Dash tossed and turned under her covers, but for different reasons than the night before. She'd fallen asleep a few minutes after getting to bed, excitement over her budding relationship still turning over in her head. It didn't take long for her dreams to turn… a little less mellow.

She saw trees, the red fruits they bore. She knew where she was, saw the red fur she had her nose buried in as they hugged. His arms were tight around her, pulling her over with a giggle onto the ground. He nibbled at her ear, and Dash pushed herself to her hooves once again, meeting his lips with her own. Mac moved behind her. She felt his hooves on his shoulders and rubbed against one with her cheek softly.

His hips grazed her backside, his chin sliding around her head as she let out a sound of impatience that rang around her dreamworld. Dash caught a glimpse of his smile, felt his stomach against her back. The heat of his body against hers, the feeling of humidity between them as they started to heat up. She wanted him to do it, to start things already, but he didn't. He was swaying them forwards and backwards, no real attempts or urges apparently setting in on the stallion.

Then Dash felt it like a bolt of electricity, rubbing between her thighs, pushing the short fur this way and that. It was leisurely, like they had all the time in the world. Mac's breath against her neck seemed slow, and she knew that he was saving his stamina. He pulled back a little, clutching her more tightly as he tapped at her entrance, letting himself slide back between her legs a moment later. He was teasing her. He had her right in the flat of his hoof, and he knew it. Dash pushed backwards, but he only yielded a low chuckle.

His tip replaced itself, and with a slight backstroke that disconnected them, he pushed forwards, making contact a fraction of a second later and-

"BRRRRRRRRIIIIIING!" Dash's eyes shot open, and she turned her head towards the offending alarm clock. She punched it off the bedside table and it bounced against the wall, turning off somewhere in the process and coming to a stop next to Mac's top hat that she had inadvertently stolen. She shut her eyes again, trying to start the dream from where it left off. She gave up after a few moments, sitting up with a scowl.

"Fuck." She murmured, pulling up the covers and looking down at the small wet spot between her legs. "Ugh."

Dash pried off the top of a thunderhead, kicking it and sending it floating away. It was shaping up to be a long day already, and it'd hardly even started. She'd spent the first half hour of the morning dislodging her house from a cloud bank, and now she was stuck doing weather duty until the storm petered out the rest of the way. It had let loose most of its rain overnight, but that didn't mean a whole lot.

She wanted to see Mac. The dream she'd had hadn't helped, even though she was sure she would have been in the same position today anyway. It had been a nice fantasy, even if it hadn't gone through to the end. From what she'd managed to hold onto, it really seemed less like a wet dream and more like a bond that she yearned to have with Mac, now that she thought about it. It was so far beyond lust, even though that was all she'd taken it as at the time.

That wasn't to say she wanted sex, really. Because that wasn't it. She didn't expect it either. Mac wasn't going to move that quickly, and she knew it. That was fine, though, seeing as that wasn't what this was supposed to be about. It was an actual relationship, and those weren't based on sex. She was pretty sure about that, anyway.

Part of her wanted the contact that she'd imagined that they shared. Not that it needed to be in the same context, but she liked sleeping with stallions. In the literal sense. They were warm and firm but not too firm, and she fit against them. Sometimes it was on their arm or against their chest, but she didn't really mind. She felt excited about the idea that she could see him later, which was a strange feeling. She didn't like it.

And yet, she kinda wanted the sensation to continue. She'd never really felt these things, or at least, not for a long time. She wondered if it was the same way for Mac. Dash liked to think that he felt so… she would call it heavyheartedness, but that didn't really sound right. She wasn't going to go professing her love for a stallion that she'd only knew for a few days, but she felt like she wanted to. It wasn't as if she loved him, in the deep sense. She didn't know much about him, but she had… fallen in love, she supposed. Pretty badly, in fact.

