Things went on then sweeter'n the cider, and for all the unbelievable days AJ had seen the past couple years, sitting in that dingy ol' warehouse fry joint with her poppa and her marefriend beat ev'ry single one of 'em in ev'ry single way.

But as shadows started gathering in the doorway, Poppa started getting antsier and antsier, sweat gathering on his forehead, his gaze darting away even as he was setting up another wunna his sea stories. Sharing a frown with Fluttershy, Applejack leaned forward and rested a hoof on Poppa's. "You OK?"

Poppa twitched at the touch, tried to smile and didn't quite make it. "I was hoping..." He took a big gulp of cider. "But ain't no way one afternoon of agreeable talk's gonna be enough to chase away the..." His voice trailed off again, and he waved a hoof.

Applejack blinked at him, but Fluttershy was nodding. "Your cutie mark?" she asked quietly.

A couple more twitches might've been Poppa nodding or might've been him shrugging: AJ couldn't tell. "Night's the worst," he said, his voice breaking. "If'n I'm ashore, I swear I can...can hear them trees calling me. And I can't ever see 'em again, not after what I...what I done." He gave a chuckle without a drop of laughter in it. "Not to mention your Granny Smith's likely to peel the skin right off me next time she sees me."

And as much as Applejack wanted to tell him that wouldn't happen, well, knowing Granny... "You heading back to the ship?" she asked through a tightening throat.

"Reckon."

Poppa stood from the table, and fear struck Applejack right to the core, the ten-year-old filly deep inside her crying out silently: Don't go, Poppa! I'll be good! I promise!

The waver in Poppa's eyes made her think he could hear it, too, and when he crooked a front leg, Applejack jumped in to hug him. "I love you, Poppa."

"Love you, too." He sniffled and stepped back. "And I'll be expecting an invite to the wedding. Can't say I'll be able to make it, but still..."

"Of course, sir," she heard Fluttershy say behind her.

That finally got a grin from him. "I told you, Fluttershy: call me Red." His grin faded, his gaze moving back to Applejack's. "My regards to the resta the family, AJ. Tell 'em I—" His voice broke again. "Tell 'em I wish I coulda— I wish I hadn'ta been such a— Such a—" He took a breath, shook his head, turned for the door. "Tell 'em I'm sorry. Or don't tell 'em a thing 'bout seeing me. Comes out the same either way."

"Red?" Fluttershy stepped around the table, Poppa stopping to look back at her. "I just wanted to say thank you."

His eyes widened. "For what?"

"For being you." Fluttershy drifted over to him, her wings a blur. "For being real. For being honest. For being a pony we could actually talk to."

She wrapped a hug around his neck, and Poppa turned an even darker shade of red. "Well, now." He cleared his throat a couple times, Fluttershy settling all four hoofs on the floor, blushes touching her own cheeks. "You take good care of my little AJ, y'hear? She's 'bout the only reason I ain't entirely a sad and sorry waste of horse flesh." Another nod, and Applejack couldn't look away, her father stepping out into the spring evening.

The walk back along the warehouses was a mix of silence and quiet, but Fluttershy was almost getting used to that with Applejack by now. She just walked close beside her, Applejack wearing the hat again, and stroked her side with a wing till she got a response: "Poppa looked good."

The emotions roiling Applejack's voice told Fluttershy she should keep stroking, and after another few moments, the two of them standing at the port gate and waiting for the unicorn directing traffic to give them the signal to cross, Applejack said, "Reckon life at sea suits him."

Again, Fluttershy just kept stroking—not the horrible, teasing sort of strokes she'd used that night on the train, of course, but gentle, reassuring, the sort of strokes she knew Applejack needed right now. And sure enough, half a block from the hotel, Fluttershy heard the first of Applejack's sniffles. "I...I gotta fix this!" she blurted out, spinning away to plant herself on the sidewalk directly in front of Fluttershy. "Get Mom well, get Poppa thinking straight, get 'em back together and back home or I'll just...I'll go...I don't know what I'll do!"

"Yes." Fluttershy inched forward, touched her nose to her panting marefriend's. "Once we get ourselves settled, we'll be doing that." She swallowed. "There's still a chance with your parents, and we're not going to let that slip away."

