From Behind Crimson Curtains

Linen heaved another gulp of air, as he leaned against a tree at the edge of the Everfree Forest. He had awoken to Dash attempting to get in another round on him, and he immediately bolted out the door without so much as a response. It was nightmarish... they went several times before they became exhausted and fell asleep together, but to find out that one of them still had more in her? His body was at the breaking point now. Or perhaps it had already surpassed it. In any case, it wasn't good for him.

He noticed that he was blankly staring at a wooden fence when he heard the sound of galloping coming up behind him. Looking to his right, he saw a pony, earth by the looks of it, charging for him at full gallop. And he noticed it was a mare.

Immediately going into full panic mode again, he attempted to sprint away in the opposite direction, only to fall flat on his face due to fatigue. Stars swirled around in his vision, so vivid that he was sure that the early morning skies had come to greet him this dandy morning.

"Howdy there, partner," he heard her say.

"I... uh, l-listen, I don't want any trouble..." he began.

"Trouble? Nuh-uh. Partner, you look worse than Mac when he pulls through a week of work by himself. Let me help you get to somewhere that ain't so rough to rest on."

"You mean you aren't..." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Wait, I know where this is going. Leave me alone!"

"But—"

"I said leave me alone! I've had about enough with you mares and your... agh!" He winced as he felt a jolt of pain shoot up his leg as he tried to stand up, and felt something twist. Had he been so eager to escape from his previous captors that he had inadvertently harmed himself? And conveniently delivered himself right into the hooves of another mare, no less.

"I... listen 'ere, partner. I ain't goin' to hurt you, I promise you on that, on the honor of the Apple family, okay?"

"The... the Apple family?" Linen said. The Apple family name was a seal of quality unmatched by any other fruit-based family-operated food operation in Equestria, and their reputation had such a stringent code of honor that it would be folly to not take their word for it.

"Yessir, the one and the same," she said proudly. "Listen, I'm not going all hoo-hah crazy like all the other mares, you understand? Just head on back with me to my barn and I'll try to get you some rest. And maybe keep you away from all those other mares, too." Judging by her lack of enthusiasm for being around him in general and surprisingly absent lust, she was either telling the truth, or one really good liar.

"O-okay, then... I... uh, I accept, Miss, uh...?"

"Applejack, partner. The name's Applejack. This here's my farm, Sweet Apple Acres, where some of the finest apples in Equestria comes from! You look like you busted your leg there for a moment. What were you doin' in the Everfree Forest, anyway?" She asked, examining his sprained leg.

"I was..." He paused a moment, uncomfortable with giving an answer. "I was trying to get away from some... other mares."

"Oh, shoot, you bumped into Fluttershy, didn't you?" Linen nodded. "Well, I don't know much 'bout her, but maybe she might get a little rough when she gets all high-strung 'round these times. Come on now," she said, carefully tossing Linen over her back. "Let's get you back to the barn. At least nopony will come a-knockin' and botherin' us there."

"Applejack!" Pinkie Pie shouted, running down the dusty old lane that led to Sweet Apple Acres. "Where are you?!"

"Huh?" Applejack poked her head around an apple tree, currently in the process of collecting apples from it. "Pinkie? What in tarnation are you hollerin' about?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to invite you to—" She quickly turned her head around, tuning her ears into the very essence of the wind itself to see if there were any ponies nearby that could eavesdrop on them. —to Linen Spool's apology party."

"Oh, that feller? Yeah, I kind of feel bad for what we did to him..." Applejack said, nervously rubbing the back of her head. "But if we can make it up to him, then, shucks, that might all be worth it. After what I heard happened between him and Dash, it just..." She huffed. "It just really turns things all crazy-like. If I can have some self-control, why doesn't Dash? Really," she huffed again, shaking her head.

Pinkie's face tensed for a moment. "I heard about that... are you and Dash still... well, okay?"

