“So what do you plan on doing with the recipe?”

“Aint that the million bit question.”

After the picnic, the group had split into different activities. Granny Smith retired to the house for a nap, the colts decided to lend their services as consultants for the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Big Mac made his way into town to run some errands (and by that, he meant a quick one with Cheerilee). Applejack and Saltlick decided to take a stroll through the orchards and just talk. This was the first time they were alone.

“I couldn’t help but notice when I came to town, that nopony’s bought Ferrier’s old place. Bad economy?”

The cowpony chuckled. “Yeah, kinda. But also, that bar has a special place in a lot of important ponies’ hearts. The city’s tried to sell the place, but there’s always massive protest against it. There have been movements to make The Golden Horseshoe an historic landmark, but that hadn’t happened. Still, these ponies hold out hope that somepony will come along and bring that place back to its glory days.”

“Well…you know, you’ve got the recipe back. Maybe…you can bring that place back to its roots. I know that’s what Ferrier would’ve wanted.”

Applejack dismissively shook her head. “Nah, Ah couldn’t. Ah mean, Ah could always make cider, but I couldn’t run a bar. Big Mac ‘n me are the only ones in the family who can work the farm, bucking apples ‘n such. Ah’ve seen what mah little sister’s good at, and based off that, Ah don’t think she’s destined to be a bucker. No, what that place needs is an honest-to-Celestia bartender. Somepony like Ferrier who knows the business and can run it full time. Somepony like you.”

Saltlick let out a hearty laugh. “Is that a job offer?”

Applejack chuckled. “Ah don’t know, do you accept?”

“You do realize I live in Foalando, right? It’s a nice offer, sugarcube, but I have my own life and my own business.”

Applejack let out a sigh. “Yeah, Ah realized. Ah knew you were just gonna say no. Although it’s kinda a shame. Ah haven’t known ya fer a day, but already, Ah feel like you’ve become a true friend.”

“Ah, that’s sweet of you. Ferrier told me you Apples had a tendency to make friends out of anypony. I’m glad he was right. You’re really something, AJ.”

The cowpony had a shade of red appeared on her orange face, “Aw shucks, Saltlick. Ya know, Ah still can’t thank ya enough fer giving me back mah daddy’s formula.”

Saltlick scoffed. “That? Think nothing of it. You guys are the rightful owners. Ferrier and I were just holding on to it while you guys recovered from losing Crispin.”

“Speaking of which, aren’t you afraid of losing business now that I have mah dad’s recipe, too?”

Saltlick let out a light chuckle. “Foalando’s about 200 miles west of Ponyville, I think I can handle the competition.”

Applejack laughed back. The two eventually made their way into central Ponyville so that Saltlick could get a proper tour of the town. They decided to stop at stop at Sugarcube Corner, as Mr. and Mrs. Cake had a history with Ferrier and Crispin, who gave Mr. Cake the investment to open the bakery in the first place. Once Applejack introduced Ferrier’s last business partner to the two, Carrot and Cup offered Saltlick and Applejack to stay for tea and Milano cookies (let’s be real, chocolate chip cookies or cupcakes would just be childish).

“No kidding, the recipe lives on?” Carrot exclaimed in pleased astonishment.

Applejack nodded and threw her foreleg around Saltlick’s shoulder. “Darn tootin’! And Salty ‘here gave it back to the Apple family. You can tell those hoity toity developers looking to take a hike, ‘cause the Golden Horseshoe’s back in business!”

Cup slapped her fist against the table and gave a celebratory hoot. She then look toward Saltlick and said, “I assume you’re the one buying it, right?”

The greying earth pony shook his head. “Sorry, I’ve got my own business in Foalando. It’s the one that Ferrier and I started together. It’s mine and my son’s livelihood; I couldn’t just leave it like that.”

“Oh, I’m very sorry; I shouldn’t have been so presumptuous. I just kind of figured that you and Applejack were dating, and…”

Applejack immediately took a spit take of her tea (right into Carrot’s eyes) and entered into a coughing fit. Saltlick slapped the cowpony’s back until she stopped. Applejack looked up at the giggling Mrs. Cake.

“Three things. One: are you outta yer mind. Two: I just met this guy LAST NIGHT. Three: He’s Fluttershy’s daddy, meaning he’s old enough to be mah daddy!”

Mrs. Cake stifled further giggles as she explained, “Again, sorry for my presumptions, it’s just that you two seemed so friendly and…”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “So you’re one of THOSE ponies, aintcha? The ones who’ll think anypony is dating ANYpony for the most ridiculous reasons. Like those ponies who think Fluttershy and mah brother should get together, even though she’s already…..”

