The Courtship Catastrophe

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

“Uh, what just happened?” Dash watched Twilight while she ran away, then turned to her marefriend once the alicorn disappeared over a hill. “Seriously. Did she just say she had to go read her laundry?”

Applejack looked at Rainbow for a moment, then sighed and started walking in the direction Twilight had fled. “Sugar, Ah love ya to bits… but sometimes yer about as bright as a sack of apples.” She shook her head and called back over her shoulder, smirking. “How do you stay in the air bein’ so dense?”

Dash trotted up to her marefriend’s side and fell in step with her. After a few seconds, she perked up. “Hey!” She shot the earth pony a glare. “I’m not dense!”

“Sure ya ain’t.” Applejack chuckled. When she’d had enough, her expression turned serious. “But ya might wanna take yer hoof outta yer mouth ‘fore we catch up with Twi, sugarcube.” She sighed and rolled her eyes at the confused look the pegasus gave her. “Come on, sug’. What was the last thing ya said to Twi before she ran off?”

“Nothing!” Dash hopped into the air, crossing her forelegs while she flew. “I was just saying that you didn’t have to worry about us feathermarking each other because I don’t like her… like…” She dropped back to the ground, landing roughly on all four hooves. “Oh.”

“Yeah… Oh.” Applejack grumbled. They crested the hill that Twilight had disappeared over and Ponyville came into view. The walk back into town passed mostly in silence, with only the crunch of gravel under their hooves to break the stillness of the air. A few ponies tried to bid them a good morning, but the pleasantries went unheard and unanswered as both of them were too deep in their own thoughts to notice.

“Hey, AJ.” Rainbow finally broke the silence between them when they rounded a corner and the Golden Oaks Library loomed in front of them. “You don’t think that Twi…” Her words drifted off, the look her marefriend was giving her being all the answer she needed. She swallowed and looked up at the library’s canopy, her wings fidgeting on her back. “So… what do we do?”

“Ah don’t know, sugar.” Applejack stopped a few paces from the front door, and her hooves suddenly felt like they were made of lead. “But whatever we’re gonna do, we gotta do it now. Leavin’ somethin’ like this to fester’s just gonna make it a whole lot worse when we finally deal with it.” She took one last deep breath and turned to Rainbow. “No matter what happens, just remember; Ah love you.”

Dash smiled warmly and leaned in. She captured Applejack’s lips in a gentle, yet passionate, kiss that spoke volumes more than mere words ever could. After a moment, she pulled back, still smiling. “I know.” She paused for a moment, her smile twitching up into a smirk when Applejack raised an eyebrow. “I love you, too. But come on, AJ, we’re just going to talk to Twilight. It’s not like we’re walking through the gates of Tartarus or anything.” She turned back to the library. The branches, usually waving idly at passersby, now seemed to be reaching out, trying to pull her in to her inevitable doom. “Okay, so maybe it’s a little like that.”

“Well, no sense puttin’ it off any longer. Let’s go.” Applejack started forward again and Dash fell in next to her. She raised a hoof to knock, but the door opened before she had a chance.

“I was wondering how long you two were just going to stand out there.” Spike grumbled as he threw the door open, his expression clearly displeased. He stood in the doorway and crossed his arms, looking back and forth between the two mares before eventually settling on Rainbow. “Alright. What did you do?”

“Me?” Dash backed up a bit, surprised by the accusation. “I didn’t do anything! Twi’s the one that—” A hoof quickly inserted itself into her mouth, muffling the rest of her statement.

“Sorry, Spike.” Applejack smiled apologetically. “Ah know ya wanna protect her, but this just ain’t yer rodeo, sugarcube. This is somethin’ that’s just between Twi and us.”

“Yeah, well I don’t think she really wants to talk to you right now.” Spike grabbed the door and started to close it. “Sorry, Applejack.”

Applejack slammed a hoof down in the door’s path, stopping the baby dragon from closing it. “Honestly, Ah ain’t lookin’ forward to talkin’ with her, either. But we gotta do it now, or it’ll only get worse.”

Spike spent a few more seconds trying to push the door past the orange blockade, but to no avail. He stared at the two mares for a moment before finally stepping aside and grumbling. “Fine.” He watched them enter and walk over to the staircase. “Just remember, I have direct connections to Princess Celestia and Shining Armor, and I’m not afraid to use them.”

“Sure thing, Spike.” Applejack placed a hoof on the first step and looked up at the door. She swallowed, then turned back to Twilight’s assistant. “Though, ya think you could give us a bit to talk… alone?” She raised a hoof when she saw his mouth twitch up into a sneer. “Ah promise we’ll come get ya as soon as we’re done, but Ah’m worried that this might get a little ugly, and Ah don’t want ya around hearin’ things we’re gonna regret sayin’.”

Spike stood his ground. He wanted to refuse, wanted to tell them that they were the ones who should leave, but he couldn’t. After a few more seconds of silent fuming, he blew out a sharp breath and turned on his heel. “I’ll be at Rarity’s.” He growled before stalking out, slamming the door shut behind him.

Dash let out a sigh and turned to glance at her marefriend, then up at the door. “So, you ready for this, AJ?”

“No.” Applejack shook her head. “But we sure as shootin’ ain’t gonna get any more ready sittin’ here like a pair of scared fillies.” She started up the steps, each one bringing her closer to the bedroom door and tightening a knot of worry in her chest. By the time she reached the top, it felt like her chest was in a vice and she could barely breathe. She lifted a hoof and knocked, the sound echoing ominously through the quiet building. She heard a slight rustling of sheets and a couple of sniffles from the other side, but only silence afterward. “Come on, Twi, we know yer in there. Let us in.”

“No. There’s nothing to talk about.” Twilight responded, her voice sounding raw even through the door. The bed springs squeaked for a few seconds before she spoke again. “Rainbow made it very clear that I’ve just been a foolish, silly, stupid schoolfilly. This is my problem, not yours, so there’s nothing to talk about. Please, just leave me alone.”

“Come on, Twi, I didn’t mean it like that.” Dash moved around her marefriend and placed a hoof on the door, but just as she touched it, the bolt slid home and locked it shut. She jiggled the handle a few times, then gave up. “You know I don’t think about things when I say them.”

Applejack grabbed the door handle and gave it a firm shake, but it didn’t budge. She punched it with her hoof, causing the door to rattle on its hinges. “Consarnit, Twilight Sparkle! Open the danged door or Ah’ll—” She felt Dash put a hoof on her shoulder and stopped, taking a deep breath. “Listen, sugar, Ah can’t say that Ah ain’t cross with ya, but this is somethin’ we all need to talk about right now, or it’s only gonna get worse. Now, we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the way where ya need a new door when we’re through. Either way, we’re comin’ in.” She moved Dash out of the way and lined her rear hooves up with the doorjamb. “Last chance, sugarcube. One… Two…” Just before she would have gotten to three, the lock slid back and the door opened, revealing Twilight curled up on the bed and facing away from them.

“Go ahead, then.” Twilight mumbled, floating a new tissue over from a box on her nightstand and tossing an old one onto a growing pile on the floor. “T-tell me how upset you are, and how I betrayed you girls. Yell at me about how you can’t believe I would do something like that and you never want to see me again.” She dabbed the tissue at her eyes then blew her nose into it, letting it fall listlessly down to join the others. “I… I’ll have Spike send a letter to Celestia and see if my old room in the castle is still available.”

“We ain’t gonna say nothin’ of the sort, sugarcube.” Applejack made her way around the bed and sat down. “We ain’t gonna toss ya out on yer rump fer an accident.” She tried to pat Twilight’s side reassuringly, but the alicorn shied away from her touch.

“Yeah. We just wanna talk.” Dash hopped up on the bed, gaining a little more air than absolutely necessary. She flopped down hard on the bed, sending a book that had been teetering precariously on the edge down to the floor. Applejack leaned down to pick it up.

“Applejack, no, don’t—” Twilight tried to stop the earth pony, but it was too late.

“What in the…” Applejack scanned the bookmarked page that the tome had fallen open to, but the title at the top told her all she needed to know. “What in tarnation is this, Twi?” She held up the book, which had the word ‘Feathermarking’ in large, florid script at the top, along with a detailed diagram of the gesture. She waited for an answer, but Twilight merely stared at the floor, trying to shrink down into her covers. “Well? Ya dirty, rotten, no good, lyin’—”

“Calm down, AJ, what’re you even—” Dash craned her neck up and caught a glimpse of the page, instantly falling silent. She looked back and forth between it and Twilight. “Twi, did… did you know about it when you…”

Twilight desperately wanted to be anywhere else, and while she could conceivably teleport away, she knew it would only make it worse when they eventually caught up to her. “Yes.” She mumbled, the word barely audible even to herself. She closed her eyes and waited for the screams of hatred and betrayal, but they never came. “Yes, I did.” She forced the words out again, making them louder.

“Why you little—” Applejack snorted and hopped down from the bed, letting the book fall in the process. She stomped over to the far wall and whirled around. “What the hay is wrong with ya!? Ya knew full well what it meant and ya just went and did it anyway, right in front of mah face? And then ya lied about it?” She snorted again and shook her head, glaring at the alicorn cowering under the covers. She took a few steps back toward the bed, her lips curled back in a snarl. “Why Ah oughta…” When she reached the bed, she lifted a hoof, hovering it as though she was going to hit Twilight. Ultimately, she slammed it back down, causing the floorboard to crack and splinter under the impact.

“But… why?” Dash backed off of the bed, confusion and hurt in her eyes rather than anger. “I mean… you knew what it meant, and you knew about AJ and me, so… why?” She shook her head, looking off to the side. “I mean, I know why you did it, but… ugh.” She trudged over to where her marefriend was still silently seething, railing against herself and her inability to communicate what she was thinking. “I just… don’t get how you could lie about something so important. It’s like you lied about the flying lessons just to get closer to me.”

Twilight knew that she should just keep quiet, but she couldn’t. “Actually…”

“What?” Dash whirled around, her eyes wide. “Seriously?” Twilight’s tentative nod was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and Rainbow’s anger flared past her confusion and hurt. “Are you bucking kidding me? Celestia’s flank, Twi, I get that you like me, but does that fact that I’m with AJ mean nothing to you?” Her wings flapped hard once, sending a few loose papers swirling around the floor. “Where was it gonna end? Were you gonna stop before kissing me? Or were you just gonna go ahead and try to steal me away from AJ?” At that, Applejack started forward again, muttering curses under her breath, but Dash extended a wing to stop her.

“I... N-No!” Twilight sat up, waving her hooves. “I was just—” She stopped, unable to muster the will to defend herself or her actions. Deep down, she knew they were right, and that she was a despicable excuse for a friend. She didn’t even know how far she would have taken things if Rainbow had been willing. Sure, she’d told Spike that she wouldn’t dare to try and take Dash for herself, but she wasn’t even sure if she meant it now. Laying back down, she pulled the covers up over herself until only her eyes were visible. “I… I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? Yer sorry!?” Applejack pushed her marefriend’s wing out of the way and stalked over to the bed. “Oh, well everythin’s all better, then.” She spat on the floor next to the bed. “Ya lyin’, low down, little whorse.”

Twilight said nothing, merely biting her lip while tears of shame and regret rolled down her cheeks. Somehow, that only made Applejack angrier, and she opened her mouth for another volley of disparaging insults.

The door flew open and Spike stormed into the room. He leapt up onto the bed and hurdled Twilight’s cowering form, standing firm between her and Applejack. “That’s it! Both of you, OUT!” He glared at Applejack and Rainbow, pointing to the now open doorway. The earth pony opened her mouth to respond, but never got the chance. “NOW!” Spike bellowed. A plume of dragonfire escaped his mouth, coiling around itself and petering out inches from Applejack’s face. It was close enough that she could feel the immense heat on her nose.

However, Applejack didn’t seem ready to give up. She still pressed forward, as though she would happily take a singed hair or two if it meant she could properly express her anger. She only calmed down a little when Dash draped a wing around her back, trying to guide her around the bed toward the door. When they reached the top of the stairs, she turned back to say something, but Spike silenced her with a growl that sent small tendrils of smoke curling out from the corners of his mouth.

Spike watched the doorway until he heard the front door open and close downstairs. Only then did he let out a sigh and sat down, leaning against Twilight’s belly while resting an elbow on her side. “Not to say ‘I told you so,’ but I did tell you this was going to happen.” Twilight made no effort to respond, instead burying her face in her pillow while she continued to sob quietly. He put a claw to his chin, wracking his brain for something he could do to try and help his sister. For lack of any better ideas, he started singing a lullaby that Celestia had sung to both of them when Twilight was just a filly and he had been only a hatchling. Unfortunately, he couldn’t quite remember all of the words, and several of his notes were severely off-key.

Even so, Twilight had calmed down by the time he finished, muttering a quiet thanks in between sniffles. “No problem.” Spike replied, reaching over to scratch a spot between her shoulders that he knew she always had trouble reaching. Her lips twitched up into a weak smile for an instant, but then she went back to staring at the wall, an occasional tear still rolling down her cheeks. “You know, Twilight, I think I liked it better when I was the lovestruck one and you were the voice of reason.”

Twilight chuckled to herself, giving Spike a loving nuzzle which the dragon reluctantly accepted. She wiped the last tears from her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. “Thanks, Spike, for… everything.”

“No sweat. It’s what brothers are for.” Spike smiled and scooted to the edge of the bed, but stopped when he felt Twilight’s hoof on his shoulder.

“Actually…” Twilight bit her lip for a second. “Do you think you could stay for a little bit?”

Spike scooted back onto the bed. “Sure thing, Twi.” He curled up next to her, resting against Twilight’s chest. He yawned and nestled deeper into the bed. “I could use a nap.” He blindly reached for a blanket, grabbing Twilight’s wing and draping it over himself. Twilight smiled again and leaned down, giving him a light kiss on the top of his head, then curled herself around him and closed her eyes.

Applejack wasn’t a pony that angered easily. She had a good head on her shoulders and could usually see the other’s side in most arguments, giving her a reputation as a levelheaded mare. When she did lose her temper, however, there was no putting the cork back in the bottle. Very few things could dampen her anger, or hold her back from tearing into the opposition. Luckily, one such thing was close by. She closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh while nuzzling her marefriend’s neck.

Dash leaned into the gesture, giving the earth pony a light squeeze with the wing draped over her back. They turned off of the main road and entered the farm proper, heading down the twisting path that would ultimately lead them to the farmhouse. Neither of them had said a word the entire trip back from town, each too lost in their own thoughts. But as they walked past rows of apple trees, Applejack silently ducked out from her calming haven and headed toward the rhythmic sound of trees being bucked. Rainbow followed her marefriend automatically, her mind still working far more feverishly than she was used to.

Another minute of walking brought them to a cart half-full of empty baskets, with the others lined up around trees. Big Macintosh reared up and bucked another tree before finally turning to acknowledge the arrival of his sister and her marefriend. He was about to greet them when he noticed Applejack’s dour mood. He watched her approach with a raised eyebrow and waited for her to let loose whatever was on her mind, but she merely looked at him and jerked her head toward the farmhouse. He stood his ground for another few moments, but ultimately shrugged and started for the house. He knew that there was no talking to her when she was in a mood, and that she’d come to him in time if she needed his help or advice. Once he was gone, Applejack picked up right where he’d left off, moving on to the next tree that still had fruit.

Dash finally broke the seemingly impenetrable silence between them. “AJ, what are you doing?”

“Workin’.” Applejack responded curtly, moving on to another tree. She lined herself up and lashed out, putting a little more force than necessary into her strike and causing a cascade of leaves to come down with the apples. “What’s it look like?”

Dash rolled her eyes and trotted over to stand in front of her marefriend. “Shouldn’t we, y’know, talk about what just happened?” Her wings rustled along her sides. She felt like she needed to do something, but she didn’t know what. She had a bunch of pent-up residual energy from her outburst at the library, and she needed some way to bleed it off. After a couple seconds of contemplation, she started gathering up the full baskets and lugging them to the cart.

“What’s there to talk about?” Applejack bucked the next tree and the whole trunk shuddered. “Twi marked ya, then lied about knowin’ what it meant. Little snake in the grass did it right in front of me, too.” She reared up and kicked again, realizing too late that she had forgotten to move on to the next tree. She and Rainbow drifted back into silence, the former bucking apples down while the latter set up empty baskets and gathered full ones into the cart. Applejack slowly felt her anger drain away while the physical exertion of working started to take its toll. Even so, her strikes didn’t lose any of their power.

“Hey, Applejack?” Dash paused in her routine after setting up a trio of baskets under a tree. “Ya wanna take it easy? The trees didn’t do anything to you.” She smiled, hoping to at least get a chuckle out of her marefriend.

