“And that was a job well done!”

Derpy still couldn’t believe it, her days were normally... just so simple! Not that she cared; it was fun to do her work! The letters were easy to organize, and it kept her out of trouble most days, plus, it was hard to ruin letters, and however bad her luck got, she’d been able to keep from making any real screwups in a few months now!

It had been such a joy, even if she did have to leave Dinky and Ameh at home to go deliver Dusk’s letter to Princess Celestia. But when had she ever had a reason to wear the dress uniform? And an excuse for a trip to Canterlot! She never got to go out of Ponyville normally! Plus she’d taken advantage and stopped in at that tea shop Amethyst liked, no reason not to grab a little gift, right?

“And you are just the mailmare for the job, Derpy!”

Dusk’s voice still echoed in her mind, she had blushed, he had been so kind; forgiving; charming even. He’d even tickled the tip of Dinky’s horn and apologized that he was asking her momma to leave town for so long on a school night! “Now I understand why he’s got two of the most popular mares in town in his herd. A stallion like that can turn any mare’s head, I think Amethyst was even blushing before he left, and she’d worked extra hard on dinner!”

“Derpy! There you are! Didn’t Amethyst give you my special orders??!” Dash’s voice cut through Derpy’s daydreams, and she stopped short, looking around for the source of the weathermare’s voice.

Embarrassed and blushing, she looked up and realized that the rest of Ponyville’s pegasus population hovered over her, all paused in the middle of their current duty to look at Derpy’s arrival. Once they saw her, most realized something was up. Instead of her normal delivery uniform, she was wearing her official Royal Mail Courier flight suit. Derpy straightened up in midair and shifted her official Royal Mail Courier hat.

As the others returned to whatever emergency Dash had them dealing with, Derpy pushed aside her growing exhaustion, and looked to the dark autumn sky. Fighting to keep her wings from wilting from the extra effort to keep hovering after the long flight to and from Canterlot at top speed, Dash’s next words surprised her a little, annoyance and sudden curiosity mixing in her tone. “Special royal duties? Does this include allowance for major weather corrections on your days off?”

Glad the others were no longer watching them talk, Derpy let the official voice drop. “Well, um… yeah! It’s got to do with how if the magistrate, or one of his representatives, needs me, or, um, any other pony to do extra work, they are allowed to book it. Amethyst handles the paperwork for me, but they always pay extra to make up for missing time with Dinky, so I don’t mind. It means I can afford to take proper care of Dinky, and Ameh can stay home with her instead of having to get a full-time job. If we save enough up, I think we’ll even be able to send her to Canterlot for proper schooling. You know, like Dusk got!””

Dash winced at the word ‘paperwork’. “But, I know a colt who was good at that stuff, and for a few bits, he wouldn’t ask questions like Dusk always does.” Looking up to Thunderlane, she began to plan. After all, his brother had helped him fix her messed up paperwork.

A lifetime of days that started before the dawn’s sun rose had a cost, one that made Applejack stare at the ceiling of Dusk’s room, and drag her tongue across her lips. The plaster smooth surface gave her so little to look at, and even less to think about. “Why? Always so early, even if there’s nothing worth while getting up this early to deal with. I’d go chop wood, but Dusk buys coal. Kept saying Barb’s too sensitive to the cold of winter, and can’t handle a weak fire. I even spent last night doubling the size of their kindling pile when I saw how Barb just... bloomed to life before the roaring evening fire. A cute fil… A sweet young dragoness, just like Sweetie, and Dusk? He cares for her. Banked the fireplace and made sure to warm up her room, even if it was a waste of extra coal on a warmer night like tonight.”

Applejack rolled over, drawing the blanket down their bodies, the setting moonlight cut across the room, and made Dusk’s sleeping body glow in its grey-white light. The toned muscles, and scarred flesh a contrast in the naked light. A dirty thought made her loins twitch, and she let her eyes drift over his bare groin, the trimmed hair had to be Rarity’s handiwork. Unable to resist the playful evil thought, Applejack let the tips of her fingers dance down his breastbone, trailing across the lines of muscle and scar tissue.

Dusk’s sudden sharp gasp and happy sigh made Applejack freeze for a moment, looking to see if he was really going to wake up on her. When his breathing calmed, she took another breath, and let her fingers begin to dance again, trailing fingers across his ribcage, counting each in turn, before slipping over to the faint outline of his abs. “Our hard work this summer really has paid off. He might never have been a scrawny little unicorn, but this? I like the look of this, the feel of these.” Applejack took a moment to relish in the feel of the muscle tone she had made Dusk work to build up. Guilt flared for a moment, and she leaned into his ear, to whisper just for him. “I know you’d only came to me for help getting fit again after all that weight you lost. But I guess, I’m as guilty as Rarity. I saw what you could be. Made you my own little project. I’m sorry Dusk.”

Instead of pulling her lips away, she leaned in and kissed his cheek just below the temple, watching as his lips curved into a smile, and left her ear turned to him, waiting for the sound of his happy sigh to die off. With that weight released, her fingers on his abs again drifted lower, into the neatly groomed field of his pubic hair. It had to have been Rarity’s work, every single lock had been cut to the same length, and possibly even shampooed by how soft it was to the touch. AJ had to hold back a snicker, the time and effort over such a small detail was just one of the ways their mutual lover proved to be so endearing. But her prize was close now, and she couldn’t push the picture from her mind now.

Dusk’s cock was half-erect when her fingers found it between his thighs, her fingers wrapping around the warm flesh and lifting it to stand tall. Adjusting her grip around the base, she drew her hand slowly up and down, teasing her sleeping stallion with a regular rhythm of very slow, easy strokes to help build up his pleasure, while trying to make sure he didn’t wake up. Not until she had her fun.

With warmth growing in her palm as she began to increase her rhythm, Applejack turned up, lightly kissing the sleeping stallion again while she began to pant with delight. The buildup of a bead of precum on the tip of his shaft marked the moment she had to stop, her thumb sweeping up and stroking across the head of his shaft and slathering the seed around the tip of his shaft, enjoying the glissen of his cum in the moonlight.

Now that his shaft’s head was slick with precum, Applejack picked up her pace, and tilted his cock forward, so she could admire the way sweat was building up on his chest as his excitement grew. Shifting herself lower, and laying half across his chest, she leaned down, licking a hint of sweat from his toned abs. Her free hand slipped under the blanket, slipping into the lips of her sex to tease across them, riding the joy of these first hints of pleasure.

“Just a little more! I can feel it now, soon he’ll cum.” A perverted side of her mind thrilled at the thought, while she thrust two long digits deep into her own sex, twisting and wiggling them around inside her pussy walls while her grip on Dusk’s cock grew even faster. His gasping and moans were now open, aching with need, just as her own loins gripped and clung wantingly to her fingers, while she raked her tips across her inner lips.

The sudden groan from Dusk and his release of hot seed over his belly came as a sudden shock, sooner than she’d hoped for and before she was ready. “No! Not just yet, Dusk! Why!?” Panting as she drove her fingers in deeper and began to frantically work her fingers into her sex, trying to catch up with the stallion’s release. Bending down again, she began lapping the sticky white cum from his belly, bending nearly in half as she grunted in both effort and pleasure.

A happy sigh should have been her first warning, but the weight of Dusk’s hand on her head and stroking tenderly through her hair was when she finally noticed he had woken up at some point while she was having her fun. The quiet mumble of his voice made her blush even as she felt that sharp sudden burst of pleasure roar up between her thighs. “An interesting way to wake up, to be sure.”

Quivering with pleasure, and feeling weak in the knees, she turned to look up to the stallion, her sticky fingers slipping free of her sex and cupping his sack, lazily rolling his balls. “Didn’t mean to wake ya. But now that you’re up, care for a shower?” The arch of her eyebrow made the stallion laugh a little breathlessly, knowing she had more in mind than washing.

Rarity shifted the bookbag aside and checked inside again, adjusting the schoolbooks and letting a finger linger on the titles of a few of the textbooks. “Math, magic, and science? I know you've been advanced at school Sweetie, but are you sure they aren’t pushing you too hard? You were up busy doing schoolwork when I got home; don’t you want to do something fun instead after school? We could take some kind of drawing or art class together?”

The filly paused in her breakfast, the thin piece of toast hovering in the air before her mouth, while her eyes opened wide. Her lower lip quivering in delight, she looked up to Rarity, her voice a soft gasp. “You… you mean it, Rarity? I’d love to do something artistic with you! We could paint, or draw or maybe even do a pottery class! Miss Cheerilee said something last week about new adult learning classes starting for the winter, maybe we can look into that?”

Closing the bag up and walking over to Sweetie’s side, Rarity stroked her fingers tenderly through the filly’s hair. Unable to hide a soft smile she leaned in while a finger poked her nose. “Adult learning is a little different, Sweetie. It’s when adults who didn’t get a proper education go back to school in their free time to learn more, so they can get better jobs. How about you ask Miss Cheerilee about fun family activities she knows about around town? Maybe we could find something fun, and I’ll get Dusk to join us, you two seem to get along, right?”

