“Twilight!”

She whimpered at the sound of Spike calling for her, scrabbling through the bedroom on the other side of the door. She scrunched her eyes shut and slowed her breathing, willing herself silent, begging her emotion to stay inside.

“Twilight, where are you?! I heard fighting and then…” The doorknob rattled in his claw and then he banged on the wood. “Twilight, are you okay?!”

She rolled away from his voice. “Just…just leave me alone.” Her tone came out raw and she rubbed her throat, wincing at the soreness. “Just ignore me.”

“Twilight, open this door or I’ll melt the knob.”

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up in shock, turning back towards his voice, the bare gravity of the tone in his threat slicing through her misery. She heard him inhale and imagined a gout of dragonfire hitting the door, the knob glowing red before running like candlewax. Her horn lit up and the latch sprung free. Spike burst into the room.

“What happened, where’s Rainbow Dash, what’s—?”

“Th-there’s glass,” she warned, her head lowering as she shot her hoof out to stop him, wincing at the crackle under his steps.

Spike stopped and looked down at the floor, then back at Twilight, his frightened expression mixed with bewilderment. “I can eat glass if I want. Stop worrying about me, what the heck happened?!”

Her bangs hid her eyes, but her shoulders shook with held-back sobs. She let her hoof fall to the floor. “…It’s all my fault,” she whispered. “We had a fight and I…I lost control of my magic.”

“Wh-what was your fault that caused that?”

She wiped at her eyes, lids stinging and hot. “Everything’s my fault. Everything.” She sniffed sharply and turned away from him, gripping her gaskins and curling into a ball. “…I’ve spent my entire life thinking and over-thinking, analyzing what anypony says, looking for patterns and solutions to everything…but if it actually matters that I notice…” She swallowws the lump in her throat. “…I’m just the same oblivious foal reading a book on the playground while the world passes me by.”

Spike reached for her shoulder, but she shrunk away. “…Y-you sometimes blame yourself for stuff that isn’t your fault—”

“It is my fault.” Her voice dropped to a murmur. “I did everything wrong. I missed what she was saying at the start, and I was too stupid to notice what was happening to me—to us—until it was too late.” She turned her reddened eyes towards him and whispered, “How did I miss all of it?”

Spike’s expression wilted from fear to sadness as she spoke, his claw still hovering a few inches away, reaching out to her. His throat bobbed as he mulled over how to respond. “…You remember what you told me about change? About how sometimes stuff happens so slow that when you figure it out it’s like you never saw it changing?”

After a moment, Twilight gave him a grudging nod. “Yes, but it’s not the same. I should have noticed. It was my job to notice. I should’ve seen we were playing with fire, I should have been looking. It’s all my fault.”

Spike shut his eyes and shook his head slowly, his expression solemn. “Twilight…Every time I or somepony else has a problem, you always say, ‘Everypony makes mistakes.’ That’s always the advice you give me when I know I’ve done something wrong, and then you help me figure out how to fix it…Whose fault it is never matters, it’s what ponies do about it that’s important. Why is that good enough for everypony else, but not you?”

Twilight cringed as a stab of fresh hurt cut through her despondency. She wiped her eyes again and hid her face. “…Y-you’re right, Spike. I…I just messed up a lot and I don’t know how to fix it.”

He scooted closer, more of the mirror crunching under his feet. His claw reached her back and he felt her quivering under his touch. “Ca…is…can I help?”

She lifted her head and looked at him, fresh tears running down her cheeks. “Can I have a hug?”

A beat of silence passed. “What sorta Number One Assistant would I be if I didn’t hug you?” Spike circled her neck with his arms, pulling her out of the slouch so she could hug him back.

She clung to him and cried into his shoulder, drawing comfort from his arms, letting the worst of her pain and fear bleed out. Through her tears, she told him, “I don’t need a Number One Assistant right now. Just my LBBFF.”

Spike hugged tighter.

For a long time Twilight held him in her hooves, the mix of terror, guilt, hysteria, sadness, and anger boiling off like an overfilled pot, leaving a cavity of exhaustion in their place. Her sobs came further apart as the room grew colder, random gusts of wind blowing in from the ruined balcony door to raise gooseflesh on her forelegs. She rubbed her face into his scales and sat away. “Thank you, Spike.”

He nodded, looking her over with worry. His voice trembled as he said, “What are little brothers for?”

A weak smile cut through her tears and she gave him another squeeze. “I couldn’t ask for anything else. I love you, Spike.”

“I love you, too.”

Twilight sat up straight and vigorously rubbed her face, trying to transform her fatigue into resolve. She patted her bangs into some semblance of order and cleared her throat. Feeling a little centered again, she peered out into the lower loft of her room. “We should get the windows covered or it’s gonna be too cold to stay here tonight. I think there’re some extra sheets—”

Spike waved her off. “Don’t worry about the windows; there’s a whole stack of new ones in the basement. Enough to fix up everything really important, anyway, and I can go get more tomorrow when stores are open again.”

