It was a Monday morning at Canterlot High, and the girls and Spike met up before first period in front of the school gates. They exchanged greetings with smiles all around. Spike had his arm around Twilight’s waist while Pinkie and Rainbow held hands. Rarity and Applejack blushed lightly enough that nobody could see when they met each other’s gaze. A few minutes into the conversation, Applejack cleared her throat and excused herself.

“Ah’m, uh, gonna go get some stuff from my locker.” She said as she smiled and waved farewell to her friends, who replied with a small chorus of their own goodbyes to the farmhand. Rarity’s smile fell a bit as AJ left the group, but felt her phone vibrate in her purse. She withdrew it to find a new text message from AJ.

‘I wanna talk. Meet me at the side of the math building.

-AJ’

Rarity quickly excused herself as well, under the excuse that she wanted to fine-tune her makeup before class. She set along her way to meet Applejack, clutching her books to her chest as she walked, a blush clear on her cheeks. She arrived after a minute or two of walking, and came to a stop near the friend she had kissed - and, in the process, pushed to her first orgasm - over the weekend. They hadn’t had time to talk about it immediately after their escapade, because not even a full minute after the occurrence, Applejack had jumped up in a fluster and made her way back to the truck, saying that she needed to check on the kids and Granny Smith, and thusly left them both with many unanswered questions.

“H...Hello, Applejack…” Rarity muttered in a hushed tone to her friend, her face blushed red not only in embarrassment, but fear that because of her alcohol consumption that night, Rarity had been unable to see that she might’ve been forcing herself onto her friend. To be honest, she didn’t remember all the details. All she knew was she really enjoyed the passionate makeout session with her rather attractive farmer friend.

“So…” AJ offered, looking everywhere but Rarity’s face for a few moments before sighing in defeat. ‘No use prancin’ round this thang. Might as well bite the bullet.’ She thought to herself before shifting her gaze, with surprising difficulty, to her friend. “What was that night… Ah mean… What did it mean to you?”

“A-Applejack… I… Well…” Rarity said nervously as her hands fidgeted with her rings and bracelets. She took a deep breath, steeled herself, and met her gaze. “Applejack, you mean a lot to me. And… That kiss… It felt so different from any other kiss I’ve ever had. I know I had been drinking that night, and to be honest with you, I don’t quite remember everything… But, what I know for sure is that… It awoke feelings in me that up until now I’ve never felt. I was never one for the romantic side of intimacy, but… That all changed with you.”

“...Okay…” Applejack said, putting her hands on her hips and biting the inside of her cheek, not sure whether the information she’d just received had aided her in making up her mind or just made it more complex. “Well… Ah enjoyed it too, Ah won’t lie ‘bout that…. But, Ah’m jus’ really strugglin’ with this, Rares… Ah mean, my whole life Ah’ve never been… romantic with anyone. And… Mah family ain’t anti-gay or nothin’, but… Ah imagine it’d be a bit different if Granny Smith found out her granddaughter was a lesbian, or bisexual, or somethin’...” She sighed, taking her Stetson off her head and running a hand through her blonde locks. “And… Ah don’t even know if Ah would be good at this whole relationship thang…”

“But why not?” Rarity insisted, a small smile on her face as she moved closer to her friend. “You’re honest, caring, genuine, you’re a hard worker… For God’s sake, Applejack, you’re beautiful! You’re the perfect man inside a woman I already know and love!”

Applejack chuckled a bit at the last part of that compliment. “Heh heh… So, Ah’m a butch?”

Rarity responded with a small fit of giggles, before rephrasing. “Oh, no, not that. That’s Rainbow Dash, of course… What I meant was that you’re… You’re what I’m looking for, I suppose. And, well… Trying to ignore what happened wouldn’t really do any good, since we both know how we feel about each other, now.” Rarity took hold of Applejack’s hands and smiled at her, blushing. “I don’t think we’ve got anything to lose, Applejack. I say we give it a shot.”

The farm hand, with an anxious smile, nodded in approval, her thumbs stroking Rarity’s knuckles as they held hands. “Alrigh’ then, Sugarcube. We’ll give it the ol’ college try, as my Pa used to say.” She chuckled before leaning in to kiss her new girlfriend, who gladly accepted the chaste lip lock. While they were kissing, AJ took her stetson off her head, placing it on top of Rarity’s Amethyst-colored curls. Once they broke the kiss, Rarity looked up to see the brim of the cowgirl’s hat.

