Their last two stops that afternoon weren't near as sappy, and a good thing, too. Applejack didn't think she could take much more of the whole tight throats and shimmering eyes business.

Sure, things got a mite sniffly in the shadow of Rainbow's cloud house when the tough little pegasus wrapped Fluttershy in a giant hug. But then Rainbow said, "AJ's the second best pony you're ever gonna meet, Shy, so you treat her right." And while Applejack was laughing, Dash swung around and bashed her hard in the shoulder, her violet eyes solid and serious. "And I know you're gonna be good to Fluttershy, AJ. 'Cause if you ever aren't..."

At the library, Twilight just grinned. "Well! Didn't see that coming!" She invited them in since it was getting on toward seven o'clock, so Applejack and Fluttershy sat with her and Spike and traded off telling the story of how they'd gotten together—the slightly edited version again—wrapping it up just in time to head up the street to Sugar Cube Corner.

The party itself was pretty much everything Applejack had hoped and expected it would be: the six of 'em laughing and dancing, eating and drinking and carrying on till way after dark. But they did get one last bout of the chokes just as the whole shindig was winding down when Pinkie raised her cup of punch and said, "Now! We all gotta toast the happy couple!"

Afterwards, though, strolling with Fluttershy along the road to Sweet Apple Acres under a spring night sky all black velvet and soft silver specks, Applejack found she couldn't remember a single word anypony'd actually said. She could see 'em, the dearest ponies she knew outside her own kin, could still feel the touch of Fluttershy's shoulder as the love of her life sat blushing beside her, but not a bit of their speeches had stuck with her. A warm, humming cloud of happiness was all AJ came away with, and it was only now, more'n halfway home, that she felt she might be able to speak without her voice cracking.

Of course, walking with Fluttershy filled her with such a bone-deep contentment, she didn't have a thing to say anyway....

A tiny sigh rustled beside her. "That was so nice," Fluttershy said, her quiet voice making lovely little sparks crackle over AJ's body. "But..." Another sigh. "It seemed a little sad, too."

Applejack leaned over to rub their shoulders together. "Melancholy's maybe the word."

Fluttershy seemed to start a little. "Really? But...I thought that meant things that were very sad."

"Naw." The bend in the road brought them to the first of the Acres' apple trees. "It's more like when the apple bucking's done and we're bringing winter in. You know there's gonna be buds and blossoms, green leaves and red apples next year, but right then with the trees settling down to sleep, it...it kinda gets you in the chest, y'know?"

She felt the lightest little stroke of Fluttershy's wing at her flank. "Yes. Change. Even when it's more wonderful than you've ever imagined it might be, it...it's still kind of sad and scary to go from something that you know to something you don't, isn't it?"

Opening her mouth to agree, Applejack almost froze instead, the house coming into view, properly dark this time of night. But on the porch, she thought she could make out a shadow where no shadow oughtta be, a big shadow with a dark reddish tinge to it.

And as Celestia was her witness, Applejack didn't know what she wanted to do: thank Mac for running away from Fluttershy like he'd done, or smack him hard as she could across the jaw for the exact same thing. 'Cause if he hadn't run off, Applejack knew she'd be the most miserable creature in Equestria right now instead of the happiest. And how could she explain to him about her and Fluttershy?

They'd just about reached the Acres' front gate by then, and the shadow moved, stepped off the porch into the moonlight. Applejack heard Fluttershy gasp, and AJ shifted close enough to touch her again. "It's gonna be OK, honeycomb," she said—mostly trying to convince herself, she thought.

"I trust you," Fluttershy more whimpered than said, her eyes wide and focused on Mac, and she went on the way she had earlier: "I do, I do, I do, I do..." She kept walking, at least, AJ was glad to notice, and their sides pressed together, they entered the farmyard, Big Macintosh advancing steadily toward them.

For all that Applejack could read her brother better'n just about any other pony, the uncertain light and the exhaustion that suddenly dropped over her like a rain of apples from a tree she'd bucked wrong—so much had happened today!—conspired to fuddle any sense she might've had of what was going through Mac's mind. He stopped about halfway down the slope from the house, stood still as a statue as AJ guided Fluttershy up to meet him. And when they got close enough for quiet voices, she said as neutral as she could manage, "Evening."