Her brow knit. “Why are there windows in the basement?”

He smirked despite himself, hiding his hands behind his back and giving her a chagrined look. “Well, uh, I ordered ‘em when Rainbow Dash moved in, since windows sorta die around her a lot.”

Twilight also couldn’t help smiling, ruffling the scales on the top of his head.

“Anyway, you’ve got other stuff to worry about besides a bunch of repairs.” He frowned and looked away. “I wish I could help more than just hugging…”

“You did help,” she said, getting up from the floor on unsteady hooves. She lifted a leg and paused; everywhere she could step had bits of mirror, just waiting to sink into the soft underside of her hoof. The parade of cuts running up her legs and chest had started to sting as her adrenaline tapered off, and the thought of adding to them made her set her leg back where it was. She lit her horn up and floated the floor clean, not looking at her reflection in the shards as they whizzed past her face and into a garbage can.

Spike watched her clear the floor and followed her out into the center of the loft. “...Well? What’d I do?”

“You said everypony always comes to me for advice when they make mistakes. I just need to go talk to the pony I ask for advice.” She took a deep breath and straightened up, mustering resolve into her shaking limbs. “I need to go talk to Applejack.”

Spike smiled. “I hope she can help.”

“Well…a lot of this involves her already, so I probably need to tell her about it anyway. I hope she doesn’t get upset if I just teleport there…” She glanced out the balcony and grimaced at the snow. “…I really don’t want to have to walk there right now.” She turned back to Spike and looked him over, touching a hoof to his cheek and dropping her voice. “Thank you for listening and being such a good brother. You’re always there for me.”

A blush colored his face and he hugged her again. “And I always will be. Good luck.”

Twilight straightened and focused her attention on Sweet Apple Acres. She willed magic into her horn, and Spike closed his eyes as a flash of light and crackling bang filled the room.

Applejack ran a brush through her mane, stifling a yawn. “’Nother good day a’ work, daddy,” she told the mirror. “Got everythin’ squared away for winter before it started snowin’. The ol’ farm’s lookin’ as good as the day you an’ momma left it.” She smiled. “Granny says you’d be right proud a’ me…not just for the farm, neither.” Setting the brush down, she took a deep breath. “…I’m keepin’ that promise I made ya, for what it’s worth.”

She stood and arched her back, turning towards her lantern and blowing it out. She glanced out the window and watched the snow fall in the dim sky, her smile widening as the change of seasons set in for her. Winter had come; the farm would need her, but another harvest season had come to an end. Holidays, snowball fights with her sister, hot cocoa, carols, and crackling fires awaited. She turned to her bed and pulled back the sheets.

As she crawled onto the mattress, a sharp tap followed by rattling glass cut through the silence. She swung her head back towards the winter scene. The window’s latch snapped and Rainbow Dash tumbled into the room.

Applejack shot up in her bed. “What in the world?” Rainbow’s mane and tail hung flat and drenched around her, the water thickened to slush with snow. In the dim light of evening, Applejack could see crystals forming in her friend’s matted coat. “Good cripes, Dash!”

She sprung to her hooves and raced out of the room, galloping to the linen closet. Tossing a stack of towels on her back, she bolted back to Rainbow, huddled under the window and shivering. “Ya tryin’ to kill yourself, flyin’ like that?” The window slammed shut under her hooves and she attacked her friend with the towels, scraping off gobs of frigid wet snow. Rainbow’s flesh was icy under her touch and she worked briskly, tossing saturated towels to the side before launching into the next patch of freezing pony.

“P-pegasi d-don’t get c-cold,” Rainbow chattered, no strength in her voice or her body, jostling back and forth with Applejack’s toweling.

“Big difference between not gettin’ chilly an’ freezin’ to death, ya darn fool,” she replied more frightened than angry, throwing the last towel down. Rainbow’s head hung and her mane puffed out in fluffy chunks, her whole body vibrating with shivers. Applejack dragged her friend away from the patch of cold and wet under the window, over to the bed. She grabbed the blanket in her teeth and ripped it from the mattress, wrapping Rainbow up like she was swaddling a newborn foal. Rainbow shook in the covering and she sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing up and down her friend’s quivering form, trying to impart some warmth.

As Rainbow began to still and breathe evenly, gripping the blanket close under her own will, Applejack let out a sigh of relief. “The heck were ya doin’ out like that, Rainbow? Did’ja fall in the lake?” She brushed Rainbow’s bangs away from her eyes and got a good look at her face. Rainbow stared back at Applejack, eyes haunted and bloodshot, and all the fear leapt back into her belly. “Oh, Celestia, somethin’ happened.”

Rainbow sniffled, head and shoulders drooping in the blanket, away from Applejack’s piercing expression. “I fucked up, AJ.”

“Somethin’ happen with Twilight?”

