“Hey Applejack, come take a look at this!”

Applejack grunted in mild annoyance and glanced over her shoulder in the midst of hauling the apple wagon out of the barn the next morning, and found her youngest sibling Apple Bloom standing behind her, clutching a copy of the morning newspaper in her teeth.

The elder sister raised an eyebrow. “Since when were you interested in the newspaper? Ah thought Gabby Gums soured ya on the idea.”

“Well, it did, fer a while…” Apple Bloom admitted, “but Ah just happened ta look at the paper today and Ah saw somethin’ ya might be interested in!”

Applejack sighed more dramatically than she might have normally done, had the previous night not been such an emotional roller-coaster. “Apple Bloom, Ah’ve got a lotta work ta do today on not very much sleep, an’ there’s hardly ever good news ta be had from the newspaper anyhow…”

“But somepony ya know is in it!”

That caught Applejack’s attention. “Somepony Ah know? An’ who might that be?”

“Here, take a look!” Apple Bloom insisted, dropping the paper and showing her the front page, on which there was a picture of--

Applejack gasped in shock. Chip?!

“You said you met a boy named Chip in Manehattan in yer cutie mark story, didn’cha?” Apple Bloom asked. “Well he’s famous all over Equestria now! It says he invented a new way to serve potatoes, in these thin little slices that ya fry up until they’re salty and crispy and crunchy, and they’re a hit! They’re sellin’ like crazy all over Manehattan!”

“…Is that so…” Applejack murmured, barely listening to her, her eyes focused on the handsome image of her long-distance lover. The timing was uncanny; just last night she’d spilled her guts about the colt of her dreams to her dearest friends when she hadn’t had much reason to think about him for months prior, and now the very next morning, here he was smiling up at her from the front page of the paper. Good Goddess, he looked more studly than ever… her heart was already pounding like she was in the middle of a marathon at the memory of him, and of that one amazing night together…

“He’s gonna start sellin’ these potato chip things all over Equestria soon!” Apple Bloom continued. “They sound delicious, Applejack, can we buy some? Please please please please? We don’t even hafta go out an’ get ‘em! They’ll deliver right ta the farm!”

Applejack was already smiling. “…Ya know, Apple Bloom, Ah think we will buy some.”

“Really?! Awesome! Thanks, sis! Ah can’t wait to try ‘em! Ah bet they’ll be--… hey, where’d ya go?”

But Applejack didn’t hear her younger sister’s confused wonderings. She was already bolting into the farmhouse, digging the nice parchment out of the drawers of the family’s “business” desk, and snatching a quill in her teeth. Sitting down with barely contained excitement and more than a little fire in her belly - as well as someplace a little further south - she put quill to parchment and began to write:

Dear Mister Potato Chip,

Heard ya got yerself a fancy new product to sell that the Apple family might be interested in buyin’. Congratulations on makin’ a name fer yourself with it, Ah know how important that was to ya, an’ the Apple family’d love to support it.

Any chance that offer of a ‘personal delivery’ is still open? Ah’d love ta see ya again and catch up. And Ah think Ah still owe ya a home-cooked meal and a good night’s sleep, Apple family style, if ya’d care ta stay the night.

Be just like last time, don’t ya think?

Love,

AJ

---

The sky was that special sort of gray that could make even the most colorful pony feel numb and lifeless. Or perhaps that was just Rainbow Dash feeling her heart sinking down in the pit of her stomach. She hadn’t thought about that time in Cloudsdale Flight School in years; suddenly dragging it back up had gotten her to thinking about it again, about Derpy again, which was something she didn’t always enjoy. What if they hadn’t been caught? What would they have been? Where could they have gone? Would Rainbow have made it into the Wonderbolts by now? Would Derpy still be with her...?

When she looked up from her stupor she found herself standing in front of the small broken wood shack near the edge of town where Derpy Hooves lived. It looked far older than it was, mostly because of all the damage Derpy herself did to it on a daily basis. More than once Rainbow had caught the clumsy filly punching holes through the walls trying to put up pictures or other ornaments.

