Thursday (One week later)

The past week had seen me helping Zecora with her brewing and other household chores. I actually learned quite a bit about the subject but was only an amateur at best, and at worst a six-year-old kid in a chemistry classroom.

I had been worried the next day about my job but Zecora ensured me that the town would be devoid of any stallions what so ever for the most part. Any stallion that didn't have a mare/s would be staying with a female relative or in a type of bunker somewhere in the country side. I was surprised to learn that the heat was that terrifying for stallions and was glad that when the next one rolled around I would have a place to stay.

At the moment I was headed back to town and more importantly, Twilight's library. I had to smooth things out with her and assure her that there were no hard feelings, even though I was a little bitter. I also needed to check on Derpy. I had seen her in a very vulnerable position as well.

I was almost sure who I wanted to be with, if anypony. Zecora had helped me decide with one of her potions she had concocted. It was called lifted fog of the soul or something like that. It had helped me delve inside myself for some much-needed self-reflection and what I had found there had helped me greatly. This place truly was magical and I was glad for that.

I reached Twilight's library and knocked. A few moments later a very disheveled, and smelly, Twilight Sparkle opened the door with a bathrobe on. She didn't smell bad, just like she had been having sex almost nonstop for the past week, which for all I knew, she had.

Her eyes lit up when she saw me, then immediately darkened.

"Caine." She stated warily.

"Hello Twilight. Is something wrong?" I asked her, sensing her hostility towards me.

"Nothing's wrong. Where have you been the past week? After you left me, I didn't see you at all." She stated angrily.

"I have been with Zecora. Is that a problem?" I wanted to know what was wrong with her but didn't want to outright accuse her lest I make it worse.

She narrowed her eyes at me. I think I knew why she was angry with me. "We didn't do anything Twilight. She is on a different heat schedule then ponies. I hid there, so what almost happened between us wouldn't happen at all." I told her.

She lightened up a little but still seemed angry.

"Ok then. Why did you run out on me? Do you despise me that much, that you could resist my heat smell and my advances that you could not only trick me into letting you go but also have the will power to full on sprint away?" She accused me.

Have to give her points on directness. I decided to end this and do what I had realized I had been wanting to for a long time. I grabbed her shoulders and pushed her into the library, kicking the door closed. I then put my arms around her lower back and hefted her to my height and kissed her with all my might. She resisted at first but eventually accepted and leaned into it, putting her arms around my neck. I enjoyed every bit of it, I finally felt whole. I didn't know if our relationship could work or if I was too jaded to love but I had to give it a shot.

After a few minutes of this I pulled away. "I could never find you repulsive." I said as I set her down.

"But with how you are now, you come very close." I joked as I gestured to her appearance and smell.

She responded with a gentle slap to the shoulder.

"Why do you smell like that anyways? You smell like you have been having sex non-stop for the past week." She blushed at this and turned away.

"You don't understand the inner workings of a mares heat, do you?" She stated.

"All I know is that a female gets extremely horny and the smell she secretes makes it almost impossible for a male to resist. But that is only for non-sentient beings on my world. Humans don't have heats so I don't know what it would be like for a pony." I told her.

"Well, basically what you just said but there is more. When a mare goes into heat it can actually be painful. Our areas get extremely warm, most of the time to extreme discomfort. If left untreated it gets worse and worse till we are forced to take care of it any way we can. That's what I have been doing almost all week." She told me. Her blush had gone down when she had went into the scholar mode I knew she had yet never seen.

She saw my expression of hurt and assumed what it meant and set about quickly fixing it "I didn't have any help from anypony. It was just me all week." She said quickly.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't be hurt. For all you knew this past week, I despised you and wanted nothing to do with you. I wouldn't blame you if you had found a stallion to help you with your problem. I took way too long deciding." I explained to her.

"It's okay. You know, I am still in the final stages of heat, we could go a few rounds if you wanted." She told me in a sultry tone. I could tell she was joking.

"Don't push it. I had a hard enough time coming to this decision, don't make me regret it." I told her sternly. I think I may have over done it with the jesting as she looked horrified.

"That was a little too far, sorry." I told her. This calmed her down.

