This chapter is a soft edit with some grammar and spelling corrections. A final edit is pending review and will be uploaded when finalized. I apologize in advance for any errors that were not corrected.

Chris sat down with the others with a hearty bowl of oatmeal. He seemed happy at first seeing that Big Mac was there. Even more pleased when he noticed the breakfast that was brought along with him. However, he quickly noticed how close Kelly was acting toward Big Mac. Just like Sniff and Lumberman, he wondered if her actions were indeed her own. Had he been more concerned, he might have thought to interrupt them or pull her to the side. For the time being, though, they both seemed none too interested in trying to cross that line.

"So, Mac. My man," Cerb interjected into the shared breakfast of the bunch. "What do we owe you and your family for the food?"

Big Mac turned abruptly. He hadn't thought about needing or even asking for anything in return. "Oh. That's not necessary. We're just trying to be good neighbors. That's the Apple way."

Cerb was committed to keeping good terms with some of the locals who were, so far, very consistent with their help. "I have no doubt that it would be rude to force a favor back onto you or your family, Big Mac. But try to understand that for us, we're going to feel like we're taking advantage of you all if we don't do something to return the favor. Even just the smallest gesture that we can do would make us feel better."

"No, really, you don't need to do anything." Big Mac insisted.

"Don't you live on a farm?" Kelly asked, nudging her shoulder against him.

"Uh, wha?" Big Mac responded nervously to the sudden contact. "I mean. Eeyup. Sure do. Biggest Apple Farm you'll ever see in these parts?"

Cerb took advantage of Big Mac's distracted state. "I heard there's never a farm with too much help. That true?"

Big Mac was relishing in the moment of Kelly nudging herself up close to him. "Eeyup." He thought about how much an extra body would do for helping out on the farm. Of course, that made him realize that he just admitted to needing help, which he just told them wasn't necessary. "Wait. I mean-"

"Hey Cerb, if you're gonna help. I want to go." Kelly looked up to Big Mac with playful, cute eyes. "I wouldn't mind being the farmer's daughter for a day."

"Kelly!" Becky raised her voice. "Oh my god. Put a plug in it, would ya?"

Chris abruptly stood up. "Oh, wow. Look at that. My bowl is so dirty and needs to be washed. I will go wash it right now," he robotically spoke, signaling just how uncomfortable the situation was getting before he took his dish back into the house.

Thankfully, pony logic ensured that Big Mac would be clueless about such a social cue. Although, it did quiet everyone else down.

Briefly, after that awkward point passed, Cerb readdressed his request. "Well, it sounds to me like you could use a few extra sets of hands after all."

Big Mac blinked blankly. "A set of what now?"

"Hands," Cerb repeated rhetorically. "Hands?" He turned to Becky. "Are hands seriously not a fucking thing here?"

Becky had to laugh at that. "Come on. Think about it. My LittlePony? A world of colorful miniature horses that's absent of humans?"

Cerb huffed. "Fair enough. It's not like I've never seen the show or anything."

"So..." Big Mac was still looking for an answer. "What are hands? Are those common on farms where y'all come from?"

Becky held up her hands. "These are hands. Pretty much everything ponies do with the hooves, wings, mouth, or magic, we do with our hands."

It was all obvious to Big Mac now. "I seen you using them. I just figured they were claws like the griffins and dragons have. But they don't actually seem all that sharp now that I look at'em again."

Kelly stuck her arms out and rotated her hands for Big Mac to see. "Nope. Just bendy little nubs."

Big Mac was entranced by Kelly's fingers while she held them up. "They're kinda cute."

Cerb finally put down the ax he'd been sharpening. "Your farm close by, or is it a long walk from here?"

"Oh, not too far here," Big Mac replied, looking behind him to the large hill behind them all. "Just up over a few hills, a short walk down the stream, cross the bridge, and yer there."

Kelly hadn't been farther than the shadow of the house and had no idea what kind of distance that was. "Okay, so that's like... what? A ten-minute walk?"

Big Mac scratched his chin, pondering the walk. "I'd say more like thirty."

"We could always drive there," Lumberman said from behind them. "I checked my truck out. Seems to be just fine. Might be nice to see what's out past the half-mile we've seen so far."

Cerb could see Big Mac struggling with what was being discussed and obviously how he should respond. "A thirty-minute walk should be just about two miles. We can drive that in less than five minutes. Give you a lift and save you some time."

Kelly leaned in closer to Big Mac, rubbing her whole back up his side and looking up over her shoulder, and just abusing the most flirtatious stare she could. "Pleeeeeeeeeease, Maccy," she seduced him, batting her lashes for added effect.

It was a wonder there was no outburst from her friends at her display but no question for Big Mac's answer. "Awe, shucks," He caved. "I can't say no if yer all gonna be so persistent."

A short debate then followed on the best seating arrangement. The first few ideas were a combination of Big Mac riding in the bed of the truck with either Kelly or Cerb or even both of them. Kelly was insistent that she would be fine riding in the back with him, but not so secretly Lumberman and Cerb were trying to keep the two from being alone together. What finally ended the debate was putting Big Mac in the back seated area so he could give directions and not be sliding around in the truck bed and possibly hurt himself. Lumberman would drive, Cerb in the passenger seat, which left Kelly to take the center seat.

Cerb stood up from his lawn chair. "Okay, bud. Lumberman can help ya get seated. But uh... can you give me and Kelly a minute alone?"

Big Mac studied the two for a moment, wondering if he had done something wrong, but Kelly was quick to calm his concerns. "Don't worry, sweety. Just hop in the truck. This won't take long."

"If you say so," Big Mac replied trustingly. He stood up from the chair and turned, quick to see that his massive rear end was stuck in the chair. "Umm... A little help here?"

It was kinda cute seeing him helpless like that.

"Yeah, I gotcha," Cerb answered while reaching to get a grip on the two back legs of the chair. He gave a short tug, but it hardly moved. It took a bit of a rocking sliding motion, but the chair finally slid off, freeing the red stallion. "How about next time we'll have to find you a bigger chair, bud," Cerb played off the embarrassing moment.

"Eeyup," was all Big Mac replied with. Then, with a smile and nod, he made his way to the truck.

Cerb and Kelly watched him head out, waiting for him to be far enough away to have a grown-up talk Kelly knew was coming. However, something they didn't expect to happen, or even could happen, transpired. While watching Big Mac walk out to the truck, he gave a sudden swish of his tail to stretch it out after it was uncomfortably confined in the chair. The stretch of his tail moved the long strands of hair just far enough to reveal two ridiculously sized testicles.

Now, to say the two were surprised would be understating the obvious. Neither of the two was ready for that sight. Not so shockingly, neither was Becky who saw it, too.

