"Can't be more than a few hours, now." Mac mumbled to himself, wiping sweat from his forehead. He let his head fall backwards, resting on the top of a hay bale. Heat was back, and as bad as it had been. But he'd prepared, made sure he was hydrated and full, and it seemed much more manageable.

"To me you're like a healthy addiction I can't deny," the radio said, blasting music in an attempt for him to block out all other thought. "Won't you tell me if that's healthy baby?"

He shook his head, annoyed at the song for reminding him of Dash. He smacked his hoof into it, changing the station.

"-here in the Canterlot area on the seventeenth of May, Creekside Amphitheater." Some music played from the band they were advertising, fading out quickly as the ad ended.

"And now, another half-hour of non-stop classic rock, only on eighty-seven nine, The Bone." Guitar started to play, far too complicated for hooves to play. It was either magic, or it was- singing started, and Mac knew it was one of those griffin bands that had started to become popular. Ponies usually created interesting stuff, but the amount of control some of those griffins could have over a guitar with talons was insane. He started humming along to the guitar riff, having to concentrate quite a bit to fit in every note. He tapped his hooves to the notes, wondering how the solo hit them so quickly, and kept its time. All Mac could do with a guitar was singular notes at what he thought was a modest rate.

"And says at last just as the time bell rings, 'goodnight, now it's time to go home'..."

He wished he could play guitar like that, or at least give talons a shot to see how they felt. He was so into the thought that he hardly noticed when the next song started, breaking him out of his trance with a flurry of sound effects, leading suddenly into a slow beat. It was completely different from the other song, but somehow complimented it. He recognized the band as one that he had been a fan of for quite some time. Their songs layered in such a way that it seemed like the audio version of art. "Look around, choose your own ground..." it sang, putting him back into thought. He wondered what types of music Dash listened to.

He half hoped it wasn't too much pop, but he couldn't say he really cared. She seemed like she would enjoy anything with a fast beat, though he struggled to narrow it down more than that. Probably rock, but he couldn't be sure. He wanted to dance with her. Maybe more than he wanted to have sex. He was lying to himself. But he still wanted to dance. He wanted to blast music and be able to do something with it.

"And balanced on the biggest wave, you race towards an early grave."

The plan that he had toted as easy was getting harder to pull off. So far today, he'd gotten up, showered the sweat away, eaten a big breakfast quickly and came out here. He had at no point broken his self control to touch himself. That might have been a silly creed to stick to, because he felt like he was going to catch on fire.

"Oh god, Dash," he mumbled, "prove your speed."

"Back already?" The pony behind the front desk asked, grinning. "You're early."

"I figured if they could take me early, I'd be here." Dash replied, shrugging. "I'm not doing anything else in Cloudsdale, and I'd much rather be back home sooner."

He nodded. "I'll put in a message for them." He pushed an intercom button. "Sir, Rainbow Dash is here to see you, if you'll have her early." He paused, waiting for an immediate response that didn't come. "Hey, you said you were Ponyville weather, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Dash asked, surprised he knew, or remembered that she'd said it. Had she told him?

He tossed her a rolled up paper, which she caught. "Because you made the front page in the Cloudsdale Tribune."

Dash didn't reply, too busy unrolling the paper. As she revealed the front page, her jaw dropped a little. She wasn't front and center, but a still rather sizable portion of the page featured her likeness, looking like she was about halfway through her address to the Board. The picture showed a calm, collected version of her, part of the way through dropping some fact or another. "I didn't know they had press in there."

"Yeah, since like three or four months ago. It's still kind of new." A transmission came back through his intercom. "They'll see you now, if you're ready. Just take the elevator to the top."

"Sounds good." She said airily, her mind swirling with a million thoughts now, none of them on the contract she had to negotiate. She called the elevator, stepping on as the doors opened a couple seconds later and pressing the button. It rose quickly, depositing her at the top floor much faster than she had expected and giving her no time to think.

Dash walked into what seemed to be basically the clichéd office from movies, with a big window behind a big desk. At least he wasn't silhouetted against it, looking out menacingly in a chair that was mostly turned around. He was just working and looking tired.

"Thanks for taking me early." Dash offered, taking a seat as he offered her one.

"It's no problem. Storm, pleased to meet you." He stretched his hoof out, and Dash shook it.

"Pleased to meet you too."

He grinned and nodded. "I'm happy to take you early, especially since I'm trying to get out of here early on this fine friday afternoon. As a weather mare yourself I'm sure you know that our work does end at some point."

"I do." Dash replied. "I suppose you have quotas for cloud manufacturing like we do for storms."

"In a sense." He agreed, folding his hooves on his desk and giving her his full attention. "Normally, I'm sure you're used to a larger board table, right?"

"Yeah." Dash admitted, looking around. "It's somewhat weird dealing with the big boss without everypony else."

"Well after the Manehattan debacle I gave them the day off. I figured that Ponyville weather wouldn't be hard to deal with, and judging by the paper today I made a good decision."

Woah, he was taking shots at the Weather Board too? "I'm surprised you'd say that."

He chuckled. "Well, I'm assuming you have a good idea what you want, and I don't have to deal with a bunch of Weather Board ponies here that don't understand that it's easier to make regular clouds and form a rainstorm than make rainclouds and try to move those. I waste a lot of wage money paying ponies to move their crap around."

"Right?!" Dash exclaimed, before grimacing and calming down.

He chuckled, but his face quickly hardened. "A little advice?"

"Sure." She replied.

"Between you and me, I wouldn't pull another stunt like that."

"What?" She asked, surprised at the sudden shift the conversation had taken. "What stunt?"

"The one with the weather board. You didn't just embarrass them in front of a couple guards, but all of Equestria, eventually. They have egos."

"Yeah, but they don't-"

"Have any power? Sure, not officially. They sent somepony here to try to dissuade this deal. The only reason I still have you up here today is because I know you're right, and if you're successful I'd much rather live in a world without the board. They can't touch me, but you better watch your back. They don't care if you did help save this country or not, and regardless of their cluelessness in politics, they know the bureaucracy like the back of their hoof."

Dash swallowed hard. Just what had she gotten herself into? "Surely you're over exaggerating?" She reasoned, hopeful. They couldn't be that bad.

"Maybe I am. But ponies that find themselves at odds with the Board have encountered several issues with their careers shortly after." He sighed. "So while I don't know what they'll do, rest assured that it'll be something. You'll have an advantage, being who you are, but there's only so much reputation can do. Think about every decision you make and be clever, and you'll do just fine."

"Yeah, that makes me feel great." Dash mumbled, a lump forming in her throat. Just like her to assume that she could get away with something like that.

He patted her on the back, putting her at relative ease. "You'll be fine. Now, as leader of the only independent weather team in Equestria, what clouds do you desire?" This second rapid change in conversation almost gave her whiplash.

Dash took a deep breath, trying to put all her worries aside. "I want to set up a plan with the weather factory to have some number of clouds on hoof, to be taken and paid for as needed. I know you have storage here, and I want to take advantage of that to avoid wasting clouds by letting them hang over Ponyville indefinitely."

"Mhm." He nodded. "And what amount of cloud are you recommending we put you down for?" The version of him that had given her the warning had been replaced by a calm, collected businessman. It made her wonder if she had somehow hallucinated the whole affair.

She collected herself once again. "Well, I'm looking for enough of the higher quality ones to thinly cover about a square mile. Presumably, we won't take it all at once, but it would be there in case of emergency."

The stallion leaned back in his chair, thinking. "I suppose it does make more sense than the previous shipments I was sending, considering the rain clouds the board made us send in the middle of winter last year after a blizzard. However, we can't have those ready for at least a month with spring demand. The other stipulation is that I only want to be held accountable for having all the clouds there with a week's notice."

"Then I want to make sure that at least a third is always up for grabs." Dash rebutted.

"Sounds reasonable." He paused, stuck in thought. "You'll pay full price for the clouds?"

"Mass produced?" Dash queried. "They're fancy clouds, but they aren't hoof made. Ninety percent for buying bulk and convenience of not wanting them right away."

Storm pulled a file out of a drawer on his desk, flipping through the papers inside. "I'll give you ninety two with no returns."

