“Discord!” Apple Bloom hollered scrambling back in the water in which she lay. “Oh please, little Apple Bloom is it?” Discord said turning up his nose, “You are in no position for such dramatic overtures.” “Get back!” she shrieked, “You ain’t never doin that to me again!” Her efforts were in vain however, as a claw gripped around her torso from behind and pulled her bodily out of the water into the air. Discord was fiddling with some weird lever things while the claw dragged her smoothly through the air in a horizontal path with only 90 degree turns. “Please, not again!” she cried, struggling to pry the claw’s arms apart. Discord merely spun her around like a dangling mobile to bring his gaze to meet hers, and just when her world was ending he said, “Would it help if I told you that I will do nothing to you without your explicit and well informed permission?” After a moment, without another word he turned his back on her, as Apple Bloom stopped struggling just to hang there staring in disbelief. “You ponies are so quick to assume the worst about someone,” he said in that scraggly voice of his, “Haven’t you heard that I, master of Chaos the realms beyond and all things Fun, have turned over a new leaf?” He faced her with a crooked smile, saying, “I’m reformed now, you know.” “Yer lyin!” she protested, “Just like you were lyin’ before!” “Apple Bloom, Apple Bloom, Apple Bloom,” he chided, “Unless my memory has left me with age the last time I recall we met you were quite happy with what I did for you.” “Ah was!” she said fighting back a flutter in her stomach, “That’s why it was so terrible!” Discord laughed a light high chortle, saying in a delighted tone, “Little filly your words are still music to my ears. Do you realize how little sense in what you just said?” “You wouldn’t understand,” she grumbled limply, “You’re just a monster.” His lion’s paw came up to stroke that dangly nub of a beard he had. “You know, a lot of ponies had it far worse than you, Apple Bloom.” “Ah don’t care it was still terrible!” she spat, “The worst!” “I’ve been talking with those ponies,” he continued heedlessly, “You recall I am ‘reformed’ do you? It would be difficult to call myself ‘reformed’ if none of those ponies ever tried to tell me just what was wrong.” “There’s nothin’ you could understand!” Apple Bloom said glaring at him. “Try me,” he said glaring back with eyes full of eons. Apple Bloom looked away nervously almost immediately. He wasn’t going to let her go until she did though, and he did say he wouldn’t do anything to her. “Do you promise you won’t do anything to me?” she said looking at him out the side of her face. Her anger abating, Apple Bloom was starting to realize she was out of the water now, and her rear end dangling there in the open air was already twinging heatedly, the firm arms of the claw making her think about other things holding her. “I can’t promise I won’t do anything,” he said with a sly smile, adding in a more practical tone, “But I give you my word that I won’t do anything to you without your permission. Don’t worry little filly, I won’t touch a single hair on your body if you don’t ask me to.” “What about your claw thing here?” she retorted in a less than impressed tone. His smile dropped into a frown, and he snapped his gryphon fingers, the claw vanishing into thin air as it dumped Apple Bloom unceremoniously to the ground. “Fine,” he grumbled, “My magic won’t touch you either, but I would like to help you little Apple Bloom, so the caveat about permission applies there too.” Apple Bloom couldn’t help stifle a whimper as she climbed unsteadily to her hooves, her tail going between her legs as she felt those strange urges coming from the one part of her that wouldn’t dry off. And of course Discord noticed. She couldn’t hide her estrus from a dumb rock, it was so bad. She tried not to quiver in her hindquarters too much, glaring up at him defiantly. He had a surprisingly sympathetic look on his face. “We’re not going to get anywhere I see,” he said, “Without doing something about that pesky season you seem to have found yourself in.” Pulling out a elegant lavender teacup and platter from... somewhere, he went on to say, “I seem to recall a certain night blooming flower is all the rage these days for soothing those girly urges. Moon tea, is it?” Her defiance cracked as he said that. He wouldn’t really? “I was having a delightful tea party just now in fact,” he claimed, placing the teacup into thin air where it stayed in place. “With my dear friend Fluttershy. We were quite out of the way here in these woods, so it was a surprise when we should hear the sounds of a filly in distress.” Apple Bloom swallowed, eyes wide and blushing bright red. “O-oh you heard that, did you?” she tried to say casually. “No need to be embarassed, little filly,” he said chidingly, “It’s perfectly natural if inadvisable to explore your ...capabilities at this age.” “Ah should never have listened to her,” Apple Bloom said sadly, still having trouble even setting her butt on the ground. She wanted a boy more than anything! Wait, Discord was a boy wasn’t– “This Diamond Tiara sounds like a delightful little trollop,” Discord said with a snicker, breaking her train of thought. “You simply must introduce me some time!” “I’m sure I would just love to meet her,” he added more ominously, “Face to face.” “Of