Fleshpoundity: Element of Generosity

“Last one!” Twilight said with a triumphant sigh as she magicked the final book into place on the shelves and turned to look at her friends. ”Thank you so much for helping clean up these books, guys. It was a crazy weekend of studying!” Unfortunately, her attention – and concern – was very soon drawn out the window by the sound of a screaming Rainbow Dash.

Moments later the library exploded into a cloud of books and scrolls, completely ruining the delicate efforts of the three ponies and Fleshpound. Twilight found herself annoyed for a fraction of a second before remembering that Rarity's temper was on a hair trigger. After realizing that Rarity was not about to need a lullaby, Twilight turned her attention back to Rainbow, who seemed to be berating Fluttershy about something.

“What are you two arguing about?” Twilight asked.

“Ugh, nothing,” Rainbow replied, “It's just that the Best Young Flyer competition in Cloudsdale is coming up, and with you all grounded, the only friend I really have who can come to cheer me on is Fluttershy,” Dash said, with a small frown, “and her cheering... leaves something to be desired. If there was only some way you all could come. Especially you, Rarity, your voice carries for miles.”

“That, and Rainbow Dash is planning on doing a Sonic Rainboom!” Pinkie exclaimed before Rarity could respond, then turned to Rainbow. “You are gonna do a Sonic Rainboom, right?”

“Well, I'm going to try, but... practice hasn't been going so hot so far, but I'm sure I'll get it,” the cyan mare explained, with a hint of nervous laughter, before turning back to the window. “Sorry about the mess, Twi. I should go practice a little more. You too, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, right,” the demure pegasus said softly, “See you girls later, and wish Rainbow Dash luck,” she paused, waiting for Rainbow Dash to be out of earshot, “She's going to need it. Maybe if we could get Rarity to throw her...”

“Well,” Twilight said as she watched her friends fly away, “I guess we should get this cleaned up. Again. Ow!” Twilight yelped in pain as something rather sharp prodded her flank.

“Spell,” Rarity growled.

“What?”

“Find spell,” Rarity's voice reverberated, filling the room, “We go to Cloudsdale. Cheer on Dash,” she gestured with a drill out the window in the direction Rainbow had flown, “Nervous.”

“She did seem a bit uneasy,” Applejack admitted. “Think you could do it, Twi?”

“If the library were organized, it wouldn't take a second. But like this-” Twilight was cut off as a book landed in front of her.

“Page twenty-seven,” Pinkie Pie said.

Twilight eyed the pink pony, but obediently flipped the book to page twenty-seven. Sure enough, there was a flight spell, designed to... “Grant unicorns or earth ponies wings for three days,” Twilight read aloud. “It looks pretty difficult though, I'm not sure if I can do it once, let alone four times.”

“Try,” grumbled the Fleshpound, voice a bit more threatening than intended. Maybe.

“Alright,” Twilight muttered, “But who wants to be the test subject?”

“I,” Rarity answered, gesturing to herself, nicking her chest in the process, causing a small rivulet of blood to trickle down over her abs. She didn't seem to notice, or if she did, she didn't care.

“Uh, Rares, it said for ponies,” Applejack objected.

“No no, Rarity actually has a valid point,” Twilight said, perking up, “If it works on her then we know it'll work on us three as well. Alright, stand back everypony.”

Twilight stepped forward and bent her head down in concentration. Blue tendrils of light surrounded Rarity, and slowly, the Fleshpound was lifted from the floor. Rarity raised the remains of an eyebrow as she heard Twilight's grunting getting more intense, but did not verbally question it, for fear of breaking the mare's concentration. The glow intensified suddenly, and then a bright flash-

Rarity landed back on the floor with a heavy thud, light from the window behind her scattering colored spots around the room, like the sun through a stained-glass window. She flexed her shoulders, smiling as the lights danced around the room.

“I think it worked,” a woozy Twilight grinned, “but there isn't a snowball's chance on Celestia's flank of me being able to do that again. Let's see... if we can find... a different solution...” she trailed off, wobbled a couple times, and collapsed on a pile of books.

“The Sonic Rainboom is way more than rare, Fluttershy!”

“Ra-ra-rarity?” Fluttershy pointed a hoof over Rainbow Dash's shoulder. Turning around, Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped.

Floating in the sky was Rarity, that much Fluttershy had been right about. The nine-foot-tall, five-hundred-pound mare floated, dare Rainbow think it, gracefully in the air, two great gossamer wings extending from her shoulder blades. Translucent and colorful, they almost gave her the appearance of a butterfly. A giant, blood-stained butterfly who could murder a pony at the drop of a hat. Quite literally if the hat was nice enough.

