Boundaries

Chapters

Hands off
Hands on.
Oof. Big Oof.
Bigger Oof
A Series of Tubes
Biggest Oof
Sleuthset Shimmer
Shiny! Grab the Gun!
Loud Mouth Noises
Family History
Boundaries

Hands off

It was a beautiful spring afternoon at Canterlot High. The birds were chirping merrily as they flew in front of the camera, the breeze was visible in pleasant waves, the background score was unconquerably bouncy, and love was visibly in the air. Everywhere the camera would trace there were couples arm in arm and a head layed lovingly on every shoulder. As the camera reached the cafeteria the double doors swung boldly open by themselves to reveal a bustling high school full of happy teenagers chatting and enjoying their lunches.

At a table in the far corner sat a few girls we're all familiar with, waiting for the last two of their little circle of friends. Fluttershy rested her head against Sunset Shimmer's shoulder as she sipped her juice, the two having become a couple last school year, Sunset acting as Fluttershy's emotional support girlfriend. The five girls chatted merrily, with conversations crossing and recrossing, starting, stopping, and picking up a thousand thousand times. All conversation ceased suddenly when a tray of food was plopped contemptuously down on the table, its contents spilling out haphazardly, though thankfully not getting any on Rarity's new spring skirt.

Rainbow had a long sour grimace on her face as she fell onto the bench seat. Without a word she started wolfing down her chili dog and glared in annoyance at the big Applejack shaped empty spot at the table. The rest of the girls sighed, knowing without having to be told what the issue was. Rainbow and Applejack were fighting again. They knew it was their duty, but no one wanted to be the one to broach the subject.

Eventually the fervent glances all fell to Sunset who sighed hard. On days like this she wondered to herself why she didn't just stay evil. She spoke in a sarcastic monotone, having had to ask this question every other week for six months. "Rainbow, you look upset. What's wrong?"

The entire table answered as one as the frowning girl growled, "Applejack."

"Um, was it the boots thing again?" Fluttershy asked from under a lock of long pink hair, giving Sunset an extra squeeze to work up the nerve. Sunset smiled to herself and squeezed back.

"NO!" Rainbow barked back, causing the timid girl to squeak in fear and cuddle closer to her girlfriend. "I just wanted a little AFFECTION from my GIRLFRIEND." Her voice dropped into a low growl. "If she even is my girlfriend." She flailed her chili dog holding hand about, slinging delicious sauce about, forcing Rarity to have to duck and weave as the furious girl ranted. Pinkie Pie dutifully intercepted the offending droplets, being a rather devoted fan of Granny Smith's world famous secret chili sauce, snatching them out of the air with her tongue like a chameleon.

"You know what I found out today?!" She shouted, asking no one in particular. "I found out she hasn't told her family about us!" She waited in vain for a shocked gasp that never came.

Twilight took the pause to get a word in edgewise. "Well Dash, you know Granny Smith doesn't approve of dating in high school."

"Yer dern raght ah don't!" Granny Smith said, placing the leftover pot of chili on the table for Pinkie Pie as per their arrangement. "Bunch a youngins runnin around lovin on each other all hopped up on whore moans and end or fins! Runnin headlong inta heartbreak and needless drama." She flashed her most wrinkly maternal glare down at the six girls. "Iffn y'all'r wahse you'll stay'way frum all that nonsense! Hrmph!" She punctuated her wisdom by plopping down her ladle into the pot of chili, causing one single minuscule drop to land on the very edge of Rarity's skirt. She fainted on the spot.

Rainbow made rude faces at the retreating lunch lady. "Whatever!" She growled under her breath. "It's none of her business who her granddaughter's with anyhow!" She groaned hard and popped up from the table. "I'm gonna go practice." She slammed her tray into the trash and stormed off. The remaining girls watched sadly as their friend stomped away towards the soccer fields.

"Poor Rainbow." Pinkie said over a mouthful of delicious chili. "I didn't know Applejack was ashamed of her. Mmmmm." She lifted the pot to her mouth and inhaled a cartoonishly large volume of the spicy red sauce.

"I don't think Applejack's ashamed of Rainbow Pinkie." Twilight said uncertainly. "She's just reluctant to open up. I mean, I am!" She blushed and waved her hands. "I've never even kissed a boy before!" She turned towards her reserved friend, still cowering under the protection of her girlfriend's comforting leather jacket. "Sunset, you had to take it slow with Shy right?"

"Nope." Sunset said casually over a mouthful of sandwich.

"We do it all the time." Fluttershy confirmed as if there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

Sunset added. "Twice this morning."

The three girls spit their drinks in unison. Pinkie snorted, "It's always the quiet ones."

"It's barely noon!" Rarity exclaimed while furiously rubbing the detergent stick over the stain on her skirt.

Sunset grinned knowingly. "Oh and I'm sure you know nothing about this sort of thing."

Rarity straightened up suddenly as if stung. She blushed up to the eyes. "A lady does not kiss and tell!" She said firmly.

Sunset nodded, secure in the knowledge of her victory in the debate. "What about you Pinkie?"

A giant pink tongue stretched all the way around the girl's face leaving it sparkling clean. Pinkie giggled as she said. "Oh, my widdle cheesy weesy cream pies me all the time!"

Again drinks shot out of mouths. Sunset almost flopped backwards out of her seat as she howled with laughter. Twilight barked. "Pinkie!"

Before she could continue, a yellow student in a Hawaiian shirt with long kinky hair ran up and smashed a Banana cream pie right into the pink girl's face. Pinkie giggled until she snorted. "Love you too."

Rarity and Twilight heaved a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness. That's what you meant."

Pinkie gave a knowing look. "Was it Twilight? Was it?"

The four girls sat in stunned silence for several seconds. "Okay I'm leaving!" Twilight said, quickly popping up from the table and grabbing her bag. "I have free study with Applejack next period. I'll talk to her and see what's going on." She scuttled away from the lewd scene as fast as her legs would carry her.

"And I uh. . . I have a rendezvous to attend to. Farewell ladies." She tried to scuttle away but didn't quite escape in time.

Sunset cooed in a teasing tone, "Oh, you mean with that blonde football player I saw you talking to last week?"

Rarity stopped dead in her tracks. She did an about face, cheeks blazing red. She inhaled and raised a finger to retort, but nothing came to mind. She turned and quickly retreated.

Sunset glanced down at the gentle tugging on her jacket. Fluttershy was finishing putting on a spiked collar around her neck. "Round three?" She pleaded. Sunset lifted her straight off the bench and buried her tongue in the shy girl's mouth. Twilight arrived at study hall and found her rural friend leaned far back from a table on the back legs of her chair, her stetson low on her brow, a scowl on her face, biting violently into a large red delicious apple like a predator biting into its prey.

Twilight sat timidly down in the seat next to her and fished for the most delicate way to broach the conversation. Thankfully her friend started the conversation for her so that she didn't have to. "Ah don't wanna talk about it."

The bookworm sighed. "I know, and I'm not the best to give you advice on the matter. That's cadence's bag." She delicately placed a hand on the farm girl's shoulder. "But you're my friend, and Rainbow's my friend too. I'd like to help if there's any way that I can." For the first time Applejack pushed back the hat far enough for Twilight to see that she'd clearly been crying recently. Twilight's eyes went wide at the sight. Applejack cried on the inside! Not the outside.

The blonde girl sighed and brought the front two legs of her chair down to the floor. She leaned far forward and gathered her thoughts. "It's just." She blushed slightly at having to say such private things out loud. "Ah mean Ah like Rainbow, a whole lot!" She sat up and her face grew hard with annoyance. "It's just Ah'm just not quaht ready to go. . . Quaht that far, just yet. And that hard headed gal just DON'T LISTEN!" Applejack stamped a booted foot on the floor so hard the class shook slightly.

Twilight coaxed the magically super-powered girl into a slightly calmer state. Applejack sighed again. "Ah don't know Twahlaght. . . Maybe Ah'm just bein fussy over nuthin." She pulled her hat low on her brow again and crossed her arms.

"Well, no, not really." Twilight began sheepishly. Applejack glanced sidelong at her from under her hat. Twilight blushed, having no experience with such matters. "I mean, if you don't want to be touched then you don't have to let her, ya know."

The hat slipped slightly further up on the forehead. Applejack smiled slightly at hearing her own words said by someone else. The smile faltered though as the farm girl's honest nature got the best of her. "Well that's just it." She receded further into herself, her voice barely above a whisper. "I mean. I kinda like it. The. . . Things we do. . . When we're alone. It's just sometimes she wants a bit more than I'm willin to give raght this minute, and she gets a bee in er bonnet when I wanna stop."

Twilight, being completely out of her element with such troubles, attempted to approach the issue from a psychological angle. "Well. . . She's more boisterous and adventurous, and you're more level headed and reserved. It makes sense that she would be more comfortable doing. . . That, on a faster time line. But I think, from what you've told me, she feels like that means you don't reciprocate her affection. Does that make sense."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Naw Twilight, nuthin y'all says makes sense with yer big fancy words."

Twilight smiled bashfully. "Sorry um. She thinks that you not wanting to be touched means you don't like her as much." Her tone grew quieter knowing she was approaching a delicate subject. "Do you. . . Love. . . Her?" Applejack sat in contemplative silence for an uncomfortably long moment. The purple bookworm felt like she'd hit a nerve and tried to backtrack. "I'm sorry. I."

"Yes." Applejack whispered so softly Twilight wasn't sure she actually heard it. Her eyes went wide as she saw tears begin to stream down the usually so stalwart young woman. "Ah do Twahlaght! I love er. Whether we're kissin, er arm wrastlin, er just hangin out, mah heart swells up like it's gonna burst!" She wiped a tear from her eye. "Feels like Ah'm floatin when we're together."

The girl that hadn't even had her first kiss couldn't help but smile at this unexpected outpouring of affection. "Well, have you told her that yet?" Applejack looked at her with a guilty expression and shook her head. Twilight gently layed a purple hand on the farm girl's orange one. "Well maybe that's something she'd like to know."

Applejack looked away. "I know, n Ah been meanin to tell er but. . ."

"Buuuuut. . .?" The book worm prompted.

"But Iffn she ain't gonna quit her grabbin when Ah tell her to stop does she really love me?!" Applejack shouted, tears in her eyes, startling the few other students in the classroom.

Twilight waved sheepishly at the other students and they went back to their studying. "Hrmm, that does make sense. I can see why you're troubled about it." Applejack couldn't respond. She sat, doing her best to keep her little episode to herself. Twilight's heart ached for her friend. She knew She had to do something. "Look A.J., I'll talk to Rainbow Dash about it okay? Maybe she just doesn't realize how much this bothers you?"

Applejack wiped the last tear from her eye and inhaled deeply. "Thanks Twah." She squeezed the meek woman tightly around the neck. "Sorry about the water works." She sniffed away the last of her mood.

Hands on.

Free period ended and Twilight walked out to the soccer fields. What she saw there made her reconsider her offer to talk to Rainbow Dash about Applejack's feelings. There stood Rainbow, scowling and fuming, waiting for the ball to ricochet off of the crater that was forming in the far wall so she could kick it all the way back. The book worm audibly gulped and waded into the fray. She had to clear her throat before weakly calling out, "Hi Rainb." Boom.

