> From Behind Crimson Curtains
>  by Material Defender
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> Peace and Quiet
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	A/N: This is a MATURE fiction, and it also does contain the issue of rape. If this isn't your cup of tea, go back to whatever it is you were doing and spare yourself the scarring. Otherwise, read on.




Linen Spool awoke from his bed with a frightful shout. He clutched his chest, huffing to catch his breath, and suddenly aware of the ludicrous amount of sweat that poured from his body. Running a shaky hoof through his mane, he got out of bed and steadied himself, looking into his own reflection in his dresser's mirror.

What he was staring at was a sleep-deprived mess of a unicorn stallion... if he could even be considered one at his age. His wavy short mane just barely covered his eyes, giving the impression that he was unkempt almost all the time, even though it was his natural hair style. He huffed upwards and cleared the eyesight for his right eye, glad to see that he was only bad, but not worse.

It was still early in the morning. Glancing at the clock, he'd noticed that he had only gotten less than a few hours of sleep, and he was too awake now from his dreams to bother going back. It didn't matter, anyway; it would only result in more nightmares. His bed seemed to be the last place for him to get a good night's sleep these days.

He walked downstairs and into his work room, the table still lined with his scissors, needles, and spools from the day before. Using his magic, he quickly sorted them all out into a neat and arranged pile, categorized according to use. A tired smile stretched across his lips as he took his seat at the table, putting his head down to rest. His workstation always put him at calm and peace, and it wasn't long until he had drifted off to the joyful lift of slumber.




It had been over four months ago when Linen had arrived in Ponyville. The day was bright and clear, and Linen himself had already suffered enough social anxiety just trying to arrive here from Canterlot. It didn't help that his parents were constantly on his case, trying to push him out of his own home to meet other ponies... and mares.

Linen suffered from social anxiety, and the worst kind at that: talking to anypony would immediately put him on edge, and if left unattended, he eventually suffered a nervous breakdown. That had happened more times than Linen would have liked to admit... if there was even anypony he could admit it to. His contact list wasn't exactly brimming with entries.

He'd only just settled into his own home in the early morn when he decided to locate his venue of employment: Quills and Sofas, under the ownership of one Davenport. He'd met the stallion several times before, and though Linen's anxiety had still held its effect then, he managed to bear through their conversations enough for him to offer him a job at his shop, as an upholstery mender. Apparently, Ponyville seemed to have a lot of torn upholstery, what with the town's normal antics, so he figured his talents would be worthwhile there.

So it was agreed upon that Linen would start working one week after he began to move in, but for the sake of expediency - and to rid himself of the annoying social airs that permeated Canterlot like a plague - he decided to go early, and perhaps become acquainted with the town to better his adaptation from city life to town life.

Unfortunately, he picked the worst time to move: it was mating season in Ponyville.

He didn't realize it at the time, but Davenport, along with every single stallion in Ponyville, had skipped town to avoid the rush of hormone-induced fervor that gripped the town around this time of year. To say that mares went wild would be putting it lightly, and with no stallion in town, they went mad trying to pleasure themselves... a process that took a week at best without the intervention of the opposite sex.

Except there was a stallion in town, and the minute they all heard about it, they bore down upon him like a thousand arrows blot out the sun.

Poor Linen Spool had been examining the local architecture, namely the stores, when he happened upon the first mare. She was a unicorn, much like himself, and had blue fur with a two-toned white-and-blue mane. Linen immediately grew nervous upon seeing her, and even more nervous when she approached him.

"Hey, there..." she said huskily. "I'm Colgate... what's your name?"

"I... uh, I'm... Linen... Spool..." he said. It would be better to say that it barely came out as a squeak, and he slowly began to back away. Colgate wouldn't have it, however, and advanced towards him, canceling out his retreat. His body locked up and his mind flipped into a state of panic, unsure of what to do in this situation.

"Aw... you're a shy one, aren't you?" she said, walking around him. He felt her tail suggestively swish at his flank, and it was with that revelation that Linen realized that he had arrived in Ponyville at the worst time possible. She leaned in next to his head, as he felt a cold bead of sweat go down the side of his face. "It's okay... I think shy ones are just... absolutely... adorable."

He began to feel his legs quaver as she gently nuzzled him up and down his neck, her mouth revealing sweet gasps as she basked in the touch. "Uh... m-miss, I d-don't t-think you should be d-doing that..." Linen said.

"Oh, why not?" she said lustily. "You know, if you have such a problem with it... you can just punish me for being such a bad, bad filly... in any - way - you - want," she continued, kissing him slowly up his neck as she closed her sentence.

His brain reached critical levels as he immediately shifted towards his first and immediate reaction towards any situation that sent him over the edge. It was a sure-fire, one-hundred percent proven method to always work in any case where he needed an immediate exit from crippling social anxiety and the unwanted consequences surrounding them.

He ran. He ran like there was going to be no tomorrow.

Colgate gave a shout of disapproval as it became plainly obvious to him that there were no stallions in town. He was on his own, so this was going to be quite the bind to get out of. As he rounded around each street corner, the number of mares chasing after him grew. It wouldn't be long until he became exhausted despite his adrenaline, and he would be at the mercy of dozens of horny mares.

"Come back here, you cute stud! We want to rut you!" he heard one of them shout. His mind was frazzled: he was sure that any other stallion would have taken that as a compliment, but simply being forced to deal with other ponies in conversation, even if it contained nothing but praise, registered but one thing in his mind: BAD. It was a wonder that his legs even still worked with the quaking that his body was going through.

As he ran down the street, he noticed a park with an adjoining bathroom nearby. So there was another option... he clenched his eyes shut as he focused his magic, hoping dearly that it would work. A magical field instantly appeared around him, and then he disappeared with a flash, leaving a group of disappointed mares to whine and search for him.

Linen opened his eyes, taking a huge gasp of breath. It had taken him ages to perfect that teleport spell, and this was the first time he'd ever used it. He was glad that it worked when it did. Looking around to make sure there weren't any other ponies - well, this was the stallion's room in the bathroom, so there were none - he turned on the sink and washed his face off, barely able to decently grasp the handle.

"Th--that..." he gasped. "...was... was absolutely... terrifying..."

"Heehee, yeah, I know, right?! Who knows what would have happened if they caught you!" His eyes widened in horror as he turned around to find a pink mare aiming a cannon at him.

It was the last thing he remembered before he went unconscious.




Linen opened his eyes, his heart beating in his ears. He shook his head, trying to clear himself of the dream-induced nausea, attempting to recall the location of the clock in his work room to orient him. It was nearly morning now... and that meant that he'd gotten at least an hour of sleep. It would have to do for today.

He strolled into the kitchen, pulling out a sandwich he'd made less than eight hours ago, taking in sustenance for his weary body. Lunch would have to be skipped today: he'd probably ask Davenport to pick something up for him when he came to take the register, and he would have time alone in the back room working on repairs.

With a lift of his magic, he quickly pulled all his work materials into his saddlebag, ready to work for the day. His tasks were the only reprieve he had from the chaos of the world around him: he could focus intensely on nothing but the needle and the cloth before him, weaving in and out between the fabric and deftly closing it with a number of quick threads. Even when he was tired, working relaxed him.

The newspaper on his doorstep was unceremoniously kicked inside his home as he closed and locked the door. The morning held a sky of a most majestic orange-blue hue, a beautiful sight that greeted his way to work every morning. He'd taken a slice of toast for today's breakfast, a meager fare that would serve as his only nourishment until the mid-morning.

A swift breeze trailed through his unkempt mane, a reminder to him that perhaps sleepless nights were beginning to take its toll on him. He had forgotten to shower the night before... and he considered seeing a therapist, but even the mere thought of interaction already made him queasy. It was a barrier, a very large one, and one that he was loathe to overcome.

And then there was the dream... it kept replaying in his mind night after night, an endless torment that never ceased its picking apart of his own psyche. At times, it would just be parts, but other times, the whole event would play out, leaving him a mess when he woke up. He didn't know how to rid himself of it, and had been having sleepless nights since then.

Linen walked up to the door of Quills and Sofas, bringing out a small key to unlock the front door. The sign within was switched from 'Closed' to 'Open', and he took up his place behind the front register, ready to attend to the beginning day's needs. He double-checked the register as per store protocol to ensure all contents within were intact, and then brought out his needle and spool.

He never inquired as to how the item had been damaged, only giving a glance at it and then estimating the total time it would take to restore it to a pristine state. Some of them had been returned even newer-than-new, as Linen had a knack for creating his own style of fabrics that were similar to the common-used ones, but held a quality far higher than one would find on the market. Sales of those fabrics had made him a tidy sum back in Canterlot, and were what allowed him to move to Ponyville despite having no job.

Levitating the small office chair to him, he quickly analyzed the damage and began to work. The cloth on the rims had been stretched horrifically, indicating that some water damage must have been present. Minor scorch marks present on the sides indicated that it must have been dried with amateur means... but nonetheless, it was an easy repair to make.

Using measuring tape, he recorded the specifications of the chair's cloth cover components, and set to work on making a replacement for it. He levitated a roll of cloth out from the shelf behind him, one of dozens, but this one conforming best to the color and texture of the chair's seat. A length was stretched and cleanly cut with a run through the scissors, and then he was sketching out the parts to put together.

The process had taken but a moment, Linen's expertise in cloth-making unmatched by anypony - though, that was really ironic considering that he had nopony else to compare himself against. He cut out the pieces, stitching in the buttons and extra flair that matched the rather posh chair. When all was in place, he began his final run: the construction of the cover itself.

He removed the old chair cover with a sharp cut from his knife and tossed it into the trash. This particular item had a cover that was sewn over the original seat instead of acting as a detachable cover that could be more easily replaced. Linen paid it no mind; he preferred it this way since he could simply wrap and mend the whole piece together. His magic flared to life and the needle weaved through the cloth at lightning speeds; to a passerby, they would see Linen putting together a masterpiece from scratch and then putting it all together in a span of less than half a minute.

Carefully setting down the item, he placed it aside. Davenport had arranged for pickup this afternoon, and Linen hoped that the customer would be satisfied with his work.

"Wow, that was amazing work!" Linen gasped and looked up to see a mare leaning over the counter, looking at the office chair. "Are you new here, you--" She stopped and her face darkened. "Oh... I... I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was... I'll... I'll just be going now, sorry for bothering you." Her gaze drifted to the floor and she quickly left the store.

Linen sat back, his mind reeling from the instant surge of nausea in his body. He was thankful that the conversation had only lasted as long as it did, but the mare did seem familiar... he hadn't even noticed her walking in through the door, and it was equipped with a bell that rang every time somepony opened the door.

And then he remembered who the mare was.

She was Colgate.




"Out of my way, everypony! I saw him first, so I get first dibs!" Colgate said, laughing hysterically. "Oh, you and me, we're going to have so - much - fun."

"Mmm! Mmph mmrrrmm mmmmrr?!" Linen murmured from behind his cloth mouthwrap. His eyes shot around the room, noting all the mares who stood around him, staring at him with hungry eyes. He looked up and noticed the wide-arched ceiling and multi-tiered floors of the building he was in. Judging by the height, it was none other than the Ponyville Town Hall.

"Oh, you're right... don't worry, I won't take too long. You have to pleasure all the other mares here, too, after all..."

"MMMRRMMM?!" He fervently shook his head, pulling at his restraints, until Colgate stepped forward and scared him into stopping.

"It's alright, sugarcube..." an orange earth pony from his left said. "We just gotta get our kicks off, and then you'll be free to go, okay? We - er, I promise... not sure about the other mares here."

"MMRM?!" He shook his head again. Not like this! He didn't want it to be like this! He was going to get all these mares pregnant against his own will?! "MMMRM! MMMMMMMMRM! MREH MMRE MRUHHH!" Failure was ostensibly clear, but he endeavored to try to appeal to their senses anyway... for what good it would do for him.

Colgate levitated him and lay him on the floor on his back, straddling him and nuzzling his neck. "It's okay, I'll take really good care of you. I just love the shy types."

Another mare, which Linen couldn't see, stepped forth with the sound of her hooves clopping.

"Ready, Colgate?" she asked.

"Just do it already, damnit!"

He felt a warm sensation in his lower regions, and then - oh, Celestia, no! A gasp of shock reverberated through his wrapped lips as the mare slowly began to take his stallionhood into her mouth. The feeling cascaded up and down his length, bringing it to attention as Colgate kissed his neck, giving soft and arousing sighs so close to his ears. As much as he fought against it, he couldn't deter his body's urges from taking over.

"Mmrm! Mrrm!" he repeated, shaking his head madly, tears streaming out of his eyes. His member was being pleasured while his body simultaneously exploding into panic, shaking with a violent force. He looked into Colgate's eyes, pleading to her for salvation with a quiet whimper.

"It's okay..." she whispered. "Don't fight back... just... enjoy it..." With that, the mare below quickly stepped back, and Colgate lowered herself onto his spear. "Ah... AHH!"

Linen had closed his eyes, his breathing erratic and strained, as Colgate straddled him. He fought to control himself and his body, but it was an exercise in futility as he could only delay the inevitable.

"Wow..." Colgate said, staring down at him with her sapphire eyes. "You're... not half-bad... you know? AHH!" She threw her head back, moaning with such lust-driven force. Many of the mares around them had taken to pleasuring themselves - and each other, depending on the couple - as they watched the scene unfold before them.

"Ah... ah... AH!" Colgate's thrusts into him quickened as she came closer to climax. Linen's body responded in kind, his erect member sending jolts of pleasure and ecstasy through his head. He felt himself coming to a peak, and tightened himself as Colgate synchronized with him, shooting his seed into her with powerful spurts.

She lay on his shoulder, taking slow controlled breaths, and sliding off of his spear with a sloppy wet noise. Her smile indicated that she'd been satisfied... for the time being, at least.

Linen, however, did not share her contentedness. He took in air through his nose, body still reeling in shock from his anxiety and aftermath of the intercourse. He had just impregnated a mare... there was no way he would ever be able to live this down. He felt ashamed and terrified of himself, wanting desperately to be somewhere else, anywhere other than where he was right now.

There was the teleport spell, but he couldn't use it. It required a line of sight to a location and at least a respectable knowledge of where one would end up. The only thing his vision entailed was the ceiling of the Town Hall and a circle of mares around him. He had nowhere to go.

"Ooooh! Me, me! I'm next!" The same pink mare that had captured him stepped forth and hopped over him, staring down into his eyes. "Hey, there! Sorry I'm so hyper, but it's mating season, and mares are always funny like that, and I took the liberty of giving all the mares contraceptives so we won't end up getting preggers with foals, since that's really, really bad, and nopony wants to end up having a bad time, so I decided to bake them into my cupcakes and gave them to all the mares--"

"Pinkie! Just get on with it!" another mare shouted. "We all want to buck him, you know!"

"Okey dokie lokie! Oh, I almost forgot!" She quickly undid Linen's mouthwrap as he gasped for air.

"N-no, w-wait, p-puh-please stop! I-I don't want to--!" he managed until Pinkie stuck a cupcake into his mouth.

"Chew, chew, and swallow! Okay!" She re-tied the mouthwrap in the blink of an eye. "We're going to have so - much - fun - together!" she said, her face inching closer and closer to him, her eyes filled with the flames of lust. "That cupcake is loaded with all the stuff that can keep a stallion going all night long!"

So this was it. His introduction to Ponyville's denizens was to buck every single mare in town. Just how many stallions were living here? Just how many would visit his grave when this was all over? Pinkie began to slide her marehood against his half-flaccid penis, bringing it back to attention as she began to take her turn with him...




Linen finished the final stitch on the red-colored office couch's velvety cloth. It had been torn in several places and he had to restitch over the damage, though he believed he did a rather good job in making the tears more transparent when he repaired it.

He looked at the clock: it was nearing ten in the morning. That meant that Davenport would be arriving soon, and he could retire to the back room to work in peace. It was fortunate that not many customers ever came in during the morning; at the beginning, he'd merely assumed that the mares knew where he worked, but he quickly discarded the idea when he realized that almost nopony woke as early as he did. Perhaps they never had much reason to visit the store until they had free time later in the day.

Colgate's visit had merely been coincidence, then... after the 'event' months ago, nopony dared mentioned it at all. When he looked out the windows, the strangely mare-dominant town seemed to go about their daily business as if nothing ever happened... perhaps they merely thought he was passing through town? Maybe it was better that way: thinking about it made him nervous, and he'd realized a month or so in that he had subconsciously become terrified of mares... and cupcakes.

The sound of bells ringing greeted his ears, and Davenport appeared before him. The owner of Quills and Sofas dropped his bag behind the counter, readying himself for the day.

"Good morning, Linen. How have you been?" He pulled out several files and put them on the desk. Most certainly manifests for new quill shipments that would arrive later this week.

"I... uh, I've been well... sir..." Linen meekly responded.

"That's good to hear. You can head on back now." He took a look at the office chair that Linen had fixed earlier that morning. "Excellent work! I... uh, what was the damage on this one again?"

"Water and fire damage, sir."

"Very impressive. You managed to make a new cover for it, and you replicated the entire intricate design from scratch! And in the span of a morning, no less! You should be proud of yourself, Linen."

"Uh... t-thank you, sir..."

"Don't be so modest, you deserve every bit of praise you get. Anyway, I know you still have... problems... speaking to other ponies, so perhaps you could work the front desk for a while longer and maybe tend to some of the regulars? I have to head into the back office for a moment and check on the special commissions I've gotten."

"Oh, uh... of course, sir, no problem."

"Thanks." Davenport disappeared as Linen sat alone. He had nothing much to do until he relocated to the back room since that's where most of his repairs took place, as well as acting as a storage location for the rest of the repair orders. Since he was always in the back room, he'd never met any of Davenport's regulars before; he just hoped that they weren't inclined to visit today, or at least when he was still working the desk.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. Another ring of the bell told Linen that a customer had entered. The top of the pony's head could be seen as it walked down the line of shelves leading to the main showroom where the sofas stayed. There was a horn on top of the pony's head... unsurprisingly, it seemed that unicorns frequented this store often.

The pony, now revealed to be a lavender-colored mare, bounded around the corner. "Hello, Davenport, do you--" She stopped when she saw Linen staffing the front desk. "Oh... uh... hello... I - I didn't know you worked here," she laughed, looking away awkwardly, having been part of the group of mares who had their way with him. "Is... is Davenport here?"

Linen made no attempt at eye contact, staring down at the polished wood of the counter. "He... h-he's in his office right... now... he'll... uh, he'll be back in a moment," he whispered.

An ensuing game of blundering silence carried on for several minutes.

"So... uh... when did you start working here?" she asked.

"Uh... just... just a few months ago... when I first... moved... here..."

"Oh..." she giggled shakily. "Th - that's... great. Do you just... work the desk...?"

"No... I work as an upholstery mender..."

"Oh! So you were the one who fixed my floor cushions last week! You did a fantastic job with those."

Linen felt himself blush. "Th--thank you..."

"Okay, now I have that sorted out," Davenport said, exiting his office. "Okay, Linen, I'll take over from here and - oh! Miss Sparkle! Yes, yes, your special quill, made to order straight from Canterlot." He turned around and looked at the shelf. "Now where did I leave that confounded box...? Ah! Here it is!" He pulled out a small rectangular box, and placed it on the counter. "Here you go, Miss Sparkle, right on time."

"Thank you, Davenport," she said, smiling as she used her magic to levitate the box into her saddlebags. "I'll be sure to keep you in mind if I need any more quills... or sofas! Have a nice day!" She gave a kind nod and hurried out the door.

"Well... she certainly seems busy today..." Davenport noted. "It's alright now, Linen, I'll take over from here. I trust the conversation with her wasn't too awkward?"

"It... it was... okay..."

"Alright, then. There's not a lot of repair orders to be done today, so feel free to leave whenever you finish." He turned his attention back to the files on his desk, the sound of a quill scratching against parchment fading through the air as Linen retired to his workplace sanctum.

He had never told Davenport of the events that transpired when he first moved to Ponyville. All Davenport knew was that Linen had settled in and showed up to work on time for his first shift that day. He noticed several other stallions around town, though they were never in numbers comparable to mares. They returned around the same time Davenport did; apparently, they were all working together to avoid capture. He couldn't fault Davenport for not knowing when he'd actually move in.

He gave a quick huff as he blew the dust off his workstation. There was a number of furniture to be repaired, as well as new curtain orders that needed to be answered, so he began his day's work in earnest. He pulled out half a dozen rolls of cloth and several spools, drawing out shapes and snipping out lengths with his scissors, the sun reflecting off the floor through the window just to his right.




The early evening when Linen finished his work. A good chunk of Quills and Sofas' income came from Linen's exceptional ability to mend almost anything with cloth, and Davenport was hugely thankful for that. This batch of orders would hold them through another week, or at least until more repair orders came in.

He walked out of the back room, saddlebags loaded with his work materials. "Uh... Davenport, I'm... finished."

Davenport wheeled around in the front chair. "Oh? Fantastic. I'll notify all of the recipients to come in tomorrow and pick them up. You can head on home now. Ah, and for today's work..." Davenport tossed him a hefty bag of bits, which LInen caught and tenderly stored in his bags. "...you do great work. I can't believe nopony in Canterlot knew who you were; you're criminally under-appreciated."

"Uh... thank you, sir," Linen said, always the embarrassed one when he received compliments.

"You're a good kid, Linen..." Davenport said, before giving a sigh. "Listen... you look like a mess right now. Take the rest of the week off."

"Huh? B-but, sir, I can--"

"No arguments," Davenport interrupted, holding up a hoof. "You look like a complete mess, and I think your anxiety is starting to disorganize you again. Take the rest of the week off and rest up. You can come back at the beginning of next week. Okay?"

"I..." Linen found no argument, and lowered his head. The sudden awareness of fatigue produced a dull and dead feeling in his chest. "Yes, sir."

"Don't beat yourself up over this, Linen. You're a good kid, and I'm glad to have you here. But I want to look out for you, too, as both your boss and your friend. Did something happen recently?"