Mac fixed his gaze on her and gave a little nod before turning to Fluttershy, and right when he took a breath, Applejack saw remorse flood his face. "Miss Fluttershy," he said, his voice maybe a mite deeper than usual. "I just wanna say I'm sorry for what I done earlier. Running out like I did ain't no way for a gentlecolt ever to behave, and I got no excuse. I was wrong, and I apologize."

It wasn't the longest speech she'd heard from him, but still, all the ice that had started forming in her middle just plain puffed away to nothing—

Till she looked over at Fluttershy, shivering behind the mask of her mane. "I'll forgive you, Big Macintosh, if..." Her chest rose and fell. "If you can somehow find it in your heart to forgive me."

Applejack gaped, and Mac shook his head. "Miss Fluttershy, there ain't nothing for you to—"

"Putting you on the spot the way I did was very, very wrong, and if I'd been thinking at all clearly—"

"You two!" Applejack stomped the hard-packed dirt of the farmyard, then glanced quickly toward the house, hoping she hadn't woken Apple Bloom or Granny Smith. No lights came on, so she lowered her voice and looked back and forth between her brother and her marefriend. "If anypony oughtta be apologizing here, it's me! I was the one who knew all the details and still made all the plans! So if'n you're gonna be throwing 'round all this talk 'bout forgiving folks, put me on that list, too!"

A little silence in the moonlight, then a slow smile curled Mac's snout. "Reckon we got us the three sorriest ponies in Equestria right here, don't we?"

Fluttershy's giggle made the last of AJ's ice melt, but Mac was going on: "Thank you, Miss Fluttershy, for being so understanding. And thank you, sis, for bringing her out here this late so's I could start making amends."

Which got the ice springing right back, Applejack shuffling her hoofs. "Actually, big brother, me and Fluttershy, we...we..." Words deserting her, she slid sideways into the warmth of Fluttershy's flank, reached her head over, and rubbed her cheek into that perfect mane.

With a happy little squeak, Fluttershy gave her a nuzzle, and AJ looked at her brother, his eyes wide with surprise.

The next instant, though, the biggest, goofiest grin spread across his face, and he said, "If'n it weren't the middle of the night, I'd be whooping right now louder'n you ever heard."

And it was like Applejack had never had ice in her middle at all. "You mean it, Mac?" she asked, her throat getting all gol-durn choky again.

He nodded. "The way you never been int'rested in having a special somepony always got me an' Granny kinda worried."

Applejack couldn't help giving him a sour look. "Has ev'rypony in this town been talking 'bout me behind my back?"

Mac's broad face went all serious. "Only those as care the most." He bent down and poked her nose with his. "And only those as wants to see you happy."

It took her more'n a few swallows before she could say, "I ever tell you I got the best big brother in the whole world?"

"Nnnnope." Stepping back, he had that big grin again, and he bowed to Fluttershy. "Welcome to the family."

A little sniffling sound made AJ look, tears running from Fluttershy's eyes, and with a rush of wings, she was clinging to Mac's neck, her face buried in his chest. "Thank you!" she whispered, her voice all thick. "For everything!"

The shock AJ saw on Mac's face changed to something that she thought might've been regret, his eyes closing and one front hoof patting Fluttershy's back. "'Tweren't nothing, sister," he said. Then he was gently disentangling himself and taking another step back. "Getting a trifle late, I reckon." He dipped his head to the both of them, turned, and started back along the slope toward the house.

Applejack watched him go, the warm, lovely silence of the spring evening embracing her, then Fluttershy was spinning around, the sheer joy on her face making Applejack's heart jump. "He called me sister!"

"That he did, honeycomb." She stepped up and touched her lips to Fluttershy's. "That he most surely did. Now, reckon we oughtta head inside ourselves?"

At Fluttershy's blush, Applejack's imagination sparked to show her a picture of her old bed upstairs, Fluttershy stretching all gorgeous and languid over it. AJ's breath went jagged, and she felt the telltale tickle between her hind legs, heard the wet crinkle of her lacinia folding open. "If'n you wouldn't mind, I mean," she managed to say.

Nestled in dreams of purest sunshine and bliss, Fluttershy reveled in the happiness surrounding her as soft as new spring grass. It kept growing bigger and bigger, though, wrapping her up and tickling her in ways she didn't think she'd ever been tickled before.

