//------------------------------// // Ditzy's Heated Week // Story: The Mystery of a New World // by Fanthrose //------------------------------// Chapter 34 “So, how was your Nightmare Night crusading?” asked Ditzy as she and AJ walked down the street. “Not too bad. With Apple Bloom’s help, we were able to get the thing built pretty quickly, all things considered.” AJ let out a long sigh. “If only everypony would have been able to actually enjoy it.” Ditzy looked at him with confusion on her features. “Why? Did you finish it too late?” “Nnnno, that’s not it…” ******************** The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked up at their masterpiece with pride. Thanks to Apple Bloom’s natural ability, they were able to build their haunted house in record time. “Well what do you girls think? Are we ready for business, or are we ready for business?” AJ looked down at the three fillies as he waited for an answer. “You bet!” said Scootaloo as she pumped her hoof. “This is going to be sooo awesome!” Apple Bloom squinted at the structure for a second before pride filled her features. “Yup, we’re ready ta scare everypony.” “So what are we all going to do?” asked Sweetie Belle. AJ put a hoof up to his chin. “Well, Apple Bloom and I need to be inside. She knows the ins and outs of this thing better than the rest of us, and I need to control the monsters. Sweetie, why don’t you stay here and usher ponies in while Scootaloo goes and…” “EX-TER-MIN-ATE!!!” All four members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders freaked out as screams filled the air. AJ, who was the first to recover, brandished the broad sword at his side with his magic and turned to see a domed, golden robot flying in front of him. Coming out of a hole near the top looked to be a camera of some kind on the end of a metal pole. A little under that was what looked like a plunger and a whisk sticking out the front of its body. Beneath that, the entire body seemed to widen a bit and was covered in bumps. AJ shakily held the sword out in front of him as the rest of the CMC hid behind him. “W-w-what are you?” Everything was silent for a few seconds. “EX-TER-MIN-ATE!!! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!!! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!!! EX-TER-MIN…” “That’s quite enough Screwball. You don’t want to give him a heart attack. I think he’s been in the hospital enough for one year.” AJ looked to the side to see Trotsworth and Shadow walking towards them. Trotsworth was wearing, what appeared to be, an old timey police box. Shadow’s entire body had been dyed a stone like color. On his head sat a wreath of white flowers, and he was wearing a simple robe making him look like an angel made out of stone or something. He then looked back at the flying robot in front of him. “S-screwball?!” A hatch on top of the robot opened up and a very familiar pair of slightly swirly eyes peaked out. A second later, her entire head popped out; a giant smile on her face. she had her propeller beanie on and it was spinning which explained how the ‘robot’ was flying. She waved a hoof. “HI!” AJ breathed a sigh of relief as he re-sheathed the blade. “Fucking hell. Scared the shit out of me,” he said under his breath. “So, what are the three of you up too? You know, besides scaring everypony?” “We were just going around looking at all the attractions,” said Shadow. “That’s when we noticed this,” Trotsworth said as he motioned to the haunted house. Apple Bloom’s eyes got wide. “Do y’all wanna be th’ first ponies through it?!” “We’d love to.” “Alright!” cheered Apple Bloom. She grabbed AJ and dragged him towards the building. “C’mon! We have ta get ready ta…” Suddenly the haunted house exploded. Shards of wood went flying everywhere. Thinking fast, AJ grabbed Apple Bloom and hugged her to his body; turning away so she wouldn’t get hurt by the shrapnel. While his armor took the brunt of the damage, AJ ended up with a few cuts here and there. One even embedded itself into his right foreleg between the armor and boot. After things calmed down a bit, AJ risked looking around. Trotsworth used his costume to protect Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo by using himself as a shield. He was now outside of his costume; looking them over for any injuries. Screwball poked her head back out of her costume as Shadow peered around it. He was afraid to, but he knew he had to see what had happened to their baby. It was worse than he thought. What used to be a haunted house was now a pile of burnt wood and shrapnel. He looked