The force of the kick was like a clap of thunder right at ground level. The shockwave caused by the impact forced the purple girl to retreat a step. She rubbed the ring out of her ears and tried again. "Hey Rainbow." Boom. "Dash. Can I." Boom. "Talk to." Boom. "You?" Rainbow hadn't acknowledged the presence of her friend. She had stood scowling at the crater, waiting for the ball to return, but now stood motionless, not making any visible preparations to face the meteor that was hurtling towards her face.

Twilight watched the incoming artillery shell with growing alarm until finally she held her arms and leg up to shield herself from the imminent impact. Rainbow still hadn't moved, but a split second before the ball would've blown her head straight off her shoulders like a cannonball her left hand lashed out and caught the ball dead in its tracks. Twilight listened in horror to the sound of the ball crackling from the heat of the friction from moving through the air so fast. Rainbow finally made eye contact with the terrified girl, and again, the book worm reconsidered whether or not now was a good time.

Rainbow's eyes glowed with a hot roiling anger like a flow of lava, waiting to melt anything foolish enough to get to close. The purple girl visibly trembled in front of the raging tempest in the form of woman. Suddenly however, the storm dissipated, the lava cooled, the anger that had formed a crater in a brick wall vanished. Rainbow spoke in a completely casual tone as she said, "Sup Twi?"

The scholar stood stunned. For a moment she gained a gleam of hope that Rainbow had gotten it all out of her system, but then she noticed her friend's body language. She was still seething. The calm was a thin facade in an attempt to save face. Twilight sighed. "I wanted to talk to you about Applejack."

The anger slipped out again momentarily as Rainbow groaned and kicked the soccer ball hard enough to unseat the goal from the ground. "What? Did she send you to break up with me so she doesn't have to?"

Twilight felt mildly insulted by the notion. "What? No! Why would you say that?"

"Because what other reason could there be Twilight?!" The athlete whined, a note of desperation slipping out through the assumed calm. "We've been together for six months! I told her I loved her at the winter formal and it's MARCH Twilight!" She stomped over to the bleachers and plopped down miserably, the mask of calm slipping all the way off to reveal the deeply hurt lover beneath. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong Twi."

The scientist sighed and slipped silently beside her friend. "Rainbow. . . Applejack doesn't want to break up with you. It's just she's not quite ready to go. . ." She blushed and had to force herself to finish the sentence. "Quite. . . That far yet."

"But why not?!" Rainbow shouted, tears in the corners of her eyes. "I mean Isn't that what love is? Finding the person you want to be with? If she doesn't want me to touch her then what am I doing wrong? Am I not pretty enough like Rarity? I'm I not smart enough like you? What is it?" She let her head fall heavily into her hands. She attempted without success to disguise the fact that she was crying.

Twilight sighed and made a mental note to talk to her old babysitter turned sister in law about these issues. She started to think maybe Granny Smith had a point about teenage romance. It had brought two of her best friends to tears. "Rainbow? Do you really think that Applejack wants to break up with you?"

Rainbow had to mumble the answer from between her hands. "I don't." Sniffle. "Know."

"Cause you know what she told me, just a few minutes ago?" Twilight said.

Rainbow raised her head just high enough to see her friend's face. "Wha. Hiccup. At."

Twilight smiled and looked at the clouds rolling across the sky. "When we're together my heart swells up like it's gonna burst. It Feels like I'm floating when we're together."

Rainbow's mouth hung slack for just a moment in surprise. "Really. . . She really said that to you."

The book worm smiled and nodded. "Mhmm. Less than an hour ago." She gave her friend a reassuring squeeze. "It's not that she doesn't like you." Twilight blushed again and looked away. "It's not even that she doesn't like the. . ." She had to clear her throat. "Touching. . . Stuff. It's just she wants you to listen to her when She tells you to stop. She feels like it means you don't respect her feelings."

Rainbow wiped the tears from her face, but grew mildly annoyed. She sighed hard. "Does she really think I don't respect her? After all we've been through?"

Twilight shrugged. "That's what you not stopping when she wants you to stop makes her feel. She's uncomfortable, but you keep going. What is she supposed to think." Twilight saw a look of guilt come across her friend's face and she felt the need to console her. "But it doesn't mean she doesn't like you." She gave a small conspiratorial smile. "In fact, it may be even more." Rainbow's face snapped up to look at her like a dog being offered a walk. "I think you should go talk to her about it."

The athlete leapt to her feet and danced around a moment impatiently. "You're right. I gotta go." Rainbow's magic wings appeared and a rainbow streak stretched all the way back to the building. The wind tunnel that followed pulled Twilight several feet along the bleacher. She was immediately thrown back into place as Rainbow just as suddenly returned. She gave the bedraggled book worm a squeezing hug and quickly whispered. "Thanks Twi." Then rocketed away again.

Oof. Big Oof.

The weekend passed without incident and on Monday afternoon the cafeteria once again buzzed with conversation and loud eating sounds. Our group of friends was once again gathered at their usual table, happily weaving their threads of conversation into a tapestry of memories. Rarity and Pinkie were having a debate about whether or not it was proper to use actual food in an outfit, and the rest were trying their best not to laugh as the manic girl continued to bait the fashionista into turning various different shades with each point made.

The debate came to a crashing halt when their athletic friend appeared silently beside them without saying a word of greeting. She shakily placed an empty tray on the table and slipped silently into her seat. The rest of the assembled girls glanced nervously at each other, once again debating who should spring this particular trap. Sunset Shimmer stoutly refused, signaling that she had done the last one and that it was someone else's turn.

Rarity, like a lady, decided to volunteer for the sake of her friends. "Dahling, what's." She gasped audibly when she finally noticed the elephant in the room, or more specifically, smeared across Rainbow's face. It was a large, red, ugly, glowing hand print. The rest craned their necks to see, and each made a pained face in response. Rainbow spoke in a monotone whisper, barely audible over the dull roar of the cafeteria.

She told them of a magical weekend, filled with professions of love and reconciliation. This afternoon however, things had gotten a little too hot and heavy after athletics. Rainbow had done her usual routine that they had established, kissing the mouth, then the neck. She had rubbed her knee between the farm girl's leg the way she knew drove her nuts, but never could bring Herself to tell her not to. Then when Applejack had been breathing heavily as she always did, Rainbow had slipped her hand all the way up Applejack's shirt and under her bra.
"And then she did this to me." Rainbow concluded.

Having to relive the event in spoken form finally brought the gravity of the situation home to the stricken lover. The tears finally surmounted the barricade and she began to weep. Soon the small sobs became a roar of misery and it took Sunset and Rarity escorting her out of the cafeteria to end the scene she was making. The remaining three sulked over their lunches, hearts bleeding for their friends.

"What're we gonna do?" Fluttershy asked.

"Poor Rainbow, do you think this means they're broken up?" Pinkie said.

Twilight sighed. "I don't know. I'll see if I can talk to Applejack in free period." But Applejack didn't attend free period. In fact she wasn't in any of her afternoon classes. After the incident she had gone, after a quick cry in the ladies room, to talk with the school counselor. She felt cold and scared in the brown and beige room, yet somehow the air still seemed too close, like she was going to suffocate. The counselor finally entered and spoke politely to the young woman, yet somehow she still seemed daunting. She looked fair, but felt foul.

"Hello Ms Applejack was it? I heard you wanted to talk to me?" Applejack wanted to answer, but the words simply refused to leave her mouth. She felt like a child being interrogated by an adult, not wanting to say the wrong thing and get in trouble. All she could do was nod firmly. "Well, I'm all ears, what's on your mind." Again the farm girl couldn't bring herself to discuss the issue with the wrinkly woman in the ill fitting business dress. She couldn't even look her in the eye.

The counselor ducked her head, trying to get a peek at her client's face. Applejack, despite knowing she was being childish about the whole ordeal, turned her face away. "Having trouble with your studies." Applejack shook her head no firmly. "Problems with bussing, need a ride to school." Applejack had been driving herself and Applebloom to school everyday in the family truck ever since Big Macintosh had graduated and married his High School sweetheart Sugar Belle. She once again silently shook her head.

The counselor gained a knowing look. "Oh!" She said, holding out the note for emphasis. She couldn't repress the smile in her voice as she said, "Boy troubles." Applejack's head turned sharply to look the counselor in the eye, but she still couldn't bring Herself to speak. The counselor got the unspoken meaning in the look. "Oh. Girl troubles."

Finally one single word managed to slip the nigh impermeable walls of Applejack's lips. She looked away as she whispered, "Y-Yeah."

The counselor nodded and leaned far back in her chair, finding her hands in front of her. "Ah yes. Young love is always a tricky subject. It can take you from the highs of heaven to the depths of hell and everything in between. Hormones waking up, new feelings, so much pressure about whether to do it or not to do it."

Applejack glanced once at the woman and nodded in agreement. "Let me see if I can guess. Something happened today?" Applejack nodded. "Something that's been building for a long time?" Again the same silent childish gesture.
"And it's something you and her have talked about a thousand times before and you're sick of it?"

Applejack sat straighter in her chair. "Yes!" She said in astonishment. "But how'd y'all know?"

The counselor help up her hands casually. "Eh. It happens to plenty of people. One wants one thing, the other wants something else. Most of the time couples can work it out, but then there are times like. . ." She held out her hand towards the young woman.

Applejack looked away again, but the crushing terror of the woman had almost entirely dissipated. "Well what'd Ah do? I mean I still love er, but Ah cain't keep doin this? But after what Ah did today Ah don't think I can face er agin."

The counselor thought for a moment and an idea popped into her head. "Hold on a moment. That could work. Yes! Hold on just a second." She typed something into her computer and she smiled. "Yes I think that might be just the solution."

Applejack turned in cautious curiosity towards the woman. "What could work?"

The counselor turned the screen so that Applejack could see the pictures of campers kayaking, and talking in a circle. The pleasant pictures of sunrises and smiling faces. The logo of a heart in a butterfly with the slogan "We'll transform your life." "A retreat for young people to get out of their confusing situation and get their head straight about relationship matters. I've sent a few there and they seemed pleased enough about the results. Though you'd have to get this permission slip signed by your parents. I think this could be just what the doctor ordered."

Applejack hesitantly asked, "What's it called."

"Camp Chrysalis."

Bigger Oof

The loud buzz of the phone vibrating on the nightstand simply became too annoying to ignore and the timid teenager begrudgingly answered the ill timed summons. "Uhm. Hello? I'm sorry, but this is a really bad time right now. If you could."

"Fluttershy! Finally! Listen, Applejack hasn't been to school for the last two days and Rainbow is almost catatonic. She doesn't speak and she barely blinks! I'm really worried about them both. We're all going to go to Sweet Apple Acres together to see if we can't work this out between them. Is Sunset there with you? She's not answering her phone." Twilight said in a tone just below hysterics. Fluttershy looked at her girlfriend and blinked silently for several seconds. "Fluttershy?"

"Oh, um. No, She can't talk right now, but you're on speaker, she can hear you." Fluttershy said, casually pressing the button on the remote in her hand.

"Okay, good. We're all gonna meet up and go together. How soon can you two meet us?" Twilight asked.

Fluttershy did some quick calculations in her head. They'd have to disconnect the straps, tidy up the mess, scrape off the wax, wipe up the puddles, clean the tools, get undressed, bathe, and get dressed again. "Ummm. . . Can we just meet you at the gate to the farm in an hour?"

The worried bookworm sighed with discontent. "Fine, but please hurry!" The line went dead in the yellow girl's hand.

