I Can Explain

The sound of creaking wood, the walls of the barn settling as a breeze swept through and changed the pressure within, broke the heavy silence. Rarity's eyes scanned the room, settling on each of the fillies present for a moment before leaping to the other mare. Applejack sat quietly behind the younger ponies, doing her best to look anywhere but at the pearly white unicorn, fanning her intensely blushing face with her hat and sweating anxiously. Rarity glanced sideways, looking for something to claim had caught her attention if asked, then looked back at the confused and red-faced fillies. Her question, "Is there anything you need me to explain?", had gone unanswered for nearly a full minute.

Apple Bloom finally looked up from the floor, her mouth open, and awkwardly shifted and cleared her throat. All eyes fixed on her, making her hesitate, but her curiosity and confusion outweighed the nervousness everyone's stares brought her.

"Um..." she twiddled her hooves, looking away, "You said...it felt like..."

She looked up at the older mare, and Rarity pursed her lips and answered with a cautious nod. "Well, it's nothing I have any experience with, thank Celestia, but...from what I understand, it...yes."

Apple Bloom adjusted again, afraid of her question, but swallowed hard and continued.

"So...do you...want to be"

"No!" the unicorn answered quickly, startling the fillies. "No, no nono, I...there's..." She chewed her lip as she tried to phrase her explanation. "There's...a considerable difference between...a little...non-con role-play and actually having somepony...ehm...well, force himself onto you. Or herself, I suppose," she added under her breath.

"Non-what?" Sweetie Belle asked quietly, leaning closer.

"Non-consensual role-play," Rarity repeated.

She made to describe it, but hesitated as she chose her words, her usual calm and quick witted demeanor hampered by a desire not to overload the fillies with overly adult information.

"It's...well, it's like...a game?" she asked more than told, shrugging. "A very...ahem, sexual game. You...one of you...plays the part of a...damsel in distress, we'll say," she laughed, "Or a...whatever a stallion would be in that position. A mansel?" she mused, rubbing her chin. She frowned as she tried to think of a better word, but the look on the fillies' faces told her to postpone the search. "Er, one partner plays the victim and the other is the ah...aggressor."

"Is..." Scootaloo started. She scratched her head, unsure of how to ask her question. "Is it...like, do you...is it dangerous?" she eventually asked.

Rarity rolled her head, taking a slow breath to organize her thoughts. "Well...it can be." she conceded, "But not if you plan properly and communicate with your partner. They have to be someone you can trust, and they need to be able to trust you."

"Even if you're the victim?" Sweetie Belle queried, cocking her head.

"Yes," Rarity nodded, "It's equally important that you can trust your su- er...the victim. If they can't communicate properly what their limits are or what they really want, you can end up really hurting them. If they can't, you walk a very thin line between role-play and actually vio...ehm...violating them," she finished quietly, looking away.

The Crusaders all reacted uncomfortably, turning their attention to the floor or shifting in their seats. Behind them, Applejack fidgeted as she fought with herself whether to cover her little sister's ears, her blush almost bordering on a medical emergency. Rarity pursed her lips as she considered her words, wondering if she had said too much or worded the explanation wrongly.

"H...H-Have...uh..." Scootaloo stuttered, making the others flinch. "Have...you ever...vi...uh..." she adjusted herself, leaning closer and looking around as though she might be overheard by a passerby, and whispered her question. "I mean, have you ever... done that?"

She looked at Rarity for a second before turning away, unable to face her for her question. The other ponies in the room seemed to grow more uncomfortable Applejack especially, but with Rarity as a close second. The unicorn pressed her hooves together in front of her muzzle, focusing on a spot in front of her as her brow furrowed in thought.

The other ponies turned their focus from their imaginary distractions to their lecturer as the span of her silence lengthened. Rarity tried to shut out their faces as she brought up memories, examining them for their content, and eventually made her decision.

