Reserve Stock: Growing Competition

Rarity had arranged for their lawsuit to be tried in the Royal Court of Ponyville, with Her Highness, the Honorable Twilight Sparkle presiding. When the request was granted, she was certain of their victory, and bragged to Ember and Applejack about the scheme. The case would never come to trial, she said. No lawyer would be foolish enough to argue a case before the aggrieved party’s best friend.

The Law Offices of Flim & Flam were representing Fuze’s Brewing Company. Rarity was infuriated when they decided to go to court.

But it was worse when Twilight rejected her motion for a summary ruling.

“I’m sorry, Rarity,” Twilight said from the bench. “I really am sorry. Because I hate those two. A lot. Stenographer, enter into the record that the defendant’s lawyers are awful ponies.”

Spike grumbled that she didn’t have to use his title, and quickly wrote it down. Twilight continued, “But as a judge, I have to be impartial, and I think their argument does have merit. Dragon’s milk is a literal, descriptive term of what your product is, and under Equestrian law, common-use terms cannot be copyrighted. Just like a copyright on the term ‘cow’s milk’ would be unenforceable, I am not persuaded by your copyright on the term ‘dragon’s milk.’ While I recognize you may yet make your case, I’m sorry, I do require this matter to be tried.”

Rarity’s glare was so intense that Twilight grimaced in her chair. The judge’s stand might burst into flames around her for the sheer heat of Rarity’s anger.

Assuming it didn’t burst into flames from Ember’s fire first. She sat next to Rarity, arms folded under her chest, a bitter glower on her face. Two lines of smoke curled out of her nostrils, pooling into a dark cloud near the ceiling.

Fuze sat with Other Rarity behind the opposite bench, smirking as the events of the day went on. It was her, more than Twilight, who was the subject of Ember’s fury. Whenever their eyes met, each reflexively tensed for a fight.

Applejack wasn’t sitting at the front with Ember and Rarity. She hadn’t been explicitly invited, and so she didn’t invite herself. She sat in the back, watching the two dragons. Each had arrived empty, but the longer the legal proceedings went on, the more full each of them became.

She tried taking slow, deep breaths, but it didn’t help. Ember and Fuze moved as they sat, like all creatures did. They stretched, they sat back, they leaned over. They gave her a view.

Then, Jackapple sat next to her, black stetson and all. “Hey,” he whispered.

The courtroom was not full, and there were several rows between them and the next member of the audience. As Flim and Flam sang a musical number about overzealous copyright enforcement, Applejack used the cover to whisper back: “Hey.”

“Saw you checking out black and blue up there.”

Applejack wasn’t sure how to respond. She bit her lip, looking from her counterpart to the front of the room. But Jackapple didn’t say a word, and the longer the silence hung, the more tense Applejack became.

Until, finally, she said: “Yours looks ready to pop.”

It was true. Despite their immense size, Fuze’s breasts were filling faster than Ember’s. Already she was swollen, squirming in her chair, her nipples stiff and erect.

“Yeah.” JA nodded. “Give her another hour or two, she’ll be biting her lip and begging.”

A blush rose in Applejack’s cheeks. She shifted on the bench: “Morning ain’t even over yet.”

“How often do you milk yours?”

The blush in her cheeks deepened. “I don’t think that’s any of your business. I ain’t into stallions.”

“I’m not into ponies. Dragons only, for me.” He nodded to the front. “These two are pretty good.”

“Yeah.” Applejack whispered. Then, finally, she said: “Twice a day. Morning and evening. You?”

“Four times a day, plus the middle of the night.” He grinned. “Once, she was tired, so she kept pushing us off and saying to go back to sleep. So I said okay. Your call. Come morning, she was so pent up she was tearing up. So big she could barely lift them. Struggling to find the milking machine, because of course she lost it.”

Applejack drew in a slow, deep breath, squirming on her bench. Up ahead, the two dragons were yelling at each other. Something about who thought of it first. Twilight was banging her gavel and threatening to have the whole courtroom frozen in time.

“I think we should stop talking before I do something I regret,” AJ said.

“Eh, what kind of evil clone would I be if I didn’t tempt you to ruin?” JA asked, adjusting his hat with a smile.

“Are you really?”

“Dunno. My parents named me Jackapple, and I like this hat. So I figure I’m me. But Other Rarity is actually named Other Rarity, so in her case, you know. I can see it.” His smile grew to a grin. “Want to meet her? Fuze?”

“Trying to seduce me away from my friends, huh?” AJ snapped.

“Trying to seduce you. I like your friends. They seem nice.” He paused. “And I’d like to meet Ember. If you want to trade.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, if you change your mind, swing by the Carrot farm this evening.”

