Incubus

by BloodyBubblegum

Rating: mature
Tags: Sex, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Human, Sad, Main 6, Romance, Silver Spoon, Original Character, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Derpy Hooves
Length: 39720

Something horny comes this way. And it isn't a man. it isn't a woman. It's something insatiable and craving pony meat. What wonders and horrors await Equestria as a creature from an unknown realm stalks their precious kingdom...?

A day in the life of Rainbow Dash brings her tumbling into the reaches of the unforgiving Everfree. After, she meets a strange human girl with more than one secret. Soon, her friends learn the terrible secret and fall prey to... romantic obstacles.

Discretion Warning: Contains material that may butthurt filthy casuals and illegal, yummy foalcon.

[Takes place in the Bubblegum Universe.]

Published 2015-04-01 14:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-08-01 01:52:05 UTC

Nodere

The trip to Twilight's was very minuscule. Rainbow Dash woke to find another bed and more sheets, except this time she felt polyester against her own, ruffled coat. As she moved her elbows, poor Rainbow Dash stretched their foreleg against one, spacious mattress. Though nothing caught her attention at first, several bookshelves did. Totally forgetting what situation she was in, the pegasus scoured her friend's most immediate archives. All were adventure or science fiction. A lone squee of delight struck her big heart as she found literary utopia.

A familiar, golden-haired pony trotted through the door. Her intuition pointed toward the top of the stairs. And after, she saw a real nice... human thingie. If anything, Applejack thought to herself, this was heaven. She was all tuckered out, boozed and full of liquor. The mare was high on life and high on memories of Twilight's bargags, whips and cat o' nine tails assaulting her every perception. Bitter, leathery scents struck her snout and Applejack was flung toward the source. The human girl, she realized, disappointed only before sighting a visible rod betwixt her gapped thighs. Jacquelyn gave a wry grin and gently trotted over. It began with a single lick. Their unsuspecting recipient shot a glance down, wholly confused as they clasped her mane on instinct. A raspy chuckle hit her ears as the equine only went deeper and suckled her tip. The sheer wetness of her little cavern made it hard to say no.

"Nnhmf. Shrr knhhm whmt yhr doinhh hmmh?" Applejack muffled, smiling shamefully up at her mate.

"Uh, yeah, but I didn't mean to be so rough. Why are you sucking me off, though...?" They inquired in a murmur, gently plopping them off.

"C-come on, hun. Let ol' Jacquelyn get you nice and hard fer a mate. You know you wanna. I've seen what you humans do to ponehs like us, ya know." She nearly panicked, staring up wounded and needy.

"You're drunk. That's apple cider, isn't it?"

"N-no way. Ahm as sober as a fiddle. Now come on and just... let me take some of your cum. You don't want me suckin ya off so, are you only gonna give it if I let you mount me? Not my butt, okay? I hear it hurts." The mare shook, positioning her rump up and turning to let her in.

Seeing her acquaintance that way was so... irresistible. Applejack flicked her tail up, bubbly in her luscious smile and low, heavy eyelids. She uttered the words 'just a quick fuck. Just a quick one' and focused all the weight on her bent forelegs. When it came down to it, Lilith was conflicted. At the same time, she knew it was better to accept. Someone else would take the offer. And that meant Applejack possibly getting pregnant. Or mistreated. So she took the offer and gripped her thick hips for support.

A low groan soothed her ears as she fit into Applejack. Even then, it was... somewhat difficult. At first, the mare turned her head to check if it was indeed a human inside her honeypot. After, she shook everywhere as her thick alpha did some damage to her pussy. All Jacquelyn could do was grit her teeth and grunt quietly.

"Ah... Ah shit... How are you so thick. I've met ponies thinner than you."

Another grunt erupted from her core, but this time, it was solid. Her grunts were effort at suppressing girlish sounds and high-pitched ones. Instead of an instant answer, her toned ass jumped choppily back and forth. The boards beneath her creaked and croaked from her hooves' pressurized responses. Every inch of her body wanted to scream and kick. Her unnamed screw was hitting all the right spots within minutes. When she spoke, Applejack listened without a care in the world, all too eager to just flush it out and feel everything.

"It's just genetics. And something most of my kind have. It's good for making blonde, little ponies cream their brains out." Lilith cooed, grinning crooked as she closed her eyes and breathed.

The tease made her hindlegs lock in place. The only motion she had control over was her chest heaving back and forth. Every other was involuntary. Shameful. In a few minutes, she finally gave up trying to hide her sensitivity and started squealing. Each noise, 'aaah' or 'aaha' aside, bathed her coat in tingles. Applejack had to lay nearly limp in getting her ass clapped by a patient dominant. It was never rapid or hurtful. The only sting she experienced was the initial entrance, which perpetuated a warm undercurrent of edging climax. Her body twitched and shifted in confusion as she mumbled dirty thoughts all over.

"U-uuhnnh... I'm gonna cum. I'm gonna cum... Don't make me cum too hard, don't..."

Lilith kissed her neck and took her pony beta at an angle. They looked like a pair of wolves. Canines bent on some manner while one let her tongue hang out and her mate thrust painfully fast. Loud, noticeable squishes accompanied their little hump session, letting Applejack hear just how much she wanted to let it all out. Lilith bit her ear and dove firmly in her ass, giggling shortly in soft amusement. Her equine fuck only whimpered in her throat before trapping them in coitus. Her slick, yet dry passage clung to Lilith as her eyes rolled up and she squirted all over Lilith's pubic mound. She could only cringe and clench her teeth while girlcum was shot straight up her anal tract. It made her brows anchor in well-brewed arousal and hot, huffy panting. A sudden collapse hit her legs and she was downed by overwhelming satisfaction. Another rhythm started in her ass and she panicked, shifting weakly under the spell of liquor and sex. Applejack whined in raspy helplessness, glancing back at her dominant.

"N-not my ass...! What if I can't sit for a week?!" She protested sloppily, chirping when she was pinned at the hooves.

"What sounds better, Applejack? Twitching and jerking because I'm so good at making you squeal, or sitting down before hours of applebucking?" Her mate whispered, showing her teeth as she licked all over their heated cheeks.

Taking her futa friend was so surreal. She could've sworn it was light outside when she came in. What time was it now, they shuffled groggily over. What amount of orgasms did she just try to hide. How many times did she hear her name uttered right in her drum. The questions alluded Jacquelyn as she seized under pleasure. Just for a split second, she lost control of her limbs and thoughts. But she couldn't think. All she wanted to do was keep still and groan, letting her thick partner brush against her stomach lining.

"Nmmmh... Had enough? You've been quiet and mumbly for the past hour, Applejack..." Lilith stated, doing so in her trademark murmur.

"Uh... uh huh..." She trembled back, moaning tiredly beneath every thrust and pump.

It was out. The girl was out and she even held Applejack after they were done. She wanted to kiss. She wanted to cling and cry because it felt so good to be right there. No normal mare or stallion could make her feel that way. Applejack thrust herself into a kiss before scrambling to her feet and galloping straight out the door. The absence of a warm, clinging submissive made Lilith look away, stare at the door and slowly close her eyes. It seemed they all left eventually. They never got to know what it felt like to sleep in each other's arms.

"Hey, uh, Lilith...?" Rainbow called from up the stairs.

They met eyes.

"Did I just see Applejack run outside or somethin'...?"

"Yeah. You did." Their friend replied, hugging themselves in how cold it felt after.

Kuudere

Twilight Sparkle. A royal name, it was. The trumpeteers all over the royal and most imperial palace whispered it and yet so blaring were the words, she dared not to utter it at all. Princess Twilight Sparkle. A lie. Some birthright she never earned, not by a longshot according to her highness. No one in their right mind would appoint it to someone so boringly average in either looks or study yield. And here she was today investigating the outskirts of an invasive ordeal. Changelings in ponyville, one of the Apple family reported. It was word of mouth. It was most decrepit in terms of scientific evidence or contextual meat, but Applejack was the supposed eyewitness she'd been told to look for. The leaves crinkled and fell above her pensive highness. Twilight Sparkle shown her flashlight most curiously at the railways just across her resting spot. The bench made no noise and no imprint upon the most eerie silence. And neither did she. She was used to all the hullabaloo in Ponyville.

Resounding screeches assaulted her silent spot. Along came the train she waited for all afternoon. Along the dry cement flooring, she clicked inside and levitated her humble baggage. The impenetrable fog followed in and dissipated when it hit the light. Twilight sat in one of the numerous windowseats and stared blankly into her reflection. Another, lavender equine stared back at her with one, solid scar driven down her brow to the start of her nostrils. Their left eye covered by a familiar eyepatch, she had a grim expression across her lips. And as the vessel started to holler and whistle, the unicorn felt nothing. All she knew were the many nights she spent screaming her ex's name. Because she was always such a young little ride. The things she felt could never be felt again, the world whispered at night. Everyday she remembered his name and everynight it grew colder and colder till she didn't feel a thing. Soldiers, she scoffed monotonously. Bookworms, she remembered hollowly. So smart until they fell for someone they shouldn't have.

Before she fell to the frost bursting forth, the pony lurched forward against her seatbelt. An immediate stop induced her curiosity. The sudden screech and numbing whiplash made her leave the booth. Twilight watched their shoulder cloak while scraping by the partially jammed, sliding door. Princess Sparkle kept her oblong luggage closer as a misplaced bang scraped her senses. To the left, she noted, unlocking the latch on her leather case. Another bang from the roof. Then one from the direction of her conductor's quarters. All along, she knew something was amiss.

Before she could even react to changelings storming into the vehicle, Twilight Sparkle unlocked her case and drew her lifeline. A single, bamboo cane lay suspended beside her. They poured in like savage fire ants, each one ready to infect her. Ready to feed off of her soon-to-be love and joy of being an egg slave. Her highness ducked reflexively as they rushed into her. Twilight unsheathed her trick blade and sliced them to pieces. Slippery flooring struck their hooves and dropped the unicorn in an instant. They fell upon her within milliseconds.

As though the heavens crashed down and became a hellish inferno. Although their efforts were in vain for the most part, she recalled something sizable reaching into her nethers. A changeling cock, slimy as her sopping cunt with her ex and thinner than her pleasure threshold. Twilight Sparkle spread her legs as she relaxed and felt two squish inside. They took very good care of her and honestly, she didn't mind. Some pinned her wrists and ankles against the sticky flooring. Others took turns with her mouth and made sure to pull Twilight's ragged, dry mane. She moaned lowly into the invasive aggression as her nameless captors fucked hard. A touch she was used to. A touch she craved and hated. It was better to hate being ashamed than feeling nothing at all. She swallowed her pride and let them fuck, getting bombarded all over by an easy wash of warmth and itchiness. Twilight Sparkle felt them use her wing stems as handles, earning a hard plunge into her ass all the way through. The princess grunted and grated her throat, biting her lip as she came hard for changelings that only saw her for sex. They switched places, shifting her ass-up and making her eat two pricks interchangeably. It earned a harsh spasm out her hips and spine, making Twilight's gush all over. They egged hard whenever they wanted and she didn't even fight back. She enjoyed being used. It was all she knew.

The mare grew tired and lazy as the last three of twelve filled her stomach sack. Princess Twilight Sparkle huffed hotly as she was forced to take some eggs straight down her gullet. Her coat was ruffled and messed with stickiness and assault as the last of her enemies tied her ankles. Her highness rolled her eyes and waited for the train to stop. They wanted to make a trip to Ponyville for a hostage situation, she theorized. And that was why, when the transport stopped, she walked out alone and covered in ice.

As she licked a mixture of blood and cum from her hooves, the mare didn't feel a thing. It was night by the time she was free. Not from herself, but the ugly invasion of self and pride. Twilight Sparkle glanced over at a fleeing Applejack and saw Rainbow Dash in hot pursuit. Her only company on that fine, autumn night was a peculiar hermaphroditic human.

Spermy, she observed blankly. The brief, innocent glimmer of curiosity in her eyes juxtaposed green and white staining her all over. Lilith held her hand out for introduction.

"Lilith. Uh, I made Applejack run away."

The mare smirked and gave a small chortle.

"Twilight Sparkle. I love rape." She chuckled, glancing sideways as she shook.

Her acquaintance shared a silence not many ponies knew. Only the dungeons and dragons types presumably. Though little Sparkle was waist-height and maybe under that, she gave a fake smile to calm another freakshow in the circus of life. This one had a sizable dick, probably, the mare thought silently. They shrugged and inquired one thing.

"You made Applejack run away?"

Lilith turned her body elsewhere and her eyes followed, but her head virtually didn't. Both hands were folded in their lap, covering a flaccid genital. Both shared a somewhat amused chuckle of frustration. They met eyes and both had a coldness to them. A reluctance to feel to each, iced and blue or bleeding and beet-stained purple, found home within.

"Yeah, I did. I must've overstimulated her rectum or something. I had her cumming for an hour and that's when she kissed me. I wanted to kiss back but Applejack ran."

The story broke an inkling of Twilight's pleasure threshold.

"An hour...? Hn. I think I know what happened. She hasn't kissed anyone but me since the break-up with her ex. And that was a long time ago. Let's go get Rainbow at least. She'll get tired when Applejack is tired." Her highness stated rather monotonously, even as they trotted and broke into a gallop.

Before she reached a halfway point in the race against time, she fathomed the idea of forgetting something.

Lilith sighed and asked why everyone forgot she couldn't keep speed with most ponies, let alone most athlete ponies. When they came back, the futanari weirdo settled them into tea time. Even Applejack had some, not using her hooves because they were bound together with rope. Instead, the princess herself gifted simple-minded Applejack another reason to stop screaming to let her go. They were all off to a great start.

Author's Note

"They met eyes and both had a coldness to them."

Ah, yes. Love at first sight.

Yandere

"I don't know, Twilight. If she doesn't want to be with me, she won't have to. I'm not exactly the best match for someone with trust issues. I'm kind of made for sex. I'm made to give all sorts of pleasure. But I'm not made to love. Even then, I'm not sure sex is what she really wants. I think she just wants a place in her head that isn't being alone." Lilith posed, giving her evidence against their plan.

Twilight pondered the subject with the utmost care. Her hoof lay across her lips in some conveyed thought process. She deduced the intoxication from her friend's scent. Hard cider. Cinnamon spice Macintosh Hard Cider. If anyone knew their drunk habits, it was Twilight. Applejack had her memories in a bottle. All the fights and shiners or scars and fractures all led back to some sort of gin.

"Maybe Applejack was just sober from flushing her system. And she didn't know how to handle it even a little bit aware. Her liquor is hard. Really hard. Your hour-long fuck must've driven her to places she's never been. And that's scary with someone you don't know." Twilight deduced, even taking a huff of her pipe.

Hn. That was sound reasoning. Whatever their degree, doctorate or masters, she couldn't fathom Twilight's intellectual superiority. There was a reason the princess was a genius in the eyes of her chessmaster mentor, Princess Celestia. Lilith gave a good nodding and sipped another teacup's volume of Hooflong. Hooflong tea was the Equestrian equivalent of Oolong tea in the human dimension. Though they didn't have any meatpies, she did check for some crumpets or tea cakes. And thankfully, there were uncomfortable amounts of the square, supple confections. The futa nearly jumped in-place, staying rock quiet as Pinkie Pie shot confetti everywhere. A loud and most prominent 'Hey! Hey! Hey!' blared across the echoing library house. And it was then declared Lilith would have a party just for her. Bubblegum pink and curiously energetic, the earth pony analyzed her form and posed all sorts of varied, complex and interesting questions.

"Ooh, why do you have fish drawings on you! Hey, why are you a girl with a penis? And why do you have horns growing out your head?!"

What? Horns...?

Well, Baphomet be damned, she did have horns. Ram horns, evidently, judging by the curl and perfect compact, yet imposing size, they were mostly aesthetic. No flashy giant, yet impractical horns and no cutesy anime ones tinier than her ears. Just good, old-fashioned horns. Pinkie Pie ignored her lack of answers and sniffed along their companion's form, even reaching the phallus in its limp state. Whatever silent judgements or ratings the little ball of vigor had, she surmised they'd be kiddish and hot.

"Ooooh, you smell like cake and vanilla. But sour, too. Do you, like, put frosting all over your body and have someone lick it off?" Pinkie inquired innocently.

"Did you want me to?" Lilith hushed, grinning heavily as her eyes went half-low.

A cat took her tongue and their local baker froze. She chuckled nervously and broke into a sweaty sort of anxiety. They looked all over and backed away inch by inch, finally glancing back in horror and dashing out the front exit. It took a while to register but when it hit, Lilith finally realized all that fanfiction about her most relative pony were wrong, completely wrong. Why she was seemingly afraid and wanted out as soon as it got coquettish, she'd never know. An innumerable rate of emotions struck her core as Lilith was awakened. She fell to her knees and memories of being passed around by ponies hailed about her conscious mind.

"Lilith...?" Twilight soothed, holding her up and against their mangled, sticky and tear-stained coat.

"I saw... I saw some ponies holding me down and hurting me. They hurt me everywhere. I smelled rocks and- I know these aren't my memories. I know they aren't. But whaddoes it mean if I got these as another person?" They hushed, so confused and displaced.

Her entire body felt so numb after the exchange. After all of the anxiety worked itself into the air and leaked into her cardiac core. It was so much closer. Every beat felt like a ripple through time and space in one singularity of sentience and matter alike. Lilith Coldharbour raised to her feet in a matter of seconds. She regained composure and found every step... lighter. And every breeze or wind blew like invisible hands she knew how to avoid with advanced proprioception.

"Hmmm... You grew horns and now you're showing what most occultists call 'empathy'. I don't normally believe in fairy tales but magic exists. I wouldn't be surprised if your exposure to Equestria is causing all these changes. I wonder why it's all sexual, though. Shouldn't you be a human with a neck thicker than a kickball or something?" She analyzed smoothly, making the last inquiry with a generalized understanding of descent with modification and evolutionary process.

It was all inferred to be side-effects toward magic with an advanced evolutionary process. If any of it proved otherwise, she was lost in elements and transcriptions of shifting DNA and RNA. They stayed silent for an hour or so reading various texts and lexicons on the occult. Why the occult? Because the inclusion of horns suddenly growing for no reason made Twilight remember the mythical daemons. Normally, she wouldn't even bother. But the edlritch happenings put a shadow over Ponyville. And each step they drew closer, a low grumble grew louder in the approaching sky. It's bass of basses called for knowledge no mere mortal could ever understand.

Yes, she noted, the knowledge of sexual demons. Why it was so theatrically hyped, she'd never know. Wasn't it the bare basics of summoning. Because no one ever understood that sexual creatures were the bread and butter of supernatural hooey.

"Hmmm... Let's see. The incubus is an infernal daemon from the ranks right below the archdemons and dukes of demons. Every incubus has a unique physiology as proven by a closer bond between various leaders and innovators in this caste, but most follow a typical set of traits. One is the straw-like
tongue of an incubus, which is thin and capable of reaching down a male's throat to his prostate regions. There, his testicles will be sucked away and fertility is gifted to the incubus in question. Another happens to be their cold or unusually large penis. The third is some default infertility that forces him or her to receive sperm from the living and go from there. An incubus can be male or female, but some accounts say they can become hermaphroditic due to birth defects. One should be wary of incubi if one is male, since the rare few ever recorded have been known to corrupt mortal males into members of their lewd and aggressively expansive ranks..."

All their exposition struck a nerve somewhere down the line. And though it held no emotional territory, it was intellectually baffling. How could a girl like her, a simple human girl with a large, cold dick and sex-drive ever deal with the possibility of being some perverted sex demon. If demons were real, she noted, hopefully the rest of Christianity and Catholicism wasn't either. Princess Twilight Sparkle caught her with no pants down and asked a strange request.

"Jerk into this vial for me. And if it helps, I can lick you to finish when your close."

Her apparent shock that a princess could be so dirty was muffled by a perpetual poker face. The low eyes conveyed a facade of boredom and her permanently red button nose meant... ambiguity. She gripped and handled her own phallus in a particular manner. The tip impacted her crown at the palm as all fingers clung downward. Lilith made sure to stare elsewhere and thrust into her improvised pocketpussy. Though the royal archivist and magi wanted to refrain, she just had to raise a question.

"Why... do you do it like that?" Her highness muttered, stopping them right away and lathering the crown just as soon.

A practiced tongue was a good tongue. A tongue with no shame was even better. Cold and distant, the princess stared up in everlasting boredom. Her alpha pressed into their cheek and tingled it with a small, massaging grind. Their adventurous actions drew a flutter from the amused and suckling unicorn.

"It feels like a womb. I'm used to reaching those, you know. Everyone back on Earth called me Incubro because my... meat was so big. But I never thought it was true. Here I am now making a princess like my cock."

Their tease broke a crevice in her defense. Twilight went blank as she enjoyed their precum. As she felylt comfortable being pumped into and tasting everything about her incubus mate. Glancing away for a brief moment, she groaned admissibly. Yes, it was enjoyable. But no, she wouldn't be had. Their hooves took hold of Lilith's cheeks and she spread her apart. The lone action didn't deter her dominant, keeping them further down. Her highness opened their wine-kissed eyes just a smidgen wider. A loud thud struck her chest as each, continous deepthroat muffled her dirty words.

"M-mmnnh... Fhck yhmmms. Mhhk mh drnkhh smmh mmhnd dmht bmmh gmmhtmhl."

As much as she wanted to yell or scream into her cock, the naughty princess kept to emoting. Groans. Little, mature chirps and even hard slurps showed all she wanted to say. Their oral union took it a step further as little Twilight was bunched by the mane and yanked down repeatedly. Her hooves were pressed against supple, human thighs as every nerve in her crotch screamed for inclusion. The supple droop of her ears gave a pleasure signal no moan could ever give. Not even Twilight could keep emotion from her invasive experience. Her eyes closed so each thrust and guide could fade into pure, perceptible pleasure. Isolating her senses made it comparable to smores melting everywhere in her gullet. She struggled to resist at all. Even her forearms went limp and her tears streamed freely. It didn't hurt. Not at all. Twilight realized she was shaking as her own hips jerked and glitched in pressure. Lilith let her tongue loll freely under one, unified climax. Five, creamy loads tingled her slutty princess, each load swallowed absentmindedly, as if they were made to please one another. Twilight panted off her prick and tickled the tip with hot exhales. It ended with Twilight cleaning them with her mouth and hoofjobbing Lilith's remnants into the vial.

Their mutual pleasure rippled a lake within a certain somepony. And certainly, her oiled groin agreed. Somehow, the primitive biochemical process of sex made her feel. Happiness or not, it was dangerous. It meant that when she stopped feeling good, she'd crave every single session like air. Their worry transferred into a single statement.

"We... should never do that again."

"What...?"

"We... can't do that again. I wanna kiss you. And hold your hand. I came for you just because you were in my mouth. We can't be together. I already have a boyfriend and I didn't think this could ever happen. But I didn't know I could feel." Twilight clarified, blank but wavering till she started off.

Their companion, incubus or not, grabbed her wing in supple gesture.

"Twilight. What's wrong with feeling...?"

"It... makes you weak."

"But if you can't feel, how do you enjoy anything? Don't you like being happy or feeling good about doing something good like... this?"

She started to wobble and so did her pipe. Twilight Sparkle turned her head back and didn't even know her pupils were needles. They dug deep into her core and pulled out magic tricks. Each trick was a way to break somepony's heart and make them a living husk. The magician was no other than her own, racing intellect, which spoke and relayed the legends of loss and emptiness.

"I... don't care. I don't care at all..." was all she could say before galloping up the stairs and shutting her door.

Even then, the door was just for the staircase and Lilith could actually see through the walls. But Twilight really did seem apathetic. Judging from how tired she was, which resulted in passing out near her own door, today was just another problem. Just another obstacle. What did that make Lilith. Their actions only served to wound her. Lilith blamed herself. If she hadn't taken it so far, she'd still have someone who didn't want her gone. The incubus lay down and soon curled into herself on the couch downstairs. Her salted, melting tears dripped down her cheeks as the door creaked open. Some, familiar Rainbow nuzzled her cheek and kept them warm the rest of the night. It was resplendent to feel.

Rest and Recovery

When a pony stares down the end of a barrel, does it remember how to be weak, or forget how to be strong?

