Dash woke up when Mac did, one of his hooves gently tracing patterns on her chest. She wasn't sure how long he had been doing that, but it had probably been quite a while. She slept like a brick in the sense that it took a lot to wake her up, yet she rolled all over the place in her own bed. This was one of the rare occasions where she ended up in the same position. Mac must've pulled a blanket over them after she had passed out, and it was keeping her pleasantly warm. Mac fit perfectly against her back, like the most form fitting compliment to the blanket possible. His hind hooves rubbed against hers, the intimacy of the seemingly pointless contact not lost on Dash.

After a while of drifting in and out of sleep, Mac's moved her just enough to bring her fully out of her slumber. He rose from the bed, replacing his body with a pillow against her back. Light beamed in through the window, her eyes fluttering open as the water in the shower started. Thoughts passed through Dash's mind about joining him, but she couldn't see anything happening. There was no hint of lust amongst the love she felt for him. Apparently last night had left her completely satisfied.

She wouldn't mind laying here a little while longer as he showered, and filing in after him. Maybe a peck on the lips and a slap on the ass as she passed? Dash chuckled to herself. Bothering Mac was probably something she should at least somewhat filter. Their banter was nice enough anyway. They threw a lot of thinly veiled insults at each other for the laughs of it, and it was nice stress relief. Not that she insulted Mac because she was angry at something else and took out her anger on him. That wasn't it. But it was the sort of joking thing that stallions always did, and had never done with her.

Dash grinned. For as much as Mac said he needed her, he sure knew how to edge the line. Not that she cared, of course. She liked the openness, and the fact that she would basically always get a straight answer out of him. Unlike Applejack, he could lie and get away with it. He was emotive, but only when he wanted to be. He could have a godly pokerface if he wanted, but she knew that he wouldn't want to. Admittedly, some of her thoughts about him were partially based on speculation, but she knew that the runner up to the element of honesty would have been him.

But in a way, it couldn't have been. Mac would be the first to tell you he didn't like a lot of things and be forward with his opinion, but he knew when to hold his mouth. Maybe he held it a bit too much. Applejack was Mac's boisterous side all the time, with no sliver of the quiet he had. Maybe it was just how they'd grown up, but Dash sort of wondered why Mac was so short of words. It could be just because he was the counterweight to Applejack. Shining Armor's calculating personality countered nicely with Twilight's tendency to get over-excited. And as far as she knew, Twilight still couldn't beat him in chess on a regular basis, no matter how many strategies she read on the subject.

Dash laughed, waking herself up a little more. Twilight had even introduced some triple layered chess thing in an attempt to put one over on him, but apparently that had gone horribly for the mare. Shining had taken readily to the game, wiping the floor with her after the first game. It infuriated Twilight, which was always funny. She'd watched him before, however, and it was incredible how quickly Shining could look at the board and make a move. He'd lose seemingly important pieces here or there without batting an eye, and then beat Twilight anyway.

Why was she thinking about chess again? Oh, right, the dynamic between Applejack and Mac. What a tangent that had been.

In any case, it was a little bit harder to think about Mac and Applejack's differences when they lead very similar lives. Eh, it'd probably come to her eventually. A crow landed on the windowsill, grabbing a beetle that had crawled up an inch or two onto the glass. It stared at her with intelligent eyes, thinking for a moment about the creature beyond the clear shield before taking flight again.

Mac emerged from the shower, pushing at her shoulder with a damp hoof. "Hey, time to wake up." He murmured, wiggling her around until she let out a groan.

"Lemme alone." She mumbled.

"I would, but you wanted to go to Canterlot if you could, remember?" He asked, returning his hoof to her shoulder to prod at her.

The thought slowly circulated in her head for a moment before Dash snapped awake, sitting up quickly. "Shit!"

"It's not that late yet, Dash. You don't have much to worry about."

"Yeah, but I want to skip the line." She looked around, seeing that the clock on Mac's bedside table read seven. She let herself relax a little. "When did we actually get to sleep?"

"Well, after the good worker Ms. Dash decided to forego her audit preparation in order to have sex with some hot stallion, it was only like seven thirty, and we never ate dinner."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I'm pretty hungry." Dash replied. "But a shower is definitely going first. It's not often I care so little after sex that I just pass out like this." Thinking about that idea made it worse. She just felt stuck together back there. "Not that I really ever had a lot of sex, but still. Ew." She got up, ignoring the feeling of matted fur as she walked out of the room.

"Hey, Applejack." Dash said, walking into the kitchen. Her wet mane drooped lower than usual. Maybe she needed a trim. Focus, Dash.

Applejack furrowed her brow. "Ah didn't think ya were over." How could she delicately ask how she hadn't heard anything?

"Ya were gone when we came back. Then we passed out pretty quick." Mac spoke up, about halfway through a massive plate of eggs, spinach and hash browns.

"Oh, ya did, did ya?" Applejack smirked. "Good ta know yer gettin' yer sleep."

Dash shook her head. "I still feel like you should freak out."

"Yeah?" The farm mare jibed. "Ah already did that, and ya saw how that went."

"Mhm," Dash confirmed. "I guess that got itself settled, though."

Applejack laughed, shaking her head at the not-so-distant memory. "Interested in a little food?"

Dash nodded. "Definitely! I'm starving."

"Well Ah'm already workin' on some eggs, do those sound okay?"

"Fine with me." Dash replied, taking a seat at the table to wait. The smell of Mac's food wafted over and her stomach grumbled. He grabbed another plate from the table and wordlessly dished most of his remaining food onto it, sliding it in front of her.

"Ya wanted ta skip that line, right?"

