CHAPTER 20

I’m Sorry

I let out a long sigh. Here I sat, in the middle of the living room, alone, staring at Dash’s couch. Shortly after a shower and breakfast with the mare, we heard a calling from below. It was none other than the beloved farm pony, Applejack.

Apparently, Big Mac somehow sprained a hoof, or two as AJ put it, and needed Rainbow Dash to help her on the orchard. I wondered why AJ would come to Rainbow for something like this but considering the rest of the mane six, I understood why.

Dash was a bit reluctant to go, but after me telling her several times that I felt fine, she went. And I did feel great. I no longer had a nagging compulsion to hump the nearest pony I saw. It was a relief I welcomed dearly. Not only that, with this newfound relief, I felt like I had an extraordinary amount of energy to burn.

But here I was stuck, in Dash’s house, staring at a couch. I had already raided the kitchen, leaving it a mess. Went through Dash’s entire room, leaving it in a similar state. I pretty much trashed the whole place looking for something to do.

I sighed again, putting my hoof on the ball of crystal beside me. My early morning activities had given me access to something unique with it. I can actually feel through it now. It wasn’t completely perfect, like I am wearing a thick glove while doing it, but I can see the usefulness in both respects.

I began to orbit the ball around my head as I thought. What could I do today? I’m not sure how well a visit to Twilight would go. Just be getting in the way if I went to the farm. I know Fluttershy is still uncomfortable around me. Not sure I want to willingly subject myself to Rarity either. That leaves Pinkie...

I smiled. It was perfect. I felt like I had plenty of energy to burn and I knew Pinkie would be the pony to burn it with. Plus I haven’t hung around Pinkie Pie that much.  A win-win situation if you asked me.

Just as I nodded in victory, a horrible screeching noise wretched through the air. I jerked my head up frantically, unfortunately jerking the crystal back as well. I fell to the ground as pain exploded through my face. I grabbed my muzzle with both hooves as I rolled on the floor. I can’t believe I just smacked myself in the face with my own crystal.

My ears perked as I heard a chorus of screams. Somepony was definitely in trouble. Ignoring the pain in my face, I wrapped my crystal around my chest as I stood up. Without wasting another second, I leaped out an open window.

I flew as fast as I could, scanning the ground. It didn’t take too long for me to find the problem. A cart hauling  a trio of ponies was speeding wildly down the road. I was vaguely reminded of a certain episode, but I didn’t have time to think of it now.

I raced towards the cart, flying alongside it. I needed some way to stop it before somepony got hurt. I knew I wasn’t strong enough to stop it myself. I would definitely have to use the crystal. I could easily just stop the wheels outright.

No. I remember a time on my bike where the tires got jammed and I went tumbling head over heels. I had to think of something. We were headed straight for town!

I perked my ears as I an idea came to mind. I flew into the cart and got into the front seat. I let my crest drop to the floor, followed by my bag of bits.  I took the crystal and began stretching it to a pyramid shape. I made the base of it support the front of the cart as I aimed the point towards the ground.

“Brace yourselves!” I yelled back to the other ponies as I took my own advice. I kept a good grip on it as I slowly lowered the tip into the ground. We were immediately jerked forward as the crystal gouged the earth.

It took some doing to hold onto the crystal and we still were going way too fast. I dug the tip further into the ground, trying to slow us a little more. I gritted my teeth as I pushed into the supple earth a little more. And a little more....a little more...

There was a crunch as we were all thrown forward with a sudden halt. I immediately shrunk the crystal to it’s normal size and flattened my ears at what I saw. I crashed us right into somepony’s home.

I jumped out of the cart, looking back at the damage. There was a long gouge down the road, curving slightly at the end of it’s course. It took us straight through the pony’s garden, completely obliterating it, and smashed us into the side of the house.

A blue coated earth pony with and even darker blue mane came running out of the house. “By Celestia! What on Luna’s Moon happened here?! My garden! My house!” Before I even could even open my mouth, one of the ponies from the cart jumped up.