Rainbow nodded weakly. “We had a fight and she freaked out, but I was pissed and didn’t try to snap her out of it.” The blanket loosened and a hoof popped out from the folds for her to wipe her eyes. “I know she gets like that and says crazy stuff. I was just so angry.” She took an unsteady breath and shook her head. “And it was my shit that started it and freaked her out in the first place. I dunno what to do, AJ. That fight was…bad. And…and I dunno if she’s gonna forgive me…” Rainbow gritted her teeth and scrunched her eyes shut, her voice trembling with emotion; a barely restrained growl. “And part of me doesn’t want her to forgive me, because then nothing’ll change, and I’m so angry at myself, because I gotta fix it with her; I love her too much, I—” Her voice hitched and she cleared her throat, wiping her eyes. “It can’t be over.”

Applejack’s eyes widened as Rainbow started shivering for an entirely different reason. “…What on earth were y’all fightin’ about?”

Rainbow breathed in deep and swallowed the lump in her throat, her face relaxing as she opened her eyes and met Applejack’s gaze. “You.”

She grimaced and hung her head. “…Should’a broke this off ‘fore any a’ this mess happened,” she muttered, taking a deep breath. “Ya ain’t holdin’ what happened with Twi against her, are ya? Ya know she’s crazy about you an’ I ain’t gonna get in the way a’ that.”

“It’s not that.” Rainbow’s other hoof came free from the blanket and she touched Applejack’s sides, sliding around her shoulders and up to her cheeks. Applejack felt a spark run up her spine. Rainbow’s hooves, chilly and gentle, stood the hairs of her coat on end in their wake. She felt sluggish and disconnected from herself, watching Rainbow’s face draw closer.

“Applejack, I’m in love with you.”

Her eyes fluttered shut on their own as Rainbow kissed her, lips cool but mouth burning hot, the same living fire she remembered and mourned. She kissed back more out of memory and instinct than anything else, hooves circling Rainbow’s shoulders to drag their bodies closer, heart pounding, bathing in her own lack of worry, trying to hold onto the peace. A gasp of shock snapped her out of it and she broke the kiss, turning towards her open door.

Apple Bloom stared at the two of them, eyes wide and jaw slack.

Applejack felt heat rise to her already-flushed face as she stared back. She felt Rainbow follow her gaze and tense against her. An avalanche of silence crushed the three, suffocating and thick.

Purple light exploded in the center of the room as Twilight appeared, a thunderclap breaking the quiet. “Sorry to intrude like this, Applejack, buhh…” Her voice tapered off as she saw Rainbow, and the deafening silence fell again, twice as heavy, all eyes on the newest arrival. Apple Bloom’s ears fell flat and she grimaced, unable to look away. Rainbow’s expression morphed from shock to a mixture of fear and pain as her eyes met Twilight’s, her marefriend frazzled and exhausted, but looking just as afraid and hurt as she was.

The longest three seconds any of them had ever known crawled by.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow!” Twilight cried. She galloped at the pair, tackling them both in a bearhug that knocked Rainbow all the way onto the bed and nearly dragged Applejack on top of them both. “I panicked and—!”

Apple Bloom’s jaw fell open again and she sat down with a thud.

“I’m sorry, Twi, I shouldn’t—!”

“No, it’s my fault, I—!”

Apple Bloom’s voice crashed over the room, drowning them both out. “What in the gates of Tartarus is goin’ on?!”

Twilight started and looked at Apple Bloom, who had leapt back up with her head lowered in challenge, and then she turned to Applejack, her eyes wide with guilt and shock. Rainbow grimaced. Apple Bloom stared at her sister through a sea of confusion bordering on hysteria. Then all three started talking over each other at once.

Applejack pulled herself up straight, her expression fell flat, and her hoof shot straight up into the air. The room fell still as she commanded their attention, her eyes never leaving her sister’s face. After a moment, she lowered her leg and extended it towards Apple Bloom in a wordless request for her to wait. Grudgingly, Apple Bloom nodded and sat on her haunches. She turned to the pair still wrapped around her, watching her with unease and fright.

She took a deep breath, her voice coming out soft and slow. “I think, ‘fore anypony’s gonna be able to really talk about anythin’, the two’ve ya gotta hug some a’ this out.”

They pulled back from her and looked at each other, the expressions of hurt and worry returning to their faces. “But—”

“Y’all both just had a big ol’, knock down, drag out fight, an’ it’s plain as day on your faces you’re about ready ta jump outta your skin thinkin’ ya messed up too much to fix it. But ya both know ya ain’t stopped lovin’ each other one bit. Nopony’s gonna be in no state to really talk ‘til after ya got a chance to see that ain’t nothin’ really changed.”

Twilight nodded, followed by Rainbow. Applejack watched Twilight reach forward, tentative and questioning in contrast to her earlier tackle. Rainbow’s hoof rose to match and they touched fetlocks. Twilight closed the distance in a fluid glide and they were around each other, cheek to cheek, eyes closed and breaths controlled and deep, blanket falling away from Rainbow. Applejack could feel the yearning and earnest strength of their embrace from a foot away, could feel the desperation of their clinging. She heard Twilight whisper, “I’m sorry.”

