When The Sun Sets

by Dusk Melody

Rating: mature
Tags: Sunset Shimmer, Main 7 (EqG), Principal Celestia, Slice of Life, Human, Sad, Fetish, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Romance, Applejack (EqG), Equestria Girls, Sex
Length: 23887

It was another villain using Equestrian magic. They'd ponied up, like always. Only this time, it was very different...

It was another villain using Equestrian magic. They'd ponied up, like always. Only this time, it was very different...

Sunset Shimmer must contend with the fallout of the pony up, deal with her unexpected change, and how it will affect her life going forward, her relationship with Applejack and the rest of her friends.

At her lowest in a long time, she is reminded of a saying from home

Every Sunset is followed by a Sunrise. Both are beginnings to something, and also endings to something else. Both should always be enjoyed with friends who share the continuation.

~ ~ ~

Featured 25th July! Thank you guys so much!

Published 2024-07-25 20:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2024-09-20 06:29:57 UTC

Chapter 1 - Goodbye Sunset, Hello Shimmer

It was nothing out of the ordinary, certainly nothing special. Sunset didn't even really know the guy's name. Twilight had said it was Neighsay, which was amusing in itself. All Sunset was concerned with was the School Board President had tapped into the Equestrian Magic of the portal and had cornered Luna and most of the school body in CHS.

So, it was time to go to work.

Again.

Equestrian Magic going screwy.

Again.

Must be a Tuesday. She knew she would miss this when the girls finally graduated high school and they went their own separate ways. Like they had done before when they had faced down the Sirens, or Midnight Sparkle, or Gloriosa Daisy, or Wallflower Blush, the seven friends had transformed, each channelling their own magical power along with their element of harmony to defeat the demon that Neighsay had become.

It was all very same old, same old. Sunset Shimmer paid it no mind. She felt the magical change in her body like she always had before, though this time it felt stronger, more potent. It felt like the Equestrian magic was running through the core of her being. She only just heard Twilight deliver the speech about friendship and magic and yadda yadda.

Sunset Shimmer had heard it before. She felt the familiar magic surge in her body like it always had. Nothing felt different in the slightest. Pinkie Pie again interrupted Twilight at the crescendo of the ‘Friendship Speech’, screaming for them to light him up, ladies!

Just like always, after they had ponied-up, there came the outpouring of Friendship magic, or, according to Rainbow Dash, the rainbow lasers, which was the athlete’s favourite bit.

Just like always, the battle was short and swift. The rainbow magic had enveloped Neighsay and like every other time, the friends had won and saved the day.

Just like always.

This time though, something was different. When Sunset landed back on her feet, having levitated into the air along with the others, she had overbalanced and fell forwards. In the split second she had to react, in which she saw the firm hard schoolgrounds rushing up towards her face, Sunset Shimmer thrust out her hands to protect her face from the impact.

Only they weren't her hands.

Amber coloured hooves hit the ground, and all of a sudden, she was looking at everything from a different angle. A much lower angle than she was accustomed to. Another split second passed and Sunset instinctively knew what had happened. As she watched Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity run over to restrain the fallen Governor of the School Board, she waved a hand – hoof – in front of her face. 'Oh no! Oh no oh no!' she thought frantically, her fears confirmed when she looked over her shoulder and saw a red and yellow tail.

This was really happening! Her worst fear had come true!

"Girls...” Sunset was struck by how strange her voice sounded. It was her, but at the same time it wasn’t. Did her voice always sound like that when she was a pony? She hadn’t noticed it before. “Girls, I think we have another problem!"

While Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity were busy with restraining Neighsay and calling the authorities to collect him, it was Applejack who noticed the change in her girlfriend’s voice. “Sunny, what happened to your voice…” the farmer, still wearing her transformation clothing, couldn’t finish her sentence. Whatever she had expected to see, an Equestrian pony was not it.

Not that she hadn’t seen Sunset in her current form before, she had, a few times, but she’d always had warning beforehand.

“Oh my,” it was Fluttershy who took charge in Applejack’s stunned silence. “Girls, we need to wrap this up quickly. Pinkie, help out the others. AJ, get Sunny to your truck, now, before anyone notices her.”

The past few moments all seemed to catch up to Sunset Shimmer all at once. It was like a tidal wave assaulting her brain, threatening to wash her away. This was not helped in any way when she looked around at her discarded clothing – her every day and her transformation clothing - then at Applejack and at Fluttershy, then at the others restraining Neighsay. “Oh no! Oh no! No no no!” Sunset began to panic, doing a frenetic four hooved dance in place as she freaked out.

Spurred into action by Fluttershy taking swift charge, Applejack moved to take hold of Sunset Shimmer and she deftly lifted the struggling prancing pony in her strong arms with a grunt of effort. “You've put on some weight, girl,” the farmer huffed as she headed for her battered old red truck with Fluttershy close behind to open the door.

Since Twilight and Rainbow Dash were still busy with Neighsay, who was cursing them and CHS all the way to hell and back, Pinkie Pie performed a celebratory fist bump with Rarity, who looked over at Applejack and Fluttershy. Quickly seeing the situation with Sunset, the fashionista decided to go back to help her friends with the hopefully soon to be ex-governor.

Somehow, Applejack had managed to get Sunset into the passenger seat of her truck. “AJ!” the Equestrian exclaimed, “What's happened!? I'm a pony!” she waved her forehooves around in an utter panic, “I'm a pony! This is bad! Real bad! People in black SUV's are gonna come and get me! I'll be in a lab and be dissected as a freak!”

“Calm down Sunny,” Applejack said reassuringly as she shut the door then opened it when she realised she had trapped the red and yellow tail, “I won't let the men in black take you away,” she tried again to close the door.

“They'll come with stun guns and lasers! I've seen the movies when we have sleepovers!” Sunset was absolutely not calming down, not in the slightest, “I'll end up like that doctor in that Alita movie, just a brain and eyes in a jar!”

“AJ,” Fluttershy’s calm but firm voice again cut through the panic and the tension of the scene, “You need to take Sunny to your place. I'll get the girls over as soon as we can.”

“Put your darn nose and tail in, Sunny, I'm trying to close the door!” Applejack gently pressed against Sunset's face and her ass end to make sure she could finally close the passenger door. With that done, she whispered to Fluttershy, “What if she's right, Shy?”

“Um,” Fluttershy thought quickly, for she could hear sirens approaching in the distance and knew they had little time, then the answer came to her. “You live on a farm and you have a pony. While she is an unusual breed, from a distance nobody should tell anything’s off about her. I don't think anyone here heard her talk, so you should be okay.”

Applejack nodded her understanding and, as Fluttershy went to help the others, she went around to the driver’s side of her truck. Before she could get in, the farmer felt the magic leave her and for wont of a better term, she ‘ponied-down’. Her outfit transformed back into her denim skirt and flannel shirt, and her ears vanished, along with her longer hair. However, she was confronted with another issue. “Um, Sunny can you twist so your back hooves are on the floor? Your butt is a bit in the way for me to drive, sugar.”

“I’m sorry!” exclaimed Sunset, who had been sat sort of on her side. She needed to take a couple of attempts, but eventually she did manage to twist herself in place so that Applejack could sit in the driver’s seat and drive. The moment the truck started up, so to did her panic attack, “I don't wanna be a brain in a jar! I like my brain in my head!”

“I think your sexy brain is best in your sexy head,” Applejack practically purred once she had the truck in motion, headed along the street. She reached over to run her right hand through the fiery red and yellow tail, “Like this sexy tail and your sexy mane.”

The sudden unexpected contact stopped the Twilight Sparkle level freak out dead in its tracks before it could get too out of hand. “I...wh-what...” Sunset sat there, her eyes wide and with her girlfriend’s hand back in her tail very close to her dock, “What?”

“What?” smirked Applejack before she turned her attention back to the road ahead, “I told you that you were hot when we visited with Celestia and met her little filly in that pony world a few months back. I'm telling you, that you are hot now. I swear I'm soaking the seat driving home. Might make you clean it up…”

When she heard that, Sunset’s amber cheeks turned bright red. “But...hot? I-I mean...we were both ponies! A-And...I am, and you're not!” with the last vestiges of her freak out abated, the pony slumped in the seat. “I don't know what happened!” she exclaimed, then she sniffed like she was going to cry, but what caught her equine nostrils stopped that, too. “You really are soaking the seat; I can smell you!”

“Relax, Sunny,” Applejack snorted and parted her legs to make sure the aroma spread around the truck, “I'm sure our Twi or yours will be able to figure something out. I don't think it's bestiality when I'm looking at you. Must be that sexy brain you want to hold on to.” Playfully, she tugged hard on Sunset’s tail, “Now I have an extra hole to play with!” she giggled like a mad woman.

“At least I can talk,” huffed Sunset, who was trying very hard to keep a lid on her neuroses and her fears, “Not like those nightmares I had last year, when you had to let Thunder breed me.” she sighed deeply, “You really aren't freaked out by this at all, are you?”

“Freaked out?” replied Applejack seriously, her playful tone dropped for the moment, “No, I’m not freaked out. I've ponied up several times, I’ve been trapped in a mirror dimension, I’ve used real Equestrian magic and I’ve been to your world three times. I swear there ain’t nothing gonna freak me out ever again. I am concerned though. Why this happened and what it means for all of us.” She rested her free hand on her pony’s thigh, “Don’t you worry none, I won't let anyone take you away.”

Sunset Shimmer’s blush remained firmly in place on her amber cheeks as the scenery flashed past the truck, “I guess when you've seen she-demons, sirens, centaurs and extra dimensional magic, seeing your girlfriend turn into a pony isn't the strangest thing in the world, huh?”

“Nope.” responded Applejack in a very good imitation of her big brother, “Still, I never really had a reference for your size. Now I do, and there is a whole lot of you to love.”

Somewhat offended at that, Sunset lightly thumped her left forehoof into her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Are you saying I'm fat?”

“If I am, and I'm not, I like you as you are,” replied Applejack with a happy smirk that the panic attack seemed to have been halted, at least for the time being. “You could have been the size of Trigger, or one of those cats Shy has. You doing okay there?” she asked, taking note of the way the pony was ‘sat’. “You ain’t to cramped? I didn't think the back would have been too good an idea.”

“It's not the most comfortable ride I've ever had,” commented Sunset, who had positioned herself so that she was facing out the back window so her rear hooves were on the floor. That at least allowed her to turn her head to look at Applejack and easily move a forehoof to touch her. As soon as she had spoke, her eyes went wide and she giggled, “Don't you say it! Don't you dare! No innuendos, please!”

Laughing, Applejack admitted, “I won't say I wasn't thinking it, but I didn't have enough time to see if we are a good fit for it.”

Sunset took the time to roll her big eyes before she replied, “When we get home to the farm, I need to get in front of your full-length mirror, see for myself if everything's changed.”

A giggle left Applejack’s lips, “You be sure to double check under that tail of yours, Sunny.”

Again, Sunset spared her girlfriend a roll of her eyes, “Eyes on the road, AJ, not under my tail, if you don't mind.”

“My eyes are on the road and my hand is in your tail,” Applejack assured her with that same confident dominant tone in her voice she used when they were playing a scene. “I can move it up and under, if you want.”

Sunset Shimmer may have been many things. Dumb wasn’t one of them. She recognised what her girlfriend was doing. She was giving her the choice, allowing her to give her consent to go further. That was all it took and a moment later, her fiery tail flagged upwards and moved to the side. “Please, Mistress please...”

Since Applejack was using her right hand, she pulled it from the flagging tail and she reached between the seat and Sunset’s body. She liked what she felt. “Pert breasts, I can get used to that.” After passing her judgement on her pony’s crotch boobs, she delved a bit further. “Seems I'm not the only one leaking here.”

“Oh, by Luna's stars!” Sunset snorted through her nose and she sounded more than a teeny bit frustrated with herself, “How can I be horny at a time like this? I mean, I know we normally fuck after a victory, but, well, you know...I’m a pony!”

Smirking, Applejack felt further up until her hand rested on her crotch under the tail. “You know, I have an idea; you can be the first pony with two tails!”

Looking out the rear window of the truck as Applejack drove along, Sunset burst out laughing, “Why is this making me horny? This shouldn't be making me horny!”

“My fingers beg to differ,” grinned Applejack and, as she drove expertly along with one hand on the wheel, she moved her other hand back a bit and no matter how hard she tried, she was only able to get the tips of her fingers inside her submissive’s vagina from that position, but she found her clitoris was very accessible.

“Ooooooh daaaaaamn!” moaned the aroused pony, who, obeying her body, moved her hard exposed clit back against her Mistress’s wonderfully dextrous fingertips. “I should be analysing, making theories, testing...all I can think about is you putting my collar on me, getting that strap on and rutting me!”

Applejack didn’t stop or slow what her fingers were doing. If anything, she caressed and stroked her hard nub in ever concentrated circles, amused at the little neighing noises she was making. “Great minds think alike, Sunny.”

“Neeeigh!” Sunset whinnied, “To Tartarus with theories and tests!” giving in to her lust, she moved her head over and kissed Applejack's ear.

Her eyes on the road, Applejack was not prepared for the feel of Sunset’s equine tongue lapping up her ear and delving inside. Although she was startled, she barely managed to maintain control of the truck and keep it in a straight line. “Woah girl, you can sure give some tongue now!”

“Yes Mistress, I can.” to demonstrate just how much tongue she could give, Sunset delivered a long, wet, sloppy kiss all around Applejack’s ear and she slipped her tongue out, licking her way all around the lobe.

As a result of that, Applejack had a knuckle clenching grip on the steering wheel. In fact she was gripping it so hard her knuckles were white and she was in danger of crushing the wheel in her hand. “Simmer down there, Shimmer. I don't want to pull over here and ravish you. Kind of cramp in here as it is.”

“Fine,” Sunset pouted and removed her muzzle from her Mistress’s ear, “Although now the promise of ravishing has been made, you need to see it through.”

“I like your voice,” commented Applejack.

“You do?” that made Sunset pause in her flirty behaviour, “Isn't it the same?” as she asked the question, she did notice the difference. “Huh.”

“The way you speak is the same, but the accent is slightly different. Might be due to a bit of change in the mouth department,” Applejack giggled.

“I guess I do have a muzzle now,” Sunset used her forehooves to examine said muzzle. It was funny, all the times she had gone through the portal, she had never given her form a second thought. Then, her eyes went wide as a thought occurred to her. “Mac's at the farm! Oh stars! What's he gonna say?”

“Eeyup?” offered Applejack, aware that was rather unhelpful.

“And Sugar Belle will be there too!”