"W-well... not... recently... but I've been having nightmares... and I don't get much sleep anymore."

"Hmm... well..." Davenport said, fiddling around in his chair and thinking. "...have you considered speaking to a therapist? I'm just hazarding a guess, of course, not really saying that you have to do it... You might get some results, but I'm worried that since you already have enough trouble just trying to talk to ponies, it's going to be even worse if you're trying to talk to them about something important and personal."

"I think I can do without, sir... I'll just try to get some sleep."

"Okay, then, just throwing that idea out there. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"I will, sir. Good evening," Linen concluded, exiting the store as his eyes were greeted with the orange-red rays of the lowering sun. There was a light breeze on the wind, cool but with a comforting warmth unlike the morning. It was probably the first time he'd been able to leave the store early after finishing his work.

That, however, meant that ponies were still out and about, either retiring to their homes or visiting places for a night out on the town. And, unfortunately, a good majority of them happened to be mares.

He passed by several groups, pairs, and lone mares, all happily oblivious to his existence and too busy enjoying their own time to pay attention to the shy stallion. Slightly lowering his head as he walked and keeping his gaze transfixed to the ground in front of him was a minor relief in trying to avoid eye contact, but there were the obvious red flags: whispering, close proximity, laughing, and a variety of other things in a social situation made him hold his breath and induced either paralysis or instability in his legs.

It felt like an eternity before he was able to reach home. He was sure that during his journey back to the safety of his front door, he must have been seen by at least several dozen ponies, if not more. Next time would be different: he would just stay at work until nighttime and then retire home under the cover of darkness like normal.

As he fished through his bags for his house key, he noticed something odd that gave him pause. On his doorstep sat a single pink-wrapped box with a note attached to it... one of many that he had been receiving since he moved into Ponyville. Who was sending this to him? Why were they even doing it? He'd never properly introduced himself to anypony in town save for Davenport, so who could be leaving these boxes on the step with him? Did they want to... talk with him?

The thought immediately tightened his chest. No, he would not touch the box, nor the note. He would leave it at his doorstep like so many times before, and it would be gone by next morning, like so many times before. The contents of the note would be better left unknown to his precious psyche; he dared not find out what sort of comments would be waiting for him within, whether it be praise or... worse.

Home was a reprieve from the world outside to Linen, his safe haven, where none could do him harm. In here, he could work to his heart's content and never have to worry about ending up somewhere he didn't want to be, where he had no choice but to face the music and succumb to his fears of being surrounded by ponies. It was quiet, it was isolated, it was... home, and he felt so weary, but glad, that there still existed a place in this world where he could be himself.

Normally, he would have gone straight to business in his work room, but today had involved interaction, and that left him physically and mentally drained. Tossing his bag by the door and setting the lock with a mindless wave of his hoof, he stumbled his way upstairs and collapsed on his bed. His eyelids began to close as the sun from the window flushed in through the window, painting his bedroom floor with such a soothing orange glow. He smiled to himself before he slept, thinking of how perfect the match was with his velvet curtains.
> Apologies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Linen whimpered as he managed to get out into the cool breeze of the night. True to her word, the pink mare's promises on how her specially-made baked good would be able to keep a stallion going had been fulfilled, even as he exited the Town Hall. His loins still throbbed, his own member still ready to jump to attention at the sight of another mare. He hated it.

Walking through the dead night of town, he immediately made for his home, stopping to rest at times when as his blood raged through his own body. He fought to keep down his urges, to stop him from going into the nearest set of bushes and relieve himself. Celestia - no, he shouldn't think of any mares, not even the Princess - knew that any still unattended would immediately jump him if they were to hear himself let loose unreservedly.

The night still echoed with the moans of those that had not been attended to by his own self. Such a noise immediately stirred his lower parts, and he mentally cursed, cried, and lamented over how things had turned out. He would most likely be jailed or thrown out of town in short order when they returned to sanity. The fact that he couldn't free himself from the grasp of dozens of mares gave him the feeling of inadequacy... any other stallion would surely have escaped, but not him.

He stalked his way down the street where his home sat on, taking cover behind lampposts and building corners. If he had truly satisfied as many mares as he thought he did, then perhaps the chance of meeting one in the street was minimal, but he wasn't about to risk it. He double-checked his bags, having grabbed them in his hurried escape from the room full of sleeping mares, and was relieved to find his keys still within, not stolen or lost.

Using his magic, his face glowed faintly with a yellow color, as he levitated the keys to the lock.

"Come on... come on..." He fumbled around several times and managed to get the key into the lock.

"Hey, there, you stud." His mane stood up on end, as he slowly turned to meet whoever had trailed him back home.

"Um... uh, h-hello, Miss... Colgate..." he whispered.

"I woke up and I was wondering where you went," she said, nuzzling him and eliciting a sharp gasp. "You didn't really think we were done, were you?"

"I... Miss C-Colgate... I have to ask that you please stop what you're doing..."

"Aww, you're so cute when you're trying to be nice..." She raised her muzzle slightly, putting her lips right next to his ear, feeling the heat radiating off of his nervous body. "I... love... the shy ones."

"P-please, just... just think about what you're d-doing... I - I don't want any trouble, a-and I've already d-done enough t-today... please... just please let me go."

"When you talk like that, it only makes me hornier, you know..." she said, giggling. "How about... I take you back to my place... and we can talk it over there?"

"I... I have to refuse, Miss Colgate!" In his single act of bravado for the entire night, he pushed her back with a firm grip from his hoof. "You're... you're not yourself right now. Please, j-just go home and rest."

"You're being so nice, even after everything the mares have done to you... I love it..." She kissed him on the cheek. "We're so lucky that you came to town today... I don't know what it would have been like if you hadn't shown up to... relieve all of us."

"Then... c-could you please return the f-favor, and l-leave me alone... um... forever, p-preferably?"

"Aww..." she cooed understandingly. "I understand what you're going through... my poor, sweet, kind Linen... you feel like you're too inadequate for us mares and you're trying to put yourself out of the market, right?"

"I... that's not..." He paused; her words did hold some semblance of truth.

"See, I'm right, aren't I?" she said, pulling her face away and looking into his eyes. Suddenly, she levitated him into the air with magic. "Don't put yourself down, Linen... you're a very good lover. Now let's head back to my place and we can have all the fun we want..."

"O-okay..." Linen managed to squeak out, and silently cried to himself. He was too scared to say otherwise.




Linen's eyes shot open in a scene that had unfolded many times before. Groaning, he sat up in his bed, and took a deep sigh. Even when fatigue took him to sleep, the dreams still showed up, but this one had been... surprisingly pleasant, despite the completely negative feeling he had drawn from it. He pondered about wondering why, but like anyone in the morning, he was just too sleepy to care.

He pulled himself out of bed and went through his daily morning routine. Looking at the clock, it was several hours past his normal waking time, and just about to hit mid-morning. His face and mane looked as unkempt as ever, and he decided that a shower would do him some good, if not to clear his mind with the pleasing sound of running water.

The hot water poured down his face and body frame, cleansing every inch with soothing water. He liked taking his time in the shower to think... and that dream he just had left him with a lot of questions, most of which pertained to himself. That sickening and dreaded feeling he had from all the other times he'd seen that dream sequence was still there, but why was it less now? Why were things different this time around? What caused that change, and what factors were involved?

Thinking about it led nowhere, and only frustrated him as it meant that he had to replay the events in his head, something less than enjoyable for Linen. He quickly stopped the shower and stepped out, only to hear the faint sound of banging on wood.

"Hey! Linen! Are you in there?! You're still alive, aren't you?! Please say something!" he heard Davenport shout from his window. Another round of hard knocking on his door commenced.

Linen quickly dried himself off and ran downstairs, opening the door with neutral face. "Good morning, Davenport."

"Oh, thank goodness. I thought you'd gone and... well, let's not talk about that." Davenport pulled out a bag with a plethora of foodstuffs. "Here, take this. Even though you might be off, I can't forget about your food, can I?"

"Uh..." Linen said, levitating it into his home. He gently placed it behind him against the wall. "...thank you, for everything."

"No need to thank me, Linen," Davenport said. Linen's gaze drifted to a pair of mares passing by his house, and momentarily forgot about the conversation as he watched them converse between themselves. Yes, he recognized... they were there during the 'incident'... just like every single other mare he'd seen in town.

This time was different, however: both mares, lost in their conversation, turned their heads and met Linen's gaze. They definitely seemed to know who he was, as they immediately went wide-eyed and turned away from him, blushing and quickly whispering to each other about things he could only imagine.

"...uh, Linen? Are you okay?" Davenport waved a hoof in front of his face.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine..."

Davenport sighed. "You're still out of it. Please consider seeing a therapist... I don't mean to step on your tail by saying this, but I won't be around forever. You're going to have to learn how to do all these things yourself some day, and I don't want you to end up in a bad place by not being able to do so."

"I... I might consider it... just... I don't really feel like doing it... right now..."

"Alright, then. Stay safe, Linen, and be careful. I'll see you next week, okay?"

"Of course, sir."

"You're not on the clock, you don't have to be so formal... just Davenport will do fine."

"Of course... Davenport."

Davenport smiled. "There we go. Take little steps at a time. See you, Linen!" He had only just turned around when he heard the door slam shut behind him. "Well, it was a little bit too much to hope he'd go for a walk..."




Another hour passed by uneventfully. Around when the long hand struck a quarter past eleven, Linen realized that he had completely forgotten that he had a mailbox, and carefully ventured out when nopony was around to watch him and quickly brought his day's mail inside. Within were standard fare: some advertisements, his monthly subscription to Thread and Needle Monthly, and, of course, mail from his parents in Canterlot.

He opened his parents' letter, reading off the contents as he sat down at his kitchen table to enjoy an early lunch for the day. It touched off on their repeated concerns for his mental well-being, but soon shifted into asking how he was settling into life in Ponyville. Again, there was the question of finding a mare...

Linen sighed. "Really, is it always the same thing every time...?" They had expressed their desire for him to start a family multiple times, as both a way to bring him out of his shell and to... well, get married. He had no intentions of doing so, however, and figured that he wouldn't make a good spouse, nor a good coltfriend. The anxiety practically reeled off of him in any situation, and any mare willing to put up with that would simply be better off with a stallion who could actually care for her.

At least, that's what he thought. His thoughts of mental self-kicking were ejected from his mind as he made his way to his work room. He walked over to the desk and took a look at his brainstorming paper. Oh, yes, that was correct: he was set to make new things today. It pleased him to know that he was at least still producing his own creations; he didn't know what he would do otherwise.

Reaching below the table, he reached around for several heavy rolls of thread, ones that he crafted on his own spindle. He unfurled a length and checked the material: yes, this would do. Humming to himself, he looked around his shelf for where he'd left his previous batch of pre-cut cloth.

What would he make today? He had always stuck to his standard fare and could weave a variety of basic home necessities like towels, curtains, blankets, pillows, and other things, but he'd become too proficient at it. Perhaps a change of pace with something new could work... like... clothing. He could get a two-for-one by getting experience with making clothing and giving himself a chance to look dapper at the same time.

Except for the part where he'd probably never wear such extravagant clothing outside of his own home... still, it was worth a try anyway. Maybe if Davenport ever needed an extra suit or a dozen, he could make something for him, or any other stallion in town... if he knew any. He'd seen a few, but only a glance from distance, usually on his way back home from work.

"Gah... my needles, where did I leave them...?" He searched his tabletop; he was sure that he'd only left them there yesterday...

There was a knock on the door. Linen immediately responded by stopping his search and froze mid-turn, his gaze glued to the hall beyond the doorway. Another set of knocks continued... it definitely wasn't Davenport. Linen had told Davenport to always announce his arrival, as embarrassing as they seemed, but it did well in letting Linen know who was a wanted guest and who wasn't.

He held his breath, hoping that whoever it was would leave after receiving no response. Eventually, he worked up the nerve to investigate the door.

Parting the red curtains on his front door only slightly, he gazed outside to the real world, and breathed a sigh of relief. There was nopony there... and only a few were walking, just across the street from his home. Maybe it was just a door-to-door salespony.

Then, out of the side of his vision, he saw it: that same pink-wrapped box, neatly tied with a red bow with a note attached to it. The mystery pony had been leaving this every single day since he had moved in... he wondered who it was and what they wanted with him. If they were this persistent... then perhaps it would be worth it to see what they had to say.

Linen swiped the box off of his doorstep, quickly closing and locking his door before anypony could see. To make sure, he spied outside from through the curtains again, and made sure nopony had seen him. There were none around, though he actually wondered if anypony was aware of his existence here in Ponyville, on this quiet street not far from the center of town.

Placing the parcel on the dining room table, the first thing he did was open the note:

I'm sorry.

Two simple words, which only left Linen even more confused than he had been before, with no trace of nervousness. He thought the gift was merely something left as an insult - despite all odds, he was still paranoid like that - or a 'welcome to the town' sort of affair. There was nothing that anypony could apologize for, except...

Except if it were related to the incident. 

He swallowed hard: at least being without stress for a moment was enjoyable, at least. This meant that not only Colgate knew where he lived, somepony else in town did, too. Or... waging a dangerous thought, did that mean by extension that every mare knew he lived here? He always knew that mares loved to gossip, and when the whole female population of the town ruts a male, it wouldn't be surprising for them to want to know where he lived...

The clues were there, though... he knew Ponyville had a bakery in town, and from Davenport had told him, one 'Pinkie Pie' was the mare who helped around the shop, was hyperactive to no tomorrow... and liked cupcakes. As she was also the one who captured and brought him to the mercy of the mares, it made sense that she wanted to apologize for her hormone-induced madness.

The cupcake floated over to him as he examined it: a fairly plain-looking cupcake with a nice heap of pink frosting. He took a bite out of it and was surprised to find that it actually wasn't that bad, even if he wasn't one to eat sweets often.




A few minutes earlier...

Pinkie observed from behind a bush as she saw the door crack open a inch, and the stallion's hoof quickly grabbing the box and pulling it inside. Her smile grew and she felt the need to squeal happily, but repressed it; after all, she didn't want to blow her cover already, and she was just outside his home!

She dearly hoped to Celestia that he would actually bother reading the note. What she had done - literally delivering the poor stallion from the frying pan into the fire - ate away at her for days after the estrus cycle had ended. When she brought up to Twilight and several of her other friends, they expressed the same sentiments. They were kind and honest ponies, and the fact that they seemingly scarred the poor stallion for life was an awkward topic to discuss.

They threw around reasons, that they couldn't have known that he was in town, that all the other stallions had skipped town when he did not, that it was his fault for walking around town when estrus was clearly in effect. Then they learned through a hushed conversation that Pinkie had with Colgate that he was a new arrival in town; in fact, he had finished moving in the very day that he was... forced to copulate with every mare in town.

Those mares that had their coltfriends or their husbands went with them, but the rest were left to their own devices. So to see a stallion, any stallion, immediately threw their entire minds into haywire. Their logic and reason were intact, yes, but easily overridden by their own body's urges. Applejack seemed to take it the worst, having it go against her own honest beliefs, and suffered the most post-event guilt out of all them. Eventually, they decided to have a conversation on the best course of action to apologize at Twilight's library treehouse.

"So... what is his name, darling?" Rarity asked Pinkie.

"He's... Linen Spool," Pinkie said, no hint of frivolousness in her voice. "He... he lives down at Fifth Round Street."

"I feel so bad for the poor thing," Fluttershy said. Unlike the other mares, Flutteshy's isolated home worked in her favor over the several weeks, as she had not been present during the event. "If what you say is really true... then I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't want to talk to a mare anymore..."

"So what?" Rainbow Dash said brashly. "We needed to blow off some steam, and he was the only one around! I think he should at least be happy that he even got any flank from all of us mares. I know how some of us are real lookers."

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack said, shocked. "You know full well that it ain't his fault! If what Pinkie told us is true, then the feller's a real shy type, and we took advantage of that! That ain't honest, and it sure isn't loyal... unless you're tellin' me that 'loyalty' only applies to ponies that you know personally."

"I wish I didn't do that..." Pinkie said. "If he came at any other time, I would have thrown him a super-duper totally-amazing welcoming party. But instead, I end up giving him a different kind of party, one that made him scared and sad..." She began bawling. "I'm a horrible pony!"

"We should immediately make reparations with him," Rarity said. "But I fear that if we all approach him at once, the results may be far less than favorable."

"I agree," Twilight said. "We should just have a single pony do it, or even without speaking with him at all, really."

"If he's shy like I am..." Fluttershy said softly. "Then... then it would be best to try to send him a letter..."

"That's a great idea!" Pinkie said, her river of tears disappearing in a flash. "I'll... I'll bake a cupcake for him, and wrap it up in a box, and then write an apology note for him! There's no way anypony can reject that!"

That was several months ago. Linen had turned out to be a very strange pony, as she quickly learned. She knew he saw the package every single day on his doorstep, and always gave it a hard stare before ignoring and returning home. Perhaps his arriving at home during the late evening had something to do with it? Maybe he wasn't the type of pony to eat sweets before bedtime.

It was no trouble for Pinkie, though, her patience could last until the end of time. She would just simply keep trying until he accepted... which, on this momentous day, he actually did. Though she forgot to put her name on it... oh, well, he could probably figure it out himself.

Pinkie forced Colgate to Pinkie promise to secrecy, to never tell anypony else about Linen, or the fact that he lived in Ponyville. It had worked for a while, but it seemed that Linen's daily schedule had seemingly changed, and so he ventured out into Ponyville during more peak times... she saw him run into a couple of mares who knew who he was. It wouldn't be long until the secret was out, though what the other mares would do when they knew, however, was an entirely different matter.

"Hey, Pinkie, did anything happen?" Twilight said, sneaking up next to her. She also had an interest in Linen's wellbeing after participating in her 'data gathering' when she had her turn with him.

"Yes!" Pinkie said. "He took the box today!"

"Really?" Twilight said, peering out between a few branches and observing Linen's front door. "That's good news! Do you think he'd be willing to talk with us?"

"Well, maybe... I was thinking about throwing him a party. An actual one, this time."

"Uh, Pinkie, have you already forgotten? If you invite all of Ponyville, then that isn't going to end up too well. Mares, remember?"

"Oh... right. Then I need a new plan..."

"I think I have something that might work," Twilight said. "I ran into Linen earlier today... he works at Quills and Sofas for Davenport. Maybe I could try to ask him about it, try to get a feel for what Linen is like?"

"Yeah, you go ahead and do that, Twilight. I'll be here... planning... my plan."




"Away... I have to get away somehow..." Linen muttered to himself, as he quietly exited Colgate's bedroom. He had awoken to her sleeping softly in his arms, and he nearly suffered a panic attack then and there if he didn't have the sense to calm himself down.

Walking downstairs, he noted the simple aesthetics that Colgate had adorning her home. Hmm, perhaps that curtain could use a bit of retouching and - wait, what was he thinking? His first priority now was to get out of town before even more mares found him. The sound of moans on the breeze still indicated that they were still fully in heat. There was no telling when it would subside, and he certainly wasn't going to be staying around to find out.

He headed for the door when he heard the sound of mares talking outside.

"Ugh, where did that stallion get to?"

"I don't know, maybe he escaped when we were all passed out."

"Aww, damn... I wanted to rut him some more... you know, it's really exhilarating to be the mare in charge."

"I know right? Ah, my loins are burning again. Let's see if Colgate wants to play a little..."

The door knocked as Linen jumped into a side room to hide. It was a living room of some sort, and there was a good view of the town out the front window... and a good view of a small garden in the back. Jumping out of the back window seemed so cliche, but Linen wasn't in a position to complain. He tip-hoofed over to the window and slowly undid the locks as he heard the sound of hooves coming down the stairs.

"Huh..? Oh, Roseluck! I didn't know you'd be visiting today!"

"Eh? How come you sound so normal, Colgate?" Roseluck asked. "Sure you're not swirling in your own heart's desire or anything like that? No burning of the loins or insatiable lust from a stallion's member."

"Uh, no, why do you--" She gasped. "Linen!"

"Colgate, you know I'm not into the whole tailoring thing."

"No, I mean the stallion that the whole town bucked last night, Roseluck! I... I brought him home here with me after I found him last night... oh, Celestia, he was such a good lay..."

"Oh, great! Is he still around?" Roseluck asked. "Lily and I have been needing to get in some more... love, if you get my drift. Maybe I should call over Daisy, too! Actually, never mind that, she was already on her way here."

"Uh, yeah, kind of busy!"

Linen immediately slammed open the window and hopped outside, sending his face flying into the dirt as flowers were trampled beneath. He quickly shook himself off, sending dirt and flower bits flying off in every direction, only to stand up and run straight into a mare.

"Oh... a stallion..." she said slowly.

"Hey, Linen, get your cute ass back in here and - oh, hey, Daisy! Roseluck said you would show up," Colgate said, leaning against the windowsill.

Daisy hugged Linen and pulled him tight against her chest. "Oh, I wanted to visit the garden to put my mind off of all of this business, but... you know..." she said, looking into Linen's frightened eyes. "...when life drops a stallion in front of you, it's hard to turn away..." She giggled and kissed him on the cheek, releasing her grasp as he felt himself being pulled by magic back into the house.

"You sure know how to fire up a mare, Linen..." Colgate purred as tossed him on her living room couch. She walked over and positioned herself right on top of him as the other three mares shortly joined them. "We're going to have so much fun... so are you ready for another round, hot stuff?" she said, her eyes half-lidded.

"Oh, oh!" Lily said. "I got some of the cupcakes from Pinkie earlier today!" She stuffed a whole bunch into his mouth and forced them down his throat, making him gag. "See, he's good to go! Now hurry the buck up, Colgate, I want him in me!"

Colgate gave Linen a deep kiss, parting after the longest moment by nuzzling him. "Ready, lover boy? Oh, I'm going to get so many favors by trading you around..."

Linen said nothing, knowing that any attempt to object would serve no use and let himself be taken yet again.