Rainbow answered, “Me, too.”

Applejack’s chest clenched around her lungs looking at them, and she fought her face, keeping her expression even, her breathing steady. She turned to Apple Bloom and slid off the bed, crossing the distance to her sister. She spoke in the same soft tone. “Apple Bloom…I didn’t want ya to see somethin’ like this, and you’re deservin’ of an explanation. I will give ya one.” She took a deep breath and looked back at Twilight and Rainbow, who drifted back from their embrace on the bed, their faces still drawn and beleaguered. “…But this ain’t the time right now.”

“But—”

“Apple Bloom.” She swung back to look at her sister, expression stern. “I got a pair of real upset ponies in the middle of a crisis. Me talkin’ to you about this when it’s all a mess and I don’t rightly know what’s goin’ on myself can wait ‘til not past bedtime when ya got school in the morning.”

As her sister spoke, Apple Bloom’s brow drew together and she pouted, “You swear you’ll tell me?”

“I promise.”

Apple Bloom’s lip jutted out further and she let out a groan. “Okaaay…” She slunk out of the bedroom, casting one more bewildered look at the three of them, and Applejack shut the door behind her.

Taking a steadying breath, Applejack walked back to the bed and sat down next to Rainbow and Twilight, who had fully separated to watch her solemnly. “So, uh, y’all doin’ better now?” she sighed.

Twilight’s eyes flicked to the door and back to Rainbow, frowning. “Um. Not...really. I think we’re less panicked now, but everything’s still so…”

“Fucked up?” Rainbow offered.

“Yeah.” She sighed and turned to her friend. “Applejack, I’m so sorry your sister stumbled into our mess.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed. “That totally wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“It’s alright.” At their objections, she continued, “It could’a been worse. I ain’t keen on her walkin’ in like that, but…it’s different now.” She rubbed her knee and looked away. “I think I’d rather jump off the roof than explain a word of our arrangement to her, but this ain’t about that no more.” Applejack gave them both a weary grin. “Tellin’ her about the two’ve ya’s hearts gettin’ all tangled up with me ain’t like that, though. I can tell her about that, an’ how ya came here ‘cause ya needed my…help. U-untanglin’.” Her smile wilted and she turned her head to the side, looking off the bed and at her vanity’s mirror. “Untanglin’ from me.”

The pair exchanged a look of concern, and Twilight scooted closer to her friend, forming a circle on the bed. “Applejack?”

Applejack closed her eyes, dismayed to feel tears running down her cheeks. She inhaled, leaning back and wiping her face. “Oh, Luna, it ain’t fair,” she muttered, clearing the roughness from her throat.

Rainbow reached a hoof out. “AJ?”

“I’m sorry.” She forced herself to sit up straight, still facing the mirror. “I…I can’t do this. I can’t help ya. I don’t have the strength right now.”

The two shared another glance, and Twilight hung her head. “You’re right. This is a problem between me and Rainbow, and dragging you into it to clean up our mess isn’t fair.”

Applejack shook her head. “If ya just gave me more time.” She wiped at her eyes again. “…I made a promise to my daddy. I promised I wouldn’t pull the two of ya apart just ‘cause I wanted to be selfish.” She turned away from the mirror and looked at them both, feeling her chest tighten at just their sight, burdened by the weight of the missing peace she had recaptured for a fleeting instant in Rainbow’s hooves. “But you’re askin’ me to stitch ya back together, and I just don’t have it in me right now.” She hung her head.

Twilight’s throat bobbed as she listened to Applejack talk, realization dawning in her eyes. She looked at her marefriend to confirm, but only saw confusion. “…Applejack, I think the three of us should get everything out in the open. Did Rainbow tell you—?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow interrupted, avoiding Twilight’s eyes.

Twilight turned back to Applejack. “Applejack, do you have anything to tell us?”

She kept her head hung. A war raged in her heart, one fought between the desire to be honest, and the desire to do what was right. She tried to live her life so the two lined up, because when they did it was easy. When they didn’t she never knew which decision she should make, because a lie of omission was still a lie. She never felt quite right lying for the sake of what she thought was right, especially when she didn’t know for sure it was right, but hurting the ponies around her with painful truths was never a better decision. She tried to temper herself, and despite her misgivings, always went for what was right over what was honest.

But oh, Celestia, she was tired. Her body ached from months of bottled up truth, from glances she tried to keep from giving, from a week of mourning thrown through a thresher to leave her heart raw and fresh again.

“…Ya know what my favorite part of our Saturdays was?” She looked back up and met their gazes. “It was gettin’ to fall asleep with the both of ya in my hooves… ‘cause it meant I got a couple minutes where it was okay for me to love you.”