Applejack sighed. "I just don't know, Pinkie... but it ain't right to take advantage of a feller like that, even if I did, too..." She shuddered. "But those... those urges are just a little bit too overpowerin' sometimes, and there's nothing a mare can do about it. But Dash doesn't need to do it more than once! It's like gettin' an itch and takin' a shovel to it to scratch it."

"Oh. So, are you going to be there, then?"

"You can bet on it, Pinkie. I just hope Dash will be there, otherwise the worst of this is just going to continue on. She's the Element of Loyalty, for land's sake. She won't go ditchin' her friends just over a simple ruttin'. I hope."

"Don't you worry, Applejack! I'll make sure to have Dash there, no problem!" Pinkie said, saluting valiantly.

Applejack chuckled. "I think you're goin' to have your work cut out for you, Pinkie... Dash ain't exactly known for backin' down too easily, even when she's wrong."

"So, partner, apparently, you're the talk of the town. Er, no offense," Applejack said, sliding a plate of hot apple pie in front of Linen as he sat at the dining table. He dug into it immediately, grateful for the nourishment it would give him, and it tasted absolutely fantastic, as well. "Hehe, yep, our pies have a tendency to do that to folks."

Finishing the slice in record time, Linen looked up at her, his muzzle smothered with pie fixings. "Oh, yes, t-thank you, Miss Applejack, it's really good, but... uh, do you mind if I ask a question?"

"Sure, sugarcube, what do you have on your mind?"

"H-how come you're not like..." He lowered his gaze to the floor, face flushing as he managed the squeak out the words. "...not like the other mares?"

Applejack held a straight face for a moment, and then flew into full-on guffawing. "Why, partner, that's 'cause us Apple family folk are the most stubborn ponies 'round! Now, I'm not goin' to lie, I can still feel it, but I've had a lot of practice. Usually we only blow it off when it gets really bad, and let me tell you, sugarcube, when you showed up in the Town Hall and all the mares were runnin' around hollerin' that they'd just caught themselves a stallion, it was... really hard to resist," she said, giving an awkward smile.

"So... does that mean you're... fine now?"

"Yep, righter than rain, partner!" She retrieved some drinks from the refrigerator, and placed a cold mug frothing with chilled cider in front of him. "And here you go, some of Sweet Apple Acres' finest cider! But, uh, don't go tellin' anypony that I still have some, okay? It's supposed to be available on a yearly basis, and we can't keep up the applebuckin' to make enough cider to keep the town goin' the whole year."

Linen nodded, and took a sip of the drink. It was delightfully refreshing, and filled with delicious apple flavor that practically washed over his taste buds. The buzz from the alcohol within felt nice combined with his own drowsiness, which was returning yet again, and he found his eyes drooping.

Applejack raised an eyebrow at him. "Whoa, there, partner. You okay there?"

"Yeah, I'm... I'm fine... I just had a, uh... a really rough night."

"Shoot, you look like you were put through a wringer. What happened out there?"

"I was at... I ended up at Fluttershy's home, and then there was this other mare there..."

Applejack grimaced. "Oh, boy, I can tell where this is goin'... that other mare wouldn't happen to be called Rainbow Dash, right?" Linen looked her with surprise and then slowly nodded. "Just what'd they do to you out there, sugarcube?" The only response she received from Linen was a quiet whimper and a hard stare at the ground. "Oh... oh, dear..."

"It was... really bad..." he whispered. "Did... did I show up at a bad time?"

"Well..." she said, sighing. "I guess you did, and there ain't much else to say 'bout it. You just happened to show up when we get into our cycle. I'm sure you know 'bout that, at least...?" Linen nodded. "Ah, shucks, this is just turnin' out to be a whole can of worms..."

"Dash is... really scary..."

"Pff, no kiddin'. Knowin' how she walks and talks, I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up as her toy. Heh, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that she's probably the reason every stallion skips town when this time of year rolls 'round. Still, though, I guess it's nice to get some new folk 'round here, for what that's worth."

"T-thank you, Miss Applejack, you've been... very kind... to me... so far..." He felt his head start to sway to the left and he would have nearly fallen out of his chair, if Applejack hadn't caught him.