"Once," she admitted quietly. "Only once. I was...new to the whole concept, and well, not new," she corrected, "Not like you three. Or four," she added, making Applejack scowl and fan herself harder. "No, I'd known about the whole idea of non-con and pet play and domination, I just hadn't had a chance to try it. When I found one, I jumped at the opportunity, but..." Rarity's head dipped slightly, her usually well-maintained facade fading slightly as a tired expression overtook her face, "I...I was a terrible domme," she murmured. "Not that I didn't try, I mean, but...I didn't really understand what I was doing. Or why. I didn't take the time to talk to my...sub my submissive and...I ended up doing something they weren't comfortable with, and I hadn't prepared properly so they couldn't tell me..." She took a very slow breath, running a hoof down her face. "I didn't know there was a problem until it was over, and he...he never spoke to me again after that. I never even saw him. I'm still amazed he didn't have me arrested, honestly."

Rarity had to force herself to stop talking. The silence that followed was longer, more awkward, and, for Applejack, more morally conflicted than any other that day. Rarity kept her focus on her forelegs as she distractedly rubbed her hooves together. The three fillies glanced around the room as they processed her words. Applejack repeatedly started to say something and repeatedly caught on her dry throat and lack of articulate thought.

After what may well have been several minutes, Sweetie Belle finally broke the silence.

"What's a 'blushing virgin'?"

Rarity's hooves stopped grating past each other as her eyes fixed on her sister. Applejack's heart nearly stopped, her mouth hanging open in some failed attempt to speak. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both glanced at their friend, faces red and expressions concerned.

"Ah..." Rarity lowered her hooves and titled her head, "Well, a virgin the blushing part is really just a uh...ahem, a virgin is just somepony who's never..." she leaned slightly looking off to Sweetie's side as she chose her words, then looked to her and shrugged, "...had sex."

"Oh," the younger unicorn frowned. She thought for a moment. "Is that bad?"

Rarity blinked and waved her hooves. "No. Not at all. Don't ever let anyone tell you that it is," she impressed, her tone suddenly stern. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a virgin."

"Well..." Apple Bloom spoke up, flinching as Rarity turned her gaze to her. "Well then...why did you act so surprised whe"

"Probably," Applejack cut her off, her voice hoarse, "y'all mistook Rarity's tone for uh...um..."

"No, Applejack, she's right," Rarity interrupted. "My reaction was entirely inappropriate, I'm sorry. It just...caught me off-guard," she shrugged, her face screwed up in an uncertain way. "I just think...with Applejack being the eh, rather handsome mare that she is, I suppose I'd just assumed that she's had plenty of suitors. I hadn't given it much thought before, honestly, but it surprised me that my initial judgment was wrong. I'm usually very good at reading people."

"She is," Sweetie Belle vouched, a little unnecessarily.

"Regardless of the reason, the way I reacted gave exactly the wrong impression. It's not a problem or a weakness or a fault to abstain from sexual activity," Rarity went on. "It's also nopony's business but your own whether or not you actually do. I was out of line announcing it like that."

All was quiet for a moment before Scootaloo raised a hoof, making Rarity smirk and nod to call on her.

"Why...or, can I ask about...?" Rarity lowered her head slightly and motioned with a hoof for her to proceed. "Why are you not?"

Rarity blinked, the other three sets of eyes in the room drifting to focus on the orange pegasus.

"Not what?"

"A virgin."

Rarity blinked again. "W...what do you mean?"

Scootaloo shrugged. "Well, you're the same age as Applejack, right? How come she's a virgin and you're not?"

"Actually, Applejack's a little older," Apple Bloom corrected. "I think."

Rarity looked up to her friend and met with wide-eyed, red-faced stare. Silent questions passed between them for a few seconds before the unicorn cleared her throat and fluffed her mane.

"Well, uh, I can't really speak for Applejack," she began, "but I um...well, it just sort of...happened. The first time, I mean. We had been dating for quite a while and we were...ehm, conveniently alone one evening and...things escalated quickly," Rarity half-laughed, blushing lightly. "We were on his couch, talking about the weather I think, and ah...well, I'll spare the details, but," she grinned and shrugged, "what started as a kiss..."

