Sitting on a fence in Sweet Apple Acres
Rainbow Dash sat, still mystified, as she watched Applejack kick one of the apple trees in her orchard. Apples spilled out of the branches, most of them into waiting buckets.
The weird part was, none of it would have happened if AJ still had her arms.
The sleeves of her t-shirt hung limp over two symmetrical stumps, just long enough that she still had something to flap around a bit if she so desired. Old habits died hard, after all. That marked AJ as somewhat lower on the totem pole than a lot of other women who optioned to go armless, but it wasn't like anyone thought her family was wealthy or anything to begin with.
Rainbow was the youngest of her friends, but her eighteenth birthday was looming just over the horizon. Once it came, she would have a year to decide on her option. No one ever said what happened if you didn't decide, even when she'd asked. She just figured they'd pick something at random for you. She was so undecided right now, she kind of thought that maybe that wouldn't be so bad. The option and her difficulty with it had been weighing heavily on her mind for quite a while now.
AJ slipped off her right cowboy boot easily, and went about picking up stray apples by digging her toes under them, flipping them up on top of her foot, and then tossing them into the air to land in a basket. It was like a magical game of hacky-sack, Rainbow thought, and though AJ had gotten her option only last month, she was already making the adjustments look effortless.
"You really know how to put style into picking apples," Rainbow called from her seat on the nearby fence.
Applejack grinned at her. "Darn tootin'!"
"Pretty impressive, all the stuff you can do with just your legs."
"Yeah, sometimes I even impress myself, if I'm bein' honest." Applejack kicked another apple over her head. It hit the rim of a basket and circled it once before plopping in. "Maybe if you decide to go armless next year, you'll be impressin' ladies left an' right the way I do." She winked.
Rainbow got a sour feeling in her stomach from that.
Applejack was just trying to be encouraging. The option was a major rite of passage, after all. Everyone was expected to do it, just like everyone was expected to find a girl they liked and settle down eventually. AJ hadn't yet because she always said she was 'married to the farm', but she was also young. There was time for her, just like there was for Rainbow.
Except Rainbow never had found a girl she liked. Not that way. Not even a little. She'd tried kissing Applejack when they were younger and just felt… nothing. She'd tried kissing Rarity when they were a little older. Nothing. She'd tried feeling up Pinkie Pie when they were in the locker room, which the latter really seemed to enjoy. Rainbow had just felt gross afterward. And she'd never even so much as looked at a girl who wasn't one of her friends.
There was just something wrong with Rainbow Dash, she was sure of it, and she didn't really appreciate Applejack rubbing it in. But she also didn't want to be mad at her, so she kept any words to herself and just pulled her knees up to her chest.
After a bit, Applejack seemed to notice. "What's eatin' ya, sugarcube?"
"Oh, uh…" Rainbow swallowed and fished out an easy lie. "Just, y'know, still worried about my option. It's such a big decision but like… none of them really appeal, I guess?"
"Aww, c'mon, sugarcube." AJ moved up to her and bumped her side with her amputated arm stump. Rainbow did her best not to cringe at the touch. "Sure it can seem scary sometimes, but it ain't so bad. They got the process down to a science, you ain't gonna feel nothin', and the physical therapists the government employs are top-notch. You'll be back on your feet in no time, no matter what you pick!"
That was, Rainbow had to admit, a little encouraging. But rather than give AJ the satisfaction of having been helpful, she blew out a breath at her bangs and turned her head away. "Easy for you to say," she huffed. "You didn't really even have to choose."
Applejack let out a sound halfway between a snort and a chuckle. "C'mon, don't be like that. My family's got a proud tradition of goin' armless!" She puffed out her chest, petite breasts not quite enough to strain the buttons of her shirt. "My ma, rest her soul, was armless. Granny is, too. And I figure one day, my little sister'll follow in our footsteps and take up the family mantle. Makes for good apple-buckers!"
"Heh. 'Apple-buckers'?"
"Well, what else are you gonna call this?" Applejack walked over to a nearby tree, turned slightly, and kicked it with a boot-clad foot. Apples rained down and covered the ground, since she hadn't set up any buckets ahead of time. She turned and smirked at Rainbow anyway.
Rainbow just sighed and turned away again.
Things were quiet until she heard AJ "hup!" and felt the fence sag a little under her weight.
"I can see this is really botherin' ya, Dash. Why don't you talk it out with me? We've been friends for a long time, you know you can trust me."
Rainbow turned and saw AJ with the most sincere smile on her face. Privately, she wondered if her friend hadn't always had something of a crush on her, not that Rainbow would ever let her act on it.
She let out a long, tired breath and said, "Okay. Fine."
"Go through the choices, one by one. Start with armless."
Rainbow licked her lips. "No offense, but I think I wanna keep my arms. I know you've adjusted well to your new, optioned life and everything, but I just…" She hugged herself. "I'd rather keep 'em."
"Okay, that's fair. You ain't got generations of armless women to help you cope, so I can respect you not wantin' to do it."
Rainbow was surprised at how earnest AJ sounded there. She really wasn't offended that Rainbow didn't want the same option she'd taken? Then she suddenly felt guilty for doubting her friend like that. It wasn't like getting the option changed who you were. Well, most of the time…
"So, next up, how 'bout bein' a cockwoman? Get yourself a big ol' pecker." She grinned and poked Rainbow in the side with her tiny arm stump. "And give these babies a serious upgrade."
