Black Celebration

A dusty vinyl record span around on a gramophone, and Sweetie Belle adjusted her glasses as she sang along to a dark tune. Her room was warm, and the decor was pink and purple. Her sister, Rarity, had sewn the comfortable blankets on her bed. Sweetie Belle sighed, looking at the quilted sheets. Her attention was once more drawn towards the gramophone, and she continued to sing.

Sweetie Belle's heart was pounding. Her head ached. She felt anxious shivers all throughout her body, hot and cold. She had thought, at first, that she was sick, but Sweetie didn't run a temperature. Her throat wasn't sore, her nostrils were clear. Her ears were fine, and they enjoyed sweet music more than ever.

Sweetie Belle groaned, shutting the music off and flinging her glasses onto her side-table. She shook her curly mane and moaned again, flinging herself onto her bed. She was twitching, and her tongue explored every inch of her own mouth. Finally the doorbell rang. Apple Bloom had arrived!

Sweetie Belle quickly ran downstairs, eager to leave her strange feelings behind. She flung open the door, and Apple Bloom welcomed herself inside.

"Hey Sweetie!" Bloom said, nuzzling her friend's shoulder affectionately. It felt...really nice.

"H-Hey Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle said, feeling hot. Apple Bloom climbed the stairs to Sweetie's room and Sweetie Belle followed. This had become a routine.

"How ya feeling?" Apple Bloom asked once they were inside Sweetie Belle's room. Sweetie wasn't sure how to answer. She didn't know what was going on, and it made her extremely uncomfortable.

"Weird," Sweetie Belle replied, shaking her head in dismay. Apple Bloom took a seat on the floor and invited Sweetie Belle to as well. Sweetie took a seat next to her best friend, coughing uncomfortably.

"You're pretty bright red," Apple Bloom said, winking at Sweetie Belle. Sweetie put a hoof to her face and felt it, suddenly realizing that she was blushing intensely.

"Oh gosh!" Sweetie Belle gasped, shocked.

"What's up?" Apple Bloom asked, clearly very curious.

"I don't know!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, feeling hopeless. Her legs twitched and Apple Bloom stared at her carefully.

"Describe your symptoms," Bloom said, trying to sound professional.

"I feel... I feel sad. And my heart wont stop pounding like I've run a race, and I've got this sort of head ache. There isn't really any pain but there's this... this longing. I'm not sick but-"

"You've got spring fever!" Apple Bloom declared, putting a foreleg around her friend's shoulder.

"I've got- what?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"The twitchies. You ache and you feel restless and totally miserable. And then ya see a mighty cute looking stallion and you think damn! Ah'd like to take a bite out of that! Ya feel aggressive, filled with energy, and you grow more and more restless until..."

"Until what!" Sweetie Belle demanded, stomping her hoof on the ground.

"Until you get laid, of course!" Bloom laughed.

"Oh..." Sweetie Belle said, looking to the ground in shame.

"What, you've never felt the twitchies before?" Apple Bloom asked, looking surprised at her friend.

"No, n-not really..." Sweetie Belle said shyly. The whole ordeal didn't really sound like her. She was aching, she did feel restless, and she was miserable. However, she'd never really been liked by any stallions in the way that she had liked them, and she'd never felt aggressive impulses towards them. If what Apple Bloom said was accurate, Sweetie Belle would meet a whole new side of herself. And that sounded really scary.

"You're a virgin, aren't you?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Of course!" Sweetie Belle squealed, taken back. She thought that her friends were only joking when they made sexual comments.

"Well, Ah've got a secret for you, Sweetie," Apple Bloom started. Sweetie Belle braced herself for the worst. "I'm a virgin too. The twitchies and Ah go hoof to hoof."

Sweetie Belle breathed a sigh of relief. Apple Bloom was pure.

"But Ah'd like to change that. You see, Sweetie Belle, Ah'm an artist. Ah live my life lookin' for passion. My life is really borin'. There ain't no passion around for miles and miles. This is a borin' little town with borin' little ponies and Ah'm sick of it. Ah'm losin' inspiration for my art! And my art is my life! It just feels terrible. Ah'm tired of being a virgin. Ah think that sex is exactly what will fix my lack of inspiration."

"But it's so dangerous!" Sweetie Belle protested, shocked at her friend's behavior.

"No, Sweetie Belle, it's not." Apple Bloom shook her head, confused with her friend. "Ah mean, our parents did it. How dangerous could it be?"

"There are diseases! Infections!"

"There's also love. There's feeling," Apple Bloom said sadly, looking to the floor in sadness. Sweetie Belle understood.

