The rest of the afternoon wasn't going smoothly at Sweet Apple Acres. Vinyl and Octavia locked themselves in their bedroom as Vinyl wanted to rest and Octavia to watch over her. While Vinyl claimed she was ok, everyone could see that the incident had shaken her up quite badly. Pinkie Pie and Rarity had explained what had happened to their friends and to Granny Smith. Thankfully, Applebloom was away at a friend's house for a couple of days long sleepover, so she didn't get to see one of her sisters so distraught.

"I still don't understand why you stopped her, Rarity?" Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief. "Octavia's brother or not, he had it coming!"

"Rainbow, I told you already!" Snapped a rather emotionally pained Rarity. "I just didn't want Applejack to get into trouble."

"Well good job! You've avoided her potential trouble with the guards!" Rainbow said sarcastically. "As a result, she's avoiding you now!"

"Rainbow, shut it!" Twilight interjected, as Rarity remembered some moments of her earlier argument with Applejack.

"Why did ya stop me Rarity?" "Gentleman, ma butt! Ah should've trusted ma instincts instead of listenin' to ya!" "Raaa! Forget it. It's no use discussin' about it with ya." "DON'T FOLLOW ME! Ah need some time alone."

Rarity sighed in sadness as Granny Smith put a cup of tea in front of her. Applejack had passed the rest of the afternoon locked up in her gym. And judging by the sound coming from the inside, she'll have to order a complete new sets of sandbags.

"Don't ya worry Missy!" Granny Smith said in a comforting tone. "Ah know ma granddaughter! She just needs to get all that adrenaline and anger out first. She'll come around in a neck of time after that!"

"Thank you Mrs Smith." Rarity said as she took a sip from her tea. "How do you think Vinyl's doing?" She asked with concern.

"Ah'm afraid to say ah don't have a clue." Granny Smith slowly said. "Last time Ah saw her like that was many years ago."

"What happened back then?" Twilight asked.

"She was only 6 years old, she was having nightmares. Or so I first thought." The matriarch said with a hint of sadness.

"What did you do to make her feel better when she had those nightmares? Maybe that could help her today."

"Ah did nothing!" Granny Smith shook her head. "When she was like that, she only let Ariane come close to her."

"So all we can do is wait for her to get better?" Pinkie asked slowly.

"We just have to hope that Octavia can be helpful with that." Rainbow sighed.

Vinyl had grabbed something in the attic before going inside the bedroom where Octavia had agreed to wait for her. When she entered, she didn't show Octavia what it was, and simply went to bed, curled in fetal position, facing at the opposite of Octavia, holding what she had brought close to her. Octavia simply sat next to her and started to pat her head softly.

"Vinyl, do you want to talk about it?" Octavia asked with a gentle tone.

"I'd rather not." Vinyl whispered. "But with the circumstances...I think I owe you an explanation."

"What happened back then?" Octavia asked with concern. "I've seen you fight a pack of timberwolves, grinning like they were a bunch of kitties running after a string. Yet back then, you were completely terrorized."

"Timberwolves are just wild animals. Being afraid of animals is stupid." Vinyl said with conviction. "They aren't cruel...Unlike some humans."

"You mean my brother terrorized you?"

"No...I just saw something else." Vinyl slowly said.

"What?" Octavia inquired.

"...Memories.." Vinyl whispered slowly before explaining Octavia what she had seen after being hit by Cornelio. When she finished her tale, she noticed the rhythm of Octavia's patting had almost doubled. It was an enjoyable sensation, it helped her relax.

"Did you ever know why he did that to you?" Octavia asked hesitantly.

"....No...." Vinyl said softly. "I asked Mom and Dad once, they said he never explained why. Why was I the only one to get treated like that? Why did he hate me like that when it looked like he loved the other kids so much? Why did he tell them to be mean with me? I never got answers to these questions." Vinyl sniffed as tears rolled along her cheeks.

"It's ok. Let it all out." Octavia whispered softly to Vinyl's ear, when she noticed Vinyl was trying to hold back her tears.

Vinyl tightened the grip on what she was holding as she started to sob. Octavia laid down next to her lover and passed her arms around her lover waist to hug her from behind. Octavia didn't say anything, she just kept on holding Vinyl close to her. Eventually, Vinyl turned around to return Octavia's embrace.