Like she would accidentally withdraw them. She wondered if he was going soft on her because he wanted her to have every advantage she could. "Deal."

The stallion grinned, stopping a recorder that she hadn't noticed he'd turned on. "I'll have my secretary write it up, and have you out of here in no time." He tossed it into a tube in the wall, and it was whisked away. He returned with an ornate bottle of hard liquor, pouring a bit in two ornate glasses with ornate ice cubes. "I know it's early, but no one has to know. I like to end any of these things with a toast, especially since I already have the office of those crazy businessmen from movies. I may as well fit the part. To freedom."

Dash chuckled, bumping her glass off of his. He'd put maybe half a shot in there, aiming for moderation. It went down smooth, leaving her with a slight burning sensation as it settled. Out of her few forays into the world of hard alcohol, this had probably been the best. And she needed it.

"I'm enjoying this low-key contract thing." She said, not getting all the feeling she wanted into the comment. What a surprise.

He shrugged. "Like I said, long week. I want to get home like you, and don't take this as an insult, but Ponyville is small fry stuff."

Dash laughed. It sounded somewhat hearty. "Yeah, I get it, but still."

"We'll give this a shot. If something goes horribly wrong, we'll correct for it next time. That's capitalism after all."

"Coming from a guy that's got heavy ties to the government." She chuckled. That one was real.

He shook his head. "I try to act like the tax money we get is from satisfied customers. In any case, you can wait in the lobby downstairs for a few minutes until my secretary has that stuff ready. Read it first, obviously."

"I know." Dash replied. "I may be new to the self-negotiating of these things, but I've had to sign other things before."

"Just making sure." He affirmed. "You wouldn't believe the number of ponies that just sign things without reading them nowadays."

The blue mare nodded, leaving her glass on his desk and taking her leave. As the elevator started to move back down, her thoughts immediately turned to Mac. A second wave of nervousness shot thought her, the bit of alcohol suddenly feeling uncomfortable. It was still pretty early, though, surely he hadn't been up that long, right? But maybe with it being as bad as he had said, it didn't need to be that long. He was probably in a living hell waiting for her. Being in a relationship made it worse, at least when she couldn't be there. Heat was one of the reasons a lot of long-distance relationships broke up, though Dash had always attributed those to a lack of self control.

At least she had another thing to think about. Dash stepped from the elevator, picking a chair in the lobby. Then her train of thought started moving again.

Her heats had never been seriously unbearable. She didn't become animalistic, and to her knowledge nopony really did. The craving was definitely there, but most times it was ignorable. Working was out of the question because wind would start to feel sensual, and even ignoring the rest of the awkwardness of heat that would be a dangerous distraction. And stallions tempted her a little too much for her liking.

Using heat as an excuse for cheating, however, seemed low. She was glad that nopony she knew had used it, because she would've been obligated to go smack some reason back into them. It made no sense, cheating. She couldn't fathom the logic for not just dumping the partner if something wasn't working out, then getting with the new one. Maybe she couldn't accurately put herself in their shoes, but whatever. There weren't many worse things you could do to a pony, except like murder and stuff. But emotionally that was probably the worst.

Dash paused her thoughts, wondering how she had gotten so far from Mac. Oh, heat not being that bad. Yeah. Mac complaining meant something. He'd probably walk back into the house with an arrow through him, mention it, then go pull it out somewhere by himself. So it must be bad. That left her with the obvious plan of how to deal with it. He wasn't going to get rid of it himself, or he wouldn't have mentioned it in the first place.

The immediate solution that came to mind was break out the toy she'd bought, and give it a few test runs. Don't visualize that, Dash. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing the vision out of her mind before it could begin. The problem with that plan was, it left her with a serious moral catch. If she were looking from a pragmatic viewpoint, then her best option would be to use the toy, and make it feel as much like a stallion as she could. That would knock his heat down a notch. But she also wanted to make it something he would remember as sensual and gentle, and more importantly she wanted him to agree to do it of his own will.

He had said in the past that his male parts had always seemed to calm him a little more. So maybe they could go crazy, and when he got it out of his system, they could knock it out the rest of the way. His answer would be from his head, and they could have a little fun with it. She could presume that if heat went as nature intended, it was quite an exciting experience.

Hopefully he was still asleep, but she knew how heat had a nasty habit of destroying her sleep schedule. If anything like that happened to Mac, then he was in for a bad time. She presumed he was already awake if Zecora's potion had worn off, and may had been for a few hours. Come to think of it, why hadn't he told her about Zecora? She was not a mare to pry, but it seemed strange that he wouldn't if they knew each other so well.

Dash shook her head. He hadn't mentioned Bonbon or Caramel for quite a while either, and that didn't mean anything. If he'd known her for a while and they were together, then she was pretty sure that he would've been sharing the heat she'd found him out in with her. Mac didn't seem secretive with his personal life, and honestly she couldn't find any reason to doubt the things he said. He probably viewed lying as a waste of oxygen. Anyway, with that pointless worry out of her head, she could continue onto what she'd been thinking.

So assuming the potion wore off, she needed an attack plan. She'd taken a shower this morning, so she was as clean as she was going to get for the time being. Not like it mattered, but she wanted to look good when he saw her again. Dash tapped a hoof to her chin, thinking as objectively as possible. She'd drop off the gift she bought here in her house and get some good food, check on Tank, and run documents down to the weather office to copy and lock up. She'd make sure to have a saddlebag with his gift from Canterlot as well, and not pull out the contents of that side in the office. It would probably be lunchtime by then, so she'd bring Mac something from The Hole in the Map. A sandwich or something that didn't need to be hot. She'd leave her saddlebag outside in a sunspot to warm up, so that she could make the experience as real as possible.

But if she couldn't knock out his heat well enough, she may end up there for a large portion of her day. She was fine with that on the one hoof, but if the weather demanded storms and showers it would be hard to juggle both. Hopefully she could either get a break with the weather or sate Mac well enough to leave intermittently. Sort of like his last heat.

That led her into her underlying worry. Those heats were way too close together. Even the most fertile mares had cycles of a month or so, and he'd had a week between this and his last. She was sure Applejack was thinking the same thing. Mac may not have been normal, but this was a little too strange. If he got stuck in a cycle like this, and his next heat started two weeks from now, she wasn't sure how long he could handle that. He had her, sure, but neither of them had that kind of time or that flexible of schedules. Mac and Applejack didn't have that many excuses, and if ponies found out about Mac she wasn't sure what they'd do. There wouldn't be any pitchforks, but it could put them off. She had no idea. But she knew that Mac would be embarrassed. He wouldn't want his face seen for quite a while.

Dash cringed, wishing she wasn't waiting on this contract. Even when it was done, she still had to read it and verify everything, then presumably draft a new one. Hopefully they could agree on everything and she wouldn't have to get the lawyer from the weather office to start sending letters and making phone calls. They had him on a necessity only basis, and something like that would cost a lot. And besides that, waiting on it just made her think about the Weather Board. And if Storm was right, then that just added another thing that she had to-

"Rainbow Dash?" The secretary called out. "They've got it typed up, but it's still a little rough."

She looked at the time, wondering how she'd thought about other things for a whole twenty five minutes. Whatever. She had at least an hour or two of negotiating with the only guy that realized the gravity of the situation she was in. Perhaps more than she did.

At the very least, she had Mac to get back to. She hadn't missed him as much during this trip as she did now. She wanted to feel his embrace, and to scream about the weather board for an hour or two. Hopefully she could at least get the first one.

"Ooooooooooh my gooooooooood." Mac groaned, laying on his back in total discomfort. He sucked down another bottle of water, replenishing the fluids he'd lost in probably the last ten minutes. His member was helpfully showing him the direction of the corner of the ceiling. It pulsated occasionally, refusing to be anything other than painfully erect. He refused to touch it, showing far more self control than he'd thought he had. He wanted to have Dash be the first, to completely lose it at the first touch of her hoof, rather than his own. It was a silly gesture, but it just felt right.