Applejack reared up for another kick, but paused and ultimately let her rear hooves fall back to the ground. “Ah know.” She sat down, leaning back against the tree she had been about to buck. “It just… It’s gonna take me a while to cool down, and Ah ain’t gonna be in a fit state to talk ‘bout… what happened ‘til Ah do. Ah know ya wanna talk about it, and Ah know that we need to, but…” Her mind flashed back to the library, and her simmering anger quickly worked back up to a boil. “Ah just can’t right now.” She stood up and walked over to Rainbow, nuzzling the pegasus’ cheek. “Just gimme a couple hours. Ya don’t need to stay here and help me, either. Heck, why don’t ya run and take a nap? Ah promise we’ll talk tonight.”

Dash looked ready to press the issue, but decided against it. She returned her marefriend’s nuzzle, extending a wing to pull the earth pony into a quick hug. “Okay.” She glanced up at the sun, just past its zenith, and the disappointingly sparse cloud cover. “I’m gonna head to the barn loft, then. I’ll be there when you feel like talking.”

“Alright.” Applejack pulled back from the hug and gave Rainbow a kiss on the nose. “But Ah’ll probably be out here until dinner. Sorry, sugar.” She grinned apologetically when Dash gave her a frustrated look, then leaned back in and gave her marefriend a proper kiss before sending her off. Once the pegasus was gone, she pulled off her hat, wiped a foreleg across her brow, and looked up at the sun. “Just you and me, now.”

With that, she got back to work, falling into an easy routine born from years of practice that allowed her mind to wander. Initially, her thoughts ran in fruitless circles, starting with anger before moving on to attempted understanding, hypotheticals, resentment, then finally wrapping back around to anger. However, as the sun made its slow trek across the sky and the physical exhaustion of a hard day’s work sapped her strength, she found herself constantly coming back to one question. Unfortunately, it was a question that she couldn’t make any headway on because she’d sent the answer to nap in the barn.

How does Dash feel about Twilight?

The thought echoed in Applejack’s head for what felt like the hundredth time while she carried the last basket of apples back to the cart. Once it was loaded, she strapped herself into the harness and started for the barn. Even though Dash took every opportunity to let Applejack know how much she cared for her, the earth pony couldn’t stop doubts from creeping into her mind while she hauled the cart. What if Dash likes Twi back? What if she likes her more’n me? Nah, she said she didn’t like Twi like that. She shook her head and broke into a light trot, as if trying to physically outpace the treacherous thoughts. Regardless, they caught up with her after a few seconds. But, what if Dash gets bored with me? She keeps buggin’ me about flyin’ with her, and now Twi can. Not to mention the whole ‘princess’ thing… By the time she got to the barn, dread had dug its twisted claws into her, and all she wanted was to hear Rainbow tell her that she loved her.

“RD? Ya in here, sug’?” She called out as she pushed the barn door open. Only silence greeted her, and a brief of panic washed over her while she unhooked herself from the cart. She shook it off and walked out toward the farmhouse. Get it together, girl. Yer a grown mare, not some foal scared of the monsters under her bed. Dash’s prolly just in the kitchen, already stuffin’ her face, no doubt. She nodded to herself, but her fears still hovered over her shoulders, whispering doubts into her ears. Pushing the door the to the kitchen open, she was met with a chorus of greetings from everyone except Rainbow, who had a mouthful of apple fritter.

Dash hastily chewed and swallowed her food. “Hey, AJ! I was wondering when you were gonna get here.” She scooted out the chair next to her and patted the seat. “Come on. I saved you a plate.”

Applejack’s train of thought had left her in an uncertain state. She wanted to talk with her marefriend right away, but the smell of the food reminded her that she had more pressing needs. That can wait a few more minutes. Her stomach growled in response, letting her know exactly how it felt about passing up the feast laid out on the table. Fine, you win this one. She walked over to the offered chair and sat down. “Thanks, sugar.” She leaned over and gave Rainbow a quick nuzzle, grabbing a fritter off of the pegasus’ plate and popping it in her mouth.

“Hey! I got you your own plate. Quit stealing from mine.” Dash scooted her plate out of Applejack’s reach.

“Oh, Ah’m sure ya worked up quite an appetite nappin’ in the barn all afternoon.” Applejack said with a smile. “But here, Ah’ll make it up to ya.” She grabbed a fritter off of her own plate, but darted forward and balanced it on the end of Rainbow’s nose. Her marefriend crossed her eyes for a bit trying to look at it, then gave her a deadpan look before throwing her head back and biting the morsel out of the air.

“Very funny.” Dash muttered, reaching up to wipe a bit of residual frosting from her nose.

“Thanks, Ah thought so, too.” Applejack nudged her marefriend with an elbow, then turned her attention back to her plate. Eating the one bite had awoken her hunger, and she was now acutely aware that she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. She devoured her plate with ravenous abandon, earning her a few questionable looks from her family. Barely a minute later, only crumbs were left and she had to restrain herself from licking them off of the plate. Instead she turned to her marefriend and nodded to the staircase. “Come on, Dash.”

“Oh, right.” Rainbow hopped up and followed Applejack over to the stairs. She remembered to avoid the first and fourth stairs since they squeaked, but forgot about the seventh one. When she reached the bedroom and closed the door, her marefriend was already seated on the edge of the bed. “So… where do you wanna start?”

“Only one place makes sense to me.” Applejack gripped the mattress. Dinner had been a welcome reprieve from the doubt looming over her, but now that it was just her and Dash alone, every fear and insecurity came rushing back at once. Just say it and get it over with. “How do you feel about Twilight?”

“Twi?” Dash’s wings rustled on her back. “I mean, she’s cool and all. She’s a great friend and—”

“Ya know that’s not what Ah meant.” Applejack leveled a serious gaze at the pegasus. Her throat tightened, as if trying to hold back her next words. Rainbow’s evasive answer worried her, but there was no going back now. “Ah mean… Ya said that ya didn’t like her enough to mark her this mornin’. Didja mean it?”

“Well, yeah.” Dash rubbed one foreleg against the other. “Heck, you’re the only one I’ve ever done it with, and I just don’t ever see—”

Applejack saw her marefriend’s ear flick back, a tell that she’d quickly figured out meant that Rainbow wasn’t being completely honest with her. “Rainbow Elizabeth Dash, don’t you do that. Ah need yer one hundred percent honest to goodness answer.”

Dash chewed on her lip for a minute and opened her mouth several times before any words came out. “It’s… complicated, but… maybe, I guess?” She winced as the earth pony’s posture slumped down, her head hanging in defeat. “No! Not… not like that, it’s— Ugh!” She rushed over to the bed, grabbing Applejack’s chin and forcing their eyes to meet. “Listen, Applejack. I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love somepony, and I would never, ever, ever even dream of hurting you.”

“But…” Applejack’s vision blurred as tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them away. “Ya said—”

“I was trying to say that the first time. I would never think of it with us being… us, but if we weren’t together… I don’t know, maybe.” Dash walked over and sat next to her marefriend. She started to wrap a wing around the earth pony, but stopped when she shied away from the gesture. She bit down on her tongue for a second, unsure whether to keep going since it was obviously distressing her marefriend so much. Might as well get it all out now. “I was actually thinking about asking Twi out before you talked to me.”

“Ya were?” Applejack looked up long enough to see the pegasus nod, then stared at her hooves. Everything she thought she’d known about their relationship was being called into question. Was their supposedly rock-solid bond really due to nothing more than good timing? If she’d waited another day or two, would Rainbow be with Twilight right now? "Well, if ya like Twi so much, then why didn't ya..." She couldn't bring herself to finish, afraid that voicing it would shatter the now seemingly fragile connection she had with her marefriend.

"Huh?" Dash stared at the other mare in confusion for a minute, trying to process what she'd just heard. "Hey, don't get me wrong. Sure, Twi's great. She's funny and cute in her own little egghead way, but she doesn't hold a candle to you." She tried to wrap Applejack in a wing hug again, and this time the earth pony leaned into the embrace. "I would have asked you out ages ago, but I didn't, ya know... think that..." She waved a hoof in a circle while she searched for the right words. "I didn't think your barn door swung that way."

It took a second for Applejack to cotton onto her marefriend's meaning. When she finally did, she couldn't help but chuckle. It felt good. "Don't think Ah ever heard it put like that, sugar." She laid her head along Rainbow's neck and nuzzled the cyan fur. Suddenly, in the warm and familiar embrace of the pony she loved so fiercely, all of her doubts and worries from mere moments ago seemed silly.

"I'm serious. I just never thought you liked mares." Dash nuzzled the top of the other mare's head and gave her a squeeze. They snuggled in silence for a while, then Dash pulled away a little so that she could look into her marefriend's eyes. "So, feel better?"

“Yeah. Thanks.” Applejack smiled and leaned up for a quick kiss. “Sorry fer doubtin’ ya.” She went in for another kiss, this one a little longer. “So, what now?”

“I don’t—” Dash’s response was cut off by a yawn.

“Tired already, sugarcube?” Applejack poked her marefriend in the ribs playfully. “It’s a mite early to be goin’ to bed.”

“It’s not my fault.” Rainbow lifted a hoof to cover another yawn. “With all the stuff that happened today, I didn’t nap well.” She laid back, scooting fully up onto the bed and wiggling the covers out from under herself so that she could get under them.

Applejack chuckled to herself and looked out the window. While the sun had disappeared behind the treeline, there were still a few tiny points of fiery light poking through the canopies above the horizon. As she’d said, it was a little early to turn in for the night, but there also wasn’t enough light left to get anything useful done. Plus, between me pickin’ up Mac’s field and Dash helpin’ me, we’re ahead of schedule. One early night couldn’t hurt. She hopped off the edge of the bed and walked around to the side, climbing in behind her marefriend and snuggling up to her. However, Rainbow kept wiggling around, trying to get comfortable, and her wings tickled the farmer’s belly.

“That’s it, roll over.” Applejack gave the other mare a light shove and rolled over herself. “Yer the big spoon.”

“I’m always the big spoon.” Dash groused, obstinately remaining in place.

“That’s ‘cause ya can’t lay still and yer danged wings keep ticklin’ me.” Applejack reached back and swatted her marefriend on the flank. Heaving a sigh, the pegasus rolled over and scooted over, leaning over and planting a light kiss on the earth pony’s cheek.

“Night, AJ. Love you.” Rainbow mumbled around a yawn.

“Night, sugar. Love ya, too.”

The rooster’s crow dragged Applejack back to the land of the living, though if the sun had actually risen above the horizon, its light had yet to reach her room. She quickly scanned the room for any sign of the sun’s rays, but couldn’t find any. Well, if the sun ain’t up yet, Ah ain’t up yet. She wrestled some of the covers away from Dash and pulled them over herself to go back to sleep, but the rooster’s crow had done its work and her mind was awake, even if her body wanted five more minutes in bed.

She got out of bed as quietly as she could to avoid waking her marefriend, but the old squeaky springs and creaky floorboards made it rather difficult. She managed to make it all the way across the bedroom and was just about to close the door behind her when the sleeping pegasus let out a snore that rattled the windows. The earth pony chuckled to herself, realizing that she probably could have been bucking apples in the room without waking Rainbow.

Applejack headed down the stairs to the kitchen. As always, she was the first one up, but she could hear the sounds of Big Mac getting ready in his room. Sitting at the kitchen table, she started compiling a list of the chores that needed to get done today, but a thought prickling at the back of her mind kept distracting her. After the third time that she added, and subsequently removed, bucking the fields she’d cleared yesterday morning from her mental list, she stood up and trotted out the door to take a walk. She headed out past the barn and through the western fields. When she finally came to a stop, she was on top of a hill in one of the few areas of the farm that wasn’t covered in trees. She sat down and watched as the sun finished climbing over the horizon, finally letting the intrusive thought come to the front of her mind.

Were we… wrong yesterday? Applejack shook her head, letting out a sharp breath. “No. Twilight was the one in the wrong. She even admitted it herself.” Despite the conviction in her voice, the thought refused to leave her alone. Well… even if we weren’t wrong, we probably went a little overboard. She was tryin’ to apologize and tell us how sorry she was. She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. “She ain’t the only one. Ah reckon Dash and Ah owe her a bit of an apology.” Her mind tracked back through their friendship. Maybe more than a bit… How many times has Twilight helped any of us out when we did somethin’ stupid? Heck how many times did she help just Dash and me when we first started goin’ out and were makin’ darn fools of ourselves just about every day?

Applejack shuddered as memories of her fourth date with Rainbow came back to her, when they’d tried to turn it into some big formal affair until Twilight made them realize how ridiculous they were being. She sighed and shook her head again. “Too many. Way too many.”

“AJ?” Dash swooped in and landed next to the earth pony, yawning as she sat down. “What’re you doing out here? And… why are you talking to yourself?”

“Just… thinkin’.” Applejack watched the sunrise for a few more seconds before glancing off in the direction of town, already trying to find the best way to broach the subject with her marefriend.

“You too, huh?” Rainbow sighed and slumped down. “We… we messed up yesterday, didn’t we?”

Applejack gave a short laugh and shook her head. “That might be puttin’ it a little lightly, sugarcube.” She looked off toward Ponyville again, the top of Town Hall barely visible in the distance. “Even though Twi was a good deal outta line, we went overboard.” She thought back to some of the choice words she’d had for the alicorn. “Shoot, if Granny’d heard some of the things Ah said, she’d be washin’ mah mouth out with soap right about now.”

“Now that I’d like to see.” Dash chuckled to herself for a second, but her mirth quickly disappeared. “Should… should I have seen this coming?” She let her head fall, and her wings drooped down from her sides. “I mean, if I had, I could have stopped all of this.”

“No offense, sugar, but you wouldn’t see a herd of chargin’ buffalo comin’.” Applejack stood up and started down the hill, chuckling at the glare her marefriend was shooting her. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

Dash stood up and trotted after the earth pony, slowing down and falling in beside her when she caught up. They walked in silence as the weaved between rows of trees, eventually reaching the dirt road that connected Sweet Apple Acres to Ponyville. The sun climbed ever higher as they walked, burning away the few small, wispy banks of fog that had covered some of the fields outside of town. As a few of Ponyville’s taller buildings peeked over the path ahead of them, Rainbow finally broke the silence.

“So… what’re we gonna do about all of this?” She glanced over at her marefriend, who still had her eyes glued to the road. “Things can’t just go back to normal now, can they?”

“Nnope. As fer what we’re gonna do…” Applejack swallowed and looked at Rainbow. “Ah reckon that’s up to you, since yer the one she’s all hot and bothered over.”

“Well, yeah.” Dash’s wings shifted uncomfortably on her back. She drifted over and laid a wing across the earth pony’s back. “But we’re in this together, AJ, and I don’t wanna do anything to hurt you.”

“Thanks, sug’.” Applejack leaned over and nuzzled into Rainbow’s neck, but this time even that wasn’t enough to fully calm her nerves. They crossed the bridge into town, but the streets were almost eerily deserted due to the early hour. The only evidence they encountered that the town had not, in fact, been abandoned overnight was the sweet smells wafting out of Sugarcube Corner as they passed. Soon, the library loomed before them, looking every bit as angry and foreboding as when they’d arrived the previous day. They walked to the door resolutely and knocked, only to have it fall open under Applejack’s hoof. She glanced over at Dash, who simply shrugged, and they went into the library. “Hello? Anypony home?”

“No!” A draconic voice roared from the kitchen. Spike came storming out, tendrils of smoke trailing from the corners of his mouth. He glared at the couple as he stomped over, his razor sharp teeth bared. He waved a clawed hand while he bellowed at them, shooing them out the door they’d just come through. “Both of you, go! Get out! Now!”

Chapter 3

The Courtship Catastrophe

Chapter Three

“Whoa there, Spike.” Applejack backed up as the dragon bore down on her. Dash stepped up to confront Spike, but the look in his eyes wilted her resolve and she retreated with her marefriend. “Why don’t ya calm down a bit, and we can talk all civilized like.”

“Like how you two wanted to ‘talk’ to Twilight yesterday?.” Spike finished stomping over to the ponies and jabbed a finger into Applejack’s chest. “I don’t wanna hear it, and more importantly, Twilight doesn’t need to hear it.”

Dash moved to step around him. “Come on, Spike, we just wanna—”

“I don’t care what you wanna do!” Spike turned his glare on the pegasus, and she froze in place. “Do you have any idea what you already did?” He angrily waved a hand at the door to Twilight’s bedroom. “I actually managed to calm her down once you two left, but she was up most of the night because every time she fell asleep, she woke up crying from nightmares.” His anger faltered, and for a few moments, he was simply a little brother worried about his sister. “She tried to pretend they weren’t happening, and she wouldn’t tell me what they were about, but I know.” He looked back up at Rainbow and Applejack, and his anger came back with a vengeance.

“And it’s all your faults!” He snarled at them, jabbing an accusatory finger at the mares. “Now, both of you need to leave.” He started walking forward, putting a hand on each mare’s chest and pushing them back toward the door. “And just… stay away for now. I’ll let you know when you can come back.”

