Jetpack Harmony

Chapters

Ooooh!
Oops. . .
WAFFLES!
Too much of a good thing. . .
No! I wanna be mad!
Well STOP IT!!!
In your dreams!
No wanna
Jetpack roundup! Jetpack roundup!
The mile high club.

Ooooh!

The friends of ponyville milled about anxiously, waiting for Twilight to reveal her "secret project" that she'd been closeted with Sunset Shimmer for during the whole of the preceding week. The retired alicorns chatted casually with Cadence, Shining Armor having lost the coin toss and thus having to remain back in the Crystal Empire with the baby. Spike did his level best to keep the Cutie Mark Crusaders within a relative area, and to stop them from touching or breaking anything in the large hangar. Trixie did her best to contain the mild panic attack that Starlight Glimmer was suffering at the princess having been closeted for a week, reassuring that her mentor had not in fact replaced her with the pony from the other world.

Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy chatted pleasantly, speculating about what this new project of Twilight's might be, but Rainbow hovered in the air scowling. She'd seen precious little of Applejack in the last week. The earth pony would come home late at night, go straight to bed, and be gone before she got up in the morning. Applejack was the only pony in Equestria that could make waffles just the way Rainbow liked and she'd gone a whole week without a decent breakfast! "Come on already!" She snapped, startling all present. "Quit dragging out the suspense Twilight!"

As if they'd been waiting for this verbal cue, the large velvet curtain they'd all been waiting in front of opened with Twilight's distinctive magic sheen. The reveal was slightly anticlimactic as the curtain merely revealed a set of large hangar doors. Rainbow rolled her eyes and quipped, "Wow, a door! I'm so impressed!" Again, as if they'd been waiting for this invitation, the hangar doors began to slowly rattle open, filling the hangar with a rush of air that almost knocked a few ponies off of their hooves, revealing three ponies hovering in air.

Twilight was gently flapping her wings, Sunset was magically levitating herself, but Rainbow flinched reflexatorily when she noticed that nothing was supporting the earth pony. She made a slight movement to snatch her out of the air, but she saw that the smiling orange pony was hanging in the air. There was no magical sheen, no butterfly wings, as Rarity had used, nothing. She was wearing an odd metal backpack, but she simply hovered there, completely unsupported.

Rainbow's jaw hung limp, the mouthy pegasus having been left literally speechless. The three hovering ponies gently moved into the hangar. Twilight and Sunset landed gently on the deck of the hangar, but Applejack flew straight up to the hovering pegasus. She couldn't help but snicker at Rainbow's shocked expression. "Well Dash?" She did a gentle pirouette in air. "What'd'ya think?"

The blue pony still couldn't answer, she'd seen the magical prop that supported Tank in the air, but this was something else entirely. Pinkie, as was her way, finally broke the gawking silence with a loud shout of, "Holy cannoli Jackie! You're flying!" The assembled ponies, freed from their stupor by this observation, all clustered around the hovering earth pony to wonder at the device strapped to her back.

Celestia siddled up to her former student whispering. "My goodness Twilight! I knew you were clever, but this is truly magnificent!"

Luna smiled warmly, "Indeed! How is this feat of natural philosophy accomplished?"

Twilight smiled tiredly and waved a hoof, "Alright everypony, gather round." Applejack grinned at the still gawking pegasus and flew gracefully over to the purple alicorn. She landed for the first time and the scholar began her lecture. "This is a device from the human world that allows the flightless creatures there to be able to fly for short distances and times. Though there they use compressed air or flammable materials."

That finally broke through the blue pegasus stupor. "You strapped a ROCKET to my mare's back?!"

Twilight waved a hoof reassuringly. "No no, that's what's been taking so long with this project. Finding the right combination of spells to propel the jetpack forward without having to use explosive materials."

Sunset raised a hoof to speak, but had to yawn before she could begin. "That, and having to figure out how to give a creature without hands the ability to control the device." The purple alicorn levitated the baby dragon over to elaborate. The orange unicorn went on. "Humans have digits like dragons claws that they use to press buttons and use controls that are simply too complex to replicate with hooves."

Twilight nodded at Applejack and she gently raised herself into the air. "So we had to figure out how to get the jetpack to respond to Applejack's commands."

"By a mind numbing process of trial and error." Sunset grumbled.

"And a few whiplashes." Applejack added with a smirk.

"We managed to create a magical potion that can power the machine and the spells needed to get it to respond properly to the users instructions." Twilight concluded. "Rainbow if you would be so kind."

The blue pegasus ripped her eyes off of the strange backpack strapped to her mare's back that allowed her to fly and noticed that every eye was on her. "Huh? What?" She said in a daze.

All assembled giggled and Applejack raised herself into the air again, the jetpack spitting out a series of quickly fading blue rings and a gentle gurgling noise. The earth pony gave the dumbfounded pegasus a small peck on the nose and cooed, "Come n get me." With that she blasted off into the open sky, the backdraft of her acceleration forcing several ponies to take a few steps backwards.

Rainbow snapped, "Hey!" And rushed after her. She flew at what she would've called seventy percent speed, trying to close the distance between herself and the zooming earth pony. Just as she was about to catch up with the mischievous mare Applejack changed direction, shooting straight up into the air and leaving Rainbow Dash far behind. The frustrated pegasus did her best to angle herself upward to chase the fleeing pony, raising her speed to eighty percent.

Again just as she was about to catch her Applejack turned one hundred and eight degrees and blew straight past her, rocketing towards the ground. "Come on Sugar cube!" The earth pony called out as she dove within legs reach of the climbing pegasus. Rainbow growled to herself, being thoroughly annoyed at how well her mare was evading her, and increased her speed to as fast as she could fly without causing a sonic rainboom. As she sped towards the ground a terrifying thought crept into her mind. Applejack was going really REALLY fast. Would she be able to slow down or pull up in time?

The pegasus felt her wings flap even harder, rainboom or not she wasn't going to let her mare crash. She flew slightly outward from the plummeting earth pony's trajectory so that she could snatch her out of the air at a respectable distance from the ground. Rainbow followed the orange meteor with her eyes, ready to catch her as they met in air. Just at the moment of contact Applejack disappeared. The blue pony rocketed forward, completely bewildered.

Had. . . Had she missed? HOW COULD SHE HAVE MISSED?! Rainbow was the best flier in Equestria! She'd had her! It took several seconds to turn around, but when she did she looked frantically at the ground, searching for the smoking ruin of her mare's crash site. The call of "Yoohoo!" Snapped her out of her panic. She looked up and saw her mare grinning widely as she casually floated down towards the ground on a large orange parachute with her cutie mark emblazoned on it.

The pegasus gawked as her wings carried her towards the gently descending earth pony. The two landed and Applejack smiled. "Sorry to worry ya sugar cube. Just wanted to deh moan straight these here safety features. Iffn ya git panicked er the jetpack thinks y'all'r gonna crash it shoots out this here pick o nick blanket. Oof!" She gave small groan as Rainbow seized her in a crushing embrace. She saw with some regret the mingled look of relief and anger on her mare's face.

Rainbow spoke with a conspicuous catch in her voice, "Babe don't EVER scare me like that again!" She resumed the crushing embrace.

Applejack smiled to herself and held her mare, cooing softly to her as she stroked her mane reassuringly. "Aww, hush up now gal. Y'all know Ah'm level headed enough not to trah nuthin foalish n git mahself injured." She reached over with her teeth and pulled the retraction cord to reel in the parachute and it neatly folded back up into the jetpack. "Come on now girl. Ah didn't get all them whiplashes to spend all day on the ground." She gave a short jump and the jetpack gently took her weight, hovering just above the ground. "Come flah with me sugar cube." She extended a hoof and Rainbow couldn't help but smile as she took it.

The two flew hoof in hoof towards the floating obstacle course hundreds of feet above their heads. Applejack grinned as she slowly but surely increased her speed, challenging her mare to race her, putting her back in her natural element. The pegasus wanted to stay mad, but she couldn't help but feel the creeping desire to rise to her mare's challenge. They arrived at the obstacle course and the slow acceleration didn't cease. The orange pony kept going faster and faster as they rocketed together through the first hoop.

Rainbow couldn't suppress a genuine chuckle of triumph as her mare expertly dove and weaved through the cloud hoops and around obstacles, the entire time never loosing her grasp on her mare's hoof. "Babe! You are AWESOME at this!" She cheered as they perfectly went through a helix obstacle together.

Applejack gave a smirking chuckle. "Heck sugar cube, Ah been watchin y'all do it fer years!"

The two wrapped each other in their forelegs and broke through the cloud barrier together, as if the sky itself was their dance floor, simply hanging together in air. They came together in a gentle kiss, all fear or annoyance forgotten. Rainbow pulled away from the kiss with stars in her eyes. "So awesome!" She whispered.

"Get a room two!" Pinkie called up to them, causing the mood to evaporate instantly. Rainbow pulled away from her mare like a teenager caught making out in a movie theater. Applejack let out with a hearty belly laugh as the two slowly lowered themselves to the deck of the hangar. Again the excited ponies gathered around to gawk at the impressive device. Pinkie grabbed the farm pony by the face and shouted, "Can I have a turn on the rocket?! Can I? Huh huh huh?" She began zooming around the hangar like making whooshing sounds. "Rocket pony! Burnin out her fuse up there alone!"

Twilight couldn't help but grin at the pink pony's antics. "Actually Pinkie, you don't have to!" She pulled back a curtain on the wall and every eye on the room lit up at the sight of a jetpack with each of their cutie marks. "This was just the final beta test. Now we can field test them with all of you before taking bids for mass production!" Each excitedly received their own personal jetpack and the two engineers instructed each of them on how to put on the harness. All except Rainbow Dash.

Twilight wiggled the big blue backpack with the rainbow lightning bolt emblazoned on it. "Oh Rainbow, there's one for you too!" She cooed temptingly.

The wonderbolt scoffed and rolled Her eyes. "Feh! What do I need a jetpack for?" She leapt into a double backflip in the air. "I'm already the greatest flier in Equestria."

"Okaaaaay." The purple alicorn cooed, slipping her own harness on. "Suit yourself." She trotted over to the newly equipped ponies and called out, "Okay everypony, let's start with a hover." Rainbow watched as each pony quickly learned how to use the new technology. Oddly enough the winged ponies seemed to have the most trouble with the new method of flight, their bone deep flight instincts misleading them in the effort of trusting their weight to the jetpack rather than their wings. Conversely Scootaloo took to the concept like a duck to water, or rather a chicken.

Soon each was floating about gracefully in the sky, the gentle sputter and hum of each jetpack spitting out quickly fading colored rings of discharge the same color as the pony wearing it. Pinkie gracefully danced a sky ballet with Rarity, the Cutie Mark Crusaders playing a sporadic game of tag. Starlight Glimmer could smirk add she hovered in air next to the "Even Greater and Now Airborne Trrrrixie!" Whilst the elder princesses did loops and swirls in the air, hooting like excited fillies. Rainbow's envy grew with every second of witnessing the frivolity, and just as she turned to look longing back at her shunned jetpack she noticed it was being suspended in air by an orange hoof.

"Well Shug?" Applejack said with a teasing grin.

Rainbow snatched the bulky backpack out of her mare's hoof and grumbled bashfully as she slipped it on. "Okay! Let's do this!" She shouted determinedly as she prepared to blast off into the sky.

Applejack's eyes went wide and she called out, "Wait!" But it was too late. Instead of blasting out of the hangar and into the open sky, the blue pegasus was launched backwards into the far wall. She crashed flank first into a pile of spare parts, a ring of tiny jetpacks circling around her dizzy head. The farm pony stuck out an orange hoof and smirked, "Y'all got it on back ways hun!" After getting the harness on correctly and a few false starts the two exited the hangar hoof in hoof.

Rainbow, being the best flier, had the hardest time adjusting to the new method. Applejack couldn't help but smile at her mare as she clung to her hoof like a filly learning to ice skate for the first time. The rest of the afternoon was spent in zooming around the sky, each relishing their new found mode of transportation.

Oops. . .

The friends of Twilight Sparkle spent a pleasant day zooming around the sky on their brand new jetpacks. Some racing, some puttering along, some performing feats of aerial acrobatics, but all having a delightful time. All too soon however it became time to put up for the day. Each pony landed in their turn and chatted excitedly with the ponies standing next to them about the practical applications of the new technology, and how grateful they were to receive it before anypony else in Equestria.

