Trixieverse 2/Rarity's Worst Day Ever

by Applejinx

Rating: mature
Tags: Trixie, Sex, Big Macintosh, Princess Celestia, Main 6, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance
Length: 123032

Sequel to "Trixie's Magic Bit"! The romance troubles are back, with a vengeance!

When the luscious Rarity seeks to bring the joys of 'futa' to an unwilling lover, she finds herself suddenly bereft of inspiration- and the repercussions multiply in a cascade of erotic carnage that cannot be believed!

Published 2012-04-22 20:14:05 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-27 10:49:03 UTC

Best Laid Plans

(this book is a sequel to Trixie’s Magic Bit)

Rarity’s eyes opened slowly, indulgently.

Curtains on the dawn—no, it was a little past dawn, that wouldn’t do. Curtains on the stage of a life lived as poetry—that was more like it. Rarity took in her surroundings.

This time, they did not include a hulking red stallion, for several reasons: firstly, it was in Fillydelphia that they shared a bed, not in Ponyville, and secondly, he would insist upon rising before the dawn to ‘hit th’ fields’. She had been unable to break him of this habit, so they did not sleep nights, as she did not wish to be jostled from slumber.

They spent nights. Sometimes they spent nights until they, too, were spent, strong-willed unicorn mare contesting with plow-horse unto exhaustion. But they did not sleep nights.

Rarity looked around, her brow knitting, taking stock of the planned flow of her day. It was always about harmonious flow and the balance of experiences and endeavors. Nopony understood this—well, let them not understand, then, they didn’t need to understand, did they? They did not create, they labored, or studied, or served. Hers was not theirs.

But to her, the harmonious flow of the day was a necessity, an art and a duty to herself and her muse. If one needed to create art, to create it on a level that rivalled the boldest in Canterlot fashions, one needed to create one’s life as art first. One lived a life of beauty and passion and daring, and then created unthinkingly, following the flow of inspiration, and the inspiration would come forth, to be followed by execution, and the result would stun the most jaded of Canterlot fashionistas. Rarity smiled smugly to herself.

The smile dropped away, as she glanced across her bedroom and saw a hem pinned to the wall. That damned shirring! Execution, sometimes it was down to execution. The hell of it was, she hadn’t made a mistake. She did not make mistakes! They were inspirations un-looked-for, and it would have been better if she had been open to that.

No, this damned hem bore no inspirations, and that was because she’d been too certain of herself in sewing it. She’d had a clear idea of the density of the shirring, and had foolishly allowed herself to focus in on that point and striven to sew it neatly and evenly, forgetting one of her primary maxims! “Uniformity is not beauty”. She knew that and still she’d ignored it, and one look at the finished horrible, horrible wretched hem told her how badly she’d blown it. Instead of presenting the appearance of a burbling, natural mountain brook in rippled satin, she had made a stinking accordion, or some industrial object, hideously uniform and utilitarian.

Rarity’s hooves curled in dismay under the covers as she stared at the dreadful hem. Worse, she hadn’t any spare fabric to re-do it, so she would have to painstakingly unravel it and do it over. This meant she could not fling it out the window, or throw it into the fire. It would hang there, taunting her, until she attended to the horrid task.

She heaved a tragic sigh and rolled over in bed, looking away from the hateful object, and looked directly at another object, a gleaming metallic bit on her bedside table. Rarity blinked—and smiled.

There… there was inspiration.

Rarity wriggled under the covers, her hooves sliding against the sheer silk. She wrapped some around a hoof and, in a familiar gesture, drew it tenderly across her alabaster breasts, parting her legs and feeling the nipples stir and wake. She needed to check the piercings—they had to remain inconspicuous but not shrink beyond what was usable. The last time she’d worn chains they had been rather uncomfortable, in a tiresome way. It was better if pain was linked to actions and events, rather than providing an irritating background. Contrast was everything.

Rarity’s hoof slipped between her legs, rubbing and caressing.

She’d seen some delicious contrasts thanks to that bit.

She let her eyes close, savoring the so-recent memory. It’d been only the previous night.

She’d known just what to do, right down to the size of stool she had to stand on, for she knew the poor darling would be flustered and not up to holding special postures. And he wouldn’t lubricate—or at least she very much doubted such a thing was possible—so she’d taken some butter from the pantry and hoped it would suffice.

Interestingly, when she was ready to begin, the magic penis oozed a bit. She hadn’t known they did that. But then, she hadn’t much patience for penises being withheld from her, so her observation of the phenomenon had always been cut short, and the penises’ ooze always mingled with her own nectars as a matter of course.

It was different, so different, when a magic sex toy provided her with a penis of her own to wield upon a lover.

Big Macintosh was obedient. He’d never been one to pursue the farther regions of dominance and submission, but she’d trained him well to be open to the ingenuity of her glorious, perverse mind. The look on his face as she reared before him, bit in teeth, was one she would not soon forget. She considered it a lucky break he hadn’t wet himself.

He’d given her a look, when she informed him of how he’d be pleasured, and he’d laughed at her when she told him it would make him come harder than he’d ever come before. “Ain’t possible!” he scoffed. “What the hay is a prostate, anyway?” It seemed like he was happy to deny the whole thing. He swore it wouldn’t work. He’d said, “Fine. Afterwards, we’ll do it right, and I’ll show ya what a stallion’s for.”

Rarity had done the showing, that night.

Big Macintosh was big, but very tight in his bum. He really didn’t want her new cock to go in there, but all that butter had slickened it up nicely. The novelty of it and the sheer shock value caused her to get terribly stiff and hard, and her stallion-flare had swelled up early. She’d intended to fondle him using her magic, but found herself using it simply to guide the stallionhood correctly, bracing it when it wanted to bend off to the side, wedging it deep as Big Macintosh’s huge hips squirmed and evaded…

When Rarity’s erection shoved past Big Macintosh’s tightnesses and sunk into him, the whinny he let out made her insanely horny, and she knew she was on to an exciting new perversity. This was going to inspire weeks of work, and lead to creations impossibly brash and risque, even if it didn’t please him—and yet, there was something about that whinny that grabbed her. It was like a loss of control, the experiencing of something shocking.

Rarity’s magic had reached down between his legs, and she’d rejoiced. Big Macintosh had sprung an enormous stiffie. Her horn glowed as she fondled it—and then, her hips began to lovingly move.

Rarity nuzzled Big Macintosh’s mane, drunk with excitement and glee. Her lover was physically shaking, so intense were his reactions. He sobbed, as she wrapped herself around him, tenderly thrusting her magic-bit-induced cock inside his bum. He was gripping her so tightly, but the greasy butter proved worthy—and it seemed like the harder he gripped, the more intense his sensation was. Her magic told her that, as she fondled his now oozing and throbbing stallionhood. His heart pounded so dreadfully that she feared for him, and, nuzzling the back of his neck, she crooned, “Come on, baby, let go…”

Big Macintosh had sobbed again.

“Come on, give it to me…”

Rarity had slowed down her thrusting, for her hips weren’t athletic like his, but she’d bit down on the magic toy for all she was worth, and pushed deeply into him, using her magic to fondle his cock hungrily. She nudged and shoved, and wanked him as hard as she could with her magic, holding his trembling body tightly.

Big Macintosh had screamed a high-pitched scream.

Then… he came.

“Oh, good baby!” cried Rarity, feeling him convulse. She heard a splatter, and it was across the room. He’d shot a load fifteen feet. He screamed again, and fired another splash of stallioncome half that far—and then Rarity squealed, and came inside him, and felt his body shudder as his orgasm flared up for one more burst, splitting the difference between the first two shots.

She’d come so hard that she’d passed out, and fallen off his back, the magic bit dropping from her mouth.

The next thing Rarity had seen was Big Macintosh’s weeping face as he asked her, “Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?”

She kissed him, her eyes radiant. “It was worth it, beloved!”

They lay for a while where she’d landed, cuddling in silence. Rarity nuzzled and gazed at Big Macintosh. He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at the puddle of come he’d shot entirely across the room. She looked at it too, and smiled. She hadn’t lied. He really had come harder than he’d ever come before, thanks to her.

Back during the royal wedding, when she’d bucked ponies aside to catch the bouquet, it was this she had been thinking of. She meant to claim her secret lover and eventually marry him, once he had been coaxed to go public, and she considered it both a pleasure and a duty to prove that she could pleasure him more than anything—more than he ever expected, or dared. She would let nothing stand in her way—nothing. And so, she’d fucked him up the ass until he came with unprecedented violence, she’d thrown everything she had into it until she herself had swooned and collapsed off him.

She would do it again, if that’s what it took to prove her love. She would break all expectations and rules and prove her specialness, and she would claim her mate. Since the first night, when she’d felt him holding her so tenderly as that titanic phallus wedged her wide, she’d known. She’d sprayed the ceiling with unicorn-gasm and squealed herself hoarse in his embrace, and her die was cast on that night.

She’d ended up a twitching wreck, unable to lift one elegant, alabaster limb, and it had been the beginning of an unbroken chain of beautiful moments—where her massive lover reduced her body to a beautiful unicorn puddle and then cared for her. As it happened, even with her fucking him and driving him to a record orgasm, still it was she who’d collapsed. She would never be able to rival her stallion’s limitless strength, even as a faux-stallion herself.

He’d tucked her into bed, still looking worried. She’d reassured him that she was all right. He’d departed her bedroom without a word.

Rarity thought back on this. Perhaps she’d wanked him too hard? Big Macintosh liked to be comfortable, and liked her to be comfortable. Sometimes she didn’t want to be. Sometimes she wanted to deliciously suffer. He was good at causing that, in some positions. His cock had felt so huge in the grip of her magic, as it went off like a spurting cannon. She was teaching him the eroticism of boundary-crossing, in turn. And my, thought Rarity, he’d taken to it like a duck to water, hadn’t he? She’d nearly been flung off him as he released that first time. She hadn’t expected it to be that savage an orgasm, she’d expected more reservations.

Rarity knew the moods of Big Macintosh’s body. She prided herself on playing upon them with a skill beyond anypony he’d known. It was a very good thing she’d discovered this herself, rather than some Canterlot stallion coming to steal him from her. Rarity silently vowed to pester Twilight and Trixie for a backup magic bit, to keep in a safe place—if this toy was to be so central to Big Macintosh’s libido, she was damned if she’d risk losing it.

She considered lovemaking logistics, as she wriggled out of bed and got her hooves on the ground. Perhaps deft use of magic could make some object or device penetrate him, while he penetrated her. She wanted both ways at once. She wanted to feel that spurting cannon aimed at her quivering womb, to feel that blast of horse-come against her insides. The thought of it made her wobbly-legged as she collected the infernal hem, and brought it out of the bedroom, heading for the kitchen to make breakfast.

He’d brought in mail, before he left, it seemed. There was an envelope, addressed to…

Not addressed at all. Rarity stopped, staring at it. Whatever could it be? The mail didn’t send envelopes without addresses. And Big Macintosh didn’t write notes—ever.

Perhaps a visitor, then. Rarity set the hem down on the table, and her horn glowed again as she picked up the envelope. It was one of her envelopes. What would she be doing, sealing envelopes without writing letters?

No, not sealed, either. There was something inside. A letter?

Rarity’s eyes were a little too wide as she withdrew the letter. It seemed that the birds had stopped chirping outside. Why would that be? Why had the world seemed to stop for a moment, just as she unfolded this strange, unmarked letter?

It was his writing, his slightly awkward, large-lettered writing.

Just three words…

“Dearest Rarity: Nope.”

Silence.

Rarity stared at the words, trying to believe her world had not just collapsed.

Avalanche

Rainbow Dash glowed with that wonderful energy of post-fucking. She nibbled idly at a perfect oat-cake, and shifted in her seat, deliciously sore. Her wing, raised and bent slightly at the upper coverts, twitched as if still feeling the aftershocks of her morning. Applejack had ridden Rainbow hard, and turned around and begun cooking her a glorious breakfast afterwards.

She was working on an omelet, flipping it out of the pan with a deft jerk of her head that sent her silky blonde mane flying. The mane flowed freely, with no hair-tie, for Applejack went naked around Dash. Her tail was naked of hair-ties too. Dash’s gaze lingered.

Applejack caught Rainbow’s stare out of the corner of her eye, and her mouth curved in a wry smile, her eye coyly taking in Dash’s body as well—and that upraised wing, bent cutely, its feathers disheveled—and, putting the pan down, Applejack sidled over with a wicked smirk on her face.

Dash just beamed at her, and then gasped, a shudder running through her lean body. Applejack had leaned over and licked her upper coverts, lingeringly.

She did it again, too—and closed her lips around a feather, and tugged with great gentleness. Dash’s eyes went very wide, and she panted. “Hnnnnngh! Please!”

Applejack looked smug, holding the feather in her lips. “Meanin’?”

Rainbow couldn’t stop panting. “You know I have to go off to Weather Patrol… and I have to be able to, you know, fly…”

“Thought y’all could always fly. Thought you was th’ best.”

“Please! You know what that does to me!”

Applejack’s eyes crinkled up around the edges. “Well, I had my breakfast. Work’s awaitin’. You don’t think you can eat breakfast while I jes’… gnaw, real gentle-like, on the base of them there wings? An’ call it dee-sert?”

Rainbow Dash’s expression was pitiful. “Nnnng! No fair!”

Applejack sniffed in mock offense, and stepped back, smirking from ear to ear. “Oh, all right! If you think it would be too distractin’ and all! Enjoy your breakfast, my love…”

Dash quivered, looking stunned. “Oh my gosh. Um, yeah. Oh, Applejack…”

“Too much? I can finish th’ job…”

“Nooo!” pleaded Rainbow Dash, but she was grinning too. “No, I’m okay. Oh my gosh. You understand me so well… you really, really know me, huh?”

“From wingtip to wingtip—beloved,” purred Applejack. She blinked, looking at the clock. “But dang… you ain’t foolin’. Call that a taste of what’s waitin’ at the end of th’ day? I got to run, fields need harrowin’.”

“Yeah, go ahead. Hey, I know you too,” said Dash. “Don’t tire yourself out too much, okay?”

“Well… I’ll try,” winked Applejack, and trotted off out of the kitchen, head held high.

Dash sighed happily, returning to her oat cakes. Life was so rich. There was the satisfaction of her work at Weather Patrol. There was the steady increase in recognition for her exceptional flying skills. And then… there was home life.

It still seemed too good to be true, like some outside thing would come and break it. It was best of both worlds—of all possible worlds. Rainbow’s eye twitched just thinking about what an impossibly sweet deal it was.

She’d always been drawn to other mares, such as Pinkie, but she wasn’t like Pinkie—she eyed guy parts as well. Then, digging through the wreckage of Trixie’s old cart, she’d discovered Trixie’s magic bit, and its strange powers. She’d become male—or something like that—just biting the thing, and a world of possibilities had opened up.

One of them had been the straight mare she’d been running with for years, Applejack. She’d discovered that Applejack wasn’t quite as straight as she thought. No, that wasn’t the right way to put it, Applejack was the straightest thing ever, it’s just that she was a lot more… adaptable than Rainbow Dash had ever hoped.

All hell broke loose, but when the dust had settled, she was sleeping in Applejack’s bed as often as she slept at home. And though the two of them were free to enjoy the special talents of Pinkie Pie and various bodysex activities with whoever needed them—Rainbow’s wings had been claimed.

She still couldn’t quite believe that part. She didn’t think it would ever happen, so she’d become epic at bodysex and insisted that was enough, refusing even to think about it. And then, Applejack had come along, not even a pegasus, just an earth pony—and had been the one to part her feathers. It was crazy, but it had happened.

And that was understating things. Applejack was a quick learner, and utterly shameless in certain ways. The things she was willing to do to Rainbow’s poor wings! Dash wriggled, panting just to think about it. She’d thought she was daring! Applejack seemed to have no boundaries at all. She would do anything to a wing, anything. It was unspeakably exciting and obscene and Rainbow Dash couldn’t get enough of it. Licking, tugging feathers, preening in the most obscene way you could imagine, gnawing her wing base, with lips or even teeth…

Rainbow shook herself. She realized her vag was oozing onto Applejack’s nice clean floor.

Oh, and the bodysex, of course. Applejack loved it both ways, with Dash wielding the magic bit and temporary hard-on, or using it herself and ramming a thick stallionhood up Rainbow until she screamed. That stuff was great fun, the best. It was awesome that Applejack enjoyed it so much.

Rainbow grabbed a clean rag in her teeth, tossed it on the floor and wiped up her slight mess. She glanced at the clock and whimpered. No time! And she had to preen!

Rainbow went to sit, realized the problem, and solved it by sitting on the cloth with a juicy squidge, feeling a shock run through her from her overexcited vag. Felt like a bucket of hot lube in there. It was gonna be a long day—nopony at Weather Patrol for the upcoming shift was very good at bodysex, she’d have to wait until evening unless she really wanted to make do.

Ignoring the sensory overload that only made her ooze more, Rainbow Dash cautiously preened her wings, determined to get them presentable. Applejack was unbearable sometimes, left her looking like a featherduster, didn’t seem to care—or even enjoyed it. That only excited Dash worse, but then you had to fly off to work and be seen in public with those wings. Dash blushed horribly—Applejack had licked her coverts. She’d tugged a feather, which was visibly out of place. You could see where her teeth had been. Rainbow, her cool blue color turned a flaming scarlet, worked to conceal the indiscretion.

There was simply no time. Rainbow left off, frustrated, for she had to leave right away and head straight to Weather Patrol—it was obvious she wouldn’t be able to take the comfortable route over the dry fields, where thermals were beginning to rise. It was infuriating, too, because it was already bright and sunny, and it was obvious she’d have been able to glide to work, just about. No dice. It was the straight path past the cliffs for Rainbow Dash, this morning. Well… thermals sucked in the morning anyway. Besides, putting some hard air under her wings would be sure to cover up any signs of their… use.

A tiny sound caught Rainbow’s ear. It was a drop of pony lube hitting the floor under her vag.

Cursing, she went after it with the rag, and hit the air before her stray thoughts worked her up even worse.

It was a glorious day in the sky, though there was surprisingly little cumulus—apparently the thermals weren’t out in force anyway, which was some consolation. They were never around the cliffs early in the morning, only much, much later in the day after the rocks and rubble had been warmed by the sun. There was nothing but the clear sky and the red dot on the edge of the cliff.

Rainbow Dash blinked.

Yeah, whatever that was, it was gonna get blown off the…

Whoa, thought Dash, as she sped closer. Not what. Who.

Not just any who, either. That was Big Macintosh!

Without a moment of hesitation, she doubled her speed, swooping down as the air screamed past her body. If he fell, she’d be able to intersect his path if she made an arc like so…

Second after second went by, and he didn’t fall. The potential curves of her flight path to rescue him grew easier and easier to fly, until she was circling below him, easily able to meet any possible flight path. Rainbow flew up under him, a determined look in her eyes.

“Step back! That’s not safe!” she called.

Big Macintosh stood on the edge, staring off to the horizon, his jaw set.

“Y’ think?” he said.

“What?” called Rainbow. “Look, I’ve got you covered! I’ll catch you, but you need to step back, okay? There are gusts up here you wouldn’t know about!”

“Oh,” said Big Macintosh, and his head dropped.

Dash rose up in front of him, and began pushing him away from the edge, her wings flapping fiercely. “Come on, that’s the way… what the hay are you doing here, Big Macintosh?”

He allowed himself to be bullied back from the edge ten feet, and no further—he sat down and wouldn’t budge. He wouldn’t speak, and then when Rainbow Dash was about to ask him twice, he muttered his answer.

“Leavin’, maybe.”

“What’s that s…” began Rainbow, and then her eyes widened in horror. “Oh no. No WAY. That’s it, fuck Weather Patrol. Just what do you think you mean by that? What is going on, Big Macintosh?”

“Don’t wanna say.”

Rainbow glared. “That’s too bad. You better say! I’m not joking. Am I reading too much into this, or are you standing on the edge of a cliff saying you’re ‘leaving’? First of all, leaving what?”

Big Macintosh wouldn’t look up. “What if ah said—life?”

“No. Just no.” Rainbow Dash shook her head, her unkempt mane flying. “Forget it. I’ll catch you. I can do that, you better believe it. How about, instead, you tell me what the heck happened to you that brought this on? Ponies should talk about things when they’re upset! Um, except I guess your whole family isn’t good at that. Or me, either. And Fluttershy’s really bad at it. And sometimes I think there’s stuff Twilight isn’t telling me… okay, ponies don’t talk about the things that upset them. But they should!”

Big Macintosh looked over at her with a sidelong glance. Rainbow was so small, relative to him, that he was still looking down a little. “I done left Rarity. ‘Cause of what she did.”

“Okay, that’s a start… you mean, dressing up kinky and fucking you in the barn in Fillydelphia?” Rainbow blinked. “Uhhh, so I hear…”

Big Macintosh laughed, hollowly. “That’s a good ‘un. You done more than jes’ hear. You watched, and she knew all th’ time and lied about it.”

“Well first of all I’m really sorry, okay? And you shouldn’t hold that against her! I think she’s a really special pony that you’re lucky to have, and she’s lucky to have you…”

“Nopony lucky to have me,” muttered Big Macintosh, looking away.

“What’s that?”

“Ah said, NO pony lucky to have me. If y’all just let me alone? Ain’t your business.”

“Whoa, whoa, stop. Not a chance, Big Macintosh,” said Rainbow Dash. “Hey, show me your face, we’re having a conversation. What’s going on? You’re seriously telling me all this is over me seeing you in the sack? I don’t care who sees me fuck, so what crawled up your ass about it?”

At that, Big Macintosh’s head started to turn. His face came into view, and it was a visage of terrible grief and self-pity.

“Rarity.”

“What?” blinked Rainbow Dash.

Big Macintosh held his chin up high, but began to weep. “Rarity did that. Up… my ass. She had this bit thingy, and… and…”

Rainbow briefly squeaked with laughter, but then all at once she had to scramble, for Big Macintosh had halfheartedly made a break for the cliff edge. She wrestled him back without difficulty, her wings flapping madly, and planted herself between him and the cliff.

“No way! You stay there! Yeah, those. I’m real familiar with those. I didn’t know Twi gave her one. Wow! Okay, I’ll try not to either laugh at you or get excited, but you’re gonna tell me what’s so wrong about that, right now. Look, sometimes ponies do stuff we don’t like, okay?”

Big Macintosh wouldn’t meet her eye. “Nope. Ain’t okay.”

“Explain.” Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and glared.

He stammered, couldn’t get the words out, and then… “Ah’m a big fag-pony.”

Rainbow Dash’s glare didn’t waver. “So? I’m a raging lesbian. Not a good enough reason to jump off cliffs. Keep talking.”

“You don’t understand!”

“Wrong again,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Ah mean… Ah liked it. My body done come harder than it ever do. It’s all over. Mares is over, I gotta be a big fag-pony now. Cause ‘a this thing called a prostate.”

Rainbow Dash snickered, then controlled herself. “Are you serious?”

“Ah been livin’ a lie. Cain’t live without it, neither. It’s jes’ wrong. Okay,” said Big Macintosh in haste, for he saw Rainbow beginning to argue, “maybe it ain’t wrong in general. It’s okay if it ain’t wrong for you and all. It’s wrong for me. Cain’t live with it.”

Dash sat on her haunches with a gentle squidge and stared at him. “It sounds like this is a big change for you. Suddenly you’re all about the cock? And you can’t handle it?”

“Ah must be. I keep thinkin’ on it. Rarity’s evil, she changed me into a fag-pony. How come she want to do that?”

“First lesson. Can you stop saying ‘fag-pony’? You’re saying it like it’s a bad thing. It wasn’t such a problem for you before—well, I guess it just wasn’t personal for you before, huh? I’m offended, for me and quite a few other ponies, and I want you to stop that.”

“Uhh… okay,” said Big Macintosh.

“Good. Now, what’s this about changing? You look like the same Big Macintosh I’ve always known. Is Rarity the first mare you’ve been with? I’m wondering if you have any experience at all.”

“Ayep. Ah mean, nope… Ah mean, I never was with nopony until her. Ain’t gonna be, neither. How many ponies like that can there be? She done asked me. Real clever-like, too. That don’t happen every day.”

“It sounds like she’s very special, and you need to go back and give her a second chance…”

She cringed back, instinctively. Big Macintosh looked a lot bigger when he was angry.

“No! Not after what she done! She broke me as a stallion!”

“Well, I guess maybe not right away, you should think about it when you’ve settled down…”

“Never! Ah was a fool all along, and now I’m a pretty-boy gay fool! She done ruined me, Rainbow Dash! Ain’t even likin’ mares no more, and that’s just not me!”

He pounded the ground with a fore-hoof, his eyes squeezed shut, as if he was suffering more than could be borne.

“I can see how that would be upsetting…” stammered Dash.

Big Macintosh breathed heavily. His eyes opened, soaked with tears, and he glowered down at her. “Leave me ALONE. Th’ heart of me is already gone. Thanks to that horrible mare an’ her crazy pervertedness.”

Rainbow Dash met his eyes, though it was challenging. Then, hers narrowed.

“Bullshit.”

“What did you say?”

“I said, that’s bullshit.” Rainbow Dash stared back, hard. “You’re being too cowardly to face a new kink you didn’t know you had. Ponies don’t change suddenly like that. You’re still the same stallion you always were. You’re just more complicated and there’s another thing about you.”

“Ah’m ruined. Ruined!” insisted Big Macintosh.

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed even more, and she smirked.

The next thing Big Macintosh saw was a flurry of blue feathers, as Dash sprang to her hooves. There was a swirl of rainbow color, a blur of motion, and suddenly he was confronted with the last thing he expected to see.

Rainbow Dash, body pressed to the ground like a cat, wings flared out in bold arcs, and her pert ass stuck right up into his face. Her colorful tail swished and flicked to the side, and he was staring right at Rainbow’s pouting, sopping vagina, the clitoris swollen and jutting out below, making female sculpture of Dash’s mare-parts.

Big Macintosh gulped. All he could do was stare. He licked his lips, his eyes wide… and then Dash had whirled and was shoving him over onto his back.

“HA! You see? You see?” she cried.

Big Macintosh looked down between his legs, where she was pointing, with a hoof, in gleeful jabbing gestures. His cock was hardening, reaching its full size.

Oh.

Rainbow leapt onto him, gloating. “You are SO fucking not gay! That’s a huge boner-kill for real gay colts! That was super convenient, I didn’t realize me being all juicy was gonna come in so useful. Trust me, that makes it a lot worse for gay colts, but look at you! Ha! You’re soooo not gay. Just because your body can respond to different stuff doesn’t tell you what you are!”

Big Macintosh licked his lips. “I… well, consarn it. I, uh, thanks?”

“No problem!” said Rainbow Dash. She bounced off him, and strutted away, and gave a little hop. “Now, do you promise you’re all better? No more cliff edges?”

Big Macintosh’s heart pounded. “Uhhh… except for not havin’ no mare no more. Cain’t go back to Rarity. It were a long time a-comin’. I best leave that t’ lay.”

Rainbow Dash turned and looked at him. “Are you sure?”

“Ah’m real sure. Even if I am a stallion really—it were too far.”

“Is that why you’re looking so sad?” asked Rainbow.

Big Macintosh bit his lip. He shut his eyes. He shook his head. Then, he felt something against his cheek. It was Rainbow Dash, nuzzling him. “C’mon, what’s the matter?”

He said it.

“Won’t be no other pony comin’ to me like that.”

“So?” blinked Dash.

“So… th’ last sex I’ll ever have, is gittin’ fucked up the ass. What mare would want a stallion, where the very last sex he had was gittin’ fucked up the ass?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t speak. She stared past him as if he wasn’t there. She bit her lip—and then, she set her jaw, and stepped away from him a few paces.

“Come on. I have Weather Patrol.”

“Whut?” said Big Macintosh.

He looked up. Dash was facing away from him, well braced. Her wings weren’t flared out—they were tucked to her sides, unusually tight.

He was looking up at her taut, toned ass, her parted, slick vag. She looked back at him.

“Come on! Least I can do. I was super horny anyway. And then, I want you to go away from here. Think about how not gay you are, settle down. I guess you need a demonstration.”

“But…”

“Promise you’ll get away from this cliff! And that you’ll believe what you’ve learned—that you’re the same stallion you always were. That you’re into mares.”

Big Macintosh blinked. He couldn’t stop staring at Dashie’s cunt. “But…”

“Well, don’t back off now! You’re gonna start believing you don’t want mares again! Can I at least prove that point for you? I’m not gonna say I won’t enjoy it. You know me, right?”

“Thought I did,” breathed Big Macintosh. He got awkwardly to his hooves.

“There’s nopony good at body sex at Weather Patrol today, so it all works out…”

Big Macintosh stepped closer, as if in a dream. Under him, his erection became fully stiff, pressing against his belly. He couldn’t stop staring at Dash’s vag—until her head turned, and he found himself staring into her eyes, eyes that were fierce slits.

“Don’t. Touch. My wings.” She’d hissed it, through gritted teeth.

Big Macintosh gulped. “Ayep.”

“I mean it. They’re not for you.”

“Ayep,” he said, confused.

Rainbow tossed her mane, satisfied. “All right then! Come on, don’t you think you’ll like it? It’s not only mare pussy, it’s Rainbow Dash pussy. Best bodysex anywhere. Turns even mares gay, it should set you straight. You’ll feel mega hetero, let’s do this.”

His cock swung under him—the flash of what seemed like fury from Dash had put him off—but he heaved himself up onto Rainbow’s rump, and she oofed and braced herself, taking his weight. “I got it! I’m good!” she said.

Big Macintosh, feeling like he was dreaming, began to prod with his hips, the wind blowing his mane, looking out at the expanse of vista viewable from the cliff. He’d never fucked a little pegasus while confronted with so much sky, before. He’d never fucked a little pegasus ever, for that matter.

Rainbow’s ass was wriggling, and she pecked at the ground with a forehoof. “C’mon…”

Big Macintosh shifted his grip, careful not to get too near her tightly folded wings.

“C’mon, c’m…aaaahh!”

He entered her.

Rainbow reeled, bracing herself, her eyes clenched shut. It was just as she knew it would be—crazy fat, a brutal challenge. She’d been so sopping and juicy she squidged when she sat, and it proved equal to the challenge. His massive cock pried her wide, seeming to grind her pelvis, and her juices eased its passage as it slowly pressed deeper into her.

Big Macintosh groaned. The little pegasus was so tight and hot! Her lean ass squeezed at him, pressing the sides of his stallionhood, then relaxed as another inch of massive horsecock slid into pegasus vagina. She squealed, her wings rattling against her sides and clamping tight again, and she kicked the ground with her forehoof. She felt so awkward compared to Rarity, but the sounds she was making were amazing—less voluptuous, less indulgent, yet somehow just as passionate.

Rainbow Dash dropped her head, panting, as she felt that huge stallionhood nudge deeper, and let out a filthy rowr as it came to rest inside her, as deep as it would go. Her heart was pounding madly, her eyes crossing with the sensory overload of it all. She squealed, as she felt the whole thing tug a few inches out of her, and then slide back to her depths with a thump that rocked her psyche.

Big Macintosh shuddered, dizzy with arousal, and he couldn’t quite believe what that had felt like. He did it again, even more—drew half his stallionhood out of the tight little pegasus with the clamped-closed wings, or half of what was crammed into her, anyway—and slid it back in as far as it’d go. It was like he could feel all her vagina sliding against him, from the tight grip at the base to the snug enfolding of her flesh within her cerulean-blue body, juiced with pony ooze until there was no friction, and then squeezed with internal pressures and tensions until he could feel every inch of pussy anyhow. Big Macintosh grunted, swung his hips back, and sunk his swelling hard-on yet again, in… the tight little pegasus.

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and shrieked, the tendons on her neck standing out. That cock was simply outrageous, one of the best she’d ever had, and she heaved wobbly breaths as she rode its motions, motions that were bold enough to blow her mind and gentle enough to keep things feeling sweet for her. Sweet wasn’t even the word, though. It was like the ultimate bodysex, he was like some huge powerful beast taking her. As that massive erection thrust to her depths once more, Rainbow Dash screamed and began to come, spasming wildly, barely retaining her balance, her wings rattling in a blur against her body as she cried out in breathless shrieks of release.

Big Macintosh stood about two seconds of that, before grunting again, his eyes squeezed shut, his balls clenching—and he came, a gush of stallion-come squirting through his stiff hardness and mingling with the pegasus’s copious juices.

He panted. He dismounted. She stood, quivering, head down, her vag gaping, pony juices first pouring and then dripping out of it.

“hhhh… Thanks…” said Big Macintosh.

“hhhh… No problem…” said Rainbow Dash.

They stood for a moment, not looking at each other.

“So… you good?” asked Dash.

“Uhhh…”

Dash turned to stare up at him. “You promised that would help! I really do have Weather Patrol to get to. If you’re not okay, I’m still not leaving…”

“It did! It did!” stammered Big Macintosh. “I, uhh, I feel like a real stallion now, for sure. Thank y’all, I ain’t ever seen th’ like. Uh, felt th’ like. Uh… yep!”

Rainbow brightened. “Well, I told you I was a pretty special pony. Like I said, I make even mares gay, I’m glad I could reconnect you with your guy-ness. Which is pretty ironic if you think about it but hey! All in a day’s work.”

She hesitated, and her eyes narrowed again. “Why do you look so worried?”

“Uhhh… I’m thinkin’ maybe we shouldn’a done that.”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, but… when a colt an’ a filly…”

“It was bodysex! You didn’t touch my wings. Thank you for taking me seriously with that, by the way.”

“But, Miss Dash… uhhh, I was… I came, Miss Dash. I came in you.”

“Proves you’re not gay, doesn’t it?” said Rainbow Dash.

This only caused Big Macintosh to look more worried. “Welllll… consarn it, there’s a whole mess o’ things wrong with that there picture, but try this on for size. I don’t know if y’all grew up on a farm or nothin’ but that’s how lil’ colts and fillies are made.”

“Okay, let me explain something,” said Rainbow. “You did not touch my wings. I did not let you. I was not going to let you. It did not happen.”

Big Macintosh blinked.

“There’s a reason we’re peculiar about wings,” explained Rainbow. “Pegasi don’t ovulate for just bodysex. There’s a reason we’re all so casual about that. We ovulate—that’s make eggs for little colts and fillies—from wingplay. LOTS of wingplay. Like, leave-you-a-puddle wingplay. I’m talking wingplay while you’re fuckin’ each others brains out, okay? I would’ve bucked your nuts off if you’d tried any. Uh, no offense.”

“None taken,” blinked Big Macintosh, trying to take it all in.

“So when I tell you we had bodysex it means a particular thing, all right? A pegasus does that for fun. Dude, I’ve had bodysex with a bunch of different ponies, it’s no big deal if you don’t make it a big deal. This time, it was to prove a point. I was helpin’ you out,” said Dash.

“Uhhh… ayep.”

“I guess I should also remind you that it was for making that point? You need to go off and talk to some nice mares now. I’m really glad I could be there for you but it can’t be a normal thing. I think that should be really obvious, right? I shouldn’t have to explain how unusual this was.”

“Nope…”

Rainbow Dash smirked, her eyes dancing. “If it helps you talk to the mares, I can give you this—you were fucking amazing. I won’t be forgetting that anytime soon. In fact, I’m going to be walking funny for a while, I’d better take a dick break for a couple days to recover. Remember the sounds I was making? You caused that. Go out and find somepony to bring that gift to, Big Macintosh, you were amazing.”

“Ayep.”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “Now, are you going to leave this cliff, and go home, and be okay?”

“Ayep,” said Big Macintosh. He hesitated, and added, “Y’all amazin’ too, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow’s eyes twinkled, and her smile doubled.

Perfect moment in three, two…

“I know,” she said—and she was gone, a streak cutting the sky towards Weather Patrol…

…and a circular flare burst out from her path, a boom rocking the landscape as Big Macintosh gaped.

He stared for half a minute before he shook himself, and headed back to town, looking worried, but resolute.

Dinner was casserole, heavy on the alfalfa for two active, working mares.

“Oh!” said Rainbow Dash, casually. “You should talk to Big Macintosh. He broke up with Rarity, you know.”

Applejack looked up from her bowl of dinner. “Oh, no! He did?”

Dash nodded. “Oh yeah. Get this—she got one of the magic bits too. And she used it on him. He was really, really upset.”

Applejack snorted with laughter, and then controlled herself. “Poor Mac! Oh, my. That jes’ ain’t right. I can’t imagine what he thought.”

“It was pretty bad! He thought he was gay,” said Dash, her heart beating faster.

“Big Macintosh, gay? That’s for th’ likes of us, sugar! Oh, the poor thing, I got to talk to him. We got to fix him up with some nice mare.”

“Yeah, I helped him out with that for the moment,” said Dash lightly. “Least I could do, right? I told him he needed to… to…”

Applejack was staring like she’d seen a ghost.

“…to find somepony more suitable now that he felt like a real stallion again,” continued Rainbow, her heart pounding. “Which is crazy, he shouldn’t need reminding, right? Not him, you’ve seen him! Can you blame me? I’d like to ask if we can have me on bit duties for a day or two while I recuperate…”

Applejack’s head was down. Her forehoof banged the table, just as Big Macintosh’s forehoof had banged the ground when he’d raged. She wasn’t looking up. She just pounded, as Dash continued to desperately talk.

“Or if that’s not okay pretend I didn’t say anything and I’m at your disposal in pretty much any way you want and all you need to do is ask me what you…”

“Get out,” hissed Applejack, not looking up.

“…want me to…”

Applejack’s head came up so fast her hat flew off, and her eyes were terrifying—drenched with tears, but full of fury like Rainbow Dash had never seen.

“GET OUT!”

Dash stared, frozen, for a moment, and then she was a blue streak, blasting across the room and straight out the window without opening it. The sound rang out like a cymbal crash, silencing the sounds of birds outside.

Glass tinkled to the ground outside.

One last shard of glass toppled out of the frame, and fell with a delicate chiming sound.

Slowly, the birds resumed their chatter, and their sound poured through the shattered window to where Applejack sat, silently weeping.

Slowly, Applejack’s head dropped back down to the table, and didn’t come up again.

Applesauce

Big Macintosh packed up his things. Wasn’t much—pictures of the family, fetlock trimmers, the doll he’d got from Twilight Sparkle that time. It seemed like awfully little to make up a life.

Hooves sounded in the corridor. Steady enough, but gentle in spite of themselves. Even now, Applejack stepped quietly when approaching the others’ bedrooms, so as not to wake them or disturb their slumber. There was no mistaking the cautious tread.

Big Macintosh stopped, Smarty Pants in his teeth. He knew Applejack wasn’t here to call him to dinner—and he knew that, whatever was about to happen, he had no idea how to handle it.

She appeared in the doorway, her jaw set, and stopped. She stared at him, at the saddlebags he’d been filling. She blinked.

“Packin’?” she said, coldly.

“Uhh…”

“That’ll save time,” she said.

Big Macintosh looked down. He couldn’t meet her blazing eyes.

“Goin’ to Fillydelphia? Reckon there’s good memories in Fillydelphia…”

Big Macintosh gulped. “Nope.”

“You sure?”

He glanced up, meeting her eyes for just a moment. It was horrible, and he could only stand a moment of it.

“I reckon,” he said, “I best move into the barn for a spell.”

“Half measures,” said Applejack, contemptuously, and Big Macintosh cringed a little more. He didn’t dare try to meet her eyes again. It was like looking into pony hell.

“Got to stick around th’ place, Applejack. Y’all need me.”

“Die,” she hissed, between gritted teeth.

Big Macintosh’s psyche rocked. He stared at the ground, his face burning, and found words coming to his mouth. “How would you like it if Granny heard you say that?”

An intake of breath, from beside him. He continued.

“What would Apple Bloom think if she heard you tell me that?”

“Hey, what’s going on?” came a childish voice from down the hall, and Applejack’s head jerked to the side, listening—and then as little hooves approached, she kicked the floor with a vicious bang and bit her lip.

Apple Bloom appeared in the doorway, beside the frozen Applejack. “How ya doin’, big sister? Stompin’ a bug?” She blinked. “Oh no, what’s wrong? Big Mac, why’s she cryin’? Hey, how come you’re packin’?”

“Ain’t quite packin’, Apple Bloom,” said Big Macintosh. “Jes’ fixin’ to stay in th’ barn. Thought I’d try somethin’ new…”

Applejack’s face twisted, and she backed out into the hallway, whirled and ran. Apple Bloom reared, about to give chase.

“No, let her go!” said Big Macintosh.

Apple Bloom pleaded, “What happened?”

“It’s grown-up stuff, lil’ apple blossom…” said Big Macintosh. “We can’t really tell you.”

Apple Bloom looked stricken, but immediately began thinking, rubbing her chin with a speculative hoof. “Is it because Rainbow Dash got mad at her and bust out our window? ‘Cos our window’s all busted out. An’ there’s a blue feather.”

“Ah can’t tell you! I already said so, Apple Bloom. You run along.”

Apple Bloom gave him a suspicious look, but relented. She backed out of his room, still giving him the suspicious look, and clattered off down the hall to Granny Smith’s room, where Big Macintosh heard Granny call, “What? Settle, child!”

Shaking his head, he threw the saddlebags on and headed out of the house, looking around as if it would be the last time he saw it, and feeling sorry for himself and out of his depth.

There was a spare room in the barn—the family had used it as a guest room before. He settled into it, laying his Smarty Pants doll on the pillow, looking out the window. Off in the fields, he could see a cloud of dust—Applejack was tilling and harrowing the earth. Big Macintosh considered this—it was a task that his giant muscles were usually called upon to do. His sister was apparently blowing off steam by starting it.

“Applejack!” he called, out the window.

The cloud of dust subsided, but there was no answer. Big Macintosh continued.

“Tell you what, I’ll work when you ain’t around. Okay?”

There was a pause, and then he heard the faint, distant reply. “Deal!”

She would be good to her word. Big Macintosh settled back and waited for her to tire, and leave the field.

It wasn’t a restful wait. He lay on the bed, and stumbled over an uncomfortable thought. What had he done that made Rainbow Dash so mad that she busted out a window in a fit of rage? Apple Bloom said it must have been Rainbow that smashed the window.

Big Macintosh turned this question over and over in his mind, because he knew he’d had terrible things done to him, had turned into a terrible thing, and had done terrible things when turning back. He wasn’t used to thinking about that sort of stuff, but he labored over it, alone, not consulting anyone as his thoughts struggled along like three-legged cows.

Why would Rainbow Dash be that mad at him?

His face fell as his thoughts tottered awkwardly into even more unwelcome territory.

If she was that mad at him—what would happen to his terrible secret?

Apple Bloom looked up at Granny imploringly. “But if y’all know what’s happenin’, why in the world can’t you tell me? I want to help!”

“Never you mind! Some things ain’t for your hooves to mend, child!”

“But…”

“You heard me!”

Apple Bloom fell back a step, but then she rallied. Applejack had looked so dreadfully upset, and Big Macintosh seemed mighty sad too, and there just had to be a way to help them. She took a breath, and hit Granny Smith with the most tearful, eye-glisteny, beseeching gaze she’d ever put out, and lifted her head just right, so her hair-bow would bob adorably.

“Pleeeeeease?” she begged.

Granny Smith compressed her lips, transfixed by the gaze. She looked away, which was unusual. Apple Bloom tossed her head very slightly, to bob the hair-bow again, but it wasn’t needed—Granny’s eyes had softened, and somehow she looked even older now.

“Child, I don’t know. I’ll explain what I kin. That good enough for you, lil’ whipper-snapper?”

Apple Bloom nodded, holding her expectant pose.

“Well now… sometimes ponies do things that ain’t quite right. No, I take that back, din’t mean that exactly—let me say, things that ain’t quite normal. It’s no concern o’ yours, I’m jes’ sayin’. One day you’ll understand. Now, your sister with that Rainbow Dash, I never figured that would end well, but they done surprised me. Child, I saw that Dash out there doin’ field work to help us, an’ jest about spit my teeths with soo-prise. Your sister ain’t good all th’ time but there’s no changin’ her, and I thought for a while there she was teachin’ old Granny new morals.”

Apple Bloom listened attentively, trying not to look too confused.

“I’ll tell you this, child—we don’t know exact jes’ what happened lately, and if I’m any judge they don’t know themselves. Hah! Y’all young ponies jump to conclusions like jumpin’ over fences after each others’ whatsises…” She coughed, and her tone, which had become sharp, gentled again. “Whoa, pree-tend I din’t say that, all right, lil’ scaper? That ain’t the important part of it no-how, and don’t you never forget that. What they’re doin’… or no longer doin’, as it may be… that ain’t the important thing.”

“Then what IS the important thing, Granny?” asked Apple Bloom.

Granny gazed into space. Her eyes were misty, as if she was looking back over the years. “I wish I knew how to put this. Consarned old pony brain ain’t what it used to be if I’m honest… well, it’s like this, child. Ponies can do right things, and they can do wrong things, or git confused with themselves and waste their days on, hah, fruitless occupations… mind you, it seems like there was always some of them ones as far back as I can remember, I just never thunk our Applejack would be like that…”

“Be like what?” said Apple Bloom, but she shrunk back, for Granny had turned on her, her eyes sharp again.

“No concern of yours, and that ain’t what I’m talkin’ about! What am I talkin’ ab… oh, yes. Child, you listen up good! All good ponies got good hearts, whether that’s your sister, or your brother, or that crazy Rainbow Dash pony—if I didn’t know that, I learned it when I saw that one helpin’ in the fields. I know good hearts when I see ‘em, and I learned somethin’ that day. But all good hearts don’t speak th’ same languages, and when they don’t understand each other, you can’t force it! Somethin’ went wrong, child. Happens we’ll have to let them ride it out, so you leave ‘em be and let ‘em work it out when they kin!”

Apple Bloom blinked. “But… you mean I have to do NOTHING? But, Granny!”

Granny Smith fixed her with a gimlet eye. “That is jes’ exactly what I do mean, child, and you best do what I say. I am tellin’ you that’s what they need from you right now. Them’s some wounded ponies, and I would have you respect that—in fact, I dee-mand that you don’t pester my other grandchildren. They’re all scabs and bandages, th’ silly fools. Prob’ly their own faults. Don’t you go rippin’ off them scabs just because they’s ugly!”

Apple Bloom gazed into Granny’s irate eyes, and gulped. “Yes’m.”

“Now, you run and play with your friends, y’hear? And you take a moment to be grateful. Be grateful that you ain’t that kind of complicated yet!”

Apple Bloom nodded. “You can say that again! Are you sure they’re gonna be okay?”

Granny Smith squinted into space. “Big Macintosh looked mighty sick earlier, gave me a turn, but it seems like sleepin’ in the barn will ease his mind—he looks better now. Applejack, well, ain’t no changin’ her. I promise you if she needs it, I will attend to her, even if it’s lookin’ after her like a little filly. My sakes, last time I did that, it was just after you was born. Understandable… well, she fought it off back then, and she’s been fightin’ ever since. Y’all leave her to it, lil’ blossom. Better to cheer her on—she needs you believin’ in her, now more than ever, I reckon.”

“I do!” squeaked Apple Bloom. “I really do!”

“I know,” said Granny Smith. “I guess that girl done made a believer out of me, too. You keep out of her way, an’ trust. Run along now!”

Apple Bloom trotted from the room, leaving Granny to gaze out the window. She stared at Applejack, working alone in the field, and at the barn, where Big Macintosh sulked, most likely.

After a while, she watched Apple Bloom head into town—and stop briefly, to answer a question from a lovely white unicorn mare who seemed to be paying a social call.

Good, thought Granny Smith, preparing to doze off. Applejack’s little friends can sort this out.

“He’s in th’ barn, Miss Rarity!” piped Apple Bloom.

“Goodness! Really? I mean—I’m pleased he is at home, but why is he in the barn?”

“I dunno! Granny tole me to leave ‘em be, ‘cos somethin’s wrong. Are you here to fix it?”

Rarity’s eyes dropped, and she blushed. “I do certainly hope so, Apple Bloom. It’s rather personal. I can but try, and hope for the best.”

“Yay! Well… good luck! See ya!”

Apple Bloom trotted off toward town, content that things were in adult hooves. Rarity glanced with trepidation toward the barn, far from content.

But there was nothing for it—she simply had to apologize, and hope fences could be mended.

She walked toward the barn, inspecting it, cringing a little at its overly bucolic nature. It was clean enough, true, but there wasn’t a speck of decoration, and she wasn’t going to make the error of calling it rustic—rustic, too often, meant ‘didn’t bother to put in the effort’. Especially now, that seemed inadequate. There was effort to be made, even in these bumpkin surroundings.

“Darling?” she called. “It’s me.”

She stepped closer to the barn, seeing a door that hung slightly open. “Big Macintosh?”

Her magic took hold of the handle, and opened the door inward—revealing her lover, looming and sullen. He glared at the door handle, enveloped in her magic, and she released it, cowering back a pace before rallying and trotting in with her head held high.

“Darling, I…”

“What’re you doin’ here?”

Rarity stammered. “Please allow me to finish, darling. I sense I have perhaps given offense…”

He looked so fierce. She’d never seen him so fierce. It turned her on dreadfully. He snorted. “P’raps?”

“Per-haps,” corrected Rarity automatically. “If there is anything I can do to put your mind at ease…”

“You done enough!” retorted Big Macintosh.

“Have done, darling, we worked so hard on grammar… and forgive me, but I don’t understand. We have always taken refuge in audacity. I thought you valued that in me. Again, what must I do, darling? To have you again?”

“Oh, no you don’t. I ain’t havin’ this. Not now.”

Rarity blinked. Such attitude, such language! “First of all, are you intentionally trying to piss me off, darling?”

“Ayep.”

“May I ask why? What have I done to deserve this mistreatment and rudeness?”

Big Macintosh glowered. “I tole you. You done enough!”

“This is about your tremendous orgasm, isn’t it?” said Rarity, acidly. “You’ve never minded giving ME those. Forgive me for wanting to spread it around a little bit…”

“Spread it around town, more like!”

Rarity blinked. She sat back on her haunches, shocked, not even noticing that she’d sat in the dirt. Her jaw dropped. “I never! I, of all ponies… how dare you impugn my discretion! I thought I could deliver a special illicit delight. It was for you. And it worked. Or is that the problem? Tell me!”

“Th’ problem is, now th’ whole town will think I’m a big fag-pony, Rarity! I guess it don’t worry you, but you done stole my manhood! An’ there you sit, pleased as punch…”

“I am not pleased,” snapped Rarity, biting off each word.

“You run along. Nothin’s private anymore, so you needn’t sit so pretty. You ruined my life, Ah hope you’re happy! You’ll git yours! Jes’ you wait!” Big Macintosh glowered, imagining Rainbow Dash’s expected gossipy ways.

Rarity didn’t look happy. Her eyes were wide and panicky, she licked her lips, she raised a hoof in a conciliatory gesture. “L… let’s not be hasty, darling. Private is private. Right? You know I wouldn’t dream of revealing your intimacies, all the exciting things we’ve done. I understand now that I have inadvertently overstepped, for which I apologize. But let’s not do things we shall regret! I’ll be quiet as a little mouse, and we shall work through this…”

Big Macintosh shook his head. “Bit late for that now, ain’t it?”

“Isn’t… and why would you say that? I promise, whatever it is, we can manage it. All things can be managed. Right? Ahahaha… now, can we talk about possible strategies for making everything all better?”

Rarity stared desperately at Big Macintosh. She was trembling, and her eye twitched. The big fool seemed to be saying he’d already told on her. But that couldn’t be—that was rule one, the first understanding they’d reached. She couldn’t have lost that. Could she?

Big Macintosh still glowered, but he seemed to be thinking. Then he spoke.

“Well… If I kin make folks understand that y’all a sick perverted hussy and it weren’t my idea…”

Rarity nearly wet herself. She screamed, as if she’d been abruptly stabbed. She stared at him, pleading with the universe, thinking ‘please let him not have said that’—but he wasn’t done.

“Well, you are!” he roared.

Rarity banged her hoof on the ground, soiling it, beyond caring.

“Fine! So be it!” she shrieked, and whirled, springing to her hooves. She rushed out of the barn through the still-open door, not even slamming it behind her—galloped full tilt down the road, heedless of sweat or the state of her mane, weeping until her lovely lashes ran, and cursing savagely and obscenely.

Passers-by stared as she ran through town, but she didn’t care. Were they laughing? Had he told them already? There was no time to lose! Not if she wanted her last desperate attempt at salvaging her reputation to work…

She burst through the doors of the Carousel Boutique, barely noticing as her little sister and her bumpkin friend squeaked and scrambled out of the way. The inner sanctum awaited, and her greatest challenge yet. If only there was time to get out in front of it, to control the news cycle!

The room’s door slammed in Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom’s face.

“Rarity!” cried Sweetie.

“Gosh,” said Apple Bloom. “Her too? Sweetie Belle, maybe we best take a lil’ walk. Them grownups is all goin’ crazy today.”

Sweetie didn’t want to go, but Apple Bloom was determined. She trusted what Granny had told her, and it surely applied here as well. “Come on! Let’s go find Scootaloo. We’ll go do somethin’. Let’s git away from these here grownups for a spell.”

Reluctantly, Sweetie allowed herself to be coaxed out of the boutique, staring back suspiciously at the locked sanctum door the whole time.

“Remind me why this is a good idea, Mistress,” said Trixie.

Twilight sighed. “Not all of it is. You’ve got me there. Remember, I think you should hang back, in case she’s angry. But Pinkie said she broke up with Rainbow Dash—that can’t be good. We don’t know why, but I promised to try to help.”

“And then poked yourself in the eye?”

“It’s a special weird kind of promise Pinkie makes, and you really don’t want to break one, trust me on this. But it goes beyond that… I hope you can understand, this is important. It’s about friendship. We’re friends. I know you didn’t have many friends before now, but I want you to have them, and you should understand what it means. Yes, we’re going to go to talk to Applejack. I’d want to talk to her even if I’d promised Pinkie nothing.”

They trotted on, through the early-evening crowds, heading toward the Carousel Boutique and beyond it, Sweet Apple Acres.

“You’ve left Spike cleaning the place alone, Mistress, and he probably can’t get it all done in time, and Princess Celestia is arriving tomorrow morning…”

“Nggh!” growled Twilight. “I know! There’s all kinds of cleaning, Trixie! Princess Celestia isn’t going to be that offended by a little dust on the shelves. Libraries are supposed to be dusty! The real problem here is my friends. Could you have a little sympathy? Never mind that they’re upset and hurt—do you realize how embarrassing it would be if the Princess gets here and everypony is acting all crazy?”

With a resounding bang, the door to the Carousel Boutique was bucked open, and Twilight and Trixie froze, as did the other passersby.

They hadn’t long to wait.

Through the door came a vision out of Fillydelphia nights—or perhaps Canterlot’s darkest, most wicked alleyways. It pranced, chin scornfully high, gleaming with buckles and laced with straps.

Rarity strutted out amidst the evening crowd, decked out in the kinkiest erotic gear anypony there had ever seen, and her prancing hooves thumped the grass in total, shocked silence from the onlookers.

“Fashion was never like THIS!” she cried, proudly.

Black straps wrapped her hind legs, in a crisscross pattern. They were tight, defining the curves of her ass, reshaping it to emphasise her alabaster pubic region. Other straps hung loosely from D-rings that ran up the inside of her legs, and it was plain that if the straps were drawn tight, Rarity’s legs would be bound together rendering her motionless, unless she chose to hop.

Her face was made up like a scary, sexy mask, eyelashes far too heavy, and she gazed sensuously from under them with a smouldering, haughty glare.

“You thought my fabulousness was limited to refinement and grace! Well, tremble, for fair Rarity will blow your minds! You might ask Big Macintosh—oh yes, perhaps you have heard rumours of it!”

The assembled ponies stared in shock, their jaws hanging open.

Rarity strutted in a circle. Her waist was bound up tightly in a shiny, black corset, and the effect was to exaggerate her ass. Her forelegs bore cuffs with spurs attached to them. The onlookers stared at the pointy things in fascinated horror, but their attention was divided, and not just by Rarity’s continuing sales pitch.

“Ponyville, it is time to enter a new world of daring! These are Rarity’s creations as you have never imagined them! This is Rarity as you have never imagined her!”

The corset pressed up between her hind legs, causing her breasts to bulge out and tilting the nipples rearward for suckling or licking—but the ponies could not focus on that, for their wide eyes were drawn to the final kinky detail.

Further straps, these ones more delicate, stretched across her ass and led to small clips, which grasped Rarity’s labia. They were stretched tight. So were Rarity’s labia. All Ponyville stared in polite horror, as Rarity presented her rear end, gleaming pink spread vagina displayed wantonly.

It was gleaming for a reason. Rarity was lubricating so hard she was dripping onto the grass, and her hindlegs were trembling like mad. She panted, dropping her head, seemingly done… and then bared her teeth, a strange madness seeming to take her, and she twisted her head back and cried at the assembled crowd of speechless ponies.

“Now, who wishes the most amazing, epic fucking you will ever know?”

She heaved deep, passionate breaths, her gaze bold and wild behind the shocking, heavy eyelashes. A cricket chirped, in the distance, as she met their wide, wide eyes. It chirped again.

Then, the air was split with screams—and the crowd fled in a panic, galloping past Twilight and Trixie, who didn’t move.

Twilight’s face was indescribable, though ‘her countenance appalled beyond imagination’ got close to it.

Trixie blinked. “Interesting. I had those once. Mistress? Uh… Mistress?”

Before Twilight could say anything, the air was split again, by a piping little voice that emitted an enraged squeak that should have shattered windows by its sharpness.

“RARity!” shrieked Sweetie Belle.

Rarity blinked, stunned. “Oh, no… oh, no! Sweetie Belle! This isn’t a good time, dear!”

“Rarity, you get back inside this instant! This INstant!” The squeaks rattled your brain, seemed to resonate in the very horns of the three unicorns remaining on the scene.

“But, darling…”

“You keep that stuff in your room and locked up in closets like you usually do! How DARE you? Some sister you are! You’re embarrassing everypony! My FRIENDS might see you!” shrieked Sweetie, hopping with rage.

“But, but…” sputtered Rarity, and then she burst into tears and first stumbled, then ran, back into her shop.

Sweetie Belle pursued her, squeaking “Get back in there right now!” and the door slammed behind both of them. Faintly, from inside, another door slammed, then opened, then slammed again.

Twilight gulped, staring at nothing, her ears back. Trixie nuzzled her.

“Mistress? Do you still wish to check on how Applejack is doing? Trixie suspects that little filly has Rarity in check for the moment…”

Twilight shook her head. “Wow. Uh… yes, let’s do that…”

It was getting dark, and at first they didn’t see her, for she was in the far corner of the fields, her head hanging low in front of the massive horse-collar. Trixie spotted her first, and drew Twilight’s attention by gesturing with a hoof.

Twilight trotted over to Applejack—but as she neared, she broke into a run, crying “Applejack!” and Trixie cantered to keep up.

The earth pony didn’t lift her head. Her entire body was thrust forward, hooves dug into the ground, trying to drag the massive harrow through the earth. Behind her, the entire field had been done, a task that would have taken Big Macintosh more than a day to complete.

Twilight ran up, staring in horror at the sight. Applejack’s shoulders bled from chafing. Her legs shook as she tried to pull the harrow another inch. Dark, dark circles had formed under her eyes. Her jaw was set.

“Lil… busy right now… Twilight…”

“Applejack, stop this! What is going on?”

“None ‘a… yer business!”

“Sorry, as a friend I’m making it my business! Stop it right now! Tell me what’s the matter,” said Twilight, as Trixie drew nearer.

“Won’t!” gritted Applejack.

Twilight kicked the dirt with a forehoof. “I have had it with crazy ponies today, you have no idea! Fine. Don’t tell me. I’ll tell you! Applejack, you broke up with Rainbow Dash. I came here to help!”

Applejack’s glance was sullen fury. “Hah! You can’t even pull!”

“Mistress?” said Trixie softly. “She can’t either. It’s not moving…”

“I’d gathered that,” sighed Twilight. She looked more sympathetically at Applejack. “Back to this stuff again? You know what? I’m going to sit down and just wait for you to talk.”

Twilight did so, but in an unexpected way. She walked over, and plopped her curvy rump down directly in front of Applejack, facing her as she strained against the harrow.

Applejack was dripping sweat. Her scent from such heavy exertion was piquant, but that meant nothing to Twilight given the situation. She struggled to shift the harrow another inch, and she hissed at Twilight, “Git outta… th’ way!”

“Not until you tell me what happened,” yawned Twilight Sparkle. “I can be as stubborn as you when it matters—and boy, does it matter. I really do need to get to the bottom of this. By tomorrow, even… so there’s two reasons I’m not going to move. One is that you haven’t explained yourself yet.”

Applejack leaned harder into the unyielding horse collar. “And th’ other?”

Twilight regarded her levelly, unmoved by Applejack’s furious glare.

“The second reason is, I don’t have to. You’ve run out of strength, Applejack. It’s not moving any more. You’re done.”

The only sound was the rasp of Applejack’s breathing for a few seconds—then, she screwed her eyes shut in despair, and Twilight and Trixie watched her sag, and slowly collapse to the earth, unable to even stand any longer. Rage and grief chased each other across her face.

“Okay,” said Twilight. “Okay. Now… Why did you dump Rainbow Dash? I’m still trying to figure out how many things went crazy around town when you did that. Let’s just say things are happening that I really didn’t expect.”

Applejack didn’t respond. She just lay in the dirt.

“Why, Applejack? It tore me up to lose you. I’m good now,” she hastened to add, with a quick glance at Trixie, “but I thought she was important to you. I’m guessing she’s kind of flipping out, to hear Pinkie tell it.”

Applejack stirred, as if to speak, and then gave up and lay there some more, staring dully forward.

“Why did you dump her?” pressed Twilight Sparkle.

Applejack coughed. She took a breath. She answered. “M’ brother fucked her.”

Trixie gasped. Twilight blinked, drawing back in shock. “What?”

“M’ brother’s been fuckin’ her. EX brother.” Her voice was bitterness incarnate.

Twilight shook her head. “But… just like that? Big Macintosh is not exactly forward! Why would he… How? I’ve seen her buck holes in buildings, Applejack! How is that even possible?”

Applejack shook her head weakly. There was only one answer. It had been roaring in her head all the time, but she hadn’t said it out loud, daren’t say it out loud, ever.

Twilight stared at her. Applejack looked up at her friend. She opened her mouth.

“She…”

Applejack’s face twisted in agony.

“…let him.”

With that, she buried her face in her hooves, and her cry was a howl of pain, the horrible words out there in the world and real. Rainbow let him, thought Applejack. She felt like a discarded toy, a spare part. Her feelings meant nothing, her faithfulness was a sick joke. Rainbow let him. She felt eviscerated. Rainbow let him. They fucked. Why not?

Twilight looked on in horror, and then turned to Trixie. “Come over here! Help me get this collar off her. Now!”

They worked at it. Applejack didn’t resist. All the fight had gone out of her, all the rage had flared up and popped, leaving behind utter despair. She lay in the dirt like she was just some more worthless dirt. She trembled from the force of the emotions that racked her—emotions that she couldn’t cover with fury any longer.

“Can you walk, Applejack? We can’t leave you here. Come with us—we could go wherever you want, or we could stay with you if that would help,” said Twilight.

Applejack looked up as if seeing them for the first time—Twilight, and her weird unicorn lover. Her gaze was piteous. “What’s th’ point? Y’all go home. I ain’t shit to nopony.”

Twilight nuzzled, then hugged her where she lay. “Not a chance! Trixie, how’s your levitating? Would you assist, please? I think we’d better just put her to bed.”

“Of course, mistr… Of course, Twilight,” said Trixie, with a glance at Applejack. She couldn’t feel jealous, couldn’t be harsh or the least bit defensive of her lover. The country pony was in no position to be a rival, and Trixie’s heart went out.

They tried to hold her gently. Applejack dangled from their telekinetic support in despairing limpness, hooves dragging the dirt. Sweet Apple Acres beckoned, light coming from inside. A rocking chair creaked, going back and forth, back and forth.

As they approached the door, it creaked more sharply, and there was a clunk—Granny Smith had gotten to her hooves. “What’re you doin’ with bringin’ that magic in h… oh!”

“We’re sorry, Granny Smith!” pleaded Twilight. “But she won’t walk, and I don’t think we can carry her up the stairs any other way, and…”

“Hmph,” grumbled Granny Smith. “Never you mind. You girls amuse yourselves for now.”

As they floated Applejack up the stairs, her hooves bonking weakly on the stairsteps, Trixie whispered to Twilight, “She thinks this is amusing?”

“Who knows,” whispered Twilight. “I guess we’re on our own.”

They put her in bed, dirt soiling the nice clean sheets, and tucked her in, and sat beside the bed gazing at her. Applejack looked back, helplessly.

“What am I gonna do?” she asked.

“I guess you’re going to get some sleep, first of all,” said Twilight.

Trixie nodded. “Yes. Sleep—and you should have water, Trixie thinks you are probably dehydrated, from crying and from all that work…”

“Oh! Right!” said Twilight. “I’ll get some right now!”

She trotted downstairs, and they heard Granny Smith expostulating again. Applejack and Trixie stared at each other. As Trixie was about to look away, Applejack spoke.

“Are you good to her?” she said.

Trixie blinked, and then looked Applejack in the eye with real seriousness. “Yes.”

“Thank y’all for that…” said Applejack, and looked away, tearing up again.

Twilight trotted back up the stairs, a glass of water floating in front of her. “There! Now, you should drink this, and maybe you’ll feel better.”

Seeing the look Applejack gave her, Twilight gulped. “Or, well, not as thirsty… I don’t mean to make light of it, I guess that’s a lot to cope with, huh?”

Behind her, in the doorway, Granny Smith appeared, peering in on the scene.

Applejack shook her head. “I can’t stand it. I can’t, Twilight. Why can’t I just drop dead?”

Twilight’s eyes were wide. “Is that what you were trying to do out there?”

Trixie began to speak, but before she could get a word out, Granny was next to her. “That’ll do!”

“But, Granny Smith,” said Twilight, “we have to help Applejack think about how to get through this!”

“That will do, child!” snapped Granny.

Trixie began tugging on Twilight’s mane, but Twilight continued to protest. “I don’t think you understand, she’s really hurt, and…”

“I said that will do!” Granny was between them and Applejack now.

Applejack sighed forlornly. “Go on, y’all. I’ll take my medicine…”

“But…” said Twilight.

“Scat!” said Granny Smith, and the unicorns fled the house, arguing between themselves, led by Trixie, who had Twilight’s mane in her teeth. They headed out into the yard, and back towards Ponyville. As they left, they saw a shape in the distance—Big Macintosh, harrowing the rest of the field in pitch blackness, finishing where Applejack had left off.

“Sweet Celestia…” said Twilight. “Do you realise that now we are the healthy and well adjusted ones?”

Trixie reared and gave her a quick hug, and they trotted off toward home.

It was perfectly quiet in the house, except for Applejack’s sniffling. She rubbed her nose with a hoof, and let out another deep sigh.

Slowly, Granny sat by the bedside, and Applejack looked up at her.

“No, don’t you explain nothin’, child,” said Granny. “I ain’t here to make no argument.”

“Mac’s fuckin’ her, Granny,” managed Applejack.

“Language!”

“I’m sorry.”

Granny Smith’s face hardened, and she looked past her granddaughter. “Words will be had, girl, be sure of that. As for you—what did you expect? You got eyes, ain’tcha?”

Applejack sagged, and she looked dully ahead at nothing. After a little while, she spoke again.

“Ya hate me, Granny? Am I a bad pony?”

“Y’all make some funny choices, girl, an’ no mistake. I won’t be drawn onto that, not now…”

“I’m sorry, Granny… I’m sorry…”

“I told you, I won’t be drawn onto that, girl! Let it lay. I got somethin’ for you.”

“Don’t want nothin’. Don’t deserve nothin’,” said Applejack, stubbornly. Her voice was clearing, as she tried to control herself for her Granny.

“Never you mind. I got somethin’ for you. Old thing, like me. Might help you. Seemed like a good time to dust it off.” Granny’s voice was calm, level.

Applejack sniffled. “What thing is that?”

“Hush, now, quiet now…”

Granny’s voice was tender as she began to sing.

Applejack froze, with a look of shock—and, as Granny’s hoof gently stroked her shoulder, the tears flooded her eyes and wouldn’t stop.

“…it’s time to lay your sleepy head… hush, now, quiet now, it’s time to go to bed…”

Her soft voice was drowned by Applejack’s harsh, wracked sob, but Granny didn’t let that throw her. Nothing would shake her—at that moment, the family resemblance shone through and couldn’t be missed.

Applejack sobbed and shook and nuzzled her pillow, flooding it with tears, her grief inconsolable. It went on and on.

It didn’t matter, for Granny was staunch, her gentle song of love unwavering and unceasing—and for all Applejack’s youth, the old lady outlasted her. In the end, Applejack slept, the grief still in her face but the tension gone, and Granny Smith brushed her mane carefully away from her forehead and gave her a kiss.

She hobbled down the stairs, muttering under her breath, and sat in her rocking chair, and gave a great sigh.

“Land sakes,” said Granny Smith.

Caterwaul

She came in low over the fields, taking cover behind the rise of the hill, trying to catch only the barest glimpse of her target without being revealed. Applejack had been located in a far field, working. The plan was a go.

There was no black jumpsuit this time, because it wasn’t dark. It was morning, birds were chirping, and the ordinariness of Sweet Apple Acres stabbed Rainbow Dash’s heart.

She flew so silently that a passing bird came right up to her, only to squawk and fly away in alarm, for Dash’s face was drawn and bitter, and she hadn’t slept. She’d been flying around, trying to make her plan, and had barely set hoof on the ground since leaving Pinkie’s.

Worse, Rainbow had not noticed some of the damage done by two successive escapes through glass windows. Her face and body were cut up, dried blood leaving a mark under one eye and across her forehead. The hapless bird had never seen anything so intimidating, and flew off in a panic to warn Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash ignored it. Her eyes were fixed on the farmhouse she’d called another home for weeks and weeks. As she neared the place, she saw that the window she’d smashed had been cleaned up—it wasn’t replaced, but the broken glass was gone, the area tidy. A possible entry point? The trouble was, to fly through it, she’d have to fold her wings almost completely, and go through like a projectile. Dash wasn’t sure if she could recover fast enough not to hit the floor—and she couldn’t make a sound, that was critical.

The door was cracked slightly open. Rainbow Dash’s heart thumped. That would work. She could go through with it. There was no turning back.

Drifting nearer, flapping with just her wingtips, she peered through the open, glassless window, and through the crack in the door. There was nopony in sight—now or never, Dash. She pushed the door gently, and it swung silently open. Rainbow had noticed that all the door hinges in Sweet Apple Acres were oiled, and appreciated that fact better than ever, now that she was bent on larceny.

She flew up the stairs as silently as an owl, a blue shadow drifting through the once-friendly hallway. Dash was pretty sure only she could hear her heart pounding.

The bed wasn’t made very neatly. Rainbow Dash refused to think about that, or look too closely at it. Instead, she zeroed in on the bedside table. That little drawer, with its little pull-ring for pony teeth…

The drawer slid outwards. Jackpot. Dash gazed down at the magic bit—hers, as much as Applejack’s, the improved copy of the one she herself had brought to town in the first place.

A gentle clink of teeth collecting their payload. A soundless extrusion of stallion-meat. Rainbow Dash grinned wickedly around the gleaming metal in her mouth—and then panicked, because she’d heard a loud snort from down the hall. The house wasn’t empty. Since when would it be empty? How many ponies could legitimately be wandering in at any moment?

Dash barely restrained herself from slamming into walls in her haste. She flew down the stairs and straight out the door, dick flopping in the breeze, and didn’t stop until she was out of the line of sight for anypony either in Sweet Apple Acres, the fields around it, or indeed anywhere near it.

Back at Sweet Apple Acres, the door swung wide, letting in the morning air. In Applejack’s bedroom, the drawer hung open, robbed of its precious contents—or at least of some of the precious things kept in Applejack’s bedroom. Dash had missed another precious thing that was hers.

Tucked under the pillow, barely visible and entirely overlooked, lay one blue feather. It peeked out as if furtively hiding—or as if it had been furtively hidden, that morning, by a sorely conflicted mare who could not help sneaking up to her room with the unexpected treasure, and concealing it before returning to her cleaning.

There was a reason she could not resist doing this, though she’d cursed herself bitterly for it.

The concealed blue feather was faintly scented of the soft, silky, cerulean undercoat that itself was concealed beneath Rainbow Dash’s coarse chromatic mane. She’d had no chance in the face of that.

Across the fields, Applejack stubbornly labored on.

The griffin outpost wasn’t far. Rainbow Dash expected it was only minutes away. She’d seen some of the telltales—griffins liked to sharpen their claws on trees. If they wanted to hide their presence from prey, they would sharpen their claws on the tops of trees. A regular pony might not see the result, but a flying pony had no trouble spotting it.

The adrenaline always kicked in around this point. Flying prey, Gilda used to say. What’s wrong with this picture? Not enough pussy, that’s what’s wrong with it, Dash would reply. And Gilda would roll over, wriggling bonelessly, and sneer, says you…

There were three reasons Rainbow Dash mostly didn’t fear flying into a griffin outpost.

One was Princess Celestia. Alicorn magic, to a non-magic-using species, was unthinkably powerful. They had trouble even comprehending the limits of her power. To be fair, thought Rainbow Dash, ponies weren’t too clear on the limits of her power either. It was easy to assume her omnipotent. It was convenient that the griffins believed it. Princess Celestia had even forced a truce between the griffins and the Diamond Dogs.

The second reason was cultural. Griffins had been learning tolerance—grudgingly. There were limits to this, and Rainbow made a point of not trusting it too far. Years ago, she’d had a flight school acquaintance who flew with the griffins, including some that Gilda warned Dash about. She’d seen that pegasus guy fly away with three female griffins—but nopony had ever seen him again, after that day. Gilda had refused to inquire. “Are you fucking crazy?” were her specific words. Dash had decided she wasn’t fucking crazy.

The third reason was personal. Dash glanced back at her wings, her passport to respect among many griffins. If you could outfly them—and she could—you could pass among them as you pleased. Word got around. Gilda had reluctantly translated the epithet Dash had earned, after demanding that she not take it the wrong way. It was idiomatic, Gilda had said—part of it was a term that effectively meant ‘not a griffin’, nothing more.

Rainbow Dash was ‘Fast Food’, in Griffin.

To the griffins, moving things were either Griffin, or Food, in their harsh squawky language. There were many qualifying words to shade the meaning this way and that. Princess Celestia was Choke On This Food, implying that she was far too big and threatening to attempt. Dash was Fast Food, also known as That Food That Annoyingly Gets Away. Gilda had looked abashed, revealing these griffinian secrets to which pony ears normally weren’t privy.

Dash considered this nickname, Food That Annoyingly Gets Away, and had suggested they test that assumption—lying back, her legs falling open. And Gilda had eaten well, indeed…

Dash glanced back at her wings again, and did a double-take. No, no, no… She had not preened since the previous day, and her wings were a mess. She was even feeling the loss of lift as a result, and simply out-powering the problem. Though she’d get to the outpost with no trouble, she was going to visit winged creatures. They were shockingly weird about wings, treating them like they were insignificant, but that was no reason to appear among them looking indecent—and Rainbow swooped down on a suitable-looking tree.

She barely had time to register the white feather poking from behind the leaves before the griffin was on her, beak gaping, claws bared and slashing.

“GYAAAH!” screamed Dash, as a claw tore at her neck. She flapped spasmodically, trying to whirl in midair. She kicked out, and heard a squawk—and then, she was facing away from him, and the sky beckoned. Her mighty wings revved up like a hummingbird’s—and she was gone, a chromatic bang knocking the hapless griffin back before he could begin to pursue.

Rainbow Dash glanced back, knowing an outpost perimeter guard wouldn’t be able to match her skills—and seeing no sign of the guy, she quit cranking on the power before she ran out of atmosphere, and arced into high air from her momentum alone, her heart pounding.

The sky hinted at being a blue band around the world. Adrenaline did amazing things. Once, she’d used her wingpower to try and see how high she could arc, but it had made her feel sick. She wouldn’t have guessed there could be such a thing as too much sky, but apparently there was.

Dash panted, and not just from high air. That had been too close.

From far above the treetops, she thought she could see the perimeter. It had been carelessness that got her—griffins marked their territory with treetop leaves. Specifically, they bit notches out of particular leaves on the treetop, so they could see whose area it was, and they were just as fierce with each other as they were with intruders.

She squinted. Damned birdkitties and their eagle eyes. How was a pony supposed to spot a few leaves nipped into un-leaflike symbols and shapes, against all those other leaves? It made sense to the griffins, though, and she’d been a fool not to check the tree at a distance.

The guard had withdrawn to his sentry point. Rainbow knew he wasn’t likely to pursue her—she wouldn’t be considered a threat to their territory, not like another griffin might. She’d simply triggered his attack reflex, and the griffins had a tendency to look the other way on those occasions, as flying ponies had long known. It was safer to avoid them. Rainbow Dash wasn’t good at ‘safer’.

Rainbow hovered high above the trees, studying them. There didn’t seem to be any shaped leaves in the vicinity. It was usually three leaves at the crown of the tree, spaced in a triangle, and five around the outside about halfway down. That was enough for the griffins. They didn’t mark any leaves lower than halfway, because they didn’t give a shit about anything on the ground, no matter what it was. Rainbow admired that—or, she’d used to admire that, then she’d forgot it, and now she wanted to be reminded of it.

She approached a tree without incident, flitted through a break in the foliage, and found a crook high in the treetrunk to rest. Not to feel safe, since being in open air was what made her feel safe, but because she couldn’t very well preen while flying, and she had a feeling she was in bad shape. Her neck stung, and she thought she felt something wrong with her left wingbase as well, which could be very bad news. It hadn’t stopped her, though.

Her neck was bleeding—but not badly. Closer inspection revealed that the griffin’s claw had only scratched her, and that her chest had many other small cuts and scratches, which Dash figured out were from the two escapes through panes of glass.

Rainbow Dash turned her attention to her wings, and froze. There was blood there too. The griffin had got her wing. She squeezed her eyes shut in shock and rage for a moment, and when she looked again, her face dropped, and she blushed in shame.

It wasn’t about the injury from the griffin. That was a surface scratch, and it wasn’t her fault, apart from her incautiousness with the tree. Rainbow cringed, realizing that she hadn’t preened for days. It had all been so distracting. She hadn’t so much as looked at her wings, though she’d felt the irregularities, the feathers slightly out of place.

Rainbow began working at it, her heart pounding again, using teeth and tongue to self-groom, cleaning up the minor injury from the griffin. She got her left wing all done, and moved to her right wing, breathing more heavily, feeling panicky as she worked her way up from the base. As she groomed the spot on her wingbase where Applejack’s teeth and lips had so often been, Rainbow trembled, but she pressed on with determination, letting nothing stop her… until she reached her upper coverts, and stared, wide-eyed.

One feather was still out of place, and she’d not touched it.

It was the one Applejack had tugged, that day. Rainbow could still see the wicked, fond look in the country mare’s eyes, could still feel her insides doing joyous flips and jolts at the naughty attentions—and the feather was still out of place, days later.

It had been the last time Applejack had touched her wing, with love.

Trembling worse, Rainbow craned her neck, baring careful, gentle teeth—set that last feather where it belonged—and gave it a lick to smooth it down, like nothing had ever happened to it.

Then, she burst into tears, wailing and clinging to the tree, heedless of the nearby griffins. She hung on for dear life, not trusting herself to fly, blind with anguish as the feelings stomped her—and when she was done, she stared at nothing, feeling emptier and more out of place than she’d ever felt in her life.

She didn’t dare look at her wonderful, powerful wings, those incredible yet once more orphaned wings without anyone to offer them devotion. All the other pegasi had found mates, it seemed. Rainbow never did, even as she tried to make her wings so incredible that some pegasus would have to be captivated by them. Perhaps she was scaring them off—it had been an earth pony, who couldn’t be jealous of her, who’d been the one.

Past tense. Had been.

Rainbow Dash’s face worked with grief as she choked that thought down. There would be no turning back, she thought. Some part of her had known all along.

She wiped a tear with the back of a hoof, and it came away red, which shocked her. Was she weeping blood? For a moment, she thought that she must be, and that would be just perfect—and then she realized her face stung, and that perhaps the glass-window cuts weren’t only on her body.

Dash leapt from the tree feeling, in spite of everything, a sense of satisfaction that her wings felt back to a hundred percent again. You had to preen. It wasn’t just for looks, it made a big difference in your aerodynamics if you were performance flying. It was easy for her to forget that when her capabilities were so exceptional, but Dash was glad she’d put herself through it, for it seemed possible that she’d need to be at a hundred percent when among the griffins.

She flew off in search of a stream or pond, rejected a brook for being too rippley, and finally found a small stream whose banks spread out, providing areas of nearly still water—and she looked at herself, and gasped. Streaks of blood and tears! Her mane was a total mess, way worse than usual, and she looked like she’d been dragged backwards through hedges while fucking.

Dash considered this for a moment, and a bitter little smile crept onto her face.