"I'll just put you to bed now, sugarcube. You've been through a lot." Once again carrying him on her back, she trotted upstairs and tucked Linen into bed, almost giving him a kiss on the forehead if she hadn't stopped and gave a nervous laugh. "Aw, look at him... he sure is cute." Her eyes widened as she realized where her thoughts were drifting. "No, Applejack. Just absolutely not. Well, at least... n-not here..."

She exited the room quickly, quietly shutting the door behind her, and then immediately went to the bathroom. Quickly turning the shower on to full blast, she dearly hoped that it would be enough to mask the noise as she hopped inside, as she felt that oh-so-familiar feeling returning to her yet again...

Pinkie did a few sets of stretches as she stood outside of Rainbow Dash's cloud home, her party cannon and various assorted party-going devices set up around her. No doubt given what she'd heard and known what happened between Linen and Dash that she would have to pull out her A-game to bring home Dash's confirmation that she'd attend the party.

Putting on her googly-eye glasses and button-red party nose, she gave a war shout before activating the floater-rotor-thingy attached to her back and levitating herself up to the cloud level of the rainbow-decorated home.

Taking in a deep gasp, she let her voice ring true across the sky. "Rainbow Dash!"

Dash poked her head out through her window, face clearly plastered with annoyance. "What is it, Pinkie? I'm in the middle of another Daring Do book!"

Pinkie stuck out an envelope at Dash, streamers spontaneously appearing out of nowhere and flowing down behind her as Dash gave a confused look at both the pink party pony and the letter she held. "Here, Dash! An invitation to a party!"

"Uh, what kind of party, Pinkie? You usually don't throw one with invitations unless it's going to be a totally awesome one or a really important one."

Pinkie giggled. "Oh, silly Dash, this is for Linen's apology party!"

"Linen...? Oh, buck, I... I told you already! When a mare gets her urges, she needs to blow off some steam! And he was the only stallion in town, and not to mention that thanks to your cupcakes and all that other stuff, we could totally have some harmless fun! What's the problem with that?"

"Dash, you know what you did was wrong!" they heard a voice from the ground. Looking downwards, they both saw Applejack standing next to Pinkie's party cannon with a look that could stare down Celestia if need be. "It ain't his fault that he showed up to town without knowin' what was goin' on! You took advantage of him, and it ain't fair!"

"Wh—you, too, Applejack?!" Dash said, groaning in frustration. "I didn't do anything wrong, okay?!"

"It's not 'bout what you thought, Dash, it's what that poor stallion you used thinks!" Applejack yelled. "He shows up to town and expects to settle down, and then he gets the whole town's mares chasin' after him like some sort of prize! And then when you get him, you rut him senseless, and from what he told me, he's scared senseless of mares now!"

"What about you, then, huh? How do I know you didn't get it on with him?!"

"I don't lie, Rainbow Dash! And I'm tellin' you the truth when I say that I didn't do anythin' to him!" They stared each other down for several minutes before Dash was the first to break her concentration, and huffed back inside without a word. "Rainbow Dash!"

After several moments, she reappeared, realizing that Applejack was definitely telling the truth, no matter how much she wanted to ignore it. "I... alright, fine, okay, I'll... I'll go apologize," Dash said. "But, come on, a mare's got find some way to deal with it, and it was getting old just doing it with Fluttershy all the time..."

"Nopony's blamin' you for blowin' off steam, Dash. It's just that you had to use a poor clueless stallion to do it," Applejack said. Pinkie nodded and descended to the ground, giving a thankful sigh as she landed: the use of the party cannon to persuade and convince wasn't needed this time!

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie cheered, looking at Applejack. "And thanks, AJ! I don't think I could have done it without you!"

"Shucks, it's no problem for me," Applejack said. "if anythin' our good friend deserves a right and proper apology from all of us. What're you goin' to do now?"

"I have to talk to... Rarity!" she said, holding up a hoof into the air.

"But she wasn't even 'round when the whole thing happened. Said something 'bout public ruttin' being too uncouth. She probably locked herself up in the Boutique and dealt with it herself in private."

