Fluttershy squeaked something in a pitch almost beyond hearing, face red, and bolted for the closet. She got halfway there before a purple aura dragged her backward, hoof-edges skidding along the floor.

"Flutters," Dash said, red-faced herself from trying to recover her breath. "What the actual fuck."

"Eeebee ee eemee eeee," the pegasus squealed, hooves flailing as Twilight hauled her into midair.

"You are my friend and nopony here is going to hurt you," Twilight said, holding up a hoof to shush the others, "but by all stars' love, Fluttershy, please, please, tell me you're joking, or I misheard that, or … or I don't even know, just, gaaaaaah!"

Fluttershy balled up, shivering. "N-no," she whispered.

Twilight's body sagged. She pressed a hoof to her temple. "I don't even know if I want to know. … No. No, I don't. But you have to tell us, for Equestria's sake. When?"

"A-about a week after the wedding."

"Where were you? Do you know where she is now? When's the last time you saw her? Did you —"

"Twilight!" Rarity interrupted. "You're scaring the poor dear."

Twilight ground her teeth. "Fine. You ask. But we need every detail and Celestia needs the whole story yesterday."

"We will handle this with all appropriate haste," Rarity said, "as friends. Let her go, please."

Twilight dropped her hornglow. Fluttershy shot to the arm of the sofa, cowering behind Pinkie Pie, teary eyes peeking out from behind the earth pony's side.

"Darling," Rarity said gently, "the Royal Guards searched the whole length of Equestria for a month after the shield spell flung her away, and swept through every town multiple times with detection spells. Are you quite certain it was her?"

"I know they did," Fluttershy whispered. "I-it was her. She wasn't disguised."

Rarity exchanged a glance with Twilight. "Where did you meet?"

"In the Everfree Forest. I found her while I was out collecting roots." Fluttershy swallowed. "She, um. She was unconscious and hurt. She needed help."

"Wait a titch," Applejack said, recognition dawning. "This was the week nopony could come over 'cause you caught the bunny flu?"

Fluttershy nodded. "I brought her home."

Twilight made a strangled noise. "She's going to put us in a dungeon in the place she banishes us to and then she's going to banish us again."

"When Chrysalis woke up, she tried to, um. To bribe me not to turn her in to Celestia," Fluttershy said. "She said Celestia was going to kill her. I told her that, even though she had made a lot of ponies very upset, Celestia wouldn't do that. I don't think she believed me, though, because she tried to run away when I was at the farmer's market." Fluttershy scuffed a hoof against the floor. "She was too hurt to get very far. I didn't want her trying again, so I promised her I wouldn't tell anypony about her until she was better."

"I can't believe it," Applejack muttered, shaking her head numbly.

"The next day, as I was changing her bandages, she asked why I was helping her after everything she'd done. I told her it was because I thought everypony deserves a second chance. She got very quiet after that. Finally she, she …" Fluttershy lowered her head. "She started crying, and she begged me to let her feed. She was so hungry. She said she'd do anything I wanted to make me love her. Anything at all." Fluttershy swallowed. "I told her that even though I was scared of her, I knew she needed help, and I would trust her if she promised to be nice to me and my friends."

"Feed?" Rarity asked. "You mean …"

"Yes," Fluttershy said. "That's when we, we …" She glanced up at Pinkie, who stroked her mane reassuringly. "We fucked. She said she could be anypony that I wanted her to be. I told her I just wanted her to be herself, that if she kept changing she'd never feel anypony love her for who she really was." Fluttershy smiled at the memories. "I had to be gentle, but it was still very good. I was really tired by the time it was over."

"Because she ate your love, Fluttershy!" Twilight blurted out, horrified.

"I know," Fluttershy said, smile falling away. "She took a lot. I fainted right afterward. When I woke up I was really dizzy and I couldn't move. I lay there for a few minutes, alone, and then I heard her walk in. She was breathing funny. She put her hoof on me, and I didn't move, so I think she thought I was asleep … and she …" Fluttershy whimpered and closed her eyes.

"Oh, stars," Rarity said. "Are you alright?"

"She …" Fluttershy took a trembling breath. "I felt her breath on my neck. I think she was going to … to eat more."

Twilight paled. "But she'd already totally drained you."