“No.” Applejack stomped a hoof and stood her ground, causing Spike to run into her. “Listen, Spike, Ah know that yer just tryin’ to protect Twilight, and Ah respect that. She’s lucky to have a little brother like you.” Spike glared at her and opened his mouth to respond, but she put a hoof on his shoulder and kept going before he could. “Ya done a lotta talkin’, sugarcube, but it’s our turn now. We messed up somethin’ fierce yesterday, and we gotta make it right, or at least give it our best shot. We’re goin’ up there, we’re gonna apologize to Twi, and if she wants us to leave her alone after that, we will.” Spike scowled at her and stood in their path, crossing his arms. “Sorry, sugarcube, but ya ain’t stoppin’ us.”

Rainbow and Applejack trotted around Spike and toward the staircase. He grabbed onto their tails to try and stop them, but the earth pony whipped her tail around and tossed the dragon across the room, landing him upside down on a bean bag. Dash leapt into the air and flew up to the bedroom door, throwing it open to see Twilight laying in bed and staring out the window.

“Is everything okay, Spike? I thought I heard—” Twilight looked over her shoulder at the door, freezing when she saw the pegasus. She sat up and gathered the covers around herself, her eyes widening in panic. After staring at each other for an instant, the alicorn’s horn lit up.

“Oh no you don’t.” Dash zipped across the room, grabbing onto her friend and pulling her back onto the bed. “Twi, wait! We’re sorry!” She clung to Twilight, squeezing her eyes shut in anticipation of getting dragged along on a teleport. However, the sound of Twilight’s horn sputtered and died, and Rainbow cracked an eye open to see the alicorn looking down at her in confusion.

“You’re… sorry? But I—” Twilight tried to disentangle herself from the pegasus’ grasp, but Dash held fast. “Rainbow, can you let go, please? I promise I won’t run away.” Finally freed, she sat up, still trying to figure out what was going on. “You’re sorry? But… why? I’m the one who…” She trailed off, her ears folding flat against her head. “And I… deserved everything you girls said to me.”

“No, ya didn’t.” Applejack finally appeared in the doorway, trotting around the bed and sitting on the floor next to Twilight. Spike arrived a second later, leaning against the door frame and crossing his arms. “Now, don’t get me wrong, sugarcube, you were way outta line markin’ Dash yesterday… but we were outta line, too.” She took off her hat, holding it and twisting the brim in her hooves. “We went overboard yesterday, and we owe ya an apology. So… we’re sorry.”

“Thanks, girls.” Twilight managed a weak smile. “I was worried that you two were going to hate me forever, and that Spike and I were going to have to move back to Canterlot.”

“Come on, Twi.” Dash scooted up the bed, sitting next to the alicorn and throwing a foreleg around the other mare’s shoulders. “We’ve faced down Nightmare Moon, Discord, the changelings, and that mess in the Crystal Empire. Not to mention that time you switched all of our cutie marks and turned me into Fluttershy.” She gave Twilight a squeeze. “Besides, we can’t blame you too much.”

Both Twilight and Applejack looked at her in confusion. The earth pony was the first to ask the obvious question. “And why’s that, sugar?”

“Well, just look at me.” Dash gathered her hind legs under her and leapt out of the bed, doing a flip in midair, landing, and striking a pose. “I’m the coolest, awesomest, and hottest piece of tail in Ponyville. I’m surprised there aren’t lovestruck stallions and mares tripping over each other to follow me around.”

Applejack and Twilight shared a bemused glance before the former rolled her eyes and they both broke down in giggles. When they finally faded, Twilight looked down at her sheets, tapping her hooves together for a moment before she spoke. “So… can we just go back to being friends now?”

“We never stopped being friends, dummy.” Dash walked back over to the bed and threw a foreleg around Twilight, pulling her into a quick hug. “Things just got a little… weird. And I… I said some things I didn’t mean. So, I—”

“We.” Applejack interrupted her. “We came to apologize.”

“Yeah, so, uh… Sorry.” Rainbow gave the alicorn one last quick squeeze and trotted over to her marefriend, her mind whirling. Despite their talk on the way to the library and Applejack’s insistence that it was up to her, Dash had no idea how the three of them should proceed. Before she could begin to formulate a response, however, someone else spoke up.

“The two of y’all need to go out.” Applejack kept her eyes on the floor. When she looked up, both Twilight and Dash were staring at her, mouths agape. Even Spike was looking at her like she was crazy.

“What the buc—”

“Oh, Applejack, I would never—”

“—about this being up to me—”

“—between you two. I couldn’t—”

Applejack put a hoof in her mouth a whistled as loudly as she could, silencing both mares. “Now, Ah know it’s… bein’ honest, it’s a crazy idea, but it’s the only way to do this.” She looked back and forth between her marefriend and the alicorn on the bed. “Ah ain’t gonna have the two of y’all lookin’ back tomorrow, next week, or years from now and wonderin’ what coulda been between you two.” She turned to Twilight. “Twi, ya like Dash enough to mark her, and sug’—” She shifted her gaze to Rainbow. “—you were sayin’ earlier that you were thinkin’ about asking Twi out ‘fore Ah got to ya first.”

“R-really?” Twilight looked over at Dash. Her wings rustled along her back, straining to unfurl. “Oh, well, um… I wish… Uh, that’s… Ahem.” She stared down at her blanket, her face darkening in a blush. “Interesting.”

“Well, yeah, but…” Dash blew out a sharp breath and turned to her marefriend. “AJ, I’m not going to risk losing you just to see what could be with Twi… no offense.” She offered a belated apologetic smile to Twilight, but she waved it off. Rainbow stared at the blushing alicorn for a few seconds, making up her mind. “Sorry, Twi, I just can’t do it. At least, not by myself.” She scooted closer to her marefriend and threw a wing across the earth pony’s withers. “It’s both of us, or nothing.”

“Whaddya think yer doin’, sugar?” Applejack tried to step away from the pegasus, but Rainbow held her tightly in place with her wing.

“Hey, you said this was up to me, and this is what I want to do.” Dash locked eyes with Applejack, trying to find the right words. “You’re an important part of my life now, AJ, and there’s no way I’m doing something like this without you.”

Applejack sighed, simultaneously touched and annoyed by her marefriend’s sentiment. “Ah appreciate it, sug’, Ah really do. But there’s no way—”

“Okay.”

They both turned to Twilight, who swallowed nervously under their combined stares. “Beg pardon, sugarcube?”

“I-I said… Okay.” Twilight sat up straighter, trying to call on her admittedly limited princessly ability to seem calm, cool, and collected. “I would be delighted to go out with… both of you.” Her demeanor faltered, and she shrunk back, doing her best imitation of Fluttershy. “As long as you’re okay with it, Applejack.”

Applejack stared at the nervous alicorn for a few moments, flabbergasted that she had actually agreed to Rainbow’s cockamamie plan. She slowly turned to her marefriend, who wore her normal confident grin. Applejack tried to speak, but couldn’t force any words out. After a few failed tries, she sighed again. “Ah guess Ah ain’t got much choice, do Ah?”

“Sweet!” Dash smiled and kissed her marefriend on the cheek. “So, what’re we gonna do?” She tapped a hoof to her chin, but pressed on before either of the others could offer a suggestion. “Oh, I’ve got it! We can go flying!”

“Uh, sugar? Ain’t ta forgettin’ somethin’?” Applejack stepped out from under the pegasus’ wing, arching her back. “Ah ain’t exactly equipped her flyin’.”

“So?” Dash shrugged, unperturbed. “Twilight’s got a spell to give you wings, remember? You can be like Rarity.”

“No way, no how.” Applejack shook her head violently, nearly dislodging her hat. “There ain’t no way on Celestia’s green earth that Ah’m goin’ out there with a pair of frou-frou butterfly wings stickin’ outta mah butt.” She sat down, knocking a hoof on the floor. “Ah’ll be keepin’ mah hooves on the ground, thank ya kindly.”

“Lame.” Rainbow droned. “Come on, it’s fun. Watch.” She leapt into the air and dashed over to Applejack, snaking her forelegs around the earth pony’s barrel and pumping her wings to lift them both into the air.

“Whoa, nelly!” Applejack’s legs flailed at the empty air as they rose toward the ceiling. “You put me down right now, ya cotton pickin’ varmint!” She yelped and wrapped her forelegs around her marefriend’s own when Dash loosened her grip and she dropped a few inches. “That ain’t funny!”

Twilight giggled into a hoof while she watched Dash and Applejack, smiling warmly when the former finally landed and the latter swatted her on the back of the head with her hat. She thought for a few seconds before coming up with an idea. “We could just do something simple, like dinner at Sugarcube Corner.”

“Really?” Dash raised an eyebrow. “That seems kinda… lame after everything we’ve been through. Oof.” She rubbed the back of her head as her comment earned her a smack from her marefriend.

“I suppose it is kind of anticlimactic.” Twilight hummed to herself and thought for a moment, perking up when a solution struck her. “Oh, I’ve got it.” She hopped down out of bed and trotted over to her desk, rummaging through one of the drawers. “There was this one place in Manehattan that—what is that doing in here—Celestia, Luna, and I went to after a meeting with some zebras from the—oh, I thought I’d lost that—the Zebrican Embassy. Aha!” She pulled her head out of the drawer, raising her hoof in triumph and holding a small card.

“Here. This is the place we went.” She laid the card on the bed. A picture of an upscale restaurant covered the front, with four small insert pictures of various dining rooms in the corners. Finally, the name of the restaurant, L’attraction Principale, was written across the bottom in florid golden script. “It was delicious, and the maitre d’ told us that we could come by any time, even without a reservation.”

Rainbow and Applejack looked at the card, then at each other. The earth pony spoke first. “It looks real nice, sugarcube, but it seems a little too… fancy. Ah was hopin’ fer somethin’ a little simpler, and maybe a little closer to home.”

“Come on, AJ, it looks awesome!” Dash nudged her marefriend with an elbow. “Besides, if we’re only gonna do this once, we might as well go all out.”

“Well, Ah guess so.” Applejack took one last look at the card and swallowed. Having Rainbow and Twilight go on a date to settle things between them had seemed like such a good idea a few minutes ago, but then the featherbrain had gone and dragged her into it. Either way, she’d made her bed, and now she was gonna lie in it. “So, when do y’all wanna go?”

Twilight and Dash looked at one another for a few seconds before the former shrugged. “How about tonight? No time like the present… ish.” She smiled, but it faltered when she saw Rainbow and Applejack share a brief, concerned glance. “That is, unless you two already have plans for tonight, or you changed your minds and don’t want to do it anymore.” The alicorn smiled again, but it was clear that she was forcing it. “I understand.”

“No. Nothin’ like that, sugarcube.” Applejack trotted over and laid a comforting hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “It’s just…” She paused, searching for the right words. “This was all just some crazy, impossible, one-in-a-million idea not five minutes ago, and now it’s real. It’s happenin’ tonight. And it’s a little… scary.”

“Hey.” Dash walked up and wrapped a wing around her marefriend. “If you don’t wanna do it, just say the word and it’s off.” She belatedly realized that their potential third was in fact less than three feet away. “Uh, no offense, Twi. Sorry.”

“No no, I get it.” Twilight waved away her friend’s apology, glancing down nervously. “It’s scary for me too, Applejack. I mean, you two are opening up your relationship for me, and I’m thrilled, honored even. But, I can’t help but think about what could go wrong, and I would never want to do that to either of you.” She paused, her eyes darting around while she thought to herself. After a moment, she sighed and closed her eyes. “You know, maybe we shouldn’t do this. It’s… not a good idea. There’s just too much that can go wrong, and I don’t want you two to risk what you have for me.” She looked up and smiled again, but it kept trying to twitch down into a frown. “Thank you for the offer, girls. I appreciate it, truly I do. But… I just don’t think we should do it.”

Part of Applejack wanted to take what she could get and run, but she knew that if they didn’t deal with the whole issue once and for all, it would only come back to bite them later. “Little late fer that, sugarcube. Ah meant what Ah said earlier. Ah don’t want y’all lookin’ back and wondering ‘bout all sorts of ‘what if’s, especially not when ya got an opportunity to find out starin’ ya right in the face.” She nodded resolutely, trying to portray a great deal more confidence than she actually felt. “No backin’ out now. We’re doin’ it.”

“Whoa, AJ.” Dash snickered into a hoof. “On the first date? That’s a little fast, don’t ya think?”

Applejack took a second to catch onto Rainbow’s meaning, but when she did, she pulled her hat off and whapped her marefriend on the back of the head. “Get yer head outta the gutter, ya no good varmint.” She shook her head and turned back to Twilight. “Sorry ‘bout little miss featherbrain. So, whaddya say? Meet ya at the train station ‘round four?”

“O… Okay.” Twilight smiled, her first genuine one since Applejack had broached the idea of her and Rainbow going on a date. Her rising spirits stalled as a potential hitch in their plans rose in her mind. “Oh, the restaurant does have a bit of a… dress code.” She chuckled as the two mares glanced at one another nervously. “I’m sure that Rarity would be more than happy to supply us with some dresses for the night.”

“Well, Ah guess.” Applejack looked to her marefriend, who shrugged, resigned to their fate. The earth pony glanced at the clock, then started for the door. “Well, if’n we’re gonna be ready in time, Dash and Ah need to head back and get the chores done. Especially if’n we’re gonna haveta deal with Rarity.” She shuddered, visions of mane curlers, perfume, and restrictive dresses already flying through her mind. “Well, come on, sug’.” She headed out of the room and down the stairs, Rainbow breaking into a light canter to catch up.

Spike stood just inside the doorway, his gaze moving between Twilight and the two mares heading down the staircase. He scratched his chin with a claw until he heard the main door open and close. “So… does this mean my ‘I told you so’ doesn’t count anymore?”

Twilight was unable to hold back a small squeal of glee, and she gave her wings one hard flap, lifting her a few inches off of the bed. When she landed again, she scrambled out and across the room, sweeping Spike up in her magical grasp as she passed by. “Oh, Spike! We have to go see Rarity, right now!” She leapt from the top of the stairs and glided all the way out the front door, depositing her number one assistant safely on her back. As soon as she landed, she broke into a gallop toward Carousel Boutique.

Spike grabbed onto Twilight’s mane to keep from being thrown free. “So, my ‘I told you so’ doesn’t count anymore?”

“Please, Applejack.” Rarity pleaded as the door to Carousel Boutique opened. “It will only take a few minutes, I promise.”

“Fer the last time, Rares. No.” Applejack moved through the doorway as quickly as she dared, desperate to escape the girly confines of the shop. She took a deep breath of the outside air, shaking out her mane to try and get rid of the perfumes that undoubtedly still clung to it. “Come on, Dash. We’re late as it is, and if’n we don’t hurry, Twi’s gonna think that we stood her up.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Dash trotted through the doorway, her wings flapping in agitation.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity’s voice boomed from within the building, and the unicorn herself stood in the doorway a moment later. “Don’t you even think about flying in that dress! It’s made of incredibly delicate Neighjing silk, and I won’t have you ruining it.” She glared at the pegasus until her wings folded meekly at her sides. As if a switch had flipped, Rarity smiled broadly and waved to the couple as they walked away. “Do try not to embarrass Twilight too much, dears. She looked rather… nervous when I left the library.”

Applejack and Rainbow shared a quick glance, then headed for the train station. Once they rounded a corner and the Boutique disappeared from view, Dash loosened her wings up again and gave them a few perfunctory flaps. “Alright, AJ. I’m gonna go on ahead so that Twi doesn’t think we stood her up. Meet you there.”

“Oh no ya don’t.” Applejack put a hoof down on her marefriend’s tail, taking extreme care not to step on the hem of her dress. “Ya heard Rarity. Yer dress is made outta that fancy silk, and she’ll tear both of us a new one if’n ya ruin it.” She shifted her hindquarters, the dark blue linen laying across her flanks a constant presence that she wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to.

“Come on, it can’t be that fragile.” Dash ran a hoof along the pristine white silk wrapped around her barrel. The luxurious softness sent a shiver down her back, but she quickly cleared her throat to cover it up. While she’d never admit that she liked something as totally uncool as wearing a dress, she had to admit that this particular one wasn’t quite as terrible as she’d expected. She ran a hoof through her mane—even that was soft after Rarity had gotten a comb into it—and started trotting toward the train station again. “Fine. Let’s just go. We’re gonna be late.”

Applejack fell in behind her marefriend, trying to keep her eyes on the ground. She failed miserably, and soon found herself openly staring at Rainbow’s backside. They’d both scoffed at Rarity’s assertion that the right clothes could somehow be more sensual than walking around naked, but right now Applejack was willing to believe it. Even though she saw Dash naked every day, the thin layer of silk hugging her curves made the pegasus’ every move… sexier, somehow. So much so that when they passed an alley, she had to fight the urge to pull Rainbow into it by her tail and rip the dress off with her teeth.