"Oh, right. Uh, maybe I'll just ask her to come along, anyway?"

"She's goin' to find out 'bout this one way or another, so I don't see why not. Maybe with that class of hers, we can keep Dash in check. Celestia knows I already have a hoof-full doin' it myself."

Pinkie saluted. "Yes, ma'am!" And with that, she trotted off back towards Ponyville, leaving Applejack wondering where exactly Pinkie got all these military-grade party provisions, much less where she actually kept them. There really was never any way to figure out Pinkie for sure...

"Applejack!" Rarity sang, knocking on the front door, as the sun again began to set behind her. Applejack answered, giving Rarity a tired look as she yawned. "Oh, dear. Have I come at a bad time?"

"No, no... it's just fine, come on in..." Applejack muttered, her mane still wet from her extended stay in the shower.

"Well, if you insist..." Rarity entered the quaint little home, trudging along to the kitchen as she looked around. "Say, dear, do you still happen to have any cider on hand? I think I could use some right about now."

"Uh, sure, I guess," Applejack said, immediately delving into the fridge and preparing a mug for Rarity. "Don't tell Dash about this."

"Of course, darling. Celestia knows she's already obsessed with the drink as it is." She took a sip and gave a delighted sigh. "Ah, after such a long day, it's absolutely fantastic that I can just relax at a friend's home and enjoy a delicious drink."

"Busy, huh?" Applejack asked, chuckling. "Busy tryin' to work all that heat out of you?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Rarity responded sourly. "It's so unladylike to just be stuck in a prolonged cycle of... ugh, it pains me just to think about it. I admit that we do have our urges, but it's quite debilitating every time this period of the year comes along." She tended to her drink, staring down at her reflection as her head rested against her supporting hoof. "So, I don't suppose anything interesting has happened while I locked myself away in my Boutique?"

"Well... there was one thing..." Applejack began.

"Oh? Do tell. I can hardly imagine anything of worth happening when all the stallions are gone and the entire mare population is practically frothing at their mouths at the sight of the opposite sex." Not that she wasn't prey that herself, though; she'd practically exhausted almost every sexual fantasy she'd had trying to temporarily alleviate her own heat. A good amount of time spent towards self-attendance left her mind in good clarity for the rest of the day, though.

"Um, yeah... 'bout that... a stallion showed up in town today."

Rarity's eyes looked up at Applejack. "You don't say?"

Applejack nodded. "Yep. The poor feller got himself caught up by Pinkie—"

"Oh, dear, what a most terrible fate. I feel sorry for him."

"—and brought him to the Town Hall, where practically every mare in town rutted him till he couldn't go anymore," Applejack finished, and now deciding that now would be a good time for her to take to the drink, as well. She poured herself a mug and rejoined Rarity at the table as the fashion designer mused over the sole interesting event in town recently.

"I'd imagine he couldn't have gone for that long," Rarity stated. "I mean, really, the whole town? That's a little bit too much, if you ask me."

"It ain't no joke, Rarity," Applejack said. "Pinkie invented a new kind of cupcake, a real weird one that lets stallions go at it for a real long time. And another one that stops mares from gettin' pregnant. Put two and two together, and, well..."

"Oh, dear..." Rarity said. "That would be very terrifying, indeed. And you say the whole of the town was there?"

"Save for less than ten ponies or so, I wager, yes. The poor stallion practically ran for his life the moment he could, when we were all passed out in the hall."

"Wait... 'we'? You mean you were with them? The ponies in the town hall? And what of this strange cupcake that Pinkie has seemingly been circulating throughout the whole town?" Rarity leaned towards Applejack, eyes wide as she eagerly awaited an answer.

"Yeah, I was... thing is, the moment we all heard there was a stallion, and Pinkie bagged him, we all downed those things faster than I could shake a hoof at. I'm sort of... ashamed to say that I was part of what happened there, but... it's Pinkie logic, those cupcakes; you'll have to ask her about those yourself. She says they wouldn't get us all pregnant, and we all took her word for that. I mean, I don't think it's like Pinkie to lie, but I don't think she'd start doin' it right now as a joke."

