A Tale of Dusk

Chapter Thirteen:

Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash sighed and looked at the manila folder of photographs she’d been asked to take of Ponyville with barely-contained disgust, before tucking them into the satchel she wore while flying to keep such documents safe and began her descent towards the town library. While Dusk was hardly impolite or cruel in his tasks, his infuriating attention to detail and insistence on total perfection had made taking a complete aerial map of Ponyville a literal nightmare, and the fact that both the Unicorn and his Dragon bodyguard would clam up and give each other looks when Rainbow tried to ask why Dusk and the mayor wanted such a thorough overview of the town’s buildings and infrastructure only filled her mind with horrible thoughts of a gaudy Noble’s castle dominating Ponyville’s perfectly clear skies … and ruining her flight-training for her inevitable position on the Wonderbolts!

If she didn’t need to get her job as Weather Manager back pronto, Rainbow would probably have tried to fight back against her demotion to glorified gopher for a dick-on-legs, but Mayor Mare was dementedly determined to keep the puffed-up nerd from Canterlot happy, and that meant Rainbow had to do the same if she wanted to get her position back and keep on track to become a Wonderbolt someday.

Dammit, Applejack. The blue Pegasus cursed as she angled herself more steeply towards the ground and dove towards the library, her purgatory, at top speed. If Applejack hadn’t spoken up, Rainbow might have gotten off with just a slap on the wrist. Yeah, she’d given Rainbow a chance to ‘make good’ and prove she was PC, but it wasn’t right. The Sisterhood says that Stallions are supposed to be subservient to Mares, it was how Faust made us to be, it was how Celestia created Equestria, by dominating and marrying the Stallions who led the three tribes and ennobling their daughters to rule under her guidance. This is unnatural and not cool at all.

At the very least she was still getting paid, by the Stallion no less, and a decent sum at that. Enough to keep the lights on, the pantry stocked and her debts kept at bay for a while longer.

And just because Life hadn’t finished kicking her square in the fork of her legs, there was Applejack with a big basket of apples held under one arm and up against one thick hip, chatting away with Dusk without a care in the world and a big smile on … both their faces.

If she’s put me in this position so she’s got an excuse to hang around the library and flirt with the newest dick in town, so help me Faust, screw the job, I’ll Rainboom her six feet under the dirt on principal.

“Oh, miss Dash, excellent timing!” Using some sort of freaking Unicorn pre-cog or something, the purple nurple looked up and waved to her, his smile fading slightly as he caught sight of her and settling into something closer to a repressed smirk. “Miss Jack just pointed out that there’s a lot of unclaimed territory between her family’s land and Ponyville itself. Since you’re more familiar with the airways around here, is there much traffic between the Apple Acres farm and the western boundary of town?”

“Not … really? It’s pretty much just unclaimed land that Ponyville uses for picnics and stuff.” Rainbow shrugged as she hovered her way down to the ground, taking special care to not get dust all over the two other ponies. She was trying to get her job back, and petty revenge was not only uncool but could sink her chances if Dusk Shine decided to get petty right back. And just because she fantasized about smacking both of these pains in her flanks upside the head didn’t mean she’d actually do so.

“So, little to no air-traffic, owned by the Crown and already used as an entertainment area by the locals … sounds about perfect then.” Dusk Shine rubbed at the underside of his chin with a slender finger, smiling softly as he fell back into thought and Rainbow found herself wondering just what other expressions the Unicorn could pull off so adorably … and turned to give Applejack a glare when she noticed the larger, more muscular mare grinning at her like an idiot. “That’ll be just about perfect for …”

“Yeah, perfect for what, Dusk? You’ve got me flapping all over Ponyville taking photos, and you and your little scaly friend keep hemming and hawing around reason for it. Just straight-up tell me if we’re getting some sort of Faust-awful castle in town or not, will you?” Rainbow snapped, irritated and flustered that Applejack had caught her staring at Dusk, especially since it was Applejack’s fault that Rainbow was stuck working for the cute Unicorn in the first place under incredibly unfair conditions!

It seemed, for a moment, that Dusk would keep silent, before a curious gleam appeared in his eyes and he began speaking. “Well … assuming you can both keep this a secret? We’re looking at expanding Ponyville, bringing the entire town back up the basic level the rest of the country is supposed to be at. It’s all very hush-hush, something the Princess has cooked up and wants kept quiet at all costs because she’s using Ponyville as a testing-platform to see if it’s possible to rapidly, and safely, increase the available infrastructure in small communities without causing undue disruption to the daily lives of the locals.”