Linen, in his forgetfulness, hadn't checked who was outside the door before answering it. He slammed the door in Pinkie Pie's face as soon as he met eye contact with her, cutting her off just as she was about to begin her sentence.

"Uh... Mr. Spool?" she nervously asked. "It... it's okay, I just want to talk..." She received no response. "Please... I'm... I'm really sorry about what happened. I know that us mares can get really... rowdy during our mating season, and I really want to apologize for what I did to you."

"Go away," was the muted response.

"I won't do that," she said firmly. "I sincerely want to apologize for what I did. Did you get the package I left for you?"

"...the one you left on my doorstep every day?"

"Yay, so you did take it, then!" Pinkie tried to peer through the door's window, but was blocked by a wall of red curtains. "Can... can I please come in? I'd like to apologize to you, personally."

She waited with bated breath, hoping that he would accept, as she simply stood there as the sun's light bore down on her. Eventually, the door opened, and Linen stood before her. "I hope I'm not making a mistake by doing this..."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Pinkie hopped inside as Linen closed the door behind him. "So, uh..." She turned around and put on her serious face again. "I want to say I'm sorry... for what I did to you that day."

"Don't b-blame yourself," Linen said quietly. "I just... arrived at a bad t-time, and you weren't in your right mind..."

"But that doesn't make it any less our fault! Yes, I know what I was thinking during that time, and when I did, I looked at you and just wanted you so badly, it's what every mare feels like when they put eyes on a stallion during that time, and then I... I knocked you out with my party cannon and totally ruined your day."

"It... it's... okay..."

"See?! There you go again, being all nice when you shouldn't be nice at all!" Pinkie said. "Why aren't you angry with us?!"

"Because... I'm not like that..."

Pinkie felt so empty over the fact that this stallion whom she'd only met by putting him in a situation that made him so uncomfortable, was so forgiving over what had happened. And not only her, it seemed he was willing to forgive the entire town for it. Most stallions would have gotten angry or even openly hostile if such a thing happened to them.

"Did you eat the cupcake?" she blurted out. Linen looked at her, surprised at the sudden random question.

"Uh... yes. It was... really good?" Pinkie was a strange occurrence, bubbling with a strange enthusiasm unseen in any other pony he'd ever met.

"You liked it?! Oh, yippee!" she cheered, hopping up and down as streamers popped out of nowhere behind her. "So, Mister Spool, since you've accepted my apologies, do you think you'd be willing to attend your first introduction party here in Ponyville?"

"I... uh... are the other mares g-going... to be there?"

Pinkie's smile faded. "Um... unfortunately, yes. A party's supposed to be fun, but I guess it won't be really fun if the only thing it would do is make you feel bad."

"I appreciate the thought... b-but I'm not... I don't really want to... sorry..." He stared at the ground, nervously kicking the wood floor as he attempted to think of something else to say.

"Oh, I know!" Pinkie said. "I'll introduce you to one of my friends! I know she'd also like to apologize to you, so if you're fine with it, I'd like you to meet her later this week."

"Um... who... who is she?" he asked, wondering if it was a mare he'd already met.

"Her name is Twilight Sparkle." Oh, it was her. "She runs the Ponyville Library out of the treehouse in town!"

"I... I met her already... she was... uh, really nice..."

"Oh, you've already met Twilight? Yippee! This won't be as bad as I thought it would be!" She opened the door and cartwheeled backwards on to the doorstep. "Don't you worry, Linen, I promise you'll get an apology from every mare in town in no time flat! I'll come look for you later this week, so don't do anything silly, okay?" She cheered and hopped off in the direction towards town, shutting the door behind her.

Linen stood in the hallway, trying to take in everything he'd just seen.

"Oh, no... what have I gotten myself into?" he whispered to himself.
> Antics
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Linen awoke to the sounds of breathing. The night had fallen yet again outside, and his whole body felt as if it had been slammed against a brick wall repeatedly. Not the most pleasant of feelings to wake up to. His eyes lazily drifted across the plain ceiling as he struggled to regain his senses through the veil of nausea that permeated him. His body felt hot.

He heard a moan and turned his head to the right to find Colgate happily snuggling up against a pillow, fast asleep. And with that, he was reminded yet again of the events that had transpired: becoming a... toy of sorts for mares. His first inclination was to scream, but his head was thankfully in control of the situation, and he managed to cover his mouth before he could.

A hoof bumped into his left flank and he whisked around to see Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily all hugging each other, wrapped seductively in sheets. This was dangerous: Linen didn't know whether or not he'd actually satisfied the mares, having passed out before they finished. They might have just decided to have fun with each other afterwards... or used his body while he was out of it.

Swallowing hard, he slowly began to crawl his way out of bed, trying his best not to touch any of the mares that now surrounded him. A hoof found its way to the ground, and before long, he was sneaking out of Colgate's bedroom and down the stairs, trying to stay on the carpeted areas to avoid making noise.

Once he made his way outside, he let out a restrained sigh of relief. Now he needed to find a way out of town, or perhaps a place to hide until their phases passed. At this time of night, he would be hard-pressed to find transportation, and he certainly wasn't going to hoof it all the way to Canterlot.

So there were two choices: his house–where Colgate would most certainly check when she found him missing in the morning–or the Everfree forest. Horny mares or deadly beasts? It was a tough choice.

At this point, he was too exhausted to be able to fight back, and the mares would easily be able to overpower him. If he happened to go up against a beast in the forest, he wouldn't be able to flee quickly or fight back. So he decided on a compromise: he'd merely wait it out on the outskirts of the Everfree, and try to find some supplies for himself. It was meager, but it would have to do. Perhaps in a day or so, when his strength returned, he would try and escape.

He faded into the shadows as he trotted off for the forest, now realizing that he was actually pretty hungry.





The bells dinged as Twilight entered Quills and Sofas. Peeking over the large shelves of various quill-related goods, she saw Davenport working at the front desk, nibbling on the end of a quill feather as he was writing something down.

"Hello, Davenport!" she said, walking up to the desk.

Davenport looked up and placed the quill down when he saw her. "Hello, Miss Sparkle! What can I help you with today? Is it about the quill?"

"Oh, no, it's not about that!" she said, shrugging it off with a laugh. "I'm here to ask about... Linen Spool."

He raised an eyebrow, curious as to why anypony would be interested enough to ask about him. If Linen had been present, he would have most certainly wished that Davenport not tell too much, and as his close friend and boss, he would agree. "Well... what do you wish to know about him? I'll have you know that he's not exactly the most sociable type, Miss Sparkle."

"I could definitely tell that from the conversation I had with him this morning. I'm more interested about his... well, himself, really. What are his likes? Dislikes? Does he get out of the house much? He said that he moved into Ponyville a while back, but where did he move from, and why?" She was already aware of the last part pertaining to Linen's moving to Ponyville, but wanted to know more about it from a pony who didn't rut him several weeks back.

Davenport sighed. "I'm afraid those sorts of questions are the ones you'll have to ask him yourself, Miss Sparkle." He leaned forward, suspicion gleaning in his eyes. "What are you trying to get at here? Because I'll let you know that if you try to hurt him, there's going to certainly be some real trouble in this town."

"Oh, no, I wouldn't dream of it! He just seemed so interesting and–"

"That, right there, is the problem," Davenport said, leaning backwards against his chair. "To perhaps allow myself a single moment of selfishness, since I know he wouldn't want me talking to anypony about this: a lot of ponies in the past, all with good intentions, have tried to 'help' him before. If you're trying to, don't. Leave him be and don't try to force him to break out of his shell."

"Well, what happened to those who tried to help him?" Twilight asked. To hear that Linen was a special case that had not been solved was intriguing to her, especially concerning his rather reclusive behavior.

He shook his head and sighed again. "Okay, make that two moments, then. From what he has told me, the most preferred method that the helping ponies tried to do to break him out of his shell was to simply... well, put him in groups with other ponies, socializing, that sort of thing."

"But it didn't work?"

"Do you try to cure phobias by actively throwing them at ponies?"

"No, that sounds rather extreme, but–"

"Well, that's exactly what they tried to do to Linen. You see, he has a severe aversion to crowds, and ponies in general. Can't hold a conversation at all with someone he doesn't know well; he just locks up and starts panicking. That also applies to individual conversations, but it's worse when it's in groups. Following that, it goes full-blown when he's standing in the middle of a crowd of ponies he doesn't know, and if all their attention is on him, expecting him to talk..." He stopped, letting Twilight fill in the rest of the details.

"He just... stops working?" she quietly asked. Davenport simply nodded. Even though she'd never interacted much with other ponies when growing up, the idea of actually being too scared to talk to others made Twilight think that she actually had it quite well. "Does he have any siblings?"

"I'm just going to stop there," Davenport denied. "If you want to know more, you'll have to ask him yourself. I've already given myself too much liberty just by answering those questions. Besides, what made you so interested in him?" A grin spread across his face. "Oh, Celestia, does this mean that you're a secret admirer?"

"What?! No!" She realized that she'd reacted almost immediately and felt heat rising to her face.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say," he said, laughing. "But you do realize that Linen's practically invisible to most ponies, right? Even in Canterlot, when I first met him, it seemed like he knew how to blend into the crowd, but it was his attempts at doing so that caught my attention. Then again, you are the Twilight Sparkle, so I guess you just have an eye for these kinds of things."

"So you just finished saying that he's bad at talking to ponies, and now you're telling me to go ask him if I want answers?" she said, pointing out his contradiction.

"Not bad at it, per se. He's shy and downright terrified of ponies, yes, but you can get him to talk if you approach him properly. Don't come off as too direct, or mean, and he'll eventually open up to you. 'Eventually' meaning whenever he feels like it. But, yes, you look like the sort of pony that can deal with it."

"Any advice that could help me with that?" she asked.

"Speak softly, and speak slowly, and choose what you mean to say carefully. It's not the first time that I've seen him misconstrue something that another pony meant to be entirely innocent, or harmless. Trying to force results will get you nowhere, and then he'll never want to speak with you again."

"Right," she said, taking a mental note. "Thank you, Davenport."

"I feel like I'm going to regret this decision," he said. "But he's a good stallion, and he deserves to have more than what he does now. I mean, after all, he's practically kept my shop afloat with all the business he helps me get. Sometimes I wonder how much out of my mind I was when I opened up a shop for quills and sofas..." He chuckled to himself.

"I promise that this won't be an abuse of your trust, Davenport," Twilight said, smiling. "I just want to get to know him, and maybe become friends with him." If only I hadn't already made such a horrible first impression... She closed off her thoughts and made her way out of the store, shielding her eyes as Celestia's lowering sun covered the street with a red hue. It was probably too late to speak to him now, but perhaps tomorrow...





Linen hid behind a bush as he surveyed the eccentric building across the street. It was shaped roughly like a gingerbread house–most likely not made out of gingerbread, he wagered, but it made his stomach grumble–and the front doors were locked and the windows closed. That meant that the only other way to enter would be from the other side.

He was loathe to have to resort to stealing, but he needed immediate nourishment: he didn't have the sense to buy groceries–not that it would have worked out given that the mares would still be rut-crazy anyway–so his home wasn't the best place to hold out. Sugarcube Corner, or so the sign said, was most likely the best place to find something that could fill him up until he managed to find food in the woods.

Sneaking around the side, he carefully leaned against the back entrance's doorframe. He tried the lock and was surprised to find it unlocked. Perhaps the mares had been too occupied with their desires that they might have forgotten to lock the doors. Theft certainly wasn't a problem: any stallion caught in this town would be bucked to death, and any mare would immediately find herself at the mercy of the town's curious mares.

With a quick flash of movement, the door was closed and he was inside. It was dark; the quiet halls were barely lit by the moonlight from outside, as he moved forward. The delectable smell of stale baked goods came from the kitchen, and he could feel his mouth salivate at the thought of finally being able to eat something.

He took another step and nearly stumbled over, barely catching himself against the wall. Whatever that pink mare had given him had worn off long ago, and his body was now suffering from pulling such exhausting overtime. Food would do well to help rebuild his stamina. After checking around him to make sure nopony noticed, he forged on into the kitchen.

Amid the piles of various baking goods and materials, he saw it: a glorious plate of muffins, sitting on the counter in front of him, surrounded by a hodgepodge of random spilled flour and sugar and empty egg boxes.

Rushing forth, he immediately took to the muffins, gorging himself with food as he enjoyed the blueberry flavor they had been baked in. In record time, he had finished and lay down on the ground, heaving a happy sigh as he took the moment to relax and let the food settle.

"I'm glad you liked that!" a familiar voice called out, giggling. "When I saw you sneaking towards Sugarcube Corner, I just knew exactly what you wanted!" He felt his blood run cold for another time this day, and looked up. His eyes met blue ones, staring down at him along with a face that held the most devilish smile he'd ever seen. "Ready for another round?"

Linen panicked and ran for the kitchen doorway, only for the mare to appear from the hallway for some unexplainable reason and blocking his path. "Hey, it's not nice to treat yourself to somepony else's food and then just run!" she said, a look of annoyance plastered over her face.

Ignoring her, he turned around and looked for another way out, and made for the front entrance into the kitchen. Again, the pink party pony spontaneously appeared from outside and obstructed him. "Hello?! You're supposed to be a good guest! I gave you those muffins, so now let Pinkie have you!"

"Uh... um... i-if I knew those were your muffins..." he said, as Pinkie slowly approached him. He tripped over a small bag of flour and found himself staring up into the eager eyes of Pinkie Pie.

"It's alright, I don't mind. I just wanted you to eat them 'cause they're filled with all the things a stallion needs to go on all — night — long." Linen looked down and noticed that his member had somehow brought itself back to life while he was trying to run. So it was a trap! "And now... you're all mine."

"Wh... wait, what about the owners of this place? The Cakes?" He'd heard of them once or twice in Canterlot, but it shouldn't have been that surprising to him that they were out of town now of all days...

"No worries about that, my cute little cupcake, because they skipped town to avoid estrus! Oh, but it's so good that you showed up, because now you and I can have our own little private party..." She swooped down and licked him on the cheek, as Linen felt his body lock up. "It's all you and me now, Linen..."





Night had long since fallen and Twilight had retired to her quarters for the night, following a quick dinner with Spike. She sat at her desk, masterminding the best way to approach Linen when there was the sound of the front door opening followed by the thudding of hooves on the stairs. Pinkie Pie smashed through her door with reckless abandon, huffing and puffing as she brought news.

"Hey, Twilight! Guess what?!" she said, staring at Twilight as she expected a response.

"Uh... what, Pinkie?"

"He went along with my plan! Oh, but you're going to have to be the first one to apologize to him! I'm sorry for blurting your name out, but he said he thought you were okay 'cause he met you earlier today, so I want you to be the first! And when you actually do apologize, it'll be the first step to getting all the mares in Ponyville to apologize to him!"

"Yeah, but... isn't it late at night right now? Why'd you decide to pop in now of all times?"

Her excitability deflated. "Oh, I was busy making cupcakes as invitations for a party. You know, where all the mares show up and we can all talk over apologizing to him at the same time?"

Twilight recalled her conversation with Davenport. "Uh, Pinkie... I don't think that's going to work. Maybe you're better off just getting all of our signatures on a paper or something. I spoke with Davenport, and he gave me advice on how to speak to Linen. I'm pretty sure he'd probably faint or go off the deep end if all the mares apologize to him. Best to just keep things limited."

"Oh, alright..." Pinkie went into a somber mood. "I'm sorry, Twilight, it's just... I really don't want to mess it up, you know? So if you say Linen doesn't need to have a sea of mares whisking him away off his hooves with apologies, then I guess I can go along with that."

"Maybe just us and girls can do it? We can apologize on behalf of the entire town, and I feel that it's our duty as the Elements of Harmony to try to help him. Well, that sounds kind of selfish since it sounds like we're just trying to cover up for our mistakes..." She went silent as she continued thinking it over. "Agh, this is going to go nowhere. What happened, happened, and now we should look to trying to repair our relations with him."

"Okay, then, Twilight! I think I'm going to sleepie and then wakie in the morning so I can tell all of our friends!" Pinkie said, walking up to the second story window. "See you later!" She opened it and with a wave of the hoof, jumped out and landed on a tuft of leaves and branches, using it to reach the ground below. "That means you, too, here at the library!" Pinkie said back up to the window, before heading off back to Sugarcube Corner.

Twiilght blinked, staring out at the night sky for a moment. Did Pinkie Pie just place the plan she needed right in front of her?

Tomorrow, for sure...





Linen escaped into the night, heading off towards the Everfree Forest with a filled belly and covered with the white powder of sugar. Pinkie was most likely still snoring after he accidentally knocked over a huge bag of sugar and doused her with it. Apparently, Pinkie's affinity for anything sugary must have kicked in, because it immediately knocked her out when she swallowed a large amount of it.

With that, Linen made his timely escape, and was now en-route to the Everfree Forest. His body didn't hurt as much anymore, and he had a rather large pool of stamina to call upon, but the tradeoff was the thing now flailing between his legs. Those damned cupcakes sure packed a kick, though, and by this point, it was very much clear just how easily a stallion could actually be rutted to death. It was a wonder how he was still even able to walk.

He found a small tree at the edge of the forest, and decided to rest there. The grass was relaxing and the breeze was cool, but—that confounded phallus! He eyed it with an tired eye, just wishing that everything that happened today would just go away. Closing his eyes, he lay his head on the grass and let sleep, however temporary, take him.

...and suddenly, he was aware that he wasn't in the forest anymore.

"Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, it's a stallion...!" he heard a voice say. Was it a mare's?

"Shh, hush now, quiet now, Rainbow... can't you see he's trying to sleep?"

"I don't care about that! Just look at his... I mean, wow! He's just absolutely raring to go, right here, right now! Just let me have him, please?! Just the both of us isn't going to cut it and I just want him in me!"

He slowly opened his eyes and stared at the pink-maned pegasus that held his head in her lap. "Oh, look, Dash, now you've gone and waken him up..." She patted his mane with a reassuring look on her face. "Hello, there. I'm Fluttershy. Don't worry about where you are, we'll take good care of you."

His mind told him that they were nothing but lies: they were most certainly in heat, as well, if the other mare had anything to show. Looking over, he saw a rainbow-maned cyan pegasus nervously shuffling around in her seat on the couch, giving him an angry stare. "What're you looking at?" she spat.

Giving a short gasp, he looked away and rolled off of Fluttershy, getting to his hooves and looking at the both of them. "J-just leave me b-be, please..." he said. "I... I don't want any trouble."

"Buddy, if you want us to leave you alone, then there's obviously going to be some trouble. See, we want you. And that's... uh, putting it lightly." Her wings, as well as those of Fluttershy's, had been fully spread as they talked and—oh, no... Looking down, he saw that his stallionhood was in plain sight for all to see. "Not like your body's complaining about getting laid with some awesome mares like ourselves."

Linen held up his hooves. "No, wait, p-please, you have to let me explain—"

"What's there to explain, big guy?" Dash said, walking over to him. "You've got a raging spear all ready to use, and you need somewhere to put it..."

"Yes, um... we'd like to have you..." Fluttershy said. "That is, um, if you don't mind... but the urges are becoming harder to fight off, and... and you just look so ready for it..."

"I—I don't want to get you both pregnant..."

"Oh, that. Don't worry," Dash said, pulling out a couple of muffins from a bag at the foot of the couch, "we've got these awesome treats. I should really thank Pinkie for these sometime later, because they're totally going to get some use now." She downed the thing in a single bite and stared lustily at Linen. "Ready or not, here I come!"

She shot forth and immediately pinned him to the ground as he voiced his objections. "N-no, wait, please, I don't—mmrm?!" He was cut off as a small wad of cloth was put into his mouth and tied over with another nearby napkin on the table.

"Nope, no talking, just rutting, big guy." She positioned herself right on top of him, and slowly lowered herself on top of his stallionhood. "Oh... buck, it feels so good!" Moans echoed throughout the room as Linen futilely struggled against her forceful grip, shocks of pleasure slowly driving him to orgasm as she quickened her pace. Both of their increased drives synchronized with each other, and their bodies began to respond to each other.

Dash's head lowered to his shoulders, her gasps huffing so dangerously close to his face as she continued to thrust herself down upon him. Her wings brushed off his arms, as he recalled that pegasi wings were stimulated to spread upon arousal—something that he had picked up on in tidbits of conversation at social gatherings, usually at ones where couples had been present.

Amidst the intercourse, however, his heart rang louder than a bell in his ears, his mind so desperately wishing that he were elsewhere now, anywhere short of a social gathering. He felt a hoof bring his head into a warm embrace and opened his eyes to see Fluttershy smiling warmly at him. "You're doing well... don't be scared, okay? We'll take good care of you."

He knew he should fight against it, try to find a way to escape from this nightmare somehow, but the voice... it was like the sound of water rushing into his mind and relaxing him. His panicked state subsided as his pleasure and Dash's moans came to a peak, and he released within her with an unhindered moan, filling her with his essence.

"Hah... whew, big guy, you're not half bad yourself..." Rainbow coughed, gasping for breath as she laid on his chest. "Seems like we both wanted it pretty bad, huh...? Ah, the only stallion in town and now he's right here in our hooves... let's keep him until the end of the cycle!"

"Rainbow, that's not nice," Fluttershy said. "You know how terrified stallions can get when they get caught up in the middle of estrus season, so I want to make sure we'll be as gentle as possible with him. Promise me that when we're done after this night, we'll let him go of his own choice. No forcing him to stay, no matter how much you need to have him."

"I..." Rainbow sighed. "Yeah, alright, Fluttershy. I promise."

Fluttershy undid Linen's facial restraints and looked to him again with a pleading look in your eyes. "Do you still think you can go one more time?" she asked, clearly giving the hint of who would be next. Linen stared at her for a few moments, eyes half-lidded... and then nodded. "Thank you. I'll be gentle with you, okay? I want this to feel good for you as much as me. Do you think you could tell me your name?"

"I'm... Linen Spool."

She kissed him on the forehead. "Well, introducing myself again, I'm Fluttershy. Don't be worried, I'd like to take my time with you..."





