Ev'rything inside her crashing and spinning, Applejack did the first thing that popped outta the mess that till just a minute ago had been her brain: she sat down, scootched into the straw covering the floor of the barn to hide her shameful hindquarters and winced as the stuff jabbed into the sensitive skin beneath her lacinia. How in Celestia's name could Fluttershy have a...a—??
Her pegasus friend was still lying on the unbaled hay, her eyes clenched and her ears tight against her head. "I'm really sorry, Applejack," she whimpered, and even though the penis jutting from between her hind legs weren't gigantic compared to Big Macintosh the times AJ had caught him peeing out in the orchard, well, anything sprouting outta Fluttershy's extra-girly body like that was way more than oughtta be there! And for no reason Applejack could figure, this unbelievable mix of stallion and mare just kept blasting roar after roar of lust through her, made her clamp her jaw against the whimper that wanted to creep outta her own throat.
She could run, she thought wildly, gallop clear to Manehattan, see if her Aunt and Uncle Orange would take her in again: anything to get away from the horrible, wonderful feelings coursing through her when she looked at—
"You see?" Fluttershy asked, dropping her hind leg, her eyes still closed, her cheeks burning like clouds at sunset. "I couldn't tell you 'cause you never would've believed me. I...I had to show you."
It took all Applejack's strength not to leap forward, part of her wanting to shove Fluttershy's leg out of the way so she could feast on the sight again, another part of her just wanting to smack Fluttershy as hard as she could, wanting to shriek and rage and kick the pegasus out of her barn, away from her farm, out of her life so that maybe AJ could deny that first part, the part that wanted to go on looking.
But then...then Fluttershy opened her eyes, brought her gaze up from the floor. And the gorgeous blue-green of those eyes, all full of trust, wavering and deep as the farm pond on a summer afternoon, Applejack felt herself teeter on the brink of 'em for half a second; then in she fell, the suddenly splintered parts of her brain agreeing that she would never be free of those eyes again for as long as she lived.
***
The silence went on and on, Fluttershy scarcely able to breathe. What if Applejack started screaming like Fluttershy's dad had? What if she ran into town and told all their friends that Fluttershy was a freak and a monster, and that made them all start screaming, too? What if—??
"How?" Applejack asked, her voice shivering, her eyes rimmed with white, her sweat salty with the one thing Fluttershy had never thought she'd scent there: fear. "Didja...I mean, when did it...where did it...?"
Fluttershy had to drop her gaze. "It was always in there, I guess," she told the hay on the floor in front of her and tried not to think about the lovely sensation of her penis squeezed between her legs. "But when I was supposed to open up so I could have my first...you know..."
"Menses," Applejack said, and she sounded so far away, Fluttershy couldn't help looking back to see if she'd run to the other side of the barn to get further away from her.
Applejack was still sitting in the exact same spot, though, solid and unmoving like she'd sprouted roots, and her face was so pale and drawn, Fluttershy wanted to leap up and try to comfort her. But that would be a really bad idea right then, she knew, so she just nodded. "My brother taught me the spell colts use to help keep their lacinias closed, and, well, that was pretty much the last time I ever talked about it—or anything else, for that matter—with my family. And you—" She stopped and swallowed. "You're the first pony other than them I've shown it to."
"And now you wanna show it to my big brother?" Applejack sounded every bit as doubtful, Fluttershy thought, as she would have if Fluttershy had mentioned that she was planning on flying to the moon.
Still, she wasn't running or screaming, and Fluttershy took heart from that. "I have to," she said through the tightness in her throat. "If, like you said, he really likes me, then he...he needs to know about this right away, don't you think? That way he can decide whether—" She didn't want to finish the thought, but turning away again, she did anyway: "Whether he likes the real me or not."
Another stretch of silence, Fluttershy focusing on the floor some more. Then: "You reckon you love him?" Applejack asked.
"Oh, yes." Fluttershy raised her head, met her friend's deep green eyes. "Yes, I very much do."
"Well, all right, then." Applejack nodded, her paleness almost gone, her smile very close to the one that always made Fluttershy feel better. "Gimme a day or two to ponder, and we'll see if'n I can't figure out a way."
And Fluttershy couldn't help it: happiness flooding her, she let her wings flare out, leaped into a hover, her front legs tucked against her chest, her back hoofs barely touching the floor. "Oh, thank you, Applejack! Thank you so—!"
Applejack had stopped breathing, her eyes wide and focused on the area between Fluttershy's hind legs, her lacinia still open, of course, and her penis—horrible, horrible word!—no longer erect but all too present.
Squeaking, Fluttershy folded herself to the floor again, embarrassment roaring through her and finally wilting her enough; she felt the flexing of the muscles along her flank as her lacinia drew closed, the skin sealing itself smooth and hiding those parts of her that should always stay hidden. "I'm sorry," she managed to say. "I know it's disgusting, but—"
"Don't say that!" Applejack's words hit her as hard as a slap, and ears folding, Fluttershy turned to stare at her friend, the cider-colored earth pony standing, her four hoofs spread and planted like she was about to charge into a fight, the look on her face so fierce, Fluttershy couldn't keep from cringing back.