"I know," Fluttershy whispered, sniffling. "I was so scared. All I could do was lie there. She sniffed me, and then … and then I heard her move. I closed my eyes again. I felt her breath on my face, not so close. Then she backed away, and sobbed, except I think she was trying to be quiet so she wouldn't wake me up, and she flew off crying."

"She almost killed you," Twilight said, stunned. "Killed you!"

"When you're hungry, it's easy to do things you regret," Fluttershy said.

"Hush, Twilight," Rarity said. "What happened?"

"A few hours later, when I could move, I found her in the corner of the basement. I could see how hungry she still looked. She cried more, and told me she'd almost done something very bad. I told her I knew, and she was very brave to keep her promise, and I would feed her more as soon as I could."

"You rutted 'er more'n once?" Applejack asked.

"Yes. Every night after that. She kept getting stronger, and some of her holes went away. But she started getting more restless and avoiding me. Finally, she told me she loved me, too. She said if she kept feeding on me, while building up her own love inside her, she would have spawned a new brood, and they would have eaten her like she almost ate me." Fluttershy's head lowered. "If she had stayed, we'd both have been in danger. She said she'd try to make it up to me someday. Then … she left." Tears dripped from Fluttershy's eyes, but they streaked down a muzzle wistfully smiling.

"When was that?" Rarity asked.

"That was … um … two months ago, now?" Fluttershy wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I haven't seen her since."

"But since she had love to feed on, she also would have had to avoid …" Twilight's jaw dropped open. "Great Sun."

"What?"

"Fluttershy … the princess sent me a letter just last month that the Royal Guard had smashed a Changeling swarm gathering in the Everfree. They were disorganized, but gathering numbers. The Guard would have been overwhelmed if they'd had the leadership to fight back effectively." Twilight looked up, face pale. "I think … you did save Equestria."

Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Oh."

An astonished smile spread across Pinkie Pie's face. "With sex!" She whirled around, grabbing Fluttershy under the shoulders. "Do you know what this means?"

Fluttershy squeaked as she was lifted, but she returned Pinkie's stare. "Um," she said, muzzle flushing, "I think, if it's alright with you, you meant, um. With. Fucking."

Pinkie giggled. "Well, sure, if you want to be all Dashie about it."

"I think if she saved the world she gets to be all whoever she wants about it," Rainbow said, wide eyes locked on Fluttershy.

"I still can't believe it," Applejack said, glancing down into her empty mug and then around the room.

Fluttershy brightened. "Um, yes," she said. "That would be nice. I mean, to be all Dashie about it."

Twilight stood. "I need to write Celestia."

"In the morning, darling," Rarity said, looking as shellshocked as the rest. "It's nothing that can't wait until we're sober. If this is really happening, at any rate. Doubly embarrassing if it isn't."

"Ooooh," Pinkie breathed. "That could be fun! You could be Dashie, and then she could be you! You'd get to make swears a lot and kick clouds and sleep and fly really fast and help me pull pranks and … ooh! And Dashie would get to help out all the animals which she could be really good at because she's got a pet, right?"

Fluttershy stared into Pinkie's eyes and cleared her throat hopefully.

"… What?" Pinkie asked.

"Um," Fluttershy said. She chewed her lip. "Um. Pinkie Pie? Could you please, if it's not too much trouble, I mean. Say, um. Fuck."

Pinkie tilted her head, looking at Fluttershy quizzically. Then recognition sparked in her eyes. "Oh. Oooooohhhh." She gave the pegasus an encouraging smile. "Fuck."

Fluttershy smiled back. "Thank you."

Then she grabbed Pinkie's body tightly, pulling her down off the arm of the chair, locking her muzzle around the earth pony's. They hit the floor with a rough thump. Neither of them seemed to care.

Pinkie giggled. "Mmmmm. Mmrhhm mmnnm."

The remaining ponies stared in dull silence, then slowly turned their heads to look at each other.

"Well," Applejack said, "I reckon I'm gonna go throw some sheets on the double bed in your basement, Twi. At this rate, might as well admit there are some ponies here gonna end up tangled up together, and at least give 'em a place to do it that ain't here on the floor in front of all an' sundry." She turned and staggered off without waiting for a response.

