The next day, Apple Bloom woke up feeling like a brand new pony. The pains in her head and chest were gone; the butterflies in her stomach had vanished; and her confusing swirl of emotions was focused and finally made sense. It was as though she had been trying to swim against a powerful current, and had finally allowed it to take her where it needed her to be.

It was just like Sweetie Belle had said: I'm in love. I, Apple Bloom, am in love. My first love. My only love. My forever love. It don't matter that she's a filly; ah love her, and she loves me!

She got out of bed, brushed her hair, and put a new red bow in it. She smiled as she looked in the mirror; the first time she felt like smiling in weeks. After a quick breakfast, she left the farm early so that she could go to the market and return the wine bottle. She laid it on the ground where the vendor went, so perhaps it would look like it just fell off a cart, and then made her way to school.

Halfway there, though, Apple Bloom had a horrible thought that stopped her in her tracks...

She remembered their first intimate moment, where Whiteshadow had decided to not want to talk about it the very next day.

But that was different...wasn't it?

Suddenly, Apple Bloom's stomach was tied up in knots again, and no matter how much she tried to put the negative thoughts aside, she couldn't help wondering if the white filly would deny everything.

What if she pretends nothing ever happened? What if...she doesn't mean what she said?

Those thoughts so filled Apple Bloom's mind that before she even realized it, she was standing in front of the school, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were trotting over to see her.

"So, are we going to go crusading tonight, or do you have another d..." Scootaloo started to say, before Sweetie Belle smacked her with a hoof.

"Shush!" she hissed at the orange pegasus, before turning to Apple Bloom and saying, concerned, "How're you doing, AB? You feelin' any better from Saturday?"

Apple Bloom shrugged and replied, "I'm okay, ah guess. Um...have either of you seen...uh...Whiteshadow yet today?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes, but shook her head, "Nope. She normally comes close to the bell, though, doesn't she?"

Sweetie Belle shook her head too, but then looked past Apple Bloom and squinted her eyes, "Isn't that her coming up the path now?"

Apple Bloom spun around and looked behind her, immediately recognizing the white filly with the black mane trotting down the path to the school. She took off in a gallop to meet up with her, but slowed down shortly after.

What the buck, Apple Bloom! She's going to think you're crazy comin' at her like that!

They met out in front of the school and Whiteshadow brushed her mane aside with a hoof and said, a slight smile on her face, "Hey, AB. What's going on?"

Apple Bloom tried to appear happy and relaxed, but she felt her head pounding as she looked into the blue eyes of the filly in front of her. She felt at a loss for words, but knew that standing there with a dumb grin on her face wasn't the right thing to do either, so she tried to play it cool...

"N...nothin' much. What's up with you?"

Whiteshadow giggled, "I dunno. You came galloping at me from over at the school, so I figured you had something to tell me."

Stupid Apple Bloom!

"Nope...just...happy to see you, is all, ah guess."

Whiteshadow's smile got bigger and she stepped closer to Apple Bloom, then quietly said, "I'm happy to see you too. I went over to your house this morning, figuring we could walk to school together, but your granny said you'd already left."

Apple Bloom's eyes opened wide and she felt her cheeks flushing a bit as she stammered, "Ah...ah would have liked to walk with you."

Whiteshadow tilted her head to the side a bit and reached out a hoof to touch the bow in Apple Bloom's hair. "Is that a new bow, AB? I like it."

Apple Bloom nodded and smiled, feeling a lot of her discomfort leaving her body. "Yeah...ah...actually wore it today for you."

The white filly's cheeks flushed a bit and she looked at the ground, "That's...so sweet."

Apple Bloom continued to stare at Whiteshadow, trying to find the right words or actions to do. She was still nervous about how her friend felt about what had happened the day before, but she was tired of doubting herself.

Taking a deep breath, Apple Bloom slowly reached a hoof up to stroke Whiteshadow's mane. The filly looked up quickly, her face growing more red by the second, and whispered, "Won't the ponies at school see?"