She didn’t wash her face, or straighten her mane. She wet a hoof, and carefully tried to wipe away  the signs of tears, while leaving the signs of mayhem intact. It was difficult—she lost one streak of dried blood on her cheek, but was able to retain another, and the mark on her forehead was no trouble to keep.

Rainbow regarded herself in the calm stream. She adjusted her mane to look more wind-blown, and looked again.

She looked bad-ass. Just what she’d need, too.

She took to the air again, heading straight into griffin territory.

“Hey, look!” squawked the male griffin, with a startled flap of his wings.

“…’Sup?” said Rainbow Dash, trotting blithely into the encampment, her little saddlebags jouncing cheerfully.

Another griffin stared. “I remember you. Fast… uh, you’re the pony that can fly.”

“Nah,” said Dash. “Lots of ponies can fly. I’m the one that can outfly YOU.”

Attention gathered, the griffins drawing closer. The second griffin glowered. “Bah. Right. The only one, I might add.”

“Oh, you mean the one and only?” replied Dash, causing a stir among the feathery, tail-lashing crowd.

The first griffin was studying her. “Hey, who were you fighting?”

Dash smirked. “How do you know I was FIGHTING?” she said—and raised an eyebrow suggestively.

The crowd blinked, as one, and then burst into wild laughter—Rainbow’s remark was clearly the funniest thing they’d ever heard, and she grinned, knowing she had them. Pegasi didn’t usually understand or sympathize with griffin ways. She thanked Celestia that she’d made the right judgement call—sure enough, her clawed and disheveled state read as ‘sexy times’ to the griffins, and though this would cause its own problems, it made for a hell of an icebreaker.

“Well hey, baby, what about round two?”

“Playing with your food,” teased another.

A third griffin sneered, “Hey, if you like that sort of thing…”

Before they got too carried away with it, Rainbow interrupted. “You seen Gilda?”

The third griffin was female, her head covered with golden feathers, her copper eyes mean. She began, “Oh, it figures you’d be after the biggest diam…”

“Shut it, Wileen!” came a voice from above.

Out of the tree canopy came a familiar form—Gilda, descending like Fate, glaring at the hapless Wileen who stared back with open hostility. Gilda landed, and glowered at Dash.

“What the fuck are you doing here, dweeb-pony?”

Dash yawned. “Not what, so much as who. Know what I mean?”

“I doubt it,” snapped Gilda.

Dash was unperturbed. She knew the griffins too well. “I got something to show you. It’s new.”

“A new trick?”

“Better than that. A new toy.”

The griffins stirred, interested. Gilda didn’t budge. “What do you mean, a new toy?”

“Just what I said. I’m, I’m… I’m the agent for the designer. Yeah! We’re looking to open up new distribution in griffin markets. It ought to do really well. I thought I could use you as a reference.”

Gilda stared at Dash critically. “A reference?”

“An example,” explained Rainbow Dash.

“Of what?”

“Of how the new toy turns griffins to quivering puddles,” said Dash blithely, to chuckles from the onlookers.

Gilda glared hard at her, in that so-familiar way. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah. Unless you don’t think you’re up to it?”

Gilda sat on her feline haunches, staring into space, as the crowd watched her and Rainbow Dash face off. Then, she turned, and began to stalk off into the forest—and called back over her shoulder.

“If you try to follow me, I will kick your ass.”

Rainbow grinned harder—and began to walk after her—and the crowd stirred with more chuckles, approving noises, cries of ‘Woo!’. They loved her. She’d correctly identified a griffin come-on in pure, untranslated form—and responded. And from the looks of her, she knew exactly what she was in for, and liked it that way. They loved her for it.

All but one. Wileen. As the others chuckled, she muttered a sneering aside.

“Diamondhead…”

That stopped Gilda. She froze, and then turned slowly to glare at her tormentor. “She’s a pony, dumbass.”

“Big deal,” yawned Wileen. “If you ask me, that’s even worse.”

“How would YOU know?” retorted Gilda.

Wileen smirked, fluttering her wings demurely. “Males tell me—when they turn to me for a decent lay. You know what they say about diamondheads, don’t you?”

“Oh, please share,” sneered Gilda. “Whatever do they say?”

“Easy to get kittens out of,” smirked Wileen, “but no fun putting them in, anymore.” She shrugged, looking self-satisfied. The crowd murmured.

“Wileen, you featherbrain,” said Gilda pityingly. “I guess it’s been a long time since you’ve seen dick, huh? In case you didn’t notice—this pony’s a girl. And she’s a total bitch, I might add—and I haven’t seen her for quite a while, in case you were wondering.”

“Well, if you want to waste your time with girls…”

“She does!” came a voice from the crowd. Gilda glared in its direction, and then turned and called scornfully over her shoulder.

“Don’t even fucking think of following me, Dash, or I’ll kick your ass… twice!”

She stalked off, slinking very low to the ground with her tail lashing, to admiring glances from some of the crowd of griffins—and Rainbow walked deliberately after her, to more cries of ‘Woo!’ from the crowd. Wileen ignored them. Soon the other griffins were lost to sight.

So was Gilda. Dash peered ahead, trying to spot her old schoolfriend, and then caught a blur of motion out of the corner of her eye. She had just enough time to shut her eyes, before Gilda struck, knocking her to the ground and scratching her face.

“Fucker,” snarled Gilda—and cuddled against her.

Dash heaved a breath, getting her bearings—which was always a challenge, with Gilda. “Oh, awesome. I missed you too!”

“Shut the fuck up or I’ll scratch you again. You’ve got a lot of nerve! What got into you, turning you soft like that? I thought I understood you, Dash. Ponyville sucks. It made you fucking weak, and what you did was weak.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sorry, okay?”

“Weak!” snarled Gilda.

Dash thought quickly. “Yeah, well, fuck you too, okay?”

“Like I’d let you. After you turned weak. Fucking pony.” Gilda was trembling, a little. She was still cuddling against Dash.

“That’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about,” said Dash. “I’ve got this thing in my bag…”

Gilda blinked, and twisted around to stare at her, honestly surprised. “That wasn’t bullshit? I thought you were bullshitting. It was a good line of it, mind you. You’ve got a new toy? I still have all mine.”

“I really do,” said Rainbow Dash. “Um, though I made up the part about being her agent. But I have it here with me, and I want to fuck you until you can’t walk anymore.”

“Sweet talker,” smirked Gilda. “What kind of thing is it?”

“You’re gonna love this…”

Dash nosed into her saddlebag. “Brace yourself.” She grabbed the bit between her teeth, and reared, right at Gilda, flashing her stallionhood.

The wisdom of this move—or lack of it—suddenly came to mind. Gilda squawked and thrashed back a few feet, staring wildly. “What the hell, Dash?” she cried. Rainbow realized she could as easily have become a clawing frenzy, faster than you could spit a bit.

Dash grinned awkwardly, not wanting to reveal her concern. “Y’ like it?”

Gilda slunk forward, eyes wide in alarm. “Is it fuckin’ real, dude? Hah! Literally a dude, now! How did you do that?”

“Magic,” said Dash. “It’s awesome. I’ll be able to FEEL you.”

Gilda licked her beak. “Assuming I’ll let you get anywhere near me. And ruin me for fuckin’ guys, like Wileen says. Damn it, Dash.”

“You d’nt fuck guys.”

“True,” said Gilda. Her eyes were still wide. “It’s real, huh? But it comes from magic, it goes away again when you spit that thing out, whatever it is?”

“It’s a bit. Gr’ffins d’nt have them. And yeah.”

“Can you feel this?” said Gilda. She slunk forward, her tail held to the side, craned her neck warily, and licked the end of Dash’s cock.

“Mmmm, yeah…” sighed Dash. “Th’ts th’ way…”

Gilda cocked her head, fascinated, considering the flavor. Dash could smell her arousal.

“What about this—can you feel this?” purred Gilda, and her talons reached out to grasp the stallion cock tenderly, yet with a certain… pointy quality.

“Nnngghh!” moaned Dash, growing more erect, something that didn’t escape Gilda.

“And you say it goes away again—it’s not really part of you,” crooned the entranced griffin. “If it’s like that, what would it be like if I decided to…”

Her talons tightened, hard. Her beak dipped down, opening. Dash spit her bit with desperate suddenness, and Gilda’s beak closed on empty air.

“GILDA!” squeaked Rainbow Dash, horrified.

The griffin wasn’t listening, because she was laughing too hard, rolling around on the ground, then pounding it with a balled-up talon-fist. “So close!” she managed.

“No way! No fucking way! How would you like it if I tried that on you, huh?”

“Hey, it goes away, right? Wuss,” chuckled Gilda. “Oh, man! I think maybe we’re even. That was awesome!”

“Yeah,” said Dash, sulking. “Awesome.”

Gilda cackled. “You think it’ll work on griffins?”

“I don’t know. Let’s find out.” Rainbow Dash grinned, all teeth.

“Hey, slow down, you gotta let me play with it first before you eat it. Anyways you’re all fucking vegetarians, you’d just get sick and you know it. Here goes…”

She pounced, and seized the bit in her beak, and then her eyes popped out.

“Lemme see, lemme see!” squeaked Dash, and then she gasped. Gilda’d had the same thought, and she’d rolled over and was eyeing herself, apparently with approval. It was… small. And pointy. And there was something with the texture, it didn’t look properly smooth…

“What the hell is that?” managed Dash.

“It’s dick, dumbass!” said Gilda, around the bit. “Wow, it really worked. That’s the real deal. I can feel the breeze on it. Holy crap.”

“But why…” Dash slunk closer, staring. “Why does the surface look like that?”

Gilda gave her a look. “Do you remember what my tongue feels like?”

“Oh yeah. Oh my gosh yeah. Incredible. So the dick is… scratchy? That’s crazy!”

“Serves our purposes,” said Gilda. “Didn’t you ever notice how wet I get? Our bodies can handle it.”

Dash nodded. “Wow. Can I… taste? Wait a minute. Why are you able to talk so clearly? Us ponies kinda mumble when we’re holding a bit in our teeth.”

Gilda winked. “No teeth. No lips. Noooo problem… and yeah—enjoy.”

Rainbow moved in, wide-eyed. The closer she got, the weirder it seemed. It was an angry red spike of love, like some talon. Rainbow hesitantly licked it, and shuddered. There was something creepy and off about the taste, and the texture scraped her tongue shockingly. She rested her tongue against it, and it felt prickly and wrong. “Uhhh… Gilda, that’s not going in my cunt, babe. I’m not a griffin.”

Indignant, Gilda spat the bit out and began arguing. “Like you’d be any better? I’m not a pony!”

“Yeah, but I don’t go juicy like you do! It’s all thick like grease and stuff, now I know why! I bet you’re like that right now!”

Gilda batted her eyelashes at Dash. “I thought you liked it. I thought you couldn’t get enough of it, craved it.”

“Well, yeah! But that’s why it would work!” protested Dash.

Gilda looked rattled. “Define ‘work’, Dash. This is trouble and I shouldn’t be doing it.”

Exasperated, Rainbow dove and reclaimed the bit. She stood, cock jutting from under her belly, staring confidently at Gilda, who shrank back a little.

“It’ll work,” said Dash around the bit, “b’cause you get so juicy and hot. I want t’ feel you around me. I want t’ be inside that sexy body.”

Gilda muttered, “I shouldn’t. It’s too thick. It’s too… long.” She shivered, and couldn’t stop staring. “Exactly how long are we talking, here? What… would happen if it didn’t all fit?”

Rainbow Dash grinned around the bit. This was her trump card. She’d worn harnesses with Gilda before. The griffin’s caterwauling fireworks always seemed to center on one thing—deep penetration. She’d hinted that it was a griffin thing, and from observational experience, Dash had to believe it.

Now, Gilda was looking at Dash’s hard-on with panic in her eyes, yet Rainbow would bet anything that the griffin was a honeypot of feline ooze all the same. Dash took a moment to be grateful that she wasn’t, in fact, thicker than she was—or as thick as Applejack had been.

Gilda raised an eyebrow to see a shadow of distress pass over Dash’s pony face, but said nothing as Dash shook it off and replied.

“What would happen… if it didn’t all fit?”

Gilda nodded, licking her beak.

“I’d just have to… shove,” said Dash.

Gilda whimpered. She began to breathe heavily through her open beak, staring and staring—and then, suddenly but not unexpectedly, the trembling griffin had leapt to her talons and paws—and whirled, pressing low to the ground. And sure enough—her feline pussy was a gooey bucket of lust, one that she could not disobey for another moment.

“Damn you, Dash! Damn you! Do your worst, damn it!”

Rainbow Dash grinned, observing predator turned prey. Just like the old days.

Gilda screamed and pounded the ground with a balled-up talon—and then she seemed to grab the earth with talons and claws and hang on, for Dash had mounted upon her.

It was always so awkward, always had been, still was. Gilda pressed so low to the ground, and stuck her ass up super high. It was a posture foreign to ponies, and it always threw Dash at first—and sure enough, her cock went right between Gilda’s legs and under her belly, rubbing against the soft fur there. It did feel awesome, but she couldn’t very well keep it there.

Dash adjusted her hips, and her stallionhood first thumped the inside of Gilda’s leg, and then swung up and thudded heavily against her mons and lower belly. If Dash had questioned the wisdom of her plan, the sounds Gilda made put all doubts to rest. The griffin, feeling the mass of stallion cock thumping heavily against her shuddering body, let out a series of lewd shrieks that left nothing to the imagination. Dash knew the heights of passion Gilda could reach. She’d never known her to go this wild, this early, before.

Dash tried to aim, but was thrown off by an unexpected move—Gilda had kicked a quivering leg out behind her. Rainbow could feel Gilda’s leonine tail writhing against her belly as it tried to hold itself ever harder to the right. The griffin’s feline ass was wriggling frantically, and there the leg went again, kicking out behind…

“Settle down! Hold still!”

Hearing this, Gilda heaved a deep breath, planted both hind-paws on the ground set well apart, dug her claws in, and began to alternate deep intakes of breath with lurid wails on the exhale. She was going ballistic—but her ass was Rainbow Dash’s, and she was holding it still for her.

Dash bit down a little harder, adjusted her stance—and felt kitty glop against the end of her dick. Target acquired… and whether it was affection for her old lover, or the influence of her pony lovers she’d had, Rainbow did not buck forward in wildness like the old days with griffin-shaped strap-ons.

Instead, she entered Gilda irresistibly—but slow, real slow.

The griffin bucked, her body shuddering violently as the stallion cock wedged into her. It felt incredible to Dash—tight, but greased up so generously with feline lube that the tightness was delicious. Pony juices wouldn’t have sufficed, but griffin juices were hardcore… Dash felt Gilda’s lean, muscular cat-ass clench, and then go into spasms around her. It was fantastic, and so was the noise. She slid a few more inches into Gilda’s pussy, rewarded by a hideous shriek.

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of contentment, totally drowned out by her noisy griffin lover. This, this was distraction. Doin’ it old school, with her strange harsh lover who really liked that, and if they were rough? Life was rough, the griffins understood that.

She wondered if she was hurting Gilda, or if Gilda cared in the least whether she was hurt. The griffin way was so sexy, if you were unloved. You could just throw yourself into it, and end up covered in clawmarks and sweat, totally sated, totally distracted, and then you could leave and they were cool with that—at least Gilda was. It felt so familiar to Dash as she nudged a little deeper and felt Gilda’s leg kick out between hers as if trying to force her stallionhood deeper and deeper by any means necessary.

Gilda seemed to be trying to push backwards against her. It was so passionate. Her cunt was spasming hard now, and it seemed to only make her hungrier. Rainbow Dash’s heart went out, and she felt at that moment that Gilda’s intensity was the most beautiful thing ever.

Nuzzling Gilda’s neck-feathers, her hips gently nudging up to what she felt was Gilda’s ultimate depths with great tenderness, Rainbow Dash crooned, “Ya love me?” in her scratchy little voice.

The reaction she got was not what she’d have hoped.

Gilda twisted her head around, and screeched angrily, “Don’t get all fucking pony on me now!”

Shocked, Dash stared at her lover. Gilda stared back, her eyes red and crazed… and then, screamed a cry of frustration and rage without words. It said, more clearly than words: shut up about love and fuck me. Hard.

Dash glared—and swung her hips forward. Inside Gilda, the pony cock thrust deep, and thudded heavily against her feline cervix. The griffin shuddered, letting out a wild scream.

Dash did it again. Gilda writhed, tearing at the ground, her vagina clamping against Dash savagely. There was nothing cuddly about her, for all that her feline body was soft and furry. It was less soft when all the muscles were tense as boards, not melting into lovemaking at all. That was foreplay for the griffins, and it had passed. Gilda was into the wild-animal stage of griffin fucking, and expected the same of her pony lover.

“Fine!” yelled Rainbow Dash, her eyes hurt and angry—and she grabbed Gilda’s body, and began to hump her. “I.. know.. what.. you… like!” With each word, her stallionhood plunged into Gilda and rammed cruelly against her griffin cervix—the very trigger Gilda had always been a slave to, in feline fashion. A trigger that could be hit by griffin cock, or dildo—but which had never been slammed by a long, thick, pony cock, over and over and over.

Gilda exploded—at first in a good way.

She screeched painfully loud, clenched like a maniac, she clawed at the ground and sent dirt and grass flying everywhere—but she didn’t stop at that. Gilda writhed, her body impossible to hold, and before Rainbow knew what was happening, the griffin had flipped over and her talons were tearing at Dash’s body. She got a hindleg between herself and Dash and kicked out with her claws, she raked across Dash’s face with a talon, all in a blinding flurry of violence and screaming, in less than two seconds.

All Dash could do was scramble back, trying to get away from the pain.

She’d never actually given Gilda a full-on griffin orgasm before, and so nothing in her experience warned her that, like a male griffin, she’d better be ready to jump back—and she’d taken the brunt of it.

The next thing she knew, she was standing there, dripping blood, watching Gilda roll and flip around on the ground.

Rainbow’s voice shuddered. “What… the… FUCK, Gilda?”

“Mmmmmm,” responded the griffin. “Oh baby.” She writhed slowly on the ground, flipping over some more, gazing at Dash with half-lidded eyes.

“Ow!”

“Oh, did I get you?” said Gilda. “Hey babe, if you’re gonna fuck like a griffin… and you fuck like a griffin and a half, wow. Mmmmm… here, put that thing away, let me get that for you.”

Gilda slunk over like a liquid birdkitty, and Dash shied away from her, seeing her own blood on Gilda’s talons, but the savage griffin had shifted gears. She plucked the bit out of Rainbow’s mouth and dropped it into her saddlebag, she nuzzled Rainbow and coaxed the panicky, bleeding pony onto her side, and she began licking at Rainbow’s wounds with her scratchy tongue, her own body shuddering with recent pleasures and feverishly hot to the touch.

“Gilda…” managed Rainbow.

“Yeah shut up, okay? I got this. You were awesome, Dash.”

Rainbow’s panic wouldn’t shut off. After the attack, her body insisted her griffin friend was about to tear her apart, and she couldn’t relax, even as the familiar lithe body rubbed affectionately against her. Gilda was licking her belly, her teats, where the claw had raked. She moved up, licking Dash’s chest, gazing sensuously into her jittery eyes. Gilda licked up Dash’s side, and the scratchy tongue and sharp, raptor beak neared the base of Dash’s right wing…

Rainbow Dash kicked up with a rear hoof and got Gilda in the side of the head.

Gilda yowled and reflexively struck back, her talons going for Dash’s face and neck, scratching another stripe of red in a quick, glancing blow…

And then there was one. Gilda lay on her side, claws and talons outstretched in griffin roughhouse mode, staring at a blue streak that cut through the trees for the open sky, and left a rainbow circle there. The boom shook more leaves off the trees.

Gilda stared after her fleeing lover.

“FINE!” she screeched.

She flipped over onto her back, grumbling. After a moment, she flopped onto her other side, rapidly overcome by her post-coital satiation again.

Gilda curled up, and began to purr. She lifted her head, and looked back at where Dash had disappeared into the vast, empty sky.

“Anytime, babe!” she called. “That was awesome! You’re a real griffin now!”

But Rainbow Dash was long gone, flying as fast as she could back home to Ponyville.

Pardon

Fluttershy flew hesitantly toward the barn.

The bird had told her a terrible tale of horrible monsters invading Sweet Apple Acres, and she had come to see whether she needed to get help. Fluttershy was used to smiling and doing nothing in response to bird stories. You had to be pretty dim to believe everything you heard from birds.

This time, however, the bird had been really freaked out. It shook her. What if it had been some sort of dragon? Someone had to go and protect Sweet Apple Acres. Fluttershy intended to check out the situation, and then go and fetch some appropriate pony to do the protecting.

She drifted around the corner of the barn, and then squeaked and zipped back where she’d come, for something was wrong. The little door was open! It was kept closed every day she’d seen it, yet open it was, and she’d seen some large dark shape moving around in there. Cowering against the side of the barn, she felt the whole barn shudder—something had thumped against the beams of the building, something heavy enough to be the monster she’d been warned about!

The barn fell silent, and then Fluttershy heard an unexpected sound coming through the walls. It sounded like a sob, a cry of woe. She paused. Could the monster be some sort of creature in distress? Birds weren’t good at telling angst from rage. The whole thing could be a misunderstanding. She had to find out.

Timidly, Fluttershy began walking around the corner, and approached the doorway again.

The dark shape wasn’t visible anymore. Fluttershy gulped, and began to peer around the side of the door—when suddenly, a huge shape popped into view, peering around the edge just like her. Fluttershy squealed, and fell backwards onto her butt, eyes wide with horror at…

Big Macintosh. “Sorry,” he said.

Fluttershy blinked. “Whatever are you doing in there?”

“Never you mind,” he said. “Won’t be here for long.”

“Wait. Why are you crying?”

“You’d cry too, if you was homeless…”

Fluttershy gasped. “No!”

“Granny Smith read me th’ riot act. Says I’m all too growed up, should find me a homestead of my own…”

“Why would she say that?” protested Fluttershy.

Big Macintosh hung his head. “Don’t know if you heard—it’s all ‘cause I had, um, relations with Rainbow Dash.”

“Who hasn’t?” replied Fluttershy, tartly. “She sticks to Pinkie Pie like some little blue leech!”

Big Macintosh looked shocked. “I thunk you was innocent, Fluttershy. How would you know about that?”

It was Fluttershy’s turn to look away, embarrassed. “I… don’t like to say. I shouldn’t have said that, either. Did Granny Smith really kick you out? You’re really leaving Sweet Apple Acres?”

Big Macintosh looked woebegone, and his lip quivered. His eyes misted over, and he began to blubber—and then, he was in Fluttershy’s embrace.

“There, there…” she cooed, wings neatly folded, patting his back—or as near as she could reach to his back. She made comforting little noises, as she might do for a frightened chipmunk.

Can’t blame Granny, thought Fluttershy to herself, if this is what he’s been like at home. It’s cute from a baby bunny, but he’s got no business being this mushy, the big strong oaf…

Outside the barn and down the road, Twilight Sparkle and Trixie trotted back into town, saddlebags loaded with carrots and greens from Carrot Top’s farm.

“Hurry, Trixie! We need to get back home!”

Trixie panted. “But why are we in such a rush, Mistress? Princess Celestia is not expected until this afternoon!”

“Experiments, silly!” replied Twilight. “I’ve had some new ideas!”

Trixie blanched. “But… can Mistress wait? Until later? Trixie is still wobbly from Mistress’s last experiments. Not complaining! Just… it’s a little much…”

Trixie squeaked, then. Twilight had dropped back and nipped her rump, lightly. “Mistress!”

“That’s got your attention… listen. Have we ever found out what happened if a bit… penetrates you?”

“Nothing happens, Mistress. Trixie has done that. It tingles, nothing more.”

Twilight beamed. “It tingles, good! Because the other part of my idea is this—I should be able to work it using my telekinesis. I’m going to bury it inside you and rub your G-spot with it while giving you head. In… oh, about three minutes. Hurry, hurry!”

Trixie stumbled. “Oh, my!” she breathed, and began to pant. “So determined… Mistress, why do you want to push Trixie so hard? It is very arousing, but Trixie is disconcerted!”

Twilight snickered. “Two—no, three reasons. I want you extremely relaxed, and I’m going to leave you with little desire to cause mischief, since you’ll have to be on your best behavior when the Princess is here. The third reason is that I want you writhing with ecstacy in my hooves. I’m nervous too, and I’m thinking through all the things she might say—Princess Celestia, that is. I want distraction, and I want to be reminded how amazing you are.”

“Mistress was reminded just last night,” suggested Trixie.

“Mistress wants more,” said Twilight. “Mistress SHALL have more. Trot!”

Trixie put on a little more speed, gasping as Twilight chased her and nuzzled her rump without breaking pace. It was startling, thought Trixie, and doubtless a side-effect of the Magic Bit Mark Three. She wasn’t complaining—she felt the effect too—but it was both exciting and alarming to have Mistress being that lusty. She would never have dared to hope for such ingenious perversity and eagerness. It’s always the nerdy ones, thought Trixie, emphatically including herself in that category.

When they reached Twilight’s house, they were nearly galloping, and they burst through the door almost without breaking stride, heading for the stairs to Twilight’s bedroom. Twilight’s magic flared up, and the saddlebags on both ponies dropped to the floor, spilling carrots from Trixie’s. They didn’t slow down, even when Twilight trod on one and flattened it with a little crunch under her hoof.

“Whoa!” said Spike. “Hey, Twilight, you dropped the… you might want to pick up… um… Okay! Taking a break! See ya!”

He walked towards the still-open door, then began to jog as he heard the loud skronk of bedsprings. Trixie had flung herself onto the bed, on her back, moaning “Mistress! Oh Mistress!”

Outside, Spike pulled the door closed, and stood for a moment, rolling his eyes upward in disbelief. “Sheesh!” He headed for Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie seemed extra happy these days, and was usually good for some ice cream, or even a gemstone if he was lucky.

Twilight loomed over Trixie, both ponies grinning and panting after their run. Trixie reclined, wriggling voluptuously, aware she was pleasing Mistress—and let out a cry as Mistress dove in and began licking the inside of her thigh, savoring Trixie’s sweat and all the scents and tastes of her as Trixie’s unicorn pussy kicked into high gear.

She hadn’t long to wait—Twilight was voracious, charging onward with breathtaking passion and hunger. In moments, she was nuzzling and licking swollen labia as Trixie’s legs fell open wider. Her horn was already glowing—Trixie saw the shining metal of the bit float across her field of vision—and then, Twilight’s face lifted away for a moment, and cold cold metal touched her, slid across hot and slick ponypussy, poked entreatingly at her—and thrust in a single motion, burying itself fully into her quivering vagina.

Trixie squealed through clenched teeth, her horn sputtering to flickering life. The urgency got to her, and the coldness made the bit feel… intrusive, uncomfortable. She had a moment to consider that Twilight had done that on purpose: knowing that Trixie had a huge weakness for being cruelly dominated, Twilight ingeniously found ways to push her buttons and push them hard, just as Trixie liked it.

Trixie only had a moment, though, because Twilight’s mouth came down on her jutting clitoral hood and began licking and suckling—while, inside her, the metal bit twisted and began grinding against her G-spot.

Trixie bit her lip, keening—banged her head against the mattress—and then, as Twilight slurped on her clit and her magic worked the small metal object inside Trixie’s pussy, Trixie lifted off the bed entirely, arching her back in unbearable pleasure… and shrieked, biting her lip hard… and bucked and writhed, squirting magic from her horn and unicorn spooge from her puss. It had taken no more than twenty-three seconds from the time Trixie hit the bed.

Twilight collapsed, her face against Trixie’s inner thigh. It felt like a furnace. She’d inflamed her pony lover gloriously. She focused her mind, and guided the magic bit back out of Trixie, feeling the shudders and echoes of orgasm still rippling through her, jolts of pleasure felt plainly against Twilight’s cheek.

The bit emerged, glistening with pony juices. Twilight regarded it fondly, and licked it clean, nuzzling Trixie’s inner thigh and hearing her pant and moan, “Oh, Mistress…”

Twilight lifted her head. “I’d say that was a rousing succ… oh, crap, Trixie, your lip!”

“What? Oh…” said Trixie, dazedly. She licked her lips and tasted iron. “Trixie is sorry…”

Twilight gulped. “Oops. I didn’t bargain on that. I hope we can tidy it up in time!”

Trixie thought. “Mistress… Trixie appreciates what you are doing, but do not worry yourself about it too much. You want the Princess to love me as you do—but Mistress, Trixie lived for years in great suffering, and Princess Celestia did nothing to help her.”

“But if she knew…”

“No, listen, Mistress! Twilight, listen. I have you. I don’t need her. I don’t even really want her, but I know how important it is to you.” Trixie stared into space for a moment, looking weary and disappointed. “Shall we say, Mistress should retain some of her illusions? Trixie will be very, very good for Mistress. The Princess will come to visit, and will be—whatever she is, Trixie does not care. And then, she will go home, and Trixie will still have Mistress.”

Twilight’s ears were back. “If you knew the things Princess Celestia has done for us…”

“For who, exactly?” said Trixie, bitterly.

“Oh, Trixie,” sighed Twilight. She nuzzled the other unicorn, and licked her injured lip delicately. “I wish I could show you how compassionate and giving Princess Celestia is, how understanding and patient… and I understand what you’re saying, but it’s about more than just us. I need her help.”

Trixie blinked. “With what?”

“I made a promise, remember? Applejack dumped Rainbow Dash. I promised Pinkie Pie that I’d help fix their relationship, but I didn’t realize how bad it was. I still can’t quite believe what Big Macintosh did… but then I really can’t believe what Rarity suddenly did either. Where’d she even get all that kink stuff?”

Trixie considered this. “I usually got mine from Inky Tail’s Sundries in Canterlot, for the good stuff. There’s also a place in Fillydelphia—that’s a very lively town, you know. I remember Rarity went on about being fashionable. Didn’t you say she runs a boutique in Ponyville? It seems like a strange place for one.”

“Yes, she does! She’s very talented.”

Trixie smirked. “Really! In that case, Trixie suspects she has been making this gear all along. Trixie has not seen that stuff before, but if it was private stock, she seems to have made it very public now. When your Princess is gone, can we go… shopping?”

“Uhh…” said Twilight, “I have other things I need to think about right now. I should make the salad for us, and the table I was going to serve it on is covered with books, so I’ve got to find somewhere to put those.”

Trixie batted her eyelashes. “Trixie finds certain places difficult to reach. Could Mistress oblige in some more tidying up?”

Twilight narrowed her eyes at the remark. “This is you not behaving yet. Right?”

The blue unicorn mare wriggled on her back, displaying herself. “Mistress is so good at it—and since Trixie’s untidiness is all Mistress’s fault…”

“There’s girl-spooge down the inside of your leg,” observed Twilight. “I could insist you go around like that for the rest of the day.”

Trixie’s half-lidded eyes flickered with amusement. “Mistress could, it is true. But since Trixie has to play nice all day anyhow… and since it is Mistress who wishes Trixie to do that…”

A smirk began to sneak onto Twilight’s face. “I get it. You’re twisting things on me, aren’t you? Suddenly, the Great and Powerful Trixie wants to drive? If I don’t submit, you’ll go around covered with goo and embarrass me?”

“When were your guests arriving?” yawned Trixie. “Trixie forgets.”

“You want to watch me talking to Princess Celestia with your juices on my lips and tongue. Seriously? That’s a turn-on for you?” marvelled Twilight.

Trixie smirked, and looked fondly down her body at her beloved, between her legs.

“How does it feel to know that it’s already true?” she said. “Aren’t you a dirty little pony? Does Trixie’s requirement make you wet, little pony?”

Her voice purred with languid authority. Twilight trembled.

“Yes. I guess that’s a turn-on for me too, huh?”

Trixie sighed with satisfaction at the delicious reversal. Her eyes were luminous slits, her smile predatory.

“Lick it up. Now. All of it. Trixie may let you stop afterwards, if you do well. Otherwise, you can mumble to your Princess later, using a very tired tongue…”

Trixie didn’t have to continue. Twilight Sparkle had lowered her head, obediently, and her adorable tongue licked dutifully up Trixie’s inner thigh. The formerly-submissive, now-dominant blue unicorn shuddered with pleasure, as her lover’s head moved humbly against her. Twilight would devote herself utterly to the task, as long as it didn’t seriously take so long that it endangered her plans.

Trixie knew this, and had no intention of endangering anything. She knew she could sneak in one more orgasm, if Twilight’s licking went quickly to her vulva and clitoris. She knew that Twilight knew it too, and would likely do exactly that—and Trixie quivered with anticipation as Twilight, knowing what had to happen, behaved as if she had no such agenda, and licked placidly at Trixie’s inner thigh, as directed.

Trixie could see the hint of a little smile on Twilight’s face as she made Trixie wait for the payoff.

Life was so, so, so wonderful.

“They’re fine, Mistress!”

Twilight fussed with the bouquet of carrots and flowers, a delicious riot of reds, oranges and yellows. “Trixie, please! Call me Twilight. And the other thing, remember?”

Trixie made a face. “Only for you, Twilight. Do you understand how nervous it makes me? I don’t like using those words. That’s not my life anymore.”

“I know, but please! For me. ‘I’ instead of ‘Trixie’. ‘Twilight’ instead of ‘Mistress’. I remember what you told me about getting caught up in self-will, I understand that you want to step back from that—but we’re having Princess Celestia over for a visit! I’m already having to explain so much. It’s going to be sooooo much fun explaining why Applejack and Dash broke up!”

“I will. For you. I promise,” said Trixie.

“And start right now, okay? Because Princess Celestia is very punctual and it’s already at least thirty seconds after the time she said she’d come and I need you to… eeeee!”

The sharp rapping at the door sounded again. Twilight pulled herself together, trotted to the door, and her horn glowed. “Greetings, P…” she said…

…as the door opened on two alicorns.

“It’s so good to see you, Twilight!” said Princess Celestia warmly. “Luna hasn’t seen you in a while, and we thought we might surprise you. Thank you so much for having us!”

“Oh!” squeaked Twilight, her ears back. “Uh… Right! Please come in, Trixie is waiting to meet you!”

Princess Celestia stepped regally through the door, smiling.

“And who,” she said, as she entered Twilight’s house, “is your wonderful Tr..”

Princess Celestia caught sight of Trixie, and froze in her tracks, for just a moment, her face going blank. Then, the winning smile was back, and she strode forward to meet Twilight’s marefriend.

Luna blinked, not sure what she’d just seen. She glanced at Twilight Sparkle. Twilight’s lip was quivering, and her pupils were pinpricks of shock. She’d clearly seen that hesitation.

“Come along, Twilight,” said Luna. “I am charmed at the beautiful salad you’ve made us! I hope it is not inconvenient that I’ve accompanied my sister on this day?”

Twilight shook her head, looking terrified—then shook it again, as if to clear it, and trotted determinedly over to join Trixie and Princess Celestia.

“So… meet the light of my life! This is Trixie, a truly wonderful unicorn.”

Celestia smiled winningly. “I’m so pleased! Where do you live, dear?”

Trixie’s head was held high—perhaps a little too high, but in deference to Twilight’s feelings it wasn’t by much. “I live here, in fact. Twilight has been wonderful. We’ve even moved my books in—we did that yesterday.”

“Oh, books? I begin to see what captivated Twilight about you!” said Princess Celestia, with a fond chuckle. “Was your whole house full of them, too?”

“It was a cave, actually. Safe against all eventualities.”

“She made a warding spell that was really something! It’ll probably last for hundreds of years!” added Twilight.

“Oh,” said Celestia, “a spell, of c… I mean, how wonderful! So this is another thing you have in common, then? Twilight is a very powerful magical unicorn. You are another talented mage, then?”

“I have given performances across Equestria!” boasted Trixie, and then glanced at Twilight, chastened by a look. “But M.. Twilight is much more powerful than I am.”

Princess Celestia was stuck for a response, and her smile wavered for a moment. This didn’t go unnoticed by Luna, who hastened to keep the conversation going. “Ah… you are a stage performer, Trixie? What sorts of magic do you use?”

Trixie brightened. “Oh, there are many useful kinds. Ordinary magical fireworks and sparklers are always very useful. Then there is the manipulation of magical glamours to form shapes and words, telekinesis of course, perhaps hypnosis…”

Luna glanced back and forth. Princess Celestia had given a small but perceptible jerk at the word ‘glamours’, and by the time Trixie had hit the word ‘hypnosis’, Luna thought she saw the problem. Celestia’s smile was looking forced, and Twilight looked truculent. Luna hit on a tactic, and seized it.

“Trixie, this sounds very interesting!” She switched to Royal Canterlot Voice. “We request that you demonstrate these magical glamours for us!”

Trixie blinked. “Twilight’s seen them. As for you—really? You want to see my magic?”

“We would request pardon for our fair sister, who may wish to catch up with her dear friend. But we avidly await your delightful performance! Wouldst thou accompany us outside, where suitable space exists for such demonstrations?”

Trixie blinked, entranced. “Trixie has never heard anypony talk quite this way before. Is it a Princess thing?”

“It is the Royal Canterlot Voice, good pony, and so we must needs agree—truly, it is indeed a Princess thing!”

“Wow,” breathed Trixie. “Is that okay with you, Mis… Twilight?”

“Miss Twilight,” said Twilight carefully, “will be catching up with her old friend. Go ahead…”

“Yes,” said Celestia. “Have fun!”

Luna led the way outside, Trixie trotting behind her, glancing back at Twilight in worry, and then heading out the door. It closed gently. The instant it closed, Twilight spoke.

“What?”

“I’m sorry, Twilight?” replied Princess Celestia, with a knitted brow and a look of intent concentration.

“What?” repeated Twilight. “What’s wrong?”

Celestia hung her head and sighed. “What gave you that impression, dear?”

“Apart from the freezing in your tracks, and looking startled, and the ever-so-scintillating conversation? Gee, not much!”

Celestia sighed again, and nibbled at the salad. “I see I can’t put things past you. Dear Twilight… it’s just a bit of a shock. I have seen your Trixie before. It pains me to say it, but I must suggest that there may be things about her that you simply do not know…”

She nibbled on more salad, as Twilight replied.

“On the contrary, Princess, there are things I know that… well, it might be you who doesn’t really understand.” She gulped. “If you’re saying what I think you’re saying… I need to explain this very badly. Their deaths were not her fault!”

Princess Celestia spit flowers across the table in shock.

“What? Twilight, I was going to tell you that there is a magical artifact out there which seems to compel ponies into sex! I’ve watched its influence travel across Equestria. The problem with it is that it seems to bring out the worst in some ponies, and your Trixie is possibly the worst offender! She’s been caught up in it over and over, seems to follow it somehow. What is all this about deaths?”

Twilight stammered. “Uh, she actually made it. It was under a curse… We all ended up getting involved. Rainbow Dash found it first…”

“Oh my,” said Princess Celestia, wide-eyed.

“Yeah,” said Twilight, knowingly. “I, um, made some decisions I’m not proud of. Trixie helped! She was ready to lay down her life to keep me from going bad. This is a lot to explain…”

“So it was cursed all along? Twilight, I’ve seen that item in the wild. I understand it is strange, but I did not know it was cursed! You certainly are explaining it very badly! Please go back to the deaths, Twilight. What happened?”

Twilight sighed. “That was what we call the Mark One. It turns mares into stallions, sort of… what we didn’t know was, it bound everypony who used it to Trixie. We all got compelled to… go service her. She was compelled too. It was pretty horrible…”

“The deaths, Twilight. What did this curse entail?”

Twilight was blushing worse and worse. “Everypony who’d used the thing to grow a dick—suddenly had one, and the compulsion. We had to go and have an orgy with Trixie. It was Lyra who saved us, apparently. Me and Applejack and Dash were nearly goners. That’s how other ponies died, other times it happened.”

“How?” Celestia’s ears were back, a rare sight.

“We were… mating with her, over and over, and it was like it was dragging our life force out of us. Applejack probably lasted the longest. Dash was pretty strong too… I’m told they dragged me off her and put Fluttershy in my place, which I hate to think about now…”

“And Lyra saved you? How?”

Twilight pulled herself together. “It has to do with the bailout condition! The curse had always been this—everypony had to pleasure Trixie until she, um, squirted. You know? The, uh, unicorn thing… and the way she was, nopony had ever loved her, they were just fu… mating.”

“How did Lyra save you?” repeated Princess Celestia.

“Lyra had some love in her heart for Trixie. That was the key… when Trixie, um, you know? When that happened, this time, the bit burst into sparkles in Lyra’s mouth. It usually disappeared, but this time it was destroyed. The curse was broken.”

Princess Celestia heaved a great sigh of relief. “I won’t pretend I’m not grateful, Twilight. Had I known all the details, I would not have allowed this to happen. It’s not the first odd magic item I’ve ever seen, or even the first one of a sexual nature, but you must report truly dangerous magical items to me, in case my help is needed.”

Twilight nodded. “I know. I wish I’d had your help, but I hardly knew how to ask! It’s been really tough. The cursed one exploded if you used it on somepony you love, and the Mark Twos… well, I guess that was actually about the same. We’re still not sure what sets off the Mark Three, but…”

Twilight glanced at Princess Celestia, and stopped abruptly. The alicorn’s ears were back again. Her mane wasn’t even flowing in nonexistent breezes. It hung stock-still. Celestia’s eyes were wide.

“So… you made another, then?”

Twilight gulped. “No… I made five…”

“Where are they right now, Twilight?”

“I’m not sure…”

“Who exactly made these things, Twilight? You and you alone?”

Twilight shook her head. “I did it with Trixie. She made the first one. She told me I couldn’t possibly tap the energies, because I was too nice.”

Princess Celestia’s expression darkened, and Twilight whimpered to see it.

“Please describe Trixie for me, Twilight. What sort of energies is she using in these? Why does she say you are too nice? What sort of power does she have? Do I need to go to Luna’s aid, Twilight?”

“No!” protested Twilight. “She’s had a hard life! She’s a sort of thing they call a sadomasochistic switch. Her magical powers are not that great! She just tapped into a source of sexual energy from somewhere, and it came with a curse. She didn’t know what she was tapping! I thought that was worrying too, that’s why we are drawing from sources inside ourselves for the Mark Threes! No outside influences!”

“Is that supposed to be reassuring? Even the simplest pony has depths you wouldn’t expect to find. Do you think you are such simple creatures? You’re complicated, soulful, unpredictable. Explain this part about your being too nice. I would have thought that an appropriate way for a pony to be. Are you suggesting she wishes you less nice?” said Celestia.

Twilight squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. “Nnngh! The point is, she was wrong, Princess! I’m not ‘too nice’. I’m just me! I’ve done some things I’m not pleased with…”

Celestia seized on this statement. “List them.”

Twilight gulped. “I… she… how do I even begin to explain it? Princess, she got me into her sado-maso-thing. Or not exactly—I’ve read up on it a whole lot. We do a thing that’s about dominance and submission. I would never have believed it when I first saw her, but Trixie longs to be dominated. And I… well, when I get mad or fierce, it turns out I’m pretty good at that. And sometimes we switch it around, too, and you’d be surprised how good that can feel…”

Celestia regarded her tiredly. “It feels good, then.”

“It feels amazing!” protested Twilight. “And you have to understand, through this I am getting in touch with who I really am! Trixie saved me from… bad decisions I was making, because I had fallen for Applejack. Princess, I had unrealistic expectations of Applejack. I was being demanding, and I wasn’t letting her be herself. With Trixie, I’m being myself, and she’s being herself. We’re being honest. Yes, we’re complicated ponies, Princess. I am a complicated pony. I understand that now, and I’m taking responsibility for it. How can that be wrong?”

Princess Celestia sighed, and hung her head. After a while, she spoke.

“Twilight, having problems and being with somepony who has similar problems… doesn’t always mean ‘true love’. Is it your virtues she loves? Or is it parts of you you’d rather not magnify? Is it leading you directions you wish to go? It’s possible to be drawn into the difficult just because it is difficult. Remember ponies bond for many reasons.”

Twilight began to cry. “But… Princess, it is leading me directions I want to go! You can’t be suggesting I need to hold out for somepony without problems. There’s no such thing! With Trixie I’ve found somepony that I understand, who understands me. We have to work through things that come up, work through problems. Don’t you trust me?”

Princess Celestia was silent for one second too many. Twilight’s jaw tensed.

“Princess, I need to rephrase that. I want you to trust me.”

“Enchanted any dolls, lately?” remarked Celestia, acidly.

“No!” replied Twilight. “And do you know the funny thing about that? Do you know what’s different, Princess, between now and that time?”

“Four additional repetitions of the troublesome spell?” suggested Celestia.

“No. No, Princess. The difference is, I am not doing desperate, childish things to try and please… you.”

That got through. Princess Celestia’s eyes went wide.

She hesitated, and in the gap Twilight pressed on. “I can’t be a filly any longer, Princess. I’m the bearer of an Element of Harmony! It upsets me, the way you’re acting. I mean… I understand that the bit thing worries you. I thought we were doing a pretty good job of fixing the curse and learning to get the powers of the bit under control! Damn it, we are doing a pretty good job! And if there are other problems, we’ll handle them…”

“But… Twilight, there is no shame in turning to more experienced minds, more powerful talents,” said Celestia, placatingly. “Please understand that powerful magic must be used with moderation and oversight…”

“All right,” said Twilight Sparkle. “Moderation and oversight it is. I’m working with Trixie. She’s not as powerful as me, but she’s really smart. From things I’ve seen, Rarity wouldn’t be shocked by this stuff. Her magic’s more specialized, but she’s an Element Bearer. I can also consult with experts in Canterlot about our Mark Three bits, if you like. Please help by naming three who are more powerful than I am.”

Celestia fell silent, again, She looked down, and she bit her lip gently. Her expressive, elegant ears were quirked to the side in vexation and confusion, for it was plain that she could not think of even one pony with greater magical power and resources than her old student, now grown up and challenging her.

“You see my point, don’t you?” said Twilight.

“Some of it, perhaps.”

“We ponies can handle this! We’re doing so well… uh… mostly. We’ve got to work this stuff out, we can’t just have you come in and do everything for us. And if I’m not mistaken, Princess, you agree with that, deep in your heart. Am I crazy, or have you been handling it that way all along?”

Princess Celestia looked Twilight in the eye. “It is out of love for you that I wish to intercede.”

“Isn’t that kind of personal?”

“Yes, it is. If it were not you in danger, I would let matters take their course.”

Twilight repressed a little squee of glee at the admission, and put on a stern tone. “Then, shouldn’t you do what you’d normally do? I don’t like you making special rules for me. Us ponies need to handle our own affairs, run our own risks. You say yourself that if it wasn’t me involved, you’d leave this alone. I’m telling you, we’re making progress. It’s not just strictly about the construction of the bit, either! We’re improving it through making progress with understanding of ourselves!”

Celestia didn’t interrupt her. She watched, solemnly, as Twilight talked herself out.

“The new bits are drawing strictly on sources of power within us. We’re not casting out at random. And you know what? To improve them, we have to work on ourselves, and we’re growing! Trixie has grown so much since I first met her. I love her deeply. She’d lay down her life for me. She almost did, and I learned a lot from that. I’ve grown, too. Everypony in Ponyville is!”

“Good heavens,” said Princess Celestia. “You’ve given these things to everypony in town?”

Twilight deflated. “No. Just the five.”

They sat, in silence, looking at each other. A bird chirped outside. Twilight realized she had no more to say. It wasn’t about wheedling, or getting her way—she’d stated her position as an adult mare, and what she’d accept from Princess Celestia in response. It was time to hear that response, since Princess Celestia had truly heard her. She let the alicorn think.

Celestia cleared her throat, and Twilight tensed. It sounded apologetic. That look on the Princess’s face, the little tilt of the head, didn’t bode well.

“Please stop making these things, Twilight.”

“I told you—they’re drawing from us!”

“And I’ve told you,” said Princess Celestia, “that you and your friend are more complicated than you suspect—and your power is not to be trifled with. Twilight, you’re a grown mare, and you’ve come into perhaps your full power. I see the rebelliousness in your eyes—let me reassure you. I am not punishing you. What I am doing is asking you.”

Twilight didn’t respond, and Celestia said, again, softly—“Please, stop this.”

Twilight’s eyes glistened. “…and turn over the ones we’ve made, to you?” she said. “For safe keeping? We’re not sure how to destroy these ones.”

Princess Celestia paused.

“Yes. Please turn them over to me, if you would be so good. I will not require that you do so, but I ask that as well.”

“You don’t trust us.”

“I’m sorry. I know it’s unfair. I consider the risks too great. You’ll note I am not making demands, Twilight. Does that not show trust?”

A tear dripped from Twilight’s eye as she thought about what Celestia was asking—and what it meant, for herself, and for ponykind—and she went on, and thought of one more thing.

“And me and Trixie? What do you really want to see happen with us?”

Celestia didn’t answer, and Twilight’s heart sank. The Princess had that little faith?

“You don’t know Trixie—or love her—like I do.”

“No, Twilight. I don’t. Again, I make no demands.”

Twilight’s world went dark, hearing the sadness in her Princess’s voice—but then something snapped within her, and she lifted her head, and her voice was clear again.

“Princess—you don’t make demands? I’m sorry, but I do.”

“Do you?” said the alicorn, quietly.

“Yes. I know love, Princess. I’ve found a kindred spirit. I’m growing. I need you to respect that.”

“I respect you, Twilight!”

“Do you?”

In the resulting silence, Twilight Sparkle spoke.

“You don’t trust my judgement. But it’s my judgement. I won’t give it up just to please you. This is personal, Princess. I… I hoped you would love us, like we love each other. Because it is ‘us’ now, and more than my happiness is at stake. If you can’t accept that—if you really don’t have anything good to say to us…” Twilight gulped. “…then don’t talk to us, please.”

Princess Celestia bowed her head. Outside, Twilight heard a familiar voice approaching. It said, “…had been private stock! And truly, Princess, there were things being worn, the likes of which Trixie has never seen! And Trixie has seen many things in her day!”

The door opened. Luna and Trixie entered. Luna pranced, and declaimed at nearly Canterlot levels. “Sister, your Twilight Sparkle’s marefriend is most entertaining! Have you had a pleasing discussion? …sister?”

Princess Celestia tightened her jaw. Twilight could see tears forming along her tightly closed eyes. The others fell silent.

Then, Celestia stood—opened her eyes, though the hurt, betrayed look in them was hard to bear—and began walking deliberately toward the door, without a word.

Trixie bolted to Twilight’s side, and looked frantically back and forth between her marefriend and the alicorn Princess.

Princess Luna’s jaw dropped. She called, “Sister. Sister!” and began to walk alongside Celestia, who didn’t look up.

“Sister!” cried Luna, and seized Celestia’s flowing mane in her teeth. “What happened?”

At this, Princess Celestia did stop. She yanked her mane free of Luna’s grip, and gazed down at her sister with a terrible grief and determination in her eyes.

“What happened? Freedom! Freedom happened. Call it a gift!”

“But why are you crying, sister?” protested the smaller alicorn.

“Have you never seen a costly gift before, Luna?”

With that, she stalked out the door of Twilight’s house. Princess Luna glanced back at the two stunned unicorn ponies, and ran after her. They saw two shadows outside, rising quickly into the air, bound for Canterlot and the palace—and then there was silence.

Twilight Sparkle gulped. “Trixie? Will you do something for me?”

Trixie’s eyes were wide, but she didn’t hesitate. “Anything. Anything, my love.”

“I’m scared, Trixie,” said Twilight. “Hold me…”

Proud Mare-y

Applejack stopped at the end of the row, and carefully placed the pan on the ground. Slowly, she stretched her neck this way and that, wincing.

It was just as well Big Macintosh had gone ahead and plowed. She winced at the idea of thanking him—‘thank you for doing all of that plowing, except for the part when you were plowing the love of my life for me’—but all the same, he had seen that she’d ruined herself out on the fields, and had worked all through the night to do the remaining hard labor so she wouldn’t have to. It was a kindness she was more used to seeing from him—the Big Macintosh she’d thought she knew.

It had meant that her work for the day consisted of loading seed into the frying pan, and hobbling along the plowed furrows, shaking her head gently with the pan in her teeth. The Apple family had never considered it worthwhile to buy more specialized tools—the old cast-iron frying pan worked perfectly well and held lots of seed.

The trouble was, the old cast-iron frying pan was… cast iron. It was heavy and awkward. Both Applejack and Big Macintosh were so strong that they made light work of it on a normal day, but it wasn’t a normal day for Applejack. She hurt all over, in every sense, and though she was hanging in there, the weight of the pan had got to her, and now her neck hurt real bad as well.

And so she rested, not being a total fool, and while she looked out over the fields, the thoughts came flooding back.

Why had Rainbow betrayed her? It didn’t make sense in some ways. Applejack remembered back to their first time, out in the forest, and how Dash had cavorted in ecstacy only to end up snuggling against her. She’d said she would love Applejack forever. Never said a thing about loving only Applejack… in some ways, the picture was clear from the first moment. The pretty rainbow ponybird would fly on, loving many, staying not for long.

And yet… that time when she’d asked Dash to make sweet love. The little pegasus had freaked out, unable to handle the intimacy. She’d been so good at wild casual sex, and so bad at tenderness—and then, afterwards, had broken down and wept, seduced into caring.

Applejack could still remember holding her as she sobbed, too vulnerable, emotionally exposed. Rainbow had let her cool-pony facade be stripped away. She’d reacted as if the casual sex thing was ruined for her, as if she’d gone to a terrifying new level of intimacy that made all previous lovemaking seem like another, emptier world.

There was no telling how long she’d lasted—until her nerve had cracked, and she’d secretly gone back to her old ways: meaningless sex with literally anypony who would have her.

Applejack’s face twisted in grief. Her rage and betrayal had carried her, and they surely would come to her aid again when she needed them, but standing alone in the field, she wept. Her poor faithless darling! She hadn’t saved her Dashie from herself, not at all. Her love was not enough to get through to the lonely little pegasus. Applejack knew in her bones she’d have given her life for her cerulean lover, but her life was not requested of her. She’d thrown a rope to a drowning mare, only to have it ignored. Rainbow Dash was not going to learn to love. She would not make that special connection with another pony—even when it was given to her outright. She didn’t believe it, or wouldn’t see it. Dash was lost.

Just for a moment, Applejack hung her head, crying. It wasn’t only Dash who was gone. Applejack knew that nopony had really understood her like Rainbow, and the loss gutted her. With Dash, Applejack had dared to admit the truth about herself—though she was an Apple mare, proud and domineering, though she was so tough as to be like an actual stallion, though she plowed and harrowed fields and tied her hair back to not be girly and ruled her farm like a true Apple matriarch as her grandmother and mother had before her… she wasn’t like them, on the inside.

With Rainbow, she had admitted how mare-ish she was at heart. She’d found a pony who could accept her traditional Apple ways, but saw through that to the fillyish heart of her and loved it as well. Rainbow Dash had reduced her to a squealing, quivering, submissive mare in bed, yes—but more than that, Dash had been there, the only pony to turn to when her feelings were hurt and she’d desperately needed to cry and be held. Dash had been the one safe place to truly be herself, all of herself, even down to her secret heart.

And Rainbow Dash would not be there for her any longer.

Applejack stood in a field, racked with pain from stallionish labor, her mane and tail tied up to not look girly, and knew she was right back where she’d started. If anypony learned that she’d kicked out Dash and looked her up, they’d have heard about her amazing stallionhood, and they’d be like Twilight—they’d want her to be their stallion, and probably she’d eventually give in. It was tough to face a life without sex after you’d got used to it. Applejack sighed. That was all they would accept, surely. She would be a fake stallion for the rest of her…

She blinked.

What if… she didn’t need to be accepted?

Applejack stared across the fields, unseeingly, not focusing on anything in particular. The idea grew in her mind.

What if it didn’t matter about the bit? What if it didn’t matter about her family, her history?

What if she just… kept what she’d gained?

Applejack’s head lifted. A breeze stirred her mane as she gazed out to the horizon.

If no one would accept her true self, except for her lost Rainbow Dash… if the world could not handle a girly, feminine Apple mare owning the farm… if she was not allowed to keep her new secret freedom, and the safe place for it to live had been destroyed…

Well then—too bad for the world! Because she would be all mare anyway, and to hell with all of them!

Applejack’s eyes flashed. She kicked a hoof, snorting—and then whirled, snapping at her tail, heedless of the protests of her strained, tormented muscles.

She got the tail-tie in her teeth, bright scarlet propriety against the silky blonde of her tail—and pulled it right off. Another shake of the head, and she’d grabbed the one tying up her mane. She pulled that off too, dropping it. She stared at the bright bands of red lying on the ground.

With a snort of contempt, Applejack stomped ‘em into the dirt with her hoof.

She stood, panting, feeling naked. Her heart was pounding—but she’d never felt so alive. She couldn’t imagine what life was about to be, but she thought—whatever it is, I’ll take it and be grateful for it. The world started over today, whether it knows it or not.

Applejack shook out her mane, and silky blonde tresses poured down her neck and across her shoulders. They’d always laid across her shoulder in a tidy lump, bound by the hairtie into a solid mass. Freed of their confinement, they seemed to caress her body, touching her everywhere, whispering of softness and gentleness.

She flicked her tail. The little weight of the hair-tie at the end was gone. Instead of feeling like a lasso, with a clearly defined length and end, her tail felt like a cloud, like the sort of thing Fluttershy would have. She flicked it again, feeling the blonde silkiness swish against her ass.

Heart probably wouldn’t stop beatin’ so fast until later. Would probably get worse, first time she had to face Granny like that. Applejack set her jaw. So be it.

She bent her head, picked up the cast-iron pan, and returned to her seeding work, dutifully. As she moved along the plowed furrows, her tail flicked some more, enjoying its freedom.

After a while, her body began to glide rather than clomp, her orange hips swaying in a new way—for Applejack was experimenting, not caring who watched, to see what it would feel like to move girly.

Twilight Sparkle peered nervously through the doorway. The Carousel Boutique looked no different than usual, although this alone was disconcerting. Twilight couldn’t forget the shocking scene outside these very doors, where Rarity had let it all hang out, literally—and she wondered whether it was safe to enter. She wasn’t sure just what she expected Rarity to do to her, but the uncertainty was its own special anxiety.

“Rarity?” she called.

“Twilight? Is that you? Just a minute, darling!”

Twilight braced for kinky, but to her surprise, Rarity appeared before her, devoid of kinky. She trotted out of her inner sanctum, wearing no kinky garb at all, not even made up beyond a bare minimum of false eyelashes and a little eyeshadow. Even this was applied in haste, and slightly uneven.

“Forgive my appearance, Twilight. It’s been a bit of a shock…”

“I’ll say! That’s actually why I came to visit, Rarity. I wanted to know if you’re all right? I’d like to see everypony get their hooves under them just a eensy bit more than we’ve seen lately. I saw what happened out there, Rarity.”

Rarity winced. “Indeed. I have never experienced such dismay. They fled! The plebians fled, in the face of my demands. And I was perfectly serious.”

“You were perfectly—something! What the heck brought that on? I would never have imagined you being like that!”

Rarity shot Twilight a glance. “He did not tell you, I take it?”

“Who?”

Rarity sighed. “He did not, clearly. Twilight, it was a pre-emptive strike. I was about to be exposed, by the one I trusted most. I suppose it’s no secret now that I have been seeing Big Macintosh.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Uhh… if you say so! Big Mac was going to expose you? It seems like you were pretty good at exposing yourself! Sorry.”

“I can only assume he was!” said Rarity. “I… miscalculated. It cost me his loyalty. I’ve no idea how far he’s spread the information by now, but I’ve got in front of it, make no mistake. It was a desperate ploy, but it was that or see my business ruined by scandal.”

She sighed, and Twilight could see she looked tired, though the make-up covered it to some extent. There were circles under Rarity’s eyes, as if she hadn’t slept.

Twilight reared and hugged her. “Oh, Rarity! And now you’ve had to ruin your business yourself just to stop him doing it? What can I do? I’m not a rich pony by any stretch of the imagination, but I do have some bits and I promise, I’ll do whatever you need to keep you on your hooves. You shouldn’t have to lose your livelihood over this.”

Rarity blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“I said…”

“Twilight, darling, I think you should step this way for a moment,” said Rarity. “Come on!” She led Twilight back towards her inner sanctum room, her magic swinging the door wide.

Twilight stepped in, and froze in shock. There was a huge pile of bits in the middle of the floor, surrounded by countless torn-open envelopes, and a dizzying array of perverse kink equipment surrounding that. Most of it was in pieces, clearly half-assembled.

“Let us say,” purred Rarity, “I shan’t fret for my livelihood. Rather the reverse…”

Twilight blinked, taking it all in. “Wow. What exactly happened here?”

“Mail order. It appears ponies were more than ready to step into the new world of fashion and daring—provided they did not have to step OUT of their closets, to do so. I’ve been flooded with mail orders. They are simply throwing money, begging for anything and everything. I believe my former apparent innocence won me their trust, for this—now they know I can keep a secret when I so choose. Have you got any sturdy metal pins, Twilight? Not pins in the sense of sewing equipment—more along the lines of finishing nails.”

“What the heck would you do with those, Rarity?” said Twilight.

For answer, Rarity levitated some of her work. Twilight shrunk back as a hoof-cuff floated before her eyes, a metal bracket holding a shiny pointed star.

“They’re mad for the spurs, you see, and I’ve run out of the center pins. I am inclined to fill the orders requesting wooden spurs first, because I am not sure how far I trust this town with the metal ones. I’ve had two orders request spurs sharpened to razor points, and while I am not aghast at bloodplay I consider it most irresponsible to simply fill such an order without investigating the situation thoroughly…”

Twilight licked her lips, her ears back in anxiety. “What-play? What, exactly, are those things for?” She had a feeling she didn’t want to hear the answer.

Rarity seemed to be over-eager to share, however. “Oh! The obvious. They are for mounting, and delivering a little… jolt! …at the right moment!” She reared, and mimed digging in her forehooves. “I recommend the wooden ones for the inexperienced, and I emphatically include the mounter in that equation, not simply the mount-ee! Practice and control is absolutely necessary, darling. If a fellow mounts you and isn’t experienced in their use—he can get your teats!”

Her eyes lit up in wicked glee, saying it. “Ugh, Rarity!” cried Twilight, backing away.

“Well, it’s true!” huffed Rarity. “I’m of two minds about even allowing the metal ones to be sold through mail order at all! Even if I do not sharpen them, some fool might, and I shan’t be responsible for the results! Not everypony has my experience in these matters!”

Twilight stared at her, warily. “I need to talk to you about that, okay? I get that you were afraid of being exposed over, well—this. I guess you’ve had this going on the whole time, huh? You were the secret queen of pony kinky?”

Rarity bowed her head, a little smile playing across her face. “You flatter. And yes—it has been a source of some pride for me. I lived two worlds with poise and command. Now I’ve just the one.”

“Well, here’s the thing. I gave you one of our Mark Three bits, and all of a sudden, this! I get that you always had this stuff as a secret life, but…” Twilight gulped. “I really need to ask you whether, just possibly, you think your behavior has been different since you got the bit from me.”

“Oh, yes.”

“I realize it might seem… wait. What? Yes?”

Rarity nodded. “Very much so. I’d thought of talking to you about it. I am simply maddened by lust. I sleep with the bit on the bedside table, right by my head, and I’d wondered if perhaps this wasn’t the wisest course of action…”

Twilight stared at Rarity again. She seemed perfectly normal, even demure, for all her talk of being maddened by lust. “It might not be. I think we’ve got some work to do, Rarity, straightening all this out. I’m really sorry about that. …you’re serious? Forgive me for saying it, but you don’t seem like you’re maddened by lust right now.”

Rarity’s little smile was tight and not entirely amused. “Give me credit for my self-control, darling—at least, when I’m choosing to exercise it. I know my own mind, and I know when it’s being swayed. I shall manage my own affairs, as needed.”

“We’ll try to fix it,” promised Twilight. “I guess this isn’t as bad as the curse the original bit had, is it? Just hang in there, and we are so sorry for letting you in for all that. I suppose I could… take it back again?”

“Like hell you will, darling.” Rarity’s smile was even more wicked, now. “I shall make do. I feel you should try to fix it, however, for the sake of ponies who haven’t my composure. Though I cannot help but speculate about whether its influence is driving my new sales!”

“Wow,” said Twilight, to herself. “Complicated, much?” She shook herself, and addressed Rarity. “I guess I’ll be going. I imagine you’re seeing, ah, a lot of visitors, and before things get lively in here I should make myself scarce…”

Rarity pouted, unexpectedly. “Hah! On the contrary, it is pleasant to see a pony for a change. Going out for breakfast was frightful, simply frightful!”

“I beg your pardon?”

“They’re avoiding me, Twilight,” admitted Rarity. “They fled, and dare not approach me again. I’m swamped in mail orders, but Ponyville will not speak to me. I’ve put a hoof in it, there is no question about that. Your assumptions are, shall we say, mistaken. I’ve no visitors at all, now.”

Twilight’s eyes were wide. “That’s horrible!”

“It is, rather,” said Rarity. “I had believed better of them. I suppose this is a terribly small town, after all.”

Twilight ran forward and hugged her friend, again, heedless of personal revelations or the array of kinky gear surrounding them, “Oh, Rarity! We’ll solve this, I promise we will! There’s got to be a way to put the townsponies at ease with you again!”

Rarity hugged back. “That is one approach, to be sure. I would imagine that the simple passage of time would help. Eventually they’d get over it, if I were to feign my original innocuous state. Nopony would believe it, but perhaps they would enjoy the pretense?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe,” said Twilight, blinking back tears.

“Oh, don’t blubber, darling, be more cosmopolitan… the other approach, of course, would be to go farther, wilfully. Tattoos? Branding? Perhaps ritual scarification? My white coat would show off any such decoration to full effect, of course, but the permanency of it frankly dismays me. Never to be able to dress clean and radiant… I think not.”

Twilight gulped. “I think not, too…” She released Rarity, carefully, and stepped away, gazing at her friend in wonder. “This is pretty amazing. I feel like I’m meeting you all over again, now.”

Rarity smiled, and it was her old familiar smile—happy, confident, vain. “It is the same Rarity, though. You’ve known me all along, Twilight, at least since you came to Ponyville. I’m delighted that I haven’t lost you, too—but I thought it most unlikely I would, and I did not let the idea worry me.”

“We’re there for you,” said Twilight. “We’ve got to stick together! I should probably go, though. I need to swing by Sweet Apple Acres and check on poor Applejack.”

At that, Rarity blinked. “Indeed. Poor Applejack? Poor why, exactly? What is the matter with her, Twilight? Tell me.”

“Oh! Um… wow, this is awkward,” mumbled Twilight.

Rarity’s eyes flashed. “Now you’ve torn it. Tell me! What has happened to Applejack?”

“I… Rarity, she’s broken up with Rainbow Dash. You knew they were together? They broke up—because apparently Rainbow’s been sleeping with…” She trailed off, looking apologetic.

Rarity’s eyes were wide. “No. You’re joking. Surely you’re joking?”

“I guess we’re all a little surprised at Big Macintosh right now.”

Rarity stared, speechless, and then banged a forehoof on the floor. “Incredible!”

Twilight shifted from hoof to hoof, uncomfortably. “I thought it was pretty incredible he’d been seeing you. Did he suddenly come on to you, or something?”

“Hardly!” snorted Rarity, incensed. “I dragged him from the gutter, or rather from behind the plow, and I was making him quite a prize! A booby prize, and I was the booby, it seems! Incredible! And now he’s taken Rainbow from Applejack? Oh, I knew they were a couple—believe me, you’d be surprised at some of the things those two have done together, I shan’t shock you with it—but to think he would… incredible!”

Twilight nodded, sadly. “Yeah. She’s really torn up about it. And I, uh, before I was with Trixie I knew about some of the things Applejack does. Um… let’s just say she got a magic bit too, and she really, really deserves one. But I wanted her and Dash to have it, and now that’s all broken.”

Rarity stared straight ahead, unseeingly. “It’s just that… if I’ve driven the silly fool to it… if, in my demanding more from that preposterous stallion, it in any way motivated him to do such awful things…”

“I wouldn’t know about that,” said Twilight. “But I should be going—like I said, I want to check in on Applejack.”

“Yes, yes,” sighed Rarity. “You go on, dear. I have much to think about, now. It seems that through challenging my former darling beyond what he could truly stand, his disgraceful behavior has harmed an innocent party—and I must conclude I bear some responsibility there.”

“What?” blinked Twilight. “Oh, come on, you’ve done nothing…”

“Uht! Not another word, Twilight! Rarity does not flinch from her obligations! I will work out what I must do to make amends, and I shall do it, whatever the cost. It will help me feel better, as well. Run along, dear, I’ve dozens of spurs to assemble for our delightful, closeted townsponies, I can’t spare another moment.”

Reluctantly, Twilight headed on her way.

Applejack nudged the drawer on the bedside table closed, with her nose. Her expression was hard to interpret, combining elements of annoyance, hurt, satisfaction into an adorably exasperated, fed-up look. The cause wasn’t mysterious, though. Her magic bit—was gone.

“Hah!” she said to herself. “Fate! Yep, that’s fate for ya… and there ain’t but one pony knows I kept it there. Th’ faithless wretch! Hope she chokes on it. So much for all that!”

She trotted back and forth in vexation, wincing at the strain to her muscles. “Of all th’ ridiculous things ta do… I ought to put up signs! Wanted, Rainbow Dash, for penis larceny! Beware th’ mischievous pegasus, take her to bed and you’ll wake up to find she done stolt your dick!”

Applejack realized she was smiling. She gave a big sigh. “Heh. An’ ain’t that jes’ like her, too. Lil’ outlaw. Outlaw oughta have a dick, I reckon. Guess I’d feel different if I wasn’t giving it up anyways…”

There was a lot to smile about, despite the injuries to her faithful heart.

As she’d been finishing up her seeding, Twilight had come to see her, just to make sure she was okay. She’d noticed the lack of hair ties, though Applejack grew bashful and reined in the girly walk with haste when Twilight appeared across the field. Applejack hadn’t needed to explain a thing. Of course, it was possible Twilight hadn’t understood a thing, but she’d noticed, for after a gentle conversation that was mostly about Twilight’s willingness to be there for Applejack anytime she wanted, Twilight had said “Your mane looks very nice”.

Applejack had nickered and blushed, and that made Twi blush and stammer and explain how she was not trying to imply anything. Her awkwardness was typically adorable. It was nice to see—brought back memories, some sweet, some sour. It was a reminder to Applejack that her world had not consisted solely of Rainbow Dash—that there were connections she’d made, even if they didn’t touch every level or connect perfectly.

It wasn’t too hard to reassure Twilight, either. Not for a kind, loving mare willing to speak her heart. A hug, a kiss on the nose—earnest words—“Ah know what you mean, an’ I love you too, very much, Twilight.” Then, a wicked grin at the silly, adorable unicorn… “Even if y’all too much dang mare for th’ likes of me!”

Twilight had giggled, and the tension was broken. She’d trotted off home, back to Trixie, who was apparently able to handle the unicorn madness, being another crazy unicorn herself. Applejack remembered her blunt “Yes”, when asked if she was good to Twilight. She’d meant it. Applejack felt confident in them, and it made Twilight feel more solid as a friend that the two unicorns had each other.

The conversation with Twi had lifted her spirits a little, so that when she returned from the fields, she walked right in past Granny Smith without a word of explanation or apology for her mane and tail. They hadn’t gone unnoticed, either—Granny spotted the differentness right away, and lifted her head, drawing a breath—but Applejack’s chin was just as high, and she’d caught Granny with a look. It wasn’t by any means an angry look, couldn’t be called defiant except in the most gentle way, but all the same the look stopped Granny in mid-expostulation. It said: Yep. Git used to it…

Granny had subsided, muttering helplessly, to the effect of “I don’t know… ever’ day seems like they’s more changes… allus changes an’ changes…” and her tone was dejected but had a certain resignation that was music to Applejack’s ears.

Now, Applejack considered the larceny of her little outlaw pegasus ex, and laughed softly. Some of it was from sadness—the poor thing was falling back on heartless debauchery, and it was tragic—but all the same, Dash was used to that and knew no better. It hurt to admit the helplessness, to know that Rainbow’s loneliness could not be healed through true love—it hurt terribly. But all the same, Applejack had to picture Dashie sneaking into the house, bent on larceny, probably all done up in her black catsuit that she’d ripped the crotch out of in her eagerness to be fucked that day by the waterfall. Ended up with her ass hanging out, and Dash wasn’t one to mend clothing—so, most likely, the house had been robbed by a fearsome burglar all in black with cerulean butt poking out of the scary ninja catsuit. It was a ridiculous image, and too cute to stay mad at.

“What’s that?” came a voice from downstairs, Granny’s—and then some kind of mumble, a more subdued voice. Granny’s answer was clear. “She’s upstairs, girl… dancin’ the can-can! Looks like you’re fixin’ to help her! Go on, then!”

Applejack heard Granny snort in exasperation, and then hooves sounded on the stairs.

To her astonishment, Rarity came into view, bearing an expression of great earnestness behind an array of makeup that defied description. It wasn’t quite what she’d worn at the Young Fliers’ Competition, but it was a cut above her everyday finery.

“Hi, Rarity,” said Applejack cautiously. “What’s th’ occasion?”

“Oh, my. Your mane is lovely!”

Applejack’s eyes widened. She sounded serious. But then, this was the mare who’d dressed her in a big floppy hat, and admired her girliness, wasn’t it? Rarity could be trusted to side with her on the matter.

“Well, gee, thank y’all for sayin’ so, I sure appreciate it.”

“No, really—I’m not just saying it, the look suits you.”

Applejack shifted from hoof to hoof, wincing at the twinges of sore muscles. “Thank you even more, then—but what are you doin’ up in these parts? You can’t have come here to admire my mane, I just done it this way a few hours ago, and I din’t tell nopony. Except Twilight. Ya talkin’ to Twilight?”

Rarity drew herself up, taking a big, ostentatious breath. “Applejack—I am here to apologize.”

“Beg pardon? Apologize for whut?”

“No no, it is I who must beg pardon. I am afraid some of my choices have led to terrible consequences! I don’t know if you’ll ever forgive me, but…”

“Hold on!” said Applejack. “Slow down, missy. What, exactly, have you done?”

Rarity paced around. “Well, you know some of my private life. For you, at least, I shall not have to explain certain things, since I did have you watch us…”

“You… the.. WHAT?”

Rarity blinked. “Oh, I’m sorry—you weren’t aware that I expected it? You watching was more of an unexpected pleasure, but I’d expected Rainbow Dash. She’d have followed that mysterious cloaked figure to Hoofington, I’ll wager. It all came off perfectly. Did you not notice the lighting, or me making excuses to Big Macintosh and pretending I didn’t know you were watching from the loft?”

Applejack’s jaw hung loose. She gathered it up, while the white unicorn gazed primly at her.

“Hell no!” she said. “I guess you weren’t mad or nothin’, huh? That what you mean by choices?”

“Some of them, yes.”

Applejack narrowed her eyes. “Did you put him up to it? So help me, if you did…”

“No!” protested Rarity. “No, no, I would never! Letting you and Rainbow watch, that time, perhaps I should not have done that—but when did I ever appear as though I would send my stallion after your lover? Why ever would I want that? Applejack, I swear it, I did no such thing!”

Applejack blinked, startled by Rarity’s intensity. “Gosh. Uh, I guess I’d have to believe you an’ all, on account of you din’t want no part of either of us, and you never let slip that you had Big Macintosh to yourself, neither…”

“I hope I did not seem rude,” said Rarity. “You and Dash shocked me horribly—Dash rearing and revealing that appendage, and then boasting of your… gifts, all amidst my public, chaste life where I had to keep up appearances. It was a matter of boundaries, and I simply had to deflect Rainbow Dash’s advances.”

Applejack grimaced. “At least somepony did.”

Rarity’s eyes glistened. “Oh, Applejack! I am so sorry. I feel that I am responsible for the shattering of your connubial bliss. I can see the agony in your face, even now! I shall never be able to make it up to you, never!”

The country mare gave her an exasperated look.

“Simmer down, Sally. Darn tootin’ it hurts my heart, but there’s somethin’ you should know before wailin’ and tearin’ your mane like you do.”

Rarity sniffled. “What?”

“I done fucked up my back, honey. An’ my legs, an’ my neck… That’s why I’m makin’ faces. You want to make things up to me? Fine. Take me down to the spa, your treat. I could use it.” She winced. “Hell, I’d beg ya. You ain’t kiddin’ about that there agony.”

Rarity gasped. “Of course! We shan’t waste a moment, hurry as quickly as your suffering limbs will bear y… oh.” She’d glanced at the clock.

“Don’t tell me,” sighed Applejack. “They ain’t open this time of night. Consarn it! I’mma hold you to that, honey. You figure they can fit me in tomorrow mornin’? It would be a mercy.”

Rarity hung her head and promised, “Of course. I’ll pull every string, and personally make s…” She trailed off. She bit her lip, anxious.

“Cat got your tongue?” said Applejack, sourly.

“Pony got idea…” breathed Rarity. She lifted her head again, and her eyes were a little too wide. “Quite the idea. It’s almost too perfect.” Her voice quavered.

“The hell you talkin’ about, missy?”

Rarity licked her lips. She gulped. “I’ll do you. I owe you that. Right now.”

“Now what in tarnation…”

“I’ll rub you!” protested Rarity. “Why should you wait for Aloe and Vera? I can see how badly you’re hurting. I’ve got a rough idea of how it goes. And I get so tense, darling, they pound at me fiercely. I’ll warrant you’re in no less of a plight! Oh, please, let me soothe your hurts?”

Applejack regarded her with narrowed eyes, her jaw set. After a while, she said, “You serious?”

“Utterly.”

“Happens I got a lil’ experience with kinky ponies by now. What else you fixin’ to soothe?”

Rarity looked away. “Why, noth… you’re not buying that, are you?”

“Nope.”

Rarity pouted. “Very well. Yes, I find you attractive. You were, shall we say, spoken very well of. You remember: you were there to hear it, and you blushed and tried to hide under the brim of my pretty hat. I knew the design worked at that moment, darling, for you were an image of loveliness.”

Applejack’s ears were back. “That’s as may be, Rarity, but…”

“No, let me finish! I am admitting what you’ve observed. But pray understand this without a speck of ambiguity: it need not matter. We love each other as friends, darling, and right now you’re all aches and pains. I shall beg you, in turn. Allow me to ease your pains, sans eros, sans expectation, sans everything but simple, loving compassion.”

Applejack’s visage was piteous. “Whut the hell are sand zeroes? Rarity!”

“I’m sorry! Here, let me try again.” Rarity took a deep breath, screwing up her face and pouting with concentration. “Your body hurts dreadfully. I promise I shan’t take advantage, but please let me rub the sore parts.”

This didn’t seem to comfort Applejack that much. “Honey, they’re ALL sore parts.”

Rarity regarded her levelly. “Good. I never promised I wouldn’t enjoy it, but I swear to you I shall behave myself. Now please, please, let me try and help you.”

“Of all th’ ponies who could ever promise to behave themselves…” said Applejack in disbelief. “Y’all freakier than Dashie. She said so herself.”

Rarity looked startled. “Really! I hardly know what to say! I suppose I must take it as a compliment—but it seems you don’t believe me?”

“Aw, Rarity, what do you expect me to think?”

Rarity lifted her chin, and glared. “Think of this. Applejack, I have openly rebuffed you and Dash, I have permitted you to follow me to a tryst regardless; I have taken secret delight in allowing you to watch me being pleasured. I have worn the finest in sexual attire before you. I have come until I could cry out no longer, before your eyes.” She took a deep breath. “But when have I ever, ever, EVER lied to you?”

That stopped Applejack. Rarity could see her thinking.

“You’re right, Rarity. Damn if you ain’t right. You never lied. Even said you had another engagement.” Applejack blinked. “Boy howdy, weren’t that th’ truth…”

Rarity seized the moment. She gazed deeply into Applejack’s eyes.

“You have my word that I will massage your body and take no liberties you don’t wish me to take.”

Applejack’s lip quivered. “Aw, Rarity!”

“I mean it. You’re hurting. You shouldn’t have to suffer that, you’ve done nothing wrong. Please say yes!”

The country mare heaved a big sigh. “Twist my hoof, why don’t you? All right. Yes. Hell yes! Start on my neck, sugar, it’s unbearable.”

She climbed onto her bed, wincing with each step, and Rarity pranced over and leapt into bed like a small filly. “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to jump. It’s unharmed, I hope?”

“Y’ realize who you’re talkin’ to? And who else has been here?”

Rarity made a wry face. “Point taken.” She wasted no more time, but began prodding Applejack’s neck and shoulders with her hooves.

“Aaaah!”

“Darling! Too harsh?”

“Give it to me, jes’ like that!”

Rarity snickered. “My! Those words will haunt my dreams, won’t they, darling?”

Applejack snorted. “You know what I meant! Fine. Talk as silly as you want, jes’ ahhh! keep doin’ that there!”

Rarity bent down to Applejack’s ear and crooned, “My pleasure.”

She fell silent, then, and the only sound was the thud of hooves, mingled with muffled yelps from Applejack when Rarity’s hooves attacked particularly tough knots of muscle.