Taking a big bite of her peanut butter and banana sandwich, the filly nodded enthusiastically. “He is nice! When he came to class, he took the unicorns aside and gave us each a little test. He said I was the second strongest next to Dinky! And he listens when I talk, while most adults just pretend.”

Using her magic to lift up a napkin, she cleaned a smear of peanut butter form Sweetie’s cheek, smiling at how excited the filly got. “That’s wonderful, dearie. I’m glad you and Dusk get along, he’s very dear to me, but I don’t want you to ever feel like I’m ignoring you for some stallion.”

Sweetie seemed to pick up on something more behind Rarity’s words, and turned, gently wrapping her arms around the mare and hugging her hips. “I know, but you should be happy too, Rarity! Besides, Dusk isn’t just some stallion. He’s your very special somepony, right!?”

A little shocked at how quickly Sweetie picked up private matters, Rarity blushed, but hugged the filly back, sniffling back a hint of a fond tear. “He is, Sweetie. He and Applejack are very special to me. I’m glad you understand. Now hurry up with your breakfast, and I’ll leave dinner in the fridge. I’ve got an order going to Canterlot today, but the client is sending somepony to pick it up, so as long as everything goes right, I’ll be home long before you get off school. If they give you this much school work today, I’ll make sure to help you with it, no reason to spend your whole night with your nose in a book, right?”

The filly giggled, and finished the last of her sandwich and milk before answering. “But I like most of the school work!”

“Just another inch and I can squeeze in, Applejack!”

Barb’s voice came from around the frame of the icebox, and Applejack adjusted her grip, to shift the heavy frame a few inches further from the wall. Together, they had already gone through the library while Dusk ate breakfast, moving his desk and reclining chair, not to mention the couch and a few of the other reading tables around. Dusting and cleaning! It kept her busy and made her feel halfway useful again. Leaning a little around the heavy fridge, she looked to where the dragoness had squeezed in, dusting and washing away any stains. “So, Barb. Helping Dusk aside, what else do you do? I imagine you read, but surely you’ve got other interests, right?”

Standing up behind the fridge and rubbing a damp rag against the wall, Barb shrugged at the question. “Well, I do like comic books. And cooking’s kinda become a fun place to experiment. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find things that are palatable to ponies! Like, those muffins you and Pinkie made. I can’t believe you guys didn’t like them! I thought they were awesome!”

Wincing at the memory, Applejack accepted the rag from the dragoness and polished the top of the fridge, removing any built up dust before returning the rag. “Okay, but you can chew metal and enjoy the taste of gems that we’d normally use in jewelry. Maybe it’s just that we don’t have the ability to eat what you can?”

Barb laughed, ducking down to return to wiping down every surface behind the fridge, still answering all the while. “Oh come on, AJ! It’s like meat. You ponies are so sensitive about meat. Like, when Gilda was here, Dusk ate some raw meat, and I swear I’ve offered him some in the past, and he did try tiny bites, but always gagged. But in small portions, and well cooked, you’ll jump all over it. Well, except for Princess Cadence! I’ve never seen anypony so fussy yet enjoy her food so much!”

Confused, Applejack had to press on this. “Dusk’s foalsitter? The princess? Why? What’s got her that reputation?”

“Oh, well, you know. She says she is a vegetarian, so where normal ponies will enjoy eggs, she won't even touch them. But give her some cheese, some lettuce and some time to put things together, and she’ll make a salad that’ll make your tongue dance!” Sliding out from behind the fridge, Barb braced herself near the base. “Come on, let’s push this back into place and go check in on Dusk. We could both use a break.”

Pushing the fridge back into place, Applejack gave the dragoness a shrug. “With the size of that wad of paperwork he was reading? I’m sure he’ll be at it half the day. What did you say it was? The hospital’s budget?? Why’d they ever ask him to look at something like that?”

Barb grabbed a tray from inside the fridge she had made earlier in the day, with a few bowls of diced fruit and chilled grape juice. “I think they only wanted him to sign off on it, but it’s Dusk. He’ll spend half the day double checking the math and searching for mistakes the budget committee might have made. If we don’t distract him, he might even spend the night double checking his double checking of his quintuple checking. He is really careful with lists and figures. Like super obsessively careful.”

Applejack thought back for a moment, and gave a sigh. “I think I can take that at your word. He does seem to get rather obsessive about things sometimes, I’m surprised he hasn’t-”

“Hasn’t what?” The dragoness looked confusedly up at the mare when she stopped talking in mid sentence.

Applejack shook her head. “No, don’t worry about it. Just something me and Rarity need to talk about more.”

Dusk was still bent over the desk, the collection of paperwork had shrunk massively since they returned to town yesterday, and now that he was working on the hospital's budget, he had a spare sheet of note paper for keeping track of figures as he worked. It was his third page, and he appeared focused totally on the paperwork until Barb pushed a bookmark on the page and pulled the papers away. “Lunch, eat up Dusk. Me and Applejack will keep you company.”

At first shocked to have his paperwork taken away, Dusk attempted to swoop in with the quill held in his magic, making a few last second notes in the margins on his scrap paper, but when he saw the serious look the dragoness was giving him, Dusk backed down and returned the quill to its inkwell. "Alright, alright! Lunch, sure, great! I can use the break to find a book on physiotherapy. I'd swear somepony is hiding something extra in the budget here somewhere. Maybe we could ask the spa twins about their costs, they've always done the physiotherapy for most residents until recently."

A growing red blush tinted Applejack’s cheeks as she cleared her throat and tried to talk over Barb's head. "Dusk, I think most of those cases of 'physio' were for more-"

The sudden knocking at the door pulled everypony’s attention to the door and likely saved Applejack from an unfortunate series of misunderstandings while attempting to talk around such things in Barb's presence. When Barb led Amethyst back into the library, Applejack’s blush had transferred to Dusk, while the mare forced a straight face and stopped whispering into Dusk's ear to welcome the mare. "Amethyst! It’s good to see you. But why are you wearing Derpy’s hat? Don't tell me the poor mare hurt herself again?"

Amethyst instead grinned, adjusting her lover's hat and shook her head. "No, no! Rainbow Dash just called in everypony to deal with a rather nasty storm over the Everfree that's heading our way. So I've been doing her deliveries and warning everypony on Dash’s behalf."

Dusk turned to look out the Library window, but since it was facing away from the Everfree Forest, the view of the sky he got was sunny and showed little signs of anything else. "Well, if it’s a bad storm, I suppose we'd better cancel our walk to the farm AJ. No reason to end up caught out in the downpour."

Amethyst was still digging in the mail sack, muttering to herself under her breath as she hunted, so Applejack turned to join Dusk at the window. "Ah shucks! It just don't feel right. It was nice of Mac and Apple Bloom to stop by on the way to school this morning, but I miss Winona, Granny and the farm!"

Dusk gently took up the mare’s hand, squeezing it and smiling up to her. "I'm sorry. But look at it this way, now you can go home tomorrow and stay instead of having to visit today only to have to leave again."

Applejack squeezed back gently, to avoid hurting his hand, but a sudden excited cry of "Ah ha!" broke the moment. Amethyst swirled the single page telegram around triumphantly and read it immediately. "To Barb STOP Request your presence in Canterlot overnight tonight STOP Philomena STOP" Blinking to herself and staring at the page in her hand, Amethyst scratched the back of her head. "Why do they write STOP instead of using a period? That's so strange!"

But Barb had sprung to life at the mention of the name 'Philomena' and now turned to look hopefully up at Dusk."Can I, Dusk?!! Please! She's my best friend besides you, and I haven't seen her since we moved!"

Dusk hesitated for only a second before giving in to the pleading dragoness and her giant, begging eyes. "If you're sure you feel up to riding the train alone. Besides, there are still things you can pick up from the observatory."

Amethyst gave Barb the telegram and the dragon rushed to her room, leaving her to smile wistfully at the departing dragoness. "They are so excitable at that age; fillies, I mean." She explained herself quickly when she saw mounting confusion shared by Dusk and AJ "My dear little Dinky’s about the same age as Barb or Apple Bloom, but I miss the days when she was a tiny foal. I wonder if Derpy might ever want to have another?"

Applejack released Dusk’s hand and walked to Amethyst's side, smiling fondly. "I know how you feel. I've spent years helping to raise my sister, Apple Bloom. Maybe in a few years when things are settled down on the farm, Dusk?"

The question wasn't really one, but it made Dusk nervous. Leaving the window and moving his hands to rest on AJ's shoulders he leaned in, and kisses her throat. "I've never really thought about foals. But Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are sweet fillies. Maybe someday."

Before their conversation could get any more serious, Barb returned with a single overnight bag strapped over her shoulder. "I'm ready now! Can we go to the station? The sooner we get there, the sooner we can find out when the next train leaves!"

Together, Dusk and Applejack turned to face the dragoness, but Amethyst interjected herself into the conversation. "I can take her! Derpy was so busy this morning, she didn't have time to check for new mail and I've just been working my way there while warning ponies about the storm."

