Author's Note

Pairing: N/A
Contains interrupted confession of love, parading a striped pony to the public, mixed reception, implied masturbation, strong concern from a friend/skepticism, references to the deceased, assumed manipulation, tension between a prude and sluts, and hidden arousal masked as concern.

Interlude: Surprise at Dusk

Almost two weeks had passed since Jack had given up his identity, and Rainbow Blitz and Elusive remained diligent and hard at work. Due to the two submissive stallions being there all the time to check if there was anything needed, Rainbow Blitz and Elusive had essentially gone that long without being laid by their Zebra Master. It was one of their hardest tasks, having to abstain from his beautiful Zebrican touch, though it wasn’t half-bad necessarily. Rainbow Blitz and Elusive still jerked each other off plenty, and Butterscotch even popped in on his way home to the hut to fuck their brains out. And even when they didn’t get off, the blue pegasus and the purple-maned unicorn still grew to love each other deeply. In fact, those three words were on Rainbow Dash’s mind a lot more than usual. With them having deeply warm cuddles, longing kisses, and laughing and goofing off to pass the time by, Rainbow Blitz had fallen more for the unicorn that shared his stripes now more than ever. His heart blossomed with the instinct that Elusive was viewed more highly in his eyes closer to that of Zecora and Butterscotch.

Elusive was trotting up the stairs, while Rainbow Blitz was flying above them and onto the other floors. They walked into the bathrooms and checked that the sinks and toilets were in working order, the different rooms to check that air conditioning was functioning as expected and that the lights worked fine. Elusive even trotted into the rooms after the construction crew had done the heavy work. For the rooms that were almost completely furnished, meant for the four subs, they each had beds not quite as big as Zecora’s, but big enough to comfortably fit three ponies. With how big Jack was, the orange stallion’s bed was only comfortable enough to fit probably one other pony, and he and Zecora would likely be too tough of a fit. Rainbow Blitz’ bedroom was painted light blue like his fur, Butterscotch’s was painted yellow like his fur, Elusive’s room was painted white with purple diamonds, and Jack’s was painted a bright orange. When the other day, Butterscotch saw the orange pony’s room decorated with apple patterns, he turned to the construction advisor and politely asked him to paint over all of them with the orange to get rid of the pattern.

“Why?” Rainbow Blitz asked at the time, his eyes narrowed and his head tilted in deep confusion. “Applejack loves apples.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll bring him by and you can see for yourself shortly~!” Butterscotch winked at his best friend before turning back to the construction advisor. “Please go ahead and paint over them, thank you!”

That was weird, Rainbow Blitz thought to himself. Eventually, the two ponies overseeing the construction had made it to the top floor. There were the same-sized generous beds in all three rooms, but they were glaringly empty of any blankets or sheets. Or even decorations on the wall. Except for the designated guest room of course, which did have generic cream and beige blankets and sheets and had a nightstand for any notes of hospitality they wanted to leave for visitors. The middle room was the biggest one, and had the highest ceiling with a hatch that led to the roof. There was no question who that room would be for.

“Do you think Dusk Shine would throttle us if he found out who this room would be for?” Elusive asked with a deep blush as he stared up at the ceiling while Rainbow Blitz flew towards the hatch to open it and close it.

“We can just tell him that it's a second room for me, giving me a chance to fly out of the house instead of just leaving the front door,” Rainbow Blitz shrugged. “Or that it's in case another ‘pegasus’ wants to join our herd or whatever. We can make some bullshit up.”

“Well we can all get our story straight before they see the final revisions to the new house,” Elusive insisted, before realizing with a pang of frustration. “Fuck, pardon my Prench, but Applejack isn’t going to lie. He’s the Element of Honesty.”

Rainbow Blitz opened his mouth, highly considering moving away from the conversation at hoof and telling Elusive what had been on his mind, but he was completely puzzled on how to naturally approach the subject. That’s when from all the way at the top floor, they heard a trio of knocks against the front door at the bottom floor. Elusive’s ears perked up, knowing that any construction crew would just excuse themselves inside without concerning themselves with knocking. That must’ve meant one of the other herd members was at the door. Elusive’s heart skipping a beat at whoever it could be, the white unicorn galloped out of the room with a lack of subtlety before he slowed down to a more prim and proper trot on the last flight of stairs to the door. He waited till Rainbow Blitz, slower than usual but still relatively fast, gently zoomed down to the bottom floor and flew over the unicorn as Elusive lit up his magic to open the door.

“Woah!” Rainbow Blitz couldn’t help but shriek in surprise at the other side of the door. “Applejack, you’re-”

“Zecora has instructed everypony in the herd to refer to him as Jack now,” Butterscotch stood beside Jack with a smile dripping of smugness, his body having since returned to its plushy submissive state with his fat ass. Jack couldn't look more different from the last time Rainbow Blitz and Elusive saw him. The orange stallion that was once a farmpony now had two stripes around his muzzle, as well as two stripes around his ears and stripes smattered over the rest of his body. Though, when he turned to his side, that was what made Rainbow Blitz and Elusive gasp. The cutie mark of Jack that they’d have expected to be untouched like the rest of their own cutie marks, had a distinct big black X over the trio of apples that cemented everything that strangers and friends alike needed to know going forward. That Jack’s life as he knew it before was completely obliterated, even down to his name. Rainbow Blitz and Elusive were getting harder by the second, unable to hold back their sheer arousal by Jack’s dark and devious desires to even agree to such an act, let alone be elated by it. And, a much smaller detail that they also noticed, was that Jack had no longer been wearing his trademarked hat. Perhaps he got rid of that too?