Part of that was referenced when she was so lost in her thoughts that she crashed into a cloud a moment later. She shook her head, trying to focus. Whether she could name her feelings or not, she still wanted to see him again, and thinking wasn't getting her anywhere.

"There's probably a 'ten seconds' line in here somewhere." Dash said quietly to herself, cracking her neck with a wide grin. A mare like her could get done before lunchtime. That was lowering her standards anyway. She let out a laugh. There weren't any mares as awesome as her anyway, especially not when it came to weather. She smacked her hooves together, and got started.

It was only a matter of time.

"Checking out already, boss?" Thunderlane asked, leaning on the side of Dash's office door as she got her stuff in order to leave.

"Yeah. Got things to do, ponies to meet."

"So, would one of those ponies happen to have red fur? Be a little tall? Highly sought after?"

Dash smirked. "Maybe."

"Pfft. I get to know, I helped you out." He said, pushing at her with a hoof as she tried to go by. "Come on, I'm not the gossip type."

"Fine. I'm going to meet him."

"Date went well?"

"Better than you'd expect." Thunderline made a suggestive face. "Not like that! I- It's- maybe later, but-" He closed the door, and Dash sighed.

"Go ahead."

"We just kissed, alright? Then it was pretty late and we went home." She couldn't keep a smile from her face at the memory.

"You look pretty buzzed from just a kiss. That's how you know he's something to stick to." The stallion said, pushing the door open again. "Anyway, I'll see you later. Good luck and all that."

"Hey-" She began, and he stopped. "I never needed any help, alright?"

He seemed to get the idea. "Got it, rep and all. No help from me." He disappeared around the door, and Dash let her smile return. She had to keep herself from sprinting out the door, but let loose as soon as she was out in the street. She dodged this way and that, jokingly taking Mac's advice to keep her hooves on the ground a little more often. Ponies yelled at her, but she couldn't care less.

She turned down the same alleyway she had the previous night, entering the same square and slowing to a trot. She knew what Mac would want for lunch, if they did take out. She walked up to the same noodle shop, and wondered for a moment if they were only open for dinner. The square wasn't very full, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

"Can I help- Oh, you're that mare from last night! That one that Macintosh brought here."

"I didn't know he was so well known." She said, taking his outstretched hoof to shake. "Rainbow Dash."

"Grease Pit." Dash wasn't sure if he was joking. "At least, that's what ponies call me."

She stifled a laugh. "I don't know if that's the best nickname to have."

He shrugged. "It's grown on me. What can I get you?"

"Do you do to go?" She asked, and he nodded. "Then two slightly smaller versions of the stuff we got last night."

"Coming right up." He replied, tipping his hat to her.

Dash glided back across town, riding on an updraft that circulated in the slightly warm morning. She had the food in her hooves below her, which in the absence of magic didn't turn out to be easily held. It was heavy and in flimsy containers, so the fact that she'd taken off at all was somewhat of a surprise.

Ponies went by beneath her, her slow pace completely different from her usual style. In a way, she kind of liked it. But then again, she was annoyed that she hadn't gotten farther yet. She felt giddy, excitement running through her like she was part of the wiring to a lightbulb. So close, and yet so far.

He'd like this, she figured. She didn't know what he did for lunch, but having his favorite stuff brought to him couldn't hurt. Might brighten his day if he was having a bad one, and give them something to talk about.

Buildings started to become less common and were soon replaced by the fields and trees of the Acres. Her grip slid on the plastic containers, and she felt a chill run down her backside as she struggled to readjust. They slipped again, and she cursed under her breath, leaning down to bite onto a container in an attempt to hold on longer.

She saw him, reclining against a tree down below. Dash slowed down, flapping her wings backwards as she descended and came to a stop, setting down the two containers of soup gently in the grass. She let go with her mouth, cringing a bit at the bite marks in the lid of the corresponding container. That would just be hers.

