Precious Cargo

The last two months had been a blissful whirlwind of new experiences and amazing discoveries on all parties. In fact, this trip to Appleloosa had cemented it for all three of the ponies traveling the road back to Ponyville, and also the whole reason why they’d chosen to go by hoof and wagon rather than train. The majority of their supplies had been sent ahead, gathered from the train by Granny Smith and AJ the day before, along with a note informing the family of the intended outcome of this trip.

Big Macintosh plodded along steadily, but proud, and he flashed a smile at Fluttershy to calm her nerves. “Git on back up in the wagon, missy, this here ground’s not clean enough fer yer hooves ta touch it.”

Fluttershy blushed and giggled, but did as she was told, giving him a quick nuzzle, and making the metal tags hanging from the collar around her neck jingle. Big Mac loved that sound, in fact it’s the real reason the three of them had traveled to Appleloosa in the first place.

Appleloosa was one of the few places in Equestria where such adornments could be purchased without so much as a raised eyebrow. In fact while they had purchased flour for the Cakes’, imported silk and Buffalo weaving beads for Rarity, and crushed cactus salves for both Fluttershy and the hospital, their true purpose had to buy the shining, matching collars that sparkled around both Fluttershy and Rarity’s necks and a small loop hanging from the center of the yoke Big Mac typically wore. All three had two tags apiece, polished metal disks, engraved with the other two ponies’ cutie marks.

The atmosphere of being home had infected them all, and much of what had been accomplished personally among them was sliding into the background, where it had been before the trip. In fact, already Rarity was resuming the proud, somewhat over bearing attitude that was her signature dramatics, which made her companions flick an ear toward her as she prattled on about the magnificent designs she planned to dive into as soon as she stepped into her boutique.

About five miles outside of Ponyville, beyond the farthest orchards of the surrounding farms, Big Mac halted the wagon, and stepped out of his harness.

“…And Rainbow Dash, oh she’ll adore this year’s dress! I’m sure Twilight will get us tickets to this year’s Gala! I simply cannot wait to sweep into that ballroom in the dress I’m designing!” Rarity was chattering still, oblivious to the fact that they had stopped. In fact she was so caught up in her daydream that she didn’t notice the crop until it had stung her hindquarters. “Eep!”

Instantly, the pleasure enticed from the strike against her cutie mark had her demeanor evaporate. She kneeled, presenting her rump for further spanking, should her Master feel so inclined. Instead, she found a yellow hoof shoved into her face.

“Kiss it, mare.” The voice was soft but feminine.

She did so with a “Yes, Mistress.” And a look of absolute lust in her eyes.

“Mmm, good little slut.” His voice was like velvet to her ears as she felt him fondling her rump and breasts. It had taken awhile for him to become comfortable using that language with the mares, but there was some primal instinct in him that let him forget all of Granny’s teachings with these two.

Rarity found her whole being stripped of identity in a matter of seconds, and the fire in her belly just burned all the hotter for it. To know that she was needed as a toy and to be used by the ponies that own her for their every desire and pleasure, it was absolute bliss for the normally uptight and over-stressed mare. It just brought her normal generous nature to a whole new level, and it drove her wild!

She didn’t quite know where it started, probably somewhere around the time that she was designing the Gala dresses on top of her normal workload and the stress of all of the changes, then the flop of a fashion show, and the ridicule and then the Gala itself. Oh my, she thought, her head spinning from what her Master was doing behind her and what her Mistress was doing in front of her. Oh this is heavenly, she swooned, fully aware that both ends of her would be quite sore come the following morning, but she couldn’t keep her thoughts from drifting back to her first experience with Mistress Fluttershy.

Their spa days just weren’t cutting it anymore, Rarity left the Lotus Spa just as stressed as she was before meeting Fluttershy that morning. The whole Blueblood debauchery had left her incapable of truly relaxing. She was snapping at Sweetie Belle for no reason, falling behind in her work, and worse she had absolutely no inspiration! How was she to become the world famous designer she dreamed of being if she couldn’t continue to come up with fresh ideas?! The thought in and of itself was The Worst Thing Ever, but actually experiencing it, she decided, was much, much worse.