Twilight bowed her head as Rainbow’s eyes widened.

“I promised my daddy, I promised him, but Celestia help me, I miss that so much it hurts, and ya both bein’ here is askin’ for me to piece ya back together when I ain’t even started gettin’ over it. It’s too much. I can’t do it. It’s too soon.” She shook her head and wiped at her eyes again, her shoulders sinking as she let out a long breath. “Look at us. When ya asked me if I wanted to jump into bed all I thought was, ‘That sounds fun,’ and I didn’t even think about what might go wrong.”

“None of us did.” Twilight shrugged, brushing her bangs away from her eyes. When she set her leg back down she found she was touching Rainbow’s hoof. She held on. “All three of us heard the idea and thought it sounded fun. What happened after that…was just something that happened.”

Rainbow took Twilight’s hoof in her own. “…This sucks.” The others murmured in agreement. She looked from Applejack to Twilight. “What, uh…what do we do now?”

Sighing, Twilight gave her a smile that looked more like a grimace. “I guess we do what we were doing already. You and I go home and the three of us…mourn this. Then we move on with our lives as friends, and maybe some day look back on this whole experience as a fond memory.”

Rainbow watched Applejack nod in agreement, eyes downcast. She turned to Twilight and let out a huff of frustration. “But I don’t want to do that. Do you? Do either of you wanna just go back to how it was?”

Twilight shot her a guilty look, and after a moment shook her head. “I can’t put my hoof on it, but…it feels so much more than just going back to being friends. There’s something…something we’re losing, and it’s not just the fact that it feels nice to love her.” She saw Applejack’s gaze drift back to the vanity.

“…Yeah, I think you’re right. Geeze. This really sucks.” Rainbow sighed and slumped forward. They sat in their rough circle not looking at each other, silent and downcast.

After a while, Rainbow squeezed Twilight’s hoof and raised her head, her voice coming out low. “…This started when you asked me if I had a fantasy, Twi. Well, I do have one.” Rainbow’s other leg slid across the sheet, finding Applejack’s hoof, caressing the side as she settled on top, holding on with the same gentle strength as Twilight’s leg. “My fantasy is that I don’t have to stop loving her.”

Applejack’s ears fell flat in dismay as she met Rainbow’s eyes, full of want, absent of the guilt and misgivings, just a plain desire for her. Before she could object, Twilight’s hoof found her other leg, holding onto her, completing the circle. “That’s my fantasy, too,” Twilight said, and she turned to meet the same expression, the same probing eyes.

She held their hooves back, gripping, feeling the shame in her chest squeeze her heart as she let herself just love them both, if only for another moment, if only as part of the shared fantasy. She loved them and they loved her, and right then, sitting on her bed in the dark, that was okay.

Except she knew it wasn’t.

Applejack swallowed the lump in her throat, swallowed down her emotion. “…I can’t break my promise. I can’t break you up just because I love you both.” She closed her eyes. “It’s a mighty wonderful fantasy, but it ain’t real.”

Rainbow grit her teeth. Applejack felt Rainbow’s grip tighten on her hoof, pinning her to the bed and tremoring against her. Rainbow’s nostrils flared, her eyes narrowed, and her ears flattened to the back of her head as she let out a growl. Her forelegs flew up in the air in disgust. “Why the hell are we fighting this?! Why can’t I love you both?! I want you both, and I want you both to have each other, too, why is that so fucking impossible?!”

“Rainbow, keep your voice down,” Twilight admonished.

She growled again, hissing out in a lower volume, “Twi, give me one reason why we need to go back to how it was before besides we’re ‘supposed to’ do it. Nopony wants it, so why?” As Twilight gaped at her, she whipped around to Applejack, prodding her friend in the chest. “And don’t give me your promise, because if I got to wake up next to you and not pretend I wasn’t in love, I sure as hell wouldn’t break up with Twilight.”

Applejack groaned and rubbed her forehead. “Dash, there’s more goin’ on than just that. The two of ya got a life together. Me comin’ over and hoppin’ in the sheets once a week’s just gonna make it harder for everypony, whether we’re all sayin’ we love each other out loud or not. Ya got your life you’re makin’ an’ I’m just imposin’!”

“But—”

“But you’re not imposing, you were never imposing.” Twilight sat up straight, stamping a hoof on the bed, her eyes bright with realization. “And that’s the difference; that’s why this is so hard. This isn’t about just love, and it never was. Any two—or three—ponies can fall for each other, and couples who are already in love break up all the time anyway, because nothing else is right between them. But, Applejack—” She pointed at her friend. “—you’re not interfering with the life Rainbow and I are making. You make it better. Rainbow and I don’t just love you; we want you in our lives. That’s why giving this up hurts so much; we’re not trying to move past something that happened, we’re trying to take you out of our lives when nopony wants that. What we want is to have you there.”

Applejack’s jaw snapped shut. She turned to Rainbow, who grinned back at her with relief, frustration gone. “Ya…ya both want me as part a’ what ya already got?”