course you would like somepony like her!” Apple Bloom uttered inattentively. She didn’t want to be around this boy... stallion... thing. He was just pure dag nasty evil! Discord smiled entirely too broadly and responded, “You just sit tight little filly, while I brew you up an old family recipe,” He then pulled open a... hole in the air or something, that had through it a landscape dark as night, a hole just big enough to stick his gryphon claw through and pluck a clawful of delicate white blossoms. With a slight puff of his breath they danced off his palm—no, literally danced—and plunged into the teacup one after the other with a crackling sizzle sound. That was not how one prepared Moon tea. “Here you are, Apple Bloom,” he said graciously, lowering the cup to her level. “Extra strength.” She—he did promise he wouldn’t, so she warily took the cup in her hooves, sniffing at it suspiciously. It smelled like piss dirt. It was ice cold. There were even a few tiny ice cubes floating in the tea’s milky surface. Apple Bloom didn’t trust Discord as far as she could spit, but... but if she could just soothe her aching loins enough to never ever ever masturbate again. She wanted to stop thinking about boys and stop the unbearable urges making her quiver down there. She wanted to sit her posterior down without trouble, to balance on two feet, which she needed to do to hold onto a cup like this. “...this ain’t enchanted is it?” she asked him, wavering. “That depends on how you define enchantment, my dear,” he explained, curling down to rest on his knees looking like a striking serpent as he did so. “But I can assure you that the glass of Moon tea you hold in your grasp is no more enchanted than any other glass of Moon tea. I have done nothing but prepare it.” Apple Bloom meant to throw it on the ground. To get rid of it before it could betwitch her or Discordize her or something. She firmed up her lower lip, inhaled... and then just buried her nose in it, swallowing the awful tasting stuff like it was the nectar of the gods. She emptied every drop out of that cup and set it down, then glared up at Discord in outrage, readying herself for whatever horrible sorcery he wrought on her. She didn’t even care anymore. He could do his worst and it wouldn’t be worse than this! All she could feel though was a familiar coolness that radiated from her stomach, relaxing her muscles and relieving that burning flush in her nethers. Her outraged glare turned to surprise and gratitude as the tea did its work. It did its work good. Discord hadn’t been kidding about extra strength. She settled solidly down on her haunches at last, heaving a sigh of relief. “...thank you,” she mumbled quietly, unable to look the draconequus in the eye. “You can thank me,” came his words, “By telling me what was so bad about my gifts to you during the day of my illustrious return? Didn’t I give you and your little friends super powers?” Apple Bloom nodded. She took a slow breath and said, “You did, and it was great! Ah could... ah could do anything. It was easy! I wasn’t messin up or gettin things crooked or forgettin ingredients. Mah... mah special talent was everything.” “Everythin’...” she repeated emotionally, her eyes brimming with tears as she had to think about what was coming next. She did look him in the eye then, angry and hurt, any tears forgotten as she forced herself to tell him. “And then it was gone!” she squealed. “It was all a lie! I was...ah was just a stupid blank little...filly all along and a-ah’ll never forgive you for that!” Discord sipped at his tea noisily. “It ain’t funny you jerk!” she said to him. “Oh I never said it was,” Discord remarked, lifting his cup to her. “I have to say I am in your debt, little filly. Your story has given me valuable insight into the mistakes that I did make that day.” “S–so you’ll let me go?” Apple Bloom whimpered lowering her ears. Discord waved both his mismatched hands dismissively. “My dear filly, I never intended to keep you in the first place! I only wanted to speak with you and hear your little story and offer my services and advice. A little bird told me that you may have something of an estrus problem.” Apple Bloom said nothing, staring at her shameful forehooves planted on the grass. “You’re lucky I came when I did,” he continued. “There are not many ponies within earshot in these woods. It was only through pure chance, that I happened to be close by.” “Ah don’t believe it,” she sneered at him, “You been following me I bet, just waitin’ for me to... to do somethin stupid!” Discord waved his hands, saying “No no, I swear on my mother’s grave that I had no idea you were here, Apple Bloom.” “Then how were you so conveniently nearby?” she shot back suspiciously. “It all started when Fluttershy and I were having a lovely tea party together,” Discord recited, gesturing dramatically as the lights began to dim. “Wait,” Apple Bloom protested, “Ah didn’t ask for this—” Some time earlier in a nearby clearing, Fluttershy reclined luxuriously against the serpentine form of her dear friend, her whole body aglow with satisfaction. “This was such a good idea,” she said passionately, but quietly. His lion paw idly stroked at her side. “Hmm, yes,” he said in a more puzzled tone, “Bit of a surprise that it was she who thought of it.” “I’m so glad I got to spend time with you,” Fluttershy