“Ugh! I simply cannot do this again, darling! I’m at my wits end here. I know I was envious of you when Photo Finish stole you away, but now I’m just SO over that spa! It doesn’t absolutely nothing for me these days.” Her coiffure fell into her face, she puffed a bit of air at it, and all that she accomplished was to make it fall farther down her forehead.

Fluttershy bit her lip, “Well, maybe if you cut back on your hours?”

“Ah! Do you know what that would do to my business and reputation!?” Rarity shuddered at the thought of working less than her customary 80 hours a week.

“Maybe you could get a change of scenery?” Fluttershy’s voice grew meeker as her best friend’s grew in volume.

Rarity rolled her eyes, “Where would I go? I can’t show my face in Canterlot without something fabulous to show for my efforts, Manehatten is too stuck up, Fillydelphia is under that outrageous heat wave, and I KNOW you wouldn’t suggest Appleloosa or Dodge!” She looked at Fluttershy as if to dare her to suggest it. “Just what type of pony do you take me for? I am a lady!”

Fluttershy hid behind her mane as they walked, “I’m just trying to help, Rarity.”

Rarity snorted in a most un-lady-like way, “Are you really trying to help me, Fluttershy, or are you just trying to get under my skin?” She leveled her friend with a glare that could ice over Spike’s belly.

They had arrived at Fluttershy’s tree, and were just entering, Rarity inviting herself in as usual. Most of the rest of the clearing caught onto their conversation and knew to stay well-enough away, and the ones that hadn’t heard, took one look at Fluttershy and high-tailed it into the Everfree Forest.

“No!” Was the soft word that cut through Rarity’s ranting like her sharpest scissors.

She turned around, “Excuse me?”

Fluttershy stood in her doorway, glaring down her nose at Rarity, disdain and The Stare on her face. “I said…No!” She took a step forward, and Rarity looked around nervously. She’d never been the object of Fluttershy’s Stare before, and she wasn’t sure exactly what her mild-mannered friend was going to do with her. “You’ve done nothing but whine and insult me the whole way here, and now you invite yourself into my home like you own it. Just who do you think you are, Rarity? All I have ever tried to do is help you, but you scorn me and throw it back in my face at every opportunity. Then you walk all over me like I’m not worth paying attention to, but I absolutely adore you and so I let you. Well, not anymore, Miss Drama Queen! You and Rainbow are always telling me to be more assertive, to stand up for myself, but I think that would just drive you crazy, wouldn’t it, Prissy Pants?”

Rarity shrank back against the wall as Fluttershy, never speaking louder than her normal speaking voice, took a step closer with every sentence. The whole scene was strange, like something from a trashy novel, but even stranger was the inexplicable way that this whole situation turned her on. It was all she could do to keep from running her hooves over her breasts.

“What’s that? You’re afraid of me? You’re trembling, fighting yourself. I can see it. You think I’m blind, that I can’t see you wanting to run away? But you can’t, can you? Your over-inflated pride won’t let you. It doesn’t matter what I say or call you, you’ll just sit there and take it like a ‘lady’.” Fluttershy sneered, “I don’t think you’re much of a lady. I think you’re a bad mare who needs to be taught how to properly respect her friends.” Something about standing over her normally assertive best friend intoxicated the buttery Pegasus. Sure she could force her will on animals, even magical ones like the Manticore and the Cockatrice, but never before had she exerted her will on another fully grown pony. She stepped forward, the scent of Rarity’s arousal filling her nostrils, and placing a hoof on either side of the Unicorn’s head she pressed her lips against the other mare’s horn. “I think you like it. You’re enjoying this, aren’t you, slut?” Her voice was barely a whisper, and she drew her tongue along the twisted center of magic.

