Celestia considered her porcelain cup.

As a cup, it was a work of art. While many cups of high vintage indulged in all kinds of excessive frippery, coating the surface in layers and shapes and impossibly delicate reliefs, this one was relatively simple. The curves were sure and smooth, elegant without being fragile. It had proven extremely resistant to wear or discolouration over the many, many years she'd owned it, and it was one of her favourites.

It also had the advantage of being much, much easier to consider than the mare sat across the small table from her, who seemed to be eyeing her own cup to see if she could extract whatever meaning Celestia herself was finding there.

"I missed these teas, very much," Celestia said softly.

It wasn't the first time she'd said it. The way she'd missed Luna in her long absence was always near to the surface of her thoughts, in the presence of her sister. Sometimes - more often, now - she found she could let it go for a while and believe that they'd never be parted like that again. But not today, not after last night. She couldn't help but be a little nervous. What must her sister think of her?

Luna's lips twitched into a sad smile. "I missed them also, though in my madness, I did not know why or what I was missing."

It was a mistake to have mentioned Luna's absence, no matter how much it might be on her mind. The last thing she wanted was to guide Luna to obsess over that time. Better to shift the conversation to a different area. "There are things I avoided telling Twilight, yesterday."

"Were you... less happy with the situation than you suggested?" There was a tentativeness in Luna's words.

Another sore spot to be careful with. "I enjoyed the situation just as much as it seemed," Celestia reassured Luna. "I simply didn't remark upon the fact that she was using her telekinesis correctly. She was quite capable of delicate control, when she was fully occupied by her desires. The day of spell casting could have drained the wildness from her untamed power, but I don't think so."

Luna frowned. "Do you propose her control of her power is linked to her lust?"

Celestia brought her cup to her lips, hiding a small smile. "No, nothing like that. She simply wasn't obsessing over her newfound power at the time. With time, and patience, she will bring her magic back under control."

"Then why have you not told her of this? Why hide that you feel encouraged by her progress?"

"Over-thinking her difficulties will probably make them worse. She will continue to practice regardless, so it's best to let her."

"Really, sister. Have you not had your fill of guiding Twilight by keeping truths from her?" Luna shook her head, a small frown on her face.

"It may be too late for me to change my ways, now," Celestia said with a gentle smile, deflecting the question. "Has she shown you her locking spell yet?"

Luna crossed her arms, lowering her eyes and thrusting out her bottom lip slightly. It was a posture Celestia knew well. "I was invited not to enter her workroom. I have no idea what she has shown to you. If it was a vault spell, she hasn't mentioned such a thing in my presence."

Silently, Celestia chided Twilight once again for her insensitivity. "You know that she cares for you, Luna, very much. I asked her if she would have turned you away from the door, and she said she wouldn't have. She didn't realise you were the one that had come to see her."

"Is that better? Which is worse; that she dismissed me like a common servant, or that she didn't notice who I was at all?" Luna crossed her arms across her chest, looking away. "Perhaps I matter less to her than you may believe," she muttered.

"Twilight has always been a pony to become lost in her work. If I had not made her look up, she would have said the same to me," Celestia said gently. Setting her cup aside, she rose from her chair and took Luna's hand in hers, leading her over to a small, intimate couch. Settling beside her sister, their thighs touching, she finished, "I believe she loves you. More than she does myself. She trusts you." A tiny spark of jealousy flickered in Celestia's breast at the thought, one which she carefully snuffed out without letting it show on her face.

"I don't believe that is true. Nor do I know why you think it to be so." Luna's eyes searched hers, both of her hands closing around Celestia's fingers. Her voice grew softer. "...but that is thy true belief, isn't it. That hurts you."

"You are so perceptive these days. Yes. But I would not have said it, if I did not believe it to be true." A small, wistful smile touched Celestia's lips. Even Luna didn't trust her to simply speak the truth. Perhaps she was right not to. The habits of long years of ruling alone were not easily set aside, and while she hesitated to lie, that wasn't the same as hesitating to mislead.

"...I remember what happened whilst I was under the charm's sway last night, my sister. I saw the way she lit up when you spoke to her, even if I did not hear the words you said. She craves your approval more than mine. It may be that she simply sees each of us differently. We each entered her life in a very different way."