A sudden rush, and Applejack was holding her close and tight. "I love you more'n I'll ever be able to say."

Closing her eyes, Fluttershy took a deep breath of Applejack's wonderful aroma. "I'll keep trying to find the words if you will," she muttered.

Applejack's low chuckle was her reward. "You got yourself a deal, honeycomb."

They reached Harbor House just as night was truly settling in, a different unicorn behind the front desk. "Oh, you're the folks in room 3? Boss is out on a date tonight, but he wanted you to know that anything you order in the dining room's on the house."

Fluttershy couldn't keep from squealing and clapping her front hoofs together, and the smile that spread over Applejack's face made her squeal and clap some more. And, yes, Fluttershy was still full from the corn chowder earlier, but, well, she could go a little wild, couldn't she? She was on vacation, after all.

She ordered the mesclun salad after the waitress, a chunky little earth pony named Patches, assured her that the ingredients were grown right down the street, and she was very glad she did, the endive and arugula simply perfect. Applejack pronounced the apple pie to be pretty much the best she'd ever tasted where she hadn't grown the apples herself, and she seemed to like the cider enough to have another couple mugs even though Fluttershy could smell that it was as hard as the cider she'd been drinking with her dad...

And as they were finishing up, Patches stopped by and thanked them from the whole staff. "Barrel's been dreaming about Dusty Rose since they was in school together." She beamed, sliding the used plates onto her platter and balancing it across her back. "Dunno what you folks said to him, but I'm wishing somepony'd thought to say it a long time ago."

"Ummm," Fluttershy said, glancing over at Applejack. "We...we didn't really say anything. Did we?"

"Hmmmm?" Applejack shook herself like she'd been half-listening or thinking about something else. "Oh, well, sometimes, honeycomb, all it takes is one little thing to make one great big difference."

Applejack seemed distracted as they made their way back to the room, too, taking a couple stabs to get the key into the door. And when Fluttershy couldn't keep herself from stroking a wing along Applejack's wonderfully firm flank as they stepped inside, Applejack actually jumped and spat the key nearly under the bed. Pulling her wing back, Fluttershy blinked at her. "Applejack? Is...is everything all right?"

"I—" Her face going as red as her cutie mark, Applejack stomped in and started pacing up and down in front of the little fireplace, Fluttershy closing the door and touching a hoof to the light switch. "I gotta say this, honeycomb, but I can't—! It isn't—! You shouldn't—! Gahhh!" Applejack tossed her head, her hat hitching sideways between her ears.

As much as Fluttershy wanted to panic, she took a breath instead and reached for the part of her brain that she used when one of her animal friends was scared or hurt or upset. "Anything you need, Applejack, you know I'm right here to help."

"I know, I know!" Spinning and leaping, Applejack landed in front of her, grabbed her shoulders with her hoofs. "And you gotta know I love you! 'Cause I do! More'n a tree loves the rain!"

She's leaving you, came that horrible whisper in the back of her head, but Fluttershy refused to be distracted, kept her whole attention on her marefriend. "And I love you," she told her, "more than song birds love the sky."

The hoofs on her shoulders began to shake, and Applejack lurched forward, wrapped Fluttershy close, pressed her face into the side of her neck. "Love," Applejack sighed more than said. "That's the feeling I'm talking about right there." For an instant, she relaxed, then Fluttershy felt her muscles tense, and she sprang away. "Not that the sex ain't great! 'Cause it is! Better'n great! It's—!" She shivered, her eyes pulling closed. "It's overwhelming."

Her eyes shot open again. "And that's it! That's the word!" She smacked a hind hoof against the carpet. "I usedta listen to Rainbow and Pinkie going on and on 'bout the fun and games they had with stallions and mares and themselves and each other, but I never gave it more'n an eye roll 'cause I couldn't imagine anything like what they was talking about! But these last ten days, when you're up inside me and I'm clenching around you, it—"

She went so still, Fluttershy had to fight a little harder to keep her panic from getting out. "It's thunder," Applejack whispered, staring at nothing. "And lightning. And earthquakes and tornadoes and flash floods, all at once and all of 'em making my brain and body just sing and dance and shout for joy. And it's..." She blinked and shook her head again. "It's too much for me, all of it, just...too much. 'Cause the love we got between us by itself is so...so good, honeycomb, I don't wanna get lost in...in this avalanche of sensations. We got so much more'n just body parts; we are so much more'n just that..." Her head drooped, her ears flat under the brim of her hat. "I ain't saying this very well..."