Laughing a little at how helpful the mare wanted to be, Dusk unlocked the drawer in his desk and removed the tin cash box he kept around the library for small expenses. Removing a thick velvet pouch that jingled with small coins he held it out to the little dragoness. "Remember to wear this on both of the money pouch strings that are sewn inside your dress. Don't go to the lower market alone... in fact, don't go out of the palace or university grounds unescorted, most of all after dusk, and maybe pick yourself up some more of those sapphire sprinkles you like to put on toast."

Bristling a little under Dusk's continued rules, Barb swept away the money pouch, but did as asked and took the time to properly tie both strings under her dress to the bag, using the fold in her dress for her tail to hide the lump the pouch made even better. "I'm fine! Now can we go?!"

Amethyst offered her hand and smiled to the impatient dragoness. "I'll take you and check the mail. If I remember properly, Derpy said there was a 1 o'clock train to Canterlot most days."

Glad for the easy out, Barb happily took the mare’s hand. "Great! That means I can be in Canterlot before dinner at the university! And Wednesday's they serve leftovers! Thanks Amethyst." As they began to walk together to the door, Barb paused, looking over at Applejack. "Hey, umm. Just make sure he eats at least once a day, and if he refuses to go to bed until he's finished with that budget... well, there’s a spare inkwell by the front door and a big stick under my bed. If one doesn't work, the other will knock him senseless."

Applejack couldn’t stop laughing at the retreating dragoness and Dusk’s fuming annoyance. He marched to the front door and fished the spare inkwell from a half-hidden shelf behind his fall jacket, calling out the front door after the girl. "Assistant's with proper respect don't hide my spare inkwell!”

Applejack had to pull him away from the door, and he refused to give her the spare inkwell regardless. When they were back in the library, and he had put away the inkwell and the half empty coin box, she finally asked the question that had been waiting since the telegram arrived. "So, who’s this Philomena? Some pony from school with a strange name?"

Shocked, Dusk had to check and see if she was being serious before answering. "Philomena? She is Princess Celestia's oldest friend, and a phoenix. You have never heard about her? She has been with Princess Celestia since she found Philomena's egg in a nest under attack by an ice drake around four hundred years ago. Hatching Philomena made her kind of like a mother to the lonely phoenix. And she spent nearly two hundred years trying to hatch Barb's egg. It's funny, but Philomena swears Barb talked to her while inside her egg, but Barb says she doesn't remember much of it. I wonder if-"

Applejack’s finger to his lips silenced Dusk’s rambling train of thought, and the mare gestured to the fruit still waiting on his desk. "How about we eat? You don't need to tell me her whole life story, at least not right now!"

Dash had to admire Rumble. Not only did the kid have talent, he had a decent head on his shoulders too. Getting him out of class had even been easy. A few words with Miss Cheerilee about the incoming weather and she had Rumble and two of the older fillies sprung from class and out to assist with her scam.

Now the fillies had joined the weather team in the air over the Everfree Forest and small groups of three were collecting every stormcloud they could find in a forty mile radius. Rumble's return caught her off guard, the excited colt flew to her side and pressed the paperwork to her with a grin. "That was easy, Dash! You'd never filed any overtime reports before, so I was able to just redate everything as being backlogged paperwork! All you gotta do is sign off and leave it with the magistrate. As long as nopony starts interviewing the weather team personally, you're free and clear! Now can I fly with you guys?!!"

Dash winced. "This kid’s good at everything, but being subtle. Doesn't he realize anypony can see how eagerly he wants to show off for his brother? Man, glad I'm not that obvious." Watching the colt admire the way Thunderlane and his own classmates delivered yet another heavy black storm cloud as a team, he viably twitched with anticipation. "Alright, kid. But if you're flying with us, you're working. That means you stick close, you stay high above the treeline, and if I say run back to town? By Celestia, you better beat me back, or whatever we’re fleeing won't be the scariest thing you see. It'll be me."

The colt saluted, and soared to join Thunderlane and the two fillies from his class. At sixteen, the girls had already officially been tested, trained, and licensed to help the weather team part time, even if both mares had hardly managed a 'B' average. "But Rumble? He’s still only starting his own training, and I'm a little bit jealous. The damn kid can already fly better than anypony on the team... besides me, natch. If he keeps his grades up, I gotta recommend him for Weather School. He's got way too much natural skill with storms for a pony born on the dirt."

Dash scanned over the paperwork and then tossed on a signature before passing it off to one of the mares heading back to town, the mayor would probably lose it for a few months before anypony saw it, and by then? I'd be too long ago, and they'd just green stamp it, no problem! Dash turned and soared up to rejoin her weather team, most of her worries finally over.

Rarity watched, her back tingling with nervous tension as the stallion carefully adjusted another jacket sleeve, and checked "The... the what? What was it he was looking for? Is it the choice of material? He asked for blue cotton and I matched his swatch! Maybe the button? It’s polished gold, without any engraving, just like he requested! The stitching? No, I put off delivery until now just so I could double check and restitch a few of the cuffs!"

The old stallion suddenly turned with surprising ease for his age, his voice gushing with praise. "Miss Rarity, I'd heard of your work before, but to actually see the quality you've put together? The measurements even look to be exactly right. It’s a pleasure to finally meet a mare besides my soon-to-be daughter-in-law who knows art isn't just paint on wood."

The stallion's delight really didn't match his tone, or the old blue scar on his cheek, but Rarity wasn't about to ignore, yet alone refuse it. "So these will do for the best man and his groomsmen? I tried to match the scabbard as closely as possible. Oh, and what about Fancy Pants himself? It would be such an honor to craft a suit for a noble’s wedding."

The old stallion rested a hand upon the hilt of his sword, shaking his head. "Fleur-dis-Lee wants to make that her own project. Now SHE is a rare mare. Top student at my school, but doesn't let the hard edge consume her softer side."

Rarity's mind flashed to the gossip rags, hunting for anything she could get a grip on about Fleur-dis-Lee, but the mare was known for so little except for her training at both Canterlot University, despite being a very talented unicorn, and being the star student of Ember Grace's fencing school. Now standing beside the old nobleman himself, she struggled to find anything to say. "You sound very proud. It’s so nice to see a father-in-law who's sweet on his son's choice of mare."

Ember Grace laughed so heavily, Rarity began to worry that she'd said something wrong. At last the old man shook his head and wiped a tear from his eye. "She came to me, lass. Came and asked for his hand. You know how rare that is? I didn’t even know they'd been dating under my nose so long." The stallion went quiet again as he gestured for his assistant to load the suits onto the train. At last he turned, and gave Rarity that same piercingly appraising look he had given the suits earlier. "You know, if you'd like, I could find you and your prized toy a seat at the wedding. Just a side table, but a flower like yourself? It'd be a pleasure to see you at full bloom."

The metaphor wasn't lost on Rarity, but the offer he made pushed everything else aside. "My lord? I'd be honored, but I'd never want to think somepony else lost their seat just so Dusk and I could come!"

The stallion's laugh was harsh, and he teasingly nudged her shoulder with one boney finger, turning to step into the train car as he answered. "I like how you both humbly try to refuse while at the same time dropping the name of Princess Celestia's prized student, and Equestria's newest magistrate. I'll have one of my useless clerks write you up an invitation, dear. You just make sure you don't shine too brightly, I'd hate to imagine Fleur's reaction if you showed up and stole her thunder."

Before Rarity could get her balance back, the old stallion was gone, leaving her flustered yet excited. Already she began to picture and piece together something worth showing off at the wedding of two noble families. The sudden chipper cry of a voice behind her pulled her from the daydream. "Rarity! What are you doing here?"

As she turned, she couldn't help but smile, sweet little Barb approached the train platform, a day bag over her shoulder, and a bright smile that made Rarity’s heart flutter. "Oh, Barb! You caught me in a daydream! I just had a client come pick up a project I've been working on for a few months personally, instead of just sending a representative to pick his package up." Pointing a finger over Barb’s light white dress and the bag she was carrying, she questioned the dragoness in return. "You look excited as well! Dusk sending you to Canterlot on business?"

Brimming with joy, Barb shook her head. "Not really, I'm going to see Philomena! She was the one who took care of my egg for nearly two hundred years before Dusk helped me hatch."

As she realized what the woman must be to Barb, Rarity nearly laughed with quiet joy. "So she is like a stepmother to you? How sweet! No wonder you're so excited to go visit her. I suppose she lives in Canterlot with Princess Celestia?"

Barb's wide toothed grin never shrunk, while she nodded. "Yes! She's been Princess Celestia's adviser for ages. I kinda feel bad for her, the last few years she's really started showing her age. I hope she's doing better now." As doubt entered her mind, the little dragoness looked around, worried. "Can- do phoenix-" Torn, Barb fell silent, chewing on her lip. Worried, Rarity squeezed both of the scared girl's shoulders. That was apparently enough, it made Barb look up to Rarity and ask what was on her mind. "Do you know if a phoenix can die of old age? I know I'll outlive Dusk... it still makes me sad, but I promised Princess Celestia I'll make the most of his short lifetime." The dragoness' voice cracked, but she pressed on. "But if Philomena's getting that old... I-"

Pulling the brave little dragoness into a strong hug, Rarity tried to soothe the dear girl's frayed nerves. "I don’t know enough about phoenix to answer that, Barb. But I'm incredibly proud of you for being so brave to even face such a frightening question at such a young age. Are you sure you're okay to go on the train alone?"