And it wasn't easy. He vividly remembered all the debauchery of yesterday, the things he'd done to get off. It had worked, he supposed, but it still bugged him. And his brain kept trying to remind him that he had all the parts to please himself anyway. There was no way he was ever going to bend his erection, but his mind didn't seem to care about logic.

Sure, he'd thought about stuff like that before. It came with his body, and probably wasn't impossible by any means. He just had to get it in there before he was completely erect, and then figure out how to keep it moving, then he would be-

"Uugh." He groaned, shaking his head. There were some lines he just didn't want to cross. There wasn't any real risk, he couldn't get pregnant anyway, but the concept still weirded him out. A couple more heats like this, though, and he doubted he'd care. Curiosity would get the better of him, and he'd see if it happened to work like it did in his head.

He sat up, careful to avoid stimulating his hindquarters as much as he could. He grabbed a deck of cards that Applejack had left him, clearing an area of straw so he could play unhindered on the floorboards. Mac laid down on his side, flinching as he touched his member to the ground ever so slightly. It pulsed hard, relishing in the brief contact. Luckily he wasn't close enough to come--he'd kept relatively under control--but it threw his thoughts into chaos once again.

Mac fought through the dirty images in his head, carefully laying out the cards. He pulled some strands of hay from the bale, making some card sized rectangles above the area he was setting the cards in. Maybe if he managed to focus on something like this, a real thinking puzzle, he could ignore his heat. If he could just get into the zone, then he would be fine. But getting there was a problem. He assumed that the only efficient way to kill heat besides the obvious was to find himself in life-threatening danger. Survival instincts would take over, right? He wasn't sure, but he didn't feel like almost dying to find out.

He placed down his last card, immediately throwing an ace into one of the imaginary boxes. At least he was off to a good start. He thought for a while before he began the first moves of the game, making small stacks of cards. He started thinking a few moves ahead, watching the cards move around in his head. He hit a dead end, and tried another. He got further than his first attempt, and started moving the cards before he forgot the order.

Freecell had always been his favorite card game, mostly because it didn't rely on luck like solitaire. Everything he dealt had a solution, he just had to find it. The door moved slightly, and his head turned to look at the opening quickly enough to hurt his neck. Some wind whistled through the rafters and he sighed, watching the doors move back an inch as the gust died down. He wondered if he could even get himself inside Dash before he-

"Fuck you, wind." He mumbled, trying to return to his game. For a entire quarter hour he had tuned out the burning in his hindquarters, but now the incessant pulsing of every part of his genitalia begging for some attention had returned with a vengeance. It had been a blissful minute. He tried to return to the game, but found focus eluded him. His heart was beating in his chest, still excited from the brief prospect of Dash being back. His juices were dripping readily across his leg and onto the floor, preparing him at the slightest thought for full-on mating. Whatever loss of blood he'd achieved in his member had erased itself in a fraction of a second, and he was back to feeling shitty.

His eyes drooped. Maybe he could get to sleep. That was better than cards, anyway. Mac leaned against a hay bale, closing his eyes. Dash had better be here when he woke up. His wit was at an end.

Dash sighed, rolling onto her bed. It'd been a while since she'd slept here, she mused. The blue mare stared up at the ceiling, shaking off any residual stress she had over the Weather Board fiasco. She couldn't worry about that yet. Job or no job, she cared about Mac more.

To that end, she'd come back here to get ready. She hopped up, quickly filling Tank's food bowl with lettuce and a couple little gems like raisins he'd find if he ever got to them. He looked at her, blinked, and started to move over to the new food. Dash watched him take a few bites and get bored, beginning to walk off somewhere else. She chucked to herself.

She took out whatever else was in her saddlebag, replacing it with Mac's gift. Or cure, more accurately. She'd already dropped off everything at her office and given ponies instructions, so that was taken care of. They'd run a simple schedule for the rest of the week, and that'd be that. Thunderlane was to tell her if anypony came in, and inform them that she was out sick and he was in command. If the Weather Board was after her, that would at least throw them off her trail that much. He'd tell them that she was at her coltfriend's house because she didn't feel like she could fly home, and Applejack would do the rest. She'd already talked to the mare to make sure her plan was airtight, and she'd call in sick tomorrow so it was in writing. She doubted that they would be so blatant as to come by today. If Mac thought he could handle heat over the course of the day, she would continue going to work, but save herself from flying around. Frankly, she needed to save as much energy for this as possible.

"Okay." She said, clapping her front hooves together. She had the thing, now what else? Dash opened her refrigerator, quickly cleaning out some of the food that was close to expiring. A lot of water followed that down. She wanted to make sure she could handle the stamina that came with heat, and getting dehydrated or hungry were great ways to fail at that job.

Dash threw some granola bars in her saddlebag along with a water bottle, trotting upstairs to grab a bottle of lube. She'd basically never used it, but it'd come with something she'd bought at some point. She'd make sure to get a little extra lubrication in there in case she wasn't otherwise ready. She didn't need much foreplay at all, but none was probably stretching it. Mac would probably get on top of her pretty fast.

She had butterflies in her stomach for a new reason now. It'd been a day and a half since she'd seen Mac, and she was ecstatic at the thought of their intimate contact resuming. She just hoped he wasn't completely out of his mind. If he was, then she could never proceed with the rest of the plan in good faith. It just wasn't right. Dash made sure the reservoir of her toy was full, making a mental note to remember to leave it in the sun to heat up. It was a warm day, but definitely not warm enough to cause any damage or melt it.

She threw the saddlebag over her back, allowing herself a grin. In five or so minutes, she'd get a pretty nice vacation from all of this stress. The mere thought made all the butterflies fall silent.

"Mac, you still here?" Mac heard, rousing him from his stupor. He'd managed a comatose state where he had become completely oblivious to the world around him, a floating consciousness in a sea of indifference. Or so he'd thought. He'd managed to get his dick down, at least. That was an incredible feat.

"Dammit Applejack, yes!" He hollered back, figuring it had to be her. She was coming in through the side he'd messed up, and he figured that Dash would go through the front. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye, turning to find Dash. He looked... well, not good, as it was. Mac stared at her, his eyes going wide for a moment before he looked away. His erection surged as he panicked, grabbing a bottle of water in his hoof and chugging it down. He was probably just dehydrated, and he didn't want to get his hopes up. At least the momentary panic killed off his arousal at the source.

"What is it? Just a checkup?" He asked, gesturing to himself. "Because Ah'm still here." Please don't be Applejack...

"Huh?" Dash asked. "What're you talking about? Why's that wall broken?"

"Wait, Dash?" Mac asked, excitedly getting to his feet as he hoped for the best. "Fer real?" He held himself back as best he could, just in case. It didn't stop his member from reaching full extension in a couple of seconds. Dash stared at it for a moment. It pulsed, reminding him he hadn't gotten off yet today. He was right back to being hopelessly close to the edge.

"Yeah." She replied, confused. "I don't get it."

He wrapped her up into his arms before she could react, hugging her like he had thought she was dead. "Ah hallucinated that you were back earlier when Ah got dehydrated, but it was mah sister." He explained. "Ah didn't want ta get mah hopes up, so Ah assumed it was the same thing." He sighed, laughing. "Oh man, ya can't begin to understand how much Ah've missed ya."

"I've got a bit of an idea." Dash replied with a grin, pushing him away just enough to kiss him. He tried briefly to be sensual and slow, but quickly lost the bit of self control keeping him there. He pushed her back a foot or so, pinning her against a stack of hay bales and kissing her for all he was worth. The full effect of his heat was back beating down on him as if it had never left. He was so close to the edge, pleasurable feelings spiking through his hips despite the lack of stimulation. Mac pushed her lips harder against his, the need to ram himself inside her somehow getting eclipsed by the idea of a simple kiss. His hips jerked, trying to hump something, anything. Pleasure kept building between his legs, but he knew it would at least wait for him to start.

Dash's tongue danced inside his mouth, and Mac realized far too late that he wouldn't even need stimulation. He pulled away and staggered back a step, trying to figure out how he was going to avoid wasting something he'd been holding himself back for this entire day. Dash came down to her hooves from the hay bale stack, looking surprised that he'd stopped and just in time for Mac to groan and hit the ground with a blob of seed. He saw Dash with a twinkle in her eye just before he pulsed again, her body slipping between his forelegs and wet lips sliding up his member. That perked him up, forcing his eyes wide open with the sudden massive increase in pleasure.