“Now just you wait, ma’am. I am sorry about what happened here, but if this young mare didn’t do what she did, I reckon it would me and my siblings on your wall there.” I watched as all eyes fell on me.

I could feel the fur on the back of my neck start to stand. Ponies were starting to gather and I don’t think I could take the attention. I reached into the cart and grabbed my bits and crest. Sticking the crest back into the crystal around my chest, I shoved the bag of bits to the blue mare. “Here’s to cover the damage.” I blurted the words out before jumping into the  air.

I heard a gasp as the mare looked into the bag. I didn’t see what happened, flying away as quickly as I could. I am not sure why I panicked like that. I just felt very uncomfortable when everypony started staring at me.

I found myself a nice cloud and landed on it. I stretched my wings before laying down and curling in a ball. A frown slowly made its way on my face. I sniffed the air surrounding me. Yup. Even after my shower and everything this morning, I still had that musky aroma one could only get from being in heat.

I didn’t feel horny or anything and the burning in my loins had been reduced to an annoying itch. Even still, I doubt it would be proper to walk around town smelling like this. There had to be something to hide the smell. A salve or ointment...or spell. I smiled as I remembered yesterday.

Lyra was using a spell to hide her scent. Daemon said that she was. So now I had a mission. Find the mint pony to see if she could cast that spell on me. I’m not sure where she was at this time of day or anytime actually. Still, I knew I could find her.

I tumbled off of the cloud, doing a barrel roll before spreading my wings. I felt my heart race as I caught myself in the air. Or I would have, considering. I hadn’t tried something quite like that before and could have ended up in a bad situation.But enough of that. I scanned the town below, searching for that unique mint green.

Unique may have been going too far.  I found several ponies with Lyra’s coat colour and not one of them her. Sweat began trickling down my brow as the sun beat down on me. Being in the heat did nothing for my problem, only making it a bit worse. It still wasn’t that bad though.

I was just about to give up on my little adventure when I saw a mint green next to a cream colour. I spotted a golden lyre marking her flank. I descended down to the mare quickly. “Hey Lyraaaa!” Too quickly. As soon as I landed, my hoof got caught on a rock and I tripped, causing me to fall into the mare.

We both hit the ground in a tangle of hooves. “Ah. What just...Crystal?” Lyra looked at me for a second before her eyes went wide and she frantically searched around. I would guess she was looking for Daemon. I don’t blame her. When she didn’t see the purple unicorn, Lyra calmed down a bit. “What are you doing, Crystal?”

“Lyra...Do you know this mare?” The cream coloured pony was Bon bon. She was staring at me with her nose crinkled. I guess she knew now.

“Yeah Bons. This is the Knight Princess Luna has me teaching.”

“Then why is she bothering you now? You told me you have nothing to do with that stuff today.” Ok, that seemed a bit...rude.

“Calm down, Bon. I’ll take care of this.” Lyra said as we untangled ourselves from one another. “Come on, Crystal.” Lyra motioned me to follower her and we walked a few paces away from the other mare, who was still glaring at me.

“What is her problem?”

Lyra took a quick glance at Bon Bon before looking back to me. “She is a bit critical and overprotective about who I hang out with. She is a good mare underneath it all though.” Lyra’s face hardened. “Now, why did you tackle me?”

“I didn’t tackle you, or I didn’t mean to. I tripped on something.” I could feel my face heating up. “I just...I was thinking about yesterday and how you could hide the smell of your...umm...” I scratched at the back of my head. Wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to talk about.

I thought that Lyra would have gotten mad or embarrassed, but her face lit up in a soft smile. “My estrus? I guess you are wanting me to cast the spell on you?” I nodded slightly. “Alright then. Just sit still please. Spells don’t seem to want to stick to you, as I found out the other day.”

I settled in my spot and watched as Lyra did the same. Her horn came to life as she closed her eyes. After a few moments, I felt something akin to a slight breeze begin to trickle through my fur. It started around the base of my neck and got lower and lower. I flicked my tail nervously as I felt the magic begin to flow across my backside.

Lyra let out a held breath as her horn dimmed, looking up at me with slightly tired eyes. “That was harder than it should have been. I understand why Princess Luna would employ a Knight like you. You would be a good counter against unicorns.”