Barb's breathing soothed as Rarity’s fingers massaged the scales on the dragoness' back. Drawing strength from the mare’s words and attention, Barb stood up tall and gave a sigh to release her own mounting panic. "I- I am. Thank you, Rarity. I think I've been worrying about some stuff for a while now. Maybe when I get back, we can talk more?"

Laughing, Rarity guided the dragoness to the train, and helped her up the high step. "Of course. It'll be my pleasure to hear your worries and help find answers too. Now go see your friend."

Alone again as the train pulled away, Rarity’s new perspective on Barb and Dusk’s relationship really dawned on her. "No wonder she works as his assistant with such dedication. Does he know she knows? Oh, the poor thing. Such weight for a child to carry, what I'd do to protect her from any of that..." As her mind wandered, Rarity's thoughts turned to dear Sweetie Belle. Guilt flared up and she turned, looking towards Dusk’s library. "Maybe I should go lend a hand. With Barb gone, and Applejack still hurt and all..."

Thunderlane twisted around in place, turning an eye from the three foals Dash had set under his watch to inspect the rest of the team. They had done well; not a single incident, no pony breaking off to goof around, heck, the rest of the team had worked harder when he'd left the three foals to push a cloud back to the storm front and they'd done it and returned to him when he was still flying an inspection lap of the team. "Being shown up by a filly or a colt half your age does that to some ponies. I'm just glad Rumble's enjoying himself, he's always had a knack with the wilder black stormclouds."

Spiraling around and diving low, he joined Rainbow Dash where she had picked up a heavier raincloud by herself and was forcing it to both hold its water in and drive it towards the thick cloud mass they'd built up at the edge of town. Dash was so focused, that when he joined her at the cloud, it took her nearly a minute to notice his presence, and even then she only shifted over a little, keeping her focus on preventing the cloud from raining under the stress of movement. Together, they would push the cloud to its destination and once it was settled, Thunderlane gestured to the rest of the slowly collecting weather team. “Dash, I think we’re good now. This cloudfront, and the slow breeze? We’ll have two or three days of heavy rain in Ponyville before things thin out.”

Rainbow Dash was about to take off, again without addressing the stallion, until he spoke. Forced to stop by his interruption, Dash looked first over the tired pegasi and then to the mounting cloud mass they'd built up all day. Chewing her lower lip she gave Thunderlane a shrug, pushing the heavy cloud into place. "Make it a half hour break, that'll let me check the system’s integrity, okay? After all the mistakes I've made leading up to this, undercooking this storm would kill me."

“Then we had better get this right, ‘cause I enjoy working with you, Dash.” With that said, Thunderlane relaxed, twisted around, pulled out his whistle, then blew the relatively soft double long call off a scheduled break. Almost like clockwork, ponies further out repeated the call, and soon a growing number built up around Thunderlane. Dash had already taken off into the cloudfront, occasionally visible due to her vivid hair color as she swam through the clouds, binding them and blending them together, weaving weaker clouds into their wild neighbors and all without getting too deep into the water-gorged mass, and keeping relatively dry.

Rumble's excited voice called to his older brother. "Now that's a mare! See how she dodged that angry cumulonimbus without setting it off? I swear, I probably couldn’t get within five feet of that cloud without it zapping me twice!"

Thunderlane tackled his kid brother, grinding knuckles into the colt’s hair and trapping him with a firm grip from his other arm around his jaw. "Don't play humble before the mares, kid. You and the fillies pushed in thunderclouds just as grumpy as that beast not twenty minutes ago, and I wasn't even helping. You've got great control and you know it. One of these days, I'll probably be working for you, you smartass brat."

At Cloudchaser and Flitter's approach, the stallion released his younger brother and then quickly straightened the colt’s hair.

As it turned out, his effort was wasted as Flitter raced ahead of her twin and tackled the colt, cuddling him close to her low-cut top and exposed cleavage. "Rumble! Thunderlane and Dash sprang you from school!? Talk about the most amazing older brother, right?" Giggling, she hugged the colt close, nuzzling into his head and messing up his hair.

Cloudchaser swept around wide and slipped her arms around Thunderlane's ribcage, hugging him close and resting her cheek on his shoulder, apparently ignorant of how hard this made it for him to keep flying, she lustfully cooed in his ear. "So with a big bad storm like this, how about we come over and keep you two bold stallions company?"

Thunderlane stiffened up as the mare’s fingers roamed excitedly into areas under his flight suit, struggling even harder to keep aloft and push thoughts of Dash, and a loose towel, from his mind. Looking at a flustered Rumble made his decision much easier. Pulling Cloudchaser's hands out from under his suit before they wandered to unwelcome regions, before answering. "What shifts do you two want to trade this time? I can't take them all, I have to sleep sometime."

Cloudchaser pouted when he stopped her game, but let him remove her wandering hands. "We didn't want any extra shifts off, I swear. Just some company during the cold dark night!"

Flitter was more honest than her sister, kissing the embarrassed Rumble on the cheek before letting him go "And maybe if you two were feeling generous, you'd come help us during the post storm cleanup shift? I know we are already scheduled for the shift, and the company would make things much simpler."

With their game revealed, Thunderlane turned to his younger brother, giving him the chance to back out of the deal. "Well, Rumble? Is a fresh hot meal worth putting up with another shift like this, just with half as much help?"

The colt twisted around and looked up at his brother, then out over the clouds around them. "Compared to your cooking? I'm afraid that they are offering the lesser risk, as frightening as that thought is."

Before the mares could get too excited, Dash flew into the middle of the resting weather team, blowing one short sharp blast on her whistle before bellowing out loud. "Alright team. I've completed an inspection of the stormfront. We've built up a fantastic cloudfront, but we need five more thunderheads to make sure things get rolling properly."

Dash paused as a collective groan was released by the gathered weather team, and then pressed on. "Now that you've got that out of your system, time for some good news. Everypony here is getting overtime pay. Yes, really. Yes, even those who were scheduled for shifts today anyways. So let that buck up your spirits a little. Now, because we are looking for zap-crazy clouds, I'll fly to the north west, and Thunderlane will go to the south west. If you find one, do not tackle it alone! Blow the discovery alert until me or Thunder respond. And nopony is allowed to let the foals within a quarter mile of the thunderheads." She stopped and then turned to the now disappointed Rumble. "And yes, I do mean you specifically, hotshot. No way I'm crazy enough to let you risk that. I'd ground you and send you home right now, but you've got good eyes. Don't make me regret this."

Rarity pushed the stack of notes back across the desk to Dusk and took a sip of what little tea was left in her cup. The gentle spatter of water upon the library was soothing, but her eyes hurt from the endless figures she had just laboured over. "Dusk, darling?" Pausing until the stallion looked up at her, Rarity pushed the stack back to the stallion. "I'm done. I did my copy. I even double checked both your and Applejack's math. It balances, so I am done. Now if you’ll excuse me, I'm going to get some tea. If you don't join us for dinner in twenty minutes, I'll find a better use for boiling water besides tea."

Giving him what she judged to be a piercing glare, Rarity removed her thick red-framed glasses and left the stallion, joining the equally weary Applejack in the kitchen, putting a pot on the stove for tea before inspecting the other mare’s work on dinner.

“This is gonna hurt, but it’s for her own good. All of our good. No more lies, half-truths, or secrets.” Lowering the knife she had been using to chop carrots, Applejack turned around to face her dearest friend and lover, and reached out, so she could squeeze one of Rarity’s hands. “We need to talk, love. I’m done with keeping your secret from Dusk. I love the stallion, but he needs to know the truth, ‘cause I can see him picking apart the truth, and now the lies? They’re just hurting him.”

Rarity froze, the aching pain shooting through her chest, making her heart ache, and not even the soft pressure and reassurance of Applejack’s touch reduced the growing fear. “I- but.. we agreed! It’s too soon! We’ll only end up with somepony being hurt!”

Unlocking the door and stepping into the kitchen, Sweetie Belle carefully shook the worst of the wet off her raincoat, once again grateful to her mother for the foresight of packing it in with her school gear. Hanging the damp jacket up so it could drip and dry safely without any water getting on the carpet. “Rarity! I’m home early! They closed school early ‘cause of this crazy storm!”

Silence. Sweetie looked into the kitchen, finding it dark and quiet. Checking the fridge, she found a few bowls of diced fruit waiting, and took out the grapes, before scampering upstairs. Calling out again, she began to worry a little. “Rarity?! Are you home?”

Again, no answer. Stopping to check in the sewing room and Rarity’s inspiration room, she found no sign of her missing sister. “Nah, it’s not important. Rarity said she had some work to do. Maybe she’ll get home soon?” Pushing aside those worries, Sweetie moved to her room, putting the grapes on her desk and opening her school book. “Well, it’s okay! I can get my class work done first, and have more time to spend with Rarity when she gets home!”