Even though Rainbow Blitz was happy to fly away out of sight to jerk off in one of the rooms, quick to forget his confession he wanted to make earlier, Elusive placed his forehoof over his muzzle as he tilted his head in deep perplexation at the orange stallion. It was just a bit under three months ago that Jack was professing his deepest desires to the svelte unicorn and trying to shoot his shot. Now, his once intense love for the Element of Generosity seemed to be something of the past. If Elusive had to guess, Jack probably surrendered that along with everything else he gave up. They still cared about each other deeply, but clearly Jack’s desires had dramatically shifted.

“Are you sure about this, darling?” Elusive asked, getting an eager nod from Jack as the unicorn continued. “With your cutie marks blotted out, the town might get a bit concerned. Maybe even the Princes might be suspicious that Zecora is up to no good. The four of us know better, of course, but we’ve dealt with so many forces of evil that they’re always on the edge of their hooves looking out for a threat to Equestria.”

“Ugh, yah ah’m aware,” Jack sighed in agreement. “Uh, maybe ah’ll stop by Dusk Shine’s castle and get Barb to send a letter of reassurance to Solaris. Can’t exactly tell the whole town to mind their own business if ah’m parading my new identity on mah body. Damn.”

“We’ll go there now, we’ve already gotten a few ponies giving triple takes,” Butterscotch added, rolling his eyes. “Well, we know what Rainbow Blitz got up to, but would you like to join us walking to the castle? They’ll be a lot less likely to bother us if half the Elements of Harmony are walking together.”

“Absolutely, darling, I’d be more than happy to!” Elusive closed the door, shaking his head and laughing to himself as he imagined Rainbow Blitz furiously masturbating to his former rival, falling even further from ‘grace’ than he did. The three walked to the castle with little to no issues, with Elusive doing the honors of lifting his dainty forehoof and knocking on the door.

The door slowly opened with alicorn magic, revealing the tall Prince Dusk Shine as he barely processed his friends at the door before his mouth dropped in utter shock staring at the Element of Honesty and what he had become. The orange stallion now had black stripes all over his body, and as he blushed and turned to the side, the purple alicorn saw that his cutie marks were X-ed out.

“You got your…how did…” Dusk sputtered, to which Jack grinned and shrugged.

“How did ah get those beautiful black X’s on those worthless apple marks of mine?” Jack smirked as he twerked his butt just the tiniest bit before answering. “With paint, of course~!”

“Zecora had striped him, if that wasn’t obvious,” Elusive deadpanned, waiting till Dusk Shine moved to the side with the door wide open so that the three of them could walk inside of the castle. “And considering the more controversial choice of having his cutie marks X-ed out, we figured having a precautionary letter to ensure that the Princes have nothing to worry about would be wise. With your word that we are safe and sound, of course.”

“That would require that I believe that, Elusive,” Dusk winced as he looked at Jack’s cutie marks. “Do you even go by Applejack anymore?”

“Actually I go by Jack,” Jack revealed to the Prince of Friendship, though his eyes were narrowed at Dusk. “Ah know yer quite a prude, Dusk, but ah never thought you would make such false assumptions about our lifestyle choices. Why would you think Zecora wanted to hurt any of us?”

“I didn’t at first,” Dusk’s wings flapped briefly from his sides in frustration as they walked to the dining room. “But the cutie mark stuff and the change of name? And you got rid of your hat that your dead father gave you! How am I supposed to believe you’d do all of that without Zecora manipulating you? Or that Rainbow Blitz gave up the Wonderbolts happily? He loved flying with them and it was his dream forever! What’s next, is Elusive going to hoof over his fashion business entirely to Sassy Saddles or Coco Pommel? Is Butterscotch going to go no contact with his animals?!”

“Okay now you’re just being ridiculous,” Butterscotch frowned, his ears flattened against his pink mane. “And because our decisions shock you, you’re going to turn on us?”

“Mah father ain’t around, it’s worth nothing to keep living a dead stallion’s family legacy when ah know him and Ma would’ve just wanted me to be happy at the end of the day,” Jack rolled his eyes in annoyance now, turning away as he began trotting towards the hallway he came from. “Whatever, do what ya want Dusk.”

“I’ll write the letter, to make sure that the Princes enforce the public’s respect towards all the Elements of Harmony,” Dusk determined, with the three striped ponies breathing exhales of relief before the purple alicorn continued. “But I’m going to express my skepticism to them as well, they might want to summon Zecora in the near future for questioning. Especially if he ends up trying any funny business with my leadership.”

“What a buzzkill,” Jack groaned.

“Dusk is trying to make sure we are protected and happy,” Elusive pouted as he came to the purple alicorn’s defense. “I’m sure Solaris and Artemis wouldn’t dare hurt him since we care about him so much. I trust his decision.”

“Thank you,” Dusk’s shoulders relaxed as he got at least one of his friends’ understanding. “This is a strange coincidence, him taking only Elements of Harmony, and I’d like to make sure there isn’t anything darker coming into play here. Nothing that you couldn’t agree to with a clear mind. If you three could take your leave, I’m going to get Barb and gently let her know the news so that she can be ready to send the letter.

“Whatever,” Jack huffed, Butterscotch walking to his side and placing a comforting wing over the orange pony’s back. Elusive gave Dusk Shine a sympathetic nod before turning and walking behind them. After a few quiet moments, the three had left. Dusk Shine felt shock flooding through his mind. After a devious nightmare pony, Element of Chaos, changeling King, and so much more, the biggest threat to the Elements of Harmony…might’ve been one dark and seductive zebra with promises more pleasurable than anypony’s wildest dreams…