Well. That was over and done. Lilith had her knees up and lounged about on one of the boutique feinting couches. Because who gave a shit about some vintage, velvet seats getting stained by college girl juices. More or less, their colors soothed a girl enough to make her hands idle. All that nice apricot-like red and the little buttons running about. The incubus sighed as each minute grew more and more monotonous. There weren't televisions in the lobby area. And though her inner-exhibitionist found it hot the windows barely had drapes, it was way creepy. As soon as she rose up with arm support, the stinging battle injury made her wince and repress a squeal. The bullet injury actually landed right in a spider's web design on her bicep.

Sort of badass, she noted soberly. But a scar never made someone beautiful by default. It just made them less ugly and more interesting. Even as she stumbled across to a mirror somehow hidden away behind dress after dress, it was all too clear. Lilith was just ugly. Her eyes always seemed to have makeup and eyeliner on. Her skin was too plastic and fake. Her nose looked like a cartoon character's. It was just too much for anyone to like. And who wanted a sweet person who cared instead of a dominant who didn't care...?

A lone saudering spot accompanied her scar as she looked all over. Thick hips. Small stomach. Pronounced knuckles. Two, sharp fangs and some semi-curly pink hair. It looked hideous to everyone she met. It did, didn't it. Lilith perked up and rigidly stood at attention. A small crash came from the upstairs boutique.

It must've been a burglar or a prowler enacting some sabotage. Rarity specifically mentioned that her sister had school that day. And that neither parent or relative would visit. She was alone, injured and at a severe disadvantage. Equines had more effective skeletal muscle percentage than humans. And it was only due to her supernatural origin she might've survived an attack from some starving hobo. The noise faded into a low whisper of creaks and squeaks against the upstairs floorboards. Lilith crept on the balls of her feet and played a continuous balancing act betwixt steps.

A high-pitched, almost miniature voice grabbed her attention. They complained about how icky it was being covered in dust and ashes. Each word came off on a whine or a bitch about her daddy coming over and shutting it down. Lilith opened the door to find somepony stuck in a room with a broken window. Her mane was in an elaborate ponytail that outgrew her beck. And around that peculiar neck was a pearl necklace. Their body was remarkably unharmed even from falling through a window head-first. Shards of glass dotted the floor but none even pricked her torso or delicate hooves.

"Ugh. Daddy's so gonna kill m-" Silver Spoon froze, her jaw dropping as she saw one, erect futa standing right beside her.

Silver Spoon tried to reach the window, but she was blocked. And the door, but scrambling over only showed a blur of pink hair and her main obstacle. A last-minute effort made her burst into tears. Though she couldn't stomp or whine, Silver Spoon went into a soft panic attack. Or, at least tried to act like it. Her impression of a live asthmatic failure was comparable to a middle-aged man getting too tired to walk. Their dying face amounted to sticking her tongue out and pretending to suffer from involuntary lung failure. Lilith walked over, grabbed her by the wrists and dragged her to more fashionable living quarters. Though she pretended to beg for help between chokes, it eventually turned to Silver Spoon flopping into bed and sassing the word 'whatever...'

"Hnhn... You're a cute, little thing. Did your daddy send you here?" The incubus asked, jerking her meat right beside Silver Spoon's cheek.

Her face turned sour as she shut her eyes and licked between explanations. It honestly took her captor by surprise. Maybe they both needed some relief from such a horrid week. And it'd only been three days for Celestia's sake. The filly had a messy, sloppy tongue. In fact, each flick and wrap of her miniature muscle seemed less like work and more like actual, savory tasting. Her baby blue spectacles didn't help with the surprise and lusciously illegal oral. They made eye-contact while talking.

"D-daddy did send me. I was bad because I stole from Miss Rarity. He told me I didn't need to steal from her. I needed to ruin her business. So, like, I was gonna break all the windows and burn the dresses. But not like the whole store, okay" Confessed her petite ponyfriend, keeping her eyes shut as she was pulled down to the bottom.

Going balls-deep never felt so good. Even if her testicles were absent, so it felt even better being free to go as hard and long as Lilith wanted. They savored each other by closing their eyes, making Silver Spoon worship it with her mouth. Sure, she wasn't being face-fucked just yet, but the size and taste drove her nuts. Her tiny hooves rest gingerly against Lilith's thighs, signalling she wanted to keep going and wanted it to feel good.

"You like sucking off random strangers? Is that your thing, Silver Spoon?" Lilith murmured, grinning absentmindedly from the immense satisfaction.

"Nmm-nmm!" Her filly protested, furrowing her lithe brows.

Their attitude changed when their precious, little ponytail was turned into a handle. It guided her up and down as her dominant pleased. Each squish and squelch rung hot in her ears. Hearing herself pant into a fat, hungry cock like Lilith's made everything burn. Resisting the urge to mumble into it became impossible. Silver Spoon kept her head down as she talked into her blowjob.

"Nmmmhhh... Uhhmh ymhs dhmdy... Mhmmm. Mhk mmmh pmmh dhmddy."

Her incubus fuck transitioned into hard clapping against her lips. Each one drew a glug and squelch of approval from her sticky tunnel. And each impact forced her filly-friend to cling harder to Lilith's lonely thighs. Lilith felt her fleshy textures digging deeper. Hooves became hooks as they left red imprints on her ass. She jerked herself off with Silver Spoon's delectable tunnel, never ceasing before the big, big finish. All that warmth forced her filly slut to shutdown and cum. Glasses crooked and mane disheveled in all the right places, Silver Spoon lay on her tummy and shot a look with authority.

"Fuck me... Call me princess while you do it."

A wider, more feral grin splayed across the features of her incubus mating partner.

"And you call me daddy while I fuck your little brains out." She cooed huskily, pinning her wrists above her childish head.

There, her pygmy playmate felt her first big girl cock ever. How could someone tell? Her first response was to tense up and repeatedly whimper 'ow'. Even though she clenched and shuddered tight enough to kill somepony, the constant cumming made up for her inexperience. Silver Spoon tossed and squirmed around as her little proto-womb was struck slow and hard. All she could do was utter one, continuous word, forgetting how to handle being ridden like an animal.

"Daddy... daddy... daddy..." Her filly grunted and panted, arching her back under every shake of their plump ass.

"Nnnhh... Just a little more, sweetie. Then daddy can get you pregnant." Daddy uttered, pinning her hindlegs in-place.

Every, little touch drove her body to fireworks. Each crackle turned to waves of booming noise as her synapses flickered from such loving abuse. Silver Spoon ached in her little spot and made noise comparable to dragging a saw around her clit. Her tiny daughter growled and groaned as daddy speared her ass. It grew to loud, violent shocks of their ass getting jackhammered. From either pain and bliss massaging every portion of her body, or the immense joy she felt in feeling the tip press against her stomach, Silver Spoon screamed.

"Oh fuck! I'm so fucking sorry! I didn't mean to do it, daddy!"

Her yummy, bleeding and cum-slick ass trembled minutes on end, locking them in sweet orgasm. Lilith gripped her frail and slender neck while she let it all out. Impossibly rough panting kept her fillyfriend barely on the edge of collapse, making her tongue jut out and stain the sheets with drool. Their collective load was so rich that it refused to leak out and stuck to their creators. Lilith held her hooves and pumped her with rock-solid patience. Every clap was just another reason for Silver Spoon to utter the words 'daddy' till they were nothing more than babbles. Lilith stayed there till she woke. It wasn't a chore or an inconvenience. It was rather pleasant, actually.

"Unnh... D-daddy?" Silver grunted, raising into a half-sit.

Lilith replied 'sorry, it's just me' with a nervous, toothy grin.

Astoundingly, the young mare only kissed her lips and didn't stop. Because it felt good. And though she hated nice people, her little tongue got to grind against another, sloppy muscle. She whispered and uttered sweet things as they lay together and started another position. Silver Spoon was hot all over as her hindlegs lay lazily in the air. On her back, she was used to looking up and half-sobbing through a pant. Both forehands were above her cranium as a thrusting Daddy kept her limp and willing.

"Daddy... daddy, promise when you need to cum, you'll pick me first, okay? I-I don't care if you have to be angry. I need you to make me pee whenever you want."

Lilith chuckled, and burst into a giggle as she pounded poor Silvie, making them both smile in absolute delight.

"N-nnhhh... Of course. Daddy will try, princess. Daddy promises she'll try. Soon, you might have sisters to play with, too, remember?"

The answer didn't even hurt her. Instead, daddy's little princess looked away happy, closed her eyes and bit her lip.

A Day As Daddy

"Daddy?" Silver Spoon inquired, still as bratty as possible.

"Yes, princess? Is something wrong?" The incubus inquired, gently running her fingers through little Silvie's mane.

They were all safe and sound as it boomed and crashed outside the Boutique. Each flash of lightning shone through the narrow windows dotting La Carousel Boutique's shopping floor. Lightning penetrated every drape, curtain and shadow between them and the outside world. Most fillies would panic, but her princess appeared rather lax and almost at peace. Her glance up was patient, yet hesitant.

"Do you think I have to go home tonight. I wanna stay here and say you kept me for a slave." She complained, whining at the end and nuzzling with her alpha.

"Well, I don't think you can convince me to let you go. But I understand another night is less suspicious than a week. So let's come on and do some daddy/little stuff." Lilith cheered near inaudibly, giving a 'woohoo' in jest and genuine enthusiasm.

Silver Spoon clopped against the floors, her hooves barren from the window incident. Usually, thieves had dampening horseshoes, but her pair fell off mid-entrance. Again, the nails were far too short. But Emerald Emancipation was wrong about one thing. Crime did pay. She cracked a coquettish and most mischievous smile at one, unsuspecting daddy. They had all night to play. Silvie pushed their glasses up and stared at their nose. Blurry. It was really blurry. How could anyone look at things in the center of their foreheads. Instead of playing pranks or telling fibs due to the occasion, instead, Silver Spoon forgot April Fool's and surfed the web on a MacinTop.

"Daddy, what's a Glasgow Smile?"

"Honey, we're not doing this."

An hour passed.

"Daddy, do you think I can get 'creampied' by another daddy?"

"Yes. But we're not doing this again, princess. Daddy doesn't like netorare and you shouldn't have a stable internet connection. Why don't you remember that we're sitting ducks in the middle of an empty city." Lilith replied, idly jerking herself off.

"Daddy, why are you always touching yourself?"

"Because having sex your whole life makes you want sex your whole life."

Obnoxious, bellowing and charged with authority, thunder shook the Boutique. Again and again, it shook the lightning-proof, clay and rubber-insulated housing. It wavered in the glass, most of that being remedied by the newly-installed iron bars behind her windows. Pure iron for any infernals trying to make horrible movies or rape women in showers. The second one could be done by Ponyville's local incubus.

"Sometimes, I forget how similar Equestria is to my dimension. When you're telling your little girl to not take an interest in hentai about cuckolding, you know we're all twisted in some way. Hey, princess, can daddy ask you something?"

The questioned earned a squeak of surprise, sending orange juice all over Daddy. Her incubus father stood there, deathly quiet and waiting ever still.

"O-oh, of course."

"... Why do you want daddy?"

"Because daddy's good at sex and I want sex with her more than once?"

"Are you serious."

"Yes. But, I think I like you. You're nice when I'm not being forced in bed. You don't hit me like my dad and you never talk down to me. 'Daddy' doesn't even care for me like you do. And I just met you. Like, isn't that ironic." Silver Spoon posed, looking up and poking her chin with a pencil.

"I used that word right, right?"

"Totally, yeah."

"Oh, okay thanks Daddy. I just wasn't sure."

Author's Note

Apparently, no one knew this chapter was a joke. Who would seriously write like this.

Redo

A sunset held many things. Beauty was an unspoken possession. But bitterness wasn't. And sweetness in that same bitterness gently coaxed it out the more one stared. As they observed and analyzed the convergent oranges and warm yellows, they noticed the royal purples exalted in their exclusivity. Upon the edges were the many arms of a fading star hugging children goodbye. As a parent to their final destination, the sunset gingerly faded away and peaked out from behind the horizon one more time.

"Lilith?" Rainbow whispered, nudging her sleepy companion.

"Y-yeah...?"

"You never told me how you got here. It's weird because we never gotta know that much. About each other, I mean. It's weird because I feel like... I could tell you all about me. Is that bad?" Her companion questioned, keeping their eyes down in confusion.

Leaves rustled above them as the Breezy Meadow kept them cool. It was under that single oak Lilith felt the world unraveled and became a little slice of Heaven. Everywhere else, the cities were overpopulated with hustle ans bustle. Screaming jerkwads paid minimum wage and successful jerkwads that rubbed it in everyone's face. Where they were, all of that nonsense stayed locked away in a box full of kitten stickers.

"You know... it's not. I don't know why you trust me, Rainbow. Or why I feel like I can trust you too. But it happens. I'm not the smartest person or even the tallest person you'll ever meet. But I'm here for you. Just like all the others. I guess I just feel like... it isn't right watching you hurt like that. You're all past bad exes and bad romance. But I don't need to be your girlfriend. I can be whoever you want me to be. As long as we take care of each other."

Here they were, two strangers beneath the sunset, smoking all their problems away. Wasn't life different. Not everything was happy . Not everything had a good ending. But there they were... maybe not cheery or in some overly-wacky romantic comedy. Rainbow Dash had her skeletons in the closet and so did her friend. She hadn't brought them out yet. But each one had a scheduled interview with Ms. Incubus. Her wings wrapped about herself before Rainbow nuzzled into her comrade. Her sister in that moment. They watched the little helicopter leaves fall from some giant migration due north. A few landed precariously just around them, forming a circle of salt.

Sometimes, she knew people didn't believe her. Lilith knew they all said her life was ridiculous or awkward. That things she experienced were nothing but unrealistic nonsense. And yet, it did happen. People did grow spontaneous connections for no reason at all. It just happened. She didn't expect to be an incubus. Lilith didn't expect to have a 'perfect' body after the metamorphosis. Fortune just swooped by and paved the easy way to life.

"Rainbow?" The girl asked, letting her heavy eyes drift away.

"Do you think today was boring...?"

"Pfffthaha, no way. Sure, we didn't get in a barfight or go drag racing, but we're here ontop of a hill, right? Nothing else we did before made me feel so... safe, you know. Applejack is locked away at Sweet Apple Acres, Pinkie's been avoiding me, Twilight's all up in her occult studies. Rarity is wondering where all her dresses went and why the Boutique didn't catch fire but her clothes did. Even Fluttershy... She's been holed up in her cottage, you know. You're the only one I can do anything with. So. Thanks. I dunno what else I can do tonight, but, can we go drinking?"

"Oh, Rainbow... I think- wait, why do you wanna go drinking? Are you sure you can handle it?"

A nervous chuckle escaped her cornered marefriend. Yes. Why did she want to drink. Wasn't that the start to some romantic mishap along the course of their relationship. Swaying meadow grasses suddenly seemed like tides and waves to Rainbow Dash. Each motion was a slinking step toward her. Over her. They were arms of the sea reaching out to drag her and father down into a world of whiskey and bruises.

"Rainbow...? Rainbow?" Lilith called, shaking her little shoulders.

"Wh-what? Why are you shaking me?"

"I called your name for five minutes. And my watch doesn't lie. What were you doing staring off at nothing like that...?"

Without a word, she took off and made sure to keep her head down. In each resurrection, there was life. And each revival brought the ache of muscles and bones rotting away from neglect. Her own rotting tore away a piece right there between her ribs. Lilith probably couldn't hear it. But it said 'thank you. Thank you for caring about my addiction.'

"Rainbow. I'm sorry I asked, alright. I didn't mean to make you mad or wanna leave-" Lilith panted, jittery and ready to piss herself in nervousness.

"No, no stop, Lily. Really, it's... it's my fault, ya know? No one's ever asked me to think about what I do before it happens. I guess it's true that I shouldn't drink. Because even you asked why. And I barely know you. I don't wanna keep on treating you like a stranger, though, cause... you're too good to me. You're too good to everyone else. You never asked for sex and what we just did was... kind of a date." Rainbow replied, biting her lip at the awkward confession.

"... You mean chasing you to the top of the hill, hitting my head on a branch and falling asleep on you till the sun came up?"

"Yeah." Rainbow smirked, pecking her lips.

Absolutely stunned, all she could do was cover her lips and stare blankly at that cyan devil. They held hoof and hand just after as they tried to find words for such a sudden connection. Just a kiss. Just a sunset together. Just comforting one another as they were left right after sex. Just after they realized they had so much in common and needed... someone there. To take care of them.

Rainbow Dash groaned as she was pinned against tall, scrunching meadow grass. It fell around her and beneath her back as another kiss was pushed onto her. Lips-locking and hearts beating, they melded with doubts fading. Wings fluttered and mane disheveled, Rainbow shuttered and then she reveled in the smoky taste of smoke in the lips of a lover. And each shiver of her hindlegs slipped between mountains crumbling in a place most believed to be unbreakable, the interior of a tomboy locked away in her own convoy of big rigs and battleships. As they rode and roared to keep the smaller cars of the road they bowed to a limousine carrying an angel from a magazine. When the doors opened the circle of linebackers parsed for the one she waited for, a little present from a being she couldn't kiss more: the person kissing her, herself.

They ran out of air and licked inside one another as it came back, squishing tongues and preventing their mucles from high-strung aches. Though Rainbow wanted to stiffen her hindlegs, they couldn't repress shakes. Quakes rung true in her little core, the dreamy pegasus pinned against an oudoors flooring. Lilith licked away at the drool about her lips and made it drip down her chin, wherein they gripped along one another and whispered those three words, which weren't enough.

'We need protection.'

"Good idea, uh-" They said in unison, then just realizing they were both wrong.

Right. No condoms needed for an interspecies mating ritual. They hurried home and thankfully didn't run into any doors or blackouts.

But You Can

Rainbow, regretting her course of action, kept both legs crossed and stared up in nervous energy. A shy virgin, maybe, but most likely a virgin to phallic insertion. The lighting in their room seemed rather dim and sleazy. What kind of sex involved pink candles everywhere. And why was she having sex the first date. Rainbow Dash only had to glance up at her mate to silence all the doubts. And while her legs were splayed out, held at the ankles above Lilith's shoulders, she thought, if she could be what the incubus thought of her, they could do anything. Lost in thought, she nodded absentmindedly to the blurred words of her mate, not discerning their actual contents.

In seconds, her wings rushed out and turned rigid, curling into themselves as she was penetrated. Purplish, hot colors infected her cheeks under her submissive need. The heavy clap of futacock tasting her insides only made her hindlegs twitch. Her intrusive alpha gave some gesture of kindness as they ground against her cervix. It let her breathe and pant her raspy breaths. She could only close her eyes and tilt her head up, ignoring the urge to scream into a pillow.

"Lily... Lily, fuck. I think I'm close." She groaned, her insides clinging and wetting their intruder.

"But we just started."

"Doesn't matter...! I don't wanna cum yet." She growled, tensing hard as her partner stopped with one, striking thrust.

Rainbow curled into herself as she fought every urge to buck and squirt. And yet, it happened anyway. Her climax was more like an overwhelming orgasm. It shook her hips as they jerked about and buried Lilith further in, giving her a reason to stare up and gasp. Having more made the pegasus curse her breath away. It stung her womb, drawing little bucks from her hindlegs. Her wild motions only made matters worse as the pre-slick tip squished into her deepest reach. She utterly stopped trying to give up and lay there at the mercy of her lover. Inside, she could feel herself sucking them off with how tense everything felt. It didn't surprise her that Lilith resorted to pumping slowly. Pumping deeply. The overt presence of her bottom vein drove them crazy. The vein must've been her main cum transport, because she could feel it grooving out her tunnel. She could feel everything. Her own lungs collapsing from all the stressful entries. Her hindlegs locking in place as her ass leaked warm, wet lubricant. Lilith's satisfaction drove her to grab their mane and grit her own molars.

"Unh... Not too hard. Not too hard." Rainbow grunted, cracking her pipe after the thrusts grew more rapid.

Damn it. They weren't hard. They were quicker. They were brushing her walls and making them constrict from how long it'd been since everything felt so tender. Gazing up at someone so caring honestly drew a tear in her eyes. She gasped as her hooves were taken into Lilith's palms. Rainbow stayed there, a mess of feathers flapped about and a giant stain of girlspunk soaked into her bedsheets.

"Nnhh... I love it when you're in charge." Rainbow slipped, shutting her eyes from how rough each entry felt.

"Unnh, shit... Make me cum, daddy. Make me your little bitch." She grated, her noise more abrasive against her throat.

It made her alpha worry. Just a little bit. The volume level was comparable to being murdered. Not having an orgasmic love session. She slowed just a little more and stuck the tip into every touch. Every rock and jump of her sporty mane drew a loud, telling squelch from down below. Lilith kissed her neck and dug her fangs in. It forced her marefriend to spasm and cream herself. Even after she licked the blood of her pronounced canines, they kept pounding and pounding. Rainbow Dash had to stare up at nothing and wet her cock till she muttered 'I'm gonna piss myself...'

"Do it, then. Lose control and show daddy how much you need her." Lilith cooed, dragging their thickness back and forth.

Rainbow squirmed and struggled. Her hindlegs were too strong, because they did push her dominant off. Her temporary dismount turned to flipping her over and kneeling behind Rainbow. Every nerve in her body shocked awake as her sphincter was pierced apart. As she took her mate somewhere too tight and loved how too-big daddy felt. Things never felt right being with mares or colts calling themselves 'Master.' She felt so exposed when Daddy hammered her from behind. An agonizing load of pressure burst free from her cunt as she bit her lip and wet the bed. It was all over her thighs and blankets. Rainbow hid her face not from shame, but to stop herself from uttering 'daddy' the rest of the night. She inhaled sharply as that same daddy withdrew and kissed her breath away. They kissed the night away and lay serenely in unison, smoking freely because life was too short to play safe.

Advance

Rainbow curled into herself. She just groaned. That very groaning accompanied a voice crack everyone loved to hear. But, tonight and maybe every other night, it'd be for someone who cared. Her eyelids flickered in their understated heaviness. After an entire highschool career of drinking herself stupid, any morning sober was a perfect morning. All that cheerleading nonsense was kind of fun, though. Her cheeks flushed red as she finally found Lilith. A wry grin dug into Rainbow as her more-than-friends mate presented a pair of panties with the words 'baby girl' over them. And even as she tried to stand tall under the knives in Lilith's teeth, she felt too small to stand. Rainbow wobbled as she was teased. .

"'Baby girl', huh?"

"Sh-shut up...! That was a gift from Twilight! For April Fools, okay!" She protested highly, glancing away and gulping.

Daddy's fingers slid across her tiny cheeks. Daddy leaned into her ear and a breathy whisper cracked her pipe in surprise.

"Oh? Yelling at daddy? Does little Sally need a spanking? Maybe when we're done we can go for a round in the ring and get back in bed. Sound good?"

Yes. She did need a spanking. That's what she always had when father was angry. Her new daddy could do the same and more. Rainbow bit her lip as little tears formed at the edges of her eyes. Though most would be turned to yelling or punishment, her dominant pulled them into bed and snuggled. Little sobs were forced out her throat, prompting a question from her daddy.

"What's wrong, sweetie? Did daddy hurt you?" She murmured, dipping her brows in dense, stressful concern.

"No... I... I just... I'm not used to feeling happy. Not since my last daddy... He was the only one I could cry to."

The trips always felt so long. The rescue missions and field work always put a toll on her. And losing dad was always the hardest part. She still remembered holding him. Clinging as Celestia cast the spell and brought them home one last time. Since then, she found no reason to hope for happiness. To believe in it. When everypony but her had someone to come home to everyday, it festered and ate away at her. In their moment together, she could only feel release. Every tear broke a damn between her and the life she wanted. The water built and pressed into many sentiments and sediments betwixt Rainbow and Rainbow, locking her in a constant grapple between hiding and showing everyone how she felt.

Lilith planted a wet, little kiss on her lips and turned it into a makeout session. Every minute and every hour amounted to that. Neither could deny a kiss stuck harder than any orgasm they could ever experience. For the next few hours, they enjoyed eating chocolate ice-cream, watching soap operas and Ultimate Bucking Champion rounds between Malice Sander A Million Ink Blows and his brother Neigh-a-Door A Million Ink Blows. They were both stout, rather burly stallions with good chins. They bore strong resemblences to championship fighters in Lilith's dimension.

"Oh, you never told me, daddy. How'd you get here?"

"Oh, I fought a few guys off so my family could run away. After I got wasted, I woke up near Fluttershy's. Why?"

What...?

"You died protecting your family...? How- how did you end up here. Why were people even after them?"