“I don’t know...” I squirmed a bit. “I am not sure how magically resist I am and I don’t want to think about testing it out.”

“I understand.” Lyra said with a nod. “Now the spell usually lasts about a day, but with you, it may wear out faster. If it does, I say you have until about nightfall or so.” Lyra gave a happy little shrug. “Now I better get back to Bon-Bon or she’ll start to worry. I will see you for our next training session, Crystal.”

We waved and I watched as the two mares went on their way, Bon-Bon talking away while Lyra just wore a small smile. Now that that was out of the way, I felt a little bit better. I supposed I still had a while before Dash was done over at AJ’s, so I figured I could make a go around town. Be a little social.

Or that’s what I wanted to do. As soon as I turned around, I came muzzle to muzzle with a beige stallion. His slicked back mane and little vest with a tie made him seem very familiar to me, but I just couldn’t place my hoof on it.

“You’re Crystal Blossom, correct.” I nodded, still unsure where I’ve seen this stallion before. “I would like to talk to you about what you said to my daughter, Diamond Tiara.” I could feel the blood drain from my face. It was Filthy Rich. “Have you had something to eat yet?” I shook my head, unable to speak.”Good. We could talk over a bite to eat. My treat.” The stallion held his hoof out to follow him. What choice did I have?

We started down the path walking side by side. “It is good to see a soldier of the royal guard in the town. That is Princess Luna’s Insignia if I remember correctly. Part of the night guard?” I shook my head.

“I was Knighted by Luna. A Lunar Knight.”

“I see.” The stallion nodded. “I am not saying anything bad about the ponies who live around here, I know quite a few that can hold their own in any fight, but it is good to see a trained soldier around...” His brow furrowed as he glanced at me. “Weren’t you the one who killed that dragon the other day?”

“Yeah.” I said with a frown. The more that is brought up, the more I can’t stand hearing about it.

“Well then, I owe you quite a few bits. That dragon’s body brought in quite a nice bit of income from the Canterlot Alchemist’s Association. Fresh parts like that are rare to come by. It was just too good of a business deal to pass up.”

“You black marketed a dragon’s dead body?” Filthy looked at me as if I just blasphemed all over his own personal bible.

“No! I would never. I went through all the legal proceedings. It is not uncommon for one to sell a cockatrice or a manticore. Some ponies even sign for their bodies to be donated after death. It is all to further understand ourselves and the creatures we live in this world with.”

“So like an organ donor type thing...I think I get it now...” The stallion walking next to me gave me an incredulous look. “In my world, we have it set up to where when you pass away, you can have your organs donated to replace someone else’s that are failing.” Perfect explanation.

“Your world?” I froze. I had gotten used to talking so freely around Rainbow Dash and the others about my situation, I had forgotten it wasn’t public knowledge and was probably wanting to be kept a secret that a being from another dimension was here to train for an upcoming war. I could do nothing but stare blankly as the stallion stopped and looked back at me.

“I...umm...I am sorry, Mr. Rich, but information on the subject is strictly classified and cannot be divulged without expressed permission from both Princesses. I already said too much with that.” For the love of the moon, buy it.

“I understand. It actually explains your presence in Ponyville a bit more too. I know not to fool around with royal decrees. I won’t push the matter.” He said this, but I could tell this was all but over from the look in his eyes. “Shall we continue?” I just nodded and we walked on.

After a moment of silence, I sighed. “About what I said..”

“It’s this place here.” Filthy stopped at a rather quaint looking building, a small sign hanging on the door. “I know it doesn’t look like much, but the owner prefers it that way, even with my...propositions for her to expand.” He walked up to the door and opened it. “Are you coming?”

“Yes.” I said with a nod, moving quickly into the building with him. The insides were very rustic, only having a few tables. Behind the counter was an older looking mare, asleep in the chair she sat in. She didn’t look anywhere near as old as Granny Smith, but she definitely had some wrinkles and gray in her mane.