Even when feeling upset, it had always been Luna's nature to try to soothe the feelings of others first. Celestia raised her hand to her sister's cheek and stroked gently, her smile small and gently wistful. "You are the kindest mare I know, dear heart. Twilight and Trixie were working upon a very elaborate spell, combining many different locking spells, hoping she could cast it without surges of magic overwhelming the spell."

"Twilight is the most gifted unicorn I have ever known, and even if Trixie Lulamoon is of dubious morals, she is quite talented. I'm certain Twilight shall achieve success," Luna replied. There was more than pride on Luna's face. It was adoration, tinged with yearning. Yearning that Celestia understood all too well.

"In fact, she has. But she should not have." Celestia frowned slightly. "An assemblage of that complexity should be impossible. Certainly, the wild surges of magic she's describing should have blown the conjuration apart. Yet it worked."

"Does that... worry you?" Luna asked tentatively, leaning into her sister a little more.

"I'm not sure. I will be watching her carefully. You are worried about her too, I know." Celestia watched a guilty wince speed across Luna's face.

"It is hard for me to distrust her motives. You know that she had possession of me - and that she gave me my freedom when she had no reason to, other than her own goodness. That is good, sister, and hard. But I, too, have been watching her carefully. I hope that she is watching me with equal rigour, as we have promised each other."

"And what have you seen?" prompted Celestia softly.

"That her lusts and her goodness are striving against each other. She did not enthral Lightning Dust, but she gave in to her desire to acquire her, nonetheless. I fear she hungers for more, constantly. Time and experience may blunt that lust. I hope it is so."

"Is that why you entered her dreams?" Celestia gently stroked her fingers down Luna's wing, a gesture that had always soothed her sister. Her pink eyes were gentle with understanding.

Luna's cheeks darkened purple as they heated, and she looked down, but the instinctive little hunch of her shoulders eased again under the touch of Celestia's hand. "No mare is responsible for her dreams. It was foolish of me to confront Twilight so. I had thought her lucid, since the dream was well structured and naturalistic, so I did not wait for my own presence to stabilise it. That was my own mistake."

Holding her silence, Celestia shook her head, just a fraction. Always so eager to blame herself.

Luna continued, "When she woke up, she may have... have taken advantage of the situation, but she did not alter my thoughts, when she felt she had good reason to do so. Whatever else I may have seen, it is what she consciously chose to do that matters. I... do regret that I intruded the way I did upon you."

There it was, as she'd known it would be. That embarrassment, that touch of shame, even though Luna had had no control of herself. Celestia drew her sister into her embrace, turning towards her. "Please do not regret it. Had it bothered me, I would have had Twilight end the experience when she arrived. My enjoyment was not feigned."

"I... believe thee, of course. But it was the first time I hadst carried out such an act upon thee." Luna closed her eyes, resting her chin on Celestia's shoulders. "I know Twilight desires it, and I am willing to partake in such acts if thy desires match hers. I simply find it... hard to believe."

Oh, Luna. With such simple words, she had made it so hard to speak the truth. "...Luna. My desires, my feelings, are different from those of the ponies we watch over. I care for them, all of them, and I wish each the greatest happiness. Even so, I cannot be myself with them. They look upon me and see only their Princess, and in return, I cannot help but see the briefness of their lives. I treasure them, each day, while they last. But I cannot... easily love with such a shadow hanging over me."

Celestia's lips twisted into a wry, sad smile. "For a long time, I had almost forgotten that there was a 'myself' separate from the Princess of Equestria. Had Cadance not been there to comfort me in the moments I needed it most, I may have done so. Now you are here, and Twilight, and I have found within myself the laughter and the spirit that had waned.

"I love you, sister," she said simply. "I always have. You were my one place of warmth and comfort, the one I could rely on to always stay. My still point. Whether right or wrong, I grew to desire you, to be held by you through your beautiful night. The things I did in pursuit of that desire were not right. But the ache to be closer to you is true."

Luna's sparkling eyes glistened wetly, brimming with unshed tears. "I left you. I'm, I'm so sorry..." she whispered.

"No!" Celestia spoke with unaccustomed sharpness, then her shoulders slumped and she tenderly wiped the creeping trail of a tear from Luna's cheek. "I sent you away. There is burden enough for us both. Stay with me now. Be my wonderful, compassionate little sister again. We don't have to do anything you don't wish to."