“Wings!” Rarity roared happily.

“I... I can see that,” Dash answered unsteadily,

“Twilight made,” Rarity said, floating towards them. The rush of wind from the beats of her gargantuan wings blew Dash's mane back, and for a moment she found herself wondering if she should grab hold of Fluttershy to keep the meek mare from being completely blown away. “Could not leave... you alone... without cheers!”

“Well,” Rainbow managed, pausing, then regaining her composure. “Thanks for coming! I'm really glad you're here, Rarity. Where's everypony else, though?”

“Coming.”

As if on cue, a purple hot air balloon rose through the clouds, floating serenely – this one was definitely serene – and coming to a gentle rest on the firmer cloud-ground in front of Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie quickly mounted the railing to hop out, but Dash was still too boggled by the concept of Rarity flying to issue a warning to her friend. Thankfully, she didn't need to, as Pinkie landed softly on the clouds and stood right up. Applejack and Twilight were only seconds behind.

“Hey Rainbow! I found a spell that grants ponies temporary wings, but it was too hard for me to do more than once,” Twilight said happily, walking over and giving her still-awestruck friend a quick hug, “So instead we found one that lets ponies walk on clouds!”

“Uh huh,” Rainbow Dash answered, still staring at Rarity.

“So... you wanna show us around or something?” Applejack asked, kicking idly at the clouds, both intrigued and slightly unsettled by their springy quality.

“Right! Yeah, of course,” the pegasus shook her head to clear her mind, and tapped Fluttershy on the shoulder to bring her back to reality as well. “Come on, let's show our friends around!”

“Alright so because of the late entry we got two more contestants but only enough time for one. Either one of ya has to withdraw, or ya go at the same time,” the drab brown pegasus announced. Rainbow Dash swallowed heavily and looked to her left. Rarity looked utterly absurd, wearing enormous fake eyelashes, lipstick, some sort of feathery-looking skirt, and a feathered headdress. Where she'd even found those things in the preparation room was beyond Dash, but she really didn't care at this point. She didn't need the Sonic Rainboom to fly circles around Rarity, but Rarity certainly had a way with drawing attention to herself that Rainbow Dash wasn't sure she could match.

“Go together,” Rarity growled, looking at Rainbow and smiling. “Do best,” she added with a curt nod.

I still can't believe she had the nerve to join the Best Young Flyer competition against me, Dash muttered mentally, but returned the nod with a weak smile.

“Alright then, get out there,” answered the organizer, “We ain't got all day. In fact, we got about four minutes.”

Nodding, the pony and the 'Pound took to the sky, Rarity soaring up towards the open air at the top of the Cloudoseum, and Rainbow taking the low route through the obstacles.

As it turned out, Rainbow Dash was right. Pretty much every pony in the crowd had their eyes glued to Rarity. Much to the detriment of her own routine, Rainbow Dash had found her own eyes wandering towards the spectacle above her. How something so giant and so brutal could move through the air with such grace was beyond her. The fact that Rarity was loudly humming a discordant tune didn't make concentrating any easier. After fumbling her cloud column slalom, Rainbow flitted over to a small staging cloud and grit her teeth. She had to do something, but right now she really wasn't sure if a Sonic Rainboom was a possibility. Kicking off the cloud, she set back towards the slalom. Getting into a rhythm was always the best way to start something. Above her, her fleshrending friend was shouting something.

“Everyone!” Rarity bellowed from on high, a light sheen of sweat – or possibly her own blood – glimmering off her forehead, “Look! I! Am! RARITY!”

The force of the cry actually shook the entire Cloudoseum, toppling a pillar of cloud into Rainbow Dash's flight path. The cyan pony stopped just short of being crushed by it, but it meant her already questionable routine had gone completely out the window. Above her, Dash heard a shrieking roar of a laugh, and resigned herself to the fact that she had lost. No! Dash yelled mentally at herself, I have one more trick up my... metaphorical sleeve. It's the only thing that could possibly get me a win now-

Rarity hurtled past Rainbow Dash, seriously lacking in the wing department.

Or that could happen, she thought as she stared dumbly, eyes trailing downwards as one of her best friends plummeted to her death. God, she's all lit up. A trio of Wonderbolts flew past her at a steep dive, hoping to catch the falling mare before she hit the ground, and ideally without getting impaled on the various metal protrusions covering her body. I have to save her! registered at the front of Dash's mind, and without another moment of hesitation, she took off after them.