Cerb motioned to Lumberman. "Hey, man. No rush getting him situated. We gotta head into the house for a second." The three quickly walked back into the house, all of them either grinning or turning red in the face from trying not to laugh.

"Holy shit, his nuts are huge," Kelly blurted out as soon as they set foot in the kitchen, raising the attention of Chris and Sniff.

"The fuck?" Sniff was quick to ask.

Cerb was barely able to hold back his juvenile laughter. "Dude... these cartoon horses are fucking anatomically correct," He explained, trying to keep his voice down.

Chris thought this was some kind of joke they were trying to pull. "You're fucking with us. Right?"

Becky raised her hands, removing herself from having to deal with it all. "Nope. I can confirm. Big Red out there has a set bigger than both my fists."

Sniff was eating this up. "Ho-ho-ho-shit. And you're trying to get up under that, Drippy?"

Kelly wanted to be mad at the accusation, but the site was still just too funny to her. "Oh, my god, you guys. No. I swear to you. I'm just trying to be nice. He's super sweet, and as much as he seems to like me, I doubt he's gonna try to bed me like some frat boy... or like Sniff at a Christian Mingle meet-up."

Sniff pointed an accusatory finger at Kelly. "Hey, don't be trying to use my proven methods to change the subject."

Kelly was looking for some support. "Come on. Do you know how hard it is to find a guy who is anything close to being this nice to me without trying to fuck me? I miss this."

"You mean being spoiled?" Becky bluntly asked.

Kelly was hesitant. "Yeah... A little. I mean. I know I'm flirting super hard with him, but it's all innocent fun." - She looked around the room, gauging everyone's response. "Becks, Chris. You guys know about him from the show, right? Am I in any danger here?"

The two fell back on the memories of the show, and she was right about him. It wasn't in any of their nature to be interested in sexual conquest.

"Yeah," Chris finally mustered the strength to say. "-but the show was a cartoon. These ones are real."

Kelly looked to Becky for her take on the situation. "Okay, going off of the show, you're right. - " She turned back to Chris. - "And you showed them part of one the episodes. They confirmed that what we showed them was, in fact, what they did. So... this is the show. Sorta."

Cerb called upon all his prior experience of being the bigger brother and put his hands on Kelly's shoulders, making his next words very personable. "Kelly. We just want to make sure you're not going to take things too far."

Kelly went to respond, but too quickly, he started speaking and cut her off.

"And I'm not saying you're going to jump his bones or some shit. But we don't want to see either of you getting too attached to each other. Heaven forbid you lead the poor guy on. Because if you actually do like him, you really want to go risking breaking his heart by messing with him like that?"

Kelly gave in. "Fine. I'll pull back on the flirting."

"Hey," Sniff chimed in. "-if he offers another dinner, at least give 'em a rub and tug to seal the deal."

Kelly stepped back to the garage door, giving the Sniff the Bird. "Fuck you, Sniffles. Find your own food-horse."

Kelly and Cerb walked back out through the garage. In all that time, Big Mac was just now getting into the back of the cab. Try as they might, he was too large to lay flat on the seats. They had to be folded up so he could lay flat on the floor. There was just enough headway that he could sit upright if he really needed to, though he would still have to bend his head down.

"Everything good?" Lumberman asked the two.

"Yeah. Everything's good," Cerb answered before mouthing the words "Huge balls," and expressing the gesture with his hands below his waist.

Lumberman nodded, mouthing back silently, "I know," regretfully getting an up-close view from behind while helping Big Mac into the truck.

Kelly oversaw the silent conversation. "Boys and their balls," she thought to herself.

"Okay, guys. If you're done with your envy, let's not keep our passenger waiting, huh?" She joked with them before sliding into the center seat.

She buckled in and brought her arm around the back of the passenger seat to face Big Mac. "You got enough room back there?"

"Eeyup," he said, content with the room he had.

The other two took their seats and strapped themselves in. The key turned, and the rev of the engine startled Big Mac, though he didn't make a mention of it. He only asked what the loud noise was.

A short conversation followed where they tried to explain the complexities of an internal combustion engine and how it wasn't powered by steam or magic. It ended with him having the understanding that it was a machine. Not that they could explain all that much in the six minutes of driving it took to navigate to the Apple Farm. Then again, It's not much like he was all that concerned about things outside of the farm life he knew.

The conversation had at least distracted Big Mac enough that he was oblivious that they were already to the house, even as he told them to pull into the driveway. "With as easy and as fast as this moves, I could imagine one of these could give any pony an awfully big advantage over other farmers."

Lumberman slowed down to the idle speed coming up the drive. "Well, kind of, I guess. But a farmer having a truck like this is standard. Also, where should I park my truck at?"

Big Mac was still looking over the interior of the Truck, trying to imagine all the farm work and orders to be filled that could be done so much easier and faster with a machine like Lumberman's truck.

"Oh," his voice suddenly sounding rather meek and intimidated. "-how about you take us away from the house and out to the orchard straight ahead. In fact, can you make us go a lot faster past the house?"

Lumberman looked back at Big Mac through the rearview mirror. "What?" He asked, rather perplexed.

Big Mac grinned that grin of getting caught red-handed, or red-hooved as it would be for him. "I left a mess in the kitchen this morning, and I'm actually really far behind on my the choirs since Applejack ran off this morning."

Cerb and Kelly turned in their seats back to Big Mac. Cerb's expression ran the look of "You gotta be kidding me." Kelly looked more sympathetic, but Big Mac could still read it as "Really?"

Big Mac broke the facade; he was in trouble, and he knew it. "I actually really need your help. My sister was right when she warned me this morning. Granny Smith really is going to tan my hide if she finds out I didn't collect enough apples for this week's orders. Plus, the mess I left the kitchen in was really bad." His voice shrank in the end.

Lumberman started to laugh as the truck was crawling up the hill. "Oh damn, Mac Daddy. You got it bad."

"Got what bad?" Big Mac asked.

Lumberman didn't answer. He just peered over the dashboard to see where the path was going to lead into the orchard. Much to his delight, the road over the hill was a straight shot. He thought this would be a good time to instill a little healthy fear into the stud that was in over his head.

"Speeding up, hold on." Lumberman dropped the peddle to the floor.

If the rev of the engine starting up only startled Big Mac, the roar of a 6.7 Turbodiesel that threw him to the back of the cab was at least a seven out of ten on the fear chart.

The jump in speed and rate of acceleration was unfounded and unnatural for an Earth Pony. Before, they had only driven thirty to forty miles per hour; Kelly had even pointed it out to him on a set of numbers behind the steering wheel. Big Mac could see the speed stick was past the seventy and getting close to eighty. "Too fast! Too fast!" He shouted in a panic.