"About that," Twilight said. "There's plenty of crash space here, and everypony is welcome to stick around, or see themselves to bed — without me. Because I swear if just one more thing blows my mind tonight, they will have to build a whole new wing at the Ponyville Asylum to hold all the pieces." She stepped onto the stairs, smiling at nothing in particular, bracing herself against the wall. "I am done. I'm going to go write a letter that nopony will ever believe, leave it on my desk, and then when I reread it in the morning we can all have a good laugh at how salted I got."

Rainbow picked up her mug from where it had spilled on the floor during her spit-take. "I oughta clean that up. Then I. Um. I think I'm going to the kitchen for some water."

"I think I shall join you," Rarity said, eyes unfocused. "I feel as though I ought to give those two some privacy, but if I am forced to be alone with my thoughts right now, I am afraid that I might start screaming and not stop."

Pinkie's head popped up from the far side of the couch. "Oh, it's okay! We can go to the bed in the basement and celebrate her saving the world there." But the grin on her face fell away as she looked at Rainbow. "Um … Dashie?" she asked in a small voice. "Is that … I mean … alright with you? I guess I just got excited and I, um," her ears wilted, "didn't think."

"You know," Rainbow said, "maybe I ought to be mad right now, or jealous, or …" She shook her head. "I'm sure that some part of my brain is freaking out as we speak. But really? I'm strangely okay with this." She gave Pinkie a shaky but reassuring smile. "You go have fun, balloons. You're my friend and I like seeing you happy."

Pinkie's smile instantly returned. "You're the best, Dashie! And I hope that you want to rut someday." She leaped to her hooves and bounced downstairs, pulling a goofily smiling Fluttershy in tow.

"See," Rarity said after she and Rainbow were alone, "you are a romantic at heart."

"Fuck you too."

"Such a tantalizing offer! How shall I ever turn it down?"

Rainbow opened her mouth to snap back, but was interrupted by hooves clomping up the basement stairs. Applejack climbed into view, staring fixedly ahead. "Right!" Applejack said shakily. "Well, I'm sure glad somepony's so eager to put those sheets to use that they can't even wait till I leave, ha ha. Everypony's goin' to bed so it must be bedtime, right? That sounds like a plan. Bedtime." She staggered into one of the side guest rooms and slammed the door.

Rainbow stared at the closed door for a moment, waiting until the sounds of ponies' departure had died down, then whirled and threw her mug to the ground. "Nnhah!" she snarled through clenched teeth. The mug bounced with a wet crack and tumbled past the sofa and into the kitchen.

"Rainbow," Rarity said quietly, "for what little it's worth, that was noble of you."

"Fuck off," Dash said, voice trembling. She turned squarely to face Rarity. "Don't you 'noble' me. 'Noble' is for gleaming perfect pretty princesses who would faint if they ever came within a horseshoe's throw of fucking up."

Rarity's look of sympathy turned brittle. "Well." She leaned forward, nose to nose with the pegasus. "If you think I've never done anything I have regretted," she hissed, "then please explain me making friends with you."

"Because you need somepony to pretend to be better than, when you come home from your empty life with the hippophobic Canterlot snobs."

"You tell yourself that the next time you're coating my legs with liquor you can't hold."

A smile crept onto Rainbow's face. "I will. You know why? Cause fucking up means at least you're trying. You're so afraid to live you won't even touch anything harder than cider."

Rarity smirked back. "A lecture on fear from the mighty Rainbow Dash, whose best friend is tangled in the legs of another mare right now because for a month you've been too terrified to try to make her happy."

Dash blanched, but her smile didn't waver. "Fuck you, Rary. Sit and spin on a chunky stick. You can call out the name of your perfect fantasy lover while you stuff it in, and then go sob in your empty bed."

Rarity's smile broadened. "Am I hitting a little too close to home, Dashie?" she whispered. "Are you going to hoof me now, and show the world you're as worthless sober as you are drunk?"

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you? For somepony better than you to treat you the way you actually want."

Rarity's muzzle tightened, but she couldn't keep the corner of her mouth from twitching. "Don't flatter yourself, you craven beast, just because you've learned to grunt and scratch your wingpits when ponies speak of desire."