Everything was so overwhelmingly perfect, she couldn't keep it in her dreams, and she found herself gasping awake in a golden cloud of sensations: lying on her side with Applejack right in front of her, those incredible green eyes half-closed and unfocused; eager hoofs massaging the muscles at the base of her wings; the maddeningly sweet, salty scent that she'd learned yesterday meant an aroused mare; and oh, most wonderful of all, the hot, liquid rapture of her wiggler enveloped in the depths of her marefriend.

Without even thinking, she began to move her hips, slid into synchronization with Applejack's motions, and the deep throaty growl of pleasure that Applejack gave made Fluttershy whimper with joy.

Applejack's gaze got a little more focused. "Morning," she panted, not slowing at all. "Shhh, now! We—" Her teeth clenched, her eyes wavering. "Don't wanna...wake nopony!"

The massive waves of pleasure kept rising through Fluttershy, squeezing her lungs and making her want to cry out. So she grabbed Applejack's head and pulled her into a kiss, pushed hard against her lips to muffle the sounds now bursting in squeaks from her.

It seemed to be the right thing to do judging from Applejack's moaning response, her whole body tightening and shuddering around Fluttershy. The intensity of it pushed her over the edge, and she came so strongly, she felt it everywhere, her mind, heart, body, and soul all spasming together in a climax that flooded ecstasy over and through her.

Was she still breathing? She didn't know and didn't care. As long as she could stay wrapped in Applejack like this for the rest of her life, she would never want anything ever again.

A timeless time later, Applejack pulled her lips away, and a timeless time after that, she gave her low chuckle and stroked Fluttershy's mane. "Best alarm clock ever."

Fluttershy's wiggler had started shrinking inside Applejack, but the touch of Applejack's hoof made it give a happy shiver, Fluttershy sighing and tucking her head under Applejack's chin. "I think mine was set a little later than yours, though."

"Actually?" Applejack gave her ear the slightest nibble, and Fluttershy almost came again just from that, her every nerve so sharp and open. "I woke up when your li'l wiggler started tapping at my door. You was still sleeping, but she was mighty insistent, and, well, I sure ain't one to turn away a friend when she comes a-calling."

"Oh." For once in her life, Fluttershy didn't feel embarrassed to be blushing. "Yes. It...I mean, she...she does go out on her own like that most mornings." She slid her head along the pillow till she met Applejack's smiling eyes. "And if you keep treating her as nicely as this, I don't think we'll ever be able to train her not to."

"Let's hope we don't." A rose-petal perfect kiss, and Applejack stretched, Fluttershy quivering at the smooth and gorgeous flexing of the earth pony's muscles. "Still, shower time, I reckon." She grinned. "Care to join me?"

Her body shouted, Yes! But Fluttershy couldn't help swallowing, her mind spinning with doubts that she really didn't want to be there. "Umm, I'd...I'd like that very much, but..." Picking the one doubt she knew Applejack would understand, she touched her marefriend's face. "We should tell Apple Bloom about us first. In case she sees us coming out of the bathroom together, or..." She swallowed again. "In case she heard something last night or this morning."

Applejack gusted a puff of breath from her nostrils. "Reckon you're right." She rolled out of bed onto all fours, her unbound mane cascading around her broad shoulders and catching the light of the sunrise streaming in from the window on the other side of the room. "You wanna go first, then?"

Fluttershy couldn't move, her eyes drinking in Applejack's golden glory, the one thing she would never, ever doubt. "You're so beautiful," she whispered.

A slow smile grew across Applejack's muzzle, her eyes rolling closed, and Fluttershy watched a shiver run over her from snout to tail. "Hearing you say that, honeycomb, I'm gonna be clambering back into that bed with you and not wanting to get out again." She turned, tapped the lock button on the doorknob, and pulled it open—

To reveal a wrinkle-browed Apple Bloom blinking back. "What's going on in here?" Then her face cleared. "Oh! Hey, Fluttershy! You guys having a sleepover?"

Applejack seemed to have frozen solid in the doorway, and after a few seconds of silence, Fluttershy cleared her throat and put on her best calming smile. "Why, yes we are, Apple Bloom!" Double checking to make sure her lacinia was properly closed, she climbed out of bed and tippy-tapped across the room to the two sisters. "As a matter of fact, Applejack and I may be having a lot of sleepovers from now on."

That made Applejack sputter something that could either have been a laugh or a cough, and Apple Bloom looked back at her before turning again to Fluttershy. "You have a pillow fight? 'Cause it looks like you mighta hit Applejack too hard in the head."

