Rainbow Dash looked up as her ears perked. “What was that?”

She and Applejack were on the path back to their camp, having found no sign of Twilight along the route they took, when a distant but distinctly pony-sounding noise rang through the forest.

“Sounded like Twilight, from over there.” Applejack looked to the east. “Think she’s in trouble?”

“Or signaling a guard,” Dash said bitterly.

Applejack squinted at the sky in that direction. “I don’t see no guards flyin’ over there. She must have gotten herself into something.”

“It could be a trap,” Dash pointed out. While she did find Applejack’s optimism totally cute -- it was one of those things that made Applejack feel like she always had, and let Dash pretend she could feel the same -- the idea of getting caught and taken back to that life because she trusted Twilight Sparkle made Dash’s fists clench.

Applejack nodded. “It could be. But, if it’s a trap, why ain’t she yellin’ more? I mean, we barely heard her.

“I don’t know,” Dash muttered. “I just know that everything she says or does is poison.”

“Can’t really argue with that.” Applejack sighed and gazed towards where the sound came from. “But, if she’s callin’ for guards, or if guards mighta heard her, we gotta get there first.”

“It’s getting dark…” Dash pointed out. The sun was sinking lower, and especially in the shaded forest it was becoming hard to get around. Then she glanced at Applejack and noticed the worried look in her eyes. “I guess we oughta move.”

Applejack bit her lip and squared her shoulders, setting off quickly in the same direction they’d been headed. “We’ll pass by the camp and grab the flashlights… and the knives.”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack did just that, and started hunting in the night time forest to the south east of camp. For half the night it seemed to Dash like there was no way they’d ever find Twilight in this.

Dash hoped they wouldn’t. In the morning they could go back to Ponyville and get AJ’s family, and they could all find someplace to hide, and Applejack would never have to worry again. Dash could spend the rest of her life making AJ happy, and Twilight could rot someplace where they wouldn’t have to see her or talk to her.

But they searched anyway, it was what AJ wanted to do. Shining her flashlight around in the dark at a million shadowy bushes that all looked the same, Dash distracted herself by thinking of all the reasons she hated Twilight. If Applejack was proof that somehow maybe everything in the world wasn’t shit that they would just have to live with until they died, Twilight was the opposite; the symbol of everything that ripped Dash’s world and mind and soul apart. From the moment she was captured, knowing that a pony she would have died to help had betrayed her and everyone in Equestria, everything Twilight said or did felt like the universe mocking her for ever having believed in anything.

Neither Dash nor Applejack talked much as they looked for Twilight, so it broke a long silence when Applejack called as softly as she could, “Dash, careful.”

Dash looked over at where Applejack was holding the beam of her flashlight steady on something. In the dim light, Dash could make out the outline of a weird oval-ish shape, nearly as tall as a pony; the pod of one of the biggest rape vines Dash had ever seen.

“See any vines comin’ at ya’?” Applejack asked.

Dash quickly pointed her flashlight at the ground. At first she waved it nervously, but she quickly realized that made it seem like everything was moving, like anything on the forest floor might be a tendril coming for her. She stopped and held the light steady, then carefully checked each point in the direction of the plant. The ground was still.

“Nope…”

“Must have a pony already… since there ain’t many mares out this way, I’ll bet this is why Twilight was makin’ a fuss.” Applejack kept moving her flashlight around the area, looking for something else on the ground.

Dash just shone her light back on the pod. “Really? We only heard her yell once. I didn’t think these things worked that fast…”

After a few minutes of pacing through the brush, Applejack let out a sigh. “She took off her damn pants. These weren’t ripped off by the vines, she untied the knot and dropped ‘em so the vines could take her easier.”

“So she took a break from escaping to let a plant screw her?” Dash asked, walking over next to Applejack. “AJ, I think I have to agree with the caribou about something… Twilight really is a dumb cunt.”

“I… I don’t get it.” Applejack shook her head. “She knows rape vines are dangerous-- if she’s in there a couple days, she’s gonna die. But she took off her pants to let it take her, then she yelled for help…”

Applejack paused, looking down at the pants before going on slowly, “Dash, ya’ think she was tryin’ to… do somethin’ to herself… then chickened out?”

Dash raised her eyebrows. The thought of any of their friends actually trying to kill herself seemed impossible… not that Twilight was her friend. She huffed and rolled her eyes. “She probably just realized that she forgot to ask her master’s permission to kill herself.”

Applejack shined her light over on the large pod. She was quiet for a long time, Dash figured she was making a plan or something. Applejack farmed these things, and Dash knew the guards sent ponies to the Dirt Pony Farm to be put in them for punishment. She probably knew just what to do.

