Rainbow Dash landed next to Applejack in a row of trees on Sweet Apple Acres, wearing a smirk on her face that Applejack was dying to wipe off as soon as she saw it. Applejack smirked back, ready for the challenge, whatever it might be. She’d already treated ten rows of trees for sparkmites that morning, so she figured she had time for a little foolishness.

“Hey there, what brings you by?”

Dash kept smirking as she leaned against a tree. “So, how’re things going with Twilight?”

“Real good...” Applejack cocked her head in confusion. She and Twilight had been dating for a few months, and rarely saw each other without nuzzling or standing against each other. Dash could see that, so why she might have expected another answer was beyond Applejack.

“How good?” Dash’s smile changed. She leaned in towards Applejack and gave her a nudge with her shoulder. “Good, or gooood?”

“Uh, good?” Applejack shrugged. “What’re you talkin’ about?”

Dash pulled away and gave her mane a toss. “Well, me and Rarity went out again last night, and I gotta say that things between us are gooood, if you know what I’m saying,” she finished with a wink.

Applejack shook her head. “I got no idea what you’re sayin’.”

“Applejack.” Dash rolled her eyes. “It turns out Rarity doesn’t mind those satin sheets getting really messy.”

Applejack just blinked.

“We had sex,” Dash informed her. Then she grinned and flew into the air. “And it was awesome!”

“Oh,” Applejack said, then her eyes went wide and her cheeks turned red. “Oh my… but-- ya’ll only been out twice!”

“So?” Dash shrugged. “It’s not like we’re strangers.”

“Ya’ can’t know if you’re really in love with her after two dates!” Applejack said, stomping her hoof.

“Woah woah woah!” Dash hovered and waved her hooves in front of her. “Who said anything about love? It’s way too soon to be thinking about something like that!”

Applejack’s mouth fell open. “You… just did that… and ya’ don’t even care if ya’ love her? Does Rarity know that?”

“Neither of us have said it,” Dash said with a shrug. She shook her head and glared at Applejack. “What’s your issue? Can’t get Twilight in the hay?”

“I have not even tried, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack answered crisply, puffing up. “Me and Twilight are both savin’ that for our very special somepony.”

“Wow. I had no idea you two were so lame.” Dash raised an eyebrow and considered. “But I guess I should’ve figured.”

“It’s not lame!” Applejack snapped, glaring at her friend. “It’s how we were raised.”

“Yeah, by your grandmother, and a thousand-year-old princess.” Dash started to giggle. “I’m surprised you don’t both wear sunbonnets and dresses that cover your hooves.”

Applejack’s glare grew horns as she shot back, “There’s nothin’ wrong with not jumpin’ in and outta bed like a common hussy.”

All giggles were forgotten and Rainbow Dash’s mouth fell open. “Did you just call me a hussy?!”

“Messin’ up satin sheets on your second date with somepony?” Applejack smirked and turned towards an apple tree as if it was more interesting than Dash’s reaction. “From how I was raised, that’s soundin’ mighty hussy-like.”

“It’s not like I picked up some strange pony in a bar!” Dash flew over to continue the conversation to Applejack’s face, from the other side of the tree. “I’ve been friends with Rarity for, like, forever, and I’m dating her.”

Applejack just raised an eyebrow at Dash. “So it’s too soon to know if you love ‘er, but not for gettin’ dirty?”

“Oh come on, it’s just sex!” Dash protested, throwing up her forehooves in exasperation.

Applejack couldn’t stop her eyes from going wide again. “Just sex?!”

“Yeah!”

“You’re sayin’ that like makin’ love ain’t one of the most special things ponies can share with each other!”

Dash rolled her eyes. “AJ, trust me, anything I did with Gilda under the bleachers at flight school after a six-pack is not one of the most special things ponies can share with each other. It’s not even in the top ten.”

Applejack just shook her head slowly, eyes still wide. “Rainbow Dash, you are a hussy!”

“Am not! I was friends with Gilda too!”

“You’re friends with me, and we get along fine without that.”

Dash glared. “We’d better, since you’re a prude.”

“I’m not a prude! Makin’ love is one’a the most beautiful things in the world, when it’s with somepony you love.” Applejack narrowed her eyes, setting her mouth in a firm line.

“Yeah? And how would you even know, if you’ve never done it?” Dash smirked, crossing her forehooves.