Filthy walked up to the counter and gently knocked on it. The mare popped her eyes open and smiled when she saw the stallion. “Hello there, Filthy. Back again for some soup and sandwiches?” The mare had a very humble voice. “I see you brought some company with you. More business?” The mare’s eyes seemed to take in every detail of me.

“Not quite. She is a Lunar Knight being posted in Ponyville due to the dragon yesterday. I thought I would show a hoof of kindness by offering a meal.” The mare started chuckling as he finished.

“Always one with the sweet talk, Filthy. You don’t fool me with any of it.” The mare slowly got out of her chair, surprising me with how tall she actually was. She met eye to eye with the stallion. “So the usual? I’ll make two portions this time.”

“That would be lovely, Grace. Thank you.” Filthy nodded at the mare as she disappeared into the back and then guided me over to a table. As we sat, he sighed. “Crystal...” I perked my ears up. “ I am not going to ask you exactly what you said to my daughter but...” Oh here it comes. I watched as he put his hooves together underneath his chin, staring straight at me. “With the way she acted when she got home, I’ll never forget it. I haven’t seen my daughter like that in a long time, since before she ever got her cutie mark.”

“I wanted to thank you.” What? “Seeing that rekindled flame in her eyes and her working with renewed vigor. It was heartwarming. I had thought she all but forgotten how she got her cutie mark in the first place.” I was at a loss. I was actually being praised for basically telling a little filly off? This was a new experience and it seemed to show in my face. “Are you alright, Crystal?”

“Yeah. I just didn’t expect what I said would have such an effect. It’s surprising.”

“I believe I may be in fault.” His eyes fell to the table. “I haven’t been as firm with her as I should be as a father. I think I should start to spend more time with her.” He looked back up to me. “It is why I brought you here. I wanted to thank you personally for opening both mine and my daughter’s eyes again.”

I didn’t feel right about this. The whole situation felt wrong to me. I wasn’t able to utter a word though, as the old mare came up with our food. “Here you two go. Enjoy.” We both thanked the mare before she walked away.

I stayed pretty much silent throughout our meal as Filthy began discussing the split for the dragon that was donated. I only half listened as he explained his reasoning for a fifty fifty split, more trying to ignore what was going on with my body. My arousal was returning at an alarming rate.

“Yeah, that sounds fine. Look, Mr. Rich, I don’t want to rush but I need to be getting home. There are a few things that I need to take care of before the days end.”

“Oh no. I understand. I apologize for keeping you.” He set his sandwich down, standing up and offering a hoof. “I was pleased to make your acquaintance, Crystal Blossom.” I hesitated a moment before meeting his hoof with my own.

“Likewise.” We shook and I turned to leave to homely little shop.

The cool breeze that meeted me as I got outside was highly welcomed. The weather ponies seemed to have thought it was getting a bit warm because there were now a good bit of cloud coverage over Ponyville.

I spread my wings and took to the air once again, only flying a few feet above any other pony’s head. I made a slow pace back towards Dash’s place. It surprised me how far away I was and how late it was starting to get, the ponies below starting to wane as the evening wore on.

As I flew, I paid no attention to anything in particular. An act I should have long learn had severe repercussions in this pony paradise.

“Oh no! Watch out!” I lifted my head just in time to see a grey blur flying straight at me.

The impact knocked the wind out of me as the blur and me tumbled from the sky into the bushes in a tangled mass of feathers, wings and limbs. The next few minutes were awkward as we tried to untangle from ourselves, having to push and prod at not only the bushes, but each other.

In one instance, I froze when I was giving a particularly hard shove against the pony’s...hindquarters. And that wasn’t because this pony had just the perfect amount of body fat to make her plot just deliciously squeezable.  I spotted a very familiar cutie mark adorning the flank of this pony.

“D-Derpy?”

The mare looked back at me the best she could and smile. “Yyyup! That’s me! Don’t worry though. This happens all the time. We should be able to get free if I push on...” Her brow furrowed in concentration as she pushed at certain branches. We were immediately and unceremoniously dumped onto the ground, freed from the merciless grasp of that damn bush.

