In a Rut

Present day

“Fluttershy!”

The pink-haired omega paused at her name as she was leaving our Psych class, turning as I moved beside her. The moment I was in close proximity to her a warm blush crept up her cheeks.

She looked beautiful today in her long flowing yellow sundress and jacket, but then again Fluttershy was beautiful every day. It didn’t even seem to be something she did on purpose, she was just a beautiful person by nature.

The most infuriating part about Fluttershy, if there was such a thing, was that her beauty was inside and out. In my experience pretty faces like hers tend to come attached to liars or worse, but Fluttershy was the exception to that rule.

Not only was Fluttershy head of the CCU’s animal rights club, she ran demonstrations at euthanasia clinics that were essentially huge adoption events. She had the voice of an angel when she wasn’t too embarrassed to sing, and I think the closest thing to an unkind word I’d ever heard pass her lips was ‘peeved’.

And that was regarding her brother who I had a variety of unkind words for.

Being a jerk myself, Fluttershy’s demeanor was honestly kind of intimidating.

“Oh, uhm… good morning, Sunset,” she brushed her hair from her face in a purposefully demure motion and gave me one of those angelic smiles of hers.

“It is a good morning,” I grinned as I matched her stride, ignoring the glares I got from the other alphas in the hall. “Can I walk you to class?”

“Uhm, s-sure,” Fluttershy had the prettiest blush, enough so that I’d always thought it was kind of unfair to all the other omegas on campus that they had the bad luck to be in the same district as Fluttershy. “But isn’t your class on the other end of the building?”

“I’m already ahead in the class anyway,” I waved a hand dismissively. “I can stand to be late if it’s for a good reason.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy’s smile warmed considerably, and I noted with some satisfaction that she moved a little closer to me as we walked. “Well, I uhm… I don’t know how I feel about being a good reason to be late.”

Laughter bubbled up from me as I reached up and playfully flicked a pink lock of hair from her face. We passed a window as I was laughing and she was smiling, and I caught a glimpse of us reflected in the glass. We cut an impressive image as a couple, her being about half a head shorter than me, all soft lines and willowy limbs, juxtaposed to my stronger build and sharp features.

My nose especially, I thought. I always liked my straight, duchess nose. It was perfect for looking down at people over.

“Flutters, you are the best reason to be late to something,” I replied with my best ‘gobble-you-up’ grin.

Fluttershy went positively scarlet at that.

“Even for an alpha, you’re pretty shameless, huh?” Fluttershy stated more than asked, although her smile told me she didn’t mind it. “I don’t think I could ever say something that bold.”

“Bold? That’s nothing,” I said, and paused as we approached her class.

I turned to her, and I could smell the faint scent of anticipation coming off of her. She really was the omega version of me, her pheromones were making my heart race just as mine were probably giving her all kinds of problems south of her waistline.

“W-What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked softly, and I moved closer, looking down at her and taking a deep breath of her gentle, floral scent.

“I mean this,” I took one of her hands in mine and brought it to my lips, brushing her knuckles with a brief kiss. “Fluttershy, would you mind if I courted you?”

Her blue eyes went wide at my request, and I could feel the looks being leveled onto me from around the hall. I’d definitely just made some enemies, but if she said yes then they wouldn’t be able to do jack shit about it.

This was how it had to be done though, assuming I was doing things properly.

A courting request was old school but it was still how things were done if an alpha was really serious about trying to start something with an omega. Alphas might be the big bad bully-boys of our society but, at the end of the day, it was the omegas that could grab us by our short and curlies if they wanted to.

Of course, nowadays there were a lot more casual relationships. Plenty of omegas were happy to have a little collection of alphas they could string along to satisfy their heat and buy them nice things, and there were just as many alphas who kept track of the omegas they’d laid like belt-notches.

Fluttershy was not a belt notch. She was a proper lady and a proper omega and deserved to be treated as such.

“I…” Fluttershy began, then paused, took a deep breath, and gave me a radiant smile. “I think I’d like that very much, Sunset.”

“How does tomorrow sound for a date, then?” I leaned in a little, nuzzling against her cheek lightly. “Maybe Gustav’s?”

Fluttershy returned the gentle affection with a nuzzle of her own.

“That sounds v-very nice, actually,” Fluttershy said softly. “I’ll meet you there around seven?”

I smiled as I drew back, letting my lips linger playfully a few inches from hers as my grin widened to show teeth.