Lumberman worked the brakes just enough to send Big Mac flying forward into the back of the front seats. The truck started to drift in the softly padded dirt road that fed into the orchard. Lumberman eased off the brakes, brought it back under control, and straightened out.

"Where do I park?" Lumberman asked as if nothing was wrong, ignoring the panic Big Mac just went through.

"Here's fine!" Big Mac shouted, probably not even aware of just how loud he was.

Both Lumberman and Cerb were grinning like a bunch of idiots. Kelly, on the other hand, was both mad at the two for the prank, yet also mad for thinking it was funny herself.

This wasn't the first time she'd been on a ride with them when Lumberman did the same thing to others. Chris and Sniff both being particularly funny occurrences she witnessed.

Lumberman pulled over and came to a stop. The front doors opened, and the three piled out, Kelly exiting behind Lumberman.

Stepping out and closing the door, Kelly gave a quick jab to Lumberman in the kidneys. "Slow down," she stage-whispered. "You can't be doing shit like that to him so fast. I doubt he gets our sense of humor... Ass."

Lumberman just smiled back. "He's a big boy. He'll learn to play along."

Kelly circled around to see Cerb helping Big Mac out of the back of the Truck. Poor Big Mac stepped out with a little shake in his legs. She figured it best to try and downplay the scare and not draw too much-unwanted attention to him, given his fragile state. "

"Wasn't too much of a rough ride back there, was it?" Kelly asked sweetly.

Big Mac perked up tall and brave. "Nope! It was just fine, Miss Kelly." He turned back to the interior of the truck. "A bit rougher than I expected, but just fine."

Cerb gave him a firm slap on his shoulder. "Hell, yeah. A big guy like you? Ain't nothing. Right?" He smiled with a nod before he turned and made a short walk into the orchard. "Jesus Christ, you got a lot'a trees."

Kelly came up along Big Mac's side. "You can drop the tough guy act. They did the same thing to me and everyone else back at the house."

Her words caught Big Mac off guard.

"It's just a prank they like to pull because they think his truck is just so cool." She watched his expression change to something of confusion and hurt, which wasn't what she was trying to get out of him. Seeing this, she smiled with a light blush.

"It means that they like you." She nudged him just rough enough to make him recatch his balance. "Just like they like me." - She smiled a seductive grin. "It just means that you got to get'em back, is all."

"Get them back?" Big Mac asked, not understanding the context.

"Prank for prank," She replied with a wink. "You're a smart stud. I'm sure you can think of something they won't see coming." Her words were spoken with all the confidence in the world.

"Now come on. We came to help, after all. Put us to work."

Big Mac's eyes followed Kelly's turn and prance out to the others. She liked him. He could tell. And now if she was telling the truth, that her friends liked him too, he'd have to learn to play their little games. As for going prank for prank, there was one good prank everyone new to the Apple Farm got if they needed to be put in their place. He now had a plan in mind that was sure to hit its mark. All he needed were some wooden baskets and a good set of instructions to give.

"Alright, here's what I need you two to do since you're the only ones big enough for the job," Big Mac spoke up from behind the three, gawking at the seemingly endless set of rows of trees.

He walked over with a stack of large wooden baskets on his back. "Since there ain't no other pony here to carry them on their back and catch the apples that fall, I'll need you two to catch 'em. Kelly, you can grab any they miss." He tilted down and quickly popped up his rear end, tossing up the baskets off his back and sending them perfectly stacked at Lumberman and Cerb's feet.

After a simple run-down on how apple-bucking worked and how it was a proud Apple tradition, Big Mac guided them to a tree that was almost just as red as it was green with all the apples it was overloaded with.

"Now, you two are new to this, so you'll need to be quick on your feet to catch 'em as they fall. We do it without missing any, but don't worry if you miss a few... being new an' all." He warmly talked down to them, baiting their pride.

Cerb stood under the tree in a ready stance. Lumberman looked up at the mass of apples, questioning the logic of it all.

"Oh, Kelly," Big Mac called over to his new lady of interest. "Could you stand in front of me for a minute? I need you to help me get lined up straight to buck the tree.

Kelly looked to her two friends, waiting to catch the falling fruit. She was a little confused as to why he needed help with getting lined up if this was his job, but she also didn't know the first thing about apple farming, so she didn't question it.

Big Mac looked back at the tree trunk, then back up to Kelly. "Am I good?" He asked with a smirk that said everything she needed to know.

Kelly smiled proudly. "Yep. You got this."

Lumberman looked down from the mass of ripe apples to his empty basket. "Hey, how do we know which ones are gonna fall?"

Big Mac answered with a hard buck to the tree.

By the magic of the Equestrian powers that be, only just about every single apple from the half of the tree Lumberman and Cerb stood under fell together, like a torrent of red hail.

The two stood and took the bombardment, learning Newton's law the old-fashioned way. After the epic pelting of the apples, they opened their eyes to see Big Mac looking all too proud of himself and Kelly at his side, bent over and laughing with hands over her mouth.

"Too fast?" Big Mac asked coyly.

"Just a bit," Cerb answered, still holding onto the now full basket of apples. Another stray apple fell tardy from the tree and bounced off his head. Another gift from the powers that be.

Lumberman couldn't even be mad. "I'm guessing you don't need us to hold these baskets. Right?"

Big Mac chuckled. "Heh. Nope."

Back in the Friendship Castle Twilight calls home, the five remaining ponies had little to discuss what all to do for their new guest. Rarity and Fluttershy were still planning on working together for their own reasons of wooing the mammoth human, Cerb. Providing herbal remedies and clothing would be covered by them. Pinkie was quietly plotting something of her own. Party-related, obviously, and she wasn't known for sharing those kinds of details. That really left Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash was pacing back and forth between the open window and her chair. Applejack watched her every move, retracing her steps, and grew steadily annoyed by it.

"You planning on coming up with any ideas there, Dash, or you just fixing to wear a hole in the floor?"

Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration. "Ugh! I can't think of a single thing I can do for them. Well, except for showing them how the Pegisi make the weather. But just about anypony could do that. And I can't think sitting still."

"Well, I can't think with you pacing back and forth all day." Applejack retorted.

"What's there to think about?" Rainbow Dash snapped. "All you need to do is help them start a garden or whatever."

"A garden?" Applejack asked, puzzled. "What makes you think they're gonna want a garden? They just got here."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Uh. Because there they're seven giant non-ponies with stomachs about the size of your head, but who also have no money." Rainbow Dash stared at Applejack's befuddled face.

"I mean, unless you can pay'em to work on your farm. 'Cus I can't give them a job on the weather team. So that leaves a garden. But I'm not an expert on planting anything, either. That's all on you, AJ."