Octavia could feel there was something squishy between them, but she shrugged off quickly, it didn't matter. All that mattered to her was Vinyl. It took time but Vinyl stopped crying at some point and soon after they broke contact a little. Octavia looked down and smiled softly when she saw what was between them.

"That's so cute!" She cooed to Vinyl who blinked in confusion.

"What?" Vinyl asked.

Octavia grabbed what was between them and lifted it to Vinyl's eye level. Vinyl started to blush in embarrassment. It was a rather old small plush representing a white unicorn with a spiky blue mane and a short tail the same color, not so much different in color from Vinyl's hair.

"Oh! Right! Her." Vinyl chuckled awkwardly.

"Care to explain?" Octavia asked with a small smile.

"It was mine when I was at ...the orphanage." Vinyl said, Octavia's expression slightly dropped at the mention of Vinyl's first 'residence'. "I took her with me when I ran away. It was sort of my confident before I met AJ."

"A comforter." Octavia slowly said in understanding.

"Something like that." Vinyl nodded slowly. "When I was sad, I just kept on hugging her until I felt better. I used to tell her all my secrets." Vinyl said with a small smile. "Damn! she knew how to keep a secret." Vinyl chuckled as Octavia started to giggle.

"What is her name?" Octavia asked softly.

"Humm?"

"What's her name?" Octavia repeated. "A comforter without a name doesn't exist."

"Oh. Ok. I had called her 'Little Vinyl'. " Vinyl confessed with a slight blush.

"Do you still tell Little Vinyl some of your secrets?" Octavia asked playfully.

"Recently? Only one." Vinyl chuckled.

"Oh did you now?" Octavia said with sparkling eyes. "Care to share?"

"I don't know Octavia." Vinyl pondered. "You must ask to Little Vinyl if she's ok with it." She added with a small smirk.

Octavia decided to play along and turned the plush face toward her. "Can the Big Vinyl share the recent secret she has told you about?" Little Vinyl's head shined with a light blue aura before slowly nodding.

"The plush has spoken." Vinyl said in a dramatic voice that caused Octavia to laugh.

"So your secret?" Octavia asked with interest.

"Well, it was about the first girl I fell in love with." Vinyl confessed.

"Oh!" Octavia said, as her interest fell drastically.

"She was not from around here."

"It's ok you don't have to...." Octavia started.

"She was extremely beautiful." Vinyl kept going on dreamily.

"I think I heard enough..."

"She was so tender and caring."

"Well that's good but..." Octavia said, as her anger was growing.

"I was hoping her to be my one and only love."

"I get it." Octavia snapped. "Sorry to be your second choice but...." Vinyl interrupted her by pinching her lips.

"She's a well talented cellist. She currently lives in Canterlot Palace with five of her closest friends and the Princesses. She has the most amazing purple eyes in the world." Vinyl continued as Octavia started to blush. "She has long black hair that are soft as silk. She has a natural talent at horse riding even if she started only a few days ago." Vinyl let go of Octavia's lips and noticed the fire in her cellist's eyes. "And last but not least, She's about to kiss me. So, have you guessed who I'm speaking about?"

Octavia didn't answered. She just tossed Little Vinyl at the foot of the bed and firmly pressed her lips against Vinyl's, initiating an incredibly passionate kiss. At the end of the bed, Little Vinyl had her face turned toward the two women kissing each other. Her forelegs started to glow with a light blue aura, before they covered her eyes. After all, what was going on was not a show for little plushies like her.

It had been a few hours now that Applejack had locked herself inside her gym. She had let her frustration and anger go wild. In front of her, were the remains of ten sandbags. All the bags had ended up ripping themselves open under her repeated strikes. She stood in front of the mess she had caused, panting and sweating heavily. She made her way toward the shower stall, tossing her clothes around on the way.

While she was enjoying a nice cold shower, her mind, finally cleared from anger, started thinking normally. Soon enough, she felt ashamed of how she had behaved with Rarity.

"Ah shouldn't have yelled at Rarity like that." Applejack sighed.

"Yes, you shouldn't have!" Came a voice Applejack recognized instantly.

"Vinyl?"

"Who did you expect? Princess Luna?" Vinyl asked with a chuckle from outside the stall.

"Are ya ok?" Applejack asked with concern, ignoring her sister's joke.

"I'm fine. What about you?"

"Ah ain't the one who got hurt!" Applejack replied.

"True, but you're the one that had killed a dozens of sandbags and thanks to the lack of steam from the stall, I know that you're having a cold shower." Vinyl casually said. "You always have a cold shower when something's eating you. Like before your first date with Rarity."