"You would refuse Twilight? You would refuse thy own desires?" Luna asked in a voice almost too soft to hear.

"Of course. I would do anything for you, my dearest sister. I would never have you do something you did not want to." Celestia's soft lips tightened slightly as the fundamental untruth of her words struck her. The charm made hypocrites of everypony that used it. "I will speak to Twilight."

Luna hesitated, gazing at Celestia for a few moments longer. There was a strangeness on her face, a look of uncertainty crystallising into a decision. The dark blue mare nodded to herself slightly, just once. Then, all of a sudden, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to her sister's.

Celestia's eyes widened as Luna leaned into her. Her world was transformed in an instant, to a warm, sweet place, the delicate taste of her sister's mouth and the star-dusted darkness of her rippling mane the only things in existence. She came up from the kiss like a mare breaking the surface after near drowning, catching Luna's slim upper arms in her hands and pulling back slightly. Her heart beat with painful quickness in her chest, and she searched the other mare's face, wordlessly.

Her face cast with nervous determination, Luna looked back at her. "I had to know that if I truly did not wish this, I would not have to. I am willing to try."

"I wouldn't want you to do this if you don't desire it." How the words stuck in her throat! How she hated herself for saying them! But she had to.

"I..." Luna caught herself looking down at the floor again, and visibly checked herself, meeting Celestia's eyes. "I would not have come to this by myself. But we have been intimate, my sister. My love. The two I care for most in all the world have opened their hearts, to each other and to me. I want to be part of this triumvirate. I pledge to thee, if I come to find this is not what I truly wish, I shall say so, and trust that you both will not love me any the less for it."

"Never. Our bond is forever." Celestia blinked the moisture in her eyes away, feeling an oddly adolescent, awkward smile of happiness curve her lips. "I accept, then. We will explore this, and we will go however slowly you wish."

"I should like to start by... kissing, I think." Luna visibly reddened once more.

Centuries of self-composure barely held her together. "I should like that too."

Their lips met again.

Guard Captain Diorite lay in her bunk, in complete darkness.

Transferring from Celestia's personal guard had cost her a number of things. Among them was the pride of serving Equestria's ruler, the special feeling of being one of the noble few Celestia could truly count on, the daily companionship of the other ponies of the Royal Guard that she had long grown to know, and her shifts with Chert. Oh, sure, they were still all on duty in the same castle, but the castle was a city unto itself. Unless she made a special effort, she didn't see the others day to day. For Chert, she made the effort. But for many of the others, it was a little sad to find how easily they were falling out of her life.

On the positive side, she had become the head of the guard for Equestria's newest Princess, the first to ascend in centuries. How many centuries, she had no idea; she wasn't a scholar. A lot. Princess Twilight was going to need a lot of protection and guidance in her new life. Powerful or not, she seemed so young sometimes, so full of energy and ideas. Those times made her want to protect Twilight, fiercely.

Then there were the other times.

Diorite's firm hands slid slowly over her dappled flanks, stroking and caressing. She didn't have to acknowledge what she was doing, or thinking. Some part of her, a dignified, disciplined pony remained above it all, while the rest of her indulged in the feeling of thick blankets rubbing against her tender grey nipples with each breath, and the slickness gathering between her thighs.

Becoming a guard captain had brought with it privileges. She now had a room of her own, even if it was small, with a stout wooden door that blocked sound very effectively. She knew that much from her own exploits with some of her fellow guards, in rooms much like this one. If she unwound her iron self-control a little, if she groaned aloud, no pony would hear.

The uncomfortable truth was that she'd had a crush on Celestia's student before the ascension had even taken place. It was hard to say when she'd noticed the young mare, but she'd found herself increasingly distracted from her duties in the last couple of months by the slim unicorn, finding herself switching shifts to be around during Twilight's regular visits to Celestia. A few sharply erotic dreams from that time still lingered in her memory.

All of that was a terrible reason for her to have put herself forward as Twilight's guard captain, but she'd wanted to at least try. It was a harmless crush that would go nowhere, and could be safely ignored outside her own private fantasies.

Of course, that assessment assumed that Princess Twilight herself would never find out.