Finally, Applejack spoke up softly, “You think we oughta get her out?”

“What do you mean?” Dash asked hesitantly. She thought she knew what Applejack was asking, but she wasn’t sure she believed it.

But Applejack answered just as softly, as if Twilight might overhear the discussion from the pod thirty feet away, “Dash, yesterday she invited us over to be raped, tried to get us caught when we escaped, and offered to have my little sister raped by a dragon like it was a favor. Today she said somethin’ that made you mad enough to smack her, she sold you out to that guard, and took off her clothes and walked herself into a rape vine. She’s a bad pony, she’s dangerous, and she’s crazier than a griffon in a catnip patch.

“You’re the one that said she’s gotta be put down, that Twilight wouldn’t wanna live like this…” Applejack swallowed hard and looked Dash in the eye. “Well, all we gotta do to take care of that is walk away now.”

Dash just stared at Applejack. She hated Twilight. The only pony she hated more was her master, and if it was him in the rape plant Dash would’ve set it on fire already just to make certain he died. And… she’d killed a pony with her own fists, and she didn’t even really hate him, not the way she hated Twilight. She didn’t even have to kill Twilight, Twilight basically killed herself.

There shouldn’t have been a question. But, of course, there was. A big question. She knew the pony Twilight could be. Applejack had been right, if they could make Twilight be that pony again, it was their best chance of actually making this a world a pony could live in. Right now, even with Applejack next to her, it was nothing but a place to survive.

Could Twilight be that pony again? She sure seemed to be too far gone to even consider it. Everyone in Equestria was too far gone to be the ponies they were… except for AJ. But AJ was the one who brought it up. Dash couldn’t imagine AJ walking away from Twilight, leaving her to die. She couldn’t imagine any of her friends doing that. She couldn’t imagine doing it herself, except that she was so broken that she couldn’t even care anymore.

She tried to examine Applejack’s face, but with just the indirect light from the flashlights it was impossible to read.

Finally, Dash answered slowly, “I did say that, and… it does sound pretty smart. But… when I said that, that was that scared, angry pony talking.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t want to be that pony, if I can help it. Sometimes I can’t, but I can right now.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow at her.

“She’s had enough fun getting raped for one day. Let’s get her out,” Dash said, starting for the plant.

***

Twilight woke up in the mid-morning sunlight, and something was clearly wrong. There was a pain between her legs like she hadn’t felt since her first training, but without any of the euphoria of knowing she’d pleased her master and would be taken care of. But, remembering what had happened before she passed out, the stranger thing was that she was alive despite having been stupid enough to take off her pants and walk into a rape vine just so that she wouldn’t have to take a stand against a plant.

No, that wasn’t it. Mares were meant to be naked, to be available for sex at any time. If she’d been home, with her master, that would never have happened. It was her place to be a dumb cunt, not to have to make decisions about things… being naked and walking into the rape plant was right, there just should have been a male to take care of her.

But… someone had taken care of her. Not only was she free of the plant, but the thorny vines had been removed, and a bandage was pressed between her legs. And she was pretty sure some of the juices from the plant had been washed off of her coat and hair-- she was messy, but not as sticky as she would have expected.

As Twilight looked around, she noticed the knife and a pile of pieces of thorned plant next to her, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash sleeping a few feet away, Applejack’s arms wrapped protectively around Rainbow. One of her friends must have removed the stalks from where they latched inside of her. Since she wasn’t in nearly as much pain as she logically should be, they must have been as careful and gentle as they could… They’d saved her when she was trying to turn them in.

Twilight frowned, and her ears drooped. Why did everything she decided turn out to be wrong?

It wasn’t always wrong, she reminded herself. Siding with the caribou was right. And after that she wasn’t supposed to be making decisions. She hadn’t decided anything, she was going to let the males decide.

Twilight’s eye twitched.

She gingerly rolled over to her side, and found that not only was there the throbbing pain between her legs, but her whole body felt sore. Probably from straining against the vines, either in orgasm or desperate attempt to escape, or more likely both.

Applejack lay there with her eyes still closed as she spoke. “Don’t you go runnin’ off again. Me and Dash were up all night, and we’re a bit tired for another rescue mission.”

With how her body felt, Twilight couldn’t even consider the idea of leaving now. She just looked at Applejack, and whispered, “You saved me.”

Opening her eyes, Applejack slowly pushed herself up to rest on one elbow, and nodded over her shoulder to Rainbow Dash. “It was Dash’s call.”

“Why did she do it?” Twilight asked, almost fearing the answer.