Applejack sprawled out bonelessly as Rarity worked. First her neck, then shoulders and back were pummeled lovingly into yielding softness. Rarity screwed up her face in another pout as she rubbed Applejack’s forelegs between her hooves, for she’d only seen Aloe do that and wasn’t entirely sure how you went about it, but Applejack’s moans of pleasure told her she wasn’t screwing it up. Hindlegs required even firmer treatment, Applejack’s mighty hocks resisting the massage for a long time before being softened.

Rarity’s forehead sweated from her exertions. Her horn glowed as she wiped it, sparing her busy hooves. Then, she gnawed her lip tenderly. The time had come.

Rarity’s hooves began fondling and kneading Applejack’s ass.

“Nnhhh… uh… Rarity? What in tarnation do ya think you’re doin’?”

“It’s part of the massage, darling! Just relax.”

“But…”

“You’ve seen them do this. We’ve done everything else.”

“But… Oh, c’mon, Rarity, I smell th’ horny on you. You’re enjoyin’ this part.”

Rarity paused. “I’m sorry. I can stop. You’ve caught me. I… hoped I might smell it on you, as well.”

Applejack shook her head. “Honey, you done wonders. But don’t you understand I really was hurtin’? I reckon you’re givin’ me a sweet night’s sleep, and the relief I really needed. Ain’t that enough?”

“Of course,” said Rarity quietly, and then Applejack felt a little splash on her side, near her hip. It had been a tear: Rarity was crying.

“Aw, now, sugar! Don’t you cry! Uh… I hope that ain’t you bein’ a lil’ too clever?”

Rarity shook her head. “No. I assure you, no. Shall we conclude? Perhaps I’d better.”

Applejack twisted her head around to look back at Rarity, whose hooves were still on her ass. Rarity looked back, tragically. Applejack gulped.

“Honey, you mind tellin’ me what’s wrong? Y’all a lifesaver, I din’t mean to hurt you or nothin’.”

The elegant white unicorn didn’t sob. She didn’t wring her hooves, or wail, or ham it up in any way. She just looked back, tearfully, and Applejack slowly realized it wasn’t the usual Rarity moment.

“Rarity? Please tell me what’s th’ matter?”

At that, Rarity looked away. “I’m so sorry, Applejack.” She lifted her hooves off Applejack’s butt, carefully. “It was wrong of me.”

“Don’t tell me you was about ta… do stuff I din’t ask for?”

“What? No! You had my word! I would never!”

“All right,” said Applejack patiently. “Then why ya cryin’? Spit it out, Rarity.”

Rarity made a face. “Crass. But then, no more crass than myself…”

“Come on. Out with it. You weren’t gonna do nothin’ to me, but…?”

Rarity took a breath. “…but I’d hoped, really hoped, you’d… do things… to me. I am so ashamed, Applejack. And so sorry. I hope your neck feels better, at least?”

“Jes’ one minute. This is ‘cos of you thinkin’ stuff? I kinda saw that comin’. No offense.”

Rarity’s expression was dark. “My confounded appetites. I understand from Twilight that the magic bit is only exacerbating them.”

“Ex-a-what?”

“Making them worse. Or better… but it’s worse, if I can’t trust myself around my dearest friends. I knew you had one, and I thought it might be influencing you in the same way. I’ve lived a life of secret perversity, and I came here, after the pony I corrupted wrecked your relationship, and thought I could drag you into all that. Applejack, can you ever forgive me?”

“Now, hold on,” said Applejack stubbornly. “You’re shamed on account of you’re a perverted-ass pony?”

“I remember the night you and Rainbow watched me. I kept peeking up at the loft. Dash’s wings kept popping up, and she could scarcely contain herself, but it seemed like you were hiding your head and trembling. I’m not really sure, it was so hard to see anything in that darkness. My ways must seem so shocking to you. I have no business trying to entice you, even with backrubs.”

“Neck-rubs,” said Applejack.

Rarity shrugged. “Isn’t it much the same thing?”

“Not to me, sugar, not tonight!” said Applejack fervently. “And before you get so upset with yourself about corruptin’ the innocent farm-pony—how about you take a moment to consider jes’ who she was with, on that night?”

Rarity blinked. “It doesn’t bother you? That my motives were… Darling, you’ve made very plain that you weren’t interested. Through a blend of compassion and cunning, I touched you all over and fondled your ass extensively, even so. I feel I’ve not honored the spirit of the thing in the least. I shouldn’t be ashamed?”

Suddenly, Applejack smirked, her face transformed with mischief. “Ain’t touched me ALL over.”

Rarity blushed.

“Hah! Got ya,” said Applejack, and continued. “You’re takin’ things too serious, as usual, Rarity. You got nothin’ to be ashamed of. Your strange ways, well, they might be strange, but you din’t do nothin’ wrong. And it seems like… well, yours and mine, our esteemed exes, they was just made for wrong, damn it.”

Rarity didn’t respond. Applejack pressed on, earnestly.

“I did my best with her. I’m sure you hung onto him as long as you could. From what I’m seein’, I guess you was fair. I tried to be fair. We did our best, Rarity, each in our own ways. From everythin’ I know of you, I can’t see it as wrong. Mighty strange, sure, but it ain’t wrong. And you ain’t done me wrong, neither.”

Rarity sniffled, a bit. “Thank you, Applejack.”

Applejack chuckled, thoughtfully. “I coulda tole you not to do what you done to him, though. Dang, sugar, you got a nerve. You ain’t as smart as I thought. I guess you started th’ avalanche with your lil’ snowflake.”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” said Rarity.

“Don’t blame yourself.”

“He came at least fifteen feet across the room. It was like a little come-cannon.”

Applejack gawked. “Okay, too damn much information…”

“Sorry.”

“No problem. Jes’ sayin’, that’s all.”

They sat for a moment, in silence.

“It’s not that little,” said Rarity. “Of a snowflake.”

“Heh.”

“Just saying, that’s all…” said Rarity.

“Uh-huh. Sure,” teased Applejack.

“I’m told yours isn’t little… quite the reverse, in fact.”

“Feelin’ a lil’ better, huh, Rarity? Suits me. Y’all can rub my neck anytime… but I ain’t got one of what you mean, now.”

“Of course not, I’d have seen it in your mouth. And elsewhere. Isn’t magic wonderful?”

“No,” said Applejack, “you ain’t followin’ me. I ain’t got no bit, no more. SOMEpony stole it. I’m all mare now.”

Rarity blinked—twice. “Stolen?”

“Yep.”

“Twilight could…”

“Nope. Din’tcha see my mane? I’m all mare now, Rarity. I don’t need it. How can I even… okay, remember me tryin’ on that hat of yours? Peekin’ from under th’ brim?”

“Yes? Radiant, by the way. But yes?”

“That’s me, Rarity. That’s me. No more stallioning. That page done turned. Writin’ on a new page now.”

“A new page?”

“Brand new.”

Rarity smiled at her friend, and Applejack smiled back—and then, Rarity leaned in to whisper…

“I still have mine… and I am prepared to use it.”

Applejack’s face was a study in consternation as thoughts ran across it. Finally, she stammered, “Well… then you sure ain’t me!”

“Quite,” said Rarity. She waited to see if Applejack had anything more sensible to say, but the country pony seemed speechless, so she continued. “Would you like me to bid you goodnight, dear Applejack?”

That broke the spell. “Uh, yes! I got to get some sleep. I got work tomorrow. I’m sure grateful you rubbed my neck and back, Rarity, you’re a lifesaver. I hope ya feel good because you’ve been real kind an’ all, an’ I surely do appreciate it…”

Rarity went for broke. “May I see you again?”

It was such a laughable question—they saw each other in town, constantly. It was also, at the same time, far from a laughable question—though it may have been a terribly hasty question. Rarity cursed her voraciousness, her greediness, for second after second as Applejack blinked, looked away, tried to process what was being suggested. Finally, she replied.

“Maybe.”

Rarity beamed, blew a kiss, and trotted out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and out of Sweet Apple Acres. She was halfway to town before she realized where she was.

Applejack lay in bed, her mind whirling, her body at ease. Her eyes darted about as she thought, and thought, and thought.

Eventually she admitted to herself that she had no idea what the shape of life was going to be. All she knew was this: whatever else happened, she would be able to keep her girliness. It was far more popular than she’d ever imagined, apparently. The freedom of that beckoned to her.

She snuggled into bed, kicking a hoof under the pillow—and gave a start, as she touched a blue feather, and memory beckoned to her as well.

It said: you’ve just gone an hour without thinking of Rainbow Dash. Are you happy?

Applejack fell asleep half an hour later, but she’d still not found a sensible answer to that question.

Getting Her Wings

The two ponies lay very still, breathing softly—reverently.

Fluttershy stretched, reclining back onto the bed, her wings quivering to her sides, her legs parted. She gazed down, her eyes sensuously half-lidded and trusting, taking in her special pony, beholding a symphony of pinks. Vivacious blue eyes shone under a canopy of wacky and unmanageable dark pink curls, out of a pink face that rested on Fluttershy’s pink tail and nuzzled at the inside of her butter-yellow legs, unhurriedly.

Pinkie Pie, in turn, nudged closer to her own pink Heaven, right there before her. She sighed in bliss, then quirked an eyebrow. She extended just the tip of her tongue, for a delicate lick at Fluttershy’s labia. Then, a spark of amusement came to her eyes, and she blew a puff of breath on Fluttershy’s treasure, to be rewarded by a twitch of the legs and a labial wink.

“Pinkie!” giggled Fluttershy. “What was that?”

“Just fun!” replied Pinkie Pie. She grinned, scooting in a little closer. Fluttershy sighed happily and melted against the bed, her vagina pouting delicately as it readied itself for what the pegasus knew could be powerful sensations. Her hooves curled in anticipation, her tail flicking against Pinkie’s chin.

It was fascinating, thought Fluttershy, how life worked sometimes. She’d been chasing—well, peeping on—stallions more and more frantically, and had even bullied Applejack into mating her through wheedling and piteous desperation. She’d persuaded Dash, before that, and had gazed on many stallions from afar, goaded by her very female urges—and never had she considered herself a lesbian, nor had she seen any purpose to mares’ explorations with hooves and tongue.

Pinkie had changed her mind about that so fast she’d got mental whiplash, and she was still processing it.

Strangely, it wasn’t Pinkie’s usual tricks with her outlandish tongue that had done it. Through muscle control, Pinkie could do freaky things inside a mare—but any mare could’ve done what Fluttershy now craved, what made her weak in the knees—what was about to happen to her, again.

Pinkie’s tongue reached out again, teasingly, and stroked Fluttershy’s pouting pussylips. It pressed inward, tenderly, tasting and feeling the incredibly soft and smooth flesh inside Fluttershy’s quivering honeypot, licking at the clear, delicious nectars she exuded in her mounting arousal.

And then, Pinkie’s tongue drifted upwards, just a little—just far enough to be out of the reach of an entering penis—and carefully licked inward, into the cleft of Fluttershy’s dainty vulva, to seek out and find a tiny, tiny nub concealed there.

As it carefully caressed this hidden jewel, Fluttershy’s teeth gritted, and her head went back, tendons standing out on her neck—and her wings went very stiff and jutted out to her sides as if every feather on them was electrified.

Pinkie gazed upwards at what she’d wrought, across a soft yellow pony belly and teats whose nipples had suddenly become erect—and smiled.

This was their special beauty—the eager party pony with the special gifts for oral sex and the desire to please, and the gentle pegasus she’d loved from afar and never dared to proposition. This was the prize.

Fluttershy had thought she knew what sex was, when she’d coupled with males—or at least with mares pretending to be males through magical aids. She’d reached great, frustrated heights, and adored the sweet frazzledness of being reduced to a quivering pegasus-puddle through mating.

None of it had prepared her for Pinkie’s tongue—and the emphasis on the clitoris, a thing she didn’t know she had. Licking her clit had an effect on her similar to a thunderbolt. She’d exploded, exhaustingly, so intensely she’d have willingly died that way and counted it a perfect life… except that would mean she couldn’t have more… and that would be unthinkable.

Pinkie rested her tongue on Fluttershy’s clit as pegasus heart hammered happily—and began, very slowly, to give her most cherished lover more. Just pressure, to start. Only the most cautious, delicate motions of slippery tongue against the tiny, nerve-packed nub that promptly stood up and screamed, sending jolts of anguished pleasure rocketing up from Fluttershy’s pelvis, causing her to squeak and gasp and pound her forehoof against the bed.

Oh, yes, it was going to be a good one, very beautiful…

Pinkie’s ear flopped, violently. She let out an ‘erk!’ as her knee twitched, and her tongue inadvertently came away from Fluttershy’s vagina. Then, blinking at the sensation, her eyes began blinking in a mad, spastic rush, the lids fluttering.

“What was that?” asked her lover, sitting up a little.

“I don’t know! It wasn’t raining, but that was the OW!”

Fluttershy gasped. Pinkie was holding her knee, wincing. “Are you okay?”

“Stupid combos! That would have to be a totally new one, that I’ve never ever seen before! I wonder what it means? Because if it wasn’t, the combo says the sky is graced with a beautiful rainbow WHILE something scary is going to…”

WHAM!

A blue projectile slammed through the window, bounced off the floor, slammed against the wall.

“Oh, no!” squealed Fluttershy. “Rainbow Dash! Not now! This was my time! It’s just not fair!”

Dash flapped a wing, feebly, in the corner. “Little… help here?”

Pinkie clambered to her hooves, and trotted over. “Sure, Dashie. What brings you…”

She stopped, stared, and screamed. Fluttershy gawked, trying to see what had happened, but then she saw it too. Dash was grievously injured, from the look of it. Her belly was purpled with blood that went right down between her legs.

“Dashie!”

“No, it’s okay!” protested Dash. “Just… want some help cleaning up…”

Fluttershy had leapt to her hooves as well, and run over to join Pinkie. “Oh, my! What happened?”

Dash was looking a little pale. “Sex was too good…”

“That is NOT good for ponies, not like that!” yelled Pinkie. “Oh, Fluttershy, what do we do?”

“Grab the sheets! Right off the bed! I want to see what’s happened. Then get a bowl of water! We must bandage her,” Fluttershy’s body still trembled with erotic tension, but it had been put firmly on the back burner because another creature needed her care—not simply another creature, either, but her dear and maddening lifelong friend.

Pinkie had already dragged the sheets over, and rushed off with startling speed to fetch the bowl of water, so Fluttershy began mopping up blood and investigating the damage.

“Heh…” said Dash weakly.

“What’s so funny?”

“Just… it shouldn’t have to take this much, to get you to scope out my tits…”

Fluttershy glared at her, but felt some relief. If Dashie was being that Dash-y, she couldn’t be too seriously hurt. Pinkie reappeared with water, and Fluttershy added that to the mopping-up activities by wadding the sheets and soaking them. Quickly, Rainbow’s belly was returned to its normal blue, with big red lines steadily resisting the cleanup.

“Urk!” went Pinkie, gagging.

“Do not get sick on her! Turn your head!” demanded Fluttershy.

“No,” said Pinkie, “I got it… Oh, Dashie! Your breasts!”

At this, Dash blinked. “What, BOTH of them?” She twisted and tried to look at her belly, and before Fluttershy made her lie down again, she saw the results of her griffin debauchery. It wasn’t both her breasts, no—but Gilda had ripped claws across her belly, and had indeed torn a gash in one pony tit, on top of the slashes to less sensitive areas.

“Wow…” breathed Rainbow. “Bad ASS…”

“Don’t talk that way!” begged Pinkie. “I don’t like this side of you, Dashie! It’s bad enough the way you do flying stunts, I worry!”

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” said Fluttershy. “She just flew here without stopping. What happened to you, Rainbow?”

“Old friends…”

Pinkie knew what that meant. “You didn’t! Dashie! Gilda went away for a reason! It was because she was a big meanie, and couldn’t take a joke—and now she’s hurt you and how dare she and I’m gonna go find her and…”

“No!” said Dash. “She was just being a griffin, Pinkie! They’re just like that, it meant I was doing her extra good!”

At that, Pinkie narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Oh yeah? If it was so good, why’d you fly all the way here?”

Fluttershy interrupted her. “Do you have some tape, Pinkie Pie? I want to make bandages of this sheet. Um, if that’s okay. We can use something else. If you find it quickly, please…”

Pinkie trotted off in search of tape, and Fluttershy turned to Rainbow Dash. “I was wondering that as well, Rainbow. You know where the Ponyville hospital is. Why didn’t you go there?”

“I dunno,” said Dash. “I, uh… thought Pinkie could—lick me clean? And then keep going?”

Fluttershy’s ears went back. “Rainbow Dash, there is a time and a place for being sexually excited, and being healed from injury is not the time or the place!”

Dash sulked. “Sorry! It’s not like she likes blood anyway, it was a dumb idea in the first place! I was kind of dizzy. I still am, sort of. Maybe now that you’ve got me cleaned up she can—hey, Pinkie babe! Is it good to see you!”

Pinkie had returned with some tape. Her eyes still showed annoyance, strange to see on the usually cheerful pink countenance. She spat the tape out, and addressed Dash. “It is, huh? It seems like the last time you saw me, you didn’t want to see me anymore unless I’d have sex with you until you collapsed!”

Weakly, Dash chuckled. “Yeah! Heh… I… I guess it wouldn’t take as much now, huh? So if you could be a sport and…”

“Dashie!”

Rainbow sagged. “So that’s like, a no, huh?”

Fluttershy was bandaging Dash’s belly, taping wadded cloth across her wounds. Her mouth was a hard line, and her eyes were as annoyed as Pinkie’s, but she held her tongue.

Pinkie gave Dash a look. “Dashie, you’re trying to hurt yourself. You can’t drag me into that. We’re going to take care of you. Look at how Fluttershy is taking care of you, she’s so good! Right now, I’m not going to perform sex on you. Absotively posolutely not!”

Dash coughed. She looked pale, troubled. “Well… I hung onto my bit. It would be nice if, you know, Fluttershy would take it, and…”

“Hah!” snorted Fluttershy, her eyes still angrier, finishing up her bandaging with sharp strokes of the hoof to stick the tape down.

“Rainbow Dash, what is with you?” demanded Pinkie. “Why are you acting this way? What, is your magical dick thing making you even more crazy than usual? Is that it?”

“I… I…” quavered Dash.

“Explain yourself, Rainbow Dash! You’re acting wrong!”

Dash grimaced. “I… just want some of the things I used to have!”

Pinkie stared in shock.

“…any of them!” wailed Rainbow Dash—and burst into tears.

Fluttershy and Pinkie looked at each other, and didn’t have to exchange a word—barely had to exchange the glance. Pinkie went to Rainbow’s left, Fluttershy to her right, and they hugged the sobbing pegasus to them determinedly, cuddling her close as she cried.

They did exchange another glance after settling in. On Fluttershy’s side, it could only be described as long-suffering. Pinkie’s look in return was much the same, without quite as much resignation.

“Oh, Rainbow,” sighed Fluttershy. “We’re so sorry.”

“Yeah. Poor Dashie!” said Pinkie. “But you need to rest right now, okay? We’re gonna stay with you.”

Fluttershy’s glance spoke volumes about the fairness of this arrangement.

Pinkie’s apologetic look said, what else can we do?

Fluttershy’s level gaze said, you know damned well what else we’d be doing…

Rainbow snuffled. “You might as well not bother. Ponies can’t handle me. You won’t give me sex anymore, and it’s so unfair! Maybe sex and love just don’t go together for me. I’m just going to have to get used to it.”

“Now, why would you say that, Dashie?” said Pinkie Pie, as Fluttershy’s gaze pleaded with her not to argue the point.

Dash wriggled a little, and winced. The concentrated attention seemed to be doing her good. “Mmyuhh… guess I’m just… too hardcore… I’ll think of somethin’…” She yawned.

“Of course you will,” Fluttershy crooned, in a soothing voice. “You’re the hardcoriest pony ever, Rainbow Dash.”

This time, it was Pinkie’s turn to look distressed, but Rainbow seemed to be comforted. She yawned again. “Yeah… totally… is it okay if I… take a nap? Little.. sleepy.”

“I can sing you a lovely lullaby,” soothed Fluttershy.

“Hey, I could sing harmony along with mmph!”

Pinkie stopped, because Rainbow had reached out and quickly pressed a silencing forehoof to both their mouths, shocking Pinkie and offending Fluttershy.

“Won’t be necessary, ladies…”

With that, her forelegs dropped limply to her sides, and as if her final act of coolness had drained her batteries completely, Rainbow Dash fell fast asleep. She began snoring, as Pinkie and Fluttershy looked at each other.

“What’s going on with her, Fluttershy? She’s Dashier than ever. I don’t like it…” whispered Pinkie.

Fluttershy ruffled her wings and tucked them to her sides. “You might have been right, Pinkie. You wouldn’t know about this—but you know about the magic bit that silly Twilight gave me?”

“Oh—the completely pointless waste of an insult of an exercise we’re not going to use?”

Fluttershy giggled, trying to stay quiet and not wake Dash. “Yes! Well, I didn’t want to hurt Twilight’s feelings, and it’s not safe to leave magic stuff lying around, so I hid it under my mattress. I sleep over it, when I’m not with you. I think it’s true, they do have some kind of influence. Haven’t you noticed that I’ve been getting more… eager?”

Pinkie’s lip quivered. “I thought you just liked me.”

“Oh, but I do! Oh, dear,” said Fluttershy. “What I mean is, I’m almost certain I can feel it making me more… sexy, you know. I can’t imagine what one would do to Rainbow Dash.” She glanced down at Rainbow’s sleeping face, and remarked cattily, “I suppose we needn’t imagine.”

Pinkie’s look of dismay worsened. “But… what if it’s hurting her? It’s like she wants too much now. I tried to give her what she wanted and she just wanted more and more…”

“Big change,” said Fluttershy, her expression cranky.

“Oh, Fluttershy,” sighed Pinkie. “Don’t be jealous. You know I love you. Right? We’ve talked about this. Even before Rainbow Dash… changed. I guess in some ways she’s not that different, huh? I told you, you’re not in competition with her. Nuh-uh!”

At this, Fluttershy blushed, and looked away. “Th… thank you, Pinkie. I know you told me I was special. It’s just… hard, when Rainbow can crash in and interrupt us and demand that you have sex with her. I hardly know what to say.”

“You could say, ‘no’,” suggested Pinkie Pie. “You could tell her to wait her turn. She’d probably get offended and fly off. She was offended when I told her no—and she better get used to that, because I am not happy with my Dashie acting this way. Sex is not about taking, it’s about sharing. It’s not about covering up your feelings. Dashie has never been good about understanding that, and now she’s getting worse.”

“Gosh, I don’t know…” said Fluttershy. “Rainbow was there first. That’s sort of the problem—she’ll always be first. I’m very grateful for how she’s always protected me, but she just takes whatever she wants.” She looked forlorn. “She even took my virginity—and now I wish I’d saved it. For you.”

Pinkie’s mouth made an O of shock. “Really?”

Fluttershy looked at her lover, across Rainbow Dash’s sprawled, sleeping body. “Oh yes. I know I don’t get to be anyone’s only-pony, and I would have liked that, a bit. I know it’s odd for a pony, though Lyra and Bon Bon seem to thrive that way. I’d have liked to give myself to you completely, knowing what I know now, like they gave themselves to each other. Only each other.”

Pinkie’s face was a little more red than usual. “Um. About Lyra and Bon Bon…”

“Don’t tell me. Rainbow Dash had them, as well,” said Fluttershy, tartly.

“Not exactly…”

Fluttershy sighed. “It’s okay, I won’t judge them. I’ve told you how I felt, and yet I’ve had Rainbow Dash, and even Applejack. Oh, and apparently also Twilight’s mare Trixie, thanks to that awful magic bit. That’s a horrible thought, just horrible… I guess we are all prey to the charms of bodysex. Especially us pegasi, for obvious reasons—since it doesn’t have to lead to anything.”

Pinkie Pie looked confused. “I don’t understand. I mean, I know sex is fun and good, but what does that have to do with pegasi?”

“I said bodysex. Don’t you know the difference? I’m sorry, I’m being so unfair—how could you? This is a pegasus thing. About foals—babies.”

“Babies are so cute…” said Pinkie Pie. “But I don’t see what that has to do with it. Babies come out of a mare’s body, I know that. It’s, um… interesting.” She was blushing again.

Fluttershy arched an eyebrow, a hint of amusement coming to her expression. “You don’t know about pegasus mating? All the same, it seems to have your attention! What else do you think about babies, Pinkie Pie?”

“They’re the most wonderful thing in the history of ever, that’s what! Oops, don’t want to wake Dashie…”

“I think you’d have to wake her with a rock,” suggested Fluttershy. “Go on…” Her wings stirred, held half-lifted.

Pinkie was blushing worse. “Okay, this is going to sound completely crazy coming from me…”

“You want babies, don’t you?”

“Kind of. I get all wobbly even just thinking about it. Ooooh, motherhood, it’s just the most female thing that could ever be… but Fluttershy, I still don’t want any stallions! Ew. And you know that’s gotta hurt! I am so impressed with Mrs. Cake now, it’s like I’m in awe of her. I, uh… clopped over her being pregnant. Not wanting to do stuff to her! Or to Pound and Pumpkin, don’t ever think that! But… to just the pregnantness of it all…”

Fluttershy’s eyes were wide. “Oh, my! I promise I won’t tell, dear Pinkie. Really? I don’t care about babies as much as that. I have my little animals, and they need me so much! I can’t imagine having foals, not after the times I’ve taken care of Sweetie and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. It’s such a terrible responsibility, they’re much worse than chipmunks and squirrels. Well.. chipmunks, anyway.”

“It is! It’s a huge responsibility. I’m the number one babysitter for Pound and Pumpkin, and I feel about it kind of… maybe like you feel about being my number one marefriend?”

“Perhaps,” said Fluttershy. “But I was explaining about why pegasi are the way we are about bodysex. Did you know that we don’t always make babies that way, Pinkie?”

“I thought when a stallion puts his thing in you, and comes, that’s how you get babies. Which is all kinds of ew,” said Pinkie. She looked sad. “And also that’s how come I’m never going to have babies. It’s okay, though, because it’s so scary and freaky. It’s ew AND ow, all rolled up into one creepy overwhelming thing.”

Fluttershy had an ‘I’m a year older than you’ look going. “Yes, yes—but you’re missing a step. First, the mare has to ovulate—make eggs.”

She hastily put out a gentle hoof to Pinkie’s mouth, for she just knew her lover was going to come out with some cheerful remark about omelettes. “For reproduction! Eggs and sperm, is how that works. But, Pinkie, pegasi don’t just ovulate out of nowhere. Did you ever notice how funny we are… about wings?”

Pinkie blinked. “I know Dashie’s sensitive about them. She never let me touch them or anything, so I assumed they hurt if you touch them. Yours don’t seem to be sensitive like that.”

Fluttershy laughed softly, and her butter-yellow face began to blush as well. “Pinkie… they’re sensitive, but not the way you think. Touching them is… very arousing.”

“But… then why would Dashie never let me touch hers, when she’s so slutty in every other way?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Fluttershy. “She’s a strange mare and always has been. But if you are being intimate with pegasi, Pinkie, you should know that pegasus mares ovulate from touching their wings, during sex.”

Pinkie’s jaw dropped, as she fitted this information into the carnival ride that was her brain.

“But, Fluttershy… um, I don’t know how to put this, but you’ve touched me with your wings during sex—which means you let me touch them. I’ve, like, nuzzled them back and everything. So… I touched your wings, Fluttershy, during sex.”

Fluttershy was brick-red from blushing, and couldn’t look at Pinkie directly.

“…yes.”

Pinkie’s eyes grew wider and wider. “Did… did you, like, ovulate? For me? Like you were gonna have my babies?”

“…probably…” said Fluttershy, in a tiny voice.

Pinkie panted. “Oh, Fluttershy. I didn’t think you could get more exciting…” She blinked, and made a face. “And what’s up with Dashie? Hmph! It’s not like I would have gotten her pregnant, I’m another girl!”

Fluttershy turned her head, speaking gently but reprovingly. “Don’t judge her. It’s like she’s extra wild in one way, and extra reserved in another. I doubt she’s ever let anypony touch her wings, or ever will, she’s so fond of them. Nopony could ever live up to what she’d want for her so-wonderful wings.”

There was bitterness there, but Fluttershy couldn’t be too bitter, while looking into Pinkie’s adoring eyes. In those eyes, her own wings were just fine, just as they were. The wings too weak to even live in the sky had found a home.

Pinkie was thinking about what Fluttershy had said about Dash. She nodded. “Maybe not. Awww. That’s kinda sad… but she’s sleeping okay now, huh? We hugged her until she felt better and fell asleep.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Of course.”

“And… Fluttershy, did you want to finish anything? I didn’t want to at first, but now…”

Fluttershy looked away again, still blushing. “…maybe?” she said. She was the living image of shy pegasus loveliness, peeking coyly sidelong from huge, loving eyes.

“You’re doing that on purpose, a little, aren’t you?”

Fluttershy blushed even worse—and nodded.

“Come to bed, Fluttershy. Dashie is fine there, dreaming dreams about being all tough and mean and rowdy.”

“Probably,” said Fluttershy. She got up, and followed Pinkie to her bed—their bed, really. Fluttershy had always struggled to understand how anypony could be attracted to a weak-wing like her, but the new things she’d learned combined with what she already knew about Pinkie to add up to a very convincing sum.

Pinkie was trembling, eyes too wide and manic. Fluttershy began to pant, feeling Pinkie’s hunger and obsessive attention. It felt good, so good. She was a special somepony—a personal somepony—and she was about to be mated, or at least that was what her body was telling her.

In so many ways that was the simple truth of it, for all that they were two mares and couldn’t make babies. Fluttershy still felt like Pinkie was hungry to mount her and father her foals.

She was.

“This is sooo exciting… so wait, here’s a problem. How am I supposed to pay attention to your clit, and play with your wings, at the same time? I’m not sure even my tongue can stretch that far.”

Fluttershy cringed. “Oh, that won’t be necessary! It would be rather frightening! I think one thing at a time, Pinkie. We know how to start, don’t we?”

Pinkie saluted her quivering, reclining lover. “Yes, ma’am!”

She dove into Fluttershy’s crotch gleefully, making the pretty pegasus squeak in alarm—and then moan, for Pinkie picked up where she left off. Her excitement was so great that she unthinkingly went straight for Fluttershy’s clit, with no warming up or hesitation. It would’ve been too much—except that explaining the wing thing had worked Fluttershy up dreadfully, to where she was nearly ready to burst anyhow—so she bit her lip, an anguished look on her face, writhed on the bed as Pinkie’s tongue worked over her clitoris hungrily—and then threw her head back, letting out a strangled scream as she fought desperately to stay quiet.

The last thing they needed was Rainbow Dash waking up, and taking over for either of them…

Pinkie heard the sound and froze, pulling her head back, her tongue hanging out foolishly. She reeled it in with a slurp. “Are you okay? Gee, I guess we better be quiet, huh?”

Fluttershy’s eyes pleaded. She panted roughly, squirming around on her back, her wings jutting rigidly to the sides and nearly lifting her up. “…hnnnggg!”

Pinkie’s eyes gleamed with mad devotion. “I can take you all the way, that way, Fluttershy… or we can do something else. How would we do that?”

Fluttershy mewled piteously, and twisted—flipping over with a flail of legs and wings. She gazed back at Pinkie desperately from a very feline crouch, eyes a little unfocussed, her juicy marehood showing—and her wings arching up boldly to either side of her, quivering.

Pinkie slowly crawled forward, as Fluttershy shook and sobbed her frantic need.

“If I get on you…” said Pinkie, “like a boy pony would… and I reach back between your legs… oooh, boobies… a little farther…”

Fluttershy jolted under her, as Pinkie’s hoof began caressing her vulva, massaging her clit under the soft pubic mound.

Pinkie bit her lip—this was too unbelievably good. Fluttershy whimpered and shook, hot like a fever, her pussy melting under Pinkie’s gentle kneading—and right next to her face were two fluffy wings, so pretty. And they weren’t just decorative, oh no… her casual, cautious nuzzling she’d allowed herself before, turned out to be a kind of secret Fluttershy was keeping.

The secret was out. Pinkie’s heart pounded as she nuzzled those feathery, soft wings again, knowing that now was the time to take Fluttershy all the way.

She kept her hoof in gentle motion, savoring the shudders it provoked, and spoke to her lover quietly. “What do I do? I’ll do anything, Fluttershy, anything.”

Her precious pegasus moaned drunkenly, tossing her head, wriggling.

“Do I… nuzzle?”

Pinkie rubbed her face along the quivering wing, and Fluttershy gave a little squeal, that trailed off into a croaking noise as she fought to stay silent.

Pinkie panted, her eyes wild. “What if I… licked?”

She ran her tongue along the silky feathers. Fluttershy jolted, emitting a wavering cry, and jolted again. Pinkie could feel her vag clench under her hoof. Fluttershy had come there and then, feeling Pinkie licking her wing.

Pinkie drew in a hissing breath between her teeth. Her heart felt about to explode with excitement, whamming madly in her chest.

“Am I allowed… to… bite?”

Fluttershy writhed, panting huge gasps, hysterical with arousal. “Ahhh! hhh! That’s… filthy! hhh!”

Pinkie held back, her hoof working her pegasus’s squishy mound, while she parsed what she had been told. Her lover was frantic against her, shaking in orgasm already, and Pinkie could tell she’d meant exactly what she said—biting her wing would be filthy, shocking.

She nuzzled Fluttershy’s wing again, rewarded by a quavering moan and a series of jolts felt through Fluttershy’s lovely body.

She realized something.

“That… wasn’t a no…”

Fluttershy twisted her head to look at her, and Pinkie had never seen a wordless gaze plead so hard.

Pinkie gulped, licked her lips—and leaned forward, her mouth opening.

Fluttershy screamed breathlessly, watching, holding her wing stiffly erect. It shook so hard the feathers blurred.

And then, Pinkie’s mouth closed firmly on the base of Fluttershy’s buttery wing, her teeth gently gripping the firm feathery shank, and Fluttershy bucked in Pinkie’s tight embrace.

It was awe-inspiring, a little frightening. Fluttershy had never seemed strong, but she writhed and kicked and squealed, blinded by climaxes. Pinkie had felt Fluttershy come before, but this was beyond anything—it wasn’t a series of surges, it was like a single convulsing outburst that jacked her body like a lightning bolt that wouldn’t stop hitting. Pinkie could feel the impact of the orgasms slamming into her lover, feel the jolts through her forelegs and belly—and teeth.

She got swept up in it—and she came, hard, her own body shaking, her vision whiting out, her jaw bearing down unthinkingly fierce on Fluttershy’s wing-base and barely under control.

“GyyaaAAAHH!” shrieked Fluttershy, feeling Pinkie’s jaws yank her wing around, and in a final spasm, she passed out. Her world exploded into whiteness like the center of a star, and nothingness seized her, for a moment.

Pinkie realized she’d come herself limp and floppy, and could barely hold up her head. Fluttershy’s wing was still in her mouth. Fluttershy was limp as well, the top joint of her wing crooked and splayed and looking very unkempt. One thing about the pegasuses was, when you wore them out they really looked it—Pinkie looked at the wing she held, and realized it was ridiculously bedraggled, like a joke. Fluttershy gasped for air, and began to wriggle weakly against her.

A sound came from across the room, and both lovers froze. Dash!

“…hmmmymmm…”

Rainbow Dash yawned, stretched, rolled over… and went back to sleep.

Pinkie quietly released Fluttershy’s wing. It flopped over awkwardly with a soft feathery rustle. They both gazed at Rainbow’s turned back for second after second.

Pinkie released her breath. “Oh… my… gosh.”

Fluttershy turned to her, eyes rapt and radiant. “Uhhmmmmm…”

“Was good?” said Pinkie softly. She was still trembling.

“You are a daddy pegasus,” breathed Fluttershy.

“Oh, wow…”

Fluttershy nodded, smugly. “I can feel it. Mmmmm… I’m a mommy pegasus. You mated me.”

Pinkie fought back the blissful fog to ask a key question. “But… no baby, right? Because, no penis. Right?”

Fluttershy looked sulky. “Technically. Don’t spoil it. That was the part we really care about. You’re the daddy now.” Shaking off her sulk, she stretched her neck back to kiss Pinkie full on the lips.

Pinkie kissed back, tears streaming from her eyes. “Oh, Fluttershy! Yes! Oh, yes!”

And they lay together for hours, while Rainbow slept the sleep of the lovingly bandaged.

The palace room was darkened, but not unoccupied. A window let in the dusk, where light had once lived.

“Sister, pray, what means this… this unsuitable dimness?”

Princess Celestia smiled weakly at Princess Luna, who stood in the doorway with an expression of dismay, and replied, “The sun was setting, my sister. I would know, as I did it myself. The sun will always set—at its appropriate time.”

Princess Luna stepped forward, and her horn glowed. A lamp fixture in the wall kindled, and light bathed the room, illuminating both alicorns, and revealing Luna’s worried expression—and Celestia’s tight-lipped, reproachful one.

“The sun may set,” said Luna, “but there is a time for lamplight. Yet my beloved sister sits in the dark, while her sun rests beneath the horizon. Why?”

“It is well for the sun to rest sometimes. As it is for your dear sister, Luna. Do not fret—the dark mood will pass.”

“But WHY the dark mood?” demanded Luna. “Is it that student of yours? Or have I offended thee without knowing the cause?”

That widened Celestia’s eyes. “Nay, nay!”

Luna shook her head, and her scintillating mane of night cascaded around her. She glared. “Sister, pray speak with me. No, wait… this works not, you evade and spin pretty words. Talk to me like our current subjects do. Tell me what is wrong in simple, not courtly words. Please!”

Celestia hung her head. “Courtly words would fain comfort my spirit today. I have need of the dignity of years, sister.”

Luna stamped a hoof. “Celly!”

“Oh, very well…”

Luna listened attentively, with a sharp, narrowed eye, as Princess Celestia explained.

“You are correct. It is my student—but perhaps you do not understand the source of my distress. Sister, she is right—I am stifling them, stifling her. I do not approve of her plaything. It breaks my heart. My poor Twilight has so few years to cherish, and to see her bound to so troubled a pony! Her heart shines forth, but sister—its light will be consumed. Wasted!”

Luna’s eyes narrowed further. “You are so sure?”

Celestia sagged. “Of course I am not. But… you’ve seen me watching the subjects, poked sly fun at me for it. I do watch them, sister. Nay, not for vicarious pleasure—I should think I’ve a few hundred years in me before I seek to groom a consort, and the times are not fit for such things. These subjects are so sweet and innocent. I shall be their sky-mother, then, for them and for their children, as we grow together. But I fear that I have embraced this… too much.”

Princess Luna looked warily at her sister. “I’d gathered that. You’d softened beyond belief in my… exile. How is it, then, too much?”

Princess Celestia sighed. “I hover over them. I involve myself in their little troubles, I intercede. You see the trouble, I trust.”

Luna nodded, thoughtfully. “You’d not catch me playing nursemaid to mortal subjects. Fun though they are… Do you not remember they will be dust?”

A tear dripped down Celestia’s cheek. Luna, seeing it, froze, her eyes wide.

“My Twilight shall be free, before she is dust. I spoke to you of expensive gifts. It may cost her joy, and comfort, and peace—but I have known her spirit, and I am damned if I will confine her further. She has essentially asked for her freedom. Let it be so.”

“S.. sister…” stammered Princess Luna. “Calm yourself. They’re but subjects. There will be more, after these.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “Sister?”

“Yes, my sister?”

“Thank you for lighting the evening’s lamp, and for your kindly concern.”

“Of c…”

“Please leave. I have not finished my contemplation.”

Luna’s eyes widened in shock, and then clashed with her sister’s in anger. Her gaze spoke of appropriateness, of common sense foolishly ignored, of nobility scorned.

Celestia’s spoke of loyalty, of pride, and of love. Her jaw was set, and Luna did not last ten seconds before dropping her gaze, defeated.

“Thank you,” said Princess Celestia politely, as her sister turned and left.

As Luna left the room, she saw from the corner of her eye that the lamp winked back out, returning Princess Celestia to her meditation in somber darkness. Luna hastened her step, a sour look on her face, lifting her hooves high in haughty vexation as she thought furiously to herself.

This would not do. It really would not do.

If Sister would not look after her own interests, and those of her pet, then Luna would have to think of something.

It would be meet to learn more about the pet’s new love-toy, and thereby understand Sister’s objections…

Sweet Apple Butter

There were danishes. And muffins. And more danishes. Pinkie filled a table with danishes, with Fluttershy sitting at the table and being served, and Dash lying on the bed in a naughty, sprawled-out position. They’d been checking her bandages, which were fine, and had moved on to breakfast.

“You don’t have any coffee?” said Rainbow Dash. “Or eggs? Oat-cakes?”

Pinkie Pie blinked curiously. “Dashie, you’ve stayed over here before. I thought you liked my danishes! Look, this one has extra icing—I’ll let you have it so you can build up your strength!”

Fluttershy coughed, gently. “I’m not sure ponies really build up strength that way…”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. Now that she couldn’t have Applejack’s breakfasts, she craved them, and her previous careless ways felt wrong. But there was no sense in offending Pinkie, so she leaned over to nibble at the sugary danish, feeling the old cheap-energy buzz start to kick in.

As she did, she saw Pinkie pass in front of Fluttershy—and saw Fluttershy’s wing trail across Pinkie’s butt.

“I’d like another danish, please,” said Fluttershy. “I’ve decided I’m going to pretend something.”

Pinkie beamed. “Ooo! Is this a guessing game? It might not be very hard, though. Are you going to pretend you’re eating for…”

“Uh-huh,” crooned Fluttershy, peeking sidelong at Pinkie.

The earth pony’s smile grew impossibly wide and glittering. “I getcha! Coming right up, quick as a wing, I mean wink!” She winked, and trotted out to the kitchen, returning with a fresh tray.

“Careful!” said Pinkie, as she passed the tray over Fluttershy’s body, allowing the underside of it to brush her wings, which perked up and jostled the hapless tray until it nearly spilled danishes all over Fluttershy. “Oops! I told you to be…”

“IS there something you two think you should tell me?” demanded Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie froze. Bad tone… Rainbow sounded brittle, really upset.

“Um…”

“Or did you just think I was, like, totally stupid?”

“Oh, dear,” said Fluttershy.

“No, Dashie!” protested Pinkie Pie. “It’s okay, there’s nothing wrong!”

“Oh, good,” said Dash. “Then you should have no problem explaining why you have Fluttershy acting so slu… erm… that came out wrong, didn’t it?”

Fluttershy suddenly couldn’t meet Rainbow Dash’s eyes. Her face was bright red, her blush so intense that even her chest and the shanks of her wings glowed a bit.

Pinkie Pie stared at Dash in shock, almost in wonder. “Rainbow Dash, am I even hearing you properly? I don’t believe it. You are in my house, Dashie! You are sitting on the very bed where you begged me to keep contorting my tongue into unhealthy mean shapes, inside your vagina, until I couldn’t do it any more. What did you just start to call my marefriend?”

Dash stared, stricken. Pinkie scooted over, putting a foreleg around Fluttershy as she cowered, and stared right back at Dash, and the anger in her gaze slowly built. Behind Pinkie’s glaring head, Dash could see Fluttershy’s wings helplessly lifting, hovering at halfmast just to feel Pinkie embracing her. She blushed harder, but couldn’t control her reaction.

“Fine!” said Dash. “Slutty! Don’t look at me that way, okay? Sheesh, coming from me it should be a compliment, right? I mean, who do you think you’re talking to, anyway? Twilight Sparkle?”

Pinkie held Dash’s eyes, challenging. “It didn’t sound like a compliment, Dashie.”

“Yeah, that. Um. This is going to take a little explaining…” said Dash, unhappily. “Ya see, us pegasuses, the way we are, we like having a lot of fun in bed in some ways, but there’s other stuff that’s more… personal…”

Pinkie relented—partly because she felt Fluttershy’s wing reach forward and deliberately brush her mane. Dash didn’t see it, for her eyes had dropped, but Pinkie felt it. She said, “Maybe you don’t have to say more than that, Dashie. Fluttershy explained a lot to me last night.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” said Dash miserably.

“Well, she did!” snapped Pinkie. “You could have let me know about all that, Dashie. It’s okay, I get it. I’m happy to have fun with you if it’s not hurting you. But you could have told me the reason you’re so funny about wings.”

“They’re beautiful wings,” said Fluttershy softly, not looking up. “Yours are the most wonderful wings a pegasus ever had, Rainbow.”

Pinkie hugged Fluttershy to her, reminded again of her tenderness, and continued. “Really, Dashie, I promise it’s okay. I guess I’m a little hurt? I know you’ve got to train all the time and maybe you don’t want to get too close to anypony? But please don’t judge us just ‘cause I like to munch on…”

Both pegasi jolted at the direction that phrase was heading, and Fluttershy hastily thwapped Pinkie with her wing, stopping her. Pinkie gulped. “Right. I guess I’m kind of slutty too, huh? Boy, this is weird, having you guys be so awkward about this. I don’t suppose we could break the ice with a sort of… big wing-nuzzling party?”

“No!” said both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, in chorus, immediately. Both couldn’t meet anypony’s eyes, and both were blushing.

“Awww,” said Pinkie. “Okay, okay. I was just trying to help. I’m kind of new to this.”

Rainbow Dash looked at her, and Pinkie’s heart stuck in her throat. Dash was crying.

“It’s okay, Pinkie. You’re the best. I guess I never thought this would happen…”

“We love you, Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy, not looking up.

“Yeah,” said Dash. “Uh… Fluttershy, she’s always had a huge crush on you. Did you know that? It’s not, like, some random thing. Pinkie’s always loved you. I’m okay with that. I was always okay with that.”

“Thank you,” said Fluttershy.

“Oh, Dashie. Can I hug you?” said Pinkie, tearing up herself.

Dash nodded, and Pinkie trotted forward and grabbed Rainbow in a fierce hug, wrapping forelegs around her neck. Dash squirmed, flapping. “N…”

“I know,” sighed Pinkie. “Not the wings. Oh, Dashie.” She hugged tighter, carefully. “I love you, Dashie. I really, really do. I always will.”

“Yeah,” sniffled Rainbow, and heaved a big sigh.

“I love you too, Rainbow,” said Fluttershy quietly.

“I appreciate that,” said Dash. “It’s gonna be helpful. With me going forward, I mean. Sort of starting a new life, somehow. It’s… kind of scary, Fluttershy. It’s real different. I… don’t know if I like it as much as I thought I would…”

Fluttershy seemed to be gathering her courage. She bit her lip, her brows lowering in determination, her wings tucked tightly to her sides. “Um…”

“You wouldn’t like it at all, I can tell you that. But it’s all I’ve got…”

“I need to talk to you,” said Fluttershy firmly. “About that starting a new life thing.”

Rainbow Dash gulped. “Yeah, you are. I guess I can stand it. In fact, I, I… congratulations, okay? I really mean that. I love you both, so much. I hope your new life has a lot of joy.” She sounded miserable, crushed—yet earnest.

“No, Rainbow Dash. Starting a new life… for you.”

Rainbow stared at her, defenseless, her jaw hanging open slightly in shock. Fluttershy saw it, and settled herself, ruffling her wings lightly, picking her words with care.

“I feel almost like this is the sort of thing a mother pegasus should say, but I have known you for so many years—and I am feeling a teensy bit more motherly today, so I’ll risk it. Rainbow Dash, you are going to have to open your heart. The life you live is not good for you.”

Dash’s eyes teared up. She shook her head, weakly, looking tragic.

“Every pegasus,” continued Fluttershy, “finds somebody to share their life, and by that I mean mare pegasi, and by that I mean somepony to father their foals. You can say that you are such a lesbian that it doesn’t count, but I won’t believe you, especially not now. I know better now, and so should you. There’s a part of you that’s crying out for this, a part that you keep hidden away even from yourself, but you know it’s true.”

Rainbow was weeping, silently, listening, still shaking her head in despair.

“And that is why it is wrong that you’re letting your vanity stop you from giving your wings to another…”

Rainbow’s eyes widened. She glanced back and forth between Pinkie and Fluttershy in disbelief, opening her mouth, about to protest. Pinkie cut in.

“It’s true, Dashie. I mean, I’m okay that you wouldn’t do that with me, because I love Fluttershy very much, but there were times when I totally would have, you know? You deserve it.”

Fluttershy wouldn’t let Rainbow argue. “You have always sought out rough, casual ponies, and had rough bodysex with them. Pinkie, Applejack, now apparently Big Macintosh—I’ve seen you do it, over and over. I have never seen you give of yourself like a pegasus mare in love, and I would know, because… well, I think that I would, I have seen you at it more often than you’d suspect. I promise I’ll do less of that, now that I’ve met Pinkie I don’t feel nearly as compelled to peep, but that is why I must speak with you now. Your wonderful wings are NOT too good for ponykind. You must share them some day, even if you have yet to find a pony good enough for them.”

Rainbow Dash was speechless, scarlet with mortification. She took a shuddering breath. “Listen…”

“No!” said Fluttershy. “I’m not going to let you run rough-hooved over me this time, Rainbow Dash! I see how offended you are at the suggestion, but Pinkie has told me how you’ve been about it, with her—and I’ve seen that for myself, just now! Your ego and vanity over your so-wonderful, too-good-for-anypony wings… it needs to stop!”

Pinkie nodded. “She’s right, Dashie. As much as I love you, you’re so full of yourself, and it would probably do you good. We can’t all be play-toys, know what I mean?”

Fluttershy held Dash’s outraged gaze, for long enough to say, “I’m sorry you haven’t found a real mate, Rainbow Dash. And it’s nice that you’re so good at wild sex. It’s been fun to watch. I’ll admit that. But you need to find a home for your heart.”

Then, she looked away, for Rainbow Dash’s eyes were hard to face, right then.

Dash trembled. She swallowed, baring her teeth, the muscles in her neck standing out, her wings fluttering against her sides in anguish and blind rage. Her eyes shut, leaking tears, as the agony and the fury battled inside her. It was the fact that these were her closest, most devoted friends, and yet they had it all wrong, so horribly, unbearably wrong, insultingly wrong…

Rage won.

Rainbow Dash stared at her ‘friends’, her jaw tight, her eyes sealed storm windows enclosing the desolation and carnage of her pony heart. The agony showed—behind a hard, hard surface.

“Thanks. Really, thanks so much. I’ll take a memo. Seriously, I’ll get right on it.”

“Don’t you get sarcastic at me, Rainbow Dash!” cried Fluttershy. “I’m serious!”

“That’s nice.”

Pinkie blinked. Though Fluttershy was insightful, it was Pinkie whose instincts were uncanny—and though Dashie’s resentment told a story, something didn’t add up. “Wait… when you said ‘Listen’ in that funny way, were you going to make more excuses about how we’re not good enough, or were you going to say something else?”

Dash gritted her teeth, her eyes clamped shut—and spoke.

“I’m out of here.”

When those eyes opened, the rage chilled Pinkie and Fluttershy, and the bitterness in her words was burning bridges and the destruction of friendships.

“Thanks for the ‘bandages’.”

She didn’t even fly through the window and smash it. She was all cold control and stifled fury, and she flew with deliberate wingbeats out the bedroom door, down the stairs, out through Sugarcube Corner and away, all while Pinkie and Fluttershy stared in silent horror.

Pinkie sighed. “It’s gotta be true. It must be her ego.”

“I’m afraid it is,” said Fluttershy, “but what convinced you?”

“I’ve never, ever seen her so pissed off…”

They drew closer, shivering, as a tortured scream of rage and betrayal faintly sounded, far, far away.

“We’d better let her cool off for a while before trying it again,” said Fluttershy.

“Yeah,” sighed Pinkie. “Wow, is she a tough nut to crack!”

They walked, the orange earth pony and white unicorn, through the gardens Carrot Top owned, toward the woods. They’d met at Sweet Apple Acres, and set off.

Rarity had borne a red rose in her teeth, that she presented to Applejack. It was delicious.

“Got to say, that was about the tastiest flower I ever did see…”

“But of course. Do you think I would rely upon less for my gambit?”

“What’s a gambit?” said Applejack.

“Ploy. Technique. Erm… trick?”

“Y’all tricking me? That ain’t very romantic.”

Rarity scoffed. “I am the soul of romance. My creations breathe romance. But we’re grown mares, you and I. We are not talking about romance, are we?”

Applejack blinked. “Well, then, what are we talkin’ about?”

Rarity’s eyes flashed. “SEX.”

“Oh. Heh. That.”

They ambled along, and Applejack considered things. Soon, she spoke again.

“Well, now, that’s mighty blunt of y’all. Mind explainin’ how come you’re takin’ this angle? When ya brung me the flower, I din’t exactly figure on this.”

Rarity didn’t bat one elegantly-sculpted eyelash. It seemed she had a little speech worked out, from how she answered. “I am a working mare, dear Applejack. So are you—we have this in common. It is a profound mutual similarity, in fact. We are not ones to fawn over another, shirk our duties to gaze cow-eyed at some object of our affections. We love each other dearly…”

“We do?” blinked Applejack.

“A-hem!” Rarity cleared her throat, with a warning glance. “We love each other dearly, but I do not offer you mushy sentimentality, long walks through the woods that we are both too busy to take.”

“We’re walkin’ through th’ woods right now, ya silly pointy-headed thang, you.”

“And how many hours do you plan to take off work, to repeat it?”

“Uh… good point. Pow’ful unromantic, though. Jes’ sayin’.”

“Romance is a deft servant but a wilful master, darling. Who can say whether the sparks of it will enlighten our nights? It comes whence least expected, and is best not sought directly. Again, I do not offer romance and fillyish pining on your behalf.”

“Then what are ya offerin’, Rarity?”

“Passion! It is much like romance—but…” and Rarity caught a breath, her eyes gleaming entrancingly—“It burns hotter, darling.”

Applejack smirked, glancing at the pretty unicorn, sensing the openness of her desire. It was about as subtle as a buck to the head. There was something comforting about that. “Ya sayin’ I’m supposed to burn hot for you? That might take some persuadin’. I’m all mare now, remember? Ya can’t jes’ tell me to be passionate. Convince me. All ya doin’ is spinnin’ fancy words.”

Rarity was undaunted. “Oh, I can be very persuasive, never fear. But that is not what I meant.”

“All right—shoot.” Applejack stopped in the middle of the path. “Tell me what ya mean.”

Rarity didn’t speak. Instead, she began to pace, slowly circling Applejack, who stood challengingly and didn’t budge a hoof.

Rarity’s eyes began at Applejack’s front. She started at Applejack’s sturdy hooves, weathered from hard work in the fields, neatly trimmed in a practical way by the trusty farrier. Her eyes roamed up across pastern, knee, up Applejack’s firm leg to the shoulder, its gentle bulge of muscle betraying the health and power of the orange mare.

Rarity paced around further, as Applejack watched. Unicorn eyes drank in the proud arch of Applejack’s neck, crest trailing down to firm withers that played under her burnt-sienna coat as she shifted, awkwardly, feeling naked beneath Rarity’s hungry gaze. The unicorn didn’t let up. She paced onward, a gleeful smirk across her muzzle.

Her eyes fondled Applejack’s loin as it rose to the arch of her croup, that wonderful high point along her back which defined the way her rump made a delicious slope down to her dock and the silky blonde of her tail. The hungry eyes took in the delicate knob at the top of her hip—actually the top promontory of her pelvis, projecting from behind firm, supple muscle.

Rarity licked her lips, pacing all the way around behind Applejack, who watched with wider and wider eyes. The unicorn dipped her head and peered under Applejack’s tail, as the country mare first swished it to the side, then covered herself in a fit of shyness. Rarity didn’t try to stop that. She’d got a good look at Applejack’s fine shapely vagina and the firm, bountiful curves of her muscular ass, and though the silky blonde tresses covered most of that, it was still possible to see the happy little swellings of her pony breasts, as if through gauze curtains. The veiling made it all the lovelier, of course.

Applejack was blushing. Rarity was flushed. It was not precisely blushing, for it was not from embarrassment. Her eyes were wilder than Applejack had ever seen them. Slowly, Rarity paced onward, eyes caressing hock, gaskin, the barrel of her belly and chest, and Applejack stood, heart pounding, as Rarity stepped deliberately around to stand before her, looking her fully in the eye.

“I want to fuck you, darling,” said Rarity. “You are exquisite… and you shall be mine.”

Applejack’s jaw dropped. She glanced away, terribly disconcerted, and could feel those sapphire eyes still devouring her every move and reaction, still hungry for her, ravenous.

“Oh, my,” she said. “…damn if you ain’t convincin’, after all.” She panted, gently biting her lip.

“Thank you,” said Rarity, her eyes still locked on Applejack’s.

“Ah would say… yes, y’all persuasive. Dang…”

Rarity licked her lips, rapidly. “Shall we go over to my place, then, where… I will possess that delectable body and work my wicked will upon it? Pray say yes.”

Applejack’s heart was pounding. It felt fantastic to feel so desirable again. “Why wait?”

“Eh?” blinked Rarity.

“You can start anytime, honey.”

“But my bit is back home. We’re going there. It’s not far.”

Applejack looked startled. “You got your tongue, ain’tcha?”

Rarity wrinkled her nose, delicately. “That is not my preference. I mean, if you like… but I want to plunge throbbing stallionhood into that beautiful, sculpted marehood.”

Applejack’s ears drooped. “Aw. Well, it does sound good.” She snickered. “Heh. Your stallionhood, in my marehood. Over at your neighborhood? An’ not all out in the middle-of-the-wood?”

“Don’t tease,” scolded Rarity.

“You started it!”

Rarity stomped an impeccably groomed hoof. “And I shall finish it!”

“Oh, yeah?” laughed Applejack. “What if I jes’ stay right here? Huh? Whatcha gonna do about that, missy?”

Rarity couldn’t stop grinning. She lowered her head, a world of wickedness in her eyes, and began pacing around behind Applejack again, who sighed and shook out her flowing, un-tied mane, expecting the kiss of unicorn tongue against her private parts.

“GYAAH!”

She found herself galloping, with Rarity laughing and trying to mount her playfully as she ran. The crazy damn unicorn had bitten her ass!

“Hey!” she yelled, kicking out behind her mid-gallop, thumping Rarity in the chest.

It didn’t even faze the elegant creature. “Ha ha! You’ll have to play rougher than that to shock me! Faster, faster! Your stallion awaits! He’s in a china dish and will soon be between my teeth! And he’ll be ME!”

Rarity tried to mount Applejack again, and fell off, laughing.

Applejack slowed down and began to argue. “The hell was that? Thought you weren’t gonna lick or nothin’?”

“That was not a lick,” smirked Rarity. “It was a bite, and you deserved it. Naughty, disobedient mare. Run, or I’ll nip you again!”

“Think ya own that rump, so quick? Think it’s yours for nippin’? Huh?”

“If you would prefer a taste of the crop, that can be arranged. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves—surely the main event is more, aha, earthy than that!”

“Now what gives you the idea…”

“Stop!”

They did, Applejack panting, her head held high, Rarity pulling up behind her, panting even harder. Grinning, she sniffed at Applejack’s hindquarters.

“Got you, darling. Pretty-pony’s marehood is interested, oh yes. It’s a bit untidy, mind you.”

“Untidy?” snorted Applejack. She could feel it too—her vag quivered with eager arousal, and she could feel how juicy she was. There was a time when her marefriend knew what to do about THAT. “Well, now,” she demanded, “if ya ain’t gonna lick me, whatcha gonna do about it? Get out a mop?”

Rarity pranced up and got in her face, still grinning. “Oh no. Far too untidy for that. I’m thinking a huge! …throbbing! Plunger!”

Applejack realized she was grinning as well, couldn’t help it. “Hah. Y’all crazy, Rarity.”

“Crazy for you, darling,” purred Rarity, and waggled her eyebrows.

“Think it’ll work?” teased Applejack.

“One way to find out,” grinned Rarity.

“Think you can catch me?”

“You’ll beg me to catch you!”

“Hah!” laughed Applejack, and ran off, legs flying.

Rarity set off in pursuit, struggling to keep up. “You want a stallion, you shall have one, fleet-footed darling! Run!” she cried, settling into a steady canter. The lovely creature could run like the wind, and looked ravishing doing it. Her mane flew free under that silly, charming hat. The sight of her body receding was a goad to Rarity’s new stallionish feelings, a welcome focussing and directing of the new state of mind.

Before she knew it, Applejack was back with a thundering of hooves, and was running playful circles around her. “Can’t catch me! And ya gonna have to!”

“You’ll get all sweaty!” protested Rarity.

“You’re the one said run, you silly mare!” said Applejack, grinning.

“We’ll bathe,” decided Rarity. “When we’re done.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Indeed, ‘yeah’. Always. Your stallion decrees it,” smirked Rarity.

“You gonna de-cree often? I heard that it’s bad for ya. Leads to pains in th’ ass,” teased Applejack, trotting beside Rarity with bouncy steps.

Rarity thought of pegging Big Macintosh, and hastily grabbed a stray topic that wasn’t about ass. “Do you like pain, lovely mare? It excited you when I nipped you. There was no mistaking that. If your tastes run that direction, your stallion is… ingenious.”

“Heh. Define ‘ingenious’. And I don’t mean on account of I don’t know th’ word, neither. I’m thinkin’ more practical-like.”

“So am I,” said Rarity. “You have no idea—but you’ll learn, oh, how you’ll learn!”

“I might have some tricks to teach you, too,” snickered Applejack, “if ya never ate pussy before. You’re in for a treat!”

“I never said I hadn’t. Don’t be silly. I’ve done most everything you can imagine and many things you can’t. I simply have my tastes, that is all.”

They’d reached their destination, the Carousel Boutique, and trotted through the door smirking at each other. Applejack pranced. “Oh, do ya? Happens I might want to find out about your taste.”

“Ha!” said Rarity. “Indeed! Inner sanctum, and we shall see about that!” Then she gave a little shriek, for Applejack’s nose had ducked under her once-coiffed, now-disheveled tail, and she felt the other mare’s breath against her privates.

“Naw, I mean I might find out what you taste like,” began Applejack, but suddenly she was looking at Rarity’s face and not her vag—she’d got barely an instant to check it out, before the unicorn had whirled.

“INNER sanctum! Now!”

Applejack’s ears quirked. “An’ how am I s’posed to do that, missy, when you ain’t told me where it is?”

“Oh,” said Rarity, her ears splayed in vexation. “Right. You are so right, and I am so sorry, darling.”

The country pony grinned at her discomfiture. “Where’s that attention to detail now?”

Rarity rallied. “It has been obliterated in a tide of raw animal lust—for you!”

“Sweet talker,” snickered Applejack. “Crazy pointy-head pony. So where’s this SAHNK-toom?”

Rarity giggled. “The door right behind you. It is also my bedroom. Prepared. Provisioned.” She waggled her eyebrows, grinning wickedly. “Soundproofed.” Her horn glowed, and the door swung open.

“How’dja know I was noisy?”

“A wild, mad, unpredictable guess.” Rarity’s smirk widened. “I can’t imagine why I’d get such an idea.”

“YEEHAW!” cried Applejack, and pranced into Rarity’s bedroom, thudding against the doorframe for a moment as she dodged Opalescence, who’d heard the yell and chosen that moment to flee the bedroom.

“Oh, careful! Oh Opal, darling, yes, you’d better stay out of this. Applejack, you weren’t in the room yet! You did that on purpose! It’s not properly soundproofed until you are inside and the door is closed…”

The door closed behind her. Opalescence stared in disbelief, sat, and began licking her paw, refusing to take notice, even as a series of thumps shook the whole boutique.

“For heaven’s sake! Applejack!”

Rarity was losing control of the situation. She felt it, and while in one way it was very exciting, it endangered her whole plan for the evening. She’d no intention of winding up as the submissive toy. She meant to stallion, and Applejack had claimed she no longer did that, but she was playfully mounting Rarity, nosing under her rump.

Even a determined buck of her alabaster hooves hadn’t shaken the country pony. She’d slammed into the wall, laughed, and bounced up again, grinning and trying to get behind her would-be lover like it was a hilarious game.

“What has got into you?” demanded Rarity.

“Ain’t nothin’ got into me yet! That’s your problem! I just want a lil’ taste, for my trouble!”

Rarity stamped a hoof. “I am your stallion!”

“Aw,” grinned Applejack. “But Rarity! I always wanted to run my tongue up an’ down your pretty folds!”

Rarity’s jaw dropped. “Really?”

“Uh… nah,” admitted Applejack. “Weren’t into that until recently. I din’t look at you that way, neither, not even recently.” Her grin widened. “But with you jumpin’ my bones an’ all, I just GOT to know. Come on. Be a sport. I bet it’s real nice.”

Privately, she thought to herself: and Dash’s taste won’t be the last on my lips. She kept smiling, though. It wasn’t talk-about-your-feelings time.

Rarity shifted from hoof to hoof. “This is a thing, for you, yes?”

“Sure. Ain’t you got kinks, sugarcube?”

“Oh, you’ve no idea,” breathed Rarity. She chuckled fondly, running down the list in her head.

“Such as?” challenged Applejack, trotting in place.

Rarity smiled a deliciously naughty smile. “Spurs, I like the spurs. It requires skill, I shan’t trust you with them at first. I’ve not used them on my own hooves—if you will permit, I would adore getting the opportunity. I like tight, binding straps. They have to be black—contrast, you know. A really tight bridle, so you can’t speak…”

Applejack had stopped prancing, and was staring. “Dang. Uh… bondage, huh? Not gettin’ ate out, so much?”

“Have you not tried it? Oh, my. Spreader bars, elaborate harnesses, chains and cuffs…”

“Ropes?” blinked Applejack.

“Velvet covered…” began Rarity, and then her eyes flew wide. She began bouncing up and down like Pinkie Pie, and emitted a little squeal of delight. “You! You are a rodeo artiste, are you not? You are a virtuoso of rope, right in my bedroom!”

“Aw,” grinned Applejack. “Nice of you to say. I got me some tricks, sure enough.”

Rarity nodded, beaming. “Lassoing. And…” She gulped, and licked her lips, trembling. “Hog-tying?”

“I’ll make you a deal, sugarcube.”

“Yes?”

“I’ll hog-tie your ass for ya, like you was in th’ rodeo… if you let me taste your pretty.”

Rarity winced. Applejack’s face dropped. “Aw… well, shucks, sugarcube, never you mind… I’ll do it anyhow…”

“No, no, it’s not too much to ask. May I request one thing?” said Rarity.

“Oh, honey, request whatever you like. I din’t mean to bust your balloon. It’s okay.”

“Oh, my ‘balloon’ is ‘unbusted’, darling. Just… would you be a true jewel about it, and not… salivate?”

Applejack blinked, looking at Rarity’s woebegone face. “Sugar, if it ain’t your thing it ain’t your thing.”

“But it’s yours… and you must be curious, you’ve told me and bargained with me… and it’s only fair, not too much to ask. It is just the one detail I do not delight in.”

Applejack thought. “Between th’ lickin, and th’ oozing of th’ special sauce, it does get a mite slobbery, I reckon.”

Rarity gave an elegant little shudder of distaste. “Quite. But… I saw it in your eyes. You WOULD like to taste, darling. You crave the sights and feels and tastes of me. I… like that part.” She gazed imploringly at Applejack. “May I indulge you?”

“Aw, Rarity. Ya don’t have to.”

“But I want to! And then, you’ll get your comeuppance, you naughty mare! Come on, then.” Rarity trotted around, presenting her rump, flicking her tail. “Come, darling, investigate your lover’s body. All natural, no straps or spurs or bits for now.”

Applejack approached, her eyes flicking between Rarity’s treasure and her eyes. “All natural, huh?”

Rarity pouted. “The best conditioners and lotions money can purchase from the Spa, if you must know. Come on! I want to be open to you in every way, even if it’s strange to me.”

Applejack nosed in under Rarity’s tail, and there it was—alabaster unicorn vag. It seemed so clean—well, that was unsurprising. She could also tell that Rarity wasn’t truly distressed, at least as long as she didn’t slobber, which she vowed to herself she would not do. The flawless pussy-lips pouted just a bit, evidence of some arousal—if it was not the impending licking, could it be some variation on the bondage thing? Rarity being aroused, by her body being used against her will—or somewhat against her will?

Reflectively, Applejack nuzzled Rarity’s silky butt-cheek—and, being careful not to drool in any way, bared her teeth and gave it a slow, deliberate nip. Rarity’s ass quivered in a delicious way, and suddenly a glimmer was revealed between her labia, and then they winked apart briefly.

Oh, yes—that did it. It was the being-used thing.

“Ya dirty lil’ darling,” crooned Applejack. Rarity shuddered, and winked again, with a quiet whimper. Applejack savored the scent. Hell, the ooze that was comin’ out of Rarity was miles better’n the perfumey lotions she’d been using. She could tell the difference between the scent of the white unicorn’s pristine coat, plainly groomed to within an inch of its life, and the wilder, headier scent of the juices that slickened her for mating, and threatened to drip off the end of her jutting clitoris…

“Uh-oh,” said Applejack. “Reckon you don’t like bein’ drippy as a rule. I got that for ya.”

She smirked fondly, took a last breath of the heady aromas—swallowed all the saliva she could find in her mouth—and extended her tongue. And, delicately, Applejack licked across the swelling clitoris and between the alabaster labia, remembering every moment as her tongue stroked tenderly along the quivering pinkness of Rarity’s vagina and cleaned up all the nectars it could reach.

She sat back. “Whoo!” she said. Hastily, she ran the back of her hoof across her mouth. Wouldn’t be no kissin’ Rarity after that there, she reckoned. She swallowed, trying to dispose of all things drooly and oozey in her mouth before Rarity looked at her, and she tried to fix in her memory the lovely, unfamiliar-yet-familiar taste.

Rarity turned her head. “Applejack? Did you wish more? It’s good, that was fine…”

“Naw,” smiled Applejack. “I’m satisfied. An’… you are one delicious lady, Rarity. Them lotions and things ain’t half as good as th’ plain natural you.”

Rarity’s eyes glistened. “Oh, Applejack! You’re so sweet. And so understanding! But then, you always are, aren’t you?”

“Shucks. You deserve it.”

“That’s nothing to what you deserve!” said Rarity. “My, yes… it’s your turn now!”

Applejack blinked, astonished. “You’re gonna go down on me? Seriously?”

“Ah! Ha. Well. No,” Rarity stammered, off balance, but rallied. “Oh no. It’s stallion time, my dear! You shan’t escape me, I have you now!”

Applejack considered this. “You have me sittin’ on my butt. Lickin’ my lips. Uh, no offense?”

“Stand up.”

“Heh. It’s comfortable sittin’ here on my butt,” teased Applejack. “My lil’ treasure is snug against th’ floor. It’s a nice floor, real clean. Well—for now. Ya get me excited, I’ll paint it for ya.”

Rarity’s eyes flashed. “Stand up!”

“Oooh. There it goes… Sound like a stallion some more, I like it.”

Rarity grinned. She began to slink around behind Applejack. “Think you can play dirty, my sweet?”

Applejack snickered. “Dirty don’t worry me. As you well know. It’s nice here on th’ floor, and from this angle you can’t rightly get your teeth to YAA!”

She leapt to her hooves. Rarity had lowered her head and jabbed her ass with her horn, grinning like a fiend.

“Dang pointy-headed troublemakin’…”

“Turn around,” commanded Rarity.

Applejack couldn’t stop grinning as she gazed into Rarity’s burning blue eyes. The heavy lashes just added more determination to her gaze. Rarity snorted, haughtily, and Applejack quivered, her head bowed but still with a playful defiance.

“You’re getting fucked, darling. Turn around,” said Rarity.

“Make me.”

In the silence, a tiny sound seemed to echo. It was a drip of pony juice, from Applejack’s juicy, expectant vag, hitting the floor.

Rarity’s grin grew teeth. It deserved fangs.

“You’re getting PLUNGED,” she said.

Applejack was grinning so hard it hurt. “Oh yeah?”

Rarity snorted—and pounced.

They wrestled briefly, Applejack crashing to the floor, then Rarity, scrambling up and grappling with forehooves. For a moment, Applejack laughed, mounting Rarity, but the elegant unicorn snarled and bucked her off like a bronco, with unexpected agility. And then, she’d heaved herself up, and her forelegs latched on—wrapping around Applejack’s waist like they wouldn’t let go, and Applejack stood, panting, her eyes wild and alive, allowing Rarity to straddle her, feeling her belly against her rump.

“Ya got me!”

Rarity snorted, again. “Prepare yourself, mare, if you can!”

Applejack twisted her head to look up at her lover, and laughed in her face. “Hah! You prepare your own self—you ain’t even got th’ bit! I could be nice an’ stand here while you go and…”

Rarity’s horn glowed, and Applejack gulped. “Oh, yeah. Unicorn. Right.”

Rarity smirked down at the hapless earth pony, and her forelegs held on tighter as the gleaming magic bit floated near—tossed itself out of reach as Applejack playfully lunged for it—and floated over to Rarity’s mouth. Rarity bit down on the thing with an audible clink.

“Aw, yeah…” breathed Applejack, as something swelled into existence, brushing lightly against the inside of her leg.

Rarity nodded with satisfaction—muttered “Pl’nged…” to herself—and swung her hips back, beginning to position herself.

Applejack gasped. She twisted her head around, suddenly, trying to look behind her. There was a dick, all right. It had swung, and it had thumped her leg, and she’d melted away in an instant but also panicked. Dear Celestia!

It thumped her again, and then prodded against her vag. Dear sweet Celestia…

Rarity sighed, took a breath—and swung her hips forward.

“GYAH!” shrieked Applejack. Swollen unicorn-stallion bulk wedged into Applejack’s panicked, juicy vag with an obscene and very tight squelch. Her body shuddered, stunned by the sudden intrusion—it was insane that Rarity would be packing this! Applejack thought her bones must be creaking from the strain. She screamed, again, kicking at the floor with a forehoof.

Rarity shoved deeper. “Yessss…”

Applejack reeled. She was damned if she’d ask for it to stop—it was an obscene super-stallion fantasy in action and turned her on like crazy, but it was just too hardcore! She shuffled her rear hooves, trying to set them farther apart, and it seemed to help a bit, maybe. It also felt incredibly sexy, having to stand in such a way just to endure the titanic cock, and gave her an inkling of hope that the experience would be glorious…

Rarity grunted, tugged half the shaft out of Applejack, and sunk it to her cervix with another very masculine shove.

Applejack shrieked, her ears flattening, her vision going white.

“D’rling, r’lax,” said Rarity through a mouthful of bit. “Stop b’ring down like that. P’nches.”

Applejack fought for breath, dragged a bunch of air into her lungs, and yelled back, “I AIN’T!”

Hearing the raw edge of hysteria in Applejack’s frayed voice, Rarity froze. “Uh… you… ‘ain’t’?”

Applejack panted, shaking, her mind a turmoil. Who would have thought the prissy unicorn mare would end up able to lay her to waste? Would she have to beg for mercy? Rarity shifted a hoof, and Applejack felt the motion wiggle the unicorn stallionhood inside her. It was flat-out frightening—she had no idea there was that kind of room inside her vag. And that was the point—there really wasn’t. She wasn’t such a little pony, she’d never worried about a stallion, but her heart was in her throat at every little motion, and it was no choice at all, really.

“Please slow down!” begged Applejack. “Please!” She looked up at Rarity, her eyes wide and panicky.

Rarity responded instantly. She ceased any motion, her ears laid back, and she demanded through the bit, “Sh’uld I stop? Am I h’rting you? ‘plejack! Do you n’d me to stop?”

Applejack trembled, screwing her eyes shut, baring her teeth in a grimace of erotic anguish.

“Dear Celestia, no! Don’t ya dare stop! But…” Applejack panted, not quite believing what she had to say. “Please, please, be gentle with me?”

Rarity’s eyes glowed, softened. “D’rling! B’loved! Of course!”

Applejack panted some more, her hooves set obscenely wide, the unicorn-shaft shoved up her seemingly to her neck. Her head hung as she got control of herself, and Rarity gave her time—though Applejack whimpered a little, because the situation seemed to turn Rarity on, and she swelled up a bit against Applejack’s unyielding, strained spaces.

Finally, Applejack lifted her head, looked back at Rarity, and nodded. “Y’ can try again. For th’ love of Celestia, be gentle!”

Rarity just smiled, this time without wickedness.

Tenderly, her hips tugged, causing her lover to shudder and gasp. The harrowing edgeplay wasn’t entirely unwelcome to the country pony—her juiciness wasn’t subsiding at all, it was leaving little puddles on the floor between her legs. Rarity was sure of that, but she didn’t mind—it meant dear Applejack would be able to endure this, and that meant everything.

The massive stallionhood slowly withdrew, as Applejack hissed breath between her teeth and banged a forehoof on the floor. Rarity saw that the tendons on her lovely neck were standing out, and took pains to move slower.

“Y’re sure, d’rling?” said Rarity, most of her massive penis withdrawn, gleaming with Applejack’s juices and awaiting another thrust—or a change of plan.

Applejack moaned, her body quivering. She stamped a forehoof, again.

“Yes. Yes! Give it to me, give it to me, slowly slowly slowl…. ngggAAHHH!”

Again, the glistening, exuberantly thick stallionhood slid inch by inch into Applejack—this time, in slow motion. Rarity focussed her attention on how it felt. She dared not say anything for fear of dropping the bit, but she wanted to cry out ‘yes, yes!’ as well. Applejack felt mind-meltingly good around her, the opening to her vagina delivering a taut grip, a fierce clamping pressure, and deeper inside her was more yielding, yet her body pressed inward against the hard-on causing every inch of depth to have its own little texture, sliding across her slickened flesh.

As Applejack let out a breathy little scream with an overwhelmed, girly quality that nobody would ever believe she’d made, Rarity knew that this was the best sex she’d ever had. A new pleasure—one of her favorite ponies in the whole wide world—edgeplay, delicious edgeplay—and she got to be cruel and loving, all at the same time. It was one for the record books.

Applejack seemed to be tiring—her cries were sweeter, but had a funny exhausted quality, and her legs shook dreadfully. Of course, thought Rarity, she had been coming her hooves off almost from the start. As soon as she’d started that screaming and wailing, the telltale clench and flutter gave her away. It was handy—it meant Rarity could step up her game a little.

Of course, considered Rarity, that was very likely what was wearing the darling out. She concentrated on her movements—innnn… and swing, innnn… and swing, covering the full range, revelling in the delicious sensations as she plunged, with gentle insistence and never too roughly, into the depths of her gorgeous blonde mare. Applejack had melted away so completely that no tight crampy spots remained inside her, at any depth—from vulva to the depths of her mare cervix, she quivered and melted and yielded. Rarity breathed heavily as her hips worked on and on. It wouldn’t be long now.

Applejack had lost track of time, space, existence… she floated in a dazed world of miraculous release, shuddering and jolting through endless climaxes as an impossibly bulky but very smooth unicorn phallus plowed her with the strength and inexorability of the tides. Her pussy hurt appallingly, pretty much everywhere, but even though it hurt it was simultaneously filled with unbearable bliss. It was like eating food made with excessively hot peppers—it burned, an agony, yet a delicious, addictive one all the same. The sensations were superimposed, a double-exposure, and fed on each other.

They were feeding on each other faster now… the tide was building into a hurricane. The waves were bigger. Applejack could no longer hear herself scream for the roaring in her ears.

The immense stallionhood surged and slid, thickening, prying her more ruthlessly. It began to throb—and as Applejack felt a gush of pony-come drench her womb, she let out a final shriek and fainted, wobbling, collapsing.

Rarity gasped, around the bit, as she felt Applejack start to fall—and reacted, even as her body released. She scrabbled backward, yanking her hips free, yanking the huge erection out of Applejack, and fell backwards onto her butt—looking immediately over to her fallen lover even as she gritted her teeth in the final spasms.

She was greeted with the tackiest sight she had ever been forced to endure.

Her cock—and it was shockingly massive, indeed—was pointed towards Applejack, and was still spurting. Globs of semen were arcing through the air, to splatter on Applejack’s lovely ass. Two of her cutie-apples were glazed already, and her delightful, sensual, worshippable vagina was covered in goo.

Rarity gagged, and spit out the bit, but managed not to yack. “Darling! Ew!”

Applejack groaned. “sweet… Celestia…”

Rarity averted her eyes in fastidious horror. “Darling, quickly—we must bathe! I insist!”

Applejack wriggled feebly. “Y’ kiddin’. You kiddin’?”

“Not in the least. We always bathe after fucking, before sharing a bed. You’re lucky we were on the floor, or I’d have to change the bedclothes as well. I shall clean the floor in the morning, I feel ever so indulgent…”

Applejack stared up at Rarity, dumbfounded. “How… how can this be? I’m plumb wiped out. Y’all fresh as a daisy. Rarity! What’s th’ meaning of this?”

“Perhaps a little unicorn magic?” teased Rarity.

Applejack snorted.

“All right, my hips are killing me, if you must know,” admitted Rarity. “But I think it’s mostly because you were simply exploding with orgasm for I don’t know how many minutes. I only had to keep moving. Poor stallions! Mind you, it felt delicious, I’ve no complaints on that front. Oh, my, yes.”

She leaned down, and kissed Applejack on the nose. “I did do a little unicorn magic, didn’t I? It was wonderful, just wonderful.”