“Eeyup,” commented Applejack as simply as before, then she continued, “Don't give her any pony rides, she's way too pregnant for that. That said, it will be hard to keep Applebloom off of you.”

Sunset drooped her head onto the top of the passenger seat. “She was always watching us when you dressed me up in the pony tack in the barn, wasn't she?” with that in mind, she glanced over her shoulder at the clock in the truck, “Jeez...it's after school kicking out time! AB's gonna be home! Oh well. It'll be like ripping off a band aid.”

Applejack’s hand returned to pulling firmly on her girlfriend turned pony’s tail. “You do need to calm down Sunny. I'll pull into the barn and we’ll take it from there. Mostly, we'll just chill till the rest of the girls get here.”

“I’m sorry, AJ!” exclaimed Sunset despondently, “It’s just…I'm just...I’m trying to relax, and all I'm seeing are problems that aren't even there, like I did before the memory stone incident

Applejack shot her beloved pony a sly look as she turned off of the main road and down a side lane that would eventually lead to the farm, “This is from a girl that would ride in the back of my truck wearing nothing but a wasp, hooves and a tail.”

“And a huge butt plug tail and a bridle!” added Sunset, “Don't forget those.” A soft giggle then left her mouth, “That was different, AJ, and you know it. I was a shameless human then…”

Of course the farmer knew the circumstances were different. But, that being said, “I think you'd make a rather good shameless pony now, Sunny.”

“Wait till you get me in the barn, Mistress. How much further, anyway?”

“Ten minutes. You going to stay calm when Bloom peaks in to see what we're up to?”

“Yes, I'm over it, Mistress,” just using the honorific was enough to calm the fretting submissive pony. She knew they were getting close to the farm because the smooth tarmac had given way to a nearly smooth dirt track that the truck handled with ease. “The absence of evil black SUV's in a convoy behind us driven by evil government agents is very reassuring.”

“Why I have you sitting look out. Of course, I can't try any of my fancy driving moves if there’s no one to escape from. And we are here,” Applejack announced after they had bounced effortlessly along the dirt track for half a mile. “Wait there and I'll get the door open.”

“Never let me watch any of Rainbow Dash's action movies ever again?” groaned Sunset, who was certain they were responsible for her paranoia regarding evil government agents in black SUV’s. To be fair to Sunset, the antagonists were all the same, kicking down doors and saying things like ‘my gun is my warrant’.

Parking in front of the appropriately nicknamed ‘Fetish Barn’, Applejack quickly got out and slid the double doors open wide enough for the truck to pass. Instead of getting in, she simply pushed the two tonne vehicle inside as easily as if she was operating a wheelbarrow. “If you want some popcorn, you'll watch whatever she brings every seventh time,” giggled the farmer as she opened the passenger door so Sunset could get herself out. “Let me close the door…”

Very carefully, Sunset Shimmer backed herself out of the passenger seat, and tentatively she placed her hind hooves on the floor, stepped out and then her forehooves down. Before Applejack could drag the barn doors closed, without thinking, the unicorn used her telekinesis to close them and the truck door. “Oh...oh wow! I did that! Look at that!”

Applejack wore an expression on her face similar to the time Rarity had first used her diamond shield to send her into a pond at Camp Everfree. “That was unicorn magic, I didn't expect that. Guess you didn't either, huh?”

“Well...no!” Sunset looked like she had parted the waters of the Celestial Sea. Stunned, the amber mare ran a hoof up to her forehead to her horn, which glowed at the touch. “I can feel it! AJ I can feel it!” she had been so caught out by her transformation that she hadn’t thought about the presence of her horn or her magic.

“Um, can I feel it too?”

“Please!” Sunset submissively bowed her head to her girlfriend. It wasn’t strictly necessary, seeing as how she now stood eye level with the farmer’s breasts, but the gesture felt right. “Don't grip too hard, horns can be um…sensitive.”

The first thing Applejack did was to closely visually inspect the horn that extended a foot from her marefriend’s head. She was fascinated by it and the groove that ran down around the exterior. Satisfied, then then touched it lightly with the very tips of her fingers. Moving her hand up and down, she felt the ridges and the multitude of tiny imperfections in the surface. “That feels nice. Is it, ah, too sensitive to, um, well...how do I say this without sounding like a pervert?” she asked, aware that just asking that made her sound like a pervert.

“We call it a horngasm,” explained Sunset, who was ready for such a question. “Yes, I can have a orgasm from my horn if you stroke it harder or if you suck on it…” her eyes then rolled in her head as Applejack continued to stroke her horn and she started to drool slightly, “Mmmmm like that...”

“I was just thinking of someplace else you could rub that horn of yours, Sunny,” just so there was no doubt at all what she meant, Applejack dropped her denim skirt and panties and wore a wide grin as she hopped up onto a nearby hay bale so that her snatch was about three feet above the floor. “Have at it, I can take the length, but let me know if I pull your ears to hard.”

“You can pull my ears as much as you like, Mistress,” walking up to her girlfriend and, taking careful aim, she slid the rounded tip her horn into the hot wet vagina displayed before her. As an added effect, she cast a low level spell, making it vibrate on the way in.

“Oh my apples!” exclaimed Applejack, who grabbed a hold of Sunset's ears like they were handles so she could pull her back in when she pulled out.

Outside the barn, Fluttershy’s yellow animal shelter rescue van pulled up to the barn, where Fluttershy – who was driving – and Rarity – in the front passenger seat – were greeted to the sight of Applebloom furiously masturbating with her face pressed against the convenient hole in the barn wall, far too busy to hear them arrive. “Someone is having a par-taaay!” sang Pinkie Pie as she leapt out through the side door.

Rainbow Dash, who was wearing her regular clothing of stretchy sweat pants, tee shirt, sports jacket and sneakers, looked around as she followed Pinkie out of the van, “Where's AJ and Sunset?”

“Really darling,” commented Rarity once she had disembarked from the passenger seat and closed the door, “Even you're not that thick.”

“What?” asked Rainbow, turning sharply on Rarity.

“Maybe we should come back later?” suggested Fluttershy, who had a very good idea of what Applejack and Sunset were up to, if what Applebloom was doing was any give away, which she suspected it was.

“No,” interjected Twilight, who was the last one off the van. Like the others, she was ‘ponied-down’ and wearing her regular clothing, “I need to know what happened to Sunset.” She was even fishing in the pockets of her white lab coat for a piece of paper and a pen.

Once she had her hat in place to protect her carefully styled hair from the ravages of the sun, Rarity sauntered up to Applebloom, “Spying on your sister, I presume?” she asked in her very best shade throwing tone of voice.

“Oh yeah, I am!” Applebloom didn't even try to deny it, not that she could, with her faded stonewashed jeans down around her knees, her left hand buried in her panties and the other openly groping a small breast under her shirt, “Y'all should see this!”

Rarity pouted at the waste of perfectly good shade. Honestly, what was the point in throwing it if nobody was there to catch? Still, she had more important things at hand. “Is there another peep hole, dear, or are you going to share?”

Reluctantly, the youngest Apple sibling moved aside. “Have a look,” she huffed, because she had been so damn close, “But don't y’all hog it.”

Delicately, Rarity placed her eye to the hole and she looked at the incredibly lewd scene for just a few seconds before she moved back. “All yours, AB, dear,” she wore a deep red blush on her face as she went back to the van were the rest were waiting. “I should have thought of doing that when I was in the pony place.”

Given her peep hole back, Applebloom happily went back and resumed her scheduled masturbating. She was thoroughly enjoying watching her big sister and Sunset. It was even better than spying on her brother when he fucked his wife so hard he made Sugar Belle’s heavily swollen belly jiggle.

“Oooooh!” squealed Pinkie Pie in delight as she danced on the tips of her toes, “You mean using your horn like a big old magic dildo?” she asked, delighted when Rarity blushed ever harder. She knew she’d pay for that later, but it was totally worth it.

“No way!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, “You can do that?” she looked at Twilight and glared like the girl had personally wronged her, “You could have done that and you didn’t? Hey AB, move over, I wanna see!”

While Rainbow thundered over and not so delicately moved Applebloom out of the way, Twilight grunted in frustration, “Girls, we're missing the point. Sunset has changed, and my calculations say she should have changed back!”

“She should?”

“Yes, Fluttershy, we're far enough away from the portal, it shouldn't be effecting her. After all,” Twilight pointed out, though she was still feeling through her pockets for her notepad and pen, “We’ve all reverted to our standard forms and clothes.”

“You mean how we've changed back to normal, you mean?” asked Rainbow, who was making angry eyes at Applebloom for shoving her out of the way so she could look through the hole, “But that don't make no sense. If the transforming were tied to the portal, how could we change up at Camp Everfree?”

“Centaur magic, I suppose?” offered Rarity, who had no better idea.

“That was old equestrian magic,” pointed out Twilight, who had given up on her search for her notepad and pen. “But then the portal is old too, maybe older even than the centaurs, but this was something Neighsay did. I thought it was just a power surge, but now I'm not sure.”

“But if it affected Sunset like that,” put in Fluttershy, “How come we just ponied up like we always do?”

“As dear AJ would say, ‘she ain't from these parts’,” answered Rarity. The look on Fluttershy’s face said she understood what her friend was getting at.

Smiling a very large smile, Pinkie Pie bounced next to Rainbow Dash and Applebloom. “Is the show still going on, ladies?”

“Uh huh! Here Pinks, take a look!”

With a deep roll of her eyes at Rainbow and at Applejack’s sister’s antics, Twilight grunted, “Well, we aren't going to solve anything stood out here by the van, are we? Are we going to go inside, or what?”

Pinkie Pie didn't bother to look through the peep hole in the side of the barn, but she did move to the sliding doors. “Pinkie?” asked Rarity, who had noted her pet’s behaviour. In response, Pinkie simply beamed out her usual huge smile. “Really, now darling?” the excited baker nodded really fast, and Rarity rolled her eyes, “Come along girls, I suppose it's show time.”

Rarity headed for the doors and Rainbow Dash was close on her heels, “Come on you two!” she cried gleefully to Twilight and Fluttershy, “This is awesome!”

Resigned to whatever was going to happen, Twilight sighed, “Very well, why not? It’s not like we haven’t all celebrated our victories together before, is it?” she looked to Fluttershy who was not so secretly extremely excited about what she was about to see.

Somehow Fluttershy possessed the strength to drag Twilight with her one handed to the doors, while Pinkie defied all physical laws by sliding both doors open at once even though they moved in opposing directions. “Surprise Unicorn Horn Dildo Party!” she screamed at the top of her voice as she produced her party cannon from nowhere and sprayed confetti everywhere.

Rarity followed her in with Fluttershy by her side and Twilight and Rainbow behind her. In the barn, Applejack absolutely did not care. She refused to let go of her pony's ears as she was so close to her orgasm and she really wanted to get off for a third time.

Likewise, Sunset didn’t care either about the audience that had burst into the barn in a shower of confetti and noise. She was focused on her task at hoof, and she channelled her magic to her horn, making it vibrate even harder than she had before, it even made a loud buzzing noise.

“Oh damn, that's so hot!” exclaimed Rainbow, who was unable to look at anything other than Sunset’s pony head placed between Applejack’s open thighs and the puddle of love juices that had formed on the floor between them.

Eventually, after a long, loud, shuddering climax which squirted out a waterfall of her ejaculate all over Sunset’s face and muzzle, Applejack at last let her go as a bliss overload transported her to lala land. Rarity politely applauded the show, and Pinkie Pie cheered. With a very wet face, Sunset turned to face her friends and bowed. “Hey girls!” she greeted them like nothing was out of the ordinary, “Did you get away alright? What happened with Neighsay?”

“He should be in a police holding cell right now,” replied Rarity, “Not too sure if Twilight’s friendship speech will take hold with this one or not.”

“Standard operating procedure,” commented Twilight, before she pointed an index finger at the pony stood in the barn. “You, on the other hand, are not standard at all. My calculations show you should have changed back two point four three miles from the portal.”

“Yeah, look, I don't get it either, Twi.” Sunset scratched the back of her head with her right forehoof, “I was going to theorise, but then AJ's fingers did all sorts of magic between my hind legs.” That said, a thought occurred to her, and she looked over to Fluttershy. “Hey Shy, how's Adagio? It's her we’ve got to thank for sending us that text warning about him going all ‘Equestrian Evil’.”

When Fluttershy nodded, she did so with a proud smile on her face. “Dagi is fine, Sunny, thank you for asking. My kitty is a very good kitty.”

Sensing that Twilight was going to again search for her notebook, Pinkie Pie reached into her hair and produced one, along with a pen. Twilight took them without asking why what just happened was able to happen. One did not question Pinkie Pie. “Did this happen before, during, or after we ponied up?” she asked, pen at the ready.

“Twi,” Applejack spoke up from her prone position on the hay bale, “Can this wait?”

“Oh,” Rainbow didn’t bother to hide her disappointment, “She isn't passed out.”

“Well, I’d say it happened while we were all transforming, getting ready to fight Neighsay,” began Sunset as she absently scratched at her head with a hoof, “I mean, I lifted off the ground with you all, like normal, magic happened, but it felt...I dunno, different, more potent, I guess.”

Twilight scribbled notes in her pad and carried on as if Applejack hadn't spoken. After all, there was never a bad time for research! “Potent, check. Did it feel like going through the mirror?”

Thinking again, Sunset replied, “I dunno, I'm not sure. It was like something 'extra'. Like...ooh, like drinking dilute juice without the water. But, why would you think I would've changed back?”

Absorbed with her notes, Twilight flipped a page in her pad. “Neighsay was drawing magic from the portal, to make localized changes. He couldn't pull much, and we stopped him before he could spread it far. I was sure it was an effect from him and where you were born. Now it seems it is an effect from Equestria.”

At last, Applejack was recovered enough from her climaxes so she was able to sit up, though she didn’t bother to get her skirt. “So, this is how Sunny’s going to be then?”

“It's...are you saying it's permanent!?” squeaked Sunset in sudden alarm, the possibility that she could be stuck like this forever a distinct and real one.

“Could be worse, SunShim,” said Rainbow dismissively, “I mean, you could be like one of AJ's mares in the stables, right? Least you're still 'you', inside.”

Sunset took the time to roll her eyes at her athletic friend. “Eloquently put, Dash. Yes, I’m still ‘me’.”

Grunting, Applejack became a little belligerent, “She is still her, no matter what she may look like. This is my Shimmer! I don’t care what anyone says, she’s my Shimmer, and that’s that.”

Twilight flinched a little from the farmer’s sudden angry outburst. She wasn’t good with confrontation like this. A hold over from her time at Crystal Prep. “I don't know if this is permeant or not, Sunset. It’s all guesswork right now.”