"So... you're asking us to apologize to him?" Dash asked. Pinkie nodded fervently, looking to Fluttershy for a similar response as they sat in her home.

"I... I'd like to... I didn't really know that he was so shy before..." Fluttershy said. "Just... really scared... eyes can tell you a lot about a pony, you know." She took a sip of her tea and tried not to think back to the events of that night.

"Why do we have to apologize to him?" Dash turned her head away defiantly. "We needed to cool off, he was there, he was ready, so we did it. I don't think I need to apologize to him for anything."

"Dash, it's more of the fact that he didn't know that every mare in Ponyville was on the cycle, and he was just caught up in it by accident. Honestly, I'm actually surprised that he's actually taking it... well," Fluttershy said. "I feel bad for him, though, he must feel ashamed for what he did."

"It's not even that big of a problem, sheesh!" Dash crossed her arms and sighed. "He wasn't that bad of a lay..."

"Um... Dash, I don't think it's okay for you to think of him like that. He's a pony, like everypony else in Equestria. How would you feel if you forced yourself upon one of your friends when they didn't want you to?"

"I'd... feel really bad about it... afterwards..." Dash grumbled. "Yeah, okay, I get your point. So how are we going to apologize to him? Make-up sex?"

"Nope! All of us are going to talk to him one by one to apologize to him!" Pinkie leaned in to whisper. "Twilight says he's really bad with crowds."

"It can't be that bad," Fluttershy said. "At least, not as bad as mine, right?"

"No, it's even worse! She told me that he can't even handle a proper conversation with a pony he doesn't even know, and if he ends up in a crowd, he'll totally freak out! I think I was lucky that I even managed to talk to him at all!" Pinkie said, waving her hooves in the air for emphasis.

"So it's... worse than Fluttershy and her fear of performing in front of other ponies?" Dash asked.

"Duh!" Pinkie said. "Just think of it as completely being unable to work when you're around other ponies instead of just being scared to perform in front of them. Get it?"

"Oh, my," Fluttershy said. "It must have been terrible for him when he went through all the trouble when he first came to town, then..."

"That's what I'm trying to fix! But to do that, I need your girls' help! So, do you agree?"

"Yes, but—"

"Pinkie Promise!"

Dash and Fluttershy looked at each other and shrugged before going through the rounds of making the sacred promise to Ponyville's premier party pony. With that, Pinkie had a huge grin and nodded happily.

Fluttershy continued from where she left off. "Well, in any case, I think this would be a good first step to getting him reintroduced to Ponyville. So, when are we going to apologize to him?"

'"I don't know. I just wanted to talk to you girls first before I decided on anything! Actually, I originally wanted to make it a super-duper awesome party just between us and him, but Twilight said he probably wouldn't like that, and I trust Twilight, so I'm not going to throw a party even though I really want to throw a party. Oh, that reminds me, I have to go talk to Applejack next!" She gulped down her tea in one drink. "Thanks, girls, I'll talk to you again when I have a date ready!"

With that, Pinkie hopped out the door and shut it with a slam. She hummed to herself as she skipped down the road to Sweet Apple Acres. If all her progress was this good, then it'll only be a matter of time before the preparations were ready!
> Reparations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Linen heaved another gulp of air, as he leaned against a tree at the edge of the Everfree Forest. He had awoken to Dash attempting to get in another round on him, and he immediately bolted out the door without so much as a response. It was nightmarish... they went several times before they became exhausted and fell asleep together, but to find out that one of them still had more in her? His body was at the breaking point now. Or perhaps it had already surpassed it. In any case, it wasn't good for him.

He noticed that he was blankly staring at a wooden fence when he heard the sound of galloping coming up behind him. Looking to his right, he saw a pony, earth by the looks of it, charging for him at full gallop. And he noticed it was a mare.

Immediately going into full panic mode again, he attempted to sprint away in the opposite direction, only to fall flat on his face due to fatigue. Stars swirled around in his vision, so vivid that he was sure that the early morning skies had come to greet him this dandy morning.

"Howdy there, partner," he heard her say.

"I... uh, l-listen, I don't want any trouble..." he began.

"Trouble? Nuh-uh. Partner, you look worse than Mac when he pulls through a week of work by himself. Let me help you get to somewhere that ain't so rough to rest on."

"You mean you aren't..." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Wait, I know where this is going. Leave me alone!"

"But—"

"I said leave me alone! I've had about enough with you mares and your... agh!" He winced as he felt a jolt of pain shoot up his leg as he tried to stand up, and felt something twist. Had he been so eager to escape from his previous captors that he had inadvertently harmed himself? And conveniently delivered himself right into the hooves of another mare, no less.

"I... listen 'ere, partner. I ain't goin' to hurt you, I promise you on that, on the honor of the Apple family, okay?"

"The... the Apple family?" Linen said. The Apple family name was a seal of quality unmatched by any other fruit-based family-operated food operation in Equestria, and their reputation had such a stringent code of honor that it would be folly to not take their word for it.

"Yessir, the one and the same," she said proudly. "Listen, I'm not going all hoo-hah crazy like all the other mares, you understand? Just head on back with me to my barn and I'll try to get you some rest. And maybe keep you away from all those other mares, too." Judging by her lack of enthusiasm for being around him in general and surprisingly absent lust, she was either telling the truth, or one really good liar.

"O-okay, then... I... uh, I accept, Miss, uh...?"

"Applejack, partner. The name's Applejack. This here's my farm, Sweet Apple Acres, where some of the finest apples in Equestria comes from! You look like you busted your leg there for a moment. What were you doin' in the Everfree Forest, anyway?" She asked, examining his sprained leg.

"I was..." He paused a moment, uncomfortable with giving an answer. "I was trying to get away from some... other mares."

"Oh, shoot, you bumped into Fluttershy, didn't you?" Linen nodded. "Well, I don't know much 'bout her, but maybe she might get a little rough when she gets all high-strung 'round these times. Come on now," she said, carefully tossing Linen over her back. "Let's get you back to the barn. At least nopony will come a-knockin' and botherin'  us there."





"Applejack!" Pinkie Pie shouted, running down the dusty old lane that led to Sweet Apple Acres. "Where are you?!"

"Huh?" Applejack poked her head around an apple tree, currently in the process of collecting apples from it. "Pinkie? What in tarnation are you hollerin' about?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to invite you to—" She quickly turned her head around, tuning her ears into the very essence of the wind itself to see if there were any ponies nearby that could eavesdrop on them. —to Linen Spool's apology party."

"Oh, that feller? Yeah, I kind of feel bad for what we did to him..." Applejack said, nervously rubbing the back of her head. "But if we can make it up to him, then, shucks, that might all be worth it. After what I heard happened between him and Dash, it just..." She huffed. "It just really turns things all crazy-like. If I can have some self-control, why doesn't Dash? Really," she huffed again, shaking her head.

Pinkie's face tensed for a moment. "I heard about that... are you and Dash still... well, okay?"

Applejack sighed. "I just don't know, Pinkie... but it ain't right to take advantage of a feller like that, even if I did, too..." She shuddered. "But those... those urges are just a little bit too overpowerin' sometimes, and there's nothing a mare can do about it. But Dash doesn't need to do it more than once! It's like gettin' an itch and takin' a shovel to it to scratch it."

"Oh. So, are you going to be there, then?"

"You can bet on it, Pinkie. I just hope Dash will be there, otherwise the worst of this is just going to continue on. She's the Element of Loyalty, for land's sake. She won't go ditchin' her friends just over a simple ruttin'. I hope."

"Don't you worry, Applejack! I'll make sure to have Dash there, no problem!" Pinkie said, saluting valiantly.

Applejack chuckled. "I think you're goin' to have your work cut out for you, Pinkie... Dash ain't exactly known for backin' down too easily, even when she's wrong."





"So, partner, apparently, you're the talk of the town. Er, no offense," Applejack said, sliding a plate of hot apple pie in front of Linen as he sat at the dining table. He dug into it immediately, grateful for the nourishment it would give him, and it tasted absolutely fantastic, as well. "Hehe, yep, our pies have a tendency to do that to folks."

Finishing the slice in record time, Linen looked up at her, his muzzle smothered with pie fixings. "Oh, yes, t-thank you, Miss Applejack, it's really good, but... uh, do you mind if I ask a question?"

"Sure, sugarcube, what do you have on your mind?"

"H-how come you're not like..." He lowered his gaze to the floor, face flushing as he managed the squeak out the words. "...not like the other mares?"

Applejack held a straight face for a moment, and then flew into full-on guffawing. "Why, partner, that's 'cause us Apple family folk are the most stubborn ponies 'round! Now, I'm not goin' to lie, I can still feel it, but I've had a lot of practice. Usually we only blow it off when it gets really bad, and let me tell you, sugarcube, when you showed up in the Town Hall and all the mares were runnin' around hollerin' that they'd just caught themselves a stallion, it was... really hard to resist," she said, giving an awkward smile.

"So... does that mean you're... fine now?"

"Yep, righter than rain, partner!" She retrieved some drinks from the refrigerator, and placed a cold mug frothing with chilled cider in front of him. "And here you go, some of Sweet Apple Acres' finest cider! But, uh, don't go tellin' anypony that I still have some, okay? It's supposed to be available on a yearly basis, and we can't keep up the applebuckin' to make enough cider to keep the town goin' the whole year."

Linen nodded, and took a sip of the drink. It was delightfully refreshing, and filled with delicious apple flavor that practically washed over his taste buds. The buzz from the alcohol within felt nice combined with his own drowsiness, which was returning yet again, and he found his eyes drooping.

Applejack raised an eyebrow at him. "Whoa, there, partner. You okay there?"

"Yeah, I'm... I'm fine... I just had a, uh... a really rough night."

"Shoot, you look like you were put through a wringer. What happened out there?"

"I was at... I ended up at Fluttershy's home, and then there was this other mare there..."

Applejack grimaced. "Oh, boy, I can tell where this is goin'... that other mare wouldn't happen to be called Rainbow Dash, right?" Linen looked her with surprise and then slowly nodded. "Just what'd they do to you out there, sugarcube?" The only response she received from Linen was a quiet whimper and a hard stare at the ground. "Oh... oh, dear..."

"It was... really bad..." he whispered. "Did... did I show up at a bad time?"

"Well..." she said, sighing. "I guess you did, and there ain't much else to say 'bout it. You just happened to show up when we get into our cycle. I'm sure you know 'bout that, at least...?" Linen nodded. "Ah, shucks, this is just turnin' out to be a whole can of worms..."

"Dash is... really scary..."

"Pff, no kiddin'. Knowin' how she walks and talks, I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up as her toy. Heh, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that she's probably the reason every stallion skips town when this time of year rolls 'round. Still, though, I guess it's nice to get some new folk 'round here, for what that's worth."

"T-thank you, Miss Applejack, you've been... very kind... to me... so far..." He felt his head start to sway to the left and he would have nearly fallen out of his chair, if Applejack hadn't caught him.

"I'll just put you to bed now, sugarcube. You've been through a lot." Once again carrying him on her back, she trotted upstairs and tucked Linen into bed, almost giving him a kiss on the forehead if she hadn't stopped and gave a nervous laugh. "Aw, look at him... he sure is cute." Her eyes widened as she realized where her thoughts were drifting. "No, Applejack. Just absolutely not. Well, at least... n-not here..."

She exited the room quickly, quietly shutting the door behind her, and then immediately went to the bathroom. Quickly turning the shower on to full blast, she dearly hoped that it would be enough to mask the noise as she hopped inside, as she felt that oh-so-familiar feeling returning to her yet again...





Pinkie did a few sets of stretches as she stood outside of Rainbow Dash's cloud home, her party cannon and various assorted party-going devices set up around her. No doubt given what she'd heard and known what happened between Linen and Dash that she would have to pull out her A-game to bring home Dash's confirmation that she'd attend the party.

Putting on her googly-eye glasses and button-red party nose, she gave a war shout before activating the floater-rotor-thingy attached to her back and levitating herself up to the cloud level of the rainbow-decorated home.

Taking in a deep gasp, she let her voice ring true across the sky. "Rainbow Dash!"

Dash poked her head out through her window, face clearly plastered with annoyance. "What is it, Pinkie? I'm in the middle of another Daring Do book!"

Pinkie stuck out an envelope at Dash, streamers spontaneously appearing out of nowhere and flowing down behind her as Dash gave a confused look at both the pink party pony and the letter she held. "Here, Dash! An invitation to a party!"

"Uh, what kind of party, Pinkie? You usually don't throw one with invitations unless it's going to be a totally awesome one or a really important one."

Pinkie giggled. "Oh, silly Dash, this is for Linen's apology party!"

"Linen...? Oh, buck, I... I told you already! When a mare gets her urges, she needs to blow off some steam! And he was the only stallion in town, and not to mention that thanks to your cupcakes and all that other stuff, we could totally have some harmless fun! What's the problem with that?"

"Dash, you know what you did was wrong!" they heard a voice from the ground. Looking downwards, they both saw Applejack standing next to Pinkie's party cannon with a look that could stare down Celestia if need be. "It ain't his fault that he showed up to town without knowin' what was goin' on! You took advantage of him, and it ain't fair!"

"Wh—you, too, Applejack?!" Dash said, groaning in frustration. "I didn't do anything wrong, okay?!"

"It's not 'bout what you thought, Dash, it's what that poor stallion you used thinks!" Applejack yelled. "He shows up to town and expects to settle down, and then he gets the whole town's mares chasin' after him like some sort of prize! And then when you get him, you rut him senseless, and from what he told me, he's scared senseless of mares now!"

"What about you, then, huh? How do I know you didn't get it on with him?!"

"I don't lie, Rainbow Dash! And I'm tellin' you the truth when I say that I didn't do anythin' to him!" They stared each other down for several minutes before Dash was the first to break her concentration, and huffed back inside without a word. "Rainbow Dash!"

After several moments, she reappeared, realizing that Applejack was definitely telling the truth, no matter how much she wanted to ignore it. "I... alright, fine, okay, I'll... I'll go apologize," Dash said. "But, come on, a mare's got find some way to deal with it, and it was getting old just doing it with Fluttershy all the time..."

"Nopony's blamin' you for blowin' off steam, Dash. It's just that you had to use a poor clueless stallion to do it," Applejack said. Pinkie nodded and descended to the ground, giving a thankful sigh as she landed: the use of the party cannon to persuade and convince wasn't needed this time!

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie cheered, looking at Applejack. "And thanks, AJ! I don't think I could have done it without you!"

"Shucks, it's no problem for me," Applejack said. "if anythin' our good friend deserves a right and proper apology from all of us. What're you goin' to do now?"

"I have to talk to... Rarity!" she said, holding up a hoof into the air.

"But she wasn't even 'round when the whole thing happened. Said something 'bout public ruttin' being too uncouth. She probably locked herself up in the Boutique and dealt with it herself in private."

"Oh, right. Uh, maybe I'll just ask her to come along, anyway?"

"She's goin' to find out 'bout this one way or another, so I don't see why not. Maybe with that class of hers, we can keep Dash in check. Celestia knows I already have a hoof-full doin' it myself."

Pinkie saluted. "Yes, ma'am!" And with that, she trotted off back towards Ponyville, leaving Applejack wondering where exactly Pinkie got all these military-grade party provisions, much less where she actually kept them. There really was never any way to figure out Pinkie for sure...





"Applejack!" Rarity sang, knocking on the front door, as the sun again began to set behind her. Applejack answered, giving Rarity a tired look as she yawned. "Oh, dear. Have I come at a bad time?"

"No, no... it's just fine, come on in..." Applejack muttered, her mane still wet from her extended stay in the shower.

"Well, if you insist..." Rarity entered the quaint little home, trudging along to the kitchen as she looked around. "Say, dear, do you still happen to have any cider on hand? I think I could use some right about now."

"Uh, sure, I guess," Applejack said, immediately delving into the fridge and preparing a mug for Rarity. "Don't tell Dash about this."

"Of course, darling. Celestia knows she's already obsessed with the drink as it is." She took a sip and gave a delighted sigh. "Ah, after such a long day, it's absolutely fantastic that I can just relax at a friend's home and enjoy a delicious drink."

"Busy, huh?" Applejack asked, chuckling. "Busy tryin' to work all that heat out of you?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Rarity responded sourly. "It's so unladylike to just be stuck in a prolonged cycle of... ugh, it pains me just to think about it. I admit that we do have our urges, but it's quite debilitating every time this period of the year comes along." She tended to her drink, staring down at her reflection as her head rested against her supporting hoof. "So, I don't suppose anything interesting has happened while I locked myself away in my Boutique?"

"Well... there was one thing..." Applejack began.

"Oh? Do tell. I can hardly imagine anything of worth happening when all the stallions are gone and the entire mare population is practically frothing at their mouths at the sight of the opposite sex." Not that she wasn't prey that herself, though; she'd practically exhausted almost every sexual fantasy she'd had trying to temporarily alleviate her own heat. A good amount of time spent towards self-attendance left her mind in good clarity for the rest of the day, though.

"Um, yeah... 'bout that... a stallion showed up in town today."

Rarity's eyes looked up at Applejack. "You don't say?"

Applejack nodded. "Yep. The poor feller got himself caught up by Pinkie—"

"Oh, dear, what a most terrible fate. I feel sorry for him."

"—and brought him to the Town Hall, where practically every mare in town rutted him till he couldn't go anymore," Applejack finished, and now deciding that now would be a good time for her to take to the drink, as well. She poured herself a mug and rejoined Rarity at the table as the fashion designer mused over the sole interesting event in town recently.

"I'd imagine he couldn't have gone for that long," Rarity stated. "I mean, really, the whole town? That's a little bit too much, if you ask me."

"It ain't no joke, Rarity," Applejack said. "Pinkie invented a new kind of cupcake, a real weird one that lets stallions go at it for a real long time. And another one that stops mares from gettin' pregnant. Put two and two together, and, well..."

"Oh, dear..." Rarity said. "That would be very terrifying, indeed. And you say the whole of the town was there?"

"Save for less than ten ponies or so, I wager, yes. The poor stallion practically ran for his life the moment he could, when we were all passed out in the hall."

"Wait... 'we'? You mean you were with them? The ponies in the town hall? And what of this strange cupcake that Pinkie has seemingly been circulating throughout the whole town?" Rarity leaned towards Applejack, eyes wide as she eagerly awaited an answer.

"Yeah, I was... thing is, the moment we all heard there was a stallion, and Pinkie bagged him, we all downed those things faster than I could shake a hoof at. I'm sort of... ashamed to say that I was part of what happened there, but... it's Pinkie logic, those cupcakes; you'll have to ask her about those yourself. She says they wouldn't get us all pregnant, and we all took her word for that. I mean, I don't think it's like Pinkie to lie, but I don't think she'd start doin' it right now as a joke."

Rarity turned away, whispering to herself. "I should really get some of those..." she muttered, before turning back to Applejack. "Oh, darling, did you ever get the poor dear's name? The stallion, that is."

Applejack opened her mouth to answer, but stopped. She actually didn't know his name. "I... don't know, actually. I reckon I never stopped to ask him when I saw him earlier today. Feller couldn't even see straight when I found him at the edge of the farm. It was easy to find him, since I usually come out to buck trees and blow off some stress, and you could practically smell the sex reelin' off of him."

"You mean he's here? In this house?" Rarity asked.

"Well, yeah, but don't get any funny ideas."

"You know I wouldn't, dear Applejack. I hope he's doing well?"

"As well as he can be," Applejack said, downing the rest of her drink. "He's sleepin' in the guest room right now. Maybe you can talk to him when he wakes up."

"Perhaps. How'd he end up in such a state if he escaped out of the town hall? Would he not just simply find somewhere to hide or even skip town?"

Applejack shook her head. "I don't know what happened after he got out, but he found his way to Fluttershy's house, where Dash was waiting..."

"How dreadful. It appears you and I both know how... callous Dash can be during times like these, especially if she doesn't get her way. If she truly got her hooves on the poor stallion, I wouldn't be surprised if he'd been scarred by Dash's... um, sexual determination. And stamina, among other things."

"That's what I'm worried about," Applejack said, sighing. "I wouldn't be surprised if he moves out the first chance he gets."

"Then perhaps we should talk to him, then? Since it's clear that we're both sound of mind, at least for now, we can try to learn more about him, and stop alienating him like he has been so far. Perhaps we can even find out where he's from, since you said that he's only just moved in recently, right?"

"Trust me, he's a new one for sure. And I know the faces of every pony in Ponyville."

"I'm sure he's already had his fill of remembering faces by now, Applejack..."





"Rarity!" Pinkie Pie slammed open the door to the Boutique, interrupting Rarity's intense concentration in trying to intricately weave a glorious blue sapphire into the centerpiece of yet another one of her many dresses. She fumbled and accidentally dropped the needle and bumped again the table next to her, knocking down several spools of thread and a box of gems.

"Oh, Pinkie!" Rarity said, suppressing her anger. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

"I know that, silly! But this is really important! I'm throwing an apology party for Linen!"

"The poor stallion? Well, considering that this is an issue between you girls and him, I don't think I need to—"

"We need someone to help keep Dash in check."

Rarity sighed. "I assume she might try to worm her way out with an excuse, and Applejack was never really one to read between the lines, even if she does have the most cordial relationship with Dash. Very well, I suppose I shall attend, and thankfully, this will go over smoothly. Knowing Dash, however, I fear that may not be the case."

"Wow, that was fast!" Pinkie pulled a clipboard out of her mane and looked it over. "I think that's everyone now! Twilight, Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, you, and me!"

"Did somepony call my name?" they heard a voice come from a doorway. Fluttershy walked into the room carrying cuts of cloth on her back. "Oh, hello, Pinkie! Are you here to talk to Rarity about the party?"

"Yep! She already agreed, so now I have everypony ready! Well, everypony meaning six of us, but that's totally enough for a party. Oh, and also, we're kind of afraid that Dash might be a bit of a meanie and we don't want LInen getting all angry or sad, so do you think you could help us with that?"