Every memory was a segment of a blur she couldn't quite articulate. Few, if any at all could be distinctly focused on. Her brain was a mess. And why, she might never know. Only one image popped into her head. And it was the last one anybody needed to see. When she settled into an answer, her voice was sullenly monotonous.

"Yeah. My wife was brought out on the yard. She screamed my name and I got distracted. Three crooks were there. Fought with me and caught me by surprise. Tapped me right in the temple, too. Angled it so the .22 could bounce around in my skull. I felt it. Right before I saw them rip her clothes off. That's why I keep having dreams about fighting, I guess. I could always beat drunks and punks when they tried to touch her. But I could never fight a gun, you know. I should've done what they told me "

The exchange made her jaw drop. It would've made anypony's jaw drop. Most war casualties were from starvation or suicidal charges. Everypony was too careful to risk their lives that way. Equestrian conflicts were mostly just attrition from her time on the field. Something like that, so casually announced, could never leave her mind. Rainbow tried to find something to say, but it never came out. Instead, her friend did the asking.

"So whaddyou guys think of polyamory in Equestria. You know, the practice of more than one lover."

Oh. That was a surprising transition. It threw her off to the point where every minute passed with open lips and silence.

"Well... We don't usually hate it. But most of us don't like it. When you're having sex no strings attached, great. But when you're in a relationship, you're supposed to devote yourself. You know, so nothing bad happens between ya. I guess I'm okay with it. I mean, I couldn't be happier if I was some slut in a big harem or something. I like that sorta stuff." Rainbow confessed, making sure to avoid eye-contact.

Conversation died down when a knock reached the door. Not a moment too soon, a certain pegasus grabbed herself a baseball bat. The insignia near the middle had a slight rise, specifically to leave an imprint on an attacker, most likely. The make was metallic. Rainbow Dash positioned by the doorway portion not swung into. Her bidepal lover did the honors of opening it.

Oh. Pinkie Pie.

"H-hey, what's up, Pink Lady? Is Rainbow here? Haha, I didn't mean to interrupt if I am, I just wanted to give her some 'sorry I wasn't here due to sexual anxiety' cupcakes. So. Uh. Yeah..."

Confused and at a loss for even breathing, Rainbow Dash revealed herself and tosses the bat somewhere near the sofas. Her expression was both disgruntled and locked in a battle between relieved and worried. What kind of cupcakes were those supposed to be.

"Uh. Pinkie Pie? Are you okay?"

"Uh... No?" She replied innocently.

"Then... What's the problem. What's this sexual anxiety thing you're talking about."

"Oh, yeah, that. You see, I always thought I was gonna be with you. But when I came to your house last night, I heard you two doing it. So I stayed up all morning uh, baking. These are for you and congratulations for finding someone who... loves you."

They all ran when they didn't know what to do. And Pinkie Pie was no exception. Her best friend did the same, but followed rather than distanced herself. Both became dots in the distance as one, barren incubus sighed and sat down, lamenting the good day they were all just denied. Rather, the good week or month, if Pinkie was the jealous type. Most children were. Including Lilith herself. Really, the girl never truly matured at heart. That was why it all felt painful. She never had to deal with these sorts of things. She never had to feel like she stole someone.

Yamato Nadeshiko

It was cold and sunny all at once. The winds carried chills and solar radiance lit the land of Equestria. It came alive through little wildflowers and tiny, hardy insects crawling about the undersides of stones. A sprinkle of water nourished that same floral growth, their thanks owed to the owner of their garden. Fluttershy raised up, a smile in her heart as they bloomed in sweet scents and photogenic dew speckles. She crept alongside the shadows of her cottage, perking up as bush noise alerted her. A pair of luminescent, compound eyes showed her danger. Both were lime-green and sour, like the liquid dripping down it's fangs.

Fluttershy took off on her fleet hooves, having sprinted away from danger her whole life. This was no exception. The grueling process of pushing her body still hurt, however. No matter how tough somepony was or how immersed in runner's high they were, lactic acid always triumphed. Fluttershy dare not glance or leak or think behind her, even though her shins would shatter at any moment. The alarming buzz of changeling wings always kept her aware, sober by danger. Every moment after, she knew it reached ever closer. Wind rushed past her eyes and whipped her tear ducts raw, forcing perpetual blurriness as she crashed into a stray oak among tall grass. Her panicked state drove her to lay prone and hide her eyes. Fluttershy became smaller and minimized the volume her body ate.

It stepped along the meadow, crawling closer and closer. It's sickening chatter of hungry teeth accompanied only the unsheath of some slimy meat. And though she squeaked instinctively, it was choked away by the muffle of her hooves. The bestial predator dripped saliva from over her mane. She tried to run or fight or scream. Thankfully, she did both. Fluttershy managed to kiss it with a buck, dislocating their jaw at an angle. She scrambled up and soared high, biting her lip from the exhaustion burning her legs. At the edge of Cloudsdale, the noisy chatter of society drove her to tears. Civilization. Sweet civilization. A grey-coated policemare greeted her with a single stare of concern.

"Ch-ch-ch-changelings...! There are ten of them... They tried to take me down there." Fluttershy panicked, breathing asthmatically in her wide-eyed squeaking.

Well, one popped up from the same edge she entered. Officer Hooves drew her bludgeon from the hip and concussed it from an upward diagonal motion. The sheer force split it's jaw and sent it flying all the way down. The impacted mess wasn't a problem, either. She sent a maintenance division down to handle the problem entirely. Officer Hooves took a deep breath and exhaled after she took Fluttershy to a friend's house.

"Fluttershy? You don't really wanna go to the station, probably. So you wanna crash at Rainbow's while I call Celestia about this?"

"Yes. Yes, please. I can't remember how long It's been since... I've seen her. It's been too long. What if she hates me now. I'm such a bad friend. I'm such a bad friend." She jittered, biting her hooves as they waited outside the entrance.

Hn. Rainbow answered the door. What a pleasant, normal greeting.

"Hey. What's up, Flu-"

All her wind flew out the window as her bestie Fluttershutter glomped little Rainbow. They lay there somewhat awkward and somewhat belonging. Cyan and yellow rubbed together as Fluttershy wept into her chest, earning both sympathy and guilt. Where was she when her friend needed her. Where did the time go. The growing pain took her heart as Rainbow Dash kissed their forehead and licked about her supple lips. It slid all around ans made the pegasi breathe. For once in their lives they were breathing. They breathed into each other as it came to huffing how glad they were to see one another. To feel safe.

A certain someone walked out and into the living area. Lilith's face stayed rather uniform as she ate a piece of bacon and took a left toward the kitchen. Fuck, Rainbow groaned, holding the sides of her head in pure frustration. Yes. Because that's what they all needed, another romantic obstacle. She kissed her anxious friend's cheek and raised up to rush over. In less than ten seconds, Rainbow reached the doorway and caught the incubus eating more bacon. Forced to act, her baby girl shook with all the things she never said.

"Lily, I... I know what you're thinking, okay? I know why you wanna avoid me and I dunno- it's my fault, okay. I did it. I kissed her. I didn't tell you I was with Fluttershy like that. We- we had a thing two weeks ago before we broke it off, okay? I'm- I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry."

When it took more than an answer to reply, Rainbow started tearing and stifling sobs.

"Please... just yell at me. Do something. Anything. Hit me. I don't want the silent treatment. It's- it's the worst thing ever...!"

When she felt arms around her wings and sides, hands between her hair and lips on her own, all she could do was wobble and let it all out. Every tear and choked worry poured from Rainbow as they were meant to. Every joy and sorrow. Every stress and apology she could muster. It fell down her cheeks in warm streams between broken seams and beams deep within. And for a moment she felt peace within and withdrawal from sin. The first words left her lips as they finally parted.

"I'm sorry. I'm... sorry, daddy. I've been a bad little." She squeezed out, clinging for dear life.

"No. You've been a good girl. And daddy could never blame you for cheering up one of your sisters. Daddy's proud of you for caring, okay? I love you, Dashie. Forever and always."

It was too much. Her throat dried and she couldn't find the words to speak. Her daddy was in Lily's eyes and all Rainbow could do was keep her tears running. Dashie. That was the name he gave her. It tore stitches from a place no one else could reach. The wounds torn and exposed started to stitch as they laid down in bed and rested instead. No adventures. No fights. It was just them. Soon the years of unleashed, raw emotions put her in deep sleep. And the last words out her mouth were simply 'daddy... I love you too.'

They stayed that way for hours. And only when Lilith absolutely had to use the bathroom did she creep out of bed, tuck her little in and let them cuddle into their warm resting spot. The image of a sleeping pegasus with lashes a little too straight and snores a little too cute melted her heart. It might've just exploded. Her little Dashie stayed locked away in her thoughts, splaying a blissful smile over her thin lips. And though Fluttershy yelped on sight, she just pet the mare, picked her up and made them sit on the couch together.

"Um... um..." Fluttershy hushed, looking up.

The smile was wider.

"Um..."

The smile turned to a heavy-eyed grin.

"Um...!" Fluttershy squeaked in panic, struggling as she was carried to bed.

"No, you don't have to do this! You don't have to-"

The happy little futa tucked her happily into bed, which gave her the exclusive right of sleeping next to happy little Dashie.

"... tuck me into bed with Rainbow Dash?"

They all took a lazy nap and enjoyed the fresh petrichor conquering the air of their sanctuary. Was there anything better than the sound of rain when wrapped up all cozy and laying with someone you cared about. Of course not. Nothing could ruin what they felt just by being together. That was why they belonged there, in each other's arms.

Let Her Go

Pinkie sat below a solitary oak. She kept herself occupied by drinking mint chocolate chip shakes and nibbling on some cake with a long name. She lacked the necessary brainpower to remember all of it. When somepony trotted over, Pinkie didn't even notice. All her attention sunk in laying motionless under the sunset. Even the familiar sound of a high-grade chainsaw drowned out in her restless dreams of what could've been. Thankfully, whoever owned said chainsaw powered it down and sat beside her. Their shoulder cape had a silky texture to it. And the eyepatch over her eye hid a wound nopony could heal. Cozy cancerous scents drowned the air as Twilight set her leather case against the tree. Her college-aged, nasally voice crept out first.

"You know, usually, when somepony hears a chainsaw that close, they run away." Twilight stated, blowing a breath of smoke.

"...O-ooh, hey there Twilight. I didn't even notice you. Why are you up here, too? "

Her icy, blue eyes met a hoof scratching at the tree bark. For what reason, she wouldn't know. The angle associated gave her a broad mystery to sift through.

"This tree brings back a lot of memories. So I'm gonna cut it down and burn the rest."

"What?! Why would you even do that?!" Pinkie objected, blocking Twilight and pressing her back against it.

A warm pyre lit her heart as Pinkie stood tall against her friend. The wind blew her mane back and undid the uniform chaos of their mane, shaping each curl more disheveled and wiry at the edges. That same breeze drew water from her sensitive optic nerves. Even so weak when it came to unrequited love, she had to stand up for what was right.

"This tree is... more than just a tree. There's so much it's done. It's been through so much. So many ponies sit here and watch the sunset. So many of them kiss here or come here to relax. You can't ruin it for everyone...!" Pinkie shook, then wide-eyed at the alicorn's chuckle.

"Do you still feel depressed?"

Something clicked among the madness in her head.

"...No. I, I guess I don't anymore. It's not just me anymore. I can't be depressed when everyone else is hurting themselves. Even though I can't be with Rainbow, I don't think it matters. She's happy. And I can be happy, too. I just have to stay strong. Happiness... happiness..."

The words finally surfaced.

"Happiness is earned. Not given."

"Ah~ So you really aren't depressed. Not now, anyway. Glad I could help. Come back to my house for some tea. We're just having tea cakes. None of that special brownie stuff Rarity likes to make." Twilight finished, taking off and letting the mare sort out her thoughts.

They smiled at one another, bittersweet and taking steps forward, even if in the opposite directions. Intuition. Emotion. Intellect. Judgement. These were the hoof prints of their souls. And each step away only brought them closer. Pinkie collapsed to her knees and examined the words now etched into her oaken memorial. From the hoof of a long-time friend and an amazing mare, she read the words.

"Don't let love fool you, it's like life. Get there at your own pace and settle down when you're safe from yourself. Remember all the good times and keep them with you; they'll keep you walking. Keep the bad times too, because they'll keep you from drifting away."

Behind her set the lowering sun. It entered phases of cool blue and violets strung together by grandma's yarn. Every hue and every ray dissipated into the world below. With them they carried dreams that never were and lands the lost never reached. She knew their sorrow. And that was why she let it go. She loved Rainbow Dash, her sweetest Dashie. And that was why Pinkie had to go.

Where, she'd never know. But here it wasn't. Over her was ice and snow. It felt unpleasant. So cold and cruel. So she trotted away and packed for one, fading into the horizon.

Author's Note

Rainbow didn't deserve her, anyway.

Dark, Lovely and Deep

The woods were dark, lovely and deep. But she had promises to keep. And miles to go before she'd sleep. And miles to go before she'd sleep.

Pinkie buckled under her own weight and crawled over to the old castle in front of her. Her stomach abrased against loose stones and jagged rock corners. They cut along her weather-worn coat, indenting and eventually lacerating the flesh. Red oozed out her various nicks and tears as water struggled to layer her inner-eyelids. The air was rank with adrenaline and wilderness as she gasped for breath after breath, finally reaching her wish. If Rainbow wasn't part of her life, it wasn't life at all. That was why Pinkie drew her last, conscious breath against the Two Sisters' Castle steps.

The last moments of her life flashed in long-faded snippets. A withered recollection of her childhood drudged along the confines of Pinkie's skull and they were surrounded by a rock field. Lowly were the pebbles and stones beneath her clicking hooves, never flinching against the dead wind that tickled her fur. Some of it whispered in the mare's ears, forcing them into themselves. The world became a blur of noise as she became blind and dumb to the path ahead. Home stood erect against time's influence, the barn and simple housing barely touched by stray stones and winter's wear. Even as frost thinly covered the roofing, no frost fell from place. Even as she trotted inside, nothing seemed to animate. Not a soul stirred as she creaked the front door open and meekly slipped within.

"Hello...?" She called in cautious tones, keeping her head down.

Pinkamina's mane fell over her dirt-stained muzzle, silken to the touch but leaving her scalp ravaged by perceived warmth. It all felt too hot. Pinkie wanted to shed her coat and tear her skin off. To drag her nerves along her flesh by cheese grater just to distract it's thermal sensitivity. Was it guilt. Was it Hell reaching out for Pinkie Pie. A hoarse, shrill cry erupted out her throat.

"Why?! What did I do to deserve this?"

The roasting heat gradually dissipated as quiet fell. The image of her sister Maud appeared and she drew a gasp of relief. With all her might, she mustered a full-bodied hug, every leg around her stoic sibling. For a moment, the lack of response made her doubt. What if it wasn't real. As soon as Pinkie called her name, whispered it beneath her breath, they replied.

"Um... I love you too, Pinkie. Are you okay, because I thought you said you could handle work alone."

"Wh-what? I was walking up the steps and... I fell asleep. Why am I here? Where's Inky and... wait, why are you here? I thought- I thought you-"

"Died?" Maud shrugged, speaking in her same nonchalance.

"Pinkie, do you even know where you are?"

"No. No, I don't know. I'm... I'm lost. And before I got here, I was alone." Pinkamena shivered, suddenly overwhelmed by a coldness equalizing her body.

Grey skies loomed overhead and gathered mass by the second. Each cloud was dense and heavy like a teetering claymore. It seemed the storm might consume them whole, crackling with blinding white-blues and flickering warnings. Some, distant voice in the skyline declared 'clear!', thus the ground rumbled and split in places far at first. Each declaration the voice boomed, the earth split closer.

Pinkie panicked, rushing to pull her sister to safety. And yet, her efforts grew weaker and weaker as their hooves phased through one another's.

"Maud...! Maud, follow me to the barn! Run with me...!"

"No, Pinkie." Her sister said, closing her eyes.

"No...?"

"No. You can't run forever. No one can. Sometimes, you have to stand your ground and deal with the ugly. You don't have to fight. You don't have to yell. But sometimes, you have to live your life and do what you always needed to do."

Her words started to blur in howling winds. The ground took them apart as they were separated by faults consistently growing wider.

"Whaddyou mean...!" Pinkie cried with all her capacity.

"I mean...!"

Maud shed a tear as her features scrunched in pain.

"I mean remember who you were before you loved her."

'Clear!'

Pinkie Pie choked on her own breath as she gasped awake and shivered into life. Spasms took her brittle, little hooves and the aching wake of life struck her all over. Resurrection came with a price. And her's was her sister. The memory of her sister would always be there. But the gripping words she spoke before poured salt in her ducts. Rainbow rushed over and clung to her. Fluttershy followed. And so did Rarity. Applejack. And Twilight, too. They were all around her. With her.

'Who was I before I loved...?' She processed lazily, barely comprehending all the gooey reunion whispers.

"Pinkie Pie... I'm sorry. I wasn't there. I missed you so much and I'm so horrible. I'm a horrible friend." Rainbow sobbed, barely able to contain her tears.

She glanced down as they stained where her heart would be.

'I was... Pinkamena Diane Pie.'

A weak smile bloomed on her lips.

'I was the element of laughter. And everyone's only Pinkie Pie.'

'I made people happy.'

'I'm so glad to be... me.'

Promises to Keep

"You made Pinkie try to kill herself! I can't believe... I can't believe all this happened because of you!" Rainbow screamed, cracking in her pipe.

She tossed something in reach, blindly choosing a bludgeon for Lilith. The incubus flailed her arms up, wincing harshly as it cut her arm open. Rainbow huffed in anger as she threw another object. Only, that time, it was stricken down. Silence, impenetrable by the sharpest rapier, reigned over the lonely cloudhouse. Tiny mists reached their ankles as Rainbow opened the exit. At times, it used to be an entrance.

"I... I can't be with you. I can't. You made me push everyone away. It all happened because w-we spent too much time together. And now I have to deal with her almost dying." The mare choked out, biting her hoof as she fell against the door.

Lilith shook. And jittered. Anger. Confusion. What wasn't present as they stirred her gut in sick comeliness. It felt familiar. Losing what she had became familiar, just as gaining what she never had. The incubus, lit only by her maelstrom of thoughts and the candle-light, spoke.

"How... how can you blame me like that. How could you say that to me... Any of it. You blame me for all of it when you focused on us. I never did anything to hurt you and all you can do is pin this shit on me? So what I was here. I didn't tell you to not pay attention to Pinkie. I didn't keep you from doing anything. We did so much... So much together, and you just leave me because you didn't get to your friend in time...?"

The quake in her words showed restless fatigue. Places between her arteries stung from having to talk that way. It was never something she wanted to do. Never to talk down about her love. Never to stop worshipping her touch.

"Lilith... Find... someone better than me. I can't deal with this. I'm sorry I ran." Rainbow trembled, scrunching in pain as she stumbled to her hooves and flew.

Along came an angel in her life. And along they flew, for a time, entertaining their mortal heart. But a demon was a demon, and demons lived in Hell. They weren't meant for happiness. Not forever. Demons were humanity in a different vein, with different cackles and different cries; but no man or demon could protest life was best lived beneath the skies, lest the one who flies surely meets the sun and fries. Lilith knew, the moment her sun left, her wings of wax and feathers melted to naught. Before she could watch the world turn as she lay there, rotting, night flew by and somepony found her. An angel crept through the door and let more mist in.

"Hey, Heartbreaker. Looks like you've had a rough night." They hushed, smiling lithely as her tiny lips grew wide on one side only.

Lilith hushed 'what gave that away...?' her eyes drowned in red, swollen veins and salt-kissed black bags.

"Lucky guess." Twilight hushed, touching her hoof against one, raised finger.

They left together.

Author's Note

"Alone together."

"Forever."

Miles To Go

Along the feral, tattered path to home, Fluttershy wandered. And in the grand scope of things, she foresaw another hapless vision. The clinic would greet her with soft rain. And she'd be a certified mess. They would operate again to no avail and tell her to sleep the pain away. Then they'd dose her up with anti-whatsits after a good lecture about not smoking. The doctor would conclude their session with another monotone farewell and his trademark scowl at the feeble nurse handling her acetaminophen for headaches or the other analgesic cures promised. She sighed softly and ached when the air hit her ribcage, wincing harshly at their receptive state. Just another fragile flower, Fluttershy thought along herself. Just another mare too scared of her own feelings.

And through the woods, she found the path too winding. Through the dark she found her mind rewinding, recollecting all the times daddy locked her in that room. Fluttershy gasped and leapt away hearing a crinkle in rotten leaves. She galloped straight forward, never looking back. Another changeling, it could've been. Another abuse, maybe. They slammed the door shut at home, only to slink away from the gaping hole in her wall.

"Wh-where else can I go...?" Fluttershy hushed, pacing about in panic.

A stray tree blocked her path. It was so good at guarding her path, it bopped betwixt her eyes. Disoriented Fluttershy, by some measure of steel will and blind luck, found her blurry way toward Twilight's Castle... house... thing. The last thing she could remember was Twilight wearing some sort of pirate cosplay.

"Another example of why you always keep your eyes on the road." She heard with tunnel vision.

"But that means you're driving. Don't you think the lesson is: don't let panic take over?" A familiar voice responded, it more mature than brainy.

"Ah. But you underestimate me. You see, the equine anatomy dictates our eyes give a wider peripheral range. Because our eyes are freaky and happen to be on the sides. So, in conclusion, a pony must remember to look forward, on the road. At all times." Twilight concluded, sure and proud of herself as she eyed awoken Fluttershy.

Dizziness. Confusion. And moreover, bafflement at what she saw. Those were most prominent in her stricken mind. Although the poor mare had no proof, she could've sworn that two-legged creature was...

Oh no.

Fluttershutter zipped off the couch and toward the front door. A sharp gasp and whine pushed out of her. Fractured rib pains sliced away at her feeble figure. She crawled toward it before an incubus stopped them. Fluttershy held a curious mixture of deep nakedness as they held a palm against her hoof.

"Miss Fluttershy... I'm not here to hurt anyone. Just rest. And get your ribs healed. The best thing to do is exercise lightly after recovery. Not during it." Lilith stated, not bothering with any grattitude as she walked away.

Fluttershy was Fluttershy. Getting close to her would only prove problematic, they presumed. No amount of healing could convince either of them to be more than pleasant strangers. Her first step was, surprisingly, interrupted with a hushed 'wait...!'

Lilith glanced back over her shoulder, completely taken by surprise.

"Miss... Pink... hair. Thank you. I-I shouldn't have run. If you wanna talk later I... I wouldn't mind." Soothed Fluttershy, their one, closed eye resembling a wink rather than muscle response.

"... Yeah. I'll talk when you can breathe okay. Without needles in your chest." The incubus hushed, walking again, holding her own ribs for some reason.

Twilight settled her friend into a mug of hard cider. That was okay, right. Last time she checked, Flutters didn't suffer from a weak kidney or liver. They shared a drink as the sun, slowly, but surely, ticked away into the horizon. It was on the first round she started giggling. And, as Twilight developed her own chuckle, an awkward Applejack, a sly Silver Spoon and one Sweetie Belle with her friend Scootaloo. Twilight's uproarious bubbliness also contributed to the fact that, of all the times to be present, Scootloo's caretaker wasn't. The utter irony, she thought, smiling coyly to herself.

Where was her fornication-loving friend, though? She scouted the upstairs area rather dizzily and found Lilith. That hapless sue was lounging about their crystalline bed. Only, her back lay against the chest at the foot of it, their limbs dangling limply. Silver Spoon trotted up those steps with the most peculiar blend of pride and smarminess. It was in their smile, glancing down at all the ponies not in her shoes. They were below by miles as she slid atop her daddy and rest, delighting herself as she rubbed along Lilith. The taste of smooth epidermis was incomparable along her plush chest fur. It drew a crooked smile from those scarred lips, entertaining an after-party rut in their empty heads.

Princess Sparkle could only smirk at their youthful lust. To be young again, she lamented. To be rid of responsibility that didn't hang everyone in the balance. Her eyes crept away from her wine glass as Applejack spoke.

"Shucks... Invitin' me to a party and not even changin' for the drinks? Heh. Been a long time since I've had any. You sure I won't end up on the floor, though? This stuff looks a might strong." Jacquelyn mumbled, speaking by thought as she read again the '80 proof' marking.

