//------------------------------//
// 72: The Hiding Show by VelvetHeart 
// Story: Xenophilia: Shotglass Oneshots 
// by TheQuietMan 
//------------------------------//

The Hiding Show by VelvetHeart

*********

The little chair was seriously starting to pinch Lero's butt, and by the wiggling of several of the ponies around him, it seemed the constant sitting was starting to grate on them too. The bright smiles they'd worn at the start had slowly dimmed, even if they came back on occasion as the various amateur acts played on stage.

It'd been a simple enough idea: The audience could reward each act with donations for charity, and the act that got the most money donated would win a large, gold(-wrapped chocolate) trophy. The start had been a success, but by the time the violin-playing Applejack finally drooped off-stage with only a few bits and a lot of disappointment, it was clear they were never going to meet their-

"It turns out, we have one last act! A last-minute entry who will..." the announcing mare, one Sweetie Drops aka Bonbon, co-creator of the prize, glanced at the paper in front of her, "...it doesn't say. Well, we'll see it soon enough. Start the music!"

The tune tickled a memory somewhere in Lero's head, like he'd heard it before in some kind of movie and-

Again his thought was interrupted as a sudden rip suddenly appeared in the stage door, courtesy of the axe-blade suddenly jutting through the wood. A deep, masculine voice sounded through the hole: "Heeeee-eeere's-"

Suddenly the door exploded onto the stage, leaving a towering pegasus stallion standing among the fragments in nothing more than a firemare's helmet and a heat-reflective suit clearly made for a stallion of considerably more moderate size.
"-your savior of the hour.
coming smashing - through your bedroom door.
I got the call - I heard there's a fire,
the heat is high, so we’ll use the floor."

The stallion smoothly flipped the hoof-axe by the handle-strap, shouldering it in such a way that the blunt end of the head practically bounced off his well-defined flight-muscles. The extra pressure of the axe's weight proved too much for the already-straining reflective suit, which went from skin-tight to fragments in a dramatic burst of cloth, unveiling a silver-grey coat glistening with rolling droplets of sweat.
"Don't you worry, Stud Muffin is here to cool you.
I don't need a flower - you're already my rose
I will save you - just follow my directions
You bring the heat, and I will bring the hose."

* * *

The click of the door startled Dinky from her nap on the couch, catching the pegasus mare trying to sneakily close the front door. "Mom! Where have you been? You're never this late! Is that a trophy? You were in a contest?!"

"Well, honey, I, ehm... I was helping a friend make money for charity. He won, but he let me keep the prize."

"Wow. How much money did you make?"

Derpy's eyes slipped further out of alignment as a mental flash brought a memory of a rain of gold coins pelting off of her- nay, his muscles like so many water droplets. "W-well, they seemed happy with it, Dinky. Now, isn't it a little late for you? You should be in bed already! I'll go have a bath, and then I'll come tell you a story, okay?"

"Okay mom! You're the best mom ever, to everypony!"

* * *
The water turned darker with every shake of Derpy's hooves, the last remains of the herb cocktail pouring from the jar into her bath. "W-why won't you stay away?" she whimpered, sinking as deep into her tiny, economy-sized bath as she could, trying to splash her whole body. "P-please stay away, Mr. Muffin. I... I don't want Dinky to see me like that. What would she think about her mama? I want... I want to be me."

The changes were coming more often now, without any Poison Joke. What would the ponies think if they discovered she was in a constant, losing war with her Sexy Side?