Applejack stretched her tired muscles gratefully, thankful to finally be able to take the large cumbersome device off of her back. It had been a long week of training and fine tuning, but now she could finally relax. She reached her mouth down to yank at the belt release and felt the straps loosen against her shoulders and haunches. She sighed with relief with the release of the tension. It was like taking her hat off after a long day of work. She tilted her shoulders and waited for the loud thud and clatter of the jetpack hitting the deck as it had done every evening for the last six weeks.

Applejack waited in vain. There was no thud. There was no clatter. The cumbersome weight remained completely stationary. She blinked in surprise. That was odd. Maybe it was just stuck. She shook her shoulders slightly, trying to dislodge the large tube from her back. The jetpack remained in place. "Uhm. . . Twah." She called out in mild concern. "Ah think it's stuck."

Twilight landed and her own jetpack powered down, its blue rings fading away into the surrounding atmosphere. The alicorn raised an eyebrow, but didn't think much of it. "Oh, Ummm. One second, just let me. . . . Uhmm. . . Hold on. . . Just. . . Get off you accursed!" Her jetpack became enveloped in the lavender glow of her magic, but no matter how hard she yanked and tugged it wouldn't yield.

"Uhm, Twilight, if you're not too busy, uhmm, could you tell us how to remove the jetpacks please?" Fluttershy asked in her perpetually soft voice.

The princess turned sharply towards her friends with her trademarked manic, overwide smile that meant something was terribly wrong. Nopony noticed however as they began to cluster together around the quietly panicking purple pony. Each assumed that the new technology required a specific way to dismount that wasn't immediately apparent. "Yes!" Twilight called out slightly too loudly. "Just uhmm. . ." She cast about for any way to stall. The princess snatched the orange unicorn into the air. "Just give me a moment to confer with my fellow technician! Thank you!"

Twilight magically closed the curtain and whispered shouts could be faintly heard. The assembled ponies began to shoot each other concerned glances. Applejack and her mare made eye contact for a long moment and the farm pony stepped slowly towards the curtain. She reached out a hoof and just barely heard the hushed scream of, "Part of you! It's not a living thing!"

"Ahem!" The orange pony called out timidly. Both unicorns snapped their heads towards the farm pony with the expression one wears when they're caught with a hoof in the cookie jar. The rest of the ponies milled towards the arguing engineers. "Ev'rythin okay Twah?" Sunset looked to the princess for what to do next. Twilight looked at the element of truth and knew she had to tell them. She put a hoof to her chest and exhaled in the way her sister-in-law had shown her to steady herself.

"So uhmm. . . Turns out the spell we used to make the jetpack obey the user's commands actually made it semi sentient and uhmm. . ." She grinned wide with panic and embarrassment. "Ummm. . . We maybe sort of kind of made it a part of our bodies. . ." Her voice shrank to a squeak. "Sorry. . ." There was an audible silence in the hangar. In an instant the palpable silence erupted into a thunder clap of questions and accusations all clambering over each other to assault the cringing princess.

"You got a rocket stuck to my mare's back!" Rainbow shouted red faced.

"This won't fit under any of my wardrobe!" Rarity screamed, more in panic than in accusation. "I'll have to redesign my entire closet!"

"Get it off!" Pinkie screamed, dragging her jetpack across the hangar floor, sending up sparks as she did so. "I gotta itch! Get it off! GET IT OFF!"

"Twilight! I thought you knew better than this! After everything I taught you about being careful with new magics! Honestly, you should've learned this lesson all the way back in magic kindergarten!" Celestia chided in the tone of a disproving mother.

"Why didn't you come to me for help Twilight!" Starlight scolded, Her hyperventilation bag discarded. "I could've told you that the extended tactile spell would bond the object to the user!" Twilight cringed into a smaller and smaller ball, trying to present the warranted accusations with the smallest target possible. Only one pony maintained her bearing and noticed the tears welling up in the violet eyes.

Suddenly a thunder clap sounded inside the hangar and the walls reverberated with a roaring voice commanding, "BE STILL!" Everypony but Celestia crouched relaxatorily in fear at the enormous volume and authority in the shout. The former princess of the moon's eyes ceased their imperious glow and she stepped slowly towards the still crouching Twilight with a regal step. She extended a hoof to help her up. The purple princess gave a weak smile as she emerged from the shelter of her legs.

Luna turned to face the cowed crowd like a disappointed school Mistress dressing down a crowd of rowdy school children. Despite her years of acclimation to modern speech patterns the former princess of the night spoke in tones straight out of one of Whinniam Shakespeare's works. "Shame on you ponies!" She thrust a regal hoof towards the one that had hot glued a large backpack to each of their backs. "Have you forgotten the myriad of times this pony has saved all of our lives?"

"Do you not recall how this pony's quick wit and intellect helped avert disaster again and again? How dare you criticize her after one momentary setback! This is the most accomplished user of magic in Equestria! One who by her own hoof and horn stopped countless threats to our lands, raised herself to royalty!" She shone a peculiarly warm smile towards the blushing purple princess and her tone lowered to one of quiet gratitude. "And returned me to the path of righteousness."

Twilight gave a small grin and had to look away at the unexpected outpouring of appreciation when just a moment ago she was being showered with accusations and recriminations. Luna turned back to address the repentant mob. "Now, I'm sure Twilight will work diligently until this particular nuisance has been rectified. In the meantime we will all have to make due with these new appendages."

The princess stood straight and nodded. "Yes! I promise everypony, I'll get this figured out as soon as I possibly can!"

Sunset Shimmer took a step forward. "I guess I'll help in any way that I can." She shrugged. "I mean, I might miss a few classes, but who knows what I'd turn into if I went back through the portal now."

Pinkie popped up, momentarily forgetting her earlier panic. "Oh! It might be cool though! You might turn into a girl shaped robot that can turn into a fighter jet!" She boosted into the air and lifted Sunset into the air, zooming her around inside the hangar. "Sunset Shimmer! More than meets the eye!" The pink pony's antics diffused the tension enough of the tension to allow a few giggles to ripple through the room.

Starlight Glimmer couldn't suppress a chuckle but gave a determined grin. "Alright Twilight, but I'm helping you this time!"

WAFFLES!

Applejack started awake for the umpteenth time that morning and shifted in annoyance. She'd been having nightmares about being a filly again and her baby sister refusing to get down from her piggy back no matter how badly Applejack needed to go to the bathroom. Yet as always, she awoke to find that she was an adult, her baby sister was, in fact, not clinging to her back, and it was just, of course, the jetpack that she'd been so excited about once upon a time.

Applejack groaned groggily and rubbed a tired eye with a hoof. "Mornin Shug." She mumbled sleepily. The farm pony looked about but her mare was nowhere to be found. "Hun?" She slid sideways in the bed to find the pegasus, laying on the floor, directing a red eyed thousand yard stare at the ceiling. "Dashie? Y'all okay?" She cooed in concern. She flinched back slightly as her mare slowly turned her head with an audible rusty grinding sound effect.

The orange pony winced to see just how bloodshot her mare's eyes were as her glassy gaze bored into her soul. "Forty five minutes." She whispered in simmering rage. Her voice slowly rose to a hysterical scream. "Your jets would shoot out and punch me in the ribs. Every FORTY FIVE MINUTES!!!"

Applejack sighed hard and once again rubbed her tired eyes. "Oh, Ahm sorry Shug! This here devahce was givin me nahghtmares all nahght long. It was lahke Applebloom was."

"Piggyback! Wouldn't let go! I know!" Rainbow interrupted in a surly tone, slowly rising to her hooves. "You wouldn't shut up all night!"

The farm pony repressed the urge to be cranky towards the mare she loved and decided to try to make her feel better. "Well, hah 'bout Ah make ya yer fav'rite waffles then? Haven't had em in over a. Eep!"

She was interrupted by the pegasus getting nose to nose with her, her bloodshot eyes glowing with a manic gleam. "Waffles!" Rainbow hissed, all crankiness forgotten. She dashed into the dining room and sat at the kitchen bar, bashing her knife and fork on the counter impatiently. Applejack smirked tiredly and shuffled to the kitchen. She stumbled slightly as one of her jets caught the door frame. She inhaled deeply through her nose so as not to say something inappropriate and awkwardly tilted her way in sideways to the small kitchen. "Come on! COME ON!!!" Rainbow called out impatiently.

"Cool yer jets pony girl." Applejack said with more annoyance than she'd meant to. She sighed hard and calmed herself. "Ya rush Great Granny Gala's waffles ya git charcoal." She attempted to call into her well practiced rhythm of snatching the various ingredients and cast iron waffle iron, but with every other movement she would bump into a cabinet or knock something off of the counter due to the extra bulk sticking out of her back. She grit her teeth and fought to keep her calm. After a valiant struggle to prepare her work station, finally she had everything ready, except for the large cast iron waffle iron itself.

She looked up to the hook high up on the wall and her sour mood soured even more. "Whah the hay do ah even keep it there!" She snapped to herself in an undertone. She knew exactly why she kept it there, she kept it there so that it would be accessible, but out of the way. Not to mention as a genuine Apple clan heirloom she felt it was a point of familial pride to keep it in an honored position in the kitchen, but it did make it a damnable nuisance to use it when her mare wanted waffles.

An idea suddenly struck the farm pony and a smile split the orange face. The jets on her back gently boosted into life and lifted her off of the floor. She carefully lifted herself up and snatched the waffle iron off of the hook. She looked down at her workstation and her mind began to work. Soon she was hovering in the air just above the ground as she worked, and found to her pleasant surprise that everything was now within easy reach. Instead of having to stop what she was doing, take a step away, grab what she needed, and take a step back, she could now just glide and lean for whatever she needed.

Soon a steaming stack of waffles stood on a plate and Applejack's hooves finally touched the ground again. "Alraght hun! Dig. . ." She stopped suddenly when she noticed her mare passed out, her head limp on the counter, a small puddle of drool forming from her loudly snoring muzzle. Her heart swelled with love at the adorable sight and she silently placed her mare's portion under the cake dish to keep it warm for her. She seized a throw blanket off of the couch and draped it over the sleepy pegasus. She ate her portion in silence and gave Rainbow the tiniest peck on the cheek before slipping out the front door. Applejack couldn't be certain, but she thought she saw a tiny little smile peek out of her mare's face when she did so.

Applejack sighed, refocusing her mind on the tasks for that day. She had to make the trek from her mountain side house, elevated so that Rainbow could still use cloud architecture when She felt the need, to Sweet Apple Acres, then have a late lunch with Rarity, then finish her days work and make time to stop in at the old castle to see if Twilight had made any progress in freeing them all from their predicament.

She inhaled deeply to prepare Herself for the half walk, half scramble that descending the mountain was every morning. She always dreaded the trudge back up the mountain in the evenings, wondering how she would ever make it when she was as old and as broken down as Granny. Though it did give Rainbow the perfect opportunity to be sweet on her when she caught her in the evenings making the long trudge up the mountain side, sweeping her off of her hooves and carrying her the rest of the way.

Once again an idea struck Applejack and she grinned. She scoffed with triumph as her hooves lifted off of the ground. She dashed over the side of the mountain, skipping entirely the long winding path that it took, and landed at Sweet Apple Acres in less than five minutes. "Ha ha!" She cheered. "This thang may be a bit bulky, but it sure does gitcha where ya need to go!" She saw the yellow streak of her younger sister, already busily zipping around the orchard doing her daily tasks.

"Hah sis!" Applebloom called out cheerily, zooming over to meet her.

The orange pony couldn't help but grin. "Howdy A.B.! How's the new contraption workin out fer ya?"

The yellow pony's eyes lit up with excitement. "It's great! Ah'm already half way done with mah work!" The two darted over to the barn and saw that indeed, that two of the four bags of fertilizer that the youngest Apple was supposed to spread in the north orchard were already empty.

"Well Sheeoot!" Applejack called out in pleased astonishment. "Ah better git started just so y'all don't make me look bad!" She dashed over to where the large baskets and ladder already lay waiting for her. Today it was the orange pony's tedious duty to go through the south orchard and identify which branches hadn't survived the winter. She then would have to set up the rickety old ladder, scramble up, laboriously saw off the dead limbs, paint the exposed ends with the horrible smelling sealant, scramble back down, and repeat the process to the other thousand limbs.

