Rainbow Dash was having one of those days.
Not one of those, “oh, curse my luck” kind of days. It was the kind of day where you’re off minding your own business and then you suddenly wake up in complete darkness running from something you can’t see for no recognizable reason whatsoever. The whole situation was just so stupid that Dash didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or scream in terror. Right now she was leaning towards option number three.
It wasn’t entirely unreasonable considering the circumstances. The world surrounding her was simply… dark. It wasn’t black. Black would have been a lightbulb in this place. It was just infinitely dark all around her, as if the light had been gone so long that the world itself had absorbed and now emitted the darkness. She was lucky that the floor was smooth, almost like polished granite. Otherwise she would be falling on her face left and right.
And then there was this anxiety that she couldn’t shake. She hadn’t seen anything yet - how could she? – but she could feel something. Something too frightening to name or even think about, and it was following her now, silently staring and waiting for the right moment to quickly end her. Its hoofsteps echoed throughout the world around her ever so close. Maybe those were her own; she couldn’t really tell. But she knew without a doubt there was something, and that’s why she ran. She dug in her hooves and ran faster and faster. At this speed she’d have enough to beat Applejack a million times over. She never slowed. Only pushed harder, despite the fact she was sweating profusely and her lungs began to make an odd croaking noise that certainly couldn’t signal anything good.
But hell, she had no idea what else to do. The place was all the same. She could have run four feet or seventeen miles; it wouldn’t have felt any different. There were no barricades to hide behind. No secret doors to enter. Even if there were any she wouldn’t be able to see them. The only option was to run straight and pray she wouldn’t tire. It was a bad option, but all the other choices probably involved her dying violently and that was something she wanted to avoid.
So yeah, Dash didn’t exactly feel like jumping for joy.
She was reaching the end of her limits when a strange flicker came out of the edge of her sight. She paid little attention to it at first. It was a trick of the light, she reasoned. The sweat dripping down into her eye was blurring things. She continued running without another thought.
Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. She could hallucinate many things, but light itself? That didn’t seem right. Twilight had said something about that once. It couldn’t be a trick of the light simply because there was no other light for it to be a trick of.
She turned her head slowly back to where she had come. Her eyes widened and then immediately squinted in temporary blindness. Yep. That was definitely light without a doubt. Once her eyes adjusted, she looked more carefully. It wasn’t a lightbulb nor a lantern, but a pure white rectangle of light almost like a doorway.
Thank god. She smiled, even though not much had changed in her situation. There was something about light after being in the dark for so long; it was a security blanket of sorts. She took a few steps forward, and the light got closer. A few more, then a few more until the tip of her nose extended into the room’s purity. She yielded to the strange euphoria pulling her in and stuck her head inside the doorframe. It felt nice.
Her ear began to twitch, and suddenly it was apparent that there was a sound coming from inside the room. Whoa. A beautiful sound.
As a literal definition, it was music played on a piano, but that didn’t do it justice. It was simply perfection. It stopped Dash right in her tracks. There were so many notes so fast and yet it was so mellow, so chill. She couldn’t stop her mind from flying away with the melody. Fears evaporated. Doubts vanished. She felt herself soaring on the wings of a dream, far beyond reality…
And then the music stopped. Dash blinked. Suddenly, everything came back. Panic and confusion began to rise inside her and her breaths became short. What was she doing? Where was this place? Questions she had tired of moments ago became fresh and anew.
“What do you think?” said a voice.
Dash swiveled her head in alarm towards the sound.
“You like it? It’s an original composition.”
She blinked. The pony was still there, giving her a graceful smile as her hooves rested on the edge of the luminous white piano. She looked young and pretty, but not like she was trying too hard to look young and pretty. Her face seemed friendly, but Dash took a slow step back anyway.
As far as appearance went, she was about as good as it got. She was tall and skinny with a long flowing mane that contained many different shades of black, red, and orange. Her body was a flat dark grey that shone with the lustrous gleam that only painstaking effort could create. Dash blinked again. She couldn’t stop herself from staring straight into her shiny grey eyes like a foal would to a celebrity crush.
She blinked one more time forcefully and snapped herself out of it. She didn’t even know this pony. It was a bad time to start trusting strangers in… wherever the hell this was.
“Where am I?” she asked.
The pony somehow smiled wider. “Ah! You must be new. It’s been so long since I’ve seen new ponies around here. It gets boring seeing the same faces everyday. Well, same faces meaning no faces. I’m a bit of a loner.”
Her friendly smile faded and was replaced by a calm, business-like look.
“Well, sinner, you have found your way to Tartarus, your home for eternal torture. I’m Princess Celestia, chief executive officer of this establishment. You’re Rainbow Dash, correct? I’ve heard the name. Hmm. You know, in my humble opinion, I never thought you’d end up here. You must have really pissed her off.”
“Tartarus? The monster prison? Why am I there?”
“I prefer to just call it hell. No point romanticizing it. As far as why you’re here, I have no clue. That’s the other chick’s job. I’m just here to make sure you don’t get out.”
Dash breathed an agonized sigh and collapsed to the ground. That wasn’t fair.
“Who even are you?” she asked under her breath.
“Slow on the uptake, are we? Princess Celestia. I guess I just assumed it was a simple name.”
“You look nothing like her.”
She gave Dash a confused look, and then nodded as realized what she meant.
“Ah, you mean that Celestia. The one in the mortal world. The good one. I see now. I’d better explain then.
“Anyway, there are two Celestias, me and her. Together we make a complete being. I represent the sin, the evil side of existence. She is the good, pure side. It’s like Yin and Yang. She runs the mortal world while I’m in charge of hell. This way, our talents are put to good use.”
“Celestia never mentioned that before.”
“My dear, there is so much about her that you do not know.”
“Then what does that make Luna?”
She didn’t seem to like that question and spoke a little firmer. “Look, I appreciate the company, Rainbow Dash. I really do. However, I am a pony of business, so forgive me when I say you really shouldn’t be here.”