Twilight had changed. Perhaps it was her ascension, but there seemed to be a new worldliness about her, a confidence in her body and her movements that wasn't there in the slightly gangly unicorn that had come before. Hints of a coiled, lurking sensuality that was almost intimidating. Nine ponies! She was dating nine ponies. Including both Princesses, if Twilight could be believed.

Diorite couldn't believe it. She couldn't. Princess Celestia had always been completely above any accusation of impropriety, and even if rumours had spread occasionally, she, Diorite, had always known better. Princess Luna was more of an unknown, but surely... the two of them together, that was just... the two of them together with Twilight, that was... impossible. Beyond impossible. Crazy. And as for Princess Twilight's suggestion that there was some kind of, of sexual dominance games going on between them, that the divine sisters were obeying her erotic commands...

Three bodies, intertwined, white and deep blue and pale violet...

Diorite's fingers slid and stroked over her pussy, rubbing firmly, a finger slowly working into her heated body.

That couldn't possibly be true. It was hard enough to believe that Twilight was having sex with anypony. But when Twilight described the relationships she supposedly had, she hadn't seemed like she was laughing at her. She'd invited her to watch. Unmistakably, Twilight had been hitting on her. Trying to seduce her.

Palming one breast in the darkness of her room, Diorite squeezed firmly, a low groan escaping her parted lips. Her cheeks burnt with heat, with embarrassment and arousal, mingled with indignation. How dare Twilight act like that? Replace Twilight with one of the stupid, entitled nobility that Diorite had guarded in the past; an unambiguous suggestion that she get involved in their sex games, couched in the language of ordering her to guard them while they fucked - she'd have gone straight to her commander.

Just because the idea turned her on, that didn't mean what Twilight had done was right. As far as she knew, there hadn't been any approaches to the guards serving below her, but she had to talk to the Princess and make certain that things stayed that way.

All of which meant she shouldn't, couldn't, accept Twilight's instruction, or invitation, or whatever it was, to stand guard and watch them strip, and touch, and fuck. Couldn't yield to the image of touching, licking, tasting, kissing... Oh, Celestia's mane, she wanted to see Twilight naked. She wanted to see Celestia naked. There wasn't a pony in the castle that wasn't half-way in love with Celestia, and the Princess had starred in her fantasies many times.

But she couldn't compromise her judgement like that. She'd be a hypocrite if she accepted the offer, while banning Twilight from offering the same to anypony else. So that was that.

Her decision firmly made, Diorite closed her eyes and abandoned herself to a fantasy of throwing aside everything and giving in to Twilight's advances, utterly.

The Great and Powerful (not to mention Magnificent, Stupendous, Superb, Slutty, Submissive, Sensual and Splendid) Trixie regarded her diary mistrustfully. Oh, it was her own diary all right. No other pony was capable of the sheer brilliance of the insights recorded therein, awaiting the glorious day when all ponykind recognised her true genius and they came to her in their hundreds, crying out to learn what her glorious life could teach them. It was a document priceless and unique, a treasure to be preserved for all time.

But most of it was the diary of some other Trixie.

Admittedly, much of that writing was about things that enraged them both. Pages and pages were devoted to the ways that other ponies - lesser, ignorant ponies, that didn't understand or comprehend how magnificent she was - had annoyed or frustrated her. Ponies she met on the road that wouldn't get out of her way, when their stupid carts of cabbages or whatever could clearly wait. Whole villages that hadn't expressed sufficient amazement at her shows, clearly too stupid to recognise the brilliance of her spell casting when they saw it. Jealous unicorns, ignorant earth ponies, feather headed pegasi - idiots, all of them. She'd written a small novel's worth of material about that wretched time she'd auditioned for a stage show in Manehattan and been told that her personality was grating and unappealing, and her magic derivative. The nerve! Even now, it made her hot with anger and indignation.

But there was another thread woven through it, one that was impossible to empathise with, that made the diary seem like it belonged to some other pony entirely. Ever since her first performance at Ponyville, she'd been furiously resentful of Twilight Sparkle. It seemed like there hadn't been a day that had gone by without some bitter comment tossed into her diary about the indignity and the humiliation heaped upon her by 'that mouthy, talentless show-off'. There had been ponies that hadn't appreciated her before, but they were just morons. She'd never felt that outclassed.