Dash looked over her shoulder and caught her marefriend staring at her rump. “Enjoying the show?” She winked when the earth pony finally met her gaze, then looked away while a blush darkened her cheeks. Applejack picked up her pace a little to draw even with the other mare, grumbling to herself. It gave Dash an opportunity to really look at her marefriend’s dress, now that she wasn’t trying to dodge a salon’s worth of flying beauty products. She let her eyes rove, following the plunging neckline that disappeared down almost to Applejack’s stomach. Her eyes trailed back along the contours of her date’s body, admiring how Rarity’s work made her curves look not quite soft, but less like hard-packed muscle from years of strenuous work. “Come on, AJ. You look great.” She reached back with a wing and flicked the hem of the earth pony’s dress up.

“Quit it, sugar.” Applejack stopped for a second, tugging the skirt of her dress lower. “This thing’s already ridin’ up every time Ah take a step.” She gave it one more firm tug before she started walking again. “Now, come on.” She jerked her head in the direction they had been heading, causing her braided mane to swing over and smack her in the face. They started for the train station yet again, breaking into a light canter.

Soon enough, they arrived at the train station, though a clock on the wall informed them that they were twenty minutes late. Thankfully, the train hadn’t arrived yet, even if it wasn’t scheduled to do so for another five minutes. Applejack looked around the platform for their third, but a cursory glance through the smattering of ponies waiting for the train came up empty-hoofed. “Ah don’t see her, sugar.”

Dash looked at the clock, then back in the direction of the library. “You don’t… think that she stood us up, do you?” She did her own quick sweep of the platform, but the alicorn was still nowhere to be found.

“Oh my goodness, you girls look fantastic!”

“Well, thank ya kin—” Applejack turned in the direction that she’d just heard Twilight’s voice come from, but no one was there. She stared for a few more seconds before looking around again. “Uh, you heard that too, right?”

“Yeah…” Dash took a small step closer to her marefriend.

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Twilight’s voice emanated from the empty space again. A moment later, a purple sphere shimmered into existence, then immediately faded away, revealing the alicorn standing a few feet away. “Sorry. Basic invisibility spell. I forgot I had it up. Well, it’s not really invisibility, but…” She stopped and cleared her throat. “It doesn’t matter. Again, you girls look amazing.”

Applejack and Rainbow looked at one another, then back to Twilight, who was decked out in her full princess regalia. After a few more awkward seconds of silence, they slowly bowed.

“No no no!” Twilight rushed forward, placing a golden horseshoe against each of their chests. Her sudden outburst and flurry of action earned her a few questioning looks and whispers from others on the platform, but no one tried to follow Applejack and Rainbow’s lead. “How many times do I have to tell you girls? I never want you to feel like you need to bow to me.”

The pair stood back up, mumbling apologies. Dash took a few seconds to look over the alicorn, noting her wings rustling nervously on her back. “Still, you look… beyond awesome, Twi.” Applejack nodded in agreement. “You should totally wear this stuff more often.”

“Ugh. No.” Twilight shuddered, the movement causing light to glint off of the amethyst star in her necklace. “I feel so… self-conscious wearing it. Everyone is always bowing and referring to me as ‘princess’ or ‘your highness.’ But, Rarity wouldn’t let me out of the Boutique without all of it on. She actually locked all of the doors when I tried to leave.” The three of them shared a laugh before she continued. “I caved and agreed to wear it, then I managed to slip out while she went off to get things to work on my mane.” She giggled into a hoof. “She asked Spike to keep me there, but I managed to… convince him to let me go with a few well placed gems.”

“That sounds about right.” Applejack nudged her marefriend with an elbow. “She was practically chasin’ Dash ‘round the shop tryin’ to get a hold of her mane.” A whistle cut across Dash’s attempted reply, and the trio turned to see the train approaching the station. “Well, looks like our ride’s here.” Applejack trotted over to the edge of the platform, ending up beside the door when the train finally came to a halt and ponies spilled out. Once the arrivals dispersed, the earth pony waved a hoof at the open door. “After you, ‘yer highness.’”

Twilight giggled into a hoof and started for the door. “Why, thank you, Miss Applejack.” She stepped onto the train and turned to Rainbow, who was still standing on the platform. “Are you coming, Miss Dash?”

“Uh, yeah.” Dash slowly walked over to the train, but was stopped by a hoof on her chest.

“Ya alright, sugar?” Applejack had lost all of the levity she’d had moments ago. “You ain’t lookin’ so hot.”

“Yeah, it’s just…” Dash swallowed and glanced through the window to where Twilight had already sat down. “She looks good… like, really good. I’m… starting to think this might not have been such a great idea.”

“‘Course it wasn’t, it was yer idea, after all.” Applejack teased her marefriend, then leaned in for a quick kiss. “Now come on. It’s bad manners to keep a princess waitin’.”

“Here we are.” Twilight stepped through the doorway of L’attraction Principale, magically holding open the door for her dates behind her. She still couldn’t believe it; she was here, on a date, with Rainbow Dash. Granted, Applejack had not been present in any of her dreams or fantasies about the night, but now that they were here, she found she was glad that Rainbow had coerced the earth pony into coming along. If Applejack had stayed behind, she was sure that Rainbow would have been thinking about her during the night, but with all three of them present, they could all focus on enjoying each other’s company. She walked up to the maitre d’, clearing her throat when his attention stayed fixed on his podium. “Excuse me. We’d like a table, please.”

The maitre d’ grabbed a book from below the podium and flipped it open to a bookmarked page. “And what is the name on the reservation?” He asked, running a hoof down the page.

Twilight grinned sheepishly. “Actually, we don’t have one.”

“I’m sorry, mademoiselle, but we cannot—” He froze as he looked up, finally taking a few seconds to process Twilight’s appearance before he realized who she was. “Y-your highness!” He dipped into a hasty bow, accidentally smacking his snout on the podium. He straightened back up, his gaze flicking back to Applejack and Rainbow. “O-of course, a table. For three, correct?”

“Yes, thank you.” Twilight tried to keep a straight face while she watched the stallion try to recover from her appearance. She allowed herself a little smile when he started to walk off before rushing back to the podium to grab a set of menus from a basket behind it.

“Y-yes. Um, this way, if it please your highness.” He took a step out toward the main floor before stopping yet again and turning back to her. “Uh, would you like to dine in the Celestial Dining Room tonight?”

Twilight glanced over her shoulder, to where Applejack and Rainbow were still taking in the extravagance of the restaurant. “That would be lovely, thank you.”

“Of course. Right this way, your majesty.” The stallion turned and headed in a different direction than the one he’d been about to take them in. Twilight looked back to her friends and motioned for them to follow her. Just like at the station, she was worried that everypony’s attention would be focused on her. However, it seemed that a lot of ponies agreed with her assessment of her friends. Every eye in the restaurant was glued on them, and while Dash basked in the attention, Applejack was clearly uncomfortable with so many ponies seeing her all dressed up. Every few steps, her foreleg reached back to try and keep her skirt from riding up too high.

Eventually, they reached a set of double doors at the back of the main room. The maitre d’ pulled one open and held it while the three mares entered. Inside, they found a single small table with four chairs in the middle of the room. The stallion trotted in after them and set a menu in front of three of the spots, pulling the extra chair over to the corner. He trotted out the door, poking his head back in for a moment. “Your waiter will be with you momentarily, mademoiselles.” With that, he shut the door, blocking out the dull buzz of conversation that the picked up after the three of them had walked through the main room.

“Thank ya kindly fer gettin’ us a table back here, Twi.” Applejack sat down next to Rainbow and across from Twilight. “Ah’m not sure Ah coulda taken a whole meal of ponies just starin’ at me like that.”

“I thought it was awesome!” Dash grinned triumphantly, her chest puffed out. “Besides, AJ, they were only staring because you look so… gorgeous.” She cleared her throat, trying to cover up her use of such a sappy word, regardless of how true it was.

“Thanks, sugar.” Applejack smiled, a light blush coloring her cheeks. She looked down at the table and played with the end of her braided mane that draped over the front of her shoulder. Her blush deepened when Rainbow leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, and she gently pushed the pegasus back into her seat. “Sug’, not in front of Twilight.” She whispered, her eyes flicking over to the alicorn.

Dash looked at Twilight for a moment before nodding in understanding. “Sorry, I guess I just wasn’t thinking.” She whispered back before sitting up and raising her voice. “Sorry, Twi.”

“Don’t be.” Twilight waved away the apology, smiling warmly. “I don’t want you two having to watch what you do or act differently just because I’m here.” She smiled a little bigger, but secretly wished that Rainbow hadn’t kissed Applejack. Seeing it had only driven home what this really was: her tagging along as a third wheel on their date. She silently thanked Celestia when the door opened and their waiter came in, levitating a tray with three waters behind him.

“Good evening, mademoiselles. I am Immaculate Plate, and I shall be your waiter for the evening.” He introduced himself, setting a water in front of each of the mares. “Now, would you like something other than water to drink? Or perhaps an appetizer?”

“Oh.” Twilight suddenly realized that none of them had even opened a menu. “Water is fine for now, but we would like three house salads.” She pulled her menu closer and flipped it open to the first page. “We’re, um, going to need a few more minutes, though.”

“But of course.” The stallion finished scribbling on a small notepad and tucked it inside his jacket. He gave a quick nod, then hastily retreated from the room.

“Salads, Twi? Really?” Dash looked up from her menu with a raised eyebrow. “No offense, but it looks like they’ve got some great snacks.”

“Trust me, I know.” Twilight shook her head, chuckling quietly. “I thought the same thing when I came here with Celestia and Luna the first time and they ordered the salads. I’ve tried virtually every appetizer they offer, and they were all horrible.” She paused for a second. “Oh, not because the restaurant isn’t good! they were just… unusual. They were meant for visiting foreign dignitaries. Gryphons, zebras, camels… Every time we came here and I ordered a different one, but the princesses never said anything. It wasn’t until I almost ordered the escargot that Luna suggested I get a salad as well.” She shuddered at the memory. “I think that Celestia was actually a little upset with her. She wanted to see if I’d actually eat them.”

“Excar-whatnow?” Dash scanned down the menu until she found it. She read the description a couple times, but there were Prench words scattered throughout it that she couldn’t figure out. “What in the hay is that?”

“Snails.” Applejack supplied. “Slimy little snails, shells and all. They had ‘em a couple times at the get togethers mah aunt and uncle Orange’d take me to. They tried their darndest to get me to eat one, but Ah never did.” She chuckled at the disgusted face her marefriend was making. “Fancy ponies eat some weird things, sugar.”

“No kidding.” Dash stuck her tongue out and flipped forward a couple pages. “So, what have they got to drink? Any cider?”

“I don’t think so.” Twilight flipped through the drink section as well, scanning the rather extensive wine list. “Ooh, this Zinfandel is really good. We had it the last time we were here.” She skipped ahead to the main dishes. “So, do you girls have any idea what you want to eat?”

Before either of them could answer, the door opened again and the waiter trotted in with their salads. He carefully set one down in front of each of them. “Here we are, mademoiselles. And are we ready to order?”

“Actually, we’re going to need a few more minutes.” Twilight smiled sheepishly. “Oh, but we would like a bottle of the White Zinfandel, please.”

“But of course.” The stallion gave a quick bow and headed back toward the door. “I shall be back with that momentarily.” He closed the door and the three of them went back to studying their menus.

Dash stabbed a bit of her salad with a fork and popped it in her mouth while she looked for something that sounded good. “Wait a second.” She focused on a particular dish, a few bits of salad falling out of her mouth while she spoke. “Are these… rat tails?”

“What?” Twilight leaned over to look at the dish the pegasus was pointing at. “Rainbow, I doubt that—” She stopped and chuckled. “That’s ratatouille, Rainbow. It’s a vegetable stew.”

“Oh.” Dash took another bite of salad, remembering to chew and swallow before talking this time. “Well, why don’t they just put that instead of something that looks like rat tails?” She kept working her way down the menu, stopping every few seconds to try and pronounce a dish or two. “What’s this true— truf— truffleade thing?”

“Truffade.” Twilight corrected her. “It’s potatoes sauteed with garlic and… a Prench cheese.” She tapped her chin, wincing as she forgot that she was wearing her horseshoes and she hit herself a little too hard. “I don’t remember which one, though.”

“Potatoes and cheese?” Dash closed her menu and scooped up a big bite of her salad. “Sounds like my kinda meal.” She shoved the salad into her mouth and chewed a couple times before moving to a different topic. “Do they seriously eat snails?”

“Dash!” Applejack hissed, hitting her marefriend on the foreleg. “Quit yappin’ with yer mouth full.” She groaned when the pegasus stuck her tongue out, still covered in half-chewed lettuce. “Yeah, them snails’re considered a delicacy fer some reason. Never could figure out why, though. But them rich ponies eat 'em up like hotcakes, ‘cept fer the shells, of course.”

Their waiter reappeared again, carrying a bottle of pink wine and three glasses. “Here we are, mademoiselles.” He carefully poured a glass for each of them and set the bottle in a bucket of ice. “Now, have we decided what we would like?” He waited for a murmuring of assent from all three of them before turning to Applejack. “And what would you like, madam?”

“Uh, Ah’ll have… that one that Dash was lookin’ at first.” Applejack ran a hoof down her menu trying to find the dish she was talking about. “What was it, Twi? The rat patootie?”

“Ratatouille.” Twilight tried not to giggle at her friend’s mispronunciation, something that Rainbow didn’t bother to do. She grabbed both of the other mares’ menus in her magic and floated them over to the waiter. “She’ll have the truffade—” She motioned toward Dash, who was still snickering into a hoof. “—and I would like the soupe au pistou.”

“Splendid choices, princess. I will be back shortly with your orders.” As always, he quickly retreated from the room, restoring their privacy. Applejack and Twilight took small sips of their wine, while Dash eyed her own glass cautiously.

“I’ve never actually had wine before.” Rainbow picked up her glass and sniffed at its contents, wrinkling her nose. “It’s always been cider or harder stuff. Wine’s just more of a girly drink. Uh, no offense.” She grinned apologetically at the alicorn, who merely smiled and rolled her eyes a little. Dash swirled her glass for a bit, then took a tiny sip, smacking her lips as the flavors rolled across her tongue. Her eyes widened and she downed the rest of her glass in one giant gulp. “Hey! This stuff’s great! Can ya pour me another one, Twi?” She waggled her empty glass toward the bottle of wine.

Twilight shot a quick glance at Applejack, who chuckled to herself, nodding. “Okay, Rainbow, but take it easy.” She lifted the bottle and refilled the pegasus’ glass. “This wine is really sweet, but it has a higher alcohol content than you would think.”

“Huh?” Dash looked at the other mare quizzically as she brought the glass back to her mouth. Unfortunately, the glass didn’t quite make it as her marefriend reached over and held her foreleg down.

“She means that if’n yer not careful, this stuff’ll give ya a good kick in the flank.” Applejack waited until Rainbow put her glass back on the table to let go of her foreleg, then she poked her marefriend in the ribs before sitting upright again. “It’ll be like that time ya found that lost barrel of cider in the corner of the cellar.” They shared a laugh before realizing that Twilight was staring at them in confusion. “Sorry, sugarcube… long story.”

“You mean great story.” Dash chuckled to herself again. “But yeah, it’s kind of a long one, too.” She looked around the room, taking in some of the more extravagant paintings and design elements on the walls. “Say, Twilight, how’d you get us back here, anyway? It looks really… expensive. Ow!” She let out a yelp and glared at her marefriend. “Watch it, AJ. That was my hoof.” The earth pony simply pressed a hoof to her forehead and let out a groan.

“Well, I don’t know about that.” Twilight giggled into a hoof watching her friends. “But this room is actually reserved in perpetuity for the personal use of the princesses. And well…” She pointed to her crown and shrugged.

“Wait, so this is the princesses’ room?” Dash leaned over the table, her dress coming perilously close to the last dregs of her salad. “Like, Celestia and Luna’s personal dining room?”

“And Cadence’s.” Twilight added, not wanting to forget her old foalsitter, even if she was all the way in the Crystal Empire. “And mine now, I suppose.” She lifted her wine glass and took a sip.

Any further conversation was interrupted as Immaculate Plate returned with their entrees, whisking away their salad plates to set the main dishes before them. “Here we are, mademoiselles. Now, if you need anything else, please do not hesitate to summon me—” He motioned to a golden tasseled rope next to the door that disappeared into the wall. “—but other than that, I shall leave to you your privacy. Bon appetit!” He gave a quick bow and retreated once again, closing the door with a whisper-quiet click.

“Are you alright, Applejack?” Twilight scooped up a spoonful of her steaming soup, giving it a moment to cool. “You’ve been kind of quiet, and you barely touched your salad.” She glanced over at Rainbow, who was busy pouring herself another glass of wine.

“Ah’m fine, sugarcube, just… wasn’t much in the mood fer salad.” Applejack poked at her food with a fork idly for a few seconds. “Ah just been… thinkin’.” She put her fork down and sighed. “What is… this?” She swept a hoof around the table lingering between her marefriend and the alicorn next to her. “Ah mean, what happens to us when all of this is done?”