“Yeah. I don’t know who you are.” Derpy spoke in just a decimal louder than what seemed necessary as we got to our hooves and dusted off. “You’re new to Ponyville, aren’t ya?” The mare reached in the bushes to extract the mailbag she had been carrying. “What’s your name and where do you live?” She asked as she delve into the mailbag.

“Um, my name is Crystal Blossom and I guess I am currently living with Rainbow Dash...”

After a bit more rummaging, the mare huffed. “Well, I can’t find anything for you...”

“That’s understandable. I only arrived in Ponyville a few days ago.”

“A few days ago!” The cross eyed mare gasped. “And you haven’t gotten any letters yet?” The bubbly mare suddenly caught me up in a tight hug. “Don’t worry. I’m sss...” Derpy quickly scrambled backwards, falling to her rump. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were...that you were in your um...” Derpy motioned to her hindquarters, only causing me to tilt my head.

“Oh, I know.” The mare dove back into the bag, this time pulling out a pencil and a pad of paper. She began furiously scribbling something down on it, putting her full focus into writing. That left me nothing to do but watch her. Examine would be a more proper word.

Her coat seemed a bit darker than on the show. I wasn’t sure if that was because of the waning light or if it was just different. In addition to that, Her mane seemed to be a brighter blond than I thought it would be. I don’t really know. Maybe this heat thing was getting to my head.

“There!” Derpy bounced happily on her hooves, grabbing an unused envelope from the bag, folding the piece of paper and tucking it inside. She started to hand it to me but pulled back. “I might get in trouble if I don’t do this right.” She soon after fished a stamp from the bag and began writing on the envelope. I had to peek over the edge of the paper to see that she was writing names and addresses.

“And it’s official!” Derpy licked the stamp and put it on the letter before handing it to me. She looked like she was about to hug me, but decided against it and just patted me on the head like I was some foal. “Welcome to Ponyville, Crystal. I hope you have a fun time!” She threw the strap of the mailbag around her neck and took off, waving back at me.

I waved back idly until she disappeared and then looked at the letter in my hoof. Smiling, I opened the letter up and began reading.

Dear Crystal Blossom,

             Hi and welcome to Ponyville! I know you’re new here and that can be scary but there is nothing to be scared of. Ponyville is full of wonderful and nice ponies and if there is ever a pony being mean to you, you can come to me and I’ll come and sort them out. Or Pinkie Pie. She is really scary when ponies are bullying somepony. I would write more but you look like you’re starting to get bored so I’ll see you later!

                                                            Your new and hopefully on-going friend,

                                                                                                Ditzy Derpy Doo

I chuckled before a stray thought entered my head. I wonder if I could start secretly feeding Dash a bunch of sweets to get her rump as soft as Derpy’s. I didn’t have any time to ponder the subject further before I was violently grabbed by the ear.

“Ow ow ow!” I yelled out as I started getting dragged across the ground.

“Two hours! Yer two hours late!” Vinyl growled, her horn ablaze. “So bucking useless. Even if ya are a new recruit, ya don’t just keep me waiting like that!”

“Ow ow. Okay. Just let go. I can walk on my own!” Vinyl looked back at me with a sneer before shaking her head and releasing my ear. I gently rubbed the tender digit with a wing while trotting up next to Vinyl. “How did you do that?”

“Whadya mean?”

“You didn’t seem to have trouble using magic on me.”

“No I didn’t. Should I?”

“Yeah. Twilight and Lyra said it was hard to use magic on me.”

“Might have to do with the type of magic they use. Not to sure bout Twilight, but Second Lieutenant Lyra specializes more with charms and illusionary magic. That kinda frilly stuff just ain’t how I work.” Vinyl looked over at me and frowned. “What? You got a problem with what I said?”

“Lyra is a Second Lieutenant? What’s your rank then?”

“I’m what? Three spots above her? That makes me...a Major. Keep in mind these ranks are merely placeholders Princess Celestia is using until her sister can sort things out with her own part of the Guards, yeah? Commander Luna will most likely change these herself once she gets the proper paperwork done. By any concern of Lulu’s, her Knights are the top officers of her guard and hasn’t really sorted out a tier of command.”