"Yeah, but you don't have to-"

"Ah saw how you were lookin' at it." He chuckled. "Ah hardly even touched that part of the plate, so don't worry about germs."

"I wasn't. Thanks."

Mac paused, standing up from the table and walking a few paces away. He dug through a pair of oversized saddlebags, returning with a small pouch that he tossed in front of her, next to her plate that was quickly getting cleaned of food. She assumed it was full of bits the way it jingled on when it hit the table. "Do me a favor and if ya see a pretty thing, snatch it up."

Dash looked at him quizzically. "Like what?"

"I dunno, but Ah don't get into Canterlot much, and Ah assume ya don't either. So ya might as well have a few bits."

"Do you want a souvenir? Or like a knick knack?" Dash asked. To be honest, there was a fair amount of stuff in Canterlot for under twenty or so bits, but she had no idea what he'd want.

"I dunno. I'm handing you a few bits and telling you to spend it on something random because I want to see what comes back."

Dash stared for a moment, before she broke out into a laugh. "Dammit, Mac."

He grinned. "It's science."

"Iff'n ya say so." Applejack said, shaking her head as she dished some scrambled eggs onto Mac's plate, then her own. "Now come on, ya gotta get a few more eggs inside ya. It's not a short day today, 'less we work fast."

"Ah know." He replied. "'Least yer not goin' on some crazy adventure with yer friends right after breakfast and leavin' me here all alone."

"It's only a little thing with Fluttershy and Rarity. Plus, Ah bet ya enjoyed the quiet last time." Applejack responded.

"As if. Applebloom didn't just poof out of existence, ya know." He laughed. "And her friends were all over the place."

"Thank Celestia for your never-ending patience."

"It was tested." Mac responded, chuckling. "Often."

"Well you survived."

"My mind didn't."

"So what's this about going to Canterlot stuff?" Applejack asked, changing the subject through a mouthful of eggs.

Dash nodded, swallowing. "Well you know how Mac has been working with me all week on weather stuff?" Applejack didn't respond immediately, so Dash continued. "Well, anyway, the gist is that the Weather Board is angry with me because of that storm last week, and I was sorta afraid that I'd get fired. So basically I'm going to separate the Ponyville command from them so that their dumb decisions don't affect me." She took another bite, feeling the same excitement she'd felt when they'd finally hatched this plan renew itself.

Applejack rolled over the idea in her head silently for a moment. "Ah mean, as long as ya don't forget we need rain."

Dash scoffed. "You know, AJ, I may seem lazy but I do take a few things seriously in my life." Dash shoved the rest of the food into her mouth, rising from the table quickly. "Anyway, I need to see if that license is a go and speed off to Canterlot before things get busy." Dash deposited her dishes in the sink, attempting to give Mac a kiss on the cheek as she passed him on her way to the door. All the gesture succeeded at was a basically a light punch to his cheek with her muzzle as she failed to slow down enough.

Mac laughed it off, watching her rub at her muzzle. "Yer in too much of a hurry. Besides..." His hoof shot out, wrapping behind her neck and pulling her into a kiss before she could react. "That's how ya do it."

Dash grinned, her cheeks crimson. It took all her willpower to not look over at Applejack to see what she was thinking of the whole affair. Dash gave Mac a light punch to his shoulder, with her hoof this time, before she opened the door and left. Two seconds later she was airborne. She loved Mac's spontaneity, but one day she wanted to be able to compete with it. That was a little hard, though, when it was a win-win. Not a day went by where she didn't love him even more.

"And with that in mind, and with the looming threat of it getting revoked, I present to you, Rainbow Dash, the form that will allow you to break all formal ties with the Weather Board."

Dash took the think, official paper in her hooves. "Wow..."

"Don't make me regret the decision." The mayor warned. But her threat belied her sentiment. They both shared a grin, and with a nod and a word of thanks, Dash turned to leave. "One more thing."

"Yeah?" Dash asked, turning back.

"Good luck."

She nodded. "I'll need it."

Dash dove under a cloud, pitching upwards through a gap and rising quickly. Tank was fed, and she had a sizable amount of bits on her, just in case she saw something she wanted. She sped up as she met open air, Canterlot coming into view. With the majority of the climbing over, she could level out, getting to a comfortable cruising speed. The city quickly drew closer, and Dash rose a couple more feet as she passed over the wall. The guards posted there let out some sounds of confusion, quickly lost behind her. She picked a street, banking hard in order to line up with it. This low flying was sure to irritate some of the stereotypical Canterlot unicorns, which was fine with her. But the roads all fanned out from the palace in a general sense, and the office for these things was right across the street. Speed was of the essence, and this was the fastest way.

Dash made a slight turn as she encountered one of the rays, as they were called, and the palace came into view. If she got much closer, she might get into the territory of getting forcefully grounded by a unicorn guarding the palace. She had heard about the group of pegasi that had tried to get into the palace a few years ago and extort Shining into keeping the guard passive as they made off with some huge lump sum of wealth. The palace had a lot of that. Their plan was complicated, and it would have worked if not for two things. Shining's hatred of surrender, and his location when they'd burst through various windows.

Dash turned sideways, flaring her wings hard. It was just at the edge of what she could take, slowing her down rapidly. Her hooves hit the ground and she started to gallop, folding her wings quickly and dodging around the Canterlot bustle. The streets started to clear a bit, and she started to slip back to her thoughts. The pegasi had broken in during one of the days Celestia was gone, and Luna was fresh off the moon and still not really herself. Shining hadn't stuck to his usual schedule, however, because he had decided to choose that day to propose to Cadance. That decision of his had set so many things in action, it almost made her laugh.