Apple Bloom maintained a serious expression as she leaned in close to Whiteshadow, she swallowed her nerves and whispered, "Ah don't care what anypony thinks, and neither should you! Shadow, ah meant what ah said yesterday...about how ah felt. Ah'm done playin' games with you! Do you feel about me the way you said?"

Whiteshadow bit her bottom lip, then slowly leaned in and nuzzled Apple Bloom's face with her nose. "I...I meant it. I promise!" she whispered.

"Good!" Apple Bloom whispered, then placed a soft kiss on Whiteshadow's lips and said softly, "Now, we're gonna be late, so we should probably scoot!"

The two fillies walked back to school together, shooting sly smiles at each other. When they reached the yard, ponies were lining up as Cheerilee rang the school bell and motioned for all the ponies to come inside. Apple Bloom stopped next to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who both had eyes as wide as saucers.

"What...the...buck." Scootaloo stammered to her, "Did you two...whoa, you weren't kidding!"

Sweetie Belle smiled shyly and whispered, "So...I guess you told her, then? So...are you two...um...a couple now?"

Apple Bloom shrugged and said, smiling smugly, "Ah'm not sure. I guess...maybe?." then walked past them to join the other fillies and colts in line.

*****

In class that day, Apple Bloom acted similar to how she acted the previous Friday, frequently turning her head to look at Whiteshadow. Now, however, rather than looking at her with curiosity and confusion, Apple Bloom swooned at the way her mane fell delicately into her face, noted how adorable her blue eyes were as they barely remained visible underneath her long fringe, and her heart soared with love and affection at the concentration that she gave to everything she wrote and drew. While she still didn't quite understand why she felt this way for a pony of the same sex, it remained an afterthought as she reasoned that love is love, and the heart wants what it wants. She regretted not accepting her feelings earlier.

When the time came for recess, she packed her things and met Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo at the front of the classroom as she normally did. Today, though, they were joined by another pony as Whiteshadow shyly stood next to Apple Bloom and seemed to silently will her attention.

"So, ah was thinkin' we could go crusadin' tonight to make up for Friday." she said, looking to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo for approval. The unicorn filly nodded excitedly, but Scootaloo motioned with her head over at Whiteshadow and countered, "Sure you wouldn't rather do something with somepony else?"

Apple Bloom crossed her hooves across her chest and replied, "Actually, ah think we should invite Shadow to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" then turning to the filly standing beside her, she smiled and asked, "Don't you wanna get your Cutie Mark?"

Whiteshadow looked at her bare flank, thenshyly at the ground, appearing embarrassed at having been included in the discussion. She mumbled, "Um...I guess."

Apple Bloom nodded in satisfaction, then turned back to her two friends and whispered sternly, "Ah'm not gonna be made to choose between mah feelins and mah Cutie Mark, and if y'all are mah friends..." she looked particularly at Scootaloo, "then y'all will understand."

Scootaloo took a deep breath and, looking suspiciously over at the embarrassed Whiteshadow, she nodded and replied, "Fine. I guess I don't mind another Crusader if Sweetie Belle doesn't."

Sweetie Belle smiled, pleased that things seemed to be going back to normal, and said in her typical squeaky voice, "Welcome to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Whiteshadow!"

The white filly looked up with a small, shy smile and shrugged, "Thanks...I suppose."

Apple Bloom grinned at how things were turning out, "It's settled then! We'll meet at the clubhouse tonight to officially induct Whiteshadow and plan our next crusade!"

Apple Bloom and her friends headed toward the door to go out and play, with Whiteshadow walking close to Apple Bloom and whispering to her, "Cutie Mark...what?"

She giggled and whispered back, "Ah'll tell ya later."

*****

After school, Apple Bloom said goodbye to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, planning with them to meet at the clubhouse after supper, and walked home with Whiteshadow. The two fillies walked in silence next to each other until they were out of sight of the school, then Apple Bloom leaned over and, with a giggle, nuzzled Whiteshadow's neck. In response, the white filly stopped walking and, her cheeks turning red, looked at Apple Bloom and whispered, smiling, "What was that for?"