Fluttershy sighed hard with annoyance and worry. "Sunny Bunny, I'm sorry, but we have to hurry this up. Your mistress will graciously allow you to finish early today." She pressed a different button on the remote and again the sound of loud buzzing could be heard along with the convulsive rattling of chains. After the still trembling teenager was lowered from her restraints, cleaned, and clothed, the two made their way to their friend's farm.

"Alright!" A very annoyed Sunset Shimmer shouted as she slammed the door to Fluttershy's van. "What's so important that you had to interrupt Mistress Flu. Woah. . ." She stopped suddenly when she caught a look at Rainbow Dash's face. She was white as a sheet. It looked like she hadn't slept in days and her eyes were as red as if she'd poured bleach into them. "Rainbow! Oh my gosh! Is this still the whole? . . ." She tilted her head towards the house to signify who she was talking about without having to say the name. "I mean I knew She loved her, but I expected someone like R.D. to bounce right back onto her feet."

"No, she's positively distraught over the matter." Rarity said as she helped the nearly limp girl out of her car.

"Yeah! It's spooky! It's like when Applejack left she took Dashies soul with her." Pinkie said, flailing the limp hands about. Everyone assembled shushed the silly girl, but it was too late. The cat was out of the bag.

At the name Rainbow's red eyes swam back into focus. She began to move like one slowly waking from a coma. "Abblejuh." She mumbled dreamily, as she blearily looked around. In a flash her vision cleared and she realized where she was. Her magic wings appeared and she flew like a dart towards the farm house. The rest of the girls followed as fast as they could run down the dirt trail, but the panicked lover was already pounding on the door when they arrived panting and puffing.

"Gosh darnit! Hold yer dern hosses a cotton pickin minute!" Granny snapped irritably as she flung open the door. "Cain't an old lady take a nap in her own home without someone breakin down the door?" She saw the collective concerned faces and recognized them as her granddaughter's little friends. "Oh hello there youngins! What can I."

"Where's Applejack?!" Rainbow shouted, interrupting the old woman.

Both Sunset and Twilight lashed out a hand to cover the worried lover's mouth and pull her away from the door. "So sorry about that ma'am!" Sunset pleaded apologetically.

Twilight cleared her throat. "Granny Smith? Applejack hasn't been to school in the last two days? Is she alright? She's not answering her phone and we're really worried." Every head nodded in agreement.

A dark cloud seemed to pass over the face of the senior citizen. "She ain't here." Granny began. Rainbow went limp at the news. "She's at some camp because some BOY couldn't keep his hands to hisself and got her as messed up insahde as a fox in a henhouse. Now she's gotta go get her head all straightened out." She waved her cane menacingly. "I always said chidren lovin on each other was askin fer trouble! N Iffn I find out who done treated mah little Jackie so bad, Imma! IMMA! Heck fire it ain't polahte to say what imma do in present compny!" The furious old woman fell heavily into Her rocking chair as if exhausted by the emotion.

Rainbow felt pierced to the heart by the explanation. She mirrored the action by her legs giving out from under her and falling heavily onto her butt on the wooden porch. Rarity and Sunset both crouched by the shell shocked girl. "Camp? What camp?" Fluttershy asked.

Granny Smith reached her cane inside and deftly snatched the brochure off of the table by the door. "This'n. Some kinda therapy camp ah think. Counsler at the school said it worked a trick fer silly children who get their hearts broken."

"Camp Chrysalis?" They all asked simultaneously.

"But when will she be back?" Pinkie asked.

Granny shook her head sadly. "Don't rightly know child. Poor thing." She noticed the mortified expression on Rainbow's face and pointed with her cane. "What's a matter with this'n? She get her heart broken too?" She shook her head disapprovingly. "Kids these days."

The girls all shared one of those stealthy glances that in one look contained an entire conversation. They all knew that Applejack hadn't told Granny about her relationship with Rainbow Dash and confirmed that none of them should betray their friend's secret. "Oh uhm she's just concerned for poor Applejack." Rarity said, trying without success to hoist the limp girl to her feet.

"Can I hold on to this?" Twilight said as she wrapped a blue arm over her neck. Granny nodded her head and they trudged away with their burden in tow.

"What'd we do now?" Pinkie asked, her big blue puppy dog eyes swelling up in concern for her friends.

"For now let's just get Rainbow home." Sunset Shimmer said, sweating under her burden.

Rainbow for her part was completely unaware of the conversation. Granny's creaking accusatory voice echoed over and over again in her mind, "Messed up insahde. Broken hearted. Treated her so bad." Every word striking her like a physical blow to the heart. She'd driven her away. The love of her young life and she'd driven her away! Applejack had JUST said she LOVED her and Rainbow had just hurt her so bad she had to physically flee just to get away from her!

The limp girl's thousand yard stare happened to catch the brochure in Twilight's hand and she snatched it away faster than the eye could track. She crushed the colorful paper in her trembling hands as she devoured every word on the page. "Camp Chrysalis! Just outside of town!" Her magical wings once again sprouted and she rocketed up into the air. Before anyone could tell her otherwise she dashed off into the distance, leaving a shimmering trail behind her.

"Rainbow!" Twilight called uselessly after the rapidly retreating girl. She sighed hard and a tear came to her eye.

"Poor thing." Fluttershy said quietly The last of the colorful trail disappeared, leaving a big pale empty sky in its wake.

Sunset Shimmer took Fluttershy's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. A determined look came into her eye. "Well girls." She gave each of them a stern look. "We've been through hard times before but we've always managed to get through them somehow. So, what are we gonna do about this?" She looked to Twilight for any ideas she might have.

The purple person put a pointer to her chin and paced while she pondered. "Well, maybe we should find out what we can about this Camp Chrysalis, see if it's on the up and up."

"Um, Granny said the school counselor recommended it to her. I can talk to her about it. I mean. If you want me to." The shy girl suggested softly, earning an approving squeeze from her girlfriend.

"I think at least some of us should see if we can't retrieve Rainbow before she does something foolish." Rarity added, picking up the pace towards the gate.

Twilight nodded, "Right, Pinkie and Rarity, see if you can't find Rainbow. Fluttershy, Sunset, you go talk to the school counselor, see what this camp is all about."

They began a brisk jog towards their cars, but Pinkie stopped. "What'll you do Twi?"

"I'm going to go talk to Cadence. If anyone will know what to do, it's her." The scholar said with a confident smile.

She was immediately snatched by the collar of her shirt and pulled nose to nose with the fashionista. "Cadence! Your sister in law! Mi Amore Cadenza the most beautiful prom princess in Canterlot High history!" She squealed in excitement. "Can't I go with you? Please! I simply idolize her! Please please please!''

Pinkie lifted the hysterical fan girl straight into the air. "Hey mister missy miss! I'm supposed to be the one who's easily distracted and over excited! Stay in your lane! Plus, we're on Rainbow wrangling duty!" She produced a cowboy hat from who knows where and slapped it down onto Rarity's head. She let out a loud yeehaw and stuffed Rarity into her rather stylish luxury sedan. The rest got in their respective vehicles and made their way to their various objectives.

A Series of Tubes

In one of the faux log cabins of Camp Chrysalis Applejack once again sat in embarrassed silence, feeling like a child being lectured about some terrible thing they had done. The camp should've felt like paradise. Out in the country, pleasant water features, fresh air, yet everything felt. . . Cold, stilted, threatening. She couldn't put her orange finger on it, but something felt subtly wrong about the whole place.

Maybe it was her fellow campers. So many of them seemed to be in some state of mind between soullessly hollow and surly. Their eyes seemed sunken, gray, listless. They trudged around everywhere they went not seeming to care where they went or what they did. Applejack sat in a circle with a dozen other campers listening to the coordinator of the camp Ms Chrisy, as she had introduced herself with the same off putting sense of wrongness that everything else had evoked.

Applejack kept telling herself that she was being silly, but she just couldn't get over the fact that the business casual attired woman just didn't seem to sit right with her. She looked pretty, pleasant, compassionate and caring, but the troubled girl couldn't help but feel that it was somehow a ruse, a mask to lure one into a trap. Applejack blinked with embarrassment when she realized that she had been called on to speak but had been lost in her thoughts. She shook her head and cleared her throat in embarrassment. "Ahem. I'm sorry, Ah was a mite distracted. What'd ya say?"

Ms Chrissy smiled what should've been a reassuring, warming smile, but again it made the farm girl squirm in her seat. It was like the deceptive sunlight of a cold winter's day that shines but does not warm. "I said." She repeated in a voice like the song of a glass harp, beautiful but thin and hard. "Please Ms Applejack, tell us what brings you here with us today?"

The embarrassed girl broke out in a cold sweat. She glanced around the ring of faces and felt like one on trial, the other campers her jury, the long sharp woman her judge. She had to clear her throat more than once before she began. "Uhm, howdy. . . Y'all, uhm. Ahem. Well, uh. I just. I mean, me and mah uh." Gulp. "Girlfriend. Uhmm. She was uh." This was the single most embarrassed the poor Girl had ever felt. She felt eleven pairs of cold, dead, vacant, gray eyes boring into her soul, and one pair of sharp merciless green eyes pinning her in place. She slammed her eyes shut and blurted out the rest of her explanation. "Touchin on me. . . More than I wanted."

Ms Chrisy bobbed her head in a gesture that was supposed to be an understanding and sympathetic gesture, but the predatory smile on her face seemed to have all the cruelty of one gloating in triumph. "Ah yes." She hissed. "We see this all the time here. Someone who uses love just to get into someone's pants." Applejack reeled as if stung. She was torn equally between rage at accusing the girl she loved of such duplicity, and the nagging doubt in her heart that the counselor was exactly right.

The twelve campers all spoke in disconcerting unison. "We don't owe anyone our bodies or our hearts."

The farm girl's stubborn nature felt the need to stand up for the one she loved, but she didn't know quite where to begin. "Well, now, hold on there. It ain't like that. Rainbow ain't just after. . ." She blushed and couldn't finish her sentence.

The camp counselor rose and strode towards the blushing girl as smoothly as a predatory animal stalking its prey. "Ms Applejack really." She squatted beside the softly trembling teenager and took both of her freckled orange hands in her own. The hands felt ice cold to the touch and the razor sharp nails pressed like talons against her skin. Ms Chrisy's face came uncomfortably close to Applejack's own as she spoke.

"Applejack. No one has a right to your body if it makes you feel uncomfortable. This. . . Rainbow girl, has made you feel ashamed, made you feel helpless, made you feel like your feelings don't matter. Are those the actions of someone who loves you?"

Applejack wanted to flee, wanted to retreat, wanted to be anywhere but there, but those piercing green eyes pinned her in place like a pair of hunter's spears. They seemed almost to glow with a fell light. "Well, I mean, no, but. . ." She couldn't think straight. She felt her feelings and doubts and worries swirling around in her thoughts like a whirlpool. Tears started to her eyes. Could Rainbow really have been using her? Was she just after sex? "No!" She said with an uncertain defiance. "Ah'm tellin you that ain't it! Rainbow's just. . . Well she's just a little handsy is all." It sounded weak even to her.

Applejack flinched as a flash of anger appeared on the counselor's face for the briefest of moments. Quickly however the mask of cordiality resumed its place. The counselor once again gained that same mocking smile of knowing better than the poor confused child. "Oh, campers, what behavior is Ms Applejack here exhibiting?"

Again the grim chorus rang out in dull unison. "Enabling."