“Hey,” sensing her girlfriend and Mistress’s discomfort, Rainbow was immediately on her feet defensively in front of her, “Back it up AJ, I didn't mean it like that, I was just saying, y'know?”

“Well,” sighed Sunset, drawing attention back to her, “I don't feel like I'm changing back any time soon.”

Out of nowhere, Rarity clapped her hands and let out an excited squeal, “Oh, imagine the designs I can do with a live model!”

“You want to make me clothes?” asked Sunset, who was surprised it had taken Rarity this long to get there. Truly her restraint was legendary.

“Duh! It’s Rarity? Of course she’s gonna make you clothes!” Rainbow said all of that while avoiding the foul look that Applejack was shooting her way.

“I remember some of the ponies wore clothes in the other world,” stated Rarity in her defence, “It will be a whole new and exhilarating line!”

“You should let her have this, Shimmy,” commented Pinkie, who loved seeing her Rare-Bear happy and excited just as much as she enjoyed inventing the supernova chilli cupcake frosting, or her edible sunscreen.

“We are missing the point!” exclaimed Twilight, who was deeply frustrated at their natural ability to get side tracked by such pointless nonsense carrying on around her, “Our friend is a pony in this world!”

“I'm not saying I don't mind wearing clothes, Rares, but Twi's right, I can hardly go prancing up and down the high street, can I?”

“Oh, bother…” her voice subdued, Rarity pouted and scuffed at the floor with her shoe. All her excellent ideas were useless!

“I feel a parade coming on!” squealed Pinkie Pie.

In response, Rarity simply kissed her girlfriend hard on the lips. “Not now, my love, but thank you all the same.”

“Yeah,” added Rainbow Dash in an effort to be helpful, “I mean you don't want the guys in black suits after you…” the athlete then wilted under a stern glare from Applejack, the kind of glare that would burn through bank vaults. “okay, I'll be quiet now.” Twilight simply looked at Rainbow like she hadn't got the first clue about what she had just said. Rarity kissed Pinkie before she could explain it to her.

“I hate to say it, guys, but RD's right,” added Sunset somewhat reluctantly, “I'll have to stay on the farm till we work this out.

The belligerence left Applejack and it was replaced with a broad smile that Pinkie would have been proud of, “I'm okay with that, sugarcube.”

Then, there came a knock on the barn door, a knock followed by Big Macintosh’s deep rumbling voice, “You doing okay in there, sis?”

“You can come in, Mac!” hollered Sunset loudly, mindful of what Applejack had said on the way there.

A moment later and Macintosh walked into the barn along with a struggling Applebloom who he held firmly by the ear. “I’m just checking on things before I put this one to work doing the laundry.” He then paused in midstride, his eyes open wide at what greeted him. “When did we get a new horse, and why does it have Sunset's hair colour for a mane?”

“It's me, Mac,” Sunset Shimmer spoke up, ‘introducing’ herself as she was then, and she performed a full twirl on the spot, showing off her yin yang red and yellow sun cutie mark as well as her horn for him to see.

“Eeyup,” commented Macintosh after he blinked once then twice. He’d seen enough to satisfy him. “Okay, come on AB you got laundry to do, stating with what you're wearing.” He walked out with his little sister in tow and he closed the barn door on the way out.

When the girls were left alone, Sunset looked at Applejack, who wore the biggest, smuggest grin in history on her face. “Don't say it. Don’t you dare.” The farmer simply smiled wider as she made sure Sunset knew she was biting down on the words 'I told you so'.

“We need a plan!” exclaimed Twilight, who was beginning to wear her ‘mad scientist’ face thanks to all the distractions and diversions that were keeping them from getting on.

“No offense, Twilight,” said Sunset, who was very aware of the stink of sex in the barn, as well as the stink of it on her, and of the drying fluids that were matting the fur on her face and neck, “But what I need is a hot bath, some hot food and to crash on my bed.”

When her girlfriend said that, Applejack also became aware of the stink in the barn and acutely aware of her state of undress. Twilight even wrinkled her nose as she looked at her notepad. “So, tomorrow then?”

“Yeah,” agreed Sunset, who was having fond thoughts about her bed, “Tomorrow. I mean, there's no rush, right? I know it's weird, but I'm not in any danger here, it's all good, right?”

Twilight really wanted to come back with a 'for now', but she chose not to. There didn’t seem to be any point in further downing the moment. “Okay,” she conceded eventually, “We'll see you tomorrow then.”

“I can tell Adagio, right?” asked Fluttershy, who actually did raise her hand like she was calling on a teacher in class.

“I don't see why not, Shy.” A thought then occurred to Sunset as the rest of the girls all filed out of the barn back to Fluttershy’s van, “Actually, that’s a good idea. I mean, she is Equestrian, and she is over a thousand years old. Who knows? Maybe she might have an idea as to what’s happened.”

“C’mon,” Applejack said once they had waved their friends off and they couldn’t see Fluttershy’s van any longer, “Let's get you in the house and washed up. I’m sure my bed will fit the both of us.” However, when they were upstairs and looking in the bathroom a problem presented itself. “I didn't think this through. Shower is to narrow, and the tub to shallow.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Sunset grunted in a way that suggested that it did in fact matter, “I'm upstairs now, shower can wait, I want my bed.”

Applejack though was not one to be so easily defeated. “You can stand in the tub and I can wash you down.”

It was strange how infectious Sunset found Applejack’s smile. “Or we can do that too!” the pony stepped carefully into the bath tub like one treading their way through an unmarked minefield. She was sure the bath wouldn’t support her increased weight. To her surprise, it did.

After she had got the running water running and up to a nice temperature she knew Sunset liked, Applejack said softly, “Do you remember I told you how beautiful you were in Equestria? Well, missy, I gotta say, you still are. Every bit the most beautiful pony ever.

“I remember, AJ,” Sunset smiled and she flicked her tail up high once the water hit her body, making sure her back was covered, though that wasn’t necessary, her lover had her more than covered. “This takes me way back. Mom used to enjoy bathing me when I was a filly, and I loved splashing her in the royal baths before she had to sit in the Day Court.”

“I'm gonna enjoy it now,” grinned Applejack, who had taken to using an old wooden bucket to gather up the soapy water and a stiff brush to work the kinks out of Sunset's body and her legs. “It's something how much you are at the same time alike and different from our earth horses.”

In a very dead pan voice, Sunset said, “Whinny.” Then, she giggled, “I mean, this is no Canterlot palace and you aren't an earth pony servant, but I am enjoying this all the same,” the Equestrian promptly let out a low pleasured moan, “Ooooooh I forgot how good it feels to get my flanks washed like that!”

After lavishing some attention with the soap and the brush on Sunset’s cutie marks which, Applejack noted, were the same was the red and yellow sun motif she always wore, the farmer spent some extra attention on her pony’s small round breasts hanging just there between her hind legs.

“Ooooh oooOOOOH A-AJ!” moaned Sunset, who had parted her hind legs and flagged up her tail so that her lover would get better access to her slick wet vagina, which was leaking her arousal down her inner thighs quicker than it could be cleaned up.

“You really haven't changed at all, Sunny,” commented Applejack as she turned her attention to under her pony’s fiery tail. Granted the physicality of her lover’s undercarriage had changed, it was obviously equine rather than human now, but that wasn’t what she had meant.

Sunset knew she had changed outwardly, but she was also smart enough to know what Applejack had meant by what she had just said. The amber unicorn let out a sniff that might have been a tear, if anyone had been looking. “Thanks AJ, that...that really means a lot.”

Although Applejack was cleaning, and doing a good job of it, she wore a genuinely happy smile on her face as she moved on up past the neck to Sunset's face. “Now, I’ve cleaned the rest of you, but this pointy thing is something new. I've seen it before and it suits you well, Sunny.”

When Applejack used a soft cloth to delicately clean her horn, Sunset decided this was in the top five of the happiest most content she had ever been. “Oooooh yeeeeah...” she sighed happily, “You're a natural. I'm glad I don't have to teach you horn care

“Hun, I'm learning as I go,” Applejack wrapped her strong slender arms around Sunset’s neck and she placed a firm but tender loving kiss directly on the unicorn’s lips – the very first time they had kissed as human and pony, “And you are worth it.” Without thinking about it, Sunset leaned into the kiss, using her tongue and a wet foreleg for a tight hug. “You feeling better?”

“Yes Mistress,” Sunset beamed like the rising sun itself, “I'm feeling a lot better.”

Applejack giggled, not caring in the slightest that her skirt and flannel shirt was getting wetter by the second. “I’m glad to hear that, Sunny. You’re my good girl. My good pony. And I love you so damn much, you hear?” she took a step back and swiftly abandoned her damp clothing and consigned them to the laundry hamper. She then made sure the soap was all rinsed out of Sunset’s amber fur and she drained the tub. “Now to get you all dry.”

Sunset joined her dominant girlfriend in a fit of giggles, before blowing the farmer a kiss. “You know, a mare can get used to this treatment.”

Applejack shot Sunset a look as dry as the towel she was using to vigorously rub up and down her amber fur. “I treated you well in your pony gear, and well, this is the most realistic pony gear I've ever seen.”

Smirking, Sunset playfully shook her ass and she lifted her red and yellow tail. “I wear it well, don't I?”

“That you do, my love, that you do,” Applejack certainly wasn’t about to complain about the view she was getting from her pony’s rear. “I'm up for some snuggles and cuddles for tonight. See how we feel in the morning if we want to do something a bit more adventurous.”

“Cuddles are alright by me, AJ,” after she stepped out of the shallow bath tub, Sunset lifted her head and lovingly she nuzzled the farmer’s freckled cheek.

“Don't you take this wrong, Sunny, but I'm happy that I have more of you to cuddle.”

Sunset just giggled on the way from the bathroom to their bedroom, which just happened to be next to Macintosh’s and Sugar Belle’s own quarters. She moved quietly, but for the creaking of the old floorboards in the homestead so she didn’t disturb the married couple. She was well aware the heavily pregnant woman needed her rest. “AJ, I don't know if something went wrong, or if something went right. I do know I'm not alone, I know I’ll never be alone, and I’ll always have you by my side.”

“You got that right, sugarcube,” confirmed Applejack as she deftly danced around the creaky floorboards that Sunset’s hooves couldn’t quite avoid. She had learned long ago on midnight foraging trips to the fridge or those times she had crept downstairs as a girl to watch the adult movies on the cable TV which boards to skip. “You want to be the big spoon or the little spoon?”

“Let me hold you, please?”

“Okay, hun.” Applejack grinned as she held the bedroom door open, “You get in and get yourself comfortable, and then I'll ease my way into your hooves.” She let out a laugh, “We've done this before, but I'm not going to compare then and now.”

“Good save, my love,” Sunset winked at her girlfriend. Those times before, she had been human wearing her latex pony hooves on her hands and feet. This time, being much larger and a whole different shape, she slid herself under the bedsheets on her side.

When her pony was in the bed, Applejack stripped off her remaining clothing. By ‘clothing’, she was wearing just her boots and her hat, both of which were the last things she ever took off. Despite her few garments, she still made a show of stripping off. Only when she was completely naked did she ease into the bed and pressed her back up against Sunset's belly and chest. “Hold me safe.”

“Always, my sweet apple,” Sunset smiled, because this was one of the very few times that Applejack ever allowed herself to be vulnerable. And it was in her arms…or legs, in this case. The unicorn wrapped her forelegs and hind legs over and around Applejack's body. When she was holding her tight, she placed a soft kiss on her freckled shoulders and laid her head down on the pillows.

Chapter 2 - After The Event

All things considered, it had been an odd day for Adagio Dazzle.

For someone who had lived through the Boxer Rebellion, the Prench Revoloution, the Civil War and both World Wars – and who had instigated two of those events – that the day she had just experienced would live in her memory, that was saying something.

It had started just the same as any other Tuesday. The leaves were falling from the trees, the sun was trying its best to heat up an autumnal morning that was quickly becoming a winter one. Adagio had arrived at Canterlot High School ready to teach the unruly teenagers their history. It was very much same old ordinary.

Then, at lunch, the director of the School Board, Governor Neighsay himself had shown up with a small following of lackeys and in the space of thirty minutes everything had become not normal at all. Enacting a long laid plan, he had tapped into the magic of the portal and attacked the school.

In a split second, Adagio had found herself, at Luna’s behest, evacuating hundreds of students out the back and sending frantic emergency messages to Fluttershy and then to Sunset Shimmer and the rest of her friends. Luckily, they had all dropped their university classes or their work and arrived ready on the scene.

Adagio had wanted to fight, of course she had. She wasn’t about to let some power crazed lunatic endanger the lives of the students under her care. And yes, Adagio was aware of the deep irony of that thought, but her first priority had been the safety of the students. Again, she was aware of the irony.

Now, after a very, very long afternoon of checking the students for injuries, managing any that needed medical care, dealing with parents and worse, liasing with the authorities, Adagio Dazzle was one exhausted kitten. The first thing she had done when she had gotten back to the home she shared with Fluttershy was strip off her dirty skirt suit she wore for school and after that was deposited in the laundry, she had donned her kitten ears, her hand and foot paws – but no plug tail – and she was curled up on the couch, cuddling a pillow to her body which was naked but for her yellow collar.

As soon as Fluttershy had dropped off the last of her friends – Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, who were both attending Harmony University – and she had driven Pinkie Pie and Rarity back to the Carousel Boutique, the caretaker had made all speed back to her home on Lakeview Drive. “Dagi?” she called out softly when she had opened the door. “Adagio?” she repeated when she got no reply. Walking through to the living room she found her girlfriend, looking cute as a button all dressed up. “Hello my sweet kitten, do you have school prep work to do?”

“Nah,” Adagio replied without turning around on the couch or releasing her grip on the pillow she was hugging, “The school's out for the rest of this week. Luna thought it best, you know, what with the twenty foot rampaging demon terrorising the kids.”

Smiling affectionately, Fluttershy placed a hand to Adagio's forehead, “How are you feeling?”

“I feel like I had to take the lead and shepherd three hundred scared to death kids to safety out the school's back door,” replied Adagio without any humour in her voice. She simply hugged the pillow tighter to her body. “Shook up, I guess.”

Silently, Fluttershy folded her green skirt under her rear and she sat on the couch next to Adagio and, after winning the tug of war to gently remove a paw from the pillow, she held it in her hand. “I was worried about you.”

“I was worried about me too,” Adagio didn’t put up too much of a ‘fight’ with Fluttershy. In truth she wanted to be held and petted. When she laughed, it was a little too high, “And I was worried about you, and the kids, Luna, Cheerilee, Samson the class hamster, hell, I was even worried about old Cranky too, why not?”