The raid failed, and Shining came out on top, even if he had done it just barely. Instead of being trapped in-between several of the pegasi, he ended up just outside their encirclement. By the time they were able to react, he had fought off the only pegasus he encountered and rallied the guards. He saw Cadance mere minutes afterwards and figured he may as well pop the question. She said yes amongst the chaos stemming from the realization that there were still more pegasi in the palace. Shining had forgotten to tell Twilight as a result, and with the amount of work he had to do buffing security and finding time for his fiancé, it was months before he sent her the news. But then, naturally another crisis was just beginning, and his tired and stressed mind stood no chance. At least the elements weren't involved in all the threats across Equestria. Of course, she would have rather had Shining's contributions in stained glass rather than their own. His were way cooler.

Dash shoved her way through the door to the government office, her jaw dropping. This early in the morning?

She shook her head. "This is where I die."

Mac hauled in the last load of apples for the day, walking out of the barn to bump a celebratory hoof against Applejack's.

"Trees are staying staggered this year." Applejack noted, grinning. "It's a lot easier than that one year when ya hurt yerself."

"They sensed weakness." Mac replied, chuckling as he slid off his harness. "This one's way easier to get off than that last one. Anywho, you have to get to that thing with yer friends, so have fun."

"Yeah, sure thing." She replied, nodding and trotting off towards the farm gates.

And just like that, Mac was left with nothing to do. Dash was gone, obviously, and his friends worked jobs with regular hours. He let a grin break out on his face. Well, not all of his friends. There was still Zecora.

He'd met up with the zebra after she'd fixed Applebloom's cutiepox, and offered to help her out with something. It just seemed fair, and he could offer muscle at the very least. She took him deep into the forest to go after some nut, which was up in a tree, luckily for him. Well, most nuts were in trees, so he'd sorta expected that. But Zecora had expected him to be better able to grab them when he reared up due to his size, as that was what she had been doing. A heavy kick knocked down most of the ripe ones, and that was that. So she made them up some sort of fruity drink and sent him on his way, with the invitation to come back some time.

Unsurprisingly, he came back the next week, and made a sort of tradition out of it. They'd go off somewhere, more than she'd been able to go before now that they had two sets of eyes looking out for danger, and find some interesting plant. Zecora would tell him about it, and what sorts of things she used it for, and he'd go home a little smarter. But ever since the mare had gotten used to him, she started slipping out of her rhymes. It was apparently her people's version of formal talk, because it took forethought and careful wordplay. It was what you did for those who were a rung higher in society. It was fairly interesting, and much more involved than anything they had here in Equestria.

Mac broke into a trot, hopping over the fence that surrounded the acres, looking around at the trees as they waved in the wind. He moved into shade, prickly oak leaves from Fall crackling underhoof. He weaved between tree trunks and around bushes, enjoying the openness this part of the forest had. The ground was covered in dry leaves and shade, the occasional bush here or there, but that was all. When he started to get down towards the creek, where the softer land was, it became hard to move through. Luckily, he never had to go that far.

The stallion walked onto a narrow path, looking around for any sign of life. There wasn't much more than birds and the occasional squirrel around these parts in the middle of the day, and today was no exception. He turned to the right, following the path as the brush became steadily more dense. He never saw a pony on this path, and Zecora didn't have the time or the resources to maintain it. She had spoken many a time of the unnatural ways in which the forest acted, and on their many ventures Mac knew she was onto something. Paths like these were a good example, and the occasional ruin here and there shunned forest life.

The trail opened up and her hut came into view. He slowed, walking up to knock on the front door. He heard excessive movement inside, and a few moments later the door opened.

"Hello, Macintosh." Zecora began. "I assume that you'll try your best, not to scare our special guest?"

"Oh, well if ya have company, Ah can leave."

Zecora pushed the door open the rest of the way to reveal another zebra, standing awkwardly in the back of the room, but beckoned him inside anyway. Ingredients were out, neatly strewn around Zecora's counter. Something was simmering in her cauldron, but it looked and smelled like food. Whatever she had been making, she either hadn't started or it had been a small batch in one of her other pots.

"So where're you from?" Mac asked.

"Zenris." The Zebra replied.

"Zenris? Where's that in relation to Zecora here's village?"

A hint of hesitation passed across his face. "South."

"It float?" Mac asked, taking some tea Zecora handed him and taking a sip as he sat down at her center table. "Ya could've just told me it was a changeling." He watched it's eyes shift, a little too conspicuously. It definitely wasn't one of Chrysalis's. But then again, they never were.

"You a traveler?"

The zebra hesitated, before green fire surrounded it, leaving in its place a feminine looking changeling with light orange eyes. "Y-yeah, I am."

"Yeah, well don't worry about me. Most ponies would probably freak out, but Ah've had enough time around Zecora to expect a lot. You're nothing seriously exotic, at this point." They were interesting, though, as nomadic groups of changelings that would show up as travelers here and there, sometimes getting so adjusted into a society that everypony forgot that they were ever absent. He only knew of a couple in town, and those were names he would gladly take to the grave. They excelled in backstory, but couldn't match ponies' personalities and gimmicks the way Chrysalis' changelings had been able to, or improv that well apparently, so they didn't attempt replacements. That was what differentiated most of the changeling races from hers.

"But after Chrysalis-"

"Ah know, but ya aren't them." Mac sighed. "Unfortunately, you're all the same to ponies because Chrysalis' changelings are all they've ever seen." He paused, watching the changeling slowly relax. That was good to see. What Mac did know, at this point, was that changelings could definitely pounce. He'd gotten tackled by one that he'd caught by surprise a couple months ago, and even though he wasn't ready for it, it was still hard under normal circumstances to knock him over. He'd pinned that one eventually, and let Zecora calm it down. But they were deceptively strong.