“Cause ponies I respect told me so. You callin’ my granny a liar?” Applejack said. The look she gave indicated that would be a very bad thing for Dash to be doing.

“No, I’m calling you a prude, if you’re gonna take the word of a hundred-year-old pony over practically every pony living today,” Dash huffed and turned her muzzle to the sky.

“Every hussy livin’ today, ya’ mean. Twilight don’t think I’m a prude, she was raised the same way. And since she’s the pony I’m datin’, that’s all that matters,” Applejack said firmly.

“Yeah, well, Rarity doesn’t think I’m a hussy,” Dash shot back.

“That’s good then.” Applejack nodded.

“Good,” Dash agreed.

Applejack turned to stomp away. She wasn’t going anywhere in particular, but it seemed like a good way to end the conversation. But she stopped when she heard Dash call after her:

“You want Twilight, right? Like, you think she’s hot?”

Applejack turned back to Dash, annoyed. “Of course I do.”

A devious smile grew on Dash’s face. “I bet you want her really bad sometimes. I mean, Twilight’s a hot pony, and I know you guys kiss and stuff. Being all close to her, and feeling her coat, and thinking about running your hooves over her cutie mark and her belly and lower, between her--”

“RAINBOW DASH!” Applejack shouted. She was blushing in spite of herself, shocked that Dash would talk about something like this and furious because she knew this was just the reaction Dash wanted.

“Anyway, I guess that must be really tough, knowing you’re not gonna do anything,” Dash managed to say between giggles before she burst out laughing.

“I’m lookin’ forward to that day, you better believe it. But I respect Twilight, and she respects me, and that means respectin’ how we think this oughta go.”

“Yeah.” Dash snickered. “I bet you’re respecting her long and hard when you’re thinking about her in bed at night.”

“Will ya’ stop that?” Applejack felt the heat of the blush moving down her neck and glared daggers at Dash for it.

“What? If I can’t get details about you and Twilight, I might as well get details about you and your hoof.”

“Ain’t there somepony else you can go bug ‘bout this?”

Dash smirked. “I could go ask Twilight… see if she has any wild stories about her hoof.”

“Don’t. You. Dare,” Applejack growled.

“Yoohoo! Twilight!” Dash called, shooting up into the air. Applejack snapped at the rainbow tail with her teeth, but missed by inches as Dash rose out of reach and flew fast and high towards Ponyville, laughing as she left.

“You varmint!” Applejack called after her, racing to the road to try to warn Twilight.

Twilight had spent the day re-shelving books, before turning around and unshelving a new pile which she was curled up next to. The day had been peaceful… too peaceful. So she was startled, but not surprised, when Applejack burst into the library, looking around.

“Twilight! Twilight, Rainbow Dash ain’t here, is she?”

“No,” Twilight answered. A worried frown formed on her face. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, except that she’s a no-account hussy!” Applejack snapped the last word. Twilight’s mouth dropped open, she’d never heard AJ talk about one of their friends like that. There was a flash of concern in Applejack’s eyes upon seeing Twilight’s reaction, so she went on in more careful grumble, “She said she was gonna come here and-- well, she’s up to no good today.”

“I haven’t seen Rainbow all day, but whatever she’s doing, that’s not a nice thing to call a pony,” Twilight said, shaking her head.

“Well it’s the honest truth,” Applejack insisted. “You know she-- her and Rarity, they-- well, they were doin’ stuff that good ponies don’t do, last night.”

“You mean--” Twilight began to put pieces together, but stopped when she realized that this wasn’t going to get any better if she jumped to conclusions. “Okay, Applejack, start at the beginning. What’s going on?”

Applejack finally walked over to where Twilight was sitting, and sat down next to her. Twilight wrapped a wing around her, which seemed to calm Applejack, so she answered with more shock than anger, “Rainbow Dash flew up to me this mornin’, braggin’ ‘bout how she and Rarity went to bed together. On their second date!”

“Wow. I-- I just don’t know what to say. They’re barely dating!” Twilight shook her head. “I mean, maybe I can see that sort of thing from Rainbow Dash, but Rarity’s so proper!”

“Well, turns out she’s as much a hussy as Dash,” Applejack said with a sigh.

“AJ, they aren’t hussies,” Twilight said firmly. “I mean, they can’t be hussies, they’re our friends. They’re just… um… carefree.”

“You can call it what ya’ want, but I call it like I see it. Dash was goin’ on ‘bout it like we were crazy for waitin’ like proper ponies, so I told her just what she was.”

