Living in Equestria

I had no idea what was about to happen. Back home when I'd watch sitcoms on TV, the funniest moments were when someone would walk in on a completely ridiculous scene that looked entirely different than what was really going on. But unlike those funny situations, this was exactly what it looked like. The three of us were frozen in place on the bed, cum still dripping from the end of my rapidly deflating member and Sweetie Belle covered in it while I held one of her back legs up in a raunchy pose. Scootaloo still had her hoof between her legs.

A crazy impulse to take to my wings and fly as fast as I could out of there hit me as Rarity's expression changed from shock to anger. Her horn sparked to life with a red gl-

My breath was cut off by an unseen force clamping around my neck and I felt myself lifted painfully by it, choking me and flinging me backwards with tremendous speed. I smashed into the wall with a crash, feeling my wing bend at a weird angle with shot of agony. It didn't last long though, I was already going numb from the lack of oxygen.

I heard Sweetie Belle's voice cry out in alarm. "No! Sis... STOP it!"

Rarity didn't say anything. In the bubbly, black dots that were appearing before my eyes, I saw her slowly walking forward, her face a twisted mask of hate and revulsion that obscured her normally pristine white features. The red glow of her horn intensified and the clamping sensation grew worse. With a bolt of panic I realized she meant to kill me and there was nothing I could do. My hands clawed at the invisible force at my neck feebly, gray flecks crept in from the edges of my vision and began to swirl, washing the colors out of everything.

Then the pressure holding me up that was cutting off the blood from my brain suddenly vanished and I fell to the floor in a heap, gasping for air. My vision cleared and when I looked up, Sweetie Belle was standing at the end of her bed, her own horn glowing blue with magic and her face scrunched up in concentration. Rarity wheeled, looking at her sister in disbelief.

"Sweetie Belle!? You let go of my horn this instant!!" she roared at the younger unicorn.

"No!" she grunted back. Her teeth were clenched with the strain and effort to hold off her big sister's anger.

Scootaloo slid off the bed and ran in front of me, blocking my view of Rarity's seething face. "Rarity..." Scootaloo said calmly. There was something in her voice that caused Rarity to stop and take notice of her and everything paused. I slowly got to my feet, my head pounding and my left wing throbbed painfully when I tried to tuck it in behind my back, something was wrong with it and it wouldn't close all the way.

"Scootaloo... I simply cannot believe you're participating in this... this MONSTER'S desire to defile my little sister!" her eyes bored into me. "Why.. I've got a good mind to call the authorities!"

"We're a herd, Rarity..." Scootaloo said quietly. "... Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are both with us."

"Wha! Surely not! Your simply confusing your natural urges with what a herd really is, stop that nonsense talk immediately!"

"Luna gave us the magic... she came to me." Scootaloo said with finality.

The statement had a profound effect on the purple haired unicorn. Her mouth, still open and snarling sagged into a shocked O again and hung for a moment. Then her ears dropped, her bottom lip began to quiver and her eyes glistened with moisture. Her whole posture sagged in anguish.

"No..." her head shook slightly, dropping her gaze to the floor. "It cannot be.... not..." she turned her head to the right and pleaded with Sweetie Belle in sudden desperation. "Sweetie, you mustn't! Please! Tell me this isn't true!"

Sweetie Belle gathered herself in a determined look and climbed down from the bed to stand beside Scootaloo. It was the only answer Rarity needed.

"Oh sweet Celestia no!" she cried in dismay. "You have no idea what you're setting yourself up for, darling!"

"What are you talking about, Rarity?!" Sweetie Belle asked her.

"Yeah... what do you know about it?" Scootaloo added confused. "This is supposed ta help everypony... how can that be bad?"

Rarity's bottom lip continued to twitch and a large tear ran from one eye, running down the white hair of her face to land on the wooden floor beneath her with an soft, audible tick. Then she gathered herself and tried to compose her features as best she could but her eyes betrayed her attempt.

"I'll have you all cleaned up... and dressed... downstairs please. Do so quickly, before I change my mind." she said curtly in a quavering voice and turned on her hooves and left, leaving the spilled contents of her shopping bag where they lay.

The three of us looked at each other, none of us quite comprehending anything Rarity had said. We all had felt the power of the magic when the bond was complete, nothing felt wrong or dangerous about it at all... quite the opposite actually. I got dressed and Scootaloo helped me push my bad wing back into position gingerly. Sweetie Belle did her best to clean herself off before we moved single file down the stairs to the shop below.

There we found Rarity sitting at a low, round table in the middle of the floor space with a large book in front of her. She watched us silently with wet eyes as we descended and gathered in front of her. "Please sit. This... may take some time." her reluctant voice asked us. Whatever she was going to say was not something she wanted to talk about.