To the past Trixie, it couldn't be borne. She had to prove that she was the strongest, smartest, most talented unicorn alive, and she'd hunted down the most powerful artefact in the land to make sure of it. Of course, that had gone terribly as well, which had only deepened her resentment and shame. A lot of the time she'd spent stuck in the cabin had been occupied in ranting about Twilight, blaming her for her predicament, as well as the fossilised, moon-addled maniac that had kidnapped her in the first place and left her to rot in the middle of nowhere. When her diary of those months wasn't ranting about one or the other of those two, it had been mostly about trees, boredom, and occasional bouts of crippling terror that the whispering trees were coming to get her.

Clearly, being left alone had not been good for her. Nor had being obsessed with revenge on Twilight, even if she actually had been correct in blaming her predicament on 'the little purple pain in the tail'. It had driven her to ever-riskier behaviour, and if she'd been freed of the cabin and let go, she probably would have found something else dangerous to play with by now.

The correct way to feel was to be obsessed with serving Twilight.

Even her original self would surely have to concede that by now. Ever since she'd agreed to be Twilight's obedient fucktoy - well, not agreed, exactly, but it was clearly for the best that her Mistress had immediately caught her in a lie and 'punished' her by giving her everything she'd ever wanted - ever since then, she'd had such a better life.

The spells Twilight had had her research were fascinating, and Twilight was so quick and smart, so much fun to work at problems with. Why, the spellwork she'd been doing was orders of magnitude more powerful and impressive than the parlour tricks she had wowed gullible ponies with! As for the pleasure, well. Past Trixie had no idea how badly she'd misjudged Twilight in that arena. The sheer kinkiness of her Mistress was breathtaking. It was almost impossible to believe she, Trixie, had personally touched Celestia's bare breasts, too.

And... and she felt better. About herself. She wasn't alone, and it was only now that she was enslaved that she realised how much having somepony to rely on meant to her. Her Mistress would always be there for her. Or at least, that was how it felt like. When she wasn't distracted by all the other ponies she'd enslaved.

But - they didn't matter. She, Trixie, the Glorious and Perfect, was the best slave. No other pony could have accomplished the feats of spellcrafting she had with Twilight. Certainly her current collection of thick-headed pony idiots - all muscles and speed and primping - weren't capable of it, not even all of them put together. She was perfectly secure in her Mistress's favour, the smartest and most submissive and sensual slave of them all. She had no other ties to distract her from her service. She could be at Twilight's side always, day and night, in her life and in her bed. So that was settled.

Settled for another few months, at least. Then...

Trixie slammed the diary closed with unnecessary force, and pushed back her stool, stamping around the room. "Then the proper Trixie is to be discarded," she muttered aloud, "and this stupid, obsessed Trixie will ruin everything."

She wrenched the book open again, scanning the endless pages of vitriol, trying to think the way she used to. The concept of hating Twilight, of not wanting to serve and obey her, was just too alien. But... well, if she tried to think of somepony else doing this. What if she was captured by - oh, something bad, something that changed the way she thought, and used her body and mind for their own purposes.

Then Twilight would annihilate them from the face of Equestria.

Trixie blushed, feeling the surge of heat to her cheeks at the idea, unable to contain the little quiver of joy at the thought. If she disappeared now, she wouldn't spend months locked up in a cabin in the woods. Kidnapping her would be the last mistake anypony made. Twilight was so powerful, and she, Trixie, was all hers, and she was Twilight's very own slave, and just the thought of being so owned made her squirm, and-

Trixie hates her. She's the most obnoxious, smug, vicious, evil-minded fraud in the whole of Equestra, and she needs to be destroyed, in front of everypony that ever cared about her.

The words almost leapt off the page, such was the sheer venom in the sharp, angry pen strokes, and Trixie's happiness drained out of her, as though cut by them. Old Trixie was going to ruin everything. She was going to be angry, and, and stupid, and not understand what she had been given, and it was all going to be over.

She couldn't let it happen. She had to find a way to persuade Twilight to change her mind, to keep her. She'd been the best possible slave, hadn't she? She'd helped defeat Celestia, and she'd helped Twilight understand how to control her magic, and she'd been the most perfect, devoted sex slave in the whole of Equestria, so she couldn't get rid of her.

