Chapter 1
Sam Bouchard could feel his skin sticking to the couch. His sweat made him feel gross as the oppressive heat continued to batter him within the space of his allegedly comfortable living room. He wasn't a man of luxury—Sam had appropriated no less than three pieces of furniture sitting on the curb for disposal, after all—but he was definitely found wanting for things that would make his current situation all the less terrible. An electric fan for one thing. The one he and Sunbeam got as a wedding present broke about a month ago.
"It's," he began to say in a low, tired grumble. The pony sitting next to him, however, quickly interjected.
"I know," Sunbeam uttered out in a labored fashion. "Hot."
Even though his statement was preemptively cut off, Sam was simply too fatigued by the heat to be irritated. He managed to grunt, at the very least. With no reply to his caveman utterance, he decided to try stating the obvious again. "S'ot..." he slurred out while his sweat-drenched body sunk a bit more into the couch. Little more than a few seconds passed by until the topic was picked up once more as soon as Sunbeam worked up the energy to speak up.
"Well, it's tourist season, after all," she reasoned as a resigned sigh escaped her lips.
"Thassdum," Sam slurred, mostly escaping Sunbeam's ire because of the heat as she decided not to jab him in the side with her hoof.
She opted instead to approach the matter tactfully by extending her wing to poke the interior of his ear with a feather while saying, "Don't mumble, babe. I can't understand you."
"Muh!" he groaned in protest and involuntarily jumped away in a spasm from the feather-tipped assault. Sam slumped over onto his side. For the next few seconds he felt limited relief from the cool texture of the couch until it absorbed and reflected his body heat onto his skin. "Remind me again how making things hot on purpose is a good thing, Sunbeam?"
"Brings visitors to the pools and beaches to swim in order to cool down, and Neighagra Falls has places to cool down in spades."
There was a sense of logic that he could understand. Neighagra Falls was first and foremost a tourist industry-driven economy. While breathtaking in scope and an awe inspiring example of nature in action, the "Town by the Falls" never would have grown as much as it did in the past few years without human involvement. The novelty of their appearance in Equestria had yet to completely wear off, and the wonders of an entirely new dimension populated by sentient non-human life continued to entice and attract travel from Earth.
With all of that said and done, however, one thought still remained. "...and why aren't we there, babe?" Sam asked, turning his head to look at the mare on the opposite end of the couch.
She narrowed her eyes, reminding herself once more to never fall prey to mistakes of the past: Entry fees, locker rental, chair rental, umbrella rental, beverage costs, time spent waiting in line for the bathroom; each and every little thing accumulated into quite the hassle for temporary relief from the heat. "Price gouging is for suckers," Sunbeam declared.
"Well, I feel like a sucker for not appeasing my instincts to cool down," Sam tiredly moaned out.
"I've got an idea." After saying that, Sunbeam made an effort to extricate herself from the couch, her sweaty orange fur flattened unevenly as a result of her posture. She walked over to the kitchen portion of the open concept room and pulled on the door of the electro-magic fridge, a relic compared to the models available today.
Sam nodded in approval and readied himself to stand up when he heard the door slam shut. His theory that Sunbeam wanted to cool off in front of the fridge now implausible, he watched her come back to set two glasses and a pitcher of tea onto the table.
"Let me get that for you, dear," Sunbeam said and with no difficulty poured her man a glass of tea.
"Thanks, babe," he replied and looked down at the beverage, drinking in the sight of the condensation on the glass as he heard the fridge open and close again, which he hazarded a guess was Sunbeam returning the pitcher. Finally he reached out and took a sip, tasting the partly chilled tea that while somewhat managed to quench his thirst, failed to really satisfy. The main problem, it seemed, remained. "Babe..."
"Yeah, babe?" Sunbeam replied from the kitchen.
"You could've done a better job with this tea."
"Whatever do you mean, dear?"
"Well...this tea isn't cold," Sam grumbled.
There was a pause before she finally responded. "...well, obviously," Sunbeam replied as she displaced the couch somewhat when she sat back down. The sound of her uncharacteristically slurping as she drank paled to what happened next. "I for one think that mine is perfect."
