“Hyah!”

Applejack let out a brief grunt of effort as she bucked another tree, dozens of apples falling down into the surrounding buckets with ease.

Just a few feet over, Gallus was attempting the same thing, though his kick to the tree trunk resulted in only a single mushy apple unceremoniously splatting on the ground.

“Heh, nice attempt, but why don’t you just take care of the collecting while Ah do the kicking?” Applejack chuckled.

Gallus put a hand up to his face to try and hide his embarrassment, grabbing the buckets and pushing them along to the next tree.

“I’m sure you’ve been working out yer legs and stuff, but Ah’ve been bucking apples my whole life,” Applejack grinned, giving a precise kick to the next apple tree.

Gallus watched with a bit of awe as a bunch of bright and shiny apples fell perfectly into the buckets below.

Applejack rubbed a hoof against her chest with pride. “Don’t get me wrong, Ah appreciate your help and all, but it’d take a while before you’re even half as good at bucking as me!”

“Yeah? It’d take that long to get legs as strong as yours?”

“Well, it ain’t just strength!” Applejack started patting her flank. “There’s a lot of precision that goes into applebucking. Sure, a good part of it’s to be strong, but it wouldn’t help if Big Mac just uprooted the tree with each buck…”

As Applejack continued to talk, Gallus took the opportunity to sneak a more thorough look at those applebucking legs. They were so huge and powerful, and Applejack’s flank was so muscular and firm. He started to zone out. He heard her still talking, but his mind wasn’t picking up on any of the words. The way she was flexing her hooves and flank by lifting her legs. It was just the start of the month, but he already wanted those powerful legs to wreck him-

“...and Ah bet you’d love to have them around yer neck right about now, right, Gallus?”

Gallus felt his heart nearly leap from his chest, his face quickly going red. “HUH? WHAT?”

Applejack smirked and swayed her tail. “Ya didn’t hear a single thing Ah said, did ya?”

“No! Of course I did!” Gallus said, obviously lying. “Uh…it was…something about not needing to be strong and, uh, instead believing in the…apple spirits?”

Gallus’s floundering gave Applejack a hearty chuckle. “Mighty bold of ya to try and lie to me, sugarcube,” she winked. “Maybe you need another honesty lesson…”

“C’mon, Professor Applejack, it’s been a long day!” Gallus said, starting to sweat bullets.

The tip of Applejack’s tail lightly grazed under Gallus’s chin. “It hasn’t even been a week yet an’ you’re already getting that distracted? Didn’t you want a special moment with me?”

“H-Hey, I thought we were on the same team!” Gallus protested.

“Heh, just trying to give you a bit of motivation.” Applejack stacked the barrels full of apples, bumping them up until they all balanced on her back. “C’mon, let’s bring these inside the barn, if you want that cider, ya still gotta help me make it.”

“Y-Yes ma’am…”

While soaring through the skies above Ponyville, Rainbow Dash was doing her usual skywatch over the ground to see if there was anything interesting going on.

Everything seemed pretty normal so far: Derpy was delivering mail to Starlight, Lyra was standing next to Bon Bon, Octavia, and Vinyl, while making VERY aggressive hoof motions that were making the musicians blush, Gallus was helping Applejack with the harvest as Big Mac napped on a nearby hill…

Something finally caught her eye that made her pump the air-brakes. Down below, Ocellus was just standing still, head slightly tilted back. Judging by the look on her face and her almost unblinking eyes, it didn’t seem like she was just basking in the sunlight.

Dash changed course, going into free fall before spreading her wings to slow down and land near the changeling. “Yo Ocellus!”

The sudden rush of air had Ocellus shaken up, snapping her out of her trance. “Gah! Oh! Uh, Professor Dash!”

“You looked pretty out of it, something on your mind?”

Ocellus sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck as she blushed. “Ahaha, it’s kinda embarrassing, but I was…thinking about Smolder.”

Rainbow Dash smirked with amusement. “Yeah? What about her?”

“I just…wish she was a part of the competition this year, that’s all.”

“Oh yeah, you two had that whole ‘rivalry’ thing going on, didn’t you?”

Ocellus nodded. “Mmhm, I didn’t get to join last year, but now she isn’t in this year, so we still won’t be able to pick up anything yet.”

