Sunset and Adagio stood by the edge of the forest. The night was cool but not cold. Sunset breathed the night air in deep and started stretching. Adagio just looked around like she couldn't believe she was actually out here and that they were actually going to do this.

Sunset caught Adagio's reluctant looks and cheerfully said , "What's the matter? Didn't you ever run through the woods at night when you were a foal?"

"Uh, no," Adagio responded as though that was the dumbest question she had ever heard. "My family had a farm. I was either working or sleeping."

"I'm glad you didn't tell that earlier or I would have put you with Apple Jack and have let Aria stay with me," Sunset teased.

"Ha . . . ha. Very funny. Don't even joke about that," Adagio answered back sarcastically but still with an undercurrent of good humor.

"Aww, you know I love you Dag. Not in the way you want mind you."

"Ok, ok. So are going to do this or what?"

Sunset turned to look at the forest again. "I used to love night runs, especially through the woods when I was young. It helped me forget my troubles, my worries, my pain. It's been too long since I've done this." She then took her pajama top off.

Adagio just gasped in shock for a moment not sure she was seeing what she was seeing. Then Sunset started to remove her pajama bottoms and that snapped Adagio out of her haze.

"What are you doing?" she asked both surprised and annoyed by Sunset's behavior.

"I'm going on a night run," Sunset answered back annoyed herself that Adagio would ask such an obvious question. "I thought we'd already established that."

"No, I mean, yes. Why the heck are you naked?!" It was all Adagio could do to keep from shouting.

"Dag, did you wear clothes back home?"

"Sunset, this isn't Equestria!"

"Listen, the humans have there thing, their rules, and I follow them and fit in. But this isn't about them or their rules or standards or customs. This is about me. This is about regaining something I lost. I want to feel the rush of the wind on my skin and the dirt and the leaves and be in nature, be one with it.

"You don't have to get undressed if you don't want to. I get it. But I have to. I have to do it for me."

Adagio scowled and then angrily said, "Dang it!" Then she quickly removed her pajamas. She stood there with her hands out to her side and said, "Happy now?"

Sunset looked Adagio up and down. "More so then I thought I'd be," she responded, genuinely surprised.

"Fine. Let's just get . . . Sunset, my face is up here."

Sunset snapped her head up, her cheeks red with embarrassment. "I wasn't staring at your boobs!" she said defensively.

"No," Adagio snarked back, "You were looking lower."

"Well, I, I just, well it's not really custom anymore to have hair down there anymore."

"Really? That's what you were looking at? Ugh. I think I shave enough of my body. I'm surprised you do. I mean, isn't it annoying?"

Sunset shrugged. "Honestly, considering that how much of my body I do shave, that little piece of real estate is nothing. Honestly, if I was going to give up shaving anything, it'd be my legs."

"Oh my GOD! I know. I can't stand shaving my legs. I swear every time I do it, I'll never do it again."

"I know right? Jeez. How'd they ever convinced their women to do that I'll never know."

Adagio got a somewhat smile on her face. "It does feel nice once you're all smooth though."

"Yeah, true," Sunset reluctantly agreed.

"I have considered just getting the hair lasered off. That way I never have to deal with it again."

"Really? Huh. Maybe I should look into that?"

Then the two of them just stopped and looked at each other as the absurdity of the situation fully hit them. Here they were, standing naked, in the middle of the night, getting ready to run through the woods, and they were talking about grooming habits. They both burst out laughing.

"So," Adagio was finally able to say after about five minutes of laughing, "Are we going to do this or what?" Adagio now felt great. She was really ready to run and share this experience with Sunset.

"Yes. We're just going to run. This is not a race. Don't think about anything. Empty your head and just concentrate on what's around and before you. Understand?"

"Perfectly."

"Ok, let's go!"

And with that the two were off. At first the ran, just ran; dodging branches and bushes. Then Sunset ran up a small rock and jumped off. Adagio jumped and grabbed a tree branch and swung on it. Before long they were in the trees; jumping and leaping from on to the next. Then they dropped down again to the forest floor and started running again.

The air washed over them, making all the nerves in their skin light up. The rocks and twigs on the ground hurt their feet but they didn't mind. They were feral, animals, all senses awake and alive. There was no past, no future, just an infinite now that swallowed up all conscious thought and left only the purest essence of life behind.

As they ran, the woods eventually thinned out at they got to a small embankment where a stream ran below. The women stopped and panted. They were out of breath but full of energy. Sunset looked at Adagio with a wicked smile.

"You wanna jump?" she asked, barely able to contain herself as her life force ran wild through her body.

"What?" Adagio said fully in shock that Sunset would suggest such a thing. "Sunset, that water is probably freezing and we don't know how deep it is. We could jump in and break our legs or something."