As a thunderbolt crackled through the air, Rarity turned away, crossing her arms defensively over her chest and giving a huff. “I said not yet. It’s too soon, and I don’t want her to be hurt. Besides! It’s nopony else's business!”

Applejack stomped a foot, her patience for soft words and gentle explanations running low. “And I said I’m done keeping this secret from Dusk. You made me a part of this, Rarity, and I’ve never regretted a single day in her life, she’s practically family! But why can’t you trust him? He’s a good stallion, he’d never let anypony hurt her. Didn’t you see how far he went to protect her from Trixie?!! Have you ever seen him form a shield spell that big? Do you think you could ever even form one big enough to protect the whole treehouse?!!”

Rarity looked back over her shoulder, worry clear as day in her eyes. “But- Dusk… He gets carried away. He gets lost in his thoughts and his obsessions. Just look at him! He is on his fourth revision of the hospital’s budget! And nopony ever asked him to do anything except sign his name at the bottom and send it off to Canterlot!”

Applejack cupped Rarity into a hug that enveloped the smaller, panicky mare’s defensive stance, trying to speak softly again but failing from her annoyance. “Sugarcube, stop. Yes, Dusk gets a little obsessive. But why'd he ever be talking to anypony about anything like this? It’s a personal matter. A private one. Nopony else ever needs to know about-”

Rainbow Dash twisted around, her final inspection lap complete. She had to orientate herself until she found Thunderlane again, and blew the final warning for everypony to get clear. The three loud and sharp, shrill blasts of her whistle were quickly repeated by a dozen other members of the weather team that she had spread out to make sure nopony was left behind. The sudden crackle of thunder that came seconds after her signal was deafening, and she needed some time for her vision to clear. Panting for breath, Dash turned around and looked to Thunderlane. The stallion pressed his whistle between his lips and the four shrill, sustained bursts of his whistle echoed in return. “OK, it’s all clear. Everypony is at a safe distance and on their way home. Guess it’s now… or never!”

Turning around in place, Dash more felt, rather than saw the presence of somepony suddenly shooting past her, towards the five clustered thunderheads at the heart of the massive stormfront. Panic blitzed her heart and she poured every ounce of energy she had into speed. She knew there was only one pony with them that was that small, and only one pony who was this damn stupid!

Pumping her wings as hard as she could, Dash rushed into the heart of the storm after the blurry shape of Rumble, his blue-gray wings hardly visible against the crackling stormclouds, but she was catching up! She’d reach him, she’d stop the the colt before he got into the thunderhead and kickstarted the true monsoon. She’d-

She was too slow, too late. The little colt twisted around in place, and landed a kick to the center thunderhead, which caused the cloud to compact against his blow, and a riptide of energy to expand across the titanic black stormfront. A half-second later, she reached him, wrapping her arms around his hips and dive bombing as fast as her wings could handle, shooting for the ground even as the roar of a dozen new thunder strikes burst behind her, the raw heat of one bolt passing just a few feet away from their path of descent. Somewhere distant, she could just barely hear a series of six shrill whistles, Thunderlane screaming for anypony’s assistance. “Has he even realized what his brother just did?!!! I’m so grounded! They’ll never let me fly again if he’s dead!”

Then the rain hit, and she lost another hundred feet as the raw weight of falling water turned the sky into a wall of water she now struggled to swim through, her passenger was screaming something she couldn’t make out over the roar of the rain, and that at least was reassuring. Dash instead blew the sustained whistle, holding it as long as she could, as long as her lungs could handle. Ahead, she could just make out her home, the door open and a figure standing in the doorway waving her in.

Under the weight of her load, and the waterfall, Dash spread her wings wide, and strained to turn her dive into some resemblance of level flight, kicking her feet out so she could run when she reached ground level. The impact was jarring, and she felt it in her knees, and struggled to keep moving. Bursting through the open door, she tripped over a pile of trash and fell, turning over so the damn colt landed atop of her, while she caught her left wing in the fall, and felt bones scream and stretch in painful ways.

Hands were there, and they pulled the colt away, the boy was still shouting something, and Dash pushed away the darkness, trying to focus on the boy, and why he was so excited. When Thunderlane crashed through the doorway, the twin mares pushed the door closed against the wind and the rain.

“Did you see that?! Did you, Thunderlane! I did it! I started the storm! I knew exactly how to hit the thunderhead and make the whole system start up just right! I knew it, and I did it, and it was perfect!”

Thunderlane pushed past his little brother, shoving the colt against the wall and knelt at Dash’s side, cupping her head as she pushed the daze and the noise from from her mind. ”Dash!? Are you okay!? You hit the ground so fast, and then you fell again.”

But Dash’s eyes were transfixed. She ignored the pain in her wing, and pointed a finger at the colt. “Kid... I don’t care if you just got your cutie mark or not. You’re never flying with me again.”

There was silence, and in shock, Rumble pulled at his drenched shirt, only now realizing the meaning behind a strange sensation he’d not noticed due to the excitement of their escape from the storm. On the ball of his shoulder, a black storm cloud with a single thunderbolt was visible, the fading glow of magic still visible against his shirt.

"Because it's my choice. So just let me-"

The roar of another echoing bolt of thunder drowned out the rest of Rarity’s words, but the fear and pain in her eyes were on full display. Panting for breath from frustration, the mares stared at one another while the echoes died down, but it was Dusk’s sudden interruption that changed things.

"Rarity!? Applejack? I know the storms are bad, but we can't do anything about the weather now. So just relax, let’s eat dinner, and if things haven’t calmed down in a few hours, I'll form a shield with my magic and go check on Sweetie Belle and the apple farm, okay?"

Disarmed by Dusk's arrival and sudden reassurances about the weather, Applejack and Rarity shared a look before the unicorn bolted to the kitchen's back door. Throwing the door open to the wind, the roar of a wall of rain poured into the house. It was so dark outside, it felt like dusk, not four in the afternoon. Rarity twisted around, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Where did this storm come from! I- I need to go! Sweetie Belle always dawdles on the way home from school! She might still be out there!"

Rarity's sudden jump from worry and apprehension to outright terror caught Applejack off guard, but Dusk stepped forward, catching Rarity by the shoulders and stopping her before she could bolt out into the rain without a moments thought about grabbing herself a coat. "Stop Rarity. Stop and take a breath. A storm like this? Sweetie Belle probably went straight home from school. Before you rush out blindly into the storm, let me go check at your place. I can... I can teleport over there in an instant, right? That way, I'll arrive and can check up on Sweetie Belle, and make sure she got home okay."

Rarity looked up at Dusk, then over to Applejack, while the taller mare slipped her arms around her panicked lover, drawing their bodies together. "Listen to Dusk and sit down. Drink some of your tea and let Dusk go look for Sweetie Belle, alright?"

Reassured on both sides, Rarity gave in, and relaxed a little on Applejack's grip, her voice still holding an edge of panic. "Please, let me know if she's okay Dusk. I worry she'll get caught up in this storm. She-"

Dusk leaned in, leaving a tender kiss to Rarity’s quaking ruby lips, the salt of her tears adding to the taste of her lipstick. Leaning back he pointed up towards his bedroom. "Teleporting can be exhausting, so if Sweetie Belle is home, I'll send up a flare from your drawing room. You should be able to see it from the balcony, right?"

Finally relaxing, Rarity leaned back into Applejack and gave him a nod. "Thank you, Dusk. Thank you so much. I'll go straight upstairs and watch."

Watching Rarity rush upstairs for only a moment, Applejack took up Dusk's hand and squeezed it, her own eyes dark with worry. "Dusk, things have been hectic lately. Are you sure you're up to teleporting around town?"

Dusk forced himself to put on a brave face and lifted their linked hands, so he could kiss her knuckle. "I need to practice it sometime. When better then during a rainstorm, at least right now, nopony is out in the street and at risk of being in the way of where I try to arrive."

Applejack squeezed his hand for a moment, and Dusk could have sworn he saw words forming on her lips. Instead, he leaned in, silencing her with a swift kiss before pulling his hand free of her own. Stepping away from her, he summoned up the memories he had built up, and focused on the teleportation spell's pattern. A sudden surge of need made his mouth dry, and screamed in an attempt to pull his attention away from the spell. Sweat beading down his cheek, Dusk pushed back at that dry whisper, forcing it from his mind. The magic came at last, responding to his command and at last, in a blink, he was gone.

From upstairs, Rarity's voice called back downstairs. "Darling? That was Dusk leaving, right?"

Applejack has to push the last second image of Dusk’s face from her mind. Surely she'd just imagined it, right? That momentary flicker, like a wince of pain before the pulse of magic had completed, and warped him away. She kept herself busy instead, gathering tea supplies and answering Rarity’s question. "It was! Guess you could feel the build up that far away? I'm bringing tea and dinner with me, so just wait by the balcony, and let me know if you see his flare go off."