Applejack stopped dead in her tracks when she realized who she was sitting next to. The looked over at Saltlick who had a big grin on his face.

“AJ, are you telling me that my little filly’s got a special somepony? Shoot! She didn’t even tell us. What’s his deal? Is he really ugly or something? Or does he have one of those scraggly voices that coal miners get after working fifteen years underground? Ooh, ooh, don’t tell me, he’s a unicorn. I really need to sit her down and tell her that it doesn’t matter to me in the slightest what race somepony is. As long as there’s a stallion out there that can make her so happy, I’ll be giddy as a mofo.”

Thinking on her hooves (not to mention, sweating profusely), Applejack stammered out a response. “Did Ah say she? A-ah meant he. Mah brother. Lotta ponies think he ‘n ‘Shy should get together, even though he’s been messin’ around with Cheerilee as of late. But still, those ponies persist in their nonsense.” The cowpony then let out a weak laugh and rubbed her neck with her hoof.

Saltlick’s grin turned into a pout. “Damn, you got my hopes up, AJ. Oh well, I’m sure my sugarcube can find somepony to make her happy.”

Another weak laugh escaped Applejack’s mouth. “Ah’m sure of it too, Salty.”

Cup and Carrot (knowing of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s relationship, but not of the current boondoggle facing the Mane Six) exchanged confused glances. Carrot tried to pipe up and point out the un-truths stated by Applejack, but the cowpony gave a shake of the head which silenced the baker. Instead, Mr. Cake let out a cough and proceeded to move the conversation along.

“So um, Applejack, have you happened to see Pinkie Pie in the last….18 hours? She should’ve appeared out of nowhere at this point?”

“Hey AJ, that was the pink one from last night, right?” Saltlick asked his companion. The stallion slapped his knee and exclaimed, “Hooo! She was a riot, I tell you what!”

AJ chuckled. “Yeah, her stories are good for a laugh. Anyway, Carrot, she’s probably at Twilight’s place, sleepin’ one off, ya know?”

Mrs. Cake rolled her eyes. “I swear, you young ponies these days are such lightweights. Back in our youth, we didn’t need entire afternoons to sleep it off. We just needed some pixie dust and…”

“YOU ARE NOT GETTING HOOKED ON PIXIE DUST AGAIN!!!!!!!!!” Mr. Cake screamed at his former addict of a wife.
Pixie dust is a story for another day…..

_____________________

The scene at Golden Oaks library was practically that of a war. Twilight Sparkle shot beams of magic at the bouncing pink menace all the while, using her remaining magic to block all exits to the building. Spike was hiding behind his master in sheer terror.

“Pinkie, I will explain one more time, Fluttershy had a good reason not to go through with it! Her family is…”

“THAT BITCH PINKIE PROMISED!!!!!!!! NO EXCEPTIONS TO ANY HERETIC!!!!” screamed the pink earth pony in a voice not unfitting to Satan. The party pony started to swirl like a tornado midair and began advancing toward Twilight in order to neutralize the unicorn’s magic containment of the library. Twilight was able to get a good aim at the pink demon and fire a shot of magic that sent her flying into one of the bookshelves, the collision brought her the ground in a loud thud and caused the books on the shelf to land on top of her head, leaving Pinkie a bruised, charred, twitching mess.

Seeing that the menace was dealt with, Spike walked over to the mess and began the process of reshelving the misplaced books. As he grabbed the rolling ladder he asked his roommate, “So Twilight: Was what Fluttershy’s brother said really THAT bad?”

The lavender unicorn sighed and nodded her head. “I’m afraid so. Poor Fluttershy must have been so miserable, and we were so shortsighted to try and force her into such a scene.”

The purple dragon turned around to Twilight and said, “Twi, it’s nopony’s fault. You guys just didn’t know what you’re doing. Foresight is never 20/20.”

Twilight sighed. “Thanks Spike. I know it’s technically not our fault, but still, I can’t imagine how awful things would have gotten if she was outed.”

______________________

As Applejack and Saltlick left Sugarcube corner, the elder stallion asked the cowpony if they could swing by Fluttershy’s house. His son, Saltine was sleeping off his hangover in his daughter’s guest room. Applejack begrudgingly agreed, even if she couldn’t really stand the thought of further interacting Fluttershy’s brother. Before they knew it, they were making their way to the outskirts of Ponyville.

