> Alternate Beginnings: Year Seven
>  by Doug Graves
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1 The Beginning and the End
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 1st, 999 Domina Solaria

The Apple kitchen is nearly always bustling with activity, the natural consequence of anywhere between seven and sixteen ponies spending the night at the farmhouse. Counting Doug, the herd's human 'stallion', of course. Whether it is the quick hiss of cool air escaping from the fridge as a filly grabs a snack, the happy sizzle of pancakes on the stove, or the fragrant aroma of several pies baking, during the day something is happening in the kitchen. The first morning of the new year is certainly no exception; in fact, it might be a little exceptional purely by how much hustle and bustle is going on in the kitchen. 

The entire herd spent the night, staying up past midnight in order to watch Princess Celestia's astronomical - literally - performance. Afterwards, they crowded two fillies to a bed while the five mares and Doug managed to squeeze together in the master bedroom. Some of the younger fillies might have no trouble waking up early in the morning; their drooping muzzles and heavy eyelids the previous day an easy indication that they would fall asleep well before midnight. However, somepony has to start preparing breakfast for the sixteen hungry mouths.

Today, that duty falls to Doug and his lead mare Applejack. Both had woken up well before the dawn on the longest night of the year, Applejack eagerly taking the opportunity to claim her stallion's first after they came downstairs. Doug is working the stove, all four burners in use as he manages two pans of pancakes, a third with fritters of many varieties, mostly apples, and the last for stir fried vegetables, potatoes, and hay. Applejack is helping him with preparing the batters and making small piles of each pony's favorite toppings, as well as stacking bowls of various fruits, vegetables, and plates of pancakes as they finish cooking.

The Apples managed to squirrel away a little something special for this holiday, using a few of the food preservation units Doug acquired to keep a cornucopia of fresh fruits, vegetables, and seasonal specialties that are normally only available at the Rich household or for exorbitant prices. It is a rare day they had more than dried fruits, vegetables, and hay, along with apple juice for the fillies and ciders for the mares. It is difficult to grow during the winter, and everypony is looking forward to the New Year feast.

Applejack holds up one such item, an extremely spiky orange fruit with green leaves coming off the top. "Now, partner, where in the hay did you manage to acquire a pineapple? Ah've never even seen one sold in the market; this is Canterlot noble-type nonsense!" She shakes her head, "You haven't been doing side jobs to keep something like this from me, did ya?"

Doug smiles as he shakes his head, carefully plucking the pineapple from her hooves. "No, love. It was actually a present." He opens one of the drawers, pulling out a fancy card and sliding it to Applejack. He pulls a tray out, flips a few pancakes, stirs the vegetables around before laying the pineapple on the counter, his heavy cleaver chopping off the top and bottom before carving away the thick skin. The greens go on one side, a pile of the skin in case the ponies can eat it in the middle, and the cylinder of yellow pulp off to the other side. Another flash of activity for the stove before he slices the pineapple into one inch chunks, a second pile of half inch pieces for the fillies.

Applejack reads the card, written in a fancy script: 

'To Doug Apple; The opportunities keep leaping in. One of the nobles offered me this delicacy from the Ponynesian Islands after he tried some of ours. Good luck! - PLB'

Applejack looks over at the growing pile of yellow fruit, a cautious sniff at the citrusy scent. She leans over, her muzzle creeping closer to the intoxicating smell before she abruptly pulls back, a quiet yelp as Doug lightly smacks her nose with the butt end of a spatula. "Aww," she moans, perking up a little as Doug hands her a small piece of the skin. She chews, and chews, and chews, finally spitting out the pulverized mush and going back to cutting up vegetables. "Ah don't think you're supposed to eat that part, partner. But it had an interesting taste, just the absolute worst texture."

Doug nods, scraping the rest of the skin and core into the trash. "I believe that; I've had the flesh, the yellow pulp inside, before. It's delicious, if a little different. Very strong. And I want everypony to try it at the same time."

"Ah suppose," Applejack pouts, carrying a few more of the plates to the dining room. She spots her brown coated filly entering the room, saying, "Morning, Applebaum. Your sister up?"

"Nah, Lemon's still sleeping," Applejack's middle filly says as she takes a seat at the table, her dam placing a plate of pancakes in front of her. Her nose perks up, but not at the sugary pancakes. "What's that smell?" She twists to the side, her green mane bouncing as she sniffs a few times at the kitchen door.

"Something special your sire has for us," Applejack says, smiling as the trio enter the dining room. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo scamper over, their hooves going onto the table as they stand up, their tails waving back and forth as they look over the food arrayed in front of them.

"Which one's mine?" Apple Bloom fixates on one plate in particular, small pieces of apple studded in the pancakes, a small side of fried hay and applesauce with cinnamon. She reaches out, her short hooves unable to close the distance without jumping on the table entirely.

"You got a good eye there, Apple Bloom," Applejack says, pushing the plate to her eldest filly before she has the chance to follow through. Scootaloo, Rainbow's filly, gets the next one, a side of hash browns decorating her pancakes. Sweetie Belle's horn lights, her own plate slowly dragging over. "Ya need any help there, Sweetie Belle?"

"No! I got this." Rarity's filly grits her teeth, struggling at sliding the loaded plate. It gets easier as it gets closer, her wide smile as the plate finally comes into hooves' reach. She eagerly digs in, her sisters grinning and congratulating her as they start their breakfast. 

Applejack beams at the filly; she, like all of Doug's foals, struggles with using magic, and it's good to see the fillies encouraging each other. She disappears back into the kitchen, grabbing two plates full of buttered toast. The table is both a little more and a little less crowded than normal, as two more mares have woken up, sliding their plates of food close and making room for Applejack to put the toast down.

Rainbow Dash grabs three pieces of toast as the plate goes by, adding it to her massive pile of hash browns, pancakes, and syrup. She makes one large sandwich, barely able to fit the monstrosity into her mouth as she begins chowing down. Scootaloo gapes at how quickly her dam demolishes her breakfast, the mare's antics beginning to give her ideas. A grin slowly spreads on the filly's muzzle as she puts the hash browns between the pancakes, proceeding to devour her breakfast just as quickly, and only a little bit more syrup spilling out of her mouth.

Rarity grimaces, sliding her plate away from Rainbow's and the ensuing shower of syrup. She daintily levitates a knife, cutting her pancakes into manageable pieces. "Good morning, Applejack," she says between bites, dabbing at her muzzle with a napkin, one of two visible at the table. "Breakfast is delicious, as always, if a little messy." She glares at Rainbow Dash, the pegasus burping in her direction before grabbing more toast and hay. Rarity sighs, shaking her head before going back to her meal.

Applejack brings a second stack of pancakes to Rainbow, the pegasus grinning as she makes a second large sandwich. "Welcome, Rares. Ah hope you don't get your hooves too sticky, that syrup can be a right pain to get off."

"Yes, well, it won't be the first time I need a long bath after a stay here." Rarity glances at Sweetie Belle, her filly watching with wide eyes as Rainbow works her way through the second sandwich. Rarity shakes her head as Sweetie Belle moves her hooves forward, her filly sighing and levitating the fork instead. It wobbles back and forth, her unsteady hold occasionally missing a piece of pancake, though she manages to keep it in place when going for bites.

"And what's that supposed to mean? This house ain't good enough all of a sudden?" Applejack almost immediately sighs to herself, "Ah'm sorry, Rares. Ah'm just still a bit tired, waking up early and all that."

Rarity winks, "What, even after your time with Doug?" At Applejack's stare she sighs, "Oh, darling, I do apologize, I shouldn't have said anything. Then or now. Would you like me to take over, helping Doug in the kitchen?"

"Ah'd like that, thank you kindly." Applejack grabs her own stack of pancakes and apple fritters, waiting for Rarity to leave and open a spot for her to sit at the crowded table.

The trio finishes their breakfast, their plates left behind as they scamper to the family room and breaking out the Junior Ponopoly game. Rarity forces a smile on her muzzle, levitating the dirty dishes and bringing them to the sink. She glances back at the heavy sounds of hooves stomping around, watching as Pinkie Pie chases her two fillies into the dining room. Lemon and Meringue take their seats, the two yellow coated fillies eagerly waiting as Pinkie Pie slides two plates of candy studded pancakes over. Pinkie Pie pulls out a box of muffins, placing them at one of the few open spots on the table. A second box of cupcakes swaps with her own plate of pancakes, the three Pies making short work of their sugary concoctions.

Pinkie Pie's nose begins scrunching, a fact immediately spotted by Applejack and Rainbow. The two stare at the pink pony, their hooves settling to the ground and muscles tensing, unsure if the safest course of action is to stay as small and unnoticeable as possible or to dash away to anywhere that breaks line of sight. Pinkie Pie's muzzle raises slightly into the air, one of her ears flicking towards the kitchen. The two gasp as her nose twitches, pointing directly at the open door where Rarity and Doug are working.

Applejack whispers to Rainbow Dash, "Nose scrunch..."

"Ear flick..."

"Nose twitch... what do ya reckon it means?" Rainbow merely shakes her head, trying to decide if it is worth saving her remaining pancakes or grab one of the Pies.

Pinkie Pie laughs as her muzzle drops back down to the table, "Oh, don't be silly! I was just smelling this strange new smell, and then I heard the distinct lack of pancakes cooking, and then I could smell them, just underneath that delicious aroma. And that can only mean one thing..." 

Pinkie Pie pronks to the kitchen door, her empty plate on her back. She looks inside, spotting Rarity standing on her hind legs with Doug pinned against one of the cabinets. Her forelegs slide back and forth around Doug's neck while the two make out next to the stove, only a pan of apple fritters cooking. "Good morning Rarity, and Doug!" She knocks twice on the doorway; without breaking her kiss, a blue aura lifts the plate off of Pinkie's back, a second plate of pancakes taking its plate. 

Rarity briefly breaks her kiss, "Good morning, Pinkie," while Doug merely raises one hand from Rarity's back, a brief wave before it resumes its previous position tracing circles along her coat.

"My pancakes are done!" Pinkie Pie announces to the dining room, her herdmates visibly relaxing. Pinkie Pie takes her seat, resuming her breakfast while Applejack and Rainbow finish theirs. The two mares get up, watching their fillies play as Fluttershy, her filly Hedge, and Applejack's young colt Pomarbo come down the stairs. Pinkie Pie waves at the three, Fluttershy grinning and waving back as the two foals scamper to the table.

Fluttershy gathers the short stacks of pancakes for each of them, looking around the table for her own plate. She frowns when she can't find it, slowly walking to the kitchen door. She quietly says, "Um, excuse me," before letting loose a small 'eep!' as a blue aura drags her inside, her hooves lightly scraping against the floor.

A few moments later Rarity walks out of the kitchen, a comb attempting to repair her mane as several plates levitate in front of her. She looks around the room, spotting Granny Smith and Big Macintosh standing at the top of the stairs, trying to discern a path through the ponies playing in the way to their breakfast. Rarity softly smiles at them; two of the plates and a small chair levitate up, forming an impromptu table for the two to begin their breakfast.

Granny Smith grunts, half in approval of the fast arrangement and half in disappointment she can't eat her breakfast at her customary spot at the table. Big Mac starts digging in, Granny Smith picking at the pancakes, lifting one up to check the extra ingredients.

Doug walks out of the kitchen, a long series of plates stacked on Fluttershy's back, the pegasus trying to stay still and not draw attention to Rarity's mascara on her face. Doug announces, "Alright, everypony, I have something special for today's breakfast." The fillies pause their game, everypony watching as Doug motions to Fluttershy and Rarity. "Now, thanks to my beautiful assistants-"

"Hey! Ah thought Ah was your lovely assistant!"

"Hush, darling. Now, without further ado, here it is!" Rarity's horn glows; sixteen plates with yellow fruit levitate away from Fluttershy, two going up the stairs to Big Macintosh and Granny Smith. Each comes to a rest as Rarity continues, "Now that eve-"

"These are delicious!" Pinkie Pie exclaims, her plate already clear.

Doug groans, "Yes, we were hoping everypony would eat them together. So, I suppose, begin!"

Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Lemon join Pinkie Pie and Doug in thinking the pineapple is delicious, while Fluttershy, Hedge, Pomarbo, and Meringue can't stand the taste. The remaining seven ponies think it is merely okay: Applebaum, Rarity, and Big Mac would eat more if they had the chance, while Granny Smith, Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle don't care for the highfalutin treat that much, preferring sharp apples or something else a mite weaker. The remaining pieces are divided among the ponies that liked it and want more, the remainder of breakfast quickly devoured.

Granny Smith grunts to Big Mac, still stuck at the top of the stairs, "Sure gotten crowded 'round these parts."

"Eeyup."
> 2 The Nest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Doug and Applejack are reclining at the dining room table, the last few plates still with food slowly disappearing as the two snack. Applejack grins as she takes his fingers into her mouth, licking off the last remnants of the sugary fritters. Her eyes roll up to the ceiling, relishing the salty taste mixed in. Her body presses against his side, a slight sigh as his hip lightly pushes back, not returning nearly as forcefully as she would like.

Fluttershy is in the kitchen with Pinkie Pie, hard at work cleaning the many dirty dishes. Granny Smith and Big Mac retreated upstairs after they finished their breakfast, trying to get away from the din of eight fillies playing. The fillies themselves are working up quite a sweat, constantly changing between the board games strewn about and scampering their way around the room, sometimes over those very same board games.

Rarity is trying to corral them, to get them to stay interested in one game or another. Anything to sit still and please please please be just a little quieter. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, seems to only encourage them: disrupting one game by poking a filly until she gives chase and then leading said filly into the other game, thus throwing both into disarray. The house vibrates as the hooves stomp around, light clops against the wooden floor that thunder when multiple fillies give chase.

Applejack grunts as Doug's hand wraps around her shoulder, leaning a bit closer and pulling her hind legs up. Scootaloo dashes underneath her, doing her best to evade her pursuer by running through a makeshift obstacle course. Lemon is following just behind, the yellow filly squealing as she tries to get her piece back from her sister. The two fillies continue to squabble as Lemon catches up to Scootaloo, eventually pouncing her big sister in an attempt to wrestle the piece away. Applejack remarks to Doug, watching the fillies work out their dispute as fillies are wont to do, "Ah'm inclined to agree with Granny."

"About what?" Doug loudly asks, watching as Rainbow and Rarity square off, both pawing at the ground and gesturing around the room. They are saying something to each other, lost in the din of fillies shouting, hooves stomping, and pieces clattering against the boards. 

"About it being a mite crowded in here," Applejack yells, relaxing again as she lets her legs down. She quiets down a little, leaning closer to talk in his ear, "Granny was talking to me the other day about it. And Ah think Big Mac talked to you a little about it before, too. You know, this house, it ain't no Rich mansion with thirty rooms. It's getting a little crowded when we just have my foals and Scootaloo here, but when it's everypony?" She shakes her head, her blond ponytail lightly thumping into Doug's chest. Lemon finally manages to get the piece from Scootaloo, both fillies sticking their tongues at each other as they return to their games. Scootaloo sits down, the other two members of the trio glaring at her for the extended disruption.

"So, what do you want to do about it?" Doug watches as Rainbow and Rarity move closer to each other. The rest of the room grows quiet, all heads turning to watch as the two mares point hooves, first at the fillies, then at each other. Rainbow and Rarity continue their shouting match, trading back and forth.

"Come on, Rarity, stop being so uptight!"

"I am not being 'uptight' about anything! I am trying to get some peace and quiet around here for once, and you are doing nothing but disrupting my efforts!"

"ME? What are you talking about? Come on, Rares, they have all this pent up energy! I'm just trying to help them release it, and you keep trying to get them to sit still. They're just going to explode, and all at the same time. Why don't you get that?"

"Why don't I get it? Why don't you take them outside, then they won't be so disruptive to everypony!" Rarity points a hoof at the front door. Through the windows lies a pristine snow covered landscape. Nopony has yet tread on the soft white sheets blanketing the ground, not even the path leading towards Ponyville. Several inches of the perfect kind of snow for fillies to scamper around in, burn off all the energy their large, sugary breakfast has given them.

"Fine!" Rainbow moves to the front door, forcing a smile to her muzzle as the cold air enters the house. "Who wants to play outside with me?" 

"Remember your scarves!" Rarity calls, a few colorful pieces of woven fabric levitating from one of her suitcases. "Honestly, Rainbow! It's cold outside!"

Scootaloo abandons her game, excitedly rushing to the door. She rolls her eyes as a blue scarf wraps around her neck, one hoof swiping at the smooth yet thick fabric. She is quickly followed by Apple Bloom, the filly standing still for Rarity to wrap a green scarf around her. A reluctant Sweetie Belle stands next, nopony left at their game. She walks over to her dam, a quick nuzzle as she slowly ties a purple scarf around herself.

Applebaum sees the older fillies run outside and gets to her hooves, nudging Lemon. The yellow filly sighs, an apologetic look to Rarity as she leaves their game. Applebaum gets an orange scarf, Lemon a yellow that matches her coat. The two follow the trio outside, cold wind still blowing through the house from the open door. Pinkie Pie pronks from the kitchen, a blue and yellow scarf already around her neck, getting a quick nuzzle from Doug before she leaves the house.

A snap of fingers grabs Rainbow's attention, the remaining heads in the room turning to Doug. He points at Rainbow, then at Rarity, a hard, unwavering look on his face. At first Rainbow merely glares back, a sharp huff of breath as one hoof comes down to the floor. Doug's eyebrows narrow, one hand lightly pushing against Applejack as he slowly starts to get to his feet.

"Ugh, fine," Rainbow moans, moving over to Rarity. She quickly nuzzles the unicorn, "Rares, I'm sorry I yelled at you."  She backs up just as quickly, an impatient glance to the front door before she turns back, looking between Rarity and Doug.

"And I am sorry it was necessary." At the second snap of the fingers Rarity's eyes roll. Her composure wavers as Doug raises his hand, his knees shifting as he starts to get up. "Fine. Rainbow, I'm sorry I yelled at you, too. I know you were just trying to help the fillies." The two trade smiles as Rainbow moves over to Doug, sharing a quick kiss before leaving the house, the door shutting behind the pegasus with a thump. Rarity slumps down next to the three remaining fillies. "Finally," Rarity moans, a loud sigh as she settles down. "Peace and quiet." She starts shuffling and dealing out a simple card game, listening in as Applejack continues.

"So, after Granny came to me about this, it being crowded around here and all that, Carrot Top and Ah got to talking. She wants a bit more storage space, and wants us to build a barn on our land, right close to the fields that she rents from us. Well, we got plenty of barns and we don't really need another one, especially if she decides to move or buy a different plot. So, Ah got to thinking about it, about what we should do. Ah know you had mentioned something similar to this before when you were talking with Big Mac. Doug, what do you think about building a house instead?"

Doug looks at Applejack, rubbing her ears, "Why would Carrot Top need a house? Doesn't she live back in Ponyville with her herd?" Applejack gives a low moan, pushing her head further into his hand as he scratches deeper, digging into her skull. A quiet cough from Rarity and Applejack stops, a sheepish look on her muzzle at the three foals watching her.

Applejack continues, "Yes, well, it wouldn't be a house like this one. It'd be half house, half barn. Ah'm thinking lots of rooms with easy access to outside. Rooms that could be used for either storage or for spare bedrooms as needed. You know, multi-use rooms, especially if its just going to be crates of carrots and not giant barrels of juice. And then, we can rent her some of those rooms for storage. Now, you know, we can't leave the fillies there all by themselves, not until they get a bit older. Ah was thinking that you would spend the nights there, along with whichever mares are staying with ya that night. The fillies can stay in the other rooms. They're all getting a lot bigger, and need a bit more space to call their own, ya know?"

Doug nods; piling five fillies into one room barely cuts it, much less when all eight cram themselves into the bunk beds. "That sounds like a really good idea. And it would free up the bedrooms here, too." Rarity levitates over to Doug a pad of paper and a pencil, a smile and a nod in thanks as he starts writing.

"Eeyup, Ah know Granny wants to get that guest bedroom back. We can't really have any relatives staying over here with things like this, ya know? Ah think Ah'd stay in the master bedroom the nights when Ah'm not with you. And maybe Ah can stay over there, if'n you're spending the night at the Boutique. Ah know Rarity is busy a lot of nights, and doesn't like making the walk here when she doesn't have to." Rarity winks at Applejack, a blown kiss at her lead mare. Applejack smiles in return, continuing, "Apple Bloom gets my old room, the one that we keep the trio and LAB in. Maybe when Lemon and Applebaum get old enough we'll want a separate room for each, but they can stay in one for now. With Speed, the young trio, well, we might need to break up Meringue, Pomarbo, and Hedge. At the very least plan for it. Ah figure Meringue and Hedge can get a room for the two of them, for now. Pomarbo needs his own room, being the only colt and all. One for Scootaloo, obviously. And it wouldn't hurt to have a spare if Sweetie Belle stays over for an extended time."

Rarity nods, "I would appreciate that. I have been getting a bit more interest in the Boutique lately. Knowing I don't need to worry about leaving Sweetie Belle on her own would be very nice. I can send Sweetie Belle off to stay here while I travel to Canterlot or Manehatten. And if she has her own room, it won't pressure Apple Bloom or Scootaloo to have to bunk with her, not that I think they would mind much."

Doug glances at his hastily written notes, nodding at Rarity, "So, sounds like we want at least seven smaller bedrooms, one for each of the fillies, and we should be able to get away with two or three of those as storage rooms initially." He taps his pencil a couple times against the table, his eyes lighting up. "Hey, you know what would be great? We could give this to Applebaum and Lemon to do. They really like this kind of stuff, right?"

Applejack nods, her muzzle beaming as she rubs into Doug's side, "As far as the design work? That sounds like a great idea. Me'n Big Mac do the designing for the barns all the time, 'specially if we're just reusing an old one. So we can help out if she gets stuck, we'll just need a good list of requirements. Like how many bathrooms we want, windows for the storage rooms, that kind of thing. 'Sides, Ah think it'd be great practice for the fillies!"

Fluttershy returns from the kitchen, laying next to Rarity as Applejack and Doug hash out a few more things that the house should have. Eventually they finish, the paper and pencil laying on the table as Applejack dozes, leaning up against Doug while Rarity naps on his other side. Fluttershy takes the unicorn's place, engaging in a memorization card game with the fillies. All too soon, though, the quiet atmosphere is disrupted by the door opening and seven ponies escaping the cold.

Apple Bloom gallops over, pouncing on her dozing dam, "Sis! Do we have any hot chocolate?"

Applejack shakes the sleepiness out of her head, looking over at Pinkie Pie; the pink pony's mane slightly deflates as she slowly shakes her head from side to side. Applejack frowns, "Ah'm sorry, sis, but Ah think we're out. Ah can check if'n you'd like, but Ah don't want to get your hopes up."

"Oh. Um, it's okay." The filly shivers a little, wiping a bit of snow off her barrel before cuddling next to her dam. Rainbow goes to the foals room, finding a few blankets for the fillies. The rest of the ponies entering the house sigh as well, huddling against their scarves as Rainbow finds a few more blankets to distribute.
> 3 From the Void
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

February 8th, 999

"Ah thought we'd be using the southern field for these tests. Ya know, they're a bit more wide open." Applejack looks at the west orchard, the trees still covered in their blankets of snow, green leaves poking out from underneath. She walks up to each tree in turn, a tiny burst of magic to keep the leaves nice and strong. She is already feeling a little exhausted from imbuing the first ten rows with enough to get the flowers to bloom. Yet, she carries on, another tap of hoof on trunk. This way,  they would have some crops to sell on the very first day of spring, and could demand quite the premium for fresh apples. Not the slightly desiccated texture, the freeze-dried taste the preservation units gave most any piece of fruit, but honest-to-Celestia fresh apples on the very first day of spring.

Doug shrugs as he walks alongside Applejack, clad in a light jacket, pants, and boots against the cold snow. At least there aren't many clouds in the sky, the next storm scheduled for three days. "I'm not really sure myself. I suppose we could ask her when we see her." A flash of light, dulled by the morning sun, appears between the trees in front of them. A large white alicorn strides from the center, a pleasant smile as she looks about the orchard. "Well, speak of Nightmare." 

Applejack gasps, turning to Doug and gaping, an incredulous expression that he would call the Princess that in her presence. She hurriedly bows low, trying to hide her grimace as Princess Celestia turns towards them. Her mouth whispers near silent prayers for forgiveness, her prostrate form as penitent as possible.

Princess Celestia chuckles, "I have been called many things, my little ponies, but generally it is my political opponents who use that moniker for me." She bows her head just a fraction as Doug inclines his own, a slight eye roll at Applejack. A few seconds pass as she smiles, a pleasant, "Rise, my little pony. It is good to see you again."

Applejack stumbles as she practically leaps to her hooves, "It's, uh, mighty fine to see you too, Princess. Ah take it you've finished your, um, magical spell doohickey?" She forces a smile to her face, nervously pawing the ground as she glances to her stallion. Doug's eyes go a little wide, startling slightly to the side as the alicorn continues walking forward, a nuzzle to his cheek. Even more surprising is when she bends down, nuzzling Applejack as well. The earth pony stands still, her limbs locked during the intimate greeting, a slight gasp at the light kiss to her cheek.

Applejack blankly stares ahead, standing like a statue as Princess Celestia remains still, awaiting the return kiss. The alicorn's muzzle slowly turns to a frown, a slight sigh that startles Applejack out of her stupor. Applejack hurriedly returns the kiss, getting a little more lip than normal, her eyes growing large as she slowly backs up. She stammers, "Ah, Ah'm sorry, Princess, you just, um, surprised me there. Maybe you should, uh, explain what you wanted to do again? Your letter was a mite short on details." Applejack glances to Doug; he is waiting patiently for them to continue walking, their current location still visible from the farmhouse. Her hoof slowly moves to the spot Celestia kissed her, her eyebrows furrowing; there are two reasons to kiss a lead mare like that, and it ain't a Prench greeting this time.

The three lose sight of all of the various Apple barns as they venture further into the overgrown west orchard. Princess Celestia explains, "I suppose I was a bit succinct in my letter, but only because it concerns information I would rather not fall into the wrong hooves." Her horn lights, the air shimmering around them, the nearby sounds of birds muffled and distorted. "It has to do with the spell Sunset Shimmer researched, initially for use on Rainbow."

Doug interrupts, "I hope you don't plan on trying that spell again. I'm not going to speak for everypony, but I'm pretty sure we're happy, and that the fillies are happy with how things are, and we don't want a repeat of that." Applejack nods in agreement, picking up her pace to stay in line with the two.

Princess Celestia smiles, "And neither do I. I haven't continued with any research along those lines, because of the fatal flaw with tearing a hole in one's thaumic field. Instead I duplicated my student's later research, on a variant that of the spell that will completely drain the magic from a living organism. It took a lot of theoretical work, speculating on how to focus the overlapping fields simultaneously. But, I think I have it down to the point where I can focus the spell on a single category of cells! ...I hope."

"You hope?" Applejack sputters, interrupting her looking around the unkempt orchard to stare at the Princess. "Ah hope your... um, hope is pretty darn accurate, then."

Princess Celestia nods, "Indeed, Applejack, which is why I am requesting your assistance as well. Know it is completely voluntary, and I will not hold your decision against you or Doug."

Applejack gulps, looking back towards the farmhouse, no longer visible through the hazy air surrounding them, then back to Doug. His encouraging smile spurs her; she reluctantly nods, "Whatever you need, Princess, Ah volunteer."

"Are you sure, Applejack? Without even knowing what it might entail?" Princess Celestia looks towards Canterlot, Princess Cadance's room visible from so far away. Maybe she is even watching them, hoping herself that the experiment is successful.

"That's what friends do, right? They, um, help each other. Unconditionally, if'n need be. Plus, Ah figure you'd need somepony to do it, right? So if it's not me, then another pony would be taking my place." Applejack stands up straight, a relaxed smile spreading to her muzzle. "And Ah'm proud to be that pony, to be there for you."

"I am extraordinarily pleased you consider me your friend, Applejack, and not merely your Princess. But I do not want that to influence your next choice, as I know it is one you have struggled with." Princess Celestia lowers her body, her mane ceasing its steady flow. Applejack's breath increases, her heart pounding in her ears as Princess Celestia continues, "The spell completely drains the magic from the target. I will practice casting that spell, starting on Doug by himself. Then, on Doug while you are nearby, to make sure I can control the spell enough so it does not attempt to jump to the nearest source of magic stronger than a tree."

Applejack briefly hesitates before she nods, a slight stammer in her voice, "Ah'm okay with this so far, Princess. A bit confused, but Ah think Ah can follow."

Princess Celestia smiles, a sadness starting to show in her eyes. "I would liken casting the spell to trying to ride a bucking bronco. I believe the spell gains a life of its own, trying to wrench its way to drain the nearest, most potent source of magic that is not the caster. Cadance, unfortunately, does not have the reserves to sustain the spell, not for this purpose. And, because the use of the spell is to be on the stallion's seed, I need to be able to focus enough to target that seed while it is inside a pony's body."

Doug interjects, "Couldn't you, I dunno, withdraw an egg and fertilize it that way, then put it back into Cadance? In vitro?"

Princess Celestia pauses for a moment before slowly shaking her head, "It is a possibility, one that I may pursue if we are unable to continue with this. Ultimately, though, I do not believe so. Not with the magic involved. The embryo cannot survive on its own, not for more than a few seconds, with my-" her voice catches for a brief second, a slight shake of her mane as she continues, "previous attempts at using that technique perishing sooner in the process than the others."

Doug moves forward, embracing Celestia as a few tears roll down her cheek. Her eyes close, wrapping one hoof around the human and holding him close. Applejack moves over as well, nuzzling the alicorn as she says, "We'll make this work, Princess, Ah'm sure."

Princess Celestia sniffs, "Thank you, my little ponies." She slowly stands back up, "Even so, I would still need to focus the spell to drain only the stallion's seed, and not to touch the egg next to it. And, I wish to practice the spell on the seed while it is inside a pony's body."

Applejack's eyes furrow, a glare at her Princess. "You're right, your Highness, Ah don't like that. Not one bit."

Princess Celestia nods, "I can understand your trepidation, Applejack. I feel it is, unfortunately, necessary. To practice piercing through the tissue surrounding the eventual resting place." She stops, shaking her head as her eyes close, a heavy sigh. "I fear repeated casting of the spell, for if I am actually draining the magic, from a pony or otherwise, it could be quite... addictive. I believe the rush from using the spell makes one mad with the lust for power. That is the main reason I wish so many of my attempts to be with Doug, focusing on draining his magic-less seed instead of another pony's."

Applejack slowly nods, glancing at Doug. He gives a nervous smile in return, the mare shaking her head. She barely forces out, "Princess Celestia, Ah hope all this testing brings you the results you and Cadance desire. Ah'm still not happy, but you have my consent. I do have a few conditions that I would like to happen, though."

"I accept them all." Celestia bows down slightly, her eyes now on Applejack's hooves. "Whatever you require."

"Really, Princess? Without even knowing what they are?" Applejack raises one eyebrow, Celestia spotting it out of the corner of her eye.

"You aren't the only pony who would do whatever is needed for a friend, Applejack. And, please, when it is just us, call me Celestia."

Applejack huffs as she grits her teeth, "Well, first, you ain't gonna be bowing to me, it ain't right." Celestia stands, a pleasant smile on her face as Applejack continues, "Let me know when you need me."

Celestia smiles down, embracing the earth pony in a crushing hug, "Thank you for everything, Applejack, it means so much to me and to Cadance." 

Applejack forces a smile to her mouth, gasping for breath as Celestia and Doug move a little ways away. Applejack inhales, a long, shaking breath before she moves over to one of the apple trees and lays down in the shade. Her head rests on her hooves, watching the two as they begin.

Doug watches Applejack as Celestia's horn slowly powers, asking, "Are all these steps necessary?" He motions towards Applejack, the mare winking at him from under her hat. A sickly gray and black aura forms around Celestia's horn, Doug glancing fearfully at the sight. He takes long, heavy breaths, trying to calm himself down as Celestia lunges forward with her horn.

A wave of dark colored magic slides over Doug, held in place around his body as he glances around. Celestia's breath grows rough, forcing herself to continue breathing as her muzzle hardens, a sharp exhale as the magic dissipates. Her mane loses its color, her eyes taking on a dull gray shade, the alicorn slumping to her hooves. "The spell... the spell does not like being denied its purpose," she moans, Doug moving over to comfort her. She lays her head into his lap, the soft fabric of his light jacket against her. "I fear the spell will get no easier to cast, but I need the practice. Every step may not be absolutely necessary, but I fear a breach from biting off more than I can chew."

Doug nods as they lay there, his hand pulling through the unresponsive mane, a few long seconds before he says, "How long until you recover?"

"Minutes. Likely, between every attempted cast. Did you feel anything?" Doug shakes his head, Celestia continuing, "Good. Very good. Is there any more you wish to ask?" Princess Celestia nickers towards the earth pony, Applejack getting up and walking over. 

"About this? No, not really." Doug smiles as Applejack lays next to the exhausted alicorn, Doug rubbing her mane as well. Applejack glances up, her eyes gazing up at him. He smiles, pulling her neck until she reaches up, exchanging a kiss. Doug breaks away, glancing at the alicorn still in his lap, "I suppose I can distract you by talking about the games we were playing."

"Atlas of Allies? I must confess, it is the first time I have seen a Nightmare player win a game outright in a long time. In every other game their goal is only to play for a draw. The creators of the game were, perchance, afraid of my wrath should they make a game where I am regularly beaten."

Doug chuckles, "Yeah, I noticed that, how easily Celestia can push for a win while Nightmare can barely hold on for a draw. We ended up, what, I won three of ten? Lost two, drew the other five?"

Celestia nods, "A good ten weeks of gaming, I must say." She stands, her mane billowing out again, color returning to her eyes. "Applejack, please try to stay still, and immediately let me know if you feel anything at all."

"Very well, Celestia. Ah can do that."

Celestia's horn powers again, the same gray and black field of magic flowing out of her horn and covering Doug. Tendrils try to escape, drawing towards Applejack but are immediately pulled back and contained. Applejack warily watches the growing pulses of magic, a hoof jerking away as a few get close. The spell continues, Celestia's mane again losing its color, the time between the tendrils pulling away from Doug and being yanked back getting longer and longer. Finally the spell ends, Applejack looking around with relief and flexing her hooves as Celestia falls, her head barely caught by Doug before he lays her in his lap again.

"Thank you, my little pony," she barely ekes out, a haggard breath that barely quenches her aching lungs.

Doug nods, a few seconds before he says, "So, those thousand years ago, when you fought Nightmare Moon. Was it really like the game we played? Or would it have been, should the Elements have failed to work?"

Celestia grunts, rolling to look up at Doug and Applejack. She props her head up on his chest; her long horn rests along his shoulder as she looks out over the orchard, "The storybooks depict a short battle, a mere clash between myself and Nightmare Moon. This is an intentional obfuscation of what happened, for Princess Luna's descent to Nightmare Moon was not something that was accomplished overnight."

Celestia smiles as Doug's hand starts on her chin, moving down the front of her neck before wrapping around to her mane, working his way back up as the mane's motion slowly restores. "Nightmare Moon had plenty of time to gather loyal followers, to prepare for the coming war. Ponies who knew what it would be like if she won." The alicorn sighs heavily, "Many of her followers only hoped to keep their families safe. Cowardly, yes, but rare is the pony who can withstand the potential loss of their loved ones. And these ponies, when Nightmare Moon was defeated by the Elements-" Celestia stops herself, shaking her head against Doug's chest, "No, not defeated. Delayed. These ponies came to me, told me of the horrors that Nightmare put them through. The potential extent of their devotion to her. And I forgave them for their love, misplaced might their trust have been in their attempts to protect it."

Doug stares at Celestia before uttering, "You could forgive that kind of betrayal?"

Celestia solemnly nods, starting to get to her hooves again. "And as part of that forgiveness, I wiped the slate clean. Nopony would know of their betrayal. There would be no misguided devotees of mine who sought to avenge the deaths of their families by going after anypony who might have been working for Nightmare Moon. Complete forgiveness."

"So, what happened with the Elements, then? They weren't part of the battle? Or your initial battle plan?"

"The Elements were a last resort at best, since half of them were attuned to Princess Luna." Celestia stands, her mane slowly blowing in an unfelt wind again, "She lost that attunement when she became Nightmare Moon, but I was not fully aware of that until the last moment. The battle between myself and Nightmare was fierce. Thankfully, neither one of us was aiming to kill at the start. Towards the end? She very well might have. She was no longer holding back in her efforts, but fortunately for Equestria she was still focused upon only myself. Should she return? I fear that she will be under no such illusion. That by defeating me the entirety of Equestrian society will surrender, much like the games we played. Or a Daring Do escapade, where the entire temple collapses as soon as the artifact is removed."

Celestia nuzzles Applejack before she casts her spell, again aimed at Doug. The tendrils stay contained this time, only a solitary try at the end that is quickly restrained. Celestia smiles as she collapses to her hooves, a brief, "Well, the individual targeting works," as she slumps into his lap.

Doug asks, "You think she would go after everypony?"

Celestia nods, her heavy breath starting to tease Doug. "She certainly would threaten to. She has the power of dreams. And that, obviously, entails knowing a pony's dreams. But, along with knowing their deep desires she knows their lesser wants, their fears, their loves. She is a master of illusions. More than that, she is a master of deception." She shakes her head, slowly recovering, "Atlas of Allies is approximately correct in how powerful both sides were, at the start of a game, and I believe it to be a faithful recreation, as best a simplified board game can be. However, it omits one key fact. A fact I am sure you, Doug, of all ponies would know how to put into use best, and it is one that completely shifts the balance of power. You know how important accurate intelligence is. Knowing what your opponent is planning and able to do. But her most powerful ability, the one I never hinted at existing, is the fact that all the pieces on the board would start as white."

Doug raises an eyebrow, "All the pieces on the Celestial side? Or just, her pieces are hidden?"

Celestia's muzzle curls to a smile, "The latter. If they had not come to me, a few key ponies that she converted to her side? I might have never known which pieces were ultimately working for her, waiting for the perfect time to betray their former comrades. I believe I found them all, if after the fact. For she knew which ponies her plan would work on, using her ability to see dreams and read ponies. She also knew that their numbers, of just those completely loyal, would never be enough. Thus forcing her to branch to those who would be willing to sell out their side a second time." Celestia sighs heavily, starting to push up to her hooves again. She turns, looking Doug directly in the eyes. "Do you know who her most loyal followers were?"

A hand goes to Doug's chin as he ponders for a few seconds, timidly putting forth, "The ones looking out for their families? The ones trying to stay safe, even if it meant betraying others?"

Applejack shakes her head, "Those who wanted power for themselves." She nears spits as she says, "That saw a shortcut, a deceitful way to get to rule."

Celestia shakes her head, a feat for how exhausted she appears. Her voice takes a hard edge, "Close. But no. It was those who had witnessed her power first-hoof. Those to whom she demonstrated that she knew. Not their deepest secrets, for that is too cliched and easily defused by understanding and acceptance. But, instead, that she knew their deepest love. Her most loyal were those whom she forced to live through losing that love."

Celestia struggles to her hooves, staring down at the earth, directly at where the moon lay. She could feel her waiting on the other side, waiting for the night that she could return. Doug wraps his arm around Applejack, a tight squeeze for one he considered among his deepest loves.

Celestia continues, her voice flat as she recounts the tales told to her, "And then, when they realized what they had lost, fully engulfed in their despair or their rage at losing it? That is when she gave them a flicker of hope, the barest hint of a chance, that they might be able to get back that which they loved. They would promise her a lifetime of faithful servitude for the merest possibility. And Nightmare Moon would comply, she would return those they thought were lost."

Celestia's eyes go to the heavens, thinking through her annual winter light show, an homage to all the ponies that had fought and paid the ultimate price. Those on both sides of the war. How many of them had been given that opportunity, and taken it, and yet were still included in her tribute. "And those ponies knew, deep down, that if they ever disobeyed, if they ever failed her? That they would lose that which they loved, and this time there would be no return, no second chance." 

Celestia grimaces as her gaze turns to Doug and Applejack, "She would not kill the ones who failed her. No, that would be too easy, and not disheartening enough of an example for everypony else. Instead? She would need no magic to lock them away in a prison of their mind, forced to live with the understanding that they were responsible, that their failure was the reason their deepest love was gone. And, when they finally broke and decided to rise against the Nightmare, she would kill them. Or, more likely, use their death to torture another pony into serving her."

Doug and Applejack stare at Celestia, a look of horror as they get ready for the next phase.
> 4 Erased From Memory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

February 9th, 999

"Sure don't feel like five years," Applejack remarks, looking out over Ponyville. Not many ponies are visible outside, Ponyville fairly quiet just after the normal breakfast rush. A beautiful winter day, with clear skies and a cheery sun over the snow covered town. Most of the herd is standing around outside Sugarcube Corner, the eight fillies off to the side and being entertained by Fluttershy. Rarity, with occasional help from Rainbow, is preparing the decorations along the front wall, helping Pinkie Pie redecorate a few areas while they wait. "Almost forgot how we got here."

"Let's see, let's see," Doug says from next to her, miming flipping through a couple note cards. He paces back and forth, "Don't claim I eat ponies. Don't say that I could eat ponies." He pulls his hand close to his eyes, squinting at the creases on his skin. "Don't mention eating meat at all. Argh, I could have sworn I had more here!" Doug looks over, yelling, "Pinkie! This ink you used isn't working!" Applejack snickers next to him, watching as Doug puts one hand on his hip, a mock glare on his face.