A blink, and Applejack slammed herself to sit in the straw again, her own ears falling and a blush spreading over her from forehead to shoulders. "I...I mean, you gotta be positive, y'know? Not talk yourself down and all. That...well, that li'l wiggler you got there, it's a parta you, and you, you're—" Her expression softened in a way that Fluttershy didn't think she'd ever seen from Applejack. "You're a great pony and a real good friend, Fluttershy. And if'n you needs Mac to make you happy, then by root and by branch, I reckon I'm gonna make that happen."
For an instant, all Fluttershy could do was gape; then tears slurred her vision, and leaping forward, she threw her front legs around Applejack's neck, buried her face in the rich, damp-earth smell of her mane. "Oh, Applejack, thank you! I've been so afraid of this for so long, but you've made it all— Well, not OK, because, I mean, it's still there and I'm still a—" Stopping, sucking in a breath, making a resolution, she pushed away enough so she could look Applejack straight in the eye. "No! I...I'm going to be positive! It...it's just a little wiggler like you said! And that's not scary at all!"
Applejack was smiling, her eyes half-closed, almost dreamy, Fluttershy would've thought if it'd been any other pony. "Oh, sugar cube," she murmured, and Fluttershy felt the gentle stroke of a hoof through her mane just behind her ear.
Then a gasp, Applejack blinking, shaking her head, scooting back till Fluttershy had to let go her embrace. "Now," she said, everything about her all business the way it usually was, "you go on home, and I'll come fetch you when I've got ev'rything set up."
"Of course!" Once more, Fluttershy couldn't keep her hoofs on the ground, the joy bubbling through her carrying her aloft more than her wings, she thought with a giggle. "And thank you again so, so much, Applejack! I should've come to you about this a long time ago!"
Another strange expression pulled at Applejack's face, sort of happy and sad at the same time, Fluttershy thought. It was a lot better than anything Fluttershy had been expecting, though, and she gave Applejack as big a smile as she knew how to give. "You're the best friend a pony could ever have!"
Applejack's expression somehow got both happier and sadder. "Git along with you, then," she said with a wave of her hoof. "I'll stop by your place later and let'cha know."
Spinning in the air, Fluttershy sighted on the open doors of the hayloft above them and shot out into the clear blue of the spring morning.
***
With a steady stream of silent curses, Applejack stomped her boots up the road toward Ponyville, every rustle of her consarned Gala dress twitching her ears, every brush of the skirt against her rear fetlocks nearly making her jump like a snake was whisking past.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" an all-too-familiar voice called from above, and Applejack forced her teeth not to grind together, forced herself to keep stomping. Because of course—
Zipping so close to the tips of her ears that AJ could feel the backwash whip through her mane, Rainbow Dash wheeled in the afternoon above and landed with a solid thump right in the middle of the road ahead. "I'm seeing it," she said, that big ol' stupid grin plastered over her muzzle, "but there's no way I'm believing it!"
Without slowing, Applejack fixed her glare on Rainbow and kept marching. "There something I can help you with?"
"Me?" The innocence on the pegasus's face was as phony as a Nightmare Night mask. "Naw, I'm fine, thanks. Not like some ponies I could mention who maybe think there's some sorta ball going on in town or something."
Applejack pushed by her. "So happens I was cleaning out a few things, reckoned there weren't no use me cluttering my closet with this get-up, and figured I'd take it in to Rarity, see if'n she can't salvage it for parts." Which weren't exactly a lie: she'd been thinking about doing exactly that for a bushel of months now.
"Huh." The unmistakable sound of wings unfolding rustled behind her. "'Cause with anypony but you, AJ, it might just look like a dating situation going on."
A nose nudged the fabric along Applejack's flanks, and the shocks that rippled through the skin inside her still wide-open lacinia sent her leaping sideways. "Blast it all!" Squaring up all four legs, she swiveled her head around to shout at Rainbow. "You step it on back, and I mean right now! Or I'm gonna buck you so hard, you'll crash straight through into the middle of next week! You hear??"
The words came out two or three hundred times angrier than she'd meant, and Rainbow Dash took a genuine step back, her wings drooping and her eyes going wide. "Yeesh! It's somepony's time of the month!"
Blushing so hard she was surprised her hat didn't catch fire, Applejack looked away, heard Rainbow suck in a breath. "Oh, wow. Gee, I'm sorry, AJ. I...I didn't know."
Applejack gave a snort and nodded 'cause, well, that weren't no lie, either. "It'll pass afore nightfall. Always does." She managed to drag out a smile and point it toward her friend. "And don't you go telling me I should exercise my parts back there more so this stuff wouldn't hit me so hard, neither!"
"But it's true!" Hovering, Rainbow spread her front hoofs. "I mean, it works for me!"
"Well, I ain't you." Applejack started back up the road. "Sorry I snapped like that, but I'll see you later, OK?"
"OK." Another wash of a breeze, and Rainbow's voice drifted down over her. "You take it easy, now!"