"Oh, of course!" Fluttershy said. "I feel so bad for what we did to poor Linen... and Dash is kind of scary when she's like that."

"Yay!" Pinkie jumped into the air as firecrackers sparked out of nowhere and streamers flew down from the ceiling. Pulling out another clipboard from a break in the floorboards, she looked over the new list against as Fluttershy and Rarity stared wide-eyed at Pinkie's incredible storage abilities. "Yep, that makes all of us!"

Now all she had to do was decide on a place and time! Not that she minded, of course, planning parties was always fun to Pinkie.
> Gathering
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Today! Yes, the party would be today. Why else wouldn't it be today? It'd be better for everypony to just get it all over with anyway, and Pinkie absolutely knew that all her friends wouldn't be doing anything else. Nevermind that it was an evening party, because those parties were the best! It meant she could bring out some alcohol!

Er, actually, scratch that. The last thing they needed right now was alcohol. Have to be nice, take things carefully unless things go bad again and nobody enjoys themselves at this party. Just some drinks and snacks, and... maybe a lot of gifts? What did Linen do for a living again? Oh, silly Pinkie, you can tell just from his name! Just buy him a whole bunch of cloth things! Maybe Rarity has a whole bunch she can give out. Well, she probably won't just hand them over, but she might be willing to talk about it.

All of this was going through Pinkie Pie's mind as she stood in her secret party vault, located somewhere within the confines of the space beneath Sugarcube Corner. The door was hidden, and specially activated using a particular party-code; one that only Pinkie knew, of course. She sat staring at the giant room full of party favors, and secret tunnels leading to places all over Ponyville. Another smaller vault guarded with a special party-activated lock held the secret locations of all her stashes in not only Ponyville... but throughout all of Equestria.

"Now... what do I need...?" she asked herself. She dug her hoof into the pile next to her, and pulled out a six-pack of disposable streamer cannons. Oh, those would do. "Heehee, this party's going to be good!"

Hmm, perhaps the party didn't need to be today. It could be later... but today was nice. Hmm, why was that word so interesting today? Oh, there she went, thinking it again. She moved to one of the large walls of the vault, lined from corner to corner with a massive line of file cabinets. Within contained almost every kind of party invitation card known to ponykind, and some only to squirrels, and only one known to Celestia, which was coincidentally the one about how Equestria was made.

"Hmm... nope!" she said, replacing a card into its small folder as she browsed through everything. This was going to be a special party invitation card, one that was made for a special occasion like this. Hmm, that sounded a bit callous, maybe something better. Why would she need a card, again? Silly her, forgetting that she invited them herself.

Sticking a hoof into a random folder, she dug out a stack of parchment and a ready quill, and jotted away the time and date of the party. Tomorrow! Not today, because 'today' was being strange. Yes... tomorrow night would be perfect! Giggling to herself, she sealed all of the scrolls before placing them all into bags, each of the five dedicated to one of her friends. This party was going to be perfect! She would make sure of that.





Linen looked a lot better than he did yesterday. In fact, he looked nothing at all like the mess that Applejack found him as. With a proper washup and rest, he actually looked like a normal stallion, if not still a bit shy, but that was to be expected from him.

He suddenly jumped from his bed, realizing it was not his own. Looking around the room, it was furnished with simple taste, with a small rose in a vase nearby and a neat dresser in the room. Aside from that, there was nothing. He carefully looked out the window, afraid that there might have been an angry mob waiting for him outside: he found nothing, save for t the early rising sun and a sea of apple trees beyond.

Wait a moment. Apples.

He nearly tripped over his own hooves in his excitement to get to the door, catching himself on the table next to it just as it opened. Supporting himself on the table, he looked up to meet Applejack face-to-face, and they both stared at each other for a moment. That was broken when Linen recomposed himself and nervously looked away.

"I... uh, good mornin'..." Applejack slowly said.

"Um... good... morning..." he said back to her.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, you could just cut the tension in here with a knife." A unicorn mare appeared from behind her, and Linen almost had his breath taken away by her beauty. That was, if he hadn't accidentally hit his head on the wall behind him. "Ah! Are you okay, darling?"

"I... I'm okay..."

"Really, when Applejack said she had a guest in her house, which also happened to be the only stallion in town, I simply could not resist investigating. Oh, where are my manners? I am Rarity, owner of the Carousel Boutique in Ponyville. You must be that Linen Spool which I've heard so much about."

"I... um... are you... okay?"

"Okay? What do you mean, darling? Of course I'm fine."

"I mean in... 'that' way..."

"Oh?" Rarity blinked for a moment. "Oh! Why, of course I am, Linen! I am a proper lady, and I shall not act unsophisticated in the audience of others! Do not fret, for I promise that I shall not lay a single hoof on you in an act of lust."

"She means she got all her kicks off all in one go, sugarcube," Applejack stated, much to Rarity's displeasure. "And so did I," she added, if not to lessen the blow.

"Oh... okay," Linen said. "Um... hello, Miss Rarity, I'm... Linen Spool..."

Rarity smiled at him. "It's an absolute pleasure to meet you. Linen. Might I say, your coat is absolutely pristine, much more so than any stallion I've seen in Ponyville. Where did you learn such proper habits?"

"I'm from Canterlot... uh, that isn't bad, is it?"

"Bad? Certainly not!" Rarity said. "Almost everypony in Canterlot knows the secret to keeping themselves well-groomed, and it seems that applies to you, as well. Come now, let us go downstairs! It would be unseemly to have a proper conversation in a bedroom, of all places."

Linen continued contemplating his fate: here he was, a newcomer in a town he'd only moved to just recently, and he went from virgin to bedding practically every mare in town. Celestia knew that if his parents found out, they would most likely keel over from the shameless abound. It gave him an uneasy feeling... but at the very least, he noticed that the aphrodisiac effects from yesterday had worn off.

"...and when Applejack told me about you yesterday, that's when I decided I had to talk to you," Rarity finished, bringing Linen back to reality. He found that he had mindlessly taken a seat down in Applejack's living room, as the two mares conversed with each other. "So, about your occupation, Linen..."

"Oh... Um, I'm supposed to work at Sofas and Quills. Mostly as a... um, mender. I fix upholstery, and things like that. I also make my own cloth and things in my spare time."

"So you can sew? What a marvelous skill to have, Linen!" Rarity said cheerfully. "Oh, what am I saying? I should have realized from your name! So, do you make your own clothing in your spare time? Oh, I'd love to compare our works sometime; you have no idea how refreshing it is to see another tailor in town! Say, what kind of fabrics do you make?"

"I make... um..." His mind raced, thinking over all the products he'd made and sold back in Canterlot. "Um... have you heard of the pristine velvet fabric?"

"Have I?" Rarity said, surprised. "It's only one of the rarest fabrics around! Less than fifty shipments were made, and they were of such high quality, I never had the chance to make a dress out of it myself! If it hadn't been sold anonymously, and only to select clientele, I would have dropped a small fortune just to have a roll of such amazing fabric!"

"I... um... I made that..."

Rarity sat in silence for a moment, her mouth agape. "I... surely, you're joking?"

"No... I... I really did make it. My parents didn't want me to pressured by the social aspects of it, and I wanted to make some money. So that's what I did, and they took the marketing part off of my hands. I... didn't really think it would turn out to be so popular..."

"Popular? Popular?!" Rarity shouted, nearly making Linen jump from his seat. "Linen, you... you can craft the fabric of the heavens themselves! Please!" In the blink of an eye, she was standing dangerously close to him, her eyes pleading. "Please tell me you can provide me with some! I'll... I'll do anything! Just tell me what you want!"

"I... don't want anything," Linen simply stated. "I... only sold them so I could make enough money to move out here on my own, and the leftovers from the sales help keep me afloat. I'm... uh, really sorry, Miss Rarity, but I'm not making it anymore..."

"Please...? I'll... do... anything...." she said, her face drifting slowly closer to his lower half.

"I... uh... please, Miss Rarity, I—"

"Now hold on there, Rarity," Applejack said, interrupting with a solid hoof and separating the two. "You ain't goin' to take advantage of him on my watch, you hear?"

"I... well, of course, Applejack. I just... really want that fabric," Rarity said. "You don't understand just how rare it is! A single sheet nowadays would sell for thousands of bits! Thousands! Dozens of ponies in the industry have all racked their minds trying to find the maker, and here he is, sitting right in front of me!"

"He said he ain't makin' anymore," Applejack said, looking at Linen. "Er... right?" Linen nodded. "Yeah, see?"

"Well, I hope that you would consider making more in the future, Linen. But... oh, what have I done? I will just... settle myself down now. Goodness, it seems that I can be much more frightful when I'm not in heat," Rarity said, taking her seat again. "But really, what caused you to move? Your parents certainly seem to have your well-being in mind."

"It's because of that..." Linen said. "I'm not dependent on them; I want to be myself, and live by myself, but it's just... I want to do it in a way where I'm not surrounded by other ponies all the time."

"I see... and so you came to quiet little Ponyville..." Rarity said, nodding. "Well, I... appreciate your straightforward honesty, Linen. Although I am a bit... unhappy that you've chosen to discontinue your production of pristine velvet, I can at least respect that decision."

"I thank you, too, Miss Rarity. I'm really sorry, but there was just so much stress involved with making it that I'm... not really keen to continue."

She chuckled. "As a fellow tailor myself, I must agree. The stress can be... quite harrowing, at times, so it's understandable why you'd want to stop. In any case, I believe I've overstayed my welcome. I apologize for my behavior, Applejack," she said, sliding off her chair and making for the door... but not before stopping and walking over to Linen.

"Miss Rarity?" Linen barely asked before he received a quick peck on the cheek, making his face turn red on the spot before Rarity turned to leave.

"He certainly is a cute one, isn't he, Applejack?" Rarity teased. "Take good care of him." Rarity left as Applejack remained sitting, saying. nothing. She realized that she, too, was blushing, and as Linen muttered something about freshening up and heading back upstairs, she had to agree with Rarity. He looked a lot cuter when he wasn't a complete mess.





The knocking on the door came suddenly, rapping in quick succession as if there were some sort of disaster going on outside. Linen was quite sure there wasn't one, because as far as he could see, all of his facilities were intact, as was his home. The only disgruntling fact about the knocking was that it was in the middle of the night, and he found himself falling asleep at his workstation again.

But who could it be at this hour? He carefully walked out into the hallway, and could see a familiar mane shape's shadow projected in the middle of the hallway. With that mane style, it was none other than Pinkie Pie. Still, though, it was quite annoying that she chose now of all times to visit...

He gave a small yawn as he opened the door, finding himself too tired to respond in shock as Pinkie Pie stood waiting for him with the widest grin he'd ever seen on her face. "Umm... Miss Pinkie... did you need something?"

"Paaaaaaaaaaarrttyyyyyyy..." she said. "Tomorrow night! Here, at your house!"

"Here? But I don't have any—"

Pinkie cut him off. "Don't worry! I'll provide everything we need! It'll be just us seven, okay? Nopony else!" She looked around, now aware that there were other houses in the area, and she didn't want to wake anybody up. "That's okay, right?" she said normally.

Linen looked down and scraped the floor with his hoof. "I... um... I guess that's okay..."

"Great!" She covered her mouth, shushing herself mentally for being so inconsiderate. There were plenty of times to be loud, but not when ponies were sleeping! "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

Linen nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, Miss Pinkie... uh, you and your friends... uh, good night." He slowly closed the door, leaving Pinkie alone in the moonlight, and stood waiting until he heard her hoofsteps depart from his front door. Breathing a sigh of relief, but feeling strangely awake... well, at the very least, he could get to making something, perhaps even a certain gift for his guests tomorrow.

To be honest, he didn't really know what to get: words were nice when speaking of forgiveness, but he felt that a physical object would at least signify that it meant more to him than just a simple conversation within the confines of his own home. Then maybe... yes, that would do just fine. He returned to his workroom and quickly began digging through his storage for the materials needed for fabric making. He barely had any left, but he decided to keep some around... just in case.

At least they would come in handy now. Preparing his tools and cleaning up his station, he tried to remember the creation process for the cloth known as pristine velvet as best as he could...





"Whew, that was some hard work! You ain't half bad yourself, for a unicorn," Applejack said. It had been at least a week and a half since Linen had arrived in town, and from what he could tell according to Applejack's testaments, the heat period seemed to be subsiding now. In a few days, he would be cleared to go back to town, but until then, he found himself helping around at Sweet Apple Acres.

"Is it always this bad?" he said, giving a buck to a tree. He wasn't given to hard labor, but he didn't see any harm in participating, considering that he had nothing else to do. And it was certainly strenuous; to think that Applejack did this for a living gave him a better appreciation of those who provided. "Um, I mean with the trees..."

Applejack chuckled. "I know what you mean, sugarcube. Yeah, it does get kind of bad around this time of year, and when my brother comes back, we usually have to pull some overtime to get all this harvested in time for applebuckin' season."

They continued on in silence, the air occasionally peppered with the sound of their grunts as they worked their way through the orchard. After another dozen or so trees, Linen felt like he couldn't go on anymore and collapsed underneath the shade of the tree he had barely bucked. "This... is... hard... work..." he panted.

"I won't hold it against you if you want to stop here, Linen," she said. "For a stallion from Canterlot, you did pretty well for your first time. You can head back to the house if you want and get some rest, I'll finish up this part of the orchard for today."

He thought for a moment: Miss Applejack had been generous with her hospitality, and he felt a little bad for wanting out so early. His father had taught him that good deeds should be rewarded, and so he simply thought up another solution. "I could ferry the baskets back to the barn if you want. I can just use my magic so I won't have to carry it."

"That sounds great, sugarcube!" She bucked another tree and Linen watched as all the apples fell into a number of scattered buckets around the base, not even missing a single apple. Impressive. "There ya go! You can handle that much, right?"

If Linen could be said to be good at anything other tailoring, it would be using magic. It was required, after all, with all his escape attempts from the public eye, and some shuffling work done when he was at work. Lifting things like buckets full of apples was well within his range of expertise. "I can handle it," he agreed, feeling good for making himself more useful. He ferried the filled baskets all the way back to the barn, finding a place for them next to a pair of wagons and more apple-filled barrels.

"Hey, there, hot stuff. So you're helping out Applejack now, huh?" Linen looked up to see Rainbow Dash sitting in the rafters, smiling down at him. "You know, technically, I'm still in 'that' period, so if you want to go for another run..."

Linen merely stood still, staring at her. She was back! And she wanted more! What could he do? Obviously not outrun her, that was for sure... talking would get him nowhere because... oh, no, he was panicking again! He felt himself hyperventilate as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Whoa there, buddy, are you alright?"

"I... uh... I'm just... fine?" he said, carefully stepping backwards. "Uh, listen, I don't want any trouble, I was just... in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Feels more like right place at the right time, if you ask me. Uh, listen, I still have a few of those cupcakes from Pinkie, so I really want to get in a few more times before everything goes back to normal. You understand, don't you?"

"...what's taking you so long, Linen? I thought you—" Applejack said, walking inside. "Hmm? What're you just standing around for and—Rainbow Dash!" Applejack said, looking up. She jumped defensively in front of Linen. "You're not going to take him!"

"Whoa, whoa, okay, I get it, Applejack... yeesh, if you wanted him all to yourself, you could have just told me. You've been here for a while now, so I can only guess how many times you two have done it already."

"I... don't..." she stuttered, turning red. "Dash, you're bein' rude here! I've never done it with Linen, and I ain't goin' to take advantage of him like that! Especially when I'm in heat... unlike a certain someone who did!"

"It was harmless! I had the muffins, and they worked perfectly! What's wrong with a little good harmless fun—"

"Fun for you, not him!" Applejack interrupted.

"Yeah, alright, I get it. So, do you need some help around here? I know how bad things get backed up when this season rolls around, and I'm not really doing anything at the moment. Weather team's still... uh, under the covers, so I'm game."

"Sure, Dash... but don't get any funny ideas, y'hear?"

Dash rolled her eyes. "Yeah, AJ..." she said, then turned to look at Linen. "But, seriously, do want to have another go?"

"Dash!"

"I'm joking!" She floated to the ground, landing in front of Linen and holding out a hoof. "Okay, so let's do this right. Hi, I'm Rainbow Dash. I'm one of Ponyville's weather pegasi." Linen looked at her eyes and found no trace of lying in her eyes, so he tentatively held out a hoof and slowly shook hers.

"I'm Linen Spool..." he said, not bothering to meet her eyes. "Uh, nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash."

"Aw, he's so shy," Dash said, giving a dry smile at Applejack. "Even shier than 'Shy, and that's saying a lot. So, you got all those trees to buck? Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like if the Apple family actually had some extra help around here... besides Caramel, anyway. Well, let's get to work! And don't worry, AJ, I won't try anything funny. I promise."





The sky had been dark for quite a while when the first knock arrived at Linen's door. He answered to find that all six of the mares stood at the doorstep, not dressed up for a high-end occasion, but at least looking much nicer than normal. "Oh, hello... um, please, come in," he said.

"Hiya, Linen!" Pinkie said. "Oh, let me get all the party stuff!"

"Party stuff? Where is it?" he asked.

"In your kitchen, of course, silly!" Pinkie stuck her hoof into the doorway leading to the kitchen and pulled out a party hat, and Linen was pretty sure he didn't keep any party hats in the kitchen. "Okay, everypony, gather around in the living room! I'll go get the food!"

As Linen led them all into his living room, the mares were all busy conversing with each other. Dash was regaling Fluttershy with yet another day on the job as a weather pegasi, Applejack and Rarity were discussing the classiness of his house, and Twilight merely walked around, looking at... well, just about everything.

"Sooooooooooo!" Pinkie appeared, placing snacks and drinks in front of everyone. "We're all here today to tell you just how sorry we are, Linen!"

Twilight took the lead from there. "Uh, yes, we're... really sorry about what we did to you, Linen... and I don't mean to offend you or anything, but at least I got a lot of material for my research..." she said, laughing nervously. "I hope to extend a sincere offer of friendship to you."

"Well, um... I accept," Linen said readily. "I know you all didn't mean to, but... it's okay, I forgive you all. I'm not really that good at remembering things anyway." Or so he thought, as his thoughts returned to the fact that he'd done it with several of these mares already, and it was honestly quite difficult to wash that picture from his mind.

"Yeah, well, I'll just lay it out so I can get it over with," Dash said. "I'm really sorry and I hope we can be friends. Besides, you're not half bad at applebucking, and having magic around on the farm really helps out a lot. We're cool."

"And I'm really sorry for what did to you," Fluttershy added. "I hope we didn't hurt you too much..."

"No, it was... uh... okay?" he said, giving an unsure smile. "I appreciate that you cared enough about me not getting hurt, Miss Fluttershy. Thank you for that."

Fluttershy giggled. "I guess Dash was right... he really is shier than I am."

"And he's a right fine pony by my eyes!" Applejack said. "Right, Rarity?"

"Oh, yes, of course. I must say, Linen," Rarity said. "Did you make every single piece of cloth in this house by yourself?"

"Actually, I did, Miss Rarity," he said, proud of the fact. "Sometimes I try to make my own clothes, but I find that they don't usually turn out that well..."

"Then perhaps we can collaborate sometimes, and see if we can't produce something amazing," Rarity offered. "Please, do consider the offer, because I'd love to have a pony as talented as yourself share some of your tailoring secrets."

"I'll keep it in mind," he said happily. "Oh, and I have something for all of you..."

"A gift? For all of us?" Pinkie said, gasping. "That's totally super-duper-awesome, but you didn't need to do that for us!"

"Well, consider it as something for friendship, if not for accepting your apologies," Linen said, opening the small box that had been sitting on the table and levitating its contents to each of the six mares: a single small sheet of deep, resplendent velvet, with a shine almost as if it were a gem.

"Oh, Celestia..." Rarity said, eyes widening as the cloth floated in front of her. "Is that...?"

Linen nodded. "I didn't have a lot, Miss Rarity, so I had to make do. It's only a small cut, but I hope you enjoy it."

"Enjoy it? Oh, Linen, this is absolutely fantastic!" She gave him a kiss on the cheek and returned to ogling the velvet as her eyes glowed. Twilight and Applejack were equally amazed by the bright quality of the cloth, while Fluttershy was busy talking to Dash about the quality of cloth types, of which the latter didn't really seemed to be impressed.

Then there was another knock on the door.

"Huh? I thought I already invited all the ponies that needed to be here!" Pinkie said. "I wonder who it is?"

Linen motioned for Pinkie to sit down, deciding to answer the door for himself. When he opened the door, he found a familiar sight, one that raised a great many issues that he hadn't actually bothered to think about. His sister, Silk Weave, stood before him, wearing her usual set of jewelry and fiddling with her earrings when she noticed him.

"Oh, hey, Linen!" she said. "Your birthday is coming up, so I thought I'd just drop by and say hi! I took a vacation, so I'll be staying in Ponyville for a week or so! It'll be fantastic!"

Linen began to panic. He knew he was going to have to explain it to her sooner or later, and if not, gossip would. Silk was always the nosy-but-caring type, and when things got bad for Linen, she saw to it that he was always taken care of. It was partly her idea why he moved here in the first place, though he wondered earlier if that wasn't just an excuse to visit a place where she wouldn't be recognized on the street.

But this was going to be a problem. His parents would find out what he did, then they'd disown him, his sister would hate him, and then he'd be ostracized by his own loved ones for the rest of his life and—

He fainted.

"Linen?! Linen!" Silk said, immediately rushing to his unconscious body. "What's wrong? Linen, what happened?!"

It was then that she looked up and saw several mares staring right back at her from down the hall, and Silk's face went from worried to outright hostile.

"Who are you all... and what have you done with Linen?"
> Explanation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Who are you? Answer me!" Silk Weave demanded, holding Linen close to her.

"I... uh... this is really..." Dash said. "Uh... we can explain this?"