responded, cradling his paw in her hooves and looking up at him through her soft pink bangs. “Out here in the woods, where nopony can hear us. Where we can be together without anypony judging us.” Discord looked at her in what might have passed for affection. She knew it was affection though. He didn’t think she knew, but she could read him like a book. This wonderful creature who had come into her life who was so many animals combined. He couldn’t hide his affection for her, even though he had been hurt so terribly that it was just in his nature to try. “Would you care for some more tea?” Fluttershy asked, the tea kettle cradled against her belly softly clinking as she shifted against it. “I would be honored, my dear,” he told her, in that way that meant he really meant it. As he offered his cup and Fluttershy daintily poured his tea, they looked into each other’s eyes. Fluttershy knew he meant it because he would never joke about it or change the subject or try to deflect it aside as unimportant. It is what he said, and what he said is what is, and she felt honored that such a poor hurt creature like that would trust her so much to do what he had done with her. For her. Discord broke their gaze first, muttering, “Wait, do you hear that?” Fluttershy paused thoughtfully, and it did sound like there was somepony moving nearby, thumping on the ground and rolling back and forth and disturbing the grass with her motions. Fluttershy was a very quiet pony, and when you are a very quiet pony you learn to read the smallest sounds, since you are quiet enough to really listen to them. “It sounds like a–” she started, but then a much louder moan drifted through the air. A long, worried groan that craved fulfillment with the intensity of a physical need. There was a quiet, heavy, tense breathing and then it came again. Fluttershy sat up, collecting her hooves under her and blushing beet red. “Oh... my.” she whispered. Discord had an eyebrow raised, and muttered back to her under his breath, “Seems like we’re not the only ponies trying to get some alone time.” Fluttershy didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t leave and ruin their tea party, but she shouldn’t be listening to this filly doing... doing what she shouldn’t be doing! But... the filly’s heavy breathing and wordless yelps sounded like she was enjoying herself so much, so perhaps it would be rude not to listen! It was a filly, that much was clear. She sounded so young! Was this her first time ever? Did she have a... did she have a colt with her? “Oh Discord,” Fluttershy said torn with indecision, “This might be her first time ever! She might not even know!” “And you’re going to, interrupt her just like that?” he countered, in that sophisticated defiance that he wore so well. “Oh I could never I mean I just couldn’t I mean—” Fluttershy vacillated, fidgeting with her forelock and growing increasingly tense at the urgency of the filly’s vocalizations. “Whatever you’re going to do, you had better do it quickly,” Discord remarked, leaning on his shoulder and looking towards the brook with a mild interest that also wore a teeny amount of irritation for being interrupted. It’s okay though. He would never begrudge a filly for doing something like that. “It sounds like she’s already wrapping things up.” “Ahh, yes!” came the clear cry from over where the brook was babbling. “Wait...” Discord said squinting in thought. “Could that be... Apple Bloom?” “Oh, you know her?” Fluttershy squeaked, hiding behind Discord from her own decisions. “One of the fillies who saved me from imprisonment?” Discord exclaimed, “Of course I know her! Maybe. A little.” “...We met once.” “Apple Bloom?!” Fluttershy shouted in sudden realization, with almost enough volume to disturb a butterfly. “But she’s so young!” “You’ve said estrus season is unusually strong this year,” Discord said clutching Fluttershy protectively. “This might be her first, in fact. It’s not unheard-of.” “AHH!!” Apple Bloom’s joyous and panicked shout contributed distantly to the conversation. And after that outcry, only the muffled rustle of a frantic thrashing about could be heard. The filly was no longer able to vocalize because, well, because she had done it. “Oh I hope she has a colt,” Fluttershy said worriedly. “If not, we should help her! She could be trapped without anypony to help her!” “If it is estrus, a colt might trap her in other ways,” Discord said darkly. “Oh, no Discord,” Fluttershy corrected him gently, “That’s what we drink Moon tea for.” “Oh yes,” he smiled crookedly, which was honestly for him. “It does have that pleasant side effect, doesn’t it?” “She can’t be seeing colts yet,” Fluttershy fussed. “She’s so young! It wouldn’t be right! It’s too early for her to, to need them.” “Early or late, whether she does need help should become self evident,” Discord paused, squinting and saying “Right about...” “DIAMOND TIARA YOU CHEATIN LYIN YOU BUCKIN PILE OF” “...now.” Fluttershy shrank further and further as Apple Bloom’s tirade continued. Her heart broke as it dissolved into desperate pleas for help. Fluttershy should have done something, and now it was too late. She shouldn’t have just sat there deciding, and now little Apple Bloom has to pay the price. Something only a grown mare should have to face, and that little filly had to suffer through it, all because of poor