud that Mac wanted her to stick on her desk. Funny how after she'd told him it was impossible, somepony made it anyway. This was magic, and didn't follow the same rules, but still. She couldn't wait to show him.

Having made her purchase, the mare continued to walk around aimlessly. She scanned the stalls for anything else of interest before turning back towards her hotel. She could call Mac, then grab dinner and find some part of the Canterlot night life to take part in, without alcohol, before tomorrow. Then it was back to Ponyville to start running her empire. Dash grinned. Man, she loved how that sounded.

"Okay, Mac. Yer not off to a great start here, buddy." He paced back and forth, trying to get his thinking done in a burst as he had earlier. "Got the vast majority of the apples done, so that's good." Images of Dash flashed through his head, and he felt like his entire body was going to catch on fire with the burn that started up whenever he thought of her. He'd never done drugs, and he'd probably used this analogy a million times in his head, but he felt like an addict that was going cold turkey. Every fibre of his being wanted Dash so badly he could hardly even think about anything else.

Mac shut his eyes tightly, trying to bring something, anything else into his mind. This was getting to be too much, and he felt like he was going insane. His attempted thinking session had lasted maybe a minute, and now he couldn't get himself straight again.

"Fuck!" He exclaimed, swinging a hoof into a hay bale with enough force to send it sliding across the barn. "Why'd you have to leave me alone, Dash?!"

Mac took some deep breaths, wiping a frustrated tear from his eye. He sat down, pushing his back up against a hay bale and getting to work. Maybe he could bring the heat down, just a bit. Then things would seem clearer.

He touched a hoof to his member, pleasure surging through him, even with the lacking contact. He groaned, beginning to stroke his length slowly. As soon as he got to the head on his first stroke he gasped, an orgasm sneaking up on him out of nowhere. Seed hit him in the chest, but he couldn't care less. Mac reveled in the brief but sweet relief as he came down, pondering the intensity of the things he was feeling. Those thoughts got lost as he started paying attention to his marehood as well.

It only took a few rubs, heat pushing him too close to the edge over the past few hours to be able to last more than a few short seconds. Every muscle in his body was alight with pleasure as he refused to give pause to his movements. The orgasms distanced themselves, but Mac was too busy reaping one of the few benefits of heat that he had kept himself from for far too long. He was just a pulsing, tense body on the floor. He wasn't sure if he was making noise or not, but he didn't care.

Pleasure hit him again, and he curled in upon himself a little further. A bit of seed hit him in the cheek, and without thinking he contorted himself a little further, managing to lick the tip of his dick. The soft friction felt incredible, and no voice in his head could dissuade him from the path he was on. He knew that this wasn't something ponies did. That it was weird, and blah blah blah.

Fuck them, he needed this. Mac wrapped a hoof around one of his hind legs, making sure to keep his other rubbing at his pussy, and pulled. His length got a couple inches into his mouth, enough to get him to come once again. Dash took his place in his mind, the fantasy transforming the entire scenario into one he hope'd he'd have in as few as a matter of hours. Nothing was coming out of him anymore, a testament to how quickly he'd spent himself and how little his body cared.

He could faintly taste himself, but taste was hardly registering as a sense he still had. Sight and hearing, both unimportant. The only things now were his own, intoxicating scent, and the unspeakable pleasure it helped drive him to. But where he should have been overjoyed with the feelings now that he finally allowed himself to seize them again, Dash still cut her way through the haze.

She had better get back soon.

"Hello, Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack-"

"Ayyy!" Came Dash's voice from the other end of the line. "I told you I'd call."

"Yeah, how'd the Weather Board go?" Applejack asked.

"Friggin awesome!" Came Dash's excited reply. "They didn't even know what to do with me, I've never seen them so shocked. But anyway, now I'm waiting on the Weather Factory. They say they'll take me early tomorrow, and I'll get that all ironed out. It shouldn't take me more than an hour or two."

"Nice."

"So where's Mac?"

Applejack hadn't prepared for this as well as she should have. She almost started to say she didn't know, but stopped herself. That would be a lie. Or was it? She didn't know where in the barn he was. "Ah'm not sure." She answered after a moment. "He was working his heart out earlier this mornin', so he's probably still out there."

There was a pause at the other end of the line, followed by a sigh. "Well, then could you tell him I called? I'll be bored later tonight, so if you want to call back, I can give you the number of the room."

"Ah'm sure he'll be all over it." Applejack replied, getting out the paper and scribbling down the number as the mare gave it to her. "Anything else?"

"Uh... No, I'll just wait until I'm talking to him." Dash admitted, disappointment evident in her voice. "Talk to you later, I guess."