"That can't be true!" The pink pony exclaims, pronking over, "I got it from Rainbow Dash!"

"What?" the cyan pegasus yells when she hears her name, flying over to the two. "What are you two talking about?"

"This!" Doug says, holding his hand up, palm facing Rainbow. He waves it back and forth, the pegasus looking at him quizzically. "You don't see it, do you?" Pinkie Pie vigorously nods her head, her forelegs crossing across her chest as she sits down, staring at Rainbow.

Rainbow scoffs, unable to see what Doug is talking about. She grits her teeth as she gets closer, trying to track his hand as it waves around. "Come on, dude, hold still!" She finally gets fed up, leaping up to her hind hooves and grabbing his hand with her forelegs. She drags his arm down, holding his hand still as his fingers wriggle back and forth. "I don't see it!"

"Exactly!" Doug exclaims, Rainbow yelping as Doug's hand shoots forward, breaking free and ruffling her mane. Her hooves go up, trying to dislodge his hand as he moves to the back of her neck, his strong hand grabbing hold of her mane. She stands up straighter, swiping her hooves at him and mock glaring at him, giggling at the same time.

Rainbow realizes her predicament as his other arm sweeps her legs out from under her, her fast, "Waitwaitwait-" not enough to keep Doug from his prize. Her hooves wave around uselessly as he flips her to her back, exposing her soft belly and lifting to his mouth. "Nooo!" she wails as his mouth seals around her taut muscles.

"Ffbbbbthhh"

"Oh noes!" wails Rainbow, one hoof going to her forehead, the other three going limp in Doug's arms. "Woe is me!" She laughs uproariously as he goes for another one, writhing in his arms. He lets up a little, a hoof scratching the hair on his chest, "Okay, okay, big guy, you got me."

"The Horror!" comes a cry from the road, three earth ponies gaping as Doug looks up from Rainbow's stomach. Two of the flower ponies faint, falling to the ground while the third panics, spinning in circles a few times before following suit. Each earth pony is holding a hoof to their head, groaning at the gruesome sight.

Rainbow looks down at her raspberry'd stomach, then over at the mares lying on the ground. She lets out a loud, "Ugh, not this again." She leans forward, a quick kiss for Doug, whispering to him as she smirks, "I know what our Nightmare Night costume should be." Doug ruffles her mane again as she leaps out of his arms. Rainbow flips her head one way, then the other, restoring the wind swept look of her mane as she flies over to the earth ponies. She pokes Lily Valley in the side, "Come, on, you three. Stop being so melodramatic."

"Aww," Lily Valley moans, slowly getting to her hooves, "But it's fun." Rainbow sighs, rolling her eyes, starting to turn away. "We know that Doug's fine, even if he eats ponies."

"Hey, it's not like that!" Rainbow grits her teeth as she turns back, the skittish ponies in front slowly getting up. "Doug won't eat a pony, not like that."

"Wait!" calls Rose as she gets up, Rainbow looking over, "What's that supposed to mean? You're saying he won't eat ponies?"

"You want me to tell you a secret?" Rainbow asks, her mouth slowly curling to a smile. The three earth ponies gather close, nervously glancing to each other as Rainbow whispers, "I love it when he eats me." She winks at the three huddled mares, their mouths grinning, "But don't get any ideas! He's mine." Rainbow glares at the three, pointing a hoof at each in turn before she flies back to the stage, leaving the three mares giggling among themselves before they walk off.

More and more ponies are walking by Sugarcube, not much else to do on a beautiful winter morning. The fillies disperse as they spot a few others from their class to hang out with, their dams smiling as they watch them go play. They scamper back and forth, looking at the various stores and stalls. For the younger fillies this is their first time able to really explore the town, following their older sisters as they inspect the wares for sale.

Soon enough, Spoiled Rich and Filthy Rich arrive at the scene. Silver Set follows behind, herding the Rich fillies along. The pink earth pony walks to Applejack, the two mares trading friendly smiles. Both seem a little forced, neither wanting to cause an incident in front of everypony. Spoiled Rich begins, "So, Applejack, are you ready?"

Applejack nods, "Glad to put this all behind us." She holds up a piece of paper, the rest of the mares gathering around. "Ah think it's been shown that there ain't nothing for anypony to worry about."

Spoiled Rich holds up a paper of her own, the two contracts trading hooves. "Indeed." She looks up, her smile growing more natural, "Doug, you've shown that we don't have anything to fear from you. I don't know that I've ever been so happy to be wrong about something." She nods to Doug, the human smiling back.

The two earth ponies take the papers in their hooves, tearing the contract into quarters. A sigh from one of the fillies distracts the two, both looking to see Applebaum with a disappointed look in her eyes. Spoiled Rich raises an eyebrow, Applejack mirroring her as Applebaum says, "You're just going to rip them up?"

Applejack glances to Spoiled Rich, "Um, Ah think so. We don't need to do anything else, right?" Spoiled Rich nods, tearing her paper into eighths.

"I'm with Applebaum here," Doug says with a smirk. "I think we need something a little more dramatic." He moves over to Rarity, the unicorn looking up with a curious expression. "Know any fire spells?"

"Darling, I'm not sure exactly what you are implying," she says as one hand goes to her neck, the other to her waist. She grunts as Doug picks her up, her horn pointing at the two earth ponies. She glances up at him; his shake of the head gets a sigh and eye roll, her horn leveling again at the mares.

Applebaum grins, softly chanting, "Fire! Fire! Fire!" The rest of the fillies soon join her, a circle forming around the two paper holding mares. Pinkie Pie appears with a bag of torches strapped to her back, distributing them to the fillies. They wave them in the air as they march around, a few having difficulty with the pieces of wood that are about as big as they are. Rarity's horn lights, the wood igniting and scaring the smallest fillies into dropping them.

"Ah'm sorry, Mrs. Rich, Ah didn't know they'd do this," Applejack quietly says, the smile on her face growing more and more forced. The two glance around at the movement around them, the flickering flames drawing their eyes as the fillies continue chanting. The four Rich fillies soon join them, the ring of fire expanding to a second row.

Spoiled Rich sighs, whispering back, "I wish I could say the same. Do we give in now or do you think they have more planned?" She glares at Diamond Tiara, the filly either unable or unwilling to meet her eyes. Spoiled Rich's eyes move to Silver Set next, her herdmate giving a sheepish smile as she shrugs.

Applejack snickers, "It's Pinkie Pie and Doug. They don't have anything planned, they just roll with it." She holds a hoof up, looking closely at the papers. "Ah don't know if we should spoil their fun now or risk getting, Ah dunno, burned at the stake."

"Why in Celestia's name would they do that?" Spoiled Rich exclaims, a fearful look at the fires swirling around her. She backs up into the center of the circle, bumping Applejack in her haste. She startles at the unexpected contact, her hooves reacting faster than her mind can stop her. The papers fly into the air as her forelegs hit the ground, her back legs bucking Applejack in the side. Spoiled Rich uses the push to leap away, jumping over the fillies in her way as she tears off into the street.

Applejack grunts as the hooves hit her, knocking her down and into a few of the fillies. Torches scatter to the ground, Applejack yelping at the heat and rolling on the ground away from the ring. The fillies stop moving, all but one watching Applejack while Applebaum grabs the falling contracts.

Doug aims Rarity at Applejack, saying, "Know any water spells?" The mare rolls her eyes, shaking her head as Doug huffs, glancing up to Rainbow. The pegasus is hovering above them, her hooves clasped to her muzzle as she smirks at the commotion underneath. 

"Ah'm fine, stop your worrying," Applejack retorts, getting to her hooves. She winces at the slight char on her coat, wiping the soot off and restoring her orange color. "Much better. Now, where did Spoiled run off to?" She looks around, the pink mare breathing heavily, pointing a hoof at them from across the street.

Spoiled Rich cautiously walks back to Filthy, the stallion watching the entire proceeding with a smirk similar to Rainbow Dash. "You are all crazy!" she yells, shaking her head.

"We're not crazy!" Pinkie Pie shouts, appearing behind Spoiled Rich and startling the earth pony. "We're just overly prepared!" Spoiled Rich rolls her eyes as Pinkie Pie pronks around the torches, kicking small clods of dirt onto the embers.

The gathered ponies watch as Applebaum takes the contracts, gathering the torn pieces into a pile. She glances at Doug; he nods, moving Rarity up and down at the same time. Applebaum smiles, the last lit torch dropped down on the contract. The papers go up in flames, the entire thing now burning in the street.

"Applebaum! What have Ah told you about playing with fire?" Applejack says, moving closer. She stops a few feet away from the smoldering pile of paper, a stern look down at her filly.

"Just to do it when an adult is around," comes the indignant reply. Applebaum points a hoof at Doug, "And he's pretty happy about it." Applejack looks over; Doug looks pleased at the burning contract, the hand holding up Rarity's head giving Applejack a thumbs up, though the mare in his arms looks a little put out at still being held.

The two Rich ponies exchange looks, Spoiled sighing and Filthy smiling while walking up to Applejack. He holds out a sealed envelope to her, Applejack taking the envelope and ripping it open. Filthy says, "Applejack, Ah just want to let you know that there are no hard feelings between us. Despite, um, this misunderstanding with the fire."

"Same thing on our side, Rich. Just glad to get this all behind us." Applejack holds up a hoof, Filthy Rich pressing his against her. Doug hold out a fist, getting a bump from Filthy Rich and a reluctant bump from Spoiled Rich. "What's this?" Applejack asks, looking over the papers inside. "A construction firm?"

Filthy Rich smiles, "It's nothing much. Ah took the liberty of talking to a few of my friends in the construction industry. Ah heard that you were interested in building into the side of a hill instead of your normal, hmm, above ground affairs. And, they're giving you a very good offer on any sort of excavating and foundation work that you need done."

"That's very generous of you, Filthy. Thank you kindly." The gathered ponies trade smiles until Pinkie Pie pronks into the middle of everything.

"Please, Applejack," Filthy says with a wink, "Call me Rich."

"Okay, let's get this party started!" Pinkie Pie manages to push everypony into Sugarcube Corner at one time. She starts distributing various pies, cakes, and muffins to each table.

"Ah, the best way to get over a deeply held grudge," Doug says, holding up a cherry pie. "Parties."

"I couldn't agree more," Silver Set says, winking at Doug while holding up a peach pie. She moves her pie over toward Doug, tapping her tin against his. "Cheers!"

"Cheers!" Doug says, smirking as he takes a bite from his pie. "Mm, delicious, as always."

"Cheers?" Rainbow Dash says as she flies next to Doug, holding an uneaten blueberry pie. "Cheers? Where's the cider?"

"Sorry, Rainbow, but we don't have the cider stocks for just a small party like this," Applejack quietly says, spinning to look at the pegasus from her seat at a different table. Her muzzle curls to a smile as a hoof reaches up, "However-"

"There's... no cider?" Rainbow asks, her eyes beginning to well up. Applejack stops moving as Rainbow continues, "What do you mean? There's always cider!" Her hooves come to her face, the pie toppling from her hooves and caught by Doug as Rainbow pulls her eyelids down. 

"Ah'm sorry, Rainbow, but we've had to sell more of our own stock to keep up. Those fillies ain't cheap. Maybe not always in pure bits, but with how much time we gotta spend looking after them. And that cuts into how much Ah can do around the farm, ya know?"

"But... cider!" Rainbow zips behind the counter, grabs an empty mug, and waves it back and forth in front of Applejack. "Need cider!"

"Now, stop being so melodramatic, RD. It's just cider, you can live without having it every day for another couple weeks." 

Rainbow glowers, "Yeah, I know. Sorry, AJ. It's just sooo delicious." Her muzzle brightens as she sees Applejack hold a hoof to her mouth, a single unlabeled bottle pulled out from under her hat and stealthily slid over.
> 5 Fire and Brimstone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

April 3rd, 999

Applebaum stares at the wooden model she made of the new house. One thirty-second scale. She had collected the building materials out of pieces they had laying around, scraps and miscuts scattered among the various barns. Doug helped her with the bigger pieces, cutting walls and floors. She then trimmed them to the perfect size, sanding the rough edges. All the pieces were initially made to be interchangeable, carefully constructed so that each floor could be removed and inspected separately, changed if needed, then put back together. This building, though, is the design that has been finalized and signed off, the blueprints stored in Doug's office, the earth ponies going to start excavating tomorrow.

The building will be four stories, in total. Two of them almost completely dug into the hill, making the house more vertical than if it had followed the natural contours of the land. She made the upper crest of the hill out of paper mache with Lemon's help. Then, she constructed the basement floor, starting with just drawings on paper before moving on to wooden boards. She carefully carved out the hill so that the bottom floor would slip in. 

The next night, Meringue snuck into Doug's office, where Applebaum was working on the project. Meringue painted the hill brown, even going so far to paint dark rocks and shadows. Along the side of the hill are little orange carrots and green leaves. Long rows of the tiny vegetables, with a dirt path leading up the front. It was so cute that Applebaum couldn't even get mad at the foal, even if it was unnecessary.

Most of the bottom floor will be storage, with two rooms on the outside for either storage or to be used as a bedroom. Nopony wants to sleep in a room surrounded by walls, as her dam told her. 'Always give yourself a second exit, just in case there is a fire.' That means the staircase takes up the center, opening up to the east and a very short hallway. There are two bedrooms in the northeast quadrant. Both have doors to the outside wide enough to pull a crate through in case they get used for storage. Just one bathroom, split between the two rooms. The other three quadrants are purely devoted to storage. One large door on the east, one on the north, both wide enough to pull a small cart through. The long storage rooms themselves can have crates on each side and enough space for two ponies to squeeze by. Or drag a cart through the long L shaped room, though it might bump into the walls a little making the turn at the bend.

The next floor has the kitchen up against the hill, and is the only other floor that needs some part of it to be dug in. Two bathrooms, three bedrooms, and one larger communal room split between dining and living room. The walls are rounded in places, a consequence of Lemon's design suggestion to use a large barrel for many of the walls. It gives the whole building a very unique look. Very fitting with how many of the buildings in Ponyville are styled, with form often taking precedence over function. While it irked Applebaum a little, the inefficiency of rounded walls, everypony else seemed to like it enough to want to live in it. It would all be new wood anyway, no sense in using old barrels that reek of carrots or slightly sour apples.

The third floor has just two rooms, the rest of the area the roof to the second floor. Mostly to be used as a porch, an area to play around outside if they didn't want to be on the steep hill. One room, the one closest to the main Apple farmhouse, is on the south side. It has a flat, sloped roof, so rain can easily flow into a couple of the gutters carefully concealed along the walls. The room on the north side is the first of its own two story tower, pretty much just a square room with a door leading to the porch. This would be the room Applebaum is claiming for her own. There is a trapdoor leading both up and down, in case she or Scootaloo didn't want to go outside in the rain to get in and out of her room, or to move between their rooms and the common room. A free standing wooden staircase leads from the hill to the third floor porch, or one can take the path down the hill to get to the first or second floor.

The fourth floor, if it could even be considered that, consists of one room above Applebaum's. Fairly simple, with two openings that can serve as doors, but also double as windows. They both have small porches just outside, one barely big enough for a flowerbox, the other with enough space for a pegasus to land. The roof is a half barrel, nicely sloped so the rain doesn't pool. It also gives enough of an overhang on the side porch to keep it dry. On top of that would be a weather vane, commissioned by Carrot Top to look like a big carrot. Meringue either didn't know that or didn't have the time yet to fasten one on top, so the model ended with the fourth floor.

Applebaum grins, holding up the large firework Pinkie Pie had carelessly left on the dining table. Or was it intentionally? It could be very difficult to tell with the mare. She takes a step back, admiring the long hours she had put into the project. The small half barrels dotting the sides, forming nice enclosures for windows and roofs. The squishy hill, the wooden walls. No doors, not for this. Applebaum smiles to herself, placing the explosive on the top floor. 

She holds a hoof to her chin, considering. Well, the explosion would be the most visible there, as it wouldn't have much of anything to blow up. The lower floors would remain mostly intact, the wood construction absorbing a lot of the potential blast. Maybe with a larger firework it would work, but not with one this size.

Applebaum moves the explosive to the bottom floor. No, too far away from the top floor. And a lot of the power would be channeled into the ground, the paper mache hill. It would blow out the side, whichever gave easier. Maybe some of it reflected back up from the dirt underneath, but no way to make sure.

She puts the firework on the second floor, right in the middle. Perfect. If the initial explosion didn't completely destroy the bottom floor, then it would weaken it enough to collapse the entirety as the remaining supports give out. And the top two floors would both rise with a satisfying thump before they came crashing back down in pieces. 

Her sire's voice comes into her mind as she holds up a match. 'Applebaum, if you are ever playing with fire, do it outside, so you don't burn the house down. Also, don't play with fire.' She glances to the unlit match; this hardly constitutes playing. But, outside she would go. Oh, and she should tell Apple Bloom and the others that everything is ready!

Meanwhile, a pair of earth pony mares make their way up the path towards Sweet Apple Acres. The brown and gray ponies are both wearing vests that have a pencil in a pocket in easy reach of their mouths. The brown pony's cutie mark is a set of branching horns, the gray one a large flat piece of metal. Doug waves to them; both pause, a quick glance to each other before they relax and continue on their way. Doug spots a train of fillies coming out of the farmhouse, Applebaum in the lead with her wooden model on her back.

The gray earth pony calls out, getting Doug's attention, "Afternoon. My name is Dozer, and we're here with Cater Construction to take a preliminary look at the hill, make sure everything is ready for tomorrow."

Doug smiles as the two get close, squatting down and holding out a fist for each mare to bump. "Afternoon; my name is Doug." Doug looks to the brown pony, "You must be Bull." He glances to the side; Applejack is making her way over as well, dragging a cart stacked high with baskets of apples.

The brown pony smiles, a touch of exasperation as she says, "I get that a lot, for some reason. Dee Eerie, actually, but you can call me Deer. You done a lot of digging yourself, Mr. Doug?"

"Well, maybe when I first got here, helping around the farm. You want to see the hill?" The two ponies nod, Doug getting up. Applejack drops the cart off to the side, moving up to introduce herself. The fillies of his herd and the Rich fillies are clustering around something, their excited chattering barely audible. He motions to Applejack, the two moving towards the group while the two earth ponies cautiously follow them.

Applebaum sets the model down on the hill where the construction will take place. The other eleven fillies gather around, eagerly looking at the house. Applebaum motions them away, the gleam in her eye telling them something exciting is about to happen. The eleven fillies move back, crouching behind a small rise in the dirt.

"Ugh, this better be good," says Diamond Tiara in a louder voice, the other fillies immediately shushing her as they watch.

Applebaum moves forward, the smile on her muzzle creeping larger and larger as she steps closer to the small wooden house. A long fuse hangs out of one of the windows, tantalizingly close. "Primed and ready," she says to herself, striking the match against her hoof.

She stares at the flame, the colors starting with a dark red, almost black at the base of the match. Further away are the reds and oranges and then the brilliant yellow that begins to hurt her eyes as she looks deeper. She breathes out, a long exhale as her hoof slowly lowers to the fuse. The long cord catches instantly, the filly enraptured as the trail of yellow disappears into the house.

Somepony seems to be shouting, maybe many ponies. High pitched voices, maybe a deep one mixed in. Applebaum turns from the house, an unconcerned walk as she looks away, focusing on nothing, a smile plastered on her muzzle. Images dance across her eyes: an engineer dropping down and covering his ears before an explosion in a mine. A decrepit building, a violent shuddering as a rainbow blur slams into it, the wooden pieces shattering and collapsing. A strange white house, a blue beam from the sky before the entirety explodes outwards.

Behind her comes a deafening explosion, a shower of timbers and sparks, fragments raining down around her but none daring to singe a hair on her hide. She pauses for a brief second, allowing Scootaloo's room to land directly in front of her, the wooden walls smashing into the ground. She doesn't even flinch, her hooves crunching the half barrel roof as she continues her casual walk away from the crater.

Applebaum snaps back to reality as first one, then four, then eleven fillies pile on top of her. "Your cutie mark!" somepony exclaims. The pile backs off, many hooves dancing in circles as Applebaum stands, glancing back at her flank. There it is, emblazoned on her brown coat. One red apple, just like her dam's, but broken into five pieces by a jagged orange and yellow explosion in the center.

"My Cutie Mark!" she shouts, her high pitched voice echoing around the hills. She starts dancing about as her sisters tackle her again, picking her up and raising her above them all. She waves as she sees Daddy sprinting over, her dam galloping with him, a cloud of dust behind them.

Both of them slow, Applejack looking carefully at her filly. Her eyes grow wide as she spots the change, the image a stark contrast on the brown filly. "Oh my Celestia!" Applejack yells, clods of dirt thrown from her hooves as she gallops closer. "It happened!" Applejack's muzzle grows to the widest smile she has ever had, beaming at Applebaum as she nuzzles her filly, "Celestia, it happened!"

Doug lifts Applebaum up, his firm embrace conveying the love and hope he has for her, for each of them. Applejack prances a few more times, rapid circles flinging dirt in every direction. Doug kneels down, Applebaum sharing a nuzzle with each of her sisters, her dam, with everypony who comes close.
> 6 The Malevolent Witch
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

April 10th, 999

"So, do you want the balloons over here or over here?" asks Pinkie Pie, floating a foot off the floor of Sugarcube Corner. Above her, dragging along the ceiling, are dozens of balloons, only the desperate flailing of Pinkie Pie's limbs through the air propelling the mare around. She bumps into one table, managing to avoid toppling over the plates of cakes. She rebounds towards the counter, her hooves climbing up one side and down the other. She pushes off the back wall, her body twirling around in circles as she stalls in the middle of the room. 

"Over by the door is good!" says Applebaum, helping coordinate her cute-ceañera. "But what Ah was really hoping for was some smaller balloons! And Ah know just where to put them!" The filly moves over to the snack table, a deep sniff of the saccharine sweets, her mouth watering before she moves back to the central window.

Pinkie Pie rebounds off the wall, aiming for the opposite end of Sugarcube Corner. Her bank shot takes her next to the front door, the balloons released to form a large arch. "Okie dokie lokie! I've got all kinds and sizes of balloons! What'dya want and where'dya want 'em?"

"Ah was thinking, what if we had a giant dart board, right? And we put balloons on the dart board, and we try to pop the balloons!" Applebaum motions to a relatively bare section of the back wall.

"Hmm," Pinkie Pie says, pronking over, pulling out a bowl of green and red darts. "I suppose that could work, but we'd need to rearrange the entire flow of the party. I mean, you don't want ponies dodging darts to get to listen to you tell your story, right?" Pinkie Pie mimes zipping back and forth, pressing her body up against the wall before army crawling under a few chairs, then riding a balloon across the ceiling.

Applebaum takes one of the darts in her mouth, a keen eye watching Pinkie Pie slowly drift along. She tosses the dart into the balloon, Pinkie Pie yelping as her ride pops. The pink pony flails in midair for half a second before she tumbles to the floor, landing on her hooves. Applebaum says, "See? Perfectly safe!" She moves over, grabbing the soft tipped dart from one of the cupcakes, devouring the small treat with a small burp.

Pinkie Pie holds a hoof to her chin, "Hmm, you may have a point there. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to use my Pinkie Party Planner veto on this decision. The only things going into eyes around my parties are cupcakes!" Pinkie Pie holds up a giant sign, a picture of herself with a circle around one eye. To the side are depictions of a hoof and a cupcake, both with a green circle around them and a pink check mark next to them. Underneath those is a picture of a needle, an ice cream scoop, and a rubber chicken, each crossed out with a large red 'x'. Pinkie Pie quickly crayons in a picture of a dart, complete with a large red 'x' over it as well. "But we can still do it, just in a different spot!"

The bell above the door chimes, the two looking over to see Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo entering the bakery. Pinkie Pie begins rearranging the chairs and tables while Apple Bloom beams around Sugarcube Corner, her eyes finally spotting the brown filly. "Ah can't believe my little sister's got her cutie mark!" exclaims Apple Bloom as she dashes over, embracing her younger sister. She ends the hug with a quick noogie, "You gotta tell me how it happened! How you knew what to do!"

Applebaum grits her teeth as her mane gets pushed back and forth, her forelegs flailing about as her older sister digs her hoof into her scalp. "Hey! Get off me!" She drops down to her hooves, trying to throw Apple Bloom off balance as the two tumble to the floor. They roll over once, Apple Bloom ending up holding one of Applebaum's hind legs with the brown filly splayed in front of her.

Apple Bloom pushes her hoof into her sister's flank, depressing the explosion in the middle. She giggles at the sight, saying, "Come on, 'Baum! Just give me a hint!"

"Ah'm sorry, Apple Bloom! Ah don't know! Honest!" Apple Bloom looks at her for a few seconds before she releases her sister with a huff. Applebaum rubs her head, trying to smooth out her mane. "Ah just did what came naturally, you know? Ah thought that it would be really cool to make the model of the house, and then... and then... Ah could see it! How it would happen, you know? Depending on where Ah put the firework, how the house would blow up!" She excitedly looks around for anything to draw on or with, as if putting her explanation on paper would make it clearer to the three fillies. 

"Yeah, but that was, like, just before you got your cutie mark!" Scootaloo says, reaching a hoof over and helping the filly up. "There's gotta be a sign before that! Something that lets a pony know they're on the right track! 

"Well, yeah, but Ah've always loved fire. It's why Daddy's so afraid of me being alone, you know? Ah mean, my earliest memory is of Applejack and a candle flame." Applebaum smiles, "And now that Ah have my cutie mark, he doesn't have to watch me any more! Ah know when what Ah'm doing is unsafe!" 

"Really?" asks Sweetie Belle, looking at the door as a few fillies trickle in. "You can tell how dangerous stuff is?"

"Well, so far Ah've only tried it on fire and some of Pinkie's fireworks. But, that ain't the only thing! Now that it's happened, Ah can see other things, too! Like, if I hit a tree with my hooves. Ah can tell where Ah should hit it to get the apples to fall down! Or, if'n we're trying to clear the dead wood out of the top branches, Ah can see where to hit the branches, and where they're gonna fall! Or, um..." Applebaum's voice dies as she looks around the room, spotting Pinkie Pie giving her a curious expression.

"Or what?" asks the pink mare, pronking over. "Something you don't want to say?"

"Well, it's just... Ah can see how other things can fall over, too. Especially rocks. And, Ah know you worked at a rock farm, Pinkie, and Ah don't want to have to work at a quarry, even if Ah think Ah'd be good at it."

"Oh, don't worry about that, silly! Nopony's gonna make you do something you don't like doing! And besides, working at a quarry can be fun! It's like a little game, where you try to find all the delicious rocks hidden all around! And the only thing stopping you is how much fun you decided to bring along!" Pinkie Pie pulls out a few firecrackers from her mane, one of them lit and slowly burning down, before stuffing them back in. 

More and more ponies start to enter the store, Pinkie Pie quickly breaking away to finish adding balloons to the dart board now set in the corner, so ponies wouldn't be walking through the line of fire. A few fillies, led by Silver Spoon and all with their cutie marks, come over to congratulate Applebaum, the brown filly breaking away from her sisters with a smile as she heads to the far corner.

"So, what do you think it means for our cutie marks?" asks Scootaloo, looking back at her orange flank. "I don't know that I ever felt some extreme attraction to anything in particular." She smirks, "Except the attraction to extreme danger!" She mimes getting on her scooter, running around and jumping over chairs.

"Ugh, I can't believe your sister beat me to a cutie mark!" exclaims Diamond Tiara, the filly angrily stomping a hoof as she walks up to the group. "It's so unfair!"

Sweetie Belle rolls her eyes as Scootaloo runs around the group, the pegasus' mouth imitating a motor. "Jeez, Diamond Tiara, you'd think that you are the only pony here without a cutie mark. Well, hello there! My name's Sweetie Belle, and Ah have a blank flank!"

"Are you making fun of me?" Diamond Tiara huffs, glaring at the filly. One foreleg comes up, Diamond Tiara pressing a hoof into her own side.

"Oh, I didn't see you over there!" says Scootaloo as she stops moving next to the pink filly. "My name is Scootaloo and I'm a blank flank!"

"I think you're making fun of me!" Diamond Tiara states, backing up slightly.

"Ah don't know if Ah've ever seen you three around town!" says Apple Bloom, doing her best to enact a long southern drawl. "It's been ever so long since Ah saw a blank flank around these parts. Ah thought Ah was the only one! But it's ever so pleasant to make your acquaintance!" She curtsies to Diamond Tiara, a few of the other fillies nearby snickering.

Diamond Tiara's eye starts twitching as Sweetie Belle turns to Apple Bloom, curtsying back. Applebaum and Silver Spoon watch from afar as more fillies wander over, watching the commotion. Diamond Tiara huffs, saying, "I do not appreciate this at all, you three! I demand you stop at once!"

"Why, Miss Apple Bloom, that is a b-e-a-utiful dress you have there!" Scootaloo continues, ignoring Diamond Tiara. "Did you craft it yourself?" Scootaloo puts her hoof on Apple Bloom's flank, rubbing the spot where a cutie mark would be.

"Why, Ah don't rightly believe so, Miss Scootaloo, because if Ah did Ah would have some sort of dress making cutie mark on my flank!" She waves her flank around, "And as you can cah-learly see, Ah do not have any sort of mark on my flank!"

Diamond Tiara bursts into tears, pushing past the fillies in her way as she gallops out of Sugarcube Corner.

Scootaloo drops her accent, "Huh. I wonder what her problem is?" She glances around at the other fillies surrounding them, a few shrugging, the others continuing to snicker. Scootaloo looks to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, "Do you think we went too far?" Silver Spoon leaves the party as well, though the other two of Silver's foals stick around, chatting with Applebaum.

"Nah," says Apple Bloom, "Ah thought it was funny. Ah mean, who does she think she is? It's not like a pony gets their cutie mark the same day as their sisters, you know? Ah think she's just mad Silver Spoon beat her to a cutie mark. And, um, so did my younger sister."

"Yeah, she's gotta be, like, the first in her class to get one," says Scootaloo, a long sigh. "Wish I was the first in our class to get a cutie mark."

Sweetie Belle rolls her eyes, "Yeah, well, some ponies just know what they're good at. I mean, look at her name! I know Doug says it means apple tree, but when you name a foal apple bomb, you really just hope they aren't blowing up toilets when they get their cutie mark." She points a hoof at her own flank, "I mean, what do you expect from a name like Sweetie Belle? I'm going to be good at making sweets? Or being cute? I don't want a cutie mark in being cute!"

Apple Bloom sighs, "Yeah, or Diamond Tiara. Probably will get her cutie mark making, Ah dunno, a fancy piece of jewelry." The fillies startle as a balloon pops behind them, a few of the others starting to play at the dart board while Pinkie Pie watches.

"You mean like a diamond tiara?" Scootaloo deadpans. "I really hope it isn't that obvious. At least Silver Spoon doesn't carry that spoon she made around!" Scootaloo points at the spoon on display high above the counter, Ms. Swirl next to a picture of her fiance.

The three fillies sigh, kicking their hooves against the floor. Sweetie Belle looks at the group, "I kind of feel bad that we made fun of her like that. I still think it was funny; I mean, how sheltered do you have to be to think that you are the only one with a problem like that? It's not like we don't see each other every day at school. But, maybe we should go apologize to her about it." The other two fillies nod, heading out the door towards the Rich mansion.

Apple Bloom walks up to the ornate front door, her hoof finding the metal knocking plate at the bottom and tapping on it. Randolph promptly answers the door, a pleasant smile from the gray earth pony. Apple Bloom asks, "Is Diamond Tiara in there? We, um, we wanted to apologize to her."

Randolph nods, a glance backwards before he says, "I will let her know you are here. And I'll be back, in case she does not wish to see you. She arrived in quite the state." 

The three fillies nod, a repentant look in their eyes. A few moments later Diamond Tiara opens the door, a curt, "What do you three want?" coming from her tear streaked muzzle.

Apple Bloom starts, "Diamond Tiara, we're sorry that we made fun of you not having a cutie mark."

Scootaloo continues, "We were just trying to be funny."

Sweetie Belle goes to say something as Diamond Tiara cuts her off, "Well, it's pretty obvious you don't have comedian cutie marks! Because you didn't do a good job of that, at all! In fact, I hope you three never get your cutie marks!" Diamond Tiara slams the door in their muzzles, a loud couple of stomps following soon after. The three fillies barely glance at each other as they stand around, stunned. The door reopens, Diamond Tiara chucking a blue ball at them, "And take your stupid ball with you too!" She slams the door again, hoofsteps thundering away inside as Scootaloo chases after the ball.

"She... she doesn't mean that, does she?" a tearful Sweetie Belle asks as Scootaloo returns with their gift to Silver Spoon commemorating her cutie mark.

"Ah don't think so," says Apple Bloom, sighing as she looks at their signatures on the ball. "Ah sure hope not."

The trio sighs, getting ready to leave as the door opens again. Silver Spoon is standing there, an apologetic look as she says, "Hey, you three. I'm sorry about Diamond Tiara, she's just taking this whole blank flank thing really hard." Silver Spoon sighs, "I think she needs some time, you know, away from any reminders of, you know, being a blank flank."

Apple Bloom frowns, "We're sorry, Silver Spoon. We didn't mean to make fun of her or nothing."

"I know." Silver Spoon motions to the ball, "And, it wasn't right of her to throw that away. It's my gift from you, and it means a lot to me. Though I might have to hide it a little, at least until she gets over this."

"Yeah, we get it. Um, sorry we kind of ruined the party for you. You're welcome to come back!" Apple Bloom smiles at Silver Spoon, the filly holding in a breath for a long time.

Silver Spoon finally exhales, a long sigh as she says, "I'm sorry, you three. Maybe not today." She takes the ball from Scootaloo, a wave at the three as she forces a half-smile to her muzzle, "You know how Diamond Tiara can get. She really likes to get her way. Probably spend the rest of the day bossing everypony around until she feels better."

Scootaloo snarks, "Probably?"

Silver Spoon gives a small smile at that, a shout coming from behind her. She glances into the house before saying, "Well, have a good day, I guess."

"Yeah, Silver Spoon, good day to you too. Tell Diamond Tiara we're sorry, and all that." Scootaloo waves back, a quick smile before her mouth turns glum, the three walking back to Sugarcube Corner.
> 7 Deadly Twins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

July 1st, 999

The balcony on the second floor of the Carousel Boutique doesn't get a lot of use on most days. In fact, Rarity spends more time chasing away unruly pegasi (well, one in particular) from the high vantage point, a favorite napping spot when the skies are otherwise completely clear of clouds. The circular building also offers the perfect balance of sun or shade, depending on whether it is hot or cold outside and the pegasus' personal preference.

Being one of the taller buildings in Ponyville, along with having few other buildings nearby, means that it is also one of the best spots for various Ponyvillians to gather and watch Celestia raise the sun. This morning, there are a number of ponies from the western part of town doing just that, relaxing out in the marketplace area. Most are quiet in the hour just before dawn, having gotten to their spot early in order to claim it.

For today is the Summer Sun Celebration, with many of the ponies having stayed up at least most of the night in preparation for the big event. The Carousel Boutique is the location chosen by the herd this year. Rarity and Doug cleared out all of the unicorn's merchandise so there would be enough room for the party. And then afterwards, space for enough beds and pillows for the fillies when they finally, after hours of sleepy yawns and half-hearted dice rolling, went to sleep. Not that the mares let Doug get any once that happened.

Well, maybe they let him sleep a little. Rarity and Rainbow are both on the highest level of the shop, laying on their backs and nestled in the tiny pinnacle. Doug is napping between them, his arms splayed to the sides, hands resting on their bellies. His breath occasionally whistles through his nose, Rainbow looking at him whenever it happens and wondering whether she should wake him to clear it out or to try to do it herself by holding his nose shut.

The trapdoor leading to the roof bumps, a muffled 'ow' coming from underneath. A hoof taps the door; Rarity's horn lights, shifting one of Doug's legs to the side. Applejack pushes the door open, rubbing her head with a hoof as she softly says, "The fillies are starting to get up, so we're making breakfast. Hope you don't mind, Rares. Y'all want any grub?"

"Something simple for me is fine, darling. Oh, and do try to put everything back where you found it, I don't want to have to reorganize the kitchen again. It's bad enough when Sweetie Belle tries." Rarity stifles a yawn, her mouth smacking a few times before she lays her head against Doug's chest.

"Got any potatoes?" Rainbow asks, her eyes lighting up. "I'd like some hash browns, hay browns, and browned apples."

"Three browns coming up," Applejack says with a wink to Rarity, "And don't you worry, Ah'll try to keep your kitchen in one piece. He want anything?"

"I'm sure," Rarity says, snuggling in closer. "If I had to guess, pear juice and pancakes, but he'll eat anything."

"Well, it's a good thing we ain't back at home. Granny'll tan his hide if she catches a whiff of that on him." Applejack scowls, "But, if'n that's what he wants, Ah suppose this is when he can get it." Applejack shakes her head as she goes back down the ladder, the trapdoor closing above her with a loud thump.

Doug stirs, his muscles contracting as he slowly wakes up. He grunts, one arm squeezing Rarity while the other pulls Rainbow closer. Rainbow grins, her head ending up beneath Rarity. The pegasus licks her lips, a gleam in her eye as she says, "Mm, up already? Ready to go right out of the gate, I like it!"

Applejack comes back up fifteen minutes later. Doug is conked out, snoring with the back of his head resting against one of the walls. Rainbow is smirking, smacking her lips and swallowing, her eyes on the full plate Applejack has in her mouth. The earth pony carefully steps up the ladder while struggling to keep the plate of browns level. She spits it out with a wink, "Here ya go, Rainbow. Hope everything is to your liking."

Rarity smiles, "Here, let me help." Her horn lights, the remaining plates and glasses levitating from the floor below. Rainbow reaches for her plate, struggling to get to it without disturbing Doug any more than necessary. Rarity levitates the plate over, the pegasus resting it on her belly as she starts chowing down.

"Thank ya kindly, Rares." Applejack looks at the plate for Rainbow, "Wish Ah had known you were gonna do that before Ah dragged that up. You may or may not have a new spot on your rug." Applejack forces a smile on her muzzle, a glance back down the ladder.

Rarity's eye twitches, followed by her entire body. Doug stirs as Rainbow smirks, a hoof covering her mouth as she tries to stifle her laughter. Rarity stares daggers at Applejack; the farm pony stares right back. At first. Applejack slowly gets more and more nervous, glancing around and stammering. Rarity starts to get up, only Doug's supine form keeping her from tackling her lead mare. That, or because they would fall down a ladder should she do so.

Rainbow stops laughing as she says, "Come on, AJ, let her go. You're terrible at bluffing." Rainbow looks over at Rarity, placing a hoof on her withers to try to calm her down. "Rarity, Applejack's just trying to prank you. She can't keep a straight muzzle to save her life, and you know she'd clean up whatever spill there was if she had."

"Consarn it, Rainbow, Ah nearly had her!" Rainbow rolls her eyes as Applejack huffs, coming the rest of the way up the ladder. "Mare's gotta learn to take it easy now and then. Plus, Doug told me Ah need the practice." She squeezes to the side, able to close the trapdoor and then rest on top of it.

"No, Rainbow, not again," Doug moans, lifting and stretching his arms passed his hips. "Give somepony else a chance." He sniffs, one eye opening and slowly meandering from one mare laying around him to another. It rests on the plate of fruits, nuts, and a glass of pear juice. His other eye opens, one arm holding onto Rarity as he leans forward and grabs the plate and glass. He clears his throat, a gravelly, "I'm sorry, I thought you were talking about something else." He looks around at the dark sky as he takes a drink, "I thought it would be later than this."

"Well, it should start any minute now, if for once the clock tower is running on time," Rarity says, positioning herself to look at Canterlot. She sighs, "But I don't think that's the case."

"Shame Princess Celestia isn't in Canterlot this year," Doug says, the well lit outline of the capital city visible in the night. "Where is she, Fillydelphia?"

"That's correct," says Rarity, a sip from her juice. "It's the next closest city to Canterlot than Ponyville, since Appleloosa isn't large enough."

"Yeah, and all them Canterlot snobs don't want to acknowledge that Dodge City exists," Applejack says, spitting her disapproval. She immediately realizes her error, an apologetic look at Rarity as she cleans the spit with a towel, "Sorry, Rares."

Rarity's glare softens, "It's okay, Applejack, Celestia knows I've had my fair share of spitting matches with the floor after a particularly unruly client." She looks back to Canterlot, "But, regardless, Princess Celestia wanted to do something special for the one thousandth anniversary of her reign as the Solar Monarch."

Doug nods, "And that's not next year, right?"

Rarity starts laughing, trying to stifle it and failing. She eventually recovers as Applejack says, "Hey, now, it was an honest question."

Rarity's chest heaves back and forth as she tries to force out, "Ehh... Oh my, I'm sorry, but the idea that Princess Celestia would pick Ponyville for such an important event? Oh, that's precious." Rarity shakes her head, "The main celebration is, of course, the year one thousand and one. Because the geniuses who designed the calendar picked 'one' for the first year of her rule, even though it started halfway through. The thousandth anniversary would, of course, be the year one thousand and one. Princess Celestia went from the furthest city, starting with Vanhoover, then Cloudsdale, etcetera, every year working her way one city closer to Canterlot."