“I wonder what rank I would be...”

“I’ll tell ya what rank you are. Yer a scrub. That’s what ya are. Tryin’ to play hooky on my lesson. I hope ya don’t think I’m gonna let that slide easy.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t think anything of it.”

“Hey!” Vinyl glared at me over her shades “You better watch that tone. In enough trouble as it is.”

I grumbled in response and stayed silent. Vinyl decided that was fine with her as well, because she decided to not say another word either for the rest of the trip to her home. Once we arrived, she swung open the door and walked inside ahead of me.  

“Close the door when ya get in.”

I huffed before walking inside and doing as I was told. When I turned around the last thing I saw before hitting the floor was a white hoof barreling straight at my face.

“Wow. Yer reaction time is shit. You are way too slow, Scrub. Way too slow. Tell ya what, yer goal today is to land a single hit on me. If ya can’t do that, then you are gonna be cleanin’ my house until it sparkles for making me search for you for two hours.”

“Like hell.” I said as I picked myself up off of the floor. “That was a cheap shot and there is no way I am cleaning your house!”

“Well then, all ya have to do is hit me and neither of us have to worry about it, now will we?”

I didn’t let the conversation carry on any longer. I lunged at Vinyl, giving a quick one-two jab. Both caught air but I let the second carry me in a little spin, letting my side face Vinyl before flaring my wing out.

“Ha!” Vinyl grinned goofily as she dodged the move with ease. “Good move...if you were a bit faster.” She wrapped her hooves around my wing and with a twist, sent me tumbling to the floor again.

I barely had the time to recover and roll out the way before the mare’s hooves smashed into the floor where my head just was. I hopped to my hooves and dove at the unicorn. She again dodged my attack easily and bucked me in response. I stumbled to the wall, catching my breath as I felt the adrenaline start to flow, lighting a flame in me. Now it was on!

I gasped as Vinyl pinned me against the wall.

“You ready to give up and start cleaning?”

Vinyl smiled as she stared me down. I knew I looked like crap. I could feel my nose bleeding and one of my eyes were starting to swell up. But I didn’t hurt. Oh no, there was no pain. There was only a fire that made my blood boil. I was not letting this cocky little unicorn have her fun with me. I growled, feeling Vinyl shift slightly to prepare for what I was about to do.

And got completely taken off guard as I locked my lips with hers. Vinyl blinked a couple times before slowly returning the kiss, her body slowly relaxing against mine as she returned the kiss.

*Thwack!*

The sound of Vinyl’s shades was the only thing that could be heard as I dug my hoof into the mare’s cheek. I was only able to hit her hard enough to knock her glasses off, those crimson eyes still able to stare into mine.

“That was acceptable, Scrub.” Vinyl chuckled before pushing my hoof away and dragging me to the ground, my burning body not giving her any resistance. The last thought going through my head as Vinyl continued kissing me was wondering how I could read Derpy’s letter earlier.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

I groaned, pulling the warm fluffy thing in my hooves tighter against me.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Go answer the door.”

“No.” I moaned, snuggling the warm fluffy. I suddenly felt something push against me, separating me from my warm fluffy and pushing me out of the bed, letting me land with a thud.

“Answer the door.”

“Ugh, fine.” I yawned as I got to my hooves, slowly stumbling my way to the door. “Hell-”

I froze, the memories of last night slowly trickling back as I stared into Dash’s bewildered face. “Dash, I...” It was easy to tell from my appearance what had happen.

“Who is it, Crystal?” Vinyl yawned, leaning up against me when she got to my side. “Oh, hey Second Lieutenant. Hey Dash. What are you two girls doing up so early?”

“Major...” Lyra spoke in a loud whisper as she exchanged glances between me and Rainbow Dash.

“Dash, I’m sorry.” I took a step towards the mare, only for her to pull back. “Dash...” The Pegasus just shook her head, turning away and running before taking to the air. All I could do was stand there, watching as the pony I betrayed disappear into the morning.

“I’m so sorry...”