"Sure thing, sugarcube." Applejack finished, hearing the line go dead. She felt bad, guilt weighing heavily on her mind. But worrying Dash wasn't something she wanted to do, especially not around something that had started to replace her Wonderbolts dream. She would be back early tomorrow, and then everything would turn out alright, she hoped. Maybe she should check on Mac again. Applejack looked at the clock, shaking her head in irritation. First she'd get Applebloom from Rarity's, then she'd check on him.

Mac drew in a breath, raising his head from the ground. Had he passed out? He remembered the gist of what was going on, but his memory had ended abruptly. He reached for a bottle of water, drinking the whole thing down. This probably wasn't a thirst thing. He'd probably passed out once before from something related to heat. Excessive pleasure? Was that a thing?

Either way, it worried him. He honestly felt like he might die before he saw Dash again. The burning was already back, and he just wanted it to stop. It wouldn't stop, no matter what he did. He'd gotten so desperate as to suck his own- ugh, he couldn't believe it. The heat was driving him insane, far past the point of any other.

Mac wiped sweat from his brow, trying to fall back asleep or pass out again, or whatever. He didn't let himself move for what seemed like hours, trying to get exhausted enough to allow himself the privilege of skipping part of his heat. All he succeeded in doing was warming up the cool boards beneath his side, making him somehow more uncomfortable.

Finally admitting defeat, he pushed himself over towards one of the coolers, positioning himself under the nozzle. Water splashed out as he pressed the button and he let it spill over his face as it outpaced his drinking. He didn't want to pass out again if he could help it, though he still doubted the last was from thirst. But there wouldn't be a next one, at least. Mac sat up, leaning sideways against a hay bale. The time he'd spent laying still had brought the heat back down into barely manageable levels, and he took note of the relative solace he had in his mind. That almost made it sound bearable. Manageable didn't mean it was bearable.

"Dash..." He muttered, repeating the name now and then. It was something Applejack had told him to do, years ago. Pick a thing, then repeat it a million times to keep his focus when his mind strayed. He thought of their dates, of their time together and how sex was always something tacked on. It was great, but it wasn't what kept him around. Her jokes and jibes replayed in front of him, his imagination placing them right in the middle of the room. They danced and laughed, having a joyous time like they always did.

With the way he was acting, it almost seemed like she had died a few days prior, and he was stuck in mourning. But he might as well have been, at the rate time was moving. He'd been in this barn for an hour and a half. That was it. Sweat dripped into his eye, and he blinked it away. Sleep still wouldn't come to him, and by now his mind had switched from dwelling on the past to plotting.

Every plan was insane by normal standards, a mixture of lust and exhaustion. But even as he tried to coral his thoughts, to think of something that could help him, he couldn't shake one idea. One that had stuck, refusing to go away like this fucking heat. Mac stood, having little decision in what his body wanted by now.

If Dash couldn't get here, he could go to her. And he knew just the mare to help him, the only one that could bend the normal laws of even what magic would allow.

Zecora.

"Zecora! Open up!" Mac hollered, banging at the Zebra's door. It opened a moment later, and Mac walked in. He was still dripping slightly from the pond he'd jumped in, but any relief he'd felt from the cool water was long gone.

"What's wrong, Macintosh?" She asked, worry in her voice. That was no surprise.

"I need to get to Dash, right now. Immediately." He tapped his imaginary watch to make it absolutely clear. Everything was getting unbearable, and if he didn't get out of here soon he was at risk of completely breaking down in front of his friend. Not an emotional breakdown, like, ignoring heat too long breakdown.

Zecora nodded, gesturing for him to take a seat. Mac obliged, making sure to keep his arms between her and his lower body. She sprinkled some sort of herb on tea, pouring out two cups and pushing one towards him. "Drink. You look tired."

Yeah, of course he was, but did he have time for this? Zecora's look told him she wasn't accepting any compromises. He took a sip, realized it probably wouldn't burn him, and gulped the whole thing down. It bubbled in his stomach for a moment, before his heat cooled ever so slightly. He let himself take a breath. "Thanks."

"You never told me you had heats, Mac." Zecora said.

Mac really didn't care if she knew at this point. With their long friendship, it was bound to happen eventually. And he smelled like a mare in heat, and that was a hard smell to mistake. "Well, Ah do." The words were hard to say, and he felt his face heat up a little more.

"So Dash is away, and you're burning up without her?" The zebra clarified. Mac blushed and nodded, and she put a hoof to her chin in thought.

"Ah don't know what ya can do with those potions uh yers, but ah was hopin' for wings."