stupid indecisive Fluttershy. “You think I should help her out?” Discord asked in a casual tone. Fluttershy could only whimper in response. “Right, I’ll be back in just a little bit. You just wait here. It might get a little... hairy.” Fluttershy watched him leave with trepidation. She knew she had wanted him to learn the reward of helping other ponies, but she couldn’t help but wonder if he should start with easier situations first like old biddies who need help crossing the street, or deciding between the red flower and the blue flower. As she was paralyzed with fear and guilt however, she was just going to have to trust him. But thankfully she did trust him, because he was her true friend, and he would never hurt her, or anypony anymore. He would figure something out, she thought, calming down enough to gather up the tea set. He always did. “I hope she’s okay,” Fluttershy mused to herself. “She was far louder than any filly I’ve ever heard. And her throes of passion. I hope she didn’t wet herself because that could be–” “No more!” Apple Bloom squealed with her eyes scrunched shut and her hooves smashing her ears flat, one fine masturbation session, one dunk in the creek, and one cup of extra strength Moon Tea later, “Please ah’m beggin you!” “Oh fine,” Discord grumped, “Ruin my fun will you.” Apple Bloom just slowly cracked an eye open, then pulled her hooves away, then gave Discord an absolutely flabbergasted look. “How did you even do that from Fluttershy’s perspective?” she asked. “Don’t judge me,” he said crossing his arms and looking away. Apple Bloom sighed, “Well, you’re right anyway. I mean she’s right. Ah mean– you’re right I shouldn’t have done it. Big time.” “Right or wrong, the only concern I have for you is to help you with your season problems in any way possible,” Discord asserted, stubbornly sticking to the topic of “anything other than letting Apple Bloom go and not transforming her head into a potted begonia.” “An’ I thank you for the tea, so may ah be on mah way then?” Apple Bloom snipped a little irritatedly. Discord scoffed lightly, saying “You truly amaze me, little Apple Bloom. You have all the powers of a god at your beck and call, and all you can think to do with them is to have him brew you a cup of tea?” She frowned at that, blushing, and said frustratedly, “W-well unless you can make me a mare an’ give me a stallion to be mah husband, then you can’t help me!” “How about a colt?” he replied immediately. “A mare and a colt?” Apple Bloom curled her upper lip, “Ah don’t think that’s legal!” “No, no, no, no,” he corrected her, swishing the finger of his lion paw back and forth, “No. I simply find that age spells are notoriously ill received by mortal beings. You wouldn’t want to lose your entire childhood, after all.” Apple Bloom paled, “Y-y-you were really gonna do it?” “I wouldn’t dream of making a filly so sad before her time,” Discord rolled his eyes. “Anyway, a colt would be more your age level, and certainly a lot less problematic than bending the fabric of existence to make you a married woman.” “You... you can’t actually make somepony married, can you?” “Who do I look like, Princess Celestia?” “Actually you kinda do,” Apple Bloom pointed at his head, where a flowing mane in the ethereal colors of Princess Celestia was resting. “Oh that’s where I put it, silly me!” he said, scooping the hair off his head into an ice cream cone. He proceeded to lick at it messily. Apple Bloom scratched a hoof restlessly. “So... you can’t just make a colt marry me?” “Why on earth are you so invested in the idea of getting married to him?” Discord asked her incredulously, tossing the princess ice cream cone behind him where it grew legs and used them to fly into the sky, “Wasn’t this about your estrus, or am I mistaken?” “Well it don’t work if he ain’t married to me,” Apple Bloom declared definitively, without a doubt, not a hint of uncertainty. “.......right?” “You seem less than certain in your convictions, my dear.” Apple Bloom looked aside, “Well it’s just... ah don’t get why a stallion won’t work just because he ain’t married to you. It’s a bond of trust, but since when has a contractual agreement affected a pony’s physical capabilities?” Discord looked at her flatly, and said, “I really shouldn’t be telling you this, because you should not be chasing after colts at your age, but no. Marriage is not required for a stallion to ease a mare’s seasonal troubles. As near as I can tell, marriage was some silly fad that mares and stallions adopted some centuries ago, in order to prevent each other from having fun.” “That can’t be right!