"Pfff... No. You'll be fine. If a girl like me can handle it, I'm sure you can, you work horse. "

Their merry reunion was met with more merriment. Fluttershutter brought some cookies from the kitchen. And though somepony might've wanted them, she ate the plate rather sloppily. Not the cookies. Just the plate. Applejack panicked, tossing the half-eaten thing out of sight. She grabbed Fluttershy by the shoulders and cried 'Fluttershy! Are you drunk! What about your medication?!'

Scootaloo sat confused and whispered to her shrugging friend.

"Medication...?"

The question only widened her eyes slightly. Jacquelyn's comrade merely tipped her lips to one side and showed her teeth. What she said came out in some, heavy laziness. As if Fluttershy were lobotomized.

"Aaaaah itschfine Appuhljak... I didnt go t'thuh klinik t'day heheh..."

Her drunkenness fell limply into her beanbag seat and blacked out. The party spiked in energy when Applejack sighed in relief and presented a bottle big as her foreleg. Another flask of Applejack Daniels, but Party-Sized thanks to the deal struck with the Cakes. Her emerald orbs dotted across the room before making sure Officer Doo was nowhere to be found. The coast was clear.

Scootaloo raised her hoof rather squeamishly.

"Um... Miss Applejack? Is this legal?"

Not clear of narcs, apparently...

Jacquelyn simply gave her sly, charming grin and answered 'it ain't illegal if you aren't caught.'
And, just as subsequently, Scootaloo rolled their eyes and muttered 'but it is...'
The filly, not so young anymore, but still growing, caught her friend chortling in response. Sweetie Belle, of all ponies, to really find it so agreeable? The world was coming to an end. Although, in all seriousness, the rumors about her and Silver Spoon were overwhelming. As the 'adults ' had their inebriated fun, the two chaps drank regular cider from regular workout bottles. They endured the roar of noise from rambunctious cheers. After, the duo struggled to speak over the woozy ramblings of an awakened Fluttershy and her Highness, who popped some green to stink their castle up.

Sweetie Belle harumphed and crossed her arms as she spotted fatigue in Scootaloo. Why did everyone fall asleep before her. The filly only had to look up before frustration turned to curiosity. Vague, shadowed shapes blocked the moonlight streaming down from Twilight's bedroom window. All the green started a thin smoke over her eyes, only allowing two, vaguely animated silhouettes to show. One stood on two legs and one was vaguely equine, leaning against a box-like shape.

Her curiosity slipped her through the cluster of drunks. Sweetie crept along the steps expecting to be caught or apprehended by some sort of tendril creature. A soft gasp caught her ear and perked it up. It sounded like... Silver Spoon? What she saw forced her hooves over her tight lips. Her classmate was bent over a chest and forced to pant her lungs out. Silver Spoon jerked her hindlegs a few times as she was railed by a pink-haired... thing. She screamed into a pillow as her tiny tush was spread wide open. Sweetie's eyes grew horrifically wide as she eyed the size of the thing squeezing into Silver Spoon, almost squeaking from how disproportionate it was. Her irises shrunk like needles when the bipedal thing grinned widely in her direction.

She bolted straight down the stairs and out that castle, never looking back.

Applejack scratched her head, counting how many fillies were present. One, she announced rather lazily. Two, she counted, watching Silver Spoon blow that incubus bitch. And... no more. Fuck. The mare scratched her head and asked their fingers where Weeping Bell went. No answer. Instead, she was licking away at a long, hard thing in front of her muzzle. It tasted like sour apples and cream. Oh well, Applejack shrugged, trying to get cider from it. That smoking grass sure tasted funny. Maybe Typewrite put some funky zebra medicine in their shots. Speaking of which. It felt like a zebra was going down her throat. Who's frosting stick was it, anyway. Sure was thick. Her cheeks burned hot with shame at wanting more and apple-flavored sloppiness. They heard an unsure 'o-okay... but I'm not used to this group stuff.' from some incubus faggot.

Jacquelyn looked up and saw heavy, thick lashes on low eyelids. No wonder. It was that pink-haired thing. She slipped off with a plop and licked between words and statements. Sometimes, she'd rub her rich, rugged coat against her prick too, using their cheek and snout to make Lilith throb.

"Ohheyyy... yer that diccckgirl thingie. Remember how scccaree ah was? A-ah wassssuh jokin. Ahm a virgin. Eeyup. Thats whah. Now uh... cccome on and fuck my ass." The fool slurred, mumbling absently into girlcock.

Her apple-flavored drool ran thick like a mudslide as it caked Lilith's pubic mound. Before she could even blink, her stupor ended in a harsh blackout. The last thing she remembered was how much the insides of her ribs stung.

Author's Note

"Pfff... No. You'll be fine. If a girl like me can handle it, I'm sure you can, you work horse. "

Before I Sleep

Shit. Applejack groaned to kingdom come before a chick yellow foreleg brushed her shoulder. The dazed and most groggy workhorse shifted over, only to hiss as her side stabbed itself. Agony drew a fresh tear from Jacquelyn before she heard a yellow whisper. God rays slew her vision as she was forced to eek out a shoddy understanding of some, saintly figure caressing her shoulder.

"A-Applejack, you need to stay still. You're getting treated for alcohol poisoning. You need to let the I.V drip still. So don't move too much or your scars might open." Flutterhy urged, silky and soft like butterfly wings.

"S... scars? I got scars? What happened... All I remember is suckin some dick. And that ain't anything but a Tuesday for me- Oh shit. I was suckin' on that dicklady, wasn't I. Now she's probably got a year's worth of foals up my taco." Thought Applejack, slurring into a yawn.

Her blunt hooves banged around for some sort of nourishment. A lukewarm veggieburger and some fries coaxed her drool. Just for a moment, she forgot to put on a bib and ate like her beloved Winona. Because why not. Her jaw already ached in some, subtle buggery. The taste of deep-fried oats, tobasco-kissed hay and low-sodium chips made it all better. When was the last time she could just eat a good old burger, the mare reminisced, eyeing her dulcet companion. Granted, she had a cheek full of food slop, so it must've looked awkward. It took Flutterslut a minute to start conversation.

"I... I came in to make sure you were okay. But you shouldn't worry about Ms. Li; she was the only one sober enough to call 911. Thankfully, Officer Doo wasn't too mad about Scootaloo being there. But she said your PO is gonna spend a little more time with you from now on."

Shit. Applejack sighed heavily as she tried to grab her alcohol canteen, but only found empty air. Another grit started in her teeth. What did a girl have to do to... get a drink around here. Her mind was... mixed. In places she didn't comprehend, Applejack had to change herself. Where a drink went, for the longest time, she went. College. High school. Her parents' divorce. Every loss she ever experienced. Now her one, true friend was a burden she couldn't bear. The light pouring in from her window seemed sardonic, to say the least. Everything was supposed to look beautiful. But... where she lay, everything was tinged with grey.

"... Fluttershy. Am... I gonna die?"

Her question drew a glance away.

"Cause, if I am, I don't wanna. I'm- I'm too young. Didn't ever get to see the Sistine Stable. Or the Taj Manehal. Never gotta have a foal of my own or be in an orgy, a-and I ain't done takin care of Applebloom or Big Mac. I- I don't wanna die, Fluttershy. I don't. I got t-too much... too..."

She found it hard to breathe without choking on air. Jacquelyn saw her little sister dozed off to the side of her bed. For the first time ever, she trembled and said the words 'I'm so sorry sugarcube. I'm so sorry you never got a better sister.'

Applejack hiccuped on her own, dry sobs as she clung to Applebloom and felt warm, light forelegs wrap over her stomach. Inside, a tight knot accompanied her pulsing heart. She ached knowing it was all her fault. To run from her problems, was to nourish them. Jacquelyn saw her sister wake and held her face in her hooves. And she bit her lip as they nuzzled her neck to a family lullaby. Her night came to a halt as Applejack was cradled in her little sister's hooves.

...

"... an addiction won't change me, no matter how you get." Applebloom finished, yawning deeply and falling asleep atop her parent.

Praise The Sun

A disgruntled incubus flopped down on Twilight's crystal chest. Bad idea. She didn't know it would hurt her ass so severely. Her Ass +3 was at risk. Lilith the deprived watched her bookworm confidante mash buttons on some console controller. Their muzzle scrunched in soft delight and frustration all at once. Twilight Sparkle gave cheer as she raved the words 'praise the sun!' In boastful volume. The incubus struggled to keep her poise as their display staggered her. What sort of celebration was it when she was spouting a video game catchphrase. Her highness glanced back and chuckled hot with embarrassment.

"Ah, so, you were there this whole time? Well, just in time to see me wreck some casuls, too. Sit down and let me teach you how to git gud, my friend." The alicorn cheered, clanking some of her heavy cosplay with movement.

"What are you wearing...?" Lilith hushed, somewhat curious about the painstaking replica of video game armor.

Twilight held the back of her head, resting at a bonfire Their peculiar station had a charred sword stuck betwixt it's flames. Such stark design, her noob friend noted, already resting a finger on her chin. She kicked up one knee while sitting and observing the curious costume.

"This is Heide Knight's armor. Really reminiscent of the Sunlight Armor from the first game. But I digress, let's see if Fluttershy is on. Then we can beat a boss with jolly cooperation~" Twilight cheered, snuggling a plushie of some buckethead knight pony.

Eldritch as ever, the scene made Lilith smile and even grin crookedly. Dorky as it seemed, she sort of liked being so... surrounded by joy. It was hours of seeing FlutterDie_216 and Princess_Spankle on screen that gave her a newfound appreciation for video games. They looked so happy. So immersed in their jolly cooperation. Ripostes to backstabs and parry daggers to katanas, she loved everything about it. Lilith figured, after Ms. Sparkle hoofed over the controller, it called her very soul.

She picked a deprived class and spent her first hours leveling. Her first interest was in the faith-based magic. So Lilith farmed and farmed with the aide of FlutterDie_216. After sometime, they acquired headsets from someplace behind the television.

"Ms. Li? Are you sure you want to be a Sunbro? I think the covenant of blood is easier to be in. And you don't run out of things to do, really." Inquired their yellow friend, who's aura was brilliant and magnificent.

"I-I do. After all, I love jolly cooperation." Lilith replied, smirking at her own joke.

It drew a giggle over the microphone.

"Shit!" The incubus spat, circling and rolling about their opponent.

"Fucking Havelyn scrub!" Lilith cursed again, only to throw a sunlight spear and strike them mid-roll.

Lilith gave a chortle. Then another. And another. She struck her gesture at the duel's end and said proudly 'praise the sun!' In her ear, a quaint 'woohoo' kissed the silent victory. Not only had she become a true sun...sis or bro, but Lilith learned the true meaning of friendship. And jolly cooperation. It was after their tireless excitement that the trio decided to meet at a local café. For some reason, they also agreed on coming in costumes. Miss Rarity handled the delivery for both her long-time friend's and her new acquaintance. One dealt with the original sunlight set. And then, for odd tastes or peculiar vision, Fluttershy requested wanderer gear. The carousel boutique served as a little rendezvous as they enjoyed a spot of hooflong tea.

Twilight Sparkle held held her cup and saucer at the lips.

"Now where should we go today, my fellow sunpones...?"

That nickname drew a peculiar grin from Fluttershy, who had the cup and plate at the table edge.

"We should eat some cakes at Sugarcube Corner. Tea cakes, maybe?"

Lilith nodded to say 'yes.'
.
Ah yes. Their plans decided and their next destination. Though the trio resembled tin cans rather than actual knights or warriors, nopony could ruin their day. Except, maybe, a few miscreants from the feral woods. Twilight went rigid as her ears perked up. A brush of silence passed and within the blink of an eye, they were two ponies without a third friend. She panicked and darted everywhere in the vicinity, calling and shouting every which decibel. No luck. No answers. When Princess Sparkle thought all hope was lost, she glanced up only to see a hooded Fluttershy. Shadow obscured her eyes as her faint murmur carried over.

"We can't give up on her. Let's look for Lilith... together."

The alicorn smirked.

"Jolly cooperation...?"

"Jolly cooperation." Fluttershy grinned, taking their hoof.

Lilith woke, her hands tied to some sort of scratchy bark. Their horns felt slick with dense, viscous something like the rest of her costume. Everything was a blur and distortion of her surroundings. Only after a long wind-up did she finally recognize her setting. It was dark. All over. Robed figures clad in navy blue mumbled in tongues and odd incantations. Yet, as luck would have it, she beheld a crack in the roofing and rays pouring in.

A lean, towering colt stared her down, his face shrouded and his physique, bulging at the shoulders.

"Foul creature... Be you equal to Her majesty, or be you less, you are an abomination to our kind." He growled, hissing at the end of every word.

He presented a dagger with a wicked tip; it tapered to a fine point. In the center lay a red jewel, which was socketed in the shape of some insect. A scarab or the sort. Lilith struggled to break free of her binds, just barely out with one wrist. It spoke again as the chants grew louder. Every word dug beneath her skin and found home.

"What be your last words, creature...?"

Lilith suctioned all the rank, musty air she could before belting the answer skyward.

'Praise the sun, motherfucker...!' she boomed, shrill and dry after it all echoed throughout the woods.

A sharp, inward sting penetrated her torso. The incubus shook briefly as she looked down and identified it as her lungs. With one, free hand, she gripped the plunged knife, tore it out and stabbed her captor in riposte. It growled a soft 'you... fiend' and struck her cheek. It burned. Her adrenaline numbed their strike. But her vision faded. It all withered away as she saw a familiar puff of lavender smoke.

An angel came along and galloped toward her before the world turned black.

A smile spread across her bruised lip as she thought aloud, choking the breath away,

'If only I could be so grossly incandescent.'

Author's Note

"Be you equal to Her majesty, or be you less, you are an abomination to our kind."

Haha. This was my favorite chapter. They're so flattering. And I got to play hero.

Kindness

Fluttershy really wanted to lay down. Her garden looked cozy. Comfy, even. Why not. Why not just lay there and do nothing for an eternity. A comely, pale pair of legs knelt beside her. Fluttergutter stared up at that dollish face. At her features rather reflective of the sun that shined down on them.

"... Miss Li? What are you doing here...?" She whispered, rolling about in the rich soil below.

"... I-I was just bringing you some roses. As thanks for everything, I guess. Lame present, I know. But you should stop lying in the dirt and maybe rest in bed. That's better for your ribs, right?"

Fluttershy blankly darted her eyes about before stumbling to her hooves. She guided her friend by shuffling into the living room and flopping about the nearest sofa. Her impact completely ruined the cushion placement and slid one over her neck. Along the sides of her barren neck were indents on the coat and one, reddened line. How utterly horrifying. Lilith noticed that the gaping hole was still present in her house. She took no time in carrying the pegasus upstairs. Into bed, she flopped. And nowhere did Lilith clop. Instead, her eyes snooped about as she sat on the opposing edge of her host's mattress. The many pillows accounted for a titanic amount of comfort. Along the few, wooden furnishings were topped with portraits of Fluttershy and... no one else. Just her. By herself. And if those peculiar portraits weren't just of her, they included torn spaces where other ponies would be.

Along the walls, pygmy dolls and similar, faceless mannequins were nailed or stapled up. A closer look revealed that the only mirror in Fluttershy's house, which came attached to a table, was painted over with black. Cherry lipstick was smeared against it, reading words that said 'happily ever after.' Those words were also crossed-out.

Lilith felt eyes on the back of her head. Slowly, she turned around.

The lump beneath the blankets was still present. Fluttershy was still asleep. She stepped carefully about the carpeted floor before watching the bed in exit. Finding what she did in that room gave second thoughts about staying. But it also gave her second thoughts about... staying pleasant friends. Fluttershy was not okay. Not by any stretch of the imagination. And that was why, maybe with a little faith and a little time, they could try to be friends.

A stir came from the bed behind her. As much as Lilith wanted to procure some sort of security, she'd have to settle for her belief in kindness. The mare stretched and went prone before yelping at Lilith's presence. Shit. Shit. Shit. Fluttershy trembled as she kicked the sheets away and scrambled out of bed.

"Wait...!" Called her friend, hushed as ever and reaching toward her.

A whine and whimper slipped away from trembling lips.

"Miss Fluttershy... I don't care what's in your room. Or what I should think. All I know is that you're alone. And that's not a good thing to be. So. So let me help. I don't have anywhere to go, either."

The words dug deep and hit home. Her passion struck a nerve no torture could inspire. It made her woozy and feel off-key. Nopony ever knew about who Fluttershy was beneath the smile. Beneath the sad kindness of a quiet mare with no one to come home to. Before she could numb herself again and pretend to be okay, Fluttershy looked up at someone she quite admired. For quite sometime, in fact.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. But I like being around you. Keep me safe... Nopony else will. They're all gone." She said, stumbling forward and falling into a their arms.

"Everyone was so happy... With you. With each other. And they had their family. But no one... no one had time for me."

Author's Note

Commendable romance. But we all know I'm a better match.

Faith

Fluttershy sat on her familiar bench in Ponyville's central park. It was littered with ponies and pets, boasting a wide array of species far as the eye could see. Tortoise. Dog. Domesticated wolf. Somepony even brought a giant, defanged black widow. They were asking for it, she noted in her troubled mind. The sun shined brightly to mock her. And beneath the smiles of the owners and families gathered about, she saw very little hope for all of them. She went for deep, winded breath and recoiled breathlessly. Her ribs ached and stabbed hotly at her fatigued flesh. Fluttershy stumbled to her hooves and darted her eyes about for somepony familiar. Anypony. Especially... her; that pink-haired something.

Was her attraction shallow, she thought silently, spotting Twilight and Spike discussing passionate subjects. Every step closer made her wonder. What if Lilith were popular with someone else. What if they left her because she was too scared to rush in. Or what if... someone else had the girl and needed her love more. A cluster of bitter scenarios swarmed her wandering mind.

Spike waved his arms about in dejected passion, answering something from Twilight.

"So what if Sombra is gone forever...? He enslaved an entire city. And he broke their minds. How honorable or good is that? And how does it help us in our investigation. You don't really think They're followers of his, do you?"

Before she could answer, the alicorn princess shut her mouth and greeted their friend. It came on somewhat hushed tones, clearly a sign of great duress. Because all the commandeering she'd done with the mane six made shouting habitual. They met each other with silent glances and air blowing every which way, deciding to take it elsewhere. Somewhere more inconspicuous. Fluttershy had her guilty dip in those brows. Pacing around the stones only took so long to take them to a local hayburger joint. There, idle chatter was disregarded by the obnoxious chewing in one's cheek. Or the swallowing that struck a pony with soft, gutteral noise.

"Fluttershy," Twilight started, opening her burger to make it half-wrapped.

"You've been quiet today. What's wrong...?"

Her observations were always so effective. Not only did Twilight know she was troubled, but she calculated the utter lack of exchange between them. At least normal Fluttershy... tried to talk. Or whimper. Even scream. This Fluttershy was no such mare. Without hesitation, she crammed a hoof's worth of fries and chewed slowly, the molten mush bulging her chipmunk cheeks.

What could she say. How would Twilight feel. How would anypony feel. They needed someone like Miss Li. Not somepony else. Not anyone from that town or Equestria by origin. They needed her, she convinced herself deep inside. It took root and consumed her. Fluttershy finally spoke, staring fondly toward the exit.

"I... I don't wanna talk about it."

Twilight's mouth hung open.

"You... you don't want to talk about it?"

"NopebyeIhavetogotendmybrusselsproutfarmnowhaha-"

Fluttershy scrambled out with no trouble whatsoever. And, in her panic, the poor, poor pegasus practically plunged into a panicked prance, pulverizing her pretty pony parts on some photorealistic ponyvile parlor trick. Instead, her cheeks, pelvis, stomach and ribs were... crushed against a magical construct. Twilight cursed, kicking the grass with her right forehoof. Implementing a memory of Olde Ponyville like that...

It was quite sometime after that the mare found nothing but medical wraps and triage. In her room. Over her fluffy coat of plush, immature fur. She took a deep, silent breath as they slipped back into reality. The windows were all shut. Yet, every drop of cool condensation bled through the glass. It filled her with wonder at the marvelous scope of life's cycle. That which was lost could come back in some way. In some format or shape of existence, whether the sum was greater or lesser than before it went to hell. A few, gathered flowers sat in a vase beside her bed, atop a purple and crystalline nightstand. Twilight had peculiar tastes in...

roses.

It all came rushing back to her as she remembered the day before. Lilith. The name brought soft tears edging along their tired ducts. How many times had she heard their name. Peaking through the windows revealed it was far too dark to be anywhere near afternoon. And yet, even with time's passage, she remembered the trivial pondering from her morning prior. Was it right for her to be with someone she knew could do better. To truly take their affection from somepony else. It hung her head in silence, drawing their hoof upon the chilled glass. Roaring thunder struck the air outside while she felt her heart rip in two.

"I wish she was here..." Fluttershy whispered, starting into a throaty whimper.

"Wish who was here?" Lilith asked, sitting at the foot of her bed, reading a dusty old tome.

She yelped. And then she sprung off the bed. Only to gingerly walk back to her bed, then spring a trap of 1987 years of frustrated happiness all over Lilith. Tears streamed down her face in jubilant, blaring gratitude. Fluttershy made her eyes go wide with a kiss that pressed their lips firmly together. Then her tongue circled about their slimy maw, lathering about the incubus' teeth and mouth muscle. Wishes were pushed out of her ear-to-ear-grin as she hushed the words

'You, Miss Li... I want you to stay here till I get better. With your help, if you want that is...."

Author's Note

It hurts so much when we lose our innocence for the first time.

Lyrical Spiritual Miracle

Lilith listened to the latest Big Band trumpet compositions, finding a rather sexy and very smooth jazz beat. A spliced rhythm of little hi-hats and snares accompanied the amazing music. She stopped brushing her teeth and rapped some stupid shit with toothpaste in her mouth, doing it out of ironic joy. All the while, she did those calculated hand movements most, famous rappers employed.

"Uh, yeah, well- I like to eat miracles and deliver cures for the common cold, with my dick out there and so long and cold they call it a pike because all I do is fuck dykes like an american pie and though my raps are shit I like to test this biz despite everyone's behest at the best I can do at four in the morning; so at least I know more than the rap gods are mourning for a lost epic I've stranded at sea, it's words of hum and glum miracles and debacles of an Odyssy never coming back for the world to see."

Her rhymes cut short from her laughing, unable to take no more as toothpaste gunk foamed out her lips. It landed in the sink and began to fall all out. Into the sink, it drained and water came out the faucet as it rained. Lilith almost checked her face for a mustache before yelping in shock.

Fluttershy was standing there the whole time. The abstract and brain-numbed image of her hanging mouth struck her incubus beloved. Crap. Lilith rubbed the back of her head in both empty thoughts and confusion.

"Uh... You know I'm glad I can't feel awkward, at least. Yeah, it's a dorky habit, but it makes me-"

"N-no I... I really liked it. I'm really feeling it, Lilith. How did you do that, though. How d-do you rhyme your words so fast and fluently. Do-do you practice or is there a talent you need...?" Fluttershy confessed, also hovering about the bathroom door, timidly no less and looking away.

The incubus glanced back in progressing shock.

"Uh... Well, it's about practice and rhythm. The thing most people don't understand about rap is that you have to know your accent and vocal habits first. So if I have a slur or I get easily tongue-tied, I have to know my limits. And if I can remember certain words or concepts better, I use that. If you're a fighter, you rap about fighting. Or if you like making jokes, you rap about silly things. Um... Rapping is like a form of poetry: you know how you feel and you translate your emotions by speaking two languages, yours and the world's."

The advice took her to heights never explored. Uncharted skies inspired her and lit pyre in her heart chamber. What could she do now but gallop out and test that newfound knowledge. Wandering fantasies about being so much better bleached her eyes and brought a smile to fruition. It was art. A part of the soul. A part of Miss Li's soul. The pegasus planted another, wet kiss along their lips. Fluttershy grinned and lowered herself, lathering something at the tip to make her feel good. She teased that rising polearm with a few flicks and shoves against the small, virgin-friendly crown.

Before her mate could react, she trotted out, giggling to herself about blue-balling them.

"Fuck..." Lilith hushed, biting her lip and sucking between her teeth.

"I should chase after her and take her pussy. But then it'd make all the Flutterfags rage quit... Oh well. I'll just finish rinsing my mouth out because why did I never wash the paste away. Continuity is dumb sometimes. Like why did I stay at Twilight's library instead of her castle a few chapters ago. Isn't that inconsistent."