With a deep breath to steady her nerves, Rainbow Dash approached the door and knocked firmly with one hoof. It was only a few moments before Derpy answered. The blonde filly looked so surprised her eyes actually focused sharply on Rainbow.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash!” Derpy exclaimed. “Hey! Wow, what a surprise…! You don’t really come around much anymore! Um… come in, come in!” She stepped aside to wave her into the shack.

“Yeah, sorry about that Derpy.” Rainbow Dash stepped inside, cringing at the sound of the floorboard creaking under her hooves. “I just got to thinking lately… y’know, about that time when we met.”

“Oh, heh, yeah? I think about that all the time,” Derpy admitted with a blush.

“You do?” Rainbow smiled.

“Yeah... it was the happiest time since I was a little filly… but I guess I should have known better than to make Gilda mad…”

“Wow, that’s… wait, what?” Rainbow gasped. After the incident at flight school she and Gilda had made up… after all, Rainbow Dash had been kind of down from the breakup. If it wasn’t for Gilda treating all of her friends like trash they would likely still be best friends. “What did Gilda have to do with it?”

Derpy looked at her, then blushed and wrung her hooves nervously, her eyes spinning around her head in different directions, looking everywhere but at Rainbow. “Oh, er…”

The hesitation only worried Rainbow more. “Please, Derpy, what do you mean?”

“W-well, after we broke up, Gilda kind of… found me. Yelled at me.” Derpy looked down at the floor. “Said she was glad we got kicked out of college for… for… fucking around, and that I wouldn’t be with you anymore.” She blushed even harder at the foul word.

“What? But nopony knew why we were…” Rainbow Dash’s sentence faded away as she suddenly understood, and gritted her teeth. The only way Gilda could have known ahead of time why they were kicked out was if she’d squealed on them! She could barely believe it, that griffon had stabbed her in the back, twisted the knife, and then been there to help her heal without her ever knowing! Worse yet, Rainbow had fallen for it! She’d let herself blame Derpy when she was as much a victim as Rainbow! It was all because of Gilda, that lying rat! She lied to Rainbow about her friends, she lied to Rainbow about her time with Derpy… she ruined everything!

…No, Rainbow Dash suddenly calmed down and corrected herself. It wasn’t Gilda’s fault. Having to blame someone else was why Rainbow had blamed Derpy in the first place. It was nopony’s fault but her own. Even if Gilda didn’t exactly help the situation.

“Derpy… I’m so, so sorry.” Rainbow took one of Derpy’s hooves between her own. “I never knew… and I understand if you never want to see me or Gilda again, but… well, I was thinking maybe we could give it the try we didn’t get a chance to give it before.”

“Really?” Derpy’s eyes widened in surprise, focusing on Rainbow Dash once again. “Like… as a couple?”

“Yeah… as a couple… if I didn’t make you hate me forever, which I would totally deserve.”

Derpy stared in surprise for a long few seconds of agonizing uncertainty… but the soft, happy smile that followed was all the answer Rainbow Dash needed.

---

That light. That accursed light filtering in through the window. How she would block it out if she could, but sadly there wasn’t much she could do about it. Her head was simply pounding far too hard to make magic practical. Perhaps she’d had a bit too much alcohol, Rarity thought to herself as she pushed herself up onto her knees in her thick, comfortable bed. She didn’t feel sickly, but the aching in her brain was enough to make sure she knew what she’d done the night before.

Oh dear, she suddenly remembered. She’d done quite a bit of talking last night. She may even have to apologize to Rainbow Dash at some point. Her mouth did get away from her when she had too much to drink.

Sliding out of her silken bed-sheets, Rarity made her way downstairs toward the first floor of her home and shop, the Carousel Boutique. Opalescence was snoozing in the far corner in her thick cat bed, while the chirping of birds could be heard even through the closed glass windows on the upper section on the wall. There was the pleasant smell of morning dew mixed with the smell of the various freshly purchased fabrics spread across her workrooms that helped soothe her aching head as she made her way down the hall towards the kitchen.