The sound Applejack gave then was definitely a laugh, and she moved too quickly for Fluttershy to follow, scooping Apple Bloom up and rubbing a hoof between her ears. "I'll show you getting hit too hard, little missy!"

Apple Bloom giggled and squirmed, and Applejack set her down, her hoofs still resting on Apple Bloom's shoulders. "Y'see, sugar cube," she said in a voice so gentle, Fluttershy felt herself getting teary-eyed. "Fluttershy and me, we...well, we figured out yesterday that we're each other's special someponies. So we're gonna be together from now on."

Giving a few blinks, Apple Bloom stared back at her sister. "Y'mean you two're gonna get married?"

"Reckon so."

A few more blinks, and Apple Bloom's whole face lit up. "That's the best!" She ducked away from Applejack, and the next thing Fluttershy knew, the little filly was hanging from her neck. "I can't wait to tell the gals that you're gonna be my other big sister! They'll be so jealous!"

She bounced out of the room with the biggest grin on her face, and Fluttershy heard Applejack chuckle. "Have I mentioned lately that I got the best family in the world?"

"Ummm." All Fluttershy's doubts came spinning back into place, and she found she had to look at the floor. "That's the fourth or fifth time you've mentioned us getting married in the sixteen hours since we first kissed."

The silence that followed was horrible, but Fluttershy couldn't raise her eyes. "A fair point," Applejack said after a moment. "I just...we've known each other so long already, and...and thinking about you and me and what our foals're gonna be like, I...I got a little ahead of myself, I reckon."

One word there shocked Fluttershy's gaze up like she'd been struck by lightning. "Foals? I can't have foals, Applejack! I don't...I'm not...how could I possibly??"

Applejack blinked. "Well, getting all rude and biological, seems to me that you got one half the equipment and I got the other, so—"

"What??" Her spinning mind screeched to a halt at a thought that had never once even begun to occur to her. "I...I would be the father??"

"Well, honeycomb, like I said: you got the equipment. Unless—"

"I...would be..." It rang through Fluttershy like a bell, rolled through her like thunder, and suddenly she wanted it as strongly as she'd ever wanted anything in her life. "I would be a good father," she said, her voice shaking even harder when she tried to make it stop. "I would never yell at our foals and would never call them names and would never, ever be mean to them! Not ever at all!"

"So you're saying you can?" Applejack was blinking, a blush darkening her cheeks. "I mean, I've felt you pumping it out right enough, but..." Her gaze flicked away and back. "It got ev'rything in it it's s'pposed to?"

The tornado in her head leaped back to full whirl. "I...I don't know." Which was when another possibility struck her so hard, she couldn't help reeling from the impact. "And what if...what if they end up like me?? What if our foals come out not fillies or colts but freaks and monsters?? What if—??"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Hoofs grabbed her, wrapped around her, pulled her to the refuge of Applejack's warm, solid chest. "We don't use them words, remember? Ain't no freaks here, and ain't no monsters, neither!"

Pressing her face into Applejack's neck, she inhaled deeply the slightly stale but wonderfully real scent of her skin and sweat. "But what if, Applejack? How could I do that to them? How could I make their lives growing up be as horrible as mine was? I couldn't!"

"It wouldn't be, honeycomb." A hoof touched her chin and gently pushed till she found herself looking into Applejack's smile. "If we have foals, we'll love 'em no matter what." She gave a little shrug. "And if it turns out we can't have foals, we'll foster or adopt. But always, it'll be about you and me loving each other and loving whatever family we get."

But the voice in her head—that horrible, horrible little voice—muttered softly, She's so disappointed in you.

"No..." she was barely able to breathe out, and when Applejack's ears folded, she shook her head. "I mean yes! Yes, it's all about love and...and...and what you said. But—" Thinking it made her want to dance and hide at the same time. "But you want them to be our foals."

Applejack licked her lips, and Fluttershy could feel her marefriend trembling. "I won't lie to you, honeycomb. 'Cause I do want that. I very much do."

"Then..." Her voice failed again, but closing her eyes, she forced herself to go on. "Then we have to find out. Before we even try, we...we have to find out what'll happen, what my...what exactly my wiggler can and will do."

Another of Applejack's butterfly-wing kisses touched her lips. "We'll take the day off, you and me, and we'll head on over to Ponyville General. Redheart'll know how to test—"

"No!" This time, Fluttershy couldn't keep from shouting it, pushing away from Applejack and leaping into an agitated hover. "After my lacinia first opened up, Mom took me to the hospital, and it—!"