He pushed her further down his length with a hoof, his hips spasming as his body finally released all of its pent up energy in one long, pleasurable burst. Mac jerked hard and tipped, barely feeling himself hit the ground. Dash somehow stayed with him, making sure the orgasm that he'd saved for her didn't go to waste.

Dash pulled her mouth away, wondering if heat had changed the taste of his seed or if it'd just been her imagination. Mac mumbled something unintelligible as his mind tried to reboot. Dash was soaked and she could hardly think straight. That had probably been the hottest thing she'd ever seen, having a stallion come without any sexual contact, and so violently too. Apparently the lube had been pointless.

Mac sat up, looking down at his member which was still hard. He tried to laugh, but his voice cracked. "Ah wanted that ta be inside ya." He confessed. "Ah know ya like that and Ah figured Ah'd be shootin' blanks pretty quick today. Sorry."

"You're apologizing to me?" Dash asked, shocked. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here earlier." She turned around, laying her front half against the ground and flagging her tail to show me just how wet she was. She winked, and Mac's member twitched in response. Dash grinned, watching some of his juices drip from his balls as he stood up. That'd get its turn too, she declared in her head. "Now come on, let's kill that heat."

"Why the wait, Mac?" She asked, humming as he settled his chest atop her shoulders. It felt nice.

He was breathing heavily already, still continuing his slow movements. "Ah want ta get inside ya before Ah come again."

Dash winked again, kissing the tip of his length. He shuddered for a couple seconds, but apparently kept himself from coming. Oh god this was the hottest thing.

"Ah'm tryin to save somethin' for ya, but yer not helpin'." He replied gruffly, as she felt heat from his member near her opening for a second attempt. She winked again, the suspense driving him insane. Probably her too. Mac looked backwards, trying to gage how well he was lined up before he began moving forwards rather quickly. He hit her soaked flesh, made an adjustment, and filled her in one succinct thrust. She was so much wetter, tighter... better than he remembered.

Dash gasped, her sounds of pleasure completely drowned out by a moan from Mac. There was no effort to make it sound masculine, but before she could think too much about it he was pulling back out, shoving it back in quickly. He was making small thrusts as fast as his body would allow, quivering on her back like mad. His vision was white, pleasure overtaking his entire thought process as he finally released himself into his mare. He came like he'd never come before, his body trying to fill her to the brim even thought it wasn't able to.

He was probably making a lot of noise, but he couldn't care less. He hugged Dash against his chest, shuddering as he finally started to come down. He buried his muzzle into her neck, kissing her gratefully. His heat wan't gone, not by a long shot, but it was probably far better after a matter of only seconds. Dash giggled as he moved a hoof under her, caressing her chest. He laughed, his chuckles growing quickly into all out guffaws.

"What's so funny?" Dash asked, twisting herself around enough to look him in the eye now that he wasn't bearing down on her so heavily. "Forgot what it's like to come inside a mare?" She shifted her hindquarters, making him twitch as he realized he was still inside her. His laugh faltered.

"Maybe a little." Mac admitted, wiping a tear from his eye. "It's just so weird, ya know? And yer acting like it's so normal it's just... funny ta me, Ah guess." He stopped the small thrusts he'd been making without noticing. Maybe it hadn't cured him as much as he'd thought.

"You don't have to stop." Dash reminded. "I know you don't want to."

Mac chuckled, continuing to gently caress her. Sweat worked its way down his forehead, heat filling his body back up with lust and need. He gripped her a little more tightly, wondering if he could squash this heat after all. "Ah don't know how long it'll be."

"Don't worry about it, if we can't kill your heat the old fashioned way..." She grinned, "In your way, I guess, then I've heard of a few tricks." She gasped as he kissed at her neck, pushing himself all the way back inside. He worked his way up to a quick pace, grunting softly into her ear as he worked away. She had missed him, almost forgotten just how full he made her feel. She winked around him, massaging his length and moaning as he stretched her out, speeding up. Her nose picked the scent of his musk out from the aroma of smells that surrounded them, a strong pulse moving through her hindquarters. She wasn't sure if it was the heat or the speed or what but something about this just felt so goooood.

Mac grunted, thrusting against her hard. He shook again, some quiet noises escaping through staggered breathes as new warmth dribbled into her. Her eyes widened as she let out her own moan, his rhythm hardly changed, pausing for a moment before he continued. "You- I know you said you stayed hard, but I didn't know you just- ah!" The seed he'd added had added a bit of viscosity, replacing some of the friction the lube had erased. Dash moaned, feeling it coat her walls completely as Mac fucked her, making sure to leave no place untouched.

"Ah'm sure Ah'll get tired..." He paused, moaning himself. It was so cute when he moaned. "Eventually."

"I wanna see your face, at least." Dash bargained, almost hearing the gears turning in Mac's head as he considered pulling out.

"One sec." He replied huskily, returning to his short, fast strokes. He was keeping his flared head near her entrance, stretching her opening quickly and repeatedly, aiming to push his own pleasure along as fast as possible. It felt far better than she had been expecting and she moaned out her approval, breathing in Mac's increasingly thick musk. She was beginning to lose herself in Mac's heat, and she had no plans on stopping. He came in her once again, waiting until his orgasm was over to carefully turn her onto her back. Maybe five or six seconds tops passed before he replaced his member inside her, and it couldn't have been more than a minute before he was coming again, his member so hard it was stretching her in ways she'd never felt before. Bringing her closer to her own peak.

If this was how heat went, then she couldn't say Mac having one every two weeks would be such a bad thing. She came suddenly and without warning, tightening on his length with a series of short moans. Mac didn't pause his thrusts as he normally did, but merely pushed harder, the continued movement pushing them both towards levels of pleasure that she hadn't known were possible. He nursed her orgasm on, making her whole body tingle for a couple of marvelous moments. Mac slowed down just slightly to make her ending a little smoother, and with a kiss on her lips, he was straight back to his rapid pace.

Heat was a magical thing.

"Dash!" Mac exclaimed, and she opened her eyes, looking into his.

"What?"

Mac sighed, resuming his thrusting. He seemed less in need, but even as he caressed her cheek and went to say something he shook, surely pushing himself over the edge once again. "I thought you'd passed out." He managed to say after a couple tries. His face was more flushed than she'd probably ever see it again.

"I'm no quitter. But that was a good one."

Mac laughed, the sound of a squelch from his backside tempering his response. "The heat's s-still here."

"Did it get- ugh- better?" Dash asked, their semi-casual conversation during his thrusts probably funny in some sense.

"Ah mean, sorta." He replied, tilting his head up in enjoyment as she winked around him. "B-but not really, no. Ah could get this thing under control after a few last time. Now it's not having any of that." He sighed. "Ah've came so much, Dash. How could that not break this thing?"

Dash pushed him off of her, pulling herself off his length. He watched what she was doing, shaking and quietly moaning in what she assumed was another orgasm he'd started by pulling out. "Well honestly I'm not sure. But, you're of relative ease of mind, so I can break out my other trick. She reached through the hole in the wall, grabbing her saddlebag. "Have you ever thought that the reason you aren't breaking the heat is because," she removed the strap-on from her saddlebag, grinning, "we aren't going after the right spot?"

Mac stared at her, shocked. "Uh-"

"Well, what do you think?" She asked, "I spared no expense, making sure it was as close to a stallion without being one as I could. It should fill you up like a stallion too, and if anything kills heat it's a creampie."

"It's not- it's not... real, is it?" He asked.

"No. I mean, it's water. Where would I get real semen?" As if on command, a dollop leaked out of her, hitting the floor with a quiet plop. She shivered delightfully. "Other than from you."

Mac still looked nervous about the whole thing. He looked around, as if there could have been ponies watching. "I want to see it on first." He mumbled.