“Ah yeah, this would’ve been the perfect time for you two to butt heads again.” Dash gave Ocellus a sympathetic pat on the back. “Though I probably would’ve taken you both on my team if I could. I mean, I don’t wanna give Smolder to Applejack’s team. You know how tough she is, am I right?”

With a bit of playful prodding from Dash, Ocellus giggled. “Yeah, I’m sure we’ll get a chance another year!”

“So what are your plans for when that happens?” Rainbow asked. “What are you two gonna put at stake?”

Ocellus pursed her lip. “I…don’t know yet. I figured that me and Smolder would figure things out once we got the chance.”

“Well, if this thing between me and Applejack works out, feel free to steal it for next time!” Dash suggested. “I’m sure you’d put together a pretty kickass team!”

Ocellus smiled, wondering who she’d pick to go up against Smolder. “Well, I don’t know if we wanna do a repeat right after. It’d just be nice to take this month on with her again.”

Rainbow Dash watched the little smile growing on Ocellus’s face and the subtle buzzing of her wings, then very bluntly asked. “So, are you two like...a thing?”

Ocellus froze in place. She considered herself close with Smolder, and they’ve definitely kissed and done things way further than that, but it’s not like they went on an actual date or anything. “Um…maybe?”

“I mean, if you two have been itching to get it on for a while, there must be something going on, right?”

“Okay, well, are you and Professor Applejack a ‘thing’, too?” Ocellus asked, less as a ‘gotcha’ towards Dash and more to try and get an answer for herself.

Rainbow Dash brushed on hoof against the other. “Iiiit’s complicated. We’ve scratched each others’ itches every now and again but we never made anything official. If something works out between her and someone else, I’m totally cool with it.”

Dash quickly shrugged it off. “And if we somehow end up together, doing sloppy makeouts in the barn, that’s fine with me, too.”

Sandbar was enjoying his day with Fluttershy, having a relaxing cup of tea and some snacks in her cottage.

“Mmm! This is great tea, Professor Fluttershy, thanks so much!”

“Thank you, Sandbar!” Fluttershy said with a warm smile. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

“Yeah,” Sandbar nodded as he took another sip from his teacup. “Ahhh, it’s like all my stress is just melting off my body! I feel totally relaxed now!”

Fluttershy put a hoof to her lip. “You’re that stressed out? Gallus isn’t teasing you too badly, is he?”

With Fluttershy, it was hard to tell if that was a joke or a legitimate concern she was having. “No, it’s not about him or anything. I’ve been feeling…worked up, you know?”

“Already?” There was a small grin creeping on Fluttershy’s face. “It hasn’t even been a week yet…”

Sandbar looked off to the side, his cheeks flashing pink for a brief moment. “Well, yesterday, Princess Celestia stopped by Ponyville-”

“Ah, okay.” Fluttershy immediately nodded in understanding.

Sandbar sheepishly scratched the back of his head. “I know it shouldn’t be such a big deal anymore but, then I started thinking about it, and I realized that I think now I’ve got one of the longest winstreaks and perfect records for No Clop.”

“Oh? Well, congratulations!” Fluttershy went through her mental catalog of participants, trying to remember when each of them had gotten eliminated from the game. Which may not have been the best decision because the more she remembered, the redder her cheeks got, and the stiffer her wings became. But he was right, Sandbar had both a high attendance count and a so-far perfect record to her knowledge.

Sandbar anxiously tapped his hooves against the floor. “Yeah, though it kinda feels like the pressure’s on, ya know?”

“To keep your perfect record alive as long as possible?”

“I mean, obviously I’d rather have never lost than never won, but sometimes it feels like there’s a target on my back now.” Sandbar cautiously looked over her shoulder. “This probably sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”

“No, I think it makes sense. I’m pretty sure Celestia felt a bit relieved when her streak was finally broken,” Fluttershy smiled. “Though having a longstanding perfect record certainly is something worth bragging about, especially given your friends, Sandbar.”

Sandbar chuckled. “Heh, I guess you don’t really brag to your friends about your record, huh, Professor?”

Fluttershy quizzically tilted her head. “No, why would I?”