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, “Mah sister says that Ma and Pa had lots of fun all the time, and they were married!” “And what about the mares who weren’t your mother?” he said disapprovingly looking at the back of his hand. “...what about ‘em?” Apple Bloom said with a blank expression. “Unless pony biology has changed dramatically since I was... otherwise indisposed, there are in the realm of 3 fillies born for every colt, correct?” “That’s what Twilight said in that one class we–” “And if every stallion marries exactly one mare, that leaves two left over.” Apple Bloom was trying to find holes in his argument, but it was tricky, because she was also now imagining the horror of having to stand aside, burning up from the waist down while some colt and some filly are off having fun and not having estrus. She was starting to imagine herself and Rumble, all wrapped together and staring into each other’s eyes in bliss, and she’d just be ignoring the tormented sadness on Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who could only watch because they were locked behind an iron gate. She tried to imagine herself smiling in that situation, even just imagine herself smiling, and she just couldn’t do it. “Ma and Pa were good ponies...” she said, adjusting her tail uncomfortably. “Ah know they were...” “You really shouldn’t be asking me,” Discord said somewhat disgruntledly, “Marriage is one of the few things which I honestly have very little knowledge of. For all I know, the oaths of loving no other until the day you perish are only advisory. I never knew your mother, but... perhaps she shared?” “Yeah, that’s probably it,” Apple Bloom concluded quietly, with not even the slightest bit of conviction. Discord simply regarded her silently. She stomped a hoof then, saying “That still doesn’t get me any closer to gettin’ married though. Ah gotta wait years and years!” “What if I told you,” Discord said squinting his eyes and folding his fingers devilishly, “That there was a way right now for a colt to end your estrus permanently? No marriage needed, no waiting, no fuss.” “C-c-can you really do that?” Apple Bloom asked in astonishment. “It is well within my capabilities,” he agreed. “All you have to do is ask, and I will make it so.” “This ain’t gonna be like a trick, right?” she said lifting a hoof and pointing it at him, “Like a colt that is really just a doll or somethin?” “I’ve learned my lesson there, Apple Bloom,” he said seriously, “No dolls, no illusions, no tricks. A real living, breathing colt.” “You aren’t gonna kidnap him are you?” she demanded, “I won’t put up with it if he ain’t willing!” “He’ll be willing to do anything you want,” Discord assured her, “Of his own free will. No coercion, no tricks of the mind.” “An’ he can get rid of mah estrus, just like a married stallion?” “Better than a married stallion,” Discord asserted. “Why, I wager you won’t even feel any urges or discomfort at all.” “H-how am ah gonna meet him?” Apple Bloom asked now beside herself with excitement. “When can ah meet him?” Discord tugged his beard again looking up at the sky, “Hmm... let’s say tomorrow, when you arrive at school. There will be a new colt in class, and he will be the one to end your estrus.” “What about the other fillies?” Apple Bloom asked eagerly. Discord gave her an odd look, then shook his head, “I’m afraid this will only work for your estrus, Apple Bloom. Other fillies will have to find their own way to deal with it, and I doubt that they will be able to impress me the way you have today.” “I-I guess that’s okay,” she said hesitantly, “Ah don’t wanna be selfish or nothin, but it won’t hurt their estrus, and... an’ if ah could just get some relief that would be awesome!” “Believe me Apple Bloom, after today, your estrus will be the last thing on your mind.” Apple Bloom jumped excitedly in place saying, “Thank you so much!” “Just to be sure,” he continued undaunted by her excitement, “I do have your permission, then?” “Ya sure do!” “You’re game?” “Ah’m game!” “Excellent!” Discord said with a delighted smile, leaping up to hover in the air. “I have some preparations to make, but don’t you worry. Just keep an eye out for that new colt in class. I doubt you’ll have too hard a time finding him. Oh this will be so much fun!” He actually tittered, running off into the woods without another word. Discord really honestly did seem like he was enjoying himself. But why did Apple Bloom feel like she just got played for a sucker? On her way back to the farm house, the extra strength moon tea doing its job in spades to quell her labial aching, she tried to figure out just what the catch was in this agreement she made. It seemed too good to be true. Discord was right in one thing. Colts were really hard to come by! Even if Apple Bloom wanted to verify the validity of marriage and, as a unimportant side effect, satisfy her groin, her choices were limited. There was Snips and Snails, but... they were Snips and Snails. Just last week they brought in for show and tell various samples of poop from the three tribes of pony and seemed to think everypony wanted to get up close and smell it. It wasn’t like they were being mean or cruel; they were just honestly too dumb to realize that what they were doing was disturbing ponies. And they were always fawning after that magic show star anyway, so they didn’t display the least bit of interest in fillies their own age. Rumble was gay. Featherweight was, well weird looking and gay. She knew a colt called Shady but he’d been skipping break entirely the past couple days, not sure as to why. Studying probably. She tried to think of other colts, but there really weren’t much more options. There was that transfer student Button, but Sweetie had her sights set on him, and Apple Bloom didn’t find that moving picture stuff they were into to be all that interesting. There just wasn’t an opportunity to get his attention as they lacked anything in common. And Sweetie had been avoiding him like oil and water since estrus started, so she couldn’t help either. If there was going to be a new colt in