"Ah reckon Ah do that!" Applejack conceded. "Weird, we've always ended up having serious conversations while Ah'm in the shower and ya're waitin' outside of it."

"It's basically on those rare occasions where you open yourself a bit." Vinyl stated slowly.

"Anyway, ya sure ya're ok?" Applejack asked with worry.

"Octavia and I talked, it did a lot of good." Vinyl explained. "You know what? You should try to talk, instead of beating up defenseless sandbags. It does miracle." Vinyl joked.

"Ho my! Ya're so funny." Applejack falsely laughed in sarcasm.

"Come on, enough banters for now." Vinyl said seriously. "What happened with Rarity? I got Pinkie's version but I'd like yours."

"Hang on a minute! Why Pinkie's version?" Applejack asked in confusion.

"Rarity wasn't in the mood for talking." Vinyl explained slowly. "She had approved by a nod everything Pinkie told though."

"What did she tell ya?"

"That you had yelled at her because she stopped you from transforming Octavia's brother into apple sauce." Vinyl said. "That what happened?"

"Yeah." Applejack said in shame.

"Do I have to explain you what you have to do?"

"Ah may not be the brightest apple in the bushel, but Ah ain't stupid." Applejack retorted.

"Just checking!" Vinyl chuckled.

"Ya know, Ah was thinkin' earlier." Applejack said. "The gals are leavin' pretty soon. Maybe we could organize a little something like a night out."

"I admit it's kinda true." Vinyl conceded. "But you have something to do first. So, we'll speak about this later!" She added before leaving the room. "Don't forget to use hot water and soap!"

"Don't forget ta use hot water and soap." Applejack muttered as she imitated Vinyl's voice. "Ah ain't a little girl anymore, ya know. Stupid Vinyl!"

"I heard that!" Vinyl shouted, startling Applejack who let the soap bar fall on the stall floor and almost stumble when she put her foot on it by accident.

Dinner was about to be served in the Apple's residence. Rarity was sitting in the living room, waiting for Vinyl to return with news from Applejack. It had surprised everyone to see Vinyl come down with Octavia in her usual good mood. After she had heard about the argument between Applejack and Rarity, she exited the house to, as I quote, to get some sense through that rock hard shell that her sister has in place of an actual skull.

When Rarity heard the door's opening, she snapped her head to see who had just entered. She was a bit disappointed when she noticed Vinyl had come back alone. A detail that Vinyl didn't miss.

"Glad to see I'm so well received in my own house." Vinyl joked.

"Oh Dear, I'm sorry! It's just that.." Rarity started in a apologetic tone.

"Na! Don't worry about it." Vinyl shrugged. "Anyway, you can speak to AJ now. She's calmed down."

"Are you sure?" Rarity asked with hesitation and instantly relaxed when Vinyl nodded.

"Actually, why don't you go meet her at the gym?" Vinyl suggested. "As I know her, she won't be comfortable in talking about what happened with you, if everyone's around."

"I think you're right, Darling." Rarity slowly said, before heading outside. "Wish me luck!"

" 'Luck!" Vinyl said.

When Rarity entered the gym, a couple of minutes later, she got a vague idea of how Applejack's afternoon had been. A huge mess of sand and large pieces of leather were lying on the floor, on one side of the room and a track of scattered clothes, which she recognized as Applejack's, lead toward the gym's bathroom. Rarity slowly started to pick up the abandoned pieces of clothing.

"She could at least pick up her clothes." Rarity scowled.

"Why, Rarity. Ah thought ya liked my messy side." Applejack chuckled as she came out of the bath room.

She was wearing a pair of orange boxer shorts and a white sports bra. Rarity, who had turned around when Applejack arrived, was trying hard not to blush because of her girlfriend's outfit. Applejack was still drying her long blond hair with a towel.

"You know Darling! You could have put some clothes on before going out the bathroom." Rarity remarked.

"Well, Ya're the one with ma clothes." Applejack shrugged.

"You can't possibly think to wear these again!" Rarity said in shock. "They're all dirty and full of perspiration ."

"Ah can't go back to the house in underpants, can Ah?" Applejack asked, rolling her eyes.

Applejack try to get her clothes from Rarity's arms, but the seamstress kept them out of reach. A small exploit considering the farmer was taller and had longer arms than she. Rarity took a few steps backward, coming close to the 'murdered' sandbags.