Doug says, "Makes sense. Nightmare Moon was imprisoned yesterday, right?"

Rarity nods, "Yes; the legends, at least, say that it happened just as the moon was raised, when Nightmare Moon would have been at her most powerful, but nopony knows for sure. Well, except for Princess Celestia, and she historically refuses to answer questions about that time."

Rainbow says, "Speaking of the Princess, has she met up with you two any more?"

"Twice. Once with both of us, then once with just me." Doug shrugs as he takes another bite, relaxing back with his arm around Rainbow. "She's confident she has the spell at a good enough spot for what's going to happen with Cadance, so we shouldn't need to meet up any more."

"Oh? And, what perchance happened on the solo visit?" Rarity saucily asks, her muzzle curling to a smirk. "Something we should know about?"

Doug shrugs again, "It's no secret. Well, between the herd, that is. Celestia still wants to keep it out of the general knowledge. She wanted to practice timing, as she felt that was her weakest spot. So it was mostly me throwing a rock in the air, and her trying to time the spell to coincide with the rock hitting the ground. Then we chatted while she recovered." Doug nods his head a few times, a pursed smile on his lips. "Maybe not the best method, but we don't exactly have a plethora of mares in heat looking to... you know."

Applejack says, "Well, Pinkie Pie told me about this legend. Apparently there's some pond that can duplicate ponies."

Doug stares at her for a few seconds before saying, "Huh. Magical duplication? Sounds broken. So, like, we dunk Celestia in the pond, and now we have two alicorns capable of raising the sun?"

Applejack shrugs, "Something like that." From beneath comes the sounds of fillies chatting back and forth, likely waiting for their food to be ready.

Doug shakes his head, "Well, there would have to be something crippling about it. Like, it splits your magic between the two ponies. Or your mind. Or one of you comes out evil."

Rainbow snickers, "Could you imagine an evil Fluttershy? She'd, like, hate animals. And be mean."

"Ooh, or, she'd be a tyrant!" Doug smirks, "And she'd impose a speed limit! Nopony is allowed to go faster than she does!"

Rainbow's eye widen, her forelegs coming up to her muzzle. She whimpers, "That... that... that'd be terrible! She'd be the worst pony ever!"

"Ah could barely pull my wagon from one side of the orchard to the other by the time the day was over!"

"Hence, the evulz!" Doug laughs, slowly becoming more and more ominous. "Mua ha ha ha!"

"Mm, might need to work on your delivery there a little, but the effort was good." Rarity snuggles next to Doug, "And what would I be like if I was evil?"

"Well, the obvious one is that you would become tyrannical and force everypony to bow to you. Or wear your designs. But without just making everypony a tyrant that gets to lay down a law?" Doug hums to himself, a hand on his chin. "Ugh, even plain old selfishness isn't really evil. I mean, it is if it goes too far, but what doesn't meet that criteria?" Doug smirks, "Okay, how about this. Everypony has to live up to your standards. Of dress, of cleanliness, of manners."

"Ooh, Rarity likes that." The unicorn pauses for a split second, "I mean, obviously forcing everypony to do that is wrong, of course, but what's wrong with a little common decency?" 

Applejack shudders at the thought of having to do everything the way Rarity likes before asking, "And what about me, partner?"

Doug bombastically states, "There are only apples!" while raising his arms in the air, menacingly shaking them back and forth.

"That don't sound particularly evil to me. What's wrong with apples? Apples For Everypony!" At everypony's blank stare Applejack snickers, "Got you all! Ah knew Ah could do it!" 

Rainbow laughs, "Alright, Applejack, that was good. You got me." Doug and Rarity smile, nodding along. From beneath them comes the sounds of fillies playing on the second floor balcony, scampering around the circle.

"And Pinkie Pie?" Applejack asks.

"Mm, she tries to make ponies cry instead of laugh with her jokes. Like, all you'd need to do to her is flip a switch where she sees a frown as a smile and vice versa."

"That would be a terrible place to live, for sure. You're getting faster at this!" Rainbow says with a grin. "How about me?"

"Evil Rainbow challenges everypony in everything, and whenever she beats them they get punished."

"What? Then I'd just lose on purpose, so that nopony gets punished!" Rainbow shakes her mane, trying to hide the slight twitch in her eye.

"Would you, Rainbow? Could you?" Doug leans closer, his voice getting slower and slower, "Forced to lose. In everything. Over... and over. Even... in a race... with Fluttershy?"

Rainbow shudders, closing her eyes before exclaiming, "OkayfineI'dbeterrible I'dneverletanyponywin evenFluttershy I'mamonster!" She bursts into tears, pulling away from Doug.

"You're not a monster, Rainbow, none of you are." Doug sighs as he pulls Rainbow close, holding the mare as she snuggles next to him. "Those feelings, that desire to win? That's not evil, it's a part of you. You wouldn't see those as 'evil' copies of yourself if there wasn't some truth to them being a part of you. If you never had those feelings, that doesn't make you good. What makes you good is having the option to do something, and choosing the right thing, not the easy thing or the selfish thing." 

The other two snuggle close as well, Rarity hesitantly asking, "And you, Doug? What would your evil side do?"

"Buck Celestia." The three ponies look up at him, dumbfounded expressions on each. Doug continues, "I'd be obsessed with power, right? Well, there's the most powerful being around, and she's interested, and it would just be a matter of time before I had her wrapped around my evil little finger. Giving her what she wants in return for what I want."

"Well, let me be the first in saying that Ah'm glad you're happy here." Applejack relaxes, a few long sighs from everypony as the first bits of color play along the sky. 

The four head to the second level, going out to the balcony and joining the rest of the herd. The fourteen watch with bated breath as Canterlot Castle lights up, the pegasus guards flying long ribbons around. Princess Cadance strides out on the balcony, her horn lighting. The unicorns of the guard join in, beginning a light show around the castle as the sun rises over the mountain.
> 8 Dying Cry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 25th, 999

"Ah, another beautiful day!" Fluttershy exclaims, slowly walking along the path to the southern end of Ponyville. A thin cover of clouds helps keep the middle of the day nice and cool, a perfect opportunity to take the various pets of the herd out for a nice little picnic. The mares were all too busy to attend this time, but Fluttershy doesn't mind. She still has their two pets in tow, and it gives her plenty of time to spend with each of the animals. And, if she's being honest with herself, maybe help socialize Angel Bunny a little more.

The four are making their way to the south end of Ponyville. It used to be a much more popular spot, but the pile of rocks serves as an uncomfortable reminder of the possibility of monsters randomly appearing from the Everfree. That does tend to put a damper on their willingness to hang out and relax around the area. Fluttershy rubs her flank, the cuts long since healed, though they occasionally twinge with phantom pain. If so many of her critter friends didn't live in the Everfree, she would probably never come this close.

Speaking of cute little critters, Angel Bunny should be done with his nap by now. "Come on, Angel Bunny, it's time to play with your friends!" Fluttershy smiles back, a glance at the white lump riding along near her neck, using her mane as a blanket and sun shade.

Fluttershy's request is met by a sharp pain in her withers, a natural result of the bunny kicking her. She winces, taking to the air in order to rub the spot as the bunny tries to fall back asleep. Opal, riding on her flank, digs her paws to keep her balance, thankfully keeping her claws sheathed, but otherwise seems undisturbed by the impromptu flight.

Winona growls off to the side, Fluttershy immediately admonishing the collie with a stern glance, "Now, Winona, let's be nice. I did wake him up from his nap, after all. Aren't you also a little grumpy when you first get up in the morning?" 

Winona shakes her head, a brief flick of her nose towards Opalescence. The cat opens one eye from along Fluttershy's back, briefly sticking her tongue out and then going back to her nap.

Fluttershy laughs as she lands, "Oh, I suppose you are right. After all, Applejack does get you up nice and early in the morning, every morning. It's Opal who likes her naps!"

Opal lets out a quiet meow in response, barely moving from her spot. Angel Bunny kicks Fluttershy again, though more in annoyance this time. Winona shakes her head at the mare's reluctance to discipline the recalcitrant bunny, a throaty growl voicing her displeasure. When Fluttershy doesn't respond she runs forward, past the spot of the picnic, a happy bark as she spots three young fillies.

"Hi, Winona!" Hedge says, perking up from her spot on the grass. "What'cha doing out here?" She looks around, smiling when she sees her dam.

"Hello, Hedge," Fluttershy says as she gets close to the three fillies, "And Pomarbo, and Meringue. Do, um, does Applejack know you are out here?"

Pomarbo looks up from his reader, Meringue from her partially colored page, both giving Fluttershy a cheerful smile before their heads drop back down, returning to their activity. Hedge nods to Fluttershy, "Yup! She told me to keep an eye on them. So we came out here!" Hedge points, the southern Apple orchards just across the river, the bridge a short ways north. "Well, Pinkie Pie is also supposed to be watching us, but I think she's working the lunch rush right now."

Fluttershy can see, off in the distance, one apple tree after another shudder, losing their crop of apples. She lowers her body to the ground, Opal hopping off and looking for a warm spot to rest. Fluttershy tries to get her saddlebags off without disturbing Angel Bunny.

Hedge slowly grows more and more perturbed watching her dam struggle, finally getting up and pulling the picnic supplies out of the saddlebags. She takes the lunch, spreading out the various plates and starting to distribute the feed among each of them.

Angel Bunny perks up at the sounds and smells of the food. He hops off Fluttershy's back, moving to the closest plate and peering at the brown and gray mush. Angel Bunny growls at the lack of greens, staring at Hedge. The filly stares back, unmoving, her foreleg pointing to a different spot that has a plate of salad greens. Angel Bunny crosses his forelegs, closing his eyes and turning his head up and to the side.

Winona takes the opportunity to lightly nudge Angel Bunny away from her lunch, a rumble in her throat when the bunny pushes back. Fluttershy intervenes before the larger collie can bully the bunny away, saying, "Now, you two, don't fight. Hedge, can you swap their plates?"

Hedge rolls her eyes as she complies, "I don't know why you put up with that, dam." The two pets start digging into their food, trading short glares. 

"Now, now, Angel Bunny did save my life," Fluttershy says with a half smile, beginning on her sandwich. "It wouldn't be right to just forget that, would it?" She waves at Pinkie Pie as she makes her way over to the picnic.

"Yeah, well, how long are-" Hedge is interrupted by a loud roar from the Everfree Forest, followed by a second deeper one. "What is that?"

Fluttershy turns towards the Everfree, spreading her wings to cover the picnic and fillies from sight. Hedge peeks out from under one wing, Fluttershy trying to move her wing to block the filly's sight. The mare says, "I don't know, but it can't be good. It's almost like..." Fluttershy stops as a few birds fly out of the Everfree; they spot her, flying down and chirping excitedly. Fluttershy's eyes grow wide, gasping out, "Injured animals!" She hesitates, looking back at the picnic, "Oh, I don't know if I can leave them alone..."

Hedge pushes past her dam's wing, starting to move towards the Everfree. She says more forcefully, "Injured animals! Come on, we have to go help them!" Pinkie Pie rushes over, a worried look on her muzzle but still a ways off.

"No, Hedge, it's too dangerous! You have to stay here with your sisters!" Fluttershy starts walking forward, a glare at the filly. Both Pomarbo and Meringue are huddling at the picnic, scared looks towards Ponyville while the pets seem relatively undisturbed.

"No, Mama! I can help!" The two pegasi get to the treeline, the sounds from the Forest growing louder. Hedge nearly shouts, "Please!"

"Not so loud, Hedge!" Fluttershy holds a hoof to her head, a loud sigh, "Look. You stay here. If anything happens to me, you need to be able to go tell somepony. You'll go get Rainbow Dash, okay?"

Pinkie Pie catches up, a curious expression on her face. "Sooo, what's the plan? Smash and grab? Shock and awe? Bait and switch?"

"Umm," Hedge says, hunching down at the deep bellow of a dying creature. She scampers after Fluttershy, the three following close to the river that runs next to the Everfree. After a short distance, they spot the source of the commotion, hiding behind a field of tacktails to watch. The field of Everfree cattails wave back and forth, the foot long pods oozing with an adhesive nopony wants to tangle with.

Three creatures are engaged in a fierce battle around one of the many ponds. Inside the pond is a cragadile, the large rocky beast trying to keep hunched under the water. It splashes about, trying to get to the two green logs floating in a pool of red. A small green alligator is perched on top of one of the logs, uttering a keening cry. It occasionally snaps at the cragadile, its small teeth nothing compared to the stony creature in front of it.

The cragadile is facing off against a vine vixen, the tree dwelling plant monster attempting to use its long vines to wrap around the cragadile's limbs and pull it out of the water. However, it cannot stay in one place for long, as a scizard is chasing after it. The lizard-like natural predator of the vine vixen swings one of its bladed claws, trying to cut the vines supporting the fox-like creature.

The vine vixen swings to a higher branch, directly above the three crouching ponies. The scizard jabs its sharp talons into the trees, rapidly climbing in close pursuit of the trailing vines. The vixen lassos the cragadile, the tree bending as the cragadile struggles to free itself. The tree snaps back up like a bow, the scizard losing its grip and falling to the ground. The vine vixen pulls hard, keeping its balance in the swaying branches as it directs the rocky beast into the scizard. The two tumble, the cragadile swiftly gaining the upper hoof.

"Quick, now's our chance!" Pinkie Pie says, pointing at the baby alligator. Fluttershy hesitates, her eyes still focusing on the fierce battle at the cragadile thrashes around right next to them. "You want to rescue a helpless animal or not?"

Fluttershy steels herself with a whimper, hovering up above the tacktails. She watches as the cragadile lifts the injured scizard, heaving it at the vine vixen. Fluttershy gets close to the baby alligator, holding her hooves to try to pick it up.

The small green alligator turns, snapping its sharp teeth at her. She quickly backs up, a very worried look on her face as she tries to coax the alligator off the scaly log. She says in a quiet voice, "Hey, it's okay, I'm here to help you." She glances over to the three creatures. The cragadile, a pleased expression on its craggy face, watches the scizard cut the vine vixen to pieces. Satisfied its natural predator is dealt with, it utters a rocky growl in thanks. The scizard begins devouring the vine vixen, one eye watching its mortal enemy.

The alligator utters a keening cry again, backing up and nearly tripping over a ridge on the log. Fluttershy gasps as she spots a lifeless eye staring at her from what she thought was a log, her head swiftly turning to see the cragadile making its way back into the water. The rock beast spots her, a roar at somepony trying to take its meal.

"Catch!" yells Pinkie Pie, hurtling one of the tacktails through the air. Fluttershy shies away, holding her hooves up to ward off the incoming projectile. It hits her hoof, sticking fast despite her attempts to shake it off. "Fluttershy, hurry!" Pinkie Pie calls, pointing a hoof at the cragadile swimming towards her. Pinkie Pie watches, holding her breath as the cragadile gets closer and closer, its stony eyes hungrily watching the pegasus start to rise above the water. The scizard continues slicing the vine vixen to ribbons, mashing and chewing the plant monster as bits and pieces fall on the two ponies underneath. Hedge moves to the side, picking up one of the vines and inspecting it, a fearful glance up to the scizard.

Fluttershy grimaces, unable to get the heavy tacktail off of her hoof. She flutters down, holding out her hoof and cringing as the alligator lunges forward, its jaws clamping down around the extremely sticky plant. Fluttershy starts flying up, her most commanding voice barely eking out, "Whatever you do, hold on and don't let go!"

The alligator has no intention of letting go, suspended underneath Fluttershy. The pegasus flies up and away from the roiling water, making her way back to her herdmates. The cragadile stops churning the water as the two fly out of reach, sinking down to the bottom of the pond.

"Hurry, 'Shy! We need to get out of here!" whispers Pinkie, one foreleg windmilling towards Ponyville. "Come on!" The earth pony's tail twitches, the mare turning to look at it and gasping. She screams, "Look out for falling objects!" as she dives to the side.

The scizard impacts the ground where Pinkie Pie just was, uttering a loud cry at missing its prey. It begins to stalk towards Pinkie Pie as Hedge's wings start beating, the filly slowly taking to the air with the vine trailing behind her. The scizard turns, its eyes narrowing at the moving vine. It lunges forward, the long claws on its leg cutting halfway through the vine. It yanks down hard. Normally this would dislodge a vine vixen, sending the plant monster directly to its waiting claws, but it merely pulls the vine from Hedge's hooves, the filly letting out a loud, 'Eep!' as she tumbles, dropping down a little before she regains her balance. The scizard looks up, disappointed at the lack of a meal. It spots Hedge, moving towards the tree to begin climbing up.

Out of the pond charges the cragadile, the stony beast instantly crushing the scizard as it crashes down. It's large maw drops down, rending the bladed creature in two, one half disappearing down the rocky gullet. The other half follows after, the sharp claws nothing to the craggy monster. It looks up, one eye narrowing at Hedge, the other scanning the area for a certain pink pony.

Fluttershy flies over, beaming at her filly, "Hedge! You're flying!"

"Mama! Help!" cries the small pegasus, her wings struggling to keep her aloft.

Fluttershy looks down, the alligator still attached to the tacktail attached to her hoof. She grimaces, "I don't know if I can carry both of you, Hedge! You have to fly away!"

Hedge gulps, her body slowly tipping to the side. She begins moving in that direction but losing altitude quickly, the ground starting to rush up. The cragadile moves over, large jaws ready to snatch the pegasus from the air should she fall any lower. Hedge cries as she rights herself, slowly hovering up a little higher.

"That's it, Hedge! One wing at a time!" Fluttershy grimly swallows, knowing her Stare is useless against the more monstrous creatures of the Everfree. "Try to find a balance! Just a little forward motion, okay? Tip your self over just a little!"

Hedge nods, choking back another tear, as she tries to steady herself. She barely tips her body, starting to move forward, less than a foot per second, her speed nowhere close to where it would need to be before her endurance runs out.

The cragadile seems to know this, ready to smash a tree should they try to land in one. It looks to the side, spotting a pink pony waving to it. She yells, "Guess what?" At the cragadile's roar she says, "Nope! It's this!" She spins one of the vines around her head, the improvised lasso circling from one side to the other. "Now, this is my first time handling a vine. So, you just have to ask yourself..." She stares at the cragadile, the rocky eyes staring back. "Do you feel lucky? Punk?"

The cragadile utters a deep growl, a glance up at the vine spinning around Pinkie's head. It slowly backs up, slinking back into the pond. Pinkie Pie darts forward, catching Hedge out of the air as the exhausted filly stops beating her wings. Behind them one of the two logs disappear into the pond, a few scattered bubbles taking its place.

"Thanks, Pinkie," she ekes out, holding on as Pinkie Pie transfers the filly to her back. "I'm gonna... I'm gonna rest now."

"I think we could all use a good rest, and a cupcake or two!" Pinkie Pie says, the three (four, counting the alligator) making their way out of the Everfree. "Good thing I came prepared!" She pulls four cupcakes out of her mane, small ones so they would all fit of course, and hoofs one to each pony. Pinkie Pie looks at the alligator, jaws still clenched around the tacktail. "You want a cupcake too?"

The alligator stares back at her, slowly waving in the air.

"Oh, come on, everypony likes cupcakes! All you have to do is try one!"

The alligator stares back at her, slowly waving in the air.

"Please? Just open up your mouth! Like this!" Pinkie Pie's jaw unhinges, the mare's mouth now large enough to devour a cake twice her size.

"Pinkie Pie, please don't do that in front of the fillies," Fluttershy says, shaking her head. The alligator slowly closes one eye, then the other, before he goes back to staring at the pink mare.

They return to the picnic, looking at the scene ahead of them. The two fillies are watching Winona and Angel Bunny with grins on their muzzles while Opal has her ever present smirk. Winona has Angel Bunny pinned, the bunny gritting its teeth and growling. The fillies look up, followed by the pets; Winona lets Angel Bunny up, pushing the bunny away with a growl. The fillies rush over, a quick hug to Pinkie Pie but merely looking at Fluttershy and the alligator attached to her.

Fluttershy sets the alligator down, ignoring Angel Bunny's frustrated growls. She frowns at the adhesive coating the alligator's mouth. She pries away the outer lip, exposing none of the teeth, the adhesive spilling out along the gums. "Oh dear," she says, a long sigh at the problem in front of her.

"What is it?" Pinkie Pie asks, tilting her head as she pronks over. "Something wrong?"

"Well, there's a reason nopony uses these tacktails," Fluttershy says, pointing at her hoof, the large tacky plant still adhered to her. "They don't come off. Ever. I'm probably going to need to shave my hoof just to get it off."

"Ooh, um, I'm sorry, 'Shy. I was just so worried about you saving this poor little guy that I had to do something!" Pinkie Pie sighs, rubbing her head against Fluttershy.

"Oh, well, it's not really me that I'm worried about, but I accept your apology." Fluttershy grimaces, looking down at the alligator. "I'm afraid this little guy is in quite the bind. You see, the only way I can think to get the tacktail out of his mouth is if he loses all of his teeth. I just hope his tongue is okay, that we can just cut the top part off and it'll regrow."

"Well, that's not so bad!" Pinkie Pie says with a nod. "Don't alligators grow their teeth back?"

"Normally, all the time," Fluttershy says, pointing to the jaw line, "But I'm afraid we might need to really cut into him to get all the tack out of his mouth. You really, really don't want to swallow this stuff. And we might need to cut into his jaw deep enough, such that his teeth might never grow back."

Pinkie Pie's eyes start to well with tears, the mare crouching down and petting the small green gator. "I'm sorry, little guy. I didn't mean to do this to you." Her mane slowly deflates, a long sigh as she continues stroking his back.

"Well, it's not like it's the end of the world for him," Fluttershy says. "I mean, I don't think he'll be able to go out in the wild, not like this, but you could keep him as a pet."

"You're right!" Pinkie Pie exclaims, her mane poofing back up as she pronks to her hooves. "You can be my pet! And, if you don't have any teeth, that means you'll be safe around foals! Or in the tub! You'll be the perfect party companion!" Pinkie Pie points a hoof at the baby alligator, "And your name will be... Gummy!" She pronks around, "Get it? Gummy? Because you don't have any teeth! You're all gums!"

The alligator stares, seemingly oblivious to everything going on around it.

Fluttershy smiles, "That's right, Pinkie! I love how you can look on the bright side of things." She looks back down, "Now, let's get you to the hospital so we can get you unattached to me, so you can go home with Pinkie Pie, okay? She'll take great care of you!"
> 9 Severed Limbs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 30th, 999

For most ponies, Nightmare Night is a carefully metered holiday. Sure, it is one of the scarier ones, and it isn't uncommon to see a pony dressing as a ghost, or walking around openly wielding a weapon, clad in armor. Other ponies might wear the most horrifying thing they can think of, like when Applejack dressed up as a fruit bat a couple years ago. Most are dressed in whatever costume they have on hoof, or traded with one of their neighbors to get a little variety. A couple of the costumes are incredibly detailed, worn year after year by ponies enamored with their idol. Which manage to be quite varied, as Princess Celestia intentionally deters ponies from dressing up as her.

Everypony enjoys wearing the costumes, and telling spooky stories to the fillies and foals about the big bad Nightmare Moon. They try not to be too scary, instead focusing on how they should dress up and give her candy in order to forestall her wrath, her threat to gobble them up. And then, when the fillies have gone to sleep, trying to top each other's scary tales, see which ponies could mare up and stick around for the entirety.

It's a good thing living next to the Everfree Forest prepared them for the monstrosity shuffling out of the Carousel Boutique.

The only thing keeping the Ponyvillians from running away, screaming for a guard at the top of their lungs is the fact that the mares responsible had gone around town earlier that day, warning that this dream foal of Doug's was, to put it mildly, wildly disturbing. A lot of them had laughed that off, just Pinkie being Pinkie. Or Rarity worried that she missed a thread on one of their costumes, the entire thing now liable to fall apart. After all, how outlandish could you get? It's not like the Everfree Forest spat out cute cuddly manticores that just wanted hugs.

Most ponies don't dress up as creatures from the Everfree for two reasons. One is that while they might be scared initially, and perhaps run away, they would always band together to defeat the monsters that came out to attack the town. Sometimes with outside help, if they needed it. The second is that it is seen as a 'cheap' scare tactic, kind of like dressing up as Nightmare Moon. OOoooh, she's so scary she got demolished by Celestia! The scariest monsters were the ones that you knew were coming, and could hear coming, but couldn't do a thing about. Monsters from the Everfree? You just fight back. Maybe you die, maybe you win, but you aren't helpless.

It also helps that his pack of fillies are surrounding him, chattering excitedly about the candy they are going to get, oblivious to the implications of the costume he is wearing. Or, as the less charitable might speculate, so inured to his tendencies that they don't bat an eye when he crosses a line. Or several.

Each filly is wearing a unique costume, corresponding to their favorite food or drink. Apple Bloom is, almost obviously, a large red delicious apple, with a green leaf replacing her normal mane tie. Applebaum is dressed as a bottle of apple cider, though her dam swears that it is instead a bottle of apple juice, despite the tiny bubbles the filly has painted on. Pomarbo is either a bowl of applesauce or, as Applebaum claims, pomace left over from making cider. Applejack only smacked the filly once for that comment, the mare's grin letting on more than she wanted, since she herself is in a bottle labeled 'freeze distilled apple juice'. With, if one looks closely, a thin line crossed through 'juice'.

Lemon has a white, wavy costume reminiscent of a bowl of meringue. Meringue, on the other hoof, is dressed as a lemon. Pinkie Pie, though she claims her favorite food is actually cupcakes, and her boots are cupcakes (nopony has asked whether or not she will eat them at the end of the night), is wearing a lemon meringue pie, complete with serving knife and stack of plates in case anypony gets hungry. It gives her a very saccharine smell, not helped by the candy she plans to drop wherever she walks.

Rarity thought there would be something slightly off if she went as a giant cucumber, and instead has two pieces of wheat bread, buttered with mayonnaise of course, on each side of her. Her body is in line with a single large green slice. Rarity insists a proper cucumber sandwich has a single cucumber slice at each point one would bite, as to not have to cut through the cucumber with one's teeth, but doing so for her costume would instead make her look like some sort of gooey monster. Sweetie Belle is a quesadilla, a similar design to Rarity, with two half tortillas on each side. The inside of the costume, spread along her back, is a cheesy mess with various green peppers studded in the mix. Which makes her look like a green spotted cheese monster.

Fluttershy blends in nicely to her orange jello dessert, the yellow difficult to make out from the jiggling mess. Hers, along with Pinkie Pie's, are the two costumes made to be eaten afterwards, and is covered with a wrap to keep anything from contaminating it. Hedge had a harder time deciding, and ended up going as an acorn, the kind she loves to help the squirrels find and hide away. Scootaloo looks unhappy with her choice, the orange filly hidden inside her potato costume. She grumbles to herself as she walks, that she should have chosen something cooler like fries or hash browns instead.

Rainbow Dash is a bit more gruesome sight, as she chose the Cajun rhoa as her favorite food. A few spots along her ribs and flanks, the major muscle groups, are painted a charred brown, almost black, with a textured appearance to look like the strips of meat. To stay in line with Doug's costume her forelegs are painted black, with a small red ring and white circle at the joint. One wing has the same treatment, the limb held slightly away from her body to give the appearance that it is missing entirely, again with a red circle between the black and cyan. She has a canvas collar around her neck and a metal chain hanging from her 'good' wing, a hook wrapping around the joint. Her body reeks of apple smoke, one of her favorite flavors when Doug cooks the rhoa.

Doug stands as he exits the Boutique, his six foot frame having to hunch over to fit through the doorway. His dark red hair is stained with grease and soot and styled with spikes pointing away from his head. Dark bruises in the shape of a hoof mottle his face and chest, signs of a vain struggle. A few of his teeth are painted black, his normally pleasant smile now downright creepy. A few splashes of red mark his mouth and neck, though his hands are remarkably clean.

He is wearing a heavy canvas apron that covers from the upper half of his chest to just below his knees. The canvas is stained with blood, the dark spots hinting that this particular garment has been in use for years. The more recent stains sting eyes and tongue with an acrid taste, more authentic than any glamour would provide. Two metal rings on the top on the top of the apron hook to the strap looped behind his neck. He has a wide shoulder pad that helps hide the brace wrapped around his chest. Strapped to his side are two large cleavers, only the dark spotted handles visible from their sheathes. On his other side dangle two chains, the meat hooks clinking back and forth as he walks. A third chain runs from his waist to the metal chain around Rainbow, though it is not actually attached to her wing should she need to fly away.

He lumbers away from the Boutique, a limping gait mostly due to the extra weight he is carrying. For Rainbow is perched on his shoulder, looking to the world to be the latest of a long number of victims caught and kept alive while being slowly devoured. The mare has a bucket in her teeth, though this has a strap to rest the weight on her neck instead of her jaw. The smile on her face belies the expression one would expect a pony actually in that position to have, which helps diffuse a little of the impact of seeing the two.

Rarity shudders as she looks, shaking her head from side to side. "Darling, if I didn't help design and create that costume for you, I would be positively terrified right now." She gulps, "I still am, a little, to be honest. Are you sure about this?" The various fillies and mares around them also take a second look at the costume, most of them nodding along with Rarity. "How do you think the other ponies are going to take it?"

Doug shrugs, Rainbow moving up and down on his shoulder. At least most of her weight is distributed through the brace to his back and hips, not all on the arm helping hold her up. "Well, I think of it this way. If I'm comfortable enough to be seen wearing it, that's because it's okay, it's a topic that they can talk about and joke about. If it wasn't okay, then there's no way I would wear a costume like this, right?"

Rarity slowly nods, "I suppose I can see that reasoning, but, do you think the other ponies will do the same? I don't know that they will, how shall I say, be able to think about it because they are already running away in fear."

"Well, it's not like it's a secret I can eat meat." Doug motions to the Nightmare Night area, a lot of ponies milling about in the brightly lit plaza. "I suppose this will be an unpleasant reminder of it. I just hope your earlier warning was enough."

Rarity nods, "Yes, dear, you and me both." She nervously smiles, "I guess we'll put it to the test."

The loud clanking chains quickly draw everypony's attention. Motion comes to a halt at the festival, all eyes staring at the towering biped. The silence is broken by a single foal crying, a few hoofsteps as fillies are ushered behind their dams. All the other ponies continue standing still, hoping that they don't draw this monster's attention, even if a part of their brain knows who it is.

A blue stallion with a darker blue mane courageously steps up. He takes a deep breath, Rainbow looking down with a curious expression. He stammers, "So, um," before taking another breath and grinning, "That is a wicked costume! You have any other ideas like it?"

Doug laughs, "Well, let me tell you about this guy, Jason Voorhees."

The rest of the ponies breathe a collective sigh of relief, a few of the mares smacking each other that a stallion was the first one brave enough to confront the 'monster'. Doug and the rest of the herd laugh as a few more mares come up, complementing Rarity on the quality of the costume, how well everything goes together, and the authenticity of the smells. Doug and Rainbow trade a nervous smile at that as the rest of the herd disperses, starting to mingle among the games. 

The ring toss and spider toss go well, both Doug and Rainbow able to toss the object in question from their varied vantage points. Bobbing for apples is slightly more difficult due to Doug attempting the feat while Rainbow is still on his shoulder. At least Rainbow got an apple out of it, Doug unable to get his mouth to dip low enough while still holding onto Rainbow. And the mares running the stand got a laugh out of it. The fillies love the costume as well, once they get over their initial fear. And the smell.

The younger members of the herd soon grow tired, the festivities proceeding long after their normal bedtime. The herd heads back to the Carousel Boutique, the fillies carrying baskets filled to the brim with candy. Once they enter the Carousel Boutique Doug holds out a bowl. Each mare takes a piece of paper, reading the short lines to themselves as they head upstairs. Tonight is Sweetie Belle's room in which the fillies will be staying, spread out on the floor on various sheets and pillows. Then, once the fillies are all tucked in, the mares return to the party. Each gets a glass of tomato juice from the refreshment table.

The mares gather around in a circle, Rainbow Dash still on Doug's shoulder. The room is quiet, the windows covered by the various shelves and fabric. "Well, I would say this has been a very productive Nightmare Night," Doug says, motioning to the baskets of candy left by the entrance. He pauses, what he was about to say interrupted as the clock tower strikes nine. After the first two strokes he continues, "I think the costumes were excellent. Great job, Pinkie Pie and Rarity as the lead designers." He raises his glass, each pony following suit and stomping their hooves as the clock tower stops ringing. "To a suc-"

The lights in the Carousel Boutique go out, leaving the entire room pitch black. A gurgling sound, followed by a loud crash and the pained cry of a pegasus. The loud jingle of a glass hitting the hardwood floor and a splash of liquid.

The lights abruptly come back on, four mares still standing where they were before. Rainbow Dash grunts as she pulls away from Doug's prone body. The pegasus slowly backs up, one hoof squelching, a horrified expression on her muzzle as she tries to figure out what just happened.

A blood curdling shriek splits the night as Rarity spots the pool of red expanding from around Doug's head.

Pinkie Pie shouts, a completely unnecessary base drum roll accompanying her, "DUN DUN DUNNNN!!"
> 10 Trapped in the Tower
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The Buck, Pinkie!" Rainbow shouts back. "What happened?" She points down to the floor, her eyes locked on the scene in front of her. Doug is laying on the ground, face down in a puddle of red liquid that slowly spreads away from his body.  "Doug's been..." Rainbow's painted hooves clasp to her muzzle, giving the impression that somepony took two large bites out of her chin. "...Murdered!"

"Oh, you did read your paper!" exclaims Pinkie Pie, excitedly pronking around the room. The pie around her jiggles, the mare bouncing up and down with it. "I was worried for a moment there!"

"Everypony, Please!" Rarity shouts, the other ponies murmuring to themselves coming to a pause. "We need to calm down! There is an emergency here, and it must be taken care of!" Rarity quickly moves to the refreshments table, gathering a stack of paper towels and refilling her drink from the punch bowl. She quickly walks back to the body, dropping down and wiping the floor with her hooves. "Stupid restrictions against using my horn," she scoffs, looking at the stack of towels clutched in her hoof.

Applejack continues staring down at Doug's body, just laying on the floor. Her eyes move up, taking a hard look at each of the other ponies and how they are reacting. Fluttershy is holding back, her mane set in such a way to hide the gruesome sight. Pinkie Pie is pronking around the room, looking for clues or some such nonsense for the game Doug had set up. 

"Oh, come on, Rarity, it isn't that bad. I can't fly, neither can Fluttershy." Rainbow says, getting to her hooves. "What we need to do is figure out what happened!" She holds up a hoof for Rarity, the hoof still painted completely black after it is wiped clean.

Rarity nods vigorously, her eyes staring at Doug's lifeless body. She carefully moves forward, whispering, "There, there, everything is going to be okay. It's okay, Rarity, it's okay." She lays down one towel after another, slowly covering the thick liquid on the laminated wood floor. "It'll be okay, you don't need to get upset." She picks his head up, cradling it as the last of the paper towels are used to get the liquid underneath, and wipes the floor clean. Rarity nods, a pleased smile on her muzzle, unceremoniously dropping Doug's head back to the floor as she carries the wet towels to a trash can, dumping the lot inside.

"Okay, now that Rarity's done being... Rarity, we need to get to the bottom of this!" Applejack looks around the room, staring each pony in the eye. "Ah'm not the murderer, and Ah want each pony to say the same!" 

Fluttershy shies down, covering her muzzle with her mane. Applejack stares at her, her eyes narrowing at the reluctant pegasus. Fluttershy cautiously peeks an eye up, immediately hiding again when she sees Applejack's stare. Pinkie Pie finishes shutting and locking all the doors to the room before returning to the group.

The clock in the back wall strikes 9:05 as Rainbow says, "Oh, come on, Applejack! Nopony's going to admit to being the murderer!" Her hoof raises, pointing at Applejack, "In fact, it's probably you!"

Applejack holds a hoof to her chest, mouthing the word 'me?' as Pinkie Pie giggles, "Come on, silly! You've gotta have a reason to pick out somepony as the murderer! Otherwise we can just accuse everypony and then we're all winners! Well, except for the killer, because they failed to kill everypony else!" She sits down, her glass of juice in one hoof as the other pats her chin, "Well, and everypony who got killed before we figure it out. I suppose they don't win either."

"Okay, well," Rainbow says, tapping her hoof against the floor, "Applejack is trying to get to the bottom of this, right? And that's what she'd do if she was innocent. But all of us are acting pretty innocent here." She starts stalking around Applejack, a sniff of the overripe apples coming from the farmpony's costume. "I think she's hiding something and she knows it."

Fluttershy quietly adds, "Um, well, that's right, but. Well, what if we think about this. I mean, we know the... killer has to do something to their victims. So all we have to do is figure out what that something is, and then link it to the pony doing this!" Her face brightens, slowly coming out from behind her mane and looking around the room for any sort of clue as to how Doug died.

Pinkie Pie nods vigorously, "Yupperoonies! I mean, we have to think about this logically, right? About who the killer is!" Rarity begins looking around Doug's body, carefully stepping around his outstretched arms as she scans back and forth, her hoof coming up to tap her mouth.

Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes, "Right, Pinkie, you get right on that." She grits her teeth, "I still thinks it's Applejack." Applejack grits her teeth, staring at Rainbow Dash and fuming.

The clock strikes 9:10 as Pinkie Pie says, "I mean, she's in this very room!" the pink mare continues, pointing a hoof at Applejack, "She could be you!" Her eyes grow wide as she points a hoof at herself, "She could be me!" Her eyes narrow, a hard expression as she points a hoof at you. Yes, you. "She could even be-"

The lights go off again, silence pervading the pitch black room. A quiet whisper before a pony gives a gurgling scream, the loud thud of a body hitting the floor, followed by the quiet 'tink' of glass and a splash of liquid.

The lights turn back on just as quickly as they went off. Rainbow is laying on the floor, her throat stained red and a similar red pool spreading from her body. Her eyes are closed, her tongue lolling out of her mouth, her body still.

Fluttershy lets out a quiet 'eep!' as Applejack backs up, her eyes growing wide. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy both stare at Applejack, accusing stares in their eyes. Fluttershy begins stammering; Pinkie Pie looks like she wants to say something as well but she waits, letting the pegasus try to get the words out.

Rarity gasps and dashes back over to the refreshment table. She gathers up another stack of paper towels, her glass refilling, and quickly begins sopping up the liquid around Rainbow. She grimaces as a drop of the liquid touches her hoof, nearly knocking over Rainbow's full glass as she towels her own hoof off. Her attention turns to the puddle, the remainder of the towels picking up the viscous fluid and then dumping them into the trash can.

Fluttershy finally manages to say, "Applejack's the killer!" She points a hoof at Rainbow, "Rainbow was going to accuse her, and then she... she killed her!" The pegasus manages to hold the angry expression for a few seconds before dropping down, going back to her normal shy self and hiding behind her mane. "Um... that wasn't too much was it?" 

Applejack winks at Fluttershy before saying, "Now, 'Shy, let's not go jumping to any conclusions here! Ah already said, Ah ain't the killer!" She backs up a little more as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy advance on her, barely holding onto her glass of tomato juice. "Let's calm down and be reasonable about this! Ah bet the killer got Rainbow, to try to put more suspicion on me!"

"Or, you couldn't hold in your temper! And decided to do her in yourself!" Rarity points an accusing hoof at Applejack, "You and Rainbow are always competing about every little thing, and you've taken the opportunity to knock her out of the game first! Because you knew that she would be the one to figure out how you killed Doug!"

"A likely story!" exclaims Pinkie Pie, a gray and white detective cap finding its way on her head. "But don't you think it's just a little too convenient for Applejack, for Rainbow to be the one killed?"

"What do you mean?" asks Fluttershy, Applejack raising an eyebrow. Rarity glances up at the clock before moving over, listening as Fluttershy continues, "But, you're saying if Applejack is the killer, that's good for her. But if Applejack isn't the killer, it's also good for her?"

"I think it's good for Applejack whether she is the killer or not!" says Rarity, holding a hoof to her mouth and tapping. "After all, she is still in the game, yes?"

Pinkie Pie blows a bubble out of a pipe that mysteriously appears in her hoof, "Hmm, you may have a point, Rarity, that each of us are, indeed, lucky to still be in this game. But! In regards to what you said, Fluttershy. You are correct on the second point, that if Applejack is innocent then Rainbow being murdered helps her. Because, you see, you have to consider the reverse. Does it really help her if she is the killer?" She paces back and forth, an uncommon occurrence for the pink pony, "It would seem instead that it does not, because it would put more suspicion on her!"

The clock strikes 9:15 as Rarity says, "But, if killing Rainbow decreases the chance of us suspecting her to be the killer, doesn't that make it more likely for her to kill Rainbow instead of somepony else?"

Applejack rubs her head with her free hoof, "Ah'm sorry, all this game theory is starting to hurt my head." She shakes her mane a few times, "Maybe start over?" She goes to the refreshment table, looking for something stronger before sighing disappointingly. She chugs her glass of tomato juice before refilling it, grabbing a cupcake and moving back to the group.

"I don't think we need to!" exclaims Pinkie Pie, pointing a hoof between Applejack and Rainbow, "Because we all know that Applejack wouldn't have thought that far ahead, not in the brief window she had between Rainbow accusing her and when the lights went out!"

"Yes, well, I think you were accusing somepony at that point," Fluttershy says.

"No no no," Pinkie Pie says, shaking her head, "I was just making a point that any of us could have been the killer!" Fluttershy opens her mouth as Pinkie Pie continues, "And by me taking suspicion away from Applejack, who is obviously not the killer, that lets us get to the root of who the real killer is!"