While Fluttershy did sympathise with Adagio, there was the problem with Sunset foremost in her mind at the moment. “Um, Dagi, you remember Sunset Shimmer?” she asked tentatively, for even though the sirens were all friendly with the Equestrian now, it hadn’t always been an easy peace. ( As if she could forget the instrument of their destruction)

At the mention of Sunset Shimmer’s name, Adagio sat up and gave Fluttershy a ‘what the fuck’ look. “Are you seriously asking me that, Shy?” she answered with a question of her own. Adagio was certain that when she was old and frail, dribbling into her care home tea with all her wits gone, she would remember Shimmer.

By way of explanation, Fluttershy simply placed a full forceful kiss on Adagio’s full lips. “Why I was worried coming home,” she said softly, “I wasn't sure if I should be scared or excited.”

“About Shimmer?” there was a note of incredulity in Adagio’s voice that she didn’t try to hide. “You aren't thinking of bringing miss goody two hooves in on our sexy times, are you?”

Fluttershy didn’t know how to say what needed to be said, so she just came out and said it, like one quickly ripping off a band aid. “She is a pony now, in our world.”

The incredulity Adagio felt manifested itself in her wide eyed stare. Shimmer, who enjoyed playing pony dress up, was an actual pony? “You're joking, right?”

To show that she was not joking, Fluttershy shook her head with such emphasis that her pink hair shook in front of her face. “I wasn't sure if what forces had changed her might have changed you too.”

Rather sullenly, Adagio made an exaggerated show of looking herself over. She lifted up her arms one after the other and facetiously checked her legs and her ass. “I’m pretty sure I haven't grown fins since I looked last.” She sat back and thumped the sofa with a pawed hand. “Lucky bitch!”

“I love you as you are, my pretty kitten,” Fluttershy went into calming mode to try and diffuse the situation before it could deteriorate any further, “But I was excited to see if you had changed as I'd still love you, but I was scared that if you had changed, if you'd still love me.”

And just like that, Adagio’s fury and venom left her as suddenly as it had appeared. She didn’t want to be the source of that tone in her girlfriend’s voice. “Of course I'd still love you, my wonderful butterfly!” she pulled her beloved caretaker into a cuddle, “I'd wrap my long scaly tail around you and keep you safe in my hooves. You’d ride on my back and I'd swim with you in the oceans...but that won't happen. My connection to anything magical was shattered along with our original amulets.”

Fluttershy wanted that. She wanted all of that, ever since she had seen Adagio’s true Equestrian form at the climax of the Showcase. “I didn't think a pony from the other world could exist as a pony in this one. But here we are. You stayed behind when I visited that world. Next time I will not let you do so.”

“Thanks Shy,” despite that though, Adagio still hugged her lover tight like she didn’t want to ever let her go, “You have no idea how much I want to swim again. I mean really swim, like I used to back home.” Saying that, the siren had a thought and a wry grin crossed her face, “Let me guess, Miss Purple Smart is getting her panties in a bunch trying to figure it all out, huh?”

“Do you need to use the litter box?” asked Fluttershy, who skillfully dodged the question. In truth it didn’t need answering. They both knew Twilight Sparkle. If you knew Twilight, then you knew why that didn’t need an answer. Instead she had other things in mind for her kitten. “I'd like to give my kitty a tail now she can wrap me up in.”

“Yeah, I do actually,” Adagio replied with a playful giggle, “Enough wallowing on the couch!” with that heroic declaration, the kitten picked herself up onto her paws and knees and she stretched like a cat, showing off her hard earned toned body. “What happened with Neighsay, by the way?” she asked, her ass up in the air, “Did you superheroes smack him down, or what?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy commented as she openly admired her kitten’s body, “We powered up and rainboomed him. He’s in jail right now, I assume. They’re still sorting the fallout from what he did, but that isn't my job!” And grateful she was too that it wasn’t her job. Following her kitten up the stairs, Neighsay was far from her mind.

~ ~ ~

An hour across town, at one Carousel Boutique, Rarity had just locked the closed door behind her and tossed her keys into the bowl in her back room. She turned an exhausted look to the bundle of eternal energy that was Pinkie Pie. “Darling,” she started delicately, for Pinkie required a delicate touch, “I don’t mean to question you, but was a...”

Bouncing on the balls of her feet, an act that made her short skirt bounce up over her bubble butt, Pinkie Pie interrupted her girlfriend, “A party is always necessary, Rares,” she stated solemly like it was her creed in life. Which it was.

“For a horn dildo?” asked Rarity in what she hoped was a not too frustrated voice, while Pinkie Pie got a dreamy far away look and her eyes glazed over as Rarity swept a stray strand of her hair back into it’s proper place, “I do hope you can forgive me.”

Caught off guard by the tone in Rarity’s voice, Pinkie stopped bouncing and she blinked once then twice, utterly confounded. “Forgive you for what?”

“For not using my horn on you when I had the chance, the last time we were in Equestria.” It had honestly never crossed Rarity’s mind that a unicorn could use her horn in such a way, but having witnessed Sunset doing just that to Applejack, well, she was having regrets.

“Pfft, that's okay,” Pinkie Pie snorted and waved her hand like it was nothing, “I have this!” she reached into her poufy pink hair with both hands and she proudly pulled out a white twelve inch long unicorn horn strap on dildo that tapered from a rounded tip to three inches at the base. Brandishing it like a knight wielding a sword, she placed it reverently in Rarity’s hands.

Rarity took the strap on like she had been handed the sword from the stone. She had learned long ago never to question where Pinkie got things from and just to accept it. She studied the perfect representation of a unicorn’s horn and her mind was made up. “Kitchen table. Now.”

Pinkie Pie was off in a literal flash, moving so fast she left a blur behind, leaving Rarity to follow her at a more sedate pace. Using skills garnered from a lifetime working with clothing, the dominant fashionista deftly removed her skirt and strapped the dildo in place without breaking stride.

~ ~ ~

Far across the city of Canterlot, a world weary Cheerilee staggered into the home she now shared permanently with Principal Luna. “Boy… am I glad today's over...” she said to the quiet empty villa. In the entrance hall, she shrugged off her jacket and hung it on the hook next to the one her wife used before she kicked off her flats and flexed her aching feet.

Usually the house being quiet was a source of peace for the teacher. Now, it was almost oppressive, like it was taunting her. After the day she’d had, she needed her wife and she needed her Mistress, but she knew Luna wouldn’t be home for hours yet, not after what Neighsay had done.

Cheerilee didn’t envy the Principal for having to deal with all the red tape and the officials and the authorities. She knew Celestia had dealt with all that after the Friendship Games and after Camp Everfree and all the other incidents that had plagued the high school over the years.

“Damned Equestrian bullshit…” Cheerilee reached for her phone and she and dialled Berryshine’s number before she remembered that Berryshine was in another country at a horse show and Roseluck was in Equestria foalsitting for Celestia. She hung up the call that wasn’t going to be answered and put the phone away.

“Damnit!” exclaimed Cheerilee, who slumped boneless onto the couch and stared up at the ceiling for what felt like hours but was only a few moments. What should she do? Without her Mistress’s guiding hand, she felt at a loss. She couldn’t talk to her friends, or to her sister in law, or to Moonsilver, and Luna wasn’t there.

Ultimately, after much deliberation, Cheerilee decided on what she considered to be her ‘default’ setting. If she was tired, Luna would be more so. If she was feeling anxious, she knew Luna would be too. As her submissive, Cheerilee knew what she should do. The first thing she did was remove all her clothing and dump them in the hamper to be washed when her Mistress’s clothes were added later.

Next, Cheerilee removed her collar. Normally she wouldn’t do such a thing, but to have a shower or bath, she had been given permission from her Mistress. She placed it reverently on top of the hamper and stepped into the shower. She didn’t know when Luna would be back, but when she did come home, her Mistress would find her impeccably cleaned, groomed and shaven.

Cheerilee spent almost an hour in the shower. Usually she was in and out, but that day, after everything, she not only washed and shaved herself, but after that, the fuchsia skinned woman lay in the tub and allowed the hot water to just wash over her, almost like it was washing away her fears and anxieties of the incredibly troubling day.

When she finally emerged from the shower, Cheerilee was a different woman. Much like a butterfly emerging from the chrysalis, she stood in front of the full body driers and stretched, angling her body in all directions to get the cleansing heat everywhere.

It was a full two hours later, at just past eight in the evening, when a very, very exhausted Luna walked into the villa with a long, low, “Uuuuuugh!” to vocalise just how she felt. “Leelee, are you home?”

“Yes Mistress!” Cheerilee heard Luna kick the door closed just as she emerged naked, but for her dark blue collar, out of the kitchen like a vision of Aphrodite herself. This particular vision bore the exquisite gift of a freshly brewed steaming hot mug of coffee complete with three sugars on a tray for her Mistress.

“Leelee, I swear you are my saviour!” Luna, who looked as frazzled as she felt, stumbled forwards into the large living room and without looking, she tossed her purse onto the couch and made a beeline for her easy chair. She let out a happy sigh when she sank into it and she felt it sink under her bodyweight and mould to her, supporting her. Then, she held out her hands for the coffee like a baby needing her bottle.

Quietly and obediently, Cheerilee served her Mistress the coffee and she knelt by the easy chair on her dark blue cushion. On her knees, she reverently pulled of Luna's heeled shoes and she massaged her tired feet. “I was worried about you, Mistress.”

Luna sipped her coffee then she let out a low, soft moan. What else could she do when her pet’s miraculous fingers were caressing and kneading her feet, when her thumbs were rubbing circles in her soles and arches. “I thought the school board bureaucracy was slow, but I discovered today that the police have proven idiocy crosses all boundaries. Oh…” she sighed deeply, “Yes, work your magic, Leelee, just there…”

At her Mistress’s feet, Cheerilee simply smirked as she rubbed her talented fingers and thumbs over Luna's stocking-clad feet like she was a pilgrim at worship. She did truly adore them. They had the perfect size, the perfect shape and the perfect odour. “You survived the horror of the authorities then, Mistress?” she asked with a smile, “I knew you would.”

“All the students were accounted for,” commented with blissfully closed eyes and a mouthful of sweet, sweet coffee. “That crazy asshole, Neighsay, is in jail. The magic has been contained, crisis averted. Hmm, do be a dear and unclip my garters so you can remove my stockings. I've been on my feet all day.”

The smirking Cheerilee caught the way Luna dragged out ‘all’ like it was spelled with several ‘a’s’. She had been there that day. Happily, she did as she was commanded, reaching up Luna’s dark blue legs, unfastening the stockings from the garters and slipping those stockings off one after the other. She used her teeth to tug them off her toes and down there she wrinkled her nose. “Hmm, I can tell, Mistress,” she giggled as she placed soft kisses on the top of each exposed toe. “The students really impressed me today. None of them panicked, and Adagio did an excellent job of evacuating them.”

Luna was in absolute heaven. Before she had met Cheerilee, she had never really appreciated her feet, not until she had appreciated her feet. “You may have free reign on my feet, my sweet love. Could you imagine my dear sister dealing with today?”

That was permission for Cheerilee to do whatever she pleased with her Mistress’s feet, and put them wherever she pleased – within reason – and the submissive teacher took the opportunity for what it was. In between long slow licks up and down Luna's sweaty soles, she replied, “Ms. Celestia would deal with it like you did, Mistress, with calm professionalism, at least until she got home.”

A series of pleasured giggles left Luna’s mouth at that. “Yes, I think I agree with you, Leelee. That fallout was something else to deal with. Do you recall our last visit to meet with her?”

Since she was given freedom to do whatever she wanted with Luna’s feet, Cheerilee took her right foot and stroked her moist labia with her toes, and her left foot she placed up on her breasts. “I recall that last time we visited her very well, Mistress, her beautiful little filly was just out of diapers, wasn't she?”

Now it was Luna’s turn to smirk, as she wiggled the toes against her pet’s labia and she clenched her big toe and the next one around a nipple. The gasp of pleasure she drew from her lover was like ambrosia to her. “She was, and do you remember how Sunset Shimmer looked when she went with us to visit her mom?”

“MMmmmmm…” Cheerilee moaned, the submissive woman all the happy, “Of course, she looked like we did at the time, Mistress. She was a unicorn, like you. I was an earth pony.” Though she wondered where Luna was going with this, she didn’t question it. “I want to go see them for Hearth's Warming. I won't ever get tired of being called Aunty Leelee.”

“Sunset looks like that now,” stated Luna, at last getting to the nub of both her point and of Cheerilee’s pussy.

“For real? Lu,” Cheerilee was so surprised she did something she very, very rarely did. She broke character and set her wife’s feet aside, “It's been too long a day to play games, I’m not in the mood for that.”

“For real,” confirmed Luna as she finished off the blessed life giving liquid that was her coffee, “I closed the school till Monday for clean up and repairs. Tomorrow, I'm going to write to Tia and let her know what happened today. As for Sunset Shimmer, I suspect that AJ, I mean, Applejack, bundled her off to that farm of hers as soon as they knew something was up.”

“So...let me get this right, Sunset Shimmer, she's a pony. Not just the ears and tails and rainbows?” asked Cheerilee, to which Luna just nodded her head, “She went the whole way?” then, deciding to be naughty, she lifted Luna's foot up and nibbled a big toe hard enough to get her attention. “AJ? I've never ever heard you use a student's - ex student's - nickname before.”

“I like them,” Luna stated in her defence, at the same time using her nibbled foot to slightly gently slap Cheerilee across the cheek, “Ever since that time at camp. I think I can relax around them. Tia trusted them, so will I. But, I'm not sure what to do about Sunset though. I'm going to let it go till Monday, and then I'll check up on them to see if something needs doing.”

“Good call, Mistress,” Cheerilee lowered the foot that had administered her discipline back down to her pussy and she inserted the big toe into her dripping snatch. “Inform Ms Celestia tomorrow. She can inform Sunset's mother and the other princesses. I'm sure they'd appreciate you going over to the farm. I know they carry you in the same regard you have for them.”

Opening her eyes, Luna smiled. It was a broad, genuine smile. Talking to her Leelee always made her feel better and this was no exception. “Thank you for your counsel. You may come my lovely pet. Use me.”

“Thank you, Mistress!” since the order was given, Cheerilee was very quick to get herself off on Luna's toes. She bounced up and down on her wife’s foot, moaning in sheer pleasure until she ended up squirting her climax all over the beautiful foot and the wooden floor.

“Beautiful, pet, simply beautiful,” Luna beamed down affectionately at her submissive partner, “Now be a good girl and clean my toes, and then you can find out if I bothered with panties today.”

