Romp

Twilight smashed the surrounding jungle with a fetlock. Slowly, she steadied herself upright, crushing trees and brush and ground alike under each of her hooves. The remains of the jungle poured off her sweat-laden body, brown and green fragments falling from the stained hairs of her lavender coat to the world far below. The giant alicorn grit her teeth and narrowed her eyes, squaring herself off with the puny griffon before her. Bringing herself to her full height, she lifted her head far over Gilda, keeping her gaze locked. Her massive chest rose and fell with the slow deep breaths she drew, filling her lungs with cool fall air, exhaling with the force of a gale.

She glared down the bridge of her muzzle and growled, “This isn’t over yet.”

Gilda merely crossed her arms and returned the mare’s glare. “Uh, yeah, no kidding. But what’re you gonna do about it? Hm?” Gesturing with her talons, she said, “For all this big display of yours, you seem to be all bark and no bite.”

Twilight exhaled hard, spewing mist and sod across the air over Gilda. She closed her mouth, if only to allow a smirk to curl up the very edge. “I believe I can fix that.”

Gilda had only enough time to blink before Twilight plunged forward, extending her maw over the tiny griffon. Twilight spared no time – already, she had wrapped Gilda within the sticky hold of her tongue, flexing it tight to subdue the lesser creature. She felt a faint twitch against the sensitive muscle, followed by the nearly inaudible squeak of Gilda’s lungs heaving against the pressure of her strength.

Now was her chance. In one fell swoop, she could end this fight and sate her desire. Her body had already picked up on her instincts; saliva filled the lining of her mouth, drenching the griffon she held securely in her grasp. She pulled her tongue tighter and tighter, feeling the rapid breaths of her prey rise and fall uselessly against its surface. Screwing her eyes shut, Twilight relished the sensation, tuning out every other sense.

The feeling of this frail body, helpless to break free of her grasp, stirred forth all the wants she had failed to suppress. She grinned to herself – a reflexive gesture, something she couldn’t prevent even if she wanted. In this moment, triumphing over this tiny little creature, every ounce of her being cheered with glee. Like strings pulled to their breaking point, her legs tensed on their own, muscles clenching for dear life. She lifted her head before the setting sun, soaking in its warmth, savoring the squirming life against her tongue, bending before the pressure rising within her, until—

“TWILIGHT! STOP!”

—she heard a raspy voice.

__________

Rainbow Dash pumped her wings against the frigid air, pushing her lithe form as fast as she could toward the towering form of her friend. “Twilight, don’t you dare swallow that griffon!”

Twilight froze where she stood over the decimated jungle, jaw clenched tight and legs even tighter. When she opened her eyes, Rainbow expected to see surprise. Instead, she received a glare that could surely wither even the mightiest pony. With teeth still borne, Twilight stared her down from stories overhead, anger and humiliation filling her eyes.

But Rainbow wasn’t about to back down. “Twilight, what are you doing?!” she shouted, flying higher to bring herself level with her head. “You know better than this! This isn’t what you really want!”

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Yes it is,” she muttered through clenched teeth.

“No it isn’t!” Rainbow ran a hoof through her windswept mane, magenta eyes wide with panic. “You told me yourself this isn’t what you want – not here, not in real life, not anywhere!”

“It is what I want,” Twilight muttered, bending her head to a menacing pitch. “It’s all I want.”

Rainbow scoffed. “Wasn’t it you I found bent over a toilet puking her guts out ‘cause she thought she was a monster?”

“I am a monster, Rainbow,” Twilight growled, stomping her hoof against the earth for good measure. “Just look at me!”

“Yeah, look at you,” Rainbow Dash yelled, thrusting her hooves out toward the giant in front of her. “Big bad Twi, the giant Princess of Friendship, who did all this in the first place just to help me!” Slumping her shoulders, she said, “Princess Luna told me why you did this. And you’d call yourself a monster? You more than anypony else knows how big a lie that is.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes further, stepping toward Rainbow. She exhaled hard, blowing the pegasus back. “Then how do you explain this?” she muttered with a low, shaky tone. “How do you explain my desire?”