Ms Chrissy gently but firmly raised Applejack to her feet and led her to a series of large green tubes against the wall. "Ms Applejack. I want you to do something for me. This is called a sensory deprivation chamber. It shuts out all the noise and distractions of the world and lets you hear what's in your heart."

"Listen to your heart." Came the uncanny call from the monotone choir.

Applejack had absolutely no desire to enter the chamber lined with what looked like green, almost plant-like fleshy padding, but the counselor, once again with an irresistible strength that belied her thin frame, coaxed her into the chamber. "Now, I want you to think about this Rainbow girl of yours, and really think about how she treats you." The door didn't seem so much to shut, as to slither closed like a carnivorous plant swallowing her whole.

It was a rather claustrophobic experience for the farm girl, so used to wide open spaces, sunlight, and free air, but eventually her breathing slowed and she began to lose herself to the stillness. Her mind wandered and eventually she saw the Rainbow hair and cocky grin of the girl she loved. The smile that stole over Applejack's freckled face quickly turned to a grimace of annoyance when the image in her mind's eye of her girlfriend's cocky grin turned into a lewd smirk.

Again and again the confused girl tried to think of all the little moments that had made her fall in love with the rambunctious girl, but every time she did it was as if the love she felt in that moment was torn away from her, leaving only the discontent behind. She remembered when Rainbow had put an arc in a song that she had written without telling her she was going to and smiled warmly. Then just as quickly the love was gone and only the memory of Rainbow grinning back at her as she played and shaking her hips remained.

Applejack tried to remember their first kiss, how it had felt the heat in her heart spread slowly all the way down to the tips of her fingers and toes, but then she remembered how the moment came to a screeching halt when Rainbow had tried to get some tongue. She squeezed her eyes tight and clenched her fists. "It ain't like that!" She hissed to herself defiantly. She thought of Rainbow's apology, how genuinely sad and meek she looked. She thought of how low the usually brash and boisterous girl that she loved so much had been brought by the thought that her girlfriend doubted her respect for her.

She remembered when she'd taken the plunge and admitted it to herself and finally to Rainbow that it was more than like, or even like like, it was love, deep, warming, distracting, floating, wonderful love. She flinched inside the tube as she felt a sudden sting in her hand, and a soreness in her wrist. She felt hot tears burning her eyes, she was gritting her teeth so tightly together that they felt like they would break. She remembered how the sweet, meek, humbled, apologetic girl had slipped her hand up her shirt, after she had just said she wouldn't touch her without asking first.

The chamber slid open and Applejack flopped out of it gasping for breath between sobs. Two taloned claws seized her face and lifted the weeping girl's face to look into the eyes of a monster whose glut had been satiated. Suddenly the gloating beast became the pleasant sympathetic face of the camp counselor smiling kindly down at her. The woman pulled the girl into a gentle hug and Applejack cried deeply into her shoulder.

Biggest Oof

Applejack was allowed to spend the rest of the day in reflection on her life. Rather than achieving clarity about her situation she felt like she was staggering through a fog. Her heart ached, her head was spinning, she couldn't stop worrying about Rainbow. Was it true? Was her girlfriend only with her for sex? When evening finally came she lay awake on her bunk unable to think about anything but Rainbow.

"Stupid Rainbow." The farm girl mumbled angrily to herself. "Always tryina git up my shirt, er. . . Er in mah. . ." She realized almost as afterthought that she had been thinking about nothing but Rainbow Dash and sex all afternoon. She looked down at her body and an uncomfortable idea wormed its way into her mind. She could count on one hand the times that she had touched herself, but she simply couldn't get her mind off of her girlfriend. "Stupid sexy Rainbow Dash."

Awkward as it might be to do in an unfamiliar place after so much had happened, Applejack couldn't deny she needed some comfort right about now, and quite frankly, she was bored. The camp, despite pictures of happy campers kayaking in the brochure, was surprisingly scarce on recreational activities. The whole camp seemed like one big sensory deprivation chamber, nothing to do but think about her heartache.

Well now her head was filled to bursting with thoughts of her rather attractive girlfriend being handsy with her. That was one of Applejack's biggest sources of conflict, the fact that she genuinely did like the things that Rainbow did to her. Her hand strayed netherward and her breath began to grow labored. She slipped a hand under her shirt just like Rainbow had and her neck arched.

The thought began to occur to Applejack's mind. Why didn't she let Rainbow do these things to her? She did love her, didn't she? So why did she withhold herself from the girl she loved? Why was it that she wanted to hold Rainbow, kiss Rainbow, to look into those scarlet eyes for minutes on end, yet the second Rainbow's hand strayed to the places that She was touching right now she would snap at her? What was it that made her uncomfortable about her girlfriend touching her?

"Rainbow." She breathed as her movements grew faster and more intense. "Rainbow! . . . Rainbow?!" She stopped suddenly when she saw a streak of Rainbow fly across the moon. She stuck her head out the window and looked up to see the girl she loved floating high in the air on a pair of magic wings. Her heart leapt at setting the girl she'd been fantasizing about, but she suddenly grew pensive. This was the very person that she had come to this camp to get away from, to get her mind straight about. She knew Rainbow had to go, but she had to admit part of her was happy to see her. "T'wouldn't hurt to just. . . Talk to her. . . Just fer a minute." She stealthily scrambled out the window.

Rainbow Dash finally spotted her and darted to the ground. "Applejack!" She shouted with equal relief and desperation.

The farm girl shushed the athlete. "Hush girl! Ya might get in trouble if they see ya. What're y'all doin here?" She let out a grunt when Rainbow crushed her in an embrace.

"Applejack I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry." Rainbow wept bitterly into Applejack's shoulder. The farm girl couldn't help but smile. Despite everything that had happened, the big silly blue girl still made her heart swell. Applejack coaxed her girlfriend into a sitting position on the ground and cooed softly to her as she cried. The athlete clung to the farmer like a scared child, worried that she'd vanish forever if she let go. The sniffles grew less and less frequent and soon the two were sitting together in loving silence. "A.J., do you still love me?"

Applejack thought hard for a long moment and sighed. She gave the blue girl a comforting squeeze. "O'course Ah do."

Rainbow snuggled closer and sighed with relief. "So we're still together then?" The farm girl sighed hard. She got to her feet and took several steps away. "Applejack?" She asked worriedly.

Pinkie and Rarity caught a glimpse of the two through the trees from the road and pulled over quickly. "Rainb" Pinkie began to shout, but Rarity cupped a hand quickly over her mouth.

"Shush! This isn't a discussion we should interrupt!" She chided in a hushed voice.

"Oh, right, sorry. So I guess we should just wait here and not eavesdrop on the juiciest drama we'll probably ever see in person in our lives then huh." Pinkie said in a completely honest tone. Rarity's face went blank. She being an avid fan of soap operas of all kinds, failed to resist the temptation and the two crept silently towards the drama already in progress.

"Ah don't know Rainbow." Applejack choked back a sob. "Ah just don't know if Ah can be with you if y'all'r gonna be like this!" Rarity gasped and delicately took one single piece of the popcorn Pinkie had acquired from who knows where.

Rainbow's heart felt pierced as with an icicle. "A.J. . . You can't mean that. I love you!"

"DO YOU?!" Applejack screamed, disregarding her previous warning to use stealth. Rarity jumped slightly at the sudden volume. "Cause Ah'm not so sure anymore! Ah trah to remember a tahme where you was sweet on me without bein lewd and fer the lahfe a me ah cain't do it!" She glared through her tears. "Do you really love me, or are y'all just with me so you can get in mah pants Rainbow?" She waited in vain for an answer, but the athlete was too stunned by the accusation to answer right away. "Answer me!" Applejack screamed.

Rainbow Dash and the two concealed spectators flinched at the demand. "Yes! I mean, no! I." She groaned in frustration. "A.J. please! I love you." She took both of the outraged girl's hands in her own. "What do I have to do to make you see that? I'll do anything! No more kissing? I'll put myself in handcuffs when we're together!" She grinned weakly. "I can borrow them from Fluttershy."

"See! I told you fuzzy pink handcuffs were a good Christmas gift for Sunshy! Pay up!" Pinkie whispered triumphantly. Rarity rolled her eyes and slipped her a five.

Applejack couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at the joke. Rainbow felt a wave of relief at seeing the girl she loved smile again. "You wanna take a break here and get your head straight? That's fine, I'll wait. I promise, I have never meant to make you uncomfortable. I love you!" She gently kissed the clasped hands and there were tears in both of the spectators eyes.

Applejack's heart melted at these ministrations, and she was almost ready to throw her arms around her girlfriend's shoulders and say all was forgiven, but unfortunately at that exact moment Rainbow decided to make another lewd joke. She kissed the hands again but this time caught a whiff of Applejack's leftovers on her unwashed fingers. She grinned her usual cocky grin and quipped, "And hey, clearly you've been thinking about me." She sensually sucked on the tip of Applejack's middle finger.

Rarity face palmed. Pinkie, suddenly wearing a sports caster's headset whispered, "Oh that's gonna cost her some points!" Applejack's eyes blazed. She summoned all of her magical super strength and slapped Rainbow across the face as hard as she could.
Both Rarity and Pinkie screamed for their friend as they rushed to help her.

"Hey! What're you three doing here! No visitors allowed!" Came the voice from a security guard flanked on either side by a comrade.

Applejack's surprise at seeing two more of her friends suddenly appear was drowned in her hurt and rage. She lashed out a finger towards the prone figure of the blue girl on the ground and roared, "GIT HER OUTTA HERE! I DON'T NEVER WANNA SEE HER AGAIN!" She stomped away back to her cabin. The sound of her sobbing could be heard from within. Rarity and Pinkie carried the unconscious body of their friend quickly to Rarity's car and rushed away before the guards could get to them.

Sleuthset Shimmer

Fluttershy gently led Sunset Shimmer through a section of the school she'd never once set foot in before, the counselor's office. The counselor finished what she was typing and looked up. "Oh Sunset Shimmer! You've never dropped by my office before? How can I help you? Help applying to colleges? Need to take your SAT, ACT, ASVAB?" She saw that the girl's hand was holding another and she tilted her head around her screen to be able to see. "Oh good Lord what is it this time Ms Fluttershy? The door of the bathroom trying to eat you again?"

Sunset raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend, but Fluttershy spoke as if this was completely normal conversation. "Oh no, not today. I was hoping for some information about that camp you sent Applejack to, Camp Chrysalis."

The counselor raised an eyebrow. "You? . . . You're having relationship troubles?"

Sunset smirked. "I dunno Babe. Are we?"

The counselor gawked slack jawed as she looked from the confident popular teenager, to the one who had taken up the majority of her office time for three and a half years. "You! You're with THIS ONE?! But she's a bag of." The counselor stopped suddenly when Sunset flashed her a glare at her attempting to speak ill of her girlfriend. The counselor cleared her throat and straightened up slightly. She gave a sidelong glance at the shy teenager. "Ahem. Well done you."

"But yes. Would you mind us talking to a few of the other people you sent to Camp Chrysalis? We just wanted to reassure Granny Smith about the camp?" Sunset Shimmer said in her friendliest voice.

"Oh bless your heart Sunset! Going out of your way to help an old lady!" The counselor quickly printed out a list of students that she had recommended the camp to. "Here you go! Good luck! And don't be afraid to stop by anytime!"

The couple retreated from the deluge of brown nosing as fast as they politely could. Sunset firmly closed the door behind them and pressed her back to it, panting like she'd just escaped a vicious monster. "You think the door to the school bathroom is going to eat you?" Sunset asked skeptically.