“Sounds perfect,” I replied, pulling back just as she began leaning forward to close the distance.

She stared up at me with wide eyes, and only the ease of long practice kept my face at a pleasant neutral while looking at her adorably bewildered expression. I brought a finger up and ran it teasingly along the underside of her chin, relishing the slight shiver that ran through her as I did.

“See you tomorrow night, Flutters,” I blew her a kiss as I turned and started back down the hall towards my own classroom.

I made it all the way to the next corridor before I felt a chill up my spine and caught the achingly familiar scent of rain and cut grass.

“What?” I schooled my tone to a hard, emotionless edge, and practically felt Rainbow Dash flinch behind me.

She caught up to me anyway, matching my pace as I walked to my next class.

“I saw that,” her voice was tight and strained, and it was only an effort of will that kept my expression in place.

“Congratulations,” I replied dryly. “That makes you and half the university by this point… what’s your deal?”

“Why?”

“Because I’m an alpha?” I replied dully as I turned a corner, but Rainbow Dash kept on my heels.

“And?!” she snapped. “You don’t need her!”

I paused, turned, and fixed her with a withering look that put her back a few steps.

“Excuse you,” I stated grimly. “I thought Fluttershy was like, your childhood friend or something? Didn’t you two grow up together?”

“Y-Yeah…” Rainbow finally had the good grace to look abashed. “But that’s not my point!”

“Oh yeah?” I gave her my best ‘imperious eyebrow’. “And what is your point? Because she’s an omega and, given our dynamic, I doubt you’ve forgotten that I’m an alpha.”

“No,” she replied quietly, shrinking in on herself as I approached her. Or more accurately towered over her, and the delicious scent of submission drifted off of her. “J-Just… can you meet me out in the quad after class, maybe?”

“You’re done two hours earlier than me,” I pointed out.

“So?” Rainbow rallied and finally forced herself to meet my gaze. “It’s not the first time you’ve made me wait for you!”

Well, she wasn’t wrong there. More often than not I’d tell her to wait after her classes for various reasons, and it had actually resulted in her finishing some of her homework in a timely manner thanks to her having little else to do.

The fact that those ‘various reasons’ were because I was hard and wanted to fuck her behind the gym or something equally debasing was irrelevant.

“Fine,” I said after a long moment. “Is that it?”

Rainbow drew back, looking hurt, and it took a lot of effort not to just tell her I was sorry right there and then drag her into an empty classroom for a more… physical apology.

“What’s your problem today, Shimmer?” Rainbow asked softly. “You’re… you’ve never been this-”

I raised my eyebrow again, and Rainbow clammed up.

“See you after class, Rainbow,” I said, then turned and stalked away from her without a backward glance.

That had hurt.

I couldn’t show it though. I couldn’t let her see how doing that to her had cut me. I couldn’t let her see that I’d practically bitten through my lip during that conversation, or that I’d dug my nails into the flesh of my palms hard enough that when I drew them back they came away stained faintly red.

She wasn’t allowed to see it, because if Rainbow Dash so much as suspected that I wasn’t absolutely sure of what I was doing then I would never get rid of her.

More accurately, she would never be rid of me.

I stepped into my Neighponese Culture and Society class and sat down near the back, barely paying attention as the teacher droned on about some obscure custom or other. I couldn’t keep my mind focused because it kept drifting back to what I’d just done.

Rainbow needed to be rid of me, that much was clear. This relationship that had come up between us had turned into something I had never thought possible, and if it were between an alpha and an omega, or even a beta, it might be fine.

But it wasn’t.

This relationship was ripping something fundamental out of Rainbow Dash and replacing it with bits and pieces of me.

My demands. My needs. My desires.

Even now, months after the most intense rut of my life, that image of her lying in my bed, her hair askew and her body stained, sweaty, and tangled in my sheets, stayed with me. Even worse, the feelings it brought along with it had stayed too, and that was the part I didn’t know how to deal with.

It was bad enough when our relationship was just physical, but it had gotten worse when I’d started to depend on her, and in turn, forced her to become dependent on me.

I’d all but killed the alpha in her head and then force-fed her the opiate high of my pheromones by repeatedly dominating her.

Repeatedly bitching her.

I felt sick.

Even worse, it had taken me two more months to work up the spine to start pushing her away. I’d started flirting more overtly with Fluttershy who seemed more than receptive to my advances even before I’d made my request, at the same time I’d been calling on Rainbow less, forcing her to come over less, and she had definitely noticed.