Zecora nodded, still thinking. "I'll tell you what. I'll make your potion, and we'll call it a favor. You've helped me out a lot as it is." She started hurriedly mixing ingredients, throwing a bunch into a little pot, which she put into the fire. Mac watched her intently, his heat back to the barely manageable state it had been in before. He started to let his eyes drift to Zecora's backside, but he looked away.

He could totally pin her. Shut up. Fuck. He put his head in his hooves, trying to forget the thoughts that had run through it. He was so far gone.

Zecora set a filled vial to the side along with the small bowl, still adding ingredients to the other one.

His top hat probably smelled like Dash. Would that help? It'd probably make things worse. The way Zecora was working over there made him think that she was working on a cure for cancer. Maybe she was going to drug him, realizing he was as out of control as he knew he probably was. It wouldn't surprise him, after all he was basically drunk on hormones. He was barely even a pony anymore, and hurtling quickly towards total animal. At least Dash couldn't see him like this. At least she hadn't when she'd found out about what he'd hidden from her.

"Mac!" Zecora exclaimed, pushing at his shoulder. He sat up, looking from the same spot at the table. "You fell asleep."

"Oh." He said, still not comprehending how he couldn't notice. Two little bottles were laid out across the table. "What are those."

"Well this one," Zecora began, gesturing to the one on his right, "is a potion to give you wings, so that you can see Dash. You'll have to use a petal if you're going to get them without training. I have that just under the cork. Oh, and it'll hurt. Immensely. This other one is the primer, that you absolutely need to take a half hour before the main one, or else it will kill you. And you'll never see Dash again, got it?"

"Yeah." Mac replied, reaching for them. Zecora pulled the wings one away, though he currently had enough presence of mind to know which was a better choice. He pulled the cork out, hurriedly dumping it all into his mouth. It felt thick, but seemed to go down easily enough.

"Alright. These things are shaky, so wait at least an hour before you move on. It could take longer to work."

A whole hour? Damn. Zecora showed him the door, and he walked out. "Thanks."

She nodded. "You're very welcome."

Mac walked the entire way back to the Acres, finally feeling drowsy. It was probably only about three in the afternoon, so he was waiting until at least four. He trudged slowly over the rolling hills and between the trees, walking past the hole he'd ripped in the side of the barn to get out. The doors had been barred, and he'd been desperate. He'd fix it next week.

"Mac?!" Applejack yelled, running up to him. "Oh god, Ah was so worried! Where have you been?" She'd deny him to the grave, but he could tell she'd shed some tears.

"Ah couldn't handle heat, so Ah went to see if Zecora had anything to help."

Most anger he could see in her face vanished, and she noticed the potion in his hoof. "So she did?"

"Yeah." He replied shortly. His fur was just about dry by now, letting the heat come back full force. But he was just so tired... "Ah gotta get to sleep, first. In mah own bed."

Applejack thought for a moment, before stepping aside. "Go ahead. Applebloom should be working on homework in her room, but Ah'll go in first just in case. She trotted off, disappearing into the house several moments before he got there. A hoof beckoned him inside, and he barely stumbled into his room and got the potion and its empty companion on the bedside table before he passed out.

Mac awoke in a daze, feeling like he had slept for days. He half expected to see himself in a hospital room, with Dash hanging over him. But she wasn't, and it was light outside, so it must've just been overnight. That was still twelve or so hours at least, which given his apparent level of exhaustion seemed right.

He stared up at the little hanging stars, currently dormant, wondering how Dash worried that she wasn't doing enough in their relationship. The answer would probably always elude him.

"Wait..." He mumbled to himself, sliding a hoof tentatively down his stomach under the covers. He didn't feel heated, and as soon as his hoof passed the point where he knew he would have hit his length, he knew he wasn't. Mac pushed himself up, pulling the potion from his night table. He'd seriously asked for this. He turned it around in his hoof, noticing writing scrawled onto the back.

"You've got twelve or so hours." It read. "I'm not sure what something stronger would do, but I couldn't do nothing. Enjoy your day off."

Mac shook his head, chuckling. He didn't know what was in this potion, but he doubted it was the real deal. Zecora knew he wouldn't have a chance to drink it. The stallion placed both vials into a drawer in his bedside table, pushing it closed. He supposed he'd have to ask about it later.

He rose, stretching out his sore muscles. He remembered most of what he had done while under the control of heat, and he couldn't be happier to stave it off for even a little while. Dash should be back in the morning, and he would have her to help. He could only fantasize about how good her body under his would feel after what felt like centuries. He may not have been in heat at the moment, but the feeling of need for Dash had stayed, to an extent.