Could she persuade Twilight to copy her? She'd read about strange magic that could make duplicates of ponies, so maybe Twilight could free some other Trixie to make horrible mistakes, and she could stay with her Mistress, and be kept forever. She'd tried to think of some way to force Twilight's hand, to make it so it was too risky to turn her back into the pony that was going to make all the worst decisions, but the charm made it impossible. Any changes that needed to be made to her mind would be made, and that would be that.

The urge to go and confess everything trembled at the back of her mind, not quite in force yet, but perilously close to triggering. Even if she did think of something to force her Mistress to keep her, the orders ingrained in her would force her to tell Twilight before she could put them into practice.

There was nothing she could do to force Twilight not to do it. All she had left to her was to try to understand the pony she'd been, and prove to her that she needed to stay this way.

Rubbing her eyes, Trixie bent over the diary again.

Rarity reached out to squeeze Zecora's hand.

The zebra sat daintily on a small sofa, her other hand occupied with a cup of herbal tea. Behind her, through a curved window, Ponyville was spread out below them. It was a beautiful view from the highest room of the Carousel Boutique, which was one of the reasons why Rarity had made it her bedroom. It was good to have somepony to share it with.

"So, how is the forest? Has it been soothed?"

"The forest is well, as far as I can tell. I have found no threats to expel, and my fears are dispelled." Zecora smiled at her, and Rarity couldn't help but notice anew how very long the zebra's eyelashes were.

She truly was a lovely creature.

"Will you be visiting Twilight in Canterlot, now that things are settled here?" Rarity asked mildly, sipping from her own cup. The mixture was a gift from the other mare, and she was deeply enjoying it.

Zecora hesitated. An awkward look stole over her face, and she glanced out of the window, towards the distant shape of the train station. "Canterlot is a place that is harder to face when I am in the mood for solitude. So many ponies, and nowhere to hide. I am yet to decide."

"Oh. I see," murmured Rarity. "I'm sorry. I quite understand your predicament. I hardly fear the crowds - I am quite at home in the glitziest gala," she added, tossing her mane and feeling it bounce once with aesthetic perfection, "-but I do have obligations here. Dear Sweetie Belle missed me awfully while I was away, and the backlog of work that was waiting for me when I returned... there were a great many ponies that I did not wish to let down. Yet... my Lady is in Canterlot."

Hesitating for a long moment, Rarity glanced up to meet Zecora's gentle gaze, and abruptly she couldn't stop herself spilling out, "I ache for her, Zecora, I positively feel as though a part of me is missing every day that passes without seeing her face, or hearing her voice." There was a wobble in her voice, and she shored herself up quickly. It would hardly do to try to comfort Zecora, only to drop her own problems in the other mare's lap.

Zecora's hand squeezed hers back. "I, too, yearn for Twilight's return. Now that she owns the sisters divine, I fear she may be some time."

Sighing deeply, Rarity nodded once. "Yes, I've worried about the same thing. When I - when we returned to her, I thought it would end the misery of missing a pony I cared about. Now, here we are anyway."

"It would be untrue to claim that these feelings are the same. This is not the grief of losing a mate. It is simply hard to make myself wait."

Rarity heaved a sigh, nodding. The zebra's words made her feel embarrassed, and foolish, as though she'd said too much. "I'm sorry, Zecora. You're quite right, of course. Perhaps I do have a tendency towards the dramatic. I'm glad that you're here to help me keep my head." Oh dear, she'd made it all about herself again... "I hope that I've not become tiresome."

"You do not tire me; harbour such fears no longer. Leaning against each other makes us both stronger."

Zecora shifted, leaning towards Rarity and gathered the other mare into her arms, hugging her tightly. Rarity nodded against Zecora's shoulder, comforted by the warmth and strength of the zebra's toned body. "Thank you. This is nice," she murmured.

"Let us speak to her, and she will take heed. It was her deed that decreed our need."

Rarity's lips twitched into a small smile at the chain of rhymes, and she kissed the curling twist of grey across Zecora's shoulder. Yes, Twilight would listen to them, and stop spending all of her time away from them like this. Or, at least, let them know when she intended to return, rather than casually keeping them in the dark. "Do you ever become tired of being right all the time?" Rarity murmured.

The zebra's deep, soft laugh rang through Rarity's body. It felt good.

