Author's Notes:

So after a long, long break, I've begun writing this story once again. I aim to have it completed by Halloween and will be updating regularly once again now that I'm not working two jobs and have a bit more free time. Below is a recap highlighting some key events that have taken place throughout this story so far. Go ahead and read over them to get caught up without having to reread all sixty-thousand words of this story again.

Well, as always, thanks for reading and be sure to leave a comment. Enjoy!

"Of course I can handle it. I'm a pro."

The older mare gazed down at her with a wide skeptical eye. "You've been working here for five years now, and I trust you Exie. I just need to be sure you're gonna stay focused down there in Ponyville. Running your own shop isn't as simple as managing a few workers here. You're gonna have to hire a staff, meet with the building's contractor, set up inventory according to corporate standards, and manage all the-”

"Shhhh," Exie placed a hoof to her boss' mouth. "I'll be fine, Cashmere."

"You're always welcome and I'll be here to help with anything you need. Shoot, if you feel like it, you can even rent out our guest room it you get tired of sleepin' on the floor."

"Guest room?" Exie tilted her head and grinned. "How much?"

Applejack glanced back at her brother, who was lining the orchard with empty bushel baskets for the fall harvest. "I can spare a few more minutes. Let me show you the room, and we'll negotiate. I'm sure Granny Smith won't mind if you stay for a while."

"I think I'm starting to get you. I'm actually starting to understand what's going on between you and Applejack too. You're a complicated little bunch up in this dull little town, aren't you?" Exie chuckled and pulled Rainbow Dash into a friendly, one-leg hug.

The pegasus reluctantly accepted the gesture and turned to hug the mare back, letting her front hooves limply fall over Exie's back as she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Ponyville can be pretty exciting sometimes... Just wait until some freak accident wipes out the town. It happens at least twice a year."

Exie skeptically scoffed and glanced around the peaceful town, now tightly holding onto the stubbornly unenthusiastic pegasus. "Be quiet and hug me."

Applejack snapped. "I got my reasons, and they ain't none of your business, but if you wanna be my friend, then Rainbow Dash is off limits."

Exie kicked the wooden floor and groaned. "Fine... but I still wish you'd tell me why."

"Look, it's just... I don't know, okay? I don't want you messin' with her. I don't want anypony messin' with her. Anytime somepony is flirtin' with or touchin' her, somethin' about it ticks me off, and I know it ain't how a best friend should act, but-"

"Hey. Shh. Don't worry about it. I'll just be her friend then with no sexy strings attached. It's all good. So, anything else?" Exie took a deep breath and pat her friend on the back.

Dear Exie, I'm sorry for kicking you out if your own bedroom, but you had it coming when you laughed at me. Maybe next time you'll show me a little more respect and we can get to know each other better. See ya soon.

~ With love, Fiddlesticks

Apple Bloom trotted by with a frown and lowered ears. "I ain't old enough to get a real job yet, and my sister won't pay me for workin' on the farm. How's a filly my age s'posed to earn bits?"

Rainbow shook her head. "So. About the elephant in the room." She sighed. "You said you avoided... this because you were scared that it would mess up our friendship. Now what?"

Applejack lowered her eyes and leaned up to face her best friend. "I'm still scared of that happenin', but... I like the way this feels."

"I was thinking about something just now. This is the first time I've seen a shooting star, it's also the first time I've ever laid in grass. Now that I think about it, it's even the first time anypony's ever thrown a party specifically for me just because. Not counting lame birthday parties that I was too young to remember."

Pinkie Pie opened her mouth to press further, but instead sighed and lowered her eyes. "You're experiencing a lot of things for the first time tonight, aren't ya?"

Exie nodded, grinning as she faced the mare lying next to her. "Not only that, but I'm experiencing them all with you."

Pinkie Pie closed her eyes and recalled every signal that the experienced mare had mentioned earlier. She took a deep breath and inched forward. Exie grinned even wider before leaning closer, meeting the mare halfway. As the tips of their muzzles touched, Exie whispered.

"First times stay with you forever."

"I'm a fashionista, a designer of haute couture, and I will defend this town from the crime against fabulosity that is Sew Fine in the only way I know how." Rarity proudly lifted her nose and placed a hoof to her chest. "These ponies want a sexy Nightmare Night? Then I will give them a sexy Nightmare Night done properly, and you, my dearest, closest friend, Fluttershy, are going to help me."