At some unknown point in the brief dialogue between fillies and mare, some ineffable degree of discomfort regarding the subject at hand had suddenly and subtly fallen away, and the three fillies responded to Rarity's story with curiosity rather than embarrassment or shock. Each considered her words, slightly varying thoughts passing through their minds. Even Applejack seemed to have slowed her furious fanning, and her nearly blood-colored face, Rarity found, worried her considerably less.

Once again, Scootaloo broke the silence.

"How old were you?" she asked as though thinking aloud.

This time it was Rarity that seemed uncomfortable. "Um..." she turned her head and gnawed on her lip, "I was...thirteen? Fourteen?"

The jaws of Rarity's audience members nearly hit the floor.

"Thirteen??" Sweetie Belle squeaked. "But, bu-you we-" another stroke of realization played across her face, and she became slack-jawed again. "THUNDERLANE!?"

Rarity winced, hoping her sister wouldn't remember the timeline of her romantic life she'd once told her about, and once again found something else to look at. "Ah...no," she confessed quietly. "N-not...not Thunderlane."

This almost seemed to shock the younger unicorn even more. "What do you mean not Thun " Sweetie Belle stopped her question short, her eyes wide, and anxiously glanced in either direction at the fillies beside her. Rarity looked back at her, noting her worried look, and quickly turned to face again.

"Wait! No no no, I didn't cheat on him!" she asserted, "I...well..." She sighed. "I actually never did have a relationship with Thunderlane," she admitted nervously, wringing her hooves. Her sister's face flashed confusion, then surprise and disappointment, and Rarity lowered her gaze slightly. "I...did always sort of like him," she shrugged, "he's a competent flyer and a skilled athlete. I just never...well, told him. I've heard that's for the best though," she mused.

The assembled ponies stared at her, and Rarity turned her attention away from them for the latest in an uncounted number of times.

"You...never dated Thunderlane?" Sweetie Belle asked quietly, making her sister flinch.

"N-no. I didn't," she confessed. "He was...just a cover story. Mom and dad liked him and we were friends and...he was convenient."

That made some of the color drain from Applejack's face. "You lied to your parents?" she almost whispered, incredulous. "About who y'all were datin'? About the stallion that took yer virginity?"

"I didn't say I was proud of it," Rarity huffed with a scowl. "You don't have to be so dramatic about it. I feel bad enough as it is."

"Who was it?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Rarity turned her frown down to her sister, then blinked and rubbed the angry expression off her face. "Ah...I'd actually prefer not to talk about it," she groaned, continuing to massage her face. "He was older than me, I'll say that much, but he's since left town and it wouldn't do any good to give his name."

Applejack seemed like she might force the issue, but a quick look down at her sister made her quiet. Sweetie Belle fidgeted, also offput by her sibling's sweeping aside the issue, but nodded in quiet acceptance. Rarity waited to gauge their reactions, then let the subtle tension drain from her shoulders.

"Is there anything else you'd like me to talk about?" she inquired, running a hoof through her mane.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom adopted thoughtful expressions. The mare behind the group of fillies regained some of her redness as her indignance was replaced by her earlier embarrassment. Scootaloo wet her lips and looked to her friends, hoping they would think of something to ask before her question found its wording.

They did not.

"So..." the little pegasus started, drawing everyone's attention, "You stopped after that?"

Rarity blinked. "Stopped what after what?"

Scootaloo scratched her head. "Uh...stopped being the dom after you...y'know..."

The unicorn blinked again, the others present looking up at her expectantly before very slowly turning back to Scootaloo with confused expressions.

"Well, I mean," she started, shifting uncomfortably under their collective gaze, "You said the dom is the aggressive one and the submissive is the victim, right? And you were all tied up and stuff, and being...uh..."

Rarity held up a hoof to stop her (much to the filly's relief). "I think we all remember the position I was found in clearly enough not to need to recount it a third time," she sighed. "To answer your question: no. I was, and still am, ashamed of how my first attempt went, but it only made me more interested in learning to do better. In fact I usually am the domme in any BDSM I partake in nowadays."