Memories she'd tried so hard to forget crashed through her: the tests and the whispers and the cold, cold tables; the pokings and the proddings and the terrible stink of fear and blood and piss; crying and shrieking at Mom all the way home only to find Dad packing when they got there; the shouting and the screaming and shard-filled silence afterwards; the stone-solid look on Mom's face when she said, "You," the last word she ever spoke to Fluttershy...

"Never again!" Fluttershy shook her head so hard this time, she started spinning in the air and had to settle back onto her hoofs to get her balance back. "Never!"

"You—" Applejack sounded confused. "You ain't been to a doctor since you hit puberty?"

Shame at her outburst flooding her, Fluttershy focused on the grain of the floorboards. "When I get sick, I take what I give my animal friends, and that works just fine." She forced her gaze up, determined to make Applejack understand how important this was to her. "I...I can't...can't...can't..." But as usual, her words ran dry, and she was left staring at her marefriend in tongue-tied desperation.

Applejack was staring, too, but after a long couple of seconds, she sighed, stepped to Fluttershy's side, and touched her forehead to hers. "All right, honeycomb, all right. But...how're we s'pposed to figure it out, then?"

"There's only one way," Fluttershy said, every single part of her shaking now at what was going through her mind. But to father Applejack's foals, she would have to know. And that meant—

When she'd been a schoolfilly, Applejack had always liked the library. An air of quiet busyness hung in the dust-shiny sunlight coming in the round windows, like somepony was working on something mighty important the next table over.

This early, though, the place was empty, and Twilight didn't look too fulla life herself as she came stumping down the stairs. "Well!" She smiled and visibly tried to perk up. "Good morning! Great party last night, wasn't it?"

"Yep," Applejack said, and she looked at Fluttershy, her mane across her face like a curtain. Sighing, AJ opened her mouth to start the real story of what had brought her and Fluttershy together, but—

"Please, Twilight," Fluttershy said, peering out from behind her hair. "We need your help badly. It's all my fault, and I'm so very sorry, but could we...could we please see you alone and in private? Please?"

The wide-eyed surprise on Twilight's face made Applejack reckon the unicorn was good and awake now. "Well, yes, of course, Fluttershy! I'm always happy to help my friends if I can!" She moved her gaze to focus on Applejack. "But what exactly—?"

"Not here." Fluttershy had pulled back into her mane again. "Downstairs in your lab. Please, just the three of us." She turned slightly toward where Spike was dusting some shelves.

"Lab?" Twilight's surprise got even bigger, her attention still on Applejack.

Applejack shrugged. "It's a medical question."

Fluttershy seemed to shrink further, and Twilight's brow wrinkled. "You know I'm not trained in medicine, right?"

"I done told her that, but—"

"Please." Fluttershy sobbed the word.

Her heart near to tearing itself in two, AJ moved to Fluttershy's side, kissed her cheek, then looked back at Twilight. "It'd mean a lot to the both of us."

"Of course," Twilight said again. Her ears kept trying to fold, AJ could see, but she gave a pretty good reassuring smile before turning for the doorway at the back of the room. "Right this way."

About to follow, Applejack had to stop when Fluttershy pressed her face into her mane. "Thank you," Fluttershy whispered. "I love you."

Nuzzling her again, AJ nudged her toward Twilight, the glow of the unicorn's horn pushing the door open. With slow steps, Fluttershy went through, and Applejack nodded for Twilight to go next, scooting in after her as the door swung closed.

It was the first time Applejack had seen the library basement; she wasn't sure the place had had one back in her school days. And even if it had, it surely hadn't been fulla the equipment that now sat in the big room at the bottom of the stairs Fluttershy and Twilight were starting down. "All right," Twilight was saying, and the glow of her horn made Applejack's tail bristle, purple lightning dancing over the door they'd all just come through. "That's locked. Now, what—?"

"Promise," Fluttershy said, spinning on the lowest step and giving another heart-breaking look. "Please, Twilight. Promise you'll never tell anypony anything about this."

Twilight gave a nervous laugh. "You mean a Pinkie Promise?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "A Twilight Promise."