Dash obliged, pushing one part into her slowly with a moan, making sure it fit well. She was a little loose after the beating she'd had, which she was sure she'd feel tomorrow, but it held on well. Not like loose for her wasn't still tight. And it was still nice and warm from the sun. Dash put the straps on and adjusted them, looking under herself to confirm that it was on right. Seeing a dick there was weird. She pushed it down a few inches, watching it bob back up as she removed her hoof.

Mac was still lost in deliberation about how to treat the thing. "Sit down." He said, and Dash sat. He walked over, looking at the toy. It was quite large, and Dash knew that it wouldn't fit very well inside any normal ponies. But Mac was so big she knew his proportions would take care of the rest. "Yer sure this can fit inside me?" He asked.

"Yeah." Dash said, even though she wasn't, come to think of it. But she was pretty sure.

He blushed hard, thinking for a couple more seconds before turning around and dropping his front. A couple more seconds passed before his tail flagged. His face had achieved a new color of red. "Ah didn't think the first time'd be like this, but Ah guess it's as good as any."

"You'll like it, I promise." Dash said, trying to hop up onto his back. After a few flaps of her wings she maneuvered into place, her member between his legs with her hooves far off the ground. That was about what she'd expected. Mac grabbed a smaller hay bale with her on his back and slid it backwards between his hind legs. Her hooves met ground and she tried to replicate the grip he normally had on her hips. He was big, and her arms didn't go that far around him.

Dash tried a few practice strokes, tapping his member and sliding under his balls every time. She was probably driving him insane. Not eager to waste any more time, she drew her hips back, feeling the toy get stuck between his lips at the entrance to his marehood, and pushed.

It was harder than she'd thought. Maybe she'd overestimated him. Or maybe this was just how tight virgins were. The toy was soaked in his juices, audible winks happening every couple of seconds. She suddenly slid in an inch or two, stopping, and Dash pushed a little harder. A couple more seconds, and she slid home. Mac jerked beneath her. She let out a sigh.

Mac stood up suddenly, almost knocking her off his back. "Damn!" He exclaimed, hopping around a little. "Ah thought Ah wouldn't have that fuckin' thing." He rubbed at one side of his hips, and Dash slapped a hoof against her forehead angrily.

"Of course, just like me to forget that sort of thing in the heat of the moment. I just thought it was tightness." Dash sighed, rubbing her hooves along his sides reassuringly. "But how's it feel, outside of that?"

He grimaced, shaking his head. "That's a crappy way to start sex, isn't it?" He let out a long breath, chuckling. "But Ah guess ya still got ta do it, huh? Happy to be the only mare in Equestria to pop a stallion's cherry?"

"Yeah." Dash replied, still irritated with herself for forgetting something that should have been obvious. There was still some part of her brain that still didn't expect these things from a pony she regarded as a stallion. "I'm surprised you didn't break it doing some work around here or playing with yourself before."

"Ah didn't really want ta use toys." He confessed. "Ah wanted something more real. Seeing as you're controlling this one Ah guess it counts. The doc said Ah ripped it pretty good a while ago, but Ah guess there's still enough left for it to hurt."

"Really though, Mac, how're you feeling?" Dash asked.

"I guess good, now." He paused. "It's still weird, but it's good. I feel really full, and it's so warm."

Dash grinned, glad that he was coming around. "Just wait until we get going. You're going to love it, I promise." She nuzzled into the back of his neck, having to stretch so far to reach. He seemed even bigger from up here.

She adjusted herself several times, trying to find a position that felt more natural. It all seemed weird, not that she was really surprised. It wasn't as if she had instinctual feelings of how this was supposed to go. Not that Mac would know if she was really doing a bad job. Or maybe he would. Eh.

Dash pushed forwards, re-hilting herself. She adjusted again, making a few small movements to test. She moved her hips backwards, cooing at the way the toy played with her clit. Mac groaned underneath her, his winks making the toy harder to move at random intervals and pressing it into the back of her marehood. Dash could feel the movement and forces far more easily than she had expected, glad that she wasn't completely disconnected while using this thing.

"I'm going to do some stuff, and I want you to tell me what you like. I can't feel this out as well as you could so I want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong."

Mac nodded, trying to come to terms with the pleasure from her initial thrusts. She moved a little further onto his back, forcing her thrusts to go a little more downward. Mac moaned out his approval, shaking his hindquarters slightly. Dash doubted he'd have any issues, all things considered, but just in case there was some difference about his body she should know about...

She shifted downwards, aiming her thrusts up. On the first thrust she could tell this side wasn't as smooth. There was some bump that she hit and slid over, earning a surprised sound of pleasure from Mac. It wasn't much, but she could feel enough to know it was there.

"Go faster, Dash." he mumbled, and Dash's concern flew out the window for a moment. She braced and kept the angle, trying to hit Mac in all the places she liked while hitting his own she's just discovered. She dragged the toy close to his clit, his groans evidence that he was really enjoying the treatment.

"What is that I'm hitting in there?" Dash asked breathily, feeling her own pleasure build up as she thrust. The toy wasn't that great at stimulating her, but this whole experience... everything that had happened in the last few hours, made sure she responded readily. "I mean you seem to l-love it and all, but-"

"Ooh!" Mac exclaimed, the sounds of dripping rhythmic with his contractions hitting Dash's eardrums as he shook beneath her. He came the same way, which surprised her a little. She had expected him to have at least a few token differences. Then the realization dawned on her.

"Wait, that's your prostate?" She asked surprised that he'd managed to come from just that. Well, not really considering the heat and all. But either way it wasn't what she had been expecting. His stallionhood was unbelievably sensitive during heat. Maybe that was why Mac had decided it was better for managing the whole thing.

"Dash!" He exclaimed, sounding pained. "Why did you stop?!"

"Oh, sorry." She replied nervously, pulling herself upwards on his back and beginning to thrust again. She'd try to give him an orgasm as close to that of a mare, in case it mattered for the heat. She slowly sped up, getting used to the position and the movements. What stallions did was enjoyable, she thought as she watched Mac groan and moan beneath her, reveling in this new experience. He was beyond his personal issues with this, finally enjoying it for what it was, for how good it felt. She was moving quickly now, using her wings for balance as she repeatedly hit him in one of her favorite spots as roughly as she dared, or what she assumed it to be based on how much he liked it.

Dash nuzzled and kissed his back, vowing to do this face to face next time. They could kiss like they had been before, but she'd be the one in control. Mac moved and the toy jerked inside her, making her eyes roll up into the back of her head for a moment.

"Oh God I'm-" He managed to get out, sounding surprised before he tensed up, torquing the toy inside Dash just enough to send her over the edge. She moaned, trying to continue to thrust, but Mac was too tight. She couldn't get it to move, and the more she thought about that the stronger her orgasm got. There was some humor in the fact that she hadn't even expected to come when she had, being so focused on Mac, but she lost the thought as pleasure filled her mind and refused to leave.

She felt wetness on one of her hooves, and leaned back to look at Mac's rear. He was absolutely soaked, juices dripping down one of his legs and onto her hoof. Even for a mare in heat, this was a lot of-

"Is-" He huffed, shutting his eyes tightly as a bit of pleasure washed over him. "Is that how that feels?" Mac asked breathily, craning his neck to look up at him from the floor. Another ripple of belated pleasure made him spasm. Dash had forgotten about the 'cum' this thing had. "Because this is the most content Ah've felt in a long time." He responded, giving her a tired smile. "Except my neck kinda hurts." He stood up slowly, stretching his front half out. Dash dismounted, and a mixture of his fluids and the warm water spilled out in a little stream.

"It's probably somewhat close, but I'll try to work on finding something more realistic. It's obviously not that liquid-y." she chuckled. "Well, maybe it is for you right now, but not the first time."

"Where're ya goin'?" He asked, grinning at her. "Let's go again."

Dash smiled back, trotting over to crash her muzzle into his. Her faux penis bounced around, and she laughed at what a ridiculous scenario they were in. She supposed it would never not be funny to her. But now as they were kissing, as she tried to replicate the way Mac gently pushed her onto her back and as he humored her hoof, letting it push him gently over, she realized it still felt natural. There was a certain logic to it all, and yet the novelty still aroused her.