~ ~ ~

Safely secreted back in her study in the dorm room of Harmony University she shared with Rainbow Dash, one Twilight Sparkle was hard at work on her computer. Beside her, her note book was open, and all around her on the floor were scattered pages of notes amid scattered and discarded books. Behind her was a board with pictures connected by lines of red yarn and thumb tacks.

“Twi...” Rainbow Dash staggered naked into the study, weary eyed. What greeted her was utter darkness and her girlfriend’s face illuminated by the light of the computer screen. The look on her face was straight from a cheap horror movie. “It's two a.m., come to bed, huh?”

“You're going to have to carry her out of here,” Spike jumped off the couch where he had been resting, “She won't listen to me.”

“I have to fix this!” declared Twilight, the light from the monitor screen made the crazy look on her face twice as crazy as it had been. Her eyes bulged wide and her pupils shrank, a tick making one eye twitch.

“Why?” asked Rainbow, who rubbed her eyes in an attempt to rub the sleep away, “It's not your mess to fix, babe!” the naked athlete walked over and hugged her girlfriend from behind, moving Twilight's hands reluctantly away from the well hammered keyboard.

“If not me, then who will!?”

“Duh,” Rainbow smirked deep into Twilight’s ear, a smirk that became a deep, probing kiss all the way up the outside of the lobe, “It's a pony problem, so like, I dunno, contact a pony?” as she said that, Twilight sat there looking stunned. “Besides, we don't even know if it is a problem yet, do we? Maybe this is just Sunset ponying up, we don't know, do we?”

“We ponied down,” said Twilight, who was trying to marshal her many thoughts, “Why didn't she?”

“Maybe because she was born a unicorn?” offered Rainbow, “Adagio told me they have a greater affinity for magic. We aren't Equestrian, are we? We just reflect the elements of harmony, y'know, and add our own magic to the mix.”

“What if this kills her!?”

“What if, what if,” Rainbow Dash hugged Twilight to her so tight she was able to lift her up out of her seat and turn her around to face her, “Twi, she could die tomorrow from a host of not-Equestrian related stuff, we all could. You can't do the whole Twilynanas thing on a what if!”

“I've been telling her that for the past six hours,” grumbled Spike, who was off to the kitchen to find one of his doggie treats and get a drink of water. He was grateful Rainbow was there to take over talking sense duties from him.

“But I have to do something!”

“Like I said,” Rainbow reached up and gently smoothed Twilight’s purple hair out of her eyes and used the same thumb to caress her cheek, “Call a pony.”

“But Sunset has the book…”

“So, we go visit, it’s not like we have something that needs to be done tomorrow, do we?”

“Study for our classes?”

“Yeah, that's not happening, Twi.” Rainbow carefully removed the glasses from her girlfriend’s face and set them down on the desk by the computer so she could kiss her eyes, “You're way too fried right now, and besides, you’re cheating me out of my sub time.”

Devoid of her thick glasses, all Twilight could see that close up was Rainbow’s blue face. She blinked once then twice, a faint blush crept over her cheeks. “Oh...oh, I’m sorry…”

Giggling, Rainbow Dash wiggled her ass, “I think that's my line, Twi.”

~ ~ ~

Over in the ancient wooden homestead of Sweet Apple Acres, an immensely pregnant Sugar Belle was reclining on the couch in what was the latest comfortable position she could get into. It had been an incredibly long day of having her bladder kicked about like a soccer ball by her unborn son. She loved being pregnant, but she wasn’t keen on the unflattering maternity dress. “Is everything okay, Mac?” she asked, recognising the pensive look on her husband’s face.

To a casual observer, or one who didn’t know Macintosh Apple as well as she did, one could be forgiven for thinking the tall muscular farmer wasn’t wearing any emotion at all. Macintosh however wore a most apprehensive look on his chiselled features. “Why do you ask?”

Sugar Belle sighed and rested a hand on her rather huge bump, “I heard you talking to Bloom earlier while she was busy with the laundry.”

“She was peeking in on her sister,” Macintosh explained simply, deciding not to go into too much detail, like how Applebloom was masturbating furiously, or that Sunset Shimmer wasn’t exactly playing the pony in the barn this time.

The pregnant woman giggled and patted the space on the couch next to her, “A girl has to learn somehow, Mac.”

“If she asks and AJ puts on a show, that's fine,” Macintosh continued as he got up and sat on the couch, taking up the rapidly diminishing space. As his wife got bigger, that got smaller. Not that he complained about that. “But she needs to stop being a sneak.”

“Sorry,” Sugar Belle conceded, “I know you're right.” A smile crossed her lips when he quietly nodded his head. “Is AJ okay?” another nod answered her question, and her smile grew wider. “Was she playing with the pony Sunset in the barn?”

“How did you know?”

“They do it all the time,” Sugar Belle replied as she rested her weary head on her husband’s broad shoulder, “I've seen how much Sunset loves to pretend to be a pony…” she trailed off to silence as Macintosh stared at her blankly. Right at that very moment, Applejack interrupted them by leading an amber coloured pony walk through the room and up the stairs. “Um…Mac, why is AJ brining a horse into the house?”

A long, deep sigh seeped out of Macintosh. “That ‘horse’ was Sunset in her latest pony gear.” That admission had Sugar Belle giving him a blank look, to which he just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. “Magic. I don't question it.”

“Okay,” that explanation was good enough for Sugar Belle. Macintosh was okay with it. Obviously Applejack was okay with it. That was all she needed to know. “Can you please carry me up to bed? I'm ready for some serious snuggling.”

“Eeyup!” grinning, Macintosh stood and, with the greatest of ease, the strong farmer picked up his wife and, holding her and her precious cargo in his arms, he carried her up to their bedroom.

Chapter 3 - A Gilded Cage

The next morning, a naked Applejack woke up happy in Sunset Shimmer's hooves, after a very nice but very lewd fantasy dream that featured them both. “You awake, Shimmer?” asked the farmer once she was sure she was awake and longer in the dream world.

“Hmhmm,” the amber equine replied lazily, “I’ve been awake for a while, but I was comfy and you're cute when you snore, and you’re really cute when you drool out the corner of your mouth.”

Yawning, Applejack turned over while still being held in her lover’s hooves so she could face her. “I just wanted to let you know I'm horny,” smirking, she pulled Sunset's head down until she was able to lick her horn, “And I think you're horny too.”

Sunset Shimmer’s snicker of laughter quickly became a low moan, and her long conical horn started to glow when it was licked. “Oooh...” she loved the feel of a hot wet tongue on her sensitive body part, “Oooh Mistress, I'm horny!”

“I do think I left you unfulfilled in the barn, as I recall,” Applejack’s smile was a mile wide, “I think it’s time for me to use my strap on. Oh, um, should I use the crop too?”

“Yes, yes and yes, in answer to each of those, Mistress!” Sunset knew what she wanted, and she wanted her lover to mount her like she was in heat and rut her like she was going to breed her. Since her horn was all tingly, she used her magic to peel back the comforter so Applejack could get up.

“I think I'm gonna start getting used to magic,” Applejack grinned as she got out of the bed and walked to the chest of drawers. While she opened the toy drawer and searched through it, she saw her pony replace the comforter out of the corner of her eye. A few seconds later though and she had what she was looking for. A few seconds more, and she had the biologically accurate equine shaped strap on fixed around her waist. “Any place I shouldn't hit? I only plan on hitting that fine ass of yours.”

“Ponies are pretty much the same as humans really,” commented Sunset as she rolled onto her side, “The fleshy parts of the ass make the best targets, as do the breasts,” she exposed said teeny crotch boobs.

Without any warning, Applejack flicked her wrist and she directed the crop so it struck her mare’s right cutie mark, right on the yin yang sun. “Targets are right handy,” she said over the hiss she got from Sunset. Turning around, she revealed her strap on. “You going to be able to take this as a pony?”

“A good question,” Sunset said as she blushed bright red at the sight of the eleven inch member bobbing from her Mistress’s waist like it belonged there. “Would you believe I've never had sex as a pony?”

At that, Applejack glanced down at the toy she wore. Suddenly it looked twice as big. “You sure about this, then?”

Sunset Shimmer was very sure. She turned on the bed and she flagged her tail, up and over to one side so that her glistening wet marehood was fully exposed, “There's nopony...nobody...I trust more, Mistress.”

“I'm sure, too, Shimmer,” Applejack smirked as she took a moment to look her pony over. “I think if you put your rear hooves on the floor and the rest of you on the bed, it should be just the right height.”

“Yes Mistress,” obediently, Sunset slid off the bed and she moved across to the foot of it, where she planted her rear hooves on the floor. That done, she laid her upper body over the bed facing towards the wooden wall.

Again, with no warning, the crop fell on Sunset's cutie mark, though this time it was her left mark that bore the welt. “Tail up high!”

“AaaAAH Y-Yes Mistress!” Sunset yelped, for the second strike was rather more forceful than the first. She quickly hiked up her red and yellow tail so that it was practically laid on her back.

While Sunset was looking the other way at the wall, Applejack made sure to slap on a liberal amount of her favourite apple flavoured lube onto the strap on and also under her pony's tail. Not that she thought she needed it, but better safe than sorry. When she spread the labia with her hand, she was pleased to see it was shiny and wet. “There’s a whole lot more of you to play with now, Shimmer.”

“Sexy, huh, Mistress?” Sunset looked over her shoulder and winked as she wiggled her ass.

In response, Applejack moved her hips forwards and she effortlessly slid the equine strap-on into the pony’s hot wet tunnel. “Very, very sexy, Shimmer,” she commented, at the same time hilting herself all the way inside.

“Ooooh...” Sunset gasped at the feeling of her vagina slowly being spread apart and filled by the cock that her lover wore. Even the medial ring slipped inside with no trouble. “S-So th-that's what it feels like...” she parted her legs wider and slumped down onto the bed.

Now she was inside, Applejack grabbed hold of Sunset's fiery red and yellow mane so she could pull herself deeper inside, and the other hand held onto the pony’s tail as she dropped the crop to the floor. All the effort she had was then put in her mounting Sunset like she was determined to put a foal in her.

While Applejack was busy plowing Sunset Shimmer so hard the bed was creaking, downstairs Twilight and Rainbow Dash walked into the kitchen. Sugar Belle and Macintosh were already up and dressed, and halfway through eating their breakfast. “Where’s AJ?” asked Twilight, looking around the large room like she expected to see her friend appear at any moment.

“I think she’s still sleeping,” responded the incredibly pregnant Sugar Belle, who paused in the insertion of a chocolate pancake long enough to answer her. She had to lean forwards to keep the hot sauce from dripping onto her voluminous yellow dress.

“Impossible!” squeaked Twilight, her eyes wide and incredulous behind her glasses, “It’s after six a.m.!”

Sugar Belle was about to reply to that when there came a scream of pleasure from the direction of the upstairs that had to be Sunset. “Would you care to join us for breakfast?” she asked, giving no sign at all that she had heard anything, “We have enough, right Mac?”

Macintosh had barely got out his trademark, ‘Eeyup’, when Rainbow Dash yelled, “Food!” the athlete pumped the air victoriously with a fist, “I'm always up for food!”

“No!” exclaimed Twilight, who moved so quickly to the stairs that her dark purple skirt rode up around her thighs, “I'm going up.”

“I think you should wait, Twilight,” Macintosh said softly, and Sugar Belle nodded her approval before getting two clean plates out from the dresser.

“C'mon Mistress,” protested Rainbow Dash, who clutched at her white tee shirt to quiet her rumbling belly, “I'm hungry, and Sugar makes the best apple fritters ever, it’d be rude not to have some, right?” One knew you never ever went hungry when you visited Sweet Apple Acres. However, Twilight, laser focused on her task, stormed out of the room and up the stairs, leaving Rainbow to sit down. “What's she going to see?”

“Nothing she hasn't seen before,” quipped Sugar Belle as she slipped several still warm fritters onto Rainbow’s empty plate.

“Eeyup,” smirked Macintosh, “What some syrup on those fritters, Dash?”

“Yes please, Mr. Mac,” hungry as she was, she was sure to remember her manners when she spoke to the dominant farmer. She licked her lips when he squirted the apple syrup liberally over the fritters, “It's worth getting punished to get some Sweet Apple syrup.”

Twilight ran up the stairs so fast she took two steps at a time and when she reached the top, she saw Applebloom in her pyjamas with her ear pressed against up against Applejack's bedroom door. Unconcerned with that, Twilight reached over her and opened the door. In a comedic fashion, the youngest apple fell face first into the room, while Twilight stepped in and paused for just a moment at the scene before her.

Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her notebook. “Please continue,” she said as she started taking notes. For her part, Applejack wasn't even aware that there was an audience watching her. Sunset was aware, but she couldn’t turn her head as her mane was still in Applejack's firm grip. And she really didn't care.

“R-Ruuuuut me!” Sunset screamed, the mare lost to the throes of her passion, “H-Harder...please!" she was given her wish. Applejack pounded into her over and over, each thrust making a lewd squelching sound as she leaked profusely onto the floor between her hind legs.

Gawking at the scene before her, Applebloom stood up and moved next to Twilight, who was similarly gaping open mouthed at the display. Recovering her senses, Twilight walked around to view her two friends from different angles and eventually, she caught Applejack's eye. Aware of her audience, she doubled her efforts.

After several hard thrusts like that, Sunset Shimmer screamed out her climax long and loud, almost like she was trying to make her mother hear it all the way across dimensions in Equestria. “That is so damn hot...” muttered Applebloom, passing her judgement.

Unable to hold back any longer, Applejack came along with her pony and she eventually began to slow down and then she just as slowly pulled out. When she had removed herself, she yanked hard on the red and yellow tail. “At least I don't have to worry about pulling this one out. Why are you in my room, Bloom?”

Wordlessly, Applebloom pointed to Twilight, who was still writing so furiously in her notepad that the pen was a blur on the page.

Still in the bliss of her orgasm, Sunset grinned back over her shoulder. “You won't learn this quality of sex ed in school, sprout. Hey Twi. Learn anything good?”

“I think I'm gonna go,” Applebloom replied, eyeing up the open door and the growing pile of dirty clothing on the bedroom floor. “I don't want to get saddled with laundry again.” A though occurred to her though on the way out, “Um, sis, can I let Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo know about Sunset?”

“I think you should ask her that question,” commented Applejack as she unfastened the strap on from around her waist so she could clean it later and put it away.

“Sorry,” Applebloom blushed so that her orange cheeks turned a dull red, “Um, Sunset, can I tell my friends, please?”