Fluttershy says, "I mean, I can kind of follow what you all are saying about this. Don't you think it's a little, um, outside the purview of the game? We're supposed to be looking for evidence around here, not trying to figure out the killer based on their personalities."

Applejack shakes her head, "Ah'm with Fluttershy, Ah don't want to be messing with any of this outside stuff." She and Fluttershy move over to the body, each trying to find anything that is missing or there that shouldn't be there, but nothing immediately stands out to them.

Rarity replies to Pinkie while she is walking around the room, "Well, but doesn't that only make it more likely that you are the killer, Pinkie? By trying to protect Applejack, who you claim is innocent, you throw suspicion off of yourself!" Rarity nods a few times, "That makes it more likely that you are the killer, trying to make yourself seem like you are just trying to get to the bottom of this!"

Applejack and Fluttershy walk a lap around Doug's body. The chains are still there, the shoulder pad slightly bent from how he is laying on it, nothing jumping out at them. They make their way to the refreshment table, each grabbing a small bite of cake as they look at the various desserts, the punch bowl, and the stacks of paper towels conveniently laid out if there happened to be a spill. Rarity walks over to the refreshment table, joining the two mares there. Pinkie Pie moves over to Rainbow's body, looking down at the pegasus' hooves.

The clock strikes 9:20 as Pinkie Pie smirks back at Rarity, "Very perceptive, Rarity! That's very-"

The lights go off, a flurry of hooves stomping on the floor. A loud thump echoes through the room, followed by the splash of liquid as a glass hits the wood. The clop of hooves returns, heading back to the refreshment table.

The lights come back on, Pinkie Pie lying on the floor. She has her hat half covering her face, the sound of giggling coming from underneath. A puddle of red liquid is growing from near her, the half-eaten pie costume bent awkwardly around her but still intact.

Applejack walks over, lightly kicking Pinkie Pie with a hoof, "Hey, Pinkie, you're supposed to play dead."

"Oh! Oops! Bleagh!" Pinkie Pie's hat drops down, her head thumping against the floor, though her body continues jiggling from the giggling.

"Ugh," moans Rarity, grabbing yet another stack of paper towels from the table, "I'm going to kill Doug for real if this stains. Or at least make him help replace the wood." She bends down, starting to lay out the paper towels. A stifled laugh comes from Rainbow Dash, the mare immediately moving a hoof to her mouth and quieting down.

"Oh dear," says Fluttershy, glancing between Rarity and Applejack. "So, if the killer gets one more of us, then they win." She nervously paces back and forth, drinking the remainder of her glass of tomato juice. "I sure hope that doesn't happen. That would be just... terrible. I don't know if I could live with myself."

"That's right, 'Shy," Applejack says, moving over to Doug's body. She looks down at the area Rarity cleaned up first as the unicorn mops up the most recent stain. Applejack watches Rarity carefully as the unicorn looks back up at her.

"Think you see something, Applejack?" Rarity says, smirking up at her. "Or you just worried that you left a clue behind?" She grabs the used towels, dumping them in the trash. "Because I think I know who the killer is!"

Fluttershy walks over to the three bodies, laying on the floor. She frowns, tapping her hoof against Doug's full glass of tomato juice. She glances over, seeing Pinkie Pie's full glass, standing upright next to the pink body. Fluttershy grins, "I know who the killer is, and I can prove it." 

Applejack shakes her head, "Oh, come on, 'Shy, how'd you go and figure out how Rarity did it?" She looks down at the three bodies, "Ah sure don't see anything that don't belong."

Fluttershy cowers down, hiding behind her mane, one eye peeking over. Rarity smirks, walking over to the refreshment table and grabbing a cupcake, taking a long bite. The unicorn says, "Are you sure, Applejack? Not just trying to stall for enough time for the lights to go off again? Because I have a suspicion of who the killer is, too."

Applejack smirks right back, "Well, Ah hope you have some good proof. Because Ah'm sure that the killer is staring right at me."

"Oh, come on," groans Pinkie Pie, "They're both staring at you. It's not like there are a lot of choices."

"Pinkie Pie, you're supposed to be dead," Rainbow whispers from next to her. The pink pony grumbles, going back to laying still.

Fluttershy steels herself, coming out from behind her mane. She stands up, raising her hoof and pointing it between Rarity and Applejack. "Well, I do have proof, and the killer is..."
> 11 The Snuffed Flame
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy's hoof hovers between the two for a brief second. Applejack narrows her eyebrows while Rarity sits with a smug expression, both staring at Fluttershy. The pegasus gulps, her head looking to hide behind her mane again as she steels herself.

"Rarity." Fluttershy's hoof points at the unicorn, Applejack nodding along. Fluttershy gives her best glare at Rarity, slowly quailing as the unicorn stares back.

Rarity's glare at the pegasus hardens, an offended, "I'm afraid I'm going to need a little proof to justify this heinous accusation!" She flicks her mane to the side, turning and looking at the ceiling with closed eyes, a loud 'harumph' escaping her lips.

Fluttershy moves over to the bodies, taking Pinkie's hat with a wing and dropping it on her head. Pinkie Pie winks at Fluttershy before closing her eyes, her tongue lolling out of mouth once again. Fluttershy stops next to Pinkie Pie's head, pulling out a folded white piece of paper.

"You see, in the instructions Doug gave us, he said that the killer would have to do something to mark their victims, to clearly show everypony that something heinous has taken place!" Fluttershy replaces the paper without opening it, "But, his instructions didn't say how the killer would go about doing whatever it is killers do."

"Kill ponies?" Rainbow says, smirking from where she is laying on the floor.

"Yes, well," Fluttershy says as Applejack lightly kicks at the pretend corpse, "that might be the end result. But they, um..." she trails off, looking around the room, first at Applejack and then Pinkie Pie. "I... I don't suppose anypony else wants to keep going?" She walks back over to the punch bowl. She refills her glass, chugs the tomato juice, and refills it again.

"Nah, 'Shy, you're doing great." Applejack smiles encouragingly at the yellow pegasus, "Keep going, tell everypony how you know Rarity is the killer." Fluttershy smiles back at Applejack, walking over to the bodies.

"Alleged killer, dear," Rarity interjects, glancing up at the clock. "I still haven't heard any hard evidence, and there are only four minutes left until the lights go out, if the trend continues."

"Paying a lot of attention to the clock, are you?" Applejack says with a smirk, "Ah think Ah've got a pretty good idea of who the killer is, too!"

"Yes, well, welcome to three minutes ago." Rarity says with a huff. Applejack snorts, rolling her eyes and stomping a hoof on the ground. Rarity ignores the outburst, turning and saying, "Fluttershy, darling, would you like to continue?"

"Oh, um, are you two done?" The two nod, Fluttershy continuing, "Okay. So, after Doug was, um, killed, Rarity rushed to remove all the evidence of what she had done."

Rarity interrupts, "No, that's because a tomato juice stain is particularly horrendous to try to remove, especially if you let it get into the wood. At least without soap or some sort of detergent, but we weren't allowed to leave the room."

Doug coughs from his position on the floor, "It was all under the table, if you didn't notice." One arm raises, the chains clinking as he points towards the refreshment table.

Rarity peeks under the table, a forced grin as she notices. "Oh. Oops. Thank you, darling, but I would have preferred you to use some other substance."

"Well, it's what you had on hoof. Also, blegh!" Doug slumps back over, again pretending to be dead.

Fluttershy glances up at the clock, only one minute before 9:30. She stammers, "Okay. So, you see, with Doug's head, and Rainbow's throat, they weren't actually killed. Obviously."

A doll of Professor Flintheart pops out of Pinkie Pie's mane, the longest, most drawn out, dripping with derisive bile, "Oobvioussslyy..." coming out.

Pinkie Pie twists over, bashing the doll and hiding it back in her mane. "I'm sorry, it's been doing that. From time to time."

The doll pops out again, "Oobv-" before Pinkie Pie shoves it back in.

Rarity gives Fluttershy a soft smile, saying, "Please, Fluttershy, continue."

Fluttershy opens her mouth as the clock strikes 9:30. The lights flick off, followed by a wild stamp of hooves. Two ponies grunt as they are knocked to the floor, followed by somepony cursing under her breath.

The lights turn back on. Applejack and Fluttershy are massaging their rumps, sitting on the floor. Rarity is standing at the punch bowl, one hoof dipping her empty glass into the tomato juice. She nervous laughs, withdrawing her hoof and clearing her throat. "Well," she manages to say, looking around the room, "Who got, um, killed this round?"

"Well, it weren't me," says Applejack, getting to her hooves, an empty glass next to her. "Ah'm sorry, Fluttershy. If'n we weren't interrupting you so much, you would have been able to explain your reasoning before the time ran out."

"Oh, um, that's okay." Fluttershy kicks at the floor, a soft squelch as her hoof strikes a puddle. "Oh dear." A hoof slowly comes to her throat, pulling back with a red tint. "Oh dear."

Rarity glances from her unfilled glass to Fluttershy's empty glass. She had apparently knocked the pegasus' tomato juice into her when she bumped into her, in her mad dash to get another refill of her murder weapon. She grimaces, an almost apologetic, "I'm sorry, Fluttershy. I didn't quite mean for that to happen."

"But, that means you win, right?" Fluttershy glances towards Doug, the human getting to a sitting position. "I'm dead, and there's just the killer and one pony left."

"That ain't fair!" Applejack says, stamping a hoof. "Like Ah said, if we weren't interrupting her so much she would have given the proof of her accusation!"

"Well, that was somewhat intentional," Rarity says, putting her glass down. She stares at Applejack, "All part of the game."

Applejack shakes her head, her glare at Rarity getting stronger. "She had you, pardon the expression, dead to rights, Rarity."

"Well, I'm sorry if you think it was a little underhoofed, but I did nothing illegal." Rarity points at Fluttershy while glaring at Applejack, "You practically helped me just as much as she did."

Fluttershy quietly says, "Girls."

Applejack points at Doug, Rainbow, and Pinkie Pie, "Well, if'n they didn't break the rules Fluttershy would've had enough time to finish her accusation!"

Rainbow and Pinkie Pie trade awkward looks, neither wanting to involve themselves any more than they have to. Doug stands up, moving to the refreshment table and grabbing some of the paper towels.

Fluttershy says, slightly louder, "Please stop fighting."

Rarity shouts, "Well, I didn't ask them to break the rules, now did I?"

Applejack steps forward, shouting back, "Well, you sure benefited from it, now didn't ya?"

Rarity takes one step forward, "And I'm supposed to be the one to blame, am I? Well, Applejack, I'm sorry I won!" Rarity turns, walking towards the door to the her bedroom.

"And Ah'm sorry a dirty cheater won too!" Applejack shouts, walking towards the front door. "Ah hope you learn your lesson!"

Both Applejack and Rarity try their respective doors, finding them still locked. Both turn, glaring at Pinkie Pie and shouting, "Open this door!"

"No." Doug flings his stack of paper towels to Rarity's hooves, pointing at the tomato juice still on the floor and on Fluttershy. "Clean that up."

Rarity turns to stay something snappy, her voice catching in her throat as she sees Doug's forceful expression. Combine that with the effect of his costume and the terrified unicorn hunches down, her ears splaying back. Rarity's horn lights, beginning to levitate the towels.

"No." Doug's stern command breaks Rarity's concentration, a confused expression as she fearfully looks up at Doug. "No magic. Not yet." Rarity slowly nods, a cowed look on her muzzle as she gathers the towels with a hoof and begins to wipe up the liquid.

Doug turns to Applejack, walking towards her. Applejack stands firm, staring at him, "Doug, Ah've had enough. Ah'm going home, and Ah want you to join me."

"No." Doug holds up one of the chains, slowly letting it clink as it slips through his hand, "Do I need to tie you up?" Applejack snickers, about to say something before he gets to the end, holding up the sharp meat hook, "Or do I really need to tie you up?" The chain jingles as the hook sways back and forth, the light from the room barely glinting off the iron.

Applejack's ears flatten, the fight leaving her eyes. "Doug?" she hesitantly asks, "Ah... are you okay?"

Doug nods, cleaning a bit of the makeup off his teeth as he forces a smile to his mouth, "Never better. I'm just not letting my herd tear themselves up over a game." Applejack sinks down, watching Doug as he points the meat hook towards Rarity. Applejack barely shakes her head back and forth, an unsteady nicker and a light stomp of one hoof. After a few seconds Doug fingers the curved hook, "Now, do I need to drag you over there, or are you going to cooperate?"

"Ah'll be good," comes the quiet reply. Applejack gets to her hooves, walking over as Rarity dumps the last of the towels in the trash, the floor clean. Applejack lays down next to Rarity, the unicorn doing the same with a subdued expression.

"Now," Doug says, wiping the remaining black gunk from his teeth and giving them a pleasant smile, "I think you two had something to say to each other."

Applejack starts, "Rarity, Ah'm sorry Ah got so mad at you for using what Ah saw as an unfair method to win. It just got me so riled up, Ah could barely see straight."

Rarity nods, "And I'm sorry that I took advantage of what had happened. Even if I didn't cause it in the first place, I still benefited from it." She looks to Doug, the human returning a smile.

"Well, then, as the creator and unofficial referee of this game, I give Fluttershy thirty seconds to give her proof. If she can't, then Rarity wins, fair and square." Doug looks at Applejack, the earth pony nodding after a few seconds. Doug looks to Fluttershy, a high pitched whine coming from the pegasus as she stares back. After a few seconds Doug motions towards Fluttershy, "Go."

"Oh dear. Um, well, when you were killed, Doug, you had a puddle of tomato juice around you. And so did Rainbow Dash. And so did Pinkie Pie. And, um, I did too, but that was unintentional. Sort of." She pauses for a few seconds before a quiet 'eep' comes out and she continues, "And, so, the three of you, the dead ones, had full glasses next to you after you were killed, and Rarity had to refill her glass each time. So that means that Rarity was the killer, because nopony else had to refill their glass. Unless they just drank from it."

Rainbow says, "Twenty seven seconds. Cutting it awfully close there, 'Shy." She wipes her forehead, "Yeah, I knew Rarity would get really mad at me if I spilled my drink." Pinkie Pie and Doug both nod their heads at that.

Doug wrapping one arm around Applejack and Rarity as the two ponies beam over at the pegasus. Pinkie Pie pronks around and cheers, "Yay! My death was not in vain! Woohoo!"

Applejack sighs, "Again, Ah'm sorry Rarity. Friends?"

Rarity smiles, "Of course, darling." She leans over Doug, a quick nuzzle for her lead. Rarity relaxes into Doug, grinning as she says, "I can't believe I've never had you threaten to tie me up before. It must have felt good to be dominated, didn't it, Applejack?"

Applejack shrugs, staring at the chains. "Nah, Ah prefer to be in control. Ah don't believe what you said, though."

Rarity rolls her eyes, "Well, it's not like we've never used ropes before. But the spontaneity isn't there, not like this." She looks over at Doug, "How come you never threaten to tie me up without asking first?"

"Hey, I wear different masks for different ponies," Doug retorts, "You don't want me treating you all the same, do you?"

Rarity sighs, "I suppose not." She looks down at the floor, shaking her head. She groans, "I can't believe I used tomato juice as the weapon of choice!" She knocks her hoof against her head, "At least I didn't get any on my coat!"

Rainbow Dash smirks, holding up her own glass, "Don't worry, Rares, I got ya covered!"

Rarity's eyes widen, almost shouting, "No! Bad Rainbow Dash! No! Doug, help meeee!" as Rainbow looms over her.
> 12 Ice From Above
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 18th, 999

"Ah don't get why you need to schedule a big storm like this right when winter starts," Applejack groans. She cuddles closer to Doug, pulling the quilt off of his toes as she tries to wrap herself. The two are laying down on the couch, spooning as Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Applebaum play a wood stacking game in front of them, Pomarbo content with watching. The cold house groans as more and more snow piles against it, the first true test of the recently finished Carrot House.

"There's a bunch of reasons," Doug says, pulling the quilt back over himself. "You want me to go over them?" Outside, the snow begins to pile in the little nooks the curved walls provide, drifts starting to build against the basement. The windows of the main floor are mostly sheltered from gathering too much snow, inset as they are into the barrel walls. The rest of the room is sparsely furnished, mostly empty bookshelves and chairs scattered around the dining table.

Applejack glares at Doug, trying to scooch even closer, practically on top of him at this point. She tucks her hooves underneath her barrel as he wraps his arm around her, "Well, Ah know Ah don't want to once Rainbow gets here. It's bad enough with just one weather geek trying to explain something. And she's got a very..."

"Roundabout?" Doug prompts.

Applejack snorts as she rolls her eyes, "That's about the nicest way you can put it. The only way the mare can make a straight line from point A to point B is by flying one. And that's only if'n she even knows where she's going. Or started from."

"Hey, no talking bad about me behind my back!" comes a shout from the front door, a burst of cold air invading the room. Rainbow Dash hovers in, shrugging off her snow covered saddlebags. She pulls her scarf off, the Rarity-made cloth dropping to the floor. She looks up as Doug snaps his fingers, rolling her eyes as he points to the side. She sighs, picking the bags up off the wood with her teeth and dropping them onto the rug with the rest of the fillies' snowy winter gear.

Applejack cuddles even closer to Doug, trying to escape the freezing air, "Ah wasn't talking bad about you, Rainbow, just your... method of explaining what could be simple concepts." Applejack grunts, trying to not insult her herdmate while also letting her know what she thinks of her explanations. She growls a little, not wanting to move from her comfortable spot as Rainbow inspects the two on the couch.

"Yeah, well," Rainbow says, flying over to the two. She looks at Applejack under the quilt, then at Doug, debating whether or not there is enough space for the three of them under the quilt already stretched to its limit. She groans, moving to the closet and grabbing another quilt. She walks up to the couch, wrapping herself entirely in the quilt before settling down at the other end. Doug pulls his legs up, giving Rainbow enough space to snuggle in next to his feet. She stretches over Applejack, sharing a kiss with Doug as the earth pony grumbles at the cold hooves next to her.

"So, this was your first big storm, right?" Doug focuses on Rainbow, helping warm the cold mane flopping down on him. She flicks little droplets of water over at Applejack, the earth pony trying to hide under the quilt from the torrent.

"Yup! I mean, I did quite a bit last year, but this was the first big snowstorm I didn't feel like I had to hold back at all." Rainbow squirms, trying to find a comfortable spot on the couch. "So, what were you talking about before?" The three glance over as the tower of blocks crashes to the ground, Scootaloo doing a happy dance as Applebaum slams her hooves into the floor.

Doug rubs both of their heads as he says, "Weather stuff." Rainbow rolls her eyes as Doug continues, "Anyway, so, we need a certain amount of moisture in the air to make all the snow, right? Otherwise, it won't get that nice white winter look everypony really likes. Ponyville doesn't need as much moisture moved as some of the other areas, because of the Ponyville River. A lot of the areas not on the coastline need quite a few storm clouds in order to get a good enough covering of snow. There just isn't enough water otherwise." Pomarbo, now more interested in the conversation than the game, walks over, looking up at her dam from the floor.

Applejack pats the couch with a hoof as she says, "Ah thought the main way water got to Cloudsdale was from those waterspouts." Pomarbo puts his forelegs up, his back legs pumping up and down as he tries to climb up the couch. The three fillies go back to rebuilding the column of blocks, their game beginning again.

Doug reaches a hand over, scooping up the nearly two year old colt and depositing him next to Applejack. Doug says, "Yup. But the Cloudsdale Weather Factory isn't the only way to get water into the atmosphere. You also have some evaporation from the rivers and lakes and whatnot. But, because of your messed up hydrologic cycle, it doesn't ever condense into clouds. It just sits there, or floats there, as extra water vapor in the air." He next focuses on rubbing Rainbow's forelegs, the mare sticking them past Applejack.

"Ugh, I hate those collection runs," Rainbow moans, squirming against Doug's legs and trying to get more warmth. "I'm a sprinter, and pushing around a cloud for hours to gather all that water really sucks." She moans a little as he rubs, her tongue slightly sticking out of her mouth. "Plus, I only like to get wet around here."

"Language, Rainbow," Applejack grunts as Pomarbo snuggles next to her, motioning towards the fillies. They pause their game for a brief moment, looking at the four snuggling on the couch, before going right back to trying to figure out which blocks they can pull out. Applebaum practically clenches down on her tongue as Apple Bloom slides a piece out, the three fillies yelping as the tower comes crashing down again.

"What? It's what we're doing." Rainbow mimes pushing around a cloud by pressing on Doug's chest, her wings flaring out and flapping once, "We literally suck the water out of the sky. Saves us about a quarter the cost of a cloud. If we can reuse an empty it's even better." Rainbow smirks as she stares at Applejack, "You either pay somepony to get 'em shipped from Cloudsdale or you pay somepony to push a collector up and down for hours. Sucks either way."

"Okay, that one was deliberate," Applejack says with a glare. Rainbow settles back down, sticking the tip of her tongue out at Applejack before she hides behind Doug's knees.

"Yeah, well, lighten up a bit. Not like they don't know that goes on." Rainbow pouts, pulling her quilt up over her head. A quiet "Aww," comes from underneath as she pulls up the quilt wrapped around Doug, his heavier set of pajamas already on.

Applejack says, "Well, Ah think you were talking about storms, 'fore Rainbow came in here." Doug wags his eyebrows, Applejack rolling her eyes and lightly whacking him with a hoof.

Doug straightens his legs, clamping his knees around Rainbow Dash under the quilt. She squawks in alarm, the three fillies looking over from their game and giggling at the pegasus half trapped under the quilt. Rainbow wraps her still somewhat cold forelegs around Doug's legs, trying to free herself as Doug continues, "Anyway, so the reason we have storms during these transition times is because the air has a bunch of water in it. Either in cloud form or scattered water vapor. Well, warm air can hold more water than cold air. And these gigantic storms are the best way to rid the air of all that extra moisture and convert it to snow on the ground." A gasp escapes from his lips as one of Rainbow's cold hooves settles on his stomach, finding its way underneath his pajamas to the warm bare skin.

"Wish there was some warm air around here," Applejack remarks, a bit of a shiver. "This house ain't as well insulated as the farmhouse, Ah suppose." She looks at the fillies. They don't seem too uncomfortable, but they do each have a blanket wrapped around them. They have already rebuilt the tower, Applebaum grunting in exasperation as she tries to maneuver a block out. Her uncoordinated hooves knock over the tower almost immediately, the other two fillies frowning at the early loss.

Doug continues to wrestle with Rainbow using his legs as he frowns, "Yeah. I didn't think it'd be this bad. We might need to go over the walls, maybe with Rarity and Rainbow's help, try to seal up all the cracks. Didn't build a fireplace in here either." He swats at her hoof trying to snake its way under his shirt again, the mare huffing under the quilt.

"Ah didn't think ya'd need it, to be honest, or that it would be this cold," Applejack says. "Most ponies just grow a thicker coat when winter hits. "

"Yeah, you told me that before. Sorry; I'm built to lose heat, not keep it." Doug grunts as Rainbow pushes against a sensitive area, his hand disappearing under the quilt to give the pegasus a noogie. She yelps, trying to pull back but Doug's legs are holding her in place, locked underneath her forelegs and clenching her barrel.

"What, humans just live around the warm parts of the world? We got ponies spread all over. Hay, you went up to Vanhoover in the winter. Humans migrate back and forth from those kinda places?" Applejack glances at the squirming quilt between Doug's legs, flopping back to her side with a groan.

"Nah, we'd just wear warmer, thicker clothes, basically all the time." Doug transitions to scratching Rainbow's ears. She calms down, a contented sigh as she rests her head against his stomach. "Lots of fire to keep warm, that sort of thing."

Applejack slides back and forth a little, a slight frown at losing a bit of her spot on the couch as Rainbow and Doug shift around. She tries to push back, Doug repositioning as close to the couch as he can. "Ah guess ponies like Rarity would get a lot of business in those parts of the world, huh?"

"Eeyup. Very important business too, making sure everyone stays warm enough. So you got a lot of people growing cotton or some other fiber, working textiles, tanning. Depends on what's available. Then you have to ship and sell them, if you aren't using them for yourself."

"Tanning?" Rainbow asks, pushing the quilts aside to look at Doug. "You mean, like, working on-" her voice drops low, a quick glance at the fillies "-hides?"

Doug nods, "Exactly. Not exactly the most pleasant business, but a vital one." Pomarbo utters a low grunt, burrowing further into Applejack.

"Yeah, I've heard of griffons that do that kind of thing, but that's all decorative stuff, like a headdress or ceremonial cape they got out of an impressive hunt. Not, um, everyday wear." Rainbow nervously paws at the couch, a bit of disgust at the concept.

"Heh, I could imagine it being pretty intimidating, looking at somepony wearing a lion as a cape." At the two pony's raised eyebrows Doug adds, "Or a manticore. You know, it's weird that so many of the creatures around here are half-breeds with a lion. Like the griffons themselves, being half lion and half eagle. Wonder how that started."

"Besides the obvious?" Applejack drawls. 

Rainbow snorts, her head thunking against Doug's knee. "Yeah! You know, when an eagle and a lion love each other very much..." Rainbow's giggles get louder as Doug squeezes her with his legs, smooching sounds coming from under the quilt. 

"Hey, you never know, maybe Discord just, like, said 'You know what's not scary enough? Eagles. Also, lions.' and then Boom! Griffon." Doug pauses for a second before saying, "Do you actually have lions around? Are they like manticores?"

Rainbow says, "Well, I've never been to a land zoo, and I doubt Applejack has either. Obviously you didn't see any land based creatures up in Cloudsdale, and Ponyville has enough spectacle with the Everfree that you don't see a lot of demand for seeing more exotic creatures around here."

Applejack nods, "Never really seen the need to go to a zoo, ya know? Ah work with plenty of animals around here. Even if it ain't the exotic kinds you'd have to travel to see. Fluttershy would probably know, she loves meeting all kinds of new critters."

Doug scratches Rainbow's head, the pegasus disappearing underneath the quilt again. "Yeah, I'm just glad I didn't end up in a zoo when I got here. Hey, maybe we should plan a trip to Canterlot. I bet there's a zoo there."

Applejack clears her throat, "Well, it'll have to be a bit down the road, partner. Maybe when everypony can appreciate it, and half of the fillies aren't scared out of their coats when they get close." She sighs as the fillies turn their heads, "Celestia knows building this house set us back enough. Ah hope it's worth it."

The fillies scamper over, their half built tower forgotten, "We aren't scared! We wanna go to the zoo!"

Applejack smiles down, "Now, you three ain't the fillies Ah'm referring to. Ah mean this feller here." Applejack lifts and points a hoof down at Pomarbo, the colt huddling against her. "Once he's old enough to not be afraid then we'll talk."

The three fillies start pouting as Doug smiles at them, "It would be a lot of fun to go to the zoo, though. Imagine all the animals you would see!"

The fillies smile at that, returning to their game as they list off all the animals that they've learned about in school, and only seen in books. Apple Bloom quickly returns to the couch, her forelegs propping her up as she asks, "Can we go to the library? And see what books they have about animals?"

Applejack smiles, "We sure can!" She glances over to Rainbow, "Assuming this storm lets up at some point."

Rainbow shrugs against Doug's legs, the motion making the quilt bounce up and down, "Eh, it might stop at some point in the night. Definitely by midday."

"Ugh, everypony's going to be out and about if they've been cooped up all morning." Applejack sighs, "Do they have a new librarian yet? Ah thought the old one left, like, a year ago."

"Closer to two, by now." Doug shrugs, "I went by there a couple times. Pretty dusty, fairly deserted for the most part. I think they're mostly on the honor system. Reshelve whatever you bring back, hope it's in the right area."

"That's too bad, Ah liked going by there." At Doug's glance back Applejack amends, "Well, when Ah was younger. Haven't had much time to do that once Ah took over working the farm."

"I don't think I've stepped hoof in the library since I got here." Rainbow pokes her head out again, her hooves pushing her mane back in place. "Don't know that I went to one in Cloudsdale, either." She pokes a hoof at Doug, "I bet you lived in a library."

Doug snorts, "You got me. Books were my ooonly friends."

Applejack digs one of her hind legs into Doug's leg, "Hey, no fibbin' 'round these parts."

Doug winces, one hand moving towards Applejack's belly. "Okay, okay, I had like three friends. And I didn't live in a library. My family just happened to live near by one. Where I spent a lot of my formative years."

The storm outside continues unabated, the windows now fully frosted over. Snow continues to pile outside, the first floor nearly completely buried. The wind howls outside, nearly masking Rainbow's coughed, "Egghead."

"And proud of it." Doug scratches Applejack with both hands, Rainbow whimpering a little at the lack of attention. "Where was I?"

"Talking about warm air, if'n Ah recall." Applejack pushes her head into Doug's hands, trying to get him to push down further along her mane. He happily obliges, his hands finding their way under her ponytail to really dig into the roots.

Doug grunts as he leans further into Applejack, "Oh, right. So, cold air can't hold as much water as warm air. So, when it goes from autumn to winter, and a little bit from summer to autumn, you either collect as much of the water out of the air as you can beforehand-"

"Beforehoof," Rainbow corrects with a smirk.

Doug lightly flicks the pegasus' ear, though it doesn't cause the smirk to disappear. "Fine, beforehoof, I guess since we are talking about pegasi here. Otherwise, when it gets cold, you get random little rain clouds popping up all over the place. Just enough for a splash or two of water. And it'll happen all day long, or all night long. Really annoying for everypony. And then you're left with one hundred percent humidity, which sucks." Applejack turns to glare at Doug as he continues unabated, "You get all kinds of frost and ice, which ponies hate to clean up."

"Oh yeah, definitely on that. How'd you deal with it?" Rainbow asks, "Seeing as you don't exactly control the weather like we do."

"A mix of ways. Sometimes you just ignore it, wait for it to melt. That's less of an option here, since you control the temperature to be just below freezing. You could use shovels and snow plows to clear the roads and sidewalks. Salt them, when the temperature allows it."

"Hold up now." Applejack peers over at Doug. "You salt the roads?" She snorts, "How do ya keep all them good-fer-nothing drunks from eating up all your material? Or going out and licking everything."

Doug nods, "Well, remember that salt doesn't do the same for humans as it does for ponies. Although we do go to some extremes for things like medical alcohol to keep people from drinking it. But that's for tax purposes, I think. It would be pretty hilarious to watch though." He chuckles to himself for a second before saying, "Anyway, salt lowers the melting point of snow and ice. So it turns to water and is either easier to clear or drive over. Ends up creating other problems, like what do you do with the salt runoff and corrosion, but that's cheaper to deal with than lots of snow."

"Yeah, it's pretty easy to deal with around here." Rainbow motions outside, the storm upgrading to a blizzard, "You just dump the requisite amount of snow, and then it sits there. Plow it off the streets and you're done! Or never have it snow there in the first place, if it might be hard to remove. Just cart it in. Don't have to deal with that melting and refreezing nonsense."

"It amazes me that some places that aren't ski resorts want to manually cart in snow instead of having it fall naturally. But, I guess that's just the way of thing." Doug shrugs, going back to cuddling his two living furnaces.

"You know, Ah think you're just as bad as Rainbow." Applejack snickers, glancing back at the pegasus. Rainbow's eyebrows narrow, but not in a mean way, instead trying to figure out what Applejack means.

"Oh yeah?" the pegasus retorts, a hoof poking Applejack in the side. "How so?"

Applejack nods to herself, "You both just go on whatever wild tangent you want to. Can't stick to explaining one topic. You gotta explain all the little things that crop up along the way."

"Well, yeah, it's how I think, sometimes." Doug stretches his arms out as he yawns, "Or because of hyperlinks. Actually, maybe I shouldn't explain those."

"Yeah, that's probably for the best," Rainbow says, snuggling in for a quick nap before they need to send the fillies off to bed.
> 13 Heart of the Fire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 30th, 999

Doug flips through the calendar for the year 999, reminiscing as he pages through the dates. The last year of the millennium. All twelve months checked off. Each with thirty days, all with a nice red 'x' drawn through the day. Except for the last week. The last day. The last day of the millennium.

"Must be nice to control the year," Doug remarks, pulling out a red marker. Applejack glances over, her raised eyebrow enough of a question for Doug to continue, "All these nice months with thirty days each. Still kind of confused why you chose a seven day week though. Seems like six would have been a much better number." He solemnly rests the pen on the top left of the date, a squeaking sound as he lays down the first half of the 'x', followed shortly by the other half.

"You've gotten all compary-like again, Doug," Applejack says as she walks over, plopping down next to her stallion. He strokes her fluffy coat, nicely grown in and much warmer than at the start of winter. She snuggles up next to him, again on the couch of the Carrot House. A sultry look comes over her muzzle, reaching up and joining Doug in a long kiss.

"Hey, I'm allowed to do that," Doug retorts, the calendar and pen forgotten as he returns a wink. "Just seems weird, that's all. You know, how six mares is supposed to be a lucky number. Three hundred and sixty days, kinda like six times six times ten. Nice, even divisions." The heavy socks and woolen vest Doug is wearing are nearly as warm as the mare cuddling next to him. Another beautiful Rarity design, an almost apologetic gesture from the fashionista when she learned about how their first winter storm in the new house had been. She even made him three sets of his 'inside' winter ensemble, one blue, one white, and one purple. Applejack had asked where the orange and blond ones were, the unicorn winking and saying that 'he's got plenty of that on him already'.

"Well, yes, six mares is a lucky number," Applejack says, resting a hoof on Doug's chest, "But there's a stallion in there, too." She kisses him again, "Now, do you want to keep talking? Or would you rather keep going?"

Doug moves a hand to his chin, humming in consideration as Applejack rolls her eyes. She gives a slight shiver, the insulating project not nearly as successful as they hoped. But, it is still much better protection against the brief blizzard raging outside than before, only a few drafts making their way through the house from the basement.

The door to the Carrot House bursts open, the two briefly startling as they glance over at the figure standing in the doorway. A cold wind blows in as the heavily clad mare stomps into the house in a panic, her horn flaring and slamming the door shut. She frantically looks around, searching through the various cubbyholes and bookshelves before going into the kitchen.

"Problem, Rarity?" Applejack asks, not wanting to leave her comfy spot. Doug merely goes for another kiss, Applejack happily obliging as she snuggles back down.

Rarity continues tearing through the kitchen, yelling, "There's only one unicorn!"

"Come again?" Applejack asks, briefly breaking away before Doug pulls her back down.

Rarity huffs, walking out of the kitchen to stare at the two, "We only have one unicorn foal! Filly! Augh!" A piece of her mane sticks out of place, the movement catching Rarity's eye.

"Eeyup. Bit early to work on that, but if'n you need the practice," Applejack quips as Rarity dashes to the bathroom. The door opens, but the mare doesn't go inside, instead levitating a brush and mirror.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious, but this is an imminent problem, not an intimate one! Oh, whatever shall we do?" Rarity holds a hoof to her head, the brush trying to bring her mane under control.

"Ah'd recommend hopping on the couch, but Ah think Doug's fine with the bathroom, too." Applejack smirks, laying her head against Doug's chest as she watches Rarity fume.

"Ugh! Please, Applejack, try to help for once!" Rarity finishes repairing her mane, walking over to the two. "This is quite possibly The. Worst. Possible. Thing!"

Applejack raises an eyebrow, trying to contain her bite and failing, "Maybe you should start at the beginning, before going full Mount Vehoovius on us."

Rarity glares at Applejack, the piece of her mane popping right back out of place. "Well, you know how we took the fillies to Hearth's Warming Eve earlier this week. Of course, they wanted to put on their own version of the story! And we only have the one unicorn! Who will play the part of Clover the Clever? I have a costume, but all the accessories!"

"Eeyup." Applejack rolls her eyes, "Quite the conundrum you got there."

"Well, I can't exactly go back to the Carousel Boutique and whip up a proper disguise, now can I? I am forced to sift through the supplies here to find something!"

"Well, you could play that part," Applejack suggests, a slight eye roll.

"Ugh, please, I'm a Princess Platinum filly through and through." Rarity flicks her ever-present manestyle to the side with a huff, "And Sweetie Belle already called that part." Rarity pulls back a little bit, rubbing her hooves together, "Maybe I could convince her to give up the role?" Rarity pouts, "I did want the fillies to act the whole thing. Oh, it would be a great experience for them if they could pull it off! But alas!"

Doug shrugs, "Just give the role to Applebaum. I'm sure she'd make a fine unicorn."

Rarity taps her hoof against her muzzle, "Oh, but she so desperately wanted to be Smart Cookie." Applejack beams at that while Rarity snorts, "And she beat out Apple Bloom for who got to play the part, too. Oh, now that was an unhappy filly, let me tell you, feeling like she was being forced to play the part of the earth pony leader. A bit of a drama prince, if you ask me."

Applejack's eyebrow starts to get tired as she raises it again, her "Really" drawling out even longer than normal.

Rarity closes her eyes, a longsuffering sigh, "Yes, Applejack. I don't know what you've been doing to these fillies!"

"Rares, are ya sure you ain't projecting just a teeny, tiny bit?" Applejack's hoof curves as the ends pinch together, Doug looking at her foreleg curiously.

"Oh, come now, Applejack. Who of the two of us is more of a drama prince?" Rarity struts to one of the closets, looking for something to help fix the problem in front of them.

"You." Applejack looks down at Doug, the human taking her foreleg in his hands and trying to bend it one way and another. Applejack giggles, "That tickles!"

"Oh, really?" Doug says with a smirk, Applejack's eyes growing wide. "Well, then."

"Nonono," Applejack grunts, trying to escape Doug's grasp. His legs wrap around her barrel as his hands grasp her foreleg. "Doug, Ah'm trying-"

Applejack bursts out laughing as Doug squeezes her hoof, the other foreleg pounding onto the couch. Doug grins maniacally, his other hand finding Applejack's hooves and squeezing both of them. Her front legs collapse, her whole weight resting on him as her body shakes with laughter.

Rarity moves over to the couch as Doug kisses Applejack's quivering muzzle. She strokes a hoof along Applejack's mane, lightly kissing her ear. "Darling, if you wanted this so badly, all you had to do was say something and I would have given you some privacy." Rarity glances up at the clock as Applejack groans, "The fillies will be here shortly, so you better make it quick. Meanwhile, I must continue my search, for the theater waits for nopony!"

Applejack pulls away from Doug's grinning face, a quick glare at her stallion. She announces to Rarity, "Ah was trying to say something, before Ah got distracted!" She looks down, trying to keep her angry expression going as he releases her. "So, what's Lemon doing?"

Rarity rolls her eyes, "The filly is as bad as Pinkie Pie. She's the narrator right now, and can barely hold still long enough to read her lines from a script. Why?"

"Well, what about having Lemon play as Clover the Clever? If'n she's like Pinkie Pie at all she'll take to the role like, well, Pinkie Pie to a stack of cupcakes. Mare's a lot smarter than most ponies give her credit." Applejack flops back down on Doug, a loud 'whoof' of air escaping him.

"You really think the filly can handle it? But, what of the pressure? What if she cracks? Or worse, doesn't crack?" Rarity flops down onto the couch, a hoof on her forehead as she forlornly stares at the ceiling, her horn fitting snugly between Doug's arm and chest. "Clover is supposed to be a very serious unicorn! She might contaminate the entire play with her antics!"

"Ah think it'd be a right nice play, then. Ain't that what you're going for?" Applejack grunts as Rarity wiggles around on the couch, the unicorn a tad less inclined to share the space than Rainbow. Rarity huffs at Applejack's insinuation, bumping into the earth pony laying next to her.

"Also," Doug asks, one hand moving to scratch around the unicorn's horn, "How come you just noticed this now? Shouldn't you have figured this out a week ago when they picked out parts?"

"Well, I thought the fillies had it well in hoof! After all the fighting they did over the other parts I thought it would be obvious." Rarity sighs, "And it wasn't until the dress rehearsal just now that we even realized there was nopony playing Clover the Clever. In fact, I think I even made the costume using Sweetie Belle as the template!" Rarity's eye bugs out, her hooves clasping to her muzzle, "Oh no! Oh, no, this cannot be! Whoever wears the Clover the Clever costume!" Rarity spins to face Doug with a look of terror, her horn scraping against him as she pulls away. "Their costume won't fit!"

Rarity's shudders so violently that she flops off of the couch, her body spasming. Applejack covers her eyes with a hoof, a heavy sigh from the earth pony. She finally says, "Come on, Rares. It ain't like it's a Canterlot production, where every single pony is going to be watching for mistakes and judging y'all. It's just us, and nopony cares."

"Nopony Cares?" Rarity nearly shouts as she spins to her hooves, "NOPONY CARES? Why, Applejack, I couldn't be more insulted!" She flicks her mane, turning her head away and closing her eyes, a deep breath trying to contain her anger. She grimaces, having to look back at Applejack if only to look Doug in the eye. "Darling, you care about how everypony looks during the performance, don't you?"

Doug sighs, hating when he has to make a choice between his mares like this. Probably why he tries to stay out of as many of their arguments as he can. Applejack turns, a hard look in her eyes as she also stares at Doug. He curls one hand around Applejack's head, stroking her ears and motioning with the other towards Rarity. The unicorn obliges after a moment, trying to avoid getting closer to Applejack than necessary. "Yes, Rarity, I agree." Applejack huffs, Doug's hand scratching her more forcefully. "It's important for the fillies to look their best, no matter the occasion. However, if I recall, didn't Clover the Clever wear a very ill-fitting outfit?"