class, it was gonna cause waves. Apple Bloom had to make sure that she got to him first, so he could do whatever magic he had to cure her estrus. It was possible the colt could cure estrus by some other means. Discord did say it would be a natural flesh and blood colt after all. But Apple Bloom needed him for the magic stuff to work. She could share him, just like Ma, after taking care of that. It was really blowing her mind that a grownup finally admitted marriage wasn’t necessary for curing estrus. Sure it was Discord, but... Apple Bloom had been all alone in her suspicions before that, and it was just impossible to not feel terrible about doubting yourself when nopony will tell you you’re right or wrong. It’d been all Apple Bloom would talk about the past couple days, and they either outright denied it or started stuttering and found an excuse to be somewhere else, or worst of all they told her it was her family’s place to tell her. Granny just smiled mysteriously, Applejack got mad at her, and Big Mac well getting a word out of that galoot was troublesome enough as-is. And extended family didn’t count either, at least not according to that letter she sent cousin Braeburn the other day. He even went so far as to write her a letter about how she shouldn’t even be asking stallions if they can cure her of estrus or not. Well what was she supposed to do then? She couldn’t wait for marriage! She just couldn’t wait that long! All that suffering would be for nothing, because you can still devote your love to somepony no matter how many stallions cured your estrus beforehand, and apparantly you don’t even need to get married to do that. It just didn’t make sense. She wanted to stay on the Sun’s path, but she couldn’t understand how what her brother and sister told her was the way, would lead her anywhere but sadness. Apple Bloom’s mind was whirling that afternoon all through chores, and that extra strength Moon tea was really helping clear her head. She wondered if maybe it was part of the secret to make that colt’s boy stuff work on her. He said it wasn’t enchanted though. She was glad it worked at any rate. She had enough appetite again to tear through a pile of fescue patties, and a big slice of Granny’s famous apple pie. She wondered if he would be handsome, or athletic, or maybe he’d go apple bucking with her. She wondered if he’d be the perfect colt, or maybe he’d just be some mysterious strangecolt for whom Discord pulled strings to get him transferred over in the last week of school. She tried to figure out what he would do with her butt, and the thought of a colt doing something with her butt, with her butt like this both excited and scared her. She huddled under her covers, squeezing her legs together eagerly. Eager for the day to come tomorrow, and also eager to touch herself and make that glorious fire spring up inside her like a sun rising in the morning when the dawn breaks. It’s funny even after her horrible experience she still felt like doing it again. She wouldn’t, not come love nor money, but it didn’t stop her hoof from teasing down there and just... just adjusting a bit y’know? A few seconds later she pulled her hooves away and just, flatly ignored it. No matter how easy it was, even just the littlest bit was getting her. She couldn’t wait for the morning to come, because morning meant school, and school meant boys, and the colt meant estrus would be a thing of the past. Either that or Discord is just a lying sneak who can’t hold true to his word. Her sticky legs wouldn’t let her even consider that though. It had to work. It just had to. Worked up and worried, Apple Bloom found herself fighting to stay awake. Thankfully as soon as she forced herself to relax and stop thinking about things for a minute, she was out like a light. Morning dawned when the cock crowed. Or at least it was supposed to. Apple Bloom heard no cock crow though. She found it more of a struggle than usual to pull herself out of sleep. There was a pounding on her door that she had to pay attention to. “Mhu,” she said, then spit out her pillow as Applejack called out, “Apple Bloom! Get up already!” from the door. “M’hup, m’up,” she mumbled waveringly, then coughed trying to dislodge whatever frog was in her throat. How hard had she slept last night? She slept through the cock crowing entirely! From her hooves to her tail, her body was peculiarly achy, like she’d stretched out too much last night. She rolled over, pulling the blankets down and sitting up slumped over groggily. Maybe she’d just pretend to be sick today. Maybe she’d just skip school entirely. Maybe— Oh gosh, school! School meant colts. School meant the colt. A smile bloomed on her face and then died and she gaped, jumping out of bed and running to her window where the sun was shining. The shadow’s angle was far, far too short for her liking. She spun around and looked at the clock on her dresser. Her eyes shrunk to pinpricks. Out in the hall, Applejack was just about to go in there and kick that lazy sister of hers out of bed, perhaps even literally, when the door burst open, and a streak of red and yellow rushed by her, shouting, “Late!” in a really off voice. Apple Bloom didn’t even stop for breakfast she just tossed on her saddle bags and charged out the door. Granny was poking her head upstairs looking at Applejack questioningly. Applejack