"Oh, but you are." Fluttershy slid her front legs around her lovely and slightly-tipsy marefriend, Applejack's spine standing out like a line of stones. And even though Fluttershy wasn't physically wearing the hat right then, she knew Applejack needed her to be in charge. "You're saying that we should spend the next little while reminding ourselves what good friends we are instead of what good lovers we are." That way, Fluttershy didn't say out loud, aiming her thoughts at the spot in her head where that awful whisper seemed to come from most often, we won't turn into either her parents or mine...

Her whisper didn't give a peep in response, but Fluttershy was more interested in Applejack collapsing against her, those wonderful muscles of hers slowly relaxing as Fluttershy massaged them. "Then you don't—" Applejack stirred enough to look up. "You don't mind? Just holding me tonight and tomorrow and maybe the day after that and not having..." Her voice trailed off, and she barely mouthed the last word. "Sex?"

Fluttershy brought her wings into the massaging and was rewarded by Applejack shuddering and melting more fully into her. "I love you, Applejack," she said, pushing through the lump in her throat. "And since this is important to you, it's important to me."

"Oh, honeycomb." Applejack's expression got Fluttershy melting, too, and that started her lacinia filling up—though she had the spell running hard enough through her head not to worry about it popping open. "You gotta regret it, getting yourself tangled up with a mess of a pony like me..."

"Regret it?" Fluttershy leaned down and touched her snout to Applejack's, a simple descending chord pattern starting on a piano somewhere. "I will never regret a moment of the time I've known you, Applejack. I mean—" Taking a breath, she sang: "Every day since I've known you has brought such joy my way, for the first time I can see that I'm lucky." She kissed Applejack between her wide eyes. "I'm so lucky you're with me."

Letting herself rise into the air, she kept one front hoof on Applejack's shoulder and continued: "Every night since I've known you has been a pure delight, been a dream that sets me free. 'Cause I'm lucky." So spun, then dropped back to snuggle up under Applejack's chin. "I'm so lucky you're with me."

Hoofs touched her face as the music modulated to a second melody, and she looked up to see Applejack's shimmering eyes, her marefriend opening her mouth and singing: "When you finally showed yourself, you blew my poor heart off the shelf, shattered ev'rything I knew, and brought me love so sweet and true."

Her grin feeling almost too big for her face, Fluttershy swayed as Applejack swung into the last verse: "So at last we're together. Our backs are to the past, and our future's gonna be just plain lucky!"

Fluttershy had to giggle. "Simply ducky!"

Applejack's voice slid into harmony with hers, and they finished together, Fluttershy never wanting to look away from those beautiful green eyes: "I'm so lucky you're with me."

The kiss they shared as the music wound up made Fluttershy's wings spread, but she put the brakes on anything more than that. "Time for bed?" she asked when she could. "And I mean for sleeping."

Blushing some more, Applejack just nodded, and Fluttershy helped her marefriend crawl in among the sheets before she turned out the lights and joined her.

The problem AJ had with hard cider was the way it didn't fog her memory of the stupid things she said and did while drinking it. So starting awake with just enough of an ache behind her eyes to tell her she'd had a mug or two too many, she had absolute clear recall of ev'rything that'd happened with Poppa—and ev'rything that'd happened with Fluttershy.

And when the next instant made her realize the bed beside her was empty, panic roared through her guts forest-fire hot and quick. Her mind spun up images of Fluttershy creeping out into the pre-dawn and flying off without a backward glance, getting herself away from that crazy earth pony who didn't know a good thing when she had it—

Till the whoosh of water through pipes and pattering over tile hit her perked-up ears. Focusing through the early morning light glowing at the windows, she realized the sounds were coming from the bathroom, and all the pieces fell into place: her honeycomb was in there taking a shower.

