Rainbow Dash nuzzles her head happily against Applejack's chest, listening to her rapidly beating heart rate and smiling contentedly.  The orange earth pony tries to catch her breath, having gotten a far different kind of workout from the pegasus than would be common this time of year.  

"I guess the 'fastest pony in all of Equestria' title doesn't exactly apply to everything,"  Applejack manages to say between deep breaths.

Rainbow just laughs a little, wrapping her foreleg around the earth pony's midsection and propping herself up to look her in the eyes, "What can I say...  takes a little more than your amateur skills to finish me off quickly,"

"Well you'll have to forgive me.  I didn't think my first time would be with a mare, let alone mah best friend.  The thought takes a little gettin' used to is all,"

"Oh I'm just giving you a hard time, AJ.  I really enjoyed that, and I really do appreciate you taking that leap just for me... I know it couldn't have been easy, what with your family and all..."

"Awh, well it wasn't just for you, sugar-cube.  I did it for mahself too.  I'm still not totally sure how I feel about it, but I certainly don't regret a thing,"

The rainbow-maned pegasus smiles softly and rests her head back onto Applejack's chest.  By then Dash had gone far too long without somepony to spend some time with, sexual or not, so she was most certainly grateful for the moment.

Applejack reaches her forelegs around and hugs the pegasus, pulling herself down so that they're face-to-face while they cuddle, letting the world pass them by in such a soft instance of time.  Dash's wings gently fold out and lay across the pair, giving an extra layer of added warmth underneath the quilt that lays atop them.  

A few minutes pass and Applejack has to fight herself from falling asleep.  She gingerly shakes her head and nudges the already snoozing Rainbow Dash, who promptly opens her purple eyes and grins.

"I was just having the most wonderful dream about you,"  Dash jokes, following the statement with a mischievous grin.

"Just tryin' to keep mahself from fallin' asleep here.  Last thing I need is for Big Macintosh to walk in on us huddled up like this under the covers.  No offense,"

"None taken, AJ, I understand completely,"  

"Well, I guess while I've got your attention I should ask what you want for dinner,"

"Eh, I'm fine... I just ate," The cyan pegasus can't even hide her amusement at her own joke, snickering a little and then bursting into full on laughter.

"Haw haw, Rainbow...  Seriously though, got any preference or should I just make somethin' easy?"

"I'm easy, AJ.  It's generous enough that you're letting me sleep here with ya; I won't be picky with the eats.  Besides, as long as I get some more 'apple pie' for desert I'd be happy with just about anything,"  She snickers again, which prompts Applejack to playfully shove the pegasus away.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fluttershy, feeling slightly better after her magical encounter, sits down on a chair in Twilight's kitchen.  The unicorn sets a glass of water down for the pegasus and pulls up a chair just to her right, looking her in the face.

"Pardon me for saying, but I'm actually kind of interested in what happened...  Would you mind telling me what that felt like?"  Twilight softly asks the pegasus, who already has a mouthful of water when the intrusive question reaches her ears.

After a fit of coughing, she manages to catch her breath and look, blushing, at Twilight.

"Uhhm... well... It's a little embarrassing, Twilight..."  She turns dark red and looks directly across the table instead of at the unicorn.  

"Embarrassing? how so?  It was my fault, Fluttershy, you know you can tell me about it if you need to,"

"Well... Uhhhhm..." Fluttershy squeaks a little bit but cracks a smile, "If you really wanna know..."

"I do, I really do, I was so scared that I'd hurt you... if anything feels off please tell me so I can make sure that I can fix it,"

Fluttershy giggles a little and rests her hoof on Twilight's foreleg, "Calm down... It really only made me a little... well, uhm, turned on,"  She finishes with a bashful giggle and looks away from the unicorn.

Twilight takes a few seconds to really understand what she means by this, but slowly starts to turn a light shade of red as well, "Oh... It uh, it really did that?"

"Mhm, it actually was great while it lasted, if not a little uhm... unexpected,"

"That's certainly a curious reaction...  You said it happened right after the crystal burst right?"

"That's when it hit me, it was a pretty big contrast so it's easy to see the change,"

"Well you named them 'crystals of moisture' for a reason, maybe it's just a different one than you first thought, Twi,"  Spike says as he steps into the kitchen, retrieving a glass of juice for himself.  Twilight's dumbfounded look switches to a scowl with clear highlights of dark red on her cheeks.