Applejack was a bit in awe that she hadn't thought of that. "Well, when you put it like that, I guess it would be a good idea after all."

"Well, yeah. Obviously," Rainbow Dash scoffed. "What about me? What can I do?" She pleaded.

Pinkie Pie rubbed up to Rainbow's side with some insight. "Oh, don't worry your pretty little mane off there, Dashy. We all have something to offer. Twilight and Starlight have their expertise in magic to fix Trixie's booboo. Rarity has her fashion scene to help the humans with clothes. Fluttershy has her herbs and medicine that only a vet would have. AJ knows how to grow some yummy garden fruits and veggies. I have my secret surprise for them—"

Rainbow was quick to sarcastically answer. "We all know it's a party, Pinkie."

Pinkie grabbed Rainbow Dash by her collar and pulled her in aggressively close."You don't know that!" Pinkie shouted far louder than was needed.

"Ahem..." she recomposed herself. "But, you know what none of us have that you do, Dash?"

"A fan club?" Rainbow guessed.

Pinkie brought Rainbow in close with a tight side hug. "Think more valuable than a fan club."

"The entire Daring Doo book series on paperback and hardcovers?" Rainbow still didn't know.

Pinkie squinted her eyes and drew herself in closer to the side hug. "Think more valuable and less nerdy, Dashy."

"Hey!" Rainbow raised her voice at the insult.

Pinkie turned and spun Rainbow to face her so close eye to eye that their faces were pressed together. "Free time, Rainbow Dash! You're the only one that doesn't have a full-time job, and the humans will need a lot of help getting around town and learning about ponykind! You can be their loyal companion on their journey through Equestria."

"What?!" Rainbow pushed back. "You think I should be their tour guide? Is that it?"

Fluttershy spoke up quietly from behind. "Well, you do know your way around all of Ponyville and everywhere else close by, since you get to see it from your weather job."

Rarity put her sketchpad down to give her insight as well. "Plus, everypony in town knows and respects you for all of your daring exploits, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said, entirely playing to Rainbow's ego.

Rainbow corrected her stance to take a more prideful pose. "Well, I guess you are right about me knowing so much about the layout of Ponyville and all of my awesome adventures that I'm sure everypony just can't get enough-Hey!" Rainbow's mood switched on a dime. "You're just saying that to get me to agree to it."

"It's either that or work the garden, Dash," Applejack butted in.

"Fine..." Rainbow sighed. "I'll show them around and be their guide for Ponyville... But only 'cuz I'm awesome like that!" She quickly fired back with an authoritative pointed wing.

"Well," Applejack spoke contently. "I guess that settles the matter for now. We all know what we're doing. I reckon we might as well get'a move on helping where we can."

Everypony agreed, and the group disbanded with the intent of meeting back up at the human residence. Rarity ventured back to her boutique to gather some sewing materials. Fluttershy had to pick up the herbs and medicines she thought could help Becky. Pinkie Pie went back to Suger Cube Corner to... do more plotting? She didn't say what she was doing, and none of the others asked. Applejack had to travel back home to gather up the supplies needed to put together a garden. That left Rainbow Dash on her own to be the first to go straight to the human residence.

The trip just outside of Ponyville was a short one for Rainbow Dash, and she arrived before she could think of what to say when she was to greet them. Too late for that now, as she landed at the open garage door.

She touched ground and looked around the vacant area. She could only assume they must still be in the house, and it would be best to do the proper thing and knock first. She wearily made her way to the front door but caught a familiar scent in the air.

Boiled oats with apples and... no doubt about it. That was an Apple family oatmeal breakfast. Was one of the Apple's here? She wondered who but wouldn't know until she knocked.

Rainbow tapped her hoof three times on the door. "Um... Hello? Anypony home?"

She stood staring at the tall door, still not sure what she was going to do or even say. She had no real insight into what her role even was supposed to be. Just hang out and explain the ins and outs of Pony life?

Still at a loss, the doorknob turned, letting the door open to a tall human male. Rainbow Dash looked up to the human with olive-colored skin and dark black hair. He had the kind of features that probably would have made for a rather handsome pony, had he been born as such.

"Um," Welp, this is what not having a plan sounds like. "—hello. I mean, morning. Good morning." And just like that, minus ten cool points.

"Morning," Sniff replied with a short silence that followed. "Can I help you with something?"

Rainbow Dash looked up toward the human as if she was standing in front of a Wonderbolts review bored. "I'm here to teach you Ponyville. I mean, teach you Pony—" Rainbow Dash disconnected from the world around her and instead found herself lost in a sea of confusion with no lighthouse to guide her.

Sniff turned back into the house. "Becky! The Karate horse is back, and she's creeping me out! Can you help? Please?"

Rainbow Dash should have been able to give some type of explanation, yet she found herself unsure of what to say and every thought that came to mind she immediately discarded in search of something better.

"Hey, there," came the calming voice of Becky. "Welcome back, Rainbow. What brings you out here this morning?"

Sniff answered for her. "She's here to teach us Ponyville. Or teach us Pony. I don't know what any of that means. You wanna take over from here?"

Becky looked down to Rainbow Dash, who recoiled back into herself with shame and embarrassment. "Yes, Peter Get'n Tail. I'll be the gentleman you don't know how to be," she said with a hint of bitter disappointment.

"Ouch," Sniff said, backing away. "You wound me with your words m'lady, but I'll leave the getten tail to Kelly. She's got a lead on that," he joked with a wink before turning away.

Becky turned back to the sulking pony, giving her best apologetic expression she could. "Sorry about Sniff. He's a nice guy once you get to know him. He's just been having a hard time since getting here. He tells bad jokes to cope."

"It's okay, really," Rainbow Dash said, trying to sound confident. "I don't blame him for being confused. I kinda froze up, there."

"So, what are you here for?" Becky asked with some sincere concern.

"I'm just here to help you all out any way I can... I guess," Rainbow Dash answered, not sounding too confident. "Everypony else has something to give all of you. So I offered to be your guide to Ponyville and help you understand how things work around here."

"Realy?" Becky replied. "That sounds awesome. Thank you."

Hearing these words renewed some confidence in the young mare. "Yeah," Rainbow Dash boasted with a louder voice. "I can take you to see all of the best sites and coolest spots in and around Ponyville and help you all out with whatever you might need."

Becky smiled sweetly. "Well, we pretty much just finished up cleaning the house. So, we need to gather some firewood for tonight. Benny said we should get used to making our own food, so we don't have to rely on Applejack and Big Mac to bring us food like they have."

Rainbow Dash just got her confirmation for the food she smelt earlier. "I knew I smelt Applejack's oatmeal when I landed. Did she bring it over to you this morning before meeting the rest of us at Twilight's place?"