Dash's smile grew predatory. "Something the matter, Rary?" she whispered. "Oh, that's right, you thought I was too stupid to understand what Twilight's vanilla comment meant. You got her behind closed doors and begged her to treat you like a whore, didn't you? Of course she freaked out on you, you desperate, pathetic cow."

"You'd know all about whoring, wouldn't you," Rarity snapped back through a blank mask-like grin, "if even a freak like Gilda charged you too much."

Rainbow whipped up her forehooves, grabbing Rarity by the sides of her head. Rarity flinched and threw her own fores up, bracing one against Rainbow's forehead and one against her chest. The two froze, locked in sharp-grinned venomous glares.

"Sorry, Rary," Rainbow whispered. "But you already played the Gilda card tonight. All you've got against the truth is a cheap shot, huh?"

"Let go of me, you bitch," Rarity hissed, her smile vanishing.

"Gilda didn't deserve me. And you know something else?" Dash's mouth fell to a dark, flat line. "Neither does Pinkie. She deserves a good pony."

"You deserve to drown in your own vomit."

That brought a smirk back to Rainbow's face. "You know what you deserve, then?"

Before Rarity could answer, Rainbow roughly yanked the unicorn's head forward with both hooves, slamming their muzzles together, clamping her lips hard around Rarity's. "Mmph!" Rarity protested, more from the sudden movement's rush of breath than from any effort to speak.

She bit.

Rainbow's eyes widened. "Mmmph!" she cursed, jerking her head back, a stream of blood spilling down the front of her muzzle. She yanked a hoof back to touch her lip in disbelief — a moment before a hard backhoof smack from Rarity sent her to the ground, the sound echoing around the room.

Rainbow blindly bucked out with a hind. It connected with something fuzzy. There was a yelp. A moment later, Rarity's body landed hard atop hers, driving all the air out of Dash's lungs. As she struggled to recover, two hooves clamped around her neck, lifting her head and slamming it back into the floor.

Rainbow lay, dazed. Rarity hauled herself forward to sit heavily atop the pegasus' chest. Both glared at each other, gasping for breath, Rainbow's eyes refocusing after the hard knock.

Rarity leaned forward. "That," she hissed, face boiling with rage, the corner of her own mouth welling out into a tiny trickle of blood, "was for daring to lay your filthy bitch hooves on me, you subequine cunt. And this —"

She lunged downward, pinning Rainbow's shoulders to the floor, clamping her muzzle hard around Dash's, tongue desperately probing. Rainbow flailed her hooves ineffectually against Rarity's side, then found purchase, grabbing and yanking her downward. Rarity overbalanced, and Dash kicked out, flinging her sideways. They tumbled, muzzles locked, bodies tangled, and Dash came to rest on top, throwing her weight into a foreleg-pin that had Rarity grimacing in pain.

Dash yanked back her bloody muzzle, gasping for breath. She grinned maniacally. "Fuck you, whore."

Rarity bared her teeth, growling deep in her throat like some Everfree beast, nostrils flaring with quick, violent breaths. "Fuck you, slut."

They both collided back into the kiss, moaning, hips squirming as their bodies grappled, hinds locked, their sexes leaving wet patches on each other's inner thighs.

A door swung open with an anticlimactic creak. "Alright, Pinkie, Fluttershy," a voice came from the second floor. "I'm not trying to interrupt, I just forgot my sweet fucking alicorn shit —" and Twilight missed a step and tumbled ass over teakettle down the stairs, slamming into the hardwood floor at the bottom.

The entwined pair awkwardly scrambled to their hooves.

"Twilight!" Rarity said, eyes widening.

"Twi," Dash pleaded through a bloodied muzzle, a ring around one eye starting to swell and darken. "It's not what it looks like —"

Twilight staggered upright. "Stone cold sober," she yelled, horn flaring up, purple auras engulfing two bodies.

And that was that.

Author's Notes:

For a far darker take on Fluttershy's tale in this chapter, go read Benman's excellent The Trouble With Sympathy, which was written in homage to my story (and then published first, in an effort to encourage this to go live).

This story owes a special debt of gratitude, far beyond the normal prereading call of duty, to Ben. He persisted in holding my feet to the fire for eleven months while I freaked out about my ability to edit this story to the level of quality it deserved. I still have a lot of problems with it, but at least this way it's seeing the light of day.