“This is unbelievable,” with a single mighty sweep of her talons, Ember destroyed Rarity’s table. The blow picked it up clear off the floor and smashed it to splinters against the wall. “What’s the point of even having friends if they’re not going to do you favors?”

“Twilight’s performance today was…” Rarity hesitated, “disappointing, I admit. But—”

“No, Twilight did exactly what you’d expect a judge to do. Your performance was disappointing.” Ember pointed a talon right at Rarity’s face. “You fainted like sissy because a teenager said some mean things about your hair or whatever, and then you totally failed to rig the trial.”

Applejack sat there quietly. She didn’t say a word.

“Point that talon somewhere else,” Rarity replied, her cool tones gently hinting at the anger beneath. She did not raise her voice, nor show fear in the face of Ember’s tirade. “Fighting among ourselves will not help anything.”

“Yeah, about that. The other side doesn’t seem to fight among themselves.” Ember drew back her muzzle, showing off her teeth. “In fact, Jackapple and Other Rarity seem to do exactly what Fuze says. Almost like the one who actually makes the product is also their leader. So it made me wonder, I do all the work around here, why exactly are you in charge?”

“Do you want to run a business, Ember?” Rarity asked, eyes narrowed. “You could fill out paperwork, negotiate with bottle suppliers, ensure we have good relationships with district warehouses. It’ll be fun.”

“No, I…” She drew a deep breath. “Dammit!” A small blast of fire shot out, scorching the chair beside Rarity.

“We could cut a deal,” Applejack said.

Both Ember and Rarity turned to face her. Rarity turned calmly, but Ember whirled, and it was Ember who spoke first: “What did you say?”

“Cut a deal. 30% of their profits or some such if we drop the case. They can’t be certain of winning. It’s a good deal.”

Her answer came in stereo. “Absolutely not!” Rarity and Ember both shouted, one with indignation, the other with furious outrage.

“I’m the Dragon Lord,” Ember went on, gesturing furiously with her claws. “The Dragon Lord! I won’t be undercut by one of my own subjects.”

“Ya already been undercut.” Applejack drew in a breath. “Fuze sells for 50% more than us, right? Even if we shut her down, our prices don’t jump up by that much. So we’re now the cheap product in the market. We just are. That’s done.”

“I don’t care about a few bits,” Ember snapped.

“And she’s proven it works,” Applejack went on. “Some other dragon will try it. Even if we win the case, they’ll try it. They’ll just call it something other than Dragon’s Milk to get around the copyright.”

“I don’t care about other dragons either!” Her words emerged with a blast of heat and smoke. “I care about beating her.”

“Yeah well her tits are bigger than yours.”

The room was so quiet Applejack could hear her own breathing. Rarity gaped. Ember’s eyes had shrunk to pinpricks, her manner so stiff one would think she’d been struck. With a jerky motion, Applejack rose from her chair. “I don’t like it when my friends fight,” she said. “I don’t. And I’m going for a walk. Sort out whatever this is.”

“Will, um…” Rarity hesitated, showing doubt for the first time. “Will you be sleeping here tonight, or at the farm?”

“Dunno. We’ll see where I end up.”

She ended up on the Carrot farm. Other Rarity was out front on the porch, having a lovely chat with Carrot Top.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, pushing her spiky mane back behind her ears. “I wouldn’t so much say I’m an ‘evil whore’ as that I’m in a mutually supportive polyamorous collective, but I can see where you got impression. Once I realized I had the look going, I just went for it, you know?”

“It seems fun,” Carrot Top admitted. “I’ve been thinking of getting into evil counterparting. Spice up my life, you know?”

“Oh, it is fun,” Other Rarity put her hoof on the table. “You know, I just know kung-fu? Never learned it, just know it. I can’t wait to fight Rarity; it’s going to be amazing.”

“Ahem.” Applejack cleared her throat. Both of them looked over. “Sorry, I was looking for Jackapple. Or uh… Fuze, I guess.”

“Jackapple’s out helping with the chores.” Other Rarity pointed at the barn. “Fuze is in there.”

Applejack nodded, following where Other Rarity pointed. The door was open, but she stepped into the barn slowly and haltingly, looking this way and that. She examined the floors, the stalls, and the ceiling, like she was expecting some terrible monster to burst out at her.

“In here,” Fuze called, her voice emerging from one of the stalls in the back. She sounded tense and a bit curt. Applejack followed the sound, and found her sitting there.

She was pent up. Overfull. Seated on a stool in the old stall, her breasts were so big Applejack doubted she could see her own lap. Every motion made her sway, shake, or giggle, and white nipples poked out of her black-scaled breasts. She wasn’t just swollen, she was bulging, and her uncomfortable expression made it clear how weighty she’d become.