Dash laid herself gently on his chest, her head far below his chin. Apparently they'd need to get creative. Dash pushed a hoof against Mac, urging him backwards. He shuffled himself several feet before he hit a hay bale and realized her intentions. He half sat up against it, his curved back in the position allowing Dash to see eye to eye with him again. They kissed slowly and sensually as she used a hoof to guide the toy towards his opening, watching as it winked expectantly. This position was harder for her to work, but the slickness of his passage and Mac's ease towards the act at this point made it easier.

He huffed as it went in, putting a hoof just above his groin as if trying to see if he could feel it. Dash looked at him, licking a hoof and pushing it into his clit as he winked. His balls pulled up as she touched them, trying to ready another load as they held tightly against his body. A hoof went around the back of her head, pulling her into a kiss. Her thrusts were uneven and lacked rhythm, her mind lost in pleasure and the kiss itself. But Mac's moans were insistent, the occasional light slap of his member against his stomach telling of just how aroused he was.

One of Mac's hooves started servicing his dick, gently rubbing it near its medial ring, keeping it happy but away from orgasm. Dash put a hoof on his, making it wet with his own juices and guiding it a little more insistently. The hair trigger he had on everything right now made everything a lot more interesting. Hit him in the prostate and this thing would go off, or aim a little upwards, hit that spot he liked, and push him over that way..

"Dash, Ah-"

"Which one, Mac?" She grinned, watching him try to decide, though her continued assault on just about everything on his body that made him feel good made that impossible. Time went by. "Well?"

"Ah don't know!" He exclaimed with annoyance, his hooves moving down her back and pulling her closer. Her hoof moved quickly along his member, feeling it pulse and jerk, his insides moving with the same impatience. "Just do somethin'!"

"Well..." Dash was breathing heavily from her efforts at this point, moments away from orgasm herself. How stallions did this for longer was a mystery to her. "How about here?" She asked, jerking a hoof hard into his clit. His response, partially formed, resulted in attempts at garbled words. He tightened as Dash shoved in a final thrust, aiming at the part that would set him off the rest of the way. The icing on the cake that made what he was feeling right now so much better than anything she could imagine. It was even better when her stupid plan worked.

"Ahhh!" He yelped, his back arching as he found himself not knowing how to deal with the pleasure. Dash's hoof was still moving on his dick, tendrils of the best feelings reaching into his very mind, the tips of his hooves, everywhere. He lost track of his body and how it was moving, unsure as to whether he'd closed his eyes or just stopped processing input. But he could still feel Dash's hooves, how marvelously full he was. He could feel whatever was left of that warm liquid seeping into his core, leaving exquisite and white-hot pleasure in its place. His dick felt like he was ejaculating gallons, stuck in some sort of loop with the rest of him.

After an eternity the pleasure began to ebb. He relaxed his back and let out a deep breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"Hey there, orgasm man." Dash joked, rubbing his chest affectionately. Her hoof left trails of gentle pleasure wherever it ventured. "That feel good?"

"Too good." He managed after a couple attempts. He felt drunk. Dead tired. "How long was that?"

"I dunno, not that long." She shrugged. "Probably just a couple seconds longer than normal." She pulled out suddenly and he gasped. "I remember giving you a pretty good one in the shower a while ago, but that looked like it was on a whole new level."

"You're a natural." He breathed.

"And you have the aphrodisiacs of heat." She replied, taking off her toy and climbing onto his chest. "It's not hard. I didn't squish a ball this time either."

He chuckled. "I guess that would have killed the mood." He stuck a hoof around her backside, touching her and making her jump.

"Don't tell me you want more." She groaned. "That's hard work."

"I just need to repay the favor. You may not be as easy to drive insane, but I'll find a way."

She watched his eyes droop. "Just try to catch up to me now, stud." She laughed. "There's no turning back, and no relief until this heat lets up. Or maximum relief, as it may be."

He grinned, his heart filling with enough love for her to make a changeling's mouth water. "At this rate, I hope it never ends."

Dash awoke in a daze, sitting up slowly. She put a hoof to her head, a slight headache echoing the ache in her hindquarters. She filled a cup from one of Mac's coolers, making sure she was hydrated. Last night had been something else, so much sex she could hardly believe it. Pangs of nervousness reminded her she had other things to deal with, and as fun as dealing with Mac's heat was, it wasn't something she could devote her entire life to for a week.

She grabbed a piece of paper from a small stack, grinning at another that had been laid aside. It was a drawing of her, and one not half bad at that. Dash scrawled a note on a blank piece of paper, telling Mac why she would be gone and working and leaving an eta for her return. Also info on the sandwich she'd brought that he had never gotten to eat. With any luck work would go quickly today, though she knew that if the Weather Board decided to do anything her time would be stretched thinly. She chewed her lip, wishing she could accurately predict the future.

Oh well. She turned to leave, setting the note next to Mac and giving him a kiss on the cheek. She moved for the exit, taking a few steps before something grabbed her hind hoof.

"Where do ya think yer going?" Mac asked, rising slowly to his hooves. "Leavin' me so soon?"

"Mac, I have to check up on the weather headquarters, you know that."

"Mmm, Ah know that." He pushed his lips against hers, and she relished the contact. "But ya can be a couple minutes late, boss"

Before she could refuse he was mounting her gently, nuzzling against her neck. "Mac..." She protested.

"Ah'll be quick." He whispered, sliding into her as he climbed the rest of the way onto her back in such a fluid motion that it gave her no chance to respond. The majority of his weight rested on her as he started, making sure she was ready before he gave up the ghost. One hoof slid around her chest, just behind her arms, while the other wrapped around in front. Mac wasn't lying when he said he'd be fast, and with a grip like this she was in for a show.

He was off like a rocket, lewd slapping noises filling the room as she shook with the force he was putting into each of his rapid thrusts. He came not even a minute in, clutching her hard against himself. Warmth filled her core, his member stretching her out as it painted her walls. But he didn't stop, trying his best to continue his pace. He lost the ability to be quiet, moaning softly as he worked towards his second.

Dash was beginning to warm back up to the experience, wondering why she had even bothered refusing. Her legs felt wobbly, and she found herself increasingly stuck between working to stay upright and enjoying the pleasure to its full extent. The way his length rubbed against her walls, the greater amount of friction now that she wasn't quite as dripping wet.... It was a new feeling, more intense in some ways. And the speed, the complete lack of control as he humped her. He'd always kept himself there just a little bit last knight, knowing that he had all the time in the world. Now he had mere minutes to tide himself over.

She was fast approaching her climax, amazed at just how fast Mac was pushing her along. He shuddered, whispering to her just how he was going to ravage her when she got back in excruciating detail. His voice was quickly becoming the only thing she could concentrate on other than the pleasure. She tried to stave off her orgasm long enough to allow Mac to come first, but he quickly made her efforts impossible. Or maybe he'd been playing her the whole time.

Dash tightened up, letting out a moan that she hoped nopony would hear. Mac was still going strong, driving her up the wall as he continued to penetrate her. She could only imagine what it felt like, somehow continuing to move inside her when she was this far in the throes of coming and so tight. He stopped suddenly, yanking on her mane with his teeth as he released himself a final time, letting out a groan of satisfaction. There wasn't much left in him, but she could still feel him add to the growing pool inside her.

Mac pulled out slowly, some of his seed following and sliding down her leg. Dash shuddered, unable to do anything but grin. She eventually worked up the energy to turn around, still surprised that she'd remained on her hooves, and kiss him. "I didn't know you could talk dirty." Dash smirked, running a hoof down his cheek. "But no matter how rough we bang later, you still know what'll come after." He blushed, looking away.

"It's still a little weird." He admitted.

"But you loved it." Dash grinned. "Just imagine when I'm good at it."

"Ah'm scared ta think of the possibilities." He lost himself in thought for a moment, his member wobbling and dripping as their sexual escapades flew through his mind. "Yer lucky Ah have a strong heart."

Dash chuckled. "And such sweet moans when you come." He blushed harder. "See ya later."

Mac laid down, still breathing heavily from his rapid exertion. "Hey Dash?" He asked, watching her turn around. "Hurry back."