She stopped in her tracks and looked into her workroom with half-closed eyes. Various dresses of all shapes and colors, and states of completion, decorated the mannequins that stood in every corner, and drawings of dresses not yet begun lined the walls. So many plans, so much to do... but for what, she thought to herself.

Her mind was drifting back to the stories told by her friends, coming clearly despite her alcohol-dazed mind. The tales of friendship and love shared by her closest friends, their missions and life-goals, the intimacy they’d found with others. The mutually understood, loving passion of ponies who might spend their lives together. Compared to her single night of filthy, meaningless sex. Rapidfire hadn’t meant anything to her, she realized, and she very much doubted she meant anything to him. Celestia knew how many other fillies he’d probably bedded since then.

Was that what she was? Did she spend her whole life living out a meaningless passion? She was a good dressmaker, she had no doubt of that, but did pretty frilly dresses mean anything more than her night with Rapidfire? Sure it was a living, and it gave her enough bits to live on, but it was the only passion she had. Was she really that shallow?

Was it okay if she was?

Shaking her head Rarity spurred herself into motion again, finding her way to the kitchen, where she leaned up to use her hooves to pull some migraine medicine from her cabinet and down it with a swig of water. As the medicine began to take hold and her migraine eased, she began to tidy herself up for the day, doing her mane properly and applying just a hint of makeup for extra beauty. As she looked at herself in the mirror, fully prepared for the day, she couldn’t help a smile. A smile not at herself, but at the pictures of Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack that surrounded the mirror.

Sure it was okay. Even if she meant nothing to Rapidfire, she meant something to her friends, and someday she would mean something to a magnificent colt who would sweep her off of her hooves, and she would find a new meaning in her life on top of what she already had. Her passions were her drive, but they were not the only thing that defined her. She wasn’t just a dedicated dressmaker, she was a good friend, and that was more important than any aspiration to greatness.

She was a mare who loved beauty and pleasure, but that would never be all she was as long as she had ponies she cared about and who cared about her.

With a nod she headed out front, slowing when she saw a picture of a familiar colt on the newspaper lying on the grass outside, heading an article on the front page. It was something about Rapidfire…

Fleet Foot, newest member of the Wonderbolts, announced yesterday that she will be taking a leave of absence following her embarrassing showing at the Las Pegasus Marathon last weekend.

“I’d like to apologize to all my fans for disappointing them,” the young mare explained her decision in a statement released last night. “My performance in Las Pegasus showed me that I still have a long way to go to match up with my teammates.”

Rapidfire, Senior Wonderbolt and champion of the marathon now five years running, has offered to mentor her in her new training regimen…

Rarity cocked her head curiously at the paper, then smiled again. Perhaps they were just strangers passing in the night who didn’t mean anything to one-another romantically, but it was still nice to hear him doing well. She didn’t wish ill on him, no, of course not; he’d shown her things she’d never even imagined before, things that still sent a shiver down her spine at the mere memory of it. At the very least, she could still consider him a friend.

Speaking of being a friend, she thought to herself as she tossed the paper inside, closed the door, and trotted down the sidewalk outside of her home, she had to go find Rainbow Dash and apologize for being so harsh with her last night. She normally didn’t drink for exactly this reason. So many apologies for a tongue made a little too loose.

Oh well… they would understand.

They were her friends, after all.

---

“Well, class, it’s been a wonderful year with you all! Everypony should be getting their final report cards in the mail sometime next week--”

A collective groan of protest rang out through the crowd of anxious, impatient young foals.

Cheerilee only giggled in response. “Oh, alright, alright, no report card talk. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of that with your parents anyway. Just remember, there’s nothing like a good book when you’re bored over the summer. I can recommend some titles that I just know most of you will love, and I’m sure if you take a little walk to the local library, Twilight Sparkle can find something for you too…”

Cheerilee trailed off for a moment, a distant and happy smile on her face that left her class glancing at each other in mild confusion. But they didn’t see what she saw. Namely, Twilight Sparkle herself, smiling at the schoolteacher from the window by the door.