"You'd damn right better explain this," she hissed. "My brother is not one to sleep around with mares, and he's never one to invite anypony else ever into his own house." The amber glow of magic slowly came into being around Linen, and Silk gently lifted her brother's body into the house, and slammed the door shut behind her with a force that could be felt through the entire building.

"Uh, we really mean it," Applejack said, stepping forwards towards Linen only for Silk to block her way and met her focused glare. "I... we really hope you would sit down with us...?"

"If any of you try anything funny, I won't hesitate to throw you all out the window," Silk replied slowly, her voice calm but steadfast, a threat delivered in a way that said that she actually anticipated doing it. "I am going to keep my brother within my sights at all times. Understood?"

"I... understood, ma'am," Applejack said, nervously looking back towards her friend, eyes pleading for help only to find that she was just as baffled as she was. "We're all gathered in the living room..." Applejack gestured towards the doorway with her hoof, as Twilight and Rarity poked their heads out around the corner.

"Um, Linen? What's going on? We heard some commotion out here and—oh, dear Celestia..." Twilight mumbled, seeing the farmer mare, the weather pegasus, and a mare that she hadn't seen before. "Wow, um... I don't remember inviting another mare..."

"Invited?" Silk asked, eyes darting between each of them as she sized them up. "Invited for what?"

"I... uh... hahaha..." Twilight giggled nervously, unable to answer.

"That's what we were here to talk about, Miss Weave," Applejack answered. "It's... a real long story. You see, Ponyville just had its... well, that week, and Linen..."

"Linen moved here around that time, didn't he?" Silk asked, sighing, though the anger in her voice was only partially alleviated by the answer. "Then I guess it would be best to learn how it happened... and why you're all here in his house."





"Poor dear," Fluttershy said, wiping off the sweat collecting on Linen's head with a dry towel. "It looks like he's having a nightmare."

"It's a normal thing for Linen... he's always having nightmares about something," Silk said, sitting at the table in the center of the room absentmindedly poking at a slice of cake that Pinkie had procured for her. She poked off a chunk and ate it with little enthusiasm, instead pushing away the plate afterwards and delving straight to business. "So, with our introductions out of the way, I believe you were going to explain all of this...?"

"Right... ahem..." Twilight said. "I'm sure you're well aware that Linen has had some... mare troubles, especially considering that he arrived right when Ponyville began its estrus period."

"Understandable," Silk said, with another exasperated sigh. "I've been through that myself. Though I guess when one's been brought up in a city where social status means everything, learning to control one's urges almost becomes second nature. So, how did this all start?"

Twilight cleared her throat, opting to answer with her more precise attention to detail lest the others end up tripping over their own words. "Well, shortly after Linen arrived, a mare by the name of Colgate found him first, just standing in the middle of the street. From that, Linen attempted to escape, eventually gathering up enough mares to constitute roughly around half the town."

"Half the town?" Silk shook her head. "You gals don't have a lot of stallions around these parts, do you...?"

Applejack chuckled sourly, shaking her head, as well. "Sugarcube, I don't think there's any stallion that's got enough stones to try and stay in this town. Most of ours just take a vacation or skip on out of here before the season sets in. After that... things get... heated... so to speak."

"And what happened after that?" Silk asked. "Judging by the current state of affairs, I don't think my brother succeeded in his escape attempt..."

"Uh... yeah..." Pinkie Pie said. "That would be my fault. I sort of caught him in the... stallion's room near the park, and then I sort of... knocked him out... with a party cannon blast to the face..."

"...say again? What's a party cannon, exactly?"

"It's kind of like a regular cannon, except it shoots out... you know, party stuff," Pinkie said, her voice low and without the usual exuberance she normally had. This party certainly took a rather dramatic turn on such short notice. "Like confetti... and balloons... and streamers and all that. Except he sort of took it all to the face, so I kind of knocked him out."

"So that's how he was captured. I'm not going to ask what you were doing dragging a cannon along with you... but I take it from how you're all here and Linen's face seems to be intact that the damage to him was minimal?"

"Oh, yeah, totally harmless!" Pinkie said, nodding. "It's not supposed to hit hard enough to hurt anypony, just cover their face with all the party stuff. I think he might have just... you know, fainted, or something. Er, not that I'm saying that it was his fault or anything! I know it was totally not nice of me to do that to him, just that... he was a stallion, and I hadn't seen a stallion for a while by that time, so I couldn't resist following him, and he was playing hard-to-get with the whole town! So I thought if I could catch him, then everypony would be hap—"

"I think I get it," Silk interrupted. "So you knocked him out. Then what?"

"Pinkie sort of... delivered him to all the mares in town. We all gathered at the town hall once news started to spread that we managed to capture a stallion," Twilight said. "Even me. I'm not really experienced with the.... opposite gender, so I had to check it out. And when I got there, Colgate was practically out of her mind, and claimed him before any of us could."

"This Colgate mare... what's she like?" Silk asked, a number of voices screaming in her head to just flip the table right at that moment and go on a marehunt throughout all of Ponyville. Her heartbeat pounded in her head, and she forced herself to remain still.

Twilight gulped. "She's usually a very... normal mare. She's friendly, very nice, and outgoing. It was kind of surprising to see her like that, but I guess estrus can do some pretty crazy things. Apparently, she has a thing for shy stallions... like your brother. I know for sure that Pinkie and Applejack were there... but I don't remember much after I had... well, my turn."

Silence fell, and the tension in the room grew thick enough that one could cut it with a knife, until Applejack spoke up.

"...for what it's worth, I never laid a single hoof on your brother... it was... I just felt really bad for doing that. I just left and... did it myself," she said. "I'm not sure 'bout the other mares, but I'm pretty sure Pinkie had her turn with him. Along with every other mare in the room."

"Wait... you meant he actually did it with almost every mare in town?" Silk said, covering her open mouth with a hoof. "How... how is that even possible?"

"That would be me, again, hehe..." Pinkie said, raising her hoof. "I sort of have this... thing, a food, that allows mares to not end up with foals in their bellies, and I had enough for the whole town! Just in case, you know, so I really hope it ends up okay. But I also had this thing for stallions that could keep them going all night long, and then some. And I gave it to him."

"Sweet Celestia..." Silk mumbled, rubbing the side of her head. "This is all sorts of messy, isn't it? I think I'm starting to get the general point now... keep going."

"And then after that, he sort of woke up in the middle of the night, and disappeared from the town hall," Twilight continued. "We don't know where he went after that, but we assume that he ran, since Pinkie claims that he ran into him in Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville's premier bakery, the next night, only to be knocked out by an overdose of sugar over a rogue bowl that she left in the kitchen."

"Yeah, it was actually a good thing that happened," Pinkie said. "I saw him from the second story window from Sugarcube Corner, and I immediately knew that he was trying to look for food. The doors and windows were locked, because the Cakes told me that they didn't want anypony get inside, but I unlocked the door in the kitchen for him. And then I set out some more of those special keep-stallions-going cupcakes for him, and he ate them all up! Then I tried to get him and that was when I got knocked out."

"I guess from there..." Twilight said, looking to the mare sitting near the couch, facing away from the conversation as she focused intently on Linen's haggard breathing. "...he ended up at Fluttershy's place."

"Yeah... he did," Dash said, rubbing her arm as Silk tilted her head at the sight of the pegasus' uncharacteristic fidgeting. "He sort of ended up there, and I think that was where it got the... well, it was really bad. Really bad on my part," she whispered.

Silk maintained her facade of neutrality, and leaned forward on the table to stare directly into Dash's magenta eyes. Dash could only idly open her mouth several times in response; the gaze was intense, and a chill suddenly descended upon her body as she unconsciously began to start shuddering. She simply waited, as Silk took the initiative and made the first move.

"So... what did you do to my brother, Rainbow Dash?" Silk asked.

"I... uh... listen, it wasn't like I really meant any harm by it, but Linen was... okay, I guess I could probably explain it as the wrong place at the wrong time? He totally just appeared out of nowhere, and Fluttershy and I were just sort of... getting it off at her house, and it was way out of Ponyville, so we didn't get the news about a stallion showing up. Fluttershy brought him back to her house, saying that she'd found him just laying under a tree right outside of Sweet Apple Acres."

"That would be my farm," Applejack said. "Right outside of Ponyville."

"Ah, the apple trees, hmm...?" Silk noted with interest. "I've heard many good things about the Apple family, especially about your little group here in Ponyville. But I digress." Her casual smile disappeared and she looked back to Dash. "Continue."

"Anyway..." Dash began, taking a quick dainty sip from the cup of water in front of her to assuage the butterflies in her stomach. "Pinkie said earlier that she gave him that food that makes the stallion all ready to go, and stuff, so when we found him, I sort of wanted to... do it, just right there and then. That conversation sort of woke him up, and then I just sort of pushed it onto him and then we just... rutted him. Hard."

"And you also had that miracle pastry for mares that Pinkie was talking about earlier?"

"Yeah, I mean, Pinkie was handing them out, and they were free, so I figured I might as well pick some up." Dash ran a shaky hoof through her prismatic mane, wiping away a sheen of sweat that had begun gathering. "I didn't realize how useful it came in later. I couldn't hold myself back, and we ended up doing it a few times." She paused a moment, contemplating her next words. "I'm sorry. I should have known that he was totally out of it, and that we shouldn't have done what we did."

"You don't have to apologize," Silk said. "I know estrus is an incredibly stressful period of time, and certain actions might have been made with... clouded judgment. Not that I'm any less displeased for saying that." She slammed her hoof into the table. "I knew we should have stopped him from moving to Ponyville, but he was just... we didn't know it would happen. Things just seemed normal, and Linen wrote back after a while saying that he was completely fine..."

"Does he keep secrets from you a lot?" Applejack asked.

Silk nodded. "He's oftentimes very nervous about what he lets out, even to us... his own family. Normally, it takes a bit of coaxing for him to reveal anything, but it was hard for us to tell about this particular situation. The written word is in no way a good judgment of his current state of mind. I should have visited sooner."

"It's alright," Twilight said, sadly looking at Linen's sleeping form on the couch. "I guess part of the blame lies on us, and the whole town for using him like that. No stallion should ever be put in that sort of situation, especially one like Linen. I suppose it was just lucky that he caught a break afterwards when Applejack found him. Well, again, if you could take it like that."

"Wasn't she with the other mares in the town hall?" Silk asked, raising a brow towards the cowpony. "You rutted him like the rest of them did."

"I swear that I didn't lay a single hoof or any part of my body near 'im," Applejack said. "It just... felt wrong, so I just... stopped myself from doing it, just walked away like nothin' had happened. I would have stopped the rest of the mares, but that whole darn buildin' was like a boilin' teapot just waitin' to whistle. And I think if I stayed any longer than I did, I would have joined them. But I didn't, and I went straight back to Sweet Apple Acres and tried to sort out this whole sorry affair on my lonesome."

"And what reason do I have to believe that you're not lying?" Silk asked.

"I..." Applejack went silent. Her word against Silk's, and Linen's sister had absolutely no reason to believe that she was telling the truth. That bit her harder than any lie she could have told; to have told the truth only for it to be readily as accepted as a lie instead. "I swear I'm tellin' the truth, but that's all I can say about it... I'd understand if you didn't believe me."

"I guess that remains to be seen, especially when I hear Linen's side of things. And you found him and took him in?"

"Yes, ma'am. Gave him a healthy serving of Apple family hospitality, and set him up right and proper with some food to fill his belly. By that time, he was already plum tuckered out, so I gave him our guest room to sleep in. I think that was when things started to cool down."

Silk decided to no longer ignore the absorbing gaze of adoration from the beaming Rarity sitting just off to Twilight's right. "Is something wrong, Rarity?" she asked.

"Are you really... the Silk Weave? The premier fashion designer from Canterlot?"

"Yes, I am. And I have heard a great deal many things about you, Rarity, especially from one Fancypants. What is your role in all of this?"

"My role?" Rarity echoed. "Why, I believe I may have been the first voice of sanity to Linen during such dark times for him," she said, priding herself on her lack of intimate attention. "As one who understands and appreciates the nuances of maintaining a proper image, I normally isolate myself from the rest of the town during estrus and attend to my own needs as best as possible. I decided to visit Applejack that day to indulge in some cider, and conversation, as we're usually two of very few mares in town that can maintain a normal demeanor even during the worst of the urges."

"She talked with him 'bout... tailorin' stuff," Applejack said. "Linen's a tailor, isn't he? Likes to sew and all that?"

"Oh, of course," Silk said. "We grew up sewing lots of things together... though now I regret that because it resulted in him being teased in liking 'filly' things during his early school years. But he enjoyed it, and wouldn't pick another hobby over it. If anything, talking about such things with him is the easiest way to calm his nerves, and to get to know him better."

"And that's exactly what I did," Rarity said. "Then when he mentioned that he was the one who created pristine velvet—ah! That was absolutely amazing, and to think..." She levitated the small shard of cloth in front of her eyes. "...he actually went so far as to produce a single sample for one such as myself." She sniffled. "I'm so touched. But, yes! I believe he went to work with Applejack for a while afterwards, and I don't think much else happened after that."

"A little scuffle with RD happened..." Applejack said. "But it wasn't anythin' that we couldn't keep under control. He even helped 'round my farm a bit, too. Always good to have a helpin' hoof around when we need to finish up the rest of the harvest. My family usually tries to finish up the applebuck season early on so we can avoid problems like this, but we were a little bit behind schedule this year, so I guess it ended up like it did."

"And, uh... yeah, that was basically the gist of it," Twilight ended. "We're really, really sorry about what happened with Linen, and this little party that we had was sort of our way of expressing that. Well, I guess it would have..."

"...until I showed up," Silk said. "Very well. Until then, I'm afraid I must ask that this party be cut short, and for all of you to leave. I can take care of Linen for the time being."

"Oh, um... okay..." Fluttershy said, stepping away from the couch. "I... I could help if you need me to..."

Silk smiled softly at her. "I'd appreciate that very much, if it doesn't inconvenience you. I only expected this to be a short visit, not anything as bad as... this. So I would like to have your help in taking care of Linen for the time being. But!" she suddenly cried out. "Do not take this as a sign that I've accepted all of your apologies, nor does this mean that I'm any less angry about it. I would simply like sometime to think this over before I invite you all back here to either throw you all out the window or accept your apologies."

Twilight merely nodded, and the five other mares exited without a word, not willing to incur Silk Weave's wrath any further. As soon as the door had closed, Silk sighed and shook her head, then walked up to Fluttershy with a cordial smile pasted on her face.

"Really, now... of all the mares I'd have expected my brother to bed, I didn't think the Elements of Harmony would be among them, of all ponies."

Fluttershy gasped. "You... knew about us?"

"Despite the willful ignorance of some of Canterlot's high society ponies, there are some of us who quite clearly know who you and your friends are, Miss Fluttershy. Especially not after Rarity's little escapade with Fancypants and your time as a model. And Twilight certainly is not unknown, by any means. In academia gatherings, her works are a subject that comes up quite often."

"Oh, my..." Fluttershy shrunk away from Silk, gazing at her from behind her pink mane. "So does that mean that...?"

Silk nodded. "Honestly, if this was—agh, Celestia curse my indecision—if this was any other group of mares, I'd probably have flattened you all where you stood. But you mares are the element bearers, one of Princess Celestia's most trusted ponies, and I would be foalish to try and harm such important ponies, especially when you've all shown exemplary character... though I might just go around town later on and just slap the living daylights out of every mare that I see. Especially this Colgate that I've been told about."

"Um... please be careful," Fluttershy warned. "Some of the mares... well, I guess I should say that they sort of think like Dash. And some of them aren't really afraid to show their thoughts about it."

"I guess we'll see about that. Until then... I think I won't do anything. Yet. I don't want to burn any bridges for Linen so long as he decides to live here."

"Decides to live here?" Fluttershy wondered out loud. "But wasn't it him who wanted to move here in the first place?"

Silk nodded, picking up a quilt hanging off the side of the couch and wrapping up Linen cozily in it. "Yes, I know, and he's a brave one for trying to move so far out of his comfort zone," she said quietly. "When he first proposed the idea to both me and our parents, we had thought that he was simply finding his own home in Canterlot. We didn't press it any further and only learned too late that he was going to move to Ponyville... where he didn't know a single soul. Well, except for Davenport."

"So he knew Davenport before he came here?" Fluttershy asked, sitting down next to her as they watched over him. "I didn't know Davenport was so..."

"Involved?" Silk laughed daintily. "You'd be surprised. Linen first met him at one of the social gatherings that my kind are so predisposed to attending. I let Linen venture off on his own, but I always kept a sharp eye on him. When he bumped into Davenport, it nearly made my heart stop, and I half expected Linen to faint on the spot because I had expected indignant shouting to start soon after. But Davenport didn't do that. He... talked to Linen. Like he was normal, and not some sort of outcast."

"That was very nice of him," Fluttershy said, feeling the mood brighten at the revelation of Davenport's character. She hadn't ever spoken much to the stallion, but it was nice to know that he was about as caring as most of Ponyville's denizens were.

"Yes... it was. And you could tell that Linen began to panic, as soon as he locked eyes with him. I don't think there was any way Davenport could have missed his nervous ticks, darting eyes, or sweating head. He actually managed to calm Linen down, and that's something that I thought only we could do. He became Linen's first... friend, if you could call him that, shortly after."

"Oh... I guess that was probably why he wanted to move to Ponyville. I like it here myself... it's very quiet."

"I can tell. This town has such a... rustic charm, and I'm sure Fancypants would agree with me." She stared out the window for a moment, watching the night sky as the stars twinkled on and off, a veritable menagerie of Princess Luna's hoofwork. "When I spoke to him on the way back home after the party, he was so... ecstatic. He managed to talk to someone that he'd never known before, and it hadn't ended in total disaster. That was the first milestone in our belief that Linen could break out of his shell."

Linen mumbled something incoherent, tossing and turning around until he settled back into a position laying on his back, his face stuck in a frown. Silk merely patted his mane several times, calming the stallion as his hastened breathing returned to a normal rate.

"...and then half a year later, he took a massive step forward; he said he wanted to move to Ponyville," Silk continued. "Oh, we gave all the excuses we could, trying to persuade him to stay here. But he wouldn't have it... and he had just the most calm look on his face even as we shouted ourselves breathless with anything we could think of. And do you know what he told us?"

Fluttershy waited to answer, unsure if Silk had been expecting one. When they met eyes, and Silk merely nodded, she pressed on. "...what did he say?"

"He simply told us... 'I'm growing up'... and it meant so much to him. To us. That he could finally be a normal pony, and maybe, just maybe, he could be just like any other stallion. Try to talk, make friends, and just experience life not from behind his curtained windows... but outside, all firsthoof. Yes, I know how he still likes to lock himself up, but that's just part of himself, and I don't think that'll ever change. Small steps first."

"Were you always this worried...? About him, I mean," Fluttershy asked.

"Not always, but that's a story for a different time. Normally, we always feared for him whenever he went outside. Any amount of stress on him could easily send him off the deep end, and that was not something we wanted to happen. But we still wanted him to be normal, and not lock himself up in his room with all his needles and threads and spending the entire day just knitting things. Getting him to outside was probably one of the most challenging things I've ever done, and I've done lots of things... and at the worst of times, we couldn't even get him to leave his room."

"Not always...?" Silk didn't bother to answer, instead merely staring blankly at the corner of Linen's quilt, deep in thought over memories Fluttershy had feared she had unwittingly dredged up.

"So..." Fluttershy trailed off. She'd obviously stumbled on a sensitive note, and decided to veer the topic of conversation to something more recent. "Um... you said something about Linen's birthday coming up soon?"

"Oh, yes, I almost forgot about that when this whole debacle decided to rear its ugly head. Yes, his birthday is in four days. I thought I would at least take a week off from work to celebrate it with him... he gets terribly lonely when nopony remembers his birthday, but our parents are still busy dealing with Sapphire Shores and her recent tour in the north. I'm almost sure Davenport doesn't know when it is... so the task was left to me. Not that I minded."

"Do you think he might like it if... if the whole town threw him a birthday party?"

Silk stood up, prancing around the room as Fluttershy could do nothing but watch the mare mull over the decision. Certainly, without truly knowing what Linen thought, this could have the potential to end in disaster. That many ponies, most of which Linen had only met by fervently attending to his little stallion, could send him back to square one. And Silk didn't want that. But if they could also have the party serve a different purpose...

"...what would be the chances of having all the mares apologize to Linen at the party, if we decide to invite everypony?" Silk asked Fluttershy.

"Oh, well... I think we might be able to do it. If you let us help you, I think we can get all the mares in town to agree. Some of them might require a bit more effort than other ones, though..."

"That's not a problem," Silk said, breaking her ladylike demeanor and cracking her neck and hoof joints. "If push comes to shove... I can solve that."
> Reparations, Part Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"You!" Silk Weave shouted, as a crowd of mares followed her charge towards the one unfortunate blue mare standing in the middle of town. Colgate turned her head and went wide-eyed as the unbridled fury that Silk wore across her face made her blood run cold. Not knowing who this new mystery mare was, she did what any sensible mare in her position would do.

She ran.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Silk furiously cried out, redoubling the efforts in her hooves to run this mare down, hard. Colgate immediately vaulted over Roseluck's stands, uttering a quick apology to her friend before continuing on her retreat towards... well, anywhere was better than where she was at the moment.

Silk followed her, jumping across and nearly catching Roseluck's face with her hoof had the flowershop owner not decided to dive underneath her stand to cower in fear. The group of mares that followed the pursuit conversed loudly amongst themselves, all of them having heard of this strange new arrival in town.

"Is it really Silk Weave?"

"You mean the fashion designer from Canterlot? No way!"

"Yeah, but what's she doing here for?"

"Oh... oh, Celestia, she's after Colgate!"

"Do you think it might have something to do with the stallion during estrus period?"

"What?! You see how she's going after Colgate! What if we're next?!"

"No! I'm too pretty to die!"

"Hold on there, partners!" Applejack said, bringing her gallop to a skidding stop right in front of the panicking mares, and held out a hoof to calm them. "She ain't here to hurt you! She just wants some answers, and before you ask, yes, that is the Silk Weave."

