Boundaries

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.