“…Well then! As it’s the last day, I don’t suppose there’s any harm in letting you all go a bit early. Class dismissed! Have a wonderful summer, everypony!”

Cheers filled the schoolhouse along with the fluttering of loose papers and the scraping of desks and chairs along the floor as the class of foals scrambled to flee the building and get a start on their summer vacation. It was hardly half a minute before the room was empty, save for Cheerilee herself, and for a few moments, that silence and emptiness reigned.

And then, finally, Twilight Sparkle walked inside, smiling a gentle, nervous smile.

“Hi, Cheerilee…”

Cheerilee smiled back. “Hello, Twilight.”

“…Heh, recommending the library for a foal to spend their summer at? I thought there was too much work to do in an Earth Pony village to sit around and read all day.”

The schoolteacher managed a shaky giggle. “Eh-heh, well, I can’t help it, there’s so many good books out there, it’s hard not to try to spread the love, so to speak… I’m sure you know the feeling.”

Twilight nodded and blushed. “Heh, yeah, I guess I do…”

Both mares chuckled awkwardly and fell silent, and in the pause in conversation they looked just about anywhere in the room but each other. But just as the silence was about to become excruciating, Twilight thankfully broke it.

“So… do you think we can still… you know… pick up where we left off?”

It was Cheerilee’s turn to blush, but she managed it with a graceful, slightly teasing smile. “Well, I’m not sure, Twilight, where we left off I was waking up with a bruise the size of your horn on my forehead…”

“Which I am still very, very sorry for,” Twilight hastened to apologize once again. “I swear, that shelf is nowhere near my bed anymore.”

“Hehe, it’s alright, Twilight, I’m just poking fun…” Cheerilee assured her. “I’d love to pick things up again… as a matter of fact I’ve been looking forward to it.”

“Really? Great, me too!” Twilight exclaimed, bursting into a smile. “Oh, my first real relationship, this is going to be so great! I’ve been studying all about courtship and dating and intimacy, and I promise things will go much better from now on than that Hearts and Hooves Day…”

Cheerilee laughed outright at that. “Oh my, you’ve… been studying how to date?”

Twilight flushed once again. “W-well, when I’ve had some spare time… I mean I was such a spazz the first time, I wanted our next experience to be at least a little less… painful.”

“Oh, Twilight, it really wasn’t that bad…” Cheerilee insisted. “I’ve survived worse than a dictionary falling on my head.”

“Ah-heh… f-funny thing about that…” Twilight stammered. “The book that hit you is kinda what gave me the idea to study up about it.”

“A dictionary gave you the idea to--?”

“It… wasn’t a dictionary.”

“Oh? What was it then?”

“Eh-heh…” Twilight blushed. “Ever heard of the… the Pony Sutra?”

Cheerilee rapidly went from pale and wide-eyed to flushed and intrigued. “…Oh my. Twilight, you naughty mare…”

Twilight flushed just as deeply. “I-I only had it for reference, really…!”

Cheerilee shushed her with a quick hoof over her lips and a soft, suggestive kiss. “It’s alright, Twilight. I’d love for you to… show me what you’ve learned…”

Twilight nodded frantically and pressed herself fiercely into the kiss. “Oh, yes ma’am…”

---

Fluttershy’s cheeks were still red as the apples in the Apple family orchard, and that was pretty red. Even now after a full night’s sleep and almost a full day she could scarcely believe what had happened the night before. Not only had she listened to the stories of all of her very best friends mating, but shared her own story too! Oh gosh, it was the most embarrassing thing ever. Her cheeks reddened again just thinking about it. But at least she knew her friends wouldn’t tease her about it. They were the best of friends after all. It wasn’t like they wanted her to also give them the intimate details of the next time she did it with Big Macintosh.