Applejack smiled back, her eyes dreamy and unfocussed, completely filled with post-coital lassitude.

“Now get up, dear, it’s time to bathe.”

The smile dropped away from Applejack’s face. “Oh, now, ya can’t be serious.”

“I’m perfectly serious. Have you seen your flank? You must bathe at once. Applejack, you’re covered in spooge!”

“No, I ain’t!” protested Applejack.

Rarity looked again. The glazing of come was no longer there. It’d vanished when she’d spit the bit out.

“Well… you’re covered in sweat. And your vagina’s all drippy and ew. And I am covered in sweat, with an aching back.”

The smile returned. “An’ whose fault is that, missy?”

“Yours.” Rarity kissed her on the nose again. “For being the most alluring, sensuous mare in existence.”

Applejack sighed, and closed her eyes, utterly satisfied.

Then, she squalled in bitter protest as Rarity dragged her, by the mane, with magic assistance helping her along, into the bathroom to be bathed—and thence, sulking and loving in equal proportion, to Rarity’s bed, there to sleep.

What Lies Behind Your Silent Eyes

Dawn was breaking, on two impassioned unicorns—and a fat, stubby candle. However, the candle was not between them in a ‘double penetration’ sense. It sat upright between Trixie and Twilight, stubbornly unlit, and Twilight’s patience was fraying.

“Focus, Trixie!” snapped Twilight. “Don’t you know how to guide a mage-meld?”

Trixie sweated, her eyes wild. “Mistress, Trixie does not understand! Can you take it from the beginning again? Slowly?”

At that, Twilight sighed. “But it makes no sense! You know this. We used the technique to make those bits, how can you not know it now? This is much easier!”

“Trixie is so sorry…”

“Trixie,” said Twilight, “is yanking my chain. Or would be, if I had one. Okay, let’s start at the beginning. You mage-melded with me perfectly to make not one, but five magic bits. Why can you not light a single candle?”

“Trixie can’t do that spell…”

“But I can,” said Twilight. “It’s no different! With the bits, we sought out a pattern of force and I poured energy into it while you directed. Here, you need to pour energy in, and let me passively direct it. Does it help that it’s the fastest way to learn that trick? To feel your energy shaped into the pattern that lights the candle?”

“It hurts—feels strange,” said Trixie.

“It does NOT hurt! Much! And even if it did… okay, listen. Mistress talking. Trixie is going to try again. Now. Take a breath… okay. Do it! Three, two, one…”

Frantic, Trixie gritted her teeth, making a noise in her throat like a nail being pried out of a board, clamped her eyes shut—and strained, her horn flaring to radiant life. Twilight stared down at her over the quiescent candle, her horn glowing idly as she formed the mental pattern, and concentrated, holding her thoughts steady as her unicorn lover’s mental force writhed and struggled inside her mind.

Trixie let out a squeal strangely like one of her more twisted, masochistic orgasms, feeling her mind twist obscenely into a pattern not its own—and it turned into a screech, her face going red, as the wick caught. It didn’t just catch—it flared into blinding light, and Twilight squinted and grinned as the candle disintegrated before her eyes into a puddle of wax and charred wick bits, Trixie squealing and shuddering behind it. When there was no more wick left to focus on, Trixie sagged, panting. Twilight could feel the heat coming off her horn from two feet away. She knew just how that felt—it throbbed in a bizarre, disconcerting way, a magic-ache, like her thoughts themselves were sensitive and sore.

“Good girl,” said Twilight.

“Mis… tress…” sniffled Trixie.

“I mean it. Good girl. You can have anything you like from me now, that was beautiful… but how could it be so difficult for you? Your mage-meld training had to include this.”

Trixie’s head lay flat on the floor. “Trixie doesn’t know what you’re talking about,” she said flatly.

At that, Twilight blinked. “You… you don’t, do you? Maybe I’m approaching this from the wrong angle entirely. Let’s postulate that you have no idea what a mage-meld is, and haven’t been trained in them at all…”

Trixie rolled her eyes wearily, pouting on the floor.

“In that case,” continued Twilight, “how did you do one, not once but five times in a row?”

“Mistress did it,” said Trixie. She sighed again, but more tenderly. “It was the most erotic thing Trixie has ever imagined.”

“That I certainly did not! You see, this is why we’re sitting here—well, I’m sitting, you seem to be spread out on the floor like a disaster victim. We have to figure this out. I tried to do the magic bit spell on my own, Trixie, and I can’t do it. I was in your mind pumping in energy like a madpony…”

“Mmmmmm…” moaned Trixie, with half-lidded eyes, and Twilight snickered.

“Yeah, I’m with you on that, I can hardly wait to make more—but I should be able to get the pattern now, and I can’t. I’m not lacking in energy, but I’m just not getting it. And now I find you don’t even know how to mage-meld at all?”

Trixie shrugged, weakly. “Mistress was serious?”

“About what?” blinked Twilight.

“About Trixie having anything she liked.”

“Yes! Yes yes yes… especially if I just made you basically take the final exam without ever having had the class, and you passed… Trixie, I’m so proud of you! What do you want? You shall have it.”

Trixie lifted an eyebrow. “Mistress… take Trixie shopping!”

“Shopping? Shopping how? Shopping where?”

“Mistress knows where,” smirked the limp unicorn. “The Carousel Boutique. Not the front rooms, either. Trixie wishes a toy or two.” She frowned. “Trixie may have to make amends for past misdeeds. No matter. Take Trixie toy shopping!”

“Well, it’s pretty early,” said Twilight, “but if you really want to… or we could go to bed, and then go later?”

Trixie’s eyes lit up. “We could go now. Before Mistress makes an excuse not to.”

“I wouldn’t make an excuse!”

“Think up a reason, then.”

Twilight made a face. “You’re probably right. When I think about it…”

“Oh, don’t, Mistress!” cried Trixie, sitting up. “Let’s just go! Be more spontaneous. Mistress doesn’t have FUN. She just reads her books. Come with Trixie! We will explore your friend’s special stock, and then go to sleep afterwards, and wake up to new toys.”

“Um. Just what kind of toys are you proposing, Trixie?”

“Mistress promised!”

Twilight Sparkle gave her pleading lover a weary, exasperated look—but it was so hard to resist Trixie in squee-mode. For a moment, she reflected on the curious life they shared—layer upon layer of game and reality, a cascade of mood and meaning that reflected in upon itself like a kaleidoscope. At any moment, they could take a swerve and explore some new dynamic. Trixie could’ve narrowed her eyes, taking on a dominant’s authority, trying to bully Twilight into cooperation. She could’ve groveled, and deferred completely to Twilight’s every thought. But, as dawn filtered more strongly through the windows, the blue unicorn, plainly worn out from her amazing efforts, seemed undaunted, and her attitude was much like that of a puppy begging to go for a walk.

Considering the life Trixie had led, this puppyish mode was the most heart-melting of them all, because it spoke eloquently of Trixie’s trust in Twilight. It had utter faith that Twi would give in, and that the excursion would be wonderful.

Twilight smiled, tiredly. “I sure did—and you’re so right. Come on, I think Rarity’s probably up working. She’s one dedicated mare, and I happen to know she’s swamped with orders. We can see how she’s doing with them.”

Trixie bowed her head and gave Twilight a soft unicorn’s kiss, with a subtle bump of horn against horn. “Thank you so much, Mistress!”

As they walked along Ponyville’s dawn streets, Twilight steadied Trixie’s exhausted body with gentle magic, and spoke. “It’s marvellous how much you’ve learned—how much you’ve done, without training! If only I could get Princess Celestia to understand how well you’re doing…” She broke off, as Trixie had screwed up her face. “What’s the matter?”

“Oh, Mistress, don’t think of that creature, please?”

“Creature? Trixie, she’s our Princess! She is your princess too, I might add. This sun that’s warming us? She did that. We just have to find a way to teach her. The faithful student—that’s me—needs to turn the tables.”

Trixie’s expression was sulky again. “Leave Trixie out of it. She made you upset, Mistress. She made you cry, a little! She is mud-pony to Trixie, and always will be, and vice versa, obviously. Please do not bring her up, for it offends Trixie’s sensibilities.”

Twilight’s ears were back, and she peered up into the sky in a panicky way. “You shouldn’t call the princesses mudponies! We shouldn’t call anypony that, not in this town at least, but especially not the princesses!”

“And what,” said Trixie, “do you imagine they’ll do to you, Mistress? Very well, Trixie will hold her tongue. The tongue that belongs in Twilight’s nethers is sullied by shaping the word ‘Celestia’ anyhow, so that’s no loss. And you presume too much—Trixie thought Princess Luna was delightful. That Princess would make amusing company for our present expedition. The other one—wouldn’t!”

Twilight gulped at the thought. Yes, Princess Luna did have a certain bad-girl streak to her, perhaps the legacy of all those years as Nightmare Moon—but Princess Celestia certainly did not, and doubtless would not approve. Twilight peered huntedly up at the sky again, as if Celestia was hovering invisibly up there, and she felt considerable relief when they arrived at the Carousel Boutique. There was a light on, suggesting that Rarity had begun work before dawn.

Trixie knocked on the door with a hoof, and called, “Miss Rarity?” She glanced at Twilight, in haste. “Permission to address her as Mistress Rarity if she wishes? Not to suggest she could be a replacement! As a courtesy?”

Twilight blinked, trying to catch up. “Why would she want that, Trixie? We just call her…” but before she could finish her sentence, the door swung open.

“Who is… oh!” gasped Rarity.

Trixie shot a quick look at Twilight, crossed her forehooves demurely and dropped her head. “Mistress Rarity, Trixie wishes to apologize for her earlier misbehavior during her performance—and further wishes to know if she and her own Mistress could view Mistress Rarity’s creations?”

Rarity looked back and forth between Trixie and Twilight. Trixie continued to gaze deferentially at the ground, and Twilight shifted from hoof to hoof awkwardly, while glancing back over her shoulder at the sky.

Rarity smiled, radiant.

“Please do come in, darlings. I’m only working on a little personal project and would adore your company. I’ve not even made breakfast yet, you know—would you like some?”

The project seemed to be something to do with mustard-colored silk, very sheer, though bolts of navy blue fabric and lengths of brick-red, mustard, straw and blue ribbon also lay about. Rarity ignored them and led Twilight and Trixie decorously to the table in her kitchen, seating them and whipping up omelets with little sprigs of parsley placed just so. She also poured them orange juice, and set a kettle on for coffee or tea—the elegant white unicorn appeared unworried, perhaps amused at something, but seemed to be producing breakfast with secret haste, as if she wished her guests to be already served before some unspecified event…

Rarity’s bedroom door opened, though she wasn’t in it—and Applejack walked through it, yawning and shaking out her mane. She looked towards the kitchen where she could hear the sounds of cooking, saw Twilight and Trixie looking back at her, and froze, eyes wide and jaw hanging in shock.

“Oh, there you are, darling!” called Rarity. “I thought you’d never join us. Come and be fed. You must get back your strength!”

Rarity’s voice was filled with affectionate wickedness. Twilight could see her desperately trying to fight off a smirk, and losing.

Applejack gulped. “Uh… thank you kindly, Rarity, much appreciated…”

Twilight did a double-take. “Applejack, did you spend the night with Rarity? I mean… well, obviously you did, didn’t you? I was hoping you were feeling better. Gosh. Does that mean you were…”

Applejack was blushing a fiery red color, and trotted into the kitchen with uncharacteristic shyness to join her friends. “Um…”

“Uht! Not another word, sweet!” chided Rarity. “I will take care of all explanations!”

Twilight hastened to smooth things over, in typically clumsy manner. “Oh, no, you don’t have to explain a thing! I, um, I’ve had it! I don’t blame you one bit, you’re a very lucky mare, Rarity! I’m surprised it’s not you needing to get back your strength! Whoof!”

Her compliments fell flat. Applejack stared at the floor, scarlet. Rarity arched an eyebrow at Twilight. “You misunderstand, Twilight Sparkle…”

“Huh?”

“Our Applejack is turning over a new leaf, and I am honored to embrace that epiphany—indeed, awed at the opportunity. Bite your tongue, darling, before you disrespect her further…”

“Disrespect how?” demanded Twilight.

Rarity’s head was high and proud, defiant, as if she stood defending her new lover’s honor.

“Rarity is the stallion, darling, not Applejack. Our dear friend is not some bumptious stud as you might imagine. She is the most delicious, feminine creature imaginable—the most beautiful mare in existence. And… she is mine.”

Applejack’s blush worsened, and she bit her lip. “Consarn it, Rarity…”

Twilight stammered, “Thank you for the breakfast, Rarity, but maybe me and Trixie ought to be going! What are you doing? I’ve never seen Applejack this way!”

“Get used to it,” declared Rarity. “She’s keeping it. You’ve been missing her most special charms. Look at that blush! Precious!” Her voice crooned the words, unctuously.

“But,” protested Twilight, “how can this be right? First of all, isn’t you being the stallion kind of a waste?”

“Hah!” said Rarity, smugly.

“And secondly, you’re treating her like… I don’t even know how to describe it! Rarity, Applejack is tough and strong and brave! How can you be reducing her to a blushing filly?”

“Reducing, hell,” said Rarity. “I bestow permission. I suspect your marefriend understands better than you.”

Trixie had been watching all this with big eyes and a delighted smile. She nodded. “Trixie suspects she does, Mistress Rarity.”

Twilight turned to Applejack. “What’s going on? For the love of Celestia, what’s she done to you?”

At this, Applejack snorted with laughter, still blushing and not meeting anypony’s eyes.

Rarity’s look of wicked glee deepened. “Perhaps we should rephrase that. Applejack, darling mare, delight of my senses, treasure for my eyes, you know what I’ve done to you. Do you wish me to STOP doing it?”

Applejack gulped. “Aw… HELL no!”

“There you are,” said Rarity. “I pride myself on being able to see beyond obvious surface appeal to the true heart of matters. Come, Applejack, I’ll make you a proper breakfast, like you’ve never experienced.”

Applejack came to the table, blushing, grinning, looking up shyly as Twilight gaped in amazement. “Is that so? Y’all can try, if you like. I admit you done shocked me once.”

Rarity was serenely confident. “Cuisine is but one area of my mastery. Just as you have brought me visions of unequalled femininity, so I shall bring you transports of gastronomic delight.”

Applejack nodded. “Yeah—an’ make me breakfast, too, will ya, sugarcube? Ah’m still wobbly.” Her confidence was returning—strangely buoyed by Twilight’s obvious astonishment.

“…did I mention lately that all the ponies in this town are CRAZY?” said Twilight.

“Aw, don’t take on, so, Twilight,” said Applejack. “There ain’t no harm in it. Rarity’s jes’ teasing me. Heh! Ya might say, givin’ me a hard time!” She saw Twi begin to blush, and grinned. Maybe two could play at that game. Applejack eyed Rarity, speculatively.

Rarity stepped over, levitating another omelet. “There you are, my precious girl… uht! No no!”

Applejack had made a lunge for the dish before it even hit the table. “Aw, what now?”

“Not before I garnish it! You will not get the full effect…”

“But ah’m hungry! Ah’m tryin’ to get a full effect, if you’d jes’ let me at that there food!”

Rarity held the dish out of reach. “I could make you beg for it. Disobedient mare.”

“As if!” scoffed Applejack. She stretched her nose up towards the plate, her blonde tresses falling to either side of her neck. “Since when do I beg for somethin’?”

Rarity smirked. “You’ve begged me to STOP, haven’t you?”

First Applejack’s eyes went wide, then Twilight’s. Trixie just grinned harder, seemingly at home with this sort of byplay. While Twilight’s look of shock continued, Applejack’s eyes gleamed with amusement, and she began to play the verbal game in earnest. “Well, sure. ‘Course I did. My sakes, how can a pony frame stand it?”

Trixie leaned over, and gave Twilight a hug with a foreleg to reassure her. Twilight shook herself, licking her lips, out of her depth. She said, “Let me get this straight. All this time, the super-hyper-magic-bit-stallion hasn’t been you? Or Fluttershy? It’s been Rarity? I guess it’s good that you’re so tough, huh, Applejack?”

Applejack’s eyes twinkled with mischief. She knew full well that Rarity didn’t compare to the unfuckable Flutterguy, but she couldn’t help herself. “Sure is. We thought Fluttershy got somethin’ when she used them bits? Well, dang. It’s true! Rarity’s got a huge dick, and that ain’t no lie!”

Rarity’s grin tensed a little, while she applied garnish to Applejack’s omelet, and set it before her, to be wolfed immediately. “Oh, sweetness! You must savor the breakfast, you surely cannot even taste it when you go so fast!”

Applejack belched, licking her lips, her mischievous look worsening. “Funny—that’s just what I could ‘a tole you about certain private matters.” She wriggled, pretending to wince, discovering it wasn’t entirely pretending—her marehood was indeed still sore. “Why you gotta go so fast? Ya wicked cruel stallion, ruination of fillies, you.”

Rarity protested, “I did no such thing! I am attuned to a lover’s needs, always!”

“She fucked you hard? Rarity? Rarity gave you a hard fucking?” gasped Twilight.

Applejack smirked. “Honey, that seemin’ly elegant unicorn done laid me to waste! You heard her! I had to beg her to be gentle, an’ there she go, teasin’ me about it! Cruel stallion critter, mockin’ the frailty of a pore lil’ mare…”

“You are NOT frail,” declared Rarity. “It was a matter of girth. And I suspect you are snug, perhaps from lack of use. Not that I am complaining!”

Applejack gave the mortified Twilight Sparkle an earnest look, and deadpanned, “You know when farm dogs get a-fuckin? And it’s all a-yipin’, with the male humpin’ to beat th’ band and this serious expression on his face while he pumps his dick fast as ever he can in the pore bitch? …ayep.”

“Rarity did THAT?” gasped Twilight. Trixie hugged her again, to steady her.

Applejack slowly grinned, wider and wider, and then ducked her head, laughing, as Rarity came over and swatted at her head with a hoof.

“I did NOTHING so ungentlemanly as that! Applejack! Take that dreadful accusation back!”

“But then what will I do when I want you to do it again?” laughed Applejack. “Aw, all right… I was kiddin’, Twi, it weren’t quite like that. Uh, bits of it was, though. Makes me happy to be a mare.”

For some reason, this offhand complement flustered Rarity more than anything, and she blushed and teared up. “Oh, Applejack!”

“I got to ask, though,” continued Applejack. “What brings y’all here? Ya share breakfast with Rarity often? Y’all should swing by Sweet Apple Acres, I could show ya a REAL breakfast. Big flavors, none of this frou-frou stuff.”

Rarity glared. “I used imported herbs, clarified butter heated until it was just the right golden shade…”

“Yeah, well,” said Applejack, “that there weak sauce frou-frou stuff don’t hold a candle to grub off a good hot griddle, with jes’ the right scorch on it. Th’ butter jes barely starts ta smoke, and ya get that rich brown…”

“Breakfast is not to be scorched or burned, unless you are Sweetie Belle! And that is hardly a recommendation!”

As the two mares glared sparks at each other, Trixie whispered to Twilight, “Aren’t they such a cute couple, Mistress?”

Startled, Rarity and Applejack looked at the unicorn who’d humiliated both of them on their first meeting—and Rarity and Applejack both blushed, and looked down.

“Sorry for callin’ your breakfast frou-frou stuff, Rarity,” said Applejack. “Weren’t much of it but it was right tasty. Lil’ subtle, maybe. I guess I can learn how ta eat that stuff.”

“There is a place for subtlety, and delicacy,” said Rarity. “I’d hoped I could show you about that.”

“Aw, you did! Kin I have more? Ain’t hardly enough for a day in th’ fields, sugar.” Applejack grinned, and added, “I reckon the place for subtlety ain’t between your legs?”

Rarity’d turned immediately to cook another omelet. Her head was still lowered over her task, as she began to say something, stopped herself, opened her mouth, and… “Oh, that! You know full well the place for THAT… is between yours!”

Trixie hugged Twilight. “Don’t blush so, Mistress. They’re doing it to tease you. Ponies, please stop teasing Mistress, it was already difficult getting her to come here!”

“That’s right!” said Rarity. “You wished to see my new line of work, didn’t you? Both of you? Or was it you, Trixie? From our previous interactions, I cannot say I am surprised.”

“Trixie apologizes, again…”

“Oh, no no no,” said Rarity, giving her a look. “I, of all ponies, understand perfectly. Were you not with Twilight, I daresay I’d find a way to get my own back—but let bygones be bygones. Did you have specific things in mind, dear? How experienced are you in this world?”

Trixie’s happy smile was answer enough. “I see!” exclaimed Rarity. She served the omelet to her new lover, and as Applejack wolfed down a second subtly-sized breakfast, Rarity trotted out of the kitchen. “Be so good as to accompany me to the inner sanctum, and I shall display my latest creations.” They followed her into her bedroom.

Trixie’s eyes drank in everything she saw—to a fault. “Oh, look, Mistress, it must have been true! Especially as none of that could be stallion-seed!”

Twilight’s gaze, and then Rarity’s, followed Trixie’s—and Rarity shrieked in horror. She’d been so hot to start on her private project that she’d ignored the state of her bedroom, and now her guests were looking at the little puddle of ooze on the floor—exuded by Applejack during minute after minute of harrowing orgasm as she withstood the thrusts of Rarity’s titanic phallus. The country mare’s body had greased its passage every step of the way, but they’d never cleaned up afterward, and now Rarity was confronted with evidence of just how hard she’d been driving her lovely blonde earth pony mare. Applejack goo was much in evidence, and even the slightly stale scent of it spoke of filthy, hedonistic passion.

Rarity took a deep breath. “APPLEJACK!”

“Yeah?” called her lover.

“You come in here at once and clean up your MESS!”

A snort of laughter came from the other room, then—“Uh, I cain’t! I got work to do, oh my is that the time? I got to run, sugarcube! Field’s a-waitin’! See ya later!”

“APPLEJACK!”

The only reply was the clatter of running hooves… and giggling. Then, the door banged, and she was gone.

Rarity’s lip quivered, and she looked tragic. “I am so, so, SO sorry, darlings. I should have got her up this morning and made her clean it, but she looked so pretty as she slept, and I couldn’t bear to…”

Trixie gulped, her legs quivering, as she stared at the puddle of ooze. “Mistress c… could order Trixie… to lick it up?”

There was a moment of shock, and then both Twilight and Rarity squealed with dismay, stamping their hooves. “Urrk!” went Rarity, trying not to be sick.

“No, Trixie! Bad Trixie!” yelled Twilight. “Ew!”

Trixie cringed. “But, Mistress! Trixie has cleaned up your…”

“It’s different! That’s not from ME!”

“I’m so sorry,” repeated Rarity, and her horn glowed as towel after towel flew from her bathroom, mopping up the mess, only to be stuffed into what was clearly not a clothes hamper—but a trash bin.

Trixie was sulking. “As Mistress wishes.” She sighed. “Trixie is sorry.”

Rarity lifted an eyebrow, as her magic polished the floor with a dampened towel. “Trixie is no amateur to degradation! Forgive my reaction, I do not like untidiness. And, for that matter, forgive my observation—but between each other, you two are not equally into ‘the life’—are you?”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” said Twilight.

Rarity looked happier, having cleaned her floor. “Well, dear—I reacted the way I did because I’ve got a hang-up about—well—fluids. I don’t like them. I prefer the lash. Oddly, blood doesn’t worry me, but that’s as may be—I should take a moment to point out that your Trixie’s offer did not horrify me in the way it seems to have horrified you. Twilight, have you even had a willing slave before?”

“That’s an awful thing to call her!”

Rarity’s eyes narrowed. “It’s written all over her, dear. I’ll take that as a ‘no’, then—and suggest that you indulge her needs at times…”

Twilight felt reprimanded. “But I do! I mean, we do. And we switch it around a lot, too—I mean, she gets bossy in the way we’ve all seen her do, and she tells me to do stuff, and I obey her. Like licking up the… oops. Sorry, won’t mention it.”

Rarity didn’t flinch. “Yes, yes, that doesn’t shock me—in fact if you mutually share that one it’s no wonder she offered. Girl!” she said, directly at Trixie, her eyes flashing with command.

Trixie flinched at the sharp, peremptory tone. She glanced at Rarity—and then tore her eyes away from Rarity’s cool gaze, and resumed her attention for Twilight’s far more uncertain one.

Rarity gave a little smile. “Loyal. That’s good, I think… well, my darling little bondage-ponies, what shall I show you this morning? Do we have a mistress and her obedient slave? Or, perhaps, a naughty and disobedient slave? Or, indeed, a pony who seeks to teach her Mistress how to treat a naughty and disobedient slave?”

Trixie’s eyes lit up, while Twilight stammered, “I’m not sure. Trixie asked to come here. She was good, learned a magic technique she had no business mastering at her ability level. Is it okay that she’s the one who wanted to come here? Like, am I supposed to not do what she asks, or something?”

“On the contrary,” replied Rarity. “It speaks well of you that you’re responsive—and willing to experience more than one role. I just suspect your Trixie wishes to deepen your relationship. It’s not unusual for a sub to attempt to communicate such wishes, sometimes in devious ways.”

Twilight nodded, trying to keep up. “I’m really not sure what she wanted to get. But, Rarity—I’d like to support you in your new work. I… understand what it’s like not to be approved of, and I don’t want you to feel that way…”

Trixie snorted. “Her again? Oh, Mistress.”

Rarity blinked. “Twilight, is somepony disapproving of you? It seems quite beyond belief. You’ve been…”

“Princess Celestia,” sighed Twilight Sparkle.

Rarity’s jaw dropped open. “Heavens! Are you sure, Twilight? I hesitate to summon old ghosts, but there have been times you’ve worried needlessly…”

“I’m sure. It’s not so much me. The Princess doesn’t like Trixie.” Twilight hung her head. “And I love her. So I and the Princess… aren’t speaking.” She bit her lip, tearing up.

“Oh, poor darling!” cried Rarity. “Whatever can I do?”

At this, Trixie spoke up, and her eye was sharp. “Well, we’re here to get a present for me. Do they even make paddles that can paddle an ass that large?”

Rarity giggled, but Twilight was not amused. “Trixie! You see, it’s just that sort of attitude! You have to stop talking like that, I mean it!”

“Calm, Twilight, be calm,” said Rarity. “Methinks I see the real problem, hmmm? Something tells me somepony is yearning to be punished. Would a certain great and powerful unicorn like to be sold a nice flogger for her Mistress’s use, hm? Or a crop?” Rarity’s grin grew teeth. “Perhaps a rod? I’m not sure your Twilight is up to that, dear, don’t press her…”

Trixie sulked. “Miss Rarity is correct. Trixie would like to use a rod on that Princess Celestia, though.”

“Oh, my,” smirked Rarity, “your pet does want to be punished, Twilight. Let us outline the options for your purchase…”

“Not playing,” said Trixie. “She made Mistress cry. Unforgivable.”

This took both Rarity and Twilight aback, and Twilight scolded her. “Trixie! I don’t even understand you. Don’t you have any proper feelings for royalty at all? How can you be so… I don’t know, insolent! Trixie, she didn’t even forbid us! All she did was go away, not wanting to speak to me! I’m very sad about that, but Princess Celestia is allowing us the freedom I wanted her to extend to us! Didn’t she even say that was her gift?”

Trixie sulked. “Trixie could ask why you’re such a hooflicker when you’re not even getting anything out of her…”

“Well!” said Rarity. “I think, lese majeste aside, we can be certain that your pet, Twilight, wishes to be punished. If you still wish to get her a present, my more than ample private stock holds many choices which I can outline for you, if you haven’t experience with them.”

Twilight’s jaw was set. “I’m not even sure it’s appropriate to punish somepony if it only excites them more. How does that even work? But… well, she hasn’t done anything more than talk in a bad way, and she really did make such a wonderful breakthrough, and I promised…”

Trixie’s lip quivered, and she refrained from further remarks about Princess-spanking.

Twilight Sparkle sighed.

“All right. Tell me some of these options, Rarity.”

“The key distinctions, my dear, are in the type of pain and sensation you wish to impart. I suggest you watch your pet’s reaction as we talk, for silent indications of preference, for she is clearly a wilful and impossible mare and likely to communicate in hints, if I am any judge.”

Twilight nodded. “Will do.”

“First, we have floggers. They are what you might call lightweight, though in their physicality they are broad and heavy. They impart a smack and a thump—much noise and wobbling of buttocks, but little actual damage. Even a neophyte could wield such with gusto, taking little risk. If you wish to receive correction yourself, I strongly encourage your Trixie to begin with this, or something on its level. Moving into sharper sensation, you could turn to a crop—you’ll have to strike more quickly, but it will come with practice. I do not think you’re up to using a whip, dear, it’s an art and I would be shocked had you developed it. If you can exert your magic with a certain flick and snap, you may be able to wield a rod, which your pet is likely able to handle if she’s no amateur, but you may not be prepared to wield it… Here’s one—do not be deceived by its lightness relative to the flogger, the rod is the vicious little toy. I cannot overemphasise that. It’s not just about the whistle through the air, the rod is what will leave a proper welt…”

Twilight’s eyes were wide as she listened to Rarity’s lesson in pleasurable pain—and from the floor, Trixie’s eyes yearned.

“I confess, sister, I do not understand your antipathy for that blue pony.”

Princess Celestia sighed. “Pray, do not call it antipathy. I must resist such prejudices. If anyone could redeem her, it would be my Twilight, and I can only hope she wins out. I have given my word not to interfere, Luna.”

“But… Sister, I do believe you. I am all sympathy. The ponies of this generation are miraculous! They are a credit to your centuries of hard work with them. Please understand that I defer to your judgement. I hope your choice is… no, prithee, I KNOW thy choice must needs be wise!”

Princess Celestia lifted an eyebrow, and Princess Luna realized she’d slipped back into old habits of speech again, and coughed. “Sorry.”

Celestia’s eyes were sad. “Don’t be. Had I saved you earlier…”

“Oh, sister!” Luna, unexpectedly, chuckled. “Lest ye forget, ‘twas not you that saved me—it was the miraculous ponies you raised. They did not just save me, they redeemed me. I quite understand why you coddle and fuss over them.” She walked idly over to look out the window. “I do not understand why you make exceptions. Is not… ‘Trixie’, was it? Is she not one of your ponies?”

Celestia sighed. “That is not her full name, sister. She is Trixie… Lulamoon.”

Luna froze, looking out the window. Celestia was looking away, in shame, and did not see it.

“Do you remember the Lulamoons, sister? They were of your time, but the trouble was… after your time.”

“It sounds bad,” said Princess Luna, not daring to show her face.

“It was. Or… Oh, Luna, I cannot say they were bad! Foolish, filled with hubris, perhaps a bit insane, but I am sure there was no evil in them. And yet, so much could have been lost…”

Luna looked back over her shoulder, her face carefully composed, to meet Celestia’s distressed gaze. “Pray tell me more. Lulamoons… sinned?”

“I do not like to think of it as such. I believe with all my heart that it is simply our fortune and our duty to play the roles we do… so I shall not say ‘sinned’, for it implies moral failing on their part, when their revolt was not meant in wickedness or selfishness. They wanted freedom, just as Twilight does. Perhaps that is why I cannot resist her now…”

Luna’s eyes had become very wide, and in them was a strange horror. “No… the Lulamoons… revolted? M…” She shook her head. “Sister, I entreat you, tell me everything you know of this! I did not know your rule had been challenged in this way! Nopony told me a thing about it!”

“It’s forgotten,” said Princess Celestia. “No grudges were held. You could say it blew over, peacefully. I am a little proud of that—but I could not have done otherwise, I loved them as I did all of my ponies, and my faith wasn’t broken.”

“But what HAPPENED?”

“Lulamoons caused a lot of trouble, in your… absence, Luna. You probably remember them as a powerful unicorn clan, but you did not see their hubris flower, I assure you of that. They wished to overthrow me and elect a sort of sky mayor!”

“Define ‘overthrow’,” said Luna. “You can’t mean…”

“I do,” nodded Princess Celestia. “I told you they were powerful. I did not tell you they’d interbred, strengthening their line. Perhaps that is where the streak of madness arose… There is no graceful way to put this, so please do not be offended or doubt me. A mage-meld of eight Lulamoons were able to shift the moon. They wrested it from my grasp, sister. That happened.”

Luna was speechless.

“They thought they would be able to handle the Sun. A few more unicorns in the meld—they would have been able to do it, sister. It was awe-inspiring, brave. They were very sorry when they informed me I would join you in stasis, trapped in the Moon. They truly did not wish to harm me, but they were filled with belief in their cause—that ponies would directly rule all aspects of their world, working together for the good of all. Do you know what I did?”

“Oh, sister. I know what I would have done. I am all too direct, I fear… what, then, did you do?”

“I reasoned with them.”

Luna blinked at her. “As they imprisoned you?”

“No, no! They wanted to be fair. But they did not understand… suppose they expanded their numbers until they reached a meld that could shift the sun. They were mortal! Luna, they proposed to take a terrible risk. A few untimely deaths, a coup of alicorn loyalists, the inability to train a new generation of mages… I pointed out historical precedents. I begged them, weeping, not to force my hoof. At all costs, I dared not stamp them out, nor did I wish to even if I could—and they were good ponies, they understood that, and they listened. Eventually.”

Luna’s ears were quirked to the side as she tried to imagine it. “You met with them, then? A parley, in a big room?”

“Sister, it took three generations…”

Luna fell silent again, as her sister outlined the unique time in history that had transpired in her absence.

“They had already begun to dissipate their power, you see. Their star was waning, and it was through love. Love of other unicorn families, pegasi, earth ponies—they could not live as ponies and still tightly restrict their breeding to maximize the genes that could meld together to wrest the Moon from my hooves. They did care for all ponykind, and eventually they all understood that it was I, Celestia, who was suited to raise and set the Sun—that it was my obligation, which I took on with gratitude and love. And again eventually, those magic genes spread throughout all ponykind. They gather, sometimes—I believe Twilight Sparkle is one example of that. There is much Lulamoon in her.”

Princess Celestia winced, and added, “Quite literally, I fear. No jest intended.”

Luna pressed her sister to continue. “But this one, this Trixie Lulamoon. Why do you resent her?”

“I don’t!” protested Princess Celestia. “At least, I don’t want to! But ever after, Lulamoons have been a thorn in my side. It is as if they have some ancestral memory of their hubris. They are dissatisfied, restless, they strive… there is much to admire in it, truly, but at the same time they bring unrest and ‘strive’ is not so far removed from ‘strife’! For generations I have tried to care for them, and yet they bridle and chafe under it. Trixie is a Lulamoon through and through. I have watched her bring strife to town after town with her magic tricks and things. I cannot bear the thought that my Twilight, my faithful student, will be taken from me and turned bitter by a restless, insatiable Lulamoon. Ancestral memory has a horrible force and it darkens my sight. I must trust my student, somehow.”

Luna looked stricken, unreasonably distressed over what was essentially a history lesson. Weakly, she protested against her sister’s forebodings. “Pray, do not fret. This ancestral memory need not amount to much… I have seen this Trixie’s magics. They were naught but pretty fireworks, sister. There is nothing to fear from that!”

Princess Celestia shook her head, sadly. “No. You do not understand, Luna. Twilight Sparkle told me everything. She told me what Trixie Lulamoon had been able to do—and though I begged her to reconsider, Twilight does not wish it un-done. And so, I worry.”

“Please tell me what she has done. Tell me!” pleaded Princess Luna, trembling.

“Twilight tells me,” said Celestia, “that Trixie Lulamoon has reached out to tap a power she does not herself understand. A source of sexual energy too raw and primal for Twilight to handle. Trixie instinctively understands the personal, ancestral nature of this power. She does not know Twilight has just as good a claim to it as she does.”

“But what did she do? Celly!”

“Sister, they created a magic bit to aid lesbian pony sex. I did not at first link the appearance of this artifact to the Lulamoons, but it should have been obvious—the dark undercurrent to it is so very Lulamoon! The first one brought a ravening compulsion to my ponies. That was not good enough for Twilight, and she has seen fit to develop it—but she does not know that she is drawing on the same dark source! And before you ask, I shall tell you—the bit grows a penis on the mare that holds it, one that suits their inner spirit and is what they would have as a male. So when I say my Twilight has had a little Lulamoon in her… well, I mean it in quite a literal sense.”

Celestia stopped. “I am sorry. I can see this distresses you. I need not have told you all the seamy details—I know you remain above such things.”

Luna had grown paler, and paler. Wouldn’t it just have to be a Lulamoon, come out of the distant past, to dare and love and strive? Wouldn’t it be a Lulamoon who worked herself into the heart of matters, shaking the counsels of the great and wise—or indeed the great and foolish? Luna felt horribly, vulnerably foolish as she considered Trixie’s and Twilight’s plight.

And yes, it would be a Lulamoon who sought to please a lover, who reached out and tapped ancestral memory, who brought back into existence a magic bit that transformed mares into stallions and used their creation heedlessly. Luna knew it could only be a Lulamoon.

They had, after all, invented it…

…for her.

Who Let The Dogs Out?

Applejack snickered to herself as she trotted up to the Carousel Boutique. “A fine thing this is! Whipped, you are! Why, you silly filly, you got no shame, do you? Look at you prancin’ up, jes’ achin’ for some more of that stallion THUNDER. Scandalous!”

She chuckled, mocking herself fiercely. It seemed right. If she teased herself about craving purely sex, she didn’t have to think about the loneliness, or ask herself what she really wanted. She was desirable—as a mare. Pow’ful desirable, she thought. That would hold her, for now. Perhaps it was more than she deserved—at any rate, it was working, and she lifted her hooves high, prancing indeed, drawing up to Rarity’s door, upon which she rapped with a hoof.

“Coming!” sang Rarity, in proprietor-mode. Applejack waited, grinning.

“If it’s about the tuck in the waistcoat, you must tell him he’s dreaming, fantasizing. If he wishes to go down a size he must first become less fat, and only then may he… oh!”

“Hi…” said Applejack, through the crack in the door.

One word should not have been able to contain all that innuendo, but she did manage to stretch it out and shape it into a leer. Though her head was bowed coyly, her eyes gleamed and stared from under batting, half-lidded lashes, and quite ruined the coyness effect.

“Applejack!” cried Rarity, in delight.

“Miss me?”

“Urgently…” crooned Rarity. It took her no time at all to read the mood and roll with it. She swung the door open and beamed at her proud, prancing new lover—and then giggled and squeaked as Applejack trotted right in and grabbed her. “Eeep! Applejack!”

“Ah was thinkin’ about you all day,” said Applejack, nuzzling under Rarity’s chin. “C’mon in your sanctum there and git pokey with your bad self.”

“Oh!” giggled Rarity. “Goodness! Not yet. There’s something you must see.”

“Ah agrees completely. Whip it out. Cain’t wait to feel it, neither!” Applejack rubbed her flank against Rarity’s, then head-butted her earnestly towards the bedroom.

“Eep! Applejack! No, you misunderstand, dear! I have something for you!”

“Ya sure do! Whoof!” snickered Applejack. “I’mma give you ten seconds and then I start lickin’ your pretty until you turn it into a pokey…”

“Hah! Play dirty, do you?”

“You know it! Them’s my best qualities…”

“Stop!” commanded Rarity, frisking about to face Applejack, which put her privates safely away from the relentlessly teasing country mare. “Give me thirty seconds—there is something I MUST tell you!”

Applejack stopped, looking curious. “There is?”

Something lifted from one of Rarity’s tables, silky, mustard colored, with brick red accents and just the tiniest hints of silver and cerulean blue as details.

“Or, indeed, show you…”

It floated over, buoyed by Rarity’s magic, billowing out and catching the air. It wafted around Applejack, draping against her, and she caught her breath to feel the sensuous, filmy texture brush her. One touch of that fabric was like sex for her all-too-common hide—she suddenly wished she’d bathed after work. Dash loved… Dash used to love the feel and scent of her fresh from the fields, healthy and one hundred percent working mare. She’d revelled in it and made Applejack feel just right. This diaphanous creation was from another, girlier world.

“This is for you, darling. Pajamas. To fit the new you.”

Applejack blinked, speechless for a moment. Her lip quivered.

Rarity smiled, and she looked a little quivery as well. “I… I have the power to sheathe that lovely body, the body I touched and fondled and pleasured last night… in silks… I have slaved away all day driven by the passion to celebrate it in fabric… oh, Applejack, say you like it, do!”

Applejack gulped. Tears stung her eyes—and then, she’d bolted forward and was embracing Rarity, laughing and sobbing. “Aw! Ra… Rarity! It’s so damn beautiful! Oh my gosh! You did that for me?”

Rarity had given herself over to drama and high emotion. “Yes, darling, yes! All for you! Yes! Oh, yes! Now, though I crave to see you in it… first, darling, we must get you into a bath! You cannot wear couture whilst stinking of the plow! First things first, come now!”

Applejack blinked tears away, her face in wobbly smiles combined with a look of chagrin. “Aw… shucks, some kinds ‘a plowin’ suit you jes’ fine…”

“Not,” commanded Rarity, “until you have bathed! I am hideous from fatigue myself and have doubtless sweated over my work, trying to get it finished. Which I did!” She didn’t mention the streaks of dusty sweat that now painted her chest, the cost of Applejack’s embrace, though her lip curled as she looked down at herself. “Now—bath! Immediately! Come, darling, there will be bubbles and the finest scented oils, and you know my bath fits two if they are friendly…”

“Ain’t th’ finest scented oils,” said Applejack loyally, as she walked obediently towards Rarity’s bathroom. “Not by half.”

“They had better be, for what I paid for them…”

“Naw…” said Applejack, dropped back a step, and nudged Rarity’s alabaster mound with her nose by way of reminder.

“Ew!” giggled Rarity. “All right, all right, I get the idea! And now you’ve soiled that as well, let me draw a bath with the utmost haste! It will be delightful and you know it. I’ll run it hot, your muscles must be so weary. My horn is worn to a nub with sewing.”

“Awww. Do ya want me to… I dunno, rub it or somethin’?”

Rarity blinked. “A fat lot of good that would do… oh, don’t sulk, darling, you can rub other parts of me if you wish. After you have sluiced off the crud! I am tempted to install a hose outside for pre-bathing!”

“Oh, no ya don’t…”

“Joking! We shall be perfectly fine with the one bath.” Rarity considered this. “Perhaps in two stages, but I can do that with the spouts and drains and it will keep things good and hot. You’ll like that!”

As Rarity drew the bath, and steam filled the room, Applejack thought. “Uh, Rarity? It’s all right if you don’t want me rubbin’ your horn or nothin’. I guess I don’t know much about that stuff. Never thought about it much—but there’s a thing I got to ask. Do ya… you know… squirt?”

Rarity’s startled gaze sent Applejack’s heart into her throat. “Ah’m sorry, if I offended,” she said, “but it’s kind of important—at least I’ve learned it is.”

“Oh, I’m not offended. Or even disgusted… perhaps… nostalgic? I’m sure I know what you mean, and I remember it.” She smiled fondly. “With our new intimacies, I daresay I may taste that pleasure again, in small ways.”

Applejack blinked. “It’s somethin’ you used ta do?”

“Once you’ve been through it dozens and dozens of times,” said Rarity levelly, “one becomes jaded. I have wonderful pleasures, still. You are decidedly one of them. But I am not a squirting, breathless filly, and I hope you can still appreciate me for the mare I am.”

Applejack’s eyes were soft, accepting. She leaned forward carefully, and kissed Rarity on the muzzle without saying a word, and the unicorn’s stiff look melted.

“Goodness, yes…” breathed Rarity. “You see, you make me feel a little like a filly again when you are like that. Or, I suppose, like a colt. I’ve never been a colt. That’s new, isn’t it?”

“You’re a wonderful colt,” said Applejack earnestly. “And a dang fine sewin’-pony ta boot.”

“Bath time, darling. No more stalling.”

The water was terribly hot. Applejack squeaked as she stepped into it, shying away from the steamy wetness in what Rarity thought was a fiercely adorable way. Rarity giggled to see it. “In, in! Into the bath, sweet, or mama spank!”

Applejack gave her a truculent look. “You AIN’T my mama. I’ll tell ya that for nothin’, right now.”

“Perhaps you’d prefer ‘Daddy’?”

Applejack’s gaze narrowed, and her lower lip stuck out. It was so adorable that Rarity let out a suppressed “eeeeee!”, but her delight was short-lived—for the country pony plunged into the bath in a single bold motion, and hot water sloshed merrily over the side.

Both mares shrieked, then, for different but equally compelling reasons. “My floor!” cried Rarity, while Applejack squealed, “Hot! It’s hot!”

“Applejack, why ever did you do that?”

“It’s all right, Rarity… whoa! You’re right, when ya get used to it, dang…”

“I am referring to the mess on my floor!”

“Well, then,” winked Applejack, “stop bein’ a mess on your floor and come be a mess in this here bath. Mmmmm, it’s nice.”

The unicorn glared. She appeared to consider and reject the idea of leaping bodily into the bath as the country mare had done. Instead, she lowered herself into the steaming water, looking daggers the whole time, and came to rest with decorum—and her pout met her lover’s smirk.

“Satisfied?” said Applejack.

“Moderately.”

Rarity then gasped, for Applejack had flowed forward against her, gentle hooves fondling and rubbing all over her pristine body. “Oh! What’s this?”

“Jes’ washin’ ya. That’s my excuse, an’ I’m stickin’ to it. Yep!”

With grim determination, Rarity kept Applejack devoted to the task of getting clean, not just getting dirty. It was a challenge, but she had a secret advantage—five yards of tailored fabric contoured to Applejack’s most intimate details.

“An’ how can you claim you fitted it so finely?” teased Applejack, splashing her.

“Please! I wrapped myself around your rump just last night. I encircled you, and devoured you with my eyes. Do you really believe I cannot construct the body of my dreams in my thoughts, and clothe it in elegance?”

Applejack blinked. “You dream of mares? I thought this was a lil’ new to you. Uhh… ain’t complainin’! No sir. Jes’… confused?” This was so easy to believe o’ Dashie, Applejack thought. Why can’t you just accept?

Rarity caught the fretful look, saw Applejack’s gaze drop, and flowed forward, kissing the top of Applejack’s nose, nuzzling her mane. “I dream of you, now. How many times must I tell you you are exquisite?”

Applejack peered up from under her blonde bangs, into those rich violet eyes—eyes so full of expert judgement, so casually critical and yet somehow adoring, and she thought—shit, maybe I am ‘exquisite’, who’da thunk it? She also thought to herself, missy… don’t you dare fart…

Rarity kept nuzzling her lover, who seemed to be stuck in some insecure mental place, whose lip quivered a bit with distress. Seeing it, Rarity hastened to reassure. “Exquisite? Nay, darling, that doesn’t go nearly far enough, Peeking through that curl of your mane in that way? Magical, transformative…”

“Aw, how kin I live up to that?” pleaded Applejack. “It ain’t fair!”

Rarity lifted her head. “You’ll see! Out of the bath, magical mare, and once you are dry, you shall wear silks and you shall feel exquisite!”

The towels seemed even fluffier than last time. Rarity’s horn glowed bright as she swathed Applejack in vigorously scrubbing towels, making her gasp and squeak, making her lift her hooves in alarm as the towels fondled between her legs and roamed all over her body. Her skin tingled, so alive she could feel the air in the room, and she peered anxiously at the fancy duds. They seemed to glisten and shine in the light of the fading day, too pretty to be real.

“How do I put ‘em on, s.. sugarcube? They fragile? Ah’m scared to touch ‘em now…”

“You shan’t. I will put them on you! Lift a hoof, dear. No—the hind one, I think.”

Applejack did, her ears laid back anxiously. “What’s… transformative? I mean, I reckon these here things might do a transformin’ but you called ME transformative. How come?”

Rarity licked her lips. “Seeing you like this—transforms me. You do understand the special thing about clothing of this nature?”

Applejack gulped, feeling a pajama pant leg drag itself up to cover her leg. Magic fiddled with her tail, lifting the dock and guiding the tail through a little aperture in the fabric, accented with a bow in red and powder blue. She lifted her other hindleg, nervous that her hoof would scrape the fabric, wishing she’d asked the farrier to smooth the edges for once. The idea of catching and tearing the tender silk on a rough hoof-edge… she breathed a sigh of relief when the pajama pants drew up snugly, and then a deeper sigh, about how it felt against her hide.

“Front hoof!” sang Rarity, her eyes gleaming.

“Ah could try rearin’?”

“Not until I’ve buttoned it up! Then you can do anything!” Rarity gulped, remembering how agile the country mare could be. “Erm… anything refined and ladylike! And possibly some way beyond that. I’m almost certain I designed the gussets to stand it. We’ll see soon enough!”

The top slipped on even more easily. Rarity drew it close around Applejack’s body, as if frightened her mare would pull some stunt and rip it, but Applejack stood wide-eyed as the silky material enclosed her, and once she was fully dressed, she just stood for a moment, shocked.

“…darling? Do you… oh, I can’t bear it, you don’t like it!”

Applejack’s head jerked around. “Whut? No, it ain’t that! I just… ain’t nothing ever, ever felt like this before!”

Rarity brightened instantly. “Thread count, darling. I rather outdid myself, I think. The fabric is bespoke. Nopony else has had anything quite like it—perhaps they never will. I wanted to make something very special. Go on… move a little.”

Applejack lifted a forehoof. Silk slithered across her leg like it was trying to lick her. “Oh my…” She returned it to the floor, and lifted a rear hoof, flicking her tail—and then kicked out behind her, in slow motion, and her eyes popped out. “Nnnnhhh!”

“Oh! I didn’t leave a pin? No, I couldn’t possibly have, no chance of it…”

Applejack looked sidelong at Rarity, mouth hanging open, eyes very wide. It hadn’t been a pin, not at all. The silk had felt like it was licking her foreleg, just with a simple motion.

She hadn’t been at all prepared for shifting her hindleg—and feeling the pajama pants lick all up the inside of her legs—and across her pony breasts.

Applejack’s nipples became erect instantly, and she began to pant. “Lordy…” she said. She tilted her hips this way and that, slinking about like a giant Opalescence, transformed at a stroke into a creature of feminine, sensuous, languid motion. She stretched a hindleg out again, her body quivering.

Rarity sniffed the air. “It… that’s not a pin, is it? Not even slightly. You’ve not felt silk between your legs, have you?” She giggled. “You can stop kicking the air, sweet darling…”

Applejack was entranced, a huge goofy smile on her face, and her hindleg kept stretching out, shifting the fabric across her trembling body. “Not sure.. I kin…”

Rarity sidled up, eyes provocative. “I made a scarf of it, too. It is for a thing called silken saddle, though you’ll find you don’t wear it the way you’d wear a saddle.”

Applejack was panting, and the scent of her arousal wafted more and more clearly. “Sugar—when you said there was a special thing about these duds, you weren’t kidding.”

“Hah,” smirked Rarity. “Silken saddle is going to slay you. But that is not what I meant…”

“It weren’t? Then what did ya mean?” said Applejack, lowering her hoof to stand normally and look back at her lover.

Rarity’s teeth closed on the little bow over Applejack’s tail, cerulean blue edged with scarlet.

“The special thing about wearing ravishing clothing… is that, when you are ready to ravish, you can slowly… take.. it… off….”

She pulled, deliberately, and silk slid down, exposing the warm burnt-sienna contours of Applejack’s shapely ass, glistening vagina peeking from between those firmly rounded cheeks.

Through the window, far away but not quite far enough—a dot of cerulean blue echoed the color of the ribbon, as Rarity slowly pulled Applejack’s pajama pants off and her bit floated over to join them.

Rainbow Dash shook her head, her eyes aghast, betrayed, wanting to shut against the sight. It was hard to make out the details, and she hadn’t meant to look at all. She’d just been flying past Carousel Boutique, and glanced down into the window to see what Rarity was working on.

Rarity was working, all right. Rainbow watched her pulling Applejack’s pajama pants off. Applejack was moving so funny, sort of like Fluttershy… there was a tiny glint near Rarity’s head, and then Dash saw a hint of motion, the glint stopped, and oh no oh nooo… she saw something emerge from between Rarity’s legs, and she knew in her gut what it was, though it seemed like it couldn’t possibly be that size and she’d have to see it closer up to believe it…

No!

Rainbow Dash whirled in mid-air and flew away as hard as she could fly. She barely stopped herself from Rainbooming—but the last thing she wanted to do was have anypony look her direction. Not that she could tell exactly what direction it was, because, you know, tears…

no no no no no no no no

Rainbow Dash’s teeth gritted. She wanted to scream, but she could tell it wouldn’t help at all. If she’d been desperate when begging Pinkie to knock her out with more orgasm, now she was frantic, crazed, she could hardly breathe, every instant seemed to be taking minutes of torture and all she wanted to do was be far enough away that she couldn’t even pretend she heard any voices raised in the too-familar sounds of pleasure… that familiar voice of pleasure…

Rainbow Dash blinked away tears and realized she was already miles away. Near the gem fields, those caves. And the…

Yes.

Applejack trotted in place, breathing heavily, frantic. Rarity had insisted she remove the pajamas completely—and had folded them, smirking, while still holding her bit in her teeth. It had given Applejack a chance to stick her head under Rarity and ogle her stallionhood up close—in fact, she’d licked it, her legs shaking as she did so. She’d have sucked on the end of it, but it wouldn’t have fit into her mouth.

Rarity’s stallionhood was a gleaming peach-pink, very smooth and cylindrical, and girthy to bust a filly in two. It was as terrifying as it was arousing—very nearly what Fluttershy’d had, but not as long. It didn’t flare out to a brutally impossible bulk at the base as Fluttershy’s did, and the head didn’t flare much either, but there was no need of that.

“Aw, sugar, come on come on…”

Rarity giggled. “Such ‘nthusiasm! Such a cute f’lly!”

Applejack whimpered, and stamped a hind-hoof against the floor. “Ya gonna make me beg? That’s gonna get real old, jes’ sayin’…”

“I should,” said Rarity. She nuzzled Applejack’s ass with the side of her face, dreamily, sniffing the air. “Making you beg for it is somehow extra satisfying.”

“Now come on…” snorted Applejack.

“I d’n’t suppose we have time to fit your rear hooves with cuffs and a spreader bar?”

“Rarity! Consarn it!”

“Oh, you have no sense of kinky fun!” protested Rarity.

“An’ you have no sense of a mare desperately needin’ a fuckin’! How kin that be hard to understand for you? After all the crazy shit you done?”

“The femin’nity is slipping, darling. Your stallion r’quires a demure, ladylike mare…”

Applejack glared back at Rarity. “Fuck me, dammit, you crazy pointy-headed… ahhh!”

Applejack’s head jerked bolt upright, facing forward. Rarity had bitten her ass, hard. The elegant white unicorn had no problem whatsoever dominating her. Applejack stared straight ahead, quivering, instinctively submitting. It had been a meaner bite than anything Rainbow Dash had ever delivered.

Rarity bared her teeth around the bit, nostrils flaring, eyes scorning her now-submissive pony lover.

“Th’t’s right. B’have.”

Applejack cringed a little at the uncompromising tone. So aggressive—there was no interplay, there was no room for her to be anything but what she felt herself to be—a quivering mare. For a moment, she blushed in shame, thinking of what her mother would have said. To rebel was one thing, but to mock everything about herself that she’d grown up with? There was no more Applejack, anymore. There was a panicky filly, her ass bleeding slightly from a savage stallion-bite, standing all a-quiver and waiting for him to penetrate her—and as she felt his snorting breath against her privates, she knew it wasn’t up to her. He was Rarity, and he was in total control.

Rarity heaved herself up, and her weight came down on Applejack’s quivering rump.

“N’xt time… the spurs!” she hissed, and her hooves dug at Applejack’s belly.

Applejack was panting rapidly, hyperventilating. Her vag winked madly. A shudder shook her body as the end of the massive stallionhood grazed it, as Rarity shifted her hooves, as the mammoth cock prodded against her and shoved IN…

“AAAAHH!”

“Ow! R’lax, will you!”

“OhCelestia… aaahhhh! nrrhh! can’t!”

Rarity snarled. She was liking the dynamic, was getting into it in a big way, but she did not like the tone of that scream. “Applejack! Safeword? Oh, hell, we n’ver made one, did we?”

“Aaaaaa! nggh!”

Her ponypussy was like a steel band. It wasn’t right, it felt hard inside, this was no good…

“Applejack! Do you want me to stop?”

Applejack twisted her head around, and Rarity could see the look in her eyes. She had last seen that look in Fillydelphia, many years before. It had been a colt rigged to an elaborate bondage rig, and she’d been pegging him with a dildo as he thrashed and screamed—and the scream changed, as he came.

And she’d had to stop—for he’d broken his ankle in his struggles. He’d been bedridden for weeks, and in a cast for half a year, even with the best treatment Fillydelphia could provide.

“Applejack, answer!”

Applejack’s eyes brimmed with tears. She shook her head, despairingly. Her body shuddered like earthquakes racked it, but Rarity could tell it wasn’t orgasm. She bit her lip, trying to force herself onward, trying to find the passion in the pain—failing.

“STOOPPP! stopstopstopstop…”

“D’rling!” cried Rarity, and she hurled herself back, dismounting. The mammoth cock dragged out of Applejack with a grating feeling, and then shrank away and disappeared when Rarity spat the bit out. “Are you all right? Darling!”

Applejack’s lip quivered. “Ah… couldn’t!” she managed—and burst into tears, standing there wobbly-legged.

“Oh, sweetness!” said Rarity, hugging her. “We must set up safewords, show more caution! I blame myself, I’m ashamed, I should have known…”

“Why din’t it work, Rarity? I wanted that so bad!” sobbed Applejack. “An’ now it hurts even worse!”

“You were still sore? But darling! You must tell me these things! Irresponsible! How sore were you? Applejack, dear, you had me being fully dominant, most aggressive, and I didn’t even know you were hurt!”

“I thunk… hair o’ the dog that bit ya, kinda thing?” Applejack’s eyes were piteous.

Rarity shook her head. “We’ll have to work up to it. Gradiated exposure… let me have a look.” She trotted around behind Applejack, her magic lifting the blond tail, her practiced eyes scanning and analysing. “I think there would be more blood and bruising than this if it was really bad… it will take a little time, I think.”

“Blood? Time? Rarity, what are you sayin’?”

“You are out of commission, that’s what! With me, at least,” said Rarity. “Oh, hell! I can’t believe I didn’t ask about your condition. Why didn’t you tell me it hurt? Now it’ll be days before we dare risk it again!”

Applejack’s eyes went even more tragic. “What? I mean, yeah, I guess, but…” She dropped her gaze, blushing.

Rarity looked frustrated, and she narrowed her eyes. “Don’t tell me. I am frustrated beyond expression, but pretty girl pony still wants sex? In spite of sprained pussy?”

Applejack’s expression battled between chagrin, resentment, and shame. Finally, she gave a sulky nod. “Yeah. But fine—I’ll jes’ go on home…”

“No, no, stop! Please don’t go, Applejack! I’m sorry. I am a selfish mare at times, and I’m blaming you for this and it’s unfair of me. We’ll think of something!”

Applejack hesitated. “Dang right it’s unfair. I tried my best to take it, sugarcube… what do you mean, you’ll think of something?”

Rarity stared into space, looking cranky, and nodded to herself. “Silken saddle. I… was going to have it first. But you shall have it—you’ll find it is more than adequate.”

“Oh, now you’re grudgin’ me this whatever-it-is?”

“No! Oh, no no. It’s just… you’ll understand. First time is a little magical, dear, texture’s not exactly the same after a wash—and believe me, it will need one. Come lie in bed with me. I apologize—my nature wars between generosity and a dreadful selfishness, a craving of the finer things.”

Applejack sulked. “I wish I could offer you them finer things. I made a right mess of it.”

“WE did, darling. And you’ve spared me making a mess of something that could be generosity incarnate. How could I presume to keep the kiss of virgin silk to myself when I have such an exquisite flower of marehood to adore?”

“If it’s that special…”

Rarity glared. “I shall make another bolt of it in the morning, and reduce myself to a twitching wreck immediately. No excuses! Are you or are you not still feeling horny?”

“…kinda.”

“Are you too cross with me to make love?” Rarity waited for an answer, with a serious expression.

“Naw. Oh, Rarity, why’s this gotta be such a foofaraw?”

“I’m not sure that’s a proper word. Come! Lie with me, let me hold you.”

Rarity was sprawled on her back in bed, reaching out forehooves for her lover, and Applejack hesitantly climbed in, and reclined against her. “Sorry.”

“You needn’t be. You are my darling now, and I know you well enough to expect…”

Applejack lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

Rarity blushed, and Applejack started to grin, saying “C’mon, expect whut?”

“Expect myself to put a hoof in it, that’s what!” Rarity snorted as her lover giggled in her embrace. “Now, let’s take care of something rather special!”

“You mean, what you’re gonna do to me?” teased Applejack.

“That, and your delicious dainty marehood that I’ve inadvertently injured…”

“De-lish, huh?” snickered Applejack. “Ya know, if you wanted to do some tastin’ of it, that’s always mighty nice…”

“This is better!” Rarity said, hastily.

Applejack’s smile dropped. Rarity was still Miss No Licking, Please. “…it’d better be.”

The bolt of silk fabric floated into view in a veil of unicorn magic. “Now, roll onto your side, and hold one leg in the air. You may kick if you like, in fact you’ll probably need to.”

“Hold my leg in the… Rarity, do I gotta?”

Rarity glared. “You’d be in some sort of position were I slathering you with cunnilingus, so hold your tongue. I need very complete access to your crotch area for this. You must trust me.”

Applejack sighed. “All right…”

She lifted a leg, mockingly, holding it in the air and flicking her tail against the bed. The broad strip of new silk floated nearer, held at each end by a glimmer of magic, billowing as it swooped in. It settled against Applejack’s tender crotch—and one end drew up from her belly to her chest, the other end yielding in turn—and several feet of new silk slid enticingly across Applejack’s vagina.

“Hhhhh!” Applejack’s hoof curled—hard.

“Now do you understand?” Rarity’s voice was teasing, wicked.

“Well, yeah!”

“Oh no no.”

“Whut?”

Rarity grinned evilly. “Not yet, you don’t. The rule with this is, you slide it across your pussy until you can’t anymore, at which point you stop. There is one small problem.”

Applejack blinked. Her heart was already pounding from just the erotic jolt of that one taste. It was colder and slicker than any tongue, and it’d grabbed her attention instantly. Her clitoral hood jutted fiercely out into the path of the teasing silk, and she could feel already that each motion would go right across it with teeth-gritting urgency.

“What… problem?”

Rarity leaned over to whisper into Applejack’s ear.

“I’m not going to stop…”

Applejack shuddered, and kicked with her leg involuntarily, as the silk began to move again. “Oh lordy…”

“You can beg me to stop,” came Rarity’s voice. The silk picked up the pace, becoming a steady flood of sensation. It was outrageous how quickly it went to the limits of the endurable.

Applejack panted, her heart lurching. “What’ll happen?”

“Nothing.” The silk continued to flow evenly between Applejack’s legs, back and forth, back and forth.

Applejack’s head jolted against Rarity’s chest. “ngyaaa! You… gonna speed up?”

“Oh, no, dear, you don’t understand. It is like a special little torture. A nice little torture. No, it doesn’t speed up, that would spoil it. We are not trying to buff your precious vagina off, darling. It’s just that it doesn’t stop.”

Applejack’s leg was kicking dazedly, and her body shuddered again. “Uhnn! Don’t be… silly, it’s… gotta hhhhgyaaah! stop sometime!”

“Do you wish it to stop?” purred Rarity, as if idly curious.

“Fuck no! AHHnnn!”

Rarity smiled, as the silk slipped elegantly to and fro, painted now with Applejack’s juices. She knew that, with new fabric, that didn’t diminish the texture one bit. It only cooled in the air and gave an additional chill—which rather heightened the sensation.

Applejack shuddered and panted, then cried “Ah! Aaahhh! Nngggarrggh!”, her leg kicking wildly.

“How is my precious darling doing?” crooned Rarity, not missing a beat.

“‘Bout took the ngggh! top of my head off grrrAAAH! Holy buck, Rarity! Uhhhnnnh!”

“How nice…”

Applejack writhed, kicking more and more feebly. Rarity could feel in her body how intense her orgasms were getting. The lovely mare against her, so strong and supple, was galvanized—dissipated by orgasmic shocks that built and built, fed by that gentle, maddening, unrelenting stimulation.

“Can’t… hold… aaaaggg! my leg…”

Rarity’s grin grew more evil. “Poor thing! And to fail to hold it up, that might pinch the silk between your legs, and stop it moving, mightn’t it?”

Applejack sighed in ecstacy, kicking drunkenly, her hoof lowering. Magic glimmered around it.

“We wouldn’t want that. Pray, continue your experience…” crooned Rarity—and the silk kept moving.

Applejack’s eyes flew wide, to feel her legs held open by a magical grip on her hoof. That tickling silk was still going, though she was feeling limper and limper by the second. “Aggg… now see here…”

“I warned you, you know,” mused Rarity. “I promise, I shall not need to speed up in the slightest. That is not the nature of this experience…”

“But… ghhh! GHHH! OhsweetCelestia! Aughh!”

“Would you like to rest, precious thing?” said Rarity.

Applejack gasped for breath. It felt like sparks were fountaining up from her vag, through her body. Her heart was lurching every few beats—but it was a kind of challenge. “Mmmmaybe…”

“I thought you might.” The silk didn’t stop, or even pause. It just kept drawing back and forth between Applejack’s legs.

The country pony stood a few more seconds, quivering against Rarity, and then she spoke again. “Stars… nhh! gh!”

“Oh yes,” mused Rarity. “That’s not uncommon.”

“Stars ‘n flashes ‘n… grrraaahhHH!”

“Quite.”

Applejack had gone feverishly hot, and quivered violently all over. Rarity could feel her trying to kick, but the hapless mare had been reduced to such a state that she had no control over her legs. They wouldn’t have supported her, and they wouldn’t kick for her. She managed to thrash her tail, but it didn’t stop the silk from drawing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, sedately…

“Please!” managed Applejack, a panicky look in her dazed, stunned eyes.

“Beg pardon?”

Applejack squealed, and forced out the words, “Please, stop!” between gasps and gurgles.

“I’ll slow down, how is that?” said Rarity, and indeed she did. The silk now slid across Applejack’s drenched pussy with ostentatious slowness. Applejack fought for breath.

“That… gh!! ain’t exactly… RRGH! Rarity! Unnhh! Not helpin’ aaahhh!”

“It won’t stop, darling. It’s safe. Just a tickle…”

“But… augghh!” cried Applejack, trying to thrash and too weak to do more than loll her head about as her body thundered away helplessly with orgasms.

“Goodnight, love,” breathed Rarity, and concentrated.

Applejack tried to plead with Rarity, to beg for mercy, but the words wouldn’t come, just more squeals and guttural orgasmic moans that quavered with the climaxes that rocked her. The flashes got worse, and still the silk kept drawing back and forth, the intensity of the sensation building impossibly as it slowed, until at last Applejack was utterly limp, and a flood of orgasmic sparks flared up from her exhausted vag and seemed to blast up through her body, down her legs, out the top of her head, and she screamed weakly as reality slipped away…

Slowly, imperceptibly, the silk stopped moving. It took some time. Rarity was a ruthless mistress. While Applejack still shuddered, still whimpered, the silk inched its way across her throbbing clitoris—but finally, she lay still, exhausted beyond any further response, and it was over.

Rarity gently lay Applejack’s hoof down onto the bed. She did not try to remove the silk, because when you did that, it felt different, perhaps even in dreams.

She just held her quivering, fevered lover close, and allowed herself to drift off to sleep as well, though it was still light out. The moment seemed to request it of her.

Rainbow Dash saw him through the trees, drinking him in with hungry, half-mad eyes. That was the one! And in the right place… and it wasn’t too late. Casually, she flew up.

“‘Sup?”

The Diamond Dog blinked. “What do you want, pony?”

“Maybe it’s more a question of what do YOU want.”

“Want you to piss off, maybe. Want to meet somebody. Somebody that isn’t you!”

“He’s not coming.”

The Dog blinked, distressed. “What did you say?”

“I can fly,” said Rainbow Dash. “I can see all around. I’ve watched what you do, and I’ve seen what paths he takes. He’s not coming here to fuck you.”

The Diamond Dog’s eyes widened. “He’s not? Curse! Stupid mean pony. Nosy, too. Now I have to go all the way back…”

“No, wait, I got something to show you!” said Dash.

“This had better be good,” said the Dog, glowering.

Rainbow Dash grinned a cocky grin. “Oh, you have no idea. This is gonna blow your mind. Ready?” She turned, nosing into her saddlebag, biting down, and reared. “Hahhh!”

The Diamond Dog stared in astonishment. The little girl wingy pony had something in her mouth, and when she reared, there was a pony penis bouncing between her legs for a moment. It looked very nice, but it was a brief trick and soon replaced by the shower of sparks from her mouth.

Then, the penis was gone, the sparks were gone, and the show was over. So he clapped. “Very nice!”

She didn’t seem cheered by this. In fact, she pranced in place rapidly, turning this way and that, and crying out, “Now what do I do?”

He scratched his head, and suggested, “Do it again!”

Rainbow Dash glared at him. Idiot! Her only chance to get laid, maybe, even if it was with a Diamond Dog—he was big enough that it probably wouldn’t have hurt him or anything—the only thing she had left to try, and why’d the bit have to blow up? Now she really was out of options…

Or was she?

“Clap more,” said Dash. “I like it.”

The Diamond Dog willingly did so, giving her a funny look. He said, “Are you done?”

“Maybe not,” said Dash. She slunk up, wings held tightly to her sides, and brushed against him. “Tell me… did you ever, you know… get friendly with a pony?”

The Dog scratched his head. “No. Ponies aren’t friends. Big wingy pointy pony says ponies aren’t food either, okay? So don’t push it.”

“No, I mean… REAL friendly with a pony.” Rainbow Dash gulped. She felt a little sick. He smelled so weird… yet the sheer perversity of what she was doing entranced her.

“Fucking ponies? Ponies don’t let you,” said the Dog.

“Yeah, well, what if one did?” said Dash, her heart pounding. Yeah… it felt kinky, super kinky.

“You promise Rahg isn’t coming?” said the Dog.

“What?”

The Diamond Dog sighed in exasperation. “Stupid pony! You said Rahg won’t come. That nobody else is coming here. I have to go all the way back home with no fucking. Or, Rahg is coming, and I want you to go away.”

“Gimme a moment,” said Rainbow Dash, and took off, shooting up into the sky and studying all the nearby paths, as far as she could see. In a few seconds, she swooped down and stood before the Dog again. “Rahg isn’t coming. It’s me or nothing, big boy.”

The Diamond Dog half-grinned. “Pony is tired of half obvious. Pony wants to get real obvious.”

Rainbow Dash blinked at him. “Uh… you… I guess I don’t have to explain what I’m suggesting, huh?”

That got a full grin. He had quite a set of teeth to grin with.

“Stupid ponies. Dogs not as stupid as ponies think. Shouldn’t say that, this is really stupid. What’s the matter with you, pony?”

Dash rallied. “Hey, you don’t need to know that, okay? What you need to know is… well, you’re obviously gay, so how about some friendly pony ass-fucking? I’ll get my rocks off, you’ll have fun, it’ll be awesome…”

The Dog was shaking his head. “Doesn’t think pony is very smart.”

Dash took offense. “Dude, don’t turn up your nose! Even if it’s kind of a big nose… look, see?” She whirled, presenting her rump. “Look at that. Pony butt. How can you not want something as round and shapely as that? I’m still attractive… I mean, it’s attractive, right? Come on, give me a taste.”

She saw the Diamond Dog approach. “Stupid pony knows what Dogs like…”

Rainbow Dash grinned and shut her eyes, imagining the weird perverseness of whatever dicks these things had. But her eyes flew open again, quickly. The Dog had dropped down behind her, and seized her ass in his paws. “Tasting…” he said—and then, Doggy tongue ran right up her vag and across her anus.

“Ohmygosh!” she squeaked, going weak in the knees.

“Not bad,” opined the Dog. He did it again, and a third time, and Rainbow Dash stared ahead at the woods, eyes wide with forbidden thrills. So kinky, so fucking outrageously kinky… if kinky was what she had to be, mission so accomplished…

“Dumb pony though,” said the Dog, from higher up, Dash glanced back at him, startled. He was still gripping her ass, but his crotch was higher. She couldn’t see it because it was so directly behind her…

Something pointy touched her vag.

“Pony asshole not take Dog. Would hurt bad. Not hurt crazy pony. Try this!”

With that, he swung his hips forward, and a strange slim pointy cock slipped into Rainbow’s pussy.

She squealed, stomping a forehoof. He was lively! It was like he instinctively started humping away, and the slim… no, thicker, oh LOTS thicker all of a sudden, it was just churning away in there. Rainbow Dash shuddered, feeling the Diamond Dog working away on her.

“Not bad…” panted the Dog. “Crazy pony having fun?”

Rainbow gasped harsh breaths, reeling from a sudden wave of arousal that drew on the sheer flat-out kinky twistedness of this. She’d never heard of anypony fucking a Dog—much less being fucked by one. He was slamming his furry crotch against her rump, grinding it, really going to town. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, tail flicking, getting a first orgasm as the Dog humped her.

“Mmmm! Time to squeeze, pony! Pony isn’t very good at squeezing, not like a Dog.”

Rainbow bore down a little. It seemed to be what he wanted—but she felt something alarming starting to happen. That cock had become a good size, nothing too spectacular—but something was happening at the base of it, inside her. He wasn’t churning back and forth anymore, just kind of shoving and humping, and his paws were so strong… she couldn’t get away, and suddenly she had reason to panic and get away, because his cock was swelling up like crazy, bursting her…

“Calm, pony. Good pony. See why asshole was bad bad idea?”

Rainbow screamed, her mane thrashing as she bucked her head, her wings flaring out in attempted escape—and then they froze, quivering. Her heart pounded. The cock wasn’t going to explode her. It’d swelled up to unbearable pressure—but stopped. It was wedged against her G-spot with teeth-gritting force.

The Dog petted her body, soothingly, as she trembled. He wiggled his hips gently, and the huge lump tugged inside her, wedged fast, the rest of the Dog cock filling her to her pony cervix.

She dropped her head, and let out a quavering scream as the orgasms took her, blasting across her senses.

It was like soaring across expanses of purgatory or pony hell—ruthless, merciless, unredeemed, appalling yet amazing all the same. Rainbow Dash reeled, stuck on the end of the Dog cock, exploding with climaxes at every curious tug and shove.

“There’s a good pony… hmmm. Bet pointy wingy pony isn’t watching… or we would be in big trouble yes… so while pony is busy with that…”

Dash’s scream tripled in volume. The Diamond Dog had speculatively gnawed on her right wing. Her psyche melted in an overload of shock, sudden mindmangling orgasm, and bitter shame, and she collapsed, dangling off the end of his cock from her ponyvag.

“Sorry. Ralf is wrong, he’s a a stupid stupid Dog. Won’t do it again. No point really.”

Rainbow Dash gasped for breath. Her voice felt wrecked from that one scream. She was still coming, scarlet in the face from that and the shame, trying to fold her traitorous wings but they wouldn’t work, felt like they’d gone full featherduster from shock in one bite.

Rainbow Dash was ruined, destroyed. “…why?” she croaked, like a sob.

“Stupid Ralf says there’s good meat on pony wings. There isn’t. Tell big pointy wingy pony not to worry, okay? This Dog will straighten out Ralf. For nice crazy pony who fucks Dogs. Okay?”

He lowered himself, for Rainbow Dash wasn’t trying to get up, and he was still stuck in her pussy.

“Little wingy pony have fun? Hello? Pony?” His scratchy, gravelly voice seemed kind.

Rainbow Dash had no words. She wept, staring at nothing.

“Pony?”

He considered things, solemnly, and he sighed.

“Am thinking ponies aren’t made for this…”

Rainbow wouldn’t stop crying. She wouldn’t talk. Eventually, the Diamond Dog simply scooped her up in his arms. He sat on his butt, rotated her around (though it twisted his cockbase, he didn’t seem to mind), and he arranged her limp, unresisting forelegs and disheveled wings, and he wrapped her in his arms, holding her gently.

“Poor stupid pony…”

Rainbow sobbed into his chest fur, crimson with shame and self-loathing.

“Soon be over, pony… poor little stupid wingy pony. Will keep you safe, yes. No eating pony wings or any pony parts. Won’t be long now.”

He stroked her pretty mane, wondering what she was called. Oh well—she hadn’t asked his name either, had she? It didn’t matter. He cuddled her anyway, and waited.

Eventually, the knot in his Dog cock subsided, and he tugged it out of the pony vag. She shuddered as he tugged it free, but still didn’t say anything. He cuddled her limp body for a little longer, and then tried to set her on her little hooves, but it didn’t work—she just sagged to the ground like a broken toy.

“Pony.”

He sighed, and poked her. “Pony! Hey, little pony!”

Rainbow Dash looked up at him—and he leaned over and licked her face, affectionately.

“Pony is good little pony, but in wrong place. Go home.”

Rainbow laid her head on the ground and stared at nothing.

“Are hearing me, pony? Go home!”

No response. The Diamond Dog sighed.

“Pony. Dog didn’t mean harm. Please will nice sexy stupid pony stop crying and fly away home? Dog wishes Pony to cheer up—and be in the right place, safe place.”

Rainbow looked at him, the self-loathing roaring in her head. If she was a monster, then—did she at least have loyalty to other monsters?

“…please!” said the Dog.

He didn’t even know who she was—but there were tears in his eyes as he asked her to go home and be safe.

Slowly, Rainbow Dash got to her hooves, wobbling, flapping her wings, and she took to the air, flying like an old, old pegasus, blinded by tears, heading home.

“Be good, nice stupid crazy little wingy pony!”

Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

Rainbow Dash lay in bed. It wasn’t unusual for Dash to be in bed mid-afternoon. It wasn’t even that unusual that she wasn’t having sex, because afternoon naps had always been a pleasure of hers.

This was different. It wasn’t pleasure—and she’d never actually got up.

Her wings were unpreened—desecrated. She could still feel the gentle throbbing of the Dog cock as it squirted thin bitter semen into her pony womb, fertile for foaling. She’d been feeling off for a while, but now she felt really sick—and that made no sense, for she was pretty sure that ponies and dogs couldn’t foal with each other. She told herself that, trying to remember the classes she’d napped through in Cloudsdale, and all the while she couldn’t forget those strange furry arms holding her while the deep-wedged cock did its biological work—after her lithe body, spurred to action, had done its part. Why, why did he have to bite her there?

He’d promised to tell the other Dog pony wings weren’t good eating. He should have ripped hers off and ate them and finished it. She was a monster. Even with the finest wings in the world, she couldn’t treat them right, so it was no wonder no pegasus would have her—no pony, even.

There was something uniquely disgusting about cultivating the perfect body to wrap around a rotted soul.

Rainbow Dash hadn’t eaten breakfast. She didn’t recognize the way her thoughts shriveled and turned on themselves for lack of sustenance, though her head throbbed a bit and her gut hurt dully. She lay between dirty bedsheets, her face half-buried in the pillow. It was a cloud-pillow, suitable for pegasi. Applejack couldn’t use them. Hers were even better, because they smelled of mare rather than mist…

Dash kicked the pillow away, and it scudded across the room and dissipated against the wall.

She laid her head uncomfortably on her forehooves as if she were lying out somewhere exposed to the elements. She considered kicking off the bedcoverings, and her wing shifted under them, but a wave of revulsion stopped her and she just stared at her bare walls.

Empty rooms were bad teachers, but she felt like a worthless student. She knew nothing, nothing. She ruined everything she touched. Best stay put, then.

Rainbow Dash lay there, eyes haunted, thinking for hour after hour about all the things she’d done, and seeing as if for the first time how others had reacted—how she’d demanded and taken whatever she wanted, always deciding how things should be, confident that she would win every struggle and that her winning would be best for everypony. And how had that worked out?

Empty rooms were bad teachers, but they were the only teacher she had left, and she listened hard to the emptiness.

“You’re doing really well,” said Twilight. “I’m wondering if we can do a real meld now—a big one.”

Trixie blinked. “Trixie will attempt anything Mistress wishes. What do you mean, a big one?”

“Something I can’t do alone. Teleport—with a non-local focus.”

Trixie’s jaw dropped. “Trixie can’t do that!”

“Neither can I, silly! That’s what a magemeld is for. I have a feeling you may have a natural aptitude for it. And you might enjoy it—it’ll be more like creating the bits. I want you to focus on our remote pattern, and draw me in. I’ll supply the power and run the teleport spell. What you’ll be doing… think of it as steering. You ride the magical power I’ll send through you, and direct it at the target.”

Trixie was panting. “Oh, Mistress!”

“Are you ready?”

Trixie wriggled, lying in Twilight’s bed. “Flood me with your magical power!”

Twilight narrowed her eyes sternly. “What is your focus?”

At this, Trixie dropped her gaze—and Twilight’s expression wavered between amusement and annoyance.

“The focus, Trixie! Locate a pony. If you’re really good you might be able to get somepony who’s in your thoughts a lot, or even one you’ve just seen somewhere—but to start, it had better be one you’ve magically handled yourself, directly.”

Trixie licked her lips, worriedly. “…handled?”