With her heart in her throat and that momentary image of Dusk's face contorted in pain refusing to leave, Applejack made up a tray of chopped veggies and ranch dip, putting that with the tea, she started to climb the stairs.

As Applejack crossed the threshold of the last step, Rarity’s sudden exclamation of joy nearly made her drop the heavy tray "There it is! A pink and pale purple flare in the sky over the boutique! He found her! Thank you, Princess Celestia for keeping her safe." With one weight relieved, Applejack stepped into Dusk's bedroom, to keep Rarity company while they waited for word from the stallion.

Just as quickly as the magic surged at his call, it fled, as the dry tang in his mouth had sucked it all up. Dusk could hardly feel his feet, staggering to one side and resting against the wall. His head pounded as if somepony was beating on a drum right by his ear and his heart felt like it was on fire.

Forcing his throat to swallow against the dry sensation, Dusk searched for meaning in the confusion, and a memory stepped up as if called on personally. It had been in old professor Floral Magus' class on bio-magical plants, and everypony was sure the old stallion had sampled some of the more exotic, even outlawed plants he kept in the greenhouse.

"Under lock and key, and no students are allowed into the greenhouse without an escort." That had been his defense. But it was only a few months later when he 'retired'. Rumours continued for months until the royal guard shut down the greenhouse and moved all of the more illegal plants to a secure research facility.

But something he had said in class was what really focused Dusk’s attention. “Black Lotus isn’t illegal because of the power it gives a unicorn. It’s illegal because of what a unicorn on it can do to others. The addiction to being able to use anything as a source of magic, blinds a unicorn to their own magic, driving a user to pull magic from their friends, or any other pony in range.

Somepony in class had asked: "What if they resist the addiction, and avoid using it again?"

As if he had been expecting the question Magus continued. "The fact the lotus has made it hard for them to find their own magic means an addict still drying out has trouble telling the difference between their magic and their lifeforce. Common side effects include dry lips and mouth, quickened pulse or even heart attacks and blackouts.” And then the old unicorn had took a sip from the flask of water he always carried, and that had pulled Dusk's focus to his leathery skin and cracked lips, not to mention the way he looked so anorexic that he might be nearly hollow.

Dusk pushed aside those memories, focusing in on the one fact from it all that mattered. "Black lotus makes it hard to tell the difference between magic or life force. But I've already been taught to find my life force and how to channel it into magic. What if I-"

Dusk pushed the need to experiment aside, and focused on the two things he needed the most right now, his lungs and his heart. It was shocking, just how hard it was to take direct control of his heart, compared to his lungs. He forced his breathing to level out, that was easy, but making his heart calm and return to a steady beat was something else. "Breathe in, slow and even, let the heart return to a normal rhythm. Hold for a second, now breathe out again. Everything else will fall into place on their own once I manage to calm down."

Dusk drew another slow breath, and finally opened his eyes. A faint blur cleared, and the black haze at the edges thinned out, forming into the worried face of Sweetie Belle, peering around the frame of her bedroom door while holding a grape halfway to her mouth. When she saw him looking at her, she grinned and popped the grape into her lips, talking around the grape. "Did you just teleport!? Does Rarity know you can teleport?!! I didn't think anypony could teleport these days, in the school books they tell stories about ponies using teleportation magic, but they don't even introduce it in the 'Applications of Advanced Magic' book that Miss Cheerilee keeps in a locked drawer in her desk."

Dusk pushed aside his own questions and instead latched onto a single idea that was the most important thing to deal with right now. He grinned at the filly, ignoring the pain still shooting through parts of his body. "Before we talk about any of that, I could really use a grape; teleporting is extremely exhausting, and after that, how about I teach you a spell, Sweetie Belle? Have you learned about signal flares?"

Intrigued by Dusk's offer, Sweetie Belle stepped out of her room and offered up her bowl of grapes to the stallion, grinning around the seeds from her grape. "Not in class, but I've read ahead a bunch and I think I know what you mean. Is it like a spell to get somepony's attention when they are really far away?"

As the pain settled down to a background roar, Dusk palmed a few of the grapes and popped them straight into his mouth, enjoying the sudden burst of rich juice over his dry lips and around his mouth. "You are thinking about the exact same thing as I am, Sweetie. Now, do you think the window in this hallway or Rarity’s room is closer to my library?"

Keeping pace with Dusk, Sweetie Belle turned and looked down the hallway and then at Rarity’s closed door before answering. "Let's use the hallway window! It’s about the same distance anyways." Without waiting for him, she walked down the hallway to the window and turned the latch, pushing the window open and ignoring the roaring rain.

Bracing his weight against the wall with one hand, Dusk forced himself to stand up, and was relieved to find as his knees unbent and his shoulder slid up the wall, that he felt better as he started to move. "Maybe the initial shock has worn off at last? But, I'd better be careful anyways; I’ll let Sweetie Belle cast the spell."

Standing up fully and grinding the pulp of the grapes between his teeth before following the filly to the end of the hallway, still using one hand to help with his balance by bracing it against the wall. The walk felt like it took forever, but at last the cool breeze and faint rebounded moisture of water bounced in through the open window, soothing his face and lips by soaking his face and chest almost instantly.

Sweetie Belle grinned up to him, already soaked herself, before speaking up. "The teleportation magic made you really tired, huh? Don't worry! Im sure I can make a flare for you, Dusk! Just let me try!"

Impressed with the filly, Dusk stepped up behind her, testing both of his hands on her head so that his thumbs pressed to temples, his pointer fingers found her sinuses just below her eyes and his pinkies were just touching the arteries in her throat. With the other two fingers folded in to be out of the way, he focused speaking with great care while experimentally reaching for first his own and then her magic in turn trying to feel the differences, to help sort between his own magic and the energy of his life force. "Alright, now Sweetie Belle, I want you to gather your magic and focus on the idea of a ball of light. Shape your magic to fit in that ball with your mind, and make sure to fill in all the light with more magic. You want it as bright as possible, because this storm is going to make it really hard for anypony to see."

Barely able to help herself, Sweetie Belle smothered her need to laugh at the strange way Dusk rested his hand on her face, but did as asked. When she had the image locked in her mind and the magic had flooded in to fill every nook and cranny of the picture, she paused for a moment of thought before asking Dusk a question. "This flare, it’s to tell Rarity we are both okay, right?"

Still focused on the way the filly drew at her magic and shaped it, Dusk was only half paying attention to her words. With a grip now on his own magic, and sure he had followed the same path she had, he started filling in the gaps in her spell-shape, and places she had failed to properly fill with light and magic. "It is. Rarity and Applejack are back at my library and are both very worried about you. So we are going to let them see you're just fine." With satisfaction, Dusk felt his magic flow, and was sure he had found his focus properly. His lips remained moist from the rain, and the grape juice on his tongue still tasted so sweet.

What happened next, shocked Dusk. For all of her sloppy lines and gaps on the original spell-shape, when she turned back to the magic they had formed together, suddenly the bland white light of the frame they had formed now gained pale pink and purple hues akin to her hair color. She’d rewritten the existing pattern with ease, and without rebuilding it from the ground up. As Dusk fretted, scrambling over the new parts of the pattern searching for mistakes, for breaks, or weak points, the filly spoke with glee. "There! Now Rarity will know it was me for sure!"

Just as Dusk started to admire the fantastic work the filly had done on a whim, she pulled the spell-form from his grip and threw it into the roaring rain, a bold bloom of light soaring skyward and into the black sky. Shocked at the filly’s confidence, Dusk watched the light bloom in the sky before speaking. "Do you alter spell-shapes at school like that very often?"

Looking up at him the filly gave a far too casual shrug. "Not really. We don't do much practical magic except when guest teachers come in to help miss Cheerilee, and most of them are really grumpy about doing everything exactly by the book."

Releasing the filly’s face and taking her hand, Dusk shook his head. "Then I'd better see that we fix that. On the spot alterations of a spell is very impressive. Now let’s go get you some dinner, alright?"

Glad for the company, and the compliment, Sweetie happily took his hand and followed him to the kitchen. "Dinner sounds like a super idea, plus I kinda ate all the grapes."

Rumble sat staring out a window, slumped forward and resting his face flat against the window, not really watching the rolling stormclouds that blackened the night sky.

Flitter and Cloudchaser had looked through Rainbow Dash's bare ice box and in the end, had risked racing through the storm to their own house before returning and preparing a meal for their small gathering. Thunderlane gave his kid brother a nudge on the shoulder. "Come on, finish eating. I’ll talk with her, things aren’t that bad.”

Turning away from the window, Rumble looked up to his brother, searching for any sign of hope in his brother’s eyes. What he saw made the colt sit up taller, and relax his wings a little, picking at the fries that sat on the plate beside him. “Thanks Thunderlane… I- I know I screwed up big. But! But I was just so sure I could do it.”

The colt gave a heavy sigh, and Thunderlane squeezed his shoulder, before patting it a few times. “I’ll go to bat for you, little bro. You’re family, never forget that.”