The farm filly shrugged and, with another quick nuzzle, replied, "Nothin'...just...well...I thought about you a lot today and...ah like that you and ah have...um...these feelins' for each other."

The white filly moved a bit closer to Apple Bloom and, after a moment of hesitation, quickly leaned in and kissed her lips. The two fillies wrapped their forelegs around each other and stood in the middle of the path, open-mouth kissing with their tongues awkwardly moving around. Apple Bloom has never kissed anybody except her sister and Granny Smith, and definitely not this kind of kissing, but she reckoned that Shadow was a good kisser. The kiss was sending warm feelings through her body, particularly focused on the area between her legs. She felt her breath quicken as her adolescent hormones went into overdrive and made her unconsciously press her hind legs together, sending waves of pleasure through her. She could feel something similar happening to her lover, as Whiteshadow's breath began to quicken substantially from when they began kissing.

A sudden crack of a branch caused them to jump apart, and Apple Bloom looked behind her and saw a couple of colts from school coming up the walk. The two ponies quickly smoothed out their manes and began walking at a quick pace down the path, both of their cheeks bright red. Apple Bloom had a feeling like she'd been caught doing something wrong, but she wasn't sure why.

Wasn't it normal to be affectionate with somepony you cared about?

The two ponies continued walking quickly through town, getting closer to Whiteshadow's home. Though her breathing had returned somewhat to normal, she continued to have a warm, damp feeling between her legs that had developed during their kiss. She knew from reading and hearing things told around the schoolyard that she was feeling aroused - similar to how she felt during that memorable sleepover at Whiteshadow's house the past weekend. She knew the chances of having something similar happen to resolve it were not likely, but she was also aware of other options for dealing with it; options that required her to be home, in private.

As they arrived at Whiteshadow's house, Apple Bloom fought an internal battle between wanting to get home and relieve some of the tension that her actions with her lover had built up, and wanting to stay with her to spend more time being close. As she contemplated her predicament, Whiteshadow turned to her and, smiling, said, "You can come in for a few minutes, if you want. My brother isn't home from school for a bit, and my dad is probably working in his room."

Apple Bloom weighed her options, and reconciled that she could afford to wait a bit longer to get home. Nodding in agreement, she replied, "Okay. Besides, ah still have to tell you all about the Cutie Mark Crusaders so you know what to expect tonight."

Whiteshadow smiled and replied, "Oh, right."

The two fillies went up to Whiteshadow's room and, closing the door behind them, Whiteshadow sat down on the floor and smiled, saying, "Okay. So, tell me about this club that I'm joining."

Apple Bloom sat beside her and started telling her about how the three friends had started the club, and about the clubhouse they built, and the things they did. Whiteshadow listened with interest, nodding at certain parts.

As she spoke to her, Apple Bloom silently admired the way the white filly looked at her, smiled at her, and sat close to her. It made her feel so happy to be with her - like nothing in the world could possibly go wrong. It also made her feel something else...something more involuntary. Several times during her explanation, she'd lose her train of thought, or find herself getting lost in Whiteshadow's eyes. She also felt a growing warmth in her lower region...

It could have been the fact that her private area seemed now to throb more and more each moment, impeding her judgment; or perhaps the fact that she felt close to the other filly now that they were basically a couple - at least in her mind, but she interrupted herself halfway through a story about how the three of them had once tried to get their Cutie Marks in glass blowing and, biting her lip, she divulged, "Um...can ah be honest with you about something kind of...well...embarrasin'?"

Whiteshadow gave her lover a half-smile and replied, "Of course, AB, but there's nothin' you should feel embarrassed about, considerin' what we've done together."

Apple Bloom smiled shyly and said, "Yeah...um...that's kind of the thing. Ever since we kissed back on the path, ah've been feeling really...um...achy...like...in my nethers."

The white filly's cheeks immediately turned a bright red. She nodded and said softly, "Yeah...actually, me too. I just...didn't want to say anything in case you...didn't feel the same way."

The farm filly felt better knowing that she wasn't alone, but it still didn't really fix her issue.