Relief flooded her hard, dropped her back onto the pillow, almost brought tears to her eyes; shivering, she tried to tell herself she hadn't really been about to leap up screaming at the tiniest hint of a thought that Fluttershy had abandoned her. But AJ knew the truth. She was hooked, pure and simple. Even this whole 'no sex for a while' thing, her attempt at self-control where her honeycomb was concerned, she knew deep down in her bones wasn't gonna end in nothing but failure. 'Cause all Fluttershy had to do was rustle her wings, and AJ would come a-running, crashing through ev'ry barrier to reach her side.

Just thinking the word 'wings' nearly did her in right there, ev'ry square inch of her crying out for the touch of them glorious feathers. Her lacinia feeling thin as tissue paper, she was half a heartbeat away from scrambling across the floor, busting into the bathroom, and jumping into the shower with her hot, wet, and oh, so delicious marefriend when she heard the click of the door and realized the water had stopped rushing. Looking over with a stab of fear, she could just about see herself attacking poor Fluttershy in her desire to suck the water off those—

Fluttershy stepped out, then, towels wrapped around her wings and mane, her eyes going wide as her gaze met Applejack's. "Oh! Good morning! I...I hope I didn't wake you, but I—" A blush as delicate as dawn's first light crept over her face. "You know how my wiggler is sometimes out when I wake up, so I thought a cold shower might be the best thing since we're, ummm, since we're not doing that right now..."

And just like that—like she seemed to do ev'ry hour or so, AJ thought with a grin—she found herself falling even deeper in love with this beautiful, confounding pegasus. "Thank you, honeycomb." Rolling out of bed, she took a wide stance and a deep breath, the world firm under her hoofs again. "Reckon I could use summa that myself right now."

Breakfast when they finally got themselves out to it was on the house again, Cracker Barrel and Dusty Rose sitting at a table in the corner of the dining room and smiling at each other like they hadn't never really smiled at nothing before. The two came over to say thanks, and while Applejack nodded and told 'em they was welcome, Fluttershy started in again stammering, "But...we didn't...I mean—"

Leaning over, AJ patted her hoof and whispered, "They're happy, honeycomb, and they wanna share it with us. Near as I can reckon, there ain't one single thing wrong with that."

A couple blinks led to Fluttershy giving a nod and a smile, and when Dusty Rose declared she'd take 'em back to the station free of charge since she had to head up the hill anyway to tell the cab company she was taking the day off, Applejack gathered their luggage lickety-split, just about had to force Cracker Barrel to take some of their money for the use of the room, then hopped into the cab beside Fluttershy for a quick and chatty ride through the spring morning, great big fluffy clouds floating around the blue, blue sky.

Dusty pretty much insisted they stop by the Harbor House next time they was in Vanhoover, and Applejack gave her and Cracker Barrel a similar invite to stay at the Acres anytime they found themselves down south. In the station lobby, the big signboard declared that the Ponyville train was currently boarding on track 6, so her and Fluttershy hied themselves to that end of the terminal quick as bunnies and scooted on just as the conductor was shouting his final "All aboard!"

They didn't need a room this time since it weren't more'n ten or eleven hours down the coast, and in her heart of hearts, Applejack was kinda glad about that. Her willpower shaky as a newborn foal, she figured being alone with Fluttershy near anything bed-like would prove more tempting than she could withstand at present...

So they settled into a couple seats, Applejack insisting Fluttershy take the cushion nearest the window, and she spent a relaxing day either dozing with her hat pulled over her eyes or watching Fluttershy watch the scenery, the ocean on one side, the hills on the other blanketed with early spring flowers, all purples and yellows, oranges, greens, and reds. And when Fluttershy snuggled into Applejack's shoulder and dozed off after lunch, contentment surrounded Applejack so sweet and so solid, she coulda taken bites out of it and chewed it like taffy all afternoon.

The train headed inland then, and they had supper while the sun sank behind a landscape that was almost familiar, the train skirting the Everfree Forest. And a couple hours after dark, when they slipped into Ponyville Station, Applejack found herself coming over misty-eyed.

Home again. And for all that it'd only been a couple days, AJ was pretty much ready to settle in at the Acres and not go any further'n Fluttershy's cottage for the next couple years.

One stop to make first, of course, one that her and Fluttershy didn't even have to talk about: gathering up their bags, they stepped off the train and moved from the soft yellow glow of the platform lights into the darkness of Ponyville's streets, their steps quick and aimed straight for the library across town. "It's not that late," Fluttershy muttered. "I'd hate to disturb her if she's already gone to bed..."