Rarity involuntarily moaned at the heat and moisture on her oh-so-sensitive horn, her hooves sliding down her front to cup her breasts unconsciously.

Fluttershy seized the moment, and smacked her hooves away. “You’ll touch yourself when I give you permission, understood?”

“Y-yes.” Rarity stammered, the pain in her hooves making her arousal pulse hotter with every heartbeat.

“Yes what?” Fluttershy growled, leaning in closer to her victim.

“Yes, Mistress!”

And with that the spell was complete. Rarity couldn’t help herself, and Fluttershy had taken full advantage of her. All it took was a look, or a bitten word, spoken in that soft, commanding tone, and Rarity was practically a puddle on the floor.

It had taken Rarity hours to convince Fluttershy that she’d enjoyed their session. The yellow Pegasus had been terrified that she’d damaged their friendship, but one submissive whimper from Rarity seemed to made up their minds for them. So their spa days continued but after being thoroughly pampered by Lotus and Aloe, Fluttershy would lead them back to her tree where Rarity gave herself over to her mild-mannered mistress. And oh, did Fluttershy use her! Sometimes she could barely make it home, between being whipped and ridden into oblivion by Fluttershy’s expansive collection of toys that never seemed to stop growing. Her mistress insisted on using every single one of her toys on her in every session, controlling her orgasms as well as her willpower. It usually left Rarity in a fog of ecstasy.

Just like what they were doing to her now. She knew why. She’d been talking too much, taking too many liberties with her imagination, and assuming she’d be allowed to do things she’d taken for granted before they’d come into her life. So, they had decided she needed to be reminded of just where her place was in their little triad. It was a place she thoroughly enjoyed.

They had switched places now, Big Mac in her muzzle, and Fluttershy playing the worst kind of control she had in her repertoire, orgasm denial. Her first experience with that had been more liberating than the first session as Fluttershy’s slave. Her eyelids fluttered in pleasure as the memory combined with what Fluttershy was doing with her tongue on Rarity’s “party button”. First she pressed in close so that she was breathing directly into Rarity’s tunnel, then she’d pull back to flick the tip of her tongue around the edges of the puffy white outer lips, which both sent electric shocks through the Unicorn and literally cooled the sensitive flesh.

After a very short while, Big Mac roughly grabbed Rarity’s mane, and turned her, leaving both her nethers and her chin drooling with juices. His motion knocked Fluttershy off balance with the move and it was all the Pegasus could do to keep upright as she lost her access to Rarity’s muff.

It wasn’t long after Macintosh had mounted her that Rarity felt his shaft piston her harder than she ever had before. Her orgasm, no longer delayed by either master or mistress, came swiftly and hard, forcing her to clamp down around the large stallion without warning. He grunted barbarically and gripped the back of her neck in his teeth, very much mounting her in the ways of their feral ancestors. She cried out in pain and pleasure as his flare placed a stopgap in her womb right before he pumped her belly full of his spunk. It took several minutes before he finished, and when he did he removed himself and flopped back onto the grass to watch his girls.

“Scissor her.” He grunted to Fluttershy, who obliged fitting her own muff against Rarity’s.

The shared juices between them left the ground soaked, but both mares climaxed quickly. It was all he needed to bring himself back up to full hardness. Once he’d reached it again, he beckoned to Fluttershy to come sit on him, and the two rocked slowly, sensually, and lovingly. Rarity was envious but only until Fluttershy grabbed her mane to bury her muzzle between her breasts. Both mares felt when the stallion beneath them came for the second time, coating the interior of Fluttershy’s womb with his thick seed.

He pulled the two down on top of him and traced a hoof over both of their tummies with a contented sigh. Then he looked up at the sun and sighed again, more frustrated than content.

“We should really be getting back, um, if you want to that is.” Fluttershy commented, righting herself to her hooves and giving her mane a little shake so that it came down over her eye again.