down when he heard a whimper. Apple Bloom was just staring at the pile of wood in disbelief. All that hard work…for nothing. “THAT…WAS…AWESOME!!!” Everypony looked beyond the rubble and saw a chocolate brown stallion standing there with a bright smile on his face. DC had his mane combed into a mullet and wore a baseball cap. “I, Michael Neigh, have just shot another explosion for my next film, ‘Explosion, the movie!’” “That explosion was amazing Darky!” came a familiar voice. Pinkie could be seen hoping up to him where she planted a big kiss on his cheek. She looked over and saw everypony sitting there. “Hi everypony!” “Hey, are you guys building something?” asked DC as he looked at the rubble in front of them. “You should hurry, Nightmare Night won’t last forever.” He turned to Pinkie. “Let’s go babe! I have more explosions to shoot!” ******************** “We caught up with them later and told them what happened. They did apologize. Didn’t know they actually hit something with that rocket.” AJ put a hoof to his chin. “I still have no idea where DC got those explosives.” “I guess that explains your leg and the limping,” Ditzy said as she pointed to AJ’s leg. AJ chuckled. “Trotsworth is thinking of giving me my own room in the hospital. Maybe some kind of punch card system. Pay for ten hospital visits get the eleventh free. Says I’d fill mine up in no time.” As he looked back at Ditzy he saw the sad look on her face. She wasn’t finding his constant injuries as funny as he was. He laid his ears back as shame began washing over him. “Sorry.” “Your magnetism towards injuries is not something to joke about you know.” AJ sighed. “I know. Guess it’s just my way of coping with everything. Don’t have time to be sad or angry if I’m to busy laughing. That’s probably how I made it through the last nine years of my life without ending everything.” Ditzy stopped in front of AJ; an angry look on her face. “And look at all the trouble it’s caused you! You keep everything pent up inside, and look what happens! If you’re not mind numbingly depressed, you get violent towards other ponies! You blew up at Pinkie Pie! You might have physically scarred Morning Glory with that hot chocolate! And while I can’t say the thought of hurting him more doesn’t’ fill me with a warm, fuzzy feeling, it’s still wrong!” AJ stared at Ditzy with wide eyed and slack jawed. “Ditzy…” “No! I’m tired of you keeping your feelings pent up like that! It stops now! Do you understand me?!” “B-but…” “NO BUTS!!!” A small crowd was beginning to gather, but Ditzy didn’t care. “Either you start sharing your feelings with me, and let me help you through them, or we’re through!” AJ nodded meekly. “O-okay. Crystal clear. I understand perfectly. I’ll start sharing my feelings with you.” “Great!” Ditzy said with a bright smile on her face. “Now come on. Dinky get’s out of school soon and I want to be there when she does.” She turned and happily trotted towards the school. AJ just sat there in place; too afraid to move. Eventually Caramel came from the crowd. “Uhh, you okay?” “Caramel...do you know what just happened? Cause I sure as hell don’t.” Caramel shook his head. “I have no idea, but you may want to hurry up. Unless you want your butt chewed out again that is.” “Y-yea, that’s probably a good idea. I’ll talk to you later.” Favoring his right foreleg, AJ got up and trotted off after Ditzy. ******************** Ditzy restlessly squirmed around in her bed. The moment AJ had left their house the previous night she began to feel very antsy and lonely. Sleep didn’t come very easily for the bluish gray mare that night. The little sleep she did get was plagued with…strange dreams. The strangest part was that every single one had two things in common. AJ was always there, and she was always pregnant. Every dream had her at a different stage of pregnancy, but she was still pregnant. The only one she could fully remember all the details about was one where she was a queen. If she had to guess, she was about eight months into a pregnancy. As she sat on her throne, a literal harem of about 100 AJ’s sat in front of her; ready to do anything she asked of them. As she lay in bed, she thought what it could have meant. ‘It’s strange. Yesterday I just blew up at AJ when I wasn’t really even mad. I felt so lonely after he left. Now these dreams.’ “Ooooooohhh…what’s wrong with me?” Ditzy gasped when she heard mumbling coming from the next room over. Did she just wake somepony up? She stayed silent and listened in. “I love you too Prince Sea Foam. I would gladly marry you and live in your underwater bubble castle.” Ditzy let out a sigh of relief before giggling to herself. She was well aware of Dinky’s crush on Prince Sea Foam, and knew that she would grow out of it soon enough. ‘Come on, what kind of foal would actually grow up thinking they could actually marry a cartoon character? They’re not even real. And come on. Hippocampia? What kind of name is that for a world?’ She giggled again before realizing that she was getting off topic. ‘Come on Ditzy, focus! You have to think! What is wrong with me?’ She put a hoof to her chin. ‘Now that I think about it, this does feel familiar. Yea, this is definitely familiar. Restless sleep filled with dreams of being pregnant, feeling antsy, wishing I had the company of…a…stallion…’ Ditzy’s eyes got wider and wider as the realization dawned on her. ******************** Unlike Ditzy, Carrot was having a very peaceful rest. She was able to get to bed very easily. Her dreams were all filled with happy things. Very happy things. “Oh Written Script. Why didn’t you just tell me that you wanted to marry me you silly pony you. I’d love to have your foals you sexy stallion you.” A light blush grew on Carrot’s face as the dream continued. “Oh my, it’s so beautiful. Just lay back and let me take care of Little Script for…” “CARROT!!! WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY HERE!!!” Ditzy blew through the door to Carrot’s room, waking her up in the process. “Ditzy…I am going to open my eyes now. If you are still here, you better learn to get around in a full body cast.” “Carrot please! This is serious!” “What...in Celestia’s name…is so important that you need to wake me up at…” She looked over to the digital clock on her dresser. “2:30 in the morning?” Ditzy looked around the room. She then looked at the door to make sure Dinky wasn’t listening in. “Carrot!” she whispered. “I think I’m going into heat!” Carrot just stared at the pegasus with a sleepy glare. “And?” “This is serious!” Carrot slowly brought a hoof to her forehead in frustration. “Ditzy, this happens to us every…single…year. Just be happy you always seem to get yours over with early.” “But it’s different this year,” whined Ditzy. “Why? Because AJ?” Ditzy sheepishly nodded. “Shouldn’t that be, oh I don’t know, a good thing? Why don’t you just call him over and have him rut your brains out?” Ditzy’s eyes widened even more than Carrot thought was possible. “NO!!!” Ditzy cringed and turned to the door. She hoped to Celestia she didn’t just wake Dinky. After she was sure her little muffin was still asleep, she turned back to Carrot. “I-I-I can’t do that. What if I get pregnant? I don’t…I just don’t know if I’m ready for another foal just yet.” “Then go to the store and get some condoms or something. You’re making a much bigger deal out of this than is necessary.” Ditzy thought for a moment before shaking her head. “N-no. It’s too risky.” “Then go clop for awhile, or whatever it is you do to calm yourself down during this time.” Ditzy shook her head. “I can’t. What would Dinky think if she heard me?" Ditzy swallowed the lump in her throat. "I guess I’ll just have to try and control my urges for the next week. Ohh, it’s going to be soooo hard avoiding AJ for a while.” “Good, great, you have it all figured out now. Can I go back to bed?” A slight blush came to Ditzy’s face. “Of course. Sorry for waking you Carrot. I just…needed somepony to talk to.” Carrot sighed. “And you know I’m always here for you Ditzy. Just…try to have your ‘crises’ at a more Carrot friendly time.” Ditzy giggled. “I’ll try. Night Carrot.” Carrot lay her head on her pillow once again. “Yea…night.” After hearing Ditzy’s door close, she let herself got caught up in her own thoughts. “Oh Written Script, why must you elude me so?” ******************** AJ let out an audible sigh as he lay on his bed. At the moment, he was supposed to be helping knight with his math homework, but he was too busy thinking of other things to pay any attention. It took him a few seconds to register that Knight was asking him a question. “U-um AJ? Are you okay?” AJ blinked a few times before turning to Knight. “What’s up?” “Did I do this right?” Knight held out his math assignment. Seems like they were learning long division in school now. “Uhhh, probably?” Knight turned the page back around and stared at it. His cheeks puffed out in anger. “Why does math have to be so stupid and hard?” “Hmm. Looks like ya divided when ya should’ve subtracted right there.” A big hoof came over Knight’s shoulder and pointed to the mistake he had made. Knight looked