“I wholeheartedly agree with that.”
“Maybe it was Cerberus’ fault,” she said, mostly to herself. “He’s usually pretty good at keeping ponies out of my office though.”
“Cerberus?”
She sighed and gave Dash a look that one would give a pesky insect. “Big three-headed dog at the gate.”
“I never saw a gate.”
“That’s the only way in, so obviously you did.”
“Look, I’m sorry,” Dash defended. “I don’t know how I got here any more than you do. Ten minutes ago I was just in the Castle running an errand for Twilight. This has to be a misunderstanding.”
“You sure?” She looked mildly disappointed. “That’s not very exciting.”
“That’s what happened. Just put me back and I’ll be out of your mane.”
She looked over her for a second and then got up from her piano to get a closer look. She touched her mane a couple times, letting the messy hairs fall off the end of her hoof when she pulled it back. After a few extra taps on Dash’s cheek, she stepped back and gave her a look of total confusion.
“You’re not dead.”
“Of course not.”
“She always waits until death before evaluation.”
“I told you. This is a misunderstanding.”
“My my. What are we going to do? This has never happened before. Not once. Maybe I should put you back before things get messed up.”
She sat back down and retreated into deep thought for a few seconds, making a flurry of different facial expressions that inadvertently made her look schizophrenic.
“Then again. I’m literally sin. Screwing with things is kinda my job.”
“It never hurts to try something new,” Dash hinted, but she didn’t seem to hear her.
“But of course, I’m really only evil to sinners down here. It wouldn’t be right to take advantage of innocent ponies for no reason.”
She went silent for a few more minutes. Finally, she sighed and spoke.
“Well, you do understand I can’t just let you go. Obviously, fate has brought you here and I can’t have you running around with this kind of knowledge. Everything I said was supposed to be confidential. Though since you didn’t exactly do anything wrong, I’m not going to throw you back where you were. I think I can offer you a deal, but it’s going to be your only option honestly.”
She turned back to the piano and held up a few sheets of paper through telekinesis. Dash could see quite clearly that it was sheet music, and by the looks of the notes and symbols, it was difficult. Celestia pushed them closer, silently telling Dash to pick them up and read them. She obeyed.
“You see, I’ve been working on this piece for a little while now, and so far I think it’s my best yet. The problem is I’ve really been drawing a blank as of late. Everything I try just doesn’t fit. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is? My stress levels have been off the charts.
“Anyway, provided that you cooperate, I’ll allow you to stay here with me until we finish. If you do a good enough job, I might even let you be my associate. Keep in mind that would be an eternal position with many benefits.”
Celestia gave her a good hard look, waiting for an affirmative signal.
“Do I ever get to go back?”
“Nope.”
Dash sighed. That wasn’t even fair. More importantly, she couldn’t play the piano to save her life.
“I don’t know how to play the piano,” she stated bluntly.
Celestia gave her an odd look, and then burst out into a deep, strong laugh. After a good while of this, and it was a good while, she was forced to stop for air and had to rest her head on the top of the piano. She took a few deep breaths before looking up, but a bright smile still graced her face. She gave Dash a knowing wink.
“Good one, Dash. I can tell we’re going to be close friends. But seriously-“
She stopped midsentence. Dash stood there silently with a straight face. Celestia frowned, then smirked, then looked at her with pleading eyes.
“Why aren’t you laughing? That was hilarious.”
Dash blinked and said nothing.
“You were joking weren’t you?”
“I can’t play the piano,” she repeated.
Celestia took her own turn to blink. She seemed to fly through several emotions in a matter of seconds, but she finally settled on anger.
“What in the absolute fuck have you been doing with your life?” she growled.
“Pianos are expensive,” she defended. “And it’s hard with hooves.”
“That’s why you practice. Then you become good. Then you have a skill you never lose. The only reason you haven’t put forth the effort is because you’re lazy with no regard for the rest of your life.”
Her voice was cracking strangely between rage and sorrow. Dash began to panic and took a few more steps back, tensing up to run if she had to. Celestia’s eye twitched, but her face seemed to return to its natural color. She brought her hoof down hard on the edge of the piano and let her head rest on the top.
“God damn it, Dash. I tried to make things easy. I really did. But no, you had to make things difficult for me. Now I have to finish that song by myself. God knows how long that’s going to take.”
“Well… what does that mean for me?”
She raised her head and threw her hooves up in frustration. “How am I supposed to know? Everything was all fine and dandy until you fucked up my plan.”
“Er… sorry.”
“I guess I’ll just have to throw you back with everyone else.”
Dash’s eyes widened. “Wait, you mean where I was?”
“I deeply apologize,” she said sincerely. “You weren’t exactly evaluated, so I’d prefer not to, but to maintain balance, I have to. Chaos always ensues when ponies leave the underworld.”
“No no no,” Dash whined. “You can’t do that to me. I don’t deserve to be here.”
“I realize that, and again, I apologize, but it’s essentially you or time and space at this point. Besides, if you can’t play the piano, you weren’t living a worthwhile life anyway.”
“No! Please!” She backed up slowly, then faster and turned towards where the door had been moments ago only to find empty space. She let out a mournful cry, started to run, hesitated and stopped, ran, and then stopped again. There just wasn’t anywhere to go.
A magical glow developed around Celestia’s horn, and she felt herself rapidly growing weaker. She tried to struggle, but soon fell to the ground, already losing feeling in her appendages. Celestia gave her a blank glance, and that was the last thing she saw before darkness.
…
Suddenly, Dash opened her eyes.
Or at least she thought she did. She honestly couldn’t tell. It looked the same either way. Pure darkness. Another cry escaped her mouth once she realized what that meant.
She didn’t bother getting up. She just lied there and kept yelling as loud as she could. There was nothing better to do.
“Dear god, shut up,” said a voice.
She stopped and swiveled her head around towards the recognizable sound. A soft beam of light glowed around the alicorn’s long horn, illuminating the face of her most recent enemy. Dash stood up in alarm, but she shook her head, answering the unspoken question.