“Yes!” Twilight cheered.

Rainbow’s grin widened. “Listen, the sex is awesome, but just having you around is so much more awesome. There’s stuff the two of us do that just isn’t the same with me and Twilight. And you bring out stuff in Twi I can’t; I’ve seen both of you talk about junk that puts me to sleep, but I can see how happy you both are. And even without all of that, when you’re not around it’s like…” She frowned and turned to Twilight.

“It’s like something’s missing. It’s that you are missing, from our lives, from our plans, our conversations…It’s always more alive when you’re there. Is it the same for you? When you’re with us, does it feel like you’re a part of…this…” Twilight scratched her chin and looked to Rainbow.

“Like you’re part of the Wonderbolts.”

Twilight snorted. “Or at least a team that nopony could hope to beat?”

Applejack’s frown deepened with confusion as they spoke. “I…tried to pretend I didn’t.” She chewed her lip. “But y’all have been livin’ together; ya already got your team…”

“So?” Rainbow asked, grabbing Applejack’s hoof again. “Me and Twi didn’t start out living together. What’s that matter?”

“I…” The straightjacket on her chest loosened bit by bit as she turned from one excited face to the other. She sent a wild look across the room at her vanity, and she cracked a smile at the two of them. “It don’t matter, ‘cause we’d have’ta start somewhere anyway.” Her grin strengthened, the weights lifting off as she let go of her promise, a promise she didn’t have to keep. “So…where do we start?”

Twilight leaned in closer. “We make our fantasy a reality, not just for sex, but for everything. We figure out how to have a life together. All of us. Your workload is lighter over the winter, right?” Applejack nodded. “So come date us. We’ll spend time together like we have been, but more than that, too. If you have the time for it, maybe we can have an…extended sleepover through the winter. You stay with us and come here for work during the day when you need to. After next Winter Wrap Up we’ll see where everypony stands and go from there. Like a normal couple. Like a team.” She cupped Applejack’s free hoof again. “If you’ll have us?”

She looked down at the legs holding her on either side, reaching out to her to draw her into a life she wasn’t expecting, but wanted more than anything. Her mind raced back over months spent together, in and out of the bedroom, the peace she desperately wanted gripping her, beckoning her, calling her to come home. A new home with Twilight and Rainbow as partners, as lovers, as friends. A home as part of a team that nopony could beat.

Applejack slid forward.

She pressed her cheek into Twilight’s, feeling Rainbow on the other side, hooves around her shoulders, her legs around their middles, nuzzling in, closing her eyes, her grin painful. Rainbow’s lips found her neck and she turned her snout into Twilight’s mane, breathing in the smell, the comforting scent of one of her marefriends.

They drifted down onto the mattress, nestled into each other, hooves entangled around one another, in manes, brushing against wings, holding each other with earnest yearning. The weight of a day far too long and far too full of heartache pulled at them, and they soon drifted off into rumbling snores, lying in a pile, wrapped around each other, holding onto a new promise of things to come.

They were in love. And it was okay.

Applejack yawned as she woke up, twisting to stretch out her back. Rainbow tightened against her front, keeping her from moving, and Twilight nuzzled into her neck. Her eyes snapped open in the bleary darkness of predawn and she grinned at her predicament, buried underneath her lovers. Rainbow muttered shapelessly, loosening the grip around her middle and shifting position to use her chest as a pillow. She let out a sigh and prodded the two off of her.

“Nn, whuzat?” Rainbow grumbled, swatting at Applejack’s hooves.

“I’m gettin’ up, sugarcube.” She pulled herself out of the middle, stepping to the edge of the bed and shoving Rainbow into Twilight, who grabbed ahold in her sleep to spoon.

“S’early,” Rainbow complained, hooking Applejack’s hindleg to drag her back into the pile.

She yanked herself free. “Breakfast soon, lazybones.” Rainbow grumbled and buried her face in a pillow. “Yeah, yeah, go back to sleep. I’ll get’cha both up in a few.”

“Make coffee,” Twilight groaned.

Grinning and shaking her head, Applejack left the room, shutting the door quietly. She looked at the stairs, before facing back down the hallway, her eyes falling on Apple Bloom’s door. Her ears flattened to her head as the desire to bolt to the kitchen and start cooking tugged at her, but she resisted, drawing up straight and taking a deep breath.

She got to the door and stopped, her hoof raised in the air. She steeled herself, drawing back to knock but not quite bringing herself to strike the wood. A door opened behind her and she turned to find her brother.

They exchanged a look. Big Mac smirked at her.

Clearing her throat, Applejack kept her tone normal. “Hey, Mac, ya mind cookin’ today? I gotta talk to Apple Bloom ‘fore breakfast.” He gave her a nod. “Make coffee. And, uh…make enough extra food for a couple’a guests.”