“You didn’t.” Twilight covered her eyes with a forehoof, knowing that a reasonable discussion of different opinions was something that had never, ever happened between Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

“I did, too,” Applejack confirmed. “This ain’t even the first time she’s done somethin’ like that with a pony she don’t love!”

Twilight gave a stern look to her girlfriend. “You still shouldn’t have called her a hussy! Maybe she just wasn’t raised like we were.”

Applejack sighed and admitted sheepishly. “I know, I was just kinda sore. She was makin’ fun of us for bein’ old fashioned.”

Smiling, Twilight nuzzled Applejack. “Maybe we are kind of old fashioned. I know that a lot of ponies these days don’t wait. But that just makes you more special to me; there aren’t a lot of ponies who would understand.”

“When ya’ put it that way…” Applejack smiled and turned the nuzzle into a soft kiss.

Twilight closed her eyes and turned the kiss into a much longer chain of kisses, but her mind was picking apart the situation. It had never occurred to her that her friends might be the type of ponies to have sex without worrying about love or commitment. She knew there were ponies like that out there, more and more these days, but she had to admit that she still thought similarly to Applejack -- it was hard to think that those were good ponies who were looking for true love. But her friends were good ponies, she knew that… and kissing Applejack like this was nice, but there was certainly more she’d love to explore. She started to wonder if maybe there wasn’t something else in the strength of Applejack’s reaction.

Twilight broke the kiss and whispered, “Applejack, were you jealous of Rainbow Dash?”

Blinking at the sudden conversation, Applejack pulled away. “Twilight, you know I ain’t interested in Rarity.”

“Not that! I mean, did you wish that we could just… hop into bed like they did?” Twilight blushed at the idea, and mostly at how much she wasn’t opposed to it.

Applejack blushed to match Twilight and glanced away. “I’d be lyin’ if I said I wasn’t, a little. I know I wanna wait, Twi. I knew it before I even went out with you. But… now that I’m goin’ out with you, I think about you, and you’re a beautiful pony. Sometimes, I look at you, and it feels like a second is too long to wait to do the things I think of.” She took a deep breath and dared to look back at Twilight. “But we both know what’s right. And I know it’s gonna be worth every second.”

"What do you think will make it worth it?"

"Well... for one thing, it's the right thing to do. It's part of bein' a good pony." Applejack looked in Twilight's eyes. "And... for another, well... I love a lot of ponies, Twilight. My friends, my family, ponies in town here. There's always room for more love in a heart. But, I always thought there's one pony out there who's gonna be special to me. My special somepony, for good and bad, and I'll stand by 'em forever. And I want 'em to have somethin' so they know how special they are to me, somethin' that I'd never share with another pony. I always thought that was makin' love, and that if I hold off 'till then, my special somepony will get that from me."

"That does sound worth it," Twilight whispered, thinking of the magic Princess Celestia had promised would be there with just the right pony. That was what she was waiting for, and right now she hoped with all her heart that would be with Applejack. She was almost sure it was, and almost sure that she could be that special somepony Applejack was waiting for. But almost wasn't one hundred percent. They'd only been dating a few months, and logically Twilight knew that wasn't enough time to know something like that. She also knew that the emotions she felt looking in Applejack's eyes and the way her body reacted to Applejack's body were influencing her judgement.

Twilight shook her head. "I think that maybe I should talk to Rarity. I'd love to know why she doesn't think it's important to wait... is there something I haven't been considering?"

“Maybe it just feels good, and that’s all they want," Applejack said with a shrug.

“I have no problem waiting for that. But if there’s more to think about, I want to think about it.”

"Well, that does sound like somethin' you'd want." Applejack's face clouded with worry. "You think ya' might change your mind?"

"Well, not entirely." Twilight smiled and laid a forehoof on top of Applejack's. "I'm confused about some things right now, but I do know that I want my first time to be with somepony I really love, and I want it to be special. That won't change."

"Okay. I trust ya', Twilight." Applejack offered a nuzzle as proof, which Twilight happily returned.

"Thank you."

"I gotta get back to work. I'll stop by this evenin'." Applejack rose to her hooves. "And, if ya' see Rainbow Dash, tell 'er I'm sorry I called her a hussy... but if she says one word teasin' you I'm gonna buck her so hard her cutie mark'll be on her face."

Twilight smirked and rolled her eyes as Applejack walked to the door. "I'll pass that along."