just shrugged. Applejack turned and shut the door to Apple Bloom’s room, and as she did Applejack noticed that Apple Bloom had even forgotten her favorite bow. Why was that girl so intent on getting to school today? Sure it was the last week. Maybe they were throwing a party or something? She didn’t doubt Apple Bloom’s devotion to her own education, but it seemed odd that the filly would be in such a hurry and still sleep in so late. Apple Bloom could still make it to school on time now, but with an empty belly and without a ribbon in her hair. That just weren’t right. Apple Bloom wanted to knock herself in the head. She forgot her favorite ribbon! How was a colt even going to recognize her much less give her the time of day! But maybe he didn’t know she wore it, so she could pull it off just this once. She had to get that colt to help her. She just had to! Ponyville blurred by as Apple Bloom crossed town to get to the school house. She was making really good time. Her stride seemed longer. If she didn’t know better she’d think she had a growth spurt, overnight. Which wasn’t unheard of for a growing filly, but Apple Bloom had always been pretty short and squat, even for a filly. It was possible she’d have a growth spurt, but more likely that she’d end up like Applejack than like Big Macintosh. At least her estrus wasn’t too bad this morning. That could have hung her up and made her late. But it didn’t bother her one lick, so with the school bell ringing she was already in the school yard and heading purposefully for her class. Sure she’d get there after everypony else, but they won’t have time to introduce the new colt and that’s what’s important. She even made it before Cheerilee started talking, which gave her the chance to shout out to Cheerilee, “Ah’m here! Ah’m he–here!” Apple Bloom coughed again. What was wrong with her voice? Her throat was dry from sleep that was probably it. She needed a trip to the watering trough. After the colt though. After. “Sorry about that,” she said as the entire class looked at her, shuffling off her saddlebags and sitting down behind her desk, trying not to sound too hoarse, or ...gruff, or whatever her voice was doing. It seemed like the frog in her throat was dropping her voice a whole octave lower than what she was used to. “Ah just overslept a bit!” She started to pull her textbooks out onto her desk, when she realized that the class hadn’t stopped staring at her. Even Miss Cheerilee was looking at her with an open mouthed expression of surprise. Surprise and something else. “Sorry ah’m late (ahhm),” Apple Bloom repeated, but nopony looked away, or even twitched. Scootaloo was staring at her in such slack jawed amazement that Apple Bloom swore she could see her tonsils. Even that jerk Diamond Tiara looked like she was trying to be outraged, but just couldn’t deal with what she was seeing. Silver Spoon was looking at... actually she was the only one in class who was looking at Diamond Tiara with worry, not Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle looked like she couldn’t tear her eyes away, and she was blushing so hard it almost reached her shoulders. She wasn’t the only filly like that either. But, not the colts? Snips and Snails were already going back to bein their usual goofball selves whispering to each other about something, and Rumble just had a contemplative expression on his face. Even her old friend Twist was staring at her with a goofy besotten smile on her face. “Y’all can get to the lesson now?” she tried. No response. Ohh, of course. “Is it mah bow?” she asked. “Ah forgot it in the rush to get here. C’mon do I look that weird without it?” Cheerilee was the first to recover, clearing her throat. “I wasn’t told there was going to be a new transfer student this late in the year.” “A new colt in class?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed excitedly. “Oh mah gosh, where is he? Is he cute?” Cheerilee didn’t seem entirely sure how to continue. “Yeth, he’th dreamy” Pepperment Twist said, leaning on her hooves and staring right at Apple Bloom . “What’s everypony starin at?” Apple Bloom asked. “You can’t sit there,” Diamond Tiara said in a snide accusative voice. “That’s not your seat!” “Oh please, Diamond Tiara,” Apple Bloom put her hoof to her own face, “It is way too early to be startin’ stuff like this.” She looked at Apple Bloom as if she was insane. “Who are you?” Diamond Tiara asked in a bewildered tone, staring holes right through Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom looked sideways at Diamond Tiara, raising a half smile, but that didn’t provoke any reaction. Tiara wasn’t smiling, not nicely or meanly. She just looked surprised, and a bit scared. “Y-yer jokin’ right?” she said to Tiara, who just clammed up and shut her mouth tight. That seemed to break Cheerilee’s paralysis, as she walked over to Apple Bloom’s desk saying, “If you are going to transfer to this school, don’t you think it would be better to wait until the beginning of the next school year?” “Ah know a colt–” Apple Bloom answered, coughing again. Dangit. Artificially raising her pitch just sounded weird. “A colt is comin’ to this class in this period, today. Not next year. So where is he?” “Where is who?” Cheerilee asked in a puzzled tone. “The colt who transferred!