That was Rarity’s cue. Even though none of them would take off their collar/tags, when Big Mac resumed his silent demeanor and Fluttershy became shy and uncertain again, it was time for the act to be put back in place. Rarity once again raised her head high and proud, pretending to be the one in control of the situation. So, this was the façade that they would ride into Ponyville under.

“Welcome home, guys!” Pinkie shouted, bursting out of the trees to the side of the road. Big Mac, Rarity, and Fluttershy all looked at the bush and then back at Pinkie for a moment or two.

Within her chest, Rarity’s heart clenched, had the party pony seen or heard anything? Was their act obvious? Could she smell the scent of sex hanging in the air and the juices still dripping onto the grass from all three of them? Taking a quick look at her Master, she could see the same questions running through his mind just behind his stoic expression, and though Fluttershy’s mane obscured her vision, she was sure the Pegasus was also praying that Pinkie hadn’t heard or seen her punishment.

Rarity shook off her panic after less than a heartbeat’s awkward pause. Crossing the distance between them she frowned at the curly cotton candy forelock hanging in front of the bubble gum Earth pony. “Pinkie Pie, dear, are those pie crumbs in your mane?” She asked, plucking off the offending pastry bit with a quick levitation spell.

Pinkie giggled, and simply flicked Rarity’s tags ignoring her question. “Well I see it was successful! I’m so happy for you guys!” She bounded over and hugged Big Mac, who just stood there mildly amused, then Fluttershy in turn.

Fluttershy blushed and hugged Pinkie back, “Pinkie, um, I don’t want to, um, upset you or anything, but, um, have you, um, oh my…” She trailed off as Pinkie bounced away so she could talk to all three of them.

“Yeah, I know, silly me, but isn’t it pretty? Big and round and, well, round at least, and I guess big comparatively speaking. I mean, it’s always bigger than us, but not usually as round as it is right now. Don’t you think?” Pinkie Pie prattled on as if no one had said anything to her, but Big Mac noticed her right hoof trailing down her front while she wildly gestured at the rising moon with the other.

Their delay on the side of the road in the middle of the day had made them late in coming back, and it was now well after sunset. Rarity made an exaggeration of being tired and Fluttershy followed suit.

“We’ll see you more tomorrow, Pinkie. It’s been a long hard road for all of us, and I’m sure Big Mac needs to get back to Sweet Apple Acres so he can unload the last of our goodies from Appleloosa.” Rarity hugged Pinkie in an attempt to distract her from the moon.

“Eyup.” The stoic stallion inclined his head to emphasize the bags under his eyes.

Pinkie finally got the hint when Rarity took a small bag from the back of the wagon and heading off perpendicular to the Apple farm and Fluttershy’s tree, in the direction of her boutique. The pink pony followed her for a little while before bouncing off into the night.

After she was alone Rarity was lost in her thoughts while she unpacked her things from the trip. He’d given her his seed. She could still feel the pressure of his flare inside her when she clenched her inner muscles. He’d never done that before. In fact that was one of the ways they tormented her into a higher frenzy during their sessions, he’d mount Fluttershy where Rarity was forced to sit and watch as the magnificent specimen of masculinity pounded her Mistress to multiple orgasm, and then as if to push her place further home to her, he’d lock eyes with her as he came into the petite Pegasus with a grunt. On their way down to Appleloosa she’d asked why he never did, and she’d been told she hadn’t earned the right yet. She proceeded to be the perfect slave throughout the trip in the hopes that he’d grace her with it before they got home, but after her outburst on the wagon she was sure she’d blown it. Not that it was her place to question her Master, but she made up her mind to thank him when next they had her come to them.

She looked up from folding the cloth she’d bought from the buffalo and stared up into Luna’s night sky. Truly beautiful, she thought, a tear glimmering in her eye as she thought of how well cared for she was now. Like one of the glittering stars under the watchful care of Big Macintosh, the moon. Smiling she looked back down at the soft fabric and nodded to apparently no one and started gathering materials.