The blue mare looked up, running her eyes across Mac's body. He was damp with sweat, probably taking a rest after the row of apple trees that had already been bucked. He also hadn't noticed her, which was hard to believe. She wasn't a quiet flier. But there he was, just staring off into space as a bead of sweat worked its way over his muzzle. He looked tired and stressed, like he was coming down with something after all.

"Mac." Dash tried, attempting to get his attention. It didn't seem to work. "Mac!" That seemed to get the desired results, as he jumped and looked over at her. "Hey."

His eyes looked her over, and he wiped a hoof across his brow. "Why're ya here, Dash?"

"Just wanted to see you." She replied. That only sounded a little corny. "Brought lunch." Unsurprisingly, he seemed to devote a little more attention to her. His mind was clearly somewhere else. The tired part probably explained that.

He rubbed his hooves together, pushing himself to his hooves. He took a few steps towards Dash, who was greeted with the smell of hard labor and dirt, intermixed with that undertone she infuriatingly recognized but couldn't place. She leaned forwards and kissed him on the cheek, watching a blush appear as she pulled away. It was red enough to be seen through his fur, so that had to mean something.

"Ah guess this marefriend thing is all it's cracked up to be." He said with a chuckle, pushing his lips against hers. "Ah don't deserve ya." Mac continued, taking a container as Dash handed it to him gratefully. Hopefully he wasn't sick like he'd argued.

"You don't deserve me?" She laughed. "How can you figure that?"

He shrugged, pulling off the fork that was taped to the top of the lid and letting out a sigh of relief as a cool wind blew by. "Ya put all the work inta this, and all ah did was make it hard for ya. It's weird saying' that though, marefriend."

Dash chuckled, watching him take a sip of broth. She still couldn't help but feel worried for him, though. "Mack, how're you feeling?" She asked. He swayed on his hooves, letting himself fall into a sitting position.

"Ah'm fine."

"You're clearly not." Dash replied, gesturing at him. "You look like you have the flu without the chills, and you're still working like you normally would."

"It's gotta get done eventually." He said, shoveling down some more noodles. "Thanks a ton for this, Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah, it's no problem, but-"

"Look, Ah have a lot ta do today, cuz Ah'm already a little behind." He murmured through a couple of noodles. "Why am I so freakin' hungry?"

Dash put a hoof to her forehead, sighing. God, stubborn was right. She could understand that, but still. She picked up her untouched soup, detaching the lid and bringing a scoop of noodles to her mouth. They tasted delicious, as always. It would have been nice to know about these a few years ago.

"Ya want some water?" Mac asked. "Ah can go get it from the house."

"Get some ice." Dash suggested, and he nodded. He disappeared over a small hill, and Dash was suddenly stuck a little more alone than she wanted to be. At least the water might do him good, whatever the problem was. Relationships were a lot of work.

So she waited and waited. She stared at the squished grass where Mac had been sitting, the steaming soup that was already mostly gone. Dash took another mouthful of her own. He should't be gone this long…

"Sugarcube?" Applejack asked, and Dash just about jumped out of her skin.

"What?"

"Mac told me ya were out here." The farm mare replied, walking down the hill towards her.

"What happened to him?" Dash inquired, raising an eyebrow as she rose to her hooves. "He okay?"

"Well, Ah stuck him in bed, if'n that's what yer askin'. He's not gonna admit that he ain't fit ta work, so ah have ta do this from time ta time."

"You know what's wrong with him?" Dash asked, spreading her wings. She couldn't decide between relief and annoyance.

"Nah." Applejack replied unconvincingly. Dash eyed her but said nothing.

"Tell him I'll try to stop by for some visiting hours, alright?" She sighed. "I gather he's resting right now, so I'll give him tonight."

Applejack nodded, and Dash turned to take off. "Wait." The orange mare said, and Dash let her wings fall to her sides, looking behind herself. "Whatever ya'll have done with him the last couple nights, it's really- Mac's hardly stopped talkin' bout ya, and that means a lot, given him. Seems like Ah shouldn't have had as many reservations about this."