“We… go back to the way things were.” Twilight put on her best princessly smile, even though the words were like an icicle stabbing through her chest. “I really appreciate you girls doing this for me, but I think it’ll be best if we just enjoy tonight, and go back to the way things were tomorrow. It’s obvious that you two have something wonderful, and I would never want to risk causing something to happen between you two.” She paused and took a breath. “Again, I’m really sorry about feathermarking Rainbow, Applejack. It was… stupid of me.”

“Water under the bridge, sugarcube.” Applejack waved away her friend’s apology and picked her wine glass and took a drink. “‘Sides, we all did some things we regret yesterday. The important thing is that we all realized how silly we were bein’ and patched things up.” She picked her fork back up, spearing a few slices of vegetables. She popped the bite in her mouth, her eyebrows raising as she chewed. “Now that’s some good eatin’. Here, sug’, try some of this.” She scooped up another bite and held it out toward Dash, who leaned over and chomped down on it.

“Mmm.” Dash chewed and swallowed, going a little too far when she sat back up and having to grab onto her chair for a second. “That is goo— what’s so funny?” She asked as Applejack and Twilight both broke out in giggles.

“Ya missed a little bit, sug’.” Applejack brought a hoof up and pointed to the side of her mouth. Rainbow spent a few seconds trying to look down and see her own mouth to find the food, but eventually gave up. Instead, she locked eyes with Applejack and slowly ran her tongue along the edge of her mouth, scooping up the bit of leftover food. The earth pony felt blood rush to her cheeks and once again had to fight the urge to tackle pull her marefriend into a secluded area.

Twilight watched Rainbow’s display, mesmerized. She wasn’t able to tear her gaze away until several seconds after she really, really should have stopped watching, and she quickly snatched up her wine glass, taking a long drink to cover the blush spreading across her cheeks. Stupid Twilight. Why did you agree to this? This isn’t the three of you together, it’s you being a third wheel to their date. They can’t even enjoy themselves because you’re here. She belatedly realized that her glass was empty and put it down. I can at least give them that. She scooted her chair back and hopped down. “Excuse me, girls. I need to use the little fillies’ room. I’ll be right back.”

Applejack watched the alicorn leave, unable to shake the feeling that something wasn’t quite right. When the glow of Twilight’s magic faded from the door, she turned back to her marefriend. “Sug’, Ah—” The rest of her words went unsaid as Rainbow practically lunged at her, locking their lips together in a fierce kiss. Applejack had half a mind to push the pegasus away, but a hoof snaked over and trailed along her ribs, causing her to moan into the kiss. She returned it for a few moments before finally pushing her marefriend away, both of them panting slightly.

“Sorry.” Dash grinned predatorily. “I’ve been dying to do that since we got on the train, but… you know.” She motioned toward Twilight’s empty chair then grabbed her wine glass, letting out a small whine when she found it empty.

“Sug’, sometimes Ah just don’t know what Ah’m gonna do with ya.” She blushed as Rainbow looked over and waggled her eyebrows. “Oh hush, you.” She smacked the pegasus on the shoulder, raising an eyebrow when her marefriend grabbed the wine bottle. “How many glasses have you had, anyway?”

“Only like two.” Dash replied, tipping the bottle over her glass. A small dribble of wine came out that petered out after a couple seconds. “Or three.” Not to be discouraged, she picked up her glass and tossed back and small amount that she’d gotten from the bottle. Once she’d swallowed it, she scooped up a big bite of her entree and crammed it in her mouth.

“Sug’, how’re ya feelin’ bout… this?” Applejack waved a hoof at Twilight’s empty spot, her eyes flicking back to the door to make sure the alicorn wasn’t about to walk in. However, Dash simply cocked her head in confusion, her cheeks still stuffed with food. Applejack let out a small, frustrated sigh. “Ah’m talkin’ ‘bout Twilight, ya big lug. This whole thing is supposed to be so y’all can see what coulda been.” She checked the door again. “I mean, how do ya feel about Twi? Has anythin’ changed?”

“Not really.” Dash shrugged. “I mean, Twi’s still cool, and fun… and she’s smoking hot in her princess get up. But I knew all of that already… except the princess thing.” She poked at her food for a second, trying to find the right words. “I mean, I thought I liked her liked her back then, and maybe I still do, but I love you, AJ.” She reached over and held her marefriend’s hoof. “Even if things could have been or could still be or whatever between me and Twi, I wouldn’t trade you for the world.”

Applejack smiled and squeezed Rainbow’s hoof, chuckling to herself. “Now Ah know you’ve had a good deal to drink. That was downright romantic.” She speared a bite of her food, simply holding hooves with her marefriend while they ate. After a few minutes, she glanced at the door again, growing concerned at Twilight’s continued absence. “Ah wonder what’s takin’ Twi so long.”

“Maybe she fell through the toilet.” Dash giggled to herself for a few seconds before realizing that the earth pony was just staring at her in confusion. “Sorry, pegasus joke. Anyway, I gotta hit the little fillies’ room too, so I’ll go find her.” She pushed her chair away from the table and hopped down to the ground, swaying and taking a few sidesteps to keep her balance. She trotted over to the door and pulled it open, calling over her shoulder. “Be right back.”

Rainbow stepped out of the dining room and closed the door behind her, trotting across the main room and toward a hallway in one of the side walls where she figured the bathrooms were. She noticed that as she passed among tables, conversations stopped. Stallions and mares alike tried to sneak surreptitious looks at her, often earning swats from their own significant others, if present. Her hips swayed a little more than necessary while she walked, basking in the attention. When she finally reached the hallway, she found the door to the bathroom and trotted through, only to stop in shock at the sight that greeted her.

“Twilight? What’re you doing?”

Chapter 4

The Courtship Catastrophe

Chapter Four

“Oh, um… hi, Rainbow.” Twilight looked up from her seat perched on a plush sofa. The alicorn smiled sheepishly, and her eyes darted back down to the magazine she had been reading when her friend threw the door open. “I was just…” She bit her lip, trying to stealthily put the magazine on the cushion next to her, but she knew it was too late when she saw Rainbow’s eyes move down and fix themselves on the cover. “I was just reading an article in this month’s Canterlot University Review by Professor Brighthoof about the supposed violation of Ishawk Newtalon’s Third Law of Motion in regards to unicorn magic.”

“Huh?” Dash stared at the alicorn for a few seconds while her words floated in one ear and out the other. “No, I meant, why are you sitting in here reading a magazine? Your food’s getting cold.”

“Oh.” Twilight’s ears folded back and she tapped her hooves together. “I just… wanted to give you girls a little privacy so that you could enjoy your date without me hanging around as a third wheel.”

“Third…” Dash furrowed her brow and shook her head. “But Twi, the whole point of this was so that me and you could spend some time together.” She turned back to the door and lifted a wing, holding it at an easy height for the other mare to move under. “Now come on, let’s go see about getting some more wine.” Before Twilight could get up, Rainbow’s wing snapped back to her side. “Err… one minute.” The pegasus zipped into a stall and slammed the door shut.

Twilight smiled to herself and picked the magazine back up to try and read a few more paragraphs while she waited for Rainbow to come back out. However, Dash was comfortable enough to continue their conversation unimpeded. “Say, Twi, I’ve been meaning to ask… what’s that savvy-o thing you were talking about yesterday? You know, the one that was like unicorn marking.”

“Oh, saviatio.” Twilight put the Review down again, making a quick mental note of the cover image so that she could pick up a copy back home. “Well, it’s an… intimate action for unicorns, like feathermarking is for pegasi. It’s really just using a very gentle wave of magic to brush or caress your… partner.” She blushed at discussing such a personal topic in a public place, and she cast a quick soundproofing spell on the door to give her some peace of mind. “The most intimate area to do it on is the horn, but it’s also common to go for places like the neck, ribs, cheeks, or even the cutie mark.”

“Sweet.” Dash trotted out of her stall and over to the sink. “So, what’s it feel like?”

“W-well, it varies from pony to pony, depending on both the giving and receiving ends.” Twilight paused, knowing that she was heading into dangerous territory very soon after fixing things with her friends. “But the most common feelings are a light pressure, something like wind running through your coat… or itching.”

Dash was busy admiring herself in the mirror, and it took a while for the alicorn’s words to sink in. Once they did, she slowly turned away from the mirror. “Itching? Wait… Twi, yesterday were you—”

“I’m sorry.” Twilight took a step forward, trying to block the pegasus if she tried to run, but not wanting to get too close. “I… I don’t know why I did it. I was just being stupid yesterday. Please don’t be mad, and please don’t tell Applejack. I know she said she’s not angry, but I don’t want to test it.”

“Twilight Sparkle.” Dash grinned predatorily, her eyes half-lidded. “Look at you, being such a bad girl.” She ran her tongue over her teeth.

Twilight was rooted in place, held captive by a primal intensity in Rainbow’s gaze. At this moment, she wanted nothing in the world more than to simply run over and kiss Rainbow for all she was worth, but she couldn’t bring herself to move.

Then, all of a sudden, it was over. Dash was all friendly smiles again, as if a switch had been flipped, and she turned back to the sink. Once the pegasus had washed her hooves, Twilight stood up and walked over to Dash’s side, ducking under the other mare’s wing as they headed back out to the main room. While they walked, Rainbow leaned against her side, but Twilight was able to support her easily.

“You know what would make this whole thing easier?” Dash rested her head on the alicorn’s shoulder, completely oblivious to the new kinds of looks they were getting. “If I didn’t have to choose between you and AJ. Why do I have to, anyway? It’s so lame. I mean, I like AJ, I like you, and you like AJ. Boom, done.” After a few more steps, she lifted her head from Twilight’s shoulder. “Hey, we should totally do that!”

Twilight had to snake her own wing under Dash’s and pull to the right to keep the other mare from drifting off to the left and running into other tables. “Do what, Rainbow?”

“You, me, and AJ!” Dash leaned heavily against her friend. “All three of us together. Just imagine how hot that would be.”

Twilight distinctly tried not to imagine what that would be like, but she could already feel her cheeks burning. A small ember of hope sparked in her chest, but she quashed it. Even if I agreed… Applejack never would. She took a deep breath and forced a chuckle as she opened the door to their dining room with her magic. “Rainbow, how much wine have you had?”

“Not that much. Only like…” Dash raised a hoof like she was trying to count on it. “Some. Oh, but if the bottle is empty when we get back, it was totally AJ.”

“There y’all are.” Applejack turned and rested a foreleg on the back of her chair as her friends finally returned. “Ah was ‘fraid Ah was gonna haveta send the Royal Guards after ya. Oh, and Twi—” She picked up a nearly full bottle of the White Zinfandel sitting next to her. “Little Miss Lightweight over there drank the rest of the first bottle, so Ah got us another one to share.”

“Hey! I’m not a white light!” Dash shot back, a bit of a slur edging into her voice. She stood up from her position leaning against Twilight and walked over to the table, bumping into the back of her chair in the process. After spending a few moments climbing into her chair, she grabbed her wine glass and held it out toward her marefriend, giving her best puppy-dog eyes. “Come on, AJ. Just a little more.”

Applejack tried to remain stoic, but ultimately relented under Rainbow’s pleading gaze. “Alright, fine, ya no good little varmint.” She poured about half a glass for the pegasus. “But that’s all ya get, so make it last.”

“Sweet.” Dash immediately pulled her glass back and brought it to her lips, taking a long pull. When she was done, barely any wine was left in the glass. Without missing a beat, she dove back into her food, eschewing her fork and simply leaning down to take a big bite straight from the plate.

“Rainbow Elizabeth Dash! Use yer danged fork!” Applejack grabbed her marefriend’s fork and gently tossed it at her, bouncing it off of the pegasus’ nose before it landed in the middle of her plate. Rainbow picked up the fork and licked a few bits of cheese and potato stuck to it before using it to scoop up another big chunk of food. Applejack pressed a hoof over her eyes. “Sug’, Ah swear… one of these days…” She sighed and turned to Twilight, who was giggling into a horseshoe. “So, Twi, what took ya so long back there? Ya get lost or somethin’?”

“Oh, no.” Twilight levitated her spoon and scooped up some of her soup, which was, as Rainbow had said, rather cold. Her horn flared to life for a second while she wove and cast a quick heating spell. “I just saw that they had the latest Canterlot University Review and there was an interesting article on the cover. I mean to just read the first paragraph or two… but I kind of got carried away.”

“Sure you did.” Dash chuckled, popped another bite of food in her mouth, and leaned over toward Applejack, bits of food falling out while she talked. “She was trying to give us some privacy because she said she feels like a third wheel on our date.” Across the table, Twilight grimaced and covered her face with her hooves, but Rainbow plowed ahead. “And I told her that was lame, because the whole point of this date is to see how we feel about each other. And then I told her that—”

“Rainbow!” Twilight’s hooves slammed down, trying to grip the edge of the table.

“Twilight, what in tarnation is she goin’ on about?” Applejack turned away from her marefriend, reaching down to wipe away a few bits of stray food Rainbow had gotten on her skirt. “Is all that true?”

“Well…” Twilight stared into her soup and swirled her spoon around the bowl.

“That’s not even the best part!” Dash wiped a hoof across her mouth, then proceeded to wipe the half-chewed bits of food onto her dress. “You remember how I was telling you that I was itchy all morning? Well, turns out it was Twi being all savvy-o.”

“Saviatio.” The word was out of her mouth before she knew it, and Twilight clamped her hooves over her mouth to keep herself from digging her hole any deeper.

“Huh.” Applejack barely processed the word. Her mind was still hung up on the fact that apparently Twilight had simply waited in the bathroom. “Sugarcube, why would ya— Wait, you what?” She leaned over the table, the end of her mane dragging through her food.

“I’m sorry, Applejack!” Twilight shrank down in her chair, to the point that it looked like she was trying to slide under the table. “Please don’t—”

“Come on, AJ.” Dash leaned over to her marefriend, laying a hoof on the earth pony’s shoulder to steady herself. “It’s no big deal. It’s just like feathermarking, and we already forgave her for that. It’s cool.”

“It sure as shootin’ ain’t!” Applejack looked back and forth between her marefriend and the alicorn currently peeking over her soup bowl, her lips curled back in a snarl. “The whole reason we forgave her fer featehrmarkin’ you was that it was a one time thing. Somethin’ she said was a mistake.” She slammed a hoof against the table on the last word. “Now yer tellin’ me that it wasn’t? That she’s been doin’ this fer Celestia only knows how long?”

“It was only the one lesson, I swear!” Twilight’s ears folded back against her head.

“Sure it was.” Applejack watched the alicorn for a time before finally blowing a sharp breath out of her nose. “Fine. Ah suppose there ain’t nothin’ we can do ‘bout it now.”

“O-okay.” Twilight slowly sat up, pausing to make sure that the hot-blooded earth pony was still calm before scooting up a little higher in her seat. Once she was fully upright again, she picked up her spoon and started on her barely-touched soup. The three of them drifted into silence for a few minutes, each working on their own meals and occasionally sipping on their wine, if they had any left.

“Say, Twi.” Dash broke the silence, spraying a few tiny bits of her last bite of food as she spoke. “I’ve been wondering… If you already knew how to fly when you asked for lessons, where did you learn how to fly?”

Before the alicorn could answer, though, Applejack piped up. “Five bits says it was a book.”

“No, Applejack, it wasn’t a book.” Twilight let the silence linger just long enough for her friends to raise their eyebrows. “It was several books.” She stuck her tongue out when Applejack groaned and rolled her eyes. “But, yes, I read a number of books on flight and aerodynamics, then practiced in the library.”

“The library?” Dash picked up her wine glass, only to lament that it was empty. She turned to her marefriend and held out the glass silently pleading for just a little bit more for the third time in the last five minutes. This time, Applejack relented and poured the last little bit of the the bottle into her glass. Rainbow smiled and leaned over for a kiss on the cheek, but wobbled on the way and ended up kissing the earth pony on the side of the nose. “Isn’t it a little small to be learning how to fly?” She asked, bringing the glass to her lips.

“Yes it is.” Twilight nodded, rubbing a shoulder. “And the floor is very hard, too. The first time I tried to just glide, I didn’t realize how much force it would put on my wings. I kind of just… fell from the landing.”

Rainbow doubled over laughing, spraying the wine she had been drinking all over the table. The rest of what had been in her glass sloshed out and landed in a long puddle down the front of her dress. “Oops.” She slurred. After looking at her now empty glass, she leaned down, sticking out her tongue and trying to lick up the wine she had spilled.

“Oh no!” Twilight hopped down from her chair, swaying a bit on the landing, and stepped over to her friend. “Here, let me help you with that, Rainbow. Just sit—” Before she could finish, a pair of hooves grabbed each side of her face and lifted her head up. She saw Dash’s rose-colored eyes for a brief moment before their lips met. A thousand frantic questions clamored around her head, but they faded to the background as Rainbow’s lips started moving against hers and forelegs slid around her neck, pulling her closer. Her worries melted away while she kissed Rainbow, but something kept niggling at the back of her mind, telling her that she shouldn’t be doing it. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, though, so she ignored it.