Step followed step, her whole body as clenched as she could make it against the tickling of her hindquarters, the picture of Fluttershy's sweet curves and outrageous erection never leaving her thoughts. But worse than that—and how surprised she'd been to find there was something worse than that—the memory of Fluttershy hugging her, the perfect joy that had pounded through her at the sudden and completely transformed touch of her pegasus friend...and how that joy had crumpled and festered when Fluttershy had said she loved Big Macintosh. No! a crazy shrieking voice that Applejack knew was her own kept echoing around inside her skull. You're mine! Mine!
Step followed step, and thankful that no other ponies stopped her to chat, she focused on the spire of Rarity's place rising above the other roofs of town till she wound her way through the streets to the shop's doorstep.
The bell tinkled when she pushed inside, and Rarity at her workbench in the back of the showroom waved without looking away from the needle and thread wrapped in purple light in front of her. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique!" she called, the needle diving quickly up and down to stitch a white bow onto some sort of pink frou-frou or other. "Half a moment, and I'll be—!" She turned, those little glasses perched on her snout, and her smile seemed to freeze in place, confusion flooding her eyes, the needle clattering to the workbench in the sudden silence. "Applejack?" Rarity asked then. "And you're...dressed?"
Her blush crackling back, AJ almost turned and ran. But she knew she couldn't. "You maybe gotta minute, sugar cube?"
"Of course!" The glasses floated from Rarity's face, and she gave a tentative smile. "Are we throwing a party I don't know about?"
Looking at the floor, Applejack managed to mutter, "It's private."
More silence, and when Applejack let her gaze dart up, she saw Rarity trotting past her to the front door, the magic of her horn carrying a fancy-lettered Back in 1 hour sign. "Will the parlor be all right?"
"I reckon. And thanks, Rarity. I don't wanna cause no trouble, but I don't...don't—"
"Tut, tut." Rarity pinned the sign to the door, closed it, and came back across the room, a spring in her step that seemed just a little forced to Applejack's eye. "If you've walked all the way from Sweet Apple Acres in a ball gown, I'm guessing the matter must be a bit on the serious side." She gestured to a hallway, and Applejack followed her down it and into the tidy little sitting room. "Can I get you anything? Water? Juice? Tea?"
Applejack shook her head, unable to meet Rarity's eyes. "I need the spell for keeping a lacinia closed." Might as well get right to it.
Another stretch of silence, then: "I beg your pardon?" Rarity asked.
"The spell!" Applejack wanted to stomp the floor, kick in a wall, pump some of the pain from inside her to outside. But instead she swallowed, took a breath, started over. "We was both in Miss Organdy's class when she taught it to us, but I...I's never had no need of it till now, so I don't remember—"
"No need?" Rarity sounded so shocked, Applejack had to look up. "I mean, I know you've never dated, but surely you've had to use the spell whenever, well, whenever certain thoughts came into your head?"
"Thoughts??" This time, Applejack did stomp the floor. "All my life till today, I never had nothing but good, pure, natural love and friendship in my head! But now without no kinda warning at all, it's all..." She fought for the words, couldn't find them, ended up waving her front hoofs in the air and shouting, "Sex! Filthy and unnatural!"
Rarity's eyes had gone so wide, AJ half expected her eyelashes to pop off from the strain. "Darling! There's nothing unnatural about sexual attraction! It—"
"It ain't nothing but unnatural!" Her throat felt as splintery and rough as an unsanded plank. "Loving a pony and liking a pony, that's right and true and controllable! But this sex stuff, it's no more natural than a tree growing all by itself in a field or a storm that blasts in from the Everfree and don't lead to zap apples! It's useless and hurtful and I just wants to get myself all closed up again and...and forget all about it!"
Which was a lie, she realized as soon as the words butted their way clear of her teeth. The honest truth woulda been that all she wanted for the rest of her natural born days was to be touching Fluttershy all soft and hard and gentle and thrusting and—
"Applejack! Please!" More than a little panic rattled in Rarity's voice. "Let's just...let's slow down a moment! Are you saying you've fallen in love with—?"
"It ain't love!" The urge to shout it fought with the way she really wished she didn't hafta say it at all, so the words came out in a strangled sort of cough. "It's sex!"
"All right! All right!" Rarity held up her front hoofs. "I just want to understand! You're feeling...physically attracted to somepony, is that it?"
Something like a fire alarm bell went off in Applejack's head. "I ain't saying who, so don't go asking!"
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it!" Though Applejack could almost smell Rarity's desire to know. "But is it somepony local? Or—?"
"I mean it, Rarity! What I'm feeling ain't proper, and this other pony—" Applejack had to do some swallowing before she could go on. "This other pony ain't interested: I learned that today, too."
"Oh, darling..." A tappity-tap across the floor, and Applejack looked up to see Rarity right in front of her, her alabaster complexion even paler than usual.
"So, please." It took as much strength to keep talking, AJ felt, as she usually woulda spent bucking a dozen trees. "If'n you could kindly teach me the spell so I can close myself up the way I oughtta and gotta be, I...I'd be much obliged."
A hoof settled on her shoulder. "Of course, darling."