Fluttershy stood upright and took a deep breath. "I was wondering how if I could get you to make me a custom fitted, full-body catsuit with symmetrical silver thread embroidered vertical slits on each flank, and a full set of four fitted, sized boots to perfectly hug each thigh and haunch with glossy leather exterior and chrome buckles running up the length of the boot with two and a half inch heels. If you wouldn't mind too terribly much."

Pinkie Pie nodded. "I've never seen you smile like that before."

Exie closed her eyes and tilted her head back as her lover kissed her cheek and wrapped her legs lovingly around her neck, their cheeks warmly brushing against each other. Exie fought back her urge to laugh as her heart erupted with pure, overwhelming joy and happiness.

"Well, Pinkie Pie... I've never felt this happy before."

Speckles frowned and plopped down on the livingroom sofa. She reached over and grabbed onto a picture of Exie that was sitting on the side-table. Her eyes widened with her smile as her heart fluttered with joy. "I hope you think about me as much as I think about you..."

Exie rapidly shook her head. "Not at all! I mean, you're really pretty, or beautiful... you're gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. I think you're... Wait. I can't say these things! Rarity, you're seriously messing with my head right now. I can't focus when you're around and I'm in love with Pinkie Pie! I don't want to do anything to hurt her..."

"What?" Rarity stepped backwards and tilted her head. "What did you just say?"

"I'm with Pinkie Pie and I don't want to hurt her. I'm afraid that you're going to... I mean, I'm afraid I couldn't say no if you..." Exie pressed her hooves into her eyes and began to take deep, deep breaths.

Rarity rapidly unlatched the corset and plopped it down onto the counter, then she slid the stockings off and dropped them next to it. "You're dating Pinkie Pie? And I'm rather certain you just said that you were in love with her."

"Speckles?!"

"Exie!" The young mare dropped the box and darted towards her idol.

The Manehattan mare stood up and spread her front legs as her young friend collided with her, each mare spinning around in a tight, warm embrace. Exie lifted the small earth pony up with her front hooves and kissed her cheeks. "What are you doing here?!"

"I missed you so much that I had to come see you!" Speckles shouted.

Exie sighed and placed her hooves on her friend's shoulders. "Sweetie, we don't live in a brothel anymore. Pinkie Pie will be very upset if you keep trying to kiss me and stuff. We're friends, and I love you like a baby sister. I want to look out for you and take care of you."

"Crud. Sister zoned..." Speckles looked up with teary eyes and a grin, and hugged her mentor. "I'll be good, Exie. I promise."

"Oh my god. That? Seriously, that's why you're being so mean to me? Didn't you see Exie throw me across the room because of that? No, your precious little Pinkie Pie is gonna be fine..." Speckles lowered her eyes and ground her teeth. "If you don't want to teach me, then get out. Me and Exie don't need stupid pegasuses acting all high and mighty anyway."

Rainbow Dash scowled and turned away. "Fine! I'm outta here until Exie sends you back where you came from!"

"Good!" Speckles shouted as the pegasus stomped out the front door and zipped into the sky. "Good riddance!"

The door slowly squeaked closed and the little mare gulped, swallowing her confidence. She turned around and trotted into the middle of the store, eyeing the pony skeleton decoration displayed in the center of the store. The little pony fidgeted and pressed her muzzle against its cheek, glaring. She then placed her front hooves on its back and forced it down before stomping on it. Small bits of plastic bounced across the concrete floor as she stomped and kicked, decimating the decoration.

She lifted up its cracked and busted body, tossing the ribcage down onto the concrete floor and smiling widely as it fell into an array of scattering pieces. Speckles began to giggle as she destroyed the plastic skeleton, out of breath and her soft mane in tangles. "Good going, dumb pegasus."

With a devilish grin, she lifted the skull with her teeth and tossed it into a shelf.

Rainbow closed her eyes and nudged Pinkie off of her, then stood up with flattened ears. "Maybe they don't trust her for a good reason. Maybe she's not the kind of pony you should trust, Pinkie. I saw her kissing another mare today..."

Pinkie Pie smirked and shook her head. "No you didn't."

Rainbow lowered her eyebrows and gritted her teeth. "Yes I did! I wouldn't lie to you about that!"

Pinkie swallowed hard, her heart racing and the world spinning around her head. "You're lying. I don't believe you..."