With a gasping cry of pleasure, Applejack rammed Rainbow's head harder against her wetly glistening cunt and gave in to the cresting thunder of pleasure within her, smearing her feminine juices all over the athletic tomboy's face.

"Ahh! AH! Oh, oohhhfff... fuck," Applejack panted, her face crimson. She lay nude, full length on her bed, mane and tail in tangled disarray, her body coated with a sheen of perspiration. Her round breasts bore the marks of her fingernails, her dark orange nipples rigid and reddened from the rough attentions of her own fingers. "...fine. Ya win, again."

Rainbow lifted her head from between Applejack's legs, panting for breath and grinning with such smug satisfaction that Applejack couldn't decide whether she wanted to kiss her or kick her through a wall. Shoving her short, colourful mane back out of her eyes, Rainbow preened, "Ready to admit you'll never beat me? No pony can beat this tongue. I've won trophies for it."

The flames of her stubbornness flared up within her, hot as the slopes of an active volcano, and Applejack blurted at once, "Not a darn chance," despite knowing full well that Rainbow was baiting her. It wasn't like they needed an excuse to have sex, these days, but it didn't do any harm to have one anyway, and Rainbow did love to turn things into competitions. Especially when she thought she'd win.

"Hey, fine by me. I'm totally willing to let you go to town on me again, even if it is amateur hour." Rainbow reached out and scooped up a silver stopwatch from the bedside table and clicked it a couple of times, resetting it, before laying it down and rolling onto her back beside Applejack. "Five minutes, and if you can't do it, I'm gonna make you cum instead. Again."

Reluctant to even give that much sign of weakness, Applejack panted, "Jest give me a couple of minutes before we go again, will ya?" Her tongue was growing sore from overuse, and though she wouldn't have admitted it aloud, she was simply too fucked out to move.

"Hey, sure. Not like I need to prove anything," Rainbow teased, turning onto her side to cuddle up to Applejack's firm, hot body. "Like I said, if you let me tie you up, I could get you to cum even faster."

Applejack turned her head, gazing at Rainbow's cute, impish expression. A warm surge of affection ran through her, and she sighed happily. Leaning over, she poked Rainbow in the stomach and grinned at the little 'oof' it forced from the other mare, replying, "Now Rainbow, we've talked about this. Twilight's jest fine with us making out with each other, but no dominating or ropes or anything like that. She's still our Mistress, y'know. All that's jest for her."

"Yeah, I know. Hey, it's not like I'm complaining. I mean-" Rainbow hesitated, and didn't finish the sentence, but the way she unconsciously pulled a little closer to Applejack said it for her.

"Ah'm glad it wound up being like this too, Rainbow," Applejack told her fondly. "You'n me, we've always been the two that get into the competitions with each other. Reckon Ah like this kind better."

Rainbow kissed Applejack's shoulder, and her lips pressed together for a moment before she asked, "You think we'd have ended up together, if Twi hadn't whammied us?"

"Don't reckon we would have," Applejack replied frankly. It wasn't what Rainbow wanted to hear, she knew, but that's how it was. "Ah wasn't into mares. Didn't matter how good'n strong or kind or athletic they were, jest didn't figure. Don't reckon Twilight meant to bend me around at first, but she did, and Ah'm not sorry she opened me up to that kind've thing. You're a heck of a marefriend."

Pulling a face, Rainbow muttered untruthfully, "Well, yeah, that's what I thought."

For one, Applejack decided not to call her out on the lie. "Ah reckon it worked out fine. We're working out the kinks, but we'll get there."

Quiet descended. Applejack shifted her hand to gently ruffle Rainbow's feathers, listening to the other mare breathe. Of course Twilight was her Mistress, and her first mare lover, and nothing would ever change that, but she felt pretty darn close to Rainbow, too. The trouble was, she knew that if she ever had to pick between one or the other - as awful as that thought was - she'd pick Twilight. She was beginning to suspect Rainbow would make a different choice.

Abruptly, Rainbow spoke again. "You know how she's been trying out more ponies, right? Like Lightning? What'd you do if she went after Applebloom? When she grows up, I mean."

For a second, Applejack could barely speak, with the sheer visceral intensity of her reaction. Staring at Rainbow, she blurted, "She's way too young for all this business!"

"Yeah, so like I said. When she's older," Rainbow insisted.