The princess herself materialized inside with some strange, parental fake-happiness and answered her impossible claims. Everyone knew the writer was always write. No authur kould make miss steaks.

"These jokes are way too on the nose, you duck."

"What?" The incubus asked, tilting her head.

"Nothing. I made the regrown remains of my library tree into a Memory of Old Ponyville. And I didn't steal this from anywhere. Now, on with the show- I mean story- I mean fanfiction!" Twilight declared, pulling red curtains toward each other.

Fluttershy was on her BigMacBook, which covered her features with faint, navy blue light. She scrolled about and thought aloud, clicking and scrolling best she could with such blunt marshmallow limbs.

"Let's see... no, not Rumblr, I already hate whiny teenagers and not HorseChan because I don't wanna look at porn uploaded by basement sociopaths. I could go on Rekkit and make a dumb comment while being ironically intelligent and have a giggle while they downboat me... No, I... I wanna go on HoofTube. Oh, but what if I find a genuinely insensitive comment and call them out, but they call me a Social Justice Warrior because they find any semblance of morality too 'politically correct', while really hiding their own selfish lack of self-awareness."

Her eyes meandered upwards, a forehoof on their chin.

"Well. They're just dumb trolls then, aren't they. I'll go to Hooftube to learn about rap."

A surprising video popped up. Some person in a pink suit was huffing and puffing over fried rice. Then he had a seizure and fell to the ground with epileptic prayers to a penis god or... some ungodly nonsense. Fluttershy winced as she stifled her laugh. She lost it when the man with explorer clothes walked in talking about loving omelettes. Fluttershy got high with her continuous and raging chortle throughout the unlit bedroom. It echoed even to the bathroom while she struggled to calm down and fell atop her keyboard reading the comments.

"Ay gimme de pusi b0ss-!" Fluttershy recited, howling in a fit of chuckles.

She fell off her chair and grew grim and muscular. Only a moment passed before she gripped her office chair and stood up, breathing firmly for the first time in ever. Her ribs were healing. And she was growing toward so much more. Nothing could stop her from becoming a boss. Not the sun exploding or a man in a neon pink bodysuit. Fluttershy glanced back at the pink guy.

"I... will gibe you de pusi, Lilith. I promise." She whispered, clenching her hoof and staring up with sheer will.

Author's Note

Filler that isn't complete garbage.

Happily Ever After

Lilith watched her head as she entered that decorated doorway. A few stickers and crayon drawings caught her eye on the way in. Their sweetness lingered like any other fragrance from Fluttershy. She stepped inside and found a sleeping mare. Her better half, so to speak. They were both reserved in some eay and expected highly of themselves, while struggling to come to terms with their reflections. Mirrors were appalling because they could never hide what she wanted gone. A jet black reminder met her gaze, prompting Lilith to wander over and inspect the lipstick art.

"Happily ever after, huh...?" Lilith smirked, closing her eyes as she seated atop the table.

"I didn't believe in those either. I still don't, to be honest. But I'm not giving up on my happy ending... And if only you knew, Miss Fluttershy." The doll stated, blank and staring at the timeless, slumbering mare beside her.

She handled a miscellanic item from along the desk. And though it never seemed too obtrusive or striking, Lilith groped along it's flat chest and porcelain features. The dress was colonial or very close to it. Various ruffles and silky cloth showed a perfect, pretty someone with a cherubian smile. Her cheeks were swimming in touches of rose red. And their eyes, eternal when stared into, were a murky tar color. Lilith found her beautiful. But their heart skipped no beat, nor found timeless rest in those eyes. The only one capable of either held a firm station between her ribs. Fluttershy was a chocolate dagger lodged into her being. Her very core. And that was because the waves brought them together when all was lost. And through thick and thin, she felt their smile thaw her to nothing.

"I'd like to help you find... happily ever after."

Lilith glanced back, hesitating in what to do before laying down. She took a space above Fluttershy, gently lowering herself upon the sleeping mare. Her equine love fidgeted softly, unsure of how to react to such bold advances from her blanket. The mare went lax and whimpered in her throat. Soon, her back pressed the sheets as a certain incubus splayed her hindlegs. Rich, fluffy coat tensed her between her legs. Another whimper escaped before her muzzle was muffled by scratchy, working palms. A grin crept onto Lilith's features. Because she found it... perfect. In some way, she knew sleep was the best setting for intimacy. Her small, disproportionate tip probed inside her sleeping beauty's lips. She held them down at the elbows, grinding into her sweetness. All her heat made the mare trickle. Fluttershy even parted her mouth, unconscious and upon instinct, as if she were made for it.

Lilith slid into her mate, finding it more like a squeeze than anything. Her swollen shaft drew several, tiny squishes against her. The incubus tensed as her marefriend jerked her hindleg. That wouldn't do, she hushed aloud, lifting it by the ankle. Her hips grew firm and thorough, spreading parts even the luscious Fluttershy never explored herself. It hit home and drove her hips up, forcing her to press down and pin them still. Her eyelids anchored , threatening to blind her with every taste of tense, twitching Fluttershy. Lilith gasped as she struck her muff at the bottom. A shrill whine passed her fuck as they trembled awake and stared up, creaming herself all over their cock. Pressing, swollen walls sucked her prick off deep within, forcing them both into bubbly heat. Lilith giggled playfully, leaning forward and touching noses. Her timid mate let her mouth drop open in one, constant moan. Fluttershy had a high, girlish pipe. Hearing her struggle to keep it that way showed just how hard her body fought to say 'you've won.' Sloppy, squishy noise echoed in her ears while Miss Lilith drove herself into some, silly crush she happened to find along the way. Fluttershy's eyelids fell low as possible before flickering in telltale signs of becoming her's. The vacant rigidity of her hindlegs gave a clear, primal signal. Before she could think, not that she could regardless, Fluttershy was assaulted with deep, constant strikes against her little chamber. It forced her in some perpetual wink, locking both hindlegs against her body.

"Miss... Miss Lilith.... M... Master... Lilith." She strained to whimper, unable to escape air loss.

All her heat exploded as her crush dug into her with slow, hard pounds. Squirt after squirt milked her gooey spot, choking them both with harsh, breathless gasps. Ropes of rich, thick cream tingled her tightness and struck every spot inside her, forcing both to mindlessly pound their hips together and shiver. The remnants of their demolishing orgasm left Fluttershy and her Master twitching minutes on-end. Despite the tenderizing so lovingly pounded into Fluttershy and her Master's thickness, they went on for hours. By the time they finished, the sheets were a sticky mess and somepony dropped coldly asleep.

Paradise Lost

"Dusk! Get out of the vines! You'll leave a blood trail!" Barked Adagio, soaring through all the green thicket and wincing as her scales were nicked.

The tips of branches and serrated invasive growths drained her strength away. Flying was challenging when magical. Her thundering heart skydived when she saw a metallic gleam in the sun-splotched darkness. Sonata Dusk cried out for her only, living friend. She bolted on her hooves, ugly and stricken by both her injuries from the escape and the pain of watching somepony decapitate her childhood companion. She galloped. And galloped. And galloped. No more, she sobbed, jumping in panic from a puff of smoke. No more. Sonata Dusk ran a corner into some well-adjusted cottage window. She struck the floorboards and crashed against her palms and facial regions. The grieving siren sobbed herself into the fetal position as she bled warm, salted red and repeated 'Adagio.'

All her physical trauma took a toll and slowly, but surely, stuck her into dreamland.

Vivid recollections of seeing her corpse struck the girl. It was headless and limp, striking an oak of sorts before the head slid off. The slaughter warped her body into a hell of coughing and vomitting into wake. She shook, horrified at what happened in so little time. A cold sweat plagued her flesh even when she discovered she lay in bed with puke-pregnant sheets. Miss Dusk led herself out of bed, bundling the gross covers into a sack of sorts with her fingertips. They were set onto the floor as she sniffles softly. Another sniffle would've drawn more tears, if she didn't smell something... familiar.

"T... tacos?" The siren inquired, shuffling timidly about their room.

To the exit. Well. To the exit before someone opened it. Sonata froze. Her eyes welled with tears from sheer, unexpected terror at the idea that she was next. Maybe the killer found her. The fears never stopped running even as her host asked the words 'Soanata Dusk?'

In an absent stupor, she replied with a hesitant nod, putting her hands at her chest. The pink-haired humanoid welcomed her with supper. Tacos. And anchovies on the side. She didn't know what to do. How to react. Instead of saying anything, she took the tray, set it on a nearby table and embraced her host. She clung for dear life, shaking, trembling and streaming from her wobbling eyes. Her lip trembled as her throat cracked in whimpered pleas. Her painful hiccups struck Sonata nearly unintelligible.

"P-please... Tell me th-i-i-is i-isn't a d-d-dream."

Lilith closed her eyes and held them loosely, keeping their cheek against her collarbone.

"No... It's not a dream, Miss Dusk. I promise. When we're all full of tortilla and lettuce, you can tell me all about how you got here. It's okay, you know. You're safe."

The words choked back her piercing sobs. And though she couldn't say a word, she held her lips shut with both hands to say 'thank you' with murkey eyes while the thunder raged outside. Inside that cottage she'd hide whatever died inside her the moment they lost a friend to lies. The water down her cheeks, drying ane chaffing her sea-hued skin, that was no disguise. She just felt too- not just a siren but a weakling in guise, could she do anything but hurt like a child without sleepovers and lullabies. No. Sonata Dusk gave her trust as she sat down and fought her emotions one versus all the water in the sky.

Sonata Dusk knelt down and ate it all to feel okay ,
hoping her favorite dish could make the rain go away.

Author's Note

"She bolted on her hooves, ugly and stricken by... the pain of watching somepony decapitate her childhood companion."

" Her thundering heart skydived when she saw a metallic gleam in the sun-splotched darkness."

Did You Even Try

Fluttershy kept to crossing her forelegs, eyeing her love with the stare. Lilith only grinned in response, shrugging and glancing elsewhere, her hands up in some form of jest.

"Good luck with that. I'm already hypnotized when we lock eyes." She stated, drawing a warm, red heat to her mare's cheeks.

Fluttershy bit her lip and approached gently. They were both rather new to this love thing. Or, rather, only Fluttershutter was. How hopeless, she thought, sighing and laying their cheek on Master's lap. She brushed her rich, blood-rushed coat all over her soft, pale skin. Because what else was there to do but crave the touch of who stole her breath away. Nothing, they would say. Nothing at all. She glanced up, finding the courage to stare entranced inside her fishy, grey-blue orbs.

"I... I'm sorry master. I'm just worried you'll find someone else. I-I know I'm boring and you don't like hurting me that much." Fluttershy whispered, whimpering lithely while Master stroked her cotton candy mane.

"No I... I understand that. I do. Wait. You're not boring. Don't ever say that. I love

everything about you. But you don't have to worry, okay? I'm yours. And you're mine. I've gone through enough to know you're the only one for me. I'm... tired of never settling in. Let's stay in love. And never let go." Lilith murmured, picking her up and kissing one, hot mare on her lap.

It sprung her wings out, turning them rigid. Fluttershy would've continued with her eyes closed, but she eyed the laptop behind Lilith. She licked and lathered every which inch of her gooey cavern, scouting the insides of her incubus lover. They started fucking each other's throats before a notification struck her eye. Fluttershy parted them for a split second, wincing softly. Her eyes rolled skyward when she speared herself on Lilith's impossible girth. It stung her canal as the pegasus bit her lip and read over her mate's shoulder. She yelped when her body jumped up and down every few moments. Fluttershy buried her muzzle against their dense trapezium, squirting hard and twitching when Lilith continued to batter her tender insides.

"A-aah... Master... y-your notification says you got another thumbs-down on your fanfiction. W-why do you have so many dislikes?"

That made her giggle, making her gut constrict and forcing Fluttershy to rock up in pleasure.

"It's because people don't like my writing. That or they think my main character is stealing their waifu. Even though I totally put subtext inside several chapters to establish their romance. I make one sex scene between two characters and people treat it like real NTR." Lilith answered, slowing into some, womb-probing, circular grind.

"O-ow... It hurts when you're so deep. But I-I like hurting." Her pegasus cooed, dropping limply as she was hammered hard and felt her ass jiggling back and forth.

"M-master... m-maybe they're just angry it's not them." Proposed her little toy, aching to just lay down and take it from behind.

All her nerves were lit ablaze, forcing her complete cooperation. Fluttershy fought the urge to just slam her hips down and help Master get off deep inside her. What sensations she could ignore excluded the ripe impact of girlcock slamming against her womb. From what she knew about humans, that was impossible. They both tensed as Master responded in calm, collected phrases between hilts and thrusts.

"I-I thought so too, but- nnnhfuck... I thought they'd understand I was writing the story mostly off my life. And- the characters- aren't based off of themselves, but people I've been with~ It's like people don't even notice all the little details and allegories or symbols in my work~ They're just~ reading it in hopes of anon porn~"

They struggled not to burst. Lilith touched noses with her sopping, braindead better half, thumping hard as she met every hilt. It'd start obnoxious clapping in-between their burning loins, meeting both with the same, animal need to be one.

"Those interested in the porn regardless, or those who love my story for the little details and careful execution, though~ I love having them around. They're such nice, open-minded people~ And my next chapter will be random clop of their choice probably~ Or whatever they want... F-fuck..." Lilith rambled, forcing her to bite her lip and squirt.

Fluttershy went limp and lost her voice, finishing over and over, clinging to her Master...

Master was such a dork. But her dick was as big as her heart to Fluttershy, who licked their cheek and hushed 'mine.'

Author's Note

To all the fans: congratulations

Indecision

Rainbow watched her reflection as she wiped the fog away. She wanted something different out of that mirror. Maybe someone less selfish. Someone more delicate or even stronger girlfriend material. What else would she want to be except more than she could ever hope to be. It ended with her staring at the absence of somepony pink and fluffy in their den of inequity. Was it really too much to consider them, she pondered, brushing her teeth. The mint always cleared her sinus and eliminated the horrid gunk taste. She hacked from morning pains, mucus thick and black with rubber tastes all over her sink. Rainbow rinsed and soon after, she switched to lighting a cancer stick. She didn't quite know how to feel. The rumors about her ex writing fanfiction worried her. Well. That and her being engaged in a relationship with Fluttershy, who was also an old flame. What they could do to her reputation among the other six, she shivered, hugging herself on the front porch.

The Earth below was so inviting. How warm and cozy would it be to just... fall asleep in the salient embrace of the underground. She imagined a crisp, musty darkness forever silencing her. To tell her what to say: nothing, and to give her a reason to sleep. It was half past noon when she decided to glide down into Ponyville, nervous about approaching somepony. Fluttershy would know what to do. That mare always pulled through for her, no matter who the love or mate. Although time ran past them, she had to look back now that everyone else won the race. Twilight was busy with Celestia knew what. Applejack had her jaundice or whatnot. Fluttershy was with She-Knew-Who. Rarity was down with some sort of posting near the Ponyville and Everfree border by the South End. And Pinkie was out actually enjoying life as herself. Rainboe glanced up and winced, cringing at how she almost struck a door again due to distraction.

The cottage. Rainbow Dash made her way toward it and remembered memories of when or where to sit and what not to say when guests were over. To no avail, she looked elsewhere. The silent hurt of being there crept along her fluid expression, leaving it to fall down her cheeks in rapid succession. Tears in her chest and muscles worn down by aggressive training struck all at once. Rainbow collapsed in memories of a place she'd forgotten. In the madness of running from her heart, she ran from heaven and home, too. Till today she didn't have to remember how it felt to miss anyone.

But she did. And continued to do so. Her collapsed figure lay silent beneath the shrubbery of the Everfree. It was there she stared at Fluttershy and Lilith, who didn't keep any distance between them. And so it went like her will to run, shaking Rainbow to the core. It was dark by the time she woke, eyes aching and heart swollen with acid. The pegasus took flight and hesitated, glancing back at her life without dependency and glancing back at happiness.

Happiness was best shared.

Our Dreams Yesterday Said Goodbye To

Rainbow woke between the brush she became so familiar with. And each day she'd visit, It'd make her yearn for her old life. To be care free. To be taken care of. She could only laze about as her hunger pains started and tore through her tough girl attitude. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. Get up, she whispered, unable to do so. Rainbow needed to get back to her old life. To the people she knew for that short time away, Rainbow Dash crawled. Her belly cut about on tiny thorns and wild, gnarled vines invading Fluttershy's property. The sun felt hot against her back, irritating every fiber of her coat. The mare struggled to stay conscious. Stay up, she cursed. Stay awake, she rasped, feeling her pupils shrink and rattle about.

It was no use. Hunger, dehydration and gradual muscular atrophy struck in one, deadly assault. Her eyelids collapsed, forcing her blind and dumb to the dangers surrounding. Rainbow couldn't even fight as she felt herself lifted from the grassy earth. Along came an angel, she swore, feeling rough-kissed fingers beneath her stomach fur.

Her eyes sprung open and she gasped awake. A voice called her from the black. As she rubbed tired from her heavy, groggy lids, she discerned a humanoid figure with their back toward her, stoking a fireplace. Her cottage smelled like it always did, except with more pine and vanilla. Lilith spoke in her trademark hush, only turning her head to indicate attention. They didn't make eye-contact.

"I heard about you and Big Mac."

"Wh... what about him?"

Lilith crossed her arms and lowered her head.

"Yes. What about him. Did you have fun leaving and never coming back. Because I didn't." The incubus spat, cold and quiet as they smoked cancer.

Rainbow gripped her sheets. Even though she was so weak from the depression, her body has no right to deny her. She wanted to dash over and slap her. To grab her by the throat and never have to hear her stupid, little murmur ever again.

"I was fucked up when Pinkie tried to kill herself! I didn't want anything to do with my old life anymore and you know that! You think it's easy to take?! You think I felt good knowing I picked my lover over my friends...? I-I died hearing she tried to exhaust herself to death. Pinkie went through all that pain and all I could do w-was sit here and forget her. That's-"

Lilith cut her off by striking the fireplace with her palm, actually chipping some of the stone. Strangely, her hand didn't do more than peel off dead skin.

"That's a big deal, I know. I understand you felt horrible your friend tried to die. I've gone through it too. Only thing different was me not leaving. I blamed myself for her attempt just as much as you. You didn't see me bailing on someone who needed me. We did all that in a few days. We fell in love for a few days and all you could do was run."

"Stop, okay-!" Rainbow cried, hoarse and scratchy from her prior dehydration.

Her eyes wavered for the girl who wasn't even facing her.

"You had all those other girls... You could have gone to anyone but you didn't. You took Fluttershy. And now you're trying to guilt me about leaving you? Why?! I had a reason to leave... I couldn't take it anymore. So I ran, okay. That's all I can do. I -It's all I've ever done." She growled, taking to a high-pitched, straining whine.

The incubus blew some smoke from her mouth and replied, her tone barely changing from blank to disgusted.

"I never stopped having feelings for you, genius. I tried to move on because I couldn't take the fact that someone I gave the world to skipped out on me. She sold me short and left me in a minefield. I begged her to be reasonable, and then she spread her wings for someone else... The other girls aren't fucking capable of loving me. And Fluttershy... has been gone for ten days. I'm sure you could tell me all about how I have someone to love. But I'm not talking because I'm salty. I'm addressing you so you don't do this shit again."

A moment of quiet spread over Rainbow. Her eyes stopped shaking. A pain struck her chest and kept the mare from breathing well. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't her fault.

"I wasn't trying to break your heart, okay? I didn't try to hurt you. I-I'm just trying to forget how much it hurt. I never got to be with Big Mac, even though I had feelings before. Now I do and... and I thought you were with Fluttershy because we... were over." Rainbow whispered, gritting her teeth while listening.

Lilith blew smoke, staying statue-esque as the cancerous fog lingered all around. Her hair was long when they first met. And though she could've been Hercules, the ordeal her heart endured made her Achilles. She spoke again with her heels exposed, not turning back to face Rainbow Dash.

The incubus tilted her head up and stared into nothing.

"I didn't have a choice. You left without talking it through. And I wanted to die. Since my wife... you were the first girl I loved since. We didn't fight often, you and I. We didn't fight much at all. We got along. And I took care of you. Why wouldn't I feel this way. It wasn't a break-up. It was betrayal. It's not the fact that we were over. I knew me and Fluttershy were suffering. So I went to her. And I fell in her arms. Because I thought the mare of my dreams abandoned me forever." Lilith murmured, taking another drag and savoring it, before exhaling nice and slow.

"... I love her. I do. I wish she was here. I can't stand being away from her. She means the world to me. It's just that she's been leaving more often. Without talking. Without being affectionate. I know that sometimes, she doubts her capability in a relationship and it clouds her judgement. But it's been getting worse and worse; to the point where she's stopped talking to me and disappeared constantly. I know it's not fair for her, because she's always neck-high in shit. But both of you haven't been your best. And I ask... Why the fuck not. Is it hard to be here when I take care of you so extensively. Is it just that easy to forget what we've felt and been through."

A crack of thunder struck the house, rumbling harshly in Rainbow's ears. The mare shook and curled into herself. The sheets became a distant, phantom comfort as she clung to them. Lilith stepped over, turning around and approaching. When Dashie caught a glimpse of her face, she saw raw, red cheeks, the glisten and film of water still struggling to evaporate.

Lilith held her and clenched her fists, wishing she could rip her throat out. And Rainbow held too, wishing she could rip her throat out, too.

"I... I'm sorry, Lily..." Rainbow cracked, shuddering as sobs erupted out her frail pipe.

"I... I just can't be with you. I can't be more than friends. I kn-know you don't wanna hear it, but I-I never got my feelings back for you...!" Rainbow whispered, choking on her own, discordant rhythm of hiccups.

"Don't hate me- please don't hate me Lily- I'm-mm-m sorry; I'm s-s-so-rry...!"

"Stop..." Lilith whispered, kissing her scalp, never letting go.

"I'd never hate you. But you should realize one thing. About us supposedly being friends. If we were just friends, we wouldn't need each other like this. And you wouldn't be able to cry here... against me. Friends are friends. Friends don't feel this way after what we went through."

The curtain closed on them. For now. Resting there, in the same bed, as different people altogether, they stayed closer than ever and never met. A swirling emptiness took their minds as they tried to feel safe in each other's company, resting battered and bloody from all their memories crashing down in reckless floods. Lilith held her long-lost happily ever after while she waited for her better half, not capable of loving anyone else. Everyone else was in the water, swimming away. Fluttershy was there somewhere, among the rolling waves and sea monsters deep below . She wanted to swim. But how could anyone swim... when they were scared of water in the first place.

"What about Fluttershy..." Rainbow whispered.

"I love her. Make no mistake. I'm just tired of waiting for someone who's too scared to need me. That's bullshit. Because life is too short for being afraid. When you're so close to happiness, you can't let it slip by. I learned that loving someone isn't about how exciting it is. Or how many new things you can see... Loving someone is fighting for them, till you can't stand and you wobble over from the pain. But you pick yourself up and remember they're more important than the pain... A relationship... is you two versus the world."

She felt a hoof against her hair, brushing along oily, workout-drenched hair fibers. Her cyan coat stuck to Lilith's bare skin and felt right. They might've felt happy if things could ever be the way they used to be. But, for now, they just cherished being alive. Rainbow buried her muzzle into their naked chest.

"... Lilly?"

"Hn...?"

"I'm sorry I ran away. I'm sorry for everything."

"Don't be, hn... I wouldn't be here without you. I wouldn't have her. And I wouldn't have you."

Author's Note

Sigh.

Third Down

Most people might've moved on by then. But Lilith sat atop her stool in that same manner, staring up and smoking cancer, forgetting how it felt to be safe. She recalled the times that week when Fluttershy stopped by or crossed paths with her, only to trot away or spend time with their friends. Fluttershy must've heard how her and Rainbow 'made up.' But that wasn't true. In fact, the two did far from make up. Each day spent away was devoted to arguing with the pegasus to change her approach to life in general. To not run. To not flee. To not collapse or blame when it truly mattered. It wasn't a resurrected relationship, that much she knew. Bits and pieces of her bond with Fluttershy embedded in her addled brain like shrapnel. Lilith bunched her own mane and clutched, sure her mind would heal if it was ripped out. If she could just tear it out and be an empty vessel, she'd at least stop hurting. It'd stop hurting so much.

The incubus stood from her seat, ignoring the wobbliness in her injured knees. The stiff and harsh motion of her calves, ankles and outer thigh muscles made her grit her teeth. Her eyes widened as her legs buckled and her face ate the grass.