"So, another love potion?" He asked, pushing a chair out towards the changeling with his hoof under the table. "That's what you guys seem to come in for most of the time."

The changeling took the seat after some thought. "Yeah. Zecora takes these blossoms that we can put any love we have into, and they act as a sort of holder." She responded. "But my boyfriend's hurt, and it's the best way to heal a wound when you can make a potion out of them. They're a lot more common now that Zecora's here to make a few when we ask, but before we had to really travel. They think we're some sort of spirit creature down in some of her home villages, so they're more than willing to do us a favor here and there."

"So what happened to yer boyfriend?" Mac asked, watching Zecora stir her soup out of the corner of his eye. "If'n ya want to talk about it."

"Well it was just a stupid accident, really, but while we were all working on building a few new additions to our little temporary village, a tree fell and he made sure I was out of the way. His leg didn't fare as well." Tears pooled in her eyes, but she blinked them away. "But these fix injuries like his in just a couple minutes, and as soon as it starts healing it's too late for this to work very well."

"Only fresh injuries?" Mac asked. He'd known about the love potions, but not how they worked or what they did exactly.

"Yeah, but we had the blossoms ready, so I've got time. He's sleeping anyway, and he could use a couple minutes of rest." She paused. "But I should go. Once he's back to normal and we're done building, we can finish getting our stories ready. I'm hoping to settle with him, and maybe a couple others. The rest'll move on once we're set."

"Well good luck to ya both." Mac said, pushing the bottle he assumed was what she wanted across the table. "Oh, say hi sometime. Not as you, of course, but whoever ya are. Ya seem nice."

She smiled at him, and he felt the friendliness he exuded towards her getting pulled away.

"We'll see how it goes. But maybe." She let the door close behind her, before pushing it open quickly a moment later. "Oh, where are my manners?" She pulled two petals off an extra blossom she'd brought. "If you need a little pick-me-up. It'll manifest its way however you want it to, when or if the time comes."

"Oh, it's surely not needed, and with its absence your tribe will be impeded."

"Nonsense." She smiled, floating the petals over to them in her magic. "Niyen." The door shut again.

"It's been a while since I've heard anything in their language." Mac mumbled, handling the petal and feeling its power in his hoof. He had two of these now, the other was under his bed, carefully stored. The love would keep the petal intact, and if he ever needed it, it was there. Zecora had used one once, and she had said that it was a burst of power that seemed to know all the ways it could execute itself. She had run down a list of everything she had wanted to try before the power ran out, and to put it simply, it was like becoming a unicorn that could also manipulate weather for a short time. With all the changelings she had helped, Zecora could probably use all the petals at once and blow the princesses out of the water. The travelers liked the forest, and one group was always camped out somewhere nearby.

"So, shall we gather?" Zecora asked, putting a few ingredients away.

Mac grinned "We shall."

"Oh, but one thing first, and I promise it will be terse."

"You can drop the rhymes." Mac said, chuckling as he held the door open for her.

"But if I were to 'drop the rhymes'," she air quoted, "Then I would allow you to have peace at times." Zecora paused, grinning. "And that's just not allowed."

"So what's the thing that needs doing?" Mac asked, looking around outside. The forest had gotten a little misty since he'd gone inside, for whatever reason. Like he'd said, weird stuff happened. He hadn't been lying to Dash when he'd said that the part they'd been in was normal, but Zecora was bordering on where things got strange, and where he wouldn't want to go without somepony to watch his back.

"Well, there's a tree growing here that I really need to get to disappear." She paused. "Sorry."

Mac grinned. "You know, I don't really care about the rhymes like you think I do, but you may as well not bother yourself trying to concentrate on those as well. And like I said, the teenagers have a music style you'd be perfect for."

"And I sarcastically said I'd think about it. I have better things to do than show off my sick rhymes, yo."

Mac laughed. "But the looks on their faces, you've got to admit that'd be great."

"I will concede." She pointed to a darkened tree. "That one there, I am worried it's diseased. I cut into it, and it's only the outer layer that's changed color, which makes me think that it's a sort of fungus that works its way up the sides, like it is, and slowly converts the upper branches of the tree into its feeding grounds. We can't let that happen."

"Why?"

"The spores it eventually releases can take root in ponies if there are enough in the air to overwhelm the body's natural defenses, and living things like us are its favorite. They send in roots easily, and as you might imagine, that's not a good thing."

"Sounds like a good enough reason to me." Mac replied, satisfied. "So, kick it down?"

"Initially, yes. It'll slow the growth, and I can chop up the tree and burn it later."

Mac couldn't help but grin a bit, walking towards the tree. He pivoted on a hoof, letting out a kick. The tree let out a loud crack, and several birds angrily flew out of the tree. Mac got his footing again, and kicked once more. He left a sizable dent, and turned to look at the tree. Probably only one more. It looked somewhat rotten to begin with. Mac placed his front hooves in the divots he had left in the ground and kicked.

Another crack rang out as the tree tilted, a couple roots raising as the trunk splintered and shifted but held. Mac didn't let up, hitting what he deemed to be a weak spot and watching the tree uproot itself the rest of the way. The roots it still had attached were withered and dried up, and he could see why it was so easy to knock over.

"Alright, that's done." Zecora said simply. "Unfortunately for us, it's probably also the most interesting part of this excursion."