Rarity turned away, whispering to herself. "I should really get some of those..." she muttered, before turning back to Applejack. "Oh, darling, did you ever get the poor dear's name? The stallion, that is."

Applejack opened her mouth to answer, but stopped. She actually didn't know his name. "I... don't know, actually. I reckon I never stopped to ask him when I saw him earlier today. Feller couldn't even see straight when I found him at the edge of the farm. It was easy to find him, since I usually come out to buck trees and blow off some stress, and you could practically smell the sex reelin' off of him."

"You mean he's here? In this house?" Rarity asked.

"Well, yeah, but don't get any funny ideas."

"You know I wouldn't, dear Applejack. I hope he's doing well?"

"As well as he can be," Applejack said, downing the rest of her drink. "He's sleepin' in the guest room right now. Maybe you can talk to him when he wakes up."

"Perhaps. How'd he end up in such a state if he escaped out of the town hall? Would he not just simply find somewhere to hide or even skip town?"

Applejack shook her head. "I don't know what happened after he got out, but he found his way to Fluttershy's house, where Dash was waiting..."

"How dreadful. It appears you and I both know how... callous Dash can be during times like these, especially if she doesn't get her way. If she truly got her hooves on the poor stallion, I wouldn't be surprised if he'd been scarred by Dash's... um, sexual determination. And stamina, among other things."

"That's what I'm worried about," Applejack said, sighing. "I wouldn't be surprised if he moves out the first chance he gets."

"Then perhaps we should talk to him, then? Since it's clear that we're both sound of mind, at least for now, we can try to learn more about him, and stop alienating him like he has been so far. Perhaps we can even find out where he's from, since you said that he's only just moved in recently, right?"

"Trust me, he's a new one for sure. And I know the faces of every pony in Ponyville."

"I'm sure he's already had his fill of remembering faces by now, Applejack..."

"Rarity!" Pinkie Pie slammed open the door to the Boutique, interrupting Rarity's intense concentration in trying to intricately weave a glorious blue sapphire into the centerpiece of yet another one of her many dresses. She fumbled and accidentally dropped the needle and bumped again the table next to her, knocking down several spools of thread and a box of gems.

"Oh, Pinkie!" Rarity said, suppressing her anger. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

"I know that, silly! But this is really important! I'm throwing an apology party for Linen!"

"The poor stallion? Well, considering that this is an issue between you girls and him, I don't think I need to—"

"We need someone to help keep Dash in check."

Rarity sighed. "I assume she might try to worm her way out with an excuse, and Applejack was never really one to read between the lines, even if she does have the most cordial relationship with Dash. Very well, I suppose I shall attend, and thankfully, this will go over smoothly. Knowing Dash, however, I fear that may not be the case."

"Wow, that was fast!" Pinkie pulled a clipboard out of her mane and looked it over. "I think that's everyone now! Twilight, Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, you, and me!"

"Did somepony call my name?" they heard a voice come from a doorway. Fluttershy walked into the room carrying cuts of cloth on her back. "Oh, hello, Pinkie! Are you here to talk to Rarity about the party?"

"Yep! She already agreed, so now I have everypony ready! Well, everypony meaning six of us, but that's totally enough for a party. Oh, and also, we're kind of afraid that Dash might be a bit of a meanie and we don't want LInen getting all angry or sad, so do you think you could help us with that?"

"Oh, of course!" Fluttershy said. "I feel so bad for what we did to poor Linen... and Dash is kind of scary when she's like that."

"Yay!" Pinkie jumped into the air as firecrackers sparked out of nowhere and streamers flew down from the ceiling. Pulling out another clipboard from a break in the floorboards, she looked over the new list against as Fluttershy and Rarity stared wide-eyed at Pinkie's incredible storage abilities. "Yep, that makes all of us!"

Now all she had to do was decide on a place and time! Not that she minded, of course, planning parties was always fun to Pinkie.