“You can't keep a secret any better than AJ can,” smirked Sunset. She was so busy snickering at her own joke that she failed to see her lover pick up the crop, but she certainly felt it when the end slapped against each of her cutie marks.

“Ohhhhh, yeaaaaah,” Sunset glanced back and she saw the tight collection of welts that decorated her stylised sun cutie marks. “I don't want them to tickle it out of you, so you can tell them. Just make sure they don’t tell anyone else.”

“Probably better to hear it from her than whatever Rarity or Dash might say,” added Twilight, who had finally looked up from her notepad, but only because her hand was cramping up.

“Thanks Sunset! You're the best!” Applebloom ran over and she hugged Sunset Shimmer's broad neck, “Eww,” she quickly pulled away, “And you're sticky, I'm gonna go get a shower, or else I'll smell like you and Mac'll kill me, again.”

As her younger sister swiftly departed the bedroom, Applejack decided her pony’s smart mouth would be the best method to clean the soiled sex toy. She held it in front of Sunset's mouth, “Why’re you all fired up to bust into my room, Twi?”

“Your girlfriend is now your marefriend!”

“I think all of us already knew she was my marefriend,” shot back Applejack while Sunset got busy licking and sucking the stallion shaped toy clean, “Just not as obvious as this.”

“I got a text from Shy, saying that Adagio didn't change,” Twilight continued her thought before another could overtake it, “My theory is they came over with a different portal. What will happen if Princess Twilight comes over, or Spike?”

After Sunset Shimmer sucked the strap on clean, she turned her full attention to Twilight. “You're right, Twilight. We know Starswirl for a fact that banished the sirens here, maybe he created his own portal to do it?”

“We also know that Starswirl created the portal we use too, in the statue. Sometime before the age of Discord, from what the other Twilight told me. Have you written to her?”

“Um...no,” Sunset looked more than a little abashed at Twilight’s question, “I was gonna, but um, I ah, I got...busy, sorry.”

“So I noted,” Twilight’s very full notepad could attest to how ‘busy’ Sunset had gotten. “What happens if we can't fix this!?”

“I think you're jumping the gun there, sugarcube,” said Applejack, who had adopted a defensive attitude towards her equine lover, “Shimmer ain't broke, and even if she is going to stay as sexy as she is now, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“Yeah,” agreed Sunset, “I mean, it could be worse, Twilight, not only am I a unicorn, I got full use of my magic too!” she proceeded to capture the strap on in her glowing green magical aura and she floated the toy back to the dresser it had come from, “See?”

Upon witnessing that, Twilight stared with her mouth so wide open in her disbelief it almost hit the floor. “I need to make another device to track...”

“Oh no you don't,” Applejack shut Twilight down immediately, “One magically crazed demon a month is more than enough, thank you.”

Unable to resist showing off, Sunset lit her horn and, in a flash of green light and a loud crack, she teleported next to Twilight, where she blew in the girl’s ear. “Let me enjoy it, Twi, please?”

“But I want to study it!” whined Twilight, who just stopped short of stamping her foot.

“I've had food!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she ran into the bedroom, a multicoloured light trail in her wake. “What did I miss?” she inhaled, and the room smelled heavily of sex and sweat. Realisation dawned on the athlete. “Ooh, that's what I missed.”

“And you’ll never guess, Twilight wants to study me!”

“Well, better her than the MIB'S, Sunshim,” quipped Rainbow Dash, just as Twilight pointed at the floor by her feet. Applejack simply facepalmed, while her friend obediently knelt on the floor where Twilight had pointed.

Rainbow’s comment though was all it took to set Sunset off. The unicorn ran over to the window, her ears slicked back to her scalp. “Where are they? You don't think they're actually here, do you?” as she frantically scanned the farm, a traffic helicopter flew harmlessly overhead. Unfortunately, Rainbow chose that moment to hum the MIB theme tune, which made Sunset scream and duck down to the floor, her forelegs over her head.

With a roll of her eyes, Applejack tossed her crop to Twilight, and Twilight used her foot pressed on Rainbow's neck to push her head to the floor so that her ass is in the air, where she administered four firm whacks. Punishment done, she tossed the crop back to the farmer, so she could do the same on the quivering pony. “Get up from there, Shimmer, no one’s getting you today.”

Sunset yelped in pain from the crop, as did Rainbow, and they both rose from their respective places on the floor with sheepish looks on their faces, both echoing, “Sorry Mistress…”

“Yeah, um, I didn't mean to freak you out, Sunny,” Rainbow Dash rubbed a hand over her now rather sore behind. Her yoga pants had offered no protection at all. “I was only having fun.”

Twilight though looked down sternly at her pet. “Remember the 'safe' part of our fun? We,” she kept up her glare, “Are to keep Sunset safe at 'all' times.”

“Do you want to write in the book, Twilight?”

“No, Applejack, it would be better if Sunset did, but I have some notes for her to include.”

“You um, you don't think anyone would actually do anything to her, do you?” asked a very subdued Rainbow Dash.

Throwing her arms up in the air, Applejack exclaimed, “It's the government, Dash!”

“But we're the good guys!” protested Rainbow, while Sunset levitated the journal over to her and opened it, using her magic to hold the pen over the page.

Quickly, Twilight removed a page from her notebook, and she put it next to Sunset, who duly copied out what her friend had written. ‘Princess Twilight, another villain, this one by the name of Neighsay, tried to syphon Equestrian magic in his bid to take over the worlds education system. The seven of us, with Spike, were able to defeat him, but there was an unexpected cost. Sunset Shimmer is now an Equestrian pony in our world. DO NOT use the portal until we can figure out what has happened. She is the only one from Equestria that has been affected by this that I know of. Are there any centaurs still in this world? All the best, and study hard, Twilight.’

“You should add that you can use your unicorn magic in this world,” added Twilight, as she ran her fingers through Rainbow’s short unruly multicoloured hair. “This one brought me back from a freak out last night, but she still has a lot to learn with that mouth of hers.”

Sunset snorted a laugh at that as she wrote the addendum to the long note to Princess Twilight in the journal. “The day Dash's mouth doesn't get her into trouble...I don't know what I'd do, but it'd be impressive.”

That sass earned Sunset two hard smacks from the crop courtesy of Applejack, who was at least merciful enough to target her ass and not her already welt heavy cutie marks. “Most likely sitting next to her.”

“AAAH!” hissed Sunset, some of her magic writing becoming a scribble thanks to the crop, which she hastily rewrote. “Done, Mistress.”

Following the sending of the message, Twilight made it a whole ten seconds before she asked, “Has she replied yet?”

“Not yet.”

Fifteen seconds after Sunset’s rebuttal, Twilight couldn’t wait any longer. “Has...”

“Calm down sugarcube,” Applejack sighed, “It may take a day or two depending on what she’s doing over there.” Twilight’s eyes went wide, and the farmer affectionately kissed her marefriend. “Take it easy, give Dash some extra training, and I'll call if she writes back. Tomorrow, lets meet up with the other girls and see what our next steps should be.”

“Mistress is right, Twilight,” added Sunset, who was enjoying her current predicament, “For all we know it's night time over there, or the princess is out somewhere. She'll answer, she always does."

“Fine,” Twilight conceded with a deep huff, “I'll contact the other three...I mean, four, I need to get used to that, and is here or my place a good meet up spot?”

“Here would be easier,” replied Applejack after a moment’s consideration.

After casting a sideways glance at Sunset, Twilight agreed, “Yeah, it would. Come along Dashie, my feet are suddenly killing me.”

As Sunset watched Twilight and Rainbow Dash walk out of the bedroom and down the stairs, her smile faltered. When she watched them out the window drive away up the long dirt path that led from the farm to the city, her smile was long gone. “I'm sorry, AJ.”

“This ain't your fault, Shimmer.”

“Keeping you on the farm is though, isn't it?” asked Sunset, a little bitterly, “You were going to go with them, then you said no. Because of me.”

“It's not that,” Applejack said as she sat on the bed next to her marefriend, “I can't put you in the back of the truck, and up front wasn't very comfortable for you. I could get the horse trailer, but that would treat you like some kind of animal.”

“I recall Moonsilver didn't seem to mind the trailer,” Sunset commented with a heartfelt sigh, “I feel like going for a walk. I’m in need of some air. Want to come?”

With a nod of her head, Applejack stood up. The bedroom and the whole homestead had become uncomfortably claustrophobic all of a sudden. “I'd like that, Shimmer.”

Downstairs in the kitchen, the large rustic room full of the scents of breakfast and the buzz of conversation, Sugar Belle, Applebloom, and Macintosh were all seated. Macintosh was working on his third coffee of the morning and his wife set aside her second plate of flapjacks when she saw Applejack and Sunset walk in. “Bloom says she slept in,” Sugar Belle smiled at the youngest sibling, who had a great interest in her food, “You two going to have breakfast?”

“I guess it’s alright for the young’uns to sleep in once in a while,” Applejack replied with a shrug, not wanting to get into it this early.

“We're just going out for a walk,” put in Sunset, whose hooves clopped loudly on the wooden floors, “Will breakfast still be here when we get back?”

“I will say, Sunset,” started Sugar Belle while her husband nodded to her, “This new pony gear of yours is a lot more realistic than the usual gear you wear.”

Sunset couldn’t help but giggle at that. “It doesn't get much more realistic than this, Sugar Belle,” she performed a playful little twirl in the kitchen, “This is how I was born. All pony.”

“Eeyup,” Macintosh took the time to appreciate the view, “I can see what my sister sees in you.”

“What?”

Sugar Belle giggled at Applejack’s confusion, “The colours AJ, you see a sweet and tasty honey crisp.”

While Applejack was busy blushing so hard her whole face was bright red, even her freckles, Sunset happily cantered to the door. “She does say I'm her sweet treat,” she enjoyed a bright giggle and walked out into the morning sun.

Applejack couldn’t – and wouldn’t - say anything to Sugar Belle, but she could and did glare at her older brother before she followed her pony outside. When they were alone in the kitchen, Sugar Belle looked pointedly at Applebloom, “You won't repeat that, late sleeper.”

Outside, when she was a few feet away from the homestead, Sunset spoke up, “I fancy a walk to the north orchard, how about you?”

“I fancy you,” replied Applejack, who fell into step by the unicorn’s side, “So I'm walking along. Will you carry me if I get worn out?”

“You can ride me if you need to, I'd be happy to carry you.” Sunset walked along a bit further, covering the short distance over the grass to the dirt path that led up to the north orchard, “You know, you don't need to be around me all the time, AJ.”

Unexpectedly, Applejack stopped in her tracks and she looked down at the ground. Something was on her mind, and she knew she had to speak up, because she knew if she was hiding anything, it would tell on her face. “Okay, I'm scared.”

“You and me both, babes,” Sunset stopped, turned and nuzzled Applejack’s face until she looked up at her. “You first, what are you scared of?”

Looking up, it was all Applejack could do to keep the tears that had suddenly appeared in her eyes from leaking down her cheeks, “Everything was fine, and now this!” she gestured wildly in Sunset’s direction, “What if your mother orders you to come home?”

“I...” Sunset stopped under a tree by the edge of the dirt path and thought on that. “I honestly hadn't thought of that happening,” she smiled a thin smile, “It's been a long time since Celestia ordered me to do anything.”

“You have your own life here, I don't think she'd take that away, but now…” Applejack trailed off to silence, almost afraid to finish her sentence, “Now you're in a cage without bars. What if...”

“What if she offers me a way out back home?” Sunset finished Applejack’s thought for her, because she knew she never would get there on her own, “What if you aren't invited?”

“That's the rub, ain’t it?” said Applejack sullenly, “One of me is over there now. I don't want to lose you Shimmer. I just can't.”

“And I don't want to lose you,” Sunset used a forehoof to lift the farmer’s chin up until their eyes met in a loving gaze, “We do what we always do. Plan for the worst, hope for the best, and meet somewhere in the middle.” She leant forwards and kissed the mopey girl's lips and chuckled, “Do you know you haven't called me Sunset since yesterday?”

“Well, you are in your pony gear,” Applejack replied defensively.

“There's my owner's smile I love so much, Miss Freckles,” Sunset smiled and folded her legs so she could sit under the shade of the tree, despite being a mile away from the north orchard. “Do you remember the Memory Stone incident, back in our senior year?”

Applejack nodded, and a dark look overcame her features. Those few days hadn’t been anyone’s finest hour, but she had taken it the hardest of them all. “I remember I wasn't very forgiving, and then when the memories returned, I realized just how much I loved you, Shimmer.” She had been downright cruel in the things she had said to her girlfriend, and she remembered every word.

“When I went to Equestria, that was the first time in a very long time that I spoke with my mom.” Sunset explained softly, “Really spoke to her, I mean, not just yelled and acted like a petulant foal who couldn’t get her way. I was so scared of her, of what she'd do, of what she'd say. Turns out I needn't have worried. Everything was right in the end.”

“I scared of something else.”

“Shoot.”

“What if you go through that portal and you don't come out a pony on the other side?”

Unable to come up with a better answer, Sunset shrugged her shoulders. “I honestly don't know, AJ.” She looked up at the surrounding trees for inspiration, but none came, so she changed tack. “Can I be honest back?”

“I hope I never give you cause to not to be, Shimmer.”

“What if this can't be reversed and you end up leaving me?” asked Sunset, who once she began to voice her fears found she couldn’t stop. “Maybe not this year or next, but eventually, when you want a girlfriend who can do things like leave the farm, or go to the mall, or go to the movies!”

Quickly, Applejack moved over so she could give Sunset a much needed hug. “Don't you start doing that to yourself, you hear? It will take an outside force to separate me from you. But you need to know that if I have to give you up so you can live, then I want one of those books like you have with Twilight.”

Almost from nowhere, Sunset started to cry, and when she started, it was like an endless waterfall of emotion. “You mean an outside force like Anon-A-Miss?”

When she heard that name, Applejack visibly flinched from one of the worst memories of her life. When she had been so convinced that it had been Sunset who had spread her childhood nickname of Piggly Wiggly all over MyStable, and as a result she had broke up with her for a whole two weeks. It had only been Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo confessing that had bought the sorry episode to a close. “I’ll admit that was not my best day. I don't think that would have worked today. We have shared too much to let a lie break us apart.”

“I'm sorry…” snivelled Sunset, still sobbing from her tears, “I shouldn't have bought that up, AJ, that was pretty low of me.”

“I love you Sunny,” Applejack squeezed the unicorn in a hug that showed no sign of being let go anytime soon. “Don’t be sorry for what’s happened, but look forward to what can happen.”

“I suppose...” Sunset said when she was at last able to speak, “The sixty four thousand bit question is, what if I have to go back to Equestria and they say you can stay?”