“Hey, Dash, Twilight wants to know why you saved her.”

“Yeah?” Rainbow mumbled sleepily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “Well I wanna know why she walked into a rape plant.”

Twilight blushed and looked down. “It wrapped around me. I didn’t want to fight, so I just… let it make the decision.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash exchanged glances.

“A plant.” Rainbow said flatly. “You let a plant decide whether it wanted to eat you or not, and you figured you’d be totally cool with that?”

Applejack just looked concerned. “Now, Twilight, I been known to be a bit silly ‘bout plants, but I can’t say I know a single one that I’d think was smart enough to be decidin’ anything life or death.”

Twilight blushed. “I was confused! I’ve been making too many decisions. I didn’t want to make another one.”

“Um, letting a plant kill you when you can try to stop it is kind of a decision. Probably the stupidest one you could’ve made,” Rainbow pointed out. “Sometimes deciding not to do anything is a really big decision.”

Twilight searched for an answer, but there wasn’t one there. She was tired, and in pain, and it felt like her brain was struggling through that, and through too many other trains of thought that all seemed to lead to nowhere. Her eye twitched again.

They were quiet for a moment, but Twilight noticed that Applejack was just staring at her. Twilight raised her eyebrows at Applejack, who finally said gently, “Twilight, sugarcube, can we talk? I don’t wanna fight ya’ over how things oughta be, I just wanna talk about… how things were.”

“Okay,” Twilight nodded. She didn’t really have the strength to resist.

“Do you remember when we met?” Applejack asked. Rainbow frowned and turned away.

“Of course.” Twilight thought about those days, before the caribou, before she was even a princess. They seemed like another lifetime...

“Do you remember bein’ the smartest pony in Equestria?” Applejack went on.

Twilight blushed and shook her head. “I wasn’t that smart. I couldn’t have been, because…” Because a smart pony would never have… “Because I’m a mare and mares are all dumb cunts.”

She was glad that came to mind, because she didn’t know the end of her original explanation and she wasn’t sure she could hold the train of thought to come to it. That was just as true, and so much more simple.

Applejack raised her eyebrows, but just asked calmly, “Is that how you remember it, from back before the caribou came?”

Twilight tried hard to think through the dull, throbbing pain. She didn’t really remember being a dumb cunt, if she was honest with herself. She remembered doing some pretty complicated magic, and reading a lot of books that weren’t about how to please stallions. But she was never as smart as other ponies thought she was. It was all a lie, like Celestia’s power, and ponies were just foolish enough to believe that a bunch of whores were strong and smart enough to lead them. It just… seemed to work… back then. Ponies seemed to think they were happy, from what she could remember…

“I don’t know,” Twilight finally huffed, burying her face in a hand. “Why are you asking me this?”

“Because I wanna know what happened to ya’.” Applejack said simply, ignoring the derisive snort that Rainbow Dash gave. “I wanna know why ya’ changed.”

“Why I changed?” Twilight looked up, shocked. “What about you? You abandoned your farm and put your family in danger!”

“That ain’t my farm.” Applejack frowned. “That’s the Dirt Pony Farm, in case ya’ missed the sign. As for my family, we've been in danger since the caribou came. Even if I didn’t have a problem with all they wanted from me, don’t pretend the caribou couldn’t take me or Apple Bloom away from there, any time they wanted. I’m tryin’ to get my folks outta danger. Maybe I made some mistakes, but I reckon I’ve never been perfect anyhow.”

Applejack was... insane. Changing the sign didn’t make it a different farm, and if she or Apple Bloom had been taken away it would have been for their own good, to a better home for them. But there was no use arguing with Applejack, of course.

“And Rainbow Dash?” Twilight gestured to her. “She murdered a pony!”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to say something, then she shut it and took a breath before nodding. “Yeah, I did. I’m messed up, Twilight. I know it. The stuff that happened this past year… it made me like this. But I don’t want to be that kind of pony. I don’t think it’s gonna go away overnight, but I made the decision not to let you die, because I’m trying really hard.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes back. So that’s why she was alive, because Rainbow had a sudden crisis of conscious over killing an innocent pony. Well, she deserved it.

“I didn’t change, both of you changed!” Twilight snapped.

“I don’t wanna fight with you.” Applejack said calmly, which just annoyed Twilight even more. “Some things, we just don’t see eye to eye. But I’m feelin’ like if you think real hard ‘bout this, you might see what I’m sayin’...”

Twilight pouted. There was no reason to think hard on it, and she was in no condition to be thinking hard right now anyway. Her body hurt in several ways from her night last night, and now she was getting a headache. Applejack didn’t have to save her life just to torture her with an interrogation. Of course, it wasn’t really an interrogation, it was more of a conversation… but it was the same thing in the end, wasn’t it?