up in confusion to see Big Mac gently smiling down at him. He looked back at the page in his hooves; squinting as he looked at where Big Mac was pointing before pouting. “Oohhh. I’ll never get this stuff. It’s just too hard.” Big Mac chuckled. “All ya need ta do is work at it. It’ll come ta ya.” That was the exact same thing Applejack would always say when she got frustrated with her studies. He always found someway to help her through her problems. “How about Ah work on it with ya since AJ here obviously ain’t got his heart in it t’day? Just let me have a quick talk with’im first.” “Okay.” Knight took the homework back to the writing desk and sat down. With a smile, Big Mac took the spot next to AJ’s bed that Knight was just occupying. “Now, Applejack noticed that ya seem ta be in a bit of a funk t’day. What’s wrong?” AJ sighed again. “I think Ditzy’s mad at me or something.” “What makes ya think that?” “Cause she’s been avoiding me.” Big Mac looked on in confusion. “Every time we’ve seen each other around town she quickly flies off. She doesn’t even give me a chance to say hi.” Big Mac put a hoof to his chin. “How long has this been goin’ on?” “About four days. I did manage to actually talk to her today when I was out before.” Big Mac smiled. “Well that’s good, right?” AJ shook his head. “It…didn’t end very well.” “How…'not very well’ are we talkin’ ‘bout here?" “Well…” ******************** A frown adorned AJ’s face as he sat on the park bench. He had left for a walk after eating a light breakfast to clear his head. After the past few days, he couldn’t get it out of his head that he had done something to make Ditzy mad at him. As he walked around town, he thought of everything that had happened the last time he had been with her. He couldn’t think of anything out of the ordinary. “Maybe she just doesn’t love me anymore. That’s why Kelly broke up with me,” he said to nopony in particular. He put a hoof up to his chin and thought. “Maybe there’s just something I’m not seeing. Something that…” His thoughts were interrupted as he felt something hit him in the side. Looking over in confusion, he saw a ball sitting on the bench next to him. “Hey mister!” Looking up, he saw a small colt with a brown coat and a cream colored mane looking at him. “Could you throw my ball back please?” AJ looked back down at the ball before smiling. Using his magic, he tossed the ball to the colt. “There you go kid.” The colt smiled as he caught the ball in his fore hooves. “Hey, come on Lickety Split! Pass the ball!” called out another foal. AJ watched the foals playing for a little bit. The innocence made him smile. He continued to watch them until he felt his stomach start to rumble. “Guess I should have eaten more for breakfast.” Sighing, he got up off the bench. Looking around, he saw the closest place to eat just happened to be Sugarcube Corner. “Pure sugar it is.” As he got closer to the building, he heard voices. “...anks again for the talk Mrs. Cake. I just didn’t know who else I could talk to about this right now. Carrot keeps telling me the same thing over and over again. I just wanted another mare’s perspective.” AJ’s eyes got wide. ‘That’s Ditzy’s voice!’ He pressed his ear to the door and listened in. “I understand dear. More than you know. In fact, I used to do the exact same thing you’re doing right now.” “You did?” Ditzy’s voice was full of surprise. “Mmhm. I did it every year Carrot Cake and I dated. I even avoided him the first couple years through our marriage. Like you I was scared. I didn’t know if I’d be ready for the responsibility. Not saying you aren’t responsible, but you know what I’m trying to say. One day he cornered me and got me to spill the beans. He was so…” Mrs. Cake was interrupted by the sound of crying coming from the upstairs. “Oh shoot. Could you give me a minute dear?” AJ heard somepony start moving through the building. He leaned more into the door; trying to hear anything else in the silence. Unfortunately for him, he was also leaning on the door knob causing him to accidentally turn it. He unceremoniously spilled through the doorway with a loud thud and an ‘oof.’ As he looked into the building, he noticed Ditzy and Mrs. Cake looking straight at him in shock. He knew at that moment that his cover was blown. Quickly sitting up, he put on a bright yet fake smile. “Ditzy, Mrs. Cake, hello!” Mrs. Cake looked between the two ponies in front of her as an awkward silence filled the room. The smile on AJ’s face slowly waned, becoming more and more unsure as the time passed. She noticed that Pound and Pumpkin were no longer crying. ‘Pinkie must have gotten to them first,’ she thought. She walked back to the table they were sitting at and placed a hoof on Ditzy’s shoulder. “This is your chance. Just tell him what’s on your mind,” she whispered. Ditzy swallowed the lump in her throat as she fought to control her urges. She was about to open her mouth to speak, but AJ beat her to the punch. “Ditzy, is something wrong?” AJ walked forward until he was at the table. She said nothing. She was using every ounce of will power she had to not just jump him there and then. “You’ve been avoiding me all week, and I’d like to know why.” He reached out and placed a hoof on hers. “Please just talk to me.” Ditzy let out an involuntary shudder of pleasure as AJ’s hoof contacted hers. Unfortunately for AJ, in her confused state, that triggered her fight or flight reflexes. “YEPEVERYTHING’SFINEOHLOOKATTHETIMEIHAVETOGOILOVEYOUBUY!!!” With speed rivaling that of Rainbow Dash, Ditzy got up from her seat and blew out the front door of the building, leaving two very confused ponies in her wake. ******************** “After that I just came home.” Big Mac thought for a moment. “That doesn’t sound like Ditzy. Maybe ya should go over an’ talk with Carrot Top.” “You think so?” “Couldn’t hurt.” After a few seconds AJ sat up; a look of determination on his face. “You know what? You’re right. If Ditzy won’t talk to me, maybe Carrot will know something.” He leapt off the bed and ran out of the room, shouting a thanks to Big Mac as he did. ******************** With the determination still on his face, AJ knocked on the door of Carrot’s house. Hoof steps could be heard getting closer and closer to the door before it finally opened. A look of surprise crossed Carrot’s face as she looked at AJ. “AJ? What are you doing here?” “I’m here for answers Carrot. When I confronted Ditzy today, it got me nowhere, so I’m here to get some answers from you. You’re her best friend and I know she tells you everything.” Carrot looked at AJ in confusion. “What?” AJ sighed. “Ditzy’s been avoiding me. I know you know why. Could you please talk to me here?” Carrot facehoofed. “She chickened out didn’t she?” “I have no idea!” “Well, I didn’t expect you to know. Come on in and I’ll tell you everything.” She began walking away from the door. AJ walked into the house, closing the door as he did. "So tell me, how much do you know about ponies, or equines in general?” AJ shrugged as he walked. “About as much as the next guy, I guess. Why?” “Well, I don’t know how things are where you’re from, but here in Equestria, mares go through a thing called…” Before Carrot could finish, a bluish grey blur blew past her; sending her spinning, and hit AJ like a cannon ball. He hit the floor hard. As his eyes stopped spinning, he looked at what was on top of him. Ditzy was standing over him. She was looking down at him with a hungry look in her eyes. “Uuhhhhh, h-hi Di…” Ditzy silenced him by slamming her lips onto his. The kiss continued for a little while before she pulled away from the stunned stallion. “You…my bedroom…now,” she said between pants. AJ was still dazed from the unexpected, yet powerful kiss. “W-what?” She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled his face close. “GET UPSTAIRS AND RUT ME LIKE AN ANIMAL!!!” Before AJ could do anything else, she grabbed him up in her hooves and dragged him through the house until her bedroom door could be heard slamming shut. It took a moment for the events of the last minute to sink into Carrot’s mind. A grim look crossed her features. “Oh Celestia. I hope he’ll be okay.” ******************** Carrot got up off the couch as she heard somepony knock on the door. Opening the door, she saw a very unhappy looking Applejack standing at the door. "Hey Applejack. Something wrong?” “Where is he?” Carrot was confused. “Where is who?” “Ah know AJ’s over here. He was supposed ta work t’day, an’ he never came home.” Carrot could hear her grumbling something about having to do his chores. “Well…it’s not entirely his fault.” “What’re you talkin’ about? How is him missin’ work not his fault?” “Because Ditzy wouldn’t let him leave.” Applejack looked on with a look somewhere between confusion and annoyance. “You see, a few days ago Ditzy went into heat.” Any anger Applejack held immediately left as a grim look slowly grew on her features. “And when he came over yesterday, she kinda…got her hooves on him.” “Oh sweet Celestia. Is it really that time already?” Carrot slowly nodded. Another thought crossed her mind. This was AJ’s first experience