Becky chuckled. "No. It was actually Big Mac who brought it over. Said that he made it himself, just for us."

"What?! Big Mac cooked?!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Eeyup," Becky answered in a jokingly mock version of Big Mac's voice, which she laughed at. "Well, really he made it for Kelly. He seems to be a bit sweet on her, it looks like."

Rainbow Dash shook her head violently to shake the words she was sure she didn't just hear out of her head. "Double what?!"

Becky shrugged. "Yeah, I don't know how it happened either. I mean... yeah, Kelly is hot and all, but I didn't think she would warrant that kind of attention."

"Ho boy. AJ is gonna lose her mind when she hears about this," Rainbow Dash sighed.

Becky waved a hand to fan away any doubts Rainbow Dash might be having. "Oh, he'll be fine, Rainbow. Cerb and Lumberman are with her. Nothings gonna happen."

Rainbow Dash stood up properly again. "Well, after the disaster that sprang up the last time Big Mac tried getting a marefriend, I can only imagine what kind of—" Rainbow Dash paused. "Wait... you said your friends are with her. Are they gone?"

"No," Becky answered, looking to the empty parking spot. "—not here. They all drove him back to the farm to help him with his chores or something."

"Oh," Rainbow answered with some relief. "Well, AJ had to head back to her place to gather some gardening stuff for you and your friends. So I guess she's gonna find out for herself, sooner rather than later," Rainbow Dash said with a worried voice while looking in the general direction of the Apple Farm.

"So," she picked up again, turning back to Becky. "What you need help with today? Huh?"

Becky looked back into the house, then back to the rainbow pony. "Umm... We need to gather some firewood for tonight."

"Oh, going to make a campfire and tell scary ghost stories tonight?" Rainbow Dash asked, trying to rile up some kind of excitement.

Becky tried not to smile too hard so that it would look like she was making fun of her. "No. We don't have any power to the house, so we have to cook up all the food in our fridge before it spoils."

"Oh, yeah. That makes sense, but I can help with that. Just wait here," Rainbow said with a salute before taking off too fast for Becky to even see which direction she flew off in. Almost just as fast, Rainbow flew back into view with her arms full of sticks. "See, no problem," Rainbow gloated.

"Jesus Christ, you really are fast," Becky replied, a bit astonished to see just how fast Rainbow Dash could be.

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said, her voice ripe with pride. "You need some firewood? I got ya covered."

"I can see that," Becky gleefully responded. "Come on. We're keeping the firewood in the back. I can show you where to stack it."

Rainbow Dash flew in pace with Becky while she followed her around the side of the house to the backyard. Looking around, she tried to understand what she was looking at. The first thing she noticed was a wide log from a freshly cut tree sitting next to a small pile of chopped wood. In front of that was a half-circle of stones surrounding a shallow hole dug in the ground. Then, there was a long, thin tree, stripped of its branches, with an axe stuck in its side.

"Come to join the party?" Benny's voice came from the shade cast by the house.

"Party? You're having a party?" Rainbow asked, confused. She turned her attention to Benny, Sniff, and Chris, who were sitting in the shade.

"Yeah, a working party," Benny said with a smile.

Rainbow Dash tried to understand the contradiction of words. "Working party? That doesn't make any—"

"Ain't no Party like a Working Party 'cus a Working Party don't stop!" Been comically sang in parody to the tune of "When We Party."

Rainbow Dash gasped in excitement, raising her front hooves to her cheeks, dropping the sticks in the process. "Y'all ponies is a mess. Thinking I'm gon stop, giving PV props. Ain't no party like a Working party, 'Cause a Working party don't... stop..."

Everyone was staring at Rainbow, who was, for some reason, now looking all around her, turning her head about and spinning slowly in a circle while she fluttered in the air.

"Hey, what gives? Where's the music?" Rainbow Dash demanded.

"Music? The fuck you talking about Rainbow Horse?" Sniff shouted up.

"The music," Rainbow Dash clarified as she continued to search her surroundings. "You started the song, the music is supposed to start," she declared with a huff. "How can I sing along with you if the music doesn't play?"

Chris leaned forward. "Hold on a second. When you and the others sing your songs spontaneously out of nowhere, you actually hear the music playing?"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. How else would we know to stay in tempo or if we sing out of tune?"

"Okay," Chris conceited. "I mean, it's the magical land of My Little Pony. Why not have music play out of nowhere?"

"Nah, nah, nah, nah, naw. Hold up." Sniff protested. "How did you know the lyrics?"

Rainbow shot Sniff a dismissive look. "When the song starts, of course, I'm going to know the words to it. How else would I be able to sing it."

Sniff wasn't buying it. "So you just happen to know the words to a human song from Earth?"

"That song wasn't Equestrian?" Rainbow asked in disbelief.

"Well, she did screw up the lyrics," Benny added. "She said giving PV props, it's giving LA props. What the hell is PV?"

"Ugh, hello? PV is short for Ponyville," Rainbow Dash argued. "You know, the place where we all live?"

Sniff snickered. "That's not the only word she got switched up."

Benny laughed. "Well, yeah. She's not black. She can't say that."

Sniff laughed even harder. "Dude! She's not even human. The fuck does it matter."

Rainbow Dash stopped her hoof. "What do you mean I got the words mixed up? Just what are you saying I got wrong, huh?"

"Y'all ponies is a mess?" Sniff snickered. "It's Y'all n—"

Benny elbowed Sniff in the ribs. "Dude, don't. Last thing we need is you teaching them racial slurs."

Sniff looked on with a coy grin. "But is it really racist if a horse says it?"

Benny glared down to Sniff. "I dunno, Pete. Let's ask James as soon as he gets back."

"Awe, come on. Why can't half-black be black enough for me to have a say in the matter? Huh?" Sniff egged on Benny.

Chris leaned over to Sniff. "You really want ponies dropping N-Bombs?"

Sniff shrugged. "I dunno. Could be funny."

Rainbow Dash turned to Becky. "What are they arguing about? I thought we were going to sing a song together. And what's an N-Bomb? Is it dangerous?"

Becky sighed. "Let's just say that there are names people can call each other that can be very hateful if said by some people, or friendly if said by others."

Rainbow Dash looked at the three guys, still debating each other all on their own. "How do you know if it's good or bad when somepon-err, some person says it?"

"Rainbow Dash," Becky lamented. "I'm sorry, but this is something I can't really explain. And honestly, it's best not to talk about it. It's way too complicated."

"Oh... Okay." Rainbow Dash backed away from the topic.

Becky lightly nudged Rainbow Dash's side. "Come on. We can go get some more firewood by ourselves. Right? Let's go. They can be stupid without us."