“Wait … what? Y’all are gonna build a strip-mall in mah town?” Applejack’s voice carried tones of horror that puzzled Rainbow as she instead imagined finally getting to do some decent shopping without having the brave the gossip-paralysed farmer’s market that passed for Ponyville’s ‘shopping highlight’.

“Good Faust, no, that’s what we’ve got all over the place in Canterlot, and they’re a horrible idea in the first place unless you’ve got a massive population compressed into a tiny area with large amounts of disposable income, and even then I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single non-franchised business survive for longer than six months without direct intervention from the Thrones with the way the mall-owners and franchise-owners all collaborate to smother the competition. No, we’re talking about cinemas, a small shopping center at most, a public pool, things like that. Nothing that would overtly alter the character of Ponyville but enough to bring the town back into the modern era and encourage more Ponies to move into town to take advantage of the unique blend of rustic lifestyle and proximity to Canterlot’s resources.” The Unicorn waved away Applejack’s panicked concern, and Rainbow felt her mood sicken further. Just little changes might bring more ponies to Ponyville, but it’d still be just more small-town garbage, and if only Rainbow could afford the rent in Cloudsdale, she’d be back home in a second if not for …

… If not for a certain Pegasus whom Rainbow owed a huge debt to. “Yeah, okay, that sounds cool and all, but there’s a lot of critters who depend on the local area for fodder and homes and stuff. Where are they gonna go if you start building up the town?” The blue Pegasus pointed out, earning a surprised look from Applejack and a smug grin from the Unicorn.

“Well, my number one assistant is currently in … discussions … with Ponyville’s resident expert on wild-life, which solves two of my bigger problems at the same time.”

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Fluttershy wasn’t entirely sure who had made the move first. One moment, Fluttershy and Spine had been staring at each other across the doorway, Fluttershy wearing a simple one-piece pale-green dress as she’d been caught mid-feeding of some of the more delicate birds who had taken shelter in her cottage, Spine wearing a cute little tank-top and worn cut-off denim shorts, sweating lightly from jogging over to Fluttershy’s cottage.

The next thing she could remember, she and Spine had been manhandling each other up the stairs and into Fluttershy’s bathroom, their clothes forming a trail of shredded fabric leading from by the slammed-shut front door to the base of the stairwell, the largest fragments of which were currently being investigated by a family of curious field-mice looking for new bedding for their homes.

“Oh fuck.” The Dragon had whispered hoarsely, a large, glowing yellow stone hanging around her neck, the only garment she was wearing now as the two women dragged each other under the steaming hot shower, her eyes half-lidded as Fluttershy tugged the Dragon into the tiled recess, her taloned hands locked onto Fluttershy’s large breasts and inverted, puffy nipples, kneading and massaging the sensitive mounds as Fluttershy whimpered and reciprocated, her long delicate fingers teasing in light circles around the Dragon’s own modest chest, long nails tickling at the exposed nipples that had emerged from between the pale yellow, band-like scales that protected Spine’s chest and belly, before her palms covered the svelte Dragon’s chest and began vigorously mushing the firm, jiggling mounds. “Mom said the amulet would protect me from dark magic, but it’s not reacting even a little bit. Fuck, if I don’t have you now I’m going to go crazy!”

“I’m sorry …” Fluttershy whispered as the Dragon followed Fluttershy fully into the shower recess, grappling and pulling herself hard up against Fluttershy’s larger, more lush frame with a wild, animal need for closeness as the two found their hands busy exploring each other’s backs and butts as Spine’s muzzle pressed into the cleft of Fluttershy’s cleavage, while Fluttershy squeaked and moaned encouragements, the two women desperately trying to bring their bodies closer together, grinding against each other erratically. “I think … I think it’s me. I can make ah-animals listen to meeeee, I must be affeahuuu … affecting you somhow.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Spine whispered hoarsely, her tongue flicking out from her muzzle to trail along the hollow of Fluttershy’s throat before dipping into the valley between the pale yellow pegasus’s enormous breasts. “Need you, want you, will have you!”

Fluttershy’s response was lost in a excited squeak as she pulled the Dragon’s head down further into her cleavage … and then changed into a confused mumble as she felt Spine’s frill quiver under her hands, the Drake inexplicably growing, swelling up in size as her assets expanded, small breasts with pointed, proud nipples now expanding into bra-destroying monsters of similar size to Fluttershy’s own, the hot-pink points of Spine’s nipples teasing their way along the outside of Fluttershy’s own inverted, puffy nipples before slipping inside.