"A night owl like Twilight?" Applejack didn't let any of the tightness in her gut show in her smile. "Don't be silly."

Sure enough, though the downstairs windows of the library tree were dark, lights shone bright enough upstairs, and after a little encouragement from AJ—"So she'll know it's us and not somepony trying to check out a book or something"—Fluttershy flew up to the balcony and tapped on the glass doors.

Half a minute, and Twilight was stepping out, giving Fluttershy a hug, and waving over the railing to AJ: "Welcome home! We'll be down in a jiffy!"

And quick as that, the three were gathered in Twilight's kitchen over steaming cups of tea, Twilight reacting with gasps or grins as Applejack and Fluttershy traded off telling what'd happened to 'em the last few days. AJ wrapped up with, "And then we hot-hoofed it on over here," then grabbed her saddlebag from the floor beside her, flipped it open, took the sample case gently in her teeth, and set it on Twilight's table.

Twilight nodded, the purple glow from her horn picking the case up. "And you used the proper labels?"

Applejack nodded. "'F' for father, 'M' for mother, and 'B' for brother, just like you said."

"OK!" She smiled, the case sinking back onto the counter. "Y'know, I really have to thank you girls. This has been such a fascinating project, and to know that I'm helping two of my best friends in the world, well, it's just—!" She took a breath, blew it out. "I mean, I still think you should take all this to a medical professional, but the, uhh—" Twilight blushed. "The semen sample you gave me, Fluttershy, showed a bit low on the various counts but otherwise completely normal."

A little shiver twitched up Applejack's spine. "Then we can...we can—?" She spun on her cushion to Fluttershy, the pegasus clutching the tea cup between her front hoofs and staring at Twilight.

"I'm...normal?" she asked, the waver in her voice near to breaking Applejack's heart.

"Actually, Fluttershy..." Twilight folded one front hoof on top of the other and looked more like a doctor than half the doctors AJ'd ever met. "You're extraordinary." She gave a smile. "But, hey, we all knew that, right?"

Fluttershy just blinked, so Applejack asked the question she figured must be stuck inside that pretty pink and yellow head. "What'cha talking 'bout, Twi?"

"My research!" She leaned forward. "It turns out there are several unpublished studies of Partial Stallionogen Insensitivity Syndrome in the Canterlot Medical Center archives, and they sent me over—"

"What??" Fluttershy sprang into the air, her wings humming like a nest of hornets. "You told somepony??"

"No! I mean, not really!" Twilight held up her hoofs, a little white around her eyes. "I just said that I'd found some references to the condition and had become interested in it! I didn't use your names, didn't say it was for anything other than my general studies, and, well, the archivists're kinda used to me asking for unusual stuff!"

Applejack reached out to stroke Fluttershy's side. "'S all right, honeycomb. Just simmer down, 'K?"

Blushing brighter than a bonfire, Fluttershy drifted back to the floor. "I'm sorry," she said, her gaze fixed on her teacup. "I'm not... I just..."

"No, I'm sorry." Twilight blew out a breath. "I should've been clearer at the beginning." The shine came back into her eyes mighty quick, though. "But the files show that most ponies with PSI have such tricky internal biology that they're completely infertile! So for your ejaculate to display viable spermatozoa at near normal volume and motility—" She tapped the table with a hoof. "That's extraordinary. And it means that, all else being equal, you should be able to sire foals."

Fluttershy was shivering, and Applejack slid a front leg around her shoulders, drew her close, tried her dangedest to radiate as much warmth as she could. "I..." Fluttershy swallowed hard enough for AJ to feel it, cuddled closer, and kept her focus across the table. "Thank you, Twilight, for all the effort you've put into this. But I guess it's...it's the next question that's got me still nervous..."

Applejack couldn't keep from glancing at the little case, and when a purple glimmer lifted it into the air, she knew Twilight was thinking the same way. "Yes," their friend said with another big sigh. "And while I know you're both anxious for the results, I also know how difficult it was to gather these samples. So I'm going to go slowly and carefully and ask you to come by, say, next Friday morning at seven. If I know anything sooner or if it looks like it'll take longer, I'll let you know."