Pinkie stood up and galloped down the street at full speed towards Sew Fine, determined to find out the truth for herself.

I'm never sure how to feel about 'friends'. I know the word, and I know what it means to have a friend, but sometimes definitions and sheer savvy mean nothing to me. I just don't feel it. I don't feel anything. Sometimes when I see a friend, I think to myself that I would have no problem never seeing them again for the rest of my life. I wonder when that feeling of disconnect began to plague my heart, and I wonder what affect it's had on my life.

Growing up where I did, I never really had the opportunity to make a permanent friend. We were often moved to different areas of the city depending on our age, looks, personality and skill levels. Every friend I've ever had has been taken away from me for one reason or another, all except for one. There's one pony in my life who's been there since I was young, and only one. Though our lives have gaps, she's been the only constant. Of everyone I've met, I don't know if I could see Speckles walk out of my life. As for everyone else? Good riddance.

Here in Ponyville, everyone seems so tightly interwoven and up each other's asses that I can't have anything between any of them to strictly call our own. Everyone else has something to say or has their two bits to toss into middle of it. I could never imagine being that mare myself. Sometimes I think it would have been better if I had just kept to myself and not bothered with any of this. I want to believe that falling for Pinkie makes it all worth it, but I don't know if that'll be the case a year from now. What's going to happen once I return to Manehattan? Will she come with me? I don't believe she will, and I don't believe we'll last once we separate. I feel that the end is inevitable and that I've been hiding it from myself this whole time. I don't want to believe that, but what else is there to believe?

A large part of me realized this from the beginning, but I wanted so badly to be able to cling to the joys and bliss of being newly in love. Just like I find myself disconnected from friendship, even more so do I sometimes find myself disconnected from love. It comes and goes, these feelings of inadequacy and impeding separation, as well as the desire to be left alone to cry. It can't be healthy to think this way, to want something so badly, yet to feel almost addicted to the pain and anticipation of being pushed away. Only when I find myself alone with my thoughts do I think that way, and when I'm with... her, they vanish and are replaced with pure happiness. Maybe I should find away to just never leave her side again... What a strange life that would be for me.

What do I want out of life? That's a question I should be able to answer, but it's a question that so frequently changes that I can't help but believe that there is no answer to it at all. Yesterday I found myself head over hooves for a beautiful pink mare and wanted to spend the rest of my life by her side, and today I feel sickeningly worried that I'll never get to experience the blissful pains of new love again, and not only that, but the looming fear of being forced apart by a wide variety of circumstances, ranging from her uptight friends to me simply going home next month.

Maybe they were right about me after all. Maybe I am just going to break an innocent girl's heart. Maybe I am in over my head with her, and maybe I really don't deserve her love.

Who am I kidding? Of course I don't.

Exie stood in the mirror and admired her herself from her bare legs to her short, messy ponytail. She winked at herself and swatted her flank, then blew a kiss to a filly that watched her from the bed at the other end of the room.

"You look so good, Exie." A young blonde filly beamed with delight as her mentor strutted her stuff.

"You don't look too bad yourself, kiddo." Exie trotted up to the bed and nuzzled the filly.

Just then, the bedroom door opened and a tall purple unicorn stepped in, her body sweaty as she caught her breath. She trotted to the sink and splashed cold water across her face, then began to shiver. Exie jumped to her side and placed a hoof over her shoulder which was immediately smacked away.

"Stop! Don't touch me right now... please." The unicorn swallowed the urge to cry and took a deep breath.

Exie cringed and nodded, then stepped back.

"It's your turn to go see him. He wants a younger mare now." The unicorn shuddered and hid her face. "I'm sorry it has to be you. I wouldn't wish it on anypony."

"Let me do it!" Speckles climbed off the bed and trotted to the door. "I'm not scared, and I'm sick of him making you two cry. I can handle anything..."

"I don't think so." Exie stood in between the filly and the bedroom door. "You are not doing this on your own. You're still too young. Too innocent."

"You really feel that way, Exie?" A gray mare stood behind her in the doorway. "Maybe it is her turn then. We can't have such quaint notions filling your pretty little heads, now can we? Come now, Honey Glow, or Speckles, whichever you're going by now. It's time for you to forget all about that... innocence, was it?"

"Mistress, wait!" Exie turned around in time to receive a swift slap to the face.