"Ugh, don't remind me, having to design even a filly sized travesty as that taxed me, even if it was correct for the period." Rarity raises an eyebrow, "Are you suggesting that Clover the Clever shouldn't look as dazzling as the others?"

Doug shrugs, "Well, it's mostly the rulers that should have the really impressive costumes, right? Their assistants should all be in things considerably more, hmm, drab. Or, a different approach. Just shuffle the fillies around a little more. Scootaloo and Hedge keep their spots as the two pegasi, I'm assuming. Apple Bloom takes the Clover the Clever spot, and let Lemon play Chancellor Puddinghead."

Applejack snickers at Lemon playing the overly eccentric pony leader, nodding along. "Ah like that one quite a lot, actually. And Pomarbo and Meringue can swap off with narrating and helping with the line prompts."

Rarity smiles, "That could work." She gets to her hooves, brushing off her coat and restoring her mane. She moves to the door, glancing out and smiling at the incoming horde. The door soon opens, a line of fillies and mares parading through the cold into the suddenly cramped room. Rainbow flies in last, groaning at how slow Granny Smith is going, holding the brown cloak of Clover the Clever and a bunch of pages.

Rainbow glares at Rarity, holding the pages out and huffing, "Next time you need somepony to read lines and fill a part, I might actually stick around to do it myself instead of foisting it off on somepony else." She shakes a bit of the snow off, Rarity sighing as a few pieces land on her. 

Rarity shuts the door as she brushes off the snow. She corrals Apple Bloom and Lemon, quietly saying in a tone that brooks no dissent, "Okay, dears, there's going to be a slight change." She hands out the new parts, slipping the costume off of a slightly rigid Apple Bloom. A few adjustments later and Lemon is wearing the Chancellor Puddinghead costume, the hat almost devouring the smaller filly. Apple Bloom is wearing the cloak, which nicely fits around her body. Rarity secures a quickly assembled conical horn to her head with a string around her neck, partially hidden by the costume. "Now, Apple Bloom, this is a big change, but I know you'll be great." Rarity smiles down at the filly, a quick pat on her head that narrowly avoids crushing the horn.

"Um, okay, Ah guess," Apple Bloom hesitantly says. She takes up the script, mouthing along as she quickly reads through her new lines. Granny Smith and Big Macintosh sit next to the couch while the mares pile around Doug, Applejack begrudgingly giving up her prime location to make room for everypony.

Pomarbo and Meringue walk to the side of the room while the other six fillies gather together in the center. He begins reading in a high pitched voice, "Once upon a time, long before the peaceful rule of Celestia..."
> 14 Abnormal Effulgence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 1st, 1000 Domina Solaria

The play had gone about as well as one would expect from a group of eight fillies, age two to six, with little to no acting experience and even less preparation time. They made up for their lack of practice with the boundless exuberance of youth and an unwillingness to let a missed line slow them down, improvising as the situation demanded and frequently before Meringue could whisper the correct one. Often to the exact opposite of how the act was supposed to go, such as the brief alliance of Pegasopolis and Unicornia. Nevertheless they persevered, eventually getting to the end where all six sung the Hearth's Warming songs, unhindered by the fact that three of them were supposed to be frozen.

The mares joined in at this point, though it wasn't like the peanut gallery hadn't been chipping in during the entirety of the performance, all sixteen singing along. Well, fifteen, depending on whether off-key snoring counted, since Granny Smith had fallen asleep about a quarter of the way through and even the rowdiest section, when the fillies were physically brawling and screaming at each other in the 'cave', had failed to wake her.

After the heartfelt conclusion everypony slowly calms down, the fillies bowing and scampering back to their dams. Pinkie Pie heads to the kitchen, pulling out a large selection of snacks to help everypony stay up until midnight. The fillies all rush the snack table, eagerly devouring the chocolates and sweets laid out in front of them.

Applejack lightly prods Doug with her muzzle, attempting to get him to head to the basement. It's hard to tell if Doug intentionally misinterprets the mare's intentions or if he thought she intended something else, but her next nudge is hard enough for him to grumble as he hops off the couch, wincing as his stocking'd feet walk along the cold wood to the stairs. Shortly after, the clatter of wood bouncing off wood comes from the basement. Doug returns, lugging a large barrel that barely manages to squeeze through the stairs. He sets the barrel down as Applejack heads to the kitchen, returning with a tap and enough glasses for everypony. Doug heads back downstairs, stretching his arms as he groans.

Rainbow rushes over, a bit of a frown as she notices the label. "What? Come on, Applejack! Where's the good stuff?" She points a hoof towards Canterlot while maintaining her stare, "This celebration is huge! I know you have it saved somewhere!"

Applejack smirks, "Hold onto your hat, Rainbow." The pegasus raises a hoof to her head, patting the empty space as Applejack announces to the fillies, "Who wants some sweet cider?"

The fillies all rush over, climbing over each other to get towards the promised treat. Applejack merely smiles down, tapping the barrel and pouring a glass. She savors a sniff, about to take the first sip as the fillies look up with large, pleading eyes. Applejack stops as a knock comes at the door, glancing over with a raised eyebrow. "Now, who would be knocking at a time like this?"

Rarity gets up, opening the door for a heavily clad unicorn. Amethyst Star shudders as Rarity gasps, the white unicorn quickly levitating Doug's warm quilt. She strips off the purple unicorn's cold jacket and wraps the quilt around the mare. Amethyst gives Rarity a grateful smile as she walks in, her eyes finding Big Mac. The red stallion gets to his hooves as she says, "You know, I thought you'd be over at the main farmhouse. I'd been waiting outside for several minutes before I saw the lights and heard the fillies!" She laughs to herself as she lays next to Big Mac, the red stallion nervously glancing over at the rest of the ponies watching him. Amethyst says, "Thanks for inviting me over, Mac. I was afraid I'd be spending the New Year alone!"

Big Mac lays down, his side pressing against Amethyst, a hearty, "Eeyup."

Applejack grins, a sly wink at Big Mac before she takes a sip of the cider. Big Mac barely shakes his head back and forth, trying to keep the motion away from Amethyst. An exaggerated pout comes over Applejack's muzzle until she drains the rest of the cup, unable to keep from smiling after that. The fillies jostle for position, each trying to be first to receive a cup of the delicious nectar. Applejack begins pouring glasses of cider for the fillies as a grunt comes from the basement.

Doug staggers up the steps carrying another barrel. Rainbow's eyes light up as she shouts, "Dibs on first!"

"Aww!" comes the immediate response from Applejack, "No fair! Ah was busy helping the young'ins!" She continues distributing glasses, raising her eyebrow as Applebaum walks towards the new barrel.

"Yeah, well, get in line!" Rainbow flies over, helping Doug get the barrel in position. A second tap appears in Pinkie Pie's hooves, soon jammed into the barrel. Rainbow wraps her mouth around the tap, the first spray going straight down her throat. "Oh, yeah!" she slurs, a silly smile already on her muzzle, "That's the stuff!"

Rainbow squawks in alarm as Doug pulls her away, the pegasus pouting until he fills a glass with applejack and hands it to her. She takes this one a little slower, just sips as Doug and Pinkie Pie give a glass to every adult in the room. Rainbow eyes the glass left by Granny Smith's side, the elderly mare just beginning to come to as it gets close to midnight.

Rainbow Dash isn't the only mare looking at the glass. Applebaum reaches up, placing a hoof on Doug's leg. He looks down, "Something wrong?"

"Um. Ah was hoping, that maybe Ah could get a glass of that?" Applebaum says, giving her best smile up at Doug. At Doug's pause she continues, "Ah mean, Ah am, um, kind of, like, an adult now."

"Hey, that's not fair!" says Apple Bloom, holding her glass of cider. "Ah'm older than you are!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle also get up, standing a little behind Apple Bloom and nodding along.

Doug looks helplessly at Applejack, the mare sighing as she sets down her glass of her namesake. She walks over, gently placing a hoof on Apple Bloom's back, "Ah'm sorry, Apple Bloom. Ah can give you a sip of my glass, but you ain't old enough for a glass of your own." She silences the filly's objection as she continues, "And Ah know that you're older than Applebaum. But, cutie marks have a funny way of surpassing that. She's a young mare now. If'n she wanted, she could leave home, get an apprenticeship or a job." Applejack looks pointedly at Doug, "And, her body is going to start going through some changes."

"But, that ain't fair!" Apple Bloom sighs, looking back at her flank, slumping to the ground. "When am Ah gonna get my cutie mark?" Doug raises an eyebrow back at Applejack as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo trade curious glances.

Applejack strokes Apple Bloom's back, "Now, don't worry your sweet little head off. It'll happen when it's meant to happen." Apple Bloom sighs again, reluctantly walking back to her glass of sweet cider. Applejack looks at Applebaum, a serious expression on her muzzle. Applebaum stares back as if daring her dam to dispute her claim. "Now, Applebaum," Applejack starts, enunciating every one of her words, "like you said. Legally, you're an adult. That lets you start doing certain things. But, you're still a young mare, and a small one at that. You're still living in our house, and Ah expect you to keep following our rules."

Applebaum tries to suppress her grin, knowing the battle is won. "Ah get that."

Applejack smiles for a second before her muzzle turns serious again, quieting down as she admonishes the filly, "First, Ah expect you to not rub your sister's muzzles in the fact that you got your cutie mark already. Ah ain't saying you should try to hide it, but you can see how much they want it to happen to them. We Apples, we've almost always been the last filly in the class to get our cutie mark. Ah suspect you're one of the youngest fillies in the family to get yours. Now, we square on that?"

Applebaum nods her head slowly, trying to convey that she understands and will obey.

"Good." Applejack pours half a glass of applejack for Applebaum, "Now, this here's powerful stuff. Ah don't want you drinking too much of it, and it's right easy to do, especially for a mare your size. So, between every half glass of applejack you drink, Ah want to see you drinking two full glasses of sweet cider. That sound fair?"

Applebaum grins as she eagerly nods, getting up to take the glass from her dam. Applejack reluctantly lets it go, the filly taking one sip, then a longer drink, then chugging the rest of the glass. She smacks her lips, looking up at Applejack. The mare rubs her filly's head, directing her back to her sisters with a firm pat on the rump.

Applejack walks back to Doug, slumping a little as she rejoins her seat on the couch. He rubs her mane as she looks around the room. Big Mac and Amethyst Star are alternating between chatting and awkwardly staring at each other. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are helping the fillies with getting out of their costumes and into something warmer for when they go upstairs. Rainbow and Rarity are both cuddling on the other side of Doug, beaming smiles at her.

"Applejack, I think you did an admirable job with that situation," Rarity says, Applejack returning a tired smile. "I hope I am able to set as good an example for Sweetie Belle."

"Ah'm sure you will," Applejack says, not a hint of sarcasm as she snuggles next to Doug. He lifts one arm off Rarity, still gently rubbing Rainbow as they settle together.

"So, what was that you were saying about body changes?" Doug asks, rubbing Applejack's mane as Rainbow utters an uncomfortable whine. Doug looks over, wondering why the mare whined when he hasn't let up with his light massage.

Applejack stammers a little as she says, "Well, um, it's just that, Ah don't think any of us have had to give, um, you know. The talk. To the fillies."

Doug raises an eyebrow, "When does that normally happen? For humans I would have said around ten or so, when they hit puberty."

"Eeyup. When you get your cutie mark, it's kind of like the body's signal that it should start turning a filly into a mare. And all that entails." Applejack grunts, "And tonight ain't the night to talk any more about that."

"Sure." Doug and the rest of the herd looks outside as the clock tower starts chiming. All of a sudden a burst of motion goes through the room, everypony scrambling to grab blankets, quilts, and pillows and make their way upstairs. The herd quickly gathers on the roof of the Carrot House. Rainbow quickly clears the snow while Rarity levitates blankets and quilts, spreading them around the roof. Each mare finds their filly or fillies, cuddling with them in a rough circle around Doug. Big Mac and Amethyst are off to the side, Granny Smith propped up against the wall and watching the herd with a smile.

Rarity levitates over a modest telescope, a squat gray and black cylinder. She aligns it with Canterlot Castle before letting Sweetie Belle look through it.

Doug leans over, intrigued by the sight, and asks, "Where did you get that?"

"I traded a suit for it, actually," Rarity says with a smile, "It's refurbished, one of the older models, but still in good working order. Sweetie Belle had been going on about looking at the stars, for an astronomy cutie mark or some such. Do you like it?"

Doug nods, "I do; I imagine it will get a lot of use tonight, that's for sure." He quiets down as Princess Celestia's Celestial Celebration commences, heralding the start of the new year. A faint outline of the moon can be seen getting brighter, slowly illuminating the pitch black sky. First six, then sixty, then hundreds of stars glowing, arranged in ever increasing circles. The shapes morph, some of the stars winking out only to reappear in a different pattern, mesmerizing the ponies watching from below.
> 15 Pleasure and Pain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 1st, 1000

Doug awakens to a quiet house, the only light a dim twinkling from the stars outside. He shifts a little back and forth, trying to figure out why he woke up. He rolls to his side, one arm wrapping around Fluttershy, the mare restlessly whimpering. Doug takes a deep breath, trying to get back to sleep.

Wait, there it is again. His ears perk up as he turns; it sounds similar to Fluttershy. But higher pitched, light whimpers and pawing at the sheets. Doug gets up, a soft whine from the pegasus as his hand gently rubs between her ears before it leaves. The door to Applebaum's room is closed; Doug places his ear against it, a slight frown as the whimpering continues. He lightly raps his knuckles on the door. It probably isn't the two fillies waking up early, they rarely do so on a school day.

A quiet gasp comes from the other side, followed by the hurried sounds of a filly shifting position against the sheets. Doug slowly pushes the door open, glancing at the sleeping form of Lemon before focusing on Applebaum's bed. Her scared breathing pushes the sheets up and down, only getting worse as Doug takes a hesitant step forward.

Doug quietly says, "Applebaum?" The sheets cease moving, the young mare holding her breath as Doug stops. "I'll be outside, if you need to talk." He takes a step back, softly closing the door behind him. He pauses, a sigh as he hears the squirming against the sheets resume. He walks away, grabbing a book before sitting down at the kitchen table with a glass of apple juice.

Applebaum grimaces to herself, her hooves pawing against the soaked sheets. They cling to her coat, a slimy reminder of the dream she just woke up from. Her hooves cover her eyes, another choked sob as the pressure beneath her gut increases. Her hooves do nothing to keep her mind from replaying the images. She definitely doesn't need the dream or her imagination to know what he looks like. She knows; sometimes in the back of her mind, other times a little bit more obviously in front of her, that her sire is... intimate with her dam. And with the other mares in the herd.

It's not like he hides his affections for them. Always scratching their ears, rubbing his hands along and inside their manes. The way he traces lines under their barrels when he thinks the fillies aren't watching. A part of her, growing larger and larger by the minute, desperately wants those same fingers on her, her mind desperately trying to tell her body that it isn't right. Applebaum whimpers as she feels his cold hand caress her inner thigh, shuddering as his slick fingers creep closer and closer. Just like he does with his mares before he-

Applebaum lashes out, kicking him away, but her hooves only connect with air. She struggles, trying to find something solid on which to release her pent up frustration, fervent pounding on the mattress not enough. She grunts before she collapses, her flailing tangling her even more in the sheets. Her mental images briefly disperse as she exerts herself, only to return even stronger as she gives up. Her breath huffs out, a heavy sigh as she tries to relax again, the clammy sheets giving her no relief. She struggles again, her hooves unable to wrench the soaked covering off of her.

Her frustrated scream rends the early morning, followed shortly by a quick burst of footsteps and the door opening. "Applebaum?" comes the worried voice, met only by her muffled cries. The sheets offer no comfort to her burning desire; instead, it is his warm hand that snakes its way under the cold bindings that gives her the tiniest bit of relief. Applebaum closes her eyes even tighter as his hand strokes around her head, running over her eyelids as he finds her neck and chest.

Applebaum raises her hooves, holding on to Doug's arm as he pulls her out of the mess of sheets. She clings to his torso as he lifts her up, one hand holding around her withers while the other pats her mane, lightly pushing her head into him. She feels him walking, one eye opening to look up at him before she squints, the light from the kitchen briefly blinding her. She peeks back up as she bounces up and down, his feet doing a little dance. She giggles, relaxing against him, her breath finally steady instead of the spurts and sobs before.

"That must have been some nightmare, huh?" Doug says, pulling one hand away from her. She nods into his chest as he wipes a bit of the sweat from her coat against his leg. "You want to talk about it?"

Applebaum shakes her head, rubbing her muzzle against him as she grins. She spots Fluttershy peeking out from Doug's bedroom. The mare cautiously smiles at Applebaum, a short wave of her hoof before she retreats back. Applebaum shudders as Doug's hand pushes some of her sweaty coat into her. She squirms, trying to rub it off on his chest or arms, a smirk as he sighs.

"Ewww," he jokingly says, holding her away from his body. She smiles back at her sire, waving her hooves around. "So, what do you think of a bath?"

Applebaum quiets down as he starts walking to the main bathroom. Last week she had taken a bath with him in the room, though he was mostly there to make sure that Lemon and Meringue actually got clean instead of just splashing water everywhere. Did she... did she really want him to help her right now?

Doug transfers her to one arm as she deliberates, cradling her while the other starts the water running. He tests the temperature, it quickly warming as he drops her into the tub. She brings up one foreleg to her barrel, dancing back to the other one as the warm water laps around her hooves. The warmth is doing very little for the burning spreading through her; in fact, it's making it worse! Same with the wet hands trying to lather a bit of soap into her coat, starting to get the sweat and grime out.

Applebaum whimpers, one hoof reaching back and pushing against Doug's hand. She fearfully looks up, afraid of the recrimination that might be coming. Instead he smiles back, a short pat against her green mane. "You want to take the bath alone?" he asks, a bit of a sigh belying the jovial tone. Applebaum nods, reaching up to turn the water to as cold as it will go. "Okay, then. Just be sure to stop the water." Doug shakes her head as he ruffles her mane one more time as he gets up. Applebaum can't help but steal a glance at him, a blush coming over her muzzle that she tries to hide in the water.

The cold water helps with cleaning the sweat off, but does very little else to suppress the desires building in her. At least it's better than the warm water, giving her mind something else to focus on. Minutes pass, leaving a clean Applebaum shivering as she pulls the stopper out. A quiet knock comes at the door, an orange and blond head poking its way in.

Applejack softly smiles as she walks into the bathroom, laying down next to the tub. "Hey, there, Applebaum," she says, pulling a towel off of the rack. "Heard you're going through a bit of a tough time."

Applebaum reluctantly nods, hopping out of the tub. She gladly takes the towel, drying off the cold water. "Mama?" she hesitantly says, large eyes looking up at her dam. "Am Ah going to be okay?"

Applejack's smile grows larger, rubbing a hoof along Applebaum's mane. "You're going to be just fine, Applebaum. Ah suspect you're becoming a mare, going through your first heat."

Applebaum looks back at her flank, her cutie mark practically laughing at her. She accusingly points a hoof at it, glaring and saying, "You're saying my cutie mark did this to me?" She huffs at Applejack's smirk and nod, "Well, why does anypony want a cutie mark then? This is horrible! Ah've got these feelings... and all Ah can think about is-"

Applebaum cuts herself off, her eyes growing wide as she stares up at Applejack. A mortified expression comes over her as she drops down, covering her eyes with her hooves, laying there still as a statue.

Applejack chuckles as she strokes Applebaum's back, "It's okay, dear. Those thoughts are perfectly natural. Ah reckon they're pretty powerful, too." The statement, more than a question, gets Applebaum to nod. At her continued silence Applejack continues, "Celestia knows Ah could barely control myself the first year Ah was with Doug. And knowing what it's like certainly makes it even harder the years we weren't trying to get pregnant. Like this year." Applejack looks down at Applebaum, the young mare recovering quickly. "Speaking of getting pregnant, do Ah need to, um, explain that?"

Applebaum shakes her head, "No, Miss Cheerilee pulled me aside after Ah got my cutie mark. She explained about what, um, Ah have, and what colts have. And a little bit about how they go together." She sinks down, "Ah'm sorry, Ah know Ah'm not supposed to talk about this. But it's all Ah can think about!"

"It's okay, Applebaum. Ah'm not gonna get mad because you have an honest question or you're talking about the contents of some heat addled dream. Celestia knows Ah've had my share of 'em." Applejack lays down next to her filly, "You want to tell me about it?"

"Well, it, um..." Applebaum trails off, a pause before she says as fast as she can, "It involved Daddy." Applebaum's muzzle sinks into her hooves, hunching down and curling up defensively. She sighs, having a hard time going into the details of the dream, how her sire was with her in the bed. His hands forcefully stroking up and down her sides, getting closer and closer to her tail, though his knock had woken her up before the dream could go any further. And the worst part is, she isn't sure she wanted it to stop!

Applejack nods knowingly, "Eeyup. Lots of fillies first heat dreams are about their sires, or so Ah've heard. Mine sure was. Especially if'n they're a strong male role model, and your sire certainly is." A somewhat dreamy look comes over Applejack's muzzle as she continues, "In fact, most mares keep a bit of that dream with them, and end up herding with a stallion that's a lot like their sire." Applejack glances down, her expression hardening, "Just don't go getting the wrong idea. He's still your sire, heat or no heat."

"Ah know." Applebaum stares at the floor, "Please don't tell anypony."

Applebaum's contrite look is enough for Applejack to soften and say, "Now, now, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Ah think it's a little adorable, actually."

"Applejack!" the young mare whines, rolling her eyes at her dam.

"What? Doug's a lot like my sire, Bright Mac. Your sister got Bright Mac's mane, but you got his eyes." Applejack sighs as her voice catches. She wipes a tear from her eye, "Ah'm sorry, Ah always get a little choked up when Ah talk about my sire. And this heat don't make it any easier, either. We were talking about your sire." The glazed look comes over Applejack as she continues, "Doug's a hard worker.  He'll say what needs to be said, even if it gets him in trouble. Though he does try to avoid trouble if'n he can help it." Applejack grunts, taking a few long breaths. "He's always been honest with me, even if he knows Ah won't like it, like with what happened with Princess Celestia."

"So, um, you think Ah'm gonna find a stallion like that?" Applebaum cautiously asks; her parents almost never talked about romance and dating. Like what happened with Amethyst Star; the mare rarely came over to play cards any more, instead spending a bit more time hanging out with Big Mac.

Applejack nods, "Well, sure, those are some of the qualities you can look for. Ah think they're right important ones, too. But they ain't the only thing you gotta look for."

"Like what? What made you decide Daddy is right for you?" Applebaum glances at the door, then back at her dam. 

Applejack hesitates, stammering a bit as she tries to order her story. "Well, Ah was looking for a stallion Ah could start a herd with for a number of years. It wasn't until my parents passed on that it really hit home how much Mac and Ah needed the help, here at the farm." Applejack closes her eyes, "Ah was desperate when Ah met your sire. Ah got really lucky he turned out as well as he did."

"What do you mean?" Applebaum asks, perking up a little at the admission she hadn't heard before. "You didn't know Daddy was honest when you married him?"

"Well, he was very open with me on a topic that sounded fantastical. It was like a story, once upon a time, you know? But, even when Ah was skeptical about it, he stuck to it. But aside from that, he'd tell me what he thought about what we were doing. He weren't mean about it or nothing. He was just willing to stand up against me, which ain't a trait you see in many stallions. And Ah really liked that." Applejack shifts uncomfortably, a quiet whine coming from her.

Applebaum turns at the whine, raising an eyebrow. "There something else to that story?"

Applejack sighs, "Well, Ah finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel, you know? Here's this stallion, he came into my world, and maybe he don't look like much at first. But he quickly grows on me, we're having fun and Ah'm teaching him about farming, and then he goes and proposes. And Ah was so afraid of him leaving, of ruining this plan that Ah had forming, this orchard Ah was planting in my mind, that Ah went along with it." Applejack smiles, "And Ah'm grateful every day that it turned out so well. It's kinda like he made the stars align." Applejack groans, her breath coming hotter and heavier now as she glances at the door.

"Ah'm happy it turned out so well, too," Applebaum says, snuggling next to her dam with a hungry look in her eye. "What's it like being with him? You know, really being with him."

"Oh, ponyfeathers," Applejack groans, one hoof pawing at the floor. "Ah don't know how much Ah can talk about that particular topic right now." Applejack gulps, "Ah better go out and get a head start on harvesting. Bucking apples instead of, you know, bucking Apples. And getting you another sister."

"Oh." Applebaum sinks down, "Ah'm sorry, Mama."

Applejack offers Applebaum a quick smile, dancing a little on her hooves. "Now, it ain't your fault, lots of fillies are curious about what it's like. Better you learn it from one of us mares than rumors. Or worse, a book. But, Ah'm sorry, Ah better leave now, 'fore Ah figure out what it's like all over again." She bends down, kissing Applebaum on the mane, "Go see Rarity before school, Ah'm sure she can tell you more." Applejack scurries out of the room, barely blowing Doug a kiss as she races out of the Carrot house.
> 16 Echoes of Lost Love
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applebaum grumbles to herself as Applejack races out of the room. She gathers up her school supplies, the first rays of dawn just beginning to peek out to the east. Doug opens the front door, stretching as he prepares for his morning run. Applebaum spots Rainbow Dash land next to Doug and almost immediately attempt to tackle him. He resists, of course, though Rainbow's goal seems to be more about landing kisses on him than bringing him to the ground. Applebaum rolls her eyes as she goes to the kitchen, grabbing a quick breakfast of apples and oat bars. 

The young mare looks up to see Fluttershy quietly walking over, taking a seat next to her. "Morning, 'Shy," Applebaum says, her eyes drifting to the yellow mare's flanks. She... she didn't do anything today with Doug, right? She grimaces; no, it was probably last night, after the rest of the house went to bed.

"Something wrong, Applebaum?" Fluttershy says, giggling a little at the unintended rhyme.

"Well, Ah was talking with Applejack about Daddy." Applebaum takes a small bite of one apple, chewing over her thoughts. She asks before she swallows, "Why'd you pick him?"

"Oh, dear," Fluttershy hums, a hoof coming to her chin, "That's a tough one. I don't know if I picked him so much as he picked me." She smiles after a moment, "Well, or maybe Rainbow did. After I first met him? I was... I was so scared, that this big monster was in the same town as me! But, he's really more like a cuddly manticore once you get to know him!"

Applebaum's eyes go wide, "A manticore! What?"

Fluttershy stammers, "Oh, um, maybe more like a bear. You know Harry, right?"

Applebaum slowly nods, "Okay, um, Ah know of Harry. Maybe seen him once."

"Well, Doug is like that. He can be dangerous, but if you aren't really mean to him then he's just different. And that's not bad." Fluttershy considers, "Actually, if you are mean to him he doesn't really lash out like a manticore would." Fluttershy drops down a little, quietly saying, "Maybe that's a bad comparison."

Applebaum smiles, trying to perk Fluttershy back up, "So, you went out with Doug because he's different? Ah can see that."  Her muzzle turns to a bit of a frown as she sees Fluttershy shake her head.

"No, it was because of how he treated me, and how the other ponies treated me. You see, a lot of pegasi back in Cloudsdale made fun of me because I..." Fluttershy glowers, sighing at the admission. "I'm afraid of flying. And not a very strong flier. And a lot of pegasi, they see that, and they didn't really want to date or have foals with me because of it. Not that they would say that. But if the issue of foals ever came up, they would just give a noncommittal comment or admit they weren't looking to have foals at this point. Doug was up front that he wanted foals, and also that it might take a little while, waiting until the trio got a little older. And I liked that, even if I wasn't thrilled that it might be some time before anything happened with me."

"So, you liked that he was up front about his intentions? That doesn't seem that hard."

Fluttershy nods, "And that's mostly because you've been raised in a herd that isn't afraid to speak their mind. There are a lot of ponies out there that are very duplicitous, and you have to be careful about that."

"What's doop city us?"

"Du-pli-ci-tous. It means two muzzled or deceitful. That you say one thing and do another. And your sire is very candid about what he thinks. Though he is very nice about it when he's with me. He knows I can take what he says very personally, and he tries very hard to avoid that."

"Okay, you so wanted a stallion who would treat you right."

Fluttershy nods, a wide smile on her muzzle. "Yup! That's exactly right. I mean, I got a lot of attention from stallions because they thought I looked good. But how many of them wanted me for more than my plot?" Fluttershy's eyebrows widen, an 'eep!' escaping before her hoof clasps to her blushing mouth.

Applebaum snorts, giggling at the outburst. She snickers, "I think Doug likes your plot, too."

Fluttershy tries to hide her deepening blush behind her mane. A few seconds pass before she coughs, peeking out and saying, "Well, um, yes. He does like my... plot. And, um, it's important to get a stallion that likes your... plot. But that isn't the most important thing." Fluttershy shakes her head, her mane going back behind her. "You want a stallion that respects you. And any boundaries you put up, especially while you are dating. That's far more important than how beautiful they say your plot is."

"Got it," Applebaum says with a smirk. She glances out the window, the sky continuing to brighten. "Hey, 'Shy, great talking to you, but I need to head off to school." Fluttershy smiles at the young mare, a short wave as the pegasus gets up to find something to eat.

Unfortunately, watching Rainbow cavorting with Doug and the talk with Applejack and Fluttershy has done very little to help Applebaum with the problem of what to do about her heat. And her dam's prescription of bucking trees could work, but she has school to get to. Her mind drifts to a couple of the colts in her class, whether they would be good stallions to try to start a herd with. Well, none of the colts her age have cutie marks, and only two of the fillies have theirs, both in the year above her. Silver Stud could be fun, but there would be a lot of competition for a Rich colt. And, still a little early to tell what he likes. Maybe somepony from the older classes?

She grimaces; the pickings are pretty slim there, too. Snips and Snails have their cutie marks. Snips... Applebaum sticks out her tongue at the thought. Not even estrus makes him appealing. Snails on the other hoof, he might have potential. A bit taller, though he probably won't fill out like Big Mac. And he's also a unicorn, so he probably won't want to work on the farm. At least not underneath Applejack when her dam replaces Granny Smith as matriarch. But, it would be pretty easy to get him to do what she wants. But is that what she is really looking for in her special somepony? Just a puppet to control and have foals with? Applejack certainly didn't think so.

Applebaum's hooves carry her through the mostly deserted streets, the sun still not above the horizon. Did she really want to be lead mare? It would certainly be nice, but also a lot of responsibility. She sighs a little to herself; she likes finding weaknesses in plans and structures. Not making new plans. Besides, not everypony got to be lead mare, especially not in Ponyville. She grimaces as she looks at the houses along the way to the Carousel Boutique. Single mare. Two single mares, roommates to save bits. In a herd, but still lives by herself because she can't stand two of the other mares. Herd with three mares, mostly happy.

Applebaum pushes the door to the Carousel Boutique open, the bell chiming above her. The store is still dark, not even a light from the kitchen, but there is one coming from upstairs. The ponnequins loom eerily in the dawn light, casting long, oddly shaped shadows over the dark floor.

A voice calls from upstairs, accompanied by the sounds of hooves, "I'm sorry, we aren't open yet. But, if it is just something quick, then-" Rarity stops as she spots Applebaum, the unicorn's mane and tail still in curlers. "Oh, darling, I'm sorry, I thought you were an early customer. Is everything all right?"

Applebaum nods, a sniff telling her that Rarity is, like most of the mares in town, going through her estrus. "Um, yes, Miss Rarity, everything's fine, Ah guess."

"You guess?" Rarity smiles, a pleasant one as she turns to the kitchen, "Is there something I can do that would make you more sure of that? Perhaps a bite to eat?"

"No, Ah already ate, but thank you. Um, Ah wanted to ask you a few questions." Applebaum taps her hoof against the polished wood floor before following Rarity into the kitchen.

Rarity levitates over a small cup and tea bag, beginning to heat the water. She sniffs, glancing over at Applebaum and taking a longer drag through her nose. "Am I smelling that right, darling? Your estrus has started?" Applebaum nods, Rarity returning a heavy sigh. "To be going through that at such a young age. Well, it cannot be avoided, I suppose. Did you come looking for assistance? I'm surprised your dam would approve."

"Um, assistance?" Applebaum asks. 

Rarity briefly blushes, shutting the drawer with a few of her smaller toys in it. "Nevermind. I don't think Applejack would care much for me introducing you to that topic. You'll have to ask her yourself. Did you have any other questions?"

Applebaum says, "Well, um, a couple. Maybe just one line of questions." Rarity nods as the young mare continues, "How did you know that Doug was the right stallion for you? And, along with that, did you want to be lead mare?"

Rarity takes a sip of her tea, her eyes scanning around as she considers the questions. "Well, I suppose I can answer the second question a little easier. Being a lead mare is a lot of work and responsibility." She takes a deep breath before she continues, "It has always been my dream to become a famous fashion designer in the big city. Either Canterlot or Manehatten, it didn't matter much to filly Rarity. But those dreams were broken like a geode under a chisel, because I did not have what a native to those areas might have."

"A home?" Applebaum offers.

Rarity shakes her head, "No, I would have been happy living above the store, much like I am here, or a small apartment. No, I was missing connections. Ponies in the know, or trendsetters willing to help put me on the map. Without that, any attempt to start a business there would be doomed from the beginning, unable to generate the necessary interest and revenue to stay afloat. Thus, I am confined to Ponyville, for now. But that dream has not faded, merely waiting for the opportunity to arise."

"Okay, but what's this got to do with being lead mare?"

Rarity huffs, "I was getting there, be patient. But, to answer your question, if I am lead mare then I cannot very well uproot my herd and have them move to where opportunity calls. Or run off on my own to start a business someplace else. And running a business as large as I hope to become is very taxing on a mare, leaving little time for other pursuits, such as dealing with the inevitable arguments and scheduling concerns inherent in a herd. Thus, I am happy being second mare, and avoiding much of that."

"Ah get that," Applebaum nods, "That kinda feels like what Ah would want, too. Ah don't know if Ah'd be cut out to run a herd."

Rarity takes another sip of her tea, "Being lead mare is not for everypony, certainly. You were asking about qualities in a stallion?" 

"Yeah!" Applebaum paces back and forth a little, inspecting the furniture, "Like, why did you decide to join with Applejack and Doug?"

"Well, when I first met Doug, he called me Madame. It still sticks with me now, that he thought that I, of the three ponies together that day, was deserving of such a title of respect." Rarity sighs, "Unfortunately, that basic decency can be lost on a lot of the ponies here. And, I am sad to say, occasionally with your dam as well."

"What?" asks Applebaum, a bit of bite in her remark. "How so?"

"Well, for starters, she hates using magical solutions to problems." Rarity sighs, trying to force a smile, "But I don't want to talk negatively about your dam, or any of the earth ponies in this town." Rarity mutters to herself, "Celestia knows I have enough problems with business without half the town thinking I'm tribalist." She clears her throat before continuing, "In any case, I appreciated the respect I got from your sire. I could see the signs, that he had more interest than he was letting on. And then he let me get away with grossly underpaying him for a trip to the Ghastly Gorge!"

"Is, um, that where you hunt for gems?"

Rarity nods, "That is indeed what we did, and continue to do to this day. And for nearly twelve hours of walking and hard digging, I gave him fifty bits worth of custom clothing! Most ponies would have charged fifty bits an hour, and time and a half for working more than eight hours in a day. Not to mention some sort of bonus for leaving town and walking near the Everfree! And he refused all of my attempts to repay his generosity, instead treating me as a friend despite the fact that we had barely met. I do believe I fell in love with him after that trip, though it took a while for me to really realize it was more than a simple crush."

"Okay, so you like that he's courteous and willing to help a friend. But how did you know that he was the one?"

"Well, at first I didn't. He barely courted me, despite my casually dropped hints and more obvious advances. He would just give me a slightly flirtatious remark followed by something completely innocent. I later learned he was very hesitant about herding in general, rather than a specific complaint about myself. After what happened with Rainbow and myself..." Rarity trails off, taking another sip of her tea, unsure whether or not she should tell Applebaum this particular story. Well, the young mare's body is old enough to try to get her to make these kinds of decisions, even if nearly everypony waits another eight years, preferably more. 

Rarity steels herself, "Your dam, Rainbow, and myself, we did not know at first that Doug was able to sire foals. One ill-fated attempt to rid our heat later and, well, your older sisters were conceived. Regardless of the original intent, though, Doug was willing to sacrifice his own comfort for each of us. Though I think by that point it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable for him. He helps pick us up, when things are down and not going our way. You could see it with the trio, when they were born, and how many hours he puts in at work. All just so that we can shine. I knew then that I would stick by him, despite my frequent objections to how Applejack wishes to run things."

Sweetie Belle comes down the stairs, an odd look at seeing Rarity talking with Applebaum. She shrugs, going to the fridge and grabbing a plate of leftovers for breakfast. The hay spaghetti quickly disappears, Sweetie Belle struggling to levitate the plate to the sink. "Hey, Applebaum, you wanna walk with me to school today?"

"Sure! Ah'd like that!" Applebaum smiles up at Rarity, "Thanks for talking with me, Miss Rarity. Ah hope Ah can find a stallion like that!"

"Of course, darling," Rarity says, a smile as the two leave the store. Rarity grimaces once they are gone, one hoof tracing a line along her belly. Ugh, doing that would only make it worse. Hopefully Rainbow gets here soon, so they can help each other out. Last year was no different, since without a mare to relieve himself with Doug became more and more physical with each of them, making it very difficult to resist.

Applebaum and Sweetie Belle walk out of the Boutique, both waving as they spot Rainbow Dash coming towards them. "Hey, Rainbow!" Applebaum calls, the pegasus turning to land next to them. "How're you?"

"Hot," comes the curt reply, Rainbow squinting at the two. "You need anything?"

"Just walking to school," says Sweetie Belle, holding a hoof up to the cool breeze. "Huh," she says to herself, taking a whiff of the air around Rainbow.

"You want to walk with us?" Applebaum asks with a smile, "Ah wanted to ask you something, and we could use the company!"

"Yeah, not like I needed to get somewhere," Rainbow grunts, a forlorn look at the Boutique before turning and walking with the fillies.

Applebaum says, "So, Rainbow, how did you know that Doug was the right stallion for you?"

Rainbow Dash shrugs, "Eh. At the start? He was good to look at. Gave the best belly rubs, coat massages, you name it. Not that I had a lot to compare him to, but it felt better than what other mares described. I enjoyed running and wrestling with him. I wasn't really that romantically interested at the start, I had other stuff I wanted to focus on." 

"So, it wasn't, like, you had some deep connection to him?" Applebaum raises an eyebrow, "Then why'd you end up with him?"

"Heh." Rainbow's quick laugh turns into a long head shake, "Initially? I just married him 'cause I was pregnant with Scootaloo. Best solution for the foal. We just have a quiet ceremony and, boom. Friend, you are in my life, and all that." Rainbow sighs, "I wasn't really all that enthusiastic about it. But, this way, I could keep up with weather and training to eventually become a Wonderbolt. Use him to watch Scootaloo, and just see the two from time to time while I worked. It wasn't until the trio was born that I really knew he would be there for me."

"Oh?" Applebaum raises her head, looking at Rainbow. "What happened then?"

Rainbow sighs, "I got pretty depressed when the doctors told us that you all would have difficulty with magic. And I took it out on Pinkie Pie and everypony else. And he was there to comfort me, to help me get through it. Even though it seemed so bleak, that there wouldn't be any recovering from it. After that, I knew that I could count on him, and that he could count on me to be there by his side."

"Really? That was it?"

"Eh, pretty much. It spoke volumes to me, you know? Really made the music come alive." Rainbow smiles, the rest of the walk proceeding in silence. The three arrive at the schoolhouse, Rainbow waving at the two before flying back to the Boutique.

The school day proceeds as many others, with perhaps a little more discomfort sitting on the hard wooden desks. The lunch break is the only outlier; the young mares, those fillies with their cutie marks, are gathering together and giving the colts in the nearby area either leering stares or cautionary glares. Applebaum tries to stay in the latter group but occasionally finds herself slipping into the former.

At the end of school Applebaum heads towards Sugarcube Corner, greeting the recently Mrs. Cake with a wave. She makes her way to the kitchen, a cheery, "Hello, Pinkie Pie!" to the baking mare.

Pinkie Pie stops singing to herself as she looks up from her bags of flour, simultaneously shoving a tray of cakes into the oven. "Hiya Applebaum!" She peers over at the young mare, "What brings you here? Looking a little sad? Well, I've got the perfect thing to do! We can sing songs to lift us up while we bake!"

Applebaum forces a smile, "Um, I don't really feel like singing. Ah was hoping to get your help."

"Hmm." Pinkie Pie looks at Applebaum, "Are you contemplating collecting a cupcake cooking cutie mark? 'Cause you can't keep a couple of cutie marks!" She shakes her head back and forth, her mane picking up a bit of the dough she is working over.

Applebaum smiles, "No, Ah wanted to ask you about Doug. And, um," Applebaum stammers a little, "getting older."

Pinkie Pie's eyes narrow as she starts rolling out a lump of dough, "That's a hard topic to talk about this time of year, if you know what I mean." She grunts, one hoof starting to fold and crease the pie crust, "You need any help?"

"Sure, if you aren't too busy." Applebaum looks around the kitchen while Pinkie Pie disappears, hoofsteps going up the stairs. Applebaum raises an eyebrow when Pinkie returns with a colorful cylinder, "Um, Ah don't know if I can help you make more pies. Ah haven't done it before."