Wait, next time? Big Macintosh? Her eyes darted to the clock hanging above the door, whose hands were ticking relentlessly around to the position of 7:21. “Oh no!” Fluttershy shrieked in surprise. “I’m supposed to meet Big Macintosh for our date in less than ten minutes! I don’t know if I can make it in time! Oh how could I forget something like that? I must not be a very good fillyfriend…”

“No!” Fluttershy insisted abruptly to herself and Angel Bunny, who was watching her with an eerily nervous expression. “I am a good fillyfriend! I deserve Big Macintosh!” without another word Fluttershy whirled in place and darted for the door, skidding to a stop only to look back at her pet rabbit. “Oh, dinner’s in the fridge, Angel Bunny, when you get hungry.” The small rabbit just blinked blankly. “Wish me luck!”

With that Fluttershy was gone, flapping her wings as hard as she could up towards Sweet Apple Acres. Regrettably her hardest flaps weren’t all that fast, why did her cottage have to be on the opposite side of town? It took her more than twenty minutes to make it to the orchard, where she and Big Macintosh had agreed to meet. It occurred to her he hadn’t told her exactly where to meet him, or what they were going to be doing out here tonight. Strange, it wasn’t like him to be so secretive.

“H-hello?” Fluttershy called into the trees. The darkness around her was growing thicker as the sun moved behind the horizon, only casting a longer shadow in the dense treeline. “Big Macintosh? I’m so sorry I’m late, I-I was distracted by something that happened. I understand if you left and aren’t waiting anymore…” Her head hung down against her chest, until suddenly a strange, mouth-watering smell wafted into her nose.

“Oh… goodness…” Sniffing daintily at the air the pegasus set off through the forest, following the smell of the sweet treats that surely had to be nearby. “Big Macintosh? Is that you? Are you still here waiting for me? Oh…” the air seemed to flee from her chest when she emerged into a small clearing on a hill, upon which a small picnic set had been carefully placed. The clearing was lit not by candles, but by softly glowing beads of light that hovered around the cloth, and softly circling the colt who waited in front of the setup.

“Ah’ll always wait for you, Fluttershy,” Big Macintosh informed her with a handsome, but slightly bashful smile.

“Oh…” Fluttershy squeaked, wanting to tell him how romantic that was, how gorgeous this all was, but the moment had taken her voice away. Even breathing seemed difficult under the weight of her rapidly beating heart.

Her heart was beating so fast, in fact, that she didn’t even move until she felt one of his powerful hooves circle her neck and give her the most gentle of nudges toward the blanket. Her legs followed almost of their own volition, carrying her toward the blanket, where she saw not only a picnic basket, but also a small black box sitting on the ground in front of her.

“Oh…” She squeaked breathlessly.

“Fluttershy…” Big Macintosh spoke softly, one of his hooves gently stroking her neck to draw her eyes up to his. “Ya’ve been more than Ah could’ve ever hoped for, more than Ah ever figured a simple Earth Pony farmer could ever hope for… but yer all of that ‘n everything else. Yer kind, understandin’ of the Apple family ways, supportive… ain’t nothin’ Ah could ask of a pony that you ain’t been for me.”

“Oh…?” Fluttershy squeaked even higher than before.

“Ah’m sorry if Ah scare you, but… Ah just gotta tell ya how Ah feel about ya… Ah feel like Ah could spend the rest o’ mah life with a filly like you…”

“Oh…!”

“Fluttershy…” Big Macintosh reached with his free forehoof to knock the small black box open, revealing a shining golden pendant attached to a length of equally tiny chain. “Would you do me the honor of bein’ mah wife, and becomin’ a part of the Apple family?”

“Oh!” Fluttershy practically shrieked, her wings shooting out over her head in her shock. She didn’t even breathe as he slowly lifted the necklace out of the box by the chain and slipped it over her head, his hooves carefully brushing her mane aside until it came to rest solidly against her chest. It was rather heavy, but its weight felt like nothing with all the feelings rushing through her all at once.

“Fluttershy…?” Big Macintosh brushed a hoof over her cheek and turned her head to look up at him. “Ya don’t have ta say yes… Ah like things how they are now, too. Ah just thought--”

He was halted when one yellow hoof pressed against his lips to silence him. She could barely see him through her tears, but at last her breath came once again so she could say the word she’d been waiting to say. A soft, simple, “yes.”