My body had noticed too.

I was so used to having a warm bed with a soft, willing bitch occupying it that, now that I was going without, my alpha instincts had been left keyed up to high gear better than half the time, leaving me irritable and waspish.

It didn’t help that no matter how many times I washed them, my sheets still smelled like Rainbow Dash to me.

Laying my head on the long table that served as my desk in the classroom, I waited out the rest of the hour. I couldn’t keep my attention on anything for long but I had a vague idea of what the Professor was talking about so I resolved to just go over it tonight at home.

Assuming I could keep my head on straight that long.

By the time class was over I was restless and my temper was fraying, which didn’t bode well for anyone today.

“Sunset!”

Speaking of ‘anyone’.

I grimaced as I turned and fixed Applejack with a glare as she approached, but the stolid daughter of the Apple Clan didn’t even flinch as she moved to start walking alongside me.

“What?”

Applejack frowned, then shook her head.

“I got a bone t’pick with ya, Sunset,” Applejack started, her warm features were set with grim determination, and blew out a breath as I braced myself.

“Get to pickin’ then, hayseed,” I drawled at her. “I haven’t got all day.”

She scowled at me but didn’t rise to my bait which probably just goes to show that Applejack was a better person than me.

Not that I’d set that bar particularly high.

“Fine, I’ll ask it plain then,” Applejack took two long strides and stepped in front of me, squaring up and impeding me as blatantly as possible, and drawing looks from everyone in the hall. “The hell you got over Rainbow?”

My nostrils flared as I straightened out, met her glare with one of my own, and bristled. The air started to fill with the scent of two competing alpha, it was the stink of barely restrained violence, and it was almost physically pushing the rest of the hall’s occupants away.

I was a seriously potent alpha, no one questioned that, and while Applejack was probably less so than I, she was definitely in my weight class when it came to intensity. That meant that, if we really got into it, the only two outcomes were enough people pulling us apart which would probably require a taser and a dose of suppressant apiece, or one of us was going to the hospital.

“You ask that like it’s your business, hayseed,” I replied dryly.

Applejack’s lips twisted in anger, but to my surprise she kept her temper.

“Horseshit,” Applejack took another step closer, but I gave her no ground, putting us a finger’s breadth apart. “Rainbow’s mah friend and she’s been actin’ mighty funny these past few months… plus, she smells all wrong, and don’t act like I ain’t seen’er hangin’ around ya too goddamn much.”

“Last I checked you weren’t her fucking keeper, Jackie,” I snarled, a low growl rumbling through my chest.

Applejack matched my growl with one of her own, and her brilliantly emerald eyes flashed viciously. If I was as mad as her I’d probably be throwing hands by now, but her self-control was clearly better than mine too.

Then again, if this situation with Rainbow Dash was any indicator then that bar was an equally subterranean one.

“How ‘bout this, Sunset,” Applejack started in a deathly quiet voice, her fury chilling to something far more dangerous than just anger. “Whatever ya’ll’re doin’ t’Rainbow, you stop, and ya leave’er alone, and that’ll be that.”

“That’ll be that, huh?” I made a show of giving her offer a lot of thought, and I could see her tensing up for another volley of verbal abuse.

“Fine.”

Applejack almost visibly stumbled, confusion painting her face as I stepped back from her and shrugged.

“Fine?” she asked, her voice dripping with suspicion.

“You want me to spit in my palm and shake on it, cowgirl?” I asked blithely. “I said fine, and that means ‘fine’… I’ll leave her alone.”

There wasn’t an ounce of trust in those green eyes of hers but, finally, Applejack just nodded and took a step back herself, giving a little ground to me the same as I had to her, a kind of deliberate peace offering.

“You swear it?” Applejack asked stonily.

“On my pride as an alpha,” I replied, and those words came out maybe a little rawer than they ought to have.

Probably because I actually meant them.

Whatever the case, my words seemed to mollify Applejack, and she backed down, let out a breath, and gave me an odd look.

“Gotta say, Sunset, I ain’t sure what t’make’a you,” she said.

“Don’t think too hard on it, hayseed,” I replied with a thin-lipped smile. “You’ll only hurt yourself, and you’ll probably get it wrong anyway.”

Her scowl returned, lingered for a moment, then she shook her head.