"I told you there was some sort of click there." Dash replied with a grin. "And besides, you don't have to thank me. I got everything I wanted last night when we kissed and I knew his feelings."

Applejack grinned a little. "So, Ah should expect yer tamarrah?"

Dash laughed. "Bright and early."

Dash had never been more bored in her life. She was laying on her couch, a hind leg draped over one end, Tank asleep on her chest. She wanted to be with Mac. Naturally, that was the one thing she couldn't do.

Why couldn't things just work out? She had just wanted to go over there with lunch and maybe share something comparable to the night they'd had. It was like he'd become some sort of sustenance for her, and she wasn't sure if she liked it.

Actually, she would, if she was next to him in that bed. That's sure be nice, all warm and… sweaty. Eh, maybe when he wasn't sick. But assuming that, it would be nice. She could imagine herself fitting nicely in his hooves, snug against his larger form. All warm and secure. Wow, she felt lonely. Which was ridiculous, because she had a coltfriend. He'd even referred to her as a marefriend, so it had to be official.

"How can I possibly miss him after a couple hours?" She asked out loud, pushing a hoof into her forehead. It was annoying. She sighed, poking at one of Tank's legs, which retreated into his shell, only to slowly hang back out a minute later. He would have never made it in the wild without her, that was for sure. But that made him slightly more interesting.

She really needed to find something to do. Music. She could listen to music. Dash set Tank to one side, pulling herself off the couch. Her hooves padded along the floor on the way to the closet, and she pulled down a box of records. Her friends were all telling her to upgrade or something, but she liked her old stuff.

Dash stared at the box for a moment, pulling a random case out and removing the disk. She stuck it onto her record player and turned it on, setting down the needle. Lonely blues music started to play, and something stopped her from flipping it off in anger. It fit, at least. Even if it made her feel lonelier.

She sat down, leaning against the couch and letting the music play. It almost seemed to play through her, compounding her emotions and sorting them into exactly what they were.

Dash knew she wasn't just lonely. She was annoyed that things couldn't go smoothly. A kiss was supposed to mean that she could coast, ride the updraft after the initial energy to fly high enough to reap its benefits. Relationships all followed the same formula, whether or not they looked the same. Once they got started, they got better for a while until they went downhill. The maximum just occurred at different points for different ponies.

Then again, she liked the security. After a few days, she could continue where she'd left off, and win Mac the rest of the way. She'd done the impossible, sort of, and now it just relied on her building things up. Their relationship hadn't fallen apart by now, and that meant a lot. Her mind had slipped so many times in their conversations that he pretty much had to know how she worked and what she thought. It was a little unfair. But where he had information, she could still do a good job reading his face. He was expressive, probably as a result of the fact he didn't talk a lot. There was probably also something about the fact that he was the brother of a pony that couldn't lie.

Was it just hard for Applejack to lie, or physically impossible? Could she lie if lives depended on it? Come to think of it, she was shaky earlier today when she said she hadn't known what was going on with Mac.

Dash's blood ran cold as her thoughts changed. If she didn't want to tell him, it could be something horrible. What if he was slowly dying from some disease? He would be the first one Dash would pin as trying to keep such a thing private.

But as she started to think more logically, that seemed less likely. He kicked tree after tree, and she'd seen it. She didn't know of any diseases that wouldn't affect him at all, except at certain times. Well, there was tuberculosis, but that was coughing. He'd just sweated. Maybe that smell had something to do with it.

It was funny that she'd thought his emotions were an enigma. His life was a complete mystery. She'd just figured he bucked apples all day and did some other things that he'd already shared. Having some strange recurring disease was something else entirely. It scared her more than she wanted to admit.

Here she was, coming up with the worst case scenario and freaking herself out because… what? Her coltfriend had a cold and Applejack seemed nervous, so it had to be a rare disease? He had to be dying?