“Look, I’ve decided to uh… rethink my decision,” she said as she pawed at the ground with her hoof. “I shouldn’t have dumped you off like that. Not without a reasonable chance at least. I think I might offer you another deal, just to, you know, make it fair.”
“What makes you think I can trust you?”
“What makes you think you have a choice?”
She didn’t say it bitterly, just as a statement. Dash quickly realized it couldn’t be truer.
“So… er… I still can’t just let you go free. If you want to leave, you’re going to have to earn it. That’s just the way things are. Try to understand.”
“What do I have to do?”
“I thought I’d ask you.”
“How about ten push ups?”
Celestia shook her head. “This is no joke, Dash. You’ll really have to suffer to make it work. If it doesn’t push you to a breaking point, you won’t have earned it.”
“Fine. Twenty push ups.”
“Dash,” she said with some irritation. “Keep in mind not one pony has ever left Tartarus once they got here. You’ll have to pull something off that nopony has ever done. It’s only fair.”
She sat down, the eerie magical glow flickering like a lantern among the small space it enclosed. She gestured for Dash to do the same.
Once they were both comfortable, she spoke again. “Do you understand the meaning behind this infinite darkness?”
Dash shook her head. She hadn’t a clue.
“I do not own any torture devices. I don’t have legions of demons at my every command. There’s nothing but an empty room. Yet this place would be enough to drive a normal pony to insanity in a matter of minutes. Do you know why that is?”
She shook her head again.
“Tartarus is psychological. Ponies go through the gates scared out of their minds, only to find themselves here in complete darkness. They wait and wait, but still, nothing happens. They allow their imaginations to run free, picturing things chasing them in the distance, horrible, nasty tortures, but they never happen. Torture itself is finite. The suspense holds for eternity. It’s the perception of something bad that causes these ponies to break down. Not physical danger.”
“What happens after they break down?”
“If my better half deems that they show remorse, they are reincarnated. But that’s beside the point. I am telling you this because physical suffering will not be enough for me to let you go. Your mind and spirit must be under siege as well.”
“Oh,” Dash answered softly. She didn’t know what else to say.
“So please, think carefully.”
They went silent for a minute, then two. Celestia tapped the ground with a foreleg every few seconds, as if quietly drawing out diagrams in the granite. Dash closed her eyes and thought through her options. Though, honestly, no kind of torture she could come up with made her very excited.
Finally, Celestia tapped the floor a little harder than the time before, and Dash opened her eyes. She looked dead serious, almost pitying. Dash figured that meant she had an idea.
“Rainbow Dash, what do you think about sex?”
Dash raised an eyebrow and blinked at her. It was almost a funny question, but the circumstances and Celestia’s cold stare just made it feel awkward.
“Handle it maturely, please.”
“Um… I don’t really know.”
“Well, it occurred to me that sex is the source of much psychological pain. Breakups, STDs, young pregnancies, the like. If it is okay with you, I recommend that your torture involves a substantial amount of it.”
Dash started to speak, and then hesitated. It was a difficult question to answer.
“I need your affirmation before we can proceed,” she said blankly.
“Um… I guess that’s fine.”
“Then let us continue. You have five best friends, am I correct?”
Dash nodded.
“And they are all female.”
She nodded again.
“And you are a lesbian?”
“No".
“Ah, so you’re bisexual.”
Dash remained silent. She didn’t know if she should be insulted or just confused.
“If you have been truthful, and I believe you have, then I have a proposal. The choice to accept it is entirely up to you.”
She nodded one more time.
“I’ll give you one week, during which I will be inside your mind, making sure you don’t cheat. You have all of that week to seduce each of your friends into having sex with you. Rape is against the rules, and so are orgies. It must be one on one and completely consensual, though you may pressure them if you so wish. If you succeed, you may remain in the mortal world.”
Dash bit her lip. “But… those are my friends. That would feel strange.”
“You will certainly feel awkward throughout, and it is possible you will cause psychological damage to them as well. If you like, we can forget this one and create a different deal.”
“No,” Dash said. “This one’s fine. Sounds easy enough. I just meant it would be kinda weird. That’s all.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Be careful, Dash. There is a certain point where confidence becomes arrogance, and arrogance is dangerous. You could easily hurt yourself and many others and I don’t want you to discount that.”
Dash forced a smile. “I’m Rainbow Dash. I’ll do whatever it takes to win.”
“I’m afraid victory does not always make you a winner.”
Celestia got up before Dash could respond and dusted herself off, even though her coat was still perfectly spotless.
“Then we shall begin as soon as you are ready. Since my name may confuse you, I will allow you to call me Ember until your journey concludes.”
“Okay. I’m ready to go.”
“Don’t rush yourself, Dash. Are you sure you have no more questions? Your situation is rather unique. I imagine you must be quite frightened.”
She made an awkward laugh. “Ha! Nothing scares me. I’m the coolest pony in Equestria, remember?”
Ember sighed. “Okay. Though I would not be in such a hurry if I were you.”
“Weren’t you the one who said suspense is worse than the actual event?”
Ember’s eyes flickered as she looked up. She thought for a second, and then smirked slightly.
“You are most interesting, Rainbow Dash. I’m looking forward to your adventure.”
“Yeah yeah, enough talk. Just beam me up and let’s get this going.”
Ember gave her a nod, the glow around her horn intensified, and after a barely audible zapping noise, the spot where she had stood was vacant. She stood motionless for a second just staring blankly at the empty space.
Playing games. She had done this before. Why did it feel different?
…
Dash rubbed her eyes at the brilliant sunlight that radiated off the world around her, slowing her breathing down to a calmer level as the sun’s warmth washed over her body with natural endorphins. Her eyes hadn’t adjusted quite yet, but it didn’t take much to tell she was back in the stupidly perfect town of Ponyville. The breeze was nice, maybe a bit chilly, and the sound of singing birds flying overhead was enough to break the awkward silence the streets would have otherwise made. It felt perfect; it always seemed to.