Applejack jabbed a finger in my direction. “Y’all better not go back on your word,”

I didn’t bother to give that accusation the benefit of a reply, instead turning on my heel and putting my back to Applejack, waving dismissively over my shoulder as I left her behind. I had better and more important things to do today than argue with the local apple merchant.

Two more classes still to go, which would equate to about three hours of being unable to concentrate on anything but what I would have to do at the end of my day.

The weight of what was coming left me feeling irritable and lethargic throughout my classes, such that by the time I actually got out of my last class I was feeling particularly miserable.

I couldn’t avoid this forever, though. I’d been avoiding this for months already and it had only hurt the both of us, her more than me, and that had to come to an end.

The day was brighter than it had any right to be, and the sunshine of the late afternoon went a long way towards soothing the chill in the air. Canterlot was a city both cold and bright by nature, both in this world and in mine, and I usually took comfort in that comparison.

Now it just felt obscene.

“Hey.”

I paused, frowning as Rainbow Dash stepped out from under the tree she’d been lounging beneath in the quad. The branches were showing a few early blossoms and I found myself thankful for that because their scent masked hers just a little.

I’d take what I could get at this point.

“Dash,” I greeted her coolly, and she missed a step. “What’s up?”

“This thing you’re doing with Flutters,” Rainbow started, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. Something she’d started doing more and more lately. “Is this for real?”

“You mean am I aiming to mark her?” I asked bluntly, and Rainbow wilted back a little before nodding.

“Y-Yeah,” she replied finally. “Are you?”

I sighed and crossed my arms, turning to face her fully with a scowl.

“Are you implying I wouldn’t take Fluttershy seriously as an omega?” I spoke casually but a growl lurked under my words, and Rainbow paled. “She’s not some lazy pillow princess like Trixie, Dash… Fluttershy deserves to be treated right and I intend to do just that.”

“W-What about-?” Rainbow started but trailed off, her cheeks flushing as she wrapped her arms around herself.

A tight wedge of hurt curled up in my chest at the sight. Alpha or not, Rainbow had been my bitch for over half a year and my body recognized when she was in pain.

Before I knew it I was across the grass and tugging Rainbow around to the other side of the tree, and pulling her into my arms.

My hand went to the back of Rainbow’s head and pressed it to the hollow of my neck.

Right where she belonged, my mind told me. My omega was right where she belonged.

Even my instincts had trouble differentiating Rainbow Dash from a true omega lately. Instinct was a powerful, and powerfully stupid, thing.

“What happens to me?” Rainbow asked quietly after a few deep, calming breaths.

I furrowed my brow at that and pulled away to look Rainbow in the eyes, putting my hands on her shoulders as I braced myself for what I had to do next.

“What happens is that I let you go,” I replied, and Rainbow blinked in confusion. I sighed, let go, and stepped back. “Rainbow, I’ve basically been holding you captive all this time,” I explained slowly. “You’ve been my bitch for like, seven months… you know that’s a bad thing, right?”

“I… I mean, yeah,” Rainbow said it, but it didn’t quite sound like she meant it.

“Rainbow,” I started, feeling an odd worm of doubt enter my heart. “So long as things stay this way you can’t take an omega, remember?” She looked pensive but nodded. “You can barely say no to me, and hell… when was the last time you even went into rut?”

“F-Five months,” Rainbow admitted, and I cussed softly under my breath.

“Rainbow, look,” I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, and I could feel the fear and tension radiating off of her. “It’s for the best to let this end, okay? We both agree it probably shouldn’t have ever happened, it was just a random shit situation and… fuck, you know I don’t treat you very well.”

“You treat me fine, Alpha!” Rainbow’s voice cracked as she replied with a suddenness that stunned me.

Even moreso, she had called me ‘alpha’, something she normally only did during sex.

This was worse than I’d thought. Rainbow wasn’t just acting like an omega, she was starting to think like one too.

“If I’m going to be courting Fluttershy I can’t fuck around on her,” I pointed out, and Rainbow grimaced.

“You… that’s only after you mark her, though!” Rainbow countered. “Until then you… we could…”

“Rainbow Dash, look at me,” once I might’ve grabbed her by the jaw and made her do it, but now she didn’t need the incentive, she just obeyed. “Are you seriously arguing about staying my bitch?”

Rainbow swallowed hard and I could tell she wanted to look away, but my command was strong enough that it overrode the impulse.