"Well, seeing as I'd be sitting around the farm with nothing to do otherwise, I'm sure it's fine."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," the zebra replied, chuckling as she led him into the forest.

"Next."

Dash shook herself out of her stupor, trying to feel as excited as she should be. Ugh, like that was possible. "I have a permit to file for the Ponyville weather control." Maybe, if she tried, she could be more monotonous than this mare behind the counter.

The mare just stared with dead eyes, and Dash already knew she lost. "All necessary paperwork?" Lost, and lost badly.

"It's all here." Dash said, handing a stack of paper over, topped with the permit. "Squared away."

She adjusted her reading glasses over the course of five seconds. "I see."

No fuckin' shit lady. "So, am I good?"

No response for a solid twenty seconds. Maybe if she concentrated hard enough, she could eek out enough magic to make this mare's head implode. "Let's see."

Dash huffed out a breath that had almost formulated itself on her lips as a long string of swear words. But because she was a mature mare, they were only going off inside her head loud enough to probably still be audible.

"I think these are in order." She opened an ink sponge, placing a stamp on it and making sure every molecule on the thing was covered before slowly stamping the goddamn seal of approval on there.

"Bring this to window five."

Dash forced a smile that probably looked like a grimace. "Thanks." She slowly turned. Everyone in front of window five was dead. She was going to personally kill them. She let out a sigh, her fake smile disappearing but not getting replaced completely with hatred for her life. It was empty. Maybe it was for specific things like hers. She trotted over, uncertain.

"Hello?"

"Yes?" A stallion asked, typing out some piece of paper a few strides from the window. "Permit in order?"

"Yes." Dash replied, a little too much excitement seeping out that this might go quickly.

"Well your odyssey is over." He responded, typing a few more characters before walking over. She handed it to him, and he moved to a wall of files, pulling out a drawer after a moment and filing the papers. He produced a new sheet identical to her permit without the mayor's signature, and affixed his own. "This goes back to the mayor, who will give you one to put up in the... Ponyville Weather Center. You can change the name with Ponyville, and we'll update it the next fiscal quarter."

"Thanks." Dash replied gratefully, stowing it in her saddlebag. "You wouldn't believe the-"

"Line? Oh, I understand. I'd be like the mare down there if I didn't have other things to do. Have a nice day."

"You too." Dash responded, excitement slowly creeping back into her body. Everything was still working, much to her surprise, and she could see her plan developing. She trotted happily out the door, no doubt annoying the ponies that were still in line, but she didn't care. All she had left on the agenda for today was to turn this thing in and buy a random thing for Mac. As she approached the center of town once again the streets became more and more busy until she could hardly see from one side of the street to the other.

Dash looked at the various stores, all high end this or that, and knew that Mac's twenty bits wouldn't be enough to buy a single item from any of them. So she walked onwards, peering in through shop windows here and there at expensive jewelry displays and dresses, things she could never afford even if she wanted them. She gave up, disinterested with the wares Canterlot's main shopping street had to offer. She hopped into the air, cutting over a couple streets in the hopes that she could find something that she might want. Canterlot was known for having a huge variety of things to buy, but so far she wasn't seeing it.

Dash landed on a far clearer street, looking around at the shops. There were a few restaurants, a toy shop, what looked like a candy shop, and a toy shop a little ways down the street. Dash smirked, eyeing the mannequins in the window wearing several versions of erotic clothing. Well, it wasn't going to be what she spent Mac's money on, but she had a few ideas of what to buy now.

She walked through the door, feeling a pang of embarrassment. She'd only been to a store like this once before, and it had been weird then too. Oh well, if there was anyplace to have something interesting, it'd be here. She checked the ponies inside the store, making sure she didn't even remotely know any of them. With her cursory check over, she allowed herself to walk further inside.

"Can I help you?" A unicorn mare asked, walking up to her. Her outfit was rather normal, in spite of the store.

"Yeah." Dash replied, thinking for a moment. She really didn't want to say this was for her. Or Mac. "So I'm actually here for a friend, on account of the fact that I lost a bet. You probably hear that a lot because ponies don't want to admit its for them, but she knows I hate being in these stores. No offense."

"None taken."

"Anyway, apparently I'm looking for a-" She pulled out a piece of crumpled paper from her saddlebag, looking at its empty face for a moment. "Strapon. Is that a thing you carry?"

The mare looked a little too excited. "Of course!" She gestured for Dash to follow, as they moved into a different room. An entire wall was covered in toys of various types. Dash felt her face heat up. Maybe this was a bad idea. But she figured if Mac ever wanted as much of a realistic experience as she could give him, this would be the way. And she would much rather be prepared than not.

"Which ones are good? She wanted-" Dash sighed. "She wanted it to give good feedback." That made sense, right? It was a dead appendage, and it couldn't possibly be anything like a real one if she could hardly get anything out of it.

"Well, we have our newer models over here." The mare said, pointing to some oddly shaped things. "But if you want the best, I can show you that." She pulled one off the wall, and Dash cringed. This was weird on several levels. "This one fits inside a mare for better leverage and feedback, as you say. It's one solid piece, from the end of the faux penis to the holding mechanism. It comes with straps, of course, but those are auxiliary, and not as necessary as they once were." She paused, taking a breath. "The selling points of this one are twofold. It's moulded around the clitoris of the wearer, using the sensitivity there to make small movements more obvious. There's some adjustment for how it fits there, not just to accommodate all mares but to allow it to change to the wearer's style. So, if a receiver likes it one way, the connections can be modified to make that specific angle or speed more pleasurable to the wearer."

"That's quite farsighted." Her face had to be beet red by now.