“A-Applejack…” Rarity said, the gesture taking her breath away as she knew how much Applejack’s hat meant to her. “Are you sure you want to give me this…?”

The Southern girl nodded with a gentle smile. “Ah’m sure as sugar. If we’re gonna give datin’ a whirl, Ah’m gonna show how much Ah want it ta work out. That hat right there should tell ya just how much, ‘how much’ is… That, and…” She grinned, putting her arm around the fashionista’s waist, “Now every fella in school will know who they best not try’n steal you from.” She said with a cocky grin. Rarity giggled and kissed her partner’s freckled cheek in response.

“Oh, so you’re the protective type, darling? I like that~”

---

“Ri’ mate, see ya later, then.” Pipsqueak bumped fists with Spike as he turned into the room hosting his next class; art. He sat down in his usual seat in the back, his desk covered with drawings made by many different students at CHS with varying levels of skill. From cartoonish characters, to intricate portraits, to crudely drawn, disproportionate genitalia. Yes, this desk had it all. He set his backpack on the floor with a soft thud before sighing as he slouched back into the chair. As usual, he was early, so he had time to listen to a song with his headphones before the tardy bell rang. Although this didn’t stop him from listening to the heavy dubstep blaring in his ears, it did coax him to turn the volume down a few notches, at least enough so that only the students sitting right next to him could hear it.

Pip noticed Gilda walk into the classroom a few moments later, and sit in the chair next to him, taking out her sketchbook and starting to draw right away. He looked over at what she was drawing; it looked like some primitive men in loincloths, perhaps cavemen or jurassic era natives, covered in tribal tattoos, carrying a dead sabertooth tiger by a spear that was thrust through its abdomen.

“That’s pretty cool.” He noted, motioning to Gilda’s work. This took the girl by surprise, as she was so focused on her drawing that she didn’t even notice Pip was beside her. She just gave a monotone hum and continued with her work.

Pip gave a click of his teeth, a little offput by the half-assed response. “Tsk, Wha’ever…”

Soon after, the instructor of the class spoke up with a far too sunny disposition. “Okay, class!” Mrs. Culler called out in a singsong voice, “I hope you’ve all finished the sketches I assigned you last week, because we’re going to present them today! Gilda, would you mind going first?”

“Sure.” Gilda said as she stood up and walked to the front of the classroom, holding up her sketch, explaining it as she did so. “So, since the assignment was to draw something about life and death, I thought of the idea of the death of one thing for the life of another thing. So, these native dudes killed this tiger so that they can eat and stay alive. Looks pretty bad-ass, too, right?”

Many whispers and comments of appreciation filled the room before a voice in the back yelled out over the rest of the classroom’s drabble. “...Nah mate, looks like proper shite.”

Every head in the classroom snapped backwards to look straight at Pipsqueak’s toothy grin. Gilda’s mouth twisted downwards in an angry snarl, and Mrs. Culler called back to him, appalled. “Pipsqueak, now that’s not the way we critique the work of our fellow cla-”

“You know what, you little prick, fuck you.” Gilda said with a cold glare. “You don’t gotta like it, and your opinion doesn’t mean shit, but I’m sure this is ten times better than whatever you can come up with, you crooked-toothed fuckass. So unless you’ve got the Mona Lisa in your sketchbook, shut the fuck up, wipe that shit-eating grin off your face, and suck my metaphorical art-dick until it falls off so I can beat you over the head with it, and then go over to your backpack, drop trow, and squeeze out a deuce all over that fuckin’ coloring book that’s already smeared with whatever you wiped out of your ass and slapped into the pages.”

Mrs. Culler gasped, absolutely devastated at Gilda’s graphic use of language. “Gilda, that’s-”

“And if you ever start getting any clever ideas about trying to poke fun at my art, you should know who you’re messing with, fucko. Because I swear to fucking Christ, Satan, Joseph and the Virgin-fuckin’-Mary, I’ll grab your safety scissors and cut off your fucking ear so you can look like Van Gogh’s retarded step-brother. And then I’ll make you swallow your teeth so I don’t have to look at that backyard fence every time you crack a grin, you little nugget of shit.”