She attempted to slip into the harness to pull the wagon, but the jetpack stuck to her back prevented her from being able to put her shoulders against it. Then she got an idea. She set her hooves against the brace and again slowly, gently, lifted off of the ground. She couldn't help but smirk as the heavy cart slowly began to creak forward. Applejack had seen Scootaloo propel herself on her scooter with her wings for years, so she understood the basic concept of the action.

She hit a spot of bother when it came time to actually stop. She had to dart in front of the runaway wagon and scramble to stop it before it could smash against the trees. She reflexatorily seized the ladder, but stopped with a blank expression. For the umpteenth time that day she found yet another use for the large bulky obstruction strapped to her back. She smirked as she seized the saw in her mouth and gently rose to begin sawing the first dead limb.

She found that she was able to brace herself higher than she normally could on the branch and put her weight to her advantage in the task of sawing the limb. Soon it crackled down the trunk of the tree and into the basket. Applejack was about to put the saw down and seize the foul smelling paint brush, but she realized that she could reach the next branch without having to move a ladder. She glided gently over to the next limb, and then the next, and then the next.

Within just a few minutes she'd sawn through every dead branch in that quarter of the orchard. She wiped her forehead with a foreleg and exhaled hard, grinning at her newfound increase in productivity. She flinched in the air when she heard her brother loudly exclaim, "Rassafrassin!" Then devolve into angry muttering. Applejack chuckled in embarrassment to herself and landed gently beside the scowling red pony.

"Heh heh. . . Sorry there big brother. Guess ah got uh lil ahead uh mahself." She said, helping to yank a stick out of the spokes of the wagon wheel. Big Mac glanced at her, clearly deciding against saying what he was thinking. He merely resumed scooping the sticks out of the way of his cart. The orange pony was taken aback by his brother's foul attitude. "What's got a stick in yer wagon wheel?"

Their yellow sister floated down smirking beside the pouting pony. "Aw he's just sore cuz his sisters got new toys and he cain't play."

"No Ah Ain't!" He shouted with more volume than he'd meant to. He cleared His throat and attempted to save face. "It's just y'all've been buzzin around on them thangs all mornin gettin in mah way is all!" He looked up and away. "It's not lahke ah have dreams about flyin around as a pretty princess or nuthin." The red pony realized he said the quiet part out loud and his face went pink. Both of his sisters flopped out of the air to the ground howling with laughter.

Applejack had to fight to get back onto her hooves. "Okay brother o mine. Just hold yer horses fer a minute." She hoisted her still snickering sister into the air. "AB since we're so rude as to not include are big brother in our games, let's help him with his bit uh the work. Cummon!" The two jetpack ponies flew, hooves trailing just above the ground, scooping up the discarded limbs and dumping them into the cart Big Mac was pulling. In no time they had all of the branches loaded.

The red pony slowly turned the cumbersome wagon back towards the barn and began the long march back. The two flying ponies saw his strain under the heavy burden and again an idea struck. Both sisters braced their front hooves against the harness and Applejack called out, "Hang on there big brother!" Before he could ask what they were going to do the two shoved the heavy cart forward, pulling him completely off of his hooves with a yelp. Within seconds the cart had made it back to the barn, and the orange pony called out, "Brakes!"

Big Mac slammed his hooves down and the cart came to an awkward screeching halt. He couldn't help but laugh in relief at the end of the wild ride. "Hoowee! Ah reckon y'all'r bout halfway paid up fer this Mornin."

The two sisters smirked at each other. Applejack turned up her hat. "Well, we got them branches all picked up n that's all y'all had to do today." She nodded at the small farmhouse where Big Mac and his wife had moved into after their honeymoon. "How bout us take the rest uh the day off?"

Leaning out of the farmhouse window, Sugar Belle could be seen waving a polka dotted handkerchief teasingly. Her airy voice could be heard echoing through the orchard as she called, "Yoohoo!"

The red pony's face went blank. He snatched both of his sisters out of the air in a crushing hug. "Applejack, y'all'r good people." He darted off at a full gallop towards the farmhouse, clicking his back hooves together with a loud, "Yeehaw!" The young couple disappeared into the house and the two sisters snickered at the implication. After an incredibly short time, made all the more thankful for reducing the time that either sister had to smell the foul stench of the branch sealant, the two had finished a long hard day's work in just two hours.

Too much of a good thing. . .

The two sisters cruised casually through the skies of ponyville on their way to carousel boutique, catching the gawking eye of everypony that saw them. Applebloom had tagged along to see what Sweetie Belle was up to. The two stopped suddenly as they heard a piercing call that froze their blood. "APPLEJACK!!!" Instantly the captain of the wonderbolts darted in front of the orange pony, a panicked haggard look on her face, a half eaten waffle dangling from one corner of her mouth. She was fighting to stuff herself into her flight jacket over the large bulky jetpack. "Why didn't you wake me up?!" She whined petulantly.

Applejack couldn't help but smile at her hassled mare. "Aw Shug, ah kept ya all naght. Couldn't stand ta wake ya."

"But I'm late!" Rainbow snapped back, her voice cracking with the stress. "This stupid!" With a mighty tug she tore her flight jacket straight up the back. She screamed in frustration, causing her waffle to drop from her mouth. Applejack dove to snatch it out of the air and caught it a split second before it could hit the ground.

She flew back up to her mare and her face became lovingly chiding. "Now Hun, just calm down. It ain't no thang." She gently took the torn flight jacket and handed the cranky pegasus the remainder of the waffle. "We're on our way to Rarity's n she'll patch this up lickety split. The wonderbolts'll still be there when ya git there, so take a minute n eat'cher breakfast." The lion's share of Rainbow's annoyance dropped off under her mare's affection, and she bashfully took a moment to savor the delicious waffle. She was almost back to emotional neutral but then her mare said. "N y'all ain't late yet. Just put cher thrusters to full blast n y'all'll just make it!"

Instantly the pegasus' anger roiled afresh as she swallowed the last bite of waffle, the delicious treat turning to ash in her mouth. "No!" She growled low. "First Twilight gets these stupid things stuck to our backs, then they keep me up all night and make me late to report! Ooh I'm gonna give that egghead such a piece of my mind when I get off duty!" She was about to speed away but she was stopped by a gentle touch from an orange hoof.

Applejack stared sternly, but lovingly at the angry pegasus. She knew that she should rebuke her erring mare, but Apple family wisdom knew it was better to extinguish anger rather than try to overpower it. She gave a small smile and cooed, "Ah luv you Thunder Butt."

Rainbow's cheeks grew as red as her eyes and instantly her crankiness was replaced by embarrassment. "Babe!" She whined bashfully, dropping to an annoyed whisper. "Not in public!"

Applejack, seeing that her job was done, gave the blushing pegasus a firm slap on the flank with her hoof. "Now go on! Git! Yer gonna be late." Rainbow squeaked with surprise at the contact and then growled at her mare's teasing. She vanished in a streak across the sky, the pegasus still stubbornly using her wings, refusing utterly to use the jetpack. The orange pony watched her go the whole way until she disappeared from her view, sighing amorously.

"Y'all need ta git a room!" The younger sister quipped with a smirk.

Applejack blushed, having forgotten her sister's presence. She cleared her throat to refocus herself and fumbled for a distraction. "Oh look! There's Sweetie Belle! Less go." She dashed down and landed next to the young filly, noticing only after landing that the white pony seemed terribly harassed.

Applebloom failed to notice her friend's body language as she landed and cheerily greeted the unicorn. "Howdy Sweetie Belle! We got done with are chores a sahght early so Ah'm free the rest of the day! Wanna go fahnd Scootaloo n have a race?"

Instantly the small unicorn rose slowly into the air, seemingly overwhelmed with relief at the invitation. "Yes! Gah! Let's go!"

Applejack arrested the fleeing filly with an orange hoof. "Ev'rythin okay sugar cube?" She asked in concern.

Sweetie Belle gave a concerned look towards carousel boutique and thought about her answer. She sighed heavily. "Yeah, I'm fine, it's just. . ." She visibly cringed at some memory. "It's just Rarity's gonna a little. . . Uhmm. . . Pinkie Pie, since we got these. It was a long night."

The orange earth pony gave a long look and warily decided to drop the inquiry as she reached for the door handle. "Alraght. . . Well y'all two run along n fahnd Scoots. Ah'ma."

"No!" Sweetie Belle snapped as She slapped the orange hoof away from the door. Applejack reflexatorily boosted slightly away in shock at the unexpected blow. The cotton candy maned pony smiled apologetically. "Sorry AJ, but TRUST ME, you do NOT wanna go in there with Rarity being the way she is right now." The unicorn turned to her friend, wanting desperately to escape the uncomfortable situation. "Come on Applebloom. Let's get outta here." She boosted quickly away, leaving a befuddled pair of sisters behind her.

The two earth ponies gave each other a confused look before Applebloom boosted away to catch up with her retreating friend. Applejack took a long moment to prepare herself before cautiously opening the door. She was NOT ready for what was on the other side. The stalwart farm pony had to stop in the doorway and gawk at the interior of the boutique. From wall to wall hung half finished scraps of outfits, rough sketches of accessory ideas, and mannequins contorted into all sorts of different poses with mock ups of jet packs strapped to their backs.

That however was not what froze the blood in the earth pony's veins. What made her blood run cold was the sight of her friend, usually so poised and calm, hunched over her sewing machine, a manic haggard expression on her face. Her eyes were the size of dinner plates, the red veins standing out distinctly against the glassy white. Her mane, usually a shining violet bouncy mobius strip, now more reassembled a recently ravaged rats nest than its normal shape.

What struck Applejack most however was the movements of her friend. She seemed to throw her whole soul into a project, then some new inspiration would strike less than a moment later and she would instantly throw her entire soul into a new project. In the few seconds she stood in the doorway gawking, the farm pony observed this concerning transition three times. Unfortunately for our orange friend, that's when the quietly gibbering unicorn happened to catch sight of her. "Applejack! Finally! You know better than to keep a girl waiting!" Rarity shrieked, her voice cracking.

Applejack reflexatorily attempted to flee from the charging unicorn, but the fashionista was instantly on her, tackling her out of the air and dragging her over to her runway stage. "Uhm Rares, not to argue, but Ah'm a saght earlier n we expected." She said as she was dragged along, as if the conversation would dispel the extreme discomfort of the situation. "So uhh, y'all seem to have been busy." The farm pony breathed as she gawked at the cluttered piles of cast off inspiration. She flinched as two white hooves dug into her face.

"Not just busy!" Rarity shrieked in her cracked manic voice. "Obsessed!" She held the orange head in a headlock with one foreleg as she gestured to the enormous fire hazard surrounding them both with the other. "Don't you see Applejack?! These jetpacks aren't just a new revolution in transportation! They're a revolution in fashion!" Rarity flipped an elephant sized pile of cloth upside down to fish out a large bulky cloak. "Last night I was more concerned with just covering it up, concealing it from view, but then it hit me! It's a whole new dimension with which to accessorize!"

"So first I thought to decorate it like a piece of fine furniture, but it's more than that! It's a whole new limb! It's a completely novel dimension to the equine body that requires an entirely new profile, a new aesthetic, a new chic! That's when I realized, Twilight intends to mass produce these for everypony that wants one, and I'M THE ONLY DESIGNER THAT KNOWS THAT!!!" The babbling fashionista shoved her face against the farm pony's, her bloodshot eyes a millimeter away from Applejack's. "I'm way ahead of the curve!"

"I'm the only designer making accessories for all the ponies that will want to be glamorous while mobile! Big ponies, small ponies, fillies, colts, young, old, and the only one with products on the market ready to go will be ME!!!" Rarity gave a gasping, snickering, greedy cackle at the thought. She magically wrapped a large brown faux leather ensemble around Applejack's jetpack. "Now, for you, I was thinking we'd stick with your country western aesthetic! And look!" She used her magic to make the long tassels flutter. "See! See how it carves the eye as you move dahling?!" She gave another one of the snorting mischievous chuckles that froze Applejack's blood.