Rainbow blinked. In her periphery, she noticed Twilight’s legs trembling, and her eyes had just begun to well with tears. She crossed her forelegs and allowed herself a calming breath. Relaxing in her hover, she met Twilight’s gaze and said, “How do you explain mine?”

Twilight’s eyes widened slightly, but only for a moment. “It’s not the same,” she mumbled.

“No. No, it isn’t,” Rainbow said, shaking her head. “But neither of us can explain why we like what we do. That was one of the things we talked about, remember?” When Twilight chose to remain silent, she continued. “Hopefully you also remember everything else we talked about. Like the fact that you don’t really wanna do this sort of—”

“I already know that, Rainbow,” Twilight muttered, turning her head away from the pegasus.

“And you said yourself that even though you do like this sort of stuff, you don’t want to like it, remember?”

“So what?” Twilight said, meeting Rainbow’s gaze once more. “What’s it matter? It’s not like I can choose what I like—”

“But you can choose to do what you really want to—”

“And I want this!” Twilight yelled, breaking her mouth open. For a brief moment, Rainbow caught a glimpse of Gilda – drenched from head to paw in saliva – tumbling within the chasm of Twilight’s mouth, before she slammed her jaw shut again. Lifting her muzzle up, she began to swallow.

“Twilight, wait!” Rainbow shouted, waving her hooves in front of the giant. “Please, just listen to me!”

“NO,” Twilight growled, shaking the bones in Rainbow’s body with the sheer force of the word. “I’m done talking, Rainbow! This is what I want! It’s not like I’m hurting anypony by doing this!”

Rainbow furrowed her brow. She hovered for a moment before flying up to Twilight’s snout. Landing on the tip of her muzzle, she trotted a short pace between the giant’s two eyes. She picked one to glare at and said, “You really think that’s true?”

Twilight arched an eyebrow.

“You really think you’re not hurting anypony by doing this? Because, what – this is just a dream? That’s your reason, right?” Rainbow frowned. “You’re hurting yourself, Twi! If you go through with this, you know how bad it’s gonna make you feel afterward!”

Twilight furrowed her brow. With a simple scrunch of her muzzle, she knocked Rainbow onto her rump, then dipped her nose down and popped it back up, sending the tiny pegasus tumbling in the air.

“Nngh… dangit, Twi!” Spreading her wings, Rainbow slowed herself into a wobbly hover and glared down at her friend. “Don’t you get it? This is just a dream! Gilda’s just, like, turned into this bad part of your imagination or something! So why’re you doing this?”

That seemed to strike a chord with Twilight. The giant wilted at the words and cast her gaze far from Rainbow’s. “You don’t understand, Rainbow! I just… I have to…”

“Have to what?!” Rainbow shouted, swinging her hooves out. “Seriously! I’m right here! Everything’s fine now! You saved the day and got the bad guy! You don’t have to go through with this now – it’s all cool!”

Twilight folded her ears and crouched lower against the earth. “Just leave me alone, please! You don’t know what it feels like!”

“What what feels like?” Drifting closer to the mare, she said, “You’re not making any sense, Twi. I mean… not that this dream made sense anyway, but seriously.” She placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Gilda’s my responsibility. This dream is my responsibility. Everything you saw – everything that happened here was from my own imagination, not yours, alright? Just… please.”

Rubbing her hoof along Twilight’s coat, she said, “I know you, Twilight. We’ve already talked about this a whole bunch, so I know this isn’t what you want to do. Not deep down, at least. And besides, the nightmare’s done. You stopped Gilda, and everything’s cool now.” She paused and looked up. Twilight kept her head turned away, though she at least appeared to be listening.

“But now you’re about to turn this into a nightmare of your own,” she said, pulling away from Twilight. “You told me there was a difference between the ‘dreams’ and the ‘nightmares’ you had when we first talked about all this – that in the dreams, you’re the one who’s a giant. But after last night, seeing you upset because of one of those dreams… honestly, I think you’ve got it backward.”