"Spike!"  She yells, grinding her teeth a little bit.

"What?"  He takes a sip nonchalantly and steps out of the kitchen, "I'm not allowed to make dirty jokes too?"

Fluttershy giggles and uses her hoof to catch Twilight's attention as Spike's tail exits view, "Did he say 'too'?"  

"Yeah yeah, you caught me... Rarity comes over every so often and we gossip about everypony in town.  Sometimes we make dirty jokes about... certain ponies... I promised I wouldn't tell who,"  Twilight says with a grin, not really ashamed but feeling enough whimsy to fake it, "but someone must have been listening in on our conversations!"  She directs this out the door, hoping spike would be able to hear and take the hint.

Fluttershy laughs softly again and uses her foreleg to prop her chin up, "Gee, Twilight, I didn't take you for the gossipy type,"

"Well what can I say? Rarity brings out the worst in me,"

"I know the feeling all too well..."

The two ponies share a laugh at this joke, allowing themselves a moment of relaxation after the slightly stressful events.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Applejack serves up her favorite hay and apple 'spaghetti' dinner, sitting at the antique dining table with her family and their guest.  Rainbow Dash almost immediately assaults the dish in front of her, receiving an elbow to the ribs from Applejack.

The orange earth pony whispers into her ear, "Slow down there nelly, Granny Smith likes to say grace to Celestia before we eat dinner, it's a family tradition,"

"S-sorry everypony, my bad..."  Dash says sheepishly, clacking her hooves together and bowing her head in prayer, uncomfortably following along as the other four ponies utter their thanks to the princess.

Once this is over, Dash looks around the table awkwardly until Granny Smith very loudly proclaims that it's time to 'dig in'.  Each of the four ponies around go about sloppily eating their dinner, to which Rainbow Dash happily joins.

"So sis,"  Applebloom says with a mouth full of food, "How come this is the first time you invited your marefriend over for dinner?"  

Applejack nearly chokes as a response the unusual wording of the question.  She manages to clear her throat and catch her breath, "Now what in the hay are you talkin' about Applebloom?"  

"Wull Rainbow of course, I seen you a'huggin' on her all the time so I just figured she was your marefriend,"  

Applejack lets a relieved chuckle escape her, "Now, Applebloom, we're just friends. friends can hug each other as much as they want, it doesn't make them... 'that way', understand?"

"I think I do but I really don't see what the difference is,"  The confused filly scratches the top of her head with her hoof and then continues eating, seeming innocent enough but letting on to possibly more than she should know.

"I'll have a talk with you after supper then, Applebloom, we'll get everything straight with ya,"  Applejack follows her statements with more nervous chuckling, casting glances back and forth between Applebloom and Granny Smith to try and measure the elder's countenance.  

Rainbow wants nothing more than to just step over and kiss Applejack as firmly as she can, maybe cop a feel or two, just to show up the extremely conservative family, but certainly has enough self control not to wreck everything they might have like that.

The family moves on from the controversial topic and goes about moving around the table to ask each other about their day: Applebloom provides an incomprehensible relay of what she learned in school, Granny Smith recounts how she had spent all day knitting three new pairs of socks for the 'Crusaders', and Big Macintosh, stallion of few words that he is, mentions how he helped Applejack shovel the snow around the barn to keep the doors from getting stuck closed.  Rainbow is more or less lost in the conversation, not really paying any attention, but nodding her head and hoping that they don't ask her to describe her day.  

To her relief, the family skips right by her; not without acknowledging her of course, but just trying to avoid any kind of regression due to the unfortunate circumstances.  Applejack reassuringly rubs her hoof against the rainbow-maned pegasus's leg under the table, trying to help keep her comfortable in such a volatile setting.  Clearly the Apple family wouldn't approve of the two of them being together; that includes Applejack unfortunately.  Deep inside, where Rainbow can't quite see, the orange pony lets her family 'peer pressure' silently push her disposition away from the pegasus.  As happy as she had made her, Applejack lets the prying, judging eyes of her Granny and brother erode every good memory and feeling that she built up.  