Mac looked at the clock, surprised to see it was three thirty. It was light outside, so had he slept for over a day? Did the twelve hours start now? He shrugged to himself, walking into the kitchen with a telling grumble in his stomach. He wasn't sure if he had eaten food today. Or yesterday? Whatever one had the heat in it.

"Yer up already?" Applejack asked over a sandwich, looking astonished.

"Is that sarcasm?" Mac asked, still slightly groggy.

"What?"

He paused. "How long was Ah asleep?"

Applejack looked at the clock. "Maybe thirty, forty minutes?"

Must've been the potion, then. "Well, okay." He gave her a tired grin. Maybe he could use a little more rest. "Ah guess Zecora's potion worked."

"Yer feeling better?" Applejack inquired, looking like she didn't quite believe him.

"So much better." He replied. "You can't even believe. The bottle said it'd last twelve hours, so Ah should be able to wait until Dash comes back."

"It's nice to see ya in a better state than this morning." Applejack said. "Ah was seriously worried there, didn't know what a were going ta do."

"Ah suppose Ah was a little out of my mind." Mac admitted. "More than the usual." He walked over to the calendar, hanging from the wall. "And now that Ah'm all here, and rememberin' mah responsibilities, Ah can meet with the pony from Manehattan as planned."

"Mac, ya don't have to if ya don't think yer up to it." Applejack replied, nervousness evident in her voice.

"Look, sis, it'll be fine. Ah was going ta do it anyway, and this thing is workin' like a charm."

"Yeah, but Ah'm worried it'll stop in the middle, and he'll know." She replied.

"Know what?" Applebloom asked, walking into the room.

"Our business tactics." Mac replied, reaching out with a hoof to playfully push her a little. "Ya snoopin on our strategies?" He asked, slightly worried that she'd heard more than just the last two words.

"No!" She vehemently denied, shaking her head for good measure. "Ah just came down here to ask about a math question."

"Good." Mac replied, rubbing his hooves together evilly. He looked at the foal, who was getting slightly nervous under his gaze, before grabbing her by a hoof and pulling her over to him. He pushed a hoof into her tummy, chuckling as she burst into laugher, trying to squirm from his grasp.

"Ack! Stop!" She yelled in between laughs, as Mac continued to torture her.

"You've already heard too much!" He replied with a laugh of his own, tickling her a few more seconds before he let her go. She stumbled a few paces away, letting out a few residual giggles. "So anyway, ya had a math question?"

"And you're thinking I take sixty?" The suited pony asked. "You're insane. I'm the one here making the deal."

"Ah think yer going to be a little regretful in a few months when we're still operating under yer contract, and Manehattan's population wants more apples, Glow."

"Yeah, well there's no way I can make a jump like that from last year."

"Ah would say that the free market's telling you to, or someone else will." Mac replied, shrugging. "It's up to you, but Ah've got to sell the surplus somewhere."

"You're not implying you'll help my competition, are you?"

"You got first crack with us, as ya usually do Glow. But we've got to stay afloat ourselves, and Ah can't have apples rotting in the barn."

"And what if Manehattan crashes, and Equestria has another recession? What then?" He asked, throwing his hooves up into the air. "It's a miracle I didn't get burned by the last one."

"Ah suppose ya have a point, but we're dealin' in commodities here. Yer only concern should be that the economy of Manehattan expands slightly over the next fiscal year. And you've seen the quarterly numbers from companies based there."

"It could be another bubble."

"In what, Glow?"

"I don't know, energy?" He sighed, thinking. "Look, I can do fifty five grand, I think. I'll have to expand the transportation branch a bit, but it's not too much expansion too quickly."

He could move five grand somewhere else. "Ah think Ah can push a few more into Canterlot to make the difference." Mac offered, extending his hoof. Glow took it after a moment, and shook.

"I'll have the contract faxed through to you in a few days, and we'll haggle over anything else then. Expect a long phone call."

"Sounds good." Mac replied. "Pleasure doin' business with ya."

Glow nodded, pulling a heavy bag of bits from his briefcase and tossing it on the table. "This should cover any advance I need. I know you enjoy a physical paycheck. I'm wiring the next ones, though."

"Yeah, our little tradition's gotten heavy over the years." Mac pointed out with a laugh.

"Well, getting back should be easier, at least." He turned to leave. "See you later, Mac."

Mac bid his goodbyes, waiting until the stallion had left before hurriedly pulling the phone off the wall and dialing the number Applejack had written on a post-it. The phone only rang twice before it was picked up. "Hello?" Came Dash's voice from the other end of the line.

"Hey, Dash." Mac grinned, happy to hear her voice from somewhere besides inside his own head. "How'd the Weather Board go?"