Fluttershy waved her hand dismissively. "Oh no." Her girlfriend sighed with relief. "It's all bathrooms." Sunset stared in confusion. How could the girl who could spank her harder than any other lover she'd ever had, be so scared of so many silly things?

"Okay, so we need to find. . ." She glanced at the list. "Oh! Twag Firler, I know her. She's the one that was always hanging on the arm of that football player." She pondered out loud as they walked towards the football field. "Haven't seen much of them around recently though." They arrived and found the marching band in full uniform finalizing their maneuvers for the next year with the flag twirlers waiting for their cue.

The signal sounded and the flag twirlers came dancing out waving colorful banners that dazzled the eye in the bright spring sunshine. The couple watched in awe as they flung their flags high in the air and deftly caught them, all in perfect unison. All except one. Sunset shrank back in concern as the young woman of her acquaintance, usually so vivacious and full of life, proceeded to stand there, barely moving, an apathetic grimace across her face.

"Twag you're a flag twirler not a flag pole!" The band director shouted, throwing his baton to the ground angrily.

"What's wrong with her?" Fluttershy asked timidly from behind her girlfriend's shoulder.

"I have no idea." The band director said angrily. "She's been like this all semester. Shame really, she used to be team captain, but the way things are going I might have to cut her from the team entirely." The band finished their maneuvers and the couple made their way over to the lethargic girl.

"Hey Twag! Can I talk to you for a minute?" Sunset called out. The color muted girl turned sluggishly to face them, showing her gray sunken eyes as she did so. She grunted in acknowledgement of the two as they neared. "Hey, you went to Camp Chrysalis right?" A bob of the head was the only response. The two lovers glanced at each other for reassurance. "Well we had some questions if you don't mind." The girl shrugged her shoulders.

"Uhm. . . What did you actually, uhm, do there?" The pink haired girl asked.

The expressionless face rotated slowly to look at the speaker with the audible sound of two rocks scraping together. "Talked."

Sunset's eyes darted around for a second waiting for any other information. " . . . Talked . . . About? . . ."

For the first time during the conversation the dimmest glow of a light came into the girl's eyes. "Oh, they helped me realize I wasn't actually in love with my boyfriend. I'm really glad I went. I'm much happier now." She trudged away.

The couple turned away. "Could've fooled me." Sunset whispered as they walked back towards the school. The football players came running out to have their turn with the field. "Oh shoot, there's her ex right there! Heisman! Hey Heisman over here!" The lumbering mass of humanity stopped suddenly forcing all of his teammates to have to weave around him like a tree sprung up suddenly in a river.

He strode with his massive legs over to the two girls and Fluttershy cowered behind her girlfriend even more than normal. The young man was head and shoulders taller than either of them and possibly twice as broad. Even Sunset, confident as she was, still felt just a wee bit daunted by the giant. "Hey Sunset." He could see straight over the erect posture of the front girl to the cowering form of the girl behind. "Hi Fluttershy. What's going on?"

Flutteshy cowered even lower. "Hey, sorry to bother you right before practice, but umm we to talk to you about Twag Firler."

The young man's face fell low at the mention of the name. "Oh yeah. Firl my girl." He sighed and saw the last glimpse of the trudging flag twirler disappear into the darkness of the locker rooms. "I thought we had something special, but apparently I was wrong." He kicked the ground with his cleat absentmindedly. "Well, you see uh." He blushed and looked towards his team assembling on the field. "You know with graduation coming up I floated the idea of maybe."

He cleared his throat. "Makin us a permanent thing you know." Fluttershy, who by this time had come out completely from behind her emotional support girlfriend, put her hands to her mouth at how sweet the sentiment was. "Well, she seemed really on about the idea, or at least I thought she was, ya know? But she said she wanted to be sure, so she wouldn't break my heart. So then she goes to this camp, and apparently they helped her figure out she didn't love me at all." The towering teenager suddenly developed a catch in his throat. "I just. . . " He had to look away. "I thought she might have been the one, ya know?" He couldn't continue.

Fluttershy wiped a tear from her eye and wrapped her skinny arms around the giant. "That's terrible! You poor thing!" She cooed softly as she stroked her tiny hand over the young man's ridiculously broad back.

Heisman wrapped his tree trunks of arms around the skinny stick and a few tears leaked out from under his helmet. "Thanks Fluttershy. It really means a lot." Sunset had to wipe a tear from her eye, so was so proud of her girlfriend.

"Oi Heisman! You anglin for the three way or what? We got practice to get to!" Came a voice from the team, followed by a peal of laughter.

The giant straightened up, wiped the tears from under his helmet and began amping himself up. "Sorry ladies, gotta go." He charged onto the fields like a runaway train and shoulder checked the player that had shouted. He hit him so hard that he flew straight through the goalposts.

"And it's good!" Rang out the chorus from the whole team.

Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle at the spectacle, but she squeaked when Sunset swept her into her arms. "That was a beautiful thing you did for that guy Shyshy."

Fluttershy blushed and twiddled her fingers together nervously. "Oh, well, it wasn't anything special. He just looked so sad!" Fluttershy stood and took her girlfriend's hand.

Sunset grinned mischievously. "Well mistress? You never answered their question. Do you want to invite him for a three way?"

Without skipping a beat Fluttershy retorted. "Nah." She produced the riding crop that she always kept tucked into her knee high boot and slapped her girlfriend hard across the ass. The resulting pop was so loud it echoed off of the bleachers. Sunset let out a rather less than lady like sound and had to stop walking momentarily. "Football players are too delicate. They can't take it like you can." The hot and bothered teen stared after her girlfriend in mild terror as she walked away.

They interviewed the rest of the people on the list and it was the same story each time. A happy relationship, or at least one full of love, torn apart after one or the other had gone to that camp. "It's like their love is being stolen from them!' Fluttershy suggested.

"Why does this sound familiar?" Sunset pondered. She began fishing through her locker for the book used to communicate across dimensions with Equestria. "I can't help but think this sounds just like. . . Oh no." She found the page in the book she'd been looking for. A fanged maw and a pair of wicked green eyes glared back at her from the book. She seized Fluttershy by the arm and shouted. "QUICK! CALL TWILIGHT!"

Shiny! Grab the Gun!

It was a long sad drive from Sweet Apple Acres to her brother's house. It hurt her heart to see two of her friends so hurt and confused. Twilight sighed before knocking on the door. She heard her brother shout, "No Flurry Heart! Put down that blow torch!" Through the door. After a tense moment her sister in law Cadence opened the door and she saw her big brother best friend forever frantically chasing after her niece who was running around giggling while holding a lit blow torch.

Cadence's eyes sparkled when she saw the girl she spent so many happy days babysitting in her youth. "Oh my gosh! Twilight!" She broke into their ritual dance. "Sunshine, sunshine, lady bugs a." She stopped suddenly when she saw the long miserable pout stretched across her sister in law's face. "Twily?"

Twilight looked sadly up into her old baby sitter's face and said, "Cadence, can I talk to you?"

Cadence gasped. "I know what that sigh means! Love trouble! Husband! Emergency!"

Instantly Shining appeared in the doorway, dressed in full combat gear left over from his days in the military, assault rifle with attached grenade launcher, flak jacket, helmet, bdu's and all. On his chest, Flurry Heart was strapped into a bullet proof harness with a tiny little helmet held on her itty bitty head and a tiny dagger clenched in one pudgy fist. She giggled adorably and said, "Bwud fo da bwud god!"

Cadence rolled her eyes. "No love, the other emergency."

Shining Armor's eyes blazed and he rushed forward. "Who is it?! Who's the boy I have to kill?! Who hurt my little Twily?!"

Twilight waved her hands defensively. "No one! It's not about me!"

Both of the married couple sagged with relief and mild disappointment. They waved Twilight inside and Cadence poured herself a glass of wine. She draped herself on the couch and studied Twilight's posture. "Well it's definitely love trouble. I can just feel it on you."

Twilight sighed hard. "Well, yes. I guess you could say it is. It's. . . Applejack."

Cadence bobbed her head. "Farm girl, strong, fun, probably great in the sack."

Twilight snapped, "No i mean it's Applejack and Rainbow Dash!"

Cadence spat out her sip of wine. "Both at once! Twilight how bold! I never expected. How you manage is beyond me. I bet those two fight over you like cats and dogs!"

"She's with WHO NOW?!" Shining Armor shouted, once again appearing in the doorway in full combat gear.

"No!" Twilight screamed. "I'm not dating anyone!"

"Oh. . ." Both said at once, again, mildly disappointed.

"But you really should, you know. You've got so much going for you." Cadence leaned in and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. "And I hear that Flash Sentry has quite a lot going for him too." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Twilight snapped to her feet and shouted. "NO! I mean I have a serious problem with Applejack and Rainbow Dash that I need to talk to you about!"

Cadence gasped. "Not AppleDash!" She flipped through her phone and brought up a series of spreadsheets. "They're the most compatible of your friend group! What problem could you be having with them?"

Twilight looked at the myriad of information on her and her friends and saw various combinations ranking them in various criteria. "Cadence. . . Why do you have this chart?" She asked with strained calm.

Cadence looked up at the teenager with the wounded look one gives to one who should know better. "Twily, I'm your sister in law! It's important for me to know who you might have eyes for so I know whether or not they're a good match for you!"

Twilight growled, "Why would I ever be in a seven way relationship with my friends?"

Cadence shrugged. "Eh, it's not my thing but it helps to be prepared. For the record, very low probability of success. Falls to factional infighting very quickly. Hurt feelings, people taking sides, big mess."

Twilight sighed and plopped down next to her sister in law. "Well that's the situation we're in right now anyway!" She explained the situation between her two friends, how Applejack felt that Rainbow touching her meant she didn't love her, and how Rainbow felt Applejack's reluctance meant she didn't love her.

After her explanation she hung her head and held her face in her hands. "So now Applejack's at some camp because she felt she had to get away from Rainbow, and I don't know what to do." She looked pleadingly into Cadence's eyes. "So who was right? Should Rainbow stop touching her? Or should Applejack open up." She blushed and averted her gaze. "I don't have any experience in this field, so I thought I'd come to you about it."

Cadence swirled her wine thoughtfully. She saw her husband from where she lay changing their daughter's diaper, and the ever glowing coals of her heart roiled afresh. "Short answer Applejack. Long answer, both."

"But how can that be?" Twilight asked with a note of desperation in her voice.

Cadence sighed and sat up straighter. "Long story short, no one has the right to touch you if you don't want them to. Self ownership is the foundation of liberty, if you don't own yourself you own nothing. No matter how long you're together, no matter how comfortable a couple is with each other, the second one says "stop" it stops." She gave her old charge a piercing look. "Anything past that is rape." She looked at her husband again. "Even between me and Shiny. If either of us don't like being touched, it stops, because we love and respect each other."

Twilight fidgeted uncomfortably. "So Applejack's right. And Rainbow Dash is a . . ." She could only whisper the word. "Rapist?"

Cadence tilted her head. "Well, from what you've told me so far I think the worst she could be called legally is a molester, but she does have a point." Twilight's head popped up in surprise Cadence went on. "Sex means different things to different people. For some it's just a pleasant pastime, for others it's just a necessary bodily function, for some it's even a method of manipulation to get what you want. So in Rainbow's heart she clearly feels that sex is an act of love."

Twilight blinked in confusion. "So. . . Rainbow's. . . Right . . . Then? I'm confused."