“Yeah, so we just went back to the hotel after that party. Foxy didn’t want the colts to see Saltine hung-over. It’s understandable; you do not wanna cross that boy when he is recovering from lady liquor.”

“Or when he’s on it…” Applejack murmured under her breath. Saltlick turned his head to see that his new buddy had her head lowered. He didn’t say anything as she closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. Applejack, eyes still shut, blurted out,
“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Saltlick raised his eyebrow. He didn’t know what she was talking about, and replied with a, “huh?”

“Those things Saltine was sayin’ last night. Ya must know what’s going on….why Rarity, Twi ‘n me got so upset with him, right?”

Saltlick’s eyes widened as he realized what she was talking about. “Oh! Yeah, that! Look, I’m really sorry about that. My boy just can’t hold his cider too well. Let me just reiterate that I really admire your friend, Rainbow Dash. To me, what she does behind closed doors is nopony’s business.”

“Even still, Saltine was sayin’ all that cow-dung about biology and all that nonsense disguised as fancy talk. Ah mean, where’d he get that?”

It was there that Saltlick gave out a hearty laugh. “Hoo-boy, if I ever find out, you’ll be the first to know.”

Applejack gave the greying stallion a stern glare. “Didn’t ya say ya used to call your kids filly-fooler and colt-cuddler when they were foals?”

“Well…I mean yeah, I did, but it’s not like I ever told them to hate anypony. I was just teasing them. Look, my boy is a damn good husband, damn good father, and damn good son. I know he talks out of his ass, but he means well. Think about it, your friend, Dash wasn’t there anyway, so no harm, no foul. I gotta ask you to put this behind us.”

The cowpony gave a long, drawn out sigh and looked down. Clinching her eyes shut once again, she blurted out, “Ya don’t get it, do ya?”

Saltlick raised an eyebrow. “Um…get what, AJ?”

“Since yer not really the perceptive type an’ Ah really can’t hold onto a lie fer too long….” Applejack let out another sigh. “Do ya have any idea why ‘Shy didn’t tell ya Rainbow was one of her friends?”

Still looking quizzical, Saltlick replied, “Uhh, not really. I don’t know why she would forget to mention her, though. I’ve been following that Rainbow Dash in the papers for a long time, that filly sounds just like my wife. I gotta say, you guys are pretty lucky to know an awesome pony like that, and…”

“She didn’t forget to mention her. She didn’t on purpose.”

What was Applejack doing? She couldn’t do it like this…not to Fluttershy. The cowpony was the first one to express doubt about outing her…but then there was last night. There was this lie that would just become bigger and bigger. If it wasn’t let out now, then the damage would be greater in the future when it would eventually be let out. Applejack was a farm pony: plain spoken and to the point. All of these lies and charades were really cramping her style. It was now or never. The cowpony let out one last deep sigh, and then looked directly into the eyes of Fluttershy’s father.

“Saltlick, Ah can’t lie to ya. Ya deserve to know the honest truth. Fluttershy is a fawaawwuououwuaowuwouw.”

Applejack tasted Saltlick’s hoof (for the record it tasted like dirt, as they were walking to Fluttershy’s house). The greying stallion silenced his new companion, alarmed by what was in front of him. The two had reached Fluttershy’s house on the outskirts of Ponyville, and something wasn’t right. The front door was wide open, but it didn’t look like anypony was near it; and judging from the muffled sounds, it seemed as though there was an argument going on inside. Can you sense the stirrings of trouble?

Saltlick and Applejack gave each other looks of concern, and Saltlick was the first to go rushing inside. Applejack decided to hold off finishing the previous conversation for now. It looks like something bigger was about to happen.

________________________________

Clop.

It happened.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were basking in the sweet, sweet afterglow following their session of afternoon delight. The yellow pegasus lied on her girlfriend’s warm stomach, while Rainbow just played around with Fluttershy’s silky, pink mane.
Not much was spoken since Rainbow made her unexpected early return. In fact, Fluttershy still hadn’t asked what was up. All that mattered was that her very special somepony was there to ease her mind and body after a particularly stressful weekend. She was going to take a note from Dash herself, and not worry about the details.