"What does she want with Colgate?" Carrot Top asked her, walking to the fore of the group upon recognizing her farmer friend. "I've never seen a mare so angry before!"

"I'm going to get you, you bitch!" they heard Silk's voice call out in the distance. Surely, this pursuit was not going to end well for Colgate, and looks of fear and flattened ears from the other mares in the group did not do much to allay their concerns.

"Does this have something to do with... that stallion?" Carrot Top pressed further.

Applejack sighed. "Yes. Silk Weave... is Linen Spool's sister."

"What?! No! I'm... I'm too pretty to die!" a mare repeated from the back, fainting in a dramatic flourish as her friend caught her before she hit the ground.

The mares grew more jittery, looking at each other and whispering madly. They'd all known what they'd done to the poor stallion, and now Silk was coming to collect from each and every one of them. The whispers told things to Applejack, little tidbits that she could barely make out: most seemed to know that Colgate was the one who appeased the entire town with an appealing offering of stallion. Now it seemed that somepony had told Silk and she was going straight for the firestarter: Colgate herself.

"But... but what about us?!" another mare said. "What'll happen to us!"

As if on cue, Roseluck pulled herself out of her stupor and trotted forward to join the group, only for a bright green flash of magic sizzle past the back of her tail and smash directly into her stand, blowing it to bits. Sounds of Silk's exertion as she attempted to what seemed to be gunning down Colgate reached the ears of the entire group as silence befell them.

"Oh... Celestia..." Carrot Top said, looking into Applejack's eyes with horror.

"Carrot..." Applejack said, slowly shaking her head. "You... were there, too, weren't you?"

An equally slow and shaky nod from Carrot Top confirmed her fears. "We're... all going to die, aren't we?" she whispered.

"Nope... or at least I don't think so, sugarcube... the original plan was that we all gathered the mares in town hall and get everypony—actually, just every mare in town—to give Linen an apology." A ear-piercing shriek in the distance nearly made everypony present jump out of their skin. "But the minute she told me she was after Colgate... well, shoot, I don't think that even I can stop anypony with that kind of fury in their eyes."

"Sweet Celestia of Equestria, protect us!"

"Oh, my gosh! Did... did she actually get Colgate?!"

"No!" Roseluck cried out, starting to sob as the scuffle in the distance seemed to have died down. "My friend... I swear... we didn't mean to..."

"Mean to? What're you talkin' 'bout, Roseluck?" Applejack asked her.

The mare looked at her, then her expression grew regretful and she took to staring at the ground. "We... after Linen escaped town hall, Colgate found him wandering around the streets. She took him back to her house and just... rutted him for a good while. Then Daisy, Lilly, and I showed up and we saw that she had him, and we just couldn't... would she even accept our apology?"

"She'd better," Rainbow Dash said, descending from the skies and landing next to Applejack. "What in the hay is she doing?! This wasn't in the plan!"

"I... should we incapicitate her?" Rarity asked, arriving with Twilight and Fluttershy as Pinkie dragged her cannon along, ready for the worst-case scenario. The cannon was visibly stuffed with tightly-packed confetti in a prismatic cannonball, and a sure shot would easily knock out anypony it was directed at. "Twilight and I stand ready, as well as Pinkie. Fluttershy, though, may not be fit to handle this situation."

"Maybe we can talk her down," Applejack suggested. "Only problem is tryin' to keep up with her..."

"Leave that up to me," Dash said, leaving a ribbon of color trailing in her wake as she zoomed into the skies to locate Silk. That task in itself wasn't too difficult: wisps of smoke mixed in with the sound of magical bolts impacting the ground trailed off towards the distance, circling around the edge of town. Colgate must have been running for dear life as Silk's banshee shrieks continued to echo through the air.

She followed the trail down to where the chase was currently going down: Colgate, panicking in her attempts to escape Silk, hadn't been entirely focused on trying to carve herself a proper trail to lose Silk. She had simply been trying to put as much distance between her pursuer and herself, though that didn't help much against a mare whose motivation was pure rage.

"Stop trying to run from me, damnit!" Silk screamed, her face beet red as she panted like a madmare. Dash quickly descended, pulling up alongside her and waving her hooves to get her attention. "What?! What is it, Rainbow Dash?! Can't you see that I'm kind of busy here?!"

"Calm down, Silk! Didn't you say that you just wanted to talk to her?" Dash asked.

"I changed my mind! Now get out of the way!" she hissed, as Dash pulled up in front of her in an attempt to get her to slow down. "I mean it, Dash! Get! Out! Of! My! Way!"

"No way! This wasn't what we agreed on! And now you're trying to hurt her?! This was not part of the plan, Silk! Calm down before you end up regretting it! What do you think Linen would think if he was here to see all of this?!"

"He'd understand, because I've spent my entire life looking out for him like this! He wasn't able to protect himself, and the one time I let him out of my sight, he gets hurt, and this mare started it all!" Silk said, using her magic and gruffly throwing Dash aside. "Now move aside!"

"Wait, hold on—"

As Silk returned her attention to chasing Colgate down, she found that her new focus was not on trying to sear the two-toned tail of the mare into a fine burning stump, but rather the bark of a tree that had zero intention of clearing a path for her, star fashion designer from Canterlot lot or not. She felt her body tense up as she fought to hold her breath, slamming all her hooves into the ground as she attempted to futilely brake in the short distance she had.

Dash merely flinched as she witnessed Silk's impact straight into the tree, seeing the body of the mare flop to the ground after she was knocked unconscious.

"Oh, hay... she's going to feel that one in the morning..."





"...is she going to be okay?"

"Wow, her horn didn't break off... with the force she hit that tree with, I could hear it all the way from town hall."

"Is she still angry? Oh, Celestia, I hope she doesn't kill us when she wakes up..."

"Just calm down, everypony..." 

Silk's head felt like someone had taken a hammer to it, and her vision was swirling as she attempted to open her eyes. The first thing she noticed was bright sun, blue skies... and a crowd of ponies surrounding her, as the familiar sight of a purple unicorn shuffled around to the right of her vision, growing in size until she was staring straight into a pair of eyes and a bright flash from her horn.

"Silk? Silk, are you okay? Can you hear what I'm saying?" Twilight asked.

"I... ugh... what happened?" Silk mumbled.

"You suffered a high-speed collision with a tree just down the street from Sugarcube Corner. I don't think I've ever seen a non-pegasus mare run that fast before! Your horn seems to be okay, but I'm more worried about the mental aspects of your injuries. Can you think straight?"

"Can't... see... straight..." Silk said, closing her eyes as the dizziness continued unabated.

"That would most likely be the aftereffects of your collision still in play. Just stay down and try not to move around too much. Nurse Redheart from the Ponyville Hospital is on her way here to treat you."

"Was... she involved with my brother, too?"

"Thankfully, no. She stayed at the hospital the whole time." Twilight brought her beam towards each of Silk's eyes as Silk could feel her own vision clearing. "Okay, doesn't seem like your eyes are out of order..."

"...where's Colgate?"

"Colgate is—"

"I'm right here." Twilight and Silk both turned their heads towards the group of ponies, as Colgate pushed her way to the front. "I... I'm right here. Listen, I... I know what I did and... and if you'd like to..." She gulped. "...to talk about it in private... we can do that. I won't object."

"Colgate..." Roseluck said, trotting up alongside her and giving her a hug.

"It's okay, Roseluck..." Colgate said, brushing off her friend's hug. "I know what I did, and... I want to end this. Peacefully, of course... I'm sure I don't want to... well, die."

Silk stared coldly at her, getting to her hooves and giving a sideways glance to Twilight. "Then we'll talk. Somewhere private, of course, with Twilight here to oversee our exchange. But I want to ask you something, to get it out of the way: are you aware of my brother's extreme reclusive nature?"

"I... reclusive?" Colgate asked. "Well, he did seem a little bit too... accepting of what we were doing to him... most stallions would have bucked us cold and made a run for it. I-I didn't think about it then, but now... I'm very sorry, Silk Weave. I didn't mean to hurt your brother."

Silk didn't say anything, merely contemplating the answer given by Colgate, leaving the group in silence as Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the others gathered the mares along and directed them to the Ponyville town hall. "This answer will do for now. We'll talk about this in detail once we've reached Twilight's house."

Twilight exchanged a nod with her. "It's not far from here, so I'll lead you there."

"Alright, I'm here! Where's the—oh, hello, Twilight. You said there was an emergency...?" Redheart asked, stopping before them carrying a bag full of medical supplies in her mouth.

"I... guess it won't be necessary, Nurse Redheart," Twilight answered. "Looks like the concern for injury was unfounded, so you can head back to the hospital."

"Oh. My." Redheart dropped her bag as she gaped at Twilight's company. "Is that... Silk Weave?"

"Yes, it is," Silk deadpanned. "I've been through this about a dozen times since I've arrived here. I'm not here on fashion business, I'm here for my brother. And since you aren't involved, I'd kindly suggest you to stay out of it."

"...okay..." Redheart said, picking up bag and giving a polite nod to them. "I'll be on my way. Good day now." She stopped for a moment, giving Colgate a worrisome look and added, "And good luck."





"Sit," Silk ordered, waiting for Twilight to take the seat at the head of the table before sitting down on one side of it, next to her brother.

Colgate did the same, giving the occasional glance at Linen as she waited for the conversation to begin. Linen did not do the same, avoiding the gaze of all ponies at the table and merely staring down at the wooden tabletop instead.

"So..." Silk began. "I realize that in the course of my brother's arrival in Ponyville, you were the first during Ponyville's estrus period to notice him. What happened afterwards?"

"Well, I..." Colgate said, rubbing her forearm in nervousness as she recollected the events. "I... do you want what happened, or just... what I thought at the time?"

"Both, preferably. It would give me a better picture of what happened."

"Okay. I saw your brother just trotting along, stopping once in a while and looking at the houses. I... thought he was a very cute stallion, with his wavy mane always hanging over his eyes like that," she said, causing Linen to blush. "I... introduced myself, and asked him for his name. He... reacted so shyly, and... I... sort of... have a... thing... for stallions that are shy. And cute."

Linen blushed harder as his sister paid him no mind. "Your honesty is appreciated. Go on," Silk said.

"He... didn't like that I was trying to hit on him, and he decided to run. Then every mare out on the streets at the time caught wind of him, and it turned into this huge wild goose chase on who could get to him first. We almost got him when he suddenly disappeared in a flash of light."

"Teleportation?" Twilight asked. "Very impressive."

"It... was something I learned to help me escape..." Linen said. "When I realized that the mares were in heat, I realized that I had to escape, or at least get back to Canterlot somehow... but that didn't help when I teleported into the stallion's bathroom in the park only to find Miss Pinkie waiting for me..."

"Even when she's normal, she has some very weird habits. Like being able to appear out of nowhere," Twilight said. "No one has managed to figure out how she's doing that. And from there, I assume she knocked you out?"

Linen nodded. "With that... uh, cannon of hers."

"And that was how you ended up unconscious at town hall," Colgate continued. "From there, I ended up calling dibs on having him first, and then things just went from there. For what it's worth, I tried to be gentle with him... I wanted him to enjoy himself as much as I would..."

Silk raised an eyebrow at Linen. "Was she?"

Linen's eyes darted around the space of the room before locking on with his sister's. "...yes... or at least, she was... some of the other mares were a lot more.. forceful with me, but... she kept shouting at them when they did. I was lucky to escape without any bruises."

Silk nodded in thought for a moment, turning to look at the terrified Colgate and sizing her up with a quick pan of her eyes up and down her face and upper body. "Twiilght tells me that you are a trustworthy mare. Do you believe that this is true?"

"H-huh? But... why ask me? Why wouldn't I just say something that makes me look good?"

"I asked such a thing because I wanted to see how you responded. And you've given me a very interesting answer... continue," Silk said, as Spike entered the room.

"Whoa. Uh..." he looked at Twilight. "Should I go get some drinks?"

"That would be nice," Twiilght said. Spike nodded and disappeared into the kitchen and returned with four cups before they could continue. "That was very quick. Thanks, Spike. Do you think you could file together my notes on Magical Spells and Theorem, Volume 4? They should be on my desk upstairs."

"Sure," Spike said. Twilight merely smiled and nodded at her guests, having been satisfied with turning Spike away from the conversation. He would be busy filing those notes for the better part of the day; Volume 4 certainly wasted no time in diving into the longwinded subjects.

"Please continue," Twilight urged. "He won't be back for a while, and I'd rather not have him eavesdrop on the little conversation we're having here," she continued hushedly.

"Then, later that night, after... uh, you know about the whole thing Pinkie has for both mares and stallions, right?" Colgate said, running a shaky hoof through her mane.

"Yes, I have been informed of such an item by the mare herself," Silk said, straight-faced. "Am I to assume that you have ingested in this food prior to fornicating?"

"Yes, I did. Oh, Celestia, I think it was fortunate that I did... I mean, usually contraceptives would cost a ton of bits, but then there was Pinkie just dancing around the streets handing them out for free. In the form of cupcakes! Any mare would have been stupid to reject an offer like that, but I don't think any of us were expecting that it would work."

"Pinkie magic," Twilight pointed out.

"Yeah, no kidding," Colgate said. "Things could have gotten pretty messy otherwise... anyway, I found him later that night trying to get into his house. He was fumbling with his keys and I still had the fire in me, so I tried to get him to come along with me again, and he refused... and my mind being clouded by estrus, I just found him refusing to be just so... so hot. And he sort of agreed with my statement that he felt inadequate for mares like us, so I just brought him back to my own house after that."

This time, Silk's inquiries were directed at her brother. "Is this true?"

Linen opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing and hung his head in shame. "...yes."

Silk merely patted him on the shoulder several times in comfort before looking at Colgate. "You kept him out of the hooves of the other mares for a while, if it's any consolation to me. Continue."

Colgate continued, her voice no longer shaky as she began to recall the events with finality than being marked with anxiety. "I brought him back and we... did it again several more times that night. The next morning, he was caught trying to sneak out of my house by my friends Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily, and then we all ended up doing it with him."

Silk sighed. "...why does estrus have to be such a pain in the flank...?" she muttered to herself. "So how long did Linen stay with you that day?"

"Until nighttime. When we woke during the middle of the night, he was nowhere to be found, and we had absolutely no clue where he went," Colgate said. "I went to check his house later on, but I didn't find him there, so I just returned home and just... I don't know, waited it out with my friends, I guess. It's shocking how differently you think when the urges are satisfied."

Linen bit his lip. So his assumption that Colgate would have went straight to his house was true. Thank goodness that was quickly ruled out of his list of options at the time, then... though leaving the town wasn't that much better.

"And then Linen ended up running into Pinkie Pie again and this segues into the story that you and your friends have told me, Twilight," Silk said, nodding. She levitated the cup placed before her to her lips and took a sip. "Very well. Tell me, Colgate, how do you feel about my brother?"

"Huh? I—uh, I'm not sure what you mean?" Colgate asked.

"I believe you told your side of the story with complete sincerity, and a discernible regret. You clearly were concerned about my brother, even through the hazy goggles of estrus almost nearly completing overriding your sense and reason. So with that, I am glad to say that my plan did indeed work." Silk smiled devilishly at Twilight. "And I believe that ends this part of the plan. Now all that's left is to wait for the next part to succeed."

"Wait. You forgive me?" Colgate asked, shaking her head confusedly. "B-but what I did was wrong!"

"And I said that you were forgiven. Estrus is a hard time for many mares, and you are no different; don't mistake satisfying your urges as something wrong to do. I am a bit... discomforted by the fact that you used my brother to do it, but I don't believe you ever had any intention to hurt him, or in the worst case of the word possible, to use him. I can't say the same for other mares, though."

"But you... you were going to kill me!"

"And that's the beauty of actually having the motivation to do so, my dear," Silk said, smiling. "I wanted to make a show out of you, if not to scare the other mares into truly believing that their end was coming. And might I say, it worked out far better than I could have imagined. You immediately taking flight turned it from a distraction into a full show. But that's not to say that I still don't have such a contingency in plan..."

Colgate gulped. "I promise I won't do it again," she quickly said.

"Oh, I know you won't." Silk's smile grew. "If any of you mares ever step out of line again, and I hear about it... I will be returning to Ponyville, but only once... and that will be to finish the task."

Colgate gulped. "I... understand."

"Good!" Silk said cheerily, her joviality belying her frigid intent to kill. "Now, if you don't mind, I believe you still owe a certain someone an apology. Twilight, if you would please, let's go discuss things in another room."

"But there's no need to—"

Silk cleared her throat loudly and nodded as conspicuously as possible at her brother. "Discuss. Things. In. Another. Room."

"I... oh..." Twilight said, nodding as she realized what she was hinting at. "Okay! Actually, Silk, I'd like to talk to you about something that Rarity mentioned before. It was something about incorporating the use of special magical threads into the fabric of..." Her voice faded away as she and Twilight exited the room, heading up the stairs to give Linen and Colgate the breathing room they needed.

Linen looked at Colgate as the mare returned an awkward smile.

"...hi, Linen."

"...hello."





Colgate took a sip from her own cup, swirling the liquid around in her mouth before she swallowed it to alleviate her dry throat. It was a kind of tea, though she didn't know which. Perhaps she should ask Twilight sometime when she was finished, since it didn't taste too bad, and maybe next time she had guests over, she could—

"I... uh..." Linen began, but stopping himself as he put a hoof over his mouth. Colgate felt a small smile grow on her face: he really was adorable, wasn't he? She then shook her head violently to clear her thoughts. No distractions, and she didn't want to make things worse than they already were.

"Linen..." Colgate whispered. "...do you hate me? Please be honest with your answer."

Lack of an answer followed for the next several excruciating minutes. Linen's eyes seemed to have glazed over, staring endlessly towards the wall in front of him as Colgate shifted around on her floor cushion, eyes glued on Linen as she waited for his next words. Eventually, though, just as the clock struck another ten-minute mark, Linen spoke.

"I... don't hate you..." he said. "I mean, I sort of get why mares need to... to do that. Around Canterlot, it's not outright spoken of, but everypony knows about it. Sex, that is. When I was young, I was curious and started reading into it myself. It was... really shocking, because normally it's tied to so many factors in Canterlot. Most of those relating to status and public appearance. Everypony knew when estrus came around... they just didn't talk about it."

"So, you... knew about what was happening the whole time?"

Linen nodded, tapping his hooves together on the table. "I found out about that through a combination of my own research and the... the sex education class at school. At the time, I didn't really think much of it, but it's kind of terrifying when all that dormant information is suddenly what you're relying on to save your skin."

Colgate reached across the table and put her hoof on Linen's, causing him to gasp. "I'm really sorry, Linen. I wish I could just redo all of this. If I had my senses at the time, I would have just told you to get out of town as soon as possible and to not come back for a while."

"But you didn't have your senses..." Linen replied. "Or at least... not all of them. You still tried to look for me, didn't you? You... were gentle with me... so I'm happy that you were around at the time."

"Wha—?!" Colgate looked completely flabbergasted. "That wasn't—but you aren't—that's not supposed to make it okay!"

"I know that doesn't make it okay!" he returned, volume raised slightly as he turned red at the outburst and immediately reverted to his shier state. "I mean, it was really hard to hear over the sound of all the..." He coughed. "...moaning during that time, but I could hear you shouting at all the other mares to get in line and to... be gentle with me?" he meekly ended, as Colgate's intense glare towards him grew until she blinked, breaking away and looking out the window. "I've read about the horror stories of estrus before, and I'm really glad that I didn't end up like that..."

"You're... you're right. It was just... you know how there's always those stupid mushy romance novels?" she asked. Linen nodded. "Well, I always had that sort of fantasy of romance in my mind, and I guess... Linen... you're really cute. I can say, without a doubt, that the first moment I laid my eyes on you, I wanted you to be mine. Every mare thinks differently when they're under the effects of estrus, and mine is almost always thinking about what it's like to spend life with a special somepony."

"You... don't have a special somepony?" Linen asked. "That's strange, because you're... you're very pretty, Miss Colgate."

She giggled. "Not that pretty, unfortunately. I like it out here in Ponyville, but there's never enough stallions around here. But maybe I don't need other stallions anymore." Giving an exaggerated sigh, she wearily smiled at him. "I'm... glad that things ended up the way they did. But... what about the other mares?"

"I... I'll get to that when it comes to it..." Linen said. "My sister said she had something planned for them, but I don't know what. I suppose we'll find out soon enough..."

"And... you aren't as shy as I last remember you being," Colgate noted. "What happened?"

"I... guess I'm fine talking with you, Miss Colgate. I don't feel scared, or worried about what you might think when I talk around you, like Miss Twilight and her friends. After the longest time, I think I'm finally ready to break out of my shell... but I'm not going to do it here. I need to work on it... back home."

"...so... you're leaving?"

Linen levitated a suitcase onto the desk. "Yes. It won't be permanent, though, but I want to try to conquer my anxiety by using the crowd that's always given me the most trouble. As soon as this whole issue is resolved... I'll be heading back to Canterlot with my sister. Davenport knows about it and has given me permission for temporary leave."

"Oh..." Colgate said. "Well... I guess we better go find her now that we're... you know... finished?"

They both stood and headed up the stairs, only to find Twilight sitting by herself studying a book, the window behind her cracked open. She noticed them entering and gave them a hopeful smile. "I hope everything went well, you two?"

"It did," Colgate said. "We're looking for Silk Weave. Where did she go?"

"Rainbow Dash showed up," Twilight said. "She said that all the preparations were in order and that all she needed was for Silk to be there to finalize it all. They're at the town hall at the moment. And she told me that Linen should find her there when he was done talking to you, Colgate."

"Then we'd better go find her," Linen said, looking to Colgate as the mare put a hoof on his shoulder. "Only one more thing left to do..."
> Reprieve
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The majority of Ponyville's population was absent during Linen's approach to the town hall. Stalls were left unattended, and the only sight around was that of buildings and shrubbery, with naught a pony in sight, at least until a familiar face showed up, sauntering around a barren corner and taking notice of him.