"For... fuck's sake... Is this all you've got?" Lilith cursed, pushing up with her elbows, only to muffle a scream of pain with her teeth.

The wounds of exerting herself too often struck. Glass and needles stabbed her pectorals, forcing her to grit one more time and stand on one knee. Gloves. She needed her gloves. Twas all she had to save herself from the madness. If she had her gloves, Lilith wouldn't feel weak anymore. All the dead and ripped musculature in her biceps, triceps, deltoids and core tightened in pushing herself up. The incubus, bleeding from her mouth, coughed into her palm and tossed her gelatinous sanguine out of sight.

Twilight crept out of the corner of Fluttershy's Cottage, slinking over and whispering in greeting.

"Lilith...? It's been three weeks. You haven't rested enough. Please. Calm down..."

"I... I can't. I can't fucking take it. I need to work off this fucking quiet. Yeah, I ran myself into the ground training. It's stupid, I know. I'm bleeding it hurts me so much. But who cares. I'm dying anyway without someone here. Why not die doing something I love?"

Twilight Sparkle kept her eyes low and took a step back.

"It's not worth it. You can't just break everytime you don't work out in a relationship. You have to be strong so that one, great girl can make up for all the shit that's happened... You need to stop hurting yourself."

Lilith tried to reply, but all she mustered was a grunt. She clutched her left side and ground her teeth together. Before she knew it, stabbing agony twisted her face. It was in her heart. She fell to the ground and knelt there, deaf to the noise of Twilight calling for an ambulance. How could she fight when there was no enemy. It wasn't in the ring. Or on the street.

How could she fight an enemy she couldn't hurt. Her heart was winning. Her legs were winning. Her arms were beating her down and telling her to stay down. Lilith was short of breath; she fought an endless battle, forcing her lungs to crawl for air, rather than gasp. When her cardiac arrest turned into heart palpatations, the incubus finally recognized the surrounding area.

Bright, beige and sterile walls greeted her long-awaited arrival. The sound of beeping and blooping gradually materialized out of the blurred background, too. Before long, she noticed her hospital gown and closed both eyes, pursing her lips without a sound. Nurse Redheart gingerly trotted in.

"... Says here you have what humans call 'boxers fracture', to add to the long list of injuries you have. Boxer's wrist. Torn trapeziums. Sprained ankle. Inflamed calves and arrhythmic flutters. Great, I know. Because that's just half of what's wrong with you. So... let me get this straight. You were suffering from a fragile body and calcium deficiency, but you did 'boxing' to negate the emotional pain?" The mare asked in rising disbelief.

"Y-yes ma'am... Been my dream since I was smaller. I just never got the chance to do much. I learned a few things before I got here, but that wasn't for sport. I know it seems dumb and reckless, heh, but- but I'm not good with breakups. Or neglect. I have issues. I'd rather die working out than crying into my pillow."

It took a moment for the nurse to break her surprise-frozen features. When she came to, she shared a small chuckle with the bedridden idiot.

"You'll probably die early if you keep this up you know. Not that I'd know what a human can take before collapsing for good. But. Take it easy. Your body can't take too much strain with your heart condition." Hushed Redheart, smiling softly in admiration.

Her patient took to a wide, easy grin and pointed her thumb at herself.

"Y-yeah... I know. I just like being stubborn."

Her performance was convincing enough for the nurse. Great. Amazing. How was that, she asked herself, grinning not in pride, but pain. Because she wasn't okay. Hn. Far from it. Lilith was breaking.

Missing Wishes

Yesterday was one of her lowpoints. How could she deal with the idea that... Rainbow and Lilith might've been doing things behind her back. The dreary whistle of a steam engine kicked her into gear. The mare rubbed her tired, turquoise eyes and stared briefly at her reflection. Same, cute eyes that liked to droop. Same, endless quality to them as before. Only now, they were restless and dragged about heavier bags. Fluttershy left the train with her wishes behind. It was not a week ago she came home and found Lilith holding Rainbow. No matter what they said, she couldn't listen. It was too obvious. She must've been cheating on her. Wasn't that how ponies were. They got close and stepped all over you. Losing someone she cared for was... impossible to recover from. So she ran. And she didn't look back.

A soft drizzle and lingering mineral scents only bolstered her sobering depression. Rain was usually a sign of rebirth. But here, in Manehatten, she belonged to a cold city. Whoever said she was so weak before didn't understand how exhausting care was. Her own pace, lost in the whirs and honks of taxi carriages, deafened her ears. In ways, she was lost. But in another way, she understood her destination. To die, she thought sometime ago, was the easiest and most efficient goal. No more sorrow. And no more heartache. Just... peace. If it were Fluttershy from three weeks ago, she might've said 'not yet.' But this Fluttershy was a different creature. Her head hung low amid the crowds staring at her frail form, some for hunger and others for reasons she knew all too well. To be taken advantage of. And, maybe, to be bound against her will. Fluttershy was lost in her habits. In her bloodied home all before the simple joy of feeling someone against her.

Droning radio noise soon faded into slow, drawling music, complimentary to the cheap coffee and grease polluting the air. In her typically reserved and quiet fashion, she struck the tiling beneath with little noise. A warm smile greeted her from behind the counter, unknowingly settling her shaky legs.

"What can I get you today, sugar?" She asked, folding back some of her black mane.

"... I... I'll have a coffee. Black coffee." Fluttershy whispered, keeping her droopy eyes low and heavy.

A soft chuckle came from across the counter. Whatever it was about her, the cashier and seemingly waitress didn't mind. They mingled well for such disparate company. She took it as a mocking gesture, however and soon seated in a corner position. What happened there was hidden by shadow. It was perfect for her. And perfect for her goal. No one... would notice such a hidden presence. Waiting for her coffee slouched her back, stuck Fluttershy's cheek against the window and blinded her to the urge for urination.

When she came to, Miss Fluttershy had her medium coffee and stared into it. The tip was already given. All five bits dropped in easy, dead motions. Not a single roll or jingle inhabited her lost items. For some reason, she missed them. Looking into her coffee, she realized she had never said goodbye.

Soon, she stayed staring at her drink. All the steam had gone home. Fluttershy watched in silence while the coffee became saltier and her cheeks grew wet.

She couldn't feel her heart beating, even if she was alive.

Who was she.

Allegra

As summer came to a winding close, the air soon picked up a hollow chill. When the wind drew leaf noise, the breeze was strong enough to kick some down and around. A harsh whistle struck Ponyville and shook loose the barn doors just outside. Applejack stayed silent and put her hat in a downward tilt, obscuring her snout from the biting wind. Her newest farmhand struggled too, wobbling on her recovering, bipedal legs. Sonata Dusk shrieked as her favorite, straw hat sprung off and onto the top of some tree. She pursed her lips and dragged her feet back to the barn, pitching more hay for the upcoming Hay n' Hashgrass Hoedown.

Hashgrass was one of her own favorite equestrian dishes. It was rich and smooth unlike the original, main ingredient. After she left for the barn, Applejack saw her old friend Twilight trotting over. And, like most times, she was alone. No friends. No bodyguards. Just a mare and her will to survive.

"... Uh, hey, Twi. You don't look too happy." Applejack greeted, some wheat between her teeth.

Her hello was enough to draw an honest smile, keeping them both in pleasant silence. It took a while, but, the alicorn kept her distance approaching her next subject. Her work-weary friend had to look closely to see her expression. She flinched, wincing at Twilight's braced and bandaged foreleg. The left foreleg. Applejack winced because it was soaked in cherry.

"Wh-what happened? What did you do?" She panicked, trying to rub away the double-vision.

"I could say the same to you, Jacquelyn. You're supposed to lay off that stuff, remember? This whole barn smells like hard cider."

Despite the concern, her blonde friend only kicked her hoof about. The grey quiet of the skyline shadowed her disposition toward the subject. They were both strapped for time and strapped patience. Jacquelyn tried to ignore the fact of who she was talking to. Instead, she bucked the frustration away on some, unsuspecting apple tree.

"Yeah. I am supposed to stay away from drinking. But you're wrong if you think I'm not being careful. I'm drinking because it's a family reunion. So what happened to your leg?"

Ha, Twilight chuckled, closing her eyes as she trot about the orchard. As she moved and paced, Twilight Sparkle helped her friend pick fruit.

"Haha, I'm just concerned about you, you know. My leg was hurt in a chase in the Everfree. Looks like the changelings really do want conflict. And the cult I've been spying on... I know they're up to something. So. I've been scouting all week. Don't worry. I won't get hurt again. I have this on me, now."

After her explanation, she presented a dagger from her pack. It had familiar qualities. Even the old blood stains matched the way it was intended to be used. It's triangular blade rose secrets from the dead, each one swarming Applejack's mind. An old friend of her's, she noted, taking the dirk and feeling it's linen-wrapped handle.

"You're... jokin'. This isn't real, right? I thought the Reds were all gone and done. How- how could they still be alive? I don't understand." She murmured, her eyes wide like her gaping maw.

"The Red Scarab were hunted, yes. But I found something interesting. When they stabbed Lilith with one of these, her blood was sucked dry. The blade literally siphoned her life away, if you saw how weak she'd gotten. Maybe... just maybe, there aren't more. Maybe they've found a new queen. And you know how it's been ever since. Bigger and badder jackasses show up to fuck us over."

Sombra. Nightmare Moon. Discord. Even Tirek. They were all growing less equine. Less... capable of being more than cruel and twisted.

If she'd known the elements of harmony were creating stronger black magic, by bolstering white magic and forcing the opposite to catch up, Twilight would've been more careful. Now, she explained with one, grim scowl, time would bring them to reality-warping radicals; Equestria would soon return to its primal state of magic warring magic. Applejack understood very little, but she'd seen the damage in her service of the princess.

Magic was the muscle of reality. If it were used and drawn upon, the utility grew more potent. If Equestria continued to use such large supplies of magic and reinforced the potency even more, the supply might crush the other foundations of existence. Skeletal muscle, after all, could peel off the very bone it was supported on.

Sonata Dusk approached her new friends.

"So, Equestria's weird. But I'm really hungry. Can we not talk about cults and just have some mashed grass and hay fries...? I couldn't find any tacos."

Hello. Goodbye. I'll miss you.

Hello. Goodbye. I'll miss you.

So... bored. Sweetie Belle dribbled her Jr. League basketball about with complete boredom. What grade was it again. Good Grogg. Her head hurt and all the math in her homework wasn't helping. Eating junk and listening to loud music might've made her more complacent toward paperwork. But coach told her not to eat anything that wasn't a raw vegetable. Glancing about her sister's boutique strung her attention toward the mannequin section. Goodness. She shivered and made her way upstairs, wanting nothing to do with those eerie things. Although it was always quiet these days, her hoofsteps were especially deafening that night. It pitter-pattered above her head, reminding her of... Rarity.

'I'll try to miss you.' Sweetie joked back then.

She joked because she wanted to fall apart; Rarity looked back in the rain, leaving her sibling to the care of both her own friends and Sweetie's. The hiss of water pouring down gave her no comfort. Because three weeks ago, she left the boutique and a scared, little girl who couldn't fight alone. In time, she'd worked up the courage to ask Scootaloo for self-defense training, in-case anyone tried to hurt her. The day she learned to appreciate a good jog and throat jab was the day she stopped being afraid.

But she missed weakness. Now, she didn't have her fear to distract her from loneliness. Loners were amazing creatures. And so were stoics. In ways, she wished she were like them, capable of severing her sentiments for nothing more than logic.

Sweetie Belle watched the rain fall and race down her kitchen window. Over the glass were iron bars that Twilight inscribed herself. To protect against black magic, she said sometime ago. Without hesitation, she levitated the nearest object. Someone was banging the door down. It was dark. And all of town was asleep by two in the damn morning. Her pupils shrunk as the reinforced entrance splintered around her. Wood gore and metal hinges struck the air past her, tearing dresses and smashing display cases.

Cloaked, rank strangers poured into her stronghold. Six were visibly armed, all carrying knives or revolvers. Among them was a taller one with mutated features and a scar in his robe, it being punctured sometime in his life. Sweetie Belle tossed her sister's spare sewing machine, catapulting her bullet far. The rapid impact knocked somepony unconscious and left the other figures scrambled.

Sweetie Belle galloped. Up the stairs. Up the room. Up the secret attic in that room. She was about to die. Rarity was right all along. She wasn't making up stories. She wasn't crazy. There really were a cult of people coming for the elements of harmony.

She fell on her snout, squeaking into her teeth as she muffled herself.

"Keep it together...!" Sweetie growled, stumbling soberly to her hooves.

Even in the safety of her well-hidden attic, the robed strangers found her location. Soon, the bedroom before her was packed full of searching, mindless drones licking their chops for prey. One even chuckled about how he'd enjoy taking her 'essence.' His friend smiled and said he loved fillies. No, Sweetie Belle panicked. Why did it have to be them. The mare trembled and backed away from the attic door, realizing the warm gold trickling down her hindlegs.

No. No. No.

They opened her entrance, sliding the steps out to full spread. The bad men rose step after step with eager energy bouncing them up. It was a hunt. They were itching for the kill. As soon as they stepped completely inside, though, the door slammed shut. The last thing they saw was lime green magic and their vision flashing white. Sweetie Belle collapsed, aching in her chest and basking for sweet air. She held a bloody, empty .32 snubnose at her chest, the butt still fresh with cruor. A few teeth had caught in her coat, too. How disgusting, she whispered, tasting their blood between her teeth.

"Rarity... where are you?" Sweetie Belle whimpered, starting to curl and whimper, wheezing and hacking in the lonely dark.

She couldn't hear anything. Sweetie Belle didn't even see the light erupt out the entrance. All the tears blinded her as somepony stepped into her space and clicked their .44 ready. She had no strength left. It was over. The gashes between her ribs said so. Sweetie Belle heaved and shook as familiar, snowy fur comforted her drenched cheeks.

"I missed you too, Sweetie Belle... I'm sorry I wasn't here." Rarity whispered, telling her it was all okay and waiting till her sister stopped moving.

Rarity held her tightly and pressed her sister's bloody, open neck against her heart. Her sister was still warm when she lay her on piled stuffed animals and security blankets. And though she never got to say how much she missed her, Rarity said it all. She said everything she never could as Sweetie Belle grew rigid and cold.

Author's Note

Some evils are necessary.

Believe in me

"At approximately 2:08, Sweetie Belle of the Belle family boutique was murdered right under the watch of the Ponyville Police Department and the Royal Guard Post not twenty minutes away. By the time authorities arrived, the only survivor was Rarity Saint Clair La Belle, older sister and proprietor of La Carousel Boutique. By this time, the mare says it wasn't a political killing or a coincidence. Foul play is certain. But what really lead to the tragic death of an up and coming athlete in the middle of a peaceful town...?"

The news shook everypony as they watched the story unfold. Children and their parents, old folks and women, they weren't safe. They all remembered the 1989 Slasher. Cheerilee worked her way into the list of interviews as the live program took to the local grade school.

"It's... it's horrible, really. You think our children of all people would be safe. And sound. But we don't have a strong security system in Ponyville. We don't have police officers all twenty four hours of the day. We need more than what we have to stop this from happening again. It's... it's not a good feeling to come from that day in 1989, when Wand Sparks and her sister All Sell were found on the edge of the Everfree. I- I was there. And she was my friend. If you asked me 'what is the most important thing we can do for Ponyville'...?

I'd say 'get better neighborhood watch programs and teach our kids about safety.'"

Twilight Sparkle rose from her seat and put her coat on. She'd already lost enough when she'd made the trip to Applooza weeks before. An eye and her pride didn't mean more than this. All she could do was trot out her door and gather men. The guards were in low spirits before she arrived. When the princess came in person with her silver cuirass, they all knew what was next. They felt right marching beside someone with such selfless ambition. Her highness let her head rise high as the residents of Ponyville gathered via her summons, hearing the royal trumpets. Young and old, male and female amassed beneath her banner.

"My Ponyville...! My home away from home! Time and time again, you've been victim to tragedy after tragedy. You've been victimized without end for too long. And that stops right now. As your princess, I will make it my mission to keep you safe. I'll hire all the retired veterans capable of keeping you safe. I'll give everyone and their family free self-defense training. I'll fund all the home security I can. And more...! I'll make sure every child in Ponyville sees tomorrow...!"

They all looked up at her with watery, hopeful eyes. And in those very eyes she saw thousands of children without a way to forget what happened. In them, the hopes and dreams of every one of their children resided, dormant when their lives were taken overnight. Twilight Sparkle wouldn't let it happen again. Not anymore.

"As of now, the town will be on high alert... All of Ponyville will be safe. Remember: remain in your homes until the appropriate siren starts...!"

Twilight was taken aback by the crowd cheering her name. It felt good to be there... To lead them and decide for them. She knew right then and there how sloppy she was before. By the end of the month, Ponyville would be the safest town in Equestria. Everypony in town kissed the grass she tread on. And in turn, they consecrated the very steps their leader took to save them. To be vigilant heralded the preservation of her people. And in turn, they would hear her. They would all hear her and remember each, incessant order and caution was for their benefit.

Twilight Sparkle would do what she could for her Ponyville.

Author's Note

I had to keep my promise.

Remember me?

Manehatten. A gorgeous city with a gorgeous crime rate. How long had it been since she'd seen it's cold and distant streets, where even the lights seemed washed with grey. Too long, the mare noted, tipping her hat down to fight the rain. She waited with her big iron at her hip, alongside the curb for another peddler out at night. The usual one pulled up and peaked at her beneath his carriage roof. He smiled crookedly with the usual cigarette glowing soft tangerine.

"Miss Belle... Good to see you again. You going to the usual place, or...?" The stallion asked, noting the distinct dip in Rarity's brow.

"I'm out for blood, Maxie. Real blood. Tell the chief I'm more straight than a switch. And tell him I need a couple of heaters. They took my sister."

His features didn't change much. Instead, her friend Maximilian only smiled wider. It became an almost twisted smirk of sorts, relishing the intended future. When he saw that familiar, cold glint in her eye, Maximilian waved her in. His one, missing eye revealed itself as he tilted right to speak.

"Welcome back, Miss Belle. We thought you went cold turkey. After the sting orders, you went dead for a month. What did you find...?" He inquired, switching on the old and scratchy radio.

Rarity couldn't find a suitably brief answer. So she kept it simple and held her revolver tightly, sure to pop it in someone by the end of the ride. She squirmed about in her black dress, letting the ballroom aesthetic go well with the gloomy overcast. In her purse was her necessary equipment. Rarity replied when they neared a clearing in the downtown area. As they neared a dead-end near the slums of Harlot, she replied loading her magnum.

"I found out changelings are helping them too." Rarity responded, firing three times into his head.

The chariot swerved and she levitated out, landing gracefully on all fours. A lone crash struck the other two changelings and their driver accomplice. They could've fooled her, she stated over the pouring downfall. Two charged and flung hate magic at her hooves. The shots missed with simple and effortless hoofwork, which she'd learned as a foal in ballet.

"If you didn't turn on the radio, I'd be yours." Rarity hushed, busting their knees open.

Before they could even land, she punched holes in their heads and trotted off toward the abandoned and very lively warehouse down the road. It was only a matter of seconds before she cloaked the bodies as bushes and donned her elegant, golden masque. The unicorn turned her lips up, showing her fangs to the corpses below her. Rarity departed with words no one could forget, her eyes glimmering with sickly green.

"But now... you're all mine."

We are the best of friends, are we not?

Fuck.

The blonde, orange-coated mare greeted her snow-coated acquaintance. They clicked glasses and enjoyed their martinis, flowing elegantly in their garments beneath the spotlight. First, they gulped their drinks down and set them aside on the bar counter. A dance started when Applejack took her forehoof and worked into a wordless waltz. Rarity chuckled at the attention they were drawing in, puckering both lips as they faded into shadow.

"What are you doing here...?!" Applejack whispered angrily, forcing her partner to bite their own lip.

"I'm just as surprised as you are, darling. They said there'd be an ex-mercenary here. I didn't think it'd be my favorite redneck." Rarity hushed, chirping shortly as her lead dipped her hard, only laughing it away.

Soon as they danced their way into the very left corner, they found a vacant stairwell. Perfect. The two reached between their hindlegs and undid their holster clips, which stuck against their pubic mounds. Jacquelyn pulled out her snubnose, a .38 special compared to her friend's. 44, which was elaborate with ivory grip. Her own pistol was bare and basic, only coming with a red dot sight.

"Mine's bigger." Rarity hushed, jesting and laughing silently as her shoulder was struck.

"Yeah, well at least I can aim mine." Her partner whispered, starting into a trot.

The guests were doing a head count and the other party guests chattered in-turn. Rarity smacked her flank with the butt of her revolver, hustling them into a half-gallop. Before long, they heard footsteps coming up the distant, creaky stairwell. A full gallop shook the floor ever-slightly and kept them toward the shadows. The deeper they sunk into the warehouse, the darker it became. Soon, the two were taking a rusted, grated elevator down. Down and down, they plunged into the heart of the cult. They stood wordless among the many moans and screams each, added floor brought. And soon, the two trotted side-by-side along a red-lit hallway littered with doors. Behind each door was pain and pleasure together, as if the two were promised forever if one pulled the lever down and severed their ties outside for a perfect never.

Their hoofsteps were so undeniably washed away by the roaring evil beating their ears, they couldn't fear being caught. Jacquelyn and her Saint Clair were trotting side-by-side just like old times. Just like it used to be, when things were simpler than bullets and espionage. All was dead and not a soul stirred when they reached the farthest room back. It was a simple, flat and non-existent space with an electrical panel. They sabotaged every, single wire with both knives hidden at their thighs and electric components from a nearby electric wiring intended for the backup generator. In the midst of chaos and panic, the two took to hard-working, satisfied grins. Applejack would have her rank restored. And Rarity would have her revenge. It wasn't before long that the unmistakable noise of ballistics and demolitions hit from above.

Jacquelyn started into a full gallop, tossing her friend over her back. Rarity yelped for a moment before fixing her eyes for night vision. Everyone was still inside, panicking. All those damned cultists and their victims would crush alongside the warehouse. She shook her head, clearing it of wickedness. No. The place wouldn't collapse. It wouldn't be demolished. The airstrike only pertained to the ground floor.

Applejack dashed into a slide, jamming them against the elevator walls just before pressing her floor. Mere moments passed before a mangled mess of self-mutilated ponies, each amputated or kissed by metal along the skin, shambled out and toward them. They followed mares donning black robes and insectoid masks. Jacquelyn shuttered when she noticed some of the pharyngeal jaws snapping and widening with mucus.

Her partner simply smiled and picked them off with her ivory pistol, smirking quietly at her pinpoint accuracy. Soon, they would be home and eating a hot meal of hay fries and oat burgers. Rarity by herself, ha, but... eating. She wouldn't be regretting herself if she had the other five around to show her the way.

Rarity broke into a wobbly grin, wondering why Sweetie Belle had to go.

Her .44 dropped and left her eyes a toxic, dripping mess of green.

Till Death Do Us Part

Applebloom cursed in gibberish countryisms and shielded her eyes, blocking out the cruel sun. At least, she'd block it out because most of the sky became gloomy hours ago. That one bit of sun became a hurtful brilliance. When somepony saw too much dark, the dimmest light hurt their weary eyes. She trotted toward the casket, donning her best black dress for the lowering of their casket. Everypony they knew gathered for the final moments of somepony they never got to cherish. Glancing away let her spot Scootaloo, who wore her trademark scowl, the same one she'd acquired after becoming a police officer. She'd worn her cap that day, only to keep it at her chest while the rain stained her coat. Somewhere, deep inside those greyed, purple eyes, she saw broken hopes.

The roses started falling. And in-turn, Sweetie Belle's friends tossed their own roses. Applebloom buried her with their first performance microphone. She saw her friend throw a simple, little box to accompany Sweetie's absence, burying her with their engagement. Everypony took turns layering the coffin in dirt, till the bulldozer lowered the final portion over her. Sweetie Belle was remembered as a friend, a lover and a mare that did her best to follow her dreams. Her older sister was proud of her, even if she could never be proud of herself. Rarity made her way toward the grave as the crowd dispersed.

Nopony but Applebloom saw her tape a piece of paper beneath the text. It was a picture littered with gems from sometime ago. Regions near the heart were elevated with dry tears.

"Miss Rarity." Applebloom called, shuffling quietly with her sidearm in holster.

"Y-yes-s, Applebloom...?" She barely choked out, fighting her urge to whimper and sob.