---

Well, that sure was embarrassing.

Pinkie was, for once, pink in the cheeks as she reflected on her most recent party that she was still in the midst of cleaning up after, holding herself upright with a broom even as she swept with it. She felt so silly, dreaming up all that nonsense and thinking it was real. She’d really scared Twilight for a while, too, and that just wasn’t nice. It was funny at the time, but now she felt just a bit guilty for putting Twilight on that emotional roller coaster. Pinkie resolved herself to apologize to Twilight the next time they saw each other for freaking her out so badly. Especially over something that, really, hadn’t actually even happened…

“Pinkie Pie, there’s a letter in the mail here for you!”

Pinkie looked around and smiled at an older, bright blue earth pony mare as she laid a rolled-up scroll on Pinkie’s bedside table. “Oh, thanks Mrs. Cake! Who’s it from?”

Mrs. Cake furrowed her brow. “You know, I’m not quite sure, but it has the royal seal on it, so I thought it must be important enough to get to you right away.”

Pinkie cocked her head curiously as she dropped the broom and landed on all four hooves again. “The royal seal?” she echoed, and took the parchment in her hooves as Mrs. Cake stepped out again. With a swift snap of her teeth she broke the seal, unfurled the scroll, and began to read:

Dear Pinkie Pie,

Thank you again for all the extra help you gave us before the wedding.

It was lots of fun. We should do it again sometime.

Sincerely,

Cadence & Shining Armor

Pinkie Pie stared at the short little letter in confusion. Do what again sometime? Get married? Pinkie was pretty sure that you only did that once, if you did it right. Besides, the wedding part wasn’t all that fun. Now the reception, sure, that was loads of fun! But that was still a wedding party, they couldn’t get married again. Was there anything else they’d done that was fun? Well, of course, besides--

Pinkie froze and gasped. But--… no, that had been her imagination. Her unconscious mind got away from her one night and she’d dreamed the whole thing.

Hadn’t she?

Oh gosh, what if she hadn’t? What if if really did happen?! Did this mean they wanted her to have fun with them again? Maybe more?! And what did that mean for her pact with her friends if that was true?! She’d promised to tell them everything about her love story when she got one for real! But if this one was real, then she’d have to tell Twilight it was real! She didn’t want to make Twilight freak out again… but it had been so much fun!

If it had really been real, of course.

“Pinkie!” Mrs. Cake called out to her again. “You have company! My, you’re a popular pony today!”

Pinkie shook herself out of her bewildered daze and trotted downstairs, and found herself in the company of a vaguely familiar white-coated unicorn. Not with Rarity’s perfectly-styled violet mane, Pinkie realized, but a wild and untamed one of a bright, vivid electric blue, and her eyes were masked by reflective shades.

“Hey, Pinkie Pie, you remember me?” the pony said. “Vinyl Scratch? You hired me to DJ for that rockin’ royal wedding last week?”

Pinkie Pie brightened quickly. “Oh, of course I remember you! How’s it going?”

“Good, good,” the DJ answered. “That was one heck of a party you threw! I didn’t think anypony could make a freakin’ royal Canterlot wedding that awesome, but somehow you pulled it off!”

“Aww, thanks!” Pinkie grinned. “Parties are my special talent, you know!”

“Heh, I can tell. I love a good party myself.” Vinyl smiled at her, and paused for a moment to lift up her shades and meet Pinkie’s eyes more directly. “Hey, so, listen, that gig turned out to be pretty big for me - opened a lot of new doors and stuff, ya know? Lotta ponies want the royal wedding DJ all of a sudden, hah - and, uh, I just thought maybe I could, ya know… take ya out to dinner sometime? As, y’know, a thank you…?”

“Oh, wow, sure, I’d love that!” Pinkie beamed. “And I’ve gotta throw you a congratulations party too!”

“Hah… er, well, one thing at a time, eh?” Vinyl responded. “How about, uh, I come by at eight tonight?”