"I need to leave Twilight. Derpy got farther than you that night and I also have to explain to her my decision. I will see you at the end of the day." I told her. She nodded and I turned to leave.

I was almost at the door before I felt her hand on my arm. For someone in a bathrobe she moved pretty freakin quick. I turned around and was met with a quick peck on the cheek.

"Thank you for choosing me. I know it must have been hard to choose between your best friend and the horny mare." She consolidated me.

"I think it was always you Twilight. But I still care too much about Derpy to let her out of my life and I shouldn't have tried to. I really hope she will still want to be friends." I told Twilight, revealing my fears to her.

"Don't worry. Derpy is very understanding, I don't think she would let this affect your friendship. Now go make things right with her." Twilight assured me as she pushed me out the door and closed it.

I just sighed. I really didn't want to do this. Twilight was hard but Derpy felt like I was going to die. I started on my way towards her house and arrived a few minutes later.

I knocked on the door and after a few minutes Derpy answered. She looked exactly like Twilight did only with a different colored robe. She smelled almost the same yet different.

It took her a moment to recognize me just like Twilight.

"Oh Caine. I am so sorry." She apologized, pulling me into a tight hug which I returned.

"It's alright. But we do need to talk. About us." I told her.

She gained a horrified look but led me inside nonetheless. We sat down and got comfortable. She motioned for me to continue.

"I have decided between you and Twilight." I started off. I couldn't read her expression at the moment. Usually her eyes didn't help with this but this time, they blocked off everything.

"And?" She prodded.

"I have chosen Twilight." I told her with a sad expression.

"I see." She looked away from me with tears in her eyes.

I scooted over to her and wrapped her in a hug to try and calm her down.

"I'm sorry Derpy. It's just that I see you as my best friend, not my marefriend. I think the only reason you and Twilight were equal in my mind was because of that. I thought that if a relationship could work with anypony it would have been you. But that isn't fair to you. Having a relationship work is not the same as having one live. I would really like it if we could still be friends but would understand if seeing me hurt you too much." I waited for a response that didn't seem to come. I just held her in that hug for as long as she needed.

Eventually she wriggled her way out of it and stood up and went into her room and didn't come out. After a few minutes I got up and went to her bedroom to find the door closed.

Knock Knock Knock

"Please Caine. I don't want to talk anymore. Just leave." I heard her call through the door. It hurt me to hear this. I, of all ponies, was the only one who had ever been able to do this to her. It hurt me because I was the only one she had let into her heart and I had chosen another mare over her. I wanted to comfort her but didn't want to make her feel worse. I decided to do as she said and leave.

"If you ever need me Derpy. You know where I am." I called to her. My response was a fresh wave a tears. I exited her house and closed the door behind me.

I went back to the library to find Twilight had cleaned herself up and was sitting down reading a book.

"Hello Caine." She called when she heard the door open.

"Hey Twilight." I responded.

"How did it go?" She asked, not turning around. I walked to the couch and sat next to her.

"Not good. I hurt her Twilight and I don't know if she will ever want to see me again."

"I see. Well you still have me." She said as she scooted over to me and laid her head on my chest, trying to comfort me.

"I know but I was the only pony who could hurt her like that, and I did. I hope I didn't make her think that she would never find that special somepony. If I did, I would never be able to forgive myself." I said as I looked down at her.

She reached up and gave me a kiss. "These kinds of things tend to sort themselves out. You will know if she ever wants to see you again, soon. And she is pretty resilient, I bet, with enough coaxing, she will bounce right back." Twilight reasoned.

"I know but I still hurt her. She told me to leave so if she wants to talk some more she will have to come to me. I don't want to make it worse by basically stalking her to get her to talk to me."

"That is a good plan. In the meantime, let's just enjoy each others company." She suggested as she nestled even closer to me and I wrapped an arm around her.

A/N: The decision has been made. I am not planning on having Caine switch between Derpy and Twilight, nor am I going to make them a herd. It is a possibility just not an inevitability. Do you like my choice? You better because I was conflicted as hell and it was almost a split second decision. What happened was, I started this chapter intending to do something radically different and on a whim put Twilight down as his final choice. That scene where Caine pushes Twilight into the library was when I decided. I have most of the story planned out at this point so don't expect any delays due to the story. See ya on the flip side.