A shiver traveled through Twilight’s sides, ruffling her tattered wings. Rainbow noticed this and chose to carefully hover around Twilight’s barrel.

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Rainbow continued, “but didn’t you say you felt like a monster because you ate ponies in your dream? I know you wish you didn’t like that sort of thing. And, honestly… I really don’t know if there’s a way to change that. To make you stop liking something, or even to keep the dreams from happening.” Cruising around to Twilight’s other side, she said, “But right now, you’re in charge. You can decide what you’re going to do here – either swallow my old friend, or do something that you’ll be proud of later. Y’know… like spitting her out?”

By this point, Rainbow had come to hover in front of Twilight, who continued to hold her eyes shut. Shaking her head, Twilight mumbled, “But you don’t know how tempting it is… once I’ve started, I… I can’t just…”

Rainbow plopped down once more on Twilight’s snout. “Look at me, Twi.”

Twilight scrunched her eyes tighter. But after a moment, she peeked them open and looked down at the tiny pegasus.

“We’ve run this into the ground,” Rainbow said, looking up into the alicorn’s violet eyes. “You blame yourself for me thinking about Gilda, and I blame myself for pushing you too far. We both opened up this whole world of crazy whatever without knowing what we were getting into.” She took a step forward and lifted her head, meeting Twilight’s gaze as evenly as possible. “But you didn’t cry over a toilet for nothing. And I didn’t run off like a loser when you ended that spell for nothing, either.

“We’re scared of ourselves, Twi!” Rainbow shouted up. “We’re scared of the things we like, the ponies we are, and for me, the past I have. This whole dream with Gilda? This is because of stuff that went down between us a long time ago. I mean, none of the stuff you saw here actually happened, but a lot of junk did go down when we were living together.

“After you first brought up the giant pony stuff, I thought back to those times and remembered how scary it was discovering parts of myself I never knew existed. I also remembered how exciting it was… and like I mentioned, that was one of the reasons I wanted to help you discover this part of yourself.

“But I didn’t explain everything,” Rainbow said, breaking her gaze away from Twilight. “Like how I discovered there were things I didn’t like. I know I mentioned I wasn’t one of those ponies that likes to be hurt, but the reason I know that is because of some of the junk Gilda wanted to do. Some of the stuff I let her do.”

She looked back up and continued. “I don’t know exactly what you’re going through, Twi – and yeah, you’re right, I don’t know what it feels like, what’s going on in your head, any of that. I’m not you.” Patting a hoof against Twilight’s muzzle, she said, “But I still know you. In fact, I know you better than I ever have! In just two days, I’ve learned stuff about Twilight Sparkle I never knew. Like how she’s super awesome at making spell worlds and being a kick-flank brawler when she wants to be.”

A hint of a giggle escaped Twilight’s lungs.

“I also know how guilty doing this stuff makes you feel,” she said, giving her most honest smile. “And for what’s it’s worth – even though it isn’t the same, I know… I understand what it’s like to let yourself do something you’re not comfortable with.”

Twilight squinted down at her.

“Tell you what,” Rainbow said, turning to the side. “If you let the bird go, I’ll tell you everything. The whole cruddy deal that was me and Gilda’s flight-school fling.” Looking up at one of Twilight’s eyes, she said, “But you gotta do that much first. Give me back the griffon so we can get out of this dream. Besides, ain’t it kinda hard to talk with your mouth full?” she added with a chuckle.

For a moment, Twilight seemed to consider the proposition, letting the tension around her eyes relax. Then, she muttered, “Do you know what I’m scared of the most, Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow and shook her head.

Twilight drew a couple shallow breaths. “That when it comes to this… I can’t follow my own heart.” She lifted her head and closed her eyes, tensing the muscles in her throat.

Without hesitation, Rainbow bucked off the end of Twilight’s muzzle and sped away from the mare. “Alright then. Guess I’ll just have to follow it for you.”