The table was low enough for me to sit cross legged and still see the book in front of her clearly. Scootaloo sat next to me on my right, wrapping her tail around my waist and Sweetie Belle sat beside her. Rarity looked down at the book in front of her with sad eyes and her horn sparked to life, her magic opening the leather bound cover to the first page. It was a photo album.

"What is that?!" Sweetie Belle remarked at the book. "You've never shown me these pictures before!"

"You're right, dear sister. For good reason too. This is my photo album from design school in Manehatten. You remember when I went there, right?"

"Yeah... that was a long time ago." Sweetie nodded gravely. "You came home and didn't leave your room for like.. ever, that much I remember."

"I came home early as a matter of fact. I still had three semesters to go."

"Why?"

Rarity shut her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. When she opened them again, she flipped the page to show us a large picture of a much younger version of herself standing in front of a train with a slim, silver unicorn mare with an orange mane. They both looked excited and happy.

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When Rarity had arrived in Manehatten, she was on top of the world. Her and her best friend, Sparkling Lace, had both been accepted into the Manehatten School of Fashion at the same time and had traveled together by train with their luggage in tow and their dreams and hopes of the future clearly laid out before them. Sparkling Lace had been Rarity's best friend since they were foals in diapers, their parents had been neighbors in the small rural town of Ponyville, a place with very few unicorns to begin with.

When they checked in at the admissions desk, they both cheered when they were given identical class assignments... and were also assigned as roommates together. Nothing could have worked out better as far as they were concerned. Classes started, and they both struggled to keep up with the assignments and homework. Rarity had found it easier than Sparkling Lace to stay on task and tried her best to resist her friend's desire to explore the surrounding city but relented eventually, giving into the bright lights just outside her dorm window.

Their first night out on the town they had found a dance club nearby filled with ponies of all types. Each one dressed in the latest fashion and designers making them feel severely self conscious. They stuck it out and ended up having a wonderful time when they began talking to their fashion minded peers that swarmed the lounge seats. Sparkling Lace had hit it off with a handsome deep green unicorn stallion and the two remained deep in conversation the entire evening.

It only took a few days for them to begin a relationship. Rarity could see the intense love they shared whenever they were together... and that was pretty much all the time. Emerald was the stallion's name and he had moved here to start his own design company, leaving him broke and scrapping by while he got things going.

Sneaking into their dorm room was a nightly occurrence for a hot meal that Sparkling Lace would save for him. He would sleep there frequently with Rarity only a few feet away as they made discreet, but not entirely quiet love under the sheets in the dark. She didn't mind. Emerald was very nice, polite and refined... somepony Rarity got along with very well herself and she was glad her friend had found a special somepony in this big city. She found soon that she struggled with her own attraction for him, a magnetic force kept pulling her thoughts to him whenever she let them wander.

When Sparkling Lace had woken up that night and shook Rarity awake with news of Celestia's visit, she felt in her heart it was true. Herding was not an unknown concept to the budding fashionista and while she'd never known anypony who had experienced it, she knew how it worked. Young fillies talked about it all the time, of course, confusing their budding lust and promiscuity with the true nature of the magic and it often ended up in emotional disaster. The two friends were well beyond that phase.

She didn't have to ask Sparkling Lace who her herd mate was... Rarity realized she already had known it the whole time.

The bonding experience was incredible. She'd never felt that much power from magic before not to mention the act itself had been amazing. The intimacy she shared with not only Emerald but with Sparkling Lace wasn't about the genders of the participants but the sharing of their souls. Rarity didn't give a second though about letting her friend not only watch, but participate actively in her pleasure multiple times... some even without Emerald around. It had felt natural to her even though being with another mare had never entered Rarity's mind before.

From then on, the three were inseparable. Rarity had been bonded with them in a trio of unconditional love and had herself become deeply attached to Emerald. Because Sparkling Lace had no real friends other than Rarity in Manehatten, there was no immediate need for Emerald's company and they planned to make a trip home as soon as possible to fulfill the magic's calling. Lace and Rarity had many mare friends there, but none were as close as they were to each other.

Their first trip back was a whirlwind of encounters for them. After revealing the gift bestowed on them to their friends, mares began to come forward secretly to Lace, quietly asking for help and companionship. Emerald willingly joined them, providing them relief from their urges but also giving them a moment of peace from the loneliness that is so common among mares in a world short of stallions. Rarity felt the pull of the magic during these times, irresistibly needing to be near Sparkling Lace and reenforce the bond between them while he was away with others. There was no drama, no fighting... only a peaceful sense of right about what they were doing from everypony involved.