The farm pony eased herself away from the manically giggling fashionista. "Uh, yeah. . . That's uh. . . Real swell." Her eyes darted around the room, desperately searching for anything to divert the twitching bloodshot blue eyes from her. She noticed the bisected flight jacket, still clutched protectively under one foreleg, and thanked Celestia for the distraction. "Oh! Uh, fore ah forgit, would y'all mahnd suturin this here back together?" She held out the torn coat like a shield to guard herself against the unstable mare. "Ya see, RD done tore it when."

The explanation was cut off by a shriek that forced Applejack to have to fold her ears back in pain. Rarity snatched the flight jacket off of the hoof and clutched it in a crushing embrace. "I didn't even THINK about all the applications the MILITARY would have for jetpacks!!!" Her concerning cackle grew into a genuine evil laugh of triumph. "Those hacks at Lockheed Maretin won't have a leg up on me THIS TIME! Oh, so much to do! SO MUCH TO DO!!!" She boosted across the short distance to her cloth rack and snatched several bolts of her rather depleted supply off of the wall.

Applejack, seeing her opportunity, sidled quickly towards the door, muttering in an undertone, "Uhm, alraght, y'all have fun with that. See ya!" Rarity didn't even notice her departure as the farm pony slammed the door behind Her and pressed her jetpack against it. The earth pony inhaled deeply with relief. "Jeez, Louise! Hope everypony else is gettin along better."

No! I wanna be mad!

The mares and stallions of the princess' wonderbolts stood in perfectly aligned rank and file, sweating bullets in the morning sun. They didn't sweat from the heat, as it was a beautiful spring morning. No, every wonderbolt on the flight deck that morning was pouring with sweat from the soul crushing terror of their commanding officer's conspicuous absence.

To be clear, everypony loved Rainbow Dash as an officer, she was ruthless, but not unfair. The captain of the wonderbolts demanded the absolute best from everypony under her command, and got it, or else, and that's how they wanted it. The wonderbolts were constantly striving for better and better performances and ponies were breaking company records left and right, and woe to the pony that stood in the way of this juggernaut of progress.

If your uniform was one single feature out of regs, you flew ten laps around the entire air base. If you were one second slower than a previous fly through on an obstacle course, you flew it again carrying heavy horseshoes, and Celestia help you if you were late to report. Nopony actually knew that the punishment was for reporting late as only two ponies had committed the infraction during Rainbow's tenure, and neither had wanted to talk about it afterwards.

So there they stood, all trembling slightly as they sweated in terror. Each staring blankly into the sky in front of them, each terrified about what their commander's absence meant. Each flinched slightly as a prismatic streak stretched across the air base and all had to brace themselves for the back draft at Rainbow's entrance. The pegasus breathed heavily through Her nose, trying to disguise how out of breath she was. She saw her wonderbolts standing at attention and her mood lifted slightly. All of her hard work was showing.

"Alright everypony! We're going to perform the L7 maneuver again until we get it right!" She bellowed in her scratchy command voice. Everypony under her command silently groaned and Rainbow glared at the microscopic movements that only officers can perceive. "None of that!" She called out preemptively. "Just because every nation bordering Equestria has recognized how awesome we are doesn't mean we're never going to go war again! And I REFUSE to look my friend in the eye and tell Twilight her wonderbolts aren't FULLY COMBAT READY! IT'S THAT UNDERSTOOD?!" She bellowed angrily.

"YES MA'AM!" Every wonderbolt called out in perfect unison, their roar echoing off of the far walls.

Several hooves went up at once and Rainbow groaned. "No Skytrotter, you may not be excused to the infirmary. I don't care if your tummy hurts, suck it up soldier!" She snapped.

The beige and sandy blonde stallion put his hoof down and snapped off, "No ma'am! Just wanted to inquire. . ." His military tone trailed off into an embarrassed tone. "But uh. . . What the hay is that on your back?" A series of agreeing murmurs ran through the ranks and the ponies that still had their hooves raised lowered them, the same question being on everypony's mind.

Rainbow Dash's frustration roiled afresh and she ground her teeth at the biggest pain in her flank at the moment. She stomped a hoof and snarled, "Ten HUT!" The few ponies that had broken discipline to gawk at the large backpack on their commander's back all snapped back to rigid attention. The captain of the wonderbolts marched slowly through the ranks as she explained. "Now everypony listen up, cause I'm only going to explain this once!"

She awkwardly tilted a hoof towards the bulky backpack that had robbed her of sleep. "This is a highly classified piece of military hardware in development by Princess Twilight herself!" A few shocked gasps and a low hum of awe ran through the ranks. "The princess has assigned me with the task of field testing this equipment for further research." She put on that tiny touch of aggression that all officers used to convey that they were dead serious. "This is top secret information! Anypony caught discussing this hardware in any way, or spreading information about it will be subject to DISCIPLINARY ACTION, up to and including DISHONORABLE DISCHARGE! IS! THAT! UNDERSTOOD?!!!" The captain snarled.

"YES MA'AM!!!" Came the deafening roar from the rank and file.

Rainbow smirked to herself. In one fell swoop she had stopped the flood of questions about the device stuck to her back. She flew into the air and bellowed. "Alright then let's move! Flankers in positions, strikers up front! And I want it done RIGHT this time!" The rank and file moved promptly, though reluctantly, into position and the captain saw that everything was correct. She nodded to herself. "Commence the exercise!" She bellowed.

The wonderbolts began flying their routine and instantly she could see the same mistakes that had plagued this particular exercise for the last two months began to show themselves. Like watching a train wreck in slow motion she could see the lines of ponies begin to go askew and unit cohesion disintegrate. Several ponies began to get out of line, which put them in other ponies' way. Pegasus crashed into each other and fights broke out mid air. The captain blew a shrill whistle and the exercise stopped.

"For Pete's sake! How many times are you going to embarrass the uniform?! Flitter! Flutter! Stay in your position! Thunder! Flash! You're supposed to stay leg's length away from your lead pony as she flies through the curve! The idea is to attack from two directions at once! Not cluster together haphazardly!" She snarled.

A pink mare cringed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry ma'am! It's just hard to keep the right distance away from Flighty when Flitter's trying to flutter right up my tail end!"

A red stallion grew even redder and snapped back, "No I'm not! I keep having to drop back because you keep lagging your big flanks behind! I almost crashed into Skytrotter!"

"Enough! Nopony's impressed by your secret romance anymore! It's old news." The captain snapped, causing both of them to blush deeply. "Flutter, you're not in junior speedsters anymore. You should understand how to ride a pony's vector by now! Don't fight their back draft, use it! Your wing should be. . . Darn it, hold on." She attempted to show the proper curvature of the wing, but as it had done every time she'd tried to demonstrate this maneuver, she couldn't maintain her position with just one wing. "Look! You just!. . ."

Then she got an idea, an idea that filled her to overflowing with spite and bile, but it would work. She groaned hard and sighed. Everypony hovering around her gawked with wonder as Rainbow's boosters slowly began to come to life. Her wings beat slower and slower until finally the jetpack was supporting her entire weight. She fought the rising sense of triumph, desiring to stay mad, and cleared her throat to focus herself. "Alright! Now watch my wing!" She snapped to get her subordinate to stop staring at the gently sputtering machine. "See, the very tip of your primaries should be curved at the very tips. You steer by changing the curvature and your angle. Get it?"

A light came into the pink pegasus eyes. "Oh! Just like the sky smasher routine! Yes ma'am!"

No matter how much she wanted to stay pouty about the inconvenience, the captain just couldn't hold back a smirk anymore. "Well Alright then. Go to it!" She snapped, her grin evident in her voice. The wonderbolts formed back into line and ran the maneuver again. Rainbow's smirk grew to a full grin as her flyers perfectly performed the drill that had baffled them for two months. As they came out of the maneuver the various squads couldn't help but high hoof each other in triumph.

The captain allowed her subordinates a brief moment of victory before calling them back to discipline. "Alright, alright, you managed to do it right once, and it only took TWO FULL MONTHS!" She snapped in a teasing chide. "Now let's run it again, and let's see how many months it takes THIS TIME!"

Flutter fluttered over to the grinning commander and cheered. "Sure thing captain! Now that I can see what I'm supposed to do it's no problem! Princess Twilight sure is onto something great with that thing on your back!" Instantly the jubilant mood died. A mortified silence hung over the entire air base. Everypony stared at the pink pegasus in shock and horror. The pink pegasus hovered in petrified terror, her stiff wings barely able to keep her airborne.

Rainbow's grin had soured into a murderous glare. It was only with the dead silence of the that the captain realized she was still hovering in air on the gentle boosts of the jetpack. Her piercing blood red eyed bored straight through to the soul of the young pegasus, pinning her in place. "Miss Flutter. Please report to my office. Post haste." She growled in a barely audible croak.

The red pegasus dashed over and babbled, "Please ma'am! It was my fault she was out of position. The only reason she spoke about the device on your back was because of my incompetence! And She!. . ." Flitter stopped suddenly when he realized he'd just committed the same infraction.

The captain's murderous glare mutated into a malicious grin. "Well now." She growled through her murderous smirk. "The love birds can get to go to tartarus together. Let's go." Flutter unthinkingly sought shelter beneath the foreleg of Flitter and the two slowly followed the gloating captain. A lead pony called the rank and file to attention and everypony saluted their son to be departed comrades. They arrived at the office and the couple silently shuffled their way in. Rainbow shut and locked the door, choosing the curtains behind her.

The captain leaned on her desk, unable to use her office chair due to the jetpack. The couple held each other tightly and trembled in each other's forelegs, each constricting more and more elaborate tortures in their minds. Rainbow steepled her hooves and stared at the quivering couple for several long silent moments. She reached into a drawer on her desk and produced a ream of papers as thick as a full set of encyclopedias. The couple untensed slightly in confusion.

The cruel captain cracked the book open and trailed a blue hoof down the first page. "Daring Do and the Wonderbolts save Equestria again. By Captain Rainbow Dash." She grinned her most evil grin. "Chapter one."

The young couples pupils shrank in horror and both breathed, "Oh Celestia help us. . ."

Well STOP IT!!!

Applejack boosted gently but quickly away from the manic fashionista towards the crystal castle, the conversation having left her thoroughly disturbed. She began to doubt to herself whether the new devices were a net benefit to their lives or not. She knew that it had made that morning's work easier, and that's all well and good, but it had kept her mare up most of the night. It was nice that it gave Rarity new avenues of commerce, but seeing that hunched and cackling creature in the boutique would haunt her mind for some while yet.

Her mediations were interrupted by her noticing a line of ponies waiting outside the crystal castle. It seemed like half of the ponies that had the jetpacks were standing in line waiting for something. This boded well, maybe Twilight had found the solution to their problem and she just hadn't gotten the news yet. She saw her sister and Sweetie Belle standing apart from their pegasus friend. This boded poorly, why weren't they shoulder to shoulder like always.

Scootaloo had the harassed, annoyed, impatient look of a hungry patron waiting for their meal at a fast food restaurant that was one second away from causing a scene. Applejack landed next to her sister and inquired, "Hey y'all, what's going on? Any news?"

Both of the younger fillies gave each other an uncomfortable look before answering. Applebloom made a stab at answering her sister. "Wayull. . . No, nawt really. Not in the deerection of." She grew quiet and leaned over to whisper in her sister's ear. "Not in getting these thangs offa are backs." Both Apple sisters flinched as Scootaloo shot them a murderous glare, Applejack only now seeing how bloodshot and haggard the small pegasus eyes were. She glanced back to her sister who bobbed her head to the side signaling they should speak in soliloquy.

The elder sister boosted gently into the air, and began to glide further away, until she noticed her sister was using her hooves rather than the jetpack. "Somethin wrong shu. . ." She cut herself off when she noticed the hungry stare the small orange pegasus was giving her.

Applebloom silently signaled she should remain quiet until they were out of range. The orange earth pony landed next to her sister and hissed, "What had gotten into that gal?"

The younger sister sighed hard and gave a concerned glance towards her friend who had gone back to glaring at the door to the crystal castle. "AJ, she's never been able to flah til yesterdee, so it ain't surprisin that she's a mahght attached to these here mo sheens, but. . ." She sighed again. "But Ah think she's gone just a wee bit overboard. She wouldn't land the whole tahme we was hanging out, n when she ran outta fuel she made me n Sweetie Belle give er are's!" She gave a pleading look up into her sister's eyes. "Ah don't wanna be a stingy hog er nuthin sis, but Ah think Scoots over there mahght be going just lahke Rarity."