The world’s picture finally began to fade into view, and Dash picked herself off her relaxed lie on her back and took a quick glance around. It didn’t take her long to recognize it. Instinctively, she held her breath before the horrible smell could reach her snout.
She had only been back here once, and the experience had been bad enough to make her vow to never set foot behind Sugarcube Corner ever again. This is where the trash bins were. On a scale of one to ten, the smell was so bad it made infinity look like jogging distance.
Pinkie wasn’t a bad cook. In fact, she was one of the most talented in Ponyville. Her only issue was that she liked to experiment. Sure, she had a breakthrough every now and then, but ninety percent of her experiments fell flat on their faces and ended up here in nasty aluminum bins, where they rotted and somehow got worse. Dash recalled a particularly bad one, the haggis-caviar cake, being made entirely illegal by Celestia herself.
She continued to hold her breath as she shuffled through the alley and into the street, where she finally allowed herself to exhale. The sounds she was used to, the ones of leisurely hoofsteps and soft chatter, began to fill the air. The streets of Ponyville were typically busy during the early afternoons. Unfortunately, none of the ponies were ones she knew that well, so she kept to herself and joined the flow of traffic to wherever it was she was headed to. Her thoughts were still a bit murky and her head pulsated with intense pain, so she decided to walk a while to clear her mind, and then get to… whatever that thing was she had to do. She couldn’t really remember.
“Dash, you there?” said a soft, yet urgent voice.
Dash stopped in her tracks and swiveled her head around in every direction, watching as the dense flow of ponies bent around her as if she was merely a roadblock. None of the blank faces seemed to even acknowledge her presence, let alone be waiting for a response.
“I’m in your mind. Don’t bother looking around. Keep walking and act natural.”
She began to recognize the voice as she obeyed its command, rejoining the current. There was something in her tone that kept her from second guessing her authority.
“So you arrived safely? No missing organs? No new appendages?”
Dash instinctively answered her mentally. “Yes. I’m fine.”
“Good. Then everything is set. You may begin when you are ready.”
Dash was about to ask her what she was talking about when everything suddenly came flooding back in absolute clarity. She smirked and stepped off to the side for a minute, allowing herself a brief chuckle.
“Ember.”
“Yes?”
“Are we actually going to do this? This is kinda… funny. I don’t know how much torture it’s really gonna be.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I mean, it’s just sex. Not that I’m complaining. It’s just…”
“Dash. This is much more precarious than you think. I don’t think you see that.”
“Turn ‘em on and lay ‘em down. That’s about it.”
There was a brief silence. Dash assumed Ember was thinking hard about it.
“Alright. Well, I won’t tell you what to think, but don’t cry to me if you slip up. Anyway, we should go over this for a minute and work out a few details, since you seem ready. Can you fly up to your house? It’s hard to think amongst all this noise.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Dash found a bit of space to spread her wings and lift her stocky blue body from the cobblestone ground. From there, she flapped a bit harder and swiveled herself around to the direction her house was in. She locked her wings in their natural angle and soared forward, looking down with some amusement at the tiny rooftops and even tinier ponies. The image beneath her soon became a blur as she picked up speed towards a comfortable pace.
Her home was not more than five minutes away, and it didn’t take long for the tall cloud structure to appear on the horizon. It was a nice place; Dash was rather proud of it. The rainbow waterfalls maybe made it a little tacky, but Dash didn’t notice and she probably wouldn’t have cared anyway.
Ember seemed to take note of Dash’s larger than life living space. “You must have rich parents,” she said blankly.
“Yeah, whatever,” she answered with a dry laugh. “My parents aren’t really like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“They haven’t talked to me since I dropped out of Cloudsdale’s flight program. I doubt they’d be willing to float me a few bits to keep this place up.”
Ember went silent for a second.
“That must be difficult for you.”
“Whatever. I’ve moved past it now.”
Dash slowed down to a hover and floated down to the cloud just in front of the door. From there, she pushed open the door and stepped inside. The interior was almost entirely a light blue color aside from a wooden bookshelf. A soft blue futon lied to the left of that bookshelf, all of which were along the side of a long staircase that led up to the open second floor. Dash proceeded up these stairs and took a right to another door. She banged it open and leaped onto the bed that sat in the center of the large yet simple bedroom. The window to the balcony opposite the door was open a crack, causing a breeze to blow into the room. The hairs on Dash’ mane blew around slightly, and she watched it with an ADHD kind of amusement.
“So you’re like… the devil then?” she asked out loud.
“Essentially, yes.”
“You’re not really what I expected.”
“What did you expect?”
“I don’t know… more evil, I guess. More torture, eternal punishment, complete hatred for mortal kind… that sort of thing. Like you could have killed me back there if you really wanted to. Why did you give me another chance?”
“Jeez I’m glad you’re not the devil. I don’t just kill ponies at random.”
“But what do you do then?”
“I send enough evil into the world to create a balance. Without death there is no life. I take care of the former. I won’t kill unless society has something to learn from it in the long run.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I think you’re not telling me something.”
“I haven’t lied. You should be less concerned about me and more concerned about the fact the sun is almost set.”
Dash took a glance out the window, giving a slight yelp when she saw the sun start to dip below the clouds. “What? It was like noon a minute ago!”
“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you,” Ember said casually. “I started you off at six this afternoon since you seemed so ready.”
“Really? Don’t you think that would have been helpful to know maybe an hour ago?”
“What’s the matter? Not so confident anymore?”
“I’m perfectly fine,” she said quickly. “I just don’t want you withholding things from me. Now enough talk. Let’s get going.”
“Okay. We’ll start simple. Who do you want to go for first?”
She lied back down to think about it a moment. The prospect of it was entertaining enough to distract her from the imminent death she might face. Having sex with one of those five? It was funny in a really unfunny sort of way.
“Fluttershy,” she finally said.
She wouldn’t be a bad warm up, Dash reasoned. It wouldn’t take much to pressure her into it. Besides, she’s kinda cute. And she had always had a strange desire to destroy that pony’s innocence anyway.