The mares stepped in as Thunderlane moved away from his brother, closing around Thunder for a moment and squeezing his hands before moving in to make small talk with the younger colt. Thunderlane was grateful the twins had a soft spot for the colt, but as he walked around a pile of dirty laundry, and knocked on Dash’s bedroom door, he put on a serious face, and lined up his list of arguments. As his blows landed on the wood, the door shifted open, revealing Rainbow Dash was sitting on her bed in a fresh shirt, her blanket wrapped over her legs while her window was half open. Even as he looked her over, the bad angle her wing hung at worried him, but Flitter looked at it, and promised it was a sprain at most.

“Do you have any family in Cloudsdale, Thunderlane?” Dash’s question came before he could even say hello, and the mare hadn’t yet looked away from the window. It all caught him off guard, but he shrugged it off, and stepped into her room, crossing his hands before his belt. “Treat it like a dressing down. But try to trade questions; maybe I can sneak things into the conversation to try and smooth things over.” Clearing his throat before he answered, he chose his words carefully. “One of my herd mothers, Winter Song, moved back home after my father’s death. Mine and Rumble’s mother is in Manehatten doing term work.”

Dash finally looked at Thunderlane as he spoke, and bit her lip, carefully watching him before answering. “Does she like Rumble? I’m sorry, I never had any herd mothers. Only child and that kind of crap.”

Realizing she was pushing towards the topic he wanted to talk about, Thunderlane’s heart began to race, and a worrying line of thought shot to his mind. “I-I mean, it’s possible. She helped raise him for years, but she never asked us to come with her to Cloudsdale. You can’t just ship him off, and I’m your best assistant, so you can’t afford to send me away.”

Dash’s laughter made him freeze up, but her answer came like a sudden ray of hope in the gloomy night. “No, I need your help. But your brother? A colt with that much talent with storms? He would be wasted in Ponyville, and you know it. Besides, he is nearly sixteen. Now that he has his cutie mark, he can challenge the entrance exam for Flight School, or even Weather School. I hate to admit it, but the kid’s got talent with weather that I can’t even touch. Even if he fails the Flight School exam, if he passes the weather exam, you know they’d give him the extra training he needs to catch up with everypony else in Weather School.”

Math and numbers started shooting through Thunderlane’s mind while he spoke quietly, trying to piece it all together. “Winter Song might let Rumble stay with her, but the cost of schooling? I-I don’t know if I can afford it. Even if I cut back on meals and everything, I just-”

Dash finally stood up and put a hand through his hair, smoothing some of it back before shaking her head at him. “Ok, you’ve never really lived in Cloudsdale, so I’ll forgive you for your ignorance and catch you up fast, alright? Weather School is like a lot of the other specialty schools. If you’re good enough to get in, but can’t afford it, they make you work. Co-op schooling they call it. He won’t make any bits, but they’ll give him hands on training and it’ll take most of the bite out of the cost of his schooling, alright? And if your herd mother won’t take him in, I’ll talk to my dad. He’ll help us figure something out.”

Stunned, Thunderlane was taken back, but he’d heard about those kinds of schooling, if she was serious? Maybe things could work out. But, he had to ask, she’d grounded Rumble only a few hours before. “But, why Dash? Why help us out; it’s not like the paperwork Rumble did was that hard. You could have figured it out on your own.”

Dash groaned, and fell back on her bed, shaking her head. “I already told you, dummy. I couldn’t have started that storm any better than he did, and he’s got no training at all. I’ve only trained a little in big storms like that, alright? What I was doing? It was on a wing and a prayer. Now go write your herd mother, and tell the brat to eat up. I’ll talk to Dusk about requesting a special exam for the kid sometime this winter, so he can join the new semester after Hearth’s Warming, alright?”

Still a little taken back by Dash’s quick about-face, Thunderlane gave her a nod... Only to realize how he’d so easily been distracted from his own plans for the conversation. Flustered and a little frustrated, he gave her a small salute. “Just don’t forget that it was my grunt work, and Rumble’s math that kept you out of trouble with the Cloudsdale and Canterlot, right?”

Pushing her hair from her eyes, she gave a snort. “Of course I’ll remember that, otherwise I’d have already figured out some way of sending you to Flight School as well. But I need an assistant with your talents too much to spare you for that kind of time-consuming training.”

Applejack pushed the empty bowl of ranch dressing across the floor, her eyes on the distant outline of The Carousel Boutique, only just visible through the roaring storm when bolts ripped through the sky. She crossed her hands upon her knees and leaned forward, resting her chin upon her hands. “What do you think they’re doing? Dusk, he isn’t the type to just sit around. They must have come up with something to keep her busy, right?”

Rarity shook her head, chewing off the last few bites of her carrot stick and swallowing before answering her friend. “I have... I’d promised her that I’d help her with all the extra school work she’s been getting as of late. She’s a bright filly, and I sometimes feel inadequate when she asks me questions and the answers make me struggle.” Shaking her head she drew her lip into her mouth, biting down on it.

Applejack asked the question they both knew was coming. “So will you tell him?”

Dusk drew the blanket up to Sweetie’s neck and smoothed a hand through her hair, giving a smile down at the little filly. “Alright, so according to my list, you’ve eaten, showered, selected clean clothing for the morning, I prepared your breakfast and your lunch and you have my notes on what to study tomorrow if the storm doesn’t let up enough to go to school. Did we miss anything?”

Sweetie Belle laughed gently and nodded at him. “You forgot reading me a bedtime story, and checking under the bed for minotaurs. But don’t worry, I did both while you were making sure the fireplace was properly stocked with coal.” She went silent for a moment before perking up and sitting a little taller. “Oh! Did you make sure to close the spark mesh? Rarity doesn’t have many carpets, but keeping the mesh closed makes her happy.”

Dusk pulled out the scrap of note paper he had been using, and unspooled it, turning it over to the back, before placing it so she could see his writing. “Don’t worry, I checked it, twice to make sure.”

Satisfied, the filly leaned up, wrapping her arms around his neck as he sat on her bed, and gently planted a kiss on his forehead. “Then here is your goodnight kiss, Dusk. Thanks for coming over and making sure I was okay. Oh! And tell Rarity I still want to look into something we can do together, okay?!”

Dusk blushed at the filly’s tender nature, and let his fingers stroke her hair soothingly one more time. “Thank you, Sweetie Belle, I will. Now sleep well, and one way or another, we will come check on you in the morning, okay?”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Sweetie Belle waved a hand at him. “Do your thing, magic man!”

Dusk stepped back from the bed and reached for the pathway Sweetie Belle had drawn in his mind. Reaching down, he bypassed the power he knew he couldn’t touch, and instead took hold of his magic, drawing up the pattern necessary for the spell while summoning it forth. He stopped when he suddenly realized something and looked at the filly again. “And don’t you ever dare try and copy this pattern, not until we agree you’ve got enough control. Alright?”

Sweetie Belle’s lower lip quivered, but gave him a gentle nod. “I wasn’t gonna try it, really!” When he didn’t look away, she gave a pout, and nodded. “Alright, alright. I promise!”

Rarity drew her hands over her cheeks, drying the dampness that refused to stop forming. Applejack offered her clean hankey, and Rarity was just wrapping it around two of her fingers, when a sudden buildup of power formed, and she twisted around looking down through the floor of the house. Swallowing back a thickness in her throat, she at last spoke. “He’s back in the library. Let’s go downstairs, it’s time we talked; about everything.”

Supporting Rarity as she stood up, Applejack gave her jaw a light nudge, and grinned. “Then let’s go. It’s time this was all over with. Just let me know when you need me to fill in things that hurt too much, alright?”

Rarity put a hand upon the taller mare’s cheek, and leaned in, softly kissing her lips and holding her close. Sighing gently and resting her head on Applejack’s chest, she gave a nod. “Thank you, Applejack. I’m sorry, I’ll make all of this up to you, I promise, my love.”

Closing in together, the mares took to the staircase, their footsteps on the staircase carried down through the library. Dusk drew a breath, pushing back a faint sense of disorientation. Resting the palms of his hands flat against the floor, Dusk pushed aside all outside sounds, and retraced the pathway to his magic, taking a careful grip of it while avoiding the far too easy source of his life force that kept getting in his way. “I have to study this. Practice this. Something makes it hard for me to retrace this path, even after Sweetie’s assistance. So practice makes perfect.”

Drawing up his magic, Dusk let it flow forth, and lit the candles around the library, bringing a soft glow to the room. As the footsteps approached the library entrance, Dusk forced himself to stand up, and finding it easier than before, and just in time too. As Dusk turned to look at the staircase, Applejack and Rarity descended together, each holding an arm around one another. Smiling to the mares, he gave a nod. “Sweetie Belle is fine. She’d probably have stayed up too late, eaten nothing but grapes and done nothing but her schoolwork if I hadn’t come to check on her. I made up a few more meals for her and sent her to bed with a list of things she should do to keep herself busy if this storm doesn’t let up soon.”