Applejack stared in shock at the hungrily waiting pegasus and her heart sank in her chest. The question is whether this new technology was a benefit or a curse was now leaning decidedly into the negative. All assembled flinched when the door finally cracked open and a very tired looking Starlight Glimmer appeared in the doorway. She had to yawn before giving a weak greeting. "Sorry everypony, big castle, hard to hear whether or not anypony's actually knocking or not." She punctuated her excuse with another cavernous yawn.

Trixie raised a hoof to speak but She was interrupted by a very grouchy pegasus. "MORE FUEL!" Starlight flinched back in shock at the volume and intensity of the demand. She attempted to respond, but the impatient filly could tell even without having to hear what she had to say wasn't getting her any closer to being back in the air. "Our jetpacks are out of fuel! We need more! Where's Twilight?!" Scootaloo snarled, all but literally foaming at the mouth.

The overwhelmed unicorn wasn't psychologically prepared to handle this confrontation, so she buckled and simply opened the door. Scootaloo pounced into the castle like a hungry predator, and the rest filed in slowly, trying to keep their distance from the disconcerting filly. Starlight led the small herd to the lab, a task made more difficult by Scootaloo darting in front of her at every doorway, and she called out, "Uhm, Twilight, we've got a situation. . ."

Everypony in the herd, even Scootaloo, had to gawk at the sheer size of the chalkboard Twilight was levitating herself in front of, each craning their necks to see the very top corner in the large vaulted room. Applejack cringed when she saw her friend. Twilight looked worse than anypony else she'd seen today. Her mane was in disarray, her eyes were both glazed with mental and physical exhaustion, and yet still slightly manic with mental exertion.

The alicorn snapped back in her dry exasperated cracked tone, "YES STARLIGHT! I KNOW! Gallopger's equation on animating the inanimate isn't compatible with Starswirl's theory of the soul, and." She gasped in horror when she noticed half the ponies she'd shackled to her latest experiment gone awry all staring back at her. She teleported down to Starlight and seized her muzzle. "What are they doing here?!" She hissed, more in fear than in reproach.

The purple unicorn took a reflexatory step back, her ears laying flat against her head with embarrassment and confusion. "Well they."

"MORE FUEL!!!" Scootaloo repeated, her patience all but expended.

That gave Twilight a moment of thunderstruck pause. "More fuel?"

Scootaloo got muzzle to muzzle with the princess and whined. "Yeah! We're all out and we need more! Now! Please!!!" She clutched at the alicorn's ankles. The small herd all nodded in less vehement agreement at the sentiment expressed by the manic pegasus.

Twilight's eyes went wide and the whole room shook as the princess accidently slipped into royal Canterlot voice. "YOU'VE BEEN USING THEM?!!!" Everypony took a step back in fear. A passed out Sunset Shimmer's head popped off a work desk, a pencil still stuck to her cheek, at the volume.

Scootaloo's mania lost its junkie edge, but she was still adamant in her desire to return to the air. "Well duh! You expect me not to fly?"

The Great and Powerful Trixie took a step forward to finally seize the spotlight. "Yes, The Great and Powerful Trixie was practicing incorporating the jetpack into her routine when suddenly it died on me." A small hum of agreement came from the ponies behind her.

"Were we not supposed to Twah?" Applejack said in concern.

The princess cast a dumbfounded glance at the expectant faces of everypony assembled. "No! Of course not!" She snapped a hoof at the giant equation on the massive chalkboard. "We're trying to get these things to STOP thinking they're a part of you! Why in Equestria would you KEEP USING THEM?!" Her pitch had risen into a cracked shout.

The orange earth pony's ears lay back in embarrassment. "Wayull, it was sure useful round the farm. N makin breakfast this mornin."

Applebloom stepped up next to her sister. "Yeah! We got the whole day's work done in two ares!"

Fluttershy took a timid half step forward and weakly added. "And I just couldn't resist letting my birds rest on the extenders. They were so tired." Again the small hum of agreement sounded.

Hearing the benefits from her labor softened the princess' overwrought mood. She sighed hard and rubbed her tired eyes with a hoof. "Girls, I'm glad these have been so helpful to you. Really, but you must not use the jetpacks ANY MORE!" Twilight levitated herself up to the center of the giant equation of arcane symbols, gesturing to a series of symbols nopony but she understood the meaning of. "These things think that they're a part of you all! We can't reinforce that bond any further. So please! Please please please! DO NOT use the jetpacks any more."

Applejack put a hoof on her tired friend's shoulder. "Alrahght Twah. Iffn y'all say we shouldn't, we."

"NO!!!" The shrill shriek cut through the air like a broken off helicopter blade. "I CAN'T GO BACK TO BEING GROUNDED AGAIN! I WON'T GO BACK!!!" She crouched on the floor like a wild animal, her eyes bloodshot and wild.

Applebloom moved forward to try to calm her panicking friend, speaking in a slightly fearful, but consoling tone. "Now Scoots, just calm down! We'll just." She was interrupted by an orange streak darting across the large room. Scootaloo's wild eyes had finally landed on what they had sought all morning, a large beaker of sparkly glowing blue fluid. With a speed none had ever seen her use before the pegasus snatched the precious fuel off of the table and emptied its contents into the tank on her back.

"No! We need that for testing!" Twilight called out impotently as by the time she had crossed the room the maniacally giggling pegasus had already zoomed out of the castle. The princess stared impotently at the fading blue and orange streak leading out of the castle and tears began to fill her eyes.

Applejack siddled over and rested a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "It's alraght Twah. We've been through rougher spots n this n you'll figgur it at lahke ya always do." She turned towards her sister and Sweetie Belle. "Y'all youngins, see iffn ya can't track down Scoots, make sure she doesn't do somethin foolish. N the rest uh us won't use the jetpacks no more. Honest. Won't we gals." A gentle murmur of agreement sounded throughout the room.

Twilight gave a single sniffle and wiped a tear away from her eye. "Thank you Applejack." Her weak smile of gratitude dropped into a sullen guilty frown. "And I'm so sorry! All of you! I didn't mean for any of this to happen! It didn't happen on any of the days of testing, and. . ."

"We know. We know Twah. Don't none uh us here blame ya." Applejack said, giving her friend a gentle squeeze.

Fluttershy siddled over and embraced her friend. "Of course not! You were just trying to help." Everypony stepped forward and joined into a group big around the guilty princess.

Twilight gave another sniffle and joined in the embrace. "Thank you girls. Thank you all! But now!" She straightened up and squared her shoulders. "We've got work to do!"

In your dreams!

Princess Twilight Sparkle, sole ruler of Equestria and maintainer of the cosmic balance of her entire planet, sat hunched over an archaic tome, her head held in her hooves, her eyes bulging out of their sockets. She searched desperately through a book written in a dead language for some way, ANY WAY, to correct her mistake. She'd trapped herself and all of her friends in a device and she wouldn't rest until she'd freed them. She flipped through page after page, devouring the arcane symbols and barely legible squiggles, hunting for her friends freedom and her own redemption.

Suddenly through the monotonous tedium something caught her eye. She rubbed her tired eyes just to be sure she was reading the title correctly. "How to remove jetpacks?! Why haven't I ever seen this chapter before?!!!" She wondered to herself in a dazed shock. "Starlight! Sunset! I found it! I finally found the counter spell we've been looking for!" She shouted to her dozing friends.

Twilight stepped quickly over to rouse them from sleep, but neither would awaken upon shaking. She decided to simply let them sleep, they'd earned it, both of them. "Besides, I don't think they need to be awake for this to work. Okay let's see. . . 'The way to remove a magically adhered jetpack from a pony's back is to. . ." She gasped as the book suddenly leapt from her hooves, propelled by its own tiny jetpack. "Hey! Wait! Come back!" She cried impotently as it flew all about her like a pesky insect.

Its jets caught her at the knees and bowled her over. In the scramble to reorient herself she saw her two study companions hanging in the air, floating on gentle boosts from their thrusters. "Girls! Stop! You can't use the!. . ." She gasped when she noticed their expressions, or rather, the lack thereof. The two ponies dangling in front of her looked like her friends Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer, but they had no faces. Where their visages once looked out upon the word there was only a stygian void.

The mischievous book flew between the two limp ponies and the three began to slowly drift away from Twilight. She scrambled to her hooves and called out in a horrified whisper, "Girls! Wait!" She began to give chase, but her friends that she had let down stayed just out of hooves' reach. "Don't go!" She shouted in desperation. "We'll figure this out! Please!" She took to her wings, but the puppets that once were ponies retreated even faster. Twilight flapped her wings as hard as She could, but she simply couldn't close the gap she'd caused between her and her friends.

Suddenly she was passed by the rest of her friends, all in the same faceless stupor, all dragged along by her mistake into the darkness of the oblivion stretching out before her. "No! Girls! Please! I'll figure this out! I can fix this!" Twilight screamed as her friends' faceless heads stared back at her. Suddenly her pace slowed with a jerk. She cast her gaze about in a panic to see what was happening. Her eyes went wide when she realized her jetpack was boosting in the opposite direction. She flapped her wings as hard as she could, but she felt herself hurtled backwards with the lingering scream of, "GIIIIIIRLS!!!"

Twilight felt herself hit from the side and flailed with the force of the impact. She looked to see what hit her and was horrified to see it was Scootaloo. Her horror redoubled to see the filly's head turn all the way around on her neck, her face haggard and manic. The demon in shape of her friend smiled a snaggle toothed grin as it hissed, "More fuel!" Again Twilight felt herself hit and she saw yet another grinning Scootaloo snarling, "More fuel!" The jetpack on her back began to spin and whirl her haphazardly about the void as she was bombarded by dozens of demoniacal Scootaloo's all maliciously gloating the demand. "More fuel! More Fuel! MORE FUEL!!!"

Twilight did her best to conceal her face and body behind her legs and began to weep pathetically. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry everypony! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Be still." Came the gentle and resonant call that stopped the weeping pony's sobs in her throat. The princess pulled her hooves away from her face and was shocked to see the inky blackness was replaced by an infinite expanse of white. She cautiously peered around and saw that the attacking demons had fled. A large blue hoof pulled Twilight onto her hooves and she was shocked to see the former princess of the moon smiling down at her.

"Luna! Thank goodness!" She shouted as she wrapped her forelegs around the mare's neck. Her tears of horror and regret were replaced by tears of relief at seeing a friendly face. "What are you doing here?" Twilight asked as she began looking around the featureless expanse.

Her muzzle was gently turned by the blue hoof and a pair of pale blue eyes gazed regally but kindly down on the young princess. "Where is here?" She asked cryptically.

Twilight's eyes went wide and her face lost its relief and joy. "I'm dreaming. Oh! No!" She groaned tiredly and plopped back onto her rump. "I need to wake up! I've got to fix this! I have to figure out how to save everypony from my mistake!"

"You need to get some sleep." Luna said firmly in a maternal tone. She lay gently down and Twilight was momentarily startled to see the endless expanse become a beautiful moonlit garden. For a brief second the guilt stricken princess was distracted from her grief by the awe inspiring sight of Luna's dream garden. There was a winding stream that made a pleasant gurgle as it wound through the flowering valley. All the lunar flowers were in bloom and the valley was filled with their rich and mysterious aroma. The full moon glowed above them so brightly that Twilight knew she could read by its light if she had wanted to.

The combined influence of the pleasant scenery and the former princess command forced Twilight's hoof. She sighed as she lowered herself to the ground, but was surprised to feel a cushion under her that she hadn't seen. She looked and in front of her was a full tea set, ready to serve, that also hadn't been there a moment ago. "It's a dream my princess. It's not bound by the laws of reality. Only thought, only feeling." She said, levitating her tea cup to her lips and taking a small silent sip.

Twilight sighed hard. "Prin. . . I mean, Luna. Thank you for your concern, really, but I must keep up with my work! It's because of me that everypony is stuck this way!" She said, gesturing to the jetpack, still stuck to her back, even in the dream valley.

Luna nodded once. "Yes, yes it is, and you will never figure out the solution if you get drool all over Sternswirl's original manuscripts."