"Why?"

Rarity raised an eyebrow at her sister's sudden question. "What do you mean?"

Sweetie Belle shrugged. "Well...don't you have to be...agressive to be an aggressor?"

Rarity pursed her lips. "'Aggressor' really isn't the right word to describe the role, in hindsight," she mused. "A domme is more someone that...well, she they, I mean are really more like...well, it depends on the type of play, I guess."

She furrowed her brow and rolled her jaw in thought, tapping a hoof as her gaze drifted upward. Another breeze flowing through the barn set a rope hanging from a nail in a beam above her head swaying gently. Rarity watched it swing as she searched for words, more thoroughly at a loss than at any point before, then blinked as another idea flashed through her mind. She zeroed in on the rope, judging its length and durability, and slowly let the hoof that had been rubbing her chin lower to the floor.

"Applejack," she began, taking the rope in her magic and pulling it down beside her, "come take this rope."

The farmer blinked, rearing back slightly. "Why?"

"To illustrate a point," the unicorn nodded. "Come on."

Applejack stared at her friend, completely at a loss as to what she was trying to do, but a collective look from the fillies in front of her prompted her to her hooves. She wandered around them and approached the other mare, and Rarity nodded toward the rope sitting on the floor next to her. Applejack looked at the rope. Then her friend. Then the rope. Then she dipped her head and took the length of cord in her teeth before straightening and staring expectantly at her friend again.

"Now put it over there," Rarity commanded, pointing at a hook on a beam to her right.

Applejack glanced at the hook before wincing in confusion at her friend. Rarity motioned at it with her head, adding a hushed "Do it", and the farm pony quietly acquiesced once again. The fillies watched as she walked over to the hook and set the coiled rope in place before turning back to Rarity for more instruction.

"Sit," Rarity ordered casually.

Applejack kept her skeptical expression but obeyed quickly, bring a small grin to Rarity's face.

"Now speak."

"What in the hay are you makin' me do?" Applejack blurted.

"Pet play," Rarity answered with a smile. "It's a very simple form of domination wherein one party the domme is the 'master' and the other acts like the domme's pet."

"I didn't agree to play pet for you, Rarity," Applejack huffed as she stood.

"Ah-ah, no. Sit," Rarity demanded, turning a scowl to the orange farm mare.

Applejack hesitated, momentarily confused, then scowled and finished rising to her hooves. "Now you're just messing with me, aren't you?"

"A little," the fashionista giggled, "But it's a real thing."

"And that's...sexy?" Apple Bloom frowned.

"Well, not that," Rarity shrugged. "Ordinarily the pet wouldn't just be moving things around or sitting on command. Even though I guess that is a part of it," she murmured to herself. "Usually the pet does something embarrassing or demeaning for some kind of reward from their master. 'Tricks for treats' as it were."

"So like...you tell someone a secret and you get chocolate or something?" Sweetie Belle asked, scratching her head.

Rarity chuckled at her sister's idea of 'embarrassing' and 'reward' and looked around as she searched for another means of getting her point across. "Not quite. Though everyone does it differently, so what do I know?" Her eyes landed again on the rope next to her assistant, and a new idea for its use came to mind. "Typically it would be more something like this."

The rope uncoiled itself from the hook, floating above the unsuspecting farmer, and slowly and discreetly looped around her neck before fusing to itself to form a makeshift collar. Applejack flinched, realizing only too late what was happening, then lurched as the rope pulled at her neck and urged her forward.

"Rarity," she said warningly, leaning into the rope.

"This is as far is it goes," the unicorn promised, raising a hoof. "Just go along with it."

Applejack stood firm, staring down the other mare. She glanced sideways at the three fillies, who had adjusted themselves to give her their full attention. She sighed, closing her eyes and shutting out the burning sensation in her ears, then slowly started forward at the leash's behest.