Beside her, it felt like Applejack had stopped breathing as she buried her face deep into Sunset's neck and, for a moment, she had. There were tears, and the unicorn could feel them wetting her amber coat. “I don't know Sunny,” the farmer admitted honestly, “I just don't know.”

Sighing deeply, Sunset wrapped a foreleg around Applejack and she hugged her tight. “It's a mess, alright. Mom will sort it out. No matter what, we have each other, right?” the farmer did nod her head, but she didn’t loosen her hold on the unicorn, who looked back at the tree over her shoulder. “You think that now I'm a pony, I can buck a tree like you do?”

“I don't buck trees, love I pick them.”

Sunset couldn’t help but giggle, “I do love that deadpan look on your face!”

“What on earth gave you the idea you could kick apples out of a tree?”

“You did,” Sunset explained, “Or rather, the Equestrian you and your family did. One time when I was younger, mom took me on a day trip to Ponyville. All pomp and ceremony for the glorious princess of the sun, blah blah blah, and we went to this little apple farm. I watched this huge red earth pony stallion kick the tree and a hundred apples fell into the waiting baskets.”

Applejack just smiled, happy that the mood had been lifted, “Well I guess those trees are different from these. I heard they have a citrus tree shaker that will knock out oranges and such. Those fruit just bounce. Apples bruise when you drop them any distance.”

“Not magic apples! I remember that day though,” a wistful, nostalgic look came over Sunset Shimmer, “One of the last good days that mom and I had. I mean, I hated the farm, getting my hooves all muddy, and mom kept telling me to make friends with the farmers, that was annoying, but damn if the food wasn't the best I'd ever had.”

Quietly, Applejack nodded. “So, how are your muddy hooves doing while dealing with a farmer?”

“Oh, I've learnt to tolerate getting my hooves muddy,” Sunset casually lifted up and inspected one such muddy forehoof, then she cracked a small smile, “It turns out the filly-me was a bitch, who knew?”

Leaning in, Applejack kissed Sunset directly on her lips, “I’m very happy to know mare you.”

“Nearly didn't though, huh?” asked Sunset in a rhetorical manner, “I was as horrible to you in this world as I was to the other Apples back in Equestria.”

“I won’t lie, I did think of you as a female dog back in our Freshman year, and not in a nice way.” Applejack smirked and kissed her mare a second time, “Took a pony from your world to help you see the light, and maybe being rainboomed into the ground too.” She chuckled and gave Sunset another kiss, “I can say now, I do like what you've become.” Affectionately, she ran her hand through Sunset's mane.

“Should have been me...it was supposed to have been me…” she scrubbed a forehoof into the dirt and she sighed a deep sigh that came from her very soul. “Stupid Twilight. She just showed me how wrong I was. I was never going to be a princess. AJ, what if this is the universe punishing me for everything I did?”

Applejack, who was more than aware of all the things – good and bad – that Sunset Shimmer had done, simply shook her head. “You don't need no fancy wings to be my princess.”

“You sweet talker,” Sunset grinned and leant in and just as she nuzzled her girlfriend’s cheek, her belly rumbled noisily.

Smirking, Applejack stood stands up and she plucked a fresh red apple from one of the lower branches of the tree they had been sat under. “Here you go, Shimmer.”

“Thanks Mistress,” she delicately took the offered fruit from the farmer’s hand with her mouth.

“I’m ready to go back, how about you?” Applejack waited for her mare to stand up, “Have to see if we have a way of doing any of that Equestrian cooking you taught me.”

“I'm ready,” after she had consumed the apple, Sunset stretched her legs, “You want a ride?”

“When we get closer,” agreed Applejack, who wore a rueful smile, “I want you on even ground. I did pick you up, so I'd rather be careful, and I don't want to squeal like a little girl on her first horsy ride, thank you very much.”

Sunset laughed heartily as they made their way back to the homestead. “Not my fault you have ridiculous super strength that can move a small mountain.”

“Hmm, I do believe I did climb Mount Shimmer earlier today,” laughed Applejack as she quickly scampered off out of hoof range. Grinning, Sunset was quick to give 'chase', although it was a playful chase through the many trees.

~ ~ ~

Over the other side of town, in a villa surrounded on three sides by large trees, Principal Luna was reclining in her favourite comfy chair wearing nothing but her fluffy bathrobe enjoying her Cheerilee shaped foot stool. Occasionally, in time with drinking her latest coffee, she did move one of her feet so she could either wipe it over her pet’s face or play with her crotch and still get the foot wet. Her magical journal lay unopened in her lap. “Should I bother Tia with this mess, I wonder?”

“Do you want my honest opinion?” asked a very naked Cheerilee on her hands and knees as she took advantage of the opportunity to lick at Luna's passing foot.

“I do, Leelee, always.” Luna sighed contentedly, leaving her foot where it was so that her pet could worship her toes, “I really don't want to burden her, but something tells me this may be an Equestrian problem in our own land.”

“Honestly?” Cheerilee spoke up after she had spent a good few minutes kissing and licking between her Mistress’s toes, “I'm wondering why you didn't write her last night.” she giggled and prepared to be sassy, and get the consequences of her behaviour, “Maybe if you stare at the book hard enough, it'll write itself.”

“Thank you for your honesty, Leelee,” Luna grinned as she fetched her cheeky pet a short sharp slap across her face with her foot, “I may reward you with a proper punishment later.” A smirk crossed her face and she at last opened her journal.

‘Hello Tia. Yet another crazy magic attack, this time to take over the Education system. Yet another rainboom to put the villain in his place. The ‘girls’ did that magic thing where they float and grow ears and long hair, except for Sunset.

Sunset turned into a unicorn, just like the ones you’re friends with. And she has stayed that way. She is staying over at Applejack’s place, and they are trying to figure out what to do.

I don’t know what to do, so I’m letting you know. Maybe someone somepony over there knows what to do. For now I don’t think it would be wise for you to come here through that portal. I have no idea if it was damaged, but I don’t want to risk you.

Love, Lulu and Leelee.’

Chapter 4 - Winter in Whitetail Woods

Winter had settled deep in Ponyville. The weather pegasi and the Weather Factory in Cloudsdale had outdone themselves with supplying snow drifts that covered the town and stretched all the way to Canterlot.

In the house she shared with her husband and Master in the nearby Whitetail Woods, Celestia was woken from her blissful slumber by the buzzing of the magical book that was connected to the one her sister owned back in the human world.

While not as loud as their alarm clock, the journal’s buzzing was incessant. “Uugh...is that...” the unicorn slowly opened her eyes and the glowing book immediately drew her tired sleepy gaze to the nightstand by the bed. Somewhat predictably, Moonsilver was obliviously asleep by her side.

By the bright glow of the enchanted book, Celestia could see it was barely three in the morning. Through a crack in the closed curtains, the snow outside caught her eye. She was very grateful for the earth pony invented heating system in the house. It kept the cold where it belonged. Outside.

Cocking her ears told her that her little filly, Sunrise, was still asleep in her bedroom too. It was just the book that had woken her so rudely from her slumber. “If Lulu thinks she can talk me into taking my job back, she has another think coming…” she muttered drowsily as she reached a hoof out for the book.”

“Horseapples,” she cursed, thankful that her two year old filly wasn’t awake to hear her swear, when she realised the journal was just out of her reach. Instead of struggling, the unicorn used her magic and she sat up, which did disturb Moonsilver by her side.

‘Hello Tia. Yet another crazy magic attack, this time to take over the Education system. Yet another rainboom to put the villain in his place. The ‘girls’ did that magic thing where they float and grow ears and long hair, except for Sunset.

Sunset turned into a unicorn, just like the ones you’re friends with. And she has stayed that way. She is staying over at Applejack’s place, and they are trying to figure out what to do.

I don’t know what to do, so I’m letting you know. Maybe someone somepony over there knows what to do. For now I don’t think it would be wise for you to come here through that portal. I have no idea if it was damaged, but I don’t want to risk you.

Love, Lulu and Leelee.’

“Oh my goodness!” Celestia exclaimed, then she immediately clapped a hoof over her mouth in case she had woken up Sunrise. Fortunately, the house was otherwise silent. “Silver,” she dug her husband sharply in his ribs, “Silver, wake up!”

“Whaaa!” cried Moonsilver, the pale grey centaur jolting awake as completely as if a gallon of ice cold water had been tipped over him, “I don't hear Sunny crying!” for that matter, he didn’t smell the house burning down either, so he wondered why he was awake.

“It's not her, for once, and no, we aren’t on fire,” Celestia smiled at the look on her drowsy husband’s face, “Take a look at this.” She used the light from her horn to illuminate the page instead of turning on the room light.

Moonsilver was confused, and not just because he had been roused from a most enjoyable dream that involved him, his wife and his two herd-mates. “Who is this Sunset that Luna speaks of?”

“Sunset Shimmer,” explained Celestia, whose brain was working double speed now she was properly awake, “She's an ex-student of mine and Princess Celestia's daughter.” Now she thought about it, it hit her, “I don't think you met her before coming here.”

“I thought ponies became humans on that side of the portal?” asked Moonsilver. He was sure his wife was right about him not meeting whoever this Sunset Shimmer was, but outside of Luna, Cheerilee, Roseluck and Berryshine, his interest waned.

“They do. But when they tap into the magic they possess, they transform, they grow ears and wings...do rainbow magic...the effect is usually temporary. This time, apparently not.”

“Luna says only one stayed that way. Why not all of them?”

That was a very good question. And not one that Celestia had an answer to, at least not at three in the morning. “My guess, and I'm far from an expert, is magic saturation. Sunset's Equestrian by birth, a unicorn. She's been exposed to the portal magic, and she has the centaur geode now too, maybe that’s it?”

“I have not a clue,” admitted Moonsilver, whose only thoughts at that moment was going back to sleep. Sunrise was asleep, and he wanted as much shut eye as he could while she stayed that way. “We could contact one of the shamans, or you could contact one of the Princesses?”

“I'll get up and go and tell Twilight. I’m sure she'll want to know about this,” Celestia removed the incredibly warm comforter and slid out of her bed, not thinking for a moment about the sun not being up yet or the knee high snow drifts outside in town.

“Is it really that urgent?” protested Moonsilver, who despite the warmth of their cottage, found the bed intolerably cold without his unicorn by his side. “Can't you wait till morning?”

“Not with this. And it is morning…” Celestia caught her husband’s deadpan expression when he pointed to the alarm clock that now read three fifteen a.m.

“Can’t you wait till later in the morning?”

“The sooner I tell her,” Celestia responded with a shake of her head, “The sooner the Princesses can start working the problem.” After a quick stretch, she used her magic to run a brush through her long multicoloured mane, “Besides, I can't sleep now.” With her mane roughly brushed, Celestia used her magic to float over a Rarity made pink winter coat and matching snow boots from her closet. “If I'm not back before your guard shift at the castle starts, wake Roseluck up.”

Moonsilver shook his head. He had a better idea. “If you're not back, I'll let the Captain know. I do have time off to spend, and spending it with Sunny and Rosie would be nice. She’s not just here to help with foal care.”

“Alright, my sexy Master,” Celestia winked and gave Moonsilver a deep kiss while she used her telekinesis to put on the boots. “Keep the bed warm for me.”

“Sure, if you're too long, Sunny and Rosie will help me with that, then it’s the couch for you.”

“Fine,” Celestia conceded that eventuality might just happen, “The price I have to pay for saving the world.” She leant over and gave her centaur one last kiss before drawing the winter coat around her and venturing out into the cold.

Left alone in the bed, Moonsilver laid back down, but found he could no longer get to sleep, not without his Celly by his side. There was always Roseluck, but he knew she needed her sleep too. Resigned to being awake, he resolved to get up and make breakfast for her return.

Outside, Celestia hadn’t gotten to the edge of Ponyville proper when she was already regretting her hasty decision to walk to Twilight’s castle in the middle of the night. The snow was so deep in the woods that it came above the tops of the boots, and it wasn’t long before her hooves were numb.

Grumbling out a few more choice expletives – that she was thankful Sunrise couldn’t hear – the frozen unicorn lit her horn and cast a simple warming spell. Despite that, she was still shivering. The cold was so all encompassing that it was in her very bones at that point. Gritting her teeth, she soldiered on to the crystal castle in the distance.

The mountainous earth pony guard who was stood outside the closed door was stood in one of Twilight’s warming bubbles to keep her warm while on duty. “Good morning, Barricade,” Celestia offered the huge mare a polite bow and a smile of greeting. She liked her a lot. She remembered passing the mare on her way to her work at the school.

Barricade laughed, “I'm sure it will be morning in a couple of hours, schoolmistress. What has you out so early, Tia, especially on a day like this?”

“I have a Code Sunset,” Celestia patted her saddlebags under her coat with a snow sodden boot covered hoof, “Urgent message for the Princess.”

Without any further preamble, Barricade opened the door to the castle. She, and all the guards, had been briefed on all eventualities. “Backstop,” she spoke into the earpiece she wore, “Urgent visitor for the Princess. Please wait in the great room, Backstop will bring her down.”

“Thank you, Barricade, I appreciate it,” she gave the guard a nod of her head and trotted inside and went straight to the great room, cancelling the warming spell and removing her wet boots and winter coat along the way. She knew they’d be taken care of.

After just three short minutes, Twilight Sparkle walked slowly past the door to the great room, and it almost looked like the alicorn was sleep walking. “Kitchen. Talk. Coffee.” She said simply, but kept on moving, not looking anywhere but ahead.

Celestia couldn’t help but giggle, for she was sure she had worn similar bags under her eyes when Sunrise had woken her in the deathly hours. She followed Twilight through the castle to the kitchen. “I can make us coffee, if you’d like?”

“Coffee. Good. Yes.” Twilight sat – she slumped heavily into her seat – with an audible thud, at the kitchen table. In a second, her eyes were closed and a grunted snore left her.

“I'm sorry to wake you so early, Twilight,” apologised Celestia while she was busy with the coffee machine.

About two minutes after the unicorn had started one of the kitchen staff, a middle aged earth pony mare by the name of Oatseed, walked into the kitchen looking hatefully fresh as a daisy. “I got that,” she gently took over the cooking duties, “But thank you for getting it started. Would you like some haybacon and eggs?”

“I'd love some, thank you Ms Oatseed,” relieved of cooking, Celestia instead went over and sat at the table with the snoring Princess.

The loud growling that came from the alicorn’s stomach shocked her awake and she blushed hard. “Coffee. Food…” she murmured, to which Celestia simply giggled and levitated the magical book from her saddlebag onto the table. The moment she saw it, Twilight seemed to come awake. “That’s the one to your sister?”