~*~

Across the town, just before the edge of the Everfree Forest, and only a short ways from Sweet Apple Acres, the other two members of the triad were unloading the other supplies. Pausing for a moment, Fluttershy felt her collar’s tags with a hoof pensively. She knew they were mostly for show, at least more symbolic than Big Mac actually treating Rarity and herself like property.

The crimson stallion noticed his marefriend’s thoughtful look. “Somethin’ botherin’ ya, hun?” He crossed the gap from the wagon to her side with a worried look on his face.

“Oh, nothing really.” She smiled up at him. “I just was thinking about our first time together, and how…” She squeaked a little and shivered next to him, “…how strong you were.”

He nuzzled her cheek, then turned to finish unloading her supplies, but before he hopped back on the wagon he nipped her flank with a mischievous look in his eyes that made her blush and giggle.

Her voice was soft behind him as he finished up with the wagon, getting ready to head to his own home. “Thank you, Big Mac.” He looked at her with an eyebrow raised, and she blushed deeply at her mistake, her bright blue eyes peering up into his apple green ones. He blinked once and she corrected herself, “Thank you, Master.”

“Yore welcome, huny.” He nuzzled her tenderly and kissed her lightly, before turning back to the wagon.

“Um, I don’t mean, that is, I don’t want to, um, question you, Master, but, um, why did you do that today?” She asked, not really expecting him to answer. The dynamic between them had changed, though he was just as gentle and respectful and loving as he ever was, but even since she’d let slip that she had allowed Rarity to catch her unawares in Appleloosa…She blushed at the thought, and as such almost missed his answer.

“Ah’m not ‘xactly sure, sugarcube.” He didn’t look at her, knowing he’d gone back on a decision that was made before he’d even been allowed to play with Rarity for the first time at Pinkie’s party. He heard her inhale sharply, and kept his back to her. “G’night, Fluttershy. Ah’ll see ya t’morrah.”

He left her standing in front of her tree house staring after him as he took the wagon up the back road that connected her clearing to Sweet Apple Acres. He followed the dirt path through fields of apple trees, walking slowly under Luna’s moon, and mulling over his thoughts. The risk that there would be a foal from his earlier transgression made his loins tighten, but why would he just decide to take that risk without consulting with the mares with whom he was partnered? The only answer he could come up with was that the physical act of collaring both mares with his tags touched something that dated back into Pony history to when it wasn’t uncommon for a stallion to be intimately involved with multiple mares at the same time.

Being something of a history buff, Mac’s favorite stories were about the ancient harems of mares the stallions of Mareabia and its contemporaries, long before the founding of Equestria and the coming together of the three pony tribes. He had never admitted it to either his teachers at the time or his family, but being a stallion of his size, one mare was never enough to truly satisfy him. On top of that most couldn’t take his size to completion. So, after some failed attempts at dating, he’d just kept to himself, throwing his energy into his work around the farm. Then he’d met Fluttershy, or rather, then he’d gathered up the courage to talk to Fluttershy, and she’d brought in Rarity. Two for the price of one, so to speak.

He shook his head and whickered in astonishment. Surely, nothing could interfere with this set up, he thought, making his way into the kitchen of the farmhouse. He wasn’t surprised the light was on, he knew they were expecting him home, but catching sight of his sister and grandmother sitting at the kitchen table brought him up short.

At first he smiled, “Well, y’all didn’t hafta wait up fer me.” But his sister’s glare and the strange silence Granny Smith had about her put him on edge. When nopony said anything he got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, the warm feeling of being home after so long combined with the knowledge that his mares were safely tucked in their homes disappeared. “Somethin’ happened. What is it?”