"You will not raise your voice to me, child. Go. Rest. This is your duty, and if you refuse to obey me, then you will leave this place." Mistress gave a sharp nod before guiding Speckles out of the bedroom and down a long, dark hallway.

As the bedroom door latched shut, Exie stood silent. Her eyes darted back and forth along the floor, seemingly looking at nothing. She winced, then began to sob. A purple hoof rested on her shoulder, and she clung to it. "I hate this place..."

"So leave."

"Not without her... I won't leave her here alone."

Fluttershy carried the box containing her costume in her teeth as she approached the Carousel Boutique. She dropped the package and let herself in, then gently scooted it across the floor.

"Hello? Rarity?" she called out.

The white unicorn in question stepped into the open with a midnight-blue sheet of fabric laying across her back and a string of thread in her mouth. "What is it, Fluttershy?" she muttered.

"Oh, well, if you're too busy, I can always jus—"

"Is that the costume? And the boots?!" Rarity interrupted, spitting out the thread and rushing over as her cloth fell to the floor.

She snatched the box away with her deep blue aura of magic and hastily pulled the boots from within. The tip of her hoof ran down the edge of the boot, and she eyed her own reflection in each of the dozens of thoroughly polished chrome buckles. "This is absolutely pristine. I... I don't know if I could have done it better myself. And this isn't exactly the easiest of materials to work with, either."

Fluttershy smiled and tilted her head. "So Exie did a good job?"

"She wishes." Rarity scoffed. "There's is absolutely no way that novice crafted such a fine piece of work. No, definitely not. There is a master seamstress working behind the scenes for that company. One with likely even more experience than I, and that spells trouble."

Fluttershy dropped her smile into a worried frown. "That sounds... bad."

Rarity took a deep breath and shook her head. "Well, perhaps not so much trouble as it does spell competition. I don't believe we have too much to worry about. I'm just going to have to take things another step up! That's all!" she said with a twitch in her eye and a strand of mane suddenly curling out of place.

"Well, I was also wondering why we bought this stuff in the first place. It was pretty expensive, you know," Fluttershy added.

"And that, my dear, is why I paid for it. I had to see for myself just what level of quality Sew Fine is capable of producing, and they met my expectations, if not slightly exceeding them," Rarity explained as she looked over the black suit and examined the silver-embroidered slits. "This couldn't be better... Try it on."

Fluttershy's muzzle turned brick-red and she shook her head. "I... can't."

"You must!" Rarity insisted.

"I can't!" Fluttershy squeaked and squeezed her eyes shut.

Rarity widened her sparkling sapphire eyes and pouted out her lip. "But Fluttershy," she whined. "It's measured specifically for you. I need to see how it fits you."

With a deep and drawn out breath, Fluttershy lowered her ears and whispered, "Okay."

"Yes!" Rarity cheered. "First slip into this leotard and then fasten on the boots."

Fluttershy groaned internally as she puffed a strand of mane from her face. She reached into the box and pulled the stretchy one-piece suit over her head, and then tucked each leg through the appropriate opening. After she inserted her final leg into place, she wiggled her haunches and stretched her body until the fabric all conformed to her body. "Wow. It almost feels like I'm wearing nothing all," she noted just before catching a glance of herself in a mirror, then recoiled and choked.

"A perfect fit." Rarity stepped around her friend and noted the three slits sensually revealing a glimpse of each of the pink butterflies on each side of her flank. She then levitated the boots next to her. "Now these, love."

Fluttershy silently nodded and slid her legs into each of the four boots one by one. The front two were shorter and more easily slipped into place, while the back two were nearly twice as tall. She sat on the floor and struggled to push her hoof to the bottom of the boot.

"Here, allow me," Rarity offered as she pushed the boot against her friend's hoof, smiling and looking her in the eye as she felt it reach the bottom.

After each was all the way up, Rarity began buckling each of the chrome buckles until the boots were stylishly secured. "Voila!"

Fluttershy stood up and stepped in circles as she watched her own reflection through a full-body mirror. She stretched out her leg and felt the strong material bending with her joints, then she fluttered into the air and let them hang. "They're... they're very nice."

"You look simply marvelous, darling." Rarity stood beneath her and gently urged her to the floor. "Do you feel okay in this?"