Months went by with a couple more trips home. Rarity visited her family briefly, but never told them about the events that had happened to her. School went well and Emerald had won a major contract with an upscale clothing store downtown. Rarity and Sparkling Lace would work with Emerald when they finished school, now that he had become established and was making bits enough to support himself. The love and bond between the three grew stronger, filling them with a joy of life that needed no words to share. Their whole future was a green pasture filled with friends, love, pleasure and happiness.

It was nearing the end of the first semester of their final year when Emerald became ill. It happened so fast that there was no time for the doctors to truly diagnose what was happening. In the span of a week, he had gone from his happy, positive self to a hospital bed with barely enough energy to raise his hoof. The doctors said they thought it was a virus or some other disease he had picked up that was causing his body to fail. They tried everything... but nothing reversed or even halted the condition he was in from getting worse.

Rarity and Sparkling Lace stayed by his side the whole time, watching the progression with heartbreaking agony. When the final day came, they were there. He gave a frail smile as the light dimmed in his green eyes, and then he was gone.

Rarity's world came crashing down around her, clinging to Sparkling Lace for support who was in no way herself capable to offer it. A tremendous pain of loss greater than she'd ever though possible consumed her life in a matter of seconds. She could feel the gaping hole in her mind and being where Emerald once was, crying out in agony. There was no escape from it. No sleep, magic, pill or drink would placate the roaring tidal wave of anguish she felt. Sparkling Lace lay on her bed in their dorm room with empty eyes, not responding to her voice and only looking at her when she touched her friend to see if she was still alive herself.

When Rarity had gone out to get food, the first they'd had in days... Sparkling Lace was unconscious when she returned. Panicking, she called for help but it was too late. Sparkling Lace had followed her bonded soul mate to the great beyond.

Rarity drifted through the next few days in a haze of depression. Alone, hurt and dealing with an incredible sense of loss. She returned home to her parent's house in Ponyville, leaving her belongings and everything she had in Manehatten behind. She never told her them about Emerald, instead she only relayed Sparkling Lace's loss as the reason she could no longer continue schooling during a brief and unremembered conversation with them.

Rarity stayed in her room for weeks, only leaving to use the restroom and occasional showers. She quit caring about herself completely as she fell deeper into the abyss. She longed to follow her two missing lovers, to feel that empty, hollow void inside filled again with the vibrant energy of life and love she had once experienced... she begged for a release.

She didn't remember leaving the house that day, or even walking to the store with her mane and tail a matted mess and her eyes bulging out over deep black pockets from her gaunt face. She found herself at the counter with two bottles of mane bleach and purchased them without realizing everypony around her had been staring.

She walked outside in the bright empty sunlight that did nothing to warm the cold center of her heart and set them in front of her on the dirt path. She didn't see two white bottles with a large skull and crossbones symbol above the word "Danger!", she saw the faces of Emerald and Sparkling Lace. Her horn glowed, causing the top of both of them to spin off and she took a deep breath.

It was Pinkie Pie who saved her life. The party pony had come running at her in a pink streak, her eyes bulging with relief at spying Rarity from down the block. She needed help. She was trying to organize a costume party for the mayor and other important dignitaries in Ponyville and had no where else to turn for help. She knew nothing about how to design a costume and there were no places in Ponyville to buy one. Rarity didn't hear her at first, long ago giving herself over to the plan she had only just realized was about to reach it's conclusion.

But something inside her stirred awake after long days and nights of drowning under a sea of despair. The generous spirit of her soul came alive and forced her to listen to Pinkie Pie. She had barely known her then, meeting her once at a fancy gala where she had been the pony responsible for the decorations and food, but that mattered little. A pony needed her help and it was her spirit of generosity that pulled her up from the dark depression like a hoof caught in deep sucking mud. The empty place in her heart was filled... just a little bit... by the idea of helping this pony by giving her the only thing she had left, her talent.

She left the two bottles of deadly brew behind and followed Pinkie Pie instead. Rarity threw herself into the work, staying up all night and throughout the day working in the upstairs room of Sugarcube corner while Pinkie Pie busied herself downstairs with the confections. The more she worked, the better she felt. The pain of her loss was still there, but it had been lessened enough that she no longer was consumed by it. When the work was finished, she'd found a new level of tailoring skill and design ideas she'd never dreamed of. The response was tremendous. The mayor had never seen work like that before and every dignitary at the event wanted to meet with her.

In the end, she was gifted the building her boutique now operated out of to celebrate Ponyville's newest fashion queen, but nopony knew exactly how close she had come to never being there at all.

____________________________________________________________________

Rarity used her magic to dab her eyes with a fresh tissue. There was a pile of used ones next to her.