with estrus. He wouldn’t know how to deal with a mare in heat. “I-is he okay?” “Define okay.” Carrot shuddered. “Oh Applejack, it was just awful. You needed to have been there to understand just how bad it was.” ******************** The upstairs hallway was dim. Everything was black and white. For some reason, the world was covered in a grainy filter. Dark shadows crept over the floor. A faint heartbeat could be heard echoing through the house. Carrot stared down the hallway where faint growls could be heard. Fear consumed her heart as she crept closer to the source of the growls. As she passed Dinky’s room, whimpering could be heard from the other side of the door. Dinky hadn’t left her room since it started. She was too afraid. Carrot finally came to Ditzy’s door. The growling suddenly stopped. Aside from the heartbeat, the world was silent. “D-Ditzy?” There was no response. “A…” Something suddenly crashed into the other side of the door, followed by a loud thud. Carrot stared at the door with fear as it slowly opened. The room beyond was consumed in dark shadows. Not a single noise could be heard from within. Carrot continued to look through the open portal; hoping to be able to see anything inside. She gasped as an indigo hoof slowly made its way out of the shadows. Another soon followed. Soon enough, AJ had managed to slowly crawl halfway out of the room. His disheveled mane and pale coat were drenched in sweat. His eyes looked glazed over and distant. He was breathing heavily as he tried to lift his head. “C-c-c-ca…C-carrot...” “Oh Celestia! AJ, are you okay?!” Carrot hurried over to AJ. “S-s-so tired…so sore. She’s…so…horny. H-h-help meeeee.” Carrot put a hoof on AJ’s. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of here. Then you, Dinky and I can…” Carrot was cut off as an ominous laughter came from the shadows of the room. Two glowing, amber, off kilter eyes pierced the darkness; looking between Carrot and AJ. An evil smile filled with rows of sharp teeth formed under the eyes. A bluish grey claw shot from the darkness to swipe at Carrot; knocking her back against the wall. After Carrot was out of the way, another claw shot out. The two claws gripped AJ by the shoulders and began dragging him back into the room. “N-no! Carrot! Carrot, help me! No! Nooo! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” The door slammed shut; making sure he wouldn’t be able to escape again. ******************** Applejack stared at Carrot. A look of shock, awe, and disbelief filled her features. She didn’t know whether to call Carrot out on her BS, or award her for trying so hard. Carrot blushed a little. “Okay, so there maaaaaybe a tiny, small, minuscule, huge, giant, 100% chance that I may have embellished the story…a lot.” “Ya think?!” Carrot lowered her head. “Dinky’s not even here right now. Ditzy took her over to Sparkler’s when her heat started so she wouldn’t see her acting so weird.” “Mmhm. So where is AJ right now anyway?” “He’s locked in my room so Ditzy can’t get to him. Last time I checked he was still sleeping. I may have been exaggerating, but he was still a mess after all that.” She shook her head. Applejack was confused. “Why is he locked in yer room? Why doesn’t he just sleep in Ditzy’s bed?” Carrot fixed Applejack with a blank stare before turning to the kitchen and walking away. A few seconds later, she came back with a box in her mouth. She spat it on the floor. “I found this in her room.” Applejack looked at the box on the floor. “A box of condoms?” Carrot nodded. “What’s wrong with th’ two of’em wantin’ ta play it safe?” “Applejack, I just bought those for her three days ago. It remained unopened until yesterday.” Applejack’s eyes got wide as she took another look at the box. It was a box of 12 condoms. “They blew threw this entire box in a day?!” She knew that estrus hit some mares harder than others. She just didn’t know Ditzy was one of those mares. “That’s the only reason they stopped last night. She asked me to go get her more, but…” Carrot shuddered. “For the sake of both AJ’s health and my sanity, I had to decline.” “Yer sanity?” “I had to listen to every…last…minute of their love making. I tried SO many things to try to drown out the noises. Nothing worked! My love life’s already pretty much dead in the water. I don’t need anymore reminders of that fact.” Instead of anger or annoyance, a look of sadness filled Carrot’s features. “But that begs th’ question. Where’s Ditzy?” As if on cue, the sound of somepony knocking on a door inside the house could be heard. “Carrot?! Are you