"Rarity, ma clothes!" Applejack said impatiently.

"I'll not have my lover wear such dirty stinky clothes." Rarity insisted.

"It doesn't matter to me."

"Well, it does to me."

"Give me ma clothes. This instant!"

"I will not!"

"YES, YA WILL!"

" WILL NOT"

"WILL!"

"WILL NAAAAAH!" Rarity shouted in panic as she stumbled on a piece of leather.

"RARITY!" Applejack tried to grab her but she got dragged along Rarity's fall.

They both fell right in the heap of sandbags's remains, disappearing in a huge cloud of the sand and dust. After a few seconds of coughing and cursing, the two unfortunate women were covered in sand. It was even worse for Applejack as her hair wasn't completely dry when she fell.

"So much for showerin'." Applejack sighed as she passed her hand in her sanded hair. "Ya ok, Rare?"

"Well, I'm covered in dust, your sweaty shirt fell on my face and I have sand in my clothes." Rarity complained as she sat straight. "It itches terribly."

"Well, if ya're whinin' like that, ya must be ok!" Applejack chuckled as she got back up before pulling Rarity up.

"I'm not whining." Rarity humphed. "I'm making rightful statements."

"Right! Right! Sorry." Applejack chuckled her hands up in defense, before turning more serious. "While Ah'm on the sorry part, Ah'd like to apologize to ya for earlier. Ah shouldn't have snapped at ya." Applejack said with low apologetic tone.

"It's ok, Darling!" Rarity nodded in understanding. "I understand why you were acting like that. If someone would have hurt my sister in front of me, I don't think I would have acted much differently than you did."

"Still, It's no excuse for what ah said." Applejack added slowly. "Ah saw how Ah hurt ya... And Ah didn't do anythin', Ah just went on ma own. If Ah was less impulsive...." Rarity shushed her by putting her finger on her lips.

"Applejack, Darling. When I say it's ok, I mean it." Rarity said with conviction. "Beside, I like that impulsive side of your personality." She added with a wink as Applejack smiled to her.

"Ya're incredible for puttin' up with me like that." Applejack said slowly as she leaned in for a kiss, only to be stopped again by Rarity's finger. "What?"

"As enticing as kissing you sounds, you still got sand on your...everywhere!" Rarity said as she shook her head.

"Well, Ah guess ya're right." Applejack chuckled. "Ah looked like Ah've been through a desert storm!"

After a few seconds of thinking, Applejack's eyes lit up with a malicious glint. She grabbed Rarity's hand and pulled her inside the bathroom.

"Applejack dear, what are you doing?" Rarity asked in confusion as Applejack kicked the shower stall's door open.

"Ah got sand in ma hair." Applejack explained as she pulled Rarity inside the stall with her. "Ah need yer help to get rid of it." She added as she turned the hot water tap.

"I'm not getting near water with my clothes on, Darling." Rarity said slowly while taking a step outside the stall.

"Who in tarnation said ya would?" Applejack said with a knowing smile before facing Rarity.

Applejack blew a little on her right fingertips before grabbing the top of Rarity's blouse. In one swift movement from up to down, she snapped it open, catching the sight of Rarity's lacy white bra. The seamstress's eyes went wide in shock.

"APPLEJACK! Do you have any idea how expensive that ..." Rarity started yelling as she looked down at her blouse."....You....didn't even rip the buttons..." She said in amazement.

"There's a lot more that Ah can do with these fellas." Applejack said seductively as she moved her fingers in front of Rarity's eyes.

"Oh really! Why don't you show me then?" Rarity replied in sultry tone.

Applejack took a few steps back to position herself under the water-jet. Soon after, a wet white sports bra and some soaked orange shorts were thrown at Rarity's feet. Applejack signaled Rarity to come and join her with her forefinger. Rarity, blushing intensely, quickly let her blouse fall on the ground, before taking swiftly her shoes, trousers and socks off. She tiptoed inside the shower stall, closing the door behind her. A few seconds later, a pair of white lacy undergarments were tossed above the stall's door, quickly followed by a loud pleased moan.

"OH MY STARS!!!!"

Author's Notes:

Soooooo. Liked it ?
I hope you did.
(sorry it took longer than I expected. But lost plenty of time because of Uni this monday.)
A reward for the first one who finds the reference! (hint : famous sitcom!)

Mariacheat-Brony