“Okay, and do you know what this pony is sexually attracted to? I do not know her personally, so this part is up to you.”
Dash waved her off. “She just needs a little pressure. She’ll say yes to anything from there on.”
Ember sighed. “You had better hope you’re right.”
But she didn’t argue, and so it was silently settled. Dash got up and checked her reflection in the window, smiled, and struck a triumphant pose.
“Sexy as ever, Dash. You got this,” she said to herself.
With that, she sauntered down the stairs and flew at a cool pace out the door and towards the Everfree Forest.
…
Knock knock.
Dash put her hoof back down and waited patiently for the door to swing open. One. Two. Three seconds. Her patience suddenly ended and she knocked again with considerably more force.
BAM BAM.
That seemed to work. The door opened a few seconds later. The pretty yellow mare poked her head out only slightly, eyes wide with panic, frantically looking left and right as if she was searching for a way to escape. Dash only raised an eyebrow. Fluttershy finally recognized her friend and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh, hi Rainbow Dash. You scared me. I thought you were something else.”
“Yeah, uh… hey. Can I come inside?”
“Sure,” she held the door open wider. “Come in. I can make you some tea.”
Dash nodded and walked inside, stepping carefully to make sure she didn’t crush any of the animals that slithered and crawled and hopped over every imaginable space of the floor. It took a lot more effort than she would have preferred.
She eventually found her way over to the couch and sat down, stretching her legs out over the coffee table in an effort to look casual while at the same time just the slightest bit suggestive.
“I think this one may take a bit more than you make it out to be. Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Ember said suddenly.
Dash had almost forgotten Ember was reading her thoughts. “You stay out of this,” she said with some irritation. “I’ve got to concentrate.”
“You seem frightened.”
“I am not.”
“You are. I can tell. You act calm on the outside, but I see a different Dash from here. I can see a sort of… self-doubt. You’ve been trying so hard for me not to notice it. Is it because of your parents?”
“Do not say that,” Dash snapped about as loudly as she could inside her head. “I don’t need to live up to what they want. I don’t want to. Their opinions mean nothing to me. Are we clear?”
“It isn’t that simple, I think.”
“Shut up. You’re the one who wants me to do this so bad.”
“Alright fine. You’re on your own then. Good luck.”
Ember’s voice retreated from Dash’s mind almost immediately, and for the first time since arriving back, she felt alone. It was unnerving, but she forced herself to cope. No weakness. The single phrase ran through her mind a few times until it made sense. She smirked and leaned back, putting on a sexy, yet not overly obvious stare just to practice it one more time before the show.
That was about as ready as she was going to get, so she took the spare minute to take a quick glance at the room around her. It was a nice little place – though not as good as hers of course – and it made her feel rather calm. There was just something about it, maybe how it was hollowed out of an ancient tree, that gave it a natural feeling. It made sense that Fluttershy would live there. It was like the spirit of the tree itself was constantly looking over your shoulder giving encouraging words.
Not that she would ever say anything that sappy, but it was an interesting concept.
Inside, it was rather simple. Dash figured that was because anything of value would eventually be eaten, torn apart, or made into a nest. There was a nice couch and a coffee table, and a few pictures of her and her friends on the wall. Everything else was either an animal bed or a feeder of some sort. She rolled her eyes and amused herself by looking over the pictures.
There were some that were quite obvious. That whole deal with the Elements of Harmony and Nightmare Moon. Reforming Discord. Going to the Gala. The typical girly things they always seemed to do. They were fun, but jeez, they weren’t everything. It seemed like that was all anypony wanted to talk about nowadays.
They never seemed to care to remember anything cool, like that time she tried to help the cutie mark crusaders get their marks in electrical wiring. No one took any pictures of that. The only things she got were dirty looks and a massive power outage.
She scanned over the wall briefly looking for a picture from something similar, becoming slightly disappointed when she couldn’t find one. Come to think of it, she couldn’t find any interesting pictures up there. If Fluttershy were really that innocent, that would make what she was about to do just a bit more difficult. What would she have to do? Draw an arrow saying: “insert tongue here”? This whole thing was starting to seem like it might actually take effort.
Suddenly, she remembered Ember could probably still hear her, and she pushed the thought aside. This wasn’t the kind of thing to overthink anyway.
“You like jasmine, right? Sorry, it was all I had,” said a voice from the hallway.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” she answered. She assumed that was a kind of tea.
Fluttershy finally walked out to where Dash could see her fully, awkwardly holding a pair of teacups in her mouth, stepping slowly to avoid spilling the light golden liquid on the wooden floor. After a few somewhat tense seconds, she was able to successfully set the cups on the table and take the spot on the couch to Dash’s left. She let out a soft sigh and took a drink from her cup. Dash did the same since it felt like the thing to do, noticing it was actually much better than she had thought it would be. She took another sip and relished in the taste.
“So… um…” Fluttershy mumbled in her least audible voice, looking down at the floor as she said it.
“What is it?”
“Why are you here? Er… not that I mind of course,” she said suddenly, looking back up at Dash with eyes wide as if she had just uttered the nastiest insult known to ponykind. “You can stay if you want, I just meant… never mind, forget I said anything.”
She looked back down shamefully. Dash rolled her eyes. Fluttershy was just so… Fluttershy sometimes.
“They’re doing a deep-floor cleaning at my house,” she said smoothly as she took a large drink of tea. “Won’t be done until tomorrow. I’d like to crash here, if you don’t mind.”
“Oh… uh… sure. Hey, I know! I could call over the others and we could all have a big slumber party! Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“No!” Dash said, a little too strongly. Fluttershy looked hurt. “Wait, no,” she quickly continued, doing her best to backpedal. “I mean I’ve kinda, uh… had a rough day. I really just need to sleep. And we shouldn’t bother the others. They probably need their rest too.”
“Right. It was a bad idea. I’m sorry,” she said softly.
Dash took another swig of tea; disappointed to see that was the last mouthful.