"Indeed. The other part is that optionally," she pointed to the part Dash would have inside her, "there is a small reservoir here, so that when the wearer orgasms, contractions can allow the receiver to feel a degree of the male climax. I would suggest warm water, as cleaning may be hard otherwise. Cool, huh?"

"I've never heard anypony talk about something like this so casually." Dash replied dryly. But it sounded nice, like Mac would enjoy the experience if it ever came to fruition. To be honest, it seemed like it would be fun as well, with something that would theoretically replicate sex to a reasonable degree. If it were ever to happen, and she took his virginity... well in a way, because short of him finding a stallion they weren't going to get any closer. But anyway, if it did, she supposed it would live up to any expectations he had, and it would sure as hell knock out a chunk of heat if he went into it again. She'd never been with a stallion while in heat, but she knew that attempting pregnancy was the thing that could change the week from an irritating to an entirely enjoyable experience. So if he ever did decide to use it, she knew it would get its use.

"So, I have two questions." Dash paused. "First of all, do I have choices of sizes?"

"Yes, we have a few. In accommodation of privacy, we've been reasonably able to judge what our clients need based on their body size and type. I would suggest a smaller size for you, for reference, and within that there's a choice of the other end between a small, medium and large set." She gestured. "And if your friend isn't satisfied, we do accept swaps."

"What do you do with the ones ponies return?" Dash asked, before she could stop herself. "Actually, I don't want to know." She bit her lip, thinking. In a way, she knew what Mac would need. He'd definitely want the larger one, just because he was bigger if nothing else. But in a way, she wished it would be part of her feeling his tightness clenched around... ugh, she could think about that later, when she wasn't in public. "So I'm guessing this is about a million bits?"

"Oh, of course not!" The pony exclaimed. "If you could believe it, these don't sell as well as I feel they should. They're on clearance until we slim down our stock to a more reasonable level. They're only eighty bits right now."

"Seriously?" Dash asked in disbelief. "You aren't pulling my leg?" Man, outside of the waiting in line part, this day was turning out to be pretty good in a results oriented kind of way. "Well then in order to get out of here as soon as possible, and with general estimates of my friend in mind, I suppose I'll take one in medium with a large end." There was no way she was going with small when it would pale in comparison to Mac. But then again, he was bigger than the large, as it looked. But she just needed to be tight around it, not overly distract herself with being stuffed.

"What color of straps?" The mare asked.

"I dunno, black? She can get other ones later for all I care. I'm going to have to get her back for this, I'll tell you." Dash chuckled, her laugh turning into an exasperated sigh.

"Alright, I'll get that in a bag for you." The employee offered, placing the display back on the wall and going into a back room. She returned with a bag a few moments later, and Dash made sure to shove it deep into her saddlebags. This had better be worth it. And it had better work the first time, because she definitely wasn't coming back. She pulled out the bits, handing them over.

"Thanks." Don't do it. "One more thing?"

"Yes?" She asked.

"Well, to wildly change the subject here, I have an earth pony coltfriend, and while I know that wings can feel good, do they have any lessors known points like that?"

She thought for a moment. "Well, it depends from earth pony to earth pony, but they usually have a few vestiges that you can play with."

"What?" Dash asked.

"Well earth ponies are the base model of all of us, so seeing as they don't have wings or a horn, it goes into sort of armoring those areas a little more. But you can usually find a nub of bone along their back or something and it can feel good. The missing horn is a similar deal, although almost all earth ponies are sensitive there, compared to a rather small pool of unicorns. We suspect that the forehead is actually supposed to be specific to earth ponies, and was involved presumably in mating or bonding in some way, we think. It's something that's still featured in old artwork and carvings, but we can't seem to figure out why it exists."

"How isn't the forehead thing more well known, though?" Dash asked. "It seems common to do that."

"Well, from how it has been described to me, it's not a sexual sort of pleasure, so much as a general giddy feeling." She shrugged. "But I'm not one of those unicorns, so I'm not sure. But because of that, most probably assume that it's just a normal thing, something that happens during intimate moments with their lovers."

"Well." Dash thought, looking away. She should really grab an anatomy book from Twilight and see what else she could find. "Thanks a ton."

"Sure, come again!"

Yeah, right. She was struggling between a combination of keeping her wings calm and her cheeks sky blue with the thoughts whizzing around in her head. A mirror she walked by said she had at least succeeded at the wings part. It'll be worth it, Dash, the embarrassment you're feeling will pass anyway.

Shut up, brain. Even with the vague feeling of excitement still in the back of her mind for various reasons, the embarrassment she felt from this whole ordeal was still at the forefront. She knew that these places were supposed to be secretive, but she couldn't shake the feeling that somepony would find out. The only one she ever wanted to know was Mac, especially with this purchase. That was a pang of nervousness that she quickly shook off. Nopony would find out. She didn't have to worry. Like she wouldn't anyway.

Dash walked past several other ponies entering the store, looking away as she passed. She'd probably die if any of them recognized her, or even worse, if somepony like Rarity happened to show up. Dash trotted outside, made sure her saddlebags were securely shut, and took to the air. The air cooled her warm cheeks, bringing her back to her senses and clearing her mind.

She just needed to peruse for something Mac or her wanted, and then it was back to Ponyville. She really needed a nap.

"Ya know, this place really creeps me out sometimes." Mac mumbled, looking around at the incredibly dense fauna at the edge of the clearing. Clearing was a bit of an overstatement, given the fact that they were still covered by branches so thick it seemed like nighttime.

Zecora laughed. "While I suppose among ponies the forest is subjective, it becomes quite the asset from my perspective."