"Love and sex are two different, but linked things. One can mean the other, but it's not an if/then scenario. To some sex means nothing, to others it means love. I think both Applejack and Rainbow Dash put romantic stock by sex, but people's sexual development comes at different speeds and that's just a hard fact of life." Cadence said, taking a sip of her wine.

Twilight sat confused. "Well then we're right back where we started!"

Cadence sighed and looked at her husband again, his strong shapely muscles delicately holding their little daughter, his voice, so accustomed to shouting commands on the battlefield, now babbling nonsensically. He'd always been this way, and she loved him so much it hurt. "Let's take an example. Do you know how many times me and Shiny had sex during high school?"

Twilight covered her glowing face with her hands and screamed. "I don't want to know!"

"Zero." Cadence said calmly. Twilight peaked an eye out from behind her hands. Cadence nodded. "Yup. Not once. Not a single time before we were married. And do you know when I was ready to give myself to him?" Twilight shook her head. "Junior year." Cadence chuckled and shook her head. "Yup, I wanted him, and I wanted him bad!" Twilight blushed, but Cadence took her hand. "Twily, do you remember all those times we took you to the movies, or to get ice cream?"

Twilight smiled nostalgically. "Yeah! It seemed like the three of us were always together."

"And do you know why Shining Armor always insisted we bring you?" The question had never occurred to Twilight. "So that he would restrain himself! Your brother never once took advantage of my willingness to be with him. He went out of his way to demonstrate his love for me apart from sex. He never once asked me to prove it with some sexual favor. He didn't want me to have to buy his love with sex." Twilight felt her heart swell with pride at her brother acting like a gentleman, until she noticed the smile on Cadence's face become strained. "I. Fucking. Hated. It."

Twilight went pale with shock. Cadence growled with anger at the memory. "For YEARS I tried every trick in the book to tempt him, but he was just incorruptible! He made certain every day that I knew he wanted me, made sure I knew he loved me, but EVERY SINGLE TIME, that same old INFURIATING PHRASE, 'I love you too much to take advantage.' And the worst part is Twilight. It worked! Your brother strung me along for years, made me want him, made himself the man I couldn't live without. And I couldn't be happier."

"Shiny knew that if he brought sex into the relationship that it would complicate matters, that we would end up focusing on one rather than the other. So he never allowed it! Even when I." Cadence chuckled in embarrassment. "Literally begged for it." Twilight couldn't help but giggle at the idea. "Oh yes, more than once. But do you understand what he was doing Twilight? He was making me love him."

Twilight shook her head. "So what does that mean for A.J. and Rainbow?"

"That's what I've been saying! Rainbow seems to have the equation backwards. It's not 'If you love me then you'll have sex with me.' Shining showed he loved me by NOT having sex with me. People reach comfort in sex at different rates. Rainbow happens to have gotten their first, Applejack's just a little slower. For Shining Armor he had the green light for years before we did anything, so we never had to poison our love with pressure." She sighed with love for her husband.

Twilight began to understand. "So Rainbow's trying to rush Applejack into something she's not quite ready for and that's what makes her uncomfortable. It has no bearing on how truly, or how deeply Applejack loves Rainbow. It sucks." She ground her teeth. "Trust me I know. It sucks waiting for the other person to be ready. But if Rainbow really loves Applejack, waiting will seem like an honor rather than a burden, but I think she needs to hear that." Cadence smiled warmly at her sister in law.

Twilight smiled with hope in her eyes. "Thanks Cadence!" She wrapped her arms around her sister in law and the two enjoyed the loving embrace. "I'll go tell her right now!"

"That might be a little difficult." Pinkie shouted over the video call. Twilight pulled the butt answered phone out of her pocket. Pinkie turned the camera to see the blue girl sprawled across the back bench seat. "A.J. Kinda knocked her out."

"How could this happen?" Twilight asked in horror.

"Oh Dahling it was awful! It was a misunderstanding worthy of high tragedy! It was." She realized that her idol was looking in on the call and squealed. "Hi Cadence!" She completely forgot that she was driving and grabbed the phone with both hands. "Oh my gosh you look positively radiant! You really pull off the noble matron look Dahling. Ooh and where's that little baby!"

"RARITY DRIVE!!!" All three women screamed as one. Rarity flinched and took the wheel back from Pinkie.

A third pair of faces joined the call. "Guys we've got a problem!" Fluttershy said in her loudest airy whisper.

"Yeah we've got a problem! Rarity's trying to kill three of our friends!" Twilight growled.

"I am not!" Rarity whined.

"Girls listen!" Sunset snapped, becoming more concerned with every word she read from the exotic tome. "I think Applejack's in real danger!" She explained with breathless haste about her findings. She told them about how each had mentioned going into a tube and suddenly not being able to feel love anymore. "It sounds just like a changeling! A monster from Equestria that eats love and leaves its victims hollow husks!"

"All the people we talked to had the same lifeless gray eyes and manner." Fluttershy added.

Rarity and Pinkie gave each other an uncomfortable look. "Well Applejack didn't seem lifeless. If anything she seemed bursting with feeling." Pinkie said, nodding her head at the unconscious girl in the back seat.

"Then we're not too late! Pinkie! Drop a pin on where you and Rarity found Applejack and we'll meet there!" Sunset barked.

Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "Uhm. . . Okay?" She fished through her Pile of hair and produced a sewing pin. She dropped it out the widow.

The five still conscious women all frowned blankly at the silly girl. They all spoke as one, "Oh you know what she meant.

Twilight hung up the phone and leapt to her feet. "I gotta go. Thanks for the talk. . . Cadence?"

The woman was sitting upright now, teeth gnashed, fists clenched tightly, pale with rage. "This monster wants to come into my world and steal love." She snapped to her feet and bellowed. "Husband! Emergency!" Shining Armor popped around the corner with a bottle of wine. "No! The other kind!" He grinned and resumed his costume of war.

Loud Mouth Noises

"Pinkie, uhm, I don't mean to be rude but Ummm. Stepping on my toe!" Fluttershy hissed, trying not to cry.

"Shh!" Came the simultaneous response from the other eight people crouched in the bushes beside her. Shining Armor and Rarity had broken out the face paint, and all were camouflaged in an attempt to conceal themselves.

The veteran peered through his night vision goggles at the camp and saw several guards circling near the cabins. "Too much security. Your visit must have made them nervous. We need to. . . Why did you bring her?" He asked, pointing to the still unconscious Rainbow Dash slung between Sunset and Pinkie's shoulders.

Pinkie groaned and stretched after letting the limp frame slip quietly to the ground. "Why did you bring her?" She asked, pointing to the INFANT STRAPPED TO HIS CHEST.

He looked lovingly down at his daughter sleeping soundly in her Kevlar harness. "You expect me to go anywhere without my widdle point defense officer?" He hugged the baby and cooed softly.

"Well it's a good thing we didn't leave any of them in the cars!" Rarity hissed punting to the several security guards shining flashlights into their various vehicles.

Shining rolled his eyes. "Well there goes the element of surprise." He cocked the charging handle of his grenade launcher.

"What are we going to do now?" Twilight stage whispered.

Shining Armor grinned as he casually shot off a grenade. "Distraction." He covered his daughter's ears and the night was lit up in a bright flash and a deafening boom. Immediately the guards surrounding the cars sprinted towards the source of the noise. "Now, let's get your friend and get out before they cone back!" They broke cover and ran, still crouched, towards the cabin. Shining used the blade of his bayonet to peek inside the cabin. "Are you sure this is the right cabin?"

Both Pinkie and Rarity pointed towards the trench formed by Applejack super slapping Rainbow. "Yes, why?"

Shining peered around a corner and whispered. "Because it's empty."

Each exclaimed in turn and Twilight pulled herself up to peak over the windowsill. With the aid of the bright full moonlight coming in through the widow she could see that the place was deserted. "Where could she be?" Shining Armor silently signaled that they should carefully spread out and search the semi circle of cabins around them. Each looked and saw that the whole row of cabins was deserted.

"Where do we look. . . now?" Fluttershy asked as she noticed an ominous green glow pouring out of the windows of the large central building. "Oh. . . Uhmm, never mind. Sorry." They looked and saw the security guards still trying to put out the small fire started by the grenade and they silently slunk to the main building. They peered through the cracks in the blinds and gasped in horror at what they saw.

Inside they saw more than a dozen green glowing tubes each containing a teenager getting visibly grayer by the second. In one of the tubes lay a miserable Applejack, tears streaming down her dreamlike face. Hoses ran from the tubes and connected to a large black throne in the center of the room where upon sat a woman covered in black chitin with phosphorescent green eyes. They saw the love pulsating through the tubes to the throne where the monster that sat there fed upon it like a conquering vandal at a bloody feast.

The creature cackled viciously as she gloated over her glut. "Delicious. The love from these pathetic fools is enough to feed an army!" She grinned maliciously. "But soon! Soon I'll start enough camps to conquer this whole realm! My brood will be unstoppable!" She screamed a laugh of sadistic triumph!

Pinkie backed away from the widow and an odd thoughtfulness stole over her. "Ya know. It's weird. For a minute I was worried we were trespassing and attempting kidnap from a completely normal camp, but somehow I'm actually relieved there's a big evil monster trying to eat the world's love, and somehow I don't think I should be."

Cadence for her part was fuming. "Come into MY WORLD and steal MY LOVE! I waited TOO LONG to get that GOOD LOVE, and I am NOT letting her take that away from me!" She kicked the double doors open and charged in.

Shining Armor couldn't help but grin as he moved to cover her. "I love that woman.

"Isn't she just a queen among women?" Rarity fawned.

"Shame she's married." Sunset said, nudging Fluttershy with her hip.

"Can we PLEASE stop horning over my brother's wife please?!" Twilight growled. They all poured into the room and barricaded the door behind them. Pinkie and Sunset gently lay the unconscious athlete down beside the door.

Cadence bellowed in her best heroine voice. "Stop right there you monster. You're evil plan ends now! You haven't earned that love! Let them go!"

The monster on the throne laughed an evil cackle and purred in a facetious calm. "If you insist." The tubes opened and the teenagers lumbered slowly out, their eyes glowing green with malice. "Slaves! Capture them! Their love will fuel my hordes!" The teenagers rushed at them, ready to drag them kicking and screaming to have their love stolen from them.

Shining Armor raised his eyebrow in confusion and brandished his rifle, but Cadence quickly pulled the barrel down. "Shiny no! They're children!" The veteran sighed hard in annoyance and quickly removed the combat harness, leaning his rifle against the wall. He carefully laid Flurry Heart on Rainbow's gently rising and falling chest and kissed his beloved daughter on the forehead. He then roared like a warrior and charged onto the fray, planting each boot on the face of a mind controlled teenager with a flying tackle.

Each of them followed likewise and shouted as they charged. The melee was intense with cartoon violence the likes of which are barely tolerable with a Y7 rating. Cadence used her long leg to side kick a girl right in the diaphragm. Rarity imitated her idol by kicking one in the dangly bits. The two high fived proudly. It was the happiest moment of Rarity's life up to that point. Pinkie dodged several attempted grabs from a hulking mind slave, and quickly tied his shoelaces together.

Sunset Shimmer and Twilight both slammed trash cans down on the heads of two mind slaves and kicked them over. Fluttershy yelped and ducked and dodged and wove through the brawl until a mind slave that Shining was in a standing grapple with was backed up right into her. She crouched in terror and he was toppled backwards right over crouched form. Shining for his part was having the most fun he'd had since he received his honorable discharge. He grabbed a mind slave by the legs and slung him into another mind slave.