Rainbow looked down at her girlfriend, who was resting comfortably, lying on her cyan stomach. Dash amused herself by watching Fluttershy’s head bob up and down to the rhythm of Dash’s belly, while keeping her hooves busy by just feeling Fluttershy’s mane. To this day, the cyan daredevil couldn’t believe how bucking soft this mane was. Rainbow had spent a good amount of time sniffing and feeling her friend’s manes (don’t even ask), and Fluttershy’s was the only one that was so naturally soft and smooth without the use of shampoo or conditioner. Sure, by all technicalities, Rarity’s mane was the one to beat, but she had to work her flank off to make it look as good as it did. That mane was one of her works of art, and it was so fragile. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, always had naturally soft hair that always smelled nice (unless of course, she was rolling in filth). Oftentimes, in bed, Rainbow would just bury her face inside of Fluttershy’s mane and fall asleep inside of it. It brought her back to the days of fillyhood, when Fluttershy would nuzzle Rainbow’s coat to hide from something frightening, or more often, as just a show of affection. As a filly, Dash usually appeared annoyed by these sentimental moments on the surface. Of course, in the back of her mind, all the speedster could think about was how damn soft her best friend’s mane was. As she grew, Rainbow learned not to shutter from the softness, rather, embrace it, and even return the affection. Fluttershy was the only pony capable of doing that to the cyan daredevil.

Rainbow looked down and made eye-contact with her beloved. She knelt down and gave her and upside down kiss a la Spidermare. Fluttershy eagerly returned the display of affection. When they parted, Fluttershy looked up and stared at her girlfriend for the longest time and said with her sweet, siren voice….

“I’m kind of hungry.”

Rainbow smile and nodded in agreement. “That’s what I’m here for. I felt kind of bad just leaving you hanging this weekend, so I decided to come home early and take you somewhere nice.”

Fluttershy let out a d’aww and nuzzled her marefriend. “Rainbow…that’s so sweet of you. Where did you have in mind?”

“Well first of all, we should probably take a shower. I wasn’t gonna say anything, but you smell like you haven’t gotten out of bed all day. That, and…well, we got buck stank all over us.”

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. She had no idea how one minute, Rainbow could be a sweet romantic, and the next…herself.

“You’re probably right” the shy pegasus said as she gave Rainbow another snog.

“Aren’t I always?” Dash replied with a smirk on her face.

Suddenly, the door started to creep open. The doorway was occupied by a dehydrated stallion with a five a clock stallion. His brunette mane was standing up in random places and his eyes were barely open.

“Flutters….where do you keep your coffee?” were the words that came out in slow fashion by a very hung-over Saltine.
Coming to the realization that her brother had slept here last night, Fluttershy let out a frightened shriek and hid under the covers. The pegasus rocked back and forth. It was over, it was all over, Celestia, just kill her NOW!

Rainbow Dash got out of the bed immediately and charged toward the mystery stallion.

“Who the hay are you? What the buck are you doing in my house?”

Saltine began to sober up as his eyes widened. A mixture of confusion and anger appeared on his face. “What the buck are you talking about? This is my sister’s house, and you best get out of here before I call the royal guards to force you out.”

The stallion pointed his hoof downstairs but it was knocked down by a kick from Rainbow Dash, who was flapping in the air.

The cyan pegasus got right up into the face of Saltine and looked at him with the most threatening eyes she could muster.

“You MUST be confused or retarded or something. This isn’t your sister’s house or anything! This house is mine and Fluttershy’s! I don’t know who you are, but YOU get out of here before I do something I regret!”

“Bitch, do not start with me, you may be a filly, but I’ll beat the shit out of you for barging into one of my family’s home! Fluttershy is my sister, and she didn’t mention anything about having a roommate. Now one of you is lying, and I doubt that it’s my own flesh and blood!”

“Are you dense? Of course I live with Fluttershy. There’s pictures of us everywhere. Like here….” Rainbow flew over to her bedside to fetch her favorite picture of her and Fluttershy together, but to her astonishment, couldn’t find it in its spot. The speedster poked the lump of blankets that Fluttershy to get her to come out.

“Hey honey, where’s the picture of us? This joker apparently can’t get the idea that he’s not welcome until I get some photographic evidence.”

“Flutters, what the hay is this? What does she mean by honey?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Oh great. You’re dense on that too. Genius! You call your special somepony “honey” and “babe” and all that other mushy stuff. You gotta problem with that?”

Saltine’s eye twitched, his face was reddening. “As a matter of fact, there is….my sister is not a DAMN FILLY-FOOLER!”
Immediately, Saltine collapsed to the floor as a swift uppercut to the jaw was given by Rainbow herself. As the stallion writhed in pain on the floor, Rainbow threatened, “Call her that again: see what happens.”

Saltine stumbled back on his hooves and spit out a bloody tooth. He bobbed his head up and down as he breathed heavily.