Now it was Sandbar’s turn to be confused. “Don’t you also have a perfect record for No Clop?”

“Me?” Fluttershy giggled. “Oh no, I never had a perfect record. I lost in my very first year.”

That came as a shock to Sandbar. As far as he remembered, Fluttershy hadn’t lost once. “Wait, really?!”

“Mmhm. I only managed to make it a week, and then by day eight, I simply…lost control of myself.” It was embarrassing to relive the memory, but at the same time, it was almost nostalgic.

“Wow, what changed? Cause you’re like, unstoppable now!” Sandbar said, full of awe.

Embarrassed, Fluttershy gave Sandbar a dismissive wave of her hoof. “Oh, you act like I’m immune to being horny! I don’t really have a secret to why I’ve managed to make it. Though being able to live out a few of my desires has made it easier on me to make the days pass, I suppose.”

“Oooh, what about that one?” Yona pointed to a particularly long and veiny dildo.

“Oh yeah, that’s one of my favorites!” Pinkie lifted up the silicone mold and lovingly caressed it with her hoof before placing it in a cardboard box.

Yona looked at the box, noticing how it was stuffed with various sex toys already. “Does Professor think we have enough for orgy?”

“For the first round, maybe!” Pinkie giggled. She looked through what had been picked and all the other sex paraphernalia she and Yona hadn’t sorted through yet.

“What else missing?” Yona asked. “Yona see plenty of lube and vibrators!”

“Hmm, maybe we should get some BDSM gear…” Pinkie thought out loud. “Especially since we have Applejack, Trixie, Luna, Fluttershy, Tempest, and Gallus playing.”

Yona tilted her head in confusion. “What…BDSM mean?”

“BDSM stands for Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, and Sado-Masochism,” Pinkie started to explain. “It’s adding extra bits to spice up sexy time! Bondage to tie someone up and make them feel helpless, and taking roles as the top or bottom to have someone take control.”

“Oh! Like how Ocellus and Smolder compete to see who better? Or how Gallus wants Professor Applejack to step on him with hooves?”

“Exactly!” Pinkie nodded. “Ocellus and Smolder are trying to both be the ‘top’, and Gallus wants to be the ‘bottom’ for Applejack!”

“Okay, Yona understand. Yona not try bondage though. Yaks hard to tie down, yaks smash through rope,” she nodded solemnly, though her eyes quickly lit up with an idea. “Should Yona go ask Professor Applejack for rope?”

“Nah, she probably needs it for stuff later in the month. We might need some special rope for the occasion. Ooh, Rarity might know where I can get some! We’ll probably need whips and blindfolds and swings and cuffs, too!”

“Ooh, Yona like swinging! What else we pack?”

“Hmm, I think we can take a break on this for now, cause I gotta ask Rarity for a few favors,” Pinkie mused. “But do you wanna help me with something else, Yona?”

Yona nodded eagerly. “What Professor want Yona to do?”

“Welllll, since I have you here, I could use your opinion on something.”

Pinkie Pie reached up towards the ceiling, pulling down a projector screen that contained several pictures of all the current contestants of the month arranged in different groupings.

“What’s this?”

“Since Applejack and Rainbow Dash made the stakes ‘whoever’s team wins gets the first round’, I wanted to see if I could find the perfect arrangements for that first round, no matter who won, no matter who didn’t make it!” Pinkie rubbed a hoof on her chest with pride.

Yona saw a lot of notes and scribbles on the massive screen that it was starting to make her head spin just looking at it. “Wow, Professor Pinkie sound like Headmare Twilight now.”

Pinkie sheepishly giggled at the comparison. “Ehehehe…Well, you can just ignore the Applejack half and focus on the Rainbow Dash side. I think the answer’s pretty obvious, but if everyone on Rainbow Dash team made it, who would you want to do first, Yona?”

Pinkie expected a quick and easy “Sandbar” from Yona, but she noticed the yak was in deep contemplation.

Yona stared at the chart more intently. Sandbar was still the obvious choice, but she knew that her boyfriend had other special circumstantial reservations that made her want to consider her other options as well. After all, she and Sandbar could reasonably have sex on any other day of the year, this was a time to explore…

Author's Note

Everyone's planning in different ways.