"Hello, Linen, how are you today?" Davenport asked, giving a curious glance at Colgate beside him. "...I didn't realize you knew Miss Colgate. Miss Sparkle on the other hand... what are you both doing with Linen?"

"We've, uh... met before," Colgate awkwardly said, averting his eyes. "When he first showed up to town."

"Oh, really?" he asked. "When was th—"

"Estrus season, Davenport," Linen said. "I moved to town before my job was set to begin, and I..."

Davenport's expression grew concerned, as his jaws acted otherwise, dropping in disbelief. "Oh, Celestia, I hadn't... if you told me you were going to move earlier, I could have warned you, Linen...! Then you... and her... with her... the whole town?!" His eyebrows shot up in full realization. "That's why I haven't seen a single mare on the street! You—they—all of them?!"

Linen nodded and stared at the ground. "Yeah... that's what happened."

Davenport shook his head violently for several seconds before collecting himself and straightening out his mane. "Sweet Celestia of Equestria, colt! We should count ourselves lucky that Pinkie had enough foresight to crank out the stuff that she did," Davenport said, giving a shifty look at the two mares. "Most stallions knew about that thing she was handing out... though I'm not sure if any of you can attest to its usage. I just hope you both took it when the time came around."

"It's okay, Davenport, I did... I know that I did, and I know Colgate did, too," Twilight said, sighing herself before relaxing her tense shoulders. "Every mare did, I hope. I need to talk to Pinkie later on what exactly makes the cupcakes work."

"I doubt she'll reveal her secrets, but good luck." Davenport crinkled his nose and looked around, giving a low grumble to himself when the only thing that greeted him was a small breeze that shook the bushes at the sides of the street. "Seeing as there's nopony around... I suppose you were on your way to look for them?"

"Yeah, they're all at town hall," Linen said. "Do the... uh, the other stallions know about this?"

"I sure hope to Tartarus they don't," Davenport replied. "I think some of them might just end up moving out of town, and that isn't going to help problems at all. Rather, it'd probably make it worse when next estrus season comes around and all the mares remember that there's less stallions in this town than the last season."

"How will that change anything that we do?" Colgate asked. "It's not like stallions stick around during that time, anyway."

"It's probably going to be a niggling thought sitting at the back of your mind. Oh, you say you won't care about it now, but I'm pretty sure you'll all be cursing at that little fact when the time rolls around. It's a good thing we guys never stick around long enough to see you all go crazy with estrus fever," he said, chortling lowly.

"Oh... um... Davenport..." Linen said.

"Yes, Linen?"

"I'm going to have to ask for a few months off..."

"I take it you're leaving town for a bit?" Linen nodded, and Davenport sagely nodded himself. "I see. Probably a good idea to just distance yourself from things for a moment. Get back to the folks, try to forget all this mess. Or maybe see a therapist, if that'll help. For both your recent issues, and for your anxiety, though I think that's less of a problem now since you seem to be comfortable in the presence of Miss Colgate."

"Well..." he said, blushing slightly. "She's a very nice mare..."

"That she is, I can see," Davenport said. "Well, since I've had this mess explained to me already, I think I'll just leave you both to... well, whatever it is you were doing and head back to the store. I'll see you three later, and, Linen... if you need to talk, you're always welcome in my home."

Linen smiled at him. "I'll remember that. Thank you for everything, Davenport."

"Aw, shucks, no need to flatter me. I hope things turn out well for you. In any case, I'll have to get back to mending all those repairs myself. Hope my fixing skills aren't too shabby..." Davenport mumbled, trotting off past them, before Linen and Colgate continued forward to the town hall.





"Alright, is that the last one?" Silk asked. Mayor Mare nodded, checking off the last name on her list before looking at the congregation of mares sorted before them. "Great! Now all that's left is to—"

"We're here!" Twilight shouted, entering the atrium ahead of Linen and Colgate as the crowd of mares parted to make way for them. They made their way through in silence to the stage at the end of the room, where Silk Weave and Mayor Mare awaited them.

"Hello, Linen," Silk said, smiling at her little brother as they trotted up the steps. "I..." she continued shakily, looking out at the crowd of mares whose eyes were all upon them now. "Can you handle this?"

Linen breath escaped him for a moment, and it took a minute before he managed to come to his senses as Mayor Mare began her speech detailing why they were all gathered in the town hall. "I... I think I'll be fine. I hope," he said. Colgate brushed up against him, putting a hoof on his shoulder as Twilight came up to him.

"Um, is this such a good idea?" she asked. "There are so many mares here, and..." she trailed off, nodding pointedly over her shoulder.

"We were just talking about that, Twilight," Silk said. "He says he'll be fine, or so he hopes. I hope so, too."

"Are you sure? I mean... maybe you can just accept the letter of apology and we can leave it at that. If it gets too uncomfortable to Linen, then we can just revert to that plan instead. Okay?" Twilight gently smiled at him, awaiting an answer.

"That's fine..." Linen said. "If it gets too... stifling up there, then you can step in."

"Alright, then," Twilight said, stepping aside and clearing his view right as Mayor Mare finished.

"...and with that, my good mares, it is in my hope that Linen Spool will accept our letter of apology and mend our relationship in our cozy little town." Mayor Mare walked up to the podium, deftly wrapping up the letter's extensive length of signatures and heartfelt apologies, taking several minutes as she nonchalantly hummed to herself. The rest of the mares continued to converse in low tones, occasionally throwing their glances onto the stallion standing on stage.

Rainbow Dash, hovering above the crowd on watch duty, floated down to Linen. She landed on the stage and rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Hey, there, Linen..."

"Is something wrong, Miss Dash?" Silk answered for him, sternness in her voice clearly present.

"No! Uh, nothing's wrong, I just want to... well... I just wanted to... let some things out. I feel bad about what happened, and I know we're past that, but I feel like I need to repeat it again. I'm really sorry about what happened, and how I acted, and that's totally not how I usually act. Estrus is... it does things to a mare, and I'm really sorry you had to see that. I don't expect you to accept my apology, a-and it's fine if you don't, I can understand that. I just hope we can still be... well, friends."

Silk arched a brow and looked to Linen, who merely nodded. "There you have it," Silk said. "Though I can see why this whole town seems to be short on stallions. There are some fine mares in this town, yourself notwithstanding, Miss Dash. Perhaps a little too fine."

Dash blushed. "You... really mean that?" She nervously pawed the ground. "Usually I'm told I'm really tomcoltish, or something like that..."

She smirked. "Honey, with the way every mare struts their stuff in this town, it's like you're all on estrus every day underneath those normal faces you walk around with, I'd say. Understandable, given the ratios, but you all do sort of give off a vibe that you'd eat up any hapless stallion that ends up here at the wrong time. Which I see has already happened, much to my chagrin."

"It's okay, Dash," Linen said. "I already consider you my friend. And I appreciate that you're all taking the time to fix things... usually ponies in Canterlot aren't so quick to try to do things like that..."

"The truth," Twilight interjected. "Usually ponies in Canterlot are a bit... snobby. You'd think Prince Blueblood would be the exception, but they're all mostly like that. And when they make mistakes, they usually try to cover them up instead of fixing the problems."

"Yes, unfortunately," Silk said. "Hence why I expected I'd have to drag every mare kicking and screaming all the way here to get an apology. And it turns out that I was pleasantly surprised to see that wasn't the case."

Mayor Mare cleared her throat, nudging Dash aside as she stepped forward with the tied scroll clutched in her teeth. Alleviating the mare of her charge, the magic began to glow with purple energy as Twilight brought it out of her mouth and presented it to Linen.

"Will you accept our apology, Linen Spool?" Twilight asked, smiling at him.

He paused. Looking out into the crowd of mares again, the words were caught in his throat; so many eyes, just staring at him, just waiting for him, to speak. In any other circumstance, he would have fainted, yet... he felt only a dull sinking feeling his chest. Enough to make him worry, but nowhere near as terrifying as it usually would have been.

"I... accept," he said, and Twilight floated it over to Silk Weave, who stuffed it into her saddlebags. "Th-thank you, everypony..."

"He accepted the apology!"

"We're really sorry!"

"Oh, praise Celestia, we've been absolved!"

"You're still a stud! Don't let life get you down, Linen!"

"Yeah! Get out there and see the world!"

"Come back soon, okay?! We really need more stallions in this town...!"

The hall bursted into cheers as the mares offered their words of encouragement for him, some pegasi even going so far as to coming onstage to give their own personal speeches. As far as he could deal with, however, the attention was hugely unprecedented, and Dash and Silk stepped in to stop him from being overwhelmed. Silk broke into another line of unruly expletives as she fought back the crowd, shocking even Dash in her brusqueness.

Linen felt the feeling of cloth being draped over his shoulders. He turned to see Rarity covering him with a magnificent cloak, in a color tone matching that of her mane. "For you to keep," she said, "since you're leaving Ponyville. I hope you like it."

He dragged a hoof across the cloak's fabric. "It's really well-made, Miss Rarity," he said, surprised at the hoofsmanship of the embroidery and attention to detail. "Have you ever considered moving to Canterlot? I'm sure you'd do really well there..."

"And leave my dearest friends here in Ponyville?" she said, smiling at him. "Believe me, I have considered such a thought many times, but I simply love being here in Ponyville. It's so rustic, so simple, and I feel that it does wonders for my inspiration, away from the hustle and bustle of Canterlot's fashionable elite. But thank you for thinking of my skill as such." She pecked him on the cheek. "Perhaps we should meet in Canterlot some day."

He smiled back. "I'll look forward to that."

Their heartfelt moment was interrupted with the shrieks of mares, all squealing at the sight of their intimate exchange.

"Did Rarity just kiss him on the cheek?!"

"No fair! I want to give him a kiss on the cheek!"

"How about we all give him a good-bye kiss on the cheek?"

"No, no!" Silk screamed. "That's enough! The letter was enough! Really, you don't have to—oh, for fuck's sake, Dash, stop wimping out! Haven't you ever done crowd control before?! Here, you keep a firm and steady barrier against a pony by pushing hard against their chest area. How about you try that?"

"How the hay do you even know that?!" Dash asked, taking her advice into account and pushing back the boisterous group of mares, who voiced their displeasure and rebounded by barreling themselves into their two-mare defense line even harder.

"I've done a controversial fashion show once or twice in my time!" she responded, quickly batting her hoof in to stop Carrot Top from bounding over the crowd. "Linen, now would be a good time for you to make your departure!"

"H-huh?! B-but where? I don't see any way out..." he asked, looking over around them to find that the group of mares had completely their enclosure around the stage. It was only with the effort of Applejack and Pinkie Pie that they were not blitzed from the sides.

"Teleport, Linen! You can teleport, remember?" Twilight said.

"Oh, right!" he exclaimed, charging up his horn before he looked at her. "Wait, where will I go?!"

"Just... go home!" She quickly closed the distance between them and whispered in his ear, "You need to pack your bags, don't you? Just go do that and we'll meet you at the train station later! We'll try to calm down the mares down! Now, go!"

He spoke no further, and clenched his eyes shut. Willing himself away from his current location, teleportation was made much easier if you already had a destination in mind...





"Linen?" Silk called out as she entered his home. Not a single thing was out of place, and the soft thumps of Linen's hoofsteps further within notified her of his presence. "Are you still packing?"

"I am, hold on a moment!" he called out from his bedroom. "I'm just bringing along some of my clothes!"

"Don't you want to bring along your tailoring materials? You could work while you're at home, you know..." she said, making her way down the hall, hooves clacking on the wood flooring. She entered his bedroom, just barely catching the sight of a most regal indigo cloak stored away in a luggage case. "I like the work Rarity did on that... perhaps I should work with her sometime. She certainly has the creative drive to bring something... ah, fresh to the table back home."

Linen closed the case, closing the brass locks with a clack. "Maybe you could work something out with her," he said. "She likes staying here in Ponyville, close to her friends, but still wants to make it big in the city."

"A compromise would work best, yes," Silk mulled over. "And she knows of me. And now, I know of her. It's such a shame that I had to end up meeting her through you, though..."

He chuckled. "It's a nice windfall now, though, isn't it?" His four filled cases were lifted off of the bed and floated out into the hallway as he followed them out. "I think I'm ready to go now, Silk."

"Aww, and I was just beginning to enjoy my little rampage in this town. I'm sure that I've left quite the lasting impression on all the mares in this town..." she said, smiling her devilish grin.

"Aren't you afraid that the tabloids will pick up on that?" he asked.

"Tsk-tsk, my sweet and naive little Linen..." she cooed, trotting past him and ruffling his mane slightly in the process. "It's good that you've never read any of those tabloids, have you? You should know that my reputation when I'm irritated is quite... volatile, and you've just witnessed just the barest sample of that."

"You... do this all the time?" Linen dropped his bags off by the door, shutting the red curtains on the entrance before following her into the living room. There he found her emulating his action, shutting the windows and closing the curtains before darting around the house to repeat the process.

"Oh, my, Linen, I hadn't realized you were so far out of the loop...!" she said, slamming a window shut in the kitchen. "I have at least one meltdown every fashion show, guaranteed. More if fools like Hoity Toity or Sapphire Shores are around, especially so for the latter. I hate that mare, always acting like the world revolves around her..."

"You've met a lot of famous ponies..." he said, awaiting her as she popped into the hall and rejoined him. "Are there any famous ponies that... you know, aren't as bad as the ones you just talked about?"

"Who, I wonder...?" she said. "Well, there's always the Wonderbolts. A group of hotshot pegasi in the media, but I've found them all to be quite down-to-earth and likable, as ironic as that sounds. Spitfire is the spitting image of athletic beauty, and every time I've worked with her, she's been fantastic. Do you have your house key?"

He floated it in front of her eyes. "Right here," he said. "Do... you think I might be able to come back sooner?"

"Knowing that our parents are going to find out about this?" she said, giving a sour laugh. "Most definitely not. But at least they'll be happy to have you back!"

He lowered his head. "So much for moving out..."

"Aw, don't be like that! You're just coming back with me to just get away from all this madness for a bit. We can visit all of your favorite places. You know, the quiet places... the gardens, the skybridge, maybe a visit to my studio so I can work and you can spend your time looking at all those pretty mares..."

He blushed and fervently shook his head. "I... I do not look at those mares! I just enjoy looking at all the amazing designs your team makes..."

"Hmm," she said, slyly grinning at him. "The old Linen wouldn't even have bothered responding to that, you know." She nearly bursted out laughing when he fumbled at attempting a response. "Oh, I was just joking, dear! Besides, I already know how attached you are to that Colgate mare... Don't worry, she'll still be here when you get back, okay? And then maybe you can both start dating... oh, my, the thought of her is already making me... hehe, angry..."

Linen blinked, barely catching the sight of several bulging veins under her locks. "Uh... I think... I'll be... okay... with Miss Colgate."

"Of course you will be!" she said cheerily, tilting her head and smiling widely at him. She chuckled awkwardly, slamming the door open with a flash of magic. "Now come on, let's head down to the train station! Shouldn't keep the rest of them waiting, right?"

"Sure..." he said. Silk cut him off as she clumped all the bags together into a floating mass of belongings and ushered it quickly out the door. He frowned, following her out and taking the time to close and lock the door to his home, and dropped the key into his saddlebag. This would be the last of his home that he would see for a while... and at the very least, he'd remembered to bring whatever perishable foods he had left in a bag.

"Linen, stop staring at the door and let's go!" Silk said. "It's not like the house is going to disappear anytime soon, and I've already spoken to Mayor Mare and dropped down your taxes for six months in advance!"

"You did what?" he said, descending his doorsteps and walked with her. "You paid for my taxes already?!"

"It's not like it's that much trouble for a mare like me, dear," she said, perusing his assortment of luggage. "I hope you brought along everything you needed? It would be a shame if you ended up returning the next day because you forgot something important..."

He gave her a dry look. "You know I don't pack much, Silk."

"I know, I know, I was just making sure. Seems like the only other thing you would pack would be all your cloth... though I have to say that those crimson curtains certainly look fantastic on your windows. It's nice to at least see that you haven't been spending all of your time behind them, hmm?"

They continued on the populated streets, receiving goodbyes from the mares that they passed until Silk's continued death glares forced them to go about their daily errands and pay them no mind. That routine was shortly broken as Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily managed to deliver their bouquet and utter their apologies before Silk chased them off, giggling as they went.

"Congratulations, Linen," Silk grumbled, shaking her head and throwing a look at a pair of passing mares. "I think you've made an admirer out of every single untaken mare in town. I should just fight them off using all this heavy luggage next time..."

"I'd... appreciate if you didn't do that," he said, unwilling to start another incident so soon. "Besides, we're almost at the train station. See?" He looked towards the plain building in the distance just right at the end of the street they were on. Standing on the platform was Twilight and her friends, but Colgate was absent. "Colgate isn't here?"

"She had other things to attend to," Silk said. "Ponies have to live their lives, too, you know. Hey, Twilight, catch!" Twilight's ears perked at the sound of Silk's voice, and she turned around.

"Who said my—" Her eyes widened as she panicked at the sight of luggage falling out of the skies, but quickly recovered and locked all the bags in the air, floating harmlessly just inches from her face. "Whew, that was close. Who threw that?!"

"Me, dear," Silk said, walking up the steps to the Ponyville Train Station and meeting her outside the entrance. "See, you've mastered twitch spell-casting, as expected of a mare who attended Canterlot's finest institutions as Princess Celestia's personal student. And you said you were getting rusty..."

"I didn't think I'd expect to get a pop quiz on it so randomly..." Twilight said. "So I guess this means the both of you are heading back to Canterlot now?"

Silk nodded. "I take it the rest of the mares have been calmed down?"

Twilight shrugged, exchanging glances with her friends. "I guess it turned out okay. There was a bit of complaining after everypony saw that Linen disappeared, but we convinced them to disperse after that. Everything should be fine now!" Dash coughed, earning an elbow in the side from Applejack; both of them had taken to laying it down straight to the other mares that their behavior was to stop.

"Colgate didn't show up, though!" Pinkie Pie said. "I asked her why, and she said it was because—" Rarity stuffed a hoof into her mouth.

"She had other things to attend to, yes," Rarity finished for her, shaking her head at the party pony.

"Oh, yeah! Right..." Pinkie Pie pulled out a small pink box and placed it atop one of the floating bags. "A baker's dozen of cupcakes for you two to enjoy on your trip back to Canterlot!"

"Thanks, Pinkie!" Silk said. "You can sure work your magic with those cupcakes, hmm? Mind telling me how you do it...?"

"A magician never tells her secrets," she said, pretending to zip her lips shut with a hoof.

Silk and Linen passed through the ticket room and onto the platform where the train awaited them. "I guess this is where we part ways. I thank you for all the help you've given us, all of you," Silk said. "And I am grateful that you at least endeavored to own up to the... well, I suppose the broadest term for this would be a mistake. I hope that you, and the entire town, will keep the lessons learned within the past few days in mind. And if that isn't enough to reinforce the point, I will let you all know one thing: I know where you live. So, have a nice day!"

She turned and entered the traincar, leaving Linen alone with the mares.

"Your sister is a... uh..." Dash said. "She likes making her points, doesn't she?"

"Oh, don't blame her for it..." he said. "She's always been very protective of me, and she thinks well of all you girls, too." He went around and hugged each of them. "Thank you for helping me deal with this... I'm not sure how I could have gone on if I had just let it sit, but I... didn't want to end up ruining any of my relationships here."

"Now that's just silly talk, sugarcube," Applejack said. "If you ever have a problem, don't hesitate to ask any of us for help. Shoot, if I'd known you were that shy, I would have done what your sister did and dragged every mare to town hall myself if she didn't show up first."

"Thank you, it's nice to know that..." They stood in silence for a minute, until Silk piped back in.

"Linen! The train isn't going to wait forever!" she said, peeking her head out of their booth's window. "What are you all just standing here for? Enjoying an intimate awkward moment before we have to leave?"

"Uh, no!" Twilight said, quickly shooing him onto the train. "No awkwardness here, see!" She hugged Linen again and let the doors close as the train began to toot its horn in preparation for departure. "I hope things turn out well for you, Linen."

"Thanks, uh... I hope so, too."

"Wait, wait!" Rarity said. "What about my cloak? You packed my cloak, right?"

"Of course I did, Miss Rarity! I hope you enjoyed the cloth I gave you! Maybe I can see about bringing back some more when I return!" Linen said. In Canterlot, he would easily have the means to create a whole roll or more for her, though news that pristine velvet was back on the market would cause quite a stir...

"I'd really love that, darling!" she said, as the conductor appeared behind Linen, sticking a hoof over his shoulder and closing the door before trotting down the rest of the train. The car began to move slowly as the train began to leave Ponyville. "Stay safe, and be well, Linen! Farewell!"

They all waved to each other, neither willing to stop until they'd disappeared from each other's sights. Linen sighed afterwards, joining his sister in their booth and staring out the window at the passing landscape. "You know... that went... better... than I expected."

"I share your sentiments, Linen," Silk said casually, flipping through a pile of fashion magazines next to her seat. "Though I would be lying if I said I wouldn't be happy to slap a filly or two. Oh, there's something else." She dug around her own saddlebags and fished out a plain blue envelope. "Here, for you."

"Huh?" He floated it over to himself and read the single line written on the front: To Linen. "Who was this from?"

"Miss Colgate, of course. She asked for me to give it to you, so you could read it at your leisure." She flipped through another page and snorting at the sight of a model clad in garish red robes. "Fashion these days..." she muttered, taking a bite out of one of Pinkie's cupcakes.

Linen ignored here, merely staring at the envelope in his hooves. He flipped it around, looking at the colors of the envelope before taking a deep breath and breaking the seal on the back with his magic. Slipping out the paper and unfolding it, he saw that it was hoof-written, definitely magic assisted given the cleanness of the text and style. And again, the first thing he saw was his name at the beginning of the letter.

Dear Linen...