“Ya no good, back-stabbin’, son of a diamond dog’s behind. Ah can’t hardly stand ta look at ya!” Applejack fumed. She got up from the table and glared up at him. “Ya knew how much Ah loved her, and ya jus’ couldn’t leave well enough alone! Ya know what this is gon’ do ta her? She’s a Pegasus fer cryin’ out loud! She’s not gon’ be able ta fly fer months, if ever agin, after this!”

He was dumbfounded and a little scared. While it was no secret that he was dating Fluttershy, but as far as he knew she wasn’t hurt in anyway. Not that she really liked to fly anyway, but still…now he was completely confused. “Would ja start at the beginnin’ please? Obviously, somethin’ happened while Ah was out o’ town, and Ah’m sorry if’n Ah had anythin’ ta do with it. Ah didn’t know ya had such deep feelin’s for her. Ya should’ve said somethin’ afore we left, Ah’d’ve told her ta stay here so ya wouldn’t think there was any funny business.”

AJ almost turned purple, “SORRY! YER SORRY!! YA BIG DUMB HAYBALE!! DON’T YA SEE YA COULD KILL HER!?”

Big Mac literally sat back on his haunches scared now. “K-kill her?” He looked to Granny Smith, who was still strangely silent, refusing to meet her grandson’s eyes. Switching back to Applejack, “How? Ah know Ah’m bigger’n they are, Ah’m
gentle ‘xcept when either one tells me ta be rough, and even then Ah don’t give it mah all cuz Ah know Ah’m too strong fer ‘em! Honest!” He looked panicked now.

“But yah don’t rubber it do—wait, them?” AJ stopped mid-rant to frown in confusion instead of anger. “What d’ya mean ‘them’?” She looked her brother in the eye.

“Them?” He shifted nervously, “Uh,” He tried to come up with some reason besides the truth, but under Honesty’s steady gaze he had nothing. So, he hung his head and pawed at the floor boards. “Fluttershy ‘n’ Rarity. We’ve sorta got this thing goin’ on.” He mumbled, waiting for her reaction. When she didn’t answer, he looked up to find them both staring at him like he’d grown a second head. “What?” He demanded, blushing deeply. When they continued to gawk at him, his temper started to flare. “What’s all this nonsense ‘bout Fluttershy dyin’? An’ not bein’ able ta fly fer months, if ever? I jus’ left her, she looked perfectly fine ta me!” He looked back and forth between the two. “And if Ah’m a danger ta her, what ‘bout Rarity? Is she ok? Ah haven’t hurt her permanently, have Ah?”

Granny Smith broke the silence with a small cough. It wasn’t unheard of for colts to need to ‘sow their oats’ so to speak, but it’d been years since she’d come face to face with it. The last time had been one of their cousins from—her train of thought crashed, and her sharp old eyes zeroed in on the yoke around her grandson’s neck. Slyly she asked, “Ya git what ya needed from Cousin Braeburn there, sonny?”

“Confound it, Granny, don’t change the subject. What’s all this ‘bout Fluttershy!?” He was on his hooves again, the motion making the lamp light catch on the tags hanging from his yoke, and the stamp of his foot didn’t quite hide their tell-tale jingle.

AJ cut him off from approaching Granny Smith, apparently having shaken off her shock. “Not Fluttershy, ya dummy. Rainbow!” She growled. “Ah could give a cockatrice’s tail rattle about what ya do wi’ Fluttershy.”

“And Rarity.” Granny piped up unexpectedly, still staring at Mac’s tags.

“Yeah. An’ Rar’ty.” AJ shook her head as if trying to wrap her mind around that thought.

Big Mac on the other hand was trying to understand what his sister was saying about Rainbow. “So, ya think Ah’m foalin’ ‘round with Rainbow Dash, too?” He asked, the idea seeming as foreign to him as entertaining thoughts about his sister or their cousin Braeburn. Then it hit him, “Wait? What’s wrong with Ms. Dash?” He frowned again, this time concerned.