And down below, things became even more interesting, as the Drake’s swelling body pushed and rubbed against Fluttershy’s own in very interesting ways, her spade-tipped tail sliding up and around Fluttershy’s back to hold her firmly against the Dragon, and Fluttershy’s confusion fled in the wake of overwhelming lust as she felt something, soft, wet and oh-so-hot come into contact with her treasure, something familiar yet distinct, and a low needy moan was uttered by both women as, awkwardly, they began to bump and grind the junction of their hips against each other, Fluttershy’s feet no longer touching the floor but her legs wrapped around Spine’s hips and thighs as their movements became more frantic and demanding.

“…Yes …” Spine grunted, lifting her short muzzle from the tight space in-between their breasts, face rouged with lust, and Fluttershy took a moment to smother the Drake’s face in kisses as a particularly hard rock of their hips ground their nether-lips hard against each other, spreading them open to one another to their mutual delight.

“Yes!” Fluttershy squeaked as the Drake underwent another growth spurt, this one smaller than before but enough to that she felt her sensitive mounds invaded fully, the drake’s thin, pointed nipples grinding along the insides of her areole, rubbing furiously against her own shyly-hidden, and over;y sensitive, nubs.

“YES!” Both women moaned loudly as they finally found a rhythm that worked for them both and began to truly get down to business, while below them in the ground floor of the cottage, the resident animals took what shelter they could as the more loosely-attached decoration and bird-houses began to rattle loose from their moorings, and a certain white rabbit scowled up the stairs and tapped his foot angrily on the floor, but remembered wisely what happened to him the last time the Soft Buttery One had brought home a predator and he’d interrupted their mating.

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“Fluttershy? Well, ah guess if’n anypone would know what’s what with the critters, it’d be that girl.” Applejack muttered, shooting a nervous glance towards the dull-green haze that marked the outer boundaries of the overgrown and wild Everfree Forest.

“I’m hoping that whatever magic that Pegasus is using will be able to encourage the local wildlife to stay away from the construction sites. That said, I have no interest in bulldozing all that greenery to put down some ugly concrete and brick monstrosity. We’re talking quite a spread-out area, enough to accommodate an outdoor area large enough to hold about a thousand people at most in addition to a cinema, a small shopping center, public pool …” The purple Unicorn chuckled and shot his own nervous look towards the distant cottage of Ponyville’s resident hermit. “Speaking of which, do either of you two know this Fluttershy all that well? Does she have any connections to Canterlot, or any of the more out-there political or religious groups?”

“Nah, Flutters is waaaaay too shy for that sort of thing. All I know is that, ever since she got lost in the Everfree after a, ah, accident at Cloudsdale Universal Highschool pushed her off of the city’s boundaries, she’s been able to listen to and talk to animals.” Rainbow explained nonchalantly, taking a certain perverse delight in confounding the egg-head for once. “She says some butterflies saved her after her wings cramped up, but that just sounds odd to me.”

“Mollis tristique alas gestet, I think they are called.” The purple nerd said softly, tapping a knuckle against his chin in thought. “It’s a very, very rough translation from a very old form of Ancient Equish, but there’s a species of butterflies known for generating anti-gravity fields with their wings, and they are only found in areas with very dense and unaltered magical currents. The Everfree, and Ponyville itself, are both well within the emission-range of a Class V Leyline, so it’s entirely possible she was saved by a Rabble of Glow-Wings.”

“Ye’re sayin’ bugs saved Fluttershy?” The orange farm-mare gave Dusk a searching look, to which the Unicorn gave a sheepish smile and shrugged.

“They’re not intelligent on their own, but Glow-Wings share a hive-mind that normally is very helpful towards other living beings, and a sufficiently large Rabble would be intelligent enough to manipulate it’s component butterfly’s gravity fields enough to save a … how old would she have been at this time?”

“Jeeze, it was a long time ago … about nine years?” Rainbow replied, wondering why Dusk seemed to flinch when she said ‘nine years’. “It was the usual group of drop-kicks, all of them colts by the way, who were bullying Fluttershy in the middle of our Junior High Mid-Year Racing Festival. I got so mad at them I might have accidentally tried to flatten them, and between being so damn fast, hitting some sort of whirly-gig the Cloud Technicians used to augment wind-speed to blow clouds across Equestria, I accidentally caused a Sonic Rainboom and it might have somehow pushed Fluttershy off the edge of the clouds and down into the Everfree Forest.”

Rainbow found herself scuffing the ground with the toe of her boot as Dusk and Applejack gave her mis-matching looks of surprise and anger.