Pinkie Pie grins, "Don't be silly, we'd need Doug here to help me make more Pies!" Her grin turns serious as she brandishes her new 'roller', "And you're still too young, even if it is what your body is telling you! I should hope it's your first time!"

Applebaum stands up on her hind legs, looking over the ingredients strewn about the counter. "Well, Applejack's shown me around the kitchen a little. Mostly talking about using apples, you know, and how we can shine 'em." Pinkie Pie nods furiously before darting to one of the ovens, pulling out a few trays of cupcakes. "But, that's not why Ah'm here."

"So, why come all the way out here then?" Pinkie Pie gasps, "Applejack didn't forbid you from going to anypony for help, did she? Because you should definitely listen to your dam. I mean, different ponies handle it different ways, and you gotta make your own decisions. Listen to the sound that you hear in your heart, and all that."

"Yeah! Ah mean, she practically told me to go to each of y'all, and get your thoughts on it." Applebaum tries to stay out of Pinkie Pie's way as the mare bustles around the kitchen. "Especially because Ah'm going to be my own mare at some point."

Pinkie Pie wipes a bit of sweat off her muzzle, "Whew! Well, if Applejack is okay with it, I can give you some pointers if you'd like!"

"Yeah, Ah'd like that!" Applebaum looks quizzically at Pinkie Pie as the mare hops to the entrance of the kitchen, shutting the door and flicking the lights off, casting the room into shadows. "What'cha doing?"

"Oh, just making sure nopony accidentally stumbles in here while we're at work." Pinkie Pie winks at Applebaum, holding up the smooth cylinder. "Now, this is a pretty standard model. Some of the fancier ones have ridges, or other special features." Her hoof moves to the end, a small tube Applebaum didn't notice before sticking out.

Applebaum raises a hoof, asking, "Um, why would a rolling pin have ridges?"

Pinkie Pie's eyes grow wide, hastily dropping the item inside one of the drawers, "Oookay, I think we might not be using the same cookbook here. You are in heat, right?" At Applebaum's reluctant nod Pinkie Pie continues, "And, you wanted help relieving some of the unpleasant parts of that?"

"Um, maybe? It ain't so bad right now. Sometimes it goes away, other times it makes a crescendo that gets worse and worse. Mostly, though, it's just kinda weird how my thoughts keep drifting." Applebaum paws at the floor, "Ah mostly wanted to ask you why you thought Doug was a good choice to herd with. Why you picked him as your stallion."

"Oooh. Okay!" Pinkie Pie pronks back to the entrance. She flicks the switch, the lights igniting the dark as she opens the door. She pulls a few trays of goods out and delivers the arrangement of items to Mrs. Cake. Pinkie Pie returns to work, saying, "Well, at first I felt a little sorry for Doug. I had, mistakenly of course, since I had never seen him before, turned the town just the tiniest bit against him when he first arrived. The word 'monster' might have been thrown around a little. But once I found out that he was living here I warmed up to him immediately!"

Applebaum nods, "Heh, that's a bit of a rocky start."

"Yeah, nothing like a few boulders to make life interesting! I mean, could you imagine if all of life was smooth sailing? Sometimes you need the dull parts so the bright parts can make us all glow!" Pinkie Pie grins as she starts making cookies, "I thought he was a little cute, but I was worried about how the rest of the town would take it. Like, a lot of them never really warmed up to him, and I was afraid they might stop coming to Sugarcube Corner just because I liked him! And then Sugarcube would go out of business, and Mrs. Cake would have to move. And she would never have met Mr. Cake if that was the case! That would have been terrible!" 

Applebaum quietly says, "Pinkie."

"Speaking of Mrs. Cake, did you know she's trying to have a foal? Already!" Pinkie Pie reaches over, patting Applebaum on the head. "Just don't get any ideas about that, you hear me? Plenty of time for you to find the right colt!"

Applebaum rolls her eyes, saying a little louder, "Pinkie." 

Pinkie Pie huffs, her mane slightly sinking down. "Fine. The ponies in town, a lot of them really didn't like what happened with Applejack. They tried to band together. 'We stand up against this injustice!' kind of thing, even if they imagined it. I think a few of them were unhappy that a non-earth pony was with your dam. They've gotten a lot better, and most of them are over it. And he doesn't come around enough to really remind them that he's even here."

Applebaum coughs, "Um, Ah was hoping to hear what you saw in him. Like, for when Ah'm trying to decide what colt Ah'm gonna go out with."

"Oh! Right." Pinkie Pie smiles, her mane poofing back out, "Well, so, after that first run in with Doug I was curious about him and what he's like. Turns out he's really easy going. And loves my antics!" Pinkie Pie sighs, "A few of the ponies here... well, maybe more than a few. Quite possibly every pony here. They love it when I throw parties for them! But, they almost never ask me to stick around after the party is over. I think that they think that I'm a bit..."

"Much?" Applebaum offers.

"Heh, I was going to say crazy, but that works too. And you know what colts say about crazy mares." At Applebaum's shake of her head Pinkie Pie raises an eyebrow, "Huh. Maybe it's just a colt expression. But, I didn't exactly get a lot of interested stallions."

"Ah'm noticing a bit of a trend, that most of the mares in the herd didn't exactly have a lot of prospects." Applebaum looks at the floor, nervously asking, "Do, um, do you think that Ah'll have that problem?"

Pinkie Pie reaches over, ruffling Applebaum's mane, "I'm sure there's a colt out there who'll be perfect for you! I mean, take Doug. A lot of ponies don't care much for him, yet he still holds his hands up high. In fact, I loved that about him. How he always looks on the bright side of things. It was when your older sisters came along, and I learned what was wr-" Pinkie Pie coughs, trying to cover for herself, "Um. Different about each of you. It really got me down, like there was this big storm brewing inside me, and the rain was just beginning to fall. And yet, despite that, he cheers me up, and helps me stay optimistic about everything the foals are going through. And he helps his herd the same way. And he keeps that assurance that everything is going to be okay. Like, he knows the sun's shining through it all, or going to."

Applebaum smiles, "Yeah. He does that. So, having the right attitude is definitely important." Pinkie Pie nods as Applebaum smiles. The young mare walks to the entrance of the kitchen, "Thanks for the help, Pinkie!"

"Yup!" Pinkie Pie smiles as she goes about her work, practically singing, "Shine Like Rainbows!"
> 17 Living Fires
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applebaum grimaces as she walks home from Sugarcube Corner, still feeling the effects of her heat. Miserable! While the mares were somewhat helpful as far as what to look for in a coltfriend, it didn't really help her current problem. Too bad none of them had been able to help with that. Maybe Doug has some ideas, he's had to deal with five mares going through this for a number of years.

She tries distracting herself by looking at the town around her. Now that she's aware of what is going on she can tell the subtle differences between Ponyville during estrus season and the rest of the year. Like the ever pervasive odors assaulting her nostrils. And it isn't even coming from her! At least, most of it isn't. A cautious sniff confirms that she does indeed smell a little more than normal; it's both sharper and more intense than the sweat she gets from playing outside. The slight tang in the air sure isn't helping her relax, instead making her pick up the pace to try to get away from it.

As she hurries along, she can't help but notice the way the other ponies are congregating. Standing around in groups of mares with no stallion, instead of the mix you see most any other time. Even the pegasi working in the sky are segregating themselves as they push a few larger clouds over the fields, helping spread the rain over the crops below.

Applebaum hurries home, trying not to stare at any of the stallions walking about. She grimaces to herself; shouldn't they realize how hard it is on a mare when she's going through this? She slams the front door to the Carrot House, walking over to Doug's combination of bedroom and office. She peeks inside, seeing him hard at work. She sighs; everypony else is busy with work or playing games she just doesn't care about right now. Applebaum heads to her room, shutting the door and trying to distract herself with school work.

It isn't until after dinner that Doug is finally free to talk. Applebaum waits until the other fillies have gone to bed, walking over to Doug and Applejack as they spoon on the couch. Doug is running a brush through Applejack's coat, helping her relax after a long day of harvesting apples. Applebaum smiles up at them, "You two sure like this spot." Doug smiles and nods, patting the spot next to Applejack's belly. Applebaum gladly jumps up, snuggling next to her dam and saying, "How come Rarity isn't over? Shouldn't it be her night?"

Applejack says, "Well, most days it would be, but her self control ain't as good as mine or Fluttershy's. So she tries to avoid spending too much time with Doug, just in case she gets a little frisky." 

Applebaum smirks, "Yeah, Ah can see that. Same with Rainbow, she can barely keep her hooves off of ya."

Doug nods, "Yeah, that's always been a challenge for her." He settles back into the couch, one hand idly stroking Applejack while the other goes behind his head. "Was there something you wanted to talk about?"

"Well, kinda. Ah talked to Applejack and the other mares in the herd. About what kind of traits they look for in a stallion. But,  Ah'm curious, what kind of traits do you look for in a mare?" Applebaum glances back at herself, "You know, if'n Ah'm trying to get some colt interested in me."

"Well, it's cliched, but being yourself is very important." Doug reaches over, stroking Applebaum's mane. "You aren't going to do yourself any favors by lying about who you are." Applejack grins, her head spinning back to reward her stallion with a kiss. Doug continues, "For me, there were three main criteria that I wanted my... eh, I'll call them my special somepony to have. Physical, intellectual, and spiritual."

"Spiritual?" asks Applebaum, glancing over Applejack with her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"Hmm," Doug stalls, "Well, let's use the words 'morals' instead. And we'll get back to that. So, physical is pretty easy; do you like how somepony looks."

"Seems a mite superficial there, though," Applejack says, a snort escaping her nostrils.

"Well, that's true, but I think it's important." Doug's hand moves to Applejack's head as she lays back on the couch. "It's easy to check, too, but it sure isn't the only thing. And I think a lot of relationships fail because you get too focused on the physical aspects, and you let that blind you to deficiencies or key differences in other areas."

"Mm, Ah suppose," Applejack groans as his fingers start to play between her ears.

Doug continues, "Intellectual is similar to morals, but more focused on what things they enjoy doing as opposed to what beliefs they have. So, kind of like how I enjoy going on runs with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Those might not seem like 'intellectual' topics, but it's more of a catch-all term."

"So, like, their interests!" says Applebaum.

Doug smiles, "Exactly! Last big area is morals. The priority they hold on different values. Like, which ones that somepony believes to be important. For example, take two values. Honesty and family. Suppose, you learn that Applejack committed a crime. And a guardsmare comes up to you, and asks you if you know anything about what Applejack did. What do you tell them?"

"Umm," Applebaum stammers, her eyes darting back and forth as she tries to figure out the right answer.

"Ah don't think you should be teaching our foals to lie, even if it's for family," Applejack says, a bit of force in her tone.

Doug sighs, "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry, Applebaum, that was a bad example. Or, rather, it illustrates that honesty is a very highly held trait around here. We would much rather you come clean about whatever happened, even if it gets us in trouble."

Applebaum raises an eyebrow, "Okay. So, you think Ah should wait to find a stallion that meets all three of those? That seems like it could be pretty hard. There ain't that many stallions around here."

Doug nods, "Yup. And you aren't very likely to find a stallion who is interested in exactly the same things you are, or whose beliefs line up exactly with yours. Instead, it's a bit of give and take. Making sacrifices or concessions in one area because they are outweighed by good spots in other areas." Doug begins kneading Applejack's back, finding quite a number of tense muscles. "One thing that can really help with that is listing out all the different categories and traits that you think a stallion should have. And go as detailed as you like, but just remember that the more specific you get, the harder it will be to find somepony that meets it."

"Ah get that." Applebaum taps a hoof against the couch, "What kind of traits did you look for?"

"Hmm." Doug briefly lets up on Applejack to stroke his chin, the mare whining in response. He goes back to rubbing her, "Well, as I said earlier, attractive is one of them. I could go more in detail, but you ponies are so gosh darn cute it's hard to say that anypony is unattractive."

Applebaum thinks through a couple of colts and fillies in her class, managing to hold her tongue before insulting them.

"For personality, to name a few..." Doug reaches along Applejack's barrel as he contemplates, finding knots of muscles his fingers start digging into. "I value altruism. Benevolence. Command. Dedication. Enthusiasm. Forthrightness. All very important traits, though it's unlikely you'd find each of them in one pony."

Applebaum nods, "But, you didn't spend much time here before you married Applejack. How did you know that she was right for you?"

Applejack's eyes glaze over as Doug starts pushing deeper. He meekly says, "To be honest, I wasn't sure." At Applebaum's gaze he continues, "Well, you have to understand, when I first got here I barely knew what was going on. I'm a little proud that I didn't freak out. And I was definitely glad to see a friendly face among the unknown. I... I guess, I've heard too many stories, some fictional and some not, that detail how a first contact meeting might or did go. And they generally don't end well for one side or the other. Well, they tend to end very poorly for the side that is less equipped, or less ruthless."

"Ruthless?" comes Applebaum's hesitant question.

Doug sighs, "Lack of mercy. Not considering how the other person is feeling."

"But, doesn't everypony want to be friends?" Applebaum says, holding her hooves up. One dances back and forth towards the other, the other hoof mimicking the dance. Then, both hooves dance together, in sync with each other.

Doug smiles, "That would be great, but different cultures might value different things. Or, they might have a different risk assessment, which means they might not agree with how good meeting the other person is. That the risk of destruction, even if just from disease instead of malevolence, is too great."

"So, you were afraid of Applejack?" Applebaum asks, a hesitant look at her dam. The mare perks up a little at the mention of her name, smiling at the notion of him being afraid of her.

Doug chuckles, "I guess, a little of that, a little just from being disoriented. More so from just how much I didn't know. I didn't know if the next face I saw would be as friendly as she was, or if it would have been really mean, like a timber wolf. So, I did my best to stay with her. Practically begged her for a job, too, since I didn't have anything to eat besides whatever I could forage from the forest."

"And that would not have turned out well," says Applejack with a nod, "Especially if you don't know the three dangers of the Everfree Forest."

"Yeah, the plants, the animals, and the weather," says Doug with an eye roll. He digs back into Applejack, the mare groaning as her head drops back into the couch. "Regardless, I had a great time working with your dam, and she with me. I know as much, since she basically proposed to me later that night."

"Huh?" says Applebaum; that's not what Applejack had said earlier. She glances at her dam; Applejack's eyes are unfocused, not paying attention as Doug runs his fingers into her coat, twisting and pressing into her sides.

"Yup. She comes into the room they gave me, starts off by asking about my day, if I like being there." Doug's hands meander around Applejack's back, "Then she climbs on top of me, saying she accepts my proposal." Doug shifts to the side, Applejack rolling to her belly. She looks at him curiously as he straddles her. Her eyes roll up as his hands go to her belly, a long whine from the mare. "I thought she was talking about my request for a job! It wasn't until she kissed me," Doug leans down, kissing Applejack on the muzzle, "that I realized that she was talking about something else."

"Wait!" says Applebaum, watching as Applejack paws at Doug, trying to pull him back towards herself. "Ah thought you proposed to Applejack! You're saying you didn't actually want to marry her when she kissed you?"

Applejack stops moving, her eyes squinting at Doug as he nervously scratches the back of his neck. He stammers, "Well, um, kind of. I mean, I thought she was attractive. Normally it would be way too early for me to consider it. But, as far as I knew I was stranded on this strange world." Applejack stares at Doug, her lack of movement going unnoticed by the human as he continues, "A part of me was really worried about what could go wrong, since she was a lot stronger than me, and could easily have overpowered me if I resisted. For all I knew she would kick me out if I refused her, or worse."

"Hey!" Applejack says, a hurt tone in her voice. "Ah would never have done that!"

"I know that!" Doug says playfully, smiling at Applejack. His smile slowly fades as she stares back at him. He quietly backpedals, "I mean, that was only a small part of what I was thinking."

"Yeah, and I know what the rest of you was thinking!" Applejack spits out, glaring at him. "Was that it, all you were looking for was a quick roll in the hay? Ah should have known!" Applejack sniffs briefly as she continues, "Ah can't believe it, after all this time! You never told me!"

"Hey, that's not true!" Doug interjects, trying to get a word in edgewise.

"What, that you never told me? Or, you mean about our whole relationship is based off a lie?" Applejack stares at Doug, a hurt expression in her eyes.

"No!" Doug quickly says, about to continue as Applejack interrupts, glaring at him as her hooves push him away. 

"Oh? You calling me a liar, partner?"

"No! It wasn't a lie, just a misunderstanding." Doug tries to stroke Applejack's muzzle, one hoof batting him away. He tries again, Applejack allowing him this time as he says, "After all the time we've spent together, Applejack, how can you think that's all I wanted? We may not have had the most formal of beginnings, but that doesn't mean I regret anything that's happened!"

Applejack's hard expression bores into him, one hoof holding onto his arm as he continues sitting on top of her. "Just answer me this, Doug. When you said, during dinner that night, that you wanted 'a warm bed', what did you mean?"

Doug sighs, one hand moving to Applejack's belly, only for her other hoof to press on it, immobilizing him. "I meant that I wanted a bed inside the house. Not with you, but I don't regret how it ended up."

Applejack slowly lets out the breath she was holding, a hint of a smile peeking out. "Okay, Doug. Ah get that now. Why didn't you tell me before?" Her hoof comes off of his hand, moving to his belly button and making circles in the thin hair.

Doug starts rubbing Applejack's belly, "Well, initially I was afraid that you might take it the wrong way. And I really did want to be with you. You aren't wrong about that other part of me desiring you." He starts making larger circles in her hair, "After that, too much time had passed for anything good to come of mentioning it. I asked Rarity about the meaning of the phrase months later, and we kind of laughed at the misunderstanding. I wasn't sure if you knew, but I didn't think about it for a long time." His hand pushes further into her muscular belly, "I'm sorry for keeping this from you."

Applejack smiles up at Doug, "Apology accepted. Ah'm sorry that Ah nearly forced you into something that you didn't want, and Ah'm glad it turned out so well." Her hoof reaches around his back, giving him a light tug. Doug bends over, embracing Applejack and locking lips.

Applebaum clears her throat, the two looking over at her with amused expressions. "So, that's it? Ah thought you two were gonna break up or something!"

"What do ya mean, Sugarcube?" Applejack pulls Doug against her neck, "It's okay to get passionate about the things you love. And it's important to be open and honest about what you're feeling, instead of bottling it up inside. Who knows, maybe by bringing it up the both of you can figure out how to fix it. Besides, Ah think that if your sire weren't happy with what things are like around here, he would'a told one of us a long time ago. Ah may be unhappy we didn't have the perfect beginning, but that don't mean we can't have a really nice ending."

"Well, I'll try not to make the ending too nice," Doug says with a smirk, Applejack rolling her eyes. 

Applebaum looks at the two quizzically before groaning as she gets his meaning. She walks away as they resume making out, a bit of a grimace. And she still didn't have a good way of dealing with her heat!
> 18 The Emperor's Trove
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 7th, 1000

"Is it here? Is that it?" Rainbow Dash exclaims, slowly flying through the air. "Please? I can take it to him, I promise!" Rainbow slides a hoof from one side of her chest to the other, the classic Pinkie Promise motion. At the mailpony's head shake Rainbow groans. She takes another long look at the weird package. She has no idea what is inside the artificial cloud crate, merely hoping her bluff would let her inspect it. Or, if nothing else, get it to Doug a little faster.

"No can do, Rainbow! Neither snow nor rain nor heat will keep me from delivering this package, even though it's trying to do all three!" Derpy Hooves shakes her blond mane back and forth, trying to keep it away from the freezing package. Her hooves are wrapped in thick cloth, holding the cloud crate as far away from her body as possible. There are little snowflakes pouring off the back end, though the outside doesn't seem ruptured or have anything wrong with it.

"What? That doesn't make any sense," Rainbow says; she flies a little closer, inspecting the package again. It has large markings on it, grouped in a circle on all six faces of the box. Each cluster of four labels is identical: thick block letters that read '--> THIS SIDE UP -->'. If one rotates the box such that the indicated side is up, a different set of letters now points to a different face of the box as the one that is supposed to be facing up. Water drips off the bottom, a damp circle forming on the underside of the package. Rainbow points at the oddity, "What the hay is making it do that?"

"Oh ponyfeathers!" Derpy gasps, spinning the box so the bottom is now on top. The circle on the new top starts fading, a small damp circle now forming on the bottom.

"Huh," Rainbow says, trying to puzzle out what is inside. She cuts to the chase, "So, you know what's inside?"

Derpy shakes her head, "Nope!"

"Huh." Rainbow hums to herself; she had been on Everfree watch duty when she spotted the train coming into town and the odd bustle around the cargo section. She flew in to investigate, only for Derpy Hooves to sign a stack of waivers and grab the odd box. The manifest said it was destined for Sweet Apple Acres, and Rainbow had no idea what could be inside. "You sure I can't help?"

Derpy Hooves shakes her head, the bulky package securely held between her hooves. She holds it up, pointing her muzzle at the label, "The package has Doug Apple clearly written on it! And I have very specific instructions to only give it to him!"

"Aww, come on, I'm in his herd! That's like, good enough, right? I promise I'll get it to him!" Rainbow pouts, the two nearly to the main farmhouse. "Why can't I help?"

Derpy reaches back to her saddlebags, one hoof sifting around and trying to find the paperwork. Rainbow points a hoof, trying to say something as Derpy loses her grip, the package slipping away from her. "Oh no!" Derpy exclaims as it plummets down, leaving a contrail of snowflakes. A stream of papers threaten to billow from her saddlebags as she tries to go after it, though her low speed gives her little hope of making it in time.

Rainbow Dash swoops down, deftly grabbing the package before it smashes to the ground. Her triumphant shout quickly morphs to a shriek of pain as shards of ice begin forming on her hooves. Her cries grow frantic, her shaking desperate as she flies higher, trying anything to return the package to Derpy as the gray mailmare gets close.

"Come on, Rainbow, let go!"

"I'm trying! It's frozen to my hooves!"

"Then stop trying to hold on!"

"I can't! It's not working!"

Derpy yanks on the box, throwing the two off balance. They tumble through the air, their shouts drawing Applejack and Doug's attention. The two farmers stop their apple harvesting, wincing as the two pegasi plow through one of the front windows. Doug looks over, uttering a casual, "So, you think they're okay?"

Applejack grunts as they jog to the farmhouse, "Ah'm more worried about the window, honestly. And did you see what the hay they were holding?"

Doug shakes his head, "No, I was too busy watching the two pegasi fail to fly through the sky." He opens the front door; Derpy is laying on her back, surrounded by loose papers and holding the package above her while bits of snow and rain drop on top of her. Rainbow is surround by broken shards of ice, massaging her hooves against her barrel and grimacing as she tries to get warmth back in them.

"Well, most ponies use the door to deliver packages, but Ah suppose this ain't the first time we need to pop a window back in place," Applejack quips, looking at the fortunately unbroken window pane. She points a hoof at the package in Derpy's hooves, "What is that?"

Rainbow's body shakes from the cold. Sliding her hooves along her barrel does little to help her predicament. She spots Doug enter the house, her wings immediately lifting her up. She darts to him, jamming her hooves against his chest. He gasps, grabbing onto her hooves and pulling them away from his body. "Sweet Celestia you're freezing!" he says, pausing at the tears in Rainbow's eyes. He pulls her closer, wincing as he tucks her hooves under his armpits, rapidly moving his arms up and down her coat. The movement seems to help Rainbow recover, the pegasus gratefully sighing into his chest as she wraps her hind legs around his waist.

Derpy Hooves coughs as a bit of water drips onto her muzzle, rotating the package while she lays on the floor. "Um, Applejack, I don't suppose you can grab my saddlebags? I need to set up the holder for this."

"And, just what is it that contraption you brought into this house?" Applejack asks as she wrenches the saddlebags off of Derpy. She pulls out a metal tripod and circular plate, placing them on the floor. 

"It looks like somepony rigged a cloud generator and a frost unit to a cloud crate," Rainbow says, still hugging onto Doug. "But, what would need that amount of cold? And, for that thing to keep pumping out that kind of heat and melting everywhere?"

One of Derpy's eyes watches Applejack set up the holder while the other wanders between the box and the ceiling, "Okay, now, center the tripod on the plate." Applejack complies, a quiet hum coming from the device. Derpy pushes up, setting the package on top of the tripod. The box hovers over the top of it, slowly spinning in place. Derpy pulls off the thick gloves, wiping her forehead with a hoof. "Whew! Now, I need you to sign this, stating that you have successfully received the package." 

Doug reads through the paperwork, his quick signature somewhat disrupted by Rainbow being in the way. "This is a lot of liability waivers," he says, looking over the next couple pages. "I really hope it doesn't explode."

Derpy smiles, "Hey, that's what I said, too!" She goes to her saddlebags, pulling out a letter. "And this is for you."

Doug takes the letter, opening and reading aloud,

'Dear Doug Apple,

I hope this package finds you in one piece. It was a Nightmare trying to cobble together a method of transporting the opened bottle of fire sauce, but my ingenuity has come through yet again. I would very much like to get the custom Cloudcrate I built back. The deliverypony should wait until you are done setting up the stand to return it to me. If they left, contrary to my carefully specified instructions, then please mail it to my address, located on any number of the forms.

There is a switch to turn off the freezing component once you have removed the bottle. If you have any trouble finding it, it should be on page three of the instructions. Please be careful removing the fire sauce from the surrounding material.

Whatever you do, do NOT attempt to drink it straight from the bottle! I would also recommend not touching the bottle itself. Or the contents of the bottle, for that matter. I fear it has only grown stronger with age. It wasn't this bad when I first took it home, I promise! 

Sincerely,

Prince Lunaris Blueblood'

The signature is elegantly scrawled, taking up nearly the entire width of the letter. Doug looks at the package, wondering how to open it up. Rainbow hops off of him as Applejack and Derpy stand a ways away. "Huh. You ready to open this?"

"Hey, um," Applejack says, pointing at the crate. "If'n whatever is in there is really finicky to move, then maybe we don't want to open it up inside the house. How about you take it to the butc-... um, Doug's barn."

Rainbow smirks, "Yeah, whatever." Rainbow moves over, her front hooves quickly pressing on opposite sides of the package. A hissing sound escapes, the pegasus wincing and looking at the gloves Derpy took off and shaking her head; she really should have put them on before opening the box. She presses her cold hooves back into Doug, a loud sigh escaping the stallion. He begins gathering the papers as Rainbow Dash clings to him, everypony watching as the sides of the box break apart. The hissing continues as the top levitates above the rest of the box; the whole thing continues to rotate, the tripod magically holding it aloft. 

Applejack grunts, "Well, Ah'd love to keep looking at this here doohickey, but Ah've got to get back to work. Lemme know when you've got it figured out." Applejack turns to the front door. She reaches her hoof out to open it before it bursts open, revealing Pinkie Pie on the other side. 

Pinkie Pie is breathing heavily, as if she sprinted the entire way from Ponyville. She points a hoof at the crate, ominously yelling, "Don't Open That!"

"Yeah, Pinkie, that's what I told them, too." Applejack light prods the pink pony, "Now, if'n you'd excuse me, Ah'll be on my way."

Pinkie Pie hops out of Applejack's way as she inspects the opened box. She nods, looking to the other three, "Whew! I was really worried when I got my ear flop, then eye flutter, then knee twitch. Okay, good, we still have time."

"Hey, that's your opening doors thing," Doug remarks as he starts reading through the papers.

"Time for what?" asks Rainbow Dash.

"Time to formulate a plan," says Pinkie Pie, an overeager smile on her face.

"Right." Rainbow Dash sighs, "And what would that be?"

"Well, as Doug so eloquently read earlier, what the bottle contains is extremely dangerous, is it not?" Pinkie Pie says, holding the letter in her hoof. "And, because it was rigged with a freezing unit, therefore, what is inside is obviously something very hot!"

"Obviously," drones Rainbow Dash, a small doll pushing its way out of Pinkie's mane echoing her. "It's a bottle of fire sauce. From the dragons. Of course it's hot."

"But this is clearly not a normal bottle!" Pinkie Pie says, picking up the metal circle and tripod, balancing the lot on her head. "It is clearly a cursed artifact, that increases the potency of whatever is inside of it to ludicrously unsafe levels!" She walks out of the house, her pronking up and down somehow not dislodging the box from above her.

"Yeah, well, I've never heard of something like that," says Rainbow Dash as they follow the pink mare, "and that sounds like an old mare's tale. There's no way this bottle could be really cursed! It's probably just weird dragon magic or something." The four come to the barn, Pinkie Pie holding back and grabbing something from her saddlebags.

"Do dragons even have magic?" asks Derpy as she, Rainbow, and Doug enter the basement of Doug's barn. Everypony shrugs, no one sure of the answer. Doug clears away the far corner as Pinkie Pie pronks in wearing her pink hazmat cooking suit, her muzzle covered by a gas mask. She is still balancing the tripod and box, walking over to Doug to set them up away from the entrance. 

Rainbow shrugs, "I think so? But I think it's more heat related stuff, compared to a unicorn that can do lots of things." They watch at Pinkie Pie cautious pull the top off the box, spinning it over and pulling up. A small, bright red bottle is left. There is a cap on top, holding the liquid inside. Everypony can feel the room get warmer as Doug takes the box, holding it using Derpy's gloves.

He looks around inside, trying to find the switch in question. He finds a monogrammed area, reading, 'Property of Prince Lunaris Blueblood'. He grunts as he spots the switch right next to the name. He flips the switch off, snow no longer pouring off from the cloudy material.

Rainbow looks at the bottle, grimacing at the heat radiating from it. "You said he drank from this? Like, straight from the bottle?" Doug nods, shaking his head at the thought. Rainbow smirks, "He must be one tough pony then. And you said he's still single?"

Doug smacks the back of Rainbow's head, knocking her mane over her eyes. She flips her head back, her smile not shrinking by the slightest. He says, "Okay, we need some sort of plan to dilute this stuff, it's going to be way too powerful otherwise. We're going to need buckets. Metal ones, mostly filled with clean water."

"What if we dilute it too much?" Rainbow pouts, "I don't want to drink any weak-sauce fire sauce. Blegh!"

"We can always let it sit and let the water evaporate. Or, just test it with one drop, and see how that goes." Doug shrugs, "I sure don't want to lose my taste buds for a week. Or, since I'm obviously not as strong as the Prince, probably a lot longer."

Rainbow Dash grins, "Alright, fine. I'll get the clouds, you get the buckets." She flies off, Doug collecting ten one gallon buckets from the barn, as well as a few clean metal poles. Rainbow returns, kicking the clouds and raining into the buckets. They quickly fill, Doug hauling them back downstairs as Rainbow disperses the cloud.

The buckets ready, the three watch, grins slowly spreading on their muzzles. Pinkie Pie reverently reaches forwards, pulling off the cap and carefully tilting the bottle. It rotates, getting to the halfway point. A collected intake of breath comes from the three as Pinkie pauses, waiting for something to begin pouring out.

After a few seconds of nothing happening Pinkie Pie continues tilting, further and further until the bottle is completely upended. "Huh," Rainbow says, "Is there nothing inside?" She walks forward, her head about to go underneath the bottle before yelping as Doug yanks her back.

A drop begins to form right on the edge, slowly growing larger and larger. Rainbow grumbles as she waits, hooves locked in place, as the drop peeks out over the inner edge of the bottle. It rolls off the end, reaching the outer edge and hanging there. Pinkie Pie gives the bottle a slight shake, Rainbow clenching her teeth in anticipation. Pinkie Pie slowly shakes the bottle back and forth, the drop stubbornly holding on.

Rainbow groans, "This is it? Come on!" The drop finally dislodges, slowly falling down as Rainbow continues, "I mean, if all we get is one lousy drop, then-"

The single drop lands in the bucket of water. Everypony hurriedly takes a step back as a churning sound comes from the bucket, the water inside beginning to boil over. Giant bubbles ripple to the surface, scalding liquid spraying forth. Doug reaches with his metal pole, trying to stay out of range and swirls the water around. The boiling continues unabated, the water inside starting to run a little low. 

Pinkie Pie reaches over, her gloved hooves lifting the bucket as she shouts, "Ow-dow-how-dow!" and pouring a fifth of the remaining water into the first available bucket. Steam flows from the water as she pours, the red tinged liquid dispersing into the bucket. She quickly moves down the line, the first five buckets getting a portion of the original contents.

Rainbow and Doug hastily begin stirring, trying to spread the boiling liquid around. Pinkie Pie joins them once she finishes pouring, her muffled, "Mmph mphna mprh," getting nods and smiles in return.

"Not a problem, Pinkie. That was good thinking."

"Mhnk nhya!" Pinkie Pie's goggled muzzle nods up and down. Satisfied the buckets are mostly safe Pinkie Pie pulls off her cooking suit, "Whew! I'm sure glad that's over with!"

Doug smiles, counting the liquid left in the gallon buckets. "Yeah, me too. Okay, so, we've successfully diluted the fire sauce by nearly, hmm, let's call it half a million. And it finally seems safe. Who wants to give it a test?"

Pinkie Pie's hoof shoots up, Rainbow following shortly after. Doug pulls out three metal cups, handing one to each of them, glancing at Derpy. The pegasus shakes her head no, Doug shrugging. They all dip their cups into the bucket, Rainbow remarking, "Wow, it's still warm." They each take a sip of their cup, swishing the liquid around in their mouths before swallowing.

In near synchronous motion each pony's muzzle starts getting a little pink, a bit of a gag as their mouths feel dry and warm. Their muzzles slowly darken, their lips and cheeks turning a light red, then a deep red. They breath out, feeling the heat escaping their mouths but doing nothing to help with the building burning sensation. Each of them look at each other in alarm, trying to contain their pain and tough it out.

Doug's hair and the pony's manes and tails erupt into red flames, steam hissing out of their ears. Doug's mouth opens to scream but instead even more steam billows out, the human collapsing to the floor and writhing around. Rainbow follows suit but hovering in the air, her hooves flailing about as she burns.

Pinkie Pie, going through the same fire effects as the other two, merely smiles at the taste. She bounces up and down, licking her lips and saying "Juicy!"

"Oh Sweet Celestia it Burns!" Rainbow shouts, diving for the nearest source of water.

Doug shouts, "NO!" as Rainbow dunks her head into the closest bucket, greedily drinking the red tinted liquid.

Rainbow looks over at Doug, her horror slowly building as she realizes what she did. Tears dribble from her eyes as she dives at Doug, the human holding her tightly as she screams into his chest, her mane erupting into blue flames. Doug holds on, wide eyes at the flames lapping at his body, amazement at the lack of pain and burning from them. Rainbow slowly settles down, her exhausted body laying against him, all of her muscles feeling strained from the ordeal she went through. She pants as he pulls over a bucket of untainted liquid, nearly choking on her first small sip.

"Well, lesson learned from that," Doug croaks out, "We need to clearly label these bottles. You know, that was pretty good, once you got past the initial burning. Kind of like wasabi. Who wants some more?"

Pinkie Pie raises a hoof, "Ooh! Me! I want some more!" as Rainbow groans.

"Hey, I just had the best idea." Doug grabs one of his meat storage containers. Rainbow moans as she looks up at him. "We brine some of the rhoa in this! Or, maybe water it down some more and then try that."

"Oh, that sounds so incredibly hot," Rainbow grins, licking her lips and taking another drink of water. She pushes herself up, not to be outdone by Pinkie Pie as the mare moves to one of the buckets. Rainbow stumbles as she pants, "I guess I can try some more." She smirks at Pinkie Pie, "Bet you can't get your mane to go blue!"

"Oh, it is on like hot on a dragon!" Pinkie Pie shouts, filling her glass to the brim. Doug merely shakes his head. He should get Meringue to draw a bunch of flames on some labels. He begins bottling the watered down fire sauce as Rainbow and Pinkie Pie do their best to light themselves on fire. Safely, of course.
> 19 Mouth of Horrors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 29th, 1000

The outdoor stage is packed over capacity with ponies, standing shoulder to shoulder in the cramped area. The crowd pushes closer, nopony wishing to miss the announcement. Others on the outskirts mill about, trying to beat the uncomfortable summer heat, hoping that whoever is speaking will have some sort of amplification. Even the thick cloud layer above can't really help against the sweltering afternoon heat. Yet their eagerness is undampened, everypony quietly chatting with each other as they wait for the preparations to begin. 

The crowd goes silent as Mayor Mare walks up to the front of the stage. "Good afternoon, everypony!" announces Mayor Mare, smiling as the ponies clop their hooves in response. Once they quiet down she thunders, "As you all know, the Summer Sun Celebration will be happening very shortly, and we have just three days to prepare! We have a lot that needs to be done, and I have two excellent assistants here to help us!" Mayor Mare waves a hoof behind her, smiling at the two ponies coming up. One, Amethyst Star, is instantly recognizable to everypony while the other, a white coated earth pony with brunette hair tied in a bun, is far less known.

The gathered ponies cheer as Amethyst Star and Raven Inkwell walk to the front of the stage. Raven speaks first, "Welcome, everypony! My name is Raven Inkwell, and it's good to be here, having just gotten off the train from Canterlot. As many of you may not know, I am one of the assistants to Princess Celestia."

The ponies stomp their hooves, though not nearly as loud as for Mayor Mare. A number of the ponies chatter to themselves, many variations of 'An earth pony as assistant to the Princess? She must really know her stuff!' or, 'What's wrong with our own preparations? They don't think we're good enough?'

Raven smiles at the group, reacting to the various conversations in the crowd. "Now, I'm not here to step on any hooves. I'm just here to help coordinate any efforts that are needed between the Princess and you all. Thank you." She steps back, nodding to the crowd as they politely stomp their hooves, a number of the ponies still grumbling among themselves.

Amethyst Star walks up, the stomping getting louder. She bellows, "Alright, everypony, listen up! I've got all the assignments here, and like Mayor Mare said, we have a lot that needs to get done!" She levitates over a number of sheets of paper; without looking at them she calls out, "I know it's crowded, so please bear with me! First off, Spoiled Rich!" 

Amethyst Star calls out, "Rainbow Dash!" as the pink earth pony strides up, taking her assignment. She nods to Amethyst, a slight glare at Raven, and walks back off the stage. The cyan pegasus flies over, grabbing the paper as it levitates higher. Amethyst Star continues reading off names, going through the various pegasi on the weather team. Rainbow reads through the paper as she flies back to Doug, the human standing on the outskirts of the crowd.

"Anything interesting?" asks Doug, Rainbow pushing against him. Doug groans at the warm body, already having drunk several bottles of water to try to keep cool. "Come on, I'm all sweaty."

"Yeah, well, you're still cooler than me." Doug grins, Rainbow lightly smacking him as she finishes reading. "Ugh, no. Looks like I got the least desirable assignment out of all of them. I get to clear out the skies tomorrow, but at least I get the rest of today off to compensate. It'll just delay when I get to start partying." Rainbow groans, "And I can't believe we aren't using rain clouds to cool this place off. It's going to be miserable if nothing changes."

"Oh?" comes a regal voice from behind, the two turning and seeing Princess Celestia. Rainbow bows to the ground as Doug inclines his head. "Rise, my little ponies," Princess Celestia continues, a pleasant smile at the two. "I take it you have a problem with my sun?"

"Oh, no, um, I mean, it's nothing, really!" stammers Rainbow, forcing a wide smile on her muzzle. "Everything is great!"

"Doug, do you concur with this?" Princess Celestia asks, turning and regarding the human. Beads of sweat gather on his forehead, back, and armpits, the human awkwardly trying to get the moisture out of his eyes.

"Um, not really." Rainbow glares at Doug as he continues, "I'd say it's too hot, but, if that's what you want, then whatever you want?" His hand tries to find Rainbow's head, the pegasus punishing his admission by pulling way. She sighs at his hurt look, moving back over and grumbling as he rubs her head.

"Well, I suppose it might be a little warm. I was trying for a pleasant summer day, but I suppose it can be a little hard to micromanage even on the best of days. The Everfree does tend to mess with my plans, unfortunately." Princess Celestia's horn shines; the brightness of the sun fading just a fraction. "It won't help for today, but tomorrow should be better. Just goes to show why I come to check on these things myself, I suppose."

"Yeah, I can see that." Doug looks around, nopony else reacting to Celestia's presence. "You have some sort of disguise spell?"

Celestia nods, "I find it works better when I do. This way, I can figure out how my little ponies are doing without all the pomp surrounding my normal appearances, and ponies are more likely to be candid about their answers." Rainbow Dash sighs, rolling her eyes as Celestia continues, "And it seems like things are progressing very nicely, wouldn't you say?"

Rainbow smiles, overcompensating for her earlier remark, "Yup! Well, on the weather side at least. That won't be a problem at all, Ma'am!" She glances to the side, "Speaking of, I think a few of the other weather ponies have some questions, and they can't find me. Gotta jet!" Rainbow Dash takes off, meeting up with a few of the pegasi in the sky, more quickly congregating around her.

Doug chuckles, "I have to agree, though I think it's kind of funny that Mayor Mare says we have three days to prepare. I mean, we have a couple hours today, then all of tomorrow. And then, what, five hours? Less than that? to prepare on July 1st, the day of the celebration itself. Just a funny way of counting, I guess."

"I suppose so," Princess Celestia nods, laughing a little as well. "One would think three days time would be seventy two hours, or possibly sixty six. Not thirty four. Alas, we rarely have as much time as we think we do."