She clammed up, though, and I felt my temper rising.

“Answer me, bitch,” I snarled, a growl rising in my throat.

I watched the shiver of dominance wash over Rainbow, and she whined softly before finally forcing the words past her tongue.

“W-What if I am?” Rainbow finally said. “What if I don’t want things to change?”

Stepping closer, Rainbow molded against me, it was a familiar weight and warmth that I’d grown both used to and comfortable with over the past seven months. She pressed her face to my neck and licked me a few times before moving up to offer me her lips.

Damn it. Rainbow knew I hated saying no to her… Maybe it’s because she was an alpha that she knew how to push my buttons. Either way, she knew I had a habit of indulging her, and only lately did I realise that it was a bad habit.

I gave into temptation and kissed her anyway, locked my lips over hers as I slipped my hands down to her slim waist and pulled her closer.

She drew back, giving me a plaintive, needy look before raising her chin, turning her head, and blatantly exposing her neck to me.

A growl escaped my lips. “Don’t tempt me, Dash.”

“You don’t need an omega,” she said angrily. “You’ve got me!”

This time I did seize her by the jaw and I pulled her face back in line with mine.

“I’m not going to mark you, Rainbow,” I snarled. “You’d be a fucking laughingstock and we both know it.”

“I don’t care!” Rainbow smacked my hand away and exposed her neck again. “Just do it, okay? I’ll be whatever you need me to be!”

“What is wrong with you?!” I snapped, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her deeper into the shadows of the school before turning to face her again. “You’re an alpha! Where’s your fucking pride?!”

“It’s with you!” Rainbow jerked her hand back from me but didn’t lower her head.

With her neck exposed I could smell her fully, that faint musk of a submissive alpha, the scent of my bitch that I’d gotten so accustomed to over these past months. It was driving me insane. She knew what she was doing to me, I was painfully hard and she wanted me to lose my cool because of that, indulge my instincts, and mark her.

“I’ll… I’ll be your bitch, okay?” Rainbow said desperately. “Those people can laugh all they want! Because they don’t get what it’s like to have you!”

Fuck, Rainbow really did know exactly how to stroke my ego.

She knew exactly what I wanted to hear and she was completely shameless about it.

But this was wrong.

I knew it then just as well as I know it now. I’d broken Rainbow, taken her, bitched her, knotted her, and now she was addicted to me.

“Aren’t I good?” Rainbow let her voice soften, and it sent a thrilling tingle up my spine as she drew a little closer to me. “Aren’t… aren’t I a good bitch?”

I grabbed her by the throat this time, and she didn’t resist. She relaxed into my grip, submitting completely to my strength as I pushed her up against the wall of the school, flipped her around, and pinned her to brickwork.

She whimpered as I pushed her hair away and pressed my nose to the back of her neck, right up against her scent glands, and took a deep breath.

“Mark me,” Rainbow begged. “Please.”

I wanted to. I wanted to dig my teeth in and leave my mark on her so badly. I wanted the whole world to know that she was mine, that this pretty little alpha was my bottom bitch.

She moaned as I ran my tongue along her neck, tasting the sweet salt of her sweat. My instincts were roaring, and I was tempted to just tear her clothes off and knot her right then and there.

Instead, I pulled back, and Rainbow whined out a low, agonised, and wordless plea.

“No,” I said quietly. “I should never have done this to you.”

“But-!”

“No!” I snarled. “This was wrong! I shouldn’t have-, fuck!”

I stalked away a few steps, my limbs practically vibrating with lust as Rainbow turned and reached out for me.

She never touched me, I moved away before she could, and I turned to fix her with as neutral of a look as I could manage.

“I’m not going to mark you, Dash,” I said finally. “I’m not going to ruin you like that… you deserve better than that.”

“Alpha, please…” Rainbow reached out again, but I shook my head and stepped back further.

“You deserve better than me, Dash,” I said. “Now just… just go home, okay?”

“Sunset… no,” there were tears in her eyes and it was pure agony to see it.

“Go home, Rainbow Dash,” Forcing those words out was like vomiting razor blades. “We’re finished.”

I turned my back on her and left, moving as quickly as I could force myself to without breaking into a run. I didn’t look back, because if I did I’d have to see her crying and reaching out for me, and if I saw that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’d be back at her side, apologising to her, and kissing her, and doing whatever I needed to to make her smile again.

So I didn’t look back.

Even if it broke my heart.