“Don’t play coy. I’ve seen you do it. That’s actually what gave me the idea. I can’t speak for kinky things you might have done on your own, but I’ve seen you handle three ponies and an Ursa Minor. Naturally, I don’t suggest you summon that. Maybe somepony you’ve played with, if they’re very familiar to you?”

Trixie grimaced. “Think about it, Mistress. Not a good idea!”

Twi was undaunted. “Well, it would have made a perfect test, because it would be a pony I didn’t know at all! That would prove you were putting as much into the meld as me. But if you’re sure…”

Trixie nodded, vehemently.

“…then I can think of three candidates. I saw you handle Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Though in a way, all you handled of Rarity was her hair…”

Trixie shook her head in dismay. “Please, not Rarity? She was so kind. When you selected the crop and swished it in the air, she threw in a rod and complimented you on your form, and all because…”

Twilight glared. “Oh, I know ‘all because’! I might need to have a word with her. Yes, I could tell you wanted the rod, but I’m having a lot of second thoughts about it. What if I’m not ready for that sort of thing, huh?”

“Mistress will know best what her comfort level is. Please keep Trixie aware of it as it… develops?”

Twilight looked cranky. “Comfort level! Hah! Okay, so you’d rather not target Rarity. We could try Applejack?”

“Wouldn’t she be working?”

“I’m sure once we explain it she’ll be fine—and we’ve got to pick somepony, if we’re testing a remote-focus pony teleport! It’s not like we’re going to be doing this all the time, this is important research to study the range and scope of the Twilight and Trixie magemeld. There aren’t that many really hard things to do that we can test it on, because whatever we choose has to be harder than either I or you could manage on our own! I know, Rainbow Dash. How about Rainbow Dash? She’s probably napping anyway.”

Trixie lifted an eyebrow, and Twilight argued harder. “Come on, it’s perfect! Dash is always up for something new. I guess you could say we found out more about that lately, huh? And do you know how many times she’s crashed into my place unexpectedly through the window? It’s the same thing! It’s just that this time, no windows need to be smashed. Come on, let’s try it…”

“Mistress is… hungry for magic.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “It’s research. This could be important! What if we had to rescue somepony from a desperate situation, or take on some other task in a mage-meld? If we can’t rely on Princess Celestia we have to be able to take care of ourselves. Or, I guess, if we don’t want to rely on Princess Celestia for everything?”

Trixie nodded slowly. “Mistress has a point… so it’s time for us to learn the limits of our power, together?”

“I think it’s very important, Trixie. Are you okay with focussing on Rainbow Dash? I’ll try really hard not to direct the focus. The funny thing is, I haven’t handled Rainbow in that way.” Twilight flushed a bit. “Which is not to say she hasn’t, erm, handled me… but that was a long time ago. It seems like another lifetime.”

Trixie gave Twilight a very skeptical look. “That pony would not make a good top at all, Mistress. Not enough humility and perspective.”

“It wasn’t like that!” protested Twilight. “Not exactly.”

“Does Mistress wish this Rainbow pony to be the focus?”

Twilight was still a faintly reddish lavender. “Yes. Please direct your focus onto her gestalt, seek for it—give me a second, and get ready for some Twilight magepower.”

Trixie’s sulky look softened. “That, at least, makes it all worthwhile… okay… okay… ready.”

Twilight Sparkle took two deep breaths, shutting her eyes, and her horn lit up and began to coruscate.

Trixie’s head lifted, her jaw set, staring into space at nothing, her neck and body tensing, the corners of her mouth turning up in anticipation. “Yes…”

A beam of magical power leapt from Twilight’s horn to Trixie’s, and the blue unicorn shuddered, panting. “Yes! hhhh… yes! More!”

Twilight let out a little squeak of effort, grinding her teeth, and her energies grew even more intense, causing Trixie to begin trembling. Gradually, Trixie’s whole body was haloed in Twilight’s magic aura, and it seethed across her as if pent up and seeking an outlet.

“Oh, yes, yes… almost… almost… GYAHH!”

As Trixie squealed, a shockwave of her own magic flared out from her horn with blinding speed, racing beyond the walls of Twilight’s bedroom instantaneously. Then, as if reflected from somewhere, it reappeared, contracting onto Trixie once more, and for an instant the blue unicorn glowed from within—a color mingling her magic and Twilight’s—while she served as the fulcrum for the spell, channeling the overwhelming flood of Twilight’s power to its distant focal point.

Rainbow Dash appeared in a flare of melded magic beside them, dropping with a pegasus flump onto the bed. Trixie collapsed next to her, panting and quivering and smelling of sexual arousal, and Twilight bowed her head and took a deep breath.

“Hi, Rainbow Dash,” she said. “I guess you’re wondering why we brought… you… um… here?”

She’d looked at Dash and her words stuck in her throat.

Rainbow was looking back at her in such a peculiar way. Perhaps the most worrying thing was the total lack of anger. Something horrible was wrong.

“Why would you want me?” she said, and there was the anger—but it wasn’t pointed the right direction for Dash. Her eyes had dropped, the anger was turned inward, the line of her mouth spoke of bitterness.

“Rainbow? What’s the matter?” said Twilight.

Dash looked up, tearful, resentful. “You shouldn’t have brought me here. I should go away.”

“What happened? What happened, Rainbow?”

She couldn’t face Twilight’s anxious eyes. “I need to leave, okay? I have some stuff to think about. Which isn’t helping. Bye, I’ll, I’ll… I’ll see you if I can be a decent pony, okay? Maybe not for a while. I have to go.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped, but Dash was already moving. She got to her hooves as if she was inexplicably very old, and took to her wings as if they were unfamiliar to her. To Twilight’s inexperienced eyes, they looked a little unkempt, which also seemed strange for Rainbow Dash. It all added up to an ominous and unexplained picture.

Rainbow Dash left. The absence of ceremony only drew attention to how larger than life Dashie’s usual ways were. She wasn’t even moping larger than life: she just left, seemingly very preoccupied.

Twilight stared at Trixie, aghast. “I knew she was having a hard time with things, but…”

“That was amazing!”

The contrast couldn’t be greater. Trixie was glowing. Her eyes shone, a little too wild, and she was panting, her little unicorn tongue peeking out of her muzzle. Trixie had tasted Twilight’s magic surging through her, and had steered and directed it. From the looks of it she’d steered it with her vag—except that for a unicorn, there were intimacies beyond the physical.

“We have to do it again, Twilight!”

“I don’t know—can you wait a minute? I want to go after Rainbow Dash and find out what’s the matter. You realize I don’t always pick up on things like that? I have a feeling that if I’m noticing her bad mood, it’s really bad.”

“No, that can wait!” demanded Trixie. She stamped a forehoof, but since she was on Twilight’s bed, it made a little fluffy sound rather than the strident bang she’d intended. “More practice!”

Twilight gave her a sidelong glance. “So determined! Well, miss unicorn pony, I’m a little tired now. That was a big deal, even for me. I’d say I can’t imagine what it was like for you… but I think can guess.”

Trixie glared. “Trixie wishes this to continue. Immediately.”

“Sweet Celestia, it was that good for you?”

To this, Trixie responded only with a rolling of the eyes.

Twilight smirked. “Maybe this dom-mood of yours has its uses. There’s another step, but it’s far beyond your abilities. I bet you can’t do it. Instead of me flooding you with power, you handle the focus and draw directly from me rather than yourself. I can be willing but I won’t push, this time. You’ll find your maximum energies will be those of my powers rather than yours. But you’ll never do it.”

Twilight’s tone had slipped into a teasing, provocative mode, following the ever-changing dynamic of their relationship into another zone where Twilight was the playful, balky servant and Trixie the domineering but captivated mistress. Trixie responded with enthusiasm and a haughty sneer. “The little pony does not intend to make the effort?”

Twilight smirked—a little distracted from worry about Dash, but responding in turn. Trixie didn’t have her kind of power, but the hyper-confidence of the dominatrix was just the sort of thing that would help with the next lesson. A big dose of arrogance was needed for reaching into another pony’s head and just helping yourself to their power—it wasn’t very ponylike at all, and was normally hard to learn.

A little provocation might help.

Twilight winked. “This little pony doubts Trixie has it in her. I mean, I’ll open myself to it—but you won’t just be channeling, this time. You have to open the channel, but also get a momentum going with the psychic force. But it won’t matter because you can’t do it. Can you?”

Trixie had seen where that was headed from the first three words. “I shall! Prepare your mind to be drained utterly at the behest of the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“Mmmmm…” crooned Twilight teasingly, and closed her eyes, going quiet.

Trixie gritted her teeth, and her horn flared into brightness as she seized on the channeling technique she’d used, and tugged at Twilight’s power experimentally, trying to get the feel of the process.

Twilight sighed with pleasure, and felt her body wink this time. Feeling Trixie’s power touching her mind was unexpectedly arousing. Her muzzle quirked into a wicked smile as she provoked just a little bit more. “Did you forget to specify a focus again?”

At this, Trixie’s eyes widened, and then flashed with decision. The glow from her horn doubled, and Twilight felt a fierce tug on her magic, drawing on every bit as much as she’d used for summoning Rainbow Dash.

And then, Twilight recognized the taste of the focus Trixie had. Her eyes flew open and she cried out, even as the meld drained her power in a sudden debilitating surge.

“…no!”

Princess Celestia appeared in mid-air, and dropped to the bed between them in a confused flapping of huge alicorn wings.

Her weight crushed the center of the bed down, and one foreleg splayed off the bed awkwardly. Twilight and Trixie were toppled against her by the changed weight distribution on the mattress, their bodies pressing hers, nestled suddenly under her vast wingspan—she couldn’t fold her wings unless they moved.

Twilight did, frantically scrambling free, scarlet with shame. Trixie’d had her so worked up, and she knew she whiffed of mare lust, and being suddenly thrown against Princess Celestia had nearly stopped her heart—certain secret fantasies leapt to the front of her mind and cavorted for an instant before Twilight’s psyche beat them back in squealing dismay. Twi was speechless, standing before Celestia in trembling horror.

Trixie wasn’t.

“…oh, gooood…”

Princess Celestia didn’t look at Trixie. She did bow her head and sniff the air, with results apparently unsurprising to her, but her eyes were fixed only on Twilight’s—and she was one word away from speechless, but got several uses out of that word.

“What… what… What?!”

“So gooood…” sighed Trixie, apparently boneless with satiation and unable to roll away from her cozy spot against the Princess’s side.

Celestia glanced downward at the little blue unicorn pony, and returned her gaze to Twilight’s, and anger began to force words out of her. “I—I would have thought not! Twilight Sparkle, what have you done?”

“We… we were practicing…”

Celestia got her hooves under her, struggling to rise. Her discomfiture was more frightening to Twilight than her anger. She got up, began to move off the bed, and Trixie rolled under her, sensuously limp. It wasn’t helping Princess Celestia’s anger at all to have a floppy, sated Lulamoon rubbing against her legs.

“While I, I… understand the desire to practice your developing powers, it… the… Twilight Sparkle, what were you thinking?”

Twilight couldn’t face the Princess at all, and scraped her hoof along the floor as she tried to think of what to say. “Um… we have to be able to take care of ourselves…”

“By, by interfering with me? Twilight, you can reach me through Spike’s ability to send scrolls! What purpose is served by teleporting me here against my will? I confess I am astonished that you were able to do it at all!”

“I didn’t do it all by myself,” mumbled Twilight.

Celestia’s eyes narrowed further as she glanced down at Trixie, whose body still lay against her legs. “Your companion appears to be quite drained by the experience.”

That was putting it gently. Trixie was a puddle, as if she’d had a massive unicorngasm all packed into one burst of impossibly potent magic. Her tongue lolled and her eyes were half-lidded. Both the Princess and Twilight could see she was in no condition to reason with.

Celestia’s gaze returned to Twilight, who whimpered—the alicorn was trembling with building rage, and began by speaking softly, but her voice rose and rose as she went on.

“Listen carefully, Twilight Sparkle. You will have to convey my instructions to your companion when you feel they will be heard. As much as I respect your abilities, they come with responsibility as to their use, responsibility you are blithely ignoring!”

Twilight began to cower back, lip quivering as Celestia’s voice lashed her.

“As you work with other powerful magic users you will find that some of them have duties beyond pleasuring a companion in idleness! It is not so much the personal indignity—I could have been doing something delicate, something that ill befits interference! Twilight Sparkle, I raise the SUN! I have responsibilities!”

Twilight had scrabbled backwards until her rump pressed the wall, unable to bear Princess Celestia’s rising anger. She had never seen the Princess lose control of her temper before. Somehow it was worse that Celestia was not simply cursing her out…

“Will you interfere with me as I enable the workings of the very world?”

Twilight whimpered, tears coming to her eyes.

“Do not DARE to do this ever again!”

The words echoed through Twilight’s library house, but before the sound had even died away, Celestia was gone—teleporting back to Canterlot, too angry to depart graciously. There was no soaring upward to teleport against the moon or a cloud, no elegant pose. She’d teleported away with the abruptness of a slammed door.

Twilight blubbered on the floor for a moment, and then bawled, her head in her hooves, inconsolable, her wail filling the emptiness left after Celestia’s angry words.

Trixie blinked groggily, and crawled off the bed, going to Twilight and hugging her. “Oh, Mistress…”

Twilight was having trouble breathing, she was crying so hard. She shuddered and sobbed, getting hiccups, a little purple unicorn pony helpless to even get up or talk coherently, and Trixie clung to her, offering what comfort she could. “Trixie is sorry…”

“She hates me! She hates me!” wailed Twilight, and Trixie’s heart sank.

All she could think of to say was the worst possible thing to say, and so she bit her lip, stared angrily at nothing, tried her best, but finally… Trixie said it anyway. “Trixie hates her right back!”

That got Twilight’s attention in a big hurry. “But… How dare you? She hates me, and it’s your fault!”

“Trixie is sorry. But she’s a big jerk, and doesn’t deserve you…”

“No no. Oh no no no…” Twilight wiped her tears, and glared through them. “I ought to…”

Trixie’s lips parted—on two parts of her. She glanced at the rod that sat on a table across the room, looking deceptively innocent. Twilight followed the glance, and her jaw dropped.

“You think I’m going to… you did ALL THAT just so I would…”

“No, Mistress! No! Trixie really didn’t! But if it would help you feel better…”

Twilight screwed her eyes shut, her teeth gritted. “I do not believe this, I do not believe this…”

“Because even though Trixie wasn’t thinking of that at all, she deserves to be punished very hard for her foolish mistake…”

“I’ll break it,” said Twilight flatly. “I’ll snap it in two. How’s that for punishment, Trixie?”

Trixie gasped, and then turned sullen. “It’s mine. It was a gift. It’s mine, Mistress…”

“True,” said Twilight. “Yeah. It is. You’re right. I can’t do that. Even if I did, I can’t figure out if that would just reward you in some twisted way…”

Trixie dropped her gaze, sulky. “Mistress shall do as she pleases. The Princess is still a big jerk. Move the sun, my blue bottom. As if it were made of glass, or fine china. Does she think it will fall down if she drops it?”

“Enough! Go sit in the corner! Don’t do anything, don’t say anything. Princess Celestia talked about responsibility. Between you and me, we can do amazing magical feats. I’m still not sure how far that extends but it might prove very important in the future,” said Twilight Sparkle. Her face twisted for a moment. “Especially if I’ve pissed our Princess off and made her not want to help us any more. So we need you… but right now I don’t even want to see you, I’m so angry.”

Trixie glared. “Angry just because you’ve offended a big…”

“Enough!”

Trixie trudged over to the indicated corner, with dragging hooves, and sat obediently. She pouted. Why couldn’t Twilight be a proper Mistress and be strong, laugh at everything? Why did she have to turn into such a quivering ninny over stupid Princesses? She was probably just as powerful as they were, thought Trixie, and much more beautiful. It was so unfair, heartbreakingly so.

Trixie then bit her lip and revised her concept of ‘heartbreaking’, for Twilight had sprawled in her bed and begun to cry again, and Trixie knew she had nothing whatever to say that would help.

“Sister! Pray unburden yourself, what troubles you? We have not seen this mood upon you in centuries! Or, well, a thousand years and then centuries… Whatever is the matter?”

Princess Celestia gave Luna a hard look, her jaw set. “Lulamoons! That’s what’s the matter!”

On seeing Luna’s obvious dismay, Celestia collected herself. “I’m sorry. I’m letting it get to me. Do you know what that Trixie Lulamoon has done?”

“Please, tell me, sister.”

Celestia sighed. “They’re… or I should say she’s… at the mage melding again. She’s got Twilight doing it. Can you imagine? I’m convinced Trixie has more power than she knows. I suspect she’s not very well trained, but her latent power is formidable, and we both know Twilight is a force to be reckoned with. They teleported me, against my will, sister.”

Luna gasped. “With hostile intent? You battled them?”

“For fun! No, sister, I did not battle them. I scolded them.” Celestia winced. “I may have an apology to make—I quite lost my temper with Twilight. The poor thing didn’t know what hit her, she has never seen me angry, except at powerful foes. And this was more personal—dear me, yes. I shall have to apologize to Twilight. Perhaps with a scroll, it might frighten her if I turned up in person…”

“How is it more personal?” began Luna, and then stopped, for Celestia was blushing.

“I was in the smallest room of the palace, that’s how. I very nearly made water on Twilight’s paramour. From what I’ve seen of her, she would probably like it—no, that’s unfair to her, I cannot assume. I fear I’m assuming far too many things—I must think. And I must hasten to that smallest room again!”

Luna had knit her brow. “I must say, sister, if these ponies have misbehaved thus, surely no apology is warranted. You have chastised them?”

“Oh, sister. Of course I did, but I am afraid I suggested to Twilight that she’d endangered the Sun—I made a great commotion about the fact that it’s my duty to raise the Sun. I fear I implied that if she jostled my hocks in that duty, I might drop it.”

Luna blinked. “Oh, come on!”

“Indeed,” sighed Celestia. “Such an effort it would be to bring it across the heavens! It is much accustomed to its usual path, as am I. The very concept of such a disaster is absurd, and terribly unfair to poor Twilight. I really will have to make some manner of polite amends.”

“And this Lulamoon?”

Celestia sighed again. “Is it not the same as of old, that they want their freedom and independence? I promised Twilight I would allow them that. I must, must, must work harder on being tolerant when they exercise it in unseemly ways. Sister, please! Don’t ask me more questions now. Silly Twilight interrupted important royal business! It will have to be our secret that such business hardly involves raising the Sun—but for all that, this business still cannot wait!”

Celestia trotted off, and Luna remained, looking out the palace window over Equestria and Ponyville, off in the distance.

Her face was grave. Some secrets died awfully hard. Celestia had spoken of her responsibilities—but as always, she was talking herself into the softer, gentler path, speaking of apologies owed, amends to be made.

Luna remembered her beloved, recalcitrant Lulamoons, and she did not think this Trixie would respond to apologies usefully. Yes, Twilight would be soothed by the amends, and Twilight was a nice little unicorn who deserved that kindness—but if Trixie was anything like the Lulamoons Luna had known and loved, she would likely learn quite the wrong moral from that lesson.

And though the Sun would not be in danger, Luna considered what her sister had told her about the Lulamoon clan who had wrested the moon from her grasp. Now, a Lulamoon was exploring her mage-meld abilities using Princess Celestia’s pet student, Twilight Sparkle, as a power source.

Luna’s expression darkened. And, since it would not be Twilight to make Celestia the focus—of that, Princess Luna was absolutely certain—then it had to be Trixie, the Lulamoon, who’d channeled Twilight’s power to do it. More than that—Trixie had to have been drawing directly on Twilight, and it would have had to be sudden or Twilight would have rejected the meld.

These things depended so much on personality and attitude. Trixie had seemed charming in person, but some of Celestia’s fears seemed well founded. They had a rogue mage on their hooves who cared nothing for royalty’s dignity, and who was able to mage-meld as well as Luna had ever seen—with a nearly limitless, willing power source right there in the person of Celestia’s favorite pet pony—who had to be very hurt and distressed. She was no Lulamoon at heart, she’d always seemed so eager to please… of course, thought Luna, in other ways that was very Lulamoon indeed.

Princess Celestia was losing her pet over this rogue Lulamoon. Her Twilight was getting sucked into actions and situations that would upset her, even endanger her, all because she’d shacked up with this one throwback Lulamoon.

Princess Luna’s eyes narrowed.

Sometimes one’s pleasures were also one’s responsibilities. Sister was not the only one with messes to clean up.

But, to be kindest to everypony, Luna’s clean-up methods would have to be… different.

Penthouse Pauper

“Don’t get me wrong, I can see why you’re suggestin’ me bein’ on top…”

“I should think that was obvious,” said Rarity. “I shan’t risk injuring you again. You’ll need to go slowly, as well. Perhaps withholding, deliciously…”

“What’s so delicious about NOT fuckin’?” demanded Applejack.

Rarity sighed. “There are so many things I must teach you. I’d hoped this would be, shall we say, the shallow end of the pool…”

Applejack glared at her unicorn lover as she lay on the bed. “I’ll fuck ya right side up, upside down, swingin’ from the barn rafters if ya want, but Rarity, this just don’t make sense!”

Rarity glared back, spread-eagled on her own bed, her tail artfully arranged in a fetching convolution of purple curls. Sturdy cuffs held her hooves, and gleaming chains ran from the cuffs to fastenings at the bed-posts. Not merely fastenings, either—each one contained a little glittering winch that could be turned by pony teeth.

The argument had begun when Rarity had fastened herself in, her magic working diligently to set up the apparatus—and said “Get me good and tight, darling!” to Applejack.

“You must allow me some of my own fun,” said Rarity. “I’m trying to share it with you. I quite trust you, darling. Isn’t that so obviously the point?”

“Wull, yeah, but… ain’t gonna be much in the way of thrustin’ stallion hips, the way you reckon things ought to be…”

“Fine! If you wish thrusting stallion hips, you supply them! I am of the opinion that to break in your marehood safely, I had better leave the moving to you. I simply wish to do that in a way I find arousing, and of course that may include withholding if you so choose. Is that so hard to understand?”

“You wanna be tied down—so’s you can’t even move or nothin’—and then have me NOT fuck ya?”

“The power is entirely in your hooves. You have complete freedom,” said Rarity. She licked her lips. “Imagine when it’s your turn to be helpless. I am. I assure you of that, darling.”

“Meanin’ you’re imagining it, or meanin’ you’re helpless?”

“Both,” said Rarity. “But please, attend to those winches! I want to be tight, it’s just not the same otherwise. Pretty please? I’ll make you an extra omelet for breakfast.”

Applejack squinted at her suspiciously. “One of them frou-frou omelets where I need an extra one anyway to do a day’s work?”

“Oh, come on, Applejack, don’t be such a big baby!”

Applejack’s lip stuck out in a pout. She walked deliberately around the bed, leaning over to tighten each winch as Rarity insisted, her eyes watching Rarity’s expression all the while. Her eyes narrowed, for with each winch’s tightening, her unicorn lover’s expression grew more sensuous.

“Exactly how tight you want them things, Rarity?” she asked.

Rarity made a little snarl of lust, baring her teeth. “Hardcore!”

Applejack shook her head. “I ain’t givin’ you but a little tiny bit more, sugarcube. Them winches is geared down, I can see that plain. I’ll take up all th’ slack and that’s it.”

“Coward. Fuck you. More!”

Applejack shot Rarity a hard look. “Coward I may be but I ain’t as dumb as you think. You just said that hopin’ I’d see red and give it a few more cranks. Right?”

Rarity’s smirk was all the answer she needed.

“Well now—I’m done crankin’. You ain’t goin’ nowheres. So, ya magic the bit into your mouth now, and I ride you off into th’ sunset? That it?”

Rarity smiled up at Applejack from the bed, the magic bit gleaming cheerfully from the pillow beside her. “What happens now is whatever you wish. Work your will upon me, and learn the ways of this new experience. Oh—unless I say the words ‘spikey-wikey’. That means, desist at once—it’s a thing called a safeword and I would have you respect it. You need to devise one before I’ll allow you to take this role.”

Applejack was speechless, and then… “You are SHITTIN’ me.”

“Not in the least. I’m perfectly serious and I need you to acknowledge that before we start.”

“Spikey-wikey?!?”

Rarity winced. “For Celestia’s sake don’t ever tell him. I’m good enough that I’ve never needed to use it. But you’ll agree it blows a big hole in the mood?”

“Just a bit!”

“Good. Remember that. Because I hasten to point out—‘no’ is not a safeword with me. Do you understand?”

Applejack stared at the spread-eagled unicorn mare, startled. “Uh…”

“Screaming is not the safeword,” added Rarity. “Begging you to stop is not the safeword. This is a little game we play with each other, and these are the rules. You’ll have rules of your own, that you decide upon. These are mine. I have one safeword, which I have told you. I shan’t forget it and I’ll trust you not to forget it—but NOTHING else is the safeword. Do you understand?”

“Aw, Rarity!” said Applejack, helplessly. “Why ya gotta…”

“Do you understand, Applejack?”

Applejack sulked. “Yeah. Yeah, I understand. When you say hardcore you ain’t fuckin’ around, huh?”

“When you see where it brings me, darling, then perhaps you’ll understand better. The ball, as they say, is in your court. Take me!”

Applejack sat on her haunches, staring at Rarity. “Excuse me for noticin’, but y’all set things up so you’re helpless, and now you’re bein’ snotty and demandin’. You can’t expect me to do what you tell me or you wouldn’a trussed yourself up like that. I’m jes’ wondering how crazy you ‘spect me to git.”

Rarity lifted an eyebrow, batting her lashes.

Applejack licked her lips. “I’mma have myself a lil’ snack. Just ta see. And cos’ I din’t get enough that one time. How’s that grab ya?”

Rarity wriggled in her restraints. “No?” she said. It was, so obviously, in the form of a question.

“Well, now, what if I was ta say yes yes yes?”

“No,” said Rarity. Somehow, it was still a question—or in quotations.

“Crazy pointy-head pony,” muttered Applejack, and grinned. “You’ll say somethin’ else if you mean it. I believed you. I ain’t stupid.”

Rarity wriggled again, staring with wide eyes as Applejack clambered onto the bed and loomed, her head dipping to between Rarity’s legs, her breath hot against Rarity’s elegant vagina.

“Last chance ta wikey…” suggested Applejack, and her tongue lolled playfully, glinting with saliva.

“Hnnnn!” groaned Rarity, trying fruitlessly to wriggle away. Before Applejack’s eyes, her pussy winked, good and hard. She said nothing, absolutely nothing, about ‘wikey’.

Applejack leaned in—and helped herself.

Rarity’s head went back, her teeth bared, her muscles tensed as the country pony’s tongue stroked her mound, caressing white curves and pink labia. She couldn’t get away from the gently nuzzling head between her legs, nose nudging her privates, tongue exploring them—she could tell Applejack wasn’t trying to keep from drooling. Her tongue felt wet, her groin cool from the evaporation of Applejack’s saliva against her.

Applejack squirmed, wriggling in a little closer to the apex formed by Rarity’s tight-stretched legs, glancing up across Rarity’s body in concern—for she heard her lover panting, and felt Rarity’s inner thigh shuddering against her cheek. She wondered if the crazy pointy-head mare needed more direct attention in there. Lickin’ up the legs was all well and good, but if you didn’t like lickin’ anyhoof, it might not be going the right direction.

With a satisfied “Mmmmmmm…”, Applejack pointed her tongue, and sunk it between Rarity’s elegant lips, pushing it into unicorn pussy and savoring the heat and wetness that enfolded it.

“AHHHnnnn!”

Applejack grinned, in spite of the awkward position of her tongue. “Ooo ike at, mm?”

Rarity wasn’t answering—except with shudders, jolts, and bared teeth. The change in her was astounding. It was plain to see why she’d begged to be strung tight—her muscles stood out, her body tensed and alive, her tail twitching under Applejack’s chin. Her ass clenched, and as she let out a series of high-pitched whimpers, seemingly trying to repress words, her vag began winking spasmodically against Applejack’s tongue.

“Oh yah…” managed Applejack. “Oh ‘y ‘ove…”

It was always so uncomfortable, thought Applejack. Made you wish you were—well, Pinkie Pie—or that you had a tongue like some snake that just stuck way out, because it was such a strain. She hadn’t got nearly enough practice while she was with D… yeah. She thrust her tongue as far forward as she could, which still left so much unicorn pussy unreached, and she pressed her face hungrily against Rarity’s crotch, twisting her head, working her tongue within Rarity’s depths—or at least as far as she could reach, which seemed to be a few inches. Pinkie wasn’t so crazy, thought Applejack. This was fine—awful damn special. Even if she couldn’t have Dashie’s pert excitable vag, this was real fine… her flesh was maybe even more silky, her juices as juicy, her flavor a little muskier which was an interesting contrast against how clean and white her body was. And oh my, how she shook and kicked—or tried to kick, anyway—and those little screams she was makin’, it was a beautiful thing…

“NGGggg! GRRRhhh! Do it! Ravage that filthy hole!” cried Rarity, thrashing her head from side to side.

Applejack’s eyes flew wide. “Uht ‘ilhy hole?”

“Desecrate me! Ngggh!”

Applejack pulled her head back, her tongue retreating, ashamed, into her mouth. She stared in astonishment at Rarity’s gaping vagina. It was juicy as anything, gleaming rosy pink all over. It looked delicious. It had been delicious.

“Now see here!”

Rarity’s head came up, and she was glaring. “Do it!”

“What the hell? It ain’t filthy, dammit! It’s lovely! Why would ah shove my tongue in a filthy hole? That there’s a beautiful ponypussy on a beautiful pony lady!”

Rarity gritted her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut. “Don’t ruin it for me, okay?”

“Well see here—I was tryin’ to…” began Applejack.

“I was about to come, damn it! Get that slobbery stiff appendage in there and use me like I was wretched refuse!”

Applejack’s head went back further, staring at Rarity’s irate gaze in shock and anger, her eyes going between the sapphire fires of Rarity’s eyes and the gaping, expectant fever of Rarity’s aroused vagina. She felt her brow furrowing, felt that she was glaring at her lover, and it was like a flashback to the times Dashie had goaded her into stallioning good and hard. She spotted the bit, still glittering on the pillow by Rarity’s head.

“Stiff appendage, huh?”

Applejack lunged forward and snatched up Rarity’s bit, between her teeth, and felt a stallion’s cock spring into existence between her legs—and perhaps it was her mood, but it was a hard, angry cock, not on Rarity’s scale but flared out aggressively and stiff as stone.

“T’me t’ take a ride!”

With that, Applejack scrambled forward, jockeying for position, readying herself and placing her hooves—and pushed her stiff stallionhood into Rarity with one firm, deep thrust.

Applejack’s “Nggghh!” was drowned out by Rarity’s squeal, but for a moment Applejack wasn’t hearing a thing. Her full attention was on that delicious sensation as her flared cock-head tucked in, squeezed, and popped through mare tightnesses to plunge into the wet dark warmth made for it—Rarity’s fierce vaginal grip stroking down the length of her shaft and clenching aggressively at the base. It wasn’t the sharp, pinchy sensation of things going wrong, it was the fully engaged clench of sheer lust that had met her, and it was a feeling she’d written off too easily.

It was also weird at the same time—for she was thrusting her cock into a body splayed out to the bedposts, pinned and immobile against anything she could do. Rarity would not be hugging her back, or kicking her legs out in ecstacy, or writhing in her embrace. If she thrust too deep, she’d not be nudging her lover forward—the hapless unicorn would be trapped in the vicelike grip of the hoof-cuffs, stretched tight while she’d begged to be strung even tighter, and Applejack’s powerful hindquarters would be delivering brutal forces to Rarity’s insides.

Applejack took a breath, trembling, and began to move her hips with care.

That grip was so firm… it felt amazing. Applejack wished she could have two heads so she could watch the turgid, throbbing stallionhood wedged between Rarity’s legs, tugging partway out and then plunging gently to her lover’s depths, thick shaft steadily vanishing within pony vulva like some magic trick, to be drawn back out glistening and dripping. Rarity wailed, made guttural moans and groans through gritted teeth, squeezed her eyes shut and thrashed her head around—and there was no mistaking the feeling of juicy mare, that warmth and suppleness and easy glide that revealed Rarity was lubricating like crazy.

It was beautiful, even with the bondage, thought Applejack—she was getting into a lovely rhythm, her stiff stallion-cock plunging noisily into her mare over and over. And gosh, it was noisy: from everything she could tell, her size and her flare were working great for Rarity. She remembered Twilight telling her how the flare expanded out, how it felt enormous sliding back and forth inside you, and from looking at Rarity’s lust-maddened eyes she could well believe every word of it, and seeing the mad lustfulness she was creating worked her up more, and she grinned around the bit as she swung her hips with joyful care, thumping Rarity’s insides just right with each plunge…

It built and built until Rarity was squealing again, and the noise was beyond belief—outrageous squelches and slurps. Applejack had a feeling Rarity was lying in a puddle of her own goo—there was no way she hadn’t oozed all over her own ass and dripped down onto the bed, and a hint of concern snuck onto the country pony’s face. She slowed up just a bit, panting, and looked cautiously at her lover, who seemed about to explode.

“Y’all… okay w’th th’ mess, sug’rcube?”

Rarity thrashed against the restraints, convulsed by the implication.

“NGH! YES! Mommy’s a filthy pony!” bellowed Rarity.

Applejack stared in horror, frozen mid-thrust, as Rarity writhed and exploded in climax, clenching noisily against the hard stallion cock, her horn glittering with weak magical sparks, drool coming unheeded from the side of her elegant mouth as her back arched off the bed again and again and her tail thrashed wetly against the sheets.

“AAAAAAH! NNNH! NGUHH! YES! HHHH! uhhh! filthy! ngghhh! ggyyAHH! hhh! hhh! hh…?”

Rarity’s eyes cleared just enough from the red haze of filthy, shameful, degraded lust she wallowed in—and saw.

Applejack’s lip quivered. She held her position, her cock thrust deep into her lover for better enjoyment, but Applejack’s eyes were tragic, tearful, her ears back in dismay. As Rarity watched, a tear dripped silently onto her chest, her filthy sweat-sullied chest. She lay beneath Applejack, penetrated brutally to the last aching, hard-used inch, gloriously degraded and befouled—and Applejack wept.

Rarity’s mind was still blurred by the ferocity of her orgasm, but she didn’t hesitate. She gulped, and then her horn flared to life again, working frantically on her own bindings, releasing the winches, unclamping the cuffs, tossing the gear off the side of the bed in a series of heavy clunks and metallic noises—and Rarity reached up with forelegs and hindlegs and embraced her lover in a tight hug.

“Oh, you poor darling!”

“Awwwww!” It was half a protest, and the other half was simply an outburst of crying. Applejack’s body was trembling in Rarity’s embrace. “Awwww, R’rity! N’wwwww!”

“Let go, darling, let go of the nasty old bit thing… that’s it, we’re done with that part, you don’t have to be that anymore, poor dear…”

Applejack let the bit fall, and her bulky stallionhood withdrew from Rarity’s squelching confines and was gone. She dropped her head and cried, letting Rarity stroke her mane. “Awww, Rarity! I’m sorry! It’s… I… I jes’ couldn’t keep up with all y’all kinkiness! Ah am so sorry!”

“Hush, hush—it is I who am sorry, beloved! I should have known it would not work for you, you wish to depart from the coarse realms of stallionnishness, how cruel of me to entice you into those waters again…”

Applejack shook her head weakly. “Naw, it weren’t that… aw, darlin’, I was tryin’ ta make sweet love! Why, why…” She gulped. “Aw, darlin’, all that filthy stuff, and callin’ yourself Mommy, and honey I jes’ couldn’t keep up, I’m so sorry, I couldn’t understand…”

Rarity’s expression was a glower, but it seemed directed as much at herself as it was at Applejack. “I see… baby steps, then, if even that… I am so hideously greedy, curse it, so insufferably voracious… though admittedly it played into my fetishes wonderfully…”

“I wanted to make hot love to you, darlin’,” said Applejack, with a sniffle. Rarity wiped her eyes with a careful hoof, and she continued. “You’re a precious pony an’ no mistake. How can I learn? I feel like I can’t understand what makes you happy. Even when I’m doin’ jes’ that! It makes me so upset…”

“Hush,” soothed Rarity. “First! It was wonderful for me. No argument! That really worked. But it hurt you, let’s go back to what worked for you… Second! Did poor sweet darling get stranded without coming? If you’d been a boy, Applejack, that look would’ve been you trying desperately to maintain an erection. Using a magical device ensures that—but still: was your pleasure spoiled?”

Applejack’s eyes were wide and forlorn, and she nodded in reply. “I’m sorry… I know you wanted me to share an’ all…”

“No apology necessary,” said Rarity, kissing her on the nose. “This life is all about negotiating scenes! It would be dreadful if there were no surprises and adjustments. This is how we know we’re keeping it real! Let us return to cleaner waters, ahaha, that are less threatening for you.”

Her horn glowed again, and the bit rose into the air. Rarity snapped cheerfully at it, and Applejack gasped as she felt the massive Rarity-cock thrust forth, under her belly, and then squeeze off to the side between her belly and hindleg, where it poked absurdly out into the air.

“H’re I am!” grinned Rarity, around the bit. “Did poor sweet d’rling want sweet love?”

“Aww!” said Applejack, tearing up again. “That was what we was gonna do, weren’t it?”

“W’snt, dear… but yes, it was time. Poor sweet girl… Rari-stallion’s s’rry about all that, r’lly…”

Applejack knit her brow. “Naw, it ain’t how you think, honestly it ain’t… Normally it ain’t no thing for me ta stallion… but if that’s the way you got to fuck, as a mare…”

“L’ts not worry about that now, d’rling?”

Applejack sighed. “Right. Let’s not. Uh… yeah, it would soothe my feelin’s to make love my way, I won’t lie. Are you sure you’re up for it? After what I saw? Is that really your speed?”

Rarity’s eyes were determined. “I ‘WE you th’t.”

“You owe me? I din’t ask if you could FORCE yourself into it,” retorted Applejack. “Will you even like it?”

Rarity sighed, stretched her neck up, and nuzzled Applejack’s cheek. “Do you tr’st me so little? P’rt of it ‘s caring. L’t me love you…”

Applejack teared up a little, again. “Consarn it, Rarity…”

“L’t me love you,” repeated Rarity, and they needed no further treacherous, useless words.

Applejack dipped her head, and allowed Rarity to nuzzle her, wiping away the tears with her soft nose. She sighed again, but let touch be her guide, let the warmth and the embrace soothe her—and they didn’t lie, there was love there, there was a deep caring. That had never really been in doubt, even as Rarity had gone to impossibly strange mental places in the heat of orgasm.

Rarity shifted her hips under her lover, gently, and the massive unicorn cock was squeezed between them, causing Applejack to giggle—which caused Rarity to smile a radiant smile, and shift her hips again, drinking in the sight of the overwhelmed pony feeling obviously better. Words hadn’t helped, but the loving touch helped. Soon, Applejack’s eyes had softened, and looked less sad.

Applejack began flicking her tail, as Rarity nuzzled up at her chin. Rarity looked a question at her, and Applejack answered with a solemn, smiling nod—and lifted herself, scooting forward against Rarity, first a little—and then, with an expression of amused exasperation, a lot. She ended up practically straddling Rarity’s face—by the time Rarity’s huge stallionhood had come to rest between her legs, she was balancing herself over Rarity’s chest, and thinking to herself how terrific it was to be a mare, when you got right down to it. And, she thought, she surely was gettin’ right down to it.

Slowly, she pressed back.

At first Rarity’s cock was just a massive blunt wall she pressed against, a hard warm surface that didn’t even tuck into her, but a wriggle of the hips fixed that. Applejack canted her pelvis this way and that until she felt an intrusive sensation—and let out a gasp, as Rarity instinctively pushed a little more.

“I sh’d put back the r’straints…” muttered Rarity, but Applejack brought a forehoof to her lips silencing her tenderly.

“Jes’ hold steady, mah love. I kin teach you this, too.” Applejack didn’t go into detail about why she’d said ‘too’, but for a moment she saw Rainbow Dash’s uncertainty in Rarity’s eyes and wondered why some ponies had such a time trying to be gentle. She blinked, realizing it was just as curious why she had such a gift for it. Maybe it had to do with the way she’d repressed it all her life and played the Apple matriarch. Such a waste!

Applejack didn’t explain further. She bent down, kissed Rarity’s muzzle, locked eyes and began gently squirming with her hips, painting the bulky unicorn cock-head with her juices and working it slowly into her body, again with that odd joyous solemnness—like she was the bearer of a special magic all her own.

The little smile she wore said, to Rarity, that she knew it. Rarity watched the beauty blossom, entranced.

It took such a long time. The massive shaft inched its way deeper as Applejack pushed herself back onto it, with tender bites of her lip, shivers and sighs, never hurried. Rarity held perfectly still, as requested, her heart pounding. It was a different kind of withholding—not of torment, but of self-restraint.

As Applejack’s eyes closed in sensuous ecstacy—Rarity’s eyes roamed and devoured.

Her earth pony lover straddled her, those supple, shapely hips squirming and coaxing the lovely warm-toned body inch by inch back upon her throbbing stallionhood, and Rarity caught every detail, the pulse in Applejack’s throat, neck muscles tensing and then working as she gulped, licking her lips with that little pink tongue that could be so innocent and so shameful—eyelids fluttering in a precursor of orgasm. Rarity couldn’t look away, and though she held her body still, it seemed to inflame her wild imagination. Her pupils grew more dilated as she felt Applejack’s taut pussy grasp and slide down upon her, and her mind whirled with fantasy.

As Applejack bit her lip again and whimpered sweetly, Rarity pictured her splayed in restraints, dragged onto the stallionhood by huge chains, a whip laying her lovely rear open with a savage crack. Rarity’s horn glowed for a moment, and behind Applejack, a riding crop lifted—and then dropped. No, thought Rarity. Not without permission. She hasn’t even got a safeword beyond tears…

As Applejack pressed a few more inches, her body shuddering and a great quavery sigh issuing forth, Rarity imagined a hulking red form straddling them both, imagined Applejack’s eyes flying wide as her tight asshole was reamed by… no! Rarity gritted her teeth. She would have to show some restraint even in her thoughts, damn it!

Applejack sagged for a moment, gripping onto Rarity’s cock real hard, and Rarity stroked her mane, staring off into space. There had to be a way to direct her imagination… yes.

Applejack lifted her head again, gazing down at Rarity with luminous eyes, the lovely blonde mane framing her adorable face, and Rarity saw the look of sweet determination, the panting eagerness, and held herself even more still for Applejack’s final moves—and they weren’t long in coming.

As Applejack pressed backward with all four legs and the last few inches of stallion cock pushed into her, Rarity felt pressure against her cock-head and saw her lover gasp and shudder—and imagined, feverishly, without moving a muscle.

While the reeling earth pony bore down and rocked back and forth, working the massive shaft within her in a cozy but mind-melting nudging motion, Rarity pictured what she’d seen before, what seemed somehow just as right as this—a cerulean blue body, rearing, a fine proud pegasus erection displayed brazenly—but instead of being in the front room of the Boutique, Rarity imagined this directly behind the two of them.

As Applejack began to cry out and shiver, Rarity imagined that pegasus coming down upon her, sandwiching her between motionless unicorn and wild winged pony, nostrils flared, eyes fiery.

As Applejack’s vagina began to clench, Rarity imagined the blue stallionhood ramming hungrily up Applejack’s ass, joining hers within earth pony body, the one huge and still within tight-stretched vag, the other plunging fiercely, wedging deeply up earth pony ass and shoving through tight-squeezed buttocks again and again, just enough stallion-ooze to avoid the awful scraped feeling, but only just, so Applejack would feel that amazing burn of hard friction with all her nerves alight…

As Applejack’s head went back in a cry of delight, her mane flying, Rarity imagined the cerulean hips fiercely fucking, the wings madly flapping, churning the very room with a wind storm—and that lean, athletic back doubling in a series of squealing spasms as the ravenous pegasus rammed it deep and…

“NNNGH!”

Rarity came, hard.

Applejack squealed as she felt it. The unicorn cock seemed to swell up and go off in a single mighty surge, and the impact of the come against her insides was unbelievable. Rarity had been so good, she thought—so gentle and quiet, and sure enough, it had worked. She’d brought her unicorn lover off through tenderness, without whips and chains and nasty things. She was already coming, but that blast sent her soaring—her scream was a quavery, awed epiphany, her body gave way and she sagged against Rarity, exhausted and limp, panting her satisfaction.

“Oh… sweet… darlin’….”

Rarity stroked her neck, cuddling her limp form. “Exquisite. Nnnh! Oh, you are a treasure, Applejack, you are wondr’sness inc’rnate…” she said, without releasing the bit.

Applejack panted some more, her heart still pounding. “I reckon… it din’t do no damage that time OH baby that feels amazin’… hhh! Oh my!”

“Mmmmm,” crooned Rarity smugly. “Nothing is too g’d for my exquisite mare.”

“And… oh, Rarity! You listened! Tender and gentle as anythin’, I could see how hard you was concentratin’…”

“Mm. Yes… hah,” said Rarity. Applejack was nuzzling cheek to cheek, her eyes shut, and missed the guarded look that passed across the unicorn’s face.

“What were you thinkin’ of, darlin’?”

Rarity froze for an instant, but it was only an instant.

“I w’s thinking of you… so exquisite!”

Applejack blinked, and lifted her head. “But.. Ah’m here, my love. What’s there left to think of?”

Wide sapphire eyes blinked. Behind them, a keen unicorn mind whirred.

“I could think ab’t you exp’riencing this…”

Rarity’s hips tugged, and Applejack’s eyes flew wide. That obscene tugging sensation, like something was yanking on all your insides—but all the more intense, since Rarity’s stallionhood was so massive that it wedged into Applejack’s pelvis like a cork in a bottle.

“Y’ liked that, exq’isite one?”

Applejack reeled, her heart pounding and her eyes unfocused. “Oh lordy…”

“H’w ab’t this?”

“Aaaaahhh!”

Rarity grinned, delighting in her wickedness, as she rocked her hips very slightly back and forth, jouncing Applejack’s quivering body. Deep within Applejack’s vagina, the fat cock’s head gently squelched in a bath of come, against her cervix. Rarity had unloaded such a flood that it drenched her womb, and she stared wildly at nothing as she experienced an entirely new sensation—so thick was the plunger, that none of the spooge could escape.

Instead, the gentle rocking worked it inside her, physically pumping it through her cervical folds and in and out of her pony womb—and rather than the come drenching her womb and resting there, it churned gently but insistently within the heart of her femaleness.

“Nhhh… ghhh… hhh! Uhhh! Ahhh! nggAAHH!”

Applejack’s screams of ecstatic release built and built, and Rarity held her in position as she shook and spasmed, knowing the darling mare wouldn’t have felt anything like it.

She’d done that herself with a pint of lube and a very large sex-piston machine, years before, but there was something special about the natural touch, thought Rarity.

Applejack stared into space with a stunned expression, even as her cries grew weaker—her mind too racked by pleasure to even register when Rarity brushed her mane out of her eyes—and again, when Rarity finally relented, the blonde country pony had passed out from the force of her own orgasm. Rarity smiled—and when firm stroking of her lover’s neck produced no sign of awareness, she finally dropped the bit from her mouth onto the pillow.

The enormous cock shrank and withdrew—and a gush of Applejack juices and still-disappearing stallion come flowed out of Applejack’s gaping, wide-stretched pussy, spilling across Rarity’s crotch and re-drenching the base of her tail and the bedsheets.

Rarity didn’t even react to the befouling. She’d shut her eyes, and was dreamily stroking Applejack’s silky mane.

She would not force Applejack to bathe with her before sleep. Not this time. She’d lie in it until they arose—in a peculiar way, she’d earned that, whatever Applejack might think.

“Mommy’s a filthy but sentimental pony,” Rarity murmured, “yes she is…”

Desperate Measures

“Aw, Rarity! Them’s for me?”

“All for you, ravishing mare! Oh, please, try them on, do!”

The dress was a dark purple, like a black cherry, and it made Applejack’s tail look even blonder, but its most stunning trick was in its contours. It sheathed her lower back tightly and curved over in cunning seams that defined her dock between the gentle swellings of her rump—but it did not follow those curves down all the way. The dress clung to Applejack’s ass just far enough to hint at covering her, and then curled up in torn-looking angles, like the costume she’d worn on Hearth’s Warming Eve—revealing her earth-toned bottom more enticingly than even nakedness could manage.

Its front puffed out, with a deep vee neck that exposed the strong swelling muscles of Applejack’s chest but made them seem dainty and feminine between the billows of ruffled fabric—and it dropped to her hooves in bell-bottom sleeves that gave elegance to her sturdy forelegs.

Applejack pranced in glee, swishing her tail, waving her forelegs in the air just to feel those bell-bottoms swirl like clouds, kicking out a hindleg so Rarity could ogle her ass peeking from under the ragged peasant hem. It was a whole new level of girly—or marely, thought Applejack, for it filled her with confidence and a feeling of naughtiness.

“Yeeha! Ain’t too shabby, I’ll tell you that right now. Why, look at me!”

Rarity’s head was up, tilted in critical thought. “Yes, yes—you are radiant, simply radiant! But let us take it up a notch—perhaps more than a notch. Listen, Ap.. ahem. Will you stop rearing?!”

Abashed, Applejack dropped to all four hooves, and lowered her head. “Awww…”

“Yes. Yes! No, don’t rear again, darling, show some decorum… and now, the crowning touch!”

It wasn’t a crown, but it was a hat—a soft white wide-brimmed hat, as if a straw hat had gone very pale. The lack of color was offset by a ribbon around it that flashed intense yellows and lime greens, hues that bridged the gap between that eye-searing yellow and the green of Applejack’s eyes. The dullness of the cream-colored white seemed to heighten both the richness of the dress’s dark purple and the glow of Applejack’s supple coat, and gave a sultry gleam to her irises, and a brighter spark to the lights in her eyes.

“If you rear and cavort, it will fall off…” warned Rarity.

“Uh… happens I could tie it on, maybe?”

“No, don’t misunderstand—if you rear and cavort, you deserve to have it fall off. Honestly!”

Applejack hung her head and peered up at Rarity from under the brim, seeking reassurance.

“Oh, yes. Yes! That is the look! This is my gift and lesson for you, beloved… hah, for she who goes about prepared to stomp everything. I shall guide you until you understand what it is to be girly! Think for one moment about our last lovemaking session,” said Rarity. “Did you not observe how erotic it was for me to yield, to defer, to place myself under your power?”

Applejack’s eyes narrowed. “Called yourself ‘mommy’, you did. I ain’t shootin’ for ‘mommy’, sugarcube. Ah’m already a big sister. I had a mommy once and ain’t nopony replacing her…”

“We’re not talking about that,” snapped Rarity. “I believe you have little idea of what it means to yield and consent, other than in bed when provoked beyond belief or wisdom. You should not have to sustain damage to personal areas to get into your girly head-space, Applejack! Now, I’ve made these new clothes, which I think are a rousing success, and I’d like to teach you a little basic deportment. I took pains to ensure they will not be harmed by fits of pony glee, but I’m going to show you how you can move to really show them off…”

Skeptically, but with growing enthusiasm, Applejack listened to her strict lover and crossed forehooves, tilted her head gracefully, allowed her firm hips to rest a little off balance and canted enticingly at an angle, adjusted the angle of her pelvis to poke her rump up a little more…

In the distance, Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath as she approached the Carousel Boutique, flying high through the clouds to get some comfort from their presence.

“So, Applejack, I… no… So, um, Applejack, I just needed to say I was sorry for whatever I… no, dumbass, you know what it is. So, Applejack, I’m really sorry for that time that Big Macintosh needed to… no no no!”

She scowled as she flew, and set her jaw.

“Dig deeper, Rainbow, don’t blame him for it! You know how horny you were, you thought you could get away with it, right? Like you thought you could fucking get away with anything! Start over. So, um, Applejack, I…”

Carousel Boutique approached—and, glimpsed through some low-hanging clouds, something else.

Rainbow slowed and hovered, not sure if she believed what she was seeing. It was a stranger pony in a hot dress and a pretty hat—except there was no mistaking the cutie mark on that glorious rump. It was Applejack, exactly who she’d come to see, and Rarity was with her. Fine, thought Rainbow Dash, I can still do this. I can watch them dressing up Applejack, I can let them have their little moment with her crossing her hooves and taking little steps and swishing her tail around, and I can fly right down there and I can try and make things right.

Rainbow gulped.

…and… why am I not doing that?

She realized that, in her head, the thought ‘I can tell her she looks awesome as a whipped bitch-filly’ was floating around, and that she was really angry, that her heart was pounding a lot worse than she’d feared. ‘What the hell, Dash?’ thought the cerulean pegasus.

Far below, Applejack tilted her head, and batted her eyelashes at Rarity. There was something so odd about the set of her ears; the strong alertness Rainbow had known was softened. Her mane wasn’t tied. When did that start?

Rainbow ducked behind the cloud, realizing that her face was burning, that she was glaring down at the two of them with hooves on her hips when she’d come to apologize. Everything had gone horribly wrong before she was within a hundred feet of them. They hadn’t spotted her, thank Celestia.

Dash thought desperately hard, concealed safely, glancing around to make sure no other pegasus was approaching to greet her. What the hell was so wrong that she was in a rage?

Applejack wasn’t supposed to mare out so easily, that was what.

Rainbow Dash stared at nothing as she figured it out. That was it. She’d been through some stuff with Applejack, heavy stuff, important stuff. She’d been there for Applejack when it seemed like the earth pony didn’t feel safe being girly. Applejack had taken off those hair ties for her and her alone, and it had been a big fucking deal at the time.

Now it was nothing. She was being dressed up by Rarity and carrying on like some Fluttershy, and it meant nothing, what they’d had. She was acting like…

…like the Applejack that Rainbow had loved, wasn’t there anymore.

Rainbow Dash hovered behind the cloud, trembling, for another minute. Voices came faintly to her, too distant to make out words, just tones. Applejack’s twang, softened and made more tender. Rarity’s prim and proper voice, carrying a ring of authority. The voices talked back and forth companionably, not quite understandable, and yet somehow, understood, and nothing contradicted the story Rainbow told herself…

Rainbow Dash flew straight back from where she’d come, silently, her jaw set even harder. Her eyes stared hard and glassy, as they had when she’d left Pinkie and Fluttershy, walling up the pain behind ever-higher barriers.

Rainbow Dash was not about to fuck things up worse for the pony she loved. She was not about to let her temper destroy the apology she’d wanted to bring.

So be it, then.

Another day, or week, or hundred years in bed, wouldn’t hurt anypony.

“And lastly, my piece de resistance! I do hope this worked, darling, I was most daring. Quickly, before we sully our persons with more earthy loving, try them on!”

Applejack blinked. The shapes were familiar, but the colors were not. It was a perfect clone of her wonderful mustard-colored pajamas—but instead of those soft harmonious tones, these pajamas were a patchwork of cyan and navy blues and emerald green, with the trim in mustard rather than cerulean blue and bright red.

“Uh…”

“Oh, please! If I am correct, the blockiness of the shapes will accentuate the contours of your croup and dock. I’d like to see you from behind in them. They’ll fit, I know that. Please, please!”

Applejack glanced questioningly at Rarity, but drew the new pajamas on, this time not stretching sensuously in them—they didn’t seem to invite it, for they were all seams from how the patchwork panels were joined.

She gazed back at Rarity, who studied her fiercely.

“Ah. Hmmm. Yes… though the larger solid areas… and simpler pattern… yes, I must say I could go either way. Applejack? Your thoughts?”

Applejack looked back over herself. She stretched a leg out, and felt the new seams, though they were very delicately made. She gave Rarity a bashful look.

“I’m sorry, sugarcube. I’ll keep them first ones. They’re special to me. Okay?”

This produced an unexpected reaction. Rarity flushed, staring back too directly, biting her lip in anxiety. “I shall get right on it, dearest one. That is a promise…”

“Wait, what?”

“It’ll take a few hours, so I can’t have it ready for you by tonight…”

“You… Rarity, I left ‘em in th’ hamper like you tole me, what could possibly take hours?”

Rarity licked her lips. “If you like, I shall begin now. I have clearly miscalculated…”

Applejack looked at the high-fashion pajamas she wore, a realization coming to her mind. They fit almost exactly like her special pajamas. Too much like them…

“What did you do, Rarity? Jes’ what did you do?”

“I consider my gift to be the conceptual idea of pajamas, evolving to new refinements…”

Applejack gasped. “You cut up my special pajamas! To make these ones! Rarity, the hell?”

Rarity couldn’t meet Applejack’s eyes. “I’d made them out of my head, I wasn’t sure if I could do it twice with the more complicated pattern! You have to start from an existing form when you’re joining geometric shapes in that way, it should fit exactly as the first ones had! Does it not? I only wanted to continue to sheathe that delicious body perfectly in silks…”

The praise wasn’t helping. Applejack was glaring as only she could. “You did. You cut up them special pajamas you gave me. They ain’t yours to cut up!”

“‘Aren’t’, darling… er, I’m sorry, that’s still not right, is it? The proper word is,” and Rarity gulped, “‘weren’t’…”

She looked up, her lip quivering, to face Applejack’s irate gaze. Applejack opened her mouth, her nostrils flared, bent her head, seized the collar of the pajamas in her teeth…

“Don’t! Oh, don’t, I’ve got to cut those up now to recreate the original pattern, I beg of you don’t stretch or tear it! It was perfect!”

Applejack hung her head. A tear of frustrated rage dropped to the floor.

“Yeah. Sure was.”

Rarity had begun to weep, standing there. “I am so, so, so sorry!”

Applejack sighed. “Yeah. I’ll bet. Naw, really, I can see that you are, I ain’t joking… Aw, Rarity! C’mere.”

The quivering white unicorn first stepped, then rushed over, and was met with a strong and determined pony hug. Applejack squeezed her tight, patting her back with a firm hoof.

“Y’all jes’ wanted to make it even more special, huh? I do love you, Rarity. You can work on not bein’ too crazy…”

“…mmmphl,” went Rarity.

“What’s that?”

Rarity lifted her face from under Applejack’s chin.

“Don’t reach your forelegs too far, please? I am so afraid you’ll stretch the fabric and I won’t be able to recreate your gift perfectly…”

Applejack rolled her eyes, sighed, and hugged Rarity even tighter, ignoring the advice.

“Rainbow?”

It was Twilight Sparkle’s voice. Dash’s eyes flew open. Unicorn ponies didn’t often visit cloud homes.

“Rainbow? Are you there?”

“What are you doing up here, Twilight?” called Rainbow Dash.

“Checking on you! I mean… it seemed like something was wrong. Will you talk to me?”

Dash sighed. “I might as well. I have a lot to think about. You can help be me brave, okay? But how are you… holy buck!”

Twilight had trotted into her bedroom. “Oh, I’m sorry, should I have asked?”

“No, it’s just… let me guess, your balloon, and then the cloud walking spell? Is that what you used?”

“Exactly!” said Twilight. “Just like your big day at the Best Young Flyers’ Competition.” She smiled.

Rainbow had to smile a little at that, too. “Right. My big day. That was an incredible day, yeah. And here you are again, huh?”

“Look, I have to figure that if even I can tell something’s bothering you, it’s kind of a big deal. So is there anything I can do to help? I don’t really know how this goes, but… well, that never stopped you before!”

Rainbow lifted an eyebrow. “You think I’m gonna clop you, now?”

“Oh, no! Or um… maybe if you really really needed to, because I want to help you feel better. But I thought you might want to just… talk.”

Dash stared thoughtfully. “You’re not so dumb. I mean, foolish… I mean, whatever it is we should call your egghead thing that you do. Uh, sorry? What I mean is, yeah, I think I should talk. I just have the feeling I need to hear myself saying stuff or it’ll echo around in my head until I’m totally crazy, you know?”

Twilight’s smile was fond and wry. “Oh, nobody knows totally crazy like me, Rainbow. And you’re right, when stuff rattles around in your brain, it just hurts and won’t stop.”

Rainbow sighed. “Hurts and won’t stop. Yeah, you nailed it…”

“Is it about Applejack? I’m sorry, maybe I shouldn’t say the name in case it upsets you…”

“No, say it all you want. I’m tough, I can handle it.” Rainbow didn’t look tough, she looked forlorn, but there was a courage there.

“Well,” said Twilight, “if you’re tough… is that your way of telling me you don’t need me? I can go away again if you want, I’m just trying to…”

“No! No, I need to talk to you, I… this is hard for me, okay? I don’t do this. I could say never to tell anypony but at this point what difference would it make? The thing is, it’s me that has to be different. Like, real different—and I don’t know how, Twilight. I really don’t know how.”

“In what way?” asked Twilight.

Rainbow sighed. “I saw Applejack outside with Rarity. Trying on clothes.”

Twilight lifted a hoof to her mouth, with a gasp. “Oh, yes. I’m not sure if anypony told you that was happening?”

Rainbow Dash glared at her for a moment. “Hello? Pegasus? I didn’t actually need you to tell me. Is Rarity really as humongous as it looked like she was? I mean, with a bit and all. Because you made one for her, didn’t you?”

Twilight was flustered. “I, I… yes. I mean, yes I made one, though to hear Applejack tell it, yes to the other thing too—though I guess I don’t need to be telling you that part?”

Dash punched her cloud bed with a hoof. “Might as well! It would explain a lot! Right?”

“I’m sorry, Rainbow. I’m not helping. I can leave,” said Twilight.

“No!” snapped Rainbow, and put a hoof to her forehead in frustration. “Just bear with me, okay? I’m all mad again, that’s exactly what I have to stop being. Can you understand that I’m okay with that? What I mean is—Applejack’s with somepony else, and I want her to be with somepony special, okay? I want her to be what she really wants to be—and with whoever she really wants to be with. I really do. Really!”

“Are you okay, Rainbow? You keep looking more and more upset. I won’t leave! I’ll stay with you. But… what are you even working toward? Still not leaving! Just… wondering?”

Rainbow Dash squeezed her eyes shut, gritting her teeth.

“This might not make a lot of sense. It feels like it only just barely makes sense, even to me. Let me explain.”

“I’m listening,” said Twilight, gently.

“Okay… I never thought I would really matter to anypony. That’s why I got so good at sex—if I work at it, I can be pretty sure that at least I can entertain, right? Nopony’s gonna kick me out of bed, not the amazing Rainbow Dash! Except Applejack—and I guess Pinkie and Fluttershy—and Rarity wouldn’t even let us get near her, and you’re kinda spoken for, and it’s kinda scary with Gilda and I don’t want to talk about the Diamond Dog I found…”

Twilight’s eyes widened with each name, but she didn’t interrupt.

“The point is,” said Dash, “what I do doesn’t work anymore. Like, everypony’s outgrown me now and I have to get used to it. It’s hard, Twilight. I used to be somepony, I used to be wanted, now I have no place. It’s like before I started experimenting with Gilda, back at school. There’s nopony for me so I have to be, you know, creative…”

“But you’re a very special pony, Rainbow, and of course there is a pony for you…”

“No there isn’t and you know why?” said Rainbow Dash. “Because I already had that pony and it was Applejack, and everything’s different now. It’s all gone, it’s all broken, and it’s my fault. I don’t understand why ponies freak out about bodysex when it’s not important but I’m not stupid, okay? It’s totally my fault. I ruined everything.”

Twilight was trying to keep up, her eyes earnest and luminous. “We all make terrible mistakes, Rainbow. I… if you knew some of the mistakes I’ve almost made, over the same thing…”

“It’s not about the mistakes!” yelled Dash.

Twilight stopped, abruptly. She stared worriedly at Dash, who was facehoofing again, and after a moment she dared to say “I’m listening. Go on—it’s okay if it doesn’t make a lot of sense, Rainbow.”

“It does. It does make sense, that’s the thing.” Rainbow sighed. She seemed to be forcing herself on, like she was covering ground toward a specific goal. “You see, it’s not all about how I screwed everything up. Because I didn’t always screw everything up, and that’s the hardest part. That’s what really hurts, okay? Let me get to that part, I need to talk about this awful bad.”

Twilight waited.

“So, here’s the thing—I saw Applejack and she was in a pretty dress. Would you think that she would want to be in a pretty dress? Like with her tail all flowin’ loose like Fluttershy? Would you think that she secretly always wanted that?” Rainbow looked challengingly at Twilight.

“Um… as a matter of fact, no. I thought she was about the most amazing stallion a mare could ever be. I got sort of hung up about it… The answer is no, I didn’t see that.”

Rainbow lifted her head, grief-stricken but proud. “Well, you know what? I did. Nopony else saw it, but she was asking me to be sort of both things, and deep inside she was both things too, and she was really confused and upset about it. ‘Cause her family wouldn’t let her be girly, like her mother wouldn’t have approved and stuff. And Granny Smith, real strict, you know? But I’m telling you, we had a secret life together. And with me—Applejack could be a mare. And I mean, whoo! Feminine. It was amazing.”

Twilight blinked. “I’ll take your word for it! Is that why she’s acting so weird with Rarity? It seemed kind of like… well, it seemed weird. Like not our Applejack anymore, in a way.”

Suddenly, Twilight found herself staring into angry ruby eyes. Dash was in her face, furious—but there was something else buried under the anger that was always Rainbow Dash’s first line of defense.

“Aren’t you listening? Listen, okay? That is still Applejack. I was the one who helped her find that inside herself. I’m fucking proud that I was there to do it, and you’re gonna respect it!”

“Okay, okay!” stammered Twilight. Dash sagged.

“Sorry. But it matters a lot, Twilight! We all have to find out who we really are. Applejack isn’t with me any more. She’s with Rarity, and I’m gonna make sure they have every chance to have a good life with each other. I… love Applejack too much to fail them, so I’m gonna have to be super careful. I’m no good for her, I’m too rough, what I want is too complicated and too much…”

“But what do you want, Rainbow?”

“I want her to be happy!” yelled Dash, and then dropped her eyes. “I’m sorry. It’s just not fair—but maybe in a way it is. I was never any good to anypony, Twilight. I just made them excited and got them off, and I never did any real good, I just flew into ponies’ bedrooms and put on a big show. Well… now, Applejack has a real relationship, and she’s all girly. You should have seen her—I bet you will at some point, and don’t act like it’s weird, okay? That’s what she always wanted, deep down.”

Twilight studied Rainbow. “That’s good. Is there some reason why you’re looking sadder and sadder? Besides the obvious, I mean?”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t answer for a moment.

“It… um… the thing is, I need to remember to be proud, even if I have nothing anymore. Can you understand that? There’s more important things than me, me, me. I’ve been thinking really hard. I have nothing, anymore, and it all goes horribly wrong, but I didn’t only do damage. I did some good. With Applejack—even if she hates me now.”

Twilight scooted a little closer, on the bed. “You have to give it time. I don’t think she hates you…”

“No, listen! It’s okay if she does. I did bad things. But what she’s got now? Being really feminine, even in public? She’s like a new pony, and I helped her get to that! I know she needed to get to this place, where she’s happy now, so I’m proud that I was there for her when it really mattered!”

“Rainbow? Take it easy, why are you yelling?” said Twilight.

Rainbow shook her head, technicolor mane flying briefly.

“No, it’s okay—I’m gonna be fine. I needed to get this out, okay? I have to say how proud and happy I am that Applejack is happy, that she’s the mare she wanted to be. I want her to be happy. I’m just glad that for a while I w… w…”

Dash choked on the word. Twilight blinked. “Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof helplessly. Twilight scooted closer still. “Rainbow, what is it? ‘That’ what? Can I help?”

Rainbow fought to get the quavering words out, the words that spelled out what she never thought she could say, and what she’d never be able to say again.

“That I was USEFUL…”

Rainbow Dash broke down completely, bawling like a filly, and Twilight hugged her close, rocking her.

The little pegasus had a lot of tears locked up in her. Now that they’d burst loose, there was no controlling them, and Twilight sat on the bed, cuddling her shaking, weeping pegasus friend and thinking, for what seemed like hours. Eventually, the torrents slowed, and Twilight decided that it was okay to talk again.

“Rainbow Dash—I do love you. We all love you. We’ll take care of you until you feel better…”

Dash looked miserable at this, for it missed the point—she’d decided that she’d been making demands for love and sex all her life, and her one saving grace was that she’d led the love of her life to a new freedom with somepony else. Being a burden again wasn’t comforting.

“Seriously, Rainbow, we do,” continued Twilight. “I know we can find ways to take care of your needs, because that’s what ponies do for each other…”

“Awesome,” muttered Dash, wiping her eyes.

Twilight cuddled her closer. “I promise. And I’m proud of you. What you told me? About Applejack, and why she’s changed like she has? I didn’t see it.” She winced. “And it might have been good if I had seen it. Maybe I’ll tell you about that someday.”

Rainbow Dash brightened, a little. “I did see it. I helped her see it. I was,” and she sniffled, “useful.”

“Are you going to be okay?” asked Twilight.

Dash looked determined, though her face was streaked with tears. “I’d better be. I mean, yeah. Hey, how hard can it be? I want her to be happy, and she is happy.”

“I think she probably wants you to be happy, too…”

Dash’s eyes narrowed. “How about act happy? Does that work for you?”

Twilight blinked. “Um, that’s not what I said, technically.”

“Okay, let me try that again,” said Rainbow Dash. Her eyes caught and held Twilight’s in an uncompromising gaze, one that seemed to take the bluster Dash had always enjoyed and turn it to hard steel. “I’m fucking proud of what I was able to do for Applejack, and I’m not going to screw it up for her… and even if I am never able to be happy again, let me tell you that I was awesome and I will keep that within my heart.”

The intensity took Twilight’s breath away. “I… wow, Rainbow. It’s true. You really are awesome.”

“Thank you,” said Rainbow Dash, her chin held high, and banners of resolute loyalty waving in her tear-streaked, indomitable ruby eyes. Until I die, she thought. I will defend my love’s freedom to be who she is, while there’s life in me. And that will be awesome… enough.

“Do you feel better?” asked Twilight.

“Yes,” said Dash.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“So… was that what you needed? Do you need me some more? Because it looks like you’re still hurting, and…”

Rainbow interrupted her. “No, really, I’m fine, Twi. I’ll be okay. I promise. Ermm… maybe I don’t want you telling ponies about what we talked about… maybe it doesn’t matter… the important thing is, I’m able to be there for ponies that need me, not just the other way around. Got it?”

“I guess!” said Twilight, perking her ears up.

Rainbow leaned over and hugged her. “And that especially goes for you, okay? You’re pretty awesome yourself, coming up here when you don’t even fly, just to help me out. I really, really appreciate it.”

Twilight smiled.

“Now, I’m sure you’ve got a lot of things to do,” added Rainbow, “so you can go…”

The smile dropped away from Twilight’s face. “But… this is a really difficult time for you, and if you need me more…”

“Are you hitting on me, Twilight?” teased Rainbow.

“No! Um… not that there’s anything wrong with that…”

“Of course not,” said Rainbow. “But I feel nap time calling, so if you’ll excuse me?”

“Oh!” said Twilight. She looked suspicious for a moment, then seemed to consider the likelihood of Dash napping, and found nothing surprising about the prospect. “Okay. You’ve actually given me a lot to think about, too…”

“Good things, I hope!” said Dash, flying on slightly scruffy wings to her door and accompanying Twilight out.

It wasn’t too much trouble to settle Twilight back in her balloon, to wave goodbye as the sweet unicorn valved lifting gases and set about flying her airship back home. Dash held her smile determinedly, as long as Twi was in sight, and a few seconds afterwards, to be sure.

Then, the smile dropped away.

“Urrk…”

Dash’s eyes bugged out and she fought back the nausea that she was certain would sneak up on her, safe in the knowledge that nopony was watching. She flew back into her bedroom, and splatted onto the bed, nuzzling into the covers and thinking unqueasy thoughts.

Then she crawled across the bed, wings drooping, to retrieve from the floor the book that she’d hoped Twilight didn’t spot, for it had been stolen from Twilight’s house. Not a Daring Do book, either, but a book she’d hoped would NOT explain anything to her.

Because if a book entitled ‘Comparative Pregnancy In The Species Of Equestria’ could tell her that she had morning sickness from mating with the Diamond Dog, it would be telling her an awful lot along with that—things that she really didn’t want to know.

And it hadn’t explained anything, either. The timing was all wrong—and the book claimed that Dogs couldn’t make foals inside ponies, anyway.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure if that counted for Element Bearers—or magic bit users—and she rested uneasily. It was probably nothing, she told herself. Feather flu? There was evidence to suggest it.

Twilight Sparkle flew home, thoughtful.

The sun was setting. Trixie greeted her at the door with a kiss and her customary deference, perhaps a little extra brightness after her transgression with the mage-meld.

Twilight saw that artificial cheeriness, and remained thoughtful.

She’d lost Applejack—and had never known the country mare’s real needs. She’d just assumed she knew what was happening, and she’d guessed entirely wrong.

Rainbow had also lost Applejack, through going too far, even though she had known her lover’s secret heart.

Twilight looked at Trixie… and wondered. What were her secret needs? Or, perhaps, her needs that weren’t particularly secret at all?

As Trixie looked back with a bright, obedient smile, Twilight’s inner thoughts twisted in nervous knots at the idea that she could be blowing it again.

But she was daring, and resourceful, and a little desperate—and it wasn’t really that hard to figure out.

“A picnic, Mistress?” said Trixie, puzzled. “We didn’t plan a picnic. Who goes out for a nighttime picnic?”

“We do!” announced Twilight, her horn glowing as she threw assorted foodstuffs in a covered basket—surreptitiously including a few other items, one of which she’d draped in a napkin to be sure it wasn’t spotted.

“Gee, why so sudden, Twilight?” complained Spike. “If you gave me a little warning I could have made us vanilla cream cookies…”

“No no! It’s just us! I mean… I didn’t really plan this, Spike, but me and Trixie are going out for a picnic. Nopony else! Just us two. Okay? Um, and don’t tell anypony where we’re going.”

“Or what you’re doing?” grumbled Spike.

“I didn’t say anything about what we’re doing.”

“I don’t think you need to tell me what you’re doing,” said Spike. “And you didn’t tell me where you’re going, so I guess I’ll just fix dinner for one and we’ll be all set?”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Whoa. Um. I’m sorry, Spike, I realize this is sudden…”

“Well, just be good, okay? And don’t tell me anything, that’s all I ask. I’ve got some reshelving I need to do anyway, and then I was going to catch up on some reading. Maybe it’ll be more quiet around here tonight?”

“That’s a promise, Spike…”

Trixie was wide-eyed. “Is this Mistress’s way of forgiving Trixie for her mistake?”

Twilight’s face gradually developed a smirk—and Trixie’s took on a look of delight to match it—and then the two unicorns were hugging, as Spike rolled his eyes and chuckled.

“Eeee! Trixie is going on a picnic!”

“A very special picnic for a very special marefriend!”

“Oh, special? Special how?”

Twilight shushed her, and their hasty packing complete, they trotted out the door, heading up towards the Whitetail Woods and the waterfall.

Far above the woods, Luna soared in silence. The moon was full, and she exulted in the fullness of her powers, even as she pondered the challenges she faced.

As if summoned by her worried thoughts, two little challenges trotted out into a clearing right below her, and she froze, hovering in mid-air—and then cautiously floated nearer, hiding behind a treetop, unseen and unheard.

Twilight Sparkle and Trixie had eyes only for each other as they entered the clearing, the picnic basket floating beside them.

“Mistress packed food so hurriedly! Does she wish to make nice to the Great and Powerful Trixie with ill-chosen fodder?”

Twilight snickered. “Enjoy that attitude while you can! You know this isn’t about eating dinner. Though you could say it’s about getting your fill…”

“Oh? Really? Trixie is to get her fill of her mean and unreasonable beloved? Trixie meant no harm, and Mistress should respect the awesome power she wielded…”

“Yeah, my power!” said Twilight. “And yes, I’m sorry—I’ve been unfair to you, and I’m trying to understand you better, even though it doesn’t come easily to me. I have two things for you that you like. We can have dinner afterwards. Here’s one.”

In the moonlight, the magic bit glinted as it floated free of the picnic basket, and drifted in Trixie’s direction.

Twilight’s heart pounded violently, until she thought she might faint.

Trixie’s eyes lit up, and she trotted forward a step and bit down. Her magic-induced stallionhood surged forth, two pairs of pony eyes drinking in its pleasing contours—it seemed to have swelled to an eager thickness already.

“Sho…” said Trixie through the bit. “The other thing ‘s b’tween your legs, hmmm?”

“Roll on your back,” said Twilight, heart hammering in her chest.

“You d’nt give the orders when…”

A napkin floated out of the picnic basket. The napkin fell away. The thin, whippy rod hovered in the air before Trixie, whose eyes went very wide.

“I think I do,” said Twilight Sparkle.

There was a shocked silence, and then Trixie began to grin around the bit. “Oh, y’ do?”

“Roll on your back.”

Trixie scoffed. “How w’d you reach my rump that way? M’stress has a lot to learn…”

“Ah! Good point!” chirped Twilight brightly.

The rod darted forward, swung, and an audible crack rang out. Trixie squawked, the bit dropping from her mouth. She panted, hopping up and down in place, astonished.

“Pick it up!” demanded Twilight.

“Mistress?” whimpered Trixie, all dominance forgotten. Her butt stung like crazy…

Crack!

“Pick it up!” repeated Twilight. She’d nailed Trixie in exactly the same spot. Her eyes were wild, and she wished she could see the damage she was doing—but in her mind, she was calculating equine hide versus birch rod, and she was almost sure she couldn’t do Trixie serious injury with the punishment toy. And yet, she felt in her bones that this was the missing thing Trixie had wanted and needed and misbehaved to get—and that she’d have to go way out of her comfort zone, convincingly, to deliver Trixie’s payoff.

Trixie grovelled. The second blow had knocked her so deeply into the submissive that she couldn’t even stand—she could feel a welt rising, and the pain seared, told her that the world had become very simple all of a sudden. She scrabbled along the ground until she could spot the magic bit, and grabbed it between her teeth, her sidelong gaze filled with panic, and she hunched against the ground, her erection shoved into the grass, unable to rise beyond her abject cowering.

“Roll over!” demanded Twilight. Crack! Trixie’s ass took another fast, fierce blow, as Twilight strained her magic to its utmost in the service of kinky discipline. Trixie squealed, clamping her teeth desperately on the bit to not lose it twice, and rolled onto her back, hooves up, erect cock jutting up into the air, where two pairs of eyes took in its bulky charms.

“So…” panted Twilight, “think that’s good, huh? You’ve been good, you think?”

Trixie’s eyes stared, terrified, and the erection stiffened further.

“This is for embarrassing me in front of Princess Celestia!”

Crack!

Trixie shrieked, and the stallionhood bobbled, for Twilight had nailed it with a quick blow of the rod. Twilight’s ears were back, and her eyes weren’t quite sane. Her tail flicked—she could feel how turned on Trixie was as if they were wired together, felt Trixie drawing her into some dark realm that was Trixie’s kinky domain, sucking her in through those terrified, yearning eyes…

“Bad Trixie! Don’t do it again!”

Crack! Trixie let out an anguished squeal as Twilight whacked the other side of her stallionhood, tears squirting from her tight-shut eyes, refusing to let go of the bit, for she’d been ordered to hold it—and then, there was a sudden looming presence, and her eyes came open to see a dim purple form straddling her. Twilight could wait no longer.

In a single hungry motion, Twilight Sparkle shoved herself onto Trixie’s inflamed, sore stallionhood, and the delicious anguish was salved by juicy unicorn vagina that squeezed convulsively with orgasm, pent up by the excitement and the intense, twisted, erotic vibes, and released all at once as Twilight bucked up and down on top of her willing victim.

“YAAAAHHH!” screamed Twi, tossing her head, the birch rod forgotten, jamming herself onto the swollen maleness with the same aggressive attitude she’d forced her psyche into.

Trixie banged her head on the grassy ground as lubricated marepussy slid against her wildly sensitive hard-on. It would’ve been overwhelming even without the beating—with the fiery sensations in her cock and across her butt, she stood about three heaving plunges from Twilight’s impaling herself, and then Trixie could stand no more. She let out a shriek and bucked against the ground, blasting ponycome deeply into her Mistress in not just one spasm—but three huge, exhausting bursts, filling Twilight utterly.

Twilight shoved herself down hard and squealed, her head thrown back, and her orgasm accelerated and burst into a flaring white world of ecstatic release.

She collapsed atop Trixie, heaving deep wheezing breaths—and then rolled off to the side, her limbs no longer supporting her. In doing this, she flopped Trixie over to face her, for Trixie had worn herself out completely and was as limp as the forgotten napkin that lay on the ground.

The two ponies panted, gazing into each others’ eyes. Twilight had never seen such devotion in a gaze before.

The bit fell gently from Trixie’s mouth to the ground. Twilight blinked—and realized that Trixie had passed out.

Which was… understandab…

Princess Luna stared in disbelief at the two ponies in their unconscious, post-coital sprawl. Oh, yes, Lulamoons would be Lulamoons, but to think that Sister’s pet was being swayed in that way! Celestia would be destroyed if she knew of this. She had such… noble expectations of her ponies.

Luna did not—but she still had expectations, and reflected wryly upon them.

Enough. There was a solution—and no time to waste.