After what seemed like both a brief instant and an eternity, they pulled apart, but not before Dash nipped at Twilight’s bottom lip. Twilight slowly opened her eyes, and a shiver raced down her spine when she met Rainbow’s heated gaze. Sweet Celestia, why have we never done that before? The sound of a fork clattering against a plate drew both of their attention to the third mare present. Right. Marefriend. “Applejack, I—”

The earth pony held up a hoof to silence the alicorn. Applejack stepped down from her chair and took a breath to try and steady herself a bit. She owed it to them to bow out gracefully, without making it into an ordeal. “Well, congratulations, Twilight. Ah hope y’all’re mighty happy together.” She trotted to the door, her eyes tearing up as the cracks in her stoic demeanor began to form and grow.

“Wait…” Dash looked between her marefriend and Twilight, who was still wrapped in her forelegs. “AJ, wha—” Her marefriend was already gone.

“Damnit.” Twilight extricated herself from Rainbow’s embrace, then grabbed a hoof and pulled the pegasus out of her seat. “Come on, Rainbow. We need to go after her.” She cantered over to the doorway, but paused when she heard a thud. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw Dash in a tangle of limbs on the floor. Furrowing her brow in concentration, she picked the pegasus up in her magic and floated Dash over to lay along her back, lashing them together with band of magic. Once her passenger was secure, she galloped out of the dining room and toward the exit, barely slowed by the mare on her back. Thank you, earth pony strength.

They crashed through the front doors, leaving a trail of bewildered ponies in their wake, and searched for any sign of Applejack. Twilight looked up and down the street, scanning for any sign of the earth pony amongst the crowds milling about. “Which way do you think she went, Rainbow?”

“I don’t know.” Dash gave a cursory glance down the street, then spread her wings. “But I know how we can find her.” She gathered her legs under her and crouched on the alicorn’s back.

“Rainbow, wait. At least let me— Oof!” Twilight’s words cut off when Dash leapt off of her back, pumping her wings. The band of magic connecting them stretched while the pegasus climbed, before it abruptly pulled Twilight up into the air. She was left hanging a few feet below Rainbow, her legs flailing against the empty air. “Rainbow, just—” She grunted as Rainbow banked to the side and the magical band dug into her side. Twilight spread her wings to catch the air and dissolved the band, lurching down a few feet before she caught herself.

“There she is!” Dash pointed off to the side and banked, a rip sounding as a long tear opened down the side of her dress. She angled down, gliding in the direction of the train station with Twilight right behind her. They landed next to Applejack, who quickly rubbed her eyes with a hoof when she saw them.

“What… whadda y’all want?” The earth pony asked, sniffing one last time.

“What the heck, AJ?” Dash trotted over and sat next to her marefriend. “What was that all about?” She extended a wing, inviting the other mare to come under it.

Applejack gently pushed her marefriend’s wing away. “Ya know darn well what.” She tried to hold Dash’s gaze, but looked away as her eyes started to tear up again. “Ya kissed Twi. Ya changed yer mind and picked her over me.” She slumped down. “Ain’t no use in fightin’ it. Ah figured Ah might as well just ride off into the sunset and leave you two be.”

“AJ, what are you talking about?” Dash stared at her marefriend in confusion. “That was just part of—” She froze mid-sentence, her mouth hanging open while she blinked a few times. After several moments of silence, she turned to Twilight. “I forgot to tell her about that, didn’t I?” The alicorn simply groaned and pressed a hoof to her face.

“Tell me what?” Applejack looked back and forth between the two mares nervously. Rainbow was wearing a massive grin, while Twilight took the opportunity to study the floor of the train station.

“I like Twilight, and I love you.” Dash’s grin faded and she got serious. “I don’t want to have to hurt one of you girls by choosing between you. So, I think that all three of us should be together. It’ll be like one of those love triangles in Rarity’s lame, girly romance novels, but no one’s jealous and we’re all cool with it.” She nudged the earth pony with an elbow. “So, whaddya think?”

“Rainbow, this is a very serious issue. I’m sure that she’s going to need some time to think about it before she can give us an answer.” Twilight sat down next to Rainbow, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "I think you're drunk." She turned to Applejack and forced a smile. "I... You don't really have to consider it, I understand if you want to say no."

“Hey! Hic!” Dash leaned away from the alicorn, coming perilously close to falling over. “I am not drunk. Hic!” The hiccup knocked her off balance and she fell over. She looked around, as if wondering why she was lying on the ground now. “Well, I’m not that drunk.”

“Thanks, sugarcube.” Applejack smiled weakly, then looked away. She opened her mouth to speak again, but a shrill whistle cut through the air before she could. A few seconds later, their train pulled into the station. She looked over to her friends. “Guess it’s time to head home then, huh?” Twilight and Dash nodded, the latter yawning in the process, and they all boarded the train, grabbing seats in an empty car. Rainbow hopped up on a seat next to Applejack and looked at Twilight, patting the empty spot next to her, but the alicorn opted instead to sit on the opposite bench, facing the couple. A few moments later, the train lurched into motion, headed back toward Ponyville. Silence reigned among them, with Applejack and Twilight both deep in their own thoughts while Rainbow quietly enjoyed being buzzed. As the scenery rolled by outside, Dash leaned more and more heavily against her marefriend, eventually falling asleep with her head resting on the earth pony’s shoulder.

Applejack smiled down at her marefriend, leaning down to plant a kiss on her forehead, then turned back to Twilight. “So, what do we do now, sugarcube?”

“I… don’t know.” Twilight looked away from the stars she’d been watching and met her friend’s gaze. “While what Dash is suggesting is… uncommon, it’s not completely unheard of. Though, you’d have to go back—”

“Twi.” Applejack cut across the alicorn’s academic rambling. “That ain’t what Ah meant, and you know it.”

“I know, it’s just…” Twilight’s wings rustled uncomfortably on her back. She looked back to the window, focusing on her reflection. Her eyes darted up to her crown. “I don’t want you to feel pressured to say yes because of who I am. I know that you girls are all good about treating me the same as before… all of this happened—” She lifted a gold-shod hoof and fluttered her wings. “—but I still don’t want you to be worried about the fact that you’re rejecting Princess Twilight if you don’t want to do it.” She turned away from the window again. “I… think I would like to try it, but only if you’re okay with it.” She gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Take all the time you need to think about it…” She dropped her gaze to her hooves. “That is… if you want to think about it.”

“Thanks, sugarcube.” Applejack smiled back. Next to her, Dash shifted and snuggled further up against the earth pony. “Ah’ll… think about it. Ah can’t promise anythin’ more’n that.” The alicorn smiled and nodded, then they both drifted back into silence as the train raced across the countryside. Before long, it rattled into Ponyville, the brakes screeching and whining as it slowed in front of the train station. Twilight helped Applejack move the sleeping pegasus onto her back, and they exited the train.

Twilight looked up at the moon for a moment, gauging its progress across the sky. “It’s pretty late, Applejack. You and Rainbow are more than welcome to spend the night at the library so that you don’t have to walk all the way back to Sweet Apple Acres.” A gust of wind blew her mane across her face, and she had to stop for a moment to spit a few strands out of her mouth. “I can sleep on the couch while you two take the bed.

“Thank ya kindly, sugarcube, but we’ll be fine.” Applejack rolled her shoulders, trying to move Dash into a more comfortable spot on her back. The pegasus responded with an ear-splitting snore. “‘Sides, Ah wouldn’t want this one keepin’ ya up all night. But, thank ya again fer the offer.”

“Well, if you’re sure, then…” Twilight trotted over and extended a wing, but paused when she realized she couldn’t quite get her wing over Rainbow’s sleeping form. “Goodnight.”

Applejack leaned over and pressed her lips to Twilight’s in a simple, chaste kiss. She felt the alicorn tense up for a moment before ever so slightly leaning into it. After a few seconds, the earth pony pulled back, smiling when she saw Twilight’s confused expression. “Just felt like the right thing to do.” She said simply. “Anyway, night, Twi.”

“Night.” Twilight watched Applejack walk away, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. When the other mare, and her sleeping companion, disappeared around a bend in the road, Twilight leapt into the air and did a quick flip. Her crown slipped from her head, and the had to scramble and grab it with her magic to keep it from landing in the dirt. She clutched it to her chest and flew back to the library, the ember of hope from before burning bright in her chest.

Two Weeks Later

Applejack rolled over in bed and pulled the covers tighter around herself. The sun peeked in the window, barely coming up over the trees outside, but she pointedly ignored it. She and Dash had gotten in late last night, or incredibly early that morning, and she’d already let Big Mac know that she was going to be getting a late start on her chores. She tried to settle back down in bed, but a delicious aroma wafted up from the kitchen and caused her stomach to growl.

Grumbling to herself, she threw back the covers and half-tumbled out of the bed. Following the scent that had woken her up, she trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Dash was waiting at the table. “How’re you up so early, sug’?”

Rainbow shrugged. “I used to stay up that late all the time before we got together, I’m used to it. Also, coffee.” She lifted a mug and took a sip of the life-giving liquid, then motioned to a similar mug on the other side of the table. “Already made you a cup. One sugar and a dash of milk, just like you like it.”

Applejack picked up the steaming cup and took a deep whiff of the heavenly aroma. “Thanks, sug’.” She mumbled before taking several large gulps. She sat down at the table and was about to take a bite of the stack of pancakes that had been waiting next to her coffee when the door opened.

“Morning, girls.” Twilight stepped through the doorway, gently kicking the door shut behind her. She trotted over to the table and leaned in to give Rainbow a kiss on the cheek, but the pegasus pulled away, playfully evading the alicorn for a few moments. Eventually, Dash moved forward and captured Twilight’s lips in a kiss. Once they separated, Twilight moved around the table and gave Applejack a quick kiss as well.

“Mornin’ to you too, Sparky.” Applejack went to take a sip of her coffee, but jumped when a wing swatted her on the flank. She turned to the alicorn, who was giving her a deadpan ‘you know I don’t like it when you call me that’ look. “Sorry, darlin’, did ya sleep well last night?”

“Well enough, given what time we got in.” Twilight used her magic to prepare a cup of coffee for herself from the table. Once she had it in her hooves, she turned to Dash. “Say, Rainbow, is Rarity talking to you again, or is she still mad about the dress?”

“Dunno.” Dash shrugged. “I haven’t seen her in the last couple days. Though, last time I saw her, she did throw a spool of thread at my head… so I’m gonna go with ‘still mad.’”

“Somethin’ the matter, darlin’?” Applejack raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “Yer wings are rustlin’ around like a couplea rats in a burlap sack.”

Twilight glanced back at her treacherous wings, then huffed. “Well, I went out to get the paper this morning and… see for yourself.” She lifted a wing and reached under it, pulling out a rolled up newspaper. She tossed it on the table and let it unroll to the front page. Both of her marefriends leaned over to get a better look, and Rainbow immediately burst out laughing.

“Well…” Applejack sat back in her chair, spearing a bite of pancake with a fork. “We knew this sorta thing was gonna happen eventually.” She glanced back down at the paper, which featured a large photo of the three of them leaving a restaurant in Canterlot the previous night. Twilight was in the middle with a wing draped over each of her marefriends. A large black headline stood out above the picture.

Scandal Erupts in Canterlot as Equestria’s Newest Princess Forms a Herd!

Chapter 1

The Courtship Catastrophe

Chapter One

“Alright, there we go. Nice and even. You’re doing great, Twi.” Rainbow Dash flew backwards ahead of Twilight, trying to guide the newly minted alicorn through the basics of flying. She watched her friend’s new wings to make sure she kept them even with each flap. “Remember, don’t think of your wings as two separate things. Think of ‘em like they’re connected.” She smirked when the alicorn’s eyes darting down to the ground. “Don’t worry, Twi, I’ll catch you if anything happens.”

“That’s easy for you to say, Rainbow.” Twilight took one last glance at the ground, which was distressingly far away, and brought her focus back up to her instructor. She tried to keep her wingbeats even so that she didn’t list to one side or the other. “You’ve been doing this your whole life… I’m not even used to having these things yet.”

“You’re doin’ great, though.” Dash flapped her wings hard once and pulled around into a quick loop, coming back to a hover in front of Twilight again. “Okay, let’s try and do a turn. Nice and easy, just bank to the left a little.”

“Wait, your left or my left?” Twilight looked to either side for any potential obstacles, but the pegasus had cleared the sky before they took to the air. She flapped her wings once and locked them out at her sides so that she could glide for a bit.

“Let’s go with your left.” Dash kept flying backward, drifting to the right so that she could stay in front of the alicorn through the turn. “Remember, don’t flap through the turn, just lean into it.” She watched Twilight’s wings as she banked to the side. “Okay, good… just—”

At the last second, she saw Twilight’s left wing twist, throwing her off balance and sending her tumbling through the air. Rainbow folded her wings in and dropped like a rock, falling past the flailing alicorn. After a moment, she flared her wings again and flapped them to come to a hover, holding out her forelegs. Twilight landed in them an instant later, but kept her eyes squeezed shut for a few seconds. When she finally opened them and looked up at Dash, the pegasus smirked. “See? Told ya.”

Twilight didn’t respond, instead trying to press herself further into Rainbow’s strong grasp. Her heart raced in her chest, and her wing not pinned against the other mare’s chest fluttered a little, lamely trying to stop her tumbling through the air.

“Hey, you’re okay, Twi.” Dash gave her friend a quick squeeze. “You wanna try again, or—” She stopped when Twilight shook her head vigorously. “Alright, hold on then.” She locked her wings and banked into a wide turn, gliding in a lazy circle down to the ground. When she landed, she let the alicorn down gently.

“S-sorry.” Twilight muttered, keeping her eyes fixed to the ground. “I shouldn’t have… I just…” Her shoulders slumped, and her wings drooped down at her sides. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s cool, Twi.” Dash sidled up next to Twilight and draped a wing across her back. “Lotsa ponies freak out when they fall, especially if you haven’t learned how to pull out of it. It’s all part of learning how to fly.” She gave her friend a light squeeze. “Besides, you were doin’ great up ‘til then. I bet you’ve got this down pat in less than a week.”

“Thanks, Rainbow.” Twilight smiled and leaned over, nuzzling the pegasus’ cheek, then sighed. “Well, I guess I’ll head home. I’ve got a couple more books on flight that I haven’t finished yet. Maybe one of them will help me realize what I’m doing wrong.”

“You’re not doing anything wrong, Twi. You’re just having a couple of accidents.” Dash shrugged and pulled her wing back in. “They happen. You just gotta keep at it and you’ll get it eventually.” She leapt into the air and hovered a few feet off of the ground. “You sure you don’t wanna try again? I’ve got a little time left before I gotta head back to the farm.”

Twilight looked up at the sky for a moment, then shivered. “No, that’s okay. I think that I’ll be keeping my hooves on the ground for a while.” She flapped her wings once to settle them against her sides. “Same time tomorrow?”

“Sure thing, Twi. See you then!” Rainbow pumped her wings and rocketed into the sky, relishing the feeling of raw speed while the ground fell away like she’d been shot out of a cannon. The temperature of the air dropped the higher she climbed, but she didn’t care. When she finally slowed to a hover, her breath came out in puffs of condensation and she could see the curvature of the ground when she looked down. Below her, Ponyville was barely a speck on the rolling fields of green, and even the mountain Canterlot was perched on looked to be only a few inches tall.

Dash sucked in a deep breath of the frigid air and spun slowly, taking in the length and breadth of Equestria below her. Man, I wish I could convince AJ to come up here with me. Maybe Twilight will eventually. I bet she’d get a kick out of it. She spent a few more seconds admiring the awesome view before folding her wings and letting herself fall. The first time she’d ever climbed that high, she’d learned the hard way that she couldn’t spend too much time in the thin air when she blacked out and came to a few hundred feet above the ground. She’d avoided becoming a pegasus pancake, but she’d felt the blades of grass tickling her stomach as she pulled out of her freefall.

While freefalling back to the ground was fast, it was also boring from so high up. It left Dash with a lot of time to think while she waited for the ground to get closer. She fell past a wisp of high-floating cirrus clouds and got a devilish idea. Using her folded wings to angle herself around, she swept through a few more banks of cirrus clouds and collected some tufts of them as she passed. Once she had a sizable ball of cloud, she rolled onto her back and dug her front hooves into it and waited.

Eventually, the ambient air warmed enough that her ball of cloud evaporated, and she rolled over to gauge where she was falling. Below her, ponyville was rapidly growing while she rocketed toward it, but she leaned just a bit to angle herself over Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow scanned the ground for a familiar splotch of orange against the sea of green. She found it soon enough, and she flared her wings so that she could glide the rest of the way down to her unsuspecting marefriend. “Hey, AJ!”