Fluttershy surprised even herself with a confident nod. "I do. I know it's not really... well, it's not me. But it feels nice to be wearing something so, well, nice." She giggled and blushed, still eyeing the finely crafted and expensive apparel that adorned her petite body.

"This suits you well, Fluttershy. And it will also suit what I have in store for you—for us—very well. Perfectly, in fact." Rarity pressed her cheek against her friend's and snickered. "Go ahead and undress now, dear. We need to keep this outfit in top shape for Sew Fine's Nightmare Night party."

Fluttershy nodded and hesitantly began to unbuckle her boots. "I wonder what Exie would think of me in these."

Exie merrily walked towards her shop with pep in her step. The sublime quality of the boots danced around in the back of her mind, and she sighed as she glanced back at her own worn boots. "Hmm, maybe I should order some new ones..." Her thoughts were cut short by an unexpected glimpse of pink.

Pinkie Pie stood with her face pressed against Sew Fine's front window and her tail pointed straight out.

"Pinkie Pie?" Exie called. "What are you doing?"

The party pony shot her gaze at Exie with fire in her eyes. "You! I need to ask you a thing!"

"A thing?" Exie giggled. "What's up?"

Pinkie Pie darted towards her marefriend and pressed their muzzles together. "Are you having a secret back-alley affair with Speckles?!"

Exie, taken aback, tilted her head and blinked. "I'm not having an affair at all, Pinkie."

"Oh really?!" Pinkie Pie widened a skeptical eye and pressed it against Exie's face. "Because Rainbow Dash said that she saw—"

"Whoa whoa. Hold up. Rainbow Dash has been on my case about you ever since we started dating to begin with! I'm so sick of this petty, childish drama between all of you guys. Listen Pinkie, I would never have an affair, okay? I have no idea what she could possibly even be talking about, and I'm about to have it out with her. I mean come on! Really? An affair with Speckles... Oh..." Exie gulped and shook her head.

"Oh what?" Pinkie pried, her eyes less angry and growing more curious.

"Okay. Let's go sit down inside for a bit. Listen to me, Rainbow Dash probably saw something stupid and is just jumping at the chance to sabotage us. Let's take some deep breaths, and like, just chill for a bit. Alright?" Exie offered a reassuring hug and patted her lover's back.

Pinkie Pie sighed and nodded as she took several deep breaths. "Okay. I'm sorry I yelled at you. So, what happened?"

"Come inside and we'll talk." Exie smiled and led the way to the shop's entrance.

As Exie pressed her door open, she dropped her jaw and gazed out over the plastic mess littering the floor. She then spotted Speckles curled up in a tiny ball, crying in the corner. "What happened?!" she demanded.

Pinkie Pie covered her mouth and widened her eyes as the sobbing filly wobbled to her hooves, a drop of blood trailing down her muzzle.

"That rainbow pony got mad at me for kissing you, and she shoved me down and broke stuff. Exie... I'm so scared," Speckles said as she sobbed uncontrollably into her hooves. "Please don't let her hurt me."

Exie shook her head in disbelief. Her eyes glistened and her ears drooped, then Pinkie placed a comforting hoof over her shoulder. "Rainbow Dash did this? Really?"

Speckles nodded and sobbed heavily while Pinkie Pie glanced down at her own scraped foreleg. "Exie," Pinkie said as she leaned in front of her. "Rainbow Dash was really mad about you... kissing this girl. She even shoved me off of her and I scraped my leg up because of it. I don't know what happened, but I never woulda thought that Dashie could hurt a filly. I also never woulda thought that she could shove me like she did earlier. I don't know what to do..."

Exie gently wiped her marefriend's reddened leg with her soft leg-warmer, then looked up into Pinkie's eyes. "I'm sorry about all of this. I'm sorry to you too, Speckles. If I had known that Rainbow Dash was capable of something like this, then I'd never have left you alone with her. I'm so, so sorry."

Speckles looked up from beneath her long blond mane and bit her lip. "Please get rid of her. I don't want to see her again. I'm afraid she'll hurt me again if she found out I told on her..."

Exie shook her head and lowered her eyes. "Don't worry. We won't be seeing her in this shop again anytime soon."

Speckles jumped up and smiled widely, then rushed to Exie's side and wrapped herself around her forelegs. "Thank you!"

"Are you okay?" Exie asked as she wiped the blood from the young mare's mouth. "Did she hit you?"

Pinkie Pie skeptically frowned and stepped back.