The brawl was going well, and they might have won, but right that second the security guards, alerted by the sounds of the melee, forced the door open. Each suddenly had a stout guard holding one of their arms, each unable to break their hold. The monster smirked. "Impressive, I must say, but ultimately pointless! Put them in the pods!" She barked.

One of the guards gave her an odd look. "Put them? . . . Lady, you might have hired us but we don't work for you. We're going to detain these trespassers until the sheriffs arrive to."

The monster burst into a ball of green flame. She snarled as she grew to be as tall as the high ceiling, her insectoid wings buzzing menacingly. Her fanged snout roared, "Do as I say!"

The guards went pale and one gained a conspicuous dark spot in the front of his trousers. The one who had spoken shrugged his shoulders and looked at Cadence. "Sorry lady. Boss's orders."

They dragged them to the pods and slowly the transparent lids slid closed around them, then the guards fled the chamber before the same could happen to them. The monster returned to her humanoid size and shape as she strut towards the unconscious pair laying by the door. "And what's this?" She said, turning Rainbow's unconscious face with one clawed hand. She sniffed the air around her like one inspecting a cut off meat and she grimaced. "Ugh! Nothing useful here! All her love is tainted with heartbreak." She noticed the baby in her carrier. "But this!"

She grabbed the vest by its back handle and raised it up to her face to look at it. "This on the other hand." Despite having slept soundly through an explosion, a long sneak, and a brawl, Flurry Heart woke up and noticed the grinning monster staring her in the face. She saw her beloved parent's faces in distress and this upset her greatly.

"Don't you dare touch my baby you ugly thing you!" Cadence screamed as she kicked impotently at the lid. Shining Armor bloodied his fists on the hard shell. Flurry Heart reached pitifully with her pudgy little arms towards her parents as she cried.

The monster grinned maliciously. "Oh so you love this thing. Well, good!" She placed a tube right in front of the two so they could see their baby's distress. "Oh the pure love of parents for their baby. The innocent love of a baby for its parents. How delightful!" She looked at the line of young women. "And what treats do you lot have in store for your queen?" She smelt the love of each as she passed. First Pinkie's pod. "Hrmm, the love of a boyfriend."

She passed Sunset and Fluttershy. "Girlfriends very ni. . ." She had to stop and shake her head when she finally absorbed the entirety of the flavor palate. "Why is it so spicy?!" Fluttershy blushed, but Sunset couldn't help but grin.

She reached Rarity and had to stop in surprise. "Damn white girl you get around!"

Rarity gasped in shock. "Well excuse me little Ms changeling monster or whatever you are!"

The monster reached Twilight and had to sniff hard to catch even the tracest scent of love. "Hrmm, not much from this one. Some family love for those three, her parents." She waved vaguely at the line of pods. "Quite a bit of love for you lot for whatever reason, but no real deep burning passionate romantic love." She grinned maliciously. "What's wrong little girl? Are you shy?" She growled in her most intimidating growl.

The monster sat on her throne and the extraction began. They all groaned in pain as they felt the love dragged out of them. "Yes!" The monster screamed in a sensual shout. "Oh your love is delicious!" Their color palettes began to grow muted and their eyes hollow. The monster cackled in triumph until an earth rending explosion threw her bodily from her seat. She snapped her head to see what had happened and there stood Rainbow Dash, holding Shining Armor's m16, grenade launcher still smoking. The captives in the tubes all sagged visibly in relief at the cessation of their love being stolen.

The furious girl brandished the gun barrel menacingly towards the monster crawling on the floor. "YOU!" She growled in a voice like molten lead. "You're the one! You're the one who stole my Apple Bottom from me!"

Pinkie called out, "Woo-hoo! Go Rambo Dash!"

The monster saw her opening and grinned. "Oh! You're that Rainbow girl that I've heard so much about!" She slipped slowly to her feet. Rainbow followed the motion with the rifle, not giving her a chance to slip away. "You're the one who thinks she's got the right to her girlfriend's body."

Rainbow snarled. "Shut up!" The gun began to tremble in her hands.

The monster maintained her distance, but began circling the blue girl. "Oh don't deny it. How many times did she tell you to stop and you didn't? How many times did you make her have to pull your hands away? Why would she be here if you had respected her." With every accusation the gun drooped lower and lower. The accusations hit the trembling girl like physical blows, each bringing her lower and lower until she fell heavily to her knees, the gun barely pointed at the monster.

The monster loomed over the crying girl mockingly. "I didn't take your love away from you. She's right here." They looked and saw Applejack emerge from a pod, her entire body ashen grey, her eyes glowing a fell green.

Rainbow popped to her feet. "Applejack!" Before she could say another word the farm girl mind slave charged her, ripping the gun out of her hands with a wrenching grip. The other hand swung towards the girl's face with enough force to shatter a glacier. It was only Rainbow Dash's super speed that saved her life. Rainbow called out desperately as she dodged the hail of blows. "Wait, Applejack! It's me! It's your little Thunder Butt!"

Pinkie Pie couldn't help but snicker. "Ha! Thunder Butt!"

The mind slave stopped, Rainbow felt a glimpse of hope in her heart, until the gray woman growled. "Ah know who y'all are!" She swung again and only barely missed the girl's face. "Yer the one who used me! You lied to me! You made me think Ah was in love you you!"

Rainbow's shocked face turned to scowl of rage. "You do love me!" She screamed, pointing an accusing finger at the mind slave. "I know Applejack and Applejack doesn't lie!"

The gray woman waved a hand dismissively. "Ah never loved you! Y'all were just takin advantage uh mah whore moans, makin me act crazy! That weren't love, it was just lust dressed up with flowery words n pleasant lies!"

"No! Applejack loves me! She would save cider for me! She would let me win arm wrestles and I'd pretend not to notice. She would let me nap against her and she would embarrass the hell out of me by going on and on about how cute my snoring was! That's not lust Applejack, that's annoying, cutesy, wonderful love! So don't you dare try to say you don't love me." Rainbow shouted. The mind slave held her head as the memories tried to work their way into her heart. She roared and charged the defiant girl. Rainbow narrowed her eyes. "And you knocked me out, so I think I owe you this."

Rainbow's magic wings appeared and she flying kicked Applejack straight off of her feet. They flew all the way to the throne and Applejack hit the black stone seat with a tremendous thud that knocked the wind out of her. Rainbow super sped over to the pod holding Flurry Heart and removed her from the tactical vest. She freed Cadence and handed the baby to her. Cadence squeezed her baby, feeling unfathomable relief at being reunited with her child.

Cadence freed Shining Armor and he snatched up his rifle, pumping a grenade into the tubes connecting the pods to the throne. They each opened and the rest stumbled out. Rainbow shoved the tactical vest down over the dazed mind slave, holding her securely in place. Applejack squirmed and struggled, but she couldn't escape. "And I think about it's time you remembered that!" Rainbow solemnly entered the one remaining pod and it sealed around her.

"Rainbow no!" The rest called out.

The pod did its work and Rainbow's love began to feed into the girl trapped on the throne. The monster saw this and screamed, "No! Stop! What're you doing?!" She tried to run to the throne but Shining Armor stood guard with his rifle. Applejack squirmed and grunted but her mind became filled with visions of Rainbow Dash's love. She saw from Rainbow's perspective all the tender moments they'd shared. She could feel from the inside how much Rainbow was embarrassed that she loved Applejack's pet name for her.

Applejack felt the worried anticipation of Rainbow playing her girlfriend's song and how her heart leapt when she saw the sparkle in the farm girl's eyes. She felt how her wiggling her hips at her girlfriend's was a display of love, not a lewd gesture. Tears streamed down her face as all of Rainbow's love flowed into her. She gasped when she saw Rainbow's hand slip up her shirt. She felt the burning need to please Applejack, and the thought of pleasuring her by fondling her breasts. It was all for her. Every time she'd been lewd it had been an attempt to please her, not for some sexual gratification.

Every eye in the room had to clamp shut as Applejack began to glow with a blinding pink aura. She began to float into the air and the throne crumbled beneath her. The monster screamed as the love she had stolen was torn from her in a pink glow flowing from her chest. The love that had been stolen shot out from the crumbling stone and flew like a meteor shower back to the hearts that it came from. The Armor family all embraced in familial bliss. Sunset and Fluttershy kissed passionately. Pinkie crushed Rarity and Twilight around the waist with a toothy grin from ear to ear.

The pod opened and a glowing Rainbow Dash floated out. The two glowing lovers met and took each other's hands. They kissed solemnly at first, breaking into a passionate, clinging, desperate kiss. The monster slowly crumbled under the strain of having its love stolen from it until it dissolved away into a small black stone heart perforated with holes. As the last of the dust of the crumbled creature blew away the heart cracked in half. The love returned to each of the teenagers from whom it was stolen and they began to wake up slowly.

A girl in a flag twirlers uniform groggily got to her feet. "Huh, where am I? Where's Heisman?"

Sunset Shimmer smiled and gently took her hand. "Come on Twag. Let's get you home." The campers all piled into the various cars and they convoyed back to town. Twilight sat hunched uncomfortably over the steering wheel. Rainbow was perched in Applejack's lap as they loudly made out, whispering sweet nothings to each other as they ate each other's faces. It was a very long drive home.

Family History

"Apple Bottom chill. We're gonna get through this. Together." Rainbow Dash said for the umpteenth time that morning as she squeezed her girlfriend's ice cold hand.

"Yeah, well y'all weren't there fer the chicken coop fiasco Thunder Butt. Y'all don't know what Granny's like when she's riled up." Applejack said with a wavering voice. She was pale as a sheet and her expression was like one about to vomit. They stood for several minutes together outside the front door trying to build up Applejack's courage, Rainbow waiting patiently, not willing to force her.

The tension was snapped like a haywire when Applebloom came up behind them. "Door ain't locked y'all." She said casually walking between them and opening the door. "Come on in." She said in her childish friendly tone. The last prop of safety removed, Applejack swallowed hard and entered the lion's den, crushing her girlfriend's hand in her own. They found Granny Smith in her usual napping chair snoring away.

Applejack cleared her painfully dry throat and took the plunge. "G-Granny?" She timidly called out. There was no response from the matriarch. Applejack tried again only a fraction louder. "Granny?" Still the old woman sat, head lolled, in the warm spring sunlight spilling in through the window, snoring like an old saw mill. Applejack cleared her throat and slammed her eyes shut. "Granny!"

The ancient Apple snapped to her feet with a rapidity that belied her bad hip and produced a shotgun from who knows where, racking a shell loudly. She spoke in a dazed slur. "What is it youngin? Bank Men?! Varmints? Speak up girl! What's up!"

Rainbow went pale and took a big step back from the brandished weapon, but Applejack grabbed the barrel. "No Granny! It's just us! It's Applejack n Rainbow Dash! We need. . ." She had to stop and swallow again. "We need to have us a lil talk, that's all."

Granny blinked and her old eyes adjusted to the light of the small living room. "Oh well why didn't you just say so." She grumbled as she creakily slipped back into her seat. "Wakin an old lady up durin a nap." All of her joints popped like a string of firecrackers as she got comfortable. She deftly unracked the shell and slipped it back into the tube. "Land a Goshen! Now what's on yer mahnd youngin. Spit it out."