That was just enough to get a little laughter out of Rainbow Dash. "Heh. Yeah. Stupid boys. Let's go."

The two walked past the three guys who had advanced the argument from political correctness to who was the better rapper between The Notorious B.I.G. or Tupac.

"Y'all are stupid," Sniff shouted. "In the rap scene, Biggie would have murdered Tupac."

"Biggie did murder Tupac, dumbass," Benny argued back.

The two ladies ventured out to the edge of the Everfree Forest, having a small talk along the way. Not about anything in particular, but that changed when they reached the tree line.

"Hey, Rainbow, can I ask you something personal?" Becky asked quietly.

Rainbow Dash took notice of the change in tone. "Umm, I guess so. What's up?"

Becky started gathering what few stray twigs lay on the ground. "Well, I was just thinking. Big Mac seems to have a crush on my friend Kelly. And before that, him and Miss Cheerilee kind of had a thing going."

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said, acknowledging these facts but not seeing where it was going.

Becky finally asked a question that many have wondered. "Well, it just seems like none of you, aside from maybe Rarity, seem to have any interest in finding a relationship. Have you ever had a crush on anyone?"

Rainbow Dash didn't really know how to answer that. "I uh..." She took another pause. "You know, I've never really put much thought into it, I guess. I've just been so focused on myself and training to be a Wonderbolt. And then all of the whole being an Element of Harmony thing happened, saving the world and helping other ponies with their friendship problems,"

She looked down, a bit depressed at the thought of how unromantic her life had been. "I mean, it's not like I couldn't do it if I wanted to. I've had stallions flirt with me at flight school, and Fluttershy's brother when I had the misfortune of running into him."

"Fluttershy has a brother?" Becky asked in amazement.

Rainbow Dash looked to Becky as if it should have been common knowledge. "I thought you knew all about us from the show your friend Chris had?"

"Well, we don't get to see everything that happens all the time," Becky answered reluctantly.

"What about you?" Rainbow asked.

"Me? I've had a few relationships." Becky leaned against a tree for a moment to rest. "Dated a few boys in high school. Kinda started seeing a guy after I graduated. He was really hot, but he wanted more than I was ready to give."

"Wanted to settle down and get married right away, huh?" Rainbow Dash replied with an 'as a matter of fact' kind of attitude.

Becky blushed and giggled. "No. He wasn't the settling-down type. He just wanted some action."

Rainbow Dash stopped to throw another stick on the pile she was collecting on her back, then turned back a bit to correct herself. "Oh, you meant he was an adventurer and wanted to take you along, right?"

Becky thought Rainbow Dash's innocence was just adorable. "Adventure? No. Nothing like that."

Becky thought about her old flame turning him down for sex and if she should try and explain that to Rainbow Dash. She contemplated the effect of her next set of words to the obviously virgin pony. Perhaps it was a curiosity of just how this world worked, or it could very well have been her own desire to actually talk about it with someone with a new perspective. Regardless, she gave an honest answer.

"He just wanted me for sex."

Rainbow Dash practically jumped at that statement. She turned all the way around, losing all the sticks she had gathered off of her back. "What?! He wanted to start a family with you without even getting married?"

"What?" Becky blinked a few times as she re-ran that question through her head. This was like having an inappropriate conversation with a five-year-old.

"Rainbow..." She couldn't believe she had to explain this simple lesson of biology. "Having sex doesn't mean you automatically get pregnant. Sex can be done just for leisure."

"Woah. Hold up a minute. Are you telling me that humans can rut for fun and not have a foal?" Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief.

"Well, no. It's not that easy for humans to get pregnant. Well, that and we have medicine and other stuff that can stop us from getting pregnant if we want." She suddenly laughed slightly, just realizing that Rainbow Dash called a human baby a foal. "And we don't rut and have foals. We just call it sex, and we have babies or kids."

This was astonishing for Rainbow Dash. "You have kids? As in goats?"

"What? No." Something clicked in Becky's long-term memory. "Oh yeah, baby goats are called kids, aren't they?"

The two stared blankly at each other. The silence slowly grew until Rainbow Dash was blowing raspberries through her lips, leading Becky into a good belly laugh. "Oh, wow," Rainbow Dash tried to collect herself. "Could you imagine, you having a baby goat?"

Becky was really enjoying herself with Rainbow. This dynamic between the two was so new and innocent. The exchange between them was refreshing and exciting. So many new things to talk about, teach, or even learn. It didn't hurt that Rainbow Dash actually was her favorite character from the show.

"Yeah," Becky tried to calm herself as she felt a rasp in her chest building up to what was likely going to be another coughing fit. "—makes you wonder how it got there in the first place, huh?"

"Heh, yeah, right?" Rainbow Dash finished off with the last bit of her laughter before noticing Becky's new state of duress. "Hey, are you okay?"

Becky trained her eyes away from Rainbow Dash while she tried to slow her breathing. She took two slow breaths in and out, doing her best to keep control. With her last slow exhale, she held her breath before turning with a smile to her rainbow-colored companion. "I'm fine. Just a bit too much excitement after our crash landing here yesterday. Probably should take all these little sticks back so I can rest for a bit."

Becky bent down to pick up another loose stick, only to have it snatched up by Rainbow Dash.

"Don't even think about it, Weezy," Rainbow Dash scolded Becky, flying in close to her personal space and lightly poking her in the chest. "You need firewood, I got you covered. You just give me these—" Rainbow Dash made the aggressive move to pull what few sticks Becky had gathered out of her arms. "You just sit yourself down and let The Dash take care of the small stuff.

Just like earlier, Rainbow Dash flew off faster than what Becky could hope to follow, taking the bundle of sticks with her. In and out, Rainbow Dash quickly came into view, only to vanish in a blur, quickly removing the mass of fallen sticks and twigs that had fallen from the trees.

Finally, Rainbow Dash held herself in one place long enough for Becky to track her. "Now for the big ones," Rainbow Dash declared in a karate stance before giving a warrior-like scream and attacking the limbs of a dead tree. Dashing in the air like a winged ninja, Rainbow Dash kicked and bucked the larger branches free, chopping and drop-kicking them into smaller pieces before they could even hit the ground.

"Rainbow!" Becky called out to the over-committed mare.

Rainbow gave one last kick to a large branch, snapping it in half under the swift strike of her hoof. "Huh?"

She floated in mid-air, not sure why Becky had called out to her. Her divided attention left her to be struck by the few pieces of timber she had left to freely fall from above. They clanked and thunked down on her as she fluttered in place from the distraction. Too late, she tried to cover her head with her hooves from the debris she created. She was pelted over and over, almost like one would expect in a cartoon.