Twilight was instantly on her hooves. "I'm drooling?! Luna please! Wake me up! I can't!. . . Did you say Sternswirl?" She said, her panic dying instantly. She had to sit down just to process what she had heard. "Is that from Olde Equestrian stern for star?"

Twilight's eyebrow rose at hearing Luna's girlish giggle. "No, it is because Starswirl was the coldest, strictest, pedagogue in Equestrian history. When he heard us call him by that name one day he instantly knew we meant it as a jibe." The princess couldn't help but crack a smile at Luna's nostalgic chuckle. "So he made us write our apology in Olde Equestrian. It took forever!" The ancient alicorn couldn't help but grin at the memory. "It's so queer to see him so changed all these years later. He's so much gayer than he was in my youth."

"Luna, you remember all those lessons we had about phrasing! Those words don't mean what they did a thousand years ago!" Twilight said, unable to hold back her chuckles anymore. The princess' eyes went wide. "You're trying to distract me!" She shouted, still unable to repress her grin, through her outrage. "I can't." She cleared Her throat and fought to appear as outraged as she should be. "I can't believe you! Do you know what's happening right now?"

Twilight's horn lit and snippets of her memory began to be visible. "I drove three of my friends crazy!" The magic displayed the various states of mania on her friend's faces. "I've brought a local bakery's operations to a halt! I've kept four of my friends up all night! And worst of all, I put the ponies I love in machines that weren't fully field tested yet! I'm a princess now! I can't just let the problems I created lie! I have to work until I fix this! Now Wake! Me! Up!" She shouted, stomping a hoof.

"That's one side of your actions, maybe, but consider. . ." Luna said, rising placidly and lighting her own horn. "You've given the local garment maiden more inspiration than she has had in years." The image showed all the sketches for new jetpack related products that littered Carousel Boutique's walls. "You've given young Scootaloo the joy of unaided flight for the very first time in her young life." The magic showed Scootaloo's first flight with the jetpack. Twilight couldn't help but grow misty eyed at seeing the tears of utter joy in the filly's eyes as she lifted off of the landing deck. "I know this young Scootaloo, you will never understand just how much your invention means to her." Luna got face to face with Twilight. "And there is no need to tell you of all ponies that Pinkie Pie has always been a lunatic."

Once again Twilight couldn't hold back her giggles. "Okay, that's. . . That at least is accurate."

"See? That's better." Luna said, settling back down onto her cushion. "You're just learning one of the harder lessons of power. Learning to live with a mistake. I just thank your lucky stars that your mistake was less destructive than mine."

Twilight sighed and placed a hoof on her friend's. "Luna, that was a thousand years ago. Nightmare Moon is gone, and. . . Why are you laughing!"

Luna was indeed chuckling heartily to herself. "No dear Twilight, not that uncomfortable debacle. You saw to that! No, I was referring to the time I misplaced the moon."

Twilight spat out a mouthful of tea, despite the fact that she hadn't yet taken a sip, as that is how her subconscious mind handled the shocking statement. "Excuse you?! What? When? How?"

Luna grinned mischievously and looked away, "Well, it was mostly Tia's fault. Well the only reason it happened in the first place is because SOMEPONY just HAD TO. . ." Twilight listened in rapt attention to the former princess story and her face ran the gamut of emotions, from childish anticipation to eye rolling commiseration, to gut busting laughter, to broken hearted empathy. "So finally we figured out that it had actually been where it was supposed to be in the first place, but we didn't know what an eclipse was yet, so my meddling is advertising what threw the cosmic gyroscope off balance."

Twilight lay flopped on her side, her sides burning, laughing so hard it hurt. It took several long moments before She could get her breath back. "So you had to go to Mr Sterswirl!" She had to stop to chuckle again. "And literally say. . . To say! . . ." She couldn't continue. She slipped back onto her side and snickered. Luna smiled her gentle almost sleepy smile and stretched out in front of the uncontrollably giggling alicorn. The princess' chuckles finally died down and she lazily stretched her forelegs out to wrap around the former princess' neck.

"Thank you Luna, I really needed this." She whispered gratefully. She felt the embrace returned and the two lay there comfortably on each other's legs for a long moment. Twilight pulled her head back to look into her friend's eyes and they shone in the moonlight. Twilight's eyes were wide with gratitude and admiration, until they suddenly went wider with realization. The two of them were all alone, in a beautiful dream garden, laying in each other's legs, literal stars in their eyes. Twilight glowed red as she tried to babble out a distraction. "Well! Uh, thank you Luna! For the uhh, the uhh. . ."

Luna rolled her eyes and gave a single chuckle. "Twilight."

"But I've got a lot of work to do, so if you don't mind I'll just. . ."

"Twilight!"

"And I've got to make sure I'm not destroying Stern. . . I mean Starswirl's spell book so. . ."

"MY PRINCESS!" Luna called out in a slightly more quiet version of royal Canterlot voice. Twilight's head turned slowly on her neck like a rusty ball bearing. When the princess' violet eyes finally, reluctantly, met with the former princess' sky blue one's, the stars still shining in their infinite depths, Luna smiled mischievously. "I was the guardian of dreams for years." She raised her eyebrows meaningfully. "I've seen what you dream about." Twilight's glowing face threatened to burst into flame as Luna brought up a Facsimile of herself. The faux Luna stood regally, a whole head taller than the real one, her muscles standing out with more definition than in real life. "Honestly I'm flattered this is what you think I look like."

"Oh! Sunset! Starlight! If you can hear me please, Please, PLEASE wake me up from this nightmare!" Twilight whined miserably as she buried her burning cheeks in her hooves.

"Oh! Nay mine princess! Don't say that!" Twilight peeked out from behind her hooves and suddenly shot bolt upright. Luna had changed her appearance into an even more muscular version of herself, her mane glowing, her armor shining in the moonlight. She stepped slowly towards the hyperventilating princess who was trapped in Luna's sensual gaze. "I was just getting curious to see where this dream goes." The princess' breath came hot and heavy through her nose as Luna slowly, indomitably closed the distance between their muzzles and planted a gentle kiss on Twilight's lips.

Twilight's shock and terror slowly waned and she lost herself in Luna's embrace and the two wrapped their legs around the other. Luna broke the kiss and slowly removed her helmet, letting it thud on the ground beside them. Twilight assisted the removal of armor, having to stop and gawk at the tone musculature beneath with every piece removed. Finally the pony lay fully bare in the moonlight and the puffing princess couldn't help but stare hungrily. Luna gently rolled Twilight onto her back, but the jetpack stopped her. Before Twilight could groan at the interruption Luna casually whispered, "Here, allow me my princess."

Luna's horn lit and the straps loosened in a shimmering glow of magic. The jetpack thudded heavily on the ground and Twilight was able to lay back comfortably, the larger alicorn hovering over her. As she lay on the floor of the library Twilight's moans of, "Oh yes Luna! Oh Yes Luna! OH YES LUNA!!!" Were violently interrupted by Starlight shaking her.

"Twilight! Wake up! Please!" Starlight shouted, her cheeks red with embarrassment at what her friend was screaming.

Twilight's eyes slowly opened and she blinked groggily in confusion. "Huh? What?"

She saw a blushing Starlight Glimmer standing over her and a grinning Sunset Shimmer failing to repress her laughter behind a hoof. Starlight avoided eye contact as she muttered. "Ahem, you were having another one of your. . . Intense. . . Dreams."

The glow of Twilight's face was visible behind her hooves. Sunset Shimmer chuckled as she rolled her eyes. "Oh relax Twilight. Look! You did it!" She gestured to the discarded jetpack on the floor. Twilight's face lit up with excitement, but before she could celebrate the three were startled by a deafening pop.

"Who dares to disturb the courtship of. . . Oh. Hail friends of Twilight Sparkle." Luna roared upon teleporting into the room, royal Canterlot voice on full display. Her righteous indignation died upon seeing the joyful look on the princess' face, and her two companions standing by.

Twilight lunged at Luna, wrapping her forelegs around her neck in an infinitely grateful bear hug. "Thank you Luna! You did it! But how did you know that would work?"

Luna looked down lovingly on the princess she'd been interrupted in the process of wooing. "I didn't." Twilight's face went beet red at the implication. Sunset had to slowly crumble to the floor, desperately trying to hold back the urge to howl with laughter. Starlight Glimmer became very interested in the crystal formations the made up the vaulted ceiling of the library. Twilight's blush deepened as Luna scooped her up into her hooves. "Well MY princess, shall we continue where we left off?" She cooed teasingly.

Twilight reflexatorily teleported out of the temptress' hooves, and spoke rapidly, visibly flustered. "No no! No time for that! We've got to get everypony else freed first then we'll have time for. . . that." She trailed off at the end as she became lost in Luna's come hither stare.

Sunset snickered as she scooted a still skyward staring Starlight towards the door. "We can make time."

Twilight's face drained of color and Luna took the hint. Her horn glowed and she resumed her athletic aspect from Twilight's dream. The princess whispered, more in terror than in anticipation. "Well, the jetpacks have to be removed by somepony else in a dream. And dreams are most often had." She had to gulp to continue. "In the bedroom. . ."

No wanna

After a very pleasant tucking in goodnight, and Twilight slipping off Luna's jetpack in her own dream, the two alicorns made their way into the dreamscape to rescue their friends. They ran through an ever shifting scene, sometimes flying, sometimes swimming, sometimes running through quicksand or over sun baked grassy plains. At least once they ran through a cherry orchard with all the trees in bloom, their blossoms gently shedding their petals in the wind creating a carpet of flowers. It was a gift from Luna that made Twilight blush as they ran.

Finally the two arrived at the dream of Sunset Shimmer and they entered it. Luna stood calmly, accustomed to seeing bizarre horrifying visions in the subconsciouses of ponies. Twilight for her part had to put a hoof to her mouth so as not to vomit. All about the dream there were mashed up, chimerical monstrosities in various stages between ponies and humans, all of which vaguely reassembled Sunset Shimmer. Some pony's muzzles were truncated in a human mouth, some had hooves with fingers and toes. Most had wrong facing joints and couldn't move properly, merely writhing about in agony.

"Too much time in the human realm. She is losing her sense of what it was like to be a pony." Luna explained casually as she waded into the cluster of ruined flesh.

Twilight followed slowly, stepping gingerly around the mutated versions of her friend. "Then why doesn't she come home? She knows she's been forgiven!" In her careful step around the bodies laying all about she didn't notice that Luna had stopped walking and bumped into her rump.

"Well that may have something to do with it." Luna said, chuckling.

Twilight peeked around the other alicorn and immediately regretted it. She saw Sunset bound to an X shaped structure with the human version of Fluttershy whipping her. "What are they doing? Stop her!"

"Not yet." Luna said mischievously.

Twilight gawked at the smirking alicorn. "Why don't you make this stop?!" She drew back her face as Luna looked her dead in the eye with a concerning expression.

Luna grinned and whispered directly into her ear. "She's not done yet." The princess' eyes went wide and she took a hesitant step away from the smirking alicorn. Luna couldn't repress a giggle at the younger mare's bashful expression and seized one of the retreating hooves in her own. "Oh come now my Princess, don't act like an old spinster." She smirked again. "It's rather enticing when one becomes accustomed to it." As she was dragged along, Twilight began to wonder if she'd made a mistake in becoming romantically involved with Luna. "Hail Sunset Shimmer!"

Sunset's scrambled like one caught with an incognito tab opened. The binding apparatus disappeared along with the blindfolds, the whips, and all the rest. "Twilight! Luna! What are, uh, Ummm, what are you two doing here? Ahem." She said, face glowing, attempting to avoid eye contact.

Twilight cleared her throat and tried to distract herself from her utter discomfort. "We're here to free you from the jetpack. Remember?"

Sunset's face brightened. "Oh that's right!" She turned around to allow access to the jetpack. Twilight saw her back and instantly had to avert her gaze, Luna for her part smirked and bit her lower lip. Sunset noticed the delay and looked down the glowing bright red marks left by the human version of Fluttershy. She chuckled bashfully and rubbed a hoof on the back of her neck. "Heh heh, right. Umm. . . Sorry." Luna pulled the release cord and the jetpack thudded to the floor. "Thank you girls." She went to hug her friend, but Twilight backed away quickly. Sunset was taken aback for a moment at Twilight's demeanor.

Twilight stood, clearly something on her mind, but unable to express it. "So. . . You and Fluttershy huh?. . . That's. . . Neat."