“Hey,” Fuze greeted her, and when Applejack stammered for a reply, she grinned. “What brings you here?”

“I, uh…” Applejack’s breath caught in her throat. “Uh…” The longer she waited, the worse it became, until she was stammering and red. “Why ain’t Other Rarity in here helping you?”

“Jackapple told me you were coming by. I wanted to give you a show.”

“That ain’t…” Applejack gestured vaguely with a hoof. “Uncomfortable?”

“Of course it is.” Slowly, Fuze rose to her feet. She was so top-heavy, so front-heavy, that for a few moments Applejack was afraid she would fall. Her legs shook, her chest swayed, and she had to grip the edge of the stall for support. But finally, she rose, stepping up to Applejack until there was only inches between them.

So close, Applejack couldn’t see her face—just the underside of the great, heaving tits above her. What she could see were Fuze’s hips, and her tail, and all that was built around them.

“Why are you doing this?” Applejack finally asked.

“Is it such a surprise?” Fuze grinned. “Applejack, why is Ember in the alcohol trade at all?”

“It’s uh…” Applejack stared up at Fuze’s breasts, struggling to think. “Fun.”

“She didn’t seem to be having much fun. And she doesn’t need the money. See, I’d bet she’s in it for the same reason I am. The same reason that I am here, very uncomfortably full, waiting for you to show up.”

She reached a talon down and gently, delicately, squeezed one of her breasts: “I like the attention.”

“You um…” Applejack hesitated. “You like me staring, do ya?”

“A bit. But that’s not it.” She gestured. “Rear up. Have a drink.”

“I’m worried I’ll push you over.”

“You push me over, you can keep me.” Fuze grinned. “Have a drink. I’m serious.”

And so Applejack reared up, and put her hooves on Fuze’s torso. Once she could see over Fuze’s breasts, she could see her grin and the delight in her eyes. And then, Applejack latched onto one of those white nipples.

“Oh, there we go,” Fuze let out a long, low moan. “That’s it. Drink up.” Applejack slowly sucked away, filling her mouth with that warm liquor. Fuze’s tasted like apples and spices. Jackapple’s influence, no doubt.

But then, Fuze pushed her away. “I want you buzzed. Not unconscious.”

But Applejack resisted, pushing back against her talons. “I want more,” she said. “You’re… I don’t know how to say it. You and Ember. I need you. It’s all I can think about.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s what I like. I don’t like you staring; I like you desperate. You see me here, biting my lip, playing up the whole, ‘oh please milk me’ thing. But I’m in control. And you’re not.” She pulled Applejack over with both talons, laying a kiss on her forehead. “That’s why I’m in this game. It’s power. Power that I don’t have to hurt anyone or break anything to have. I never wanted to be Dragon Lord, always fighting for my title. But this little kingdom is mine.”

“That’s… that’s not…” Applejack rubbed her head. “What do you want me to do?”

“Say you like me more than Ember.”

“I…” Slowly, Applejack drew out the words. “I can’t rightly say that I do. She ain’t perfect. Lord knows she ain’t. But she’s my friend and you’re…” She stared up at Fuze, squinting as though into a great distance. “But you know that. You just want to hear me say the right things.”

“See?” Fuze grinned. “You’re getting it.”

“Like… you want to hear me say that your tits are bigger than hers?”

“Are they?” her voice was delighted. “I didn’t notice.”

“They are. Cause she’s the Dragon Lord and you’re a great bloated cow.” She leaned her head in and wrapped her lips around one of Fuze’s nipples, giving a long slow pull. And when Fuze pulled her off, Applejack dug her hooves into the ground and pushed back.

The sudden motion tilted Fuze forward. Her tits went out past her feet, and she toppled forward. She barely caught herself in time, ending up in all fours, her oversized teats dangling below her.

“Look, I knocked you over,” AJ said, fetching a bucket from across the barn. “Looks like I get to keep you.”

But before she continued, she hesitated. She locked eyes with Fuze, seeking something from her. It made Fuze laugh.

“Looks like you do,” Fuze said, prompting, “Don’t stop. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to milk you.” AJ shoved the bucket under her. “Because those big fat teats are so sensitive I know it’ll make you melt. I’ll milk you until you need me as much as I need you. Until I’m happy. Then I’m going to eat you out until you moan fire. And then it’s my turn.”

Fuze arched her back, lifting her tits over the bucket.

That night, Other Rarity and Jackapple held AJ’s hair as she threw up into the hayloft. She woke up with a screaming headache, part of a pile of four bodies.