“Sure, that sounds great!” Pinkie agreed. “I gotta finish cleaning up from my last party right now, but I’ll definitely see you tonight!”

“Cool, heh… it’s a date, then. Seeya tonight!”

Vinyl turned and made her exit then, and so did not see Pinkie freeze up for the second time in five minutes.

A date?

Did she just get asked on a date?

Did she just say yes?

Pinkie raised a hoof to her mouth and bit down. Yep, just as she suspected: pain and the taste of fur. She was definitely not dreaming this time. For a moment she wondered what that meant for the ponies who sent her the letter up in her room… would they be disappointed? Was she passing up oodles of sexy fun with Twilight’s studly brother and his hot wife, and maybe even the sun goddess herself? Or was that all just in her own personal imaginationland?

Pinkie shrugged at nopony in particular. I guess I’ll never know, she decided. ‘Cause I’ve got a for sure date in the real world! And I can’t wait to tell my friends!

Pinke smiled and giggled to herself, and scampered back upstairs. She had a lot of cleaning to do before her date.

---

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today we learned that although love is something everypony strives for in their lives, love comes in many different forms, and means many different things for many different ponies.

I’ve learned that love can be something that sits right in front of your face trying to confess to you and you don’t even notice it because you’re both too new at it to even fully understand it, and you have to find your way through it from scratch, together. But learning about it together is what makes it so rewarding, in the end.

Ah’ve learned that love can be far, far away from ya, but still burn as bright as any other, no matter how much life an’ circumstance might keep ya apart. ‘Specially when it does get the chance ta come ‘round ta see ya, ‘cause the time apart makes the time spent together that much more special.

I have come to realize that there is no shame in being who I am, and I should not judge myself based on what everypony else believes and experiences. Everypony has different experiences, and everypony has different views on life. Just because I may like some shallow things does not make me a lesser pony than others. I will find love just like they have, as long as I am patient and open to discovering it.

I figured out that even when you really like somepony and they like you back, it takes work to make it work with them, because sometimes you’re gonna screw up and do something really stupid, and if you’re not willing to put yourself out there, admit what you did, and make it right, you might lose that love forever.

I learned… THAT I’M GETTING MARRIED EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

And I’ve learned that it’s okay to be a virgin even when all your friends around you have had a bunch of experience already, and that everypony finds that special moment at their own pace. Oh, wait! And also that having great dreams is pretty nice, but I don’t think they really compare to going on a real date with a real friendly pony! Even when those dreams are about foursomes with super sexy ponies like you, Princess Celestia!

Urgh, Spike, PLEASE cross that last part out… anyway, as I was saying, we--… Spike, are you still writing? Let me see that. Stop writing, you need to cut that part out! Spike, I mean it! Give me that quill! I don’t care if you think it’s funny! We can’t send that to--

---

Author's Notes:

DragonShadow’s Author’s Notes

For the record, I am not claiming 100% responsibility for the fic. This was absolutely a 50/50 split of effort between CarcinoGeneticist and myself, so when I talk about “me, me, me, I, I, I”, it’s because I’m talking about my own feelings, I can’t really speak for him.

This was at once a long and short project, it seems like. The whole thing was conceptualized in about an hour with a nearly complete outline by a couple of dudes laughing about how funny it would be to make a story like this. While it was quite amusing, it eventually sort of took on a new form for me. The more we wrote and the harder we tried to mesh it into canon and make the scenes varied with varied forms and driving emotions, the less I viewed it as a “clopfic” and the more I simply began to see it as a fic about sex.

There’s this weird thing that tends to happen where any topic can be viewed through an observational lens... except for sex. The second sex enters the picture (especially in great detail) all other qualities fly out the window except for its sexy ones. I think this is rather sad, sex is an important part of every single one of our lives, and the first time can be a real doozy both physically and emotionally. No different from the first date or the first kiss, and yet it’s viewed as something... separate, I guess I should say? I dunno, it’s just something I’ve noticed over time.

For me this wasn’t really a clopfic by the time we finished it, it was a tale of first experiences and lessons learned.