“Can I have some more tea?”
Fluttershy turned towards her and smiled brightly. “You like it? Twilight gave it to me. It’s from Canterlot.”
“That’s some pretty good stuff.”
She took Dash’s cup from the table and flew off into the kitchen to fill it back up again. When she returned, she handed the cup back to Dash, who held it in front of her nose for a second just to feel the warmth of the steam and the beautiful aroma rise all around the room.
“I’m afraid I only have one bed. You wouldn’t mind sleeping down here, would you?”
Dash snapped her head towards her with wide eyes. “What?”
“Oh… is that a problem?” she asked with some concern.
“Er…” Dash stuttered. She had kinda hoped Fluttershy would take the first step so she wouldn’t have to. Evidently not.
“Gosh, I’m really, really sorry. I wish I would have known you were coming. I would have worked something out. Please forgive me.”
Fluttershy looked so genuinely sorry, so empathetic, that Dash found herself giving way. She couldn’t do it. Not to that face.
“No, it’s fine,” she said. “I can sleep here no problem. Thanks for having me.”
She responded with her brightest, friendliest smile. “ That’s a relief. And don’t thank me. I’m more than happy to have the company.”
She beamed at her for one more second and then got up and walked away. She looked really pretty in the moonlight, Dash thought. She wasn’t too skinny, her mane wasn’t too flashy, her coat wasn’t too shiny; everything was just the way it should be from the end of her nose to the tip of her flourishing pink tail. And as much as Dash had hoped it would, it didn’t make her drool with sexual thirst. It was the kind of beauty that made her feel… respectable. Oh dear. That was going to cause issues. Respect and sex didn’t really go together as far as this was concerned.
This was getting difficult. She just didn’t know if she could do it. It hurt to admit, but she may have thrown herself in too deep.
“I’ve got to clean up the kitchen before I go to sleep, but feel free to get settled in whenever you like,” said Fluttershy from the other room. “If you need anything, please ask.”
“Okay, thanks,” Dash answered.
Dash was about to go back to her thoughts when an all too familiar voice broke them.
“Dash. I think you actually do need something from her,” Ember said.
“What is it?”
“Her virginity!” she shouted. “What the hell are you doing? Drinking tea and small talking each other is not sex! You need to pull something quick or you’re going to end up wasting time you don’t have.”
She sighed. “I can’t do it. She’s too… nice. It just wouldn’t be fair to do that to her.”
“You had better make it fair or you’re going to lose. What matters more, her innocence or your soul? Five minutes and she goes to bed. You let that go and you’re screwed. Do something.”
“Look, I don’t know, Ember,” Dash said in an exasperated tone. “Just let me think a minute. I’ll work it out.”
“You don’t HAVE a minute.”
She was momentarily silent. Unfortunately, Dash’s normally constant stream of ideas was completely barren. She only hoped Ember couldn’t notice.
“Okay, I’ve got an idea,” said Ember finally. “Do exactly as I say, got it?”
“Er…”
“You hesitated. What is it now? What’s the issue?”
“I just didn’t really expect you to want to help me, you being the devil and all.”
“Do you want to survive or not? Now listen. You’re going to sing.”
“What?”
“You heard me. I mean it.”
“You want me to sing?”
“Yes. It doesn’t have to be good but you’re going to do it.”
“Uh… I really… I don’t do that.”
“You will if you want your soul. Now get her attention.”
“But-“
“I said to get her attention.”
Dash sighed. She didn’t like this at all, but there wasn’t anything else to do.
“Fluttershy?” she called with a slight tremble.
“Yes, Dash?” she answered.
“Tell her to come.”
“Can I see you for a second?”
“Of course. What do you need?”
Moments later, Fluttershy softly strode out from the hallway and smiled at her, waiting for whatever Dash was about to say. Dash could hear Ember sigh and play a couple stray piano notes to warm up.
“Okay. I’ll play through it real quick so you can get the melody and words. Then it’s all you.”
Ember played a short intro, and then sang the verse. She had a brilliant voice, but it was hard to pay attention to that with the lyrics. Good lord the lyrics. The sheer amount of innuendos was cringe-worthy.
But wow, was it ever hot. She admitted that if someone ever sang that song to her she’d be on them like fleas on a dog.
“Wow.” She didn’t know what else to say.
“It’s just something I threw together while you were sucking. It should work though. You need me to play it again?”
“No, I got it,” she said. Fluttershy was starting to give her an odd look and she figured being silent any longer would make things awkward.
“If you screw up she’ll probably just think it’s cute, so not much to lose. Sing away.”
Dash took a deep breath, let it out, and began. She tried her best not to sound overly terrified.
“You don’t know what’s in store
But I know what you adore
Put your hand in mine
If you feel little now, I can make you more
Without pain, what do you gain love?
I’ll make you gain so far
You’ll be good, you’ll be so good
Our bodies have treasures nothing could mar
Take this bottle, take a drink
We can talk but don’t need words
I’ll ease your shivers, I’ll keep you warm
Make cries rain down in thirds.”
Dash stopped at the end of the verse and smiled. She felt like that actually went pretty well. Fluttershy beamed and giggled at her.
“You’re really bad.”
Dash frowned. “I am?”
“Oh I was just kidding,” she chuckled as she sat down next to her. “I think it was really cute. You have an interesting style.”
“That just means bad, doesn’t it?”
Fluttershy laid her head on Dash’s shoulder. “Maybe,” she teased. “That’s an interesting song you chose, anyway. Where’d you hear it?”
“Celestia sang it once.”
“Hmm. It doesn’t sound like something she’d sing.”
“It was in a desperate situation.”
“Well, I’m impressed you would go to all that effort to do that for me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you sing before. Though I wish you would have just told me what you wanted from the start. I could have done a lot more.”
She picked up on the hint; her heart began to race and her breathing quickened slightly. Whoa. “What I wanted?”
She rolled her eyes. “Dash, I knew your floor wasn’t getting cleaned. You barely even have a floor. You live on a cloud. I kinda suspected this, and well… I admit I kinda hoped for it. It’s been… a little fantasy of mine.”