"So...well...I was thinking..." Apple Bloom continued, a little more hesitatingly, "if y'all didn't have any questions about the Crusaders, I might go home and...um...you know..."

She trailed off, not quite willing to divulge her plans so openly.

The black-maned filly narrowed her eyes a bit, her breathing speeding up some, and, moving closer to Apple Bloom, she whispered, "Well...you could...I mean...we could do it here...together."

Truthfully, Apple Bloom had never thought of that sort of thing as something to be done in front of some other pony. She'd only ever done it a few times herself, and always at night when she was alone, and wasn't really sure she was even doing it right. But the idea of doing it with this filly that she felt so strongly about gave her some warm tingles between her legs.

"O...Okay." she said slowly, and moved closer to Whiteshadow, "So...how do you...well...do you want to start, or should I?"

Whiteshadow shrugged, her face turning impossibly more crimson, and stammered, "W...well, we could do it at...um...the same time...if you want."

The two fillies sat, unmoving, next to each other for nearly a minute, both willing the other to be the one to start things off. Apple Bloom was feeling nervous, but she was also feeling really aroused, so she slowly lay back beside Whiteshadow. Her friend - seeing her lie back - slowly moved her back legs around so that she lay parallel next to Apple Bloom. Lifting her head up to look over at the farm filly, Whiteshadow whispered, "So...um...how do you normally do it?"

The red-headed pony took a deep breath...

Ah'm really gonna do this, ain't I?

"Well..." she started, her voice shaking slightly, "I normally just kinda..." she spread her hind legs, revealing her fillyhood, and slowly reached one of her hooves down, "um...just use one of my hooves to...you know...rub myself."

The white filly beside her looked with interest and arousal in her eyes as Apple Bloom slowly rubbed her slit up and down, taking the moisture gathering between her lower lips and spreading it around. Seeing her friend watching her do something so private and intimate made Apple Bloom's young vagina throb and she began to almost unconsciously rub herself faster. Apple Bloom watched as Whiteshadow's hoof moved down her young body and began to almost mimic her actions. Covered with white fur, but bright pink inside, Apple Bloom noted her friend's fillyhood was nearly the same as hers, and watching her play with herself reminded Apple Bloom of those magazines that her lover had shown her. She felt like one of those mares in the photos, and, trying to copy what she had seen, she let her tongue hang out the side of her mouth, closed her eyes and began to rub her slit faster.

The feelings of pleasure shot through her body like fireworks exploding in her head as she stroked quickly over her entrance and kept brushing past her swollen clit.

"Maybe the mares in those magazines are on to something!" she thought to herself.

She began to feel the tension building up in her whole body as she approached orgasm. She opened her eyes out of curiousity to see what her friend was doing, and saw her lover staring at her with lust as she rubbed herself.

"Wha...what are you lookin' at?" Apple Bloom asked breathlessly, still rubbing her clit.

The white filly smiled shyly, her black mane hanging over one eye, and said, "You...just look so...wow...sexy, I guess. Um...can I...feel you?"

Without waiting for a response, Whiteshadow moved her free hoof down and began rubbing Apple Bloom's wet slit while she continued clopping herself with the other one.

Apple Bloom squeezed her eyes shut and let out a loud, involuntary moan as the feeling of her friend's hoof on her most sensitive area brought her a new kind of feeling that her own touching had never done. While the new hoof currently rubbing over her swollen nub was awkward, unsure, and, at times, somewhat more direct than it should have been, just the thought that it belonged to the white filly sent bursts of sexual pleasure through Apple Bloom's whole body. Before she even realized it, she felt her body tense up and she barely had enough time to gasp, "Sha...Shadow, I'm gonna..." before the floodgates opened and she pressed the hoof tightly between her legs and rode out a very intense orgasm.

It had happened so suddenly, she was still catching her breath when she opened her eyes and saw the white filly still rubbing herself with wild abandon, her other hoof still resting between Apple Bloom's legs.

Smiling, she said softly, "So...um...can ah help?"