Sunset grinned bashfully and looked away. "Yeah! Yeah. . . Uhmm. . . We're kind of thing in the other world."

"And you two. . ." Twilight had to fight to force herself to ask the question. "Enjoy. . . All that?" She gestured with a hoof to the red marks lingering on her flanks.

Sunset gained a mischievous grin. "We do, very much so, and clearly we're not the only ones." Twilight turned her head at Sunset's nod and saw Luna dressed muzzle to hoof in BDSM gear, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. "So you and Luna eh? That's neat."

Twilight's face was paper white and she shouted behind her. "Gotta go!" With that she tackled Luna out of Sunset's dream and back into the dreamscape. "Well, let's hope Starlight's dream is less uncomfortable." She said, clearing her throat. They made their way into Starlight's dream and Twilight facehoofed. "Of course." They saw Starlight on a platform dressed in a military officer's uniform, a legion of uniformed pony's marching before her in lockstep. Banners bearing Twilight's visage swayed gently in the breeze.

"I don't know, I think it's nice that your friends are so loyal to you, and the uniforms are quite well designed." Luna said suddenly appearing in a skimpier version of one of the uniforms. They flew to the platform, ignoring the incoherent ramblings of the manic petty tyrant. Without a word they pulled the cord that removed the jetpack and the vision of desired power faded.

Starlight stood like one caught dancing alone, her face tightly drawn. Twilight stared accusingly with a single eyebrow raised. "Well, I mean. . . Nothing wrong with a girl wanting a high position in her friend's government is there?" Starlight muttered defensively. Twilight rolled her eyes and the two alicorns left the dream. Most of the dreams went quickly, the various strange visions being tolerably weird, and the jetpacks coming right off.

It was morbidly uncomfortable when they reached Pinkie's dream. The air itself felt like it was made of burlap. Every single nerve ending in both of their bodies itched. They had to wade through the dimension of pure itching to find Pinkie being ground between two giant cheese graters. With a desperate lunge Twilight reached for the pull cord and suddenly the two alicorns were left in a black abyss. "What? What happened?" Twilight asked, looking around the void in confusion.

"She has awakened. Let's press on, she'll be fine." Luna said reassuringly.

They arrived at Rarity's dream and found her still working on new designs with the same vigor she had when awake. She didn't acknowledge them entering her dream, she didn't acknowledge them yank the pull cord. The only word when she heard the lid thud off the jetpack hoof the ground was, "Oh, lovely." Then she went straight back to work with the same energy she had before.

Twilight scrunched up her face in confusion, but Luna nodded knowingly. "See? I told you it was just inspiration."

They arrived at Scootaloo's dream and Twilight cast her head about in confusion. "Wait, hold on, where is everything? Did she wake up?" She asked, casting her head about for anything to rest her eyes on in the stygian void they had appeared in.

"No." Luna said with a conspicuous catch in her voice. "There." She pointed with a hoof to a single orange spot of light in the far distance. Twilight looked and saw that it was Scootaloo, clinging desperately to the jetpack that was slowly dissolving off of her back. Without another word Luna flew off towards the panicked pony, calling out to her, "Scootaloo! Worry not! Your friends hasten to your aid."

Twilight followed as quickly as she could and as they neared she realized that the jetpack was sputtering as if it was nearly out of fuel. Scootaloo noticed the pair and called out desperately, "Luna! Twilight! Hurry! I need more fuel! And my jetpack's breaking! Please Twilight! Please fix it! I can't be the only pegasus who can't fly anymore!"

Twilight fished for the pull cord as she said, "It's okay Scootaloo! You're going to be fine! We're going to get this thing off your back and."

"No!" Scootaloo screamed as she swatted haphazardly at the princess! "I can't go back! I won't go back!" As she said it one of the boosters broke completely off and the filly began to sink into the abyss on her one spluttering jet.

Luna dove down and seized one of Scootaloo's forelegs. "Scootaloo, hear me." The orange filly looked up into Luna's eyes through tears. The former princess smiled gently down on the worried pegasus. "Fear not young one. Your friends will never let you fall."

"That's right?" Twilight said, taking the other foreleg. "It took me FOREVER to learn to fly when I got my wings, and I even have magic."

"But you must let this go, before it consumes your mind child!" There were tears in Luna's eyes as she took both of Scootaloo's hooves in her own. "Please. Don't lose yourself to your fear like I did!" Scootaloo stared like she'd been slapped in the face. "I feared that ponies didn't love me as much as my sister, and I let that fear consume me. Please." Tears darkened twin trails in the sides of her muzzle. "Please, don't make the same mistake I did."

Scootaloo's mouth moved not once, but twice as if she wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come. She reached down and violently tore at the release cord. Twilight and Luna were once again left in darkness. The princess wrapped her hooves around the other alicorn in concern, her eyes still flowing with tears. "Is she going to be alright?" Twilight asked timidly.

Luna smiled through her tears and whispered, "Yes. She freed herself by her own hoof." She held her princess close. "She's going to be just fine!" She straightened her posture and smiled, taking her princess' hoof in her own. "Come my princess. Let's. Oof." She grunted as Twilight unexpectedly wrapped her forelegs around Luna's neck.

"Thank you Luna. That was a beautiful thing you did for her." She kissed her solemnly. "Thank you."

Luna smiled and gently broke the contact. "My princess, don't tempt me just yet. We are not yet completed with our quest!" They charged through the dreamscape and into Applejack's dream. Instantly Twilight had to cover her eyes with her hooves. Whereas in Pinkie's dream the air itself was itchy, in Applejack's dream the air was. . . Rainbow Dash.

The floor was Rainbow Dash, the sky was Rainbow Dash, the clouds were Rainbow Dash, and every single one of them were having a very good time, all of them calling out in a sensual chant, "Applejack! Applejack! Applejack!" Even Luna had to blush and avert her gaze from the lewd surroundings. She had just begun courting the princess, so to be in the realm of Rainbow Dash felt like she was ogling another pony right in front of her mare. Finally the two heard a sound that wasn't the uncomfortable chant.

Twilight cracked an eye and was infinitely relieved to see her friend so they could escape a scene not meant for their eyes. "Applejack! We're here! We can. OH MY GOODNESS!" She had to resume covering her eyes when she saw her friend surrounded by a dozen Rainbow Dashes. She was supporting herself by the jetpack, her head cradled by a cooing Rainbow Dash, each of her legs were being coated with kisses by different Rainbow Dash, and the one between her legs being replaced by another identical Rainbow Dash every few moments.

Twilight was pulled from her mortification by a dark blue hoof wrapping around hers. Luna's face was almost as red as her own as she said, "It would appear that our friend has been introduced to the traditional pegasus method of making love. Clearly she is fond of it. Ahem, let us complete our task and be gone from this place. The bond between spouses can be a bit. . . Overwhelming." Twilight couldn't help but smile to see her lover just as embarrassed as her.

The two cleared their throats and spoke as one in royal Canterlot voice. "APPLEJACK!"

They were both taken aback a bit when, contrary to the behavior of everypony else they'd interrupted, Applejack didn't even seem rattled by the thunderous call. To their dismay she didn't even stop her gyrating against her dream spouse. "Oh, Howdy gals." Was all she had to say before drifting back off on the sea of lust and endorphins.

Twilight held a leg across her eyes as she took a big step forward. "Applejack! We're here to get the jetpack off of you! Can you. . . Stop, for a minute! Please!"

Applejack's unseeing bedroom eyes opened most of the way for the first time since they'd arrived. She turned to look fully upon both of the intruders to her holey sanctum and both took a step backwards. "Nah, Ah'ma keep it on."

Twilight shook her head in shock. "But! But Applejack! You can't! You have to go back to your normal." She gasped when she saw the pull cord had vanished.

Luna took a step forward to try convincing the amorous pony. "Friend Applejack, worry not! You may still resume the jetpack when you wish to lay with your mare, but you must." Both alicorns gasped when they were seized by two Rainbow Dashs each.

"Yeah, or Ah could just keep it on. Now, iffn ya don't mahnd, me n mah gal would lahke some prahvacy!" Before they could say anything they were ejected from the dream by the Rainbow Dashs so hard they were thrown all the way out of the dreamscape. They flopped haphazardly over each other and into the hallway of the cozy mountainside home.

Jetpack roundup! Jetpack roundup!

An exhibition was held to display the new technology and several different companies held demonstrations and trial runs for prospective purchasers. Rarity's accessories sold like hotcakes and each one was almost immediately on back order. Trixie's incorporation of the jetpack into her show helped drive the hype even higher. Twilight smiled warmly on her ponies as they excitedly observed the new technology, pleased to see a happy resolution to the issue. "Pinkie! You're finally out of the hospital!"

The party pony walked with a limp, but even the pain visible in her face couldn't wipe away her smile. "Yup, the skin grafts are healing up just fine." She giggled until she snorted. "That's what I get for scratching all my skin off." Twilight grimaced at the uncomfortable image. "Oh hey Dashie! How are your new recruits doing?"

Rainbow landed and smirked ironically. "Awesome! For ponies learning to fly for the first time they're kicking butt at it! But it's not surprising when they've got the best instructor in Equestria. Heh heh!" She chuckled as she brohoofed Pinkie.

"And the humblest." Applejack said as She landed beside her, followed in short order by the Cutie Mark Crusaders on hoof.

"Hey, I didn't hear you complaining last night." Rainbow chided through a smirk.

"Dashie! Not in front of the kids!" Applejack snapped through a glowing blush.

Twilight stepped forward and got to her knees to be at eye level with Scootaloo. "Scootaloo, hi! How have you been?"

Scootaloo gave a weak smile and rubbed one foreleg with a hoof. "I'm good, really. Dr Shrinker says I'm making a lot of progress."

The princess gently wrapped the filly in a foreleg and squeezed her maternally. "I'm so glad. Scootaloo I'm so sorry for."

"No! Really, it's not your fault!" Scootaloo said quickly. "Dr Shrinker says that this was a long time coming. If anything, getting it out now is stopping me from having way bigger problems down the line." Scootaloo hugged Twilight's neck and whispered, "Thank you princess."

Twilight rose with a warm smile on her face. "Well, you can stop by and pick up more fuel any time you."

"NO!!!" Scootaloo screamed, causing everypony in the room to turn and look. She cleared her throat and spoke low. "Sorry, but um. No. After everything that happened with . . . Those." She said with a shudder, unable to bring herself to name the word. "I'll just wait until Rainbow has time to teach me properly."

Twilight nodded, "I'm very proud of you."

"And I'm very proud of you, my most able student." Celestia called out as she and Luna strolled regally towards her. Everypony knew that they were no longer the princesses, but few ponies could resist the urge to bow to the alicorns.

"Indeed my princess." Luna called, slipping the smallest emphasis on the possessive. Twilight blushed as she subtly slipped beside her and wrapped her tail around hers. "Behold finally the long expected fruits of your labor."

"Indeed my sister. The opportunities for commerce are almost incalculable!" Celestia cheered.

"And military applications." Rainbow added with a smirk as one squad of the first non pegasi wonderbolts flew overhead.

"And helpin out in agriculture." Applejack said.

"And entertainment!" The great and airborne Trixie shouted from her stage surrounded by fireworks.

Celestia moved forward and wrapped a foreleg around her former student. "As always my dearest friend I'm very proud of. . . ARE YOU TWO HOLDING TAILS?!" The former princess squawked in a rather unladylike fashion. Luna snickered mischievously as Twilight's face drained completely of blood. The princess lit her horn and the two lovers vanished in a flash of light. Even all the way from the crystal castle they could hear the screech of, "LUUUUUNAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

The two alicorns appeared in front of the portal to the human world where Sunset Shimmer was waiting for them. "So it looks like Celestia found out about your little nightly adventures."

The ancient alicorn had to collapse to the floor cackling uncontrollably. "I haven't heard her use that tone since I slipped her diary to the Duke of Neighburry!"

"Yes, well, that particular cat is out of that particular bag! So let's get you home before you get caught in the blast radius." Twilight said sighing. She wrapped a foreleg around the Sunset's neck and smiled. "Thank you Sunset, we couldn't have done it without you. And sorry you got stuck here for so long."