The dark alicorn took to the air, heading for a place she remembered from long ago, a safe place. She rose nearer to the moon, basking in its rays, gathering her powers, rising higher and higher, and she concentrated.

Behind her, Twilight stirred and did not wake.

Quietly, the Great and Powerful Trixie grew dim—transparent—and disappeared.

For a minute, Twilight lay alone on the grassy ground, under the stars.

The magic bit resting on the ground just in front of her face quietly vanished, as well.

Then, behind her—the birch rod vanished.

This Is Your Quest

Rainbow Dash stirred, and whimpered in her sleep. It was the dream again—the one that put dark circles under her eyes.

But it wasn’t about the Diamond Dog.

It was the other dream—the one she did not remember past waking.

She lay in a cozy bed in her dream. The air was chilly and smelled of a wood fire that had smouldered to ashes. She lay on her back, her wings tucked neatly under her, for there wasn’t room to stretch them out.

That was a half truth, literally, for on one side there was room to spare.

On the other side of the bed, her marefriend Applejack cuddled up to her, asleep.

The luminous, loving green eyes were lidded, peaceful. Rainbow glanced to the side, seeing that sometimes-stern pony face softened into fillyish gentleness by sleep, admiring the careless waves of blonde mane as they fell across her beloved face—but Rainbow did not turn her head, or stir.

And that was because Applejack might roll over, or turn, or even wake. It was near dawn already, and soon she would be getting up, turning her head, greeting the morning.

And when she did… she would no longer be sleeping, her face right next to Rainbow’s… and then Rainbow would no longer feel her warm, sweet breath against her cheek.

Rainbow Dash had never told her lover of these moments. She was afraid Applejack would laugh at her, or not understand: the country pony had got her to be all soppy for real, and how could she understand how safe Rainbow felt, letting herself be even soppier in total privacy as she gazed upon her love’s sleeping face?

In her dream, Rainbow heard a sound.

“Rainbow Dash!”

It was the voice of Fluttershy. It was outside—but then somehow it hadn’t been outside, it was next to her and she looked and it was Fluttershy’s sleeping face and as she rolled away, not understanding how she was suddenly in Fluttershy’s cottage and in her bed…

Rainbow Dash woke up, the details of the dream evaporating like mist in daylight.

“Rainbow Dash!” called Fluttershy.

Dash shook her head. Why the fuck was she crying again? What kind of a way was that to start your day off, crying? Musta been more nightmares. Whatever…

“What?” she yelled.

“Please come quickly? It’s an emergency!” called Fluttershy.

Dash struggled to get up to speed with things, shaking her head again. There was no sense in getting mad at Fluttershy. “Hey,” she replied, “Rainbow Dash always comes quickly, right? Gimme a second…” and she looked over her wings, deemed them acceptable to be seen in public, and flew out her front door.

“So what happened?” she asked, as she followed Fluttershy, who was going astonishingly fast.

“Oh, it’s terrible!” said Fluttershy, falling back a little to answer. “Princess Celestia has stolen Trixie, and Twilight is just hysterical! She wouldn’t stop screaming, and then she curled up into a little ball, and… Wait! Stop! Rainbow, I have to warn you that…”

It was too late. Dash was already gone, racing at her full unmatchable speed to Twilight’s house to rescue her friend somehow—without a single word of warning about who else she could expect to find there.

She burst through the library’s front door like a little blue bomb, crying out “Where is she?” but it wasn’t Twilight that stopped her. Twilight was in the back of the room, with Pinkie and Spike. Pinkie looked angry, but it wasn’t that which caused her to rear and shy away, either.

She’d nearly run over Rarity—and Applejack, who was wearing another filmy dress, this one a green to match her eyes. It still showed off her ass, though. Rarity obviously had ideas about Applejack’s assets.

Rarity obviously had other ideas, too. Before Rainbow’s shocked eyes, Rarity and Applejack got into a scuffling match. As rainbow pegasus burst in and reared, earth pony had instinctively flung herself in front of her unicorn lover—and unicorn had shoved earth pony out of the way, in order to shield her in turn. They had, so obviously, both had a ‘no, I protect you!’ reaction.

Rainbow stared wildly, caught off guard by two aggressive reactions, and only settled down to all four hooves when both Rarity and Applejack stepped back a pace, glaring at each other.

“Mornin’,” muttered Applejack.

“Uh… morning,” squeaked Rainbow Dash, and saw Applejack wince at the sound of her scratchy little voice. It was a heck of a wince, and Dash backed up a step herself with a dismayed look, for it seemed as if Applejack couldn’t even bear to hear her anymore.

Rarity’s eyes narrowed, for she saw something different in that pain—saw a pony on the rebound who’d just felt a stab to the heart. Well, thought Rarity. It’s like that, is it? It is on. I’ll warrant that I can care for her better than you, dear. I shall defend the real mare inside her, that a roughneck like you would never guess was there…

“The hell happened to you, Rainbow?” said Applejack.

Dash felt her mood cratering further. “Oh, now you don’t even remember, huh?”

Applejack snarled, “Ah MEAN, your belly. An’… thereabouts.” She gulped.

“Hard partying. Crazy sex. It was awesome,” said Rainbow Dash bitterly. “You don’t like it? Get in line.”

“Rear again. Lemme see.”

“No,” said Dash.

They were interrupted by Fluttershy’s apologetic arrival—and by Twilight, who trotted up showing such distress that all four ponies fell silent. “Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, maybe you’ll believe me. You’ve got to!”

“How ‘bout you run that story by me one more time?” said Applejack. “I want to hear it. I don’t see why Pinkie should stop you tellin’ it, neither.”

“Because it’s WRONG! Duh!” yelled Pinkie, sulking at the back of the room.

“Never you mind!” said Applejack sharply. “Let’s hear her out!”

Twilight sighed heavily. “Some of this might sound a little weird…”

“Because it’s WRONG!”

“Pinkie Pie!” yelled Applejack. “Let Twilight speak!”

Unwilling silence fell like an executioner’s hood. Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat like the executioner’s next agenda item.

“I’m sorry if this is hard to accept, but it just all makes a horrible kind of sense, and it’s sort of my fault.” She glanced over her shoulder at Pinkie, who glowered back at her but didn’t interrupt. “The first thing is that Princess Celestia never approved of Trixie.”

“I didn’t approve of when she made me dizzy and I went off and was sick,” said Rainbow Dash, “but when she hooked up with you she got a lot nicer. Right?”

“It’s complicated,” said Twilight. “The last night I saw Trixie, I… I beat her up. With a stick.”

Applejack’s eyes widened, as did Rainbow Dash’s, but Rarity tsked. “Of course you did. Go on…”

“Princess Celestia may have seen it somehow, and acted…” began Twilight, but she was cut off.

“Of course she did?” squeaked Rainbow. “Am I missing something? This is Twi we’re talking about!”

“You don’t know Trixie that well,” said Rarity. “I assure you, they were expressing their love for each other. Go on, Twilight.”

She did. “You are missing something, Rainbow, another motive. Remember how we magemelded and summoned you? And I went and checked up on you later because you were so upset, remember that?” Twilight glanced fretfully at Applejack, not wanting to reveal too much, but went on. “That wasn’t the end of it, that day. We did another teleport. A, um, bigger one.”

Applejack’s and Dash’s eyes widened further, and Dash breathed, “You didn’t…”

“We did. Well, Trixie did—her power when melded with me is amazing! We yanked Princess Celestia away from Canterlot, and dropped her into my bed. Without asking.”

Rainbow’s eyes bugged out, and then she reacted—with a “Woo!” and a hoof-pump, as if Twilight had pulled off some incredible stunt. “That’s amazing, I never heard of anypony able to do stuff like that!”

Her glee faded immediately, because nopony else present seemed to share it. Applejack was glaring at her, and Twilight seemed distraught.

Twilight’s voice quavered. “She… yelled at me, Rainbow! I’ve never seen her so angry. That’s what made me start to worry. We depend on her so much… and I’d asked her to let us ponies take care of our own affairs, because I found out she was interfering more than she wanted to…”

“Good!” said Pinkie. “Let her! We are ponies. She’s a Princess and a super alicorn wonderfulness thing. It’s her job and it makes her happy!”

Twilight’s head snapped around, her patience exhausted. “She wasn’t happy! Aren’t you listening? Don’t you understand what this means?” She whirled to face Pinkie, whose head was held high in defiance.

“Well, what do you think it means, Smarty McSmartersons?”

Twilight gritted her teeth. The other ponies had rarely seen Twilight so worked up.

“My relationship with Trixie may have pushed Princess Celestia too far. I showed you that scroll she sent. Only she can send scrolls through Spike. She’s taken Trixie, she also took our magic bit and Trixie’s stick—it’s called a rod, and yes it was Trixie’s toy and she’d begged me to get it for her—and then she sent this scroll. She’s taking ownership of those actions, but I don’t get any sense of the compassion she’s always had, and she’s certainly gone back on her word when she said we could make our own choices. A personality change that goes that deep can only mean one thing.”

“Yeah, that you’re wr…” began Pinkie, but Twilight cut her off.

“No! It means we may be dealing with… Nightmare Sun.”

Rainbow Dash whimpered, cowering back for a moment as the words sank in. Applejack was gritting her teeth, her eyes wide like a cornered animal. Rarity looked very serious, and Fluttershy looked stunned.

Pinkie never flinched.

“Wrong!”

“I realize this is hard to hear,” said Twilight, “but we are the Element Bearers and we have got to go out and face the situation. It’s not even about my Trixie anymore. All of Equestria could be in danger. We can’t shrug this one off. It’s even worse than Nightmare Moon!”

“No it isn’t,” said Pinkie, glaring right back at Twilight, “because it’s not true! Whatever is happening, it’s not that!”

“Pinkie, the logic might be hard for you to follow but let me tell you…”

“No!” said Pinkie Pie. “Let me tell you! Princess Celestia… is my FRIEND.”

That silenced everypony. She went on. “And friends don’t always get along with each other—but they do not do things like you said she did. You are NOT going to go off hunting Princess Celestia to zap her with the Elements of Harmony!”

“And how can you be sure of that?” demanded Twilight.

Pinkie blinked, innocently, as if struck by a thought. “Hey, good question! I have a good answer, too! This is how! …Fluttershy!”

“Yes, Pinkie?” called Fluttershy.

“We’re going home. Twilight is being a meanie, and she’s wrong, and we’ll talk to her when she feels better and is less loco in the coco.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Y… You can’t…”

“I hope you feel better soon, Twilight! We love you! Come on, Fluttershy, they’ll feel a lot better when they realize how wrong they are about this stuff. Don’t feed into it!”

Pinkie hopped to her hooves as if nothing was wrong, and trotted out the door… and froze, outside. She turned, and her expression was cranky again.

“Fluttershy? Come on!”

Fluttershy was trapped, glancing back and forth between her upset friends and her earth pony mate. She gulped, and managed to ask, “…do you have a Pinkie Sense about this?”

Pinkie’s jaw was set, her chin high. “I don’t need a Pinkie Sense to love and trust Princess Celestia. She’s, like, Princess Celestia! Come on. This is just silly and you know it.”

Fluttershy looked back at Twilight, who stared in mute horror. “I’m sorry… I probably wouldn’t be much help anyway… and you just can’t be right. No! It can’t be true, it can’t! I hope you feel better soon…”

With that, Fluttershy walked politely out the door to join Pinkie, and the two trotted away, down the street. After a moment, they heard Pinkie begin to sing, defiantly—and then, Fluttershy’s “Don’t…” which quieted the outraged pink pony again.

Twilight, lip quivering, stared at her three remaining friends, who stared back in shock.

“So…” said Rainbow Dash, “now we go and fight Nightmare Sun… without all the Elements of Harmony?”

Applejack shot her a glare, but was distracted by Twilight stepping forward with a pleading expression on her face.

“Can I… talk with Applejack? Alone? Please!”

Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity threw wary glances at each other in a hectic, unspoken battle of worried looks—and then Applejack stepped forward. “Of course you can, Twi. Talk ta whoever you want to. Ain’t no reason you shouldn’t. Ya want to take it upstairs or sump’n, where it’s more private?”

Twilight nodded mutely, looking miserable, and Applejack began coaxing her towards the stairs to her bedroom. She twisted and shot a look back at Rainbow and Rarity that was both commanding and imploring.

“Y’all be good now…”

The two walked up the stairs, and were lost to sight, and their low voices were too soft to understand.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity looked at each other.

“Look…” said Dash.

“Yes?”

“I just want to say… for the record… that as far as I’m concerned, you and Applejack…”

Rarity interrupted her. “Uht!”

“What?” demanded Dash.

“We have been friends, Rainbow. Please believe me when I say that this conversation cannot go well. Please, please, leave this unsaid.”

Rainbow Dash bridled. “For your information, I wasn’t gonna say what you think I was gonna say.”

“Immaterial,” said Rarity. “It really, truly, does not matter, Rainbow! You and I cannot discuss the matter. Please, change the subject!”

“But I’m telling you, I want you and Applejack to be happy together! …urrk!”

Rarity drew herself up. “Oh, very convincing. The mere words make you gag! I’ll ask you one more time…”

“Sorry! It’s… a touch of feather-flu! I swear, that’s probably what it is, okay?”

Rarity blinked. “Oh, dear. Should you hurl, can you give me advance warning so I can stand well back? I don’t wish flecks of… erm… your breakfast, on my coat.”

“I’m not gonna hurl! I’ll be fine. And I didn’t have any breakfast. I flew here as fast as I could. Fluttershy said Twilight was upset.”

“No breakfast? Poor darling! That and the excitement may have been enough to upset your stomach. I’m sure Twilight would not object—may I prepare you something in her kitchen?”

Dash blinked. “You… want to make breakfast for me?”

Rarity’s smile was rather hard, almost forced. “Oh, yes. Knowing that you’re unwell and have skipped it, I will indeed. I would be delighted. And, if I do not, I dare say somepony else will want to.”

She hesitated—and then finished the thought.

“And I can’t have that, dear.”

Rainbow Dash’s expression went through three distinct stages.

First, pain at recognizing the admission that yes—Rarity was going to keep her marefriend, was not the least bit dubious about the matter. Yes, if Applejack knew Dash had gone hungry she would probably insist on feeding her in spite of everything. Yes, Rarity was one step ahead of the situation, preventing it from happening with unicorn cunning.

Then, a grimness upon realizing this was what she’d asked for—that Applejack would be with Rarity, who was making her happy, and that Rarity’s manipulation meant they were working towards the same thing. Whether Dash really wanted to or not, she was going to help Applejack be content with Rarity. She didn’t have the luxury of insincerity—and didn’t really want to be insincere about it—and it seemed there was only one way things were going to work out, thanks to a surprisingly formidable rival.

And then… Rainbow Dash smiled, a wry and wounded but geniune smile, because she knew her love deserved no less than somepony formidable, somepony a little ruthless, somepony unshakable in her love—and apparently that was Rarity. The elegant creature’s devotion was evident, unmistakable, and Dash lowered her gaze, grinning her painful grin harder and harder.

“You’re a unicorn and a half, Rarity,” she said.

“Thank you, Rainbow. This way?”

“Would it bother you if I also said… you were a high-powered mega-bitch from pony hell?”

Rarity glanced quickly at her friend—but the rueful, wry grin was unaltered, and this was Rainbow Dash saying it, after all.

“Then I would wonder,” Rarity said, “a good one or a bad one?”

Dash sighed heavily.

“The best,” she said, “only the best.”

Rarity’s eyes glistened. “Oh, Rainbow!” she said, and she trotted forward, reared and hugged her old friend, petting her neck.

“Urrk!”

Rarity gave a little shriek and flung herself backwards off Dash, her mane going slightly unkempt from the urgency of her escape. She then hesitated, for there had been something odd and stilted about the sound—and then she saw Dash’s grin, now irrepressible.

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” accused Rarity.

Rainbow Dash just nodded, a world of mischief in her eyes. She said nothing—but everything in her bearing and expression said ‘gotcha!’

Rarity began to grin as well, her eyes narrowed, and gave a little nod, as if saluting a worthy adversary. “That is fair, I dare say. Come along, Rainbow, I’m quite serious. Let’s fix you a snack.” She turned, and made for the kitchen.

Rainbow hesitated, turning away—wiped a tear with the back of her hoof—and followed, peaceably.

“I’m here, Twi. I’m here. Ya okay?”

Applejack was cuddling Twilight, in bed. It was a silly question, for the purple unicorn had given way to shakes and sobs, and none of her words were intelligible. Applejack had turned immediately to hugs and cuddles, and eventually she’d calmed Twilight.

“I just don’t know…”

Applejack blinked. “Y’all seemed pretty certain before. Got right in Pinkie’s face, you did.”

Twilight twisted to look at Applejack through tear-streaked eyes. “But that’s just it! I, I, I feel like I know what has to have happened, but…”

“Steady there pony girl…”

“It’s like this—this is why I had to talk to you, Applejack. I’m so sure, I just know in my bones and my mind and my horn what’s happened—but there was a time—do you remember? There was a time when I was just as sure about… something else.”

She looked away, ashamed. “And it was… that I needed to hurt Rainbow. For taking you from me. When it was me that was wrong the whole time…”

Applejack glowered at nothing. “Yeah. That weren’t good.”

“But do you see?” said Twilight. She laughed a little false laugh and added, “For all I know, now maybe you wish I’d gone ahead with it!”

“No!” said Applejack in a panic. She blinked, catching herself. “O’ course not, that’s crazy talk…”

“Maybe I’m making more crazy talk,” said Twilight quietly.

“Well, now… how much do we really know, Twi?”

“Trixie’s gone,” said Twilight. The tears began flowing again.

“Aw… easy now, girl,” said Applejack. Her ears quirked to the side—it was disconcerting how easily she slipped into the role of Twilight’s stallion, even without sex or a bit. It was also very obvious that Twi needed it, needed the rock of Applejack’s security to cling to. She clung even through a vivid green sexy-mare dress, and didn’t seem to notice the incongruity. Applejack noticed it. Suddenly, her whole girly thing seemed fake to her, and she tapped into something deeper that had lay neglected, something she’d grown up with, something which had stifled her but now gave her strength.

Applejack hugged Twilight closer. “Do ya know anythin’ else? There, there…”

Twilight sniffled. “Our bit is gone. And the rod thing…”

Applejack chuckled softly. “Mine’s gone, too.”

At this, Twilight blinked. “Gone? How?”

“Rainbow done stoled it one night. Guess it’s hers now.”

“You’re kidding, really? I should make you one to have for yourself.” Twilight’s face fell. “Or I would, if I had Trixie with me…”

Applejack wasn’t looking at her. She was frowning and staring into space. “I reckon, don’t bother. I can always grab Rarity’s if it comes to that. An’… I got a feeling she don’t like me bein’ that way. Best t’ not even go there, I reckon.”

“That seems weird,” said Twilight. “I don’t understand it. I thought you were the best stallion ever. Um… at the time, that is. Not trying to start anything now!”

“Naw, it’s okay. Uh, thanks? An’ I don’t understand it either. Ain’t sure how I feel about it. Don’t know what you got till you cain’t have it no more, I guess.”

Twilight’s eyes filled with tears again. “Trixie…”

“Aw, sugarcube! We’ll get her back. I promise. Even if we ain’t got Pinkie and Fluttershy, the rest of us will go with you and we are gonna find her. And whatever’s got her, well, I feel sorry for it, that’s all I kin say.”

“But… what if nothing got her? What if she just ran away, what if I was terribly wrong? When I b-beat her with the stick? I mean, she begged me to get it, she kept on being bad and glancing at it…”

Applejack’s face was scrunched into a disapproving look. “I can’t answer that, Twilight, on account of I don’t really understand it. But… well, maybe you ought to know that me an’ Rarity, we’re runnin’ into some problems too. I don’t want to be tellin’ tales about it—jes’ only to say that you ain’t alone. I got Rarity, and I believe she do care about me somethin’ fierce, but that lady got some quirks to her, damn… an’ I think she really does need that weird stuff. I reckon your Trixie is th’ same way. If she wanted you to spank her with a stick, well that’s what she wanted. Ain’t for the likes of you and me to understand it.”

Twilight nodded solemnly, eyes wide. “Actually… I think one of the things that upset Princess Celestia so badly is that… I do kind of understand some of it. I think that is what drove her crazy and turned her into Nightmare Sun.”

Applejack shuddered. “Don’t be talkin’ such things! Not if we don’t know! I don’t mind sayin’ I hope Pinkie’s right. I’d like to believe she’s right. You say the Princess was fearful mad? I can’t even imagine it.”

“I wish I didn’t have to imagine it. No, wait—I wish I DID have to imagine it. Because I don’t. It happened. I was right over there, cowering on the floor, trying not to piddle myself. I’ll never, ever forget it as long as I live.”

Applejack was silent—then, “If that’s true, she’ll be rememberin’ it for a lot longer than that. She loves you best, you lil’ faithful student, you. What do alicorns do when they do stuff that stays with ‘em? In a not-good way?”

Twilight thought. “Apologize?”

Applejack hugged her. “There, ya see? Maybe that note was an apology, nothin’ more.”

Twilight was trembling. “But… at the same time, it could be the other thing, and you know what that would mean for all of us…”

“We’re gonna have to go an’ find out, Twilight. We got to find out where your Trixie is—and we got to find out why the Princess took her away. Or where she went to, if it weren’t the Princess. Lotta questions.”

Twilight nodded. “I know you have the farm to take care of, and you can’t…”

Applejack snorted. “Hah! M’ stupid brother can make up for his follies, at least a lil’ bit. He’s been workin’ all hours anyways, let him work more. I’m comin’ with you to help.”

“But… well, I was originally thinking we’d need the Elements of Harmony, but it might be difficult for everypony if both you and Rainbow… and of course Rarity…”

“You hush now. Some things is important. We’ll jes’ have to make do and stay polite—because I’m tellin’ you, we’re all comin’ with you to help. ‘Cept Fluttershy an’ Pinkie, I guess. They can look after Ponyville in our absence, how’s that? An’ Spike can stay here in case your Trixie turns up on th’ doorstep. Can’t say fairer than that!”

Twilight managed a wavery little smile—that strengthened, as Applejack nuzzled her nose affectionately.

“I promise you, no matter what it costs us, we will be there for you. This is your quest, Twi—but you won’t do it alone. We’re gonna get you your Trixie back or we ain’t comin’ back!”

Twilight teared up, and grabbed Applejack in a tight hug, her head over Applejack’s shoulder, and Applejack stroked her back comfortingly.

The courageous earth pony’s expression wasn’t as sure as it had been when she looked Twilight in the eyes, though. Instead, she stared into space with an expression that said one thing.

‘Oh, lordy, what have I got myself into?’

They gathered outside Twilight’s, laden with saddlebags, having made their arrangements with all possible haste: closing the Carousel Boutique, settling Opalescence in with Fluttershy, arranging with Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom to take over the farm duties even if they couldn’t quite match Applejack’s workload. Big Macintosh looked determined to try. He also asked if all the Element bearers were going along, and seemed pleased that Pinkie and Fluttershy were staying behind.

Applejack left all her fancy clothes at Rarity’s, and galloped off to Sweet Apple Acres to pack for the journey. She picked out provisions with an experienced eye, having journeyed with her friends before, and loaded her packs heavily—food, rope, bandages, even a grappling hook.

Rainbow Dash just wrote a note to stick on her door—‘No hay delivery for a while, don’t know how long’—and brought Tank over to Fluttershy’s as well, biting her lip at his look of dismay. “Don’t give me that, Tank! I’ll be back right away. Or what you’d probably think of as right away… oh, stop it! Everything’s gonna be okay,” she’d said, not believing it any more than he did. “Listen—I gotta do this. I just gotta. For what I’ve got left.”

They gathered, as the sun lowered in the sky through foreboding clouds, casting a russet glow over the four companions.

“If we hurry, we can get a few miles before nightfall,” said Twilight. “I’d like to travel secretly in case we’re not real welcome. The obvious place to go is Canterlot… but there’s something I’d sort of like to try, first. I hope it doesn’t work too well, but it could be very helpful.”

Applejack blinked. “Now hold on a minute. It’s helpful, but you hope it doesn’t work?”

“More like, I wish I didn’t have to do it, and it should only be a vague help? Rarity, I’m going to have to ask you to go back home and get your bit, the one I gave you. I realize that’s not an appropriate thing to ask…”

She trailed off, seeing the look on Rarity’s face. It wasn’t a pleased look. Rarity stared straight ahead, refusing to meet anypony’s eyes, glowering at nothing.

Her horn glowed, gently. One of her saddlebags opened—and the magic bit floated out, reluctantly, and moved over to Twilight, whose magic took it from Rarity’s.

“I’ll need it back,” said Rarity, flatly.

Rainbow Dash’s ears were laid back, but they laid back still flatter at Rarity’s remark. Applejack bridled at the implications. “Oh, you will, will you? This ain’t a pleasure trip!”

“It’s mine. It goes with me. Pray let us not discuss it here.”

“Thank you, Rarity,” said Twilight, though her ears were back as well. A particularly clever rock could have picked up on the tensions of the situation—they were nearly strong enough to throw a shadow.

Applejack gulped, feeling like a bone of contention—or the soon-to-be-boned of contention. “Well, now, Twilight, guess we din’t have to go fetch nothin’, heh… What are you gonna do?”

“You’ll all have to forgive me, but it’s for a good cause. I’m going to use it—and work a contiguity spell to scout out its resonance. I’m pretty sure I can get a vague sense of similar objects, once I’m in contact with it and my biomorphic field extends into its own. Its arcanomorphic field, I should say, it won’t have a biomorphic field. I’ll try to get a resonance from a similar artifact that’s active with only an arcanomorphic field.”

Applejack’s eyes had glazed over a bit. “You’re… gonna smell out the other bit?”

“Roughly, yes,” said Twilight. “Avert your eyes, if it matters to you. Here we go!”

She bit down on the magic cylinder, and from between her hind legs sprouted the elegant Sparkle ponycock. Applejack averted her eyes, politely. Rarity stole sidelong glances, and Rainbow Dash was pacing around restlessly and seemed uninterested.

“Yes…” said Twilight. “I’m pretty sure I can feel the one I gave to Lyra and Bon Bon. That’s good, it gives me a reference… I’m reaching out now… not feeling much over by Canterlot… nothing in the Everfree Forest, thank goodness… going out farther, out where Spike got in trouble with those dr…”

Twilight froze, looking stricken.

“Twilight!” snapped Rarity. “Speak!”

“C’mon, Twi, what happened?”

“Did you find it?” squeaked Rainbow Dash.

Twilight spat the bit out upon the ground, producing a cry of dismay from Rarity, whose magic snatched it up again and began brushing off dirt. Twilight didn’t notice. Her jaw hung loose and she stared at nothing.

“Twilight!” cried Applejack, and that got her attention. She shook her head, and answered.

“It’s in a cave, in not the second but the third mountain as you go into the area. It’s well within dragon territory, and it’s got to be a cave because it’s quite a bit below ground level. Those caves are all occupied by dragons. I’d say we need Fluttershy, but there’s no way she can work her scolding trick on a dragon who’s on his own turf. They’re fiercely territorial. We’d better get moving. We’ll think of something as we go.”

The other three ponies stared at her in wonder.

“Come on!” she said. “Don’t just stand there!”

Applejack snorted. “Course not! Move on out, Rarity!” She nudged Rarity’s rump, and the white unicorn got moving.

Rarity complained, “Move on out, indeed! You’ll forget everything I’m trying to teach you,” as she stashed her magic bit away in her saddlebag again.

“No time for that, missy! This is serious!”

“You could ‘move out’ every bit as well in a ladylike fashion, Applejack, there is no reason to throw decorum to the four winds…”

Twilight lagged behind, but Rainbow Dash, in the throes of her new sensitivity to feelings and implications, picked up on something, and hung back with her.

“Is something the matter, Twilight? I thought you said that was gonna give you a general sense of where it was. What happened?”

“I… I should have got just an arcanomorphic field. Just a vague sense of direction,” managed Twilight.

“But you got a lot more than that—because?”

“Because the other one was… in use,” said Twilight, and her face twisted.

Rainbow hugged her wordlessly, and they continued on.

Allowances

“Comfortable?” inquired Princess Luna.

“Trixie is not comforted—MISS Luna!”

The little blue unicorn sulked in the middle of the cave floor. She’d been left in the dark, when the Princess departed to run Canterlot errands. She could have lit the cave with all manner of magical fireworks, but Trixie felt it was prudent to save every bit of magical energy in case she could use it to escape.

Luna’s eyes narrowed. “We must insist on the honorific. We have every bit as much right to it as your previous owner had…”

“Trixie wonders,” sneered Trixie, “if there are other things you think you have a right to!”

“Oh, your toys?” yawned the Princess. “Poor foolish little pony. We will not speak of the rod, that is more a gift for your sort—if you are good, which you are not. But the other one? Forsooth, thou hast misused a precious thing!” She seemed to catch herself, and went on. “The Lulamoon magic bits—oh, you thought you had invented them? The magic bits have always been dedicated to my service.”

Trixie looked startled, then rebellious. “Then you’re saying, when Trixie sought a power source, she drew on her… heritage?”

Luna looked at her. “And a proud, misunderstood heritage, indeed. Let us be clear: your line stretches back into history, to a time when your kin served me. I believe this desire to serve has led you to strange places in your life, little pony. May I suggest that, perhaps, it has led you to… how shall I put it… try and force other ponies to meet your needs, ones that should not be influenced in such a direction?”

Trixie repressed a wince. Twilight had come a long way—reluctantly.

“Trixie sees through your pitiful attempt to fool her!”

Luna blinked. “Fool? We dislike thy tone, little pony, and would counsel… wait, excuse me.” She shook her lovely head, and the flowing, magical mane thrashed briefly, throwing off glittery sparks. “I am not trying to fool you. I’m doing a difficult thing which is best for everypony, and would appreciate more cooperativeness…”

“Hah! Trixie will not be mentally dominated by the likes of you!”

That caused Princess Luna’s eyes to go wide, and then she glared. “Insults! We are being the soul of reasonableness, in our opinion! We are trying to be kind and make the best of your unfortunate situation, and you call that mental domination?”

“Failed mental domination!” sneered Trixie.

Princess Luna rolled her eyes, exasperated. “No, girl. That is courtesy, and negotiation, and seeking the best for my own little pony while she lasts, from the first moment to her last precious breath. Lulamoons served willingly, Miss Trixie Lulamoon, and so shall you. And that was not mental domination.”

“Failed…” began Trixie.

“This is,” said Princess Luna, and concentrated.

Trixie squealed, her psyche caving in, dragged into a sudden abyss of horror and misery, her vision darkening to a tunnel. Then, she soared, glowing, too rapt to breathe, looking upon Princess Luna and quivering just to allow her eyes to caress the exquisite dark alicorn form, those supple long legs, the elegant lean curves of her heart-shatteringly arousing body. Then, terror gripped her and she froze, her eyes locked on the Princess’s, her soul a crawling little worm unworthy to be squished by those glittering hooves…

Trixie suddenly was herself again—panting, staring wildly at the utterly impassive alicorn.

“That was mental domination, Miss Trixie Lulamoon. Be courteous enough to know the difference. Let us begin again. As your new—your PROPER—owner, your princess wishes to know: are you comfortable? We can adjust the temperature of this cave, while the moon is yet full, and we shall bring furnishings to suit your tastes. We suggest not starting right off with chains and shackles—even if you wished such, we feel a relationship must be forged to support such extreme intimacies.”

Trixie was speechless.

“If you would be so good,” suggested Princess Luna, “some lesser intimacies would be appreciated—perhaps as an introduction to the deeper ones we will eventually share.”

The magic bit had rolled over to lie entreatingly in front of Trixie. She didn’t look at it, she looked only at Luna, in shock, and made no move to take hold of it. Luna had sighed.

“We would fain remind thee that we have just demonstrated mental domination, and point out the difference between such… and a simple request…”

The little group of ponies trotted on into the night.

“This the right way, Twilight?” called Applejack. “There’s a pass up there by that ridge where th’ footing is steady, I reckon…”

“Slow down!” squealed Rarity. She was taking up the rear, staggering under the weight of apparently a great many provisions, her saddlebags unfashionably stuffed, and she was sweating, which did nothing to improve her mood.

“Sorry, sugarcube, maybe us outdoors ponies are settin’ too much of a pace…”

“Just slow down a little,” gritted Rarity. “I’ll keep up.  Don’t even suggest that I won’t match you.”

“Match me?” laughed Applejack. “Y’all sweatier than a colt sniffin’ at his first filly-flower…”

“Thank you for that, Applejack,” said Rarity, setting her jaw and struggling onward.

Twilight didn’t look great either. Rainbow Dash trotted beside her, looking worried, not saying much. She glanced over as Twi cleared her throat, but it wasn’t Dash she wanted.

“Applejack? Can I talk with you?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, but dropped back, muttering, “…sooner we find Trixie, the better!”

Rarity greeted her. “Fancy… meeting you here! Charmed, I’m sure!” she panted.

“Yeah yeah,” said Rainbow. “Hey, you look pretty winded. Want to trade? Mine’s lighter, I bet.”

Rarity lifted an eyebrow. “Are you serious? I am tempted, I’ll admit.”

“I’ll carry almost all of your things, sure,” said Rainbow casually.

Rarity’s sidelong glance met Dash’s challenging gaze. “Don’t tell me…”

“Yeah, that’s the condition. I shouldn’t have to carry that,” said Dash. “You can carry it. In your mouth.”

“In your dreams,” retorted Rarity.

“I’ll take care of my own dreams, thanks,” said Dash. “Just checking up on somepony else’s dreams. Call me thorough.”

“I call you impossible!”

“Hey, didn’t I tell you I was the royal penis inspector? I told you, nothing but the best, and I meant…”

“Knock it off back there!” yelled Applejack, and the two fell silent, and Rarity struggled on with her own self-imposed burdens.

Twilight winced. “I’m sorry. I should have seen it would be a problem…”

“Never you mind. We’ll all manage somehow,” said Applejack. “Now, what’s frettin’ ya?”

Trixie had stared at her captor,  then, in rank disbelief. “Can Trixie have heard you correctly? You kidnap Trixie, snatch her from her beloved, threaten her life, and now you want fucking?”

Luna sulked, pouting outrageously. “We most certainly do not threaten your life…”

Trixie pounced upon the point. “Derailing one’s life until it ceases is tantamount to taking that life at the point of its interruption! Trixie must ask, what would be the difference to anypony else?”

“The difference,” said Luna, “is mercy. Understand, you are indeed being killed, Miss Lulamoon—in the sense you mean. You are being removed. Listen—I will try to speak plainly and personally, so I don’t muddle things. I tell you, I am certain in my decision. I will not lie to you, there is no need…”

“Yet you perpetrate a deception upon all Equestria without a second thought!” said Trixie. She racked her brain, determined to defeat the renegade alicorn. “So, you claim you won’t lie?”

“We nev… I never said that, little Lulamoon. Wresting you from your former owner without harming her calls for deception; indeed, cunning. I said I would not lie to you, and I shall not.”

“But you are harming her!” began Trixie, but Luna froze her with a look.

“You’ve taken quite enough of her innocence. My sister always cherished it—perhaps to a fault, but that is immaterial. You won’t be destroying it further.”

Trixie sat, frustrated, undaunted. Luna watched her silence. When she broke it, it was very gently—slyly.

“She’d want you to be happy…”

“Trixie will get out of here and rejoin her if it is the last thing Trixie does!”

Princess Luna was not impressed. “It won’t be. This makes a servicable tomb. Not even in death will you depart this cave…”

“Where does air come from, then? Hah!” said Trixie.

“We will have to change it, of course,” said Luna. “It is a large complex of caves, years would pass before it became stale, little pony. We can magically transfer air from the outside, and shall. That is a promise.”

Trixie fell silent again, staring at nothing, thinking.

“She’d want you to soften me up…”

“Will you shut up?” demanded Trixie.

“Manners, little Lulamoon,” chided Luna.

“What on Equestria is your problem? Are you that desperate? Trixie was not that desperate even with a cursed magic bit following her around!”

“She’d want you to soften me up,” repeated Luna, “as if you could overcome me were I left sated.”

“Really.”

“Oh, yes,” said Luna, conversationally. “It won’t happen—I promised not to lie to you—but still, Twilight would approve of you trying.”

“You are that desperate. I can smell you.”

Trixie jumped back, then, for Princess Luna banged a hoof on the stone floor of the cave, with a crack that reverberated endlessly in the distance. The cave was indeed huge: the Princess hadn’t lied about that either.

But rather than rage at her captive, the princess hid her face in the crook of her hoof, and Trixie watched curiously.

“Oh for… Listen. Trixie. Shall I speak frankly?” said Princess Luna.

Trixie nodded, warily, and Luna continued.

“Damned right we are desperate—I mean, I am desperate,” said Luna. “I haven’t been fucked in a thousand years. When I was brought back, all my ponies were gone, lost to history. The times are not fit for me either. I can make you very happy in every way you desire. Doubtless I will, in time… but for now I am very lonely, and very horny, and it goes both ways. You need me—but I need you.”

Trixie watched, hoping to spot the trick.

“I watched you that night, little pony. Not so little of a pony, either! I am tall, but my body is slim, and I have centuries of experience telling me what feels delightful. For you, the discipline of the rod felt delightful—but I am sure the warmth of your lover felt delightful as well. I say that you in turn would feel delightful, and I admit that it influenced my decision. It was not the only reason—my arguments still hold, but I have a personal interest—dear pony, dear legacy, dear Lulamoon kindred.”

Trixie gulped. This sounded like romance. But could it be manipulated? Would Twilight indeed advise her to sway the alicorn with lovemaking? Trixie had no special kink for monogamy more than any other pony—though she had an uncomfortable feeling that Twilight’s inexperience predisposed her to that.

Princess Luna wasn’t finished.

“We can build up to all the grovelling submission your heart desires later… but…”

The alicorn Princess gulped, allowing herself to seem vulnerable.

“How about you pretend I have only kidnapped you for a night of passion? Just as you are one of mine, so also am I yours. My heart is yours, and my body is yours… As a gift for the Princess that is truly yours—no, as a personal favor, dear mortal pony! Please take up that bit, and give me what I so desperately need.”

“If Trixie does this… might she earn special considerations?”

Princess Luna looked sorrowful. “We shall see.”

Trixie had risen to her hooves, and stepped towards the magic bit where it lay.

“I can’t stop thinking about what I sensed,” said Twilight.

“You said…” and Applejack gulped, “th’ bit was in use. Hers, I mean.”

“That’s it. That’s exactly the problem.”

“You think maybe Princess Celestia…”

“No, stop, hear me out!” said Twilight. “I wonder if maybe I’ve jumped to conclusions?”

“That’d be a first,” grumbled Applejack, trotting steadily on.

Twilight dropped her head, wincing.

“Sorry, sugarcube. Long day?”

“You can say that again,” admitted Twilight. “And yeah, I get it, it’s not the first time I’ve been carried away by stuff—but hear me out, okay? What if Pinkie’s right? What if Princess Celestia is blameless—and Trixie just ran off?”

“All right, what, Twi?”

Twilight kept pace with Applejack for a while, gathering her thoughts. When she spoke, it was in a rush.

“I don’t know if I did the right thing, hitting her. She so wanted something like that, but what if I did it all wrong and it showed her that I wasn’t a good pony for her? All I wanted was to be hers, to meet her needs, but it went into such strange places, Applejack! I have such a hard time understanding. It’s like another world, and she lives in it all the time. I just visit it. What if she gave up on me and went off to this other world? And met a pony who’s doing stuff to her, and they understand each other and are happy right from the start?”

“In a big cave in dragon country?” blinked Applejack.

“Oh,” said Twilight. “That. Um.”

“Ain’t many ponies in those parts, I got to say… are you sure that’s where you felt it, Twilight?”

“I’m completely sure. I was orienting myself by surface landmarks and that’s why I was so surprised it was underground.”

Applejack hesitated, then asked, “Did’ja get a feelin’… it was bein’ used happy?”

That stopped Twilight, literally. She screeched to a halt, and Applejack turned to face her, saying “I’m sorry, I shouldn’a said it…”

“I’m not sure which is worse,” said Twilight. “I hadn’t thought of that. Sweet Cel… You’re telling me, either Trixie is using the bit happily, or having it used on her, or somepony capable of taking her to an underground cave in dragon country is raping her with it?”

“Hey, what’s going on? What’s the matter, Twilight?” called Rainbow Dash, trotting up to join them. “You don’t look so good.”

“I don’t feel so good, either!” yelled Twilight. “This was already bad enough, why’d you have to talk about the other possibilities, Applejack?”

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Twi!” managed Applejack, looking stricken.

Rarity ran up, crying “Darling!” but it wasn’t Twilight she was concerned for. She reared and hugged Applejack. “It’s okay, Rarity will straighten everything out…”

“I ain’t the one who’s upset, consarn it! Git offa me!” sputtered Applejack, dancing aside as Rarity tried to cling to her. “Ain’t you got any sense at all?”

This offended the weary, dusty, no longer fashionable unicorn. “Well! If that’s how you feel…”

“Lover’s quarrel?” snickered Rainbow Dash.

Applejack glared at her. “Somethin’ like that, I guess. Twilight, I’m awful sorry…”

“But what on earth happened?” cried Rarity. “We are in disarray! We cannot journey together if we fight, even if Applejack is prone to the gaffe!”

“Th’ whut?”

“No, no, settle down, Rarity!” said Twilight. “Everypony, settle down! All that happened is, Applejack reminded me that maybe Princess Celestia is raping Trixie with the bit, or something. Now that I say it, it sounds crazy. I don’t really know what’s happening, or why she or some unspecified pony was using the thing…”

“What if she was not?” suggested Rarity. “What if Trixie’s toy just feels like that because you have used it yourself? Ah… assuming that you have. I beg your pardon very humbly if you have not—it just seemed not beyond the realm of possibility that…”

Twilight interrupted her. “I have. Cool it. Yes, I have used it on Trixie, as a matter of fact. That’s… not a bad idea, Rarity. That one didn’t occur to me either, what made you think of that when nopony else did?”

Rarity dipped her head a little, and her horn waved gracefully. “Unicorn, darling. We magic users must stick together—er, I mean, we magic users may perhaps have special insights into magic things. No?”

Twilight considered this, as the other two ponies grumbled. “That’s a very good idea, Rarity. It would mean I don’t know as much as I thought—which would be good! I guess you know what happens next?”

Rarity blinked—then made a face, and her horn glowed.

“We test the hypothesis!” said Twilight, as the bit rose again out of Rarity’s overstuffed saddlebag, and her magic took it from Rarity’s. “Thank you, Rarity, I’ll give it back in a minute.”

Rarity made no reply this time, though she glanced anxiously at Applejack. Twilight took the bit in her teeth, and turned faux-male, though everypony was too jittery to make light of that. She concentrated, with a look of growing frustration—and then the bit was floating back over to Rarity, who claimed it.

“Nope,” said Twilight. “Strictly arcanomorphic field, this time. I did get to confirm its location, though.”

“An’ that is?” asked Applejack.

“Two days’ travel. Maybe one, if we gallop all night and all day.”

“…urrk!” went Rainbow Dash.

“Damn straight!” said Applejack. “Th’ idea makes me sick too! Twilight, it’s pow’ful late and you’re tired an’ Rarity’s so wored out she’s gone all goofy on me—we ain’t gallopin’ all night! My sakes, I ain’t sure if even I could gallop all night! Where’s we got to, anyways?”

Rarity choked. “That contraction is appalling! Is it ‘where has’, which is awful, or ‘where is’, which is worse?”

“Oh, stow it… Twi, any ideas?”

Twilight looked around. “It’s pretty dark. I wish I knew. I think we got past most of the mountains around Ponyville…”

Rainbow Dash spoke up, though she looked queasy. “We did. We need to make for the forest, not go toward Trottingham, or we’ll just have to go back around the lake—if Twilight’s described it right, we’re heading for the mountains above Noveria. We should skirt the edge of the forest even if it adds some miles to the trip, on the plains we’ll run faster and easier.”

She noticed ponies looking at her, and squeaked, “What? Maybe I can fly, but the rest of you still have to run! I’ve been running along with you on purpose, for like team spirit and stuff! And I’ve flown out here before, I recognize this area.”

“Well, then,” said Applejack, “thank you, Rainbow Dash. Twilight, time we turned in for the night, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” admitted Twilight. “That sounds really good actually… I hadn’t noticed, but I’m all shaky, I don’t usually travel this much.”

“You done great! But we all got to know our limitations, right Twi?” Applejack glanced sidelong at Rainbow Dash, trying to work out how tired the little pegasus was from all the unaccustomed running.

“Indeed,” said Rarity, watching. “Permit me to speak to you, Applejack, I’ve an apology to make…”

“A what now? Oh, all right…” said Applejack, as Rarity led her off.

“Are you feeling well, Rainbow?” asked Twilight. “You really look kind of bad.”

“Oh no no!” said Dash. “I’m fine. Officially. Uh… um… it isn’t gonna bother you, Twilight, if I, uh… sleep with you?”

“I’m not reading too much into that, am I?”

Dash glared at her. “Don’t read anything into it. I’m not gonna clop you. I’m a reformed character or something, didn’t you notice? I just… I don’t want to be alone right now.”

Twilight’s wary look softened. “Oh. Right. Me either… you could use some cuddles, huh?”

“Hooves off the wings, but yeah—bigtime.” Dash sighed. “This is gonna be a long trip, Twilight.”

There was a little stand of trees, and they walked over to lie beneath them, Rainbow flying up briefly to check that nothing was lurking in the branches.

“Did you see anything?”

“Nah, it should be fine.”

Twilight lay beneath a tree, and Rainbow Dash settled to the ground, tucking her wings to her sides, and cuddled awkwardly up to her friend, with another sigh.

“I’m not feeling great either,” admitted Twilight.

“Well of course not!” said Dash. “This has to suck for you. Even if we don’t know if you lost your marefriend permanently like m… I’m sorry, that wasn’t helping, was it?”

“I feel like I take stuff too seriously. I’m not exactly good at sharing, Rainbow,” said Twilight. “It’s like, I should be able to deal with this better than I am—if it was just Trixie running away from me, I mean.”

“And why do you think she would do that, Twilight? I thought this was a rescue mission.”

“Well…”

Rainbow turned her head, shifting against Twilight’s body, and stared hard at her. “Maybe you need me more than I thought. ‘Cos I can tell you some stuff, and you’ll have to listen. Did Trixie get mad at you? Did you guys fight? Not counting kinky stuff, I mean.”

“No.” Twilight looked haunted, in the moonlight. “Everything seemed perfectly normal. As normal as we ever got. I was wanting her to act a lot less kinky, but then I gave in, and I really kinked it up for her.”

Twilight waited for Dash to request more details, but the little pegasus mare was serious, and didn’t let it distract her.

“Let me tell you, Twilight—you’d know. Some part of you would know. You’d feel that conflict between knowing you needed her and also knowing you’d done something terribly wrong. You might try to play it off all casual, but deep inside you’d know you blew it. And then it’s just trying to live with the consequences somehow, and you can’t really argue ‘cos it’s totally your fault.”

“It wasn’t my fault!” protested Twilight. “I was doing my best, honestly!”

Dash facehooved. “I was thinking of something else. But don’t you get it? You’re right, it isn’t your fault. Something happened to Trixie and we gotta go save her. I don’t know if it’s really Princess Celestia. It’s hard to imagine Celestia taking a bit and, um… you know?”

Twilight turned away and mumbled, going a redder purple.

“What’s that?” Dash listened harder.

“I… I’ve imagined that sort of thing. Sometimes,” admitted Twilight, refusing to meet Dash’s eyes.

Those ruby eyes twinkled, remembering a frisky sleep-over, remembering Twilight’s stubbornly held secrets. “I always thought that must have been it. It’s okay, Twilight. Heh. Wow. We have more in common than I thought…”

That got the unicorn’s attention. “You’ve clopped to… that? I thought you said you clopped to Applej… oh, Rainbow, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry.”

Dash’s face had crumbled into distress, as Twilight almost said the name. Somewhere nearby, they heard the soft murmurs of Rainbow Dash’s ex-mate as she talked quietly with Rarity, just out of earshot.

Rainbow Dash didn’t drop her gaze—it just leaked tears as she stared back at Twilight determinedly.

“Not everything has to be a BEST fantasy, Twi.”

Twilight’s lip quivered. Her anxiety over Trixie was distractingly great, but through it she plainly saw how she’d hurt Rainbow. “I… I… do you hate me, now?”

“Nope,” said Dash.

“What can I do for you? Oh, Rainbow, I was supposed to make you feel better!”

“Hold me,” said Dash. She turned, snuggling back against Twilight. She turned her head again. “…and don’t take advantage of my amazing virtuous innocence!”

Twilight giggled. “Spoilsport!” she said, and miraculously it seemed like the right thing to say—a gentle tease helping Dash save face. Twilight held her close. Soon, Rainbow Dash was asleep—being so used to flying, the long hours of trotting had worn her out.

Twilight took some comfort in the warmth and companionship, but she found it hard to sleep, though she too was exhausted. Her thoughts strayed back to her tests with Rarity’s bit—and that time she’d felt its counterpart active, in use.

What could possibly have happened, she thought, all those hours ago—and if it had happened, would it happen again?

In the abandoned, sealed cave, Trixie had stepped towards the Princess, as Twilight argued with her friends in her library—but she hadn’t taken the bit in her teeth yet. She kicked it along the floor, and followed after it, staring directly into Luna’s wide, thoughtful eyes.

“Will you beg me?” said Trixie.

“Must I?”

“I haven’t decided that yet.” Trixie frowned. “Trixie has not decided that yet. You’ve unsettled Trixie, Miss Luna.”

“It begins…” said Luna softly.

“What was that?”

“Only another truth,” said Luna. “Savor this one—I offer you intimacies beyond mortal ponies. Thou art invited into another sphere outside thy experience, our gift and a cornerstone to anchor the glorious edifice of our brief but radiant relationship to be…”

“Trixie thinks you talk very strangely. You call that an invitation?”

Luna heaved a shuddering sigh. “We are… I am sorry, miss Lulamoon. The weight of history is great, and it draws me back unto happier times, when my world was alive. Now I have only you, and you mistrust and fear me.” Her lip twisted in a wry smile. “I hope you can learn to trust… and fear me. You even smell like my beloved Lulamoons, and it makes me quite dizzy.”

Trixie kept playing with the bit, scraping it against the rock floor with her hoof. “Trixie makes you dizzy? With desire? Desire, perhaps, strong enough to make you foolish?”

“We must fain be foolish to pursue the greater good for all, through such unseemly paths—yes, little Lulamoon, in some ways we are foolish. Pray let us be foolish together?”

“But that isn’t an invitation,” said Trixie.

“We haven’t scrolls or quills handy, stupid, whatever doest thou demand of us?”

Trixie fell back a step at the flash of anger from the Princess, but remained undaunted. “Trixie expects a pony’s sort of invitation, Miss Luna. Enough with the talk! If you really want to be fucked, show Trixie you mean it. Show it like a pony!”

Luna bit her lip—though there was something sly in her look, something that hinted at tender mockery. She hung her head very convincingly, rose to her hooves, and rotated, presenting her lean, deer-like hindquarters for Trixie’s inspection—so long were her legs, that her pert little rump was at face height.

Trixie leaned closer, suspiciously—and was greeted with a Princessly wink.

“Is’t pony enough for thee, already?” griped Luna.

Trixie licked her lips—but not Luna’s, not yet. What if it was possible to get past the Princess’s defenses through sex? Wouldn’t it be just another sort of game? If she managed it, she could square it with Twilight later. She might deserve more punishments. Win/win, then?

“Trixie can’t mount on you, you’re far too tall,” she objected.

No sooner had she said it, than Luna dropped to a crouch, effortlessly. It was an awfully well-practiced move, fluid and graceful, and Luna’s rump now presented at just the right height. She winked again, gleaming pink peeking from her dark blue labial folds.

Trixie stared. That sure was a desperate Princess. But how suggestible was she? Trixie reared slightly, but rather than mount upon Luna, she thumped the Princess’s butt with a hoof. “Up!”

Without a hesitation, Luna poked her rump into the air, nearly as high as her standing position, and that elegant alicorn vag was raised to Trixie’s face level again, in obvious expectation. Luna winked yet again—but this time, she held it for a moment, startlingly taking control of an action that was meant to be involuntary, and Trixie gazed at glistening royal pinkness, hers to please.

Nopony could blame her. Hell, Luna had said she was being kidnapped for just this reason—to exploit that weakness was surely clever. Right?

Trixie leaned over—and licked at royal pink.

A shudder ran through Luna’s elegant body, and a breathy little cry escaped her. She relaxed her labia, and they closed demurely again—until Trixie’s tongue probed between them, caressingly. It seemed right—seemed like the languid caresses of a pony tongue were only fitting for this exquisite marehood, if ‘mare’ was even a suitable word.

And yet ‘mare’ came to mind as Trixie’s tongue pressed deeper, with growing urgency, parting fevered flesh to reveal female depths within Luna’s body. The pert flower of Luna’s labia remained youthful, the yielding suppleness of the vagina beneath said ‘mare’, the depths of her said ‘timeless’…

Trixie pulled her head back, startled, sweet nectars on her lips. Before her, Princess Luna crouched passively, making no complaint—though her eye glinted, watching.

Trixie leaned foward again, trembling, and extended her tongue, savoring each moment—that astonishing deer-like form, the trim neat vulva that yielded so easily (and what had the Princess been doing all those years to leave her that broken in?), the strange, luscious juices she exuded… Trixie nibbled reflectively on Luna’s labia with her teeth, tugged them, enfolded them with her lips to understand all the feels and ways of them…

Trixie squeaked. She’d thrust her tongue deeper into Luna’s pussy, and Luna had surprised her by clenching upon it—tensing her pelvic floor so that her pussy tightened. It was a powerful sensation—suddenly, rather than the yielding softness, inside her was a firm grasp that squeezed Trixie’s tongue right out. Trixie’s eyes widened.

The alicorn still said nothing—but inquiringly lowered her rump, just a bit.

Trixie grinned madly, and her hoof encouraged the motion, pressing Luna’s hindquarters, and Luna understood the implication in an instant. She lowered her butt to exactly the right height, and waited—and Trixie reared, her forelegs wrapping around Luna’s slim body, her bit floating up to her mouth, a faint clink of teeth against metal…

Pony cock swelled out from between Trixie’s legs to press against Luna’s inner thigh. Both ponies shivered, feeling the reality of it. Trixie shifted her hips back to aim, got into position.

“Tense ‘r not… won’t matter…”

With that, Trixie slowly slid her very stiff and bulky ponycock into the Princess’s trembling body.

Luna shuddered, letting out a lurid moan. Her pussy was slick, its texture strangely fine against Trixie’s swelling cock-head: fine like silks, fine like her very flesh was more refined than mortal ponykind. Trixie’s eyes widened as she felt the luxuriousness enfold her, tender firm pressure along the sides of her shaft as Luna’s muscles embraced her.

Deeper—was mystery itself. Deeper, as Trixie sank into royal vagina, was a fluid, heated place, strangely fevered as if alicorn wombs contained stored energies, as if the power that moved suns and moons was seated not in the calculating brain but in the heart of their femaleness.

It gripped Trixie beyond anything she could have expected. She’d meant to enter Luna slowly, but found herself slowing further out of sheer awe, understanding instinctively what was happening. Her magic-induced phallus was wedging Luna wide, penetrating inch by inch toward stark mystery, perhaps toward the secret of why there weren’t lots of alicorns around, why they were so special.

Trixie’s heart jolted. Until that moment, she hadn’t been willing to believe they were special—not seriously, anyhow. She’d thought of them as a sort of flying unicorn, and overlooked little details like raising the sun and moon. They were City Hall, not something to worship… Trixie didn’t worship much. Twilight’s pony vag came close to worship for Trixie, and of course Twilight herself, with all that magical power, so glorious to be mastered by, such an honor to make love to…

Trixie pressed a little deeper, her heart pounding, and felt the presence of real power for the first time. Somehow, the fevered depths of Princess Luna conveyed it—her body, so lean and elegant that she had to crouch in a special way to allow a normal pony to mount her—the sense of her attention and awareness, much like meeting Twilight’s eyes as she thought about you—but more.

The muscles tightened against her, arcane stallionhood now gripped tautly in an eager band of pressure that caused Trixie’s cock to stiffen further. Luna moaned again, and before Trixie’s eyes, her wings unfurled. Trixie had made love to pegasi before, but this was something else—Luna’s wings were huge, again with a sense of great power for all that they were elegant and graceful. The wings flapped, and air whirled around the two ponies in heavy gusts. Princess Luna flapped again, her vagina bearing down still more urgently, and whimpered her eagerness and need.

All Trixie could do was shift her hips, entranced, savoring the pressure. In the silence of the cave, gentle wet noises accompanied the languid thrusting—delicate sustained slurps of hard shaft slowly penetrating juicy, slickened flesh. With each deliberate thrust, Trixie drew nearer to the source of that uncanny heat within Luna’s firm body.

The Princess panted, her hooves scraping against the ground, for she was unable to hold still. Forehooves dug at the rock floor, rear hooves shifted, Luna’s taut deerlike rump squirming as the fat ponycock pushed into her body again and again. Her luminescent tail, held to the side, twitched hard. Little jolts began to run through her slim, long-limbed frame as Trixie continued to move, thrust gradually deeper and deeper, and then, finally, reverently, slid all of her magic-induced cock into Luna—to the hilt—and pushed.

Princess Luna lowered her head, screwed her eyes shut, drew in a hungry breath and squealed, “Eeeeeee!” as her body clenched and shook and a blinding bolt of magical radiance shot from her horn, its trajectory nearly flat to the ground. Her neck was tensed, muscle and tendon tight and hard, her teeth gritted. As the magical climax splashed across the rock floor, it ate away at it, producing a long shallow trench, and the air was filled with the wild hot scent of vaporized rock.

Luna panted, her hindlegs shaking, vag gripping onto Trixie’s shaft and delivering echoes of aftershocks, spasmodic little clenches. Trixie panted as well, her eyes very wide.

“Amazin’… ‘m gonna… gonna…”

She didn’t even finish the sentence. With unbelievable force, Princess Luna twisted from underneath her, rising up, tossing Trixie to the side and whirling as Trixie fell over, legs sprawling open and glistening, juicy ponycock bobbling erectly in the air.

“Hold it!” demanded Luna.

Trixie blinked, terrified.

“Thou shall give us THIS…”

Princess Luna’s head dove down towards Trixie’s crotch, and almost before Trixie realized that Princess Luna had meant ‘hold it’ literally, what she meant by ‘this’ became obvious.

Her mouth enclosed Trixie’s fat stallionhood, and Trixie watched, stunned, as the Princess first wrapped pony lips around the end of her cock—and then swooped forward in an elegant motion, the entire length of Trixie’s erection disappearing into Luna’s suckling mouth.

Trixie’s eyes rolled back in her head a little. So wet, so much sensation, more than she’d have dreamed possible—Luna’s eyes were demurely closed, but Trixie felt an enfolding tongue wrapping around her hardness. Luna pulled back, cheeks hollowing and lips an ‘O’ around Trixie’s magical bulk, and Trixie felt that tongue at work, licking all around her cock-head with dexterous tenderness.

Luna tilted her head, and Trixie felt her shaft pressing against the side of Luna’s back teeth, the tongue sliding underneath to bathe and enfold her cock with wetness. The alicorn princess drew back further—and then nuzzled forward, and Trixie felt Luna’s mouth wrap her to the hilt, and felt her cock-head press a little way down Luna’s throat.

“Mmmmmmmm….”

Trixie gasped at Luna’s moan, and her flare went fully stiff. It didn’t stop Luna from drawing back again, a glint coming from her sultry eyes—and then, the deep-blue pony head dove in once more, her mouth nuzzling deep into Trixie’s crotch to take every inch of stallionhood it could reach, and as Trixie began to bang a forehoof helplessly against the floor, Luna suckled and nuzzled with Trixie’s magical cock thrust down her throat as far as it would go—and she moaned again, more deeply and entreatingly, and the vibrations combined with the tongue-caresses and the pony nose nuzzling into Trixie’s crotch…

“UMMMMmmmmm….”

“….Aaaahhhh! ngahhh! ahnnn! eeeeeh!”

Trixie squealed, her body shaking as it flung gouts of ponycome into Luna’s suckling mouth, directly down her elegant throat. Dimly, Trixie saw that long slender neck working, saw Princess Luna swallowing avidly, gulping down every bit—Trixie felt the suction and felt the swallowing and it forced another squeal and another climax out of her, and still Luna gulped, nuzzling hard against Trixie’s crotch as if trying to swallow her stallionhood itself, and Trixie screamed as a last spasm struck her, and sagged against the unyielding rock floor.

Luna’s eyes were closed again. She was drawing her head back, allowing the pony cock to emerge from her mouth. She seemed to be taking great pains to be careful, no longer gulping and licking and fondling with her tongue, and Trixie realized that was true about the same time that she realized her stallionhood was one big quivering sensitive spot, one that she could hardly stand to have touched. Luna’s face withdrew, and Trixie’s cock jutted limply into the open air, oozing come—which Luna carefully bent down and licked up. The sensation made Trixie whimper through the bit and squirt another little blob of spooge, and Luna got that as well, fastidiously.

She looked down at Trixie’s sprawled form, and her eyes danced with delight, and she licked her lips, a big smile on her face.

“Ahhh… such a good pony…”

Trixie twitched. She couldn’t tell if things had gone to plan—the exquisite, astonishing creature seemed happy, but Trixie had not reduced her to a submissive puddle of pleasure. On the contrary, Trixie felt wrung out beyond belief, and the Princess looked ready to go again at any moment.

“We are heartened by thy instinctive deference, and sense of what is meet…”

Trixie blinked weakly, and Luna bent to whisper to her.

“You may release the bit. I have enjoyed the feeling of your come down my throat and warming my stomach—a sensation I have not felt for a thousand years and more, and you let me savor it, without even being commanded to. Truly, thy instinct for these things is a miracle, little Lulamoon.”

Dumbly, Trixie allowed the bit to fall to the floor with a quiet clink. Luna beamed even more warmly at the act of obedience.

Trixie fought back, though she was too limp to rise. This was the time to test what concessions she might extract, for Mistress was very happy—rather, Miss Luna was very happy, Trixie corrected herself.

“Mmmh… so… we see?”

Princess Luna blinked. “Pardon?”

Trixie nodded weakly. “Yeah… you see how good it was? Hmm?”

Princess Luna smiled at her, lovingly—and a little sadly—and Trixie felt hope and fear rise.

“Oh, yes. I do see. Good indeed—you should be proud. And I have a question for you, dear pony.”

Trixie hoped it had to do with furloughs or paroles. “Yes?”

“Do you see how easily you can be persuaded to do exactly what I want?”

Trixie stared.

Luna’s eyes held hers, not in hostility, but with an easy confidence that combined approval, sadness, and above all total certainty—and as Trixie looked into those eyes, she realized she had been outmaneuvered the whole time. The Princess had allowed her to think what she wished. She had suggested the fantasy of sex-as-persuasion, had said outright that it would not work, had coaxed Trixie into her best efforts anyway and delivered a taste of real magic beyond anything Trixie had experienced, plus the perversity and assurance of a truly dominant magical creature with thousands of years of experience both in and out of bed—or on the floor, or surely any other way that could be imagined. She had taken Trixie’s lovemaking, returned it manyfold with effortless, devious generosity, and was well pleased with her captive.

Trixie knew the Princess hadn’t lied. Twilight very likely would have approved of the attempt, would have thought it worth a try to use sex, the only weapon being made available for Trixie. But Twilight could not possibly understand, had no idea, just no idea what Trixie had experienced…

There would be no weakening Princess Luna with coitus. It had only made her healthier and stronger—and at a terrible price. Trixie felt weak and uncertain, her love for Twilight intact but its anchoring eroded by indelible images of passion—and that was only plain and uninteresting sex. Well… the way the Princess had whirled and gone down on her, that had triggered her good and hard. Trixie had felt dominated even from that. She dared not imagine what it would be like to submit to the irresistible Luna in earnest.

Nightmare Moon had always been a kink standby, an ever-popular dom costume in pony bondage circles, and for good reason. Trixie had even played scenes subservient to a faux Nightmare Moon, before, and had found it terribly exciting. Now, though the Princess denied being anything other than herself—it was like the real thing had come to Trixie.

And not offered to play—not that. Trixie could resist that, for the sake of love.

No.

‘Nightmare Moon’ had claimed her for her own—and resistance would not be tolerated forever.

“Sleep well, my precious pet,” said Princess Luna, not unkindly. “You have been amusing and stimulating. Try not to out-think a creature older than your ancestors, hm? It could become… rude.”

A tear ran down Trixie’s cheek.

“We shall begin making a home for you tomorrow. No food or water just yet. Your performance will have drained you, and that will help,” said Luna. She looked sad. “Poor little pony, believe me it is kinder to break you quickly at the outset. You’ll be happier for longer—we do owe you that.”

Trixie sniffled.

The Princess sighed. “Would that my sister’s pet had chosen a better playmate! We promise, we will cherish you all the days of your life—nay, we will cherish your memory a hundred times that long! Pray do not weep. Oh, little Lulamoon! Our heart weeps with you.”

“Stop talking!” sobbed Trixie. “Let me not think! Go away!”

At this, Princess Luna bit her lip, apparently deciding whether to push things farther—and leaned down to speak a few more soft, carefully chosen words.

“Nopony cries forever, dear one…”

“Shut up, shut up!”

“Weep for your lost life, poor sweet pony. I will be there for you when you are ready to move on. I promise, Trixie Lulamoon.”

Trixie glared bitterly through tear-drenched, reddened eyes. “You could have the decency to lie about it!” she hissed…

…and Princess Luna bowed her head in sad respect for that which would be lost.

Limits

“You sure do look funny!”

Rarity glowered sleepily up at Applejack. “What did you say?”

“Nuthin’. Jes admirin’ your mane.”

This produced an even worse scowl. Rarity could feel the state of her grooming without even looking, and the state was dire. Her mane felt wrong—normally, Rarity liked to stay within a few minutes’ trot of a mirror so she could check if her coiffure looked wrong, but this was so dreadful she dared not even look.

Applejack’s amusement served as a mirror of sorts, but a most unwelcome one.

“Stop it,” said Rarity.

“Aw! All right. Sure do sleep late, don’tcha?” said Applejack. She began to nuzzle at Rarity’s saddlebags with her trail-dusty muzzle. “Ya got any breakfast in there?”

“Don’t touch!” shrieked Rarity.

Applejack jumped back. “Yiii! Well all right then, consarn it! You din’t have to yell!”

“Not until you’ve washed up!” demanded Rarity. “In fact, I have packed so carefully and thoroughly, that perhaps we had better leave the revealing of the contents of my bags to me, hmmm? Oh, don’t sulk, Applejack, you’ll understand later. We were all too tired to retire in a decent civilized manner last night. It shall not recur!”

Applejack stared at her lover, in disbelief. Rarity’s mane didn’t seem funny anymore—it twisted in ragged curls off her head, but the formerly elegant unicorn stared fiercely, smudges of dirt on her face heightening the peculiar drama. Applejack met the stare.

“Ya brought a four-poster bed or somethin’? It’s too early in the mornin’ for unicorn crazy…”

That tore it. Rarity bared her teeth. “Some ponies have the foresight and ingenuity to maintain standards, even in the wilderness!”

“Is that so? Is that so? Missy, th’ wilderness got its own standards, and it don’t need no help maintainin’, either!”

“Immaterial! It is my pleasure and my duty to bring suitable, nay, necessary luxury to the wilderness, and no matter how heavy the burden, I will not fail…”

From under a nearby tree, a miserable voice was raised: Rainbow Dash.

“Will you quit FIGHTING?”

Both Applejack and Rarity glanced that direction, then looked at each other, abashed.

“Sorry, sugarcube…”

“No, no… I fear I have been simply veHEment…”

Applejack blinked. “Still look like a mare ta me. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that! Everythin’ in its place, huh?”

Rarity smirked at the adorable yet maddening fumbling with vocabulary. ‘He-ment’. So typical. In fairness, she’d emphasized it oddly, which was doubtless Applejack’s bad influence. She looked up at the wide-eyed earth pony, who shifted her back hooves awkwardly as she tried to find her gentleness and be less argumentative—‘ornery’, surely, would be the word she’d favor.

“Rarity, hon? Ya laughin’ at me?” Applejack bit her lip, glancing nervously over to where Rainbow Dash and Twilight lay. They weren’t watching, apparently—it was hard to tell, for the tree was some distance away.

Rarity studied her marefriend further, not speaking. The touch of disapproval and dominance pushed Applejack, second by second, farther into an entrancing bashfulness that was most feminine. Or, perhaps, thought Rarity, it was she who felt masculine—travelling with her bit in her own saddlebag all day long, and then sleeping by it—my, yes, the proximity effect was not to be denied. Rarity felt outrageously he-mare. Her eyes narrowed in a predatory way, and her lip curled into a dangerous smile as she looked up at Applejack.

“Ya mad? I’m sorry. You’re smilin’… sorta…”

“Ssh,” said Rarity, and beckoned with a wave of her horn.

Applejack gulped, and fell silent, her eyes a question. She lowered herself, to listen more closely to what Rarity told her.

“Lie with me,” whispered Rarity. “I know what I want for breakfast.”

Her horn glowed. The saddlebag opened. The bit lifted furtively out of it, glinting softly in the dawn light.

Applejack’s eyes went very wide. “Aw, hell naw!” she hissed. “You crazy?”

“Lie with me right now,” said Rarity, softly, naked hunger in her voice. That voice could be pitched into an amazing array of tones and expressions—but Applejack had never heard such a sexy contralto throb, and her legs quivered as she met Rarity’s commanding eyes.

“Um… in th’ mornin’? Ain’t like I never… er… listen, you hush! We ain’t alone here…”

“I don’t care.”

“Well, ah do!” whispered Applejack. “I have to! It’s nice me bein’ sexu’ly inspiring an’ all, but come on, darlin’, don’t be so heartless…”

Rarity bared her teeth, her eyes flaring with animalistic hunger. Applejack’s legs quivered worse.

“Oh my,” she said, and looked around frantically. “Dammit, Rarity. Playin’ dirty, givin’ me looks like that… meet me behind that hill over there in five minutes, hear what I’m sayin’?”

Rarity glanced that direction. “No, the big rock near it—and right now.”

“That’s too consarned close!” hissed Applejack.

“It’s a rock. It will reflect sound away…”

Applejack bared her teeth in turn. “You best not be plannin’ to make sound…”

Rarity smirked again, wickedly. “I shan’t need to. It can reflect your sound. Your little, repressed cries of ecstacy.”

“Like hell I will. It’d be cruel. Y’all playin’ so dang dirty, Rarity—stop lookin’ at me like that! Ya gone all stalliony on me, all right. What’s got into you?”

Rarity shrugged, elegantly. “You bring out the best in me, darling…”

Applejack bit her lip. She glanced again at Rainbow and Twilight, seeing no sign of movement. She glanced at the hill, and the huge rock that would totally obscure their bodies from view.

“Th’ rock. Five minutes. If ya cheat and come early, I’mma buck you not in the way you like.”

Rarity’s smirk grew fangs of wicked delight. “Assumptions!”

“Promise!” hissed Applejack, desperately.

“Very well… you go. Now.”

“Oh my,” whispered Applejack, and got to her hooves. She announced, “Gosh—I’mma take a piss…” and Rarity winced at the gaucherie, but her eyes didn’t leave the country pony’s fine rump as she trotted, a spring in her step, off toward the hill—only to veer aside with a laughable display of faux sneakiness, and duck behind the rock.

Rarity waited, smiling—and then took the bit very slowly and carefully between her teeth. She had no intention of making a sound, for Applejack wished a degree of secrecy—but among her own fetishes was the indulging of voyeurism, and if she was being watched, nothing pleased her more than to put on a show.

She knew a certain pony who’d enjoyed voyeurism before—and knew that Applejack did not understand perversion nearly as well as she or the other pony understood it.

Perhaps Dash was even kinky enough to get off on the situation—but regardless, she’d asked for it, and Rarity did not take competition lightly. Applejack wasn’t going to be the only pony fucked this morning. Rarity’s rival was going to feel inadequate whether Applejack liked it or not.

Five minutes later, Rarity rose and walked deliberately toward the big rock, daunting unicorn bulk jutting from between her hindlegs and slapping her belly gently with each step…

“You don’t speak, little Lulamoon?”

Trixie stared straight ahead.

“We… understand our methods may have been distressing…”

No response.

“You were delightful. It was appreciated.”

Nothing.

Princess Luna sighed. “I see we are at an impasse. You are clever, Trixie Lulamoon. How to battle royalty thousands of years your elder? How to defeat a creature that can turn any thought, any action to her own ends? And so you do not act, you do not think. Were you to starve and die without lifting a hoof, you would indeed win. Would you not?”

No response.

“She would not want you to perish before your time…”

Not even a tear. Trixie’s gaze was stony. Luna caught her breath.

“Oh, you’re good…”

The alicorn Princess paced, talking as if to herself. “We don’t know whether my suggestion holds, that your Twilight would wish you to make the best of things…”

A quick glance told her that Trixie had not risen to the bait, had made no demand that Luna cease using her beloved’s name. Trixie Lulamoon was fixed, unwavering in her contemplation of nothing, and showed no sign of hearing.

“Or,” continued Luna, “whether you are correct that she would value your freedom and faithfulness above all else, and would wish you to die alone should you not have her. It is, admittedly, a romantic notion, and perhaps she is immature enough to hold it. Do you think it healthy for her to cling to what she shall not have, in her pathetically short blink of a lifetime?”

Trixie didn’t respond, and Luna added, “Do not misunderstand—I consider that tragic. Know that if you two did not undertake a suicide pact, one of you will inevitably survive the other. She has lived a more comfortable life, where you have lived the life of a Lulamoon out of her proper time, so it’s likely that she would survive you. In that event, should she also cling to the memory and refuse to love again?”

Trixie’s eyes showed pain, but that was all. She couldn’t help her emotions, but she was damned if she would let them lead to actions or thoughts to aid Princess Luna. She made no response.

“She is surviving you now. If you like, I could smite you out of existence at a stroke, and she can survive you quite literally. Do you wish this? Is loving me so painful that oblivion appeals, my pet?”

Trixie continued to deny all thought, all feeling. The words became meaningless noises, apart from the gentle tears they provoked—and Trixie allowed those, knowing she was only a pony trapped and doomed to a choice of terrible fates.

Luna sighed. Her voice softened.

“Poor little kindred. I’ve controlled your mind, and now you take it back from me, you give me the choice: love you as a mere puppet knowing it is a hollow victory, or allow you to perish rather than serve me. Truly you are worthy kin to my beloved Lulamoons—you are brave, and your loyalty is unshakable, and it is not to me. Do I need to bind you, little one? Will you destroy yourself in some manner, left unattended? How deep does your rebellion run—what acts could your Twilight bear, were she to know of them? Do you understand that were you to perish by your own acts… I could give you back?”

Trixie whimpered, just for a moment, before stubbornly going silent again. It had been a horrific suggestion. She took a moment to reflect on how unthinkably evil her own private Nightmare Moon was, that she would contemplate such a cruel act…

Luna was crouching directly before her, and tears were in her eyes as she pleaded.

“No, Trixie. No! I am sorry I even expressed the thought. It is unworthy of me. You may believe that or not, but I will tell you words of truth right now, and I will honor them: I will not do that. Do you understand? No matter what happens to you, Twilight Sparkle will never be tormented with the reality of your fate. I think she will get over you, but if she does not, she does not. She will never suffer the grief of confronting your corpse. It will be a gentler, more peaceful memory of you that fades. I swear I will never disturb that memory.”

Trixie struggled to stay silent, to fight back the flood of thoughts and feelings stirred up by the wicked Princess and her mind games. It had been important to Luna never to lie to Trixie—she was depending upon the building of a relationship that contained an important kind of trust. Trixie understood that, instinctively, even as she rebelled and refused to extend the relationship. She fought to blank her mind, to not engage in any way with the Princess.

Luna watched her, and continued to speak with great earnestness while Trixie was off-balance. “I will say more than that. If freedom is the only gift you’ll ever let me give you, I give it without caveat. I confine your body, and I have enjoyed its gifts—but I shall not restrict your mind again. Do you hear me? I will not tamper with your mind. Now, more than ever, I long to win that mind over, to see you serve me willingly. Until that day, Trixie Lulamoon, there will be no more demonstrations of mental compulsion… I will reason with you, perhaps even plead and beg. Were I to see you charge at the rock wall, I would beg you to desist, in genuine horror. You are a wondrous creature, Miss Lulamoon: you should not perish unloved.”

Princess Luna gulped, looking distressed. “If I may say it…”

“You may not,” said Trixie, and coughed, for her throat was parched and dry.

Luna glowered. “We never said we would take back-talk, girl. Darling impossible perfect Lulamoon… you are not perishing unloved.”

Trixie returned to her truculent silence, staring at nothing. Luna sighed.

“We shall return. In time you shall not have strength to dash yourself against the rocky walls, even if you wished to do so. We shall heal any lesser woes you inflict. Would that I could heal my own… oh, Trixie! I did not want to kill you. I could have done so at any point, you’re but a mortal pony. Please be with me. I miss your kind—there is only you now, and we are estranged.”

No response.

Princess Luna walked off, her head hanging low, and eventually the pool of light she brought with her was lost in the darkness.

Fluttershy paced the floor of Pinkie’s bedroom. “Do you think they’re going to be all right?”

“You’re worried too, huh?”

“We shouldn’t have let them go. I’m not saying you were wrong!” added Fluttershy. “I’m only saying, they should never have gone. What if it’s dangerous?”

Pinkie considered this. “Well—she does have the bravest ponies around to take care of her! And Rarity is there too.”

“That seems like a terrible idea as well,” said Fluttershy. “Rainbow Dash and Applejack and Rarity traveling together? I can’t believe Rainbow Dash agreed to go. What if she finds it hard to be around them?”

“Maybe you have that backwards—Rainbow Dash could make things really uncomfortable for Applejack and Rarity. I kinda wouldn’t blame her,” said Pinkie. “That would be pretty typical for her.”

Fluttershy nodded. “I guess if they can stand it, it’ll be okay? It’s just a matter of what they can stand to be around.” She dropped her gaze, licked her lips. “Um.”

Pinkie Pie blinked. “You okay, Fluttershy?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I like it when you look at me, your eyes are so pretty. It means I notice real quick when you won’t look at me. You’re totally looking away, how come?”

Fluttershy pouted, and met Pinkie’s gaze again. “I’m sorry. I was just… wondering what you can stand to be around.” Her wings lifted.

“I don’t get it. I love being around you being sexy, Fluttershy. It’s the best!”

Fluttershy dropped her gaze again.

“All right,” said Pinkie. “What is it?”

“I’m so foolish. It’s probably a bad idea…”

“What is it, Fluttershy? Whatever it is, I can handle it, but you’re making me really worried!”

Fluttershy gulped. “Would it ruin me for you if… I was with a stallion?”

Pinkie froze. She didn’t even blink for a minute, and Fluttershy began to cry. “I’m so sorry, Pinkie dear, pretend I didn’t even say it…”

Pinkie said, “If this is you, telling me you’re done with mares… I guess I should be grateful that I had some time with you at all…”

“No!” cried Fluttershy, trotting over and hugging Pinkie. “It can be only you, I am so sorry to have brought up whatever terrible thing happened to you that made you hate males! I…” but she broke off, for Pinkie had shoved her aside, and stood, stomping her hoof.

“What is it with ponies that nopony can possibly understand this? Even you! You are not very clever, Fluttershy! I expected better from you!”

“I promise I’ll never make you think of it…”

“Why do you all assume something happened to me? That I hate stallions? Do you have any idea what it feels like that ponies think I got broken into being the way I am? I don’t know how to put this to you, Fluttershy, but my sexy feelings were always about vag and girls and stuff! Okay, okay, listen. Let me try and put it in a way you can understand. You’re a girl pony and I always thought you were straight as anything. I bet you have a big straight streak, and that is totally fine. Well, imagine a big, fat pony cock, okay? How’s that grab you? How does it feel having a big fat pony cock pressing into you?”

Fluttershy looked sulky. “Never mind. I only want you. I’m sorry I even brought it up.”

“Well if you want me, listen!” said Pinkie. “Now pretend you’re a guy pony. He’s got a pony cock too, he likes mares. Crazy about them. What do you think his feelings are about a big fat pony cock pressing into him?”

Fluttershy blinked. “Gosh. You know I’ve watched some of them do that with each other…”

“Not that kind, Fluttershy, a straight colt. How does he feel? I mean a totally straight colt who gets nothing out of boy parts at all. How does he react to ye olde big fat pony cock penetrating him?”

“Um…” said Fluttershy, having spent much time being frustrated and pent up. “Well…”

“I guess you haven’t seen as many straight colts as I have—I’ve always been able to hang out with them ‘cos I’m kind of like them in some ways, we can play pranks on each other, we can even crave vag together. I’ll tell you how he reacts—he freaks out, it doesn’t feel right, maybe he even hurls if he’s too off guard because that way of being sexy just does not work for him. Now, listen. Does that mean he hates males?”