"Whatever point yer tryin' to illustrate"

"Mm, no talking," Rarity interrupted.

Applejack stopped, the leash snapping taught. "Oh come o"

"Ah-ah, quiet now."

"Rarity"

The end of the rope slipped into her mouth as she spoke before coiling around her muzzle and fusing to itself, forming a very primitive sort of gag. Applejack blinked in surprise as she was silenced, straining to open her mouth once it was in place, then leered at her friend.

"If you can't follow instruction, things get taken away," Rarity said matter-of-factly. "That's how it works."

The farm mare continued to glare at her, once again standing resolute, but a tug on the rope pulled at both her neck and face and she had to step forward to keep from being dragged. Applejack winced and shot a glance at the fillies, her face once again adapting blush. The rope tugged, and Applejack stepped, her cheeks growing hotter in frustration and embarrassment. Some unknown and altogether unpleasant sensation washed over her as the pull of the rope became constant and she began following it at a steady pace. The sense of discomfort only grew the longer she followed the rope's pull, every second spent walking as it pulled her forward making her skin crawl as she thought of how somepony was controlling her movement.

The rope turned, jerking Applejack's head rightward, and she stumbled as she adjusted to follow it. Rarity's tongue clucked in disapproval behind her, making the red-faced farmer dig her teeth into the makeshift gag. She straightened herself, following the rope's pull so that it left slack in the leash, but without the tugging without its pressure steering her another change in direction caught her more unawares than before, and she tripped over her forelegs correcting her course.

Applejack groaned and looked to Rarity. The pearlescent unicorn loomed over her, her head cocked to the side and face plastered with a bemused grin. She very gently shook her head, an imperceptible motion from any distance further away than Applejack sat, and the apple farmer's blood started to boil. She jumped to her hooves, her jaw set and eyes steely, and met Rarity's joking disapproval with stalwart resolution. Rarity's smirk became concerned for a moment, before a sly grin cracked her joking demeanor. She could see that Applejack's pride had been injured, and that she was now fully committed to earning back her perceived loss of respect.

She needed to continue. More than that, she needed to show Rarity that she was the best damned pet a pony could be.

Rarity sized up her new pet, a conjuration spell already at the tip of her horn, but a hushed word made her seize up. She looked back at the Crusaders, making the fillies freeze in place and stop whatever they were fussing about, and the magic quickly left her. She glanced at Applejack, noting that she shared her embarrassment at having forgotten the presence of their younger siblings, then cleared her throat and turned to face them.

"Ahem, pet play," she announced as though finishing a speech. "Simple, but...that's about the jist of it."

"I still don't get it," Sweetie Belle mused.

"Well, either you're not thinking creatively or it simply isn't for you then," Rarity shrugged.

"Why isn't Applejack the dom?" Apple Bloom scowled.

"Yeah, she's stronger and stuff. Shouldn't she be in charge?" Scootaloo added.

Rarity started to answer before a tap on the shoulder drew her attention to the farmer in question, who met her with a muted grin reading something akin to "Excellent points." She rolled her eyes and removed the gag and collar, returning the rope to normal and setting it back in the rafters where it first hung.

"Strength isn't the only thing to consider when establishing a relationship like that," she explained. "In fact, a lot of the subs I know are actually larger and probably stronger than their dommes. It has more to do with frame of mind and what you want to get out of the interactions." She sat and fluffed her mane. "Plus, while Applejack may be physically stronger than I am, a unicorn's strength isn't limited to her muscles."

"Relationship?" Apple Bloom asked, a hint of worry in her voice. "Does that mean y'all are...marefriends now?"

The two mares blinked, staring at Applejack's sister, before Rarity snorted and fell to her side laughing. Applejack glowered at her before stepping closer and clearing her throat.

"Ah don't think that's what she meant by 'relationship'," she answered. "And no, we most certainly are not."

"Oh, how cold you are, Applejack," Rarity giggled. "After all the intimate time we've just shared?"