She leaned her head backwards against the couch, catching Tank as he nearly walked off the piece of furniture. She set him on her lap, closing her eyes and listening to the music as it filtered through her house. She felt tired, and despite the emotions bubbling up all around her, she found herself increasingly eager to bleed the time away.

Next thing she knew, the record was done and Tank was gone from her side. It'd felt like she just had just closed her eyes for a minute, but judging by the sky outside, time had definitely passed.

"How did I sleep through the whole frickin' day?" She asked, staring at a couple of low hanging stars. She felt rested and full of energy, but it still kinda annoyed her. The dim crescent moon projected a square of light through one of her windows onto a clock, showing her that it was well past midnight. Leave it to her to sleep twelve hours straight.

But Dash knew she needed it, and even though it was the middle of the night and her sleep schedule would be all screwed up, it was twelve fewer hours she had to deal with or compound any fears with stupid thoughts. And another thing, it'd been forever since she'd been able to fly at night. She quite liked the idea of not being tired when she did it.

Dash rolled to her hooves, finding Tank not too far away, and allowed herself the slight excitement over what she could now do. She crouched and launched herself through a window in a fluid motion, loosing herself into the cool night. It would be hard to think about anything but flying in these conditions, and that was just how she liked it.

Dash banged on the door to the Apple abode with her hoof, shifting her weight awkwardly between legs as she waited. Technically, it was still bright and early, even if the sun had just crested the horizon.

Were those hoof steps? She was pretty sure they were, but they definitely weren't Mac's. The door opened, and a tired Applebloom stared up at her. The filly mumbled something that may or may not have resembled a curse word, before she turned around, taking a deep breath.

"SIS! Mac's marefriend is here!" She yelled, leaving the door wide open as she walked away.

"Well ask her inside!" Came Applejack's response, filtering in from some other room. So much for not waking everypony up.

"Ah did!" She responded, lowering her voice as she looked at Dash. "Come on inside."

Dash followed the filly to their kitchen table, watching Applebloom return to her slightly soggy cereal. Dash sat next to her, figuring that Applejack would be down in a minute.

"It's cool that yer datin' mah brother." Applebloom said through a mouthful of food. "Scootaloo seems ta think that yer the most awesome mare in town. She'll go crazy when Ah tell her."

Dash sighed, scratching her head. "Crazy how?"

"Happy, Ah'd assume."

"Man, it's been too long since I've seen that little squirt." Dash said, biting her lip. There was just too much stuff going on.

"She'd probably freak out if you ever get a bit of time to show up. Maybe help her get her cutie mark?"

Dash grinned. "I'll try to find a free slot." As if time was the problem. She had tons of time, but no will to do anything with it while things were on her mind. At this point, Mac came first. It made her feel crappy to say that, but trying to do something with Scootaloo while her brain was elsewhere would just be bad for the both of them. When she could devote her full attention, or most of it at least, she would gladly spend a day with Scoots. But before then, it just seemed stupid.

"Ya know, when ya said bright and early, ah expected ya somewhere around the early afternoon." Applejack said, walking into the room.

"So if you don't mind me getting right to the point, where's Mac?" Dash asked, shifting in her seat.

Applejack sighed. "Yer not gonna like this. He's with the Oranges, managing some cider supply. He'll be back in about a week."

"Huh?" Dash asked, leaning closer. Applejack hadn't seemed particularly nervous about that.

"Ah said that he'd be back in about a week."

"Why did you send him away, in his condition?" Dash inquired, furrowing her brow. The fact that Applejack wasn't showing any of her obvious tells hardly convinced her.

"It was either that, or a week's worth of work if Ah went." She replied. "Ah know you two're close, but it's rather important, Sugarcube."

"Yeah." Dash said, her breath catching as she tried to hold back tears. "Alright." She didn't feel like pushing it. She hardly felt like doing anything.