Even from a couple steps above Twilight, Applejack could see her swallow. "You're my friend, Fluttershy." She gave a quick glance over her shoulder. "Both of you are." She looked back at Fluttershy, reached out, and rested a hoof on the downcast pegasus's shoulder. "Not even Princess Celestia will hear what you tell me down here. Or, you know, at least she won't hear about it from me unless you say I can tell her. Is...is that OK?"

A half a second, and Fluttershy nodded.

"All right." Twilight took the last step to stand beside Fluttershy and looked back and forth between her and Applejack. "Now, what's this all about?"

Still not sure what she should say, Applejack sighed. "How you wanna handle this, honeycomb?"

Her gaze fixed on the stones of the basement floor, Fluttershy murmured, "We'll have to show her." She took a wide-hoofed stance. "She'll never believe it otherwise."

The old familiar icy feeling grabbed Applejack's gut. "Well, now, hold on a minute!" She rushed down the stairs and slid between the two of them. "Lemme get her ready!" She took a breath, focused on Twilight's wide eyes. "See, Fluttershy, she...she—" And, well, there weren't no other way to say it but to say it. "When her lacinia opens up, she...she's got a penis inside."

In the silence that followed, Applejack could almost hear Fluttershy trembling behind her, and Twilight's blank expression got even blanker till their unicorn friend cleared her throat. "If it was any ponies other than you two, I'd be telling myself this is some kind of weird prank." She drew a shaky breath. "But it's not, is it?"

Applejack shook her head, and Fluttershy mumbled again, "We'll have to show her."

Twilight looked like she'd swallowed a bug. "I'm really, really sorry, but...she's right."

Turning, Applejack stepped back to where Fluttershy stood quivering. "There a sofa or something we can use?"

The hair in front of Fluttershy's face waved back and forth. "I don't want to be a bother..."

A purple flash attracted Applejack's attention, a lounge chair not quite as fancy as Rarity's fainting couch appearing to Fluttershy's left. "You just lie on down," Applejack told her. "And I don't wanna hear nothing about you being a bother." She pushed away all her feelings except her truest and deepest ones. "You're the bravest pony I know, putting yourself through all this for foals we don't even know we can have yet."

Fluttershy shuddered, drifted up and sideways, and settled onto her side on the sofa. Applejack moved behind her, stayed right there whispering into her ear: "You're the love of my life, honeycomb, and I ain't never been prouder of any pony than I am of you right now."

A smile smoothed away Fluttershy's tight-lipped grimace. "Oh, Applejack. You always know the right thing to say."

AJ leaned over and kissed her just as soft and gentle as she knew how. "I got Equestria's greatest inspiration right here in front of me."

That got the sweetest little coo from Fluttershy, and Applejack heard Twilight sigh as well. Then came the familiar squish and rustle of Fluttershy's lacinia opening up, the rich musk of it making AJ shiver. Twilight's sigh became a gasp, and Fluttershy clenched her eyes, her lips tightening again. "This..." Twilight said breathlessly, her eyes wide and focused on Fluttershy's nether regions. "It...it's...it's—"

More than a little annoyance flashed through Applejack—she was the only pony oughtta be staring at Fluttershy that way!—but she swallowed it down. "Two questions, Twilight. First, you reckon Fluttershy can make foals with that there wiggler? And second, if she can, how likely're they to end up half-n-half like her?"

Twilight shook herself. "I've read about this. I'm sure I have!"

Fluttershy's eyes flew open, and she sat up so suddenly, Applejack had to pull her head back so she wouldn't get bashed in the jaw. "Oh, Twilight! Do...Do you mean it??"

"It was...somewhere!" Twilight's gaze was focused off to her right. "A tall, thick book with a dark blue cover and—" Her horn flared. "I'll be right back!" And she vanished with a fizzing flash of lilac-scented light.

Applejack blinked, then looked down at Fluttershy. Fluttershy was looking back, and the hope in her face made AJ's heart beat faster. "She knows!" Fluttershy squeaked. "She'll be able to do something, Applejack! Oh, I know she will! She—!"

Another flash of light, and Twilight appeared in the center of the room, a whole constellation of books whizzing around her. First one, then a second, then a third passed in front of her nose, each one's pages flipping while she said, "No, no, no, no, no." The fourth and the fifth went the same way, but partway through the sixth, her horn lit up so bright, Applejack had to squint. "Ah, ha!" she shouted, and all the other books clattered to the stone floor. "Here it is! Partial Stallionogen Insensitivity Syndrome!"