there?!” Carrot groaned before slowly turning into the house. “What do you want Ditzy?!” “Can you let me out of here please?! I’ll be good! I promise!” “I told you before! I’m not letting you out of there until AJ’s out of this house! And he’s still sleeping!” “Come on Carrot! I have to peeeeeee!” whined Ditzy Carrot facehoofed. “Can’t you just hold it for awhile?!” “I’ve BEEN holding it! If I don’t go soon I’ll pee myself!” With a defeated sigh Carrot walked into the house. Confused as to what was going on, Applejack followed. Carrot walked to a door on the side of the staircase. It was being held shut by a chair. She removed the chair and opened the door. Ditzy was dancing from side to side on the other side. “Alright. You can leave the basement, BUT…you better go…” Ditzy didn’t even bother waiting for Carrot to finish. She bolted past her and straight into the bathroom; slamming the door shut. “Wow. Ah guess she really had ta go.” Carrot facehoofed. “I’ll try to have him back later today Applejack, but if he’s still out of it when he wakes up I’m not going to force him to leave.” Applejack nodded and began walking towards the door. “Ah understand sugarcube. Just tell’im ta get home whenever he can.” ******************** “You got th’ chips?” asked Braeburn. Big Mac turned his head to look at the multiple oversized bags of tortilla chips on his back. “Eeyup.” “I have salsa and the cards,” Carmel said as he trotted past them with a big bowl of salsa and a pack of cards on his back. “Ya brought th’ cider, right?” Braeburn smiled at Big Mac as he opened the door to the barn. Three barrels with Braeburn’s cutie mark on them sat in the middle of the barn. “Ah think this should be enough fer th’ three of us?” “An’ then some,” Big Mac said with a glimmer in his eyes. “You spoil me sometimes.” “Ah know.” The three of them walked into the barn and set everything up. They had a small table set up on the side of the barn where Big Mac and Caramel set up the chips and salsa. Braeburn took some mugs and started filling them with his special hard cider. “Th’ two of ya can start without me. Natures callin’.” Braeburn and Caramel nodded as Big Mac walked out of the barn. He looked up at the sky. Soon the sun would lower past the mountains, and the moon would take its place. He looked back down when he heard a loud groan. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the site before him. AJ was slowly making his way back to the farm. His entire body hung low, and he had a bit of a kink in his step. “Looks like somepony had a rough night.” “Fuck…you,” AJ said as he fixed Big Mac with a glare. “Personally, Ah’m surprised ta see ya home. Ah expected ya ta be too exhausted ta come home.” AJ winced as he sat down next to Big Mac. “I never thought it was possible to be tired of sex.” Big Mac couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’ll learn ta deal with th’ mares after ya've have been here fer awhile.” “I’m just happy it’s going to be over soon. Carrot said Ditzy should be back to normal in a couple days.” AJ noticed the look Big Mac was giving him. “What?” “You do know that th’ estrus cycle’s just startin, right? Some mares just happen ta get theirs earlier than others.” AJ looked at Big Mac with a pitiful, yet worried look. “Y-you’re joking, right? Please tell me you’re joking!” Big Mac shook his head. AJ grabbed him by the shoulders in a panic. “I-I-I can’t handle anymore man! I barely made it though yesterday! H-h-how am I supposed to make it through another week?!” Big Mac pushed AJ off of him. “Now just calm down. As Ah said, you’ll learn ta deal with mares in heat. How do ya think Ah survived this long?” Big Mac thought back through the years to all the times he’s practically had to beat mares off of him with a stick. “What do I do? Please teach me how to deal with this stuff.” Big Mac looked at AJ, who was looking at him with big, pleading eyes, and sighed. “It’s not all that hard. Fer now, why don’t ya join us in th’ barn. Caramel, Braeburn, an’ Ah are havin’ a stallion’s night. yer free ta join. Who knows, maybe it’ll help ya relax.” “Stallion’s night?” “Eeyup. We got chips, an' salsa. Goin’ ta play some cards an’ just have fun.” “Fun…fun is good.” Lifting himself to his hooves, AJ slowly walked towards the barn. Big Mac chuckled as he got up went into the house. “He’s in fer one hell of a week.” **************************************** ((For those of you who didn’t see it, I made a very rough layout of Carrot Tops house. Check it out here. My little pony © Hasbro Friendship is magic © Lauren Faust))