"Dammit, Zecora, stop joking around." Mac held the lantern higher, though it did little to pierce the darkness. "Ah don't even remember why Ah do this sometimes."

"You say joking around, like I'm some sort of clown." She chuckled, freeing a few mushrooms from the ground. "But here you are afraid, spooked by just a little shade."

"Yeah, and the noises from creatures Ah can't see. If one of the heavier sounding' ones decides to come after us, there's not much Ah can do." He huffed, dread taking hold in his body. "And you and Ah both know it's gotten weirder out here recently."

"You only fear them as a threat, because you are not in the right mindset." Zecora replied, carefully packaging the fungus.

"Well Ah don't like to trust the invisible repellant this area has as much as you do. Frankly, the fact that beasts stay away makes me wonder how cursed these places really are." He heard a growl, turning quickly to look where it had come from. His heart was beating a mile a minute.

"Ha! What a ridiculous thought! To think you would say that after all you've been taught."

Mac huffed, anger spiking amongst the fear. "To think you would think mah thoughts so overblown! It's no surprise yer so alone!" God dammit. Zecora was silent. Nice, Mac. Congrats. A+ man, perfect. A hoof rested on his shoulder, and he jumped. Just Zecora. "Sorry."

She shrugged, a dejected gesture that only made him more angry at himself. It wasn't like him to go for the kill like that, to pick out a weakness and actually take advantage of it. "I suppose it's my fault, pushing you when you were already on edge." She replied. "It was for my amusement, so I deserve what I get."

Yeah, but that didn't warrant anything quite so harsh. "Ah still crossed a line." She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "At least, in mah mind." Another low growl reverberated around the trees and Mac twitched, still somehow managing to keep his eyes on her.

"Nerves." Zecora said, dismissing him with a hoof. "All is forgiven."

The walk back was quiet for quite a while. Mac knew Zecora wasn't angry, but he became stuck in his own thoughts, hearing himself mock her rhymes and loneliness in one line on repeat. Fuck. He knew it didn't really matter in the scheme of things. It had hit hard enough to make the zebra stop in her tracks, and that was normally hard to do. She'd forgiven him, but the words still hung over the pair, refusing to allow him to think about anything else.

"Aside from the issues there may be in visiting that part of the forest, and contrary to what you think, I do understand them, this is quite the haul." Zecora began. "And while you're still brooding over what you said, you can't be perfect. It won't even cross my mind a couple days from now, and you'll probably still be trying to think about how to fix it. That's how you are, and if you can take a bit of constructive criticism, it's your downfall, Macintosh. You need to stop dwelling on the past, especially with the beginning of a relationship like yours. It's not healthy."

"It's hard not to think about these things." He mentioned after a pause. "They keep me up at night sometimes, and I know you're right. I'm working on it. But Ah used to be so lonely, and I yearned for somepony like Dash for so many years, that it just became natural. It was this or that mistake that kept me from being happy, and I'd look up at the sky at night and just think." He stopped, looking down at the ground and watching his hooves. "Back then, there wasn't much of a place in Ponyville for me. Ah was an outsider in mah own town, mostly. But the last few years have been a turn from that, from insignificance and self-doubt. Ah met some more ponies, talked a little more, and found you."

He paused again, choosing his words carefully. "So whenever Ah lost mah way or felt overwhelmed, I came out here. The Everfree is soothing, mostly, and it probably helped keep me sane sometimes. Basically, this is a roundabout way of sayin' Ah'm thankful yer a part of mah life, whether it seems like Ah am all the time or not."

Zecora laughed, shaking her head at him. "Don't say it like I kept you from committing suicide! You're so overdramatic!" She shoved his side, making him budge a little to the right.

Mac chuckled. "Ah try." They broke out into giggles, laughter quickly echoing through the trees as the tension dissolved. As they slowly calmed back down, Mac composed himself enough to ask a question. "So, what are you planning on using these for? We've never gotten anything like this during our other adventures."

"These mushrooms are varied in uses, some that even I don't know. They're rare and sought after, and us finding them today was a miracle, especially in such numbers. Whatever I do with them, they'll go to good use."

Mac laughed. "Like all those 'rare' berries Ah got for you, just so ya could eat 'em on the way back?"

Zecora shook her head, pushing open the door of her hut as they arrived. "I assume the answer will become clear soon enough, once I find something to use them for. But I'll be stingy, that's a promise."

Mac grinned. "Well Ah should be getting back. Life to attend to outside the forest, ya know what Ah mean?"

Zecora scoffed. "I hope I never really do." She waved goodbye, and he took his leave with a chuckle.

"What kept you out so long?" Applejack asked, grinning. "Finally doing something with your friends now that Dash isn't around?"

"Ah went out with Zecora." He replied. "That sounds like it was a date. That's not what I meant."

"Ah know." Applejack stated. "Ya wouldn't have just Dash to worry about if ya cheated."

"Like I would even think of cheating." Mac scoffed, pushing on her shoulder just hard enough to send the mare off balance. Music started to filter into his ears from the house. "You have friends over?"

"Applebloom does."

"And you're out here, not watching them like a hawk?" Mac smirked. "They'll burn the house down."

"Ah wouldn't be surprised if arson was one of their cutie marks." She grinned, leading him inside. "Plus, the music's for me."

Mac listened as the music transitioned into a guitar solo, walking in beat as he tried to cross the threshold.

"Mac!" Dash exclaimed, knocking him sideways as she barreled into him. He could hear Applejack laughing from inside as they rolled in the grass.

"There one second, gone the next!" She managed to wheeze out.

"Mac!" Dash hollered. "I'm alive!"