Applejack looked over her shoulder at the approaching pegasus, but kept walking. After a few moments, she felt her marefriend’s weight settle on her back. “Hey there, sugar.” She leaned her head back to nuzzle Rainbow. “Whatcha doin’ back al—Gah!” She jumped as a pair of still-freezing hooves found their way to her stomach. “Granny’s knickers, sugarcube! Where ya been keepin’ those things? The Frozen North?”

She wiggled around, trying to dislodge the mare clinging to her back. But Rainbow’s grip only tightened, and she snaked her hind legs around to get a better hold. Applejack looked over her shoulder at her marefriend. “Ya really wanna try this again?” The pegasus only smirked and tightened her grip even further. “Alright, you asked for it.” With that warning, she bucked as hard as she could, trying with all of her considerable might to dislodge the mare on her back.

Dash put up an admirable performance, but a bronco had nothing on Applejack and before long, Rainbow met the grass at a speed not unlike those she encountered during her flying accidents. “Jeez, AJ.” She rubbed the back of her head. “I know you like it rough, but that was a little over the top, don’t you think?”

Applejack shrugged, grinning smugly. “Don’t come to the rodeo if’n ya can’t handle the ride, sugar.” She made her way over to the downed pegasus, placing a hoof on her chest when she tried to get up. “Hey now… where do ya think yer goin’?” Before her marefriend could respond, she pounced. Applejack captured Dash’s lips in a fierce kiss, feeling the pegasus squirm beneath her to try and free her hooves. However, the farmer quickly readjusted herself, countering the other mare’s every move and holding her down.

Eventually, Dash broke away from the kiss, squirming and biting her lip while her marefriend kept planting smaller kisses that ran down her neck. “C-come on, AJ… This isn’t fair.” She pulled as hard as she could to get a foreleg loose, but she was no match for the earth pony’s brute strength.

“You know the rules.” Applejack nipped at her marefriend’s neck, delighting in the shiver it sent through her body. She nuzzled her way up, peppering the cyan fur below her with kisses and nibbles. When she finally reached Rainbow’s ear, she blew a warm breath into it and watched it flick back and forth. “If ya want it, ya gotta come and take it.” She whispered.

Dash struggled for a few more seconds before giving up her struggle. “Alright, AJ, you—ooooooh.” Her words trailed off into a moan when her marefriend ran a hoof down her side. “You asked for it.” With a little more wiggling, she freed her wings and brought them to bear, tracing the tips along her assailant’s ribs.

Applejack tried to keep her composure, but the feathers dancing along her sides soon broke it. It started with a single chuckle sneaking out between kisses, then a steady stream of giggles, until finally she had to back off and stand up. “Alright, sug’, y-you win. C-cut it out.”

“Hmm… nah.” Dash reached up and pulled her marefriend back down, holding her in place while she continued tickling her mercilessly. She did her best to hold on tight and keep the earth pony from wiggling free, but once again Applejack’s superior strength won out. The farmer managed to free a hoof and pressed it into the pegasus’ side just below her flight muscles. Rainbow let out a yelp, and her wings flared out wide for a moment. Applejack used the momentary reprieve to pin the pegasus’ forelegs at her sides, trapping her wings under her body. Dash struggled for a second before realizing she was stuck.

“Give up yet?” Applejack asked, smirking.

“You cheated,” Dash said, glaring at the other mare playfully.

“All’s fair in love ‘n war, sug’. ‘Sides, you started it.” Applejack nudged her marefriend with an elbow, then leaned in for another kiss, this one much gentler than the first one. She wrapped her hooves around Dash’s neck and ran them through her mane. After a moment of wiggling and readjustment, she felt the familiar embrace of Dash’s wings wrapping around her. They lay there for some time, trading kisses and light nuzzles. Eventually, Applejack gave the pegasus one last kiss on the tip of her nose, then pulled back. “Ah love you, Rainbow.”

Dash smiled and brought one wing down, brushing the tip against her marefriend’s cutie mark. “I love you too, AJ.”

Twilight trotted into the library, humming happily to herself while she closed the door. She made her way up to her room, a spring in her step causing her hips to sway a little, but stopped dead in her tracks when she passed through the doorway at the top of the stairs and saw that her desk had been cleared off.

“Spike!” She called back downstairs to her number one assistant. “What did you do with Olive Branch’s General Guide to Gryphic Grammar? It was on my desk when I left earlier.” She waited a few moments for a response, but none came, so she tried again. “Spike!” Her second attempt was once again met with silence, so she headed back down to the landing of the staircase in the main room and looked around for her absent assistant.

“Spike? Where are—” Twilight stopped and sighed when she spotted the book she was looking for back in its spot on the top shelf. She was unsure whether she was irritated that he had reshelved a book she clearly wasn’t done with yet—all of the guttural throat sounds and screeches were making learning Gryphish a slow process—or pleased that he had been taking his expanded duties cleaning and maintaining the library more seriously as of late.

Regardless, she needed that book back. Running to the edge of the landing, she leapt out over the main floor, spreading her wings and gliding over to the shelf. She backpedaled as she got closer, but misjudged the amount of speed she had built up before jumping and bumped into the bookcase face first. Luckily, she managed to stay airborne and hovered just to the left of the shelf she had been trying to reach. Just as she made her way over and pulled the book off of the shelf, the front door flew open, and Spike waddled in whistling and carrying a bucket in one hand.

“There you are.” Twilight put a hoof on her hip while the other cradled her newly retrieved tome. “And where have you been?”

Spike looked up at the alicorn for a moment, then gave a perfunctory wave. “Hey, Twilight.” He resumed his trek toward the kitchen, talking back over his shoulder as he went. “I was over at Rarity’s. She needed some raw sapphires cut into some weird shapes for a necklace and asked me to do it for her.” He wiggled his free hand, showing off his diamond-hard claws, then lifted his bucket. “She even let me keep the shavings.”

Twilight giggled, slowing her wingbeats so that she gently lowered to the ground. “Well, just be careful. Remember what happened last time you got a peridot cut.” She couldn’t see his face while he walked away, but there was a slight hitch in his stride as he entered the kitchen and set the bucket on the table.

“Come on, Twilight, that was a long time ago… and I didn’t cry that much.” Spike coughed into a fist, then rounded on the librarian. “What are you doing home, anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be hanging out with Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah, but we kind of… wrapped up early.” Twilight finally landed and tucked her book under a wing, noticing a couple of misaligned feathers in the process. “Ugh, I just preened this morning. Well, I guess I’ll have to do it again before tomorrow’s lesson.” She sighed and trudged over to the stairs.

“Lesson?” Spike raised a quizzical eyebrow. “What is she teaching you, how to do the Sonic Rainboom?”

“No. I don’t think I could even do that if I wanted to. I mean, Rainbow’s trained her entire—” Twilight finally noticed her assistant giving her a deadpan stare and stopped her explanation, smiling sheepishly. “Aheh. Um, no. She’s just giving me instructions on some basic flying techniques and form. The kinds of things she learned when she first started flying.”

“But… you already know all that stuff.” Spike looked up at the shelf the alicorn had just been hovering in front of when he came in mere moments ago. “After you crash landed from your little coronation flight, you read like, three books on flight and aerodynamics that afternoon. You were flying around the library the next day!”

“I was crashing around the library.” Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head. “Oh, Celestia, I made such a mess. Sorry about that… again.” The dragon waved away her apology. She dropped her book on a table near the stairs and headed back over toward Spike. “Besides, Rainbow was really excited to help me learn how to fly, and I didn’t want to show up for our first lesson already knowing how to fly.”

"But if you told her, then you girls could spend your time actually flying together, instead of her 'teaching' you how to fly." He made air quotation marks around the word teaching.

"We are flying together. Oh, you should see her when I do something right. Her face lights up like I did a Sonic Rainboom instead of just flying in a straight line." Twilight said with a soft smile. "She wouldn't have that if I told her I can fly."

"Oh... kay." Spike raised an eyebrow. "But just imagine how happy she'll be when you show her what you know, instead of just flying in a straight line." He waved one hand around in an elaborate pattern of twists and loops, but just pushed the other in a slow, straight line.

"We'll get to that. It's not like I plan on pretending I'm bad at flying forever. Dash said I've already improved a great deal." Twilight clopped her hooves together and walked over to the table where she had put down the book on Gryphic grammar. "She wants to try flapping through turns tomorrow."

"But you're not really improving!" Spike threw his claws into the air. "You're just pretending to be bad, then flying as well as you already know how to. Heck, you were flying circles in here the other day until you got dizzy enough to crash into the staircase."

"This isn't about improving, Spike, it's about spending time with my friends." Twilight took the book and started looking for the page she had left off on. "Besides, it's not like I’m not improving at all, theory is great, but Dash can teach me things that aren't in any book."

"Really? There was actually an aspect of flying that wasn't in all those books you read?" Spike shook his head. “Well, whatever. Have fun in flying kindergarten, I’m gonna sprinkle some of those shavings on a scoop of ice cream.” He turned on his heel and waddled off to the kitchen.

“Don’t eat too much. It’s almost lunch time, and I don’t want you to spoil it with an ice cream induced tummy ache.” Twilight floated her book in front of her as she climbed the stairs, still searching for the chapter on screeching. By the time she’d found it, she’d reached her bedroom, so she dropped the book onto her desk and closed the door, leaning against it and letting out a relieved sigh. That was close… Luckily, Spike’s sweet tooth won’t let sapphires sit around for long.

She trotted over to her desk and sat down, pulling a notebook out of a drawer and flipping it open to the last page she’d been taking notes on. A clang of silverware rang out downstairs, and she glanced at the door. She hated not being honest with Spike, but if she told him, it would only be a matter of time before Rarity found out. That was a can of worms that she wanted to keep sealed, encased in a layer of concrete, and buried deep under a mountain for as long as she could, hopefully forever.

She finally found the page she was looking for, but immediately slammed the book closed again, blushing while she looked around the room. Once she was sure that she was alone, she lifted the cover back up, peeking into the small opening. Sure enough, the contents hadn’t spontaneously changed in the last few seconds. She flipped the notebook back open, her wings fidgeting on her back as she scanned down the page. At the top, there were meticulous notes on the different conjugations of ‘Skraak,’ but they got less and less meticulous as they went down the page, until they stopped completely about two-thirds of the way down. Below that were several doodles of a certain chromatic pegasus in flight.

“Oh, Celestia.” Twilight quickly flipped to the next page, briefly considering tearing out the offending page all together, incinerating it, and simply starting her notes over. Ultimately, she decided against and started taking new notes at the top of the next page. The scratching of quill on parchment, along with the occasional pause to get more ink, soon filled the room. However, a flash of movement out of the window caught the alicorn’s attention, drawing her gaze to the sky. She could have sworn she’d seen Dash race by just then, but the view from her window was empty save for a few wisps of cloud. She tried to shake it off and refocus on her studies, but the damage was done and her mind started to wander.

Her thoughts drifted back to the end her lesson with Rainbow, when she had ‘accidentally’ fallen and Dash had caught her. While Twilight had planned on twisting her wing to send her spiraling downward, the actual freefall through the air had still frightened her and caused her heart to race. But when Dash had caught her, she couldn’t help but feel safe. For the brief time that it took them to reach the ground, she could hear, even feel, Rainbow’s heartbeat through her chest.

Twilight finally snapped out of her reverie and realized that she’d been staring wistfully out the window for the last fifteen minutes while her quill hovered above a new sketch. Her heart leapt up into her throat when she realized that the new drawing was of Rainbow Dash cradling Twilight in her hooves, their lips dangerously close to touching. She could only stare at it for a few moments, the image burning itself into her mind, before she magically ripped the page out, crumpled it into a ball, and promptly set it on fire. She watched the flames dance for a few seconds before they petered out and only a ball of fine ash was left. Never one to leave anything to chance, the alicorn cracked open her window and tossed the ashes out, scattering them to the wind. Unfortunately, the wind chose that particular moment to take a break, and the fine gray dust drifted to the ground more or less intact.

Grunting, Twilight turned back to her studies, dipping her quill into the ink in preparation for a third round of note-taking. But when she looked back to the Grammar Guide, the letters and words and words staring back at her were supremely uninteresting. She tried to force herself to keep working, but her thoughts kept drifting at the end of every paragraph. After a few more minutes of taking half-hearted notes, she stood up from her desk and trudged over to the bed, flopping down onto it and burying her face in a pillow. Rolling over—and wincing when she accidentally squished her wing at a bad angle—she scanned the titles held in her personal bookshelf. While she couldn’t get any work reading done, maybe a little pleasure reading would help reign in her roaming thoughts.

After half a minute of reading every book title several times, she grabbed the latest Daring Do with her magic. Of course, she’d already finished it, but the next one was slated to come out in a month and a little refresher couldn’t hurt. Just as she went to pull Daring Do and the Manticore’s Mace free from the shelf, her eyes flicked over to another book. It was one that she’d borrowed from Rarity, though the unicorn made it very clear that she would refute any claims made as such, but had never actually gotten around to reading. Twilight released Daring Do and floated Rarity’s novel over to the bed, opening it up to the first page.

“On Wings of Love: The Scandalous Love Affair of Platinum and Pansy.”

“That was such garbage! The book was way better.” Rainbow Dash trotted out of the exit of the Ponyville Cinema, throwing the door open with a little more force than necessary. Her wings ruffled on her back and she let out an agitated snort. “I mean, I can’t believe they cast Goldenfeather to play Sharpclaw… and the temple scene? All of the traps were messed up, and that last one wasn’t even in the book! I mean, a living game of Tic-Tac-Toe? Who would even think of making that, much less using it as a trap to guard the Gryphon’s Goblet?”

“Ah don’t know, Ah thought it was pretty good.” Applejack shrugged as she followed her marefriend out into the evening air, giving the still-open door a nudge closed. She quickly caught up with the fuming pegasus and bumped her flank. “Hey, would’ja rather of seen that sappy romance movie? Ah think a showin’ of it’s ‘bout to start if’n ya make it a double feature.”

Dash looked back at the theater, where a poster of two sappy looking unicorns in each other’s hooves stood in stark contrast to Daring Do swinging by a vine over a bottomless chasm. She stuck her tongue out at the sight. “Blegh. No thanks.” She threw a wing over the earth pony, and they started walking down the street. “I probably need to turn in soon, anyway.”

“Really?” Applejack spared a glance at the clock tower before turning back to her marefriend. “It’s still pretty early, and with all those naps ya took today there ain’t no way you should be tired already.”

“Hey, I did work, too. I mean, not as much as you, but I don’t think anypony can do as much work as you do. Maybe Big Mac, but other than that…” Rainbow trailed off and shook her head. “Whatever. Anyway, I’m not like… sleepy tired, but flying with Twilight this morning wore me out. We’ve gotta do it again tomorrow too, so I need to get some rest.” She pulled the farm pony down a turn toward Sweet Apple Acres, and soon the street lamps of town gave way to the darkness of the countryside. They walked in silence for a while, simply enjoying each other’s company and admiring the night sky as stars winked into existence. Eventually, Dash broke the silence. “You should come.”

“Beg pardon, sugar?” Applejack cast a sidelong glance at the pegasus walking next to her. “Come where now, exactly?”

“To see Twilight flying tomorrow.” Dash’s free wing flapped once, and she looked off in the direction of the field she and the alicorn had been practicing at. “She’s still just doing the basics, and she’s getting a lot better, but you should see the look on her face and the way she flaps her wings when she’s about to fall, it’s priceless!.” She chuckled at a memory from that morning’s lesson, then turned back to her marefriend and gave her a squeeze with her wing. “It’ll be fun. Plus, you need a break. You’ve been working yourself too hard, and you’re barely any fun when we do finally get in from the fields.” Rainbow chuckled again as Applejack cleared her throat and pulled her hat down to cover her eyes. “Besides, we finished most of the work already.”

“Well, Ah… Ah guess.” Applejack sighed and pushed her hat back up. “Does sound like it’ll be fun. Though…” She shot a glare at Dash. “What was that about me not bein’ fun?”

“Come on, AJ. I was just teasing.” Rainbow grinned abashedly. “It’s just that you’ve been really… tired after we get done for the day recently.” Her wing flexed and fidgeted across the earth pony’s back.

“Really, now?” Applejack smirked at the pegasus walking next to her, leaning in close enough to feel the heat radiating from her marefriend’s cheeks. She wrapped her tail around Rainbow’s and used it to pull the other mare closer, forcing their flanks to rub against one another while they walked. “Well, maybe on the way in we can swing by the barn and Ah can show ya just how much… fun Ah can be.”

Dash nearly tripped on her next step, and her free wing shot up into the air. “I… I, uh… That…” She sputtered incoherently for a few moments, then took a deep breath. “Listen, AJ, I really, really, wanna take you up on that, but—” A shiver raced down her spine as her marefriend blew a warm breath in her ear. “I… I gotta teach Twi how to fly tomorrow and I can barely fly right now. If we… swing by the barn, I’m not gonna be able to walk tomorrow, much less fly.” Rainbow stopped and bit her lip while Applejack trailed a line of kisses and nibbles along her neck. “S-so… I can’t. I want to. Oh, Celestia, do I want to… but I can’t.”