“Are yah sayin’ poor Fluttershy got blown off a floatin’ city because of you?” Planting her hands on her large hips, Applejack shot Rainbow a scorching look, to which the lithe blue Pegasus shot back a firey look of her own. Don’t need to tell me I fucked up, Apple-Hick, I’ve been trying to make up for it for nearly a decade!

“Wait, you caused a Rainboom nine years ago? From Cloudsdale? As a filly?” Dusk seemed more surprised than anything, then troubled, his eyes flicking from the distant smudge of off-white that was Cloudsdale, to the glittering spires of Canterlot faintly visible perched on the side of the mountain from which the city sprung, and then back to the Everfree Forest, his pupils darting back and forth along with some sort of internal monologue. “If I calculate the effect of the leyline, coupled with the height of Cloudsdale back then and the astral swells combined with the eco-rhythm of Equiss’s ley-lines … Great Goobering Faust, it’s all your fault!”

“Wait, what? What’s my fault?” The Pegasus shot back angrily. What am I being blamed for now?

“Well, not necessarily ‘your fault’ your fault, but … do you think you could do it again? A Rainboom, I mean?” The purple unicorn walked up and planted both hands on Rainbow’s shoulders, and Rainbow found herself staring up into the intense eyes of Dusk Shine, boring down at her with excitement and interest, and desperately hoped she wasn’t blushing, although from the snickering coming from Applejack, she doubted she was that lucky.

“Ah, don’t be worryin’, she’s been tryin’ for nearly a decade to do it again.” Applejack chortled, flipping Rainbow the bird as the slightly-built Pegasus scowled over at the farm-mare. “Plenty o’ craters around town to prove it too, failed attempts to pull off a fluke again an’ again to the point poor Mayor Mare had to officially order Rainbow here to keep her practisin’ to less populated parts o’ the area.”

“I’ve nearly got it down, you shut your apple-lovin’ mouth!” Rainbow shot back, wanting to go over and smack the smug off Applejack’s face, but Dusk’s hands remained firmly on her shoulders, holding her in place with a strength that the former Weather Manager wouldn’t have expected from a slender stallion against a petite powerhouse like herself.

“If you need help, I’ll be more than happy to oblige. Let’s just say that if you are the source of the Rainboom from nine years ago, you and I have a connection, so to speak, and if I can help you pull off the manoeuvre on command, you might be able to help me solve a problem of mine that’s been causing me no end of trouble ever since that damnable day.”

“Wh-what day?” Rainbow found herself stammering as Dusk leaned in closer, and Applejack’s face set into an ugly grimace of frustration and envy.

“The day a Sonic Rainboom hit Canterlot right in the middle of my test to win a scholarship at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, caused me to suffer the most powerful Surge on record in the past five hundred years, and allowed me to hatch Spine.” Dusk replied, his hands tightening painfully on Rainbow’s shoulders. “I assure you, Miss Dash, you and I are going to spend a great deal of time together from now on, make no mistake.”

"Okay?" Rainbow found to her shame that her voice cracked under the intensity of Dusk's eyes, and then further dismay when she caught herself leaning forwards when Dusk pulled his hands away.

"Excellent! Oh, I've got to send a letter to the Princess as soon as I can! To think I'd find the one who caused all of this mess right here in Ponyville! She's going to want to meet you too, of course!" There was a curious tone of nearly childish glee in Dusk's voice as he turned and began walking back towards the library, a scowling Applejack and a flustered Rainbow following along in his wake.

"Wait, you mean ..." Rainbow trailed off with a squeak of dismay as her thoughts tripped and flailed over themselves at what Dusk could mean.

"...The Princess herself is comin' here?" Applejack's voice held no shortage of amazement and shock for her part, both mares losing their anger with each other at the thought of being within the presence of a God.

"Well, yes, I'd assume so. I'll have to wait till Spine gets home so I can use her Dragonfire to send the message, but until then, would you two like to ... oh, that's right." Dusk paused at the entrance to the library, his head turning to the slightly-blackened porthole-style window of the Library's small kitchen before frowning. "Uh ... our kitchen is out of commission for a few more days, so ... either of you have any aversion to hayfires and beet-burgers?"

Applejack and Rainbow Dash paused, shared a look and then shook their heads as Dusk turned around and led them towards the town's sole fast-food restaurant. Being treated to a free lunch by the town's newest and most eligible bachelor wasn't the worst thing that today could spring on them. And it might give Rainbow the chance to deal with the nearly-overwhelming urge to squeal like a high-school filly at the thought of meeting the actual Princess in the flesh!