“That’s enough, Gilda! Now, I know it wasn’t kind for Pip to insult your drawing, but-”

“Shut your bloody hole, ya fuckin’ diesel dyke! You probably munched teach’s rug to get’n this class, yeah? Your work doesn’t mean a rat’s piss to me, but now ya gone an’ done it, so now I’ve gotta go on and tell the whole bloody class that you look like a fuckin’ autistic, emo version of Elken Degeneres. You’ve got the facial structure of a bloody baboon with it’s neck stapled to its chin! Tell me this, you damn kitty puncher, why does your hair look like the wrong side of an old man’s wrinkly arse?”

“Oooh, I’m gonna shove my boot so far up your ass, you’ll feel me wiggling my toes in your throat! You’d probably like that, you fucking faggot! You look like you suck cock to wind down. I bet a raccoon could beat your ass you fucking twig. And after the trash panda breaks your nose, I’ll toss you in a fucking trash compactor!”

“Oh, you mean the rubbage lemur you bleached an’ put on your bloody skull? You look like God was havin’ trouble makin’ you an’ just gave up halfway through! You’re literally the special ed rep of muff divers! You look like you told your mum and dad ‘it’s just a phase’ every day for the last five years and never stopped! Tell me, when was the last time you trimmed a lawn that wasn’t sitting on top of a minge that smelled like garlic, daddy issues, and bad life choices? You look like you once went to juvie and got put on PETA’s blacklist for trying to suck a beaver’s peach!”

“That’s enough!” Mrs. Culler yelled, stopping the ruthless roasting from going any further. “Both of you go to the principal’s office, RIGHT NOW!”
----

“Great job, you gap-toothed fuckass.” Gilda threw over her shoulder as they both headed to the principal’s office. “All you had to do was not be a shitlet, and we wouldn’t be in any trouble.”

“Yeah, well,” Pip smirked before responding cockily, “Don’t dish it out if ya can’t take it.”

“Fuck you, dude! You were the one who started that shit, not me!” Gilda yelled as she turned around, now glaring at him. “Now, thanks to your dumb ass, I’m gonna get expelled, again!” She screamed, as her voice echoed in the empty hall, her voice starting to crack. “I was finally in a town, home, and school that I liked… I had finally gotten away from my parents… From that school… From those fuckers at Griffonstone who treated me like a slut, just because I was different…” She sniffled as her eyes started to burn with salty tears.

“...And I finally saw Dash again… And it’s about to all go to shit.” She said as tears streamed down her face, her voice wavering as she glared at Pipsqueak. “Thanks to you.”

Pipsqueak was at a bit of a loss for words as he registered everything Gilda had said. Just as he opened his mouth to reply, principal Celestia opened her office door, about 20 feet away, and gave a calm smile as she invited the two students inside. “Pipsqueak, Gilda, please come inside. I just got a call from Mrs. Culler’s room about you two.”

Gilda quickly wiped her tears and stuffed her hands in her pockets, shoving past Pip to walk in and sit down in one of the chairs in front of Celestia’s desk, with the Trottingham teen following suit, a distant look on his face.

Celestia sat in her large swivel chair, quietly clearing her throat before speaking. “Now, Mrs. Culler explained that you two interrupted the class with some rather vulgar language.” She turned to Gilda before continuing. “And as your record tells me, Gilda, this would be the third school this year that you’ve caused a disturbance in. While you seem to be doing much better here than at your previous schools in terms of grades, I’m not sure if your behavior is fitting for CHS…”

Gilda looked down at her lap, bracing herself for what would happen next.

“Hol’ on a minute, Principal Celestia.” Pipsqueak butted in as he stood up. He put his hand over his chest. “That’s all backwards, what Mrs. Culler said. You know how teachers here sometimes give new students a hard time, ri’? It was that way when I first came ‘ere, you remember. She’s just givin’ the new lass a bit of a hard time. It was actually me who set Ms. Culler off.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow, her interest piqued.”Is that so, Pip? Go on, please.”

“Yeah, tha’s ri’. I was actually jealous of her artwork. She, uh, she’s got real good sketches. I didn’t do that well with my work, so I just kinda lashed out at the first person I could, ‘cause I was mad I didn’t get a good letter on my art…” He said, before glancing sideways to Gilda, who stared at him, awestruck by this action, her eyes still red from crying earlier. He then attended his gaze back to Celestia with a serious look. “Scout’s honor, I swear.”