"Alright." She said shortly. "After I showed them the license they had trouble arguing with me. I'm sure they're mad, but I mean come on. They can't do that much. I've just got to contract with the factory tomorrow, then it's back to Ponyville with me." She paused. "What about you?"

"Ah'm doin' okay." Mac offered, not sure what information he should offer up. He looked around warily, finding no one. Applejack had taken Applebloom out to dinner so that he had the quiet house to himself, but he still worried that they would come back early. He sighed. "Well, actually, not so good."

"How come?" Dash asked, her worry clear even through the clouds dale static.

"Well, to be frank, Dash, Ah went into heat today." He replied. "For some reason. It was really, really bad, but Ah managed to get a potion from Zecora that negated it for a while. But all Ah'm sayin' is, expect me ta be not all there tomorrah."

"Oh, shoot." Dash mumbled. "That's cool that Zecora knows how to do that, though. I didn't know you knew her."

"Yeah, we've been friends for a while. Guess it never came up." He paused, realizing that he'd never told her. "But in any case, Ah don't want ya to hurry yer meetin' to be with me. Ah'll be sure to sleep in, and ya can arrive whenever."

"I'll be sure to get there early." Dash affirmed. "We'll turn this heat into a lot of fun, alright? You sure you don't want me to fly over there for the night?"

"Nah." Mac replied. It sounded tempting, but he wouldn't be in heat until the morning anyway. "It wouldn't do a lot of good, and yer business there is far more important. The sole reason of me tellin' ya any of this is just ta give ya advance warnin'. Ah didn't want ta just throw it on ya when ya get back, and if there's anythin' more pressing that ya have ta do, do that first."

"And leave you hanging?" Dash asked. "I don't think so. I'll be over as soon as I can, and trust me, we'll kill that heat dead."

Mac grinned, shaking his head at her stubbornness. "Fine. Ah'll be looking forward to it."

"You better." Dash laughed. "Anyway, I'm glad you called now, because I was just about to get in bed to try to fall asleep early. So probably a couple hours of reality television and I'll be brain-dead enough."

"Ah've heard that one with the housewives and mobsters or whatever is a real rag." Mac offered.

Dash yawned. "Yeah, well I guess I'll see if they have a channel guide somewhere. It's the season of that one sport in the Griffin Empire that's pretty cool and totally complicated. Way better than hoofball." She laughed. "Anyway, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Don't go insane without me."

"Love ya."

"Love you too." The line went dead after a second or two, and Mac stuck the phone back on the hook. He started making himself dinner, wondering if his heat would come back as bad as it had been before. He hoped not, but it wouldn't matter. As soon as Dash was there, it would just dissolve. It may not have been exactly how nature intended heat to work, but it would do.

He did wonder what it would be like to have sex as a mare, though. Especially this morning, for obvious reasons. He wasn't sure if virginity mattered after he had sex with Dash, but technically that part of him was. Eh, that was really semantics. He didn't care. Dash said she felt full, content even when they weren't moving much. Maybe that was just her, and it varied greatly from mare to mare, but he couldn't ignore the fact that he was curious.

Well, it wasn't like he needed to make a decision anytime soon. Dash had already gone after him with her tongue and that had felt insanely good. Everything with her always felt like heaven, and he couldn't say he wasn't excited to see what happened tomorrow. Should he save himself, keep himself occupied with something else until she got there? It sounded nice, especially since he'd have something saved up.

Mac grimaced, grabbing his finished sandwich and retreating quickly into his room. Zecora's potion was good, but it wasn't keeping him away from his sexual thoughts as much as he would have liked. Or maybe that was just him being excited. He grinned, beginning to eat his sandwich in peace as his member and any arousal retreated. Not that there was much compared to heat, but still. He thought more about Dash, remembering his thoughts back in the barn when he was trying not to lose it.

Maybe the best part would be a simple kiss.

Author's Notes:

This chapter jumps around a lot. Usually the segments between the horizontal lines are more than a phone conversation or one thing getting purchased, but I'm trying to keep some semblance of time in the story here, or the lack thereof in Mac's case, and with the things I want to get to it sort of needed to be set up this way. It's mirroring Mac's scattered mindset, but who knows how it turned out. I can't write the same way forever without getting bored. When Dash returns, it'll quickly go back to the original style. If any of you were english teachers you could extrapolate a million themes from this that I maybe put in there subconsciously, then write the sort of essays that made me want to write narrative in the first place. Just like a real english class.

it autocorrected ponyville to poonyvile lol. Hopefully it didn't do that a whole lot without me noticing.