A lot of the time, the truth be told, Fluttershy found her tendency to ignore things she didn't want to think about kind of annoying. Whatever the things were, they very rarely went away on their own, and sometimes—well, most of the time—pretending the things weren't there just made them worse.

But that next week, she exercised her avoidance skills like she never had before, allowing herself two minutes every morning and evening to worry about what Twilight's tests were going to discover, then banishing them completely from her thoughts for the rest of the day.

That there was so much to do helped a great deal, of course, and activity, she quickly discovered, was the best way to keep Applejack from brooding, too. Fortunately, the Acres in springtime buzzed with jobs and chores and duties, and for the times in between, well, there was planning the wedding for one thing, and the question of what they were going to about living arrangements for another.

The first of these was just so wonderful, Fluttershy easily forgot everything else whenever she was able to drag Applejack over to Rarity's for sessions on dresses and decorating or over to Sugar Cube Corner to brainstorm with Pinkie about the ceremony and the reception. And the second one led to some very serious discussions, Rainbow Dash telling Fluttershy not to give up her independence and her career while Twilight kept pointing out the inefficiencies of Fluttershy continuing her animal care work out of her cottage when setting up at Sweet Apple Acres would give her so much more room.

It all felt very grown-up, and everypony had good and thoughtful points to make—even Pinkie Pie, though eating cake seemed to figure into most of her solutions somehow. And while she and Applejack hadn't even started talking about picking a date and weren't anywhere near ready to make any real 'moving in' or 'moving out' plans, still, sitting and talking and laughing with their friends did more than anything else to keep Fluttershy from worrying. Just like always.

She and Applejack did decide on a tentative sleeping schedule: together in Applejack's room at Sweet Apple Acres every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then at Fluttershy's on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and the weekends. Applejack promised she'd do everything she could on those nights to make it over from the farm, and of course they would have dinner with the Apple family every Sunday night: that was the one thing on the schedule they both knew wouldn't and shouldn't change.

Fluttershy also sat quietly in the living room while Applejack told the family about her visits with Orange Marmalade and Red Gravenstein, and tears of every sort—anger, happiness, sadness—fell so freely, Fluttershy wasn't sure she could tell where one type stopped and another began. And yes, Granny Smith did declare that Red had been right about her skinning him alive if he ever set hoof within a hundred miles of her, but Fluttershy was almost entirely sure she didn't mean it...

So with one thing and another, not having heard any changes of plan from Twilight, Fluttershy woke in her bed Friday morning with Applejack watching her. "Was gonna give you another five minutes till I started in a-shaking you," she said with a kiss and a smile.

Smiling, Fluttershy kissed back. They hadn't talked about it, so she didn't know if Applejack's reasons for continuing their abstinence were the same as hers—Applejack was getting close to her fertile time of the month again, after all. But cuddling together every night no matter whose bed they were in was so incredibly comforting, it more than outweighed the frustration of not doing more than cuddling.

They managed to nibble a bit of breakfast, got Fluttershy's morning chores out of the way, then headed down the path and over the bridge into Ponyville. Fluttershy couldn't decide if she wanted to go fast or slow, so she just stuck next to Applejack, the earth pony keeping a steady pace across the town square and up to the door of the library just as the clock tower across town struck seven.

She raised her hoof to knock, but the door flew open, Twilight there with one of her slightly manic grins across her muzzle. "Girls! Great! Come in!" She whirled and vanished back into the dimly-lit library.

Fluttershy looked at Applejack. Applejack shrugged, then stepped inside, Fluttershy following her. Spike, yawning and dusting at the far end of the room, gave them a wave while Twilight stood in the center, her magic slinging books from tables to shelves at a slightly alarming rate. "A big morning!" she was saying. "We just got a message from Princess Celestia that she's bringing a very important visitor to Ponyville later today, and she asked that the Elements of Harmony meet them in the big meadow outside town!" She did a little dance. "It's so exciting!"

"Ummm," was all Fluttershy could manage to get out, and she looked at Applejack again.

Applejack's mouth was shifted a little to the side. "Seems to me, sugar cube, you also had some news for us this morning."