"I know, let's do it!" And with that, Sunset ran and jumped off in to the stream.

"Stupid girl!" Adagio cursed and then jumped in herself.

The water was deep enough so that they wouldn't break anything when the hit, but not so deep that they couldn't stand with their heads above water (which was extremely cold and caused the women to seize up for a second). As soon as they were able to, they stood up and gasped as the night air filled their lungs.

"I'M FREEZING!" Adagio screamed.

"I KNOW. ISN'T IT GREAT?" Sunset shouted back.

"YOU'RE NUTS!"

"I KNOW! THAT'S WHY YOU LOVE ME!"

"NO, IT'S JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE A GREAT COOK! NOW CAN WE GET OUT?"

"SURE!"

The two made their way to the side of the stream and slowly climbed back up the embankment. Once at the top, they collapsed in to each others arms on the ground, shivering and covered in mud, small twigs, and leaves; laughing hysterically.

They laid there for a while, just holding each other, letting their own body heat warm up the other. Eventually they separated, rolled onto their backs, and gazed up at the stars.

"Dag?" Sunset said quietly.

"Yes?" Adagio was tired but extremely happy. She was curious as to what Sunset wanted but really didn't care. She felt too good now.

"I'm sorry. When I was taking you out and saying how if I was gay, I'd totally date you, I didn't realize how much that might have been hurting you."

Adagio laid there quiet for a while, thinking. "It's ok. You didn't know. How could you? I never told you how I felt."

"Still; I care about you. Twilight and I share a special bond, no doubt. She's my sister. We even call each other that sometimes. You, you're my best friend. More than that really. I can explain how I feel about you; only that I can't imagine my life without you."

"Me either," Adagio sadly said back.

"You really do have all the qualities I could ever want in a partner. Everything but one very specific thing."

"I have a innie not an outtie. That's what you mean."

"Yes. And it sucks and I hate it because that means in the end it's really not about the person at all but about body parts. And that sounds and feels so wrong. But that's what it is."

"It's ok. It's almost poetic justice. After all that I've done, after all the hate I have sown, the one person, the only person I've ever loved, can't love me back."

"It's not right Dag. I wish I could love you; in that way. You're perfect for me. I just can't."

"What about Val? Tell me about him. He has to special to capture your heart." Adagio wanted to change the subject. Yes, thinking about not being with Sunset made her feel miserable; but hearing the sadness in Sunset's own voice made her feel worse.

Sunset's tone suddenly got much happier as she talked. "Oh Dag, he's amazing. He's handsome, witty, built like a brick crap house, mind blowingly good in bed; no pun intended. He's the perfect guy. At least the perfect guy for me."

"I'm glad then. So what are you going to do once Chrysalis is defeated?"

"I don't know. That's the other thing. He's a boy and I'm a pony. Not really relationship material. How would he handle seeing the real me? What will I do as he grows up more and changes as we all do? Where would we live? No, scratch that. I'm a princess now and it's my duty to return home. So would he want to live in Equestria with me?

"I used to ask these questions to Twilight all the time about her and Flash. But it obvious they have something there. Plus they've known each other for about a year. I just met Val. God, I feel like I'm taking advantage of him and leading him on." Sunset was frustrated at herself for being so stupid as to try and forge a relationship with anybody knowing all she had to do and that she was leaving once she was done.

Adagio reached out and took Sunset's hand. "The heart wants what it wants and it can never be wrong. Even me. I know I can never have you but I'll never regret falling in love with you. It's that love that freed me. Not just from Chrysalis, but myself; my own anger and hatred. I'm a better person because I love you. Whatever is going to happen between you and Val, just be honest and what is meant to happen, will happen."

"My god Dag, will you please get a sex change so I can marry you?" Sunset joked.

"Yeah, that ain't gonna happen," Adagio laughed. Then she said, "We should go back now."

"You're right."

The two got up and made their way back through the forest, talking and joking all the way. Once they got to the Geisel's property line, they saw that light's were on and Big Mac's truck drive off.

"What do you think that's all about?" Sunset asked.

"I don't know. We'd better get up there and find out."

The two quickly dressed and ran up to the house. Inside everyone was crying and Apple Jack was gone.

"Where have you two been?" Rarity asked angrily through her tears as Sunset and Adagio walked in.

"What happened? Where's apple Jack?" Sunset asked concerned with a growing sense of dread.

"We saw Big Mac drive away," Adagio said, her own fear beginning to grow. "Did he take her?"

"Yes," Twilight said. "He, he, . . . " Twilight took a deep breath and choked back her tears, "Granny Smith and Apple Bloom were murdered."