“Well, y’all oughta know, she’s preggers, ijit.” AJ’s language was getting more and more colorful by the minute.

“Whoa!” Mac glared. “Ah ain’t never laid a hoof on Ms. Dash. If’n she’s preggers, it ain’t mine. Who told ya Ah was the father? Ah’ll knock some sense inta their skulls right first thing.”

The sound of a soft hoof step from the stairs stopped their conversation. “It’s what the doc said when she did her magic thingy right before they let him come ho-here.” The gravelly voice of the chromatic Pegasus made Mac frown in her direction.

“Ah terrible sorry, Ms. Dash, but that doctor’s mistaken. Ah know fer a fact Ah’ve never had relations with ya.” Big Mac wasn’t quite sure if he should be angry at being accused or concerned for everypony’s welfare. Rainbow was obviously not doing well, her colors were faded and she looked like she’d lost a bit of weight. “Ah don’t want ta call anypony a liar, but when’s this supposed ta have happened?”

“Pinkie’s party, ‘bout two months ago.” AJ crossed the room to give Rainbow support getting her over to the table. Though she probably could have made the journey herself, the symbolism of AJ helping her made both mares feel better.

Big Mac shook his head, “Ah couldn’t have sired yer foal, Ms. Dash. Ah’m sorry. Ah was occupied durin’ Ms. Pie’s party.”

“Ya’ve got proof Ah suppose?” AJ said doubtingly.

“O’course! Ah have Fluttershy an’ Rarity ta vouch fer me. Ah was with them all night.” The stallion started to walk up to the table where the three mares were sitting, but thought better of it. “If’n y’all don’t believe me, wait ‘til mornin’. Fluttershy’ll be here ta git some apples fer her critters. Ask her.”

Granny Smith looked over at the dozing Pegasus and nodded. “Ah think that’s a fine idea. Let’s ev’rypony git ta bed.” She slowly got up from the table and made her way shakily over to her grandson, “But mark mah words, sonny, if’n ya are the father, yer gon’ be hitched afore the next full moon, Ah g’ar’ntee it!” She fixed him with ‘the eye’, the stare she’d used when he was just a young colt and got in trouble.

“Yes’m, Granny. If’n it’s mah foal, Ah’ll do th’ honor’ble thing and marry her.” He agreed meekly, bowing his head apologetically, like all that was at stake was a broken apple tree. AJ half carried Rainbow past him towards the stares, “Ah’m mighty sorry, AJ, even if’n Ah didn’t do it. Ah do know how much she means to ya.”

“It’s alright, big brother, Ah know. Even if it was yer foalishness that brought her here, she’s here ain’t she?” AJ could stop the smile that broke across her face, looking at the dozing Pegasus on her shoulder.

Said Pegasus looked back up sleepily. “’She’ would like to go to bed now, huny. It’s been a long couple of days.”

“Ah know, sugarcube, Ah know.” AJ walked with Rainbow up to her bedroom, which they were sharing for the time being. Somehow in her heart, AJ knew it was all going to be worked out soon.

On his way to his room, Big Mac paused outside of AJ’s door. He called softly, so as not to disturb Rainbow, “AJ?”

“Yeah?” She asked, coming to the door, her weariness obvious not that it was just the two of them.

He dug at the carpet on the floor for a minute, trying to work up the nerve to tell her what he was thinking. “If…If Ah hafta marry her, Ah won’t hold her ta it. She’s free ta say no if’n she wants, ya know?”

Applejack smiled, catching his unspoken meaning. “Thanks, Big Mac. Ah’m sure she’ll be as grateful as Ah am. Granny means well, but Ah don’t think she quite understands how we c’n be happy without a stallion between us.”

“Yah, she’s a bit old fashioned that way.” He smiled, his heart a little lighter knowing that AJ understood he wouldn’t come between the two mares any more than he wanted her to come between him and his special someponies. “Well, g’night, AJ.”

“G’night, Big Mac.” She shut the door on him.