The Wonderbolts were fast, for sure, easily fast enough to catch the falling Fleshpound. Whether or not they were aware of the dangers of attempting to handle Rarity was another question entirely, one answered abruptly as Misty Fly made the first attempt to halt Rarity's rapid descent.

In her incoherent rage at her own impending demise, Rarity's chest pumps had turned a brilliant crimson, pumping the mare chock full of a lovely cocktail consisting largely of adrenaline. Somehow it worked out, though her falling and flailing and spinning of drills, Rarity actually incurred enough of a vacuum effect around her right gauntlet, sucking Misty in. Before the poor mare could react, a wing was gone, then her flight suit, then her ribs, then lots of her juicy inside-bits became outside-bits.

Spitfire and Soarin' had to dodge the sudden onslaught of fleshy mist that used to be one of their closest friends, suddenly questioning whether saving the falling creature was worth it, or even possible. In for a bit, Spitfire thought to herself, and dove underneath Rarity, narrowly avoiding the metal spikes on her back... for a moment at least. Rarity suddenly twisted, one of her iron spines catching Spitfire in the shoulder. Spitfire cried out in pain, the agonized sound loud enough to reach Soarin's ears even over the rush of wind.

Oh for- damn it, he thought, following Spitfire's path beneath the behemoth.

Spitfire's eyes went even wider with fear as she saw her friend coming for her. She tried to yell out, before a flailing blender caught her in the temple, excavating the majority of her head.

That just ain't fair flashed through Soarin's mind as the Fleshpound continued to rotate around in the air, far too late to avoid the incoming evisceration.

“I... I don't think I'm ever going to eat another cherry pie again,” Soarin' muttered as he popped back into existence up in the Cloudoseum, gagging at the memory of Spitfire's head being shredded in front of him. Misty was laying on the cloud next to him clutching at her wings and side, crying. Spitfire was standing stock-still, looking forward, unblinking. Soarin' guessed she thought she was still dead.

Far below, a cone of cloud was forming in front of Rainbow Dash. She wasn't even trying to do a Rainboom – perhaps that's why it was happening in the first place – all she wanted was to reach her friend before she hit the ground. Rainbow knew she'd never be able to stop Rarity's fall, not at this point, but perhaps she could slow her down enough that the fall wouldn't break every bone in the mare's body. No, that'll never work. Oh! I have... a terrible idea. Sorry Rarity, but this is gonna hurt a hell of a lot less than hitting the ground. Clenching her teeth, Dash pressed onward, inching ever closer to Rarity. A hoof made contact with Rarity's chest, and suddenly the pumps returned to yellow. Good, she understands, thought Rainbow Dash.

The cloud-cone broke.

A thunderous noise rippled through the sky as a radiant ring of blood and entrails exploded from the point of impact, raining gore on the landscape for miles around.

“Oh my gosh it's even more exciting than the Sonic Rainboom!” Pinkie exclaimed, gripping Twilight tightly and shaking the lavender unicorn, “It's a Sonic Fleshboom!”

“I'm more than a little concerned that that's a thing,” Twilight mumbled, eyes locked on the expanding crimson sky-tide, “but I'd be lying if I said that wasn't impressive.”

With no warning save from a telltale pop, Rarity appeared a few feet above the four mares. Thinking quickly, Twilight cast a cloud-walking spell on the Fleshpound, who landed squarely on her face.

“Rarity, are you okay?”

“Mmmmph,” she groaned, not lifting her face from the clouds.

“She's fine,” Applejack answered for her.

A flapping of wings called their attention forward, followed by the roar of cheering from the crowd. A viscera-soaked Rainbow Dash floated gently towards her friends, a disbelieving smile on her face.

“Remind me,” Dash paused and took a couple panting breaths, “to never ever do that again. It's gonna take weeks to get the blood out of my fur.”

“Yeah, sure, right after I remind you to go get your prize,” Twilight replied with a grin, pointing over Rainbow Dash's shoulder. Soarin' was the only Wonderbolt who had recovered from his untimely demise, and was nervously flapping towards Rainbow Dash, a medal hanging limply from one hoof.

“To Rainbow Dash,” he announced, voice magically amplified, “For... whatever that was... I present... the Best Young Flyer award, and an open invitation to spend a day with the Wonderbolts. I'm just gonna... go...” Soarin' trailed off as he tossed the medal lazily at Rainbow Dash. The mare caught it deftly, a broad smile spreading across her face for a few moments. Then the blood on her face dripped into her mouth sent her into a coughing fit.

“I told you these got more interesting since you left, Luna,” Celestia said with a smile, nudging her sister. Luna nodded weakly. For truly, she did not know what she had just seen, and a great part of her wished she could unsee it.