Applejack finally burst into Twilight's private research laboratory deep underneath the sparkling new castle. She huffed for breath for a few moments, her hands on her knees, before finally being able to look back up. “Okay, okay. I'm here.” She took another deep breath and wiped a bit of sweat out from between her hat and her mane. “What's the emergency?”

“Emergency?” Twilight scrunched her nose a little bit as she looked over at Applejack. There wasn't supposed to be any 'emergency' here. She'd just asked for ... wait... “Rainbow,” she said, casting a suspicious glance in her pegasus friend's direction, “what did you tell her?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “You wanted me to round everypony up, so I had to come up with something to get the farm pony off her farm.”

Applejack replied only with an angry snort.

But Rarity made up for it. “Wait, do you mean to say there isn't any emergency?”

Even Fluttershy made an annoyed little groan. “And I had just called all the animals in for feeding...”

Scowling over at Rainbow, Applejack gave another little snort. “Looks like somepony could use a lesson or two about tellin' the truth.”

“Settle down, please, all of you.” Twilight held her hands up, hoping to calm them down. “I'm sorry that the message seems to have gotten distorted a little.” She cast a meaningful glance toward Rainbow ... which was completely wasted since Rainbow was still busy having an impromptu staring contest with Applejack. Okay, well, carrying on... “But it is true that I need your help.”

“Ooh! Ooh!” Pinkie bounced her way right up next to Twilight ... which made a lot of her body bounce in ways Twilight tried to ignore. She sidled up alongside. “Is it for a cupcake taste test? That's my very favorite way to help ponies!”

That was as good of an introduction as any... “Well, there is something I'd like all of you to taste test for me.” Actually, the flavor was quite beside the point ... though now, come to think of it, perhaps she should have baked it into cupcakes or something. But then what if Pinkie ate all the cupcakes before she could pass them out and ended up overdosing on it? What kind of effects would that have? But all of them were looking curiously at her. This was no time to get lost in speculation! “You see, I've developed a new potion...”

“And we're gonna be your lab rats? Again?” Applejack crossed her muscular arms over her sparsely buttoned flannel blouse, turning her formidable ire on Twilight.

Twilight winced. Nopony could weather a look like that and come through unscathed. Not to mention the way the rest of her friends were staring at her. “I know, I know,” she said, hoping to calm them down a little. “But please, bear with me on this one. It's a really important – and brand new – potion recipe, and because of its, um ... delicate nature, I can't go around asking strangers to help me test it. Not this time.”

Applejack shifted her weight to the side, planting one hand on one ample hip and giving an annoyed huff. “And is this potion gonna fix my irrigation pipes? 'Cause that's what needs doin'.”

“N-not exactly...” Twilight tried hard to hold onto her decorum. Don't blush. Don't blush. It was more difficult than she'd thought to just come out and tell them what the new potion was supposed to do.

“Oooh! Or will it make everything we eat taste like candy?”

“She said it was important, darling. Perhaps something about enhanced inspiration? That would be lovely.”

“Or the ability to talk to trees?”

“Oh! Or it could be a potion that lets you fly really fast, so fast you do a double rainboom!” Rainbow's look of manic glee slowly faded as the rest of them stared at her. “Or, you know ... other earth pony and unicorn stuff ... for ponies who don't have totally awesome wings.”

“Actually, and um, unsurprisingly, it's none of those things.” Twilight bit her lip a little it, knowing the moment of truth was coming soon.

Nopony said anything, but the looks they were giving her – varying between avid curiosity and simmering annoyance – told her that it was now or never. If she didn't spill it now, she'd lose them. And where else was she going to get such a willing and diverse set of experimental participants?

But it did need a little bit of preface first to soften the blow... “It's part of a set of potions I've been working on in conjunction with Princess Cadance, trying to distill some of the aspects of her unique magic into potion form. She does what she can, but she's only one pony and there are thousands of ponies out there who need her help. This specific potion is going to revolutionize the lives of married and single mares alike. It's...” Well, now or never. She had to tell them sometime... “It combines two effects: a contraceptive that should be more powerful and effective than any heretofore brewed, as well as a brand-new set of ingredients that should help mares with low sex drive.”

“And you want the five of us to test a potion like that?” Rarity looked askance at her. “You can't be serious.”

“You don't have to do anything! I've already tested the primary effects on animals. All I need the five of you to do is test for any potential side effects and let me record your thoughts about the mental aspects of it.” She glanced at Fluttershy. “Um... And thank you for letting me borrow those mice for a while.”

Fluttershy's eyes were wide and quivering. “No wonder Mister Whiskers was looking so satisfied lately...”

“That's all,” Twilight reiterated. “Just take the potion and let me record the results until it wears off...” She'd just avoid mentioning the two stallion volunteers she had waiting in the next room over. That could wait until her friends were, well, in a more amenable mental state for that sort of surprise.

“Seriously?” Applejack raised one eyebrow slowly. “You dragged us all in here to try a love potion?”

Twilight took a cautious step backward. “It's, um, not really a—”

“What, are you scared?” Rainbow smirked over at Applejack. “It's just a little potion. Come on, Twilight, where is it? I've got dibs on the first dose. I'm not a scaredey-pony.”

Well, okay. That wasn't quite the type of enthusiasm she was going for, but it would do. This research was terribly important. It could improve the lives of ponies for centuries to come. And as long as her friends were willing... Twilight lifted the tray of six carefully measured flasks of blue liquid up from behind the table with her magic and held it outward to them.

Before Rainbow could grab hers, Applejack jumped up in front of her and grabbed the first flask. She lifted it up and downed it in a few quick gulps. By the time Rainbow had her own flask, Applejack wiped her lips and smirked at her. “Now who's a a scaredey-pony?”

With a bit of a sneer, Rainbow downed hers as well. But as she drank, that sneer changed to a much more pleasant expression. “Hey,” she said, tossing the empty flask casually onto the table behind her – luckily it didn't break. “This stuff's not bad.” She licked her lips and eyed the other doses greedily.

Thankfully, before Rainbow could grab another one and potentially overdose, Pinkie came up and snatched the one she'd been eying. She drank it so fast Twilight was afraid she might swallow the flask along with it. And Pinkie's smile only grew. “Come on, you two,” she said to Rarity and Fluttershy. “You've got to try it! It's like ... like all the best flavors at the same time!”

“Well,” Rarity said, taking Fluttershy's hand. “I suppose we should go along with it if everypony else is going to...”

“All the flavors?” Fluttershy asked, her voice trembling a bit.

Twilight grinned almost as wide as Pinkie Pie while the last two took their potions. Perfect!

And from the looks of things, it was beginning to work... Applejack's eyes went a bit wide, and she suddenly clenched her legs together under her short denim skirt. Rainbow's reaction was even more obvious: she let out a little gasp, then held the front of her little running shorts in both hands.

Excellent! It was starting! Twilight whipped out her notebook to record the results. Soon, it would be time to open up the door to the next room and introduce them to her plausibly deniable stallion assistants, and then she'd really get some results worth recording...

But just at that moment, the laboratory's main door opened, and Spike barged in. “Alright, I reorganized the card catalog like you asked me to. It was actually easier than I'd expected because it was so organized already and...” He stopped for moment, staring and blinking at the way the other mares were looking at him. “Um... Are they okay?”

When they lunged for him, Twilight knew it was too late. All she could hope to do was to record what happened.

Author's Note

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