Celestia was quiet for a few seconds, before sighing, giving a knowing smile. “Alright Pip. Well, since you were honest, I’ll let you off with a detention this time. But I don’t want to hear about you bullying this girl again. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am. Won’t happen again, you can bet every pound on it!”

Celestia gave another smile before turning to Gilda. “I’m sorry about this, Gilda. Pip is a bit of a trouble student for me and the faculty. But, he has a good heart.” She once again flashed Pip a knowing grin before looking to the dumbfounded girl for the third time. “You may go.”

“U-Uh, yeah… Thank you.” Gilda replied before hastily picking up her bag and rushing out the door, but not before looking back at Pip, letting a blush fill her cheeks.

Celestia chuckled after Gilda left, writing a detention slip and handing it to the Trottingham youth with a grin. “You’re so easy to read, Pip.”

“Yeah, maybe so.” He shrugged and took the slip. “But you should be happy I’m actually gonna serve my detention for once.”

---

“OH... EM… GEE!” Pinkie squealed in excitement, bouncing giddily up and down as she saw Rarity and AJ approaching the group, holding hands. Rarity was cuddling up to her new girlfriend’s arm with a delighted smile, while Applejack gave a sheepish grin, though everyone knew she was just as happy about this as the fashionista was.

“YES! Sweet Jesus, fucking FINALLY!” Dash said in as obnoxious a voice as usual. “God, Pinkie,” she said as she turned to her girlfriend. “You act like you didn’t already know they were gonna lay carpet!”

“RAINBOW!” The new couple gasped in both embarrassment and annoyance, realizing that her loud statement had attracted the attention of several Canterlot High students.

“Jeez, Dash, why don’tcha say it a little louder? Ah don’t think everyone heard ya!” The farm hand replied with a heavy helping of sarcasm, before she softened in expression a bit, again smiling sheepishly at the group. “Yeah, we’re a thang… So, uh.. Yup.”

“Well, I for one am happy for you girls!” Twilight said, cocking her head to the side and giving a cute smile.

“Yeah, me too.” Spike said with a quick grin. “Who woulda thought most of us would date inside of our little group?”

“I bet not many of our friends expected us one bit, Spikey~” Twilight said, running her hands through the soft locks of his green mohawk.

“I’m with Twilight ‘n Spike on this one. You two are the two halves of a whole, forget all doubt.” Pip said with a supporting grin.

“Oh, you girls are so cute together~” Fluttershy added, with a glowing smile at what a perfect match the two were. “Goodness, I almost feel a bit strange, being one of the only ones without a special somebody… Every couple in this group is just so good for each other.”

“Aww, don’t worry, Shy!” Rainbow said, giving her friend a firm pat on the shoulder that was just a little too firm for the bashful girl’s liking. “It’s just cuz pretty much nobody here’s pure enough to date someone like you, heh.” She said before grabbing a handful of Pinkie’s chest as she stared her shy friend in they eyes. “God fuckin’ knows I’m not.”

”Dashie, that’s my boobie!” Pinkie giggled before gentle pulling her prismatic-haired girlfriend’s hand off of her majestically monstrous mammary. “Silly billy, save that stuff for our daily janitor-closet-funtime!” As soon as the words left her mouth, Pinkie covered her lips with her hands and giggled childishly. “Oops, I guess I probably shoulda kept quiet about that. Oh well!~”

Dash suddenly turned crimson in the face, which she then proceeded to hide in Pinkie’s chest. “Dude, not cool!”

Pinkie giggled and ran her hand through Rainbow’s hair. “Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it, Dashie!~”

---

“Alright, class, that’s it for today. Make sure to grab your mid-chapter tests on your way out.” Mrs. Harshwhinny calls out, her trademark grimace ever present on her face. Big Macintosh was the last to get up and leave, dreading the possibility of having to hear that damn sentence for the umpteenth time in his high school career. Just as he thought, as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed for the door, he was frozen in place by his math teacher’s words. “Macintosh, come over to my desk, please.”

“... Yes’m.” He replied, trudging over with a knowing frown, as he had a good idea of what she was going to tell him.