With a creak of the chair she got up, walking straight towards the door. It was hardly open before she took off, ascending into the sky. Tears of frustration clouded her eyes, running along the sides of her face as they dried in the wind. She felt like curling up in a corner and crying, which in turn made her feel like kicking herself for acting so brittle.

But she hurt, and she didn't know how to make it better. Dash had broken bones before, a rather large number in fact, and while those were technically worse, she would make them hurt less by keeping them steady or resting. And the pain started to sink to the back of her mind anyway. This was different, and she had no experience with any of it. She wanted to ask for advice, but at the same time, she wanted to deal with this alone.

As she reached home, that was exactly what she did.

Dash wondered if he'd want his top hat back. She'd stuck it back on her head, the rose laid out on the bedspread in front of her chin. She was sprawled out, and she had been for who knows how long.

The sun spot had moved across her floor, as had Tank. Pretty soon, it started to fade completely, sliding onto the wall and away from her pet.

Dash took off the hat, smoothing out the shape it had formed in her mane. She had nothing to do, so she may as well bring the headwear back. Maybe something had gone wrong and Mac was back anyway. That made her feel a little better.

She pushed it tightly onto her head and dropped from an open window, glad that at the very least she'd gotten through the day more quickly than she'd expected. Hopefully these stupid yearnings would wear off so she could just wait like a normal pony. It was a week, with an assured gain to their relationship afterwards. They were to a point, as she liked to think.

The flight to the Acres was uneventful, as was her landing and the knocks on the door. Applejack opened the door much more promptly, biting her lip as she saw Dash.

"Mac left his hat with me, I figured I'd just give it back before I lost it or it fell out of my house." She said, trying to keep her voice steady. "Any word, perchance?"

"Well, he was doing a little better when he left this morning. Ah guess Ah forgot to tell ya about that."

Dash nodded, turning and taking flight. She stayed low, banking around the backside of the Apple Family barn. She figured she'd pull a full circle to try to get some fun into her mind, coming around the front and past the open window above the doors. Man whatever they had in there smelled funny.

She turned around, hovering outside. Dash floated inside a bit and landed on the loft, sniffing at the air. It was like… it was that familiar smell that she'd gotten…

Off of Mac. Her eyes widened as she finally recognized what it smelled like. Heat. It smelled like a mare in heat.

Dash looked around, trying to figure out what could possibly make such a smell. The last mare she'd known that had been in heat had finished early last week, and that was an outlier. So… how did Mac- It didn't make any sense.

She crouched, hitting the floor of the loft as the red stallion walked by beneath her. What- she- huh?

This didn't make any sense!

He flopped onto his side next to a barrel of cider and a pile of oranges, which explained why Applejack was able to lie this morning. It wasn't as if she technically had. Dash would've found that funny if she didn't have a million other things to figure out.

Mac looked uncomfortable. Maybe he was better, but not by much. Was this quarantine? Was she in a bad situation? Why all the setup for one lie?

Dash scraped her hooves down her face, managing to keep quiet. Mac was facing away from her, which was nice since she didn't have a lot of cover.

She looked around and listened, but all she could hear was the sound of Mac's breathing. Unless there was a corpse in heat around here, or the smell was from something else and she wasn't remembering it correctly, Mac somehow smelled like heat. But that was impossible.

The fact that it had taken her so long to recognize that smell annoyed her, but it wasn't exactly surprising. The last thing she remembered about heat was the smell. It wasn't something she noticed, although she was sure a stallion knew it by heart. She face hoofed. Because why it had taken her so long was really important.

Mac got up again, shaking his head and blowing out steam. He was pacing sideways to her, and she could swear- was that- he had an partial erection. She wasn't sure whether she should try to mentally scale it to an object near her or freak out. Why was this happening, anyway?

His testicles were right behind that, though she'd at least caught glimpses of those before. So why the smell?