He pushed her off of his body, getting up and dusting himself off. Dash looked up at him, always amazed at how tall he looked. "Yeah, ya are."

"I had to have been in that line for hours, and I think at some point my heart stopped beating, but I made it!" He extended a hoof to her, and Dash took it. His touch felt nice after so many hours without it. It'd hardly been a day and she missed him. His ears perked, and Dash had no time to react as she was pulled in front of the door.

"I love this song." He explained, turning towards Applejack. "The speakers can go louder, come on!"

Applejack grinned, disappearing from the doorway as the song ramped up in volume. Mac leaned forwards, moving in beat as he kissed Dash on the lips. "Missed ya." He said, taking one of her hooves in his. "Ya fancy a dance?"

"Oh, come on, Mac, you've got to know I'm not good at dancing."

He shook his head, laughing. He pulled her hoof closer to him, so that she was just inches away from his face. "You're a coordinated mare, you'll learn."

"But-" The first guitar chimed in after the intro, its music faintly echoing around as Mac whirled her around, staying on beat as he continued his fast paced flurry of dance. He strung her out by her arm, and Dash went along with the twirl. She was starting to catch on, adding a few of her own movements among their shared dance. She couldn't get the grin off of her face, watching as Mac slid up to her, pulling her up onto her hind legs as he reared up.

"Yer catching on fast." He said, leaning his forehead against hers. Dash couldn't keep her grin from growing slightly, knowing what the gesture meant. "Hope you've got good balance."

That was all the warning she got as his moves got more complex. She felt her hooves leave the ground, the world spinning around her before she ended up somewhere else, barely keeping up with this new pace. Mac chuckled, as if proud he could throw the fastest mare in Equestria off her tempo. He slowed his pace, waiting for her to match his moves and recognize the pattern. By now they had garnered a small audience of four, but Mac hardly looked like he knew the outside world existed.

Their dancing style was something Dash had only ever seen a few times, and she knew why. It was tough. They were both perpetually unbalanced, being only on their hind hooves as they were. Mac's arm wrapped around her chest, spinning them both a half revolution as they sort of fell past each other, keeping them upright. The dance was about balance shared between two ponies and a rhythm to keep it. Mac knew her well enough to keep them from falling, to know how she would fit into the equation, and if she could grin wider at this point she would.

They crossed forearms, spinning around separately for a moment before Mac switched arms. This time he grabbed hers in his, spinning her into his chest. They rocked backwards, almost far enough to get them past the point of being able to save themselves, and he spun her back in time to keep from falling forwards. So it went for the next couple minutes as he surprised her with the sheer number of dance moves there were, and his skill at staying balanced on only two legs. The song started to draw to an end, and Mac changed his movements. He pulled her in quickly, knocking her off balance as he caught her in his arms. She looked up at him and he grinned, keeping them in place as he stood on just his hind legs. She could only imagine the concentration that took.

In the blank space between songs, Dash pulled herself up for a kiss, fully aware that it would probably topple them. She got to his lips for a brief second before Mac tipped, sending them both back into the grass. They laughed, joined by some gentle applause from the doorway.

"Now all ya need's a rose, Mac!" Applejack joked.

The next song began, a slower one that Mac knew was coming. Dash was up in a moment, and he had her back to her hind hooves in barely a second, stooping down to put his head over her shoulder as they moved around slowly. Her hooves found the small of his back, moving them around the area slowly and feeling the gentle curves that were normally absent. Mac was carefully doing the same, stroking at the larger feathers of her wings. He made sure to stay away from the areas that would cause them to stiffen, but the petting felt soothing. Dash nuzzled into his mane, giggling.

"Love you, Dash." He whispered, and she giggled again, holding him a little tighter.

"Love you too." She responded, nipping him in the neck when she knew their audience couldn't see. "When'd you get so good at dancing?"

"Well it's just something we do, bein' a country family and all. Applejack and Ah used to pass the time with it as foals, and we got pretty good."

"You could say that again." Dash misstepped, but Mac easily righted her. She blushed.

"Boring!" Applebloom yelled, racing out of the doorway and into the house. The song changed again, a new, faster tempo beating out over the acres.

"Shall we?" Mac asked, taking a step back so that he was only holding her hoof in his once again. He kissed her hoof, laughing a little at the formality of the gesture and the way it made her blush. She grinned.

"Duke of apples, I accept your dance." Dash responded, getting a snort out of Applejack.

"Well then, queen of clouds, it is mah honor." He replied. "Last one on their hooves wins."

"Trying a competition with me? Surely you've heard of my reputation?"

He scoffed. "Well then surely you know that Ah don't accept reputation until proven in dance."

Dash smiled widely, watching the fillies join in with their own dances as dusk began to set in. "May the best pony win."

Author's Notes:

I want to say right now that Zecora not rhyming was not me being lazy. Rhymezone.com exists, and it's really not too hard. That was for the sake of world building and character development only. Plus, most of her sentences are probably rhymes anyway. It's also worth a reminder that this is set pre-castle in the Everfree.

A chapter without sex. These are nice in a lot of ways, although the mature rating still applies with the scenes as they are. Oh well, it's not like I'm trying for teen anymore, right? And as for how it affects their sex life, who knows? It's the part of this story I don't plan at all, so anything like that may or may not ever matter. What isn't up in the air is the rest of the plot, which gets a little deeper than I expected (pun?). I assume that's because I don't want this story to be short so I can keep writing Mac and Dash. It amazes me that I've written these characters, because they seem like the best I've ever done, and I'm getting attached to them. You people seem to mostly think so as well, and I'm glad for the continued support. Thanks for making this story so rewarding to write.