"...and nothing has ever made me feel the same as when I was with them. I've... never told anypony this... and as far as I know, nopony I've ever known has been in a true herd again. The odds of sisters having the same life experience has to be... well astronomical, I'd say. I only told you my story so you know what could possibly happen if... well if anything were to happen like that."

The book in front of her closed, the last page of pictures showed Rarity standing in front of a new and empty version of the building we sat in now. The smile on Rarity's face in those pictures didn't reach her eyes.

"Sis..." Sweetie Belle had been crying most of the story silently. Her face was red and puffy and she'd been using the back of her hoof to wipe her nose with occasionally. Scootaloo had tried to hide it, but even her best attempts at not watering up had been given away by the subtle chuffing I'd felt when I put my arm around her long ago to comfort not only her, but also myself.

"You were gonna..." she stared at her big sister in disbelief, tears dripping from her chin. "...that's so horrible!" her high voice was choked with emotion.

"Yes... I believe I was. You see my point now? Nothing in all of the known universe can compare to the loss of losing your herdmate, Sweetie Belle. It was bad enough for me to almost end my own life, even with a wonderful sister like you and our parents around me. You experiencing that same loss is all I can think about." her eyes drifted to each of us for a moment.

Scootaloo looked up at me with big, purple eyes. I smiled at her through my own misty ones that had also leaked a few tears during Rarity's story. We didn't need to say anything... we both understood the implications of our bond better than ever.

"But that was just bad luck, right? I mean... you know how good it feels to be a part of one... why would you not want me to have that?" Sweetie asked.

"I suppose it is selfish of me, isn't it?" she admitted. "And if you've completed the bond then there is no force in Equestra to reverse it. I guess I shall have to live with the risk of my little sister going through a horrible event like that." Rarity gathered Sweetie Belle into a fierce hug, both of them letting out the last of their tears and emotion together for a few moments. Scootaloo leaned into me, nuzzling my chest in an attempt to hide her own wet eyes.

I was struck by the realization that the sad and conflicting emotions in my head didn't seem to be all mine. I couldn't put a finger on exactly how I knew, but all I could think of to describe the sensation was they tasted different than my own. It didn't make sense in the true meaning of the word, but it was the closest thing my brain could come up with to describe it. I occurred to me that it might be the parts of Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle that were left inside me.

"As far as what I witnessed upstairs..." Rarity composed herself more successfully this time, returning to her usual self and letting her sister go. "I'd rather have not seen that, to be perfectly honest. My reaction was... a bit extreme given the circumstances. If my Sweetie Belle is your herdmate Scootaloo, then what I witnessed was only the natural course of events. I am... sorry for how I reacted, Mason." her head dropped in a sincere apology.

"Nah... I get it, Rarity. I guess I'd be pretty freaked out too if I saw my little sister like that."

"I don't wanna think about it..." Sweetie Belle moaned, her face turning even redder than it was before.

Rarity turned to her. "You're a young mare now, Sweetie Belle." She said matter-of-factly. "There is nothing to be ashamed of in releasing your urges with somepony you care about. Doubly so when you're in the horrid grip of your estrus. I guess I should've expected this to happen sooner or later. Just not with such..." Rarity's eyes flicked to my own. "...visibility."

Sweetie didn't say anything, she only sat knocking her front hooves together in embarrassment with a soft clopping sound, her white ears flat against her head.

"...And I suppose I no longer need to teach you about how to relieve that urge yourself either. Ohh... that will be wonderful to have to visit Carmen Softhair again and try to explain why I'm returning those items I dropped all over the floor." she grumbled sarcastically.

"Mason's wing is hurt..." Scootaloo informed her, trying to keep her friend from further embarrassment. "... I think it might be broken or something."

Rarity's face turned to a shocked remorse. "Oh dear! Mason... I do feel horrid now! Please, let me take a look at it! I do not know much about pegasus wings... and even less about humans but I'm willing to do anything to make it up to you!"

"No... it's alright." I gave Scootaloo a little squeeze with my arm. "I don't think it's broken, it just got bent too far. It'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked eagerly. "I'd feel awful if I thought I'd ended up hurting you that badly... although I do believe I would have killed you if my sister hadn't intervened." she smiled grimly.

"You were close... I think." My hand came up to rub my neck at the memory.

"Let that be a lesson to you, then! We can be mighty feisty when we get worked up, you'll do well to remember that if you happen to get Sweetie Belle in a mood!"

My hand went from my neck to the painful welt on my chest where she had bitten me during her climax. I didn't think Rarity had that in mind when she mentioned it, but it was all the proof I needed about how 'feisty' she could be.

"Well, now that all that unpleasantness is behind us, did you have anything else you wish to discuss?"