Her eye twitched.

“I feel sick,” Twilight sighed, laying down and closing her eyes.

“You oughta eat somethin’. We’re runnin’ low on food, but I can cook us some of what’s left. After that, I think we oughta move. We could get to the town today, but I wanna be damn sure we ain’t bein’ followed, especially after Twilight’s shout yesterday.”

“I’ll go get some water…” Rainbow offered, and she headed off towards the creek with the canteens.

“Thank you,” Twilight said softly. She wasn’t sure they heard.

***

Several hours later, Applejack and Rainbow Dash had found a new spot for their camp. This one was well hidden, but gave them a good view of the skies over the forest from the branches of a tree they could climb easily. They could make sure no search pegasi started crossing the fireswamp and looking for them, and see if any pegasi visited the area of forest where the town should be. They decided to spend a few nights here, so Dash built a makeshift shelter from branches and netting, while Applejack secured Twilight.

Using some rope, Applejack bound Twilight’s wrists behind her back again, then used the rest of the rope in an intricate series of knots around her arms and torso.

“Too tight?”

“No… this is fine. But only my wrists are really bound.”

“I know it. But them ropes are a back up. You try cuttin’ the rope from your wrists, you’re gonna find that just makes the ropes on your arms tighter. Not that you’ll be able to cut the ropes on your wrists anyhow.”

Applejack stood up and tossed some rope over the branch of a tree, then tied the other end to the straps of the backpacks. She hoisted them up and tied them off just over her head, easy enough for her and Dash to get to, but a few feet above where Twilight’s bound hands could reach.

When she turned back, Twilight was still examining and trying her ropes. “This is a really nice set up. I… don’t suppose you’d continue it between my legs?”

Applejack rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Twilight, you just got ripped up by a rape vine.”

“I know…” Twilight looked down. “I really should be punished right now.”

“I could poke her with sticks.” Dash suggested, nodding to the pile she was laying on the netting to make a roof. “Some of them aren’t even that pointy.”

Applejack just raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “Well if you’re askin’ for it, it ain’t much punishment, is it? I reckon maybe it’s worse for you to just not get any.”

“Unh.” Twilight gave a desperate little moan. “Ye--” She cut herself off and blushed.

Applejack walked over to help Dash with the shelter. She gave Dash a smile as she got there, and Dash smiled back. They fell into working closely, side by side, neither of them worrying about personal space as they brushed and bumped each other. Sometimes a playful smirk indicated that Dash might not have needed to reach past for that stick, or that Applejack’s hand sliding over Dash’s back wasn’t a thoughtless gesture.

A comfortable silence settled over them, only to be broken a little while later, by Twilight.

“Applejack? Have you ever wanted to be a stallion?”

“Uh, no?” Applejack looked back at Twilight, confused. “I mean, bein’ a mare ain’t been a barrel of cider for the past year, but I never wanted to be a stallion.”

“I was just wondering. I’ve heard of ponies who feel like they were born as the wrong gender, and I wondered if you were one, because... well…” Twilight trailed off and screwed up her face in distaste mixed with confusion. “I don’t know. It sounds wrong.”

“Go on.” Applejack suggested, turning her attention back to the shelter. It was almost ready for a layer of leaves, in case it rained before they left.

“I know you’re just a mare, but you would make a good master,” Twilight said quietly. “You control things, but you’re fair with discipline even when a mare has been bad. You’re very good at bondage; this is restrictive enough to be uncomfortable, but I could still serve easily, and even a determined black collar couldn’t get out of it… I can see why Rainbow wants to be your slave.”

“Why Rainbow Dash what now?” Applejack arched an eyebrow and looked up, intending to add this to her list of crazy things Twilight said and did in the past twenty four hours. But Dash’s eyes went wide and darted between Applejack and Twilight.

“I’m gonna kill you!” she growled at Twilight, throwing the stick she was holding at the ground. She took a step towards Twilight, then stopped with obvious effort, trying to hold herself back.

“Woah there.” Applejack placed a hand on Dash’s shoulder. “Is she talkin’ sense about something?”

“She’s… NO!” Dash blushed and seemed to avoid Applejack’s eyes, glaring daggers at Twilight. “I mean, she said it before and I slapped her.”

“I’m sorry, Rainbow. I didn’t realize it would upset you. I mean, of course, it isn’t right. No mare should be owned by a dumb cunt, I didn’t mean to imply that.” Twilight said earnestly, shaking her head. “...but I know Shining keeps some slaves for Cadance’s pleasure and lets her supervise them. So maybe it could be something like that?”