"Uh." Applejack frowned as she tried to think past the surprise of it all, and tried not to suspect that Rainbow was trying to push a wedge between her and her Mistress in revenge for what she'd just said. There wasn't really any logic to her own reaction, just a huge, rock-hard certainty that there was no way she was getting Applebloom mixed up in all the weird sexiness that Twilight was into these days.

Finally, she answered, "Ah'll tell her that mah sister is off-limits. Ah mean, Ah'll ask her, and Ah'm sure she'd say that's fine, but if Ah have to, Ah'd be willing to get pretty forceful." Feeling somewhat picked on for her special relationship with Twilight, she added with a trace of petulance, "Well, what about Scootaloo? Would you want her ending up in the middle've all this?"

The pegasus shrugged with practised lack of concern, though to Applejack's eye, it lacked sincerity. "Yeah, I guess I'd let her. Not like I'd have sex in the same room as her, or let her see me the way Twilight does things to me, but if I'm happy to let Twilight do all this to me, guess she gets to do it too. If she wants it, when she's older, like I said. It's her choice."

The conversation was growing increasingly uncomfortable, and it was time to divert it someplace else. "How is that Lightning? She doing okay?"

Rainbow coloured slightly, nuzzling her head into the crook of Applejack's shoulder. "Yeah, she's fine."

"You two dating?" Now it was Applejack's turn to push a little too hard on a slightly sore spot, and she knew she was doing it. Maybe she didn't want Rainbow's answer to be yes, either. Having sex with the ponies in Twilight's herd, that was one thing, but Lightning Dust wasn't one, not really.

"Something like that," replied Rainbow, in a tone designed to end the line of inquiry.

Darn it. Sometimes other ponies threw uncomfortable truths at her, too. "She one of Twilight's?" Applejack tried hopefully. If she was, then that would make things better. No chance of Rainbow changing her mind and leaving the little sisterhood of slaves, that way.

Rainbow huffed a gently annoyed sound, and rolled onto her back. "Yeah, I don't think so. She's not whammied, for one thing, and Twilight didn't tell her she was hers, after. I think she just screwed her, then moved on."

Applejack frowned. "That right? It's not like she's gone and let anypony go she'd had so far. Doesn't seem fair."

"Yeah. It was Lightning's first time and everything."

"What?!" Applejack pushed herself up on one arm, soft breasts shifting with the movement, and looked down at Rainbow. Her frown grew deeper. "She wouldn't just go'n take a mare's very first time, then drop her like a sack of old apples."

"Yeah? Ask her. Lightning doesn't mind, I think. She's, like, kind of into me, and it's like the whole thing with Twilight was this weird episode she can't totally believe happened. So yeah, sometimes we go flying, sometimes we screw."

There was an almost defensive tone to Rainbow's voice, and Applejack was silenced for a moment by it. Eventually, she murmured, "Ah'm sorry, Rainbow, don't mean to pry. You bring her by the farm to say hi, sometime. Haven't seen her since the throne room."

"Sure." Rainbow looked up at Applejack, and visibly summoned up the nerve to ask with forced casualness, "So, you going to say anything about Lightning to Twilight?"

Applejack's mouth set in a flat, stubborn line. "Bet your britches Ah am. Ah'm going to give her a real seeing to about this. Y'don't just use ponies and throw them away like that. Plain ain't right. Look, Rainbow, Ah'm sorry for pushing you about Lightning. You make sure you treat her right."

"Sure you weren't a bit jealous?" Rainbow rolled up onto all fours, crawling over Applejack and looking down at her with a hint of hopefulness on her face.

Colouring slightly, Applejack blustered, "Ah never said anything about anything like that."

"Yeah, that's not a 'no', is it?"

Sometimes, being the Element of Honesty and Straight-talking was downright inconvenient. Seizing Rainbow's slim shoulders, Applejack rolled her firmly onto her back, ending up atop the slender flier. "Right. Ah reckon it's time Ah gave you another seeing to."

"Sure thing, AJ." Rainbow spread her legs, a wide grin on her face. "Clock's ticking."

Applejack slid down Rainbow's body, lowered her head, and got to work.

Author's Notes:

This was an interesting one! Just because Twilight isn't around, it doesn't mean the stories of the ponies in her life aren't going on without her.

-
Proofed by Djmill and Trail Cutter