Becky covered her mouth as she tried not to laugh at the sight, but it was honestly just too damn funny. The muttered laughter pushed through her fingers. "I'm sorry," She choked out with no sound of sympathy. Not sincerely, at least. "I just wanted to tell you that you don't need to be doing that much. And I'm sorry you got whacked by the—" She coughed. "—hit by the—" Another cough.

Rainbow Dash had been fluttering in the air with her arms crossed. Displeased that she was distracted so easily and needlessly, which had caused her to be pelted by the sticks she was so thoughtfully prepping for Becky. Hearing the coughing fit changed her focus, however.

"Hey, B's? Are you going to be alright? Do I need to get your friends for help?" This seemed like the same issue Becky had just yesterday, which was worrying Rainbow Dash.

Becky covered her cough and waived off Rainbow Dash's concerns. "This is—" She was coughing too much to speak a full sentence. "—normal."

Rainbow Dash looked about trying to think what she could do to help. "I... I'll, ugh... I'll grab you something to drink." Rainbow moved into a sprinter's ready position still up several feet in the air before bolting off faster than before.

Her speed of departure was louder than moments ago, and even created up a gust of wind that picked a trail of fallen leaves and pulled them into her flight path. Rainbow Dash didn't notice this, though. No, she was dead set on finding anything that could help soothe Becky's throat and fix her coughing. She all but too quickly arrived back at the house where the three other human males had started back up on cutting up the rest of the tree.

The gust of wind from Rainbow Dash's return caught the attention of the three hardly working men.

"Woah," Chris spouted as he stumbled back. "Geez. You... you scared me there—"

"Becky needs something to drink. What'cha got for me to take back to her?" Rainbow Dash demanded.

Benny blankly pointed to a small cooler next to the house. "We got a few water bottles left. You can take one for yerself too if you—"

Rainbow Dash flew with a blur to the cooler and then back into view again, only now she was holding up four bottles of water. "Okay, water. Great. This should be good. Oh, and probably should grab—" Rainbow Dash turned her attention back to the house and then again flew off at the same impossible speed.

The three guys stood stupefied at the cocky display of the rainbow showhorse, wondering just what the hell was going on. Rainbow returned back again to add more confusion to the situation. She brandished a tall, thin bottle loosely held with a hoof she had uncomfortably hooked around it. "This is the kind of Voodoo Becky likes, right?" Rainbow Dash asked as she tilted the bottle of vodka back and forth.

Chirs looked at the bottle he was sure was his. "Actually, that's—"

"Yeah, you're right," Rainbow Dash answered, obviously not paying any attention to any of them. "If this isn't enough, I can always come back for more. See ya!"

The three stood powerless as Rainbow Dash flew off again, taking four bottles of water and a whole bottle of vodka.

"Hey, Sniff," Benny called over. "Rainbow Dash just stole our water and booze. Now, imagine she did that while dropping N-bombs. Still sound funny?"

Sniff started laughing. "You kidding me? She took Chris's booze. Not mine. That would have made it even better."

Chris turned around. "The fuck, man? How would that be funny?"

Benny started to laugh, too. "If it was Chris? Yeah. Okay. I'm sure we could all laugh at that."

"That was my vodka! None of this is funny!" Chris shouted.

Sniff playfully elbowed Benny. "Dude, check out Chris. Dat nigga's mad."

Back just beyond the edge of the forest, Becky had sat herself down and was trying to control her coughing. She hated this part of her life. Short of breath and practically immobile, the dry ache in her chest couldn't be easily pacified or controlled. The rasp in her throat grew stronger. Each cough drying it out and only adding to the aggravation.

A blast of air blew through Becky's hair while she struggled to control the spasms of coughing.

"Will one of these help?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Becky looked up to see Rainbow Dash standing on her hind legs. In one foreleg she held three bottles of water and even a bottle of vodka for some reason. In her free foreleg, she awkwardly held a bottle of water. She brought it up to her muzzle and bit down on the bottle's cap. Becky watched as Rainbow Dash comically tried to turn the bottle with her hoof and twist her head at the same time to open it up. The struggle ended quickly, with the cap breaking off and half of the bottle blasting out and splashing up under her chin.

Rainbow Dash quickly tried to catch herself and stop squeezing the bottle without dropping it. Fumbling couldn't be overlooked. She loosened her grip on the bottle with her hoof but wrapped her wings around herself to support everything she was trying to hold onto.

The whole sight only made Becky laugh harder, which just made the coughing worse, which, of course, made her laugh harder... it was a horrific cycle she couldn't break free from. "Water, please," she barely managed to utter between coughs.

"Sorry. Here," Rainbow Dash grinned nervously, trying to hide her embarrassment. She handed over the half-emptied bottle, pulling back she hugged the other bottles against herself and hoping the water would help.

Becky chugged the first few gulps, only to spit out the last bit from the coughing refusing to stop. "Thank you," she choked out.

She clutched her chest and softly rocked back and forth, sitting next to a tree. Again, she tried to control her breathing. Slow breaths in, slow breaths out. Doing her best to calm her body and ease the stress on her failing lungs, she slowly started to gain control again. The irritating itch and sting in her lungs was dying off.

With the relief coming back, she looked up to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was still standing upright on her hind legs in front of her. She had wrapped herself in her wings, it seemed almost childlike in nature. Holding and protecting herself and feeling helpless as she could only watch. Then the long bottle caught Becky's eye.

"Did you bring me Vodka?" She asked with renewed amusement.

Rainbow Dash unfolded her wings from around herself and held up the bottle of Vodka, letting the remaining water bottles drop. "Oh, yeah. I remembered that you like this stuff, right?" Rainbow Dash explained while looking over the label.

Becky facepalmed. "Oh, Rainbow. Yes." She dropped the facepalm and met Rainbow Dash's glance with a welcoming smile. "Yes, I do enjoy myself some Vodka. But it's Sunday. And it's not even noon. Not that I'm against some day drinking, but not today."

Rainbow turned her attention back to the bottle's label, further examining it. "I don't know what you like about this one so much. It doesn't even really taste like anything."

Becky grinned childishly as Rainbow Dash went on to explain how the other drinks were so much better tasting and how they made her feel nice and funny. Still listening, Becky looked down to find another bottle of water to drink. What fell into her line of vision was something she should have expected but sadly wasn't. The lower half of Rainbow Dash was now exposed. Becky discovered that the mares here were also anatomically correct. Or at least they were for what these ponies had for genitalia.

From the current point of view, it was just the underside of the pubic mound. Without a doubt, she knew exactly what she was looking at. Not that she had any vivid memories she could reference to compare what a real horse's labia looked like, but it was still just one of those things that, when you saw it, you could tell what it was.

She tried to look away, but her eyes then noticed what could only be her equine breast. They were so small they were barely noticeable had it not been for the nipples. They almost looked more like human nipples than anything animal-like. Just looking at them was making her uncomfortable.