Applejack shut her eyes, ignoring her resurging blush. "Ah thought the whole point of this was to prevent misunderstandings, not make them worse."

Rarity cleared her throat as she stood, still chuckling as she made her way over to the other ponies. "You're right, I'm sorry. You can all rest assured we haven't entered into some kind of contractual pet-centered relationship because of this," she nodded to the gathered fillies.

That seemed to relax Apple Bloom and Applejack somewhat. Rarity swept her eyes over the other ponies, judging their states of mind, and found, much to her pleasant surprise, that all seemed well within the barn. Whatever awkwardness they had brought in had been dispelled, or at least lessened, and the misunderstanding that had had started this whole lecture seemed to have been cleared up. She nodded in satisfaction, glad to be rid of that problem at least, then straightened up.

"I think that's about all that needs to be explained for now. If you girls ever have questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Er, but, please be discreet about it, if you can," she added with a laugh. "It'd be hard to keep sales up if you all started barging in asking about sex when I have customers in the shop."

"Okay," the fillies answered in unison.

"Should we...not tell anypony else?" Scootaloo asked after, blushing slightly. "What you told us just now?"

"Ah..." Rarity pursed her lips, considering that thought for the first time. "It...might be better if you didn't," she conceded. "You can, obviously, there's nothing I could do to stop you, but I think you'd get a fair amount of odd looks if you started casually talking to others about it. Plus, depending on who you tell, I might get in trouble."

"Why would you get in trouble?" Sweetie Belle asked, now distressed.

"Well, everyone has their own sensibilities regarding sex," Rarity shrugged. "Applejack's a great example."

The mare in question blinked and scowled at her. "And how's that?"

Rarity turned her head and whispered something in her ear, and Applejack's face down her neck immediately flushed crimson. Rarity giggled at her reaction, Applejack's scowl deepening as she once again removed her hat to fan herself with it, and she looked back to the fillies and gestured to her friend.

"Case in point."

"Wha'd you say?" Apple Bloom asked in amazement.

Applejack quickly covered Rarity's mouth, drawing a bemused look from the unicorn. "Nothin'!"

Her sister frowned and nodded. Rarity, meanwhile, pushed the restrictive hoof away from her snout and scoffed.

"Honestly, Applejack," she sighed. "At any rate, yes, you should probably keep this to yourselves. And like I said, I'm always available for questions." The fillies, as Rarity had expected, immediately sat started thinking of questions. "Later. Now I need to get back to the boutique and find out who it was I may have lost business from getting over here. Sweetie Belle, you can stay and play with your friends if you like, but be home by seven."

"Okay," the younger unicorn groaned.

"Uh, before you go?" Scootaloo ventured, raising a hoof.

"Yes?"

The little pegasus hesitantly lowered her hoof, suddenly unable to meet eyes with the elder pony. She glanced at her friends, then stood and approached, and Rarity tilted her head as the filly made to whisper something to her. Rarity blinked as the question was asked, then straightened and smiled at Scootaloo.

"Is it alright if I answer that out loud? It's a good question."

Scootaloo's face flushed and she fidgeted before giving a meek nod.

"It is perfectly alright," Rarity assured her, then turned to the other two fillies, "to masturbate."

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom immediately went red in the face, and Applejack nearly choked on a gasp behind her.

"Rarity " the orange farm mare coughed.

"It's a safe, healthy, private," Rarity added, shooting a glance at her tongue-tied friend, "solution to any sexual urges you might feel."

Apple Bloom gulped, glancing at her sister, before leaning closer and asking, "D-doesn't it... give you back problems?"

"Oh please," Rarity scoffed, "I'd wager that demonising excuse is older than Celestia herself. And you know what? No one's ever proven it."

Applejack stepped between her and the fillies as she finished her fit of coughing. "O-okay, ahem, I think we've all eaten up enough of Rarity's time! Lots o' dresses an' such to make, right?"

"It's a slow day," the unicorn shrugged with a grin, making the apple farmer glare back at her before turning a forced smile back to the fillies.