"Yes. She kicked me and then destroyed that skeleton in front of me, and said that I'm lucky that she didn't do that to me." Speckles buried her muzzle in between Exie's legs and sniffled.

"I can't believe this happened." Exie rubbed her young friend's sore lip and kissed her forehead.

Pinkie Pie sighed and shook her head. "I feel funny... I think we need to talk to Twilight Sparkly about this."

"Why her?" asked Exie.

Pinkie Pie shrugged. "Twilight is super duper smart, and she understands things about ponies' minds that we would never think of learning to understand. She gets inside of your head with her brain and reads your thoughts like a dusty old book," Pinkie explained.

Exie finally broke a smile amidst the dramatic scene and took a deep breath. "Come on, Speckles. Let's get you cleaned up."

Pinkie Pie nodded and held her shaky grin as she swallowed the millions of prying questions spinning around her head beneath her aching heart. She couldn't help but ask just one. "Exie, is this girl my romantic competition?"

Exie laughed and shook her head. "Not even anywhere near that. She just didn't realize I was in a relationship when she gave me a kiss earlier. It was nothing, but still, I won't let it happen again. I'm sorry if Rainbow exaggerated things to hurt you. That mare has some personal issues she needs to work on."

Pinkie Pie nodded and wiped her brow. "So... I guess I should really get back to the bakery. I'm glad nopony got hurt. At least not really hurt. Not anymore hurt than just a kick to the face, even though that sounds bad. Maybe she had it coming, but that still doesn't excuse such violent behavior. Or does it? Nope, definitely not. Maybe, though."

Exie frowned and glanced back to Pinkie Pie, who turned tail and trotted out the front door. "You're really stirring up trouble, kiddo."

"Mhmm," Speckles giggled. "I don't mean to. I guess I'm just a drama-magnet or something?"

"Consider yourself lucky. I'd have guessed a kick from Rainbow Dash would have done a lot more than just bust your lip. Be happy you still have all your teeth." Exie faked a casual laugh and swallowed a lump in her throat. "I think you should go back to Manehattan and stay with Cashmere until the season is over."

"No!" Speckles shook her head violently back and forth. "I won't! Please, Exie!"

The Manehattan mare sighed and pulled her young friend's head against her chest. "Fine... Just lay low until I can get this all worked out then. I don't need anypony else getting hurt."

Rainbow Dash paced back and forth as she ranted. "We have got to get that little twerp outta here!"

Applejack rolled her eyes with a condescending chuckle. "Come on, Dash. It sounds to me like you're just bein' jealous that you ain't gettin' all the attention 'round the shop no more. That's no reason to go causin' a whole heap o' fuss. Look, just take some time and get to know the kid a little. I'm sure you, her, and even Pinkie Pie will all get along famously if ya just take it one step at a time, and no threats or goin' crazy!

"But Applejack!" Rainbow shouted. "I can't get along with her. I just know something bad's gonna happen if we keep her around. She already ruined Pinkie's stupid little fake relationship."

Applejack rolled her eyes and glared at her friend. "Now who's to say that their relationship isn't any more real than our own? Just 'cause you think of Pinkie like a kid sister, don't mean you own 'er."

"I never said that I own her. I just think everything that's going on ever since Exie showed up is a load of crap! I thought it was cool at first, but lately it's just too much." Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and plopped down on her rear.

Applejack closed her eyes and shook her head. "Well then you must think that we're a load of crap too then, since use gettin' together is at least half Exie's doin'."

"You know I didn't mean that..."

"Well maybe you should rethink things before you decide somethin's set in stone fact. You're a good friend, Dash. Heck, sometime's you might even be too good a friend. All I know is that you'd never turn your back on a friend, and whether you like it or not, you made friends with Exie. You've gotta meet 'er in the middle, for your own sake." Applejack reached out to comfort her marefriend with a soft hoof on the shoulder and a kiss to the cheek.

Rainbow Dash leaned into her lips and smiled. "Maybe you're right. Speckles or whatever just rubbed me the wrong way. I wanted to beat her down after the way she talked to me, plus seeing her all over Exie was infuriating. I think I should go talk to Pinkie before everything blows up..."

"Maybe you're right. And maybe I should come with, just in case." Applejack offered, being the voice of reason that she was. The two then began to walk side by side towards the shop.