“Macintosh, You are aware that CHS students must maintain at least a 2.0 grade-point-average in order to move on to the next grade, aren’t you?”

“... Yes’m.”

“Are you also aware that CHS student athletes must maintain at least a 2.5 grade-point-average in order to continue participating in their after-school sports practices and games?”

“... Yes’m.”

“And are you aware of what your grade is for this class?” She asked with a disapproving tone, her fingers tapping impatiently on her desk as she stared the country boy down.

“... No’m.”

“Macintosh, you’re failing my class at a horrendously low percentage of forty six, and I can imagine that, based on your performance in this class, you couldn’t possibly be doing much better in your other academic courses.”

“... No’m. Yer right.”

“Do you have anything to say for yourself as to explain why you’re failing at a standard english course?”

“Well, ma’am, my granny cain’t read ‘r write that good, and-”

“Well, Macintosh, your younger sister seems to be doing just fine in my sophomore english class, and if I’m not mistaken, both of you live with your grandmother. So why would her grades be so much better than yours if your grandmother is illiterate?”

“She ain’t illiterate, ma’am. She just don’t have good eyesight so she’s seldom known to pick up a book. An’ in her time an’ hometown, books weren’t for common folk. But, mah sister has a few friends that’re real good with books, so she reads with ‘em a lot. I have to stay at mah family farm and keep most everythin’ runnin’ by mahself.”

“I understand your family is, erm, old-fashioned, and that a family business must be very important to you. But, if you continue to ignore your schoolwork you’ll ruin your chances at getting into college.” Suddenly, the infamously sour english teacher’s tone became slightly sympathetic rather than critical, and her expression softened. “I’ve seen you play, Macintosh; you’re a remarkably talented sportsman. But if you want to keep playing you’ve got to get your academics in order.”

“Yes’m.”

“I suggest studying with your sister and these friends of hers that she reads with. And, if all else fails, you can come to me. I don’t like to see students fail, despite what some of them might say.” She gave the slightest indication of a smile, and handed him a small stack of papers. “Here, you can start improving your grade with these worksheets. If you’re able to complete these 10 sheets correctly, I’ll waive the bad grade from your last test, and add these worksheets into your overall grade as extra credit work.”

“Yes’m, thank you..” Mac responded with a grateful smile, stuffing the worksheets into his bag before turning and heading into the hall, the slightest bit of hope for his english grade now in the back of his mind.

---

“Bye everyone, see you all tomorrow.” Fluttershy waved farewell to Spike, Pip, and the girls as she walked towards her apartment from the school gates. ‘Hm, I wonder where Bulk was today…’ She thought absently, before her phone began to buzz, vibration in the pocket of her jacket. She looked at the screen and smiled shyly as she saw Bulk’s name. ‘Perfect timing.’ She thought with a giggle before answering and putting the phone to her ear. “Hello, Bulk. How are you?”

“Hey, Fluttershy.” Bulk responds quickly before adding. “Hey, uh, can I ask a favor?”

“Oh, of course, Bulk!” She says with a blush, wondering if today might be the day she’s been daydreaming about... “What do you need?”

“Well, my dog hasn’t been acting his normal self, and I think he’s sick. I would take him to the vet, but my family can’t really afford it right now… do you think you could come take a look? My parents said you could stay for dinner if you want.”

Fluttershy gasps in exasperation. “Oh no, not your cute little doggy! I’ll be there soon!”

Author's Notes:

Okay, I know what you're gonna say. "Plagueboy, what the BUCK? Where have you been, I thought you were dead! Did you die? Is this being posted by Ringmaster because you died?" Fortunately, (or maybe, unfortunately, to some of you) I'm still very much alive, and even more busy. Anyways, once again, I'm trying to get the ball rolling again. Me and Ringmaster finally had some time to finish off this chapter and reorient our thoughts and goals for this fic. I hope we can start getting chapters out a lot faster from here on out, but I can't make any promises because of the way life's been kicking my flank recently. If you care, there might be a blog post on my page soon that details some of the reasons why I've been having such difficulty working on my fics.

Anyways, for now, I'll leave you with this chapter. As always, big thanks to RIngmaster1336 for the constant collaboration and of course to all of you for supporting us.

Deuces, guys!