“Eeyup,” he responded smugly, no hint of surprise in his voice. His eyes glinted with enough amusement for Applejack to consider putting a spider or ten on his pillow as he strutted past her towards the stairs. She cleared her throat again, willing the heat out of her cheeks, as she knocked on her little sister’s door.

She heard rustling from the other side, and Apple Bloom belted out, “Oh, for pete’s sake, the sun ain’t even up yet, Granny; I ain’t runnin’ late!”

“Can I come in?”

The rustling stopped, and she heard hoofsteps. Apple Bloom opened the door, her mane still messy and missing its bow, and looked up at her sister. Applejack could see that the night’s sleep had driven the burning curiosity from Apple Bloom, leaving her cautious and nervous. “H-hey.”

Applejack forced a smile as she stepped into the room, leading her sister back to the bed and taking a seat on the floor. Apple Bloom sat facing her, and she could see the trepidation warring with a hint of renewed eagerness. The sounds of pots and pans rustling floated up from downstairs in the silence, and Applejack gathered herself as she looked over Apple Bloom’s features.

Apple Bloom broke the silence first, dropping her gaze and tracing circles on the floor with a hoof. “So, uh…I figured out ya ain’t helpin’ Rainbow Dash cheat on Twilight or nothin’…” Applejack coughed into her hoof, her cheeks burning again. “…Seein’ as Twilight wasn’t shook up about ya…huggin’ an’ kissin’ like that.” She looked up at Applejack, the wariness in her face losing out to her need to understand. “And ya were kissin’ her.”

Taking a breath in and letting it out slowly, Applejack nodded. “I was. An’ it wasn’t the first time I kissed her, an’ Twilight knew about it. You’re right about all a’ that.”

“…So what is goin’ on?”

She frowned down at Apple Bloom, trying to sort her thoughts into words, then compress those words into something she could say to a little filly without dunking her head in a lake afterwards. Her mind raced back over past conversations, trying to find something to pull her jumbled head together. She dwelled on the last meeting in the library, the turmoil of her friends, turned lovers, turned partners, as she said goodbye to them, never guessing they might have a life together yet.

She was at a loss for how to explain all of that to a little girl who still jumped at the chance to carve pumpkins.

Applejack smiled as she thought about Apple Bloom stamping through the remains of the patch, accompanied by two other fillies plus one dragon. It clicked in her head.

“Apple Bloom, lemme ask ya somethin’.” Her sister raised an eyebrow as she grinned. “Wasn’t too long ago I started seein’ Spike runnin’ around with ya more ‘n more. Did y’all make him part a’ your club?”

“Secret society,” Apple Bloom corrected, frowning at Applejack. “What’s this gotta do with anythin’?”

“I’m gettin’ to it. Is Spike part a’ the secret society?”

Apple Bloom’s brow knit. “…He is, yeah. Little while ago, Spike told us that Twilight said even dragons get cutie marks, just on the inside. We had a ceremony an’ made him a full member an’ everything.”

She nodded in satisfaction, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. “I thought as much. And I bet ya didn’t just do it ‘cause he fit your clu—err, secret society’s rules, huh? Ya made him a member ‘cause he’s part a’ your team now. Y’all have grown real close, right?”

She nodded, growing more confused. “Yeah, Spike’s a real good friend. S’like ya say, we’re thick as thieves.”

Applejack leaned against the bed, propping her chin on her hoof. “Well, that’s sorta like what things are between me, Twilight, ‘n Rainbow Dash.” Apple Bloom gave her a deadpan glare and she chuckled. “I ain’t sayin’ we’re just friends, don’t look at me like that. It’s just…if ya called the two of ‘em bein’ marefriends a secret society, then they asked me to join up.”

Apple Bloom’s eyes widened and her jaw fell open. “Does bein’ marefriends work like that?”

“…I ain’t got the foggiest idea, AB.” She laughed louder as her sister sputtered at her. “I just know that as great a’ friends as I am with the other girls, I got somethin’ else with the two a’ them. Sorta like I was tellin’ you on the first day a’ school; even though me an’ Rarity’re close, I never stopped not seein’ eye to eye with her. Me, Twilight, ‘n Dash, though, when the three of us are together, we really are thick as thieves, and if they want me in their secret society, I’m sayin’ whatever oath they ask.

“If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a lot like what happened with y’all and Spike. Ya started out just the three of ya, and then Spike came along. At first, it was fun ‘cause ya kept findin’ little things Spike knew about and wanted to do, an’ it was sorta like an adventure just figurin’ out how he fit in with the rest of ya. Y’all started lookin’ forward to him bein’ there when he wasn’t, ‘cause those things y’all found out showed how much he fit in as part of your group. Then before ya knew it, it was like he’d always been there as part of the team.” Her eyes drifted to the wall, in the direction of her bedroom. “And when ya made it official, it was just words, ‘cause y’all knew he’d been a cutie mark crusader from the start.”