"Yeah, not enough hours in the day. I don't suppose you could fix that, huh?" Doug jokes, elbowing Celestia in the side. She smiles in return, "But, I don't know that we would ever have enough time to get this perfect for you. Besides, the big celebration is in Canterlot next year. And that will be your thousandth Summer Sun Celebration, right? I mean," Doug stammers, trying to recover as Princess Celestia cocks her head to the side, a bit of a frown on her face, "Doing it alone. Without your sister. Never mind, I'm sorry I brought it up."

Princess Celestia sighs, "Alas, yes. She made her move against me the morning of the Summer Sun Celebration. She thought I would be exhausted from coordinating the events, and I was. When she refused to lower her moon that morning, I was weakened, and she was invigorated from her moon above."

"Yeesh. And then, afterwards, you had to set her moon and raise the sun." Doug spreads his arms to all the decorations going up, "And now, one thousand years later, you're still doing it."

Princess Celestia sighs, "Yes, though it has only been nine hundred and ninety nine years, technically. This will be my one thou-"

Princess Celestia cuts off, a brief look of horror on her muzzle. She immediately suppresses it, coughing as Doug looks over. She quells his concerned look by continuing, "Ahem, mm, please forgive me. One thousandth time I've raised the sun for the celebration on my own." She nods her head with a smile, "Unfortunately, I have more things to check on. Thank you for your time, Doug."

"Anytime, Celestia," Doug says with a short wave. He watches as Celestia fades from sight, a bit of a breeze blowing past him. Doug heads to the pavilion, many of the ponies dispersing as they collect their assignments.

Princess Celestia teleports into her throne room, her hooves thundering as she races to her office. The door flings open, Celestia rushing to the desk, all of the cabinets opening. Papers begin to levitate out, a maelstrom of black and white before a number of books join the fray. She shouts, "Why? How did I not see this?"

A white coated unicorn with a brown mane, tied in a bun, steps into the door. "Um, excuse me, Princess? Is everything okay?"

Princess Celestia continues reading through the papers as she responds, "Unfortunately, Raven, I do not believe so. I thought I had more time! One more year!" Celestia lets out a loud sigh, looking over at her assistant. Her eye squints for a second, remarking, "You know, I do believe the Raven assigned to Ponyville was in the form of an earth pony."

"What? Ugh, that Raven! I told her to stay consistent! But, no, she thought that they would take to her better if she came as an earth pony!" Raven shakes her head, "Well, I suppose we'll just have to make a note of that. Hopefully nopony notices any discrepancies, or thinks too hard on it."

"Regardless, this doesn't change my current predicament. I need... I need time, right now! Oh, what to do?" Princess Celestia slams her head into the desk, the many papers scattering to the floor.

Raven hesitates a moment before walking up to Princess Celestia. She quietly asks, "Um, if you don't mind me asking, does this affect us at all?"

Princess Celestia laughs into the desk, "Us? This will affect all of us, yes. Including your hive, most definitely." She pulls herself up, her attention turning to the unicorn, "Should Nightmare Moon take over, then all agreements are off, because I will no longer be in charge." Princess Celestia sighs, temporarily looking at the ground and sighing, "Or, Equestria will not exist." She smirks, "I don't suppose you have a preference?"

"Um..." Raven trails off, looking nervously about the room, "It hasn't been... bad, per se, working with you. I think I would prefer that to continue, in all honesty."

"Honesty from a changeling?" Princess Celestia smirks, "You must be desperate."

"Hey, it's allowed!" challenges Raven, stomping a hoof on the floor, "Even if it isn't our first choice."

"Well, regardless, it has been a pleasure working with each of you. Much more than I thought initially." Princess Celestia smiles, "I just thought I would tell you that should I not get the opportunity to do so in the future."

"Hey, I'm sure this will all work out. But, if you need us, we're here to serve, and all that. For now. I'm still surprised nopony notices that there are four of us wandering around at times."

"Well, perhaps they just think you are extraordinarily industrious, eager to make a name for yourself." Princess Celestia levitates a book, a battered journal entitled Predictions and Prophecies. The book has all sorts of notes written in the margins as Celestia flips through the pages, ending on the Elements of Harmony. She solemnly reads aloud, "Elements of Harmony. See: The Mare in the Moon." Celestia closes her eyes, placing her hoof on the page.

After a few seconds the paper lights up, the words shifting around while more appear. An image of six gems, representing the six elements appears, arranged in two parallel lines with purple, pink, and magic on the left and blue, orange, and red on the right. She reads her notes, "Unable to access Elements of Harmony after banishment of Nightmare Moon. Cast a long term avoidance spell on the Castle of the Two Sisters to prevent decay and wildlife inhabiting it, as well as adventurous ponies." Celestia pulls up another scroll. Her horn lights as she casts the counter to her avoidance spell. Hopefully she can send... she can...

Celestia shakes her head, a heavy sigh. It would be no good to send a pony or ponies to retrieve the Elements of Harmony, even if they were the perfect embodiment of the element in question. The chance of it backfiring is too great. That the magic of the Elements would sense her own intentions behind the order. The ponies would need to go of their own accord, volunteering under no compulsion of her own. Even mentioning that the Elements exist could be interpreted as manipulating whoever she sends!

A wisp of green forms near Princess Celestia, her eyes following the smoke as they coalesce into a letter. She plucks it out of the air with her magic, opening and reading:

'My dearest teacher, my continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the preci something really bad is about to happen! For you see, the mythical Mare in the Moon is in fact Nightmare Moon, and she's about to return to Equestria, and bring with her eternal night! Something must be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response. 

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle'

A spark of hope lights in Celestia's eyes, a few of the papers pulling towards her. This could be it! Maybe, she could send Twilight to investigate? But, how would she get her to the Castle of the Two Sisters in order to retrieve the elements, and find five other ponies to go with her? And, without telling her what to, or what to expect?

An inkwell and piece of parchment levitate over, a hint of a smile pushing past her look of determination. Celestia taps the quill against her chin. Her most faithful student always tried to push herself when she thought she had something to prove. And she had... well, not ignored, but often misinterpreted her assignments to involve more studying than necessary. Maybe she could find the information on her own? But, she would need to delve into the ancient tomes even more, and she would need to do so without any assistance. How to embolden the mare...

Celestia's muzzle contorts to a wry smile as she writes, 

'My dearest, most faithful student Twilight. You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely. But you simply must stop reading those dusty old books!

My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location: Ponyville. And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends!

Princess Celestia'

Celestia sobs; she can't even warn her of the dangers of Nightmare Moon! Even the barest hint of what she is sending her up against might be enough, for the Elements of Harmony to see her own intent! For the same reason she cannot send her royal guards, or give anypony any warning at all. Her quill flourishes, her signature complete on the letter before it vanishes in a puff of green smoke. 

"Celestia?" comes the hesitant voice, her assistant watching from a distance. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Princess Celestia pushes to her hooves. "Take a letter. No, two letters, one for your colleague in Ponyville. I am assigning Twilight Sparkle as official Summer Sun Celebration Overseer. I need an immediate announcement for Ponyville, tonight. And I want to smooth things over as best I can with the responsible parties when an inexperienced youngster shows up, even if her organization skills are no less than brilliant." Celestia sighs, knowing the dangers ahead for all of her little ponies. She sinks to her hooves, her barrel resting on the ground. Her muzzle disappears into her forelegs, crying as she utters prayers to Faust.

"Okay, that shouldn't be a problem. Raven should be able to handle a big, unexpected announcement from you. At least none of the proceedings on the ground should be disrupted." Raven's words draw no reaction as she quickly writes out the letters, her practiced hoof as legible as any horn writing. "Done. Anything else?" Princess Celestia shakes her head, her horn flaring and the two letters disappearing. "Okay. Well, I'll be in my office, if you need anything." Raven turns, shutting the door behind her.



Alone in the room, Celestia weeps.
> 20 The Bloody Flowers Redux
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 30th, 1000 Domina Solaria

Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie are sitting around the kitchen table at Sweet Apple Acres. Doug is cooking breakfast, instructing Apple Bloom while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle watch over the youngest fillies as they scamper around. The counter is piled high with plates of pancakes as well as dishes of oatmeal and slices of buttered bread. A tray is piled with glasses and several containers of juice sit nearby.

The food finishes as Big Mac and Granny Smith walk into the room. Doug whistles and the fillies stop playing, neatly lining up. He watches as Sweetie Belle scoops oats, apples, and a piece of buttered toast onto a plate held by Apple Bloom; she then holds the plate to Scootaloo. The young filly takes a look at who will be getting the plate, consults her list, and places a stack of apple pancakes on the plate. 

The younger fillies distribute them to the mares, Big Mac, and Granny Smith. The older fillies continue preparing smaller plates for each of their siblings before taking a plate for themselves and heading over to the foal’s table. Doug places a drink in front of everypony, but when he looks for his own plate he comes up short.

Apple Bloom facehooves when she notices his confusion, “Sorry Daddy! Ah guess Ah forgot again...” resulting in a chorus of laughs as Doug chuckles and serves himself, grabbing an extra helping of eggs from the fridge.

“Alright, alright, get this,” Rainbow says, doing her best to suppress a laugh, “Okay. So, we make a bunch of masks of a couple of ponies from town. Say, Lyra and Bon Bon.”

Pinkie Pie scribbles notes onto a piece of paper, nodding furiously.

“Okay, and then…” Rainbow can’t keep the laughter in, bursting out in a loud guffaw.

“And then?” Pinkie asks, her eyes lighting up.

Rainbow continues struggling to rein in her laughter, finally forcing out, “Okay, I’m okay. Alright, so I got some paint as well, mane style stuff. Then, when Mayor Mare is doing her big proclamation tomorrow to kick off the events of the celebration… there will be, like, ten Bon Bons and Lyras in the audience!”

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow both beat their hooves against the table, laughing in eerie synchronization.

Applejack rolls her eyes while Rarity responds, “I don’t see the humor in it. Mayor Mare’s eyesight ain’t all that great, even with the glasses, and the whole audience would have to be in on the joke.”

“Not the whole audience, just those from Ponyville,” Rainbow retorts, “We might have to get everything set up at the party beforehoof. But, I mean, how close attention do you think everypony is going to be paying during the proclamation anyway? All eyes are going to be on Princess Celestia as she walks in, and she’s going to look over the audience and see-” Rainbow bursts out laughing again, but settles down as food is placed in front of her.

The other mares have gone back to discussing their duties for the upcoming festival. Doug sits down and Applejack remarks, “Did ya hear? Apparently they are sending somepony else from Canterlot to help Ponyville with the preparations. Some sort of, ‘Summer Sun Celebration Organizer’. Apparently the first one wasn't enough.”

Pinkie Pie chimes in, “Oh! Maybe she’ll have all sorts of ideas to make this celebration totally amazing! Like, more streamers! And balloons shaped like the sun! Balloons that get bigger as the day goes longer!”

Rarity remarks in a slightly disgruntled tone, “Or maybe she’ll just be there to make sure the celebration actually starts when the sun rises. The mayor can never get Winter Wrap Up done on time, they probably just don’t want a fiasco like that happening in front of all the out-of-towners there to watch Princess Celestia raise the sun. Or in front of Princess Celestia, for that matter.”

“Pff, Ponyville would never disappoint Princess Celestia like that! By the way, the weather is still worked out like normal, right Doug?” Rainbow asks as she starts shoveling food into her mouth.

“Yup, somepony in Canterlot even asked for an advance copy. Probably wanted to double check, but it’s kind of hard to mess up clear skies,” Doug answers as he takes a bite of his eggs before reaching for some jam.

Rainbow responds, “Well, ya, duh, but that’s only for the last, what, six hours of today? Before that we have to get everything cold enough so it doesn’t get too hot halfway through tomorrow.”

“Enough work talk, folks, some of us just want to rest their ears before everypony starts clamoring about making sure the food is done.” Applejack rests her elbows on the table, hooves covering her ears as the din from the foals table grows louder.

Doug shrugs, “You think the Wonderbolts will be there? I know how much you enjoy showing off your new tricks to them whenever you can. Thought about reapplying?”

Rainbow shrugs noncommittally, “I’m not sure. I still don’t feel like I’m back at the top of my game, you know? And I don’t want to give them anything but my very best! But ya, they will be at the celebration tomorrow, so I might show off just a little.”

Rarity remarks, “Doug, will you be watching the foals, or did you get another assignment for today?”

Doug thinks for a moment before responding, “Nope, just foalsitting as needed and working on weather scheduling. Do you think Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle will be old enough to attend the events tonight? Or Applebaum?”

At hearing their names, the three fillies come bounding up to the table. “Of course we are, Daddy!” they each chime in. Applebaum yawns from her spot at the table, shaking her head at the thought of staying up all night.

Rainbow looks at the three, “Well, I think they are old enough! We’ll be able to stay up all night celebrating the sun and Princess Celestia’s totally awesome rule!”

Rarity huffs, “Well, I don’t know about that. What if they get sleepy? It would be far better for them to go to bed and then get up early for the raising.” At seeing the three foal’s downcast faces she relents a little, “Okay, maybe staying up an extra hour. But, as you know, you need your sleep if you want to get up bright and early.”

The fillies look to Applejack, a pleading look on their three little faces. Applejack is used to being the tiebreaker for these kinds of things, easily resisting the look, “Well, Ah don’t see the harm in them staying up just this once. But you three need to be careful not to fall asleep during the raising when Princess Celestia is there! Just, be sure to warn one of us and we’ll see about finding a nice side room where you can take a nap. If you don’t let us know in time and we catch you dozing we’ll have to send you back home, where you can celebrate with Daddy and your siblings.”

A chorus of, “Thanks Mama!” rings out from the excited fillies, who immediately go back to the foal’s table to inform the others and formulate their plans for the next day.

Rarity gives a small frown at being outvoted, but coos softly as Doug runs his hand down her back, scratching as he goes. He remarks, “I’m glad somepony hasn’t given up on their role as Bad Cop to Rainbow’s Overly Excitable Let Anything Go Cop.”

Both Rainbow and Rarity laugh as the mares continue their planning of the upcoming events. Soon after breakfast is finished, the various mares leaving to their duties. Applejack heads outside, greeting many of her family as they come to help with the food preparation. Rarity leaves to assist with decorating the town hall, while Rainbow flies off, eager to avoid doing anything until her cloud busting later that day. Fluttershy returns to her house to get the birds ready, and Pinkie Pie leaves to help make sure that everything is ready for the big party tonight.

A few hours of chasing the fillies later and Doug plops down on the couch inside the farmhouse, already tired of watching the seven foals. At least Applejack has taken Apple Bloom, the mare showing her the ropes as everything gets prepared for the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. The fillies are starting to get hungry, and hopefully the ponies outside would have a bit extra prepared, what with all the extra Apples that are in town today. Pretty much all of them are busy helping with the preparations, though fortunately none of them have tried to entrust their foals with him. Although, that might not be a good thing, it shows they still don't fully trust him. He sighs; one of these days, maybe it'll happen.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle drag over their favorite game, Ponopoly. Doug smiles and moves over as the two pull the lid off from the box, starting to gather the other foals for a quick game. Something to draw their attention away from their stomachs, which he can hear a few start to grumble. A loud shriek startles him as Sweetie Belle levitates her favorite piece, the top hat. The filly shouts, "Meringue! What did you do!" as the piece clatters to the ground. Sweetie Belle charges her sister, the young foal quickly overpowered by her older sister. Doug looks at the fallen piece; somepony (he strongly suspects Meringue) has decorated it with colorful stripes and a tiny fancy feather. He laughs, placing the piece on the board with seven others as Lemon comes to her sister's defense. The wrestling comes to a standstill as Sweetie Belle realizes her difficulty wrestling with two of her sisters, even if they are two and four years younger than her.

The rest of the foals gather around the board, Applebaum complaining that they are playing this silly game again, taking her spot as banker. Scootaloo helps Doug sort the money into piles for each filly before moving to the rest of her sisters. Sweetie Belle, Lemon, and Meringue take their places, each rolling to see who goes first. Doug helps the youngest with counting their money and moving the pieces.

An hour into the game and things are neck and neck between Applebaum, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Meringue. Lemon sits off to the side, disappointed at her early elimination but still fascinated by the rest of the players. Pomarbo, the colt not disappointed at all at his elimination, is sitting next to Applebaum and helping her count money. Hedge, meanwhile, is taking a nap off to the side.

Applejack's voice rings out from outside, accompanied by a ringing triangle, "Soup's on, everypony!"

Doug starts to get to his feet, saying, "Alright, I think this is a good time for a break," but is loudly overruled by the four players still in the game. He sighs, settling back down and watching as they keep playing, a bit more haste in their rolls.

A while later the game comes to its conclusion: Applebaum and Scootaloo agreeing to a tie, having eliminated everypony else. Doug wakes Pomarbo, the rest of the fillies impatiently waiting at the door to go get food. Doug walks the crowd of fillies outside, heading to the tables of food, and waves at Applejack. As he gets closer he asks, "So, were you able to meet the organizer?"

Applejack laughs, "Oh, you just missed her. Apple Bloom here managed to convince her that she should stay, sample a couple of our more delicious treats. You did a great job, girl!"

Apple Bloom smiles shyly, "Oh, it weren't nothing. By the way, Daddy," she looks up at him, her sad eyes growing large, tears forming in the corners, "Aren't you gonna stay for brunch, too?" 

Doug laughs, "Oh, I could never say no to you. Any fritters left?"

The gathered ponies laugh, quickly piling all sorts of apple delicacies on the table in front of Doug, the human and his fillies quickly digging in to the offered treats.

Some time later and the sun shines brighter, high in the sky, as clouds start disappearing. Doug gives a puzzled look as he raises his eyes, the scattered cloud layer no longer providing small amounts of shade to the Apple Family gathering. He glances at the small mountain of empty plates in front of him; good thing he had help to eat all the food that the Apples had placed in front of him. They had piled the food so high he couldn't even see the other side of the table. And now, a large stack of empty plates and a few glasses, still blocking his view. He glances off to the side, a smiling flickering across his face.

Laying on the ground around the table, bellies only slightly distended, are all eight fillies. It looks like Apple Bloom also decided to help him with the feast, the filly no longer standing with Applejack and instead cuddling next to her sisters Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Doug smiles over at Applejack, patting his full stomach, "Well, better let them get their rest, right? Especially if they are going to stay up all night for the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow."

As Doug gets up to leave a mare stops him, "Hey! You didn't finish your meal! Especially my part, I know it's your favorite!"

Doug sighs, "Alright, Apple Cider, just give me a moment." He grimaces, opening and shutting his mouth before sticking his tongue out and breathing heavily. He pinches his nose as Apple Cider laughs, lightly punching his arm with a hoof. He laughs, "Okay, fine, here we go." He smiles, bringing the glass of cider to his mouth. He swishes the liquid around in his mouth; it is much sweeter and less alcoholic than the cider Applejack normally makes, but maybe it's just the cider they leave around when the foals might get into it. "Wow, this is really good stuff. Nice job, all of you!" Doug nods to the collected ponies; they smile and nod back before breaking off to continue their preparations.

Doug finishes the cider off, Apple Cider grinning at him; he stands, moving over to the foals. He bends down, lifting Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and laying them gently onto Applejack's back. He lifts Scootaloo as Rainbow Dash lands next to him, stumbling a little on her landing. She grimaces, "Hey, Doug, uh, we might have a little biiit of a problem," and scratches the back of her head.

Doug turns, and Rainbow beams a large smile up at him. He sighs, "What did you do?" as he holds Scootaloo's limp form out. 

Rainbow positions the filly between her wings, "Well, I miiight have met up with the Summer Sun Celebration Organizer that Canterlot sent over. And she maaay have dared me to clear the skies, even though they aren't supposed to be clear yet. So, we got any spare clouds? Or ideas?"

Doug sighs as he picks up Hedge, placing her next to Scootaloo. Rainbow takes flight, hovering a foot off the ground and holding her forelegs out. Doug picks up Pomarbo, placing the colt into Rainbow's waiting hooves. Doug scoops up Applebaum, Lemon, and Meringue, carrying them in his arms. Applejack, Rainbow, and Doug make their way back to the farmhouse, Doug saying, "Well, you leave any clouds over the Everfree?" Rainbow shakes her head, "How about the aquifer? The lake?"

"Nope. I might have cleared all of them too."

"Wait, so you just burst over three dozen clouds? Scattered all around town?"

Rainbow nods, "Yup, in ten seconds flat!"

Doug purses his lips, nodding his head up and down, "Hmm. Impressive. So, with all the water still in the air, you might be able to reform a couple, old school. Or just leave it, and the water vapor will keep everything a little cooler than it would be otherwise. Still warm, but not overly so."

"Alright, cool, figured everything would be fine. Awesome." The three make their way into the farmhouse, Rainbow pulling back a little and whispering to Applejack, "Hey, you know what I noticed about the organizer?" Applejack smirks, returning a knowing smile and nodding. Rainbow continues, "Definitely four of five," as Doug opens the front door. "Might even be all five, since she was sent by the Princess!"

Applejack whispers back, "Now, what'll it take to get them together?"

Doug looks at the game still out in the living room. He carefully walks around the scattered pieces, neither mare taking a chance of stepping on them. He comes back from Apple Bloom's room empty handed, taking Hedge, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Applejack gives him a quick nuzzle before heading back outside, much more food to prepare.

Rainbow hovers up, the high ceilings in the farmhouse allowing her to get past the game. Doug places the three fillies next to Pinkie Pie's two and Applejack's middle foal, smiling at the growing pile of ponies. Rainbow quietly laughs as she places Scootaloo and Hedge into the middle, the tiny wings of the pegasi fluttering once and dropping back to their sides.

The clop of hooves outside the farmhouse signal Pinkie Pie's return to the house, the mare dashing around looking for something. Rainbow moves over, saying quietly, "Hey, Pinkie, the foals are napping. What are you looking for?"

"Mane Paint. Where did you put it? I can't find it."

"Oh, that stuff?" Rainbow hums, "I think it's in my house. Want me to grab it?"

Pinkie Pie nods, "Good. Yes. Bring it to the library."

Rainbow looks at Pinkie Pie, "The library? Why the library?"

Pinkie Pie, exasperated at the delay and having to stay quiet, "Because that's where she's staying! Come on, move move move! We don't have much time!"

Rainbow sighs, "Yeah, alright, sure. Anything else?"

Pinkie Pie shakes her head, "No, I got the masks all ready, just need a bit more treats. Oh, you still have that hot sauce we made?"

"The fire stuff? Oh yeah, I can grab a bottle of that too."

Pinkie Pie nods, "Alright, I'll get that all set. Where'd you see her last?"

Rainbow shrugs, "Rarity got her hooves on her, maybe fifteen minutes ago? The SSCO looked to be in a bit of a mess. Heh. Totally not my fault."

Pinkie Pie nods, pronking outside. Rainbow looks over at Doug, "You got the girls?" 

Doug nods, "Yup, I'll bring the trio over after dinner. Sugarcube?"

Rainbow nods, "Yeah, it might be SC, it might be the library. Plan now on library for now, I'll let you know if it changes." Rainbow and Doug share a quick kiss before Rainbow flies to her house, gallons of Mane Paint to gather. Pinkie Pie gives Doug a kiss as well before she heads to town, the human relaxing before the fillies get up from their nap.

Pinkie Pie pronks through Ponyville, making sure the decorations along the way to the Boutique are all in order. She pokes her head inside, seeing Rarity paging through her dresses. A purple mare with a six star cutie mark sits in the corner, head stuck inside one of Rarity's mane stylers. A small purple dragon is sitting in the corner, alternating between staring at an upside down magazine and peeking above it, leering at Rarity. Pinkie Pie sneaks over to Rarity, whispering, "Hey, Rarity."

A surprised Rarity looks over at Pinkie; she whispers back, "Pinkie Pie? What is it?"

Pinkie Pie nervously looks over at the mare, the dragon, then back at Rarity, "I need you to stall her a liiittle longer."

Rarity sighs, "But I found the perfect combination for her! I just need to wait for her mane to finish, then she'll be on her way."

Pinkie shakes her head, "No, I need more time. I need to get all the ponies ready for tonight, and set up the party, and get the overnight games done. And all before she heads back to the library!"

The purple mare says, "Did somepony say library?"

Pinkie clasps her hooves over her mouth, "I've said too much already! Just keep her occupied, do whatever you have to do. Flirt with the dragon for all I care. Bye!"

Rarity puts a hoof to her mouth, considering her dresses, as a large smile begins creeping over her face. "Hmm, dear, what do you think about this combination?" Rarity pulls out a green dress and a spiky green hat, "I'm sure it will look fabulous!"

Far longer than it should have taken for a simple mane styling later and The Carousel Boutique - normally bustling inside with ponies trying to get new dresses, accessories, or last minute repairs done to their outfits - instead has a long line of ponies outside, wondering what is causing the delay. The doors burst open, a purple unicorn sprinting out with what appears to be an inebriated dragon youngling on her back. The various mares glance at each other before starting to file inside, Rarity exclaiming, "Oh dear, I forgot all about you! I'm terribly sorry for the delay, just give me a moment to get my shop in order. I'll be with each of you as soon as I am able!"

The first pony in line moves over, holding a dress with a long tear in it. Rarity finishes putting away the costumes the mystery mare had been trying on; she levitates her red glasses over, glancing at the tear, then at the long line of ponies. "Ahem," she announces, "Attention everypony: if you are here for a repair, I'll be able to get all of those out of the way first. Please, form up inside, your attire with you with the necessary repair facing out, please!"

A dozen needles, thread of various colors, and two pairs of scissors levitate up. Rarity inspects each article of clothing as the ponies line up, needles and thread moving to the articles in question, the unicorn humming to herself as she mends the tears, rips, and minor damage that might occur when a foal gets into the wrong closet. The repairs finish quickly, and Rarity looks at the next pony. This one is not wearing anything, instead looking at the various dresses arranged around the store. Rarity announces, "Everypony who needs new attire, I am sorry, but the only available dresses will be off the shelf. Minor alterations free of charge, as always. Please, come inside, and I can provide assistance as needed."

Outside the Carousel Boutique, near the outskirts of Ponyville, Pinkie Pie quickly pronks along a dirt path. She looks around the various trees and bushes, scanning for Fluttershy. She has just gotten Rarity's emergency message, that the Summer Sun Celebration Organizer has escaped her clutches earlier than expected. The pink pony spots Fluttershy near a thin, sparsely leaved tree, hovering in the air and leading a bird choir. As the sound builds, Pinkie Pie sees the organizer approaching. She gasps, disappearing from the path and darting behind the small mound under the tree. She reappears behind the tree, her body stretched thin as she contours herself to not be seen. She begins whistling out of time, an annoyed blue jay glaring at her.

Fluttershy interrupts the choir, saying, "Oh, my. Um, stop please, everyone." She takes off; Pinkie Pie talks at the same time as Fluttershy, keeping her voice to a whisper and inaudible to the organizer. Fluttershy says, looking at the blue jay, "Um... excuse me, sir." The blue jay jumps backwards, chirping that he isn't the one to blame. Fluttershy continues, "I mean no offense, but your rhythm is just a teeny, tiny bit off."

While Fluttershy is talking, Pinkie Pie hurriedly whispers, "Fluttershy, keep talking normally. You need to stall the organizer, the purple pony walking up. Anything; stand still, lead her the wrong way, whatever you can think of. I just need a little time." Fluttershy flies backwards, giving Pinkie Pie a wink as she gently glides back to the ground, her eyes remaining closed. Pinkie Pie, now out of sight of everypony, slinks down and away from the tree, hastily making her way back to the Ponyville Library.

Fluttershy says, "Now, follow me, please. A-one, A-two, A-one, two, three," as the birds resume singing their melodies.

A look of panic briefly crosses Pinkie Pie's face as she sees birds scatter from the tree. She quickly calms herself; if Fluttershy isn't able to manage this, well, she'll just have to be faster. Pinkie Pie arrives at the library, a blur of motion as she sets up the cupcakes, gets the drinks ready, and double checks the punch bowl. A few ponies are starting to dance, some quiet music playing while they shuffle around. Pinkie Pie places the drinks, salivating at the hot sauce Rainbow brought and placed on the table already. The games follow next, Pinkie dashing between closets, some not even in the library, in order to get all the necessary board games and her deluxe Pin the Tail set.

Applejack walks through the front door, carrying a few of the games that Pinkie Pie had been searching for, those she keeps at the Apple farmhouse. Pinkie Pie jumps up, quickly sorting through them and putting them in the appropriate places. Applejack looks around at the party, "Wow, Pinkie, you've really outdone yourself. All this for a Summer Sun Celebration pre-party?"

Pinkie Pie rolls her eyes, "The pre-party is only, like, the most important party! Without it, how would you get in mood for the real party?"

Applejack rolls her eyes, "Alright, sure. And it ain't to try to impress, you know, a certain purple pony?"

Pinkie Pie raises an eyebrow, "Who, Amethyst Star?"

A green coated mare looks over, "Did you need me?"

Applejack shakes her head, "No, Lyra, Ah mean, Amethyst Star. Ah didn't mean you, sorry." Applejack turns to Pinkie as the unicorn walks off, "Ah'm talking about that organizer. You know, she kinda meets all the requirements."

"Oooh. Hmm, I guess she does! That just makes going all out on this party even better!" Pinkie Pie pronks around, quickly double checking the various sections of the party.

Satisfied with the games, the party setup, and with nearly all of the participating ponies inside, Pinkie Pie does a quick check outside, spotting Fluttershy and the organizer walking down the road. She smiles to herself; Fluttershy has done it again, somehow managing to slow down the implacable organizer. Well, more like easily distracted organizer, given that each member of her herd had been able to distract the organizer at least once. The front door to the library opens, a pristine Rarity walking through. "Oh dear, I hope I'm not too late, I was swamped with last minute requests for tonight and tomorrow." She comes up to Pinkie Pie, looking out at the road and spotting the organizer as well. "Just in time, I suppose."

Pinkie Pie nods, a whispered "Quiet!" that somehow manages to shush the entire room. Well, scratching her hoof on a chalkboard helps as well. The gathered ponies wait silently, preparing themselves for whatever it is Pinkie Pie has planned. 

From outside the library they hear a muffled mare speaking, "I am so sorry. How did we get here so fast? This is where I'm staying while in Ponyville, and my poor baby dragon needs his sleep."

A number of mares glance at each other, their worried looks difficult to make out in the darkened room. A second younger voice says, "No I don't," before giving a short lived scream. The impact of what could only be a baby dragon on hard ground is heard, a number of the mare wincing and waiting for the inevitable cry of the injured baby dragon.

Instead, they hear a condescending, "Aww, wook at that! He's so sweepy he can't even keep his widdle bawance!" The gathered ponies again try to make out each other's expressions in the dark; who is this mare?"

A brief silence comes over the room for several seconds before the door opens, Fluttershy visible in the open door and carrying a small purple dragon. She says, mid sentence, "Him to bed," as she flies in before a purple mare dashes past, pushing Fluttershy back the way she came and leaving the dragon sitting among them.

Pinkie Pie silently gasps, scrounging around for something. Finding what she is looking for, she flicks a light onto the baby dragon that illuminates him and helps keep the rest of the room in relative darkness. The purple mare says, "Yes, yes. We'll get right on that. Well, good night!" before shutting the door in Fluttershy's face.

The baby dragon says, "Huh, rude much?", many of the ponies nodding in agreement. Pinkie Pie glares at each of them, though how she is able to see their nods or they are able to know she is glaring at them in particular is better left unknown. Pinkie Pie directs a second light that illuminates the purple pony as she walks back into the main room.

"Sorry, Spike, but I have to convince the Princess that Nightmare Moon is coming, and we're running out of time!" The purple mare sighs, "I just need to be alone so that I can study without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time. Now, where's the light?"

Before her horn can flare Pinkie Pie turns on the lights, the gathered ponies smiling and yelling, "SURPRISE!", releasing streamers, confetti, and blowing on their noisemakers.

Hours later, Doug walks through town, the evening sun shining brightly in the clear skies. The streets are decorated with a wide variety of streamers and ribbons, many in the shape of an yellow sun with a white crescent moon overlaid, eight orange triangles pointing away. The trees are wrapped with colorful bands of cloth, garlands of flowers, and streamers. Plus, most likely, hidden compartments with explosions of confetti just waiting for Pinkie Pie to pull the trigger.

The five younger fillies are following him; Lemon and Meringue are quickly getting distracted by the decorations practically littering the walkways around them. Applebaum and Pomarbo are attempting to keep the first two in line and doing a poor job, the excitement beginning to get to all of them. Last is Hedge, who darts back and forth between Doug and the two groups, lines of worry crossing her face.

Meringue spots something low, in the grass, dashing off to the side to investigate. Doug whistles as Pomarbo tries to block her but she ignores the whistle, easily knocking the colt to the side and jumping onto a red button poorly concealed under a few flowers. Above the filly, high up in the trees, a firecracker goes off, exploding into a shower of confetti. Meringue squeals in delight, eyes going every which way as she tries to spot another one of the hidden buttons.

Doug walks over, a squirming Lemon held tightly in one arm. He reaches down, grabbing Meringue before the filly can dart off in search of another button. She shrieks before finding herself deposited next to her sister; she looks up at Doug, a tear quickly forming in one eye as she cries, "But, Daddy! It was right there!"

"I know, dear, but we have to leave those for Mama to use tomorrow." Doug pats the two writhing balls of fur, chuckling as he tries to calm them down.

Meringue pouts, loud sniffles mimed by her sister as Lemon responds, "But, um, Pinkie Pie would have been happy with her! That button wasn't concealed nearly well enough, and anypony could have found it and triggered it! So, now, it happened before the big party, and she'll have time to reset it! And hide it better!" She tries to use the distraction to jump out of his arm, but his grip merely tightens around both of them.

"Good try, Lemon, but no. We're going to Pinkie's party at Sugarcube... wait... at the library, okay? You can spend all of tomorrow looking for those hidden buttons." Doug changes course; fortunately the two destinations aren't terribly far apart, especially with him coming from Sweet Apple Acres.

"Mama would let us." Lemon joins her sister in pouting as Doug carries the two to the library, though their expressions change as they get near. The sound of music blares through the open windows, shadows of ponies moving back and forth inside. The fillies begin swaying back and forth as they walk, Doug finding his footsteps matching the beat as well. A loud groan comes from one of the windows above the doorway, the silhouette of a pony flopping back and forth on a bed, clenching a pillow to her head. Doug glances back, his three fillies also marching along as they get close to the door.

Before he can rearrange the two squirming fillies to knock, Pinkie Pie opens the door; she beams a smile at Doug, "You made it! Woohoo! Now we can really get this party started!" She glances at the fillies in his arms, her smile briefly falling before snapping back up, "Oh, well, maybe we'll leave the special games for later. You are coming back later, right?"

Doug chuckles, "Heh, we'll see how they do, if they fall asleep early or something." He winks at Pinkie Pie, the mare winking back and spinning around, raising her back legs an inch and looking back. Doug tosses Lemon first, then Meringue; Pinkie Pie bucks her back up, lowering back down as Lemon gets close and smoothly catching her filly on her back. She does the same with Meringue, the two fillies now riding her as she disappears deep into the party.

Doug turns back, motioning with an arm to the three fillies behind him. Applebaum leads, heading towards the games, while Pomarbo and Hedge hesitate near Doug. He squats down, rubbing each of their manes, "Hey, you two, it's okay, just a bit more ponies than you are used to, okay? Nothing to be afraid of. See?" He stands back up, the two fillies following closely as he walks into the party.

A large number of ponies smile at Doug as he walks in, starting with Lyra. Doug waves or makes a fist and bumps hooves as appropriate, making his way towards a few tables in the back. A good number of the mares bend down, Lyra nuzzling Hedge and Pomarbo as they arrive at the food. Doug spots the bottle of Fire Sauce, pouring a single drop onto a dish of sprinkles. He swirls the sprinkles around, trying to evenly coat them with the sizzling liquid before dumping them onto one of the undecorated cupcakes. He takes a small bite, gasping at the intense heat; at least fire didn't come out of his ears this time.

Hedge and Pomarbo both go up to the tables, grabbing small pieces of chocolate and cake. Doug grabs a plate for the two, holding it down for them to place their treats on. They balance the plates on their back, Pomarbo glancing back and walking slowly even with only two items on his plate. They make their way to a less crowded spot, watching with growing excitement as Pinkie Pie and a small purple dragon take turns dumping Fire Sauce on their cupcakes, seeing who can handle a larger amount of the burning liquid.

His three oldest fillies are dancing with a few others around their age, including a small Lyra, though their dancing mostly consists of going down on all four hooves to the beat, pushing back up as far as they can go, and then back down. Just bobbing up and down, the pony version of a squat, performed to the music. Scootaloo spots him, dashing forward and grabbing at his knee, "Come on, Dad, join us!"

Doug reluctantly gets up, Pomarbo and Hedge staying in their spots as they watch him make his way over to the dance floor. Pinkie Pie joins him, bits of fire leaking out of her ears, an excited, "Ooh! What dance are we doing tonight?" as the dragon walks over, curious as to the large biped in their midst.

"Alright, Pinkie, two legs!" Pinkie Pie stands up on her hind legs. "Arms crossed!" Doug and Pinkie cross their upper limbs, making a box in front of their chest, limbs held parallel to the floor. "Squat down!" Both bend their lower legs, a seated position without the chair, the dragon attempting to mime their position. "And kick!" Doug starts off, kicking one leg out, keeping his arms raised at his chest, then trading which leg is extended and which is on the ground to the beat.

Pinkie Pie matches him leg for leg while the dragon topples over after the first kick. The two start to pant harder and harder as the exertion gets to them, the dragon rubbing his back with a huff as he stands. After a minute the song ends, the two of them standing up. "Oof!" Pinkie groans, falling to her four legged stance, "I might need one of those massages of yours to really get the kinks out!" She winks at him, flicking her tail to the side as she wanders to a different part of the party.

The fillies scamper around Doug, Apple Bloom saying, "That was cool and all, but Ah wanted to see the other dance! The arm one!" One of the nearby Lyras nods along, a few other mares following along, the dragon smirking to himself as he flexes an arm.

Doug raises an eyebrow, "A push up?"

"Yeah, like we were doing!" The three fillies nod, Scootaloo demonstrating as the next track comes up.

Doug rolls his eyes but dutifully gets to the ground, starting to do push ups to the music. He lets out a loud grunt as his three fillies jump on his back, starting to do push ups of their own. The dragon gets down as well, a confident expression on his face as he presses his small body up and down. Lyra moves next to Doug, doing her own push ups and winking as he tries to keep up with the music, but is unable to as the extra weight slowly gets to him. After another twenty he collapses, his fillies giggling above him as they continue to do pony squats against his back.

As the song ends Doug rolls over, the fillies squawking in alarm as they topple off. He stands, ruffling their manes as they try to shy away, an embarrassed, "Dad!" coming from each of them. 

Doug chuckles, looking to the dragon, saying, "Haven't seen you around here before. I'm Doug." He holds his hand out, the dragon taking a long look before cautiously holding his claws out.

"I'm Spike. The dragon."

Doug nods, "Nice to meet you, Spike." The two stare at each other for a few seconds before Doug says, "Well, see you all around!" before he wanders off, the trio dancing to the next song as another Lyra takes his spot, Spike moving back to dance next to the three fillies.

Doug spots Lemon and Meringue at the Pin the Tail on the Pony station watching an intense match between Pinkie Pie and two Lyras. The unicorn wobbles back and forth, awkwardly holding on to the pin as she tries to locate the poster. She stumbles forward, listing one way and then the other, before pinning the tail just south of the pony's flank. Pinkie's two fillies give polite hoofstomps as the second Lyra takes a pin.

Lyra pushes up against Doug's hand, resting her side against his flank, "So, those were some pretty cool moves back at the dance floor. Good endurance, too; kept it up for quite a while."

Doug looks at the pony pressed up against his side, smiling and rubbing her withers, "Thanks; lot of that comes from practicing with Applejack."

Lyra winks, "I can imagine, she's a tough one; you want to see how long I can hold out against you?"

Doug shrugs, "Sure, Amethyst; double check with Rarity first, though, I thought I saw her around here somewhere."

Amethyst Star pouts, "Aww, what gave it away? Not that I wanted to get Lyra in trouble, of course."

"Your voice. Don't worry, the paint is still holding up great." Doug looks over the unicorn's mane and coat, trying to find any hints of purple underneath the green paint. "I guess they haven't broken out the Bon-Bon paint yet?"

Amethyst Star shakes her head, "Don't think so, it's just been Lyra so far. Anyway, I'll double check with Rarity about that massage, and if you can check the more, um, hard to reach spots too I'd appreciate that. I'll bring my extra paint."

"Sure, I think Pinkie's got a room set up in the back; look for the one with the drop cloths. If there isn't a table I can grab one from somewhere else."

"Sure thing. See you in a couple minutes!" Amethyst Star walks away, looking for Rarity - the mare keeps a list of which ponies have gotten massages, though for some reason she only charges the ones that are already in a herd. Not that Doug cares too much; giving the massages is just as relaxing for him as for the mares. And the two stallions, but he told Big Mac and Bulk Biceps that he wouldn't mention them.

Doug spots Rainbow Dash, the pegasus hovering above a group of enraptured fillies. Doug walks over, able to hear Rainbow's story as he gets closer; the fillies begin to look terrified as Rainbow continues, "And so, Nightmare Moon took over the body of Princess Luna! And she went around, terrorizing the little ponies by making them relive their worst nightmares! Because she could tell, just by looking at you, the scariest thing that you had ever seen! The things so scary, that-"

Applejack moves over, hushing Rainbow, "Come on, now, RD, we're supposed to be telling stories about Princess Luna, not Nightmare Moon. Save those for Nightmare Night!"