“It’s not right because no one should want to be anyone’s slave! It’s pathetic!” Dash shouted, then she clenched her fists and cringed. “That’s not how I want things to be with AJ…”

“It’s not pathetic to give yourself entirely to another pony who can take care of you,” Twilight said gently.

“No, that’s not what’s bad about it.” Dash took a deep breath and let it out with just barely a glance at Applejack, before turning back to Twilight. “What’s bad about it is being scared. It doesn’t matter if you’re scared because the pony could hurt you, or because you know they’re the only pony in the world who cares about you and you have to do anything so you don’t lose that… being scared like that isn’t cool. It shouldn’t be part of being in love.”

Twilight shook her head. “You don’t need to be scared if you’re a good slave, and you trust your master. You might get punished sometimes, but that’s just how you learn to make him happy.”

“No,” Applejack spoke up finally.

“Reinforcement is a very effective method of changing behavior, Applejack,” Twilight pointed out.

“Maybe it is, but no one has the right to make a grown pony change to please ‘em. And that sure ain’t love, if they do it.” She turned and reached out a hand to where Rainbow Dash stood planted, not daring to touch her without invitation. “Dash…”

Dash ignored the hand and looked down. “I’m sorry, AJ. I’m sorry I’m like this. I just-- I don’t wanna feel like this.”

“Dash, it’s--” Applejack started, but it was too late.

Dash turned suddenly and darted into the woods, not even bothering to glance back as she muttered, “Just let me go.”

Applejack stood there, staring at where Dash had disappeared into the woods. She knew that Dash would come back, but everything between them would be different.

She’d worked so hard to make Dash feel strong and safe and free, hoping that as Dash became sure of those things she’d be able to give her love freely, and hoping that maybe that love would be for Applejack. In just a few moments, that plan had been shot to hell. Dash saw her as just another trap.

She turned and blinked blindly at the camp, until she focused on Twilight. “You did that on purpose.”

Twilight’s eyes were wide. “No, I--”

Applejack’s eyes narrowed as she cut her off. “There’s no way two mares can be happy together, so ya’ saw us gettin’ close and you had to end that, huh?”

“I didn’t mean to!” Twilight protested. “I mean, of all the crazy things the two of you think and do, wanting to fuck each other isn’t in the top ten!”

“I don’t wanna fuck her! I wanna love her!” Applejack crossed her arms. “Love, Twilight. It’s when ya’ care more about a pony than you do about their holes. Ever thought about that?”

“A good slave loves her master,” Twilight said softly. “Rainbow loves you, AJ.”

Applejack spat on the ground. “Bullshit. Like Dash said, you can’t love a pony you gotta be scared of. And a master can’t love a pony he really thinks is lower than him. I reckon maybe there’s ponies that can be happy with that, but it ain’t love. Not to me, and not to Dash.”

“You’re talking about a fairy tale, AJ. That’s not how the world works.” Twilight said, furrowing her eyebrows in concern.

“Maybe it ain’t. But it’s the world I’m tryin’ to get back.”

“That doesn’t seem to be making you happy.” Twilight swallowed and seemed to be speaking straight from her heart as she went on, “AJ, I understand. Fighting this is so hard, and it-- it hurts so much. And everything seems to go wrong. But, then you give in, and that all goes away. A master takes care of you, and you don’t need to fight anymore. You can relax and have fun, and not worry about some world that’s supposed to be. You can’t imagine how nice it is until you try it.”

Applejack just stared at Twilight sitting on the blanket, her arms bound. She shook her head. “Dash said the other day that everything you say and do is poison… well, ya’ got us again.”

Then Applejack closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. “But every drop of poison you feed us just reminds me why I’m fightin’. A world that made Dash run scared from lovin’ me ain’t something I’m gonna give into, even if Dash can never think it’s safe to love a pony again.” She opened her eyes and looked straight at Twilight. “No, Twilight, that’s a world I’m gonna rip down, if I gotta do it brick by brick with my own two hands.”

“She’s going to come back. She won’t go back to Ponyville,” Twilight pointed out.

“I know it. But she’s never gonna believe I love her, now that I know I could hurt her.” Applejack sighed. “No matter what I say, in her heart she’s gonna be scared of gettin’ burned.”

Twilight was quiet, then she said softly, “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you or Rainbow.”

“I really don’t wanna talk to you no more,” Applejack said, turning back to finish the shelter alone.

*

Author's Note

Sorry this one is short and sparse. I plead my belly. I might be late on the next chapter, but I'll try to keep you guys posted.