Mac let out a grunt of discomfort, stopping his pacing. He laid down on his stomach, breathing heavily as some sweat went down his forehead. He was right below her, and Dash almost forgot to breathe. Mac rolled onto his back, further under the loft. Unsurprisingly, he showed off a fair amount of hardware at the same time. Well, a fair amount would be putting it lightly- Dash face-hoofed again.

If she didn't at least have a reason behind watching, she would probably feel pretty dirty. As it was, she still did. This was wrong on so many levels.

Mac turned his head sideways, keeping his eyes tightly shut. He mumbled out her name, and her eyes went somehow larger. Mac pressed his length against his stomach, rubbing it slowly as he moved his ample balls with his other hoof, rubbing at himself below them. Dash felt her blood run cold and her breathing speed up. She leaned over the edge of the loft, taking in the sight beneath her. It was impossible. She had to be asleep in her house or something.

Dash closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She opened them again, taking in the same surroundings. Maybe she was imagining things. She leaned over the edge again, gasping. He'd shifted a little, and she could see- everything. Right there, right where there should be- nothing at all on a stallion. In between his legs where only mares were supposed to- She heard her name again, coming out on a husky breath.

Her coltfriend wasn't even a colt!

Dash took a half step backwards with a shaky breath, hearing a plank crack. Then she was falling as the rest of the boards gave way under her weight. She landed on the ground, her head spinning. There was a flurry of activity around her, but she couldn't concentrate on any of it.

"Dash!" Mac exclaimed as she began to get her bearings straight. "Ah- what? You-" His single word sentences steadily degraded into nothingness. He had his back against a bale of hay, covering himself up with his hooves.

"Look, I just have to-" Her breath caught. "I have to go." She turned, flying out of the barn at what had to be near-lightspeed.

"Dash! Please!" Dash heard, but she only sped up into the darkness. The blue mare stopped a ways from the barn, landing on an exposed branch of an apple tree. She couldn't slow her breathing or her lightning fast thoughts. Everything made sense. The lies, the deceit. Mac's personality quirks and his reactions. She wasn't sure how it wasn't obvious earlier. Oh wait, that's right. She'd figured anything like that was impossible.

He had- she still didn't get it. He had both.

"So what?" She asked herself out loud. "So what if he's a little different. Or a lot." She sighed, shaking her head. It didn't matter. Dash had fallen for Mac, and that was still him. He was still a stallion in nearly every sense, so that simplified a lot.

Fuck it. She had to go back. She wasn't letting something like this end because of something else that she couldn't overcome. She'd done tons of stuff harder than this. It was just one more challenge, one more obstacle. Maybe it wasn't even that big of one.

Dash hopped from the branch, taking flight again. She had to make amends and regain the stallion she'd been stuck away from for so long. Nothing had changed, not really. This was supposed to be a relationship. Relationships weren't perfect, and the sooner she accepted that the sooner she could move on. A load on her back seemed to float away, and the corners of her mouth turned upwards into a smile just slightly.

He was here, and he wasn't sick. As she neared the same window she'd flown out of and felt a little of the same excitement to see Mac as she had before, she knew things could go on, even if they might change a little. There was too much here to just give up, and if there was one thing she knew about herself for certain…

She never, ever, gave up.

Author's Notes:

So, there it is. It's submittable to the contest. Hopefully heads didn't explode or anything, although the amount of hinting I did may or may not have eased that a bit. But anyway, I'm out of consecutive day updates to release, and I'll be going out of town for the next couple of days. I'll probably get some work done, but I don't know if I'll have the ability to upload it. I'm kind of annoyed that I had to leave you people with this, but it'll have to do. I hate cliffhangers as much as you do, I promise.

Anyway, comment with any thoughts you had or things like that. And throw me a thumb if you've already favorited!

Also, if it wasn't clear, the little asterisk in the title means that there was clop involved. Evidently, most of you came in knowing that things would be mature rated anyway, so I don't know how necessary it was. I'm still putting them there, though.