Oh. That is what she meant. She had a hard time answering. She was excited and yet horribly terrified.
Fluttershy turned and whispered faintly into her ear. “I think I’m up to do some healing if you’d like.”
Dash finally forced out a shaky: “Yeah.” Fuck. That was way more effective than she had planned.
“Then why don’t we get started? I’ll go first.”
She gave Dash a small kiss on the cheek, slowly moving over as she forcefully turned her head towards her and planted a sharp one on her nose, then shifting down and attacking her lips, holding there for a few good seconds and pressing her hard against the back of the couch. It hurt in a really good way.
“Looks like you’ve got this under control,” said Ember out of nowhere. “I’m gonna step aside now. You two have a good night. Stay safe.”
Dash was about to answer when suddenly Fluttershy pulled back, sending her crashing back to earth. She gasped, partially from exhilaration and partially from oxygen deprivation from Fluttershy’s death grip.
“Why’d you stop?” she cooed once she caught her breath.
She smiled. “Just thought I’d frame the moment.”
“Hmm?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I just… it’s kinda stupid but I guess it’s just that… I’ve always imagined this. I’ve had a crush on you for some time.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I was always afraid to admit it. But since you feel the same, it’s like a dream come true. I’ll make it worthwhile, I promise.”
Feel the same? That sounded like commitment. Dash didn’t have the heart to tell her this would only be a one-night stand. Fluttershy leaned back in and resumed kissing her, causing the thought to fade before it became too significant to ignore.
This kiss didn’t last as long. She left Dash’s lips after a soft tug on her mane, brushing her nose down her cheek and neck and finally stopping on her chest, where she ran her tongue around a nipple and gave it a soft tug. Dash moaned loudly.
“You are really good at this,” she whispered.
“Glad to hear it,” Fluttershy chuckled.
She went back down and gave it another, more forceful lick before continuing the journey down Dash’s body, planting quick kisses all over her as she went. Dash’s muscles tensed in excitement when she reached her belly. She moved down slowly and carefully. Slower. Slower still. Dash could hardly bear to wait any longer. Fluttershy went further to the point where the tip of her nose grazed her already damp marehood.
Then she pulled up and continued her kissing on her hip and upper leg. Dash slumped in disappointment.
“Do you have to tease me like that?”
“It’s part of the journey, Dash,” she chastised mildly between kisses. “You don’t want to end it already, do you? Let’s build it up a little bit more.”
Dash moaned as she caressed the inside of her leg. She was starting to shake ever so slightly. “I don’t know how much long-“
Suddenly, she gasped. Fluttershy had abandoned her leg and gone face first into her marehood, licking and sucking like a madpony. She laid back and let out a half-moan, half-cry, thrusting her hips upward into Fluttershy’s swirling tongue. It was almost too much. The pressure immediately began to build higher and higher, getting closer and closer to the climax. The sheer desire was driving her crazy.
She pulled her head up and gave her a soft grin, keeping her hoof on her sweet spot and rubbing it back and forth, not strong enough to make her lose it, but enough to keep her incredibly, insanely aroused. A sticky fluid dripped from Fluttershy’s lips. Dash couldn’t tell whether it was saliva or maybe the product of Fluttershy’s impressive oral work.
“Did I surprise you?” she asked playfully.
Dash was breathing hard and only managed a slight nod. Fluttershy studied her and frowned a little. She took her free hoof and stroked her messy mane, almost as an act of pity.
“You can’t come yet, Dashie! I can’t just let this end with you having all the fun. Come on, I want to try something.”
Dash had no time to answer. Fluttershy grabbed her leg forcefully and brought it up over hers so it extended straight across her and over her chest. She didn’t fully understand the point of this maneuver until Fluttershy slid in closer, when both their marehoods touched. Then it became oh so apparent.
“O-oh,” Dash said, hardly loud enough to hear.
“Just do what I do. You’ll like this, believe me.”
Fluttershy began to shift back and forth, slowly at first, then gradually increasing the pace comfortably. Dash gasped at the sudden pleasure that coursed through her body. She didn’t count her moans but she was sure there were many in that short moment.
She took her lead and shifted a little herself. Before long it became rhythmic, sliding in and out, feeling a little burst of elation with each soft impact. She moved faster and hit a bit harder as her body fell to autopilot. In. Out. Combined with the strong vanilla scent of her partner and the music of her delighted sighs in the air, it was impossible to think of anything else.
“Oh Dashie… You are… too… good…” Fluttershy mumbled. “Please… ah…”
It was building in both of them, Dash could tell. She had kept her eyes closed in the blissful moment up until then, but she opened them now. She wanted to see it, to take it all in. She watched her muscles ripple as she moved in the perfectly synchronized motion with Fluttershy. She looked with longing at the point where they clashed, taking note of every soft blue or yellow hair. She followed it up to her partner’s face, leaned back on the armrest with her eyes closed, wearing a look of pure ecstasy with her long pink mane messily draped over her right eye. That face alone was almost enough to make her lose it.
Every second was getting better now as it built higher. The moans were getting longer and more frequent from both of them, to the point where no more than a few seconds could pass without another exhilarated cry. She could feel the pressure growing inside almost unbearably. It wouldn’t be long before she wouldn’t be able to hold it back.
“Dash,” Fluttershy whimpered. “I-I’m… I’m going to…”
She felt an extra burst of energy flow through her veins and she pushed in and out harder than she ever had before, unable to stop or even slow down. Her body was purely in control now.
She saw her partners eyes open wide and heard her gasp. “Dashie!”
She was right there. She knew it. A bead of sweat dripped from her forehead as she squinted in concentration. Come on. Just a little bit more. One more shift…
There it was. Gold mine.
She let out a long, crazy cry in perfect unison with Fluttershy and felt the fireworks explode inside her brain, drinking in the position as long as she possibly could. She was a queen, nay, a goddess in those few seconds, sitting on a throne of joy and surrounded by angels who shot arrows of love into the sky around her. She really only had one more desire: to cry tears of pure gratitude at the feet of whatever creator made such orgasms possible. It was one moment of pure heaven.