Rainbow scowled and pulled away from Applejack. "AJ!"
Applejack chuckled. "Sorry, sorry. I know you're the private type and all."
Rainbow did think about it, though. Truth was, she couldn't fathom becoming a cockwoman at all. She lived with her cockmother, for instance, and she understood deeply how much getting a cock changed a person.
It was a very unusual sort of thing, for a cockwoman to stay with her offspring the way Rainbow's had. And in fact, she didn't even know who her mother was, since she'd died in childbirth. Cockmother had said she'd been armless, at least. Too bad Rainbow hadn't had her around to make the decision easier.
But, no, a cock was not in Rainbow's future. It might be fun to have bigger breasts, and even to have that huge, veiny, bulging cock between her legs, but cockwomen were notoriously unable to control themselves, always thinking about sex and constantly wanting to fuck any woman on two legs. They helped keep society going by making more babies, but otherwise, they could be a hassle to have around.
"No," Rainbow said at length. "I don't think I want to be like Cockmother."
"Mm." Applejack shifted on the fence. Rainbow glanced over and saw she was leaning forward, just a bit. She imagined that, if AJ still had arms, she'd be resting her chin on her hands right now.
"Guess that just leaves one choice, huh?"
"Yeah."
Headlessness.
"I mean," said Rainbow, "I guess it's the best option?" Hastily, she added, "If you don't have a family tradition to uphold, anyway."
Applejack just nodded.
"You get to keep all your limbs intact," Rainbow said, counting off on her fingers, "no changes to your mind, it's just…"
"Rarity went headless last year," Applejack noted.
It was true. Their friend had decided that being headless was 'fashionable' and had taken her option almost a year early. Nowadays, she tended to walk around without her head even attached. Rainbow was starting to forget what her face even looked like.
"Yeah, but Rarity's always been weird." Privately, Rainbow wondered how Rarity would feel once headlessness had gone out of fashion.
"It's not like they take your head away or anythin'."
"Yeah, but…" Rainbow Dash gulped. "Like, what if someone steals it? Or you misplace it? What if it just, like, pops off and rolls out into the street and gets smooshed by a car?" She started to hyperventilate.
"Calm down, Dash, calm down!" Applejack brushed her cheek against Rainbow's shoulder, unable to rub her back to calm her down. "Ain't nothin' like that gonna happen! And even if it did, it'd be just like they tell us in school. You can live without a head just fine, and won't nobody care if you do."
Swallowing huge lungfuls of air, Rainbow finally calmed herself down. "Right, right. It's just… It's really scary, Applejack." She felt tears springing to her eyes. "And it's not even fair."
AJ frowned at her. "What d'you mean?"
Rainbow balled up her fists. "I mean like… All our mothers and teachers and politicians and… Just everyone. They all talk about how many choices you have. All the choices you can make when it comes to getting an option! But there's no…"
In a whisper, she just barely let out, "There's no option not to choose."
Applejack gasped, but she didn't have to. Rainbow Dash already knew that what she said was wrong. She glanced around reflexively, and saw that AJ was doing the same. Thankfully, no one was nearby.
"Look, sugarcube, I said you could trust me, and I promise I won't tell no one what you just told me. But you gotta come to grips with the fact that you'll have to choose someday. You just…" She choked up a bit. "You have to, Dash."
"Yeah." Rainbow's own voice was thick. "Yeah, I know."
Applejack let out a nervous chuckle and nudged Rainbow with her foot. "Plus, it's like they always say. An optioned society is a pure society."
"A pure society…"
The words had been spoken so many times, they came almost automatically. Rainbow really wasn't sure she believed them, but what choice did she have? She certainly wasn't going to voice that thought aloud. There was only so far she could trust Applejack.
"How about this idea," Applejack said, hopping off the fence and pacing around in front of Rainbow. "Fluttershy's coming up on nineteen this year, right?"
"Oh! Yeah."
Fluttershy and Rainbow had grown up together, their families so closely knit that she felt like an older sister. In fact, she was almost a stepsister at this point, considering Rainbow's cockmother had taken an interest in Fluttershy's mom not that long ago.
"So she's bound to get her option later this year, right? Maybe you can have her help you make the final decision."
Rainbow frowned. "That'd be a great idea, except that Fluttershy's even more indecisive than I am."
"Oh." Applejack stopped and put on a similar frown. "Shoot, sugarcube, that ain't good. That ain't good at all."
"Yeah."
They both sat there in silence for a long time. No one knew what happened if you didn't choose by your nineteenth birthday. They just knew that it wasn't pleasant, and you didn't ever want to find out.
Finally, Applejack said, "Well, maybe that oughta be the fire under your rump, then. Make your decision, then you help her out. How's that sound?"
Rainbow rubbed at her shoulder. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Doesn't make the choice any easier, but…" She turned and gave Applejack a small smile. "Thanks, AJ. Talking to you is always a good idea."
"Darn tootin' it is," said AJ with a big grin. "Well, if'n you don't mind, I've got apples to get back to harvestin'. You take care now, okay?"
"Okay. You too, AJ!"
She waved at AJ, hopping off the other side of the fence. The only thing the other girl could do was wiggle one of her arm stumps, the shirt sleeve flopping about emptily.
Rainbow kept a smile on her face as she left the farm, intending to head home.
But she still had no idea what she was going to choose.