Anyway, time to address a specific concern brought up by some readers: Rarity’s bitchiness.

There’s an interesting thing about Rarity in the show. She’s very unique among the cast. While the other five are positive archetypes fleshed out with flaws and personality, Rarity is actually a negative archetype fleshed out with virtues and personality. She’s vain, arrogant, shallow, and haughty. She looks down on the ways of others as beneath her, she preens and struts and flaunts her good looks, she always insists that she should naturally get her own way, and she flirts with men to manipulate them. If Rarity was in any other show she’d be used as an example of how girls should NOT behave. Even in the sleepover episode she never actually admits to being wrong, she just learns to let it slide and not focus on it, allowing the peace between her and Applejack. The fact that Rarity continues to be likeable as a character is a testament to how three-dimensional the characters really are. Her virtues shine just as brightly as her flaws, and in some cases, her less-seemly aspects can even seem understandable.

As to how this relates to this fic, well... Rarity is a bit of a bitch. That’s the long and short of it. She’s a bit of a self-righteous bitch and sees herself as right unless something drastic proves her wrong, and this attitude is simply tempered by a desire to not fight with her close friends. Alcohol is well-known for removing the censor from one’s mouth... those two statements should work well enough to explain that.

I think this has gone on long enough from my end. I’m glad everyone enjoyed this fic so much. Be sure to look up and Watch “DragonShadow” on FIMFiction as well if you enjoyed this work. I only have one sadly terrible fic up right now, but I’m working on some other stuff at the moment so stay tuned and keep having a good life.

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CarcinoGeneticist’s Author Notes

The first thing I want to say is an echo of my co-author’s last paragraph. Watch this guy. The problem with most fanfiction archives is that they are not really set up well, if at all, for collaborative efforts; only one of the X number of authors may post the story, else they risk having it removed for duplicate posting. As a result, the authors who do not do the actual posting of the fic sadly see drastically less recognition and credit than deserved. This fic was a collaborative effort through and through and DragonShadow deserves every bit of the praise that may have been directed exclusively at me. So yeah. Give him some love too, guys.

I’d also like to echo another of his points. I don’t have to say it to most of you all because you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t enjoy sexy stories, but it really is a sad state of affairs that so many people react drastically different to a story containing sex compared to one that does not. Not merely in whether they like it or not, or whether they will even read it or not, but how they grade and critique it as well. Between this and Purely Scientific Interest I saw a lot of comments along the lines of “I would criticize about X Y and Z, but since this is a clopfic I’ll let it slide,” and I really don’t like to see that. While I do have to concede that there is an element of wish fulfillment and fantasy at play with smutfiction in general, I want to specify that for me personally I tend to strive for all the same dedication to quality, believability and in-character-ness with my smut that I give to my non-smut stories, and would like to ask my fans and followers to treat my work with the same critical eye across the board, whether the fic is about Twilight Sparkle having a walk in the park with Spike, or horn-fucking Rarity in the ass.

(sub-note: I am not actually planning a fic of Twilight horn-fucking Rarity in the ass.)

Speaking of Rarity, by the way, I was a little more surprised than my co-author at how Rarity was received as somewhat bitchy for her comments to Rainbow Dash. It’s definitely in her character to be highly opinionated and she certainly has the right to hers, but we actually took conscious steps to tone down Rarity’s bitchiness in that chapter. The original draft had her being much more sharp-tongued and critical of Rainbow’s story, being much more emphatic about how disgusted she was by the idea of doing it in a public bathroom, and even going so far as to say that Rainbow would have completely deserved any punishment she got, including jail time. So to still have people think she was being too bitchy after cutting so much of that out was a bit of a surprise to me. (No real point to this line of thought, just an observation I had.)

Anyway, finally I’d like to again thank Ariamaki for his ongoing role as my sounding board and pre-reader. I’m pretty sure I owe him for like half my readership (and to the other half, this is another guy you should be following!), so it’s the least I can do to pimp him back now and then.

And that’s pretty much it. Thanks for reading, everyone!