As relief flooded her, Rarity stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath, relaxing a little bit as a smile crept over her lips. Looking up to Applejack, she felt a thick knot tightening in her throat, forcing her to swallow it back before she spoke. “Thank you, Dusk. Thank you so much. I’m sorry I asked you to go so far to soothe my worries about Sweetie Belle.” Rarity let out a sigh, but a squeeze of her hand by Applejack prompted her to continue. “We need to talk. Please, will you join us in the kitchen? I have a story I should have told you before, and I need you to promise you’ll let me tell it all before you say anything. Please, Dusk?”

Looking quickly up to Applejack, Dusk noticed one of her hands soothingly stroking over Rarity’s far shoulder, as if supporting and encouraging her. Dusk gave a nod, and offered the mare a hand. “Of course, anything you need, Rarity. I’ll listen, I promise.”

Rarity took Dusk’s hand and squeezed it, before guiding him to the kitchen and into a seat. Leaning in, she stroked a hand across his cheek, up into his hair, smoothing some of it back from his brow before she placed a kiss on his cheek. “Dusk, I told you a story before about a mistake I made as a filly. But there is more to it, and you deserve to know it all.”

Watching as the mare walked around the table and sat across from him, Dusk gently nodded, for a moment, questions that he had been pushing aside welled up, demanding to be asked. But he had made her a promise, and would keep his silence. Applejack put a pot of water on the stove, before returning to stand behind Rarity, and squeezed her shoulders, fingers massaging into her friend’s shoulders to help soothe her stress.

“It all began a little over twelve years ago, when I was a student of Diamond Masquerade...”

“Diamond was the best kind of teacher. Loving, kind and supportive. Always ready with a soft word of advice, a gentle pat on the head, and a squeeze of the shoulder. He was handsome, in his late twenties, and a charming noble from a rich family in Canterlot. I was in love with more than just that, though. It was his style, always in the best clothing, with a fresh cut flower on his lapel year-round, and the way he was always helping out any foal or their family in his free time. A perfect gentleman in every way.

“It had started so small, in such easy, sweet little ways. An extra class after school, dinner when my parents were out of town and regular trips to the theater or cinema, sometimes with the class and sometimes just the two of us together.”

“It was just after my second heat, and my parents went on a trip to Manehatten. They’d asked Diamond and a few of our neighbors to look in on me, but after years of living with parents who traveled for business so often, I was already very independent, maybe even overconfident in how mature I really was. And I was in love, or at least, a filly’s daydream of what love was. Diamond always held my hand, and stroked my hair, and looked into my eyes and- As I said, a silly filly’s flights of fantasy.

“On the second day of my parents’ trip, Diamond came over, and I wanted to impress him, so I baked him a fancy four-course dinner from scratch, all by myself, and afterwards we talked for hours. He’d even brought wine. I remember thinking at the time how much he must have respected me, to let me have even a small glass.

“Later that night, after- after we’d finished and he’d gone home, I remember vividly, the happiness. Happiness that was so quickly drowned a few weeks later. One day I woke up, and felt so violently ill. Mother- mother found me in the bathroom and took me to the clinic. After that, almost everything that happened was a blur, and so much of it hurt. Mother cried a lot. Diamond suddenly disappeared, and the royal guard spent weeks interviewing almost everypony in town. It turns out two mares and four other fillies had wound up carrying his foals. Weeks turned into months and my parents took to homeschooling me, all the while, my belly grew swollen, and I came to hide from the world. Mother left her work, and stayed home with me, while father told everypony of my failing health and mother’s…”

Rarity’s voice broke, and she wiped a stream of tears from her cheek, her free hand curling around Applejack’s hand as she leaned over her, squeezing her into a hug. The steam rising from a cup of tea AJ had just delivered tickled her nose, demanding a sip be taken before she pressed on. “Mother had found an answer that made it possible for my pregnancy and time with Diamond Masquerade to remain our secret, even with new laws being passed just to prevent such a stallion from hurting other fillies in the future.

“Sweetie Belle, she- she is my daughter. A mistake I made in thinking I was a mature mare, but she is also the greatest blessing I’ve ever had. Mother faked her pregnancy and my illness for the public, and for years she helped cover for me. I-I am sorry, Dusk, I never should have hid something like this from you.”

Dusk stared down into his tea, contemplating the story, and piecing together small things that had long bothered him, putting pieces together and answering matters he’d so long ignored.

With a finger dancing across the rim of his cup of hot tea, Dusk watched a bead of sweat run down across the ivory cup. Drawing in a deep breath of the powerful herbal mixture, he let it burn away the buildup of phlegm in his lungs and soothe his sore throat. When he was sure the mare was really finished, he cleared his throat, drawing a small sip of his own cup of tea, letting its flavors linger on his lips and dance across his tongue. “How did Applejack become a part of your secret?”

The mares looked to one another, and Applejack spoke up first. “When I was a filly, staying with some of my relatives in Manehatten, I had a cousin who was only fifteen or so years old. She and a colt in her class fooled around, and she wound up having twin foals. As much as her family supported her, many ponies were horrible, to her, and to her foals. I’ll never forget the way the colt’s own family had refused to acknowledge her and her foals, but considering their age, and since no stud price had ever been payed, the colt’s family ended up being forced to support them, or face punishment, jail and fines. Now, that never changed how his family treated her, or the foals. I never want to see that happen to another foal, ever!”

Dusk could already piece together the rest of that story, but rather than make assumptions he watched as Rarity and Applejack exchanged a look, and Applejack stole a sip of Rarity’s tea. “One day, just a few weeks after I returned to Ponyville, Big Mac found an old dress that belonged to my mother when she was around my age, and I brought it to town since I’d heard about a mare who was working as a seamstress. Just as I lifted a hand to knock on the door of the mare’s home, the door swung open under the pressure of my knocks, and before my eyes, little Sweetie Belle, only three or four years old, wrapped her arms around Rarity’s neck, and wished she could have more time to spend with her real mommy and not grandma. The horror I saw in Rarity's eyes as she realized I had seen and heard them talking? It burned that day in my mind and will forever remind me of my cousin and all the horrors they put those two poor little foals through. From that day on, I knew I’d protect their secret until they were sure anypony else had earned the right to know.”

Dusk gave a sigh, draining the rest of his cup, before asking another question that was nagging him. “Does anypony else know, besides your family?”

Rarity winced, and gripped her hands around her cup, holding it tightly and looking down. “I told Cheerilee a few months ago; she’s been a friend for years and I think she might have had figured it out on her own eventually by looking through Sweetie’s schoolwork. Nurse Redheart and a few others who worked with her when she was still just a young intern at Ponyville Clinic. Princess Celestia made me wonder, she gently cupped my hand before she left Ponyville after we saved Princess Luna, and she wished ‘me and all my family well’.”

Applejack cut in when Rarity stopped talking. “I think Apple Bloom figured it out herself. But she has never told me that explicitly, and she still keeps the secret, if she does know. I know Big Mac knows, but it’s Big Mac. He never talks to anypony about personal things.”

Surprised, Rarity looked up at her lover. “Mac? Are you sure, darling?”

Applejack gave a solid nod, her eyes firm in her determination. “I know. Every year, on Sweetie Belle’s birthday, he gives me a few extra bits he has collected selling his cider, and tells me to buy Sweetie something good, to quote: ‘Since no foal should live without a father.’ So yes, I know he knows, even if he refuses to say how.”

Rarity considered a moment, and finally nodded. “I believe you. The way he is always watching out for Sweetie Belle, even when I’m around. And in that case, I’d also include Pinkie.”

Confused, Dusk twisted his head in thought, trying to piece this together. “Pinkie? Why Pinkie?”

Both mares laughed together, relaxing and releasing a bit of stress. It was good to laugh. It allowed Rarity to relax, even if only for a little bit. “Because she is Pinkie Pie. I’d be more surprised if she didn’t know to be honest.”

Dusk put this in with the list of all of the other mounting questions about Pinkie, another list that was quickly growing far out of control. Looking at his empty cup, he swallowed a lump from his throat, and smiled at the mares. “Then, if that is everypony, I’d be proud to consider myself in such elite company.” As both mares relaxed and smiled at him, Dusk added. “But I think we should consider telling the others the truth. Rainbow Dash knows the pain of losing family; knowing she never had a father would make them closer. And Fluttershy is the gentlest mare. She would keep the secret, and lying to her is painfully hard.”

While Applejack wanted to agree, Rarity bit her lip, and leaned back into Applejack’s strong grip. “I-I don’t know, Dusk.”

Dusk smiled, leaning forward, and cupped the mare’s jaw, kissing her softly before whispering gently to her. “I didn’t say today, but think about it. Both mares are dear friends and will keep it. For now? Just know that I love you, and I love Sweetie Belle. Now, let’s go to bed, today has been a very long week, and we all need our rest.”

Author's Notes:

And at last, the hints are over and the truth is out. I hope those of you who guessed this reveal ages ago forgive me for having my dramatic moment.

The next chapter is my first dual chapter, combining both Fall Weather Friends and Bridle Gossip. With so much going on for Dusk as Ponyville’s new Magistrate, making time for the small things for his friends and lovers is difficult. But with a black lotus smuggler inside his territory, Dusk's new addiction is about to run headfirst into his duty to his people.