Looking directly at the cyan daredevil, he grumbled, “You bitch, I’ll BUCKING KILL YOU!”

“COME AT ME, BRO!”

The two pissed ponies charged toward each other liked jousting match, when all of a sudden, a wall of magic appeared between the two just before they collided. Both bounced back upon impact with the force field. Rainbow and Saltine turned and saw that Rarity and Foxy were standing in the doorway.

“Saltine, you have some explaining to do!” Foxy sternly told her husband.

“You as well, Rainbow. I don’t know what you’re doing back so soon, but violence is most barbaric.”

Rainbow violently shook her head, still feeling the burst of magic. She looked toward Rarity and tried to explain.

“Rare’, listen. Fluttershy were minding our own business, when this jerk showed up and starting spouting this crazy shit about being ‘Shy’s brother! So I told him to hit the road, and he called ‘Shy a filly fooler! So I gave him a piece of my mind, and was preparing to give him some more, but you and your friend showed up to stop us! Who is this guy anyway?”

“He’s my brother.”

Everypony turned to see Fluttershy emerging from the covers with tears in her eyes.

“I…didn’t tell anypony in my family about you, Dash…”

Dash’s eyes widened. “Y-your family?”

The tears began to thicken as Fluttershy nodded. “My dad, my sister-in law, my nephews…and my brother. They didn’t know about us…about our relationship, because I didn’t tell them, but I guess it’s all out in the open. As for the pictures, and your Wonderbolts posters…I hid them all in the shed.”

Silence enveloped the room. Nopony knew what to say. Rarity walked up to Fluttershy’s bedside and tried to give her a consoling hug, but the shy pegasus just shoved it away.

Silence passed for quite a while before Saltine began to slowly clap his hooves together. “Bra-bucking-vissima, Flutters! It’s not enough you’re a coward, but we’ve got filly-fooler to add to that as well.”

Another punch came directly on top of Saltine’s head, this time from his wife. As birds and stars floated around the stallions bruise, Fluttershy began to cry again. Rarity, feeling a mixture of hatred for Saltine, pity for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and arousal at Foxy’s display of female-chivalry, tried to stammer out something to say, but ultimately just became noises from her mouth. It was then that Saltlick and Applejack made their way upstairs, the older one panting heavily.

“What’s going on? We heard shouting from outside.”

Applejack surveyed the room and to her surprise, saw Rainbow Dash. What in tarnation was she doing there?

Dash, meanwhile, stayed utterly silent as she tried to comprehend this new information that she was receiving. Her eyes shut as she rubbed her forehead with her hooves.

It was there, that Saltine rose from his concussion, and made his way to the door.

“Screw this, I’m out of here.”

After making his way out, Saltlick followed his son, still trying to figure out what the hay was going on. Applejack soon dashed her way out as well, trying to explain the situation to Saltlick. Shouts of “You get back here” and “There’s an explanation” could be heard.

All that were left in the room were Rarity, Foxy, a miserable Fluttershy, and a despondent Rainbow Dash.

Foxy let out a deep sigh and stood straight. “I’m so sorry about this, everypony. I’m especially sorry to you, Fluttershy. The things Saltine said were just so unacceptable, and…”

“Cool it.” Rainbow Dash responded to this mystery mare. The cyan pegasus looked down and saw the love of her life in a miserable ball of tears. Dash showed evidence of some waterworks developing in her eyes as well, but she shook it off.

“Fluttershy…I…don’t know really what to say. All I know is, that it’s my fault. It’s my fault that you’re ashamed of me, and it’s my fault that you’re as miserable as you are right now…”

“Now see here, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy is not ashamed of you! I will not hear any more of this…”

“Rarity, if you do not shut up!” The cyan pegasus took another deep breath. “No matter where I go or what I do, I make you upset. I’m loud, thoughtless, and just not right for you. Even when I don’t try, I make your life miserable. I don’t deserve you…I never did.” It was at this point, the tears started to flood Rainbow’s face.

“I’ll…show myself out. I’ll come back for my stuff, later.”
Dash began to fly out the window, but was momentarily stopped by Rarity’s magic.

“You…see…here…..you are not going….ANYWHERE!” Rarity struggled as she tried to restrain the cyan speedster. But unfortunately, Dash overpowered the spell with her superior physical strength and broke free. A rainbow streak was all that was left by the window as Dash bolted into parts unknown.

The rest of the room was completely silent, with the only noise being Fluttershy’s crying.

Next Chapter: 11. Aftershock Estimated time remaining: 59 Minutes