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. What was wrong with the entire class? These answers were plain as day! Why were they having fits over it? “Right here, I presume,” Cheerilee said with a bit of a wry smirk. Apple Bloom looked around, but she couldn’t see any new students, certainly not any new colts. She looked at Cheerilee in confusion, and Cheerilee looked back at Apple Bloom and said, as if to clarify her earlier words, “You are the colt who transferred.” “What do you m–” Apple Bloom stopped cold. What was wrong with her voice? It was too low. It was deeper even than your average ...colt. Apple Bloom looked around frantically. The room seemed to be closing in around her as she spied a vanity mirror on Diamond Tiara’s desk. “Scuze me,” she said, invading Diamond’s personal space and grabbing the mirror, and staring into it. The mirror couldn’t have been working right. The reflection she saw wasn’t her own face! It had her familiar yellow fuzzy fur, and her familiar curly red bangs, but the nose was a lot blockier and the eyes were just a bit smaller, wider set, and hawk-like. It was a colt’s face. “Ah... Ah’m...” The mirror fell lifelessly to the surface of her desk. “AH GOTTA GO,” she exclaimed, making Cheerilee rear back as Apple Bloom stood up from her desk so fast that she got tangled in it with her longer, taller, lankier, colt body, knocking it over and just running in a blind panic for the nearest exit. Thankfully for the school’s janitorial staff it was the door and not a window. She couldn’t let them see her! She couldn’t never show her face at school again! She didn’t stop running until she had gallopped out the hall, down the hill away from town and into the apple orchard. Nopony followed her because, of course, she didn’t even attend that school. It was a filly named Apple Bloom who attended that school. She slumped down against a tree with the town out of sight entirely, the tears welling up in her eyes as she realized what a fool she’d been. How about a colt? A gosh darned stupid There is a way right now for a colt to end your estrus permanently. Lump headed, salt sniffing when you arrive at school. There will be a new colt in class Lame brained, hog waddling your estrus will be the last thing on your mind. Fool! Even her crying sounded weird, and stupid. And that made her cry more. She hated it. She hated herself for ever trusting him, and she hated him for outsmarting her so badly that she made a fool of herself in front of the entire school. A colt. Apple Bloom was a colt. He was never going to give her a colt. He was going to make her a colt! Her fear and loathing and rage just welled up in her and she just threw her hooves up at the sky and screamed, “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!” He’ll be willing to do anything you want, of his own free will. He probably even magicked her into oversleeping so she wouldn’t even notice until she got to school. Well she was noticing now! Her face was squarer, her legs were longer, and there wasn’t even a hint of hot sticky unbearable estrus between her thighs. She didn’t have a pounding in her head, and she didn’t have to force her hooves to stay out of trouble. She wasn’t flushed and sweating, and she wasn’t feeling like she was going to die if she didn’t get a colt right this very minute. Actually she was feeling pretty good. Somehow her sobs were turning to laughter. She couldn’t deal with this. This wasn’t a thing that happened. This was impossible. This was beyond ludicrous. Slumped down with her tail out between her legs she could see plain as day that she didn’t even have labia anymore. She had– She had. To get this undone. Right away. She shot to her hooves, pointedly ignoring everything in around or within the same solar system as her groin. It was too easy to ignore. It should have been burning with need. She felt wrong, like something was missing from her. Something was missing, and something else entirely was in its place! She wanted to have one! She didn’t want to have one! She drove away every single fantasy she ever had about a colt, which were now starring her front stage and center, with pure single minded determination. Discord changed her into a colt. There had to be a way to change back. Could he change her back? She was sure he could, but how to convince him to do it? “I was having a delightful tea party just now in fact, with my dear friend Fluttershy.” Apple Bloom inhaled sharply. Fluttershy! That’s it! She was the nicest most kindest mare who ever lived, and she wouldn’t tolerate this one bit! And she was good with animals, and Discord was sort of like an animal... several animals. She even stared down a cockatrice once, and that was pretty much the same thing, right? And he was her dear friend. Unless he was lying about that. Or referring to a friend of his who happens to also be named Fluttershy, who’s also a deer. For better or for worse, Fluttershy was Apple Bloom’s best hope. Sniffling and sucking up the quavering in her chest, Apple Bloom rounded the tree looking down to where the orchard overlooked the town. And all the way across Ponyville on the very other side, was Fluttershy’s cottage. All those ponies in between her and Fluttershy. Apple Bloom turned sideways, and started trotting the long way around the border of town. It was a long way around, but there was no way she could let herself be seen like this.