That stopped Fluttershy. “I guess not…”

“Do you have to ask HIM if males did bad things to HIM to make him not be attracted to penis?”

“I’m so sorry, Pinkie Pie. I didn’t mean to make you upset!”

“I’M NOT…” began Pinkie, and then facehooved. “Okay, maybe I’m a little upset, but only because everypony in the world seems to think I had to be MADE into a raging lesbian. Like something super awful had to break me into loving vag that hardcore. What can I even tell you? I always craved mares, even before I knew you could do stuff with them. I don’t know why—it’s just me. I even tried playing with colts a couple times and it was real squicky and weird—and then the night came when I lost my virginity for real and I knew what my tongue was for…”

Fluttershy’s eyes were wide. “With a mare?”

Pinkie Pie winked. “Three wild pegasus fillies. Huh… no wonder things turned out as they did… and life has been beautiful ever since.” Her eyes softened. “Especially once I found you, Fluttershy. You’re a dream of fillyness. Or mare-yness.”

“Or… motherliness?”

Pinkie stared. Fluttershy returned her gaze bravely.

“Maybe I’m the not-clever pony,” said Pinkie. “You’re… not breaking up with me, are you?”

Fluttershy shook her head.

Pinkie licked her lips. “Exactly why are you talking about being with stallions, Fluttershy?”

“I think you know. I think when we played that way, you could tell.”

“I need you to spell it out for me,” said Pinkie, unsteadily.

Fluttershy didn’t drop her gaze at all. “I love you, Pinkie. I want to stay with you all my life, and I want to have your foal, more than anything in the world.”

Pinkie’s eyes swam with tears. “Fluttershy…”

“And we are both mares—so I will need help. Is that okay?” said Fluttershy, seriously.

Her answer came in a rush—a pink earth pony rush, a fierce hug that knocked the breath out of her frail pegasus frame, the joyful trembling of her lover’s body—and in a word.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes…”

Fluttershy petted her, gently, her eyes softly closed in bliss. After a while, she felt Pinkie stir, and looked at her inquisitively. “Yes?”

“I hope I don’t have to… okay, hear me out, Fluttershy. I can still be, like, one of the guys, right? I mean, I don’t have to be sexy at him or anything, do I? That’s your job, right? To get him to squirt in you?”

Fluttershy looked puzzled. “My job is to be sexy?”

Pinkie beeped her nose with a hoof, playfully. “More like your calling! No, what I mean is… well, I get to keep on being me, right? I don’t have to be any different?”

“I don’t even understand what you mean,” said Fluttershy.

“Okay!” said Pinkie. “You remember when Cranky Doodle Donkey came to town? And I ruined his toupee, and he was being a big sourpuss so I climbed a flagpole and asked the whole town to find a toupee for his big bald head? Was that a ladylike thing to do? Something you would do?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Never!”

“Or when I startled Spike until he had hiccups, with Dashie’s help… or put ink on a telescope Dashie was using, she’s just as good as a boy to prank, and she totally gives it back as good as she gets! Please tell me there doesn’t have to be some stallion out there that I can’t prank and kid around with. It would be horrible to have to act all mushy to a guy, ew!”

Fluttershy blinked. “That’s right—you’ve always done that, haven’t you? And some of your roughest jokes have been on boys, though I heard that one day you pranked Twilight and Rarity and Spike all in the same day.”

“And Applejack!” added Pinkie proudly. “Me and Dashie painted all her apples plaid. She’s like Dashie, counts as a boy for pranking. You can prank her really rough!”

“Gosh,” said Fluttershy. “What was Rainbow Dash doing with a telescope?”

“Spying on somepony, of course!”

“Do you prank everypony?” asked Fluttershy curiously.

Pinkie’s gaze dropped, shyly.

“Almost…” she said, and snuggled into the embrace of Fluttershy’s wing.

“Ssh!” whispered Applejack, from behind the rock. “Nopony saw ya?”

Rarity smirked, around her grip on the magic bit. “Who’s c’nting?”

“Consarn it, I don’t want you to be rude…”

“L’ve is n’ver rude,” said Rarity. “Mmmmm….”

She snuggled in between Applejack and the rock, her hoof reaching down between Applejack’s legs to fondle her pony breasts.

“..hhh!” gasped Applejack. “Mmmm…”

“Sing f’r me,” suggested Rarity. Applejack bared her teeth at her, and clamped her jaws shut stubbornly—but wriggled her bottom against Rarity’s crotch.

“V’ry well,” said Rarity softly. “Th’n, relax…”

For a moment, the thought crossed her mind to ram her erection into Applejack eagerly. It would surely cause her annoying beloved to cry out, even shriek loudly—but it would also do harm, and Rarity wasn’t sure which would be worse—the physical damage she might cause, or the rage of the country pony at being forced to let out sexual wails from behind the rock. For whatever reason, she was clearly determined to be furtive, and Rarity decided to humor her, or at least give her a fair chance to have it her way.

Rarity shifted her hips, and her horn glowed as she freed her ponycock from being pressed against the top of Applejack’s croup, and moved it into position, poised at Applejack’s quivering entrance. She wiped it against Applejack’s labia, and her lover shuddered in total silence, winking against her, vagina parting expectantly. Though Applejack refused to cry out her pleasures this time, she plainly was ready for them.

Rarity grinned around the bit—and pressed forward, with mocking, maddening slowness.

Applejack’s body shuddered, hard, as the end of Rarity’s stallionhood entered her, prying her wide. The unicorn’s arousal was so great that she barely fit, and earth pony body squirmed in sensuous agony, sturdy hips wriggling to try and ease the penetration. But it wasn’t just a matter of tolerance—fascinated, Rarity paid close attention, for Applejack’s vag had clenched almost immediately, and she’d gone incredibly slick inside. The feeling of spasms and shivers was unmistakable. Applejack had come from the moment she’d been entered. Some aspect of the naughty, furtive sexplay turned her on—either it was the mischief factor, or the helplessness and being at Rarity’s mercy, or possibly she was just livelier in the mornings.

Rarity pressed deeper and deeper, savoring every moment. It felt like a quickie—hasty sex snatched from the edges of an inappropriate situation. Was that what turned Applejack on so? Regardless, thought Rarity, there was no question that it drove her stallion mad with arousal. She swelled unbearably stiff as she sank deeper and deeper into the frantic, silent depths of her erotic victim.

Applejack was thrashing her head about as quietly as she could, making only the faintest rustling sounds as her mane swept the grass. Tears leaked from her tight-shut eyes, her nostrils were flared, her ears laid straight back—one forehoof pawed the air helplessly, shuddering with the force of her continuing orgasm. She fought to keep her breath even and subdued, and Rarity grimly did likewise as her hips continued to press forward.

Finally, Rarity bottomed out in Applejack’s marepussy, seeing her lovely ears thrash briefly in shock as that massive bulk nudged gently but firmly against her womb. She still made no sound—not with her voice—but faint squelches came from elsewhere, as her vagina went ballistic and delivered wild spasms against the intruding hardness.

Rarity briefly considered being more naughty, and giving a couple good thrusts—she was certain she could get a wild squeal or even cause Applejack to pass out. Her vision blurred, for her excitement was so overwhelming—Applejack was seconds from bringing her off, the earth pony mare felt obscenely good, sexy beyond imagining. That vag felt like it was trying to jerk her off—how could even so athletic a pony work such unthinkable feats of eroticism, all without training and discipline?

In the end, Rarity just held her position and allowed her orgasming lover to coax her over the brink. She kept perfectly still, didn’t thrust or nudge, went hard as carved marble against Applejack’s hysterical quivering womb—and blasted.

“…gnn!”

Rarity controlled herself with savage, practiced willpower, even as her come gushed violently into Applejack, and she remained utterly silent. It was the earth pony whose eyes rolled back in her head, whose forelegs kicked the air—and whose voice was forced into one quiet, strangled vocalization. It was Applejack who cried out—faintly—and then it was just her body, stiff with her effort to suppress reaction, fevered with the intensity of its orgasm, shuddering all over in silence as Rarity lovingly nuzzled her neck.

Rarity hung onto the bit for a while, allowing Applejack to get control of herself again—then patted her heaving side to signal her intention and warn her partner, and released the bit. Quickies weren’t about lingering, and stealing sex from public spaces required shrewdness—that, Rarity knew well. Applejack kicked her hindleg a little bit as the stallion cock withdrew, but didn’t make a sound. She looked back at her lover, frazzled and sweet and anxious next to Rarity’s poise and smugness. Neither spoke. Rarity’s foreleg cradled her body, possessively.

Applejack stirred, as if to rise, and then froze, ears perking up.

“That’s weird. Where are Applejack and Rarity?”

It was Twilight’s voice. Applejack’s heart pounded. Then…

“Oh, behind that rock pretending they’re not fucking!”

Dash’s voice was bitter.

There was a dreadful silence for one second… two… three…

“CONSARN IT!” raged Applejack.

“Stop it, will you calm down?” hissed Rarity, furious.

“Let me go, damn it! This is all your fault!”

“OW! Don’t kick! How dare you? How dare you throw a childish fit after I complied with all your silly requirements? You were the one who squeaked! And what is so wrong with that?”

“You got a lot of nerve an’ no damn sense! Why did I ever listen to you?”

Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash stared, horrified, at each other. The lovebirds were screaming, raging, as suddenly as a bomb going off. It was difficult to tell which pony was angrier. Fire clashed with ice, and each grew worse by the second.

“Rainbow, come on! Run this way, we’ve got to give them some space!”

Dash gulped, and took off at a dead run, following Twilight away from the painful scene, leaving just dust, the sound of receding hooves, and one anguished parting pegasus cry…

“…sorry!”

Endurance's Ends

Rainbow Dash trotted along, staying close by Twilight. Applejack and Rarity had run ahead, and were probably talking again. Dash could see the flicking of Applejack’s tail in the distance. She tried not to look.

“Are you sure it’s going to be okay, Twi? I don’t even dare to ask them. This is horrible!”

“I’m sure you shouldn’t be the one to ask,” said Twilight. “They flipped out when they found out you heard them, remember? You’d better stay out of their way.”

The two lovers hadn’t wanted to talk about their fight. When Rainbow and Twilight had returned, they’d found Rarity and Applejack quarreling, but more gently.

It was weird, too, thought Rainbow, because on the surface it appeared that they were helping each other pack their saddlebags, but both were absurdly private about it for no reason she could see.

“I told you, hooves off!” Rarity had chided. “You’ll see why this evening. We’ll enjoy an eensy bit more luxury, shall we? But pray don’t spoil it!”

“Aw, Rarity!” Applejack had said. “All’s I wanted was to help! If ya jes’ give me some of that there load, I’m sure I could carry some of it, no trouble.”

“Hmm… tempting. Maybe I can fit some of my burden into your pack, then. Let me see…” Rarity had said, and begun to open Applejack’s saddlebags with her magic.

Applejack’s eyes had bugged out, and she’d gone, “Heh. Actually… Whoa! STOP!” She’d leapt upon her saddlebags and physically covered them with her body, as Rainbow and Twilight stared, as Rarity’s jaw dropped.

“Care to explain, darling?” said Rarity, her tone acid.

Applejack had put on one of her adorably stubborn looks. “Sure. Uh… if I cain’t look in your bag, well then you cain’t look in mine. Fair enough? Stands to reason.”

Rarity had glared, and returned to her packing with a “Fine!”, and Applejack had carefully closed her bag up again. Rainbow’d tried hard to peek at what she was hiding, but all she saw was glimpses of beige and red and blue. Some of that had to be food—she was sure she saw an apple in there. She had no idea what Applejack could be carrying that was blue, but Applejack’s jaw had been set, her eyes ornery, she refused even to look at Dash at all, and Dash had backed off in dismay.

“I just wish I knew something I could do to make them be happy again,” said Dash, thinking back on the scene.

Twilight’s patience ran thin, for she had no answer, and it was the eighth time Rainbow Dash had brought it up. “You could give it a rest! Honestly, Rainbow, look at them. They’re fine. They’re staying ahead of us and talking. Do you realize I don’t know what state Trixie is in? I want to gallop as fast as I possibly can, and I know I’d get tired and have to stop. And maybe I have to battle somepony when I get there, wherever ‘there’ even is, and can you please stop bugging me?”

They trotted on in silence for a while, and then Twilight spoke again.

“I’m sorry. That was harsh…”

“Yeah, well, you have a point,” said Rainbow. “I can watch Applejack this whole time, it’s not the same thing at all…”

Twilight griped, “Maybe you shouldn’t be watching her this whole time! That’s kind of creepy.”

“I’d rather watch her than get yelled at by you!” retorted Dash.

“Yikes. Am I…? I am, I can tell. Spike kind of hides when I get this way…”

“Who stuck a burr up your ass anyway? We’re doing this to help you!”

Twilight sighed. “I’m tired, Rainbow, and I’m really scared. I’m sorry. I’m a lousy friend…” but before she could continue, there was a flapping of wings by her side. Rainbow reared and hugged her, impulsively and fiercely.

“You are not! Just because you have a temper… Listen, Twilight, some of us can handle a little roughhousing in a good cause. I used to think I had that in Applejack… well, you have that in me, okay? I am with you, whether you’re cranky or not. We all are. We’re gonna get her back for you or die trying.”

Twilight’s lip quivered. “Oh, Rainbow! You’re a real friend. And I’m still sorry I’m snapping at you. I just feel like I’m gonna freak out, start screaming or something…”

“So scream at me, then. Get it off your chest, and then we’ll keep going.”

Twilight shook her head. “No! I feel a lot better, just knowing you’re here. We keep going! Except I’m gonna take a moment and give you a hug back, okay?”

“Sure. Mind the wings!” cautioned Dash, and the two ponies briefly embraced, before charging onward to catch up with their companions. Applejack and Rarity had spotted them, and slowed up—and the four trotted on, making light conversation.

There was some comfort at least in each other’s presence, even if the conversation sucked.

Trixie lay in the dark, staring at nothing, thinking—or trying to. The hunger was pretty bad, but it was nothing compared to the sensory deprivation. She was trying to read books in her library, from memory—backwards. It was not going well, and she feared the effort was only exhausting her faster.

She needed to keep her energy and her wits, because…?

Escape was going to be tricky, from an underground cave only Luna knew. She couldn’t even see without the light Luna brought. Trixie knew she could provide plenty of light herself—through using up her resources of magic. The trouble was, her resources of magic were about all she had left. She hoarded them determinedly, in case an opportunity arose to use her magic to escape, but she was already hungry, thirsty, and mentally exhausted from trying to out-think her captor.

Wearily, Trixie rephrased that to herself: trying to out-think an alicorn Mistress hundreds of times her age and experience.

She wasn’t going to be able to do that. It had driven her into utter, catatonic withdrawal as her only remaining weapon. Any other act would be turned by the wicked alicorn and used against her. Probably towards sexual pleasure. Unless she managed somehow to attack Luna, or Nightmare Moon, or whoever it really was?

No—she could tell, the Princess was kinky as hell. She could probably flog Luna for hours or torture her ruthlessly and it would turn out that Princess Kinky had come harder than ever before, or something. How could you fight a creature with thousands of years of wisdom and experience with ponies? How could you threaten or punish a domme with thousands of years of perversion?

Cursed creature. What a way to end up—being broken down and reduced to the abject slave of something so overwhelming that it wasn’t even a matter of choice anymore. Luna was the end game for masochism, ultimate, irresistible and superior. She would outlive Trixie by thousands of years. Would she remember her pet, centuries hence? She claimed she would. It seemed important to her that she wasn’t lying to Trixie, just… crushing her spirit.

Trixie whimpered softly, trying to distract herself with the mental book-reading exercise. This time, picturing the book upside-down. But all she could see was her memory of Luna’s eyes—fiery, dominating, or glowing with that strange look as she sucked avidly on Trixie’s throbbing cock.

It had been a look of love, one that Trixie could never return.

No, thought Trixie. She could not pretend herself incapable of responding to this seduction. If she tried to believe herself immune, even that thought could probably be twisted to Luna’s advantage. She had no hope of getting through this at all unless she was totally honest with herself. She chose not to return this overblown Princess-love, because she’d already chosen another. She could imagine Twilight, determined, brave as she’d been when she mastered the Ursa Minor, tracking her lover down and…

…how would she even do that? It made no sense. Trixie was in a sealed cave. She’d never learned any special way of signaling to a distant lover. There had never been anypony for her to signal to, only a succession of temporary and sometimes ensorceled lovers to run away from.

Trixie sighed, taking stock of her thoughts. She had better not even hint that she was entertaining fantasies of Twilight coming to rescue her. Princess Luna would surely take that weakness and run with it. False Twilights, or something. Staged rescues that evaporated into twinkly will-o-wisps and Nightmare Moon laughter. Just the sort of cruelty that made Trixie groveling and wet…

Who was she kidding? Because she was entertaining the fantasies, Princess Luna surely had predicted it. There was no point even trying to conceal anything. It was merely another weakness to exploit. Her reality was that she was lost, and when her mind finally snapped, she would serve her alicorn Mistress until she died—and just as Luna suggested, she would probably be a happy slave, owned body and soul.

It would happen as soon as Luna’s tricks and ploys wore her down—a sequence of planned events, every detail orchestrated to seduce her into total surrender, and it was as inevitable as her death—a death hidden away from the sun and stars, but not from the Moon. The Moon would embrace her in the end.

Trixie stared into nothingness. Her jaw was set, and she did not surrender. Knowing her doom, she resolved to think nothing, to be nothing. She would convince herself nothing was real. She would go mad her way, not Luna’s—the starvation helped. Yes, Luna would have foreseen this too—but so what?

Trixie did not shed a tear—she just bid herself goodbye, and began to categorize every thought, as a way of rendering them more meaningless. She set her thoughts floating mindlessly upon emptiness, and the darkness closed in around her.

Another minute passed.

Another minute passed.

Trixie stared into nothingness.

Another minute passed.

“Oh, stop, do!” called Rarity.

The other ponies slowed their canter. Night was coming on, and they’d picked up the pace in hopes of covering nearly all the distance before making camp for the night. Applejack glanced warily at Rainbow Dash, whose head hung lower than usual—the little pegasus had been taking flying breaks, partly to rest her legs, and partly for relief from the constant jolting of the near-gallop they’d maintained. Dash looked terrible—queasy and sick.

“What’s th’ matter, Rarity?”

“Look, look! Let’s make camp here! I think we’ve gone far enough? Look! There’s a pond!”

There was. Not only that, it was a fine fresh little pond, with a clean sandy shore.

“Good thinkin’! I could sure do with a drink!” exclaimed Applejack.

“And we can put down our saddlebags and rest,” said Rarity, doing just that. The others followed suit, gratefully. They trotted over to the pond, and Applejack bent to drink.

“Oh, Applejack?” crooned Rarity.

“Yeah?”

“Think fast!”

With that, Rarity’s horn glowed—and her body thumped into Applejack’s while her magic caught one of her lover’s hooves. Applejack squawked and went into the pond with an enormous splash. Her head popped up. “Hey!”

“Whoopsy,” teased Rarity.

“Oh, you are so in for it…” grinned Applejack, emerging from the water and stalking towards Rarity, with her tail flicking cascades of water to either side of her.

“That’s if you can catch me!” smirked Rarity.

“Rainbow! Twilight! Help me corral this critter!” said Applejack—and charged.

Suddenly, the tensions of the day evaporated, as the three friends ganged up on the giggling, trail-weary unicorn. She fled from grinning Applejack, feinted at Twilight, broke free but was corralled by a whooping Rainbow Dash who took to the air, the better to buzz her victim and drive her toward the pond.

At last, Applejack and Twilight charged and tackled Rarity at the water’s edge, and all three plunged into the pond with a huge splash—joined by Rainbow, who did a cannonball from altitude and produced an even huger splash.

Four pony heads popped up, beaming.

“Hey!” said Applejack. “Ya know, this ain’t bad?”

“It’s positively refreshing!” said Twilight. “I would never have guessed to go swimming, after running all day!”

“That’s it! We’re totally camping here,” said Rainbow Dash, and the others nodded.

Rarity smirked. “Just as I planned…”

Applejack blinked. “What, you planned this? You wanted a swim, maybe?”

“Better than that,” said Rarity. “I wanted a bath!”

At that, Applejack burst out laughing. “I might ‘a known! Well, you got your bath, sugarcube. You got dunked! And this sure is nice.”

“It’s completely awesome is what it is! Good call, Rarity,” said Rainbow Dash.

“It’s the perfect end to a long day on th’ trail!” said Applejack.

“And,” added Twilight, “it’s the perfect time of day—it’s just getting dark, but there’s still enough light to make camp and see where we’re sleeping. This really couldn’t have gone any better…”

“And I can tell you from the last time I did aerial reconnaissance,” boasted Rainbow Dash, “that we’re nearly there. This is probably as close as we can get to the dragons’ caves without going into their territory.”

“An’ we got time to get a good night’s sleep and be fresh for tomorrow!” said Applejack.

“And I see two leafy bowers—perfect for, shall we say, retiring to…” continued Rarity.

Dash froze. She stared at Rarity, as Twilight peered worriedly at her—and she cleared her throat.

“Define ‘retiring’.”

Rarity didn’t blink, or flinch. “Going to sleep, darling. Resting for the challenges of the upcoming day. What did you think I’d meant?”

“Rarity!” snapped Applejack.

“Of course!” replied Rainbow Dash. “We’re gonna need a lot of rest. So I feel really sleepy, okay? Oh, look, I see a leafy bower too. It looks real cozy over there… on the other fucking side of the pond!”

She didn’t give anypony a chance to say anything. She just leapt straight up out of the water, and blasted across the pond at nearly Rainboom velocity, to vanish into what was far from a cozy bower. It looked more like an unwelcoming, woodsy bank, but it was as far away from the leafy bowers as it was possible to get.

Applejack’s ears were laid back, and she looked furious. Rarity’s expression was narrow-eyed and stern. Twilight glanced back and forth between them.

“Uh… I’ll see you guys in the morning, okay? Keep an eye on our packs. I guess I know where I’m sleeping. I hope it’s as cozy as she says!”

“Yeah,” said Applejack, “you do that, Twilight. Thank’ee. Somepony ought to.”

“Yes, thank you, Twilight,” said Rarity.

Applejack glared. “Ain’t it kinda tacky, you thankin’ her?”

“Why ever would you say that?”

“We talked about that. How you’re goin’ real boy-headed. I tole you I’d work on findin’ my girlyness for ya, if you’d tone th’ cojones down a notch. How is runnin’ Rainbow off, tonin’ it down?”

Rarity batted her eyelashes. “How is leaping upon me, and plunging me into the depths of the pond against my will, demure and feminine?”

“Uh… yeah. Got me there. Consarn it, Rarity, can’t you take it easy? I ain’t ever seen even a real stallion be such a dick. Uh, no offense?”

“I apologize. But you’ll see—I wished some privacy, for us, for reasons that will become apparent.”

“Ain’t in th’ mood, I’ll tell you that right now…”

“No, no!” protested Rarity. “Something different—my surprise for you. That other thing should not be considered surprising, and I’ll restrain myself until we are in more suitable circumstances. Will that do? Darling?”

Twilight shook her head. “Spare me your relationship struggles—me and Rainbow are trying to stay out of your way. I’m not sure I need to be hearing this… see you guys later. Be good?”

“We shall be fabulous,” declared Rarity.

“G’night, Twi. We’ll be all right. Typical evenin’,” said Applejack.

Twilight trotted off immediately, heading around the pond to join Rainbow, while Rarity chided Applejack. “It shall be far from typical! Or, rather, far from typical whilst out in the wilderness…”

“Restful would be nice. Jes’ sayin’.”

“Oh, no. I promised a surprise. And it’s all going as well as I could have hoped.”

“I coulda hoped you wouldn’a hurt my friends!”

“Watch it. While sentimentality is undoubtedly girly, it can also be unwise. Come along, Applejack.”

She did, protesting gently. “Aw, Rarity… I know you explained it all, how you’re teachin’ me my new way of life, but some things ain’t right! I swear, I do want to try an’ be feminine an’ submissive. I understand that you’re tryin’ to be all stalliony on me. Hell, I even like it in a lotta ways—but there’s a time an’ a place for everythin’!”

“Indeed there is, and it is time for you to be cared for in a way you do not expect. Come along!”

They walked into the leafy bower, lit with the last glowing rays of sunset, the glow mingling with that of Rarity’s horn as she levitated her saddlebags and brought them as well. Applejack blinked. “Nopony gonna walk off with that, sugarcube. I’d ‘a thunk you were tired of carrying it around by now.”

“It was worth it,” said Rarity, and her horn’s glow brightened as the pack opened, and things began to emerge, gleaming in the fading sunlight.

Applejack gulped. “Oh, lordy…”

Out came—the green dress Rarity had made for her. Then another, in scarlet, that she’d been working on, that they’d talked about. It seemed that Rarity’s saddlebags were devoted only to Applejack’s fine clothes—there were bolts of cloth for things Rarity had planned, patterns for reference. She’d brought nothing for herself, nothing at all. And finally—poetry in mustard-colored silk—the pajamas Rarity had first made for her, and had destroyed to use as patterns for another design.

Rarity’s voice wasn’t quite steady. “For you, my beloved. Even in the wilderness I shall drape you in the finest silks. Whatever the cost.”

Applejack’s lip quivered. “Oh, Rarity! How is this even possible? I thought ya said when we left that it weren’t done. I’ve been with ya this whole time!”

Rarity’s body wasn’t quite steady either. She wobbled, with emotion or with exhaustion. “Just a little unicorn magic for my very own exquisite mare…”

“An’ I guess I’ve had a bath, ain’t I? You sneaky thing, you.”

“Thank you. Now let’s… whoa… let’s get you ready for bed, darling…”

“Hey. What’s with th’ stumble, best girl? Y’all look mighty tired.”

“Carrying a complete set of outfits is something of a burden…”

Applejack blinked. “I never asked you to do that.”

“No, but I saw your eyes, it was worth it. The sleepless nights, all of it, completely worth it…”

“Hold on,” said Applejack. “Sleepless nights? When?”

Rarity wobbled a little more, and needle and thread levitated out of her pack to join the floating array of finery. “Why, last night! I feigned sleep and finished the last stitching before dawn. I know from couture deadlines that sometimes it’s best to just push on, in those circumstances.”

Applejack’s ears were back. “Uh… no wonder you look tired. Uhh… did it enter your thinkin’, at all, that we was on a rescue mission?”

“That we were!” corrected Rarity. “Please, my nerves may not stand your usual mangling of grammar tonight. And yes, of course we are. We shall sleep tonight and awake rested and prepared for anything. And you shall sleep in luxury. I made sure of that!”

“All right, all right…” sighed Applejack. She kicked at the ground with a forehoof.

“Uht! Dirt!”

Applejack shot her a glare from under lowered brows. “Sorry. There’s kind of a lot of it around here. Seein’ as we’re, you know, outdoors an’ all… ya want me to go wash my hoof?”

“If you would be so good,” replied Rarity.

“An’ how exactly do you figure I’m gonna lie on the dirt with you and not soil that pretty…” began Applejack, and trailed off. Rarity nearly staggered, but another thing began to emerge from her saddlebags and join the array of Applejack’s finery. It was a bedsheet. She’d thought of everything, and carried it out with every scrap of energy she possessed, and clearly expected Applejack to do her part.

“Fine! I’ll go wash my damn hoof. You put some of that there stuff back, you look a mite peakied holdin’ it all up. Wouldn’t wanna drop it, or nothin’!”

When Applejack returned, the bedsheet was spread out without a ripple upon the ground, and only the fine silken pajamas remained unpacked.

“Ready, darling?”

Applejack peeked sidelong at her lover. “Didja really trick me an’ stay up all night, Rarity?”

“Why, I… yes, I suppose that would seem like tricking you, wouldn’t it? It was no trouble at all—as I said, it was entirely worth it.”

“It would be trickin’ me,” pointed out Applejack. “On account of I thought we were sleepin’. As we ought to be doin’ now. We don’t know what we might face tomorrow, and it’s awful important. Ya gotta get a good night’s sleep or you can’t do your best.”

Rarity’s expression was rueful and frustrated. “I could say that I would do my best regardless, but I understand what you are telling me. I am sorry, Applejack—I promise I will not trick you again. You are truly the Element Bearer of Honesty, and I must respect that.”

“An’ you’re Generosity itself, sugarcube, ain’t you? We got to work on havin’ a smattering of common sense in with that an’ you’ll be perfect.”

Rarity sniffed. “I thought I was perfect—or at least made heroic efforts to be. Come, Applejack, your very own special pajamas await, good as new.”

She held them up with her magic, and Applejack stepped into them, one leg at a time, feeling again the caress of the silk. If anything, Rarity had outdone herself with the recreated fabric—Applejack’s heart caught in her throat to feel the intensity of Rarity’s creation against her. She moved, stretched out a hindleg, felt the wonderful pajamas again, exactly as they were in their first triumphant incarnation.

…almost.

Applejack beamed, turning to face Rarity, whose ears were back. “Aw, this is just wonderful, darlin’! Now come on to bed, it’s time for sleeping…”

“Turn around.”

Applejack’s eyes widened in startlement, then narrowed. She took a breath, and whirled in place. “There! Ain’t that ravishin’? It sure is a treat…”

“Turn side-on to me and hold still,” commanded Rarity. She wasn’t buying it.

Applejack gulped. She complied, but she stood up tall, her shoulders thrust forward, trying to conceal that telltale sensation…

“Normal posture, if you please! Applejack!”

Applejack glowered, and settled into her normal posture, and across her withers she felt the fabric rumple up. It probably would have fit wonderfully if she were hugging somepony—as she’d been hugging Rarity, in those redesigned pajamas, while Rarity warned her not to stretch the fabric. Rarity had been so fearful the pattern would be distorted—and her concerns had been every bit as warranted, as they had been ignored. Applejack couldn’t hide the truth—the new pajamas did not fit.

Rarity heaved a great sigh, and looked tireder than ever.

“Off with them, if you please. Duty calls.”

Applejack complied, but as the pajamas floated over to Rarity, she spoke up gently. “Now, how about you fold them things up and lie with me an’ sleep?”

“It won’t be long, darling. You can wait up with me if you wish,” said Rarity, distracted.

“How long?” demanded Applejack.

“I’m stitching continuous seams and will need to extend the new seam line farther than you would imagine—essentially, I must rip the entire back seam out and re-do it. And I do not trust the gussets, I’m certain they were distorted as well. I’m afraid you managed to ruin the pattern quite thoroughly. Never fear, I shall be equal to the challenge!”

“Ruin?” snorted Applejack. “You mean, I managed to hug you while you was upset!”

“Were,” corrected Rarity. “I’ve changed my mind, you’d better sleep, I don’t wish you to stay up and wait. We shall just have to leave your present for another day, curse it. Tomorrow!”

“I got a better idea,” said Applejack. She walked over and took a corner of the fabric between her teeth. “How ‘bout you sleep now, and leave th’ sewin’ for t’morrow?”

“Don’t tug on it! Applejack!” protested Rarity. She released the garment, rather than stretch it, and Applejack carried it away and deposited it neatly in a heap on the far side of the bedsheet.

Applejack’s head was high and proud. “You hear what I’m tellin’ you?”

“Oh, your intentions are quite obvious,” grumbled Rarity.

“And how ‘bout yours? Do ya promise to pack it in, and sleep? We got a big day tomorrow. This ain’t no joke, Rarity.”

The white unicorn glowered, looking sulky. She did not reply, and Applejack’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe I best re-phrase that. Do you, Rarity, promise that you ain’t gonna try and stay up sewin’ all night?”

“The sooner you go to sleep,” said Rarity, “the sooner I shall. Be reasonable, Applejack.”

“That ain’t what I asked!”

“Isn’t!” snapped Rarity. “Very well, do you want the truth? Kindly give me those pajamas back. I’m going to have that seam re-sewn before I rest, and the longer you delay me, the worse it shall be for all of us. On your head be it!”

Applejack gasped, and then her eyes flared wide with sudden anger. “Oh, yeah? Whose is this, Rarity? Y’all tell me right now, whose thing is this here? Is it yours? Or is it mine?”

Rarity bared her teeth. “We’ve established that. It is your property. Give it here, please.”

Applejack had other ideas.

Rarity’s jaw dropped in horror. The country pony seemed transported by rage—or perhaps outrage—and she kicked the precious pajamas that she’d loved so much. She kicked them straight off the bedsheet, and they landed in the dirt, and not satisfied with that, Applejack leapt on them and trampled them, to absolute silence from Rarity.

When Applejack’s gaze rose to meet Rarity’s, there was nothing the least bit girly about it, and her voice held an imperious authority not heard since Applejack’s mother was alive.

“Go to SLEEP,” demanded Applejack.

Rarity met her fiery stare with glittering, unforgiving ice, and silence. Then, she broke the silence, if not the ice.

“This is not working, Applejack.”

“YA THINK?” bellowed Applejack.

“What do you propose we do about it, then?” said Rarity, unflinching.

Applejack took a few deep breaths.

“Aw, consarn it, Rarity! I do love you. You know that. If only you’d keep the crazy unicorn stuff down to a dull roar…”

“And I love you, darling,” said Rarity levelly. “But you have just trodden on my finest work, and I do not like you right now.”

That stopped Applejack, and she looked down beneath her hooves. “Shit. You’re right, I did,” she said. She looked at Rarity, wide-eyed and guilty as if surprised by her own actions, and then her gaze dropped, and she winced. “Damn it. I had to make you not able to stay up sewin’! It’s important! I forgot how attached you are to them things. Well—ain’t you gonna yell at me? I guess it was mighty fine, yeah. Dammit, I wasn’t thinkin’ about that part.”

“No, you certainly were not,” said Rarity. She sat, motionless, eyes glittering with fury, while Applejack fidgeted. “Are you going to be a good girl? I think it matters. I can’t have this, Applejack. It cannot be borne. Are you going to try to be good and cease any ruffian behavior?”

Applejack gulped. “Uh… gen’rally? Nope. Gotta be honest with ya. Uh—fuck that, if you don’t mind my sayin’…”

“I see.”

“Ain’t you got time for a bad girl? Lil’ roughneck girl kinda thing, maybe?” said Applejack, placatingly. She tossed her head in the way Rarity had shown her, hoping to appease her furious mate…

“Forgive me if my delight cannot be described as ‘unconfined’…” said Rarity, in chilly tones.

“Well, shit.”

They stared at each other, thinking, and both saw the maddening double image—all that was adored and appreciated, and all that was not. Applejack’s playful, spirited, wilful character, Rarity’s fierce determination and dominant, commanding mind—for a minute, they just stared, seeing all things at once, feeling the romantic spark and the captivation, while unable to overlook the dark side. For a minute, neither could look away from the other’s eyes.

And though Rarity’s will and selfcontrol was indomitable, it was she who dropped her gaze first, and spoke what she knew to be true and could no longer deny.

“This is SO not working.”

“I’m exhausted,” sighed Applejack. “Are you exhausted, sugarcube?”

“Frankly, darling, yes.”

Applejack sadly walked over to lay down beside where Rarity sat. “Y’all wanna just love each other and not mess with this here bein’ mates? All’s we do is fight worse an’ worse.”

“It’s maddening that we can’t make it work,” admitted Rarity. “I adore you.”

“An’ I adore you too but that ain’t helpin’, is it?”

“No. It ‘ain’t’.”

“Aw! You cussed!” smiled Applejack.

Rarity snorted. “Ain’t isn’t a ‘cuss’.”

“To you it is!”

“True… Parting sex?”

Applejack’s eyes went wide. “Ya just had sex this mornin’. I’m not sure I kin.”

“Indeed. ‘Consarn it’.”

“Now,” said Applejack reprovingly, “you’re teasin’…”

“I’m afraid so. Can you blame me?”

“Naw.”

They paused, Applejack looking up wistfully at Rarity, who still sat upright and looked down sadly into her eyes. And, together, they let out a deep sigh of disappointment. And, together, they began to speak.

“We should…”

Rarity blinked. “Oh, I’m sorry, pray continue! You were saying?”

“No no, you go on…”

“Oh no, I’m sure you spoke first. After you, dear Applejack!”

Applejack frowned. “We done spoke together. You figure we can say it together, then? Might finally see somethin’ eye to eye.”

“I daresay. We should…” began Rarity.

“…keep up th’ appearances…” continued Applejack.

“…and cultivate a positive, cheerful attitude…” suggested Rarity.

“…so’s we can take care of our friends…”

“…and support them at journey’s end, tomorrow…”

“…whatever that turns out to be,” finished Applejack.

“I agree completely,” said Rarity. “They’re on edge and the last thing they need is more chaos and upheaval.”

“Things is bad enough. We best sit tight and keep this to ourselves. They really want us to be happy, Rarity,” said Applejack. “Even Rainbow. You might not believe it, but I can tell. We need to pretend we’re happy with each other, for their sake, until we get home and all this is over.”

Rarity nodded, and allowed herself to relax, lying against Applejack’s body without too much distaste over her dirty hooves. “Agreed,” she said. “You’re good for it? No fits of sobbing from the bad girl?”

“I kin take care of myself,” said Applejack, stubbornly. “How about you? This gonna mess with you, Rarity?”

Rarity looked her in the eye. “How tough do you think I really am?” she said, simply.

At that, Applejack blinked. “Dang. Uh… Now that you mention it, it sounds crazy, but… yeah. You’re actu’lly tough as nails, ain’tcha?”

“Thank you,” said Rarity. “Once we are safe at home, I may indulge myself in some hysterics, if you don’t mind. You merit them.”

“Uh… thanks… I think? What kinda hysterics?”

Rarity looked thoughtful. “I should think some raging, but I may also wish abuse for having stupidly fumbled our relationship. You know, flogging, shaming, degradation—all that sort of thing. That will do nicely.”

“Aw, Rarity, no! I don’t want you to be ashamed. You tried. I tried. Dumb we may be, but I can’t fault you for tryin’.”

“Oh, I agree. I did try. And yes, you were exceedingly trying as well—it really is something of a relief to throw up my hooves and admit defeat. But I did not mean to turn to you for this, darling, so calm yourself—if all goes well, I shall take care of it myself, as always.”

Applejack yawned, and blinked sleepily. “You tellin’ me you’re gonna get yourself flogged, and shamed, and degraded, without me?”

Rarity’s little smile was playful. “You shall find I am full of surprises…”

“Well,” said Applejack, “ain’t THAT th’ truth.”

With that, they slept.

Shh No Tears

Applejack blinked groggily. It was well past dawn—why had she overslept? She realized that she was holding Rarity, in her sleep, and looking up at Rainbow Dash.

“I’m sorry,” said Dash. “I need help…”

Rarity stirred and made a complain-y noise that would have been better suited to her cat. Applejack gulped. “Help with what, Dashie?”

“I can’t get Twilight to move. It’s pretty bad.”

The next thing Applejack knew, she was trotting on sleep-wobbly hooves around the bank of the pond, alongside Dash, and Rarity was running to catch up with them, calling “But what is the matter with her?”

Twilight was huddled under the bough of a tree, and her lip quivered as she peered up at her three friends. She’d been crying.

“I’m so scared…” she said.

Applejack’s ears were laid back in dismay. “Uh… guess all this has got a lil’ bit too much for ya?”

Twilight gulped. “The last time I saw Princess Celestia, she hated me. She was so angry. And now I’m about to confront her, and, and, and… how can I do that when I still love her?”

That silenced all the ponies—except Rainbow Dash.

“Listen. You have to let go of that, okay? You love Trixie too. We’re here to help you. Whatever it is, you can face it. Take it from me, okay? I would know.”

There was a funny, bitter tone to her voice, and Applejack glanced at her, but Rainbow wouldn’t look away from Twilight and her jaw was set. She looked quite fierce.

Twilight looked up to meet Dash’s eyes, taking in the pain, the determination—remembering things she’d said, when it was just the two of them. ‘I have a lot to think about. You can help me be brave, okay?’ ‘Hurts and won’t stop. Yeah, you nailed it…’ ‘and even if I am never able to be happy again, let me tell you that I was awesome and I will keep that within my heart’.

Dash’s eyes were battle flags—banners to the cause of defending something, even when you’d lost the irreplacable. They burned into Twilight’s, calling her to battle, demanding that she face the pain of losing her mentor so she could defend her lover.

Twilight sank into those eyes. She still felt tiny and helpless, but Rainbow Dash’s bleak, fierce gaze told her that was not an excuse. There would be no note to bring to teacher, granting permission to stay home and skip the test.

She wasn’t the only one being tested, either. Twilight realized the other two ponies looked sleepy. Rainbow had gone into their leafy bower, where they were together, and woken them just to enlist their aid, where the previous night she’d fled the very suggestion of Applejack and Rarity being so intimate. That clearly was hard for Dash to face, and yet there they were: standing over Twilight, expecting her to get up, travel the rest of the way and finish the job.

And Rainbow Dash, defiant, staring down at her with understanding and forgiveness but somehow that expectation which said—you WILL rise and face all this, no less than I have…

Twilight began to cry again, but put out a forehoof, lifted herself, stood forlorn before her friends, her tail hanging low, her ears drooping.

Rarity yawned. “Anyhow, darling, it may be something quite unexpected. No? You simply cannot assume the worst.”

“All I can see is Princess Celestia raging at me,” said Twilight, but still she followed the others back to their camp, Rainbow Dash staying close by her side.

They hit the trail, Dash flying reconnaissance more and more as dragon territory approached. They ran hard, alternating between a canter and a gallop, knowing their danger. Their safety depended on the fact that dragons tended to be too isolated to organize border guards. Their risk was the fact that dragons hated trespass worse than most organized species.

Their luck was in—they only had to hide under trees and bushes three times. They rested well, each time, both to ensure the passing draconic shape had flown well away, and because Rainbow Dash knew that where they were going, there was no pausing, no rest, and no ground cover at all…

Trixie lay in the dark.

Thinking wasn’t going well.

No matter what she did, she could not forget Twilight Sparkle. Admittedly, this was a sad and strange thing to try to do, but Trixie figured it was the last step to going utterly mad and losing herself entirely. She’d been working at it all night, in despair, knowing her tormentor Princess Luna would return. She had no stomach for more mind games she was doomed to lose, and longed to reject the whole thing, to present her personal Nightmare Moon with an empty shell: the husk of a Lulamoon, all spirit fled.

It wasn’t working, because when she got down to the core of herself, there was a faith there which wasn’t hers to betray. She could not both honor Twilight’s memory, and remove herself as Nightmare Moon’s prey. That part of her which loved Twilight remained vulnerable. Beautiful, innocent Twilight hadn’t rejected her or gone away—Trixie had been stolen from her, and found she could not let go of the connection they had, even if it proved the fracture that would destroy Trixie in the end.

Having tried to discard all her weaknesses and confound Princess Luna, Trixie found herself all weakness, trembling in the dark from her longing to be with Twilight Sparkle again. She felt that she’d pleasure Luna for hours given just the slightest promise that she could see Twilight, even hear about her and how she was doing, sad as that might be. She would grovel and do anything, even just to know Twilight was okay, for she’d stripped away everything but the yearning of her heart that would not die.

Anything, if Princess Luna promised to let her see Twilight, or hear about Twilight. And Princess Luna would not lie to her. She’d made a point of not lying to her. So if she did make promises about Twilight, then Trixie could believe them. Right?

With a lurch of her psyche, Trixie realized her weakness was setting her up—she was already rationalizing what she would do for Luna to get what she had to have—news of her love. It had been—days? weeks? Trixie wasn’t sure—and already she was breaking, already she was bargaining, and there was only one possible outcome.

She would end up serving Nightmare Moon, endlessly, swooning over her alicorn magnificence, and frolicking for her amusement to gain smaller and smaller concessions.

She’d frisk and bat her eyelashes and flirt her tail and beg, “Say it, oh Mistress, please say it! Just say the words!” And Nightmare Moon would half-smile, and croon, “Twilight Sparkle.”

And she would likely quiver, and moan, “Trixie loves the way YOU say it!” and return to pleasuring her new owner…

Trixie’s eyes flooded with tears. She bit her lip, hard, and considered getting up and charging headlong at a wall, but she wasn’t sure she could gallop.

And so, she lay in the dark, savagely telling herself that everything was gone. There would be no Twilight Sparkle. If she appeared, it would be a vision. Nightmare Moon would torment her with illusions, perhaps one day would even bring Twilight into her presence to torture her, and it meant nothing, for she would never be free again—except through her total rejection of her fate.

Trixie’s mind grew darker than the blackness surrounding her. She retained enough awareness of time to suspect that Luna would be returning again before very long.

Twilight galloped for all she was worth. There hadn’t been ground cover for the last twenty minutes. Her nerves shrieked with tension as she cried out, “Again!”

The four ponies clattered to a halt on the rocky terrain, and with practiced speed, Rarity yanked her bit from her pack, Twilight chomped it, her magic stallionhood shot forth, and she concentrated on the arcanomorphic field she sought.

“I think it’s just over this ridge! We’re right on top of it!” said Twilight, and the four ponies charged off, scanning the horizon frantically.

Rainbow galloped hard, limbering up her wings as she ran. She had stayed grounded for the last half hour, knowing that a speck in the sky might attract attention, but she also knew she had to be ready at any moment. She hadn’t told the others, but Rainbow had a plan. If a hostile dragon turned up, she intended to take to the air and fight it so the others could escape.

She wondered what it would feel like to be flamed in mid-flight, and then chewed up before she even hit the ground—and possibly before she was dead. They got more territorial the farther you got into dragon country and the more crowded they were with each other, and they were well within dragon country. She wondered if she’d be a big enough snack—and if she could be enough of a distraction that her friends would go entirely unnoticed. Dragons weren’t stupid, so bucking one in the nose would not render it unaware of what else it had seen running around—but if she flew up thrashing her mane and tail so wildly that it did not even spot her friends in the first place?

Rainbow ran on, grimly rehearsing her plan. If that’s what it had to be—it would be epic, at least. It would hurt, really bad. And so what?

They topped the ridge, and Applejack cried, “There! Th’ cave!”

It wasn’t even a dragon cave—at least, not dragon-sized. The entrance was big enough for a pony to climb into, and they did—first Twilight, then Rarity, then Applejack, and lastly Rainbow, still scanning the sky.

Darkness was lit by Twilight’s horn, and the four ponies panted, shaking and exhausted.

“We made it! We’re safe!” panted Applejack.

“Safe in a dragon’s cave,” pointed out Rainbow Dash. “Doesn’t sound too safe to me!”

“Is this the correct one, Twilight? Check, do!” said Rarity.

Twilight took the offered magic bit, and clamped it between her teeth, focussing her mind. There was total silence, and then she began walking down into the depths of the cave, the other three following her anxiously.

“Uh…” said Dash.

Twilight didn’t stop. She began trotting faster, glaring at the wall to her right. The glow from her horn doubled, then tripled, as she muttered spells.

“Whatcha doin’, Twi?” said Applejack.

“Dens’ty calc’lation…”

They’d gotten to a much wider area that opened onto still more cavernous space, and Dash peered nervously into that darkness. Twilight paced back and forth, put a forehoof up on the wall, and then spit the bit out. Rarity, attentive, caught it before it hit the ground.

“It’s behind this,” said Twilight.

Applejack blinked. “In th’ wall?”

“It’s hollow. There’s another cave behind it, a big one. The wall is rock, but it’s really thin here…”

Dash’s jaw dropped, and she made a choked noise of complete horror, and squeaked “No!”, but Applejack had already whirled—and kicked.

The crack of hooves against rock resounded. It reverberated off into the distance, showing that the complex of caves was indeed vast—and just when it was dying away entirely into the silence of four ponies’ held breath, it changed.

A deep voice rumbled sleepily and wordlessly. Something huge shifted position—and a magic glow flicked on, in the distance, around a bend in the interconnected caves.

Twilight’s eyes were wild. “Rarity! Can you do this spell? It’s a rock-to-earth spell.”

“I think so… yes!”

“Applejack, Rainbow, dig!” hissed Twilight. She began frying the rock wall with magic, fiercely converting the unyielding stone to soft sandy dirt. Rarity did likewise, and earth pony and pegasus crowded together to tear away at the softened area…

The dragon’s voice rumbled again—not sleepily.

“Who’s that?”

The four ponies froze for an instant, and then Rainbow Dash’s face went grim and hard. “Applejack, dig!” she said. “I’ll distract it.”

“No!”

“I’ll lead it away, I swear…”

“No you don’t,” said Applejack, “it’s too dangerous… Rainbow!”

But she had already gone, flying towards the telltale glow of the dragon’s magic illumination .

“Applejack! She’s gonna come back here. Make there be a hole to get into when she does!” begged Twilight.

Applejack scowled horribly—and resumed digging, twice as hard, all the while peeking to her left at the glow in the distance.

Luna had returned—walking out of the darkness, casting light before her as she went.

Trixie watched, stolidly, as her tormentor walked calmly up to stand there, towering over her, looking down with every appearance of concern.

“How are you doing, little Lulamoon? Have you been thinking?”

Trixie didn’t respond. Luna sighed.

“Of course you have. May I inquire—purely as a formality—if there is anything I can do for you?”

Trixie didn’t even shift her gaze. Luna hung her head.

“It’s like that, is it? Very well—I shall join you. We can mope together. And just as I cannot or will not help you with your problem, consider that you cannot or will not help me with mine—and how similar that makes us, in so many ways.”

There was no reply from Trixie. Luna did not expect it. Solemnly, she laid down beside Trixie, and after one sidelong glance, devoted herself to staring into the same nothing her Lulamoon studied.

They waited, without knowing there was anything to wait for, and time passed in their unwillingly shared silence.

Rainbow Dash flew madly through the winding caves. Why did they have to loop around? She had to stick to areas big enough for a full-blown dragon to fit into, but it had led her back to where she’d started, she was about to lead the dragon right onto her friends! Desperately, she swerved left into empty, dark space. She had to stay far enough ahead of the dragon to not be eaten, but near enough that the magic light it was casting allowed her to see where she was flying. It was insanely stressful. In open spaces she could see fine, but that was because the dragon was intentionally casting light near her so it could target her…

The light zoomed up behind her, a glowing draconic orb of magical power, and burst into the cavern, illuminating it completely.

Dead end.

Rainbow Dash dropped to the ground, trotted in place turning this way and that, backed up farther and farther until she was against the wall…

The dragon appeared at the entrance to the cavern, blocking it almost completely.

“Well, well, well. And what shall I do with you?”

Dash gulped, and then went for it. Blaze of glory time—if she was going to die, she would die in style, and like herself, not some pitiful prey animal. Audacity and awesomeness and Rainbow Dash radical extremeness…

Dash blinked.

The dragon blinked. It was no fool, and could see the little pony had got an idea. There was no mistaking the startled look, the lift of the little fluttery wings, the flick of the tail. Not only was it an idea, it was an unexpected idea—and animals about to be eaten so rarely had anything of the sort, they tended to panic and be ruled by instinct to the last.

Rainbow hopped into the air, and flew deliberately right up to the dragon’s face, counting on her radicalness to save her until she could speak—and said it.

“Don’t kill me. Fuck me!”

Draconic jaw dropped. It snorted a puff of flame in shock, perhaps belching it from the stores it had been working up for her demise. “What? What did you just suggest?”

“Ha! Didn’t see that one coming! And I do mean coming! C’mon, let me add to my list. It’s all I’ve got nowadays. I did a griffon, but she hardly counts ‘cos she’s an old flame—get it? old flame? And I had a Diamond Dog, that’s really weird! Did you know they get stuck in you? They swell up. It’s kinda hot. Except he did a bad thing, he was biting my wings. Not the wings, okay? I’ll let you fuck me but keep off the wings…”

The dragon’s ears showed complete perplexity. “If I am not mistaken, you are a pegasus pony. What exactly do you think I’m going to do with you?”

Dash grinned, more than a bit manically. “Hey, there’s lots of things we could do!” She flew down to land on the rocky floor, and stuck her butt into the air, wiggling it, grinning back over her shoulder. She winked. Then, she winked. “Want the list?”

“There’s a list?” blinked the dragon.

“There is now!” insisted Rainbow Dash. “Okay, for starters, maybe your penis is bigger than my whole body—unless you’re a girl, I can’t tell—but I could rub myself all over it. Or, we might be able to fit one of your clawtips in me. Or, oooh! That’s a forked tongue, I saw it! A pointy forked tongue. I had a friend.. uh, I mean, I’ve got a friend who does great things with her tongue. How’s about poking that tongue into a little pegasus pussy and tasting pony in the right way for a start… uh, I mean, for a change?”

The dragon stared at her, stunned. It spoke. “Strange does not begin to describe you. I’ve never even heard of such a thing before.”

“C’mon! I’m beggin’ ya. Don’t just flame me—DO me then flame me! Or, just… lick all over my body for a while first? Like, eat me quick, but eat me OUT for a long time first, give me a nice sendoff, okay? Please, that would be so fucking hot…”

“The alarming thing,” said the dragon, “is that you are not joking.”

“Of course I’m not!”

“No,” said the dragon. “I mean, I can smell you. It’s not the stink of fear, either. You are sexually aroused at the thought of being penetrated by the tip of my tongue, or having me lick your body all over. Pony, what is the matter with you?”

Rainbow’s bravado began to fray. “Hey, don’t you mean, what is awesome with me? You know?”

The dragon shook its head, solemnly. “Not likely. You’re not even trying to protect yourself. You’ve become so aroused. Frankly, it’s got me more curious than I’ve been in hundreds of years.”

“To… to taste hot pegasus pussy?”

“No. What I really want to know is what broke you this badly, to make you want to combine sex with death?”

Rainbow looked back at the dragon, eyes wide, defenseless—and then, she sagged to the floor and began to cry, and then bawl.

Seeing this, the dragon reached out, extended a claw, and nudged her tiny pony body, with surprising gentleness and caution. “Seriously. Food’s common. Weird is more uncommon. Why are you doing this? How did you even get in here?”

Rainbow sobbed, “Lost my… one love… now we’re gonna die, it’s all for nothing, couldn’t even help Twilight with hers…”

“Help who? Help what? Answer. Who are ‘we’, pony?”

“My friends… we’re rescuing Twilight’s lover, somepony stole her and brought her here…”

The dragon stiffened. “Repeat that.”

Rainbow sniffled, sprawled forlornly on the cold rock floor. “I told you! We’re just here to rescue a friend. Sort of a friend. It’s weird. She’s weird.”

“A pony friend?”

“A unicorn. Twilight’s marefriend. Named Trixie.”

The dragon cared nothing for such details. Other details interested it more. “This is my lair. I know every inch of it, little pony. Explain how anyone could bring a pony here without my knowing about it.”

“There’s a secret cave behind the wall…”

The dragon snorted fire. It burst forth and puffed across Rainbow Dash where she lay, and she squealed and thrashed, but the next thing she knew, the dragon was prodding her with that huge claw again, blowing cooler air across her to rejuvenate her—and demanding answers.

“What secret cave? Tell me! Where? How do you know? Where is the secret cave?”

“Near here, where we came in, that little entrance…”

“The ventilation hole?”

“Twilight’s able to locate her, and she found a place where the wall was thin—she’s being held captive in there…”

The dragon froze for a moment, its head held high as it thought, and then it bent and spoke to Rainbow, up close. “You hope to free this captive, then, and take her away from here?”

Rainbow nodded.

“Do it. Digging through a wall, eh? You have one day. Then I will come, smash in all walls, and scour everything with fire. Go get your pony friend, and get out of here before then. I have spoken.”

Rainbow gasped. “Really?”

“Would you rather I did it right now? It’s tempting.”

“No!” squeaked Dash. “No, we’ll do it! Ohmygosh. Thank you! Really? I mean, thanks!”

“For things we have in common, and for the courtesy of telling me. There will be no infestations of ponies in here, not at a time like this! Always buzzing around your head or skittering across the ground, growing little gardens wherever they go and stealing… priceless things.” The dragon glowered, terrifyingly. “Do it quickly before I lose all sympathy.”

Rainbow gulped, and looked up at the dragon with big, adorable eyes. “Thank you for not eating me?”

The dragon hesitated, and then—“Pregnant pegasus is a morally distressing delicacy. I don’t approve of it, even if I were not gravid with egg myself. It’s… tacky.”

Rainbow Dash’s heart stopped for a moment.

“I’m not pregnant,” she said. “Diamond Dogs can’t mate with ponies.”

The dragon narrowed her eyes, and tapped her nose with a claw. “I smell no Diamond Dog in you. Just pregnant pony. Go help your friends.”

Dash’s eyes widened—as she remembered back to a happier time, before the Diamond Dog, before any of that. A day when she’d lost everything, a morning when she’d seemed to have everything. A tryst on a clifftop with Big Macintosh, and how she’d ordered him fiercely not to touch her wings. And earlier that morning, for a solid hour, until she could barely walk and those same wings were quivering nibbled wrecks…

Applejack.

The dragon stared, perplexed and frustrated. Her patience was thin, and she wanted nothing more than to clear all the ponies out of her lair immediately. Yet, something she’d said to this pregnant pegasus mare had made her stand, trembling and shaking, speechless and stunned—to the point where she was not even trying to flee an annoyed dragon, when told to leave.

She prodded the tiny creature’s butt with a claw. The pegasus pony walked a step, and froze, shaking, again.

But a deal was a deal.

“Pony. Go help your friends, NOW. You have one day to do that. Starting… a few minutes ago.”

That did the trick. The little creature squeaked, took to the air, and zipped past her towards the ventilation shaft, where they’d apparently got in.

The dragon grumbled, and headed back to her bedroom. She was gonna have to put in screens.

“We have a day!” cried Rainbow Dash, flying up to where Twilight, Rarity and Applejack labored.

“Oh my gosh, Rainbow!” said Twilight. “You smell of dragon-fire! Are you okay?”

“We made an agreement,” said Dash. “We have to get Trixie out of here. Dig!”

“We are!” protested Rarity. “I’ve been helping Applejack. Twilight’s eyes have been glowing, and she’s able to transmute the stone so fast it takes both of us to dig it. You can help, too!”

There was a little tunnel already, and Rainbow stuck her head down it. In the dimness, she saw Applejack, facing her.

“Applejack, I…”

Applejack gritted her teeth, and gave a mighty buck to the end of the tunnel—and light shone through, all at once.

“WE’RE IN!” she cried, and Rainbow squeaked again as first Twilight, then Rarity, burst past her to charge through the tunnel and into the secret cavern.

Trixie blinked. She was seeing double, and felt too weak to rise—but she was sure she heard a sound. She couldn’t help it—she looked over to see Luna’s reaction, though she knew it could be a trick.

Luna was staring at a point across the cavern. Trixie looked too. But was that what she was expected to do? To respond to the trick?

There was a little puff of dust and debris, and a muffled shout, and the next thing Trixie knew, Princess Luna was standing in the way, obstructing her view. But something was happening—unless it only seemed to be happening. Trixie tried to decide whether to focus, or to ignore everything. Passing out seemed like a third option, too.

Luna stood, jaw set, staring across the cavern. Of course. A rescue party. They’d probably tracked the magic bit. They would have to be handled.

First out of the tunnel came Applejack. Then, predictably, Twilight Sparkle. Her eyes glowed white, and her rage was incandescent as she saw who awaited her, and she shrieked, “YOU!” and began to gallop across the floor. Rarity emerged from the tunnel, as Applejack began to flank her. And then—Rainbow Dash, who looked unbelievably upset, and who looked around frantically before her eyes fixed on Applejack with an expression of heart-in-throat worry.

Princess Luna moved fast—though she did not, physically, move at all.

Her horn flared out, intolerably bright, and Twilight Sparkle slammed into a nonmaterial wall of force. She whinnied in fury, kicked at it, and then lowered her head and began mage-wrestling Luna, forcing the wall back with impossible, alicorn-like force fueled by her passion and desperation. That was one pony down—but not out. Rarity was charging on her right, and Applejack flanking on the left, and Rainbow Dash was the wild card, capable of moving with incredible speed and destructiveness.

Luna’s horn fired a bolt of crackling energy, in an instant of brilliant tactical genius through reading the situation at a glance—and Applejack went down hard, sprawling like a sack of potatoes flung across the floor.

And Rainbow Dash shrieked, “APPLEJACK!” and could not do anything but rush to her side, hysterical.

“Rarity! Shields!” snarled Twilight. She gritted her teeth, eyes filled with hate, driving back Princess Luna’s wall of force with sheer willpower and focus. Rarity gulped, and materialized a shield, knowing it wasn’t a spell she’d mastered, counting on Twilight’s attack to neutralize much of Luna’s energies.

“No! Applejack, please!” wailed Rainbow Dash.

Alarmed, Rarity looked over at the limp earth pony form and the despairing pegasus clinging to it—left alive to cry out her anguish distractingly—and then, bright energy struck her, and she collapsed.

Twilight focussed harder and harder, stepping forward, turning herself into a magical killing machine fit to destroy an alicorn, something without a heart to break or a shred of mercy to distract her from her task. She took another step, her eyes flaring blindingly, while Luna held her ground, the mage-wrestle amping up to unthinkable power…

“Whyy-hyyyyy?” cried Rainbow Dash, as if she was being torn apart not just emotionally but literally, her scream of grief speaking of agony too terrible to be borne. She’d tilted her head back and cried out to the air somewhere beyond the rocky ceiling that proved the tomb of all her dreams.

Twilight glanced to the side, just for an instant, her heart wrung.

Twilight went down.

Luna’s head dropped, and she panted. Behind her, Trixie stirred, and managed to croak, “What…” from a parched and wasted throat.

“Hush,” said Princess Luna. “We are not finished.”

She rose, and walked quietly over to Rainbow Dash, who trembled all over as she looked up at her enemy, whose eyes were wide and defenseless as she clung to the warm body of her beloved—who spoke, quaveringly and earnestly.

“Kill me too… I can’t stand this, I can’t…”

“Shhh,” said Princess Luna. “No tears.”

There was no blinding bolt of energy this time—but Rainbow Dash collapsed across Applejack’s body, still holding her.

Trixie was trying to get up. Luna didn’t object—and seemed chastened, downcast.

“Are they dead?” asked Trixie, her voice cutting the silence.

Luna laughed, sadly. “Of course not, Trixie Lulamoon. The bolts were nothing more than flashes of light, harmless. They sleep. For now.”

“What are you going to do?” blinked Trixie, wobbling. “Mistress Luna, please don’t hurt them!”

“What I must,” sighed Princess Luna. “Would that this day had never arrived! I’ll begin with this earth pony. I suspect she is not too clever, which may make it easier. And my sister is less likely to notice.” She concentrated, and her horn glowed with gentle purpose.

“Make what easier?” asked Trixie. Everything seemed so unreal.

“Forgetting.”

“Forgetting what?” said Trixie.

Luna turned, and her gaze was sad and cruel.

“You.”

She returned to her work, carefully editing Applejack’s memories to remove Trixie and the journey to the cave. Trixie’s eyes were wide, and she shrunk back, intimidated. Luna seemed not to be attacking her, but had made no promises of any sort about the ponies that lay limply scattered about the cave.

“What will you do then, Mistress?” said Trixie.

“I must return them to their homes—I will need to think of some pretext that their minds would agree upon, some alternate story. A picnic, perhaps? Some unlikely adventure that they embarked upon? For now, they will forget all this—and you. Don’t cross me, Trixie Lulamoon. I wish it had never come to this, but there is no other way.”

Trixie wobbled, walking unsteadily up behind Luna. “You promise they’re alive? They’re unharmed?”

“I’d better get them out of here. I should send you to sleep as well…”

“Mistress promised she would not touch Trixie’s mind!”

Luna blinked. “That is true. And I will honor that. Do not interfere. Your powers aren’t great enough to change this, little Lulamoon. I think I trust you with the others—you shan’t wake them, I know that—but I had better do Twilight Sparkle right away and get her out of here…”

Trixie Lulamoon lunged forward and stabbed Luna in the butt, with her little horn.

“Argh! Stop that! There is nothing your meager powers can do, especially weakened as you are!”

Trixie staggered over to Twilight’s limp form, pressing her head to her lover’s.

“Trixie, this is…”

Trixie seized Twilight’s slumbering magic powers in her mage-meld… and drained them with every scrap of energy she had left.

With a whump of displaced air, Princess Celestia appeared, and fell heavily to the rock floor.

“What is the m…” she began, haughtily, and then she saw her sister staring aghast, saw the orange and blue pony bodies across the floor, the limp white unicorn and the purple one, all lying there like they were dead—most of the Element Bearers, struck down before her—and Trixie, who cried up at her beseechingly.

“Princess, help us!”

Celestia’s eyes were wide in shock. Slowly, they turned towards Princess Luna. Instinctively, the dark alicorn threw up a magical shield.

“Prithee, fair sister, wait! We can explain!”

Celestia snarled, her horn flaring blindingly, and the magical energies warred between the two alicorns—but so fierce was Celestia’s outrage, that the battle was brief. As desperately as Luna fought, Princess Celestia’s magical force crushed down upon her, until Luna’s resistance snapped, obliterated by the flood of magical force her sister unleashed.

Luna squealed and collapsed, at the same instant that Celestia gave a whinny of triumph—or perhaps it was just the sheer force of her exertion given voice when the strain was released. Luna lay sprawled on the rock floor, and Princess Celestia panted, as Trixie looked up at her, wide-eyed.

Celestia looked around, and then back at Trixie.

“Actually, Miss Trixie Lulamoon, I would prefer for you to explain, please.”

Trixie gulped.

Princess Celestia looked around once more at all the limp pony bodies in the cave, seeing on second look that they were breathing and obviously unharmed, but locked in an ensorceled sleep. She glanced back at Trixie, with an air of weary expectation.

“This ought to be good.”

Somehow, the casualness flipped a switch in Trixie, and the awe she’d so rarely had for the Princesses was gone again, and some of her Trixieness came back in its place.

She rolled her eyes wryly. “Oh, you have NO idea…”

Rightsized

Luna’s eyelids fluttered. Her head ached horribly. Groaning, she squinted her eyes shut in pain—and then opened them.

Celestia was staring right into them with an expression that would sour milk. Princess Luna whinnied weakly and tried to scrabble backwards on the cave floor. Trixie sat beside Celestia, alert and interested.

“Trixie Lulamoon has told me everything,” said Celestia.

Luna whimpered.

“You will begin making your amends by helping me right now, ‘dear sister’. We will bring these ponies to my throne room. You will show me every single thing, no matter how small, you have done to their minds to erase knowledge of Miss Lulamoon. You will restore every detail, and I will be there watching. Only then will we awaken them—and you will not be present for that. What did you say?”

Luna couldn’t meet her eyes. “I only did Applejack, sister.”

“We will know soon enough whether I can trust your word,” said Celestia, coldly.

“Strangely enough… I could,” said Trixie.

Celestia glanced over at Trixie, and her eyebrow arched inquisitively…

Twilight’s eyelids fluttered. Before they even opened, she began to kick and struggle, squealing in alarm—only to feel herself pinned down. Her eyes flew open…

Trixie kissed her, hard.

Twilight let out a little scream of shock and relief. Her eyes struggled to adjust to the flood of light, and then she realized she was in Princess Celestia’s throne room.

There was a terrible commotion to her right. Rainbow Dash was waking up, still clinging to Applejack. She looked around confusedly, and then thrashed and flapped, grabbing Applejack’s body, crying out to the stately alicorn, “Princess Celestia, please! Do something!”

Celestia’s smile was fond and playful as she returned Dash’s desperate gaze—and the look on Rainbow’s face when she felt Applejack stir against her was something Twilight would remember for a long, long time. Rainbow came undone, completely, unable even to speak, and clung to Applejack who stirred and muttered “The hell?” and looked around.

Princess Celestia had moved on. Rarity stirred, scowling where she lay, kicking out her hooves as if fighting to rise and rejoin her battle. The sapphire eyes opened upon the throne room, and Rarity blinked in astonishment. She looked around.

“Oh, Applejack!” she cried. “You’re well! I saw you fall, darling, yet I had to fight on! It was awful!”

Hearing this, Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide as saucers. She bit her lip, and before anypony could react, she’d scrambled back away from Applejack, and sat in a disheveled lump, visibly shaking. Applejack glanced at her, but she scooted off a bit farther, unable to return the glance, blushing brightly.

Applejack’s ears were laid back in shock, and she was about to say something, but then—Rarity saw herself. She’d shoved heedlessly through a tunnel of soft dirt to do battle with whoever had captured Trixie. She’d not spared a moment to think about it from the time she’d entered the cave to the time she’d been laid low by her adversary.

Rarity was a filthy pony.

“EEUUUURGHHH!” she squealed, aghast, stretching out her forelegs in horror.

Applejack burst out laughing. “Hah! Count yer blessings! We’re alive! But what in tarnation happened? Twilight, did you save us all?”

Princess Celestia glanced at Trixie, who bore an expression of impossible smugness and cleared her throat. “e-HEM!”

Applejack’s jaw dropped.

“Aw, you got to be shittin’ me!” she said, and then gulped and looked bashfully at Princess Celestia.

“Twilight Sparkle,” said Princess Celestia, “I cannot begin to apologize enough. Consider my note woefully inadequate… I cannot adequately describe what I’ve learned about the courage, quality, and even the humility of your Trixie Lulamoon other than to say: I love you both, you have my blessing without reservation, and I hope one day I can make up for all the direct and indirect harm my mistrust has done. It is a mistrust that was not in the least deserved.”

“Did she destroy Nightmare Moon?” cried Twilight.

“That wasn’t Nightmare Moon,” said Celestia, sternly.

Twilight blinked. “What? Then what was with all the kidnapping, and attacking us? She killed Applejack!” She looked over at Applejack, who looked wide-eyed back. Twilight blinked again. “Um…”

“We have spoken to Princess Luna at length, Twilight, before waking you. We felt it best that she not be present, to avoid misunderstanding. I’ve satisfied myself that she has restored the memories she tampered with…”

“Restored the what now?” said Applejack.

Celestia smiled wryly. “Indeed. Like I said, we have spoken with her at length about what she did, and why. It shall not go unpunished—we’ve agreed on that.”

Twilight’s ears quirked, confused. “You need to banish her to the moon! Wait—what do you mean ‘we’? I thought you were just talking with a royal We there. You agreed with who?”

“Trixie’s advice and wisdom was sought,” announced Trixie, as if such deference was expected. “Princess Celestia and Trixie agreed upon a suitable fate for her.”

This boggled Twilight’s mind, and the others looked cross as well. Twilight said, “You agreed on… maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. What exactly happened? Princess, I was so sure that you’d kidnapped Trixie…” She paled. “Oh gosh. Um… it was sort of a relief to discover it was really Nightmare Moon? I was like, you! and everything went white…”

“I’m sure it did,” said Celestia. “And yes, my sister misbehaved most appallingly. She wished to remove Trixie, to protect your innocence, Twilight—for my sake. But… well, perhaps Trixie ought to explain some of this.”

At this, the Great and Powerful Trixie looked more abashed. “Trixie apparently carries a rather special heritage. The Princess began by capturing Trixie, tricking her, doing things, but then it got… complicated…”

Twilight’s lip quivered. Her eyes were wide. Somberly, Celestia nodded at her, waited for Trixie to spell it out, and then gently continued when Trixie didn’t.

“Twilight, she told me… that now she knew how I felt. I fear I do not understand my sister at all, and her ways have been mysterious to me, but in this, she spoke the truth.”

Twilight and Trixie continued to stare at each other, wide-eyed and vulnerable, as the realization sank in. The mighty Princess Luna, immortal alicorn, ‘Nightmare Moon’, had fallen in love with Trixie—and things had indeed become complicated.

Or not.

Trixie’s eyes teared up. She gulped, and set her jaw, and when she was able to speak it was without pretense and unguarded.

“…I told her I already had a princess!”

Then, the ponies were cheering, as Twilight and Trixie embraced with the fervor of drowning mares and kissed. Princess Celestia wiped a tear, and waited for them to finish. Gradually, they came up for air. Twilight looked perplexed, and a little annoyed, and glanced back and forth between Trixie and Celestia.

“So… you’re punishing her, but you’re not banishing her in the moon again?”

Princess Celestia looked very old, all of a sudden. “No, Twilight.”

“You’re throwing her in the dungeon?”

“You know I haven’t got a dungeon, Twilight. No.”

“Maybe you should ask…” began Twilight tartly, and then blinked. “Oh. The Changeling Queen, right. She wouldn’t have told you. I bet Luna knew about those caves too, though! She’s good at knowing about caves. Fine, so you’re not throwing her in the dungeon OR banishing her to the moon again. So then what?”

Princess Celestia gazed levelly at her star pupil.

“She has been sent to her room. She will not leave it, save for ceremonial duties. Princess Luna—is grounded.”

Four sets of pony eyes flew wide in horror.

“What?” shrieked Rainbow Dash and Twilight.

“What kinda…” began Applejack, outraged.

“For how LONG?” demanded Rarity.

“Three hundred and fifty years,” said Princess Celestia, levelly, and they fell silent.

The silence deepened, as they tried to understand. Finally, Celestia helped, by spelling it out, in soft, implacable words.

“She will not see you again, nor will you see her unless you attend her appearance on Nightmare Night—to which I shall accompany her. She will not speak to you again, and you need not speak to her—in some ways that will be merciful. She will not share your life again—nor the lives of your foals, if you have them, nor the lives of your grandfoals…”

Rainbow had jolted at the mention of ‘foals’, and begun shaking worse.

“She will study, and meditate upon her follies, and in that I shall also accompany her. We will learn how to love our subjects without seeking to control or unduly shelter them, and I have no doubt that she will help me. But Luna’s true punishment is one that I will also know, in the fullness of time: she will never see Trixie Lulamoon again.”

Celestia swallowed, overcome for a moment, and her eyes teared up. “Please believe me, that this will torment her as much as you could wish.”

Twilight’s jaw hung open in astonishment at the many implications that had been made, until Trixie nudged it closed with her nose and sealed it with another kiss.

Celestia added, “Trixie tells me she will make sure of that. She will avoid Luna’s appearances entirely. Trixie says, and I agree, that in the long run it will be kinder to her—but in the short run it has hurt my sister more than I would have believed. I am sure we will find much to talk about, and that she will emerge three hundred and fifty years from now a sadder and wiser Princess.”

Her eyes were tragic in a very dignified way as she concluded, “You may go. And… thank you for allowing me to share your happiness, and your lives. They are such beautiful little lives. Perhaps that is why I have sheltered them too much.”

Twilight’s lip quivered, and then she rushed forward and clung to Celestia in a hug, and then all of the ponies were hugging Celestia, who gulped and lifted her chin as she tried to maintain her composure, petting them with a gentle hoof, heaving a great quavering sigh of bittersweet.

“You got to come down for a nice country breakfast, Princess!” cried Applejack.

Celestia nodded. “Yes…”

“Please visit us!” begged Twilight. “I mean it! It was terrible thinking I’d lost you!”

“You won’t lose me again,” vowed Celestia. “I promise, Twilight.”

“Oh, hell,” said Applejack, “I got to see what kinda mess my brother made of th’ farm!”

“We have to go tell Pinkie and Fluttershy we’re all okay!” said Twilight. “And tell Pinkie that she was right all along! Hmph. Again!”

All at once, the ponies were bustling about, heading out of the throne room to return to their lives. Trixie and Twilight ran ahead, side by side, beaming at each other. Rarity chased after. “Wait!”

Puzzled, the two unicorns stopped.

Rarity batted her eyelashes, in spite of her heavily soiled state. “Curses, this is no condition for a lady to be in. I shall beat you two home and bathe immediately… but once I have done that, might I have a private word with you both?”

Following them, Applejack trotted down the hall, unperturbed at seeing the three unicorns leave together—but then she heard the voice from behind her.

“Applejack!”

It was Rainbow Dash, and Applejack’s heart leapt into her throat. Dashie looked horrible.

“What is it? What’s th’ matter?”

Rainbow’s face worked through expressions of anguish, desperation, apology. She tried to speak, and words wouldn’t come out. Applejack gulped, her heart suddenly pounding.

“Please tell me…”

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and forced herself onward—and said it.

“I’m so sorry, Applejack… I didn’t want to do this, but I can’t stand it any more. I love you. I thought you died and something broke inside me and I knew I couldn’t go on…”

Dash’s eyes pleaded. “I realize you have Rarity,” she continued, “but I’ll do anything to win you back because I just need you too much. I can’t live without you. …and there’s some stuff I GOTTA tell you.”

She panted, her heart hammering in her chest, as Applejack’s expression grew quavery, as Applejack responded with country-pony earnestness. “Oh, Dashie! Me too! Ah am SO sorry. Darlin’, I been thinkin’ the same things…”

Applejack began to cry. “I’m sorry I been so stiff-necked. I jes’ hurt, all the time, keepin’ you out. I guess my life’s bigger’n my pride. C’mere.”

She moved towards Rainbow…

“Stop, wait!”

“Whut?”

“Let me finish, okay? You might not remember this.”

Applejack blinked. “Celestia tole me that Princess Luna took some of my memories, but she said she gave ‘em back… you think she forgot somethin’?”

“I’m pregnant, Applejack. With your foal.”

“That ain’t funny!” yelled Applejack. “Consarn it, darlin’, I’m tryin’ ta say I love you…”

“Stop! I’m not joking! Hear me out!”

Applejack did stop, as if Dash had yanked on her reins, and sat back on her haunches, her eyes wide with shock as Dash explained, awkwardly but persistently.

“I never explained about wings, you only knew it was a kinky thing. We pegasuses ovulate—make babies? from it. That’s where pegasus foals come from. We’re not supposed to do it lightly. Well, I wasn’t doing it lightly. But when we were together… Me with you… You’ve been making me pregnant with that stuff, over and over and over, and it felt so good…”

Applejack’s expression was stunned. “But…”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow. “But we’re both mares, so nothing happened. When it’s a guy, they do that and then they come inside you and water it and the baby grows. We’re both mares, and the magic bit stuff goes away, so you couldn’t finish the job. There didn’t seem to be a reason to talk about it because I knew nothing could happen. I was okay with that.”

Applejack saw how Rainbow looked away—perhaps not so okay with it, but clinging to her image as the wild and slutty pegasus who wasn’t looking to bear anypony’s foals.

Rainbow Dash gulped, forcing herself on, though the words became more and more difficult to say. “And then you made me pregnant one morning, and I did something kinda not smart soon after that, and that seed got watered by… maybe I should say… your blood?”

A terrible silence fell over the two ponies. Rainbow could hardly dare to catch Applejack’s eye. There was nothing more she could say. She kept trying to look up and see Applejack’s reaction, but it terrified her every time. The wide, shocked eyes, the ears back in dismay, the quivering lip and mouth turned down in fear as Applejack tried to understand it all, on the spot, to think through this idea that Rainbow had been wanting her foals. How would that even fit into their lives?

Applejack gulped, and Dash looked up and went pale, for there was something apologetic in her eyes, like she was about to bargain, to say something that might be hard to hear.

Rainbow Dash froze, unable to look away, as Applejack said five words.

“…let’s have jes’ the one?”

Dash’s jaw dropped—and then, they were together, sobbing, clinging for dear life, earth pony body pressed against pegasus and hugging as if they would never let go.

Weeping with joy, kissing, Rainbow pressing against Applejack like she wanted to spread herself over her beloved like pegasus butter, Applejack stroking Rainbow’s body with fierce glorious abandon, unreservedly…

Rainbow wrapping her wings around her lover, shaking with the fullness and depth of her surrender, Applejack reaching up to lovingly fondle and stroke those trembling wings as they enfolded her…

They formed a little pony cocoon, and soft, sweet cries echoed down the hallway as first Rainbow Dash, and then Applejack, surrendered to a realm of love and light—each so overcome with the sensations of fondling her beloved that she shuddered in orgasm which only began with passion and bloomed beyond it into a flood of love to last forever.

And, back in the throne room, frozen in place and seeing the whole thing through the open door, Princess Celestia wept openly for the beauty of it, grateful that even an endless life could contain such moments—and crept quietly off to her chambers, careful to remain unnoticed.

Applejack nuzzled Rainbow Dash’s sweet little face as they cuddled in bed, with Rainbow sprawled against her. They’d rushed straight home to Applejack’s, shut the door, and made sweet love. They didn’t have a magic bit to use, but Rainbow sang cries of ecstacy until she was hoarse as Applejack worshipped her pouting pegasus pussy with lips and tongue, caressing it reverently, drunk on the long-missed sensations and marvelling at what nestled deeper inside Dashie’s womb.

“Still cain’t hardly believe it. Pregnant Dashie. How do you know?”

“That dragon smelled it,” said Rainbow. “That’s why she let me go. I couldn’t believe it. When I realised what it had to mean… oh my gosh.” She clung tighter to Applejack, trembling.

“Easy, there, Dashie. I’m here. I ain’t ever gonna leave you.”

“You said that before!” protested Dash.

Applejack snorted, stung by the words. Then she thought for a moment. “Wull… here I am! Ain’t I? I turned out to be right.”

She looked down at Rainbow, who peered up with big vulnerable eyes. She petted Rainbow’s mane, and Rainbow Dash snuggled against her chest with a little sigh. She stroked down Rainbow’s elegant body, still trying to wrap her mind around the idea that her foal—certainly her blood on account of Big Macintosh, but apparently her own foal from the wing-playin’—was inside Rainbow, growing into a little pony colt or filly.