He looked over with a suspicious glance when he heard the suddenly chipper tone in his wife's voice and frowned. His leer said much more than he could ever put into words while in his current state.
On the table in front of where Sunbeam, the love of his life and pony he promised to love and cherish in good times and bad, sat was an ice tray. Only the innermost set had frozen, with the rest of the tray still in a chilled water form. Still, though. She got the ice tray without offering him any.
It didn't take much for her to notice his disapproval, and even after glancing his way the mare didn't seem the least bit guilty.
"What in Norway, babe?" He asked in a flat tone.
"I was going to offer until you pointed out that I didn't do a good job," Sunbeam said authoritatively. She took another exaggerated sip after adding the last remaining cubes from the tray, adding a moan just for fun to spite him.
Sam's frown deepened, broadcasting how grumpy and un-amused he was in a way that tugged at Sunbeam's heartstrings. "Oh, alright. We can share the cubes, then," she said, relenting to his dour expression. "Lemme just finish this." Sunbeam downed her drink in a single motion then licked her lips in satisfaction.
She sighed happily while giving the ice-filled glass to Sam. Then in a single motion he took her glass and downed the remaining cubes.
Sunbeam jerked in shock at the sight. "You buttmunch, we're supposed to share those ice cubes!" she whined. "Give them back!"
"Heh." With a boastful smile he opened his mouth to show a cube of ice held between his teeth.
"Dummy..." she sighed with a blush. He looked at her, cube still on display, not sure what she meant. When she leaned in with a hint of mischievousness in her eyes Sam could only remain still, dumbfounded. "Mmmm~" Sunbeam pressed her muzzle against his face, pushing her tongue past his lips into his mouth. She rolled her tongue in his cooled mouth, scooping the cube out with her comparatively longer and wider muscle.
There was some hesitation, but eventually she broke the kiss and leaned back. There was a moment to juggle the cube in her mouth before she could speak. "'oor 'urn," Sunbeam mumbled out with barely constrained excitement.
Sam quickly forgot his previous irratation with his mare when he tilted his head askew. "Wait...my tongue can't reach it if you place it so deep in your mouth," he panted out. His face was flush in a deep red and eyes glazed over in heavy desire.
"'oor 'opeless..." she said with a blush of her own and pushed the half-melted cube forward with her tongue.
He more than willingly indulged his instinctual drives when he saw that, diving into Sunbeam's mouth like she had done before. Previous feelings of exhaustion pushed aside, Sam felt an electric rush just from the sounds of their kissing. He made an effort to coil his tongue around hers and massage it by periodically forming a "V" shape. She weakly attempted to fight back but only managed to coax a more aggressive effort from her bald human.
Only minutes passed but the intensity was too much for either of them to bear. What was left of the ice had diminished the moment Sam and Sunset's tongues entwined and they were left with the taste of the other's saliva when they stopped. The two of them remained on the couch, trying to catch their breaths. Their perspiration freely dribbled down their bodies while their panting became less and less pronounced.
Her coat once again matted with sweat, Sunbeam managed to grumble out, "It's hot..."
"Yeah, you are," Sam growled out in a predatory fashion. He began to lean into her but she managed to relent.
"N-no, Sam...it's way too hot for that right now."
He made a pathetic-sounding whine followed by a trail of kisses along her jawline, which nearly succeeded in getting her to change her mind.
Still they created some distance between them, and the couple found some solace in a momentarily cool spot on the couch before it warmed up from their body heat.
After some thought Sunset asked, "...how many bits do we have this month?"
"Seven fifty eight before my paycheck next week. Cheapest AC worth getting is at least six hundred."
"Damn," she said with exasperation lacing her voice. Her eyes wandered over her mate's sweaty form and she gulped when she saw just how hard Sam was.
And the thought that he was stewing in his own pheromone-rich musk made her flight muscles twitch and mouth water a bit. "...fuck it," she said with sudden conviction. "I want an air conditioner."