“It is, Twilight,” she confirmed with a nod, “Lulu sent me a message that woke me up. After I read it, I knew I should bring it to you straightaway.”

Before Twilight could open the book, Oatseed carried over two coffee and placed the milky Celestia specials on the table. The Princess gulped half of hers down without batting an eyelid. Only when she had caffeine in her system, did her horn light up and a similar book appeared, summoned from Twilight’s room. “Does it have to do with Sunset being a pony in the human world, by any chance?”

Celestia opened her mouth several times and then, realising she was imitating a fish, blushed a deep red. “Yes, actually it does.”

Twilight moved her book across to Celestia and the two swapped over so they could compare their notes. “Can I see what your Luna wrote?”

“Please do,” Celestia opened the book and slid it over, then she opened the one she herself had been given.

“That's horn writing, by the way,” commented Twilight the very second she saw the message on the page, “Sunset's penmanship was never that good.”

“That must mean she has command of her unicorn magic,” put in Celestia, though she thought it was rather obvious, on reflection. Not only was Sunset a physical pony, she had her magic too.

After Twilight had read both messages twice over, she mused, “They both agree the portal may be dangerous. I started studying this side. One of my guards put me to bed when I fell asleep in front of it,” Twilight blinked, “Yeah, sort of proves the account.”

“So Sunset doesn't just look like a pony, she is a pony, just as if she was on this side.”

“Yes,” agreed Twilight, her eyes alive with the possibilities for learning, “And there are too many variables. I mean, I sort of destroyed Starswirl’s portal and remade it to stop the magic leak, and let us still use it. I wish I knew what this Neighsay character did on that side.”

“I can ask Luna, see if she knows, or if she has an idea of what might have happened?” offered Celestia, trying to be helpful.

“I asked the same from Sunset, but she doesn't really know,” Twilight studied the messages again as she downed her coffee and Oatseed supplied a refill to them both. “He was already doing something to take magic out of the portal when she got there and then they used the magic they already had to...wait...” Twilight stopped speaking, she lit her horn and a chalkboard appeared, which she started scribbling on.

Slightly bemused, because she had seen similar behaviour from the Twilight she had met at the Friendship Games, Celestia asked, “What, are you onto something?”

“The girls have stored Equestrian magic,” Twilight spoke more to herself than to the ponies in the room, “They can't draw it from the portal anymore, but they also have those geodes that the centaurs made. It is a sort of focus…” again she trailed off to silence as she made lots of numbers and complicated magical symbols appear on the board.

“Is it magic saturation?” offered Celestia, very hopeful that her idea would be right.

“Opposite!” Twilight had a slightly manic expression on her face born from lack of sleep and an important breakthrough fuelled by zebran coffee, “The girls are human with Equestrian magic. For them, it is now self-generating, and the geodes just make them better at using it. Sunset is not human. She lost the Equestrian magic her human body was holding and can't regenerate it! She doesn't have the portal magic anymore!” she seized her coffee, drained it, only for it to be replaced with another cup and plate of food for them both.

Having waited for her coffee to be a temperature that was drinkable, Celestia swallowed it in one. The caffeine helped her try to process what her friend was saying. “So...you're saying it was the Equestrian magic in the portal that was keeping her looking human, now it's gone, she's reverted to her natural form?”

Twilight pointed a hoof at the messy chalkboard like the answer was obvious, “Math adds up. Now to figure out if the portal is safe or not.”

Having understood precious little, Celestia had instead turned her attention to the marvellous breakfast Oatseed had prepared. “And I'm guessing,” she said thickly through the food in her mouth, “Adagio didn't change because it wasn't the same portal that sent her and the other Sirens to the human world?”

Suddenly thinking, Twilight grabbed the book and started writing furiously, ‘Sunset. Can you still read thoughts with a touch? I think you have lost all your portal magic and it has returned you to your natural form. I really need to find out what it was Neighsay was doing to the portal. I’m not ready to send anypony through until I know it is safe. You do have your Equestrian magic. How good are you at illusions to disguise your appearance? Luna sent word to her sister, just so you know. Your friend, P. Twi’

When she showed Celestia what she had written, Twilight thought on the issue of the portal. “That’s just it. You’re right, it isn't the same portal that brought Sunset to the human world. I really did change it, so the centaurs could return to this world.”

“As for the sirens,” continued Twilight, undeterred, “I'm glad they didn't find themselves landlocked in their true from. Still, from what Sunset has told me, they have all changed and none were willing to follow the centaurs here. I only have a theory for them. They lost their gems and the geodes they were given weren't a good enough substitute.”

“I can attest to the fact they've reformed,” stated Celestia with an air of confidence and authority on the subject. “They all have lives, jobs and partners over there.” She took her journal back and scribbled off a note to her sister, roughly detailing what had been discovered.

“The portal restores, or did, might still...” Twilight summoned a second chalkboard and got ready to fill it, “Anyway, the gems should have regenerated if they did come through.”

“Twilight?” Celestia placed a hoof on her friend’s shoulder and gave her a warm smile, “One problem at a time, hmm?”

Suddenly stopped, Twilight blinked, emptied her coffee and as she made the two chalkboards vanish, it was instantly refilled. “Yes, of course. I just don't trust the portal now. I could always dismantle and rebuild it again,” she thought out loud before shovelling in some of her food, “Too many variables…”

“Or you could ask that wizard guy, Starswirl, for help?” suggested Celestia, “You don't have to do it on your own, you know.”

At the mention of Starswirl’s name, Twilight turned glum. “I haven't told any of this to Princess Celestia. I don't want her going through, and I don't want Sunset coming through,” she sighed, “Starswirl is a gossip.”

“He's also a powerful unicorn. Or there's Starlight. Or Celestia? I know you don't want her going through, and I believe she won't, but she should be told.”

“I'm going to Canterlot tomorrow...or is that today, now?” Twilight shook her head, gave up and filled her belly for a moment. “Anyway, I'll tell her, but...she kind of shuns the portal, ever since Sunset first went through it. Why it was sent to the Crystal Empire in the first place and why I have it now. I'm glad you think highly of Starswirl, but he said I couldn’t do what I did to let the Centaurs come back.” Twilight giggled at that, proud she had proved him wrong. “I'm kinda liking doing stuff that befuddles him.” she snorted a laugh, “I think he’s still miffed I got wings fixing one of his spells.”

“Well, I personally think you do an amazing job, for whatever my opinion's worth. You protect Ponyville, are a Princess, and everything else, and you're still sane, even with Rainbow Dash about.”

Under the sincere praise, Twilight blushed a very deep red indeed. “Dash can do this thing with her wings that pops me right out of the Twilynanas zone.” She thought of Rainbow, asleep upstairs, and her blush covered her whole face.

Celestia giggled so hard she spluttered her coffee all over the kitchen table, “Hmm, and Silver can do this thing with his hoof that sends me into space…”

“No details, please. My imagination is playing that out.” Twilight smiled dreamily, “I have Dash on a towable cloud so I can take her places before noon. Inky!”

At the mention of her name, a pitch black unicorn mare with an equally black mane, walked into the kitchen. “Yes, Princ…” she stopped as Twilight narrowed her eyes dangerously, “I mean, yes, Twilight?”

“Today's schedule?”

“You have a train to Canterlot at nine a.m.”

“Anything earlier?”

“There is space on the six a.m.” replied Inky, who prided herself on her efficiency.

“Book it please, Inky, and cancel my court. After that take the day off, I'll be back late tonight.”

“If that's all, Twilight,” started Celestia as Inky bowed and took her leave, “I think I'll head on back home. I have a feeling I have an appointment with Moonsilver and his hand before Sunrise decides to wake up.”

Twilight smiled, “He does have rather strong hands.” She made sure her friend had her book safely back in her saddlebag, “Thank you for the information, it’s good to have multiple perspectives.”

“That he does. I should have known Sunset would write to you,” she checked her bag, finished off the very last of her food and at last stood up with a groan, “Do say hello to Princess Me for me when you see her, won't you?”

“Of course, and you should send more foal photos!”

“Please,” Celestia rolled her eyes, “You know not what you ask! Silver has several albums filled already, and Sunny’s only two!”

Twilight laughed. Of course she knew, her mother had a small library’s worth of photo albums full of herself, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart. And she took no persuading to get them out for anypony who visited. “Of course, my fault. You should wait till she’s a teenager before you share all the photos.”

“I'd be happy to send you some pictures,” the unicorn nudged Twilight playfully, “Aunty Twily. Oh, and remind Me that it's her turn to bring the cake when she visits.”

“I'll remind her to not eat it before she gets here. Do you need an escort home?”

As she levitated her dry and warm snow boots and winter coat to her, Celestia noted it was still only four thirty in the morning, still dark and still cold. “If you can spare Barricade, I'd be grateful. She's delightful company.”

“Of course.”

~ ~ ~

When they approached the cottage in Whitetail Wood, it was already starting to snow again. Celestia bid a fond farewell to Barricade, complete with a tight hug, before she stepped into the house. Quietly closing the door, she noted the light was on in the kitchen. She hung up her winter coat in the hall and leaving her boots behind, she stepped into the kitchen. “Silver?”

“You weren't gone as long as I expected,” Moonsilver turned to greet his wife, revealing the coffee he had prepared and stuff laid out to make breakfast that he hadn't started yet.

“Hmmmm coffee...” even though she’d had coffee at the castle, the walk in the cold had left her wanting more. She smiled and walked over, where she nuzzled and kissed her husband, “Twilight got on a roll figuring stuff out. Once that started, I knew I wouldn't be long.”

“So, the world won't be ending anytime soon?” he asked as he poured them both a coffee from the pot.

Seeing he had chosen her ‘Best Teacher’ mug, Celestia giggled and sat down in her rustic hand built kitchen. “Not this time, my love. Maybe the next emergency or crisis, or the one after that. I take it Rosie is still asleep?”

Carrying over the coffees, Moonsilver sat next to her. “No, I tried to wake her but she threw her pillow at me. How’s your sister doing?”

“Better than I thought, actually,” admitted Celestia, who was enjoying the smell of her coffee, “You know how she is when magic's involved. Luna won't admit being scared, but I can tell when she's worried.”

“She didn't want one of those geodes,” pointed out Moonsilver.

“No. She doesn't trust magic. It took enough persuading to get her to accept the journal before we left.”

Moonsilver laughed, the practised laugh of a parent who was aware of waking up a sleeping filly. “I think having a niece helped a lot with that. By the way,” he added as he inhaled deeply and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, “You smell very nice today.”

“I do think you're right,” Celestia took a sip of her coffee by lifting it up in her magic and she took a sniff of herself. “Do I?” overpowering the smell of the coffee, she blushed at 'that' smell, the smell wafting from under her tail, the smell that said she was in heat.

“You did wake me up very early this morning.”

“Oh...” Celestia set her mug down as she recognised that tonal shift in his voice. The tone that said he had moved from husband to dominant. “I-I'm sorry Master, I didn't mean to, I panicked…”

“Really,” Moonsilver spoke slowly, calmly and in complete control of the situation. “You, panic? Or was it just an excuse to visit with Twilight?”

“It was nice to see her,” Celestia’s eyes went wide at her ‘confession’, “I mean, no, I didn't panic, Master.”

At the kitchen table, Moonsilver wore a broad grin, “You may panic now, if you wish.” Before she could react to that, the unicorn’s tail flagged upwards and ‘that’ smell wafted all around the kitchen. Leaning over, he kissed his wife and submissive while his hand moved up to take firm hold of her horn, but pulling or twisting.

A very nervous but aroused whimper left the mare’s lips as she kissed Moonsilver, letting him know she was putty in his hands. “You may speak one word to answer this question, is it time for Sunrise to have a sibling?”

“Yes!”

Answer and consent given, Moonsilver stood and, with his hand still on the unicorn's horn, he gently lifted her head while he moved beside her to take the base of her tail in his other hand. He then led her to the bedroom. “I can't refuse such an answer.”

“Thank you, Master!” Celestia knew her husband’s hand gripping her horn was nullifying her magic, and that the hand gripping the base of her tail was distracting her for other reasons. She also knew she was leaving quite the lewd trail behind her.

In the bedroom, the dominant centaur sat her down on the floor with her back to the bed. “Show me how much,” he ordered her simply and, as he let go of her, he reared up so that both his forehooves were on the bed and she had access to his undercarriage.

Celestia didn't bother using her hooves or her magic. She knew what her Master liked, she knew what he expected her to do. She shuffled forwards on her knees and slathered hot wet sloppy kisses up and down his sheath. At his balls, she gave them a worshipful tongue bathing and sucked on one after the other.

Above her, Moonsilver was happy to let Celestia do her work, but he did reach down, bending at the waist to play with her flanks and lower back. It didn’t take long for the centaur’s stallionhood to emerge from the sheath, and before it got hard, it flopped over her face. Several sloppy kisses along the shaft soon saw it fully erect, and Celestia went to work properly, taking the head of his cock in her mouth, swirling her tongue around it and bobbing her head forward.

When Moonsilver felt that her efforts were going to result in an early release, he slapped a flank hard enough to leave a handprint. “Position! Now!”

“GaaAAAAH y-yes Master!” Celestia quickly scooted from her sitting position to bending over the foot of the bed, her hind legs wide, tail up high. She received two more hard slaps for not being quick enough, but he was pleased how readily she presented herself. He shoved his muzzle under her tail and, with a lot of tongue, determined she was ready. “Ooooooh by the forest!” she was already very wet and in heat, his tongue only made her wetter.

Two more firm spanks lit up her ass cheeks, which were now decorated in dull pink handprints. “I think you may be ready…” to test if she really was, he plunged his whole hand into her sopping wet slit.

“Ooooh fuuuuuuck yeee…” Celestia had the presence of mind to bite down the duvet at the last moment to keep from screaming out in pleasure as he entered her.

Skilfully, Moonsilver worked his mare to the edge of an orgasm with his hand, while all the time spanking her with the other, before he pulled it out and, leaving her whining on the precipice, licked his fingers. “I do think you are receptive, and I forgive you for waking me early, my beloved pet.”

That said, he positioned his erect cock at her dripping wet entrance and he was inside her with one deep thrust. “MmmMMMMMMM!” Celestia bit the duvet all the harder now he was actually inside her all the way.

Above her, Moonsilver yanked hard on Celestia’s tail, and through the enthusiastic rutting, he added in the occasional spank, even switching up hands to keep the red on her ass even.

Below her Master, Celestia could tell he was going to town, that he really wanted another foal with her. She was only too happy to receive what he gave her, and he gave her plenty.

They were still going at it when the sun eventually rose into the sky.