Rainbow rolls her eyes, "Fine, fine. Okay, who wants to hear a story about Celestia and Luna learning about magic together?" The fillies look much happier at that suggestion, smiling and moving in closer.

Rarity moves up to Doug, nudging his shoulder. Doug turns as she walks away, following her; Rarity says, "Alright, two sessions, three minutes with Pinkie and five with Amethyst." She moves in closer, whispering, "No funny business; there are foals still awake." Doug rolls his eyes as they continue to the side room, many splotches of paint dotting the cloth covers. Pinkie Pie is sitting on the table, Amethyst Star lounging on one of the relatively clean chairs.

Doug flexes his fingers, "Alright, Pinkie, ready?" Pinkie Pie nods, Doug starting to massage her hind legs.

Three minutes later and the puddle of pink pony pops back up, reforming to a normal earth pony shape. Doug shakes his head, a smile on his face, as she pronks out of the room. A slightly worried Amethyst Star asks, "Um, is that normal?"

Doug shrugs, "For Pinkie. Let me know if this is too much, or you want me to focus on anything."

Five minutes later and a much more relaxed Amethyst Star barely stumbles out of the room, her eyes having difficulty focusing. Doug follows behind, wiping some green paint off his fingers; the mare only needed a little touch up between her hind legs, the stuff already on her being surprisingly resistant to touch. Probably needs some special soap they take a bath with in order to get it off, once it has set; at least the newly applied paint on his fingers is wiping away easily enough. Why she is overplaying the effects of the massage, though, he has no idea.

Applejack greets him as he walks down the hallway, "Doug, might want to think about taking the fillies home. Some of them are getting pretty tired, and Ah'd hate for you to have to carry all of them."

"Sure thing. All eight?"

"Nah, the trio is doing pretty well. Ah'm surprised Applebaum ain't making it, but she's still young." Applejack frowns, "Still have to keep them away from the real sugary treats though, hate for them to crash this early in the party. Need help rounding them up?"

"Sure. Meet you at the front door." A quick kiss and ear scratch later and the two split up, quickly rounding up the sleepy fillies.

Doug waves goodbye to the various ponies as he makes his way outside, though only Rarity is ambitious enough to go for a kiss. Pinkie Pie seems disappointed he won't try to make it back, merely telling him to watch out for opening doors. He leads the sleepy train of fillies back to the Apple farmhouse, a straighter route than the one he took to get there.

Only for Meringue to spot another poorly concealed red button.

The six finally make it back to the Apple farmhouse, the fillies insisting on staying in the main house and continuing to play games. Not that Doug cared, and Apple Bloom wouldn't mind if they spent the night in her room. The bed is certainly big enough. Doug just brought out a book, reading while the five pull out a few more of their games.

Some time later, Doug looks over from his book, the sleeping forms of five fillies strewn out on the floor. He sighs; his middle three had roundly insisted that yes, this year would be the one, that this time it was different, that they would at least make it to moonrise on this, the longest day of the year. He smiles to himself, the wry kind when you start forcing yourself to do something and then decide that you like doing it as he carefully picks each filly up, two nestled in his arm and one of the youngest in his hand. Two trips later and they are cuddling together in Apple Bloom's room, a small heap of browns, and tans, and yellows, their manes a similar mix with the Apple red and green thrown in.

He'll probably get them up early in order to watch Celestia raise the sun; it is an extraordinary sight, after all. Doug has only watched it from the farmhouse when Celestia is in Canterlot, barely able to make out the shining glow around the castle. Maybe next year he'll use the telescope that Rarity got for the fillies. This year he won't need it, after all. Next year, however, is when the big celebration will be in Canterlot. It would certainly be a nice vacation for the herd, but prices would be exorbitant. The herd was already getting offers to rent their rooms out to ponies who wouldn't mind the few hours walk to Canterlot and had the foresight to plan ahead, or queries from the Oranges from Manehatten about staying with family.

But, that is a decision that can wait for tomorrow, or the day after. Doug smiles to himself, looking over the fillies, all tucked away. He yawns, feeling only slightly tired, and heads to the kitchen. It has been years since he has needed to pull an actual all-nighter, not since college so far away and long ago. Not just staying up late, making sure he will meet the deadline for emergency corrections to a weather schedule after a missed rainfall. Or for some massive storm that got out of hoof, throwing everything nearby out of order. Or watching some spectacular that Celestia put on at midnight, the warm bodies of his herd cuddling around him. Like many, if not all, of the ponies Doug prefers to do little during the night, unless there is a specific event going on. Even if there is, a lot of them only watch for Celestia's sake, the alicorn trying to keep the memory of her sister a pleasant one. Or at least remind ponies that there are pleasant memories of Princess Luna, and not just her murderous descent into Nightmare Moon.

Doug looks outside, half expecting to see Applejack making the trip back to the farmhouse with a cart of sleeping fillies behind her, but the road is deserted. He smiles to himself; maybe the trio will make it through the night after all. He glances back towards the foals room; it is tempting to head back to the party Pinkie Pie is throwing, but unless he wants to cart the fillies back and forth himself again he'll have to contend with the contents of the kitchen. Not worth the potential mishaps they love to get into if they wake and find there is no adult supervision. And it is quite unfortunate; Pinkie's parties tend to the amazing side. This one, despite it being such a huge event to everypony else, is just another party for Pinkie Pie, just the color of decorations a little different: the mare always goes all out. Especially as the parties get later and all the fillies go to bed; the mare has developed a much better flair for those kinds of parties ever since she joined the herd. Not that she ever let on when young foals could be watching.

The kitchen is a bit of a mess, the remainder of Lemon's attempt to gather food for each of her siblings. Doug cleans up the spilled oats and hay before grabbing some cheese, eggs, and bread. He deliberates; something salty would be good, but Applejack doesn't like it when he brings any of the meat in the farmhouse, complaining that the pungent odor lingers no matter how quickly he eats it. She doesn't even like making out after he's had a meal of it. Well, no sense in giving them something to complain about, not on such an important night. He hovers over the stove, looking between the eggs and frying pan before shrugging. He picks up a glass, breaking the eggs into the glass, and throwing the shells in the trash. He grabs a carton of apple juice and makes his way to his office, getting a head start on the August weather schedule.

Hours later a heavy knock at the front door reverberates through the house. Doug wearily glances up, checking the time; it is almost four in the morning, so most likely an irate Applejack with a sleepy filly or three. He sighs, grabbing the empty plate, glass, and carton. More food will help him stay up the next hour before he needs to wake the fillies, minus whichever pony or ponies fell asleep, and make it to and back from Ponyville. Why she didn't open the door herself, though, he grumbles to himself as he makes his way to the front door.

He opens the wooden door, looking down at a pair of golden horseshoes attached to long white legs. His gaze raises as his sleepy mind processes that, yes, it is in fact Princess Celestia standing in the doorway, her wavy mane a rainbow of color behind her. He stands there for several seconds before slightly bowing his head, "Celestia! I was not expecting you. Would you like to come in?" He glances at the trash in his hand and the board games still open behind him, "Please, pardon the mess."

Celestia nods, a pleasant smile conveying the familiarity she yearns for, "I would like that very much, my little pony. You know, I think you are the only one I don't need to remind to not use my title. How has the night been treating you?"

Doug shrugs, moving towards the kitchen, "Oh, it's been going very well. I'm looking forward to you raising the sun tomo-" He cuts himself off, a brief grin at the correction, "I guess, later today." He glances back, peeking at the alicorn from the doorway, "Would you like anything to eat? I'm sure there is a cake or four back here."

Celestia nods, her smile creeping larger, "Yes, but then what will you have?" They chuckle as he heads into the kitchen; Doug finds a cake in the pantry and some crackers for himself. He grabs a unicorn fork and butter knife, bringing everything out into the dining room. He places the cake - a small, short cylinder decorated with orange and white icing, two vanilla layers sandwiching a sugary mess of confetti - and silverware in front of Celestia, taking his seat next to her. Doug eats a cracker before getting back up and returning to the kitchen, grabbing a carton of milk and pouring himself a glass. He returns the milk to the fridge before grabbing a new carton of apple juice and a glass. He briefly considers before grabbing more cheese and returns to the dining room. He pours Celestia a glass of apple juice, leaving the carton in easy reach, and takes his seat again.

Celestia says in between bites, "This cake must be a Pinkie Pie creation, it is very good. Would you like a piece?"

Doug takes a small nibble of a cracker with cheese; he slowly chews and swallows before saying, "Only if you are offering."

Celestia grabs her glass of apple juice; what starts as a polite sip while she thinks turns into chugging the entire glass. She puts a hoof up to her mouth, pantomiming considering her options. Finally making her decision, she slides her plate closer to her barrel, guarding it with her other hoof. "You make a wise choice, human," she threatens, taking a bite of the cake and hunching over it, furtive glances to each side.

Doug stares at her before a smile breaks out, laughing at the ruler's antics. Celestia grins as well, though when Doug glances down at the cake a fearful look comes over her mouth. She stammers, "Now, you... you wouldn't steal the cake from a Princess, would you?"

Doug opens his mouth before gasping, covering his ears as a deafening voice shouts, "NO, BUT WE WILL!!"
> 21 Anarchy's End
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

July 1st, 1000 DS

Celestia shifts, her mouth turning to a frown. She says in a normal voice, "Oh, I must have missed it. It is that time, I suppose."

From the front door strides a dark blue alicorn, teal and navy war armor protecting her head, chest, and hooves. Her large horn glows a deep blue, reminiscent of an aurora, and levels at Celestia. Her mane billows out, a dark blue fading to purple on the edges. Her pink outlined eyes briefly glance at Doug, a pause as her eyes consider the lack of threats in front of her. She turns back to Celestia, thundering, "What? Thou Dost Not Even Plan On Fighting Us? Not Even A Shield?"

Celestia solemnly shakes her head from one side to the other. Her eyes close before she lowers her muzzle to the table, a soft surrender, "Do what you must, sister." 

Blue tendrils slowly grow out of the dark blue horn, the mass of magic creeping towards Celestia. A nefarious smile breaks out over the dark blue alicorn, her horn raising higher into the air, the ceiling turning the same dark blue as the night sky. Her mane flares around her, the dark alicorn cackling maniacally as the tendrils reach Celestia. Her expression snaps back to one of regal splendor, looking over to Doug and practically spitting, disgust oozing from her voice, "And what of thou? Are you her consort? Her concubine? Her filly's crush?" She sneers as the tendrils make their around Celestia's horn, slowly tightening, a gasp from the white alicorn as some of the color fades from her mane.

Doug shakes his head, trying to keep the terror out of his voice, "Uh, I don't know for sure, um, Princess? Maybe? I am helping her with a related matter." He coughs as a single tendril makes its way towards him, pleading, "Would you, uh, like me to get you anything?" He reflexively slams his eyes shut as the tendril caresses his hand, shuddering as it intertwines with his fingers.

The armored alicorn's sinister laugh returns, her voice echoing around the house, "Well, a creature that knows its place." Her voice gets louder as she continues, "And what did thou think to offer us, Nightmare Moon, the rightful ruler of Equestria? Some Of Your Paltry Food And Drink?" She lunges forward, smashing Princess Celestia's plate off the table, her heavy strike scouring a dark groove in the apple wood. The few remaining bites of cake scatter as the plate shatters against the wall, the house silent but for the pieces clattering to the floor. 

Doug winces but remains in his seat, opening his eyes and watching the dark alicorn's sneer grow larger. The tendrils on Celestia slowly spread from her horn down her chest, splitting to wrap around her front legs, a solitary tear slowly rolling down the white alicorn's face as her mane stops waving in the unfelt wind. Nightmare Moon slowly walks behind him, the pieces of the broken plate crunching under her hooves as she bellows, "You Remain Silent? ANSWER ME!"

Doug hesitantly replies, his voice wavering, "That is my answer, that I have nothing I can offer you."

The sound of fillies crying comes from the foals room, a low wailing that slowly grows louder when nopony comes to comfort them. Doug gives a nervous glance towards the sound but remains seated, his pleading gaze turning to Nightmare Moon as the tendril creeps its way around his arm, slowly twisting as they spread around his hand. A second branch splits off from the first, connecting to his other arm and wrapping around his hand. She creeps behind him, silent as she stalks around his chair. She whispers in his ear, "Dost thou wish to play a game, creature?" His eyes go wide: he's heard that line before, but only in his nightmares long ago.

The alicorn sneers, backing up and looking towards the sound of the crying. A dagger appears from nothing, the obsidian edge brightly polished and held in a dark blue aura, the blade slowly twisting in the air. Nightmare Moon smiles seductively at the dagger, as if the two were long lost lovers, finally reuniting. Her gaze wanders about the room before it settles, a purposeful glance to the foals room, her voice luscious, "By your gaze we can tell thou art worried, creature." 

She turns, the dagger dancing behind her as she steps around Doug, her voice a steady crescendo, "Are those your foals, whimpering in the Night? This Night, THAT SHALL LAST FOREVER?" The ceiling shakes, Nightmare Moon raising her head to the ceiling as Celestia and Doug flinch backwards. She swiftly turns to look at Doug again; he grimly nods as the tendrils split, tightly clasping each of his hands, binding him to his chair. 

"Creature, thou amuse us. Thou know'st better than to resist our might, thou thinkest one's self so clever to try to placate us with trinkets or goodwill. So, ask one boon, creature. Make your choice. Dost thou wish to be free?"

Doug deliberates for a few seconds; Nightmare Moon walks to the open window, looking at the night sky outside, a smile at the pure white moon. Doug says, in as eloquent a tone as his whimpering chest can manage, "Your Majesty, I would have asked for you to keep my family safe, but your mercy has shown that request is unnecessary. Instead, I plead that you keep Princess Celestia under house arrest, in this house." The tendrils spread to his legs as he looks over at Celestia who barely manages a nod, the tendrils around her horn completely covering it and spreading across her mane and face. Her head bows to the table, resting just above the wood as he continues, his voice slightly steadier, "She will not attempt to stand in your way, she will use no magic, and nopony will leave this house, until your reign is finally complete."

Nightmare Moon turns, staring into Doug's eyes, a hard look that seems to peer into his very soul. He sees, inside her eyes, the image of a television set turning on, a hideous visage laughing at him. A look of terror spreads over his face as he cannot help but continue staring into the teal abyss. A smile creeps over her face, "Oh, thou hast a silver tongue, creature." She turns, her gaze wandering to the empty moon outside, pondering his words for a few seconds before her head whips back, her mane billowing away from her.

"No." The single word echoes through the farmhouse as she cackles madly. Her horn lights up as she sneers at Doug, the dagger leaving an afterimage of blue as it teleports away with a soft crack. The tendrils wrapping themselves around Doug's arm sprout barbs, digging into his flesh, only growing more painful as he twitches back and forth. He gasps, blood seeping from the punctures as plaintive cries come from the fillies, growing louder and louder as Nightmare Moon begins moving. 

Nightmare Moon slowly takes a step towards him, the weighty step of an executioner, punctuated by a flick of her head as the sound of a crying colt abruptly disappears. The other cries grow urgent, their desperate fear plain as the night around them as their screaming intensifies. Doug grimaces, tears forming in his eyes, struggling vainly against his bonds as the tendrils tighten, his arms and legs immobilized.

Nightmare Moon takes another step forward, laughing as he struggles. Her mouth twists up, her smile mocking him as her head turns slightly to the side, another of the screams going out as the chair rocks back and forth.

Another high pitched voice disappears as Nightmare Moon closes the distance with one final step, the last two screams turning to frantic pleas for their life and cries for their Daddy. They grow quiet only as the fillies run out of breath, three pathetic whimpers the only sounds breaking the silence. Nightmare Moon smirks, nuzzling Doug's head with her own, a quiet, "Shhh," as she slowly glances towards the foals room. A brief nod of her head, then a swipe to the side, and the last two crying fillies go silent, Doug's choked sobs now the only noise punctuating the otherwise silent farmhouse.

A bloody dagger levitates from the foals room, encased in a dark blue aura, a few bits of brown, and tan, and yellow hair clinging to the blade. It meanders through the air, a leisurely waltz before embedding into the table.

Nightmare Moon whispers in Doug's ear as he stares blankly at the dagger, "This is what happens to those that think themselves clever, creature." Nightmare Moon smiles at the bound Celestia, "And we do this for thou, dear sister, so thee can know the pain of something you love wrenched away, powerless to stop it." Celestia flinches, a quiet sob from the alicorn as Nightmare stands, "It appears somepony is calling for thou, sister. We Shall See Thee Again Soon!" Nightmare Moon disappears with a loud crack as Doug closes his eyes, his body trembling as blood drips from his arms and onto the chair, pooling at his bound feet.

The departure of the Nightmare leaves the farmhouse silent. Deathly silent.

Doug stares ahead, his eyes boring into the dagger embedded into the table. The blood of his foals slowly congeals as it drips down the razor sharp edge, pooling at the tip with a few strands of colored fur along for the ride. The dagger is embossed with the emblem of a crescent moon, the same that adorns the armor and flank of Nightmare Moon. A faint blue aura still surrounds it, the same aura as the magical thorns digging into his arms and legs, his blood trickling from the many lacerations.

Princess Celestia lays to his right, head resting just above the table, horn fully encased in shadowy tendrils. They slither down her face, covering her ears, her eyes, her muzzle, leaving a small opening at her nose. The slow, steady sound of her breath can barely be made out, though she dares not stir. The same hooks that dig into his limbs press into her head from all angles. The tendrils continue down her neck, wrapping her front hooves in a mockery of her celestial mark. Dark lines continue down her sides, her legs, her wings, adorned with small barbs visible and pressing against her, none yet piercing the dull skin.

Doug gazes down at the twisted tendrils flowing along his arms, no longer shifting on their own. As soon as Nightmare Moon teleported away the movement stopped, but that doesn't prevent the barbs from digging into his muscles, long fishhooks that threaten grave injury should he dare try to escape. They travel up from his hands, past his wrist, nearly to his elbow, on both of his arms. The wickedly sharp tendrils, twisting and coiling around the heavy wooden chair he is sitting in, the solid construction sure to foil any attempts to break free, his blood pooling at the base.

Doug looks down to his feet, the same tendrils looping around his legs and pinning him to the chair. The barbs there dig in, though not as deep, but still immobilizing him with the promise of horrible rending should he attempt to move. He can wiggle his toes. And the last two joints of his fingers. But not the ankle, not the wrist, not the calf, not the elbow; no motion that allows him to shift his limbs without the stab of pain radiating from multiple piercings.

He has to know.

He laughs - the forced kind one does to keep from crying - as he blithely remarks to himself, "I will die in this room. If I do nothing." With a heavy grunt he pushes his left arm forwards, the slight motion barely allowed but not without pain shooting through his arm, the tendrils barely loosening. He closes his eyes, steeling himself as he pushes forward harder, the pain growing sharper and more intense. He breathes out, and in, a short respite before he releases a primal roar. The pain in his forearm goes out as the pain in his upper arm increases, the sharp tendrils leaving ribbons of flesh in their wake as he cruelly yanks his arm free of the twisted trap.

Doug twists his torso, years of work in the fields making short work of the last fragments nailing him to the chair. He lifts his ruined arm, pain coursing through his body when he bends his elbow but barely any feeling or control past that. He looks to the dagger, taunting hims as it sits. Out of grasp, out of reach, still coated in the lifeblood of his foals. He closes his eyes again, grunting as he pulls with his legs and feet, bringing the chair an inch closer to the table. He grimaces in pain, repeating the motion until his hand is in reach of the dagger.

He twists his body, trying to get his left arm as far forward as possible without rending his right side. He barely reaches his hand past the dagger, clumsily pulling the handle towards himself.

The first attempt, his hand slips, pulling him back to his chair with a scream of pain as the barbs dig into his legs.

The second attempt and he pulls, unable to dislodge the dagger from the wooden table before he slumps back into the chair.

The third attempt and he slips again, another scream disturbing the otherwise silent farmhouse.

The fourth attempt, he snags his wrist around the hilt, managing to pull the dagger hard enough for it to topple over, blood now coating the handle.

Feeling faint, Doug grunts, his eyes no longer able to focus on the dagger. He raises his unresponsive hand towards the obsidian edge, closing his eyes and grimacing as he pushes the dagger through the small puddle on the table. He aligns the blunt end of the dagger off the edge of the table. He grimaces before, as carefully as his weak hand can, he grasps the hilt. His tendons tighten, pain shooting through his arm as his fingers lock into place, and clumsily limps the dagger towards the tendrils on his right hand. 

His left arm slips, stabbing his forearm as he tries to maneuver the dagger between himself and the wood. He moans, a low, pathetic whimper as tears roll down his face. He scowls as he pulls back, extricating the dagger and managing to slide it along the wood on his second attempt. He pushes his left arm away from his body, the blade severing the tendrils that trap his right arm to the chair as if they weren't there. A chain reaction starts from the cut as the tendrils loosen and dissipate, fading away into nothing.

His right arm and hand are now free, though still embedded with the echoes of barbs that twinge with every movement. Doug grips the hilt, closing his eyes and wincing, though no pain comes as he removes the dagger from the grasp of his injured hand. He carefully guides the dagger between his legs and the chair, finally freeing himself from the wooden maiden. He glances to Celestia, the mare still breathing quietly. He stands, dizzy as he moves to the kitchen where he finds one of Applejack's ropes. He ties a tourniquet to his arm, stopping the flow, and goes to the fridge. He withdraws the packets of his own blood that, so long ago, Doctor Horse had recommended he save for some sort of emergency.

Doug grimaces as he holds the needle in his right hand, wavering over his right arm and trying to hold himself steady. He had always used the left arm for this, and now it isn't really an option. He sighs, slowly lowering the needle towards himself. 

His arm jerks to a stop, the needle just above the skin. 

Seriously, a fear of needles now? After all he has been through? He grits his teeth, his left hand helping to guide and slowly push the needle into himself. Finally, a bit of luck as he manages to find the vein on the first try. Doug secures the bag to his shoulder, clumsily taping the needle to his arm, already feeling a little better as his blood flows back into his veins.

Doug exits the kitchen, grabbing a towel and wrapping his left arm, the white cloth quickly staining red. The barbs that had been digging into him seem to have dissipated shortly after he cut the tendrils, the many openings welling and slowly clotting. Doug grits his teeth, not even sparing a glance at the blinded Celestia. He grips the dagger in his right hand as he staggers his way to the foals room.

Meanwhile, in Ponyville, Nightmare Moon is gliding away from the town hall, exultant at her victory both over Celestia and the terror she is able to inflict on these foals in Ponyville. She laughs aloud, "Let the ponies run! Let them try to flee from the rightful ruler of Equestria!" She grins as she spots a few cowering in the shadows, "Do they think they can hide in the dark? From the Ruler of the Night?"

She notices one of the ponies who had talked back to her during the meeting, a purple unicorn, racing towards the Everfree Forest. She cackles to herself, "Let her try to escape the unending Night!" A thought pulls her out of her mad laughter, a new clarity as she realizes: the mare had known about her. And she is racing in the direction of the castle, where the elements are stored. She shrugs to herself, it would be a waste, the unicorn does shine with an extraordinary amount of potential. But no matter, she will do what must be done to ensure her continued rule.

Nightmare Moon flies higher, gathering magic in her horn as she spots five other mares join her. They had also given her grief at the town hall, and it would be good to make an example out of those troublemakers. Her horn continues powering, charging, about to unleash the might of the moon before a voice, not unlike her own, creeps into her head.

"You know, it would be a terrible waste if we were to destroy them."

Nightmare Moon allows her horn to power down as she looks between the retreating mares and the Everfree. "Pah!" Nightmare Moon says aloud, debating her inner monologue, "They will serve as an example of what happens to those that cross us."

"An example, or a martyr? It would be far better, would it not, to break their spirits, leave them alone and unable to oppose you by any means." Nightmare Moon grunts in exasperation, watching as the mares disappear into the Everfree Forest. 

Nightmare Moon flies over, trying to locate the troublesome mares through the dense green canopy. "Out in the Everfree? Nopony knows their intentions, or their whereabouts!"

"Are you sure?"

"What?" Nightmare Moon glares, growing enraged at the silence that follows. She shakes her head; maybe it would be a waste. And if she could stop them without destroying their bodies, maybe other ponies would be less inclined to stand against her. And... Yes... If she could break their spirits, then build them back up... Just like she had done before, and continues to do now. They show much potential, those six. They would make fine lieutenants, if they could be tamed. Yes, Nightmare Moon smirks, every once in a while that pathetic princess is good for something. Nightmare Moon transforms to an ethereal blue mist, looking down again as she spots her quarry.

In the lead, an earth pony. Yes, she is reliant on her strength. If that strength is broken, she will have nothing left to hold her up.

Her rockslide trap completed, Nightmare looks to the next pony; a meek pegasus, barely able to fly. Show her a raging creature, and she will surely turn tail, abandoning her cause.

The thorn lain, and Nightmare's attention turns to the pink pony, happily pronking through the forest; something terrifying is sure to turn that innocent smile to a visage of fear.

The white unicorn. Hair immaculately curled, not a speck of dust on her coat despite running through the forest. While she would love to do something to her directly, it could merely embolden her. Better to destroy her with the sight of something so hideously imbalanced.

The last one, a pegasus, eagerly flying around, always first to scout any spot. She could tempt her away with the promise of power, of spectacle, of glory.

And then, alone, no longer with her partners, the unicorn would be powerless, even if she were to find the Elements that caused this delay in the first place. Now, to get the next stage of her plan ready...

Back at the farmhouse, Doug takes one agonizingly slow step after another, barely holding himself together. He has to know, and the room is tantalizingly close. He stumbles, his ruined arm trying to catch himself before he spins, his right hand barely able to keep him upright against the wall. The metal gouges into the wood, a chip falling to the floor. Doug grits his teeth as he withdraws the dagger, whimpering at the exertion. He stands back up, resting his tired body against the wall. 

He stops trying to push further, instead steadying himself, shutting his eyes as he imagines the horror in front of him. What awaits him on the other side of the door? The room, painted in blood? Tortured, desecrated corpses? Nothing at all, not even a body? He rests his good arm against his eyes, trying to shut out the images, the nightmares his mind keeps replaying.

The ponies of the town, rallying against him and shunning him. Threatening the same against his herd.

Nearly losing Rainbow, holding her still, magicless body. Only barely kept alive.

The fight against the catapillt, and the tortured screams of his fillies, nearly losing them to the corruption.

Above the Everfree Forest, Nightmare Moon stamps an ethereal hoof in frustration. How had they managed to evade her traps? She had been sure that was enough, but now the six are making their way inside the castle. Well, it would still be a terrible waste, but they are bringing it upon themselves, really. Nightmare Moon grins as best a formless mist can as she darts into the castle, intent on locating the six mares.

Doug looks down, the bag empty of blood. It has taken him a lot longer to recover than he thought. He pulls the needle out, the cloth that bound the transfusion to his arm now serving as a bandage against one of his many cuts. One less thing poking him, to hinder him against whatever awaits inside. He closes his eyes, a long breath in, filling his lungs. He breaths out, taking just as long. He opens the door to the foals room, looking around at the still forms.

The five still bodies of his fillies, lying among small pools of blood.

Doug crumples down, the dagger falling from his hand and clattering onto the wooden floor, the only sound in the silent house. His cries come unrestrained now, deep bellows of grief unhindered by the blood soaked towel pressing into his face. He wraps his arm around his knees, drawing his legs to his chest as he rocks back and forth. 

He glances to the side, his good hand finding and gripping the dagger with a new determination as he looks to the ceiling, unspoken questions dancing on his lips.

A brief nudge at his right elbow. A second, soon after, more insistent.

He barely ekes out, his eyes unwilling to look at the horrors moving in front of him, "Not now, Lemon. Not now."

Another push, this time against his right knee while the push against his elbow returns.

"What is it, Hedge?" Doug looks down, his eyes staring past the five fillies standing silently around him.

Their mouths open and close, a mockery of his energetic fillies. Doug closes his eyes, sobbing into his bloodstained towel as his knuckles turn white around the dagger. The monster, that she would use his fillies to torture him like this?

The five bodies press against him, silent hooves on the wooden floor as the fillies push into his legs and side.

Doug looks up, both arms shaking around his legs, bellowing, "WHY?? What did I-" before he looks back down, two of the fillies slowly backing away. The other three continue clinging to his leg, tears appearing in their large eyes. Their large, alive, eyes.

Doug stares blankly at the fillies, his mind trying to process what is in front of him. Lemon and Hedge return to his side, gripping their tiny hooves against his elbow as their mouths open and close, unheard words trying to escape their mouths. Doug croaks out, "You... you're alive?"

The fillies look up, nodding as a group, each filly doing their level best to beam up at him, wide smiles on their muzzles occasionally marred by a grimace of pain. Applebaum raises her foreleg, pushing the brown fur to the side with her other hoof to reveal a thin cut. She winces a little at the pain, letting loose a silent whimper as the cut reopens.

Doug howls, his raucous laughter roaring louder, the dagger toppling from his hand to land point down in the floor. He practically dances as he gathers each of the fillies in his good arm, gripping them in a tight embrace, whispered words of thanks for each of them. He kisses each in turn on the head, enjoying their nuzzles in return as he falls to the side, his laughter and tears of joy wracking his body with unacknowledged pain as the fillies surround him. 

The six stay in their embrace for several minutes, the tears from their eyes starting to dry. Doug glances downstairs; much as he would prefer, this isn't over. He takes the dagger and stands, staggering back to the dining room, a little woozy from the change in stance. Yet, at the same time, feeling as if there is a new clarity to his thoughts. The fillies follow, three tenderly walking on their injured forelegs and grimacing in pain each time the hoof comes down, the older two resorting to an awkward three legged gait to minimize the agitation.

He reaches Celestia, still laying with her head held just above the table. He stares down at the white alicorn, finally comprehending the state she is in. He raises the dagger, his hand swaying back and forth as he approaches. 

He carefully holds the dagger to the base of her horn, a thin slice ending at the tip that cuts through half of the twisted tendril. He slowly breathes out, steadying his hand as best he can as he cuts a second line, making sure to not scratch her long horn. He starts the third cut, finally giving himself a small hold, able to push the sharp tendrils slightly away from the horn with his ruined hand and make a clean cut through the last bit, though the jagged tendrils leave his hand looking, well, about the same.

Meanwhile, at The Castle of Two Sisters, Nightmare Moon cackles as she slams her hooves into the dais, shattering the Orbs of Harmony. A dazed purple unicorn sits before her, in a stupor as she watches the shards fall to the ground. 

"YOU LITTLE FOAL!" Nightmare Moon bellows, "Thinking You Could Defeat Me!" Her magic begins channeling, shouting, "Now, You Will Never See Your Princess, OR YOUR SUN!" Her mane and tail grow, engorged with power as she creates a vortex, a hurricane of blue and purple to properly dispose of this troublesome unicorn.

Princess Celestia's horn flares, pushing the remaining tendrils away from her face and body. Doug moves the dagger, swiftly cutting through the tendrils along her muzzle. He moves down to her forelegs as Celestia peels the remaining tendrils away from her, tossing them into the corner. She sighs as Doug cuts the last of the tendrils away from her body, their remains joining the others in the corner, the blue disappearing into nothing as she breathes heavily.

Nightmare Moon staggers as she feels her energy, her cage surrounding Princess Celestia collapse. 'What?' she exclaims to herself, glancing back towards Sweet Apple Acres. 'Only my own magic could have cut those bonds... what could have-' before she realizes that the brief interruption has allowed her downed quarry to regain her strength. Nightmare Moon's own vortex dissipates away, muttering, 'Drat!' as she scowls, glaring at the aggravating unicorn she was just about to finish off. 

Only to see her proudly standing, her five friends quickly ascending the stairs.

The purple unicorn confidently states, "You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony, just like that?" 

Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Doug slumps into a chair at the dining room table. Princess Celestia, her mane flowing again and full of color, takes a seat next to him. Doug asks, "So, now what?" His fillies silently stomp a hoof on the wooden floor, wordlessly cheering the rescue of the princess. He sits up a little, motioning for them to come closer. "You going to stop her?"

"What will happen now?" Celestia responds, levitating a piece of cake from the floor. She sighs, mashing the piece of cake into a rough sphere, gazing at the rounded lump as it slowly rotates in her magic. A second, somewhat smaller piece of cake soon joins it, orbiting around the first. "If I stopped her, or attempted to, the sky itself would never recover." The second piece of cake impacts the first, shattering both of them, the crumbs falling to the table. "Now, we wait. For the true heroes of this story."

Doug looks down at the towel around his left arm, "You mean I went through all that, all this, for nothing?" He slumps over, "Well, I guess I might have bled out otherwise. But good. Right. Because I don't particularly feel like being a hero any more." He smiles down at his fillies as they gather around him, "But, I suppose I would, if I had to."

"I think you may have had more of an impact than you realize." Celestia nods, tossing the pieces of cake in her mouth, levitating another small clump of cake. "Want some?"

Doug shrugs, "Sure, why not." He opens his mouth, the piece finding its way inside. Just as delicious as all of Pinkie's creations. "So, was it worth it?"

"We shall see, my little pony. We shall see." Princess Celestia looks at the room around them, "Hmm, I suppose I can do something about what happened here." Her horn flares: the blood on the floor and table disappears, the chips in the wood fill back in, and the shattered plate on the ground reforms, levitating back onto the table. She takes a look at his arm, a soft glow surrounding her horn and then his arm, "I am immobilizing and anesthetizing your arm, and applying a healing spell that will slowly heal your wounds. However, I am uncertain of the results; I do hope you regain the full use of your hand." The tourniquet comes off as her focus turns to the fillies, their cuts slowly stitching together, a thin scar remaining.

Doug relaxes, allowing the five fillies to jump into his lap and snuggle next to him. "Okay," he says, slowly feeling the effects as the adrenaline leaves his body. "Thanks."

Princess Celestia moves over, giving Doug a nuzzle that quickly turns to a soft kiss. She whispers, "I am glad you made it out alive." She lays her head on his shoulder, the only sounds the two breathing next to each other. A minute later the blue haze surrounding the house winks out; Princess Celestia stands, "Are you okay by yourself?" Doug nods; Princess Celestia gathers her power, "I am needed elsewhere. I wish you well, Doug."

"If you see them, let my herd know I'm okay," Doug says, his voice a whisper. Princess Celestia nods and blinks away. Doug slumps to the floor, glad it is over, his exhaustion finally overtaking him.

Several hours of dreamless sleep later and the front door bursts open, a rude awakening for Doug and the five fillies. He sits up before immediately falling back down, his head spinning from the sudden lack of blood. He lays there, groaning as the fillies silently complain to each other. Doug tries moving his arm, but the cloth has fused together and he can no longer move his elbow. He sighs; well, hopefully the healing magic is hard at work. He glances down at his right hand; the muscles are locked in place, still gripping the lunar dagger, the small cuts and openings from his ordeal slowly scabbing over. The holes, the places where blue thorns had rested in his flesh are slowly shutting, some areas welling with blood where his motion has opened them back up.

The mares stop laughing as they enter the house; Applejack rapidly moves forward, followed closely by Rainbow Dash as Applejack tentatively calls, "Doug? Anypony?" Doug's groan emboldens her, the earth pony charging into the dining room. She spots Doug, the human having moved to a sitting position, the five fillies gathered around. She treads forward, intent on reaching her stallion and foals as soon as possible.

Doug holds up his arms, his hand twisting the dagger away from her. Applejack wraps him with her forelegs, not caring about the fresh and dried blood working their way into her coat. She briefly glances at his towel wrapped arm before looking at him with wide eyes, "Doug? Are you okay?"

Doug tries to smile, though it comes out more as a grimace, as he shrugs, "I'll live, I guess. I'm glad you are alright. What happened?"

Applejack says, "Ah was thinking of asking the same thing; what happened here?" She looks down at the fillies, at the opening and shutting their mouths, smiling at Applejack. She turns, a hint of anger building, "What happened to them?"

"Nightmare Moon silenced them; not sure how much longer it will last, or if Celestia can dispel it. They can hear you just fine, and they're okay. I'm okay." Doug grips Applejack in a hug, pulling her towards him, feeling her body tense against him. Her breath quickens, faster and faster, her rage taken out on him as her forelegs grip his body tighter and tighter. Doug grips back, squeezing Applejack, feeling himself break down again. He can feel her own tears against his skin, his tension leaving as they both squeeze the other as hard as their weary bodies can.

Applejack nods into his chest as she relaxes, the herd watching from around the room. Fluttershy and Rainbow hover next to the table as Pinkie Pie and Rarity watch from by the hallway. Each foal scampers to their dam, dancing back and forth, overjoyed at seeing them alive and healthy. Each mare nuzzles their foal before gathering them in their hooves, quick hugs turning into long embraces. The trio moves to join their sisters, babbling about what had happened to them at the town hall. Soon, though, the five young fillies begin struggling, breaking away from their dams to cuddle next to their still sobbing sire.

A purple unicorn he doesn't recognize hesitantly walks in, finding a spot to the side, looking like she has many questions but holding her mouth shut. They are followed shortly by two alicorns, Princess Celestia and a grayish blue one; they stand in the center, Princess Celestia towering over them while the blue alicorn stands only slightly taller than the other mares in the room. 

Applejack hesitantly asks, "Doug, what happened here?"

Doug quietly says, "You want to know?" Everypony solemnly nods, laying down as he begins, "Princess Celestia and I were here, passing the time before her part in the celebration. Nightmare Moon came, intent on fighting, but Celestia surrendered. I believe to avoid a battle that would ravage the entirety of Equestria. She... Nightmare Moon, she..."

Doug covers his eyes with his good arm, his left pulling Applejack close as he sobs. The mares glances around at each other, worried looks as to what could have done this. Princess Celestia continues staring at Doug, a tear rolling down her cheek. The blue alicorn merely looks down at her hooves, her steady breathing occasionally interrupted by a swift intake of breath.

Doug slowly recovers, his voice completely flat, "Nightmare Moon. She chained me to the chair with her magic. She... she made me believe she had murdered the foals, one by one." His voice breaks again as the mares gasp, looking at the foals, "It was... it was horrible. Beyond words. And then she left, like it was nothing."

The fillies surrounding him each wrap their forelegs around Doug, wherever they can reach, squeezing as best they can. Doug looks down, ruffling each mane in turn as he recovers, "I broke free of her bonds. I came to the foals room, and found they were alive, just silenced. She had silenced them in order for me to think she had killed them. Like it was some sort of game. Then I came back, freed Celestia. She healed my arm, and when Nightmare's spell went away she left, and I fell asleep." Doug quiets down, mechanically petting each mane in turn, his haggard breath slowly growing more fitful.

The six mares recount their tale about making their way to the Castle of the Two Sisters; discovering their true nature along the way; becoming the Elements of Harmony and defeating Nightmare Moon; banishing the spirit and transforming her back into Princess Luna; Princess Celestia reuniting with her sister, reconciling with her; their triumphant return into Ponyville.

Princess Celestia nudges a tear streaked Princess Luna forward, "I believe Princess Luna has something to say to you, Doug." 

Confusion shows plainly on Doug's face as he stares at the blue alicorn, his eyes slowly narrowing, "Princess... Luna?" This was the mare that put him through all that? That, somehow, his herd and Celestia had reconciled with this monster, and he is supposed to, just, drop everything and forget about what she did? Could he forgive her for what she put him through? For forcing him to face the possibility of them dying, to realize how much he cared for each of them?

Princess Luna sighs, slowly looking from the floor to the human, giving a small bow, "Yes, Doug. It... It was Nightmare Moon... no, we were Nightmare Moon. I was the one did this to you." Her bow grows deeper, "There is no explanation for this, no excuse for giving into my dark desires. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me for the pain I've put you and your herd through?" She lays down, her forelegs stretched out as she continues, "I beg your forgiveness, and your friendship, though I know I have done nothing to deserve such mercy."

The impossible request echoing in his mind, Doug slowly looks around the room, starting with his arm. Still wrapped in a blood soaked towel, a sharp intake of breath at the lingering pain, as with his legs. 

His gaze lands on his five fillies, who have gone through so much. What would they expect him to do? Could he do it for them? 

He looks up at Princess Celestia, the mare looking between his face and the dagger still in his hand, an unreadable expression in her eyes as she watches him. 

He glances to his herd, the five smiling, encouraging faces as Applejack gives him a quick nuzzle. They had managed to; could he do it for each of them, in spite of what Nightmare Moon had tried to do to them?

His left arm gently pushes Applejack away, the mare backing enough to let him stand. Doug attempts to flex his right hand, the dagger pressing against his forearm, as he tries to get any sort of feeling back.

He slowly stands, Princess Luna mirroring his action, watching him with a downcast expression. He limps over to the blue alicorn, looking her in the eyes before thrusting his arms forward.

Princess Luna staggers as something impacts her right side along with the brief clatter of metal on wood. She glances down, dark blood staining the front of her blue coat.

The dagger, her dagger, lies slightly off to the side, casually tossed to the floor when Doug threw his right arm around her neck. His left arm - the uncoordinated, bloody club that remains - had impacted her right side, the human unable to properly swing it around her neck. Doug grunts, repositioning his left arm, as he draws the alicorn in for a hug.

"I forgive you, Luna."