Applejack trembled from head to toe. Her eyes darted about the room. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears. A thousand doubts ran through her mind at once. What if she says no? What if she gets mad? What if she accepts them but Rainbow is unfaithful and Granny breaks out the ever dreaded "Ah told you so." She felt a hand wrap around hers and her heart skipped a beat. She looked and saw the love in Rainbow's scarlet eyes and her fears subsided. She knew in that moment that no matter what happened they'd be able to make it through together. She took a deep breath and said, "Granny, R.D. here and I. . . Are in love."

"Yis Ah know. What of it?" Came the snap response. It came so fast that neither of the couple were sure they had actually heard it.

Applejack balked. "Ah'm. . . Ah'm sorry what?"

Granny rolled her eyes at the delay in the conversation. "Yeah, ev'ryone knows. So what's the issue?"

The farm girl's face went pale this time out of surprise, rather than fear. "YOU KNEW?! HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" She shouted in shock.

Granny narrowed her eyes at her granddaughter. "Youngin, Ah work at the school y'all go to, and ya ain't exactly subtle are ya?"

The orange girl sat shell shocked. "How long have you known?" She whispered, still not able to fathom the enormous truth that had just fallen on her.

The old woman looked up and away trying to catch the one or two marbles still rolling around in her old noggin. "Er, um, let's see now. Cain't quahte recall the vury first tahme Ah caught wind a y'all's shenanigans, but I think the earliest Ah kin recollect at this moment is durin a football game. We just got a safety and this'n gave ya a good smack on the lips." Rainbow grinned at the memory but Applejack blushed red as her brother.

"So you're okay with us being together then? Since you've known all this time I mean." Rainbow asked, a bit of hope growing in her heart.

The old lady turned her head slowly as if on rusty ball bearings to look at the blue girl. Rainbow gulped, realizing for the first time just why her girlfriend was so scared of upsetting her grandmother. "Youngin, how many times have Ah said that Hagh School Rome Ants ain't nothin but heartbreak n misery?"

"But if you knew then why didn't you say anything?!" Applejack asked. "I always thought you didn't allow us to date." She grew mildly ashamed of herself. "That's why we never told you. About us. . ."

Granny Smith rolled her eyes again. "Girlie, you didn't tell me cause it ain't none a mah business. I ain't with this blue'n y'all are. N even if I had forbidden it, that didn't stop y'all did it."

Applejack blushed and looked away. "Ah'm sorry Granny. I'm sorry Ah went behind your back and lied to y'all."

Granny made a confused face. "Lied? What'cha sayin girl? What fib you been spreadin?"

The farm girl stood and inhaled deeply. "It weren't no boy that made me wanna go to that camp. It was Rainbow." Instantly the shotgun was back out and pointed at the athlete. The sound of Granny racking the round sounded to the blue girl like her death knell. She was frozen in place with shock. Applejack darted between her and the gun. "NO GRANNY! WE DONE WORKED IT OUT!"

"Yes! I'll be good I swear! Your granddaughter literally knocked some sense into me. I even have the handprint to prove it!" Rainbow shouted quickly, her heart thundering.

Granny scowled and slowly lowered the weapon. "Sit down youngin. Ah gotta have me a talk with this here gal." Applejack looked worriedly from Her grandmother to her girlfriend but slowly slipped back down into her seat. Granny Smith bored straight into the uncomfortable girl's soul. "Now missy, Imma give you one warnin. Mah A.J.'s got a heart bigger'n this whole house." She menacingly raised the shotgun towards the girl. "Iffn y'all break her heart, they'll never fahnd yer body. Ya hear?"

Rainbow gulped audibly. "Good." She got shakily to her feet. "I'm glad that A.J. has people that care for her enough to make sure she's okay. And I wanna do this right by her and you." She solemnly got to one knee. Applejack gasped and put her hands to her mouth. Her voice trembled as she said, "Granny Smith, I would like your permission to date your granddaughter."

"Sit down girl!" The old woman shouted, thankfully raising her cane rather than the shotgun. The pale athlete plopped down on the couch feeling like a chastised child. Granny groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "These chidrens." She glared at the trembling teenager. "What would y'all a done Iffn Ah'd said no? 'Oh well, too bad, toodaloo?' No! It shouldn't matter to you what Ah er yer folks say. Iffn ya love er, ya stick with her! Ya fight for er! That's what yer granpappy did A.J."

"When i was even younger'n you Ah had eyes fer that tall scrappy boy, but Pa didn't approve. Did he ask permission? No! He came to the house and scrapped with yer great pappy right there in the yard! Whipped him good. We was hitched two weeks later. N Ah was only sixteen!"

Applejack gawked. "Is that why you don't lahke datin in Hahgh School? So we don't end up like you n grandpappy?"

Granny tapped her granddaughter firmly on the top of the head with her cane. "No child! Cause I work in a school with children gettin their hearts broken ev'ry day! Don't want that fer mah grandkids. Yer grandpappy's the exception that proves the rule. He wasn't gonna let nothin stand between us, not even my Pa. Ah dropped out n we got hitched cause Ah knew there was nothin else I wanted to do." She grinned nostalgically. "Just yer grandpappy."

Rainbow couldn't help but chuckle at the innuendo. "Well you'll be happy to hear that I've already done my share of fighting to be with your granddaughter." She quickly told the story of her stand off with the changeling, Granny's grin growing wider and wider as the story progressed.

"That a girl!" She cackled in admiration. "Nah you two go on n bein in love, n don't let no monster er even me stop y'all." Both girls rose and wrapped their arms around the matriarch. She gently embraced them back. "Oh and uh, R.D." The shotgun magically appeared in her hand and made contact with the athlete's nose. A murderous glare was in the old woman's eyes. "Fed to pigs. Bones in the orchard. Never. Found."

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and nodded firmly. "Right. Understood. Got it." The couple retreated from the farm house as quickly as they could before anything else could happen. Applejack closed the door behind her and stepped into a whole new world where anything was possible. She stood dazed for a moment, still trying to process all that had happened.

"We done it." She whispered breathlessly.

The blue girl grinned. "See, I told you it'd be fine." She said, trying to forget she'd been threatened with a gun several times.

Tears of relief and joy came into the farm girl's eyes. "We done it!" She pulled the athlete into a kiss. "We done it!" She pulled her girlfriend into a tight embrace, pressing her lips as firmly as she could.

Rainbow chuckled through the kiss. "Dayum girl. What's gotten. Ooh!" She exclaimed as she was lifted straight off her feet and held in the air by the passionate girl. Applejack pressed the blue girl's back against the post and slipped her tongue into the surprised athlete's mouth.

A loud tapping at the window forced a momentary break in the passionate kiss. "Hey you two love birds! Get a room!" Granny snapped half jokingly.

Applejack blushed through her grin. "Sorry Granny!" She lifted the bewildered Rainbow Dash in her arms and ran off with her towards the orchard like a Vandal making off with a captured princess.

Boundaries

The camera zoomed in on the front of Canterlot High just as school was letting out for the day and several couples could be seen pouring out of the front double doors, including but not limited to a flag twirler on the arm of a young man in a letterman jacket each with a conspicuous ring glimmering on their clasped hands. The background score was once again unconquerably bouncy, but with a more warm and relaxed sound to its bounciness.

Our favorite gang of gal pals all stood in the music room tuning their instruments, waiting for the last two of their group to show up for lead guitar and bass respectively. Twilight sighed contentedly. "I'm glad things are back to normal."

Sunset Shimmer felt the lingering sting of the celebration session with Mistress Fluttershy and grinned. "Yup, the less evil love eating bug monsters the better."

"And I got to high five Cadence!" Rarity said, puffing her chest out proudly.

Their conversation was cut short by a streak of Rainbow shooting through the room to behind Pinkie's drum kit. "Hide me!" The terrified athlete squeaked.

"Oh no, what now?!" Each of the girls said as one.

"Woo hoo! Evil bug monster two electric boogaloo!" Pinkie cheered.

They all peered around the drum kit to the remarkably compressed ball of quivering blue girl. "What did you do this time Rainbow?" Sunset asked in an unamused tone.

"Nothing!" Rainbow called out defensively, peering over the lip of the kick drum. "Me and Applejack were just making out when out of nowhere she just."

The sound of the door frame being loudly crunched under the super strength grip of an orange hand silenced all in the room. An orange face under a cowboy hat came around the corner, yet instead of the scowl of murderous rage they'd expected to see on the face, there was only concern and sadness, and. . . was that regret they saw in the farm girl's big green eyes?

"Rainbow!" Applejack shouted in relief and pleading. The athlete attempted to make herself even smaller behind the drum, but the farm girl had already crossed the room to her. "Rainbow Ah'm so sorry!" She pleaded. "After ev'rything that's happened Ah know Ah should've asked first but. . ."

Twilight full of newly found wisdom on the subject inhaled to elaborate on the importance of informed consent, but the athlete popped up from behind the drumset with an almost relieved look on her face. "But you just don't think of it when you're in the moment!" Rainbow said, feeling her finish her sentence. She said in a tone like one trying to justify themself.

"Yes!" Applejack shouted with equal shame and relief. "Ah was just so hot n bothered. N Ah thought y'all was too. So I just. Oh Thunder Butt Ah'm so sorry!"

Twilight balked and looked to Rainbow who proceeded to say exactly what she was going to. "I did want it!" Rainbow shouted exactly on script. "But when you took your shirt off my mind just went blank, and then your hand. . . It just."

All seven women in the room spoke as one. "It was too fast."

"Yes!" Rainbow said, mortified. She closed the distance and embraced the girl she loved. "Oh A.J. after all those times I wanted to get up your shirt, to chicken out right when I see. . ." She looked down at the perky breasts that the embrace caused to press against her much smaller ones and she momentarily lost her train of thought. "I'm so lame! I'm sorry Apple Bottom!"

The two kissed in apology and took hands. Applejack began, leading the athlete towards the door away from the band practice they were interrupting. "Come on. Let's go and."

Rainbow flinched and pulled away taking a big step towards the door. She smiled consolingly. "Uhm, yeah, let's just uh. . . Let's just quit while we're ahead. I love you."

"Ah love you too Thunder Butt." Applejack said warmly.

"See you tomorrow?" Rainbow said, desiring to close the distance and resume being sweet on the beautiful girl, but knowing she needed to keep her distance.

"O'course!" Applejack said with her sweetest smile. Rainbow turned to leave but the farm girl called out unexpectedly. "Oh and uh Rainbow?" The athlete turned. Her face went beet red as suddenly the orange girl lifted up her shirt. Rainbow's eyes went wide and her magical wings appeared, sticking straight out. The fascinated girl babbled something unintelligible then turned to escape. She ran smack into the door frame and her wings prevented her escape.

She turned awkwardly and retreated from the orange temptress. Applejack grinned as she put down her shirt and readjusted her bra. "Ah think Ah just found mah new fav'rite thang." She said as she strutted out of the room. The rest of the band was standing mouth agape, faces crimson.

Sunset and Fluttershy both said simultaneously. "Round four!" As they ran out of the room.

Rarity mumbled, "Ummm, excuse me. I think I have a rendezvous with. . . Someone." She scuttled as quickly out of the room as she could.

"Wait we have band!" Twilight began to shout as Pinkie did a double back flip out the widow and into Cheese Sandwich's clown car. "Practice." She said to no one. She sighed heavily and let her ears ring for a few seconds. ". . . I wonder what Flash is doing." She said strolling out the door as she turned off the light.