Her heart raced at the embarrassment of it all. She had to look away, and only when her eyes moved back down they stopped just low enough to stop at where this all started.

"Ugh... Becks?" Rainbow Dash asked the mentally vacant Becky. "Becky? Are you sure you're okay?"

"Wha?" Becky snapped out of it. She looked again to Rainbow Dash, who was visibly concerned. "Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. I didn't..."

Rainbow Dash looked down between her legs to see what Becky must have been staring at. "What? Is there something down there?"

She lifted her right leg, further exposing herself. "Ah, nuts. I didn't sit in something, did I? It's probably Pinkie's confetti. No matter how much we clean, we just keep finding that stuff all over the place."

Something in the back of Becky's mind was telling her to take the easy out and play this all off as nothing. Her inner thoughts saying that she should just play as dumb about this as Rainbow Dash clearly was. However, Rainbow Dash really didn't know what she was doing. Perhaps she didn't even understand the concept of humility. Then again, if this was the show as she remembered it, this was natural for them.

"No. Umm... It's just that..." She caught the full attention of Rainbow Dash again, which caused her to pause. "Um... you're naked, and I just noticed it."

Rainbow Dash didn't understand why this was only now noticed. "Hold on. Are you telling me that you saw all of us yesterday, Big Mac this morning, and spent the entire morning with me since I got here, and you're just now noticing that we don't wear clothes?"

Becky thought back to Big Mac getting to the truck this morning. "Well, we did notice it with Big Mac this morning. But you're the first girl that..." Becky found herself confused about what to say and how to say it.

"The first girl that?" Rainbow Dash drew out those words, coxing for an answer.

Well, fuck it. Might as well be blunt about it. "Your vag and tits are showing." Maximum bluntness.

"Huh?" This mare wasn't following.

Becky coughed again, this stress was quickly getting to her. "Your..." Becky spread her legs and made hand gestures emphasizing her own groin area. "All of your private parts down here. I just- Is it normal for them to be uncovered like that?"

Rainbow Dash tilted her head. "Are you asking me this because you wear clothes?"

That question hit Becky right square in whatever part of the brain deals with logic. "Ugh... Yeah, I guess."

Rainbow Dash took a seat in front of Becky. "Well, it's not like all ponies don't wear clothes. There's a lot of hoity-toity ponies in places like Manehatten that are all into fashion and wear clothes because they think they're better than everypony else, but unless we need to wear them for work or a special occasion, we mostly don't have a need too. Is it different for you and other humans where you come from, or are you hiding something under there?"

Becky snorted, trying to stop herself from laughing at the accusation of hiding something under her clothes. "Ha. No," She spoke up with a smile, which quickly faded into a rather blank expression.

"Well, actually, I guess we do." She looked up to see the wheels turning in Rainbow Dash's brain getting ready to crank out the obvious question. "It all comes back to sex, I guess. We... I don't think I can explain this without sounding like I'm contradicting myself."

Becky took a deep breath and mentally prepped herself to try and explain the complexities of how sex and sexuality are viewed in the human culture. "So... we have a society that is rather open about sexual acceptance and expression. But at the same time, we keep most of it private. I mean-Well, it's... We let people live their lives the way they want and be whoever they want to be with, but keep our bodies covered because it's inappropriate to expose ourselves."

Rainbow Dash was really flexing her brainpower to understand these concepts. "Soooo, what you're saying is that you have to cover up your bodies because if you don't, humans would just start having sex when they see a naked body?"

Clearly, Rainbow Dash had jumped ahead in the reasonings for covering up and would need a better explanation. "No, that's not it. It's more of—" Becky hit a wall with any actual reason her body had to be covered up. "You know, Rainbow. I honestly don't know why we have to cover our bodies. It's just the way it is in our world. It's been like that for so long that we just do it."

"So you don't even know why you wear clothes, but do it anyway? Do you even want to wear clothes all the time?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh, no. Believe me, we want our clothes on." Becky was quick to answer.

Rainbow Dash pushed the topic further with one simple word. "Why?"

Becky pulled her arms and legs in closer to her body, not even consciously thinking about it. "Well," She shrugged. "It's embarrassing to be naked."

"How is it embarrassing? Everypony has a body. You seen one, you've seen 'em all. What's so embarrassing about yours or any other human body?"

Becky thought about her own body and all the times she could have shared it with someone else. She thought about the few times she had. "I guess it all comes back to sex, again." Her tone changed sharply.

The topic made her sad now for some reason. "It's... Sex for us is something that's just so—" She shifted again, sitting on the ground, pulling her knees up to her body and hugging around them. "—intimate. Exposing our body is exposing something about ourself that we keep private. You have to really trust someone and feel comfortable with letting them see you be—" She pulled in tighter. "—vulnerable. And it's not always so easy to find someone that you can trust like that. Even if two people don't have sex, just letting themselves being seen like that, or even partially naked, it takes a lot of trusts that you'll be accepted."

"That sounds kinda sad," Rainbow Dash offered her sympathies. "I know we just met, and we don't know each other that much, but you seem cool. I mean, you know. You're really nice and can be funny. I don't see why your body should be something you have to hide. It's not like your body makes up what kind of pony you are."

Rainbow Dash was too caught up in the moment to remember to refer to her in a human term, but it didn't detract from the sentiment. "You don't have to take your clothes off or anything, but I like you. I accept you for who you are, and I hope that you can trust me the same. All of you. You and your friends."

There was so much nuance and more in-depth psychological dealings that Rainbow Dash couldn't possibly know or understand, but the kind words touched Becky. "Rainbow, thanks. That really makes me feel better to hear that. Even if we don't know each other all that well yet."

"Hey, don't mention it. You're a friend now, and I'm always loyal to my friends." Rainbow Dash said, comforting her new buddy and reinforcing the words with a wing she gently placed on the back of Becky's hand.

Becky smiled back warmly. "Friends with my favorite pony. Sounds like a good idea if I ever heard one." She returned the friendly gesture by turning her hand over and taking the feathers in between her fingers, holding them like they were interlocking hands. "But don't expect us to be strutting around in the nude any time soon."

Rainbow Dash blew raspberries through her lips. "Pft. Whatever you want is fine by me."

They smiled softly, releasing their hold on each other as the moment ended.

"Hey, Becky," Rainbow Dash asked with a cautious voice. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"I guess it's only fair since I already asked you. Ask away," Becky answered, happy to see what might be on her new friend's mind.

Rainbow Dash paced her words slowly, careful to gauge the reaction as she spoke. "Have you ever found someone that you trusted like that? The way you talked about being vulnerable with some person you trusted?"