Rainbow simply fights the urge to kiss the pony where she sits, all the while thinking to herself that everything will be fine and that they can keep it a secret as long as they need to.  What she doesn't know won't hurt her; at least not until she knows it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sneak up behind her and give her a kiss,  Twilight slowly digs through a small linen closet filled with various scientific apparatuses, trying to find a new stand for her crystals in the midst of the perfectly organized materials.  'Courage' reminds Fluttershy that she exists by directing her attention to the bent-over unicorn.  

I don't know...  That seems a little...  Fluttershy can feel her cheeks sting just a little as the thought flashes briefly through her mind.

There's nothing strange about it, Co-pilot, she'd like it,

How do you know?

Because she likes you...

The canary pegasus hesitates to move, nervously flicking her mane away from her face even though she knows it won't stay that way for very long.  

"Grr... I could have sworn I had a stand in here someplace..."  Twilight impatiently moves from the middle shelf of the closet down to the floor, moving some boxes aside and inadvertently presenting her behind very clearly for the conflicted pegasus.  

Oh she's gotta be doing that on purpose... 'Courage' chuckles coyly as Fluttershy's eyes meet the unicorn's flank.  In an embarrassed reaction she diverts her attention to Twilight's cutie mark instead; analyzing the five white sparkles around the central violet star,  Just swat her rear with your hoof, It'll be hilarious,

That is not happening,  

Spoil sport,

You're just trying to get me in trouble with her,

Psh, she'd probably love it, the quiet ones always do,

What's that supposed to mean?  Fluttershy asks herself indignantly, still watching Twilight but this time focused on her shoulders.  She moves out from under the shelf, much to 'Courage's chagrin, and up to stand on the tips of her hooves to examine the very top of the closet.  

Oh come on, she's just askin' for it now, look at her all stretched out like that, hug her from behind, pull her away from that lame shelf and bite her neck, do something,

I don't think I can...

Ugh... You're killin' me, Co-pilot, you can't do anything sexy?

What is it with you and sex anyway?

Well, since you haven't got a shred of corruption anywhere in that spotless little mind of yours, someone's gotta have those kinds of thoughts.  Everypony thinks about sex, everypony thinks about violence, everypony thinks about being sinful and naughty, even the ones like you who repress it.  You can't make them completely go away, they just concentrate into something like me; without me you wouldn't last two seconds in the real world.  Not everything's about butterflies and bunny kisses,

That's a little harsh don't you think?  Fluttershy feels a little hurt, but knows that somewhere deep inside there's a bit of logic behind this.  She is arguing with herself after all...

You apologize to your pet bunny rabbit when he's not satisfied with the massive amounts of food and warmth you provide him...

Twilight tilts her ankles a little to raise herself a few more inches up, tightening her buttocks for the pegasus to view inconspicuously, distracting her and making her blush even more intensely than she already was.

I hate it when you make valid points...  I wonder how Angel's doing anyway... he hasn't quite been himself,

That's it... I'm taking the wheel, you're trying to change the subject and I ain't lettin' that happen,

Wait... what?  The pink-maned pegasus finds herself already with a hoof raised, unable to react in time before she gives into her hidden temptations.  She swings it down and firmly swats Twilight's rump, startling the unicorn a bit and making her spin around, only to see Fluttershy's mischievously grinning face.  She uses both of her hooves to pin Twilight's forelegs to the wall behind her, pressing their muzzles together in a very deep and forceful kiss; Twilight has no idea how to react, but doesn't exactly fight.  After a second or two of surprised struggle she gives in and gleefully returns the kiss.

All yours Co-pilot, let's see you pull out of this tailspin,  'Courage' follows her final comment with a hysterical laugh, taking her rightful place in the back of Fluttershy's awareness.

"W-Wow Fluttershy... Still uhm,"  she clears her throat a little bit and focuses her eyes onto Fluttershy's, "Still feeling the 'effects' of that spell?"  Twilight turns dark red and smiles helplessly at the mare in front of her.  

"I-I'm so sorry, Twilight, that... That wasn't me...  That was her"  Fluttershy releases Twilight and backs away a little, letting her fall down onto all fours and stay at eye-level with the pegasus.  

"Shame, that was one heck of a surprise... I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it,"  Twilight flashes the mare a wink and then kisses her cheek; poor Fluttershy can barely feel her face from all of the blood rushing to it.

Told you she'd like it,  'Courage' resumes tossing the occasional mocking comment into Fluttershy's head.

I hate you so much...

-Tch- you love me and you know it,