"Why don't y'all go play in the clubhouse? Ah really need to get back to the market."

"Y-yeah, okay," Apple Bloom piped, motioning for the others to follow her. "Come on, girls, let's uh...write up a new induction speech."

The others mumbled agreements and followed after her, glancing nervously at the two mares as they left. Applejack waved a little too enthusiastically as they left, then turned to find herself face to face with Rarity.

"You really should learn to relax, darling," the milk-white unicorn mused, meandering past her friend toward the exit.

"Hold up, Rare," Applejack caught her. "Listen, Ah get that you're...experienced and what-have-you, but... y'think you could maybe check with me before you tell Apple Bloom somethin' like that?"

"You do understand what the alternative is, don't you?" Rarity sighed. "If she if any of them start developing sexual urges and don't know how to handle them, what are they going to assume?" Applejack frowned and shook her head. "That their only option is sex," Rarity impressed, leaning closer. "And of course they know the outcome of sex, or they will soon if I remember the curriculum, so it'll seem like they have no options at all. None that don't get them in trouble, at least."

"You can't say any of that for sure, Rare," Applejack argued. "It's not like they're stupid"

"When did I imply they are?" Rarity hissed. "I...look, I'm only saying they need options, and if you discourage them from using the ones available to them you're only going to make them feel bad about themselves when they do it anyway."

Applejack rolled her jaw, considering Rarity's argument.

"I guess," she nodded after a moment. "Uh...you aren't going to teach them more of that...domination stuff, are you?"

"Not unless they ask," Rarity smirked.

"Rare"

"I'm joking, AJ, calm down. I honestly didn't mean to actually show them anything today. I'll make sure they understand the idea, if they come asking, but I won't actually teach them anything specific."

"Unless they ask?" Applejack finished flatly.

Rarity sighed and massaged her temple. "No, not even if they do. They're too young to be trying anything more advanced, let alone more sexual, than what we did, and I'll make sure they know that."

Applejack's ears twitched as she was reminded of her brief time spent as Rarity's pet. "Right. Uh...thanks."

"It's no trouble," Rarity assured her. "Quite the opposite, in fact."

They both nodded quietly, then looked around the barn for a moment before Rarity cleared her throat one last time.

"Actually, I should be getting back to the boutique. Never know when there might be a customer," she shrugged.

"Yeah, alright. Ah'll see you around, Rarity."

The unicorn nodded and turned to leave, but paused in the doorway. She glanced sideways at a rack on the wall, an evil grin lighting up her face, then turned her head out the door.

"I suppose I can be back later though, granted there isn't too much work today."

Applejack blinked. "Uh...okay. What for?"

Rarity daintily flicked her head as though setting her mane in order, and one of Winona's spare collars leapt from a hook on the wall and landed at Applejacks feet. The farm pony stared at it for a moment, confused, then felt a great heat fill up her face as she looked back up at her friend. Rarity turned her head only enough to expose her muzzle beyond the quaff of her mane, a thin smile showing past the purple ribbon of hair.

"You have some obedience issues," she stated in a low pitch Applejack hadn't heard her voice reach before. "Tonight...we start training."

The burning sensation spread from her cheeks up Applejack's ears and down her neck, beads of sweat forming at her hairline. "...Ah..."

Rarity turned only slightly more, exposing an eye from behind her mane. "You wanted to prove yourself, right? Here's your chance."

While Applejack sputtered and gawked, Rarity looked ahead and casually trotted out of the barn. Briefly, she caught a glimpse of the Cutie Mark Crusaders making their way through the orchard toward their tree house, chatting idly, doubtlessly about all they'd just been exposed to, as they went. The pearlescent unicorn hummed a quiet, merry tune as she meandered down the long road out of Sweetapple Acres, nodding at Big Macintosh as he passed in the opposite direction with an empty cart. She grinned after he had passed, realising that Applejack would indeed have a fair amount of free time now that Pinkie had sold out her daily stock of apples, and began to canter back to her home.

'Sexy or not, this will definitely be fun.'