Whiteshadow opened her eyes and panted, "Y...yeah, okay. I'm...nearly there, but...I just can't..."

Apple Bloom didn't know what possessed her to do it, but without a second thought, she moved to her belly and, taking Whiteshadow's hoof in her own to keep it from smacking her in her head, she moved between her lover's legs and buried her face in the wet, pink folds of Whiteshadow's vagina. Much more confident this time than the first time she had done it, she dipped her small tongue between the fur-covered lips and licked all around her entrance. The slight dribble of fluid that seeped out touched Apple Bloom's tongue, spurring her on to collect more of the precious liquid from her lover's warm passage. She gave a series of quick tongue baths of her lover's pink folds, before, knowing that Whiteshadow was close, flicking quickly over her swollen clit. From above her, she heard a loud squeal and her head was gently squeezed between two hindlegs. Remembering from last time, she took her beloved's clit in her mouth and gently suckled on it as it throbbed with every spasm of orgasmic pleasure that rocketed through Whiteshadow's young frame.

Feeling her lover's body settle back on the floor, she lapped eagerly at the steady stream of filly juice that leaked out of the folds against her lips.

"I...I came." was Whiteshadow's breathless declaration.

"Ah know!" Apple Bloom giggled in response, moving back out from between the white filly's hind legs and sitting on the floor.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to hurt you with my legs."

Apple Bloom smiled and moved to sit next to Whiteshadow, who was still laying on the floor.

"You didn't. Ah was just happy you felt good."

"Why did you put your mouth on me?" Whiteshadow asked, propping her head up with one of her hooves.

Apple Bloom shrugged and lay down on her stomach again next to her lover, "Ah dunno. I guess...because...you taste good?"

Whiteshadow swung a hoof out and gently smacked Apple Bloom, "Shush! I do not!"

Apple Bloom laughed, "Shore do! Wanna taste?" and before she could respond, the farm filly jumped on top of the black-maned filly and pressed her open mouth down over Whiteshadow's own mouth in a purposely sloppy kiss. Whiteshadow put up some resistance, moving her forelegs around to try and push Apple Bloom's face away, but soon settled down and responded with her own tongue as the two began to kiss and nuzzle each other.

Apple Bloom moved her mouth briefly away from Whiteshadow's to whisper, "Ah love you."

The filly beneath her responded by wrapping her forelegs around Apple Bloom's neck and holding her down in a tight, passionate kiss.

*knock* *knock*

The sudden bang at the door caused Whiteshadow to shove Apple Bloom off of her, and, while she straightened her mane with her hooves, she half-shouted at the door, "Y...yes! What?"

The deep voice of an adolescent colt replied, tinged with impatience, "Shadow, dad wants to know what you want for supper?"

Whiteshadow looked at the clock on her wall and whispered, "Holy heck! We've been in here for over an hour!" then responded loudly to the door, "Um...tell him...whatever! I don't care! I...umm...I have a friend in here!"

"Whatever!" was the response, as the sound of hoofs walking away.

Apple Bloom felt her face flush, and she said softly, "Ah should probably go. Mah family is probably wondering where I got off to after school."

Whiteshadow finished smoothing her mane and fur out, and stood up. With a sad smile, she walked over to Apple Bloom and extended a hoof to help her up, saying, "Oh, okay. I'll see you tonight at the club thing, right?"

Apple Bloom nodded and retied the bow in her mane.

Whiteshadow walked down the stairs with Apple Bloom and opened the door for her. "See you later..." she said to the farm filly, leaning in for a quick nuzzle of her snout.

Apple Bloom nodded and walked outside, making her way through town in the direction of her farm. She felt a lot better, the ache in her loins was gone and replaced by a feeling of sticky satisfaction...

Ah probably should have cleaned mahself down there a bit before ah left...

...and if there weren't other ponies walking around the town square, she likely would have started dancing.

Author's Note

Another chapter down...

Sorry for taking so long between chapters. It's so hot here, and I've been more than a bit down since losing my job so it's hard to find the desire to sit down and pound out 2000+ words.

As always, comments, criticisms and favourites are appreciated!