The next couple days passed quickly for Dash as she adjusted to her new scheduling. Mac was happy and mostly content, probably starting to enjoy all the attention he was getting over the course of the week. Dash put a couple files back where she found them, glancing up at her tiny reflection in a security camera. It wasn't something anypony would see, but was something she'd picked up fairly cheaply to see if she could get anything incriminating on the Weather Board when they audited her. And she knew they would, because it would be an easy way within their power to report things she was doing poorly to Canterlot and have her removed.

She did realize, however, that these would be new ponies this time. She wasn't affiliated with the Board anymore, so there would be a new staff. But if the weather factory stallion was to be believed, they could still be critical to her case, puppets of the Weather Board. That was the worst case scenario. Best case was that they just called an audit, and that would be all that happened. She probably ran the most efficient government funded thing out there, so she had nothing to worry about.

A knock came at the door, and Thunderlane stuck his head inside. "There's somepony here to see you, Dash," he said, removing his head once again. Dash frowned. It could be exactly what she'd been thinking about, something else equally annoying from the Board... Maybe she was overreacting. It could be a friend, right? Hopefully not Mac. Her curiosity reached critical mass and she quickly made for the door. Her eyes scanned across the waiting room, going wide as they fell upon somepony she'd never expected to see.

"Princess Luna?" She asked, baffled. "What're you doing here?"

"Just Luna, Rainbow Dash, though I appreciate the lack of other formalities." Dash blushed slightly, realizing that what she'd said was somewhat rash to be directed at royalty. "In any case, I heard that this weather headquarters is now run by yourself, and seeing as that is quite new and interesting, I wanted to stop by and see how you're getting on."

"Slow day in Canterlot?" Dash asked. "You know, it's more comfortable in my office. Let's chat there."

Luna nodded, following the cyan mare to her quarters. "In a way, I suppose. No day is slow, but I find myself increasingly in charge of the royal courts, and I can only listen to so many cases before I go insane. But they're having trouble choosing a jury for a murder that I'll be preceding over, so I found myself with some time." She chuckled. "Besides, if they do find a jury, I won't be in town. They'll just move the opening statements to tomorrow."

"Why don't you just hire somepony else? I mean, you don't make the decisions anyway."

Luna took a seat, looking comically out of proportion with the chair. Not that Mac didn't, but she really highlighted the size difference. "Unfortunately, Canterlot and my sister are hopelessly reliant on tradition for their daily schedules. Equestria has grown in the last thousand years, as you may have expected. We weren't really a country back then, more a fledgeling society. It was easy to hear every case, because there weren't very many. Some adjustments have been made since then, with the creation of regional courts and the jury system, of course, but it's too easy to get my audience with a complaint over market stall placement."

"I suppose so." Dash replied, nodding.

"Sometimes it's still weird being in this time of technology, where boxes full of wires are completing mathematical problems for us and electricity is in ponies' homes rather than just in the sky. I came from simpler times, and Equestria has advanced. I found it interesting that many years of peacetime could not yield the rapid advancement of our war years ago with the griffins. Gunpowder and explosives, now hidden in guard towers and ponies homes', revolutionized warfare that I had only seen before with the sword and arrow." She lapsed into silence. "And as ponies work to prevent the apocalypse of tomorrow, it moves steadily onward."

"What was it like on the moon anyway, for all of those years?" Dash asked, slightly changing the suspect. "While all that was happening."

"Boring." Luna replied. "Such a barren place makes time quite apparent, though I believe I was never there."

What? "Huh?"

"Well, while I vividly remember the moon, I doubt that my sister has the power to send me hundreds of thousands of miles away, and keep me alive in a vacuum. We're not invulnerable, you know, and I do need to eat and breathe. But whatever the case, that's what she tried to do. So it's a mystery to me." She paused. "I assume she put me in one long coma, though she did not know where I was physically until the nightmare and I made an appearance, so that doesn't really mesh with that theory. I'm still working on what happened, clearly. You want to know the most interesting part though?"

"Sure." Dash confirmed, on the edge of her seat.

"I still dreamt, up there or wherever I was. I saw recurring dreams of Equestria, with my friends in times of old. But eventually I saw things beyond myself, until that was all I saw. I saw other worlds, a noteworthy one devoid of magic and full of two legged beings. I watched them overcome their problems, war each other over a thousand years. But always they rebuilt stronger, into better societies. They ventured into space, created technology within our sights but beyond our years. Some things seemed impossible, like their bombs that harnessed the power of the sun, erasing entire cities in the blink of an eye, if they were used in such a way. And though they still war, still find themselves in conflict, though the availability of those bombs seems to discourage it, I couldn't help but feel as if they knew something we don't. I wished that at some point whatever was allowing me to have these dreams would allow me to communicate, to find companionship among these aliens, but I was never able to find a way."

"Why are you telling me this anyway, Prin- Luna? I don't want to sound ungrateful, but it's just that-"

"I understand." She shrugged. "I'd say it's nice opening up and all that stuff, but I accidentally went into one of your dreams and I felt guilty. So while I was already planning on coming out here to congratulate you, I figured I'd give you a little something in return. One of my secrets for yours."

"What did you see, exactly?" Dash asked, trying to keep from blushing. Judging by the heat on her face it wasn't working.

"You and your coltfriend." She responded shortly.

Dash winced. "Well, I mean, that's sort of his secret..."

Luna's eyes widened. "I- Oh, I thought that was just part of the dream. A hidden desire." Dsah shook her head. Luna was silent for a moment, lost in thought. "I suppose then that it is to him that I owe this apology."

Dash nodded. "So, any other plans in Ponyville before you leave?" She asked. "I can't believe I'd be the only reason you came out here."

"You're right. I'll do the rounds and say hi to the other elements, a few townspeople and probably the mayor, but then I've got to get down to business. There's something weird about the Everfree, but I can't put my hoof on it."

"Weirder than normal?" Dash chuckled. As if that was possible. Hopefully it wouldn't kick up some monster storm while the Weather Board had a close eye on her.

"I don't know." Luna responded. "It's just- I can just feel it, you know?"

Dash shrugged.

"Well, maybe someday. I suppose with as many years as I've been around, it's probably not surprising that I know a thing or two. In any case, that's the main reason why I'm here." She stood up, turning towards the door. "Good luck on this venture of yours Dash. I hope you succeed."

"Thanks, Luna." Dash replied, giving her a little bow. "Good luck with the Everfree."

She nodded, and then disappeared through the door, leaving Dash with her thoughts. A few more days and Mac's heat would be over and done with, and any hint of Weather Board retaliation hadn't appeared on the horizon. Maybe she wouldn't need to multitask after all.

Thunderlane burst through the door. "This month's payroll forms are here!" He exclaimed, dropping them on her desk with a thud. "Have fun!"

There was always something.

"Mac!" Zecora exclaimed, confused. "I didn't expect to see you out and about. Do you need another potion?"

He shook his head. "Ah'm just bored." He could feel his heat, but it was down to what he could consider normal. Easily manageable, and what he expected at this late point in the week. "Not much ta do when Ah can't go into town or anythin'. The only ponies Ah can be around right now are you and BonBon, and technically neither uh ya'll are ponies anyway. And BonBon's in town."

Zecora chuckled. "I see your predicament."

"Anyway, Ah'm sure there's something that needs gatherin'. Ah still felt a little guilty about not givin' ya anythin' for that potion that killed my heat, so Ah figured this would be a good gesture."

"You shouldn't feel bad about nothing of issue." Zecora replied. "Seeing you in such a state was disconcerting, and I knew the heat needed subverting. To not act would have been in error, especially when it was you that was the bearer. There was nothing you could do to help yourself, while the supplies to fix it lay right at hoof on my shelf."

Mac chuckled. "That last one was a bit of a stretch."

Zecora grinned, grabbing a basket and making her way to the door. "Let's get to work."

"It's a little brighter here today." Mac noted, looking around at the twisted branches. He felt much less creeped out than he had before, for whatever reason. He was happy, by all means, but it was still strange just how freaked out he'd gotten last time.

"BonBon's told you that something weird was going on?" Zecora asked.

"She has." He replied shortly. "Should Ah be worried?"