And then it was gone. Far too quickly. She slumped down, partially from exhaustion and partially from disappointment that it was over. She breathed slower and closed her eyes again, resting her head on the back of the couch. Holy fucking whoa.
She was awakened from her thoughts by a soft kiss on her cheek and turned to stare straight in the eyes of her partner as her head rested on her shoulder. Fluttershy smiled at her and she returned it.
“You’re a natural, Dash.”
“Right back at you.”
They laughed a little.
“Want to do it again sometime?”
“For sure,” she said without actually thinking about it.
“Cutie.”
“Cutie.”
They laughed again. A brief silence ensued.
“This couch isn’t very comfortable,” Fluttershy said slyly.
“If only there were somewhere else I could sleep,” Dash said in an equally suggestive tone.
“You could always… sleep upstairs with me.”
She smiled. “I think that would be nice.”
Fluttershy returned the smile. Dear god she was hot.
Dash followed her upstairs. She didn’t know how to send messages to Ember, or even if she could, but she gave it a try. That’s one down. I told you I had this, she said. She got no response.
…
Truthfully, Ember wasn’t paying any attention to Dash’s sexual endeavor. That sort of thing kinda grossed her out. Once she was sure she had it locked down, she “flipped the switch” and returned to her own reality. She would be back in her mind by the morning.
She sat in her secure white room, calmly playing the piano. Nothing too difficult, just some offset eighth note patterns. When one sounded particularly good, she stopped and wrote it down. That was how she always composed, rhythm by rhythm, until she found a pair that complimented each other, where she would then merge them. Full songs came together like a jigsaw puzzle of sorts. She didn’t use all her rhythms – god knows she had folders and folders full of unused measures – but when a song went right, it made it all worthwhile. If nothing else it was a good way to pass the time.
She felt good. The last part of her most recent song was going well. She was right on the verge of a breakthrough, she could tell. She probably wasn’t going to need Dash’s help after all. She couldn’t even play it anyway, her brain quickly reminded her.
In retrospect, maybe she had been a bit hard on her about that. But it was just so shocking. For most of her life, the piano had been it. Her only hobby. Her only escape. Pretty much her only friend. For someone to not appreciate it as much as she did, to the point where they didn’t even consider learning to play it, it was like a personal attack. It was like she shot her and then spat on the wound.
Take that, and compound it with being isolated for a few thousand years… One could understand why her social skills weren’t exactly impressive.
There had been a time where she had friends. It was so long ago the memory was hazy, but it was definitely there. She had two friends. Two great, wonderful, kind friends. Were they still? Ember wasn’t too optimistic. Thousands of years had passed and they hadn’t visited or wrote to her. It wasn’t like they couldn’t. She used magic to take a peek at what was going on above ground all the time. They were certainly still alive and prospering.
Maybe they were just trying to let her work. Ugh. That would be almost too mature. Then again, this was Celestia she was thinking about.
Without the dark, there can be no light, she had said way back then. You are the more important of the two of us. Always remember that. And if you ever feel alone, just know I’m watching over you. I will never forget about you.
She had simply nodded. She probably should have asked if they would ever meet again, because she’d been left to turn that question over in her head ever since.
Her work wasn’t exactly exciting enough to distract from her personal issues, unfortunately. Monitor the world’s evil while Celestia monitored the good. Pump it up when it got low and take it down a notch when it got too high. She could do this in a variety of ways, sometimes by planting some dark thoughts in foals or already prominent leaders, or sometimes creating a new enemy altogether. It all depended on the situation and necessary severity.
She was the master of ponies. She knew what made them happy, what made them sad, and what drove them insane. Rainbow Dash was a prominent pony, and damaging her would be more than enough to balance the recently low evil levels. Dash was a bit foolish, and Ember knew somehow she would screw up and get herself in deep trouble, maybe even killed, in the mildest of challenges. She was lucky she thought of that before she let her die in Tartarus over a stupid piano.
But she had never been so personally near a pony, at least not in a long time. Dash was kinda funny; it reminded her of an old friend she used to have. She wasn’t going to let Dash go, of course, but it did make her hope in the slightest of ways that Celestia saw what she was doing and put a stop to it. Fat chance though. Celestia didn’t stop her from doing her job unless the world itself was in danger.
Her ears twitched, snapping her out of her sea of thought. She had been absentmindedly playing throughout this time. Nothing she played had been anything special, but suddenly something, this certain note resonated with her. She played it again and then kept her hooves still and stared down at their position. This might be what she was looking for.
“F sharp,” she whispered.
Of course! A key change! Why hadn’t she thought of it earlier? She frantically sifted through the stacks of papers on the top of the piano until she found it, the unfinished piece. She toyed with a few notes in the new key, tried the arpeggio and third, and… there it was. She spent a short moment just staring in disbelief.
She felt about ready to burst into tears of joy. That piece had caused her stress beyond stress for as long as she could remember. Knowing she was alone, she let out a little rebel cry. Even when the yell lost its fun, she still maintained a wide smile. Finally.
Riding the high of her accomplishment, she decided to check on Dash. She snapped back into her head and observed the situation. She frowned. The excitement evaporated. It wasn’t looking good for Dash.
She was asleep, as Ember had expected, in Fluttershy’s bed, as she had also expected, holding her in a lover’s embrace, which once again, she had expected. They were cute, she admitted, but the fact that it was Dash’s death sentence made it a little less so.
She was almost too good at her job, and it made her smirk bitterly. Every manipulative sentence she strung together in a plan that took five minutes to make worked better than perfect. Unfortunately, Dash, like every pony she’d seen on this world, was completely predictable. She thought maybe she would be different. It was a foolish hope.
Ah well. At least it would end soon.
She pulled out a new piece of paper from the stack and tinkered with a few chords, but nothing seemed to sound right.