"Oh it's just a few days, no biggie." Sunset returned the hug. Twilight lit her horn and the portal opened. Sunset smiled at the doorway to her adopted home. She grinned back at the new couple and quipped, "You two don't have too much fun now." Twilight's face reddened ever so slightly and she looked up and away. She displayed her left flank and raised her tail to display fresh red welts on her coat. Sunset's eyes went wide and she couldn't repress a grin. "My work here is done."

The mile high club.

The ponies that had congregated outside of the crystal castle all filed out and went their separate ways. The remaining Cutie Mark Crusaders went to search for their crazed comrade, Trixie went back to her wagon, Fluttershy went back to her cottage, and Applejack, having nothing better to do, decided to just go home. As she walked she noticed just how terribly slow she was really going. Now that she'd experienced zipping around she no longer had the desire to mosey. "Only had the derned thang fer two days n Ah'm already spoilt rotten!"

Her heart sank lower and lower with every step. In the distance she could see her cozy little house on the mountainside and sighed. Why had the stubborn farmer insisted that they live halfway between their two habitats? Rainbow had said countless times that she didn't need cloud architecture. "But NOOOO Ah just HAD to be considrit of mah mare's needs. We just HAD ta live where her clouds could stay sturdy enough so she can have 'er own space." She groaned at her decision.

Applejack had known even before they'd built the house that it was going to be a trek up and down the mountain every day, and that trek was only going to get harder as she aged, but she just didn't have the heart to make Rainbow completely change her living situation when there was a workable compromise. "Stop that now!" The stubborn farmer said out loud to herself, holding her head high and straightening her shoulders. "Just cause y'all got a bit of a hike to git home ain't somethin to fuss about! Besahdes! Twahlaght's gonna git these here mo sheens back to workin raght n then y'all can zip round the skah whit'cher special somepony all ya want!"

She meant to strike out towards home with spirit and vigor renewed, but at that moment is when she heard something odd. It was a familiar voice, but it was making strange straining sounds like one in pain while attempting to perform some difficult task. Applejack noticed she was within earshot of Sugar Cube Corner and realized the sound must be Pinkie, but what in Equestria was she doing? With some trepidation she slowly entered the bakery and the sounds became more pronounced. She saw Mr and Mrs Cake working with concern and discontent written across their faces and felt compelled to ask, "Uh, Howdy there Cakes. What's all the commotion?"

Mrs Cake gave a strained and unconvincing smile. "Oh, hello there Applejack. Oh, nothing, we're just a little bit behind on an order. We expected to have Pinkie's help but she's a bit preoccupied with uhmm. . ." Her point was made by a thud and a particularly irritated grunt from upstairs.

Mr Cake sighed. "It would be so bad for Pinkie to have a sick day, if she didn't use up all of our baking utensils!"

Applejack raised an eyebrow high on her head. She'd known Pinkie for years, and one would think that nothing the party pony did would be able to surprise the farmer anymore, but that was particularly odd, even for Pinkie. The earth pony mounted the stairs, having to be careful not to bash the railing with her large clunky backpack as she ascended. As she reached the top of the stairs a new sound made its way to her ears through the cacophony. It was an odd scratching sound, like one rubbing something with old sandpaper.

Applejack had to gulp before slowly reaching out an orange hoof and ever so gently pushing the door open. As soon as her friend appeared several mysteries were solved simultaneously. Pinkie lay sprawled awkwardly at an angle, the jetpack against the floor. Her body was stretched over the large backpack, her neck craned to reach a certain spot. In her teeth was a wooden spoon, held by the bowl. She was grunting and fidgeting, trying desperately to reach a certain spot under the jetpack.

That's why the Cakes had no kitchenware to work with. Over a dozen spoons, spatulas, rubber scrapers, and tongs were all sticking out of the crevasse between Pinkie's back and the jetpack as if she was attempting to cosplay as a porcupine. The struggling grunting pony was jabbing at the spot, trying desperately to scratch just under the padding of the jetpack. She grew so frustrated with her fruitless effort that her jaws came together straight through the wooden spoon.

Pinkie snarled with rage and pain as she contorted her body in a matter that if anypony else had done so Applejack might have thought they were possessed. Her legs bent the wrong way to reach all the way over the jetpack and lift herself up off of the floor. She scuttled around to face the trembling farmer, her head hanging down almost touching the floor. Applejack's blood congealed in her veins when the twisted pony's head turned all the way around on her neck, her eyes literally blazing with real actual fire. "SOOOOO!!! ITCHEEEEEEY!!!"

Applejack gave a rising scream as she scuttled back away from the monster that vaguely resembled her friend. She turned to run down the stairs, but one of her jets caught the railing and she tumbled head first all the way down. When she reached the bottom she wanted to take a moment to look and see if she was injured in any way, but from her vantage point at the bottom of the stairs she could see the crouching monster scuttling towards her. She screamed again but she couldn't manage to regain her hooves before the creature reached her.

Pinkie scuttled straight over the flailing pony and into the kitchen. "No Pinkie! That's the last egg beater! Please!" Applejack heard a wailing Mr Cake say from the kitchen.

Sugar Cube Corner shook with the roar of, "IIIITCHEEEEEEEY!!!" The contorted demon of itching scuttled back over the shell shocked farmer and back up the stairs. Applejack didn't give that twisted creature time to come back as she scrambled to her hooves. One of her boosters caught the door frame as she tried to flee and it slammed her into the other side of the doorway. She staggered and stumbled into the street from the impact, straight into a pair of ponies.

The two tackled ponies saw the large bulky mass that they had no mental reference point to hearken back to and screamed, "Help! A monster!" Applejack got unsteadily off of them and looked at the two in shock. Before she could stammer out a breathless apology everypony within earshot of the scream had begun panicking in the way only residents of ponyville can. Welcome mats were turned over to become unwelcome mats. Ponies ran screaming into each other without looking where they were running to. Doors were slammed and bolted and curtains were drawn.

In a matter of seconds Applejack was standing alone in the square. Tears began to fill her eyes as she ran heedlessly towards her mountain home. She crossed ponyville at a dead sprint, desperate to reach the sanctity of her and her mare's cozy home. The distance proved too great for even the indomitable Applejack, and just as she reached the foot of the mountain she slumped down, her breath caught between sobs and exhausted gasps. Just that second she felt the mild whiplash of her mare snatching her up off the ground and zooming off into the air.

Applejack looked up in starry eyed wonder at the cocky wonderbolt, the toothy grin being the thing she'd wanted to see the very most right that second. "Hey Babe! Did ya miss me?"

The farmer clung tightly to her mare and almost sobbed the answer, "Yes!" She buried her face in her mare's blue neck and squeezed tightly with relief. "Ah'm so glad to see you! Y'all wouldn't BELIEVE the day Ah've had!."

"Well MY day was GREAT!" Rainbow shouted, her buoyant mood too high to notice her mare's distress. "I got some poor grunts to listen to my fanfic, AND we finally got the L7 maneuver down! And it was all thanks to this awesome thing!" She gestured to the jetpack. "I owe Twilight a great big thank you!"

Applejack's eyes went wide and she almost made Rainbow Dash drop her in her scramble. "No! Don't! Dash y'all gotta stop usin that thang raght this second!" She shouted, waving her hooves at the jets as if she could just press them back into the jetpack and stop them.

Rainbow spent a long moment scrambling to reassert her balance and resume using her wings. "What? Why? Hey! Easy! EASY! Just hold on!" The pegasus quickly but awkwardly landed on the trail leading to their house and plopped Applejack less than gently on the ground. "What the hay AJ?! What's wrong with using the jetpack?"

Applejack scrambled to her hooves and shouted with more heat than was appropriate. "Twahlaght said we ain't to use em no more! Says it'll make it harder to get em off er something!"

Rainbow's natural inclination was to rise to this impetuosity, but her mare had been a good influence on her. She knew that it was best to extinguish anger rather than to dominate it. She spoke in a low consoling tone and gently took her mare in her arms. "Hey, hey, hey, alright. If Twilight doesn't want us to use the jetpacks anymore, then we won't." She gently lifted her mare in her forelegs and slowly rose into the air on her wings.

Applejack knew instantly what Rainbow was doing and she felt mortified at speaking so harshly to her mare. She wrapped her forelegs around the long blue neck and squeezed tight. "Ah'm sorry hun! It's just been a day! With Rarity goin off the deep end, n Scootaloo. And Pinkie!" She said, the panic in her voice rising as she spoke.

Rainbow gave her a gentle squeeze. "It's okay babe. I'm here. Let's just get home and you can tell me all about it." Rainbow carried Applejack all the way into their house and didn't put her down until she laid her gently on the couch. The pegasus held the farmer's head in her hooves and gently stroked the long blonde hair. The farmer simply clung to her mare and relished the comfort she was giving. "Now." Rainbow whispered. "What happened?"

Applejack sighed and shifted to lay her head in her mare's lap. She explained the uncomfortable parts of her day, about how three of her friends had been driven to various degrees of lunacy by the new machines. She explained the audience with Twilight and how Scootaloo had flown away like a mad mare. "Now she's goodness knows where n Pinkie n Rares are nuttier n squirrel droppins!" She sighed miserably. "Here Ah thought these'd help us git closer, but it's just been one big mess!"

Rainbow Dash cooed reassuringly to her distraught mare. "Oh come on AJ, it can't be all that bad. I was able to complete a maneuver that we've been struggling with for two full months!"

Applejack thought for a moment and shifted. "Wayull, Ah mean, it WAS helpful on the farm this mornin." Her mood slowly brightened as she explained in needless detail that Rainbow Dash bore heroically. She couldn't stifle a laugh when she explained about her older brother's jealousy at not receiving an invitation to the test trail. The pegasus was laughing right along side of her mare as she reached the end of her story. "Anyway, we got done so fast that Big Mac could just skip off the rest of the day n be with Sugar Belle, if ya know what I mean." Applejack said suggestively.

Rainbow's laughter stopped suddenly and she grew pensive. Applejack noticed the sudden change and sat upright. "Shug? Somethin wrong?"

The pegasus blushed and fiddled with her hooves. "Well, I mean, about that." She cleared her throat and looked away. "I mean that's part of the reason I'm home so early."

Applejack understood the implication and she was momentarily taken aback. "Oh Dashie!" She drew closer to her mare and wrapped her forelegs around her. "Well, after the day Ah've had a roll in the hay mahght be nahce." She leaned in for a kiss, but Rainbow pulled away unexpectedly.

The pegasus stood all the way up and seemed to not want to make eye contact. "Well, I mean, it's just that." She cleared her throat and breathed deeply. "Twilight said not to use the jetpacks anymore and. . ."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with anythin?"

Rainbow looked about guiltily and put her mouth right next to her mare's ear. Applejack's face grew redder and redder as Rainbow explained the idea that had been filling her mind all afternoon. The earth pony stared at the pegasus in surprise when she finally pulled her head away. "It's the normal way for pegasus, but we never could before because you couldn't fly. But now with the jetpack we could! But Twilight said we can't use them anymore so. . ."

Applejack got to her hooves, her cheeks red as apples. "Wayull. . . Just. . . One more tahme couldn't hurt. . ." The two hustled to Rainbow's section of the house and the pegasus opened the door. Applejack slowly, with a bit of guilt, raised herself off of the ground and the two entered the hallway hoof in hoof. The earth pony's eyes sparkled as she saw how her mare had decorated the house. Applejack only ever used the cloud walking spell on special occasions, and Rainbow slept in her bed most nights anyway, so she didn't have much reason to enter the cloud sanctuary.

Rainbow Dash pulled her mare close and instructed her on how to perform the act in air. It took a few moments of awkward positioning, but soon the two found that they very much enjoyed this method of making love. They proceeded to continue in the action until they were cut short by Applejack's jetpack beginning to stutter and stall. With a tremendous groan the farmer used the last bit of her fuel to make it back to the solid floor of the house. She lay in the doorway, panting heavily, only now realizing just how exhausted she was.

Rainbow slowly limped her way to beside her mare and flopped down on the floor beside her, equally winded. "Awesome. . . Doesnt. . . Even." She couldn't continue. She lay her head against her mare's chest and Applejack wrapped her forelegs around the puffing pegasus. After a long moment she whispered. "I owe Twilight a VERY big thank you."

Applejack chuckled weakly and whispered. "Shoot, Ah mahght never take this thing off!"