The books froze in the air, Twilight's eyes going wide. "Eep! Yes! Of course! I...I'm so sorry! I—" She stopped, took a breath, let the books settle back onto the tables. "Spike, why don't you head on out and let Pinkie, Rainbow, and Rarity know about Princess Celestia's arrival? We can finish cleaning here when you get back."

"All right!" Spike tossed the feather duster away and bounded for the stairs. "Lemme just grab my—!"

Twilight's magic enveloped him. "You won't need your bowtie, Romeo." The glow wafted him across the room and set him down beside the front door. "Grab a couple donuts at Sugar Cube Corner if you want to, but be back here by eight."

"Oh, boy! Donuts!" And Spike rushed out, the door slamming behind him.

Silence settled in then, Twilight turning back to them, her face so serious all of a sudden that Fluttershy wanted to hide behind Applejack. An inch-and-a-half thick binder of papers appeared beside her in a purple flash and drifted slowly down to a clear space on the table. "These are my findings, but again, this isn't my field, and I'd really like your permission to show the report to—"

"No." Fluttershy couldn't take her eyes off the binder. "Please."

Applejack's wonderful solid warmth pressed against her side, and she leaned into it, her stomach as hard and tight as a walnut. "Please," she said again. "Just...just tell us what you found."

With a nod, Twilight sighed. "There's a seventy-five percent chance, I estimate, that any foal you sire, Fluttershy, will exhibit signs of PSIS to a greater or lesser degree. The child could be a colt genetically and anatomically—that's the other twenty-five percent—but the likeliest outcome is, well, you remember how I was talking about your chromosomes being like a set of mixed switches, half of them set to stallion and half of them to mare?" She tapped the cover of the report. "Based on the samples you brought me and on the information I found in Canterlot Medical's archives, your genetic contribution will almost certainly lead to similarly mixed switches in your offspring."

The words clattered in Fluttershy's ears like the last leaves dropping from an autumn-bare tree. "Oh," she said, Applejack the only reason she didn't fall over. "Thank you, Twilight. I..." And she found she couldn't think of anything else to say. So she just said it again: "Thank you."

Pressure against her hoof made her blink and look up to see Twilight right in front of her, her eyes shimmering. "I'm sorry." Her horn started to glow. "If you need me for anything, I'll be upstairs." And with a poof, she vanished.

More silence, and Fluttershy could feel the horrible whisper in her head just waiting, waiting for Applejack to shift uncomfortably so it could start crowing hoarsely that she was leaving. But Applejack didn't move, staying as strong and steady beside her as she always did.

"Honeycomb?" Applejack asked then, and Fluttershy couldn't hold back a sob, couldn't keep from burying her face in Applejack's chest while her marefriend wrapped her front legs around her and held her. "I love you," came that voice, as perfect and gentle as the first rains of spring. "And I will love our foals when they come."

Something clicked inside Fluttershy like a lock opening, and she nodded, Applejack's skin so soothing against her face. "We will," she said. "We will love them two or three times as hard, and they will never be ashamed or afraid or left alone, and we will show them—" She pulled away so she could look into those lovely and beloved green eyes. "We will show them how wonderful a place the world can be. We will. We will."

Applejack's smile was the sunrise, warming Fluttershy's whole body, and her kiss was—

The library's door crashed open, Apple Bloom's voice calling, "Applejack! Fluttershy! Spike said you was— Oh, ick!"

Blushing, Fluttershy pulled away, followed Applejack's scowling gaze to Apple Bloom in the doorway with her tongue sticking out. "This better be an emergency," Applejack growled.

"It is!" Apple Bloom became frantic again. "Some beavers done built a dam right across the stream in the Lower Forty! The whole dang place is flooding!"

Fluttershy took a breath, looked at Applejack, saw her looking back. "Well, honeycomb? Ready for a little work?"

Wings unfurling, Fluttershy nodded and took off after the two earth ponies, galloping out of the library and down the street. After all, with Applejack beside her, she was ready for anything.

Author's Notes:

That last song:

Back in the middle there, is inspired by "Lucky to be Me" by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, & Adolph Green from their musical On the Town. The version I have in mind is largely the one Sara Gazarek sings on her 2012 album Blossom and Bee, and while this video here is Ms. Gazarek and her group doing the song live, it's not quite the same as the studio version. Still, it'll give you an idea of what I was thinking of.

Mike