Rainbow Dash stopped in her tracks. "Uh-oh..." she said as she jumped into the air and disappeared in a multicolored flash.

"Wait up!" Applejack shouted and chased after her.

Exie rubbed her temples after she finished sweeping a small pile of broken plastic bits into a dustpan. She groaned and wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. "This blows... I don't know how I'm gonna replace Rainbow Dash."

"Who says you need to replace her at all? You've got me now." Speckles beamed and grabbed the dustpan, then emptied it into a garbage pail. "See how helpful I am?"

"You sure are..." Exie shook her head and moped. "I really liked Rainbow, too. She was becoming a friend."

Speckles frowned and shook her head. "Remember what we used to say back at Mistress's place?"

Exie slowly nodded and looked down at her younger friend, then they both spoke in unison.

"No strings attached. Neither inside, nor out."

"But this isn't the brothel, Speckles. We should be allowed to make friends now, don't you think?" Exie asked.

Speckles smiled and closed her eyes. "I'm your friend. Don't get greedy."

Exie shrugged and tossed the broom against the corner, and her eyes lit up with an epiphany. "So, I just had a great idea. I met a little filly that sorta reminds me of you. I bet I could get her sister to let her do stuff around here. I'm not sure how top notch of a sales pony she is, but you might have fun teaching her a thing or two."

Speckles rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Nah. I think the two of us can handle this shop on our own."

Exie glared and crossed her gloved hooves. "Listen up. I'm in charge here and I'll make the decisions. If I'm losing Rainbow Dash to keep you, then you're gonna have to deal with training a replacement. You still need to be trained, yourself. This is a huge pain and I need you to be on my side. We're a team, alright? And I'm the captain."

"Got it." Speckles saluted her idol and gave a stern nod. "Who is this filly?"

"You'll like her. She reminds me of myself at her age. So full of energy and excitement. She's also willing to do pretty much anything. Really, the only difference is that she just wreaks of innocence." Exie gazed off into the distance with starry eyes.

"Gag." Speckles stuck her tongue out. "Don't worry. I'll rip that sappy innocence right out of her in no time at all."

"Whoa there, kid. Don't do that. Innocence is a good thing and you should appreciate the fact that you get to be around it," Exie scolded.

"But what about you? Aren't you ripping the innocence out of Pinkie Pie? She looks pretty innocent to me. You're not innocent at all." Speckles winked. "So how does that work?"

Exie sighed and slumped down to the floor. "I don't know how or why we're doing anything, but it's really none of your business. Dealing with all of her friends has been enough of a headache, and I don't want to hear it from you now. Is it too much to ask for you to just be supportive?"

Speckles smiled and trotted up to her friend, then wrapped her forelegs around her neck. "No. I'm sorry. I was just wondering, is all... I'll be supportive from now on."

"Thank you. That means a lot. I'm glad I don't have to be going through this on my own anymore. I'm glad you're here, too." Exie returned the hug and closed her eyes.

Speckles licked her lips and grinned. "I'll always be here for you, Exie. Always no matter what..."

Exie lay clinging to a pillow on her small bed and a heavy pit of worry weighing down her stomach. She took quick shallow breaths as she held back her tears and kept her eyes fixated on the bedroom. As soon as it moved, she shot upright and widened her eyes.

A small blonde filly stepped into the room. Her lip was cut open and a drop of blood dripped down the side of her face beneath her eyebrow. Her eye was black and blue, and she wiped the blood from her muzzle.

"What did he do to you?!" Exie and the purple unicorn rushed to the filly's side and held her tightly.

Speckles choked as she attempted to speak. "I... He got mad at me for not being Exie, then he hit me. I told him to stop but he just kept hitting me and hitting me."

Exie felt her heart boiling, and she stood up to stomp out the front door. In her way stood an older gray mare.

"Well, it looks like the innocence was taken from this one in quite a brutal way, no?" Mistress chuckled and shook her head. "Don't worry. Her wounds will heal."

Exie huffed and shook her head. "So this is what it's come to? You let stallions beat us? I... I want to leave! And I'm taking Speckles with me!"

"Be quite. I'd never have allowed him in here had I realized what he was capable of. You know that! He's been dealt with properly and won't be heard from again. Calm yourself, girl." Mistress stepped out into the hallway and let the door slam shut.

Speckles grinned. "See? I took care of the problem for you... We never have to leave now."