“That’s a shame, sugar.” Applejack leaned up and nipped at the other mare’s ear, then stepped away, letting her tail unwind and leaving an inch of space between them. “Still, Ah’m proud of ya fer takin’ yer commitment to Twi so seriously. Ah suppose one more day won’t hurt.” She winked at her marefriend playfully.

They crested the last hill before the farm, and the dual silhouettes of the barn and the farmhouse stood against the horizon. Dash bit her lip and her eyes darted between the two buildings. “Maybe for you it won’t.” She mumbled.

Twilight rolled from one side to the other, trying in vain to get comfortable. She’d been tossing and turning for the last thirteen minutes, but there were still two more minutes until her alarm was set to go off, so she lay in bed with her eyes firmly shut against the sunlight creeping in through her window. She tried to relax, but there was too much excited energy coursing through her body to sleep any longer.

Finally, after two more agonizing minutes, her alarm sounded. It only got off one buzz before she silenced it with a hoof and sprang up, stretching her hooves to the ceiling and flaring her wings to work out the stiffness in them. Taking a quick glance at each wing, she noticed a few misaligned primaries from the night’s sleep and set to work re-straightening them. Unfortunately, she was still getting used to preening and used a little too much force when trying to straighten one of her primary coverts, pulling the feather clean off of her wing.

Twilight grabbed the feather in her magic and floated it over to her desk, smiling as she remembered the first time she’d preened and had pulled nearly half of the misaligned feathers loose. Thankfully, she’d been a quick study and had managed to preen herself without pulling out a single feather after the third time. Once her wings were in order, she hopped out of bed and trotted into the bathroom, magically picking up a brush and running it through her mane. While giving herself a cursory glance in the mirror, she froze when she thought she saw her horn drooping. Her hooves flew to her horn, checking it for any sign of sag, limp, droop, softness, or slumping.

Whew. False alarm. She ran a hoof along her horn, feeling the same rigidity it always had. Actually is it… getting bigger? She extended her hoof all the way to the tip of her horn, watching her own confused reflection in the mirror. Has it always been that long? She twisted her head around to try and look at her horn from every angle. Briefly, she considered pulling the measuring tape from her desk drawer and measuring it, but ultimately she decided that even if it was a fraction of an inch bigger, no one would notice but her.

As Twilight left her room and emerged out on the landing at the top of the stairs, the main room of the library was for once devoid of delicious aromas wafting out from the kitchen. “The price I pay for waking up early, I suppose.” In response, a resounding snore echoed from Spike’s new room, which had recently been renovated from a particularly large closet.

She hopped off of the landing, spreading her wings and gliding gently down to the floor. When she landed, she headed for the kitchen, but her stomach was already flip-flopping with nervous energy. One missed breakfast never killed anyone. Instead, she wheeled around and trotted to the door, throwing it open and speeding out the doorway. Her trot quickly built into a gallop, and her wings flapped a few times in preparation for takeoff. However, just before she leapt into the air, she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to know how to fly well and tried to stop. Her forehooves skidded along the ground, but the back ones actually lifted a few inches off the ground while her hindquarters tried to keep going through the rest of her body. She quickly realized she was heading for a mouthful of dirt, but a quick flap of her wings restored her balance and saved her from tumbling over her own hooves.

Once all four hooves were firmly planted on the ground again, she resumed her trip out to the practice field, her excitement pushing her trot into a light canter. She quickly left the buildings of Ponyville behind and reached her destination after a few more minutes. However, her teacher was nowhere to be seen, though she reasoned that she was probably a few minutes early due to her skipped breakfast. She sat down to wait for Rainbow, but once again, her excited energy made it exponentially harder to do so as time slowly dragged on.

Sighing, Twilight flopped onto her back. It was only then that she saw the lone cloud above the field with a familiar prismatic tail hanging off of it. I should have known. She sucked in a breath to call up to Rainbow, but had a better idea before she could. Standing back up, she gathered herself and jumped as high as she could, her wings pumping furiously to keep her airborne. After a second, she found a good rhythm and steadily climbed up toward the sleeping pegasus. She was slightly out of breath by the time she managed to reach Dash’s cloud, but she managed to settle down on the puffy surface without waking its occupant.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight used her best singsong voice, prodding the sleeping pegasus lightly. “Wake up! It’s time for our lesson.” Dash stirred for a moment, but didn’t wake. Twilight tried again, poking a little harder into the other mare’s ribs. “Come on, Rainbow, time to get up.” Once again, Dash wiggled around a bit, but ultimately didn’t wake. The alicorn stood up and pursed her lips, but perked up when she got another idea. She moved to the edge of the cloud and let herself fall, spreading her wings and catching the wind to shoot forward. Flapping as hard as she could, she climbed up above the cloud and came to a hover a short ways away. Carefully, she leaned forward so that she started to glide toward the cloud, flapping her wings only once to build a tiny bit more speed. At the last second, she folded her wings and turned to hit with her shoulder first, then let out a yelp. “Ah!” She hit the cloud and rolled, ending up on her back and pressed up against Rainbow.

For her part, Dash lifted her head, but only cracked one eye to try and see what had woken her. “Whassat?” She looked around for a few moments before finally finding Twilight. “Twi? What haaa—” Her question trailed off into a yawn, and she tried again when it was over. “What happened?”

“Sorry, Rainbow.” Twilight smiled apologetically. “I saw you were asleep and didn’t want to wake you up, so I was doing a little flying on my own. I banked through a turn, but when I went to start flapping again, my right wing came down at an angle and threw me off balance. One thing led to another and I sort of… crashed.” She rolled over onto her stomach and patted the cloud. “Luckily, I was able to adjust enough to land here, rather than on the ground.” She leaned over and snuck a peek at the ground. While she had been higher than they were, she still wasn’t used to, or comfortable with, it being so distressingly far away.

“That’s… that’s good.” Dash rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes, then used the hoof to try and stifle another yawn. After that, she stood up and stretched, arching her back and flapping her wings to work the stiffness out of them. She rubbed a hoof along the back of her neck, mumbling about being itchy. Without warning, she leapt off of the cloud and did a quick loop around it, landing in the same spot a moment later and sending a puff of moisture with her impact. She was much more awake after the brief flight; the wind rushing through her mane and wings always sent a spike of adrenaline through her system that cleared the last remnants of sleep from her mind. “Yeah, going back to flying from gliding can be tricky. It’s way easier just to flap through the turn.” Her lips pulled back into a cocky grin. “Here, I’ll show you a couple turns, and you can observe me.” She chuckled and leapt from the cloud.

Twilight scooted over to the edge of the cloud and watched Rainbow fly. Of course, she already knew how to flap through turns, but she still had to pretend to be immensely interested in the technique and trying to master it. She tried to focus on Rainbow’s wings, but her eyes kept drifting to the pegasus’ flight muscles, watching them flex and loosen while her lithe body cut through the air. She could almost imagine—

Twilight quickly buried her face in the cloud, trying to purge the errant thought from her mind and hoping that somehow the cool mist of the cloud would wick away the heat in her face. While the freezing wisps of cloud licked against her burning cheeks, Spike’s word from earlier echoed in her head.

...you girls could spend your time actually flying together…

But you’re not really improving! You’re just pretending…

She lifted her head and searched for Rainbow, who was flying tight circles around a nearby cloud to make it spin. Twilight chewed on her lip. While she had meant it when she said that she learned things from Rainbow’s teachings that weren’t in the books, they were little things that she probably would had have figured out on her own with enough practice. I’m gonna do it. I’ll show her how well I can fly today. Her eyes darted down to the ground, and memories of falling uncontrollably through the sky came back to her. Well… maybe I’ll still take it a little easy.

“Alright, you ready to try?” Dash flew over and circled the cloud a few times before finally coming to a hover. “Just take it slow, like normal, and I’ll be right here if you need me.” She flipped over onto her back and started flying backwards, swinging her forelegs like she was swimming.

“Sure.” Twilight stood up and flapped her wings a few times, then leapt from the cloud and flew in a straight line. She kept her wingbeats measured to make sure that she didn’t fly too well right off the bat. Banking into a slight turn, she kept her wings pumping and easily flew in a wide circle.

“There we go…” Dash flew over and hovered in the middle of the circle, turning to watch Twilight as she flew around and around. She rubbed the back of her neck, grimacing a bit while she worked on a persistent itch. “See? Easy peasy.” She smiled and zipped over to fly a smaller circle just inside of the alicorn’s. “Now, how about something a little harder? Let’s try a figure eight.”

“Okay.” Twilight pulled out of her circle and leaned to the other side, flapping a little faster to pick up some speed. She spared a glance at Rainbow and saw the pegasus beaming at her. She wanted to squeal in excitement, but her lungs were currently extremely busy with breathing, not to mention that it would have been more than a little awkward. They flew lazy figure eights for a while, though occasionally Dash would do a barrel roll and flip over to Twilight’s other side.

“Lookin’ good up there, Twi!” Applejack’s voice drifted up from the ground, barely audible over the wind. Dash looked down at her marefriend and waved, then tapped Twilight on the shoulder and pointed down, motioning for them to land. The alicorn nodded and straightened out of her turn, locking her wings in a gentle downward glide. Rainbow dove to the ground ahead of her student, landing next to Applejack a few seconds later.

“See? What’d I tell ya?” Dash looked back up at Twilight while she glided slowly toward the ground. “She’s doing great. Heck, she looks better than yesterday, even.” She furrowed her brow. “Like… a lot better.”

“Eeyup. She looks like she’s gettin’ along pretty well.” Applejack watched the alicorn for a while before realizing that it would be quite some time before Twilight reached the ground. “So, uh, does she know how to get down any faster than that? Or is she just gonna haveta glide all the way down?”

“Well, we haven’t really gotten to diving yet.” Dash rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. “So far it’s all been trying to stay in the air, so we haven’t had time to worry about getting down yet.”

Up in the air, Twilight watched Applejack and Rainbow talking while she glided in lazy circles. A quick calculation told her that it would take her nearly a full minute to reach the ground at this rate. She immediately thought back to the chapters on descending and landing in the books she’d read, and while she’d practiced jumping from the stairs of the library to land, she was much, much higher than any height she had practiced from. Regardless, she angled her wings down and went into a dive. She kept a wary eye on the ground as it rushed to meet her, but she hit a patch of turbulence on the way down and was thrown off-course and tumbling through the air.

“Twilight!” Dash leapt back into the air, streaking toward the falling alicorn. Her wings were blurs at her sides while they pumped furiously, and the air seemed to try to hold her back. She pushed forward as hard as she could, quickly angling to meet Twilight in her fall.

Twilight watched the earth and sky swirl around and switch places with one another, her legs flailing for purchase that wasn’t there. A diagram from one of the books flashed through her mind, and she pulled her wings back to her sides. She waited for the horizon to come back around in front of her and flared her wings as wide as she could. They caught the air and stopped her freefall, though it felt like they were going to be ripped from their sockets in the process. Twilight grunted and locked them out so that she could glide the last few feet to the ground, hitting the grass at a gallop before slowing down and eventually just crumpling and rolling onto her back on the grass.

“Twilight!” Applejack raced over, her hooves thundering against the ground. She skidded to a stop and leaned over the downed mare, looking for any injuries. “Ya alright, sug’? Anythin’ hurtin’?”

“No no, I’m… I’m fine.” Twilight lifted a hoof to try and wave away her friend’s concern, but it just flopped back onto the ground, splayed out in the grass with her other five limbs. Her heart thundered in her chest, racing from a mix of fear, excitement, and plain old physical exertion. “I just… need a minute.”

“Twi!” Dash zipped back down, hovering a few feet off of the ground. “That. Was. Awesome!” She threw her hooves out wide and did a quick loop on the last word. “I mean, pulling yourself out a freefall? That’s advanced stuff, and you just did it like it was nothing… on the first try! And then, you just—” She paused in her excited gushing and cleared her throat, looking abashed. “Uh, you’re okay, right? You don’t need me to take you to the hospital or anything, do you?”

“No. I’m okay.” Twilight rolled over and sat up, flexing her wings experimentally. They hurt, but nothing seemed sprained or torn. “I just need a few minutes to rest. That was—” Scary? Exciting? Terrifying? Exhilarating? “—intense.” She took a few slow, deep breaths to try and calm her heart rate, then looked up. “So, good morning, Applejack.”

“Mornin’, sugarcube.” Applejack chuckled and sat down next to the alicorn, throwing a foreleg across her back. “Gotta say; that was some mighty impressive flyin’, before ya started droppin’ like a rock, that is.” She chuckled again, but after a moment, her smile faded. “Say, Dash, didn’t ya say that pullin’ outta a fall was really advanced thing to do?”

“Yeah.” Rainbow landed and walked over to Twilight and Applejack, trotting in a circle around them. “I didn’t learn it until my fourth year in Flight School, and even then, they kept adults around to catch falling students for another year.” She giggled to herself. “Fluttershy got to know them pretty well.”

Applejack pulled her leg from around Twilight and scooted away a bit, her brow furrowing. “Seems a bit odd that someone who can’t fly too well—no offense, sugarcube—would be able to pull off somethin’ like that, don’t it?”

“Eheh…” Twilight chuckled nervously. “Beginner’s luck, I guess.”

“Luck, shmuck. It was awesome!” Dash trotted over to Twilight and threw a wing over her back for a quick squeeze.

“Thanks, Rainbow. Though, I’d rather not try that again for a while… a long while.” Twilight draped her wing across the pegasus’ back, returning the wing hug. She held it for a moment longer, gave a final squeeze, then let go.

“What in tarnation was that?” Applejack yelled, scrambling to her hooves. She stamped a hoof in the grass and snorted. “What’s the big idea, Twilight?”

“Wh-what?” Twilight leaned back, her wings rustling nervously on her back. “I don’t know what you mean, Applejack.”

“Yeah, AJ.” Dash looked at her marefriend with a raised eyebrow. “What gives? All she did was give me a hug.”

“The darn hussy did more’n that.” Applejack stepped around Rainbow and stalked over to Twilight, narrowing her eyes. “You feathermarked her. Ah saw it.” The alicorn could only sputter incoherently in the face of Applejack’s furious accusation.

“Calm down, AJ.” Dash stood up and laid a hoof on her marefriend’s shoulder. “Sure, a feather or two might have hit the edge of my cutie mark, but it was an accident. Twi would never do something like that. Heck, I doubt she even knows what it means.” She turned her attention to the floundering alicorn. “Right, Twi?”

“F-feather… what was it? Marking?” Twilight shook her head rapidly, taking a small step away from the earth pony. “I-I’ve never heard of that.” Her ears folded back against her head. “I’m sorry, Applejack. I don’t know what I did, but I didn’t mean to do it.”

Applejack stared at Twilight for a few more seconds, then took a deep breath and shook her head. “Ah’m sorry, sugarcube. Ah didn’t mean to blow up on ya like that. It’s just that Ah didn’t sleep too well last night ‘cause Ah was a little… wound up.” She glanced at her marefriend, who smiled apologetically. She turned back to the alicorn and let out a sigh. “It just… looked like ya feathermarked her.” Twilight only stared at her in confusion.

“It’s a pegasus thing.” Dash volunteered. “It’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like; touching your feathers to somepony else’s cutie mark. But it’s a really… special thing.” She smiled, but it was making her a little uncomfortable to be getting sappy. “It’s something you only do to ponies you like… like, really like… in a serious, romantic way. It’s kinda like…” She paused, her mouth opening and closing while she thought. “I don’t know if there’s something like it for unicorns or earth ponies.”

Twilight thought for a moment, her eyes darting around before going wide. “Oh, it’s like saviatio.” She blushed a little when both Applejack and Rainbow stared at her. “It’s, um, the unicorn equivalent of feathermarking, I suppose.”

“Alright.” Applejack nodded, her eyes darting back to the alicorn’s wings for an instant. “Ah know yer still gettin’ used to those things, but just… try not to do it again, okay?”

“Chill out, AJ.” Dash threw a wing over her marefriend’s back and leaned in for a nuzzle. “It’s not like I like her that way.”

Twilight froze, her mind refusing to process what she had just heard. Regardless, the words echoed in her head, and she felt her heart sinking in her chest. She was vaguely aware of Applejack talking again, but she couldn’t pay attention. All she could focus on was the casual indifference with which Rainbow had dismissed having any feelings for her beyond friendship. Everything that she had daydreamed about for the last few months dried up and blew away like dust in the wind.

“Twi?” Applejack reached out and gave the alicorn a light shove to try and shake her out of her trance. “Ya doin’ alright there, sugarcube?”

“Huh?” Twilight blinked for a moment. “Oh, um, yes. I’m fine. I just remembered that I have to, um, go… read… my laundry. E-excuse me.” She turned and fled, galloping as fast as her hooves could take her. She wasn’t sure where she was going. All that mattered was that it wasn’t here, in the place where her dreams had died.