Having known Twilight for a while now, Applejack waited till her friend blinked and gave a nervous little laugh. "Which probably doesn't mean a whole lot to you. Ummm..." Two more sofas popped in on either side of Fluttershy's, and Twilight nodded. "Maybe we should sit down. This could take a while."

Sure enough, it did, and while Applejack didn't pick up all the details, she got the gist of it pretty well, she reckoned. "You mean," she said, interrupting Twilight after a long stretch of palaver and putting a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder to maybe take the sting outta her question, "Fluttershy was s'pposed to be born a colt?"

She felt Fluttershy shiver, but Twilight was shaking her head. "Fluttershy was meant to be born exactly how she is." She smiled and reached over to pat Fluttershy's hoof. "And we wouldn't want you any other way."

AJ's heart practically popped right then and there with love for both her friends, and she nuzzled a kiss against Fluttershy's neck, Fluttershy blushing so hard, Applejack could feel the warmth of it. "Thank you," Fluttershy murmured, the first words she'd said, AJ realized, since Twilight had started her whole talk.

"The thing is," Twilight went on, "foals in the womb are pretty much the same at the start. But they have these little, well, let's keep it simple and call them switches, OK? If they're set one way, they make something called stallionogen, and the foal grows into a colt. If they're set the other way, they make marestrogen, and the foal becomes a filly. Fluttershy's switches got...got mixed a little, half of them set one way and half of them set the other. It's really, really rare." She tapped the book she'd been looking through. "This case study is over seventy years old, and the only other examples it cites are from monographs first published two and three hundred years ago."

"Oh, my." Fluttershy had gone very still under Applejack's hoof. "All the animals I've helped with their babies, I...I've never seen anything like me, either. I just...I never even thought of that till right now."

A little of that dang ice had started forming in AJ's middle. "Then...them two questions I asked?"

Twilight gave about half a frown. "You need to see a real doctor."

"No." Fluttershy's voice was as sharp as Applejack had ever heard it, but it softened again when she leaned forward to take Twilight's hoofs in her own. "Please. They won't know any more than you do: you just said so. And none of them are going to be as smart as you, Twilight. None of them."

The rest of Twilight's frown looked about ready to start curving into place, so Applejack said, "How 'bout this, sugar cube: you just tell us what you'd do next if'n this was some research project the princess had sent to you."

For a minute, AJ wasn't sure Twilight'd go for it, but then her frown got thoughtful. "Well, I'd need samples, of course, of Fluttershy's blood and her, well—" Her purple cheeks turned almost black when she blushed. "Her semen. That'd probably do for your first question. But for the second?" A scroll and quill popped into place in front of her, and she began making notes. "I'd need certain samples from her parents, too, and any brothers or sisters she might have to compare their genes to—"

"What??" Fluttershy sprang into the air like she'd been stung by a bee, and if Applejack had thought she'd been loud and sharp before— "My parents?? My brother?? Are you insane?? They never wanna see me again, and I never wanna see them again! That's—!" She slapped her hoofs over her mouth, her face turning bright red; her wings froze, too, and she dropped back onto the sofa with a little squeak.

Applejack couldn't do more than stare, her thoughts a jumble. Fluttershy didn't wanna see her family again?

"Ah. Well." Twilight recovered a mite quicker. "That's what I'll need if I'm going to help you, Fluttershy. Now, maybe a real doctor at a real hospital who had real experience with these sorts of things would have a different methodology." Twilight brightened. "Or maybe Princess Celestia would be able to—"

"No." Fluttershy moved her hoofs from covering her mouth to covering her eyes. "No. Please..."

Pushing ev'rything else aside again, Applejack focused on the matter at hoof, jumped up to lay a front leg across Fluttershy's shivering shoulders, and used her quietest voice: "There's four choices. One, we forget the whole thing, get married, and live our lives just accepting whatever comes as far as foals go. Two, we head over to Ponyville General and see what they say. Three, we have Twilight ask the princess. Or four, we get those samples from your folks that Twilight's talking about." And while it brought tears to AJ's eyes, she had to be honest. "This ain't a choice I can make for you, honeycomb, but whichever one you pick, I swear I'll be right there with you, helping you any way I—"

"Number four." Fluttershy raised her head, such despair etched across her beautiful face, Applejack almost cried out. "I mean, my family already knows I'm a freak." She turned to Twilight. "What do we need to do?"