“What we gonna name it, Dashie, my love?”

Dash made a little hmph, as if to say ‘what a silly question’. “Something awesome!”

“Somethin’ APPLE,” corrected Applejack.

“Whoever heard of an awesome apple?”

“You implyin’ I ain’t an awesome apple?” said Applejack, in mock offense.

Rainbow giggled, and nestled closer.

“More’n that,” whispered Applejack into her ear. A cerulean ear perked up, and Applejack explained, “Y’all givin’ Granny a grandfoal, honey. Uh… great-grandfoal! Yeah. You are an Apple yourself now, jes’ like you was born to us. As our foal is gonna be born to us. So YOU are an awesome apple. Th’ awesomest.”

Dash gave a happy sigh—broken up by little squeaks, for Applejack was stroking her body firmly, and wasn’t shy about it—her wings quivered as the earth pony hoof rubbed up against them in that irresistibly wanton way.

“Thank goodness you’re back. Poor silly darlin’. I hope y’all had at least some nice pony lookin’ after these lovely wings while we was bein’ fools?”

Rainbow Dash blinked, honestly shocked. “What? They’re yours.”

“But—Dashie, we broke up. I kicked you out. You went and fucked all kinds ‘a stuff, you tole me yourself. You LOVE wing nibblin’. What do you mean?”

“Nopony touches the wings,” said Dash seriously. “They’re yours. They were always yours. How could that change?”

Applejack stared at her, and Dashie stared back. Her expression was a little bit stubborn, a little bit hurt, a little bit confused, and Applejack’s world rocked as she made sense of the expression.

She’d thought Rainbow Dash had reacted to their breakup by flying into fits of debauchery, giving herself to every pony or indeed every thing, pony or not, in wanton heartlessness. She’d thought herself justified to move on, believing Dash’s actions revealed a pony who simply could not commit. She’d ordered Dash away in a rage, and she’d gone and tried to love again with another, always assuming her cerulean pegasus was hopelessly lost to her.

Rainbow Dash just kept looking at her with that expression. It was plain she couldn’t even understand what Applejack had meant. The little blue pegasus had run wild with bodysex to try and mask her pain, had been convinced Applejack was gone forever, and still those wings had been her true love’s for life, and she looked hurt and offended that Applejack could even form the idea that she’d give them to another. Her body had been anybody’s playground—but the wings were taken. What else even mattered? And she was not furious, not defensive in that way that suggested a guilty conscience. Rainbow’s hurt was simple and pure: hurt that Applejack could doubt her when the truth was so basic and obvious. Applejack’s world quaked as she came to understand what she’d meant to her Dashie. And all the while, those ruby eyes looked up at her with innocent trust and gentle reproach.

Applejack gulped.

And she’d thought she would teach Rainbow about faithfulness…

“O’ course it wouldn’t change, Dashie,” said Applejack, stroking her rainbow mane. “O’ course not.” Her gentle hoof petted the coarse, brilliantly colored hair—and then strayed to the nape of her neck, finding and caressing that incredibly silky, delicate undercoat of cerulean blue, that softness that nopony else would know was there.

Rainbow sniffed gently, sighed with pleasure and contentment, and nestled her head against Applejack’s chest, closing her eyes.

Full Circle

“So… are you gonna talk to Twilight about getting us a bit again?”

“Well, now—I thunk you had it, din’cha?” said Applejack, idly nuzzling Rainbow Dash’s belly.

“I told you, it blew up on me. When I was, uh… acting kinda crazy.”

Applejack frowned, eyeing Rainbow’s pony breasts as they lay together on Applejack’s bed. “When this happened?” Her nose tenderly explored the half-healed injuries where Gilda’s lust-maddened talons had torn.

“No!” protested Dash. “It was the other time. One of the other times.” She sighed. “I can’t get over what the dragon told me. She really freaked me out.”

“Well, this really freaks me out!” said Applejack.

“Sorry, okay? Sheesh!” said Dash. She pouted, adding, “Didn’t you do anything you regretted?”

“Don’t wanna think about it, Dashie. It’s in th’ past now.”

Rainbow stirred, and sat up, even while Applejack softly nuzzled between her legs.

“Seriously, Applejack, what was it like for you? You aren’t telling me anything, and I told you all that stuff…”

Applejack’s ears laid back a little. “I would prefer not to dwell on it, darlin’. Best we put it behind us. Got more important things to think about.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

Applejack slowly licked across the dainty swelling of Rainbow’s injured tit. “Healin’ you up so’s you’re ready for our foal, that’s what.”

Dash kicked her leg dreamily. “Hnnnngg…”

“Reckon these still work, anyway…” said Applejack, and toyed with a stiffening nipple, pointing her tongue and nudging it wetly, then letting her lips close on it.

“Nnnnhhhh! Mmmmmm…”

“There’s a good Dashie. Mmmmnnnn…”

Rainbow squirmed in pleasure, but still seemed troubled. “Oh, horseapples. What if the foal’s, like, sucking on me—you know, drinking milk—and I get all horny?”

Applejack favored her with a fond and knowing glance. “I think we’ll all have to live with that, sugarcube. Ah wouldn’t have ya any other way.”

Dash let out a happy sigh, but there was something on her mind. “You were real tight with Rarity. I feel bad for screwing that up. Not that she’s having your foal—but still.”

Applejack glowered at nothing. “Don’t. I mean, don’t bring it up, but don’t feel bad. You wouldn’a known it but let’s jes’ say I ain’t sorry. Things got outta hand. By the time you talked to me, we was already done, sugarcube. Honest.”

“Really? You were moving on?”

“You might say that,” admitted Applejack. “I love her dearly, don’t get me wrong. But we was done.”

Rainbow tilted her head inquisitively. “Even though… the sex was fantastic?”

“How would you know about that? Ain’t that private?”

At that, Dash dropped her gaze. “Sorry. Um… it hurt at the time, but that one sound you made from behind the rock… wow. And I could hear it moving in you, just barely hear these wet noises. And you know I’ve seen it, what she gets…”

“Heh. Damn pegasuses. Yeah… not sorry I had that for a while, it was like some crazy fantasy. Whoof.”

“She marched out to the rock with the bit already in her mouth, you know. You were all pretending to be secret, but not her. She wanted me to look. ‘Whoof’ is right…”

Applejack frowned. “She would. Shoulda tole her not to do that, dammit. For your information, that ain’t all fun and games. It hurt jes’ about every time an’ I couldn’t go at it too often. Never did get used to it. I really am looking forward to ridin’ yours again, yours don’t hurt so you can git wild on it…”

“Yeah yeah—sure,” said Dash. She thought for a moment, and added, “Yours feels like that sometimes.”

Applejack smirked fondly, and tickled Dash’s nipple with her tongue. “Ah’ll be gentle.”

“But… you’re gonna be okay with leaving Rarity? Like, moving on?”

“I tole you, I love her dearly. Don’t think I’m gonna look back and curse her ‘cos I ain’t, okay? But it just did not work.  No denyin’ that!”

“Sooo… that does mean you’re moving on? Like, you’re not going to be Rarity’s lover ever again, and you’re okay with that? It’s not a problem?”

Applejack narrowed her eyes. “Now why are you, of all ponies, askin’ me this? Ain’t I supposed to move on, and have no regrets?”

Dash fell silent, looking away, and Applejack’s ears went back. “I swear, Dashie! I am. I ain’t gonna cry over Rarity. You know I got a funny feelin’ that mare’s gonna take care of herself one way or another. I bet you she’s up to somethin’ and you know, more power to her—let her have her fun. I don’t need her. I got you. Don’t I?”

Dash nodded, still looking away. Applejack gulped.

“Well then, Dashie, mind tellin’ me why you look so sad?”

“All right!” snapped Dash. “Fine! I’ll say it! Applejack, I thought I was really tough and strong. But I lost you, and I just went nuts trying to deal with it—and I couldn’t. I couldn’t…” Dash gulped. “I wouldn’t have been able to go on without you.”

“An’ I promise,” said Applejack earnestly, “I ain’t ever gonna put you through that again. Okay, Dashie?”

“…Dashie?”

But Rainbow wouldn’t answer—or meet her eye.

Twilight moaned. Her back arched off the bed, and she bared her teeth as the tongue thrust between her labia, licking deep into her vagina, then returning its attentions to her stiffened clitoris.

Trixie’s nose nuzzled unicorn breasts, pulled back so her eyes could appreciate the delicious ooze of madly aroused unicorn pussy, the ravishing scents and forms and contours therein.

Twilight’s legs quivered, her hooves curling with ecstacy, her mind reeling with forbidden pleasures. Her eyes, sensuously half-lidded, gazed down her body…

…and widened. “Why is she crying?”

Trixie’s eyes flared, and so did her horn, and the rod flashed out to crack against alabaster ass—and Rarity squealed and dove more fervently between Twilight’s legs, tongue extended, tears leaking from her eyes as she nuzzled and licked, Twilight’s juices beautifully soiling her pristine muzzle.

“Whoa, hold on, Trixie, I want an explanation…”

“Use the safeword if you truly need the scene to end, Mistress! Trixie has already explained…”

“I didn’t say that! It feels good!”

“It had better!” hissed Trixie, lightly touching the rod to Rarity’s rump. Rarity jolted and let out a whimper that was half sob and half lewd moan.

“It’s just…” said Twilight, and bit her lip. “You told me you were going to take her way far into sub-space, show me what that was like. It’s supposed to be what she wants, right? But how can I know that?”

Rarity’s eyes glittered for a moment, but somehow Trixie read it in her body language and the rod lashed out again with another crack. Rarity screamed and cowered, holding her position as Trixie declaimed, “Girl does not speak during a scene! Mistress Trixie speaks for her while the scene is underway!”

“And you used the stick to mess up her mane,” added Twilight, “which I don’t see how that’s even sexual at all…”

“Oh, Mistress,” sighed Trixie. “It might interest you to know how much her filthy little hole just glistened and oozed when you reminded her of that. You can’t see how aroused our new pet is, from that angle. Trixie can. But you need not trust Trixie on this—our pet is no fool, and she came prepared.”

“Prepared how?” said Twilight.

Trixie chuckled fondly—and approvingly. “Our pet knows you at least as well as I do. Read this.”

Her horn glowed a bit more, and a document floated over for Twilight to read. “She’s put it in writing for us—and signed it. Is that formal enough for my beloved Mistress?”

And indeed Rarity had: spelled out in plain language, and even illuminated with small but passionate illustrations of some of the sub-clauses.

One: Whereas Rarity wishes to adopt an exclusive and binding position as submissive to Twilight Sparkle and Trixie Lulamoon: specifically, submissive to Ms. Lulamoon and inheriting Ms. Lulamoon’s submission to Twilight Sparkle, for a time period extending one year from this day, to be evaluated for renewal only upon conclusion of that period:

Two: Said submissive position will include humilation and correction as Mistress Lulamoon sees fit, including but not limited to spanking, shaming, degradation, flogging and the lash: physical injury not to render Rarity unable to pursue her occupation or permanently disable any limbs or senses without additional written agreement.

Addendum to Two: temporary disability such as inability to walk or function is permitted and welcomed, provided that function is regained by the time of Rarity’s next business committment. Dominance and correction to reestablish this function is acceptable—Mistress’s judgment will be the guide, within this larger context.

Addendum to addendum: mane and tail count as limbs. Coiffure does not, but must also be regained by the time of Rarity’s next business committment…

Three: Rarity will furnish a safeword, which is the connection to a deeper part of herself that will keep watch whilst she submits. If Rarity says ‘Consarn it’, the scene is over. Be advised that there is a possibility that Rarity, driven to her limits, will become confused and hysterical, crying out ‘Apples’ instead: if she calls this, the scene is doubly over.

Four: Rarity will speak with Mistress Lulamoon and will provide an overview of her fetishes and triggers, plus descriptions of her capabilities both with and without use of a magic bit, for Mistress Lulamoon to fully exploit at her whim and her whim alone, while the contract is in force.

Five: Rarity’s body and abilities may be used at Mistress Lulamoon’s discretion to pleasure others including but not limited to Rarity’s hierarchy of authority, provided such use does not endanger Rarity’s ability to conduct her business. Rarity will not attempt to otherwise scene or engage sexually except through Mistress Lulamoon’s direction, during the term of her contract.

Six: All orders and commands for Rarity must go through Mistress Lulamoon, either directly or through placing Mistress Lulamoon in submission whilst she has Rarity in submission.

Seven: Rarity’s hierarchy of authority shall include Trixie Lulamoon, Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Celestia (who is not expected to engage in play activities, but is in the chain of command). It includes no other pony, specifically no member of Rarity’s birth family under any circumstances ever, and adding another dominant to her contract must require assent from every pony currently on it.

Signed,

Rarity

Twilight blinked at the document. It all seemed to be in order, and formidably clear-headed to boot. “You guys came up with all this?”

Trixie bowed her head in respect. “Our new pet did. Trixie is most impressed—and has learned much.”

“It’s got me on it—and Princess Celestia!”

Trixie shrugged. “Our new pet is thorough.”

Twilight blinked. “So… what does this have to do with Rarity crying while giving head? I’m not sure I like that part. Trixie, when you eat me out, you absolutely love it.”

Rarity gazed up at Twilight with wide, lovely eyes framing her messy little muzzle.

“Trixie can have her masturbate while doing it, if you like. She barely needs it. She’s cooling off, though, and Trixie did not say she could cool off!” The rod swung, and Rarity yiped, quivering.

“She’d do that? I honestly can’t imagine Rarity masturbating. Mind you, I can’t imagine her giving head either, and she was doing an amazing job of it!”

“She will do what Trixie directs her to do, and only that, Mistress. It’s in the contract, a contract she was eager to enter into. You can limit that simply by asking Trixie to limit it—she has spelled out your higher authority very clearly. Or—you can indulge her.”

Twilight’s brow was furrowed in thought. “But what does SHE want?”

Trixie smiled. “She wishes to be as much my slave… as I am yours, beloved Mistress.”

The two unicorns hung on Twilight’s reply, as she studied them, making sense of the situation and her position in it, her freedom to play along with their fantasies or to disrupt them, their needs both inferred and explicit—and her own desires.

Twilight set her jaw, and nodded—and spoke.

“Got it. All right, Trixie… let’s see where this takes us…”

Trixie awaited instructions, and Rarity quivered, wide-eyed.

“I want her to come, and I want to come real hard. Show me what you guys can do. Have her masturbate while I watch—and while she gives me head. Okay?”

Trixie’s eyes narrowed. “Mistress wants to come real hard. How hard does she want our pet to come?”

Twilight smirked. “Impress me. I love her a lot. Make her come crazy hard! Whatever it takes!”

Trixie’s teeth gleamed in a mad grin. Rarity gulped.

“Girl,” commanded Trixie, “…wait for it! At my signal, you will begin clopping your filthy hole until it oozes all over your hoof. While doing this, you will pleasure my Mistress as you were doing—but more so. Trixie wishes to see Twilight’s juices all over your face! You will meet her eyes so she can see your filthy, degraded, overwhelmingly powerful orgasms as you eat her pussy and lick up all the juices while coaxing out more and more, until she is exhausted and begs for mercy.”

Twilight’s eyes had gone very wide. Rarity trembled, as if ready at any moment to pounce.

“You will orgasm to your fullest while you are doing this, and Mistress Lulamoon will help. You will not faint or pass out until Mistress Twilight is finished, and every tear of deserved shame you shed must be balanced by twice that much of your own goo smeared over your lowly hoof while you pleasure yourself! ON my signal, girl!”

Twilight’s jaw dropped, watching Trixie lay down the law for Rarity, seeing how her elegant friend shuddered with desire and strange passions, her tongue peeking from her muzzle in anticipation. There was no mistaking how outrageously horny Rarity had become.

Trixie smiled wickedly, her magic brandishing the rod, and purred, “Ready, mistress?”

Twilight gulped, not even blinking.

“Oh, FUCK yeah…”

“Hyah!” cried Trixie exultantly.

The rod lashed out and nailed Rarity’s ass. She squealed and dove forward, tongue outthrust, hoof already working away between her own legs. Twilight’s head went back, eyes shut, teeth bared in ecstacy…

Pinkie sat between Fluttershy, and Big Macintosh, on Fluttershy’s bed. She looked first to one side, then the other.

Both flanking ponies looked down, awkwardly, blushing—though it was hard to tell with Big Macintosh.

With a sigh, Pinkie began again.

“Okay, so here it is. You, Big Macintosh, have agreed to help us, that’s me Pinkie and Fluttershy here, to make a foal. You came here more bouncy-happy than I’ve ever seen you, and you know what to do. All you have to do is fuck Fluttershy while I play with her wings, how hard can it be? Except that if YOU touch them I will totally kill you, okay?”

Fluttershy reached out with a hoof and socked Pinkie, still without looking up.

“Ow. What? Time’s a wasting! Figure out what’s the matter and get with the baby batter!”

“Uhhh…” rumbled Big Macintosh. “Can’t exactly work out how that there’s gonna work.”

“The usual way!” said Pinkie.

Big Macintosh shook his head. “It ain’t. Pinkie Pie, I am kinda large…”

Fluttershy blushed even redder, and her wings lifted away from her sides, rising into a pretty arch.

“You see, that’s jes’ it. I mount on this lil’ darling…”

Fluttershy began to pant, and looked down at the floor more and more determinedly.

“Well, how’s there even gonna be room? Maybe you oughta git me to clop off into a cup or sump’n…”

“Oh no no,” insisted Pinkie. “Oh, no! Look at her. Look at how horny she is! I can live with some dick aftertaste to give the love of my life an experience she can treasure forever. Fluttershy is going to get pregnant like she wanted, and I am not going to use a cold icing syringe to do it! Are you loco in the coco?”

“This-all is mighty strange, Pinkie, and with you not likin’ colts an’ all…” said Big Macintosh, looking away.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do it this way, it feels so uncomfortable and awful…” said Fluttershy, her erect wings trembling yearningly.

“We had an agreement!” cried Pinkie Pie, and both ponies to either side of her turned bodily away, overwhelmed with shyness.

Pinkie glowered. She glared at the floor along with the two dear ponies beside her. She whined, “Don’t you even WANT to?”

“Well…” mumbled Fluttershy. Big Macintosh chuckled, a deep rumbly sound. Pinkie watched Fluttershy’s wings stand up even more boldly…

A thump rattled the window, and both her companions jerked in startlement. Then, again—and a small, irate, white face and some long ears appeared briefly in the window before dropping out of sight.

“Oh, no!” moaned Fluttershy. “Angel Bunny! It isn’t dinner time yet, but he knows we’re in here! He’s climbed a tree!”

Angel bounced against the window again, gesticulating wildly. Big Macintosh muttered, “Mebbe I best go let him in, then.”

Pinkie heaved a big sigh—then blinked. “No, hang on—I got it.”

Both Fluttershy’s face and Big Macintosh’s face fell, and they drooped, Fluttershy’s wings wilting as Pinkie hopped off the bed, heading for the stairs, passing by a stray couch cushion…

Pinkie whirled, the corner of the cushion in her teeth, and whipped it with deadly accuracy—and Big Macintosh went over, clobbered by the pillow. He sputtered, “Whut was that?”

“It’s what I got!” cried Pinkie Pie. “I got YOU! Pillow fight!”

She galloped over and seized one of the bed pillows, and slammed it into Big Macintosh’s head. Fluttershy giggled, but the next thing she knew she’d been bowled over by another pillow, her light pegasus frame easily knocked down by Pinkie’s fluffy projectile.

“Pillloowwww fiiiiiggght!” sang Pinkie, and with that, the two shy ponies seized pillows of their own and clobbered her right back, and she went over in a giggling heap.

Pinkie didn’t stay down for long—she bounced right up and manically began peppering her would-be lovers with pillows. She kept a sharp eye out and when the flailing Angel appeared in the window again, a flying pillow was there to startle him. Pinkie faintly heard a squall of alarm as the impetuous bunny decided to give the crazy ponies a wide berth for a little while. She grinned and redoubled her efforts, doing her best to knock the monumental Big Macintosh over, fleeing from Fluttershy’s pillow dive-bombing, giggling like a fiend the entire time. She spotted Fluttershy and Big Mac throwing pillows at each other and laughing. She tackled Fluttershy and pinned her to the bed, straddling her—spotting, out of the corner of her eye, Big Macintosh’s widened eyes and raised eyebrow. She pinned the wriggling Fluttershy for just a little bit longer, making sure her poofy tail didn’t obscure anything too interesting, and then sprang up as Fluttershy pursued her off the bed, around Big Macintosh’s huge giggling form…

Pinkie’s grin widened outrageously. She caught Fluttershy’s eye as her love was about to dive upon her again—and flicked her gaze toward what stood between them, and the soft cozy bed.

“GET HIM!”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened—and then they pounced, together.

It was Pinkie who knocked Big Macintosh sprawling onto the bed. He fell just right, onto his back. “Pin him!” she cried—and Fluttershy flew down, just as she’d hoped, to straddle the massive pony. Pinkie took a deep breath, and waited for just a moment—just long enough for her friends to realize their position, Big Macintosh on his back, Fluttershy straddling him with wings arched ebulliently into the air and her eyes shining.

Their eyes widened, and Pinkie cackled in glee.

“NOW you’re having fun with it!”

Fluttershy gasped. Big Macintosh squirmed—but before he could do anything, a pink form reared up behind the fluttery pegasus and sandwiched her between two loving bodies.

“Ahhh!” gasped Fluttershy. Pinkie was nuzzling her pinions, a wild gleam in her eye. “How d’you like THIS, mister?”

Big Macintosh gulped, so red he glowed. “Uhhh…”

“We want you to like it. Don’t we, Fluttershy?” said Pinkie.

“I, I, I, if it’s okay with ahhhhnnnn!” said Fluttershy—for Pinkie had licked right up one of her erect wings, all the while holding Big Macintosh’s eyes boldly.

“Whut do ya want from me?” stammered Big Macintosh, trembling to feel Fluttershy’s body wriggle and squirm against his.

Pinkie interrupted another wing-lick. “Well, I’ll TELL you what we want. Listen up, sunshine, and listen good!” She’d put on her ‘hard-boiled detective-pony’ voice, and continued to hold his eyes as Fluttershy shivered and gulped. “You know what I’m gonna do, in just a moment, here?”

“Reckon I kin make a wild guess?”

Pinkie smirked. “I’m gonna make my marefriend PREGNANT. I’m gonna take her alllll the way. You’ll feel her come—but here’s the thing, we need your help with something.”

Big Macintosh’s eyes were getting wider and wider, and Fluttershy was beginning to squirm and flap agitatedly. “Um…” he said.

“Yeah,” said Pinkie wryly. “I want you to push your cock into her—and water that seed. That’s what they call it. So I want you to feel her come… from INSIDE HER…”

“Y’all should go easy on that talk,” protested Big Macintosh.

“What? It’s like totally impossible to get you two ponies to fuck! I totally have to make a big performance out of it so you’ll get excited!” said Pinkie, breaking character. “Isn’t it working? Am I not making her sexy enough for you? How is that even possible?”

Fluttershy was beyond words, panting and disheveled, wings trying to go into featherduster mode. Big Macintosh stared at Pinkie with urgency.

“Naw, honey—it’s that I got a stiffie and it ain’t fittin’ in nowheres yet. I’mma push her off me with nothin’ but my dick if I ain’t careful…”

Pinkie’s eyes bugged out. “Whoa! Okay!” She hopped off Fluttershy, telling her “Stay!” and gave her frazzled pegasus room to move, rather than to be squeezed between lovers with a huge cock shoving harder and harder against her groin.

“You okay with that, Fluttershy?” called Pinkie, peering with only the faintest cringe at the very spot. It sure was a cock and a half, all right, and it was wedged hard against Fluttershy’s pubic mound. “I think if you scooched to the right a little…”

Fluttershy moaned, and squirmed feebly. Big Macintosh wriggled, clearly at a loss.

Pinkie Pie glowered at nothing. “The things I’ll do for love…”

She leaned over, opening her mouth—and then blinked. “Oh, wait, I know. Big Macintosh, whatever you do, don’t come just yet!”

The warning was wisely given. Big Macintosh’s eyes rolled back in his head. What he felt was an impossibly long tongue, wrapping right around his cock, slurping and bathing it in pony slobber. He heard a spitting noise, and a giggle, and a pause—and then, Pinkie’s mouth closed tenderly around his throbbing penis, tugging, guiding…

The next thing Big Macintosh felt was a soft, wet, feverishly hot place to the side of his cock-head, and he felt himself pop to the side and plunge—and he bit his lip in sensual ecstacy, as his imposing thickness slurped into the yielding depths of Fluttershy’s tender vagina. She screamed and went limp and shivery against him. He shifted his hips, now free to move, and more stallion bulk slid tautly into his pegasus lover.

Pinkie paused only to lick at Fluttershy’s clitoris, but something was odd—it wasn’t where she expected it to be. Her eyes widened as she realized Big Macintosh’s penis was so fat that it brought Fluttershy’s clit into contact with the surface of that imposing shaft. She felt the clit peek out as Big Macintosh tugged back an inch, and then he pushed and massive stallionhood shoved deeper into Fluttershy, her puss stretched tightly around its girth, clit buried again within that taut band, and Pinkie heard her scream breathlessly. It was the scream of about-to-explode.

Pinkie Pie nodded her head curtly. Well, that part was taken care of—it was annoying that there was a penis that could do that, but she certainly would be too busy to do it, so it was for the best. She clambered up to straddle Fluttershy’s shuddering body again.

“Okay, farm-boy,” said Pinkie, “let’s do this!”

With that, she leaned over and gently took Fluttershy’s right wing-shank in her mouth.

Big Macintosh seemed frozen in amazement and wonder, and he gasped as Fluttershy reacted to that intimacy with a full-body jolt and a lewd wail. His eyes caught Pinkie’s, and she held them while her lips munched softly on Fluttershy’s wing-base, while Fluttershy’s vag delivered shocking clenches at him.

“Move,” said Pinkie, through a mouthful of feathers.

Holding his breath, Big Macintosh shifted his hips. Stallion bulk tugged within Fluttershy, thrust. Pinkie nuzzled, licked—suggested.

“Deeper.”

Big Macintosh nodded obediently, his eyes very wide as Pinkie stared down at him challengingly. He pushed, and sank deeper into yielding yet taut softness, rewarded with a little birdlike cry of bliss.

“Again!” ordered Pinkie, clinging to Fluttershy’s shaking body to feel every quiver.

Big Macintosh carefully did just that. Tugging his swollen bulk partly out, then firmly pushing with those huge, powerful hips, impaling the gentle pegasus upon a staff like a treetrunk, melting her into a pony puddle atop him…

“hhhaaaAAAAAaahhh!” cried Fluttershy hoarsely.

Pinkie had bitten down a little harder on her wingbase, and Fluttershy writhed dazedly between her two lovers, incoherent. Pinkie was panting, her eyes fierce and wild but somehow curiously soft. She began to speak, coughed, spat out a silky yellow pinfeather…

“Are you ready, farm boy?”

Big Macintosh nodded, his eyes a little wild as well, feeling the explosion build…

“We love you, Fluttershy… brace yourself,” breathed Pinkie, and she bent down and took Fluttershy’s wing-shank firmly between her teeth—and began to gnaw.

Fluttershy shrieked, her eyes wide and unseeing. Pinkie was dryhumping her rump fiercely. Beneath her, Big Macintosh moved like an earthquake, mammoth stallion cock working insistently against her insides and plunging into her fluid depths in slow, firm strokes. Fluttershy screamed again—and then thrashed, wings going full featherduster in a series of spasms that wrecked her and wouldn’t stop as Pinkie’s crotch ground against her ass and Pinkie’s teeth wrenched her wing this way and that, and she clenched against the stiff horsecock in a frenzy of release…

“Hnnng!” went Big Macintosh, “Hnngg! nnnGUH! Ooooh! oooh!” and just for a moment, Pinkie stifled a giggle, for she’d never watched a stallion come before—and somehow his face was about the goofiest thing ever. But the thought lasted only a moment, for her attention was seized by her beloved pegasus…

Between the two excited, grinding, humping ponies, Fluttershy’s world exploded into whiteness as she felt the enormous cock throb and gush stallion-come into her womb, drenching her utterly even as her body convulsed and flung an egg into her womb that merged her spirit with her bold wing-gnawing lover’s…

Fluttershy, out of breath, bucked between their bodies and fainted dead away in one titanic climax, every limb and wing falling completely limp.

Pinkie and Big Macintosh panted, staring into each other’s eyes.

“Is she gonna be okay?” managed Big Macintosh. Both smaller ponies rode up and down on his massive chest as it rose and fell.

Pinkie looked frazzled. She’d come while dry-humping Fluttershy’s ass. She spat out another pinfeather. “Pfah! Yeah… yeah, she’s gonna be okay.”

She looked hard into his eyes, not sure quite what she was looking for. Satisfaction? Possession? Smugness? If it was that she expected, she wasn’t finding it. All she saw was a humongous big lug—really, a softie—who showed nothing but tenderness and love for both her and Fluttershy—and plain, obvious gratitude.

Pinkie licked her lips. “Um… thanks.”

Big Macintosh just kept staring back, innocently, but then, between them, their wrecked pegasus stirred feebly. “Ohhhh…” she moaned, as if not quite back to earth yet.

Pinkie felt a splash of fluid against her leg, and squeaked in chagrin. Big Macintosh’s erection had gone down, and the flare had tugged free, and his come poured out of Fluttershy’s gaping vagina as she quivered.

He rolled Fluttershy and Pinkie to the side, gently, and Pinkie sprawled panting onto the bed, Fluttershy pouring between them with a gentle sticky flump and rustle of feathers.

“So…” said Big Macintosh. “Did we do it?”

Pinkie nuzzled Fluttershy as she quivered and sighed, eyes unfocused. A pink hoof reached out to stroke soft pegasus belly. Fluttershy was more limp than Pinkie had ever seen her, but you could feel the bliss radiating off her like a small sun. She seemed to glow from within, already.

Pinkie began to smile. “You know, I think we did.”

Big Macintosh’s smile was simple, earnest and warm in return. He nuzzled Fluttershy’s mane, not in a possessive way, just with irrepressible affection and a kind of awe. Pinkie felt that awe just as strongly. Trembling, she stroked Fluttershy’s belly again.

She was a daddy pegasus. Fluttershy was going to be a mother—and they would have a baby foal of their very own to cherish and raise. And it didn’t look at all like Big Macintosh would be any trouble—he was happy enough to be finished with his part as water-boy.

Unbidden, a mad urge came upon Pinkie, for the sweetest wickedest prank ever, and her smile widened, she couldn’t stop it, she began to speak before she wound up laughing too hard to pull the prank…

“I can teach you how to change diapers,” said Pinkie, cheerfully. “It’s totally not too hard, and you get used to the smell right away…”

She couldn’t get even one more word out before bursting into wild laughter at the expression on Big Macintosh’s face—and then he began laughing as well, but still looking rather panicky. Pinkie glanced past him, over the bliss-soaked come-drenched Fluttershy and anxious, friendly, unthreatening spooge-donor stallion, to see Angel Bunny looking in the window with a look of complete consternation, and Pinkie laughed harder and harder for sheer joy of life.

Everything was going to be TOTALLY okay.

In Applejack’s bedroom, something hurt.

Applejack gulped. Rainbow wouldn’t look at her—she turned away more and more, and there was a glimmer of light in her eye that looked like a tear. Applejack fought to get through to her, to work out what had hurt her beloved so.

“Rainbow, I swear it, I will never treat you like that again. It don’t matter what you do. If I fly off th’ handle, you gotta come back at me. Don’t jes’ take it, be strong! We will make this work. For us—an’ for the foal, darlin’.”

“I believe you,” said Rainbow Dash in a little, quiet voice.

“Please don’t cry. Please. I am so sorry.”

“I know.”

“Did it jes’… all come back on you, or somethin’?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head, and she looked up at Applejack, who froze, her heart wrung by Dash’s expression. It mingled surrender, devotion, and a deep sadness and humbleness that was so very strange to see on the lively little pegasus.

“What is it, Dashie?”

Dash wiped a tear with her hoof, without shame. “That’s just it, Applejack. You moved on.”

“Oh…”

“I know you love me again now, you told me so. I trust you. But I need you and my life couldn’t survive without you in it to cling to. I gave you up, I really did—but a part of me died. And it’s alive again now, but it hurts so bad to know that you just moved on.”

Applejack couldn’t speak. Rainbow Dash couldn’t stop.

“I wouldn’t want you to be any other way. I love you forever…”

“And I thought,” managed Applejack, “that I had to teach you about faithfulness.” She bit her lip.

“Yeah, well, once I thought I had to teach you about toughness,” said Rainbow, beginning to explain more and more fervently. “Back when we weren’t even fucking I had this fantasy of how strong and brave you were—how you were this pony who could never be defeated by anything, and we’d become lovers and be together. You’d be the toughest pony ever, and I’d be tough right along with you. And then we did become lovers, and I thought you were really sentimental inside but I was okay with that, Applejack! I could accept it. And then we broke up… and I had to learn that I was the one who was really sentimental inside. And learn that in the end, you’re the one who’s as tough as I always thought I was…”

Applejack was speechless again, her eyes glistening with tears, shaking her head faintly. The words spoke to what she’d been trying to tell herself, the whole time. They echoed the story that ran in her head, the tale of what an Apple matriarch had to be, they told her it was true that she didn’t need anypony, that she could rule herself and work through anything that happened to her, unscathed, untouched.

And at the heart of the tale—a lie.

Rainbow Dash wept quietly, and while Applejack was choked up beyond expressing herself, Dash looked at her with total openness, no walls, no deceptions left anymore. She trembled, unashamedly, as she spoke her heart.

“I love you for everything you are, Applejack. I used to want to be like you, to be that strong. But I can’t be. I am yours. I’m having your foal. My life is yours—but now I know that if you felt you had to, you could simply walk away. Because you did.”

Applejack still couldn’t speak.

“So there’s the part of me that can’t help but love you forever…” concluded Rainbow.

Her face twisted. Her lower lip quivered pitifully.

“And there’s the part that’s… so scared. So scared.”

“Gotta show you somethin’,” said Applejack.

Rainbow blinked back the tears, for something was happening. Applejack seemed terribly upset and couldn’t make another word come out for a second, as if she warred against some internal barrier, then:

“Get my pack.”

“Huh?”

“Th’ pack from our quest, Dashie. Get it.”

Puzzled, Dash looked her mate over for a moment—and then she was off like a flash, flying through the house to fetch the untouched pack from where they’d dropped them, seizing it in her teeth and flying back to drop the loaded saddlebags at Applejack’s hooves.

Dash watched as Applejack hung her head for a second—taking one last moment to live the lie of the unbreakable, unhurtable Apple matriarch her mother had expected her to be. Hard, unsentimental, tough, clinging to nothing as she fought her way through life alone, protecting her dependents and depending in turn on nopony… ever.

A tear dripped down Applejack’s cheek, and she bent down, took the bag in her teeth while holding the end down with a hoof, and opened it. Her nose went into its hidden depths, and Rainbow heard her sniff, as if there was a scent in there that could be recognized—then, silence for a moment—and then, slowly, Applejack emerged, something in her teeth.

She stood, lip quivering, eyes so vulnerable, bearing her prize: something she had kept and hidden away and at times barely admitted she had, something she could not leave unguarded at home when she left on the quest, something she had to have with her but could not bear to let anypony see, because it wasn’t that it would raise questions—no, it would answer questions she could not bear to be asked.

Rainbow Dash stood and stared in disbelief, slowly slowly understanding what it meant—and then, with a flap of her wings, she rushed to her love, and they clung in a desperately tight embrace, the prize lying unheeded on the floor where Applejack had dropped it, and Rainbow cuddled her mate and shielded her in tender wings as Applejack bawled heartbreakingly, finally letting out all the pain she had denied so long and so hard.

Rainbow’s eyes rested, mistily, on Applejack’s deepest secret one more time, and then she shut them, weeping tears of joy, holding her love close and sheltering her until the feelings passed and she could feel safe again.

On the floor lay one blue feather.

-FIN-

(the story continues in Dashie’s Foaling, and a Kindle version can be downloaded here)

Cavalry

Trixie patiently pulled the little cart along the Ponyville street.

Twilight Sparkle trotted alongside. “Are you sure you don’t want me to help with that, Trixie?”

“Trixie thanks Mistress, but Mistress has the really important job—holding the umbrella.”

Twilight was indeed holding an umbrella over the cart with her magic, as it rolled awkwardly and reluctantly along. “But… I could do both! You look tired, and I want to help. And it isn’t raining!”

“Please, Mistress! Humor Trixie. Protect her books!”

To this, Twilight had no answer, because she understood completely.

They’d struggled for miles, with Trixie pulling the little cart down from the mountains and Twilight accompanying her every step of the way with the umbrella. She’d offered to protect Trixie from the sun with the umbrella, but had abandoned the idea under a storm of very submissive protest, and so they’d come all the way with Trixie’s books sheltered from nonexistent rain.

Trixie’s life before meeting Twilight had been nightmarish—trapped in a strange sexual curse of her own devising by the original kinky magic bit she’d created, she had lived a series of episodes where the bit was discovered by strangers who’d used its penis-bestowing powers to enjoy themselves, and who then found themselves servicing her in spellbound compulsion. She’d been run out of town, had her cart destroyed more than once, had been responsible for the deaths of such ponies when she’d been unable to squirt magic in unicorn orgasm to trigger the curse’s off switch. Unicorn ejaculation was meant to be a profound intimacy, and Trixie’s mind had nearly snapped when she’d worked out she had to hit epic sexual peaks simply to switch to the ‘run out of town’ part of her life—or doom her ensorceled lovers.

She’d been a sadomasochistic ‘switch’ all along, but had drifted into a fearsomely dominant mode just to mask the self-loathing—and then she’d come to Ponyville, and met Twilight Sparkle. Their courtship had been impossibly twisted and perverse—which was perfect—and had, astonishingly, led to this stable relationship with another pony like her. A dark star, with even more power than Trixie could boast of, and ferocity coupled with tenderness. Trixie’s love was utter and complete—so complete, that she’d decided to fetch her library.

Twilight had been shocked. She’d seen Trixie’s cart smashed by an Ursa Minor, and saw no books in it—but upon explanation, she’d understood perfectly.

Trixie’s library was no more than a few hundred books—nothing compared to Twilight’s—but there was no room for more, because Trixie’s library, in the other sense, was a cave. It was a dry cave and hard to get into, defended against animals and birds by a serviceable warding cantrip, without even a chair or table because that would take space that could be devoted to books. It was hard even to get up to this cave, but Twilight had insisted on seeing inside, and she’d wept then, thinking of what it meant.

Through everything, through all the episodes of traveling magic performer and sexual curse bearer and being run out of town, Trixie had been able to return to this secret cave, and her library. It had been protected to the best of her ability, and had probably kept her sane—or what Trixie had in place of sane. The library was always out there, a secure place she could return to. She’d told Twilight that she spent thousands of bits and unguessable effort storing magical energy in arcane batteries, just to maintain the warding spell for centuries in the event of her death. Her idea had been that if she’d died, merciful fate might let her haunt the cave—she always left a book unfinished when she left it.

The curse was gone, Trixie’s desperate nomadic life was changed, and now the warding spell would guard nothing. Now all the books were on the cart Trixie pulled—bound for Twilight’s home. It made Twilight feel quite wobbly.

“I noticed your filing system was slightly different from my own,” said Twilight.

Trixie nodded, dragging the cart along with steady little hoofsteps. “Trixie developed a fondness for Canterlot Library filing, middle period. Mistress prefers a more current system.”

“It’s just that magic books make more sense when categorized that way, instead of chronologically…”

Trixie sniffed. “Practicality is not everything, Mistress. There is a sense of continuity when the history of unicorn magic is organized by time. One can almost feel the periods of great discovery and innovation—centuries or even decades where field after field broke through to new sophistications, and then the patient studying of what was learned, the refinement…”

Twilight nodded. “And even though the subjects are unrelated—it gives you more of a feeling about this?”

“Didn’t you feel it, Mistress?” asked Trixie.

“You know, I really did, though I didn’t think about it in those terms. I’m beginning to wonder whether… I mean, as nice as it would be to see these books among my shelves…”

She stopped—because Trixie had stopped, in her tracks. “Um. I phrased that wrong, didn’t I?”

“Mistress!” sputtered Trixie, horrified.

Twilight studied her lover. “I take it we’re not breaking up the collection—or shall we say, merging them? Forgive me, Trixie, I wasn’t thinking. Maybe I jumped to conclusions with that whole being-my-willing-slave thing that you do?”

Trixie calmed herself, slowed her breathing, resumed her steady walk. “Mistress, Trixie’s soul is yours. Trixie would lay down her life for you. That shall not change in any particular—but hooves off my library! Mistress may read it. Just know—Trixie’s library stays intact, as she has known it. Please?”

“Of course, my love!”

“Trixie admits that saying please is merely politeness, as she would turn this cart around if it’s a problem…”

“It’ll be however you want, Trixie,” said Twilight Sparkle. “I just didn’t realize we had that much in common.”

Trixie glanced at her Mistress and smiled, and kept going.

Twilight thought. “I think I can give you the best shelves. Absolutely no direct sunlight on the shelves, but there’s a nice spot nearby where you can sit on a cushion and read and there’s a sunbeam around ten in the morning on nice days… of course, I’ll have to empty them. Hmmm… you know we’re going to have stacks of books that won’t fit the shelves.”

“Of course,” said Trixie happily. “Mistress already has that.”

Twilight blinked. “Spike complains when I do it. You don’t mind books overflowing everywhere?”

Trixie just smiled, radiant.

They paced along some more, and then Twilight nuzzled Trixie’s flank. “You smell awfully good.”

Trixie snickered. “Mistress! Voracious!”

“Well, you do!”

“What does this suggest to Mistress?”

Twilight smirked. “I could go either way, honestly. I hope you’re not too tired from all the pulling? It’s okay if you are. I can wait. …briefly.”

Trixie smirked right back. “Mistress need not worry. Trixie is filled with enthusiasm.” She blinked. “Come to think of it, isn’t that odd?”

“What, that you want to jump me? Or be jumped?” Twilight glanced around, realizing she was having the conversation on a Ponyville street, within sight of her home. She went on, lowering her voice. “How can that be odd when we’re doing that every chance we get?”

“Well,” said Trixie, “was Mistress always like this? Trixie has a feeling that she is more amorous lately than she used to be. Trixie wonders if our Mark Three bits might be… leaking.”

This time, it was Twilight’s turn to stop and stare. “Define ‘leaking’!”

“Magical artifacts can emanate subtle purpose. Do not worry, Mistress, Trixie was fine even being around the Mark One bit for years, but… it did tend to bring a lustfulness, this is how it found such eager use. The ones we’ve made thrive on love, they may even be making us more loving by their influence—which comes originally from us, remember—but still! Mistress, face it, we’re horny.”

Twilight licked her lips, but in concern—though Trixie’s eyes dilated, just seeing that cute little scrap of pony tongue. “I can’t argue that. Do you think it’ll build up in a negative way?”

“Trixie does not think so. Trixie thinks it is more of a gentle predisposition… we could… study it?” The blue unicorn kept a straight face for a few seconds, and then a wicked smirk crept over her face, as expected, for she understood Twilight far too well.

“Oh, you!” giggled Twilight, but she broke off at a cry of “Twiliiight!”

It was Pinkie Pie, running—no, staggering—towards them.

“You’ve got to help, Twilight!”

“Pinkie! What’s the matter?”

The two unicorns stared in shock at Pinkie. As she approached, her condition became more apparent. Pinkie looked like she’d been dragged backwards through a hedge of tongues. Her eyes were wild, her mane unkempt, and her body was covered with lick and bite marks.

“Applejack broke up with Rainbow Dash!” she cried.

Twilight and Trixie glanced at each other in alarm, and Twilight’s first reaction was, “What do you expect me to do about that?”

“I don’t know! Talk some sense into them, hit them with a spell or something…”

Trixie opened her mouth, but caught another glance from Twilight and didn’t speak. Twilight said, “Pinkie, it’s not fair to ask that! What gave you that idea?”

“It isn’t?” said Pinkie. “If you can magic a doll and have all of Ponyville fighting over it, can’t you magic their pussies the same way? They’re both almost that good already, take it from an expert! Maybe they just need a little old nudge!”

“In case you’ve forgotten,” snapped Twilight, “I got in all kinds of trouble over that one! I can still hear Princess Celestia saying ‘Twilight Sparkle!’ and coming down from above to fix everything. I was lucky not to be sent to magic kindergarten!”

“Mistress would never be sent back to magic kindergarten!” protested Trixie. “What is Mistress talking about?”

“It’s a long story…”

“Well then,” suggested Pinkie, “you could… we’ll make a cake, and I can get them to eat it. But secretly, you’ve magiced the cake to cause them to be unbearably horny, and then we lock them in a room with toys and a big vat of pudding…”

“No, Pinkie! No magic matchmaking of any kind! And do you really think Rainbow Dash needs help to be unbearably horny? Look at you! Do I need to guess what you’ve been doing?”

Pinkie batted her eyelashes. “Oh. That. You’ve got a point, Twilight. Hey, come to think of it, I’ve been unbearably horny myself too, more than usual. What’s up with that?”

Twilight and Trixie looked at each other worriedly, and Twilight turned back to Pinkie.

“We should talk about that more, later. But for right now, please don’t ask me to do magic things to interfere in Applejack’s and Rainbow Dash’s relationship. I mustn’t get in trouble right now. Princess Celestia is coming!”

Pinkie’s eyes bugged out. “She’s coming here? Again? And you didn’t tell me? Do you realize how much planning it takes to make pastries of that quality? I’ve got to get started immediately, if not sooner! What’s the occasion?”

“It’s not an occasion! Princess Celestia is coming to visit me tomorrow. I’ve told her about my new marefriend—that’s Trixie, here, of course—and she wants to meet her.”

Pinkie bounced. “Wow! What an occasion!”

Twilight’s eyes were frantic. “There is no occasion, it is nothing but a simple social call! Please excuse us, I have to get home and clean everything I own…”

“So,” said Pinkie, “not even one little love spell, just to sort of remind them…”

“No! They’ll just have to work things out between themselves! And maybe you’d better clean yourself up before then,” said Twilight. “You… look like you’ve been fucking a pack of wild pegasuses.”

“Or Diamond Dogs,” offered Trixie, cattily, before shutting up at another glance from Twilight.

Pinkie didn’t object. “Tell me about it,” she sighed. “That’s exactly what it’s like, that’s why I wanted help. If you won’t help with magic, maybe you could come and…”

“Pinkiiieee!” came a distant call—a particular scratchy little voice.

“That’s… really not a good idea,” said Twilight.

Pinkie gave her a weary glance. “Okay. But I hope you can come up with something to do—I’m just one pony, you know! Promise you’ll help.”

“I…”

“Pinkiieeeeee!!” cried Rainbow Dash, in the distance.

“Pinkie Promise!” demanded Pinkie, glancing nervously back over her shoulder.

“Fine! Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a cupcake in my ARGH!” squeaked Twilight, who’d poked herself in the eye again attempting the promise. “You happy?”

“It’s other ponies’ happy that I’m concerned about,” said Pinkie simply. “Thank you! Gotta run!”

“Don’t expect too much!” called Twilight, but Pinkie was already running back to Sugarcube Corner.

“Coming, Dashie!”

Twilight and Trixie stared at each other, until Trixie spoke. “Well… that was a romance for the ages.”

“Don’t joke about it! I went through a lot over that stuff. I thought those two were supposed to be perfect for each other, in love and everything! Now she’s telling me they’re—pffft?”

Trixie considered this. “Doesn’t have to matter to you.” Then, she blinked, and looked stricken. “Um… does it matter to you? Mistress?”

The next thing she knew, Twilight’s eyes were gazing deeply into hers, and she felt the gentle clunks and scrapings of Twilight’s horn rubbing hers—a unicorn’s kiss, in public this time, and Twilight said, “Absolutely not. I don’t have to pretend anything with you, Trixie. Give me credit for being smart enough to know that. Please.”

Trixie quivered, and sat back on her haunches, the heavily laden cart rolling back a foot as she dropped. “Oooh… But Mistress, what is a Pinkie Promise? And why does it involve poking your eye with your hoof?”

Twilight glowered. “The important thing is, it’s serious. Darn it, why did this have to come up today? We have to get back, set up the shelves for your books, clean the whole house for the Princess’s visit, and now I have to get Applejack and Rainbow Dash back together? And yes, now I have to—I promised. Pinkie Promised.”

“Trixie will have to take your word for it. And it sounds like a good idea—if you don’t mind Trixie saying so.”

“No, I don’t mind,” said Twilight. “Even I can see it now—they’re a cute couple, perfect. Or they were… Trixie, do you think it’s the bits causing that? We’re all horny, Pinkie said she is too—what if Applejack and Rainbow Dash broke up because of being too horny?”

Trixie looked skeptical. “Trixie finds it hard to imagine THOSE ponies being too horny—or at least, Trixie finds it hard to imagine that causing any problems for them.”

“I don’t know. When I came into my full marehood,” said Twilight, “it made me pretty crazy for a while. I didn’t do anything until—well, until I met you and Applejack and found all of this bit stuff, but some of the things I wanted to do would’ve gotten me in big trouble. I wonder if being too horny caused Applejack to have bad judgement or make bad decisions? She’s done it before, and sometimes it takes all of us to snap her out of it.”

“Trixie fears she won’t able to be much help there,” said Trixie, and hung her head.

Twilight’s horn gently rubbed hers, again.

“You be there for me,” said Twilight. “That can be your job. That’s an order, in fact. I’ll see what I can do for them… and right now, let’s get these books moved.”

Trixie got to her hooves, and the cart began to move again, the umbrella hovering over it as before.

“PINKIIEEEEE!”

“I’m here! I’m here!” cried Pinkie Pie, galloping up the stairs and through the door.

Rainbow Dash lay on the bed. Both were a sight. Rumpled, unkempt, covered with fluids—and the bed was no better off. The bed, however, was not crying, and Dashie was.

“More!” she sobbed.

“Oh, Dashie!” said Pinkie Pie, and rushed to her, gathering the exhausted pegasus up in a fierce hug. “I’m here!”

Dash was so wrung out that she was limp in Pinkie’s embrace, but she jerked as Pinkie’s sturdy earth pony forelegs wrapped her body, for they’d shoved one of her limp wings up awkwardly.

“Gyaahh!” squeaked Rainbow. “No touchie! No touchie!”

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” said Pinkie, readjusting her hug, pressing Dash’s fevered body to hers. “I know you don’t like that, Dashie. I’ll be more careful.”

Rainbow weakly nuzzled under her chin, her face a mask of woe.

“It’s really weird, though, Dashie, because you know Fluttershy isn’t like that at all…”

Rainbow’s face twisted, and she muttered, “Figures…”

“I don’t know if she would be willing to help me with this,” said Pinkie, “because what she likes is so different, but I could…”

“No!” said Rainbow Dash.

“No?”

Rainbow tried to explain. “Not her! Not now! After the thing she did…” She choked up again, thinking about it. She’d trusted Fluttershy to be with Applejack in bodysex, and found out too late that she’d got all wing-fondley on the country mare. And now, with Applejack having a taste for pegasus wings, and being available, thought Rainbow… her lips could be tugging Fluttershy’s feathers even now…

Pinkie looked shocked. “Rainbow, was it Fluttershy who came between you two? I’m really surprised! I thought I was taking care of her! What is she doing breaking you two up?”

Dash shook her head. “No, no, she isn’t. She didn’t. It’s complicated…”

“But what happened? You never told me, Dashie. Just that Applejack had dumped you. I’m sorry!” said Pinkie, for that had provoked another storm of weeping.

“I don’t want to talk about that. I don’t want to think about it. Can’t you just do me some more? Pleeeease! Wear me out!”

Pinkie gulped. “Rainbow Dash, you are an athlete! Do you know how hard you are to wear out? And I’m not sure I should even be doing it, silly filly! Can’t I just hold you?”

Rainbow sniffled. “Pleeeeease! It makes me feel better MORE…”

Pinkie’s eyes glistened. She kissed Dash hard on the lips, and tenderly settled her back onto the rumpled bed, Rainbow’s frazzled wings blending with the disheveled sheets.

“Well, if you put it that way…”

Dash nodded, her eyes huge and pitiful to behold. “Pleeeease! Please can I have more? I’m not passed out yet.”

“You mean,” said Pinkie, “you didn’t STAY passed out.”

Dash gazed imploringly at her, and Pinkie sighed. “I have a sneaky feeling I shouldn’t be doing this, but… for you, Dashie, I’ll try.”

She set her jaw, and worked it from side to side, staring determinedly into space. She extruded her tongue, watched closely by Rainbow Dash, and formed it into loops, then stairsteps. She gave a little nod—and lowered herself to the bed, between Dash’s legs.

“And you, you try to feel better, okay?” said Pinkie.

Dash sniffled. “Mmkay…” she said, and then her head went back, her teeth bared in a grimace, to the sound of a bold slurp.

Pinkie Pie knew her target, knew her intimately, had been working on Dash’s body all afternoon: she knew she didn’t have to be gentle, rather the contrary. And so the full length of Pinkie’s astonishing tongue, in all its reality-defying bulk, had plunged into Rainbow Dash’s pussy with a single rambunctious plunge. It pried her vagina wide as the bulbous form of Pinkie’s tongue thrust into her, and then tapered down by the base for the time being, as that mass got accustomed to the familiar pegasus-pussy surroundings it had known so many times before.

Pinkie took a few deep breaths, staring at nothing with a wearied expression on her face. Her tongue twitched, and the base thickened for a moment as her muscles tensed and relaxed. Dash squirmed as that slithery bulk expanded in her briefly, and gave a soft breathy cry that mingled grief and surrender.

Pinkie nuzzled Rainbow’s jutting clitoris gently with her nose, feeling sorrow for her poor, wounded play-lover—and set about trying to bring her the release she’d pleaded for.

After all, thought Pinkie—Rainbow isn’t the only athlete in here, is she?

Rainbow’s legs tensed, as the tongue began to work inside her, and she bit her lip. Pinkie knew what she liked, and she liked it wild. Some mares weren’t up to the challenge—Pinkie had shared her gifts with Applejack once, and Dash had to go after Pinkie at the same time to knock her off her ‘Such A Waste’ groove. She’d made her tongue imitate a rigid, unvarying penis to soothe the panicky country mare, and that was ‘Such A Waste Mode’.

Dash required no such restraint, and Pinkie knew it.

Inside Dash’s womb, the tongue writhed like a snake.

Rainbow panted, her eyes blurring and seeing double, her body jolting into a state of erotic overload—partly by the sensation, and partly by knowing that she’d kicked Pinkie into full effort, a thing the pink pony rarely got to deliver. Pinkie liked letting herself go, and was careful to avoid it with most partners. Rainbow had demanded it all afternoon until she was a churned puddle of feathers and ponyflesh, and was demanding it again.

She arched her back, pounding the bed with a forehoof, her head twisting and lashing from side to side as Pinkie’s slippery muscle contorted within her. It licked her insides all over, then doubled itself, swelling and surging until she felt stuffed to bursting—and just as she began to squeal and shake in orgasm, she felt the tongue subside, and Dash dropped back down to the bed, panting. She tried to focus, and looked down to see what Pinkie was doing.

She saw Pinkie Pie looking back at her with an intense, concentrated gaze, as if she was trying to think of something very tricky. Rainbow’s heart lurched deliciously as that amazing tongue, sunk deeply into her pussy, twitched—and changed.

Dash couldn’t blink. She stared down at Pinkie’s head between her legs, Pinkie’s eyes shut in concentration—and Dash began to shake again, and moan in shock, and then scream breathlessly at what Pinkie was doing to her.

Inside her pony vag, that strange tongue formed shapes it had never formed before, shapes like incongruous objects or machinery. Knobs poking out, creating bulges on her lower belly as they shoved and pried against her inner walls. Eggbeater-like objects that rotated in two directions at once. And finally, as Pinkie panted with exertion, a large triangular something wedged uncomfortably into Dash’s vag, that first twisted, causing Dash to shriek in shock as pleasure-pain stabbed her… and then began to rotate inside Dash like some obscene machine.

Pinkie was pouring sweat. Her eyes were half-open, crossed, and her face grimaced as she kept it going.

The triangle shape was like a triangular wheel, upright, rolling its way out of Rainbow’s vagina while being held in place. The slightly blunted points of the thing pried Rainbow’s pussy all out of shape as they stubbornly rotated against her inner walls—and every time a point went by, a little bulge appeared on her lower belly and shifted downward towards Pinkie’s sweating face, to disappear and be replaced by another.

And every single bulge meant a fleshy triangle-point dragged firmly across Dash’s g-spot…

Rainbow thrashed. She blew her voice out in three appalling shrieks, going purple in the face, and still Pinkie didn’t stop. She kept it up, eyes clamped shut with the final extremity of her exertion, until she felt Rainbow’s body sag against the bed, her vagina unclench—though it still shuddered against her with aftershocks—and until she heard Rainbow’s screams die away into deep, unconscious gasping for air.

Then, Pinkie collapsed, letting her tongue go limp all at once.

“Ow…” she said quietly to herself, and began withdrawing her tongue in satisfaction—only to freeze, for out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rainbow Dash’s head begin to come up.

It didn’t make it—it fell back onto the pillow. Pinkie pulled her tongue back into her mouth, wincing at the muscle strain she’d given herself, and sat up, leaning over Rainbow’s limp, quivering body. She crooned, very quietly, “Sleep now, darling m…”

“More,” managed Dash.

Pinkie blinked in shock. “What?”

Dash panted, and tried to speak, but it was just a croak. She swallowed, and tried again. “More. Please…”

Pinkie, horrified, shook her head. “There is no more. I can’t do more.”

“Pleeease?” sobbed Dash.

“Well, I can’t!” squeaked Pinkie. “You should just let me hold you! I can’t believe this. You need to rest now! You and me both, sister!”

“Noooo….”

“Something tells me you are turning to sex like it is a hoof to the head! I should have seen that coming! Rainbow Dash, I am not going to let you turn to sex in a way that you obviously shouldn’t! There is nothing more that I can do for you. No pony could do what you ask!”

“Is that so?” managed Rainbow Dash, trying to sit up and having a tough time of it.

“And they shouldn’t! Dashie, behave, let me hold you, this is wrong. I’m not going to fuck you until your feelings go away!” cried Pinkie Pie.

That sank home. Rainbow Dash shrank back, as if Pinkie had struck her—but then her eyes narrowed, and she began fighting to get up. She rolled over to the side of the bed, and fell off it with a fluffy thump, in a flurry of ragged feathers and disheveled tail.

“Where do you think you’re going?” demanded Pinkie.

Rainbow Dash got to her hooves, glaring down at Pinkie even as she wobbled back and forth.

“I’ll just have to go and find somepony who will, then, won’t I? If it even has to BE a…”

Her eyes glittered, as if she’d had a thought, and she turned and staggered across the room.

“Dashie! No!”

Rainbow Dash heaved herself through the window with a crashing of glass, and dropped out of sight.

Pinkie scrambled after her, horrified, and looked down. Below her, she saw Dash—not on the ground, but lurching into the sky as if blind drunk, barely able to cling to the air, but fighting her way along regardless.

Pinkie watched silently as Dash made her unsteady way up into the clouds, bearing to the south. Eventually she was lost to sight.

Pinkie banged the window frame with a hoof in frustration, fell back, and collapsed into her bed, damp with sweat and Rainbow Dash’s juices.

“This won’t end well,” she sighed. “Twilight, I am so counting on you now! Don’t fail me!”

From An Undisclosed Location

Pinkie Pie’s eyelids fluttered, without opening, and she nuzzled the pillow and yawned.

Fluttershy gasped and held her breath, startled—and when Pinkie didn’t wake, she repeated her kiss, even more delicately. She wasn’t sure if she’d quite touched Pinkie’s dear head, but she knew she’d expressed her feelings.

Then, having done so, she quietly slipped away into the fading night, for there was so much to do…

When she got home, Angel was waiting, forelegs crossed, glowering at her.

“Oh, Angel bunny,” she said, “I know and I’m so sorry. I did feed everybody early, you know, even if that doesn’t make you feel any better…”

Angel turned his back on her and stuck his nose in the air, and Fluttershy sagged.

“Hold that thought, okay? There are ponies I need to go and see.”

At that, the bunny turned his head and stared at her with a mixture of disbelief and alarm.

“It’s true, dear sweet Angel! It’s important. And I can’t tell you more. Or at least, there’s one pony who probably doesn’t want me talking about her distress, and there’s another that, um… I don’t want to tell you more. Please forgive me.”

The last words weren’t hesitant. Angel’s eyes went wide in startlement. He hopped forward frantically—but Fluttershy was already gone.

Rainbow Dash’s house wasn’t far, but Fluttershy always found it wearying to reach simply because she preferred to walk, and flying had never become first nature for her. It seemed to highlight the difference between her and other pegasi. She reflected on some of her plans with earth ponies solemnly as she approached. While she’d been making connections with the ground through her caretaking of woodland animals, she was considering a far deeper connection, and to some extent looking after Rainbow felt like making a loving gesture towards the sky itself—a sky she was abandoning, a world she walked away from on sure, steady hooves.

It was very early, still dark—but there was no helping that, not with the other meeting she intended to have. Dash might be asleep, or still staying up, or she might wake up and then go nap the rest of the morning; Fluttershy knew better than to predict the cerulean pegasus’s behavior, so the first light of dawn was as good a time as any.

She knocked at the door gently, and was greeted by a yawn and a “Hang on!” that sounded strong enough and normally cranky. Fluttershy waited, uncomplaining, wings neatly folded, until the door opened and Rainbow Dash looked out.

“Oh, hi, Fluttershy. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to see if you were okay. I’m sorry we made you so angry!”

Dash stared at her in astonishment, as if her thoughts had moved so far beyond that point that recollection took effort—and then winced, squeezing her eyes shut and covering them with a hoof. “Yeah, right. That. Listen… there was some stuff you didn’t understand about me, but I shouldn’t have over-reacted. I’m trying to turn over a new feather… there’s some ponies I care about a lot, and I want to act right around them. I feel like I should say thank you? For helping me work some of that out, I mean.”

Fluttershy blinked. “I did? Really?”

“Yeah!” replied Dash. “Even if you got everything wrong… It’s like, I don’t know why I didn’t see it, especially being friends with you and all. You’re all giving giving giving, and I’ve been all taking taking taking and it never even occurred to me it was a problem.”

Dash winced again, continuing. “Especially with you and Pinkie together. Now I feel bad that I butted in on you guys. I mean, yeah, bandages, I get that, but what if I was interrupting something good?”

“Great,” corrected Fluttershy, and then blushed and looked down.

Rainbow Dash’s ears quirked as she stared at her friend, and then she covered her face with a hoof again. “Exactly! I need to act right around you and Pinkie. I wasn’t even thinking. I’m really sorry. And then I go and get mad at you—gee, Fluttershy, is there anything I can do to make up for it?”

“Maybe,” said Fluttershy, still not looking up, still blushing.

Dash reared and hugged her, and Fluttershy squeaked and flapped a little as Dash said, “Name it! Whatever I can do for you two, you have only to tell me, I’ll do it.”

“You might be the safest pegasus to ask about this,” said Fluttershy. “Though you know how I feel about ground things, so maybe it wouldn’t be as much of a shock…”

“Huh?”

Fluttershy gulped. “Before I go any further with my idea… do you know if Big Macintosh is going back to be with Rarity?”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped. She stared in astonishment at the butter-yellow pegasus, putting two and two together—or putting two and one together, where normally you would put one and one together—to make three.

Fluttershy peered back from under her huge, fluttering eyelashes—with a faintly sulky, stubborn expression.

“Does Pinkie Pie know what you’re thinking?” said Dash.

Fluttershy shook her head. “Not all of it.”

“All earth pony, all the time, huh?”

“I love her,” said Fluttershy. She didn’t look away.

“Yeah,” said Dash. Her gaze dropped. “I can see that. Wow. Really? Let me get this straight. You want to have her foal? Seriously? Because that would work, what you’re thinking. I’ve heard of pegasi doing it—like lesbian pegasi, obviously. Are you sure, Fluttershy?”

“I don’t want to repeat my advice that made you so mad,” said Fluttershy. “But… Rainbow, I promise, if you don’t give up hope you’ll understand too, one day.”

Fluttershy winced. Too soon. Dash suddenly looked upset, and was obviously fighting for control, and Fluttershy hastened to say, “I’m sorry. It’s not my business…”

“No, just stop. Okay? I’ll have to get used to this somehow. I need you not to talk any more… but yeah, even if you don’t believe it, once there was somepony I felt that way about. And it wasn’t Big Macintosh, either, in case you’re wondering!”

Fluttershy backed off a step, uncomfortable with the tone of the discussion. “But… before I talk to him, do you think there is any chance that he and Rarity…”

“None! Okay? There is no chance!” yelled Dash. “Take it from me, Rarity is all set, okay? As far as I know Big Macintosh is a free agent. You can go and take it up with him. You’d better double check with Pinkie, because I’m telling you she does not like dick. And if magic bit stuff worked, I’d be pregnant myself! Go away!”

Fluttershy gasped, whirled, and flew off as fast as she could. Behind her, she faintly heard Dash’s scratchy little voice crying out after her.

“Gah! Sorry!”

Rainbow Dash leaned against her own doorframe, banging it with a hoof. It wobbled—cloud houses were pretty fluffy. She wasn’t squeezing her eyes shut, though, because that would make it worse.

The throbbing of that alien cock in her as the firm jaws bore down on her wingbase…

She’d had the nightmare again. It would be easier if, in the nightmare, he was a horrible monster Dog—because it would be less real in the light of day. Sleeping with the stolen book under her pillow helped.

“It isn’t real,” repeated Dash to herself. “They call it hysterical pregnancy. You feel hysterical, even. It’s not real, Diamond Dogs can’t make foals in ponies. And you told Big Macintosh he couldn’t touch your wings, and he never did…”

It was hard to even remember back that far. The sensations of the Dog fucking her kept coming back, vag and wings combining in an erotic overload that told her with horrible force she wasn’t merely playing—that she was being mated, that her lover was making her pregnant.

“It isn’t possible, the book said it wasn’t possible, you’re hysterical and making it up…”

The barn out by Sweet Apple Acres was quiet in the first rays of dawn. The farm itself wasn’t—birds sang, insects chirped and buzzed, nature was getting enthusiastically to work as soon as light suggested it might appear—but the barn was.

Fluttershy listened at the small door behind which Big Macintosh now resided, then screwed up her courage and knocked with a hoof. It made barely a sound, because the door was sturdy and her knocking was anything but.

She tried to summon up courage to knock harder, but before she could, a sound came from across the field. It was a metallic clank, such as no bird or woodland creature would make. She’d missed her chance—he was already at work.

Trembling, Fluttershy crept around the barn and slunk on quiet hooves toward the sound. At first she couldn’t see him, for the rolling hills got in the way, but then as she approached the laboring farmpony she could see all she liked.

He had a heavy cast-iron pan in his teeth, and was shaking it, head low, scattering seeds over the furrows of the plowed earth. Fluttershy slunk up, her eyes wide. The clank had been the sound of him putting this pan down on a rock, she imagined. He lumbered slowly forward, huge neck bulging with muscle that extended to his massive shoulders, shaking the pan. Fluttershy’s eyes ran over his body, not stopping at the shoulders. Her wings lifted—and as her gaze explored more intimate areas of his body, her wings flared high, reminding her that her love for Pinkie might not be the only motivation she had. Pinkie could scorn stallions, but Fluttershy’s appetites and fantasies had always centered around a big fat pony cock.

And though she was longing to have Pinkie’s foal, she was filled with curiosity and speculation about what this fearfully big pony had to offer in that regard. She had to admit it wasn’t just practicality she had in mind. Fluttershy was suddenly horny.

“Which is good,” said Fluttershy to herself, “but complicated…”

Big Macintosh’s head jerked around suddenly to hear the sweet little voice behind him, and seed flew wildly from the pan. “Hnn? D’mnit!”

“Oh! I’m sorry!” squeaked Fluttershy. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you!”

Big Macintosh dropped the pan, and rushed over to her. “Sump’n the matter, Fluttershy? What are you doin’ here in th’ field? Do ya need help?”

“Um, yes and no… which is to say yes… but maybe this isn’t the time to explain it if you’re working…”

Big Macintosh blinked, looming over her like a friendly mountain. “Wull… I am plantin’…”

“You should do that, then, if it’s important,” said Fluttershy. “I can wait. Or ask some other time?”

“I got all day,” said Big Macintosh. “What’s on your mind?”

Confronted with the massive stallion’s direct attention, Fluttershy cringed back, and all she could think was ‘be careful be careful be careful!’ Her whole plan seemed ridiculous and perverse—and though she was used to feeling perverse, she was used to covering it up, not flaunting it. She cast about for some way of indicating the layers within layers of her scheme.

“Um… do you know Pinkie?”

Big Macintosh blinked again, slowly. “Ayep. …why?”

“It’s a little c-complicated,” stammered Fluttershy. Her legs quivered, as she looked him in the eye from so close up. “I’m not sure this is the time or the place to explain pegasus gestation…”

“Ge-what now?”

Fluttershy continued, hectically. “Have you been with a… no, wait, of course you have, at least twice… probably much more than that, though it’s very strange I would never have seen…”

“Fluttershy, what the hay are you tryin’ to ask me?”

Big Macintosh’s voice sounded defensive—which wasn’t shocking, as Fluttershy’s nervous half-questioning spoke loudly of illicit, furtive activities, as if she was propositioning him but would be breaking faith of some sort to do it. He’d already had some experience with breaking faith, and did not like it.

“Maybe I best go on plantin’!” he said.

Fluttershy hung her head, blushing. “Maybe you’d better…” she said, but then as he turned away, she squeaked, “…but!”

His expression wasn’t one of alarm, but more of resignation, as he looked back. “But what?”

Fluttershy stood, trembling, wings quivering almost vertically. He waited for her to be able to speak, which didn’t take too long.

“Before I go and talk to my marefriend about things… which I should have done first, I can see that now… I have to ask is it safe?”

Her eyes scanned nervously over his massive body, and she asked herself why she’d never been able to peep upon him with anypony. If only she’d been able to see it in action, she wouldn’t be forced to ask questions that made her blush scarlet!

Big Macintosh’s ears splayed to the side in astonishment. “What you mean, safe? You seriously askin’ what I think you’re…”

“Yes!” snapped Fluttershy. “I’ll explain later. I’m sorry, I’m so nervous… What I am asking is, if you are being a stallion with a mare, since you are such a big pony, is it so…”

“Fluttershy, have you seen Trixie this morning?” called Twilight Sparkle.

Fluttershy squealed in alarm, and even Big Macintosh jerked a bit in startledness.

Twilight had trotted up behind the ridge of the hill and cantered over, smiling a big slightly fake smile. “Please say yes!”

“Um… no, Twilight, we haven’t. At least I haven’t,” said Fluttershy. “Have you, Big Macintosh?”

“Nope,” he said, wide-eyed.

“Damn it!” said Twilight. She caught herself, and beamed at them again, with a fractured grin that set off all of Fluttershy’s warning instincts. “I need to find her before I know whether I need to apologize to her, or she needs to apologize to me. I don’t suppose I could ask you for, you know, air support?”

Fluttershy glanced back and forth between Twilight and Big Macintosh anxiously—though she had been nervous to the point of stampeding, there was clearly unfinished business for her at Sweet Apple Acres. Big Macintosh regarded her levelly, then dropped his head in resignation.

“You go on.”

Twilight blinked. “I’m sorry, was I interrupting…”

“No, no!” protested Fluttershy, joined by the massive earth stallion. “Not at all!”

“Well, okay,” said Twilight. “I really do appreciate your help, Fluttershy! It might be important. You know when you dare to do something that’s kinda crazy and it might be wonderful but you might have just really blown it? No, wait, you wouldn’t know that.”

Fluttershy bit her lip tenderly. “Um… actually, yes, I do. I do know it… I’m ready, let’s go find her. Where shall I look first?”

“Try to make a sweep of the northern park area, maybe swing out by Froggy Bottom Bog,” said Twilight, “you know, places I haven’t been already. I came through Whitetail Woods and I didn’t see her in town and she wasn’t at home, so now I’m really wondering.”

“I will!” said Fluttershy. Twilight began to trot off, but before Fluttershy could take to the air, she was interrupted by Big Macintosh.

“Fluttershy! Your, uh, your question!”

She whirled, to find that he was blushing as well—and his awkward smile, head still low but his eyes peering up from under his mane endearingly, sent jolts through her body.

“Ain’t, uh, ain’t been no complaints. From that, at least. Jes’, uh, so ya know…”

Fluttershy froze—and then tore herself away with a fierce effort, and a parting remark that was uncommonly self-assured for the skittish, shy pegasus.

“We’ll talk…”

And she flew off with strong wingbeats, feeling his gaze follow her—and smiling.

Fluttershy’s smile didn’t last the morning, because she had to return to Twilight’s house with nothing to report. The sight of Twilight’s manically hopeful face took her smile right away.

“I’m so terribly sorry, Twilight!” she said, nearly weeping.

The nervous twitch in Twilight’s face had worsened. She paced around her floor, watched by Fluttershy and Spike.

“No problem! What we do is get the Element Bearers together, and turn it into like a major quest or something. We can’t fail if we use the power of our friendship! I don’t know what’s happened to her, whether she’s mad or hurt or… it’s not even important anymore, all I care about is finding her and then we’ll see what… what we’ll see.” She gulped. “So we’ve got me and you—you can fly off and get Rainbow Dash, whom I hope is doing well enough for this, and I’ll grab Rarity and Applejack because I think I know where to find them. Pinkie Pie…”

“Yeah, Twilight?” Pinkie had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

Twilight gave a little shriek. “WHAT are you doing sneaking up on me like that?”

“Finding Fluttershy, silly! Where’d you go, Fluttershy? I woke up and you were all like not there and I was like, aaaaaa!”

Fluttershy gave Pinkie a look. “Pinkie, it seems like Twilight has had a similar experience. Please help us search for Trixie, okay? It might be really important.”

“Sure!” said Pinkie Pie. “Don’t you worry, Twilight Sparkle, I promise you everything is going to work out just…”

Spike went “Urrrk!”

“Will you be quiet?” said Pinkie. “I’m trying to reassure my friend!”

Spike coughed up a cloud of green flames, and a scroll, which he grabbed and held in front of his face. “Looks like a message from the Princess! Want me to read it?”

Twilight sighed. “You’d better. But then we have to get moving. Quickly!”

Spike focussed on the words. “My dearest, faithful student…”

As he read, the room got quieter and quieter.

“First, I think, I must ask your forgiveness. We have all done things we wish we had not done—yet I feel I must hold myself to higher standards, and I have not. I have allowed my dismay to dictate my actions, and I am sure I have set in motion the chain of events that led to this letter. It is possible that you hurt too badly right now and that I am asking in unreasonable haste—but understand, then, that one day I will ask your forgiveness for all this.”

“I am sorry for my lapse in judgement, which may have led to unseemly events, the conflicts between us. There will be no recurrence of it, I promise you that. Let us just say that the Sun shall not be fumbled, and that I regret suggesting that this was ever at risk! I promise you it is not. I can take care of that—as you have seen.”

“Dear Twilight, you do not need to be able to accept this—I understand that you are hurt. I did what I felt was best, though that may not comfort you. I am so very, very sorry, Twilight. Again, I can only say that things will stay under control now and I can only hope that one day you will understand. Until that day, my thoughts are with you, and I will not attempt to speak with you again unless—or until—you wish it.”

“Princess Celestia,” finished Spike. He began to say, “Wow, what’s she even talking about? Did you do something I don’t kn…”

Spike had lowered the scroll, while speaking, to reveal Twilight’s face. Twilight stared at him, jaw hanging, eyes pits of horror, head slightly shaking as she tried to somehow not understand, not comprehend what the letter was telling her—but it was all too clear.

Trixie was GONE. And it looked like Princess Celestia had taken—or killed—her.

Twilight screamed.

Far from Twilight Sparkle, and far from Princess Celestia, Trixie Lulamoon opened her eyes in darkness.

She lay for a moment, trying to work out what had happened. It was cool, and she lay on stone. She wondered briefly if Twilight had taken her home, and imprisoned her in some cellar by way of continuing their play.

“Mistress?”

Not a cellar. The echoes spread out and gathered, making a sound picture of a monstrous cave—far too big to fit anywhere near Ponyville. As the last ripples of sound died away, a voice spoke out of the darkness.

“Fate pursues strange paths, and it may confound even the wise…”

“Mistress!” called Trixie, in alarm, but she was rewarded only with louder echoes—and laughter.

“Celestia’s little ponies cannot come here! Don’t cry out that way. I don’t like it.”

Hoofsteps echoed in the darkness as that velvety voice moved closer. Trixie gulped.

“Mistress?”

“As Fate would have it, yes, you might well say that…”

“Trixie means Twilight Sparkle! Who are you?”

The voice chuckled, affectionately. “But, Trixie Lulamoon, you know the answer to that question.”

Suddenly, a light shone forth. Trixie scrabbled backwards along the rocky floor, squinted, and then her eyes adjusted and she saw—Luna. Princess Luna, standing in the middle of a huge cave, smiling at her. Trixie’s eyes widened, for Luna seemed almost overcome with emotion, though it didn’t show in her voice. It showed in her eyes, brimming with a strange sort of fondness.

“Celestia’s little ponies are wonderful, are they not?” she said. “Good, kind, quick to help each other, reverent, polite…”

Trixie snorted. “Trixie finds them all too reverent at times. Where are we, Miss Luna?”

“Celestia’s little ponies seek only to live in harmony and friendship,” said Luna, gently.

“It was hell to teach Twilight to use a rod properly, I’ll tell you that much,” said Trixie. “Where is she? Why isn’t she here? Where is this? MISTRESSSS!”

“Stop it,” snapped Luna, and Trixie caught her breath. There was a tone there…

The dark—but glowing—alicorn stepped nearer, gracefully. “Celestia’s little ponies don’t have the power to mage-meld and teleport her against her will. They would not even think of such a thing. Would they?”

Trixie blinked. “Oh, crap. Am I in trouble, Miss Luna?”

“You, Trixie Lulamoon, are a throwback. In your way you are nearly as miraculous as they are… You belong to a different time. Surely you have felt this? Surely you have felt out of place, among all Celestia’s good little ponies?”

“What are you talking about, Luna?” Trixie tried to summon up her Great and Powerful voice, but the cave swallowed it up mockingly.

“I must insist on the honorific. You’ve not got it quite right yet, but abandoning it entirely is grievously unwise…”

“Trixie demands that you release her at once!”

The echoes died away to silence. Princess Luna’s eyes never left Trixie’s. Finally, she spoke, patiently.

“Celestia’s little ponies are cooperative and good…”

Trixie’s eyes were wild. Something really stunk about this situation. “Why do you keep saying that?”

Luna’s eyes narrowed a little. “Sometimes, one must needs take action to protect the herd. Celestia’s little ponies rescued me from a thousand-year prison, and more importantly, from an influence that had me defy my beloved Sister. She is the light—I am the darkness. She is the Sun, and I the Moon. I understand and accept my place now, and that gives me strength: and, I hope, allows me to serve as power of example, so that you in turn can accept your place, for as long as you last. You are only a mortal pony, so it won’t be that long. You’ll hardly notice it, in fact.”

Trixie backed up a step, and Luna stepped calmly forward to match her.

“But… you’re talking like I’m in prison!” said Trixie. “As long as I last? What?”

“You are a mare out of time. I can only seek to make a safe home for you, for the protection of you and others. By the way, I do not mean that literally, Trixie Lulamoon, I suspect it is simply a trick of inheritance…”

Trixie stomped a hoof. “Trixie demands you release her! Trixie is one of those Celestia’s little ponies! Sort of!”

Luna’s eyes narrowed further, and a curious overtone began to enter her voice. “No. They are good. You are bad. You require a kind of love my dear sister should never understand…”

“Trixie belongs to Twilight Sparkle, then! She will adminster corrections!”

“Oh no no,” said Princess Luna, looming closer. “Twilight must remain one of Celestia’s. Your influence on her is not appreciated. We must insist that you stay here. Not forever, for you’ll die, eventually, of old age; well cared for, and most likely with a bottom striped like a zebra’s from spankings, if we are any judge. A happy life. For you, anyhow. It wouldn’t suit your friend.”

Trixie didn’t even know what to say. “Trixie… belongs to Twilight Sparkle…”

“She’ll doubtless recover, in time. She’ll become one of Celestia’s little ponies again, without the perversion and badness of you around.”

Trixie began to cower. She couldn’t meet Princess Luna’s gaze, which became more and more dominant and scornful by the second.

“Trixie… has powerful friends…”

“Yes, that is rather the problem. Celestia’s little ponies love to rally around troubled souls and they’ll bear close watching for a while. We believe we are more than capable of managing them.”

“Trixie will get away…”

Princess Luna yawned. “Of course you will not. This place is your new home. Do you think in a few decades you will find escape in a place we have studied for hundreds of years?”

“Trixie is… is… a Celestia’s Little Pony…”

Luna’s eyes flared.

“No! You are MINE.”