Zecora shrugged. "I don't know. For the moment, it seems to have lightened up, but it's still there. I know you can sense it too. BonBon taught you well."

"She only taught me ta be able to pick out changelings." He stated. "If that's what this is, then Ah guess it's just a side effect."

Zecora chuckled. "You earth ponies, always acting like the mundane ones. All ponies come from magic. Just because yours is the least obvious does not make it any less powerful."

"Look, Zecora, I grow stuff pretty well. That's no superpower. I can't pick things up without my hooves."

"You're thinking backwards." The zebra grinned. "Nopony takes to the world as well as your kind. Feels how it flows, how it works. You can't tell me that you don't always seem to know when your plants need water or fertilizer. Your grandmother knows when the Zap Apples are going to grow before it happens. A superpower? I'd say its more of one than telepathy."

Mac huffed. "Even if Ah can feel what the plants need, that doesn't exactly translate to power. The only ace up mah sleeve is those petals and mah strength."

She stopped to scrape some bark from a tree. "Maybe if you concentrated a little more, rather than looking for strength and speed, you might find what you're looking for."

He stopped walking, waiting until Zecora turned around to see him. "Are ya just screwin' with me?" Mac asked. "Ah know that maybe ah'm overreactin', but there's somethin' out there that freaked out the nomads, and is still out there, and Ah'm worried Ah'm gonna need to protect Dash or mah family from it. If there's something Ah can do that would let me better fulfill that role, Ah'd like to hear about it in no uncertain terms." He sighed. "Sorry for getting a little angry."

Zecora stared at him for a moment. "I didn't know you were so worried."

"Well, Ah am."

Zecora scratched her head, thinking. "There's not much I can really do. Earth pony magic is self-taught, and what isn't you already know. Bon Bon inadvertently taught you that much."

"Ah get that, but-" His ears swiveled, and the same chills that he'd had from last time washed over him. "What the fuck is that." He whispered, taking a couple steps back. He couldn't hear anything, see anything to suggest that something was wrong. But something was. Maybe Zecora was right.

"Whatever it is, it's back, and it doesn't feel like disguising itself this time." Zecora whispered back. A bead of sweat ran down Mac's forehead.

"Some sort of monster?" He asked. "Could be an ursa or something, right?"

"I can't say. If you had lived out here for years, you'd probably be able to have a good guess, but I'm coming up blank."

He heard quiet rumbling, and moved behind a tree. It grew slowly in intensity, his panic growing accordingly. He wished he'd brought a petal with him. The feeling was still washing him over like a cold breeze, multiplying his fear, diminishing his thoughts. Zecora was staring at him, looking surprised at his state. Why wasn't she just as freaked out?

"Mac!" Zecora hissed. "Stop focussing on how it feels, you're turning white!" She looked around, checking for other danger. How could she not know where it was coming from? It was almost blowing out his ears with how loud it was.

What else am I supposed to do? He tried to ask, but the words didn't come out. He was paralyzed, and he didn't even know why.

"Focus on me." She offered, and he tried. He stared at her, hoping that whatever magic she saw in him would just work. He was freezing cold, and the rumbling in his ears was drowning out whatever it was Zecora was trying to say to him. He shut his eyes tightly, hoping he could keep out something, anything.

He was shoved to the ground suddenly, and opened his eyes to see Zecora atop him. Her face was inches away from his. She was moving closer. Thoughts broke through his wall about Dash, about how Zecora looked poised to kiss him. How, as the seconds passed, he knew she was going to. This was all wrong. He felt anger flare through him, shoving her away with all the force he could muster. It took him barely a second to pin her. She was smiling.

He stood there, contemplating his situation. A deer ran past, but he paid it no heed. She looked like she was laughing, but he couldn't hear it. She spoke, but it took a moment to register.

"I bet that broke through your mental block." She said.

Mac's eyes widened in realization, and he stepped away. He could feel the breeze, but it wasn't all-consuming. The rumbling was gone, replaced with the quiet sounds of the forest. Zecora stretched a hoof towards him and he pulled her up.

"What just happened to me?" He asked, barely above a whisper.

"You told me what we're dealing with." Zecora replied. "And hopefully figured out a nice way to break yourself from that trance."

"Oh yeah, Ah'll just have you kiss me whenever that happens." He replied sarcastically.

"Strong feelings, Mac. Anger, happiness, hope, courage... they all counteract fear."

"Okay, whatever." He wasn't prepared to accept all this yet. "What's that then?" He asked, pointing to where the wind was coming from, though it was dying down quickly.

"Oh, is that where it was?" She nodded. "That explains why you hid behind the tree like that. Anyway, I suspect that somepony has found one of the old relics this world has to offer. I'm sure you remember the Alicorn Amulet. This is just another on a long list."

Mac put his hooves to his head, groaning. "Okay, but why can Ah feel it, and you can't seem to?"

"Well, if I'm correct with the artifact part, everypony can. It's supposed to instill fear. You're just a little more sensitive." Zecora started trotting back towards her hut. "Come on, this isn't something menial we're dealing with. I'm not going out here anymore until we figure out who's doing this."

That meant a lot, coming from her.

"Aha!" Zecora exclaimed, showing him a picture of a vambrace with a solar eclipse etched in, front and center. "This is the one."

"Oh?" Mac asked, setting down his own book. "What's it say?"

Zecora moved herself into better light. "It says that the wielder, should they seek revenge above all else, can spread despair across the land, ensnaring those nearby into a state of extreme fear. That's basically the gist, but while that gives us the generalities, these are usually exaggerations."

"That's it?" Mac asked, annoyed a the short description.

"Hold on." Zecora interjected. "It also says that it takes a lot of power to use, and is often used in short stints to disorient enemies." She set the book down. "So I see a few options here. We're dealing with something very powerful. That's number one. Number two is they just exhausted themselves testing this thing, and they don't know what they're doing spreading it out like this, because it sounds like it needs to be targeted at specific ponies rather than general areas."

"But I felt it before." Mac mentioned. "I don't understand."

Zecora paused, flipping back to the page. She deadpanned and moved to the next, showing him that there was another paragraph to the entry. "It says here that like a lot of these relics, it possesses a mind of its own. Not as much as the Alicorn Amulet, but it does try to grab passerby and do the same thing. It's likely that we were near this thing last week. You've never been out right there before, and I can't say I like to go there alone, so this is still adding up. These things can also go into periods of inactivity, so that could explain why you and I have never felt that before. It could have become active and be attempting to ensnare victims. That seems most likely to me."

"This whole thing is really weird."

Zecora read the page for a moment longer, before closing the book again. "Don't worry about it." She said resolutely. "I'll figure this out, and once I do it'll go straight to Twilight."

"Should Ah mention it anyway?"

She paused. "You can if you want, somepony might know of this thing. But the solar eclipse on it makes me think it's an old Zebra thing. We ended up creating a lot of possessed trinkets to thwart our enemies themed by the heavens. Such is our magic. We also had our fair share of morons obsessed with making the things possessed." She paused. "So your information, even if it's right, may mean very little. Twilight sits on a lot of knowledge, but for once she might not have any answers. Truly, the only way for us to find what we're looking for, is to search ourselves. If it comes down to that, which I doubt it will, prepare accordingly and wait for the word."

"What should it be?"

"This one?" She grinned. "Petrified."

Author's Notes:

There's a lot of sex here. Maybe people were excited for this chapter, I dunno. I'm going to think about that excitement as from a purely literary standpoint, and assume that you all are too rooted in the story to worry about silly carnal things like sex. And dat plot's rollin now. Only a matter of time before it gets deeper. Though there's a pun there, the plot like totally does cool stuff yo. Non sex stuff. Seriously.

But daaamn, this chapter's long. It may be the longest chapter I've ever written. Take it as a sort of sorry gift for being gone so long. I'm getting to work on the other stories soon after, so hopefully I won't get any writers' block. We'll see. I apparently have these things called 'responsibilities' and a 'job' now, so those could take up time, I don't know. This chapter was almost done, I thought, and it still took me a good five hours yesterday and three today. I used to release something, albeit shorter, every day, and I don't know how I ever managed that effectively.