"... She talked a lot about you. Bout how strong you were and how nice you were when she was sick. She couldn't stop talkin' about ya when we were over. All she did was show us your dresses and tell us all sorts of stories about how you got the ideas for them. Sweetie Belle ain't gone like you think, Miss Rarity. A piece of her is always gonna be in that house. She felt the same way about you."

"She... she talked about me...?" Rarity whimpered, gritting her teeth and watching her hate magic hiss against the tainted grass.

"She did. Never stopped once. Not even for an hour..." Whispered Applebloom, smiling brightly as she saluted her departed friend.

Applejack came back and held her friend till the rain stopped. They went home cold with colds, but not cold inside. Instead, the mare of the hour remembered her sister as she was: somepony to remember. Somepony to smile for. They watched a lone pegasus trot away in the rain, her loss driving her to smoke and wander the concrete landscape. Scarlet Skates Belle. That would've been her name if they were ever official.

Scootaloo, like her namesake implied, was a mare of her own, brash way.

All her brashness, all her toughness and grit left with her better half.

Till death do us part, she remembered fondly, recollecting time's they practiced their vows. She couldn't tell if it was rain or tears choking the air away.

Author's Note

Good luck and goodbye.

That's My Cue

Twilight Sparkle stood at her balcony, overlooking the edge of Ponyville. And as the seconds rolled by, she nodded absentmindedly at whatever her guard stated. Behind her, silent and shrouded footsteps approached. Without turning back, she greeted her friend and polished her trick sword.

"Hello, Lilith. How've you been?" The princess said, her tone more blank than questioning.

"... How did you- nevermind. You missed the funeral. Weren't you free?"

Twilight dropped her rag, unable to catch it before it completely submerged in ice water. A moment of silence passed her agape maw, reciting all the words missing entailed. She'd missed a lot in the past week. But that was something to burn into her psyche. Lilith held her from behind and kissed their neck, rubbing gently along her plush, lavender coat. Her receptive ribs made her hindlegs fold together at the knee, prompting her to cover between them with her tail. Everyone's favorite princess kissed her lips and kept their eyes heavy.

"I... I didn't know. It was just... I was just so busy- I don't know what happened. I've never taken care of a town before. I've used work delegation efficiently and the paperwork goes to secretaries most times, but I'm just- just swamped with work. You don't understand how exhausting it is to teleport from here to there everyday handling all the security in Ponyville." Twilight hushed, gritting her teeth softly as her tail was pulled.

"You're not a superhero, Twilight... You're an angel, but you're not a cartoon character. Now, come on. Relax a little. I'm sure Ponyville won't fall apart in one day."

Feeling her rump rubbed against made her breathe harder, till she grinned fondly when Lilith finished humping against her. They walked outside as equals and faced the world with flaws on every side. Twilight wouldn't last as herself. And Lilith wouldn't live forever. So the two decided on hopping bars and paying for some gyros as they walked/trotted. How long had it been since they personally interacted. A month was enough to go crazy over. More turned the heart numb. Silence reigned over the estranged pair, only widening the trench between them with whistling wind.

Twilight cleared her throat and dipped her brow, unsure of what to say or what to do. Time took away everything. Sometimes, it took away feelings. Other times, it took away futures. In their case, it took away impatience and confidence. Now, every move was a calculated step toward minimal damage.

"So... You like to do that human punching thing?" Asked the princess, shuffling her hooves about on the dirt road.

"Y... yeah. Yeah, I do. It's a savage science, boxing. I'm surprised I can do it so well, though. Guess it's easier to me than something like taekwondo or muay thai. Not that you know what those are. Something's wrong with my body, though. I feel like... my hands are heavier than usual. Strange, right?" Lilith hushed, pulling out some cancer as they neared Bug and Chug, the nearest pub that side of the Everfree.

That, she knew how to work with. Medical sciences were an amazing thing: like magic but for the body and not manipulating the world around the caster. Twilight replied in a split second, her mind thoroughly exercised in several layers of general biology.

"I'd say you hitting that sandbag so much creates microfractures in your knuckles. And when they heal, they strengthen your bones, forming more and more layers till they're heavy and dense." Twilight responded, trotting past the self-returning doors.

Lilith followed, her footsteps a dull silence beneath the bar chatter. She'd stop a moment short, staring blankly at how intriguing the entrance was. Both were knobless and wobbled into place after somepony walked through them. She found it especially disarming since the idea of animate, inanimate objects held a special place in her heart. The curious, but loyal girl chased after her friend to catch up. Before long, the subtle jog she started came to a choppy, disjointed halt.

Twilight slid against the floorboards toward her feet. She spotted a stallion cracking his hooves, his right and left forehoof layered in some sort of hydraulic, steam-pressurized horseshoe gauntlets. The remnants of red wine magic sparked and buzzed along his weapons. Lilith looked closer and realized he'd broken through her barrier. She shrugged and picked up a pool cue, thwacking the side of his head. He wobbled and nearly doubled over, scrambling to focus his wide, shocked eyes. It surprised her just as much. The incubus remembered her boxing wraps were still on, being far too tired to remove them before.

Lilith took a pivot step and slammed it into his other temple, coming from a downward, diagonal angle. It bent and splintered her weapon, morphing the steel rod running through the middle. Twilight's adversary stumbled toward the pool table, clinging desperately to whatever he could grab.

"You hurt Twilight. You think you can run away from that?" Lilith murmured, holding it over her head.

A pink, dark reddish aura surrounded the weapon. She took a small breath and pushed it out in a loud, growling shout. The pool cue curled into itself over his skull, knocking the brute unconscious. Great. Perfect. She survived doing something ridiculously stupid and defended Twilight's honor. It was only moments after that Lilith dropped her weapon and asked why the fuck it was glowing.

Twilight Sparkle stumbled to her feet and wiped her bloody muzzle on her foreleg.

"Incubi... absorb life-force o-or magic to grow stronger. I didn't think it would take effect. But you're stronger now. All that fooling around paid off, ha."

Before she could stand, she fell into Lilith and left the doll baffled.

Author's Note

"... How did you- nevermind. You missed the funeral. Weren't you free?"

I wouldn't have missed anything if I knew you'd make me wet later.

Criminal Intent

"Sandpaper Strikes, formally known as Sandbag Strike, he's a retired hoof boxer, bounty hunter and currently... a ward of the state. I wonder if anypony else is after me. He's middle-aged and dying of cancer. When they took him out of the police station, he had nothing but the power hooves on. Whoever he was, he didn't talk much. All he said was someone paid him money. He said he tried to contact the contractor again a day before and a group of ponies in robes held him at gunpoint till he agreed to do it."

Twilight recounted the information to her buzzed and mostly functional friend. Applejack kept reviewing the pictures taken after his detainment, noting the scar over his left eye and the absence of any retinal damage. His cold eyes and permanent grimace tipped her off toward a possible military background. His resilience toward interrogation also clued her in.

"Why is he a ward of the state. I'm guessing he went A.W.O.L and then did some crime to get bits after."

"Uh... Yes, actually. But he did some illegal mercenary work. They found some sort of money on him that only works on the black market or something. Black bits or whatever. Made from obsidian or tar or whatever. What matters is that the etching on the sides was made with an authentic seal. A scarab."

Hot damn, she cursed in a mumble. Jacquelyn took a heavy sip of her coffee and finally closed Strikes' manila folder. So. He was a service pony. And the cult was bullying him into some sort of crooked suicide mission. She'd step outside of her comfy two-way mirror room and fixed her tie.

"Agent Apple, Equestrian Bureau of Investigation. Let's cut the shit right now, Strikes. You were strong-armed into that contract. Why do you have money on you? Black Market money."

He simply looked over at his handcuffs. There was a hoofring still on him. Applejack gaped her maw, not understanding what he meant. But, soon as she asked questions and only saw his eyes wander to the ring, she knew exactly why. Jacquelyn presented her pocket radio, placing it on the center of the table. Sandpaper Strikes lit up in his weary, black eyes. He scootched closer and exposed the ring to the radio frequencies, showing how it jammed and distorted them.

"That's why..." Applejack hushed, immediately calling Twilight.

With her magic, she froze the tracking device and freed him from a greater evil.

"O-okay... Now I can talk. Yeah. They strong-armed me. Made me think I was killing another noble in Canterlot. Didn't know why but they told me to look for a bar. Said you'd be stressed. And you like to drink. I said no at first- it was crazy. But they showed their guns and told me I'd lose my kid if I didn't do it. And my kid... she ain't really mine, but, hell, she's still mine. Here, take the coin. They put it on me to scapegoat me."

Now, they had a lead . Though Mister Strikes didn't have release, he'd be safe in the Ponyville Jail, trapping him with reliable, experienced close-range combat specialists. It was common in old conflicts to rely on hooves and melee weapons rather than rifles or power hooves. Jacquelyn and Twilight escorted him toward the proper holding cell, appointing a monitor as they hurried out. Sandpaper Strikes lay out on his shoddy wall-cot. He took that time to view a little portrait hidden between his mane and left ear. She was beautiful. And he did it for her, his perfect little princess.

Blue Blood

Applejack flung her hindlegs out, bucking a cultist against rough, spray-painted brick. She clicked on over as he reeled back from the utter loss of breath. Though he flailed himself about wildly, bucking or slapping her with his hooves, Applejack was a veteran unarmed specialist. She employed an elbow block, fracturing his right forehoof. His exposed chin let her throw a compact uppercut, knocking him unconscious with a loud 'smack.' Her partner gently trotted out of the darkness and levitated him into a nearby police vehicle. Twilight Sparkle rubbed the back of her mane, inquiring the suspicious nature of the officer's generosity.

"Are... are you sure you don't want us to come with. We're interrogation specialists, you know. Maybe you could use a free hospital pass, too?"

As much as she wanted to, her friend simply refused. She enjoyed her last cigarette for the day, blowing smoke in a slow, steady stream. Officer Doo slid her baton up for easier reach, forcing the holster to clip near the ribbed bludgeon grips.

"It's fine, Twilight. I'm not a little flower like I used to be, you know. You've got all sorts of crime in Cloudsdale. But the Ponyville Department told me they could use a senior for Everfree Border Patrol. Don't worry. I got them. If they run, I still have my 'οικογένεια' right here." Derpy answered, smiling crookedly and glancing at her nightstick.

"She helped me find Scootaloo and kick some drunk ass a while ago. Hasn't failed me since. You take care, Twilight. I'll make sure to lock these ones up in different stations."

The policemare settled into a carry, effortlessly transporting a rather heavy and bulky stallion over her shoulder. Jacquelyn could barely believe her eyes. Once upon a time, that same, grizzled cutie with a badge and killer takedowns used to be her mailpony. She even had that eye problem, so it was even more juxtaposed. In a matter of minutes, the police cruiser set off and returned to Cloudsdale, shrinking silently into the skyline. The elements of harmony took their leave, speaking in mumbles Derpy couldn't hear at her altitude. She glanced back at the unconscious freak in her back seat, glad they were behind iron. The clouds were busy with flight traffic that day and the hoof-insert steering in her cruiser was still new tech. She'd grazed a few flyers from sheer inexperience, even working up a tiny swear here and there.

A firm, ear-shattering smack woke the cultist from his nap. He writhed and struggled, fighting the chains he'd been bound by. Not even his unicorn magic registered, his horn locked into some sort of mechanical, thimble-shaped contraption. He grunted between his teeth when his sheathe was slammed by a buck to the groin. Officer Doo struck him across the cheek one more time, forcing him to spit some teeth away.

"I'm not telling- not telling anything, you bitch-!"

She struck his snout with a half-elbow straight. He spat where he could, just barely grazing her chest coat in his blurry daze. The imprints against his snout said... she wore hoofwraps. Specifically so she could beat the shit out of him, probably. His gums were rife with leaking, salty tastes, following the overflow from his nasal blood. He gargled on his own filth before hacking it up and hissing.

"O... okay... Okay whatever you want. I... I'll tell you." The colt groaned, whimpering as his sheathe ached in pins and needles.

Officer Doo pressed his head against concrete walling.

"Tell me why you were after Sweetie Belle. Tell me now."

He inhaled sharply and stuck a few, painful breaths down his throat. She stared as he started coughing some sort of chaotic, disjointed rhythm. Then, the presence of froth erupted from his throat. However, despite that, he panicked when he realized the taste of his bubbling suicide pill. It was just... soda. The mare switched out his cyanide capsule. Officer Doo battered him against the wall till he finally collapsed and fell apart.

"Shit! Shit! No more! I-it was their family, okay?! They're related to someone! If you ask anyone back from Sombra's f-fucking rule, they'll tell you he looked just like her! Because they're descendants, okay?! We were trying to wipe out the- the last of the Sombras...!"

She slipped away from him as her eyes went wide and her blood ran cold.

All she could do was stumble over to the nearest phone and dial. Every inch of her body was unstable, even the bones rattled in the recent revelation. It wasn't her. It wasn't Rarity, right. That didn't mean anything. So what... so what if she was related to a monster. Blood didn't make somepony a monster, right. Right...?

"Hello?" Twilight responded.

"T-Twilight...! I... I got a new lead..." Derpy whispered, barely choking out the answer.

"I know why they killed Sweetie Belle."

Saying Goodbye

The apple orchard stood still in the hazy afternoon fog. All along the green, green grass, the dew stuck strongly against each blade. When the clouds pressed together overhead, it created a shadow that swallowed the orchard whole, blanketing the world in shades of darkness. Sonata Dusk felt her brow dip in worry, assuming it was some sort of scheduled darkspot. Applejack told her all about the way weather ponies and how they manipulated the weather. She found herself alone and sweaty, but not in the usual way, forcing her to wipe her brow of sweat. Sonata stomped her spade into the ground and took a moment to breathe. Orchard soil was more healthy, much more rich in minerals and carbon content. So it had a healthier crumble. She had to stick the shovel in so it stuck firmly.

Where was Miss Applejack, she wondered, her back sore and arms softly sunken into the bone supporting them. It'd been three suns since the misses returned from her trip to the police station. So what was it. What strange occasion kept her away from home all that time. Sonata Dusk last heard from Jacquelyn that it would be a while. So she decided to quit planting seeds for the day and instead-

An abrupt bang and clatter came from the house. Her hands grew to trembling, clamping fists. She clutched the spade she'd sheathed into the earth not moments ago. And with it, she inherited the Earth, her legs and back firm from all their time working. From all the times she'd learned to twist her back a certain way and pull the rest of her body with. Sonata Dusk rushed toward the front door, which was open. The welcome mat and windows were shattered from brute force. The house was dead with noise, shrouded by a lack of lamplight. She noticed the many electric light sources were smashed to bits. Whoever broke in wasn't an ordinary thief. It was somepony out to hurt them. She stumbled over some steps up to the second floor, aware it would draw attention. The accident forced a yelp out her throat. Another, sharp chirp burst out her mouth. Her right knee was punctured by stray glass on the staircase. A booming, careless flurry of steps erupted from just ahead. The stomping steps took a line toward Applebloom's room. Sonata's eyes went wide and she limped forward, toward the noise.

The familiar buzz and whir of sound took her mind as she stood in the doorway, watching Applebloom bleed out. Sonata Dusk dropped her spade and limped toward the stallion holding her down. His eyes were furious and his hooves were dense like rock, holding the filly still. She couldn't even hear her screaming in pain or cursing and hissing. All she saw was the deep, rich red coating that silver knife over and over. Sonata Dusk reeled her injured leg back and swung hard. The kick struck him beneath the jawline and traumatized his airway. She felt sick to her stomach. How could he stab Adagio like that. How could he stab Adagio when she was right there alive and well.

"Sonata-! Help!" Applebloom begged, hoarse and hacking on her last few puffs of breath.

"Yes... Adagio. I'm coming, Adagio..." Sonata murmured, staring straight ahead as she found her discarded spade.

It reached over her head and stayed airborne for a minute, witness to her stomping and kicking his face. Till he could do nothing but writhe and scream, she reshaped his muzzle into a crooked, torn mess of flesh. Sonata Dusk heard the distant ring of church bells from outside, swimming in through the broken window to her right.

"Why... Why did you hurt her?!"

"Why did you hurt Adagio?!" She shrieked, slamming the spade into his neck.

He put his arms up in some last ditch effort to stop her, to beg a mourning woman for forgiveness. The cycle of murder came full circle as Sonata pressed her boots into his shoulders. He groaned and barked weakly about how she was making a mistake. About how Adagio was the spawn of evil. No, she whispered, plunging her spade halfway into his neck. The snap and crackle of vertabrae kissed her mind goodnight.

"When I bury you in the orchard," Sonata hushed, numb and tired, wobbling in her knees.

She reeled it back over her head.

"You can say hello to Hades for me."

His head hung on thin, scattered stretches and scraps of flesh. After her second strike, his mouth stopped running. That was when her heart introduced her to sound again. Sonata Dusk turned around to see Applebloom. Her chest drowned in sour, acidic pain. Where was she. Where did Adagio go. Why did she leave again. Sonata Dusk dropped her instrument and knelt over the corpse of a gargling, throat-slit Appelebloom. The filly told her she didn't want to die. So she held her hoof and kissed her forehead, telling her she'd wake up in a happier place, where everyone she missed would meet her with open arms. When Applebloom heard her words, they put a smile on her face. She thought, maybe, just maybe, this was how mommy sounded. She fell still remembering the sweet lullaby of saying goodbye.

The moment she stopped breathing was the moment Sonata Dusk fell over and collapsed. All she could feel was the blood sticking to her pants. Her collapsed form didn't catch the wailing sirens from outside the house. And it didn't feel the invisible hand stroking her mane, or the dry whisper of a voice telling her everything was okay.

Author's Note

At least they're safe now.

Risen

Applejack stayed numb and limp in her bed, not even bothering to listen in on her friends discussing everything they damn well pleased. From why Sweetie Belle died, to why they kept targeting foals. Rarity was missing. She was on one of Twilight's rooms in the crystal keep. Whoever spoke, spoke in a strained whisper. No words were easy to say. Twilight brought her tankard to her lips and drank deep from it, letting the lid clatter against itself while she grew soaked in cider scents.

"Okay, girls... We know Sweetie Belle was targeted because she was related to Sombra. What else do we know. Applejack isn't related to anypony bad, as far as we know. So..." Her highness hushed, fixing her glasses up.

Fluttershy rest her chin on her hoof, flinching softly, not used to the metal on her foreleg boot. It was both surprising and completely uncalled for to see her dressed in her old attire. If Rarity were there, she'd ask why Fluttershy wore such a curious blend of a tanktop, a leather jacket and metallic boots. And that peculiar cross on her necklace, which was golden and elaborate with the words 'santificado sea tu nombre.' Something from her roots. The pegasus answered with her hoof squishing into her cheek.

"What if it's not just Sombra or the other evil people. What if it's us. They could be using the Sombra excuse to distract us. We aren't fighting anyone dumb anymore, you know...?"

Rainbow Dash sat to her right, dressed in her wonderbolts combat uniform, which consisted of composite plastic ceramics and spider silk in various pads around the original suit. She made sure to glance around the room, checking for spies. Pinkie Pie dawdled about, pacing and admiring the lush forestry outside. If she wanted to, she could slip outside and goof around on the empty ramparts. Her spy suit and night vision goggles were more than enough to brave the depths of the Everfree. Pinkie spoke at the window.

"Hey guys, do you think we should retrace steps toward the Red Scarab. I mean- the ponies who got Sweetie Belle were all... you know, weird in the head. What if all these bastards are just crazy and wanna find an excuse to bring evil back into Equestria. I dunno, I mean, what if they're making us paranoid to distract us...?"

Everypony stayed silent and pondered that theory. How frightening was it not to feel safe in their own homes. How it stabbed the heart to know that somepony, sometime, somewhere, would want them dead. Twilight fixed her eyepatch, scratching where the wound was and doing her best to not touch the grafted skin. She stepped out her table seat when striking pain stung her cranium. A flash of magic sparked around her horn, black, red and purplish blue. Applejack watched her excuse herself and leave for not five minutes.

All that time, she waited, judging the main cast before her, weighing where their loyalties lay. Pinkie. Rainbow. Rarity. Fluttershy. And then... Twilight. The princess galloped in, completely weak and out of breath, clutching her cellular in telekinetic binds.

"Rarity... she..." Twilight sobbed, muffling her choppy, airy cries.

They all rushed over to comfort her. Everyone but Applejack.

"I... I can't believe she's gone. Some... somepony broke into the castle a-a-and-!"

Scootaloo stayed laying against the freshly-dried grass, learning to love being where she was. She'd lazed about the past few days watching the painting endure rain and wind alike. Storms all across Equestria couldn't tear her painting off the stone if they tried. Sweetie Belle was sleeping below her, somewhere gone and somewhere next to her. In her heart. In her head. Scootaloo liked to sleep with her beloved and curl up against the tombstone. Maybe then, some part of her thought, they'd rise up from the soil and laugh with her again. The green grass below had turned a deeper blue, stained there with tears that said 'I miss you.'

Something inside her stomach flipped. Because all she could do was muffle her lips and press against them, shielding both her snout and her mouth. A sickly, rotten stench pricked her nostrils and forced her to collapse in every limb. The sky grew darker as something struck Ponyville. Sickly, toxic lightning flashed before her very eyes. It was green, hateful lightning. Scootaloo watched the sky twist till a dark raincloud cluster grew pregnant just above.

She shut her eyes and felt the earth stricken just over her head, leaving several locks singed away. She stumbled to her feet when she realized the sparking electricity sunk into the ground. And with it came something... inequine.

A torn, death-eaten hoof jutted from the stricken soil. And up clawed her beloved, in their white wedding dress, a sickly green illuminating her bloodshot eyes.

Colors and Promises

"Sweetie... Belle?" Scootaloo hushed, brushing her cheek with her hoof.

Though her beloved had no wear or tear to make her ugly, if that was even possible, her throat wound oozed toxic magic. The ectoplasmic substance slid off her snowy coat, sharing no traction and hissing against the grass. When it landed, the exposed area rotted away and decomposed into dry, stale yellow. Her beloved stayed emotionless for a good period of time, so agonizingly quiet her heart could burst. And just as soon as she seemed somepony else, Sweetie Belle shed a tear and pulled her in for a kiss. When she spoke, it was a cluster of eldritch tones and voices just beneath the volume of her own, seeming to synchronize as an echo.

"Scootaloo. My Scarlet Skates. I... I'm sorry. I love you. But they're all inside my head. They want me to get rid of her." She soothed, planting another kiss on her lips.

Surprisingly, she didn't carry the stench of rot or even the taste of morning breath. All that noise was drowned out by the pure, purging quality of the magic flowing within her. Sweetie Belle held her hand and felt her lover's eyes wander over her own. Gleaming pools of bright, green miasma swirled inside her eyes, even seeping out flickering energy trails when they moved. Scarlet Skates, a name she'd gotten from birth and forsook, kept her eyes on the mare of her dreams.

"Who...? Who do you have to get rid of...?" The mare whispered, her mind only on the dream in front of her.

If she were real, would it be so wrong to lose someone else in the world. If Sweetie Belle were back, did that mean she could stay if just one person was dead to the world. She didn't care about who it was. It could've been one of the mane six. One of her family. It could've been anypony and the sweet promise of just having her back meant the world was a safe place again. Wasn't it right to have her back. Didn't she deserve her Sweetie Belle more. Did somepony else deserve to live more than her Sweetie Belle.

"Twilight Sparkle." Sweetie Belle hushed, her collective voice radiant with hatred, while her own bloomed with shame.

"It's her. It was always her."

"Wh-what do you mean by that? I don't understand. Why do you have to kill Twilight? Isn't she the one that tried to keep Rarity safe? And investigate the cults...?" Scootaloo rambled, not knowing who to trust or what to think beyond her beloved.

At first, she gasped when her snowy hooves held her cheeks . But then, she grew warm there, cherry and understated in her satisfaction. Her attraction. How the infatuation spelled her Sweetie's immense traction in her chest beating from undying devotion, from undead attraction. Her eternal eros let loose caring words from somewhere forgotten.

"I love you. I promise you'll have all your answers soon enough."

How To Be Brave

Twilight Sparkle poured her friend a drink. Sonata Dusk was still bed-ridden. Still in her traumatic, near-comatose state. She smiled at the one laying bandaged and cozy in their hospital bed. It looked so fitting for Sonata do be asleep. To be one with the dark. Her friend Adagio had rest. They had rest from this awful world that Sonata and everyone else had to suffer and endure. Twilight Sparkle rose from her seat and left her flowers black as void. They left with their long suitcase. Every corridor she traversed and braved blew her ears out. It was much too noisy. Much too abrasive on calibrated, careful ears.