"I'll stand by you," Sweetie Belle assured her friend, giving her a tight hug. Apple Bloom nodded, looking suddenly numb.

"We'll find a stallion for each of us," Apple Bloom declared as they entered town square. Sweetie Belle nodded, feeling her heart race. She scanned the crowd with her lovely green eyes, and as if it were fated she spotted two colts that she knew well.

"Do you ever talk to Featherweight or Lickety Split?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking them over. Featherweight was tall and lanky with huge brown eyes and a sleek chocolate mane. Next to him stood Lickety Split, who had a rich chocolate coat, a platinum blonde mane, and big blue eyes. Lickety Split was clearly more muscular than Featherweight, and Featherweight was a bit taller than Split.

"Not really..." Apple Bloom said, looking them over, "But Lickety Split is pretty cute. Aww, look! He has an ice cream cutie mark! Well, Ah'd let him put a cherry on top of me."

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes.

"I thought you wanted him to pop your cherry,"

"Well, that too," Apple Bloom said, "Mmm, whipped cream escapades."

"You're so gross!" Sweetie Belle squealed, feeling her face beginning to redden already. Since Apple Bloom had mentioned it earlier that morning, she had really been paying attention to her temperature.

"Ah'd let him lickety MY split. Slit. Ha!" Apple Bloom cracked her self up, giggling aloud for all to hear.

"Stop it!" Sweetie Belle complained.

"Nuts on top." Apple Bloom grinned at her friend, her bright green bandanna beginning to flow a little in the breeze. It wasn't tied to Bloom's neck very well, and Sweetie Belle watched it shake. Sweetie Belle groaned at Bloom's bad joke. She shook her head, focusing her eyes on Featherweight.

He looked clean, and friendly. He and Lickety Split were talking, and Featherweight's smile never left his face. He had big, adorable ears that curved forward delicately. He was slender and lengthy, which Sweetie Belle actually thought was pretty cute. She had always been on the small side, and was still the shortest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She had always been attracted to taller stallions for some reason, and she wasn't sure why.

She didn't have much of a history with Featherweight. He had run the school newspaper when they were small foals, and they had talked a few times. But she couldn't even remember his voice, and Sweetie Belle could remember almost anything she listened to.

"Well, are we jus' gonna stand here or what?" Apple Bloom said, nudging Sweetie Belle.

"Let's go," Sweetie Belle nodded, and the two ponies began to cross the street. Sweetie Belle was incredibly nervous, and she kept her head looking towards the ground for the majority of her walk over to see the two stallions. She breathed heavily, nervousy.

In an instant Sweetie Belle was thrown to the hard ground, painfully, and she became suddenly aware of warmth sheltering her from the sky. She breathed heavily, the wind knocked out of her. She was disoriented, and as her vision came to focus she saw beautiful brown eyes staring into her own.

Sweetie Belle stared into the eyes for a few seconds longer, entranced in their depth. She suddenly realized that there was a face attached, and it became visible as Featherweight.

"Are you okay?" Featherweight asked, looking very worried. Sweetie suddenly remembered that he had a lovely tenor voice, delicate and gentle. She saw his wings fold onto his back, as they had just been out.

"Uh," Sweetie Belle stuttered, not breaking her gaze.

"Sorry about that," Featherweight apologized, climbing off of her, "But a carriage just blasted through and was about to hit you straight on. I got to you first, luckily. Sorry about my indecency, however."

"Thank you," Sweetie Belle said, smiling at him nervously. She was definitely red now.

"Of course," Featherweight replied, "injury is no fun. Not to mention death."

Featherweight's words really hit Sweetie Belle hard. She could have been killed, killed as easily as a fly on a windscreen turned to splatter. It reminded her that she, and this new colt, could have been torn apart. They could still be torn apart, even that very same night. Sweetie Belle shivered. She was just a lamb for the slaughter.

"Are you cold?" Featherweight asked, noticing Sweetie Belle's shivering.

"A bit," Sweetie Belle lied. She still had the twitchies and she was now contemplating her mortality. It was a sick combination.

"Well then, as an apology for toppling you over, why don't I take you somewhere warm," Featherweight suggested, accompanying Sweetie Belle over to the other side of the road. Apple Bloom and Lickety Split were already waiting for them, looking pretty concerned.

"Are you okay?" Lickety Split asked Sweetie Belle, his wide blue eyes checking her over.

"Yes, I'm fine," Sweetie Belle nervously answered, suddenly quite embarrassed. Featherweight, noticing her embarrassment, made a suggestion.

"Hey, let's go out somewhere." Featherweight smiled at Sweetie Belle, and she smiled back.