Apple Bloom opened and shut her mouth a few times. “Well, uh, I guess you’re right about Spike, but…” A lull settled over the room and they sat in silence, listening to Big Mac cooking downstairs and the shift of floorboards as Granny crossed the hall to join him. Apple Bloom shifted her weight from side to side, her gaze distant in thought, until eventually she shrugged. “I…don’t really get it.”

Applejack sighed.

“Well...it’s not like ya sound sad or ‘nothin’.”

Her grin returned and she nodded. “I ain’t sad. I’m happier’n I’ve been in a long time.”

“Well, if’n you’re happy, an’ the two a’ them are happy, I guess…that means…this is really a good thing?” She scratched her head. “So does this make ‘em both your marefriends?”

“Sounds strange to me, too.”

“Well, uh, then I guess I’m happy for ya, sis. An’ I forgive ya for not tellin’ me sooner an’ keepin’ it a secret, ‘cause… this is really weird.” As the smell of eggs drifted into the room and the light of dawn filtered through the window, Apple Bloom shrugged again and stood up, kicking open her bureau to grab a bow. “This whole year’s been really weird.”

Applejack snorted and stood up, pausing at the door before leaving, watching her sister brush her mane in the mirror. “I’m glad I was right about Spike. Momma an’ Daddy’d be real proud a’ you, makin’ friends like that. It took me a long time to figure out how to do it, an’ you’re great at it already.” Apple Bloom smiled at her and rolled her eyes. “Hold onto ‘em, okay? Friends that close don’t come along too often.”

“I will. Now get out; I gotta get ready ‘fore Granny comes back up hollerin’ for me.”

Letting out a relieved breath, Applejack left her sister’s room, plodding back to her own door. She let herself in and stifled a giggle as her eyes fell on the bed. Rainbow’s hooves twitched in her sleep and her mouth hung open in a goofy smile as Twilight sleep-chewed on her wing.

“Breakfast time,” she called out, grabbing her brush off the vanity.

“Nnf, five more minutes,” Twilight mumbled through a mouthful of feathers.

“Don’t make me throw one a’ these towels at ya. I bet they’re still plenty wet.”

Rainbow groaned and rolled onto her belly, pulling Twilight on top of her. Twilight squeaked and flopped out of bed, grabbing onto Rainbow as she tumbled, succeeding in pulling her marefriend off the mattress with her. The two whined and muttered as they untangled themselves and got to their hooves.

“Fine,” Rainbow grumbled, stomping across the floor, “I gotta pee, anyway.” She paused at the vanity and grinned at Applejack’s reflection. Swooping in from the side, she stole a peck, then headed out into the hall.

“Ooh, I didn’t mean to just fall asleep like that. I hope Spike’s not worried. That was just a really long day...” Twilight shook her head and found her balance before walking to the vanity. Applejack paused in her brushing to look up at her marefriend.

In the light of day, Applejack’s eyes fell to the little nicks along Twilight’s legs and she sucked air through her teeth in sympathy. “Dang, Twi, ya did a number on yourself yesterday, didn’t ya?”

Twilight looked down at herself and shook her head. “It’s nothing that bad. Just...part of a really long day.”

“What happened? Y’all never really told me, ‘side from Dash gettin’ angry and you gettin’ outta sorts.”

She shrugged and sighed. “We’ll tell you the whole story later. The short version is that fights happen, but it’s better now. I wish you had been there; you’re really good at calming the two of us down.” Applejack grinned at her, and watched worry bloom in her expression. “Applejack…Last night happened kinda fast… Do you really want this? We didn’t force you into anything you didn’t want, did we?”

“Nah, y’all didn’t force me into nothin’.” Applejack smiled and touched Twilight’s cheek, guiding her into a kiss, soft and tender. “If you’ll have me, I’m there.”

Twilight smiled in relief and nuzzled Applejack’s neck. “Okay.”

“...I’m worried, though. The heck are we doin’? Can we really do somethin’ like this?”

“I...don’t know, but I want to try. We’ll start figuring all of this out after breakfast. And coffee. And I get home to check on Spike.” She let out a huff. “Gonna be another long day.”

“Long winter... but maybe that’s a good thing.”

“Maybe.” She grinned and brushed along Applejack’s back as she followed Rainbow’s path into the hall. Applejack turned back to the mirror and pulled a couple ribbons out of their box, doing up her mane. She smiled at her reflection, watching snow fall behind her in the window.

Winter had arrived and another harvest season had come to an end. Holidays, snowball fights, hot cocoa, carols, and crackling fires awaited her, both at home on the farm and in a new home that welcomed her in with open hooves.

“Mornin’, Li’l Apple. It’s a hard day a’ workin’ ahead, you do your momma an’ me proud.” She grabbed her Stetson and put it on. “I always try my best, daddy...and I know I’m gonna make you proud.”

Author's Notes:

tl;dr

The ending can be summed up by whatever the reverse of "And then the fucked" is, perhaps "They fucked, and then..."