Her highness went home to her castle, being greeted by her loyal guards. It was her stronghold that made her feel safe. Ponies were unpredictable and dynamic. Walls never thought of taking someone out or shooting anyone. Walls were walls. They were inanimate objects that served a purpose. If someone treated them right, they would stay strong. If someone abused a wall, it'd break down. Just like it should've been.

Twilight took her coat off and fixed her eyepatch, keeping her suitcase with her. It settled onto the crystalline flooring beside the royal mattress. All was still in the dead of night. And though her door broke the silence with a most familiar knock, she didn't mind. The hospital trip took a lot out of Twilight. They answered the call and found a familiar earth pony smiling behind it. Applejack tipped her hat, dapper as ever with some bags at the waist. Judging from the smell, it was a hard cider surprise. She smelled the faint presence of metal as well. But it wasn't from the bags. The bags were empty. It must've been her belt pouches.

"Ready to drink?" Jacquelyn charmed, grinning wide when her friend scowled in disapproval.

"Oh hush, Twilight. This ain't no eighty proof shit. Just drink up, cause you've kept Ponyville outta trouble all this time." She insisted, bringing the mare in with her left foreleg.

Well. Okay. Twilight softly dragged her oblong case over, setting it in their lap. Her highness took their shot, downing what was offered. Hn. Crisp. The burn was crisp and clung needles against her throat. Was it possible to feel so numb to all that alcohol. She didn't seem to react strongly anymore. The still was too watered. Who said office work wasn't good for a mare. All those nights drinking herself under her desk paid off. The princess gave a wry smile and met her friend's eyes. They met with the same impact as always, drawing easy smiles from either party. They were both in the same cage, her and Twilight. They both lived Appleloosa and saw the galloping blaze. Twilight snickered when eyeing her old partner's lovely scar, which only showed when she wasn't in her glass: stretching, raw scars across her hooves. Jacquelyn's scars were akin to missing circles of fur and flesh.

Twilight tipped another glass back, listening to her friend chat.

"So you hear about how the cemetery got broken into yesterday?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I heard some grave robber got to Sweetie Belle's grave. Why would somepony go after her body? Got any idea...?"

Twilight thought long and hard for a moment before resting her chin on her hoof. The most delicate of thought processes were required to answer that question. Not just anyone in Ponyville would defile the grave of a child, much less the sister of an element of harmony. Applejack poured another glass and drank from her own, their hoof just bent over the shotglass.

"Well, I'd say... it's probably one of those cultists. We've only gotten down to one of the cults. There's still at least one of them out there." Answered the princess, glancing down at her glass and taking another drink.

Jacquelyn rubbed her own chin with her forehoof, glancing back at the exit.

"Well, you see, Twilight... I don't know why there weren't any more cultists in my house when uh... they took out Applebloom. It was just one colt. And he didn't seem like much of a fighter. He got killed by Sonata, and she's just a farmhand."

The mare trotted over to her left wall and observed the paintings near the door out. Flattering. But the paintings were only recycled classics. From one about Dante to others involving the great deceiver, Twilight's tastes were nothing especially refined or salient in comparison to all nobles. Minute silence took the square space as Jacquelyn studied the painting of Nightmare Moon's rise.

"It's weird, because I thought you charging into that cult place a few months back... was really something. You found Lilith there and you hadn't a scratch on ya after you left. Then, you went investigating with me, but no matter how hard we beat them, they never said a God damn word. But Officer Doo got one to talk in a few minutes..."

Twilight Sparkle strained her horn to levitate her sword. But it didn't work. Her horn didn't work. The room turned into an oven as sweat leaked down Twilight's coat. Before she knew it, the alicorn's glamour faded. Applejack's sullen whisper rung in her ears.

"You used to have a boyfriend, right? Twilight never had the chance to get with Flash Sentry. But you did... didn't you?"

Twilight Sparkle rose up from her seat and dressed in her white coat, missing the feel of a plush lab coat over her skin. The girl found her old spectacles and fixed them on, slowly buttoning up her only article of clothing. She affixed her utility belt to her waist while Applejack stepped closer, decloaking her powerhoof boots. They were on her hindhooves. Twilight Sparkle, annoyed at her detective work, glanced back, letting her cold, analytical eyes bore wounds into Applejack.

"How long have you known?"

"I knew Twilight would never give me a drink. Ever. She'd make me put it down, because she knew about how bad my condition was. She wouldn't let all our friends hurt like you did."

Jacquelyn took her nearby cellular and let the girl make one more call. A simple nod answered her offer. She took the chance to say a few words to someone who deserved it. And that person would understand, even when the person they loved wasn't who they wanted, kisses were kisses and love was love.

"Lilith... I don't have much time. But I'm sorry. I thought I had more time."

'What? Whaddyou mean? Twilight, what happened?'

"I'm going to die, Lilith. I love you. I was too scared to tell you. And I'll never live it down. But believe me... when I say... I... I love you. No matter what happens, I never lied t-to you ab-about that-t."

'Twilight!? Twilight where are you?!'

She held the phone to her lips and answered, swallowing her sobs and hiccups.

'"Home. Don't come after me. Stay... safe. I'll miss you."

A Thousand Years

Sweetie Belle grappled with Applejack, grunting and straining her guillotine chokehold. She crashed against the wall, her thighs stinging with half-hearted strikes from the workhorse. Sweetie constructed binds around her legs and forced Applejack to sit hog-tied at her hooves.

"Let go of me! She needs to pay!" Jacquelyn screamed, hoarse and screeching from dehydration.

"Applejack... You can't kill her. I have to-"

"I don't care! What bullshit are ya gonna tell me now, huh?! What will she do the same thing as you? She gonna come back some stupid magic zombie pony and kill every filly in the city?" The mare spat, swiftly knocked unconscious by Scarlet Skates.

"Nice kick." Her beloved said, sharing a crooked smile with her.

Twilight crawled over the crystalline floor and lay on her carpet, coughing red as her busted nose and broken ribs stung every nerve in her body. She caught a glimpse of her own face in a nearby mirror, reminded of the war she developed powerhooves for. Appleloosa was an inferno of ruined buildings and blazing barns. When somepony came in and tried galloping about, they were torn to pieces by fire bolts or fire mines from the buffalo forces. And when Twilight herself galloped for her life, chasing her commanding officer, she remembered the uproar of noise as the element of magic erected a shield around her. Twilight begged her to take it down and save herself. But Equestria's Twilight had no strength left to expand the multi-layered shield. In the mirror, she saw Twilight's face twist into a smile as she passed and told her 'keep Ponyville safe.'

So she did. She kept it safe. Safe from what happened when the Elements of Harmony created an opposing black magic. And when the pure good of an element of harmony reached its full potential, it could just as easily corrupt. Corrupt elements turned sadistic. Monstruous. The children were not safe. She still had time to keep Ponyville... safe.

Lilith burst through the door and shook, muffling her mouth. Twilight was beaten. Bruised. She was clutching her sword and slowly bleeding out. Sweetie Belle reached toward her with swirling, corrosive magic swelling at her forehooves.

"Get...! Away from her...!" Lilith screamed, her voice travelling in waves that split and tore Sweetie Belle's coat all over.

"Sweetie...!"

Scarlet Skates went wide-eyed and held the nearest object, finding a power hoof and attaching it haphazardly. She charged the incubus and swung into her gut with a left jab. It blew the breath out of Lilith. She reeled back and sucked air in, throwing a left jab. Before Scarlet could feel the hit, she was hooked from the right. Everything blurred in and out. Her temple was struck and her brain was rattling. A desperate struggle with her legs started.

Stand up...

Lilith stuck her ribs with a compact uppercut.

Shit. Stand up.

Scarlet Skates put all her weight into one strike, lifting her left hindleg and slamming her right foreleg. Lilith barely weaved out of it and struck her chin with a right cross. Then the world grew black.

Before the doll could land another blow, she was strangled by pure, undiluted hatred. Sweetie Belle barked her name and hellfire sprayed from her maw. The toxic flame licked her flesh, but stayed unable to truly char and immolate her. Lilith furrowed her brow and spat on their pretty white muzzle.

"Your girl over mine anyday...! You wanna fucking kill someone I love, you get ready to join them...!" Lilith grunted, feeling her larynx crush by the second.

"Your precious girlfriend here murdered Applebloom... She murdered me. She's the one who's been ordering the cults around, and you really want her to walk away from that? Are you just that selfish...?"

Sweetie Belle grit her teeth and screamed when her spine broke inwards. Reflexively, she impaled whoever it was with a spike of hate magic. But when she came to and saw who it was, her pupils shrunk to dots and Lilith slammed freely into the ground. The incubus watched her beloved choke on her own blood, gushing from the entry wound in her chest. Her torso ripped apart where the spike pierced her breast. Twilight trembled and broke it off with her powerfist. Heavy, warm water spilled down her eyes and blurred her vision. Twilight walked toward the only cluster of pink in the room and fell into it.

Lilith caught her and held her head, begging her to fix it. To heal herself. She bolted straight out of the castle and down the halls. She couldn't feel anything but Twilight's hands gripping her mane. The handle she'd worked into slipped more and more by the second.

"L...ilith..."

"N-no! Don't talk! I need to get you to a hospital! I- I need you, Twilight! You're the only one I have left! You understand me! Y-you love me...!"

Lilith stormed down the last flight of stairs before her gut gave way and she collapsed, landing on her back so Twilight wasn't hurt.

"Lilith... you can't make it in time anyway... I'm dying. But you... you don't have to do anything. I should be th-the one helping y-you to a hospital."

"Twilight... Twilight please- don't go! I-I don't care about what you did, but please don't- d-d-don't g-go...!" Lilith choked out, biting her lip to silence herself.

She muffled her lips so Sweetie couldn't find her, stumbling to regain footing .

"Stop- running. I-I love you. Let me go. I... deserve this. I let you down."

A wash of tears hit her pink, bloodshot eyes.

"Twilight-! Twilight you- you didn't hurt me- you made me happy. You made me happy, please don't- don't leave, I'll do anything, please...."

Her angel chuckled and some of her blood splattered against Lilith. It didn't matter. Her hooves briefly sunk into her cheeks as she said 'I'd never leave you. I love you too much to say goodbye.' When Twilight's chest stopped rising and falling and her eye became glass, Lilith felt her heart stop. There, the world stopped. A world without sound left her soaking the chest of a corpse with her tears. She lay her cheek where Twilight's heart used to beat and froze them in time with the last of her magic. Entombed in ice, they slept holding hand and hoof in matrimony.

She wouldn't be happy without her angel.

Tomorrow would never sing for them.

So she slept away from the world, alone with her Twilight.

Alone together.

Together forever.

Author's Note

Forever and always.

I'd never let you go.

https://youtu.be/tnPhlrmTBNA

Tsundere

Tsundere

Is It easy introducing yourself to a new pony? No. It wasn't easy being a victim of sexual frustration with your favorite animal, either. This case, however, was a different scenario.

It was half past noon before the sun dove down in her eyes, her being Rainbow Dash. Their eyes rolled up as a hot urge to rub against something burst from her groin. Rainbow coloration littered the sky in a lazy, inebriated rainbow as the mare crashed before her destination. Fluttershy's cottage became a distant pipe-dream as dense branches and stinging thorns nicked away at Rainbow Crash. Her incessant views on wearing no protective gear got the best of her. Not only did she pay with a lack of protective undergarments due to rumors of changelings infecting the Everfree, but also her pure, undisturbed coat. It was all ruffled before. But never scarred and torn in parts scattered. Poor Rainbow raised after their thousand-year tumble into wild shrubbery.

'Itchy', she observed in some sassy groan. Pains numerous and innumerable assaulted her athletic anatomy. Each, cautious step slowed to a crawl as she searched the area. Rainbow Dash skirted about in a half-prance as often as injury allowed. Where was it, she scrambled in her mind. Where was that accursed parcel. The shape was rather oval or somewhere close. It was no use. Too much of the wrapping blended with each dirty texture beneath her hooves. Instead, her fruitless search transitioned into finding the cottage. Dash reared up to take flight. A sharp spring of stabbing nerves struck her avian members. It was then little Rainbow screamed her shrillest note toward whatever cruel forces wrote her life. And with a ripple in the ocean came other ripples. Her first instinct was to muffle her lips. The other proved more useful. Their ears, twitching anxiously in perception, found eldritch feedback. Swine-like cries, serpentine hisses and chanting of 'nar, nar' rung true in her eardrums.

She found the chants of some, alien language to be most horrifying. Some twisted abomination of nature could be outwitted. A savage, which she knew from all the old movies and books about the spear-throwing jungle men and harbour-city fishmen, was the most dangerous game. So she took her health and chose to rush toward any shelter possible. In her panic, the pegasus slipped and slid over some unique substance between her and Fluttershy's familiar meat-scented chimney scents. The impact itself did no more harm than a mean word from some street drunk. All her effort seemed to pay off. Before she felt the familiar consistency of changeling pod fluid over her mane. It only took one, slow glance up to show tens and dozens of them waiting. In pods for the most part, but some awoken and guarding their slumbering hivemates. Five. There were five, her mind raced, it slower than her wounded gallop. It was no contest. Rainbow was done for. She screamed for Fluttershy's name and nearly stopped her assailants. But they pursued on buzzing, insectoid speed and hunger. Each one toted a slick ovipositor from the end of their abdomen, it being far too thin to hurt but too oily to block out. If only Applejack were there. If only Rainbow hadn't succumb to sleep and arousal for that one, split second. Another decisive moment struck her as a sudden window bludgeoned their muzzle. Down came crashing the frame and woodwork. Down came her final bits of effort as the oncoming drone of... drones encircled her eardrums. Before she went black, one sight endured for just a little longer. Something with two, inequine legs and skin like porcelain shocked her right to black. Before she got a good look, something dense hit her nose. The last sight happened to be teeth splayed into one, wolfish grin. Fangs and all.

Before she knew it, little Sally was groggy, tucked in and full of tuckered musculature. Their cyan coat stayed stuck in isolated patches around the belly and forelegs. She smacked her lips and perked up, only using her head, eyes and ears.

Before she could react, someone spoke. The voice was comparable to a murmur in terms of volume. And it's integral movements were akin to somepony talking about childhood trauma. Each syllable and emphasis stuck to the silence. It seemed mesmerizing in pitch and register. Girlish. Mature. Feminine.

"Hello. You're finally awake. I took care to stitch some injuries near your shoulder cuffs. The wing-based ones were annoying, too. So I put gauze on the supportive bases and employed some biodegradable microsponges in your open wounds." The human thing explained, drawing confused, heavy brows from her patient.

Her first voluntary response was to cover her loins with tail hair. The second was to back up and ask what the heck this thing was. There were black, tribal markings all over its legs, back and arms. Jagged geometries and little, skeletal fish adorned the human thing's biceps, triceps and forearms. And over the hands were wraps of some unimportant material. The only normal thing about them was their greyed, bubblegum pink hair. And the grey-blue eyes, which had irises constantly shrunken. Rainbow almost asked her name before glancing eye-height (for a pony) and finding... a flaccid penis.

"Uh... Why are you so weird? And where did you learn how to fix a pony up? And where the hay is Fluttershy?" Sally huffed, confused in almost every way shape and form.

"Oh, you mean the shy yellow pony? I stumbled onto her cottage a few minutes ago. Or... ten minutes ago. She just ran away yelling 'Human! Human!' So there's a chance she fled into town or the like. And, I don't know. Of course I'm weird. I'm a girl with a dick. Doesn't get much weirder than that. I used to work as a veterinarian. Until I got too antsy with the horses, anyway."

Hm. Such good answers. Rainbow Dash almost let her guard down. Almost. Their mind raced with theoretical scenarios and all kinds of lethal endings to their little conversation. Her wings were always ready to spring. So, the pegasus suggested they walk to town together, both with comfortable distance toward one another.

They started with more conversation. That sporty pegasus punk did it first.

"So... What's your name, anyway? And how do you know mine?" She almost muttered, not used to talking with something on two legs.

"Oh, my name's Lilith. Uh, Lilith Coldharbour. Weird name, I know, but this is how you're named where I come from. As for knowing your name? We have TV shows about you where I come from."

"Okay... What? No, I... What- oh forget it. Just don't talk about that with me, okay?" They huffed, already just watching what they asked from then on.

Ah, silence. What a wonderful time to be exposed and alone with some penis girl thing. Was there ever any doubt Rainbow was the luckiest pony in Equestria. They crawled about subjects like crippled snails, one side being too patient to force a chat and one being to anxious or shy. Rainbow Dash was surprised at one thing. Why did she have to be anxious. The bipedal thing should've been nervous. Weren't they a fish out of water in Equestria. Wasn't it unnatural to move without a herd or a squadron. A sudden halt drove the absentminded Rainbow Dash muzzle-first against her friend's ass. An instant squeak and voice crack erupted out her quivering lips. When her friend spoke, it was soft-spoken and heavy. Their left hand balled into a fist, followed by both legs bending for combat. As she observed, the mare glanced elsewhere hot in her cheeks.

"Rainbow. Is Ponyville usually this empty...?" Lilith inquired, holding her right hand up with some rigid, firm posture.

"N-no, it's not. But nothing special is happening today. Well, nothing dangerous ya know? It's almost Egg Day so all the town went to help Canterlot organize good hiding spots. But maybe... Twilight's still here. Let's go see her and- wait..."

The changelings. It hit her just then. Where did they all go.

"Wait what...?"

Her instinct said run or give herself up. She couldn't fight. And the running part was... most unsavory, as the offering option. What could she do but calm down and approach Lilith with simple, non-ulterior questions. So, she asked in semi-trembles and feigned casualness, each inquiry starting with a look away.

"So... what happened to the changelings from earlier? I just kind of passed out while you were grinning."

"Oh, that...? Well I just took them down and tired them out. It's easy once you get a sleeper's hold or a doggystyle. And I was grinning because I was embarrassed. Not easy having a boner on your first introduction, right?" The futa shrugged, splaying her teeth into that same, fanged expression.

"So that hard thing that hit my nose..." Rainbow muttered, a royal beet in her cheeks.

She galloped off toward Fluttershy's and didn't look back.

"Rainbow? Where you going?!" Her friend called out.

"Nowhere! Just Twilight's house! Now leave me alone, you creep!"

"What...?!" Lilith called in pursuit.

"I said you're a creep! You're a creepy creep and you put your thing on my nose! Ew!" Rainbow half-shrieked, briefly glancing forward to see a familiar door.

That was when it all went black again. So much for dazzling.

Author's Note

Skip to the 12th chapter if you don't want lighthearted romance. Just be warned that this story requires a happy introduction for the full experience.

You Can(not)

You Can(not)

Lilith woke in a cold sweat and found herself sleeping in Twilight's room. What the hell happened. It seemed being inside a filly meant wild, memory-blank parties apparently. Because the bullet wound was gone and only her spiderweb tattoo remained. So did the other markings, but most of those were unaltered. She raised on her injured arm just to check. Nothing. No soreness. No stress on the triceps or deltoids and no apparent weakness in the elbow from a lack of activity. All she could do amounted to rolling out of bed. After she stuck the landing with her knee, Lilith groggily proceeded downstairs.

A familiar alicorn greeted her with kind words.

"Good morning, Heartbreaker."

"H-hey, that's not me. It's not my fault everypony loves sex. Plus, don't you think it's weird everyone wants to have my cock. I barely know them. " Lilith shrugged, honestly quite stirred at the name.

"Well, you are an incubus. That sort of thing happens. You'll always have a pull on people. I'm also not surprised because nowadays, everypony wants sex without commitments. So. You know, forget about how bad you feel and focus on how nice it is to be... popular, I guess." Her friend thought aloud, making sure to scramble their eggs.

Eggs? Why did ponies need to eat eggs. Weren't they an herbivorous species? That single thought stirred in her feeble human mind, second only to Lilith pondering the dreams she had throughout the night. It extended to laying her hand over her lips. Silence broke when she posed a curious finding.

"I had a dream that we were engaged in some military plot to fight humans like me. And then I dreamed I had sex with Silver Spoon. I'm pretty sure they were both wild fantasies from my repressed imagination."

"Well, you did come here piss drunk, take her against my realistic fiction section and make her call you daddy. The other event was just the byproduct of your overactive imagination. Now come eat your eggs. We've got a big day today." Answered her compadré, starting a daisy and rose petal sandwich.

Oh. That explained it. The eggs were only for her. So what other senseless slaughters did they commit for her, she wondered between bites. A chicken. A cow. Maybe even a pig or something exotic. Food in Equestria must've been to die for. Before long, she was out the door with Twilight as they enjoyed a pleasant walk in Ponyville. Children were screaming and shrieking about how their mommies wouldn't buy their favorite toys. Mothers were complaining to their husbands about how little time they had to themselves. And the husbands were threatening to beat their wives under the noise of all the other dysfunctional families. Truly, a step in the right direction of modern day society.

When they reached the planned destination, Lilith was surprised to see a human museum. Scratch that, it was a Human Museum, devoted to the study and debate on humans and their existence in Equestria. A brass plaque below some neanderthal display read some interesting words.

'As seen here, the ancient human is practicing their twerk positioning. Notice the slouching of the back and it's most distinct emphasis on pronouncing the buttocks. Truly a fascinating ritual. In the display case are two human items alongside the fabled McDonalds Overweight, which are recreational pieces of pop culture.'

Said display case of an ancient human had an overweight adult female eating McDonalds. Hm. What an interesting skewering of some anachronistic human timeline. The simple delight of seeing her friend's expression drew a crooked smile to Princess Sparkle's lips. They were having such a good time. It beat having horrific anxiety attacks. Hand-in-telekinetic hand, they enjoyed the museum founder yelling at some staff members. Her barking tones were near frantic and nasally, each word biting with unfair criticism and delusions of grandeur.

"I'm the one who funds this museum and I'm the one who gets to write all the historic information! You cannot tell me what's right and wrong!"

"But Miss Heartstrings, you can't possibly be serious! This- this information is wildly inaccurate And you, you need editors on this! All of the language and phrasing is ludacris! Why are there so many exclamations! There are too many exclamations!"

The colt speaking to her lit himself on fire and crashed into the McDonald's Overweight display.

They rushed out and never looked back.

Author's Note

Can I has satire?

I Remembered You Today

Lilith woke in cold sweat before hearing an angel's voice.

"The sun is a wondrous body, like a magnificent father; if only I could be so grossly incandescent." Twilight recited, sliding a ruby-socketed dagger across her hooves.

"You really think I'm like that...? Like the sun?" She hushed quietly, shaking in silence and stifling her breath.

The answer took a split second. Twilight cringed and fluttered everywhere when she was embraced. The alicorn sat motionless as her oblong case fell limply below. It revealed her blade without cover. Without scabbard or wrappings. Curved and thin, it was only good for unsuspecting enemies. It's form was too brittle to handle armor or any blade structurally more sound than itself. Twilight carried a trick weapon. When it was seen, her cover was no more than tatters.

"I know you're like that. You're more than that. You're an angel. Brighter than any star. Or any spell. You've saved me so many times, heh... To me, you're God. You're the only one that ever felt something and came back." Lilith murmured, rubbing her own eyes.

A tear slipped her cold gaze as the princess looked down at her human hands. They were so split. So individual. Incomplete. And articulated, but brittle. Between fingers were spaces for more fingers. Twilight saw her horns and noted they were like handles. Like steering wheels. And her eyes were so small. Too little to see everything. Mankind was made incomplete. She held her hooves between Lilith's palms and whispered 'how could you do this to me.'

"How could you love me. How could you make me cry..." Twilight trembled, blinking thrice and falling three tears.

"How couldn't I... You made me stare at light I never saw. And you saved me countless times, just because you were you. I love that about you. I love you because you're you."

She grit her teeth.

"I can't love you- I-"

"I know... I know you can't love me. But keep it with you. Someone loves you. Don't forget, okay...?"

Lilith kissed her snout and lay next to her hospitalized angel. Love was forbidden between angels and demons. Like gods and humans. So she stayed there, in that purgatory of things never said. Because who said the wingless didn't deserve wings. The incubus held her little slice of heaven and remembered her today. Just like everyday before... and after. Lilith slowly, but surely, put her lashes together and watched the world grow dark.

Author's Note

"How could you love me."