A Piece of Meat

A Piece of Meat
by Shivered Timbers

Chapter 3

The next day, Sunset got a text from Rainbow Dash, asking her to play volleyball at the park beach.

just you & me the text had said.

Sunset was skeptical. "Skittish" might have been the more appropriate term. After two days of bizarre sexual encounters with her friends, she was not looking forward to initiating a third.

But a hedged text of Why just me? got a reply of we never do fun 1-on-1 stuff and Sunset felt like maybe she should give Dash the benefit of the doubt. That was an excellent point, after all, and it wasn't like Sunset didn't enjoy casual sports now and then.

Okay, why not?

itll be awesome! c u in 1hour?

Sure.

And that had been it. Sunset packed a small bag, drove her motorcycle down to the park, and found Dash warming up on the lakeside beach by the volleyball net. They said their hellos, Sunset changed out her boots for sandals, and she started warming up as well.

"No swimsuit?" was the first thing Dash said once they were ready to start.

Sunset hesitated. Something electric ran through her veins, screaming at her that this was a mistake and it'll just be like the others.

She tried to play it casual. "I didn't feel like dressing down for something friendly, y'know?"

Nor was she willing to risk showing off her accessory on the beach. No swimsuit would hold her monster member.

Dash shrugged. "Eh. It's your sandy funeral, then."

Sunset hoped Rainbow didn't notice her sigh of relief.

When Dash didn't make any further deal of it, her relief swelled. They squared off against each other on opposite sides of the net, Dash smirked and said something about getting ready to eat beach, and then they were playing.

Sunset quickly lost herself in the joys of physical exertion. There was something simple in the pure movement, the strategy, just cutting loose and having fun. She hadn't done that in a while.

Rainbow Dash's swimsuit remark must have been completely innocent, she decided before long. Dash herself was wearing a two-piece that showed off her toned abs -- How Sunset had always been jealous of that girl's washboard! -- but it was practical. White with a diagonal yellow stripe, it was meant to facilitate movement rather than attract the eye. It was the kind of thing a professional athlete would wear in the Olympics.

Rainbow Dash's vanity began and ended with "check out my awesome muscles". She had never shown a need to be perceived as 'sexy', and though sometimes she dropped comments about other girls in school, she wasn't a perv or a horndog.

Sunset lost another point to Rainbow. This was the most relaxing thing she'd done since Fluttershy had gone on her trip.

She lost another point as she thought about Fluttershy. She hadn't seen her friend for three days now. It'd been a while since she could say that. What they were doing wasn't something she needed, not in terms of emotional support or anything. But she had to admit, she had kind of gotten used to it.

Which only drove home how much of a not-important thing it was, really. Their little arrangement had turned into routine, and that was fine. Fluttershy didn't complain, Sunset didn't complain, they were both getting what they needed.

Granted, Fluttershy never complained about anything. Could she have secretly been feeling unfulfilled as of late? Was that why she needed a little time apart, to break the routine? Not that she ever seemed unfulfilled after--

No thinking about that stuff when you're moving around in a skirt, Sunny.

She spiked hard and scored on Dash. She had no idea what the score actually was. That was just fine.

Missing Fluttershy aside, all of Sunset's troubles had become like so much water running off her back. Her life was this moment, running through the sand, kicking off her sandals when they got in her way, laughing, setting, spiking, running some more. The sound of flesh smacking against the ball gave the soft lakeside breeze an uptempo beat.

She was feeling so relaxed and emotionally invigorated that she didn't notice until late in the game that Dash was angling for wilder and crazier shots. She even gave up a few points by spiking the ball into distant corners of Sunset's side of the court. Even after Sunset noticed, she didn't think too much of it, until she went sprawling after the wrong hit and ended up eating beach as predicted.

As she groaned and lifted herself to hands and knees, there was a woosh of air, a flash of light, and a click behind her.

"Aww, yeah, jackpot!" crowed Dash.

Time slowed. The beach contours stood out in stark relief before Sunset. Every grain of sand dug into her kneecaps and the heels of her palms like tiny glass shards. She could see each individual blade of grass waving in concert with its fellows in the wind that had blown from behind her. The lake sent small waves toward the shore, lap, lap, lap.

And Sunset was very aware that her dick had popped loose from her underwear and was now pointing straight at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash, who was cheering about something and definitely waving a camera around.

Sun-hot flames burst their way up from Sunset's heart into her face.

Clamping her thighs together, she bolted upright, brushed the sand from her hands, and shoved herself back where she needed to be. White fury clouded her vision, blocking out everything around her but that single rainbow-haired head.

"RAINBOW DASH!"

Before she knew it, she was in Dash's shocked and extremely confused face.

"Did you invite me out here to play beach volleyball just so you could up-skirt me?"

Something like a goofy smile took hold of Dash's mouth. She raised her smartphone, camera eye pointed at Sunset, eyebrows lifting like she was about to say something really, really stupid.

She didn't get a chance to.

Sunset Shimmer was accustomed to fighting. Granted, most of her actual training had been in another world and involved considerably more combat spellcasting, but she was nothing if not adaptable. After coming to this world, she had quickly learned how to ball up her thin, flexible fingers and deliver punches to anyone who deserved them.

Punching had kept her alive on the streets, after she'd first arrived.

Punching had kept her safe and sane in the homeless shelters as she struggled to figure out how this strange world worked.

Punching had earned her money to buy food, clothing, and finally a place to stay.

Punching had earned her the top spot of the high school hierarchy.

She had learned how to throw subtle punches, so that her victims showed no bruise to report to authorities. She had learned how to ambush a victim, teaching them to fear the name Sunset Shimmer both on and off school grounds.

Sunset Shimmer had thrown dozens of punches in her life. Hundreds. Maybe even thousands. And she'd taken her fair share, thrown right back in her face by those who just couldn't learn that they should not mess with her.

Not a single one of those punches hurt anywhere near as much as the one she landed on Rainbow Dash's left cheek.

Dash collapsed like a pile of sticks stood on end in a stiff breeze. She lay unmoving on the sand, and Sunset didn't care, because all she could do was scream at her. Sunset tore at her hair, scrubbed sand across her face with the crook of her elbow, and screamed some more.

The only coherent thing she ended up saying was, "How dare you!"

Dash stirred. In a groggy voice, she said, "That was a punch."

Sunset had had enough. She turned and stormed back to her things, snatched them up, then stormed out into the parking lot to find her bike.

"I wasn't gonna show anyone!" Dash called after her.

Sunset stopped. Eyes overflowing with tears she didn't feel like shedding, she turned back to the beach.

"Rainbow Dash, you are literally the worst!" She didn't care if Dash heard it.

She just left.